A/N: Okay, so I finally, somewhat, figured out an update schedule. I'm going to try and upload more frequently now ;)


Chapter Three:

Green eyes fluttered open as the sun's rays entered through the large window of Alya's bedroom. Natasha would have to remember to put up Alya's curtains for her for when she wanted to use them to block the light out.

Her eyebrows furrowed when she saw that her hand was resting against Bucky's shoulder while his arm was around her waist.

And her heart jumped.

Having to quickly school her features, the Russian convinced herself that it was only because they had fallen asleep with Alya that this happened.

It was nothing personal. No big deal at all.

Sliding carefully out of the bed, she let the two sleep and headed for the kitchen to get herself a bowl of cereal to eat.

"You're up late." Wanda commented, she was already sitting at the island, chomping down on her own bowl of cereal.

"I was exhausted, how long have you been out of bed?" Natasha grabbed herself a bowl and poured some milk into it.

"I came out here a little bit before you did." She shrugged. "I can get out of your way."

"You're not in my way." The redhead frowned. "Where did that come from?"

"Forget it." Wanda shook her head. "It's nothing."

"Wanda." Natasha raised her eyebrow, making the younger girl deflate.

The teen had seen her give Alya that look plenty of times, but she never thought she'd ever be on the receiving end of it. She now knew why Alya always blurted out whatever it was that Natasha wanted to hear. This look wasn't something to be ignored.

"It's just that you're Alya's mother and Bucky's her father…..I don't know where I fit."

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" The older woman asked. She had no idea that Wanda had been feeling like that and she wished she had known about it before today.

"I don't know." Wanda shrugged. "I didn't want to ruin anything. I like it here."

"You can talk to me about anything, Wanda." She assured her. "Nothing you tell me is going to ruin anything. You fit perfectly. I love having you here and Alya adores you. You're family, you know that."

Wanda blew out a long breath. It was nice to hear that Natasha's feelings hadn't changed so soon after Bucky moved in with them. She thought that there was a chance that they'd want to figure out their family dynamic without her getting involved, but both Natasha and Bucky had told her that she was family.

"Eat up before it gets cold." Natasha winked.

She was definitely going to make a better effort to make sure that Wanda knew that she belonged, because she did. The family wouldn't be the same without her.


"Get out of the way!"

Alya didn't even flinch as she was shoved into the lockers of the school hallway. The movement had been quite rough for a person of her stature to handle, but she's had much, much worse. This didn't faze her.

The only thing it did was fuel her ever growing anger.

It was weird.

She had never been an angry person. She always tried to keep her emotions in check. Sometimes, it didn't work that way, she was human, but it seemed like now more than ever, she was angry.

Everything was so different. It was like the rug had been ripped out from under her all over again.

Schools were opened as soon as possible after everyone was brought back. The teachers and principals claimed it was because they didn't want anyone to fall behind. But it felt like utter chaos.

Alya was still going to the same school as before, but the only good that came from it, was the fact that she was still only about a block away from Peter.

But that wasn't going to make today any better.

"Idiot." Serena, the same school bully who had bothered her some time ago, gave her another shove, this time catching the attention of other students in the hall.

This was the worst part about going back to school. Serena was snapped, too, and she was ready to continue tormenting her.

But unlike last time, Alya didn't make a move to retaliate. She just let her be.

It was like she was tired of fighting, or really, just tired. Everything was so overwhelming and it was taking a lot of time to get used to. And truthfully, she didn't want to get in trouble the way she had the last time she fought back.

She couldn't get in trouble now. Would the principal suspend her again? Or would she be expelled? Would her mother be angry?

How would her dad react?

They were still learning about each other as time went on and she didn't want to rock the boat so soon.

"What's the matter?" Serena smirked, feeling a sense of pride wash over her. "Got nothing to say this time?"

"Leave me alone. I just want to get to class."

"Well, it looks like you won't get to your class." She reached to grab for Alya's hair, pulling a pair of scissors out of her pocket. "Looks like the half-breed needs a hair cut."

The other students in the hall looked shocked, but none of them did anything. They just stared. It was like they were afraid to jump in and help because they didn't want to become the next victim.

Alya's hair was always pulled back into a single dutch braid, which made it easier to cut. She wasn't going to fight, but she wasn't going to make it easy on the girl either.

Serena kicked her legs out from under her and her lackeys, seemingly came out of nowhere, and helped hold her down.

Alya squirmed under their weight, feeling as if she couldn't breathe, as she tried to get away. She could hear them laughing at her struggle, but they didn't let up.

Once she was sure Alya couldn't get away, Serena took her braid in one hand and prepared to cut it.

Alya had never gotten her hair cut, she had only ever gotten sporadic trims. She never had any desire to do so. Her hair was the only thing the Red Room didn't control. By now, it reached her seat and was always kept out of the way so that no one could use it against her in a fight.

It seemed like Serena had found a way around that.

"Stop moving!" The blonde cut away, only stopping when she felt like the job was done.

Alya felt her lackeys get off of her, relieving her of their weight and she watched a good chunk of hair drop to the floor, making her eyes burn.

Something as superficial as that really ruined her day.

"I thought you said you weren't gonna do it." One of the girls that held Alya down, gasped in horror, ripping Serena off of her. "We could get in trouble for this!"

"She's not gonna say anything, and even if she does, who's gonna believe her?" Serena laughed, poking her with her shoe before she walked away. "We'll just cut it all off next time."

Alya could feel everyone's stares boring into her. She felt like she was on display or something.

And she couldn't take much more of it.

So she grabbed her fallen tresses, stood up, and ran.


Alya really wasn't in her right frame of mind.

How could she be? Her hair had just been cut without her permission while several bullies held her down just to do it.

Tears blurred her vision and her fist clenched against the loose locks as she walked through the streets of Manhattan. She dodged the strange looks she received from various people and kept moving. They were probably wondering what she was doing out of school at this hour, but she didn't really care.

It wasn't any of their business.

She couldn't believe that she had been so weak. She hadn't felt this defenseless in so long and she couldn't stand it.

She should've fought back.

She should've done more.

Why had she just let them do that to her?


After a couple hours of walking, Alya finally decided to go home. There was really nowhere else she could go and nothing else she could do.

She really wasn't in any condition to continue walking around by herself.

But she didn't expect to see both her parents sitting on the couch just waiting for her to get off the elevator.

Their arms were crossed and they didn't look too happy.

It was like something straight out of a sitcom.

"We just got a call from your principal." Natasha spoke first. "He told us that you left right before classes started. Now, I know that a lot has been happening over the past few weeks, but this is unacceptable."

Alya didn't say anything. She just looked down at her shoes and kept her hands stuffed in her pockets, waiting to hear the lecture that she was almost certain she'd receive.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Her father asked as he and Natasha stood up. "Why did you leave school?"

"She cut my hair." She didn't plan on telling anyone a thing, but her mouth did the work for her.

"What?"

Alya sniffled, trying to hold back a sob as she pulled one of her hands out of her pocket to reveal the hair that had been cut.

Natasha gasped and rushed over, with Bucky following not too far behind. She turned the child around to see the unprofessional job that had been done and grit her teeth.

What was going on in that school?

"Who did this to you?" Bucky asked, his nostrils flaring involuntarily. "How did this happen?"

"S-She cut it off."

Natasha went to work in unbraiding the rest of Alya's hair. Whoever chopped it off, did a poor job. It now sat right above her lower back, but it would need a trim to look presentable again.

What kind of rotten kid would do something like this? That was a good inch that was missing, maybe even two. This couldn't have been one of those stupid pranks that these kids nowadays thought were funny.

This was pure bullying.

"Who did it, sweetheart?"

"Serena."

That brat, again? Every time her name was mentioned, there was nothing good to say.

"They held me down and she cut it off."

As soon as Alya said that, Bucky's eyes darkened and his face grew very, very grim. Someone had actually dared to put their hands on his daughter and held her against her will for a laugh?

"And where were the adults?"

"I don't know." The twelve year old shrugged, her face gave away how defeated she felt. "In their classrooms. Everybody was trying to get to class…..they all watched."

"What grade is this girl in?" Natasha was just as angry as Bucky, she was just better at hiding it.

If he kept this up, he was going to have to go downstairs and hit the gym to release all that energy.

"Eighth."

"I'm taking you to school tomorrow." He ultimately decided.

"No!" Alya showed more emotion in that moment than she had since she walked in. "She said she was gonna cut it all off! I'm fine!"

"Alya, nothing is going to happen to you. We don't send you to school to get hurt, we send you there to learn. I'm not discussing this with you. Tomorrow morning, you and I are going down to that school and we're gonna solve this issue."

Natasha certainly liked that plan better than her own. This one wouldn't end with the police being called.

The fact that several people had managed to be involved in the physical bullying of her child, made her blood boil through her veins.

"Why didn't you fight back?" She asked.

"I don't know…" Alya frowned. "I didn't wanna get in trouble."

"The next time someone uses physical force to try to hurt you, you'd better defend yourself." Bucky bent slightly to look her in the eyes, letting her know that he was serious. "You are not a punching bag. I don't care what your principal has to say about it, you fight back. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Papa." Alya nodded.

"Because if you ever come home like this again and I find out that you didn't defend yourself, I'll spank you." He pointed a finger at her. "Got that?"

He hadn't meant to sound so harsh, but this whole situation had gotten under his skin. Seeing her come home with tear tracks on her face really sent his anger through the roof.

Kids today were something else.


"Hold your head back."

Alya wrapped the towel she was holding, further around her neck as she did as she was told, leaning her head towards the sink as her father worked to wash her hair.

Bucky was very gentle in getting rid of every single knot, making sure to watch her body language to be sure it didn't hurt.

Turning the warm water on, he rinsed the last bit of conditioner out of her hair before tapping her shoulder to let her know she could sit up.

She felt a brush run over her scalp as he worked through her hair once again and closed her eyes, feeling quite relaxed.

"I didn't know you knew how to cut hair." Natasha teased, watching as he picked up a pair of shears. "Maybe now I won't have to do it myself."

"I'm here for all your barbering needs." He played along with a wink.

Had he not been cutting her hair, Alya would've looked back and forth between the two.

They were her parents, sure. But it wasn't like they were together or anything. Although, that would be totally awesome, even better if they got married, but she felt she was jumping the gun with that thought.

So she just sat still and kept it to herself.

Since she was facing the elevator, she was the first to notice the familiar blonde who stepped out of it as soon as the doors opened.

"Tetushka!" She beamed, looking as if the day's events had never even happened.

Yelena could always brighten up her day.

"I thought you said you'd be here in a week?" Natasha pretended like she didn't care, but pulled her little sister in for a hug, resting her head against her shoulder to take her in. They had a lot to talk about, but now wasn't the right time. "What, did you run out of people to annoy back home?"

"Get real." Yelena scoffed, returning the gesture before she pulled away. "James."

"Yelena." The man acknowledged her, snipping away.

"Finally decided to get a haircut, Baby?"

"Do you want to tell her, or should I?" Natasha gave Alya a look.

The little girl slumped in her seat and pouted. She didn't think Yelena needed to know at all.

She was going to fly off the handle once she heard.

"What happened?" The blonde asked. "Did she get gum stuck in there or something? What's with the face?"

Whatever it was couldn't have been that bad.

Could it?

"Some kids at school held her down and cut a chunk of hair out of her head."

"What?!"

If Alya thought that her father had taken too long to calm down, she was in for a big shock with her aunt.

She was going to have to think of a really good reason as to why Yelena shouldn't show up at her school tomorrow and take matters into her own hands.