A/N I hope you came good into the new year or at least better than I did. Let's just say I sound like Ultron who smoked too much and I don't even smoke. That's why I decided to start with something very sweetly and fluffy: some babysitting Fury ;)

Invader Johnny: Yeah, I really neclected Brutasha for some time, I'm sorry about that. Better remind me to do it more often if you're interested in them ;)

WidowInBlack: Thank you very much! It's funny because I'm not the biggest Brutasha-shipper either but every time I write this paring, I kinda like it a little bit more for some time :D

Unicorn brownies: Thank you :)

Title: Fairytale (prompt #61)

Characters: Sarah, Fury, feat. Natasha, Steve

Word count: ~1790

„Thank you for stepping in," Natasha greeted Fury after she opened the door for him. "Pepper promised to take her today but there seems to be some trouble at SI she has to look into."

"Not a problem. I offered to babysit, remember?" Fury gifted her with one of his rare smiles and closed the front door behind him. "Besides, SHIELD will still be there tomorrow if there isn't some sort of crisis. And if there is one, Hill can deal with it. I'm spending time with my granddaughter tonight."

"Still, thank you." Natasha led him into the living room where Steve put on his dress shoes.

"Grandpa!" The toddler next to Steve scampered down the sofa and ran full speed at Fury who – thanks to his long years as an agent – caught her in time when she leapt in his arms and hugged her tight for a moment. "Mommy said you'll come 'cause Auntie Pepper doesn't have time."

"Yeah, well, Pepper has probably too much to do with cleaning up the mess your Uncle Tony made," Fury answered. "But the two of us will have some fun, right? Nice PJs, by the way." He nodded to the pyjamas Sarah was wearing, printed over with Natasha's red hourglass.

"Clint got her those." Steve rolled his eyes. "He caught on o Tony calling Sarah the 'little spider'. Guess even in the 21st century Captain America can't be a girl."

"I'll be an even bigger superhero than you or Mommy when I'm big." Sarah hold her nose high with those words, eliciting a low chuckle from Fury.

"Sure you will, munchkin."

Natasha swept back into the room, done with her makeup and hair. She kissed Sarah's cheek while Fury was still holding her. "Alright, Sarah, Mommy and Daddy will go to their dinner reservation. When we're back you'll be already in bed, but I'll still check on you, okay? And Nick will stay until we get home so you won't be alone." Once Sarah nodded and leant trustfully against Fury's shoulder, Natasha turned her attention to him. "Don't let her have too much sugar or you won't get her into bed in time. She can stay awake a little longer than usual to spend time with you, just don't overdo it. And if something happens, I have my phone with me."

"She's not the first agent I watch over, Natasha," Fury reminded her gently. "Sarah can't be more work than Clint and you. And if it comforts you, I'll call you if something happens, but I won't interrupt your and Roger's wedding anniversary for a full diaper."

Sarah frowned. "I don't wear diapers anymore."

"You don't? You've really grown, little miss." Fury turned to Steve who had his gaze admiringly wandering Natasha's outfit. "Don't do anything stupid, Rogers. I'll hear about it."

Steve cleared his throat at being caught. "I won't. Sir. Thanks again for stepping in."

"No problem. No get out of here." He shooed the pair to the door, then pushed it shut again and turned the key. Better safe than sorry, especially when it was about his favourite yet-to-be agent.

"Is Daddy afraid of you?" It was more curiosity than worry in Sarah's voice.

Fury shrugged walked over to the sofa where he let her fall onto the thick cushions. "Sometimes. I was his boss once."

"Aren't you anymore?" She followed with him with her gaze attentively when he shrugged out of his coat and hung him over the back of a chair.

"Well… that's complicated," Fury answered when he returned to Sarah to sit next to her. Immediately, she climbed on his lap to sit there. He didn't know how much Sarah knew about her parents' jobs and he sure as hell didn't want to be the one to give her that kind of talk. "I'm not as much his boss anymore as I used to be."

"Why do you wear an eyepatch? Do you like playing pirate when you don't work?"

Fury chuckled at that. "No. I got hurt once and lost my sight on that eye. I just don't want people to pity me, you know? So, I wear an eyepatch to not show people how much I got hurt."

"Does it still hurt?" Sarah sounded honestly concerned.

It amazed Fury time and time again how deeply Sarah already cared for the people she deemed important. "It itches sometimes, but nothing too bad." Sarah nodded in response and yawned, but clasped quickly her hand over her mouth as to hide it. Fury smiled at that. "Time for bed, huh?"

"No, I wanna play with you. I don't get to see you often."

"I know. I'm sorry about that. There's a lot of work to do, y'know? But maybe you can visit me when your parents are working instead of going to your Aunt Pepper? Spend a day at the HQ and help me scare the rookies. That was always the part of her job your Mom loved most, I guess. And we could probably play some more when you're there."

"Uncle Tony is afraid of Mommy," Sarah stage-whispered with a big grin. "And Uncle Bucky too, I think."

Fury grinned. "Well, there was a time when I was afraid of your mother. That's really not a shame, but understandable." He noticed another yawn of Sarah and prompted with a smile: "Why don't I bring you to bed and we play something together tomorrow?"

"Only if we play spy. And you have to tell me a story." Tired as she was, her voice didn't waver with her demands.

"You play spy with your parents?" Fury wasn't sure what to think of that. He doubted Natasha wanted to teach her daughter how to be a spy; she always emphasised how she wanted a normal life for Sarah. And Steve neither stroke him as someone who trained his daughter to be an agent or soldier.

Sarah leaned towards him as if telling him a secret. "Mommy and I play that a lot. We try to sneak up to Daddy and scare him. When Daddy's not home, we try to sneak up on each other. Mommy's better than I am, I didn't scare her once. But I get to scare Daddy a lot. He's a bad spy."

Fury did laugh on that one and hoisted Sarah up un his lip to bring her upstairs. "Yeah, your Dad's terrible at everything that has to do with espionage, trust me on that one. If I hadn't send your Mom with him, he would never have gotten things done. You've already brushed your teeth?"

Sarah nodded at his shoulder and let him put her into bed and tuck her in. "A story. Please," she remembered adding before Fury could tell her father. Not that he would, but Sarah rather played safe.

"Sure, kiddo. Here." Fury tucked the little bear with an eyepatch he got Sarah for her first birthday under the blanket too and then sat down at the edge of her bed. "What kind of story would you like?"

"Something with a happy ending. Not sad. Daddy watched Lion King with me and we both cried." Sarah pulled the teddy close to her and placed her chin on top of its head.

Fury filed the information away just in case he or Natasha needed it sometime and nodded thoughtfully. "I guess I have something for you. You're ready? Good."

Once upon a time, there lived a princess. Not a princess in a beautiful dress as you might think. She was a warrior princess and therefore she wore trousers and boots and a thick shirt and a sword on her waist. Or she would have done so if she would have been brought up by her parents. But she was born in times of war and because she had magical abilities though not very trained yet, the rivalling queen of the red kingdom let her steal away as a baby to bring her up as her own child. This queen also had magical abilities and taught the princess everything she knew. And so the princess turned from a little girl into a beautiful young woman.
Throughout her young life, the queen sent her out to accomplish missions for her and since the princess had mastered her abilities, she never failed. But some day the princess grew wary. She suspected the queen to not be her mother – there were too few similarities between the two of them – but she said nothing. Instead she decided to run away on one of her missions. A hunter had been sent out to catch her and although he was the greatest hunter of the secret king from a faraway land, he decided to befriend her instead of simply pulling her with him. The princess didn't know who he was or for whom he worked, but she had never experienced friendship and she was hungry for that kind of love. So although she had been taught to not give away her trust, under no circumstances, somehow the hunter managed just that. He gained her trust and took the princess with him on her free will to bring her home again.
But her old kingdom was no more. Not knowing where to turn to now and not wanting to go back to the lying queen, the princess asked the hunter for help. She wanted to atone for the things she had done in the past and wanted to become a better person. The hunter did not ponder for long. He took her to the secret king and although the secret king would like to give her a chance, he was not sure how big the influence of the lying queen was. But the hunter persuaded him to take the princess into his kingdom. And so he did it. And the princess found the family she had been looking for all her life. A family who loved her as she was and who did not try to change her. And in return the princess used her abilities to keep her family safe. Until today she has never seen the red kingdom again and so she lives happily ever after.

Fury smiled at Sarah's sleeping form, having her teddy pressed tightly onto her side. "Sleep well, little spider," he whispered and kissed her gently in the forehead. Whether he admitted it or not, but he had completely fallen for his honorary granddaughter. He knew Natasha and Steve wanted to raise their daughter to and independent woman, but he would knack in the chair in the corner either way, just in case she awoke during the night. Natasha and Steve should dare and try to reprimand him for doing so. Affection for his granddaughter definitely beat his fear of the Black Widow.