So first I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed, new or old. They always inspire me and I've extended the story by a few chapters because I wanted to give you more of Clint and Natasha's past and incorporate your ideas. After the positive reaction to Barney I'd also like to include him some more. Where I'm not yet sure, but it may be in the sequel I'm planning...
I'd also like to give thanks to Mitelia, Amber-Jade James, and crayotino18 for there ideas and tips that went into this chapter. If I missed anyone else that helped I am so sorry! Let me know and I will add your name!
So after a chapter filled with so much emotion I bring you... the Christmas with (most of) The Avengers chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. Or Christmas.
Natasha was in a good mood as she arrived at Stark Tower. Early that morning she'd been woken up by a text from an unknown number in Eastern Canada saying- I'll be home within 48 hours. Merry Christmas Nat! Try to enjoy it.' She'd sighed. It seemed every year since they'd met they'd been on a mission during Christmas, that way agents with families wouldn't have to be. And every year Clint had tried to get her to dance with other agents to corny Christmas tunes and eat frosty the snowman cookies. Every year she'd only partake in the drinking of 'adult' eggnog; it wasn't so bad if you added enough vodka. Natasha didn't do holidays, but this year she was kind of looking forward to it all, minus the drinking of course.
So as JARVIS greeted her and started the ride in the elevator up to the Starks' private floor she had a smile in her face and a present wrapped under her arm. She'd kept her hair in its usual curls and decided to make Pepper happy by partaking in holiday color schemes and wearing a red sweater. She shed her grey winter coat as she stepped into the living room. She was the last to arrive.
Thor had requested to bring Jane and no one had objected. Bruce was still in South America, but he promised to come visit after Pepper and Tony's son was born and stick around long enough to play scientist for a little while at Stark Tower. Steve had become accustomed to spending more time at the tower just as Natasha had so coming for Christmas was obvious. Tony had also invited a friend of his from the air force to join in the festivities. She was instructed to call him Rhodey.
Pepper came to greet her and instructed her to put the secret Santa gift on the table in the center of the room. After that she immediately gravitated toward Steve. Over the past months while Clint and Banner were worlds away she found him her next easiest teammate to communicate with. Neither liked to talk very much or discuss the babies being had within the group. It was perfect. So now she approached him saying Merry Christmas, he smiled up and returned the greeting. He showed her some sketches from Central Park he'd been working on and she knew her secret Santa gift for him would be perfect.
Of course Pepper didn't let her and Steve stay secluded on the couch forever and introduced her to Jane. Natasha found her impressive. She was intelligent enough to understand everything Thor said which was often a puzzle. She was also one of the people who had been discovering ways between Earth and Asguard. Pepper must have given her some clue about not mentioning the fact Natasha was clearly almost six months pregnant because Jane said not a word.
Soon they all sat down to dinner and Natasha had never eaten better in her life. She had been to many extravagant restaurants and famously catered dinners, but the food was more than extraordinary. Maybe it was because she was pregnant or maybe it was because she was with friends, but either way she couldn't put her fork down, except maybe to laugh. Natasha was actually laughing and smiling. It wasn't much and was casual compared to some of the snorts that came out of Jane at one point, but all of it was genuine. Clint would never have believed it.
After dinner, but before desert they all sat down on the couches and chairs positioned around the table stacked with presents. A few weeks ago Pepper had arranged a secret Santa gift exchange once she'd received the guest list. Tony wanted to go first of course and handed his gift to Rhodey. Natasha had decided she'd liked him, if for nothing more than discouraging Tony's antics.
It turned out to be a phone just like Tony's. He said it was would have no overseas charges so he could call his new girlfriend whenever he wanted. Rhodey rolled his eyes and said thanks, Natasha knew then that Rhodey must have been something like an older brother to Tony. They watched each other's backs and constantly bickered, but there was love there.
Next Rhodey had received Tony and gave him a baby monitor that apparently had been adjusted by JARVIS to be louder than any music Tony could possibly play in his workshop. Pepper was the one to say thank you for that gift. Tony responded by saying, "Thanks for the excuse to build a new speaker system!" As Pepper and Rhodey both sighed Natasha realized it wasn't just Tony and Rhodey that were incredibly close; the three were a set.
Pepper then volunteered to go next and handed Natasha a small bag with a simple green card that read 'Happy Holidays' in red letters. Simple, just the way she liked it. She read the inside of the card quickly to herself. It read- 'I know you've insisted you don't need it and please don't be mad at me, but I saw you eyeing it when we went shopping. I thought I could get it for you… just in case.' Natasha had an idea of what it was as she carefully dug into the bag and pulled out a yellow pair of baby pajamas. They had a duck on the right side of the chest.
You could feel the room tense as everyone realized what it was. For a moment Natasha just stared at it herself. It was true she may have lingered thinking it was cute, but she hadn't thought about it or really thought about buying any baby clothes. However since the run in with the man last week she had begun to question if she really trusted anyone but her and Clint with the safety of their child. So now as she stared at the small bit of soft fabric in her hands she started to see it again, a small child with curly red hair and Clint's grayish, blue eyes. It would laugh and smile at her and not care about the people she had killed or all of the nightmares that haunted her…
Pepper cleared her throat a bit as an earth-to-Natasha and she quickly looked up with a small smile on her lips, "I'm not sure if I'll need it… but thank you Pepper. It's cute."
Pepper then grinned from ear to ear while squeezing Tony's hand as if to say 'whatever snide remark you're about to make don't even think about it', "I'm so glad you like it Natasha."
With that Natasha put it back in the bag setting it down next to herself and reached to the middle of the table grabbing the box she had brought then handing it to Steve. You could tell Steve was pleased with his secret Santa when he smiled reading the front of the card Natasha had bought 'Merry Christmas'. The man knew the Russian wasn't religious, but appreciated that his beliefs were put into consideration. He read Natasha's simple message about him being a good friend (which both knew was now true) and then tore off the paper. His expression showed confusion and Natasha had expected nothing less.
"It's a drawing tablet," she said kindly, but he still appeared confused. "I noticed you go through a lot of sketchpads and with this you can never run out of space. You can draw in any color or marking style you want then press one button and it will save on the device and the internet so the drawings can never be lost or ruined. It has the texture of paper so it feels the same as a notepad. I thought it would be an easy way to bring one of your hobbies into the twenty first century."
By then a smile had spread across the soldiers face, "Thanks. I'll open it before we go." Natasha was glad her present had been a good one.
Steve then reached for the largest box and handed it to Thor. The god was noticeably excited to be receiving a gift from his favorite sparring partner. As he tore off the paper and top in a matter of seconds it revealed a clean cut black suit with a white shirt and red tie. "I had JARVIS calculate your measurements to be sure it would fit," Steve said to assure the god it was not made for just another tiny human.
"Ah for dinner parties!" Thor said remembering his lesson from Steve all the months ago since they'd last seen each other. "Thank you good friend." Steve nodded as Thor put the top back on the box. Both seemed pleased with the present.
Then Thor reached for a box everyone had been able to figure out was for Jane. It was a small rectangle and Natasha and Pepper had already been able to figure out it was jewelry. As Jane opened the box everyone could already see the sparkle off the gems. They were like diamonds with a slightly blue tint, and although small they were much shinier than any gem Natasha had seen. Jane was completely speechless, obviously not expecting to receive anything so extravagant from anyone.
Thor took the bracelet out of the box and gently took Jane's wrist to clip it on, "In Asguard these jewels are used by men to show their devotion to a woman. Tony has informed me in Midguard jewels are used to show the same. If you will accept them?"
Jane nodded her head having found her voice, "Thor they're beautiful. Thank you!" Thor was very pleased with himself then, kissing her hand once the bracelet was safely attached to her wrist.
Jane tried not to keep too much focus on her gift by quickly taking the last package off the table and handing it to Pepper. Pepper politely took the small square box and unwrapped it to reveal a small black cube with a barely noticeable button on the top. She moved to press the button when Jane stopped her. Throughout the evening Jane had been fascinated by the concept of JARVIS so she looked up as she spoke, "JARVIS, lights please?"
The lights in the room slowly dimmed until the group was immersed in darkness. Pepper took this as her cue to press the button. Immediately the room turned into an observatory with constellations usually only noticeable in the desert throwing themselves all over the room. As everyone looked around in awe Jane spoke up, "You can't see many stars in New York and my mother said they were the only thing that could put me and my brothers to sleep when we were little. So I thought your son might like them too."
Pepper pressed the button to turn off the cube and JARVIS took that as his cue to turn the lights back on, "Jane this is amazing. Where did you find it?"
"I made it," she said nonchalantly. Everyone could see Tony was peeved he hadn't thought of it first.
"Thank you. I'm sure the baby will love it," Pepper said moving to give the woman a hug as JARVIS alerted the room that desert was ready.
The desert part of the evening was casual. Pepper kept going on about how amazing the cube was and Tony already began the digital harassment of Rhodey by phone. Natasha helped Steve learn how to use his new drawing devise and he insisted it was the best and easiest to use present he'd gotten since his bike when he was five. Thor had decided to change into his suit; it fit him perfectly. Jane was entertaining everyone at one point or another, but constantly exchanged looks with Thor that told Natasha neither would be going home alone that night.
As the evening began to wind down all the men, with the exception of Steve, were at least a little drunk. Tony was the only one who had clearly had too much 'adult' eggnog. After Rhodey and Pepper had ushered him to bed people began to filter out. Jane and Thor were the first to go thanking everyone for a wonderful evening and insisting they'd be able to get back to their hotel in the snow. Not too long after Rhodey excused himself to the room he was staying in since he had an early flight the next morning. Steve and Natasha then chatted with Pepper for awhile until they realized it was nearly midnight. Steve insisted on taking a cab home with Natasha.
After the incident a week ago everyone close to Natasha at SHIELD had been briefed so of course Steve knew she wasn't exactly safe walking around at night by herself, so she agreed to split a cab appreciating that he wasn't treating it like a big deal. She thanked Pepper again for the gift and she and Steve had a quiet ride back to her apartment.
In the ten minutes she and Steve casually spoke about the funniest parts of the evening including Tony's several trips before being dragged to bed, the look on Thor's face as he laughed when Tony explained simple Midguardian jokes, and Tony's most embarrassing stories as told by Rhodey. They also agreed everyone's gifts were good, Steve once again thanking her again for his 'actually useful' technology.
The cab began to round the corner towards her building when he asked, "Do you think you'll end up using it? …The present Pepper bought you?"
Natasha looked at him then a little surprised. Since he'd told Natasha and Clint their thought of adoption was practically child abandonment the baby was not a talking point for either of them, but this seemed innocent to Natasha, just curiosity. If she said yes he'd be happy and if she said no he'd be disappointed so instead as she climbed out of the cab she told her friend the truth, "Maybe."
Natasha is now officially a maybe! Whoo! But theres still many chapters left, so don't throw a party just yet. Let me know what you thought of the gifts. I would have inculded Clint more, but I felt like if they talked he'd have to bring up Barney so that'll happen when he gets home IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!
So let me know what you thought of character portrayal, any ideas for moments or stepping stones you'd like to hear of in Clint and Natasha's past, and the usual general comments and questions. As always I'll write a little note at the top of the next chapter.
The next chapter will be coming at you right on schedule Tuesday evening!