And just for as a reminder:
Clint & Natasha have Evelyn, Elijah & Henry, Alexis, Cecelia, Isaac & Clara.
Tony & Pepper have Jacob, Oliver & Poppy.
Thor & Jane have Emmett & Lucinda
In this fic Evelyn is 16, Elijah & Henry are 13, Jacob is 12, Oliver & Alexis are 8, Emmett & Cecelia are 7 and Lucinda, Poppy, Isaac & Clara are 3
This chapter was written a while ago for the lovely Discordchick for their birthday, who wanted to see some more of little Isaac and Clara
"Hey Tony"
"Oh hi Tasha" Tony greeted, barely looking up from rummaging through the draws in his lounge while he was trying and find something
"I need a favor" she asked him hopefully
Now she had his full attention, finally looking up he saw her stood by the door to his floor, a small hand in each of hers as his youngest niece and nephew smiled up at him
"No way Romanoff" he warned, walking off to the kitchen area where she followed him
"Please Tony, I'm desperate" she told him, entering the kitchen as her youngest children released her hands and ran off somewhere
"Can't you ask someone else?"
"Clint is away, Thor and Jane aren't here, Pepper's working, and I have no idea where Bruce and Steve are..."
"What about Eve?"
"Evie is sorting out the 7th floor"
Natasha was referring to the mess of balloons, party hats and paper plates currently scattered over the lower floor of the tower where the twin's third birthday party had taken place the day before
"Please" she prompted
"Where are you going?" Tony asked with a defeated sigh, between Natasha's gaze and the fact Clara was currently clinging onto his leg; he gave in
Natasha smiled, relieved; "Fury wants me to come in, I need to tell him that I'm not going on whatever mission it is he's going to try and persuade me to take"
Tony nodded and told her not to be long as she kissed her children goodbye and left
He was wondering where everyone else was when he heard the twins shout "Goodbye Mommy", before looking expectantly at Tony, each smiling an equally adorable toothy grin up at him
As soon as she was out of the building, Natasha grabbed her phone, hitting a speed dial she smiled as she said; "Pepper, it worked. Tony will be occupied all day"
"Okay guys, what we going to do all day?" Tony asked
"Where's Poppy?" Clara asked, peering round to look for her cousin
"She's at her grandparents today" he told her, as much as Tony didn't like Pepper's dad; their kids loved their grandparents and using them as babysitters usually allowed him to get some work done in his lab while Pepper was working; that was until he became a babysitter for someone else instead...
"You want to colour?" he asked hoping for a quiet, easy day; they shook their heads
"Candyland?" he offered
"No thank you" Clara answered politely, brushing her long strawberry blond curls from her face
"Bake something?"
"Nope"
"A film?"
Isaac shook his head again, and Tony found himself running out of ideas
"Then what?" Tony asked, hoping for a clue. Those four things never failed to occupy Poppy
"Go to your lab?" Isaac asked excitedly, after a quiet consultation with his sister. Their matching emerald eyes shone with excitement as they smiled at him hopefully
A child in each arm, they boarded the elevator while Tony gave them the usual safety speech he gave all the kids when they went to the labs. Most of them weren't interested anymore; they'd grown past the age where they were amazed by the stuff in there and it was only Elijah who still spent any time there; he would be a great scientist one day.
Not that Tony would admit it, it secretly thrill him that the youngest Barton duo wanted to look around the labs. It had always been a rule that no children under the age of five were allowed in the labs, but they were so excited, and so was Tony; he couldn't refuse. It had been a long time since any of the children begged him to show them round the 29th floor of the tower.
He showed them Bruce's lab first and amazed them with some simple kids experiments, Clara sat on Tony's lap as she watched with her mouth open in awe. Isaac watched from his perch on the counter top and begged Tony to let him have a go.
Next, Tony showed them his labs, his suits and the Avenger's weapons he was currently working on improving
"Hey that's dads!" Isaac shouted, running up to Clint's bow and trying to reach it
"Don't touch that short stuff" Tony told him, grabbing his hand and dragging him away.
After a full morning in the labs, they returned to Tony's floor and ate lunch sitting on the rug in his large lounge, much to the excitement of Clara who thought it was just like a picnic.
Tony found their choices of food strange, but allowed them to eat what they asked for; Clara had bananas and chocolate spread on toast, while Isaac had dry cereal and jam, both accompanying them with a large glass of pineapple juice.
When they'd done, Tony notice Clara rubbing her eyes and Isaac yawning, so chanced his luck with putting on a film, 20 minutes into 'Tangled', they were both dozing on the sofa.
"Jarvis, I need to run down to the garage to get my phone from my car. I'll be back in 2 minutes, just let me know if either of them wakes?"
"Yes sir" the AI responded
Riding the elevator down to the basement, he was surprised to find Steve there
"Hey Capsicle" Tony greeted, sneaking up behind him and laughing when Steve jumped
"T-Tony, what are you doing here?" he asked, recovering from the shock Tony had given him, "And where are Isaac and Clara?" he asked suspiciously
"They're asleep, and how did you know I was looking after them?"
"I erm... I-"
"Sir" Jarvis interrupted
"What is it Jarvis?"
"The young Master and Mistress Barton have woken"
"Alright, tell them I'll be right up"
"They are currently riding the elevator... Disembarking on floors 29 and 37 sir"
"Shit"
Tony ran back to the elevator and waited impatiently for it to arrive, Steve appeared beside him and shook his head; "I can't believe you left them"
"They were asleep!"
"They're Clint and Tasha's kids! You know they're sneaky as hell!"
"Oh whatever, come on!" Tony brushed aside his comments as the elevator arrived, which floor was more important to reach first? The gym or the labs?
"Jarvs, who went where?"
"Master Barton exited at the labs sir, while Mistress Barton disembarked on the gym level"
Definitely the labs, impatiently he jabbed the button for the 29th floor as Steve nodded in agreement
Suddenly the elevator shuddered to a halt and the light went out
"Jarvis, what the hell?" ... "Jarvis?"
"The electricity is out Tony" Steve told him
"It can't be out, I have back-up generators, I have back-up back-up generators!"
"Well clearly it is, and Isaac and Clara are on their own"
"Damn, Natasha is gonna kill me" Tony stated, Steve nodded unsympathetically and started trying to pry open the doors
"Wait, Evie is on the 7th floor! She could go find them" Tony said, grabbing his cell from his pocket and scrolling to her number
"Erm no she's not. She left" Steve stuttered
"Where'd she go?!"
"I dunno... Out..?"
"You let Evie leave without knowing where she was going? Hello Captain Responsible! What's with you? People have been acting shifty all morning..."
"I think she went to meet Natasha at the mall"
"Natasha isn't at the mall, she's at shield"
"Yeah, but after that..."
"Steve I know you're lying. Can you just give up before you have an aneurysm and tell me what's going on?"
"I can't"
"Why not?"
"Pepper is scarier than you"
"So Pepper and Nat are involved..?"
"Stop it Tony!" Steve insisted, getting flustered, "We need to go find Isaac and Clara" Steve warned him, gesturing to the gap in the doors now big enough to climb through
The two of them sprinted up to the 29th floor to find it littered with arrows, Isaac had accidentally fried the circuit breaker while playing with Natasha's 'widow's bite' which Tony had been fixing earlier in the week, the whole system had shorted and left the tower without power. He'd then taken to playing with Clint's bow.
An arrow flew past Steve's face, giving away the young boys position from under the desk
"Isaac Anthony Barton what are you doing?!" Tony asked sternly
"Uncle Tony!" he exclaimed, scrambling out from his hiding place and running towards him
"Sorry Uncle Steve, I didn't know it was you" Steve smiled and tousled Isaac's curly hair after scooping him up in his arms
"Isaac, you're not supposed to be in here" Tony warned him, but the little boy was so visibly upset at what he'd done, Tony couldn't bring himself to tell him off right now
"Right, let's go find your sister" Tony said instead, running back towards the stairs and taking them two at a time, Steve right on his heels
"Clara Darcy Barton! Where are you? ... Clara?" Tony shouted, entering the incredibly dark gym
"Uncle Tony! Help me?" came her little voice; scared and strained
Tony withdrew his phone from his pocket again and used it as a torch, his heart sank when he located the tiny child clinging desperately halfway up the 80ft climbing wall she had seen her parents race up countless times
Steve placed Isaac on the floor, who looked up at his sister with wide eyes.
Steve began to climb quickly, while Tony worked on getting some sort of light to help him along
"Hold on Clara, I'll be right there" he told her, picking up his pace as Clara's left foot slipped slightly
Steve watched in horror as her grip slackened, and with a scream she fell. Tony caught her easy enough and Steve jumped down. She was crying and shivering as Tony held her tightly in his arms, trying to comfort her; she was fine, if a little shaken.
"Uncle Steve! Uncle Steve!" Isaac demanded, pulling on his jeans to get his attention. "Pick me up, I need to see she's okay!" he sounded almost as upset as his sister, so Tony knelt down to Isaac's level. He was nearly knocked off balance by the force of Isaac wrapping his arms round his sister; It was only now, in her brothers arms, that Clara's breathing calmed and her crying stopped and after a few steady breaths, she shifted to hug Isaac in return
"Come on, let's go get some hot cocoa" Tony said, lifting Isaac with him as he stood, so as not to break the embrace of the two children
The four of them took the stairs back up to Tony's floor and once he had got the power back on; Steve left and the three of them watched the rest of 'Tangled' together with hot cocoa and marshmallows
As the credit's rolled Natasha arrived to retrieve her kids;
"Everything go okay?" she asked, picking Clara up. Her daughter rested her head on Natasha's shoulder, as Isaac bounded over and took her hand with a smile
"They were fine" Tony told her smiling, winking at the kids.
As she turned to leave, Tony stopped her by calling out her name;
"Tasha"
She turned to look at him and raised an eyebrow in a silent question
"Steve told me about the surprise party" he told her, watching a she carefully scanned the apartment for the man in question
"He did?"
"No, but now I know I'm right! How you ever became a world-class spy I'll never know"
Natasha rolled her eyes, Pepper would be gutted he knew; she'd been working on this for months and wanted to surprise Tony for his 40th birthday, she was even planning for it to take place a week early so he wouldn't figure it out...
"Act surprised Stark! And I'll see you in an hour"
"See you later Little Miss Truthful"
"Whatever, Old Man"