Chapter Text
Clint tapped a rhythm out on the desk while he waited on the video call connecting. He checked the time on his watch and mentally calculated the time difference. He was just about to give up when his wife’s face appeared on the screen of his tablet. He couldn’t help the giant grin. Laura’s hair was piled on her head in a haphazard bun and a sleepy, pyjama-clad Nathaniel was on one hip, cuddled into her neck. The early morning light was filtering through the farm’s large kitchen windows, making everything seem softer.
“Morning beautiful.”
Laura’s smile matched his while her eyes roved her screen and then checked her own watch. “Good evening honey. You look like shit.”
He chuckled and scrubbed a hand over his face. He was sure that the harsh overhead lighting in his SHIELD bunk was throwing every shadow and line on his face into sharp relief. “Yeah, working for Coulson again means a lot of late nights doing paperwork. How are the kids?”
Laura didn’t look like she believed him for a second but she nodded in agreement anyway. “They’re good. Nathaniel has been sleeping better since we got back from John’s. Cooper and Lila are glad to be back at school with their friends.” She must have seen the guilt flash across his face before he could hide it. “No-no Hawkeye. Don’t you even dare think about it. We’re all fine over here. So you can drop the guilty act.” She admonished good-naturedly. “I mean it.”
“Yes, Mrs Barton.” He replied impishly, but he had the decency to duck his chin a little and look suitably chastised.
From the camera’s vantage point on the kitchen counter, he watched his wife start to make coffee and pull out the fixings for breakfast single-handedly and with practiced ease. It was soothingly normal. As she worked, she kept up her side of the conversation. “That’s much more like it.” She threw him a cheeky wink over her shoulder. “So how are things on base? Cap, Wanda and Sam settling in okay?”
Clint took a deep breath as he considered his answer. Since the Accords had been repealed, the former Avengers’ situation had been precarious. They were no longer wanted criminals, but the public-at-large had no idea what it wanted from them. So in the meantime, they were laying low. Steve, Sam and Clint had signed on to SHIELD as consultants and were living in various bases around the world. After numerous assurances from Coulson and endorsements from the inhuman SHIELD agents on his team, Wanda had joined Clint at the Sandbox. “Yeah they’re getting there. Sam has taken to base-life easy enough. The tech team keep upgrading his gear for him so he’s loving it. I hear that Cap is driving everyone crazy over at the Playground though. He’s got them all running insane drills and the newbies hate him.” He chuckled to himself at some of the choice nicknames the new recruits had come up with.
Laura turned to face the screen with a box of Captain Crunch in-hand, Nathaniel still being bounced on one hip. “What about Wanda? Last time we spoke, you said she wasn’t sleeping.” Concern clouded her features.
Clint smiled at the mother of his kids, both biological and otherwise. “She’s getting there. She’s still avoiding the labs and medical like the plague, but she’s been sitting in on some of the training sessions with the new agents.” He shrugged his shoulders and sighed. “Baby-steps. Maybe by Christmas she’ll be up for joining in.”
Laura hummed in agreement. “Yeah, she’s got plenty of time.”
“Not that much time, honey. It’s less than a month until Christmas.” He looked over at the calendar he had taped to the wall, with Christmas Day ringed messily in red pen. “Twenty-five days, to be exact.” Clint’s face brightened visibly and he looked a decade younger. The shadows under his eyes diminished at the thought of the festive season.
Laura flustered, “Oh shut up. I don’t want to hear it. I’m not even remotely organised.” She chewed her lip thoughtfully for a second before tentatively asking, “You going to make it home for Christmas this year?”
It pulled at his heart to see his wife’s apprehension. He’d missed out on so much over the years, despite his best efforts. He hated that she had to worry about things like that. “Don’t see why not. As long as whatever’s got Thor’s Asgardian space-panties in a bunch doesn’t hit between now and then.”
Laura rapped her knuckles on the wooden counter-top rapidly and glared at him through the screen. “Oh, well done Hawk-ass, you’ve just jinxed it now.” She rolled her eyes before shifting the toddler’s weight more securely on to her hip. “What are the others planning on doing for the holidays?”
“I don’t know. Lang’s going to be with his kid. Nat is still off doing whatever it is she’s doing…” Barton shifted in his seat to cover his growing concern at his partner’s prolonged absence. He threw on a deflective smirk, “Barnes will be stuffing Darce’s stocking on that tropical island of theirs. The others will probably just stay on-base I guess.”
“Well that’s just depressing. What about Stark?” Laura turned to pour herself a coffee and studiously avoided looking at the screen after her remark.
“What about him?” Clint crossed his arms defensively.
At his petulant tone, she turned slightly and raised an eyebrow at him. “Clint, is he going to be holed up in the Stark facility on his own for the holidays?”
He sniffed a little and replied shortly, “He won’t be alone. He’s got Vision and his little Black Book to keep him warm.”
She ignored his sulking with all of the proficiency of a mother of three and continued her line of questioning. “Still no Pepper?” She paused for a response. With none forthcoming, she shrugged and continued. “I take it Bobbi and Hunter have plans too?”
“How would I know?” Clint’s voice had become rather shrill as he got more frustrated with the topic. He cleared his throat embarrassedly and sunk a little into his chair.
Laura didn’t have to look at the screen to predict her husband’s behaviour. “Don’t sulk honey.” She pushed on, “So things aren’t any better between everyone?”
“Nope. And I’m not sulking.”
“Of course you aren’t.” Clint could see the understanding smile on her face, as she spoke softly to Nathaniel for a moment. Then she looked straight at him, face full of warm support. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
Clint’s apprehension melted away in an instant and he threw up a silent prayer to the universe thanking him for his wonderful wife. “As fantastic as I know you are, I don’t think even you could get everyone to pull their heads outta their asses. Not even for Christmas.”
Laura paused as a thought struck her. “Christmas huh? That’s an idea…”
He recognised the expression on his wife’s face. He didn’t like it. “Huh? You’ve got your scheming face on. That face is not my friend. That face means trouble.” Clint waved his hands at the screen in protest.
Laura cackled wildly and was about to reply when they heard Cooper yell from upstairs in their farm house, “Moooommmyyyyyy! Lila shot me!”
“Looks like my diplomatic services are required elsewhere.” Laura huffed out a little sigh.
Clint laughed sadly. “Yeah sounds like it. I’ll call the kids before bed tonight.” They shared a commiserating smile. He hated being away from home and missing even the silly things like defusing sibling fights. “…and then you can fill me in on whatever devious scheme you’re thinking on.”
Laura lifted an eyebrow and smiled serenely. “Not devious, genius. Bye honey. I love you.”
“Love you too.” He winked at his wife and disconnected the call. He got up out of his chair stiffly, stretched a little and then landed face-first, spread-eagled on his bed. He then muffled into his pillow, to no-one in particular, "This is going to end horribly."