A/N Soo, I'm back sooner than I thought. Mostly because this is so much easier to write than a thesis for university. Did I mention I only have one week left? Anyways, after the soft, cotten cansy like fluff of the first oneshot, here is something fpor the Brutasha-fans out there. I hope you like it and if so, please let me know. Reviews really make my day, you know?


Title: Broken Pieces (Prompt #76)

Characters: Natasha, Bruce (Pairing)

Word count: ~ 1040


Since Natasha made the decision to follow Clint and join S.H.I.E.L.D. all those years ago, she knew she had been broken for a long time. Although she had tried so hard and had given her best to pick up the pieces and put them back together again, she was quite sure that it hadn't worked out. She still woke in the middle of the night, thinking she still was in the Red Room and only waited for her instructors to pull her out of her room for another lesson. She still sometimes felt the scars that reminded her of her graduation ceremony. And she couldn't stop analysing people to make sure whether she could get in danger the next moment or whether she was safe with them.

Natasha had a hard time trusting people. Clint, Fury and (until his death) Coulson were the one closest to her and one by one she started letting the other Avengers in; some more, some less. She did keep Bruce at arm's length when she first met him to coax him into helping them finding the Tesseract. Why should she trust someone who couldn't trust himself? That was just laughable and against everything she had learned since childhood.

But then they had worked closer together after Loki had been handed over to Thor and Bruce had joined them in the Avenger's headquarters, formerly Stark's tower. At first she barely noticed him. She ran only seldom across him in the gym and she avoided Stark's lab except for testing new gear. It was by accident that she discovered Bruce trying to find some sort of controlling instance for when he hulked out to get back to his more human self. It wasn't that she didn't like him, quite contrary. Natasha admired that he was such a pacific guy who wanted to stay clear of every fight. She liked his calm, quiet side and the comforting effect it had on her when they just took their coffees together in the morning and talked. He was like the ointment one put on burns to lessen the pain and support healing. But not only his calm sides she learnt to appreciate. Hulk was as much a part of him as the Red Room was a part of her. Although the Other Guy was intimidating when in rage and she had witnessed him up close, she wasn't afraid of him. Or at least not as much as she might should be.

So when Bruce asked her while patching her up after a training fight against Sam and Wanda to try out some things to help him put the Hulk back in a corner of his head, she willingly agreed. It took them a long way of trials and error to discover the Hulk reacted especially sensible to touches and to develop their lullaby as Stark had dubbed it, but along that way they learnt to know each other better. By now Natasha not only looked at Bruce as her confidant but also as someone she could really love and with whom she could put the pieces together. And apparently Bruce shared this opinion.

Natasha knew she wasn't easy to deal with and she appreciated Bruce for giving his best. Neither did he push her too far nor did he try to put his nose into a part of her past where it didn't belong. He was understanding and in return Natasha gave him bits and pieces of stories she felt able to share. After one nightmare consisting mainly of not being worth being an Avenger, of turning her back against her friends because it was easier to burn a bridge that was already on fire than to try and quench the flames, she told him how Clint had been sent out to kill her but instead spared her life and brought her to S.H.I.E.L.D.

"You had a hard upbringing and you did a lot of things, that I don't want to deny. But wasn't joining S.H.I.E.L.D. your first step towards another life?" he asked her in a manner that didn't request an answer. "You cannot change your past, no one can, but your future belongs entirely to you. I don't think anyone of the others wouldn't trust you with their life."

"You're too optimistic for this time of the night, Banner," she teased him half-heartedly although it felt good being told that at least someone relied on her.

Bruce tightened his embrace slightly, only so far as to not let her feel threatened. "How can I not be optimistic? Most people don't want to spend more time close to me than strictly necessary. And here I lie beside the most beautiful woman and she doesn't push me back. Well, physically. Right now. And the Other Guy seems to like her, too." Natasha rather sensed his smile than she could see it.

"Well, if this isn't a compliment, then what is?" Natasha stayed silent for a while, allowing Bruce to plant soft kisses on her neck. "I'm broken," she finally whisperd, her body tensed like a bowstring.

Bruce paused for a moment, then he continued his soothing ministrations. "Me too," he answered eventually. "But just because something is broken, you don't throw it away, do you? You try to fix it, to put the pieces back to their right place. And although it will never be the same as before it was broken, it's still something special. Maybe even something useful."

"I don't know if I was ever not broken. The Red Room took me in when I was just a child, so…" Her voice trailed off.

"Look, Natasha," Bruce said seriously. "I don't know what they did to you and I won't ask; you can tell me, whenever you want, I will listen. But my point is, that although they might have changed you, they could not destroy you. You're still you; sometimes hidden deep behind your Black Widow face and sometimes, just as now, you let someone see it. Trust me, I know what being broken feels like."

"Thanks." Natasha turned around and gave him a soft kiss. "Maybe if you don't tell Stark about our talk during one of your science bro sessions we could help each other picking up the pieces. I think I have duct tape lying around here somewhere."

"Sounds like a plan."