Piper and Snippy: Um, there's a note at the bottom if you want to read it. Also, do you guys want me to post a series of out-takes/brainstorm ideas for this story? Might help me brainstorm more. IDK. Let me know?
Gabe called Hannah early the next morning.
"Do you have something against letting people sleep?" she grumbled into the phone. She gently unwound Milo's hand from where he was clutching her hair tightly, wincing as she accidentally pulled a few strands out.
"Peggy wants to sneak you out of here for a little while."
Hannah's eyebrow rose. "Oh, really?"
"Really. Something about grabbing a hot cup of coffee."
"I thought pregnant women weren't supposed to have coffee."
"Hence why she wants to sneak you out. A small cup of decaf won't hurt you, Hannah. Frenchie asked Adalene."
Hannah smiled in quiet suspicion. So Frenchie, Gabe, and Peggy were in on something. "Alright. Do I need to take Milo with me? And is it safe for me to go?"
"I'll keep your baby boy safe and sound, kiddo. And you know everybody else will, too. As for safety concerns, you're with Peggy. She'd kick Thor's butt to Asgard and back if he crossed her."
Hannah smiled. "I would love to see that. But I shouldn't wish that on someone I haven't met yet, huh?"
Gabe laughed quietly. "Perhaps not. Peggy said to be ready in five."
"I'll meet her outside the RV in ten."
If Hannah hadn't already guessed that something was up, she would have surely figured it out by the way no one woke up to ask her what she was doing sneaking out.
Rolling her eyes, she poked Steve in the ribs. He jumped and opened his eyes sheepishly.
"I don't know what you guys are up to, but your fake sleeping skills need work. I hope you never have to fake unconsciousness on a mission, 'cause y'all suck at it. Remy, Truman, Tony, I'm talking to you idiots, too. Do everyone a favor and invest in acting lessons."
"Like you're any more talented," Remy grunted.
Truman snorted. "She was a theater nerd for years, LeBeau. Of course she'd be more talented."
LeBeau gave Hannah a look of interest, making a note to ask more about her theater experience later.
Hannah grinned as Tony rolled over and glared at her.
"What are you still doing here?" he grumbled. "You're supposed to be with Pegs by now."
Logan opened an eye and glared at the others before rolling over and grumbling to himself.
Hannah laughed quietly. "See, him, HIM I believe."
"Because unlike these idiots I want to sleep," Logan grumbled back.
"So." Hannah stirred her peppermint tea with a spoon. She wore a floppy sun hat and a pair of block frame glasses Peggy had handed her when she got in the car. "What do you want me to call you?"
She was sitting across from Peggy in a small coffee shop, the sunlight just beginning to stream into the front windows of the shop.
"Well," Peggy said lightly, setting her coffee cup down for a moment, "that is entirely up to you, I suppose. I haven't exactly been present enough to deserve some titles, but that's up to your discretion."
"Mmmm hmmm." Hannah sipped her tea. "What did I call you before...before? Was I able to call you anything?"
Peggy smiled, her eyes bright with a beloved memory. "Yes, you had a rather extensive vocabulary for a one-year old. You called me Nan, though your grandfather tried to get you to call me Liberty as an inside joke from his Commando days. You called me Lib a few times because you knew it made him laugh."
Hannah smiled back at her grandmother. "Lib has a nice ring to it."
Peggy pointed a warning finger at her. "Oh, no, don't you dare."
Hannah only grinned back mischievously. "I would never, Nan."
Peggy sighed. "Oh, but you would. Just not in front of my husband please."
They sat at the shop for another hour, chatting about this and that before Hannah quietly asked Peggy to take her back to the car so they could go for a drive and chat in the car.
Peggy quietly made sure Hannah was safely in the car before she got in herself. She turned the air on full blast, noting how both their cheeks were already flushed with the heat. She put the car in reverse and began to drive around town. The windows were tinted, so there was little worry as to whether someone would spot them and create a craze that Hannah was in town.
Hannah rubbed her belly with a distant look on her face before she sighed and looked at Peggy. "Thank you, Nan. For trying your best to give me a good life. I would have done the same for my children, if I knew it meant they were safe."
Peggy's hands tightened slightly around the wheel, knuckles whitening. She relaxed her grip when the wheel creaked slightly. "Yes, well." She cleared her throat. "All the wishing in the world will not change what happened in the past. I am sorry, dear, of how it happened. But it has kept you safe all these years, until now. And I cannot regret that. I can only regret how it happened."
"I can't ask you to regret it," Hannah responded softly. "Just…don't disappear again now, okay?"
Peggy smiled, adjusting her sunglasses on her nose. She turned her blinker on to turn down the road that would begin to take them back to Gabe's. "Of course not, dear. We were just reunited, after all."
When Hannah walked into the backyard, she blinked. "Pepper? Mom? Dad?"
All three–Pepper, Benjamin, and Donna–beamed at her. Her mom and dad hugged her tightly, oohing and ah-ing over her baby bump.
"What's going on?" she asked, pulling back for a moment to give Pepper a hug, too.
"Welcome to the Baby-Que!" Danielle shouted, coming out on the porch and shutting the screen door with her hip. "The baby shower for a trio of babies coming to the lives near you!"
Hannah grinned at her. "Oh yeah?"
Danielle smirked. "Mmm-hmm. It was Pepper's idea. I only had a small part in it. They surprised me, too. I only knew your parents and Pepper were coming for a visit."
Milo ran up and gave his mother a big hug, grinning. "Mama, Pepper said we can bring Heidi home with us!"
Hannah smiled, ruffling his hair. "That's great, kiddo." She glanced around at everyone there in the backyard. Natasha was missing, but the spy ducked in and out on normal days, so she wasn't too worried about the absence. Her eyebrows did rise though when she noticed Tony and Dugan sitting in the corner of the yard, backs against the fence, cackling together with a large box in the grass between them.
Donna and Benjamin gave her a sheepish grin. "We brought your baby pictures. Actually, all of the pictures."
Hannah cringed. "Not the prom photos?"
"And the bath pictures, and the homecoming pictures, and the—"
Donna didn't finish her sentence. Hannah was already walking quickly over to where Tony and Dugan sat. Tony and Dugan refused to give up the photos, too entranced and amused by the tiny Hannah in the photos.
After another few days at Gabe's, and a few tearful goodbye between Hannah, her parents, her grandparents, and Truman, who now had to go back to medical school, the New York group headed back to Stark Tower. Tony was oddly giddy, which Hannah waved off as Tony being…well, Tony.
When she opened the door to her apartment, though, her breath caught in her throat and tears welled in her eyes. She turned to Tony, who was carrying a bag for her, and pulled him into a tight hug. He put the bag down gently and hugged her back, patting her carefully.
"You didn't have to do that," she sniffled.
"I didn't really–Uh, Natasha oversaw the movers. I just arranged it. Really, Pepper did. I–"
Well, that explained Natasha's absence at Gabe's.
Hannah rolled her eyes, gave him a quick kiss on his forehead, and walked into her apartment, looking around the living room at the items brought from her home in Wilmington. It was rearranged similarly to how it had been originally. Much to her joy, they had thought to bring the maternity clothes from her attic as well. And much to Milo's joy, some very recognizable toys had appeared in his room.
Later, when Hannah came up to the communal floor for a team dinner, Tony pulled her aside.
"Hey, kid, I want to show you something."
He pulled her towards the sitting room, then held his hands over her eyes when they entered the doorway, steering her carefully towards the far left corner of the room.
"Here, sit." He guided her gently onto a smooth oak bench, and then pulled his hands from her eyes. "It was my mom's. It's been kept in the old Stark Mansion all these years. Collecting dust. I had the tuner come by, adjust some things."
Hannah found smooth, black and ivory keys in front of her. Again, she found herself at a loss for words, her throat scratchy with emotion.
Tony hesitated, then sat beside her on the bench, hands shaking a little as he lifted his hands to the keys. He played softly, and Hannah recognized the opening notes of Clair de Lune. Tony halted playing the melody suddenly, and his shoulders shook softly.
Hannah picked up the melody where he left, sweet notes drawn from the grand piano. When the composition drew to a close, Tony's eyes were still watering.
"I–I found out my mother was assassinated. Strangled, the coroners said. Had I known–"
Hannah hesitated, then laid her head gently on his shoulder. "Had you known you would have died, too, Tony."
He pulled in a ragged breath. "I know. But–we don't even know who–"
Hannah frowned at him. "They didn't tell you?"
"Who?"
Hannah removed her hand from his, turning to stare at him in disbelief. "The Winter Soldier."
"Who?"
"That's all I know of him. He has a metal arm and wears a muzzle-like mask. That's all I can remember." Her left hand rubbed the rough patch of skin in the crook of her elbow, the puncture scars. "I don't remember much."
Tony paled. "You remember him?"
In the dining area, Natasha listened with interest as Hannah mentioned the Soviet ghost. And then she withdrew when she heard the description. Another piece of the puzzle–one only Natasha was now aware of–clicked into place.
"Tasha, what's wrong?"
Natasha glanced at Clint, lifting her fingers from where they were thoughtfully rubbing the wide, pink scar at her left hip. "Do you remember Odessa?"
Clint frowned. "You mean when you almost bled out for that defecting nuclear scientist?"
"Yes."
"Then yeah."
Natasha tossed a parcel to him, wrapped in brown paper and rubber bands. "That was in Hannah's house. All spies have hidey-holes. Agent Lawson was no different."
Clint unwrapped the paper.
In his lap lay a red book, with a dark star.
Piper and Snippy:
Okay, well dang. We're back at the Tower and about to pick up some speed after the BBQ chapters-I love the idea of the Legacies, but I'm sorry I spent so much time there. Whoopsie. Sorry if this was a little short, but good grief I had to get out of this phase of the story. Posting now, reviewing later because I always find stuff after posting it even though I look over it 100 times.
Second off, I owe all of my readers an apology. I haven't posted anything for about 2 years now, and I'm so sorry. I disappeared without warning and without explanation, and I'm slowly trying to pick up the pieces that have been scattered the past year and more. There have been many ups and downs lately, but I've got some rainbows above the clouds, too. I'm graduating with my bachelor's soon, and I'm about to start teaching full-time. Perks of dual enrollment I guess. I found the love of my life during the pandemic and we're getting married this year. Life is crazy, and it isn't slowing down anytime soon. But I love the life I lead. And I'm sorry for abandoning this story for a while, but more important things had to take the wheel for a while. My writing style may have changed, since I started this story when I was sixteen and I'm about to exit my teenage years with an English degree (aka I've written 50+ papers like a crazy person). I began "Hit and Miss" as a way to help me work through my anxiety and depression, and when I look back in time I wish I could tell the younger me that her heartbreak wouldn't last forever, that there were brighter days ahead, and that she would grow to love herself again. And to all the young readers (and older ones, too!) on this website, I will tell you the same: Keep living, darlings. There are so many worthwhile things you will miss out on if you give up now. Pull through. Find the ones who make you smile even through your tears, who aren't afraid to tell it like it is but who tell you in love and not mean spiritedness. Don't worry too much about "finding yourself", but live everyday without that worry and you'll end up finding yourself just the same. Thank you for supporting me as I wrote this story. I hope one day I finish it, and that perhaps this story helped you in some way just as it has helped me. Best wishes,
Piper and Snippy