Second Chances - Book 1

Chapter 20: What Lies in the Past - Part 2

Hearing his name. The walls around her felt as though they were crashing down. Memories in their thousands flashed behind her eyes. All the while, Bruce's lips moved without words audible to her ears. She couldn't take anything he was saying in. How could she trust whatever else he had to say? Natasha steadily returned to the present, catching the tail end of Bruce's fruitless apologies. The expression of sheer desperation consumed his aged features.

"How long have you known?"

The question was simple enough. Spoken with almost.. indifference. She simply wanted to know the answer and only that. She needed to know. Bruce faltered, mouth open but words couldn't be formed. He couldn't admit it. Natasha closed her eyes briefly, nodding with a sense of understanding. 

"You've known since the start, haven't you?" She could easily assume his answer. The overall guilty expression was confirmation enough. "Tell me." Her voice wasn't as soft as it had been. It was sharp, abrasive. Holding a sense of authority. A voice she hadn't used around Bruce.

"I knew from the start," Bruce confirmed, unable to meet her eye. Her look of betrayal was unmissable. She had the ability to hide it.. but she couldn't. She wouldn't. Natasha wanted him to know he had hurt her - that he had betrayed her - before she shut him off from ever knowing about her. "I'm sorry, Natasha. I'm so sorry."

"It's not me you should be apologising to," Natasha told him, blinking away the sheen of tears that briefly clouded her vision. 

"I know... I know. I couldn't... I just couldn't lose you. Either of you."

"So you lied."

Her statement ended his futile attempts to defend his actions. She could tell already he was a ball of nerves, seconds from exploding. That was something she wanted to avoid, especially in front of so many people. So far, she was glad their.. discussion, was simply between the two of them. "What do we do?" Bruce asked after a few unsettling moments of silence.

Natasha had found herself looking at Vinny. Non-the-wiser, telling Grace what his uncle's favourite colour was. "I think you know."

"Natasha... I-"

"I can't trust you," Natasha told him bluntly. "You've proved that." She added. Bruce opened his mouth in an attempt to defend himself, but the redhead cut him off. "I want you out." She told him, as much as those words hurt her heart. She couldn't go on wondering what else he could be lying about. "I have always been honest with you. Always." 

"I can't, Nat. I can't just never see-"

"You'll still see them. We'll figure out when you can have Vinny, and you can see Nessy whenever you want until she's old enough to stay over." Natasha spoke. She wouldn't deny her children a father. "As for the house... everything we own. Do I need a lawyer?"

Bruce stood dumbfounded. She stood reeling off conditions like it were a business transaction. Vacant of visible emotion. He was faced with the brutal consequences of his actions. "No." He backed down, eyes falling to a sleeping Vanessa. His world was quickly shattering around him. "There's no need to bring Matt into it." Bruce had been told of her work alongside the Devil of Hell's Kitchen. Friends, he was told, but he wasn't quite as certain. "The house is in your name. I can sign over anything that helps them. That helps all of you." Bruce lifted a hand, rubbing his watery eyes with a posture of defeat. "When will you tell him?"

"Today," Natasha told him. "When we're home. I want it to be as easy for him as possible. After, I want you to go. I have a considerable amount of work to do." 

"What will you do?"

"I'm going to find James."

The rest of the trip was spent in silence. Bruce kept roughly 5 feet from Natasha, fiddling and on edge the entire time. Despite being royally pissed off, Natasha could easily find a smile for the children. Entering the gift shop, their attention was immediately consumed by the throws of themed toys, shirts and all manners of useless tidbits. "You can both pick one thing you want, and you both can decide on what Nessy might want." Natasha passed on the mission, before letting them loose. Luckily, the gift shop was rather small so it meant they were easy to keep track of. Vinny had chosen a crimson T. rex teddy, Grace a green "tri-terry-tops", and for Nessy, they had found a soft blanket with cartoon dinosaurs they thought she might like to snuggle up in.