While Jane had gone into SHIELD for a few hours to use some of the lab equipment, the four other adults enjoyed a rare quite moment in the kitchen; Thor had insisted on accompanying Jane and the other five were playing nicely in the lounge.

That was until it was abruptly interrupted by a loud crash and the sound of shouting from the lounge.

"I bet you $10 it's Tony's" whispered Maria

"I bet you$20 Clint and Natasha" Phil counted

"I bet you both $100 that it's all three of them!" Darcy said tiredly, receiving an eye roll from Pepper.

"I guess I'll go then" Pepper stated, noting how none of the other three had moved from their seats despite the arguing and crying still going on in the other room.


"What's going on?" Pepper asked as she entered the lounge

Natasha, Clint and Tony all started to respond, shouting louder to be heard over the others. Natasha was stood on the table, while Clint and Tony were stood on the floor amidst a pile of lego, beside a screaming Bruce.

"Right, okay okay. Shush!" Pepper told them, silencing the three older children while she picked Bruce up from the floor

"One at a time" she warned them, but before she could tell them who could go first all three started shouting again

Pepper closed her eyes, it had been a long day; hell, it'd been a long few weeks, and she had an ever growing headache.

After ten minutes of arguing among themselves Natasha, Clint and Tony stopped when they realised Pepper had given up waiting and left the room.

They looked at each other confused before she re entered, noticing they were now quiet

"You ready to be quiet now?" she asked sternly. The three of them nodded. "Good, then listen"

Steve had told Pepper what had happened while they'd been too preoccupied shouting; Natasha and Clint had been playing a game of spies and Bruce had wanted to play, they'd told him he was too young and suggested he help Tony with his lego. Tony however hadn't wanted help as he was building a large, complicated lego model of a robot, so when Bruce tried to join in he'd told him not to touch anything. Bruce had become frustrated and grabbed the lego, breaking the robot model which was taller than Bruce himself and had taken Tony all morning. Tony had yelled at Bruce, who started to cry. Then he yelled at Clint, Clint yelled back, and Natasha joined in and the whole thing had gotten worse when the rest of Tony's 'robot' had collapsed and shattered on the floor...

"First, Natasha get down off the table"

She did as she was told, but scowled at Tony when he stuck his tongue out and whispered 'I told you you weren't allowed to stand on there!'

"Tony!" she warned, before continuing "I know Bruce is a lot younger than you guys..."

"He's not that much younger than Tasha" Tony said, emphasizing Natasha's name, and Pepper glared, Cling grabbed Natasha's wrist before she could hit Tony and get herself in more trouble

"But he likes to play with you guys, so be nicer to him" Pepper finished, not in the mood for lectures

She was surprised at Tony; he was normally the most tolerant of Bruce and liked to make sure he was always involved

"I'm sorry Pepper" Natasha whispered, eyes on the floor by her feet

"Me too!" Clint told her when Natasha elbowed him

"And me, I'm sorry Bruce, I just really wanted to finish my robot"

"Can you all play together now?" Pepper asked, though it wasn't so much a question as an order

They all nodded and Bruce smiled happily


As Pepper left the room Tony turned to the two mini assassins and whispered; "Since you two are so in love, why don't you play Mom, Dad and baby?" he sniggered, running off as Natasha tried to hit him. Clint scowled and threw a load of lego at Tony.

Once again arguing could be heard from the kitchen and Pepper sighed; "It is not my turn"

Phil and Maria nominated Darcy to go seeing as how she'd just won $200 off them

She stormed into the room, slamming the door and shouted "Oi! Cut it out!" before walking back into the kitchen

"That's it?" Pepper asked

"Well it worked didn't it?"


"3... 2... 1..." Phil counted down, and sure enough there was a crashing sound as he called out 1

"Phil" Darcy told him it was now his turn.

He walked slowing into the lounge, sat quietly on the sofa and watched them, after a few minutes the three arguing children had wondered what he was doing and stopped to turn and face him

"Hear that?" he asked them

"No" Clint answered, confused

"Exactly, that's what I want to hear from now on. And if I hear you three arguing again you will be in serious trouble" he told them, leaving the room

The silence lasted less than 30 seconds


"Your turn" he told Maria, who sighed getting up from her seat; "Can't we just get Steve to control them, he managed well enough when he was an adult" she said on her way to the lounge

"I'm 5 minutes away from sending those three to be watched by Fury for the day" Pepper answered

Natasha and Tony were wrestling now; Natasha was much more skilled, and incredibly agile. But Tony had his size and weight on his side. Clint seemed to be sitting this one out, sat to the side reading a book to Bruce

Maria grabbed Natasha's arm in her left hand and Tony's in her right, dragging them down the hall and ignoring their protests; she put them both in Tony and Bruce's bedroom and told them to settle the argument in here so no one else had to listen to them argue, Maria left, locking them in.
Some time alone should help them see eye to eye she hoped.


Natasha stood by the door with her arms crossed, staring angrily at Tony. Tony just sauntered round the room with the arrogant attitude he had perfected, before sitting smugly on his bed

"This is your fault" she told him

"What's the matter, missing your boyfriend?"

Natasha wasn't just angry, she was furious. Tony had been teasing her and Clint about this for almost a week. He was relentless.

"Why do you do that?" she asked, sounding sad and sinking to sit on the floor

"Do what?" he asked, shocked at her change in mood, he'd been waiting for her to pounce at him

"You make people mad on purpose"

Tony shrugged, he guessed it was true; the only reaction he ever used to get from his dad was when he was mad

"Well you shouldn't!" Natasha told him firmly

"I'm sorry" he admitted quietly, now it was Natasha's turn to be shocked. She wasn't expecting him to break so easily

"You can be nice sometimes you know" she told him, and he smiled. "I like you when you're nice" she added, earning herself an even bigger smile from Tony

"I like you when you're not kicking my ass" he told her and she giggled

"This is fun, it's like being a real big brother" Tony told Natasha, pulling her up from the floor where she sat and dragging her gently over to his bed so she could sit next to him

"You don't have any brothers or sisters?" she questioned him

"No. I always wanted some though. What about you?"

She shrugged; "Don't remember, I don't know my family"
Tony sensed her tone and didn't push her on the topic anymore

"You wanna break out of here?" he asked her instead, earning himself a big grin from the younger girl

"I can pick the lock" she told him

"Where's the fun in that?"

"Go on Maria, how'd you do it?" Darcy asked, amazed when another argument didn't erupt when she left the lounge

"I just have a way with kids" she told them, making Pepper laugh and Phil snort into his tea.

"Maria" Tony called, and the four adults looked up to see Tony and Natasha peering out of the air vents at them

"We're friends again, can we come out now?" he called, smiling mischievously as the three other adults turned to stare disbelievingly at Maria