May 4, 2015

Clint puts his arm around Natasha as the Avengers make their way to what appears to be an old farm house. It's an older house. It was white with green shutters and a wrap-around porch. There was a large tree and a picnic table in the front and you could see a red barn around the corner.

"What is this place?" Thor questions as they mount the stairs to the front porch.

"Safe house," Tony quips.

"It's home," Barton answers, opening the door.

Before anyone can ask what he means by that, they're inside the seemingly empty house and Barton calls out, "Alina!"

The Avengers, sans Clint and Natasha, are startled to hear footsteps above them, upstairs, then coming down the stairs. Before they knew it a young girl, no older than 6, enters the room, running towards Clint.

"Daddy!" the girl squeals.

"Hi, sweetheart! How are you doing?" Clint picks up the girl, kisses her on the cheek, and hugs her tightly.

"This is a... small agent of some kind," Tony says, but the team ignores him.

"Where's mom?" the girl asks Clint.

"Right here," Natasha says from behind him.

"Mom!" the girl jumps out of her father's arms and into her mother's.

"Look at you! I've missed you," Natasha says, hugging the girl tight.

"Guys," Clint starts, "This is our daughter, Alina."

"You're the Hulk!" Alina bursts excitedly, pointing to Bruce.

"Alina, that wasn't very polite. What do you say?" Natasha scolds.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hulk," Alina says shyly.

"That's alright ... Alina. And you can call me Bruce." Banner smiles.

"Okay!" the girl jumps down from her mother's arms and grabs Bruce's hand, pulling him behind her into the next room and babbling about coloring books.

"This place is off S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files and we'd like to keep it that way," Natasha answers the question on Tony's face.

"Figured it's a good place to lay low," Clint adds. Steve hears a crunching sound behind him and turns around to see Thor sweeping a broken toy under a nearby chair with his foot. Thor looks up at him with a face that says, 'don't you dare'.

"I'm going to go find James," Natasha informs Clint before going upstairs.

"Okay. Make yourselves at home guys," he says, addressing the three men.

Natasha stands in the entrance of a bedroom on the second floor where her son is folding laundry with his back to her. She watches him for a minute before switching the light off then on again. Startled, the teen turns around to see his mother leaning against the doorway.

"Hey," she signs.

"What are you doing here?" he smiles. "I thought you wouldn't be back until tomorrow."

"Missed you too, James," she signs sarcastically.

"You know what I meant."

"I do."

"Is Dad here?" he asks.

"Yup. Along with a few friends."

"What do you- Oh ... cool."

"How come you don't have your aids in?" Natasha questioned.

"Well, you see-" James started, sheepishly

"Uh Huh. I see perfectly. You need new aids."

Confidential /ˌkänfəˈdenCHəl/

Intended to be kept a secret.