And finally, after all these years, this is the epilogue! Thanks for coming with me on this rather epic journey, and I hope you all enjoy this ending. It's suitably fluffy.

May the next year be seriously better, and Happy Yule!

I don't own anything but my own work.

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The silhouette was striking. Lila Barton was almost eighteen now, and when she stood at the crest of the hill at the large Wayne estate on the outskirts of the now relatively peaceful Gotham, she looked like an illustration of the hunting goddess Diana, bow raised for a shot, a hound at her heels.

Further down the slope between Wayne manor and the wast lawns leading to Stark residence, her little brother Nathaniel was chasing Natalia Stark. Alice, Jenna and Tatiana Wayne were playing chase with Marten Barton, falling over frequently both due to the tilting ground and the youngest of them only being six years old.

The blond Potts-Rogers twins, Natalia's half-brothers, and closer to her own age than most of her Wayne "cousins", were playing with Bucky Barnes in the shadow of the house, while Morgan Stark followed her dad around as Tony talked on the phone, one hand clasping hers affectionately.

The two of them were known for being thick as thieves, and always in mischief, sometimes with Happy as their co-conspirator.

Bruce Wayne was lying in the grass with Bruce Banner, clutching his newborn son to him like he'd never want to let go. The two of them were discussing something scientific, like they often did, but leisurely, and with the ease of old friends.

Pepper, Natasha, Laura and Claire sat together at the terrace, drinking tea, coffee and in the latter's case, chocolate milk as she was breastfeeding, having given birth to their sixth child mere weeks earlier. Her eldest and as of late no longer youngest sat together by their feet, the older girl waving a teddy bear around for her little sister.

"Bruce looks like he's appreciating having a son finally," Steve noted, snatching Morgan away from her dad and putting the laughing five-year-old on his shoulders.

"Wayne, Steve, Wayne. Bruce is the other one!" Claire objected vehemently.

Pepper snorted. "That's your own fault for bringing another eccentric billionaire into the mix." The CEO looked across the lawns, where Claire's, Laura and her own four children played together. She had gone for Steve as the donor for her second pregnancy, ending up with identical twin boys, and then got another daughter by Tony, giving their first child a full sibling.

Laura laughed. "He seemed perfectly happy before!" Natsha only viewed the summer scene contentedly. She counted herself as a mother of four, same as Pepper did, though Steve and Bucky officially claimed a joint fatherhood of two, and Tony had the other two calling him dad. His daughters, too, were his heirs, though all of them had enough money settled on them to be perfectly comfortable. He would have done the same for Claire's lot, but they truly didn't need it.

Claire nodded slowly. "You're both right, actually. He was happy, but he always wanted a nice mix. A couple of each. Not that he'd dare complain - they say some men have a predisposition to father either girls or boys, so it is his fault!"

"You should have asked Steve," Laura teased. Luckily, said supersoldier had gone to join his by now longtime husband, and didn't hear her to blush crimson about the joke.

"They're identical. Only one set of genetics. That's just pure fluke," Claire corrected.

"Is it also random that both billionaires seem to only produce daughters?" Natasha wondered, reaching out a hand to stroke the head of Claire's youngest daughter, who was now leaning her weight against her leg.

"Probably. Tony's only got two, too, so there's no way to truly tell. And Bruce has none at all, so we cannot draw any conclusions about geniuses. But if our next one is another girl, I'm calling it on Wayne."

Pepper shook her head, but she didn't actually appear very judgemental. "You mean you're still not done yet?!" Both the women who had gone through three pregnancies and very firmly left it at that, seemed torn between respect and considering the Waynes just a little bit mad.

"I said I wanted seven, and I want seven," Claire announced. "The next will be the last, though, unless I have twins or something unexpected happens. Seven it is. Hopefully it'll be a brother for Thomas, but I'll borrow both of your sets for company for him otherwise. And on that same note, I am very grateful Steve and Bucky has agreed to stay with us for the summer. We need a hand. Nannies can only do so much!"

Laura didn't comment with words, but her nod and expression was so telling, they all laughed at her.

Pepper nodded too, however, and added, "Yes, well, even you can only do so much engineering with a baby on your hip!"

The next moment, Tony - apparently having abandoned his phone - came and snatched the youngest girl out of those he stubbornly referred to as his "grandkids", and carried Mimi on his shoulders, going to join the blanket where all the men had now come to a rest, joined by all the kids, and where Natalia Maria was covered in a pile of younger kids, who all adored her - not least of whom was her little sister Morgan.

If her mums and godmother had only known that, all those years ago, when they feared she'd grow up lonely. There was no risk of that, for any of them.

Claire wandered over, too, followed by the other women. Laura was pulled into the strong arms of her archer, while Pepper and Natasha sat close enough that their hair melted together into more of a strawberry blond mass than was usual. Bucky and Steve leant their heads together, too, and Claire settled against Wayne, taking her baby and resting against her husband, who held her with an arm around her waist.

Her eldest, named after her paternal grandmother, finally came over and joined them, too, making the family as complete as it would be until Rhodey was next on leave.

Claire looked over at Tony and Bruce, who were not as demonstrative - their relationship being very different from the rest - but who were as much of a unity as anybody, and she thought back to that day in the Hulk room she was painting green, and her decision to let Wayne in without first checking who was at the door. It was a good choice, she decided. Maybe one of the best ones she'd made, at least coming after taking Pepper's offer for a special position instead of the standard opening she had originally applied for.

She had been so lucky, and looking around, spotting Natasha and Clint talking with their eyes like best friends do, arms around their respective spouses, children getting up and running around blissfully, she saw others like her. Her family.

They all lived happily ever after.