It Just Happened

Five Months

It's been five months since Natasha told her lie, five months since she told Maria about her pregnancy and five months since she left her apartment. At this point Maria would stop by every day to check on her and make sure she didn't leave. Natasha had been thinking about it a lot she didn't want her friends and Fury to find out. Maria would come by and make sure she was eating. She would make her and the baby confortable. She would tell her stories about her latest missions and how the rest of the team was holding up. All she was really trying to do was take her mind off of the fact that her stomach was three times its size. She had been asked multiple times by both her teammates and Fury if she would go on a mission, but each time she said no. They all knew something was wrong with her. Clint would stop by every once in a while and knock on the door asking the same thing
He would say, "Hey Tasha, it's Clint again you probably won't answer but I just wanted to know how you're holding up and if you are alright," but each time there would be no response.
Bruce on the other hand would only try and talk to Maria, try to get something out of her. But still, she wouldn't budge. Thor tried a couple of times but soon he gave up and had to leave back to Asgard. Tony on the other hand for once stopped cracking jokes, he knew something was wrong with her. But as much as he wanted to help and try to talk to her, he knew that he was the last person she would come to talk to. And Steve, he hadn't went to see her after he thought the whole situation was his fault. He believed it was his fault for the reason she wouldn't talk and the reason she wouldn't even bother to go on any missions. Natasha is the Black Widow, she never falls, and even if she does she gets right back up again. But this time, it seemed the Black Widow had fallen and there was no way she'd get up.

It was late in the afternoon, the sun was setting and no one was out and about. It was raining and was never fun for Natasha; she would sit by the window and just watch the people below her. It gave her entertainment watching the happiness of others running around having fun. It gave her hope that maybe one day she would feel happy again. She always thought about giving up the baby, she wondered if it would make her happier or break her even more than she was.

*****Maria's POV*****

Of course I felt terrible for Natasha. It had to be awful to go through all of the crap she'd been going through, but I was starting to wonder how long I could keep this up. It had started to affect me and my job.
I was about to get some food when I heard my phone ring. I took it out and noticed who was calling me, "crap," I said to myself. I had no other choice so I answered it.
When I answered the director spoke, "Hill," Fury said.
"Hello Sir, is everything alright?" I asked.
He answered, "No, I need you to tell Romanoff to get off her ass and meet me in my office. I have a mission for her."
"I'm sorry?" I said.
"You heard me," Fury said.
"Sir you don't understand," I waited for a moment before I walked out of the room so Natasha wouldn't hear me, then I continued, "She's going through a lot right now and if you just..."
Fury cut me off, "I don't give a damn about what's going on in her personal life. She's been like this for far too long. Now tell her if she doesn't get into my office in ten minutes you both are fired!"
"But Sir you can't..." I said as he cut me off again and hung up before I got to finish.

"Dammit," I said to myself. I had no other choice. I walked back inside and saw Natasha sitting by the window in only a long navy blue shirt and leggings. Her hair was getting long now and she looked like she hadn't taken a shower in weeks. I walked over to her and sat on the corner of the bed just a few feet away from her.
"Hey..." I said quietly.
She didn't respond, she only nodded her head.

"Okay..." I knew I had to let her know so I just let it out, "So Fury called, and um, he wanted me to tell you, to uh..." I didn't really know what to say. She looked at me with her dark green eyes, staring me down. By the look she gave me I knew I really had to spit it out.
"Okay, Fury... he wants you in the field!" I said. She just looked at me, still with no response. I continued, "And if you don't go in, we both get fired, and god I know what you're going though and if you really don't want to then that's okay, alright, I don't care about this stupid job I care if you, my best friend is alright."
She looked at me and then spoke, "Fine...I'll do it," she said softly.
It took me a minute to realize what she had actually said. In fact I was mostly surprised she had even spoken for the first time in two weeks.
"What?" I said, "You can't, you can't do that I...I won't let you."
She looked right into my eyes and said, "I have to, I can't let you lose your job because of me. I need to repay you for everything you've done. It's time for me to get out and enjoy my life again and that means going on missions."
"What about the baby?" I asked.
She took a deep breath and said, "I've been staring out this window all day and not one person went outside because of this rain. Not until just now actually. She looked at the window again and smiled.

"There was a man and his wife with their daughter, she wanted to go out she wanted to play in the rain. So that's what she did, she ran out there, her mother and father behind her. They started jumping in the puddles and dancing around," she took her time before continuing, "I'm going to go on that mission and I'm going to tell Fury the truth, if he doesn't allow me to go on that mission then screw it. At least I told him. And if he does allow me then I'll kick some ass. I'll come back and I'll go to Steve, I'll tell him I love him, and that I want to spend the rest of my life with him. Then I'll tell him I'm pregnant, and that I want him to be the best father ever, no matter what. Then we will tell everyone, we will tell them everything." She chuckled before finishing, "And then when our child is old enough, we will go outside while it's raining and we will dance, we will jump up and down and be a happy family. I can't let you lose your job because of me. Friends don't let other friends fail because of them."
"Nat you know you could never fail me, you'll never fail me," that was all I was able to say before she pulled me into a hug. The hug felt different this time. This time I could tell she was happy.
"Thank you," she said as she backed away from me.
"For what?" I asked.
"For never giving up on me, even if you almost lost your job," She giggled as she finished.
All I was able to do was let out a small smile and say, "that's what friends are for."
I looked at her once again but focused on her stomach instead and said, "since when did your stomach get so big?"
She looked down and smiled and said, "I can't even see my feet!"
I look up at her and she looks up at me and we both just lost it. We started laughing our heads off. After a few minutes of laughing she looked at me and started crying.
"Oh my god! Nat what's wrong,"
"I don't know we were just laughing and now... now I'm crying" she said in between sobs.
I couldn't help but laugh at her.
"What?!" she yelled.
"I'm sorry I...I can't help it," I said laughing.
"Help what?!" she yelled.
"You're hormones," she looked at me puzzled and I continued, "Every pregnant woman has them. You can get really hungry or in your case you get extremely happy over something stupid then out of nowhere you start crying like a little baby. So I'm sorry that I'm laughing, but if you were me and saw your face you would be laughing too."
"You're lucky I'm pregnant or you would be on the floor right now," She threatened jokingly.
I put my hand up in surrender and smiled, "You should probably get going. You don't want to keep Nick waiting."
She turned around and grabbed her jacket still keeping her eyes locked on me. She turned to the door and threw her jacket over her shoulder and said "I'll see you soon."
"Yeah," I said, "Oh and Nat," she turned and faced me, "Don't start crying in front of him!"
She smiled but shook her head and walked back to the door. That was the first time she smiled, the first time laughed. The first time she thought something happy, something happy like growing a life with Steve and their child. The first time in five months that she had looked truly happy.

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Alright I want to apologize for taking so long to update but I hope this chapter made up for it. I'll try my best not to wait another month to update