Love You Endlessly

Harsh Reality

NATASHA'S POV

"Steve!" I shout at Steve who's asleep on the couch, kicking his foot and pulling his t-shirt.
"What? Nat, please turn down the volume" his eyes flutter, and he brushes me off.
How dare he!
"Don't brush me off! Wake up! You're my husband, you're supposed to help me!" I exclaim, pulling harder on his 'wwII-veterans' t-shirt I found for him in a thrift store.
He sits up, sighing and rubbing his eyes.
"What is the belly stopping you from doing now?" He asks. Seven months into the pregnancy, he knows there's so much I can't do myself. And I hate it. I hate that James is making me incapable of doing easy things sometimes. I love him, but it's annoying.
"I can't...I can't...tie my shoes today" I mumble and look down to my feet. Oh no that's right. I can't see my feet.
Steve chuckles. "Sit down and let me do it, My Love." Taking my hand he pulls me down on the couch.

———————————————

STEVE'S POV

She is without a doubt the most adorable pregnant woman ever.
She wants to do everything herself, and when she can't, she gets so angry. It's too cute...except when she gets very mad and picks up a kitchen knife that she chases me through the compound with. But that's just the mood swings...right..?

She scoffs dramatically, and I look up from one of her sneakers.
"What is it, My Love?" I ask, trying to smile. She scares me. She's a cute pregnant lady. But she's a scary pregnant lady.
"You chuckle too loud. I don't like it" she frowns, and crosses her arms over her at this point big belly.
"I..? I chuckle too loud now? Last night I was too loud when I was getting you your towel"
"Yes, you're a loud person. It's annoying Steve" she says and looks at me, her eyebrows knitted together in all seriousness.
"I'm sorry, My Love. I'll try to be less loud" I smile and put my hand on her leg when I've finished tying her shoes.
"Thank you" her frown turns into a smile and she holds out her hand.

"Can you help me up? I'm going for a walk with Wanda. She says it's good for pregnant people. If you do, I'll give you a kiss" she says, smiling smugly at the mention of a kiss. She hasn't let me kiss her for a week because she says it makes her unable to breathe when I cut her air supply, so I'll do right about anything now to get to kiss her.

I'm up from the couch faster than she gets to say more, and I grab both her hands and pull her to her feet.
"I can't wait to get this child out of me" she groans and pats her stomach.
"I can't wait for him to come either. I hope he looks like you" I look at her. Her every little feature. All mine. All perfect.
"I hope he looks like you" she says and puts a soft hand on my cheek.
I snuggle my face into the palm of her hand, kissing it softly.

"Can I have my kiss now?" I ask with a smile. Her hand falls from my cheek. "No"
"Wha-.? Natasha, you said I cou-.." I whine and she silences me with a finger to my lips.
"I lied. You are very easy to trick" she laughs.
"One day I'll get that kiss" I tell her with determined pointing of my finger.
"Now you and Wanda have a good walk, yeah?" I kiss her hand before leaving her to Wanda who's looking at us with an amused smile from the door.

———————————————

NATASHA'S POV

My brain is all pregnancy mushed. The only things I can think about are food, how uncomfortable I am, and when it's a reasonable hour to go to sleep.

That's not exactly handy when there's meetings so stuff like this right now is not good.

When Wanda and I came back from our walk, Stephen Strange was in the compound. Of course the others didn't know him, but it did get me and Steve to look at each other confused.

And now my pregnant need-food-and-sleep brain is trying to fathom what he's saying.

There is a threat in this universe too...apparently. Not Thanos. Something else. Potentially something bigger.
And he hasn't told us what it is yet...
And here I was...believing Steve and I could finally live happily.

"So...when that is said, I need to talk to Captain Rogers and Agent Romanoff privately" I hear him say, while still trying to process what he said.
"Us? What do you need us for? Not something too...dangerous, right? I can't risk anything happen to Natasha or our son" Steve's voice sounds just as distant to me as Strange's.
"It depends. But I have to talk to you. And it has to be now"

"Love. Oh my god" Steve looks worried as he takes my hand and helps me up from the couch and I look at him, finally up to speed with what's been said.

"Privately" Strange repeats himself to make the rest of the team leave the common room.

Steve's hand finds the small of my back and he squeezes panicked into my back, as if to make sure I'm there.

"What is it? What do you need us privately for?" I ask, my mind as sharp as normally.
"About the threat" he sighs.
"What about it?" Steve breathes worried.
"It's you two. You're the threat" he says plainly. No sugarcoating, no 'it's not your faults,' and no escape. Just how I like it normally. But not this. Because his tone is anxiety-provoking.
"What is it with us?" I ask.

"You see, we, us sorcerers, we know your little game. We know, that you don't belong in this universe. There's a tear in the Multiverse, but-.."
"The Multiverse?" Steve interrupts confused.
"Yes, the Multiverse. It's an opening to other universes. It's variants of the same people, and it's not all bad, but-.."
Now it's my turn to cut in.
"Then why are you bothering us? Why are you ruining our chances of being happy together?"
"Because this isn't a part of the Multiverse. This universe is an exact copy of the universe you're from. It's parallel. It's the same, but it's not. Had you traveled to an actual other universe, you, Agent Romanoff, you wouldn't be able to be alive. It sounds complicated, and it is" he looks at both of us.
"But why didn't you come earlier then? We've been here for about two years now" Steve says, and I can hear he's biting back tears.
Strange looks tired at having to explain, but what can he expect when he just told us we're a threat to an entire universe?

"One, because I wasn't a sorcerer then. And two, because it wasn't a problem worth solving before the tear in the Multiverse happened in your original universe. Peter Parker, that's what I have to say. Time doesn't go in your universe as it does here. It's merely been ten seconds since you traveled back in time, Captain Rogers, but at the same time months. It doesn't make sense. Time is ruined, because of this. That's why you're a threat. Time was ruined when you got pregnant, Agent Romanoff, because reproduction isn't possible in a parallel universe without screwing up the first draft of the universe"
Instinctively both Steve's hand and mine land on my belly where James is kicking lively. He's alive. But he isn't?
"I...I don't get it..." I mumble, my turn to bite back tears now.

"It doesn't matter if you get it. Either way you have to go back. You, Agent Romanoff have to die, and you, Captain Rogers, have to return the stone you still have. The stone that requires for you to go back to the 1940's. And then you have to go back to 2023. Being your actual age. I don't make the rules. I just have to make sure time is intact"

I finally posted!!
This story is sadly coming to an end soon, because I simply can't write it anymore, and I don't know why.

I am working on some one-shots tho! (Also Romanogers, but that doesn't surprise anyone)
I just don't feel like I can write a long story right now, and I'll return with long stories again at one point. (I'm thinking of writing my take on Natasha's past actually, because I didn't feel like we got enough of that in BW)

But I've written like five one-shots, and though it's only my opinion they seem more interesting because I don't have to drag out the storylines.

I really hope you can understand this, and that you'll read the one-shots when I post them, and if you don't, I just hope y'all stay safe and find some good stories on here.

But we still have a few more chapters in this one first!

Is anyone actually reading these A/Ns?
If you are then I send you hugs because my author's notes are far too long