All the Colors of Earth (Natasha Romanoff)

1.12

"A very sensible plan," Malcom chimes in. "What name would you like on the account?"

Natasha hesitates so I answer, "Natalie Rushman." She looks surprised that I know one of her aliases, "I do my research."

She gives Malcom a glance and says to me, "I didn't bring my ID."

"Oh that's no problem, I specialize in extraordinary circumstances," Malcom assured her.

I take her hand, "I have an account under many aliases here. We can trust him."

Malcom types swiftly for a few minutes until finally, "and would we like to transfer any funds today?"

"Yes, how much is in Sarah Parsons account?"

He types something and answers, "3.5 million."

"Perfect let's transfer it all and close that account. I won't be needing Sarah anymore."

Natasha's grip on my hand tightens, "3.5 million?" She practically hisses.

"Told you I had money but did you believe me?"

"Marz that's too much," she tries to argue.

I give her hand a squeeze, "would it freak you out less if I told you that's the lowest account I have?"

Her face pales, "what?"

I wince, "guess not."

Thankfully Malcom interrupts, "would you like to transfer all the holdings associated with that account as well?"

"What does that include?"

"There's a villa in Paris, a cottage and twenty acres In Scotland, an apartment in Rome and a large warehouse in Seattle."

I turn to Natasha, "do you want all of those? If not we can sell them. Though the villa is rather nice."

"I do like Paris," she said.

I turn to Malcom, "sell all but Paris."

"Will do," he says as he starts typing again, "what's next?"

****
A few hours later and we are finally done at the bank. Natasha waits until we are back in the car before she rounds on me, "how could you surprise me like that?"

I sigh, "because if I had told you in advance you never would have let me do it."

"Because it's too much! And why did you tell him we were married?"

"Because I hope that one day we will be."

That shuts her up for a second, "really?"

"Of course, where did you think this relationship was going?"

"I never thought about it."

"You never dreamed of getting married to someone and having kids?"

She looks out the window, "I can't have kids so I just figured who would want to be with someone who couldn't give them that?"

"Look at me," I tell her. When she does I continue, "you are so much more then an incubator for children. If someone only wants you for reproductive purposes then that person is a narcissist who wants to trap you and nobody needs that. You are amazing Natasha, and anyone would be damn lucky to have you. I know I'm extremely thankful that you've stuck with me this long."

She smiles slightly, "well you are very persuasive."

"You love it," I tease.

"I do."

"Good because the next stop is going to be a doozy," I joke as I start the car and speed away from the bank.

For the rest of the day we visit various stores including a car dealership where I buy Natasha a new motorcycle, much to her protest, and a new car for myself. Afterwards we go to a furniture store where I let Natasha pick out all new furniture for my, hopefully our, house. Once done with all my errands we go to dinner at our restaurant. The sun was just starting to sink when we got back to the Avengers HQ where Cap was waiting for us, "Romanoff we need you."

Before she could answer I said, "well you can't have her. She hasn't recovered enough."

"Marz," she says gently before turning to Cap, "what is it?"

"Stakeout in Romania, some Hydra leader rumored to be buying a weapon and since you've had a run in with him in the past we thought you'd want to take him down."

She nods, "give me ten minutes." At this I start walking towards the elevator and she has to jog to catch up, "I'm sorry," she tells me.

"It's your job," I reply bluntly.

She puts a hand on my arm, "yours too."

Rounding on her I say, "but I wasn't just shot a week ago."

"I've had worse and thanks to Bruce it's basically healed."

The door dings open and we walk into our apartment and I head towards my room, "you should pack, wouldn't want to keep them waiting."

"Marz," she says in exasperation as I close my door on her.

I'm not sure why I was mad. Sure I could blame it on the Bond, but I think I had let myself get too comfortable in her recovery and the dream of a normal life. A normal life I knew could never happen with the job we both have. And it wasn't her fault, we both signed up for this. I start to feel bad and go to my door, opening it just as she's about to knock. She looks surprised to see me and I throw myself into her arms, "I'm sorry," I tell her. "I don't know why I was upset."

"It's ok love," she tells me as she holds me tightly.

"You'll be safe?"

"Always."