Bruce Banner (notthatkindofdr) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2016-12-18 15:20:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed, !completed gdoc, !log, [plot] ghosts, ~2016 december, ~25 points, ~~bruce banner (notthatkindofdr), ~~natasha romanoff (blackwidow_nat) |
Who: Bruce and Natasha
What: Seeing ghosts
When: Saturday morning
Where: Bruce & Nat's place
Warnings: Talk of past actions
Status: Closed | Completed GDoc
Natasha had been seeing visions for a couple of days now and thanks to the net knew she wasn’t the only one. It had taken her longer than it should have to realise that the people she was seeing were people she’d killed. Either as part of the red room, KGB or SHIELD, it didn’t matter they all came. But it was those she’d killed as a child that haunted her the most. Those were the ones that she continued to see, even when they were gone.
With Bruce’s birthday coming up she’d been hoping that it would be over by now but it seemed the ghosts were intent on sticking around for a while. She’d finally gotten to sleep when she suddenly sat up in bed, facing a young girl looking at her unblinkingly from the end of the bed. On instinct Natasha grabbed the knife from under her pillow and threw it at the girl. Of course it sailed straight through her and embedded itself in the wall as Natasha growled in frustration and covered her face with her hands.
***
As soon as Natasha sat up, Bruce was awake. When she threw the knife and it hit the wall, he blinked a few times to make sure he wasn’t missing anything and then automatically slipped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close.
“What did you see?” he asked quietly. He knew that something was happening in town and suspected that Natasha was affected by it, but she hadn’t said much and he didn’t want to push her to talk until she was ready.
***
Natasha shook her head but sighed and curled into Bruce and his warmth. Burying her face in his neck to hide from any other ghosts, “I keep seeing them” she said her voice not as strong as she wanted it to be, “I thought I could handle it. I should be able to handle it” Maybe being here was making her soft but she couldn’t feel too bad about that, being with Bruce was worth it.
***
“You don’t have to handle anything alone,” Bruce said, running his hand over her back in an effort to soothe her. He knew first hand how difficult it was to make peace with being responsible for taking the lives of others. The circumstances might be different, but they both carried a lot of guilt regarding the destruction they caused in the past. “Is there anything I can do?”
***
Natasha tightened her hold on him when he told her she wasn’t alone, she appreciated that more than she could say. Everything she’d done, the past quite literally coming back to haunt her and he was still by her side.
“You’re doing pretty good right now” she told him, pulling back just enough to press a kiss to his cheek, “I love you” she told him quietly. It wasn’t something Natasha really said often but it was heartfelt and honest and it felt right to say it.
***
Bruce figured they should consider themselves lucky that he wasn’t also being literally haunted by his past. First, their place probably wouldn’t be big enough to accommodate all of those ghosts and second, he wouldn’t be in good shape to offer her support. He had a feeling that they’d both end up complete wrecks if that happened.
“I love you, too,” he said. In that moment, he knew that the ring tucked away in the lab was the right choice. A tiny part of him wished he had it with him right now so he didn’t have to wait until Christmas, but he realized this wasn’t the right time for a proposal anyway. “You want some breakfast? Or we can just hang out here for a little while.”
***
Despite everything, Natasha would rather it was her going through this than Bruce. She at least deserved it in a way Bruce didn’t, he’d never hurt anybody intentionally whereas she had known exactly what she was doing.
The proposal, when it came, would be surprising but very welcome. Something Natasha would never have imagined being part of her life but something she would be very grateful for.
She was tempted to just stay in bed and snuggle into Bruce but getting up was probably the better idea. “We should get up” she said, though she did shift to kiss him properly before going anywhere.
***
Kissing him like that didn’t make Bruce very inclined to leave their bed, though he knew they probably wouldn’t have time to do anything fun since he had a sullen teenager he would need to feed and get started with her school work sooner rather than later. “Mmm, sure you want to get up?” he murmured, tangling his fingers in her hair to keep her close.
***
“No” Natasha replied, because staying in bed with Bruce would always be more appealing than anything else, “But I don’t want to have a grumpy teenage girl walk in on us either” she added, her mind going along the same path as Bruce’s. Sometimes not having the house to themselves really sucked. She definitely planned on locking their door for a while over Christmas though, she’d owe Bruce a good birthday and Christmas present after all.
***
Bruce laughed. He didn’t think Cassie would barge into their room without knocking. In fact, it was more likely that he’d have to go and practically drag her out of bed to get her day started. Regardless, now that they had a teenager in the house again, morning quickies were out of the question.
“What do you want for breakfast today?” he asked.
***
True, Cassie would likely just stay in bed but it still felt different having a teenager back in the house once more. They’d adjust as they had before when Molly had been around but it would take time again.
“Well since you’re off the menu” she smiled at him, “how about bacon?” she suggested.
***
“I can do bacon,” he said. “And I can send the kid to a late night stargazing session with Jane later if you want some alone time.”
***
Natasha nodded, “Yeah, that’d be good. You think Jane would mind?” she asked, she didn’t want either of them to think they were foisting Cassie off but time alone with Bruce would be welcomed. She just hoped they weren’t joined by any unwanted visitors of the spiritual kind.
***
Bruce chuckled. “If anyone’s going to mind that arrangement, it’ll be Cassie,” he said. Jane loved having a chance to share her passion with anyone who would listen. Or even people who weren’t keen on listening. Cassie, on the other hand, thought Jane was a little - or a lot - nuts.
“But you need me and we’ll make it work, even now that we’re responsible for a teenage delinquent.”
***
“She’ll get over it. It’ll make her appreciate you being her teacher even more” Natasha told him, pressing another kiss to his lips, “You are the best, you know that?” More than she deserved but she was hanging on to him anyway.
***
“Well, who am I to argue?” he asked with a self-deprecating smile. Bruce was far from the best in his opinion, but he tried hard to do the right thing and he felt like he was making a solid life for himself here. A large part of that was thanks to Natasha’s love and support. “Though if I am the best it’s because of you.”
***
“That is very sweet but I don’t think I can take all the credit” she said, laying a hand on his cheek as she smiled at him. They had helped each other, there was no denying that and Natasha embraced the very different life she had here. “Come on” she patted his chest, “Feed me bacon”
***
Bruce laughed. “Yeah, yeah, okay,” he said, giving her one last kiss before dragging himself out of bed and shoving his feet into his slippers to head downstairs and start breakfast.
***