The Irony of it All

11- 1 week later

Eleven weeks. Natasha stared at her nearly flat belly in the mirror. She was looking at her side profile and was happy to see that any one who wasn’t pointedly looking for it, probably wouldn’t be able to tell she was eleven weeks pregnant. She could see the difference though, and she couldn’t button her favorite black skinny jeans.

She huffed her frustration and just left them unbuttoned. She pulled on her tank top and was disappointed to see that anyone who knew her well would probably think she’d been eating a few too many donuts. Her stomach was always flat, so to hide her growing baby bump, she went back into her bedroom and pulled out an oversized beige sweater. 

Most of her closet consisted of neutral or Earthy tones. She hated bright colors. They attracted attention, something she only seeked out if that was her mission, but otherwise, she didn’t like the idea of eyes following her around. Steve, on the other hand, loved color. He was color blind before the serum, so he loved her red hair and green eyes, and he loved when she wore colors like blue, red, and green. She only humored him once in a while, usually sticking to her blacks, beiges, grays, and occasional muted olives. 

She went to the Shield Training Gym and let out some steam for a few hours. The gym looked completely normal from the outside, but any non-Shield agents trying to get a membership would be kindly turned away and directed to a more innocent-citizen friendly gym down the street. She came here every day unless she had a mission, or was in the hospital. Usually, she’d spar with Steve, but that was out of the question for now. On the rare occasion, Wanda would come down to learn how to not only rely on her powers, though more often than not she’d cheat. When Clint was in town he’d stop by and spar with her, even Sam enjoyed trying. But at the moment, Wanda and Sam were on the run with Steve, and Clint was on house arrest, so for the last 6 months, she had come in and enjoyed beating herself up for them. Today happened to be an exception. 

As soon as she walked in, she could feel that she wasn’t alone. She ignored it though and entered the Women’s locker room. She was thankful that she had brought a baggy tank top to wear over her usual sports bra. Coming out, she walked into the gym and stopped. Turning around, she saw Tony sitting on one of the benches, swiping on a tablet.

“Tony.” She acknowledged.

“Red. About time you got here. I was waiting for you.”

She gave him her usual smirk. “You couldn’t have been waiting too long. You’re usually late.”

“So Ross didn’t bring you in then?”

“He tried.”

“And here you are.”

“What are you doing here Tony?”

“I needed some gym time, and since my gym partner can only do physical therapy, I figured I’d come here and keep you company. You’re losing your touch. The Black Widow never has a pattern. Never stays too long in one place. And yet, you haven’t changed a thing in almost three months. You’re awfully predictable right now.”

“You’ve been tracking me?”

“No. Well, sort of. Yes. Noticed you went rogue for a couple of weeks a few months ago. Just disappeared. Actually that’s not true, you got a flight to Paris, and then we lost you, but Friday found your facial recognition five hours later at an airport in Ghana. You had different clothes, and were sporting a brown wig, but it was you alright. What were you doing in Africa?”

“I don’t have to tell you anything. But I know you’re not going to drop it so I’ll tell you. I was tracking a minor illegal arms dealer.” 

He hummed in thought. “It’s dangerous. Tracking arms dealers could get you in a lot of trouble.” He looked at her straight in the eyes. They both knew they weren’t talking about arms dealers anymore, but the hidden cameras didn’t have to know that. “Especially if you found said arms dealers and hid it. If I were you, I’d stay away from them. You're in deep as it is.”