It's That Time Of Year Again!
In honor of All Hallow’s Eve, I’m inviting trick-or-treaters to my ‘door.’ Comment “trick-or-treat” to this post and…well, you know the drill. Treats can be anything that strikes my fancy (pics of fave actors or pairings, one sentence fics, graphics, a few words why I’m glad to have you on my flist, etc. etc.). The more “houses” to visit the more
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Natasha doesn’t know how he got into the room without waking her, as the door to the room she shares with Jane squeaks horribly, but somehow or other, Clint Barton is crouched next to her bunk, practically vibrating with excitement. She can barely see him in the dark, but his smile is obvious.
Wordlessly, he puts a finger over his lips and tugs at her shoulder. Natasha’s curious enough to roll out of her warm sleeping roll and pull on a sweatshirt and some boots. She follows Clint from the room.
“It’s time?” she asks the second they get into the hallway and out of Jane’s hearing.
Clint just grabs her hand and pulls, and they race through the hallway, to the room where the incubator has been set up with their penguin eggs. Natasha prefers to think of them as ‘his,’ but he’s insisted the entire time that these eggs are ‘theirs.’ And hell, penguins aren’t her field, but it’s still exciting to see new life.
She’s surprised not to see Darcy when they arrive back at the incubator, though the web camera is pointed at the eggs and blinking red. One of the eggs is rocking gently under the heat lamp.
“How many viewers?” Natasha asks, looking at the webcam.
Clint glances at the laptop that’s been a permanent fixture over the past couple of weeks. The revenue from the webcam has served to pay for food already and the chicks haven’t even hatched. “Fifty-seven-no, fifty-eight. Maybe word’s getting out.”
“Darcy’s going to be mad if we don’t wake her,” Natasha says, though she can’t stop staring at the egg and its minute movements. It’s fascinating. No wonder there are fifty-eight people staring at their computer screens, ready to watch new life come into the world.
“We’ve got a little time,” Clint says. “I just…”
“Just what?”
Clint licks his lips, which of course draws her attention straight to them. “I wanted a moment of just us.”
Unbidden, Natasha’s heart speeds up, though she only raises an eyebrow. She realizes that she hasn’t let Clint’s hand go yet. “You realize that these are not actually going to be our children.”
“Indulge me,” Clint says, and the egg shifting makes both of them look over. To Natasha’s amazement, the second egg begins to rock, too, though not nearly so dramatically. Clint’s hand spasms in surprise in hers. “Oh, wow. Wow, wow, wow. It’s actually happening.”
“No turning back,” Natasha agrees.
Clint jerks his head away from the eggs to look at her, and his expression is suddenly intense. “None,” he says, and she doesn’t know if she steps toward him or he crowds her space, but suddenly he’s kissing her and she is definitely kissing him back. His lips are chapped, but she doesn’t give a damn, not when kissing him feels like this.
The egg rocking insistently makes them break apart and blink almost stupidly at each other. Clint looks wary for a second. “That-that was okay, right?” he asks. “I wasn’t mixing up signals from-”
Natasha sighs and kisses him again, this time much shorter because there are eggs hatching, after all.
The intensity of Clint’s grin nearly hurts to look at. “Guess not,” he says. “Wow.”
As much as Natasha agrees, she just shakes her head at him. “Darcy’s never going to forgive us if we let her sleep through this. Or anybody else, for that matter.”
“As tempted as I am to say ‘screw ’em,’ you’re right. I’ll go get the guys, you get Jane and Darcy.”
“Deal.”
“And we are definitely coming back to this subject later,” Clint says.
“Deal,” Natasha repeats, and they split to wake the station with the news of impending baby penguins.
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What an AWESOME gift! THANKS SO MUCH!
she doesn’t know if she steps toward him or he crowds her space, but suddenly he’s kissing her and she is definitely kissing him back. His lips are chapped, but she doesn’t give a damn, not when kissing him feels like this. *SWOONS*
And I love that even though Clint woke her up in the middle of the night, she still got the "it's time" line!
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Very welcome!! Thanks for the awesome comment! Glad it was swoonworthy!
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