A mile in my shoes

Chapter 04

Laura sat at the table for quite some time looking at him as if he was growing a second head in front of her very eyes. Perhaps it wasn't far off. The outside was all Clint but she knew now that it wasn't him, it was Stark. She was taking it all a lot better than he expected. Tony didn't really know what to do. Even with his crazy life, that was a first, even for him.

"Laura?" He asked slowly.

"Yeah. It takes a minute."

"Yeah I guess so."

Laura finally emerged from her thinking and asked him a couple of questions to confirm it was really Stark sitting there. They had talked briefly in the barn during the events of Ultron if memory served but that conversation hadn't been that long. Proving a negative was the hardest thing. They tried as best as they could anyway.

"Do you think Clint is in your body right now?"

Laura was half hopeful, half worried that it would actually be the case. She didn't have that much trust in Clint apparently. Tony told her he had contracted his AI discreetly. Friday was keeping an eye on him. The genius was trying to explain to her that the situation was tricky. As soon as Clint would have put his mind around it, he would contact Laura. Tony had no doubt about that. Of course, Clint would want to protect his wife and children from anybody in those circumstances. Tony would never do anything against them or take advantage of the situation. She had to believe that. Clint was a smart man. They would find a way to reverse whatever that was that changed their souls from their bodies. But obviously, it would take some time to fight whatever they needed to fight to get back to their normal life.

Laura thought it would be best to tell the children straight away. It wouldn't be fair to them to believe that Tony was their father. The genius could end up to be the worst parental figure in the world or even the best. Either way, it wouldn't be honest to Clint in the long run. Children weren't as oblivious as the adults wanted to believe them to be. That was a risk they weren't willing to take, neither of them.

"Do you want to be alone with them when it happens?" Asked Tony.

"Actually, no. I'm not sure how to explain all that in the first place and I will take all the help I can." Answered Laura tired beyond words.

"How about we get a nice dinner ready and then we talk about all that with them. I don't think bombarding them with that straight away like I did with you will help."

If Laura still had doubts that he wasn't Clint, standing here in front of her, to see the man cooking would have been it. A second part of the shock came, washing over her. The famous Tony Stark was cooking pasta in her kitchen on her little farm in the middle of nowhere. That day would not stop being weird.

Lila and Cooper both had activities after school. Science clubs actually. Laura had to go fetch them. The farm was in a pretty remote location and the school quite far. Clint was never there in the first place and Laura had to be gone all the time. How could the farm make any money like that? Shield was probably providing quite a lot. What was the salary of an agent of Barton's calibre? Clint and Laura's deal didn't seem really fair to the mother.

The children were excited coming back home telling their mother all about their days as they were all entering the house. Tony smiled to himself in the kitchen just listening to their blabbering. That sounded like a real family, not that the genius knew too much about what that felt. As soon as they entered the room, everything stopped abruptly. Tony turned around to find the kids looking at the man who was meant to be their father there. Something was wrong and they knew it.

"Mum?" Asked Lila.

"Sit down, kids. We have to talk." Said Laura, understanding that there was no delaying that conversation anymore.