Abi's P.O.V.
I was woken by someone pounding on the door downstairs, I quickly looked over at the alarm clock, 3:17am, before rolling over to face Clint.
"Clint, someone's knocking on the door." I whispered as I shook him.
"Go answer it then." He mumbled.
"Clint, it's 3am, I'm not going down there alone." I hissed.
He let out a groan and rolled over to face me, his eyes going wide when whoever it was pounded on the door again.
"See?" I said.
He nodded and got out of bed, going over to the closet and pulling out a baseball bat. I gave him a weird look but he just shrugged it off and headed for the stairs, I climbed out of bed and followed him. I stayed a few feet away from the door as he opened it, the bat gripped tightly in his hands ready to swing if whoever it was is a threat.
"What you gonna do with that bird boy? I thought your weapon of choice was a bow and arrow." Someone joked, I recognised the voice instantly.
"Tony?" I asked as I stepped into view, confirming my thoughts.
"The one and only." He said with a smirk.
"What do you want Stark? And how did you find us?" Clint demanded.
"We have a mission so you need to come with me, and I just tracked your phone. What is this place anyway?" He asked with a frown.
I looked at Clint for some sort of guidance but he wasn't any help so I turned to look away from Tony, avoiding his gaze.
"Well?" He said, sounding a little confused.
"I... uh..." I started.
"It's ours." Clint said.
"What?" Tony asked.
"It's a long story, not one for 3am when I should be in bed." Clint said, shooting Tony a glare.
"Fury's orders, not mine, trust me I'd rather be in bed too. Come on Barton, we need to go." Tony said.
I peered over his shoulder and managed to make out the outline of a quinjet through the heavy rain.
"You can't leave me here alone!" I shrieked.
"You'll be okay, C-" Clint started but Tony cut him off.
"Pepper is just about to get off the jet, she's going to drive you home in Clint's truck in the morning." Tony said and I let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank god." I said.
"What, you scared of a little storm?" Tony mocked.
"Don't even think about it Stark." Clint growled, stopping Tony before he could say any more.
"Sorry." Tony said, backing away as he held his hands up.
Pepper appeared a few minutes later and after I had said goodbye to Clint, he and Tony disappeared into the night. I was left feeling sick and Pepper gave me a worried look as she followed me into the kitchen.
"Are you feeling alright?" She asked.
I nodded, not trusting my voice, as I filled a glass of water and drank it all in a matter of seconds.
"You look a little pale, as if you've just seen a ghost. What's going on?" She asked.
"I just... he... last time Clint went out on a big mission it didn't end too well." I said as I looked down, playing with the bottom of my t-shirt.
"He'll be fine, I'm sure." She said, trying to reassure me.
"That's what you said last time." I said with a sigh.
"I... I'm not going to lie to you, nobody can guarantee that they're going to be alright, but this is their job and they know the risks. They all know what they're doing and risk of injury is very low; I don't think this mission is as big or hard as the one before. We just have to hope." Pepper said with a yawn.
"I'll show you to the guest room." I said and she followed me upstairs.
I showed her to the guest room before saying goodnight and heading back to bed. I climbed into bed and laid in the same spot as before but the bed felt a lot bigger without Clint in it, and a lot colder too. I wrapped myself up in the blanket and within a few minutes, I had fallen back to sleep. I was woken by a commotion downstairs, I checked the time, 7:42am, then quickly checked the guest room where Pepper had been sleeping but the room was empty so I quickly made my way downstairs.
"When were you planning on telling us about this place?" A voice demanded.
"I'm too tired to be dealing with your crap right now Tony so cut it out." Another voice said, I recognised it as Clint's.
Tony was about to say something else when I stepped into the kitchen and found everyone stood there; Clint, Tony, Natasha, Thor, Bruce, Steve and Pepper.
"I'm sorry beautiful, did we wake you?" Clint asked as he walked over to me, pulling me into a hug.
"What are they all doing here?" I whispered.
"The mission was a false alarm so we turned round and came home but had to drop Clint back first, so here we are." Tony said coldly.
Pepper scolded him for being rude and slapped his arm but he shrugged it off and turned to me.
"I'm guessing keeping this all a secret was your idea? Because I know damn well Clint wouldn't have kept it from us voluntarily, he's changed since you came around; you have changed him." Tony said, pointing an accusing finger at me.
I frowned, where was all of this coming from?
"Yes it was my idea but it was also a mutual agreement, I wouldn't force Clint to keep it from you guys if he didn't want to. We wanted a space that was just ours, and it's only just been fixed up so that we can stay here, it was a mess before. I don't know where all this talk about me changing Clint has come from because I haven't. Never have I asked him to change anything about himself for me, other than the time when he was drinking heavily, so if you feel he has changed then that is not my fault." I said with a frown.
"Oh as if, I bet you're be-" Tony started but Pepper cut him off.
"I think that is quite enough Tony, you're tired and irritable, is it alright if I take him up to the spare room so he can get some sleep?" Pepper asked, the last part aimed at Clint and I.
"Of course." Clint said quickly after realising I wasn't going to give an answer.
Pepper thanked him before guiding Tony upstairs to the spare room and I turned on my heel, walking out and slamming the front door behind me.
Clint's P.O.V.
When Pepper was walking Tony up the stairs, Abi turned and walked out before slamming the door behind her. A sigh escaped my lips and my eyes scanned the room, the others all looked a little awkward and uneasy. I was about to say something in an attempt to lighten the mood but I was cut off by the sound of an engine roaring to life outside. I ran to the window, the others following behind me, and looked out just in time to see Abi speeding off on the ATV.
"Stay here, I'll be back soon, help yourself to whatever you want and tell Pepper that too, I need to go check on her." I said as I walked towards the door.
The others mumbled responses but I didn't really pay much attention, my focus was on Abi and where she would have gone. I walked out to the barn and saddled up one of the horses before climbing on; it would be a lot faster to go on the horse than on foot, even if it was terrifying to ride a horse without Chloe around. I climbed on the saddle and set off for the place Abi had shown me on the ATV the first time we were here, it took a few minutes but when the clearing came into view I saw the ATV and knew Abi was around here somewhere. I hopped down off of the horse and let it roam a little whilst I looked for Abi, eventually finding her sat up in one of the trees.
"Are you going to get down or do I have to come up there?" I asked.
She didn't respond, just continued to look out across the horizon and I let out a sigh, know what I was knowing to have to do.
"Fine, I'm coming up." I said as I started to climb the tree.
I was a little worried; the last time I had climbed a tree was when I was about 14, I had fallen out the tree and broken my arm. But I didn't let that memory stop me, I needed to make sure Abi was okay.
"Hey." I said as I shuffled out and sat on the branch next to her.
"Hey." She whispered, looking down at her hands.
"Tony is just tired and when he's tired he likes to take it out on whoever he can around him. He knows we won't take any of his crap so you were the only target there but don't take any of it to heart, I'm sure he didn't mean it." I said as I wrapped my arm around her shoulders.
"I just don't understand where it has all come from, I haven't asked you to change a single thing about yourself other than when I asked you to stop drinking so much after we lost the baby and I don't really think that's an unreasonable request. I don't think you've changed since I've known you at least." She said softly as she rested her head on my shoulders.
"I have changed, although it wasn't because you asked me to, and it's because you make me so happy. I'm happy whenever I'm around you and I always want to make you feel as happy and loved as I do, if Tony thinks that change is a bad one then that's his fault." I said with a frown.
"I don't understand him sometimes, some days we get on so well but then some days it's like he hates me. I just don't get it." She said with a sigh.
"That's just Tony, he might look like an adult but he has the mental age of a 5 year old and the mood swings of a teenager." I said, earning a smile from her.
"You got that right." She said, making me chuckle.
"Come on, we had better get back, I'm starving." I said.
"Me too." She said and, as if on cue, both of our stomachs growled.
"How exactly do we get down from here?" I asked, a puzzled look on my face.
"Like this." She said before dropping from the branch, landing elegantly on her feet.
"Last time I jumped out of a tree I broke my arm." I said with a frown, a little worried about jumping out of the tree.
"Do you want me to catch you princess?" She asked with a grin.
"Shut up." I said with a playful glare.
I took a few deep breaths before jumping down out of the tree, rolling as I hit the floor and standing up in front of Abi with a smile on my face.
"Show off." She mumbled, making my smile even wider.
"You still love me though." I said with a grin.
"Always and forever." She said as I wrapped my arms around her and pressed a soft kiss on her forehead.