In this fic Evelyn is 8, Elijah & Henry are 5, Jacob is 4, Oliver is 10 months old, Alexis is 7 months old, Jane is 8 months pregnant and Natasha is 5 months pregnant
"Hey Tasha, you want some pancakes?" Jane asked as Natasha joined her and Pepper on the communal floor, carrying Alexis on her hip awkwardly around her growing bump.
She placed Alexis in the large play pen with Oliver, who squealed excitedly at the arrival of his cousin.
Natasha pulled a face; "No thanks"
"Still nauseous?" Pepper asked sympathetically, Natasha nodded as she took a seat beside her
"Nat when was the last time you ate?"
"This morning"
"No, three grapes don't count, when did you last eat properly, a proper meal?"
"I don't know, I can't even remember. This pregnancy has just been awful; I can't eat anything, everything makes me sick" she exaggerated, but it probably wasn't actually that far from the truth...
"I've been really lucky, no morning sickness, no nausea, no difficulty sleeping" Jane said in the middle of her second breakfast
"Shut up. I hate you" Natasha told her grumpily, but with a fond smile showing slightly on her tired face
"I just have constant cravings; for dinner yesterday I had a steak, followed by shrimp cocktail then later that night I had pasta and cheese followed by noodles and a load of chips. Then I had three slices of cake... I swear I'm eating for more than two"
"That is weird" Pepper agreed, wondering how the small woman was still so skinny everywhere other than her huge bump
"Yeah, well I'm barely eating enough for one. Sorry Pep I'm going to have to move, even the smell of your coffee is making me feel sick"
"Isn't morning sickness and nausea supposed to disappear after the first trimester?" Jane asked through a mouthful of cereal, as Pepper got up to throw the remainder of her coffee down the sink
"Normally yeah" Pepper answered "Is it worse than when you had the twins? Because twins are suppose to make it worse aren't they?"
"Yeah, it was bad with the twins, but not this bad. This is much much worse"
"You know I read you're more likely to have morning sickness if you're having a girl"
"Oh I'm almost positive it's a girl" Natasha told them, "Clint guessed it'd be a boy" she explained. It was a running joke between everyone in the tower, other than Clint, that he was wrong each and every time.
"You want some juice?" Pepper asked her, while laughing at her explanation
"Juju!" Oliver called from the corner. Tony hadn't been pleased that his sons first word was 'juice'
"Okay baby, one minute. Nat?"
"No thanks, but could you please get me out a bottle for Lexie, there should be some there?"
"Sure. You know Nat, maybe you should go see the doctor?" she said, knowing full well what the response would be
Natasha's head was now rested in her crossed arms on the table top. "I don't need the doctors" she told them, her voice muffled through her clothing
"You know every time you say that you do need the doctors" Bruce told her, exiting the elevator and hearing only the last part of the conversation. He made his way over to the coffee machine and Natasha lifted her head enough to scowl at him before resting it back on the table.
"Last time you said that you had a bullet embedded in your side" Pepper told her
"Do you guys keep a log?" she asked sarcastically
"If we did, it'd be a long one" Pepper told her, passing a bottle of juice to her son and picking up Alexis to give her a bottle
"What do you think Bruce, this much nausea isn't normal is it?" Jane asked while making herself a sandwich
The smell of the meat Jane was piling on the bread was too much for Natasha so she left to go to the bathroom, when she returned a short while later the other three were still talking about her
"Nat do you just feel nauseous or are you actually physically sick a lot?"
"Oh come on Bruce, not you too"
"Tasha, Clint has had concerns for weeks and I just thought he was overreacting, but if you're vomiting a lot then it may indicate hyperemesis; which could require treatment. Your baby will be fine but you could be putting your own health at serious risk"
"I'm not sick all the time"
"Were you sick just now?"
"Maybe"
"Have you eaten today?"
"Yes"
"No" Pepper and Jane both corrected and Natasha glared at them
"Yes I have!"
"Tasha, tell Bruce what you ate this morning"
"He didn't ask what I ate, he asked if I ate, which I did"
"Tasha what'd you eat?" Bruce asked
"Some grapes"
"Three grapes" Jane told him
Natasha sighed, "I don't know why I continue to socialise with you people"
"Because you don't have any other friends" Pepper told her with a smile
"I knew there had to be a reason"
"What about headaches?" Bruce asked, making notes of her answers on a piece of paper
"Bruce, this is all unnecessary. I can cope just fine"
"Jarvis, please can you get Agent Barton on the phone?"
"Now you're overreacting" Natasha told him. She still wasn't keen on Jarvis; her glares and threats didn't work on him like they did the men in the tower
"Bruce?" Clint asked over the phone on loud speaker; he was at shield finishing off some paperwork Fury had threatened to fire him over
"Hey Clint, does Tasha have a lot of headaches recently?"
"Yeah, pretty much constantly"
"And how often is she sick?"
"A few times a day. Why?"
"No reason. Thanks Clint" Bruce looked at Natasha thoughtfully, she just rolled her eyes
"I totally forgot how stubborn you are when you're pregnant" Jane told her
"When she's pregnant?" Pepper asked, "She's stubborn all the time!"
Natasha was getting fed up now
"Okay, give me back my daughter" she said, intending to go back to her own floor and have a lie down before she went to get the kids from school
"Tasha, can you even feed her without the smell of baby food making you sick?"
"I've coped for the last few weeks" she told them, it'd really made her feel ill when they'd introduced food into Alexis' diet a few weeks previously.
"How about I feed her for you and you let Bruce check you over?" Pepper offered hopefully
"Just let me check your blood pressure and do a few tests?" Bruce asked. He had genuine concerns over his friend's health.
Natasha reluctantly agreed, but only if Bruce brought the few pieces of medical equipment he needed up to this floor. Not that she'd admit it to the others but going up and down in the elevators made her dizzy, so she avoiding moving floors too often. In all honesty, as much as Natasha hated medical tests; she'd be slightly relieved to get this checked out, she'd never felt so ill for so long before and having been pregnant several times before; she knew this wasn't normal.
"Tasha your blood pressure is crazy low; its 78/45 and your pulse is through the roof, I don't even know how you can physically stand up. I'm going to go run your blood tests but I'm fairly certain I have your diagnosis"
"Why didn't you get seen sooner?" Pepper asked her friend, offering her a glass of water
"I get on with things. I cope, that's just how I was taught"
"You know you don't need to do that anymore right?"
"I know, I guess old habits die hard... Oh shit is that the time? I've got to get the kids from school!" Natasha stood a little too fast, going light headed she stumbled and ended up sat back down
"I'll go get them" Jane told her, placing a hand on Natasha's shoulder to prevent her from standing again
"But-"
"No Tasha, its fine. Stay here. And eat something!" she told the other woman as she made her way to the elevator
Bruce returned, looking at the information on a printout in his hand "Tasha, do you know what you weighed before you were pregnant?"
"Which time?" Pepper asked receiving a glare from both Natasha and Bruce
"I dunno, about 110?"
"You now weigh 93lbs; that's a huge weight loss! Especially when you should be gaining weight"
Pepper gawked at her slightly
"You really need some bed rest and IV fluids, I've got you some metoclopramide which I'm hoping will help with the nausea, but Tash we really need to get some food down you, you lose any more weight and you'll need to go into hospital urgently"
Natasha nodded silently; she'd know she was ill, she hadn't realised she was that ill.
Pepper went with Natasha down to her floor of the tower and put Lexie and Oliver down for a nap together. Bruce arrived shortly later to administer the IV fluids and medication, he left her with a list of recommendations and asked that Pepper stay with her until Clint got home. Natasha would have hated being treated like this, but she was just so damn tired she didn't really notice.
Three weeks later Natasha was feeling better, she still felt nauseous but she was improving and slowly gaining weight again. Clint was so grateful to Pepper, Jane and Bruce for getting through Natasha's stubbornness, and Natasha decided that this was definitely... most probably... possibly the last time she would go through pregnancy.