Wow! I didn't expect such an enthusiastic reaction! You guys are great and to reward you, here's a new chapter!
I don't own Marvel, ect
"Don't start with me, Clint," Natasha warned from their bedroom as she zipped her skin tight black uniform.
"I just don't think you should be going out into the field in your condition," he fired back from the bathroom, poking his head out the door, "Especially on a mission like this."
"My condition?" she scoffed, stowing her various knives and guns into their specific compartments, "I'm pregnant, not dying."
"It's dangerous."
"I'll show you dangerous," she mumbled to herself.
A frustrated sigh escaped his lips as he entered the bedroom. He crossed the room slowly. "Natasha..." When she ignored him, he cupped her face in his hands gently. "Natasha look at me."
She reluctantly glanced up at his face and regretted it instantly. "Clint..."
"Look," he interrupted, brushing a stray hair from her face with his thumb, "I know you are more than capable of fighting. But please, just be careful. I don't know what I would do if I lost you. And now with the baby...I wouldn't be able to bear it if you got hurt."
Her brows furrowed as what his words sunk in. No. Attachment is bad, attachment is deadly and it is dangerous. That's what this baby would be: an attachment. And it was already affecting Clint.
"No!" she exclaimed, backing out of his embrace, "Clint Barton you take that back right now!"
"What's gotten into you, Natasha!" Clint demanded, taken aback by her sudden reaction. He crossing his arms over his chest, "I've never seen you act like this!"
Her head was pounding; her blood pressure spiked higher than when the Hulk chased her through the helicarrier, her mind racing faster than when Coulson told her Clint had been compromised.
"I... I don't think I can do this," she admitted quietly, dropping her head. The great Black Widow: able to kill her way through an alien invasion, but left shaking in her boots when baby gets thrown into the mix.
"Do what, Nat?"
"This," she cried frustratedly, throwing her hands in the air, "Us! This baby! We can't 'play house' Clint! What are we going to do! When am I going to have to stop going on missions because my feet are swollen or I'm having morning sickness? What if one of us gets hurt in the field because the baby was up all night! This baby is just a liability!"
"What the hell, Natasha!" Clint exclaimed. "Twenty minutes ago you were fine with the baby, with everything! Don't tell me the hormones are already kicking in-"
Natasha promptly slapped him across the face. How dare he. Here she was having a borderline anxiety attack and he was making jokes. But after a couple of moments, her breathing steadied, her jaw unlocked and her shoulders slumped. "Don't... just don't try to be funny. Not right now."
Clint stayed silent and sat down in the edge of the bed. He reached up other waist and pulled her down alongside him on the bed, kissing her shoulder when she was seated.
"I'm sorry," she apologized, but Clint knew it was for more than the slap.
"Im sorry, too," he whispered into her neck before placing another kiss, "It's okay to be scared, Natasha."
Was she scared? The fact was, the more time she had to think about their predicament, the worse of an idea it was becoming in her head. She was a murderer, an assassin, a spy; not a mother. Just what was she about to sacrifice? What were they about to sacrifice? She rolled her body into Clint's welcoming arms and drew a deep breath.
"When we get home we'll talk about this, okay?" he suggested. She nodded and he smiled softly.
Then the intercom buzzed to life.
"Let's get this show on the road," Tony nagged, "We need our bird of flight to get us rolling outta the nest."
"Alright, alright," Clint called back at the same time Natasha shouted a Russian curse at the Iron Man.
"Fine, you get another minute, but only because your girlfriend scares me," Tony teased before the intercom went dead.
Clint picked himself off the bed. He attached his quiver around his body and snapped his bow open, eliciting a small smile at the corners of his lips. Natasha was already halfway out the door so he jogged up to meet her pace and they ascended to the helipad at the top of Stark Tower.
"Nice of you two to join us," Tony commented from inside his suit as Clint and Natasha joined their fellow teammates on the roof. Thor stood tall beside Iron Man while Captain America and a still human Bruce Banner waited at the mouth of the hover-jet. "Oh by the way, mazel tov."
"Not now, Iron Ass," Natasha quipped as she boarded the plane, exchanging a look with Clint who trailed close behind her.
"What," Tony feigned being offended, "aren't you proud of my obviously immeasurable deductive powers?"
"Yeah, you're a real Sherlock Holmes." Clint sneered, "Can we please just get going?"
Great. Just perfect. If Tony Stark knew about her pregnancy, chances were half of New York did as well. Clint and Natasha had never intended on sharing the news. Sure, there would be rumors but they would never be acknowledged by the couple. But maybe it was for the best. At least now the shocking reveal was out of the way.
"Just watch out, I hear spiders eat their young," Tony continued, the devious smile apparent in his voice.
Exasperated sighs fell from the two master assassins lips but it was the Captain who spoke up.
"Tony," he warned, "leave it."
"Can I babysit the little hawkspider when you guys go away on super secret missions?"
"Tony, Enough!" Captain America commanded. "Focus on the mission."
Natasha shot Cap a grateful look before taking her seat beside Clint. She liked Steve; he was good in a fight and made for a fairly competent leader. If she ever did need an Avenger for daycare purposes, he'd be the first one she'd call.
Wait, no. She needed to clear her head of all of this baby talk. No distractions, no liabilities. Anything but pure focus could prove deadly for not only her, but Clint and her other teammates. With a deep breath, she pushed the thoughts that have been bombarding her brain for the past half hour away and she settled into her mission state of mind.
"Aye, Aye Cap," Iron Man cracked, "Now let's get this show on the road."
"Now your talking," Clint smirked as the turbines of the jet roared to life. The hover-jet passengers strapped in and everyone set up their com-links.
"Hey Zeus," Tony called to the God of Thunder, "Race ya there."
"Tony..." Steve warned.
"A wager?" Thor grinned.
"Thor...
""First one there gets to pick where we go for lunch," Tony finalized.
"Guys..."
"Then may the quickest claim victory," Thor grinned before shooting up into the sky, swinging Mjolnir like a lasso.
"Hey!" Tony called as his faceplate fell into place, "that's cheating!"Then Iron Man blasted off after the Asgardian due east.
Inside the hover-jet, Captain America sighed and shook his head. "Try to keep up with them, Hawkeye."
"I'll do my best, sir," Clint promised, pressing the final buttons and pushing the steering lever forward. The jet lifted off the heli-pad and darted after the other Avengers.
Oh Tony. That man just cannot stay out of trouble. Poor Cap.
But guess what, it's mission time! I'll try to get the new chapter up as soon as possible.
Let me know what you thought!