Chapter 32

A/N: GUYS. WE PASSED 200 REVIEWS I CAN'T BELIEVE IT. I'm seriously so overwhelmed by all of the love and support, you people blow me away. The encouragement you guys give me overshadows the occasional rude review or personal message I get and motivates me to keep writing my best. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

xXxXx

"What?" Lena spluttered, looking up at Clint like he had two heads. "My house? My house? What does that even mean?" She looked between the house and Clint quickly, confusion etched all over her features. "I don't understand."

Clint chuckled, squeezing her hands and warming them for her as the snow continued to lightly fall around them. He couldn't help but think how adorable she looked when she was all twitchy and confused.

"It's yours," Clint said, gesturing to the house. "The house. It belongs to you."

"No it doesn't," Lena said incredulously, seeming appalled. "I don't… I don't own a house!"

Clint just chuckled, staring her down to see how long it would take for her to catch on. She continued to look between him and the house, her face drawn together as her mouth opened and closed with little spluttering sounds. He could practically see the gears turning in her head, and when realization dawned on her she froze.

Lena looked back at Clint with her jaw dropped and eyes blown wide.

"You didn't," she said slowly in complete shock.

"I did." Clint grinned.

"You did not!"

"Oh but I did."

"Clint!" Lena shouted. "You… you bought me a house?!" She could hardly form coherent words, she was so overcome by disbelief.

"Technically it's a farm," Clint said with a shrug. Lena scoffed, making little ridiculous noises of surprise. "Come on, I wanna show you the inside."

Lena was still spluttering as Clint took one of her hands and led her up the stairs of the front porch and through the unlocked front door. Once they were inside, he dropped her hand and closed the door shut behind them. Lena stared in open-mouthed shock at the interior of the house.

"It needs some work," Clint said offhandedly as he watched her reaction carefully. "I want to redo some of the flooring, maybe paint some of the walls. Whatever color you want really, it doesn't matter to me. And we can refurnish the kitchen, and anywhere else. I was thinking that…"

Clint continued to ramble, but Lena didn't hear him. Her eyes were wide and her body lax as she walked further into the house. It was beautiful. To her right she could see a big living room, and to her left there was a dining room and a kitchen that was the perfect size for a small family. There was a set of stairs leading up to the bedrooms, and another parlor on the first floor. The foyer was wide and spacious, all the flooring and walls made out of sturdy wood framing.

"It's perfect," she whispered while Clint was still rambling about all of the little projects he wanted to do.

Clint quieted, watching as Lena ran her hand over one of the walls. A small, almost unnoticeable smile quirked up the corners of her mouth as she continued to survey the house. And it was perfect. It was everything she had dreamed of.

"You like it?" Clint asked softly, finally getting Lena's attention again. She turned around to face him and laughed breathlessly.

"Like it?" She echoed. "Clint, I love it. But I'm still so confused."

"After New York," Clint began to explain, stepping closer to her. "I asked you what you wanted. And you told me you wanted this. A house, a normal life. I promised I would give that to you." He gently pushed her hair back away from her face as Lena stared up at him in awe. "And now I have. This place is yours."

Lena let out a dry chuckle, shaking her head. "Clint you can't just buy me a house," she rasped. "This is crazy."

"Yeah, it probably is," Clint shrugged. "But I'm crazy about you, so it's fitting. In New York, after you took off, I started working on this. I knew that you would be coming back, I just didn't know when. And I wanted to be able to give this to you. To show you that you can stay, with me. That we can find a way to be normal together."

"But – but you have SHIELD. And I have to do my part to protect the people here too, and there's always–"

"We'll find a way to make it work," Clint interrupted, taking her face gently in his hands. "I'm not saying I want us to get married and have kids right now or anything like that, I am sometimes realistic."

Lena chuckled. "Only sometimes though."

Clint grinned. "I'm just saying that when we are off from our respective world saving duties, we have this to come back to. Fury helped me set it up, it's completely safe. Off the grid, nobody will know that we have this and try to use it against us."

"Fury helped you?" Lena asked. "Does he know this is for the two of us? I figured he hated me now."

"Actually, he admires you," Clint replied, making Lena's eyes widen in surprise. "Nobody's ever quit SHIELD and then yelled in the Director's face before. He thinks you're a badass."

"Well," Lena shrugged her shoulders with a coy grin. "He's not wrong there."

Clint smiled, looking down at Lena fondly. He couldn't believe just how much he loved her. It was beyond his comprehension. He would do anything and everything for her, all she had to do was ask. And Lena knew that, and yet all she wanted was him.

"We'll keep our places in DC," Clint finally said. "But whenever we have time off together, I want this house to be a place for us. For me and you, and nobody else."

Lena took a deep breath, averting her eyes. She was beyond overwhelmed

"Clint, it's… it's too much," she rasped.

"No, it's not," he replied firmly. "It's just enough. I want this too, baby. I want to finish a mission and come back here with you. I want to start a life together. I want to know that no matter how chaotic this fucked up world gets, I have something that's constant: you. You and me, here. Together."

Lena bit her trembling lip, looking up at Clint through a haze of tears. He was staring down at her expectantly, gently wiping away a tear from her cheek that had managed to slip out.

"Okay," she finally said.

"What?"

"Okay," Lena repeated herself, laughing. "Okay, let's do this. Let's live out in the middle of nowhere together."

"You're serious?" Clint asked incredulously. Lena nodded again and he laughed loudly, grabbing her around the waist and picking her up and spinning her around. Lena shrieked and joined his laughter, holding on to his shoulders as he finally lowered her down. Her feet had barely touched the floor beneath her before he was pressing his lips against hers.

Lena practically melted in his arms, feeling every bit of the emotion he was pouring into the kiss.

"I love you," Clint said as he pulled away, staring deep into her eyes. "I love you so damn much I can't even wrap my mind around it."

Lena chuckled, pressing her forehead to his. And then she said something to him she had said what felt like ages ago, so many times, back when their feelings were first developing for one another. She smiled, hovering her lips over his.

"The feeling's mutual, Hawkeye."

xXxXx

FOUR AND A HALF MONTHS LATER

"Clint, I'm not going to keep arguing with you about this."

"We're not arguing, we're having a… a heated discussion."

"Oh is that what we're calling it now?" Lena chuckled, holding her phone to her ear as she beat the side of the tractor with a wrench.

"I don't think hitting it is going to help anything," Clint drawled on the other end of the line.

Lena huffed, tossing the wrench to the other side of the barn. "Stupid tractor," she muttered under her breath. She put her free hand that wasn't holding her cell phone on her hip, sweat dripping down her temple. It was an unusually warm day for late April, and she had been trying to get the damn tractor started since it had crapped out on her earlier that morning.

"If you would just wait until I get home–"

"Are you kidding me?" Lena interrupted, walking out of the suffocating barn and into the sunshine. "I am fully capable of fixing a tractor myself, thank you very much. I don't need anyone's help. Although I could call Tony…"

"Don't you dare," Clint said lowly, making Lena laugh. "What were you even doing that made it blow up on you?"

"Well," Lena said matter-of-factly, walking away from the barn and towards the house. "You know I got in last night from helping Rhodey with that weapons dealing ring in Seattle."

"Yeah, how'd that go by the way?"

Lena scoffed as she walked up the porch steps. "Easy. Rhodey could've handled it himself, I think he just likes the company. But anyways, I got in pretty late and there was a tree that had fallen over right beside the barn from that storm that came through last week. I was going to move it out of the way, but then stupid tractor stopped working."

"Well would you look at my girl," Clint said teasingly, and Lena could hear the smile in his voice, "Working the farm by herself. Did you wear a straw hat? Please tell me you wore a straw hat."

"Clinton Francis Barton I swear I will run you over with the tractor as soon as I get it running again."

Clint laughed, and Lena smiled as she filled up a glass of water in the kitchen – their kitchen. It had been almost five months since that Christmas morning when they had made that step together, and since then life had been a whirlwind.

Clint was still working missions fairly regularly with SHIELD, and Lena had been brought on as an official conflict consultant with both SHIELD and the US Government. They were both steadily busy, but every couple weeks or so they would get a few days to spend with one another in the home that they shared. In between those times when their days off didn't intersect, they usually stayed in DC. The farm was for the two of them.

Lena had gotten in from her mission with James Rhodes the night prior, and Clint was flying in from a mission he'd just finished up in Mexico. It would be about three hours before he got home.

"You're not going to run me over," Clint said matter-of-factly. "You love me too much."

"Yeah well," Lena replied with a grin, "It's only because you're so cute."

"I'll take that," Clintlaughed. "So… what are you wearing?"

Lena rolled her eyes as she hopped up on their kitchen counter.

"Are you sure you're not a fifteen year old boy?"

"Still up for questioning. Come on, just tell me," he whined. "I haven't seen you in ten days."

Lena sighed. "Well," she began in a low, husky voice. "I'm wearing those cutoff jean shorts you like so much." Clint made a groaning sound on the other end of the line and Lena laughed. "And this cute little white tank top too. But I couldn't find my work boots this morning so I stole yours. They're really big on my feet, I kind of look ridiculous."

Lena stuck her feet out in front of her and chuckled at how odd Clint's larger boots looked on her tiny feet.

"I can't wait to see you," Clint said after a few seconds. "This mission really sucked."

"I'm sorry," Lena said softly, knowing that Clint had gone down to Mexico to track down some guys that were using kids to smuggle a new drug across the border. She had a feeling it hadn't gone too well.

"Yeah, me too," Clintsighed. "But I'll be there in a couple hours."

"I'll be waiting," Lena said brightly. "In my cute little short shorts, too. And maybe nothing else, who knows."

"Babe, you're killing me."

Lena laughed at Clint's whining.

"I'll see you in a bit. Be safe, I love you."

"I love you too. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow."

"Yesterday, today, and tomorrow," Lena echoed with a smile. A second later she heard the line go dead and she sat her phone down on the counter next to her. That little phrase, "yesterday, today, and tomorrow" had become commonly used between them, and it always made her smile because she knew they both meant it with all of their heart.

With that wistful, loving smile still plastered on her face, Lena set about cleaning up the house. They hadn't been there for a couple weeks, and it had gotten a bit dusty and whatnot, which bothered Lena to death. As she cleaned up, Lena thought back over the past four and a half months.

Life with Clint Barton was always interesting. Whenever they weren't doing their jobs, he was always up for adventure of some kind, which Lena adored about him. But at the same time, he was completely okay with sitting at home and having a Star Trek marathon too. They had become so in sync with one another that it was like they were the same soul living in two bodies.

Sure, they had their arguments. Quite a bit of them actually. They usually had something to do with one of them doing something particularly dangerous on a mission that could've gotten them killed. Neither of them enjoyed having to stitch up the other or clean wounds when they had their rare time together.

And even though that time was indeed rare, they each made sure to keep their individual friendships intact. Clint made sure to spend time with Natasha outside of missions, and Lena was constantly visiting Tony whenever she could. The couple didn't isolate themselves from the world after moving in together, they simply valued their time together more.

The one thing that had been holding Lena back from complete and total happiness in her life was her separation from Asgard. Yes, she loved being with Clint and back on earth and helping protect people every day, and she wasn't planning on running back to Asgard the second she had a chance like she did after the Battle of New York. But she did miss it. She missed her family and her friends. It was difficult feeling as though her heart was about to burst with joy the majority of the time, while at the same time feeling as though a part of it was missing.

And Clint understood this, he truly did. Lena had made a point to be more honest with him about her emotions, and in doing so they had grown together in their relationship. They trusted each other more, and understood each other better despite the distance that tended to separate them.

So overall, Lena was happy. She wasn't the happiest she could possibly be, but she truly was happy. And that was more than she could ask for.

But one thing that hadn't been resolved and that Lena hadn't even attempted to pursue was the case of her mother. Camille Sullivan rarely crossed Lena's mind because she was so adamant about avoiding the idea of her birth mother not giving a damn about her for anything except her blood. Lena's relationship with Clint had almost been ruined because she had been fixated on finding answers about her mother from Loki, and now she refused to let Camille take anything else away from her.

Unfortunately for Lena, Camille Sullivan had plans that went beyond Lena's denial.

Humming as she went about her work, Lena was reorganizing the fridge when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She froze, closing the fridge door slowly as she looked out the kitchen window above the sink.

On the backside of the house, there was someone edging out of the tree line. Lena stepped closer to the window, her body tensing instinctually. Her eyes widened when she realized that the person wasn't alone – there were at least four other men coming out from different areas of the tree line behind the house.

And all were armed.

Lena sank into a crouch that hid her from their line of sight, breathing heavily as she pressed her back against the cabinets underneath the sink. Somebody was coming for her.

Standing up slowly, Lena raised herself just enough to look back out the window. She could see twelve men now, all dressed in black with face masks and carrying automatic weapons. She watched as one of them gestured to the others to go around the front side of the house. She was being surrounded.

Lena sank back into a crouch, her mind whirring into Sparkstrike mode. She was being ambushed, but by who she didn't know. She was alone, and whoever these people were would be coming inside any moment. And she didn't even know how many there were.

Lena crawled across the kitchen floor, staying away from the windows as she reached up and snatched her phone from the counter. She dialed the familiar number and held it to her ear, her heart racing.

"Come on, come on," she whispered to herself. "Pick up."

"Miss me already?" Clint's cocky voice came across the line after the third ring. "Let me guess, the tractor wouldn't–"

"Clint," Lena interrupted, her voice hard and sharp. "There's people outside the house. Armed, at least twelve. Dressed in black head-to-toe. I have no idea who they are."

Clint was silent for a split second.

"Get out of there," he said in a dark voice, all of his humor gone and replaced by worry and training. "You get the hell out of there right now. Grab your staff and go."

"I can't," Lena hissed. "They're surrounding the house, and I left my staff in the barn. I'll have to–"

Suddenly, the front door creaked. Lena froze, not daring to even breathe. The house was deathly silent, but Lena's trained senses could hear someone taking stealthy steps inside.

"Lena," Clint said through the phone. "Dammit Lena, talk to me."

Silently, Lena stayed in a crouch and rushed over to the pantry, stepping inside the small closet-like space. She only just managed to close the door and hide herself inside as the first man stepped into the kitchen.

Lena was like stone. She didn't move, she didn't breathe. She muted her phone, but didn't hang up the call with Clint.

The pantry door had a shutter like surface that allowed her to see through to the kitchen but didn't allow the intruders to see her. She watched as they stepped in silently, guns raised and at the ready. There were three men, all dressed the same in black, big and very tough looking.

"Check upstairs," one of them whispered to the other two, gesturing with his gun. Lena watched with wide eyes, lined shadows crossing her terror-stricken face.

Two of the three men left to go upstairs, and Lena waited and watched as the other one glanced around the kitchen one more time before leaving towards the living room.

Once he was gone, Lena finally allowed herself to breathe as quietly as she could. She unmuted her phone and raised it back to her ear.

"Clint," she whispered almost inaudibly. "They're in the house. I'm hiding in the pantry, they didn't see me."

"I've got three SHIELD squads heading to you right now," he said in a deadly tone.

"They won't get here in time," she replied, hoping and praying that the intruders couldn't hear her. "I'm gonna make a run for it."

"No, you stay hidden," Clint said firmly. "You're outnumbered, just stay where you are."

"Yeah, I'm not going to do that," Lena whispered matter-of-factly.

"Lena–"

"If I don't call you back in five minutes, send another squad," she interrupted. "I love you. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow."

"Lena don't you dare–"

Lena ended the phone call, silencing her phone and putting it in the back pocket of her jeans. She took a deep breath and grabbed a broom from behind her, clutching it as if it were her trusty staff.

Thankfully, the pantry door didn't creak as Lena opened it as slowly as possible, scanning left and then right to make sure the kitchen was still clear. She tiptoed in a crouch over to the counter, grabbing a steak knife and holding it in her other hand.

Peering around the corner, Lena watched the one man downstairs overturn their living room. He was checking under couch cushions and muttering under his breath in frustration.

"What the hell?" Lena whispered to herself in confusion.

Realizing that the man's sufficient distraction could be enough for Lena to escape through the side door next to the dining room, she turned away from him to head that way.

But the second she turned around, she froze upon seeing another man in a black mask looking right at her through the kitchen window from outside, aiming a gun right at her.

"Shit."

Lena dove to the ground as he fired the gun off, glass shattering to the kitchen floor around her.

"She's in the kitchen!" The man from outside screamed. Lena rolled over on her back just in time to see the masked intruder from the living room running her direction and raising his own gun. She flung the steak knife at him in one fluid motion, lodging the blade in the side of his neck.

As that man fell to the ground dead, the other one crawled in through the kitchen window. Lena could hear several shouts at that point, and the two men from upstairs running back down.

Jumping to her feet, Lena swung the broom hard at the man in the window's chest, sending him hurtling back out of it and onto the ground outside. She took off in a sprint towards the front door, only to skid back around the corner and hide behind it as a rain of gunfire came at her.

There were three more men at the front door defending the exit, and Lena covered her face as wood splintered everywhere around her. But as she fell into a crouch to crawl to the other side of the room, she noticed that the bullets on the ground weren't metal – they were rubber.

They're not trying to kill me, Lena thought to herself in realization.

"Hold!" One of the men screamed, and the gunfire immediately ceased. Lena turned her head to the side, still hidden from their view and aim. "Lena Sullivan!" She heard the man shout. "Come out now, and we will take you with us peacefully!"

Lena scoffed loud enough for them to hear.

"That's funny considering you were just shooting at me!" She yelled.

"I assure you that we mean you no harm!" The man called back to her, and Lena noted that he had a Spanish lilt to his voice.

Lena was breathing heavily, clutching the broom stick tightly in her hand. She had no idea who these people were or why they were trying to capture her instead of kill her, but they had effectively pissed her the hell off.

"Yeah well that makes one of us!" Lena yelled back furiously, taking off in a sprint across the dining room.

The men immediately started to shoot at her again despite their leader's protests, and Lena cried out as three of the rubber bullets hit her in her leg, shoulder, and hip. She jumped up onto the table as she was running, wood splintering all around her as she launched herself through the air and curled into the fetal position as she threw herself out the window.

Glass shattered all around her as Lena sailed through the air and crashed to the ground outside the house, rolling two times. She was up on her feet in an instant, the men rushing out of the house and joining the ones that were already outside.

Lena pushed her legs as hard as they would go, crying out as yet another rubber bullet struck her other leg. It didn't slow her down though, only infuriated her further. She was running to the barn, and as soon as she was close enough, she held out her palm.

Gríðarvölr came flying through the barn doors and straight into Lena's hand. The second it made contact, Lena spun on her heel and slung the staff sideways, sending a massive force field at the ten men chasing her. They were all blown backwards, shouting as they flew five feet in the air before crashing to the ground.

Lena was seconds away from taking off into the air and flying away from the scene when someone grabbed her shoulder and spun her around, punching her right in the face as hard as they could.

Lena cried out in pain as she fell to the ground. Her staff fell away from her and she raised her hand to call it back when suddenly her attacker took his heavy boot and stepped down on her hand – hard.

The scream that erupted from Lena's mouth sounded inhuman, every bone in her hand shattering all at once. Her nose was bleeding profusely, dripping down to her mouth and chin. She looked up from the ground to see a massive mixed man with blue eyes looking down at her in amusement.

"All this talk of the half-Asgardian warrior princess actually had me worried," he said in a deep, unfamiliar voice. "But for no reason at all."

Lena huffed. "Well I wouldn't say no reason."

Using her other hand to call Gríðarvölr to her, the staff came flying at the man's back and hit him behind his knees. He cried out, falling to the ground. Lena rolled away from him and jumped to her feet, clutching her broken hand to her chest.

But the man was too fast. He reached out and grabbed her ankle, yanking Lena back down to the ground with a shriek. Lena kicked out at him and caught him in the jaw one good time, but that only enraged the man further. He dug his nails into her calf that had already been hit with the rubber bullet, making Lena scream in pain.

As she kicked out yet again, the man's hand slid to Clint's boot that she was wearing, and he lost his grip on her as the shoe easily came off.

The man cursed, throwing the shoe to the ground as Lena lifted her staff into the air. But once again, the man was too fast. He grabbed her now bare foot just as she was flying away, pulling her back down to the earth.

"Get off of me!" Lena screamed as she thrashed around, the man wrapping his arms around her. She jutted her elbow back into his stomach and he grunted in pain, but didn't loosen his grip.

"Get your lazy asses over here!" The man screamed at the others. Lena whipped her head back and slammed it into his nose, hearing it break at the contact. "Bitch!" The man screamed, loosening his grip on her just enough for her to break free.

The second she did though, there was a stinging in her neck. Lena gasped in pain, raising her hand to her neck. She pulled out a yellow dart and looked back at the masked man who had shot it.

"Shit," she slurred, falling to the ground and blacking out.

xXxXx

A/N: Whoops. WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN NEXT? Leave a review!