"Hey Tony," Clint answered his cell phone, "You're on speaker with me and Nat."
"Hawkeye, Widow." He greeted them. "How's the farm life?"
"Alright, Nat milked a cow this morning." The archer joked.
"Don't tell him that, he'll believe you." The spy groused.
Clint grinned and asked, "How's Malibu?"
"How's Pepper?" Nat added, drying the last of the breakfast dishes.
"It's a balmy, sunny 64 degrees here and Pepper is great, except she has me on this green diet."
"I made salads for lunch once this week Tony. You don't need a burger every day." They could hear Pepper exasperatedly exclaim in the background. This was apparently a conversation they had before, perhaps on multiple occasions from the sound of it.
"So you admit it? There is a food agenda. A Green Initiative as it were." Stark acted as if he had caught her in an elaborate lie and he were Sherlock Holmes himself. "I saw that file on your desktop."
Pepper came closer because they could hear her say more clearly with flat amazement, "You saw a folder on my work computer from which I run a global, multi-billion dollar tech company labeled Green Initiative and assumed it held my diabolic plot to get you to eat more kale?"
"Well when you say it like that it sounds silly."
"Maybe that's because you are silly."
"I haven't heard a denial." Tony pointed out.
Pepper stated breezily. "There is no agenda. And if there was one you would have no idea what it is."
"What does that mean?" Tony asked in mild alarm. The only answer he got was the sound lips being pressed against his cheek. The agents listened as he called out to the departing woman, "Pep? So is there an agenda or not? Pepper.. I'm allergic to kale."
There was a distant, "No you're not."
Natasha smirked at Clint as she said, "You two seem good."
She always thought Tony and Pepper complimented each other well, balanced each other out. When Tony was verbose and agitated usually from something mundane like boredom, Pepper would be cool, calm and capable of meeting his wit until he ran out of steam. And when Pepper had that knee-jerk of panic at some major catastrophe, Tony would be steady and unflappable while he helped her through. It worked for them, and Natasha was glad to hear them back into their old banter.
"Yeah, yeah we're good." Tony sounded a little softer, a litter more genuine when he said this. Then he continued more upbeat, "But hey, the reason I'm calling is I was thinking about getting the gang back together."
"What did you have in mind?" Clint walked over to lean against the counter next to Nat.
"I thought we'd throw a little New Year's Eve soiree for the team and associates." Iron Man proposed. "Clint, you can bring Laura and your mini-agents, have a little vacation. Thor is coming and bringing his astrology friends. Vision flew in today for the holidays. Sam, Rhodey, Hill, I think Cho is coming in from Seoul even.. It'll be everyone. Well, almost everyone."
No one had heard from Bruce yet.
Clint did not let the moment linger as he replied, "I'll have to talk with Laura but honestly a break from this snow would be fantastic."
"That's what I'm talking about. A little sun, surf and sand." Tony said enthused, "How about you, Romanoff? You ready to break out the flipflops?"
The Black Widow considered the invitation. It would be wonderful to head out west and get together with everyone. The last time Tony had hosted a party it ended with the Iron Legion attacking them, Thor had tossing Tony around in anger, Maria picking glass from her feet. This would be a chance for them to have a redo, a new start in a new year. And like Clint had said, taking a break from the bitter cold of New York and the snapping wind of Missouri for sunny, warm California would be a welcome reprieve. A smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she thought of Wanda on the beach, astounded by palm trees and hypnotized by the gentle, frothy waves lapping at her toes. Natasha would love to be with the girl there, would love to introduce her to their family. "That sounds great, Tony. I'll have to talk to Wanda first. But if she feels up to it we'll be there."
If Wanda did not want to go, then she would not make her. Nat knew it was not the same, but the last time she had announced they would be leaving for some place it had not gone well. She wanted to make sure the Sokovian would be comfortable going, and if not, that would be that. The spy would take Wanda to the Compound early or maybe they would spend a few days in New York City.
"Ah, yes. The little witch. How's she doing?" It felt a little bit like the man had been waiting for them to bring the girl up. He did not ask after Wanda in a way that implied distrust, but Natasha tensed slightly in readying defense for the girl should the need arise and kept quiet as she allowed Clint to answer for them.
"She's doing a lot better. Nat's been taking really good care of her."
"Will she be with you permanently after the holidays, Barton?" Tony asked.
Clint shook his head, "No, Wanda is going to go do some training with Natasha at the Compound for a couple months and we're still waiting for Nate to sleep through the night."
"She's staying with you longer than expected?" Tony commented with surprise, speaking directly to Natasha.
"As long as it takes." The woman said easily, again ignoring that terrible pang when the topic of Wanda staying at the farm came up. "It's no trouble. She's- she's a sweet kid."
It did not really express how she felt about Wanda and the time they'd spent together but it was something the men could understand. Tony cleared his throat, "Well, good.. Is Rogers with you guys or should I send him a telegraph? I can see if the Pony Express is still operating."
"He's with us." Natasha rolled her eyes but smiled at his joke, "I can speak with him about it too, but he might also like to hear from you."
"Yeah, I might give him a call later.. I'll let you go for now though." Tony stated with finality.
"We will let you know in the next day or so if we're heading out there." Clint told him.
"Perfect. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to hide some kale." He replied, "Iron Man out."
"Bye Tony." Natasha laughed lightly and the phone beeped indicating he had ended the call. No sooner had they hung up, Cooper and Lila came barreling in the kitchen shouting for Clint excitedly.
Cooper managed to ask over top his little sister's voice, "Dad, Steve said he would take us sledding can we go?"
"Please, Daddy?" Lila elongated the words as she implored him. Wanda trailed in after them, having not ran into the kitchen like the other children. She looked at Natasha, the same question in her eyes as Lila and Cooper as she wandered up to the woman. Smiling and nodding, Nat put an arm around Wanda's shoulders as the girl came to stand pressed against her side.
Clint answered his exuberant kids, "Sounds like fun guys. Of course."
"Will you come with us?" Wanda asked Natasha.
"Do I want to get cold and wet and hurl myself down a hill at 19 miles an hour?" The Russian squeezed the teenager and grinned at her, "You bet."
A smile grew on Wanda's face and the Barton children cheered loudly. Clint chuckled, "Alright guys save it for the hillside. Go grab your snow gear. I'll see what I can find for you and Wanda."
The archer ushered his kids out of the room and Wanda started to follow, however Nat kept her arm securely around her keeping her from going, "Just a minute, sweetheart."
She stopped, looking up at Natasha expectantly while the woman gave her a reassuring look, "I just wanted to talk to you about something.. Clint and I just got off the phone with Tony."
"Oh." Wanda clearly had not been expecting this to be the topic of conversation.
"He is inviting everyone to his beach house for a New Year's Eve party." The woman told her.
"Are we going?" Wanda bit her thumb anxiously.
Natasha took the girl's hand and gently eased it away from her mouth, "Only if you want to go. If not, we'll go to the Compound right after Christmas and get settled in."
She watched as Wanda processed the information and ended up asking, "Will Sam and Sharon be at the party?"
"Sam will and probably Sharon but I'm not positive. We can text her and ask." Nat tried to remain neutral, not wanting to impress her own feelings if Wanda did not want to go.
"Vision?"
Nat was surprised she asked after him but confirmed, "He'll be there."
"We could go to the beach?"
"Yeah, it will be warm and sunny, so we could swim at the pool, go to the beach and swim in the ocean. Have you ever been?"
"No, I think we went to a lake once.. Will we see sharks in the ocean?"
"We won't see them. They don't usually get that close to shore and they stay away from people." Natasha quickly saw a flicker of disappoint from the teenager that they would not see an actual shark while most people would be relieved not to run into the predator. She went on with an amused smile, "But there is an aquarium nearby I'm sure we could go visit. There will be sharks there you can see."
Wanda nodded still thinking, then said in a quiet voice, "And I can stay with you?"
"Yes, malyshka. You'll stay with me. The whole time like I said." Natasha shifted them so both her arms wrapped around the girl, and she rested her head on the older woman's shoulder. It was nearly impossible to say no to Wanda. And why should she? The spy considered, when sharing a bed with her was such an easy thing that brought her comfort, brought both of them comfort if she was being honest with herself. The world had told Wanda no already so much in her short life- no parents, no home, no safety, no brother- and Natasha was determined to tell her yes whenever possible.
She could feel Wanda grip the back of her shirt as she asked, "Does Mr. Stark know that I'd be going?"
"Tony knows." They had never addressed her feelings toward Iron Man. Wanda had not seen him since Pietro's funeral and she had hardly been in a place to process how she felt about the man. Natasha gently pressed into the issue, pulling Wanda back a bit so she could look at her face, "How do you feel about him?"
"He.. He pays for everything. That is good." Wanda said slowly.
"That's true." The woman agreed, "But don't worry about that. Do you feel comfortable enough around him to go?"
"Stark was our enemy for a long time. It's hard to think of him as anything else." She admitted.
"We were enemies not that long ago." Natasha reminded her but instantly regretted it as tears rapidly welled in Wanda's eyes.
"Oh baby, I'm sorry." Natasha pulled her back against her. The girl hid her face in the side of the woman's neck, and she briefly felt hot teardrops on her skin. She had not meant for the conversation to take this turn, "I don't mean to make you feel bad.. You know when I met Clint, he had been assigned to eliminate me."
"He was?" Wanda gripped her a little tighter as if Clint could still be after her.
"Mhm," The Black Widow thread her fingers through Wanda's hair at the base of her skull and swayed their bodies a little in a soothing motion. "But when he saw me, I wasn't much older than you. And he decided to bring me in instead.. I didn't make it easy on him."
She chuckled ruefully as she thought back on it before she continued more seriously, "But eventually I went with him, then he gained my trust, and then he became my family."
Wanda came out from her hiding spot in Nat's neck and looked up at the woman, her big green eyes a little wide and glassy but she was not crying as she thought over her words. The redhead cupped her cheek, "So all I'm trying to say is things change, relationships change. You never have to feel that way about Tony if you don't want to but there are people who care about you and want you to be there. I don't want you to miss out on spending time with them."
"…Okay." The Sokovian practically whispered after a moment.
"You don't have to decide now. You can think about it." Natasha looked her over carefully.
Wanda shook her head and stated with a thoughtfulness, "I.. don't want to miss out anymore. I want to go."
"Alright." A smile glowed on her face though the spy still offered, "And if you change your mind before then you can let me know."
Wanda nodded and gave her a shy smile as the Black Widow softly, affectionately pinched her cheek, "Now I believe we're supposed to be going sledding. Let's go get ready, yeah?"
/
Most of the farmland was flat, gently rolling acres however there was one hill Cooper had named Avalanche Hill when he was five that they would go to every year for sledding. It was about a ten minute walk for them to get out there to the steep incline. Their snow-pants swished noisily across the landscape as they trekked out there, clambering and laughing as their footsteps sunk into the deep snow. Nothing had fit Steve so he layered the best he could, but Natasha wore a pair of Laura's and Wanda fit into an old pair of Cooper's though her legs were a bit long for them. It did not matter since her borrowed boots covered her ankles. The teenager struggled the most on their walk, her thin muscles straining to push through the snow in her heavy gear. However, Nat kept her smiling and moving and finally they made it.
The land dropped off suddenly into the hill that flattened out into a plain and gave way to a line of trees that were far enough away they did not have to worry about sledding into them. Natasha observed Wanda staring at the picturesque scenery, her eyes looked greener in the bright, late-morning sun. The Barton kids were already situating themselves on their sleds and Wanda drew her gaze to them and watched with a touch of wariness, especially when they went flying down the hill with shrill, happy screams. Natasha sidled up to her, "Do you want to ride down with me first?"
They only had four sleds between the five of them, two inflatable tube sleds and two long, flat plastic ones, so Nat or Steve would have had to wait anyways. Wanda nodded. Sitting of the back end of one of the longer sleds, Natasha made room for Wanda to sit between her legs, wrapping her arms around her to hold the loop of rope on the front, "Ready?"
"Yes." The girl sounded excited now.
"Hey Cap, give us a push?" Natasha looked back at the man.
He took hold of the back of the sled and started pushing them toward the incline, offering up some words of advice as the tipped over the edge, "Hang on tight."
They picked up speed down the hill, Wanda's delighted laugh getting caught up in the wind, their stomachs dipping with excitement at the rushing sensation. When the reached the bottom, Natasha pulled the rope to one side to help them stop. She yanked too hard though and they fell over, though they had slowed down enough that they more gently tipped over into the powdery snow. Wanda was still laughing as she climbed off Natasha and Steve went whizzing by them having thrown himself face first down the hill. He crashed into a snow drift, but he popped up with ease and a goofy grin on his face, brushing the snow off of himself. The woman shook her head at him with a fond smile.
"Tasha come on. Let's go again." Wanda pulled her attention and pulled her hand for them to get back to the top.
She chuckled, "Alright, milaya, alright."
They followed Cooper and Lila who were already running ahead, and Steve jogged from behind to catch up. The little group proceeded to fly down the hill and scurry back up it. Wanda had a big grin that rounded her cheeks and Natasha had one that matched. It was the first time she noticed a hint of fullness growing in the girl's face indicating much needed weight gain. Seeing it, seeing Wanda having fun, made her feel warm and light as if the little witch's magic swirling against her chest. Eventually though the teenager began to slow. While Lila and Coop would charge up the hill, Wanda lagged and tried to conceal her panting. After one ascent she collapsed to sit in the snow at the top, pulling off her hat and rubbing her forehead as she gasped for air.
"You okay, milaya?" Nat sunk down next to her unable to stop the spike of worry.
Wanda gave her a faint smile and exhaled, "Yeah."
She turned to watch Steve and Cooper take a running start before leaping on their sleds to race each other down. Lila trailed right behind to cheer them on. With the three gone for the moment, the peace and quiet quickly settled back in.
Wanda had her breathing more under control when she said, "I didn't know the sky could be this big. Or this blue."
"It is something else." Natasha agreed and adopted Wanda's position, tilting her head back to look up and only see that endless blue soaking it in. The minute seems to stretch as big as the sky until Lila came skipping up to them.
"Auntie Nat, Cooper won the race!"
"That's awesome." She said in the overly enthused way one placated a child.
Lila paused then and noticed they were just sitting on the ground, "What are you guys doing?"
"Looking at the sky." Natasha said simply.
The little girl stared up too, searching for what they might be looking at up there but did not seem to find anything that interested her. She gave them a dubious look and changed the topic, "Will you ride down the hill with me Auntie Nat?"
"Sure sweetie." She rose to her feet as Steve and Cooper returned as well.
"Do you want go with me Wanda?" The Captain asked cheerfully.
The Sokovian gazed worriedly at the drop-off for only a second, knowing she would have to walk back up it, but ultimately decided it would be worth it as she accepted with a smile, "Yeah."
Steve offered his hand and helped her stand. The man was too heavy for the flat sleds as he caused them to sink too far into the snow, so he sat in the tube and Wanda sat across his stomach.
"Bring her back in one piece Rogers." Natasha eyed him with mock seriousness. She was joking, obviously she trusted Steve, but the man also jumped out of airplanes without a parachute thus his idea of safety differed from most.
"Yes ma'am." He promised with a winsome smile and Natasha helped push them to the edge sending them sailing down the hill. Wanda wrapped her arms around Steve's neck tightly, and she could hear both of them laughing as they started to spin around as they descended.
"Hurry, we have to catch them!" Lila exclaimed. Jumping on their sled, they chased after them, but Steve and Wanda were long gone. Natasha skidded them to a stop a few feet away as Wanda was standing to let Steve up. No sooner had the man gotten up, he grabbed the handle of the sled with one hand and wrapped his other arm around Wanda's waist, hoisting her up over his shoulder with ease.
"Steve!" She shrieked with undignified glee as he began running up the hill with her.
"Nat said I had to bring you back." Steve explained, "I'm just doing as she said."
That warm, red swirling happiness returned to Natasha's chest as she watched them together. She never wanted this to end, like the never ending sky above them.
Several more sled rides and a snowball fight later though, they exhausted themselves and headed back to the house with Steve carrying Wanda on his back. The kids relayed all of the events to their parents as they all warmed up with a hearty stew and fresh baked bread Laura had made for a late lunch. After eating their fill, everyone complimenting Laura that it was delicious, they all piled into the living room to watch a movie, not having energy for much anything else. Even Lila, who usually bounced around with vigor regardless of how much energy she expelled, was content to curl up with her father in an armchair as they decided to watch The Little Mermaid. Laura sat on one end of the couch with Nate in a swing nearby and Cooper pretending he was too old to sit with his mother even as the boy sat pressed against her and playing his hand-held video game on silent.
Wanda had no such compunction about cuddling. On the other end of the couch, Steve rested against the arm of the sofa, Natasha rested against him, and Wanda rested against her. With her head on Nat's shoulder and her legs draped over her lap and a bit of Steve's, the woman could tell Wanda would not be awake for the whole movie. And maybe she would not be either as Natasha used Steve's biceps as a pillow, his fingers gingerly brushing against hers where they lay across Wanda's knees, the familiar orchestral music playing in the background.