Archive of Our Own ^beta

Hold On, No I Don’t Need to Talk

“Hey, baby girl, you’ve gotta wake up,” Clint shakes Darcy’s shoulder gently. “I got some medicine for you.”

Darcy turns in the bed to face Clint and begins to let out a groan of annoyance before she winces and stops herself, the noise dying in her throat. “Ow,” she mouths to Clint instead of speaking.

“Yeah,” he said, “Sorry about that. Here’s some antibiotics and some painkillers, Bruce says you’ll start feeling better after 24 hours of medicine in your system.” Clint hands Darcy a small pile of pills and a glass of water.

“How am I-” Darcy begins to speak before stopping, tears forming in her eyes. She takes a deep breath before steeling herself for the pain and shoving the pills in her mouth, followed by a swig of water. There is a pause before she convinces herself to swallow, pain clear in every inch of her features.

She sets the glass down on her nightstand and makes sure Clint was looking at her, “Fucking strep throat,” she signs.

Clint brightens a little and signs, “Hey, but at least our new hobby comes in handy?” It was their own private joke, a way to make light of Clint’s hearing loss from one of his own arrows exploding in his face. Tony had made him state of the art hearing aids that helped him most of the time, but both he and Darcy had decided to learn ASL so he didn’t have to wear them in their own quarters.

“Haha,” Darcy signs as she rolls her eyes. “How’s Jane? Has she eaten?”

“Darce, you need to be focused on yourself right now. Thor can look after Jane just fine,” Clint admonishes her verbally.

“JARVIS?” Darcy croaks, intent on getting the information one way or another.

“Doctor Foster last ate a sandwich four hours ago, Miss Lewis,” the AI intones. “If I may, do you have a sign for me yet Miss Lewis?” Darcy shook her head, aware that the cameras in the room were tracking her movement. “If you would like to assign one to me I can look out for it so you do not need to speak while it is painful to you.”

Darcy smiles and looks to Clint with a raised eyebrow before signing the letter J in the air. “Very well, Miss Lewis, Mr. Barton. Please let me know if you need anything.”

“Are you hungry?” Clint askes, “I don’t think you’ve eaten anything since last night.”

“Can’t,” Darcy signs to him. “Hurts too much.”

Clint frowns, “The pain medicine should kick in soon if I make you some soup can you try and eat it then?”

Darcy nods and signs, “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll try.”

Twenty minutes later Clint returns to the room with a small bowl of soup and sat down next to Darcy as she works on swallowing it down. When she finishes he takes the bowl from her and kisses her forehead, “Rest now. I love you,” he whispers.

“I love you,” Darcy signs before scooting back down under the covers and going to sleep.

Far Gone and the Words are Too Small

“Jane?” Darcy calls as she steps into her friends' apartment. “Are you here?”

“Lady Darcy!” Thor calls to her from the kitchen of the small suite in Avengers Tower. “It is most wonderful to see you. My Lady Jane is taking a shower, but she should be available soon.”

“Thanks, Big Guy,” Darcy smiles as she strolls over to Thor and gives him a hug. “It’s good to see you, too.”

“I am glad to see you and Agent Barton have begun to start a family,” the god smiles as he narrows his eyes at Darcy’s middle.

“What?” Darcy asks, not daring to believe what she thinks his proclamation means.

“You’re pregnant, did you not know? About two months along, I’d guess,” Thor says, as he continues to stare at Darcy who was growing paler by the second.

“Please tell me you’re joking with me, Thor.”

“Why would I joke about such a matter, Lady Darcy? I am a fertility god, after all, it is well within my realm of powers to see these sorts of things,” he states matter of factly. “Why, is there something the matter?”

“No,” Darcy said quickly before turning on her heels, “Just tell Jane I was looking for her. And can you keep this to yourself, please? I need to talk to Clint about this before anyone else does.” She walks out of the apartment without waiting for an answer and quickly rides the elevator to her own. Once there she enacts privacy mode before closing the door to the bedroom and making a single phone call.

For the first time in a long time, she was glad Clint was away on a short mission. Darcy needs time to consider how she felt about this new...development. She has an IUD so the pregnancy was completely unexpected, and also likely dangerous. Resisting the urge to consult Doctor Google, Darcy puts on an old favorite movie and thinks about what she wants out of her doctor's’ appointment the next day.

~*~

“Darcy, how have you been?” a blonde woman calls loudly as she walked into the exam room.

Darcy smiles, “Good, Dr. Branson.” She pauses before continuing, “But I have reason to believe I may be pregnant, and I’m kind of concerned about that.”

The doctor hums as she looks over Darcy’s charts. “I will have to go grab your test results from the front to see, but what makes you think you’re pregnant?” she asks kindly.

Darcy has spent a long time the previous night thinking about what her excuse for this would be - she couldn’t exactly tell her doctor that a fertility god had informed her. She hadn’t gotten a period since she started the IUD years ago so a missed cycle couldn’t be it. “I had strep throat about two months ago and was on some strong antibiotics,” Darcy spoke up. “My husband and I didn’t think about it. We didn’t use back up protection. Lately, I’ve been feeling pretty tired,” she continues listing off early symptoms of pregnancy and hoping for the best.

“Okay,” Dr. Branson says, “Let me go get those test results and we’ll see what they say.”

A few moments later there was a soft knock at the door before the doctor entered the room again. “Well, you were right, Darcy. You’re pregnant,” the doctor says with practiced neutrality. “Unfortunately, because you have the IUD still in place, there is a good chance this is an ectopic pregnancy. I’m ordering an ultrasound so we can check, a nurse will be here to escort you to the ultrasound room shortly.”

“Okay,” Darcy replies, numbly. She knew enough about the dangers of conceiving while still having an IUD to know this couldn’t be good. Twenty minutes and one ultrasound later, the pregnancy was confirmed. Darcy was back in the exam room alone waiting for Dr. Branson when her phone buzzed with a message from Clint.

Just got home. Where are you?

“Doctors’ office,” Darcy dashes off a quick reply.

You okay?

Darcy falters, unsure of how to respond. “Not sick or dying,” she types out before there was a knock at the door. “Doctor’s back gotta go.” She tucks her phone away, grateful for the excuse to talk to Clint later. “Well?” Darcy asks the doctor as she enters the room.

“Were you and your husband trying to get pregnant, Darcy?” the doctor asks kindly.

“No. We’d talked about it for sometime in the future, but we weren’t planning on anything.”

“Okay,” the doctor nods. “The circumstances of this pregnancy make it too risky for you to carry to full term,” she pauses to let the words sink in. “I can administer a shot that will terminate the pregnancy today. If you would like I can also remove the IUD so you and your husband can begin trying in earnest?”

Darcy goes silent as she took all of it in. Thirty-six hours ago she had no idea she was pregnant, and now she was losing the baby she hadn’t known she wanted. “Okay,” was all she could manage to say at first. The doctor waits patiently for her to continue, “Okay, give me the shot. And take out the IUD, but can you give me a prescription for the pill instead?”

~*~

“Darcy?” Clint calls when he hears the door to their apartment close. He walks out of the bedroom, hair disheveled like he’d been unable to stop messing with it for hours. A pang of guilt runs through Darcy when she notices it, certain he’d been nervous about her since she’d last texted.

Darcy was proud of herself, she’d made it through the entire morning and medical journey without breaking down. But now in the safety of their living room, in the face of Clint’s worried look, she lost it, face crumpling and a sob breaking from her lips as Clint rushed forward to embrace her.

“Hey, baby girl,” Darcy sobs harder at Clint’s words, “What’s wrong?” He guides her over to the couch, taking her bag from her hand and setting it down on the way.

“I- we-” Darcy begins to speak haltingly. “I was pregnant,” she finally stutters out.

“Was?” Clint asks, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Was. The antibiotics I took fucked with the hormones in my IUD and surprise,” Darcy says, one hand waving with a small flourish. “It was in my fallopian tube, keeping it would have been dangerous.” She goes on to explain how Thor had told her and she’d immediately made an appointment with her doctor, tears still streaming down her cheeks.

Clint pulls Darcy across the couch and into his arms, “You’re okay though?”

“For a given value of okay, sure,” Darcy says, her words muffled against his chest.

“What does that mean?”

“They gave me a shot, it forces my body to reject the pregnancy. There will likely be cramping and nausea. I’m going to feel awful and the entire time I will know it’s because I’m losing the chance to be a mom,” she sobs. “I didn’t even realize how badly I wanted it until it was taken from me.”

“Aw, Darcy, no,” Clint says as he pulls away to look her in the eye. “That’s not how it works, honey. You don’t stop being a mom just because you lost a baby.” He’d spent enough time around the women in the circus to know that these words would be comforting. “Besides, from what you told me as soon as you found out you were pregnant you immediately did what was best for the baby. You knew it could be dangerous so you did what you needed to do for both of you. I’d say that makes you a pretty great mom.”

“Oh my god, shut up,” Darcy sobs, leaning forward into his embrace. “I love you,” she adds as he rubs softly at her back.

~*~

“Fuuuuuuck,” Darcy groans into her pillow as she turns off her alarm. “I forgot how much cramps suck.”

“Sorry, baby,” Clint says then winces at Darcy’s reaction. “Right, sorry. Holding off on all baby-related terms of endearment.”

“It’s okay, I will get over it.”

“Hey, so, last night you said something about how you really wanted to be a mom?” Clint asks, one arm wrapping around her waist as he ducks forward to kiss the tip of her nose.

“Yeah?” Darcy says, “What about it?”

“Well, what if after this,” he trails off without completing the sentence. “What if we actually tried to have a kid?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, after you fell asleep last night I was thinking about it. I know we’d always just said later, but what if later was now? If you’re ready, I’m ready.”

Darcy smiles “Okay. I had my doctor take the IUD out and give me a prescription for the pill so we could start trying when we were ready.”

Clint grins at her, “I’m down to start trying now.” The hand on her waist ducks lower to pinch her ass.

“You’re incorrigible,” Darcy says. “I feel like shit and I’m positive I look like shit, too.”

“Not possible,” Clint smiles. “You always look amazing to me. How about I go make coffee and biscuits while you shower?”

“You’re too good to me, Barton,”  Darcy says over her shoulder as she sits up on the bed.

“Yeah, well,” he replies with a sheepish look on his face, “You’re someone to be good for.”

~*~

When Darcy gets out of the shower she’s met with the smell of fresh coffee, the ridiculously fluffy biscuits Clint learned to make undercover years ago, and the sizzle of bacon in the air. Clint typically saved this sort of breakfast for the weekend mornings when Darcy wanted to stay in bed all day and he needed to rouse her out of her slumber. Making it on a Thursday when he knew she’d rather stay in bed than go to work was new, but she suspected Clint knew she needed the extra motivation.

On the kitchen counter sat a foil-wrapped puck next to a tumbler of coffee. “For Jane,” Clint says as he points towards the biscuit. “For you,” he adds before placing a hand on her back and gently steering her towards a plate and mug waiting for her on the tall island bar.

Five minutes later she’s finished eating and Clint is gently pushing her out the door towards the elevator. “Go get your mind off things and focus on helping Jane. I’ll make dinner for us later tonight so you don’t have to worry about it.”

The ride to the lab is mercifully quiet so there is no one to see Darcy steel herself for the day. She knew she’d need to tell Jane about the miscarriage, as well as the fact that she and Clint had decided to go ahead and try for a kid, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to say the words out loud again. Saying them to Clint last night had been hard enough.

Jane is already absorbed in calculations on a screen in front of her so Darcy sets the biscuit and coffee down at her elbow before moving on to her own desk to begin transcribing the previous day's notes, thankful that she does not have to worry about a conversation just yet. An hour passes before Darcy hears the rustle of movement from Jane.

“Darcy?” her friend asks as she takes a bite of biscuit. “Why did Clint make Saturday biscuits on a Thursday?”

“You’re too smart for your own good, Janey.”

“And you didn’t answer my question.”

Darcy sighs and stands up from her seat before walking over to the small counter space that houses the lab coffee machine. Behind the counter in a little corner alcove sits a plush couch that’s most often used for lab naps but has been known to support the two women in a heart to heart before. When Darcy pours herself a mug of coffee then sits on the couch with her feet tucked under her, Jane follows quickly behind.

“This is going to suck,” Darcy says before taking a sip of coffee.

“Oh my god you aren’t quitting are you?” Jane asks her typically calm face now a mask of worry.

“Janey! No! I love it here, I’d never quit on you...I just,” Darcy pauses and collects herself, determined not to cry this time. “Okay, so the other day I went to go find you in your rooms, right? But you were in the shower and I saw Thor.”

“Yeah, I remember he said he ran into you. He seemed kind of strange though, did something happen?” Jane asks.

“Kinda…” There’s another pause before Darcy continues. “Thor, uh, kind of told me I was pregnant?” She knows this is a fact and not a question, but she can’t keep the questioning tone out of her voice.

“Oh shit,” came Jane’s soft reply. “But your IUD?”

“I know. I asked him not to tell anyone and made an appointment with my doctor. She had to…” Darcy doesn’t finish the sentence, she doesn’t have to and she’s glad because she knows she could not get the words out again. Jane closes the small space between them and envelopes her in a tight hug.

“How are you?” Jane asks, one hand rubbing lightly at Darcy’s back.

“Cramping,” Darcy says before pausing. “Sad, too. I didn’t know I wanted to be a mom so badly until now.” She lets out a heavy sigh, “I’m just trying to focus on working right now. If I don’t, I think I’ll lose it.”

“Yeah,” Jane says, “I can understand that. What did Clint say about everything?”

For the first time since Darcy entered the lab a smile graces her face. “He’s been so great, Jane. I don’t know how I got so lucky with him. He made the biscuits this morning and he’s just been so comforting.”

“That’s good, I’m glad he’s been there for you.”

“This morning he told me he would be willing to actually try for a kid once this whole process is done. I think maybe we’re going to?” Darcy says, a small amount of uncertainty creeping into her voice at the end.

“Oh, Darcy! That’d be so exciting!” Jane says. “Thor’s been hoping you guys would get around to it soon.”

“He has?”

There’s a smirk on Jane’s face when she replies, “Oh, yeah. He told me when you guys got together that you’d make great kids - something he can tell apparently.”

“Well,” Darcy begins, “Can you maybe tell him to keep this first one to himself? I’m not really prepared to have the entire tower trying to comfort me here.” Jane nods in understanding. “I promise as soon as I know we’re pregnant again I will tell you and Thor so he can properly rejoice,” Darcy smiles again.

“Good, you’d better,” comes Jane’s friendly reply.

A Trace Between What Will Be and What Came Before

Darcy can’t be sure if Clint’s legendary aim or her friendship with a fertility god is more responsible for how quickly she gets pregnant once they start trying. Either way, two months after her first brush with motherhood Darcy misses a period and Thor confirms her pregnancy (who needs pregnancy tests anyway?). She somehow convinces Thor and Clint to keep things under wraps for her first trimester - she’s a tad superstitious and she enjoys the thrill of having a secret, especially because she can still talk to Jane about it.

“What about Jane Natalie for a girl?” Jane asks as she scans through data on the computer screen in front of her.

“You just want us to name the baby after you,” Darcy replies.

“Jacob Nathan for a boy?” Jane counters.

“Look, I’m not saying naming our baby after our two best friends hasn’t come up in conversation before,” Darcy says, “But Clint and I are going to be the ones deciding on the name, not you. We’ve got seven months to go and about a million other things to figure out between now and then. Instead of coming up with names, what if you come up with where we’re going to put the baby?”

“Oh, yeah. I guess you may be needing another bedroom, huh.”

“Yep,” Darcy replies, “How do you think Tony will take it? Clint and I can’t decide if he’ll be ecstatic or terrified.”

Jane looks up from her computer screen, clearly pondering the possible outcomes from the tower’s owner. “Terrified until he realizes he can program JARVIS to keep it safe and help out,” she suggests. “Have you figured out how you’re going to tell everyone?”

It’s Darcy’s turn to ponder the question before responding, “No idea,” she finally responds.

~*~

As it turns out, figuring out how to tell the rest of the tower’s inhabitants about Darcy’s pregnancy wasn’t a thing they needed to worry about. A week before she would officially be in her second trimester - and therefore past the most dangerous part of her pregnancy and ready to tell the rest of the team - she began to show just a little. It wasn’t enough that anyone but Clint and Darcy would notice at first, especially if she wore baggier shirts, but by the time she got the the all clear by her doctor, Darcy was already noticing some lingering looks to her midsection.

Two weeks into her second trimester she’s cooking dinner in the communal kitchens and reaches up to get something from the top of the pantry, her shirt riding up her body as she stands on her tiptoes. “Whoa there, Lewis,” Tony says as he moves past her to open the refrigerator, “You and Barton got a bun in the oven or what?” His eyes linger on her round stomach as Darcy tugs her shirt down nervously.

“About that…”

“Oh shit, you’re kidding me,” Tony replies, eyebrows nearly reaching his hairline. “I was just joking, I didn’t-”

“Tony,” Darcy replies, voice stern as she faces him, “You’re the only asshole in the world who could joke around about a woman being pregnant and think it wasn’t a problem. But yes, Clint and I are expecting.”

Tony can’t quite read the look on Darcy’s face and if she’s really pregnant he knows hormones can be a bitch. “You’re not mad at me are you?”

“Why would Darcy be mad?” Bruce asks as he joins them in the kitchen.

“Cat’s out of the bag, Stark. May as well tell him,” Darcy says lightly. Bruce looks at the two of them cautiously before his eyes finally land on Tony.

“Lewis is pregnant,” Tony says with a straight face just as Natasha comes in the room.

“Oh, good,” Darcy smiles, “We’re getting the news to everyone at once.” There’s a trace of sarcasm in her voice that does little to detract from the light in her eyes.

“What, you didn’t know?” Natasha asks Tony and Bruce incredulously.

“Wait, you knew?” Tony asks the spy.

“No one told me, but I figured it out, yes,” she says before turning to Darcy. “Congratulations, I’m happy for you both.”

By the time dinner is on the table every one of the Avenger’s has been told and the meal turns into an impromptu celebration. Clint leans into Darcy between dinner and dessert and whispers, “I can’t gauge how Stark’s handling it. Scared or excited, do you think?”

The smile she gives him in return fills Clint with glee, “Scared shitless, hiding it well, I think. Did Thor tell you about the bet he’s got with Jane?” When Clint shakes his head Darcy continues to speak, “She’s giving him two months of freaking out before he starts programming JARVIS to baby-proof. Thor doesn’t think he’ll make it two weeks.”

Clint laughs loudly, “Think I can get in on that bet?”

“I think you’re better off saving your money. We still don’t know where we’re going to live when this kid comes,” Darcy says practically.

“You make an extremely valid point,” Clint agrees.

Later, after some of the commotion has died down and the dishes have been put away, the team settles in the living room. Dinner had been about a celebration of their child, but now it was clear that the time for questions had come. “So when are you due?” Pepper asks Darcy gently.

“Oh, yes! When are you due, Darcy? I can have JARVIS compare your child to a piece of fruit or an object,” Tony asks eagerly.

“Miss Lewis, do I have your permission to share the pregnancy information?” the disembodied voice of the AI calls.

“Go for it, J,” Darcy replies as she leans into Clint’s shoulder.

“Wait,” Tony is saying as JARVIS begins displaying information and photos on a screen. “My own AI knew about this before I did?”

“Sir,” JARVIS speaks, “It would be a violation of HIPAA for me to share medical information of without the permission of the patient.” Before Tony can begin to argue with him, the AI continues on, illuminating various images as he goes. “Miss Lewis is due June 26th. Currently, Baby Barton is the size of a lemon.” In front of them is a series of Darcy’s first sonogram images, as well as facts about the baby at 14 weeks.

“Baby Barton,” Steve says as he shook his head.

“I know, right?” Clint joins in. “I’m still a little shocked myself.”

“How are you thinking of decorating the nursery?” Pepper turns to Darcy to ask.

She’s not positive it’s true, but in the court of law, Darcy would swear it was her hormones that replied to Pepper and not her brain. “We don’t have a nursery to decorate yet, so I haven’t given it much thought.”

Tony looks sharply between Darcy and Clint, “That’s a good point, you will need more space now, won’t you? JARVIS, figure out the best place in the residences to move the Barton-Lewis family to and make arrangements. What?” he says when he sees the shocked look on Darcy’s face, “You didn’t think I would make space for the first baby Avenger?”

~*~

The topic of nursery decorations had been a main discussion point in the week after Tony had said he’d find space for them. Sometimes it felt as though once Darcy had known that they could stay in the tower the pregnancy had become real to her. She could start planning for things now and she did so in earnest. Looking up baby necessities and making a registry for the shower that Pepper was insisting on throwing her. Starting on crochet and knit baby items (Jane had to reel her in from making a different baby blanket themed for each member of the team, though it had been a close thing).

Clint even got into the planning. He sees Darcy looking at cribs online and shakes his head at her, “Nu-uh. I can make a crib.”

“What?!” Darcy asks him.

“Yeah. I used to do a lot of building and tearing down with the circus. Someone was just about always getting pregnant so it won’t be the first time I’ve built one. This one will just be the best crib yet.”

Darcy is taken aback by this knowledge. She knows that Clint had spent his childhood moving from place to place with the circus, but it wasn’t something he talked about a lot. It made sense that they would have to tear down and rebuild at every new place, but she hadn’t considered the logistics of it and who would have been doing that work. That Clint was a part of that, let alone that he had learned to build useful things from it, was news to her. Her heart warms at the thought of their child sleeping in a bed made by him, under a blanket made by her.

“Have I told you lately that I love you?” Darcy sings to Clint before kissing him.

~*~

Darcy makes space for Clint in Jane’s lab and shows him how to get JARVIS to help out with the plans for the crib. He works diligently between training sessions and briefing meetings. Darcy finds she likes having him in the lab with her, his focused quiet a nice reprieve from the madness that is working with Jane. When he’s here she can watch him as he works, shoulders hunched over as he chews on a pencil between making adjustments to his plans. She’s never seen this side of him before but she’s falling in love with it just the same as she falls in love with Clint all over again every day.

Jane is over halfway through with the morning’s first pot of coffee when Clint comes bustling into the lab after a sparring session with Steve. He waves to Jane before dropping a kiss on the top of Darcy’s head and moving onto his own workspace. Another minute passes before Darcy hears him call out.

“Fuck. JARVIS, get Stark in here. Now, please.”

This will hardly be the first time Tony’s presence has been requested in their labs immediately, though usually, it’s Jane who is bellowing for him after she’s found that he replaced one of her precious machines.  When Tony comes into the room he immediately addresses Jane, “I didn’t do it, Foster, I swear. I haven’t touched your stuff. I can even provide video evidence if necessary.”

“It’s not Jane you need to worry about Tony,” Clint says from his corner. “Care to explain why the plans for the crib I’ve been working on suddenly call for it to be painted Iron Man maroon and gold?”

“Oh. That.” Tony says flatly. “You can change the color scheme all you want, but did you see the other modifications I made? I think it will make the entire thing much better.”

“What. Other. Modifications.” Clint says, trying to keep his calm.

“Jane,” Darcy says to her friend, “Get the popcorn. This should be good.”

“JARVIS,” Tony calls out, “Show Barton the improvements we made on his design.”

There’s a flurry of motion on the screens in front of Clint as JARVIS explodes the diagram and highlights the weight sensors and added technology Tony has made plans for in the crib. “Who needs baby monitors when you have the world's smartest AI observing your child 24/7? Did I mention JARVIS can also keep tabs on the weight and sleep quality too? Because he can.”

Darcy can tell that Clint is trying to stay mad that Tony came in and messed with his plans without asking, but the technology he’s designed to add to the crib really is incredible and the anger dissipates quickly. “Okay,” Clint says. “Your modifications stay. Except for the Iron Man paint job - we’re going with a space theme and it just wouldn't fit.”

“Hey,” Tony replies, “Iron Man has been to space. It would totally fit.”

“Tony,” Darcy interjects, “Do you really think we want to be reminded of that terrifying experience every time we go into our child's room?”

“Okay, you make a valid point,” Tony concedes. “But space theme, huh. I can totally work with that.” Tony wanders off before anyone can question what it is he’s talking about and Darcy decides it’s best to just leave it for later. JARVIS has been overseeing the remodel of two of the guest suits into one larger family space and she trusts the AI to prevent anything too crazy from being added on. There was still another three months to go before the rooms would be ready, but Darcy was eager to see the new space.

~*~

As Darcy’s stomach grew larger she started having to field more and more questions from strangers and Avengers associates. “Seriously, Jane,” Darcy snaps as she throws her bag down on her table and heaves herself into her desk chair. “If one more person asks me if I’m having a boy or a girl I’m telling them I’m giving birth to a unicorn and they’re the father. Gender does not matter - they will be the father of my unicorn child.”

No one was willing to tell Darcy that her hormones were growing too.

“Darcy,” Jane says as she looks towards her friend, “Giving birth to a unicorn would be detrimental to your health. Horns in your uterus sound incredibly uncomfortable. Maybe an octopus is a better option?”

Darcy rolls her eyes in response, “Good, I’m glad a unicorn would be dangerous. Then when I die from carrying this ridiculous child it will be their fault and not mine.”

“What if we got you a shirt that said ‘I’m not finding out the sex of the baby, stop asking’?”

Darcy groans, “You’d have to buy me an entire box of them for every day of the week with as much as I’ve been sweating lately. Who thought being pregnant in the summer was a good idea? Can we kill them, Jane? Please?”

Rather than responding, Jane just pushes herself over to a whiteboard and adds another tally mark to the growing set of tallies in the corner labeled ‘# of People Darcy Wants To Kill’, as well as one to the slightly smaller set labeled ‘# of Times Darcy Will Kill Clint’.

“What if,” Jane counters, “you just told anyone who asks that you aren’t finding out the sex of the baby?”

“We’ve been over this already, Jane,” Darcy says, voice verging on being unkind. “Then I inevitably have to explain to them why I refuse to have gender norms placed on my unborn child. It starts an entire political conversation that I am never in the mood for.”

“So make it up? Tell them you’re having a girl or a boy, whichever one you’re feeling most at the time,” Jane suggests.

The look Darcy gives her in return could wilt flowers, “And have them force said gender norms on this baby anyway? I think not, Jane.”

“Okay, okay,” Jane concedes, no one has won an argument with Darcy since she entered her fifth month of pregnancy. “Unicorn baby. Got it.”

A few moments pass in companionable silence before the lab doors breeze open and they can hear the tell-tale sign of Pepper Potts’ heels clicking across the floor. “Darcy, Jane!” the woman says in greeting as she approaches their desk space. “It’s so good to see you both, I hope I’m not interrupting anything too important?”

“No, not at all,” Jane answers quickly before Darcy can open her mouth and let her too-sharp tongue loose. “What’s going on?”

Pepper smiles and sits herself down in the chair that sits between their two desks. “I haven’t seen Darcy since her doctors’ appointment last week,” Pepper says. Jane’s eyes have gone big and she’s tapping her foot against her desk in a desperate attempt to get Pepper to look her way. There’s no use, though, Pepper continues on with barely a pause. “Did you find out if you’re having a boy or a girl?”

Jane is beginning to stand from her chair and run interference between Darcy and Pepper when she spots the large grin on Darcy’s face and decides to hope for the best. “Yes, I did!” Darcy exclaims excitedly.

“Oh, do tell!” Pepper leans forward in her chair, eager to hear more news about the baby Avenger. “I want to start planning the baby shower.”

All of the hope that Jane had for Darcy behaving is quickly dashed at Pepper’s words. “Well,” Darcy starts before pausing. “We’re having a unicorn! And you’re the father!” The grin is still plastered on Darcy’s face, but her eyes betray the annoyance she’s feeling.

“Darcy,” Jane says as she launches herself from her chair. “Can you go check on the readouts from the dinglehopper? I think I heard it beeping a minute ago.”

Darcy just rolls her eyes, “You’re already standing up but you want me to do it?” When Jane just stares at her pointedly she shoves herself up from the desk chair. “Fine, Jane. I’ll force my too-large body out of a chair and go get the damn readouts myself.” Pepper and Jane watch her walk off in silence and only turn towards one another when they’re certain she’s out of earshot.

“I’m incredibly sorry about that,” Jane says as she takes her seat again. “She’s been in a mood all week - I don’t think she’s been sleeping well. I’m about ready to have JARVIS shut down the lab for all guests.”

Pepper smiles softly, “That may not be the worst idea. A unicorn?”

Jane rolls her eyes and replies, mimicking Darcy, “Nobody’s assigning any gender norms to this baby, Jane. Nobody!” She drops the voice at Pepper’s chuckle. “Apparently she’s been bombarded with questions about the baby’s gender lately and she’s getting sick of it.”

“Ah,” Pepper smiles, “I can help with that. I’ll make sure everyone around here knows she’s not finding out, at least that should make the tower a safe space.”

“You’re a lifesaver.” Jane smiles and waits for a beat before adding, “Did you mention a baby shower?”

Pepper lights up, “Yes. Tony says the apartment should be ready in about six weeks. I was thinking I could throw the shower in the new rooms - let Darcy see the nursery for the first time at the shower. What do you think?”

“Clint won’t let her go up there while construction is going on - he’s too worried she’ll trip and fall. She’s going to want to see it as soon it’s done being built, so as long as you think you can plan the shower in that amount of time I think it’d be fine.” The women agree on a theme (unicorns all the way) and a time before Darcy is done gathering the readouts, and when she gets back to her desk Pepper is gone.

 ~*~

Two days later Darcy wakes up in the night with a peculiar feeling. She sits up in bed with a soft groan then takes a deep steadying breath before turning to get up from the bed.

“Darce?” Clint asks, still half asleep. “Y’okay?”

Before she can stand from the bed she feels something rolling inside her. For a brief moment, she is sure she is going to be sick on the floor of the bedroom, not even able to make it to the bathroom in time. Then the rolling happens again, this time in another direction, and she realizes she doesn’t feel nauseated at all. “I think so?” Darcy responds to Clint, then leans back against the headboard.

“What’s up?” Clint asks, sitting up in bed next to her as he rubs the sleep from his eyes.

Darcy doesn’t reply, just lifts her overly-large sleep shirt over her belly and stares down at it as a small round dome forms on one side and moves across her belly to the other. “Oh shit,” she says, “I think the baby is moving. I didn’t know it would look so weird.”

Clint is suddenly wide awake and moving closer to Darcy on the bed. “Can I feel?” Clint’s hands are already reaching towards Darcy’s stomach as he asks.

“Sure, but I can’t promise they’ll keep movi-” before Darcy can finish speaking there’s another roll across her stomach. “Nevermind.”

“Oh my god that’s incredible,” Clint says, beaming as he scoots closer to Darcy. “What’s it feel like to you?”

“Really fuckin’ weird,” she replies as she lifts one of Clint’s hands from her belly and brings it around her shoulders so she can nestle down into his embrace. Once she’s settled and comfortable she runs a finger lightly up the skin of his forearm.

“Hey, that tickles,” Clint huffs a laugh.

Darcy smiles softly, “It feels a bit like that, but on the inside.”

“That’d feel weird.”

Darcy hums contentedly in response, “I don’t mind it so much, it means our baby is healthy. I just hope they stop soon so I can get back to sleep.” She yawns deeply and closes her eyes, resting her head against Clint’s chest. “Goodnight, Baby.”

“Goodnight, Darcy,” Clint replies.

“Who said I was talking to you?” Darcy shoots back quickly with a grin before whispering “Goodnight, Clint.” Twenty minutes later Clint is snoring softly beside her and she’s still awake, their baby continually flipping inside of her. She shifts awkwardly in his arms to turn onto her side, waking him up not entirely by accident.

“Mmm?” Clint mumbles into the back of her neck as he curls himself against her back and wraps an arm around her torso.

“The baby won’t stop flipping and it’s making it hard to sleep,” Darcy grumbles irritably.

Clint leans up on one elbow then scoots down the bed to be closer to her stomach before resting his head in his hand as he gently rubs slow, soothing circles across Darcy’s round belly. “Hey there, baby,” he says quietly, speaking into her stomach. “You need to calm down and stop moving now so your mama can get some sleep.” His hands keep up their slow circles as he kisses the top of her belly and moves back up the bed to lay beside her.

She didn’t want to believe it would work, but the irritability and turmoil she was feeling before had ceased when she saw Clint’s display of emotion towards their child. Within minutes the baby had stopped its ceaseless somersaults and Darcy was soundly asleep.

~*~

Darcy is consistently amazed at how quickly time passes her by when she’s pregnant. She was fairly certain hours could not move faster than they had previously, and yet two months had passed in a blink of an eye. The morning of her meticulously overplanned baby shower (thanks Pepper) was dawning on her and she still didn’t know what her new apartment would look like, let alone the nursery. Not that she was anxious about that or anything.

Her parents and her sister were due to arrive at the tower just after lunch; Steve and Thor had promised to have all her things moved up to their new floor by the time the shower was set to start at 2 pm. All that was left for Darcy to do was get dressed and make sure all of her clothes were packed away. She got up from the bed and walked (she tried not to think of it as waddling yet, not when she had another ten weeks to go) into the closet to pull on the dress she and Jane had picked out three weeks previously.

Darcy makes herself scarce as soon as she’s dressed - there’s a small margin of time between getting their things moved to the new apartment and when her parents will arrive and expect to be able to put their things away in what Tony has dubbed the ‘Visiting Family Guest Suite’. She’s still got notes of Jane’s to transcribe so she busies herself in the lab until she hears the faint ping of JARVIS’ alert tone before he says “Your family has arrived, Miss Lewis.”

When Darcy gets to the common room she’s immediately enveloped in a tight hug by her mother, “Oh Darcy, it’s so good to see you,” the older woman coos. “Now, where’s my boy?” Betsy asks as she takes a step back to look Darcy up and down.

“Clint’s training, but he should be done soon. Why don’t I take you to your rooms for the weekend?” Darcy asks as she reaches up to hug her father loosely. “Though, I have to admit I can’t be sure that all of our stuff has been moved out of them,” Darcy begins to explain but is saved by Pepper waltzing into the common room.

“Nonsense, Darcy. Steve finished moving your things up about an hour ago and JARVIS has assured me that the rooms have been prepared. Hello,” Pepper smiles to Darcy’s parents, “I’m Pepper Potts, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Darcy’s parents each take Pepper’s hand, but when Pepper gets to Sarah the lithe woman pulls her into a hug. “Oh, Ms. Potts, I’m so glad to actually meet you. I’ve looked up to you for so long,” Sarah practically squees.

“Down girl,” Darcy hisses to her younger sister amiably. “Where’s Jared with your leash?”

“Oh, hush,” Sarah says, “He’s stuck doing overnights with the airline and couldn’t get off.”

“She’s fine,” Pepper smiles at Darcy before stepping out of Sarah’s embrace. “Why don’t I show your parents to their suite and then we can go up and see the new apartment?”

“That sounds great,” Darcy says, trying desperately to keep the excitement out of her voice.

A few moments later Pepper is showing the Lewis family what hours before had been Darcy and Clint’s bedroom when Darcy hears the front door open. “Darce?” Clint calls out to her.

“In here,” she replies. “Mom, Dad, and Sarah just got here a few minutes ago.”

“Oh, right,” Clint says as he leans in the door frame of the bedroom. “That is today. Hi Mom, Dad. Sarah,” Clint smiles at each of them. “I’d hug you but I’m a little sweaty right now.”

“You’re in luck,” Pepper says, “I was just about to lead everyone upstairs. Sarah, why don’t you let Clint take your bag. We have a room prepared for you upstairs.” Pepper waits for Clint to take the bag from Sarah’s hand before moving towards the living room.

In the back corner of the living room along the wall that is still lined with (now mostly empty) bookshelves, there sits one packed shelf. Pepper gracefully moves to stand in front of the shelf and carefully pulls the spine of one book out from the rest. There’s a distinctive click before the entire bookcase comes away from the wall to reveal a small staircase.

“Oh, holy shit did you really install a hidden staircase in our old apartment?” Darcy says, shocked.

“Better than that,” Pepper smiles, “It’s in your new apartment, too.” With that, she leads the way up the staircase and turns the knob on the door at the top. The group shuffles up afterward, Darcy rounding up the pack at the back of the stairs. As she’s pulling the staircase closed on the lower level she notes the spine of the book Pepper had pulled out to unlatch the door - “What to Expect When You’re Expecting”.

Darcy exits the staircase and her jaw immediately drops. The room she enters is similar to the one she had just left - the wall of bookshelves behind her remained and she notices a few of her favorite titles resting on the shelves already. Instead of stopping short at a kitchenette, the room boasts an opened floor plan into a full kitchen, complete with a kitchen table and more cabinet space than Darcy knows what to do with. Beyond the living area, there’s a small hallway with a few doors leading off of it. Darcy can see a bow on one closed door, the nursery she assumes.

“So,” Pepper smiles. “Tony and I talked about it and we figured since you’re starting a family you may want to have your own family come stay for a visit, so we devised the staircase between floors. This way you and your guests can each maintain some privacy but still have easy access to one another without having to encounter other tower residents.”

“That was incredibly thoughtful,” Darcy smiles as she shuts the bookcase door behind her.

“We’ve also included a guest room up here. Sarah, that’s where we’ve got you staying for the weekend if that’s alright?”

“That sounds perfect,” Sarah smiles.

“Okay,” Pepper begins moving towards the hallway, beckoning the group to follow her. “Darcy, Clint, you should know the staircase doors are locked unless you have registered guests with JARVIS, at which point the staircase will be unlocked when you are awake and active.”  They stop at the first door in the hallway and Pepper pushes it open.

“Sarah, this will be your room for now.” Inside there is a double bed and a dresser, along with a door to a closet. “We decided to give you a second room in case you decide to expand your family in the future. For now, it’s also another space for guests.” Clint steps forward to place Sarah’s bag down on her bed before turning to rejoin the rest of the group.

Pepper shows them the bathroom next door and the master bedroom at the end of the hall but skips over the nursery completely. “Pepper,” Darcy asks, “Can’t I see the nursery yet?”

“Nope,” she smiles, “Nursery reveal is part of your shower this afternoon, sorry.”

“You’re not sorry at all,” Darcy smiles at her friend.

“No, not really.” Pepper leads them all back to the living room where there’s a cadre of robots laying out a meal at the large kitchen table. “Clint, why don't you go shower and change while the Lewis’ get reacquainted and eat?” Pepper asks.

“I know when I’m being dismissed,” Clint smiles, then steps up to where Darcy is standing to kiss her on the cheek. “See you soon?” he says quietly into her ear. When she nods he disappears down the short hallway and closes the door to their bedroom.

“Darcy, I’ll be back up in about an hour to get things set up for the shower. Is there anything you need?” Pepper asks as she makes her way to the front door. After Darcy shakes her head no the woman leaves the room quietly, the bots trailing behind her.

“Well,” Betsy sighs, “I was right. Tony Stark doesn’t do anything by half.”

“Yes, well,” Darcy smiles, “I’m just glad he’s willing to do it for me and Clint.”

The time with her family passes quickly; Clint joins them after twenty minutes and with his help, there’s hardly any food left on the table when Pepper returns with her arms filled with shopping bags, Jane two steps behind her.

“Mr. and Miss Lewis! It’s so good to see you!” Jane calls as she bounds over to the couch where Darcy’s parents are seated. Darcy is so caught up in the greetings and catching up that she misses Pepper whirling around the living area with decorations. When she looks up again there are balloons tied to the chair she’s sitting in, the kitchen table has been set up with food and drinks, and there are is a cup filled with clothespins on the table by the door.

“Alright, everyone,” Pepper says as she hands out three clothespins to each of the people gathered so far. “Does everyone know the rules of the clothespin game?”

Darcy groans, “Aww, Pepper, no! I thought you weren’t going to make us play ridiculous games.”

There’s a gleam in Pepper’s eye that Darcy’s never seen before. “You thought wrong, Darcy. This is a non-optional social convention, that means it has to happen.”

“False,” Darcy replies. “I’ve been to baby showers without cheesy games before.”

“Then those baby showers were wrong, Darcy. Wrong,” Pepper states emphatically. “Listen here, Tony and I are well past time for us having kids - not that I wanted them to begin with- so I’ve got to make the most out of being an aunt as I can. That means cheesy baby shower games and you have to put up with it.”

Darcy opens her mouth to argue but the look her mother gives her across the room shuts her up quickly. “Okay,” Darcy says sweetly as Tony enters the room with Thor trailing behind him. “Why don’t you explain the rules then, Pepper.”

Pepper beams back at Darcy as she clips three clothespins to the front of Darcy’s dress, before moving on to clip clothespins onto Clint and the rest of her family. Once Natasha arrives Pepper explains how they are not to say the word ‘baby’ for the duration of the shower, lest they lose a clothespin, how if they hear someone say the b-word they can take a clothespin, and how the person with the most clothespins at the end of the game will win the opportunity to buy Clint and Darcy dinner the first week they are home with their child.

“I mean, not that I’m complaining,” Clint speaks up from his place next to her, “but how exactly is buying us dinner winning?”

“Duh,” Darcy smiles with an evil glint in her eye, “It’s an excuse for someone to come see the baby.” Pepper, still standing, laughed with glee as she removed a clothespin from the front of Darcy’s dress.

“I don’t know, Pepper,” Betsy says, “Can we really count it if Darcy is just trying to give her clothespins away?”

“Baby,” Darcy says again with a smile. This time Pepper ignores her and takes a seat in a chair next to Tony.

The group chats idly, Darcy’s parents and sister slowly getting used to being in a room filled with superheroes and their significant others. Before too long passes, Pepper clears her throat and stands again. “I think it’s time for presents,” she smiles.

“Oh, yay! Presents!” Darcy grins, “This part’s always been my favorite.”

“Some things never change,” Betsy sighs as she rolls her eyes, clearly exasperated at Darcy’s lack of tact.

Pepper reaches out for Darcy’s hand to help her from her chair, “If you’ll all follow me to the nursery,” she says. Clint is right behind Darcy, hand on the small of her back with barely any space between them.

“Hawkeye’s not excited or anything,” Tony mutters under his breath.

“Can it, Tin Man,” Clint shoots back as they come to a stop outside the nursery door.

“So,” Pepper states, “As you all know we’ve had to do some redesigning of the tower to accommodate Ba- I mean Child Barton.” There’s a small chuckle around the group at Pepper’s quick save. “Tony and I were happy to help provide for you and Clint in this way, Darcy. But we also wanted to make sure that the smallest Avenger had everything they would need for their first year of life.”

There’s a beat of anticipatory silence before Pepper opens the door to the nursery. Everyone stands back to let Clint and Darcy through the threshold first, swiftly following them inside after. The room is painted in a light sky blue that darkens as it gets closer to the ceiling. Centered against one wall is a crib, hand built and polished by Clint. Directly above the mattress is a small, crocheted solar system replica mobile that Darcy made right after they’d settled on the space theme. Sitting across from the crib is a rocking chair and footstool set with one of the blankets Darcy had crocheted placed lovingly over the back. Against another wall lays a changing table and dresser set, along with a high chair, baby bath and what looks to be a bag filled with diapers.

“Oh,” is all Darcy can say as she gazes around the room. Clint takes her hand and squeezes it hard, speechless himself.

“There’s more,” Tony calls from the back of the pack. He starts forward towards the crib and runs one hand over the top of the smooth railing. “JARVIS, can you pull up the simulated baby, shit-” he hands a clothespin over to Peppers outstretched hand. “ANYway, the simulated child monitoring system?”

A soft chime comes from above, just different enough for the towers’ inhabitants to know it is not JARVIS’ regular signal tone. There on a panel in the wall next to the crib a series of data and charts come up. Tony gestures to the panel, “I helped Clint install some Stark Tech in the crib. It will monitor your ba-avenger’s sleeping patterns and heart rate. The tone is different from JARVIS’ typical tone so you’ll know it has to do with the kid. It will wake you up when they cry for you or they need changing - hell I’m pretty sure we can teach JARVIS to only alert you if it’s a real emergency if you want to get your freak on.”

“Tony!” Pepper scolds him.

“Right, parents present. Sorry about that, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis,” Tony shrugs before continuing. “The best part of this monitoring is that you’re able to send the data, including whatever information JARVIS gleams from day to day life, to Stark Medical for review if you have any questions.”

Darcy opens her mouth, unsure of how to express the proper amount of gratitude to Tony for the thoughtfulness of his gift when he continues talking. “Also, if you’ll look up?” The group turns their heads towards the ceiling where they can see an overhead light off-centered in the western corner of the ceiling. “JARVIS, give me tonight at 9 pm?”

The room dims, the overhead light moving slowly down the wall as another cluster of lights rises from the opposite side. Above them, there are stars twinkling on the ceiling in patterns that match the star map of the sky that night. “Holy shit,” Jane whispers.

“You got that right, Foster. Hey, do you remember the date Thor landed in New Mexico? I want to see something.” Tony asks the scientist. When Jane rattles off a date Tony speaks up again. “You got that JARVIS? And set it for Puente Antiguo, New Mexico?”

There’s a pause in the room as the stars above them twinkle in and out, shifting across the sky. Less than a minute later the stars settle into place and there in the corner of the room is exactly what Tony was looking for. They can see the faint rainbow pattern of the Bifrost streaking across the sky and down the wall ending just above the crib railing.

The entire room is speechless as they marvel at the creation Tony has made. “What, you wanted space right?” he asks, not entirely sheepishly.

“Tony,” Clint is the first to speak, “This is incredible.”

Darcy looks over to him, tears shining in her eyes, “This is better than the Great Hall in Hogwarts!” A laugh echoes around the room before Clint leads Darcy over to the rocking chair where she happily places her feet up on the rocking footstool.

The rest of the shower passes quickly - Darcy and Clint are overwhelmed with the gifts they’ve received from their family and friends. Natasha filled an entire drawer with baby knit-wear in various sizes, her parents had gotten them a stroller that converted into a car seat, and her sister had picked out a baby carrier in a tasteful grey. There’s a waist-high box from Jane that turns out to be a telescope made for a 5-year-old (“So they can grow into it!” Jane says enthusiastically) and a set of beautifully woven clothes from Asgard that are enchanted to always keep the baby at the perfect temperature.

When the fake sun in the nursery begins to glow a soft pinky orange Pepper gets everyone's attention. “Thank you all for coming today to help celebrate Clint and Darcy’s child,” she smiles as a quiet smattering of cheers goes around the room. “I think now it’s time for us to determine the winner of the clothespin game.” Jane, her shirt covered in clothespins, walks to stand next to Pepper who is equally covered. “JARVIS, can you give us the totals please?”

“Certainly, Miss Potts. Although you made a valiant effort, it would appear Dr. Foster has the most clothespins at fifteen to your fourteen.” All eyes shift to Tony who had resolutely hung onto his last clothespin by refusing to talk about anything related to Clint, Darcy, families, or children at all.

Darcy stands from her chair and crosses the room to Pepper and Jane. “Thank you both, so much. This has meant the world to me,” she smiles.

“Oh, hold on,” Tony calls, “One more thing before everyone leaves.” He pulls a small, slim box from the inside of his jacket and hands it to Darcy.

“Tony, seriously, you’ve done enough,” Clint says as he moves to stand behind Darcy.

“Just open it,” is all Tony will say.

Darcy lifts the lid off of the box and there nestled sweetly inside is a small silver spoon.

“For their first picture,” Tony laughs.

 ~*~

It’s late when Clint gets back from his latest mission - so late that he doesn’t pass anyone in the halls or the common areas as he makes his way towards their door. He intends to shower off the grime and sweat of work before tucking himself into bed behind Darcy and sleeping until her alarm goes off in a few hours. He’s three steps into their home when he realizes that’s not happening.

There’s a soft light coming from the nursery doorway along with a muffled noise he can hear. He’s still wearing his aids so he’ll bet that the sound he is hearing is Darcy’s quiet sniffles she makes when she is crying quietly and trying to hide it. Clint removes his boots at the doorway and makes sure to let them make noise as they hit the ground so as to not startle Darcy. He walks to the nursery and leans in the doorframe, face softening at the sight of Darcy rocking slowly in the rocking chair.

“Hey there, Darce,” he says quietly. “What are you doing awake? What’s wrong?”

Darcy looks up to him as he strolls across the floor, her face in a grimace. “Your-” Clint stops his walk, face sharpening into a hard look. “Our,” Darcy corrects, and his face returns to caring as he resumes his walk. “Nocturnal child won’t stop demonstrating their acrobatic ability so I can go to sleep.”

“You want to avoid gender norms before birth, I want to avoid unceremonious disownment of our child,” Clint says casually as he sat down on the footstool across from her.

“Hey, purple can be a gender neutral color and don’t pretend like I haven’t seen your drawings on how to turn that crib into a rocketship bed when the time comes,” Darcy snaps, no longer crying. “So don’t pretend like you aren’t getting anything out of my side of the bargain.”

“Hey, hey,” Clint raises his hands in mock surrender, “I didn’t want to start a fight.”

Darcy takes a deep breath and as she exhales all of the tension leaves her body. “I’m sorry, I’m just tired. I’ve tried everything I can think of and this kid still won’t calm down.”

“I’m sorry,” Clint says as he reaches out and takes one of Darcy’s hands. “Is that the only reason why you were crying?”

She shakes her head no, staring down at their joined hands before looking up at Clint, eyes watery. “I just… You’ve built that amazing crib, and Tony,” her free hand gestures vaguely up at the twinkling stars on the ceiling. “Our child has an entire winter wardrobe of hand-knit sweaters from Natasha. Pepper already has them on the waiting list for the best preschool around.” Darcy sniffles again, tears beginning to fall down her face once more.

“Okay?” Clint asks, unsure where the problem is.

“I’ve made a stupid mobile, it doesn’t even sing or light up. You’re the only one who can get this baby to stop moving around and let me sleep at night, so even though I’m the one building it from scratch you’re already the clear favorite.” Darcy cuts herself off in a sob, “I’m going to be a terrible mom. Our kid is going to like everyone else more than me.”

“Honey,” Clint says as he reaches one hand down to her calf and pulls her foot into his hands to begin a gentle massage. “Are you forgetting about the four different blankets you’ve made? Or the eighteen different books I know you’ve practically memorized on what to do the first two years of this child's life?” His fingers move deftly over the soles of her foot and as he speaks he rubs out the tension he finds there.

Darcy gives him her other foot without being prompted, eyes closed but Clint can tell she is still focused on his words. “You’re going to be an amazing mom, Darcy, and our kid is going to love you so much. It takes a village to raise a kid, right? And we’ve got the best village, sweetheart. But our kid will come to you first, you’ll see. They’ll fall and it won’t be Pepper or Natasha or me they cry for, but for you. You’ll be the first one to kiss away their boo-boos, to make them laugh. They’ll never forget that.” Clint can see tears rolling down Darcy’s cheeks again, but this time there’s no tension in her body at all, none of the anguish he saw earlier. “How’s the acrobat?” he asks her quietly.

“Still.”

Clint releases her foot and lowers both of her feet to the floor before he stands up himself. “Darcy,” he says as he pulls her up from the chair, “I know you think I’m the one who can make our kid calm down to sleep, but I think you’re wrong.”

“Oh?” Darcy sniffles as they shuffle along the hallway towards the bedroom.

“I think I just get you calm enough that the baby calms down too.”

“Oh,” she says. “You may be onto something.”

“Didn’t Bruce give you some meditation tapes a few weeks ago? Maybe next time this happens you should try those,” Clint suggests casually as he pulls back the covers of the bed.

“But then how will I get a massage?” Darcy smiles, as she lowers herself down into the waiting bed.

“All you have to do is ask,” Clint replies. “I’m going to go shower and change before I get into bed, is there anything I can get you?”

“No, I’m alright.”

Clint leans down and kisses her sweetly, “Goodnight, Darcy. I love you.” He pauses to move down her body before bending and kissing her belly, “You too,” he adds before he turns and leaves the room. Darcy means to stay up and wait for him to get back to bed, but her eyelids are heavy and she’s sleeping within minutes.

~*~

Darcy is due on June 26th, so Clint is sure to be listed as completely unavailable for duty that day. They had known that there was no telling when labor would start, and it was really just a crap shoot, but both of them remained hopeful that their child would arrive on time. Still, the next morning when Darcy is still very much pregnant, they were both disappointed. Another few days pass by, each with their own old wives tale or urban legend for Darcy to try and induce labor. Nothing is working.

On the night of July 3rd, Clint and Darcy lay down to bed for the eighth night in a row hoping for something to happen soon. Darcy’s doctor had let them know that if she didn’t go into labor in the next few days they would have to induce her medically, which Darcy did not want.

“Baby,” Clint says as he speaks into Darcy’s belly the way he had been doing for months now, “I know you’re super comfortable in there and all, but you’ve really got to come out now. You’ve only got a couple of hours until you’ll end up sharing a birthday with Captain America, and I know you don’t know this yet but you don’t want that. Fireworks every year, you’re basically forced to eat hot dogs or hamburgers for your birthday dinner. Everyone's out celebrating. It’s awful, really.” Darcy snickers, the movement bumping her belly into Clint. “So why don’t you do your mama and me a favor and come on out now. We’re really ready to meet you, whoever you are.”

“That was sweet, Clint, but I think you may have given them the wrong idea about sharing a birthday with Steve.”

“You’re only saying that because you love attention. What if our baby hates attention? Then maybe they’ll be scared into leaving immediately,” Clint smiles as he moves back up the bed to lay next to Darcy.

“Whatever, I hope it works,” Darcy says as she closes her eyes to sleep. Two hours later Darcy wakes with a start and a cramp in her groin. “Oh, shit,” Darcy mumbles before sitting up in bed and shaking Clint’s shoulder, “Clint, it worked.”

“Hmm?” he asks as he rolls over to face her.

“I think I’m going into labor?”

Clint is awake and sitting up before Darcy finishes the sentence. “Okay, let’s go to medical,” he says as he gets out of bed and moves towards the delivery go-bag that had been packed for weeks.

Darcy stays still in the bed with her eyes closed.

“What are you doing?” Clint asks anxiously.

Darcy opens her eyes to look at him, “The first stage of labor can take eight to twelve hours. We should probably let my doctor know, but there’s no use in heading down to medical until my contractions are closer together.”

“How close is closer?”

“Five minutes or so,” Darcy says calmly. “JARVIS can time them for us, right J?”

“That’s correct, Miss Lewis.”

“So what do we do now?” Clint asks as he sets the bag back down.

“We wait. We should probably try and get some sleep.”

“Yeah, like that’s going to be possible,” Clint snorts.

 ~*~

Hours later, unable to sleep, Darcy reflects on how strange time was. Just months ago it seemed to fly by but now it had been literal ages since she’d woken up from labor pains. Jane came over to keep her company in the morning and stayed until both Darcy and Clint had fallen asleep on the couch, her contractions still 30 minutes apart.

Darcy isn’t entirely sure how she managed to sleep through the contractions she had been having but is willing to consider it a gift from their child before the endless sleepless nights began. She wakes up from her nap happy and warm, tucked into Clint’s side with her feet resting on the armrest of the couch. Vaguely, she notes the sensation that she maybe had to pee, but it was hard to focus on as comfortable as she was. Just before she falls back to sleep a contraction hit her hard and she jolts awake, suddenly fully aware of why she is so warm.

“JARVIS! Alert the medical floor that my water just broke and I’m on my way down.”

Clint bolts off the couch, eyes still mostly closed, “Are you sure?”

“Of course, Miss Lewis. Your contractions are six minutes apart so you are within reason to go,” the AI calls out from around them.

“What the hell do you mean, ‘am I sure?’, my legs are soaked and I sure as hell didn’t piss myself!” Darcy snaps as she strips out of her wet clothes and moves to the bedroom to change into the comfortable pajamas she’d laid out a week ago for when she went into labor. Clint grabs the small bag of their things from the corner of the room, then ushers Darcy out of the apartment and into the waiting elevator.

“Shall I alert anyone?” JARVIS asks as the elevator moves smoothly to the medical floor.

“Jane, please. And my parents,” Darcy says as the car came to a halt. “We’ll tell everyone else when there’s more to tell.”

Clint keeps one hand on Darcy’s elbow and the other on the small of her back as he guides her from the elevator into the waiting wheelchair. They are brought to a private room where a small team of nurses hustles around Darcy, checking her stats and updating charts. Before long they are left alone, waiting. “How long do you think it’ll take?” Clint asks Darcy as he takes a seat in the chair next to her bedside.

Darcy shrugs, “The books all said it can take up to seven hours from this point.”

“Christ, I hope it’s not that long.”

“You’re telling me,” Darcy sighs. “Hey, you should probably text Coulson and let him know you’re starting your paternity leave.”

“Nah, I want to wait until I can send a picture and a name,” Clint smiles.

Another few hours passed uneventfully with Darcy’s contractions getting steadily closer together. Her parents fly in and come to visit her immediately before getting their things settled in the guest suite. Before long there is a congregation of Avengers, friends, and family in the lobby of Stark Medical waiting for news. The sun is getting low in the sky when Jane rushes out of Darcy’s room calling, “It’s starting!” excitedly as she joins the group of people waiting.

Still, time passes with no news.

The sun has set, the moon is rising as it reaches near full dark in Manhattan. There is a scream of a firework across the water as the annual Fourth of July shows start up, but just before the bursting sound that accompanies the flash of color, another cry comes from somewhere much closer to where the group was waiting. Jane is the first out of her seat and down the hall to pace anxiously outside of Darcy’s room. Sure enough, she could hear more crying, though it was hard for her to tell who was crying more - Darcy or the baby.

She shoots two thumbs up towards the group as she makes her way back towards the lobby. A few moments later the door opens up again as Clint comes out to greet everyone with a larger-than-life grin. “We have a girl,” he nearly yells as he approaches the group.

A chorus of cheers come up from the waiting area as they all huddled around Clint to hear the news. “Baby and Mama are fine,” he says, “Both are resting.”

“And what’s her name?” Betsy asks impatiently.

Clint’s smile changes every so slightly, just enough to accommodate the glint of pride in his eyes. “Sandra Ruth Barton, but we’ll call her Ruthie.”

“Sandra Ruth Barton,” Jane says with a smile, getting a feel for the name in her mouth. “The first two female supreme court justices?”

Clint nods, “We thought about Sally, for the first gay astronaut, but Darcy has some hard feelings about the Notorious RBG. Here,” he says as he pulls his phone from his pocket and turns on the display. There on the screen is a picture of Darcy, eyes gazing down at their newborn daughter, clearly in love.