James sighed heavily and glanced around the common room. His parents had left last night after dinner, telling him they had to take care of business and leaving him in the care Tony, Bruce and Pepper. But it was only noon and Uncle Bruce was snoring on the couch, having fallen asleep halfway through the movie, and Uncle Tony had run off as soon as he saw the title of the movie.

Sighing again, he slid off the couch and tiptoed over to the cabinet that held all of their DVDs. Technically he had already used up all of his TV time for today, but it was the weekend and Uncle Bruce was asleep. And no one else was around, so really what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

He was about to pop in the second movie when the elevator dings and his Aunt Pepper came out. He raced over to her to give her a hug.

"Well, you're certainly energetic," she laughed as she hugged him back. "How's my favorite nephew in the world?"

"I'm so bored!" he complained. "Will you play with me?"

"Where's are your uncles?"

"Uncle Bruce fell asleep and Uncle Tony disappeared," he pouted up at her. "There's nothing to do."

"Well, we'll just have to fix that." She smoothed his hair down and straightened. "Want to bake something with me? We can make cookies together and have them for dessert." James nodded enthusiastically and the pair raced to the kitchen. He sat on the counter while Pepper searched for the recipe, then helped her gather all of the ingredients. They laughed and slicked flour at each other and James occasionally stole a chocolate chip when he thought Pepper wasn't looking.

"So, how's school going?" Pepper asked when the first batch of cooked was in the oven and they were eating bits of cookie dough from the bowl.

"It's good," James grinned, popping more dough in his mouth. "My class is really small this year, there's only 20 of us."

"Oh yeah? Any cute girls?" James wrinkled his nose and flicked a stray chocolate chip at his aunt.

"Nah," he says. "The girls in my class are boring."

"What makes them so boring?"

"Well, they-"

They were interrupted by a sudden crack of thunder, and James shot up from his seat. Pepper stood too, eyeing the dark clouds that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. She realized Bruce was now awake as well and they shared a knowing look. Bruce ran to the stairway and charged up the stairs to the roof while Pepper tried to distract James for the time being.

"So there's no one in your class that you think is interesting?" The boy shrugged, glancing out the windows.

"Why is it storming?" he asked in a small voice as he crawled into Pepper's arms. She was about to answer when Thor barreled through the door in his full Asgardian armor, Bruce trailing a second behind. She shook her head as frantically as she could without alerting James, but the boy looked up anyway.

"Whoa! What are you wearing, Uncle Thor?" James laughed. He untangled himself from Pepper and started to head toward his uncle, but Pepper caught his arm and spun him around to face her.

"James, I need you to go wait in your room for me. Can you do that?"

"No, wait," Thor said, stepping closer to them. "I was sent to collect young James."

"We need to find Tony," Bruce said, addressing Pepper.

"What's going on?" James asked, looking between his aunt and uncles.

"I'll deal with Tony. Bruce, get Happy on the phone."

"Where are we going?" Thor beckoned for James to come to him and the kid wordlessly obeyed, but he did so hesitantly. "What's going on, Uncle Thor?"

Thor squatted down so he could look his nephew in they eyes. "There was an accident, James," he said in a low, even tone. "Right now I don't know much. Your father is fine, he sent me to come get you and bring you to the healers of your world."

"My world? What are you talking about?"

Bruce reappeared with a phone held to his ear. "Which hospital is it?"

"Mount Sinai." Bruce repeated the information into the phone, then held James's coat out to him.

"Happy's meeting us downstairs in five," he said. "What happened?" James gripped both of his uncles' hands tightly as they entered the elevator.

"Lord Steven will explain when we get there," Thor said, glancing at James.

Tony, Pepper, and Happy met them at the car with grim faces, and the ride to the hospital was silent. James sat between Tony and pepper, who had her arm around him and was rubbing his shoulder gently. James wished someone would just tell him what was going on and why his Uncle Thor was wearing a cape. Once they arrived they were led down a maze of hallways by a doctor. Finally they rounded a corner and were met by a familiar face.

"Dad!" James let go of Pepper's hand and sprinted for his father. Steve scooped his son up and held him in a hug even though he was much to big, his son's long legs dangling down. James realized his dad was dressed oddly; a mostly navy uniform with red and white stripes on his stomach and a white star on his chest. His face was also cut and bruised.

"What happened?" he asked tentatively His dad set him down and patted a chair. James sat down next to him and looked up at his dad.

"I'm sure you were told that there was an accident," he said, and James nodded.

"What kind of accident?"

"A bad one. I can't tell you everything."

"Why not?"

It's his son's eyes that break him, so big and the exact same hue of green as his mother's.

"You know those stores Uncle Tony and Uncle Clint tell you? The ones about the Avengers?" James nodded; they were his favorite stories. "Well, they're not just stories. They really happened, and they happened to your mom and me and your uncles."

"What?"

"We're the Avengers, James," he said, and his son's eyes widened in response. "But it's easy for us to make enemies, and that's why we never told you. We were trying to protect you from that side of the world, the one who might try to hurt you. But tonight something bad happened. We went off to fight on of our enemies, and your mom got hurt."

James looked like he had been punched in the stomach and his son climbed into his lap, something he had stopped doing almost two years ago. He leaned his head against his dad's shoulder and suddenly looked much younger than he actually was.

"What's gonna happen to her?" he asked, not at all sounding nine years old.

"The doctors took her into surgery a while ago," he said, pulling James close. "They promised they'd come get us as soon as we can see her."

They lapsed into silence, then. The rest of the Avengers hovered a few feet down the hall, and after an hour or so Pepper came back with coffee. It was another three hours before they heard any news, and by then James was asleep on a nest of coats they made on a few chairs.

"How is she?" Steve asked as they all gathered near the doctor.

"She should be fine," he said, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank God," Steve heard someone murmur.

"She's very lucky," the doctor continued. "She's got a few broken ribs, a fractured femur, and her arm is broken in three places; we had to put a rod in. All the gunshots missed vital organs. She does have a concussion and there's a little bit of swelling in her brain, but I don't think that should cause any lasting damage. We're keeping her sedated for now."

It was hard to believe that Natasha was fine when she was so hurt, but Steve also reminded himself that she was still alive. James still had his mother and he still had his wife, and no matter how badly she had been injured, relief coursed through his veins. The doctor offered to bring him and James to her room, so he picks up his son, who stays asleep, and follows him down the halls. They arrive at a door for a private room, one that Tony probably threatened people for, and he went inside.

She's bandaged and bruised and hooked up to so many monitors it makes him want to cry, and she's completely motionless besides the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. He carefully laid James on the bed with his mother, making sure not to disturb any of the wires and tubes.

He sat back in the chair near the bed and realized just how much James looked like Natasha. His angular little face, his pointed chin, and the adorable pout of his mouth; they were all Natasha's, perfectly copied into his face. James sighed in his sleep and shifted closer to Natasha, who remained still. Steve hoped that somehow she could tell her precious little son was near.

He could feel himself starting to drift off, so he took her hand and laid his head on the mattress. He only half-slept, aware that time was passing but also not sure how long they had been there. He was instantly awake when he felt her fingers twitch against his palm. A second later her eyes cracked open and found his instantly.

"Hey," he smiled at her, giving her hand a gently squeeze.

"Hi," she croaks. She turned her head and found James, still sleeping and curled as close as he could get. She lifted her hand and brushed his hair from his face and his eyelids began to flutter.

"Wake up, sweetheart," she said softly, wrapping her arm around him. Their son finally woke up and his face immediately split into a huge grin.

"Mommy!" he shrieked, hugging her tightly. She winced as he bumped her broken arm, but didn't say anything. Steve simply smiled as he watched his two redheads and thanked God that the night hadn't gone another way.

Hey guys, sorry for not updating this in, like, forever, but writer's block is a bitch and then school started again so...