So much to tell, so little time!

PS, Claire is an engineer, and she is pretty great at maths. They're just geniuses, they have a headstart.

No copyright infringement is intended. (Seriously, I might be hilariously brave when the urge strikes, but taking on Disney isn't a thing I'll ever want to do.)

TapTap

Natasha wandered through the living room, smiling just for herself. Her quickly growing baby daughter was asleep on her arm, and members of her team were scattered throughout the tower, providing the nice ambience of family. There was a time when she could have never predicted she'd ever get to such an existence, but she was grateful to whatever gods were out there or listening - even if they were related to Thor somehow - that she had.

She was standing by the window, leaning against a ledge, just listening to her baby girl breathing, for a long while before the baby stirred slightly. She rocked, and the little one went back to sleep. She knew that maybe she shouldn't carry the baby when asleep, and she didn't do it often, but sometimes she couldn't resist the call to just not let her go.

"She's gorgeous," Bruce Banner walked in, closing the door softly as to not disturb the peace.

Natasha nodded, her voice a mere whisper. "Yes she is. Much like her mother. I never thought I could have this... I never knew. And now it's been a year since I first saw her face, on those blurry images we had before she was born, and I still cannot..."

"Yeah," Bruce nodded, coming over to gaze at the baby in a way very similar to her mother. "I know what you mean. I never thought I could have a family, either. Even as an uncle."

Natasha looked up at him for a moment, smiling quite widely. "I couldn't have guessed we'd stand here like this, the first time I met you. And the first time I 'met' Hulk, I would never have suspected I'd trust him with my baby, even if I'd been able to believe I'd ever have one! Being the aunty to Clint's children was more than I thought I deserved."

Bruce nodded again, more than able to understand her sentiment.


Steve stretched, coming out of the shower after his run, wearing only his jeans. He had gone jogging with Sam, Rhodes' air force friend, and found himself acting unusually silly, which he found he sort of enjoyed.

"Well, that's a nice view." Bucky was lying lazily on their bed, head at the foot of it, with a tablet and a lethargic expression. Steve snorted and went for a shirt, only to have his boyfriend intercept him. They scuffled playfully for a bit, ending up snuggled on their bed, Steve still shirtless.

"What did you do this morning?" He asked, instead of pressing it. Supersoldier and all that - it was not as if he was too cold.

Bucky shrugged. "I was watching the littlest one for a bit after you left, then I've been reading 'Call of the Wild'. Bruce - I mean, the other Bruce - thought I'd like it."

Steve stroked his lover's hair, just savouring being close like this, all the time in the world, nothing urgent to tear them apart in any sense. "And did you?"

"Yeah. It's interesting. And very... sorta, wolfy? I can relate, in a way, if you know what I mean. It's..."

"Instincts," Steve supplied when Bucky falted. "I can see that." He kissed him just at the junction of his shoulder, the spot before skin became obscured by his t-shirt, as they were not equal degrees dressed. "He's a good guy, I think. I'm glad we can like him."

"I like him, too." Bucky looked up to meet Steve's eyes with a wicked grin. "We still need to scare him shitless, though, so he knows not to mess with our little sister," he insisted.

Steve would normally object to such a statement, but not this time. This time, he agreed wholeheartedly. "Of course," he answered instead. "Of course we will."


Claire was tinkering down in the workshop, Tony long since having surrendered to the inevitable and crashed upstairs after nobody knows how many hours without sleep.

She was wearing a comfy sweatshirt, which wasn't only painstakingly tailored - unusual as that was for sweatshirts - but set with an actual arch reactor, allowing her more use of the Ironman technology as she calibrated the gloves.

She looked up at a knock on the door, expecting it to be Banner or Steve, or maybe Bucky or Natasha, but smiling involuntarily when she spotted Wayne. "Hi, there. Come in!"

He smiled right back, stepping inside carefully. "I am alright to be in here with you alone, now, right? I mean, you mentioned it the other day at lunch, but... well, I haven't really seen you for a week or so, not since that day you put your hair up in the lab."

She laughed. "Yeah, and I promise never to do that again. But yes. I hereby claim you as my entirely own! Feel free to drop in. And be warned - if you've not already had shovel speeches, expect them!" She couldn't help but chuckle.

He laughed, too. "I am actually a bit surprised it has taken this long! I expected thinly veiled death threats ages ago to be honest." He blinked, as she stepped around a bench and came more clearly into his view as a full figure. "Is that an arch reactor?! What happened?!"

She looked down, paused, and then blushed ever so slightly. "Oh. yes. It's for the technology. It's not in my chest, like dad's. It's just a calibration thing as I work on the suits. Besides, you know, being able to summon the gauntlets is like, really cool." She shrugged, slightly sheepishly. He laughed.

"That's a lot less dramatic than what I expected," he admitted easily, coming up to sit on a stool next to the workbench. "So is that what you've been working on? Tony's superhero gear?"

She moved a few design drawings, shrugging once more. "Not really? I mean, it was! But I have this project I've been dabbling with. One of my own, I mean. And now I'm just trying to understand the theory of this equation, but I can't work it out. Dad is good with maths, for sure, but his notes are all over the place."

Wayne snorted. "Believe me, we've cooperated more than enough for me to know exactly how smart and mad that man is. I am full of admiration that you haven't let him drive you to insanity yet. Sharing a lab with that man must be..." he looked dazed, just considering it.

She snorted. "Bruce - Banner, I mean - seems to have done quite well for years!" Her eyes glittered as she looked over at him with playful challenge.

"Yes, well," her recently official boyfriend snorted, "I think it is quite clear that whatever that man is made of, it isn't the same thing as the rest of us. I have a lot of respect for him, actually - but maybe you knew that."

"Yeah, I can tell - and of another kind than you do Tony," Claire nodded, rubbing her hands over her face tiredly. Her Bruce decided to take pity on her.

"You know, I do maths too. I have a few minutes before I have to go again - I just dropped in to see you - how about I try to talk you through it?


She was walking back from the front door, having just seen Wayne outside, when she bumped into Bruce. He waved from across the hall, the motion awkward due to him holding a tablet in one hand and a coffee cup in the other.

"Hi, Bruce," she attempted not to yawn, much to his amusement. "Could I ask you a favour?" When he nodded, turning to walk with her, she confessed, "I've been pouring over equations all morning. Dad's notes make no sense, and Wayne tried to explain it to me but boy, did I get distracted by... you know, him being him. Help me? Please?"

Laughing, Bruce gestured her along to his lab, easily promising to try and save her.

An hour later saw them with the maths sorted, watching cat videos on the big screen on the communal floor, Clint - literally - dropping in to join, while Natasha soon sneaked in to do the same. It was a good day.