(In this chapter; Evie is seven, Elijah, Henry & Jacob are four, Oliver is one week old and Natasha is eight months pregnant)
Clint and Natasha had a rare day off and took the kids to the park.
Clint spent most of the morning running around with the boys, while Natasha watched on fondly as her and Evie strolled by the stream; Evie informing her mother of exactly what she'd like for her birthday next month.
Natasha looked up to see a woman approaching her husband, who had sat down for a break while the boys had run off to the play on the climbing area.
"Mom, who's that talking to Dad?"
"I don't know Лингпаука" she shrugged off; they were approached fairly often while they were out and about, a side effect of being in the public eye.
Natasha approached them slowly as Evie ran over to the swings to play with her brothers.
"Do you remember me?"
Clint looked the woman over, she was tall and slim, had long dark hair and looked just a tad older than Natasha, she was vaguely familiar... But he wasn't sure why...
"Becky Lisborn..." she prompted
"Oh. Becky!" he smiled nervously as Natasha joined them, slipping her hand into Clints. Natasha smiled at her, Becky took a moment to look at Natasha, taking in her heavily pregnant appearance and glancing at the three children playing behind them, but Becky pretty much chose to ignore her.
"Becky this is my wife, Natasha. Tasha, this is Becky... What brings you to New York Becky? Last time I saw you, you were living in Texas"
"Well actually, we came to New York because I was hoping to run into you..."
"You were? Why?"
"Clint Barton, do you want to meet your daughter?"
"Wha-"... "That's not-"... "You're-"... Clint faltered for words
Becky continued the conversation; "Her name is Melina, she's 13 and she's been asking a lot of questions about her father. I think it's time she got some answers"
Clint glanced at Natasha, still unable to form a sentence. Her expression was calm and she squeezed his hand in support.
"Would you meet us for coffee tomorrow Clint?" Becky asked
Clint stuttered but agreed
"Great, me and Melina will meet you at 1. See you then" and with that, she turned and walked off. Leaving a very shaken Clint to try and figure out how the hell this had happened.
They took the kids back to the tower and left them playing on the wii, giving Natasha and Clint chance to talk things over.
He passed Natasha a mug of decaf while he poured himself a large serving of vodka, gulping it in one and pouring himself another
"Clint?"
"I'm sorry Tasha, I'm so sorry. Me and Becky... I met her when I was undercover at NASA, it was before me and you..."
"I know, I know" she said sadly, she knew he'd been with other women before her. They'd both had previous partners, but this was something she hadn't been expecting...
"Clint, are you sure-"
"I don't know what to think Tasha, it was just a one night thing before I got pulled off the mission, that's when they sent me to Budapest, to find you"
"Clint, you're a fantastic dad to our kids, and if Melina is yours then I think she deserves you to be a dad to her too..."
"But I should check first right, that's what you're saying?"
"Yes"
"That means I have to tell Bruce, he can do the test..."
Natasha nodded silently. They news was hitting her harder than it should. She could blame the hormones, but she knew it was more likely to be the thought that Clint had a child that wasn't with her that was making her feel sick. She excused herself to lie down while Clint went to speak to Bruce.
"Bruce, can I ask you a favour?"
"You want a babysitter?"
"No"
"Okay then... What is it?"
"Do you have the equipment to run a DNA test?"
"Wow Barton, does Natasha know you're practically accusing her of cheating?" Tony said, entering the lab without knocking. Clint sighed, great; now Tony knew too.
"This isn't about Tasha" Clint said, somewhat agitated that he couldn't have had this conversation in private
"Old girlfriend come out of the woodwork?"
"Something like that"
Both men stared at Clint; it was pretty big news
"Well?" He prompted
"Yeah we can do the test, we just need a DNA sample from your- from the kid"
Tony handed Clint a swab and explained to him what was needed before leaving the lab again
"Hey Clint, how's Tasha?"
"She's- she's coping"
Clint decided he needed to know sooner rather than later, he couldn't wait until tomorrow to find out...
He dug out Becky's business card she'd given him before leaving the park and rang to arrange a meeting. She was less than pleased that Clint had questioned the paternity but agreed nonetheless.
He watched from a distance as Becky took the DNA sample, and thanked her as she handed it back and stormed off, leaving Clint just a moment to glimpse Melina from a distance; she was slim and tall like her mom, had brown shoulder length hair and a cheeky smile. Clint felt torn; he didn't want to be the father, but he did want the little girl to feel loved and wanted, if he wasn't the father he hoped someone who deserved he was. He'd been preparing to become a father again; Natasha was eight months pregnant, but he hadn't been preparing himself to be that father of a teenage girl anytime soon.
There was a gentle knock at the door
"Hello?" Natasha called from where she was lay on the bed
Pepper opened the door and handed her another cup of coffee and a blueberry muffin
"You okay Nat?"
"Did Clint tell you?"
"No, Tony"
"Tony knows?"
"'Farid so"
"I just, I don't know how to feel Pepper..."
Natasha felt guilty, this should be about Clint. Not to mention the fact that Pepper had only come home from the hospital that week; Oliver was less than a week old, and here she was looking after her.
"It's understandable Nat, it's going to be a big adjustment"
"Yeah, if it comes to that..."
"You don't think she's his?"
"I'm not sure, something makes me think not"
"Tasha..."
"No I know Pepper, I know there's every possibility and I shouldn't convince myself either way... There's just something about that woman that bothers me..."
Pepper grabbed Natasha's hand, hoping her friend wasn't getting her hopes up, but nodded at her encouragingly before leaving her to get some rest; being just two weeks from her due date left Natasha easily tired and the bombshell which had just been dropped definitely wasn't helping.
Clint walked back into the lab to find everyone (other than Pepper and the kids) waiting for him. Apparently Tony had told everyone, and then went to drag Natasha down to the lab to await the result.
Tony seemed almost certain it would be positive; "You have a knack of knocking women up the first time you sleep with them"
"That wasn't the first time me and Tasha had slept together Tony" Clint corrected him
"You broke up for four years, it was a new relationship; it counts as a first"
"Whatever Tony" Clint sighed, he was too emotionally drained to argue
Bruce ran the test and handed the results straight over to Clint and waited for him to read it
Clint scanned over the printout and froze. Everyone was staring at him, waiting. In the end Tony got bored of waiting and snatched the results from him;
"I knew it! It's... Wait... It's negative?"
Clint smiled at Natasha, he felt overwhelmingly relieved.
"Well that was an interesting day" Clint said, settling back onto the couch beside Natasha after putting the kids to bed
"Clint"
"What is it Tasha?"
"Don't dare do that to me again" she warned him, before getting up and walking to the bedroom, leaving him sat alone on the couch.