Author's Note: Hi guys! So as you know I don't typically do these but I think you guys should know this. I was going through some stuff when I first wrote the last chapter so I wrote really out of character for the Clint and Natasha part, you guys should probably go back and re-read the last chapter because this one won't really make a lot of sense if you don't. I am so sorry you guys that one was on me. 

P.S. Even if you don't really care about being confused you're going to want to re-read that one because there is a lot more passion and a lot less clothing!  

P.P.S: Also, I'm terribly sorry about the super long time between updates! Please forgive me. 

Third person point of view:

Bucky left the room and made his way up to the kitchen not encountering anyone until he saw Steve standing in the kitchen over a pot of something on the stove. Steve's shoulders were shaking slightly and he had Jarvis playing forties music, something he only listened to when he was sad. Bucky walked up next to him quietly, trying his best to not startle him.

"Hey Stevie, you OK?" Bucky asked after he noticed the tears that were on Steve's face.

"Oh, hi Buck. Yeah, I'm fine, I was just chopping onions, sorry." He lied, putting on a fake smile and wiping the tears off of his face quickly.

"No you're not. You were crying, who hurt you? I swear they will never see the light of day again."

"No, Bucky it's fine. It doesn't matter it's no big deal. I'm making dinner, so you want to help?" He lied again.

"Steven, tell me what's going on right now." Bucky threatened.

"Bucky, it's bad. I don't know how to say it."

"Steve, what is it?"

"They are discontinuing the search for Natasha. They think she's dead Buck. They found her letter, the Red Room building was a pile of ash by the time anyone got there. There was bodies everywhere, they think Natasha is one of them. It'll take days to sort through everything, they have to assume the worst. They wouldn't let us go look for her." Steve choked out without looking up from the pot he was stirring.

"What? No. Natasha she's..." Bucky stopped himself before he could reveal the truth.

"I'm sorry Buck. It's true. Fury was pretty torn up. I know how much your little ballerina meant to you." Steve said lovingly and looking up at Bucky for the first time.

"Have they found her body?"

"No not yet. They are still searching."

"Then Natasha's fine. I'm not going to believe that she's dead until her body is in front of me, I suggest you do the same." Bucky said turning around to leave the kitchen.

"Bucky. What do you mean? Where are you going?"

"I'm going out to go look for her again, she probably isn't too far." He shouted over his shoulder. Bucky left the kitchen and made his way back into the main elevator to head down to Natasha and Clint's room to make his way back to the secret med-bay.

Clint opened the door to the med-bay slightly out of breath with an idiotic smile on his face, and was met with the surprising sight of Bruce and Bucky arguing with each other.

"... Bruce that was the wrong move! What the hell were you thinking?" Bucky screamed at Bruce who was holding the baby in his arms, trying his best to calm her down. 

"I was thinking that this little fighter needs a hearing aid because it is imperative that during the first few weeks that a baby is born they are able to hear their parents so they know who it is safe to be around. Natasha and Clint already missed out on probably the first week to no fault of their own so they need to make up for it!" Bruce yelled exasperated. 

"I understand that the little angel has hearing damage, but you were not supposed to tell anyone because we are trying to keep her a secret at the moment!" He growled trying to control his anger and walking over to Bruce slowly. "You know what just give me the kid." He sighed with resignation. 

"Fine! I have to go run tests anyway. Tony's on his way." Bruce said while giving the kid to buck and turning to go to the computer. 

Clint looked up from his phone as he was texting Natasha not to come down because the rest of the team was back. "What do you mean Tony is on his way!" Clint yelled, making his appearance known to the others. 

"Well, the baby has more than fifty percent hearing loss caused by damage from the grenade. I don't believe she can hear anything all that well. I called Tony and I told him about the kid and that she needed a hearing aid as soon as possible. He's on his way now." Bruce said calmly from the computer. 

"She can't hear? What does that mean for us? Oh my god Nat's going to be heartbroken." Clint asked somberly as Tony walked in catching only the tail end of the conversation.

"Who's going to be heartbroken? Clint? When did you get here? Bucky why are you holding the baby?" Tony asked frantically as he walked in on the perplexing site. 

"Hey Tony." Clint said walking over to Bucky, almost ignoring Tony. "Bucky, can I hold her please? I know that you guys have orders, but please?" Clint begged Bucky. 

"Clint we have to talk. I need to tell you something." Tony said walking over to Clint and grabbing his arm. 

"What is it? I'm trying to hold my kid." He said while shooting a glare at Bucky who had not let the kid out of his arms. 

"Clint. Natasha's dead. She's not coming home, you can't raise the baby with her. She's never coming back." Tony said honestly, he thought ripping off the band-aid quickly was better than pulling it off slowly. 

"What are you talking about? Natasha's upstairs taking an ice bath. She took a beating during the battle and she's got some burns. I told her to take her time, I could take care of OUR baby." He said to Tony while staring at Bucky who still wouldn't relinquish the kid. 

"Wait what? I am confused to everything that is going on here. Your baby needs a hearing-aid? I thought Elizabeth died, we were at her funeral. This kid isn't old enough to be Elizabeth! Someone tell me what is going on!" Tony screamed, which caused the baby to scream even louder than she already was. During the commotion no one noticed Natasha enter. 

"Tony, what the fuck are you doing here?" Natasha asked while grabbing the baby out of Bucky's arms and grabbing the blanket that was hanging off Clint's shoulder to wrap the baby in, who was coughing more intensely than she ever had, even though she never stopped coughing and the crying was only making it worse. 

"Natasha! Why aren't you dead?" Tony screamed. 

"Well that's a great way to greet someone you thought was dead. Tony this is mine and Clint's new baby. We are adopting her, we picked her up in the firefight to destroy the Red Room. From what I have heard she has hearing damage and she needs at least one maybe two hearing-aids. Can you make them for her, please?" Natasha pleaded, looking at Tony trying to get him to realize the situation.     

"Yeah. I just need to figure out what size to make them so they fit properly. Once I get the measurements it will only be a few minutes." Tony said quietly, unable to draw his eyes away from Natasha who was holding the baby, trying to calm her down and Clint who had walked over to stand with Natasha. Tony walked over to a table that was set up nearby and went over to a briefcase that was filled with parts and tools and pulled out a tape measure. He went up and measured the newborn's ears, with only a slight amount of visible discomfort from the little girl. 

Bruce walked over to the table to help Tony knowing that if they worked together they could get the job done faster than if they were working apart and they started a conversation while Natasha and Clint were bickering over who would get to hold the baby and put her hearing aids in. Clint ended up winning the argument because he had been putting his hearing aids in since he was eighteen and joined S.H.I.E.L.D. 

"How long have they been back for?" Tony whispered to Bruce who was standing next to him working on one of the hearing aids as he worked on the other. 

"A few hours maybe. They wouldn't have come to me had the kid not needed medical attention." Bruce muttered back.

"Why didn't you tell me that they were back? I was worried sick. I thought Natasha was dead, I thought that we were going to have to have another funeral."

"I would have told you had I known. Nat wants to keep her return and the baby a secret for now. She is worried about the baby not making it and you guys getting attached and disappointed if she doesn't make it." 

"It's that bad? What are her chances, and if they aren't good what is her timeline?"

"See you're attached already. This is why Natasha didn't want to tell you, I don't agree with it but I understand it. Tony, Nat is really scared, she's putting herself out there again so don't try and push her."

"Bruce that didn't answer my question."

"If she can make it through tonight and tomorrow, I'm about ninety percent sure that she'll be fine." 

"Well that's better odds than we have all had at some point or another. We are going to make damn well sure that she makes it. Whatever she needs, do it. Don't worry about money or time or retribution from the director, if it comes to that I'll deal with it. We aren't going to lose her." Tony insisted, setting down his nearly finished hearing aid and looking at Bruce with a passion in his eyes that could inspire almost anyone. 

"Tony, I'm going to do whatever I can. I'm not going to let Natasha and Clint lose another child on my watch." He said with a smirk as he set down his finished hearing aid. 

Tony smiled as he quickly finished his and he grabbed Bruce's while he went over to run some more tests and simulations on the computer and gave them to Clint. 

"You ready for your kid to be able to hear you Legolas?" Tony asked as he gave the tiny hearing aids to Clint. 

"I don't think I could be more ready." He said putting them in his hand and going over to Natasha so that he could hold the baby. 

Natasha placed the baby in his arms and corrected his form only slightly and smiled. Her husband was finally getting the chance to hold their child, even if she wasn't biologically theirs.

Clint placed the hearing aids in the crying child's ears and the other Avengers began talking around the two of them. He looked down at the small child as everyone went on talking and it was like everything else in the world disappeared. The small child stopped crying momentarily when she realized that she had been moved to a new person's arms and could now hear things again. She looked up at Clint with a tear streaked and red face. She had beautiful blue eyes that seemed to hold too many secrets for a child her age. Clint knew from the moment she was put into his arms that this was the child that they were meant to have. She was meant to be theirs and he knew that he would do whatever it took to keep her. Clint stroked the baby's face and wiped her tears away as she looked up at him with curiosity. She was still getting used to being treated with care and love, it was confusing to her small mind. As the discussion continued on around the two of them, Clint readjusted the baby in his arms and she snuggled into him and began to fall asleep. Clint kissed her on the head and let his lips rest on top of her red hair for a few seconds, when he looked up he noticed that she had bruises that were starting to form on her cheeks and neck and then he began speaking to her.

"I swear to you little one that no matter what happens no one will ever hurt you again. I promise you that I will protect you for the rest of my life and that you will be my little princess as long as you get better. As long as you can survive you and I will be together forever." Clint whispered to her, trying to hide the anger in his voice for the people who had hurt the little girl in his arms. 

Natasha walked over quietly to Clint as Bucky, Tony, and Bruce started an argument over food and if they were going to have something delivered or if they were going to eat the food that Steve made. Natasha stood just behind Clint and stood on her tippy toes to see over Clint's shoulder. 

"Our little girl is so beautiful. Nat, I'm not leaving her. This was meant to be, she was meant to be our daughter." Clint whispered to Natasha who was staring lovingly at the little girl in his arms.

"She's our little princess, she's our little Tsarina. I'm not going to let her go Clint. She's too perfect, she's more like us than we could have ever dreamed of. We just have to make sure that she gets better because I can't lose her too."

"We won't. She's our little fighter. She's strong like you, she's strong like her mother."

"I love you." Natasha whispered to him with her voice full of emotion.

"I love you more Natasha." Clint said with an equal passion. 

Natasha came around to the front of him as Clint rotated so that the baby was in between the two of them. Natasha stroked the hair on the baby's head without looking up from her until she looked up at Clint with only the slightest twinge of moisture in her eyes. 

"I love her." Natasha whispered to Clint. 

 "I love her too." Clint said with a smile full of emotion on his face as Natasha leaned in for a kiss. The awkward positioning of the two of them made the sight even sweeter, Natasha had wrapped her arms around the child as well so they were effectively holding the child together. As Natasha began to rely more on Clint again, both literally and figuratively, Clint did the same. The three on lookers who had stopped arguing to stare at the spectacle that was unfolding in front of them, could all tell that Natasha and Clint loved each other and that the child that they were holding in their arms would never feel unloved. After Tony realized that he wanted to commemorate this moment he took out the phone that was in his pocket and snapped a picture. 

"I'm going to start planning a party for when Natasha presents the kid to everyone. Bruce that OK? Tony asked without being able to draw his eyes from the adorable scene.

"I'm not clearing Natasha and the baby for a huge party, but if its just the family then go for it." Bruce said distracted by the computer that was now beeping notifying him that results of the last tests were in. "Shit!" Bruce whispered to himself.

"What? What's wrong?" Tony asked rushing over to the computer as Bucky also photographed the scene and headed over behind Tony. 

"I knew she was too small, but I didn't think it was this bad. She's going to need a feeding tube, the fact that she doesn't have enough weight on her is only hurting her lungs more. She's going to need to put on weight faster than Natasha and formula alone will be able to do." Bruce sighed running his hands through his hair.  

"Shit!" Tony nearly screamed, interrupting the small family's moment. "Bruce do we have the stuff or am I going to have to pull some strings, because I would more than happily pull a few strings, but more people would find out."

"No we have the stuff it's just in storage. Someone needs to go get it, I also have to take more blood from her and start and I.V. which I did not want to do." Bruce grumbled, while rerunning the test. 

"I'll go get it. Anything for my little girl." Clint said volunteering immediately after he heard the news. 

"No, you're staying with your wife and daughter Barton. I'm going to get it, it isn't a big deal." Bucky announced with authority. 

"I don't care who goes and gets it, someone just needs to get it. Barton, bring the baby over here for me please." Bruce rushed, gesturing to the exam table while he got supplies out of one of the cupboards.   

Natasha looked at Clint and he could tell that she was putting on one of her many masks, but there was nothing he could do. They both knew that they had more pressing matters to attend to as Natasha walked quickly behind Clint as he went to set the baby down on the table. Clint set the baby down and stood next to Natasha as Bruce got out more and more supplies. Both of them had on masks but Tony who was helping Bruce organize things could see right through them. 

Bruce got out the needles and pressed one of them into her skin which caused the small child to wake from her nap and cry so Clint immediately charged forward to stop it.  

"What are you doing?" He screamed moving towards the baby and going to pick her up before Natasha stopped him with Tony not far behind her.

"Clint, its OK. Bruce is just going to put an I.V. in her to give her some meds. He isn't going to hurt her. She was going to cry. It's going to be OK." Natasha soothed, after seeing the fury and concern in his eyes.

After she got no response from him she told Bruce to continue as she held Clint back, trying to calm him down. "Hey, he isn't going to hurt her. He is doing this to help her you know that. What's going on, this isn't like you."

"Did you see the bruises, did you see what those monsters did to our little girl? Did you see how they hurt her?" He whispered with his voice filled with fury and pain.

"Yeah I did, I saw them, but there is nothing we can do about it. She's here now, we got her out. They can't touch her anymore, she's with us. Bruce is doing this to give her the best shot she can get. You can't fight this." Natasha said trying to get Clint to look at her instead of the baby who had started crying because Bruce had finally found a vein and was taking blood from her.

Clint took a deep breath, ran his hand over his face and pressed Natasha closer to him. "I know. I'm sorry. You should start thinking about name choices. I mean you're the one who found her and brought her into our family. You and Bucky should get the first choice for names." He said with a smile when he pulled away from Natasha and walked over to Bruce before she could protest. As Clint walked over to Bruce, Tony excused himself to start the party planning process. 

"Sorry Bruce. I didn't mean to freak out, it's just after I saw the bruises and the needles I couldn't stop myself." Clint apologized while trying to distract the baby from the needle that Bruce had in her arm.

"Don't worry about it. I would have done the same thing. There, I'm done taking blood, let me tape her up so she doesn't take it out on accident." He said nonchalantly while putting the tape over the I.V. when he finished he watched Clint try to get the baby to calm down and spoke up after a few seconds.

"You're attached aren't you? Do you think you can convince Nat to keep the kid?" Bruce asked kindly.

"I don't have to. Natasha already said yes. We both love her already." Clint said picking up the baby as Natasha walked over to stand with them.

"Wait really? I thought she would be the last to say yes, all things considered." Bruce asked as Natasha walked over to them.

"Speaking of all things considered, what are her chances doc?" Natasha asked.

"If that little fighter can make it through the next two nights and she puts on at least two pounds, there is no doubt in my mind that she will be perfectly fine. I'm going to start analyzing her blood to see if they did anything else to her other than those bruises after we get the feeding tube started. Bucky should be back with the supplies any minute." Bruce said with a smile.

Bruce was right and Bucky returned quickly. Putting the feeding tube in was a struggle and Clint had to leave because of how much discomfort it was causing the baby so Natasha had to hold her. After they had finished and the baby was comfortably resting in Natasha's arms, but continuing to cough every minute or so as she had done since they had got her, Clint came back in and sat down next to Natasha as Bruce went to work at the computer.

"I'm sorry I left. I couldn't do it. I couldn't see her having to go through that. I'm sorry I made you go through that Natasha." Clint pleaded.

"Don't worry about it penguin. I know, this is hard on everyone. We just have to do the best we can. We just have to make sure she makes it through the next two nights." Natasha said with a smirk, using the nickname that she had given him that he pretended to hate but secretly loved. She only used it every so often, especially when she wanted him to know that she loved him and that things were OK between them.

Clint leaned in and gave Natasha a kiss so that the baby was in between the two of them. Bruce walked in on the adorable scene and felt terrible for interrupting it.

"Hey guys, I'm sorry to interrupt, but uh there's a thing and Nat I need to talk to you for a minute." He said awkwardly as they pulled apart.

"Bruce, if it's about the baby then you have to say it in front of Clint, he's her father." Natasha said quickly as the baby started one of her worse coughing spasms.

"Nat, I know you're in pain so let me patch you up really quick. Clint can take care of the baby." Bruce said knowing that Natasha had been limping since she came down.

Natasha looked at Clint quickly and he reassured her. "Give her to me, she'll be fine. Go take care of yourself, the baby needs her mother." 

"OK." Natasha said relinquishing the baby to Clint and following after Bruce. 

Pepper walked into the workshop to check on Tony and he quickly shut down the computer so she couldn't see what he was working on.

"Hey Pepper. How are you doing honey? Are you OK?" Tony asked sincerely, as he went up to her give her a hug and noticing the tear stains on her face. 

"What is wrong with you? Weren't you just having an emotional breakdown like three hours ago?" Pepper asked exhaustedly. 

"Yes, I know honey and that was wrong of me. It's going to be OK. I promise you that everything is going to be OK."

"Tony. I don't, I have to. Never mind, I can tell you in the morning. I'm going to go to sleep. Good night Tony. I love you." Pepper decided after a moment of hesitation. 

"OK. Honey are you sure? Do you need to talk about something?" Tony asked as he noticed that something was off about her. 

"Yeah Tony. I'm sure. I love you." Pepper said with a sad smile. 

"I love you too, sweetheart." Tony said looking at her curiously. 

Pepper made her way to the elevator, planning to go up to the penthouse, but deciding to make a stop at Natasha and Clint's floor instead. Pepper walked in and sat on the bed, surprised when she saw Bucky walk out of Natasha's closet and quickly wiped away her tears.

"Hi Bucky. What are you doing here?" Pepper asked through sniffles. 

"Oh hey Pepper. I'm just morning, well not really. I'm actually looking for something to take for her. I'm going out to look for her." Bucky said awkwardly. 

"Oh. OK. Do you mind of I stay here? I really miss her and I needed to tell her something, but now..." Pepper trailed off, trying to hold back the sobs. 

"No Pepper. Trust me it's fine. I'm going to look for her again. I'm going to bring you your best friend back. You do what you need to do to feel better. I'm going to go get your best friend back."  Bucky pronounced while patting the sobbing Pepper on the shoulder.

"Thank's Bucky. I don't know what I'm going to do without her." Pepper choked out as Bucky nodded and made his way out. 

Pepper sat on Natasha's bed sobbing for a while praying that her best friend would come back to her. After about an hour Pepper walked over to Natasha's closet and got out the blanket that Natasha always used when they had girls nights and laid on the couch watching movies. She brought it back over to the bed and wrapped herself in it and called out to Jarvis.

"Jarvis put on all of the home videos that we have of Natasha."

"Ms. Potts that is not a good idea at the moment. Considering your current condition and mental state." 

"Jarvis I don't care put them on." She cried out to him, just wanting to pretend that her best friend was OK. Jarvis started the video montage and Pepper cried herself to sleep quickly. Jarvis left the videos continue to play on, in case that Pepper woke up.