In this chapter; Evie is nine, Elijah and Henry are six, Alexis is nine months old and Natasha is seven months pregnant

Natasha clutched at her swollen abdomen as the baby kicked forcefully at her ribs.
She could hear Alexis wailing from the other room, Evie and Henry arguing in the kitchen, and Elijah shouting her from his room. Clint was away on an urgent mission for SHIELD; leaving a heavily pregnant Natasha to take of their four children; one of whom was teething, and one who was home from school ill.

She heard a loud crash and shattering of glass from the kitchen, and Elijah shouting that he'd just been sick. She felt the baby give another enormous kick to her ribs, so painfully that she had to sit down for a moment. Evie ran in at that moment, jam in her hair, complaining about the bad table manners of her younger brother.

Henry appeared at her side;

"Mom it's not fair, I don't want to go to school! Elijah gets to stay home!"

"Henry, I'm not having this discussion again. Elijah is ill, now go get dressed please!"

Natasha forced herself to her feet, with some difficulty, and started clearing up Evie's hair.

"MOM!" Elijah yelled.

Alexis was still crying in her crib, the poor girl was teething and had kept Natasha up most of the night.
There and then, just as the baby aimed another agonising kick which made her wince in pain, Natasha decided she was never having sex with Clint Barton ever again!

Evie seemingly took pity on her mother and went to pick up Alexis, giving her some Tylenol, and settling her into her chair. Natasha smiled gratefully at her eldest child; sometimes Evie seemed so much older than her mere nine years.

Now Alexis was settled, and Henry was getting ready for school, even if he was stalling somewhat, she turned her attention to Elijah.
Stoking his sweaty hair from his face, Natasha placed a damp cloth on his forehead. He had been running a temperature all yesterday and the vomiting had started in the night. She silently cursed Clint for being away while two of their kids were having restless nights. Natasha herself was exhausted on the best of days; being almost eight months pregnant with an extremely active baby wasn't doing her any favours in the sleep department.

There was a knock at the door which Henry ran to answer, wearing nothing but his underpants and mismatched socks.

"Hi Uncle Steve!"

"Hey Buddy! Why aren't you dressed yet?"

"I don't want to go to school today" he said sadly

"And whys that?"

"Elijah is staying home"

"But Henry, Elijah is ill. Wouldn't you rather be at school with your friends than in bed ill?"

"Yeah I guess"

"And it's Tuesday! You have sports on Tuesdays, that's still your favourite right?"

"Yeah"

"So go get dressed quick!"

Henry turned to run back to his room with a renewed excitement.
Natasha mouthed a grateful 'thank you' from the door of Elijah's room as she closed the door, her ill son now asleep after having some Tylenol of his own.
Steve walked over to her, concern plastered all over his face as he took in her exhausted appearance.
He took her in his arms, hugging her comfortingly and placing a gentle kiss on her head.

"Would you like me to take Evie and Henry to school?"

"You wouldn't mind?"

"Not at all. You look dead on your feet Nat, get some rest"

"Yeah like that's going to happen..." and at that moment Alexis burst into tears once more.
Steve offered an apologetic smile at her as Henry reappeared in the room.
Natasha kissed Evie and Henry goodbye, and thanked Steve again as he left to take them to school.

She rocked Alexis back and forth, which was made extremely difficult by her swollen abdomen. Again she found herself cursing Clint. She loved her children more than anything in the world, more than she ever thought she could love anyone. But this was not the life she envisioned herself with; Clint was great with the kids, especially the boys, but when he was away on missions Natasha felt somewhat alone. Occasionally, she too went on missions, leaving Clint alone with the kids, but it had been so long; between being pregnant with Alexis, her maternity leave, and falling almost instantly pregnant again (damn Clint!) she'd only been on one or two minor missions, it felt like such a long time since she'd been on a proper mission and she missed it.

Her morning was spent split between soothing Alexis and comforting Elijah. By 12.30 when the school called to say that Henry was now ill too she was ready to give up. She needed to pick him up, but she couldn't leave Elijah and Alexis alone, and she really didn't fancy dragging them both out of bed and all the way to the school. Tony was in his labs, Natasha hated to interrupt his work, and everyone else was out.

Tony ventured up to Clint and Natasha's floor after Steve expressed his concerns about her over breakfast on returning from the school run. He'd left her alone for the better part of the morning hoping she'd manage to get some rest but thought it was about time to check she and the kids were okay. He entered silently and found her sat cross legged on the floor, head in her hands, looking absolutely defeated.

"What's up Widow?"

"I'm fairly certain I haven't slept since before Alexis was born"

"Ah. You know there's a simple solution here; stop sleeping with Barton!"

"Trust me, i will! But that doesn't help me in the meantime"

"Can I help?"

Natasha looked up at him from her position on the floor, somewhat in surprise. Tony loved the kids, but normally settled being the uncle who played with them, gave them too much spending money and let them stay up late if they promised not to tell their parents, he wasn't the one who normally involved himself in the more 'trivial' aspects of parenting.
He seemed to read the surprise in her face and wore an expression of mock hurt. She laughed and held out her hands so he could help her to her feet.

It was decided Tony would go and get Henry while Natasha resettled Alexis and Elijah, Tony would then stay in the apartment so Natasha could get some sleep before Tony went to collect Evie at 4.30 after her ballet lesson.

"Nat, before I go, can I ask you something?"

"What is it Tony?"

"If I hadn't have come up here, how were you planning on getting off the floor?"

He smiled his mischievous grin at her before darting from the room, narrowly avoiding the pillow Natasha had flung at his head.
She laughed to herself quietly thinking of Tony Stark; when Evie had first been born he'd avoided holding her for weeks, content just to pull faces at her and have her grip his finger while other people cradled and rocked her. He'd admitted later that he'd been scared, but now nine years later he was a fantastic uncle to their kids and she honestly didn't know what her and Clint would do without him, and the other members of their team.