NOT AGENT 19.

“If you’re about to ask me about Tony, I have no comment.”

“As much as I know you’re right, it’s just… hard sometimes, you know? Sometimes your brain doesn’t wanna let you move on.”

That earned a smile from Daisy as she shrugged her shoulders at Linda’s words. “That does sound kinda boring. I couldn’t shake the ground when I started either. But I wasn’t an agent for very long before I got my powers.”

“S.H.I.E.L.D. gave me a family. I don’t know, sometimes I feel like maybe I’m making a mistake. And then I look at all of the people that I hurt and just.. it has to be the best decision.”

“I know, I know, I know…” Clint trailed off at his wife’s words as he quickly tried to gather the arrows and gently placed them back into his quiver. His mind had been all over the place recently, along with his memory, but he was trying. “I’m sorry, Laur. I’ve just been.. scrambled.”

After the week he’d had in New York, Clint was more than grateful to be home and with his family. He wasn’t sure how he managed to make it home for Christmas, but somehow he made it a reality. And he even brought a new addition to the family. If you had asked him a week ago how he felt about Kate Bishop, he would have said that she was an irresponsible kid in way over her head. But Kate had more than proved herself in helping him take down the Tracksuits and Maya. Hell, the girl had fought Kingpin all on her own and somehow walked away alive. That alone was impressive.

“She’s a sweet kid,” He agreed, taking a moment to stretch as he yawned and slowly plopped down next to Linda on the bed. He couldn’t help but to smile at her, grateful to finally be home, watch in hand, and safe. Laura, Cooper, Lila, Nathan, they were all okay. Crisis averted. He snorted at his wife’s compliment as he laid back and smiled softly. “Thank you. If I’m being honest I’m not really sure how we pulled it off. But Kate’s good. That helped.”

Linda hummed as she pulled the sheets back on the bed and crawled in. “You know, I could have sworn we’d stop after the last one. Now you’ve found a fourth.” A baby hadn’t been the plan in the beginning. They went from just wanting to be together to a positive test. Then, it happened again. They were done after two. Absolutely no more. Nathaniel had been an accident. Laura would never trade him for the world; the fact that they had a child named after Natasha was all the more special now. He was a good kid. They all were.

“In my defense he was dead when I got here. Now grab his legs, we only have a few minutes to hide the body.”

“Like what? If you don’t mind me asking..”

“I keep trying to tell myself that, but it’s hard. S.H.I.E.L.D. was just.. my whole life, ya know?”

“Careful. I don’t remember if I put my explosive-tip arrows in that bag or not. Or was the acid tipped arrows.. Shit, I dunno.”

“Nope, stop right there. Before you say anything— this is just as confusing for me as it is for you. Scratch that— this is way more confusing for me. So just- don’t say anything stupid, alright?”

“They’re not actual earthquakes coming out of my hands. Technically it’s vibrations.”

“i would never cheat at gin - and frankly i’m offended by the suggestion,” he insists, cards visibly sticking out of the sleeves of his ratty leather jacket.

“you see, history is much more fascinating than you’d expect it to be.”

he hadn’t been back long. it had been long enough that linda felt solid he was actually home for the holiday but still recently enough that the same tired energy that hung around post assignment or mission hadn’t dissipated yet. did she miss it? yes, sometimes. did she want to go back? any consideration of it was dashed when she heard the footsteps of her children or a peal of laughter. her life was good. she liked where she was at no matter how low octane it had become. linda was happy with how things had turned out, even if they had lost people along the way.