|| LONGING || EDITTING

|| Chapter Thirty - Six ||

Walking into the house, Arizona looked around - taking in every drop of comfort Clint had made for himself. In a way, Arizona was envious of his life, of his family, "I'll be back, gotta put the kid to bed," Clint said in a hushed whisper before disappearing up the stairs.

Arizona gulped, looking back at the door as she felt the urge to run, "Would you like a drink?" Laura offered kindly, Arizona looked at her with a tense expression before vaguely nodding, "Is water okay? The kids aren't allowed fizzy drinks until lunch,"

"Sure," Arizona replied quietly, the second Laura left the room, said redhead started heading toward the door and opened it, she walked out onto the porch to look over Clint's farm and furrowed her brows at how tranquil it was - almost as if it was too good to be true.

"Nice place, huh?" Clint said, Arizona whipped around in fear before gulping, nodding, and looked away, "Yeah, Laura and I wanted something remote and this was the perfect place," He put a hand on her shoulder, "Being away from Tony for a few days is going to be hard and spending time with a family you don't know besides me will be even harder, but I promise you, we're a likeable family that you'll get along with,"

Arizona nodded, fiddling with her fingers, "Okay," She muttered before tucking her hair behind her ears, "So, we gonna get why I'm actually here, out of the way?"

Clint grimaced, "I guess so," He cringed before directing her inside, where two kids stood, he smiled at them and Arizona looked at the interaction wistfully, "Zona," He pointed to each kid as he said their name, "Cooper, and Lyla,"

They both shyly waved at Arizona and said girl waved back, "Guys, can you go play upstairs, please?"

Copper pouted, "But Cat got angry at us for messing around with her old toys,"

Clint sighed, "Did she ask you two nicely to not play with her toys?"

Lyla's eyes widened, "Well, yeah! But, she doesn't even play with them anymore! She says she's too old!"

"Go and apologise to her and ask her nicely one more time, if she says no then you accept that, okay?"

"Okay," His kids pouted before heading up the stairs.

Arizona furrowed her brows, "Cat?"

Clint looked down at Arizona, "Tell you what, we get this shitty topic over with and then you can spend the rest of tonight and tomorrow getting to know the others, yeah?"

Arizona shrugged, taking a seat, not thinking much of the familiar name, "Okay, so, why did Tony suddenly question his life when I told him I had to have Peter's babies?"

He chuckled, Laura sitting beside him, "Arizona, sweetie," Laura started, "You don't have to have kids if you're married to someone, never, it's something you can decide to do it or not,"

Clint pinched his brows together, "How is it that," He jutted his head forward, "You and Peter are married?"

"He showed me a video," She replied innocently, "We were five, I think..."

Laura 'Oh'd' and hit Clint who also seemed to understand as they grinned at each other, "Baby wedding," They chuckled together then looked at her, Clint shaking his head, "Arizona, you're not actually married to him,"

Arizona gave him a wounded expression, "I'm not married?"

Laura almost instantly slapped Clint's chest as his eyes widened seeing Arizona's disappointment, "No, no, no, you are!" He enquired then squinted his eyes, "Just - just not in the same way as us,"

She furrowed her brows, grasping her head in a bewildered moment, "Why is there a difference, oh my, God, what the hell?"

Seeing that her mind was blown and how uncomfortable they were going to get, Clint stood up after hitting his thighs with his hands, "Right, break time,"

He walked away in a rush and Laura called for Clint but he had disappeared, Laura scoffed, shaking her head before looking at Arizona, "Are you hungry?" Arizona nodded silently, "I'll go make your lunch," Laura walked into the kitchen and Arizona was quick to follow her, watching Laura make numerous sandwiches as though it was second nature. Laura glanced up, "You okay?" She asked, cutting up some cucumber for Cat's sandwich.

Arizona nodded once more, watching carefully as to how Laura was making two sandwiches, "Can I help?" She asked reluctantly.

Laura smiled at her, "Sure," Walking up beside Laura and grabbing the knife said woman handed to her, Arizona looked down and grew confused, watching as Laura cut the sandwich in half, Laura looked over and saw Arizona's struggle, "You cut four slices," The redhead looked up at Laura and she smiled, "You know what? You go give this to Cat and I'll finish making the lunch, okay?"

Arizona grabbed the plate, about to walk out before turning back to Laura, "Who is Cat?"

Laura looked up and smiled, "She's our adopted daughter," She tilted her head to the side, "Biologically Clint's neice, she's recently turned sixteen, and she's a bit like you,"

The said girl scoffed, "I don't think anyone's remotely close to being like me,"

"She is," Laura stated before nodding to the door and Arizona left with a confused expression.

Walking up the stairs, Arizona's eyes kept a trail on the faces in the pictures, she looked down the hallway and instantly became alarmed by the darkened door at the end, Lyla and Cooper came running by, Cooper crashing into Arizona who dropped the plate but was quick enough to catch it, Cooper and Lyla froze all looking at each other with wide eyes, "I'm so sorry," Cooper said.

Arizona gulped, "It's okay, Little Human," She replied before standing up straight, "I caught it," She then pointed to the almost black door, "Is that Cat's door?" The siblings nodded frantically and Arizona began to walk toward it.

"Cat's not used to people she doesn't know," Lyla whisper - yelled, Arizona turned around with a curious look, "She'll hide in the shadows if you scare her," She added before Cooper shoved her, making Lyla whip around and hit him back before Cooper ran away, calling for his mother, "He started it, Mommy!" Lyla yelled, running after him.

Arizona smiled enviously, then turned back to knock on the door, she waited patiently, rocking back and forth before knocking again. The door opened and before either one could say something their eyes connected and they remembered exactly what sparked a sudden familiarity in one another, Clint raised his head to face the ceiling after hearing a plate smash, Cat's eyes widened, "Zo-Bo..."

"Ren-bear...?"