She never thought this would happen to her. Honestly, she didn't know that it was possible considering all of the things that happened to her in The Red Room. Even the medical tests she has had done at SHIELD over the years said that she was incapable of such a thing.
But after she gets shot by The Winter Soldier, again, and she is taken to the underground medical facility to find a not-dead Nick Fury, she waits till she is alone after being patched up and finds out for herself if it's true.
She had suspected she might be, and she did a few home tests to see if her theory was correct before picking up Steve the morning of their op only to have one test be positive and the other two to be negative.
But after she is shot, she internally panics until she is alone to find out for herself if she is in fact carrying a child or not.
And when she does an ultrasound on herself after studying the machine for a few minutes, she does indeed she something resembling a peanut on the screen. But she doesn't cry until she accidentally hints a button and the unmistakable sound of a strong, steady heartbeat fills the room. Her tears are silent, as they always are and she gets the overwhelming urge to smile when she slides her finger down the image on the screen. Before she is missed by the others, she quickly figures out how to print out a picture for herself and a couple extra, just in case. She shuts everything down and cleans herself up before folding the images and hiding them in her bra since it's the safest place on her person to hide something so precious.
She gets back to the others and after they all go over plans to take down SHIELD, she promises herself and the being inside of her that she will fight to her last breath to make sure they're safe.
When Pierce pulls a fast one on her, it's the first time that she is actually terrified for her life because she sees only one way to bypass the broach that could take her life away in seconds. Her widow's bites really do sting and it takes every ounce of her strength not to cry out in fear that she might have just killed her unborn child. But she holds it all together and gets what needs to be done before she can stop to think of anything else.
After all is said and done and Steve is in the hospital, she manages to once again commandeer an ultrasound machine without notice in an empty room late that night. She cries in relief when the heart beat sounds in the small room and she makes a final decision then and there where she is going after she deals with the things Fury asked of her.
The press conference was an annoyance but it was necessary and she had to catch herself a few times when she instinctively wanted to palm her still flat stomach as she defended herself. But after that was done and she said her goodbyes to Nick, Steve, and Sam at the cemetery, she wasted no time in delaying her disappearance.
All of her aliases were blown, but she paid a pretty penny to get a new identity under the name Nadine Bloomfield. She cut her hair into a pixie-cut since dying it wasn't good for the baby and she wore a blonde curly wig for her new ID photo. She used an account that she was able to keep out of SHIELD knowledge and separated it into smaller amounts that would be easier to access but she cashed out a lot of it without worry of it being traced and paid cash for a commonly bought silver Volvo in order to drive to her destination.
She knew of a very small town in southern Indiana where there was no sign of SHIELD or HYDRA activity and that's where she was headed.
It takes her a few days to get there because of multiple stops for food and rest and gas but she gets there safely and undetected and she is happy to stay off the grid for a while.
She finds the perfect place to live. It's an old Victorian that's a few miles out of town and it's used as a boarding house of sorts. She would have preferred to live alone and she offers to buy it from the old lady that owns it but she politely declines. Natasha finds the woman likable enough though and it's just herself and the old woman that would be living there at present so she decides to give it a shot. The older woman, Rachel Dieter, is approximately seventy three years old with graying brown hair and appears to be in good health given how she looks quite fit and has the looks of a well-aged Hollywood starlet. She lives in the downstairs of the house while Natasha will have the upstairs and she didn't blink when Nat said that she would be paying in cash. Natasha also glimpsed the numbered tattoo on her forearm when they first met and the kind old woman didn't mind telling her at all that she was saved as a child from a Nazi concentration camp in 1943.
And it didn't go unnoticed by Natasha that Rachel didn't miss much. She is a very perceptive woman and after a few days of Natasha being there in her new home, she asks Natasha when she's due. And Natasha tries to keep her surprise to herself as she answers that she should be expecting in late October. Since the last time she was with him was January 25th.
Natasha had made an appointment with the local hospital that day and she was to leave for it soon and Rachel offered to go with her, saying that she needed to stop by the grocery store anyway. And it turned out that Rachel was in fact a retired neurosurgeon, and she had actually had the pleasure of delivering a few children in her day when the staff needed an extra hand.
Natasha grew to like the woman's company more than she thought she would.
Rachel makes her tea and sings old Hebrew songs to her when she's feeling poorly and bakes and cooks her things when she's craving the weirdest of foods.
It's her fifth month of pregnancy and third month of living with Rachel that she suddenly realizes through her pregnancy mushed brain that Rachel knows who she really is but hasn't called her on it. But then when she asks Rachel how she knew, she just says that she saw her on the news all those months ago and that every woman deserves her privacy no matter what they've had to do in life.
It's that same month that Natasha tells Rachel a lot of things about her life and tells her she can call her Nat if she likes. And Rachel tells her things in return, like how she loved a man once but her adoptive father wouldn't allow them to marry because the man she loved was black and back then people were too small minded. His name was Ellison and he enlisted in the army during Vietnam. She doesn't know what happened to him and she never forgave her adoptive father for keeping them apart. Rachel took back her true family name after that and she has never loved another man since.
She keeps his picture in her room and in the cameo locket he gave her all those years ago.
Natasha found herself tearing up during the story and even though her emotions might be screwy because of her pregnancy, she thinks she still would have cried regardless.
The following month, Nat really misses her best friend Clint and she tells Rachel about him.
"And does he know about the baby, dear?" Rachel asks softly as she's cutting Natasha's hair for her.
Nat settles her arms protectively around her growing bump and breathes a few times to keep her hormones under control.
"No. No one knows except for you." She admits.
"Oh, mein liebes Madchen (my dear girl)." Rachel says compassionately as she hugs Natasha's shoulders from behind and kisses her hair. "Not even the father?"
Natasha closes her eyes as she sighs forlornly and brings her hands up to grip Rachel back.
"No. He doesn't know. I-I'm scared to tell anyone."
Natasha would never admit that to anyone but Rachel or Clint.
Rachel rakes her fingers through Natasha's short hair soothingly and hums to her a tune before speaking again.
"Sometimes the scariest things in life turn out to be the best things." She says and Natasha knows that when she says things like that they have many meanings and are meant for Natasha to take to heart and think on for a while. Rachel never tells her what to do or judges her in any way. She gives advice as easily as breathing and Natasha has come to love her dearly. It's not long after that, that Natasha starts calling Rachel, Mama Rae. It's on accident at first but then she sees how the name makes Rachel's eyes light up and her smiles widen so she keeps calling her Mama and honestly, Rachel is the closest thing to a mother she ever had so she thinks its suitable.
It's the following month after another doctor's appointment that Natasha seizes the day and mails two envelopes with copies of all of her child's ultrasound photos. One is sent to her best friend where the last time she checked, he was falling head over heels for a certain genius billionaire playboy philanthropist. And the other is sent to the one PO Box that she knows her baby's father checks frequently.
In Clint's envelope, she writes a promise- We'll see you soon.
And for the surprising love of her life's envelope, she writes coordinates and the truth- I'm sorry. I miss you. I love you.
It's in the last days of her seventh month- eleven days after sending the envelopes- that Natasha and Rachel receive a knock at their door.
Not many people come to their home, only a few that are permitted from time to time like the nice boy who mows the lawn and their mailman and also a couple of girl scouts that know that old Dr. Dieter can never send them away without ordering cookies. But since it's Sunday and the nice boy that takes care of their lawn was just there last week, Natasha has a feeling that she should be the one to answer the door, sensing that it's not girl scouts looking to make a large sale.
"I'll get it." She tells Rachel before the woman can get up from her place at her painting easel where she is working on something that she has not allowed Natasha to see yet.
"Thank you sweetheart." She smiles and Natasha smiles back before she waddles her way to the front door.
She doesn't like the fact that she waddles slightly but she endures it because it is unavoidable and Rachel told her that it makes her look adorable. In all her years no one has ever dared to call her adorable but Rachel isn't like anyone she's ever met so she allows it.
Nat rests a protective and motherly arm over her protruding stomach as she peers through the peep-hole of the front door. She sucks in a breath after she does and gets down from her tiptoes in order to lean against the door for a moment.
He's here. She knew he would come. Of course he would. But she never thought she would feel this scared and vulnerable and happy and self-conscience all at once, once she saw him.
His hair was nearly shaved and he had a slight beard the last time she saw him but now, now his hair has grown out like it was when they first met and he's clean shaven and absolutely gorgeous. Her heart is actually doing palpitations and she has to pinch herself to try and calm her breathing down.
The knocks sound again, right by her head and she does not jump when they do. She does not.
She steels herself and unlocks the door before opening it a few inches and maneuvering so that it's just her face that is visible in the space between the door and door frame.
He looks at her with heavy, tired, and beautiful brown eyes and smiles ever softly.
"Natasha." He breathes and it sounds like a benediction. Like she's the answer to his prayers; an angel among the darkness.
It makes her eyes close: just the sound of his voice. And when she opens them again she refuses you acknowledge the dampness building in them.
"Bruce." She whispers and the arm she has around her bump tightens ever so slightly.
His smile gets even softer and more affectionate if that is even possible and his eyes lighten up slightly and become just as damp.
"Please tell me I didn't miss it." He begs softly and Nat's heart nearly leaps into her throat as she holds in the urge to sob. Damn these pregnancy hormones. They are total assholes.
"No." She shakes her head and decidedly opens the door wider so she can take a step closer and put her whole body into view. "We still have about eight weeks left."
Bruce's duffle falls off his shoulder and onto the porch when he looks her up and down. His expression goes from that soft affection to a surprised wonder and he takes a step towards her, reaching out but not touching.
He looks back up into her eyes and swallows. "Can I?" He asks softly and Nat just nods her head quickly, not knowing what to say since it seems that she is at a loss for words.
Bruce takes that final step closer, his hand outstretched towards her swollen belly and Nat takes hold of his wrist in order to guide it to her stomach. She places his hand where she can feel their child's feet moving within her and hopes that he can be able to feel a kick soon. She remembers the first time she felt her little spider move and the memory still brings tears to her eyes, like it is now.
Bruce moves ever closer and his hand stays firm on her stomach while the other reaches up to caress her face. She leans into the touch and her eyes close momentarily before they open once again, not wanting to miss that loving and tender gaze that Bruce is always able to direct toward her and only her.
"You're beautiful." He whispers and she smiles her genuine smile, the one only Bruce gets to see where her mouth is closed but her lips are turned up at the corners slightly with her head titled just so.
"I'm fat." She says.
He laughs as he shakes his head. "You're lovely."
"I waddle."
"I can't wait to see it." He smiles.
"I eat far too much for someone of my size."
"It's a good thing that I like to cook then."
She tilts her head in the other direction and his hand moves with her cheek as she looks at him coyly. "I'm gassy, a lot."
"It's normal and I'm sure that I won't mind." He soothes easily.
She purses her lips. "I'm too emotional these days. I can start to cry at anything really."
"Well, I can be a crier at times so I'm sure I'll enjoy the company."
She grips the front of his jeans, where his shirt is tucked into his belt. "There was a period when I was in a constant state of arousal and I couldn't stop thinking about you."
He swallows thickly. "I'm sorry I missed that."
"I think it might be coming back around." She supplies, hopefully in a seductive manner.
It seems to have worked because Bruce's pupils dilate and he wets his lips with his tongue unconsciously while Natasha tracks the movement with her equally hungry eyes.
"I'd be happy to help in any way you want me to." He says sincerely and Natasha smirks.
"Well then, my feet are killing me so they could use a good rub and I'd love some bananas foster pie. And I'm sure that I'd definitely be up for sex after that."
Bruce's eyes are filled with love and laughter as he grins bright and wide and beautiful and then he leans his head forward to rest it against Natasha's forehead.
"God, I've missed you." He says and Natasha's overly full stomach fills with butterflies at his soft exhalation of pure awe and affection.
"I've missed you too." She whispers, her eye's watering up easily even though she keeps trying not to cry.
There is an abrupt and strong kick from her stomach against Bruce's hand and the beautiful scientist sucks in a breath as his expression turns into pure delight.
"I felt them." He breathes. "Her or him, I felt them."
Natasha can't help but smile, glad that he didn't say 'it' like most people would. But Bruce isn't most people.
She's about to tell him what she thinks they are having, since she chose not to find out, but it's then that Mama's voice sounds and Natasha mentally berates herself for not remembering that she was in the other room.
"Nat, darling." Rachel calls. "Either in or out, you're letting the heat in dear."
"Sorry Mama." Nat calls back and she tugs Bruce inside after he grabs his duffle from off the porch.
"Mama?" Bruce whispers with a raised brow and Natasha shrugs but then smiles at Rachel's voice.
"You can call me whatever you like, sonny, after you introduce yourself."
Nat smiles at Bruce's confused expression and she squeezes his hand before leading him into the living room, knowing that everything will be okay now that he's finally here.
And everything is okay, it's near perfect actually.
Bruce and Mama get along so well it's like she raised him herself. And both of them being in the kitchen is honestly the best thing in the world. Nat has never felt so loved and safe and so pleasantly full in her life.
Bruce rubs her feet and ankles while she eats Mama's bananas foster pie on the couch as they watch Gone with the Wind. And Bruce and Nat have to stifle their laughter when Mama starts to rant about how 'that Scarlett O'Hara is the stupidest bitch I've ever seen, she had it all and still wanted that pansy ass Ashley- Rhett Butler deserved better anyway'.
Mama Rae stands to retire to bed when the credits start rolling and as always, she kisses Nat on the forehead but then she kisses Bruce's forehead as well before she leaves the room.
Bruce watches her go, a little stupefied and awed, before he looks to Nat.
"She's really something isn't she?" He asks and Natasha smiles.
"Yes and I know exactly how you feel."
Bruce smiles softly at her, his hands still warm and strong as they hold her feet in his lap. "Are you ready for bed or are you wanting to watch something else?"
Natasha smirks at him as she sets her nearly empty pie plate on the coffee table and stretches her arms above her head, resting them on the armrest behind her after she turns off the TV.
"Bed sounds nice, but I don't want to get up."
"I'll carry you." Bruce says, as easy as breathing.
She raises a brow at him and can't help but smile. "Bruce, I'm a lot heavier than I was seven months ago."
He's smiling as he stands up and then he promptly yet carefully slides his arms beneath her knees and shoulders before lifting her into his arms. She lets out a laugh that has him smiling even more and she wraps her arms about his neck.
"And I'm a lot stronger than I look." He supplies.
She can't help but lean up and kiss him then. So she does and he kisses her back, his arms tightening as he cradles her ever closer.
She leans back after a moment and grins up at his pleased expression.
"I forgot to mention that our room is upstairs."
"Well," he says as he looks through the archway and towards the staircase, "It's a good thing you're light then."
She giggles, actually giggles as he carries her through the house and up the stairs.
And she might have felt a little self-conscious about her naked body at first, but once she saw the completely reverent and soft expression in Bruce's eyes, she then promptly and thoroughly rocked his world- thanking God that he's able to keep the Hulk under control during sex now.
She wakes up in the middle of the night with the need to pee since her little spider is kicking up a storm but she finds herself not wanting to move. She's on her side since these days that's how she has to sleep in order to be comfortable and she's facing Bruce but doesn't find his face when she opens her eyes. Instead, she hears his soft voice further down the bed and when she looks, she finds him curled towards her bump with his mouth just inches away from her skin.
"…and it took me a while to calm down. I wasn't angry, I was far from that, but the reason why I lost control was because I was scared." He whispers and Natasha doesn't move, just breathes evenly in order to keep Bruce from realizing that she's awake. "I was petrified to be honest. All these worse case scenarios kept running through my brain. Like the thought of losing your mom because you might hurt her or the thought of someone like Ross finding out about you and your mom and trying to hurt the both of you- like so many people have tried to do to me. There were so many things that scared me and some things still do, but I promise you that I'll never ever let anyone hurt you or your mom- though I'm positive that she can take care of herself. But I'll protect you both regardless, for as long as there is a breath still left in my body. I promise that I'll be the father that you deserve and I'll never be like the one I had. I promise to love you until the end of time and forever after that. But I'm going to be honest here, I'll mess up sometimes and you'll probably tell me you hate me when you're older because most kids do tend to say that out of anger, but I promise that I'll always make things up to you and I'll always love you even when you're mad at me and if I'm mad at you."
He places a soft and loving hand on her stomach and she watches him place a kiss against her skin through blurry eyes. "You're my greatest achievement and you haven't even been born yet little one. I can't wait to meet you."
An abrupt kick against his hand has him smiling that delighted and childlike smile, but it also has Natasha groan because she really needs to get up before she has an accident.
Bruce looks up, and then he grimaces as he slides up the bed.
"I'm sorry I woke you."
"No, no you didn't. My bladder woke me." She wipes her eyes with the corner of her pillowcase and Bruce reaches out to run his knuckles along her jaw, his thumb brushing her bottom lip.
"How much did you hear?" He whispers.
"Enough to start crying and want to hear more."
Bruce smiles that soft smile that she loves so much and she kisses him then, not being able to keep herself from doing it any longer.
In the time that follows Bruce's arrival, Natasha and Bruce talk about serious things and not so serious things.
"Does anyone know?"
His arms are around her and her back is leaning against his chest as they sit up on the bed, both feeling like spending the day as lazy as possible.
"I sent an envelope of sonograms to Clint the same day I sent them to you. So he knows, and Tony probably knows too."
"Ah."
"Yeah. They have probably been trying to find me, since Clint's the kind of friend that would want to be with me during this."
"Do you want him here?"
"Yes. But I don't need him here. I'd rather have him there with Tony, making sure that the idiot doesn't blow himself up."
Bruce chuckles. "You know, he called me during a panic attack when he realized that he had a crush on Clint."
"Really? Clint did the same thing."
"It took me twenty minutes to get Tony to tell me why he was freaking out. I was surprised that he bounced back so quickly from breaking it off with Pepper but I'm kind of glad that it was Clint."
"They are good for each other." Natasha agrees. "As crazy as that sounds."
"Love is crazy." Bruce supplies and Natasha smiles up at him.
"I know. But it's the best kind of crazy when it's with the right person."
They are lying on their sides close to falling asleep after a long day, facing each other and using their bent arms as pillows.
"Baby names?" He asks.
"It's a lot harder to decide than I thought it would be."
"Do you have any favorites?"
"Too many. I'll show you the list later. But boy or girl, I'd like the middle name to be Francis, with an i or an e."
"After their Uncle Clint?" Bruce smiles.
"Yes, though I'll never admit to be so sentimental again so you better enjoy this while it lasts."
"Oh, I am sweet girl. I am."
She smiles as she closes her eyes, forever loving it when he calls her that.
They are sitting opposite each other in the bathroom's claw foot tub and Bruce is rubbing her feet.
"I'd like to be back in the city after the baby comes."
"In the tower?"
She nods and then caresses her protruding stomach with her hands. "It's what I'd like, but I'm not sure if it's wise."
"But it's what you want." He says, and it's not a question.
"Yes."
"Then we'll figure it out. Besides, it's the most secure building in the world when the Avengers are there."
"And I don't think I'd want to leave without Mama Rae." She admits quietly, feeling vulnerable.
"She's really become someone important to you."
"I love her, I feel like I have a mother when she's around. I never thought I would ever feel that again."
"Have you talked with her about it, leaving with you I mean?"
"No."
He smiles as her softly. "It wouldn't hurt to ask."
They are lying on a blanket in the front yard, the stars shining above them. She's using Bruce's arm as a pillow while soft pillows and blankets are arranged beneath her so she's comfortable. She's wearing a sweater that Mama Rae made her with thick soft gray yarn and they have a large purple afghan thrown over the both of them. Bruce is pointing out constellations with his free arm and telling her facts about each one.
She doesn't remember ever stargazing before, but she really likes it now.
But then she starts to think about that portal that opened, and how magnificent it was- a terrifyingly magnificent thing. It reminds her that life is short and that their lives are more dangerous than others.
"I love you." She says and he shifts his gaze away from the sky to her.
He smiles, "I know. And I love you too."
She smiles back, that secret smile that only he's allowed to see. And then she worries her bottom lip for a moment before she makes up her mind.
"What are your thoughts on a legally binding agreement that says I'm yours and that you're mine?"
His smirk is soft and his eyes are serious as he turns on his side, his arms still around her and now his hand rests against her stomach.
"My thoughts are… yes please and where do I sign?" He says.
She laughs as she pulls him closer and kisses him.
It's in the beginning of her last month- twenty-eight days before the baby's due date- when Natasha finally talks with Mama Rae about leaving with them.
Rachel smiles that pleased and slightly emotional smile and admits to having already made some plans about doing just that. And it's the next day that they are all filling moving boxes and Bruce starts cleaning out the attic- the basement starts soon after.
She writes a letter to Clint- while Bruce does all the heavy lifting- and it's far too emotional but she doesn't care and she explains everything that has happened in the last seven months since she saw him. She talks about the shit-storm with Pierce and how she felt like she needed to keep herself and her child safe. She talks about how happy she is and she tells him that she has missed him. She tells him about Mama Rae and how she would like for him to find Rachel a nice, safe, house out of SHIELD knowledge, a place where no one would recognize their faces if they were to visit her. And she tells him about how she expects him to be the best uncle ever and she might even tell him that she loves him and that he's the best brother by choice in the world.
She mails it after a lot of thought and even puts a new picture in the envelope. It's one that Rachel took of her recently where she's sitting in the front room's window seat and the sun is coming through, outlining her profile as she smiles down at her stomach; the antique ruby ring Bruce found for her sparkling in the light. She thinks it's the most beautiful picture she's ever seen of herself and she thinks Clint would like a copy, knowing that she's happy.
Five weeks and three days after Bruce arrives, Natasha wakes up in the dark early hours of the morning with some abdominal pain. She doesn't like it, but only because it's early and she's not due for another nineteen days.
She breathes calmly in and out as she sits up in bed and she smoothes her hands all around her stomach.
"It's still early, little spider." She whispers as she feels her child moving inside her.
It's then that the unmistakable wetness becomes known between her legs and it has her accidently punching Bruce awake.
"Bruce!"
He falls out of bed and hops up in flash, his eyes wide and hands up as he stands in only his boxers.
"I'm awake. I'm awake! What's wrong? Are you okay? The baby?"
"Bruce." She's says calmly and he breathes and nods his head. "My water broke."
She's never seen him move so fast after that.
It actually makes her laugh through the pain.
Bruce carried her down the stairs after he pulled some clothes on and Mama Rae was already tugging her coat on by the front door and moving to help her get her own coat on.
"I heard someone falling out of bed and I just assumed it was time." She explains and they all quickly make their way outside to the car.
Mama Rae gets them to the hospital in record time and it's there that the long wait begins.
She was restless staying still in the hospital bed so she's been walking laps around the maternity ward for a while now. It's taking forever for her to be completely dilated and she refuses to stay sitting on her ass when she could be doing something else to help her child get ready to come into the world. Bruce and Mama Rae have walked with her but it is just Bruce now, Mama Rae decided to wait in the hospital room for a while to rest her feet.
"I've been on stakeouts that have moved faster than this." Natasha sighs as she stretches her shoulders.
Bruce runs his hand and kneads his knuckles between her shoulder blades and down to her lower back. It feels very nice and he is a saint.
"Every pregnancy is different."
"I know, but it's been hours and I want Little Spider, now."
Bruce chuckles a little though he looks like he's trying not to.
"Is that the name we're sticking with?"
"They've been okay with it so far." She says.
It's then that they round the corner and a flash of vibrant balloons and oversized stuffed animals zooms past the end of the hallway. Then rushed voices are overlapping each other at the nurses' desk.
"Someone's excited." Natasha supplies and then Bruce scratches the back of his neck in a sheepish, guilty kind of way when she looks over at him.
"What?"
"I- um, called a friend from the payphone downstairs right after we got here while you were changing into your gown."
"Bruce! Who-"
"NATASHA!"
The balloons and giant stuffed animals start coming toward them and two figures can be seen with matching crazed expressions.
"You didn't." She whispers.
"I did."
"I love you."
"I know. I'm sorry, in advance."
"You're forgiven."
She laughs when the figures nearly trample into a medical cart and the nurses' yell at them to stop running. They slow for a second, walk around the cart, and then speed walk furiously until they are in an arm's reach of her.
"Hey Nat." Clint exhales. He's holding a giant panda and a dozen purple balloons and he's wearing a pair of jeans and a wrinkled plaid shirt under a gray jacket.
"Hey." She laughs.
"What gives Doc?" Says Tony. He's wearing jeans and a Metallica shirt under an open black zip up hoodie and he's holding a giant elephant and a dozen green balloons. "You said Red was in labor. It looks like you're taking a stroll."
"She's not fully dilated yet Tony."
"YES!" Clint exclaims. "We didn't miss it! This is awesome." Then his shoulders loosen, like he's relieved and he crowds into Tony's space and kisses him. "I love you so fucking much."
Tony blushes, his big brown doe eyes wide and mouth open. He's completely speechless, probably for the first time in a long time, and then a beautiful bright smile stretches across his face.
"I love you too."
Clint smiles before he kisses him again and then he hands Bruce the panda and balloons in order to hug Natasha.
"Man sis you're big." He laughs.
She smiles a little and there might be tears in her eyes because she's too happy. "Shut up."
They all go back to her hospital room and she gets back onto her bed with a little help from Clint. Then she introduces Tony and Clint to Mama Rae. She adores them immediately and hugs them both instead of shaking their hands because she had heard so much about them already.
Soon after that, while Clint is telling them all about Tony's new flying car and how insanely fast it can go, Natasha starts having contractions and she manages to grab Bruce's hand while it's happening.
"Showtime?" He asks and she nods jerkily.
"I think we're ready."
Mama Rae leaves to get a nurse and Clint and Tony wish her good luck and go out to the waiting room with the gifts so they won't be in anyone's way.
It takes a long time, but she's been in excruciating pain before so she gets through it with barely any threats on Bruce's genitals.
And when she gives that last push, clutching Bruce's hand and sweating buckets, the cry she hears makes everything worth it.
"It's a girl!" The doctor says and she lets Bruce cut the cord before a nurse takes their little girl off to get cleaned and weighed and measured.
Bruce kisses Natasha and she leans her forehead against his.
"You did amazing Nat. I'm so proud of you."
"Can I have her now?" She manages to whisper and not a moment later, a little precious buddle is placed in her arms.
She looks down at her daughter, finding pinked skin and dark hair with hues of reddish flare. She's the most beautiful thing Nat has ever seen and just like that, Natasha knows exactly what their daughter's name is.
"Penelope."
Penelope Frances Banner was born at 5:24 PM on October 13th, 2014. She is 6.7 lbs. and is 48.9 cm long, with dark reddish hair and blue eyes.
Natasha holds her for a long time though she's still tired and Bruce holds her right after. And Natasha fades into sleep watching him look down at their daughter with tears in his eyes and the brightest smile she's ever seen.