Chapter 85: Back in Iowa

A/N: Clint Barton POV~

-x-X-x-

“Alright munchkins, head back inside and get washed up before dinner!”

As his son and daughter both hurry inside the farmhouse after hours of play, Clint Barton watches them go with a smile on his face. Then, after they’ve disappeared through the screen door, he turns and begins cleaning things up. The smile on his face remains, but it definitely gains a melancholic edge to it, once he’s alone.

… He’s not upset that he’s retired now. It had always been in the cards for him. Hell, Laura had retired first with Fury’s blessing after giving SHIELD years and years of service. Clint’s intention had always been to follow after her, but SHIELD had needed him… the world had needed him. Or so he’d thought. Nowadays, he found himself doubting some things.

Not Fury himself, of course. No matter what SHIELD turned out to be, Nick Fury was one of the good ones. He proved that when he arranged for the Barton Farmstead to be off of SHIELD’s files, keeping it away from even their supposed allies. And thank fucking god that the late Director had done so too. Sure, Tony Stark had still somehow figured out that his family was out here and stationed two ancient Super Soldiers in the next farm over with Clint being none the wiser, but HYDRA never had a clue, and that… that was something to be grateful for.

Hell, Tony himself was something to be grateful for, he was forced to admit. Not only had the man kept Clint’s secret, but he’d also saved Clint’s life when HYDRA decided to finally put a hit on him. He’d had him spirited away to safety, and then taken down all of HYDRA for good measure. If it wasn’t for Tony Stark, Clint might not have gotten to go home to his family like he had.

… Even still, part of him was still left wondering what was in it for Stark. Power? Influence? The man was all but the defacto leader of the World Security Council now, wasn’t he? And those Insight Helicarriers were up there in space last Clint had heard, under the control of Stark’s AI. It reminded him of the few conversations he’d been party to between Fury and Coulson all the way back in o-eight and o-nine. About what Stark was up to. About how impossibly opaque his plans were.

Clint had always just taken it to be above his paygrade. Now, he supposed it really was since he was retired and didn’t HAVE a paygrade anymore. It wasn’t like Stark had declared himself Supreme Dictator of the World or anything. He was in charge, sure, but he wasn’t the only one in charge. That would just have to be enough, Clint fig-

“Hey Clint.”

Freezing mid-thought, Clint Barton slowly turns around to stare rather blankly at the woman who’s managed to sneak up on him. Except it can’t be. Because Natasha Romanoff is dead and has been dead for two years now. So she can’t be standing thirty feet away giving him that crooked smile.

Dressed in a leather jacket, a white shirt, and blue jeans, Natasha looks good… really good. She looks especially good with the baby girl in the crook of her arm with her hip slightly cocked out to support the weight. Still.

“… I must be more conflicted about how everything went down than I thought I was, if I’m hallucinating you Nat. The baby’s a weird bit though.”

Natasha sighs and shakes her head.

“Not a hallucination, Clint. I’m really here. Tony helped me fake my death. Helped me get away from HYDRA… and SHIELD.”

The baby is weirdly quiet as she clings to the jacket Natasha is wearing and stares at him. Clint stares back, because focusing on the baby is easier than focusing on what Natasha just said to him. Until it hits him.

“Is that…”

“She is. Mine, that is. She’s my daughter. Anastasia Romanoff. Ana for short.”

Clint turns the name over in his head briefly. He opens his mouth… and then closes it without saying a word. Natasha gives him an apologetic smile.

“I never told you how much I wanted to be a mother, did I? Never really got the chance. We worked well together, but in the end SHIELD sent me on to work under Stark and our relationship somewhat stagnated.”

Reaching up, Natasha offers little Anastasia her finger. The baby girl curls one of her hands around it.

“That was the thing I think I hated Dreykov and the Red Room the most for. Not all of the missions they sent me on. Not all of the killing they had me do. It was what they took from me. My future.”

Clint tilts his head to the side.

“Is that what Stark offered you for your loyalty, Nat? A future?”

She doesn’t try to deny it. Just smiles sadly and nods.

“He healed me, Clint. And when the time came, he helped me fake my own death and slip away so I could have Anastasia. But… it was more than that. The bomb failed. Dreykov lived. His daughter too. And the Red Room continued.”

His eyes widen slightly at that. He might not have known how badly Natasha wanted a family, but he did know how hard it was for her to pull the trigger that day. To find out they hadn’t even succeeded…

“Tony helped me deal with that too. Dreykov had developed chemical mind control for the newest generation of Black Widows. We dispersed an antidote through the Red Room Academy and took the entire place down. Dreykov is dead now. His daughter has been healed and is living a quiet life somewhere far, far from me. I even got my sister back. I got a lot of surrogate sisters back. A lot of surrogate daughters. I have a big family to look after now… but Anastasia and Yelena are mine. Completely mine.”

Clint soaks all of that in. He turns over Natasha’s every word in his head. He wonders, briefly, what he might have done in her shoes. Can’t really compare their experiences all things considered. He’s not a woman. But he is a father. He thinks about what he would be willing to do for his family. And he thinks about how SHIELD used Natasha. Sure, she was an enemy agent… and that was precisely why she would never have just been allowed to retire easily. Not like Clint.

In the end… it’s not his place to judge. Really, he’s just happy she’s alive.

“We were about to sit down for dinner. Care to join us?”

Smiling softly, Natasha looks to the farmhouse for a moment and nods.

“I think Ana and I would like that very much.”

As they begin walking towards the farmhouse together, Clint presents a finger to little Ana as well, whistling lowly when she latches on and gives him a harsh tug that almost makes him stumble. Strong kid. But rather than comment on that, he raises an eyebrow at Natasha.

“That sister of yours going to join us? Yelena, you said?”

Here, Natasha just smiles and shakes her head.

“I don’t think so. She did come with me, but only because she insisted on getting the chance to meet the Winter Soldier living just down the road.”

Clint stops mid-step at that, slowly turning to Natasha.

“Winter Soldier.”

His flat delivery has Natasha blinking, and then wincing.

“You didn’t know? Bucky Barnes, Steve Roger’s friend… he was also the Winter Soldier for the last seventy or so years before Tony captured him and managed to free him from HYDRA’s mind control.”

Clint’s mouth opens and closes at that a few times as he processes that new tidbit of information.

“… Captain Carter just said he’d been on and off of cryostasis while his ‘handlers’ had him doing missions. Jesus Christ.”

Giving him an indignant look, Natasha reaches over and playfully punches him in the shoulder.

“Language, Clint. There are children present.”

She says it teasingly, and yet her daughter is staring at her intensely in a way that makes Clint very aware of the infant girl’s presence. Still…

“Tony freed him, you say?”

“Yep. No more Winter Soldier. Just Bucky Barnes.”

“… So is your sister going to be happy with what she finds when she pays him a visit?”

Natasha hums as they begin walking towards the farmhouse again. Her head moves this way and that, even as she holds darling little Ana at her side.

“… I figure it’s a coin flip. But Yelena knows how to play nice. So it should turn out fine, in the end.”

-x-X-x-

Sitting in the living room of his farmstead, Bucky finds himself glowering at nothing and everything as it gets later and later and the sun sets on the horizon. Steve should have been back by now. Especially since two sets of hands should have made for lighter work. But Bucky knew better than most that two sets of hands could only prolong a task when those hands were occupied with their owners instead of the job that needed doing.

After one last extended moment of glowering, Bucky just sighs. In truth… he’d tacitly given his blessing to Sharon Carter to pursue a relationship with Stevie just a few days ago. At first when it had become obvious that the SHIELD Agent was sticking around despite HYDRA having finally been dealt with, Bucky hadn’t been too thrilled.

But she HAD been pulling her own weight around the farm, not just lounging around and leaving him and Steve to do all the work, so Bucky had ultimately let it lie. And when it became obvious that his best friend and the blonde woman were getting close… he’d decided that was for the best too.

Despite what Laura Barton might have thought, neither he nor Stevie were gay. They were best friends and brothers in all but blood, but both of them very much preferred dames over each other. For Bucky, he’d had his fair share of lady friends before enlisting and heading to Europe to fight in the war. For Steve, he’d had Peggy Carter… in his heart if not in his arms.

Was it a little weird that the first woman he truly hit it off with since waking up from the ice was Peggy’s grandniece? Maybe a little, but who was Bucky to judge? After everything Bucky had been through, he wasn’t looking for love. He wasn’t looking to subject some unlucky dame to someone like him with as much baggage as he had. Stevie was different though. He was a romantic at heart and always would be.

Maybe Sharon Carter would be what he was looking for. Maybe she wouldn’t. If not, Bucky would be there to step in and-

Eyes widening, his hand snaps up as he catches a throwing knife out of midair mere inches from striking him right between the eyes. He barely has time to register it as of Russian make before he’s throwing himself out of the chair and into a roll, dodging the next two knives in the set of three and cursing.

Where was JARVIS? How had someone managed to get the drop on the ever-watchful AI?

Rising to his feet, Bucky quickly locates his opponent… and his eyes widen as he sees a blonde woman in a Black Widow suit, giving him a wide, toothy grin.

“Soldat.”

Russian for Soldier. Bucky narrows his eyes and makes his decision, right then and there. He doesn’t flee. He doesn’t go for help. He doesn’t do anything other than attack. Launching himself at the Widow who’s somehow infiltrated his home, he leaps over the coffee table, lunges over the couch… and manages to tackle the surprised young woman to her back.

Clearly, she wasn’t expecting him to be so fast, or strong, or decisive. She reacts slowly, trying to use her smaller stature and greater flexibility to slip out from under him and escape. Bucky isn’t having it though. He brings the knife he initially caught towards her neck, intending to kill her right then and there. She sees it coming though and hits his hand at exactly the right spot to not only deflect the strike but send the blade skittering out of his grasp.

Then, she manages to scramble out from under him, much to Bucky’s consternation. The knife has slid under the couch, but that doesn’t mean he can’t still neutralize her. He’ll just have to use his bare hands instead.

The excited smile on the Widow’s face grows for a moment… before she glances to his arm and it drops.

“… Where is your metal arm, Soldat?”

Growling at the title, Bucky flexes both of his flesh and blood hands, ready and eager to get back to fighting. Still, he does snarl out an answer.

“Replaced it. Fuck HYDRA, fuck Russia, fuck communism, and fuck your Red Room too for good measure.”

There, that should be enough to cover whatever he needed to really piss her off. Though to Bucky’s honest confusion, the Widow doesn’t get angry. Actually… she pouts of all things.

“But the arm was the coolest thing about you, Soldat! It set you apart from the other Super Soldiers! It made you unique!”

… What the fuck was she talking about? Who the hell was this chick? What sort of Black Widow acted like this?

Before Bucky can retort, a familiar British voice finally fills the room.

“Apologies for not speaking up sooner, Sergeant Barnes, but I judged you to have the situation mostly under control. Still, it behooves me to inform you now that the woman you currently face off against is the Yelena Belova, sister to Natasha Romanoff.”

What? Bucky looks up at the ceiling incredulously, while Yelena’s pout only grows as JARVIS continues.

“My understanding of the situation is that she is trying to ‘make friends’ the only way she knows how.”

A mighty huff from his momentary opponent draws Bucky’s eyes back to her as the blonde Widow crosses her arms over her chest.

“Take all the fun out of it, why don’t you? Fuck it, what do you have to eat around here?”

Bucky watches, rather nonplussed as Yelena Belova wanders off into his kitchen without so much as a ‘by your leave’.

… What the fuck just happened?

-x-X-x-

A few minutes later and they’re on either side of the kitchen island, with Yelena eating a hastily put together sandwich and talking between bites.

“… so when I heard that Stark had used his Capitalism Powers to turn the Winter Soldier into an American, I figured I’d see how much your skills had deteriorated in the meantime. You surprise me. You still have that killer instinct, Soldat.”

Arms crossed over his chest, Bucky mulls over Yelena’s explanation for a moment… before shaking his head.

“Don’t call me that. Also, you’re an idiot. I was born American. I was a US Soldier before Russia took me and brainwashed me into their assassin. All Stark did was free me from their influence.”

Yelena pouts, muttering something under her breath about ‘not being an idiot’ as he explains. But she perks up at that last part.

“Ah! I was half-right then! Stark used his Capitalism Powers to turn you back! He did the same for me and my fellow Widows when he shut down the Red Room. He freed us all from Dreykov’s mind control.”

Taking a great big bite of her sandwich, Yelena speaks with her mouthful.

“We h’ve m’re in common th’n not.”

… Maybe. But Bucky wasn’t about to agree with this little blonde gremlin who had attacked him in his home, ransacked his pantry, and was now talking about Tony Stark and motherfucking Capitalism Powers.

Unfortunately, before he can finally get around to kicking Yelena the fuck off his property, the front door finally opens. The sun has long set and the feminine giggling immediately causes Bucky’s hackles to raise, even as he and Yelena silently watch a very amorous Steve and Sharon shuffle away from the farmhouse’s front door and into the wide entrance that leads into the kitchen.

The blonde SHIELD Agent and blond Super Soldier are quite entangled with one another, though at least all of their clothes are still on. They only stop kissing when they realize they’re being watched, however. Pulling apart, they freeze up as they find themselves under the watching gazes of not just Bucky, but also a newcomer.

“Uh… h-hey Buck, didn’t think you’d still be up. Who’s… the guest?”

Refusing to so much as uncross his arms, Bucky just grunts.

“Yelena Belova. Natasha Romanoff’s sister.”

Eyes light up with recognition as Yelena, half-eaten sandwich in one hand, raises her other hand and gives a wiggling finger wave at the newcomers. Steve and Sharon both stare for a moment… and then Sharon whispers something in Steve’s ear that Bucky can’t quite catch despite his enhanced hearing.

Whatever she says, he knows he doesn’t like it given the way it makes Steve perk up and brighten.

“Well now, Yelena! Welcome to the farm! Our home is your home and don’t mind Bucky here, he’s just a bit of a grouch. You let me know if he’s not a good host, alright? I’ll set him straight for you! In the meantime, Sharon and I will be upstairs if you need anything!”

Bucky watches, nonplussed, as Steve proceeds to bodily lift Sharon up into his arms, her arms and legs wrapping around him as he carries her up the stairs. Seriously?

Once they’re out of sight, he slides his blank gaze back over to Yelena, all but daring her to take Steve up on his offer. They would never find her body. But instead of looking amused, the Widow has this disgruntled look on her face, her nose wrinkled as she stares after the departed blondes.

“… That was Captain America?”

Raising an eyebrow, Bucky shrugs.

“Yeah.”

“… He’s kind of an idiot, isn’t he?”

Bucky pauses and considers that for a long moment. On the one hand, Stevie is his best friend. He should defend him. On the other hand…

“Yeah. Yeah, he is.”

The Widow settles in to keep eating her sandwich after that. And Bucky just leans back, watching her and trying to decide how to best kick her out without invoking Stevie’s ‘wrath’.

Luckily the farmhouse rooms are soundproofed, or he’s pretty sure they’d be hearing distinct thumping noises right now. Thank fucking God for small mercies…

-x-X-x-

A/N: Tying up loose ends here. Steve/Sharon paired off, and also Bucky/Yelena totally get together later off-screen. Maybe a couple more deadly 'spars' first tho.