The Littlest Avenger (Avengers x Fem!OC Age Regression)

📦 Chapter Four 📦

Chapter Four
    Niall woke up and knew the pills worked immediately. She was now in the headspace of a newborn. She could not talk, walk, crawl, nor move as well anymore. Everything was just too big or too complicated for her to use so she babbled to herself and enjoyed the rocking motions of her chair while waiting for someone to get her. After a few minutes of Niall babbling to herself, she was distracted by some movement coming from the chair that had been pulled over at some point. Niall quiets her babbling as she sees Pepper coming over from her chair. Pepper grins as she sees Niall's eyes on her and picks her up before sneaking away to the kitchen to avoid waking any of the others. As soon as she is in the safety of the kitchen, Pepper starts cooing at the baby in her arms while fluttering around the kitchen to find a suitable snack for Niall as none of the ladies' milk has come in just yet. Pepper's personal mission is disturbed by a sudden influx of noise from the living room. "Oh my god, oh my god, Niall's gone, somebody stole Niall, what if she ran away, oh my god." Niall looks at the doorway as multiple sets of feet start scrambling around the floor as they try to pinpoint just where their newly found little had gone. Niall stares up at Pepper innocently and Pepper grins playfully before putting a finger to her own lips. "Shhhh, lets let them stew for a few more minutes." Niall grins with a giggle before reaching up to Pepper's face and giggles even louder as she playfully pretends to bite at her fingers. "So you're the baby thief." The moment is ruined as Clint drops from the vent in the kitchen twenty minutes later and stares with narrowed eyes and attempts to steal the baby currently staring between the two from Pepper's arms. Pepper pulls Niall away at the last minute with her own narrowed eyes. "What do you think you're doing?" Pepper questions the man as he goes to reach for the baby. "Just saying good morning to our little sleeping beauty here." He explains with a devious smirk as he once again goes to reach for Niall in her arms. That smirk was all Pepper needed to know that he had something else planned entirely and promptly pulled Niall away again with her own playful smirk. "Well, I think that you can do that from where she is. She seems awfully comfy where she is and you wouldn't want to bother her, would you?" Pepper questions with the same smug smirk. Clint's smirk drops and his eyes narrow again as he stares at Pepper. "Oh c'mon, who knows how long you've had her this morning. I just want a chance to hold her before she gets tired of all the coddling and starts whining at us taking her away from her toys and stuffies just to hold her." Clint whines sadly as his thoughts start spiraling. "Don't make me start screaming, you know I will. Then we'll both have to share her." Clint slightly threatens with raised eyebrows as Pepper still refuses to budge. Pepper gives him a half-hearted glare as she gently shifts Niall into his waiting arms.
    As much as Pepper didn't want to give Niall up just yet, she couldn't help the soft smile that spreads over her face as she watches Clint bounce the baby in his own arms and coo over her as his eyes crinkle with his own soft smile, although his directed at the babbling little one currently nuzzling into his chest. Unfortunately, Pepper has to break the moment as the bottle she was slowly heating up for Niall had finally reached the intended temperature and is ready for Niall. She brings the bottle over to Clint who stares at her in confusion. "What is this? I thought you wanted to feed her?" Clint asks as he tries to hand the bottle and Niall back, albeit begrudgingly. "You should do it, I'll have plenty of other opportunities. Plus, she seems awfully comfy where she is and I wouldn't want to bother her, would I?" Pepper smirks as she hands the bottle back to him. His eyes light up as he stares at the baby in his arms, looking at him with nothing but content.
    Clint quickly takes a seat at the kitchen table and gently readjusts Niall so she can have her bottle both more safely and more comfortably. Clint thought there was no way he could love this little human anymore than he already did in that moment as she gently suckled at the bottle in his grasp, that was until one of her little hands gripped at his shirt tightly and the other came to rest over the hand holding the bottle for her as she drank. After that, Clint thought his heart was about to beat out of his chest as his soft smile came back to rest on his face as he stared at her. Clint's attention is briefly drawn away from Niall as he registers what sounds like a camera click and turns to see Pepper with her phone out and pointed at the two. Once he knows Pepper will send the photo that will no doubt be his new home and lock screen on his phone, he turns back to watching Niall. Niall's attention is slowly drawn from Clint to Pepper as she begins to card through Niall's hair softly and offers a soft smile directed at the sight in front of her. It's quiet for a few minutes as Niall is close to finishing up her bottle when both Pepper and Clint are distracted by a camera this time and turn to look at the kitchen door and finding Steve, Bucky, Kate, Yelena, and Natasha with their own soft smiles directed at the scene in front of them while Kate still has her phone out and pointed at the three in the kitchen.
    The five softly shuffle further into the kitchen as they let JARVIS know to alert the others about Niall's whereabouts. Clint pulls the now empty bottle away from Niall as she slightly whines at the loss before being positioned over his shoulder and patted gently on the back. Once Niall was all set, Clint was now coaxed into sadly giving up his Niall cuddles to Natasha who coos at the easily distracted baby now in her arms. The rest of the avengers pack slowly shuffle into the kitchen and take their seats at the table as they discuss possible plans for today and smile ever so often at the little girl playing with Natasha in her arms as she just grins right back. Never did any of them ever think that they would see The Black Widow™ smile this sweet let alone act this softly with just one person in such a short amount of time. As the group finally finishes up their discussion and plans for the day, mostly consisting of a check up for the little one with Bruce as they take in her small, wiry frame in Natasha's arms, Maria pulls a chair over to Natasha and joins in the fun with Niall.
    Bruce takes in all the soft grins around the table and the happiness radiating from his soulmates' marks before letting his eyes settle on the cause for all these emotions. He can feel the big guy in him sigh in content as he lays his eyes on her and knows he could trust himself to be around the little bundle without fear of hurting her. With one more glance at the scene in front of him, Bruce excuses himself to the lab to get everything ready for Niall's visit today. He grimaces at what he knows will probably be one of the toughest afternoons of his life. Babies don't like the doctor's visits in general and there's bound to be a sad, screaming baby present, add to that the fact it's his sad, screaming baby and he knows this won't be fun for anyone involved. He shakes his head and thinks back to Niall and how small she looks, even for a little, and finishes up his preparations for the check up. He makes sure that on top of all his medical equipment he'll need for the visit, that he also has little toys and treats on hand to reward Niall for her good behavior. He sighs before heading back upstairs to grab Niall as well as one possibly two more soulmates to keep Niall calm during the visit.
At the sight of Bruce, the group that had now migrated to the living room, flees the area knowing what is coming next. Before Bruce can even make it all the way over there, the only two left are Steve who is laying on a play mat on his back while Niall has tummy time on his chest, and Carol who couldn't bring herself to leave the adorable little girl grinning up at her from Steve's chest. The two look at their baby girl and sigh, knowing what's coming and realizing why everyone was so quick to leave the area now. The two stand up with a sigh and the girl in their arms as they follow Bruce back down to the lab in a slow shuffle in their own attempts to preserve their baby's happy grin and excited squeals and giggles. Niall leans her head on Steve's shoulders and giggles all the way down to the lab as Carol makes funny faces over Steve's shoulder to keep her distracted. As soon as they get to the lab and Niall is put on the baby exam table, her smile drops and her eyes water as she whimpers and reaches for one of the three to pick her back up and the three know right then and there that this is going to be a lot worse than they were both hoping and expecting it to be.