p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Next Day/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Twice more that night they had sex. Another time in the shower sometime before dawn. Freshly showered and drained from a very active night with little sleep, James tucked into her bed again a hand stuffed under his head as his eyes shut. Natasha padded around the room, shoving the sheets into a laundry basket with their old clothes. She spied her phone on the floor, knocked from the bedside table at some point. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She had 10 missed calls. Several from Clint, three from Steve, and even two from Tony. Several texts messages from the three revealed what she had missed. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"-Nat, call me back. I need you. –Clint/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"-I'm not kidding, Nat. I need you to climb out of whatever hole you're hiding in and get to the farm. –Clint/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"-Romanoff… I just got off the phone with Clint. You need to talk to him. –Steve/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"-You and Bucky have to come up for air at some point… Clint needs you. –Steve/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"-Hey… Everyone in the world is trying to find you. So.. please call Barton back, so everyone can stop calling me. –Tony/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"-You need to come in, by the way. It's serious. -Tony/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha blanched and listened to the various voicemails the first one was really the only one she heard. Clint was on the other end. He sounded broken, upset. "Hey... Nat... I don't know what time it is where ever you are... But I need you to come back. Laura and the kids were in a car accident. Everyone's in the hospital. Laura's got the worst of it, Cooper's in bad shape too… Please call me back."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James sat up as Natasha whirled around the room. She tugged on her usual leggings, boots and a sweater./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Natasha… What's going on?" James watched her fling the little belongings she had into a leather bag./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"He was met with silence. Natasha triple checked drawers and areas for things before he grabbed her. Her eyes were blurry. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Tasha.. Talk to me." James said firmly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She gasped, "Laura.. The kids. They were in an accident. It sounds bad. Clint called while we were..." She gestured to the bed, "That was almost 12 hours ago. He needs me to be there. His whole world is falling apart." A sharp twinge of shame filled her. She should have been more attentive to her phone./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James sighed understandably. "You need to calm down, first of all." He reminded and steadied her in his hands. "Panicking isn't going to get you there faster or help Clint in any fashion. Take a deep breath and call him back. I'm going to go change. Please don't go anywhere yet." He said calmly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha stared at the phone in her hands. James pressed again, "Say it Natasha. Promise me you won't move until I come back."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She nodded, "I'll be right here."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James kissed her cheek and left swiftly. In seconds she hit redial and Clint answered./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Jesus, Nat, where the hell are you!" Clint gasped, "I had to call Rodgers and Stark to help get a hold of you."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She hung her head, "Clint, I'm so sorry. I'm leaving in a few minutes. I'll be there as soon as I can."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Where are you? Where have you been?" He asked quickly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Wakanda."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Clint sighed, "You'll be hours away even with the best plane. Cooper's in surgery."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha grimaced, "Clint, I'm hurrying I promise. Send me that location, okay?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""I can't do this alone, Nat. I can't lose her."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She sighed, "Stop that right now, Clint. Thinking like that isn't helping anyone. You won't be alone because I'm coming back and I'm not leaving ever again."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Clint was silent for a while, Natasha thought she heard the distinct sound of sniffling. Not that she was call him out on it. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""I'm leaving now. Send me the location. I'll call as soon as I land. Okay?" She said quickly and grabbed her bag./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Okay. Bye Nat."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Bye." She shoved her phone into her bag as James hurried into the room./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"He had changed into black jeans, boots, and a grey t-shirt under a navy flannel shirt. He had a bag as well. "T'challa is loaning us an auto-piloted jet. He said it can get us to any airport, no questions asked."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She hung on the word 'us'. She had not considered him coming but now that seemed stupid. This was new to her. Having to think of someone else's influence on her plans. "You're coming with?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James shouldered her bag, "I'm not staying here by myself."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She looked up at him. She had been on her own for too long. This felt weird. James grabbed her arm gently. "Don't over think this, Tasha."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She sucked in a deep breath and nodded. She could hash out her feelings later. She grabbed his hand and hurried out of the room to the elevator that would take them to the jet hanger below the residence. Inside the elevator James pressed the buttons for the right location as Shuri ran and slid into the elevator with them./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James suddenly cursed, "Oh, I forgot to tell her." He said to Shuri quickly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Really? Mr. Barnes with all that work I just did you should have super human brain function!" Shuri sighed playfully and turned to Natasha./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha suddenly realized something she had forgotten about. The nanites. The healing they were supposedly able to give her. She looked over at James as the elevator sank downward. She had planned to talk to him about this. Last night… All the times they were together, unprotected. She rubbed her face and sighed. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""I know you're on your way out, can you spare a moment to let me scan you?" Shuri asked quickly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha shook her head, "No, it's not necessary." She peeked at James who was absorbed in watching the marvelous sights as the elevator cleared a floor and descended into the hanger. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Shuri looked at her firmly, "Ms. Romanoff… It's important to check if…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha cut her off, "It's fine, Shuri." She looked at the girl and shook her head furiously, wordlessly insisting her to stop talking./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Silence befell them as the elevator stopped. Natasha hurried off to the jet T'challa was standing by. James looked at Shuri, "I didn't mean to intrude… Is it important that she gets scanned?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Shuri shifted her weight and looked at the tablet in her hands. "It should be. If she's denying it, then there's nothing I can do."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James nodded, "Hold on.. I'll see if I can get her to change her mind."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James sprinted over to Natasha and dropped their bags by the jet. He led her away from T'challa. She huffed, "James, what is it? We need to get going. He's giving me the flight codes."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James gripped her upper arms and looked at her firmly. "You need to let Shuri scan you. For whatever reason she needs to, she said it's important."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha sighed, "It's not important."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"He smirked, "You haven't changed one bit when it comes to needing medical attention. I can carry you over my shoulder to her or you can walk."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha huffed, "Don't treat me like a child, James." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"He kissed her cheek, "Then stop acting like one and let the nice girl scan you." He turned her toward Shuri and swatted her butt playfully as she walked away. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha approached Shuri with a somber expression. "Let's get it over with then.."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Shuri nodded apologetically and held up her tablet. A bright light scanned over Natasha's body and beeped loudly when it was done. Natasha didn't know what she wanted the scan to say. If she was… pregnant then it would be a miracle and a complication to the fragile thing she had just gotten back with James. If she wasn't… there was the dashed hope that she had been harboring. If it didn't immediately work then she supposed it never would. All the work would have been for nothing./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Shuri was examining the screen, Natasha peeked at it and didn't know how to read the information. Shuri looked up at her. "You and popsicle..."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Many times…" Natasha said lowly and Shuri smirked a little. Natasha had to admit she liked the cheeky girl. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Shuri was silent for a few moments and looked up at Natasha. "Well?" Natasha asked indifferently./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Shuri just shook her head no. Natasha raised her eyebrows and swallowed the sharp pang of disappointment. In the moments she had stood there waiting she had decided complicated would have been better than nothing at all. The real result… a resounding failure stung like a slap to the face. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Oh…" Was all she was able to utter before nodded and stepping towards the jet./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"T'challa shook James' hand and offered Natasha the same. She obliged numbly and boarded the jet. It would fly itself and get them to New York in 2 hours. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha curled up in the pilot seat, her head tucked in against her knees. James was softly snoring since the moment the plane was airborne. They both needed sleep, but she was unable to find it. Hot tears wet the leggings that covered her knees as she silently wept. Mostly for her 'family' suffering an inconceivable mishap. Also for the absolute crushing blow she had been dealt. She had been so very hopeful that she could finally have it all. Have James back, have the rings and the future with him. Perhaps there could have been children. A real family of her own after everything she had survived. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"A very real part of her wished all those years ago that she had been strong enough to run away from the Red Room to give herself the chance to be a mother. She hadn't thought of the baby she could of have in many years. That child could have been 14 by now. Almost grown. There could have been others. She would have wanted more of them. Her chest burned with the force of her held back sobs. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She drew in a ragged breath and a sob escaped her lips. James startled next to her in the copilot seat. He leaned forward and suddenly realized the noise had come from her. Natasha brushed her wet cheeks and looked away from him as she heard him stir. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James was on his feet in seconds and crouched near her seat. "Tasha…" He whispered and pulled her to face him./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She had mostly dried her eyes but she knew they'd be bloodshot and red. "It's fine, I'm just overtired and emotional."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James didn't by it, "When are you going to stop instantly denying your very real feelings and talk about them. You don't have to be strong all the time. You are so incredibly strong, it's okay to feel. It's okay to let me in and rely on me to help you when you can't." He rubbed her leg soothingly. "You've seen the absolutely worst of me, all most rage and emotion. You saw me when I was broken. I could never judge or shame you for anything. Talk to me, please. Don't think you have to suffer anything alone anymore."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"How the hell did she deserve him after all of this. How could her James still be there after all these years? It just seemed impossible. She leaned forward and sank into his lap on the floor of the jet./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"With a slight adjustment he circled his arms around her and held her tightly. For several minutes she wasn't able to talk. James pressed after a while. "If this is about Clint and his family… I'm sure whatever the doctors can't fix, we can bring them to Shuri. Your family is going to be okay, I know it."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She sighed heavily. "It's not that…" She breathed quickly and bucked up the courage to get it over with and out in the open./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""So it's what Shuri said to you? You are sick? Tasha what is it?" James asked quickly and looked down at her full of concern. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She gasped, she suddenly was so aware of how it must look to him. He thought she had cancer or something awful. "Oh... no... James.. I'm... I'm going to be okay… It's not like that." She said quickly. She would be okay, eventually. As she had been for almost a decade and a half. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""I don't understand what happened then." He said quietly. His hand brushing up her back. "You certainly don't seem fine."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She shifted off his lap to face him, she wanted to see his reactions. If they matched what Steve had admitted to her the other day./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Shuri thought she could fix me, like how she fixed you." She started and James looked at her strangely./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""But you weren't controlled by the KGB like HYDRA did to me, were you?" He asked quickly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""No… Not anything like that.. Let me rephrase… Shuri thought she could fix what my graduation took away from me." She said shakily. She watched his eyes soften. His hand pressed against her calf softly. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She pressed her lips together, "She gave me a nanite serum that regenerated all the scar tissue.. I guess what they did for sterilization wasn't so much a procedure as it was mutilation." That word hung heavy on her tongue. It stabbed at her heart in the worst way. It made her feel like more of a monster than ever. Some barren, killing machine. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James shook his head, "Tasha… I didn't know it was like that." He looked so incredibly guilty./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""How could you have?" she said quickly. "Your job was to help train us. No one knew. I certainly didn't until a few weeks ago. Shuri was adamant that the nanites would work, and they did. She scanned me just before you woke up again. It all healed."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James nodded, "What did she scan you for today then?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She looked up at him, "James…" She said firmly, he had to be able to piece two and two together./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James frowned, "What?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She looked at his hand on her calf, "She scanned me to see if I was pregnant."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"He brushed his thumb across her shin, "Oh…" He said simply./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""I had meant to tell you before we got carried away. It slipped my mind once I saw you were finally back. There was a chance that I could have been pregnant and the nanites would have given me back a chance to have children. I'm not pregnant.. Chances are I'm healed but I won't ever be able to.." She looked up at him. "I really meant to tell you. I wanted to, I wanted us to have a chance to have a family."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"He looked at her solemnly, "Are you really sure it hasn't worked.. I mean… We were all over each other. Can she honestly tell that soon? Who's to say that the next time…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She clasped her hand over his, "I don't think it's in the books for us, James." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"He shook his head firmly, "You've got more fight in you than this. Are you going to let the first hiccup stop you? That's not the girl I know if that's the case."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She looked at him strangely. He was so passionate about this. It seems that Steve was right. "What is that supposed to mean?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"He stared her down, "Did Shuri say there was absolutely no chance it would work if it didn't happen the first time?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She thought back to the conversation she had with her, "No.. She didn't say that. There was no guarantee it would work. It was experimental."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James held her hands firmly and smiled, "Then you didn't get pregnant the first time. You should know that this is just the next challenge. If there's even the slightest chance that you could have children, then god damnit I will make sure it happens."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha covered her face and laughed, "I don't deserve you." Here he was whole-heartedly invested in her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James kissed the top of her head, "I deserve you, I have to because now my next goal is to make sure you're knocked up. God we'll have so much fun trying."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She shut her eyes and smiled against his chest as he pulled her into him again. "Where is this new side of you coming from?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"He laughed lightly, "I've gotten a second chance at life, Tasha. I've got time to make up for and a new outlook on life."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She kissed him swiftly and pulled back moments later for air. "We're doing this? Babies? Rings? White picket fences?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James held her tightly, "Yes. We're doing this. There's nothing else I want more. You get your family situated and the minute they're all healed and home safe, I'm marrying you. By then hopefully you'll be pregnant."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Twice more that night they had sex. Another time in the shower sometime before dawn. Freshly showered and drained from a very active night with little sleep, James tucked into her bed again a hand stuffed under his head as his eyes shut. Natasha padded around the room, shoving the sheets into a laundry basket with their old clothes. She spied her phone on the floor, knocked from the bedside table at some point. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She had 10 missed calls. Several from Clint, three from Steve, and even two from Tony. Several texts messages from the three revealed what she had missed. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"-Nat, call me back. I need you. –Clint/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"-I'm not kidding, Nat. I need you to climb out of whatever hole you're hiding in and get to the farm. –Clint/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"-Romanoff… I just got off the phone with Clint. You need to talk to him. –Steve/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"-You and Bucky have to come up for air at some point… Clint needs you. –Steve/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"-Hey… Everyone in the world is trying to find you. So.. please call Barton back, so everyone can stop calling me. –Tony/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"-You need to come in, by the way. It's serious. -Tony/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha blanched and listened to the various voicemails the first one was really the only one she heard. Clint was on the other end. He sounded broken, upset. "Hey... Nat... I don't know what time it is where ever you are... But I need you to come back. Laura and the kids were in a car accident. Everyone's in the hospital. Laura's got the worst of it, Cooper's in bad shape too… Please call me back."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James sat up as Natasha whirled around the room. She tugged on her usual leggings, boots and a sweater./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Natasha… What's going on?" James watched her fling the little belongings she had into a leather bag./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"He was met with silence. Natasha triple checked drawers and areas for things before he grabbed her. Her eyes were blurry. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Tasha.. Talk to me." James said firmly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She gasped, "Laura.. The kids. They were in an accident. It sounds bad. Clint called while we were..." She gestured to the bed, "That was almost 12 hours ago. He needs me to be there. His whole world is falling apart." A sharp twinge of shame filled her. She should have been more attentive to her phone./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James sighed understandably. "You need to calm down, first of all." He reminded and steadied her in his hands. "Panicking isn't going to get you there faster or help Clint in any fashion. Take a deep breath and call him back. I'm going to go change. Please don't go anywhere yet." He said calmly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha stared at the phone in her hands. James pressed again, "Say it Natasha. Promise me you won't move until I come back."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She nodded, "I'll be right here."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James kissed her cheek and left swiftly. In seconds she hit redial and Clint answered./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Jesus, Nat, where the hell are you!" Clint gasped, "I had to call Rodgers and Stark to help get a hold of you."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She hung her head, "Clint, I'm so sorry. I'm leaving in a few minutes. I'll be there as soon as I can."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Where are you? Where have you been?" He asked quickly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Wakanda."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Clint sighed, "You'll be hours away even with the best plane. Cooper's in surgery."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha grimaced, "Clint, I'm hurrying I promise. Send me that location, okay?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""I can't do this alone, Nat. I can't lose her."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She sighed, "Stop that right now, Clint. Thinking like that isn't helping anyone. You won't be alone because I'm coming back and I'm not leaving ever again."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Clint was silent for a while, Natasha thought she heard the distinct sound of sniffling. Not that she was call him out on it. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""I'm leaving now. Send me the location. I'll call as soon as I land. Okay?" She said quickly and grabbed her bag./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Okay. Bye Nat."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Bye." She shoved her phone into her bag as James hurried into the room./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"He had changed into black jeans, boots, and a grey t-shirt under a navy flannel shirt. He had a bag as well. "T'challa is loaning us an auto-piloted jet. He said it can get us to any airport, no questions asked."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She hung on the word 'us'. She had not considered him coming but now that seemed stupid. This was new to her. Having to think of someone else's influence on her plans. "You're coming with?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James shouldered her bag, "I'm not staying here by myself."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She looked up at him. She had been on her own for too long. This felt weird. James grabbed her arm gently. "Don't over think this, Tasha."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She sucked in a deep breath and nodded. She could hash out her feelings later. She grabbed his hand and hurried out of the room to the elevator that would take them to the jet hanger below the residence. Inside the elevator James pressed the buttons for the right location as Shuri ran and slid into the elevator with them./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James suddenly cursed, "Oh, I forgot to tell her." He said to Shuri quickly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Really? Mr. Barnes with all that work I just did you should have super human brain function!" Shuri sighed playfully and turned to Natasha./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha suddenly realized something she had forgotten about. The nanites. The healing they were supposedly able to give her. She looked over at James as the elevator sank downward. She had planned to talk to him about this. Last night… All the times they were together, unprotected. She rubbed her face and sighed. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""I know you're on your way out, can you spare a moment to let me scan you?" Shuri asked quickly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha shook her head, "No, it's not necessary." She peeked at James who was absorbed in watching the marvelous sights as the elevator cleared a floor and descended into the hanger. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Shuri looked at her firmly, "Ms. Romanoff… It's important to check if…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha cut her off, "It's fine, Shuri." She looked at the girl and shook her head furiously, wordlessly insisting her to stop talking./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Silence befell them as the elevator stopped. Natasha hurried off to the jet T'challa was standing by. James looked at Shuri, "I didn't mean to intrude… Is it important that she gets scanned?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Shuri shifted her weight and looked at the tablet in her hands. "It should be. If she's denying it, then there's nothing I can do."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James nodded, "Hold on.. I'll see if I can get her to change her mind."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James sprinted over to Natasha and dropped their bags by the jet. He led her away from T'challa. She huffed, "James, what is it? We need to get going. He's giving me the flight codes."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James gripped her upper arms and looked at her firmly. "You need to let Shuri scan you. For whatever reason she needs to, she said it's important."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha sighed, "It's not important."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"He smirked, "You haven't changed one bit when it comes to needing medical attention. I can carry you over my shoulder to her or you can walk."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha huffed, "Don't treat me like a child, James." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"He kissed her cheek, "Then stop acting like one and let the nice girl scan you." He turned her toward Shuri and swatted her butt playfully as she walked away. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha approached Shuri with a somber expression. "Let's get it over with then.."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Shuri nodded apologetically and held up her tablet. A bright light scanned over Natasha's body and beeped loudly when it was done. Natasha didn't know what she wanted the scan to say. If she was… pregnant then it would be a miracle and a complication to the fragile thing she had just gotten back with James. If she wasn't… there was the dashed hope that she had been harboring. If it didn't immediately work then she supposed it never would. All the work would have been for nothing./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Shuri was examining the screen, Natasha peeked at it and didn't know how to read the information. Shuri looked up at her. "You and popsicle..."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Many times…" Natasha said lowly and Shuri smirked a little. Natasha had to admit she liked the cheeky girl. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Shuri was silent for a few moments and looked up at Natasha. "Well?" Natasha asked indifferently./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Shuri just shook her head no. Natasha raised her eyebrows and swallowed the sharp pang of disappointment. In the moments she had stood there waiting she had decided complicated would have been better than nothing at all. The real result… a resounding failure stung like a slap to the face. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Oh…" Was all she was able to utter before nodded and stepping towards the jet./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"T'challa shook James' hand and offered Natasha the same. She obliged numbly and boarded the jet. It would fly itself and get them to New York in 2 hours. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha curled up in the pilot seat, her head tucked in against her knees. James was softly snoring since the moment the plane was airborne. They both needed sleep, but she was unable to find it. Hot tears wet the leggings that covered her knees as she silently wept. Mostly for her 'family' suffering an inconceivable mishap. Also for the absolute crushing blow she had been dealt. She had been so very hopeful that she could finally have it all. Have James back, have the rings and the future with him. Perhaps there could have been children. A real family of her own after everything she had survived. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"A very real part of her wished all those years ago that she had been strong enough to run away from the Red Room to give herself the chance to be a mother. She hadn't thought of the baby she could of have in many years. That child could have been 14 by now. Almost grown. There could have been others. She would have wanted more of them. Her chest burned with the force of her held back sobs. /span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She drew in a ragged breath and a sob escaped her lips. James startled next to her in the copilot seat. He leaned forward and suddenly realized the noise had come from her. Natasha brushed her wet cheeks and looked away from him as she heard him stir. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James was on his feet in seconds and crouched near her seat. "Tasha…" He whispered and pulled her to face him./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She had mostly dried her eyes but she knew they'd be bloodshot and red. "It's fine, I'm just overtired and emotional."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James didn't by it, "When are you going to stop instantly denying your very real feelings and talk about them. You don't have to be strong all the time. You are so incredibly strong, it's okay to feel. It's okay to let me in and rely on me to help you when you can't." He rubbed her leg soothingly. "You've seen the absolutely worst of me, all most rage and emotion. You saw me when I was broken. I could never judge or shame you for anything. Talk to me, please. Don't think you have to suffer anything alone anymore."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"How the hell did she deserve him after all of this. How could her James still be there after all these years? It just seemed impossible. She leaned forward and sank into his lap on the floor of the jet./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"With a slight adjustment he circled his arms around her and held her tightly. For several minutes she wasn't able to talk. James pressed after a while. "If this is about Clint and his family… I'm sure whatever the doctors can't fix, we can bring them to Shuri. Your family is going to be okay, I know it."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She sighed heavily. "It's not that…" She breathed quickly and bucked up the courage to get it over with and out in the open./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""So it's what Shuri said to you? You are sick? Tasha what is it?" James asked quickly and looked down at her full of concern. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She gasped, she suddenly was so aware of how it must look to him. He thought she had cancer or something awful. "Oh... no... James.. I'm... I'm going to be okay… It's not like that." She said quickly. She would be okay, eventually. As she had been for almost a decade and a half. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""I don't understand what happened then." He said quietly. His hand brushing up her back. "You certainly don't seem fine."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She shifted off his lap to face him, she wanted to see his reactions. If they matched what Steve had admitted to her the other day./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""Shuri thought she could fix me, like how she fixed you." She started and James looked at her strangely./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""But you weren't controlled by the KGB like HYDRA did to me, were you?" He asked quickly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""No… Not anything like that.. Let me rephrase… Shuri thought she could fix what my graduation took away from me." She said shakily. She watched his eyes soften. His hand pressed against her calf softly. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She pressed her lips together, "She gave me a nanite serum that regenerated all the scar tissue.. I guess what they did for sterilization wasn't so much a procedure as it was mutilation." That word hung heavy on her tongue. It stabbed at her heart in the worst way. It made her feel like more of a monster than ever. Some barren, killing machine. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James shook his head, "Tasha… I didn't know it was like that." He looked so incredibly guilty./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""How could you have?" she said quickly. "Your job was to help train us. No one knew. I certainly didn't until a few weeks ago. Shuri was adamant that the nanites would work, and they did. She scanned me just before you woke up again. It all healed."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James nodded, "What did she scan you for today then?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She looked up at him, "James…" She said firmly, he had to be able to piece two and two together./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James frowned, "What?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She looked at his hand on her calf, "She scanned me to see if I was pregnant."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"He brushed his thumb across her shin, "Oh…" He said simply./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;""I had meant to tell you before we got carried away. It slipped my mind once I saw you were finally back. There was a chance that I could have been pregnant and the nanites would have given me back a chance to have children. I'm not pregnant.. Chances are I'm healed but I won't ever be able to.." She looked up at him. "I really meant to tell you. I wanted to, I wanted us to have a chance to have a family."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"He looked at her solemnly, "Are you really sure it hasn't worked.. I mean… We were all over each other. Can she honestly tell that soon? Who's to say that the next time…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She clasped her hand over his, "I don't think it's in the books for us, James." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"He shook his head firmly, "You've got more fight in you than this. Are you going to let the first hiccup stop you? That's not the girl I know if that's the case."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She looked at him strangely. He was so passionate about this. It seems that Steve was right. "What is that supposed to mean?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"He stared her down, "Did Shuri say there was absolutely no chance it would work if it didn't happen the first time?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She thought back to the conversation she had with her, "No.. She didn't say that. There was no guarantee it would work. It was experimental."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James held her hands firmly and smiled, "Then you didn't get pregnant the first time. You should know that this is just the next challenge. If there's even the slightest chance that you could have children, then god damnit I will make sure it happens."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"Natasha covered her face and laughed, "I don't deserve you." Here he was whole-heartedly invested in her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James kissed the top of her head, "I deserve you, I have to because now my next goal is to make sure you're knocked up. God we'll have so much fun trying."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She shut her eyes and smiled against his chest as he pulled her into him again. "Where is this new side of you coming from?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"He laughed lightly, "I've gotten a second chance at life, Tasha. I've got time to make up for and a new outlook on life."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"She kissed him swiftly and pulled back moments later for air. "We're doing this? Babies? Rings? White picket fences?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', serif;"James held her tightly, "Yes. We're doing this. There's nothing else I want more. You get your family situated and the minute they're all healed and home safe, I'm marrying you. By then hopefully you'll be pregnant."/span/p
