A/N: This chapter is mostly just fluff. I felt like that was needed.
Three weeks passed. Natasha got more and more tired as time went on, but from the stories she'd heard from Laura her pregnancy was easier than most. That might have been because she was used to uncomfortable physical conditions, not excluding gunshot wounds, but she was certainly grateful that her training had enhanced her body so that she'd avoided some of the traumatizing things that came with pregnancy. She also felt much better when Maria came back from her mission.
She'd started referring to the baby as Violet when she was alone, because she wasn't going to tell anyone that that was her name until she was born. For now it was a special name just for herself. But Lila had started calling it Baby, and soon it caught on with Cooper. Natasha was concerned that they would be upset if she didn't actually name the child Baby, but she still thought it was adorable.
One morning, Natasha woke up feeling like shit. She'd begun to roll out of bed like usual at around 8, but gave up because she felt nauseous, had a headache and was very, very tired. She'd gone to sleep at 4:30 am because she was fixing the barn door, but now she was regretting it because she couldn't keep her eyes open. Unfortunately for her she had to rush out of bed to throw up. This hadn't happened in months and by the time she got back in bed she couldn't fall asleep. So, she curled up inside of one of Clint's huge hoodies that she'd stolen which practically covered her bump because the baby was still relatively small, and some stretchy leggings and shuffled downstairs to forage for food.
Everyone else was already awake and the kids were very excited to show her their craft that they'd been working on. But when they started calling for her, her ears began to ring and she had to work very hard to seem remotely interested in their alien butterfly popsicle stick village. Then Clint placed a heaping stack of pancakes on the table, which the kids gratefully dug into, but the smell only made Nat feel worse. To sweeten the pot, Nate started screaming, which made the ringing in Natasha's ears so loud that she placed her palms over them to try and block it out. Obviously this didn't help at all, and the others started to notice that something was wrong.
"Are you okay, Nat?" Laura asked, coming up behind her. Natasha took a deep breath and opened her eyes to answer.
"Yeah, just tired." Laura nodded and helped Clint clean up from breakfast. The kids ran upstairs to keep working on their project, and Clint sat down next to Nat.
"You okay?" He asked, and Natasha attempted to roll her eyes but stopped when it made her head throb.
"Yes. Why must people keep asking me that?" She mumbled.
"Well then, wanna go spar outside? Gently, obviously, but maybe it'd wake you up."
Natasha froze, because she could either refuse and raise suspicion from everyone in the room, which she didn't want because she preferred to keep to herself when she wasn't feeling well, or she could accept and make herself feel worse.
"Sure."
So she followed Clint outside, ignoring the ever-persistent nausea and dizziness. Once in the barn, after stretching, she got into stance and prepared herself, both mentally and physically.
Clint lunged with a punch and she blocked, returning the favour and going for a backfist. Their rules were no kicking, no flipping and nothing that could injure the other, because Natasha was pregnant. So he twisted her arm behind her back and she elbowed his face with her other, avoiding him grabbing her elbow and ducking. Her head pounded, but she liked the rush of adrenaline. However, she started to hate it as the sparring went on, even with the absence of kicking and flipping. The second time she ducked, a wave of nausea overwhelmed her and she thought she was going to pass out, particularly when she got distracted and Clint's punch landed on the side of her face. It wasn't hard at all, not even enough to move her head, but her vision began to swim.
"Stop." She said, leaning against the wall for support. After a minute, she started to head inside, hoping that she'd get to the couch fast enough and the overwhelming dizziness would fade.
Clint followed her cautiously, and Natasha was relieved when they got inside the house, but as soon as they did it was sensory overload. Laura and Maria were laughing and the ringing in Natasha's ears came back with a vengeance, the stifling smell of baking banana bread filled her nose, and everything got blurry again. She stumbled to the table and poured herself some coffee, hoping it would help, and started walking toward the couch. But on her way there, her vision swam, and this time it didn't clear.
She felt herself falling sideways and the world spinning, and then everything went black.
Natasha woke up to a very comfortable bed and the sounds of worried, hushed voices. She blinked a few times before turning to see Clint, Laura, Cooper and Lila sitting on the bench near the window of her room, with Maria standing by the door. Maria saw that she was awake and walked over, looking much calmer than the others, but Nat could see a flicker of relief wash over her face.
"Hey." She said, about to sit on the edge of the bed but remembering that everyone else was there and placing her "Agent Hill" face back on. Laura approached Natasha with a glass of water, which she gratefully accepted, slowly sitting up. She noticed that she had different clothes on.
"What happened?" She asked, drinking the water.
"You passed out. Because you were an idiot." Clint stated, walking to stand next to Laura.
"Clint, come on." Laura scolded, turning back to Natasha with a gentle expression. "You have a fever. I assume you knew that, but you sparred with Clint anyway, and passed out. You're okay, Maria caught you before your head hit the ground, but the rest of your body hit the ground pretty hard. You cut your hand on a piece of glass from the coffee cup, which spilled all over the place which is why we changed your clothes." She paused, glancing over at the kids, who seemed preoccupied with fighting over a video game once they saw their aunt was okay, "They also had blood on them. You cut your hand… pretty badly."
Natasha looked down at her hand, which she had to admit stung quite a bit, and saw that it was heavily wrapped in bandages.
"Nat…" Clint sighed, coming towards her, "You have to slow down. You're almost seven months pregnant, and you're sick. I should've realized, but you don't need to hide being sick from us." He paused for a moment, then said "We're your family."
She nodded, knowing and accepting that she needed to be more careful now. Because it wasn't just her. For the next couple of months and for the rest of her life, she had another person to take care of, and these people cared about her. So she was going to slow down, because she didn't need to block it out anymore. She was safe, with people that loved her.
Once she determined that the baby was okay after feeling it kick about a hundred times, the kids piled onto the bed for hugs and affirmations and then everyone but Maria left her alone. After checking the hallway and closing the door, Maria scooched in next to Natasha and placed her head on her shoulder. Natasha sank into her, smiling as she inhaled her scent.
"You always seem to catch me when I fall." Natasha laughed.
"Maybe that's why you keep falling for me."
Maria looked into Natasha's eyes. Natasha took in her beautiful blues, before bursting out laughing.
"That's the cheesiest thing I've ever heard!" She said, and Maria laughed too.
"I pride myself on being cheesy." She said, placing her hand on the back of Natasha's neck and leaning in to kiss her. Natasha ran her hands through Maria's hair, turning so that they were enveloped in each other's arms.
"I'll make you sick." She breathed, pulling away.
"I don't care." Maria whispered, pulling her in.