Chapter Text
“Ladies and Gentlemen, please buckle your seatbelts as we start landing towards the John. F. Kennedy airport. We hope that your flight was pleasant, the temperature is estimated at 90°F, thank you for choosing Delta Airlines and we wish you a great stay in New York City”
- Miss, I have to ask you to close your table for the landing.
The red-haired woman raised her deep green eyes from her computer, she’d been so absorbed in her work that she had missed the advertisement.
- I’m sorry, I’ll close it right away.
Natasha Romanov packed her stuff, leaned back in her seat, and looked out the porthole; New York was spread out on the ground and she looked absentmindedly at the tall buildings thinking back on the past few months.
Natasha had lived in Los Angeles for 6 years where she had slowly become one of the most famous and dreaded lawyers of the west coast. It was true that with her sharp features, her beautiful face, full lips, green eyes, her witty humor, and her will of steel, the Russian lawyer was to be dreaded. At only 32 years old, she had built herself a reputation to never lose a case that got her the name of “the Black Widow”: quick and lethal. Back in L.A, Natasha had worked at the BGK, a prominent firm known for its relentless members and backstabbing blows during trials. She wasn’t proud of the methods she had learned and used but they taught her to be the best at was she did: defending the largest enterprises in the world and avoid seeing their empires crumble (although she tended not to weep over that, she was Russian after all).
However, in the last year, things had become a little heated at the firm when one of the managing partners retired and had to choose a successor. He had been Natasha’s mentor in the line of work, and no one was surprised when he announced that she would be the next in line. But the son of a bitch Dreykov couldn’t let that pass: he ignored his elder's wishes and placed a man who was not nearly as good or qualified as her for the job. After hearing too many sexist remarks about her being “too emotional” or “too fragile” for the job, when Dreykov dared to call her “Honey” one too many times: she quit, and quitting for Natasha Romanov meant taking nearly all of her clients and, with them, 15 percent of BGK’s turnover.
Offers stated pouring in after that, and when Nick Fury himself contacted her to offer a job at S.H.I.E.L.D.S – one of BGK’s greatest rivals – she didn’t have to think about it twice.
So here she was, in a plane towards New York, leaving her whole life behind and running a thousand scenarios in her head to try predicting the turn of events. Did Natasha love her job? Yes. Was she kind of a workaholic? also yes. But being a lawyer wasn’t the most important thing in her life.
Next to her, the shifting pressure on her arm snapped her out of her thoughts and she lowered her eyes to the little girl sleeping on her. Or more like waking up apparently. Light blue eyes opened to look at her and a smile illuminated the round face surrounded by a halo of reddish-brown hair.
- Mom, have we arrived yet? Said the little girl rubbing her eyes.
- We’re almost there дорогая (darling) I was going to wake you up, is all of your stuff in your backpack? Natasha responded while stocking he daughter’s hair.
The 10-year-old packed he scattered stuff in her robot printed backpack and put on her signature red leather jacket.
- Wanda look out! We can see the whole city down below.
- It’s even better than when we looked at it on google earth, Wanda replied, is this island Manhattan?
- Yes love, it is, it’s where we’re gonna live, and your school must be somewhere here next to the river Natasha answered.
Wanda leaned a bit more towards the window but visibly stiffened at the mention of school. Wanda Svetlana Maximoff-Romanov looked a lot like her mother, she was rather small, a determined look on her face, and all who gazed on her could see that she was going to be a very beautiful woman. Her hair used to be brown when she was small but it was getting more and more red as the girl grew up. Her eyes were one of the things that she inherited from her father but seeing him in her daughter’s eyes didn’t pain Natasha as much as it used to.
- You know малыш (little one), Natasha said while embracing her daughter and resting her chin on the top of her head, this is a new beginning for us! If you keep the fears you had before, you’ll never go forward.
- I know, Wanda sighted, but kids are all the same wherever they are, in Bratislava, in Moskov, in L.A and even in New York. They didn’t like me elsewhere why would they like me here? The young girl’s eyes were watering now and Natasha knew Wanda had to toughen up if she wanted to survive in this world. “God she is only ten Nat, stop thinking like a fucking war counselor” Natasha thought.
- Ok you listen to me now Моя дочь, people, and especially men, are morons. Wanda smiled a little at that. “And some people are just too shallow and stupid to understand how amazing you are. The system of our world tries to put you into a mold and if you don’t fit in, they try to shrink you and reduce your potential until you are like everyone else: well, we are not like everyone else! Remember darling: at some point, you have to choose between who the world wants you to be, and who you are.” This phrase, Wanda had heard it her whole life and the older she got (she already felt very grown-up at 10 and three quarters), the more it made sense.
- So, what are you going to do when you go to your new school? Natasha asked with a reassuring smile.
- Ignore the bullies, make friends, be the best and kick ass! Wanda recited with a big smile.
- That’s my girl.
Natasha hugged her daughter and tried to make her feel all the love she had for this little creature who held the key to her heart. She looked out the window as the plane got closer to the ground and smiled cause at that moment, with her daughter in her arms and big dreams filling her head, she felt like this new life could only go well.
The wheels of the plane finally touched the landing runway.