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Chapter 10: A Long Day

Natasha POV

I was mad. I wanted to beat the sand out of a punching bag in the gym. I wanted to go a few rounds with Steve on the mats. I wanted to walk down the freaking hallway without crutches. God, why do I have to be injured? This cast would drive me to the very brink of insanity, and it had only been two weeks since I got it!

And, to top it all off, I had an itch under it.

I rolled out of bed, and Bruce followed close behind me. I glanced over at my crutches, grabbed them from their spot, and scowled. God, I hated these things with a burning passion.

When Bruce went to wish me a good morning, I didn't snap at him; I just muttered,

"As if…", under my breath and pulled away from him.

Bruce asked me, a note of hurt in his voice,

"Hey, Nat are you okay?"

I turned to him, and when I saw his deep brown eyes peering over the rims of his glasses, that pesky curl of hair falling into his face, I swear my mood lifted considerably. I forgot why I was having such a bad morning as he brushed the curl away.

"Nothing."

He smiled.

"That's good because we have a long day ahead of us."

I thought for a second. I didn't recall having planned anything.

"Uh, Bruce? What's on today's agenda?"

He pulled a notebook out of his bedside drawer, and began to read from it.

"Well, let's see…Today is Wednesday. You have an appointment with Dr. Hiddleston at nine, we have to get our annual flu shots, we have a meeting at SHIELD at eleven, and then we have our first meeting with the wedding planner at one."

I glanced over at the alarm clock. Six AM.

"Well, I guess we had better get moving."

Two hours later we were sitting in the waiting room at Dr. Hiddleston's office, and I was reading the latest issue of Modern Bride while Bruce read People magazine.

"Miss Romanoff? Dr. Banner?", Jennifer called out as we stood. We dropped our magazines and followed her back into Dr. Hiddleston's office.

"Ah, Agent Romanoff and Dr. Banner, you two are looking well. Except for your obvious injury, of course." He motioned to my cast.

We sat down, and Dr. Hiddleston leaned back in his seat before pulling out my medical file, and asking me how I've been lately.

"Well, aside from my ankle, I've been fine."

"Monthly cycle is regular?", he asked me, taking notes in my file.

"Like clockwork."

"Good. Good… any sort of questions, comments, concerns?", he looked up at us.

Bruce shifted in his seat before speaking,

"I have a question regarding Natasha's…um…fertility."

I looked at him. I knew he wanted children, but I was certain that I could conceive. One miscarriage couldn't make me infertile? Could it?

Dr. Hiddleston lifted his green eyed gaze to us.

"Which is?"

Bruce shifted again, turning the slightest shade of pink, and replied,

"She only had the one miscarriage. Does that mean she's…infertile? I may have a PhD but it's only for physics, I picked up the medical studies along the way, but I only got my bachelor's in it. It was enough to set a bone, not enough to perform surgery, so I really have no experience with women's health."

"Well, a miscarriage can be caused by many factors and one of them could be that Natasha is infertile. I highly doubt that though because she was perfectly normal during all her other examinations, and she did manage to conceive."

I spoke now,

"What are some tips when we do decide to try again because Bruce and I plan on being married soon, and we want to have children."

Dr. Hiddleston offered his congratulations, and rattled off a list of treatments and different things that Bruce and I could do in the bedroom to boost our chances of conception. I got a clean bill of health, and the exam was done by a quarter after ten. We drove to SHIELD HQ, and got our flu shots at the medical clinic there.

I almost wrung the neck of the nurse who injected me for grinning evilly at my cast, whispering to the other nurse about my engagement ring, and making a snide comment towards Bruce, and I about the miscarriage.

"It must be nice," she said, glancing at me and then at Bruce, "knowing your mistakes will fix themselves."

I looked over at Bruce who was struggling to hold in the Hulk after that comment. It didn't stop his eyes from flashing green, and growling out at the nurse,

"Why don't you mind your own damn business before I make a mistake that won't fix itself!"

The nurse went wide-eyed, and backed out of the room after apologizing.

"Bruce? Are you okay?", I asked.

He unrolled his shirt sleeve, and nodded.

"I'm fine. It's just that I can't stand all these rumors flying around. I don't want everyone to know our business."

I sighed as I lifted myself up on my crutches.

"These are SHIELD medics we're dealing with, they'll talk about anything. They are the lifeblood of the rumor mill here. I don't like it either, but if it makes you feel any better, I can have Clint make sure every one of her dirty secrets is unearthed by Friday."

"As tempting as that sounds, I'd rather not cause a stir."

"Okay then. Come on, we have a meeting to get to."

In the meeting, Fury had not just us, but all the Avengers gathered.

"What's going on here, Fury?", Clint asked.

Fury turned to us and said,

"This may come as a shock to all of you, but I have been talking to your father." He pointed to Thor.

"My father? Odin? What business has he with the good people of Midgard?"

"Loki has been facing Asgardian justice for over a year. Odin made the final call. He is banishing Loki."

Clint punched the air in victory as all of us murmured our approval. All of us except Thor.

"What realm is Loki being banished to?"

Fury opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by a smooth voice as the door to the conference room opened.

"Well, brother, it just so happens that I was banished to Midgard."

Loki walked in the door with his signature smirk on his face, and dressed in a modified version of his lightweight battle armor.

"Miss me?"

"What the fuck is he doing here?" , asked Steve, of all people.

I have no clue what shocked me more: Loki walking into the room or Captain America saying the F-word.

Bruce POV

I sat there, dumbfounded. Loki had just walked his ass in here, and Steve had said a swear word. This meeting was getting weirder by the second. Thor asked,

"Brother! What are you doing here?"

"Director Fury told you, did he not? I've been stripped of my powers and banished to Midgard."

Tony stood up.

"He's still going to prison! Right, Fury?"

Director Fury rolled his eye and said,

"You all didn't let me finish. I was about to tell you that Loki was being controlled by the Tesseract. Odin believed him but everyone on the Asgardian council did not. The way the justice system works up there is like this: the council chooses two possible fates for the person on trial, and Odin chooses between the two fates. Loki was given death by decapitation or exile. Frigga, Thor's biological mother and Loki's adoptive mother, begged Odin to spare Loki's life. Odin complied with his wife's request, and exiled Loki to Earth after stripping him of his powers. He is free of the mind control and he still has the physical traits of a demigod, but he has no powers other than his Jotun or Frost Giant powers."

This was unbelievable. He tried to enslave the human race, and now he was being offered a second chance? What the hell is going on here? Loki stood and said,

"I do apologize for my actions, I was aware of what the Tesseract was forcing me to do, but I was completely helpless. It was dreadful. Like I was a prisoner in my own body. The Tesseract pulled my mind out of control and stuffed something else in there. I was unmade.", he shuddered as he emphasized the last word.

I glanced over at Natasha whose eyes were narrowed and flicking between Loki and Clint who was tensed up, and seemed to be having an internal panic attack. Tony asked again,

"Uh, Captain Eyepatch? You didn't answer my original question. Is Loki going to prison?"

Fury stared directly at Tony.

"Loki has been recruited, he's now a team member, so I expect that he is treated as such."

Thor looked at Tony with pleading eyes.

"Sir Stark? Can my brother take up lodging with us at the tower as he is now a part of the team?"

"No, he can't stay with us. He's a criminal that almost killed every one of us. He belongs in a prison."

Fury gave Tony a look that said "My word is law", before walking out of the room.

"Please Sir Stark, I beg of you, for my brother's sake, let him live with us."

"Oh all right! But if he steps out of line at all, or does any weird 'frost giant' shit, I'm calling the cops."

Loki actually looked convincing when he said,

"Thank you for your hospitality Sir Stark. I promise you that I will be on my best behavior at all times whilst I'm here on Earth. I am also deeply sorry for the destruction of your tower."

The meeting came to a close as Thor got up, and walked over to Loki, telling him about his children as Natasha grabbed her crutches, and we left to go and see our wedding planner.

When I got behind the wheel of her car, she asked me,

"Bruce, what do you think of this whole 'Loki living in the tower' thing?"

I revved the engine and said,

"I don't like it one bit. I suppose his Jotun powers may come in handy during battles, though, and as long as he keeps his word, I suppose we'll get used to him living with us."

We went to Rockefeller Center, where our wedding planner, Nicole Hales, had her office. Pepper had given us her business card (we hadn't decided yet whether or not we would be having a double wedding with the Stark's) and said that Tony would cover the tab. Another perk to having a billionaire for your best friend, besides good company, was never being short on cash.

We parked and went to her office where we were greeted by her secretary. We were showed into her office, and then we sat down as Nicole Hales spun around in her desk chair with a flourish.

"Ah, Natasha and Bruce, it is so good to finally meet you. My name is Nicole Hales, but please, just call me Nicole."

"Hello then, Nicole. What's the first step in planning a wedding?", Natasha asked.

"That would be to consult with me, the second step is telling me your ideas. Will you be married in a church or at a different venue?"

We had already decided on that much. Even if we decided on a doubling with the Stark's, we would have it in a church.

"A church service would be nice.", Natasha said, voicing my thoughts.

"Alright, that's a great start. What are your favorite colors?"

I glanced at Natasha and she said, "Red." At the same time that I said, "Purple". We both chuckled to ourselves, and then I asked Natasha,

"So what color do you want more?"

"Um, may I offer a suggestion?", Nicole asked, we nodded.

"The complementary color to red is green and the primary color for purple is yellow. You can make any color pairs that you want, it's your wedding, not mine, but keep those pairs in mind. I have an idea, it's very popular with many couples: light blue and a light brown."

I looked at Natasha who shrugged.

"How about we try Emerald and Celadon?", Nicole offered, brows raised, "Those two would suit your skin tones very well, especially yours Bruce, and they would add a beautiful contrast to Natasha's hair and eyes."

She pulled a sample of the colors out of her desk, and slid them towards us.

"Well? What do you think?"

I didn't like the idea of green very well, those weren't my colors, they were the Hulk's colors. Natasha seemed to sense my tension and said,

"I think I may have to step outside and have a private word with Bruce."

Nicole looked at us, and nodded. Natasha grabbed her crutches, and pulled me out into the hallway. Once the office door had closed behind us, Natasha reached up and placed her hand on my cheek, concern marring her features.

"What's wrong?"

I sighed and pushed an annoying lock of hair off of my forehead.

"I just don't feel good about the color green."

"Ah, because it reflects the Hulk."

"Yeah. I loathe that part of me. I'd rather not be reminded of him on the happiest day of my life."

Natasha's green eyes stared deep into my soul.

"Bruce, no matter how much you hate the Hulk, he is still a part of you, and when I marry you, I won't just be marrying Bruce, I'll be marrying the Hulk too. I wouldn't want anything less than that."

I turned away from her. She didn't understand at all. I was a freak, and the Hulk was a monster. I was the Hulk. The monster was me. Why can't she just see that?

"Natasha, the Hulk is the one thing that nobody should be burdened with. He is a monster! Why can't you see that?"

I turned to Natasha, who was clearly upset at the moment. I regretted my words and I wanted to kick my own ass for letting them roll off my tongue.

"Natasha, I-"

"No. you listen to me and you listen to me good because I won't repeat myself. The Hulk isn't a monster. The Hulk has saved more lives than he's taken. I've talked to the Hulk and he means me no harm. The Hulk is a part of you that you have to accept! I love you for who you are, and part of that is loving the Hulk!"

"So you're telling me that I have to accept the fact that I'm a monster? That's really comforting!"

Natasha shook her head,

"You don't understand! You have to see things the way I do."

"And you have to understand how I feel. I never wanted this, I never wanted to kill, you were raised and trained to kill. We are so different and now I'm finally seeing that clearly."

"What do you mean by that?"

"We. Are. Different. I am a monster that doesn't deserve a love as strong or as true as yours."

Natasha slid down the wall in the empty hallway, crying into her hands. I had really fucked this whole thing up now.

"Natasha, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean that. I need to learn to live with the Hulk and it'll be difficult for me to do. Please forgive me."

Natasha looked up at me, drying her tears.

"Bruce, of course I forgive you. I was just being stupid about this whole thing, you deserve all the love in the world because you've been deprived of it for so long. So how about we go back in there and plan?"

I smirked, and helped her up off the floor.

"You know, come to think of it, green would suit you. Maybe accepting the Hulk won't be all that terrible.", I brushed a stray hair away from her face, "I love you."

She kissed me softly and whispered,

"I love you too."

We went back into Nicole's office and decided that emerald and celadon would be wonderful for our colors. She asked us a few questions like what types of flowers we wanted. Natasha wanted red and white roses tied together with lavender and green ribbons. All of our colors would symbolize something personal to us. The lavender would symbolize the lavender roses I gave her the day she woke up and also because lavender was a lighter shade of purple, which was my favorite color. The red would be symbolic of Natasha because it was her favorite color and it symbolized the true love we felt for each other. The white would match Natasha's dress and symbolize the purity of the love we shared. The green would represent accepting difficulties and differences.

We left after we chose our colors, and got the numbers for a bunch of people that we would need to hire. The whole planning process would take a long time, and I was already confused with the details. Good thing Natasha seems to know what she's doing, otherwise we'd both be lost.

In the car ride back to the tower, I asked Natasha how she imagined her wedding day as a child. She thought for a moment and then replied in an emotionless voice,

"When I was with the Red Room, I didn't really have time to be a child. I was trained to kill without compassion, I never cried and, unlike most little girls, I never dreamed of my wedding day."

She turned to me and asked,

"When you were a kid, what did you think your future would hold?"

"I always had a thing for science, I wanted to grow up and understand why things happened the way they did, I wanted to pick apart every natural occurrence to find out how and why it happened the way it did. I never thought I would end up like this, and I don't mean having to live with the Hulk. As a kid, I never imagined I would have this many friends, or even a fiancée. I never would have thought that my best friend would be Tony Stark. I guess we never know why things happen the way they do."

I thought for a moment before asking,

"Hey Natasha?"

"Yeah?"

"If you had three wishes, what would you wish for?"

She didn't hesitate,

"I'd wish for an end to world hunger, a cure for cancer, and your intelligence."

"My intelligence? What for?"

"So when you and Stark are playing mad scientist in the R&D labs, I can actually understand what you're doing?"

I laughed.

"Trust me, half of the time we're up there, all we do is clean up Tony's messes because he's always blowing something up or setting something on fire. You aren't missing out on anything too interesting."

"Okay then, Mr. Genius-", she smirked as I cut her off,

"Hey it's Doctor Genius, that PhD didn't earn itself you know!", I laughed.

"Fine then, Doctor Genius, if you had three wishes, what would you wish for?"

"Well let's see. I'd wish for an expandable suit, so the Hulk isn't always tearing up my clothes in battle, I'd wish for a nice house in the suburbs, and I'd wish for a cure for AIDS."

She tilted her head to one side.

"Why a house in the suburbs?"

I parked, and went around to open the door for Natasha. As she lifted herself up on her crutches, I replied,

"I'd want a house in the suburbs because it would be the ideal place for you and I to raise a family, and spend the rest of our lives together."

She smiled at me and said,

"I think I'd like that too."

Natasha POV

We spent the rest of the day trying to get used to Loki being around us. Darcy was teaching him about most of the 'strange Midgardian customs', and then Loki got to meet his niece and nephew. The way Loki's eyes lit up when he first met Ed and Liz was priceless. I had always thought that he wouldn't be the one for sentiment, but he couldn't stop smiling, and cooing at them as they squirmed around, and giggled in his lap.

It was our turn to cook and we decided to make grilled cheese and tomato soup (let's face it, my cooking isn't the best). Everyone agreed that it was actually really good, even if I did burn the sandwiches a bit.

I noticed that Darcy and Loki were flirting with each other over dinner as Darcy was teaching Loki how to play Temple Run on her iPhone. Loki looked up, gestured at the iPhone, and stated that he would like 'one of these odd little Midgardian devices on which one can play games'.

Bruce and I went back to our room, and as I closed the door behind me and turned on my lights, he wrapped his arm around my waist, pressing his lips to the sensitive part of my neck as he dimmed the lights. I put my crutches in the corner and let out a yelp of surprise as Bruce picked me up bridal style. He sat me down on the bed and pushed my hair off of my neck, his lips returning to the same spot.

"Mm Bruce…"

I was halfway undressed when he flipped me deftly onto my back and positioned himself so he wouldn't crush me. I lowered my eyelids and said in a seductive voice, unbuttoning his khakis slowly,

"Feeling a bit romantic tonight, Dr. Banner?"

He replied in a husky growl, tossing the rest of my clothes away,

"Romance isn't the only thing I'm feeling, Agent Romanoff."

I flipped him over, discarded his boxers, and purred,

"Well it has been a long day."

He traced the scars on my back gently.

"Yes it has."

I gasped as he flipped me over and murmured against my lips,

"Yes it has."

A/N: So there was Chapter 10! The review box is right below this note, fill it up and tell me what you think!