A/N: Our favorite scientist and taser-wielding duo make an appearance...
As soon as the other Avengers got home, Natasha ignored a curious Clint and made a beeline for Allie's room. He followed her, alarmed. "Tasha, what's wrong?"
She sat on the edge of the bed and scooped the sleeping child up, cradling her closely to her chest. She didn't speak for a long moment, just gently rocked Allie in her arms and studied the little girl's long, delicate lashes as they fluttered.
"Tasha?" Clint asked quietly.
She pressed a kiss to Allie's forehead and spoke. "The fact that that woman had the choice to have children, chose to have this baby girl, and then just didn't want her..." She broke off. "It makes me so..." she trailed off again and hugged Allie tighter.
Clint sat next to his best friend and partner and wrapped an arm around her. "You wouldn't have wasted your choice," he said softly.
"No."
He could see it in her eyes, the fierce ability to love that would make her a wonderful mother. "Tasha, why don't you adopt her?" he asked.
She froze, her shoulders tensing under his arm. "Me?"
"Yeah. You'd be a great mom. You understand how important it is, and how amazing it is, and I can tell you already love her."
"But I never had a mother. Clint, I was raised to be-" she couldn't even say it. She lowered her voice. "What if I turned her into me?"
Allie shifted and sighed, snuggling closer to Natasha.
They both looked down at the child and let her settle.
"Tasha, you are not your past," Clint said softly, after a moment. He reached out to touch her chin, and lifted her head to meet his gaze. "Tasha, you are kind, and beautiful, and..." He got distracted by the closeness of her lips.
She leaned forward the last few centimeters and kissed him.
He cupped her cheek and returned the kiss, trying to show her what he was trying to say.
She pulled back after a few moments, and he let her. "Clint," she said softly, looking terribly unsure. "I don't know how to do this. Any of this." She glanced down at the sleeping Allie.
"You think I do?" Clint asked, huffing a laugh. "I wanna try though, with you. Can we try it, Tasha? Even Allie thinks we'd be good together."
Natasha's lips quirked up in a smile. Every night, Allie asked for a story about the prince and princess who saved the world together.
"Is that a yes, maybe?" Clint teased.
"Yes, maybe," she replied, smirking.
He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "There's lunch, if you want."
Natasha hesitated. "I'll be down in a bit."
"Okay." He gave her a smile and left her to cuddle Allie.
When he got downstairs the sandwiches were gone. "Seriously, guys?" he asked.
"Sorry," Steve said sincerely. "We didn't know when you were coming back."
Clint made himself a sandwich. "So, what happened to make Natasha react that way?"
Steve scowled. "Ms. McCallen was completely unapologetic about neglecting her child and signed away her parental rights with a smile. A smile. She said good riddance."
"She's also going to jail," Tony added, pleased.
"Good." Clint stabbed the mayo vindictively. "Did Tasha break her arm?"
"I had to stop her," Steve replied.
Clint smirked at the mental image of the Cap holding back a spitting mad Black Widow. Then he sobered. "Did she say who the father was?"
"She didn't know."
"And the foster care stuff?"
"They're going to come inspect the living floors of the tower tomorrow, but we're pretty much approved anyways."
"Good." Clint told them all about Allie's first encounter with her age-mates in the park.
Natasha and Allie came in after that. Allie looked excited. "Ice cream?" she asked.
They smiled. "Yeah."
A~A~A~A
Mrs. Riker, the social services lady, was slightly awed to come up to the living floors of the Tower, but she took her job very seriously and inspected the security system, quizzed JARVIS on his babysitting capabilities, double-checked that all the restricted areas of the tower were actually blocked off from Allie's access, and looked at the little girl's room, and inspected both the common floor and everyone's living areas. They'd all cleaned their rooms, and the weapons were all carefully hidden away with safeties on.
"Well, everything looks good," Mrs. Riker said, smiling at Clint, who had Allie on his shoulders. Everyone else was scattered around the common floor, attempting to look casual and failing miserably. She turned to the rest of the group. "You are officially approved for long-term foster care, and I'll be back in six months to make sure your living area is still up to par."
"Thank you very much, Mrs. Riker," Pepper said, stepping forward to shake her hand.
"Not at all, Ms. Potts," Mrs. Riker said. She glanced over at Clint and Natasha. "Have you given any thoughts to adoption?" she asked.
Natasha pressed her lips together in a thin line, and turned away.
Clint swung Allie down from his shoulders and hugged her close. "We're still processing it," he said.
Mrs. Riker nodded and gave a knowing smile. "All right, take your time."
Pepper and Steve escorted her out, and Allie looked up at Bruce confidingly. "I get to stay, Bwuce?" she asked.
He knelt down and hugged her tightly. "Yeah, baby girl, you get to stay here."
She smiled and hugged him. "Good."
A~A~A~A
A week later Thor left for a few days to move his girlfriend and her intern to the Tower. When the three of them arrived at the tower, Allie was alone in the living room with her Legos. Steve had gone to answer a phone call when Jane and Darcy entered the common floor, sans Thor. "Are we on the right floor, Janey?"
"I don't know. Thor will be up in a second."
Allie had not been told that there were people coming over, and she didn't know when Steve was coming back. So she abandoned her Legos, turned into a corn snake, and slithered up to the top of the bookcase to hide.
Darcy and Jane saw the Legos and stuffed animals on the floor, and frowned. "That's weird," Darcy said. "I didn't think they had kids."
"They don't." Jane suddenly saw the snake, and let out a scream. "Snake! Snake! Darcy kill it, I hate snakes!"
"Aw, the snakey," Darcy cooed, going over to the bookcase. "It's not venomous, Jane, just a little scared. But it's so cute!"
Allie hissed at her warningly, terrified out of her wits. She saw the vent in the ceiling, and reached for it.
"Uh-oh, it's leaving," Darcy said, reaching for the snake.
JARVIS alerted Steve that Allie was fleeing into the vent, and said in the living room, "Ms. Foster, Ms. Lewis, please leave the snake alone."
"Fine with me," Jane said, from behind the sofa at the far wall.
Darcy went to stand by Jane. "Whose snake is it, JARVIS?"
"Mine," Steve replied, rushing in from the stairs. "Kind of all of ours." He climbed up on a chair to reach the vent. "Allie? Allie sweetheart, come on out." He pulled the vent cover off to stick his hand in. "Allie?"
She hissed at him.
"Allie, they're friends. They're nice, I promise. I'm sorry we didn't tell you they were coming, I forgot. Please come out?"
She twined around his fingers like a ribbon, seeking warmth.
He lifted her from the vent and kissed her head. "Hi, baby. You okay?"
"Is it a talking snake?" Darcy asked, wondering if the good Cap had lost his mind.
Steve grinned. "Not quite Ms. Lewis." He let Allie curl around his forearm. "We'll be back in a bit. Excuse us." He left the women in the common room and took Allie to her room. He sat on the floor and leaned back against the bed, lifting the snake to his gaze. A tiny delicate tongue flickered out. "Okay," he said, pulling her closer to his body, "we're going to sit here for a bit until you feel safe, okay? No pressure, sweetheart."
She twined up and down his arms for a bit, and then abruptly turned into a kitten. She meowed and kneaded her little paws into his chest.
"Hey, there's the pretty kitty," Steve cooed, lifting her up to kiss her head. He play-wrestled her for a little bit and let her bat at his shoelaces.
She bat at his shoelaces a final time, and turned into a puppy. She started to gnaw at his shoe.
"Hey," Steve said gently, pulling her away from his shoe. "Don't eat my shoe, I use that." He handed her the stuffed duck and let her chew on that.
She gnawed at it and nestled into his chest. He cradled her like a baby while she chewed on the bill of the stuffed duck, and in between one breath and another, she went from puppy to small girl.
He smiled down at her. "Hey, sweetheart. You feel better?"
"Yeah." She snuggled into his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Who was de ladies?"
"One of them is Thor's girlfriend. Her name is Jane. And the other one is her assistant and also Thor's friend, and her name is Darcy."
"Are dey nice?"
"Yeah, they're nice."
She pressed her face to his shoulder. "I'm sowwy I turned into snake and tried to run 'way."
"It's okay, sweetheart," he said. "You were scared, huh?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah." He smoothed her hair. "When someone comes into the tower and JARVIS doesn't tell you it's safe, that's when you run away, okay? You turn into a snake, or a bird, or a kitty, and you run away and hide until we come get you. Okay, baby doll?"
"Okay Steeb." She stayed quiet for a while and then asked, "Do you think that Darcy and Jane would wanna play wif me?"
He smiled. "Yeah. I think that'd be a great idea."
A~A~A~A
So, Steve introduced the two women to the shapeshifting little girl. Jane showed interest in the little girl's gift, and Darcy offered to play stuffed animals with her. Allie also showed her the learning game on her tablet, and asked, "Do you know maths?"
Darcy smiled. "I know a little math. You want to do some?"
Allie pointed at the timer on top of the game. "I's gots to do twenty minutes learnin' evewy day. JARBIS is my teacher. It's math today."
"Oh I see." Darcy leaned over to look at Clint, who was grinning at them. "You're already homeschooling her?"
"No time like the present," Clint said.
"Tony says I'm a genus," Allie piped up.
Clint laughed and picked her up, settling her in his lap. "Genius, baby. Genus is like a family of species."
"What's a pecies?"
"Species. Like, a type of animal."
"Like a doggie?"
"Uh-huh. And there's different kind of doggies right? Fluffy ones and skinny ones and fat ones?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah, so each one of those is a species. And all together, they're a genus."
"Like a family?"
"Yep, you got it." Clint gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Smart girl."
"Das 5 minutes," she said, pointing at the timer. She looked up at the ceiling. "JARVIS, we do animals instead of maff?"
"Whatever interests you, young miss," JARVIS replied warmly.
"Good. Pictures please?" She climbed off Clint's lap and went to sit on the floor in her nest of pillows. A holographic image of a dog appeared in the air and she giggled. "Dat looks like me!"
Darcy grinned at Clint.
"What?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
"You're really good with her," Darcy observed.
Clint smiled at the little girl. "She makes it really easy," he said softly.
Darcy's smile widened. "You really love her, don't you?"
"Yeah," Clint said. "She makes that really easy, too."
A~A~A~A
A few days later, they took her to Coney Island. She'd never been on any ride, ever, and they were all jostling for chances to go with her on different rides. Clint won her a giant stuffed panda from one of the fair games, and Natasha won her a dollhouse complete with tiny wooden furniture. Steve bought her an ice cream, and Thor shared an elephant ear with her. Tony offered to buy the spinning teacup game entirely and install it in the Tower, but Allie didn't think that would be nice to the other little kids. For that, Pepper bought her a cotton candy.
A~A~A~A
Tony didn't like animals. Not really. He'd never had a pet, as a child, and when he was older he didn't want one. So it surprised him that he really loved the shapeshifting little girl who spent sixty percent of her life as a kitten or a puppy and left animal hairs on the furniture, and toys everywhere else.
It was 3:24 in the morning when he woke up from a bad nightmare, gasping for breath. He sat up and pressed a hand to his chest, feeling the reassuring hum of the arc reactor.
"Tony?" Pepper mumbled, squinting at him in the low light.
"Nightmare," he murmured, leaning over to press a kiss to her forehead. "Go back to sleep, Pep."
"You sure?" she asked.
"Yeah. I'll watch some TV and go back to sleep." He dragged on a robe over his tank top and pajama pants, and headed down to the common floor. Maybe one of the other PTSD-sufferers were awake and they could hang out.
He entered the common floor, and found a very familiar brown fluff ball on the beanbag in front of the TV. Some nighttime cartoons were on at a low volume. "JARVIS?" he asked quietly.
"The little miss could not sleep, so she decided to watch cartoons until she fell asleep. I was going to alert Agent Barton once she fell asleep."
"I'll take care of her, J." Tony got himself a cup of decaf coffee and sat down cross-legged next to the beanbag. "Hey, peanut."
Allie lifted her head and blinked at him sleepily, her tail wagging. She struggled to climb out of the beanbag, and Tony picked her up. She woofed happily.
"You couldn't sleep either, huh?" he asked her.
She shook her head and whined.
He sat in the beanbag and let her curl up on his chest, her head resting on the arc reactor. He lightly pet her back, sipped his coffee and let his mind wander as the children's show droned on about letters and numbers and friendship.
Allie fell asleep a few minutes later, her little puppy breaths slowing, and Tony soon followed, the bland TV show like a sedative to his overactive mind.
Steve found them at six o'clock when he came in for his pre-workout breakfast, and quietly asked JARVIS to take a picture.
Pepper came in an hour later for breakfast before going to work, and quietly asked JARVIS to take a picture. She pressed a kiss to Tony's head, draped a blanket over them, and left.
Natasha came in at eight, smiled fondly, and quietly asked JARVIS to take a picture before leaving again for the gym.
Bruce came in five minutes later, looking for breakfast, and quietly asked JARVIS to take a picture.
Thor came in at eight thirty with Jane and Darcy. Darcy took a picture herself of the adorable scene with her phone, and the three of them crept out again to let the inventor and the puppy sleep in peace.
Clint finally rolled out of bed at nine thirty, strolled into the common floor, and saw the adorable tableaux. He snickered quietly and asked JARVIS to take a picture. Five seconds later, Allie yawned and stretched, and clambered off of the inventor and the beanbag. She trotted over to Clint a bit unsteadily and looked up with big ole puppy eyes. He picked her up obligingly, and she wriggled into the pocket of his sweatshirt to continue sleeping. "Long night, sweetheart?" he murmured, and got no reply but the little flick of an ear.
"She had trouble sleeping and both the little miss and sir fell asleep around three thirty," JARVIS informed him.
"Thanks, JARVIS." Clint made himself breakfast and quietly left the room, the puppy still in his pocket.
Tony woke up at ten thirty, and immediately brought his hand up to check on Allie. She was gone. "JARVIS?" he croaked, staring blearily at the ceiling.
"It is ten thirty, sir. Allie is with Agents Barton and Romanoff."
"Ten thirty?" he asked, half-falling out of the beanbag. "Why didn't they wake me up?"
"I assume they saw Allie and kept quiet," JARVIS replied.
"Humph." He stood, stretched, and made a beeline for the coffee.
JARVIS refrained from telling him about the multiple copies of the pictures stored throughout the Tower.