Chapter 1

"You won't shoot me."

Jez's voice didn't shake as she said the words, despite the fact that she was staring down the barrel of a pistol and Alex was being held at knife point. Her eyes never left the identical green ones belonging to the hand holding the pistol either, and she didn't flinch when the Black Widow cocked the gun and lay a finger on the trigger.


Jezebel Reveka Romanoff grew up in the Avengers Tower. She had four uncles, one of whom was a billionaire and another a god, and three aunts. Like many people she had a mother and a father (although sometimes she was surprised they had lasted so long; their jobs were dangerous enough, and she'd seen the looks her mother gave her father when he did something stupid). She had a cousin her own age, who wasn't technically her cousin, at least not by blood, and who was named Aiden. She and Aiden went everywhere together, even though her mother wasn't very fond of the idea of her making friends with a Stark. There wasn't anyone else Jez could be friends with, and her mother wasn't around enough for Jez to give a damn what she thought.

Which of course was the other problem. Jez's parents were never there. They were always on some mission or another, and when they weren't on a mission they were debriefing or in the medical bay or training or too tired to play, sorry sweetheart.

And Jez wouldn't have minded so much, if it weren't for the fact that they were always gone at the most inconvenient times. Her birthday, or Christmas, or the first day of school, when her mother should have been packing her a brown bag lunch and telling her to have a good day at school while waving at her as she got on the bus. Instead she was driven to school in a sports car by Uncle tony who insisted on walking her to her classroom and introducing himself to her teacher.

When she was younger, Jez thought her mother would want to be there if Jez was more like her. She danced and did gymnastics, practiced until she was the best in the class, she trained in hand-to-hand fighting and shooting, and made it to the point where she could beat most of the SHIELD agents when she was ten. But her mother didn't stay, she didn't try to make more time for her daughter. She rarely even made it to Jez's recitals and competitions.

The day Jez decided to leave was Christmas Day the year she was seventeen. For the first time in five years, Clint and Natasha were going to be there. For the first time in five years Jez was going to get to see them open her presents to them, instead of sending them on a mission and hoping her parents remember to open them.

They were just about to sit down to Christmas dinner when Clint's phone went off. He glanced at it, then gave a nearly inaudible sigh and caught Natasha's eye.

Of course they apologized profusely for having to leave, but Jez had heard it all before and just nodded her way through it. When they were gone, she excused herself to the bathroom.

She was tired of it. Tired of her parents always leaving, tired of wanting to be someone she wasn't. She didn't need to be here anymore. Her parents didn't want her, and she would be eighteen soon.

There was a knock at the door, and Jez looked up.

"Jez?" It was Aiden's voice. "You ready? Steve wants to start opening presents."

"Yeah, I'll be right out," she answered. She winced at the sound of her voice. She sounded tired.

Apparently Aiden could hear it, too, because he opened the door, stepped inside, and shut it behind him. "They'll come back, Jez. And they'll open your presents and then you can have your own little Christmas with them."

Jez shook her head. "That isn't the problem. I'm sick of them not being here. It's Christmas. Why couldn't they just tell Fury no? Just this once." She leaned back against the toilet.

"Come on, Jez, you know it's their job," Aiden said.

"Well I wish it wasn't," Jez replied, and stood up. She washed her hands in the sink, dried them off, and looked at her cousin. "Come on I don't want to be the one to keep Thor waiting. I bet he can smell the poptarts we gave him."

Aiden laughed as he held the door open for her and they went to rejoin their family.


On New Year's Eve they stayed up to watch the ball drop. Jez knew they would all sleep late the next morning (Tony to get rid of his hangover, Bruce and Steve to regain their energy, and Thor because, well, Thor always slept late) so she packed the night before and was ready to go at one o'clock the next morning, after the excitement of the new year had passed and everyone had gone to bed.

She walked for hours, until the first rays of dawn were peaking over the New York skyscrapers and she settled down to sleep.