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When HYDRA want something, it doesn’t take them long to track it down, no matter how safe the location. Even though S.H.I.E.L.D. ended years ago, there are still rats, double agents working, as there always will be, disguised as the good guys. So there was no point in trying to hide Bucky, knowing that it was inevitable they would seek him out, especially now he was with Captain America’s child. Obtaining the key to unlocking the super-soldier serum slowly growing in his belly was too good an opportunity to pass up, for a lot of underground groups. Some of them wanting the child’s DNA, while others wanted the child themselves to train similar to how they had trained the Winter Soldier – to meet their own sinister ends.
Unfortunately for them though, despite being heavily pregnant Bucky was still a professional killing machine and it was impossible for him to go down easily. And as if the fathers themselves weren’t enough to fear, the child’s bodyguards consisted of; one God of Thunder, an Iron Man, an Incredible Hulk and two highly trained assassins. The child was basically the safest person in the world, as Tony Stark said himself when Bucky had moved into his tower, showing off its elaborate security and defence system.
And yet despite these well-known facts, people still kept trying; assassination, kidnapping, destroying the entire tower, you name it, anything just to get one small unborn child. Which meant the Avengers were on constant guard, watching Bucky’s back, taking it in turns keeping watch at night. Obviously every night didn’t mean a different attack, but the attacks were common enough sometimes to be less than a month apart and none of the Avengers were willing to take the risk letting their guard down.
It was on one of these unpleasant nights a hostile agent was able to breach the Towers defences and enter the building, even managing to reach Bucky’s room. Moonlight pouring in through the window, lighting the room and making vision relatively easy, one half of the room visible in luna light and the other bathed in darkness and shadow. Able to slowly cross the floor, towards the large swollen lump of the child under the black covers, the father lying on his back asleep.
Being incredibly quiet, the agent stopped several metres away from the bed, he wasn’t completely stupid after getting this far and he knew if he went any closer the ex-assassin would surely wake. In a smooth motion he unclipped the tranq-gun from his utility belt, swiftly taking aim at the pale neck of the ex-Winter Soldier, who slept soundly under the covers. He paused for a moment to double check his aim, once the shot was fired, he estimated he wouldn’t have long to stick the long sharp needle into the other mans stomach, extract the DNA and get out before the other Avengers were on him like a pack of wolves.
He smirked, having planned his exact route of escape, all that was left to do was pull the trigger and let the final part of his mission begin.
“Only the most pathetic of men seek to harm an unborn child.”
A smooth female voice spooks him and a feeling of dread quickly settles in his stomach, but he is professional enough not to flinch, his eyes going to the left corner of his eyes, unable to see anyone still he turns his head slightly and is met with the barrel of a small pistol, causing his heart to jump and his brain to begin working overtime in deciding on his next steps. Quickly glancing back to the bed he see’s the father is still sleeping, maternal sleep seemingly much deeper than whatever the ex-Winter Soldier had when he was still in action, he decides it would be ok to talk – to try and stall for time.
“HYDRA does not care for one life if it means benefiting millions of others,” he quips, still holding the tranq-gun aimed at Bucky’s neck, toying with the idea of still firing it, not particularly wanting to fight two ex-Soviet assassins tonight if it was avoidable. His eyes move away from the bed and lock with the Black Widows own level gaze, half her face hidden in the shadows of the room, the moonlight catching some of her other features. So the rumours he had heard were true, she was something of a beauty, nevertheless he quickly breaks off this train of thought, noting the barrel pointing to his head.
A smirk plays on the womans dark red lips, as she observes he refuses to lower the gun he has pointed at James, she sighs as a full smile breaks out onto her face. Normally she doesn’t allow herself to revel in the action of hurting others but when the enemy are trying to hurt her family, not just steal some files of information, or hijack a large battleship, those are mere worthless objects compared to her family.
“I want you to know that child’s father has saved my life more times than I care to count,” she says the smile still playing on her lips, body stood completely still, a casual stance, two feet apart simply holding the gun to his head as if she is merely posing. Yet the agent can tell from the tone of her voice she is deadly serious, his ploy to buy more time has failed.
“And I also want you to know that I fear nothing,” the word falling from her lips like a threat, her eyes suddenly predatory and the words hang in the air creating deadly silence as she pauses before continuing,
“I am prepared to die to defend that father’s child.”
Beads of sweat have started to pool at the male agents hairline, one slowly rolling down his forehead, he fears her and he knows the Black Widow has her prey netted in her web. The inevitable struggle will now follow and he knows it’s more than likely he won’t escape alive. The deadly beautiful woman in front of him raises a perfectly shaped eyebrow; your move.
The ensuing fight is more of a small scuffle, the agent was panicked and if Natasha didn’t say so herself she was way out of his league. At one point the man had fired the gun, thankfully with inaccurate aim, the dart of the tranquilizer lodging itself in the headboard of James bed, much to the relief of the red-haired agent. After that shot had been fired James had stirred in his sleep and Natasha broke the mans neck, furious for allowing him to have even fired the dart in the direction of the black sheets.
There was a soft thud of something heavy hitting the floor and James shot up in bed, positioning his metal arm over his stomach like a shield and looking round the room, searching for a target while simultaneously reaching under the pillow for the small gun he kept there. In another split-second Natalia is next to him, pushing the long black hair back on his head with her left hand, squatting next to his bed so they’re almost at equal eye level.
He glances from Natalia to the black lump of a human body on his bedroom floor, instantly working out what happened and mentally scolding himself for not being more vigilant.
“Damnit,” he says wearily, sleep still evident in his voice, as Natalia’s hand strokes his head and the matted hair beneath her fingers. James sits up a little more, the woman next to him removing her hand from his head, propping himself up on the pillows, pulling the blanket back over his swollen stomach and Natalia lets him do so, smiling softly. James rubs his human hand down his face, slowly, pausing to rub away some sleep from his eyes.
“I could have killed our kid,” he sighs out quietly, though panic and guilt evident in his voice, how careless was he now, when he should be more careful than ever, if anything ever happened to his child he would only ever blame himself. Even if someone else committed the murder, he would feel the blame, he was trained to kill and had survived because survival was programmed into him, he had no excuse for his own incompetence.
Natalia shakes her head twice next to him, gaining his attention, he looks into her crystal blue eyes, so similar to those of his partner and filled with an equal amount of love, he feels himself relax under the gaze.
“It’s because you’re with a child now, you sleep a lot heavier, because your baby needs it,” she says calmly. Her hand snakes onto the bed, she is just wearing a simple plain black long-sleeved top and tight trousers, not her usual catsuit, but incredibly similar, still having a utility belt strapped round her waist. Her hand wraps fingers around his human ones, James knows she must have been in his room all night, the dark clothes helping her remain concealed in the shadows.
“I would never let them get to you,” she says, with such passion, a genuine smile making its way across her face and James can’t help that it spreads to him, even letting out a short laugh before patting the bed on his left with his cybernetic arm. Not needing more of an invite she silently hops over him, landing on the bed like a cat, the mattress only wobbling slightly under her weight as she re-positions herself, tucking herself into James’ side as he wraps the metal arm around her shoulders. The metal limb sits on her like a heavy weight and will probably soon be uncomfortable and cramp her neck but she doesn’t care and lets her head fall onto his bare shoulder, on the join of metal and flesh. She knows it doesn’t hurt him because this is normally how they sit comfortably together, taking in the room bathed in moonlight, slotting her legs alongside his on the other side of the sheets.
“You just gonna leave that lying in the middle of my room?” James asks, referring to the agent-now-corpse lying crumpled on his floor, as if she had dropped a large food wrapper in his room. Still smiling, she leans her body against his, enjoying the warmth and the steady beating of his heart that she can hear in her right ear.
“нет,” she says softly, and she hears James let out a breath of laughter before she feels metal fingers combing through her hair, given the fact it is a solid metal hand it shouldn’t be comforting, but, because it's such a familiar sensation, it is and she finds herself becoming tired.
“Keep that up and I’ll fall asleep,” she mumbles, chastising herself for being so sleepy, she had been on missions where she hadn’t slept for days, so she blames this on the comfort of being with James. She scans over the body lying lifeless on the floor, deciding disposing of it can wait, worryingly neither of them are bothered by sleeping next to bodies anymore and that this is as normal as life gets in the Avengers Tower. She looks at the clock over on the stand near to James; 4am, the sun will soon rise.
She shuts her eyes, both of them lying still and enjoying the comfort of each other’s presence, it was rare that they ever got time alone, given the fact James was confined to the Tower and she was often either on missions or spending time with her own partner; Clint. But they both miss it so much that when moments like this happen they’re both reluctant to separate.
Natalia hears the rustling of sheets and then a hand on her wrist, her eyes slowly blink open as James places her hand palm down on his stomach, the warmth radiating through the sheets, James placing his own hand on top of hers.
“Она будет любить тебя,” he says gently, before leaning down and pressing a kiss to the top of her head and Natalia isn’t sure whether he is talking to her or the baby girl in his stomach, before realising he probably intended both. She smiles, a feeling of pure happiness that she has been enjoying so often so recently spreading through her veins, a feeling of loving and knowing she is loved in return. It’s been so unfamiliar to her and to have such unconditional love directed her way by the people she loves most, gets to her; sometimes she can hide it physically, but the feelings are always there inside.
They lay together on James’ bed, talking about nothing and lazily comforting his child, rubbing soft circles on his stomach, occasionally feeling it kick beneath the surface of his flesh. Natasha moving the body out of sight, into the bathroom to deal with the next day, unwilling to leave Bucky's side for now. Before they know it the sun has risen over Stark Tower, sunlight blasting through the window and lighting up the room properly, instead of black and white they are now in a world of colour, the magic of night time is gone and the door to Bucky’s room opens, Steve casually crossing the floor with a tray of breakfast for his partner.
“Mornin’ sunshine! Sorry I was away last ni-“, he cuts off as Bucky raises a single finger to his smirking lips and Steve notices there are two of them in the bed. Natasha is asleep, curled up against Bucky like a small cat, her head resting on his thigh, her chest rising and falling with deep breaths. Steve feels himself smirking too and nods to his partner, leaving the tray on the side table they have near the door to their room, as Bucky mouths a thank you.
The door closes shut again as Steve exits and Bucky looks back fondly to the red-haired woman in his lap, once again carding metal fingers through her hair. To love so much and be loved back in return; it’s such a good feeling.