Natasha woke early to find Tony and Fitz working on something outside the pod. She walked over to the window closest to them and tapped. Fitz was the first to look up. He motioned to Tony who smiled as the two scientists made their way the entrance.
"Morning Red," Tony said with a nod. "I come bearing good news. We finished upgrading the security system. Little Red is now safe to walk around the building."
"That's great, Tony. Thank you."
"Think nothing of it. Fitz here and I have been working through the night and we have a more long term solution in mind. We want to make Little Red a bracelet complete with shielding that would block the gamma wave detection. It'll take a few days to finish the prototype, but this should work."
"That sounds great."
"You don't know how tempted I am to just build her a suit that would whisk her away at the first sign of trouble, but Pepper thought you might prefer to keep the kid on the ground."
Natasha nodded. "Pepper wasn't wrong. Have Clint and Steve made it here yet?"
"Hours ago. I guess I should tell you, Rogers said Hawkeye and Banner filled him in about Nicole."
"Crap, I really wanted to be the one to tell him," Natasha sighed. "How did he seem?"
"Honestly, he was a little hard to read, but I'm sure it was a shock. He's probably gone straight into Captain America mode, trying to figure out how to protect his little girl. He and Clint are sleeping in their rooms. Speaking of rooms, do you want to see yours? The kid's been in the box long enough."
Natasha nodded and went to pick up her sleeping child. She was a little miffed the guys hadn't woken her when they arrived, but she reasoned that it probably wouldn't have been good if they'd accidentally woken Nicole. She could wait a few more hours to introduce Steve to his daughter. He knew so that was the important thing.
"When we set the compound up, Pepper and I decided you guys might prefer your own space. Most of the apartments are one bedroom, but Pepper, in her brilliance, suggested we should build at least a few two bedroom units in case we needed them later. Looks like you'll be getting the first of those," Tony said as he opened the door to her quarters. "Living room here, opens to the kitchen. Your room is here. There's a private bath next door, Little Red is on the other side." Tony opened the door and smiled. "I did say Pepper called in a team."
The room was adorable. One wall had a toddler bed with a pink comforter on top and a small nightstand with a ballerina lamp. There was a toy box at the end of the bed and a small kitchen playset was to the left of it. The dresser was safely anchored to the opposite wall which also graced along mirror and a ballerina bar.
"It's perfect. Tony, I don't know what to say."
"Say you'll stay. We have Cap in the apartment down the hall if you're curious."
As they were talking, Nicole opened her eyes. "Where are we?"
"This is your room," Natasha replied sitting the child down. "Your Uncle Tony and Aunt Pepper fixed it for you. What do you think?"
"Pretty," the child whispered.
"Can you tell Uncle Tony thank you?"
"Thank you."
Tony got down on the little girl's level. "Believe me, it was my pleasure. We just want to help your mom keep you safe."
"You not bad, Uncle Tony."
"Well, um, thank you Little Red. You're not so bad yourself." Tony stood back up and looked at Natasha. "Bruce and the other half of Fitzsimmons are still going over a few things. As soon as they're finished, I'll let you know. And, I'll let Capsycle know where he can find you when he wakes up."
"Thanks again, Tony."
"Fitz, to the lab. We have jewelry to make for our little princess."
After Tony and Fitz left, Natasha followed Nicole around their quarters. The child was more animated than she had been previously. Natasha laughed at her daughter's antics as she opened the kitchen cabinets and asked what each item was before pulling them all out and climbing inside. For the first time since they'd left the Shield base, Natasha really felt confident that her daughter was resilient enough to overcome everything Hydra had done to her.
Finally tired of exploring, Nicole asked for her crayons. Natasha sat with the child at the little table and they started coloring.
"Daddy draw? I awake," Nicole said with a smile.
"You have an excellent memory. I did tell you your daddy would be here to draw with you this morning. Let's get him in here, okay?"
Steve sat in the living room of the apartment Tony had assigned him. He hadn't slept much. He kept seeing Natasha and her little girl every time he closed his eyes. The idea of Hydra hurting the child or Banner's DNA causing her problems made him angry. Not that it was all Banner's fault but if the guy hadn't been so desperate to perfect the super soldier formula, Natasha wouldn't be in this mess.
It wasn't going to be easy watching Nat and Bruce play happy family, but Natasha was his friend and she sent for him. He was here to help protect them and he wasn't going to disappoint her, but as soon as they were safe he was getting out of here.
As Steve was consumed with his thoughts, Jarvis spoke through the intercom. "Captain Rogers, Ms. Romanoff requests your presence in her quarters."
"Thank you, Jarvis. I'm on my way."
Steve walked down the corridor to the apartment Tony had pointed out as Natasha's and knocked on the door. Natasha opened the door and hugged him. "Good to see you, soldier," she smiled, pulling him inside. "I really wanted to tell you the news myself."
"It's not a problem, Nat. You've kind of had your hands full," Steve replied, looking over her shoulder at the little girl. "She's beautiful. She looks like you."
"Do you really think so? All I see of me is the red hair and the rest is all-"
Before Natasha could finish her sentence, Bruce arrived behind them. "Good, you're both here. I've got news."
"Come in," Natasha said as she let go of Steve's hand. "Let's sit down."
"I can come back later," Steve replied, still standing by the door.
Natasha gave him a puzzled look. "Don't you want to know what Bruce found?"
"Uh, yes, of course," Steve replied as he took the vacant seat on the couch beside Natasha.
"It's good news," Bruce smiled, "I mean, I still wish I knew exactly how they did it but Dr. Simmons and I have gone over all the facts we have at the moment. We did a comparison of Nicole's red blood cells to my own, and where mine have little discrepancies and anomalies due to the instability caused by the gamma radiation, Nicole's blood cells are extremely consistent. Yes, she was most definitely exposed to gamma radiation during early development, but it did what my original hypothesis suggested it would do. Maybe it's because she already had the super serum in her veins, or maybe they figured out what was wrong with my calculations. We'll probably never know, but Dr. Simmons and I are sure of one thing. She isn't going to transform into something like me. She will probably be extremely strong, have near perfect health and balance, and, I would expect, she'll have enhanced intelligence. But, she's going to be okay."
Natasha let out a sigh of relief and leaned over to hug Bruce. "Thank you, Bruce. I can't tell you what a relief it is to hear those words."
"Believe me, I'm just as relieved. I don't know if I could live with myself if things had gone the other way."
Natasha sat back down beside Steve and placed her hand on his arm. "You okay? I expected you to have a little more to say, Steve."
"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking," Steve replied, thinking I'm a third wheel in this conversation he could have added. "I'm really glad she's okay," he finally finished lamely.
Nicole, who had been coloring patiently, chose that moment to slip out of her seat at the table and walk to where the adults were talking.
"Daddy draw," she demanded, looking at Natasha expectantly.
"Well, I guess I better go fill the others in on the good news. I'll see you guys a little later," Bruce said as he stood up.
Steve was dumbfounded. How could Banner not even acknowledge his own daughter's request? He was even more dumbfounded when Natasha just thanked the man again and walked him to the door.
Nicole, however, didn't seem the least bit concerned. As soon as the door was closed, she simply repeated her request. "Daddy draw now."
Steve didn't know what to say, so he looked at Natasha who was staring at him. "Well, soldier, aren't you going to answer your daughter?"
"My daughter?" Steve repeated.
Natasha gave him a worried look. "Tony said Clint and Bruce told you." When Steve still didn't respond, Natasha continued, "If you don't want to be involved, you don't have to do anything. They did all of this without our consent. I'm sure you planned on waiting and falling in love with some nice girl and settling down first, but, honestly, I just kind of thought-"
"She's my daughter?" Steve questioned. "But, Bruce and the gamma rays-"
"Wait, what exactly did they tell you?"
"Clint said she was yours then Bruce was afraid his gamma radiation had ruined her life, so I just assumed-"
"She belonged to Bruce," Natasha finished. "This is why I wanted to tell you myself. The samples Hydra used came from you and me. They used Bruce's research to enhance our daughter with gamma radiation."
"Say that last part again."
"Gamma radiation?"
"No, before that."
"Our daughter?"
"Yeah, I really like hearing you say that part. We have a daughter," Steve said looking directly at Nicole.
"Daddy draw," Nicole demanded, refusing to be put off any longer.
"Absolutely, daddy would love to draw with you," he answered looking from his daughter to her mother with a smile.
Well, we are at the end of chapter 6 and Steve finally knows about his daughter. Hope it was worth the wait. I decided you guys might kill me if I ended this chapter with another cliffhanger, but, believe me, this story isn't over.
