Unbroken

All characters rightfully belong to Marvel Comics and Disney

{Preface}

She felt it. It was a constant and unnatural pulse spreading through her body. Pain had always been nonexistent. At the moment of sucking in the gelid air, Natasha realized her life was forever changing. The endless winter of her past was thawing into a new hope without feeling numb and isolated from the world around her.

At first, Natasha felt like she was entering an infinite void of choice and emotion—feeling directionless and lost in her own weaves of guilt that sheltered her from the truth—she was human and she could feel tears sodden over her ivory flesh when a knife stabbed her heart.

Staggering, Natasha crunched her boots over the mounds of snow and rubble while drawing out a deep breath; her green eyes instantly locked onto guiding light before her, and she was staring at his intense and chiseled profile: there he was the noble and chivalrous leader—Captain America—the First Avenger. He stood only a foot away with a sincere look gleaming in his intense cerulean blue eyes as he trained his keen vision on the rising smoke in the distance. The scenic view beyond the battle zone was ashen fortress for marble stone that seemed indistinct with the glow of firelight.

The roaring and fierce sounds of the raging Hulk engulfed the area; foundations crumbled to the leveled ground. Obstruction was everywhere, piles of cement bricks, smoldering timbers and turned up black SUV's. It wasn't the perfect spot to spending New Year's Eve, but they were the daring, uncompromising and stubborn Avengers, they protected the lives of the world; and spent their days battling the unknown while keeping blood pumping in their veins.

"Hey, Nat," Clint's gruff voice sounded in her ear piece, trying to capture her attention from his perch. He crouched down at a vacant peak of the bell tower, his black arrows readied and aiming at the marked target caught in his sharp gray eyes. "Do you mind giving me a little elbow room?"

Natasha smirked in response, and sidestepped, standing in front of the compromised jeep. "Is that enough room for you, Agent Barton?" she asked, listening at arrow slice through the frigid air and penetrate a moving AIM agent closing in on Steve's position. She turned around, staring back at Clint with her shimmering teal eyes locked on the shadows cloaked over his muscular form, as the faint brush of moonlight bathed over her ivory skin. The loose waves of scarlet locks fell down to her shoulders, they were messy and unkempt. She pressed in the center of her wrist gauntlet and the Widow Bites were glowing with hue of electronic neon blue as she felt adrenaline pump faster in her veins. "I can't believe Fury sent us out in the middle of nowhere without backup..." her voice dragged out.

"We've got Captain America and the Hulk, how much backup to you want, Nat?" Clint retorted back, lowering his crossbow. "Besides I know why you're on the edge tonight...And it's not because you're multitasking."

"Careful, Agent Barton," Natasha played out with a dark grin curling on his glossy pink lips; she removed her handgun from a leg hostler, misinterpreting the constant signs of distress whirling in her gut. "I might make you dance tonight."

Clint shook his head, amused by the threat in her evened voice, "So when you are going to tell, Rogers?" he began, unable to finish as she aimed the muzzle of her gun directly at him.

She sighed, "There is nothing to tell," she exclaimed, lowering her gun to her side. "This is my burden to carry out, not his. I want you to pretend that you're in the dark about this, Clint, until the right time comes."

Huffing out a frustrated breath, Clint nodded at her words. "Why do you always have to make things complicated?" he questioned, looking down pensively at the red-haired spy. "I know you're a master at keeping secrets, but this is something that shouldn't be left in the shadows...Especially since it concerns both of you."

"Let me handle this," Natasha hissed, syllables rumbled out her throat. She closed her eyes, leaning back against the wall as Steve's towering presence held her captive, she felt his body heat radiating over her chilled skin; and he looked dangerous. His slick and broad muscles underneath the layers dark royal blue Kevlar reeked of masculine strength. He wouldn't look at her, wouldn't speak, not because of the war zone they had fallen into when Tony intercepted a distress call at the Avenger Tower; they were divided and tension of was blockading them from each other.

She watched his heavy jaw clenched as he gripped her trim shoulder with a gentle squeeze. Although, he wouldn't admit it, Steve sensed the forbidden need between them; temptation, uncontrolled urges and sheer hunger. He started to stalk away, but she seized his gloved hand the moment his heavy leather boots crunched over the glass beneath his empowering stature.

"Natasha," he whispered, and her aching heart ceased, he looked deeply, into her obscured green eyes. She could't avert her gaze away from him. "Why have you been avoiding me?"

Steve's hand rested on her shoulder, fingers curled over the muscle. His shield protected her upper back as his forearm splayed over her exposed neck. His breath coiled on her blemished skin, and he seemed...His full lips twitched. He lowered his unyielding eyes down all the while feeling his heart lapping against his firm chest. He detected her emotional distress that writhed in her veins. "What's wrong, Nat?"

Natasha pressed her lips into a taunt line, gripping his arm and clenched into her nails dug into his skin, but the discomfort that built in the wake of her hold caused him to give her a serious look. "I haven't been avoiding you, Steve. I just needed space. You know space?"

"Isn't that avoiding someone, Natasha?" Steve questioned, staring beyond on the invisible mask she wore. "If we going to make it work between us, no more secrets, we need to be true with our feelings. That means no more lying to me."

This felt ridiculous, and unreal, and sickening.

For a vague moment, Natasha felt like the whole world was tilting, His densely muscular body hovered closer to hers, hard and invasive and the only words that she could think of fell onto her lips, "When have I ever lied to you, Rogers?" she asked, the obvious question, that clearly left him unfazed, but shot condemnation back within her.

A soft rumble vibrated through his chest. She was trying to downplay his emotions. "That's not the point; you disobeyed my orders, and engaged with without properly assessing the situation. Two citizens are dead, Natasha." he grounded out, displeasure ragged up his throat. "Two lives that we needed to protect. We afford mistakes on the battlefield; each time we enter crossfire their lives are in our hands."

Natasha blinked incredulously, "People die every day, Steve." she replied, in a nonchalant tone.

Rage solidified in Steve's chest like burning embers hardening into jaded piece of glass. Pressure built, and built, crushing against his rib bones, until his blue eyes filled with ire and his fist clenched tight enough for her to hear his knuckles crackling under the leather of his gloves. "People never die on my watch, Natasha." he interjected, firmly. "You acted careless, more concern about your own life than the ones around you." He withdrew a step, back, looking at her, really looking at her, but lifting his chin up as he pressed his earpiece. "Stark, I need you on the ground. We have wounded civilians who need aerial evac-"

"I care about lives, Steve," Natasha interrupted his set of commands, standing on solid ground between him and the desolation of leveled buildings. Iron Man descended, scooping up a young mother and her son into his metallic embrace. The Hulk was violently throwing pieces of stone into the air; searching for survivors and Clint was still positioned in the tower, listening to their whole conversion. She gritted her teeth, and pulled the comm out of her ear, tossing it to the ground. "I care about the life growing inside of me, Rogers..."

Steve creased his eyebrows with disquieted look, "What do you mean that you're care about the life growing..." He said in a wispy and unsettled voice, sealing his lips shut, as a sudden wave silence fell over him. Another clueless blink and his massive body jerked. He took a few steps back; his lips were trembling and icy blue orbs wide. "You're…" he paused as the words tugged harshly at the depths of his throat "…pregnant?" Steve felt all the words cease inside his vocal cords. He shock as his feet carried him to the heap of rubble, and his shaky hand clutched the contortion of iron wire poking from the wedges of stone. "Wait, you're saying that you're..." His voice was caught by uncertainty and barely registered those words and it reflected on his stern breath evened out. "I mean that you're really..."

Natasha rolled her eyes and stood in front of him, and then clamped her hand over his lips, preventing him from babbling, "I'm having a..." Baby. The word latched against her throat, her heart protested for relief. It was a pretty big distraction to make the super-soldier take his focus off the danger. Her mind became invaded with spiraling thoughts of clustering words. The truth that was edging over her lips was ready for launch. It was unrealistically difficult to believe that his baby-Captain America's bloodline and legacy was growing impossibly healthy inside her marred and barren womb.

She clenched her jaw, breathing as constant images of her operations flashed violently in her mind; she was unmade by chemicals pumped inside her veins, medical tools tearing through flesh, and extraction and contortions of her uterus. They didn't care about the loss of her womanhood; the pain and high fevers she experienced as a fourteen year girl who had been altered into a killing machine with no sense of humanity, no existence of hope, just a hollow coldness that kept her barred under their commands. Steve. He restored her. His super-serum held the answers to unlock her true being, she loved him. "I'm...What I'm trying to say is do you remember when I was in your apartment with a bullet in my shoulder..."

When Steve detected her unspoken discomfort, he gingerly inched towards her, his steady blue eyes absorbed her still body as he pressed himself against the length of her. His bare pectorals traced over her tender breasts as he looked at the misery etched over her soft features. She was miserable. He felt her flinched as his weight dug into her body and she made no effort to push him away as he aligned flatly against her, blanketing his body heat into her tense bones.

Soothingly, he ran his smooth palm up at the curve of her cheek, framing her face with both of his steady hands. Warmth seeped from his fingertips and into her skin, as she slipped opened her eyes and stared into his with gentleness that he never expected to see from her dark green irises.

Steve couldn't move; all bodily functions had frozen and failed to grasp any appropriate words in response to what he'd just heard. His blue eyes were wide and blinking; the disbelief and joy swelled in his chest as he looked between her and the aftermath of AIM destruction-a world that he had been sucked into ever since he emerged from the rebirth chamber. He saw the darkness, depravity and opposition. He also saw goodness in the tiniest of places; he fought to protect those glimmers of hope every day, not only as Captain America, but as a defiant soldier—good man.

His lips curled and the thrill of moment welled in his tender blue eyes as he captured every detail of the depth of her eyes, and then he dropped a nourishing kiss on her lips as he felt her body loosen against him.

Natasha responded instantly to his soft kiss, fully capturing his mouth as he plunged himself deeper as she felt the symptoms of her pain melt into the waves of pleasure and comfort. She slowly closed her eyes, feeling his lips bruise themselves along the groves of her neck and she enclosed her arms around his shoulders, finger threading through his blonde strands and breathed out a satisfied sigh, and when he lifted his head to kiss her again.

When she used her lips as distraction, she broke the truth out to him, "I'm pregnant, Steve." she whispered, feeling everything collapse around her in a slow pace, until she felt her bladder twinge and the urge woke her up out of the blissful daze. "I'm having a baby..."It still felt unnatural to her. "I mean we're having a baby..."

He suddenly fell silent, feeling surprised and uncertainty engulfed him because of those soft and true words. He knew she wasn't lying. A chill swept over him then, it was one foreboding that set warning bells blaring in his mind, alerting him that it wasn't her method of deception. It was genuine. You're losing it soldier. There's no way she is pregnant. Maybe I shot with a hallucinate toxin-She is good at lying-it's her greatest strength of deception to use over men. There is just no way she could be...He thought desperately to convince himself. He shook off the unease settling over him and resolved to continue his mantra.

Pregnant...

"You're pregnant, Natasha..." Steve said, breathless, and overwhelmed and his chiseled face appeared to become crestfallen. His steps receded an inch from her as the truth landed onto his heart. After giving a deep inhalation of breath, he focused shamelessly on her trim waist. "You told me that you couldn't have a baby-baby because of what they did to you in the Red Room..." his voice trailed away, and he tentatively reached out a hand to touch her stomach, the more his body protested him to feel truth concealed in her womb. "How can this be possible?"

"Well, it seems that your super-serum heals any form of scarring." She gave him a faint smile, placing her hand over his set jaw. "Even the deepest wounds that can't heal, Steve."

"You mean I'm going to be a father...A daddy?" Steve his lips quivered up into a smile, a flow of tears escaped from his crystal blue eyes as they crinkled. He encompassed his hand over her stomach. He was smiling; despite of the chaos and death around him, he was beaming, looking ecstatic with fatherly radiance, shielding his growing child with the warmth of his hand.

"Natasha," he choked out, stealing a glance at the unease look in her eyes. Fear and bleating pain twisted in his whirling gut. He had to be more than the super-soldier to her—Steve Rogers and Captain America had to make the pledge of protection to keep her and his child safe from danger—they were his ultimate mission. Despite his own struggles, he knew that she needed him as shield and comfort to keep her sheltered from the storms. "It's going to be alright, I'm going to be with you until the end," he promised, feeling his heart jerking wildly in his chest. He lifted her hand, dropping a kiss, the wet heat of his lips over her frigid knuckles. They held each other's stare. "I will never leave your side...We're in this together, Nat...We're having a baby."

"A baby," she wrapped her hands over her stomach; pulling his hands onto the leather encased over their growing child. "It's not going to be easy, Rogers."

He smiled and brushed her red hair back from with a gentle caress of his fingers as her fingers moved down to the muscular planes of his drenched back. "I know, but we're survivors, soldiers and Avengers, Nat." He gave her a weak smile."We protect lives...and now we're protecting this precious life."

He massaged his gloved fingers over her womb in circular motion. He leaned into her. Their hearts pounded to the same beat.

"I love you, Natasha," he said honest and true against her lips." If you think I'm mad about the circumstances that led to this moment, I'm not because it was both of us who made the choice that night," he affirmed. His face looked deep and serious, as the fingers of his free hand threaded through her scarlet curls. And then her eyes burned and she started to cry into his shoulder.

Hearing the measure of devotion in his voice, Natasha started to cry, but it was tears filled with pain, these droplets that leaked from her soul were release from captivity. She had been liberated from the cloying misery of her past. Tension shivered through her limbs as she sobbed into the blue material of his uniform and Steve held her close.

She sniffled a little, trying to mask her emotions. "Is that the honest truth, Rogers?" she asked, rearing her head away from his shoulder.

"I'm always honest, Natasha," he whispered mirroring her tears, and traced his thumb under her eyes. He pressed his softened lips along her jaw; tasting the splendor of her skin as he moved his lips on hers, and then kissed her in a way that made her toes curl.

She wrapped her arms tighter around his torso and guided him into a surge of passion as both of them felt their fears and doubts pour out from their bodies all the while feeling the faint pulse of their new world—their child.

Their baby.

The sickness in her stomach dissolved, and Natasha felt her damaged and frozen heart melted into slush as his lips caressed the corner of her mouth.

The rumble of straying pieces of stone jostled in her bones, but he lifted his arm above her head; the alloy shield protecting her from stray pieces of stone cascading from the jagged edges of deteriorating wall supports.

Breathing, Natasha closed her eyes, pressing her face against his solid chest while caressing soothing heat over the cradle of her womb where their baby nested securely inside; away from the terrors and gray shades of the world.

She didn't want to open her eyes, and force herself to doubt once more that it was all a dream, but when she meet his loving blue eyes, and saw the clear hope shining through shadows of his past, and she knew that everything was going to be alright, because they were strong, stubborn and defiant. They, Captain America and Black Widow were fighters and survivors through the clouds of the darkest of wars.

They were going to make it out alive together.