A/N: Thank you so much for your reviews and thanks to those of you who wished me good luck with school!

I've decided to limit my updates to once a week with the hopes of posting a new chapter every weekend.

I also would like to know how you would feel about a possible sequel to TSOYL.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.


Chapter 24: Evening Air

Natasha POV

I was spending the afternoon in the kitchen, combining weird food to make something to eat to satisfy my cravings. I had been doing that more often these days, and it had started two weeks ago on my 28th birthday. This time, I was having cookies and cream ice cream with pickles and ketchup. Bruce walked in and found me sitting there, stuffing my face.

Not only was I hungry, but I was worried too.

I didn't want to admit to anyone how apprehensive I was when it came to the act of giving birth in less than two weeks.

"This kid's gonna eat us out of house and home, I can already tell.", he said, sitting down beside me and glancing at what was in my bowl before wrinkling up his nose and asking me, "Is that any good?"

I nodded, as my mouth was full.

"The girls wanted me to tell you that the baby shower is in a week."

I groaned and swallowed my food.

"This baby's going to be spoiled rotten, just like Snowy.", I said.

"Eh maybe.", Bruce said with a shrug.

Beth walked into the kitchen and clasped her hands behind her back.

"I have big news…"

"What's up?", I asked.

"You know how I was looking for a job?"

"Yeah?"

"Well I found one! I'm the newest cast member for the Broadway revival of the Sound of Music. I'm going to be playing the role of Liesl von Trapp!" she exclaimed excitedly.

I had never seen the show, but apparently Bruce had, and we began to congratulate her on securing a role.

"We've had to postpone the wedding too, but I think I may have told you that.", she said.

"No you didn't say anything about that.", said Bruce.

"Oh, it's nothing serious, my parents are just trying their hardest to get things situated at home. Steve and I have agreed to let them do most of the planning, after all, their wedding gift to us is the actual wedding. We don't want a huge affair with everything that's just perfect, we want an affordable ceremony and an Oxford-style reception. The wedding is going to be held in the old north stable on the Covington farm, which isn't even used as a place to keep the horses anymore, its more or less just a historic site."

"Oh, so when are you getting married?", I asked.

"Saturday July 12th, that way you and Bruce will have plenty of time to get back into the swing of things with your little bundle of joy.", she replied with a smile.

"Aw man!", I said, "That means I'll have to have my dress altered again."

"Sorry about that.", Beth said.

"No its fine."

"Alrighty then. I'll see you later. Enjoy your…uh…snack.", she said, at a slight loss for words when she saw the contents of my bowl, promptly followed by her going a bit green in the face and scurrying out of the kitchen.

I finished eating and I went to wash my dishes but Bruce insisted that I should sit and let my food digest.

"Bruce?"

"Yes?"

"Would you be up for coming with Ivan and I on a walk through Central Park later today? We could bring Snowy along too, I just want to get out of the tower to do something other than go to SHIELD or Dr. Hiddleston's office."

"Sounds good to me. Just don't overdo it and the second you feel tired or you get a stitch in your side, tell us and we'll leave.", he said, smiling softly as a curl of his brown hair fell into his eyes.

He wanted nothing more than to ensure my safety and the well-being of the baby and I found myself smiling. A few months ago, I would've been mildly annoyed at his constant worrying, but I guess I had grown used to the way he would be so gentle with me and how he would fuss over the smallest things. It was one of his many little quirks that I had grown to love.

"Okay.", I agreed as I rubbed my abdomen, the baby had grown even larger in the past weeks, so it was hard for me to get myself up out of bed and even do small things like tie my shoes. My feet and ankles had started aching several weeks ago but Dr. Hiddleston had ordered scans to rule out the risk of any blood clots forming in my legs, feet and ankles, and the results showed that there weren't any clots and that my feet were just not used to carrying nearly thirty more pounds than I would have normally weighed.

Bruce had taken to rubbing my feet when they were sore in the evenings and I was so eternally grateful to him because that helped me relax a lot, especially when the baby would not let me fall asleep at night and kept elbowing me in my bladder.

I knew that the reason why the baby was always moving nowadays was to get into its birth position.

"Natasha?", Ivan called from the living room where he was reading. Snowy had her head in his lap and I went over and sat next to him.

"Yes father?"

"I just wanted to feel the small one, you know I haven't had enough chances to do so as I've been busying myself at SHIELD."

"Oh, okay then.", I said, letting him place his hands on my baby bump.

"I don't feel a thing.", Ivan stated.

"Just be patient father, you will."

No sooner had I said that than the baby kicked at Ivan's hand. Hard.

I yelped in surprise and Bruce was at my side in a flash, a concerned look on his face.

"Natasha! Are you okay?"

"Yeah", I said, rubbing the spot where the baby had kicked, "I'm just fine."

"Well, the small one seems to have remarkable strength.", Ivan said in awe as he pulled his hands away from my bump.

I nodded.

"So when are we taking that walk?", I asked, trying to ignore Bruce's inquisitive stare as I stood.

Snowy barked as I hooked her leash on and she sat on my foot in the elevator, licking my fingers.

Ivan sat in the backseat of Bruce's car as we rode to Central Park. I was a little worried about the intensity of the baby's kick but I brushed it off, figuring that everything was normal. We parked and got out, Ivan taking Snowy to the dog park and telling us to have fun on our own before walking away and leaving Bruce and I to walk alone. Bruce held my hand as the warm June breeze gently blew the front strands of my hair back.

"I can't believe we're going to be parents in almost two weeks.", Bruce mused as we reached the bridge. "I'm excited, how about you?"

"I'm nervous.", I blurted out.

"You're shaky about the whole birth process aren't you?", he asked softly.

"Yeah, I am. The whole concept of squeezing something as big as a grapefruit out of a hole that isn't that big kind of freaks me out. What if it…you know… tears?"

Bruce grasped my hands.

"That's what stiches are for."

"Yeah. It's not like I'm going to feel much after they give me an epidural block to numb me out.", I replied nonchalantly.

Bruce kissed me and said,

"No matter what happens, I will be there for you. I was there for the last thirty eight weeks, and I will do everything except hold your hand in the delivery room."

I smirked, knowing full well that he wouldn't hold my hand while I was in labor because he didn't want to unleash the Hulk if I accidentally broke his hand from squeezing too hard.

"Right, everything but that.", I laughed.

"So have the boys been placing bets on whether we're going to have a boy or girl yet?", I asked.

"Yes."

"Who's betting on a boy?"

"Pepper, Clint, Darcy, Loki, Phil, and Fury all think it's a boy, everyone else is placing money on a girl."

"Hm. I would've thought for sure that Tony would place money on us having a son.", I said with a shrug.

"Nah, he says that you're carrying too high for a boy."

"How the hell would he know?", I asked.

"That's what I said."

I saw a bunch of ducks swimming towards us and I reached in my purse and pulled out a bag of stale bread, tossing some into the water.

I smiled as I watched a mother duck leading her babies around to the bread so they could eat.

"Natasha, you're beautiful like this.", Bruce murmured as he tossed a handful of crumbs into the pond.

"What?"

"When you're calm and enjoying life is when you are the prettiest."

I dropped the rest of the bread over the side and shoved the bag in my pocket before I kissed him slowly. I could almost taste the sincerity of his words and it made a warm feeling spread through my body.

"Hey you two! None of that in public!", Ivan yelled and we broke apart to see him walking towards us with Snowy, chuckling as he went.

"You two are a wonderful pair, but please, save it for the privacy of your bedroom."

"Father!", I laughed, slightly embarrassed.

"What?", he asked innocently, "We weren't allowed to do that stuff in public back when I was a young man… Of course that never stopped me when I was with a pretty lady…", he trailed off, a nostalgic smile on his face.

"Okay, that's a bit more than I wanted to hear Mr. Petrovich!", Bruce laughed.

"Come on, let's get going, it's almost time for supper and I can't wait to taste Phil and Maria's amazing lasagna.", Ivan said and we walked back to the car, listening and laughing as Ivan reminisced about his youth.


Bruce POV

One Week Later…

"Aw now isn't that the cutest little outfit?", Serena asked as Natasha held up a pair of tiny footie pajamas with little giraffes running around on it.

"Yes, it's just adorable, and it's so soft.", Natasha gushed over the item, "Thank you so much Serena."

We were opening gifts at the baby shower and so far we had received a bunch of blankets, bibs, and outfits for the baby, all of them were unisex except for the outfit Tony gave us that was pink and had the words 'lock up your sons, my mama's got guns' on it and the blanket that Loki and Darcy gave us that was blue with little bears on it.

Pepper's gift was the most useful though; a huge supply of diapers. Jane and Thor had both nodded solemnly when I asked if a supply this big was actually necessary for just one baby.

We played a few games and then I noticed Natasha getting a bit uncomfortable in her seat.

"What's wrong?", I asked her as she shifted in her chair.

"Nothing.", she replied, smiling up at me. "Although some air would be nice.", she said, and I took her hand as she got to her feet.

We went out onto the deck and the sounds of the city with the setting sun and a soft breeze blowing made for the perfect evening. Natasha sat down at the same table we sat at when I gave Natasha her black widow necklace. I smiled when I saw she was wearing said necklace.

Natasha sighed.

"One more week to go and, according to what Dr. Hiddleston said a couple days ago, everything is going smoothly. I just wish it would let me sleep at night instead of playing soccer in there.", she said.

"You must really want to just have the baby already.", I murmured.

"You have no clue.", Natasha said in a serious tone before adding, "Wait a second, yes you do. Dr. H said that we should abstain until six weeks after the baby is born when I go back on my birth control pills, and told us at my eight and a half month checkup that sex could be risky in the last weeks of pregnancy."

I nodded. It had been a long two weeks since I had been intimate with Natasha and the thought of six more weeks without her was going to eventually drive me up the wall. I wasn't going to stoop to Tony's level and take care of my frustrations on my own like he said I should, I was going to be true to her. If she had to abstain, so did I.

"Is the baby shifting around a lot right now?", I asked, glancing at her.

"No, it's not. I guess it's asleep because it's shifting, just not kicking me in the intestines like it usually does."

I saw her shiver and place a hand on her bump, a mixed look on her face.

"That's funny, I just got a chill and it seemed to come from right here.", she said, pointing to her lower abdomen.

"Maybe we should go inside, I'd hate for you to catch a cold or anything.", I said, standing up and holding out my hands to her.

"Yeah, I agree.", she said as she took my hands and lifted herself up.

When she was on her own two feet, she brushed her skirt down and I walked to the door, holding it open for her, but she didn't follow.

"Uh…Bruce?", her voice was full of concern when she asked for me.

I looked back and saw Natasha holding her abdomen with a surprised look on her face.

She glanced at the wet floor below her feet and then glanced back at me.

"My water just broke.", she said in a surprised voice.


A/N: Sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger, but stay with me because the next chapter is when Bruce and Natasha finally welcome their little miracle into the world!

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