The Avengers had had a hectic week. Not because the world had nearly come to an end- they could deal with that- but because of a series of everyday events that normal people took in their stride. First, Thor had arrived in his usual loud way. He clapped all the men on the shoulder and caught Tony off guard, sending him flying into the window where he promptly fell unconscious. With her well-known gentle touch Natasha slapped him across the face to relieve him and Tony didn't have the guts to question her methods.
The next day Pepper had gone into labour early and after a tense 24 hours the team welcomed a beautiful tiny redheaded girl into the world. "Ha!" Tony said, gesturing proudly at the child in his arms to Clint. "I got a redhead."
"Tony!" Pepper exclaimed from the bed.
"On your second attempt." Clint muttered, as Max was a carbon copy of Tony, only to be smacked over the head by his wife. "What? Our second child could have been a redhead. "He defended. The children were talking to baby Emily as she blinked at them from Steve's arms and were unaware of the debate their father's were having.
"Well, we'll never know so just drop it." Natasha said through gritted teeth.
"We could find out if I took Clint's blood sample." Tony wasn't giving up that easily.
"Tony..." Bruce could see just how close the two women were from committing murder and really wanted to avoid having to explain it to Fury.
"Fine." Tony said, taking Emily from Thor who was explaining to her the feast she would get on Asgard. "If you don't mind I'd like to be alone with my son and my beautiful redhead girls."
The Avengers filed out and Clint complained. "You let him win, Tasha."
Natasha sighed. Their four-year-old was more mature. "I'm sure if we could have another child their hair would be a brighter red than Emily's." Clint gave a smug smile, pleased with that thought.
By Saturday, Philippa's fifth birthday, the adults wanted nothing more than a quiet day in the tower but Pip was extremely excited and had woken at six with Max to bounce around the children's floor until the adults were up. Thor soon joined them and an intense game of remote controlled car racing ensued. Not understanding the technology Thor threatened to smash the car to pieces until Pip quickly stepped in and suggested a good old-fashioned game of children vs. god. Despite their age Pip and Max were extremely talented in martial arts, courtesy of the assassins so even without Pip's knives and bow they gave Thor a good fight.
By ten the rest of the tower was awake and Steve came down to announce that pancakes were ready. Thor was more excited that the children and raced past them to the elevator. "They will make fine warriors when they are grown." Thor told Steve not so quietly. "Already I could not fight them both fully-armed." Steve chuckled. They certainly would. Philippa had a combination of her parents skills and would probably grow to be more deadly than either and Max was already so
showing his father genius but without the reliability on a suit to protect him. He could only guess the skills baby Emily would possess.
After an insane amount of Bruce's pancakes had been demolished (mainly by Thor) Tony declared it was time for presents. From Steve Pip got a bound book of beautifully detailed sketches of the whole Avengers family. There was a portrait of each of them doing everyday things. Her mum reading with a frown on her face, her dad cooking and making a mess, Bruce tinkering with chemicals in the lab, Thor inhaling a pizza, Tony looking somewhat surprised with his face blackened by an explosion, Pepper painting her nails with her tongue out, Max hanging upside down on the uneven bars, Pip staring up from underwater in the pool and Steve, drawn in a different hand, amazed by an ipad. After that came group pictures. Natasha, Thor and Bruce playing cards, Pip and Max doing a jigsaw, Clint and Tony fixing a car and lastly, Pepper holding a sleeping Emily. Philippa handed the book to Max and got up to hug Steve, "thank you Uncle Steve."
Next was Thor who gave her an enchanted crystal from Asgard. It pulsed with different colours of light when squeezed and floated in midair. And if you sang to it while pinching it with two fingers it would repeat back to you when shaken. Pip made a mental note to get her mum to sing to it that night, preferably in Russian. Pip hugged Thor too, or as much of him as she could with her short arms. "Thank you Uncle Thor. It's so cool!"
Then Pepper handed Philippa a small blue box from her and Max. Inside was a silver necklace on a thin chain. The pendant was a tiny silver Avengers symbol. "Does this mean I'm an Avenger now?" Pip excitedly asked the adults. "At the minute, an honorary member." Clint told her as Steve clipped the necklace round her neck. "But you were awesome in Ohio so you can join in some of the time. The bad guys won't know what hit them." The adults had had this discussion about a month previously and had come to the conclusion that Philippa could tag along on the smaller missions. Normally the ones that didn't include a firefight- helping civilians off a collapsing bridge and things like that. She would also help the other children to be brave, not being a scary adult dressed up for war.
After thanking Pepper Pip turned to the small, shiny wrapped bundle on the table. It was her present from Tony and Bruce. "That's a very small present from Tony." Natasha murmured to Clint in Albanian so not even their daughter could understand. So far Pip knew English, Russian, Spanish, French and Mandarin but Natasha was determined to teach her more so her cover could never be blown. Clint made a noise of agreement and pulled the blue paint from her hair. They had only had the morning to complete their present for Pip and even after a hasty shower they were still finding paint splodges on each other.
Pip tore off the wrapping paper and frantically began jumping up and down. "Мама! Папа! Это костюм, это костюм! I have a superhero suit! ¡Me encanta! 我喜歡它! I love it! J'adore ça! Я люблю его! " In her excitement she started to switch languages but the rest of the team got the general consensus.
"No." Natasha whispered in Albanian, tensing in Clint's arms while still holding the happy grin on her face. "You told him?!"
"I didn't!" Clint replied in the same manner "Sneak must have overheard." And sure enough, Stark was sending them a very proud grin over the five-year-old's head. You're lucky I love her. Natasha managed to mouth before he and Bruce was bowled over by the hyper young girl. After hugging them to near death she asked "Why isn't it black?"
"Well you see.." Tony began. " After your wonderful mission in Ohio your dad commented that you were very similar to the Blue Poison Dart frogs your parents saw in Suriname. They look very cute and harmless but they give out a poison stronger that the Black Widow spider and all you have to do to get poisoned is touch them. The suit is like the frog."
Pip stared at the suit in awe before getting up and dragging her mother to the elevator. "." Come on! I want to put it on. Natasha sent Tony a glare over her shoulder before following her daughter out the room.
"I think it's great Tony but Tasha's going to kill you." Clint said once the doors were closed. "But no poison arrows until she's ten." Tony reluctantly agreed -he had been looking forward to that.
A short time later the Barton women returned, both wearing their suits. Clint gave a low whistle and Natasha silently pulled out a knife, giving him a pointed glare. Just because it was their daughter's birthday didn't mean she was above violence. He was lucky she didn't have her guns. Tony saw this warning and started to laugh until Natasha turned her head to look at him. He had a horrible feeling that he was more likely to get hurt than Clint. While that had been happening Pip had dragged Max and Steve to the elevator, intent on going down the gym to try out her present. The rest of the Avengers family followed
Coming out of the elevator on the gym floor Philippa ran into a series of frontflips before grabbing the lower uneven bar, swinging up onto and round the higher to finish crouched, grinning at them. "Can I fight? She asked the slightly surprised adults. "Who do you want to fight, honey?" Clint asked, already sure of her answer. Philippa glanced round the group, thinking hard. Auntie Pepper couldn't fight and she had just had a baby so she was out. Max was too young and inexperienced. Uncle Bruce didn't fight unless he was the other guy and though Hulk recognised Pip as family and wouldn't hurt her, it didn't make for a great fight. Uncle Tony didn't do fighting unless he could blow stuff up and he was far too easy to beat without his Iron Man suit so he was out too. Uncle Thor would just throw her around which was fun but didn't let her try out her new suit properly. That left Uncle Steve and her parents. While all three gave a good fight, one was miles better at the flips and twists of hand to hand combat. "Мама." Pip said, dropping to the ground.
They moved to the sparring mat and started with a few slow kicks and punches but quickly built up to an intricate dance. Soon Natasha was flipping her daughter over her shoulder and Pip was diving between her legs. Then Pip was being swung round her mother's head by her ankles, screaming in excitement. Natasha locked eyes with her husband and at exactly the right second let go, sending Pip flying into her father's waiting arms. She grinned up at him and tucked a knife into his belt. It was the one Natasha had threatened him with earlier- Philippa must have stolen it during the fight. She was better at fighting than she let on to be able to steal from the Black Widow mid-attack.
After Pip had bounced around the gym level with Max for half an hour in a surprising likeness to a frog Jarvis notified them that Pepper, who had left to feed Emily, had made lunch. Pip hurriedly hopped to the elevator, with Max trailing behind her. "You hungry, Froggy?" Tony asked her. Her blue-grey orbs stared up at him. "Ribbit." She replied.
"Is that a yes?" Tony smiled at her.
"God, Tony. Don't you speak Frog? Clint scoffed. Pip giggled from their feet and let off a series of ribbits. "I know." Clint said dramatically. "What kind of person doesn't speak Frog! It's insulting." Finding this hilarious, Pip continued to speak in ribbits for the rest of the day and it eventually became an inside joke.
During lunch Steve lent over and quietly asked Natasha if she and Clint had finished Pip's present. Natasha nodded with a smile. "We'll never get her to sleep tonight." The sandwiches finished she stood and helped Steve clear away the plates. "Pip. Do you want your present from me and dad now?" She said loud enough to be heard over Philippa' and Max's ribbit argument. Philippa froze- she had completely forgotten that she would get a present from her parents "да!" She frantically nodded her head, eyes lighting up. "Come on then, Froglet." Clint said, picking her up and walking to the elevator. "It's in your room." The rest of the team quickly followed, wanting to see the assassins handiwork and Pip's reaction.
Hawkeye lead his five-year-old daughter into her newly painted room with baited breath. He and Nat had started as soon as Pip left that morning and the team had worked to keep her occupied so she wouldn't notice their absence. The redecoration had been inspired by Pip's love of disney princesses, in particular Ariel. Tasha had wanted to encourage this normal girlish behavior since her own childhood had been stolen from her by the Red Room and so they had turned Pip's room into Ariel's cave. The walls were a dark blue and covered in circles of blue shelves for all her stuff. The ceiling they had painted to look like the surface from below and the floor was one massive pale yellow crash mat. This was because the shelves were sturdy enough to be climbed and a pale blue cargo net hung half way up the wall so Pip could float mid-water. The bed was a gigantic purple clam shell and on it rested a life-sized Flounder. The team was impressed by how quickly the assassins had worked.
Pip let out a squeal of excitement and immediately climbed up to the cargo net. "It's Ariel's cave!" She exclaimed as she rolled out of the net and ran to the bed, where she had spotted Flounder. "вам это нравится?" Natasha asked. "да,да,да,да,да!" was the response. "Я никогда не оставлю мою комнату!" Clint laughed at that and the rest of the team turned to him.
"Translation?" Bruce prompted.
"Tasha asked if she liked it and Pip said she would never leave the room." Clint explained. "You should all learn Russian, it would make things easier."
Switching to English so they wouldn't require translation Natasha said, "What about the gym?" Knowing how much Pip loved that floor. "Or the kitchen?"
"I'll spend most of the time in my room." Pip amended before following her father who had started to climb the shelves.
Reaching the roof Clint showed her sunken area in one corner. It was a nest like the ones he had built all around the tower and the shield base. Pip slipped inside with flounder and Max, whom Natasha had brought up. "Thank you Dad. Thank you Mum. This is the best birthday ever."
Wow. I have never written so much in my life before and I still have ideas! I go on holiday on Friday so no internet for two weeks :( but hopefully I can upload another (short) part from Clint and Natasha's point of view about the same day 5 years previous before that.