Thank you to those who have read this story :D I really hope you enjoyed it and if you didn't pleeeeease review so I have some idea about how to improve :D

Natasha Romanov was not the type of woman to get scared. When hundreds of aliens descended from the sky last year she had felt nothing but determination and a desire for revenge. While in Russia she had often scoffed at the many dangerous men that had dared to wave guns in front of her. Her reputation preceded her and on many occasions she could sense the fear that rolled off of her targets. Their pupils would dilate, their breath would become shallow and she would know that if she could hear their heartbeat, it would be pounding with the desire to live.

Yet as she stood in her bathroom, in the apartment she shared with her partner Clint, she felt fear. Her eyes lingered on the object causing this panic. A simple white stick. The stick wasn't the problem, it was the two blue lines that indicated her life was about to alter dramatically.

She was pregnant.

Her heart rate picked up and she swallowed quickly attempting to keep bile from rising into her mouth. She shook her heard, clearing it momentarily. She began the process of calming her body. Something she had been taught at S.H.I.E.L.D years ago, but had never really had to use. Within seconds she could feel herself calming down.

"J?" She enquired quietly.

"Miss Romanov?"

"Where is Clint?"

"Mr Barton is currently in the Kitchen with Captain Rodgers and Miss Potts"

"Pepper" She whispered to to herself.

Natasha threw the little white stick into the bin to her left, taking care to cover it with tissue paper. She then proceeded to withdraw her phone from her pocket. Thinking hard she began to type...

'Need you ASAP. Don't tell C. I'll be in Lib.'

She hit send and bit her lip. She left the bathroom shooting a dirty look at the bin as she passed. As she reached the rarely used kitchen of her apartment she opened the air vent that was above the microwave. She slipped inside and began her ascent, double checking she had closed the entrance behind her.

Floors Above her Pepper Potts felt her phone buzz. She was halfway through a plate of Clint's pancakes. She dropped her fork and picked up her phone to see a message from Natasha.

That's odd, she thought to herself.

Off all the changes that had taken place in the past year, Pepper had never imagined becoming one of Natasha's closest friends would have been one. She had not been happy when Tony announced to her that the 'Avengers' would be moving into her tower. So much so that Tony was unusually quiet for an entire month after the argument that followed his announcement. To Pepper's surprise however, the strange group of people that now shared their home had become family and Natasha her closest female ally.

Even so, it was extremely odd for Natasha to text her.

Something must be wrong. She frowned at her pancakes.

"Something up Pep?"

"Nothing at all Barton, your pancakes were perfetto as always"

"You've hardly eaten any!?"

"Yeah, Sorry, I just need to go double check something quickly, can you keep them warm for me?" She asked, putting her knife and fork down.

"Sure thing" Clint replied, he looked a little disheartened, but Pepper shook it off. She flashed him a toothy smile as she got up and exited towards the library.

"What is up with everyone today?!" Clint sighed, exasperated.

Steve didn't look up from his paper, but Clint saw him shrug his shoulders.

As soon as Clint turned his back, Steve snuck Pepper's abandoned plate behind his paper and crept back out heading to his apartment. Clint continued to mutter to himself as he began to wash up.

"It's not like I make my pancakes often, it would be nice to feel a little appreciation!"

Clint turned to look at Steve but found an empty seat and an empty plate. He sighed heavily and went back to the washing up.

Pepper looked at her watch as she entered the library. It was 9am and she could hear doors opening beneath her feet. The others must be getting up. She looked around her and smiled. Natasha wasn't there yet so she went to the windows to take in the view. If Stark tower had been 12% her baby, this was definitely a good 10% of that twelve. Like the shared kitchen and living room the windows but in the library there was a ledge filled with cushions. The library had been placed so that in the morning and evening it got the best view of the rising and setting sun. Behind her book shelves lined the high walls filled with countless volumes. Pepper turned thinking to herself that she may as well grab a book while she waited. When she found Natasha waiting there she nearly fainted.

"Jesus Christ! What the mmppppfff" Pepper began to shout, but Natasha swooped behind her and put her hand of her mouth before she could finish her sentence.

"I'm sorry Pep, just calm down a second ok?"

Pepper nodded as best she could and Natasha released her.

"Nat, what is going on?"

She was whispering but Natasha still moved towards the door in panic. She locked the door and began to pace frantically.

"Seriously you're scaring me! Where did you come from? I didn't hear anything"

Natasha stopped and her tight expression softened. Pepper was not used to seeing her like this and Natasha rarely used her stealthy tactics anymore. She had stopped being sneaky after moving in, an attempt to get Pepper to warm to her a little more. It must have been rather intimidating to have two master assassins, a god, a super soldier and potential green rage monster moving into your home. She forced herself to act more normally.

"Air vents" She stated simply.

"You nearly gave me heart failure! What's going on?!"

Natasha resumed her pacing, albeit a little slower than before.

"I don't know how to say this, you know I'm not used to..." she gestured at the space between them "friends. Girlfriends."

Pepper took a step towards her and Natasha stopped pacing again.

"Ok, well, take a deep breath in"

Natasha inhaled deeply

"And out"

She did so but was avoiding Pepper's eyes, Pepper placed a hand upon the Black Widow's shoulder.

"Nat! Look at me. Ok nothing can be that hard to tell me, just say it"

Natasha had finally raised her eyes to Pepper's and she could see genuine concern in them.

She took another deep breath with her eyes closed and she tensed as if forcing the words out.

"I'm pregnant"

Pepper's hand slipped from her shoulder and Natasha felt her hands encased within Pepper's. Natasha opened her eyes to see Pepper beaming and almost against her will she felt the corners of her own mouth twitch.

"Pepper...I...I'm scared"

"You're smiling"

"Well yes, but only because you're grinning like a loon"

Pepper smiled warmly at her friend and had to stifle a laugh. Here she was, a professional assassin turned S.H.I.E.L.D agent turned Avenger, and she was scared. It was utterly bizarre to Pepper.

"Are you laughing at me?! Here I am telling you this earth shattering news, confessing that I feel fear, me! I feel fear and you're laughing"

Natasha sounded annoyed but her smile betrayed her and before long she too was laughing. They moved to sit by the windows, calming down.

"So..." Pepper ventured cautiously

"So?"

"It is Clint's isn't it?"

She swatted Pepper on the shoulder by way of an answer and they both laughed again. The possibility of it being anyone else's was ridiculous. Clint and Natasha, Barton and Romanov, Hawkeye and the Black Widow were partners, in every sense of the word.

"How am I going to tell him?! What are we going to do?! We're not exactly good parent material, I mean look at us..." Natasha left her sentence hanging, unable to finish it.

"The same way you'd tell him anything else. The rest you have to figure out with him."

They smiled at one another and surprisingly Natasha did not struggle as Pepper hugged her.

"Now time for your partner's speciality pancakes, that's if Thor has left us any"

Natasha laughed and followed Pepper out of the library, dreading the inevitable conversation that she and her partner would soon be having.