Budapest

Chapter One

Chapter One

October 1, 2010

Natasha was exhausted. But of course, Tony had to throw a party. Because he's Tony. The intentions were good-the party was for the Bartons- but Tony clearly did not realize how exhausting giving birth was.

Natasha and Clint were barely through the door when their S.H.I.E.L.D. monitor lit up with a message marked "urgent".

To: All S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents

From: Tony Stark

Birdie had a little chick. Party to celebrate. Tower, 8:00 pm. No exceptions.

Natasha sighed and looked at her newborn. "Looks like Uncle Tony is excited to meet you."

The baby stirred a little and made a cooing noise. Natasha smiled. The infant already had a few whisks of bright red hair. It was quite obvious that she wasn't going to take after her father, whose hair was very much blonde. But she did have Clint's icy blue eyes, which opened now to examine the monitor.

"Uh oh," Clint said, coming up behind them, "looks like she's got your curiosity."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Well, you know what they say. Curiosity killed the spider."

Natasha laughed and handed him their daughter, then started for the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Clint asked.

"To sleep. If Stark seriously wants me at that party tonight, then I need my beauty sleep. Having a baby is not easy." She disappeared into the second floor of their decent-sized house.

Clint turned to his baby. "Well, Merida, looks like it's just you and me."

Merida stared at him with her huge blue eyes.

"Don't look at me like that. It's weirding me out."

The girl smiled a toothless smile, which made Clint smile. He sat down on the couch with her in his arms.

"So..." Clint said, not quite sure what to do. Much to his dismay, Merida didn't give him any help. "You wanna watch TV?"

He took the silence for a 'yes'. He picked up the remote and turned on the football game. As he watched, Merida slowly fell asleep in his arms.

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The Bartons walked into the elevator of Stark Tower, Natasha holding the baby. She still looked exhausted, but less so than when they had first gotten home.

They rode all the way up to the penthouse, where Tony was waiting for them with a whole crowd of people. The crowd cheered, and Tony walked up to the couple. He smiled down at the baby.

"What's his name?" Tony asked, "Am I going to blush?"

Natasha scoffed incredulously. "First of all, we're never naming any of our children after you and secondly, it's a girl. Her name is Merida."

"Hello, Merida." Tony gave the girl a little wave, and then gestured to the crowd behind him. "Enjoy the party."

As soon as Tony moved out of the way, the rest of the Avengers, plus Maria Hill, Coulson, and Pepper, swarmed the couple.

"She's so adorable!" Pepper squealed.

"Congradulations," Steve said, patting Clint on the back.

"Thanks, guys," Clint said, grinning with pride.

Natasha handed Merida to Clint. "You take her for a moment. I need to talk to Tony."

She walked away and pulled Tony out of his drinking contest with Wolverine.

"You're sure this place is secure, right?" she asked him, nervously glancing toward the balcony.

"Of course it is. You worked here. You know this is the most secure place in New York."

"Is that why it was so easy for me to infiltrate it?" Tony glared at her and she scoffed. "Look, I don't exactly approve of you telling all of S.H.I.E.L.D. that I had a kid. You know Fury has suspicions of HYDRA infiltrating us, and now would be the perfect time to get revenge on me, and-"

"Calm down, Nat," Tony said. "We're going to be fine."

"Okay," Natasha said, a bit uneasily. She shot him one last glance, and when he gave her a nod of reassurance, she turned and walked back to Clint and the baby.

Clint handed Merida back to his wife. "Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's fine," she said, glancing out the window once more.

But fate apparently didn't think that everything should be fine.

An hour into the party, the windows shattered, and in came the Trapster.

"You foolish, foolish heroes," Trapster growled. "All together in one place, like sitting ducks."

Everyone in the room immediately lunged for their various super items: their guns, their suits, their bows, because a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent never goes anywhere without a weapon. Natasha hid Merida in one of Tony's obnoxious houseplants, grabbed her Widow Stings, and slipped them over her wrists.

"How stupid does this guy have to be to attack a party full of superheroes?" Clint said as Natasha joined him. Already,the Trapster was in pretty bad shape. However, he was still firing glue all over.

Natasha fired a few bullets at him and punctured his glue tanks. She took a running start, then leaped up and knocked the villain unconscious with a roundhouse kick that would put Chuck Norris to shame.

"Very stupid," she told Clint, looking back at him over her shoulder.

The crowd of heroes and agents burst into laughter as Tony made a crack about the Trapster's IQ.

Natasha chuckled and pulled Merida out of the plant.

"It's okay, baby," she said, rocking the child-who had begun to cry at the sound of gunshots-back and forth in her arms. "So much for secure, Tony," she muttered.

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October 2, 2010

"Clint, I want to retire."

Clint stared at Natasha incredulously. "Retire? Tasha, that doesn't sound like you at all."

"I know, but I've been thinking about last night. And it's just way too dangerous a line of work now that we have Merida. We need to leave heroing behind, go somewhere safe."

Clint nodded. He saw where his wife was coming from. Besides, he knew he would probably only have to wait a few years before picking up the bow again. Trouble was known to follow the Barton family everywhere. "Okay. Where do you want to go?"

Natasha thought for a moment. "Budapest," she replied. "I want to go to Budapest."

A/N I'm back! So I promise lots of updates this month, and maybe I'll have some special holiday chapters out at the end of the month. Thank you to everyone who votes and comments and waits so very patiently for updates. I love you all!