Nat woke up and smiled to herself as she looked outside her bedroom window. She always thought this view was perfect. The early afternoon sunlight was streaming through and she could see the clear blue sky. Beneath the sky was the mountains that were covered by wips of white clouds. The farms fields stretched almost all the way to the woods that were right in front of the mountains. She could also see the apple trees that were closer to the house. She often liked to snack on the treats crisp apples.
Her musings were interrupted by a strong kick from the little one inside. She rested her hand on her swollen belly that stretched her white maternity shirt and rubbed in circles, "Okay, little one. I'm getting up."
She slowly turned on her side and stretched her back as she climbed out of her very comfortable bed. She walked out of her room and was going to head downstairs when she noticed one of the rooms down the hallway was. Ope she walked across the stair landing and quietly opened the door to see who was occupying the room. The person in the room was so engrossed in his book that he didn't even notice her standing there..
She watched her little boy silently for a few minutes. He looked just like Bruce. He had the same curly hair and made the same cute expression when he was concentrating. He had her green eyes. He was his father's mini-me in every way. He was also the Hulk's child. If he was angry and wanted to, he could "Hulk out". Unlike Bruce, he was in control the entire time. There was no other person. She thinks this helped Bruce cope with the genes he passed on to his children. It took him months to get over it, but it never stopped him from loving his son.
"Hey, Ian," she spoke as she laughed slightly at the startled look on her son's face.
He smiles when he recognizes her, "Hi Mommy! I thought you were sleeping."
"I was but your sibling decided to wake me up. What are you doing?"
"Reading," he answers simply.
She nods, "Where's everyone else?"
"Daddy took them outside to play. He said I could read until you woke up but then I had to join them. Are you sure you don't want to go back to sleep?"
She laughs, "Yeah, Bud. I'm sure." She reached out her hand to him, "Do you want to come downstairs with me? We need to get ready for everyone coming over today."
"Ugh!" the four year old groaned as he got up and neatly put the book back on the shelf.
She laughed, "You don't like playing with your cousins?"
"I do, but I want to finish my book and they won't let me."
Mini Bruce, she thought, "Tell you what, if you hang out with your cousins I'll finish reading with you tonight."
His little face broke out into a grin, "Okay."
She laughed as she followed her son downstairs. Their house was a large wooden farmhouse. The downstairs had a nice open space and the kitchen door led to the rest of the farm. She could hear her other children teasing their father as he tried to catch them. She walked outside and saw all three of her children talking Bruce, Ian grinning with his brother and sister.
Her daughter, Nathalia, or to everyone Thalia, was running around Bruce and instructing her little brothers on what to do. She had long brown hair and brown eyes. Otherwise, she looked like a carbon copy of her mother. She was the eldest at five years old and the only one of the kids without powers. Her other son, Nikolai, Niko, looked like a perfect mix between his parents. He had Bruce's big brown eyes and Natasha's red hair. Personality wise, he was almost the complete opposite of his twin, Ian. He was extroverted and adventurous and love to get into trouble. He too had inherited some genetic changes because of the Hulk. He had shape shifting abilities, that he often used to cause mischief with his sister. They normally got their brother to reluctantly tag along.
She leaned against the porch frame and caught Bruce's eye. She smiled. It had taken him years to be able to be physically handled without fear of the Hulk coming out. She was glad he and Hulk had worked it out before she had discovered she was pregnant with Thalia.
"Hey guys, get off of Dad. Everyone is going to be here soon."
Thalia's head shot up, "Is Lila coming with Uncle Clint and Aunt Laura?"
Nat chuckled at her daughter's excitement to see her older cousin. It's been almost six years since they had brought everyone back and Clint's children had grown into wonderful young people. Cooper was now 20 and in the army. He had intentions of joining Shield later in life, but he wanted to experience outside the crazy first. Lila was now 18 and enrolled in her first year at the SHIELD academy to start in the fall. She was set to leave in a few weeks. Nate was now 11 and was definitely the slickest one of Clint's kids. He was always pulling some prank and getting into trouble. Niko definitely spent too much time with him.
"Yeah, Lila and Nate are coming with them. Cooper is still overseas."
"Yeah!" Lila shouted as she quickly climbed off of her father.
"Who else is coming?" Nick asked as he too climbed off.
"Uncle Tony, Aunt Pepper, and Morgan; Uncles Steve, Bucky and Sam; Rhodey. Uncle Thor and Valkyrie. The Guardians. Peter…"
"Peter's coming?!" Ian asked excitedly.
She nods, knowing that her son likes Peter because he won't force him to play, "Yep. Peter and Harley. Plus the rest of our incredibly huge extended family. Which means, you guys need to go put on some less dirty clothes while Dad finishes setting up. The should be here soon."
All three kids nod and sprint towards the house. Bruce is finally able to stand and properly greet his wife. He walks over to her and kisses as he feels their fourth and final child kickk against his palm.
"Hi," he says softly.
"Hi yourself. How's your afternoon been?"
"Busy. The kids helped me set up before we played for a little. Although Ian kept sneaking off to read."
"I wonder where he gets that from?"
Bruce looks slightly hurt, "Hey, I haven't done that in years."
She smirks, "True. You did a great job setting up for the party by the way and the food smells delicious."
He smiles, "I thought so. We should probably go help the kids get changed. You know the boys are fighting."
"Probably."
We walk hand and hand into the house and upstairs to our childrens rooms. The boys rooms are connected through a door that's often left open. As we climbed the stairs, we could see Ian and Nick arguing over something. Bruce walked over to go break it up and make sure they put their clothes on and she went over to she daughter's room.
Thalia was sitting on her bed and staring at her closet. Unlike Niko, she and Ian were surprisingly neat children. Her room was tidy and everything had a place. As Nat sat on the bed, her daughter looked up at her, "Mommy, I can't decide what to wear!"
"No? How about shorts and a t-shirt?"
"But which one?"
Nat already knew this was going to be a long process. Ian and Thalia both always looked presentable. Ian only ever liked to wear collared shirts and Thalia always had to match. Unlike Ian, she was willing to get dirty though. Niko, could care less about his clothes.
As she was about to answer her daughter their A.I. said, "Natasha, Clint and his family are here. Should I let them know where you are?"
"Yes. Tell the boys not to eat all the food."
A few minutes later she heard Lila and Laura walked into the room. Thalia grinned, "Lila!"
Lila smiled back, "Hey Thalia. What's up?"
"I can't figure out what to wear."
Lila glances at the little girl's closet, "How about the blue dress?"
Thalia looks over and thinks about it, "Ok!"
Lila stands and reaches her hand out, "Come on. I'll help you change."
The two girls leave the room, leaving Natasha and Laura by themselves.
Natasha turns to Laura and says, "Lila needs to come by more often. It makes picking out Thalia's outfit so easy."
"I can see that. She also likes to come see her Aunt Nat too. How've you been?"
Nat smiled tiredly, "Exhausted. This little one loves keeping me up at night and two of my three children are hyperactive. But, I'm happy."
Laura smiled at her longtime friend, "I'm glad. You and Bruce deserve this life."
"Thanks."
Their moment was interrupted by Thalia racing back in the room with Lila on her heels.
"Come on Mommy! We have to go downstairs."
"Okay, okay. Give us a minute."
Thalia waits for her aunt to help her mother up before she races downstairs to see her favorite uncle. Lila, Laura, and Natasha all walk behind her and smile when they see Thalia jump into Clint's arms shouting, "Uncle Clint!"
Lila looks at her aunt with nostalgia all over her face, "Everytime I see her do that with Dad, I think about every time you visited the farm and I did that."
"Yep. It was always the best hugs."
They continued their way fully into the kitchen and Natasha was surprised when she saw someone standing their with a smirk on his face.
"Cooper?!"
The boy smiled as he went and hugged his Aunt, "Hey, Auntie Nat. How've you been?"
"Good. I thought you were deployed?"
He shrugs, "I got time off because we had to switch stuff at the base. Plus, I didn't want to be the last person to find out the baby's gender."
She chuckled, "Of course you didn't. I'm glad you could make it."
"Always."
"Speaking of the baby's gender," Clint interrupting his eldest son so he could greet his best friend with a hug and quickly bent over to put his hand on her belly, "are we having a little Clint?"
She laughed, "You have to wait and find out later like everyone else."
He groaned, "But later I'll be focused on the fourth of July fireworks. Are you going to tell us at dinner?"
She shrugged, "Maybe. Who knows?"
Before Clint could answer she heard another voice say, "Uh-uh Nat. That was not the deal you and Bruce made with us."
She turns around, "I could tell you at midnight and it would still be the fourth of July, Tony."
Tony glared as Pepper and Morgan walked in behind him.
"Is he bugging you again Natasha?" Pepper asked.
"Yes. He really wants to know how much money who lost or won."
Tony playfully glares at Natasha, "That's correct, yet she still won't tell me. Where's your husband? He'll be easier to crack."
"Right here Tony," Bruce said as he walked downstairs with Niko in front of him and Ian behind him. Both boys said a quick hello to the aunts and uncles before they went outside to play with the rest of their cousins. Morgan followed looking for Nate, her best friend whom she hadn't seen in a while. Both kids were looking forward to spending the day together.
"And no Tony. I will not tell you they baby's gender."
Tony pouts and says in a baby voice, "Pwease Bruce?"
Natasha, Pepper, Clint, Laura, Lila, Cooper, and Thalia all laugh at Tony's reaction when Bruce flat out says, "No."
Tony groans as he sits in a chair in pretend defeat.
"Thalia could have told you it wouldn't work. She's been trying on Bruce all week."
Tony's head shot up, "You actually said no to Thalia? I'm impressed. Morgan's ten and I still have a hard time saying no. If she asks several times she normally gets it."
"Same, but mine's 18," Clint chimes in.
Lila nods, "It's true. He really does have a hard time saying no to me."
Bruce blushes, "I said no and then let her spend time in the lab with me without the boys."
"We're building a dollhouse!" Thalia inputs excitedly.
Tony grins at that, "Ah. You just gave her something else. Clever, Bruce."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you two," he gestured towards Tony and Clint, "going to help me with the grill?"
Both the men nod and Clint says, "Yep. The sooner we eat the sooner we can find out the baby's gender. When's the rest of the huge family coming?"
Natahsa shrugs,"They should be here within the hour."
He nods as he and Tony begin to follow Bruce outside, "He Coop, you want to help this year?"
"Ah Come on Dad! You know we're gonna have our annual tag game once all the kids are here."
"Oh right. Just don't kill each other."
"You got it," Cooper called after his father and then he gestured to his sister and little cousin, "we should wait outside with everyone else. I can't wait for the game of tag."
As the kids leave Laura mumbles under her breath, "I swear that game of tag gets more extravagant as the years go on."
Natahsa nods in agreement. The game of annual tag had started a couple years ago when Morgan and Nate were four and five. They had all gotten together to celebrate the fourth, to do something normal, and Cooper suggested that all of the kids play tag. At the time that included him, Lila, Nate, Morgan, Peter, Harley, Cassie Lang, and Wanda. Over the years the game had added her own children, Steve's grandkids, Groot, and Clint's protegee Kate. Shuri played too when she came. The game ranged the entire field and the rules evolved as they played. Powers were allowed but only at designated times. It always made the day interesting for the adults watching.
"I hope they get tired out quickly so I don't have to deal with hyperactive children tonight. I already have one who won't stop using my bladder as a punching bag."
Laura and Pepper both smiled at her sympathetically.
"Ah, I do not miss those days," Laura said.
Pepper shrugged, "I liked being pregnant. Morgan never kicked too hard and if she did Tony would talk to her for hours on end."
Natasha laughed, "So she's had Tony wrapped around her little pinkie finger since before she was born."
"Yep."
Within the hour all the other guests arrived. Nat was on the porch watching the kids split into teams for their epic game. The smile grew on her face when she noticed Bruce walking over to her, having ditched a conversation with Thor and Valkyrie about New Asgard.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" he said as he came to sit on the hammock she was laying in and kissed her forehead.
"Tired and hungry. You didn't happen to sneak me a burger did you?"
He chuckles slightly, "No. Their almost ready anyways."
"Aren't you suppose to be grill master?"
He shrugs, "It's not worth the effort. I start it and then sneak off."
"And you denied Ian got that habit from you."
He smiles guiltily, "Speaking of Ian, he's still playing. I'm surprised he hasn't tried to quit yet."
"That's because he's on a team with Peter."
A look of realization crossed his face, "He's always starstruck when Peter is around."
Nat nods as they watch the children play.
"Who would've thought our lives would have turned out like this?" Nat asks as she leaned her head against her husband's shoulder.
Bruce chuckles as he wraps an arm around her, now fully supporting her weight. He feels Natasha relax against him.
"Not me. Especially after we almost lost you and Tony."
She turns towards him already sensing the onslaught of guilty emotions he was feeling. She cups his face in her hand and stares at him directly in the eyes, "But you didn't. You guys managed to get Tony to Wakanda fast enough to heal him and when Steve put the soul stone back, he managed to surprisingly bring me back. I'm grateful for the second chance at life we got. I'm also glad you decided not to merge yourself and the Hulk permanently. I missed the human version of you."
He laughs softly, "Me too. I'm also glad we got a second chance. Although, Thalia was a bit of a surprise."
Nat laughs and remembers the day she had found out she was pregnant with her eldest. She had been shocked because it was impossible for her to have a kid. But apparently, whatever Bruce had done to demerge himself and the Hulk had been able to make his Bruce persona less gamma infected so he could have sex without giving his partner radiation poisioning or hulking out, but it made him have still stronger than normal sperm. Somehow the repeated exposure triggered the serum the Red Room had given her, and healed some parts of her inside. The pregnancy was still risky, but they had just been grateful for the opportunity. Bruce had fainted when she told him.
"Yeah, she was a definite surprise. I think all the kids were a surprise though. I'm just glad we didn't lose any of them. They're strong kids."
Bruce nodded in agreement.
At that moment they heard Tony shout that the dinner was ready and it was almost time for the fireworks. Bruce helped Natasha up and they walked towards the grill to get food for themselves and their kids. Bruce also grabbed a picnic blanket for the family to eat and watch the fireworks on.
"Daddy, did you remember to put ketchup the right way on my hot dog?" Thalia asked as the family made their way to their usually picnic spot.
"Yes. Did you remember to grab me a soda?" Bruce asked as they arrived at the spot. He handed Natasha the food he was currently carrying in a basket and spread the blanket. The best firework watching happened in the middle of their field away from the house. Tony and Bruce always set up a much more interesting display than any of the local shops, which the kids always enjoyed. Each family had a picnic area that they'd been going to for the past six years and they're own traditions. For example, Bruce and Thalia had the same conversation about the hot dog and soda every year since she could walk and talk. Natasha always found it amusing.
"Yes, Daddy. What's in the firework display this year?"
Bruce shrugged as he helped Natasha sit down and she began distributing food to the kids.
"Who knows? Ask Uncle Tony."
Niko turned to where Tony, Pepper, Morgan, Rhodey, Happy, May, Peter, and Harley all sat on a blanket eating and laughing.
"Uncle Tony!" Niko yelled.
Tony whipped around and shouted back in the same whiny Tony, "Nephew Niko!"
Niko grinned at the fact that his uncle was acting immature, "What's in the fireworks display?"
"Ask your Dad! He did half of them!"
"He said to ask you!" Thalia shouted back.
Even in the dimming light Natasha could see Tony's glare at Bruce. She and Bruce laughed quietly to themselves. They loved sending their kids to annoy Tony.
Tony gave a big dramatic shrug, "Well, then I don't know either! Eat your dinners!"
All three of their kids groaned but did start to eat their dinners.
After everyone had finished eating and was curled up in a blanket or next to someone, Tony told FRIDAY to begin the show.
The sky lit up with different Avengers doing different things or cartoon character reenacting a scene. Everyone laughed at these fireworks. The fourth of July always put smiles on their faces.
As the second half of the fireworks, Bruce watched Natasha's face. Contrary to what she let the others believe, she didn't actually know the gender of the child they were having. He couldn't wait for her to find out.
Suddenly there was a pop and the sky flashed a beautiful pink. The words, "It's a Girl" flashed across the sky. Natasha whipped her head around to face her husband in shock. Then, silent tears fell down her face.
In the background, Bruce could see his kids dancing and running around excitedly. He could hear Tony shouting in excitement at the money he made.
But all he truly cared about the joy written across Natasha's face. She kissed him and whispered, "I love you.'
He whispers, "I know. I love you too."