The following day, Steve and Natasha decided it wouldn't be fair not to include all their friends on the announcement. Nat texted Clint; Steve double checked that Thor was still in town; Nat called Pepper. They arranged for everyone to come to the mansion that night for a meal together. Bruce, Dr. Erskine and Betty were also invited just to round out the gang even though they were in on the original surprise.

Natasha and Peggy were experimenting with some recipes while Steve and Bucky supervised. Nat had looked up some of her favorite Russian dishes on the internet and Peggy grabbed a few quintessential British ingredients from the International Market.

The center island in the kitchen was covered with borscht, beet salad, golubshi, bangers and mash, fish and chips and mushy peas. Nat and Peggy high five'd; Steve and Bucky hugged them. Nat even got an extra kiss after Steve willingly tasted all her cooking and pronounced it delicious.

Once the doorbell started ringing, it was a fair amount of time between greetings and drinks before they sat down to dinner at the large dining room table. Steve waited until it was a little quieter when everyone was digging in and munching away.

"Natasha and I have an announcement to make," Steve took her hand in his, "Bruce, Dr. Erskine and Betty worked very hard to determine what was the cause of Nat's illness. We now have an answer and wanted to inform everyone at the same time." Steve waited until all eyes were on them.

"Natasha...is pregnant with twins!"

You could hear a pin drop at the table for a split second then the cheering and congratulations started.

"My god, Little Red and Captain Spangles!" Tony was beside himself with the thought of Little Avengers running around. Pepper told Nat and Steve that she'd take them out shopping for anything and everything the babies would need.

"My little sister is with child!" Thor picked up both Steve and Natasha and spun them around. He set them both down with a kiss, "Well done, Captain; well done."

Clint and Laura were overjoyed of course. Laura offered to throw Nat a shower when it was time. Clint just kept grinning and shaking his head. "I'm so happy for you, Nat, I can't tell you."

Steve and Natasha felt less overwhelmed after dinner with their family of choice. With so many friends offering support, encouragement and help, they knew they could face the challenge of being parents of twins. Mostly they both knew that their counterpart was their own personal rock and that they could weather anything together.

Steve started making noises about leaving Natasha out of missions until she put her foot down. "I'm pregnant, not an invalid, Steve. I won't take unnecessary risks or do anything stupid."

"Sweetheart, you know that sometimes we can't make those decisions in the field. Things can go sideways in an instant. I don't want to risk you or our babies."

"Steve, I can't sit around in bubble wrap for the next six months, I'm sorry. I'm part of this team and I'm going to be as involved as my doctors say I can be." Natasha threw the ball back to Bruce, Betty and Abraham, as he insisted they all call him.

"Natasha is ridiculously healthy and in better shape than most pregnant women, Steve." Bruce told him.

"There's no reason she can't continue to work," Betty backed him up.

"In my day we treated women like the finest crystal when they were with child. You can still do that of course but I've been doing a lot of reading here and I can assure you, Steven, that your lovely bride is capable of anything she chooses to do." Abraham patted Steve's shoulder.

"See?" Natasha gloated, "Perfectly safe."

Steve looked at all of them dubiously, "All right. I'll let her decide what she can and can't do." Natasha cheered sarcastically and rolled her eyes at him.

He fixed her with a stern look, "Two things, however; The slightest twinge, the smallest discomfort, you tell me immediately, understand?" Natasha nodded. "Second, the first time one of our children rolls their eyes at me, I'm going to spank you, not them." She giggled and he hugged her tightly.

"Promise me you'll be extra careful when we're out there," Steve whispered to her.

"I promise."

"I'm going to hold you to that, love." Steve said.

Second trimester happy hormones hit and Natasha was back to her old snarky self. No more sudden tears, no more morose moments. She had boundless energy, sexual and otherwise; keeping Steve on his toes.

Peggy and Bucky decided to make it official as well and a new wedding was held at the mansion. The only mystery remaining was how and why Natasha's bullet scar had completely vanished. Since it didn't seem to have an effect on her health or her pregnancy, the issue was tabled for the time being.

Missions for the most part went very well. Steve's heart was still in his throat whenever Natasha flipped out of nowhere into a fight and subdued four or five enemies in the space of a few seconds. He held his tongue and kept his thoughts to himself, letting her be who she was; trusting her to take care.

Her pregnancy proceeded with little problems. Natasha was so grateful to be feeling normal again that her natural sense of fun and humor blossomed. Every day spent with Steve unraveled some of the damage the Red Room had inflicted on her. She'd never be what anyone could consider normal but for Steve, she was perfect. She was learning to accept herself and see herself through his eyes.

Around Halloween she and Peggy with Pepper's help, rigged up a tunnel of spooks in the vast backyard of the mansion. They also rigged up cameras to catch people during particularly surprising areas of the attraction. All the Avengers went through it and great fun was had seeing the shocked expressions on their faces as they made their way through the tunnel.

Nat managed to scare the holy hell out of Steve by rigging an elaborate harness from the roof of the mansion then doing a pretty fair impression of a banshee, wrapped in a shroud with horrible zombie face makeup on and shrieking to high heaven before leaping off the roof and swooping down among their friends. Steve nearly had a heart attack when she came down a little faster than she intended and smacked into him as he ran to catch her. They ended up in a heap under one of the giant oak trees with everyone laughing hysterically. Well, everyone but Steve who looked a tad bit annoyed.

"Are you all right?" He growled at her as he helped her up.

"I'm great! Did you see that, that was awesome!" Nat's eyes sparkled and her cheeks were flushed under the hideous makeup. She promptly tripped over the edges of the shroud and pitched forward. Steve caught her before she smashed her face on a tree root and swooped her up in his arms, unbuckling the rigging and pushing it off her.

"What I saw is a pregnant woman desperately needing a spanking, taking risks like that." Steve scolded her in a low voice as he set her back on her feet and tied the costume up higher so she wouldn't trip.

Natasha grinned at him as he situated her costume, "Promises, promises."

He tucked her under his shoulder and shot her a glare, "Pregnant or not, I am not above warming your bottom if you do that again, sweetheart."

"Oh baby, don't tease me." Natasha hip bumped him then shrieked with laughter as his large hand connected with her ass in a stinging swat.

"Ow!" She grinned up at him, rubbing her butt. "That actually stung!"

"It was meant to. That's for scaring ten years off my life." Steve sat down on one of the big logs they had for seating around the fire pit. The other Avengers came to join the couple and settled around the cheerily blazing fire. Steve pulled Natasha down next to him and kissed her.

She pulled back, a half smirk on her face, "I can go get that French Maid costume I wore the other night if you want something tamer..."

Steve raised an eyebrow at her tone and her topic, "Do you want me to relate to our children the time Mommy was naughty on Halloween and Daddy had to spank her?"

Tony perked up at that, "Hey Little Red, I'll even loan him my paddle."

Everyone laughed heartily as Natasha actually blushed and ducked her head. "All of you suck."

"Baby doll, you've needed looking after for a long time," Bucky pointed out, earning him a jab in the side from Peggy. "Now baby, don't be mean."

"You haven't seen mean yet, buster." Peggy scooted away from him.

He reached out and grabbed her, pulling her back and across his own lap. Peggy swore at him when he swatted her. "You need looking after too, Doll," Bucky's tone was amused.

"I swear I'm going to kill both of them, Natasha," Peggy squirmed over Bucky's knee. He sat her up and kissed her silly.

"I'll help you." Natasha glowered at Bucky and Steve.

Steve chuckled, picked her up and leaned her over his arm, swatting her lightly. She was too pregnant to take over his knee, "Both of you are asking for some 1940's discipline."

"Steven Grant Rogers, I swear to god," Natasha started but was hushed immediately as Steve sat her on his lap and kissed her thoroughly.

Pepper and Laura were dying laughing. "Enjoy it ladies, your men are two lovable fossils who adore you and adore keeping you in line."

Clint got a wicked look in his eye and yanked Laura over his lap. "I guess I'll have to step up my game then, right baby?"

Laura squealed with delight as Clint whacked her a few times then sat her up again. She was blushing and grinning like a fiend. "I think Steve and Bucky are wonderful influences on you."

Tony looked at Pepper with a gleam in his eye, "Don't even think about it, Tony." Pepper said. Tony pushed a button on his watch and was instantly covered in his Iron Man suit. He slung Pepper over his shoulder and smacked her pert bottom. "I think we'll take off now."

"Tony Stark! When we get back to the Tower I am going to kill you!" Pepper's angry voice held a lot of mirth in it as she banged on his back while they rose into the air then off into the night.

Thor grinned down at Jane who squirmed and blushed under his frank appraisal. "My lady likes this sort of play as well."

"Thor!" Jane was aghast that he would announce something like that to everyone.

"See what you started?" Natasha griped. "You're setting back feminism seventy years."

Steve arched an eyebrow at her. "Since when have I ever treated a woman with less than the respect I give a man?"

"Spanking? Really, Steve?"

"One word...'Tony'..." Steve let that comment hang.

"Oh well, I guess you are treating us equally." Nat hated being wrong and sulked. Steve cuddled her close and nuzzled her neck.

Peggy even perked up, "I forgot about that. He did spank Tony."

"It was an acceptable form of discipline in the army as well," Steve added.

"That is true," Bucky said, "Before you rescued me there were a few instances of behind closed doors disciplinary action amidst the 107th.

"You're all one step away from being cavemen, you know." Natasha quipped with a smirk.

"You love it," Steve pointed out, teasing her.

Natasha got a lost look on her face, "Before you...in the Red Room, discipline was torture. It wasn't something that happened because anyone cared about you. It was because you were a failure or a disappointment."

Bruce, Betty, Thor, Jane, Maria and Nick had been giggling along with them. Suddenly everyone was completely still after Natasha's announcement.

Steve's eyes widened and a look of abject horror crossed his face, "Jesus, sweetheart, I never thought about what you went through before. I will stop playing with you like that if it brings back old, hurtful memories." He hugged her tightly to him, whispering, "I'm so sorry, Nat. I didn't think."

She hugged him back fiercely, "No, Steve. Don't stop being who you are. I never feel threatened, afraid or hesitant around you. That's what I was pointing out. It's never occurred to me to be upset with you. I know you mean well, I know that most of the time you're just teasing me or playing. Even the one time you weren't, you were reacting out of fear and frustration not because you were trying to be a bully or mean to me."

"Still, Nat..." Steve's voice was a little unsteady.

"I'm not afraid of you or anything you might do to me. Does that clear it up?" Natasha looked him dead in the eye and kissed him. "I mean it; I would tell you if you upset me, okay?"

"I think she just gave you permission to spank her, Steve." Bucky had caught on and understood what Nat was getting at. He winked at Nat.

She nodded at Bucky then turned back to Steve. "That's exactly what I'm doing. No BDSM stuff, mind you. I'm not into that. You being from that particular time frame, a spanking isn't meant to be an insult or demeaning. I'm rather impressed that you've not been more chauvinistic than you actually could have been."

"What's BDSM?" Steve asked. Everyone groaned.

"You've been on the internet and don't know what that is?" Peggy asked.

Steve looked adorably confused. Bucky came over and whispered an explanation in Steve's ear. Steve looked even more horrified when Bucky sat back down.

"God, no, Nat, I wouldn't want anything like that with anyone." Steve told her, his baby blue eyes wide.

"I know you don't. It's fine. Please stop worrying about things you have no control over. What happened to me is in the past. You've actually brought a new situation into my life. Before I do anything now, I think about it because I don't want to cause you to worry over me and my safety. Not because I'm afraid you might put me over your knee."

Steve visibly relaxed. "Nat, I swear I will never give you reason to be afraid of me."

"Steve, seriously...just slow down and don't let my past determine our future." Natasha kissed him gently. "I trust you with my life; with our children's lives. I know anything you do or intend is only with the best of intentions. Now let's just have fun."

That seemed to make him happy. Steve knew he was hopelessly outdated on a lot of things even now. Natasha was his world and he would do everything in his power to make certain she was happy, smiling, and loved every single minute of every single day. To him, no one deserved a happy ever after than she did. Funny thing, to her, he was the one who deserved all the best that their life together could offer.

Natasha squirmed free of his embrace, "I'm going to get the stuff for s'mores."

Steve, Bucky and Peggy looked at her. "Whats a s'more'?" Peggy asked.

"It's delicious, is what it is," Natasha informed them before disappearing briefly into the house. When she returned, she had a platter with marshmallows, skewers, graham crackers and Hershey bars – both milk chocolate and dark chocolate.

Bruce and Betty, Jane, Nick and Maria all grabbed skewers and stuck their marshmallows on them. Bucky, Peggy, Thor and Steve followed suit while Natasha wrangled a pitcher of hot chocolate and cups out to the fire pit. As the marshmallows toasted, she explained the process of stacking the graham crackers and chocolate so they could capture the toasted marshmallow when it was done.

Soon they were all enjoying the gooey treats. Thor, Bucky and Steve put away more of them than anybody else, much to Natasha's delight. The guys were pretty savvy and had adjusted pretty well to all the new things in this century but it was nice to see them having a good time with simple pleasures and good friends.

Peggy squeezed her hand gently, "Thank you for helping to make all of us feel at home here."

"You're very welcome. I'm just glad that we all have each other now." Natasha rubbed a hand over her belly. "Just knowing that I will have the miracle of children, the miracle of a wonderful husband and the miracle of you all as my friends means so much to me, you can't know."

She spoke quietly to Peggy but Steve and Bucky heard her clearly. "Thank you for having the courage to make all of this happen, Sweetheart." Steve told her, kissing her hand. "If it weren't for your risky scheme to bring Bucky back, none of this would be possible. I can't ever repay the happiness you've brought to all of us."

"You already have." Nat told him with a sweet smile.