"I'm sorry sir… you want us to do what exactly?"
Steve Rogers stared at Nicholas Fury with a mixture of confusion and bewilderment. He could feel the other Avengers standing behind him and could imagine that all of their faces looked identical to his own. As part of the Avengers, he had gone on countless missions together, shed blood together, and saved the world several times over, however, he could not remember being this nervous before.
"I need you to protect Ambassador Johnson's son for the next 48 hours until the all clear is given and he and his father can be placed in protective custody. We have a strong reason to believe that this child here is a high priority target of Hydra and they will try to capture him in order to use him to lure out the Ambassador. Until we can get the Ambassador stateside, his son needs to be protected. That's where you come in. I need our best on this."
The high pitched cry of an infant suddenly filled the room and Nick leaned down and picked up the child from his mobile crib.
"You've got to be kidding me."
"Are you for real, Fury? Babysitting?"
"I'm not sure I should be that close to a baby, you know, with the other guy and stuff…"
"Verily, I find myself uneasy with the thought of caring for a child.."
As they started raising their voices in protest, the infant, taking in all their unwelcome expressions, began to cry even louder. Nick patted the child on the back, trying to sooth him to no avail.
"I don't remember asking for your opinion! This is a mission!" Nick walked over to Steve and forced the baby in his hands. Steve held the baby awkwardly under his arms and looked at Fury.
"Sir, I don't think any of us are qualified-"
Suddenly the baby was lifted out of his arms as Natasha gently picked him up, a rare smile gracing her features as she cradled him. The baby instantly stopped crying and started batting the blood red strands of her hair.
"I've got this, Nick." She said in a sing song voice as she shook her head, moving her hair back and forth to the baby's delight. "What is his name?"
It took a second for the director of SHIELD to answer. The sight of his best assassin playing with an infant took him off his game. "Uh, his name is Jay. I'm canceling all other missions for the next 48 hours until we can get the Ambassador here. Here's his stuff and any other things you need will be transported to Avengers tower in the next 2 hours. Dismissed."
As the Avengers began to file out of the room, Clint smirked at Natasha. "Hey Nat, didn't know you were a-"
The loaded barrel of Natasha's favorite gun cut him off. Her eyes locked on to Clint's and her taunting gaze shut him up.
"Say it." Natasha dared him.
Clint didn't take the bait. He had just healed from a gunshot wound during the last mission and had no desire to revisit the pain of it all. He simply shook his head and looked away from her.
"Anybody else got something else funny to say? Stark, I know you usually have something stupid in your head that's begging to be said?" Her gun made it's way toward him. Tony raised his hands in surrender and made the motion that his lips were zipped.
Natasha reholstered her weapon with her free hand and proceeded to sling on the diaper bag and rocked the baby in her arms as she made her way out of the room.
The male avengers cautiously followed, Steve being the last one. The sight of Natasha holding an infant made his heart ache. Natasha was beautiful, there was never any doubt of that, but seeing her in mother bear mode was something else.
Something he wanted to see more of. He folded up the mobile crib, gave a nod to Fury and proceeded to follow the others back to Avengers tower.