Natasha smiled while looking down at the sleeping child, whose head was resting on her lap as she continued to run her fingers through her daughter's hair.

Vera had had a little bit of trouble falling asleep. At first the child had asked her for the cuffs and, much to her own disagreement, she had contemplated the idea. But she could not do it. It did not sit well with her to cuff her child to the headboard of the bed.

However, after hearing the child cry, Melina had done her best to convince her to let the young girl use the cuffs, at least until the kid was asleep. And she had complied, a few seconds later the nine year old was asleep on the bed.

Natasha had uncuffed her daughter's right wrist slowly, gently caressing the red mark, before pressing a kiss on it as if it would make everything better. But still, it had not made disappear how guilty she felt about it.

It had taken her years to stop cuffing herself at night. She would still do it after a bad day, when she felt like she was about to lose control. So she knew that it was going to take time for that little girl to stop asking for them to fall asleep.

The Black Widow sighed. Motherhood was not like she thought it was. Especially not with a child that had gone through so much trauma, that at her only nine years old was one of the best assassins the Red Room program had ever created.

"Shh, it's okay, sweet girl" she whispered when the kid cried in her sleep, her green eyes meeting hers before looking around. "You're safe, it was just a dream" she told her, trying to stop the child from sitting up.

The nine year old pushed herself away, starting to breathe agitated as she continued to stare around. Tears were already streaming down her cheeks while her hands were scratching furiously on her face.

"Vera, stop" Natasha tried to grab the kid's arms before the little girl would be able to scratch her arms as well. "You're hurting yourself, baby. Please, stop" she felt desperate to embrace her child, but each time she tried, her daughter would only get more upset.

"No! Don't touch me! Please, don't-" the child sobbed, her whole body shaking.

"I won't touch you, but you have to stop" she remained away from the little one.

However, her daughter was not listening to her. The kid's mind was still focus on the nightmare or memory from the Red Room that was causing the panic attack.

She did not want to, but when the nine year old kid went from scratching to pulling from her own hair, she did not have any other choice than to grab the child from the back of her neck. The kid stopped moving immediately, her gaze down as her breathing evened out.

"I'm going to release you. No more hurting yourself, understood?" she chose her words carefully to give the order, not wanting to scare the child ever more than she already was.

Vera's eyes were full of fear the moment she let go of the grip. Her heart ached at the sight of her own child being so scared.

"I'm sorry" the nine year old sniffled, slowly calming down.

"Can I touch you?" she asked, waiting until the kid would be comfortable enough for her to touch her.

The girl just stared at her for a few seconds before nodding, so she wrapped her arms around the little one, pulling her as close as possible. Vera hid her face in the crook of her neck just as the kid had been doing whenever she needed reassurance that everything was okay.

Once she felt that her daughter was calm, Natasha cupped the little girl's face in her hands to take a look at the angry red marks. There was dry blood covering some of the scratches.

"We should clean them, sweet girl" she told her.

"No" Vera shook her head, snuggling closer to her.

"You don't want to?" she gently tucked the girl's red hair behind her left ear.

"No"

"Okay"

Honestly, Natasha did not want to move either. They would have time in the morning to clean up the wounds, until then she was more than happy to stay there and cuddle her daughter for as long as the child would let her.

"What do you think about sleeping?" she questioned her after observing how the kid was fighting to keep her eyes open, but Vera shook her head. "You're safe here, baby" she kissed the top of the child's head.

"He's in the dreams" the kid murmured.

She could feel her heart breaking at the words. She felt helpless. There was nothing she could do to protect that little girl from those nightmares, from those horrible memories. And she hated it.

"I know. But he can't hurt you anymore" she tried to reassure the kid, who just snuggled closer to her. "And I'm always going to be here with you. I'm not leaving you, sweet girl" she whispered to her daughter.

The little girl frowned slightly. There was something that was still bothering her, something that she did not seem to dare ask.

"Tasha?" the kid pulled away a little.

"Yes, baby?" she stared back at her.

"What if you're caught?" Vera questioned her.

She stared into her daughter's green eyes, hiding her own fear at the question. She had escaped Ross once, but she was not sure what would happen a second time. It scared her to think what would happen to her little one if she was caught at some point. Natasha feared that they would take her daughter away from her and that all the promises she had made to the young girl would be broken.

"I- I don't know" she sighed, her daughter looking even more scared. "Let's not worry about that, okay? I'm not going to get caught" she smiled reassuringly to the child.

"You're never leaving me?" the girl asked her.

"Never, my sweet baby." She wrapped her arms around the kid, cradling her daughter close to her. "I'm never going to leave you" she promised before pressing a gentle kiss onto her baby's forehead.

-/-

Natasha could hear the whispering that was happening behind the couch she was sitting on in the living room. Yelena seemed to be shushing the little girl while explaining whatever those two were planning on doing to her.

However, despite knowing her sister's mischief, there was a smile on her face. Vera was getting more comfortable around everyone, even Alexei, but the young girl was really fond of Yelena.

"I don't know what you two are up to, but I would suggest you stop before you wake up the Tickle Monster" she warned them, her gaze still focused on the book she was reading.

It was only a few seconds later that she noticed someone standing behind her, meeting her daughter's concerned look at the statement she had just made.

"The Tickle Monster?" the nine year old questioned her in fear.

"That's not fair! You knew it would scare her!" her younger sister complained while getting out of her hiding spot.

"It's a monster that will tickle you mercilessly, kiddo" she poked the kid's sides while explaining, getting Vera to giggle.

Once the child seemed to be reassured that there was nothing to be scared of, both aunt and niece left the living room, probably planning their next move.

The next time she did not have time to react before a water balloon hit her head, turning only to find Yelena laughing as Vera was trying really hard not to, but a smile was definitely on her face.

Natasha jumped from the couch towards the girls, her sister already knowing how she was going to react was the first one to move away. Her daughter tried to, but she was not fast enough to catch the nine year old in her arms.

"You've awakened the Tickle Monster, baby" she told the child, who squirmed to get rid of the hold.

The little girl burst into laughter as she started the attack, barely being able to keep the child standing, so the both of them ended up on the floor. She had discovered recently that the little one was really ticklish, especially under her chin and behind her knees.

She loved to hear her kid laugh that way, to see the smile that was on her little face while trying to push her hands away. But she slowed down when the child was gasping for air.

"You okay?" she worriedly asked the kid, bringing Vera to sit on her lap. "Breathe, sweet girl" she rubbed circles on her daughter's back to help her relax.

The Black Widow saw her sister's movement, covering her daughter as a new water balloon hit her, the water spreading through the floor.

At that moment she helped her kid to stand before doing the same and started running after Yelena.

"Try not to break anything, little one" she told her after watching how the widow hit herself against the bookshelf.

"I'm way too talented than that" her sister replied quite offended by her comment, turning to look at her.

At that moment, she tackled her to the floor, but keeping Yelena in place was way harder than Vera. However, as soon as she started to tickle her, the girl stopped fighting only to try to cover herself from the attack.

When another balloon hit Yelena that time, both sisters turned to look at the young girl that was standing in the living room, staring at both of them with amusement. They only needed to share a look to know what the other was thinking, but making sure that the little girl would not notice it.

Alexei entered the living room when they were about to tackle the kid down, who got herself behind her dedushka, just seeking protection.

"Uh-uh, you're not getting to my grandchild" Alexei covered the kid.

As Yelena complained she could not avoid smiling. Even if Natasha would have liked to see that protectiveness from Alexei when she and Yelena were kids, she really appreciated the way the man was trying to protect her daughter, even if it was from a tickle attack. At least she had the reassurance that her baby would be safe if she was not around.

"What have you done here?!" Melina exclaimed while observing the water that was on the floor and the rest of the balloons, the little girl looking down in fear of being scolded. "You two, clean this mess" the woman pointed at the sisters, wrapping her left arm around the kid's shoulders, trying to reassure her that she was not in trouble, at least not that time.

"But Vera made this mess too!" Yelena folded her arms over her chest angrily in a childish way.

"You two are the older ones that should know playing with water inside the house is not allowed" the woman answered to the youngest of her daughters.

"But-"

"Do you want some mac and cheese for dinner, sweetie?" Melina asked the nine year old, who nodded slightly, so they left to the kitchen.

"She throws a balloon, doesn't clean the mess and gets mac and cheese. It's not fair" the younger sibling pouted.

"Well, I used to clean up after you when we were kids just because you were younger" she told her.

"So you're doing it now as well?" her sister stared at her with puppy eyes.

"Um, no" she shook her head. "You're not the baby of the family anymore" she patted Yelena's shoulder.

The pout on her sister's face grew. But after being told that there would not be mac and cheese for her if she did not help cleaning, the widow hesitantly did as told.

Hi!

I'm so sorry it took me so long.

I love Vera and Yelena teaming up and this is just the beginning, because Vera isn't still too confident.

Thanks so much for reading, let me know what you think,

Ayrin