DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Marvel.
About the last names: Natasha was signing James's birth certificate. I don't know about other countries, but here, a child must have both parents surnames listed on their birth certificate (and the father goes first). Of course there are exceptions, but that's usually how it works here. That's why we saw James's full name. But if we get down to it, he's little James Rogers.
"So… FRIDAY told me you choose to keep the child. That's nice… I think" Tony stated as soon as Steve and Natasha walked into his lab, not even glancing at them as he tinkered with his new Iron Man suit.
"You must know how this happened, so start talking" Steve said forcefully, stepping closer to Tony who wasn't fazed, as he aimed the new repulsor in his hand to him.
"I was not involved in your unfreezing, Capsicle. Ask Romanoff or Barton. Fury and Coulson were in charge, if you wanna point fingers, there you have it" he shrugged, adjusting the repulsor one more time before shooting behind him.
"I don't believe you" Steve moved to turn Tony around, but was stopped by a glare from Natasha.
"I know you don't, witchy witch and speedy might as well be your kids too in that sense, because when everything goes south I'm always the one to blame. But if I'm honest Cap, I really didn't want to meet the guy my dad spent most of his life talking about. My bad."
"Tony, do you have anything useful for us here?" Natasha asked sensing things were getting serious. The last thing they needed was a battle breaking in the lab, something Pepper would no doubt be pissed off about.
"FRIDAY, please print all the info we got for them again. I haven't told Fury about this, so I'll leave the yelling to you. The other samples we recovered are frozen in the facility; you choose what you wanna do with them, because it's not really my problem. I can set a temporary apartment at the tower, while you or Steve or whoever gets to keep the child and raise it finds a new place to stay. Once you do, I'm stepping up the security there"
"We will discuss it later. And I'm sorry, I didn't meant to bring back old memories" Steve apologized, but Tony simply shrugged and waved them off, shooting at another target before taking off the glove.
"Hey, I'd be pissed too if I was in your place, Cap. But I think we have bigger things to worry about… well… you two got a bigger issue to worry about. Now get out. I don't want you to see this baby yet"
Steve nodded, grabbing the newly printed papers and heading towards the door with Natasha right behind, stopping briefly "I really am sorry, Tony"
"Whatever. The old man did find a way to keep me alive at the end. But I'm pretty sure he didn't wanted me to create that atom for that"
"Feel free to visit with Pepper tonight. I'm sure she'll like that" Natasha replied, pushing Steve out of the door.
"Seriously Steve?" she huffed as they made their way to the silver SI's Audi Steve usually drove to work.
"I'm sorry. But there was a robot that he created and almost destroyed our world. I know Tony is a very smart man, but I don't particularly trust his inventions"
Natasha groaned in frustration, opening the door of the car and tossing the papers she took from Steve inside. "And you thought he would help HYDRA create a child out of us?" she glared, sitting in.
"I got it Natasha. I'm sorry."
They drove mostly in silence to the facility, intending on having a serious conversation with Fury.
"Why… Tony made a reference to Wanda and Pietro…" Steve wondered as he turned into the hidden road leading to the facility.
"A Stark Industries bomb blew up the apartment they used to live in. Their parents died and they held a grudge on Tony ever since."
"He used to build weapons-"
"Obadiah Stern was Howard's right hand until he died. He took over Stark Industries while Tony finished school. He was trading weapons with criminal organizations, something Tony was unaware of, until it was too late. A bomb literally blew on him" she paused "The bombs that brought down the Maximoff's apartment, along with a big part of Sokovia were sold by Obadiah. Makes no difference in the people's eyes tho…"
"And you know all this because…"
"Fury gave me the ins and outs of Tony Stark before he sent me as Natalie Rushman there. All I had to do was put two and two together once I met the twins. Pietro has let it go, that fancy car sure helped. Wanda is… Wanda. She'll move on someday" she grabbed the papers and got off the car as Steve parked outside the facility, not even waiting for him as she walked into the facility and made a bee line towards Fury's new office.
"Oh no. Cap and Widow are back… does it means we are getting our butts kicked?" Rhodey joked as soon as he saw them, but his smile faltered at the glare Natasha sent his way. "Okay, not in the mood. See you later, Nat"
Steve caught up with her a few moments later, and they both stood for a moment, taking a deep breath as they stepped into the office.
"Romanoff. Rogers. I thought I sent you to the suburbs to look after a charge"
"Oh and he's safe, but that's not why we are here" Natasha stated, placing the folder in his desk and sliding it to him.
He eyed the duo, but took the folder anyways, and if he was fazed by the information in it, he didn't show it.
"So he's your son… well… HYDRA sure as hell got creative" he stated as he placed the folder down, locking his office in the process.
"You took samples from my… my sperm and froze it hoping for what?" Steve spat out angrily, hands in a fist "Were you planning on creating your new damn soldier without telling me?"
"It's not like that, Rogers. The samples were taken in the hopes of figuring out more about the serum. Dr. Banner was supposed to take a look but never got the chance. When SHIELD collapsed, those samples disappeared"
"And you didn't think it would be important letting me know that? How can I ever trust you when you are always pulling stunts like this?"
"I don't need your trust, Cap. You need mine and you have it. And I'm sorry this happened, but at least we recovered the samples and they are safe here. Captain…"
"Destroy them!"
"No"
Both men in the room turned to look at Natasha, who had moved towards a window where you could see New York's skyline.
"Natasha…"
"RedRoom and KGB did a lot of things to me, and my body, that I had no choice in. If you want to have your samples destroyed, then go ahead. But mine will stay frozen"
"You want more kids"
"I wanna know that I will have a chance to have a family if I ever quit this life"
Steve clenched his jaw and turned towards Fury "He stays out of our files and out of the people's knowledge. If you have to stage a death so HYDRA believe James passed away, do it. And unless there's an actual emergency, do not call us in"
Fury could see the duo was worked up, and decided the easy way was to simply agree and let them be. He knew they wouldn't be able to stay away too long, but they needed time and he understood.
They made their way back to the house in complete silence, and Steve had barely parked the car before Natasha was out of it and walking towards the house.
"Well, that was fast" Wanda smiled at them as they walked into the house, James sound asleep in her lap. Vision waved at them from the kitchen, where he apparently was making lunch.
"Where's Pietro?" Steve asked, nodding at Vision as he approached Wanda.
"Lunch date with his girlfriend. Don't ask, he won't even let me meet her. I only know what she looks like because I picked his mind"
Natasha moved towards her and picked the baby off her lap, walking past them and moving to where he presumed was the nursery.
"Meeting with Stark didn't go well?"
"Stark, Fury… This is one big mess we got ourselves into…" Steve sighed, plowing on the couch next to Wanda as Vision passed them some lunch.
"If it helps to lighten your mood, little James behavior was well within the parameters of a child his age. He does seems to be harder to tire out" Vision stated as he sat across his girlfriend, his human appearance fading slightly.
"He has the serum, Vizsh. We guess that makes him extra fussier. Thanks for looking after him; you can go if you want to"
"Once we are done with Lunch. Go upstairs; I think Natasha needs someone to talk" Wanda smiled, waving him off.
-00-
"So… How are we going to do this?" Steve asked as he stepped into the nursery, Natasha was sitting on the rocking chair again, cuddling James to her chest.
"What do you mean?"
"He's our responsibility now. And HYDRA will try to get to him, even if Fury can pull off a funeral for a child"
She sighed, eyes refocusing on their son before she spoke again "I can't simply quit being Black Widow. And you can't quit being Captain America. I guess we need to find someone we feel it's qualified to protect him. I'm sure Coulson and Hill can help with that. Pepper…"
He nodded, moving to sit next to her and run a hand through James's tiny red curls "If you wanna hold him, you can. I don't think you've held him since we found out"
He wasn't sure how it happened, but suddenly his son was in his arms and all the bubbled up feeling came up. Anger. Happiness. Fear. It all hit him like a wave and there were tears trailing down his cheeks and landing on his son's hands.
"He's so tiny. How can... he can't fight. If something happens and we are not here he won't be able to fight. It's-"
"Frightening. But what else can we do asides from fighting back?" Natasha knew how he felt, but the amount of love she felt for her son was strong enough to ensure she would tear the world apart if it meant he was safe.
Steve was quiet for a while, and she left the room once she was sure his meltdown had passed. She got herself some lunch and double-checked the security in the house before heading to her bedroom. If Steve or James needed her, she was sure FRIDAY would let her know.
She wasn't sure when she had fallen asleep, but she woke up to the feel of her bed dipping and strong arms holding her hands in place as she reached for her gun. "It's Steve"
She groaned, pulling her hands away and readjusting the gun, shifting her body so he could lay down if he wanted to.
"Do you really want more children? I don't wanna pry I'm just… I'm curious"
"Are we having this conversation right now? I'm trying to take a nap" she stated flatly, her walls going up.
"Don't shut me out, Nat. You can't do that now that we have James"
She groaned, turning on the bed to face him, sighing "I don't know. Probably not. I mean, I never expected to be a mother. But he's here… I guess I wanna have that door available to knock it if I find the right person…" she replied, before frowning "and I will shut you or anyone out if I have to. I can't compromise those around me any more than they already are"
He lay down next to her on the bed, letting her words sink in. She thought that maybe he would let it go, but of course, he was Steven Grant Rogers, he never let anything go.
"We should try this… We kissed and we agreed to let it happen… I-… James deserves a family, and I think we should try"
"Steve…"
"We've been living in this pretend life for a few weeks, and I don't know about you Nat, but I like it. I love it. And every time I see you with James I wish it was actually my life. There's more in life than being an Avenger. I know that now, and I want you to see it too"
"I see it too…"
"No you don't" he turned on the bed to face her "You think there's so much red in your ledger that you will taint him. He doesn't know who we are. He doesn't see us as a master assassin or a super soldier. He sees us as his parents. And you have to admit it feels nice. He is ours, no matter how that happened, he's ours and we won't let him go"
"So what do you want us to do?"
"We start over. Somewhere else. Just you, me and the baby. Let's make this our real life. We owe it to ourselves and James"
She thought about it for a moment. She could have the life she never thought she's get if she wanted. It was right there. All the times she saw Clint with his children, the pang she felt when she thought it would never be possible… and now she had Steve asking her to build that life with him.
"You think you are the one for me, soldier?" she asked, trying to blink away tears that threatened to fall down her cheeks.
"Y-Yes. And I think we deserve happiness, Nat. I know you don't believe it, but we do. And I think this is fate, if you wanna call it that way and-"
"If I kiss you, will you stop rambling?"
"Y-Yes…" she almost laughed at how flushed he got as she moved towards him, hands on his chest.
"Good" she kissed him lightly "Now we need to find a place to live, our own place to live. I refuse to let James turn into another Tony Stark"
AN: Sorry about the delay. I got one word for you: College. Also... Chapter 8 is ready and so fluffy it's not healthy, but... you'll have to wait and see... As usual R/R and let me know what you think! -OHP
