A/N: I wrote this based off a tumblr post that suggested that Natasha could be Lila's biological mother.

I also wrote this in like an hour so forgive me if it's a bit crap. :)

Natasha felt like shit.

The Maximoff girl had really fucked with her head, showing her things that sparked like memories in her mind, but that she knew to be untrue. It was frightening. Her graduation ceremony had been similar to that of the one shown to her in her vision, but not the same.

It was why it was Natasha's greatest fear. Maximoff had seen that, she had exploited that, made Nat believe that her greatest fear had been a reality.

Because if Natasha hadn't escaped before graduation, hadn't ran off into the freezing Russian winter and nearly died trying to stay out of the Red Room's clasps, well, she might as well have been dead. One of the most important people in her life would never have existed.

The thought alone made Natasha want to vomit.

Clint landed the jet, and without even looking out of the window, she knew where they were. It was feeling, an aura that the place gave out that calmed Nat significantly. She couldn't explain it. Maybe it was the place itself, or maybe it was the proximity to her loved ones, but it was home.

They were home.

Clint put an arm around her waist and helped her up, the rest of the team looking on.

"It wasn't real." Clint said to her, lips close to her ear.

She bit her cheek. "It felt real."

"Well," He smiled, helping her down the ramp and up the walkway to the farmhouse, "we have living, breathing proof that it wasn't real right through that door." He nodded at their home.

"I could feel it, Clint." Natasha swallowed. "What if felt like as they dragged me away, their cold hands on me, they-,"

"They didn't." He said in an insistent whisper. He stopped at the front door and glanced behind them at the rest of the team following. "I know that little witch made you feel like you could remember them doing it, but it wasn't a memory, Nat. It was a dream."

She gripped his hand on her waist tightly, using the feeling to ground her in reality. Natasha squeezed her eyes closed, and when she opened them, he was still there, standing with her in front of their home, like he always was.

There was a series of thin scratched lines at varying heights on the outside doorframe. Each had an initial and a date. The children had grown up with their parents recording their growth on that door. Natasha pressed her thumb on the most recent lines.

"It wasn't real." She said.

Clint nodded. "They might have ripped that privilege away from the other girls, but not you."

"I escaped." She said with a little more confidence. "I got out before they could," the word caught in her throat a little, "sterilise me."

"You escaped." Clint said, and pressed a kiss to her temple.

Clint led the group into the house, and called out to Laura. She rushed over at seeing them both and wrapped them in hugs. Natasha held on tightly to the woman, forever grateful that she had seen Nat as worth enough to be in her family.

The other Avengers stood back a distance, watching the whole exchange with a quiet curiosity, or in Tony's case, not so quiet. The man mumbled to himself and the others around him, commenting on the validity of Laura's character.

Laura ignored him and kissed Natasha's cheek. "Welcome home."

Nat smiled. "Thanks." She put her hands on Laura's protruding stomach. "I missed you."

Laura looked from Nat to Clint and back again. "He missed you guys, too."

Clint punched the air and Nat groaned.

"Aw, crap." Natasha mumbled under her breath, and bent down to the baby. "I had twenty dollars on you being a girl. Traitor."

Clint shoved his face close to hers and nudged Laura's belly with his nose. "Oh, you're a Daddy's boy, aren't you? Yes, you are. You just won Daddy twenty dollars."

Nat stood up and glared at him.

The unmistakable sound of children galloping down the stairs had both Clint and Natasha rushing forward with open arms. No matter how much crap was going on in her head, no matter how much her muscles were aching, nothing was going to keep Nat away from her kids.

Cooper ran for his dad while Lila's eyes remained glued to Nat. The little girl glanced at the strangers standing in her living room, and as she flung herself into Natasha's arms, exclaimed loudly, "Auntie Nat!"

Perhaps Natasha should have felt a little upset at the sound of her daughter calling her 'Auntie', but she was just so damn proud of the little girl for remembering her etiquette around questionable strangers, that only pride and infinite love poured through her.

Nat caught Lila in her arms and picked the little girl up, hugging her close. "Hello, beautiful." She said to her, kissing her hair. Nat kissed her daughter's cheek, keeping her mouth close to her ear. "Good girl." She whispered. "Auntie Nat while the guys are here."

Lila nodded, her head now tucked under Natasha's chin. "'Kay. I love you."

Nat pushed her nose into Lila's hair. "I love you." She held her baby tightly, rocking her gently. "I've missed you so much. I love you."

…

The kids and Thor were occupied colouring pictures and bickering over which DVD to watch next, while the adults, minus the God, congregated in the kitchen. Cooper had taken quite a shine to the Asgardian and was teaching him the ways of Star Wars in the living room. Bruce and Tony stood leaning on the kitchen counters while the rest of them sat at the table.

"I can't believe you're married" Tony said to Clint. "How did I not know that?"

Clint smirked and shrugged. "A well kept secret?"

"You." Tony pointed an accusing finger at Nat. "You dumped SHIELD's history on the internet. Everything. I know, I looked. There was nothing about Mrs Barton and the hawk babies." He turned to Bruce. "Right?"

Bruce nodded. "Right. We looked." He frowned a little. "Well, not specifically for that, but you know, we would have noticed if your were married."

"Like I said," Clint took a sip of his coffee, "well kept secret. Even SHIELD didn't know."

Tony grumbled. "This sucks."

Nat rolled her eyes. "How in any way does Clint being married with children affect your life negatively?"

He narrowed his eyes at Steve. "Because now I owe Captain Patriotism twenty dollars."

"What?" Clint looked between them. "You were betting on me?"

Tony and Steve had the good grace to look sheepish.

Clint shook his head. "What were you betting on?"

"You and her." Tony said, waving a hand in Nat's direction. "I thought you were together, and Steve said not."

"I said you guys were too professional to have anything other than a work-friends relationship." Steve smiled smugly. "Feel free to pay me anytime, Stark."

Clint and Laura both glanced at Nat and she smirked at them over the rim of her mug.

Lila wandered over to the kitchen table, weaving in and out of the very tall superheroes in her house. Natasha couldn't help but smile at her. Lila seemed completely unconcerned by the other Avengers. Cooper had been a little in awe, particularly of Thor, while Lila couldn't seem to care less.

"Look." Lila said, holding out a drawing and climbing onto Nat's lap. "It's Daddy, see." The little girl pointed to the crude drawing of a person perched in a tree and Nat had a to laugh.

"That's very good, Li." She kissed her. "Looks just like him." Natasha looked over at Clint. He was pouting.

"When have I ever perched in a tree?" He huffed.

Lila leaned back against Natasha's chest. "When you shoot your arrows at turkeys." The little girl turned to Tony and Bruce. "He does sit in a tree. I've seen it."

Tony grinned. "Good to know." He stepped closer to the table and leaned over to see Lila's drawing. Next to the tree there was a happy woman with bright red crayoned hair and a little black gun in her hand. A black cat sat on her shoulder. "And who's that?" Tony asked.

Lila smiled and pulled Nat's hands tighter around her waist. "It's Mama."

Natasha froze as Tony frowned. While her daughter's drawing was a little crude, it was definitely accurate enough that the woman Tony was pointing to in the drawing was certainly not Laura, the woman Nat and Clint were attempting to convince the Avengers was the mother of Lila.

There was another lady in the picture. From what Natasha could tell, the other woman, obviously Lila's representation of Laura, seemed to be grinning at both Nat and Clint. A yellow dog sat by her feet.

Tony pointed at the picture of Nat again. "That's your Mama?"

Lila nodded. "Mmhm." She looked over at Laura and Clint who were watching with varying degrees of concern and amusement. Something seemed to click in Lila's brain because her face fell and she looked up at Natasha sheepishly. "Uh-oh."

Natasha could only chuckle and hug Lila a little tighter. "You tried." She told her little girl, kissing her cheeks. "Three and a half hours. That was pretty good."

Lila hid her face in Nat's chest. "M'sorry, Mama."

Nat rocked her a little, eyeing the shocked faces of her teammates. "I'm not mad, baby. Don't worry."

Tony whistled. "I think I can speak for all of us when I say, well that was unexpected." He held his hand out to Steve. "Pay up, Rogers."

Steve ignored him, looking between Clint, Laura, and Nat and leaning across the table. He finally settled on Clint. "But, you're married." He said in a disgraced whisper.

Laura snorted and Clint gave her a gentle shove. "Leave the man alone, Laure. He's almost a hundred."

Laura held up her hands in surrender. "Sorry, Captain." She smirked.

Steve nodded, although Nat had to assume out of politeness because he still looked utterly confused. "You're married." He said again.

"I am." Clint clarified as Nat rubbed Lila's back. She was still cuddled into Natasha's chest, but he had turned her head slightly to watch her father speak. "You're right, I am married." Clint continued. "To Laura. I'm married to Laura, and," He paused reaching a hand over to Natasha, "also Nat."

"Sounds complicated." Tony said with a smile.

"It's really not." Clint replied. He looked to Steve. "Laure, Nat, and I love each other. The children are all ours."

Laura nodded her agreement, hands resting on her protruding stomach. "I gave birth to Cooper. Nat had Lila. But they're all of our kids."

Natasha felt one of Lila's hands curl around her neck and begin to play with her hair. She patted her back and relished the feel of her daughter curled in her lap.

Steve ran a hand through his hair. "The future is weird."

"If it helps, Rogers," Tony piped up, "this thing they have going on isn't exactly 'normal' by today's standards." He smiled at the three on them, eyes landing on Lila. "But that's the world's fault. It just hasn't caught up with true love."

Nat tilted her head. "Aw, Stark. Aren't you a softie?"

"Yeah, well." He blushed and put his hands in his pockets. "Don't go telling the bad guys that."

Bruce cleared his throat. "But why have us believe Natasha wasn't a mother?"

Nat sighed. Lila had her eyes closed, head resting on her shoulder but she knew the little girl wasn't asleep. She kissed her again, unable to give enough affection to her little one she had missed so much.

"It's safer if people don't know I'm her mother." Natasha said. She left it at that, and no one commented anything else. She was the Black Widow. Her children would never be truly safe if certain people were to discover their parentage. "It's safer this way."

Steve leaned back in his chair. "I wish you would have told me. I thought we were friends." His expression was one of betrayal and Nat hated him for making her feel guilty.

"You are Mama's friend." Lila said. She opened her eyes and looked over at Steve. "She told me about you. She says you're her friend."

"See." Tony said. "Don't get all pissy, Cap. She wants her kids to be safe. Don't punish her for that."

Natasha had never in all of the years she had known Tony Stark, ever been so fond of him. "Thank you, Tony." She said sincerely. He shrugged and began fiddling with his phone.

Steve nodded. "I'm sorry, Natasha."

"It's okay." She said.

"So," Clint said, putting his feet up on the kitchen table, "now we're all familiar with the family, who wants to talk about how the hell we're going to defeat Ultron?"

"You should use a really big magnet." Lila said from her place in Nat's lap.

They all stared at her.

Steve stood up. "All in favour of using a giant magnet to stop the killer robot?"

"Aye!"

It was a unanimous vote.

A/N: Reviews are very much appreciated. I love comments and ideas! :) xxx