Chapter XII
"Natasha, stop!"
She didn't listen and kept throwing things into her suitcase. Steve had no idea what was going on. Natasha had just stormed off during dinner at Sarah's and he'd barely managed to catch up with her.
Chloe was crying in his arms and he was cradling her, trying to calm her, but it didn't work. She seemed to pick up on her mommy's distress.
"Natasha, talk to me!" He didn't miss how she only threw her stuff into a suitcase. Was she just going to leave without telling him what was wrong? She'd been like this ever since she'd looked at her phone. "Stop it! You're scaring your daughter!"
That finally made her stop packing. The look in her eyes terrified him. She looked scared and yet murderous. Something was very wrong and he was sure that it had something to do with their baby. He used that moment to transfer Chloe from him to Natasha. Nat looked she wanted to reject Chloe, but he saw the change of heart in her eyes and she hugged Chloe to her chest, burying her face in Chloe's fluffy brown hair. Chloe immediately stopped crying.
"Nat, you have to tell me what happened! I'm her father, I have a right to know!" He was close to losing his mind. He'd never seen Nat like this before. Not even after the Snap.
Natasha looked up at him and his breath got caught in his throat, feeling like someone punched him in the stomach. She was crying and looking so lost.
"The Power Broker put a bounty on her head."
Steve knew rage, that hot rage that made you want to destroy everything around you. But he'd never felt this kind of rage before. He punched the wall next to him, leaving a fist-sized hole in it. His skin had burst and his knuckles were bloody, but he didn't care. He could only focus on what Natasha had just said. Their sweet little girl was in even more danger now.
"Steve, honey, you're bleeding!" Natasha whispered softly.
"It's fine."
"Let me take a look at it." She put Chloe on the bed, looking like she didn't want to let her out of her arms, but she did it anyway. For him. And that made him feel bad. Natasha shouldn't deal with his injury right now, Chloe was the only one that mattered right now. "Sit down on the bed and watch her. I'll be right back."
Steve sat down next to his daughter, who looked up at him with big eyes. He caged her in with his good arm, so she couldn't roll down the mattress. It just wasn't fair. Chloe was so young and yet had already been through so much. What kind of person put a bounty on a baby's head? He was gonna kill the bastard!
Natasha came back with the first aid kit and cleaned his wound. It would heal soon, but he had a few pieces of wall in his wound. Natasha got them out and disinfected the wound.
"I'm going to Madripoor." Natasha announced when she was done cleaning his wound.
Chloe made an unhappy sound and Steve agreed. "No! We're not splitting up. The two of us together are best at protecting Chloe."
"So we'll wait for them to just find us? We have to take out the Power Broker!"
"You think I don't want the bastard dead? Of course, I do! But we have to stay with Chloe!" He picked up their girl who smiled at him. God, he loved her so much. "She's what's important! Do you want to leave her alone?"
"She would be with you! I can't just sit here and do nothing while people are looking for her!"
"I know exactly how you feel! But we can't just act without a plan! We don't even know if Chloe's got the serum. We need to know that." He looked down at Chloe. Her eyelids were fluttering, she was falling asleep. He was so grateful that she had no idea about what was going on around her. "We'll see Bruce and then we track down Karli."
"Karli?" Natasha's gaze wandered from Chloe to him.
"Yelena said that Karli knows who the Power Broker is. We get her to tell us."
Steve didn't sleep that night. He watched the two loves of his life sleeping next to him. And it broke his heart when he saw that Natasha was crying in her sleep. He knew that it was old-fashioned and that Natasha was incredibly dangerous and lethal, but he still felt like it was his job to protect his family. And right now he was failing at it. He was failing his family.
They left Louisiana the next morning, Bucky staying behind to train more with Sam. Their friends promised to track down Karli so they could get out of her who the Power Broker was. Bucky had suggested that Sharon could help, but Natasha had been vehemently against it. Steve was a bit surprised by it, but he trusted her. He knew that she had her reasons.
They were back at Natasha's apartment and Steve had changed Chloe's diaper and put her into warm clothes so she could face the New Yorker autumn. They were going to see Bruce today. Natasha had called him on their way back and he thankfully was free today. He had no clue that they were going to show up with a baby at his doorstep. Natasha was in her bedroom, putting on a blonde wig. A cap and his beard were going to his face, but Natasha's red hair was too recognizable. Too many people would connect the dots if they suddenly had a baby. Especially those who knew that Yelena was Natasha's little sister.
Natasha was almost done when he came into her room. "Chloe ready?"
"Yes." She nodded at his answer and continued to brush her wig. "Why don't you want to ask Sharon for help, Nat?"
"I'm not jealous!"
"Didn't think you were." He told her truthfully. That thought hadn't even crossed his mind. She had no reason to be jealous. There was only Natasha for him.
"I don't believe that she wasn't offered a pardon. It just makes no sense. We all got one and done worse things than her. Alone her last name should have gotten her one."
"You think she turned down a pardon?" He thought about what Natasha had said. She had a point. The CIA had lost half their agents due to the Snap, they would have needed Sharon...Maybe she enjoyed life in Madripoor, but didn't want to admit that to Sam and Buck? According to them, she was living a pretty lavish lifestyle, something she wouldn't be able to afford with a CIA salary...
"Possibly. I just can't trust her with our secret. I'm sorry." She gave him a sad smile.
He closed the distance between them and hugged her. "You don't have to be sorry. I trust your gut and you're right, something's not adding up."
"But still, she's Peggy's niece..."
"Grandniece, technically. But that doesn't matter to me. She's not Peggy." He kissed Natasha's forehead. "And she's not you. If Sharon's hiding something, then yeah that sucks, but it doesn't hurt me."
Natasha searched his eyes for something and nodded when she found it. "Okay. Let's go see Bruce."
Bruce seemed surprised to see Steve standing next to Natasha at his doorstep and he seemed even more surprised to see a baby strapped to Natasha's chest. Not that Steve could blame him.
"Come on in." Bruce stepped aside to let them into his townhouse in Queens. It had once belonged to Tony who'd made sure that Bruce had enough space for his new body and even a lab in his basement.
Steve held Chloe while Natasha got out of her coat. Their munchkin eyed Bruce and giggled when he waved at her. Looked like big green men didn't scare their daughter. "Who's the little one?"
Steve looked over to Natasha. Was it weird for her to be here? He'd never really talked with her about Bruce. He hadn't wanted to. He'd started to realize he had feelings for her around the time she had been suddenly interested in Bruce. That time had been hard for Steve.
Natasha took back Chloe so Steve could get out of his jacket. "This is our daughter Chloe."
Bruce's smile vanished for a second, but then he smiled warmly. "Oh, wow. Congratulations!"
"Thank you." Natasha gave him an awkward smile. "We're here because we need your help. There's a chance that she has the super soldier serum running through her veins. We need to know if that's true."
"What? That's impossible!"
They told him about Nagel and his project for the CIA and how the Power Broker had brought him to Madripoor to finish it. They followed Bruce down to his lab where he tested Chloe's reflexes and much to their horror took a blood sample. Chloe screamed and Natasha left the lab with her to calm her upstairs.
"I need your blood as well. To compare it to Chloe's."
Steve nodded and pushed up his sleeve so Bruce could take a sample. He watched Bruce do his work in silence, he had no idea what to say. How was Bruce feeling? Did he still have feelings for Nat? It would kill Steve to see her with another man. See her have a baby with another man.
"I'm okay, Steve."
"Huh?"
Bruce chuckled. "You don't have to worry about me. I'm fine with you and Natasha being together. I'm happy for you. And I'm happy that Natasha is a mother now."
"Do you still have feelings for her?" He knew he had no right to ask, but he was curious.
"No. Even if I did, it wouldn't matter. I think I always knew that she would end up with you." Bruce smiled kindly at him. "I'm okay. Her heart always belonged to you. And my heart never truly belonged to Natasha if I'm being honest. There's someone else. Someone who I've always loved and always will, but it's not meant to be."
"I'm sorry."
"Yeah, me too." Bruce smiled sadly before he put the vial of Steve's blood into one of his many machines. "We'll have to wait some time. Fancy some tea?"
Chloe was mesmerized by Bruce and kept staring at him with wide eyes. Steve had problems to keep her on his lap because she kept reaching for him. The grown ups had tea, and he and Natasha told them more about Chloe and how she got into their lives. And yes, Bruce seemed truly happy for them.
"Can I hold her?" Bruce asked shyly.
"Of course." Natasha smiled and took Chloe from Steve and laid her into Bruce's arms. Chloe was ecstatic that she was now in Bruce's arms, giggling and cooing. They all laughed at her cuteness and Steve was touched by how gentle Bruce was with their munchkin.
"She's beautiful." He said in awe. "I'm really happy for you, Nat."
"Thank you, Bruce." She intertwined her fingers with Steve's, placing their hands on her thigh. "I am really happy."
A beeping sound came from the basement.
"You ready to find out?" Bruce asked them.
Steve shared a look with Natasha and he nodded. If Chloe had the serum running through her veins then she was in even more danger, but they would protect her. And Steve would show her how to handle her enhancements. He would teach her how to live with her strength.
Bruce handed Chloe back to her mother, and the three of them followed Bruce down into his lab. Steve wrapped his arm around Natasha's shoulders. As long as they were together, everything would be okay. He knew that.
They watched Bruce look at his computer screen for what felt like a lifetime. "She's enhanced. Her serum almost completely matches yours, Steve."
Steve heard Natasha gasp and he pulled her and Chloe into his arms. The two were his entire world and he was going to protect his world. Not only the Power Broker would be after Chloe if word got out that she was enhanced.
"No one can know about this, Bruce. No one!"