Hello all.

First up. Merry Christmas. Hope you all have a great day.

Second. This story is really rushed because I realised like a week ago that I hadn't even started writing the story yet. I came up with the title about a month ago but I never actually got around to writing the actual story part. So I apologise for the rubbish story, AND I PROMISE I WILL REDO THIS AFTER CHRISTMAS PERIOD.

Hope you enjoy

MillyWidow


~ It was December 2nd when the someone first brought up Christmas ~


The sun beamed through the glass windows of the Stark Tower living room as the brawny soldier walked in. An unusually-usual sight greeted the captain - Hawkeye, Ironman and the one-and-only Hulk were lounging around without a care in the world.

It was unusual because one would not expect to see such 'violent' men in such a tranquil state. But at the same time, it was usual for the captain who knew the men as the people behind the superheroes. At the end of the day, they were just normal people…just a little bit different.

However, Steve was not here to relax as he normally would be. He was here to address a particular festive tradition.

"Uhm guys?" The captain spoke up. His strong voice echoing through the previously silent room.

"Hey Cap. What's up," Clint spoke from the lounge where he was attempting to read a book, he had probably read two pages in the past hour.

"Do you guys know what the date is?" He asks, hoping they will catch on to what he is trying to say.

"Ahh December 2nd, I think. Why?"

"Do we have anything coming up?" he prompts.

"No I don't…Why does the captain want some time off?" Clint practically purrs. Steve instantly regrets starting this conversation as Tony perks up from the tech piece he was trying to fix.

"What's this I hear? Does Captain America have a special someone?" the genius smirks

"No-" He said rather forcefully.

"You sure, I heard Nat set you up with one of the agents from SHIELD," Clint said, feigning an innocent face.

"I declined, and-"

"Why did you decline. Nat said she was pretty."

"Maybe Rogers doesn't like the pretty girls, maybe he likes the more-"

"I was going to ask if we doing anything for Christmas" he blurts out quickly. Not wanting Tony to continue on his description of 'not pretty girls'.

Both Barton and Stark froze at the admittance, and out of the corner of Steve's eye he could see Bruce slowly putting his research down.

"I mean…I know we've only really been a team for seven months but…I…" he stuttered not really knowing why he wanted to spend Christmas with them. Usually, he would have spent Christmas with Bucky and Buck's family, or with his own family… when they were alive.

"Sure," Steve looks up as the archer spoke up, "I'm in. I love Christmas. In the orphanage I was at, this nice lady would always come and give me lollies and when I was in the c-" the word circus almost slipped him out of his mouth before he could stop himself. "-military they always gave us time off. I don't know I just have always enjoyed Christmas,"

"I didn't know you were in the army… or an orphanage," Steve admitted.

"Natasha's not the only one with secrets," he says ominously as he turns around to open the conversation to the other two men in the room.

"I used to celebrate with my parents before…everything happened…" The scientist seemed to drift off into his own little world. Flashing back to some not-so-fond memories of his childhood. Fortunately, he wasn't stuck in his head for much longer, because the slight scuffling of Thor moving into the communal area brought him back to the present. "But yeah, I would like to celebrate Christmas this year."

"What about you Point Break?"

"Well I have a fondness in my heart for the mid guardian tradition of Christmas, so yes I will accept your request for a celebration."

"Right uh, thanks, Thor."

"Tony?"

The genius seemed to ponder for a little bit before answering. "Fine, but none of that sappy stuff okay?"

"Sure," the captain replied. Honestly Tony could make any request and he would have been okay with it. It felt like a truckload of weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, now that he knew he would not have to spend the holiday alone. "I'll go ask Romanoff,"

Clint raised his eyebrows as if to say 'good luck with that'. Steve was sure he was the only one who had noticed it but he brought it up anyway.

"Will that be a problem Barton?"

"No, 't's just that Tash takes a mission over Christmas every year"

"Does she not celebrate Christmas?" Tony asked with ulterior motives. It was not an unknown fact that Natasha was a very private person, which annoyed Tony (A very nosey person) to a great deal. But what had annoyed him more was when he hacked into SHIELD, he still couldn't find any dirt on the red-haired assassin. So whenever there was a chance to get some information on her, he jumped at the opportunity.

"No she does, well did, but she just doesn't have great memories of Christmas"

"Neither do I." Bruce adds quietly, "But this is a chance to start over,"

"I know that. I just don't think she will so don't get your hopes up Steve" The hawk said looking Steve directly in the eyes.

Like expected, Natasha declined.

So it was decided that the five avengers plus Pepper would celebrate Christmas together in the tower.


~ On December 9th the decorations went up. ~


Pepper had insisted on all of the Avengers who were attending would have to help set up. She had hired people to decorate the public levels of the tower but decided it was better to decorate their levels themselves rather than have complete strangers enter the tower.

So by mid-morning on the 9th of December, the Avengers were decking the halls with boughs of holly and tinsel.

They swapped out the normal couch cushions for more festive ones and added fairy lights and tinsel to the kitchen.

All while Jarvis was played Christmas music.

Tony basically demanded that they got a real Fraser fir tree for the living area. Not that anyone was really unhappy with it.

This was all new to the Captain. Christmas was celebrated very differently back in his time. And even with that, Steve's family could never afford to get a tree or presents. Presents. Got to ask Barton to help with that, he tells himself in his mind. He had no clue how to shop in this modern world let alone what to buy for two spies he knew nothing about, a man with acceding anger issues, a literal god, and a man who could basically afford to get whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.

"Hey, Barton. Have you done your uh Christmas shopping yet?" He asked trying to play it cool in front of the archer.

"You can come with me," he answers, only turning around to give Steve a devilish smirk. Steve laughed at himself internally for ever thinking he could fool the agent.

They had only tried twice to convince Natasha to spend Christmas with them. To both, she had responded with a firm no.

'I have to work'

It was a nonsense answer. Fury had given her the Christmas season off, but she had declined his offer and scheduled two missions instead.

She left on the first one instantly.

The agent was heading down to get her car when clint cornered her.

"Natasha," he yelled, grabbing her attention

She looked around at him, rolling her eyes she tossed her head to the side, "That's not going to work Barton,"

"Just stay for Christmas."

"I have to w-"

"No, you don't. Fury gave you time off," He finished for her "spend Christmas with us, Nat,"

He saw something in her eyes change. Her walls lowering. The countless masks she had put on, slowly fading away. This new person in from of him was now Natasha. Not the Black Widow or the SHIELD agent. Just Natasha.

"I don't know how," she confessed, wringing her hand's in front of her.

"You don't have to do anything, Tash, just stay"

"What if I ruin it?"

"Ruin what, Christmas?, Tash your not the grinch" she gave him a confused look having no clue what this 'Grinch' was. Clint raised his eyebrows and set an internal reminder to watch the movie with her later.

"Clint. This Christmas…thing….has to work. This is really going to bring the team together. I can't ruin that. I destroy everything Clint…I can't ruin this"

"Why would you ruin that?"

"What happens when they start asking about my 'Christmas-less' childhood. What happens when they find out. I'm not a good person Clint. Steve is the living embodiment of good he doesn't deserve to have someone like me on the team."

"Natasha none, none, of your childhood is your fault,"

"I have to go, Clint." She said with a tiny sad smile. He watched as she climbed into the car and drive out of the garage. He didn't even try to stop her. Just watched her.

Natasha was gone for a week, and throughout that week the occupants of the tower prepped for the upcoming Christmas.

There was so much to do and it seemed like the days were speeding along.

The Russian had put the presents for everyone else under the tree but specifically asked no-one to buy her anything. Steve tried to argue but she had just walked away.

Bruce and Tony preferred to do their shopping online, the former for obvious 'hulk' reasons and the latter just because he could. Pepper was the type of person to go online and look at stores first and then go into the actual physical store and buy the product. It seemed like a lot of effort to Tony, but Pepper liked to see what she was buying but also didn't have time to browse stores.

Like promised, Clint took Steve into the city with him to shop. They first went to the 'Christmas in New York' store in Times Square, followed by Bloomingdales and a couple of the local markets.

It seemed Clint was at a loss for what to buy Tony as much as Steve was. I mean, what do you buy a guy who could buy, or make, anything. They decided to get a present that was a bit more on the joke side - Steve got a mug that said 'I'm always right' on the side and Clint found a store that made personalised stickers and he got one that said 'Jarvis is my copilot'

They were shopping for Pepper in a stationery store when Steve brought up Natasha insistence of not celebrating Christmas with them.

"Does Natasha like the team?" He said while browsing different pattern diaries.

"Yeah, of course, she does. Why do you ask"

"Why won't she stay for Christmas"

Clint stopped flicking through the book he picked up, as Natasha's words echoed through his mind.

'Steve is the living embodiment of good… I destroy everything Clint, I don't want to ruin this.'

"As I said before, she just doesn't have good memories of Christmas. Her childhood was…"

"Horrifying?"

"Yeah that's a good word for it"

"If you don't mind me asking, what is Natasha to you"

"God, you're just as bad as Tony,"

"I'm not trying to snoop. It's just she obviously means a lot to you,"

"I know she has my back and she knows I have hers Always," the archer says cryptically before returning to look through the store, "Do you think Pepper would like this colour?"

Steve saw through his attempt to change the subject but nevertheless went along with it. He understood wanting to keep some of his private life…private. That being hard when living with one Tony Stark.

They finished up the rest of the shopping relatively quickly and returned to the tower around mid-afternoon.

They wrapped their presents and put them under the tree with the other two sets of presents. One being from Natasha - wrapped perfectly and placed in a neat pile. The other being Thor's - wrapped so badly it looked like a scrunched up piece of paper. Steve chuckled as he placed his presents down, grateful for the reason to smile.

Throughout December, more and more presents ended up under the tree. Some oddly shaped ones, some big and some small.

It always made Clint happy when he walked past. He was filled with a childlike giddiness and could not wait till Christmas morning to open them. It seemed he was not the only one who couldn't wait - Tony had been caught more than once snooping around the pile.

Natasha returned to the Tower on the 19th, she went straight to her level and was not seen till the next morning.

The next couple of days went by smoothly. Steve and Nat trained together. The team ate dinner together.

All was well.


~ On December 21st Natasha departed on her second mission ~


It was a not a simple recon mission, but it definitely wasn't the hardest she had ever been on alone.

The mission was comprised of three different infiltrations. The first one being in Dinslaken, Germany.

She had taken down all the assailants in record time. About half-way through the mission, she had been hit the head, and now was sporting a very painful concussion. She just wanted to get back to her quinjet and sleep as the auto-pilot took her to her next destination.

While fantasising about her awaiting slumber. A soldier managed to sneak up on her.

The click of a grenade being prepared blew the mans cover. As fast as lightning Natasha brought up her gun and shot the man as he aimed to shoot her.

Bang. Bang.

The assailant dropped to the floor as the redhead felt a searing white pain in her chest.

Her world started to fade black, as a resounding BOOM! Shook the building.

She pressed the emergency button on her comm unit before being swept away into the darkness.


~ On December 24th Clint got the call ~


They were sitting down watching the movie 'Elf' and were just about to get to the Dinner scene when Clint's phone started to buzz.

He pulled it out of his pocket so quickly that barely anyone noticed. He quietly stepped away from the group and picked up the call.

"Hello?"

"…Clint"

No. No. No. He hated when Maria started off a call like that. The little pause at the start always meant something bad had happened, and more often then not it involved Natasha Romanoff and a hospital bed.

"Hill" he warned, urging her to hurry up.

"Medical Ward. Wing 3. Room 512." And then she hung up.

"Maria? What happened to her? MARIA?" He yelled alerting the other in the room to his disappearance.

"Clint? Woah calm down Legolas," Tony stood up and walked over to the archer as he gripped his phone so hard his knuckles turned white.

"Can you prepare a quinjet to SHIELD," he said and promptly entered the elevator.

Not even ten minutes later, Clint was running through the halls of SHIELD medical ward, counting down the numbers to 512.

The hallways were abnormal quiet as most agents had been given holiday leave.

Finally, he made it to the room where Natasha was supposedly being held but found the door locked.

By the time Steve and the others had caught up to him, he was angrily shaking and banging against the door.

"Agent Barton. Calm down or I will have to have you removed from the wing." Maria Hill spoke as she entered the walkway.

"I will calm down when you tell me what's wrong," he growled. "Where do you get off saying Wing 3. Room 512 and then HANGING UP,"

"Barton," she warned and beckoned him and the rest of the team into the waiting room.

Maria picked up the clipboard and started reading off of it to the group.

"Broken ribs to the left side. Grade 2 concussion. Bullet wound to the left sternum."

Pepper cringed as the list went on. The room took a moment of silence as they processed the injuries that had been inflicted on their teammate.

"She's been in surgery for about an hour. Doctor Mendel should be out to brief us soon."

Clint sighed and dropped his head into his hands.

"She should be fine Clint. If something was going wrong, we would know by now"

The slight nod of the archers head showed the superior agent he heard what she said, whether he understood it was undetermined.

It took less than five minutes for the doctor to come out and address the team. He informed them that she was going to be fine, but she was on strict bed-rest for the next week.

Clint was slightly relieved that the only order from the doctor was to rest. No more surgeries, or weird medications. They could just spend the next week doing nothing. It's not like they had anything planned for the next...

Oh damn, it's Christmas.

He was about to bring that up, but Tony beat him to it.

"Is there any way we could move her to the Tower?" the genius asked. Clint had to give it to the man, despite his flaws he was very considerate. "We have a good medical facility if need be, and Bruce has substantial knowledge of medical stuff,"

"I'll see if I can organise that for you"

"Thanks, Maria," Pepper whispered as she got up. "Can we see her?"

"Right this way,"

When they finally saw the redhead, she was covered in bruises, but she was okay.

There was no air tube down her throat, or crazy-looking machines hooked over her body. She had an IV in her left hand, and a nasal cannula, but that was it.

The doctors had put her under general anaesthesia after her surgery so she was peacefully sleeping when the team entered the small room.

They sat with her for a while but eventually people had to go home.

Natasha awoke to blurriness and confusion.

Her head felt like it was imploding and there was a comfortable weight on her left hand.

After the clouds in her mind had cleared she realised someone was holding her hand. With further inspection, she realised it was Clint who was holding it.

She warily opened her eyes but the blinding light forced them closed.

"Hey," a warm rush of air right next to ear carried the sound into her brain.

The agent turned her head to face the sound and groaned in response.

"When can I leave?" She croaked out.

A snort by the man on the other side of the room grabs her attention. She can feel the pain in her chest but the drugs take the sting out of it so she doesn't bring it up.

"You literally got shot and blown up, had surgery and was asleep for about two hours, and the first thing you want to know when you wake up is when you can go home,"

Tony scoffs kindly and rolls his eyes. "You're being moved to the tower tonight."

'Hmm okay,"

"Do you need any more pain killers?"

"No"

"Do you need anything,"

"Yes,"

"…your wish is my command,"

"They stole my pillow,"

"Oh?.."

"I had a different one but then they changed it. I don't like this one"

"Okay, I'll…go get you…another pillow?" Tony said, very confused at the assassins request but left anyways.

The assassin couldn't keep her eyes open much so she grunted in response and returned to the land of darkness that was medical induced sleep.

She awoke later when the sun had gone down, to the sound of a man rousing her awake.

"Babe…Tasha…Hello…up we get…Hey"

She groaned and attempted to roll away from the noise, but she couldn't manage to because the sudden movement ripped her stitches.

"Hey. The doctors are going to give you a once over to check that you're okay to fly back to the tower." and as if on queue the doctor, Tony and Bruce walked in. Bruce because he was going to be Natasha main doctor for the next week or so. And Tony…because Tony wanted to.

"Good Evening Agent Romanoff. I'll just be checking the wounds and bruising and if all goes well you'll be on your way in no time." The doctor lifted up the hem of her shirt and started to undo the bandages. Bruce instantly turned around to give Natasha some respect, he ended up forcefully tugging Tony around as well when he seemed pretty keen on watching.

The doctor ended up restitching her gun wounds and reiterating to Bruce that she was on very strict bed rest.

"Hey you got me my old pillow back," she said happily. (Still very high on pain killers)

Clint carried her the whole way to the living room in Stark Tower. Steve had set up the couch so Natasha had enough room to lie down and be comfortable, and Bruce had placed a little side table near it with her medication and any other medical things he thought she might need.

Seeing as it was quite late, Clint decided to take her to his room instead, and if any of the team noticed they didn't bring it up.

Natasha found sleep came easy to her that night, not realising that around the world people were putting out cookies and milk because Santa was coming that night. All thought of Christmas escaped her mind.

But it came rushing back in when she woke to Jarvis blasting 'Jingle Bell Rock' through all the speakers in the tower at seven in the morning.

She groaned audibly and the loud music aggravated her concussion.

Everything was aching. Her chest, head, legs and arms. It all just felt like one big pain bubble.

She felt something move next to her, but couldn't muster the energy to move into a combat position if the person was hostile. But she didn't have time to think of a plan B, because the mystery thing spoke.

"Jarvis, turn it off," said a husky voice. She knew that voice.

Her head was still pounding from the rude awakening. She could focus on anything, and for a person with her past - she needed to feel in control.

Until she met Clint, she had never been in control. It was either the Red Room or the KGB, but never her. But then this American carnie comes along and gives her a choice. An actual choice. Life or Death. Obviously, she chose life and now here she was. In a strangers bed, and having no control over her head. Stupid concussions.

She cursed the stupid agent who had given her the concussion and tried to roll over again.

"Hey. You okay? Do you need some more pain killers"

She definitely knew that voice…

It was Clint

Thank god

"Nat? Did you hear me" he whispered trying to keep his voice down.

Shit, she's going to have to answer.

"Mhuh" she groaned in the 'yes' way.

"Okay I'll go get some," the archer said as he stood up and uncapped the bottle of pain killers.

He walked back in with a glass of water and three pills, he gave the pills to her but insisted on holding the water himself.

She finished swallowing the pills and rolled back into bed, but not before a calloused hand reached out for her shoulder.

"What are you doing Nat? It's Christmas!"

Oh, she remembered that. To tell the truth, Natasha was scared, petrified even, of spending Christmas with the man she lo…- love was for children- …liked.

She did love Clint though, and he loved her.

But there was something about spending Christmas that made it feel too homely for her, too domestic, and that was something she didn't deserve. Spending Christmas with him was just one step closer to 'settling down' - having kids, retiring…etc. It was silly - Clint knew about the graduation ceremony. But she couldn't retire, not ever, she had too much red in her ledger to ever do that. But she knew it broke his heart every time she didn't spend the tradition with him.

"I'll carry you down," his voice broke her out of her thought trance and before she ad time to decline, he picked her up and headed to the elevator.

"Clint I need to get changed," she said motioning down to her body which was still clad in pyjamas.

"Nah, Tower rule. Everyone has to wear PJs on Christmas morning."

She felt herself slipping back into sleep while going down the elevator, but has soon as they reached the main floor she was wide awake.

There was almost double the amount of decorations and Tony was still blasting Christmas music. But what was most surprising was what all of them wear wearing. Steve was wearing old fashioned pyjamas with little Christmas ornaments all over them. Tony had a sleep shirt on that said 'I'm the drunk elf' and Pepper and Bruce were wearing pretty standard Christmas sleepwear. But what was most outrageous was what Thor was wearing. He was wearing a button-up onesie with an obnoxious looking reindeer on his butt. If only she had her camera.

"Ahh. Itsy Bitsy and Legolas are here," Stark announced from the couch on the far side.

"Sorry, we're late," Clint said, walking into the lounge room and greeting the others. "This one didn't want to get up."

"I don't blame her. If I had been shot, broken some bones and received a pretty bad concussion. I wouldn't be getting up this early." Pepper reasoned while kissing Natasha on the cheek. "How are you feeling,"

"I'm okay"

"Well that might be, but I still want you to take some pain killers before breakfast, and you are to be laying down the whole day."

"I just took some before I came down," She said and Bruce looked to Clint for reassurance.

"She did"

"Okaaayyy hurry up let's open presents." A whine from the couch interrupted their conversation. If Clint couldn't see the source of the noise he would have assumed it was a child, but alas it was just Tony.

Clint shifted Nat in his arms and lowered her onto the couch that Steve had set up for her last night.

There was enough space on the couch for Natasha to lie down comfortably and for Clint to sit without even touching her, but he perched himself so her head was resting on his legs. This way, if she needed help with something - he was right there.

Pepper produced a hat with all there names on it. One by one a person would pull and name out of the hat, and the person on the piece of paper would give out their presents. This way no-one got overwhelmed by lots of presents or attention.

Pepper decided to pull a name out of the hat first, and she picked up Steve.

The captain handed out his presents to everyone, including Natasha.

"Rogers" she drawled, "I told you not to get me anything,"

"Well, I don't take orders from you." He smirked and held the present for her.

Tony loved his 'I'm always right mug' which earned an eye roll from Pepper.

After everyone had opened their presents, Clint noticed Natasha hadn't opened her present yet.

"You've earned it Nat. You did some amazing work this year." Clint whispered in her ear.

"I know…it's not that"

Clint looked at her confused and then the lightbulb in his head went off. Ah

"Jarvis, check the present for any explosive devices or harmful materials," he said to the roof. That definitely got everyone's attention.

"Why would there-" Steve began

"There are no harmful materials or explosive devices in the box. Would you like me to tell you what is inside?"

"Thanks. Nah, that ruins all the fun"

So Nat opened her present. It was a nice feeling.

Next up was Bruce and then Tony. Clint was extremely chuffed by a new guitar from Tony and insisted on playing straight away.

Nat had to laugh at the small ornament Tony had got her that had 'Assassins first Christmas' written on the front.

Tony went up to the hat next to choose as he was the last person to give out gifts, he pulled out Natasha name.

She wasn't expecting to be here for Christmas so she hadn't even thought about the stress she was going to feel as they opened their presents. All the presents she had received so far were amazing. A new training holster from Steve. A super-cool updated version of her Widow bites from Tony, and some beautiful Indian tea from Bruce. But now it was her turn to give.

As she wasn't allowed to get up, Steve got up and handed out her presents to the group. And then they began to unwrap. The 'Unwrapping ceremony' seemed to be taking so long and if it wasn't for her injuries, Natasha would have jumped up and ripped them all open just so it would hurry up and they could move to the next person.

But she couldn't. All she could do was wait.

Tony and Clint were the first people in the group to finish. Being the most 'childish' people in the group they had ripped open the wrapping, unlike Bruce and Steve who were gently unwrapping the present as if they were trying to keep the paper in its original form. Thor still hadn't managed to wrap his head around the whole idea of wrapping paper and usually had to get one of his teammates to help him.

It was safe to say Pepper was the only normal person on the team.

Tony coughed from the side of the room as if trying to get her attention. He was holding up a tiny little piece of plastic.

"What's this?"

"It's a USB Tony"

"a USB?"

"There's obviously something on it you dummy." She rolled her eyes before beginning to explain. "On that is passcodes to specific peoples laptops within SHIELD. It won't get you into any files or confidential material, but it'll give you access to certain things …like changing home screens and programming it to make fart noises whenever someone else enters the room." She smirked evilly while listing the possibilities of all the pranks they could pull on Fury.

Tony's eyes twinkled with mischief, "Oh my god. You are…one of the…wow. Clint, she's a keeper."

The archer rolled his eyes and went back to his own present. And he gasped, inaudibly.

It was a small spider charm, that would fit perfectly under the wrist brace of his suit. He leant down and kissed her on the forehead whispering a thank you.

Around them, the rest of the group was opening their own presents.

Cufflinks in the shape of Captain America's SHIELD for Steve

Russian tea for Bruce. It was actually one of the first things they bonded over, tea. So it was now a tradition to buy each other tea wherever they went on travel or missions. Clearly, both of them had decided to give the other the tea from their respective hometown. Natasha - Russia, for obvious reasons. And Bruce - India, because that's the place he felt most safe.

The others must of also like their gifts because there was a flock of thank you's directed towards Natasha.

Once all the presents were opened, and there was a massive pile of paper in the middle of the room, it was time for breakfast.

Clint and Pepper left the room to go to the kitchen and start cooking, while Bruce, Steve, and Thor discussed the many different Christmas traditions from their very different childhoods.

Tony immediately brought up his stark pad and sat on the floor in front of Natasha. They began to brainstorm ideas for their future shenanigans.

Breakfast consisted of pancakes, fruit, and sugary stuff. Lots of sugar. Because they didn't want to leave Nat on the couch by herself - they all ate on the couch together.

She was about to reprimand Clint for cutting up her pancake into small-bite-sized pieces, but she actually found them much easier to eat that way.

As they were halfway through eating their food, Tony put 'elf' the movie back on.

"Seeing as we were so rudely interrupted last time-" Natasha stuck out her tongue at the geniuses words, "-I thought we should finish it today" Nobody seemed to complain at the idea, so the movie stayed on.

It's not to say it was a bad movie per se, but Natasha started to feel sleepy again. In her opinion, all American Christmas movies were the exact same.

Sure enough, she was asleep after only 15 minutes of watching.

The movie finished and Natasha was well and truly asleep, now lying on Clint's chest. The team had decided to watch another Christmas movie, but this time Pepper choose, and much to Tony's dismay, she chose 'Love actually'

"Nooooo, Pep we watch this movie every year. Every. Year."

"Suck it up Tone"

Steve, Thor (And secretly Natasha) hadn't watched it before, which was a crime to humanity in Peppers mind, so this wasn't going to be as boring for them as it was for Tony

Lunch was wonderful.

Pepper, Clint and this time Bruce had spent a large portion of the day cooking up the meal and it had smelt good. It had tasted good too.

The banquet that Pepper had set up was beautiful, but they ate at the couch. All in all, it was a very informal Christmas Day, not that any of the avengers really minded.

The day finished with talking, laughter and more food.

It was just before dinner and Natasha was lying in her bed after Bruce had insisted she take a nap. But she wasn't sleeping she was reminiscing. She had really enjoyed today, and there was a small part of her that couldn't wait for next years celebration.

"I'm happy you joined us Tasha" the same husky voice from the morning spoke.

"Me too," she admitted, and it wasn't a lie, she was generally happy that fate had decided for her to get injured and spend the day with her team, her family.

"Does this mean you'll stay for next year?" He asked with a glimmer of hope, poorly hidden, in his voice.

"Maybe"

He'll take a maybe over a no any day.