A/N: This chapter has some angst. Warning: mentions of child neglect. Nothing explicit. Also loads of fluff to offset the sad.
He slept like a log until his alarm went off the next morning, and found that Allie had migrated to lay in the curve of his waist, her head resting on his ribs and moving up and down as he breathed. "So cute," he whispered, rubbing her head.
She blinked up at him, and rolled over, snuffling into a pillow.
"Yeah, me too," he said, "but I've got things to do today." He left her on the bed while got dressed, and then took her down to the common room. The only one there was Thor. "Hey, man, could you watch the dog? I don't want to bring her down to the training floor."
"Of course," Thor said magnanimously. He scooped the pup off the floor and tucked her into the crook of his elbow. "We shall have a great day of fun, won't we?"
Allie yipped and wagged her tail.
Clint smirked and left them to play.
As soon as Clint was gone Thor placed Allie on the table in front of him, his playful demeanor gone. "Now then," he said sternly, "what are you, really?"
The puppy whimpered and tucked her tail under her, curling up against an oncoming blow.
Thor's expression softened. "I won't harm you," he said gently, reaching out to stroke her ear softly. "I merely wish to know what you are."
She whimpered.
"You are not merely a cute ball of fluff," he said. "You are far too intelligent to be a Midgardian canine, and you have not used the normal canine methods of waste removal. I checked the times of bathroom usage. Somehow, you've managed to use the toilet without alerting anyone else. If you really are a dog, then never mind. But if you are not, you are taking advantage of the Avengers' affection and I will not stand for it."
Allie stared at him, and he stared at her. It was a standoff: soulful green eyes versus stern blue ones. Except she was trembling and he was not.
"If I may interrupt, sir," JARVIS said, after a moment. "Allow me to clarify the situation."
"Please do," Thor said, leaning back slightly, but keeping an eye on the puppy.
JARVIS pulled up a holographic screen showing the inside of Clint's bathroom. "I sensed unregistered movement last night at 12:06 and turned off the privacy screen inside the bathroom, for the puppy's safety," he narrated, as a tiny puppy scampered into the tiled bathroom. "This is what happened."
The tiny holographic puppy bypassed the doggy-area and went straight to the toilet. And then on screen, before Thor's very eyes, the puppy transformed into a small, painfully thin four-year-old with green eyes and lanky brown hair, wearing a ragged blue dress. She shivered hard, once, and climbed up on the toilet to do her business. She washed her hands, and then on-screen JARVIS spoke. "Excuse me, little miss."
The four-year-old girl froze and flinched, twisting wildly to look for the voice. "Pwease don't tell on me," she begged, wrapping her arms around herself. Tears began to spill down her hollow face. "Pwease, pwease, don't tell, Mr. Jarvis, please, I, I was just, hungry-"
"It's all right, little miss, you're not in trouble," JARVIS said soothingly. "You are a mutant?"
Allie bobbed her head. "I can change, shapes," she said haltingly, wiping her tears with a tiny fist. "I, my mommy, she was scared of me so I ran away. It was so cold, and Mr. Clint was so nice, and the Avengers were here and they so nice and I just wanted to be a puppy because no one hurts puppies, pwease don't tell on me."
"I won't," JARVIS promised. "When you realize that they will not harm you, and when you feel comfortable telling them, then you may tell them. But if they figure it out, I will help you."
"Pwomise?" the little girl whispered.
"I promise," JARVIS replied gravely.
"Thank you Mr. Jarvis," she said, and morphed back into a puppy. She exited the bathroom and the camera tracked her back to a snoring Clint's side, where she curled into a ball and slept.
The holographic screen collapsed, and Thor turned his attention back to Allie. To his surprise, the puppy was no longer there, and the small, frail four-year-old was sitting on the table, arms wrapped around her knees and tears in her eyes. "You are a shapeshifter," he said flatly.
She bowed her head in a solemn nod. "I'm sowwy," she whispered, sniffling.
"You have nothing to be sorry for, child," he replied gently, scooping her off the table and into his arms. He hugged her until the tension in her thin frame eased and she relaxed, hot tears wetting his shoulder. "Hush now," he urged. "No harm has been done."
"You won't make me leave?" she asked fearfully.
"No," he promised, "we won't make you leave. You did the right thing coming to us for help, little one." He smoothed her hair, almost as soft as her puppy-self's fur. "What's your real name, child?"
"Don' have one," she sniffed, her voice muffled in his shoulder. "My mommy never gave me one cuz," she started to cry again, "she didn't wike me."
Thor's grip on her tightened, angry at the parent who'd neglected her child simply for having a gift. "Do you like the name Allie?" he asked, redirecting the conversation.
A nod. "'S pretty."
"Then your name will be Allie," he decided. He leaned back to see her face. "How long have you been by yourself, Allie?"
"A, a long time," she sniffled. "Days and days."
"Do you remember where you lived before?" he asked.
"New Haven," she replied.
"Your address, Miss Allie?" JARVIS asked.
Her eyes widened and she shook her head, scrambling off of Thor's lap and away from him. "No, no, pwease don't make me go away, pwease, I want stay here, I be good, pwease-" She started to hyperventilate.
Thor scooted out of his chair and knelt down in front of her. "Allie, Allie listen to me," he said firmly, raising his voice over the child's hysteria, "we won't take you back. I swear on the power of Mjolnir we will not take you back to that woman. But you have to calm down, or you will make yourself sick. Can you do that?"
She stopped breathing altogether and stared at him, round-eyed. "You pwomise?" she asked, shuddering.
"I promise," he said. "You will be safe here."
She started to cry again, and Thor didn't hesitate to scoop her up in a warm embrace. He carried her to the living room and sat down with her in his lap, letting her cry into his chest. "It is okay," he soothed, rubbing her back. "You're safe here. No one is going to harm you or take you away. I promise. You're okay."
Her tears finally ran out and she settled into his chest, the occasional sniffle causing her to shudder. She blinked languidly a couple times, exhaustion settling in.
He pulled a blanket over her and let her fall sleep. "Poor child," he murmured, brushing the hair off her forehead.
"Shall I alert the others to gather in the kitchen?" JARVIS asked quietly.
"Yes please, JARVIS." Thor carefully placed Allie on the couch and tucked the blanket around her, concealing her behind a pillow. He went to the kitchen and started another pot of coffee. He had a feeling everyone else was going to need it.
They all gathered in about two minutes, and Clint asked suspiciously, "Where's Allie?"
"Don't tell me," Tony said, irritated. "You lost her."
"I did not lose her," Thor replied. "I discovered what she really is."
"I was thinking half Scottish terrier half something else," Clint said.
Thor almost smirked, but he shook his head instead. "She is a mutant," he announced quietly.
They all stared at him. "What?" Steve asked.
"The child, Allie, is a mutant."
"Child?" Clint echoed, his voice rising. "What are you talking about? It's a puppy, Thor."
"Shhh," he stressed, glancing into the living room. "She's sleeping."
"What the-" Clint marched over to the couch and whipped the blanket off. His jaw dropped. "No way."
The others piled up behind him and stared at the sleeping child on the couch. She slept the same way the puppy had - curled up into a ball and her head resting on her folded hands.
"It's a kid!" Tony said, a bit loudly, and Allie flinched in her sleep.
"I told you to be quiet," Thor whispered, taking the blanket from Clint and placing it over the child again, smoothing her hair till she settled. He ushered them back into the kitchen area.
"How did you find out?" Steve asked quietly.
"I felt there was something strange about her," Thor said. "She was far too intelligent to be a puppy, and she has not eaten from the dog food or used any of the dog waste areas laid out for her. And last night, JARVIS discovered her secret when she turned into a girl again to use the toilet."
JARVIS replayed the section of footage for all six of them, and Thor added his previous conversation with Allie.
They were all stunned, except Natasha. "Of course she would go to the Avengers for help," she said matter-of-factly. "She's a smart little one, and she used her powers to appeal to the weakness of almost all humans, even me, to get to a safe place. If I was in her position, I would've done the same thing."
"But what do we do with her?" Clint asked, still in shock. "I can take care of a puppy, not a kid."
"At least you won't have to be on pooper-scooper duty," Tony said snidely.
"Shut up Stark," Clint said, rubbing his forehead.
"We can't just give her to Child Services," Bruce said quietly. "With her abilities and her history of abuse, she wouldn't last a week in a random civilian's house."
"I promised her that we would not make her go back to her mother," Thor warned. "I will not break that promise."
"No one's going to try," Steve assured him hastily. "She's not going back to her mother. And we're not letting SHIELD have her."
They all looked at Clint and Natasha. Natasha shook her head. "Fury would turn her into an agent or an asset. That's no life for a child."
"What about the school?" Bruce asked.
"The Professor's already over-run with the number of mutants popping out of the woodworks," Tony said, shaking his head. "She's been neglected, starved, and she's only four years old. They wouldn't have the time or resources to devote to a baby."
"What she needs is love," Steve said quietly, remembering his own childhood, where the only thing that made it good was his mother's fierce love. "Lots and lots of love and attention and food."
Tony saw something in his eyes and shook his head emphatically. "No way, Cap."
"We were prepared to give her that as a puppy," Steve reminded them. "Are we saying that we care more for our animals than our own children? What kind of people does that make us?"
There was a silent moment of shame, and then Clint nodded. "I saved her from that alley, I'm not giving up on her now. I'm in."
"As am I," Thor said.
"Me too," Bruce added.
Natasha nodded.
They all looked at Tony. "You said yourself there's nowhere else for her to go," Steve reminded him.
Tony sighed. "I know, I know. I'm just trying to figure out what we're going to tell Pepper. She's going to have a fit."
JARVIS spoke up. "I am also 'in'," he said.
"Good," Steve said. "Now who's going to tell her?"
Thor half-raised his hand. "Allow me." He crossed to the living room, the others at his heels, and gently reached out to jostle the sleeping child's shoulder. "Allie?" he said coaxingly. "Allie, it's time to wake up."
She blinked up at him and sat up, rubbing tiny fists over her eyes. She saw the others all standing behind him, and shrank back into the couch, going from adorably sleepy to abjectly terrified.
That expression on such a tiny thing's face made all of them soften instantly. "Hey, it's okay," Clint said, kneeling down next to Thor to reach a hand out to her.
She shrank away from him.
"It's okay," Clint said gently, "Thor told us the truth and no one's angry. No one's going to hurt you."
She glanced at Thor uncertainly, and he gave her an encouraging smile. She relaxed slightly.
"And we talked about it," Clint said, "and guess what? You're going to stay here with us, just like if you were a real puppy."
Her eyes widened, shining with hope. "Weally?" she gasped quietly.
"Really really," Clint confirmed. "Is that okay with you, kiddo?"
She nodded enthusiastically, and threw her skinny arms around his neck in a hug.
He returned the hug and lifted her clean off the couch, settling her on his hip with a frown. "You're way too skinny," he said.
Her face scrunched up.
"But that's okay," Steve added, giving her a kind smile. "Because we have plenty of food and you can eat whenever you're hungry."
"Better start with soft foods, like we were doing before," Bruce advised. "If she hasn't eaten in a long time, any solid food will come right back up."
"How about some noodle soup?" Clint asked, carrying her into the kitchen.
She nodded.
He moved to set her down at the table, but her grip around his neck tightened instinctively.
Steve reached out for her. "C'mere, sweetheart," he coaxed. "Come sit with me and we can talk while Clint makes us some lunch, okay?"
Clint passed the child to Steve, who sat down with her in his lap. The others scattered around the kitchen, pretending not to listen as they eavesdropped. "How old are you?" he asked gently, smoothing her hair.
She leaned against his chest. "Four," she said, holding up four fingers.
"When's your birthday?" he continued. "Mine's July 4."
She shrugged.
"How did you get from New Haven to New York?" Steve asked next, keeping his tone light and conversational.
She curled up against him tightly. "I ran," she said in a quiet voice, "I ran and then I turned into a bird and I flew over the big roads for a long, long time till I fell asleep. And then I was a cat, and I got into a car on one of the roads, and I stayed there till the tall buildings, and then I got lost, and I turned into a puppy, and I found the big 'A', but I couldn't get inside. And then it was cold, and wainy, and-" She was starting to tremble again.
"And Clint found you and brought you here to be safe," Steve finished quickly, heading off the trauma of a terrifyingly long journey. "You're very brave, Allie."
"Tank you," she murmured, her cheeks turning pink.
"I wish I could turn into a cat," Steve said, smiling at her. "What kinds of animals can you turn in to?"
"A puppy, and a bird, and a kitty, and another puppy dat's big, and," she counted off on her fingers, "and a snake, and I don't know any other animals. That's five. And me."
"And you," Steve agreed. "That's how many?"
"Six."
He tickled her gently and she giggled. "You're so smart," he praised.
Clint brought over a bowl of chicken noodle soup and a glass of milk. "Here we go," he said, ruffling her hair. "Noodle soup for the smartest little girl in the tower."
She blinked up at him. "Thank you," she said softly.
"My pleasure," he replied, kissing her forehead.
She worked on her soup until she felt full, and someone warmed up the milk for her. She sipped at it, blinking, each blink heavier than the last, until she fell asleep with the mug in her hands. Only Steve's reflexes caught the mug as it tilted, and he put it on the table. And before their eyes, Allie turned from a little girl into a tiny, tiny kitten with white and grey stripes, curled up on his lap.
"Whoa," Clint said, after a shocked silence.
Steve reached out to pet the kitten lightly, and he grinned when she started to purr. It was very, very faint, but it was there. His grin widened.
Tony huffed. "She's even cuter as a kitten than a puppy. That cannot be possible."
"When she wakes up, we'll bring her down to the med floor and get a full physical examination," Bruce said. "I'll go set it up."
"I'll get the dog things out of your room," Natasha said, disappearing.
"I guess I'll go buy some four-year-old things," Clint said, after a minute. "Tasha, wait up! What do girls wear?" He hurried after her.
Tony drained the rest of his coffee. "I'm going to go hunt down her past and have that evil mother of hers charged for child neglect."
"Who's going to tell Pepper?" Steve asked.
"You are," Tony said, giving him pleading eyes. "Please? She loves you, and you don't annoy her as much as I do."
Steve sighed. "All right. Thor, if you could go with Clint and help him pick out child-sized furniture, that'd be great."
Thor nodded regally and went to find the archer.
Tony had vanished to his lab, so Steve was left with a lapful of sleeping kitten.
He stayed there, reading the news on his tablet, and halfway through the New York Times, Allie shifted into her original human form. He adjusted quickly, and let her curl into his side, her hair tickling his face. "This is going to take some getting used to," he whispered.
"Indeed, sir," JARVIS replied. "She reads as a different signature each time. It's quite incredible."
"I bet." He smoothed her fly away hair down, and said, "Well, I guess it's now or never. Is Ms. Potts in the building?"
"Yes sir, she's in her office."
"Thanks, J." Steve stood up, Allie securely resting in his arms, and went down to Pepper's office. Thankfully, no one encountered them on the way there. He suspected JARVIS had something to do with it.
Pepper was on the phone with someone when Steve was ushered in. She waved at him to wait for a second, did a double-take at the child in his arms, and quickly finished up her phone call. She came around the desk. "Who's this?"
"This is Allie," Steve said bluntly, all of his speech-making capabilities somehow vanished.
She raised an eyebrow. "Did Tony put you up to this?"
"No ma'am." He shifted his burden. "She's a shapeshifter. JARVIS found out last night and Thor discovered it this morning. She ran away from her mother and came to find the Avengers because she believed we would keep her safe. She's four years old, Pepper, and she didn't even have a name."
Pepper's eyes filled with tears as she looked at the little girl and realized why she was so small and thin. "Poor baby," she said, reaching out to touch the little girl's hair gently.
Allie sighed in her sleep and her fingers twined into Steve's hoodie.
Pepper looked at Steve. "Are we keeping her?"
"Yes."
Pepper nodded. "I'll get the paperwork started. She'll have to be legally adopted by one of you after we declare the mother unfit, but we can put her as a ward of the Maria Stark Foundation till then."
"Tony's already started looking for the mother," Steve said.
"Good. And somebody's gone out to get clothes and toys and things?"
Steve nodded.
Pepper smiled. "Yay teamwork." She patted Steve on the shoulder. "Go babysit."
He left Pepper to her work, and returned to the common floor upstairs. He watched a movie on TV for a while, and Allie woke up thirty minutes later. "Hey, sleepyhead," he said, giving her a gentle smile.
She smiled back at him and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Whatsat?" she asked, pointing to the TV.
"It's called Roman Holiday," Steve said. "You want to watch it with me?"
She nodded, and they watched it in content silence. She reached out ten minutes later for Clint's sweater on the corner of the couch, and wrapped it around herself like a blankie. "Where's everyone?" she asked during a commercial break.
"Well, Clint and Thor are getting you some clothes and things, and Tony and Bruce are working, and Natasha's doing, something probably."
She giggled at the face he made.
"You turned into a kitten for a while," Steve mentioned, watching her reaction. She froze, but she seemed more curious than scared. "You were cute, too," he continued, hugging her close. "You were this big, and you were purring."
"I was happy," she said, tilting her head up to look at him backwards.
He smiled. "I'm glad." He watched her zip the sweater up and down, and asked, "Is your dress, is that part of you, too?"
She shook her head. "It changes with me. Like, puppies gots collars. And kittens too."
"And do all clothes work like that?"
She stared at him, wide-eyed. "I don't know."
"Well, we can experiment," he reassured her.
The commercial ended and she went quiet again.
A~A~A~A
When the movie ended, Steve took Allie down to the med ward, and she let Bruce examine her. "Well, you're very strong," he said, giving her a peppermint candy he'd conjured from a desk drawer. "Do you want to try and find your heart beat while I talk to Steve over here?"
Allie nodded and took the stethoscope, carefully putting the ends in her ears.
Steve raised an eyebrow at Bruce.
Bruce shook his head. "Chronic malnutrition, dehydration, anemia, and a slight case of bronchitis from exposure."
"For cryin' out loud," Steve said, shocked. "No wonder she's been sleeping all day yesterday and today. What do we do?"
"Make sure she gets foods rich in iron, food all day anyway, lots of liquids, not any heavy food until next week at least, and we'll get her some antibiotics." Bruce gave Steve an encouraging smile. "She'll be okay. I took some blood samples to analyze her mutant abilities, but that's it."
Steve nodded, reassured. He went over to where Allie was listening to the wall through the stethoscope. "What're you listening to?" he asked gently, crouching beside her.
She smiled at him. "Mr. Jarvis's heart. It sounds nice."
Steve couldn't help glancing up at the ceiling. "JARVIS?"
"One of the computer cores," JARVIS supplied.
"Oh." Steve hid a grin. "Listen sweetheart, we're done down here."
"Agent Barton and Mr. Odinson have returned," JARVIS announced.
"Let's go," Steve said, and his heart melted a little when Allie held her arms up to be carried. He scooped her up and settled her on his hip.
They went back up to the living room and found a small explosion of children's items. Steve put Allie down and picked up a tiny blue elephant thoughtfully.
"Honeeyyy, we're hoooooome," Clint said, giving Allie a wink and making her giggle. "And we've got milkshakes!" he added, handing her a strawberry milkshake that was half whipped cream.
She took the milkshake in a daze and stared at the piles of stuff: leggings, dresses, shirts, jeans, jammies, sweaters, toys, and books. And then she hid behind Steve, clutching at his leg. "Is too much," she whispered, sounding distressed.
Steve, Clint, and Thor shared an uncertain glance. Then Thor knelt down in front of Allie and gently pulled her away from Steve's leg, wrapping her in a hug. "It is not too much," he corrected gently. "This is what we wanted to get you, because you are worth it and deserve to be happy and have fun. Okay?"
A tiny nod into his shoulder.
"Good girl." He pressed a kiss to her hair and picked up a pair of soft leggings and a flowery shirt. "Do you want to change into these? They're quite soft."
"Okay." She changed in the bathroom and came out, twisting her little hands uncertainly. "What do you think?" she asked.
Clint gasped dramatically and scooped her up in a hug. "Did you just shapeshift into a princess?" he gasped, kissing her hair and tickling her sides.
She giggled and turned bright red. "No it's just me," she replied, wriggling around and shrieking with laughter.
He stopped tickling her and grinned. "You look very nice," he said.
"Thank you Mr. Clint," she said, hugging him. She pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Thank you thank you."
"You're very welcome, munchkin," he said, smiling at her softly. He patted her thin little arm gently. "Would you like to wear a sweater, Allie? I don't want you to be cold."
She wriggled out of his arms and went to drag on his old sweater. "There."
"You don't want one that's your size?" Steve asked, holding up a small green hoodie.
"Nope," Allie said, snuggling into the giant sweater. "I like dis one. Smells good."
Clint smirked. "I'm totally the favorite."
Steve and Thor rolled their eyes. "Where are we going to put the furniture?" Thor asked, gesturing to the pile of boxes off to the side. "In whose apartment is she going to sleep?"
"The question really is, who has the least problems sleeping?" Steve asked quietly, as Allie wandered off to play with her new set of dolls. "I don't trust myself not to scare her in the middle of a dream or a flashback."
Clint shook his head. "Not me or Tasha then. Or Tony. Or Bruce."
Thor nodded. "I will take responsibility for the child's safety at night," he said. "I have very few nightmares, and can sense the difference between friend and foe even in sleep."
"So if she crawls in bed with you as a kitten you're not going to smush her," Steve said.
"No."
"Cool." Clint picked up an armful of clothes. "You guys get the heavy stuff."
They carried the child-sized bed, dresser and desk and play table and mini-kitchen set and painting easel into Thor's spare bedroom and set it up. Natasha came in while they were unpacking everything and took over decorating and placement of objects.
"Not bad," she said, eyeing the now cheerful, child-friendly looking room. "Who's watching Allie?"
The men all shared a guilty glance.
"I am, Agent Romanoff," JARVIS said calmly. "She is currently entertaining herself with the Legos."
They went downstairs and Clint choked on a laugh. "We maybe shouldn't have gotten the four hundred piece set," he said, shrinking under Steve's glare. "That was a tactical mistake."
"No kidding," Natasha said dryly.
There were Legos everywhere, mostly sorted by color and size, and in the very center of the living room, Allie was building a tower. It was already almost as tall as her. "Is okay," she assured them, reading their expressions. "I clean up."
"Well at least she's responsible about it," Natasha muttered, gracefully edging her way through the Legos and sitting on the floor next to Allie. "Can I help you build your tower, malyshka?"
"Yeah. The green pieces, pwease."
"Sure."
They played on the floor while the guys put together some dinner. As soon as Allie ate her fill, she climbed off her chair and started to pile the Legos back into the bin.
Tony and Pepper came into the living room while Allie was cleaning up her toys. "She's so cute," Pepper said, smiling at the child as they joined the other Avengers in the kitchen.
"What did you find?" Steve asked.
Tony's grin fell. "Everything." He threw up a holo screen and blocked it from Allie with his body. "All right. Her former address, 3254 S Mitchell St, New Haven." It was a rundown old duplex that should have been condemned a decade ago, and the only sign that it was lived in, was the light on inside. "Renter is Michelle McCallen, 28 years old, single, and there's no sign of a child anywhere. She didn't even put her as a dependent on her taxes. Which led me to birth certificates and hospital stays by the mother." He pulled up another screen. "I found her birthday, mid-October, but it's otherwise blank. Apparently the mother never gave her a name. She's just Baby McCallen, female, 7 lbs 2 oz. That was the last record of her till now."
"Poor baby," Clint said sorrowfully. He looked over to check on Allie. She was almost done putting everything away.
"We've reported her condition to the state, and they've allowed us to keep her as a temporary foster child while they look into the case," Pepper continued. "We can't start anything more permanent, though, until one of you signs the adoption papers."
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Steve decided after everyone shared a glance. The whole situation was too new to be making any final decisions that would change lives.
"But in the meantime," Clint said, reading Allie's sluggish posture, "somebody needs to go beddy-bye." He stood up and went to pick up the four-year-old. "Tired, baby girl?" he asked.
She shook her head.
"Well, we can fix that. How about a nice bath?"
She brightened up. "A bath?"
"Yeah. We got toys and everything."
She nodded.
"All right, let's go." He carried her up a level to Thor's room and filled up a warm bath, human sized instead of puppy sized this time. He put in a bit of bubble bath, a handful of toy ducks and assorted floaty things, and left the door open while she undressed and jumped in the tub. "You okay in there by yourself?" he asked.
"Yeah."
He kept an eye on her for the next twenty minutes as she played, and then went in. "All right, munchkin, time to wash up."
She pouted at him.
He ignored the pout and handed her a washcloth full of soap. "Here you go. Don't forget your belly button and your toes and behind your ears."
She scrubbed at her ears diligently.
"I sound like a mom," he groaned. "What is this world coming to?"
"I like you," Allie offered.
He smiled and splashed a little water at her. "I like you too, kiddo."
She giggled and handed him the washcloth.
"All right, now your hair," he said, holding up the kids' shampoo.
"You has to do it," she said. "I get soap in my eyes."
Clint sighed. "All right, scoot over here then."
She leaned against the edge of the tub and tilted her head back.
He poured some shampoo in her hair and scrubbed, and carefully rinsed it with a cup of water. rinse and repeat with conditioner, and he pulled the plug on the water. "All righty, you're clean. Stand up."
She stood up, he wrapped her in a purple towel, and carried her into her room. "All right, pajama time. Which ones do you want?" He'd picked out six Avengers pajama sets and a flowery set, and a purple bathrobe.
She picked a red Avengers pajama set with Black Widow on them, and pulled them on.
He ushered her into the bathroom to brush her teeth, and while she brushed her teeth, he brushed her hair and braided it so the ends wouldn't get tangled.
She spit and rinsed and stared at him. "How you do that?" she asked, staring at the end of her braid.
Clint didn't feel like explaining how he'd been a makeup and hair stylist for six months on a SHIELD op when he was younger, so he just said, "I help Natasha with her hair."
"Oh." She wiped the corner of her mouth with a sleeve absently. "Done?"
He frowned. "Bath time, brush teeth, yeah I think that's it."
She went into her room and bounced on the bed. "I'm not sleepy," she announced.
He sighed. "Do you want to come watch TV with us in the living room?"
"Yeah." She lay on her back and turned into a puppy wearing a cute little Black Widow pajama set.
He smiled and picked her up. "Come on, then."
As soon as they got into the living room, she wriggled out of his hands and raced across the living room to leap into Tony's lap. She yipped at him and wagged her tail.
"All clean?" Tony asked, petting her head.
She licked his hand.
"That's so gross," Tony sighed.
She pouted at him and went to cuddle up to Bruce's ribs. Bruce smiled. "Hi Allie."
They watched the rest of the movie and Allie went to sleep on the cushion between Thor and Bruce. As the end credits rolled, Thor carefully lifted the puppy from the sofa, said his goodnights, and left.
He tucked her into her small bed and left the night light on. "JARVIS, you will monitor her?" he asked.
"Of course sir," JARVIS said.
Thor went to bed.
A~A~A~A
Two hours later he woke up to find Allie standing by the side of his bed. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"I'm scawed," she whispered.
"Why are you scared, little one?" he asked.
"I don't know." She gave him a pitiful look. "Can I sleep in here with you?"
He sighed. "You have your own room, Allie, it's very safe, I promise."
She pouted at him.
He sighed. "Very well."
She curled up next to him and in two seconds, was asleep.
Thor put a pillow on the other side of her to prevent her from falling off the bed, and went to sleep.
He woke up the next morning to find a kitten standing on his chest, staring at him nose-to-nose. "Mrow," she said.
"Good morning," he said. "Are you hungry, little one?"
"Mreow." She leaped off his chest and padded into the other room. A second later, she called back, "Can we has waffles, Thor?"