Qweb requested Nadia's christening.
The first Thursday morning in October, a rare free moment in everyone's schedule, they traveled to Brooklyn. Steve unlatched the car seat from its base, and Natasha felt relief that their daughter's white Christening gown was still spit-up free. It was only a matter of time before that was no longer the case.
Steve had wanted the ceremony to take place as soon as possible, but it had taken some time for Natasha to feel like herself again, so he'd waited on her recovery before they travelled out to his native borough to have the necessary meetings with the priest beforehand. The priest only referred to Steve as Steven, something that made Natasha want to roll her eyes. Steve had called her out on it on the way home from their first meeting.
"Why do you react that way every time he says my name?"
"Because no one calls you that."
He shrugged. "My mom did. It's my given name. He's probably used to calling people by their Christian names."
"Does that mean he's only going to call her Nadezhda?" Natasha asked while hooking a thumb in the direction of the backseat where the motion of the car was lulling the baby to sleep. "Because I'd love to hear him pronounce it correctly and not sound like he's sneezing."
"You're the one who picked a very Russian name," Steve said in the priest's defense, humor lighting up his eyes.
"Yeah, well, you can name the next one."
Steve grinned. "You only say that because it's physically impossible for there to be a next one."
As they walked up the sidewalk to enter the cathedral, Natasha overheard some last minute betting between Clint and Darcy over who was more likely to burst into flames upon entering the church—Tony or Thor. She could hear the nerves in Clint's voice as he argued why it should be Tony, and Natasha completely understood why they were there. She felt out of her depth with this whole thing since religion never took any place in her life. The first time she'd been to mass was last Christmas when Steve somehow managed to cajole everyone into attending the midnight service.
That was a week-and-a-half after Loki attacked, and two weeks before Bruce had informed her of her blood work showing her pregnancy.
She shook off that thought before getting lost in the depth of thinking about how much her life had changed in the last not-quite year.
As she stepped inside the cathedral, she felt her heart quicken slightly. Both Steve and the priest, the great-nephew of the priest who'd christened Steve as an infant, had talked her through the process of the ceremony, and she knew logistically what was going to happen, but she still felt a little out of place. Most of them did, honestly. Steve had basically ensured the group's attendance by promising lunch and cake afterwards from their favorite deli in Midtown.
Natasha followed Steve down the aisle to the front row of pews. He set the car seat down and smiled at the almost seven-week-old baby inside. "Did you decide to wake up for this?" Unbuckling her safety restraints, he gathered her up and cradled her against his chest before smoothing out the lacy white dress he'd personally picked out. Quietly he chatted at her about the stained glass windows, the candles, and the faces of the various statues in the large room. Nadia's eyes locked on to his index finger as he pointed at the various items and her two little hands reached up to try and grab at it. The action just made Steve grin all the more and forced Natasha to look down at the toes of her shoes. Sometimes the innocent sweetness that had become her life was a tad bit overwhelming.
Once everyone was settled, the priest emerged in his robes. Steve introduced everyone and thanked him again for letting them have a private ceremony instead of being lumped in with the others at the end of Sunday's service.
The whole thing lasted maybe ten minutes, and Clint only managed strain his neck against his dress shirt collar and tie once. Natasha was grateful that it was her job to hold Nadia, because it made her feel like she had something to do, a role to play in this.
The baby only fussed one time, and that was when the priest poured water on her head. Natasha wasn't surprised at this; bath times were rarely fun. But the water did show how Nadia's blond hair was deepening into a shade of red. Natasha made quiet shushing sounds and jostled her slightly as the priest finished up his bit. After that, it was done. They'd signed the certificates, Clint and Pepper had made their promises to help raise her well, and Steve swore to raise her up in the Church. The priest toweled off Nadia's head and bid them peace.
A few minutes later, after Darcy had snapped photos of everyone and the group had returned to their cars to drive back to Stark Tower, Steve reached across the car's center console to take Natasha's hand. "Thank you," he said softly.
"She's your daughter, too."
"I know." Natasha raised an eyebrow to question his statement and he shrugged. "Most of the time, I know."
