Natasha woke up to silence the next morning. Usually, Nicole acted as her alarm clock, so the silence was almost alarming. She got up and headed to check on her daughter. When she walked into the living room, she saw the most-heartwarming sight. Steve was sound asleep on the couch with Nicole on his chest.
The little girl opened her eyes. "Shh, Mommy. Daddy sleeping."
"I see that," Natasha said with a smile.
Steve groggily opened his eyes. "I think the road trip was too much excitement for our girl. She was up really early."
"Why didn't you bring her to my room? There's no way you were comfortable."
"I wanted to let you rest. Besides, it's one thing when Nicole insists I stay. It's completely another when I just crawl into your bed while you're sleeping. It seemed creepy."
Natasha nodded in understanding. Of course, Steve would still have a few hang ups about sharing a bed with her, especially since there hadn't been a reason for him to sleep there since the party. "Well, for future reference, you have my permission to crawl in my bed anytime you feel the need, Rogers."
Steve's face went red and Natasha realized how her words must have sounded. She also realized it had been awhile since she'd teased him, and she couldn't help but wonder why she had stopped.
"Um, okay," Steve finally said groggily.
"Why don't you go crawl in my bed now and get a little sleep. I have a meeting with Tony and Bruce this morning anyway. I'll take Nicole with me."
"A meeting? I didn't know about any meeting."
"I guess it doesn't involve you."
"I'm supposed to be the team's leader," he frowned.
"I'll fill you in later. Go to bed."
"I could just go to my place."
"You're already here. Don't be ridiculous. Just go to bed."
Steve nodded and left the room, and Natasha quickly dressed Nicole and headed to the common area's kitchen.
"Morning, Little Red. Did you come to have breakfast with your favorite uncles?"
Nicole grinned and hugged Tony and Bruce. "Daddy sleeping."
"Steve took the midnight shift with this one last night, so I just brought her along."
"Excellent," Tony smiled at the child. "How's my little Ms. Romangers this morning?"
"Romangers, Tony?" Natasha asked, arching her eyebrow.
"Romangers, it's your couple name, Romanoff and Rogers combined. It's what the internet has been calling you two ever since the video of you jumping off Cap's shield hit YouTube. You haven't seen it?"
"No," Natasha said firmly. "Can we get started? I'm not sure how long Nicole will last before she gets tired of sitting."
"Right, we had this idea-" Tony began.
"You had this idea," Bruce broke in, "for the record, I think it's a terrible idea."
"You agreed we would at least talk to Red about it," Tony chided him. "Anyway, I had this idea that might help us have a little more control of the Hulk in battle."
"Let's hear it."
"A lullaby," Tony replied. "We train in a controlled environment, of course, and you would just need to repeat the same words in a calming voice while making eye contact with the Hulk. Ideally, it'll calm him down and Banner can regain control."
"And, why me?" Natasha asked, rolling her eyes. "Is it because I'm the girl?"
Bruce had the good sense to look down, but Tony answered. "Well, only technically. See, part of the reason I think this could work has to do with voice frequencies, and the rest of us have voices that are on the low side."
"Steve's team leader. Why didn't you talk to him about this?"
"Honestly, because it's you. Do you really think he's going to like the idea of his woman trying something that could be potentially dangerous."
"Steve's woman? Really, Tony, I thought Steve was the man out of time. I'm not Steve's woman. I'm just his friend and part of his team."
"And, the mother of his child," Tony added. "But, my idea has merit."
"Nat, you don't have to do this. If anything happened to you because the Hulk got out of control-" Bruce began.
"That's why we would run drills, right?" Natasha asked. "It certainly has the potential of avoiding collateral damage. We'll try it. I'll talk to Steve."
"Great!" Tony exclaimed. "This is going to work. I just know it."
"Absolutely not!" Steve declared as soon as Natasha told him the plan. "It's insane. Hulk is unpredictable. You could be squashed."
"I can take care of myself, Steve."
"Remember the helicarrier? No, we aren't taking the risk."
"It's not we, it's me and I think the risk is minimal," Natasha declared. "If your unwillingness to try this has something to do with our current arrangement, you aren't thinking clearly. Think about the big picture."
"Current arrangement? Seriously, Nat. My big picture is Nicole and her future. That's not wrong."
"Of course it isn't but, Steve, we've already discussed going back out there. This is what we do. It's part of who we are, and being out there keeping the world safe is important for Nicole's future."
"If something happens to you out there, what am I supposed to tell our daughter?"
"The same thing I'd have to tell her is something happened to you. We knew the risk but decided saving the world was worth the cost."
Steve sighed. "If we do this, I want Hawkeye, Stark, Thor, and I suited up and ready. And, if this lullaby doesn't work, we never put you in this position again."
"If it doesn't work, I wouldn't ask you to try again. Believe it or not, Rogers, I don't have a death wish, but we owe it to Bruce to try."
Steve seemed calmer as he slouched back down on the couch. "What if something happens to both of us? We need a plan for Nicole."
"I've been thinking about that. Remember me telling you about my friends who have children?" Steve nodded. "I think they would best the best choice. They would keep her safe."
"I don't even know them, Nat. Don't you think we should pick someone who understands that Nicole is special. We have no idea what she'll be capable of in a few years."
"True, but these people could handle it. I think if you were to go with me to the farm, you'd agree. I'll be back in a few minutes. I want to tell you everything, but the secret isn't mine to share."
Steve nodded and Natasha went down the hall. Clint's apartment was on the other side of Steve's. He answered on the first knock.
"Where's the mini?" Clint asked as she stepped inside.
"With Steve," Natasha replied. "I have a favor. I need to tell Steve about Laura and the kids."
"Kind of figured that would have to happen before Laura could get her hands on Nicole. We've already discussed it. I trust Cap."
"Come with me?" she asked.
Clint followed Natasha back to her quarters. Steve hadn't moved. He looked deep in thought. "I couldn't tell you until I talked to Clint, but the farm belongs to him."
"You've got a farm?" Steve asked.
"It's a secret. Fury kept everything off the books when I joined Shield. At the time, it was just me and Laura. Cooper was born not long after Nat defected. Lila is about a year older than Nicole. It's a safe place. We would love to have you, Nat, and Nicole visit. It's Nat's home, too."
"I had no idea," Steve replied.
"Well, that was kind of the point. Keeping them out of the public eye keeps them safe."
The next morning, Natasha and Steve dropped Nicole off with Happy and suited up for the first time since her arrival. The plan was simple. Make Bruce angry enough to become the Hulk, let him run off some energy, and, finally, send in Natasha to calm him down.
Natasha looked back at Steve through the Hulk-proof glass and smiled confidently. She knew he was worried about her, and she had to admit, it was kind of nice to have someone who cared so much about her. Even though he hadn't brought up his feelings for her since their fight, she could see them when he looked at her. She wished she felt the same way, but she just wasn't programmed for romantic love. Lust was easy. Friendship was something she had finally managed to achieve. Loving Nicole was as easy as breathing, but loving Steve the way he loved her just didn't fit her skill set. She wanted him in her life way too much to fake it just so she could guarantee his interests never went elsewhere.
Again, Sharon Carter's face came to mind. She hated feeling threatened by the other woman, but if Steve fell for Sharon, everything would change. Natasha really liked having Steve and Nicole to herself. Maybe, she needed to find Steve someone he could be with who wasn't so perfect, someone who wouldn't want to change the status quo. As soon as the thought entered her head, she dismissed it. The honest truth was she didn't want to share Steve with anyone.
Tony gave the signal and Natasha approached the Hulk. He looked confused at first, but by the time she finished saying the words Tony had her memorize, Bruce was regaining control. They'd done it! They had a way to deal with the Hulk.
Steve picked Natasha up and spun her around as soon as the others joined them in the practice room. She was pretty sure he kissed her hair, but she didn't say anything. This was a reason to celebrate. Friends hug, so she could completely justify the moment. Maybe hugs from Clint or Thor didn't give her butterflies, but she'd never said she wasn't attracted to Steve. She just wasn't in love with him, was she?
His phone rang as soon as he put her down. "It's Sharon. I'll be right back."
Natasha nodded and tried not to focus on how much she missed the physical contact after he'd pulled away. She talked to the guys and they were all extremely happy with the results of their experiment. When Steve came back in a few minutes later, she flashed him a smile.
"They found Bucky in Madrid."
"That's great, Steve," Natasha replied.
"There was a little altercation with the local authorities and Sam was injured. He's okay, but he needs to fly home and recover. Sharon needs Bucky to go back to Berlin with her, so they can convince her boss he's stable and he wasn't responsible for his actions. He's afraid. Nat, I need to go to him. Sharon won't be able to finish this alone."
Natasha nodded. "Great," she thought, "Steve will basically be alone with Sharon for who knows how long while Barnes is being processed. I'm losing him."
The scene between Natasha, Tony, and Bruce is my head canon for how the lullaby came into being. I don't think it would have started out as a romantic thing. I really didn't see the Brutasha thing at all, but I won't be vilifying Bruce in this story. I didn't see Sharon/Steve either, but I'm not going to vilify her either (well, I may vilify her a little in Natasha's mind). Hope you guys are still enjoying this story. We all know Natasha is already in love. She just doesn't even know how to recognize the symptoms. Silly Nat!
