"Are those two ever on good terms when not dropped?" Tony asked with an amused shake of his head as he scrambled some eggs for the omelets.
It was team breakfast again and it was his and Steve's turn to prepare it. Almost everyone was in Steve's apartment and the Littles were dropped. Sometimes, Steve suspected Wanda and Clint dropped excessively to tire the Bigs out, but he wasn't complaining. He loved being a Big and he loved looking after their Little teammates. He could only hope one day he'd get his own heartmate too.
"Yeah, when it's the two of them against us." Steve chuckled. Clint and Lincoln were currently in the living room fighting over the video game controller, from what Steve gathered.
"I guess it's better off this way, then." Tony joked, earning a look from Steve. "What? Oh come on you know by now that I'm kidding." Tony said before going back to the eggs.
"I know." Steve smiled. It came to a surprise to a lot of people, but Tony Stark was actually a pretty great Big and heartmate to Clint. Not that Steve ever doubted him, but he really admired the man. It was one of his many great qualities, in Steve's opinion.
"You know most of us don't like our bacon burnt." Tony pointed out and Steve finally came to, only now realizing he was in fact overcooking the bacon.
"I thought you liked them crispy." Steve said in what was probably a lame attempt to save face.
"Crispy, not burnt." Tony explained as he poured the rest of the ingredients into the bowl. "What you're doing to that bacon is a criminal offense. I should take you to the precinct for this."
"The precinct?" Steve asked, an amused smile gracing his face as he looked up at Tony.
"As I said, a serious offense." Tony shrugged and went to stand by Steve by the stove so he can cook the omelets already. "So, you check on her last night?" Tony asked quietly as he poured the eggs into the pan.
Steve sighed softly and nodded his head, but he kept his eyes on the bacon this time. "Yeah, yeah I did." He responded. "She seemed well enough." There was a moment's pause before Tony responded.
"So why do you still look so troubled?" Tony's gotten better at reading Steve, that's for sure.
"I don't know, I feel like she's hiding something." Steve said as he flipped the bacon. "Sometimes I just wish she'd let someone in. Anyone, it doesn't even have to be me." Steve shook his head. He tried not to dwell on the fact that the thought alone made his stomach feel all unpleasant.
"Yeah, sometimes I wonder too what goes on in her mind." Tony admitted. "She keeps up a tough facade but we all know she's been through a lot."
"I was hoping you'd say something comforting." Steve admitted, but there was the faintest of smiles on his lips.
"You know I'm not one to sugarcoat." Tony shrugged. "But hey, you know if there's anyone she's going to open up to we all feel like it's you."
"Doesn't feel like it." Steve mumbled, but the idea of that did make Steve feel a little bit better.
"Oh come on. She's less hostile towards you, more receptive of your overbearing protectiveness-"
"I'm not overbearing." Steve argued.
"-and she actually seeks you out sometimes." Tony continued. He was busy cooking the omelets so he missed the confused look on Steve's face. Steve's tone was probably equally confused though.
"She doesn't seek me out." Steve said with a shake of his head.
"Please. The only two people who probably don't notice that or are aware of that are you and Nat." Tony said with a scoff as he put the first omelet on the plate before pouring another batch into the pan. "Don't you remember after the Chitauri invasion?"
"You mean when we all went out to get shawarmas?" Steve asked, it just being the first thing that came to mind.
Tony rolled his eyes in good nature. "Yes, but no. I meant before that."
"If it's all the same to you," Loki said from his position on the floor, "I'll have that drink now." Really? Steve could not believe the nerve of this god.
Bruce, or rather, the Hulk grunted in response and Steve had the same sentiments.
"Alright, get him on his feet." It was Tony who spoke then. The man can be arrogant or hardheaded sometimes, but he can at least pull off a decent plan. "We can all stand around posing up a storm later. By the way, feel free to clean up." Tony said before turning to leave their group huddled around Loki.
Steve sighed softly and shook his head as he and Clint hoisted up the god of mischief to his feet. "Having a rough day?" Clint asked Loki. Steve was about to tell Clint to stop making pleasantries with the god, just feeling a slight bit protective of his Little teammate. Then he realized how ridiculous he was being because Clint was fully capable of taking care of himself. That, and his question didn't seem all that sincere anyway.
"I've had better days." Loki shrugged, he was about to say something else but Natasha had spoken up first.
"Hey, so who gets the uh, magic wand?" Natasha asked as she held the scepter in both hands.
"Magic wand?" Loki asked in such an offended tone that Steve would have laughed, but he was too busy looking at Natasha. That wand-scepter, was too dangerous.
"Strike team's coming to secure it." Steve answered, and before anyone else can say anything, he added, "here, let me have it." He said as he moved away from Clint and Loki to approach Natasha, his arm extended out as he waited for Nat to hand it over.
Natasha's forehead scrunched up in confusion, but she didn't argue against him and just handed it over wordlessly. He thanked Natasha and turned around to walk away, just to get the scepter away from her. As he did, he saw Tony looking at him curiously, but the man didn't say anything so Steve didn't press.
Steve stood off to the side as he waited for the Strike team to arrive. He was in the middle of pondering over the events of the previous days when the elevator doors opened and out came Sitwell along with some other members of the Strike team. Tony nodded to them in greeting and Sitwell's eyes eventually landed on the scepter in Steve's hands. The man greeted everyone else as he approached Steve.
"We can take that off your hands." Sitwell said as he neared Steve.
"By all means." Steve said with a nod as he offered the scepter to Sitwell, making sure to be careful.
"Be careful with that thing." It was Natasha who spoke up and Steve looked over just to see her walking towards Clint who was at the bar.
"Unless you want your mind erased." Clint said as he handed Natasha a drink, and Steve felt himself tense up. He wanted to take that drink from Nat's hands, but then he talked some sense into himself. Despite being Little, Natasha was an actual adult. She could have a drink if she wanted to.
"and not in the fun way." Clint continued, earning a short laugh from Natasha. For some reason that wasn't comforting to Steve.
"We promise to be careful." Brock Rumlow said as he and Sitwell placed the scepter into some special container. Just then, someone was contacting Steve through his comms, help was needed down in the streets. It was no surprise given the chaos going on just a few minutes ago.
"On my way down to coordinate search and rescue." Steve said as he walked across the room towards the exit. The elevator would take too long and he knew the rest of the team would be needing it. Right when he was about to leave the room though, Thor spoke up.
"Captain Rogers, why don't I take over?" Thor suggested, and Steve turned around to look at the god of thunder. Thor was looking straight at him, and there was something about his expression but Steve couldn't put a finger on it.
"You want to take over search and rescue?" Steve clarified. He just figured Thor might want to stick with Loki, or maybe go back to Asgard already or something. He took the chance to glance around the room and at his teammates: Tony was watching the scene unfold curiously, Bruce was, well... Trying not to break anything else, and Clint was eyeing Natasha who looked a bit uncomfortable for some reason.
"Yeah I figured I can you know, maybe do it a little quicker. No offense." Thor shrugged and broke him out of his thoughts.
"None taken." Steve said with a shrug. He had a feeling Thor was right, anyway. At that, Thor bid them goodbye and left the penthouse to go coordinate search and rescue in lieu of Steve. The Strike team was still packing up and coordinating Loki's transfer, so the team waited for them to be ready. Once that was done, Steve walked to the elevator along with everybody else. Natasha was about to step in, but then FRIDAY alerted them that the elevator was at full capacity. Steve was standing to the side, so he couldn't really see Natasha's face.
"It's fine, I can go take the next trip. I'll wait with Bruce." Natasha said, but without missing a beat Tony spoke up.
"Actually, I think I forgot my wallet in my room." Tony said as he stood from where he was sitting on top of the case. "You go on ahead with them, Nat." On his way out, Tony accidentally bumped into Clint, causing him to move left and away from Steve. Once off the elevator, Tony looked at Nat and didn't leave until she got on, as if making sure she got on okay.
Natasha seemed to visibly relax once she was inside, but Steve chalked it up to just being done with the day already. "So we're meeting Tony in the lobby or at the shawarma place?" Clint asked.
"Let's just wait for him in the lobby." Steve said. "I'll let Thor know where it is so he can meet us there afterwards."
"I think I'll pass, guys." Natasha said from beside Steve. "I'll head back to the Triskelion."
"What, why?" Clint turned his head to look at Natasha. "This is supposed to be the best shawarma place in town, according to Stark."
"I don't know, I just want to rest." Natasha said with a shrug. Steve wasn't sure how he really felt about Natasha going back on her own, but it seemed like he didn't like that idea.
"It's just going to be a quick meal, Nat." Steve said, and Natasha turned her head to look up at him. Quite frankly, Natasha did look tired, and Steve felt a little bad for trying to get her to come with them still. "Just come with us to the restaurant. If you still feel like going back once we get there, then we can order take out and I'll go back with you."
Natasha frowned slightly and she looked like she was contemplating the offer. She shifted on her feet as she did, and just as they reached the lobby she gave her answer. "Yeah, okay. That sounds fine." Natasha said softly. That put Steve more at ease than he'd thought it would.
"I don't think I've ever told you this yet, but at that point we all haven't been together that long." Tony said, breaking Steve out of his trip down memory lane "Didn't know much about you guys except your weird costume choices-hey ow!" Steve playfully smacked Tony's arm at that, and Tony glared playfully at Steve before he continued.
"Point is, didn't know much about you and Nat so I just assumed that you two were heartmates." Tony casually said, as if it was no big deal. But it was, even though it wasn't real. Steve's never said this out loud, but he always had this hunch that maybe Natasha would be his heartmate. He didn't want to get his hopes up though: The thought of potentially finding the one was overwhelming. So he squashed the thought and just thought that Natasha brought out this natural protectiveness out of Bigs. The fact that someone else thought he and Natasha were heartmates...
"Anyway," Tony continued after a while, "didn't really forget my wallet in my bedroom that day. I just observed how Natasha would keep looking your way while we were at the penthouse. And she visibly relaxes when she's near you. You were awfully protective as well, even during the battle." Tony said, finally looking at Steve with an eyebrow raised.
"I was not protective... During the battle." Steve defended himself. Or so he tried.
"Not going to waste my time arguing that, you think what you want to think." Tony said. "And come on, you thought point break really wanted to coordinate search and rescue?" Tony scoffed.
"Well... Yes." Steve said a bit pathetically.
"He didn't." Tony said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Guy doesn't know his way around our streets, Cap. That didn't occur to you?" Tony asked, and Steve actually felt stupid for not realizing that. Before he could dwell on it though, Tony spoke again.
"Nat tensed up pretty bad when you were leaving." Tony continued to explain. "And I think Thor had the same thoughts I did because he didn't miss a beat in volunteering to take your place."
"I'm really that dense?" Steve asked, and Tony gave him a sympathetic smile.
"Yeap." He said before transferring another fresh omelet onto the plate.
"When you bumped into Clint. That wasn't accidental, huh?" Steve asked as he thought back to it.
"Maybe not as dense as I thought." Tony amended.
"Uncle Steve uncle Steve!" It was Wanda who came running in, still in her pink Belle pajamas.
"Hi sweetheart." Steve smiled as he turned around and crouched down, opening his arms for Wanda to come into. The Little came running towards him, giggling as she crashed into Steve. He kissed the side of her head and stood up with Wanda in his arms before turning back to the stove.
"Can we play tea party now pleaaaaase?" Wanda asked. "Pretty pretty pleaaaase? You promised me and Daisy we're gonna play tea party today." Yes, that was true, he did promise that to his nieces.
"I'm cooking right now, Wanda. If I don't cook that little tummy of yours is going to be a rumbling monster." Steve said as he gave Wanda's tummy a tickle with his free hand, causing her to giggle and squirm in his arms. "I'll play with you and Daisy after breakfast, okay?" He smiled, and Wanda cheered.
"Daisy! Uncle Steve's gonna play tea party with us after breakfast!" Wanda yelled back to the living room, causing both Steve and Tony to wince.
"Indoor voice, please." Tony said gently, but it was drowned by Daisy cheering from the living room, and Clint's and Lincoln's protests. Moments later, all the Littles have gathered in the kitchen.
"Uncle Steeeeve, you promised you were gonna play Mario Kart with me and Lincoln." Clint whined, and Lincoln looked as equally upset too. Steve sighed and turned off the stove once he transferred all the bacon onto the plate.
"Uncle Steve already said he's gonna play tea party with me and Daisy, so you gotta wait your turn." Wanda said, turning her head so she can look at Clint.
"He doesn't wanna play some stupid girly game." Clint said, his face showing utter disgust as if playing tea party was the most offensive thing in the whole world.
"Just because you don't know how to play it doesn't mean it's stupid." Daisy defended this time as she crossed her arms in front of her chest and pouted.
"It's pretending to pour tea into cups and drinking invisible tea! How hard could it be?! It's stupid." Lincoln said. "Mario Kart's way cooler than some tea party, and uncle Steve's cool so he wants to play that."
"He already said he's gonna play with me and Wanda!" Daisy argued.
"Okay how about we let uncle Steve have a say in this, hm?" Steve said as he walked towards the Littles with Wanda still in his arms. He just wanted to diffuse the bomb before this all went downhill. Grumpy Littles at team breakfast never went well. "Kiddo, I did promise Wanda and Daisy first." He smiled apologetically at Clint and then Lincoln, and Daisy and Wanda cheered yet again.
"But you're also right, I did promise that we'll play Mario Kart." Steve said with a soft chuckle. "How about we all play tea party for an hour after breakfast, then we can play Mario Kart for an hour after that?" He suggested.
"Aww but Wanda and Daisy are gonna ruin it 'cause they're just babies." Clint pouted.
Before the two girls could argue though, Tony stepped in. "Bubs you know better than that." Tony said in his best dad voice. "Play nice or there won't be any playtime at all."
"Fiiiine." Clint said with a groan, but he turned to leave the kitchen and Lincoln quickly followed after him, leaving Tony and Steve with the two other Littles.
"Do you two want to help me and uncle Tony with breakfast?" Steve smiled at Wanda then at Daisy.
"Yeah yeah yeah! Me and Wanda are good helpers!" Daisy said happily as she jumped up and down in excitement and Tony chuckled at the Little's enthusiasm. They still had quite a bit more to cook, so there was plenty of easy tasks the two girls could help with. Of course, Steve knew them "helping" would just lead to them taking longer, but if it made Daisy and Wanda happy...
Luckily the two girls were still in their pajamas because they caused quite a mess. Tony had to clean the two up with wet napkins while Steve set the table and served the food. "FRIDAY, is Natasha up?" Steve asked as he set down the plates on the dining table.
"Miss Romanoff has been awake for quite a while. She has already eaten and is currently getting ready in her room." FRIDAY reported. Steve wasn't going to deny it, he was a bit disappointed that Natasha won't be joining them. At least though this meant that Natasha was feeling well. If Steve remembered correctly, she'd probably be heading to the shooting range in a bit.
"So Natasha's not joining us, then?" Tony asked as he came in with the plate of omelets, and two Little girls trailing behind him. Their pajama shirts were still a disaster but Steve supposed that was the best they could do.
"Nope, FRIDAY says she's already eaten." Steve said, trying his best to hide the disappointment in his voice.
"But Nat doesn't eat breakfast." Wanda pointed out as she tried to reach for a pancake with her bare hand, but Tony shook his head and stopped the Little. Despite never dropping, the other Littles never called Natasha "auntie Nat", it just didn't feel right with them because Natasha's still a Little. Nat was more of like a big sister to them instead. Never mind that Nat was actually the smallest among them.
"She just drinks coffee." Wanda said before looking up at Tony and pouting.
"Yeah, that's why you want us to always have team breakfasts right?" Daisy spoke this time, and Steve looked at her with his forehead scrunched up. Was he really that easy to read?
"Okay you two," Tony stepped in as he put one hand on Wanda's back and the other on Daisy's. "Why don't you call the others for breakfast, hm?" He said as he gently nudged the two girls to the living room. The two girls seemed happy to be trusted with another responsibility so they went running off to the living room, probably to drag everyone to the table.
"You can always catch up with her and check if she wants to have lunch with you." Tony suggested as he helped Steve finish setting the table. "You know she's more open to that with you-well, and Clint. But that's besides the point."
"I guess I can do that." Steve said softly with a nod. "You think she'll mind if I join her in the shooting range?"
"You barely use guns," Tony pointed out. "So apart from finding it suspicious, yeah I think she'll mind. If she was well enough to get up and decide to continue her routine, I think you can leave her on her own for a while, Steve." Tony said gently.
"I know, I know." Steve sighed. He knew he was starting to get a bit overbearing again, so he tried to tone it down a bit. Before he could dwell more on his thoughts, the rest of their team came piling into the dining room, so Steve put on his smile again. They were rarely complete at team breakfasts because everyone had such busy schedules, but they still tried their best to make this a thing, whether complete or not. This breakfast was a pretty sizeable bunch with Steve, Tony, Wanda, Daisy, Lincoln, Clint, Sam, and Jemma.
Breakfast went as well as you'd expect it to with four hyperactive Littles. Steve thought it would've been better with Natasha there, but he was trying not to dwell on that. Luckily the Littles served as a good distraction from his thoughts because they seemed to have been done pulling each other's hair. If anything, they were actually getting along.
"Uncle Steve are we gonna go play tea party now?" Wanda asked hopefully as she climbed up onto Steve's lap once they were all done. She sat facing him so she could look up at Steve with her big, doe eyes. "Pretty pleaaaase?"
"Yeah! Bunny and Chip are waiting for us!" Daisy said, referring to her stuffed bunny named Bunny, and Wanda's stuffed cat named Chip.
"I don't knooow... I think I'm so full I'm just about ready for a nap." Steve teased, a smile playing on his face as he grabbed a napkin and wiped Wanda's face clean.
"Awww but uncle Steeeve!" Wanda whined and tried to evade Steve's hand, but Steve's had a lot of experience already with the squirmy Little so he managed to get her cleaned up.
"You just seem so cuddly I can almost fall asleep here." Steve said. He set down the napkin before wrapping his arms around Wanda, hugging her like a little teddy bear and pretending to sleep: Complete with snores and all.
"Noo don't be silly!" Wanda giggled and shook her head. Now there was no favoritism in Steve's books, but Wanda was in fact the Little that Steve was closest to. There was no denying it either that Wanda absolutely loved her uncle Steve.
"I'm not being silly, you just give really good cuddles." Steve smiled as he basically nuzzled his cheek on top of Wanda's head.
"We can cuddle another time! Now it's time for a tea party." Wanda giggled as she tried to push Steve away. "Uncle Steeeeve c'mon!"
"Alright, alright." Steve chuckled and sat up after kissing Wanda on her forehead. Wanda and Daisy cheered once more and Wanda basically hopped off of his lap. The two Littles took either of Steve's hands and practically dragged him out of his chair. Since the team spent a lot of time in Steve's apartment, there was actually an entire section in his living room set aside for the Littles' toys.
"Are we going to have the tea party at the coffee table?" Steve asked as he let the two girls drag him to the living room.
"It's not a coffee table, uncle Steve." Daisy said with a shake of his head. "It's the tea party table!"
"Right, I'm sorry. The tea party table." Steve chuckled softly. Once they got to the shelves that held a lot of their toys, the girls let go of Steve to get their little tea party set. Steve knew the drill by now so he got some of the throw pillows and placed them around the coffee table for them to sit on. He also set aside the potted plants and waited for the Littles to bring over their toys. They liked setting up the tea party themselves, so Steve sat down on the couch first and waited. Bunny and Chip were just on the couch too, so he went ahead and sat them down at their usual spots.
"Do you girls need any help?" Steve asked anyway, in case the girls were open to it this time.
"Nuh uh, we got it!" Wanda said confidently as she came over with some of the cups while Daisy brought the teapot.
"I see we're using the princess set today." Steve said. The girls had two sets in Steve's apartment, just for variety.
"Uhhuh, so they can match our jammies." Daisy said with a nod of his head, and Steve chuckled softly. The two girls did love their princesses.
"Maybe we can get matching princess shirts with uncle Steve!" Wanda said excitedly, and Daisy's eyes widened at that.
"Yeah! I'm gonna ask my mommy when we can go to the mall next so we can buy shirts!" Daisy said excitedly. Quite frankly, Steve was not looking forward to wearing a princess shirt, but if it made the girls happy then he'll live with it.
"You know that sounds like a really great idea." Steve smiled, and that made the Little girls absolutely happy.
"Maybe we can get shirts with all the princesses on 'em." Wanda said as she set up their tea cups and saucers.
"Uhhuh, and it's gotta be pink and glittery." Daisy said seriously. She was taking care of the toy pastries and Steve couldn't help but smile at how seriously the girls treated their tea party. Once everything was set, Steve took his spot on the floor between Bunny and Chip while Wanda and Daisy sat on the other side of their stuffed animals.
"What kind of tea are we having today?" Steve asked as he reached for the teapot so he can serve everyone their tea.
"It's the special rainbow kind." Wanda said happily.
"Uhhuh, rainbow flavored with hints of cimmamon." Daisy said with a nod, and Steve smiled fondly at that.
"Well that sounds delicious." Steve said as he poured the girls their tea before moving onto the stuffed toys.
"Steve." Steve looked up to see Tony standing by the doorway separating the dining and living rooms. Steve was about to invite him to join their tea party, but then he saw the look on Tony's face. "Can we hit pause on this for a moment?"
"Yeah, sure." Steve said with a slight frown before turning to Wanda and Daisy. "I just need to talk with uncle Tony for a moment, okay? Don't finish all the treats without me." He said with a playful wink. Wanda and Daisy frowned but they nodded their head and let Steve leave without a fuss.
"What's up?" Steve asked softly once he'd approached Tony.
"Bruce just called." Tony said quietly, perhaps so that the girls wouldn't overhear. "It's Natasha, he says she's been brought to the medbay and he needs you to come over."
"I'm sorry, what?" Steve asked and he swore he felt his stomach drop. Nat rarely went to the medbay. In fact, if it could be avoided-which was almost always the case with Natasha, she'd probably never go there. And the fact that Tony said that Natasha was brought to the medbay, and not that she didn't go on her own?
"Bruce didn't want to give me details over the phone. He just told me he needs you to come down for her." Tony said as calmly as he could. "Usually they'd call the heartmate, but Natasha... Well, you're her team leader. That's the closest Bruce could think of for Nat." The fact that that was true made Steve sad. Natasha deserved someone more than a team leader.
"Yeah, um, alright. Okay, I'll head down, I just..." Steve mumbled as he turned a bit to glance back at the two girls. He didn't know what to say without making them panic.
"It's fine, I'll take care of them. Just go, Natasha needs you." Natasha needs him. That was more than enough to get Steve going and he nodded his head. He thanked Tony and bid him goodbye before brisk walking to the front of his apartment and leaving. He was so focused on Natasha he'd forgotten to say goodbye to the girls and only realized it once he was in the elevator. He told himself he'll make it up to them another time. Right now, he needed to get to Natasha ASAP. What could have happened?
The elevator couldn't move fast enough for the life of him, but finally he reached the medbay's floor. He knew the ins and outs of this floor already, sadly, so Steve easily made his way to the main section. One of the medics saw Steve and asked him to wait as he called Bruce out. Now that Steve was at the medbay, he was feeling even more nervous than he had: As if the dread was starting to sink in. If they managed to bring Natasha to the medbay, that must mean that it was pretty bad. He mentally slapped himself though because he needed to keep it together.
Natasha didn't need him to panic, Natasha would need him for support.
Steve didn't even bother sitting down because he was feeling too restless, but luckily there seemed to be no need to have. Bruce came into view moments later looking mildly concerned, which didn't sit well with Steve. "Steve," Bruce nodded to him in greeting, and Steve gave him a tight smile. It was the most Steve could manage. "Why don't we talk in my office?" If Steve wasn't nervous then (which he was), he was now. He nodded his head in response and followed Bruce to his office, where he sat down on the chair opposite Bruce at his desk.
"What happened?" Steve asked as his eyebrows knit together.
"It's Natasha. I got an alert a while back from May, she said it was an emergency. Natasha had passed out in the shooting range, and May tells me that Nat was actually spasming on the floor. By the time I got there though, she was unconscious and lying still." Bruce said, and Steve blinked a couple of times as he tried to take in that information. When it seemed like Steve wasn't going to say anything, Bruce continued.
"So we brought her to the medbay, and I asked agent May what happened." Bruce continued, and then he went on to inform Steve of May's suspicions on Natasha taking illegal drugs: How she'd gotten the clearance from Hill to investigate Natasha, and now she had enough evidence to actually warrant subjecting Natasha to several drug tests. "She's agreed not to file any reports until I finish the tests-"
"You took tests?" Steve asked with his eyebrows furrowed, he sounded awfully offended. Did Bruce actually believe May's suspicions? This was Natasha they were talking about.
"Steve, we found a little ziploc bag with a single pill in it in her jacket pocket." Bruce said gently, and that got Steve. Was Natasha going through something? How could he not have noticed that? Was it so bad that Natasha was actually resorting to illegal drugs? Was May right, and was he just neglectful?
Sure, Natasha liked to be independent, she disliked having too much attention on her. But she was still a Little, a Little with no Big. The least Steve could have done was to keep a closer eye on her even from afar.
"Now, before we jump to conclusions," Bruce continued, effectively breaking Steve from his thoughts, "I decided to run tests on the pill as well. For all we know, it could be just some pain medication." That's right, maybe Natasha just had some special meds.
"I just had to do the drug tests because well, Steve, the circumstances did just fit the bill."
"So you think Natasha's taking drugs?" Steve asked, sounding a bit colder than he'd intended.
"No, I know Natasha. I don't think she's taking anything illegal, but to quiet everyone else you know I had to do it." Bruce said, and Steve could hear the exasperation in his voice. "I should get the results in a few minutes, and you'll be the first to know." He said, and Bruce nodded. Bruce didn't speak for a while, probably letting Steve take all this information in. At least the next time Bruce spoke, it was relatively good news.
"Nat's awake, by the way." Bruce said. "I looked her over, and she seems fine. It's also why I didn't believe agent May's suspicions because if she did take drugs, then I would've picked up something in her bloodstream."
"So if you say she's okay, then what happened to her?" Steve asked in confusion.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out. I have a hunch, but I'll wait to confirm it with the results before I bring it up. No use doing so if we're not sure." Bruce said, and Steve frowned.
"You think it has something to do with the pill, don't you?"
"Unfortunately I do." Bruce said solemnly. "I don't think it's anything illegal, that much I can say. But I've had my own suspicions with Natasha for a while now and well..." Bruce shrugged. And Steve waited for him to continue, but he didn't.
"Can I see her?" Steve asked softly after a while.
"Ah, yes. Yes you can. That's why I called you, actually." Bruce said as he straightened his glasses. "I want Natasha under closer supervision for a few days."
"I thought you said you don't think she's taking drugs?" Steve frowned.
"I said she's not taking anything illegal. We still have that pill to consider, Steve." Bruce reminded Steve gently, and Steve knew he was right. Even if it wasn't illegal, that was the only lead they had on the cause for Natasha dropping like that in the middle of the range. "I think it'll be good for the both of you, for Natasha especially. It's not house arrest or anything." Bruce said, trying to inject some humor into it.
But Steve wasn't laughing. He went back to his conversation with Tony earlier, on how Tony and Thor both thought that Steve and Natasha were supposed to be heartmates. Did Bruce think that too? "Just think of it like an impromptu, lengthy sleepover in your apartment. I'm prescribing rest for the next three days-so no strenuous activities and especially field work." Bruce said, pulling Steve out of his thoughts.
"Yeah, okay." Was all Steve managed. "So she can get discharged?"
"Right after we get the lab results." Bruce said with a nod. "Unless anything alarming comes up, but I'm banking on there not being any. It seems she already hit the worst of it back in the range." That at least provided a small relief. "Come on, I put her in the private room nearest my office." Bruce said as he stood and waited for Steve to do the same.
Steve took a breath and nodded his head before standing and following after Bruce to Natasha's room. Upon entering the room, Steve noticed that Natasha was in fact awake. She looked a little worse for wear, but at least she didn't have any tubes attached to her. Steve told himself that at least meant Natasha was stable, right?
"Hey Nat, there's someone here to see you." Bruce said in a gentle voice, the voice Steve knew Bruce used on his Little patients. But if Natasha didn't like that, she didn't show it. She just turned her head to look at them and smiled weakly, but the smile didn't quite reach her eyes.
Steve had half expected her to complain and tell them to discharge her already, but she didn't. Maybe she wasn't as well as he'd thought.
"Hey Steve." Natasha said, and she cleared her throat because her voice came out a little hoarse at first. "Came to get me out of this place?" Ah, there it was. A watered down version, but it was there.
"I told you Nat, we'll discharge you once we have an okay based on your results." Bruce said soothingly, and Natasha huffed so Steve gave her a sympathetic smile. "I'll leave you two for a moment, but I'll be back when I have the results." Bruce said. Steve nodded his head and quietly thanked him before walking over to Natasha's bed. He sat down on the chair beside the bed and just looked at Natasha.
"Steve, you're looking at me as if I'm dying." Natasha pointed out after a few moments.
"Sorry, sorry." Steve sighed and shook his head to snap himself out of it. "How're you feeling?"
"I don't know." Natasha shook her head slightly. "I'm okay, I guess." She said softly.
"You want to tell me what happened?"
"No, not really." Natasha mumbled, and she turned her head so she probably avoid looking at Steve, but he reached over and gently stopped her.
"Hey, no avoiding me like that." Steve said gently. "We don't have to talk about it if you're not ready. But when you ever do feel ready, you know you can always come to me."
"I know." Natasha said with the smallest of smiles. "Why'd you come?" Ah, Steve should have anticipated this question.
"I heard you passed out in the shooting range, so I wanted to come and check on you." Steve said. It wasn't a complete lie. Even if Bruce didn't ask him to come, he still would've gone to check on Nat. He just didn't want to bring the pill up yet because Nat probably didn't know that he knew. Heck, Nat maybe didn't even know that they found it. If they had to bring it up, Steve wanted to make sure Nat was well enough to have that conversation first.
"We missed you at breakfast today." Steve said, also to change the topic.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about missing it." Nat apologized. "Did Clint and the others cause any more trouble this time?" She asked, and Steve chuckled. There was never a boring team breakfast, that's for sure.
"Not much, actually. Probably the most interesting would be making plans on going shopping with Daisy and Wanda. Prepare to see me in a Disney princess shirt sometime soon. Daisy and Wanda want us to have matching shirts." Steve said with an amused smile. Natasha smiled and chuckled, but Steve could feel that it wasn't completely genuine. He didn't bring attention to it though.
"I think they'll like it if you get one with us." Steve pointed out gently, just to test something out.
"No, that's your special thing with them." Natasha shook her head, but Steve noted that she didn't really say she didn't want to.
"Come on, you're their big sister. I'm sure they'd love to have matching shirts with you too." Steve smiled. Nat looked like she was pondering it over for a while, until she eventually nodded her head.
"Yeah okay, I'll go with you guys. For Wanda and Daisy." That last bit sounded like an afterthought, but Steve didn't dwell on it. He was just happy he got Natasha to agree to something like that. Even though Nat never dropped, Nat still had her Little side somewhere inside, and Steve loved the little moments when that side would show. Even if it was just a tiny bit.
"I'm sure it'll be fun. We can all even go see a movie after." Steve suggested, and he felt all warm inside when he saw a genuine smile on Natasha's face.
"Yeah, I think that sounds nice." Natasha said softly. Steve nodded and smiled as he reached over to gently brush Natasha's hair from her face. Natasha didn't flinch away, so Steve took that as a good sign. When his hand brushed against her skin though, he frowned at how cold she felt.
"Are you cold?" Steve asked in concern, but he was already trying to pull the blanket up to Nat's shoulders.
"A little, but it's fine. I can manage." Natasha insisted, but she didn't fight being tucked in. Steve shook his head and reached for the AC's remote, increasing the temperature a bit so it wouldn't be too cold in the room.
"Is that better?" Steve asked. He ignored the blush on Natasha's cheeks and just smiled when she nodded her head. He'd taken care of Littles before, no doubt about that. But taking care of Natasha always felt different. It felt right. She rarely let Steve take care of her like this, but Steve loved the rare occasions that she did, even if they were just short moments and small tasks.
"So how'd the mission go yesterday?" Natasha asked after a while, probably to break the silence. Steve was surprised she asked about that, but maybe the silence was just making Natasha uncomfortable. So he indulged her and told her all about it: How Skye seemed to be improving out on the field, getting a better control of her powers. He went on, telling Natasha all the details but he made sure not to say anything that could upset her. Natasha for her part, would not as she listened and laughed whenever Steve said something particularly funny.
They hadn't even realized how much time had passed until Bruce came in to check on Natasha again.
"Do you want me to leave first while Bruce talks to you?" Steve asked gently as he helped Natasha sit up against the pillows per her request.
"No it's fine, you can stay." Natasha said after a moment's hesitation. Steve could sense the hesitation, but he also didn't want to leave Natasha's side just yet, so he stayed put. He saw Nat look up at Bruce and nod to him, so Bruce started to tell them about the lab tests he ran.
"For the most part Nat, you seem to be healthy. Heartrate and blood pressure are normal, blood count's perfect, lungs are clear-I can go on with all the basic tests but it all boils down to me telling you that those seem to be fine." Bruce said, looking at Natasha first then at Steve.
"You said for the most part." Steve pointed out when Natasha didn't seem to be offering any input after a while.
"Yes, well, I saw in your records that agent Fitz ran a quick test on you yesterday, so I decided to do a more intensive version of that." Bruce said, and Steve recalled Fitz mentioning that they did run a test on Natasha, but only to find that she had some headache or increased stress levels or something.
"Natasha, I'll be very straight with you. It was more than a headache. I was able to pinpoint some abnormal brain activity, but the cause of which I can't determine for sure right now."
Steve knew what Bruce meant. There was a possibility that it was linked to the pill that Natasha took, but he was probably waiting to see if Nat would say anything about it. Steve looked at Natasha, and could not for the life of him read her expression. It was as if she wiped any emotion off her face and was just looking blankly at Bruce.
"Have you taken or eaten anything new in the past few days?" Bruce asked as gently as he could when Natasha didn't offer anything. "Any new medication? Maybe something to help that headache you had last night?" Bruce probed, but Natasha wasn't showing any signs of hearing Bruce.
"Natasha, we need to know the cause of this." Bruce sighed.
"What even makes you think that I took anything new?" Nat asked defensively. Well, at least she was responding now. "If this has something to do with agent May-you have no business... She had no business to say something like that." She said.
"She may have told me something, but Natasha-"
"And you believe her?" Nat asked incredulously. "You think I'm some addict?"
"I didn't say that." Bruce said calmly. "But I think there's an external cause to this abnormal brain activity, and Nat I really need to know if you introduced anything new to your body so we can get to the bottom of this."
"I'm not telling you anything because there's nothing to tell." Natasha said, her eyes narrowing a little. Steve sighed and looked up at Bruce. This wasn't getting them anywhere.
"Can I talk to Nat for a moment?" Steve asked, and Bruce nodded his head in understanding before turning to leave to give them privacy. Once Bruce left them, Steve got up and sat down on the edge of Nat's bed, turning a bit to face her.
"Nat," Steve started of in a soft, gentle voice. "All Bruce wants to do, all we want to do, is to help. You know you can trust us." Steve said, and Natasha took in a deep breath and shook her head.
"Can you look at me? Nat honey, come on." Steve said, unconsciously using the term of endearment with Nat. That seemed to work though, because Nat did turn to look at Steve. Once she did, it was then he finally realized how troubled Natasha actually looked. It was as if she let her guard down once Bruce left the room.
You know I'll never let anything happen to you, and I won't let anyone do anything to you." Steve said in a soothing voice. "I just want to help, and so does Bruce. But we can't help if you just shut us out." Steve continued.
"You're gonna get mad." Natasha said in the softest, and most vulnerable voice that Steve's ever heard from her. Steve frowned at that and shook his head.
"Honey I promise I won't get mad." Steve said soothingly. At this point, he figured there wasn't anything Nat could say or do that'd make him mad. "You can tell me anything, and I'll still be here. Nothing you say or do will push me away from you."
Nat sniffled and cast her eyes down. She stayed silent for a few more moments, Steve hoped she was considering telling him. He stayed quiet first to let Natasha think about it. He waited, and he waited, and just when he was about to say something, Natasha beat him to hit.
"I may have taken something new this morning." Natasha said softly without really looking at Steve.