Bartoned

Chapter 28

A week after Steve and Bucky returned from their honeymoon, Wanda, Sam, and Rhodey left on a mission. Once again it was one of those need-to-know situations, and the only thing you needed to know, was that Kari was a little more frustrated and a little needier when Wanda wasn't in town. You could relate given how hard it had been without Clint around, and they were creeping ever closer to their own wedding date. It was a lot to worry about and not having your support person there for you upped the stress level.

You thought you would try and make the effort to be a better and more present friend, not just to her, but to everyone. It had been hard with Nattie. She had her schedule and often her midday nap went right through lunch. The others all went out of their way to come and visit when they could, often even bringing you meals or taking her while you took a shower or a nap. But you hadn't been to a group lunch much since she'd been born, and that was four months ago. You missed it. They were family now and you missed just being with them. You wanted Nattie to have that time with them too.

You went up to the common floor for lunch when FRIDAY alerted you that everyone had finished with the morning training session. You arrived with baby Natasha just after the others had gotten comfortable on the couches with their food. They all looked around at you as the doors opened.

"Hey! You haven't come up for lunch much since Nattie was born," Steve said, smiling warmly at you. "We've missed you."

"Yeah, sorry about that. She's always sleeping at lunchtime. Got lucky today," you said as you carried her in.

"Good, because it's about time she got passed around," Tony said, holding his arms out to her.

You plopped the four-month-old into his arms and went to get yourself something to eat.

"Oh wow, she's getting so big. You both need to come to lunch more often," Tony said.

"You look good with a kid, Tony," Steve said, watching him bounce the little girl on his knee while he pulled faces at her. Nattie patted his cheeks and babbled happily at him.

"Yeah? Well too bad I missed that chance," Tony replied, modulating his voice so he sounded like he was talking to Nattie, rather than Steve.

"Just do like I do," Clint joked. "Knock up some rando you haven't even been on a date with."

Tony snorted. "Yeah, I'll be sure to do that." He looked up at Steve and raised an eyebrow. "What about you, Cap? Gonna get yourself one of these?"

Steve gave a small half-shrug. "It's not really something we've talked about. With work and everything," he said and held out his hands to Tony. "I'll take that one though."

You sat down next to Clint as Tony handed baby Natasha to Steve. The little girl started to wave her hands again and made the 'ba blah' sound like she was trying to participate in the conversation. Clint put his arm around your shoulder and stole a piece of garlic bread off your plate.

"I kinda want one," Bucky said, cuddling up to Steve as he played with your daughter.

"You do?" Steve asked, looking at him.

"Yeah. I mean, it's probably a terrible idea. But I like kids. And you're already basically a dad," Bucky said.

Steve chewed on his bottom lip as he played with baby Natasha's hands. "We'll talk about it tonight, okay?"

Bucky smiled and gave a small nod, cuddling up to Steve's side.

"How's the wedding planning going?" Steve asked as Bucky leaned over him and tickled Nattie's stomach.

"Ours isn't. You guys being away slammed us. And then I got sent out. We barely had time to sleep let alone plan things," Clint said, his mouth stuffed full of bread.