"That would explain why she asked for her prize to be some time off work." He said, a puzzled look still on his face.

"It just seems like there's more to it than just her being tired, she looks sick." I said sadly.

"Talk to Bruce, see what he has to say." Tony said and I nodded.

I made my way down to the lab, Bruce looked a little surprised to see me when I walked in.

"Hey." I said.

"How is Abi?" He asked.

"She's in bed, asleep. What's going on with her Bruce, there's something more to this, she's not just tired." I said.

"She's been getting nightmares again, which is why she hasn't been sleeping properly. Sleep deprivation can be really serious, it might explain why she looks sick." He said.

"I'm just worried about her, she hasn't been herself lately." I said sadly.

"She'll be fine, she just needs plenty of rest." He said.

"Thank you Bruce." I said.

He nodded and continued working on whatever he had been messing with when I arrived.

"I'll see you later." I said before walking out.

*Time skip to Christmas Eve* Abi's P.O.V.

Christmas Eve! I was so excited, I had spent the last 9 days resting mostly and I was starting to feel a bit better but I still couldn't bring myself to tell Clint. We had spent the day watching Christmas movies, we even managed to drag Bruce out of the lab for a few hours but at 3pm him and Tony disappeared back down there. Clint had made us a special Christmas Eve dinner and we were all, minus Bruce and Tony who had opted to eat in the lab, sat around the table eating our food. It was amazing.

"This is so good Clint." Steve said and we all nodded in agreement.

"Thanks guys." Clint said.

I gave him a side hug and he kissed me on the forehead, when we had all finished I helped Clint clear everything away. We all made our way back to the couch and Steve put Elf on, a smile lit up my face as I cuddled into Clint. At around 10:30pm, the movie finished and Bruce and Tony appeared from the elevator.

"We need to put presents out under the tree." Tony said with a smile.

We all made our way to where we had hidden our presents, I dragged the big bags out of my closet and carried them back to the tree where everyone else already was. I set my presents up under the tree, hiding Clint's main present at the back so that he wouldn't find it. I stepped back and looked at all the presents, blinking away tears that threatened to spill. This was going to be the first real Christmas I'd had in forever.

"You excited for tomorrow morning?" Clint asked as he hugged me from behind, resting his chin on my shoulder.

"More than you can imagine." I said as I placed my hands over his.

His hands were wrapped around my stomach and I smiled softly, a mini version of us was growing inside of me, it terrified me but I was also happier than ever. I couldn't wait to tell Clint and the others, but at the same time didn't have a clue how I was going to do it.

"Are you ready to come to bed? I'm exhausted." Clint said with a yawn.

I nodded and he took my hand in his and he lead me towards my room.

"Goodnight everyone." I called as we walked away.

I got changed into Clint's t-shirt and he climbed into my bed in just his underwear, I climbed in next to him and pressed a kiss on his lips.

"I love you so much you know." I said softly.

"I will always love you, forever and always." He said as he kissed me once more.

When we broke apart he wrapped his arm around me and I rested my head on his chest, a little while later his soft snores filled the room and I fell asleep soon after, a small smile playing on my lips.

"Come on Abi! It's present time." I heard my grandma call.

I leapt from my bed and ran down the stairs, catching a glimpse of my reflection in the glass windows by the door. I was still my 19 year old self, not a child. I slowly walked into the living room and saw my grandparents sat there with Clint, he smiled and stood up when I walked in. He pulled me into a hug and kissed my forehead before leading me back over to the couch, we sat down and my grandma smiled over at us.

"Clint could you go and grab us a few more logs for the fire? They're just in the barn." My grandpa said.

"Of course sir." Clint said as he got up and walked out.

"He's a special one." My grandma said.

"Keep hold of him chicken, he's the one." My grandpa said.

I woke up with a smile on my face, I wasn't sure if that dream was a message from my grandparents or what it was meant to mean. Even if it was meaningless and irrelevant, it meant the world to me to hear my grandparents saying that about Clint.

"Merry Christmas my love." Clint said as he sat up next to me.

"Merry Christmas." I said with a smile as I pressed a kiss on his lips.

Just as I kissed him, my bedroom door was flung open and a flash went off, Tony was stood in my bedroom doorway with a camera in his hands and a big grin on his face.

"Merry Christmas love birds! Now get up, we're all waiting for you." Tony said before he disappeared again.

"Come on." I said with a smile as I pulled Clint out of bed.

I slipped on a pair of shorts underneath Clint's t-shirt, he slipped his sweatpants back on from last night before taking my hand in his and leading me out. The others were all sat around the tree, waiting for us, so we quickly made our way over and took a seat.

"Right, who wants to hand out their presents first?" Tony asked.

"I'll start." Natasha said.

"Great, we'll start that end with Nat and finish at the other end with Abi." Tony said and we all nodded.

She handed out her presents and we all opened them, she got me a gift voucher, just like I'd gotten her but mine was for the trainer store Clint and I had got my adidas trainers from.

"Thank you." I said and she gave me a small nod.

Baby steps, that's what this was. Steve was up next, my present was in a long, slim box, I pulled off the gift wrap and took the lid off the box to reveal a set of chopsticks. Engraved at the top of each was my name but there was something written in Chinese on them.

"What does this say?" I asked.

"Our light in the darkness." He said.

"Thank you so much Steve." I said as I got up and hugged him.

I took my seat again and now Bruce started handing out his presents, I opened mine to reveal a Nike shoe box.

"Bruce..." I said.

"I've seen you staring at Tony's pair all the time so I thought I'd get you your own." He said.

"You shouldn't have." I said as I tried them on to make sure they fit.

They were even more comfortable than they looked, I thanked Bruce and sat back down.

"There's also something else, a joint present from Tony and I but we want to leave that till the end." Bruce said to me.

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