In this chapter; Evie is three, Elijah and Henry are two months old, and Pepper is five months pregnant

"Romanoff; we really need you on this one"

"Fury I'm still on maternity leave"

Natasha held the phone pressed between her shoulder and ear. One baby in her arms, the other asleep in his crib. Evie was watching Scooby Doo, sat curled up on the couch with Clint (who was flat out, snoring slightly)
Natasha sighed as the baby in the crib woke and started crying. Clint didn't even stir.

"Romanoff; this is a Code 3 mission and we've got no one else"

"Clint, Fury rang earlier"

"Oh yeah?"

"He needs me on a Code 3"

"But you're on maternity leave"

"I know but he's desperate..."

"Do you want to go?"

"No. But I think I need to"

"How long?"

"A week tops"

"Well, then you should go; save the world" he smiled proudly at his wife, kissing her on the cheek. It'd be tough; it would be the first time Natasha had been away since the twins were born, but he was more than confident he could cope for a few days without her.

The five of them walked through the helicarrier; one twin content in each of Natasha's arms while Evie clung to her father's back. Evie hugged her mother tightly as she said goodbye, making her promise that she'd stay safe and be back soon. It was not the first time one of Evie's parents had been away; she missed them terribly when they were gone; but understood, as well as a child could, that her parents had important jobs. Natasha kissed each of the twins, passing them to Coulson for a moment in order to say goodbye to her husband. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. She smiled before reaching up on her tip toes to kiss him goodbye. Before leaving she kissed her daughter once more and boarded the quinjet with Coulson for their flight to Pakistan.

When Clint pulled back into the parking garage at the tower he was faced with a problem. Evie had fallen asleep in the car clutching the pink rabbit she carried around everywhere, how was Clint going to carry three children into the tower at once?
He ended up calling Steve down to take Evie while Clint unclipped the car seats and carried one in each hand clumsily to the elevator.

"What would you have done if I'd have been out?"

"Called Tony"

"What if no one was in?"

"I dunno, waited for Evie to wake?"

"Man, you're out of your depth. When's Nat back?"

"A week"

"Good luck Clint" Steve said, carefully placing Evie on the couch before leaving to return to his workout.

While all three kids were sleeping Clint did some cleaning, answered his SHIELD emails and returned a phone call to Hill. He made dinner ready for when Evie woke and was felling pretty happy with himself.

Two hours later; when Evie had spilled her spaghetti all down her front and all over the floor and was in floods of tears, along with both boys who were wailing, wanting to be fed; Clint was really missing Natasha.

Luckily for Clint, Bruce chose that moment to come check on the four of them.

"You okay?"

"There's so many of them and they're all crying" Clint said frantically, trying to wipe baby sick from his top and spaghetti from his shoe, while reasoning with Evie to stop crying and feed Henry simultaneously. Bruce took pity on his friend, grabbing some clean clothes for Evie and helping her get her dress off without getting spaghetti sauce in her hair. He settled her on her chair with a sandwich before scoping Elijah up and giving him his bottle. Clint finished with Henry and put him down, cleaning the floor and the table before going to change his clothes.

He rejoined Bruce in the lounge to find him watching the Flintstones with Evie;
"You should have never let Nat go" Bruce joked, as Henry started balling again, disturbing Elijah who joined him.

That night Clint was exhausted. He'd given up trying to put Evie in her own bed; every time he did she crept out and curled up on Natasha's side of their bed. He was so tired it took Evie poking him sharply in the cheek to waking him up after he'd slept through the twins crying.

He gave Evie pop tarts (stolen from Thor's floor) for breakfast; something she couldn't spill, and got the boys fed and dressed. The four of them went up to the communal floor where they found Pepper and Steve.

Pepper was now five months pregnant and adored looking after the twins; she knew she was having a little boy and couldn't wait to become a mother.

Evie ran straight over to her godfather, clutching her pink rabbit and a book shouting "Uncle Steve Uncle Steve! Read me a story pleaseee?"

Clint watched as Steve swept up his daughter and span round in circles with her. She giggled and held him tightly before they sat in the arm chair and Steve read her The Cat in the Hat.

"Clint can I hold one of the babies?" Pepper asked, she'd also been watching Steve playing with Evie

"Sure you can"

"Which is which again?"

Clint looked down to his sons, both sat in matching carry seats on the floor, pondering a moment before he realised he wasn't sure. He'd always thought he could tell them apart; but that was because Natasha always dressed them differently. Clint had made the mistake of putting them both in the same outfit.

"Erm..."

"You don't know?"

"I thought I did..."

Pepper's gaze flickered from Clint's worried face, to the two small faces staring up at them both

"Damn it, Tasha's gonna kill me"

Pepper didn't answer, just nodded in agreement and picked one of the twins up.

Natasha rang later that afternoon to see how everything was going. Clint, of course, lied; and told her everything was going well. Evie accidentally let slip to her mom just how badly things were going;
"Mommy, which baby is 'Lijah and which is Henry? Because daddy can't remember"

Natasha wasn't best impressed that Clint hadn't told her himself, but managed to describe to Clint the differences; Henry was slightly bigger and heavier, while Elijah was quieter and tended to sleep better. He stuck nametags on them from then on.

The next day Darcy visited to take her goddaughter to the zoo, she offered to take the twins too but Clint decided it was better to keep them at the tower (still trying desperately to tell them apart without weighing them)

"Hey Pepper, how do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Hold them both"

"You've never held them both?"

"Well yeah, but I can't pick them both up, I need two hands to pick them up and then when I have one I can't get the other..."

Pepper laughed, and spent the next half an hour or so teaching Clint how to pick a baby up with one arm.

Evie ran in from the elevator; "Daddy! Daddy! Look what Aunt Darcy got for me! Can we ring mommy so I can tell her what I did today?"

Clink looked at the mass of teddys, new clothes and toys Darcy had bought from the zoo. She handed over a bad to him with Tshirt's for the twins (one said 'E is Elephant' while the other had 'H is for Hippo' written on it. Clint smiled to himself thinking of the mix up the day before. These would certainly come in handy!)

That evening Natasha rang to tell Clint the mission had been completed early and that she was on her way back home. As much as Clint loved spending time alone with his kids; he couldn't have been more thrilled to see Natasha when she walked through the door.