The Tower: Unexpected

Clint

The next month, I was a little bit of a roller coaster. My morning sickness got really bad. I was throwing up multiple times a day and barely able to keep things down. I still hadn't even seen a hair of Bucky, Clint or Tony. Hulk was still the Hulk. There didn't seem to be any indication that Bruce would return. On top of that, I was growing out of all my clothes.

I had Wanda, Natasha, Steve, Sam, and the Hulk though. They were doting on me a lot. Sam was making sure I was eating. If something set off my morning sickness, he'd make note of it and I wouldn't see it again. He made sure that every meal had what I needed even if it was something really bland so I could keep it down.

Natasha was being anal about all the doctor's orders. She made sure I'd keep going to work and exercising without overdoing it. That I took my anti-nausea medication and vitamins. She kept me out of the public eye too. She was pretty insistent that the press didn't find out I was pregnant.

Steve was doing the same as Nat as far as the double-checking I'd taken my pills that day, but he was also a huge soft touch when it came to cravings. If I said I felt like chimney cake, he'd go get me Chimney cake even though there were only two places in the whole city that sold it.

Wanda took me shopping for clothes and cuddled with me when I was low. She was always there to hold my hair in the bathroom. And if I really just didn't want to follow the rules, she was the one that let me off.

Hulk was the one I went to if I really just wanted someone to be excited. Wanda and Nat were excited about it too, but life moved on. Hulk was always excited. He'd light up when he saw me and want to touch my growing stomach. He would tell me how he really wanted to feel them and when I told him we were naming one Pietro and I was thinking about Riley for the other, he got excited that they now had names.

So things were looking up in any case. Not perfect but I didn't feel so alone. I didn't feel like I was being foolish hoping the others would come back to me.

It was a Saturday afternoon and I was just sitting alone in the common room when Clint showed up.

Showed up is underselling it really. He climbed down out of the vent above my head babbling like we were already in the middle of a conversation.

"Hey, El. I've been reading. And there are some things that I don't understand. Like, did you know that a fetus can have hiccups? How is that even possible."

I was too shocked and amused to be upset with him. It was such a Clint thing to do that I felt like I hadn't lost him in the first place. "Uh.. yeah. Yep. I've felt them. It's weird."

"The book also said they start to grow fingernails at about 10 weeks." He continued to babble, sitting down next to me and opening up a baby book full of multicolored tabs to a page and showing me a picture.

"So I read. That's weird to think about. I wonder if they scratch inside there." I said looking at the book more than the picture. It was well worn and each tab was labeled with things like 'hearing' and 'diabetes' and 'alien face'.

"Well, they're not as strong. So maybe you wouldn't feel it?" He said looking from my stomach to the book and then back again.

"Oh yeah. That makes sense." I said, closing the book and put it on the coffee table. I looked at him and smiled. "You've been reading up?"

"Yes," Clint said, grinning. "I've done the reading that FRIDAY recommended for me. The margins have notes."

I took his hand and started playing with his fingers. They were so long and calloused. You could always tell that Clint used his hands a lot. "That's where you've been all this time?"