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Natasha snapped her nose into place and looked at all the files of the girls that were downloading and realized she had failed. She failed Yelena, Antonia, the girls, but most importantly she failed herself. She thought she managed to get rid of the evil that tortured her and many like her, instead he hid further in the shadows and became even more ruthless and she doesn’t think she could forgive herself for that.
She didn’t have time to dwell on her thoughts because just as she grabbed the flash drive, she heard the sound of a child crying. Natasha, ever the cautious one, took her gun out and crept toward the source of the sound. She opened the door and saw a small mop of red hair. Nat quickly put her gun in its holsters and walked toward her.
“Hi little one.” Natasha greeted in a soft voice. The child raised their head and Nat was able to see it was a little girl with the brightest blue eyes. She was dirty from the debris that was currently falling, and was only wearing pajamas. She can’t be any older than 3 . Nat thought to herself, frowning.
“Do you understand me?” Natasha asked. The girl nodded. Natasha sighed in relief that the girl spoke English, she didn’t have time to guess which language she spoke. “The building isn't safe anymore, you need to come with me so you can be safe.” Nat continued.
The girl shook her head rapidly. “I can't leave, the scary man will hurt me.” The girl whimpered out.
“The bad man isn’t going to hurt anyone anymore, I'm going to make sure of that. But right now we have to go, so I can get you somewhere safe.” Natasha promised. She failed all the other girls, but she wouldn’t fail her too. The smaller redhead seemed to think for a moment, before nodding. She held her arms out, signaling she wanted to be held. Natasha picked up carefully, in case she had any injuries.
“Okay, I'm going to put you inside my suit so you don’t get hurt. Keep your head on my shoulder and hold on tight.” The girl just nodded and Nat took that as a sign to unzip her suit enough so that she could put the girl inside her suit which should protect her well enough.
Nat started running out of room, picking up more antidote as she left before dodging an elevator of fire. She shot the glass and jumped out the window to escape, latching on to railing and going into the next window. She tried her hardest to dodge the rubble falling left and right but it ultimately knocked her down and made her fall through the floor. She cradled the girl's head and landed on her side so the little one wouldn't be directly impacted.
She heard a bang and looked up to see Antonia locked in the glass cage. That monster left his own daughter for dead. “Antonia,” Natasha started, panting. “I’m gonna open the door. You’re gonna come after me. I know you’re still in there and I’m not leaving you.” She pleaded before opening the door with the passcode.
Antonia made a move to grab her, but the floor exploded, throwing them in opposite directions. She protected the girl attached to herself as much as she could, but that could only do so much. Definitely having Melina check her over after this. Nat thought.
She dropped down onto the other platform just in time to see her sister about to do some stupid. “Yelena!” She screamed in horror, she just got her back, she can’t lose her again. “Don’t do it!”
“This was fun!” Yelena called back. Natasha watched as her sister killed Dreykov while also free falling. She jumped into action grabbing a parachute and jumping after her. Natasha somehow managed to strap Yelena and the little one to the parachute before spotting Antonia and releasing them to catch her. She was going to fix this.
After a grueling fight with Antonia, who she had managed to get the antidote to and apologize properly, she went to find Yelena and the tinier redhead.
She saw the blonde laid out on her back, the child still strapped to her chest, passed out. “Yelena?” Nat asked cautiously. She was relieved when hazel eyes met hers.
“We’re both upside down.” Natasha couldn’t help but smile at her words.
“Forgive me little sister.” Natasha's voice quivered as she spoke in Russian. “I should’ve come back for you.” She switched to English.
“You don’t have to say that.” Yelena shook her head. She had already accepted that it wasn’t real to Natasha.
“No. No. It was real to me too.” Natasha nodded to emphasize her words. They brought their foreheads together to touch, something that brought both of them comfort, before hugging. The hug startled the little one and she whined being squished between them but quickly fell back asleep.
“Uh, Natasha, who is this?” Yelena inquired.
Natasha smiled sheepishly. “I actually don’t know her name. I found her locked in his office and I couldn’t leave her there. I think I’m going to take her with me.”
“But Natasha, you’re on the run, and can’t talk to other Avengers. Where will you go?” Yelena questioned.
“I’m going to take her somewhere she’ll be loved and safe, the same place I’m loved and safe.” Nat replied. “You should come visit me one day.” she suggested after a beat.
“Really?” Yelena didn’t think Natasha would offer her an opportunity to go to her safe place.
“Yeah, I know you’re going to help with the widow’s but call me and I’ll happily take you with me.” Natasha shared.
“I guess if you’re keeping the child that means she’s my niece and I must teach her everything I know.” They were interrupted by the girl in question waking up. She was looking around confused and a little startled but calmed down when Natasha spoke to her.
“Hi again, little one. Did you have a nice nap?” She asked. The little one nodded. “Can you tell me your name?”
“Anastasia.” the girl said.
“That’s a pretty name. My name is Natasha and this is Yelena.” She replied, motioning between them. Anastasia raised her arms to Natasha, she wanted to be picked up again.
“Okay, let’s get you out of this parachute first.” She told her before untangling her from Yelena. Ana quickly nuzzled into Natasha's shoulder.
“Anastasia, do you know where your mommy or daddy is?” Natasha asked gently. Her and Yelena started to walk to find Melina, Alexei and the widows.
“The scary man said Mommy go bye bye.” Ana told her.
“Okay, we’ll see if we can find out something.”
After tricking Ross and sneaking her way back to the helicopter the widows, Melina, Alexei, and Anastasia were on, they were on their way to Melina’s farm.
“Do any of you know who she is?” She addressed the girls as a whole. The widows were silent for a while.
“Her mother’s name was Irina. Dreykov had her punished for giving birth to Ana after a mission, but let Irina keep her. Whenever she failed, he would punish Anastasia to make Irina do better but one day he killed Irina and locked Anastasia away. We could hear her cries but none of us could help her. We don’t know anything about her father.” The widow, Katrina, answered.
“We tried to help and protect her as best as we could. We snuck her food and cleaned her wounds but we could only do so much before he found out and punished us.” Another widow, Naomi, explained.
“It’s okay, you did your best. And she’s going to be okay, I’ll make sure she grows up happy and healthy.” Natasha consoled them. She was definitely keeping Anastasia now. The girls were still young, they didn’t need to take care of a child, they were still children themselves.
“Where are you going to take her?” Katrina asked. Ana was important to all of them, they wanted to know if she’ll be okay.
“I'm going to take her home with me, she’ll be safe there. After Yelena helps you guys get situated, she’s going to come visit and if she doesn’t think Anastasia is safe there, I’ll let her bring her back to you. Is that okay?” Natasha decided. She was being honest too.
“That’s okay with us.” Naomi spoke for the girls as a whole.
After a few more hours, a check up from Melina, and a phone call to Mason, Natasha and Anastasia were on the way to Natasha’s house with some new clothes and other stuff for Anastasia. Mason was confused about why he needed to get kid stuff but Natasha told him not to ask any questions.
Nat was excited, she was finally seeing Maria for the first time in weeks. She really missed her wife and with her past coming back to haunt her, she could really use a hug. She missed Fury too, she didn’t know if he was home though, he’s been on and off world for a while. She landed a few feet away from the house, knowing Maria and Nick would need to see her walking up so they wouldn’t deem her a threat. Nat grabbed Ana and the things Mason brought and. together the two of them walked to the door which was opened by none other than Maria.
“Hi Ria.” Nat greeted her wife.
“Don’t ‘Hi Ria’ me. You haven’t made contact in almost 2 months, I was worried sick. And why do you have a child?” Questions flew from her wife’s mouth.
“Look, I know I have some explaining to do but can you let us in. Ana’s hungry and I need to give her a bath.” Nat asked, walking past Maria into the kitchen to make a peanut butter sandwich for Ana. Melina had done an allergy test and Ana wasn’t allergic to anything, so it was safe to eat.
“Where did your mini me come from?” Maria asked exasperated.
“The red room.” Natasha said walking over to where she had sat Ana in a chair. “Here you go sweetie. Try this and tell me if you want something else or if you want some more.” she told her nicely.
“What? I thought you took it down during your defection.” Maria voiced. Natasha just shook her.
“No, Mia, I didn't. In fact, I made Dreykov hide even further in the shadows. If it hadn’t been for Yelena sending me a message, I never would’ve known.” Natasha explained sadly. She still could believe she’d been the reason those girls endured a lifetime of trauma.
Maria pulled her into a hug and Natasha sighed, content to be in her wife’s arms again. Maria kissed her forehead before pulling away “We’ll talk later. Now, is mini you named Ana or is it short for something?”
“Her name is Anastasia Irina, she's three. Dreykov eliminated her mom and we have no information on her dad. We always said we wanted kids and well…now we can have one.”
Maria sighed. She knew from the moment Natasha walked in, she wasn’t going to let the girl go without a fight and Maria had to admit the girl was very adorable. She’s a mini Natasha, Maria thought to herself. She sighed, she could never deny her wife anything. “After we do a little paperwork, we can officially call her ours. Also, I really think she liked that peanut butter sandwich cause it’s all over her face.” Maria shifted her attention to the little girl sitting at the dining room table. She grabbed a cloth off the counter and wet it with some warm water.
“Hi, Anastasia, I’m Maria, can I wipe your face and hands so you can be clean again?” She cooed softly. Ana put a finger on her chin and tilted her head, thinking. Maria held back a laugh at the girl's antics.
“Yes Ria, you can clean Ana’s face.” she eventually said. Maria took the cloth and began cleaning peanut butter off of her, tickling her stomach as she did, making Anastasia laugh.
Natasha watched with a big smile on her face, Maria was gonna be a great mom. They had always wanted kids but they could never find the right time to settle down, now they wouldn’t have to.
“Little one, it’s time for a bath, we need to get you out of those clothes.” Natasha said joining her wife’s side.
Anastasia’s eyes went wide with fear. She started rapidly shaking her head no. “No, Ana was good. I don’t want a bath, I’ll be good.” she spit out tearfully.
“Hey, it’s okay. You are being good, you’re not in trouble, the bath is just going to help you get clean, nothing else. We won’t even fill it up all the way.” Natasha explained gently.
“You not gonna put Ana’s head under?” the little girl asked scared.
“No, honey you don’t have to put your head under. We just need to make sure you get clean?” Maria assured
“You get in too?” Ana asked Nat.
“Yeah, honey, I’ll get in too.” Natasha wasn’t planning on a bath, but if Anastasia would feel better, she’d be all for it.
“Ok, Ana take bath with Natty.” She held her arms out to Maria, surprising both women because she seemed more comfortable with Natasha, but Maria picked her up regardless. After a short bath and a bedtime story, Anastasia was asleep in Natasha’s arms, Maria and Nat asleep with her and that’s how Fury found them. Cuddled with Ana between them and “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie” open. He took a picture before sending it to Carol and Maria Rambeau.
“They’ve brought home little red, can’t wait to hear this story.”