NOTES: This is the last one-shot before First Duty starts up in a couple of weeks. Enjoy some harmless fluff before First Duty starts up.

Thank you so much for caring about this series and wanting to read more about these characters.

And thanks to the_wordbutler for helping me with my words.

"When are you going to have a baby?"

Phil wasn't entirely sure which thing caused him to hide his smile behind his coffee mug more: Nadia's question or the way Clint checked his hearing aids to make sure he'd understood her words correctly.

"What did you say?" Clint questioned, his voice not quite squeaking.

Nadia huffed a sigh and sent both her uncles sent her a warning look. "I said, when are you going to have a baby?"

"Umm, never," Clint answered. "You're the closest thing we'll ever have to a kid."

"But you have to have a baby," Nadia whined.

"Why?" Phil asked.

Nadia pushed her remaining bites of scrambled eggs around on her plate for a few seconds while she formed her answer. "Zelda has a baby brother, and he's really fun. I want one."

"But why do we have to have a baby?" Clint asked, obviously trying to put together the pieces of the four-year-old's logic.

Nadia sighed and gave him a look eerily similar to the one Natasha often used when she felt like she was surrounded by idiots. "Because that's how you get brothers—someone has a baby and gives it to you."

"Sometimes," Phil corrected gently. "That's how it happens sometimes."

"Nuh-uh," Nadia argued. "That's how Zelda gets all her brothers. Not all of them stay forever, but that's how it happens."

"Sometimes," Clint repeated. "I have a brother, but that's not how I got him. We have the same Mama and Daddy."

Nadia's eyes bugged. "You can do that?"

"Yep."

The girl pursed her lips and considered her options. A minute later, she shook her head. "I don't want to do it like that. I want to do what Zelda did. So can you pretty please have a baby?"

"Sorry, but no," Phil told her. Nadia's jaw dropped in shock that her beloved uncles would deny her something so precious. "C'mere," Phil said as he opened his arms. Still displeased with his answer, Nadia pouted her lip and darted for Clint's lap instead.

Clint leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees. "Absolutely not," he told her in a stern tone. "You don't act like that to your Uncle Phil. Apologize."

Nadia pouted for a second more, but when she realized Clint wasn't going to budge, she padded over to Phil. "I'm sorry," she said while she tried to climb in his lap. He helped her up since she was swimming in one of Clint's old t-shirts and Phil didn't want to deal with any errant elbows or knees. History had taught him well.

"Do I at least get to explain why we're not going to have a baby?" Phil asked. Nadia shrugged a shoulder and played with the hem of her oversized t-shirt. "First of all, you need a man and a woman to have a baby. Clint and I couldn't ever have one. We'd have to adopt like Zelda's parents did."

Nadia looked up at him like she'd just learned there wasn't a Santa Claus. "You couldn't?"

"Nope," Clint answered. "And we wouldn't even if we could. We spend so much time being your uncles, we don't have time to be dads."

Nadia pressed herself against Phil's chest, and he wrapped his arms around her. "You can't give me a brother?"

"Sorry, Bug," Clint apologized.

She sighed wearily. "Guess I'll have to ask someone else."

Once a week, Bruce picked up Nadia from preschool. Usually, Zelda came along with her and he entertained them in his lab or with a trip to the zoo. But today, Zelda was at home with a nasty cold that was running through the McCoy household, so Bruce decided to treat Nadia by cooking her lunch.

Steve and Natasha were adamant about expanding Nadia's culinary horizons and refused to feed her things like fast food. Well, technically, Natasha was the one who was stuck on that. Everyone knew Steve occasionally snuck Nadia a happy meal—including Natasha.

Bruce double-checked the curry to make sure it wasn't too spicy before dishing the four-year-old a serving. Nadia spooned a small bite into her mouth, chewed for a second, and then flashed him a thumbs up before diving in for more.

"Glad you like it," Bruce said with a smile. He dished himself out some and sat at the table with her—and promptly choked when she asked her question.

"Will you and Aunt Pepper have a baby?"

Once his airway was clear again, he spoke. "Umm, I don't think that'd be a good idea."

"Why not?"

Bruce ran his fingers through his hair while stalling from explaining things like gamma radiation and sex to a pre-schooler. "What happens when someone hurts my feelings?"

"You Hulk ," Nadia answered.

"Right. If I had a baby, odds are they'd do the same thing, and that's not something I want to happen to a baby."

"I think that'd be fun," Nadia giggled.

Bruce shook his head. "It's not fun for me when it happens. I can't be in control, and I'm scared I'll hurt the wrong people."

Nadia looked at him with big, sad eyes for a moment before scooting down off her chair and hugging his waist. He scooped her up and settled her in his lap. "Do you think Aunt Pepper and Uncle Tony can have a baby?" she asked a minute later.

"Why are you so set on people having a baby? Feeling lonely?"

"I want someone to give me a baby so I can have a brother like Zelda," Nadia explained. "I don't want to have a lot of brothers like she has. Just one."

"Why aren't you talking to your Mama and Daddy about this?" Bruce asked.

Nadia looked up at him with a dubious look. "Uncle Phil said they could give me a brother, but I didn't believe him. Is it true?"

"Of course," Bruce chuckled. "Why would you think Uncle Phil was lying?"

Nadia shrugged. "He doesn't have any kids or brothers."

"Clint has a brother."

"But I haven't seen him," Nadia argued. "How do I know he's real?"

"You believe in Santa Claus. Have you seen him before?"

Bruce watched the wheels in her mind turn, and suddenly she gasped. "Is Uncle Clint's brother Santa Claus?" she whispered.

"No," Bruce laughed. "At least, not that I know of." Nadia's shoulders slumped in disappointment, and he ran his hand up and down her back in an apology. Like a cat, she snuggled up against his chest at the contact, and he hugged her against him. "I think it would be great if you had a baby brother, but none of your uncles is going to give you one."

"Uncle Phil said he couldn't give me a brother because he and Uncle Clint are both boys."

"That's true," Bruce agreed. "And it would be a bad idea if I had a baby. Tony wouldn't want to, even if your parents raised it. And if Thor and Jane have a baby, they're going to keep it for themselves."

"So none of my uncles can give me a brother?" she asked with a small whine in her voice.

"Sorry, Nadia."

She played with the buttons on the front of his shirt for a minute before asking her next question. "But if Mama and Daddy can give me a brother, why haven't they done it already?"

"That's a question you'll have to ask them," Bruce told her as he brushed red curls out of her face.

"Do I have to?" she asked while curling her face up in reluctance.

"'Fraid so."

"Mama, I feel frustrated," Nadia sighed. As she did so, she flopped her arms—the only parts of her free from being tucked underneath the sheets—against her mattress.

Natasha rolled her lips to keep from smirking. Apparently, S.H.I.E.L.D. preschool included extensive lessons in declarative "I" statements, and her Aunt Pepper had said the word "frustrated" enough that the four-year-old knew exactly what it meant. "Why are you frustrated, baby?"

"I want a brother like Zelda has, but no one will give one to me."

"Who all did you ask?" Natasha questioned.

"Uncle Phil and Uncle Clint said they couldn't because they're both boys. Uncle Bruce said he would have a Hulk baby, and that's bad. I didn't ask anyone else because Uncle Bruce said I should ask you first." She fiddled with her fingers a minute before looking up with pleading eyes. "Can I have a baby brother? Please?"

She drew the last word out for several seconds, and Natasha smiled. "You told me you liked it with just you, me, and Daddy."

"When?" Nadia questioned, her face scrunching up in disbelief.

"Last year, after Daddy and I got back from Uncle Thor's wedding."

"Oh," Nadia said softly. "Well, I don't remember that. And I was three then; I'm smart now. I changed my mind."

Natasha arched an eyebrow. "And what happens if you become a big sister and you change your mind again?"

"I won't change my mind," the girl vowed while whipping her head back and forth against her pillow. "I promise, Mama."

"Okay, but what if Daddy and I have a baby and it's a girl instead of a boy?"

Nadia shrugged. "We'll take it back."

"Take it back?"

"Yeah, like you do with your clothes sometimes."

"You can't take back babies," Natasha said. "You keep the one you get, or you give it away to someone else like people did with Zelda's brother."

"But then we'd get a new one, right?"

Natasha shook her head. "I can only have one more baby."

"Why?" Nadia asked sadly, the same kind of tone whenever she announced she was out of her favorite cereal.

Natasha sighed. How does one explain Red Room treatments, bio-enhancements, and Asgardian magic to a four-year-old? "Just the way it is."

"When could we get the baby?" Nadia asked.

"That takes a while," Natasha warned. "You might be five before it happens."

Nadia dramatically clapped her hands over her eyes. "I don't like waiting," she whined.

"Hadn't noticed," Natasha muttered. She leaned in and kissed her daughter on the forehead. "Sweet dreams, baby."

"Night, Mama."

Natasha gave the beloved frog nightlight one last check before leaving Nadia's room. When she walked into her own bedroom, she spotted Steve standing stock still in front of their dresser.

"Steve?" she asked when she noticed he was barely breathing.

"It's gone," he whispered before he began rummaging through the open drawer. When he couldn't find what he wanted, he jerked open the drawer beneath it. Natasha merely sighed and sat on the bed; surely the brilliant military strategist would put two and two together.

But then Steve opened up the third drawer and clothes were everywhere.

"Steve—stop."

He looked over at her with fearful eyes, and Natasha felt a little guilty for playing him like that. "But it's gone, Nat. The pill Frigga gave you is—"

"I took it three days ago."

His jaw dropped and his eyebrows shot up. "You took— Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why do you keep eavesdropping on Nadia and me when it's my turn to tuck her in?"

He ducked his head in guilt for a second. Natasha stood up and crossed the room to him, making sure to step around the clean clothes littering their bedroom floor. "You should've told me," he said softly.

She hated hearing that pathetic, hurt tone in his voice. "That's all we've done about this—talked. We've talked and talked and talked, but neither of us did anything." Steve raised his head at that statement and looked down at her. "When Clint called me while we were on our way back from the mission to tell me about her wanting her brother, I figured that was as big of a neon sign as we were ever going to get."

His hand reached out tentatively for her stomach, but paused halfway there. "You took it three days ago?" he asked.

"Yeah, why?"

His expression only turned slightly more terrified. "Natasha, we've had sex in the last three days."

"Glad it was memorable enough for you."

He sighed and ground his jaw. "You could be pregnant right now."

"Thank you, because I'd forgotten how babies are made." He opened his mouth for another retort, but she put a hand on his chest to still him. "I don't think it happens that quickly. And even if it did, we haven't been called out to fight against anything since then."

"But we could be," he argued. "Tasha, we only get one shot at this. I couldn't live with myself if—"

"Yeah, okay," she said, unwilling for him to verbalize the rest of the sentence. "I'll talk to Phil in the morning about moving me to a more passive role."

"You should have regular tests so we know—"

"No," Natasha insisted. "Absolutely not. It's ridiculous enough to have to think about magic spells and all the other shit that goes into us having a chance at this. I'm not peeing on a stick every morning or seeing McClellan until I absolutely have a reason to."

"Fine," Steve acquiesced. Slowly, his hand reached out again for her stomach, and this time, it made contact. Natasha felt a warm rush go through her when it did, and for the billionth time, she wondered when this had become her life. "A baby," Steve whispered with a stupid smile. "We get to have a baby."

"Yeah," Natasha said. "But I'll warn you that if it's a girl, Nadia's going to take her to Bloomingdale's and try and exchange her for a boy so she can be more like Zelda."

Steve snorted and shook his head. "I'm shocked she hasn't painted fish scales all over her arms and face."

"Please don't encourage her. She hates baths enough as it is."

Steve laughed, and then looked back down at his hand. "So we're really doing this?"

Natasha nodded. "Too late to back out now." Gently, he pulled her to him for a slow kiss. She lingered only for a second before taking a step back. "Nope," she said. "We can do slow and sweet tonight, but I'm not ready for our sex life to be that boring all the time just yet."

"I don't want to—"

"I'm not going to break." She made sure he was looking her in the eye when she repeated the words. "This isn't like last time—I'm not going to break." She couldn't; she had so much more to lose, but damn if it didn't constantly plague her thoughts.

The corner of Steve mouth's tugged upwards as he ran a thumb over her cheek. "And that's one of the many reasons why I love you."