A/N: in May, almost perfectly 8 months ago, I wrote an author's note. Bulletproof, chapter 5. "I cannot believe my document is actually more than 10 000 words long atm. Like that's wild." THIS DOCUMENT IS MORE THAN 100 000 LONGS. A HUNDRED THOUSAND WORDS LONG. Recently I read through Bulletproof again. I know a lot of you love it (and if you haven't read it, I guess I suggest you do so?). And it is so sad really bc it felt so rushed in a lot of ways. I am planning to write the sequel to that one after or at the same time as BlackPepper and also do a small rewrite of some of the chapters.

In this chapter, we have a lot of smaller time jumps but it is all happening in like a span of 20 weeks. Also, a slight Easter egg to another series in this chapter just because I wanted to.

S-B

"Natasha?! Where are you?" Clint yelled loudly as he turned the corner to the living room. Laura looked up from her book with a confused look.

"Where the fuck is that woman?" Clint mumbled walking into the kitchen with an annoyed look on his face.

"Well if she was in the kitchen, I would have told you. What's up?" Laura said with a soft laugher looking at her husband. Natasha had spent two days in bed, and none of the adults had bothered her too much. She had slept in and recovered from her illness. Laura didn't even know she was awake really. It didn't surprise her considering it was already 9:30, but she couldn't blame the woman if she wanted to stay in bed.

"I need her to look at the coat she gave me." Clint handed her a neatly-folded coat and Laura smiled softly. It had been a while since she had seen this one.

Laura slowly unfolded it before unzipping it and helping it on Clint. It was a very tight fit and she was not mad about it. She really, REALLY wasn't.

"Mhm. You look hot." Laura said before reaching after a kiss. She purred softly when Clint leaned into her. No kids in the house, no reason not to. Laura let out a small yelp as Clint slowly pushed her down on the floor. He looked at her with a small smug smile before he attacked her neck making her moan loudly.

"AHEM," A loud voice made Clint practically throw himself off her and Laura shooting up from the floor. "You scream after me and this is what I arrive to?" Natasha was leaning on the doorframe with her arms crossed over her chest. Conveniently she had her hair up in a tight bun, making her look a lot more serious and madder than what Laura guessed she really was. Laura was breathing heavily as she slowly collected herself.

"At least you had your pants on." Natasha scolded before passing them walking into the kitchen. While she sounded mad the smile in the corner of her mouth said otherwise. Laura looked at her with two guilty eyes, blushing uncontrollably. Of course, this was not the first time Natasha had walked in on them, but it didn't mean it was awkward, especially since they were lying on the floor, in the living room. Not that up against Natasha's bedroom door was any better, but that wasn't the point.

"Laura is hot, what can I say?" Clint said with a smug smile and a way to confident voice. Laura could only blush some more and turn around away from them when Natasha answered.

"That I can agree with." Laura hid her face in her hands feeling her cheeks burn. She could tell Clint and Natasha were laughing now. She slowly picked herself up from the floor before joining Clint and Natasha around the kitchen table. Natasha had a relaxed face and was sipping on a glass of water. Laura found herself looking at Natasha with a small smile and turned out Clint was doing the exact same. Natasha looked between then moving her eyebrows slightly.

"What?"

Laura smiled softly at her. Yes, they were both looking at her, but she personally didn't have much to say, she just like looking at the redhead because god it was really something mesmerizing with those kind eyes.

"I just wanted to talk about the jacket, but Laura made her statement so guess it doesn't need any changes, so nothing I guess," Clint said with a playful tone. He too was looking a bit dreamy, but Laura didn't know why. Natasha only rolled her eyes dramatically before turning to Laura with a small smile. "I just wanted it to be ready for when we leave, you know." Clint continued; this time not as happy.

"Soon," Natasha said with a low voice.

"Too soon," Laura replied slowly.

Natasha and Clint were scheduled to leave tomorrow evening after the kids' bedtime. Laura wasn't ready. She thought she was, but she wasn't. Yes, she was happy they were on the right track, maybe taking down HYDRA, but she was also selfish and wanting them to stay with her. The last few days Maria had sent them text and updates regarding the mission. And every time Laura got more and more scared. It was a challenging mission and Clint had said multiple times this was harder than normal. He had been really invested in all the updates and work Maria had sent them. He had even looked at his arrows and quiver a few extra times too.

Natasha, on the other hand, was very underprepared. Or so it seemed. The woman had been sick and had shown no interest in working with Clint on the weapon department. She had spent her days in bed sleeping and reading books, and Laura wasn't sure if that was a very good thing or a very bad thing. It could honestly be both.

"I love this." Natasha hummed closing her eyes. "No kids, no avengers, no Tony Stark. Honestly, that last one is a win for sure. Just peace and quiet." Laura laughed softly. She knew Natasha still thought Tony was a bit of a handful, and it was always fun listening to the mighty Natasha complaining about a guy.

"Yeah, good thing the kids will be home in a few hours and tomorrow we are back in the tower," Clint said with a grimace. Natasha let out a loud sigh.

"At least you can see Pepper?" Laura tried.

"Yeah. Maybe." Natasha only answered. She had a small sad smile on her face, still with her eyes closed. And Laura could feel her own hear sink as Natasha let out another small sigh.

"Well doesn't matter how much the tower will or will not suck, because you always have a place here Nat," Clint said with a small smile. When Natasha didn't reply Clint turned to Laura. Laura tilted her head slightly signalizing "what are you doing ?!" before Clint sent her a mischievous look. "Especially when you have mini Nat to come home too."

Both Laura and Natasha looked at Clint with big eyes. Yes, they had talked about making Natasha the namesake of the new addition, but this was a surprise even to her. She didn't disagree though. She was more than happy to name the child after Natasha. Laura turned her head to look at Natasha, she didn't know what to expect as a reaction, the woman had clearly shown a few unexpected responses lately.

"Why?" Natasha only replied. Her voice was flat, and she showed absolutely no form of emotion. Making Laura wonder if this was a mistake.

"Well because why not. You are the kid's aunt as well as a close friend of ours. Plus, we have one on C and L, so we are missing an N anyways." Clint's said. Laura could hear the slight hesitation in his voice even if he tried to play it off.

"I'm not like you two though. I'm not their parent" Natasha's voice had softened a bit now but still Laura could see the other woman was uncomfortable.

"Nat. Calm down. We don't have to if you don't want to. But what he is saying is true. We love you and so does the kids. And maybe you don't see it, but what you have done for us this family, we owe you so much." Laura tried. Natasha only nodded slowly looking down on her own hands.

"Okay Natasha, what is wrong?" Clint's voice turned into his dad's voice as he looked at her with a questionable look.

"I… I don't know. I mean thank you, it is an honor. I guess I just don't really get why." Natasha tried with a small smile. Laura could only shake her head before she moved over to take a seat on the chair beside Natasha

"Because we love you, and because we think you are an amazing role model, and you deserve it. Honestly, the list goes on and on." Laura looked at her with a smile. She placed her hand under Natasha's chin and made her look at her. Natasha smiled at her before she leaned into her hand purring softly.

"Little Natasha hu?" Natasha said before looking at where the baby bump soon would be tilting her head.

"Does have a nice ring to it doesn't it?" Clint said before punching Natasha's arm softly.

"Yeah. Yeah, it kinda does."

Clearly, the mission did not go as planned. Laura didn't really know what the mission was, or what the plan entailed, but she was positive it didn't include Clint getting shot. After a few weeks of prior Clint had texted her saying they were finally flying over to Sokovia. The next thing she got was a phone call from Natasha.

"Laura, I promise he is going to be fine, please calm down." If it had been anyone other than Natasha on the other end of the line, Laura would have screamed at them. Like it could have been Nick Fury and she still would have spit in their face in anger and annoyance. Even with Laura more or less scolding Natasha over the phone Natasha was still very calm and Laura was very thankful even if she didn't come across as so.

"Literally the one thing I wished from you two as to get both of you back, whole and well, and somehow he still lost part of his body to a gun and bunker. So no, I will not calm down. You can come home, right now, and then maybe I will, Natasha." Laura knew she was being really unreasonable, but she didn't care. She was angry and sad. She was alone in the house with two kids and pregnant with their third, with the two remaining family members out in an actual warzone.

"Laura, I promise, I won't let anything happen to him -." Natasha tried for the second time before she got cut off again.

"Yeah, because that worked great didn't it." Laura regretted it the second it slipped out. She could hear Natasha sigh on the other end. Great now she hurt her right after screaming at her. Wonderful Laura.

"You know what, forget it, Laura, I am sorry." Laura could tell she was just about to give up and hang up on her.

"Wait. No hang on. I'm sorry Nat. I didn't mean to yell at you" Laura hurried to say trying to stop her.

"Okay" she could hear the hesitation in Natasha's voice. She was probably scared Laura would yell at her again. Which was a fair point, really. She knew how much Natasha hated conflict with her. Already at their first meeting, Natasha had shown she rater wanted to give up than argue with her.

Laura hadn't planned a reply. She wasn't even sure if she expected Natasha to continue to talk.

"Just… I'm sorry Natasha. I'm scared and worried. You to being out in the field again. I just don't want anything to happen." Laura tried. She sounded like such a child.

"I know, Laura, but I don't think yelling at me will help with that. Just please try to calm down. After the party this weekend I'm sure we get a few days off, maybe even Clint can go home for good. It is going to be fine." This was exactly why Natasha was so much mature than her. While Laura very rarely let stuff get to her, sometimes she did, and she snapped. Natasha on the other hand never let her anger out on anyone else like this, and if she ever raised her voice to make a point, she would soon lower it.

"Okay." Laura only whispered back.

Natasha spent the next hour just trying to calm her down. Clint was still on the operating table or whatever it was. And while Natasha had spent a good hour with him already, creating new tissue wasn't something that happened over a few minutes.

"So, how is the pregnancy? Feeling okay?" Natasha's voice was soft on the other end as she changed the subject.

"Fine. Some morning sickness but it seems to be alright, nothing I can't handle." Laura said with a small laugh.

"Morning sickness?" Natasha echoed. Laura could sense the worry in her voice, and she was surprised Natasha didn't know about this.

"Yeah, it is completely normal, don't worry," Laura said reassuringly. "Right now, I don't feel like I can eat anything without it coming back up again. But like I said, that is normal. Every pregnancy is different, I just need to take one step at the time."

"Okay… When is your next appointment?" Natasha said with a thoughtful voice still with a bit of hesitation.

"In three weeks or so? Had one just before you left, remember?"

"Three weeks? That seems long." Natasha whispered back.

"Well, the first 28 weeks is only every month. It's fine Nat." Laura said. She wished she could see Natasha instead of talking over the phone, but she knew they couldn't use the video chat with the same freedom when she was in the tower. Especially when everyone was around like now. Still, she wanted to see her, to try to calm the surprisingly unknowable woman. She would have thought Natasha had somewhat more knowledge considering she knew close to everything of everything.

"YEAH? Okay, I'll be there, hang on. I need to go now Laura; I'll get Clint to text you. Talk to you soon." Natasha said fast. Laura could only nod and whisper back.

"Okay, please do. See you soon? Promise?"

"I'll do my absolute best."

What really happened, Laura didn't know. In fact, she had no idea what was happening because Clint, Natasha, and Maria were awful at giving her any sorts of updates. At the start, the news was the only place she got any sorts of information, but come on, everyone knew most of what was on the news was just bullshit.

As she understood it, the Avengers were now in hiding. Ultron had attacked late March in their little party gathering. One of the problems with fighting a robot was catching him. Well, it was a lot of other problems others than that too, but Ultron's main way of doing anything was moving through the web, meaning he could be anywhere at any time. He was originally an AI, so him being a robot was just a bonus.

They didn't know where Ultron was. He appeared everywhere, but at the same time nowhere. He didn't physically walk into a room; he was just in the internet. In every system there was. Not a great start to say at least. Because how were they supposed to catch something they couldn't actually physically catch right.

Laura just had to face it, this pregnancy she would be alone. She couldn't expect Natasha or Clint to be able to come home any time soon. Maybe Natasha could let Clint off for a few days, but what would their excuse be this time? In the eyes of the Avengers Laura, Cooper and Lila didn't exist so she couldn't just say he was with his family.

Laura was just about to go to bed when she heard a vibration coming from her phone on her nightstand. She was too tired to even look at the display. And she was sure Natasha and Clint both would have yelled at her if they saw how carelessly she picked up the phone while dumping down on her bed.

"Hello?" Laura said followed by a small yawn, guard down.

"Laura?" Laura's face immediately lit up in a smile when she heard the very familiar voice.

"Natasha, oh my gosh." Laura let out a small laugh and she could practically feel the smile widen even more if that was even possible.

"You texted me, wanting me to call you?" Natasha's voice was soft, and she could hear the slight hesitation in the other's woman's voice. It was cute. "If it is too late, we can talk tomorrow?" Natasha hurried to add, just making Laura laugh even more.

"Nat, calm down, this is perfect, please calm down." Laura giggled again when she heard Natasha let out a sigh of relief. "I can start by saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Laura didn't let her answer with one of her, but I don't want to disturb answers. Instead, she kept going, giving no room for Natasha's insecurity to increase.

"Thank you" Natasha answered with a soft voice and Laura seriously wished she could see her face.

"Are you with anyone? Or are anyone around?"

"Eh, no? Why?" Natasha's was clearly confused, but Laura didn't even bother to reply before she pushed a few buttons before Natasha's face was floating in her room. Natasha could only smile at her. A soft kind smile before she waved at her. The woman was in her living room sitting on her sofa, and Laura could see the beautiful view of New York behind her.

"How was your day, tell me everything," Laura said with a happy voice. She watched Natasha think for a second before saying

"It was nice. I didn't really tell anyone, but somehow they all found out." She replied with a small laugh.

"Wait, none of them knew?" Laura said with a surprised tone.

"You know I don't really care, Laur." Laura could only roll her eyes at that very dumb comment.

"Well everyone else cares." Natasha only huffed, making Laura laugh again.

"ANYWAYS, Steve took me out for breakfast, and then Clint came running into the common room with everyone there, yelling about my birthday and his gift. So that is how they found out, I guess." Natasha smiled at her but rolled her eyes dramatically when she mentioned Clint, making Laura laugh loudly. She really hoped she didn't wake up the kids.

"Steve knew? Since he took you out for breakfast I mean?" Laura asked after processing what she had just said.

"Yeah, I told him after one of our missions. He wanted us to get to know each other better. It was really nice actually. He is such a nice guy, honestly." Natasha said with a small smile.

"Okay, what happened when Clint ran into everybody then," Laura said with a small smile.

"Well he started talking about this present he got me, not the one from all of you, by the way, the record player, really beautiful Laura. Its already in my room. But he also bought me his own separate one." Natasha continues with a warm smile.

"What was it?" Judging by Natasha's tone she was not impressed. It couldn't be another knife set right?

"A decanter, he was very proud." Laura laughed by Natasha's unimpressed face.

"Okay, what else?" Laura said after shaking off her laugher.

"Well, Stark decided he now had to make a gift. So, he dragged Banner down to the lab and spent most of the day there." Natasha said rolling her eyes for maybe the tenth time this call.

"And he made…?" Laura pushed, not letting Natasha stop now.

"Some electrified batons. They are actually pretty fun, but Stark doesn't need to know that." Natasha said with a smirk before winking at Laura. Laura could only laugh at Natasha's silly behavior.

"That… really doesn't surprise me." Laura said while trying to kill the laughter. "What about your girlfriend then?" Laura said with a wink. Maybe she was pushing her luck, but she wanted to know. Pepper didn't seem like the woman who let Natasha's birthday pass without doing something.

"Well, mostly she was just mad at me for not telling me." Natasha started before she got interrupted by Laura exclaiming.

"You didn't tell Pepper?!" Laura said in disbelief. What was wrong with this woman.

"Well no, but I mean I brought her a gift a few years back for her birthday she got annoyed at me because she didn't think it is necessary. And we have really only been in the same country or together when it is her birthday, so I don't know. Guess it never really slipped my mind." Natasha said lowering her head like she understood she was guilty.

"You Natasha Romanoff are hopeless sometimes," Laura said with a small laugh, making sure Natasha didn't actually think she meant it.

"But the way you are blushing and looking right now, I am guessing the two of you also did, a little something?" Natasha turned away from her before she laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, she took me out for a walk on the high lane before we ate at Chelsea Market, it was wonderful Laura," Natasha said with a dreamy voice.

"I can only imagen. Sounds like your type of date, not to fancy and not making a big fuss of something I personally think is kind of a big deal but whatever." Natasha laughed at her silly comment but nodded.

"Exactly. It is really no need to make a big fuss over a date."

"It is your birthday Nat," Laura said with a soft voice. "It is okay to just enjoy your day for once, let people celebrate you for just one day." Natasha looked at her, and Laura could tell she disagreed but chose to smile at her with a soft smile.

"I guess so." Natasha only answered. "So, when was last time Clint called you?"

"Eh, last time he bragged about me not being able to feel the difference between him and… him?" Laura said with an unsure voice. Natasha laughed before smiling mischievously.

"My god let me fill you in Laura because a lot of stuff has happened"

The next month and a bit were challenging. While Natasha and Clint tried to update her, it was hard. They were working nonstop, and Laura could tell it was starting to get to Natasha. Ultron wasn't directly hiding from them it seemed. It was more that the Avengers didn't want to start anything if they weren't sure they could control it.

But even if it was hard for Laura to be on the sideline watching all this happen, her life still had to go on. She had two kids and was pregnant. She couldn't just drop everything because her husband was out on the field. She was on week 20 now. Doctors' appointments were lined up, and shopping for the baby was now a must. It was no stopping now. This baby was very much happening and demanding lots of attention.

While she loved her hospital, the nurses and her doctor, she hated all the looks she got from everyone. All the questions about where the father was and so on. Thankfully she had the same nurse and doctor she had with Lila, so they did have some knowledge. Of course, then it had been Natasha who had been absent but still, they knew her life situation was… different from normal. She liked them, and they were way passed asking about the rest of the family. If anything, it was Laura who mentioned it first and they were very understanding. Which she really needed.

Even when she was shopping, she felt everyone stare at her. She tried to do most of the shopping when the kids were in school, but Lila had asked to go and look at baby clothes with Laura after school and she didn't really have a reason to say no. She liked to involve the bigger kids, especially now their dad had been gone for so long it was a nice way to spend time together.

But of course, a pregnant mother and two kids shopping without a father gave them some unwanted attention, and she could tell the kids were noticing it too. They had of course done nothing wrong and didn't understand either. She felt bad for them, she really did.

The bump was really showing now, and she had just found out the gender of the baby. The appointment had gone very smoothly, and everything seemed to be fine with the baby. The only downside was the result of the gender.

"How was the appointment?" Clint's voice was soft as he talked to her. It had been a while since they talked, and Clint was very clearly more eager to talk about the baby than the mission, which she got.

"Fine. Dr. Manning is great…" Laura trailed.

"But?" Clint pushed.

"It's a boy." Laura could hear Clint swear under his breath. Course they knew it had been a bit early to tell Natasha she was going to be the namesake before they knew the gender, but come on, it was a fifty, fifty chance, why couldn't just the world give it to them.

"So clearly no baby Natasha," Clint said with a sarcastic voice, almost making Laura laugh.

"No. We need something else, but I still want it to be obvious this is Natasha's namesake." Laura said with a soft voice.

"Well, can we something that doesn't nick to Nat."

"I guess we can, it is a lot more practical. What are you thinking?" Laura agreed slowly.

"Idk Nate?"

"So like Nathan?"

"Ew, no."

"CLINT. Don't say ew"

"Just my opinion."

"That is so not helping."

"Okay what about…" Clint's voice faded for a second and Laura could practically hear him thinking. "Nathaniel."

Laura stopped and let the name sink in. Nathaniel. It was nice. Of course, Natasha was a name they had a stronger connection to, but it wasn't bad. A good suggestion to say at least.

"This is nice. Does resemble Natasha. And I think it will work." Laura said slowly. "Speaking of the Natasha, how is it everything going?" Laura tried, not sure if she expected an answer.

"Not great, we are still trying to figure out what his next move is. He is already in the internet and moving all over, we don't wanna leave the tower if we don't have to. It puts everyone at risk." Clint answered with a serious voice.

"But you have been in hiding for months now, surely he has been doing something."

"He has, we have even seen him making a new "body" for himself."

"So, can't you just like go there and shoot him and get it over with."

"Not exactly, we don't want to put fire on innocent people in the crossfire, which will most possibly happen. And he is everywhere before we get away to cut him out of the internet. Which is right now impossible. So unless he actually does something that is really threatening we won't get back in the field in a while. We spend most of the days working on researching everyone and everything. We need to find out about Ultron and his allies. He is Stark's creation, so we just have to look into what fuckery he put into him." Clint explained. Most of the time when he tried to explain his missions Laura didn't understand, this was one of those times.

"I am not sure if I understand. But I believe in you." She could practically see Clint's upset face. She knew he was in a horrible mood. Nothing seemed to work so she did not blame him.

"Just promise me to update me once in a while. And bring Talia home so we can tell her soon?" Laura finally said. Clint let out a sigh before saying.

"Yes, ma'am."

Laura didn't get many updates after that, only one message saying they were flying to South Africa. That was their first move in a long time. Laura didn't know why they did so, but she did leave the TV on for most of that day to see if she could get some updates.

However, the updates she did get were not great. The Hulk was destroying everything. And by the time the news reached the state it had already been a while. Iron man was shown battling with him, and Laura was struggling to believe that green huge… thing…?... was a normal man. None of the other Avengers were seen at all, which was slightly worrying. But then again what could a normal person like Clint have done anyways. Sure, Thor could have knocked him out maybe, but that also had its risks. Whatever had happened was not good, that was for sure.

This, this situation, was bad for their name. Most of the world only sees what's right in front of them, and what had happened was Stark, and the Avengers destroying a down. And Hulk, who is supposed to be an ally, was the reason it happened. The world didn't question why it happened, like Laura. And they probably didn't connect it with Ultron. But Laura knew. She had seen this one time before with Natasha. When her name got blown up and she got forced to disappear from the world. Was this what would happen now.

She was confused and scared when she went to bed that Friday night. They could be anywhere; it was impossible to say. But it didn't matter, because she had the kids and a life she still had to push through with, like any other day. Waking up with two kids, making breakfast, doing dishes, clean up their toys and art supplies. Vacuum, do the laundry, look at the broken balustrade. She had things to do.

She had heard it but didn't think too much of it. An engine, it could have been anything, right. Ultron would not come and knock on her door for sure so whoever it was probably not harmful. Maybe she was naïve, but she had five million drawings floating in her kitchen to clean up. That was before she heard it, that was. His voice was clear and it was no question who it was when she saw him walking into the livingroom.

"Honey, I'm home."