Bloodline

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I hope you know this song ^^ I loved it so much when I was a teenager. The Cranberries are great, an… interesting voice, but still, that makes it even more amazing.

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Chapter 10: When will the Icicle melt?

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I should not have read the paper today,

'Cause a child, child, child, child he was taken away.

There's a place for the baby that died,

And there's time for the mother who cried.

And she will hold him in her arms sometime,

'Cause nine months is too long, too long, too long...

How, how could you hurt the child,

How could you hurt the child?

Now, does this make you satisfied,

Satisfied, satisfied?

There's a place for the baby that died,

And there's time for the mother who cried.

And you will hold him in your arms sometime,

'Cause nine months is too long, too long, too long,

Too long.

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"James, please, I beg you. You cannot agree with what they are doing to me, to our child. If they start phase 2, they will steal from him all that makes him human. He's going to be a machine, sent out to kill. Before he is even born, he will be sworn to bloodshed." Natasha didn't even know if he was there. The sedative now dulling all her senses so much she could barely make out shapes. Then she felt a cold hand on her arm, knowing it belonged to him. Too cold, too hard to be flesh.

"I will guide him. That I promise you, I owe you." He told her, his voice dark but gentle, and so quiet she knew it was only meant for her ears.

"I want to hold him." She felt the tears and didn't care about showing weakness anymore. For only a few weeks she was carrying this baby, and right now it was the only thing she could think about. Obsessed with the thought of at least making it right for her child. "I want to give him all my love, even if it's only for a moment."

"Natasha…" He didn't know how to tell her. She already knew, of course, but speaking it out loud would make it real, and turning her remaining week into a nightmare even worse than before.

"James, please, promise me," she cried. The Black Widow had never felt so helpless before, never been so lost. And the only one who could help was this assassin, with a ledger as red a hers and a mind that was desperately fighting, but loosing against the overwhelming powers of those who controlled him.

He made no sound as he turned away and left her there.

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"We need to find her, Tony." Clint pressed while he watched Tony trying everything in the textbook.

"But we can't. Wherever they took her, it is out of our reach." The inventor sighed in defeat, burying his face in his hands after another hack showed no results concerning Natasha.

"We can't establish any sort of contact. Maybe, maybe she can't send us a message because that would mean bringing her out in the open. Maybe she is fine somewhere out of range and…" Clint rambled on.

"Stop fooling yourself, archer. They have her." Tony said angrily.

"Guys, you won't believe this!" Banner almost shouted, storming into the lab. "Barnes just showed up in Fury's office, and I mean literally in his office. He's here!"

"What?!" Clint stood up fast enough to knock over his chair.

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Fury said at his desk calmly, his fingers entwined while he watched them entering, but still keeping an eye on Barnes in the seat next to the window.

"Oh my god… I thought you were kidding." Tony said, exasperated.

"How dare you even come here?" Clint growled angrily at Barnes who just kept his blank expression.

"First thing's first. Why did no one tell me Natasha is pregnant?" Fury asked the three of them.

"That is of no importance," the Winter Soldier stepped in while he got up and walked towards them slowly, enjoying their sudden fear. Yes, at least he still had a reputation other than a breeding stallion.

"Why are you here?" The archer asked him, wishing he had his bow brought with him.

"Because I need your help. No, actually Natasha needs your help." He pulled out a vial with a liquid in it. "You need to find something that disables the negative aspects of this serum. It is used…"

"...to get her knocked up and speed up the pregnancy. We know." Tony said, finally gaining his confidence and cockiness again.

There was a glimpse of desperation in his eyes before it disappeared, making them believe they only imagined it. "So you won't be able to help her?"

"Now that we got our hands on a pure sample of what was used, I think we can work something out." Tony continued as he walked towards him, snatching the sample from Barnes' hand before taking quick steps backwards.

"Just save her. That is the only thing I ask for. She fought so hard for this, for… holding him. And since the birth will kill her…" He couldn't continue with his heartfelt speech because everyone started shouting at him. He waited for the outburst to ebb and started again. "The serum's only purpose is to make the child strong, therefore it also uses everything the mother can give him. There will be no more strength left in her, if we can't reverse the effects. Hydra wants Natasha dead and so they didn't develop a serum to keep her stable long enough for her own healing to finally kick in and give her even the tiniest possibility to survive."

"So we need to somehow make the powers of the serum flow back into her. That sounds more like magic and not science." Bruce was already thinking about something, but his mind was blank. He never invested that much time into Hydra's strange ways of doing things until the Tesseract came around, and even so, he was just grasping a glimpse.

"We could make the baby die inside of her before it is ready to be born. That will surely solve the problem." Tony suggested, knowing that this was a quick and more or less clean way.

"NO!" The Winter Soldier shouted at him, his eyes showing so much desperation and fear. "Natasha would rather die than loose this baby."

"Why are you so sure?" Fury asked, finally entering the conversation.

"Because she told me. She just… She wanted to hold him, for him to be happy. And I will make sure of that. I will be the one to train him. He won't become Hydra, I promise." Barnes' voice was hoarse, showing his desperation.

"As if we could trust you with that. You knocked her up, took her to Hydra and let them experiment on her." Tony used his mocking voice and chuckled darkly. "Why would you keep your word?"

"Because I promised it to Natalia," he said sternly, finally regaining his ground in the situation.

That made Clint falter and bite back another remark. He sounded so sincere. Maybe something of Steve's friend was still in there.

Because not all of them we sure yet, Barnes continued, knowing he got them now. "I trained her, I trained Natalia when she was a child, barely on the verge of becoming a woman. And she grew into the most amazing woman I have ever seen." He wanted to lure them into it, by telling the truth that even shocked the Winter Soldier himself. "I love her."

The room was silent for a moment. Everyone processed this thought and they all came to the same conclusion.

"We will help, but under our conditions." Fury told him calmly.

The Winter Soldier only nodded, awaiting his next words.

"Tony and Bruce will work on a serum. Clint will plan the escape. You must bring her to us. I am sure they already suspected something since you are gone without order. You will get her out of there as soon as you see a window of opportunity. Then, when our scientists here are ready we will treat her so she AND the baby make it." He glimpsed at Tony and Bruce who were showing confidence but also the lack of time. "When is she due?"

Barnes suppressed a sigh of relief. There would be a happy ending for Natasha. "The natural birth would be in two days. Hydra wants her to keep the child in for longer, around the tenth month. So…"

"They want what?" Now Clint's anger flared again.

"Alright. That is all I needed to know. Banner, Stark, you have two days. That must be enough. Barnes, whenever you see the chance, get her out of there. Clint will give you a transmitter to activate as soon as you have a signal."

Barnes nodded and replied the way he was trained to, "Yes, sir."

"We will try to secure your cover. No word of this gets out, in case someone wants to listen." With a gesture of his hand he send them away.

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"You incompetent idiot!" The Director shouted at him as soon as he slipped back into his quarters, of course undetected.

"Sir?"

"Only three women were knocked up."

"And the babies are well?" The Winter Soldier asked, his voice monotone.

"Of course not. Why would I be so angry if they were? As soon as we started our treatment they lost whatever fruit was growing in their wombs." He almost shouted at him.

And how is that my fault, the Soldier wanted to ask but bit back this remark. "So I will seed another round," playing his part...

"Not until we figured out why." He was angry, that was all too clear, and his temper was unpredictable.

They were not Natasha, his mind whispered to him. "I will await your orders." he said instead.

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That night Natasha couldn't sleep, although her body was shivering from exhaustion. The doctors said she was at around the 45th week and she felt like it. Although the tranquilizers were dulling everything, she could also feel the stretch of her body, the weight of the child. They had started giving her everything they knew to stop any contractions from happening until they thought her time had come. James hadn't showed up since their last talk, and she didn't want to imagine whatever Hydra forced him to do now, especially to other women.

Yet none of that mattered to her anymore. The only thing she wanted was to hold this baby in her arms. For many more hours she stayed in this state of wake and sleep until she felt that familiar cold hand.

"You asked me if I agree with it. I do not. I am going to save you. But we have to be quick. As soon as I disconnect you from the IVs the birth will start within hours. I have to get you to S.H.I.E.L.D., where they will deliver the baby. You will survive the birth, I promise you."

That was a dream, Natasha knew it. She didn't fight the person pulling out the IVs and loosening the bonds that held her to the table. She actually smiled at the dream making her believe someone was carrying her away until the drugs were neutralized by her enhanced system.

"Natasha, do you hear me? Please stay here for a moment. I have to clear the next corridor." Barnes told her.

As if she could run away now… Natasha nodded while her mind finally started working again. This was for real! The adrenaline counteracted the remains of the tranquilizers. Now she was wide awake, trying to understand this situation. She could hear gunshots and men screaming. Protectively she covered her belly.

"Now come!" Barnes grabbed her, pulling her to her feet. "I have signaled the archer. They are on their way, but we have to make it to the upper level and out of here so they can pick us up."

Her training kicked in. "Do you have a gun?"

The Winter Soldier smiled at her proudly. She was so perfect… "Here," he said as he handed her a gun. "But don't accidently shoot me."

"I would never dare," she smiled at him. This could work. With the two of them together, nothing was impossible.

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Natasha ran as fast as she could, but soon her breath was running thin. "Wait, please, just a minute."

"We don't have a minute." He shouted at her as tried pulling her along but stopped when the realization dawned upon him.

She rubbed her back. "It's just... it hurts." The next moment a terrible stab of pain shot through her belly and a puddle of fluid was forming at her feet. "Oh, no, no, no! Not yet." A heart tearing scream escaped from her throat as she sank to her knees in agony.

"It's starting. We have to get out of here." He urged her to get up again but it was futile.

"Why can't we simply hide and after I had the baby we leave. I think I can stand it. I don't care about the serum." She was gasping now.

"No, Tasha, you can't. Even if we somehow make you deliver him naturally, you will die." He tried pulling her along.

"Oh, please, wait. I can't walk anymore. It's... I think I can feel his head." Her voice was so desperate, so helpless...

"What?" He stared at her hands, held between her legs. "It has merely been half an hour. The director said it would take you almost a day to get to this point."

Natasha went to her knees slowly, grabbing beneath the hospital gown. "I think the running made a difference then." She leaned back against the wall and lowered herself slowly, trying to catch her breath.

"But we have to be able to do something." He rudely grabbed the gown and shoved it up. The Winter Soldier had expected her to overreact a little, but when he saw the child's head crowning between her legs, he grew frantic. "But it can't happen already."

"Well, it's not like I was actively helping." Tears were running down her cheeks. "With every contraction I feel this fierce need to help the baby out."

"Don't push. Please, not yet. We have to fix this."

"But how?" Natasha screamed at the next wave of pain came.

Barnes' eyes widened as he saw the child head moving further. "Stop pushing." He put his hands onto her entrance, as if that would stop the baby somehow.

"I am not. Oh god, it hurts so much."

"It's only 5 floors until the reach to ground level. When we can make it up there and into public, we can call an ambulance. Just a few more minutes."

"We don't have minutes." The contraction still hadn't stopped and she knew that the child's head was only seconds away from emerging.

"Damn..." He looked up into her eyes. "I am sorry." He put one hand onto her shoulder for support and the other onto the baby before he pushed against it.

"You will hurt him." Natasha gasped in denial trying to get his hands away.

"He is strong, believe me."

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"What the hell is that?" Tony asked angrily as another simulation failed.

"It is one of the most advanced molecules I have ever seen." Bruce said, still in shock at what it did so harshly.

"How the hell could we ever reverse it, yet along make it bring Natasha through the delivery alive." Tony was trying another combination and failed.

In that moment Clint stormed into the room. "Barnes' signal has been activated. We need to leave NOW!"