Author's Note:
Hello! My apologies that it has been months since I last updated this story - but I knew the end was close and wanted it to be perfect.
Quick shout out and thanks to ThisVioletofMine who has been helping me with this whole story.
HUGE shout out to Sancturia who was the mastermind behind this whole chapter and helped me in so many ways to finish this! She is incredible and you all would have been waiting much longer for an update.
Natasha took a breath as she walked into the large room, which had all forty-three children in it. They needed help to keep an eye on them as they began sending them off to specific locations - they didn't want any child to get misplaced. Natasha had volunteered to cover Clint, who was caught up with something at home, Nat could tell over the phone that something wasn't right - whatever happened between him and Laura seemed like it would take a while. Natasha couldn't completely understand what had gotten her so worked up-Laura knew Clint's business, and knew the responsibilities he had.
She looked around the room. Some of the children were crying, others were sleeping, but the majority of them were running around. She recognised a half of them from the photographs. With a sigh, and regret for agreeing to this, she walked over to one of the crying little ones. "Hey, what's wrong?" She asked, bending down so she could see his face, not being able to place his face anywhere.
He looked up, sniffling. "I don wike it hewe."
Great. "What about over there?" she questioned, pointing towards the wall.
The boy looked at her with utter confusion before wandering over to the wall and leaning against it, face first. Well… she'd call that a success for now. However, when she approached another, older, child, she didn't manage to get a word out, as she just walked straight to the wall. All Nat could do was watch with confusion as the children would look at her, and then follow suit. She looked around, seeing the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents looking relieved, but surely this wasn't normal?
"How'd you do that? That's amazing!" Fitz said with wonder as he walked over to her, holding a baby - who wasn't of walking age, but she was sure, if it was, it would have walked off too.
"Discipline - this is what they would have been told to do." Natasha replied, it was scary to think how similar these kids seemed to react and were treated. She was waiting for one of them to start attacking, but knew that that wouldn't be happening - this wasn't the Red Room, just a breeding and selling situation. "Who needs to go out?" she asked, seeing one of the quinjets ready.
Fitz held out the innocent child to her, and after a few long moments of her looking at him like he was crazy, she took it. It was only when she was holding the child, that she realised it was little Julia, the one year old girl she had held before rescuing all of the children. "Hey Julia, remember me?" She asked.
Julia perked up at her name, smiling widely at her. "Eeeeeey!"
"Of course you do." She cooed, stroking the little hair she had out of her face. She looked up at Fitz as he returned.
"Five of them are going to Jersey today, including one of the mothers." He informed her and offered to take Julia back.
Natasha held onto the little girl a little more securely. "I've got her." She waited for him to lower his hands before looking over at the list of names. "Just call the children one by one."
Fitz nodded. "Alright." He cleared his throat, looking at the chaos of the room. "Um... Augusta?" Most of the kids fidgeted a bit in their spots, but after a few seconds a little girl or no more than three shyly came forward and tugged on the bottom of Fitz's shirt. Natasha nodded to him as he handed the girl off to a brunette agent to transport onto the Quinjet before exiting the room for an office across the way that housed all of the kids' files. She'd gone through all of it before when she wasn't on shift - Natasha wasn't normally the one to make sure all the i's were dotted and t's crossed on the paperwork after a mission, but somehow she felt she owed it to these kids, to make sure they made it to a safe home after all they'd been through.
Sitting down and adjusting Julia's grip on her so that the girl was sitting on her lap, she pulled Julio's file towards her and began to read it for the eighteenth time. Repetition did not change the results - Julio had been born at the orphanage, and even though his mother had died, he had a grandmother who decided she wanted him. The last connection of her daughter was in this child. The daughter she lost seven years ago.
What she also found out, was that Julio was lactose intolerant - which was why he hadn't been adopted sooner. She was pleased that he was going to be with family, with somebody who would love and care for him. She slipped the papers back inside the folder and looked at the pile of folders of the other children before pulling one of them towards her as well.
Three hours later found Natasha seated in a large chair, with six piles of folders, and then a further seven folders scattered in an organised mess on the table in front of her, wondering why exactly she had allowed herself to be enlisted in helping to home the children but knowing deep inside this was exactly where she wanted to be. Being part of this process was really eye opening.
Turning her attention back to Julia, she was mildly surprised to find her soundlessly asleep in her arms. With only a few moments of thoughts, Natasha stood up, careful not to jostle her, and headed back to where the children were being housed. A make shift nursery had been set up in one of the smaller rooms, and she gently laid Julia down on a makeshift bed which one of the other children had slept in earlier.
Closing the door to the nursery behind her, only Natasha's quick reflexes prevented her from being bowled over by a veritable stampede of children running from one room to the other. In contrast to earlier, they had excited looks on their faces and some were holding teddy bears and other stuffed animals aloft as they ran.
Agent Fitz was running after them, making shooing motions with his hands. "You little monkeys! It's time for bed." He'd nearly gone past her when a little head poked out from the corner behind them.
"Boo!" the small boy shouted before sprinting madly away in the opposite direction. "Can't catch me!"
"No, you don't deserve to be called monkeys!" Fitz shouted after him, face a mottled tomato color. "Monkeys are cute and well-trained, while you're just—"
"Would you like me to catch him?" Natasha asked, not even bothering to hide her amusement at the young scientist's frustration.
"Please catch the little bugger," Fitz exclaimed. "I've got to—" He ran off after the other children again, waving his arms like a mad chicken. "Shoo! Shoo! Off to bed!"
With her long strides, Natasha caught the escapee in no time at all and deposited him in the makeshift dormitory where Fitz had finally gotten them all corralled.
"No, Fitz!" The brunette agent from earlier burst in. "There aren't enough beds!"
"'Course there are, Simmons, we did a head count before we started—"
"But Augustus and June were missing, remember? And Agent Avery just informed me that Julie, Maya, and Chris were jumping on the ones we set up before she could catch them, and three broke. We're off by five beds, Fitz!"
"Yay, not bedtime!" the kids shouted, making a run for it again. Simmons shut the door quickly and Natasha caught one of them as he tried to slip through her legs and into the hallway again.
"I can get you more beds," she told the two other agents as she pushed the child gently in the direction of the group again.
"Can you? Oh thank you," Simmons breathed a sigh of relief. She glared at Fitz. "I told you we couldn't take care of thirty children for a night if they didn't let us bring them to our lab."
Natasha exited the room and stood in the base hallway, thinking for a few moments before heading into one of the storage units - this had been where Clint had gotten temporary portable beds before. She remembered moving them all to a room for when he had to look after Cooper and Lila at the base. A small smile of accomplishment set on her lips when she saw a range of them - and they were all on wheels.
It was a good thing S.H.I.E.L.D was ready for any situation, otherwise, she'd have to steal random agents' beds.
When she wheeled the five beds into the large room which held the children, she froze. It seemed as if chloroform gas had been sent into the room through the air vents the way every single child was suddenly draped across a chair, in one of the beds, or simply curled up on a spare patch of floor. "I'm tired," one of them whined as she pulled the first bed into the room, thumping his fist on the floor.
"Don't worry, we have you a bed right here," Simmons informed him with a bright smile as she took the bed thankfully.
She nodded in recognition before pushing in two of the beds as Fitz took the other two to a different room. Natasha looked at the children curiously, wondering exactly what happened in the five minutes she was gone but shrugged it off after a second when the children started dozing off - whatever had happened, it worked.
After a few minutes, once all the children were asleep and Fitz had returned, Natasha thought about heading off - they had things under control, they didn't need her hanging around now - but something stopped her. That little voice in her head which told her that it was now or never - the last chance. "Just wondering, has Julio gone to his grandmother yet?"
Fitz looked at her as Simmons started flicking through her phone. "Julio, five years old is still here." Simmons answered and then pouted slightly in sympathy.
"What is it?"
"He's the only one heading to Michigan, he'll probably be one of the last to go," she answered before taking a breath and looking at Fitz. "Are they all in bed?"
Fitz nodded. "Yes, and asleep."
"I'm supposed to be heading to Michigan tomorrow anyway, I could take Julio," Natasha stated, mentally kicking herself. Now wasn't the time to get emotional over a mission, but she had already spoken - technically, this was still part of her mission, though. She owed it to herself and Julio to see it to the end.
Without hesitation, Simmons accepted her offer, jotting it down and then typing something on her phone. "I'll make sure he is ready for 10am?"
Natasha nodded and stepped from the room. She checked on the children in the other rooms quickly before heading off - she had finished her time there anyway. She then picked up the phone and called Clint, he was always better at getting a Quinjet without simply taking one - or stealing it as Clint continuously reminded her. "Clint, hey, how's the kids?" She started before getting into the details.
The next morning, Natasha woke up at one of her earlier times, 5:30. This wasn't the earliest time she woke up but wasn't as late as 6am. She hit the gym straight away, it was always quieter at this time but not completely abandoned - 4 am appeared to be the quietest time, as far as she has figured out. Clint wasn't due to arrive until 8am, which wasn't too long to wait.
After two hours, she showered, changed and then went to the cafeteria for breakfast, where she ended up meeting Clint.
"Tell me again why we're hand delivering one of the children?" Clint asked, and she could tell that he was tired.
Deciding to not question what was going on with him and Laura, she moved on and answered his question. "I volunteered."
He nodded, accepting the offer of coffee from her. "Yes, you said that. One of the children was going to Michigan."
"Not just any child - the one we almost adopted," Natasha admitted. Clint's head instantly jerked up slightly at that and looked at her, as if he was just now putting two and two together - Nat wasn't sure if she should be seriously concerned about his home situation right now. He was not usually one to take that long working out what she was doing, in fact, she presumed he understood what was going on when he agreed. "What's going on?"
With a sigh, Clint took a gulp of his hot coffee. "Laura and I just got into a small argument. I think I'm going to put in a request to not have long undercover missions anymore. Just stick to what I'm best at."
Natasha nodded, she understood what Clint was going through - not directly, but indirectly. He had a good life to return to and wasn't too fond of spending long periods of time undercover - in fact, he hated undercover mission regardless of the length. Natasha, however, loved undercover mission - pretending to be somebody she wasn't, creating a whole new life for herself was exhilarating. There were some undercover personas, that if they were real, she wouldn't want to leave either. However, when hers inevitable always came to an end, his was real. "I think that's a nice idea, I'm sure Laura will appreciate it."
Clint bobbed his head slightly before looking at her. "That's an upside. Also, I won't have to deal with anymore consequences of undercover - it's more trouble than it's worth half the time."
With another nod, Natasha seemed to agree. "I guess it's how you look at it." She said before moving straight on. "Did you procure a Quinjet?"
"Sure did," Clint said with a cocky smirk.
Natasha felt like rolling her eyes, she knew exactly what Clint was thinking, but thankfully, she also knew that he wouldn't bring it up. And if he started asking questions, she would too. "Great, we have an hour to spare."
Clint nodded and the two of them fell into a safe conversation - nothing too deep, and nothing about his family.
Natasha didn't react right away when little Julio wrapped both of his arms around one of hers nervously. He was scared, and he had every right to be - they were flying to Michigan, where his maternal grandmother lived. The woman had agreed to take him into her care after being told his story, although it had taken awhile for her to get over her grief about her daughter's death. Still, even before she'd given her answer, Natasha had known she wouldn't turn her only grandson away; after all, he was her only living link to her daughter now.
Julio's little arms were shaking, he was gripping her so tightly. The kid had never been on a plane in his life, so that anxiety added on to the fact that he was going to meet his new caretaker for the first time meant that he was a nearly inconsolable mess. Natasha couldn't help but feel pity for the poor little boy - even though this was all for his own good, Julio was still being ripped from the only life he'd ever known.
Much like the Red Room. Sighing, she allowed him to keep his death grip on her, not quite sure how else to give him some much-needed comfort. He'd barely spoken to anyone so far, so she didn't know what exactly his feelings on her were. For all she knew he could just be clinging to her simply because she was the closest human being. Any comforting gestures may not be welcome.
It can't hurt to ask… "You alright, kiddo?" She asked as gently as she could. Although the answer was obviously no, the boy didn't glare at her for the pointless question. He squeezed her arm tighter and buried his face in her sleeve, shaking his head in answer. If that didn't just give her hardened heartstrings a firm yank… "Yeah, I'm sure this is all scary and new to you."
"What if we fall?" Julio asked in a tiny voice, the first sentence he'd uttered in a long while. This time she didn't bother with analysing how he'd respond; Natasha reached across her body with her other arm and began running her fingers through his curly hair. He'd gotten his first shower in a long time just the day before.
"I'm not worried about it." She said calmly, with confidence. "My best friend is flying this thing, and he won't let us fall."
Julio looked nervously over to the cockpit, biting his lip. "Oh," he responded before burying his head against her again.
Natasha smiled softly and pulled him onto her lap - which he came willingly and held onto her even tighter. "Don't worry, I've got you," she murmured. She knew she didn't need to put him on her lap, he was content sitting next to her and holding on for dear life, but this was for her.
She had never really been the most maternal being, and up to more recently in her life, she didn't hesitate when she was ordered to kill children. To her, they were just targets. But now, not only did she look at children differently - and people in general differently - but since having the opportunity to adopt a child, she almost took it.
The prospect of being able to actually have a family astonished her, she grew up thinking, no knowing, that she wouldn't have children. But, that wasn't technically true any more. Looking down at Julio, she didn't see a lost chance of adopting, but the beginning of a whole new life that she could pursue if she wanted to. That was actually pretty overwhelming. So, for now, she'd just settle with making sure Julio got a loving family.
Natasha moved Julio onto the seat beside her once they landed. "See, we're safe on the ground now," she informed Julio as she waited for Clint to do the post-flight checks in the cockpit.
The boy slowly relinquished his hold on her arm as he peered around warily, as though checking that she was, in fact, correct. "That's what that bump was?" He asked quietly.
"Yes," Natasha confirmed.
"Bump? I don't bump," Clint said walking out of the cockpit with a grin on his face. "I landed gracefully."
Natasha rolled her eyes and offered a hand to Julio. "Hmm, sure you did," she teased Clint.
Julio took her hand without hesitation, though he eyed Clint curiously. "Are you super-smart? Since you can fly this plane?" He asked, sounding genuinely curious.
Clint grinned at the young boy. "Yes, I am super-smart." He agreed easily and took his other hand. "Are you looking forward to meeting your grandmother?"
Natasha fell quiet at the question, any remends of teasing Clint she had completely fallen from her thoughts as she looked down at Julio. It was only a five minute walk - ten minutes with a child - to Julio's grandmother's house. Of course, when Natasha had called the woman earlier, both her and Clint were invited to stay for lunch to make the transition easier - but they'd still be leaving the boy there.
Julio nodded timidly, seeming to shrink in on himself at the mere mention of his new caretaker. "Y-yeah. She's nice, right?" He asked for the third time that day. There was a quavering in his voice that didn't escape either agents' notice.
"Of course she is!" Clint responded instantly, ruffling the boy's hair - only for Natasha to neaten back up. "Grandmothers always are. And she is really looking forward to meeting you too, I hear she's already got your bedroom ready!"
Julio seemed to take comfort from this, although his grip on Natasha's hand never wavered. "Okay." He said simply, in one word both reassuring the adults that he wasn't freaking out as much anymore and that he was ready to get going.
"Let's head to your new home then, we don't want to be late," Natasha finally piped in and instantly began leading the way. True to her estimation, it took them just over ten minutes to walk there, she idly listened to Clint and Julio conversing - well, Clint making jokes and Julio laughing; he was always better with children than she was. As she went to pull her hand from Julio's to knock on the door, both of his arms were suddenly holding onto her arm tightly, his fingers digging into her arms slightly. "It's okay."
Clint stepped forward and did the knocking instead, seeing as Julio had completely let go of him.
The door opened almost immediately, and a tired-yet-excited-looking woman in her late forties was suddenly sizing them up with anticipation. Her gaze locked onto Julio after a few seconds and her eyes widened in pure shock. "Oh, Andrea…" She whispered, hand over her heart. Without breaking her stare, she reached forward with one shaking hand and gently ran her fingers down the side of the boy's face. They could only watch as tears built up in her eyes. "Hello, Julio. I'm your grandma." She finally addressed him directly, a watery smile pulling at the edges of her mouth.
"H-hi." Julio replied shyly, probably taken off guard by the incredibly emotional response. Grief over her daughter's death and joy at meeting her only grandchild were emanating off of the woman in palpable waves.
At the sound of his voice, Margaret let out a small laugh. "Oh, you're so much like your mother." She said, gently ruffling his curly hair before standing straighter and addressing Clint and Nat. "I'm sorry - please, come in." She said invitingly, drying her eyes as she ushered them inside.
Natasha indicated for Clint to go first and then followed him in with Julio. "You have a lovely home." She idly complemented - that's what you say when you're invited in, right?
"Thank you," Margaret replied with a smile, her mood visibly lightening as time went on. "There's plenty of room here for a growing little boy to play and live happily." Julio's grip on Natasha's hand tightened before slackening a little bit as he looked around the rooms in wonder.
"Is she rich?" He whispered up to Natasha conspiratorially once they were shown into the living room. The house wasn't that grand, and the rooms were decorated enough to feel homey but not so much that it felt overdone, but it honestly didn't give off an aura of wealth. Still, Julio had grown up in a dank hospital-like building for his whole life, so anything looking this nice would be new to him.
Natasha bent down and quickly pried her arm out of his, before resting her other on his chest - which he quickly took hold off - and the other around his shoulders. "You will be taken care here, three meals a day, regular baths or showers, water, a clean bed of your own," she listed, before seeing an unopened toy set which looks like it's supposed to be hidden, "and even a few toys. So, yes, I think you will have an enriched life here."
Margaret excused herself for a moment and came back into the room with a small tray of snacks, which she set on the coffee table in front of them as Clint, Natasha and Julio settled on the couch while she herself took the armchair. There was a small plate of various cookies and a few glasses of milk. "I figured everyone would be hungry after the trip." She explained kindly. Her gaze rested on her grandson again. "Say, Julio, are you lactose intolerant?" Her head tilted up and looked at Natasha for confirmation in this matter, to which Natasha nodded.
Julio, surprised at suddenly being spoken to, jumped just a little before looking at her owlishly. "Hmm?" He questioned, looking confused.
"Lactose intolerant means that milk makes your tummy hurt." Margaret simplified patiently.
"Oh… yeah."
She smiled. "I thought so - your mother had a severe problem with dairy… Here, I've got some soy milk for you, and these cookies here," she gestured to a small pile of them, "are dairy-free as well." After a bit of coaxing and encouragement from the adults, Julio snagged two of the proffered cookies and the glass of milk and downed them in less than five swallows. He blushed a little when Margaret laughed at his voracious appetite, but he was smiling, seeming much more content and comfortable here than before.
"Thank you." He said after a minute. Margaret waved it off.
"You don't need to thank me for food, little one - there'll be a lot more where that came from." She assured.
Natasha patted the boy's back softly, half pleased that she relaxed and was no longer holding onto her, but half sad and disappointed in how quickly he got used to his new home.
Clint suddenly piped in, "is this a custom bookshelf? I need to build one, what wood was used?" Natasha rolled her eyes at Clint and his bug for building new things or redoing his house - how Laura put up with that, she didn't know. Natasha personally preferred an organised and tidy environment.
After that conversational change, the hours just flew past. Julio absolutely loved his bedroom, and this room made Natasha think that maybe his grandmother was rich! His new single bed folded up into the wall sideways, and there were shelves above it. Along the same wall was a simple set of square shelves, which already had a few books on them. On the opposite wall was a built-in wardrobe and shelves, which had a few outfits for Julio, all ranging in sizes.
There were only a few things in the room, but, Natasha knew that soon it would be filled with things for the boy, and that was one of the reasons that when it came to leaving, it wasn't too hard.
Of course, Julio got pretty emotional, but released her from the hug after a few minutes to hug Clint, then her again, then they left. She turned back thrice, and came to a slow halt when the door was closed and Julio was no longer waving.
"Does this mean you're open to having children?" Clint asked her.
"It's crossed my mind," Natasha admitted, but before he had chance to respond and continue that line of conversation, she added, "Are you ready to tell me what happened with Laura?"
Clint sighed slightly. "Nothing I can't fix."
The End
Thank you for everybody who has supported me during this story, by reading, reviewing, faving and following! I am so honoured to write and loved this story.
Thank you!
