▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 ━︎━︎ 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡 ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐒 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐍𝐀𝐍𝐓, and Theo was officially over it. She was ready for this baby to come. She was miserable. Every single part of her ached. Her belly was swollen, she could no longer see her feet. She was lucky if she managed to get out of bed. Theo was exhausted. Carrying a child was not fun. Especially not when everything hurt. She would never understand how her mother had done this four times. Theo had been the oldest, with two younger brothers and a younger sister. Horrors of what she'd done to Michael flashed through her mind and she winced.

Clint, who had taken off until Theo had the baby, watched the reaction with a frown. "What is it?" He asked.

Theo turned her head to look at him, a soft sigh falling from her lips. "I just remembered me driving my brother into insanity."

Clint's frown deepened. "Theo. . ."

"You can't say it wasn't my fault." Theo interrupted him. "I knew what I was doing. My entire family doesn't talk to me because of what I did."

"You were a teenager." Clint replied. "Teenagers do stupid things sometimes." He ran a hand up and down her arm. "Have you ever tried to undo it?"

Theo frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you put the memories there, can you remove them?"

Theo shook her head. "That's not how it works."

"You won't know until you try."

Theo shook her head. "My siblings would never let me see him."

Clint repeated, "You won't know until you try."

Theo huffed. "Let me deal with this first," she pointed to her stomach, "and then I'll think about playing with my brothers memories once again."

"If they've seen that you've changed. . ."

"You seem to forget that I myself just escaped being a teenager. My siblings still are teenagers."

Clint hummed to himself. "Right."

"It's a conversation that I can't have with them until they're older, until they're more mature." She shrugged. "Besides, it's too soon anyways. I'm hoping one day he'll come out of it on his own."

"Maybe one day." Clint offered with a gentle smile. He stood. "Are you hungry?"

Theo groaned. "When am I not?"

"What would you like today, my dear?"

Theo thought about it for a moment before answering, "Grilled cheese. And some pickles."

Clint opened his mouth to comment, but decided against it. Instead, he nodded. "Grilled cheese and pickles it is." He pressed a kiss to her lips before entering the kitchen and making her the food she'd requested.

Theo laid her hand on her stomach, smiling gently when she felt her daughter kick. They were down to two names. Nicole and Avery. Theo liked Avery more, Clint preferred Nicole. She wouldn't complain, two names compared to twenty was a blessing. She turned the television on, flipping between the three channels. Not too long after, Clint came back with her food and she scarfed it down, as if she hadn't ate in days. Clint chuckled and shook his head, eating his own grilled cheese. Theo sat her plate to the side, wincing when the child kicked her in the ribs.

"Ow."

"Is she kicking again?" Clint mused. Theo nodded, pointing to her ribs. "Again with the ribs. She must really like those."

Theo grimaced. "She does indeed. Along with my bladder and my spine."

"One more month." Clint reassured her. He began messaging her back and her eyes closed as she let out a hum of delight. How her back ached. His hands massaged her back, releasing the tight muscles. Theo sat there, letting his hands smooth out the taught and strained muscles in her back. Her eyes were drooping with exhaustion, something she was going to have to get used to―︎not that she wasn't already used to it from that time in her life where her mind plagued her dreams with nightmares.

Clint stopped and Theo whined in protest. "Why'd you stop?"

Clint stood and held out his hands for her. Theo took them, letting her pull her from the couch. She made her way up the stairs, entering their bedroom. She placed herself under the bed, Clint taking it upon himself to cover her with blankets. He pressed a kiss to her temple. "Take a nap."

"That's all I've been doing." Theo mumbled. "I've done nothing productive."

"I'd say growing a child counts as being productive." Clint said, giving her a gentle smile.

Theo's eyes began to shut. "I guess you're right."

"Get some rest." He softly whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of her head before turning off the light and leaving the room, letting her sleep in peace.

She was standing in her childhood home, the silence almost deafening. Her hands were absent of her gloves, causing her to flex her fingers in surprise. The sound of movement grabbed her attention. She turned, watching as a shadow passed down the hall. She frowned, carefully following after it. The hallway seemed to stretch further and further before a door appeared. It was cracked open. She carefully pushed the door open, entering the nursery that she and Clint had made for their daughter.

Theo froze at the figure that stood there, looking down at the empty crib. "Michael?" Michael didn't respond to her and she hesitantly moved closer to him. "Mikey?" Her hand reached out, touching his shoulder and a scream erupted from his lips. He fell to his knees, screaming hysterically.

"What did you do to me?" He yelled, looking up at her. His eyes were dripping with blood. A horrified gasp left her lips as she stumbled backwards, eyes wide. Tears brimmed her eyes.

"I'm sorry. Mikey, I'm sorry." She fell to the ground, sobbing.

"Sorry doesn't stop what you did to me!"

She shot up, placing a hand over her heart as she tried to steady her breathing. When she calmed down, she placed her hand on her stomach, closing her eyes tightly as she leaned her head against the headboard. It was just a nightmare. That's all it was. She didn't realize how long she'd slept. The sun was no longer out, being replaced by the moon. She looked up when footsteps approached the door and Clint entered the room. He paused to look at her.

"Hey," he moved closer to her, noticing the distress on her face, "are you alright?"

Theo swallowed, forcing a smile as she nodded her head. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. Just a bad dream."

Clint frowned but knew better than to pressure her. He nodded, getting ready for bed before climbing under the covers with her. "Come here," he softly said. Theo laid back down, turning her back to face him. He wrapped his arm around her, holding her tightly. "It's going to be alright, honey." He pressed a kiss to her shoulder, pulling her closer. Theo relished in his warmth. In an instant, she was once again fast asleep.