She was in a complete lost for words. Looking at the small girl that had been placed beside her desk, Maria quickly spins around in her chair to see her former SO walk away from her.
"Wait! What am I supposed to do with a…"
She starts to call after Melinda, but she soon realises it's no use. The older agent had stopped listening and it was clear that she only had one thing on her mind in that moment, haunting down Fury for what ever reason he had this time. Looking back towards the girl, Maria could take a wild guess that it had something to do with this one.
With a heavy sigh, Maria accepted her fait for now, hopping she might be able to drop of the girl on the meeting Fury wanted to have with her so she herself could be doing something more exiting then watching a small kid. If she wanted to be a babysitter, she could just call her family for that.
Taking a closer look at the girl, Maria could tell she didn't want to be there, her eyes were locked on the hallway Melinda had walked down. Worry and fear was shining strong in her eyes and Maria started to wounder why on earth someone that small would have such strong emotions in her already. With a deep breath, she turns her chair so she can talk to the young girl, Mary she thinks Melinda had called her properly.
"Mary?"
Hearing her name, the young girl jumps in the chair, large eyes turning towards Maria. Seeing how the girl moves further away from her, Maria could see the moment she's about to fall of her chair and she quickly grabs hold of her. The moment Maria holds the young girl, she could feel how stiff she grows, the fear growing even stronger and she could see the young girl is about to start crying, that or screaming, in this moment Maria wasn't sure how she would react. Quickly putting her back on the chair, she let's go and shows her hand.
"It's alright, just making sure you wouldn't fall over and hurt yourself. Melinda would kill me if you got hurt on my watch."
Maria explains, hopping that if she mentions Melinda, the girl will calm down enough not to start to scream or cry. And Maria had been right, hearing the name of the woman she had come with, Mary calms down slightly. She was still worried, and she made sure to keep a close eye on Maria and she got a feeling once more that something was very wrong, there was to much darkness already in such a young girl.
Looking around herself, she had to try and find something for the girl to do, or at least something to get her mind of what had just happened. Realising that there is only one place in the whole building that would be considered fun for a young girl would be the cafeteria. Looking towards the clock on her computer screen, Maria decides that taking Mary down there now would be a good time, not too many agents would be around, and she knew exactly where some of the best food where being hidden away.
"Mary, how about we go down to the cafeteria? I know there is some cookies and ice cream being hidden away that we can eat."
Maria asks, at the mention of cookies and ice cream, Maria could finally see the spark a girl her age should have in her eyes. And knowing Melinda, Maria is quite sure that cookies and ice cream isn't something that is being eaten a lot within the four walls. Smiling, Maria stands up, thinking for a few seconds, she holds her hand to let Mary decide if she should take it or not.
"It's up to you, but it will be easier to keep track on me as we are walking down the corridor."
Maria tells her and she can see how Mary is trying to figure out what she wants to do, if she trusts the woman in front of her or not. For a few seconds Maria is sure she wouldn't take her hand, but feeling the small hand in hers, she gives the girl a smile and helps her down from the chair. Leading the girl down one of the many corridors, she can see how the girl keeps looking at every person that they pass, when more and more agents start to show up, Mary steps closer to Maria.
Looking at the agents herself, she could see many of them looking at her and especially Mary out of surprise. Sending them warnings, she sees how the agents looks away and speeds past them. Finally reaching the cafeteria, Maria is happy to see it empty.
"Alright, you can pick a table and I'll take out the good stuff."
Maria tells her, letting to of Mary's hand. Seeing how the girl moves towards one of the tables in the middle of the room, Maria started to wounder if Melinda have given the girl some training on her free time. Deciding to think about that, and perhaps ask about it for later, Maria digs out the good stuff and brings it over to the table. Seeing how Mary's eyes grow large at the sight of everything, Maria starts to laugh lightly as she sits down.
"Digg in!"
She tells the young girl as she herself takes hold of a cookie. It was far to early to be eating this type of food, but hey, this was all on Melinda for dropping of the kid for her to watch. For the first time, Mary was finally starting to act as a child her age, happily eating some of the ice cream. Deciding that now might be the best time to take in her appearance more properly, Maria couldn't properly see anything wrong, sure the girl was a bit skinny and small, but she had a feeling there was a good explanation to this.
She was also trying to figure out how on earth her old SO had ended up with a kid to begin with. Sure, she knew Melinda had always wanted a child of her own, but Melinda also loves her work and it's hard to build a life and family when you can't guarantee that you will be alive the next day. Then again, Melinda had not been seen in the HQ for a month and there had been zero reports of her being out in the field either. She had completely gone missing since the day Maria had to tell her Fury wanted to talk to her, during a time she had been doing paperwork, a time Fury knows very well is a bad time to interrupt her.
Looking at Mary once more, Maria starts to understand as to why she had not seen her former SO and friend. Mary had become her mission somehow and once Melinda gets back, she had a lot of explaining to do. For now, Maria leans back in her chair, enjoying her cookie and the silence. A silence that sadly didn't last long.
"And what do you think you are doing!"
Clint Barton, out of all field agents that could walk into this room in this moment, it had to be the archer. The agent who most of the cookies and candies belong too. Well, she has a kid on her side so he couldn't do much about it anyway. Looking towards Mary, Maria grows worried, however. The girl had frozen in her spot, complete fear shinning in her eyes once more.
Turning her attention towards the door opening, Maria sees that Clint isn't the only one standing there. She should have known that Natasha was with him, he never went any where without having Natasha beside him. Narrowing her eyes towards them, Maria could only hope that they would understand the warning to keep quiet.
"I had saved them for a very special occasion Maria!"
He didn't, but Maria could see how Natasha's eyes lands on Mary and she quickly elbows her partner. Hearing how Clint let's out a hiss of pain, he turns towards Natasha and is about to complain over the pain, only to see how the red head is pointing towards Mary. Turning her head slightly to the side to look at Mary, Maria could see how the girl is trying to make herself as small as possible.
"Hey, who's the pipsqueak?"
Clint asks and she could hear how the two of them starts to walk over. Holding up her hand as a warning, Maria moves away from her chair so she could get a better look at Mary.
"Mary."
She kept her voice low and calm, hopping it would help the young girl to calm down. Seeing how Mary opens her eyes to look at Maria, she gives her a warm smile.
"It's alright, Clint isn't mad at you. If he's going to be mad at anyone, he can put that anger on me. Now, they won't hurt you, and even if they tried, I will take them out and then Melinda will make sure they would never do it again. But they are good friends to Melinda, and they wouldn't think about hurting you."
Maria starts to explain, lifting her eyes away from Mary to look at Natasha and Clint. Seeing how the two of them lifts an eyebrow at the mention of Melinda, they look at one another and Maria could see one of their famous silent talk.
"Oh, don't worry pipsqueak! I would call this a special occasion, and since the ice cream is out, let's eat all of it! We could do a large Sunday, and I know exactly where some of the best sprinkles are!"
And there was the man child, Clint is a grown man, but he still managed to show more of a child side than the actual child in the room. Seeing how Clint is running around in the room, pulling out what is needed for his crazy idea, Natasha slowly walks over to the table. Seeing how Mary is still frozen in place, Maria starts to wounder that maybe she should take Mary back with her to her desk.
"If you think Clint is to much, just call him bird brain and he will stop."
Maria and Mary look up at this. Natasha had leaned towards them, without either of them even realising it, her voice low as she spoke to Mary. With a small head nod for Mary, Natasha smile and sits up properly once more, her eyes following her partner for a few seconds.
"So, you live with Mel?"
Natasha asks, turning her attention back to Mary once more. Maria could see confusion in the girl's eyes, and she smiles.
"Mel is Melinda's nickname, only very few people would get away calling her that however."
Maria explains, seeing how the confusion died down slightly in Mary's eyes, the girl turns her attention towards Natasha once more and she nods her head as an answer.
"I bet that is very boring!"
Clint comments, finally reaching the table, holding onto far too much stuff that he just drops on the table. Without waiting, he starts to collect everything on the table to make the large ice cream.
Mary shakes her head however, determination in her eyes.
"Oh, she's not around pipsqueak, you can be honest with us!"
Clint says, waving one of his hands in the progress. Mary however narrows her eyes and before either Maria or Natasha had a chance to react, Mary had grabbed hold of a cookie and throw it at Clint. Dead silence followed as horror was the only emotion going through Mary's face and Maria started to get worried that something bad is about to happen.
Clint looks at the young girl in front of him, blinked a few times before he starts to laugh, hard. Doubling over, he covered his stomach.
"You have some very good aim there kiddo! And way to stay loyal to Mel, you are good one for sure!"
He managed to say, the horror slowly dying down in Mary. Seeing how Natasha holds up her hand for her, Mary looks at it in confusion, head slightly tilted to the side.
"I think Natasha is trying to give you a high five for your good work."
Maria tells Mary and seeing how Natasha nods her head as an answer, Mary carefully gives her a high five. Seeing that it wasn't something bad, the girl stars to smile.
"Alright! The masterpiece is done!"
Clint suddenly calls out and Maria turns to look at the large mountain of sugar, well, Melinda is defiantly going to kill her for getting the kid a large amount of sugar. At least she could blame it all on Clint. Seeing how Mary's eyes grows large at the sight in front of her, she looks at Clint and he nods his head, edging her on to start eating. They let Mary take the first few scoops before they decide it was best if they joined in.
Clint kept the spirit up, telling one crazy story after another. Mary had yet to say a single word to either of them, but he had at least managed to make her laugh, which Maria is hopping is good sign.
"Well, looks like I have found myself a perfect group of babysitters… even if I do not approve of the lunch decision."
They all froze up this time around, four heads carefully turning towards the door opening to see Melinda standing there, arms crossed. At least the agent didn't look all to angry and Maria was quite sure it was mostly due to having Mary in the room.
"MELS, don't be such a party popper and come join us! It was all pipsqueak idea!"
Clint calls out, pointing towards Mary who quickly turns her head to look at him, eyes slightly narrowed.
"Oh, shut up bird brain!"
The room fell into silence once more, all eyes on Mary. Clint puts a hand over his heart, faking a hurt gasp, Natasha starts to laugh, and it didn't take long for Maria to join in. From the corner of her eye, Maria could see how Melinda walks up to Mary, putting one hand on her shoulder, being careful as she does.
"Oh, don't worry Xiǎo xīngxīng, I know this is all Clint's idea."
Melinda tells the girl, her voice proud in that moment.