Bartoned

Chapter 21

Natasha hadn't put baby Natasha down since you and Clint had brought her back from the hospital. She'd done the diaper change, and when Nattie had fallen asleep, she'd sat in the rocker, holding her.

"You know, you're gonna have to give her back eventually, right?" you said, sipping your tea. It was strange. You knew eventually Natasha would stop showing up so much, and that when she did you'd be grateful to hand the baby over so you could shower or get some rest. Right now, you were antsy, and you could tell Clint was worse.

"You get her back to feed her, and then she's mine again," Natasha said, pulling a face at you.

"Nat," Clint whined. "I wanna hold her too."

Natasha huffed dramatically. "Fine. You can have her I guess."

She got up carefully and brought her over to Clint, gently setting the baby in his arms. Nattie grumbled and flailed her limbs around for a moment. Clint put his finger in his hand and she pulled it up to her mouth and started sucking on his knuckle.

Natasha hovered watching for a moment and was about to sit down when there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it," she said.

Steve and Bucky followed her back inside. Bucky was holding a large floral arrangement in pink with a foil balloon with 'It's a girl!' written on it and a pink teddy bear. '"Hey, I hope we're not imposing." Steve said as Bucky went and put his flowers with the other random arrangements the two of you had received.

"No, of course not," you said. "Do you want anything? Coffee?"

Steve waved you off. "You just gave birth, take it easy," he said and came over, kissing your cheek. He moved to Clint and reached over to touch Nattie on the hand. "She's beautiful. You did good, mama."

You smiled. "Thank you."

"We just wanted to see the baby," Bucky said, coming over too.

"Well, you can't hold her. I only just got her," Clint grumbled.

"Clint!" you scolded.

He huffed and looked up at Steve. "Fine. You can hold her."

Steve shook his head. "It's fine. She can stay with her dad. We'll come to hold her when she's settled in and you're begging for a break."

Bucky laughed and wrapped his arm around Steve's waist. "We have something else too."

"Oh, yeah," Steve said fishing into his pocket and pulling out a thick, dark blue envelope with gold filigree and a golden wax seal.

He handed it to you and you turned it over in your hands. "What's this?"

"Easy way to find out," Steve said, taking out another. "We have one for you too, Nat."

She took it and narrowed her eyes at him as she opened it. You followed Natasha's lead opening your envelope. Inside was a dark blue card whose cover looked like a gold cage over it. You opened it to find a wedding invitation addressed to you, Clint, and baby Natasha.

"Oh my goodness!" you said as you looked it over.

"Getting in there before Kari and Wanda, huh?" Natasha asked.

"We've had this date for 18 months. Technically they're following our lead," Steve said. "We hope you'll all be able to make it."

"Wouldn't miss it," Clint said. "Who's your best men?"

"Sam is Bucky's and Tony is mine," Steve said.

"Oh man, that bachelor party is going to be epic!" Clint said as he played with Natasha's fingers. "Daddy's gonna get very drunk with a bunch of strippers," he said to his daughter.