Summary: As the team try to come to terms with MJ's death, a new terrifying threat is looming over them. Clint and Grace are forced to confront their darkest fears and enemies, as they prepare for their baby's arrival. Co – Written With snowqueen79. Clint/Grace, Bucky/Sophie and other pairings.
The Cradle Will Fall
Chapter 4
An hour later after explaining the situation to the judges, they were granted permission to leave. It was four hours before they landed, and Natasha still hadn't given birth, but she was in pain.
"My god, how the hell am I going to birth if our son has your shoulders, Steve?!" Natasha asked exhausted, she was propped up on a medical bed with Steve at her side along with Sophie and Grace, while Bucky and Clint flew the quinjet.
"You can do it sweetheart, we'll be home within an hour, I promise," Steve said reassuringly, Grace giving her an ice chip as she wasn't allowed to eat or drink.
They finally landed at the compound, and rushed Natasha to the medical wing of the compound. The entire team was outside the birthing room, as they eagerly waited for Joseph James Clinton Rogers to enter the world.
Steve helped Natasha into the birthing pool, and she cried out in relief as the water soothed her. He sat beside her on a chair, as the others visited. After a while, Natasha felt restless so he and Addison helped her out and got her dry, and into a nightgown as Addison checked her and smiled.
"I can see the head, Natasha! You're almost there, two more pushes and your baby boy will be here," she reassured, and Natasha took in a deep breath, before she pushed.
"Steve, don't you dare look down and has Clint got the camera ready along with the video camera?!" She asked breathlessly, Steve nodded as she gave another push, and then one final push.
A loud, healthy cry was heard with Steve and Natasha being greeted by their newborn son, who was covered in afterbirth, but he was crying softly.
This was her and Steve's baby boy, their baby.
Natasha held him for just a moment, tears running down her face as she took in the small bundle she held. When she'd been young and they'd sterilized her, that had been fine at the time. Having children was something she hadn't been certain she'd ever want.
Back then.
As the years went by, Natasha finally felt that loss, watching those around her have children. She'd been happy for her friends, especially Clint, because he'd allowed her to be a part of his kids' lives. It was then that she realized she didn't feel that loss because of the sterilization. It wasn't merely a case of wanting what you can't have. Nat realized that motherhood was something she wanted for herself but that she wouldn't really have on the most personal level.
There was a drawer in her apartment filled with information on adoption agencies and she'd made calls, inquiries over the years. No one would allow her to adopt a child. Not with the holes in her past and the nature of her current job.
As much as she loved Steve, being with him had made it slightly worse. It broke her heart a little because it was so easy to see them together, raising a child. Who could possibly be a better father than Steve Rogers? It wasn't enough of a heartache for her to give him up, not Steve.
And then everything happened.
The unthinkable happened and here they were. She'd just given birth to her own baby. She'd just given Steve a son. A perfect pink boy with Steve's nose and mouth and blue eyes that slit open as she watched. He had the finest dusting of blond hair at the top of his head.
Tears streamed down Steve's eyes and while he was a master of concealing his emotions, most of the time, Nat was a little afraid he'd gone into shock as he stared down at their tiny son. Gently, she handed the baby to his father, he looked impossibly small in Steve's arms. Her heart clenched in her chest watching father and son gaze at each other because Joseph had stopped crying at that moment.
"Sweetheart, he's so beautiful…" Steve whispered. "So beautiful."
Helen stood by, flanked by several nurses, smiling and when Steve noticed her, Nat watched worry cloud his eyes. She knew what he was thinking. Steve was afraid that the baby would have the problems that had plagued him before the serum.
"We're going to get him cleaned up for you," Helen told Steve gently. "And we're going to take care of Nat too. So why don't you go tell the team about your little boy?"
"Is he okay?" Fear had crept into Steve's tone.
Nat grabbed his hand the minute he'd handed Joseph carefully to Helen, trying to comfort him.
Helen's entire demeanour didn't show a hint of any worries. "He looks wonderful," the doctor assured him. "I won't take long. Promise."
Turning back to Nat, Steve smoothed the hand he wasn't holding through her hair. "How are you?"
"I'm just fine," Nat told him with a smile, meaning it. "I'm just so… grateful for this. I never thought I'd get to…"
Steve leaned down to gently kiss her mouth. "Me either. I'm glad I get to have this with you. I love you."
Nat wrapped her arms around him gently. "I love you too."
The nurses shooed Steve out to the team as they came to take care of Nat. They'd delivered the afterbirth in no time and they decided she didn't need stitches. Nat stretched and allowed them to care for her, watching as they cleaned off her baby boy and smiling as he fussed. He had a perfect Apgar score and Helen proclaimed that everything looked perfect.
Nat would be sore but honestly, she'd taken worse beatings before.
She had a baby. She and Steve had a baby and her heart swelled with a hope that she'd seen before on so many faces but never thought to feel herself.
Nat couldn't stop smiling as they finished up and returned her son to her. She was happy.
She cradled Joseph lovingly and pressed a loving, tender kiss on the crown of his tufts of blonde hair. He gurgled, and grabbed her middle left finger, as Steve and the others entered the room and fussed over them.
Clint wordlessly came over with Grace, the two of them hugging her and Steve tightly but gently. Grace's expression was one of pure joy, relief and happiness as she hugged her and Natasha felt tears stream down her face.
She had friends, a family to call her own and they would protect each other fiercely. She smiled down at Joseph as she started to breastfeed him, and he hungrily latched onto her left nipple.
"He's beautiful, Nat. I'm so happy for you and Steve, you both deserve this happiness," Clint said emotionally, Natasha felt tears swim down her face as she hugged them.
Tony and Lilia congratulated them next, Lilia smiling as she hugged her and gave her a gift that consisted of her homemade fruitcake, and Natasha smiled widely.
Clint and Bucky had flowers, along with teddy bears from Grace and Sophie, Sam and Sharon, as they along with Thor, Helen, Jemma, and Loki congratulated them on the birth of their son. Adrian and Wanda were both smiling, and hugged them all.
Natasha looked down at Joseph, her heart swelling with love as T'Challa and Shuri FaceTimed them, and Bruce hugged them.
She was so happy with her two boys.
Celebrations were held for the birth of Joseph James Clinton Anthony Romanoff, Rogers and everyone celebrated. The internet had crashed, after Steve and Natasha had posted a photo of them with Joseph on the Avengers official Instagram page. FOX News had gone into a frenzy, while WHIH and SKY News were more pleasant, and wished the family well. Now, Lilia and Rhodey were monitoring the mail, and keeping an eye on everything.
Bucky couldn't help but smile, he was so happy for his best friend and Natasha, as he was joined by Sophie. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, as they stood outside and saw Peter telling Ragnar, and Darcy's babies stories.
He could picture himself and Sophie having a family together at the compound and smiled as he leaned down to kiss Sophie who smiled and ran her hands through his dark brown silky locks.
For once, everything was fine.
Tony went to visit his parents' graves at the Stark family plot in the cemetery, as he looked at the two headstones of his parents, Jarvis, Anna and Happy. He swallowed, and blinked back tears.
"Hey mom, dad, Happy, Anna and Jarvis. My two best friends had their baby boy today which is January 28th, 2019. He's beautiful, and I...I love Lilia. You all met her in Wakanda along with Howard, but they mean the world to me and so does Peter. We're taking it slow though, I don't wanna hurt Lilia, and I just want you all to know, that I'm ok. I forgive you, dad for everything." He said emotionally and wiped his eyes.
He didn't blame Bucky for the deaths of his parents, it was on HYDRA, and he let out a breath that he'd been holding.
Time to go home to his family.
Grace had showered, changed into clean clothes and was now in the hospital room with Natasha, and the others when Foggy FaceTimed them.
"I hope I'm not interrupting, but the judges have a reached a verdict and it's live," Foggy explained gently, Grace nodded and they were linked to the courtroom.
"All rise." The bailiff announced, and everyone watched with bated breath as everyone rose up in the courthouse. Grace's hands were shaking, and she gripped, Clint, Sophie and Adrian tightly. May, Peter and the others moving around her protectively.
This was it, the moment of truth. Would the judges find Misha, Ross, Dimitri, Zemo and Pietro guilty of their crimes?
"All rise," a voice off camera requested.
Natasha held her sleeping son, frowning up at her. "Get down here. I want to hear this."
Grace sat on the edge of the bed and every crowded around so they could at least hear the verdict as it was read aloud.
Slowly, the three judges rose, and the male judge slowly read off the names of the defendants.
"You stand accused of war crimes against Grace Melnychenko Drăgoi, a civilian at that time. You stand accused of rape, torture, unlawful imprisonment, and unlawful experimentation that resulted in grave physical and psychological injuries to the victim who was sexually harassed, humiliated and otherwise treated inhumanely."
The judge slowly turned to the foreperson of the jury, a small silver-haired woman who stood nervously waiting.
Grace's heart flew. She felt like she couldn't breathe as she waited for the answer. Clint's warm, strong form was pressed behind her, lending her his strength and letting her know that no matter what, he loved her. He would be here for her.
"Has the jury reached a verdict?" The judge asked the woman.
She nodded. "We have your honours."
Handing the judge a folded piece of paper, she watched along with Grace, Clint, Nat, Steve, Sophie, Bucky, and whoever else was in the room – Grace's heart beat so frantically that she was honestly feeling faint -as he read the content written there.
"The jury finds the defendant Pietro Maximoff guilty of all charges."
Tears stung the backs of her eyes and the phone started to shake in her hand. Clint's own hand wrapped around her own, steadying it.
"The jury finds the defendant Helmut Zemo guilty of all charges."
Sophie sobbed on the other side of Nat and Bucky pulled her against him, whispering to her gently.
"The jury finds the defendant Mikhail Sergeyevich Savić guilty of all charges."
Adrian and Wanda wandered into the room about to speak and realizing something big was happening.
"The jury finds the defendant Alexei Anatolyevich guilty of all charges."
Adrian's entire face lit up. "Are all of them guilty?"
Grace couldn't see him through her tears.
Her brother snatched her up in a hug that compressed her ribs and Wanda worked her way in there too.
"Finally!" He cried. "Justice for my Gracie and for little Zach."
Clint pressed into her from behind, he alone seemed to understand how fragile she was feeling in that moment. Connor was kicking furiously inside her and Sophie came up next, hugging her and swimming in as many tears as her.
She clung onto them all, just absorbing the news that her four remaining attackers would now spend the rest of their lives in prison for what they had done. She broke down sobbing in a mixture of relief, exhaustion and trauma as Clint wordlessly turned around and held her in his arms, as the others comforted her.
She could now move on and knew that Zach could now rest in the afterlife with her parents, sister, Lila and Cooper.
The compound had become more relaxed but alert following the imprisonment of Zemo, Misha, Dimitri, Pietro and Alexei. Thaddeus Ross's trial wouldn't begin until next week, due to evidence still being found against him.
Clint looked at Grace who had taken to burrowing his flannel shirts, since her own shirts were just too tight now. She was due any day now and was exhausted.
Clint ran his left hand over the swell of her bump, feeling Connor kick happily at his touch. He smiled, and Grace leaned into him as she looked at the room next door to theirs, that was Connor's nursery.
They were both excited, but at the same time nervous as he rubbed her bump gently. Grace smiled and stood up as she decided to take a shower, and Clint smiled to himself.
He was lucky to have Grace and they were both expecting a child that they both loved and adored. He stood up and opened the door to the nursery, smiling as he looked around.
A baby mobile with different animals was gently spinning over the cot for Connor, a rocking chair was by the windows that looked out into the woods. The cot had a foam mattress like the ones for Darcy, Pepper and Jane's children, for baby Ragnar and Howard.
He heard Grace turn off the shower, as she came back in looking fresh and only wearing a dark purple knitted dress. She was biting her lip, and he instinctively knew something was up.
"What's up Grace, are you having contractions?" He asked gently, Grace nodded and grabbed his left hand as a contraction washed over her.
"Yes, they just started happening. Oh god, Clint," Grace said breathlessly as Clint grabbed the baby bag and hurried her to the medical bay, Jarvis alerted the rest of the team, as Helen and Addison saw them enter.
"I think I might two days early as Connor was supposed to be born on the 3rd of February but he's coming now." She said breathlessly, as the others arrived with Natasha coming with Steve and Joseph.
Addison checked her over, while Helen and Clint helped her into a comfortable nightgown. Sophie held her left hand, while Clint held her right hand.
He kissed Grace's forehead tenderly, and she smiled at him, her blue eyes sparkling with hope, love and happiness.
It was almost 2:00 PM in the afternoon and Grace was now almost close to giving birth, but Connor was being stubborn. Clint rubbed her back soothingly, while Sophie helped her have some ice chips.
"How are you, Grace?" May asked gently, Natasha and Lilia had joined them while the others were placing bets on what time Connor Barton would make his entrance.
"Tired, achy but excited and happy. I'm going to get up and have a little walk." Grace said finally, Sophie and Clint helped her walk around the room, when they all heard something splash.
Clint looked to see that Grace's waters had broken and she grimaces in pain but breathing in slowly. His Grace was a tough, brave young woman.
Addison and Helen arrived with a team of nurses, as Helen and Addison checked her, and smiled.
"You can start pushing now, Grace!"
"Now?"
They got her back up on the bed and Helen nodded. "Fully dilated and contractions are…"
"One minute apart," Clint told them, taking his place next to Grace and holding her hand.
The next contraction took Grace's breath away it was so strong. She focused on breathing through it, on trying to think about delivering Connor safely to the world and nothing else.
"Wait," Helen told them. "Grace, don't push for a moment."
Her heart lurched in her chest. "What's wrong?"
Addison and Helen worked together for a moment.
"I need forceps," Helen told the nurses.
"What's wrong?" Grace was scared. Clint was whispering that she'd be okay into her hair while Helen took the instruments carefully.
"Grace, Connor is presenting face up," Helen said carefully. "He's fine, but I need to get him turned. This might hurt a little. I'm sorry."
"Whatever… Whatever he needs," Grace told her, fighting the urge to push so Helen could hopefully get Connor righted in the birth canal.
Natasha was at the door in an instant when Grace let out a long agonizing cry.
"What's happening?" Natasha, for once, failed to keep her worry out of her tone.
"They have to get him turned, Nat," Clint called. "He's face up."
Helen's brown knitted. "It's like…"
"What?" Grace squirmed in pain, but she sensed something was wrong. Something was keeping Helen from turning her baby.
Addison exchanged an expression of puzzlement with Helen. "I've never seen this before. It's webbing."
"What?" Clint's voice sounded panicked now.
Nat had moved closer, not wearing a gown and appearing not to care in that moment as she moved closer.
"I'm wondering if we need to call it," Helen said, "deliver him by c-section."
Nat dashed out of the room, coming back with Sophie. Bucky followed them to the door.
"Helen," Nat said more calmly now. "The webbing is keeping you from turning him, right?"
Helen nodded as Grace cried out from not being able to push through another painful contraction.
"Let Sophie try," Nat offered. "Can you guide her."
"Natasha, I don't know if –"
"She produces webbing like Grace, Adrian and Peter," Nat explained quickly. "If you tell her what to do, she might be able to get him turned."
Sophie nodded nervously but nodded.
Helen reached a decision fast. "Scrub her up. Quickly."
The nurses were every bit as efficient as the Avengers as they got Sophie into a gown, cap, scrubbed her up at the sink. They were about to place gloves on her when Nat cut them off.
"No, she has to use her hands," Nat told them.
Helen nodded, waving Sophie over to her.
Clint pressed kisses to Grace's head, wishing he could take the pain for her, while Helen worked with Sophie, guiding the White Spider's hands on her nephew's tiny head.
Grace was trying to hold on, at this point afraid she was going to pass out from the pain.
"He moved," Sophie cried, tears streaming her face.
"Keep going," Helen told her.
He was being turned, Grace could feel it. Nat watched from the door with Bucky and now Steve who was holding her hand.
"That's it!" Helen announced. "He's in position. Push!"
Grace cried out sharply, pushing through the ripping pain in her lower body. She'd done this one and for Connor and Clint, she could do it again. It seemed like it took forever as Sophie moved to the other side of her, holding her hand, not caring that it was covered in blood.
On the fourth push, Grace felt great relief.
"One more time, Grace," Helen urged her gently. "I need to get the other shoulder out."
And then she heard his tiny cry filling the room and growing louder. Sophie sobbed and Grace couldn't look anywhere but at the beautiful blood-covered baby that Helen carried to her and Clint.
He was beautiful.
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