Thank you to everybody who read or left kudos on the last section. You are all so wonderful.

This was originally part of the last chapter, but it evolved and became its own section. I'm using the title I initially planned on using for the previous chapter.

Also, the longer jumps in time between parts will not begin just yet. My plan was derailed by the muse who feels we have a few things to resolve before we start jumping six months at a time between scenes. My muse is very fickle.

Chapter 44: Becoming Natalie Stark

November 23, 2014

"I didn't think they were going to let me see you before they moved me." Natalie heard Wolfgang say as she was escorted into the room. Natasha Romanoff was with her along with Sharon, although Romanoff would be staying in the back. Natalie knew she needed emotional support, so she agreed not to go into the room alone. Natalie also knew that neither woman trusted her to be there alone with her husband. They were probably concerned she would strangle him before they got all the intel they needed.

Tony wanted to come with her, but they are not quite there in the relationship yet. Reconnecting with your long-lost family after 40 years is an emotionally draining process under the best circumstances, and her current circumstances were anything but the best. Tony was trying, though. Natalie wouldn't be shocked if Tony was watching the feed from outside the room because she did not explicitly tell him not to. He was a protective little brother.

Really, she's just happy Suarez isn't here. Natalie wouldn't be surprised if the therapist were watching as well. The doctor barely allowed her to do this. Natalie needed closure, and this may be the only way to get it.

"I needed a few days." And several sessions with her therapist to be able to be in the same room with Wolfgang without hitting him again. She's still furious and not sure how long she can last without giving in to the desire to smack him again. Physically assaulting your partner is not appropriate, even if they are the head of a neofascist organization. On second thought, maybe she should revisit that stance due to the neofascist part.

"I also had to attend a few funerals caused by your colleagues." Isabel's funeral was awful. Tony didn't cry when they scattered Isabel's ashes per her will, but Natalie did. Those poor babies. They are not even going to remember their mother because Hydra murdered her. Apparently, this is the second time. Grant Ward killed their other mother last April.

"Thankfully, none were our son, but it was a close call." Although watching her nephew cry was heartbreaking. Knowing that her son was partially responsible made it worse even if the guy was ex Hydra. Although seeing Captain America/her brother's boyfriend punch out the deceased's senator brother, who crashed the funeral, did bring a moment of levity. Tony threatening the man with his lawyers was also quite entertaining. Apparently, Alana was the child that he abandoned. The poor girl was another Hydra orphan. (Tony was allegedly helping them relocate somewhere out west because her little brother was a sweetie pie.)

"I know. I saw the video," Wolfgang told her with a look of sorrow in his eyes. Natalie wasn't sure she could trust that interpretation. Natalie always thought that she could read her husband entirely. She was reading a counterfeit book.

"Yes, the footage of a man you experimented on shooting our son in the back. Another victim of your hubris. I'm furious at you." Natalie wants to yell or possibly throw something at him, but she doesn't. Partially because she's afraid, Natasha will ice her.

"I know." His eyes are downcast.

"No, you have no idea how angry I am at you. Our entire marriage was built on lies. My entire life was built on lies. I was supposed to be Natasha Stark. You knew who I was, and you told me nothing. You had this entirely different life that I knew nothing about. You were the head of a terrorist organization that has its roots in Nazi Germany. It was like I was secretly married to Osama bin Laden and had no clue," Natalie spat out.

"Actually, Hydra predates…"

"Don't talk right now, Wolfgang. I sat through the same history lectures you did. I remember them now. I still don't give a fuck because fascism is fascism, even if they're Alveus worshiping fascists. Your beliefs almost got our son killed, and I ended up being held captive by your disgruntled work colleagues."

"I'm sor…" Natalie cut him off by pressing her fingers against his lips.

"I'm not ready to hear it. It's taking everything in me to not break your nose right now. I don't know if that's love or Stockholm syndrome." Suarez thinks it's a mix of both. Natalie has no idea.

"You loved me before," Wolfgang whispered.

"Maybe in a way, but I was 15, and I was brainwashed by the asshole who took me away from my parents. Regardless, love doesn't change the fact that you lied to me. That you manipulated me. That you kept so many parts of yourself away from me that I was essentially married to a stranger. You used my research to further your own power." A hot tear ran down her face at this point.

"Which may very well get me thrown into jail even though I didn't know anything about it. The Hydra Taskforce is already tearing my clinic apart. You don't give a fuck about me, I'm not sure you ever did." She was yelling now, and her tears were coming down harder. Wolfgang tried to reach for her hand, but she pulls it away. Instead, she takes a tissue being offered to her by Sharon. The young woman puts an arm around her to keep her steady.

"I do love you. List would have killed you if I didn't convince him that you were still valuable to the cause. I wish I didn't have to do that, but it was the only way to save you at the time." Natalie's recent recovered memories tell her this is true.

"Maybe you do actually love me." She whispered.

"I do."

"But not enough to leave. Back in April right before Shield fell, if you would've come to me and told me everything you were doing and offered to give it all up so we could live together on some desert island, I would've said yes. I would have left with you. I would've forgiven you. We would have spent the rest of our lives together as the world burned down outside our bubble."

"And now?" He asked earnestly.

"Part of me will always love you, but I have to do what's best for Alex and me. I need to rebuild our lives, and I don't think I can do it with you." At those words, Natalie ran out of the room. Sharon followed, but Natasha stayed behind. This doesn't surprise her since Romanoff was the one interrogating her husband these last few weeks.

"Are you okay?" Sharon asked. Not one little bit.

Sharon realized that because she quickly wrapped an arm around Natalie and let her cry.

xxxxx

"Sorry to cry on you, but I just realized that it's over. I guess I'm going to have to meet with that divorce attorney after the other attorneys tomorrow." Sharon knew that Natalie couldn't put off meeting with the attorney any longer because the Hydra task force wanted to meet with her in two days.

"Do you want me to be here for that? We already found Hank Thompson. That was my major mission. I can take a few days off." Because she's not part of the team that is trying to figure out the map that they found in the man's barn. At least they now knew what the strange alien drawing was.

"No. You go on back to Virginia with Trista tomorrow. Besides, I'm sure you have a girlfriend to take to a very Carter-Jones Thanksgiving."

"Not for at least another year. I love Trista, and although she's been exposed to my family before, it's too soon after being kidnapped. My family is just too much." Sharon explained just as Tony walked into the hallway.

"As much as I love this touching moment, we have a situation. Coulson needs you because someone he only refers to as Raina stole the 084 out of CIA custody." Tony said, passing her a Stark pad with a surveillance image on it. "Facial recognition software is still trying to identify her accomplice, but he kinda looks like that guy from Twin Peaks but decades later." So much for offering to stay around. Sharon is almost positive that she and Trista will be on a jet to meet up with the other team within the hour. She wasn't sure if her girlfriend was ready to be out in the field, but it looks like they don't have a choice.

"You trust me to see Shield stuff?" Natalie asked, somewhat surprised.

"Agent said we could read you in whenever possible," Stark tells his sister. "It's impossible to hide everything from you since you have free access to the compound. Also, you're the only one who can actually understand your husband's diaries."

"Because although my German is barely passable due to the memory machine, I speak fluent Wolfgang von Strucker. Or at least I thought I did. I'm just…" Natalie stopped speaking abruptly as if she was going to start crying again.

"He's going to be here for a few more days." Stark placed an arm around his sister. "You can talk to him again when you're up to it. Maybe after we meet with the lawyers tomorrow?" Stark suggested.

"I don't know if I…" Natalie trailed off as she switched her focus to the screen in Sharon's hand. "Wait, I know that guy."

"What guy?" Stark asked.

"He's from my grief support group. His name is Cal Z. He lost his daughter in 1989 when she was kidnapped from his home when he was doing a stint with Doctors without Borders in China."

"Do you remember which province?" Stark asked. Although Sharon didn't understand why he was asking that question.

"Something with an H, I think. Although I remembered his daughter's name was Daisy, and his wife's name was Jiaying." That name Sharon recognized. It was the same name as the woman who Dr. Campbell suspected as being Skye's biological mother. Now Sharon understands Stark's earlier question.

"Jarvis, can you do your thing? Starting with Dr. Campbell."

"Of course, sir." The AI replied.

"You're on speaking terms with Jarvis again?" Sharon asked.

"Yes. Friday is now the twins' AI. I'm currently trying to create an algorithm that will determine the difference between an 'I'm crying because I want a bottle' cry and a crying 'because I want to cuddle' cry.

"If anyone can do that, I think you can."

"Steve thinks I'm crazy. But I think I'm on to something." Tony said as he pulled out his phone. "See Friday, just sent me a text message telling me that the twins want cuddles. You should join us; I feel like you need a baby cuddle." Stark offered. The babies seem to be a bonding activity for the two. Sharon knows that Natalie has spent a lot of time in the nursery with her brother since being discharged from medical.

"In a few minutes," Natalie tells her brother. "I do want to spend time with my niece and nephew; I just need to process first. I know you watched what happened with Wolf."

"Yes, and I kind of want to punch him in the teeth, but if I do that, I think Steve will withhold sex." Stark joked.

"Because he wants to punch my soon-to-be ex-husband himself?" Natalie joked.

"No, he thinks you should do the honors. Also, the divorce attorneys I consulted with say that you don't have to get divorced. You can file for an annulment based on fraud." Because if anybody in the universe has a case for fraud, it would be Natalie. Her husband was responsible for her memories being wiped. Yes, he kept her from being killed, but it still means that the relationship was built upon lies. At a minimum, their relationship was built on the absence of the truth.

"I'll think about it. Go play with your kids." Natasha told Stark, and he did leave after kissing his sister on the cheek.

"You're thinking about your daughter Erin, aren't you?" Sharon asked because she recognized that dark look in Natalie's eyes too well. They've known each other for a long time.

"Yes, because that's how I actually met Cal. His daughter was kidnapped, and my daughter died after 32 hours…" The words died on. Natalie's lips as she opened her mouth in shock.

"What's wrong?" Sharon asked, concerned.

"What if Erin didn't actually die? They told Howard and Maria that I died. What if history repeated itself? List was there when I gave birth." Before Sharon could respond, Natalie was already ordering the AI controlling the room to let her back in her husband's cell.

"Your bac..." Although, before Von Strucker could finish the last word, Natalie punched him.

"What did you do to Erin?

"Nothing," Natalie responded by slapping him again, and Natasha did nothing to stop her. Neither did Sharon for that matter.

"She's not in some secret Hydra school somewhere being raised to be a soldier for the cause? She would be six right now. I think I was three when List started the indoctrination." Natalie spat bitterly.

"I wouldn't have handed her over to them. You know I kept Alex away from everything Hydra. I didn't want him to end up like us. Why do you think I stop speaking to my parents?" Incidentally, the Strucker parents had already been handed over to the Hydra task force. Sharon doesn't even know if Natalie knew that.

"I wasn't exactly handed over either. What if our so-called parents were mad at us for saying no about Alex? I was pregnant when that episode happened."

"Don't you think I considered that? I had an autopsy and a DNA test done without telling you because I had to be sure your father didn't do the same thing again. She was our daughter.

"When you had to do that, maybe you should have reconsidered your loyalties then. Even if our baby did really die, was it really a natural death? Did your employers have our daughter killed?"

"I don't know. The autopsy was inconclusive."

"I think in your heart, you do know. That's when you should've left, but you didn't, and I can never forgive you for that." Natalie was crying hard again. "Goodbye, I love you, but I can't…" At this point, Sharon decided she had to get Natalie out of the room and to her brother. Although even Sharon was shocked when Natalie asked to go to the nursery. Despite everything, it was her happy place.

Xxx

November 25, 2014

Due to Natalie being an absolute emotional mess after dark secrets came out, yesterday's in-person meeting with Jennifer was postponed. Of course, Natalie was going to be a mess after finding out that Hydra probably killed her daughter, and her husband still stayed with the organization. However, they did talk on the phone for an hour. Unfortunately, today's meeting couldn't be postponed because the Hydra task force wanted to talk about what they found in Arlington, and Rosalind Price refused to back down.

After a few pints of ice cream and quality baby cuddling time, Natalie was now ready to face the task force. The delay also gave Tony some quality soon-to-be ex-brother-in-law time. What was done during that time will stay between him and Romanoff, but it's probably best for Tony that his boyfriend is running a mission with Coulson right now.

It's okay, Tony doesn't need his boyfriend to help convince Jennifer to save his sister from incarceration due to her lousy husband choices.

They walked into the conference room head held high. Okay, his head was held high, and Natalie was nervous. Maybe because she spent some time with Marcy yesterday, who had no trouble telling her precisely what the Hydra task force would like to do to her.

"I promise Jennifer is the best on my staff. She kept Maria Hill from Gitmo. I promise she's a miracle worker. She can handle Rosalind Price." They might need a few miracles. Everett Ross is terrified of RED Agent May-Stevens, but Price isn't, and she was the one who would be here today.

"I see that you are singing my praises again, Tony." The lawyer smiled at him as they walked into the conference room. Marcy was there for reasons unknown as the Hydra task force representative. She probably asked to be here for him. The Hydra task force doesn't know that she's Tony's half-sister, and he plans to keep it that way. It's not that he doesn't want the world to know that Peggy Carter is his mom. It's just that in a way that would be losing Maria all over again, and he's not there yet. It works to his advantage right now anyway.

"Someone has to, and your cousin is still in Manhattan this week," Tony said as he pulled out a seat for Natalie. "You spoke on the phone yesterday, but this is my sister Natalie."

"Thank you for coming to help me with the situation." Natalie extended her hand in greeting.

"It's okay, and I'm hopeful that I can help you after our conversation yesterday. Are we still waiting on director Coulson and agent Rosalind Price? I was told they would be joining us." Jennifer said as she takes her seat.

"No, director Coulson is unavailable and will not be joining us today," Romanoff told the lawyer as she took her own seat.

So good news, they know now that the crazy drawings that Coulson and all the other Tahiti patients were drawings of an alien map. (Bonus points for the fact that Janice stopped drawing once she was shown the map.) Thanks to Jarvis, they know the map matches a location in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His AI figured that out this morning after possibly breaking into a research lab in Honolulu. This lines up with a rumor Dr. Campbell heard about an ancient alien temple underneath old San Juan.

They have one team investigating the possible Kree temple. They have another team chasing after Raina and a man who may or may not be Agent Skye's biological father, who managed to steal the 084 out of USG custody. The whole thing is giving Tony a headache.

On the bright side, the 084 situation is why Everett Ross is not at this meeting. So Tony is happy for that reason alone. He doesn't like Ross. Unfortunately, that's why Price is supposed to be here. According to Marcy, she's the one they must worry about.

"I'm here on behalf of Director Coulson, I am Deputy Director Natalia Barton." Natasha introduced herself with an alias, and really Tony should not be surprised. She was sporting blonde hair and contacts. The last name almost surprised him, but then Tony remembers who she usually shares a room with. He's just going to mind his business on that front.

"Rosalind Price is also indisposed," Marcy tells the lawyer. "I am CIA agent Marcy Sousa-Carter, and I'm with the Hydra task force. The head of the task force Everett Ross asked me to come to conduct this interview in her place." Okay, Tony wanted to know what miracle was pulled off to get Marcy here for this. It probably involved May's mother.

"Now that introductions are out of the way, we can all work together to figure out the best way to keep me out of jail. I am concerned because my clinic was used as a front for a terrorist organization's genetic engineering research division with neither my knowledge nor consent." Natalie remarked.

"I'm not sure if we should continue having this conversation in front of Ms. Carter," Jennifer replied.

"So, as I assume this will all be under attorney-client privilege, you should know that I am Tony's half-sister on his mother's side," Marcy explained. "My bosses don't know that. Well, Price doesn't know that, but Ross does because he's not as stupid as he looks. No one wants to incarcerate a kidnapping victim that has been missing for nearly 45 years. So, we are all looking for a way to make this go away. "

"I think the jury is still out on Rosalind Price," Tony mumbled under his breath.

"She's busy investigating a situation with the Air Force involving stolen technology collected during the battle of New York." Note to self, ask about stolen alien technology later. "Ross sent me to do this interview instead," Marcy explained.

"I'm starting to hate Ross just a little less," Tony mumbled to himself.

"And my purpose in being here?"

"We have a few ideas about how to make the situation go away, but we want you here to advise your client as we discuss those options. This was never meant to be an interrogation." Tony sure that's now the case because Price is not here.

"Agent Carter, I would like to spend some time talking to my client first. We were supposed to meet yesterday, but she was unavailable."

"Understandable, and since unlike my boss, I'm not trying to railroad somebody, I'll give you time. I'm going to go ahead to the nursery for half an hour to cuddle with my niece and nephew." Marcy said as she exits the room. Tony is 99% sure she's going to be watching the feed from the hallway.

"I know you probably don't want me here, but I have evidence that will support most things that Ms. List von Strecker will tell you."

"I've already decided to not use my old last name. So, from now on, I am Natalie Stark."

"If you're okay with Deputy Director Barton being here than I am," Jennifer said with a sigh.

"Natasha is on our side," Natalie explains to the lawyer. "She understands me in ways that a lot of other people don't." Because very few people have been kidnapped as children and turned into baby assassins.

"Okay, I have to ask, were you involved in the highly illegal and obviously unethical research that was happening at your clinic?" Jennifer asked bluntly.

"Was I involved in the work at the clinic in recent years, not at all. When I was a teenager, I did partake in research regarding project Lullaby, as Hydra referred to it. However, at some point, I made them angry, and then I became the research subject." Natalie answered, truthfully.

"According to an affidavit from Wolfgang von Strucker, Ms. Stark, then known as Ms. List, refused to participate in a Hydra initiation ritual because she found it barbaric. The man she assumed was her father, but in reality, the man who kidnapped her from Howard and Maria Stark then tried to kill her. Mr. von Strucker convinced Dr. List to use her for his Lullaby research." Romanoff told the lawyer as she passed over a Stark pad containing this affidavit. Jennifer spent the next few minutes quietly reading over the information.

"Hydra was using genetic engineering to create the next super soldier?" Jennifer asked, sounding slightly bewildered.

"Yes." All three answered simultaneously.

"As early as the late 1980s?"

"Actually, the 1970s," Tony added. "Someday, I'll have to explain why Marcy's my half-sister."

"But not today," Natalie told her lawyer.

"So, after refusing to go along with Hydra any longer, you became a captive, and they were planning to use you as a human incubator for this project Lullaby."

"Yes. I remember undergoing an egg retrieval procedure, but I don't think I was actually inseminated." Natalie explained.

"According to the affidavit, Ms. Stark was never inseminated. She escaped before then with the assistance of Stephanie Triplett formally Carter-Jones."

"Stephanie got out, but I was shot multiple times. I don't remember what happened immediately after that until I woke up in a hospital bed somewhere in Europe. Of course, until this month, I didn't remember anything that happened." Jennifer gave them all a very strange look.

"I thought yesterday we covered my boyfriend rescuing my sister from the Hydra Hilton Arctic Circle."

"I'm still very confused," Jennifer responded.

"Aren't we all," Tony mumbled under his breath.

"Please turn to page 13 of the affidavit you are reading. There you will see Mr. von Strucker corroborate the fact that Ms. Stark freed another captive before she was found and revived by von Strucker. He convinced the other Hydra higher-ups that it would be unwise to kill a possible heir to Stark industries. Instead, Ms. Stark was subjected to Hydra's attempts to re-create Howard Stark's memory rewriting technology."

"Also, it turns out they have technology that undoes that technology which I was subjected to earlier this month." At that moment, Jennifer started to rub her temple.

"Now, I understand why you wanted me for this and why we didn't discuss this part previously." Yesterday they mostly talked about Natalie discovering that her husband was Hydra and using her business behind her back, but nothing about the first 16 years of her life. "So, you were kidnapped, indoctrinated by a cult, and almost killed after refusing to participate in various rituals that I still don't know about. That was glossed over in the affidavit."

"They were going to make me kill my dog to prove that I am only loyal to Hydra. I refused. At least that's what I remember happening now.

"Mr. von Strucker's affidavit confirms this if you look at pages 26 through 28. He goes through various Hydra rituals in that section in detail. He also states that Ms. Stark was completely unaware of his Hydra affiliation throughout their entire marriage. This was because she had no awareness of her previous Hydra indoctrination due to her memory modifications."

"So, you knew nothing of your past life until your recent kidnapping at the hands of Hydra?" Jennifer asked. "I don't think I can sell this to a jury."

"I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. Until two weeks ago, I remembered nothing before my 16th birthday. As I have repeatedly told various representatives from the US, UN, and Germany, I did not know my husband was Hydra until Shield collapsed. Once I did find something, I turned it over to the Hydra task force, which Ms. Carter can attest to." Which is sort of accurate. Natalie was planning to turn the diaries over before she was kidnapped, and they are in Hydra task force custody now.

"Again, confirmed by Mr. von Strucker. Except for the Hydra task force part, but I can confirm that." Natasha tells the lawyer.

"I'm not entirely sure the courts are going to take the word of the ex-head of a terrorist organization. I've been told, Germany and the US are fighting who is going to charge von Strucker with treason." Jennifer explained.

"Currently, the US is winning," Tony remarked under his breath.

"Although Sokovia also wants their pound of flesh," Natasha adds.

"It's all a mess." Natalie sighed. "I need you to make sure that I'm not there with him. I realize how ridiculous this is all going to sound to a jury. You're here to help me find a way for it to not sound ridiculous."

"Okay, I think it's time for me to come back in," Marcy said as she opened the door to the conference room.

"I knew you would be watching," Tony mumbled under his breath as Marcy took a seat at the table.

"She was watching this on a screen outside per agreement. I was 99% positive that Jennifer would want to talk to me alone before my CIA interrogation began." Natalie explains.

"You didn't tell her?" Marcy asked, looking directly at Natasha.

"Tell her what?" Jennifer asked, confused. Tony was positive it had something to do with the deal that Marcy negotiated with von Strucker last night. That was the reason Marcy told him she was here yesterday.

"Von Strucker made a deal," Natasha said as if that explained everything.

"I know, to keep Alex from going to jail for letting Hydra into the Playground and Isabel dying because of it," Natalie explained what she already knew.

"His other condition was that they don't go after you. Although your business is another story entirely. As you're aware, there are already agents there. I will be joining them again when I'm done here."

"I am not surprised." Natalie side.

"You can always become a fertility researcher under the Stark industries banner. Also, I think you're automatically a member of the Board of Directors because Howard's will didn't name me directly, but his children. Which makes sense because, by the end of his life, he thought that you were still alive. So, one-third of Stark industries is yours. We are going to have to untangle the inheritance stuff. That's going to take a while." The thought was already giving Tony a headache.

"I'll schedule a meeting with Byron and accounting to work that out sometime next week. Most people are gearing up for the Thanksgiving holiday and are already out of town. Although I think we're going to have to establish Natalie as Natasha Stark, the missing daughter of Maria and Howard Stark, first. That's going to create its own barriers."

"I'm not worried about my inheritance. I have my own money. We can wait."

"That's been frozen," Tony tells his sister. "But, I already have a new account set up for you and an ATM card."

"Okay, maybe I am a little worried about that," Natalie remarked. "So how do we get this all untangled?"

"My first recommendation is full cooperation, once we can work out conditions," Jennifer tells her.

"Which I'm planning to do, although it's kind of hard to fully cooperate when you had no idea what was happening behind your back."

"Been there, done that, found a stockpile of my weapons in Afghanistan. More than once and I was never thrown into jail."

"Although not for lack of trying," Natasha mumbled under her breath.

"That didn't happen because you were able to find your weapons. So, to help Natalie, we need to find the metaphorical weapons."

"In this situation, that would be genetically engineered children. Fingers crossed that there are not more Steve…" Marcy trailed off, realizing this is something they do not want Jennifer to know about.

"I wouldn't put it past my former colleagues to stretch that particular sperm sample out as much as possible," Natalie said, annoyed. "These are kids with loving parents. They're not some weapons. I'm sorry, Marcy, but I don't want to hand these kids over to any government. Don't ask me to."

"According to an affidavit by von Strucker, that was the point. He didn't want the children to be raised as Hydra like him and you." Natasha told them.

"But if they join the cause after being kidnapped as an adult, cool. My head hurts. I've been having a lot of headaches since I was forced to remember my life before I was 16. I'm really regretting not reading the affidavit before I got here."

"You're still going to help though?" Tony asked.

"If I have a choice? Apparently, the CIA and who knows who else is already looking through my files, patient privacy laws be damned," Natalie remarked.

"You will, though, because you and I both know it's better that those children don't know that they were part of a Hydra experiment. We especially don't want the government to know. We can make sure that doesn't happen." Marcy explained to Natalie.

"How?" Both Natalie and Jennifer asked simultaneously.

"Although Everett Ross and Price knows you're not dead, no one else does. They're perfectly okay with it staying that way."

"What are you saying?" Natalie asked.

"There are two options. One you go to trial, and all of this gets dragged out into the open. Including the identity of those children, some of which could have enhanced DNA."

"Or?"

"Or we let the entire world believe that Alex von Strecker and his mother Natalie von Strucker were killed by Hydra. Because of that, Wolfgang von Strucker decided to burn Hydra down to the ground in retaliation. He knows enough to do it too. Sen. Christopher Ward was picked up this morning for Hydra ties." Tony couldn't help but smile at that revelation from Marcy.

"I hate my ex-husband a little less now. If I choose to let Natalie von Strucker die, what happens next?" Natalie asked.

"Then, in about six months, we introduce the world to the long-lost illegitimate daughter of Howard Stark complete with new back story and college-age son."

"In the meantime, I can bring you into SI as the new head of biological-based research. That can even be how we found out that we were related."

"That way, nobody has to know about the Hydra kidnapping. Or that Alex is the son of the head of Hydra that sold everybody out. This is the best way to protect everybody." Marcy argued.

"How long do I have to think this over?" Natalie asked.

"We will need an answer by Monday. I'll let you, your brother, and your lawyer talk it out."

"I want to look over the terms of the deal before my client signs anything," Jennifer told the group.

"Of course. What we are willing to offer is already on the Stark pad you have. "Marcy told the lawyer getting up from her seat.

"I would like to talk to my client alone. And I do actually mean alone this time with no video feed."

"Are you okay with that, Natalie?" Tony asked.

"I will be okay. Jarvis, make sure Tony can't stream anything from the room." Natalie ordered because she already knew him too well.

"Of course, Ms. Stark."

"Why does Jarvis like everybody better than me?" Tony asked once he was out of the room. He was starting to get annoyed with his AI again.

"Since you stopped speaking to him for three months because he helped me find your sister and didn't tell you about it," Natasha remarked.

"Apparently, you're getting over that because you're talking to all of us, again," Marcy told the group.

"Because I love my sister, and I know I need help. I realized that after reading the brother-in-law's affidavit. Although you neglected to say anything about his new deal."

"Because we wanted to tell your sister first. This is more of a witness protection deal." Marcy explained.

"Which you both think she should take?"

"I still believe enough in the criminal justice system to believe that she would be found innocent." Marcy starts.

"But?"

"You don't leave an organization like Hydra," Natasha tells him.

"You left the Red Room, which is apparently a Hydra subsidiary." Tony quipped.

"Because I defected to another branch, and they still sent the Winter Soldier after me. You know you'll never see my bullet scars."

"That's okay, my fiancé would not be happy." Natasha raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing else.

"Ward tried, and we had his funeral last week," Natasha said darkly, and Tony knows that she's upset about losing Ward. He knew Natasha was hoping to turn him into another her. "Natalie is a loose end, just like he was. We've already had to rescue her once this month. It might be safer if she dies and reinvents herself."

"Like you, Deputy Director Barton. Does Clint's girlfriend know that you're posing as his wife? I see that wedding ring." Tony said, pointing to her finger.

"Who do you think suggested it."

"They're all fucking each other, right?" Marcy asked in Dari because she knew Tony knew the language, and it was one of the few Natasha didn't know.

"Probably," Tony replied just as Marcy left.

"You should probably know that I understand Dari now," Natasha said in the language as she handed him a letter. Before Tony could ask her what the letter was, she was gone.

Xxxxx

"I see somebody has come for some niece and nephew time," Tony said as he and Natalie walk into the nursery four hours later. He is alone with the babies because Pepper went back to New York after the funerals. Leo was also gone because Simmons took him with her to England. He needs to get away from all things Grant Ward related. Thankfully, the heads of Hydra were too busy being incarcerated to look for him. Sam went with them as back up (or therapeutic support).

May was still at the base, but she was sleeping right now. They were taking turns being on baby duty, and it was his turn. Thank the universe, they were all used to sleep deprivation. It would be easier if either boyfriend were there; however, the duo was currently looking for hidden Kree temples in Puerto Rico.

"After spending the last four hours with my lawyer and a long lengthy discussion with Alex about if faking our deaths and making a deal with the Hydra task force is the best option, I could really use some niece and nephew time." Which kind of surprises Tony after what she found out recently, but people deal with loss in diverse ways.

"Take Madison," Tony told her, pointing to the bassinet. He knows that Mattie is going to want a hug now.

"You're just the best baby," Natasha said as she clutched the baby against her chest.

"I think baby Tony is insulted by that," Tony remarked, as he continued to feed his youngest son.

"They're both the best babies."

"You say that now because neither one of them has peed on you yet.

"You think they are adorable regardless."

"Yes, but I'm also sleep-deprived, and it's going to get worse. My boyfriend is searching for alien temples, and Leo is visiting the girlfriend's parents. Well, mother anyway. I don't think either has the emotional bandwidth to deal with the father."

"They are officially dating?" Natalie asked, slightly confused even though he had filled her in on the entire Fitzsimmons saga.

"I have no idea, but they have been inseparable since the funeral. So maybe, although it's probably in poor taste to announce you are dating someone new until the ex has been dead for at least six months. So how did quality time with your moody twenty-something go?" Tony asked.

"Nice subject change."

"I'm trying. Being a brother is a weird experience."

"Yes. Alex is looking forward to becoming Howard Alexander Stark because he really really hates Wolfgang right now. It's totally a coincidence that he was named after his grandfather he never knew about."

"We could tell the press that Howard always knew you existed. I really think nobody should know about the kidnapping. No one would be surprised about him fathering an illegitimate child."

"But then I couldn't be Maria's daughter, and I want that," Natalie tells him.

"I know, and I understand. I think that's why I haven't told the world that Peggy Carter is my biological mother. I think Maria would be more concerned about your safety."

"And being a regular illegitimate child is safer?"

"Yes. Also, for your new back story, I'm thinking you've always been a single parent because Alex's dad left when you were pregnant. For the sake of the asshole's privacy, you're not giving a name"

"Okay, this back story I can live with. Although maybe Alex is going to have to visit the salon for darker hair."

"Not necessarily. Maria's grandfather was from Scandinavia, and genetic engineering was involved, not that people will know that. Although the salon is probably necessary for both of you."

"Of course, because Natalie List is dead, and she can't look like Natalie Stark. Maybe I should go with Natasha Stark at least publicly. Wait, did you say genetic engineering?"

"Did you read through all of your soon to be ex-husband's affidavit."

"No, I stopped reading after the second time he convinced my kidnapper not to kill me. Seriously, why did List take me if he just wanted to kill me all the time?" Natalie asked.

"He had to give Howard an incentive to make the perfect soldier," Tony remarked darkly.

"And they got you."

"I'm sure they are forever bitter about that. So, if you made it past page 14, you'll see the everything you thought happened in Appalachia did happen. They did harvest your eggs during the kidnapping. Since he knew he couldn't have you, Wolfgang settled for Alex."

"Yep, going with fraud. Definitely getting that annulment now."

"Although if you fake your death, instant divorce," Tony tells his sister.

"That does sound nice right now."

"Also, this way, you won't have to turn over patient information, and no one will know about Project Lullaby."

"Another positive. This will keep the children safe, including your own."

"Steve and I are going public as a couple Friday if he's back from Puerto Rico by then. He should be." At least Tony hoped so, but the girl in the flowered dress was spotted in San Juan an hour ago, so it could be longer."

"The day after Thanksgiving, how convenient."

"Jane from PR felt it was best for people to be distracted with holiday shopping. Although if that fails, we might try for the week before Christmas. We will announce our engagement in February."

"Is my baby brother planning on a Valentine's Day engagement? You're actually engaged to Steve?"

"Jane would love that and sort of. We are going ring shopping when he gets back from Puerto Rico. We will tell everyone about the adoption of the twins the day before we tell the world about you."

"That way super villains won't go after the twins thinking they're the key to the super-soldier serum. You really are a genius."

"More like the US government. I'm sure super villains will still go after the twins, but their secret mom would kill them all before they got close."

"It's a good plan and after thinking about it all day, I think it's best that I let Natalie List die. I'll even let you inform my soon to be former husband of his impending widowhood because I just don't have the bandwidth."

"It was his idea," Tony tells his sister.

"Wolfgang told you this while you were interrogating him. Sorry beating him up yesterday. Don't act like I didn't know."

"Well, he deserved it, and it was only one punch."

"I am not arguing otherwise."

"Wolfgang wrote you a letter," Tony said as he handed the letter to her.

"Considering the envelope is torn open, I assumed you read it?" Natalie asked.

"After finding out that your husband was convinced Hydra had your daughter killed, I felt it best to read it over before giving it to you."

"And considering you're giving it to me, it wasn't too horrible?" Natalie asked.

"No, it was horrible, but maybe you still need to read it. Wolfgang wants you to be free of him and to start over."

"And the only way to do that is to die?"

"Pretty much. There's a target on your back being the ex-wife of Wolfgang von Strucker."

"Especially because he sold Hydra down the river."

"There were a lot of people whose names didn't come out during the Hydra dump. Although I'm not surprised, the soon to be former Sen. Christopher Ward made a deal with Gideon Malik to kill his illegitimate daughter and his brothers. Everhart was collateral damage."

"I don't think I'm ready to read this yet," Natalie said as she put the letter in her purse.

"That's okay. There's nothing critical in there like being told you have a son or your sister secretly alive. The Alex being your biological child thing was in there, but you already claimed him as your kid."

"I feel like there's a story there."

"Someday, I'll tell you over chocolate. In the meantime, you have been invited to join us for a very May-Stevens Thanksgiving. I want you to come with us."

"You want more of a buffer?" Natalie asked.

"Yes, and I figure you would like to be far away from your husband." Tony knew being in the same building as von Strucker was hard on Natalie at this point.

"Yes, I would like to be very far away from them."

"And I need you to perform a DNA test on May's stepdad because I'm like 99% sure he's related to Steve. They even text the same way. It's so bizarre."

"So, clone or alternate timeline double?" Natalie joked.

"Hopefully, not a clone." Tony was only half-joking himself. Who knew with his life?

To be continued