The Adventures of Annie

PART I

MEETING FURY

SUMMARY:

A bit of backstory on Anastasia "Annie" Barton. A series of short, fluffy one shots.

"Agent Barton," the dark skinned man with an eye patch greeted them, his face mute of any emotions. "I thought your orders were to take out Natasha Romanoff, not befriend her."

"I couldn't do it, sir." Clint Barton answered, his own face stern, figure poised and relaxed. He stood with his hands linked behind his back and his feet shoulder length apart.

"Why not?" the man- Nick Fury, director of SHIELD- asked, leaning forward in his seat as he stared down the pretty redheaded Russian. She stood proud, defiantly as though she knew that he could order her dead. Looking closer, the man saw a tiny arm was wrapped around her left leg; Fury shifted himself to the side subtly, and was somewhat surprised to see a little girl, no older than four or five at the most, sucking in her thumb as she stared up at him with innocent blue eyes that were filled with curiosity.

The woman- Natasha Romanoff- understood what he was doing and blocked the child from his eyes, firing him a stern glare. Fury was no fool, he knew perfectly well what she was telling him.

"It wouldn't have been right for me to take a mother away from her child, sir," Clint answered, his eyes also on the small girl, whose eyes lit up in glee as an orange cat jumped up onto Fury's desk and stretched.

"Mommy look- kitty!" squealed the child, letting go of her mother. The cat let out a loud meow and jumped down, lazily making its way over to where the girl was still huddled next to her mother.

Fury watched as the cat began purring loudly, the feline rubbing its head on the Russian woman's legs before reaching the child. She held out a hand and giggled as the cat began to rub, the purring only getting louder.

"Good kitty," she murmured, plopping down onto the floor to play with the orange cat.

"That's Goose," Fury found himself offering, fighting back the urge to break into a smile.

The child looked up at him, the look on her face clearly asking whether or not he was crazy.

"Not a goose," she corrected him. "Kitty!"

Clint chuckled as he sank down to his knees to pet the cat as well.

"Annie, his name is Goose," he told her. "He's a cat named Goose."

She began giggling as Natasha observed them both, the hard fear in her eyes slowly ebbing away.

"That's a silly name!" she giggled, flashing him a smile.

"I didn't name him," Fury interjected. "A coworker did."

"Who?" Annie asked, her mind entirely on playing with Goose the cat.

"Her name is Carol, she's off in space currently," Fury said, the corner of his mouth violently twitching.

"Outer space?" little Annie asked, her eyes enormous with awe and wonder at his words. "You mean she's dancing with the stars and sleeping with the moon?"

"Yes." Fury was clearly biting the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. "That is precisely where she is."

"Wow!" Little Annie's eyes were blown open as she stared at the intimidating man before her. "What happened to your eye?"

Natasha shot her daughter a scolding look while Clint started chuckling at her adorableness.

"Someone who I once trusted ended up betraying me," Fury answered her without even beating his one good eye, shooting Goose a very patronizing glare.

Meow? Goose asked, reaching out with a pat to gently tap Annie's nose.

While Anne played with Goose, Natasha and Clint quietly conversed with Fury, the three of them clustered around the desk. Every few seconds, Natasha would glance back at her daughter, her motherly instincts already in close overdrive with them on enemy territory.

"Goose trusts you, and so I trust you," Fury said, bringing the KGB assassin's attention onto him.

"I beg your pardon?" Natasha asked, confused as to what he had just said.

"Goose is not a cat; he's a flerkin," the director explained. "An alien species that can eat entire dimensions and whose claws are incredibly dangerous." Natasha glanced over at Annie again, who was happily playing tag with the flerkin. "Don't worry- he won't hurt her."

"But Goose killed your eye," she pointed out dryly.

"Eh, I deserved it," he shrugged before turning to Clint. "I'll take care of the paperwork if you will work on making sure that Miss Romanoff doesn't murder any agents, we clear?"

"Crystal," Clint said, clearly happy with the director's decision. "I'll put them up in the apartment next to mine- in the morning, I'll go out and get a bed for Annie. We can have fun putting it together, how does that sound?"

Annie's head swiveled to face him and she nodded, shrieking as Goose jumped onto her head.

"Anastasia!" Natasha catapulted to her feet, but before she could cross the room, the little girl was giggling, petting Goose as the alien cat licked her face.

"You're funny, Goosey- kitty," she giggled, struggling to hold back a yawn. She blinked her eyes several times in succession,

"Is someone tired?" Clint asked, crossing the room to scoop the sleepy girl into his arms.

"M' not tired," protested Annie, struggling to keep her eyes open.

"I'd better get this small rascal off to bed- good night, sir," Clint called out as he led the way from the office. Natasha, close behind him. Annie peeked at Goose and waved her tiny hand at the cat.

Goose opened his mouth and purple tentacles were revealed, which waved at Annie as she fell asleep.

Fury chuckled as he knelt to pet the alien cat.

"I sure hope you know what you got yourself into, cat," he chuckled.