Special Needs: A Bruce and Natasha FanFic

Chapter 71: A Soldier, a Spy, & a Scientist Sat on a Bench

Summary: Still at the lake on the Labor Day weekend of 2015. First, Logan, Dani, and Vis get to work on his old Harley in Tony's garage. Bruce is better. Guests arrive! (Not spoiling it!) Rhodey likes to fish. Steve has a lot of concerns and questions regarding an old friend, and he hopes Natasha and Bruce can help shed some light on Erskine's legacy and how it's affected all of them. The conversation prompts Bruce and Nat to reflect on their connections, the accident, the Red Room, and the beginnings of the Lullaby.

Notes: Thanks for coming back and all your patience as I've gone through kidney stones, pet issues, and the government shutdown. It's all good now, so here's an Extra-Big chapter. No, we're not earning the mature rating this chapter, but there is a lot of intimacy and backstory for the relationship here. If you've not read "On Your Birthday" yet, you might want to check it out since it covers in more detail what Nat and Bruce recall here. In this chapter, I'm doing a lot with perspectives and how the two characters traveled parallel paths that converged. This led to collaboration, mutual assistance, and the groundwork for what would become the Lullaby.

Thanks to Autumn_Froste and EmilyGracie13 for their repeated beta help! Couldn't do it without you!

Chapter 71: A Soldier, a Spy, and a Scientist Sat on a Bench

Vis had just gotten Logan settled into a remarkably tidy section of the garage where he could work on his older motorcycle's engine to his heart's contentment. The android had offered to help with the diagnostic equipment, but Logan had declined, preferring to use his own tools and ears to diagnose what needed adjustment.

"My money is on the chain," Dani said as she straddled the end of a workbench. "Harleys are notorious for that."

"That's the newer ones," Logan replied as he laid his tools out. "I'd smell metal if it was."

"We'll see," she said with a grin.

"I'm thinking I'm losing oil," he grumbled as he checked.

"Then I doubt it's the chain," Vision speculated.

Logan straightened up and shook his head. "I'm going to wish it was the chain." He looked at Vis, "Help me get this on the lift, will you?"

"Of course," the android said and helped roll the 600-lb. machine onto the custom lift and secure it. Once they'd raised the lift, he and Dani scrutinized the underside as Logan checked the oil in the sump. "I don't detect any obvious leaks. Is it burning oil through with the fuel?" Vis asked.

"Maybe," Logan grunted. The man looked at the oil on his fingers and sniffed at it.

"Smell a ring job, yet?" Dani asked, sounding eager at the prospect.

"Maybe. I didn't smell it when we drove in, but we weren't exactly downwind of it either."

"I was, and I didn't detect any odor or discoloration in your exhaust," Vision reported. "It would have been blue, correct?"

"It will be before long," Dani noted with a serious tone, shaking her head.

"It'll be fine till we get home," Logan replied.

"Hey, while we have it apart, let's update that chain."

Logan straightened up and looked at Dani, "Maybe. Till then, Darlin', I'm going to work on the old chain a bit. Hand me that wrench."

Vision looked back to the open garage door and smiled as Wanda entered the building. "If you can spare me, I think I have a hike to finish," Logan grunted and Dani waved as the android met Wanda and took her hand.

~*~

This wasn't the first time Lila Barton had been in a Quinjet. Her father and Auntie Nat had shown Cooper and her around one of the smaller ones that S.H.I.E.L.D. often sent to pick him up, but this was the first time she'd been in a big new one with the Avengers' logo on it. In her opinion, it was an improvement because not only was it larger, it had actual seating that was comfortable and not just the benches with harnesses that were way too big for her and her older brother, much less a baby in a pumpkin seat like Nate, her younger sibling. She would have liked it better if it had more windows like the commercial jet planes they took to visit their grandparents. She liked to see the landscape they'd been flying over. Still, this new aircraft was fast and got them where they were going in half the time if Colonel Rhodes was being serious. He and her dad had been "talking shop" up in the cockpit for most of the trip along with Captain Rogers who was smiling at the other men's banter but not talking all that much. She thought her mother would say he was "putting on a brave face" because he looked sort of sad underneath.