•••
"Honey I'm home"
I jumped slightly at the sudden voice, coming out of the kitchen to greet Clint only to see the avengers.
"Hi, company. Sorry I didn't call ahead" he smiled gently, kissing me.
"Yeah no shit" I snorted
"Gentlemen, this is my wife Grace"
"I know all of your names. I'm not a stalker I swear - Clint just complains a lot"
The avengers waved at me awkwardly, and I was silently wondering how long it would take Tony to recognise me.
"This is awkward" I commented, with a shrug.
"Oh - incoming" Clint grinned, moving towards the door for the coming onslaught of children.
"Daddy!" Lila squealed, leaping on to her father, Cooper following close behind.
"Hey sweetheart, hey buddy" he laughed, pulling them both into a hug "how're you guys doing?"
I had to hold in a laugh at Steve's face of confusion, biting my lip as hard as I could.
"Did you bring Auntie Nat?"
My eyes drifted towards the redhead who stood in the corner, looking ill. As soon as she heard Lila speak, she covered her pained look with a smile.
"Why don't you hug her and find out?" She said, walking over to her, lifting her into a hug.
I watched the two with a smile on my face, happy to see my two favourite spies back home.
"Sorry for barging in" Steve said politely.
"We would've called ahead but we were busy having no idea you existed" Tony added, giving Clint an accusatory glare.
I just laughed, bringing his attention to me.
"You know for a superhero you're quite thick"
"Excuse me?" He said in an offended tone.
"You'll get there"
The others looked at Tony and I weirdly, before a spark of recognition came to his eyes.
"Grace!"
"Finally! I knew my hair hadn't changed that much" I laughed, pulling him into a hug.
"They know each other?" Thor asked Steve quietly, receiving a bewildered shrug in response.
"Still not big on hugging" he said awkwardly, returning the hug nonetheless.
I shook my head and pulled away.
"You married that guy?"
"You bet your ass I did"
"Why?"
"Hang on, how do you know each other?" Clint asked, giving me a slightly jealous look. I knew he must be thinking about Tony's past as a play boy and shook my head at him.
'Don't go all jealous on me now' I signed, grinning at the flustered look on his face.
'You better not have fucked him'
'So what if I did?'
'I'll make you regret it'
Clint's eyes darkened significantly
'Can't say I'm not looking forward to that'
We were interrupted by a cough from Thor, and I smiled awkwardly at him.
"Sorry, this -" I said, gesturing at Tony "this is the Tony that you thought was here to kill me"
"Oh - anyway to answer the secrecy question, Fury helped me set this up when I met Grace, kept it off SHIELD's files. I'd like to keep it that way. Figured it was a good place to lay low"
"Are we just ignoring that they had a full on conversation in sign language? And that someone tried to kill her? What's that about?"
"Back when we first starting dating a lot of people tried to kill me" I said to Thor quietly, trying not to let the kids hear. He just nodded in concern.
Patting his shoulder reassuringly (and definitely not checking out his muscles) , I moved to pull Nat into a hug.
"God I've missed you" she said into my hair, pulling away to hold the sides of my stomach, "hows little Natasha?"
"She's ... Nathanael" I winced.
She frowned and bent down to my stomach, "traitor"
Grabbing her chin, I forced her to look up at me.
"You hurt?"
"I'm fine"
"You know I'll force you to let me examine you either way"
"Really Grace, I'm fine" she said forcefully, holding my arms as she looked into my eyes.
She was totally not fine.
A few minutes later Thor stormed out of the house, Steve following closely after.
"Do you think they're okay?"
"They will be" Clint said, draping his arm around my waist and kissing my cheek.
I smiled at him, intertwining our fingers before looking in front of me.
"Oh my god, hi. You're Dr Banner"
"Oh - Uh - Hello" He said awkwardly, playing with his sleeves anxiously. I was making him uncomfortable.
"Sorry. I'll leave you alone for a bit"
He went to protest but I sent him an understanding smile, and he nodded gently.
"He's cute, I approve" I whispered in Natasha's ear as I walked past her and back into the kitchen, getting a embarrassed slap on the back from her.
•••
"Lila and Cooper made some cookies earlier if anyone's hungry" I called, placing a plate full of chocolate chip cookies on the porch table.
Tony and Steve made their way over to them immediately, Steve thanking me whilst Tony just shoved a bunch in his mouth.
"So, hows life as superheroes"
"Honestly?" Tony scoffed, "too much work"
"As long as we help people that's all that matters"
"Steve - can I call you steve? You don't have to keep up the patriotic bullshit when talking to me. I know it's not all sunshine and rainbows"
He looked at me for a few moments, analysing me, before his shoulders slumped and a slight smile came to his face, "good to know"
"Language" Tony teased, poking my cheek.
"Seriously Tony?" Steve groaned
"I'm confused"