Hi guys!

As you can see, we've finally come to the end of our humble tale. But before I start the final chapter, I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to read, favorite, follow, and review this story. They mean the world to me and I'm so glad you enjoyed the ride :) I'd like to give a special shout out to my reviewers who have been with me from the very beginning: Avalain Nightshade, Niom Lamboise, and Shadowhuntingdauntlessdemigod. You guys are amazing!

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

And without further ado, the final chapter of It's Temporary!

The one thing Pietro wouldn't miss about the farm was going to be the birdsong at five in the morning that woke him up and wouldn't let him go back to sleep.

As was customary he groaned and rolled over, trying unsuccessfully to stifle the noise with his pillows. There was a family of Carolina wrens somewhere outside his window; he heard them calling out to each other every morning at around five thirty. He was going to have to look for them later when he was outside with Cooper and Lila-they'd be all over something like that.

Then he remembered he wouldn't have time. Steve and Natasha were going to come in the Quinjet at around ten thirty to take the twins to the new base.

In the bleary morning light working its way under the window shade he glanced at his suitcase and duffel bag, both just waiting to be thrown in the cargo hold of the plane. They'd had no end of hassle getting the twins' things back from the plane-by the time they decided they weren't going to go it was too late to pull the bags off the plane and they'd had to pay extra to fly the luggage back. But eventually it had all worked out, all their things were in order, and they were ready to go.

Mostly.

That wasn't to say he wasn't going to miss the way Laura made pancakes in the morning with chocolate chips and whipped cream. He was going to miss having tea parties with Lila, even when she made him wear one of the little plastic tiaras she was so fond of collecting. He was going to miss watching TV with Nathaniel because Nathaniel didn't complain about how he was getting sick of the Grey's Anatomy opening sequence. He was going to miss finding creative excuses not to tell Cooper how to hotwire a car. He was even going to miss Clint's driving lessons even though the archer wasn't a very patient teacher-he was always telling Pietro he was going too fast and he was going to flip the car over if he wasn't careful. He was also going to miss the farm-he was going to miss the tree house where the kids did their homework, the swimming hole where they'd spent most of the summer, even the barn where he absolutely could not go because he got allergies.

Just then something small and furry jumped up onto his bed and sat down on his chest, proceeding to lick his face like a dog.

Yes, he was going to miss the cats too.

"You're up early." he whispered, rubbing her back so she purred loudly. "Then again, I suppose you're not the only one." He pet Chocolate Chip almost absentmindedly as he debated whether or not to get up. Chances were good that Wanda was up as well-she was usually an early riser; she always had been and likely always would be. However, there was always the off chance that she was still sleeping and he didn't want to wake her up before she was ready to get up.

"I wonder if the gifts came." he wondered out loud, glancing out his window and up at the ledge outside his sister's room. Vision had said he would fly everything down as soon as he could; they were running out of the time. As it was, they were really pushing things down to the wire.

Sure enough, there were five packages stacked on the edge of the windowsill, meticulously wrapped. He breathed a silent sigh of relief as he watched the curtain for any sign of movement.

As it turned out, the first person up wasn't his sister.

If he strained his ears, he could just barely hear a soft whimpering noise from somewhere in the house-which on closer inspection appeared to be Nathaniel. He was having more and more trouble sleeping in these days but usually Laura was up to put him back to bed. However as the minutes ticked by and he didn't hear anything Pietro was forced to conclude that she was getting some much needed rest.

Which meant it was up to him.

Carefully he got up and walked into the nursery. Nathaniel lay awake and looked up at him curiously as Pietro reached inside the cradle and picked the baby up gently, just the way Laura had taught him to. "Shh…" he whispered. "It's too early to cry." He held the baby as gently as he could, like Nathaniel was a china statue and liable to break at any time. "Hmm…" he muttered, looking around the house. "What should we do? It's a little bit early to watch TV and you don't really like tea parties…" Just then he realized what time it was-almost six o'clock. The sky outside was turning pale purple, which meant it had to be close to dawn.

"You know what, Nate?" Pietro asked as he carefully pulled on his shoes. "I hear they don't have sunrises like this by the Avengers base."

They waited outside for a long time; it wasn't too cold and the grass wasn't too wet from dew. Nathaniel watched the sky with just as much interest as Pietro as the sun rose and spread its golden rays across the peaceful acres and acres of farmland stretching away to the horizon. As far as secret hideouts went it wasn't bad by any means-the farm was nearly impossible to find unless you were looking for it, tucked away into the hills and fields of rolling countryside.

Even though he was a city kid born and bred, barely ever seeing open fields except for the few times he'd travelled out of Sokovia's main city just to have an excuse to skip school, it reminded him of home. It was peaceful and isolated from the rest of the world-everyone's petty problems and wars seemed very, very far away.

Just then there was the sliding sound of a window opening somewhere above his head. "What on Earth are you doing?" Wanda asked, glancing down at him as she collected Vision's packages.

"Watching the sun rise. In case you haven't noticed, it's a beautiful morning."

"You got bored, didn't you?"

"Just a little bit. Come on-we have things to wrap." They retreated to Wanda's room, the most private part of the house, where Pietro placed Nathaniel in the center of the bed so the twins could watch him as they worked.

"Are you excited to go back?" he asked as he grabbed a piece of tape from the dispenser by the side of the bed.

"I suppose. It should be interesting, if nothing else. But I'll miss it here."

You're not the only one. "The Avengers can teach us how to get a better handle on our powers."

"That's one good thing at least. And Clint said we can come back any time we want." That was a comfort at least.

It was strange-when Pietro had first come here so many months ago he hadn't expected he would fit in-at all. He'd never even imagined a place so…idyllic could ever feel like a second home to him.

He'd never thought he would regret leaving.

But they weren't done yet-he still had one more thing he wanted to finish up.

~IT~

Laura made pancakes effortlessly; by now she knew exactly how the twins would like them cooked. Pietro would have more than one, the more chocolate chips the better, while Wanda preferred whipped cream. Their seats at the breakfast table were suspiciously empty. "They're plotting something, Clint."

"Don't use the word plotting. It makes them sound like they're members of the mafia or something." He took a sip of coffee and also glanced at their empty chairs. "But I agree. They're definitely planning something."

"Do I want to know what it is?"

"Probably not. Everyone gets to have their secrets."

"The house is going to be quiet without them. Cooper and Lila are going to have to worry about making it to the bus stop on time because Pietro won't be there to run them over if they cut it too close."

"And we'll be stuck reading all those Pegasus books to Lila."

"Who knows? Maybe one day we'll turn on the television and see them fighting the next alien invasion-heroes in their own rights."

Clint had no doubt that would happen. "So, do you think we did the right thing by bringing them to stay here? I mean, we took them out of commission for quite a while-Nat is going to have my head because they haven't been on a harsh training regimen for the past three months."

"We gave them an opportunity to be normal-and I think they responded very well." Laura said.

"Yeah. You almost can't tell they were part of illegal human experimentation and spent the last few years in cells."

She grabbed a picture off the shelf above the kitchen sink-a picture of Cooper, Lila, Nathaniel, and the twins all sitting on the front porch swing on the fourth of July holding cool glasses of lemonade. "They're going to go far, Clint. I just hope we were able to do enough."

"I know we did. And besides, they weren't the only ones who learned something this summer."

"You told them they're welcome to come back whenever they'd like to, right?"

"Several times." He hoped they would; there was only so much Princess Rainbow Unicorn he could take at one time. "Now, don't you think we should tell them breakfast is ready? You know how Pietro gets when he doesn't get enough to eat in the mornings." Namely, he would ask for lunch five minutes after all the breakfast dishes had been put away.

Laura laughed. "I guess so." She crossed the room to the stairwell while Clint examined the picture at arms-length. They looked so happy and carefree, like the Battle of Sokovia and all that entailed had never even happened. Of course, the ultimate goal would be for them to look that happy all of the time but that simply wasn't realistic. Not only would it be impossible for them to put aside everything they'd experienced over the course of their less than stellar childhood but they'd doubtless see more than their fair share of crap as full-fledged Avengers-it was unfair, but that was just the way life worked. But if he'd been able to make them smile a little more often and feel like their purpose in life was more than just weapons he'd done what he'd set out to do. And he was sure he'd made progress, if not more than that.

Good job, Barton. I'm proud of you. You've finally done something right.

~IT~

Breakfast was hectic, like always. You'd think that after micromanaging every detail of this morning a thousand times over the past few days things would go off without a hitch.

Except of course that wasn't how things worked.

First they ran out of syrup and Laura realized she'd forgotten to add that to the grocery list. Then Pietro used the last of the creamer before Wanda got any for her coffee so she had to drink it black-which was a sure fire way to ruin her day. Finally, just when everyone was done eating and Clint thought they were in the clear, Cooper made Nathaniel laugh so hard he accidentally spit baby food all over Wanda's new t-shirt in an episode that was eerily similar to the twins' first morning on the farm.

"Not a problem." Wanda said before anyone could apologize; Snowflake was already jumping into her lap and trying to lick her shirt clean. "There's plenty more where that came from."

"Can we race one last time?" Cooper asked, looking at Pietro almost pleadingly. "I've been practicing really, really hard."

Pietro laughed. "So you still haven't given up?"

"Never."

"I would never turn away a good challenge." He took a last bite of his pancake and got up to put on his tennis shoes. Clint didn't miss the look that passed between the twins as he went to the mudroom to grab his jacket. Something was up-but it didn't seem like anyone was in immediate danger, so he was just fine with letting them keep their secrets.

He knew that if anything really serious was going on, they would tell him. He trusted them.

And in the meantime, he had a race to referee.

~IT~

"You don't want to eat baby food. It's disgusting, Snowflake."

The cat looked up at her with eyes the size of saucers and Wanda rolled her eyes, laughing as she tossed her dirty shirt in the plastic bag Laura had given her and stuffed it in the bottom of her suitcase, pulling on a new one as she did so.

"You know, Snowflake is going to be very lonely without you." Laura said, handing Wanda a handful of bills. "We didn't think you'd accept much, but here's a little to get you started in case Natasha ever takes you shopping at a store that doesn't sell military grade weapons."

"You really shouldn't have-"

"But we wanted to. No need to pay us back. Just use it to buy something special-okay?"

Wanda wanted to protest-after all, they already owed the Bartons more than they could ever pay back-but she knew Laura wouldn't accept a return. "If you're sure-"

"Positive. And you know…a cat might freshen up the new base…"

She laughed and picked up Snowflake as gently as she possibly could, holding still so the kitten could lick her face. "I love Snowflake, but so do Cooper and Lila. Besides, Chocolate Chip would be lonely and the base is probably no place for a kitten that small. Someone could probably step on her if they weren't careful." When it came to life or death missions, there were certainly times when people might not be careful. "But take good care of her though-and send pictures."

"All the time. So, do you have everything?"

Wanda glanced around the room, which was just as bare as the day she'd arrived. "Yes. I think so."

"What about this?" Laura handed her the picture she'd pointed out on the day of their arrival. "It's yours."

"I'll add it to the bag." Wanda zipped it carefully into her duffel bag; that was going right onto her nightstand as soon as they were able to unpack.

"Call if you need anything at all. You have both of our numbers and the house phone-we'll be around. It doesn't matter what it is-material things or just advice. We're not going anywhere."

She knew that. She was quickly learning that the farm was a constant place-it didn't change, no matter what was going on. It was timeless, now and always. "I know. I think we're going to have our hands full making the adjustment to being full time Avengers."

"But you'll still make time to call." It wasn't a question.

"Of course. Every week." And that was a promise. "Thanks for…everything. Not just the material things, but…for all the advice too."

"Sure. Everyone needs help sometimes, you know-even the super powered twins who can more than take care of themselves-and have proved that time and time again."

"Pietro and I got some things…they aren't much, but we had to say thank you somehow." She headed downstairs, managing to hold onto all her bags at once. Pietro was running things out to the front lawn so they'd be ready when the plane came-the grass was quickly filling up with suitcases, bags, and boxes of coffee that Laura insisted they take with them to the new base in case they ran out. "Are you ready?"

He nodded and zipped out to the tree house where they'd been storing their presents for the past couple of hours, returning five minutes later with carefully wrapped packages.

"Is one of those for me?" Lila asked, rushing up to him with Princess Rainbow Unicorn clutched tightly in her hands.

"As a matter of fact, yes it is." He handed her a box that, when opened, revealed itself to be a stuffed Pegasus. "So Princess Rainbow Unicorn won't be lonely while you're at school."

Lila hugged him tightly. "Thank you! I can already tell they're going to be great friends!"

"Do you know what you're going to name her yet?" Clint asked almost jokingly.

Of course, Lila answered in a dead serious tone. "Princess Sparkle Pegasus."

Cooper hung back by the car, as if he was almost afraid to ask if there was something in that pile for him. Pietro tossed him three new baseballs, as he was constantly losing them in the forest when he practiced catching. "Try not to lose these. They were quite expensive."

Cooper's face practically glowed. "Thanks."

"Anytime. Now for Nate…" He pulled out a teddy bear. "He's still a little young yet, but we read online that almost all American children have teddy bears."

Laura laughed. "I'm sure he'll love it."

"It wasn't as easy to shop for you." Wanda told Laura, handing her a small box wrapped in yellow paper. "I hope these are all right." Laura's gift turned out to be a box of different kinds of scented soaps, the kind Laura seemed to collect voraciously.

Laura laughed as she shook the box free of the last remains of wrapping paper. "How did you know I needed more?"

"Intuition. No mental manipulation involved. I promise. And don't say we didn't need to-because obviously we needed to repay you somehow. We paid for everything ourselves."

That left Clint the only one who hadn't gotten some kind of gift; Pietro handed him the final package. Inside was a book he'd been wanting to read, a framed picture of the team about three weeks after the Battle of Sokovia on the day Pietro was released from "official SHIELD examination" (which basically meant he was carefully monitored to make sure he wasn't some sort of demon conjured from beyond the grave), and a gift card to Starbucks. "This way you can get some very good coffee and you won't have to worry about someone drinking all of it before you get up." That had become a very big problem over the course of the summer."

Clint examined the picture carefully. "Thanks, kid. You know, I guess it will be nice having the coffee machine all to myself."

Pietro just hoped the new Avengers base would have decent coffee. He didn't know how he'd be able to function otherwise.

"Do we have time to take a walk?" Lila asked curiously, looking up at Clint with the puppy eyes that meant she really, really wanted something and she wanted it as soon as possible.

"Sorry, sweetheart. Nat and Steve are going to be here any second."

Almost as if in answer to his words, the Quinjet landed at the landing pad out back and two small figures disembarked and began to make their way over to the house.

"All right then." Clint said briskly. "You two got everything? Suitcases, coffee, jewelry, random things lying around the house that aren't ours?"

Wanda nodded. "And if you find something we forgot, you know where to send it."

Just then Steve and Natasha reached the small group. "Something tells me we should have brought a bigger quinjet." Natasha said, eyeing the pile of luggage critically.

"I took them shopping." Laura replied. "They should be all set until at least next spring."

"I think they'll be all set for the next five years. But thanks-now we can spend more time on the actual training part of being on the team."

"You're not going to work them too hard, are you?" Clint asked, grabbing Pietro's suitcase and practically throwing it into the back of the jet.

"They'll never improve if I don't." Natasha looked the twins over critically. "You both look better. Less…homeless."

"We didn't look homeless." Pietro scoffed.

"Don't worry. Everyone in Sokovia looked homeless."

Clint rolled his eyes. "I can already tell the two of you are going to get along perfectly."

Everyone began to migrate back to the quinjet. While the twins and Laura talked with Steve and Lila and Cooper hurried to help carry things, Natasha and Clint hung back to bring up the rear. "What did I tell you?" Natasha asked. "They came back, didn't they?"

"I never said they wouldn't."

"That's not what you sounded like. So, do you think they're going to fit well with the initiative? Are they going to fit in?"

"Yes. It's definitely going to take them some time to get used to everything and Pietro needs at least two cups of coffee in the morning or he's completely off for the rest of the day. Wanda likes to read and she burns through books fast so you'll need to get her a library card as soon as possible. They're ready for their driver's test but they need more time in the car with a licensed adult-which I hope for their sake isn't you. They both have rudimentary skill with a bow and arrow. Pietro tends to get cocky and try to do things just to show off-which doesn't always go well, so you'll have to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. Wanda is a little more serious and is an extremely hard worker-but you'll need to encourage her to take some time off here and there. If she uses her powers too much she'll likely get a nosebleed; she knows what to do about those-"

"Okay, okay. Slow down. I'm sure we'll manage." Natasha replied.

"But they're great kids, Nat. I know what they seemed like at first, but you just need to get to know them. Be willing to listen-they'll be great additions to the team."

"I don't doubt that."

"Any word from Bruce yet?"

She glanced down at the dirt path in front of them. "No. He was last seen somewhere around Fiji. We don't know where he is."

"He'll turn up."

"He'd better. You know, you can still come with us if you want. We can always use an extra person on the team."

Clint couldn't say he wasn't tempted, just for a second. Being an Avenger had been amazing-sure, it had been crazy and dangerous and nearly gotten him killed more times than he could count-but it had been amazing knowing that he could actively make a difference in society.

And then he looked at his wife and children and thought about how much time he had already missed out on. "I wish I could Nat, I really do. But…family comes first."

"Yeah. I get it. But you'll stop by sometimes, won't you?"

"Of course. Have to check up on the twins sometimes, don't I?"

"Thanks for doing that, by the way. They seem a lot different-a lot more relaxed. Whatever you did…it's working."

"The twins did the real work. Sure, I got them some nice things and showed them that the world isn't generally a cruel place-but they're the ones who made the decisions themselves. They're the ones who were there for us time and time again to watch the kids-or Monday night football-or help out around the farm. They chose to be a part of the family. All we did was accept them, flaws and all."

"And that's what the Avengers are all about. They're certainly not the first misfits we've taken in. They'll be in good hands, Clint."

"I know. Believe me, I know."

~IT~

All too soon, everything was safely packed away and it was time to head out.

"We should probably check in with the others." Steve said, walking towards the cockpit of the plane. "Nat, do you want to help?"

"Sure." Natasha said, taking her cure flawlessly. "Wouldn't want you to misdial."

"That only happened once…." Their banter got softer and softer as they got farther and farther away from the plane's doorway, where Lila hugged first Pietro and then Wanda as tightly as she possibly could.

"Come back soon." she said. "The kitties miss you both already."

"We'll come as soon as we can." Wanda replied. "Keep trying hard in school, all right?"

"I always do."

"Send us postcards from all the cool places you go." Cooper said almost jealously. "You're lucky. I've never even been out of the country."

Pietro laughed. "You're not missing much. Sure, it's a different landscape but you still run into the same traffic."

"Good point. Thanks for the baseballs."

"I'm glad you like them."

"Can you Skype tonight? I want to know how the first day went."

"Sure. That definitely sounds doable."

"I mean it." Laura said for the thousandth time. "If you've ever got a free weekend-"

"As long as you bring your own coffee." Clint cut in.

"Obviously." Pietro replied.

Nathaniel was starting to whimper and Laura sighed loudly. "I should go put him down for his nap. Clint, tell Steve and Nat I said hello."

"Of course." he said. She gave the twins both a wave and a final goodbye and headed back to the house. Lila and Cooper followed her; the twins and Clint watched them leave until they were just little dots as they went into the house.

"So," Clint continued. "How's it going? First day as real Avengers-that has to be exciting."

"It's all happening very fast." Wanda replied. "But yes, it's definitely exciting.

"I know these people-and I know they're going to do everything in their power to make sure the adjustment goes smoothly. But in case you ever need anything or just found a really hilarious meme that I haven't seen yet, you have my cell number."

"What is a meme?" Pietro asked.

"Ask Rhodey. He knows." He was starting to run out of things to say. "I hope this all wasn't just a big waste of your time."

"Of course it wasn't. Being on the farm…it was like things were different. Even though that's impossible. Thank you so much for inviting us."

"My pleasure. Seemed like we owed you a lot; what better way to return the favor? Now, you're going to be excellent superheroes. You're going to make us all proud and you're coming over for Thanksgivings-right?"

"Right. We wouldn't miss it."

Just then Nat came back to grab a pile of supplies from a dashboard on the side of the plane. "Wheels up in five." she said simply, heading back to the cockpit.

Clint nodded, knowing he had to wrap it up. "And I'd also prefer it if you two don't get hurt. Don't do anything stupid."

"I'll make sure he doesn't." Wanda said with a glance at Pietro.

"I never do anything reckless." Pietro protested.

"Except for the time you stole those Beats simply because you wanted to."

"They were lying right there-"

"Or the time you stole the tree topper off that Christmas tree."

"We gave it to the orphanage-"

"Yes, but you still got caught. Your face was on television for a week and they sent a firing squad after us."

"Okay fine. That was reckless."

"We'll be fine. Nothing stupid."

"Good." He cleared his throat, knowing Nat would be wondering what on Earth was taking him so long. "Take care of yourselves-and each other. You're great kids, you know-even with all this Ultron shit…you're going to do amazing things."

"You don't need to-"

"I'm not. It's just fact. I mean, I don't have precognition or anything (although that would be really cool), but you two are going to accomplish some amazing things. And I can say I knew you way back when. But really-what I want to say is thank you. For saving my life. For protecting my children. And for being the part of our family that we didn't realize was missing."

"Thank you for giving us a family to be a part of."

He gave them each a hug-they more than deserved that. "Okay. So, call tonight. Tell me how it goes and tell everyone back at the base I said hello."

"Of course." Pietro said. "Give the cats a little extra attention from us."

"Of course." He turned to leave and had almost reached the doorway to the plane's hold when Wanda called him back.

"This has been the best summer of my entire life." she said sincerely while Pietro nodded his agreement.

He had to smile at that. "I know exactly what you mean." And they were only supposed to be here for a couple of weeks, too.

~IT~

Exactly three minutes later, a shiny silver quinjet streaked off into the morning sky, carrying two new Avengers to a brand new life.

Far below them, on a farm almost completely hidden by the landscape surrounding it, five people watched them leave.

And Clint found himself forced to admit that it truly had been the best summer of his life, too.

He was just sitting down to watch a movie with his family for the first time in almost four months without the twins when his work phone pinged with an incoming text from Steve. Twins are settling in well. Do you think you had enough time?

He didn't even need to think about it. You tell me. Are they ready to be Avengers?

The text came almost instantaneously: a resolute yes.

THE END

And we're finished! I hope you enjoyed it :)

I have no plans for a sequel in the immediate future, but keep an eye out for a couple of one shots here and there (maybe some kind of special closer to the holiday season…)

Once again, I just want to thank everyone so much for reading this book. Your support means a lot and I've really loved writing all of these chapters. Be sure to leave a review and tell me what you think about the story overall.

Thanks for reading! You guys are the best!

Have an amazing rest of your day!