In this chapter Evelyn is 9, Elijah & Henry are 6, Jacob is 5, Oliver is 1, Alexis is 10 months old, Emmett is 1 month old and Natasha is 8 months pregnant
Almost everyone was gathered on the communal floor for breakfast; Clint was trying to feed Alexis without getting any more pureed banana on the floor (or her hands, arms and face), Jane had just settled Emmett down after his feed, for a one month old she had it relatively easy; he never cried, just ate and slept. Bruce made waffles for anyone who wanted them with some help from Evelyn and Steve passed round coffee. Natasha joined them a little later after having a quite morning; being eight months pregnant and caring for a ten month old was difficult.
Tony suddenly burst from the elevator, running across the room shouting "Shit! Shit! Shit!"
Elijah and Henry watched their Uncle closely, surprised by his outburst. Since Evie had been born Tony had been much better at watching his language around the kids, however he seemed to have lost that skill suddenly...
Oliver crawled in behind him repeating "Shit shit shit!"
Tony froze from where he was rifling through a draw and spun to face his son
"No Olly, don't copy that. Please? You Mom is going to kill me"
Oliver sat where he was on the rug, looking at his father
"Shit!" he shouted, giggling
Elijah and Henry laughed until Natasha shot them a look
"Shit?" Alexis asked from her high chair. Her head tilted in consideration at the new word and she ended up getting more pureed banana in her hair
"You are SO lucky that is not her first word!" Natasha warned Tony
"Dammit! Now Pepper is going to kill me twice!"
"What's up Tony?" Jane asked, thankful her son was still far too young to pick up on his cuss words; though how Evie, Elijah, Henry and Jacob had all been raised around him and not copied them was a mystery to her; he often swore when things in his lab exploded (which was much more common that you'd think) and although he'd done well to curb his used of inappropriate language around them, he still had the occasional outburst
"I lost my wedding ring"
"Oh that is not going to go down well!" Clint warned him. Clint had lost his wedding ring under gunfire in Pakistan the year before and Natasha had been less than impressed, even if he had managed to find it again in the midst of a battle
"Why did you even take it off?" Natasha asked
"I was fixing something"
"Something?"
"Oh I can't remember, it was something Elijah broke last week"
"Oh that narrows it down..." Clint deadpanned. His son was forever trying to learn about the various bits of tech around the tower by trying to take them apart and rebuild them, usually it ended with Tony having to fix it or it needed to be thrown away and replaced
Clint passed Alexis to Natasha, who frowned at him; her top was now covered in pureed banana because he hadn't wiped her down
"Shit! Shit! Shit" Oliver called again, he was still sat on the rug and was playing with one of his toys. He'd apparently found a new favourite word
"You gotta fix that" Bruce warned him
"Shit" Alexis shouted from her mothers arms, copying her cousin as she often did. For a while she'd even called Clint by his first name after hearing Oliver refer to him that way
"No фейерверк, we don't say that" Natasha told her, before taking her to get cleaned up properly
"Lexie!" Oliver yelled, watching her leave
Tony passed Oliver to Steve; "Get him to say anything else other than that word, distract him. Hopefully he'll forget it! Clint, Bruce, please help me look before Pepper gets back with Jacob?"
"I'll help Uncle Tony!" Elijah shouted, climbing down from his seat with Henry not far behind him
Natasha returned shortly later with a newly clean Alexis, she sat on the sofa beside Evie who was holding Emmett.
"They had any luck yet?" she asked Jane who was watching with an amused look on her face
"Not even a little bit" she laughed
Steve was still trying to get Oliver to say anything but the cuss word he's learnt that morning from his father. The only word he'd said all day other than that was 'Lexie'
"Shit!" he shouted happily, he was clearly glad with all the attention he seemed to be getting
"No Ol!" Alexis shouted from her mothers lap, she looked at him sternly and shook her head.
"Wow she is so like you it's scary" Jane commented to Natasha, as Oliver sighed and apologized
"Play?" Oliver asked, wriggling free from Steve's arms
Alexis nodded and climbed to the floor where the two of them built a tower with some blocks
"How does she do that?!" Steve asked in amazement
"She learned from the best" Clint said, smiling at Natasha
Pepper walked onto the floor wondering where everyone was after finding her own floor, as well as Clint and Natasha's empty. She was met with a very flustered looking Tony as the elevator opened.
He'd been searching for his ring for almost two hours now; Steve, Bruce and Clint had helped him search, he'd even convinced a pregnant Natasha to use her 'crazy ninja skills' to help him look and he'd had Elijah, Henry and Evie hunting for it too.
"What are you all doing?" she asked. Jane was feeding Emmett and avoided eye contact for fear she'd burst out laughing
Clint helped Natasha stand up from where she'd been crawling looking under the cabinets in the kitchen and Steve dropped a pile of pots and pans when Pepper's arrival had startled him
"Hi sweetie" Tony smiled at his wife
"Again, what are you doing?"
"We're looking for something" Elijah told her
"You didn't lose my son again did you?" she questioned Tony pointedly
"No, he's right over there"
Pepper was slightly relieved, picking both Oliver and Lexie up from where they'd been sat playing and kissing each of them in turn on their chubby cheeks
"What'd you do today baby?" she asked her son
"He learned a new word!" Henry admitted, but hid quickly behind Bruce when Tony shot him a look
"Oh you did?"
"Erm, maybe we should go?" Steve suggested hopefully
"Shit!" Oliver told his mother proudly. Pepper glared at Tony across the crowded room
"No Ol!" Alexis shouted loudly
"Lex is right Oliver, that's a bad word that we shouldn't say"
"No shit?" he asked sadly
"No"
"Okay Mammy"
"Good, now really, what are you guys looking for?"
"Pep, I misplaced my ring"
"Your wedding ring?!" she asked outraged
"See, it's not just me that overreacts" Natasha whispered to Clint
"Nat, your overreaction was a lot more violent than that..."
"We're going to find it, I know it's here somewhere!"
"Here Daddy" Jacob said, holding out his hand
"What is it Junior?"
"Here"
Tony took what Jacob offered him and was relieve to see it was in fact his missing ring
"Where'd you get this?"
"My pocket. Keep it safe Daddy"
Tony smiled, finally remembering how he'd asked his son to keep his eye on the ring
Pepper sighed, sitting next to Jane with the two babies on her lap. Natasha joined them; now exhausted
"So who taught my baby to cuss?"
"Who do you think?"
"I should have guessed..."