Just A Normal Kid

Chapter 20

Rosie woke up to Tony gently shaking her shoulders. "Wakey, wakey! We're here. Well... wherever's here. Up and at 'em, short-stack."

She grumpily batted his hands away, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. The last couple of days had been quite taxing and she was hungry, filthy and tired from her bout with the Hulk. The prospect of getting a warm meal and a change of clothes at the farmhouse was the only reason why she rolled out of the blankets and got to her feet. She was the last to leave the Quinjet, bringing up the rear in the line of Avengers that Clint was leading towards his house.

"Honey," Clint called out. "I'm home."

Laura appeared from the kitchen, her face breaking into a confused, but welcome smile when she saw them. "Hi. Company," Clint leaned down to kiss his wife. "Sorry I didn't call ahead." Turning to the team, he said, "Gentlemen, this is Laura."

They took her appearance in with varying degrees of dawning comprehension. Tony gave her a small, awkward, wave while Steve's face scrunched up in thought as he absorbed this new piece of information about his teammate. Rosie had to stifle a laugh at all the awkwardness in the room, thanks to the four men who seemed rooted to the floor with no idea of what to do. She pushed past Thor, who was blocking her way like a brick wall and gave Laura a hug, mindful of her bulging stomach. "Sorry for barging in in on you guys."

"Yeah, we would have called ahead, but we had no idea that you existed," Tony quipped. "Not that I blame you, Barton. Must be nice to have a little retirement plan." He looked around at the soft colours and comfy furniture, giving the room a homey feel. "Nice place, though. Props to the missus, I presume?"

They were interrupted by the thumping of footsteps on the stairs and the kids ran in, enthusiastically greeting Clint with cries of 'Dad!' Tony's eyes nearly bulged out of his head in surprise and he gave Rosie an accusatory 'you-knew-about-this' look.

She shrugged. Hadn't been her secret. It was Clint's choice to keep his family separate from SHIELD and the Avengers and it was up to him to make the decision of revealing them.

By this time, the kids had finished greeting their father and had turned their sights to her. A joint cry of "Cousin Rosie!" was the only warning she got before two kids knocked into her at full speed, nearly sending her sprawling with the force of their combined hug.

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Rosie felt a lot more human and up to playing with the kids once she had a hot shower and was dressed in a set of Laura's pre-pregnancy shirt and jeans. She kept them entertained so that Clint could get a break before he kept his promise of teaching Cooper how to fix the porch railing.

Rosie settled down on the front steps, breathing in the fresh air that was considerably less polluted than in New York. She tried to use the time to get her thoughts in order and figure out what Ultron was trying to do, but was interrupted by an argument breaking out between Steve and Tony who had been chopping wood.

She couldn't hear what they were saying, but it was obvious from both of their body language that they were on edge. The duo would undoubtedly end up saying things they didn't mean and reopen the rift between them that had been slowly healing over the last few months.

She had to get them away from each other A.S.A.P. "All right. That's enough. Tony, Laura was saying something about the tractor giving them trouble. Why don't you go talk to her about it?"

He gave her a searching look. "Fine." Just before he left, Tony jabbed a finger at Steve and said, "Don't take from my pile."

Rosie could see Steve physically restrain himself from rolling his eyes at Tony's back. "You're not out of the wrong either, Steve," she told him. "I thought we'd come to the conclusion that Ultron wasn't Tony's fault?"