Aaaand here's the next oneshot, Lovelies! This is the first one written around one of your prompts, and the prompt was: James is seven years old and Steve and him plan something for Natasha on the upcoming mother's day. (You can play around with the gift idea.) But, it goes wrong when Natasha goes off to a mission the day before Mother's Day, leaving Steve and James worried instead of excited. She doesn't come back for a week, and when she does come home, James is sleeping already. She goes up to his room to kiss him good night, but it turns out James is awake and whispers "happy mother's day, ma" or something of the sort. When she leaves the room Steve greets her with a rose, a kiss, and a messy card with a hastily written "Belated Happy Mother's Day!" BY: VYLNETWILIGHT
Thank you so much for the prompt, Vylnet, and we hope we did it justice! (Sorry it's not on Mother's Day, but this took a while to get completed :P)
Steve was crouched by James, who was sitting at the kitchen table and eagerly drawing on a large piece of paper with a crayon. "Let's put some roses on it- ladies love roses." He advised, taking the red color and drawing a basic outline of a rose for James to then color in.
"Da-ad! It's supposed to be a mommy card, not a wife card!" James scolded, scribbling over the flowers with purple. "I want there to be dandelions. They're super pretty, like Mommy!"
"I thought this wasn't a romantic flowery card?" Steve teased, watching as the boy carefully drew lots of yellow circles, tongue sticking out of his mouth.
James giggled. "You're weird, Daddy." He said, adding a finishing touch- aka: a squiggly blue line at the bottom of the page- and dropped the crayon with a flourish. "Done! I can't wait to give this to Mommy!" Steve smiled at the boy's innocent joy- it was certainly a blessing to the soldier and the assassin-slash-spy, bringing back a true happiness they'd never realized had left.
"I'm sure she's going to love it." Steve replied genuinely.
"Really?" James asked excitedly.
Natasha poked her head in. "What are you boys doing in here?" She inquired with a knowing smirk on her lips.
"Quick, hide it!" Steve urgently whispered to James, who swiftly shoved the card under the table and onto his lap. He turned back to Natasha. "We aren't doing anything! Nothing at all…" He said.
"Mmmhmm… I can see that. James' bed is still not made." Natasha placed a hand on her hip and looked pointedly at the boy. "Did you want to go and fix that, Jamie?"
James blushed and ducked his head sheepishly. "Yes, Mom." He said, jumping up and rushing out of the room. He discreetly passed the card to Steve as he passed, genuinely surprising Steve- the kid was turning out to be an excellent spy.
Natasha's eyes followed him before landing on Steve. "I know that look." Steve commented.
"I have to head out for a mission tonight… But I should only be gone for a few days." She told him, stepping further into the room toward him. "I know we said no more last minute missions, but this one is important."
"Nat, tomorrow is Mother's' Day! You can't just leave!" Steve spluttered indignantly. "James has all sorts of things planned for us to do!"
She sighed deeply and regretfully. "I know, I know, and it's all super cute, but… we can celebrate it when I get back. I have to help a friend out; I might be back tomorrow, but I can't guarantee it."
Steve ran a hand through his hair. "Well that's just great- what are we going to tell Jimmy? He'll be heartbroken."
"He'll be fine- he's seven now, not a little kid." Natasha replied.
He stared at her. "What exactly is your definition of 'little kid'? Because I was under the impression that it meant a child under the age of ten- which would apply to James, since he's seven."
"Mommy's right! I'm a big boy now!" James piped up from the doorway. Steve groaned.
"You're not helping."
Natasha turned around and bent down. "Jamie, come here." He did. "Listen, I have to go on a top secret mission, so I might miss Mother's Day tomorrow. Can we do it another day instead?" She asked, smoothing down his shirt and smiling softly at him.
James' expression was pitiful, his puppy dog eyes and trembling lip in full effect. "But Mommy, we can't have Mother's Day not on Mother's Day! It wouldn't be the same!"
Steve stepped forward and kneeled beside her, looking James in the eyes. "Your mother doesn't want to be gone for Mother's Day, Jimmy… she has to. Sometimes things just don't work out the way we want them to."
James pouted. "But that's not fair!"
"Life usually isn't." Natasha commented. "And this is one of those times, but I have to go now- can I have a hug?" She asked James, her eyes flickering over to Steve's before they trained once more on their son.
The boy looked conflicted for all of two seconds before he was a quivering mess in his mother's arms, arms wrapped tightly around her and his face buried deep in her shoulder. "Please be safe." He asked, and that just about broke Steve's heart. "Come home soon."
"I will be. I love you." Natasha replied, hugging him close to her.
"I love you too." Steve took James' hand and pulled him closer to himself as Natasha stood to leave.
"We'll be okay while she's gone, okay?" He asked the seven-year-old, who shrugged.
Natasha sighed, her eyes landing on Steve again- it wasn't often where they didn't get to say a one-on-one goodbye, but this appeared to be one of those times. "Look after your father- he's getting super old." She said before walking from the room.
James waved after her, even after she was out the door. "Bye, Mommy…"
End
Natasha stepped quietly through the building, not even making a creak, and slipped silently into one of the rooms. A soft smile made its way to her lips as she watched her son sleeping soundlessly on his bed. She approached him carefully, pulling his covers up to cover him fully and kissing his forehead before retreating.
As she reached the door, she heard movement from the bed, followed by a soft, "Happy Mother's Day, Mommy."
She smiled even wider. "Thank you, James. I love you."
"Love you too." Her son muttered, already falling back to sleep.
Natasha exited the room and was instantly next to Steve.
"Hey," he greeted happily, extending the bouquet of white roses he'd been holding.
She accepted the roses and smelled them with a smile. "Thank you." She said sincerely, leaning against him in a one-armed hug. "How was James?"
He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Worried, but okay." He answered. "Did the mission go well?"
"As well as it could have gone, yes." Natasha replied. She looked at their son's door- thankful that James was sleeping peacefully- and hoped he didn't follow them into their profession. "Come on, let's go to bed."
Steve wrapped an arm around her. "I thought you'd never ask."
Natasha leaned against him even more, almost allowing her husband to carry her down the hallway and into their room. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For being you." Natasha replied.
Steve smiled. "You're welcome- it's easier being myself than anybody else."
Natasha laughed, because before she and Steve got together, there weren't many people with which she was truly herself, and in a lot of ways, she found herself being even more outwardly… well, herself, when they got together. So him saying that it was easier being himself was not the same for her.
Steve, after setting her down, reached for something on the dresser. "Oh! By the way, James wanted me to give this to you as soon as you got back." He passed it to her.
It was a large piece of construction paper folded into a card, with lots of childish drawings all over it. The front said "Happy Mother's Day, Mommy!" in a messy child's scrawl. In handwriting that was noticeably Steve's, the word 'belated' was inserted in blue pen above the message.
Natasha took the card carefully, a sad smile on her lips and tears nearly forming in her eyes. "I should have been here for him to give this to me." She replied, staring at the card for way too long before placing it aside. "This… us… our son, is more important." She sighed, but knew that she would probably make the same call in the future.
Someone had to make the world safer for James, after all.
There we go! Did you love it? We hope so! Please be sure to leave a review telling us what you think and be sure to drop us any prompts you may have!
Have a great evening, Lovelies!
-Violet