I dedicate this chapter to the event that happened on this day 13 years old.
R.I.P to all those who lost their lives in the tower attack. No one will ever forget.
Always remember 9- 11!
Natasha took a deep breath before stepping out of the bathroom and in front of the body length mirror to look at her reflection. Reaching beside her, she grabs her fake wedding ring and a really expensive looking necklace that Natasha had to buy because she had a SHIELD credit card on her. (Who else gets to say that Nick Fury bought them a golden, diamond encrusted necklace? She reasoned)
Placing the necklace around her neck, she places it against her chest before putting her wedding ring on. Natasha then ran her hands down the sides of her ruby red, strapless dress. Her hair fell just below her breasts in curly waves and her black boots end mid-thigh. She deemed herself fit for a dinner with her neighbors and she made sure she had three guns, two knives and a taser concealed in her boots, the holsters on her inner thigh and her hair. She also made sure she stashed Bruce's suit with some weapons.
In case, something happened.
She continued to admire herself for a few minutes before a whistle catches her attention. Turning around, Natasha finds Bruce barely entering the bedroom holding Steve's hand. Both boys were decked out in matching slacks, white shirt and black jacket. Natasha couldn't help, but laugh because they both looked so adorable. Like father, like son. Steve grinned up at her cheekily before letting go of Bruce's hand and walking up to her. "Mommy look purdy." He says, looking over his shoulder at Bruce.
Bruce nods in agreement, "Yeah, mommy does look really pretty."
Natasha rolls her eyes before turning around to face her boys. "Please, you both beat me by far. You look good Bruce." Bruce smiles and nods his head in thanks. "And Steve," She bends down on her knees and grabs his chin softly. "you look super handsome in your tuxedo."
"Momma like?" Steve asks, a smile slowly spreading upon his face.
Natasha leans in and kisses his cheek, "Momma really likes."
Steve beams proudly up at her before reaching out and touching her dress. "Soft." He commented.
Natasha and Bruce laugh before she bends down and picks him up. Placing him on her hip, she looks at him. "Ready to make new friends." And that's when Steve started to become shy. He shook his head before burying himself in his mother's side, trying to disappear."You don't wanna make new friends?" Steve nodded his head.
"He's shy." Bruce explained.
Natasha shrugged, "That's okay Steve. So is daddy."
Bruce frowned at her, "That was five years ago. I'm over being shy now."
Natasha smiled at him before smoothing out Steve's suit. "We should go." She frowns. "I don't really want to be in a room with those kind of people. They'll soon make your head hurt, just wait."
Bruce nods, "I believe you." He nods towards the door. "Let's go." He follows Natasha and Steve as they walk out of the room and out of the house.
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"Hi!" Ashley greets in her high pitched voice as she opens the door. "I'm so glad you could make it. Come in!" She ushers them inside quickly before closing the door and turning to them. "Oh gosh, Sarah, you're dress is just gorgeous. It really brings out your green eyes."
Natasha offers her a fake smile as her eyes wander the house in search of anything suspicious. She turned her attention back to Ashley when she deemed the house safe. "Thank you. You're dress is beautiful as well." Natasha lied through her gritted teeth. It was difficult to get that sentence out of her mouth because it was both a lie and something Natasha wasn't used to. Clothing was always the last thing on her mind, along with other useless stuff such as makeup, accessories and hairstyles. The rainbow dress Ashley had on was definitely not pretty and it made her cleavage show way more than needed. It sort of made her look like a hooker.
Ashley beamed, "Thank you. Hi Aiden!" Ashley leaned forward and waved at Steve. Steve shrinks back and tucks himself further into Natasha's arm as he laid his head on Natasha's shoulder. Natasha sent her a fake apologetic smile. "That's alright, still shy I guess. Well hopefully after tonight, he makes friends with some of the children. Come this way, everyone's almost here. We're just missing one family." She gestured for Bruce and Natasha to follow her and they do. They're led through a hallway before entering the living room where they see about 15 other people sitting around talking, drinking, and children running around, playing. "Everyone," Ashley says gathering everyone's attention. All the adults stop their conversation to look up, but the children continue to play, "This is Sarah and Caleb Gordon and their son, Aiden. They just moved next door." There was a chorus of greetings before it became silent again. "Sarah, Caleb, this is everyone."
Natasha nodded her hello, while Bruce said a quiet "Hi."
"Well dinner is almost ready, so go ahead and make yourselves at home. We'll call everyone when-" Ashley was interrupted by the doorbell. Natasha and Bruce instantly tensed because that had to be the Hydra people since everyone here. But they quickly composed themselves before they drew attention and took a seat on the empty loveseat on the side of the room. "That should be them." Ashley squealed before disappearing down the hall.
A little girl, around Steve's age, toddled up to them when they took a seat and gave the couple a smile. "Hi." She said sweetly to Steve.
Steve didn't reply, he buried himself further into Natasha. "I'm sorry sweetie, he's shy." She explained, cradling Steve in her arms.
"Pearla." One of the mothers said coming over to them. She bent down in front of the girl, "why don't you go play with the others? Aiden doesn't want to play right now. Maybe later." Pearla looked back at Steve with a sad look in her eyes, but nodded and walked away slowly. She really wanted to play with him.
The mother looked up, "Sorry. She's really expressive and loves to make new friends."
Natasha nodded, "That's okay."
Soon Ashley appears with a woman and child right behind her. The child was holding his mother's hand as he toddled into the room. At the sight of them, everything stops. The children stop playing and turns to look at them while the parent's conversations die down. It's silent for a few moments as everyone takes in the new arrivals, even Natasha and Bruce. They exchange a glance before she reaches over and retrieves his hand.
It's Ashley that breaks the awkward silence. "Guys, this is Bridget and her little boy, Sam. Unfortunately her husband, Williams, couldn't make it, but at least they could."
Bruce and Natasha gave each other a look and she internally rolled her eyes. She made a mental note to herself to send Fury their names.
Ashley smiled, "Well I just got confirmation from the chief that dinner is ready. Right this way." She said gesturing for everyone to follow.
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Natasha and Bruce kept a close eye on the woman and discreetly typed down everything she said on their phones. They were going to go through it during the night and see if what she said during small talk would mean anything. Or have anything underlining their words because the quicker they got their hands on anything, the better.
Steve seemed to be comfortable just sitting in Natasha's lap as he took pieces of her food from her plate. He didn't want to sit at the children's table, still shy around the older children and the kids the same age as him. Natasha and Bruce once in a while joined in the conversation to be polite and 'make friends' as Ashley suggested.
By the end of the night, they're phones had less than three pages of notes. Bridget preferred to stay silent and observe, but every once in a while someone would bring her into the conversation. Then from there she would slide her way back out, by changing the subject. Just like Natasha and Bruce did.
The couple left the dinner party after they finished their deserts. With a quick goodbye and thanks for their invitations, Natasha Bruce and Steve left.
When they made it back home, Natasha immediately went to her laptop and typed down all of Bridget's responses. She was planning on emailing it to Fury in the morning because now she has some research to do on Bridget's and Sam's whereabouts.
Bruce, after putting Steve in his PJs, came back down and let his son play around before bed time. He walked up behind her and peered at what she was doing. He whispered so softly that if the cameras were watching them, there was no one they would be able to hear what he's saying.
"Fury said there was a file on here with video feeds of the camera currently watching Hydra's house. It should be able to tell us what they time they leave their house every morning and when they return. From there we follow them and make mental notes of their whereabouts. And as the file states, we continue to follow them until they notice us."
Natasha nods and begins to search for the file. It was fairly easy to find. Natasha wondered if they should look at it now or in the morning when they woke up. She looked up at Bruce and debated, but it didn't matter to her. It was all the same whether if she opened it now or later. She raised an eyebrow at Bruce silently questioning him. "We'll do it tomorrow." He said aloud and judging from the cameras, they could be talking about anything at the moment.
Natasha nodded and closed the laptop before turning around to face him. She whispered in the same tone Bruce first did, "I'll follow the women and child, you go after Williams. See what he does. It will most likely be much more needed information than Bridget and Sam since it looks like he's the leader."
Bruce nods, "I'll wake up early tomorrow then." He said out loud.
Natasha nodded then looked down when someone suddenly tugged on her pants. She smiles at Steve and scoops him in her arms. "Hi sweetie. How are you?" Steve answers by letting out a large yawn.
"Tired." Bruce says laughing.
Natasha laughs, "I'm going to go put him down." Bruce nods and watches as Natasha walks up the stairs with Steve on her hip.
Suddenly his phone begins to ring and he reaches into his pocket to retrieve it. One look at the caller ID had him rolling his eyes. He answered it anyway, "Hello?"
"Brucie! My man, how's the domesticated life going?"
"Why should I tell you? You already know? You're watching it." Bruce says glancing up at the camera.
Tony laughs, "True. But I find it really cute. 'Sweetie', 'baby'; you're domesticated all the way. You've all been from the start."
Bruce rolls his eyes, "Did you just call me to tease us or do you have anything?"
"Negatory on that, but- shockingly- I didn't just call you to tease you. Fury wants me to deliver a message."
"What's the message?" Bruce inquires looking up the stairs and finding Natasha walking back down. She sees him on the phone and raises an eyebrow. Bruce answers by mouthing 'Stark' and suddenly Natasha's lost all interest on his phone call. She rolls her eyes and walks away without a question.
Bruce hears Tony scoff from the other side of the phone, "Well first of all, tell Romanoff I take offense to her lack of curiosity of my phone call." Bruce laughs. "And second, Fury says that's there's been a leak in SHIELD system. Someone's spilling out information about us and what we're trying to accomplish and apparently Hydra knows. They know SHIELD is out there trying to stop them and are very cautious of what they're doing now. So things may be done a little differently and plans might be change, but the most important thing is to stay attentive and wait for instructions. This mission may take longer than originally planned now that Hydra knows so we have to stay under the radar until further notice. Got it?"
"Got it." Bruce lowers his voice to where the cameras wont catch it. "Who's watching the video feed? Is it safe for Natasha and I call ourselves our real names and Steve?"
"Fury, Hill, Coulson, Barton, Thor and myself. Also a few SHIELD agents as well, but due to the leak, it's highly likely that it's just going to be brought down to the six of us. So yes, it is safe. But don't do it so soon, it's like a soap opera over here. Hearing you call each other cute pet names and being all lovey dovey with each other."
"I'm hanging up now Stark." Bruce warns, his finger hovering over the end button.
"Kidding, kidding. So yes it is safe, but Fury would like it if once in a while you're brought back to your characters. In case someone enters this room that's unauthorized and we don't want any complications. Okay?"
"Okay, thanks for calling to tell us the message. I'll be sure to let Natasha know."
"You got it buddy and don't forget that I'll be checking once in a while. And Pepper and I are sending some stuff for Steve so the poor child doesn't die of boredom over there." Tony warns.
Bruce raises an eyebrow in confusion, "He seemed fine to me a minute ago when he was playing."
"Dude you were busy looking at files on the computer with Nat. Steve just sat there the entire time doing nothing and when he was done, he crawled up to you guys. We're sending stuff."
"I think that's a little risky right now." Bruce says slightly worried.
"A box full of baby clothes and toys is risky? Fury thinks it's the perfect thing to send to you at a time like this. And who knows? They're might be a little something in there for you two as well."
"Stark I-"
"Whoops, got to go Brucie. Barton's turn to watch while I go down to the research department to see what I can find. Call you later, have fun. But not too much fun we don't need Natie knocked up during this. It wouldn't do any good for her case."
Bruce rolls his eyes. "Bye Stark." And he hangs up.
"Stark piss you off? Looks like he did." Natasha asks as she walks out of the room with two glasses of wine.
"You know Stark." Bruce replies as he grabs his glass. "Fury says that-"
"I know." Natasha nods. "Barton called when I was putting Steve down. Steve even got to speak to Uncle Clint for a minute before he fell asleep."
"So, I guess we don't start right away."
Natasha nods, "In two weeks, that will give Hydra time to cool down and go back to what they were originally doing before they were contacted. Fury's on a mad hunt to find the leak," Natasha explains as she takes a sip of wine. "He's pissed as hell and is determined to find them and fire their asses before locking them up. He doesn't want anything jeopardizing this mission. I think it's the most important yet."
"Now I feel special," Bruce nods between sips.
Natasha smiles up at him before pecking his lips with hers. "You're always special. Now what did Stark say? Let's not have too much fun. Well, I'd like to make him pay for interrupting our quiet time together."
Bruce raises an eyebrow, "Are you thinking what I think your thinking?"
"I don't know. Depends." Natasha gives him a quick kiss before walking away and towards the stairs. Halfway up, she looks down at him and cocks an eyebrow before continuing upstairs. Bruce follows willingly with a boyish grin on his face.