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Hospital Trip

At six months old, Jared was the apple of everyone's eyes. Between his parents, his godfather, and the rest of the team, he was doted on by everyone. Anything the child wanted he got, and even JARVIS and FRIDAY had taken to the infant. There had been times when Nat had gone in when she'd heard Jared crying and JARVIS was singing a soft lullaby to her son.

It had been a rough start at first, the sleepless nights, colic and constant checks of Jared's blood for signs of mutation from the super soldier serum in Steve's blood it had taken them a while to settle into normal life. Nat had been benched from missions until she was done lactating for Jared and honestly, she was okay with that most of the time.

Sometimes she missed being out on the field but then those bright blue eyes would meet hers and she'd melt, remembering that being at home was her place right now. Her son needed her for food and comfort in this strange new world.

As soon as her body healed from childbirth, Steve and Nat had gone back to their rampant sex life quickly, and she was suddenly very grateful that spontaneous pregnancy was not a problem for her. While she loved being a mother to Jared, she was not at all ready to have another one any time soon. His birth had been traumatic enough.

Even now, months later, she refused to ride in the elevator alone with Jared unless someone was with her. Even if it meant taking the stairs from the lower levels to the top of the compound, Nat would walk. Besides, it was an excellent way for her to burn off the baby fat of her pregnancy. Peter had been so much more happy now that he had the noise dampening aids, and she loved to watch them playing together.

Peter was extremely attentive, the moment Jared went from just fussing to outright crying, he would scoop the baby up before anyone else could get a look in and sing the Russian song she'd been begged to teach him. His Russian was stilted and a little off, but Jared never seemed to mind. She had asked Steve if he wanted to learn it too, but the gentle giant had refused, saying it was a bond that Peter and Jared shared, and he wouldn't ever want to take away from that.

Instead, if Steve was dealing with Jared's fussing, he would strap his son to his back and do push-ups, their son waving his chubby arms in delight. And, for Nat, she very much enjoyed the rippling muscles of her boyfriend's arms and back as he worked out.

She was pleased that Peter and Tony had managed to work out their little spat. In all honesty, she didn't see why Tony had made a big deal out of a peck on the cheek, but she did also understand the insecurity behind it. She was well aware of Howard's treatment of Tony and the lasting effects it had on his mental state.

When she heard Peter ask his aunt May about getting a ring she'd had to bite her tongue hard to stop herself from blurting something hurtful out. She knew Peter was doing it in response to their argument and that Tony would immediately see right through it. The only response would have been no and it would have caused further upset.

Now that things had settled down again, they were going on our regular date nights once a week, and now that Jared was sleeping through the night, she and Steve had started doing the same. Once a week, Peter and Tony put up the travel cot in their rooms and had a sleepover. On every single occasion they had him, she would watch the footage of the night that JARVIS would save for her and see Tony get up whenever Jared cried.

He would pick the child up and cuddle him close, warm up a bottle of Nat's expressed milk and croon to the baby as he drank. It was nonsensical stuff most of the time, the rest of the time he talked about Peter and how much he loved the kid. The goofy look on his face told her the resident mechanic was absolutely lost on their resident male creepy crawly.

The rest of the team were out on a mission, so it was just her, Jared, and Peter at home. The devil himself knocked on her door and bounded in without waiting for answer, Jared suckling at her breast and Peter cried out, horrified he had interrupted.

"I'm sorry!" He yelped.

Nat laughed and waved him inside. "It's fine, Pete. Come on in, Jared is just having his breakfast."

He sat down on the bed so as not to jostle the happily eating baby. "Tony is always telling me off for not waiting to be asked, I really am sorry."

"And it really is fine, Peter. Did you want something in particular?"

He shook his head. "No, not really. I just thought with everyone else out on a mission maybe we three could do something today?"

"Of course, sweetie. Anything in mind or just a general day out?"

Peter pulled out his phone and got a picture of a soft play place not too far from the compound. "They have an under 5's section and I thought it might be really nice to take him. It's the middle of the week so it should be fairly quiet."

Nat always loved how thoughtful Peter was of her aversion to large crowds with Jared. Peter had no issues with it, but she was a lot more cautious. Not that she disagreed with Peter taking him into large crowds, only that her years as a spy had made her paranoid and she was constantly afraid that she would be recognised, and Jared would be snatched.

It was probably a completely unfounded fear, irrational, even. But it was there and she wasn't prepared to drive herself crazy in large crowds. If she had someone else with her, she was calmer, so even if soft play was busy she would be alright. They agreed to go to the eleven session, giving them a couple of hours to get ready and get down there.

They made it just as the session began, Peter paid their fee while she put Jared's stroller in the bay and grabbed his changing bag. They found a table near the play area and Peter took him to the little ball pool. Jared quite happily throwing the balls out, smiling as he retrieved them and put them back inside the little crocodile shaped ball pool.

One particular ball got launched right at Peter's face and he snagged it out of the air making Jared giggle in joy. Nat scrambled over and gaped at her son. "He laughed!"

"Yeah!" Peter cheered. "Who's a clever boy? Is it Jared? Is Jared a clever boy?"

Jared giggled again and Nat grabbed him up for a snuggle and kissed his chubby cheeks, then set him back down when he started fussing, wanting to play with the balls again. A couple of older children played around them, probably a couple of years old given their speech. Peter left Nat and Jared to go get drinks for Nat and himself.

She spotted two of the kids fighting over a toy near Jared and she tried to break them up or move them away from her much smaller child. She spied the parents completely ignoring their kids and hollered them over. Peter turned to her and dropped the drinks, yelling her name, and then a high-pitched scream ripped through the air.

Nat turned back to the two fighting kids thinking they'd hurt one or the other, but she was wrong. The wooden toy they'd been arguing over must have been tugged by the one closest to Jared and it had hit him, his little head bleeding profusely and his face screwed up, wailing. Before she could act Peter was there and snatched him up, grabbed their bag and yelled for Nat to follow.

She called nine-one-one, panicking when Jared vomited down Peter's back, the teen uncaring for the mess. They said an ambulance was over twenty minutes away and could they get him to the hospital any sooner. Nat was too shaken to drive so Peter took the wheel, grateful that Tony had had the forethought to get Peter insured on all his cars.

Peter drove like a bat out of hell to the hospital, gaining himself a couple of police cars but when they screeched into the hospital parking area and saw the bleeding child they backed off. They rushed him into the ER and Peter yelled for a doctor. The child was whisked away to be checked over, saying only family could follow.

They were treated to the Black Widow stare and doctors stammered it was fine since she was obviously in need of some company for comfort. She stared, crying, as they cleaned her son's head and found the wound to be nowhere near as bad as she feared. They explained that head wounds were always the worst and wanted to keep him in for observation, especially as he'd vomited so soon after sustaining the injury.

A social worker was called as was the case in all child injuries this severe but quickly deduced the accident happened at the soft play centre, a quick call confirming what they said had actually taken place. Nat left a voicemail for Steve and Pete left one for Tony. Neither of them carried their personal phones on a mission and Peter asked JARVIS and FRIDAY to make sure Tony only got the message when he was safely out of the mission.

An x-ray saw no damage to Jared's fragile skull, the wound treated and bandaged up, much to a disgruntled Jared's dismay. The doctors had confirmed he had sustained no concussion, and when he fell asleep, they kept him monitored just in case. It was then that Nat broke down, sobbing into Peter's chest.

She blamed herself for taking her eye off her son and Peter reassured her that it was absolutely not her fault. She did the right thing trying to get the parents to stop their kids fighting with hard toys and it was just a fluke accident. It didn't mean that she was a bad mother as she so terribly kept claiming.

"Nat, please, I promise you, it is not your fault. If anything, it would be mine for even suggesting soft play in the first place," Peter soothed, rubbing her back. "He's going to get injured, Nat, it's a part of growing up. There was no major harm done and Jared is fine, he's a tough kid. If you thought about every bump, bruise or gash he could get, you'd never take him out."

She couldn't argue there, she'd already taken him out so few times for fear of him getting snatched, she couldn't add worries over injuries to her paranoia as well. But she knew Peter was right, she had to accept that Jared would get hurt and as long as she kept a level head and acted according to the situation, all would be well.

"I just froze, I didn't know what to do. I'm so glad you were there, Pete."

A kiss was pressed to her hair. "What are godfather's for? Come on, you take the pull out bed and get some sleep. I got the chair."

-oo0oo-

Sometime in the night, Peter woke when the hospital room door opened, Steve's huge frame in the doorway, backlit by the lights of the ward. He entered and Peter got up, taking them out of the room so they could talk without waking Jared or Nat.

"What happened?" Steve asked, no aggression in his voice.

"It was an accident, some kids were fighting over a toy. Nat tried to get the parents to break them up and at some point, the toy got tugged and hit Jared in the head. There's no concussion, they're just keeping him in for observation, as a precaution," Peter explained.

"How's Nat?"

Peter sighed and brushed a hand through his hair. "Not good. She's blaming herself. I've explained every way I know how, but I think deep down she's more worried that you're going to blame her."

Steve groaned. "She thinks anything that goes wrong is her fault. When he got colic she said it was because she mustn't have been feeding him right. Are you alright, Pete?"

The teen rolled his shoulders in a tired, half-shrug. "Yeah, I guess. Think I'm just coming down from adrenaline of speeding here. I don't think I've ever driven so fast in my life. I was just…fuck, Steve, I was terrified. It was my idea to take them to soft play. I just wanted to get her out of the compound and show her there was nothing to be scared of and all I did was show her how easily Jared can get hurt," he cried, his own tears coming thick and fast.

Peter was enveloped in strong arms and cradled to Steve's body, a large hand cupping the back of his head and another one rubbing his back. He made the same noises as when he was soothing Jared and it worked, helping to calm Peter quickly. He wiped his face and apologised, Steve brushed it aside and hugged him once more.

"Go home, kid. Tony's waiting for you."

Peter smiled awkwardly. "Actually, if it's alright with you, I'd rather wait until Jared's given the all clear."

Steve nodded. "Sure thing, let Tony know though, okay? He's worried sick about you."

The blond went into Jared's room and Peter called Tony. "Hey," he said when Tony answered.

"Hey, baby, you doing okay?"

Peter nodded though Tony couldn't see him. "Yeah, I'm alright. I'm gonna stay until Jared gets discharged. That okay?"

Tony huffed a laugh. "Of course, Peter, just come home when you're ready. Update me on any changes okay? And give the little guy a big snuggle when he wakes up."

Peter promised he would and hung up, firing a quick text to Tony that he loved him. His phone beeped a second later. I love you, too.

He let Steve take the chair, and Peter used his web slingers and webbed a makeshift hammock, climbed up and fell asleep almost instantly. He stirred each time a doctor came in to take observations, staying silent so no one noticed him, because one, he wasn't supposed to be there now that Steve was, and two, the doctor would get one hell of a heart attack.

In the morning, Jared was discharged with a perfect bill of health, the wound already healing far quicker than normal. But, one look at who his father was and the doctors simply assumed some healing factors must have been passed to his son. Peter was exhausted, but glad Nat was well rested and feeling more herself now Jared was fine.

Peter drove them all home, constantly glancing in the mirror at Jared to make sure he was fine. He could see Steve glancing back at him every time and he tried to fight his blush. Steve just smiled at him. Once they were back at the compound, the two parents each hugged Peter warmly, Nat kissed his cheek, and they sequestered themselves in their room and Peter went to find Tony.

Tony was in the shower, and Peter undressed to join him, slipping into the stall with enough noise that Tony wouldn't be startled. He hugged his lover from behind and pressed a kiss between his shoulder blades. Hands covered his and Peter sighed quietly. Tony turned in his arms and grabbed the shampoo to wash Pete's hair, his nails scratching lightly at his scalp.

He washed Peter down, hosed him off and they dried off. Peter looked at the bed longingly and Tony chuckled, dragged him to bed and held him tightly. He didn't speak for some time, just soaking up the silent comfort that Tony so readily offered.

Finally, he spoke. "Looks like Jared might have inherited Steve's ability to heal quickly."

Tony hummed. "I guess that was to be expected, I'll let Bruce know. How are you, sweetheart?"

"Tired, worn out, sick."

Tony pulled back a bit to look at Peter. "Sick?"

He nodded. "I was so scared, Tony, but I couldn't let Nat see just how frightened because she was already so close to breaking. I couldn't stop thinking about all the horrible ways last night could go. Delayed concussion, bleed on the brain, all sorts ran through my mind."

A kiss to his head. "Oh, baby, you handled it all brilliantly from what JARVIS has shown me. The way you handled the car in a crisis."

"What?"

"JARVIS pulled all surveillance footage the moment you called nine-one-one so he could track you. You were cool and calm, handling the situation perfectly. There was no one better capable of looking after Nat and Jared than you in that moment, love. I can't imagine how scary it must have been for you, but the most important thing is that Jared is fine."

Peter nodded and snuggled closer. "Yeah, you're right. How did the mission go."

A grunt from Tony told Peter it had been another nightmare. "Fucking Doom and his stupid Doom Bots. A colossal waste of our time because once again, he was nowhere to be found. Honestly, I wish the guy would just do something genuinely diabolical because this robot shit is getting old really fast."

He couldn't argue with that. The Avengers had been dealing with Doom's idiocy for years now. Their date night was supposed to be that night, but Peter wasn't sure he had the energy to go out and do something. As if reading his mind, Tony spoke up.

"I know it's supposed to be date night tonight, but how about we just put a movie on, get takeout, and just snuggle on the sofa?"

Peter kissed him sweetly. "You sure you don't mind?"

"Not at all, babe. I think after yesterday's dramatics a peaceful, quiet night in is just what the doctor ordered," Tony said.

"God I love you," Peter laughed.

"Yeah? Good, because I love you too, Peter Parker."

It was a few days before Nat got over the hospital trip, and she hardly let Jared out of her sight. The team all worked together to keep reassuring her that everything was fine, and Jared carried on like the event had never taken place. He rolled over for the first time when they were all gathered in the common room, some baby show on the TV.

Bruce, who generally kept his distance from the baby, had gotten down on the floor and rolled around with Jared. He kept glancing around, as if expecting to be watched carefully because of his aversion to loud noises but when Jared screeched in delight, Nat just laughed and cooed to her son. Bucky made some joke about Big and Green going gaga over a tot, and they all fell about laughing.