Lost

A Question

"Do you know what they want to talk about?" Clint questioned.
"No." Emilia responded, releasing a stress-filled sigh as she dug through her purse. "What time are we supposed to meet them at the restaurant?"
"Five."
"Am I pissing you off?"
"Yes."
"Want me to stop?"

"If you don't, I might just strangle you with my earbuds." Emilia snapped, tossing the wadded up ball of wires back into her purse. 

"And there's my cue to stop talking." Clint said, backing away from his best friend. 
Emilia hummed and nodded. "Good choice."

She was rightfully irritable as she'd been on the road nonstop since the barbecue back in March, and on her one day off, Bella and Leah decided to invite her and Clint out to dinner since they were in the area. 

Finally, she found what she was looking for and pulled it out with a brief triumphant grin. "All of that, for a necklace?"
"Not just any necklace, Clint. It belonged to my mother, like most of my jewelry. . . The stone is green aventurine, widely used for manifesting good luck. . . Something tells me we'll need it."

-

The four were silent as their food arrived. Emilia was gnawing on the inside of her cheek, nervously waiting for whatever bombshell they were going to drop.

It wouldn't come for another ten minutes. 

"We've decided to have kids. . . Well, a kid for now. . . But we were wondering. . ." Bella trailed off looking to Leah for assistance.

"We were wondering if you'd both consider helping us out, since I'm infertile due to my condition, and Bella would have a high-risk pregnancy. . . You have the right to say no, we won't be mad or anything." Leah finished. 

"Wow. . . Uh, that's not what I was expecting." Emilia laughed nervously. "What do you think, Clint? With work and everything. . ." Emilia trailed off catching his eye with a look of her own that gave him all the direction he needed. 

"I don't think we'd be a good option. . . For starters, we're not together, so that would be a bit awkward." He said, looking back to Emilia. 

"Exactly. . . We're also struggling to make ends meet at the moment. Even with three people paying rent and buying groceries, we're not having the easiest time." Emilia lied smoothly, trying not to hurt their feelings. She was almost twenty-three and not ready for kids yet — if at all anymore. . . Let alone be a surrogate.

The economy was too fucked for what they were asking. 

"Besides, there's also certain things that would need to be in place before we could even consider that for you, like a prior birth with a healthy pregnancy. . ." Emilia finished. 

"We completely understand. We just wanted to see if any family could help us before we asked anyone else." Bella said. 
While she looked understanding, her voice was disappointed. Part of Emilia wished she could help, but with her job's demand, it wouldn't be the best choice at all. 

-

"That was certainly something." Clint said once they got back to the apartment. 

Emilia laughed lightly. 
"You're telling me? My cousin and her wife just asked us to create their child and we had to find a way around that to decline it without totally hurting their feelings."

"Sounds like both of you had an interesting evening." Natasha concluded making her presence known. 

"That's the understatement of the century." Clint mumbled, immediately going to the fridge to look for something to eat since the portions at dinner had been small.

Nat chuckled and slid a pint of Cherry Garcia over the counter, causing it to land in Emilia's awaiting hand. "You're a lifesaver."

"I know. . . Hey, something came for you. I put it on your bed."
Emilia looked at her confused for a moment then nodded. "Okay, thanks."

I know this was random as fuck, but as the timeline goes, Rigor Mortis (any 🐀 in the house???) Wouldve been born by now, and of course even though Bella and Leah were married in like 2007 they've been married for a few years. Went and did some traveling. Now they want to start a family, which is understandable.