Junior Avengers

Chapter Two

How to Save a Life

February 10th 2014

6:02 am

England- Jane's One Bedroom Apartment

"Come on, Jimmy, you can do it, just stick it in your mouth and suck!," Jane exasperated. Heaving a heavy sigh as she took the bottle away from her two month old son's mouth, and sat it down on the counter. "You wake me up at the crack of dawn, crying, and now you won't even eat, what am I going to do with you," Jane said, rolling her eyes and shaking her head, the strands of her brown hair that she had pulled up into a messy ponytail, lightly hitting her checks.

Deciding to give up for the moment, she took her place on the stool, to finish her own breakfast of cereal. It definitely wasn't the breakfast of champions, but with being a new single mom who had no idea how to care for a baby, it was the best she could do at the moment.

The last couple of years had been very hazy to Jane, almost like she wasn't completely all here. There was nothing physically wrong with her, during the first year she had visited numerous doctors, all who gave her a clean bill of health.

Letting go of her spoon into her empty bowl with a clank, Jane stood up. One hand full of baby and the other her dishes, she sat her bowl and glass in the sink, resolving to wash them later.

"Okay, Jimmy, are you going to-," Jane's question to her son was cut off by the doorbell.

As Jane made her way to the door there was a series of knocks and rings to greet her.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming!," Jane raised her voice to be heard as she opened the door, only to have a black blur speed past her and her son disappearing from her arms.

"Aw, there's my cute little godson," a very familiar feminine voice gushed from behind Jane as she closed the door and turned around.

"Nice to see you to, Darcy," she said sarcastically, crossing her arms and leaning against the door.

A sheepish smile spreading across the younger girls face, with a nervous laugh she replied, "Sorry, but can you blame me. First you have this adorable little guy," wiggling her fingers in the baby's face, making Jimmy follow them with his brown eyes, "Name me godmother, then move all the way out here to England with only a louse phone call to tell me,"

Letting out a deep sigh, Jane moved away from the door and back towards the kitchen, "Well, if you're so keen on spending time with him, why don't you try to finish feeding him,"

Following behind her former employer, Darcy exclaimed, "Are you kidding, I'd love to!,"

"Yeah, you say that now," Jane told her, picking up the bottle from the counter and handing it to Darcy, who had taken her seat on the stool.

"Knock yourself out, I need to finish getting ready," Jane said, heading toward her bedroom.

Jane could literally feel the stress melting off her once she was done taking a warm shower, and had a clean, fresh pair of clothes on.

She made her way back toward the kitchen, feeling the need to see how Darcy was doing with her son, only to find them in the living room.

"Hey, baby momma," Darcy said when she was Jane, bringing her head up from where she was laying on the couch. She had her knees up, using them as a support so Jimmy could sit on her stomach, "I don't know what the big fuss was, he drank that bottle right up, didn't even take ten minutes,"

Leaning over the back of the couch, Jane raised an eyebrow at her son, "You little traitor," she told him, which he only gurgled happily at.

Smoothing down his blonde hair, Jane let out a breath and, with a small smile, plopped down in the recliner, "As long as he's feed, I guess it doesn't matter,"

"You look really worn out," Darcy noted, sympathy leaking into her voice.

"Yeah, well, it comes with the job," Jane answered, pulling the lever to lean back.

"You know, if you wanted to get out for a few hours of baby free time, I can totally watch him,"

"Thank, but that's all right, besides I don't think I have the energy to do even that,"

"Oh, come on, Jane," Darcy said, sitting up, bringing Jimmy with her to cradle him in her arms, "You've been cooped up in this apartment all month,"

Jane shrugged and answered, "I've had a lot of work to do, with both Jimmy and my research,"

"That's fine, but it is okay to take a break once in a while, put some lady clothes on and go out and meet someone,"

"Last time I took your advise to go out and meet someone, I ended up pregnant,"

"Hey, that's not my fault! I said to go out with the guy, not sleep with him. Though you could of given him a chance, he's a pretty decent guy, he even offered to marry you when he found out he knocked you up,"

"Oh, please, don't say knocked up, and I have my reasons for not wanting to date him,"

Giving her an unbelieving look, Darcy said, "You mean a reason. He's been gone for almost two years, Jane, noone has heard or seen him, not even the Avengers. I think if he was going to come back he would have done so already,"

"You don't know that," Jane insisted, sitting up, "He's an Asgardian, time flows differently for him," standing up she stormed off toward the kitchen.

Darcy, too, stood up, Jimmy in her arms, as she followed her friend, not ready to give up, "So what, are you just going to keep waiting for him? Letting the rest of your life pass by as he sits up there on his pretty little throne?,"

Jane grips the sink and flinches when Darcy comment reaches her. It wasn't just the harshness of her words, but the truth that was in them. It was something that often kept her awake at night. There was no guarantee that Thor would came back in her or even her son's life time. The scientist in her, the part that relies in logic, knows she should move on, perhaps give Keith a chance, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. It made her feel like a thirteen year old girl again, one who is hung up on her first crush.

Jane's eyes dropped to the tiled floor and, with her hair framing her face, she asked in a small voice, "Is it so wrong that I love him?,"

Eye's softening, Darcy took in a deep breath to calm herself and said, "Of course not, I'm just worried. I never see you talking or hanging out with anyone but me and Eric, well, not so much Eric anymore since he went, you know, woo-ho," Darcy whistled the end, bring her finger to her temple and moving it in a circle, making Jane crack a small smile, "In all seriousness, it's fine that you love him, I just don't want you to tune the world out while you wait for him,"

Looking up at the girl who had quickly become her best friend ever since a Norse god had dropped into her life and left just as fast and said, "I understand," taking Jimmy into her arms and wrapping her free one around Darcy, "Thank you,"

Hugging back, the ex-intern asked, "For what? Yelling at you?,"

Chuckling and pulling back, Jane answered, "No, for caring and still being by my side after about two years of mopping,"

"Ah, hey, what are friends for?,"

Jane wiped away a few stray tears and asked, "Surely you didn't come over here just to lecture me, is something wrong?,"

"Oh, yeah," Darcy's eyes lit up, the argument before forgotten, "You know all that scientific equipment you don't look at anymore?," she asked, pulling a black box like contraption with an antenna from her jacket pocket and passing it to Jane, "You might want to start looking again,"

February 10th 2014

5:00 pm

"Are you sure you don't want us to take you to the hospital, or at least a doctor?," Jane asked, dabbing a cut on Thor's cheek.

'I'm positive Jane, besides, after today, I'm sure your healers have their hands full," Thro reassured her.

"Okay, though they could probably do this much quicker," she said, placing a bandage over the cut, "And gentler," she added when she felt him flinch slightly.

"Your doing just fine, Jane," he said, taking her hand that was hovering over his injury.

When she felt his thumb rub the middle of her palm, her brown eyes meet with deep blue.

Jane felt her breath hitch as Thor got closer, until she could feel his breath on her lips. She was in the process of meeting him halfway when the door to her bedroom flew open and a piercing cry greeted her ears.

"Oh, I did it again, didn't I? Sorry," Darcy apologized.

"It's fine Darcy, what's wrong?," Jane asked, after clearing her throat. She stood up from the bed and made her way over to the dark haired girl.

"Um…..Jimmy," Darcy answered, pointing to the upset baby in her arms, "He won't stop crying, I've tried everything,"

"What's wrong, sweetie?," Jane poised her question to her son, taking him into her arms.

The wails that had long since given Darcy a pounding headache, ceased to exist.

Looking down into watery brown eyes, Jane smiled and said, "I guess he just missed his mother,"

"Well, since she has been traveling to half of the nine realms since this morning, I'd say so," Darcy joked.

A clearing of a throat made both girls turn to the god of thunder, as he said, "I apologize ladies, I'm afraid I'm not acquainted with young Jimmy,"

"Oh, right," Jane said uneasily, shooting a glance at Darcy who just shrugged her shoulders, "Thor," she started, looking back to the man she loved, "This is my son, James Kincaid, but we all call him Jimmy,"

"Oh," he said, with a smile, taking a step forward to greet Jimmy, before realization overcame him, "Pardon me?,"

February 18th 2014

6:20 pm

Stark Tower

"There you go Cap, easy," Steve heard a voice say and felt a hand on his shoulder.

He turned his head slowly, so as not to make the world tip any more than it already was, and saw the face of his new friend.

"Sam?," he asked.

"Yeah, it's me Cap, don't worry, we're almost there," Sam answered him.

"There?," Steve asked, confused.

"Yeah, you know, Stark tower, the place you wanted me to drive you to,"

"Why?,"

"I don't know, I was hoping you could tell me, though I figured it had something to do with Ironman being a teammate of yours,"

"...Ironman...Stark….Avengers, right," Steve put together.

"Man, that Winter Solider did a number on you, didn't he?,"

While Steve was thinking up an answer, he heard a ding and a robotic voice say, "Here you are Master Rogers, and Master Roger's friend,"

"Man, that is so cool," Sam said, looking around the elevator, before helping Steve out into the hallway.

"While Master Stark is down in his lab, the others can be located in the dining room," Jarvis informed them.

"Thank you, disembodied voice," Sam said, "So, Cap, don't suppose you know where the dining room is, do you?," he asked. When he go no answer besides Steve scratching the back of his head, blue eyes squinted, he added, "Yeah, didn't think so,"

Not wanting to talk to the voice again, Sam resorted to listening for noise and following it.

When he got to the opening, true to what the voice said, there was no Stark present. There was, however, a giant of a man who looked like he could play play professional football, Sam knew him to be Thor. Beside Thor was a brown haired woman holding a baby, across from them was a skinny man with glasses and curly hair, and beside him at the end was an older man then the rest and a woman with a pixie cut.

Only knowing one out of five people, minus the baby, in the room did nothing to still his nerves that were still fried from the past battle, it also didn't help that all their, eyes were on him.

The tenseness in the air could be cut with a knife.

"Um, hello," Sam said.

Like clockwork, Thor shot up, followed by the pixie woman, the chair and table scuttling away from the Asgardian.

Sam gulped when narrowed blue eyes meet his. Now, Thor was in civilian clothes and his hammer was nowhere to be seen, but Sam would rather avoid a man of Thor's stature if at all possible, plus there was the unidentified variable of what the woman was capable of.

"Whoa, whoa, big guy, calm down, I'm not the enemy," Sam tried to reassure the Norse god.

Sam wasn't an idiot, he knew this looked bad. He was a stranger, who walked into a high security tower, with their captain who was clearly out of it.

"If this is true, stranger, than state your name and what has happened to the Captain," Thor demanded

"Now let's just all calm down," the man with glasses said, standing from his seat.

"Please, Sam said to them, "I'm not the bad guy, I'm a friend of Steve's, he's just been through a rough battle and is still recovering. Does he have a room somewhere, so he can lay down?,"

"Yes, if you'll follow me, I can take you to his floor,"the glasses man told him, heading around and motioning for him to follow.

"His own floor," Sam whispered, amazed as he was lead back toward the elevator.

Sam didn't know how to break the ice with the nice man, and he didn't seem inclined to speak up either. The elevator stopped half way up Stark tower and opened up to one of the largest living room he had ever seen.

"Here, I do believe his room is this way," glasses man said, heading across the room, "The layout is pretty much the same on every residential floor, the only difference if how the owner decorates it,"

Having the door held open for him, Sam stepped into the room and settled Steve down on the bed, covering him with the white comforter, before sitting the bag down that held his costume and shield.

"Are you sure this is his room?," Sam asked looking around at the bland space. There was no personal affects that he could see, just a bed, a dresser up against the wall and a nightstand.

"Yes, though he doesn't stay here that often, it is to my understanding that he has, or had, an apartment down in Washington," glasses answered walking out of the room, "I'm Banner, by the way, Bruce Banner," he added holding out his hand.

"Sam Wilson," he said, shaking the man's hand.

"So, your, ah, a friend of Steve's?," Bruce asked.

"Yes, a relatively new friend, but a friend none the less,"

"And you helped out in the Washington fight?," Bruce asked and after getting a nod he added, "Well then, you have my thanks, we didn't even know about it until we saw it on the news and then afterwards we couldn't get ahold of anyone,"

"Since what happened, I'm not surprised S.H.I.E.L.D didn't contact you," Sam answered as they both made their way back to the elevator to give Steve some peace and quiet to recover.

March 2nd 2014

10:32 am

Hell's Kitchen

Natasha stood in front of the full body mirror that she had to install in the apartment that she had been staying in. She had the flaps of her jeans clenched in her fist and was glaring down at them in disdain.

"Believe me yet?," a male voice asked from behind her.

She looked back up in the mirror at the man's reflection leaning against the doorway.

"No, I've just gained a few pounds, looks like it about time to start that new training regime," she told him, shimming out of her pants and walking over to the closet to grab a new pair.

"Nat, I can hear, been hearing it for weeks now, and unless your heartbeat is usually as fast as a hummingbird I do believe it's-,"

"Stop," Natasha interrupted, spinning around to face him, "Don't you dare say it Matt, I don't want to hear it, besides I've already told you, it's not possible,"

"Things happen in operation rooms, trust me, I know I'm a lawyer, we get those cases all the time. We may never know what happened after you went under for the 'graduation ceremony' in the red room, but obviously something went wrong, because your preg-,"

"Don't say that word," the spy stressed.

"Fine, I figured you wouldn't take my word for it, so I went out and bought these," Matt said, holding up a plastic bag.

Pulling on her new pair of jeans, she made her way over to him and took the bag to look inside it. What greeted her was multiple boxes of pregnancy test.

"I don't know much about it, so I just got as many as I could, pretty sure the sales lady gave me a strange look though,"

"Surely not, what could be so strange about a blind guy buying, how manys in here, five, six pregnancy test?," she said sarcastically.

He gave her a smile and said, "Please, do take at least one and if it's negative I'll let it go, but if it's positive…," he let the statement hang in the air.

"Fine," she snapped, closing the bag, "but when they turn out negative, and they will, there won't be another word about it, clear?,"

"As crystal," he told her, "but you should know," he called after her, "my hearing has never been failed me before,"

Stopping at the doorway to the bathroom, she looked back at him, "There's a first time for everything," she told him, before closing the door.

Natasha stared down at the different brands of test lain out on the counter in front of her. She knew Matt was still outside the door, waiting, but she couldn't bring herself to face him. She had been locked in the bathroom for over thirty minutes, having taken test after test after all but one turned out positive.

A knock on the door caught her attention, "Natasha, you okay?," Matt's voice reached her ears, when he received no reply he added, "Come on, Nat, just let me in and we'll talk about the results,"

There was no movement on either side of the door for a few seconds, before Matt heard an unlocking sound. He grabbed the knob and opened the door, but didn't dare step into the master assassin's space.

"Can I come in?," he asked, when he received a nod and a soft "yes," he stepped up beside her.

He glanced down, seeing the shapes of the test, but not the results he turned to look at her, but she had turned her head away.

"What do they say?,"

"...They're all positive, except for the one on the end," she answered, clearing her throat.

"Hm, I guess it'd be too much wishful thinking to say that it could be mine, huh?," he joked, trying to lighten the mood.

She turned troubled green eyes to look at him, "No, it would be to early, if it was yours, even you wouldn't know about it yet,"

"Do you know what you're going to do?,"

"The only thing I can do," she answered with determination.

His uncertain smile turning into a frown, he said, "Please, tell me you're not talking about what I think your talking about,"

Bright green eyes blazing she asked, "What other choice is there?,"

"Well I don't know, how about keeping it and raising it to be a respectable human being?,"

"That's not an option, not for me anyway,"

"Nat-,"

"This body wasn't made to house life, Matt, it should've never happened,"

"But, it did happen, you can carry a child Nat, be it's mother,"

"Can and should are two different things, with both my lifestyle and it's father's there's no way it could grow up happy," She told him, looking out the window with her hand placed on her stomach.

"You don't know that," he pleaded.

Eyes turning cold she replied, "I do," before storming out of the bathroom.

Back in the bedroom she grabbed her bag and slipped on her shoes.

"Where are you going?," Matt asked defeatedly.

"You know where," she answered, heading towards the front door.

"Nat, can't you just think about this some more?,"

"I'm done thinking, the more time I waste, the more this...thing grows," she said with a pained face.

"Child, Nat, it's a child, your child,"

"I don't have a child," was the last thing she said before heading out the door.

"Ms. Rushman, the doctor's ready for you," an overly cheery voice said.

Natasha put the magazine she had been flipping through back on the table before standing up and making her way to the nurse.

After almost an hour of waiting her alias had finally been called, 'How I miss the personal doctors of S.H.I.E.L.D,' she thought, but pushed it to the back of her mind, S.h.i.e.l.d was gone now, there was no use dwelling on something that no longer existed.

After checking her weight and height and making her take a short eye exam she was led into a room, "The doctor will be with you in a moment," was all the nurse said before leaving her alone.

Letting out a deep sigh, Natasha made herself comfortable on the bench, the paper covering it crinkling as she sat down. Crossing her arms and arms she leaned back against the wall, the perfect picture of calm on the outside. On the inside, though, her thoughts swam with uncertainty.

'Was this really what she should be doing?,' at Matt's it was obvious, she wasn't fit to be a mother, she could barely keep herself alive on the best of days. She would ruin the kid.

'What about Clint?,' Clint, she could see Clint being a father, playing with them, teaching them how to use a bow and arrow, trying to shoot their daughter's first boyfriend.

The small smile that had crept onto her face quickly disappeared, what was she thinking, she was here to get an abortion, there wasn't going to be any their daughter, or even their son, she was ending this nightmare today.

She looks around the room for something to distract herself, but all she finds is different posters littering the walls. There was a range of them, for contraceptives, to managing your health while pregnant to information on the baby at different weeks.

As she's reading them, she comes across one that made her pause. It's marked at the top in bold, white letters, 10 Weeks Pregnant: What to Expect and How Your Baby's Growing.

She tried to look away, but the picture that it showed wouldn't let her. The baby that was drawn was still curled into itself like the posters before it, but it had more of a human shape, just with a stubby body and a big head that could rival Tony's.

Green eyes sliding over the text she scanned through all the facts on how your body was changing, it was one sentence that she zoned in on and what she read made her head spin.

Could it be true? The thing inside her, the thing she hadn't even identified as a child yet, it already had a brain or the start of one? Not to mention toes and fingernails.

If it hadn't been for the door opening and the doctor walking in, Natasha feared she may have lost consciousness. As it was she was able to clear her head with the help of the doctor's voice.

"Hello, Ms. Rushman, I'm Dr. Marshall,"

"Hello,"

Giving a small smile, Marshall looked down at the paper she had sat on the desk, "It say here, you put down that you are right at the end of your ninth week, but this is your first visit,"

"Yeah, as far as I can tell I conceived on New Year's Eve..," Natasha trailed off, when she saw the doctor was still looking at the paper and not her.

"Okay, well let's hook you up, and, since this is your first time here, we'll just make sure there is a baby in there," Dr. Marshall explained, getting up and pulling a machine over to Natasha.

Clenching her teeth, Natasha said, "I assure you, I'm pregnant, I even took six test,"

"Eh, those test are spotty at best, it's always good just to make sure, so if you'll lay down and left your shirt up,"

Retain and deep sigh, Natasha did as she was told, wanting this to be over and done with as quickly as possible.

She didn't look at the screen, not even when the doctor pointed out where the baby was before continuing to talk like her patient was listening.

Natasha was brought back to earth by a startling sound, it was strange and didn't seem like it belonged in a doctor's office. it reminded her of the movie Spirit, that Clint had made her watch one night when he learnt she had never watched it. The sound was like a thunder of galloping horses, much like the ones from the beginning of the film.

She scanned the room, searching for the sound or maybe a stray herd, but all she found was the doctor and the monitor.

"Doesn't it sound amazing?," Dr. Marshall asked.

"What? What is it?," Natasha asked instead of answering.

"Why, it's the baby's heartbeat, silly,"

Natasha's whole world froze at the doctor's words, that little thing that was shown on the poster, that was inside of her, had a heartbeat? How was that possible, she could probably balance the baby on the tip of her finger, it was so small.

Natasha could barely hear the doctor's words through the fog covering her mind, "...it say here...abortion….you could..Ms. Rushman? Ms. Rushman!," As Natasha was called back by the doctor, she drew in a deep breath she wasn't even aware she was holding.

"Ms. Rushman, are you alright, you went as pale as a ghost- Ms. Rushman!," the doctor exclaimed as her patient rushed out of the room.

No one stopped her as she made her way out of the building and into the parking lot. Once she was there was took in a deep breath of fresh air and tried to calm her frantic beating heart.

She didn't know what had come over her all she knew was that she had to get out of that building.

She placed a shaking hand over her abdomen as she made the most important decision of her life.

She knows that she is the last person that should ever be a mother, she didn't have one maternal bone in her body, but hearing that heartbeat made her want to protect it, and even if it meant it was the last thing she ever did she would never let it go silent.

March 4th 2014

Cross Technological Enterprises

We are very happy to have you as our new head of security, Mr. Barton," Jorge said.

"It's a pleasure to be here sir," Clint replied. 'Maybe this will be what keeps me distracted from a certain red head,' he thought.

"Sir, you have a Mister Wayne, on line one," a female voice said as the two approached the front desk.

"Thank you, Barbara, and while I'm here I'd like you to meet our new head of security, Mr. Clint Barton" Jorge told the blonde.

Standing up with a smile on her face she held out her hand and said, " It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Barton, I'm Barbara Morse, but you can just call me Bobbi,"

So, that is Thor: The Dark World and the Winter Soldier out of the way. I'm not doing the whole story with Cross Tech, I haven't even read it, I just needed a way for Clint and Barbara to meet and it seemed like the easiest. We have two kids, three if you count Jimmy who is Jane's son in the comics that I just threw in there, I'm sure you can guess who Natasha's child is, though I'm curious to know if you can figure out who Sif's is.

*Update* 5/5/16

So, I went back and decided to change a few things. Mainly Sif is no longer pregnant, as the child I was going to give her, I decided I wanted her to have a different parentage.