Chapter Text
Steve thundered his neck as he walked into the living room where he heard Mary talking. Oh how his little girl had grown. She helped as much as she could, but both of them took care to leave her in charge that babies were not her responsibility.
It had been two months since Natasha had gone into labor, and Steve who thought she couldn't look any better pregnant was challenged when Natasha appeared with her short blonde hair.
As he approached the couch, he watched as Nat had one of the babies nursing while the other was lying in the stroller. However, Natasha was focusing her gaze on Mary " Le monde continue de tourner parce que ton rythme cardiaque existe" the girl nodded, processing that.
"Uh, French. My favorite class," Steve smiled, his beard and hair somewhat long, totally approved of by his girls. He put his hands on Mary's shoulders to hear her repeat that.
"Very good, Mary," Natasha smiled proudly.
Currently, the girl was taking short courses in French but also in Russian, at her insistence after hearing Nat speak it several times.
Steve kissed his little girl's cheek and ruffled her hair, but a cry caused them to look away from the cart. Steve moved forward to take the baby girl in his arms "Good morning too, eh" he mumbled at the crying ceasing as she was taken. The baby shook her head and collided her gaze with her father.
Two babies were definitely heavy, but there were two of them -three because Mary was a great big sister-and everything seemed easier. They were growing closer together, enjoying every moment, even the walks on the beach.
Mary got up from the couch and moved into her father's arms "Sarah wants time with her sister" she smiled proudly. Steve laughed.
"Go sit on the couch and I'll give her to you," the little girl did so and was very careful as her father confidently placed her in his arms, "I see James is very busy," he said, watching as the other baby continued to suckle at his mother's breast.
"And you'll be the one to burp him because he's already puked all over me."
Steve laughed and kissed the baby's head and nodded submissively at Nat's command.
(...)
Natasha was sitting with the three-month-old babies and Mary on the front porch of the house. Mary was with her homework while Natasha watched, ready to help her at a moment's notice. Steve had gone to the harbor to sell one of the boats, leaving them alone.
Rebeka greeted them as she walked through the door in the direction of the supermarket, stopped to hug Mary, and then focus a little on the babies. Oh definitely that woman was a number one fan of that family that in the last year had been closer than ever.
She knew how much Natasha needed to show up in Steve and Mary's life. She knew how much she changed them for the better.
Mary stirred in herself and looked out into the garden, then at her siblings and closed her book. Her heart began to pound and she felt a murmur in her ear. "Mommy" the little girl watched as the blonde dropped her gaze from the children to focus on her. Mary found Natasha's hair change amusing and claimed that it was part of the family, specifically because the babies had also begun to form their fragile little blonde hairs, something that was clear; Steve's genes were going to predominate in their entirety, which at one point broke her idea of little redheads. It would have been nice.
"What's wrong?" Nat's attitude had changed, being out of defense especially when she was with her children.
"I feel nervous" was a stupid sentence but one she knew her mother would believe in. And alerting Natasha's senses, she knew something was up.
"What are you feeling?" she asked, placing both her hands on the babies' chests, but looking at Mary who looked confused, worried, and anxious.
The girl looked at every side around her "Someone wants to come here" she murmured and her gaze fell on the neighbor who was pleasantly receiving suitcases. The new neighbor she had seen several times during the week. Natasha saw Mary's attention to it, and it only took her ten seconds to focus on the suitcase of the companion in front of her. Another ten seconds it took her to search her memory for where she knew that phrase from.
She opened her mouth with a smile as she looked at Mary "Honey, you're going to go to the house and tell me your father needs help inside, okay?"
Mary knew her father wasn't there, but she did Natasha's thing and after a few seconds, she peeked into the frame without coming out "Mom, Dad needs your help!"
Natasha smiled feeling the look of the man but just walked upstairs with her two children in her arms to go inside, locking the door behind her. She looked at Mary "Right now, you'll gather your stuff and your siblings', and by the garage, you'll leave it in the back of my car. Throw everything in the back, don't order anything."
She knew something bad was happening, and as her mother left the babies in the room while she ran down the hall to the garage, she watched her mother rummage through the back of the closet for things she had never seen before. It was less than five minutes that it took Natasha to throw more things in the suitcase, like almost all of the children's clothes especially.
"We're not leaving anything?"
"Not yours," she said, throwing in a batch of her and Steve's clothes.
"What about Dad?"
"Mary, please don't ask any more questions. Get in the vehicle," she ordered and Mary watched as she stretched, her mother had a gun on her hip.
Mary did as ordered and watched as her mother quickly reached for her siblings to put them in the seat, without even putting their seat belts on. She looked at Mary "Put on your seatbelt and your siblings," she ordered, and although the girl had never done it, she had seen her parents do it and turn around in those car seats.
Mary went over in her memory everything she had seen in the suitcase; clothes, folders of sheets, diapers, empty and folded bags, and some food. Apparently, they were hiding from something, and she was relieved that she had told her mother that something was wrong.
Mary waited for her mother to finish lifting the last box into the front seat, a box that was hidden in the garage.
She watched her siblings as Natasha started the car and opened the automatic garage door. The girl watched as her mother grabbed her phone as drove out to the street in the back. She placed her phone to her ear, clutching it between her ear and shoulder so that she had both hands on the steering wheel.
Something was very wrong.
After two rings, Steve picked up "Hello baby" it was a stupid nickname Natasha hadn't approved of, borne out of the two weeks after the kids were born by the time they had sex again. And it was when Steve noticed that the blonde hadn't complained like she always does, he noticed that she was also driving at a higher speed than they usually moved around the small island "Are you driving?"
Natasha glanced in the side mirrors, seeing a car turn where she took. She grimaced a curse as she took the bridge into town, officially off the island "I'm getting the kids out."
Steve got out of the boat where he was, leaving the two people to wait inside. His pulse began to increase "What's going on?"
"The new neighbors" she muttered and looked sideways, clenching her jaw as she took a serious turn, aware that she had three children with her in the back. Mary opened her eyes at the speed and movement, but again she did so to the other side on a small street. "Steve, we have to go" she spoke looking again and finding no one behind her. She stepped on the accelerator, taking the road north.
"Are you all safe now? the children?" Natasha looked back in the mirror, seeing Mary nervous but with her hands on her little siblings.
"Yes, I lost them" her eyes went back to the mirrors. "I think-" her throat went dry, "I think we are."
"Go to New York," he ordered.
"No Steve, of course not," she blurted out, not knowing where she should go, just drive away. Enlarge the radar.
"Natasha, that's the last place we'd go. That's why we have to go there. Keep driving to Charleston."
"And you? " She took a breath.
"I'll get the stuff from the house and go."
"I took some of your clothes too, I have your documents with me. The files, your suit. There's nothing in the house but the stuff."
"I'll make sure there's nothing left, and I'll come with you quickly. You need to take shelter and stay in a hotel. Nat, they know you have three kids with you. I need to get their attention too."
"Steve," Nat's words echoed, "I don't think they're coming for us," a coldness ran through Steve's chest.
"They're not," he swallowed, already in front of the van without noticing that he'd moved toward it, "That's why you have to protect them."
"They'll go over my dead body before they lay a finger on the three of them."
Mary didn't understand anything, she just kept repeating to herself that they were in danger. She could hear what her father was saying, but she hid it by pretending to care for and distract her siblings. Natasha ended her call after hearing Steve's I love you, to which she reciprocated and hung up the call. Mary smiled sideways because despite the year she had been hearing that, every time she saw her father happy and blurt out those words, it meant that everything could be a little better.
Natasha dropped her cell phone on the seat next to her and looked in the rearview mirror at Mary.
"Mary, I know you realize something is wrong. And it is, so that's why we should go to a hotel until Steve comes for us" she took a big sigh, knowing that every future event was going to change the girl's life. "I really wish I didn't ask you what I'm about to ask you, but I need you to help me. Now, it's just me and you."
"It's okay mom" There was a silence where Nat processed how the innocence was leaving the girl's life, and how things were going to change from there. How they were in danger, how babies were no longer safe. "Will I go to school tomorrow?"
Nat gave her a slight smile, but with some pity "I'm sorry, Mary" she murmured.
"Oh, that's all right" Mary took a breath to look out the window.
"Want some music?" Mary nodded as Nat turned on the radio, plugged in her cell phone, and held it out to the girl, offering to play whatever she chose.
She was no longer an Avenger, she was a mother protecting her babies.
Halfway through, in a town with Jaskson-something, according to what Mary had read, they stopped at an empty station but for a gentleman inside the store. Natasha had to fill the tank and feed the babies, so after filling the tank she pulled the cart aside and attached the baby girl to her breast, who promptly took it while Mary played with the boy, soothing the tantrum at the urge to eat as well.
Natasha changed babies and when she put the sleeping child down, she looked at Mary watching the large vegetation.
She never imagined having to run away with three children "Mary, take fifty dollars out of my wallet and go buy whatever you want." And the little girl, slightly forgetting the chaos she had just lived through, came back with two packs of cookies, four juices and candy. Natasha smiled when the girl offered and nodded, taking one as she continued to feed.
"You know what?" Nat looked at her, trying to convey calmness. "My friend Carl is going to have a baby brother. His mom is pregnant."
"And you've given him your advice on how to be the best sister in the world?" Nat smiled.
"He said he already knew them" he looked around "when is Dad coming?"
"He'll be with us soon."
Her cell phone rang and she looked at Mary, both knowing it was Steve. When the blonde answered, she heard Steve's agitated voice: "Steve," she murmured.
"Just listen to me," he asked, taking a big gulp of air, "You'll follow the plan all the way to Charleston. I'm not going, Nat."
"What are you talking about?" the girl left her smile as Nat's heartbeat quickened and she refused to listen to the conversation on the phone.
"Bucky's going. Bucky will go for you" the truth was that it had been months since they had seen him, in fact, Natasha didn't even know if he knew about the two babies, who ironically one was named after him, Steve's idea " he'll go with you and then help you get to New York. That's where we'll meet."
"No Steve, no."
"Nat, they have me in their sights and they... Nat, if they get to us again they won't give us the runaround. We literally have three gold pieces for Hydra. You're going to go to New York and if you really need to, you'll go to Tony for help, he'll give it to you and you know it."
"Okay," she nodded, pulling the child away from her chest and pulling down her blouse. She indicated to Mary to get into the vehicle, knowing that she had to leave. "Steve, please don't cut me off," she asked for a second as she watched Mary climb in and buckle her seat belt. She felt Steve's breath as she buckled both babies in. She closed the door and walked to the back of the vehicle to lean against the back."I've got your suit, Steve" she murmured.
"You've got one of them," he assured her. Natasha took a breath of air. "Nat, I realize you're not used to being alone with children at night."
"I've always had you."
"But you're not going to have me for a couple of days, and we need you to."
"What if something happens?"
"I'm making sure it doesn't."
Natasha closed her eyes for a few seconds "Don't do anything stupid, I love you alive and whole with us."
"I love you too, naked of course" she smiled looking for a joke and Natasha shook her head at the misplaced quip, "Nat, if you do it, I can do it. Bucky is already leaving for Charleston. Then you'll not catch a flight to New York. He will stay with you."
"And we trust him to die now?" The insecurity of putting three children in the hand of an ex-soldier whose enemies they are made her skin crawl.
"With our lives. It's eleven hours of travel, you won't make it alone with the children" she felt Nat's silence. "Nat, please."
"If anything happens to any of them, I'll never forgive myself."
"I won't either. That's why we do what we do" there was another silence "Nat, they're attacking all the avengers, but our source is even better."
"I love you," the redhead murmured and cut the call, not waiting for an answer. She quickly climbed into the vehicle to fasten her seat belt. She watched the children, start the vehicle and make the remaining hour's drive.
Upon arrival, she drove to a four-star hotel; she had three children, and she was not going to be in precarious conditions. She asked for a suite with a double bed and a single bed, however, she realized that she could not take her things out of the vehicle without leaving the children alone, so all she did was put the most important belongings with the children's clothes in a bag, slung it over her shoulder and took both chairs of the vehicle in each hand. Mary walked ahead of her, carrying her backpack and diaper bag.
They went up to floor two and the last room. Mary partied like she was on vacation and opened the blinds, admiring the sky as it began to set.
"It's very pretty," smiled the girl, dropping her things on the bed.
"It is." The blonde left both children asleep in the chairs, leaning on the floor. She sat down on the bed to sigh and patted her side for Mary to come over and sit down. When the girl did that, Nat arranged a lock. "We're not going to see your father for a few days" the girl's smile faded. "We'll stay here until Bucky comes to help me, we'll go to New York."
"Where there are bad men?"
"But some good men can help us. So we'll stay here."
"Good."
Natasha was truly afraid because for her she could have gone on a suicide mission a year ago, but now, with the three children... she couldn't, and she didn't even want to.
In the evening, she agreed to let Mary watch a movie while she just had the babies in bed. Now and then she looked at her cell phone, hoping for some news from Steve but he just wouldn't call.
That night she couldn't even sleep, aware that it was the first night she had spent in over a year without Steve. The first night she had spent alone with the children.
Her eyes rested on the two babies that had come out of her, still unable to believe her last year; she had come from nowhere, Steve had given her a place and a family. But it hadn't been Captain America, he had let Natasha in and not the black widow, how would they do it that way? what was to become of them? what about the family?
She watched the child stir "Sarah" she murmured, seeing how Mary was still sleeping in the bed next to her "Don't you want to sleep anymore?" the baby lifted her head and with her clear eyes, stirred upward. Natasha could see it because the portable light was on, at minimum intensity but still enough to see the babies, "Oh, you're looking for your father. I wish he were here too.
She took her in her arms so she wouldn't wake the other twin and got up to sit on the couch on the other side of the room. She sat down on her legs and propped her daughter up in front of her, smiling, "You can't be hungry, I fed you a few minutes ago," she said, laying the baby on one of her legs while holding her with the other and playing with her little hand with the other.
It still felt so unreal all the eight and a half months of pregnancy, her stomach, the days with Steve, and growing up with Mary; she was a mom and she didn't have to give birth to realize it.
"But how am I going to take care of you all if I can't protect you from the world? " Sarah giggled as she played with her hands and Natasha's eyes glazed over. She looked over at Mary and James who were still sleeping, only to look back at Sarah. She closed her eyes and let a tear fall, biting her lower lip "How can I save you three?!
She was in a dream, having everything she wanted, but she was afraid it was starting to turn into a nightmare. She was afraid of losing everything, losing them.
She opened her eyes when she heard movement and saw Mary sitting up in bed, rubbing her eyes. The girl saw Natasha wiping away a tear and got up, walked over to her, and stood next to her to hug her. She felt her release some anguish, releasing more tears.
"We're safe with you, Mom," the girl wrapped her arms around her.