Sorry that it's been almost two months...I honestly didn't realize that so much time had passed by, but alas. Here's a longer chapter for those of you who have been so incredible (and incredibly patient, to boot). All I can say is: AT LONG LAST.

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable properties of Harry Potter or Avengers/MARVEL.

Chapter Disclaimer: no violence, but reference to blood, bodily functions, and all the not-so-flowery aspects of birth (so if you cringe at the mention of placentas, fluids, or breast feeding, then...too bad, so sad. Either read it or don't).

Chapter Ten: Into the Catacombs (pt 2)

Natasha's hands were slick, black and tacky with cooling blood, before the clotting agent they'd given Lily finally started to do its job. Sadists though their captors were, they apparently needed the witch alive, as the spell they'd used to induce labor, while cruel, was not enough to over-ride whatever half-assed band-aid remedy they'd given her. Even so, Natasha sat, knees going numb against the icy stone slabs, listening intently to Lily's shallow breathing, only broken with by an occasional breathy sob. She did not offer comfort, other than a hand for Lily to grip on to. Honestly, what the fuck could she ever say that would make this better for her? Though she'd been through her fair share of messed up shit, she'd never lost a child...and knowing herself as she did, she was not sure she had enough human emotion left to grieve for one, even if she had.

She was a Legal Assassin, paid to seduce and to kill. Thanks to this, Natasha had learned, perhaps too early, that her emotions would get her killed, so she had killed them before they could become a liability. Even so, she felt a small measure of pity for Lily, that she was unfortunate enough to be stuck with someone who would not...nay, could not...offer her solace. So, Natasha did what she was trained to do...she took care of her wounded team member and kept her ear out for the captors that she knew would be coming back for them, eventually.

…

Silence.

Silence for hours...days...at a time. It was hard to say, stuck in the dark, how long their stretches of silence lasted. On occasion, Lily would fill their small, dark cell with the sound of whispers, if only to beat back the maddening silence. Most of the time, however, the only sound that broke the stillness was the rasp of their breath, heavy in the damp air. They were in no immediate danger of death or permanent injury by their captors, if only for the sake of whatever they were negotiating with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the International Confederate of Wizards for. Still. The sound of nothing but damp exhalations, hovering in the stale, musty air, was almost enough to make Natasha cringe away.

Almost.

…

Sick. So, so sick.

Natasha wasn't sure that she had ever felt as sick as she did for the past few...however long it had been, now.

It was hard to tell, when you no longer had light to track the passage of time. This lack of time was worrying for many reasons, but mostly because she had not had her period for a while, and she knew she had to be at least a month over-due. She would not have been able to tell, had Lily not had a minor break-down the first time hers showed up, after her traumatic miscarriage. It could just be the stress, but Lily had to be worse off than her, and hers had still showed up, despite her fairly recent physical trauma.

...and the smell of it all. Fuck.

She would kill for a bucket of cold water and a bar of soap. For the both of them, but mostly her. She was in the same leather suit she'd been in when she'd been caught, and she hadn't exactly been smelling of roses at the time. Maybe it was the prolonged lack of sight, or maybe it was the hyper-awareness caused by her situation, but her nose seemed to be picking up on every nauseating odor it could, and she was tired of feeling like she was going to vomit with every inhale.

Breathe in. Gag. Swallow it back...don't...get...sick.

Breathe out. Shudder. Gasp.

Rinse. Repeat. Ad Nauseum, quite literally.

…

By the time she noticed her stomach starting to round, a solid curve under her palm, Natasha had pretty much figured it out. It had been just the once, and only for the sake of the video bugs that she and Clint were not supposed to know about. She was sure that Clint was a fantastic lover with Bobbi, but Natasha had been more focused on convincing those observing them that they were who they said they were (just one of a pair of married couples in Budapest for a vacation). So, she had tuned out everything, save putting on a realistic show; she couldn't say whether or not the sex was good, because she'd long since learned to ignore physical sensation that could distract her (even sexual pleasure). Well, now that she was pregnant, she sure hoped she'd had a good orgasm or two, because this seriously complicated things.

…

Silence born from pain and resentment was a very different silence than that born of a lack of things to say.

As much as Natasha had come to despise the latter in her time in captivity with Lily, she was surprised by how much worse the former actually was, now that she was subjected to it. Natasha had not tried to hide her situation from Lily, nor had she flaunted it, but as her pregnancy progressed, Lily broke their seldom broken-silence even less. To be honest, Natasha was more frustrated than sympathetic to Lily's reasons. The last thing they both needed was for her to be pregnant, now, when their captors could easily put her down for good with the same spell that they'd used on Lily before.

"He's married, just so you know." Her voice felt like glass coming out of her throat, but she managed.

"...who?"

" Agent Barton. Clint. Bobbi, his wife...she works for S.H.I.E.L.D., and the ridiculous bastard loves her. Plus, those assholes could kill me with the same magic they used on you. So."

"So, what, Agent Romanoff?" Lily's voice was a little louder than her whisper before, and a little angrier.

"So, Agent Potter, it's less than productive to be pissed at me for something that was most definitely not planned, let alone meant as a mockery to you. This situation is...difficult enough...without you wanting to kill me in my sleep."

Lily didn't answer, but Natasha heard her choke on a sob.

Natasha bit back the urge to sigh in annoyance. "My point wasn't to upset you, but merely to point out the facts: this makes our situation infinitely more dangerous than it was, and my life infinitely more complicated when...not if...when we get out of here."

For a moment, there was silence, so heavy she could almost feel it hanging in the air. It was the silence that hinted at an unasked question, so she stayed silent, hoping it would prompt the woman to speak.

"I could...if...if you don't want it. If we all survive this...you, me, and your baby...I could take the child for you. If you still don't want it."

Natasha's breath left her, like she'd been punched in the chest. The relief was there, so intense that she felt dizzy, but she also felt hesitant. "Lily...if you take it, you have to realize that there is a chance he...or she...will not have magic. I mean, neither I nor Clint have it, despite what we can do. Also...if you change your mind after, I won't take the baby back. Once he or she is yours, that's it."

"That's fine. Really. I don't care, I don't. Just...I want to help you, but more than that...I want to be a mom, still, and I can do that, in your place."

Natasha settled her head back against the stone wall and shut her eyes in relief. "Then you have yourself a deal, Lily. If I bring this baby to term, the kid's yours."

…

It wasn't easy, per se, to hide her pregnancy from her captors, but it wasn't exactly difficult, as they were not starving them...merely storing them, till they could be of use to them. That, and the fact that they rarely bothered with a light any brighter than candlelight went a long way in hiding things from their captors. Natasha did her best to fight back her urge to demand more food than she could get away with, especially when her cravings kicked in, but she succeeded with Lily's help.

Still...she would have murdered a plate of fish pirozhki and watermelon.

…

As a human, Natasha had dealt with all the same disgusting, necessary things that everyone else had. Even so...pregnancy gas was by far the worst kind of gas that any human could ever experience. Lily was understanding, but Natasha cursed their small, unventilated cell colorfully every time it reared it.

Bozhe moi

…

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

That was the only thing that Natasha could think once the contractions hit, and then she did not think a lot of anything for a while. All her focus was on giving birth and trying not to scream loud enough to have their captors running. She didn't really notice until after, but Lily had shoved a strip of leather, taken from her old S.H.I.E.L.D. field uniform, into her mouth as both a gag and something she could bite down on. It helped, somewhat, if only in the sense that their captors hadn't shown up.

After, Natasha lay shaking and exhausted on her thin palette, a slimy, mewling infant on her chest, it's tiny mouth clamped down on her breast as it nursed.

Fuck, but that was weird. She was a mom.

She could hear Lily mumbling worriedly in the background, but was too tired to care, at the moment, about how they'd explain the "mess" and how they'd safely manage to cut the kid's umbilical cord before the attached placenta began to rot.

In the end, they didn't have to explain anything, as their captors showed up to check in on them before they could figure out how to deal with any of it. They looked less than pleased, but surprisingly hadn't done more than have their wizard clean up the mess and neatly deal with the cord and placenta. Maybe they thought one more hostage could help their case. Maybe they didn't want to risk mutiny from their Wizard if they killed a newborn. Whatever the case, they tossed the women a few rags to use as diapers, and an old night shirt to wrap up the baby. As soon as that was done, they left.

…

With the exception of the times when the kid needed to be fed, Natasha left all the "mom stuff" to Lily. She let her hold him, and dress him, and rock him to sleep. Mostly, she huddled near entrance to the cell, if only because the darkness was a little less absolute, there. Natasha never said anything, but she doubted that even Lily's best efforts would save the kid's eye sight from being fucked up after their prolonged exposure to darkness. She wasn't an optimist, so she couldn't "hope for the best," but she could do the Brit the favor of not saying what they were both thinking out loud.

…

Eleven months. After almost a year in captivity, Natasha was pleasantly surprised to see Agent Potter (James) and Coulson, dim lantern in one hand and keys in the other, smiling at she and Lily. Of course, both had noticed the baby with his eyes scrunched closed, and Natasha—not Lily—nursing him, as Lily fussed with cleaning his ragged nappies as best she could.

Natasha had said nothing, trying to give the Potters a bit of privacy as Lily told her husband about the induced miscarriage, but a shared look with Coulson told her that he'd overheard, and would be having words with her later, to get her admittedly less emotional perspective on the events.

She looked up when a brief silence fell, and she noticed the looks that both the Potters and Coulson were giving her. It was awkward to see a combination of disbelief and gratitude aimed at her, and knew that Coulson would be bugging her later about this, as well...just to make sure that she was 'alright.' He was maddeningly decent, for a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, which was probably why Fury had made him a handler for so many of his emotionally compromised agents.

"I know why you're doing this, Natasha, so I'm going to help you. As a friend...that way, I don't feel obligated to report this to the Director. Deal?"

It took her a moment to realize what Coulson had said, as his voice had been so quiet, but when she did, she could do nothing save give him a sincere "Thank you."

Perhaps a small bit of good could come out of this, with Coulson's help.

Perhaps this could be something that Clint didn't have to know about.

...at least for now.

Natasha would tell him that they'd had a kid, one day.

She was almost sure of it.

Almost.

[End Chapter]