"Shoot him."
The young red haired girl whimpered. "I don't want to."
The man gripped her by the neck and threw her across the room. "Then you're weak." He snapped, grabbing the gun.
Natasha didn't wait around to find out what happened next. She ran up and out of the basement, running away from the base as quickly as possible. She ran until she found an apartment. She ran up the stairs and knocked several times, biting back tears.
A young blond boy opened the door. "Natasha?" He asked. Natasha burst into tears and Steve Rogers stepped forward and gave her a tight hug. She hugged him back. Sarah Rogers had come to the door as well and gently led the girl inside.
"You'll stay with us tonight." Sarah told her, leaving no room for discussion.
"What about..."
"Don't worry." Sarah told Natasha gently. "I'll let your parents know."
*
Natasha woke up with a start and was breathing heavily. It had been her father who had brought her to the basement in the first place. That was the first time she'd stayed at the Rogers' for a long time, until her father was transferred again.
She slipped out of bed and walked over to the window, looking over nighttime New York. She rested her head on the window for a moment. She was six months pregnant and getting really tired of being pregnant.
"Natasha?" A voice came from the direction of the bed. She turned and saw Bucky sitting up.
"It's fine, James." She said gently. "Go back to sleep."
Instead of going to sleep, he walked over to her and began playing with her hair. "Nightmare?" He asked quietly.
"Yeah." She replied, tracing her fingers over some of the scars on Bucky's chest. "About my dad." She felt Bucky tense under her fingers.
"What kind of thing?" He asked, wrapping one arm around her waist. She smiled a little. Even all these years later, he was still desperately protective of her.
"He was trying to get me to kill someone." She managed to choke out. She hadn't even realized she'd begun crying until Bucky gently wiped tears away from her eyes.
"He'll never be able to hurt you again, Natasha." He said, running a hand through her hair. "I'll always protect you."
"I know." Natasha replied, pulling away and facing the window again. "But for how long?" She turned back. "How long are we going to be safe?" She pressed a hand against her rapidly growing stomach. "Will the baby ever be safe?" She sighed and turned away again so that he wouldn't see the fresh flood of tears. "I just don't know how long I can hold on, James. I... I'm scared."
Bucky gently turned her and kissed her. "Everything will be fine, Tash. You'll have the baby and we'll keep him safe with us." He smiled. It's going to be fine. I promise."
Natasha shook her head. "Don't promise, James. Too much can go wrong."
Bucky thought for a moment. "How about this? I promise that I will always find you, and I will protect you and little baby me until the day I die."
Natasha allowed a small smile to cross her face. "All right, though it's going to be a baby me."
Bucky chuckled and kissed her forehead. "Whatever you say, Tash. Have you thought of any names yet?"
She rolled her eyes. "I'm assuming you have?"
Bucky shrugged nonchalantly. "Well... if it's a boy, we could name it Steve."
Natasha smirked. "And Stephanie if it's a girl?"
"You read my mind." He inclined his head slightly. "You coming back to bed?"
"Not yet." She said, turning towards the window. "I just want to watch the night a little longer."
Bucky shrugged and stood next to her. "Then I'll wait with you."
She smiled and took his arm, leaning against him. The next morning, she would vaguely remember Bucky carrying her back to bed as she fell asleep, but for the moment, she was at peace.
*
"Well, Jenkins?" Bucky demanded the next evening.
"Hmmm," was all Jenkins said as he moved the some of his work related stuff around.
"'Hmmm'? That's all you have? You've been saying that for the last hour!"
Natasha chuckled. Bucky was being typical Bucky: overly protective and extremely annoying to doctors. After Steve had had so many problems as a child and the doctors were unable to help him, he'd lost any faith in doctors. He was only barely tolerating Natasha having daily checkups, and not very well at that.
"Don't worry, James." Natasha said calmly. "You know Jenkins never says anything until right before he leaves."
Bucky glared at Jenkins. "Jerk." He muttered.
In another room, Steve began choking on his lemonade as he started laughing at the same time as he was drinking.
"Turn it up!" Clint said excitedly. "This is usually where it gets good."
After the first few appointments, the rest of the Avengers has placed bugs and cameras in the checkup room to watch the show (they'd started doing this after Bucky had accidentally punched a hole in the wall). But now, it was more popular than movie night. Tony even recorded the sessions so that after Natasha no longer needed checkups, they could still watch them.
Loki crunched on popcorn as they watched Bucky try to not lose his temper with the infuriating doctor. "I love this." He said, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
Thor chuckled as he ate some of Loki's popcorn. "You always did enjoy the trouble people caused."
Loki snickered. "Mortals."
Sam gave him an annoyed look. "Asgardians die too, freak."
Loki shrugged. "Yes, but we live a lot longer."
Sam opened his mouth to respond, but the arguing suddenly moved from on camera to in the corridor. Tony quickly flipped from the live feed to The Flash.
"DC?" Rhodey hissed at Tony.
Tony shrugged. "Better than them finding out we watch them."
"And there's nothing wrong with The Flash." Loki protested. "It's a good show."
Everyone glanced at him.
He blushed a little. "Oh, look. Here comes Sergeant Diddlysquat and Ambrose Lee."
Thor shook his head. "Loki, I don't even know where you get these names."
Bucky and Jenkins walked in, still arguing. "She doesn't need to be moved!" Bucky protested.
"She's a very special case. She needs more care." Jenkins said, obviously annoyed with the Soldier.
"But..." Bucky was cut off as the power suddenly was shut off in the building. There was the quick sound of a scuffle and just as suddenly, light flooded the room.
But Jenkins wasn't there any longer.
Bucky and Steve's eyes met. "Natasha." They said at the same time.
They ran back to the checkup room, but Natasha wasn't there. All that was there was a small slip of paper, showing the identity of her kidnappers.
HYDRA.