Chapter 2
Natasha is in a soft bathrobe, a warm cup of hot tea in her hands. She wrinkles her nose over the taste.
Why she chose today to try his herbal mix is still a mystery, maybe she sleep-walked down to the living room.
With her heels pulled in she stares out of the window and watches some rabbit traipse through their backyard.
Natasha lays her head against the pillow in contentment over watching the rabbit and her baby.
She bites her nail and tries to guess it's age by size alone. She stands to step closer to the window and watch their small noses wiggle in unison.
"Morning, Natasha" Banner wanders down the stairs, walking a bit sideways into their small kitchen to start a pot of coffee…
… today, they're reversed.
She steps over cautiously, "Coffee, huh?"
He rubs his cheek, "I've been up since 3, couldn't sleep."
"I noticed," she steps into the kitchen, studying his frazzled state, 'is everything alright?"
"Just…quadruple checked the school, emailed the principal and uh,' he physically reaches to hold his eyelids open, 'Yeah…"
Natasha pulls her lips into her mouth, "I see…"
"They, don't require a physical exam or proof of one so…we're clear on that front."
Natasha's head immediately falls, her molars grinding when she spews coldly, "Great."
He tugs his cheeks, "Oh, don't. Please don't."
"The tabloids are going to eat her alive. You know what they say about us…about you."
"And you're going to let her read the paper?"
Her head tilts sarcastically, "Bruce, she gets into everything whether I want her to or not. Including but not limited to my emails. She's been unscrewing light bulbs, trying to take apart and I quote, 'the guts' to 'see how they work'. She likes blood, she laughs over injuries. She only wants to watch Judge Judy- I have no idea if that's her aunt talking or what. You know she got into the green food dye last month and started painting her face."
He groans, still slowly tugging his cheeks downward.
Natasha rambles on, "-The day she answers the phone and hands it to me with that squeaky voice going, 'Uncle Clint is on the phone and wants to know how many people you murdered on your last assignment, can I see photos of the carnage' I won't even give it a second thought."
His breathing hitches, "You're the one who said we should be upfront and honest with a four year old…"
She squints, "What were we supposed to do? Keep the fact that I'm an assassin and your green from a genius child until she turned 16? Spring it all on her the same way I learned I wasn't an actual ballet dancer?"
"Well. Telling her who we are isn't helping our sanity."
"It was never for us, it was for her."
"I'm not sure it's helping her."
"Which is why, she got the abbreviated kid-proof version. Her parents are heroes. Did the school accept our application?"
"They did…I got up early and did more background checks to make sure it wasn't, you know. I had a nightmare and I wanted make sure it wasn't- it wasn't. They weren't- What are words…"
Natasha watches him bury his head in his forearms, plopping into a chair and frozen at the kitchen table.
She rounds it, shoving her mug in his direction and moves to pour a cup of coffee for herself;
"Take my tea. What do you want for breakfast?"
He looks up, staring blankly in exhaustion, "I want to sleep."
"Then go back to sleep."
"What's the point? I'm up again in a half hour for work…What time is it."
"Time for the little miss to awaken. She's going to run down here any minute," she blows the coffee that should've been his and takes a sip.
The footsteps start, light as a feather from the ceiling above.
"Speak of the devil,' Natasha smirks in amusement, 'Put on your game face; she's up."
Bruce reaches to chug the redhead's tea with a sigh, eyeing the mug while he downs the contents.
"Mommy? Daddy?"
Natasha answers Rebecca's call, "We're down here baby. Hold onto the handrail."
The girl is independent but Natasha still feels a need to supervise every step.
"Mommy," Rebecca calls again, rubs her face.
Natasha leaves her mug on the kitchen table and scoops her daughter up into her lap at the kitchen table, "What's wrong Malyshka ?"
In standard fashion, the little girl says nothing. She holds her hands around her mother's neck and enjoys the sweet kisses on her forehead.
Natasha rocks gently with every intention of finally getting a response.
She rubs her small back;
"What is it baby? Did you have a bad dream?"
Nothing.
"Hey Becks. Are you feeling okay,' Bruce brushes her hair from her small and holds a hand to her tiny head, he frowns, 'She's burning up, Tasha."
"She just woke up, let's give her a bit. Maybe she'll tell us what's going on."
Rebecca covers her mouth clumsily to cough.
Bruce cringes, reaching to hold her back while she shakes in Romanoff's arms.
Natasha frowns next, "That, sounds awful."
Bruce rubs his daughter's back, trying to keep his composure, "It's all in her chest. …You can hear it when she breathes. You hear that rattle? Or is it just my paranoia?"
Natasha tilts her head and waits, playing with her daughter's hair, "I hear it."
"Great,' the physicist abandons his mug and moves to stand, 'I'll see what I've got in the medicine cabinet."
"I'll get a steamy bath going in the meantime." Natasha rotates her jaw forwards and backwards. She swallows and forces a grin for her daughter's sake, "You're going to be just fine."
6 Years Ago…
"You're going to be just fine."
Natasha grimaces despite his words, gripping onto the lab's workbench while Bruce secured sutures in an open wound at her side.
"Just tell me when it's over," she bites her tongue.
"It's almost,' he secures his handiwork, fingers covered in her blood, 'done."
The redhead sinks into the chair she's been leaning on, completely exhausted and a bit lightheaded.
She exhales and reaches for her water bottle, "You should've seen Clint."
"I did,' Bruce laughs a bit and moves to the slop sink, 'I pulled just as much shrapnel from his neck as I did from your side."
She swishes the water around her mouth and taps her thigh with light punches to distract herself from the pain.
"Do you have any plans later?"
Bruce takes his time, packing up his equipment before answering her, "I've got plans, actually."
"Oh?"
"Yeah."
Natasha nods, still looking for a distraction, "Is she hot?"
"So hot," he blushes.
"Not even any hesitation…Ouch…what would your fiancé say about that?"
He shrugs, circling the lab in search of his glasses, "I don't know, what would she say about that?"
Natasha continues to play it coy, clawing at her thigh to send the pain elsewhere.
He smirks and offers her two pills from a marked bottle, "Here. It'll help. Hopefully it'll reduce the swelling and kill the fever until your super serum kicks in."
"Thanks."
He brushes her shoulders, tenderly rubbing her tense spots.
She shakes her head and tries to laugh over the pulsating in her rib cage and gut area, "God this hurts. I wonder if birthing hurts this badly…"
"Okay,' he sighs over her eagerness to stand, 'You need to lay down. I just pulled metal from your muscles and closed the hole with about seven stitches."
"Only seven?"
"Yeah. That didn't feel so good, did it? Lay down, I'll get a compress. Don't do anything except sleep, maybe."
She rolls her eyes, playful despite her attempt at sassing him.
Natasha settles on the nearby sofa;
"Okay, fine. I'll rest. But only because I have a date tonight."
"A 'date' huh?" He wrings a towel in the sink, smirk on his face.
Her eyes are closing, "He's this, dork from Ohio who thinks he knows it all."
"He sounds like a drag, I'm sorry," Bruce sits on the edge of the table and folds the warm cloth over his knee before reaching to lay it over her forehead.
"He's always working."
"Sleep, Natasha," Bruce's lips find her cheek in a gentle peck. He lifts her bottle and gives it a shake, "I'm getting you more water."
Present Day…
"Here's some water for my little miss," Bruce leaves a bottle at Rebecca's bedside.
The girl is staring with a huge cloth turned compress on her tiny face. She's surrounded by garlic, lemons along with Russian teas and remedies.
Natasha is sitting at her side and stroking her daughter's hair;
"Did you sip some tea? Do you like it?"
Rebecca puckers her lips a bit, "No."
"No?! What do you mean 'no',' Bruce looks so offended, his arms crossed, 'That's the best honey tea on the market. Maybe if it wasn't in a plastic sippy cup it would taste better."
Natasha tries not to laugh, "She's four, Bruce. She's not getting a mug."
"I'm just, saying."
Maximus crashes the room next, jumping onto Rebecca's bed.
Rebecca hugs her hulk plushie with one arm and pets their dog's head with the other.
Natasha takes a book off Rebecca's shelf, "Are you headed out, Bruce?"
"I was planning on staying home, if you need me?"
"We're okay," Natasha looks up with a sweet reassuring smile.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. It's just a fever, it's not a big deal," she nods, eyes on his with intense focus and fierce reassuring.
He sighs, looking over his girls.
Banner circles the bed toward the smaller one and brushes her cheek with a finger, "You get better okay? Get some rest. We'll…watch a movie when I get home. And I'll bring you some soup for dinner. Okay?"
Rebecca nods with her eyes fixated on his, "Okay."
He looks at her with nothing but adoration when he whispers;
"I love you so much, Becks."
She reaches to hug him when he does, coughing in the process.
Bruce squeezes her tightly, sad to let go.
Natasha lifts his chin once he releases their daughter and kisses him with a whisper;
"Becks is fine. Normal kids get colds, normal kids conquer colds. Thank Thor she's a normal kid without any S.S or R.A.D.I.A.T.I.O.N."
"I know,' hums over her kiss, capturing her mouth once more, 'Call me if anything changes?"
"I will."
"I love you, Tasha. Behave you three."
Max looks up confused, an ear flopping mid head tilt.