A/N: Things get kind of intense in this chapter, so if blood and stuff related to birth bothers you just be careful.

Natasha recovered quickly, and luckily didn't make Maria sick. Her hand also healed well over the next couple of days, enough that she wasn't too worried about it. She'd slowed down though, taking it easier and enjoyed relaxing with her honorary family.

However, a pleasant day inside from the nasty outdoors with the kids, Laura, and Maria was slightly tainted when Clint burst through the door looking panicked.

"Pack. We need to leave, right now." He yelled, frantically looking around the room for important things. Lila leaped up and started screaming "we're gonna die" and Cooper sat, dumbfounded. Natasha, spy instincts kicking in, leaped up and started for the stairs. Laura, however, chose to be the sensible adult.

"Clint, honey, calm down. What's going on?" She asked calmly, rubbing his shoulder. Clint took a minute to catch his breath, clutching his leg which was still sensitive. He glanced over at Lila, and considered how he was going to say this without scaring his kids.

"Well… there's a bad guy who wants to come here, but we don't want him to. And since we can't stop him, we're just going to go somewhere else for a little while." He said, and Natasha stopped breathing. Sidorov. Her eyes widened and she looked to Clint for confirmation. He nodded ever so slightly. Laura caught their eyes and she put a hand over her mouth. Lila and Cooper were looking helplessly at their parents, so as Laura comforted them, Natasha and Clint headed upstairs to pack and talk to Maria.

"Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck." Natasha mumbled under her breath as she headed into her and Maria's room (the blow up bed was still there but they didn't use it very often) and started shoving her very small amount of belongings into a duffel bag and changed into better clothes. (Sweatpants and a t-shirt, and she put a bra on like a fancy person.) Laura had offered to give her some of her old maternity clothes, but Natasha wasn't really the floral dresses type so she stuck mostly to sweat clothes and leggings after she'd stretched the limits of her usual dresses and jeans. She pulled an oversized black hoodie over herself and grabbed her guns that she had hidden around the room. Just as she'd put on her combat boots and was about to rejoin the others outside, Maria burst in.

"Clint just told me. Shit." She said as she too packed her things. Clint came in and closed the door behind him.

"So… we're taking the car to SHIELD, but we're all gonna be squished because it only has 5 seats, and Laura's gonna have Nate in her lap… plus everyone's stuff…" He muttered, more to himself, then turned to Natasha. There was a pause.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

"Yeah. I'm fine." She said absently, heading for the door. He put an arm out to stop her, and then put his hand on her shoulder. He started to say something, but instead he put his arms around her in a hug. A really nice, firm hug. She was surprised, but hugged him back.

Once everyone was prepared, Lila wiping tears from her face after her parents told her she couldn't bring the entirety of her stuffy collection even though she said she'd bring them instead of clothes, they piled into the car. Clint was in the driver's seat, Laura was in shotgun with Nate on her lap and an unbelievable amount of stuff at her feet, and the other four were piled into the back. Maria was on the right with both her and Natasha's stuff packed around her, Cooper was in the middle also surrounded by stuff, and Natasha was on the left with Lila on her lap. Maria had offered to have Lila on her lap since Natasha was pregnant, but Lila was definitely more comfortable with Nat and she said she didn't mind.

After about an hour of everyone sitting in worried silence, Lila fell asleep on Nat's lap, and Natasha stroked her thin brown hair as her mind raged with thoughts of Sidorov. She wondered if they were going to kill him. She knew that the Red Room was out there somewhere, "raising" more and more generations of poor little girls who would grow up to be killers. Maybe they could use Sidorov to find the Red Room…

Suddenly she felt a strong, painful clench in her lower back. She winced slightly, rubbing her side. She saw Clint glance in the rearview mirror at her, trying to hide his concern. He raised his eyebrows in a questioning "you good?" and she smiled back, partially to let him know that she was okay and partially because she was glad that the pain was going away.

However, about half an hour later she felt another pain, this time spreading to her stomach. It definitely didn't hurt as much as a bullet wound or anything, but it hurt a lot. She managed to keep a straight face because nobody needed any more drama right now, but she tensed enough that Cooper woke up. He looked up at his aunt, confused, and saw that she was leaning her head back with her eyes closed, and she was really pale.

"Are you okay auntie Nat?" He asked, sparking the attention of his parents.

"Yeah, I'm fine Coop." she answered, the pain subsiding again. However, now both Clint and Laura were eyeing her with concern.

"You sure Nat? You look pretty pale." Laura said worriedly.

"Yep." Natasha answered firmly. She didn't want to worry the kids, and besides, she'd read about Braxton Hicks contractions and that was probably what this was. Not a big deal.

"Want me to take Lila for a bit?" Maria asked, knowing that Natasha wouldn't give in if she didn't want to.

"Sure." Natasha carefully passed Lila, who barely woke up, to Maria with the help of Cooper who promptly fell asleep afterwards.

"They always fall asleep in the car, even though Cooper usually tries to stay awake later than this." Laura said fondly, glancing at her kids. Natasha studied the love in her eyes, and considered how she and Clint always seemed so happy when they talked about their kids. She couldn't wait to have that.

But her happiness slipped away when she had the pains consistently over the next hour. They were worse than the first ones, and she was starting to think that these weren't Braxton Hicks. When a particularly bad one came along, her sixth one to be exact, she actually leaned forward slightly. Clint was the only other person awake, (well, Maria probably was, but she was at least resting,) and he was noticing that something was seriously wrong.

"I'm gonna stop at the next gas station, okay everyone?" He said quietly, but loud enough that it woke Laura up. Nate instantly began to wail.

"Perfect timing," A drowsy Laura chuckled, bouncing him up and down. "It's been a while, I think he needs to be changed."

"I need to use the bathroom." Cooper spoke up.

"That's perfect buddy. We're stopping at a gas station, don't know if you heard us-"

Natasha stopped paying attention and rubbed her stomach. She was starting to get a bit scared, because she wasn't even seven months pregnant. She knew that babies could be born at this stage, but there could be serious development issues. Now also wasn't an optimal time because they were being sought out by an essentially homicidal maniac. She glanced at Clint in the mirror and he started driving a bit faster. They still had several hours left until they got to SHIELD, and it might not be safe to go to a different hospital. Just as she started to panic slightly, Maria grabbed hold of Natasha's hand across Cooper's lap and squeezed it.

"It'll be okay." She mouthed. Natasha smiled slightly, ignoring Cooper's questioning look at the sight of the two of them holding hands.

Once they arrived at the gas station Laura and Maria took the kids inside, and Natasha stood next to the car stretching her legs.

"What's going on, Nat?" Clint asked, approaching her. She spent an unnecessary couple of seconds stretching each individual finger before turning to face him.

"I think I'm having contractions." She said, watching as Clint's face went from concerned to horrified. He opened his mouth and moved it like a fish a couple of times, and ended up coming up with the least useful question possible.

"Now?"

"No, Clint, on Tuesday. Yes, you idiot, now." And, as if on cue, she felt another one. They had been getting increasingly worse and it was just unfortunate that she happened to be standing up. She leaned against the car and set her jaw, grimacing as her insides seemed to twist. To her surprise, Clint got over his shock and walked over to rub her back. She could hear him whispering "shit, shit, shit," under his breath.

"Um. Okay, this is an inopportune time," Clint pointed out helpfully, "You need to get to a hospital… no, you need to get to SHIELD. Goddammit, there's still 3 and a half hours until we arrive. We should-"

Natasha gasped. She usually wasn't a gasper, but this really was an appropriate instant for gasping. She felt a strange release inside her, and then an unfamiliar gush. Although it was an alien feeling to her, she knew exactly what was happening.

"My water just broke." She said blankly, staring at Clint in a state of shock. Not that it was surprising seeing as she was having contractions, but this felt like the final slap in the face that confirmed exactly what Natasha had hoped wouldn't happen.

"Fuck." Clint whispered, watching as liquid spread out from Natasha's pants. But it wasn't what he expected. In fact, it was much, much worse. Natasha saw the panic on his face and forced herself to look down. It wasn't her water, it was blood. A lot of blood.

From across the parking lot, Maria exited the gas station closely followed by Laura and the kids. They were laughing and carrying snacks, surprisingly cheerful considering the current situation.

"Get in the car. Quickly, before they see. We don't want to freak the kids out." Clint muttered, steering Natasha toward the other side of the car. She buckled herself into the passenger seat and plastered a smile on her face to put the kids at ease.

"Auntie Nat! Dad! We got snacks!" Lila squealed, unusually hyper for past 9 pm. She started sifting through her pile of chips and processed cakes, and then sat on her brother's lap as Maria and Laura filed into the car with Nate.

"Ew, Lila, get off." Cooper whined, pushing his sister off of his knees.

"Hey, Cooper, be nice. Just let her sit with you for a bit to give the adults a break. You're her broth-" Laura stopped dead, and Natasha turned around. Laura was looking at her. Or more accurately, the blood. The concerning amount of blood.

She glanced over at her kids, who were both directly behind Natasha so they couldn't see the blood. She looked to Maria, who had already noticed. Both women were staring at Nat.

"Let's get moving." Clint said cheerfully for the sake of his kids, looking over at a horrified Laura, an "I'm-making-a-plan-right-now-to-hide-my-feelings" Maria, and Natasha, who had her eyes closed and was trying to keep herself calm. But his kids were fine, and he was planning to keep it that way. So he drove off like nothing was wrong.

After two hours, both kids were dead asleep again and Maria was on Nate duty while an also asleep Laura was holding Lila. Clint was still driving despite Maria's offer to take over, and Natasha was doing her best to keep it together. Luckily for her, keeping it together was what she was best at.

Her contractions were now 7 minutes apart. Every time she got one she counted to 50 and back down, a coping mechanism she'd developed over the years. It was simple but effective. She'd felt worse pain than this before, much worse, but it still hurt like a bitch. She'd started to sweat, and although she'd stopped actively bleeding, the blood was still there as a reminder.

"45 minutes 'till we're there." Clint whispered, pointing to the GPS on his phone. Natasha nodded, then held her breath as she doubled over in pain from another contraction.

"Breathe." Clint instructed, but Natasha just shot him a dirty look and went back to her breath holding. However, this contraction seemed to last longer and instead of going away, it got worse. For the first time she actually moaned. A bead of sweat ran down her forehead and she stopped holding her breath and started panting. Definitely breaking the speed limit, Clint sped up.

For half an hour, Nat held it together. She was panting and sweating and moaning and just generally very uncomfortable, but she held it together. The contractions were 5 minutes apart now, but she held it together. But then she couldn't anymore. A particularly bad contraction ripped through her and she cried out.

"What's wrong? Cooper asked, rubbing sleep from his eyes. This, of course, woke Laura up, which woke Nate up, which woke Lila up.

"Auntie Nat, are you okay?" Lila asked, leaning forward in her seat. Unfortunately, Lila was on Laura's lap, which was on the opposite side of the car from Nat. This meant that when she leaned forward, she had a direct view of the blood. For a moment, Lila stared, confused by the dried blood everywhere. Then her mind registered that there was a giant pool of blood covering her aunt, and that blood was bad. So she screamed.

This led to absolute chaos. Nate, for one, was wailing and flailing, flinging his tiny fat arms in all directions, trying his best to free himself from Maria's arms. Lila was panicking, and of course Cooper had looked to see for himself what was going on, and being mature for his age, he knew what the blood meant. Or at least partially. He was panicking too, although less, so he had taken his brother and was trying to calm both of them down. That failed, so he handed Nate to Laura who handed Lila to Maria, but Lila was convinced that Nat was dying and couldn't be soothed.

Clint was shouting for everyone to calm down, because Cooper had really started panicking now that he didn't have someone else to focus on. Nat had finally reached the breaking point and was yelling during the following contraction, which came sooner than it should have. So when they finally arrived at SHIELD, everyone in the car was either crying, yelling or screaming. Other than Maria.

Clint got out first, rushing to Nat's door. He helped her out and since she refused to be carried, supported her as they made their way across the parking lot. Laura and Maria were left to deal with the kids.

Nat and Clint went through the first door available, which happened to lead right into the meeting room where Fury, Tony, Steve, Bruce, Wanda, Vision, and Thor were discussing something. They certainly made an entrance, with Clint half carrying a bleeding, half passed out Natasha.

"Jesus!" Was the first thing anyone said, who happened to be Tony, and then everyone rushed forward and crowded around the two. Natasha couldn't handle this right now, particularly with Thor yelling right next to her and Steve freaking out, so she closed her eyes and hid her face into Clint's shoulder. Luckily, Fury could see that an intervention was needed.

"EVERYONE, OUT OF THE WAY!" He boomed, and everyone shut up and moved away. Once again, Natasha was thankful for his ability to clear a crowd.

"Barton?" He asked moving to Natasha's other side as they led her toward the Med wing.

"She's gone into premature labour. Contractions are about four-"

"One. Contractions are one minute apart." Natasha mumbled, right before doubling over with another one. She was crying out now, actually crying out, and nobody knew what to do. The contractions had sped up way too fast in the last few minutes.

"Nat." Clint said, kneeling down next to her, as she was basically on the ground now, "You have to tell me the truth. Scale of one to ten, what's the pain?" All three of his kids had been delivered with some kind of pain medication, and he'd never seen her in so much pain. He had a feeling that something was wrong, that it shouldn't hurt this much.

"Nine." Was her answer. Now Clint definitely knew that something was wrong. She'd been through a lot in her life, and never in the time that he'd worked with her had she ever admitted to a nine. He glanced up at Fury, who cursed under his breath.

"Get her to the Med wing. Now. I'll alert the team." Fury said, all business, and Clint knew he was trying to hide his worry for her. He thought he heard him mumble "I never should've sent her on that mission," under his breath. "Thor, carry Natasha." Fury instructed, and Clint knew that he was definitely worried if he was calling her Natasha.

Thor lifted her easily and practically ran to the Med wing, staff meeting them there and getting her on to a cot. As they wheeled her into a room, she was fully passed out. Everyone had gathered at this point - along with Clint and Thor, Tony, Steve, Bruce who was getting into his scrubs so he could help, Wanda, Vision, Pepper, Laura, Cooper, Fury and Maria were all there. Lila and Nate were asleep upstairs with a SHIELD agent looking after them.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Cooper asked Clint quietly, and Clint put his arm around him.

"Yeah, buddy, she's gonna be fine. She'll be fine." He said, partially to himself and partially to his son.

Fury walked over to Maria and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"She'll be okay, Hill." He said, and she looked up at him with shock written all over her face. He raised his eyebrows, a slight smirk on his lips. She chuckled slightly. He knew everything.

Pepper and Tony were sitting on a bench, Pepper's head on Tony's shoulder, crying slightly as Tony bounced his knee. Wanda and Vision were sitting silently on another bench together, and Wanda was twisting her hands in her lap. Laura, Cooper and Clint were sitting closest to the door. Cooper was half asleep, but Clint and Laura were exchanging glances and constantly trying to get information out of the doctors rushing in and out of the room. Thor had disappeared upstairs, and Steve was sitting on a chair showing no emotion at all. Fury and Maria were standing firmly next to the door, and Maria had given up on her security guard face and was tapping her foot nervously. Bruce had disappeared into the room and they couldn't hear anything that was going on. Everyone was worried, and nobody was telling them anything. So they did the one thing they could do - they waited.