IT'S DONE! IT'S DONE! And it took me less than a year to write...

*checks schedule* Boy did this take forever. But it's done now! And now comes Infinity War and Endgame. *cracks knuckles*

Chapter Ten: I Belong With You

As the taxi bumped along the traffic-laden road, Bruce stared out the window at the swirling dust in the air.

Whenever he thought of India, this was the picture that came to his head. Movement, light, sound, noise, and especially dust. When he had first come, so long ago, he had been glad of the crowds. They hid him and made him anonymous. They protected him against danger.

But they had also made him feel incredibly lonely.

Now, his situation was completely reversed.

"I have a wife. I have a wife! And now…soon, kids."

In the back of the taxi, Natasha was clumsily trying to put Shanta's hair into the half-up, half-down style demanded by the little girl, as Anish watched a science show on Bruce's tablet.

Bruce let out a long sigh. Today, after months of paperwork, social worker visits, and emails, they would go to their court hearing. If all went well, the adoption would finally be complete.

After what seemed like an eternity of driving start and stop, they reached the white, imposing courthouse. Tall pillars and stone architectures seemed to scream formality.

Even though he usually balked at wearing a suit in India's humidity, Bruce was glad he wore one today.

He let Natasha haggle with the cab driver. She was far better at bargaining than him, though one could hardly call it bargaining. One look at her stone-cold face, and drivers could never remember what obscene foreigner price they were going to quote her.

"Ready, guys?" he asked the kids.

Anish nodded weakly, handing him the tablet. "Han, Baba. Will court have many people?"

Bruce shook his head. "Should just be the judge. He'll ask us a few questions, ask to see the documents, and it will be over before you know it."

Shanta whimpered. "Baba, my tummy hurt."

Bruce swung her on his hip. "Are you scared, sweetie?"

She nodded, burying her face in his shoulder. "Judge stare scared?"

Bruce frowned, before parsing out the meaning.

"No, Shanta, the judge won't have a scary stare."

"It's not scared, it's scary!" Anish corrected. Shanta gave him a look that on anyone else would be called a glare. On her, it just looked cute.

Natasha finished staring the taxi driver into submission and turned back to them. "Two hundred rupees, my ass." she muttered. "It's only worth half that and he knows…"

Bruce cleared his throat. "Ahem. We were going to court?"

"Oughta report that…jerk, while we're there." Natasha hissed, taking Anish's hand. She took a deep breath. "Sorry, kids…Ma gets mad when she's nervous."

"It okay." Anish said. His voice was shaky.

Natasha squeezed his hand. "Ready to be Anish Mandal Banner-Romanoff?"

"Four names from three different places." Bruce muttered.

"Five name!" Shanta protested, slightly muffled from still hiding her face in Bruce's suit sleeve. "Middle name."

"Middle name, too." Natasha said softly. "All the names. Let's go, guys."

Court rooms always made Natasha nervous. They typically had never meant anything good. Old men in suits and women in pantsuits deciding the fate of anything serious reminded her too much of the World Security Council.

It didn't even help that this judge was Indian; the Council had been multi-national.

She swallowed. Bruce put a reassuring hand on her arm.

"Mr. Robert Bruce Banner and Ms. Natasha Romanoff." The judge finally spoke. "It is your intention and request to adopt these two children?"

"Yes, sir." Bruce replied.

The judge reviewed the paperwork for an agonizing few minutes. Shanta whimpered a bit and rubbed her stomach.

"Shh!" Anish whispered.

The judge finally glanced up from the paperwork. "Everything seems to be in order here. You are aware that social worker visits will continue, with your next scheduled in two weeks."

"We are aware." Natasha said.

"Excellent." He glanced at the children. "Are you aware of the responsibilities that adoption places on you both? The sacrifices required?"

"We are." Bruce and Natasha answered as one.

"Very well." The judge signed the paperwork with a flourish. "Then by the power vested in me, these children now belong to you."

Bruce felt like the room was spinning in a thousand directions. He could hear Natasha's sigh of relief, feel Shanta grabbing him, hear Anish let out a yell of joy.

These children now belong to you…

He snatched up Shanta and pulled Anish and Natasha close to him.

"Mine…" he whispered, still dazed.

"Mine." Natasha echoed, squeezing them all tight.

"Ma, Baba!" Shanta crowed happily.

Bruce glanced down at Anish. To his shock, the nine-year-old had tears in his eyes.

"Anish! Hey, buddy…"

Anish whimpered. "It real…it happen!"

"Yeah, buddy, it happened. I promise it happened. Look, here's the papers an' everything."

Staring blankly at the papers, Anish absolutely broke down. Natasha took care of profusely thanking the judge, and holding Shanta, while Bruce sheparded the weeping boy outside of the courtroom, into a restroom.

"Shh…' Bruce said, holding him tight. "I'm here, bud. All here. You're safe…"

Anish cried for a long while, before finally drifting into mere shaking and hyper breathing.

"Anish…here, look up." Bruce lifted his face and wiped it with his sleeve. "Talk to me. What are you thinking?"

With huge eyes, Anish whispered one word.

"Safe."

Bruce almost broke down himself.

Safe…yes, safe. On my life, I'll keep them safe. But what if something happens…?

"No more scared." Anish finished. "No more…me watch Shanta. Now, you and Ma watch. Keep safe."

"Ohhh…yeah, bud, we will. I promise we will."

Anish gave a tiny nod. "Love you, Baba."

Bruce enveloped him in a hug. "And I love you, my son. My son…"

Three days after the adoption was official, the new family was headed for the beach. Natasha joked that they waited so long solely to Skype everyone to announce that all the paperwork was signed.

They rented a car, since they had both obtained licenses and a motorbike recently. (The bike was ostensibly for Bruce and Natasha, but everyone acknowledged it was really Natasha's.) It took four and a half hours, but they finally reached their hotel, right on the waters of Shanakapur beach.

Shanta ran to the first open place she saw. "Water! All water!"

"That's the ocean, kiddo." Natasha said, taking her hand. "You like?"

Shanta nodded. "Very like! Go play?" she added, giving Natasha puppy eyes.

Natasha laughed. "Let's go see our room first, okay?"

As it turned out, the room was good enough to distract both children for a while. The adults were impressed, but more used to upscale hotels and lodgings.

For two kids from the villages, though, this might as well have been heaven.

"Ma?" Shanta asked, pointing at the bathtub. "Wash clothes?"

Natasha shook her head, smiling. "No, silly, wash you! See, you turn on the water…" she did so, causing Shanta to scream and jump back. "It fills up the whole thing. Then, you get clean in it."

Shanta looked like she had been told the moon was made of ice-cream. "I go in?"

"Sure, you can have a bath tonight."

"What call it?"

"Bathtub."

"Bath-tub." Shanta repeated slowly. Then again, more excitedly. Then again, jumping up and down.

Meanwhile, Anish was sprawled out on the second of two queen-sized beds.

Bruce laughed. "You do have to share with your sister, you know."

"Don't care! It so big!"

"It is big…is this the biggest bed you've ever seen?"

"Yeah! Like for Shah Rukh Khan!"

Bruce laughed harder. "For movie stars?"

"Yeah!"

After arranging some things in their room and changing into swimsuits, they headed down to the beach.

Anish edged cautiously to the where the waves were breaking on the shore.

"…fast water, Ma."

Natasha smiled. "Yeah, it moves back fast. But you'll be okay."

"I swim before. In pond. Not in fast water." He eyed the moving waves suspiciously.

"Wanna go with me in the fast water? Baba has Shanta now."

"…yes, please, thank you."

Natasha took his hand, and together they walked into the water until it was waist deep for her and chest deep for Anish. He started to tread water just fine, until he looked around at the waves.

"M-Ma? Ma! Big, scary water!" he cried, clinging to her in terror.

Natasha held him close, but continued moving in a bit more. "Anish. Time for a science lesson. Did you learn the word 'buoyant' yet?"

Mention of his favorite topic was enough to calm Anish down ever so slightly. "N-no…"

"Buoyant means that something floats. You are buoyant in water. All your…weight, it takes up space. It shoves away the water. And all the little tiny water drops hold you up."

This was probably not a very accurate scientific explanation, but Anish was no longer shaking, so she took it for a win. Bruce could fill in gaps later.

"And the salt in the ocean helps you float even better. So you won't sink. Just stay with me until you feel comfortable."

"…okay."

Anish kept clinging for dear life for about another minute before slowly unclenching and relaxing into the water. Natasha helped him float on his back. The waves were slow and small, perfect for lazy swimming.

"Wait until another day, when the waves are bigger." She said. "Then I'll teach you how to dive into them."

"Dive?"

"Yeah, like this." Natasha dove under the water gracefully and re-emerged a few feet away.

Anish gaped in awe. "I can do that?"

"Yeah, if you practice. You'll be like a fish by the time we go back to Kolkata, I guarantee it!"

"I like swim. It feel…free."

Natasha traced her fingers through the water, watching the waves ripple. "It does feel free."

A few feet away, Bruce was teaching Shanta how to tread water. "Move your hands in and out. Almost like a circle. And kick your legs in a circle, too."

"Baba…is too much!"

Bruce chuckled. "You'll learn. Do you want to splash now?"

"What splash?"

In answer, Bruce lifted her up and dunked her back in the water. "This is splash."

Shanta shrieked for joy. "Again! Again, Baba!"

Bruce noticed a wave building in the distance. "Shanta, do you want to try something a little scarier?"

Shanta looked up at him, big brown eyes wide. "Scary?"

"Baba's got you. I won't let go. We're gonna swim under the wave."

"U-Under?"

"Yeah, under. Can you hold your breath?"

Shanta whimpered. "Little bit…Anish teach."

"I'm sure he taught you very well, then. Practice?"

Shanta took a deep breath and put her face in the water. She came up about 10 seconds later. "Did it!"

"Yeah, you did! See, there's the wave, coming closer! It's big, so we must go under it. Can you hold me?"

Trembling, Shanta latched herself tightly onto Bruce. "Big wave!"

"Yeah, it's big. But I've got you. When I count to three, hold your breath. Ready?"

"Y-yes…"

Bruce waited until the foaming wave was just almost upon them, before saying, "One, two, three!"

He watched Shanta puff her cheeks out in a big bubble seconds before he dove under the wave. They both popped out a few seconds later, a few feet away.

The moment Shanta was above water, she started giggling madly.

"Fun scary! Again, Baba? Please, again, please!"

Bruce laughed. "Sure, we can do it again. We just have to wait for the right wave."

They found a few more waves to dive under, until Shanta started to get tired. Anish was starting to show signs of fatigue as well, so they took them back to the room to get cleaned up before dinner.

True to her word, Natasha filled up the bathtub with gloriously warm water.

"Anish come too?" Shanta asked, staring at the tub with something akin to wonder in her eyes.

"If he wants to share with you." Natasha replied.

Anish glanced at the tub, then at his sister.

"If I share…it okay?"

"Yeah, it's okay." Natasha insisted.

"Okay!"

Both kids climbed happily into the tub the minute Natasha proclaimed the temperature just right.

"Anish! It's all hot!" Shanta whispered in Bengali. "All of it!"

"Of course, it is! That's why Ma was testing it."

"I didn't know you could have one whole place with just hot water!"

"You can when you have money."

Shanta furrowed her brow. "Ma? We samr̥d'dha now?"

"Are you rich?" Natasha frowned. "You won't be hungry ever. Or cold, or with no house. You'll learn at school. And you'll be safe."

"But…we get…nice thing, too?"

"Yeah, you will. You'll get some very nice things."

"Like princess?"

Natasha smiled softly. "You are a princess."

"Anish prince?"

Anish blushed and ducked his head. Natasha smoothed aside his wet hair.

"Yeah, Anish is a prince. And he acts like one. Very noble."

Anish peeked up. "What is noble?"

"It means…you do things because they are right things. You care about people. You don't think about yourself as much. Like…like your baba."

Anish beamed. "I want to be like Baba!"

"Me?" Shanta asked. "Me be…I be Ma. But no kill."

Natasha smiled a bit more sadly. "I hope you never have to kill. Ever."

"…I learn fight?"

"Do you want to?" Natasha asked, startled.

"I want…no be scared."

"Ah. I can teach you some fighting moves, then."

Shanta wriggled in the bath happily. "I fight like Ma!"

Natasha sighed. As long as she doesn't end up owning a punching back with auto-programmed faces of bad guys, I'll still be one step above Steve.

"How about something fun?" she asked, trying desperately to change the subject.

"What fun?" Anish asked back.

In answer, Natasha produced a bottle of body wash.

"Bubbles."

No one asked any more questions about fighting for the rest of the bath.

The next day, they hit the beach hard in the morning, trying to catch some good waves. Shanta did a good job swimming for about an hour, before getting tired. Natasha sat with her in the sand, reading a book, while Bruce continued showing Anish the finer points of bodysurfing. Shanta started to make little trails in the sand with her finger.

"You can build things with the sand, if you want." Natasha offered.

Shanta screwed up her little face. "Build?"

"Yeah, a castle. Like with Anish's Legos. See…" Natasha put down the book and edged into the sand. "I brought some toys just for this."

She held up some plastic shovels and buckets. Shanta looked very intrigued.

"How to make?"

"First, you have to put the sand in the bucket, like this." She demonstrated, scooping handfuls of sand in, and patting it flat with her hand. "Then, you make a flat place on the sand. Can you do that?"

Shanta carefully flattened out a place in the sand.

"Then, you put your hand on the sand part and flip it over onto the flat place." Natasha did this in one fluid motion, leaving a beautiful sand tower behind.

Shanta squealed softly. "So pretty, Ma! I like it!"

"Should we make a whole castle? You can make it pretty with seashells."

"Han! Seashells lots!"

Together, they made a respectable four-tower sandcastle, dripping with seashells. Natasha made sure to take lots of pictures to send out later. Their various friends were constantly hounding them for pictures of the kids.

Eventually, Shanta gave a little yawn. "Ma, I sleep?"

"Worn out already? Sure…here." Natasha grabbed two of the Adirondack chairs from the resort and placed a towel over top. "Lay under here so you don't get too much sun."

"You sleep with me, Ma?"

Natasha glanced at her book, and then at Shanta's puppy eyes.

It wasn't even a fair contest.

"Sure, sweetie."

The two of them snuggled together under the makeshift tent. Shanta glomped onto Natasha trustingly and was asleep within minutes.

Natasha took a little longer, but eventually, the sun, sound of the waves, and her daughter's even breathing worked its magic.

Her last conscious thought was that revenge was even better when it was subtle.

"Ready for this last wave, bud? We should go in and eat lunch after."

Anish nodded sadly. He was really enjoying the waves.

"Okay, Baba."

Bruce scanned the horizon, noting one last wave coming in fast.

"Just like I showed you, okay? Hold your breath, duck under, come out."

"Right!" Anish said, with a decisive little nod. "Here come wave!"

"Three! Two! One!" Bruce held his breath and dove under, noting blankly that the wave was rougher than expected. He popped up, gasping for air.

"Wow that was a hard one, huh, bud?"

Instead of Anish's voice, he was met with only the sound of gulls. And then he heard the scream.

Anish had been pushed a bit farther than him by the wave, and now seemed to be being pulled away by a current.

"Baba!"

Hot adrenaline pumped through Bruce, springing him into action. "Anish, hang on! I'm coming!"

The current was swift, but everything depended on him getting to his son.

"Move your body to the side!" he yelled in Bengali. "Go…go sideways!"

He saw Anish attempt this, feebly.

Swim, Banner, swim!

Every stroke seemed like a pitiful attempt. But he had to make it. Anish was a good swimmer, but they had been in the water almost two hours straight. He was surely getting tired.

Finally, finally, he reached the flailing boy and grabbed his hand.

"I've got you!" he shouted over the waves. "Now swim with me!"

Together, they moved against the current, swimming with all their might until they forced their way out of the danger zone.

Anish was panting hard as Bruce dragged him out of the water. Natasha and Shanta were both awake.

"Lay him on a towel." Natasha ordered, already half in 'battle mode'. "Did he swim too far?"

Bruce shook his head. "The wave…it was rougher than I thought."

She laid a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay…you got him. Don't worry."

"I'm fine…" Anish protested, trying to sit up. Shanta pulled him back down.

"Lay there for a minute." Natasha said. "Drink some water."

Anish gave in and obeyed. He was exhausted. He glanced up weakly at Bruce, who was watching him with concerned eyes.

"You save me." he whispered.

Bruce took his hand. "I guess I did, bud."

Anish smiled, really smiled. A peace he hadn't felt since before his mother died swept over him.

They will save us, every time.

And he finally closed his eyes.

"So…in November?"

"Yeah, yeah, we decided on the 15th. Easy to remember. 11-15-17, save the date!" Tony made cheesy finger guns at the camera.

Bruce kindly refrained from rolling his eyes. Natasha didn't.

"Anywho, we also figured that would make it easy if you guys wanted to stay for Christmas…" Tony gave big, pleading brown eyes.

Natasha grinned in satisfaction. "We just got Visas for the kids this week."

"Perfect! I can start arranging your floor now! Which one do you want? Nat's old one or your's Bruce?"

Bruce shook his head. "This is months away, Tony, we'll sort it out then."

"Fine, fine. Well, I'll see you all then, I guess."

"Sounds like a plan. Talk to ya later, Tony."

"Yeah, you guys too. Give my charming niece and nephew a…loving pat. I still don't do hugs."

Natasha snorted. "See if I don't, hypocrite. Stay sane, Tony."

As they hung up the call, Bruce breathed out a long, happy sigh.

"I can't believe they're finally getting married."

"I can't believe they actually are going through with the ceremony."

"Tony wants to do one thing right."

Natasha nodded. "I get that. Are we still gonna have another ceremony in the States?"

"Do you want all that fuss?"

Natasha sighed. "Would you hate me if I said no?"

"No, because it gives me an excuse to say no."

"You're a devious man, Dr. Banner."

"You're a devious woman, Agent Romanoff-Banner." He leaned in for a kiss.

Natasha happily reciprocated, and then sat back with a thinking look in her eye.

"I still can't believe we have kids. I keep expecting to wake up and find this is all a dream."

"Me, too. Or that something will go wrong. Steve said that's normal, you just have to take it one day at a time."

Natasha nodded thoughtfully. "Love is for children. I was dead wrong, even when I knew I was wrong."

Bruce started. "Yeah…you knew about Clint's family, back then! You were just bluffing him!"

"Did you just figure that out?"

Bruce sighed. "I'm just glad you were wrong. Love is for everyone. Even ex-assassins and green rage monsters."

Natasha snuggled against him on the couch. "They say love will save the world. I don't know about that. But…it saved mine. It saved the kids' world. It saved yours."

Bruce nodded. "It did…it really did. I wouldn't be surprised if love did end up saving the world, someday."

Bruce could not have guessed how true he was at that moment.

Love would indeed save the world. The selfless, sacrificial love that stories the world over have written and sung of. The love of a father for his child, for humanity.

But that is a story for another day.

*ominous foreshadowing is ominous*

So, what's next?

The next story posted will be called "Days In the Sun," and will consist of me filling in the gaps in the ChristyVerse that have occurred since Civil War came out in 2016 (GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY was that 4 years ago?). Keep an eye out for that! After that will come the grand and glorious Infinity War and Endgame "damage control," entitled "Even When the Music's Gone."

As always, reviews are my lifeblood. Please drop a line. Thank you to everyone who has stuck it out with this story. A special shout-out to Order of Arcadia, who has been a constant supporter, friend, and sounding board for so many things in my universe. Her stuff is also really great, go check it out ;)

See you all next time for a date between our favorite ex-brainwashed Soldier and a certain Scarlet Witch...