Author's note: Just a random idea that popped into my head. I have a few chapters planned and know roughly how I want it to end but we'll see where it takes us! I'll aim to post weekly.

Disclaimer: I don't anything Marvel or anything you might recognise.

"I just don't get why we have to do this every day, it's stupid," Lila whined as the Barton's made their way along the meandering trail back to their home. The day, though ending, was nice. There was a calmness to the air, pierced only by birds calling to one another and the occasional scurrying of woodland animals. The Barton's themselves made their own contribution to the mild disturbance with their gentle footsteps.

"Because it's family time," Clint said, wondering why he had to answer the same goddamned question every day, "and family time isn't stupid." Out of the corner of his eye he saw Cooper throw his sister a look. No one had officially introduced him to it yet, it was only used when they thought he wasn't looking. But he liked to think of it as the not-now-Lila-dad's-been-alone-for-five-years-and-needs-time-to-adjust-so-shut-up-and-give-him-a-bit-longer look.

It was his new favourite.

And even though he couldn't see her, he just knew Lila was throwing out her patented whatever-don't-look-at-me-like-that shoulder shrug.

Laura grabbed his hand, caressing her thumb along his. It was a familiar gesture and he hadn't realised how much he'd missed it while she was gone. They never needed any words to know what the other was thinking, as cliché as that might sound. Clint had never believed in that sort of love, and it's not like it happened straight away. It came with years together, with everything they had experienced and it grew every day. And that made it all the more precious, which is why he was relieved it hadn't disappeared with five years of nothing.

The trail widened out and they soon breached the tree line. The barn came into view and, as always happened now, Clint was thrown back to his first experience of time-travel with a lurch. How he clung desperately to Nate's baseball mitt and the sound of Lila's voice. That agonising tidal wave of hope setting him adrift after so long of being anchored in the darkness.

"Looks like someone's come to visit," Laura said as they rounded the corner, bringing her husband back to the here and now. The sun glinted off something, blinding Clint as he tried to get a look at whoever was bothering his retirement this time.

History told him coming out of retirement wasn't a good idea. It either ended up with a monitor wrapped around his ankle or heading to a dark place he never, ever wanted to end up. He and Laura managed to work through the former, and the kids were pretty happy to see more of him. And the latter, well that was still sitting heavily over them. Probably because he hadn't admitted to anyone what he'd allowed himself to become. Instead, he hid his shame with his grief, took his family for walks, insisted on their Friday BBQs and encouraged Lila to keep on practising with the bow.

If only the others got the memo. Cooper didn't tease Lila about her taste in music anymore, and she didn't threaten to shoot him during her next practice if he made one more comment about her favourite band. Nate didn't run them ragged, his heart no longer in the mischief he loved, sensing the change in his family. Laura was the only one who tried, but Clint could see her cracking. Could hear the almost questions on her lips and see them in her eyes.

He wanted to answer them, he really wished he could. He just didn't know how to have that conversation. He didn't know if he deserved to be walking freely and couldn't bring himself to give up the time with his family, the time he never thought he'd have again.

Needless to say, uninvited visitors were nothing but a pain in his ass.

"Looks like one of those jet thingies you always used to fly around in," Laura said, a hand above her eyes as she tried to make out what was ahead.

"Guess it's time for you to take off already, huh dad?" Lila said. Clint did his best not to grit his teeth.

"I'm not going anywhere, sweetheart," he knew the pet name would annoy her before she tutted. As a parent he knew he shouldn't go for the cheap shot where his kids were concerned, but sometimes he thought it was the only way to keep them in check. Especially his little girl who'd shown every sign of boycotting the standard teenage rebellion but was now embracing it with open arms.

The blast from the past came with some bittersweet memories. Right then, they were more bitter than sweet, which is why he wasn't overly happy to see it. Okay, so that was an understatement. He was pretty fucking pissed.

"Clint," Laura called after him as he started marching towards the jet. The ramp was down and he thought he could make out people sitting on it. Two people he hadn't expected to see but neither being the one he thought, for a fleeting, agonising moment, it would be. They looked up at Laura's call. One of them started to stand while the other remained seated. Well isn't that just typical of him.

Heavy footfalls behind told Clint that his family was following and he hoped none of them went through that painful moment of wishful thinking he had.

"Nope, nuh uh. You can't park here. You've gotta go," he yelled at the visitors, waving his hands to shoo them away like a couple of diseased pigeons.

"Clint," Hill started, already making her way down the ramp, careful not to disturb the box sat between her and Fury. His hand rested protectively atop it while he watched his second attempt to talk the archer down.

"I said no. Get off my goddamned property."

Hill's jaw worked as she tried to think of something to say, but Clint turned around before she thought of the right thing. The amount of times she'd managed to talk him into doing something without him even realising it wasn't his idea, he didn't want to risk it happening again. Couldn't.

He span on his heels and came face to face with Laura. She sported a weird look, behind her Cooper was trying to sneak a curious glance at Fury's eye patch. He was almost past them when the former director spoke up. He might've avoided Hill's silver tongue but he couldn't avoid Fury's.

"Agent Barton-"

"I said no, Nick," didn't mean he wasn't going to try, though. "I'm not an agent anymore and I'm not listening to what you have to sell. Now, get the fuck off my land."

Lila gasped. Clint generally tried not to curse in front of his children, but there was just something about the audacity of Fury and Hill being on his land in, what he was sure was, his old Quinjet. All of it a reminder of his past, his time spent at Shield. And much of that time was spent with her.

This was a trigger he could do without. One they could all do without. They were trying to move on, to get over this and how could they with the past literally sitting on their doorstep.

"We're not here to sell, Barton. Only to give," Fury said. There was something in his voice that caught Clint's attention and made him turn around. Damn it. Fury finally stood, stepping down the ramp to look him in the eye. With a solemn face, Hill picked the box up and followed in his wake. "We've been helping out at the compound, there's a lot to get through. Lang and Van Dyne are flitting through the rubble looking for anything useful we can salvage from the wreckage. The pickings are slim but they find things here and there. Seems Stark installed a secure vault beneath the building. The room was blown apart but the security boxes were intact."

He paused for a moment and looked to make sure Hill was carrying their burden. When he didn't start up again she took over from him.

"Lang got one of them unlocked and figured you'd probably want it," her voice cracked as she shoved the box at Clint. It was slight and he only noticed it because he'd worked with her for so long. But it was enough. "We went to her safe houses, too, in case she left anything else. There are a couple more of these in there."

She jerked her thumb behind her and she was back to being the usually stoic Maria Hill he was so used to.

Clint just stared, dumbfounded, at the box. What was he supposed to do with it, and the others? Why would he want this? The questions kept repeating in his head until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Let me take that for you," Laura said, unshed tears in her eyes but nothing but love in her voice. She took it wordlessly, not even flinching when she realised it was heavier than she expected. She watched after her husband as he climbed into the jet to get the other two. "Would you like to stay for dinner?" She asked the two formidable looking agents. Hill looked to her boss.

"Sure," Fury nodded, surprising everyone. Though, Clint always suspected he had a soft spot for their missing comrade. As soon as the archer stepped off the ramp, it lifted into the Quinjet, sealing it off from outsiders.

They all filed into the house as the sun finally fell beneath the horizon. Laura started dinner, with Cooper's help, while Lila sat with Fury and Hill at the dining table, ignoring Nate's attempts to lighten the mood with a good-natured fart joke because she sat on the squeaky chair. Clint dropped his boxes next to the first on an unused part of the kitchen top. Curiosity was gnawing at his gut. What on earth would she bother to keep in security boxes?

He carefully opened the first one, noting the battered sides. It was a miracle they'd withstood the might of Thanos' ship.

"Oh god," he breathed.

Looking up at him were the spines of several books, and judging by the weight of the other two boxes they had something similar. They were all the same, carefully looked after and put in order. There were other things in the box, but he only had eyes for the volumes.

"Honey," Laura looked up from where she was chopping vegetables, "what is it?"

Clint reverently picked up the first one, hand shaking as he lifted it away from the others. It was simple and unremarkable, just how she liked most things in her life. He held it up so his wife could see and he knew he didn't have to say anything for her to understand because those unshed tears were finally falling. Cooper and Lila looked at each other, confused.

"She kept a journal."