The rest of the year should have been peaceful, boring even. They had defeated an alien army in May after all, why shouldn't they have the rest of the year off?
And for a time, Nate honestly believed that they would have a peaceful year. She had been happy, her relationship with Steve was growing wonderfully—he no longer slept in the spare room—and she had become friends with Thor's Jane and her friend Darcy—whose blunt nature clashed wonderfully with her own.
There was a hiccup in August with the Melter that Tony and Rhodey was able to defeat together when she and Steve were off on a S.H.I.E.L.D mission, and didn't hear about it until they got back.
But it seemed to be a small thing and nothing to ruin the rest of their peaceful year.
December was when they were getting ready to spend their first Christmas as a team and strange family—Nate had invited Jane, Darcy and Erik to join them—and they would all be spending at the newly dubbed Avengers Tower that Tony insisted everyone moved in to—Nanny was overwhelmed with happiness at the thought looking after more people.
There was a festive feel to the air, a happy content feeling deep in her chest, and then it went wrong. The Mandarin happened.
On the 19th Happy was caught in an explosion—the attack was claimed by the Mandarin—and on the 20th Tony threatened him on TV.
"Taunting terrorists into attacking is an idiotic move Tony." Nate chided Tony as she swung her legs as she watched Tony.
"They attacked Happy." Tony shot back with a scowl.
Nate watched Tony with concern. He wasn't coping, Nate could tell from one glance. He wasn't over New York, Pepper was most likely the only thing that kept him from cracking. Nate had Steve and they talked about New York, they had gotten over it really together. But Tony had died for a brief moment, her brother had been dead and that had changed him, hurt him in a way that fighting that war hadn't.
Tony was a civilian, a civilian that had never fought in a war before. Nate had experience in the field, S.H.I.E.L.D made sure that she had field-missions and had gotten thrown into combat situations like mini-wars. Tony hadn't had that experience as he didn't work with S.H.I.E.L.D like she had, he didn't work for them like she had so they didn't put in as much effort in training him as they did for her.
"I doubt they knew he was there." Nate reasoned.
"Shouldn't you be with Steve?" Tony asked. "Buying cutesy Christmas gifts?"
Nate scowled as Tony scanned through all the information Jarvis had compiled for them, she sighed when the doorbell rang.
Watching Pepper and Tony argue with Maya piping up every now and again was interesting, getting a missile shot at her childhood home wasn't.
Valkyrie's suit came to her aid as she protected Maya while Pepper protected Tony in one of his Ironman suits. She let Pepper protect Maya while she covered Tony and shot at the bastards shooting at their home.
When Tony went down in the sea, she followed him and helped him get out of the rubble.
"Go to Steve!" Tony ordered through Jarvis.
He had just promised Steve that morning over the phone when Nattie showed up that he would keep her save and make sure she could come home. Steve hadn't been impressed or amused of Tony's little threat, and hadn't been pleased that Nattie had decided to go to the house that Tony had told the world the address of when she could be attacked because of Tony.
"What? No!" Nate protested as she pulled him out and they began leaving the sea.
"Jarvis." Tony ordered and the A.I knew what he wanted because the next second Valkyrie was shooting off out of the sea and hopefully towards Steve while Tony headed somewhere.
"TONY!" Nate screamed in worry, anger and fear as she couldn't get the control of her suit back.
"Miss Nattie is incoming." Jarvis informed the team before Valkyrie landed heavily on the landing pad on the Tower.
Steve looked up from the couch confused, Nate was meant to be Malibu with Tony so she tell him off for threating terrorists before dragging him back to the Tower to celebrate Christmas like they had said they would.
He watched with growing concern as the suit was pulled off her and locked away under the pad and Nate fell to her knees with a pale face and tears running down them.
"Nate!" He shouted as he made his way out to her. "What happened?"
"Tony." She choked out as she fell into Steve's strong arms. "We were attacked."
"Natasha! Clint! Bruce!" Steve shouted as he lifted Nate up.
Jarvis kept Valkyrie on lock down and Tony was presumed dead.
Christmas Eve found the rest of the team in the living room of the penthouse on the top of the Tower—they had all found the rooms that Tony had made for them (Nate hadn't been amused with the cell-like room that had Steve's name on it and had informed him bluntly that they would be staying together in the same room) long ago—and each of them were waiting for news.
None could believe Tony was dead and Nate didn't know where Pepper had gone off too.
Bruce had taken to pacing behind the couch where Nate sat curled up with Steve with Howie on her lap—she hadn't moved since Steve picked her up and carried her inside. Clint had climbed into the vents above them—blue eyes peered down when Nanny came around with drinks and snacks and that was really the only time he left the vent—and Tasha was cleaning all her guns and placing them on the coffee table.
The Christmas tree decorated with the decorations of her childhood seemed to mock Nate, who buried herself further into Steve, as they reminded her of Tony and how he had never missed a Christmas with her.
Christmas day brought the news Tony was alive, of the Battle on the Norco, the kidnapping and recuse of the President by the Iron Patriot, the destruction of Tony's Iron Legion, Pepper being infected by Extremis and how they were coming back.
It was early Boxing Day morning—dawn hadn't even broken—when Tony and Pepper entered the Tower where everyone was there to greet them.
Tony and Bruce quickly holed themselves up in the lab as they worked to stabilize Pepper's Extremis.
By the 27th her Extremis had been stabilized and Tony went under surgery to remove the shrapnel embedded near his heart with the help of Extremis.
"You're an idiot." Tasha declared as she entered Tony's hospital room with the others behind her.
Tony flashed her a cocky grin before searching for familiar dark eyes. He found them and the special girl that owned them in the arms of Steve—he scowled darkly at the tall blond, but not as darkly as he had once before—and opened his arms wide for his Nattie.
She didn't hesitate as she pulled away from Steve and strode swiftly to her brother and hugged him tightly. Tony was after all the most important man in her life—no matter what Rodgers thought.
"You're a bastard." She whispered harshly and chokingly into his ear making him hum in agreement. "I told you that I would always have your back."
"I had to do this, Nattie." He told her simply before dragging her on to the bed, smiling as she placed her head automatically in the middle of his chest—the Extremis had already healed his chest and everything. "I had to keep you and Pepper safe."
It was strange yet familiar for Nate to be able to rest her head on his chest without feeling the reactor under her ear and cheek and the blue glow glaring into her eyes—it reminded her of when she was little.
Tony smiled at Pepper as she tearfully held his hand and smiled back while his team—friends—found places to settle themselves in the room.
They ended up celebrating Christmas on the 29th, passing gifts out in the middle of the living room in the Tower—tree still standing proud.
Steve and Nate had decided to make the gifts they gave the others. Tony and Pepper got portraits of the couple—with and without the reactors glow on Tony's painted chest—while Tasha got a clay figurine of a spider that Nate made and that Steve had painted so it looked like a black widow which had made Tasha smirk. Clint had been given a little archer figurine and a painting that Nate had done that showed him putting an arrow in Loki's eye—it was macabre painting that Clint loved and swore to put up in his room—while Steve gave Bruce a drawing of Nate sitting happily on the Hulk's shoulder and Nate gave him a drawing of him focused in the lab—the best of both of his sides.
Tony gave Bruce a Hulk T-shirt with a gleeful childish smile which made Bruce sigh and put it on when Tony childishly poked at him to put it on. He gave Pepper Ironman lingerie that made Clint whistle, Tasha and Nate smacked a smirking Tony, Steve and Pepper blushed and Bruce smile in amusement. He gave Clint a new set of arrows that would come back to his sheath, and Tasha got a new gun specially designed for her. Nate got a Captain America hoodie while Steve got a Valkyrie t-shirt from Tony.
Tasha and Clint just gave everyone cards with thirty dollars in them to get whatever they wanted which Tony declared was just them copping out on thinking about giving them real presents.
Pepper got watches for all the men and bracelets for both Nate and Tasha—they were charm bracelets with the symbols of all the Avengers dangling from them.
Bruce gave them very tradition Christmas jumpers as he didn't know what to get them and that was the first thing that came to mind. They were warm and comfortable, and Nate and Steve put theirs on right away.
Nate gave Steve a sketchbook—it was full of drawings, hand-written stories, old photographs and documents. There was the wedding picture of his parents, the photograph was kept on the page with a paperclip while there was a full sketch on the page, the wedding certificate that they had signed, sketches of both his mother and father, sketches of him both before serum and after, Bucky, Howard and Peggy, the Howling Commandos, old photographs of them all, sketches and coloured photos of the places they had visited together, of them curled up together on the couch during one of their movie-nights, of the team and little stories throughout it about parts of his life—mostly stories from his time with the Howling Commandos though some from his time with the Avengers. It was a book filled with his life, his whole life with all his most important people in it.
Steve looked up at her anxious face as she watched him closely, his throat tight and his eyes shiny, before he pulled her into a deep kiss. It was the best gift he had ever been given, and as Steve kissed her, he was certain that Nate was the one and he would never love anyone like he loved her.
In return Steve gave her a long-chained locket that held photos of her and Tony, of her and Steve, of her and the rest of the team. She immediately slipped the silver locket over her head and let it rest over her heart.
Nanny made them a pizza for dinner that they shared as they watched Christmas movies.
It was a late-Christmas that was as odd as them—so it was perfect for the new and strange family they had become.