Note: We're creeping toward the finish line. I love you guys for all the love and support!
November and most of December came and went without much excitement as everyone did what they could to adjust, once again, to a new normal.
Thor returned to New Asgard to set things in order with Valkyrie before linking up with The Guardians. And as sad as it was to see him go, they knew their friend was on a journey of self-discovery. He promised, as always, to return any time The Avengers needed him to fight… or throw together a quality salad.
Natasha imagined Thor trying to explain the nuances of making a salad to his intergalactic friends, and the thought made her chuckle.
Steve and Bucky spent most days helping Sam train. Natasha found herself watching them on occasion, impressed at how comfortable Sam already seemed with the shield. His past military experience and natural abilities made him a quick study, and any worry she had about Steve stepping away from The Avengers was quickly replaced with renewed faith in the future of the team.
She and Tony, with the help of Pepper and Rhodey, were working on plans for the third iteration of the Avengers Compound. At first, Tony was hesitant to rebuild. After the mission to S.W.O.R.D, he swore he was washing his hands of all things superhero and retiring, yet again. He may never put on the Iron Man suit again, but he was still Tony Stark, and Nat knew that meant he'd be immersed in this world in some way until the day he died.
It took some coaxing, mostly from Pepper, but he eventually agreed to remake the compound. They decided on a smaller-scale facility, essentially cutting out full living quarters. The house they'd been staying in was only a few miles away, anyway, and everyone seemed to have settled in comfortably.
Everyone had been so preoccupied over those last few weeks, that they'd only realized it was nearly Christmas after Morgan left Bucky an adorable voice mail inviting them over for Christmas Eve dinner.
Sam decided to spend the holidays with his sister and nephews in Louisiana, and Bruce was in Los Angeles with his family. Natasha, Steve, Wanda and Bucky arrived at Tony and Pepper's just after 4 p.m. on the day, to find Peter and Morgan making a snowman in the front yard.
Nat saw movement out of the corner of her eye and ducked behind Steve as a snowball sailed past them, hitting Bucky square in the chest. His eyes fixed themselves on Peter, who was sitting on the ground, adding to the bottom of the snowman, completely unaware of what had just happened.
Bucky was too busy packing snow together to notice that Morgan was standing next to Peter giggling. Nat smirked and leaned in so only Steve could hear her, "You think he realizes Parker didn't throw that snowball?"
Steve must have noticed the small child's conspiratorial grin, too. "Nope."
"Should we tell him?"
"Probably," Steve said, with a chuckle. "But I kinda want to see what happens."
Bucky pressed the fresh, white powder together until he was holding a basketball-sized snowball. He reared it over his head and launched in Peter's direction, grunting in irritation when the teen reached out and caught it without looking up.
"Peter Tingle," he said with a smug, lopsided, smile.
This made Morgan laugh even harder, until she was laying back in the snow, holding her stomach in a fit of giggles.
"Oh, you think that's funny?" Bucky asked, a wide grin spread across his own face.
Morgan shook her head yes and let out a high-pitched screech when he flung her over his shoulder and ran circles in the yard until she was begging him to stop in between fits of laughter.
"All right, all right," he said, carrying her, still dangling over his shoulder, into the house. Natasha, Steve, Wanda and Peter followed behind. "Don't want your dad to try and kill me again."
Natasha let out a snort-laugh, "Oh. My. God."
"We're in for a long evening," Steve said, shaking his head in amusement.
"Why do you think I brought wine?" Wanda asked, holding up a bottle in each hand.
"I'll take those," Tony said, swiping the bottles from her as they walked through the front door. He headed toward the kitchen, calling over his shoulder, "Hey, Rogers, tell Barnes he can babysit my kid anytime."
Wanda and Peter settled into the living room where Bucky and Morgan were now playing with Legos. Steve and Natasha followed Tony into the kitchen where Rhodey, Happy and May were already seated at the counter, sipping merlot.
Steve poured two glasses of wine and handed one to Natasha. She took a long drink and turned to Tony where he stood at the stove stirring what looked like marinara sauce, "Where's Pepper?"
He glanced over his shoulder and grinned, "She's upstairs trying to wrangle your Christmas gift."
"My gift?" Natasha looked at Steve, who shrugged, just as clueless as she was. She was about to ask what the hell Tony was talking about when she heard a barrage of footsteps on the stairs.
"AUNT NAT!"
Natasha's head snapped up at the tiny voice, and her eyes filled with tears as Nathaniel Barton came barreling into the kitchen, followed closely by his older siblings. She got up from her chair and crouched down in front of the small boy, pulling him into her arms, keeping them open wide to allow Cooper and Lila to join in the hug.
"Oh my God! What are you guys doing here?" she asked, planting kisses on Nathaniel's cheeks. He laughed and wiped them away dramatically with the sleeve of his shirt. "Where's your mom?"
"I'm right here."
Nat looked up to see Laura standing in the kitchen entryway next to Pepper. She let out a heavy sigh and pulled her best friend's wife into a tight embrace. After a few seconds, Natasha pulled away in disbelief, "You said you weren't coming."
Laura smiled innocently, "I lied."
"We wanted to surprise you, Aunt Nat," Nathaniel said, grabbing ahold of her hand.
"Well, mission accomplished, little man," she said, ruffling the boy's light brown hair.
Suddenly Morgan appeared in the entryway, holding a Hulk figure made from Legos, "Daddy, look what I made?"
Tony bent down so he was eye-level with his daughter and took the toy from her to examine it, "Whoa, you made this?"
"Yup, all by myself," she said, nodding proudly.
"Liar!" Bucky's voice rang out from the living room. "I helped."
"Did not," she shot back, turning toward him with her tongue out.
Steve glanced up at Bucky, still sitting on the floor surrounded by Legos, and chuckled into his wine glass. "You're arguing with a five-year-old, Buck."
Bucky rolled his eyes then turned his attention back to the Mjolnir he was currently assembling.
"Well, now that everyone's here, Pep and I have some news," Tony handed the Hulk back to Morgan and lifted her into his arms, motioning for them to following him into the living room. He deposited Morgan on the sofa next to Peter and sat down in an armchair next to the fireplace, pulling Pepper down onto his lap and snaking an arm around her waist.
May and Happy sat together in another armchair, while Steve and Natasha settled in on a smaller sofa, with Nate wedged between them; the older Barton kids sat down on the floor next to Bucky, and Laura found a spot next to Wanda. Rhodey leaned casually against the wall. They looked at Pepper and Tony expectantly, waiting for whatever bomb the pair was about to drop.
Pepper looked to Tony, and they exchanged a few hushed words and smiled at one another before turning back toward their friends, "We're pregnant!" they said, together.
Peter was the first to react, "Holy crap! This is fantastic!" He jumped up off the couch, accidentally kneeing Bucky in the back in the process.
"Um, ow."
"Heh, sorry," Peter sank back into the sofa, trying to temper his enthusiasm.
This caused Morgan to break into another fit of giggles, and suddenly the news seemed to sink in. All at once, the room was filled with voices, laughter and congratulatory embraces.
"I'm about four months," Pepper said, leaning in to hug Natasha then Wanda. "We found out a couple of weeks ago."
Morgan climbed onto the chair where Tony was still seated, and he pulled her into him, "And Maguna is so excited to be a big sister, isn't she?"
Morgan nodded emphatically, "Mommy said I could name the new baby."
"Oh, did she now?" Tony asked, lightly poking a finger into her ribs. She wiggled around on his lap, laughing. "That's news to daddy."
"Mmhmm," Morgan said, wrapping her small arms around his neck. "If it's a girl, her name is Natasha."
"Aw. Well, thanks, Morg," Nat blew a kiss to the little girl, and rested her head on Steve's shoulder. "What if it's a boy?"
Morgan pressed a kiss to Tony's cheek and pointed to the Lego set Bucky had been working on. He raised an eyebrow at the child, "Uh, hammer?"
She scrunched up her nose at him, "No, weirdo. Thor!"
Tony choked on the sip of wine he'd just taken, "Yeah, no."
Morgan crossed her arms over her chest and pretended to pout, "Fine. Then if it's a boy, his name is Uncle Steve."
The room erupted in laughter, and Steve looked toward Tony with a shit-eating grin on his face and shrugged, "Could be worse."
Tony rolled his eyes and rubbed circles into his temples, "Thank you all for corrupting my child."
They spent the rest of the evening eating, drinking and opening gifts. Peter and May even led them in a round of Christmas carols, complete with a solo Bucky performed, begrudgingly, at Steve's insistence.
"Oh, come, on," Steve said nudging Bucky in the side during White Christmas. "You sang for all the girls you were always trying to woo."
"Yeah, back in the 30s and 40s, when wooing was still a thing," he said, shooting Steve the side-eye. He eventually caved, to Morgan's delight.
It wasn't until several hours later, after Morgan and Nate had passed out on the floor in a pile of toys and Cooper and Lila had gone up to bed, that they realized how late it had actually gotten.
"You're all more than welcome to stay tonight," Tony said, gathering up torn wrapping paper from around the living room. "The kid's making French toast in the morning."
Peter, who was horizontal on the couch, half asleep as Home Alone played in the background, lifted his hand and gave a thumbs up.\
"We appreciate it, Tony, but I think we're going to head back tonight," Steve said, gathering his shoes and Natasha's from next to the couch.
"Suit yourself, Cap," Peter said, groggily. "But you're missing out. My pancakes are the best in town."
"French toast," Tony corrected.
Peter yawned and rolled over, facing into the cushions, "Right, French toast. That's what I said."
Wanda and Bucky decided to stay, so Nat and Steve said their goodbyes and headed toward the car. Another several inches of snow had fallen in the hours since their arrival, coating the vehicle with fresh powder. Steve grabbed the snow brush from the trunk and wiped the windows clean. He was putting the brush back when he noticed Nat was still standing outside the car with a content look on her face
"What?" he asked with a questioning smile as he opened the passenger door for her.
"Nothing, I'm just happy."
Steve climbed into the driver's seat and turned to face her, folding her cold hands into his, "Any particular reason why?"
"It's been a really long time since I've had a family to spend Christmas with," Natasha looked Steve in the eyes, and even in the darkness she could see they were filled with the same adoration she felt for the people inside that house. "Just a few months ago, half of them weren't even here."
He brought her hands up to his lips and pressed a kiss to her knuckles, "We got really lucky."
Natasha nodded, pulling a hand from his grasp, and ran it through the hair at the nape of his neck then across his still stubbled cheek, "You know what I want for Christmas, Rogers?"
"What's that, Romanoff?" Steve closed his eyes and leaned into her touch.
"I want you to stop trimming your beard and grow the damn thing back out," she said, matter-of-factly.
He opened his eyes slowly and laughed at the smirk on her face, "You like the rugged look?"
"You know I do," Natasha said, leaning in to kiss him. She ran her tongue along Steve's bottom lip, and he parted his mouth to deepen the kiss. He dropped her other hand and tangled both of his in her hair, pulling her as close as he could in the front seat of the car. After a couple of minutes, they broke apart.
"We should go," Steve pressed his forehead to Natasha's while they both tried to catch their breath. "I really don't want Tony to find us making out in his driveway.
Nat leaned in to press one more kiss to Steve's lips then sat back in her seat, laughing, "You're no fun."
They were quiet for most of the 30-minute ride back to the farmhouse, allowing the soft sounds of Christmas music to fill the car. Natasha's head was leaned back against the headrest, and she rolled it to the side the look at Steve. The reflection of the snow on the ground shone back up through the windows and onto his face. His stupid, perfect, beautiful face. She smiled to herself and bit down on her lip.
"Hey, Steve?" she asked, after a few more minutes passed.
He looked over at her, and his heart leapt at the way she was staring at him, "Hmm?"
"Let's go somewhere."
"Like, a vacation?" Steve quirked an eyebrow. "What'd you have in mind?"
"How about Ohio?" Natasha asked. There was a vulnerability in her eyes that Steve had been privy to more and more lately.
He looked at her again, furrowing his brow, "What's in Ohio?"
She threaded her fingers through his and squeezed, looking out the front window with a smile, "My sister."
End Note: Nat introducing Steve to Yelena was actually the plot point that started this whole story for me, and I'm so excited that it's about to happen!