Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Avengers or any of the characters.
Natasha let out a frustrated sigh before she could stop herself, quickly looking over at her husband to see if she'd woken him. Steve still slept soundly, curled up on his side, face half buried in his pillow. She seriously envied him. She really was tired but her back ached so much that no position seemed to be helping. Afraid that her twisting and turning would wake Steve, Natasha slipped from the bed and padded quietly from the room shutting the door behind her. She made her way over to an exercise mat she'd set up in the living room. Exercise was supposed to be one of the main things that helped a woman experiencing back pain from pregnancy and sometimes it did help her. She had a feeling it wouldn't tonight as she could feel what felt like the baby's foot lodged against her lower spine. Maybe a little activity would get her baby boy to move into a more comfortable position.
Natasha did about fifteen minutes of back exercises before giving up, thinking that her giant bathtub with jets might do the trick. The bathroom was pretty luxurious with a bathtub that could easily fit two and also had a separate shower. She peeked in on Steve, making sure she hadn't woke him before shutting the bathroom door and starting to fill the tub. She added her favorite bath bubbles and lit one her aroma therapy candles before pulling off her nightgown and studying herself in the floor length mirror.
Natasha was nearing eight months in her pregnancy and her belly was now very prominent. She could no longer wear a loose t-shirt to hide the pregnancy and she hadn't left the tower in over a month. The last time was to check in with the obstetrician who would now be coming to the tower for future checkups. Tony and Bruce made sure to bring in all the equipment the doctor would need, setting it up in an unused lab room and unless circumstances demanded otherwise Natasha would also be giving birth in the tower, as well. She didn't really appreciate the idea of giving birth to the baby in the tower but a hospital was just too risky.
Steve was trying his best to help her keep her sanity by getting her anything she could possibly want or need but really all she wanted was to take a walk outside. She understood why she couldn't but it didn't make it any easier. For a while she'd been able to distract herself with setting up the baby's room. It was painted a soft blue and crème color and was all set up with a crib, changing table, dresser and toys. The room looked great and Natasha was pretty proud of herself. Others had helped, of course, but Natasha had done most of the work, claiming it gave her something to do. She just wished she'd slowed it down. Now she had nothing to do but wonder around the tower and shove food in her face. She didn't get any weird pregnancy cravings but it felt like she was always hungry and she was pretty sure she'd horrified the guys plenty of times with how much she would manage to eat in one setting. Natasha had always had a pretty decent appetite but she'd always been pretty active too. Now she wasn't as active and was eating almost three times as much as she normally did and she still hadn't gained any weight besides what was expected for the pregnancy. One night after managing to tuck away an entire pizza all by herself plus a side salad since she was still hungry and felt slightly guilty about the pizza Tony had stared at her in disturbed awe asking bluntly where she managed to put it all. Natasha simply shrugged her shoulders, not really paying attention to him, instead eyeing a particularly yummy looking piece of meat lovers. Bruce pointed out that if she was indeed pregnant with a super soldier baby then her appetite made perfect sense but as Natasha made a grab for the slice of meat lovers they still cringed.
Tub now full, Natasha secured her hair up in messy bun and carefully stepped into the tub. She turned the jets on high, pointed them at her aching lower back and settled her head back against a towel on the edge of the tub. She felt the baby move inside her and sighed as the feeling of pressure against her spine was mostly relieved. There was still some pain but she was sure the bath would help with that.
She must have dozed off because the next thing she knew Steve was leaning over the bathtub draining the now cool water from the tub. "I'm sorry. Did I wake you?" She asked drowsily.
"No, you didn't. I rolled over and you weren't there so I came looking. Is your back hurting again?" Steve asked concerned.
"It was but I feel much better now." She said as she pushed herself up, grabbing onto Steve's arm so he could pull her the rest of the way out of the tub.
Steve grabbed a towel and started to pat her dry, "I wish you would have waked me up. I could have massaged your back for you."
"I didn't because you need sleep too. No sense in both of us going without sleep."
He finished patting her dry, grabbing her nightgown and pulling it down over her before swinging her tired, swaying body up in his arms and taking her back to bed. "I don't want you hurting if there's something I can do to help." Steve insisted.
Natasha mumbled something incoherently as Steve settled her onto the bed. He let it go, knowing he wouldn't be getting anything else out of her tonight. He threw the blankets over them both and pulled her into his arms, resting his head against hers as she snuggled back into him. Steve caressed his hand along Natasha's belly, feeling their son press against his palm and fell asleep with a smile on his lips.
The sun was streaming in through the windows when Natasha woke that morning, rolling onto her back and stretching languorously she happily noticed she was without back pain. The clock read almost nine but surprisingly her husband was still sound asleep, laying on his side facing her with an arm pitched up over his head, mouth hanging open and hair sticking out every which way.
Husband. Her husband. The thought managed to make her giddy every time. After the paper work had been settled her and Steve had married two weeks after he'd proposed. It had been a small affair with just the Avengers and their significant others present and it was the best day of her life. Tony even got to set up a party for them and he had been tasteful about it too.
Now Natasha eyed her husband, remembering how he'd taken care of her last night and decided Steve deserved a pleasant wake up call. She flung off the blanket and moved over closer to him reaching her hand through his boxers and carefully pulled him through the opening. She stroked him gently so as not to wake him up and leaned down to take him into her mouth. Her mouth watered around his cock as she swirled her tongue wetly around the head, feeling him grow harder under her ministrations. She heard him let out a soft groan, shifting restlessly but still not waking. Steve's cock was now fully erect as she slid her tongue up to tease at the slit but before she could continue she felt his hand thread into her hair, gently guiding her away from him and pulling her up to seal his lips over hers.
"G' morning." Steve said against her lips, his voice still thick from sleep but already reaching between her legs and pushing his fingers through her slick folds.
Natasha only managed to moan back a reply as Steve's fingers circled around her opening, occasionally teasing his fingertips in and out. She reached for his boxers, shoving them down his hips and he stopped stroking her to slip them off the rest of the way and then divested Natasha of her nightgown. Steve propped himself up a bit with the pillows before pulling her over him to straddle his hips and guiding her sheath down around his cock so she could ride him. Grasping her hips in his hands he helped to guide their rhythm while thrusting his own hips up to meet hers. Natasha clenched around him rocking herself onto him with earnest and Steve started to follow suit before catching himself with a curse, gripping her hips a bit tighter to slow down and gentle her pace. Steve didn't want to hold back but rough sex wasn't good at this point in the pregnancy. Natasha let out a displeased moan at being forced to slow their pace, leaning forward to capture his mouth with hers. Steve grinned against her lips and tilted his hips so that his thrusts were now rubbing right against her sweet spot again and again. She cried out as her orgasm washed over her and she jerked her hips into his wildly trying to make the pleasure last. Feeling her muscles contract around him Steve let out a strangled moan, cumming hard and unable to keep his hips from pumping up hard into hers. They came down slowly still grinding their hips together. When they'd calmed down enough Steve still felt her walls fluttering around him so he lifted her off him before her body coaxed him into taking her again. He tucked her into his side, holding her to him and laying his hand over her belly to feel their son move against his palm.
They laid in content silence before Natasha's stomach let out a rumbling growl. "Surprise, surprise," She laughed. "I'm hungry." Steve laughed too as he helped her from the bed. "What sounds good for breakfast?" He asked.
"Pancakes, waffles, French toast, bacon, toast, sausage…" Natasha said giving Steve a look that said she could continue.
Steve laughed, "Okay so everything. I'm sure we can manage that."
After getting breakfast the day progressed slowly without any calls for the Avengers. Such days were mostly rare and had most of the team trying to make up for lost time. Tony and Bruce spent most of the day messing around in their labs, Clint and Natasha had started a movie marathon with no particular theme while Thor and Steve sparred in the gym. When Thor and Steve had finished throwing each other around they joined in the movie marathon where Natasha and Clint would take turns explaining different parts of the movies to them. Steve caught on fast but there were still a few things he needed explained whereas Thor was much worse and didn't understand why some things were considered funny. Clint and Natasha was patient with them both and actually enjoyed pointing out things about their favorite movies.
It wasn't until after they'd eaten dinner and the sun had started to set that Jarvis called them with an alert, summoning them to the command room. When they were all assembled Jarvis started playing a news feed of men in black uniforms laying waste to the Capitol building in Washington DC.
"Do we know who they are Jarvis?" Tony asked.
"No one is claiming responsibility for the attack but…" And the screen stopped and zoomed in to one of the men, bringing into focus the symbol on his uniform.
"Hydra." Steve breathed out.
"We can't assume they're really Hydra yet." Tony said. "Hydra is supposed to still be in shambles. They wouldn't be able to pull themselves together enough for an attack like this."
"Or they just wanted us to believe they were in shambles until they could pull off something like this." Clint said.
Natasha frowned, "Attacking the Capitol building doesn't really seem like their style. What could they possibly be after?"
"It doesn't matter. There are civilians out there. We need to go. Everyone suit up. Meet at the quinjet in ten." Steve said rushing out of the room, the rest of the men following.
Natasha stayed in the command room, studying the news feed still playing. The attack didn't seem right. The men didn't seem to be attacking with any order; rather they were just shooting at people and things randomly. Could they really be Hydra? They'd never been so sloppy before but then maybe it was because they had no real leadership. Oh well, they'd deal with the reasoning of it later. Natasha put on an earpiece and went to meet the men in the hanger.
Steve was already there in his suit, swinging his shield onto his back when she arrived, the others already loading into the jet. He turned to her, pulling her in for a kiss. "This may take a while. Don't stay up all night watching us. Jarvis will keep an eye out and Pepper should be swinging by some time tonight."
"I know Steve. I'll be fine. Worry about the mission and not me. Be careful. I love you." She told him sternly and kissing him again before shooing him towards the jet.
Natasha watched the jet fly off before going back to the command center to settle in for a long night. Steve told her not to stay up but she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep with all of them out there fighting. Not to mention she really just couldn't sleep without Steve beside her.
It was roughly half an hour later and she was still keeping an eye on guys fighting from the command center when the lights went out, taking the news feed with it. Startled, Natasha sat in complete darkness. Well, that was new. "Jarvis?" She called but no answer came.
That was strange. There should have been backup lights that came on. Natasha remembered though that she kept an extra set of wrist cuffs in here that were equipped with L.E.D. lights. They were small but would be better than nothing. Now all she had to do was get from the middle of the room to the far side where she had stored them in a drawer with her other gadgets without falling on her face. She stood up from the desk moving around the side and immediately smacked her knee on the corner. She cursed, rubbing the pain away before continuing with her hands out in front of her looking for the wall. Finding it, she felt along until she came to the built in cupboards, counting them until she found the one she needed. Pulling open the drawer she found her cuffs and slipped them onto her wrists, turning on the lights.
Now she had a little light but what could she do about the power? Sadly, absolutely nothing. Sure she could hack a computer but not if it didn't have power. She didn't know how to fix a power outage. The fact that this was happening at all was strange and had her feeling something more was wrong than a simple outage. She knew Tony had other safeguards in place for times like these so why weren't they working? The guys had other more pressing things to worry about at the moment but still the situation felt off and she activated the homing device on her cuffs that would signal the other Avengers that she was having a problem. Hopefully the power going off in the tower wouldn't affect it working. Then because the off feeling was growing she pulled out the pair of pistols she also kept in the drawer, checking the clips she slid one into her waistband behind her back.
Natasha looked around the command center deciding that next she should check out the rest of the tower. The command center was located on a middle floor and she wasn't about to trek up and down all the stairs to the other floors because the elevator wasn't working but she would at least verify that this floor was safe. Maybe it would turn out she was rusty after all the time off and the feeling in her gut was wrong. She could only hope it was that easy. Then she remembered her cell phone lying on the desk. She reached for it thinking she could get a hold of the guys that way for sure. Turning on the screen it said no signal at the top but she tried calling Tony anyway. The others didn't carry phones onto the field but she knew Tony would get it through his suit. All she was graced with was the annoying beeping that indicated she really didn't have a signal. Yea, her gut was right, something was definitely wrong. The power going out was one thing but her cell phone too? Not just a coincidence.
Natasha stepped out of the command center and made her way down the hall, wincing at how loud she was. Being eight months pregnant sure didn't help her stealth. She stepped around a bend in the hall that would lead her to one of the many labs. This hall was lined with windows and she could see that the tower was the only one being effected by the power outage. All the other surrounding buildings still shone brightly. She was momentarily distracted by the view outside when she took the blow to the back of her head, making her lose her balance as whoever struck her swung her around into the wall thrusting their arm into her throat and holding her there. Still unable to focus she felt her attacker grabbing her arm with the pistol and simply squeezing until she let the gun go with a cry of pain.
Natasha stood pressed into the wall and leaning heavily into the attackers arm, trying to blink the world back into focus and ignore the pain in the back of her skull. Her attacker grabbed at both of her wrist holding them immobile in his hand.
"My apologies Mrs. Rogers, I wish I could have handled you with more care. I was afraid you would do damage to yourself and your child if I did not act quickly." The man spoke with a heavy accent but Natasha's mind was still trying to take in his face and she couldn't immediately place it.
"We really must be making our exit now. Please don't make this any harder than it needs to be." He said as he tried pulling her from the wall. Natasha could feel her panic rising and refused to move, flattening herself against the wall, wishing she could melt into it. His face became clear and she gasped in disbelief.
"No! You're dead!" Now Natasha could place the accent. German! Johann Shmidt, the Red Skull, stood before her and now she could see that no depiction of this man had ever gotten right just how terrifying he was up close. She'd read every file on this man, remembered everything Steve had told her. This man was a monster and his cruelty knew no bounds and he was there to take her and her baby. She knew she couldn't fight him. Even if she wasn't eight months pregnant she still would have had quite a fight trying to get away from him.
"Yes, your husband certainly tried but as you can see I survived just as he did." Shmidt said as he flaunted his knowledge of her and Steve's marriage in her face.
"How?" Natasha's mind was rushing but she knew if she could keep him talking it might buy her some time, either for her to make a plan or for the guys to make it back.
"You'll have to be more specific, my dear. I imagine you are referring to how I know about you and Captain America or how I managed to live. I don't know how I managed to live after touching the cube. I awoke in a Hydra base after being in a coma for seventy years only to see that Captain America also managed to live. I know about you because ever since I've awakened I've been watching him, waiting for the perfect moment to destroy him. It was so thoughtful of him to give me the means in the form of his wife and future child. The serum running through that child's veins may be the key to making mine whole!" Shmidt yelled as his anger grew. He jerked her from the wall and Natasha decided she couldn't wait any longer. She couldn't let him take her. Shmidt still had a hold on her wrists as she adjusted the angle and fired her stingers up into his face. He let go her wrists screaming and clutching his face as a burst of white light engulfed them and the glass behind Shmidt shattered. Natasha ducked behind him, avoiding the glass and running back to the command room. She thought it might have been Thor's lightning that broke the windows but she couldn't wait around to find out. Shmidt was reported as having the same speed as Steve. She needed to put distance between them now.
Natasha made it back into the command center shutting the heavy doors behind her and sliding the manual bolt into place. Tony was sure there was never going to be a need for it, saying nothing would get into the tower but he'd still made sure that the command center had been equipped with everything that could turn it into a sort of panic room. She hoped the doors would be strong enough to keep Shmidt out.
Natasha backed into the room, pulling her other pistol from her pants but dropped it as a wave of pain ripped across her stomach and abdomen. She cried out and fell against the desk with another ripple of pain but she didn't need to wonder at it when she felt the rush of wetness run down her thighs. With fear, she realized she was going into labor.
