One of many stories

Chapter 44

"Do you want to go to bed?" Steve asked as they had come home. He was a bit unsure of how to handle the situation, but she did need to sleep. "Yeah, I'll be right there." Natasha said, and Steve nodded. She walked after Steve into the bedroom, changing into something more comfortable before she got into bed. Steve's arms surrounded her body immediately and at first, she felt safe. His gentle embrace and small, loving kisses on her neck calmed her down as usual. Then, she closed her eyes only to open them a second later as the recent nightmare rushed through her mind like a thunderstorm. When Steve fell asleep beside her, she desperately escaped his embrace, careful not to wake him up. She sighed deeply, getting out of bed. All night, she tried focusing on other stuff. Watching Tv, reading, online shopping and even cleaning the apartment. Anything to keep her stinging eyes open. As morning slowly came, she slipped into the bedroom again and laid down beside Steve. She didn't want him to worry. Especially since he couldn't do anything about it. She felt dizzy, as if her mind was filled with fog. She couldn't think straight because of the lack of sleep. As her head fell onto the pillow, Natasha couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. She got a few minutes of sleep before Steve's arms surrounded her again and she woke up. "Good morning." Steve whispered, holding her close. "Did you have any nightmares tonight?" He asked her softly. "No. Not tonight." She answered, opening her tired eyes.
The next few days were in the same pattern for Natasha. The days were filled with doctors appointments, nausea and headaches. The nights were filled with distraction. She went to bed whenever Steve did, only to get out of bed as soon as he fell asleep. She kept herself distracted all night, doing whatever the baby in her stomach wanted her to do. Mostly eating and throwing up. As the morning sun slipped through the windows, Natasha slipped down next to Steve in their bed. Every morning Steve asked the same question. "Did you sleep well?" And every morning, she answered with the same lie. "Yes."

• • •

As days went by, Natasha had a hard time trying to hide her busy nights from Steve. Her eyes had gone red and the bags under her eyes were hard to hide even with layers of makeup. The fact that she sometimes fell asleep in the middle of the day seemed normal at first since she was pregnant, but as it happened way too often, Steve got suspicious. He knew that this pregnancy was different. The doctors had even pointed out that all of the side effects to a normal pregnancy would probably become worse in Natasha's case, which they had. Three times worse. Steve desperately took help from the doctors, wanting every advice on how he could help Natasha with the terrible morning sickness, backaches, sleepiness and with everything else he noticed but there was not much he could do. "You want some pancakes?" Steve asked Natasha softly as  she sat in the couch, staring at the tv. When he didn't get an answer, he looked over at her. "Natasha?" He asked again. No answer.
He frowned a little, walking over to her. "Natasha you could at least answer.." He said, looking at her. Natasha's eyes were wide open and Steve didn't realise until after a few seconds that she was asleep, with her eyes open. He frowned deeply, sitting down next to her. "Hey Nat.." He said, gently touching her arms. Natasha started to blink before turning her head to look at him. "What?" She mumbled. "Are you tired?" He asked and she immediately shook her head. "No. No I'm not." She said and it was clear that her lies became worse and worse. "Maybe you should get some sleep." He said, trying to get her out of the couch but Natasha hit away his hands. "No! Just leave me alone!" She said, rather upset. Steve raised his eyebrows. "I'm just trying to help you." He said, looking at her. "I don't need your help. I don't need anyone's help." She said, turning her eyes back to the tv. Steve sighed as he looked at her. She didn't look like her healthy self. Natasha was always beautiful and still is now, but she looked sick. As if she had been battling a sickness for years. Steve couldn't handle seeing her like this. He had to do something.

"Natasha, let's just eat something and then we'll both rest for a while. Okay?" Steve asked, giving her a small smile. Natasha turned her ice cold glare to him, just staring at him for a few seconds. "I said, leave me alone." She said with an emotionless voice Steve hadn't heard for months. He was almost shocked by hearing her sound so cold towards him. "Natasha I'm sorry, but you need my help right now." He said, a bit hurt at the way she acted towards him. Natasha chuckled before glaring at him again. "I thought you had good hearing? Just leave me alone! Let me breath!" She said, raising her voice. Steve frowned deeply, meeting her intense eyes. "Fine." He said, sighing deeply. "I'll go for a walk or something." He said without receiving an answer from Natasha. He once again let out a sigh before grabbing his jacket and walking out of the apartment. The evening soon sneaked upon the city and the sky had already turned a bit darker. Steve stared down at the ground as he walked, wrapping the jacket around him a little tighter as it was a bit chilly outside. In the middle of his upset thoughts and exhausted mind, he bumped into someone. "Sorry.." He said, looking up only to see a blonde woman in front of him with wet cheeks and red eyes.
"Sharon?" He asked surprised and she quickly wiped away the tears from her cheeks. "Wow this is highly inappropriate." She said, giving him a small smile even though she was clearly upset and sad about something. "Are you okay?" Steve asked softly and she tried smiling even brighter. "My boyfriend just broke up with me actually, so no." She said and Steve frowned a little, not really knowing what to say. "I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable. I think I better go." She said, sighing before giving Steve another smile. "Do you want to talk about it?" Steve suddenly asked, thinking that maybe she needed someone to talk to and he was right.