It's only been a short time since Lacey Williams grandfather died, leaving her his ramshackle home in a remote rural area. The last thing she expected to find was an injured fugitive hiding in the garage. His soft spoken manner conflicts with ever...
It didn't take long for Lacey to tell Laura Barton everything. Her calm and kind nature impressed Lacey immediately as did her assurance that if Lacey stayed there long enough to have her baby that they would both be looked after. After being stressed while trying to stay safe and worrying about the future of her baby it felt good to have a motherly type looking out for her.
Her own mother hadn't been helpful when Lacey returned home to Wilmington, Pennsylvania for her brother's funeral. Still blaming Lacey for not preventing her brother Tom from leaving had caused a rift between her mother and herself. Even the presence of her oldest brother Terry and her sister Nancy hadn't tempered her mother's anger at her. Nancy had been sympathetic but because of her own emotional issues over her divorce wouldn't stand up to their mother. Terry, who had brought his entourage with him told her to stop being a selfish brat and apologize. As soon as Tom was buried Lacey packed up and left, leaving a note for her mother that made it clear they had nothing more to discuss. She drove to Philadelphia, rented her furnished bachelor apartment and sold her car, discarding the last piece of property that could be legally linked to her.
She poured all of this out to Laura Barton in the day after her arrival in a catharsis that seemed to last for hours. Laura listened patiently realizing that Lacey had kept this bottled up for weeks. She was exactly what Lacey needed, a sympathetic ear with no connection to her, who wouldn't judge her for things out of her control. Once Lacey had it out of her system she found her fears subsided and she was able to look forward to staying on the Barton farm for the near future.
The following day Clint landed the quinjet on the farm and brought the rest of the Avengers inside the house after the disaster of their mission in South Africa. As Laura came out and was introduced to the team Lacey held back for several minutes before coming out of her room and down the stairs.
"Hey guys," she said, raising her hand in greeting. "Surprise."
Natasha and Steve hugged her affectionately while the others expressed astonishment at finding her there.
"She needed a safe place to hide while we went on our mission," said Clint. "This place is off the books so I offered to hide her here with my family. You can still stay here Lacey, as long as you need to."
"Thanks, Clint," replied Lacey. "I'll consider that. I talked Laura's ear off yesterday and I wouldn't be surprised if she's already had enough of me."
"You can stay as long as you want," repeated Laura. "You needed to unload and I was happy to listen."
As the others milled around and Lacey looked closely at their faces she realized that something disturbing had happened to the team. Thor left almost immediately and Steve went outside to work off his frustration by splitting logs. Tony joined him and she watched from the steps as no one else seemed willing to tell her what had happened. Even Clint was unusually quiet about what went down, telling only Laura. When Laura asked Tony to get their tractor working Lacey approached Steve.
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