Bozhe Moi

The Men Arrive

The next day, Becca was leaving the hotel and saw three men waiting to check-in. At a glance, they looked like friends on a trip since they were laughing at something. The closer the girl got; she could hear their American accents and realized they were speaking in English. Luckily for her, she was multilingual, curtesy of her family teaching her from a young age.

"Think Natasha's around," the dark-haired man with the curls asked as he looked around. He was wearing a plaid shirt, jeans and black shoes.

The blonde shrugged and said shook his head as if to say he didn't know. He was wearing a blue button up shirt under a brown leather jacket, dark jeans and old-fashioned looking shoes. Becca thought he looked like he belonged in a 40's film.

The other dark-haired man with a black leather glove on one hand said, "I don't know." He was wearing a grey shirt under a black leather jacket, jeans and black shoes.

"Excuse me," Becca interrupted. "Are you all looking for Natasha Romanoff?"

The men turned to address her, and the blonde said, "Yeah. Do you know her?"

"I'm Becca. I'm her daughter."

"I'm Steve Rogers," the blonde greeted.

"Bruce Banner," the curly haired man greeted with a small smile as he wrung his hands together.

"Bucky Barnes," the last man greeted with a tight smile.

As Becca looked at all of them, she couldn't tell who her dad was, but knew she would find out eventually. She couldn't expect a connection at first glance and she was bound to have something in common with one of them.

"My mom's name was Rebecca," Bruce said with a kind smile.

"I'm named after a Rebecca," she said happily.

She tried to remember what Rebecca looked like but failed, which made sense since the girl was four when they moved to Russia. All she remembered was that the woman helped take care of her and Natasha from the time she was born until they moved. Her mother always said she was grateful to the woman because she was there for her after she found out she was pregnant.

"You look exactly like your mother," Bruce said, interrupting Becca's thoughts.

The man had a kind face, showing he meant that as a complement, and she replied, "I get that a lot. My grandparents say I act like her too."

"Is Natasha here," Bruce asked. He seemed nervous and slightly anxious as he wrung his hands together.

"Um, no she's at the house. But... she doesn't know you guys are here..."

"Wait," Steve said. "Then who sent us your wedding invitations?"

"I did," she confessed. "But she talks about you all the time," she lied.

Bruce looked at her and calmly said, "Please, don't lie to us. Why are we here?"

"I could ask you all the same question," she sized him up, causing all three men to look somewhat guilty.

Before any of them could answer, they were interrupted by Yelena yelling out, "Becca, let's go!"

Becca addressed the men and said, "I'll tell her when the time is right. But will you please come to my wedding?"

The men looked at each other and talked amongst themselves for a couple of minutes.

"I mean, she did invite us," Steve said loud enough for her to hear.

"We can always catch up with Natasha later," Bucky said. "Tell her we came for a different reason than the wedding."

"I hate lying, but I'll do it," Bruce said in a resigned voice.

Bucky addressed Becca, "Go ahead kid. Have fun and don't worry about your mom. Just tell her when you're ready."

She must have seemed nervous because Bruce reassured her, "It's okay. We'll check-in and hide in our rooms."

The woman at the front desk spoke up, "Actually, there's only one room left with two beds. We can bring in a cot for the third bed."

The men groaned and took their keys as Becca tried not to laugh.

"Thank you," she said in a relived voice. "See ya."

She ran up to Yelena, who asked, "Who are they?"

"The possible fathers."

Yelena paused to look back at them then at Becca and said, "Natasha's going to hate this, but I have to admit, it's kind of fun."