Very few things scare Darcy Lewis these days. She can count them on one hand. She's best friends with the world's best team of super heroes, she's dating a super spy, and she's personal buddies with a god. She lives in a Tower with said heroes, and she's never felt safer. So when she says that something scares her? It's really super terrifying. She'll add one thing to the top of the list that night.
It starts with a friendly game of twenty questions between her and Natasha. They've only been dating about two weeks and Darcy wants to knoweverything about her new girlfriend. So they're in bed, tossing and answering questions. Darcy goes first, because she won the coin toss.
"Exactly how old are you and when is your birthday?" She starts out with, and Natasha smirks.
"That's two questions, milaya." Natasha scolds, and it sends little shivers down Darcy's spine when Natasha uses that endearment. Or even when her girlfriend speaks her native tongue. "I am roughly eighty-seven, and I don't know when my birth date is." She says, tilting her head at Darcy. Darcy frowns, filing that information for later. If Natasha doesn't have a birthday, she'll have to make one for her. "My turn. How many pets have you had?" She shoots back and Darcy grins.
"Five dogs, three cats, a horse, a goat, two pigs, a turtle and two snakes." Darcy answers quickly, grinning at Natasha. The redhead chuckles at the rapid answer, and leans back against the headboard. Darcy is curled up with her head in Natasha's lap, like she's never belonged anywhere else. They go back and forth with innocuous questions, before Natasha drops a bombshell on Darcy.
"You've never mentioned your father when you talk about your family, why?" The question hits Darcy like a ton of bricks, and oh god she doesn't want to go there right now. Darcy doesn't answer right away, instead she burrows her face into Natasha's stomach and groans. Natasha must really have no idea, no super spy way to know the answer to that question, and she hasn't even told Jane the story. And Thor never needs to hear it.
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to." Natasha says softly, easily recognizing Darcy's change in mood like the super spy she is. Darcy just groans again and sits up.
"No, you'll need to know eventually. Better to get it out now." Darcy says, pulling herself upright and sitting across from her girlfriend.
"I don't talk about him because he forcibly left my life when I was fifteen. Mom kicked him out when I finally had the courage to tell her what he had been doing for most of my life up until that point. He, uh, he molested me. And raped me when I was older. A lot. It started when I was five, and it continued for ten years. I thought it was normal, a thing that dads did, y'know? And then I hit high school health class and realized it wasn't normal. So I told mom. She was furious, she kicked him out. I didn't want to press charges, I was fifteen and he had already destroyed part of my life, I wasn't about to let him destroy any more. I refuse to speak to him, though he's tried contacting me a few times." Darcy speaks softly, looking down at the mattress and their feet instead of at her girlfriend. There's a stony silence after Darcy finishes that goes on for quite a while, and Darcy chances it and looks up at her girlfriend. The expression she finds there terrifies her. She's seen Natasha angry, seen her furious, but never raging as hard as she is at that moment. Darcy's mouth goes dry and she wants to run, to hide. But she just sits there and stares at Natasha's face. Part of her is flattered at just how angry her girlfriend is, the part that's not absolutely terrified that she inadvertently royally pissed off a genetically modified super spy.
"D-don't do anything, okay?" Darcy pleads quietly, still staring wide-eyed at Natasha. The redhead shakes her head and her expression softens significantly. She reaches out and pulls Darcy against her chest.
"I can't promise that, Darce. You know that. And you know me. But I won't kill him, that I can promise you." Natasha says, burying her face in Darcy's hair. Darcy shivers, because the promise of not killing him means something so much worse than what her killing him would mean. But she can't say it's something she doesn't want. Maybe she's wrong for that, maybe it makes her a bad person. But the rage on Natasha's face meant so much more to her than she could have ever known. She cuddles in closer to Natasha and they just sit there, silently. The game of twenty questions is so obviously over, and Darcy falls asleep like that. When she wakes up, Natasha is gone, and there is a note on the bed stand. Darcy picks it up and reads it several times.
I'm taking care of it.