A/N: Hey guys! You know the drill! This is a longer chapter…you have been warned. (I am also looking for a beta, just PM me if you're interested.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or the Avengers, but it would be cool if I did.


Chapter 5: Unless You Say So

Natasha POV

"Ugh…"

I rolled out of bed and felt like I was going to vomit. My head hurt and I couldn't see straight. I picked up a shirt off the floor and buttoned it up. Thank God it was long enough to use as a cover up. I ran to the bathroom and when I found Bruce in there leaning up against the wall, trying to steady his breathing, I just pushed past him and barfed in the toilet.

I had a massive hangover from last night. All I remember was doing shots with everyone but Beth, Steve, Jane, Thor, Hill and Coulson.

I don't know if I was the last one standing, but I think I was in the final round against Fury, and that's all that happened last night.

Bruce got up and brushed his teeth, I sat with my back against the wall and asked,

"Bruce what happened last night?"

He looked at his reflection in the mirror ; he went wide eyed and his toothbrush stuck out of his mouth at an odd angle, which would've been comical if I wasn't so nauseated. He spat, rinsed and turned to me.

"Well I'll be 100% honest if you promise that you won't try to kill me."

"Bruce, I can barely speak without a wave of nausea taking me over, how will I kill you?"

"Touché my dear."

"Well? What happened?

"Uh…" he took a deep breath, "We kind of had sex."

My mind went blank.

"I must've heard you wrong. Did you say we had sex?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

Bruce looked down and offered me a hand up off the floor, but I was still shocked that we had done it. Then it hit me and I grabbed Bruce's hand and ignored the wave of nausea that washed over me as I brushed my teeth. I ran over to Bruce's room and picked up my clothes from his bedroom floor. I had to work fast before…

The door opened and Tony sauntered in, stopped and gawked at me. It was then that I realized how strange this must look to him. I was wearing Bruce's oversized dress shirt and picking up my clothes from his bedroom floor. I just smiled nervously as Tony held up two cups with Alka-Seltzer in them to cure the headache that came with a hangover and said in a stunned voice,

"T-take them, this isn't my business, I don't care what, or who, you or Bruce do in your spare time as long as you-" he was cut off by Bruce yelling,

"Natasha, I hope you're on some sort of birth control, because I forgot to pack protection!"

"…Use protection.", Tony finished, giving me a defeated look.

"Bruce, I'm on the pill and I'm going to get the morning-after pill too. "

The pill should prevent an accident from happening. Tony sat down the cups and ran out of the room saying,

"I didn't see anything. I swear to you that your secret is safe with me!"

I got up and knocked back the Alka-Seltzer as Bruce came out of the bathroom and sat on the edge of the bed with his head buried in his hands.

"Natasha, I am so sorry. That was a horrible mistake I made last night, I shouldn't have even been drinking. It's my fault if something bad happens as a result of all this."

My heart sank and I picked up his cup of Alka-Seltzer and brought it over to him. I sank down on the bed and hugged him. I said,

"In my opinion, it takes two to tango and if anything comes out of this, then it will be both of our faults." I paused before continuing,

"You remember yesterday when I came out of the tunnels and you asked me what was wrong and I said I was only glad to have killed him?"

Bruce looked at me confusedly,

"Yeah? What about it?"

"There was something wrong with me, that's why I did all those shots and got wasted last night…I wanted to forget what had happened."

Bruce noticed my ashen expression and pulled me into a hug after downing his drink. I know it was out of my character to turn into a blubbering heap but the emotional pain of being raped by that sicko and then keeping something as big as that from Bruce just tore me to bits. I couldn't help it and I just started bawling my eyes out into his chest. I suppose I had better tell him what happened in the tunnels.

"B-Bruce, don't get mad at me for this, but yesterday I was… I was raped by the Ripper."

Bruce just pulled me closer and let me cry as he rocked me back and forth.

"Why would I ever get mad at you for something you had no control over?"

He held me for what seemed like hours before saying,

"In my professional opinion, I don't think that the morning-after pill would mix too smoothly with the alcohol, your painkillers for broken ribs, the Alka-Seltzer or your pill. You might get the wrong mix of drugs in your system and they may react badly with each other." He tipped my chin upwards and looked me in my eyes,

" And, for the record, I will never be mad at you, nor will the Hulk."

"Really?" I asked.

"The Hulk is the first one that told me I had feelings for you, he would never hurt you."

He wiped away my tears with his thumb

"You know I would never hurt you either."

I nodded and said,

"I honestly don't know what I would do without you."

Bruce kissed me on my forehead and said,

"I don't know about you, but I want to go wakeboarding and enjoy this Hawaiian paradise before we go back to New York City next week."

I dried my tears and stood up,

"I want to sleep off this hangover first." And left the room.


Bruce POV

Two and a half weeks later…

I was working in the laboratory with Tony when Clint walked in and asked me, raising his voice over the Led Zeppelin song that Tony had blasting,

"What's wrong with Natasha?"

I looked up in confusion at Clint's mildly angry face.

"I have no clue what you're talking about." I replied calmly and went back to looking at a sample of my own blood, trying to determine how I could better control the Hulk.

He slammed his fist down on the lab table, causing me to jump and the corked test tube with my blood fell and smashed onto the floor. I looked up at Clint, he was positively infuriated. I was struggling to regain some composure and keep from Hulking out on Clint.

"I don't know what's wrong with Natasha. It may come as a surprise to you, but I don't need to know every detail and every dirty little secret Natasha has. I won't force her to tell me something if she doesn't want to. Quite frankly, I don't know or want to know how you run things with Serena in your PERSONAL relationship, but the way Natasha and I conduct ourselves in our PERSONAL relationship is none of your business. I trust Natasha to come to me when she has something to say. We are two consenting adults and I can assure you that nothing is wrong!" I snarled at Clint and his eyebrows shot upwards in fear.

Well that escalated quickly.

Tony was giving me this look like, "You better check yourself before you wreck everything in here." ,and I sighed in exasperation.

Clint looked at me in resignation and said,

"Sorry Bruce, it's just that Natasha is the closest thing to a sister-figure that I've ever had. I've been noticing how her eating habits have changed and how she isn't seen before eleven in the morning anymore. I only got genuinely worried this morning when she missed a target on the gun range and even more concerned when she was taken down in a sparring match in approximately ten minutes by Serena. I immediately assumed that you guys were having a lover's quarrel and came down to cuss you out."

"Well Clint," Tony added, "You know what happens when you assume stuff right?"

Clint sighed and rolled his eyes before saying in a monotonous voice,

"When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me."

The billionaire began applauding the archer sarcastically before returning to his current project.

I was worried about Natasha now. She never lost in a sparring match or missed a target. I asked Clint,

"Where is she now?"

"Uh in her room I think."

I cleaned up my blood and broken glass off the floor before I ran out of the laboratory and to the elevator, taking it up to Natasha's floor, where I knocked on her door.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, Bruce, can I come in?"

"Yeah sure come in, I'm in the bathroom right now, Jane is in here too so maybe you guys can talk about some scientific stuff while I finish up in here."

I came in and found Jane sitting on the small sofa in Natasha's sitting room and started chatting about the twins. Natasha finally emerged in ten minutes and I looked up at her and she had the most confused look on her face. She said,

"Um, Jane, can I have a word with you, in private?"

When she noticed my confused look she just said,

"I need a female opinion, no offense."

"It's fine, take your time. Remember, I'm a doctor and I'm here if you need a professional opinion."

"Thanks Bruce."

"No problem."

I sat there as Jane walked over to the bathroom and the door closed behind the two. I could hear them speaking in hushed tones, yet I couldn't pick up on anything other than when Jane almost squealed "What?" in a shocked tone and Natasha hissed at her to keep her voice down.

When they emerged, Jane had a shocked expression and she fixed a fake smile onto her face, before scurrying out of the room.

Natasha turned to me and sighed as she sank down on the sofa. I got right to the point,

"Clint has been noticing changes in your behavior… we all have, and I just want to ask you what the matter is."

She sighed and asked me,

"Are you sure you want to know?"

I nodded.

"Okay then but what you're about to see is something that may come as a shock to you. Please don't Hulk out and destroy my apartment."

I nodded calmly as she took my hand and led me into the bathroom. I saw eight pregnancy test strips lined up on her toilet tank and all of them had a little plus sign on them.

"Bruce? I'm pregnant."

"Holy shit" was the last thing I thought before I fainted.


Tony POV

I looked up and noticed that an twenty minutes had gone by and Bruce still hadn't returned to the lab. I wonder what he's doing up there in Natasha's room. A snarky grin spread across my features as I thought of Bruce getting a little action.

I sighed and thought of Pepper as I worked on the thrusters that would go into my new suit of armor. Every single move she made was utterly mesmerizing. There is nothing she couldn't do to make me go absolutely weak in the knees and begin drooling like some wild animal. The woman was the CEO of Stark Industries, a hard worker, a tender lover, and an absolute freak in bed. Whenever I would tell her how I felt about her, I meant every word. That's why, on our 3 year anniversary next week, I was going to pop the question. She completes me and there is no place I'd rather be for the rest of my life than by her side.

Speaking of couples, I think Beth and the Captain may 'Fondue'. The word on the street (Thor won't shut his trap) is that Clint was sitting in the air vents and witnessed Steve trying to rip Beth's shirt off the other day when they pushed their twin beds together and started making out. I'm glad for the Capsicle, I think he and Beth will make beautiful little blonde-haired and blue-eyed babies together. They just worked together.

Speaking of working…

"Dummy!"

The robot looked up at me and made a noise of recognition.

"Get over here! I want to install your new processor!"

The robot came over and let me lift it's hatch and replace the processor before wheeling itself into a corner to wait until he was needed.

I was still wondering where Bruce had gone so I said,

"Jarvis, can you tell me where Bruce is, I have to ask him a question."

"Dr. Banner appears to be passed out on Agent Romanoff's bathroom floor."

"Wait- WHAT? What happened?"

"It would appear that he has gone into shock, Sir."

"What happened Jarvis? Where is Agent Romanoff? What is she doing?"

"She appears to be trying to wake Dr. Banner up."

"Why was he in her room anyway?"

The AI responded in a clipped tone,

"I do not know Sir, you didn't program me with the ability to read minds."

I huffed in agitation, put down my wrench and took the elevator up to Natasha's floor.

I knocked on the door as Natasha answered it, peering out into the hallway, the door only open by no more than a foot at most. She looked up at me and I said,

"Hey Nat, is the Doc with you?"

She looked around, obvious guilt plastered on her face, and nodded slowly.

"Cool, I'd like to have a word with him."

I went to put my foot in the door but Natasha said,

"No, no, no! Now isn't the best time for this, He's…uh…busy right now!"

I raised an eyebrow and said,

"Oh really? Because I had Jarvis do a full sweep of every room in this tower to look for the good doctor, only to find out that he was passed out on your bathroom floor in shock."

"Fine, I lied, he is in on my bathroom floor, I'm only letting you in if you can wake him up without getting him upset."

"Okay I know a way to wake him up, I used this trick in college."

I ran back to the elevator and took it up to the living area. I ran past Thor and Jane feeding Ed and Liz (which is what I called the twins, being their uncle and all) and into the kitchen to grab the jar of minced garlic. Steve and Beth eyed me suspiciously as I ran back to the elevator, cackling madly.

I was let into Natasha's apartment reluctantly and the first thing I noticed was an entire book case dedicated to Natasha's collection of porcelain dolls. Their eyes seemed to follow me as I walked by.

Well now that's just creepy.

I walked into her bathroom and saw Bruce sprawled on his back. I shook my head and unscrewed the lid to the jar and wafted the disgusting smell towards Bruce's nose. He woke with a startled yelp at my close proximity.

"Gah! Jesus Tony! What are you doing here?"

"I came here to find you."

"Where's Natasha?" he looked around.

"I'm right here Bruce."

"What happened? Natasha? Bruce?" I asked, still wanting an answer.

"Oh." Natasha said and glanced towards the toilet.

My eyes flicked to the toilet and I saw eight strips on the tank. I took another glance and noticed that they were all pregnancy test strips… and all of them had little plus signs on them.

"Natasha…you're pregnant?!" I practically yelled, my voice raising an octave.

Bruce stood up and sat down on the edge of the bathtub, removing his glasses and burying his head in his hands. I noticed his shoulders start to shake as Natasha sat down next to him.

"This is all my fault." He whispered through his silent tears.

Natasha looked up at me. I sat down on the toilet and watched as Natasha comforted my best friend.

"Tony, can you assemble all the people who were on the vacation in the living room? I want to tell them about this." Natasha asked softly.

I nodded as Bruce shook his head and said,

"Go ahead, tell everyone that I'm the idiot that got you preg- the way you are now." He lifted his head to look at me, "God, I truly am a monster aren't I?"

I stood up indignantly,

"No Bruce, you aren't a monster or an idiot. If this happened because of that drunken one night stand you and Nat had, then it was an accident. You didn't mean for this to happen."

Bruce shook his head and said,

"Natasha, I couldn't even protect you, I promised that you would be safe, and I broke that promise. I'm sorry for this."

"Um Bruce? Natasha? Do you still want everyone assembled?"

They both nodded.

"Jarvis, call everyone that was on the Hawaii trip into the living room."

"Yes sir, will that be all?"

"Yes."


Natasha POV

I stood up in front of everyone and suddenly became nervous. I had already told Jane the full story and Tony knew that I was pregnant. Bruce stood beside me, like he promised he would. This was a fight in and of itself; the fight against my secretive nature.

Bruce squeezed my hand as I took a deep breath.

"Um, thank you for gathering here. I have something that I want to get off my chest, right now. Jane already knows and Tony knows only half of what happened in Hawaii. I should start from the beginning of all of this. It all started when I was nearly killed by the Ripper. My need for revenge was imminent, so when Fury told me that the Ripper was hiding in Honolulu on the first day of the vacation, I knew that I wouldn't sleep until I had killed him."

I looked around at all my friends, they were there for me, they were my teammates and now I realized that they resembled the family I had never known but secretly wanted all these years. Bruce squeezed my hand and a confidence I never knew I possessed made itself known in my mind. I had found what had enchanted Bruce. I had found my courage to carry on.

"Just before I ran down into that tunnel, those of you who accompanied us on the mission know that Bruce kissed me. He promised at that time to stand beside me and protect me. When I went down into the tunnel, I found the Ripper and chased him into a dark room. This was a rookie mistake on my behalf, but revenge can drive people to do things that are out of their nature. When I went into the room, someone pushed down on the pressure point that causes almost instant yet complete and temporary paralysis. Then, the Ripper…"

My words caught in my throat and Bruce whispered in my ear,

"Do you want to continue? You can stop if you have to, nobody is going to force you to tell them."

His words gave me strength.

"The Ripper raped me."

A lot of jaws dropped, eyebrows shot up and a number of people gasped. Pepper and Beth grabbed their respective boyfriend's hand, placed a hand over their mouth and started to get misty eyed. Clint spoke,

"Oh my God, Natasha… Are you okay?"

I ignored everyone and continued,

"When I regained the use of my body, they, the other men in the room made the mistake of turning a light on. I made sure that everyone in that room died in under five minutes. The Ripper had fled from the room after finishing inside me. Clint shot him in the spine and stopped him from fleeing. Clint called me and I came running. I killed the Ripper. Slowly and painfully with no mercy. When the place had blown up, Bruce had noticed the expression on my face and he asked me what was wrong. I told him I was fine. All I wanted to do was forget that I had been used. I entered a competition that evening with a good number of you, a drinking competition to see who could do the most shots. I have no clue who won, but after that, I had an unprotected one night stand with Bruce. I was going to take the morning-after pill, but Bruce thought it would be best to not mix the morning-after pill together with my other drugs."

Everyone was looking at me with worried expressions except for Jane, who mouthed the words, "Go on." to me.

I looked up and inhaled deeply before saying,

"And now I'm pretty sure that I'm pregnant."

There was a stunned silence before, believe it or not, Jarvis spoke.

"Agent Romanoff? I know it may not be my place to ask, but would you like for me to schedule an appointment for you with Miss Potts' OB/GYN to confirm your suspicions?"

"Sure, it would be nice to get a definite answer for once."

Fury got up and walked over to me slowly,

"And if you are pregnant, you know what this means?"

"No sir, I don't."

"It means that you need to find out who the father is and whether or not you're keeping it."

"Oh…"

Two hours later…

I was sitting in an exam gown and waiting for the doctor to come in. Pepper knocked on the door (I memorized the way people knock) and came in with a kind looking man, obviously the doctor.

"Natasha, this is Dr. Lyle Hiddleston.", Pepper introduced me to her OB/GYN as he shook my hand warmly.

"How are you Agent Romanoff?" He asked. He had been sworn to secrecy and a thorough background check had already been done. He knew who we were and what would happen if he told anyone anything.

"I'm fine" I answered.

Pepper left and the Doctor went about his business, all while asking me questions to ease the pressure like what kind of car I drove and what my favorite color was.

At the end, he left me to get dressed and then returned with Bruce who had decided to sit in the waiting room. He came over and held my hand as Dr. Hiddleston said,

"Well, Agent Romanoff, you are definitely pregnant and one month along but it will be at least another month until we can tell you who the father is. I'll be staying in touch with you and scheduling regular appointments."

We left the office, got into the SHIELD vehicle and drove back to the tower to deliver the news. All through the duration of the ride home, Bruce was holding my hand. I looked over at him and said,

"What now Bruce? I don't what I should do." I glanced down at my feet, "Bruce, I'm scared."

He leaned over,

"Don't be scared, I'll be with you through all of this. I promised you that I would stay by your side, I won't leave unless you say so."


A/N: Phew that was long! This ended up as more of a transitional chapter but I promise the next chapter will be worth it! (In response to anyone who was wondering: Yes I do use some of the names of the cast members as parts of OC names.) Reviews are what drive me to update!