After convincing FRIDAY not to tell anyone and to delete all record of diagnosing her, Natasha returned to the front rooms.  The food had finished while she'd been in the bathroom and everyone was gathering in the kitchen. Natasha slipped up behind Steve silently, wrapping her arms around him from behind.  He jumped and twisted around to see who had grabbed him. When he realised it was Natasha, he relaxed and turned to wrap an arm around her.

"Where did you go?"  he asked quietly. Natasha looked up at him, not terribly surprised to see he'd been worrying.  "You were gone for a while."

"I know,"  she answered.  "I had to go to the bathroom, but one of the kids had plugged it and I had to find a plunger."

"Oh,"  Steve replied.  He nodded as if that made perfect sense and Natasha smiled.  She'd tell Steve later since Wanda's birthday party didn't seem like the best place.  He leaned down and kissed her forehead as the last person ducked into the kitchen. Once everyone had arrived, they were allowed to dish up their food.  The kids went first and were followed by Wanda. After that, it was all elbows and fighting to see who got to get food next.

* * *

Wanda's party lasted all day.  She opened presents after lunch then the kids returned to their own activities.  Cooper sat in the living room with the adults for a little while before he got bored and pulled out a tablet.  When it got dark out, Pepper called Morgan and Nathaniel inside to play and they scampered down to the training room to continue playing.  By 9PM, they figured they should probably wrap up and put the kids to sleep.

Natasha and Steve worked to clean up the kitchen after a late dinner while Pepper and Laura put their kids to bed.  The Bartons were staying at the Compound for another two days before they'd head back and Morgan was staying with them.  Wanda and Vision were talking quietly in the living room and Rhodey was talking with Bruce and Tony. Scott and Clint had gone to help get the kids to bed and Sam had already left.  The Compound was much quieter than it had been a couple hours earlier, but it was a relaxed and comfortable silence.

"Are you ready to go?"  Steve asked, drying his hands after finishing up the dishes.  Natasha was sitting on the counter top she'd just cleaned and Steve refrained from reminding her that sitting on a clean counter defeated the purpose of cleaning it.

"Yeah,"  she replied, reaching out toward him.  Steve walked over to stand between her legs and she wrapped her arms around his neck.  She leaned against him, closing her eyes as she used him for a pillow.

"You can't sleep here,"  Steve told her softly, running a hand up and down her spine.  "We're only ten minutes away from home."

"Carry me,"  she mumbled, refusing to let Steve go when he tried to pull away.  He sighed and scooped her up off the counter into his arms. She smiled and draped an arm behind his neck as he carried her into the living room where the remainder of the team was sitting.

"We're gonna head out,"  he told them, motioning to Natasha in his arms.  "Someone can't stay awake."

"Hey, I just don't want to walk,"  Natasha protested. He rolled his eyes and said goodbye to the team, receiving a chorus of 'bye' and 'goodbye' in response.  He carried Natasha out to their car and set her in the passenger seat. It wasn't a long drive back, but Natasha had started to doze off on the way, so he carried her inside.  He took off both of their shoes at the front door and didn't turn on any lights as he made his way to their bedroom by memory.

"You have to change, Nat,"  he whispered, sitting her upright on the bed.  She groaned and pulled off her shirt and pants without opening her eyes.  Steve handed her one of his shirts to pull on over her head. As soon as he'd released her to change himself, she laid back on the bed and promptly fell asleep.  Steve crawled in beside her, pulling the blankets out from under her so he could cover them with them. Natasha rolled onto her side, throwing an arm over his bare chest and snuggling up beside him in her sleep.  He kissed her softly and pulled the blankets up to her chin before falling asleep himself.