An Interesting Arrangement

Chapter Six

Six months later

Natasha groaned. "I hate being pregnant."

Loki lifted his head slightly from where he had been slipping on the sofa. "You're the one who wanted to get pregnant."

Natasha waved away his comment irritably. "I know, I know. But still. It's really uncomfortable."

Bucky stirred slightly from where he was sleeping on the floor. When Natasha had found out that she was pregnant, she'd found that she got tired a lot easier, so she'd begun taking naps. Loki and Bucky, who were bored since Steve had had to go back with the Avengers and Thor had gone back to Asgard, had begun taking naps with Natasha. She found this both weird and sweet, though Bucky had a tendency of snoring.

"Well, you've only got a couple more months." Loki said cheerfully. Though he tried to hide it, he was actually excited to have a baby to take care of. He knew that they were loud and messy (he'd helped with plenty of babies before), but all the same he was looking forward to having a child in the house. Bucky, however, was the polar opposite. He didn't like the thought of a messy child wrecking everything that they'd worked so hard to get together.

Natasha sighed. "I guess. But what if Steve is gone when the baby is born? I don't want him to miss this."

Loki gave her a sympathetic look. She was pregnant with Steve's child and had been for almost eight months and he'd been there for two months of it tops. Loki suspected that if Steve was here, she'd be doing a whole lot better. But since he was the captain of the Avengers, he had to go in when they needed him. "If he isn't here when you go into labor, I'll teleport him here myself."

Natasha gave him a grateful smile. He and Bucky had stepped up to the plate of slightly overprotective brothers when Steve had left and she really appreciated it. "Thanks, Lok."

Loki grinned. "It's Loki, and you're welcome."
*
Natasha gently laid down that night and carefully rubbed her hand in a circle on her stomach. "Hey baby." She said quietly. She never told the boys that she talked to the unborn baby, but it comforted her. "It's getting close to time, isn't it? I wish your father was here to see it." Natasha bit back tears as she said that. She was too emotional right now to think about Steve.

There was a knock at the door. "Natasha?" She heard Loki's voice call out. "You ok?" She reluctantly climbed to her feet and opened the door.

"How did you know?" She asked, not bothering to try hiding her tears.

Loki gave her a sad smile. "You forget, my magic is what's helping this baby along. I'm kind of connected to you."

Natasha sighed. "That must be fun."

Loki shrugged. "Sometimes. Do you wanna talk about it?"

Natasha shook her head. "No."

Loki thought for a moment. "Then how about some ice cream." Natasha gave him an odd look and he shrugged. "I've heard that it helps with ... emotional issues."

Natasha chuckled. "Ok. Let's go get some ice cream."
*
One month later

Natasha grimaced as another contraction came. She barely bit back a scream and tightened her hold on Bucky's hand.

Bucky grunted. "Loki better get back fast, otherwise I'm not going to have any hand left."

Natasha groaned as she settled back down in the hospital bed. "Sorry, Buck."

Bucky shrugged good naturedly. "Don't sweat it. You can't help it. And besides, Loki has to go grab the punk so that he doesn't miss his first kid. Of course if he did, that would just be typical."

Natasha let out a dry chuckle. "Sure would."
*
As it had happened, Loki had been unable to teleport Steve to the hospital for unknown reasons, so he'd teleported to Stark Tower in the hopes that he could drag Steve to Natasha.

Loki came upon Steve's bedroom door. He quickly knocked.

"Come in!" Steve called out. Loki opened the door and walked in. Steve looked up in surprise from where he was drawing a picture. "Well I can honestly say that I didn't expect you. Whatcha doin here Lok?"

"Well long story short, Natasha is in labor and I'm here to drag you to the hospital."

"What! Well what're we waiting for? Let's go!" Steve got up and ran out of the room. Loki rolled his eyes and followed the soon to be father, working on his teleportation spell as he went.
*
Bucky grunted as Natasha had yet another contraction. If Steve didn't show up soon, he was going to have to replace his good hand with a metal one as a result of the damage done from Natasha's squeezing. As he thought this though, Steve walked through a portal in the wall, closely followed by Loki.

"Nat!" Steve quickly rushed over to Natasha and kissed her forehead. "I'm here now."

Natasha smiled and hugged him. "I missed you."

Steve smiled back. "I missed you too."

Loki and Bucky both rolled their eyes and pretended to gag. They both actually thought that it was really sweet, but they didn't want to appear weak.

A nurse walked in and frowned at the two soon to be uncles. "What're you two doing in here? Family only!" She quickly shooed them out as Natasha and Steve laughed.
*
Two hours, four phone calls, and several people arriving later, a nurse finally walked into the waiting room.

"Natasha Rogers?" She called out. She was a little surprised when six guys and three girls all stood up, especially when that group couldn't have been more different if they'd tried (specifically Thor, who was still wearing his Asgardian armor).

"How's she doing?" Clint asked immediately.

"Just fine." The nurse said, smiling. "She's ready for a few visitors but..." she didn't get to finish because they all ran for Natasha's room. The nurse snorted. "But don't go in all at once."
*
Natasha smiled as they all walked in. "Thor, Nick, Clint, Loki, Bucky, Sam, Maria, Pepper, Laura, thanks for coming."

Pepper smiled at the new mother holding the baby in a little pink blanket. "She's beautiful, Natasha. What's her name?"

"Stephanie. Stephanie Margret Rogers." Steve told them, placing a hand on Natasha's back. The entire group smiled. It was encouraging seeing the new life come to two people who'd known such heartache in their lives. But now, neither one was thinking about that. They were only thinking about their baby girl. Their Stephanie.
*
What do you guys think? We've still got a couple more kids to go, but I'll probably mention their pregnancies fairly briefly because I want to focus on "Uncle" Loki. ;)