That first stirring out of sleep for Natasha was accompanied by the sensation of something wet on her nose. When the ships CMO didn’t respond immediately, the sensation would come again, and again, and again. Inches from her face, Bruce’s beady yellow eyes locked onto her with laser focus and every time she didn’t respond to his summons, that yellow tongue would flick out and swipe across her nose again.

He wasn’t surprised that she was still asleep. Dante and Natasha had been up until the early morning making all sorts of noise so he knew, from past attempts, that waking her was going to take a while.

“MOMMY!!”

Well, it would if they did it his way. Oscar, however, had other ideas and subtlety was rarely one of them. “MOMMY Wake up! Its yeor birfday!” The voice wouldn’t be able to be missed, because Oscar had moved his face right beside Bruce’s and was shouting at full volume only inches away from Natasha’s sleeping form.

“Hey, hey! Not yet!” Dante laughed as he walked into the room, tray in hand and stopped to look at them all. “Well, fine, now,” he laughed and set the tray down on the bedside table. On it, the smell of coffee and pancakes filled the room.

“MOMMY I haf Pwesents!” Oscars excited voice added, his volume not dropping a bit. “Hapee birfday MOMMY!” The words were accompanied by four presents being dropped unceremoniously on her face as the small body of her son climbed onto the bed with her, using Bruce as a ladder and nestled into her body in the awkward but comforting way only a toddler could, “I lhuve yuooooo!”

The four presents each had a name handwritten on a small label on them. Dante, Bruce, Oscar and Nugget.

“Good morning baby,” Dante laughed and leaned over her, kissing her forehead softly. “I’m sorry, I can’t stop a force of nature. Happy Birthday Tasia.” Bruce added to the moment with another flick of his tongue against her cheek.

Dante Knight