Chapter Six
Trial Three: Outcome
They couldn't do anything, nothing but survive, nothing but grieve those they had lost. The world knew what had happened for the first time in Natasha's career the world had full disclosure of her work and the work of the whole team.
People were suffering out there, people were fighting and dealing with things they should never have had to understand. Until it all happened there had been a good number of people who didn't believe in New York, they thought footage of the Chitauri was some sort of elaborate government hoax. Natasha knew from the inside; government hoaxes were usually reserved for those involved in Espionage rather than the common person. Now, those people who thought aliens didn't exist (and who could blame them) they had lost family and friends, they had lost the CEO of their company and had no direction to go in, they had lost the person who paid their bills or who fed their cat when they traveled. Everyone had been touched, they knew everyone had been touched. They were just glad that no one else knew they had failed to make it right.
They had each other, that was all they could focus on. Even if in this instance 'each other' was a very small group of people, Thor had gone off somewhere, tried to make it right with his people, Bruce was working on something personal - and in many ways, Natasha was thankful for that since it meant she didn't have to explain. Carol was off helping others in need, so was Rhodey. Tony and Pepper had bought a house and were quietly awaiting the arrival of their baby.
Natasha smirked at the thought, they were waiting, sure, but she had far less time to wait. She rose up slowly from the Sofa, stretching out her back and wincing, beginning to walk around the room again. Her body felt tight, the pain sharp enough that she didn't want to breathe too heavily. It grabbed her body harder every time it hit, squeezing hard as though her body was a tube of toothpaste. It had been six hours since it started, now the pains were getting intense. The walking helped a little, but the pressure in her hips and pelvis was starting to make it uncomfortable.
Labor was a process, it took time, and she was adamant that transferring to a hospital was happening as late as possible. Steve was on the phone, calling Sharon and finalizing the details. Her water broke about half an hour earlier, they needed to move. She stopped, anchoring her arms against the arm of the sofa and extending them out to hold herself against. Slow breathes, slow breathes.
Labor Report
Labor began for Ms. Romanoff at approximately 3:30 am on the 1st of December, 2018. She labored at home until membranes ruptured at approximately 9:00 am and was transferred to hospital. Admitted at 10:08 am and examined. Rupture of membranes confirmed, the patient was 7 cms dilated and contractions 3,60. Ms. Romanoff was given Entonox to help with pain and was mobile during most of the labor. Full dilation was observed at 11:40 am and baby born at 11:52 am. A baby boy was delivered with an Apgar score of nine at one minute and increased to ten at ten minutes since birth. Ms. Romanoff received minimal tearing and no stitches were necessary. Discharge at 3:00pm on December second.