This chapter makes references to an incident that happened in my fic 'A Couple of Master Assassins' which is sort of a prelude to this fic
"How on earth are we going to baby-proof the entire tower?" Pepper asked, she was still in a slight state of disbelief; Natasha Romanoff didn't exactly seem overly-maternal; and assassins as parents, how was that going to work?! But overall she was happy for them; she was fond of the Avengers, but she was especially close with Natasha, over time she had become one of her best friends and Pepper saw how much Clint cared for Natasha; she knew they'd be happy together.
"It's not going to be that hard is it?" Steve asked naively
"There are 70 floors of weapons, laboratory equipment, robots and who know what other potentially hazardous things, not to mention all the usual things you have to baby-proof for!" Pepper commented, mentally making a list of all the things they'd have to do before the baby was born
"Oh. How far along is she? Maybe we should start now? We might just have finished by the time she is due" Jane commented, offering to lend a hand
"She's 17 weeks" Tony informed them, remember the analysis JARVIS had done earlier; he suddenly started counting on his fingers
"Tony, what you doing?" Bruce asked
"Oh my God!" he exclaimed. Now everyone was looking at him like he was mad
"Oh my God!" he repeated. "Pepper, when we locked them in the closet! That's when... We can totally take credit for this!"
"Tony, I think Nat and Clint get to take credit for the baby" Bruce told him
"Well yeah, they did the hard work... But only because we locked them in there together! I'm totally gonna be godfather!" Tony jumped up and ran off, returning a minute later with some paper and a pencil, sketching out plans for a new floor layout for the assassins, nursery included.
"I don't know who's more excited; Nat and Clint, or Tony!" Darcy whispered to Pepper
Pepper smiled, looking around at the excited chatter of everyone; they were all thrilled a baby would be joining the mix.
"A baby will make a fine addition to the tower" Thor told them, the grin had never left his face since he's learnt of the news. He went to get himself a drink and the others all heard several loud bangs as he dropped everything;
"You might be able to baby-proof the tower in time for Baby Barton's arrival, but can you baby-proof Thor?" Tony asked laughing, realisation dawned on Pepper and she sighed as they hear Thor shouting his apologies for the breakages
"I wonder how they went on with Fury?" Steve wondered
"You mean you wonder if they're still alive?" Tony asked, adjusting his blueprints slightly
"I was thinking more in the line of if they're still employed"
"What do you think they'll do about the Avengers?" Bruce asked; everyone shrugged. They wouldn't blame the assassins for stepping down from their duties, but they wouldn't feel all too comfortable out in the field without them. Both Natasha and Clint had proved themselves as invaluable members of the team, they'd saved the lives of their teammates countless times and quickly silenced anyone with concerns that 'humans' shouldn't be allowed on the team of superheroes.
"I still can't believe it! I did so not see that coming!" Darcy said, the three women had separated off from the men to have their own discussion
"Me either, there is no way in hell I would have guessed that!" Jane agreed
"I think it's sweet really; Clint and Natasha deserve a little normal in their lives..."
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After informing Fury of Natasha's pregnancy, they decided to test their luck and inform Hill and Coulson too; once they knew, they'd have told everyone they needed to; anyone else could find out by word of mouth.
They told Hill first who burst out laughing; it took her nearly 20 minutes to be convinced they were telling the truth and this wasn't one of Clint's tasteless April Fools pranks. When she finally accepted the news, she suddenly became overly concerned; she made Natasha sit down and hastily got her a drink, completely ignoring Clint. Maria had a hundred questions she wanted answers to.
"What am I invisible?" Clint asked her a few minutes later after Natasha had answered a sting of queries
"Sorry Clint" she said halfheartedly, before turning all her attention back to Natasha. The red head laughed as Clint pulled faces behind Maria's back. Eventually they managed to excuse themselves in order to go and tell Coulson, leaving Hill behind still with a list of unanswered questions
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Coulson was in a conference room with several other senior agents when they found him, he looked like he would be a while so Clint decided to speed things up for him.
Walking into the room, Natasha stood in the doorway as Clint made his way over to Coulson; he whispered two words into Coulson's ear which caused him to choke on the water he was drinking. His eyes went wide and the colour disappeared from his face. Coulson kicked the other agents out immediately and locked the door behind them
"Your serious?" he asked Clint once the room was clear
Clint nodded happily as Coulson spun round to gaze at Natasha
"No! Are you sure?"
Why was it no one believed them?!
Natasha nodded now, he red curls falling forward to frame her face
Phil's jaw went slightly slack as he struggled for words.
Coulson was important to both agents; he was the only one to believe in Clint's decision when he'd brought Natasha in rather than terminating her. He'd fought for Natasha in the early days and agreed to take her on and act as her handler when no one else would; they both trusted him, something that was not common, and they both valued his opinion. He was almost like a father to Natasha, an older brother figure to Clint; he had their backs and supported their relationship. It was important to them what he thought.
"You- you're happy?" he stuttered out, aiming the question at Natasha
She nodded again, smiling
The smile seemed to be contagious as a grin grew on Phil's face; Coulson hugged her and turned to hug Clint too. "Congratulations!" he told them both proudly. It'd take him some time to come to terms with the news, but he was happy for them. In fact; he was thrilled.
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When Natasha and Clint got back to the tower, they found their ultrasound scan image stuck to the fridge on the communal floor, they weren't sure who'd displayed it there, but it made them smile nonetheless.
