Natasha is dislocating a man’s knee while shooting a few widow bites to the Hydra agents behind her when she gets the call through her comms.
“Hey,” she grunts, flipping the next agent on his back as she runs down the corridor for the intel she needs to extract. “Babe, is there something wrong with the mission?”
Maria, almost halfway across the world in a SHIELD base, clutches her stomach with one hand and chuckles. She presses her hand to her ear and replies to her wife.
“Nope, not at all, just uh checking in.”
“Oh.” Natasha’s fingers fly across the keyboard as she hacks into the database and the files start uploading to the small hard drive. “Well, data extraction should be done in three minutes.”
“Good,” Maria says, always focused on the mission. “Buttt you might want to hurry up afterwards.”
“Why?” Natasha trains her ears but hears no one approaching her over the loud sirens of the building.
“Well, there’s about 7 agents coming down an elevator to meet you,” Maria starts. “Which shouldn’t be a problem. Oh, and my water broke.”
Natasha is prepping her next widow bites and nearly drops them when she hears Maria’s announcement.
“WHAT?!?!” she yells loudly. “What— how... WAIT.”
Maria laughs as she watches the red head absolutely freak out through the hacked security camera. Natasha turns around and trains her eyes to the camera in the corner of the room.
“Wait, oh my god, wait,” she rambles. “Are you okay? Wait, you need to wait for me! This is not what I imagined... oh god!” Natasha smacks her hand to her forehead. “You’ll just be in the infirmary, right? Jesus...”
She hears Maria’s laughter in her comms and glares at the camera. “Why the HELL are you laughing?”
“Because you’re cute,” Maria replies. “Don’t worry, Nat, I’m fine, I’m not even feeling anythingggg.” Maria drags out her last word, trying to hide the pain from her voice.
“Bullshit,” Natasha says knowingly. “Honey, please go to the medbay I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Hey, you’re halfway across the world,” Maria rolls her eyes. “The baby might not wait for you.”
Natasha hears a beep from the hard drive and quickly ejects it. “It better,” she grumbles. “And, I’m not halfway, maybe like a third of the way. Just... go to the infirmary and have someone else cover me.”
“Nat, seriously, I’m all good. It’s just two floors below me.”
“Maria don’t be ridiculous,” Natasha huffs, running down the corridor, feet practically silent. “Just, hang up, call Fury or Steve or someone to oversee me, and get your ass down to medbay.”
“No!” Maria almost yells. “I— I just want to stay on the phone with you.” She doesn’t say it, but Natasha can hear the fear in Maria’s voice.
“Okay,” Natasha agrees, softening her voice. “But as soon as I get to the quinjet, promise me you’ll go to the medbay? I’ll stay on the phone, don’t worry.”
Maria sighs. “I promise. Oh, and you have 2 coming up on your left.”
“Thanks, babe,” Natasha snatches one of the batons strapped to her back and and swings them with scary precision to incapacitate the two enemies.
———————
Soon, Natasha is in the pilot seat of her quinjet and has her phone propped up on the dash so she can FaceTime Maria. As the phone rings, she cleans up any cuts on her face that could worry her wife.
When Maria answers, she’s wearing a hospital gown and sitting in a bed. “Hey,” she says nonchalantly.
“Still not understanding how you are so calm,” Natasha replies with a smile. “What’d the doc say?”
“I’ve still got a while to go,” Maria says. Natasha sighs with relief as she starts to take off.
“Good,” she says. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m actually okay, for now.” Maria flips the camera to show her belly. “Say hi!”
Natasha rolls her eyes but smiles nonetheless. “Hello, baby. You better wait for me, and don’t give your mother to much trouble, okay?”
Maria flips the camera again and when Natasha sees her beautiful wife’s smile, she can’t help but think how lucky she is. “I love you,” the redhead says.
Maria’s smile turns brighter. “I love you too.” They talk for all of Natasha’s flight, and Natasha gets to almost feel like she’s there for all the doctor check-ins and contractions. But of course, she’s not. Natasha longs to rub her wife’s back and hold her hand and comfort her but all she can do is soothe her with words.
“Shhhh,” Natasha whispers to Maria during a particularly long contraction. “Just breathe. Shhhh. I’ll be there soon.” But she glances at the map knowing it will be almost 2 hours.
Natasha‘s mind wanders to a place she doesn’t really want it to. What is she thinking? She doesn’t know how to raise a child! She’s broken, and she’s sure she’ll screw up her child. And on top of it all, she might not even make it. This brings Natasha’s attention to the jet and she tries to adjust the speed but it’s going practically as fast as it can.
“Hey.” Maria’s voice snaps her out of her thoughts. “You with me?”
“What? Oh, yeah, I’m fine.”
But Maria knows that look on her face, and as if reading Natasha’s mind speaks softly. “You’re going to be a great mother, you know? Trust me. It’s gonna be scary, but I wouldn’t want anyone else by my side.”
Natasha smiles and wipes away at the tears forming in her eyes. “How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Read my mind. And make me cry,” Natasha sniffles.
“Oh, you’re just soft for me,” Maria says with a smile.
Natasha smiles back softly. “Shut up.”
———————
Two hours later, Natasha is landing her quinjet in the hangar and sprinting towards the infirmary, all the while hearing strings of curse words through her comms.
“Jesus, fuck me, fuck fuck.”
Natasha continues to sprint. “Hang on baby, I’m coming.”
Maria is gripping the sides of her bed, face contorted in pain, when she sees the redhead burst into the room, looking flustered. She breathes a sigh of relief and tries to manage a smile.
“I’m here, I’m here!” Natasha says rushing to Maria’s side and grasping her hand. “Let’s get this party started.”
———————
After half an hour of curse words that would give Steve Rogers an aneurism, Margaret Alianova Romanoff-Hill is born.
Natasha lies next to Maria in the hospital bed, one arm wrapped around her. They both look down at the sleeping bundle in Maria’s arms and smile. Natasha gently strokes Margaret’s cheek.
“Wow,” she whispers.
Maria turns and looks at her, relishing in the softness of Natasha’s eyes as she gazes at their daughter. “What?”
Natasha turns and Maria sees tears again in her eyes. “Crying again?” Maria asks, bringing her hand up to wipe the tears.
Natasha smiles. “I just... I never thought I’d be here. Never thought I’d get a happy ending like this one.”
Maria cups her face and brings her lips to Natasha’s forehead. “Well, you do. You so do.“ Maria smiles. “And hey, this isn’t an ending,” she jokes.
“God, I love you,” Natasha whispers before capturing Maria’s lips in hers. She pulls apart and leans down to kiss Margaret’s forehead. “And I love you.”
Maria hums sleepily and rests her head on Natasha’s shoulder. It’s Natasha’s turn to kiss her forehead as she settles into the bed equally as tired. As she’s drifting off she thinks for the millionth time that day how lucky she is.