Author's note:
I honestly did not think that I would be able to write and post this chapter within one week-my great grandmother died the day after posting the last chapter. For days my attempt in writing was... well... either non-existent, or so rubbish that the chapter would have made you fall asleep. Luckily for you all, yesterday, I managed to get back in touch with my feelings and write.
However, this upcoming week, I have a lot going on, including the funeral-therefore I cannot guarantee that I will be able to write and post another chapter within a week. I hope you can all be patient with me.
Thank you to the reviewers of my previous chapter: kira shadow wolf; BookLuv; Sanctuaria; discordchick. Thank you.
Natasha stifled a yawn, it had been a long few days, and in reality she hadn't had a proper sleep since Fury called her a few days ago announcing-incorrectly-that Clint was killed. She was still working out exactly how to repay him for jumping to that conclusion and informing her without all the facts. As she landed the quinjet on one of the highest floors, she took a few moments to mentally prepare herself and make sure she was alert and awake-she had gone longer than this without sleep due to the fact that there was always a threat of death if she closed her eyes, but now she was at Stark's tower: there was no immediate threat, and Clint had been rescued and Kristina was currently in no danger. There was a high temptation to sneak to her room and get a few hours kip, but she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep until she knew for certain that she wouldn't be able to sleep or even rest properly until she knew that Kristina was perfectly safe. And the only way she would know she was safe was if she was with her.
With that thought, Natasha rose from her seat at the cockpit and made her way out. Confident strides brought her through the floor she was on, "JARVIS Jr, where is Kristina?" she asked, using the newest name for Stark's computer-which had changed several times since his old JARVIS became Vision.
"She is in the main lounge with Tony," JARVIS Jr answered.
Natasha nodded and made her way to the elevator with her senses still on high alert; she didn't think she would be able to relax for a long while-not until she knew Kristina was safe and that Clint was back to normal. She stepped out of the elevator onto the relevant floor, her pace quickening as she walked into the room. She made a bee-line towards Tony and Kristina who were on the couch before slowing to a stop behind them as their conversation caught her attention.
"No," Kristina insisted, crossing her arms and attempting to get up.
"Sit down," Tony said firmly. He sounded almost bored with the request, like he had repeated it a thousand times already.
"You can't tell me what to do! You're not my dad!" Kristina protested as she was pulled back onto the couch.
"I don't care who I am; you will listen to me," Tony replied.
"No! I want my parents!" Kristina shouted, although she didn't attempt to stand up again.
Tony sighed, running a hand over his face, "Well, they are not here and if you don't shut up, I am going to stick you to the ceiling."
"Go on then! Then my Mom will kick your ass!" Kristina retorted quickly.
"If I hear you talk to Tony like that again, I'll stick you to the ceiling," Natasha spoke from behind them, making Kristina jump in surprise and look at her. Tony turned around; she wondered if he had known she was there since she first walked in. "I am disappointed in your behaviour. Come here." Even though she was angry at how rude Kristina was currently being to Tony and that she would probably be shouting at him later herself, she was glad she was safe. She opened her arms and watched as Kristina hesitantly stood up, waiting for Tony to tell her to sit again-but when that didn't happen she ran around the couch and jumped into her arms.
"I missed you so much!" She announced, fresh tears leaving her already red eyes. "I thought you left me forever!"
Natasha held her tightly, many responses floating through her head. She rejected them all quickly and decided that stating the obvious was the best response, "I'm right here, Kristina." She looked at Tony and mouthed that she'd talk to him later, adding a thank you before carrying Kristina off to her bedroom which Tony had allocated to her once the defeated Ulton.
Natasha attempted to place Kristina down after walking into her bedroom, but Kristina refused to let go of her, "Kristina, I'm not going anywhere." She promised and felt the grip loosen before Kristina reluctantly let her go.
"You were gone for so long," her daughter complained as she climbed onto the bed and sat crossed-legged in the middle of it.
Natasha sat down on the edge, kicked off her shoes and faced her, "I was gone for eleven hours. Back in time to tuck you into bed in a little while."
Kristina shook her head, "You were gone all day! And I'm not tired."
With a small laugh and shake of the head, Natasha slid towards Kristina, tickling her sides, "A bedtime is a bedtime." She pointed out.
Kristina squealed with laughter, "But I'm still not tired." She reasoned as she attempted to wiggle out of her mother's grip.
"You can stay up for another 30 minutes, but just because I want to know what you did while I was away," Natasha said, forcing herself to not grow serious.
"Well," Kristina started dramatically as she caught her breath and sat up straight. "Tony… said I can't tell you about blowing up the wall. But he didn't say anything about after that. So, I was playing with the ball when Pepper was telling Tony off and I kicked it out-"
Natasha listened carefully as Kristina recounted everything that had happened whilst she was away since kicking the ball out of the bay windows. She was curious about what she meant by 'blowing up the wall' but would simply interrogate Tony or Pepper about that later. The atmosphere changed when she began telling her about the attempted kidnapping. natasha could tell how much it had affected her daughter without her saying it outright; she lacked details and couldn't even remember how she had gotten back to Stark Tower.
"-And I shouted at Tony after a while, saying that I wanted you or Dad… and I threw a cushion across the room. He tried telling me what to do, but I didn't listen; I was naughty. But I just wanted you and Dad."
Natasha pushed herself back against the headboard and leant against it, holding her arms open slightly, "Come here." She remembered when Clint used to just hold her-obviously she pretended she hated it-but it helped her to know there was somebody there. It was odd that a simple hug or being in somebody's arms was so comforting. Kristina shuffled towards her and wrapped her arms around her midsection; Natasha placed her arms around her, "I saw your father."
Kristina's head snapped up to look at her, "Is he coming back?"
Natasha ran a hand through her hair, "Soon. There was a little accident, and they need to sort out his hearing."
"His hearing?"
"Yes, you see-your father is actually deaf, but he had an implant which… in simple terms, made him able to hear. Something happened to it, so he's with a doctor to get it fixed," Natasha explained in the most basic way she could think of, she saw the solemn look on her daughter's face. "I was thinking that tomorrow, I could teach you some sign language, so it doesn't matter if he has the implant or not-those things aren't always perfect."
"Is it hard to learn?" Kristina questioned lightly.
"Not at all," Natasha replied. After a long stretch of time, she began humming, she noticed how Kristina's eyes closed but she remained very much awake. As she closed her own eyes, she softly began singing a Russian lullaby, not knowing any English ones. She knew she would have to learn some, unless she decided to teach Kristina Russian. It wasn't long before she felt Kristina relax completely and fall asleep.
Natasha resorted back to humming after the song had ended for approximately ten minutes before silence overtook the room.
Natasha laid with Kristina for nearly thirty minutes, her eyes closed but unable to allow herself to fall asleep, before she lifted Kristina off her and slid off the bed. With a quick tug, she pulled out the covers and threw them over Kristina before writing a quick note and placing it in her hand in case she woke up while she was gone. With another glance at her sleeping daughter, she walked out of the room.
"JARVIS Jr, who is Kate?" Natasha asked, the question been on her mind ever since Kristina muttered her name when telling her about her day.
"Miss Katherine Elizabeth Bishop, aged 11. She spent some of the day here and was with Kristina at the time of the kidnapping."
Natasha frowned, Kristina was far too trusting. She had willingly let a stranger into the tower, just because she seemed nice-Kristina even mentioned that it was the first time she had met her.
She found Tony in his laboratory within minutes, he appeared to be working on some equipment. She thought back to the first time she met him-she was a Natalie Rushman from the legal department. Then he had discovered that she was actually a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, who was previously an assassin. And now, if he thought he knew her at all because of their meager history together, he was wrong. Her wrath if anything happened to her daughter would be a lot greater than when somebody was trying to kill her-and he was currently very close to crossing that line."Are you going to explain?" she asked as she walked in and leant against one of the cars.
"Don't lean against them, they're classics," Tony said casually as he turned to face her, looking unfazed at her murderous expression.
Natasha moved forward as she stopped leaning against the car, instead looking absentmindedly at one of Tony's new creations, "When I left Kristina with you, I was under the impression that she would be safe."
Tony looked down slightly in shame but as he looked up his usual confidently, careless expression was stoned on his face, "She is fine."
Natasha narrowed her eyes, "She had bruises on her upper arm, she's going to have nightmares about what happened and she's traumatised. I would not classify that as her being fine." She took a deep breath, she knew that Tony had technically done his job is keeping her safe-of course, allowing her to leave his home twice not accompanied with an adult was the wrong move, but he was there when she actually needed him. "Just explain what happened," she half-asked, half-ordered in a much calmer tone of voice.
Tony nodded and sat down on the stool he had next to his desk, he turned slightly so he was could tap his tablet and show a red dot labelled Kristina-it showed clearly where she was, "When I realised that she liked exploring, I put a tracker on her, which I could activate the microphone and hear exactly what was going on. She left the building with her friend Kate…"
"Katherine is not her friend, she met her today."
"I didn't know that; she said they were friends. When they left the building, I was notified and I turned the microphone on. I didn't want to just turn up in my Iron Man suit, seeing as they went to the park, so I put on a hat, some sunglasses and followed them out on foot. I had barely made it to the edge if the park when I heard her talking to a male-him telling her to go with him. It turned ugly quickly; I called my suit as I began running to her location." Tony stopped for a moment, as if he was remembering exactly what happened or if he was going to tell her, "Shot the guy in the leg and instantly grabbed hold of Kristina-The guy got away."
"But he would need medical," Natasha said as she crossed over to him and typed on his tablet, which was connected to his whole system. "If it's the same people that took Clint, they are using a lot of mercs-some of them well-trained." She focused on the screen as she pulled up hospital records within the last couple of hours and then narrowed it down by specific injury. Three matches, two male, one female. "Either of these guys?" She asked as she pulled up their records and pictures.
"Him," Tony said as he pulled out another tablet and pulled up his files and everything on him. He stopped for a second and picked up a box of grapes, popped one in his mouth and then continued working. "He's still at the hospital; I'll get Rhodey to apprehend him." He ate another grape. "He's a merc, used to be in the army. Seems to have a clean record, according to the law anyway-no kills." He said as he placed his phone to his ear and stepped to the side.
Natasha looked up the information Tony had found, "Then why would he agree to abduct a child?" She questioned to herself, she had been around a lot of men who didn't care who they abducted or what they did for information; men who liked children because they were defenseless, who used them as tools. However, this man, who she presumed was exactly the same as they men she had encountered, seemed squeaky clean-he mostly did surveillance work, a lot of extraction work, but nothing that indicated he would willingly abduct a child. His records are wrong or they are missing a crucial piece of information.
Tony returned to her side, "We'll get the guy and question him, and we'll get to the bottom of this." He promised. "How's Barton?"
"Pretty beaten up, but he's been worse," Natasha replied.
"Dr. Cho is pretty concerned about his hearing," Tony informed her.
Her head almost snapped up as she looked at him, "There's news?"
"She needed some supplies, just said that she needed to call in a specialist regarding his hearing," Tony explained.
Natasha wanted to go straight back to Clint, feeling the need to translate for him or get the doctors to work faster. She knew his history and medical records, but she knew she couldn't. She hated that she had to choose, but she knew that Clint would want her here. He was probably already pissed that she left Kristina and went into the field where she could have potentially been injured or killed-meaning that there would be a chance that Kristina wouldn't see either of them again. But things had turned out well, so he couldn't complain-too much anyway.
"You should get some sleep, you've had a long day," Tony advised. Natasha looked up at him blankly. "We can start fresh tomorrow; Clint and Kristina are safe, as is the rest of our team-I would say take tomorrow off too, but the threat is still out there. I'll continue the research. Go get some sleep."
"Wake me up if you find anything important… and I want to be there when we interview the son of a bitch who attempted to abduct my daughter," Natasha said emotionlessly. She hardly waited for him to nod in agreement-she was telling, not asking-before walking out of the room and back to hers. She took the note from Kristina's hand and laid on the left side of the bed. After making sure she had three weapons all within reach, but not in Kristina's reach she laid on her back and finally allowed herself to fall into a light sleep.
Just so you know, there are probably only a few more chapters left of this story. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.