"What a beauty." Rhodey smiled as he watched the tiny baby in Wanda's arms greedily suck at a bottle.
"Seeing such a tiny child," Vision spoke up from Wanda's side. "Does evoke a certain…joyful response…does it not?"
"That it does, Vis." Natasha peek over the back of the couch to get a glimpse of the hours old baby in her fuzzy sleeper.
"How's Peter feeling?" Steve asked from his seat at the kitchen counter.
"He lost some blood and he's definitely going to be sore tomorrow, but for now he's pretty comfortable." Natasha assured them. "Tony's with him now, trying to get some information now that things are calmer."
"Hey!" The heroes jumped at the sudden intrusion. "How come nobody told me we were having a baby?" Clint smiled widely as he entered the living room, gaze falling on the little girl.
"Clint." Natasha gave him a surprised hug. "What are you doing here?"
"Tony called me; said you all had a problem I might be able to help with." He moved closer to Wanda and the baby, reaching out one finger to run along her downy head. "God, I remember when Lila was this small."
"Do you want to hold her?" Wanda offered the little bundle out to Clint who gladly received it, settling in on the couch next to her.
"Wait a second." Sam protested, half-jokingly. "I thought we had a line going here. You can't just roll in here and snatch her up."
"Hey, seniority man." Clint grinned. "I have most experience, I get first cuddles. How long ago was she born?"
"Four hours." Natasha told him. "Give or take about 15 minutes. We didn't mark the actual time because we were a little occupied."
"Oh man." Clint said breathlessly. "Not even a day old yet."
"And already spoiled." Tony leaned against the wall of the hallway. "Clint, thanks for coming."
"No problem." Clint gently passed the baby back to Wanda and got to his feet. Tony crooked a finger at him, indicating that he should follow down the darkened hallway.
"The kid is resting right now, but I told him I was bringing somebody." Tony gestured to a door at the end of the hall before ushering Clint in the one directly opposite. With a heavy sigh Tony sat on the edge of the empty bed. "Are you willing?"
"Yeah." Clint crossed his arms over his chest. "Laura and I talked it over and if this baby needs a place to go, of course we're willing to take her. But, I have to hear it from him. I want to hear him say this is what he wants."
"Fair enough. How soon are you prepared to take her?" Tony asked. Clint let out a long breath.
"We haven't even talked to the kids yet, Tony. It all happened so fast." Clint shifted his weight from foot to foot, considering his next words carefully. "But if this is what he wants then I can probably take her as soon as I can arrange a flight home. She's so little I don't want to drive her by myself."
"I can take care of the flight, Happy can have it ready to go whenever you need." Tony promised. "Clint, if you don't take her I don't what else I'm going to do. This has to work." He admitted.
"Like I said, if the kid wants this, then she has a home with us." Clint promised. "Oh hey, nobody told me what her name is."
"She doesn't have one." Tony shook his head.
"He didn't pick one yet?" Clint asked.
"I don't think that he's going to, Clint." Tony shook his head sadly. "Peter hasn't even looked at her."
"He hasn't seen her?" The archer planted his hands on his hips.
"Not properly, no. Maybe just a glimpse after she was born." Tony ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "He's obviously a little emotional right now."
"No, no." Clint paced the floor. "We can't…I can't take that baby from here without him ever seeing his daughter. That wouldn't be right Tony."
"If he doesn't want to see her, I don't want to cause him more trauma."
"He has to see her at least once. He has to!"
"Why?"
"Because everything changes when you see that little face."