The Tower: Happily Ever After

Relieving Tension

I went to bed that night feeling both exhausted and keyed up at the same time. There was so much going on and with the pregnancy, my hormones were all over the place, I was having trouble calming both my mind and my emotions. I couldn't stop thinking about how much we needed to do and how many things would be different in Asgard, along with worrying about the kids and who was coming and if the ones coming would be happy or not.

I changed into my maternity nightshirt. Natasha and Clint were already in bed. Clint was in a pair of grey sweats and nothing else, playing on his phone while Natasha read. I could hear the shower running, and knew that Steve and Sam were in there. Thanks to the threads I also knew that Tony had gone down to the lab to calm his own busy mind, Bruce was down the hall reading to Zak, Bucky and Wanda were meditating down in the living room, and Thor was up on the roof getting in touch with his elements.

Natasha put her book down and opened her arms. "How're my babies doing?" She asked.

"They're restless," I said, cuddling into her.

"You want me to rub your back?" Clint asked, looking over at me.

"I will never say no to that question, Clint," I said. "You might as well just start rubbing it."

He laughed and opened one of the drawers that ran around the outside of the bed, putting his phone in it and taking out the lotion.

There was a knock at the door. "It's open," Natasha called.

"I'm heading to bed," Sarah said, sticking her head in the room. "Night moms and dad."

"Night, Sare," I said, as Natasha and Clint echoed my words.

"Are the last two in there?" Sarah asked, pointing to the bathroom.

"They are," I said. "You want me to tell them goodnight for you?"

"Thank you," Sarah said, blowing us a kiss. "Night."

When she left the room I took off my nightshirt and sat forward. Clint moved behind me and began massaging the lotion into my skin.

"Wonder what delivering them on Asgard will be like," Natasha said, putting her hand on my stomach to feel their kicks.

I shrug. "I don't know. But when has it ever gone how I expected?"

Natasha laughed. "You're right there," she said. "I still think Wanda and Billy have you beat. I swear to god I saw that boy's hair while she was still in the elevator."

I laughed and closed my eyes. "Yeah, that kid thought he was on a slip-and-slide," I agreed.

Clint burst out laughing. "God, that image is terrible."

His fingers found a very tender spot in my lower back and I groaned loudly. Clint chuckled and leaned in, kissing my neck. "If you're gonna make noises like that, I'm gonna want to rub more than your back."

I giggled. "Like my feet?"

I had been in a relationship with Clint and Nat longer than all the others. For over forty years we had been together and still, we were insatiable for each other. It wasn't just sex that we couldn't get enough of. It was just each other. We felt more in love and closer now than we did all those years ago when I was first brought into the group.

When I thought about it, I sometimes wondered if it was the bonding that did it. Yes, there were lots of people that got to the golden years of marriage, but the average marriage only lasted 12 or so years and here we were, ten of us, completely smitten like we were experiencing the lust of the honeymoon phase mixed with the deep bonds of knowing each other inside and out. If we'd never gone through bonding would we all have scattered by now? Certainly, we would have at least lost a few through aging.