So thirty-six weeks down and both women were now having waves of panic every now and again, because they were closing in on their due date, and even though the baby wasn't bothering them much anymore, they had gained close to ten or twelve or god-knows-how-many kilograms, and moving was now beyond possible. Sitting down wasn't comfortable, lying down wasn't comfortable, they only managed to sleep every night by drinking copious amounts of warm milk before they sleep. But then their pregnancy-pressured bladders would wake them not half an hour later and they would have to drink more milk. Pepper joked about how their babies must have bones harder than diamonds and then Natasha agreed with it wholeheartedly, no jokes.

Tony and Clint discovered they couldn't get paternity leaves until at most a week before Pepper and Natasha are due, so Clint's been sent off to Austria and Tony is down in the Caribbean's fighting off some pirates. Yes really.

It was a night when the water pounded down in Stark Towers making the thunder match the sound of rain against metal. Pepper and Natasha were in the kitchen kneading dough because they both fancied some homemade banana bread. Then the lights went off, there was the sound of the backup generators having trouble turning on.

"What's going on?" Pepper said, and Natasha immediately shushed her.

"Someone's in the tower."

"Yeah – I mean there's us two, and … Sharleen." Pepper counted. "You mean her?"

"No." Natasha said, dropping as low as she could with her pregnant belly. "Someone else." She reached for Pepper to try and get her to duck under the counter too, but it honestly was very difficult. With some difficulty, Pepper got onto her hands and knees, so that she was obscured from view by the counter if anyone was at the door.

Natasha held up a finger and shushed her quietly, and then she reached up to open a cabinet. She reached in and with some soft clinking noises she drew out a handful of knives. She laid them on the ground softly, and from the light shining through the large windows, Pepper saw that Natasha had lain all four knives side by side, from biggest to smallest. Natasha looked to Pepper and signalled complete silence, and Pepper nodded, easing back on her knees so she could stay in the same position for longer.

Just then, even Pepper could hear it – the soft squeak of combat boot sole on their linoleum floor. To her, the door was a pitch black rectangle, but to Natasha's sharp eyes, she could see the room beyond; the sofa and table. Then she saw a shape move very distantly, behind the sofa. She gripped the biggest knife, levelled it in her hand. She felt the shape of the handle against her palm, how the blade tilted the knife forwards, and she breathed deep, remembering her training.

She turned the handle in her hand, and eyed the entrance. The shape was moving closer – silently. It was a trained person, whoever they were. They were armed; maybe she was imagining it, but Natasha could hear the noise each bullet made as it moved against another bullet in the cartridge with each silent step the person took.

Pepper was silent behind her, but she couldn't still her breathing. The person neared the door, and Natasha gripped the knife. She leant back slightly, raising her hand behind her. The person's shadow was cast through the door, and Natasha flung the knife forward. There was the sound of metal blade cutting through air, and then the knife stuck itself into the frame of the door, the handle wobbling with twang.

"Don't come any closer." Natasha warned, reaching for another knife. "I will kill you, and you know that."

The person did indeed stop, but then Natasha saw the flash of the gun nozzle.

"Down!" She yelled, and bullets showered the kitchen. Pepper screamed and ducked down further under the counter, splinters of wood and crockery showering both of them. When the bullets stopped, Natasha pulled back again and waited. The person glanced around the corner, and Natasha let fly again, the person ducking back just in time, the knife chipping the corner of the door and bouncing off in the opposite direction.

Natasha picked up the third knife, and was about to hurl it again when all she felt was wet - even on the inside, and there was a thin stabbing pain in her abdomen. She reached down and her fingers were wet, and the pain was increasing.

"Shit."

"Natasha you're –"Pepper gasped, the liquid pooling around Natasha's knees. She suddenly groaned and dipped her head as what was maybe the beginning of the contraction consumed all her thoughts, and all Natasha could think of was how much she hated this. Her stomach tightened and the contraction happened again, stabbing her with pain. She hated this pain – she couldn't make it go away. All she could do was back up onto her back and scoot back as far as she could, next to Pepper. Sensing that she was incapacitated, the man moved forward, gun pointed. It was dark and he didn't have any night-vision goggles on, so he was probably just as blind as Pepper was, and that was how he slipped on the pool of fluids Natasha had left by the counter when her water broke. He had made a noise, but nothing more when his helmeted head connected with the side of the counter. He slumped to the floor, his gun thrown across the length of the room – away from the three of them.

There was a noise from the living room, and Pepper just knew she couldn't crawl across to get the gun. The man's partner came into the room, and it took him a second to locate the mid-labour Natasha and frightened Pepper, as well as his unconscious partner. The intruder advanced on them, and Pepper could do nothing but hold Natasha tighter and shut her eyes.

But lo and behold, suddenly something smashed into the back of the man's helmet, and he too slumped to the floor.

"You really shouldn't pick on pregnant women, it's pathetic." Sharleen said, blender in hand.

"Sharleen, oh thank god – Natasha's water has broken, and – and we need a hospital or a doctor or something – oh my god!" Pepper was hyperventilating and she grasped Natasha's hand so tight her knuckles turned white even in the darkness.

Natasha was doing her best to overcome the pain that came sequentially and coordinated – like waves of attack. She tried to control her breathing and tried to keep breathing. Then all of a sudden the pain ceased – or at least lessened immensely – and she no longer felt wet from the inside. That means she had probably started dilating and they should probably get to a hospital.

"Pepper," She reached for her friend in the darkness even though Pepper had her other hand. "We need to get to a hospital." Natasha said. "We probably have a little while before I become a burden again." Pepper looked to Sharleen, who nodded and turned to check that there were no more intruders, but none of them had heard the two men approaching them from behind.

One of the men brought the gun nozzle up against Sharleen's forehead before she even registered what was happening, and Natasha's keen ears could tell that this man had his finger on the trigger and was squeezing.

Suddenly one of the doors connecting the emergency stairwells burst open followed by a hey!

The captain's shield flew out from the darkness and ricocheted off the man holding Sharleen at gun point, throwing the other man back. Sharleen had to duck though, because the man's finger convulsed against the trigger as the shield hit him in the back and he fired anyway.

Steve ran over and picked up his shield, knocking out the man completely as he neared. The man's helmet made an off-tune clang as his face met the shield.

"We got here as soon as we could - Are you okay?" He asked Sharleen, and all she did was look to Pepper and Natasha. You're making it a bit obvious, Rogers. She seemed to say. Steve cleared his throat and looked to the pregnant women. "Are you guys-whoa is Natasha okay?" Embarrassment to concern in 0.2 seconds flat.

"Her water's broken – we need to get her to a hospital." Bruce said, who was suddenly there, and apparently had been there the whole time. He pulled out his phone but Sharleen stopped him.

"We'll take the helicopter."