•••
Steve had gone to fill T'Challa in on our findings, and our little family unit separated from the others, retreating to Clint and I's room. Nat had insisted on taking a shower, leaving the kids to play a little game with the twins while we waited. I was sat on the bed next to Clint, my head rested on his shoulder as we watched them.
"We made them" I said randomly, causing Clint to chuckle.
"Yes we did"
"I pushed those out of my vagina"
"Yes you did"
"We stole those from an evil association"
"We did indeed"
"Our family is weird"
"But we wouldn't have it any other way"
"True"
We fell into another comfortable silence, laughing along with the kids as they fell into hysterics after watching Pietro's little comedy routine. I turned my head towards the bathroom door as Natasha walked out in clean clothes, a towel wrapping her hair up.
"So tell me, what happened?" I said, watching Nat as she slumped on the bed. Everyone now turned their attention to the redhead, Cooper whispering something to his siblings, before the younger three ran off.
"Same thing you probably saw coming" She shrugged, towelling her hair.
"He made an offhand misogynistic comment?" Clint asked, "kept calling you bad nicknames?"
"Invaded your personal space? Broke something?" Wanda added, a small grin on her face.
"Left you out of group activities?" Pietro chimed.
"Take out all his anger and self-hatred on you?"
"Bingo" Nat said, smiling grimly as she pointed at me.
The conversation was cut short as the kids ran back into the room (Nathanael trailing slightly behind Lila and Cooper), presenting Nat with a leftover batch of cookies. All traces of anger or annoyance melted off of her face as she accepted the plate, pulling all three into a group hug.
"Thank you for coming back" Nathanael smiled, playing with her damp curls as he climbed to sit on her lap. Natasha smiled in return, turning her head to look at him.
"Thank you for having me back"
"We missed you" Lila pouted, leaning against Pietro's crossed legs.
"It was weird with you away for so long" Cooper agreed.
Nat smiled, turning to Clint and I, "I've missed all of you weirdos"
•••
"Hey, Grace can I borrow you for a second?" Bucky asked, sticking his head around the doorframe.
"Sure" I smiled, pressing a kiss to Clint's forehead as I walked past, "what's cracking?"
"Um- Shuri put your goats in a pen around the back of the building, I was wondering if you were still okay with me looking after them?"
"Of course - just know that Donkey is a bit of an ass" I giggled a bit at my own pun, winning a small smile from Bucky, "he gets angry if he gets fed slightly too late so I'll write you up their feeding routine"
"Thanks - I - I think this will be good for me" he said, slightly awkwardly, "I really appreciate this"
"It's no problem, just look after them well okay?"
"I promise"
"That's good enough for me" I grinned, "I'll see you around Bucky"
A few hours later, Natasha, Clint and I were finally alone. We had moved to sit on the roof, gazing over the wakandan landscape.
"It's beautiful" Nat breathed, leaning on her elbows as she looked at the scenery. A few beats of silence passed, before she let out a long sigh.
"I've missed this"
"Missed what?"
"Feeling safe - don't get me wrong, I trust Tony. He's family. But with you two gone, it wasn't home"
"I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to us Natasha" I grinned, tackling her into a hug.
"I'm tearing up" Clint fake-sobbed, joining the hug.
"Ugh, enough feelings now" Nat laughed tearily, pushing us off of her.
"You looooove us" I teased, poking her cheek
"Piss off"