Long over due! But, stuff happens! Sorry for the wait! xxxx Give it a little read please
Natasha was sleeping calmly, well as calm as one could be with a restless Super soldier tossing and turning every chance they got.
Finally, Nat huffing a defiant sigh that said Oh-you're-really-going-to-take-away-my-sleep-whilst-I-can-still-have-it-but-just-you-wait-until-it's-me-keeping-you-up-mister! Turned to face her husband, whose grimace disintegrated her annoyance instantly.
"You okay?" Her hand creeping up his arm.
His teeth gritted but he nodded nonetheless, Nat shifted slightly, moving him down until his head was resting on her stomach. Her fingers expanded through his soft locks and she smiled, feeling his clenched muscles relax considerably.
Soon enough he was asleep and Natasha marvelled at the sight of her husband, resting his head above their son or daughter, Natasha felt an exhilaration of excitement pump into her veins.
Slowly the Widow returned back to her own slumber only to be reawakened by a large explosion and sirens blazing above her head.
Natasha carefully lifted Steve - still sleeping - off her stomach and jumped out of bed, then after double checking it wasn't just her imagination Natasha woke Steve, who jerked instantly.
His head almost connecting with hers with his hurry to assist, "What's wrong?"
Natasha shrugged "Don't know, can't be good." Suddenly FRIDAY spoke above them, startling them further "I recommend evacuation immediately Ms Rogers," Nat's hand tightened around Steve, pulling him out of bed. He was leaning entirely against her, slumping but still attempting to carry his own weight, FRIDAY's ever helpful voice couched above them:
"I recommend leaving Mr Rogers behind, he'll only slow you down." Steve's agreement sent her over the edge, her grip tightening around him. "You see! This is why I miss JARVIS!"
Suddenly they found themselves in the corridor, their pace quickening once seeing a blazing fire through windows of glass, Natasha was fixated by the extreme flames, that was no ordinary fire, she led Steve straight into a table.
He gasped horridly and Nat was dragged downwards by his weight, yanking hard on her back Natasha relied on her skilful footing to negotiate with their waddling weight.
Somehow they made it to the elevator, both gagging for breath, Steve was wildly muttering about how they shouldn't be in an elevator but Widow was positive; if they even glanced at the minefield of stairs an explosion would splatter them against the wall.
Their journey in the elevator wasn't long enough for both partners to gain their breaths back but they soon found themselves surrounded by their other Avengers, except for Stark, in the lounge.
Instantly, Bucky and Barton scooped Steve out of Natasha's trembling hold and she was escorted by Pietro next to him on the couch.
"Does anybody know what is actually happening?" Banner bluntly mumbled, exhaustion hanging like hydrogen in the air.
Pepper stood stoically by the elevator, panic rising in tiny blushes across her cheeks. "It's Tony."
"What!" Wanda stood to attention.
Steve grunted next to Nat, she took his hand "Stark started a fire?"
Pepper refused to look them in the eye "He was worried...after the whole...thing" her eyes drifted to the Rogers before averting their trajectory to the floor "He began working more, if possible. Fury's been on his back ever since he declined the council position."
This was news to Steve, ever since the hospital he's not even wondered about the security council.
"And with Steve, not necessarily being able to defend himself" Natasha's eyes were glaring a warning, tread gently "So he wanted to enhance"
Pietro cut in "Oh brother"
"everything, about the security system, about FRIDAY, his suits, ventilation. It's practically unsafe for anybody other than you two to enter your floor."
Clint froze "What did you say about my vents?"
Pepper's eyebrows drew together "What?"
"The vents!" He corrected.
Suddenly the alarms ceased their screams of protest and smoke danced dangerously off of Tony Stark's silhouette as he entered the lounge, his eyes showing that even the smallest comment would send him over the edge.
He wordlessly walked past everybody, opening the elevator and turning at the last second, whispering in the most innocent breath "Sorry for waking you" his eyes pinpointing Steve's discomfort.
Natasha could tell instantly how much Steve wished he could go after him, talk to Tony. But he couldn't; that conversation had to happen and it could only happen between and by those two...
The majority of the Avengers were too dreary to go back to bed; Clint, Bucky, Wilson, Pietro and Pepper still managed to whilst Banner and Rhodey headed off their separate ways, most likely to the lab or computer bunk. Thor, Vision and Wanda stayed still, their movements allowing that of either the couch or to remain standing.
Natasha - and she felt bad for it - didn't have the drive of effort to escort Steve back to bed for what would most likely be an hour more, so instead she grabbed a blanket and pumped up pillows before lying him out and carding her fingers over his forehead and into his hair, hoping to sooth sleep back into his skin.
Steve knows she knows he doesn't want to sleep, he'd much rather chase after Stark or do something productive that would help with his recovery; he shouldn't be needing so much support soon.
But she takes her time easing him back into sleep, silently commanding that he should get as much shut eye as possible, her fingers run between each blossom of blond smoothing his scalp in warmth, because it feels like with every second of her attention, of her touch, he seems to breathe that little bit easier.
It's not long until the first few days of Steve's adjustment are in full swing, he's soon able to walk on his own and bathe himself - though he doesn't complain when Natasha joins him.
Pretty soon they're touching on Nat's 2 month date of pregnancy and with every disappearing day Steve's excitement is increasing to a towering height.
It was early in the morning and the sound of intense vomiting shook Steve awake.
His eyes blinked open and he gazed around the room, his body noting the lack of warmth from the right of him, he turned spying the open bathroom door. Quickly he darted from the bed and silently walked behind Nat's crouching body, his hand rubbing supportive circles on her back whilst his other hand held back her hair. Moments later Natasha flushed the loo, wiping away at her bottom lip and turning into Steve's warming embrace "Sometimes your child is stupid." she sounded pathetically sad and her body shook slightly in his arms.
Steve couldn't help but smile boldly at that statement, laughing generously "My child huh?"
Nat smirked subtly "Anytime this baby causes me the slightest form of discomfort or morning sickness...they are yours!" It would have sounded severely stiffening, if it weren't for the chuckle she coxed out of herself and then him.
Slowly they separated and Nat got a proper look at her husband, she saw the occasional sway of his leg, hinting at a rushed heal of a limb and a strong concealment of a limp.
But other than that, he was back, he was better.
They soon dressed and headed for the kitchen, Natasha yearning for food.
As soon as Nat waddled into the kitchen Stark pounced from his seat, holding her hand and supporting her back. Natasha stared at him in a serious level of deep evaluation and confusion.
After chaperoning Natasha into her seat, he then set about fetching her breakfast and went as far as if to massage her feet.
Steve exasperated "Stark...what the hell are you doing?"
The surrounding members of the Avengers also peeked interest "Well you see Super-Sperm, it's not good for heavily pregnant women to be walking around a lot and they must take weight off their feet. I mean look, Nat's so huge-"
Romanoff threw several clusters of cornflakes at Stark, snatching her feet away "Very funny hot-shot, I'm not even showing yet."
Stark pointed proudly "You see Rogers, her hormone levels are already rising. I knew it would only be a matter of days before she started coming on to me."
Wanda rolled her eyes, shoving Tony's arm down. "You know what will spike her hormones is you asking to loose a limb."
Steve moved closer to Natasha, feeling as though he should be taking more care around Nat after Tony's dry lecture. Nat's features lifted into a smirk as she took his hand and kissed it, assuring him everything was fine.
Then she turned to her still bickering friends "What will also get on her nerves is when she is referred to as if she were not in the room." Stark childishly sneered at Wanda who arched her eyebrows, joining Vision by the sink.
Barton then rose from the few morning shadows, walking straight to the coffee machine and pouring a cup. Immediately Natasha openly began to moan "Ohh...I miss coffee!"
Clint then exaggerated all movements with the coffee as well as the facial expression after his first sip, the corners of his mouth lifted gradually and his eyes glazed over as if he were in a dream, his expression almost completely hedonistic, making Nat want to be gag in annoyance. Steve muttered to a smirking Clint "Nice to see Nat having such helpful support from friends."
Clint sniggered into his coffee, liquid pouring out of his nose "Please...Tash if you think this is bad wait until..." Natasha's hand whisked away his words as she continued to silently eat her cereal, a grudge forming behind her calculating eyes.
Next to her Banner enquired "How is the pregnancy going, Natasha?"
Nat concentrated on swallowing her mouthful of food before answering "Okay I guess, I don't exactly have anything to compare it with. But...the morning sickness has just began and it could be worse I guess."
Hiding his smirk behind his coffee cup Tony asked "How about the hormones? Has Rogers been getting any extra insight with the ol'-"
"I beg you to stop!" Steve willed whilst eyeing a teasing Bucky and gagging Wilson whose strolls for food were silenced momentarily. Pietro then turned to Steve and Banner and began asking about sonograms and setting up a facility at the tower at which point Steve turned as white as the milk drowning Romanoff's half eaten cornflakes.
Natasha looked up through her lashes lazily at the boys, feeling her husband's discomfort instantly "Can we talk about something else, besides my pregnancy?"
Pepper then appeared dressed in her regular pristine attire, ready and rearing to rock the world of business. "Natasha we should at least talk about setting up facilities within the tower, at least so Banner or FRIDAY could keep tabs on the baby's health."
Nat scoffed "As if I'm letting that..." she mouthed the word bitch "look after me and my baby." Steve squeezed her lightly, whispering "Our's honey." Nat pet him whilst displaying no interest, merely further expressing her hatred of the new AI.
Stark held his hand over his chest "She can hear you, you know! At least have some secrecy about your distaste!" Thor chuckled loudly, whilst leaning back and smiling at Natasha, his hand wrapped around Jane. "Natasha has made it quite clear for a long time her hatred of FRIDAY."
Tasha sighed loudly "I miss JARVIS."
Vision smiled kindly "Thank you."
Barton was watching wisely, his eyes trained to see a diversion. "Potts is right Nat, we should at least discuss these medical measures. At least if you two are planning on staying at the tower..."
"What!" Pietro stands with a disgruntled Wanda.
"Since when..." Wilson's morning smile subsides and next to him Bucky baskets his head in his hands.
Natasha clenches her jaw and slides to the side of her seat, "Thank you Clint!" Her tone as burning as ice, as still as a lake and as quiet as space. In front of her Steve raises his head as Nat's hands fumble over his shoulders, hanging loosely around his neck.
Stark is surprisingly slow on his predicated explosion "Wait, so you guys are...are leaving the tower?" Natasha gulped for breath, swallowing the lump rising in her throat "Nothing's decided yet."
Tony gestured to a silhouetting Barton "Well clearly something has, because birdbrain has managed to pick it up. Unless you told him of course, which you would, seeming as you two like to remain the perfect odour of mystery." Nat rolled her eyes indifferently.
"Look Stark" Steve began, his Captain America voice kicking in "We just...we were thinking about the idea after the wedding but then stuff got in the way"
Tony's tone was bitter "Yeah, us! Being a team, needing each other to save the world and being able to do so, so quickly and easily because we are all under the same roof!"
Steve marched onwards "and we didn't talk about it for a while and then...when we discussed having a child, starting a family" his voice broke and Natasha rubbed his back soothingly, taking over,
"We brought it back up again and we don't want to leave, we tried to avoid it as much as possible. But now...I'm pregnant and after Steve barely scraped past the burdens of our latest battle" her voice unknotted and became a softer sliver of silk "We just think, you know there's a lot going on here."
"And raising a baby would be hard enough, with this lack of privacy and chaos...it would just be too much."
Pietro was pulling at threads "You haven't even tried..."
Steve shrugged out of Nat's touch "What do you expect us to do? So if we try and it doesn't work, it will be ten times more fuss to move our child-" He ended short.
Barton spoke up from his corner "Guys, you can't pretend you didn't see this coming...I mean, only a handful of us actually live here." Tony turned as if to argue, but then did the math: Thor technically lived on Asgard, Barton with his family, Bucky and Wilson both had their own places as did Rhodey and Tony knew that Banner had several safe houses of his own.
Tony then turned back "Yeah but...you two are the leaders!" Natasha stood up next to Steve, their eyes conversing secretly. Then Pietro snapped "No...no, no! Don't tell me you're quitting the team...don't tell us that."
They couple were silent.
"Oh great!" Wanda placed her hand on her head, her eyes bulging open widely.
"We're not necessarily leaving the team!" Steve chanted.
Tony was gesturing with an addiction "Oh great, they're not necessarily leaving the team, guys! Great, peachy! Anybody want any orange juice because boy this morning is getting dry!" Natasha sneered him into silence "Stark! We're having a baby! Ok that's not something you can just put down when an alien army comes knocking! Think about it, this baby will be as much of a target as any of us, who do you think we can trust to look after them whilst we're gearing up for battle?"
He stepped up to Natasha, pointing down at the ground "Which is exactly why the safest place for that baby is here! In the tower where they are under constant surveillance..."
Nat shook her head "I'm not comfortable with that Tony, as trust worthy as you are and as impenetrable as your security system is I don't want that for my child, I don't want my child to be guarded whilst my husband and I are risking our lives. And I know you guys don't want that either,"
Banner then attempted to decrease the frequency levels of tension, "So...have you guys found a place?"
Steve shook his head "We didn't want to start looking until we told you guys."
Thor smiled though it was as translucent as the window behind them "Well we can help you with that, can't we?" Wanda nodded too energetically to be steady, like she'd just been hit with something.
Slowly Tony knocks away the pleasantries whilst Pietro stalks away; both Clint and Wanda move to follow him, however Natasha beats them to it. Leaving Steve watching, hands on hips, with sad eyes.
Natasha finds him where Pietro has most recently been occupying; on the roof.
Although the cold fingers of the breeze twist and turn her back to the warmth of the door and the thick air clasps against her lungs in the heavy wind she keeps walking, ignoring the possessive nudge from nature.
He's stood in front of the sun, the bright light shining behind him highlighting his black silhouette. "Pietro?"
She didn't mean for it come out as a question but at that moment she wasn't sure whether or not she was going to even get acknowledged. Though he didn't speak to her, he did turn around and walk towards her. Nat smirked, expecting him to stop but was thrown into a clutching hug when he kept walking towards her, the pressure behind his hug firm enough for Natasha to know how troubled he was and still know that he was holding back from his true desperation.
Her voice regularly came out husky but the combination of heavy winds and the trajectory of his ferociousness hitting her at once made it raspier as well "Hey, you okay?" His nod was anything but assuring.
Even Maximoff understood the lack of believability in the movement because his statement disagreed with his gesture "No, I...it's selfish and stupid." Somehow Natasha managed to coax him into sitting down on the roof despite his stoic robotic impersonation. "What's going on?" Natasha new this could last a while, Pietro was a lot of things; impatient, aggressive, protective, defensive, irrational, impulsive, caring, selfless. But he wasn't open, he wouldn't naturally start spilling his feelings out, he had to trust you. And he did trust her, but she wasn't sure if he trusted himself to tell her what's going on. Maybe he trusted her, but didn't trust her to not judge him differently, if that makes any sense.
Finally he spoke, as if the silent seconds they'd spent had been crowded with reassurance and promises that he could talk to her; maybe they were, just unspoken.
"I don't...I don't want you and Steve to leave. But mostly you, Nat, you and Barton have been more of a role model for me and Wanda than you know. We've moulded our recovery around you two and it's brought us closer.
And...if you leave, I'm scared what will become of the team. You and Steve, well you probably knew this about him but not yourself...you're a big part in keeping us together, in keeping us sane and rational."
Nat jokingly shoved him softly "I don't know if rational is the correct word to describe the Avengers, but" he smirked goofily. "You got a point, I mean how will you guys be able to survive without Rogers' incredibly vast cooking skills and nagging at Stark about his drinking game and my kick ass, floor wiping training that only half the team turn up to?"
They sighed together.
"You'll be fine kid, and the likelihood is that, we won't separate from the team. We'll never be able to fully untangle ourselves from this web, even if we wanted to" she added as an afterthought "Which we don't, by the way." He slowly showed a quiver of understanding.
Natasha continued without any push from Pietro, but more from herself. To say the words so that they'd most likely be true, "During my pregnancy we'll be stopping by the tower non-stop, you'll probably see us more than you do whilst we live here. And then when the baby's born, you guys will be practically living at our place, God I'll have to get a handgun just to get you all to leave. And then for the first few years Steve will probably be assisting Coulson subtly from the side lines, as long as we're not at the front, but we'll appear enough for the press every now and then, so they don't panic and assume we're dead or something. Then when this little one" her hand rested on her stomach lovingly "is bigger and stronger...I don't know, I imagine something catastrophic will happen and Steve will fight with you guys whilst I go into hiding with the Bartons and protect them. Then eventually, I'll be back with the team, concentrating on balancing baby sitting and still being around my child.
And even if that stuff doesn't happen, we'll never abandon you guys."
At least, she hopes...
