Escape

Lapse

Well, it's been two weeks.

Two weeks since I was shot in the shoulder. Thanks to Kate tending to the wound immediately and Laura once I got home, the bullet wound has been healing quite nicely.

It'll be a brilliant scar.

I'm now able to move it around without pulling at the stitches. Because, yes, I may have ripped the stitches almost immediately the day after Laura patched me up.

But to be fair, Fanny wanted to play catch. I can't say no to those puppy eyes.

I've been shooting to help keep it strong and to keep that muscle memory going. Light at first, but now it's just about back to normal usage.

What can I say, I'm a quick healer. It was barely a scratch.

Kate had stayed for about a week. But with the location she found being another dead end for us, at least in the terms of finding Nat, and not being able to do much to help us here, she went back into the field to help dig up something more.

I trust her more now; the informant Clint had working for us the whole time. Can't say I love how touchy she is, but once she got comfortable, she was even touchy with me. I've learned that's just kind of her persona. She will hug you. She will cuddle.

Let's just say Lena learned that she wasn't much of a fan of those lingering touches, either.

Yes, we had some fun with that. A slightly possessive and jealous Yelena?

I understand why Lena and Kate teamed up before.

Anyway, Kate has been out and about looking into whatever she can get her hands on that might relate to Nat so that she can get back to us.

Now we're all a part of those calls with Clint. Actually, Lena or I will usually FaceTime her and the others just end up hogging the screen.

Things with the parents are actually looking up, too. Minus the little hiccup with Clint that first day back, they've been really trying. Which I appreciate. It's a bit late for some things and that can be hard to swallow. Overall, they're doing their best now. That's all I can ask for.

I'm trying, too.

It also means we've been spending more time as a family. Breakfast together. Lena and the kids will join myself in dancing around as they assist in the making of breakfast. Nathaniel included, though he just sits there babbling away all cute like. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.

We'll have movie nights. We did another BBQ night. We'll run around playing football outside. It's what I had envisioned when my parents kept telling me they were having more kids.

The fact that Lena gets to be part of it all just makes it that much more special. I can tell she loves being with a family environment again, even if it isn't the easiest thing for her.

Lena and I had a chance to really talk things through. We both acknowledged the fact that we were neglecting things in the relationship and agreed to work on them, work with each other and on ourselves. Lena apologized profusely for making me feel like shit about Kate being her only family..

It was a really good talk, and we've only gotten better since.

We had another date night where I was able to take her out on the bike; to say she loved it is an understatement. I guess she's been wanting to go out for a ride since she saw my bike. I told her she should have said something awhile ago, then again I should have taken her sooner.

Right now we are having one of our famous movie nights. We've gone all out; we've got a blanket fort big enough for all of us 'kids' to sit in, stock piled with enough blankets and pillows to get lost in.