Natasha, Steve and Bruce wasted no time in throwing their stuff down and heading towards her laptop the minute they got home. The tracker was immediately put into effect once it attached to Bridget's, William's and Sam's skin.
Natasha started typing furiously and Bruce was shrugging Steve out of his coat while also putting all his attention on the screen. After a minute or two Natasha pressed the enter button and the screen came alive with video feed. There was static at first with the audio, but it soon cleared up and they could hear voices clearly.
"Did you talk to anyone?" A man's voice asks. William, Natasha assumes. As of now, all Natasha and Bruce can see is the street lights as they drive coming in and out of view. But the voices were as clear as a crystal.
Bridget voice answers a minute later timidly, "No." Natasha raises an eyebrow at Bruce and he just shrugs. Why did Bridget sound so scared?
"You better not be lying to me." William threatens in a low voice. A small wince can be heard from Bridget and the video shook back and forth in a shaking motion. "Good. Did you see if SHIELD was following us?"
"No." Bridget answers immediately.
"Mama?" Sam's voice is heard from the back. When Bridget turns to face him, Natasha and Bruce can barely make out Sam's silhouette in the darkness, but they know it's him.
Steve perks up at the sound of Sam's voice and tugs on Natasha's dress. Natasha tears her eyes away from the feed to look down at Steve. He reaches his arms up to her and Natasha picks him up, placing him on her lap. "That's Sam." The two year old says matter of factly as he watches the feed along with his parents.
"Sash baby mama's talking to William."
Natasha makes an immediate mental note of how Bridget referred to William when speaking to Sam. When speaking to Steve, Natasha always refers to Bruce as daddy when they takes about him. Just like Bruce always said mommy. They even say it to each other to tease the other or mainly because it turns them on. The way Bridget said William made Natasha wonder if William was even Sam's father.
"But I'm bored."
There's shuffling in the background before a hand reaches over and hands Sam a phone. "There kid, now shut up and don't break it." Sam takes the phone warily before looking over at his mother.
"Say thank you."
Sam gulps and speaks in a small voice, "Thank you Mr. Schmidt."
The minute William's last name is spoken, Steve's body freezes in terror and his eyes widen as his mouth jaw. Natasha and Bruce immediately look down at their son in concern. Steve reaction was sudden and immediate that it alarmed Natasha and Bruce. But what really worried them were the tears beginning to leak down his face. "Steve what's wrong?" Bruce asks. Natasha's arms tighten around him in a protective way. Steve doesn't reply, he just continues to stare at the laptop screen in silent terror. "What's wrong buddy? Talk to us, tell us what's wrong?" Natasha and Bruce were getting antsy.
"Sweetie talk to mommy and daddy."
...
"Turn off." Steve only says before jumping out of Natasha's lap and running upstairs as fast as his little legs can carry him.
"Steve wait!" Bruce rushes after him and Natasha does what Steve asks before trailing behind Bruce. When they reach the top of the stairs they see Steve run into their bedroom and close the door behind him. They run up to the door, but stop short when they see light emitting from the room. Bruce stops Natasha before she can open the door. "He's changing back, we'll hurt our eyes of we open the door. Wait." Natasha sighed irritated, but listens and waits for the light top go away. But the minute the light diminishes, nothing is going to stop her from getting to her baby.
And true to her word, when Natasha saw the lights go away, she yanked the door open and ran inside without giving Steve any time to get dressed after being reverted back to his old form. But she didn't care and neither did he. She's seen him naked countless of times and this was no different.
Steve was pulling on boxers when she found him in the corner of the room, his back turned to her, but she could tell by the sag of his shoulders that he was upset. She watched him for a moment, Bruce walking in sometime during that minute, and saw his shoulders deflate even more with a shaky sigh. Steve didn't turn around when he grabbed a pair of pants and pulled them on, continuing to keep his attention on the wall in front of him.
Natasha tentatively took a step in his direction, worry plastered all over her face. Her baby was distressed and she wanted to do something to make him feel better. She had to. "Steve…" She called softly. Steve tensed, his only acknowledgement that he heard her. He doesn't reply and Natasha knew he wouldn't. So, with newfound confidence, she walked up to him after giving Bruce a look. She places a hand on his shoulder and as soon as her hand touches his shoulder, Steve turns around and immediately buries Natasha's small form in his. He places his head in her shoulder and closes his eyes tightly, trying desperately to hold tears in. Steve, because of his height, had to bend down to place his head onto his mother's shoulder, but it didn't seem to bother him since he was in a high state of anguish. The sadness and suffering was practically radiating off his body and the pain was evident in his eyes.
Motherly instincts take over and Natasha guides her and Steve over to her bed. She sits down and pulls Steve onto her lap, even though the man weighted twice more than her and was double her size. Still, Steve curled into his mother's body as if he was a small child which he was a few minutes ago and cried rested his head on her chest. Nothing more, nothing less. He continued to stay silent and only just watched as Bruce walked around the room gathered the ripped, discard clothes of baby Steve.
Natasha wrapped an arm around his body and used her free one to brush his hair from his face. Her voice pulled Steve out of his thoughts, "Steve…" She spoke softly to him, her voice a gentle soothing sound. "What's wrong? What happened?" Steve didn't reply, but he did curl further into Natasha's body. Bruce walked over and knelt in front of them, a hand coming to rest on Steve's shoulder. Steve tensed instantly, but once he realized it was only Bruce he calmed down and reached out blindly to retrieve his father's hand. Bruce took it without a word. Natasha sighed and kissed Steve's forehead softly, "Поговори со мной. Поговорите с папой. (Talk to me. Talk to daddy.)" Natasha whispered cradling Steve to her body.
Despite not knowing what Natasha was muttering to Steve, Bruce joined in and hoped that what he was saying corresponding to what Natasha had just said. "Buddy, what did the video say that got you so upset? Was the video or us? Did we say or do something wrong?"
There was no response from Steve for a while, but after a couple minutes Steve shook his head. "… I-It wasn't you." He whispers.
"Then why are you silent? Why aren't you telling us what's wrong?"
Steve sighed, turning to hide his face in Natasha's shoulder, an arm wrapping around his mother's arm. He took a deep breath, taking deep satisfaction in the familiar sweet scent of his mother's perfume and shampoo. Honey and cinnamon. This is the scent that always helps him when he's so upset. He closes his eyes and lets it out for a few more minutes until Steve's completely certain he's not going to break down. He takes his head out of Natasha's shoulder and peers up at her sheepishly. "I know who William is…" Steve states blankly. "That's why he looked so familiar to me." Steve said. That's a first because Steve never once said that William looked familiar to anyone. He kept it to himself.
Natasha shares a glance with Bruce before looking back at Steve. "What?"
"I know who William is. SHIELD doesn't, but I do."
"How could you possibly know who William is? His identity is a secret; no one knows who he really is." Bruce asks confused.
Steve takes a moment to collect himself before he straightens up in Natasha's lap and stares down at his parents… "Because I fought with him… back in 1945. I killed him just minutes before I landed in the ice and he's the reason I ended up here."
…
"What?" Natasha and Bruce expressed their horrors through that one little word. Their mouths dropped, eyes widen and they just stared at Steve as he continued to stare down at his hands in his lap.
He stayed silent as a memories wash over him. Memories of the people he had lost all because of this one man. This one man that caused him to crash land in a frozen waste land and freeze over for 70 years. Peggy, Bucky, Coronel Phillips, The howling commandos… Everyone.
Suddenly the room felt like a cage and he felt trapped. The once warm and comforting arms of Natasha now felt like a steel caged trap. And he panicked. The flashbacks and memories that plagued him in his sleep now rush through is mind as he tries with all his might to scrambling out of his mother's arms. But Natasha holds tight. Steve's breathing becomes rapid and harsh and he growls, "Let me go."
The tone of his voice surprised Natasha enough that she let her grip loosen for a second. But it was enough for Steve to slip out and walk out the door. After getting over the initial shock of what just happened, Natasha quickly jumped off the bed and Bruce stood. They glanced at each other and Bruce raised an eyebrow, "You or me?"
Natasha looks out the door and with a reluctant sigh she frowns. "Neither. Let's just… let him cool down." She turns to Bruce and he opens his arms when he sees the sadness in her eyes. Natasha walks into them willingly and Bruce snuggly wraps her into his body. He sighs and rests his chin on top of her head. "He's hurting." She whispers softly resting her head over Bruce's heart.
Bruce sighs and maneuvers himself and Natasha to sit on the edge of their bed. "I know." He kisses her forehead before pulling away to look at her. "But we'll help him through this. Now that we know who's running this operation, we're one step ahead of them. They don't know we know about them and now that we have Steve, who's been on the inside of Hydra's plans more than once, I think… now that we have this knowledge we can go home quicker than originally planned."
Natasha glances up at Bruce through her eyelashes, "You think so?"
"I know so." Bruce places a chaste kiss on Natasha's lips before pulling away and smiling at her. "How long should we give Steve?"
"An hour… maybe two. I just need him to have a clear head and he has to know that we're there for him. I saw the way he was looking at the room when he got out of my arms. He looked scared… and I could tell he felt trapped. Maybe a few hours outside should clear his mind. Because I vaguely remember feeling that way long ago. I don't want to have him think we're hounding him."
"Should we call SHIELD?" Bruce asked.
"I'll do it."
Bruce nods, "I'm going to take a quick shower." He informs before removing his arms from Natasha's body. She nods and watches as Bruce begins to undress himself on the way to the bathroom. When the door closes behind him, she stands and grabs her phone from her back pocket. But a 'thud' from downstairs catches her attention. Her head snaps up and she stares at the open bedroom door. "Steve?" she calls putting her phone back. "Is that you?" She doesn't get an answer. Motherly instincts take over when Steve doesn't reply. He doesn't matter if he's upset, he'll always reply to assure his mother that he's alright.
Without hesitation, she walks out and started down the hallway checking Steve's nursery, just in case he was there, but he wasn't. So she proceeds to go downstairs. She's about to walk into the living room, but stops short when suddenly something sliver flashes across her peripherals. She doesn't hesitate before leaning down and grabbing a hold of her gun in her thigh holster. But unfortunately, she doesn't get very far.
"Don't!" Someone shouts and a bullet in clicked in place. Natasha freezes in her half bent down position, refusing to move as her fingers run loosing over her gun's handle. "Pull out the gun and he dies." They threaten in a cold voice.
Natasha chances a glance up and her eyes widen in shock when she sees an unconscious Steve laying at the ground in front of her, a gun barrel placed directly on his temple. "Steve…" She whispers softly.
