Clint shot up in bed when he felt Natasha tense up next to him. He glanced over and found that she was still asleep, but her face was scrunched up in pain and her breathing was slightly ragged. Her left arm was draped over her now rather prominent baby bump. Clint sighed and pushed her hair out of her face. Nat stirred and opened her eyes. Clint smiled and kissed her gently on the cheek.

"You okay babe? You were tensing up and looked like you were in pain." Clint asked gently. Nat nodded slowly and curled into Clint's side. Clint smiled and kissed the top of her head. "Are you sure?" He pressed carefully.

"My knee hurts a little." She confessed.

"Do you want me to massage it again?" Clint asked. Nat bit her lip and shook her head.

"No it's fine. I'm fine." She lied. Clint shook his head, he did not buy it for one second. He decided not to pick this fight and instead let it slide. He slid back down in bed and snuggled up next to Natasha. He held her into his side tightly and fell asleep only a few minutes later. When he woke up again she was moaning again. This time she seemed to be in more pain than the first time.

"Nat." He woke her up gently again. Natasha blinked awake and winced. She grabbed at her stomach that time.

"Ouch." She breathed roughly. Clint went into high alert.

"Nat?" He asked a little more sternly.

"Your damn son is gabbing me in the rib cage." She groaned. Clint cracked a smile.

"Like father, like son." Clint joked lightly. Natasha shook her head and sighed. She tensed up suddenly and gasped for breath. Clint went back into protective mode. "Nat, I don't think that is just kicking." Clint told her quietly.

"It can't be contractions, it's too early. He's not ready damn it." Natasha argued through gritted teeth.

"Nat come on, he's my son. He doesn't play by the rules. We at least need to get you looked at." Clint pressed. Nat bit her lip but nodded and reached over to turn the lamp on.

"Will you grab the bag out of the nursery, I'll work on getting out of bed. I've got to put my knee brace on." Nat told him. Clint nodded and got out of bed quickly. He ran through their apartment on the seventh floor of Avenger's Tower. The nursery was a couple rooms down from the master bedroom. Clint grabbed the bag from the changing table and ran back to the master bedroom. Natasha was struggling to strap on her heavy and complex knee brace. Clint smiled and knelt down in front of her. He carefully strapped the knee brace on and helped Nat to her feet.

An hour later Nat was doped up on pain medication laying in her hospital bed. The doctors had admitted her after determining that she was in fact, in preterm labor. Clint was worried sick, and if Natasha wasn't so out of it, she probably would be too. Right now she was fast asleep in her bed. The doctor had determined that she wasn't very far along, and they were in for a long night, and morning. She was about two centimeter dilated and his contractions weren't very close together yet. They had tried to stop the progression of the labor with medications, but it wasn't working for her. Clint yawned and checked his watch; it was two in the morning and he was already exhausted. He really hoped things would start to speed up for Nat. He didn't want to see her in pain very long. It was by definition his Kryptonite. He just couldn't handle it, it hurt him in his very soul. They had Nat's knee unbraced again, and propped up on pillows. Due to the added stress and weight from carrying a baby her knee hadn't been able to heal properly from its' shattering on the mission several weeks ago. She would have to undergo extensive surgery once the baby was born before she would be able to even think about going back into the field. Clint found himself falling asleep in his stiff hospital chair. When he woke up again Nat was still asleep but Pepper and Tony were peeking into the room. Clint smiled when he saw them and stood up to greet them.

"Hey man, how is she?" Tony asked and wrapped Clint into a man hug. Pepper chuckled and went to sit down on the end of Nat's bed instead. Clint checked his watch and leaned against the wall before he addressed Tony's question.

"She's been asleep for about five hours now." Clint remarked, since it was six in the morning now. "She wasn't very far but they can't seem to stop the contractions. They've got her on some strong pain medicine, about as strong as they could without it being harmful to the baby. So she's pretty much knocked out right now." Clint explained. Tony nodded and ran a bandaged hand through his spikey brown hair.

"I was knocked out." Natasha said roughly as she slowly opened her eyes. Clint smiled and went over to her. He kissed her on her forehead and pushed some of her hair back.

"How you feeling babe?" He asked. Natasha shrugged.

"I'm okay." She promised.

"Handling it like a champ, just like we thought." Pepper joked. Nat gave her friend a weak smile and nodded.

"Doing my best anyway." She laughed lightly. Pepper smiled and grabbed the hand free of IV's.

"You'll do great." Pepper encouraged. Natasha nodded. She'd fought Russian operatives ten to one and survived before, she could totally deliver a baby.

At four in the afternoon when Natasha was ten centimeters dilated and finally ready to push she wasn't so convinced anymore that she could do this. Clint never left her side though and he kept whispering words of encouragement in her ear.

"Come on Nat, you can do this. You're doing great champ." Clint encouraged. Her body felt like it was being torn apart, but she bit her lip and pushed again. After a few seconds she groaned and fell back onto the pillows in defeat.

"You're doing great Natasha, I just need you to push a few more times for me." Her doctor encouraged. Natasha nodded and pushed again. "Great job. I can see the head. Keep going." Nat never stopped pushing. Suddenly a cry rang out through the room and Nat flopped back down onto the pillows again.

"You did it babe." Clint beamed with pride and pushed Natasha's sweaty hair off her forehead before he kissed it.

"Congratulations guys, it's a very healthy baby boy." The doctor announced and handed their son to Natasha. She looked down at the bundle of blue blankets and felt her heart skip a beat. He was beautiful. His piercing blue eyes looked up at her blankly.

"Oh my God. Clint, he's so beautiful." She gushed. Clint smiled and nodded. "Maxim Clint Barton. He's the most perfect thing in the world."