"Hill." Natasha said when Maria Hill picked up on the other end of the phone.
"Romanoff." She greeted her with the same flat inflection Nat had given.
"How's Helen?"
"Fine. How's Steve?"
"Fine." That was all the catching up the woman required. Not because they were not friends, Nat would even consider her a good friend, but one of the things she liked about Maria was she did not feel the need to delve into her personal life very much and she returned the favor. The women more had a relationship based around sparring, ragging on the guys and drinking red wine on the occasion, which suited both of them just fine. Besides the redhead had a reason for reaching out to the commander, "I'm actually calling for a bit of business."
"And here I thought you just missed me." The woman said drolly, and Natasha realized they had not seen each other outside of a work setting since Stark's New Years Eve party that was nearly four months ago. The Black Widow felt a little bad about it, but she had been so wrapped up in Wanda that somethings had fallen to the wayside. Not that she harbored any resentment toward the little witch, toward her new daughter, for the reprioritization of her schedule and would rather be spending time with Wanda more than anything else. And really she was not the only culprit with a full itinerary with the former SHIELD assistant director acting as liaison between Stark Industries running out of California and the Avengers Compound in New York, training new recruits, probably still running secret ops for Fury, and dating Helen Cho, she was a busy woman. Somewhat guiltily Natasha realized she should get back more into helping train the new agents like Steve and Sharon had started to do, though no one had faulted her for focusing her attention on the Sokovian teenager now fully under her care and fully in possession of her heart.
Nat clicked her tongue, "You're not getting sentimental on me, are you Hill?"
"What can I help you with, Nat?" Maria scoffed.
"I wanted to see about finalizing Wanda's guardianship paperwork." It had been a few weeks since they had finally talked and confessed that neither Wanda nor Natasha wanted the girl to go live on the Barton farm. It had been blissful relief for the both of them however as time pressed on the older woman found herself eager to make it more official. "Wanda will actually be staying with me permanently. I don't know if you had started the adoption process for Clint, so I-"
"Oh, had it changed? Last I spoke Clint, he said you were taking her on full time, so I've done everything up in your name." Maria asked perplexed. The question gave her pause. When she had called and told Clint and Laura that she wanted Wanda to stay with her, they had been absolutely supportive, and strangely joyful. She had a feeling they would be. Wanda had been the one who worried about how the Barton's would respond. Despite her fear, the little witch bravely sat with Nat to be a part of the phone call and in the end seemed glad she had when a smile lit up her face at their exuberant congratulations for them. But during the call, they had not discussed the logistics and Clint had not said he had talked with Maria.
"When did you speak with him?" She asked to clarify.
"Right after the New Year."
"Right after the New Year." Natasha muttered to herself sardonically. Of course, Clint and probably more so Laura would have known before her. While the Black Widow was playfully annoyed at them, she was also very grateful for their faith in her.
"Nat?" Maria prompted her.
"Yes. No, nothing has changed. We're just ready to sign on the dotted line now." Natasha recovered.
"I have the paperwork ready now. I can email it over for you to look over before I bring the official documents to be signed." The woman offered.
"Thank would be great."
"I'm not at my desk but I'll send it over by this evening." The only way she could tell the commander was on the move was from the differing background noises as she effortlessly strode through whatever hallway she was in.
Natasha changed the topic, "You should come over this week. I've got a bottle of red for Friday if you're available. Or bring Helen over and you two can have dinner with us."
"Helen will be in Seoul on Friday, so we'd have to raincheck on that. I'm available though." Maria confirmed. "I have a pinot noir that I can bring. I have a late meeting, so I'd be over around 7:30?"
"Perfect." She agreed to the plan, "I'll let you go now."
"I'll send that paperwork over when I can. Talk to you later."
"Bye." Natasha said though her friend had already ended the call. A smile crept back onto her face as she thought about finally making Wanda officially her daughter.
/
Natasha did not have the chance to look at the email Maria sent until it was nearly time for bed. Sitting on her bed, she slouched in front of her open laptop to read over the documents attached while rubbing lotion onto her arms. Maria was meticulous in her work, so as she expected she was not finding any errors or issues in the pages.
"Mama?" Wanda appeared in her open doorway with a book tucked under her arm. "Can you read to me a little?"
"Hey, milaya, of course." The redhead waved her in as she noticed it was already 9:42 when usually the latest Wanda would go to bed was 9:30, "Sorry, I didn't realize what time it was."
The little witch tiredly stumbled in, asking curiously, "What are you working on?"
"Oh. I'm looking over your adoption paperwork." Wanda froze halfway to the bed, her head tilting even more curiously. Suddenly the Black Widow realized in her enthusiasm she had not really spoken to Wanda about what the next step would be, or if the girl even wanted to be completely adopted by Natasha or maybe have her as a permanent guardian opposed to her current status as temporary.
"My adoption?" The girl did not sound upset as she inquired about it, not obviously pleased either more intrigued at the new notion.
"Yes, now that you're staying with me I thought, well.." Natasha struggled for a moment to express what she wanted and also make sure Wanda was all right with it. Finally she laid it out plainly, "Well, I want to adopt you, to officially be your mother. Not that we need a piece of paper for that to be true, but it- it would just mean a lot to me to have this. Is that something you would want? You don't have to decide now. We can-"
"Yes, I want that." Wanda said quickly, adamantly before she could assert that they did not need make any decisions now, or perhaps look at other options. The Sokovian continued a little more softly, "I want you to adopt me."
A smile bloomed across Nat's face and a matching one came across her daughter's face as the reality settled in for her. The spy asked, "Do you want to see?"
She indicated to her open computer and the teenager nodded, moving the rest of the way to the bed. Wanda sat in front of Natasha, leaning back into her as Nat rested her chin on Wanda's shoulder and reached around her to scroll through the document. Finally she landed on the page she would have to sign, "After I confirm everything is correct, Maria will bring over the final documents for me to sign then file it with the state. Then it's official, you're stuck with me."
She gave the girl a playful squeeze. Wanda pointed to her name on the screen though and questioned, "Natalia Alianovna Romanova?"
"Mhm, that's my birth name. I started going by Natasha Romanoff to protect my private identity, and now you're a part of it."
After another moment of looking at the page, Wanda commented, "I don't have a middle name."
"You don't." She nodded knowing this, the line with the girl's name on it had a blank space in the middle where it would be if she had one. "..Do you want a middle name? We can give you one now if you'd like."
"Okay." Wanda said after a pause then squirmed a bit against her. "Like what?"
Thinking aloud, Nat made her suggestions she might like, "How about Scarlet? Like your magic."
The teenager considered it but shook her head no. Natasha thought of the heroine detective that Wanda liked to read about, "How about Nancy? It's very American."
"No." Unsurprisingly, she wrinkled her nose with a disgruntled grin; the older woman knew that had been a long shot.
"Hmm," The woman hummed thoughtfully. "Do you have a family name you might like?"
Wanda stared forward as her mind turned for a moment, then her thumb gravitating to her mouth for her to chew as she suddenly became nervous about something. Gently guiding the girl's hand from her teeth, Tasha told her lightly, "Don't bite yourself, baby. What is it? You can tell me."
"I, I could have yours." Her daughter said quiet but clear.
"Alianovna?" Surprise evident in her voice.
"No, Natalia." Wanda turned her head to partially hide her face in her mother's neck. "I have names from my first family, to remember them. Maybe now I could have one from my new family."
Tears welled in Natasha's eyes as the girl spoke, and her throat tightened with emotion, "That's- I think that's- Oh sweetheart."
"Mama? Why are you crying?" The little witch withdrew a little to look with worry and confusion at Natasha who now had tears falling from her eyes.
Natasha sniffed and wiped the moisture from her cheeks as she gathered herself and gave a bright smile, "I'm just very happy, baby. I would love for you to have my name."
Her heart warmed in her chest at the thought that Wanda wanted to have a part of her name from Natasha, their lives entwining together a little bit more. She wrapped her arms snugly around Wanda while the girl rested back in the crook of Natasha's neck as they found comfort in each other. Finally Natasha dropped a few kisses against her temple and shifted them more upright. Moving her hands from around her daughter to the keyboard, the spy clicked into the document to edit it. With her fingers tapping over the keys she added in the name, "Alright.. Wanda Natalia Maximoff. How does that look?"
"Good, it's very good." Wanda affirmed.
Quickly saving it, Natasha made note of the change in the email and sent it over to Maria for her to make the adjustment. The Black Widow set her computer aside on the nightstand then, "All done. Now, do you have our book? We can read in here tonight."
Reading in Natasha's bedroom always meant Wanda would sleepover with her and the girl smiled broadly at this like she had been hoping for it, "Yes."
She produced the book they were reading from where she still had it stuck under her arm. The teenager would read multiple books at a time usually, but one she always reserved for her to only read with Natasha. Right now they were going through The Call of the Wild. The pair got settled underneath the blankets with Wanda tucked under Nat's arm, the woman holding the book open in front of them. She cleared her throat, "Where were we? Oh yes, here- Awoooo.."
Wanda laughed when Tasha howled like a wolf and said complained good naturedly at her mother's absurd behavior, "Mama, please."
"What? It's the call of the wild." She reasoned though immediately conceded to reading the actual text, "Alright, alright, let's see… And over this great demesne Buck ruled. Here he was born, and here he had lived the four years of his life."
The Russian steadily read from the book and Wanda's weight gradually shifted with the oncoming heaviness of sleep. When her daughter was on the brink of unconsciousness, Natasha set the book with her laptop. As she rested farther into the pillows Wanda nuzzled against her, murmuring her last thought before sleep took hold, "G'night, Mama. Love you."
"I love you too, malyshka. Sleep well." Natasha said softly into Wanda's hair, sleep rapidly taking over her as well as FRIDAY automatically turned down the lights for them.
/
"Then he asked if I came here often." Maria told her incredulously.
Natasha laughed harder at some poor guy's attempt to flirt with the commander, "The recruit asked if you came to the gym where you run the training from often? Did he know who you were?"
"He should have known if he didn't. I've done drills with his squad on several occasions." The woman shook her head in disbelief and had a sip of her wine. It was Friday and the two women were sitting at the kitchen table in the residence drinking wine while Maria told her a story of a young agent who thought it would be a good idea to hit on his superior.
"Well, he is either very dumb or very brave." Nat said, still chuckling a little at their expense. "What did you do after he asked you that?"
"I just stared at him until he went away." The redhead could imagine her friend's icy eyes glaring at the hopeful, yet obtrusive man until he realized his mistake and fled with his tail tucked between his legs, "Then when Helen came down to meet me for lunch that really clarified the situation for him."
"I should think so." Natasha swirled the wine in the bottom of her glass before finishing it. She reached for the bottle that sat between them on the table and poured herself another glass before topping off Maria's as she asked after the woman's girlfriend since she had come up in conversation, "What is Helen doing in Seoul?"
Commander Hill sighed a little, "Checking in on her lab there and then a lecture at the university. She'll be back here in a few days, hopefully before I have to leave for Malibu again. I'm meeting with Tony and Pepper on some R&D projects."
"Sounds like long distance is a bitch."
"Ugh," Maria effused as much as her fastidious demeanor would allow, "Long distance doesn't begin to cover it. I'm in Malibu, then New York, and she might be in New York, or she could be in Seoul or Paris last week for a conference, then we both miraculous end up in Prague for a few days."
"That's complicated." Natasha raised her eyebrows.
"It is.. But it also works. I understand her job is important and she understands that my job is important, and we make it work." A small, thought-filled smile ghosted over her lips as she apparently reflected on her relationship with the brilliant doctor.
"I'm glad." Nat smiled with her. "You seem happy."
"I am." Maria confirmed. "Besides it won't be like this forever. Steve and Sharon have already helped with taking a lot of the recruit training off of my plate."
The guilty chord struck again in the Black Widow's chest, remembering some of the training that Maria had been involved in should have fallen on her shoulders. "I should be able to start training the new agents again. Sorry, I've been a little MIA these past few months."
Maria waved her hand dismissively, "You do plenty. And we all understand why you've taken a backseat with operations things. You're adopting a kid, Nat. That's huge.. I didn't say before but congratulations."
"Thank you." She grinned, down into her wine glass almost shyly. "It was unexpected to say the least. I can scarcely believe it still.. But Wanda, she's my kid and I'm her mom, Bozhe, pomogi yey."
"You seem happy." Her friend repeated the words that Natasha said to her barely a minute ago.
Looking up once again, the Nat announced softly, "I really am."
"I'm glad. Though honestly we could definitely use your help with training." Maria leaned forward as if confessing a secret. "Steve is great with the basics and very encouraging, but he lacks that certain flare you've got."
"He doesn't put the fear of god in them?" The superspy guessed.
"Exactly." The commander rested back in her chair then with her arm resting on the back of it, her wine glass dangling precariously from her fingertips as she accused Natasha, "This whole flirting incident wouldn't have happened if you'd been training him."
Natasha rolled her eyes but smiled, "My sincerest apologies. Send me his information and I'll give him extra special attention."
"Oh I am sending you his name, rank and ID number right now." Hill declared, sounding a bit excited as she reached for her phone in her back pocket.
"Hey Nat." Sharon suddenly entered the kitchen and went to open the refrigerator. The redhead nearly stood at the sight of her. The blonde agent had been hanging out with Wanda that night. Sam and Steve had unexpectedly left midweek when a lead on the Winter Soldier surfaced in Hungary and Vision had gone along in case they needed the muscle, so it was just the women in the residence currently.
Wanda had been uncertain when Natasha told her about her plans with Maria, not upset that her mother had made plans that did not include her rather a little wary of the change in routine. So Natasha was glad when Sharon offered to watch movies with her that evening; while Wanda did not need someone to constantly look after her, she was just glad that the girl would have some company. Her daughter had been timid when Maria first arrived, in a way that perhaps other teenagers were with their parent's friends- polite but unsure of what to say to this relative stranger and keen to leave them to their devices. Seeing Sharon without Wanda made her worry, but she maintained her cool, "Hey Sharon, what's up?"
"Wanda is going to bed, that's all." Sharon said calmly, like she could sense Nat had been tense, as she pulled out a bottle of beer from the fridge. Relieved, the Black Widow still stood to go.
"I'm going to say goodnight. I'll be right back." She quickly grabbed a glass and filled it with water from the tap then headed in the direction of the bedrooms. When she reached Wanda's door, it was slightly ajar as she rapped on it with her knuckle before nudging it open. Natasha found Wanda already in bed, though sitting up and staring at her phone before her eyes shifted to meet her mother's gaze, "Looking at your phone before bed is bad for your sleep cycle."
"Sorry." Wanda said as she set the phone into her lap.
Natasha walked in with a serene smile letting her know it was alright, that she was concerned and not angry, "That's okay, baby. What were you looking at anyways?"
It had actually been more surprising that the girl had been looking at her phone since she was still getting used to having access to such technology and generally had a book in her lap instead. The little witch explained, "Sharon showed me how to change my phone picture."
"Oh yeah? Can I see?" Nat asked as she sat next to her daughter on the edge of the bed and set the glass of water on her nightstand. The teenager nodded and tapped the home button for the screen to light up. Instead of whatever stock photo her lock screen had been, the image was now one of her and Natasha. The picture was of them on the beach in Malibu. The wind had been cooler that day whipping their hair up around their faces as they wore sweaters that nearly obscured their shorts while they walked along the shore at dusk. Steve requested a photo and they stopped with Natasha behind the girl and her arms wrapped around her. Wanda looked happily trapped there, and perhaps a little bewildered at having her picture taken so suddenly as she looked up at Natasha who grinned toward Steve's phone. Replicating the smile in the photo, the older woman said, "I like it."
"Me too." Wanda slumped forward against her mother and Nat caught her in a hug, running her hand up and down the girl's back.
"We can print out some picture too, from our trip or from whenever, to put around your room." Nat suggested to her, and she could feel Wanda nod against her. The girl's room had come along farther in décor in the last few weeks since she decided to start making it her own. She had two posters hanging on the soft gray wall, one of a teeming coral reef from their visit to the aquarium and one a movie poster for Singing in the Rain that Sharon gave her for Christmas. The plain white comforter that had been provided with the room had been replaced with a dark purple on with flowers on it that Natasha helped Wanda pick out online along with a couple other decorations for the room- a sepia-toned globe, fairy lights for around her headboard, a funnily squat blue lamp for her beside, a record player Steve hauled in from somewhere so she could borrow some of his records that he still liked to listen to. Books and magazines now nearly filled her shelves and Natasha realized they may have to get a second bookcase in here soon.
A quiet question from Wanda pulled her out of her thoughts, "Is Ms. Hill gone?"
"No, Maria is still here." Tasha kissed the side of her head as she pulled the girl back from her a bit, "I just came to say goodnight. See if you needed anything."
"I'm okay." She said while dropping her head back against Natasha's shoulder.
"Alright.. Are you going to stay up and read a bit or lay straight down?" Nat asked looking at the books on her bedside table, The Call of the Wild sitting on top of a copy of Fried Green Tomatoes in Cyrillic.
Wanda moved to relax back against the pillows seemingly very tired, "Straight down."
"Have some water, hm?" Natasha handed her the glass and took her phone to place it on its charging pad. The Sokovian drank some of the water before setting it back on the nightstand and shuffling her body down further under the covers. Helping to pull the covers up around her daughter's shoulders, Natasha leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead. "Goodnight sweetheart."
"Goodnight Mama." Wanda reached for her stuffed shark next to her to snuggle with as she fell asleep. Natasha did not get up immediately however as she stroked Wanda's hair and watched over her adoringly as the girl's eyelashes fluttered down, getting heavier and heavier. The woman struggled to leave her cozy daughter; the pair were definitely going a sort of honeymoon phase since it had been revealed that Wanda would not be leaving Nat. While the pressure of the self-imposed time constraint had been lifted, Natasha still found that she wanted to spend most of her time with Wanda and she knew the feeling was mutual as Wanda trailed after her whenever allowed. Of course, she was glad to spend time with her friend and knew it was important to establish boundaries, but that did not tamper her instinct to keep the girl close to her. The Widow swiped her finger softly down her forehead over the bridge of her nose a few times, making the little witch's eyes naturally slip shut for a final time.
"I love you, malyshka."
"I love you too." Wanda hummed, the words fluttering in the older woman's chest. Finally Nat stood and turned to leave the girl to slip off into sleep, the lights lowering with her departure. When she returned to the kitchen, Sharon and Maria were talking about the commander's upcoming trip to Malibu. As she entered though, Sharon turned to her from where she leaned against the island.
"How's the kid? She asked me if I'd heard from Sam and the guys." The blonde filled her in. "I don't know if she asked you too."
Natasha shook her head and went to look at the wine-rack on the counter for another bottle since their first was nearly empty, "Not since yesterday after we talked to Steve. She was pretty tired when I went in, she's probably already asleep now."
Wanda worried after the guys but fortunately them leaving for the mission had not been as traumatic as when Natasha had gone for a few days on one. If the superspy had thought it was difficult to leave then, she could scarcely imagine it now.
"Did Steve say if they were close to finding him?" Maria inquired as Natasha selected a bottle and took a wine key to the cork.
"Sounds like the trail had gone too cold. He wanted to hang around a bit longer, see if anything came up but I think they'll be back by Monday at the latest." She sighed, remembering how distant Steve sounded on the phone but also how he tried to stay upbeat when talking with Wanda.
"Sam thinks it was a false lead to begin with." Sharon added dismally, though they knew it was not an opinion he had shared with Steve to spare his feelings.
Nat took her seat back next to Maria with the newly opened bottle, "I wouldn't be surprised. Join us for a glass Sharon?"
"I'll stick with these." Sharon held up her green beer bottle, "But I'll join you."
"Great," Maria reached to refill her glass that had somehow already emptied in the time the redhead had been gone. "Nat accused me of being sentimental the other day and now I need ammo against her."
Sharon laughed, "That is a rich accusation coming from her. I've got photo evidence of how sentimental she is."
"Photo evidence of what exactly?" Nat asked from behind her wine glass.
"I think I have a picture of you napping with Wanda on the couch the other day. Hang on." Sharon started to scroll through her picture gallery. "It's, in a word, precious."
The blonde promised Maria who leaned forward with a smirk and Natasha simply scoffed, not really having the ability to refute Sharon's claim. The photo the agent showed was indeed precious- Wanda sleeping with her head on Nat's chest while the older woman claimed to only be resting her eyes, the little witch's favorite blanket that had once been Nat's favorite wrap was draped over them and despite it not being big enough to cover them completely the pair looked utterly comfortable together.
/
Today was the day to sign the adoption papers.
Steve, Sam and Vision had returned to the Compound on Monday like Natasha had predicted without coming any closer to tracking down the White Wolf. Steve had been noticeable subdued at their disappointment, but he seemed better after Wanda asked if he would play catch with her. The weather had been nice enough for them to throw the baseball outside on the lawn, the springtime sun was warm though not warm enough to fight off the breeze that required a jacket, at least for Wanda. Natasha watched them lob the ball back and forth for a while from a chair on the patio where she sat with some work files and a thermos of hot tea. After they were done, Captain America had back his grin as he walked with the teenager to the residence, playfully rubbing the top of Wanda's head so her NY Yankees baseball cap fell a bit more over her eyes. Natasha gave them each a kiss on their cold, wind-chapped cheeks and told them to clean up for dinner, which they did dutifully.
With the guys back, Natasha called up Maria once again and asked if she could bring over the final adoption forms before she left later that week for California. She had the documents ready before then, but Nat wanted to wait to make sure the team could be there too for the momentous occasion; another tally for the Black Widow becoming sentimental.
What Natasha had not been prepared for was Tony and Pepper appearing in the kitchen with Maria when she arrived for their 3pm appointment. The redhead walked up to greet the couple, "Hey, what are you guys doing here?"
She hugged Pepper and gave Tony a quick peck on the cheek as the man explained, "We heard from Maria that we're getting an official junior member and we didn't want to miss it."
"Also, we thought Maria might want to spend so time with Dr. Cho. I know they have both been traveling so Tony and I thought we would just fly out here and have our meetings." Pepper explained further. "And we're of course so happy for you both. We wanted to be here to support you if that's okay."
"What do you think milaya? Room for two more?" Nat went back to where Wanda was standing and cupped her daughter's cheek to quietly ask her opinion. She watched carefully as the Sokovian nodded yes, like Natasha had figured she would to be polite, but she watched to make sure it was the truth. She smiled when she saw Wanda genuinely appeared to welcome the additions and told them, "We'd be happy to have you."
The rest of the team came forward to say hello, exchanging handshakes and hugs with a bit of excitement. Wanda got a little swept up in it as well for a moment, moving from Nat, to Steve, to Sharon, then to Sam before she ended up off to the side with Vision holding his large red hand until Natasha could free herself from the fray and pull the girl against her side. The little witch looked overwhelmed with her green eyes shifting around the room at everyone, her magic discreetly unspooling up Natasha's sweatshirt sleeve to hook around her elbow, feeling as if it were tugging down ever so slightly. Tasha reassuringly kissed her temple and told her gently underneath the clamor of the others, "They're all just happy, baby."
"I know." Wanda smiled faintly, her gaze still darting about though.
Nat then sought out Maria, catching the woman's eye, "You got some papers for me to sign?"
"I do." The dark-haired woman set her briefcase on the kitchen table and opened it to pull out a manila folder. Natasha took a seat at the table with Wanda standing at her side and the gang quietening as they gathered around as well to watch. Flipping open the folder and placing it in front of Nat, Maria continued, "I have something for Wanda to sign as well."
The page at the top of the pile of papers read 'Consent of Minor to Adoption' and had been filled out with filled out with the teenager's information. Natasha scanned the brief document, asking Wanda, "Do you need me to read it for you?"
"No, I understand." The girl claimed and accepted the pen from Maria. She paused, obviously still reading it herself though the paragraph was short, almost absurdly so for the gravity of the matter. Wanda then carefully wrote her name on the line with the 'X' next to it, slowly looping the letters together to create her signature that had the slightly stagnant look of when kids were still developing their handwriting. When she finished, she turned to Natasha with a small smile that the older woman returned with a beaming smile.
Maria reached over and flipped the paper away, "Now your part Nat. I've already had a judge sign, so once you've signed I'll get it to the proper channels but it's as good as done."
Generally this would be done in a family court, however their connections and money allowed them to bypass many of the procedures. The Black Widow looked down at the page, glancing over everything but knowing it was already accurate from having gone over it before. Though it was not the first time she had seen it, warmth spread in her chest and her vision blurred a little with unshed tears as she took in the words.
Minor to be Adopted: Wanda Natalia Maximoff
Date of Birth: September 28th, 2000
Place of Birth: Novi Grad, Sokovia
Petitioner: Natalia Alianovna Romanova
Age: 33
Marital Status: Single
Relationship to the Adopted Minor: Mother
"Mama?" Wanda broke the spell she was under while she lingered on the word mother. Her daughter had her lip tucked into her mouth as she tried to give her the pen she had just used. Natasha did not take it though, instead giving into the instinct to grab the girl by the waist, pulling her to sit across her lap and hugging her tightly. Wanda ducked her head to rest it on Nat's shoulder until finally the spy kissed her forehead and exhaled, "Alright, you ready?"
"Yes." The girl said with no hesitation and an excited, contained smile.
"Me too." Nat remembered the stab of doubt when she first signed guardianship paperwork months ago, when this had been a temporary solution. She remembered feeling so inadequate, like how could the cold, heartless Black Widow take care of a hurt, frightened kid. But now, there was no doubt, only blissful thrumming happiness and unfamiliar confidence and an overflow of love that had steadily been seeping in.
Grinning, Natasha took the pen and reached around Wanda to put it to the paper. With a few quick, sure strokes she signed her name, and it was official. Natasha had a child. The act itself was rather anticlimactic but that did not stop the enthusiasm as the team whooped and applauded, their smiles stretched wide across their faces. Steve came forward first and wrapped them both in a hug with his large arms, dropping a kiss to her lips as he moved back, "I'm happy for you guys. So happy."
His blue eyes twinkled at them then the rest of the team came forward with more hugs and celebration that they stood to greet. After the commotion died down again Tony clapped his hands, rubbing them together briskly, "We should go out and celebrate. We can get dinner someplace in the city. Wherever you guys want to go- Le Bernardin, Jean-Georges, Coco J'Adore. My treat, well, everything is my treat but it's ceremonial, you know."
Nat ignored the lavish French restaurant suggestions Stark had given and thought of the small diner they could drive to less than ten minutes away. She looked to check in with Wanda who had wound up back at her side, "We can go to Moe's Place. Get burgers and ice cream?"
"Yes, sounds good." The teenager agreed readily, having been taken there a couple times before.
"A gal after my own heart. Hamburgers it is." Tony said hamburger with poor French inflection. "Everybody coming? Vision, Sam, Hill?"
While everyone else nodded and confirmed, Maria dithered, "Helen should be here by now. We're actually going to-"
"Oh Helen should come too." Pepper interrupted. "It'll be great."
When the commander remained unconvinced, Nat added, "Come on, Maria. Be sentimental with us."
"I'll ask if she wants to go." The dark-haired woman conceded somewhat grumpily. If Maria had hoped Helen would decline in favor of her original plans, she would be disappointed as the doctor seemed pleased to be invited along with them. So the lot of them drove out to the diner with its classic black and white tiled floor and red leather booths, taking up two of them and having to put chairs on the end of the tables to accommodate them all. They ate greasy cheeseburgers and salty french fries and sundaes with gobs of hot, fudgy chocolate, peanuts and whipped cream topped with cherries. They laughed and shared stories and even Maria could not stay cross for long as wonderful as the company was. She even ended having a lengthy conversation with Wanda once the girl's shyness faded a bit toward her and they realized they both shared an interest in marine biology. It was one of those evening where at the end of it your cheeks hurt from smiling and you went to bed feelings as though you were floating on air.
That was how Natasha felt as she tucked Wanda in for the night, light and perfect. The little witch seemed to feel the same with a little smile at the corner of her mouth even as she drifted off to sleep in front of her, "Stay, Mama."
Her daughter drowsily murmured the words and Natasha was helpless but to comply with the simple request. She curled in around Wanda and the floating feeling sank into a pleasant heaviness as the girl settled against her chest. Nuzzling into her soft hair, the mother replied, "Always, malyshka."
/
This felt like a belated ending that ended up rattling around in my head but I wasn't sure about updating the first part of this series after marking it complete. This will continue as more one-shot style stories. If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them!
Love hearing what you think! Thanks for reading!