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Natasha hummed softly, her exhausted yet content emerald eyes gazing at the tender, gentle, and uniquely beautiful creation she and her husband had made together.
The shield and widow had created their own child — theirs and theirs alone to have, hold, and raise — to ensure his life would be content, normal, and most of all…what she wanted for him above everything: to live forever as a human being.
Not a weapon. Not a hero who fights for the greater good, risking life and limb, nearly losing themselves and those they love. Just him — a regular boy, free to grow, play, and simply be.
Peter cooed sleepily, his tiny mouth latched onto her nipple as she nursed him. She had risen at the first plaintive cry for a diaper change and now soothed him back toward slumber.
She hummed softly, walking in gentle circles as she rocked and nursed him, letting her smile shine across the room, suffusing him with love and warmth. Slowly, Peter’s grip loosened. With her nursing and a clean diaper, he was ready to drift into peaceful sleep.
Still humming softly, Natasha carried him to his cradle. She wrapped him snugly in his blanket and stared at his innocent features. Her fingertip brushed his chubby cheek, and she leaned down to plant a tender kiss on his head. Whispering, she said, “Now...my little avenger, dream on and let your dreams make you fly”
She sighed deeply, ready to return to her bedroom and join Steve and the others in rest. But she froze, her eyes catching the darkness of the tower hallway. Slowly, she glanced over her shoulder, closing the door gently behind her.
There, at the window, she saw two figures, framed by the night, their presence flickering like dancing flames of blood and shadow.
She slowly walked to the window, staring through her reflection as if there were no trace of herself in the glass, her eyes fixed on them both.
They were there, clear as day and night, like the night tonight, their eyes locked on her. She slowly raised her hand, unlocked the window, and opened it. They continued staring, their forms bathed in pure red as blood, their dark beauty resembling the red petals of a rose. Just the thought of them being here, right in front of her, made her feel veils of blood curling through every twist and turn of her veins, and they stared as if they sensed it.
She turned to her sleeping baby son in his cradle and spoke. “Don't wake him up. I just put him back to sleep” she told them, stepping back toward the cradle.
They entered. One with hair long and black as a veil of raven’s wings, the other with his mask concealing his face, his entire form pure red, while the other bore patterns of red across pale flesh. They surveyed the wide-open expanse of the baby’s room in the Avengers Tower.
The Earth's mightiest legendary heroes, no doubt.
They turned to the mother widow, and one spoke, his voice cold, hard, and sharp, sensors attuned to her racing heartbeat and the baby’s soothingly calm pulse. “You knew we were coming”
“No,” she said. “I just felt you both be coming,” she replied.
Elektra glared at her, her back facing them, and walked away from the window, Matt observing silently. Natasha’s gaze followed her as she passed a framed photo of Peter as a newborn, taking his first steps, Natasha holding him close, Steve smiling down, and a framed birth certificate proudly displayed. Her face changed as Matt’s did.
They both turned back to her, and Elektra spoke, her voice sharp as it always was when duty demanded: “Seems everything is going well with your...husband since you joined them, hmm? I could see the damn ring on your finger from outside”
Natasha only stared at the sleeping Peter, picked up a nearby toy, twisted it, and let the sweet, soft music play before setting it aside on the dresser.
“And you seem to have peace here with him, and more I see,” Elektra continued.
She stayed close to Peter as Matt gazed beside Elektra at the framed photos, then turned back to Natasha. “We do hope you are happy together with him,...Nat. How is he? And how is your place with them? Well, surely we know that is how we met and lost you”
“I thought you two would understand it was a choice I made, and it was a choice I was forced to make. Honestly, I have no inch of regret for it, as it led me to right here where I am now,” she replied, her voice cold but her smile warm, eyes still on her sleeping child.
“So it is true that you have forgotten us all together then,” Matt said. “We never have forgotten you and what we had together, the three of us, but you did. You married him, gave life to a child, and what happened with us is that you tossed us aside.”
Natasha froze, staring at their shadows on the wall.
“But we still love you, Nat. We want you to see that we do, and...we miss you. And love you all together and all over,” Elektra said, her gaze stoic, yet a frown creasing her features.
She felt a flash of their words and voices, their very presence here and now, so near her, and she only glanced back down at Peter, seeing him wrapped in his blanket, cooing softly in sleep as he shifted his tiny body and remained still. She slowly lifted herself, turned to them, and met their eyes, staring deep into their souls.
“I still...love you both, and I never let not one of you go. Just as I never never will. But...what happened, it happened. I love Steve now, as the man and human being I chose to be with, and I have no regrets for it, especially now that I have Peter...” she said. Matt turned away, silent and unreadable, but Elektra bowed her head, letting her long hair almost coiled around her face.
Natasha slowly walked to the nearest one and allowed her to brush the hair from her face. Elektra slightly lifted her eyes to finally meet her emerald ones while her head was still bowed low.
Their eyes locked, and for a moment, they closed them, leaning into the quiet intimacy.
Natasha glanced at Matt, who was now facing the window, though not really facing it — just staring into nothingness. “Can you both at least be happy that I am happy? Now I have something I thought I could never have, something I dreamed of...and I want to be a clean slate. Can you at least feel like you are human, like me, now that I have my son, the most precious thing to me? Can’t you see that no matter how many times I held Steve close, as he held me close, even...when we got married and I carried our child, I am being both what I am and what I was, but more than them? I am being half a human being, while we are not, and we can’t. But I want this. I want Peter to have this,” she said softly, voice trembling with the weight of her truth.
Elektra’s glare softened. She held Natasha gently by the waist. She leaned into her, and slowly, their eyes closed. In seconds, as if they were never apart, their lips met and merged, a single, perfect kiss.
The ninja pulled back, her voice low but warm. “At least we came to finally meet him.”
Natasha smiled, then turned to Matt, who still faced the window. She walked to him; he sensed her approach, finally turning to meet her gaze. She slowly lifted his mask, letting his face with his pale dead–white eyes facing her lime and she exhaled, pressing her lips to his. Elektra stepped closer, wrapping her arms around both of them. She leaned to Natasha, kissing her bare neck, fingers brushing the edge of her nightrobe, yearning to feel all of her. At last, she did and both were there, near her, finally.
Matt held his widow and ninja close, feeling the connection solidify, holding them tighter, not wanting either to slip from his grasp.
Natasha moaned softly, caught in the middle, feeling them both clearly, fully. It had been so long since her demon and ninja were at her side, before her captain claimed a place in her life. Memories began to stir — delightful, beautiful, tender — of how she had cherished them both, how she had once wished to have them for all time. But Steve had come between them, and her heart had coiled around him too; she had chosen him, and yet, a part of her remembered walking down the aisle, wanting her demon and ninja there, lifting her veil, sharing vows that bound them as one.
They slowly pulled back, Elektra kissing her lips deeply before Natasha turned to Matt. He took his turn next, kissing her softly, while Natasha stroked both of their hands, feeling them lean into her. Their lips brushed briefly against one another before Elektra pulled away completely, her gaze drifting to the cradle and then back to the mother.
Natasha gestured with a grin. “Go on. He won't bite like me”
Matt grinned as Elektra smirked and lifted her sai, resting it against her chin. “Watch it, darling. You may have web, but I have my pretties here”
“Oh, I am so sorry,” Natasha replied lightly of mock and tease.
Elektra lowered her weapon and stepped closer to the cradle, staring down at the sleeping baby boy, still wrapped in silence. The ninja felt a tug at her heart as she looked at him—so small, so fragile—with tiny tufts of hazel hair crowning his head.
Matt moved forward next, his senses picking up the soft but radiant heartbeat. Peaceful. Strong. Alive. So small, yet beautiful—like his mother, like the life she had chosen. His chest tightened, wishing he could truly see him with his own eyes.
Natasha smiled and stepped beside them, gently lifting the tiny form. Peter stirred, releasing a small coo before settling again as she held him close. “You want to hold him? His name is Peter James Gabriel Rogers,” she said proudly.
Elektra glanced from Natasha to the baby. She wanted to. She wanted to know how it felt. Her arms trembled as Natasha stepped closer, and Elektra grew still as the baby was placed carefully into her hold. She cradled him instinctively, as if he were her own.
She stared at his chubby, sleeping face. He cooed softly, and before she realized it, her lips curved into a smile, her eyes shining. “He is so beautiful, Nat,” she said quietly.
Natasha leaned in and kissed her, then Matt, before Elektra gently passed Peter to him.
Matt froze and then melted—as the baby rested against his chest. The tiny heartbeat was music to his ears. He held him close, imagining, just for a moment, what it would be like to call him his son. A soft chuckle escaped him when Peter puckered his lips and let out a quiet sound. “I think he is in for another round, Natasha”
She scoffed with a smirk. “Haha.”
Elektra watched with a grin as Matt brought Peter back to her. Natasha lowered her nightshirt and robe, positioning him carefully. Peter cooed and latched, nursing peacefully.
They watched their widow—content, calm, human—no Avenger, no assassin. Just a mother.
“When will I see you again?” Natasha asked softly.
“You will”
“When?”
They stepped closer. Matt and Elektra placed their hands gently over Peter’s tiny chest and Natasha’s fingers, their other arms wrapping around her waist. Natasha closed her eyes, her breath hitching.
She felt Matt’s lips connect with hers before he pulled back. Elektra took her turn, kissing her softly, while Matt pressed a kiss to her forehead. With her sai, Elektra gently brushed Natasha’s red bangs from her face.
“Oh, our obsidian one, you will see us again,” Elektra whispered.
“But until then…” Matt murmured at her ear, stroking her cheek. “...be and live like a human being. And make sure Peter…lives as a human being”
The room went silent.
Footsteps.
A rush of wind.
Natasha opened her eyes to an empty room, the window still open. No trace of them. She smiled, closed it, and hummed softly as she held her son closer.
A knock came at the door.
“Natasha?” Steve asked gently.
She shushed him, holding Peter close. Steve smiled as he entered, leaning in to kiss her—present replacing past, though the memory lingered warmly.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Sure I am. Besides, this little tiger ain't waking me up, and at least you didn't face the wrath of the diapers—or Thor, after he vowed never again to go near Peter with that odor,” she grinned.
Steve chuckled, then paused. “You were talking to someone? I thought I heard voices.”
She froze for half a second—then smiled wider, kissed him, and let him hold her close.
“Nobody,” she said, clinging quietly to the memory of her demon and her ninja.