"There you are,' Laura smiles kindly, locating Natasha, 'I heard Alex barking."
She waddles in with a hand over her baby bump and claims a stool.
Natasha barely acknowledges her friend, her eyes falling toward the bump. Laura immediately addresses her line of vision;
"Being pregnant isn't beautiful. You better believe I'm never doing this again."
Natasha scoffs and throws her dart, "Garrett will be in college before Clinton Francis Barton Jr turns 5. He's going to want a little brother to play with."
Laura hums thoughtfully, an idle finger tracing her bump, "We're not doing the 'Junior' thing."
Natasha takes two more hits before Laura addresses the target, "Is she the bitch of the hour?"
Romanoff sighs, rotating the dart in between her fingers, "Is it tasteless to curse a woman who is already dead?"
Laura frowns with her eyes focused on Betty's picture, "I mean it's not the classiest."
"I envy her," Natasha finally admits out loud.
"This is what I imagine all of Clint's scorned exes do on Friday night; Got a dart for me?' she takes the one Natasha offers and analyzes the craftsmanship, 'I see you've borrowed Clint's mahogany collection."
"If I'm cursing, might as well do so in style."
"We could be doing voodoo."
"I thought about it."
"I have a book."
"Have you hexed Maria? Because that would explain a lot."
Laura laughs suspiciously, "Anyways…what's going on with she-who-won't-be-named?"
"The boys didn't fill you in?"
She sighs and then, makes a face, "Their side of it, I want your side, now."
"My side is that I'm sick and Bruce believes Elizabeth Ross is the cure."
Laura twirls her finger in the air, "From the…other world."
"He thinks Izabella is going to replicate her warp and send us to the same location even though we haven't tested on people since the Russia incident. He believes that Ross will have the magical fix because, why wouldn't she," Natasha throws a dart.
Laura props an ankle up on a nearby stool, "Is it the idea of letting someone help you or where said help would come from?"
"When it comes to Elizabeth,' she spats as if it were something sour, 'Bruce acts as though she's an all knowing, all powerful goddess."
"Aha."
Clint sneaks quietly through the door and takes a seat next to Laura, sneaking an arm around her waist and over her bump.
Natasha is aware of his entry as she reaches to take up the darts, barely acknowledging his arrival.
"What are you doing to my mahogany, Nat?" He huffs.
She sits at the barstool, next to the happy couple, "You shouldn't have left them so accessible, Barton."
Laura leans forward and taps her palms over the bar, "Look; I just want you to get better. We both do. We have a baby coming and I want you to meet him, to get to know him. I get that you don't want to see… her , I do-."
Natasha pivots, mentally signing off when she reaches for the vodka. Clint grabs the bottle and tilts his head toward Laura with a glare, "My wife is talking, you leave the vodka alone and listen."
Natasha retracts her hand slowly, never keen on lectures and just avoids rolling her eyes. She sinks and reestablishes guilty eye contact with the natural parents.
Laura directs her half eye roll for Clint, "You suddenly care about what I have to say?"
Natasha smirks at Clint's frown and tucks her head, brushing a hair behind her ear. The bruise on her forearm catches her eye and she swallows. Her fist clenches and releases, watching the new dark patch on her skin.
Laura waits until her friend looks up to continue, "You need to talk about this with Bruce. Go tell him off, get it out of your system."
"Is this how you two always talk?" Clint questions with a bit of fear.
Laura snaps, "Shush Clint, your wife is talking," She refocuses on Natasha, "And then, you two need to sit down and decide if this is really worth trying. In an open and honest conversation, you need to tell him exactly how this is making you feel. He's a man; he doesn't understand. He sees a problem and wants to fix it as quickly as possible. He loves you, but that's blinding him right now."
Tony stumbled in next, "You girls are up here mixing some drinks without me?!"
"Hi, I'm here too," Clint waves a hand.
"I acknowledged you already, hi girlie," Tony mocks.
Laura points at her belly, "I wish I was drinking."
Romanoff glares much more viciously when Bruce enters behind the engineer.
He stops and talks above a whisper, "Tasha?"
Natasha crosses her arms, "Anything you want to say, you can share in front of them."
"Fine. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for losing my patience this morning."
"And?"
"And?" He shakes his head. She turns to grab her darts. Bruce does a double take on the target, "Wha- Wait. Wait a second, why is Betty's article up on the wall-."
With a smug expression, she answers, "Don't worry it's not 'your' Betty."
Tony's gasp is met by Laura's throat clearing. Clint tucks his head and Bruce looks back at Natasha in shock.
He bites his cheek and starts tugging at his fingers with a heavy exhale;
"I'm sorry."
"Don't worry, I saved the photo in your drawer for a bit of black magic tomorrow," Natasha lines up a dart, Bruce reaches to take it from her grip.
"Okay! I'm trying, Natasha. And you're-."
"Say it."
"No."
"Do it!" Natasha pushes her hands against him.
At that Bruce loses it, backing away a few steps from her. "You're acting crazy!"
"Am I?! I'm dying! And you want to take me to see a twin of your ex! I think I'm allowed to act a little crazy!"
"Woah, woah woah," Tony tries to step forward.
Romanoff turns back around before Stark can break them up. She whips a knife from her pocket and hurls it at the bullseye before storming off.
Laura leans forward, talking to Bruce "You don't keep a photo of Elizabeth in your drawer, right?"
"Laura." Bruce sinks on a stool just behind him and hides his face.
Laura checks her watch. She can't scramble away quick enough, "We need to get Garrett and go home, I'm not driving in the dark...He's downstairs with Steve."
"That's just child abuse right there," Tony mumbles.
Bruce breaks, his focus on Natasha, "She hates me."
Tony sighs, "Yup."
"I just want to save her…"
Laura huffs and reaches for her sweater, "I don't mean to meddle here but you're pushing her away in the process. When was the last time you two went on a date and didn't talk about the elephant in the room? Maybe instead of focusing on finding a cure, focus on how she feels? I understand your side; we all want her to be okay. But you can't fix anything until she wants to be fixed."
Bruce sighs and tugs his curls, "She'd rather come in here and threaten a picture than talk to me about it."
Laura leans over the bar stool, "She's chugged that bottle of vodka dry and it's not even 3:30pm. Natasha needs to feel understood and supported by you. She's in denial, she feels weak- Clint, correct me if I'm wrong-."
He nods, "You're correct."
"So stay out of the lab and stop trying to fix her disease for a day. Go upstairs, and figure out how to make her feel like the most important person in your world."
"This advice sounds familiar," Tony grumbles.
"Right now,' Laura's buttons her sweater, 'Natasha is seeing you trying to convince her to go see the woman who, in another universe, and god knows how many other universes, you love most. Natasha's seeing you trust this woman blind. It's not rocket science- poor example...I think she'd be open to discuss this as a possible cure if she didn't feel threatened by Betty, who you two have fought over multiple times this year; she tells me everything. It's discouraging, it hurts her pride. And if you talk about this naturally, and she still says 'no', then the answer is 'no'. It's her body and she gets to decide what to do with it. Ready to go Clint?"
"Ready," he stands, tense and eager to leave the room.
When Bruce quietly arrives at their apartment with an absent-minded hand clenching and fidgeting, Alex moves to greet him.
Lucy is biting her thumbnail while Izabella sits on the edge of her seat in the corner with a pillow in her grasp.
The girls scream and sit up to look at him, startled by his quick entry and the lights turning on. Lucy clings to Izabella, while Izabella throws the pillow as if it electrocuted her. Watching a murder mystery in the dark probably wasn't their best idea.
Lucy scrambles back to look composed and the girls point in unison when Bruce sighs over their antics and asks for Natasha.
"The studio," Lucy says while Izabella elaborates;
"She eating her feelings."
Bruce moves for the studio door, knocking before cracking it open. Through the mirror he can see Natasha glaring back. Her shoes are kicked off and she's in one of his hoodies. Her chin is down and her eyes are up, framed by a dark hood.
"Tasha. Don't run away," Bruce sinks slowly and sits on the floor beside her, "I keep screwing up and I'm sorry. I've been so focused on getting answers, trying to fix everything...instead of giving you my time."
She scoffs and scrapes her spoon against the bottom of her half eaten ice-cream. His words do mean something but there's a stabbing pain in her lung so she only manages to mutter a 'thanks."
"I love you, you're not crazy."
"Crazy enough to put your ex on my dartboard."
"I guess, if I'm honest, I've had a mental dartboard of your ex before too."
Her head falls over his when they sit beside each other. When he plants a kiss over her forehead she fights back tears.
Bruce tries to be consoling, wrapping an arm around her small frame. Her cheek falls against his chest and she hides in between the hood and his torso.
"I'm sick because I fell in love,' she mumbles against him, 'It's karma."
"This wasn't supposed to happen."
"I've done so many awful things-."
"Okay stop. I promised myself I'd listen but I'm not going to listen to that. To you beating yourself up. You're perfect to me. You're a good person."
"I don't want-."
"-Sympathy, I know. It's not sympathy, it's me telling you the truth,' he cups her cheeks gently, warm thumb over her skin, 'what do you want tonight?"
She looks confused, "..You're not working?"
"No. I'm all yours."
Natasha swallows, "I'm not talking about her-."
"We are not going to think about anything but us. Okay? It's just you and me."
She lowers her eyebrows, using her sleeve to wipe her nose. She has rules about not being catered to but justifies the following because he owes her.
Natasha narrows her focus;
"I want a glass of wine."
"Red or white?"
"I want spaghetti for dinner. With meat sauce. Homemade."
He huffs out a laugh, "I'll do it."
"I want you to play the piano."
"I had a feeling you'd ask."
Her eyes look up honestly, a little off color and dark but still perfect to him;
"Do you still find me pretty?"
It's one of the most vulnerable things she's ever said and so unlike her. It's not a test, she is sincerely doubting herself.
Bruce reaches to take the hood off her head. His fingertips trailing her cheek to clear the tear stains. His eyes take her in, fingers tracing her hair next and land at the end of her braid. He grins quietly. The look on his face and the blush on his cheeks causes the corner of her mouth to hitch upward;
"Well?"
"I think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever met,' he runs gentle hands over her covered arms and encases her hands within his, 'I think you're the strongest, smartest, most admirable woman in the universe, and nothing can change that."
Her eyes close, trying to listen to his words, soaking them in. Her arms wrap around his neck with a twinge of sadness in her gut, even still.
He kisses her forehead, "Can I say one thing?"
She nods.
He finds her eyes, "Nat I, I loved Betty, I loved her so much. She is a part of my past and she will always be, but you're my present and my future, okay? It's only you now. There's no, threat of me running away or having feelings for anyone but you. Elizabeth isn't Betty."
Natasha nods, her mind elsewhere, "If we found a cure, would you leave to protect me?"
Bruce pulls her close and rubs her back, "Tasha, I love you."
"I don't want you to do something stupid," she mumbles against him.
"Like?"
"Leave me."
He hugs her tighter. It's a genuine fear in her eyes that hurts his core, "I made you a promise and I intend to keep it."
After a few minutes of silence, she has a thought that almost makes her laugh, "What are we going to do with the girls tonight? And Alex?"
He sighs and kisses her nose, "…we send them to go crash with the Starks. After we ensure Lucy's alarm with the rap song goes off nice and loud at 6:30am."
She finally laughs.
It takes two weeks before Natasha starts talking- in her own way. She'll signal more than converse but she is making her feelings known and Bruce is understanding her cues a bit better. He's dropped discussing anything about Elizabeth and the name isn't even mentioned until one morning when Natasha returns from a heaving session.
There's blood on her lip, her face pale. She slips quietly back into their bed and lifts the blankets to cover herself with them.
She sits upright against the headboard beside Bruce who tries not to stare. His arms are crossed and he's tense.
Natasha looks at her colorless fingernails. Swallowing her pride takes a bit more these days;
"I. Um." She sounds broken. Her throat dry, "Let's explore the...ugh... alternate dimension...stop gloating, Banner, before I regret this!"
He quickly schools his face, biting his lip and keeping his eyes away from her.
Natasha wipes a finger against her lip;
"I'm tired of being tired. And if,' her hand rises and falls, 'if someone can figure out the Hulk, maybe they can also figure out what's wrong with me."
Bruce still doesn't speak. She scratches the back of her head with an eye roll;
"You can talk now."
He stares throughtfully, "Can I just hold you for now?"
She nods, curling up in his safe hold.
Riley misses a chord on her guitar, surrounded by her friends;
"Wait. What?"
Garrett cracks his knuckles, comfortably throwing a basketball, "I just said, Izzy is-."
"-Taking Bruce and Natasha to the other world thing- I heard you, I know what you said…"
Amelia arrives late, jaw agape, breathing hard, and holds the door for Kat as the two invite themselves into Riley's room;
"We heard gossip!"
"We know! Miss Natasha is leaving! Everything's CANCELED!" Violet groans, sitting on the edge of Riley's bed.
Kat sighs, "I don't know what we're supposed to do without Izzy. She keeps me sane around here!"
"What if Nat dies?! What if Dr. Banner's ex wife accidentally kills her!," Amelia panics.
Violet sits up with her bottom lip quivering and immediate red eyes.
Riley sighs and puts her guitar down before reaching to strangle Amelia, "Now you got Vi in a tizzy! Great job, morons!"
"Does the doc have a death wish? I'm just sayin! I kinda have the inside scoop here and the tower has been pretty intense," Brody talks to the room and half to himself as he enters.
"Guys I'm so stressed out right now,' Brock has his face covered with a pillow, mumbling over a whistle that gets louder and louder, 'If that's Lucy, I might have to kill her."
"You guys are tripping right now. It's not a big deal. I was just sharing what dad told me," Garrett is quickly hushed as everyone stops talking in the hopes of avoiding the Jameson girl crashing their party.
The look of disappointment on Garrett's face is enough to make Riley head for the door.
"Don't!" Brock calls out to Riley.
"Heyyyy guys!" The girl enters with her shoulders rolling.
"Hi Lucy…" everyone grumbles and returns to their activities as if she is invisible.
"What's going on? What's the teaaa… bubble tea obviously-!" She grins.
Garrett shimmies to make a space for her on the beanbag.
Riley rolls her eyes over the gesture, breathing easier when Lucy chooses the space beside Violet and Amelia.
"You've been lying to us," Michael cuts to the chase.
Amelia chimes in, "You've hid information- that's not how teams work!"
Lucy snorts, "I don't know what's wrong with you all…"
"You keep secrets. That's not cool."
"I haven't-! I so swear like-."
"You lied about Natasha! Our mentor! She's practically our mom! And YOU kept that she's sick a secret from all of us when you knew! We would just get a funeral invite-."
"Wait! Like, so did Izzy! And Brody!" Lucy tugs her shirt, wishing the boy would back her up.
Brody shakes his head, wishing the floor would part and swallow him whole, "I didn't know! I hang out with Rhodey! Izzy is the Banner-Romanoff favorite child!"
"We know Brody and we trust Izzy! We don't trust YOU,' Kat chimes in, 'We don't even know you. You tell your mom about us. Why are you here if you don't have powers! What if you're here to spy on us? SHIELD sent the guards when you showed up!"
"Guys! Back off," Garrett retorts defensively.
Lucy's eyes go large, "My mom is like my best friend. That doesn't mean you can't trust me."
Amelia snaps, "It's not even like you have powers to prove you're worthy of being here."
Riley grits her teeth and smacks Amelia for the remark.
"Hey!" Amelia stands.
Violet hides behind Riley.
Lucy stands in a fury next, "Is that what you want? Me to complete like! Some challenge? I'll do it! I'm not scared of anything- And I don't need powers to beat you!"
Garrett attempts to calm the room, "Okay, stop-."
"Great! Tuesday! The 9am session with Barton!," Micheal sets the bet.
Lucy wavers in her standing position, "Err, actually, Uncle B and Aunt Nat leave in the morning…sooo. I need to pack and-."
"Fine! The day after! The summer semi-finals after our beach day,' Brock chimes in, 'It's your team versus Riley's!"
Riley frowns, "Mine?! Why are you dragging me into this?"
Kat pivots, "Outside of Izzy, you're the coolest person here. You can read Lucy's mind!"
Amelia looks at Riley protectively, reading to interrupt in defense.
Riley huffs, "You guys bully her for no reason-."
"You started it!" Micheal snaps.
"I had a reason!"
Amelia lifts a finger, "Um…guys?"
"You want a challenge? Fine," Riley cuts her off, "I'll lead Lucy's team and fight for her to stay. I know the field. And if our team wins; This bullying crap stops! It's so lame!"
"Wow...really?," Lucy stands, eager to prove herself.
"Yeah," Riley is still unable to breach her mind though she tried. She nods, even though Garrett's obsession with the Jameson girl is triggering.
Lucy pouts, "Aww! Can I hug you?"
"No?!"
Brody lifts a finger, "I'll be on their team."
Garrett spins his basketball and weighs his options, "I'm guessing you guys don't want me?"
"Why wouldn't we?," Lucy walks over to tussle his hair while Amelia cringes.
Kat laughs, "You want him. In a game...that requires aim. We get everyone else. Pack your bags!"
Lucy snickers nervously, "Ohh you're so on Regina George! You're messing with a California girl hashtag daughter of the She Hulk! You guys are poking the BEAST!"
"Nobody cares and you're not that scary," Brody coaches with a pitty-pat.