In this fic Evelyn is 16, Elijah & Henry are 13, Jacob is 12, Oliver and Alexis are 8, Emmett and Cecelia are 7, and Lucinda, Poppy, Isaac & Clara are 3
Steve watched his youngest niece sat alone on the floor, half heartedly playing with some lego while looking truly sorry for herself. In reality she was lonely; the four youngsters in the tower occasionally played together, but normally they'd split off into pairs; Poppy and Clara liked to play dress up and tea parties and play with their dolls, while Isaac and Lucinda were the trouble makers of the tower; which was saying something as even Elijah & Henry never got into the kind of situations those two found themselves in.
Right now Pepper and Tony had taken their kids to visit Pepper's sister in Venice Beach, they'd taken Alexis along after Oliver begged to stay behind; the two of them came as a pair and their parents had long since accepted that.
Evie was in New Mexico visiting Darcy, and Elijah and Henry were both at soccer practice. Emmett and Cecelia were working on a summer project for school while Isaac and Lucinda...
Well actually, where are Isaac and Lucinda?
"Clara, have you seen Isaac and Lucy anywhere?"
She shook her head, strawberry blond ringlets bouncing round her face. It was upsetting to see his small niece so sad, she was usually bouncy and chatty, always smiling and laughing; but right now her best friend wasn't here, her parents were away on a mission, and her brother and cousin had abandoned her to go do something Steve was sure would end up with them in trouble.
He was torn; he desperately wanted to cheer Clara up, throw her up in the air and catch her, tickle her and tell her funny stories; anything to make her laugh, but equally he knew the terrible twosome were a ticking time bomb when they weren't being watched (and even when they were they were it was iffy)
"You want to help me find them?"
Clara shrugged, poking around at the bits of lego on the floor
"We can make it into a game"
"Okay then" she agreed, finally looking up from the ground
"Come on then" Steve smiled, wrapping his large hand round her ankle and lifting her up, hanging her upside down
"Uncle Steve! Uncle Steve! Wrong way!" she giggled, trying to place her hands back to the floor to stop herself from swaying but Steve was holding her too high
"Ooops, sorry Clara-Bella, I always get that wrong" he told her, smiling at the grin on her face as he righted her
Her face was flushed but she laughed and brushed the hair from her face
"You're silly" she told him, still laughing
"I know I am, but you still love me right?"
"Always" she answered simply, and threw herself into his opened arms
He lifted her up, and began to focus on his other problem; "Right Clara, if you were your brother and Lucy, where would you be?"
She shrugged; "Somewhere I'm not supposed to be"
Steve could not have put it better himself, unfortunately there were several places in this tower that were off limits to the kids, especially ones as young as Isaac and Lucy...
Who'd ever have thought it would be the daughter of Thor Odinson and Jane Foster that would be a bad influence on the son of Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff? Everyone would have put money on it being the other way around, especially seeing as how Emmett was perhaps the best behaved child any of them had ever met, and Isaac was the younger brother of Elijah and Henry; who were in trouble almost every other week.
But here Steve was, crawling around the garage, looking under Tony's numerous cars for any site of the two mischievous children while Clara rode on his back like he was a horse.
"I don't think they're here Uncle Steve"
"Me either Clara-Bella"
"Uncle Steve, why do you call me Clara-Bella?"
"I don't know, you just remind me of a little fairy, like Tinkerbelle. Why, do you want me to stop?"
"No, I like it" she smiled, leaning down to wrap her arms round his back and hug him tightly
"Right little fairy, where should we look next?"
They checked the labs and the pool, before heading to the gym where they found some empty candy wrappers, so they'd probably been there...
"I'm hungry Uncle Steve" Clara told him, she was currently sat perched on one of his shoulders while he surveyed the gym for any site of the dynamic duo
"Alright kiddo, what do you want to eat?"
"Vatrushka?" she asked hopefully
"I'm fairly certain you Mom is the only one who knows how to cook that Clara"
She reconsidered as they rode the elevator back up to the communal floor, Steve would have to recruit Emmett and Cecelia to help him find the others at this rate...
As the doors slid open Clara threw herself off Steve's shoulder, leaving him scrambling to catch her as she shouted "Mommy! Daddy! You're back!"
She jumped up into Natasha's arms, who also happened to be holding a paint covered Lucy. To Steve's relief Clint had Isaac in his arms; who was equally paint-covered.
"Where on earth have you two been?" Steve asked
"We went to the gym" Isaac informed him
"But then we got bored and came back here, Emmett and Celia wouldn't share their paints" Lucy said pouting and crossing her arms
Steve raised his eyes brows in a question, as Cecelia and Emmett reappeared;
"Mom, Dad; it's ruined, we'll have to start again" Cecelia informed her parents, indicating what used to be their summer project, but now was just a big mess of paint.
"Isaac, Lucy, I think you need to apologise to your brother and sister" Clint told them, placing Isaac on the floor in front of his older sister and cousin
"But they're the ones who wouldn't share!" Lucy protested as Natasha put her down too, but one look from her aunt was enough to prevent the oncoming tantrum and the two of them apologised
"I'll go get them cleaned up" Clint said, taking their sticky hands in his and leading the three year old nightmares away
"I'm sorry guys, I'll help you make another" Steve informed Emmett and Cecelia
"It's okay; It's not your fault Uncle Steve"
"I should have been watching them. So come on, what we making?" he asked as the three of them headed back towards the table
"And how are you today my little фея?" Natasha asked, addressing the little girl who was curled up in her arms and had her head tucked under her chin
"идеальный Mama, I missed you"
"I missed you too фея"
"Mama, can we have vatrushka for dinner?"
"Sure we can, фея"
"Спасибо! Mama, is Isaac gonna be in trouble?"
Natasha sighed "Yes Clara, your brother is in trouble, again"
"Why's Zac and Lucy always being naughty?"
"I don't know baby" It was a question she'd been asking herself a lot lately...
Jane and Thor arrived back later that night, to find their daughter asleep in Clara's bed, while Clara slept in Alexis' empty room. Emmett, as always, was sleeping on the top bunk in Cecelia's room.
"What are we going to do with those two?" Jane asked, on learning what a run around their kids had given Steve today
"They're not all that bad" Steve tried reasoning
"You don't have to defend them Steve, we know the two of them together are more than a handful" Natasha reasoned
"A handful? They're a nightmare!" Jane added, to which the three other parents nodded
"I never thought I'd say this, but they're worse than Elijah and Henry!" Clint said
"I always thought it'd be Stark's kids that'd be the problem"
Again, more nods of agreement
"I remember once, when I was watching them they hid in the closet behind our supply of pop tarts and I couldn't find them for like six hours, I was almost having a melt down when they decided to cut me some slack and make an appearance" Jane told the others
"They have fooled me often" Thor agreed
"Remember when Coulson babysat them?"
"That's the reason he refuses to babysit anymore" Natasha reminded her husband
"Oh yeah"
There was a quiet pitter patter of small feet, and the five adults looked up to see the two trouble makers in question stood in the doorway
"What is it little princess?" Thor asked
She stumbled towards her parents sleepily, allowing her father to scoop her up into his arms while Isaac climbed up onto Natasha's lap and wrapped his arms round her neck, trying and failing to suppress a yawn
"We're sorry we spilled the paint" Lucy told her parents "And we're sorry we didn't tell Uncle Steve where we were going"
"Sorry Uncle Steve. Mama, please don't be mad at me" Isaac whispered, his eyes already closing
"We're not mad Zac, We just wish you'd be more careful" Clint told his son
"I promise to try harder" he said through a yawn
"Me too, I promise too" Lucinda said, hugging her dad tighter
The two kids were fast asleep once again in their parent's arms
"Well, that was easy"