Seven Wishes

Cover Me in Sunshine

Natasha is yawning when she comes down the stairs. The house is uncharacteristically quiet with keys missing from the counter.

She would've stayed in bed but sleeping without Bruce beside her is impossible. Upon realizing he was missing, she had to get up.

Natasha traipses into the kitchen, yawning again and starts to make her coffee.

Maximus whines at her heels and slaps his dog bowl with a paw. He sits back and barks with his head back as if she should understand his request.

Natasha caters and refills his food bowl next;

"Where's your sister buddy? Huh? And your daddy...What do you think they're up to?"

Max stands and shoves his nose into his kibble, tail wagging. She gives him a pet and heads back for her coffee.

She picks up a note from the counter written in Russian, a 'thank you' from her sister.

Romanoff tries to squash her worry by surveying the house and calmly walking through - every room.

She checks the basement first, the guest rooms next, the garage. Her solace is the missing keys and a wallet- so he's driving...not kidnapped.

Natasha heads for the couch and reaches for her hoodie pocket to find her phone.

They're probably fine, off on some adventure. She huffs over the thought: one that she clearly wasn't invited on.

—————————————-

4 Years Ago...

The day Bruce decides they're pulling Rebecca from her incubator, Natasha is nauseas. She's already successfully delayed the 'mission' by four hours.

Despite her own hesitations, she's leaping into action with a vacant expression and treating the entire procedure as if it were indeed a mission;

"We'll extract our target at 7am."

Banner accepts it, too nervous to argue over whether Becks should be called their baby or 'the target'. Whatever works to keep the redhead sane, Bruce is accepting.

He's holding his breath for most of the morning, careful to monitor her vitals on the screen amidst removing her food source and eventually her small body from the nest.

Tony and Pepper are present, more to serve as bodyguards than anything else.

Though, it would appear Clint has that part under control, a bow on his shoulder and a weapon in his holster as he stands at the entrance under the guise of new Stark security.

Beck's first exhale is tears, held in Banner's arms with his now blood stained lab coat.

"You got her? I'll get the tech. Can I shut the system down?" Tony questions, as hands on as Bruce is.

The physicist can't speak, grateful his boss/friend is observant enough to read hand signals and obscure nods.

Banner knows he should be cleaning her nose, wiping her eyes- but one more squeeze won't hurt.

He needs an extra hand now;

"Tasha, can you-."

"I've got it," Pepper circles with a cloth when she realizes Natasha has checked out mentally.

Pepper leaps into action, cleaning off the baby with excessive care and precision while she stays in her father's arms.

Pepper is working through one of Bruce's checklist, eager to wrap the child in a fancy blanket along and some baby clothes;