Final chapter! OMG! Ok I don't own Marvel or any partnership with them for the 25th time in this book.
XXV. Merry Christmas!
Natasha was sleeping in her quarters. Or rather, she was awake but was so cozy that she felt lazy and didn't want to get up.
She glanced out the window. Even with the dim light she could see the snowflakes falling lightly. The thought of getting lots of snow seemed thrilling and freezing. Natasha shivered and buried herself deeper under her covers.
It was 6 in the morning. Usually someone was up and making a lot of noise but it was quiet today. She wished every day could be like this. She closed her eyes and let her mind start to drift in an easy sleep.
What she didn't know was that Pietro, both Peters, Callum, Lewis, Nichole, Thor, Vision, Ultron, Wanda and Bucky were in Wanda's room biting their lower lip and watching the clock tick by minute by minute.
Vision grabbed his face and pulled down his eye lids. "I'm gonna be old by the time we start!" He complained.
"But Steve wanted to sleep in until 6:30," Bucky grumbled. "Why the hell would he stay up to midnight on Christmas Eve?"
"No idea," said Peter Parker. He glanced at the time. 6:01."
Callum kicked the bed. "This is killing me!"
"You got that right," said Ultron.
Wanda looked at her guests. "Now now, we don't want to disturb them before…"
"Jarvis!" Shouted Lewis. "Turn up the volume so everyone can hear what we have to say! Okay guys, on the count of three we're gonna shout 'Get up, Nincompoops!'"
Pietro threw back his head and laughed. "I like this kid!"
"Done!" Announced Jarvis.
The group watched as Lewis counted down on his fingers. Then:
GET OUT OF BED, NINCOMPOOPS!
Natasha growled. She threw the covers over her head. "Whyyyy?" she groaned. "This is why I don't have kids."
IF YOU DON'T GET UP WE'RE TAKING ALL YOUR PRESENTS AND DISTRIBUTING THEM BETWEEN US!
Natasha leapt out of bed. "No one unwraps my presents and gets away with it!" She threw in some clothes and rushed to where the group was standing excitedly.
"Let's go down!" Shouted Peter Quill.
"No!" Shrieked Nichole. "Daddy always goes down first and then he turns on the Christmas tree lights and then we go down!"
Bucky bounced lightly. "But there's gotta be some rules broken, right?"
One by one the remaining Avengers tumbled out. When Steve came out he looked like a wreck. "Hark! Rogers, my friend! You look like the Frost Giants froze you from ever resting again!" Cried Thor.
"Yeah. Thanks for the compliment," grumbled Steve.
Since it was Tony's building, Tony got to go down first. The instant he lit the lights everyone hurried down. Bucky was the first one, having used the banister to slide down on. Pietro was next with Wanda in tow. Then the rest thundered through.
Natasha realized the hundred of gifts were gathered in groups. She noticed the tags all had the same name on them in a group. She searched until she found her pile.
"Wait!" Shouted Tony. "We have some guests that I thought you might enjoy seeing!"
Steve freaked out. "But I didn't get them anything!"
"They don't care! Guys! Come on in!" The door to the living room opened and in walked Wolverine, Black Panther and Doctor Strange."
"Weren't you going to celebrate Christmas at home, Doc? And Panther?"
"Flight was cancelled," said Black Panther. "And I'm not a fan of water."
"I was bored so when Tony asked me to come I said sure," said Doctor Strange.
Wolverine huffed. "I was invited yesterday and decided to come anyone. Why? You don't like me here, Bub?"
"Wolverine!" Gasped Callum. "My hero!" She ran to her mom. "Mommy do you have a piece of paper and a pen?"
Laura looked at the others. Sighing Scott took off to retrieve the stuff and gave it to the girl. Callum handed it to Wolverine. "Can I have your autograph?"
"Sure." Wolverine signed it.
"Someday I want to be just like you!"
Logan laughed. "Well you're gonna have to work hard for it, little Bub."
"I am Groot!"
"Groot's right!" Shouted Rocket. "Let's get going!"
"Wait!" Shouted Steve. "We have one more person!"
"We do?" Asked Tony.
Steve left. He came back in with an elderly woman.
"Well would you look at that," snickered Pietro. "Steve's dating people his age!"
Rhody and Sam fell over howling and Scott pounded the tree.
"James?" Whispered the woman.
"Yeah?" Asked Rhody.
"Um," Steve blushed a little. "Other James."
Bucky was confused. "There's a James in this room? Where?"
"Duh!" Cried Jane. "It's James Buchanan Barnes!"
"Oh yeah. Heh, I feel really stupid now." Bucky walked over to the woman. "Hello ma'am. How may I be of assistance today?"
The woman looked a bit hurt. "James don't you remember me? Your sister? Rebecca Barnes? Anything?"
At the sound her name Bucky was flung back in time. His memories flowed right into his head and he remembered almost everything.
It took him a moment to get over the shock. But when he did he burst into tears of happiness. He grabbed his sister and forgot all about everything else in the room.
"That's our cue!" Shouted Thor. "Let us rip apart paper of wrapping!" The Avengers dug in.
Wolverine, Panther and the Doc watched. "Christmas is a weird holiday," said Wolverine. "Weird but fun. All the mutant children love it."
"In Wakanda we never have such things like this," commented Black Panther. "It is more simple then wrapped up things in boxes."
"I get one present under the tree every year," said Doctor Strange. "Mine."
"I don't see my stuff!" Shouted Ultron.
"Ultron it's right here!" Said Vision. Ultron flew down.
"ONE PRESENT!? Not cool!" Ultron opened it. Inside was a clay model of Ultron and Vision. "Well whaddya know? Vision, you're the best bro!" Ultron smacked Vision on the back.
Scott got all kinds of things to upkeep his ant farm. But when he opened the one from Hope it turned out to be an "Ants for Dummies" book. "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Scott fell over laughing.
Callum, Lewis and Nichole got all sorts of toys, including a die cast of their favorite hero from their parents. As for Clint, he got lots of arrows, a Lord of the Rings elf bow replica, and mistletoe from Laura.
"Aw!" Clint gasped. He and Laura embraced and began kissing.
"We need this scene to look more appropriate," said Sam. He slipped the mistletoe out of Clint's hand and held it over their heads.
When they were done Laura opened her gifts. They were hand made crafts from her kids and a wedding picture from Clint. Sam leaned over to Natasha. "I hope you and Bruce are this romantic in a few years."
"Shut up," muttered Natasha. "Bruce wants Betty anyway."
Peter Quill got more music. Seriously. Everyone gave him a tape of the 80's, 90's or 2000's music. Tony included new headphones and a new cassette player in his gift. "Yeah!" Shouted Peter. He threw one of the tapes in the cassette player and it started out with 'I'm a Man.'
"Why?!" Cried Rocket. "Why do you punish us!?"
Rocket and Groot went next. They received flower pots and a garbage bin. "Very funny," muttered Rocket. He ripped open the one from Groot. It was pile of random scrap pieces from Tony's basement. And a power drill. "Wow. How did you get your roots on this?"
"I am Groot."
"Hahah! Tony, Groot says you need to clean your basement!"
Tony went next. All electronics. Even from the Guardians. "Well I should have seen this coming."
"My turn!" Pepper ripped open the first present from Rhody. "AAAAAIIIIEEEEE!" It was the headless doll from their youth. Rhody screeched and rolled on the floor. "Damn you Rhody!"
Most of Pepper's stuff were pieces of jewelry. However when she opened Jane's it was baby stuff. A little stick note was stuck on it and it said "Use With Your Tony."
"I find that insulting," said Tony. "Now open mine!" Pepper did. She nearly fainted.
"What is it?" Asked Gamora who just received a sword from an Earthling Samurai. Drax had just gotten knives like Bucky's and the tags had read 'To Gamora (Drax) from everybody.'
Pepper began crying. "The feels are hitting!" Shouted Peter Parker.
"Wut?" Asked Black Panther.
"Oh my god!" Pepper hugged Tony. Doctor Strange created a television and a magnifying glass to show everyone the present. It was an engagement ring. Everyone clapped.
Wolverine sniffed the air. "I smell a wedding coming up."
They let Pepper cry a little longer. "MY TURUN!" Boomed Thor. He got replica Mjölnir's and the keys to Loki's prison from Frigga.
Hope unwrapped hers. Like Scott it was all Wasp related things, including a Wasp comic written by the guy Stan Lee. "Saweet!" When she opened Scott's it was Yellowjacket in a unbreakable bottle. "Awwww! He's so cute when he's small!"
"Shut up," growled Yellowjacket.
Most of the Avengers got something related to their powers. Rhody got packets of bullets to put in the War Machine suit, Bucky got his knives, rifle, and guns back, Betty got a Hulk figure, Wanda got flowers (from Vision) and the Harry Potter books, Steve got WWII related things except from Bucky who gave him a figure of the Human Touch and Rhody who gave him the DVD of 'Black Christmas.'
"Um haha?" Steve said. He wasn't sure what to say about that. "Bucky, why did you give me the Human Touch figure?"
"Deadpool told me to."
Vision tore apart his presents next. They were all stress dolls except for the one from Ultron. That one was the 'Romance for Dummies' book. "Thank you very much, Ult," Vision said sarcastically. "And what's with all the dolls?"
"Your anger outbursts," explain Pietro.
Sam was given a strange present with something live in it. "This better not be one of those monsters that jump out and eat you!" He shouted before opening the box. It was a bird. "Redwing!" Sam cried. "Wow! Can I hook my vision-" Redwing stared staging into his eyes. "Ow ow ow ow ow!" Sam covered his eyes. When he opened them he was seeing from Redwing's point of view. "Cool!"
Natasha got a membership to a multi language speaking class from Clint. "Hahaha very funny." Clint gave her the Derp face.
Peter Parker got coupons. Half were for buying groceries, the other half were for one day Avenger memberships. Bruce and Jennifer got Hulk and She-Hulk action figures. Jennifer also got a message in Braille from Matt.
Betty got books about science. "To catch up with Bruce," explained Jane, who had received an entire book about how Asgard portals work.
Wolverine, Panther and the Doc ended up getting something from Tony. Wolverine received a knife sharpener (ahem, sorry, claw sharpener), Black Panther got a plane ticket back home on the 26th and Doctor Strange ended up with an Infinity Stone. "I thought you would do better at keeping an eye on it instead of us," said Tony.
"Yay! I'm in charge of something really important to the Avengers!" Howled the Doc.
Quicksilver got a nanosecond timer. "Let's sing the new 12 days of Christmas song!" He said. "And a one, and a two, and a one two three!"
On the twelfth day of Christmas the Avengers gave to me
Twelve villains webbed up
Eleven Star-Lords dancing
Ten people 'Rescue'd
Nine speed built 'Rockets'
Eight Panther slashes
Seven She-Hulk smashes
Six claws on Logan
I AM GROOT!
Four Gamora sword cuts
Three Wasp stings
Two knives for Drax
And a Doctor Strange who's movie's up next!
"Yay!" Said everyone. They all whooped and hollered. No one saw Bucky slip outside except Natasha. She decided to follow him.
Bucky headed down to town. Natasha kept a good distance behind him and was surprised when he went into the S.H.I.E.L.D orphanage.
Bucky walked up to the woman at the counter. "Hello, sir. What may I do for you?" She asked.
"I was looking for Arura and Acala. I believe they appeared in here a few weeks ago."
The woman gave a sad smile. "I'm so sorry, dear, but they were sent away to be taught to become junior S.H.I.E.L.D agents. However I can sent them a message if you'd like."
"No thank you. But thanks for your help." He left unhappily.
He crashed into Natasha and they both went down. "Natasha!" Bucky cried and pulled Natasha to her feet. "I am so sorry!"
"Who was Arura and Acala?"
"Some young girls I met. They were running from A.I.M." He summarized the whole story.
Natasha grinned. "Well that's a wonderful thing to do!"
"Thanks." Bucky began slowly walking down the sidewalk. Natasha followed right next to him.
"You glad you have your sister back?" Asked Natasha.
"Yeah," Bucky answered slowly. "She's great. Let's head back to the tower. We don't want to miss out on anything too important."
Natasha nodded. She and Bucky walked in complete silence for a bit. Finally Natasha said "Are you glad you are part of the Avengers now?"
"Couldn't ask for anything better, Natasha," Bucky said quietly.
Black Widow gave a gentle laugh. "Merry Christmas, Bucky Barnes."
"Merry Christmas, Natasha Romanova."
Merry Christmas! Hope you have/had a good one this year!
If I missed anyone and forgot to give them presents in this story review and let me knw.
Can't believe this story is finally over! I had so much fun writing it but I think I need to take a break from the late nighters. Maybe next year I can do a collab with someone... ;)
Funny story: So last night I brought my iPod to write the final chapter. Turns out I completely forgot that I wrote it on the night of the 23rd. But instead of going to sleep immediately I started a Star Wars: The Force Awakens story. I think I'm insane.
Did anyone catch the end reference? I love that one.
Review and let me know how I did!
Suddenly everyone freezes. Deadpool jumps out of your screen and shouts "Merry Christmas Everybody! Now read the credits for an end scene!" Then he slams the book on your face.
Steve went into the basement with Rebecca. They dug through some of the old boxes. "Hey, why does Tony have a violin down here?" He said when he pushed some boxes aside.
Rebecca grinned. "I used to play the violin/fiddle! I wonder if I still have it." Steve handed it to her. She tested the instrument and the bow and then tuned it. Then she began to play 'Ida Red.' Steve was overjoyed.
When she finished he begged her to let him try holding it. "Sure!" She helped him set the fiddle on his shoulder. Then she adjusted the bow in his hand. When she was happy with the way he was holding it she backed away. Steve raised the bow, set it on the fiddle strings, and played his first note.
Listen to Ida Red performed by hotclubofcowtown.