Author's Note: Thanks to all those keeping up with this story. Here's another one-shot while I come up with the next chapter for "I Dream Things..." WARNING: Here there be Age of Ultron spoilers!
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Chapter Four: Girls Night In…Almost
It all started because Clint wanted to go ice skating at Rockefeller Center. Nobody quite knew why, but that didn't matter in the end. Thor was in town, and was fairly easy to rope into the whole scheme. After a bit of wheedling ("manly men go ice skating, Cap!"), Steve was convinced to join in as well.
Tony and Bruce were otherwise occupied in 'Candyland'. So Natasha offered to stay in with Christy, as sort of a 'girl's night.'
As Steve prepared to go out that night, he gave a few last-minute instructions to Natasha.
"Make sure she gets to bed by nine; she has school. She'll try to convince you she doesn't need that much sleep—don't buy it. She shouldn't have any trouble sleeping, but if she needs music, she has a playlist on her i-pod. There's pizza on the counter for dinner and she'll probably wanna watch a movie. I don't think there's anything else…"
Natasha cut off his parental gush. "Steve, we'll be fine. I think I can handle one kid."
"I know, I know, it's just…I haven't really left her alone with anyone at night before…"
"Then I'm honored to be the first." Natasha said, honesty permeating her voice.
She actually was pretty honored. That the paragon of virtue and justice (though that was, admittedly, not his own definition of himself) was trusting her to watch his kid for the night…there was still a part of Natasha that felt completely unworthy of the task.
"You know I trust you with her." Steve replied. "She loves you."
Right on cue, Christy came out of her room, her cloth doll and her Captain AmeriBear each tucked under one arm. "Are you leaving soon, Daddy?"
Steve grinned. "What, tryin' to get rid of me?"
"No!" Christy dropped her toys to the floor and flung her arms around Steve's waist. "I love you!"
Steve returned the hug and his grin grew even wider, if such a thing were possible. "I love you, too, baby. And yes, I am gonna head out soon. Be good for Aunt Tasha tonight, okay?"
Christy nodded. "I'm always good."
"Remember that you have school in the morning; no trying to stay up late!"
Christy sighed. "O-kay…"
Once Steve had left the apartment, Christy turned to Natasha. "Can we eat dinner now?"
Natasha glanced at the clock on the stove. It was a little after six. "Works for me."
"Okay! Can Natka and Stevie sit at the table, too?" Christy asked, gesturing to her doll and bear. The bear was, of course, named after Steve.
Trying to hide her grin, Natasha said, "Sure, why not?"
It still gave her a rush of inexplicable happiness whenever she heard Christy say her doll's name. Sure, it was probably idiotic to be this happy that the kid had named her doll after her, but to Natasha, it was just one more parting shot to the Red Room, to her past, to the monster they had tried to make her.
It was proof that she could be someone outside of the deadly Black Widow.
As they sat down at the table to eat, Natasha tried to think of something normal to ask Christy. She still had a bit of trouble interacting with kids one-on-one (although experience had taught her that kids were pretty good at filling silence).
(Her brain rabbit-trailed for a moment as she once again thought that Clint was being an idiot to hide what he was hiding from the team. But it was his secret, not hers.)
She finally settled on, "So, how was school today?"
"Good." Christy said, around a mouthful of pizza. She swallowed and continued. "Sorry, I talked with my mouth full. It was good. We did math and reading and science. We're learning about bugs. I like butterflies. But not spiders!"
Natasha smirked. "Not even black widows?"
"Aren't they really poisonous? And they kill you?"
"Yup, and that's why it's my code name." (That, and other reasons that wouldn't go over well explaining to a seven-year-old…)
Christy nodded, satisfied. "What did you learn about when you were in school, Aunt Tasha?"
Natasha froze.
Christy was smart. Smart enough to know that her dad, 'aunt,' and various 'uncles' all had things they didn't want to talk about, because they hurt too much.
But how to explain to seven-year-old that when she was Christy's age, she'd been learning not about butterflies, but about how to best slit someone's throat?
"Did you even go to school?" Christy asked, softer. She was staring at Natasha with that unnervingly knowing expression of hers.
She sighed. "Not…not school like you think, baby. Although I did learn to read and write and speak a lot of languages. But I learned a lot of things I'm not proud I learned. I learned how to hurt people."
"But you were just a kid, right?" Christy asked, her dinner completely forgotten. "People teaching you should have known better. Adults are supposed to know better than kids."
"Yeah…they should have known better. But they didn't."
Christy frowned. "Stupid Nazis."
That actually made Natasha laugh, considering how at war the Soviets had been with the Nazis. Yet it took an innocent to show that underneath, they were really all the same.
"They weren't Nazis, kid. But you've got the right idea. Now, finish eating."
After they'd finished dinner, Natasha cleaned up what little dishes they'd used while Christy got in her pajamas.
"Can we go down to the Common Floor and watch the movie?" Christy asked. "The TV's bigger."
"Alright. But pick your movie."
Christy rifled through a stack of DVDs. "Found it!" She grabbed her doll and bear. "Let's go!"
Natasha grinned. "Okay, okay! Slow down, kid."
They went down to the Common Floor. Natasha showed Christy how to put the movie in, and then made her do it. With five (occasionally six) adults and only one kid in the Tower, Steve was concerned that Christy would get in the habit of letting others do things for her, without knowing how to do them herself.
"What movie is this, again?" Natasha asked.
"It's Lilo and Stitch!" Christy said happily. "I like it a lot. But it's kinda sad in some parts. I might cry."
Natasha smiled. "Then you can cry on me."
Just then, Bruce came out of the elevator. "Oh…hey. Am I…interrupting, or…?"
"Uncle Bruce! Come watch the movie with us!"
Bruce looked just a tad startled. "Uh, that's okay, Christy, I just wanted to get something to eat and then I was gonna go back to the lab…"
"Uh-uh!" Christy jumped off the couch and grabbed Bruce's arm. "We're taking you hostage!"
"'We'?" Natasha asked, trying to hold back a laugh.
"Yeah! Puh-leaase come help me, Aunt Tasha?"
Natasha surveyed the harried-looking scientist and shrugged.
He spends too much time in that lab, anyway. So does Tony, but we'll get him another day.
"Okay. It's official." she grabbed the scientist's other arm. "You're being held hostage, Banner."
"Great…" Bruce tried to look annoyed but a grin was creeping onto his face.
"Jarvis, tell Uncle Tony that we've kidnapped Uncle Bruce, please." Christy said formally.
"With pleasure, Miss Rogers."
"'With pleasure?' Whose side are you on, Jarvis?" Bruce joked.
"According to my protocols, I am not supposed to take sides; however…you have been in the lab most of the past week, Dr. Banner. You could use a respite."
Bruce sighed. "Fine, fine; even the AI tells me to take a break. What are we watching, anyway?"
By the time the movie had ended, Natasha had decided three things.
First, was that Cobra Bubbles had to be Nick Fury's cousin in a distant universe.
Second, was that a children's movie should not have the power to make battle-hardened assassins almost cry more than once.
(Actually, forget the 'almost' part…)
Third, was that Bruce Banner looked adorable with a seven-year-old sprawled across his lap.
Christy looked to be almost asleep by the time the credits rolled, so Natasha reached over and patted her shoulder.
"Time for bed, kid, it's almost nine."
Christy yawned. "Do I have to? I'm not that tired."
"Your dad already warned me about this. Now head on up and get ready, I'll be up in a minute."
"O-kay. Night, Uncle Bruce." she said, hugging the man around his neck before padding off to the elevator.
"Night, Christy."
As the elevator closed, Natasha yawned. "So, you headed back up?"
Bruce sighed. "I dunno…I have been pulling some crazy hours. Tony's like a gold mine for weird new ideas, and then I get new ideas for research just from talking to him, and then three days later, I haven't slept."
"Well, I don't exactly have any plans for the night, just waiting around for the boys to get back. Wanna come up to Steve's floor and just…talk? Or sit in silence. That might be preferable after being around Tony for days on end."
Bruce laughed. "Tony's…actually pretty quiet in the lab. He gets so focused; I know it's hard to believe, but it's true…anyway, yeah, I think I'll accept the invitation. Nice change of pace."
They both headed into the elevator. Once on Steve's floor, Natasha made sure Christy got tucked in bed, and left her listening to lullaby music.
She and Bruce settled down on the couch and just…talked. About everything—from random things to serious things. It was probably the longest conversation they'd had one-on-one.
When Steve got back about an hour and a half later, they were still talking.
"So, looks like girl's night got crashed, huh?" he joked.
Natasha shrugged. "Blame your daughter. She kidnapped him."
Steve just stared. "I…don't wanna know."
Bruce grinned at Natasha and they both started laughing.
Yeah, so much for girls night. Natasha thought. But this was pretty good, too.
Hope you enjoyed! After I saw Age of Ultron, I read that a lot of people saw the whole Natasha/Bruce thing as kinda coming out of nowhere (which, it sorta did)...so this is part of my attempt to fill in the gap of their relationship between "The Avengers" and "Age of Ultron."
There should be another chapter up for "I Dream Things..." before the weekend. In the meantime...
Read, Review, Favorite, Follow! Love you guys!
