A/N: Enjoy the fluff while we can

Chapter XIII

Steve was pretty sure that Clint was some kind of god, or at least he knew how to talk Natasha out of things. She'd still wanted to hunt down the Power Broker after they'd found out that Chloe had the serum, but a phone call with Clint had changed her mind. Steve didn't want Natasha to go after the Power Broker alone so he was more than grateful that Clint had somehow managed to talk Nat out of it. She couldn't go to Madripoor, not when Chloe needed both their protection.

Their best chance for finding out the identity of the Power Broker was Karli. And Sam and Bucky were working on tracking her down. Yelena had interrupted her search for Batroc and was looking for Karli as well.

Natasha was sitting at her laptop all day, searching the dark web for intel. Steve took care of Chloe and worked on the house. There was not much else to do right now. They needed to be careful, they couldn't draw any attention to them. Which meant that the adoption was put on hold for who knew how long. Steve hated it. He wanted the papers that proved that Chloe was officially their child. He wanted to be her dad so bad. And he'd seen the look on Natasha's face when she'd called her friend Matt to inform him to stop working on the case. She'd been devastated. He hated it. He didn't understand why they couldn't just live their new life in peace. All three of them had been through so much, surely they deserved to be a little family without anyone going after them.

Steve heard Chloe crying through the baby phone while he was working upstairs and was about to go to her when he could hear that Natasha was in the living room now, taking care of her. He listened to her singing Chloe back to sleep. He wanted this for Natasha. He could see how much she enjoyed being a mother, how it had given her a new purpose and it wasn't fair that she didn't get to fully enjoy her new role right now.

He had been so lost in his thoughts about his girls that he hadn't realized that Natasha wasn't singing anymore, but standing in the doorway of the room that would be Chloe's one day. He had been working on putting stain on the hardwood floor when he'd stopped to listen to Natasha's voice.

"You need some help?"

"That'd be great!"

He was glad that Natasha wasn't sitting in front of her computer right now. He got her need for control, he was the same, and right now everything was out of their control, but it wasn't healthy to obsess over the Power Broker. As long as no one discovered that they had a baby, no one was going to suspect that it was the baby the Power Broker was looking for. And thankfully most babies looked the same until they grew into toddlers. At least Steve couldn't keep babies apart that weren't his. He'd recognize Chloe anywhere because she was his daughter, but he wouldn't be able to recognize a stranger's baby in a line up.

Natasha grabbed a sponge and helped him put the stain on the wood. Together they were quickly done with Chloe's room. He'd already done their uture bedroom earlier today.

"Now we only have to wait for it to dry. Have you already thought about a color concept for Chloe's room?" He asked Natasha while they were standing in front of the room, looking at their finished work.

"No. I can't really think about anything besides the Power Broker."

"I know."

"But at least no one has any idea where Chloe is. No one knows that Yelena took her. There are a lot of theories online, but no one mentions our names."

"That's good!" That was very good.

"Yeah... Are you hungry?" She asked absently.

"Nat, talk to me..."

"I can't..." She wasn't meeting his gaze, but looking at something behind him. "I'm barely functioning. I know that you're keeping it together so I'm not losing it, but I just...I just want to run. Grab Chloe and you, and just disappear. I get that we can't hunt down the Power Broker right now. It's not like it used to be. We've got a baby now, we can't go on suicide missions anymore. And I know...that we'll face the Power Broker eventually..." She looked into his eyes with determination. "And then I'll end him. But until then...I just want to live this little fantasy. Every moment is precious. Chloe's learning new things every day and I don't want to miss any of that."

They couldn't escape reality, he knew that. It was going to catch up with them soon. Probably sooner than later. But right now, there was nothing to do for them. Bucky, Sam and Yelena were looking for Karli, and Steve and Natasha looking for the Power Broker would only draw unwanted attention to them. So they could take a little break from reality.

"Let's leave town for a few days."

"What?" Natasha blinked at him in surprise. "Really?"

"Let's pack a few things and just spend time together as a family." He cupped Natasha's face. "Let's stay in our bubble a little longer. We've been on the run for years. We know how to not draw attention to us."

Natasha wrapped her hands around his wrists. "Okay, yes. I know a place."

"This is Fury's place?!" Steve stared at the house in front of them through the windscreen of their SUV. He was looking at a beautiful two story house with a porch. There was even a fucking swing on the porch. Oh, and did he mention that the house was in the Catskills?! It looked like he still didn't know Fury at all.

"Yup." Natasha sounded like she was fighting off a giggle. "I should have thought about this place sooner. No one knows about it, it's secluded and has the best security system on the black market. Chloe is safe here. No one can come close to us without us knowing. The windows are bulletproof and it's got a bunker and a tunnel. And it doesn't show up on satellites."

Wow, it sounded perfect. He looked over his shoulder to take a peek at Chloe who was sleeping in her car seat. He was feeling a little bit better, knowing this place could help them protect Chloe.

"And Fury is okay with us being here?"

Nat nodded. "He told me it was mine if I ever needed it."

They unloaded the SUV and he carried everything into the house while Natasha fed Chloe who'd woken up and was very hungry. He looked around the house. It looked like a real home and he was so thankful to Fury that he let Natasha use it. No one, not even Sam and Bucky knew where they were and their phones were untraceable, they were safe here. Even Natasha was more relaxed now. It was good for them to be here.

Natasha came into the house with Chloe in her arms, her blue eyes wide to take everything new in. Now that they knew that she was enhanced, they realized that she was a little bit different than other babies. She was further in her development than other babies her age. Steve wouldn't be surprised if she started to crawl soon. She was also very smart, maybe she would start babbling soon. She already made the "ah goo" sound from time to time.

"I'm gonna burp her. Could you please set up her playpen in the living room?"

"Of course." He smiled because Natasha was finally smiling again. "Just one sec." He came over to his loves, ruffled Chloe's baby fluff and she giggled in delight before he slanted his lips over Natasha's. She made a surprised sound, but then she kissed him back. It had been only days, but it felt like a lifetime since they'd properly kissed.

"I love you."

"I love you, too." She grinned and Chloe sneezed. "And I love you, my sweet girl."

Chloe was in her playpen, playing with her mobile, while her parents unpacked the bags and suitcases. Natasha showed him the little armory hidden in the kitchen pantry before they threw pasta into a pot. They went to bed after dinner because they were just tired. Chloe woke up a few times during the night, but it was still the first night in weeks were both he and Natasha slept quite peacefully.

Steve woke up before Natasha. He kissed her forehead before he got out of bed to check on Chloe who was sleeping in her porta crib that they'd put into the adjoining office. Steve thought it was kinda fitting that Fury had turned the walk in closet into an office. The view was really great, it would have been wasted as a closet.

Chloe was awake, smiling at him when he came into her view. "Good morning, munchkin."

She did one of her sweet sounds as a greeting and reached her tiny hand out to him. He got Chloe out of bed, changed her diaper and put her into a new cute outfit. He'd never cared about fashion, but he'd bought a lot of cute stuff for his little girl. Honestly, the baby fashion industry had to make billions each year. There were so many adorable outfits for babies!

Natasha was watching them with a smile on her face when he turned around with Chloe in his arms. "Good morning, you two!"

She came over to them to give them kisses. Chloe was wiggling in his arms. "Okay, I got it. You want your mommy!" He laughed.

"Ma! Ma ma mama ma ma!" Chloe almost launched herself out of his arms. "Ah goo! Mama ma ma!" Steve's heart beat faster when he saw Natasha's face.

"What?" Natasha whispered. "What did you just say?" She took Chloe into her arms who immediately calmed down. "Did you just say mama?"

"I think she babbled more than said anything." He joked, but he was just as emotional as Natasha. Chloe saw Natasha as her mother, she'd accepted them as her parents. She trusted them to love and protect her.

"I love you so much, my sweet girl. You're everything to us." She kissed Chloe's cheek. "Thank you for letting me be your new mama. I promise I will do right by your mama Sarah!"

Chloe was done babbling for the day much to their disappointment. They tried to get her to try to get out more words, but she didn't seem in the mood. But still, neither he or Natasha would ever forget this moment. They knew that Chloe hadn't really been talking and had just been trying out sounds that were familiar to her, but she'd made the connection between Natasha and the word mommy. And Steve could see how happy Natasha was about that. He would be lying if he didn't want to Chloe to try the da da sound next.

They were on the couch, the fireplace was casting a romantic glow, and Natasha was sitting in his lap, kissing him with so much love and longing that he was dizzy. Chloe was in her playpen next to the sofa, dreaming about their little hiking trip earlier through the area.

Nat's arms were wrapped around his neck and all he could see, feel and smell was his Natasha. He was in heaven. She placed sweet kisses on his cheek and jaw.

"I love your beard." She whispered into his ear. "It's so soft. And it feels so good on my skin."

"I had no clue." He grinned against her lips. "The way you always rub yourself against my beard every time I'm between your legs was not obvious at all."

Natasha's cheeks turned pink, but he didn't think it was out of embarrassment. "Chloe still sleeping?" She looked over to the playpen where Chloe was still soundly asleep. "Let's go upstairs for a while." She stood up, grabbed the baby phone and left the living room.

Steve put out the fire and followed Natasha upstairs, licking his lips.

Much later, they were sitting against the headboard with Natasha leaning against Steve's chest, and they were watching Chloe via the baby phone.

"She's so cute when she's sleeping. You can really see that she's dreaming." Natasha gushed and he leaned down to press a kiss on the top of her head. "Did you see how her eyebrows just furrowed? So adorable!"

He smiled to himself. He loved to see Natasha as a mother. There were no words to describe how happy it made him to see her like this. "I did. She's just as adorable as you." He gently cupped her chin to make her look at him and kissed her deeply.

"Again?" She moaned and pressed her cute and round ass against him.

"Yeah." He groaned out, his hand on her waist tightening its hold.

"I don't think this is what they meant with "you should sleep when the baby's sleeping"!" She giggled and pounced on him.

Later that night they were downstairs in the kitchen for a late dinner. Natasha was bouncing Chloe on her thigh, making the munchkin laugh loudly.

"We're gonna have our hands full once she's a toddler. She's probably gonna be as energetic as you, babe." Natasha took a bite from her grilled cheese. "We'll have to sign her up for a lot of sports activities."

"Yeah, get her out of the house as much as possible so you can help me burn off my energy!" He wiggled his eyebrows and Natasha snorted. Chloe looked at her mom and Natasha stuck her tongue out, Chloe trying to mimic her gesture. God, it was so cute!

"That was terrible, Rogers!" She laughed and rested her chin on Chloe's head, her expression turning serious."She's gonna be different than the other kids. She'll need more to be happy."

"I know." He nodded. "And we can give her everything she needs. We can teach her how to live with her enhancement. Can sign her up for any classes she wants."

"I want her to the have the best life."

"And we'll give it to her, Nat. I promise you that!"