Disclaimer: I don't own anything besides the OC's. POV switches between Natasha and Bruce. This is my first story, so please be kind. Read, favorite, follow and leave me a review.

Chapter 1: Birthday

Natasha POV

Darkness formed around me and then shattered into a glowing green abyss, and then I was falling. My feet somehow found stable ground and I began to run. He was going to catch me, I knew it. I was going to die at the hands of the Hulk. He was going to kill me no matter how fast I ran or how well I hid. It was his transformation that set me running for my life. "I swear on my life that you will be okay!" I cried out to him as I ran. The Hulk roared out, "YOUR LIFE?!" and followed me in hot pursuit. I felt his hand slam me into the wall and he advanced on me with a mighty roar as I screamed in pure terror.

I watched the scene from above as he smashed my skull and trampled my broken body. Then the Hulk seemed to calm down and fall asleep, his enemy finally dead, my blood splattered everywhere. He shrunk down to the size of a normal man and the green faded from his skin. My blood did not. Dr. Bruce Banner began to stir now, shaking his head and groaning as he picked himself up off the floor. He glanced around before he noticed the blood splattered on his skin and coating his hands. He whispered to himself, "Oh God no. Please tell me that this is my blood.", before he turned and saw my mangled body. Bruce dropped to his knees and began to sob uncontrollably, tears flowing freely from his deep brown eyes. "NOOOOO!"

I awoke with a start, my breathing coming in short breaths, my heart pounding. I rolled over on my bed and grimaced at three things about today: one, the sun was glaring in at me. Two, today was my birthday and three, I would be haunted by that nightmare for God knows how long. Then I remembered why I hated my birthday so much and I felt like vomiting.

When I was with the Red Room, before I was spared by Clint in Budapest, my birthday was always a time of uncertainty. I padded into my bathroom, undressed, turned on the shower and stepped into the hot stream. Every year on one day, coincidentally my birthday, the director of the Red Room would line up all of us girls, read from a list and then those that were called out would have their throats slit for messing up in the past year. I shuddered as I remembered my 17th birthday, the last year I was with the Red Room, and the events that took place that day.

"Now I want to congratulate you three Black Widows for making it so far over the course of thirteen years." Director Vladimir looked at us three with a smirk playing on his lips, "As you three know, every year on this night, we call out the names of those…Sub-par spiders… and we make an example of them." A diabolical grin spread across his face, "Tonight is the night when one of you will rise to the challenge of becoming the final Black Widow. This will be a three-way brawl for the title. It is your job to kill the other two that stand in your way. On your mark, get set, FIGHT! "

I stepped out of the shower and toweled my hair dry, slipping into my fluffy bathrobe, before brushing my teeth. I scowled at my reflection as I remembered snapping the neck of my first opponent and decapitating the second, watching as Director Vladimir gave me a standing ovation, along with the rest of the other trainers and master assassins. The pride I felt that day was unmatched, truly smiling for the first time in years; even as I dropped the severed head of my former colleague unceremoniously on the ground. The thought of how truly sick in the head I was at seventeen was enough to cause Fury to piss his pants. I pulled on a pair of black yoga pants and a blood red T-shirt, slipped into my shoes and ran a comb through my damp hair before heading out of my room and taking the elevator up to the living area.

I silently prayed that Tony didn't decide to pull any stupid "Happy Birthday" shit today. I love Pepper like a sister, but if Tony calls me the birthday girl, I'll have to beat some sense into that dense skull of his. As luck was in my favor that day, the only one in the living area at seven AM was Steve. He grinned at me as I sat down on one of the vacant stools at the island.

"Good morning Natasha. I hope you slept well."

He glanced up at me, noticed my ashen expression and asked,

"Hey, what's the matter? Are you okay?"

He poured me a steaming cup of coffee, black, just like I liked it, and then moved around the kitchen island to sit next to me. I sighed, and explained the nightmare and told him about my birthday. His brows came together as he slipped into deep thought about my nightmare before saying,

"Gee, you sure had one heck of a nightmare," He looked over at me and patted my hand, " at least today is your birthday!"

He grinned warmly. Then I grimly explained to him why my birthdays were so horrible too.

The grin slid off his face and I could tell he felt genuinely sorry for me. Then he leaned in and gave me a hug, which took me by surprise, as the Captain was known for being a blushing mess around women. Even seeing how women in the 21st century dressed made him shift in his seat. He must've felt really bad, so I hugged him back, even if I hated hugs (they made me feel all mushy and emotional). We broke apart and then I heard the elevator ding open behind me.

Tony sauntered out with a smug look on his face before saying,

"Jarvis, can you give me a tune to set the tone for today?"

The AI responded "Of course, sir."

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata began to play throughout the living area. Steve started snickering at him. Tony rolled his eyes and said,

"Hey Jarvis, we aren't in a freaking funeral home here. Play something for Natasha."

Jarvis responded with an "Alright sir" and the song changed to the 'Birthday' song by the Beatles. Tony sang along, as I gave him an icy cold stare, preparing to give him a sound ass kicking. Then Pepper got off the elevator with two gift bags, Tony pulling out a third and fourth one from behind the bar.

Pepper ran over to me and embraced me,

"Happy Birthday, Natasha!" she cried as she handed me the gift bags and was enthusiastically telling me to open them. I couldn't help but smile as I opened up one bag and pulled out a designer handbag, holding it up as Pepper snapped a picture with her phone, then I opened the other bag and pulled out a pair of ruby and onyx earrings. I was thanking Pepper when Tony said,

"Excuse me Pep; here you go Nat. Happy Birthday." I opened up the first bag and pulled out a bottle of expensive imported vodka. Tony handed me the other bag but when I went to open it, Pepper said,

"This is from the both of us. Jarvis, can you pull up the surveillance camera for slot 25 in the Garage level?"

The AI responded "Of course Miss Potts. Happy Birthday, Agent Romanoff."

The kitchen screen flashed to life and showed us a charcoal black and candy apple red Chevrolet Camaro, the convertible edition. My hand closed around a set of car keys as I momentarily forgot the reason why I hated my birthday, because this was actually my first car. In Russia, I didn't own a car because I was always taking the train everywhere. When I joined SHEILD, we had chauffeurs that drove us everywhere. This was the best day ever.

The elevator doors opened and the very person who I feared walked out of them. Ladies and gents, the one, the only, Dr. Bruce Banner.

Bruce POV

I was running after Natasha, who yelled out that she swore on her life that I would be okay. Then I realized the Other Guy was controlling me, because I (or was it the Hulk?) who roared out the words "YOUR LIFE!?" and continued to chase Natasha until my vision went dark and I heard a bloodcurdling scream followed by a warm feeling spreading over me which I realized was the Hulk calming down so that I could take over once more. I lifted my head as my vision went back to normal. I shook my head as I picked myself up off the floor. Then I noticed it. The warmth on my hands was due to the fact that they were covered in fresh blood. I hoped to God that nobody was hurt and whispered "Oh God no. Please tell me this is my own blood." I glanced over and then I saw Natasha's broken and bloodied corpse. I began to cry, tears flowing from my eyes and I yelled out "NOOOOO!" I guess I really am a monster.

I awoke with a start, my pillow wet with tears and apparently the Other Guy had seen the horrible dream too, because I was fighting to keep him back. I did the only thing I could do at this point and I breathed deeply, curling up in my blankets and crying, getting it out of my system. I have had dreams like this before, all ending with the Other Guy killing whoever I was chasing. It was terrible and all I wanted was to have one night to just sleep and not dream.

I decided on getting up and facing the world. As I reflected on my dream, I took a shower, shaved, brushed my teeth, got dressed and attempted to halfway tame my hair, which ended up looking wavy for once. I walked out and opened up my nightstand drawer, pulling out Natasha's birthday presents, a delicate gold necklace that had a Black Widow spider as the pendant (thank you Tony for the cash) and a black leather diary with her initials 'NAR' embossed into the cover in red and gold letters. I walked out of my room and took the elevator up to the living level. I walked out and saw Natasha, Steve, Pepper and Tony celebrating Natasha's birthday. When Natasha looked at me, the uncharacteristic grin slid off her face and was replaced with her normal stoic expression.

"Good morning Bruce!"

Tony greeted me with a smile and a thump on my back. Natasha got up from where she was and walked out onto the balcony, taking her coffee with her. Pepper looked up as she left and asked,

"What's up with her?"

Steve got up and walked over to me, and I was immediately pulled off to the side. Steve looked at me and said that Natasha had a rough morning and had a nightmare about her death,

"…Maybe you should go out there and talk to her, give her your gifts and have a friendly conversation."

I shrugged and then told Steve about my own nightmare. As the retelling continued Clint, Agent Serena Atwell (Clint's girlfriend), Agent Hill, Phil Coulson, Thor with a very pregnant Jane on his arm, Nick Fury, and Darcy got off the elevator with gifts for Natasha. Steve's eyes were getting wider and wider by the second. I reached the end of the retelling Steve looked like his brain was about to stop working and he said,

"Um, Bruce, this may sound beyond strange to you but you and Natasha had the exact same dream, only from different perspectives."

I was dumbfounded as I removed my glasses and swept my fingers through my hair before I said,

"That's practically impossible. You're not kidding are you?"

Steve shook his head and said,

"You should go talk to her."

Then his girlfriend Beth got off the elevator and greeted him with a light kiss on his jawbone that made him turn beet red.

I sighed, made myself a cup of chai tea and went out on the balcony, gifts in my hand. Natasha noticed my presence and she sat down at the small table for two. I sat down across from her and said,

"Hey, happy birthday Natasha." in a soft voice.

I slid her gifts across the table; she glanced up and said,

"Bruce, I can't pretend that what happened on the Helicarrier was just a one-time thing, neither can you. You almost killed me, and if it wasn't for Thor knocking you through a wall, you probably would have."

She looked me straight in the eyes, her green ones locking with my brown ones. Clenching my fist under the table, I said,

"Natasha, I'm trying my hardest to control the Hu- the Other Guy, but sometimes I can't control him, like what happened on the Helicarrier. That was a genuine accident. I'm sorry that the Other Guy nearly killed you, really I am."

"Easy now," I thought as I took a deep breath and unclenched my fists, "we don't want the Other Guy coming out."

I looked down at my hands and sighed. She reached over and took the smaller package that was covered in Avengers themed wrapping paper and tore it open to find the jewelry box, opened it up and gasped ever so softly at the Black Widow necklace in it, she glanced up at me and said,

"Hey, do you think you can help me put this on?"

I stood up and fastened the necklace around her neck. She turned around, traced the golden spider lightly and said "thanks" softly.

I watched as she ripped the paper off of the diary and she grinned as she flipped through the blank pages. She stood up and grabbed her gifts and coffee mug before heading inside where all the Avengers plus a few other people who were agents of SHEILD or the girlfriends (in Jane's case, the wife) of team members. Just as the door was about to close behind her, she turned back and said "Thanks Bruce."

I ran my fingers through my hair and thought about the dream while I sipped my tea. The Other Guy was finally silent, for now. I nearly dropped my tea when Thor bellowed behind me,

"SIR BRUCE! COME AND JOIN IN THE MERRY BREAKFAST FEAST TO CELEBRATE LADY ROMANOFF'S DAY OF BIRTH! AND MY LADY JANE WISHES FOR YOU TO FEEL THE LITTLE WARRIOR KICK WITHIN HER WOMB!"

This was going to be a long day full of social contact. It wasn't that I was antisocial; I just preferred the peace and quiet laboratory work brought me. I walked inside to find the ultimate example of family. Steve and Beth were making breakfast, Pepper was keeping Tony away from the bourbon and scotch (much to his dismay), Maria Hill and Phil Coulson were holding hands, Clint and Serena were shooting each other sappy smiles as they set the table, Fury was talking to Darcy about using stun guns, Thor was sitting next to Jane on the couch with a hand on her abdomen and they would smile as they felt the baby kick. Natasha was standing up, looking out the window over the New York skyline. I walked over to her and she flinched as I said "Happy Birthday." Just then, Beth called everyone to the table.

We all sat down and Steve asked all of us, to please join hands to say a prayer before eating. He prayed for God to bless the food, give us strength, and keep us safe, to bless our Avengers family, to bless the agents of SHEILD, and to protect everyone in the world from harm. We ate waffles and talked about everything under the sun, from gamma rays, to the 'Little Warrior' that could be born any day, to Serena Atwell's extreme love of owls. Then Fury's phone started to ring and we all had a good laugh at his ringtone, which just ended up being the theme song for 'Men in Black'.

Fury excused himself for a moment to take the call and he came back with his face solemn, as per usual. He said,

"Agent Romanoff, I apologize for asking you to do this on your birthday, but we need you to go on a simple hit mission. The guy is dangerous, he almost killed Agent Atwell last year, so we need you to go in and bust his rocks."

Natasha glanced up and asked,

"Where is he and why can't you send another agent?"

"He is in downtown Seattle and the reason why we can't send in another agent I because he nearly killed Agent Atwell and she is the only female agent close enough to your level that we could send for the job. The guy has a thing for females, he got suspicious when we sent Agent Harford last spring, and we had to pull him out early. We could send Agent Hill, but we all know that she can only do so much without aggravating that disc in her back, which leaves you. Don't worry, it'll be a simple Bing, Bam, Boom type deal and you'll be back by tonight."

Natasha seemed to think about this for a second before she agreed to go and take this guy out. The Other Guy inside of me seemed to wholly disagree. He snarled from the back of my mind, begging to be let out. I started to get a nauseating feeling in my gut like Natasha wasn't going to be okay by herself on this mission. I quickly put the thought out of my mind, there wasn't anyone more suited for a job than her. That didn't stop me from making a fool of myself by standing as she stood. I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Natasha say,

"Bruce? What are you doing?"

I thought for a second and made up something like,"

"I have to get more tea."

Tony gave me a look that had 'Bullshit' written all over it, so did Fury. Apparently I'm a bad liar and a humongous, green, rage monster.

Natasha ran back with her uniform on, her legendary Widow's Bite charged and ready for action, I noticed her slip the Black Widow necklace into her jumpsuit and zip it up.

"I'm ready to go. Fury, can you have one of the agents give me the coordinates before I take off from the Helicarrier?"

"No problem, you may want to open up my gift so you can use it on your mission."

Natasha found the box Fury was referring to and opened up to find a new six inch, serrated, steel blade and holster. She smiled again, which was very uncharacteristic of her as she grabbed her car keys, put the holster with the knife in it on, and yelled out , "See you guys later tonight!"

I had the strange feeling that I would see her tonight, just extremely injured. Pushing the thought out of my mind, I took my tea and went down to my laboratory.

Natasha POV

As I snuck into the lair of this guy, an ungodly stench hit me and almost knocked me off my feet. His nickname was 'The Ripper' and it was then that I realized this guy actually lived up to his name. There were severed limbs, heads and he even had a couple rotting torsos hanging around the place which explained the smell. I heard a scuffle behind me, I whipped around and a rag was pushed over my mouth and nose. The smell of chloroform filled my head as my eyelids began to droop.

I woke up later and realized that those bastards had me chained to a wall. I tried to inhale deeply, but I was having trouble as I coughed and tasted blood in my mouth. I wasn't going to last very long in this condition. Lucky for me, they didn't take my earpiece and I made it look like I was rubbing my shoulder across the side of my head when really I was pushing the button to call for backup on my communicator. I heard a voice on the other end ask me how many people to send to my location. I looked around and, seeing nobody, asked for Clint Barton and Serena Atwell to come in for me. I coughed again as I heard a door being opened and closed next to me. This disgusting looking guy walked over to me and asked me,

"Who are you, who sent you and are you enjoying having broken ribs with internal bleeding?"

I glared at him and said nothing at all. Clint's voice came over my earpiece and he told me that he and Serena were about to land and that they brought a gurney in case I was injured. The guy came up to me and pulled a gun out, held it to my thigh and fired. Just before I blacked out though, he punched me in my ribs again and I saw an arrow go through his head. Then my world went black.

Bruce POV

I heard the elevator go ding and out of my peripheral vision, I saw Clint and Serena run down the hallway to the Armory. My heart skipped a beat and the Other Guy tried to get out. Tony ran into the lab and pushed the button for the alcove where he kept the latest model of his Iron Man suit and I watched as the suit opened up and built itself around him. I found my voice and asked Tony what was wrong. I heard him say that SHIELD just got a distress call from Natasha and that he was going to secure the finest suite in the nearest hospital for her, he said that I should go upstairs to sit with Thor, Jane, Captain Virginity, and Beth. I wasn't thinking so I just took Tony's word and figured that Natasha would be alright. I didn't ignore the voice of the Hulk in the back of my head yelling "HULK SMASH MAN WHO HURT HULK'S PRETTY SPIDER!"

I stopped short as I realized what the Other Guy had just said. The Hulk was claiming Natasha as his own. He wanted to make sure nobody ever hurt Natasha ever again. I felt like slamming my head into a wall.

It was true that I cared about Natasha and all, but I didn't care about her like that.

According to the Other Guy, the embodiment of my emotions, I did.

So how was that for a first try? Be kind and leave me a review, flames will be ignored.