krikanalo: Thank you for reviewing! I'm glad you liked Tony's dialogue in the last chapter, and I hope you like Natasha's in this one! Enjoy!

Over the next few days Steve became despondent. Bruce said that coupled with a dose of regression was nothing out of the ordinary for a toddler dealing with a death in the family- particularly one as acute as the Mother's. For the next few days the child's thumb never left his mouth and the blanket never left his side. Whenever anyone tried to get him to eat he just cried, so they fed him through a tube. Nothing was as bad as the nights, though. Steve would cry himself hoarse, or so hard that he threw up. Most of the time it was a combination of the two. The hallucinations grew worse, and soon Steve seemed to barely be in touch with reality. The others were concerned, but none more so than Bruce and (surprisingly) Natasha.

Bruce had worried himself sick. He'd been sneaking the antipsychotics into Steve's food, but nothing seemed to be working. He'd sent dozens of antipsychotics until he finally had Steve on the strongest adult antipsychotic that was currently approved by the FDA. After that, he had begun looking into what made Steve like this in the first place.

Natasha's worry shocked even her. Of course she had been concerned in the beginning with trying to get Steve back to normal. Sooner or later, she had to admit that didn't seem to be happening anytime soon. As she began to spend time in Steve's room, she felt her repressed instinct trying to rise up more and more. More often then not, she watched the child cry himself to sleep. A small, unused voice in the back of her mind kept telling her to go over there and comfort him, but she didn't know what to do. The same instinct that told her to find Steve's blanket (Or replicate one just like it in her case), was the voice in her head. Slowly, the instinct was being dug out. Unearthed like a fossil. Every time she tried to ignore it, it was like pinching a raw nerve. The instinct told her that she had to do something. The boy was grieving, and she had to try and help him somehow.

When an article in the paper appeared, she knew exactly what she had to do.

When Steve was asleep, she gathered them all in the conference room, and divulged her plan.

"I want to adopt him." She said, simply. Everyone quieted.

"Aren't spiders known for eating their young?" Tony quipped. The death glare he received from Natasha silenced his impending laughter.

"Natasha, Why-" Clint began before she cut him off.

"Because he needs a Mom, Clint. It's obvious he can't function without one. He's tormenting himself in there and I thought that maybe..."

"...You could help him." Finished Clint. She nodded, unable to speak.

"'Tis a righteous thing you're doing." Commented Thor. Natasha nodded.

"I just... He's just a kid. After all the shit he's gone through, now he has to deal with the death of his mother all over again. If he doesn't start eating soon he could starve himself to death. There's a part of me that just can't stand it, that keeps telling me to take action- I just know this is the right thing to do."

They all nodded.

"You guys can all stay at Stark Tower." Tony commented. They all nodded.

"We should all be there to see him through." Bruce added. "There's only so much he can take."

"Are we all clear on the plan?" Asked Natasha. They nodded in solemn agreement.

The second Natasha entered Steve's room, the boy shot up from his bed, eyes glazed over and a distant look on his face.

"Steve?" She asked him, quietly. The boy began to throw a grade-A tantrum, kicking and screaming and growing very violent. Natasha was quick to go to him, but not before he attempted to rip the IV from his arm. She intercepted him before he was able to do any damage, and the child spent another ten minutes struggling against her before slowly coming to.

"Steve," She said in the kindest voice she could manage, "Could I ask you a question?"

Steve nodded, placing his thumb back in his mouth, a little scared that he got it out in the first place.

"How would you feel about me adopting you?"

That made Steve pause. He looked up her with large eyes that made him look like a deer in headlights. Someone wanted to be his Mommy? He looked Miss Natasha up and down. She was pretty. She had red hair like his real Momma did, and had a smile that was just as pretty. She was the one who smoothed his hair when Daddy hurt him, and brought him his blankie when he missed his Momma.

"It'll be fun," She continued, wary of the silence. "We'll stay at Mr. Tony's place. He has a lot of things there that you'd like. He has a big house with plenty of food and room, and we can find you a doctor who could help you when you start hearing Allen. I won't let you from my sight. Where I go, there you'll be."

Steve popped his thumb from his mouth, and asked the question that was burning on his mind.

"Will you be like a Momma to me?"

Now it was Natasha's turn to pause. Never in her life had she ever pictured herself as a mother. She was an assassin for God's sake- and a Russian one at that. Motherhood was as foreign to her as the concept of trusting people. Again, the instinct reared it's head, and whispered the exact words she needed.

"I'll be whatever you need me to be."

Slipping his thumb back into his mouth, he snuggled into her and said,

"Yes."

A/N: What do you want to see the Avengers do with Steve? How do you think Natasha will Mother him? Leave a review and let me know!