In this fic Evelyn is 7, Elijah, Henry & Jacob are 4, and Pepper is 4 months pregnant
"Pepper, Pepper can you watch the kids for me? Hill just rang. Clint-"
She froze, she couldn't say the words. The brief phone conversation with Hill had left Natasha feeling sick. Pepper nodded, slightly bewildered after Natasha had burst onto her floor, dragging three kids in tow.
Natasha turned and left after kissing her children goodbye. She promised she'd be home soon and she'd ring Pepper to update her on the situation, what the situation was exactly; Pepper wasn't sure.
Tony arrived back a few minutes later, stumbling over Henry who was sat stubbornly on the floor directly in front of the elevator.
He walked on, choosing not to even ask why the youngest Barton was sat sulking on his floor.
Then Elijah ran straight into him ;
"Sorry Uncle Tony!" he panted, clearly out of breath. Jacob ran up behind him screaming "Got you! Got you! You're it!" and the two of them ran off again
"Pepper, Pepper?" he shouted, watching out for any more children trying to take him down. He rounded the corner to the kitchen to find Evelyn sat on the counter top with a mug of hot chocolate.
"Evelyn, where's Pepper?"
"She's in the bathroom. She doesn't feel very well" she informed him; referring to the morning sickness Pepper had been getting
"Why are you all here? Where's your Mom and Dad?"
Evelyn suddenly looked extremely sad. "I think something went wrong on Daddy's mission. Mommy got called into work"
"Oh. How long has she been gone?"
"10 minutes"
"I'll ring her soon and find out what's going on okay?"
Evie nodded
Tony noticed the three kids very different ways of dealing with waiting for potentially bad news. Henry was sulking in a very Clint-like way, Elijah was trying desperately to distract himself; much like Tony himself did, while Evie waited patiently, mostly in silence and preferring to be alone; the exact same way as Natasha did.
They were brave kids; that's for sure. Tony just wished he could protect them from the dangers of their parents jobs.
When Evie had first been born both Clint and Natasha avoided going on mission at all other than official Avenger business. They became mission strategic officers instead; but during those three months SHIELD had lost more agents than they had in the past five years, more missions were failed, intel lost, villains escaped... It was a disaster and they both reluctantly agreed that they were needed in the field. They rarely took missions together anymore, not wanting to increase the risk of them both never coming home to their child and in time, they both admitted that their children just made them even more determined to return home.
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Natasha went straight up to the medical wing, ignoring Hill's earlier instructions to go to Fury's office first. Her stomach was churning and she felt like she could throw up. All Hill had said was the mission had been 'botched'. The lack of details were what told Natasha something else had happened.
"Where is he?" she demanded, storming into the medical bay. Several doctors and nurses looked her way
"Natasha-" Coulson said gently, he knew she'd bypass Fury's office, so he'd come to head her off. Someone needed to tell her before she saw him
"Phil. What happened?" she pleaded, her emotions were creeping in and her anger was replaced with fear
"He's not dead" he told her quickly, answering her unvoiced question
She took a deep steadying breath; "Then what?"
"Natasha, Clint went in to plant some fake intel on one of your cover stories. HYDRA had started making connections and we needed to make sure they weren't onto you. The file they had would have revealed your true identity and put you at risk in the field. He should have abandoned the mission when the alarms went off, but he refused to leave until he cold make the drop and steal the file they had on you. He was successful and escaped uninjured, but they had a sonic device, and... Tasha he can't hear"
"He's deaf?" she needed clarification, her mind was still reeling with relief at the news her husband wasn't dead
"Yes. They don't know whether or not it's permanent"
"Can I see him?"
"He's in your regular room" Coulson told her
She walked slowly towards the room, not sure what she was going to say. Then she realised it didn't matter; he wouldn't be able to hear her.
It occurred to her that if he didn't get his hearing back he would never hear their childrens voices again, never hear her tell him she loved him, how would he function on missions? What would this mean for them as Avengers?
Then a thought hit her; she cursed herself and took a moment before entering his room. She should have told him before the mission; but she was in a rush, he was running late and she thought she'd just wait til he got back...
She spent almost 10 minutes pacing back and forth outside his door, she was furious at herself... Why hadn't she just told him?
Finally entering the room; she saw Clint sat on the bed with his head in his hands
"Clint?"
Then she remembered; he couldn't hear her, this was really going to get some getting used to
Natasha approached cautiously, not wanting to startle him.
He sensed her as soon as she reached the door, he could always sense her; but he gave her a minute to compose herself, he guessed this would be hard on her too. He looked up and she smiled gently at him.
"Hi" he said, it felt weird knowing he'd spoken but not hearing his voice, he wasn't sure he'd ever get used to it.
He opened his arms and took Natasha into them, he held her tightly and his lips found her hers
"I thought I'd never see you again" Natasha told him, but Clint was unaware of the words she spoke
There was a pen and pad on the side, Natasha glanced down; it was a conversation between Clint and Phil from earlier that morning
"Where are the kids?" Clint asked, following her gaze to the discarded paper
She picked up the pad and turned it over, quickly scrawling 'They're with Tony and Pepper. I should ring them and let them know whats going on'
Clint nodded his agreement, he knew his kids; and he knew they'd be worried
Natasha returned her phone to her pocket after a short conversation with Tony
'Tony is already working some some hearing aids to help you' she wrote, Clint grinned; it was just like Tony to work on something to distract him
'I need to tell you something Clint'
"Something good or something bad?"
'Good' she scrawled, but the tears ran down her cheeks anyway
"Well tell away" Clint asked her, wiping her face dry
'I wish you could hear me'
"Me too Tash, we could wait; see if my hearing comes back. Doctor says its possible"
'I should have told you before you left'
"Tell me now then Tasha, or tell me later. It's up to you"
'I need you to know. It's important'
Clint nodded, and waited. Natasha wrote something down but held the paper to her chest so he couldn't see it
"I love you" Natasha told him, hoping he'd caught the movement of her lips enough to know what she'd said
"I love you too Tasha" he replied, he looked anxious now; like he wasn't sure he wanted the news she was about to give him. Folding the piece of paper in half she handed it to him
He gazed at her, and she gazed back before she squeezed his hand to remind him what he held. She smiled at him; reassurance that it was good news.
He opened it carefully, staring in shock at the words written on the paper. In Natasha's perfectly written handwriting were two words written in Russian; 'Я беременная'
She'd written it in Russian on purpose; for nobodys eyes but theirs.
The smile started to form on his face before he'd even fully contemplated the words and their meaning. He stood suddenly, lifting Natasha from where she sat. He hugged her and kissed her and smiled so brightly. He was thrilled.
Clint was released from the hospital later that day, and spent the afternoon with his kids making up their own Barton version of sign language.
The day after Tony gave him two small ear buds, which helped him to hear. It was difficult when multiple conversations were going on at once, and occasionally went static when on the phone or using the com devices, but Clint was so grateful for a chance to hear. He made Natasha repeat her news to him that night, this time in English.
"I'm pregnant you fool" she told him, giggling at his fake insulted expression
"I love hearing you say that!"