Disclaimer: Marvel owns these awesome characters.

It was a hot night and when Tony suggested that they go out into the pool, Natasha had readily agreed. She was still in the pool now, leaning forward into the wall with her arms on the ledge, watching him as he made them drinks.

"You ever think about marriage?" he asked her casually.

She blinked and raised an eyebrow at his back. "You're kidding me, right?"

"Humor me." He turned around to face her and walked over, bending to hand her her drink.

"No, I don't think of marriage. That's for normal people, who work 9-5 jobs, and don't kill other people for a living."

"You don't just kill people for a living."

"That's just semantics." She sipped her drink.

Tony sat down, dropping his legs into the pool. He tilted his head, gazing at her with incredibly dark eyes. "You've never thought about it?"

She let out a little huff. "When I was a child, maybe, because that's what little girls do when they're in that in between stage between being princesses and thinking boys are gross." She tucked back a lock of her hair behind her ear. "What's with the question, anyway? You can't honestly tell me you've thought of marriage."

He smiled and shrugged, sipping his own drink. "What makes you say that?"

"Uh, the fact that I worked in your legal department so I know for a fact you had a team of lawyers constantly rebuffing attempts from women claiming to be pregnant with your child or that they have had your child. Granted, the women became suspiciously silent and stopped pursuing the matter when a paternity test was requested. And I also know that, unlike with other rich high profile men, they weren't terribly concerned with constructing a prenuptial agreement because they didn't seem to believe that a marriage would ever arise."

He made a dismissive gesture. "It's true the stupid claims of pregnancy and my supposed children came up every now and then. I never took them seriously because I'm very careful and wouldn't agree to anything until there was proof from a paternity test. Which never came back positive for me as the father. But that's all old news…"

Natasha looked up at him sharply, as she connected his question and why he seemed so subdued because of her answers. "You want to marry me?"

"Well… yeah."

"This is your marriage proposal?"

Tony laughed. "Of course not! Natasha, please. If I were to propose to you, it wouldn't be lame like this. I guess I just wanted to know and I have your answer. I can't say I really blame you." He smiled but it was a pained smile that broke her heart.

"I'd say yes."

"What?"

"If you were to ask me to marry you. You know, properly. I would say yes."

"You don't have to just say that."

"I'm not." She hoisted herself out of the pool to sit beside him. "I hadn't thought about marriage with you. Now I have. And the truth is… I don't want to imagine my life without you in it." She was a survivor. She could live without him, she didn't need anyone – but she wanted him in her life.

Tony grinned at her and pulled her against him, kissing her deeply. It was exhilarating and frightening, that she had the power to break him.

But it was no less than the power he had over her.

Natasha had told Tony once that birthdays had stopped being celebrated for her when her parents had been killed, and that she didn't really care about it or receiving gifts because it just wasn't a day that mattered.

Tony disagreed. She mattered to him; therefore her birthday mattered to him.

He had convinced her to join the other Avengers and their assorted significant others at a restaurant for dinner and drinks, and then afterwards make an appearance at a Halloween charity ball that was sponsored by Stark Industries. The proceeds would go toward college scholarships for disadvantaged youth that showed an aptitude for math and/or science.

It had taken quite a bit of wheedling from him, but she had finally agreed to dress up in costume and had gone as a Black Swan ballerina. He himself had dressed as a mob boss from the 1920s and she admitted to herself that it looked perfect on him, the slightly tilted hat adding to his considerable charm.

To her surprise, the team members had given her birthday gifts. She had not expected that from them and it made her realize that she truly did have friends. Although she enjoyed receiving new guns and knives, the gift she liked the most from her friends was a tiny, delicate black widow jeweled pendant on a necklace from Steve and Sarah.

Tony had declined to give her her present in public, which of course made everyone assume that it would probably be something sexual.

They had put in a brief appearance at the charity ball, and though Tony allowed photographs to be taken of them he refused to comment on their relationship other than reiterating that she was his girlfriend.

On the car ride home, Natasha stretched and stifled a yawn.

"Tired?" he asked, glancing at her.

"A little. It was nice, though. I had a good time. Much better than staying at home yet pretending to not be home to avoid children demanding candy."

He chuckled. "Kids have long since given up trying to approach my house."

"You couldn't hear the bell down in your lab?"

"Normally, I wouldn't be home. But if I was, no, I wouldn't bother to get up. Jarvis would tell them to get away and if they got any trick ideas he'd scold them and they'd take off. One kid screamed and said it was God watching them. They ran like hell." He laughed.

She smirked, visualizing that. "Halloween wasn't celebrated when I was a child. If only it were that easy, to scare away monsters by wearing a mask."

"Bruce could probably do a pretty good job of that, no mask needed. He just needs to hulk out. Fury could go as a pirate… All he needs is a peg leg and a parrot."

"Be nice," she admonished him, but couldn't help but laugh.

He gave her an innocent look and pulled into the garage. Natasha got out of the car and headed upstairs with him. She began to go toward the staircase, to go to the bedroom, but Tony tugged lightly on her hand.

"Come outside with me," he said. "Let me just get your present first."

"You don't want to change first?"

"Why bother? It's not like I won't get you out of those clothes, anyway," he pointed out reasonably.

"Very classy, Tony." She gave him a look and went outside.

He smiled, not the slightest bit remorseful. "I try."

Natasha went outside and sat in one of the cushioned patio chairs. It wasn't quite a full moon, but it still looked incredibly bright against the clear cloudless sky. She leaned back and had to admit, the view at night was beautiful. Then again, the view during the day was beautiful as well. She could hear the soothing sound of the waves hitting the shore down below and she smiled to herself, carefully removing the tiara from her hair.

Tony came back out, holding a bottle of chilled champagne in one hand and two glasses in the other along with a little gift bag with ribbons for handles.

"Here's your birthday present," he announced, dropping the gift bag into her lap while he opened the bottle of champagne and poured them each a glass. The bag was heavier than it looked and she wondered what was inside.

"You didn't have to get me anything," she said, opening the bag and pulling out the tissue paper.

"I know I didn't. I wanted to." He watched as her eyes widened and she pulled out a small, beautifully ornate gold Faberge egg decorated with tiny rubies, diamonds, and sapphires.

"Is it…?"

"Yes. An original Imperial Russian Easter egg, one that was created for your ancestors. It's one of the lost ones… I spent months searching for it and finally found it. It's the Nécessaire Egg."

Natasha looked fascinated, running her fingertips over the ornate design. "It's so beautiful. I knew of them of course… have seen pictures but have never touched one before."

"It's yours. They should all be rightfully yours." He had plans to buy as many as he could for her from the collectors and current owners.

"Thank you." She smiled and leaned over to kiss him.

"You didn't think that was your only present, did you? The eggs had surprises in them. Open it up to see yours."

She gave him an amused look. "It's the Nécessaire Egg. The surprise inside was thought to be a woman's diamond encrusted manicure set." But when she lifted the delicate lit to remove half of the egg, what was inside was not a manicure set.

It was a platinum ring, with a princess cut diamond and baguette cut rubies set around the band with tiny engravings, sitting nestled on a tiny folded up piece of red satin.

"Tony…?"

"I thought so many times of how I was going to do this. I wanted to do it in front of… everyone. Because I love you, because I'm proud you're with me and want everyone, anyone, to know. But that would have been more about me and my love of the limelight. You are private and so… here we are, just the two of us." He paused, then continued. "I'll never be a saint. I'm trying to be a good man but I'm not ever going to stop being a smartass and I won't be able to keep myself from saying the first things that come to mind. What's tact?" He chuckled. "But I promise you this, Natasha. I'll always stand beside you, I won't ever break your trust or be disloyal, and I will never, ever leave you behind. No matter what the mission, I will go after you and bring you back to me. You're my teammate, my partner, and… and I want you to be my wife. Will you marry me?"

"I—" She drew her breath in and laughed, leaning to wrap her arms around him. "Yes, I'll marry you! But are you sure? Are you sure to want to marry someone like me? I'm damaged, I'm dark, and I've done so many terrible things—" She didn't want him to regret her one day, to be ashamed of her.

"Doesn't matter. That's in the past. You're my future. That's all I care about." He stroked her cheek, then pulled her into a tight embrace. "We're both damaged, Tash, so who better than us to understand each other?"

She kissed him hard, almost aggressively, then pulled back. "Put it on?"

Tony smiled and plucked the ring out of the egg, carefully sliding it onto her finger. He kissed her hand. "You really said yes," he said wonderingly.

"Don't tell me you had your doubts." She grinned and picked up her champagne glass, clinking it against his before taking a sip.

"Maybe a little," he admitted, drinking from his own glass. "I do have one more thing to ask of you, though, before we start the celebrating."

"Anything." She slid onto his lap and her lips were on his neck, making him forget his question for a moment. He groaned.

"What was your question?" she prompted.

He caressed her curves and found his voice. "Oh, right. Will you let me be the one to tell Fury about our news? I want to record his reaction because I'm sure it's going to be priceless."

"If by "priceless" you mean he's going to think you're playing a terrible joke on him…" She laughed and shrugged. "Go right ahead."

He grinned wickedly. "You are going to be an amazing Mrs. Stark."

"Why can't you be Mr. Romanov?"

He stared. "Um…"

"I'm going to love making you speechless for the rest of our lives," she said sweetly.

He smirked and scooped her up to take inside.

The rest of our lives.

He liked the sound of that.