beenunmade | for raisedawidow

The television lied.

The Hallmark cards lied.

He was sure his boss and friends had lied as well when it came down to everything.

Father's day was not at all relaxing. Of course, Clint had grown used to the days where he would be woken up from sleep by either Sofiya bouncing on his side of the bed. Or, just recently, the baby monitor going off in Lincoln's room as he started up. He told everyone that he had lucked out when it came to Link. He slept through most of the night. He figured after baby number one, he was a baby pro. Link fell for all of the tricks he learned with Sofi when she was just a couple months old and both he and Nat didn't know what the hell they had gotten themselves into. It seemed to work by the looks of it. Sofi hadn't died yet by some idiotic accident even though Clint was more of an overprotective father than he would have intended to be. Things were double-checked when it came to baby and toddler proofing their home. When he used to have his standard-issued weapon from work carefully locked away in his bedroom closet. The fears of the kids somehow getting into that overtook him to the point where he just left everything explosive, sharp, etc at work now. No one seemed to mind. Clint was a good worker, a little hot-headed. But dedicated enough that they didn't question it.

He didn't expect silence or relaxation on his father's day because he hadn't gotten that from the moment Sofi was born -- and he really couldn't picture life without the loud. It started with breakfast. Green eggs and ham from their favorite bedtime story, Mommy had been the angel who made sure the house didn't burn down and the eggshells weren't cooked into the fluffy, green scrambled eggs. A finger painted picture with letters he assumed meant 'I love you, daddy' but four-year-old scribble was something the four-year-old mind could only read. After she stumbled over what she had written while sitting on his lap in the kitchen, it turned out to actually be the next great American novel with symbols and the sparse letter or two. Lincoln's only gift to him was that he was just laying back, chilling in his favorite spot in the house. A place where there was just enough shade and just enough sun to make it the perfect napping spot. Clint only knew this because when it was his day off and he had the chance to spend it with the children. They napped for about four to five hours in that spot. Sofi curled up against him, using him as a pillow. Lincoln usually safely tucked between his torso and his arm to make sure his boy didn't roll over and hurt himself.

Next was a facebook photo op because they had decided going to the zoo on Father's Day was the best idea in the world. As well as everyone else in town. Sofi and Clint got face-painted by someone who actually could be heckled down when Clint felt like heckling (and there was no way he was spending eight bucks on a face-painting) before they went on their little adventure. Clint and Nat interchanging 'Please don't run away Sofi'. Clint pushing the stroller because he just felt the need too or being pulled away by Sofi who saw one of her friends from the neighborhood and thought since it was Father's Day, she got the opportunity to show off her dad. He was just waiting for when Link got older and the arguments turned to 'my dad can beat up your dad' because he was sure it was possible. He was sort of a badass; which was something he would chuckle as he gloated to his wife. Clint was just glad that this time around, Nat had joined them at the zoo. The last time, Sofi almost managed to talk her dad into trying to steal an otter. Or buy one. There wasn't many things he wouldn't do for her; so he honestly needed Tasha for a buffer. Otherwise they'd be living on the streets with all of Sofi's toys.

Dinner was spent with his brother and his family. Barney's ex-wife had been nice enough to drop off his kids, Edith and Rick. A nice good ole fashioned BBQ before Clint realized all he truly wanted to do was go upstairs and sleep.

It was somewhat ending in his eyes the moment Nat showed up at their bedroom door. Sofi had been put down for the night. Clint was hugging a pillow, not even having bothered to wash off the face-paint yet as he listened to his son's noises over the baby monitor. A little rumble there. A coo here. His breathing somewhat leveling out before Clint pushed his head up, glancing over his shoulder at Nat. "...think 'm too old for this." He was looking forward to vacation from work, however. He was due for it. Staying at home with Sofi, Link, and Nat all day. Potentially giving Nat some time to escape for her own mental health. Possibly managing to get someone babysit for the weekend while they escaped together.

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The Hallmark cards may have lied, but Natasha was glad for it. She wouldn't have accepted anything less than the truth when it came to life. She was a no-nonsense type of woman, despite the fact that she thoroughly enjoyed a good book or a lovely song. Fantasy had its place and reality would always win out. A ballet dancer until her knee had given out in a performance in Moscow, she'd moved to the States to get away from Russia and had come here of all places. Then she'd met Clint when he'd come to her studio. It had been locked since that first time and a whirlwind courtship had taken them to their own little piece of suburbia. She had been living in a perpetual state of exhaustion since Sofi's birth, but it wasn't as if Clint wasn't a fantastic father. He was loving, caring, and more than willing to do his fair share of the work when it came right to it. They were a perfect team, knowing exactly when the other needed a breather, taking up the kids when they got to be just a bit too much for the other.

The zoo had been fantastic, the barbecue good, even if Natasha still didn't care for Barney all that much. It was hard to care for a man who treated his brother the way he did, but she tolerated him for Clint. Edith and Rick were perfectly nice children and she'd just seen the three of them off, put the kids to bed, and come upstairs to meet Clint. She was tired. Looking in, her lips quirked in a smile as she breathed a tiny laugh. Toeing off her shoes and nudging them to the side, too tired to even put them up, she grinned and moved to the bathroom, grabbing a washcloth and wetting it before she stepped back out and knelt on the bed, moving to wash the paint off of Clint's face with a gentle touch.

"Mm. I think you've got a few more years left in you. Besides, you can't leave me alone. I'd find you." she smiled and finished, leaning down to give him a quick soft kiss.

Clint didn't mind the little piece of suburbia they had found themselves in. When they had initially started dating his perceptive on the future went along the lines of: no kids, no suburbia. It helped to make sure that when they finally settled into life -- that Nat was the no-nonsense type of woman while Clint was more carefree. They worked together though. One of his friends at worked had nearly started a betting pool to see how long it would take Nat to chew him up and spit him out; that was before Clint tried to kill him in his sleep. But it ended up being a source of amusement for him. He saw a side of the woman most people didn't get to see and it was that side of her that he fell in love with. He never told anyone else that, however. It was much too sappy for his tastes and he could imagine the brows arching up that he had become that much involved with her. Their relationship was theirs alone in his eyes. No one could touch it. No one needed to know about it.

His head lifted up the moment the bedroom door creaked a bit when Nat had let herself into their room. Not exactly moving to do anything other than that before dropping it back down to the pillow. "I don't. I'm bringing one of those electric wheelchairs from Walmart to the zoo next time we go. The kids could sit in the cart, you can sit on my lap." He laughed to himself before letting her rub the facepaint off. "We can be rednecks. I'll put up the Christmas lights up if you approve of this and invest in a boomstick." He wrapped an arm awkwardly around her, but comfortable in his mind before looking up at her.

Natasha knew her reputation for being a bit of a ball buster. She was a tough teacher, but those who tried, those who put in the work, they were the ones who got the rewards. She hadn't gotten to where she was by slacking off and by not putting in every single second of blood and sweat she had. Clint was every bit of carefree that she wasn't. He was spontaneous and loving and easy in the ways that she was difficult. And they worked.

She listened to him, smirking and shaking her head, her attention mostly on him but listening to the monitor as well. She cleaned the paint off, kissed him, and then she shook her head. "I'm not sure you need another gun." She needed to get out of her daily wear, ready to shuck the nice shirt and capri pants and get into bed. She was tired and he looked completely dead. Unwinding from him, she crawled across the bed to strip off her pants and shirt, finding her sleep set before she slid them over her skin. Before the children, she'd preferred to sleep without anything on. The first emergency had cured that desire and she preferred to keep something on just in case she needed to be up in a flash.

Once she had changed, she put her clothing from the day in the hamper and she grinned over at Clint. "Pajamas. Before I strip you myself."

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