Chapter 8

Natasha's last ballet class ended at 8 P.M. Even though the start of her day was pretty rough, it was a great day. She loved seeing all the enthusiastic faces of her students. She only hoped that they would stay that way as the course advanced. Most of her students were beginners, but she did have a couple of students that already knew the basics. She also had a few that were a bit more advanced. She talked to them and decided to add two extra classes for them. She didn't want to hinder them by keeping them in the beginner's class. She cleaned the classrooms a bit after her last class. She didn't know how she was going to get home. She didn't really like the idea of getting on the subway, at least not yet. She also knew that if she did, she would get a good tongue-lashing from both Clint and Maria. She had forgotten to charge her phone last night, so her phone was already dead. She locked the last classroom and made her way to the front desk to use the phone. She was startled when she saw Daisy was still there.

"Daisy! You scared me! I thought you had already gone home."

"I'm sorry. I was going to go, but I remembered that you didn't bring your car, so I was waiting for you to see if you want a ride."

"Oh, thank you, but I already have a ride," Natasha lied.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. In fact, my ride should be here any minute."

"I'll wait with you then," Daisy offered.

"No, that's no problem. You must be hungry and tired. Go on ahead and go home. I'll be fine here."

"Ok, thanks. Once you get home, call me."

"I would, but my phone is dead."

"In that case, I'll see you tomorrow if you made home all right," Daisy joked.

Natasha laughed a little. "Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good night!"

"You too." With that, Daisy left. Once she was out of sight, Natasha ran to the phone. She didn't like being alone because one could never know what would happen. She quickly dialed Clint's number.

"Detective Barton."

Natasha let out a sigh of relief. "Hey, it's Nat. Can you come pick me up?"

"Hey, Nat. Unfortunately, I can't, but I sent Maria to pick you up. Is she not there yet?"

"No, she's not."

"She should be there soon. If she doesn't show in five, call me, and I'll arrange something else."

"Ok," Natasha said with a little bit of uneasiness in her voice.

Clint obviously heard detected it. "Nat, you'll be fine, ok?"

"I know, but I can't help but think of…"

"Nat, don't think about it. That's in the past."

Just then, Maria walked in. "Maria's here. I have to go."

"Good, and Nat, you'll be fine."

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me."

"You're welcome."

Nat hung up the phone and gathered her things.

"Tasha! You had me worried!" was the first thing Maria told Nat.

"Hello to you too, Maria," Nat said, coolly.

"I mean it! I've been sending you texts and calling you, but you haven't answered!"

"Don't get too excited, Maria. I mean, how can I possibly answer my cell and read all of your texts when my phone is dead?"

"Well, how am I supposed to know that?" Maria countered.

Nat rolled her eyes, "If it was really urgent, you could have called the studio."

"I lost the number."

Nat sighed. She grabbed a business card from off her desk. "Don't lose it."

Maria took a look at it and put it in her pocket. "Well, let's get you home."

Natasha gathered her things and both ladies walked out the door. Once they were in the car, Maria spoke. "Your car is already fixed. You can drive to work tomorrow morning."

"Oh, thanks for taking care of that. What was wrong with it?"

"The mechanic said it had something to do with the battery, but since I didn't understand him, I didn't pay attention."

Nat nodded her head. "How much do I owe you?"

"Nothing," Maria stated flatly.

"What do you mean nothing? It should have cost something to fix it."

"Well, thank Clint for that."

"Clint? I don't get it," Natasha said, confusion plastered on her face.

"Well, he's a real good friend with the mechanic, and he fixes his cars for free. Well, come to think of it, mechanic isn't the best word to use to describe him. He was a mechanic at one time, but now he owns a big company. Clint went to school with him way back when."

Natasha just nodded her head in understanding. The rest of the way was quiet. Natasha was starting to fall asleep when they arrived at her apartment.

"Well, here we are. Don't forget to charge your phone, and call me if you need anything," Maria said.

"Don't worry, Maria, I'll be fine. Have a good night."

"You too."

Natasha opened the car door and got out. She walked up the stairs to the second floor to her apartment. She fumbled in her purse for her keys. Once she had them, she unlocked the door, went inside, and locked the door again. She set her stuff down on the couch and made her way to her room to get her pajamas to put on after her shower. After showering, she prepared herself a bowl of cereal and ate it. Soon after, she went to bed.

The rest of her week went by in pretty much the same manner except for being late and having her car break down. She was pleased with all of her students and their hard work, but one student's work marveled her. Being the youngest ballet student Natasha had, she was the one that would work the hardest and would quickly catch on to what Natasha taught her. Natasha admired her, and as the week progressed, she started getting closer to her. One day in particular, Wednesday to be exact, her dad was running late. Natasha didn't have another class to teach that day until after lunch, so she decided to wait in the lobby with the little girl. But I think I should tell about this from the beginning.

The ten o'clock ballet class came to a close. "Good job everyone! You are all doing very well! Keep practicing at home. Pack up your stuff, and wait in here until your parents come," Natasha told the children. There was a patter of little feet as they went running to get there bags. The sounds of happy chatter and giggles filled the classroom. Soon, the sound started dying down as parents came to pick up their children. Natasha had observed the kids for a little before she started cleaning the classroom up a bit. She was almost done when she looked around the room to make sure there was no one left. She expected to be alone in the room, so she was surprised to see Livy sitting on the floor playing with a stuffed animal dog. Livy was always one of the first ones to leave, so Natasha wondered why her dad hadn't come to pick her up. She walked over to Livy and crouched to her eye level.

"Hey, Livy, your dad hasn't come to pick you up yet?"

"No, ma'am," she responded politely and went back to playing.

"Why don't we wait in the lobby until your dad gets here?"

Livy looked up and nodded. Natasha held out her hand, and Livy took it and got up. They walked hand in hand to the lobby and sat on the couch.

"So are you enjoying ballet?" Nat asked Livy.

"Yes," Livy answered enthusiastically.

Nat noticed how her eyes lit up. She smiled at her sweetly. "What do you like most?"

Livy looked thoughtful for a minute. "I like everything, but the thing I like the most is you being my teacher."

At that comment, Nat's heart melted a little bit. "I enjoy being your teacher, and you are doing so well! You're one of the most dedicated students I have."

Livy cocked her head. "What does dedicated mean?"

"It means that you are working really hard," Nat simply explained.

"Oh."

"When is your birthday?"

"My birthday is at the end of August."

"Do you know the day?"

"I think it's the 29th. When's yours?"

"Mine is on the 22nd of November. So you're going to start school this year?"

"I think so. I'm going to go to kindergarten. Is that school?"

"Yes, it is. You're going to be a big girl now, and you're going to learn a lot of new things."

Livy nodded her head. Natasha noticed that Livy was slowly warming up to her more than she had been. "What's your favorite color?"

"Purple. What's yours?"

"Red and black."

"Why those if red is for love and black is for death?"

Natasha was taken aback by the question. Here is a four-year-old girl asking her a question of why her favorite colors were red and black and associating the colors with something specific. "I just like them. I think they go very well together in clothes."

"I guess they do go together. Are you married?"

"Um, no, I'm not," Natasha answered, hoping that she wouldn't say anything else.

"Why not?"

"Because, um, I guess I still haven't found the right person."

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"No, I don't."

"Did you ever have a boyfriend?"

"Um, I-I guess you can say that I did, but that was a long time ago."

"What happened?"

Natasha didn't know how curious a little girl could be about someone's love life until that moment. She really didn't want to talk about her love life to this innocent little girl, but she knew that Livy wouldn't let it go. She had observed that Livy was very determined, so she was probably determined in getting answers as well. "Well, it's a little too much for you to understand."

"Why?"

Thankfully, Natasha didn't have to answer that question because right at that moment Steve came in.

"I am so sorry I'm late. I had an unannounced meeting that went longer than I thought it would, so I didn't call anyone to pick her up instead of me."

"That's all right. I don't have my next class until after lunch, so you don't have anything to worry about."

"I hope she wasn't a handful," Steve said, signaling to Livy with his chin.

"Oh no, she was an angel. We got to know each other a little better, right?"

"Yes, daddy! I asked her if she was married, and she said no, so I asked her if she has a boyfriend, and she said no."

Steve's eyes widened, and he blushed from embarrassment. "I am so, so sorry she asked you those questions. I'm going to have to explain to her later why she shouldn't have done that."

"It's ok. I know she's young and filled with curiosity."

"I hope she didn't make you too uncomfortable with those questions."

"Oh no, she didn't," Natasha lied.

"Good. Thanks for watching her while she was waiting for me. Also, I am very sorry for being late and not letting you know."

"It was my pleasure to take care of her, and don't worry about being late. I know that sometimes our plans change, and we're not able to let someone know about that."

"You're right. By the way, I've been meaning to tell you something, but I keep forgetting or you've been busy."

"Go on."

"I'm going to be out of town next week, so I won't be able to bring or pick her up."

"So she won't be coming next week?"

"No, no-I mean- yes, she will, but I wanted to let you know who would be dropping her off and picking her up."

"All right, go on."

"My brother's girlfriend Allison is going to be dropping her off every day. Now, there will be a different person picking her up each day, but since I don't know the order, I'll just tell you their names. My sister Wanda, my best friend James-we call him Buck or Bucky-, and my brother Pietro. Two of them will be coming to pick her up twice. I'll give you their phone numbers either tomorrow or Friday."

"Ok. Let me see if I got it. Allison will be dropping her off every day, correct?" Steve nodded. "Wanda, James, and Pietro will be picking her up, and two of them will come two days?"

"That's right."

"Thanks for letting me know. I wouldn't want to send her with someone else."

"We'd better get going because we have some lunch plans."

"Yeah, I need to go get lunch myself and prepare for my next class."

"Livy, it's time to go." Livy stopped playing with her stuffed dog. Before going to her dad, she ran and gave Nat a hug. "Bye. See you later."

"See you tomorrow. Practice at home, ok?"

"Ok."

Livy ran to Steve and held his hand. Natasha watched them head out the door. She couldn't help but wonder about Livy's mother. She had never met her, seen her, or heard about her, but it was, after all, the first week she's known them. Maybe she'll get to meet her later.

Well, here's another chapter. I'm sorry for not updating weekly like I said I was, but I've been busy with school. I'll try to post again next week, but I won't promise anything.