Hello all! There won't be many authors notes (because I don't normally read them anyway) but I just wanted to say thanks for reading. I am so excited for this story and am already considering a sequel. Anywhooo, please review as well so that I can get some feedback on how and what y'all like and don't like. Also thank you to the two people that followed this story.

The red head sat and looked around the table, "So where were we?" "Altering gravity, I do believe. Has she been tested? The readings must be off the charts." Natasha sighed, she should have known that Tony and maybe even Bruce would want to know more about that. "You're right. The readings are like nothing anyone had ever seen. Ava could tell you more about that, I didn't pay much attention as she got older." "What kind of symptoms does she have? She was a victim of Erskine's experiments, correct?" Bruce asked and Natasha made a mental note to set up a meeting between Ava and the scientist. The girl would be thrilled to meet Bruce and it seemed that the same could be said about the man. "Symptoms? Stunted growth, she's only 5 feet tall and weighs around 75 pounds. Her bones are hollow, like a birds. They weren't very strong till she was about 14 or so, broken bones have always been a problem. She takes medicine to help keep them strong. Sometimes, when she gets upset or excited she tends to float, or float other items so the first few teen years were... difficult to say the least." There were chuckles around the table. "Excitement's the real problem... when she was 12-14 excitement would make her hover. Her hormones were going crazy and she couldn't always control what she was doing. But when she grew out of that things go a whole lot easier." "What about now?" Bruce asked. "She's pretty normal, except for the whole flying thing. She's training to be a SHEILD field medic." "And Fury's okay with having such an asset doing medical work?" Tony interrupted. "Not exactly... no. He wants her on a specialized team, doing who knows what. But when she was 11 she went and talked to him about it, scheduled an appointment, dressed as professionally as an 11 year old can and walked into his office and closed the door. 30 minuets later she came out and gave me a paper that was signed that said her co-guardian agreed to enroll her in the beginning stages of SHIELDS medical program when the fall came. He's never brought it up since." Natasha shrugged. "Okay, one more question... when does Ava get to meet her Uncle Tony?"

The view outside the conference room window was spectacular and Ava had been watching DC for almost an hour now. When she had landed they had a car waiting to take her to SHEILD headquarters. Agent Jones had escorted her to this room and left her there. When the door opened she turned slowly and grinned at the man who stood there with his arms crossed in the doorway. "Nick!" Ava smiled and quickly crossed the room and found herself in the arms of one of her favorite people in the entire world. "Hey, kid. How are you holding up?" "Fine, I've talked to Nat and Clint. I figured you were okay... they would have told me otherwise..." The man hadn't let her go yet, but now he gave her a gentle squeeze and released her. "You look good, Ava. I'm glad Oregon treated you well." Fury gestured for them to sit and the girl took a moment to study her guardian. "I can't say the same for you, Nick. New York doesn't suit you. I think you should stick to D.C., where I can keep an eye on you." The man chuckled, shaking his head. "Natasha taught you well, kid. But you forgot who taught her most of what she knows." Ava inwardly cursed and gave him a sweet smile. "To answer your question... you will be staying here in D.C. for the final stages of your training. I already have a lab picked out for you and in two weeks you can start. I don't expect it will take Romanov very long to get here, you two can start moving into your new apartment as soon as she shows up. We're bumping up your training, five months in a small lab in the science and medical building and then three months of field missions, supervised before you're allowed to be called anything but a trainee. After that we'll discuss what kind of positions are open. There aren't any medical field team positions open in the foreseeable future but that might change, if not perhaps we can look at other field team positions." The man raised an eyebrow and Ava shook her head. "Nick, we have already had this discussion. I'm set in my ways and I know what I want." "And I'm much more set in my ways than you are, we both know that I can normally get what I want."

Two days later Ava was sitting in her hotel room, flipping through channels and frowning. Natasha needed to get here soon, the apartment was all lined up. She had things she needed to talk to the redhead about. Of course she hadn't called, that would have been rude and who knew would pick up the phone, it had been extremely awkward to call Tony Stark and Ava had vowed to never trust a number given to her by Nick again. Ava huffed and curled up in the soft white sheets, closing her eyes. Half an hour later there was a dip in the bed and the girl reached for the pistol that had been left for her between the head board and the mattress. Her eyes opened to see the gun pointed at a body and beyond that familiar green eyes and a casual smirk. "Ava, I already emptied the chamber." "Ugh!" The girl rolled over and huffed. "I haven't seen you in six months, Nat, and you are already sneaking up on me and emptying my guns." She sat up in bed and glared, before bursting into a fit of giggles. "You need to work on your conscious awareness." "You... you need... to learn how... to knock..." Ava had to take deep breaths to contain her laughter. When the girl stopped Natasha pulled her into a hug. "I've missed you, Без перевода (little bird). Six months is too long, I worried about you constantly." "I was safe, you and Nick made sure I was. Besides, who in their right minds would mess with me?" Natasha laughed.

Clint was correct in his assumption that Natasha would disappear in a few days, it only took two. But no one seemed to mind. Tony kept making a comment about how "the kid's" guardians were the director of SHEILD and an assassin. He wanted Clint to film the first time she brought a boy home. He also wanted to talk to her, wanted to set up a lunch for his new niece. Bruce had expressed some interest in seeing her files and the day that Natasha left for wherever she was going, he found a thick envelope outside his door. He was slowly reading through it and made notes every morning at the breakfast table. Clint got three calls from Ava over the next week, she kept telling him to go home and tell his kids that their aunt would be down to see them soon. "I've already got their Christmas presents picked out, Clint. I better be invited to Christmas dinner." His reply was the same each time, "As long as you get me and Laura something you're welcome. And make sure you bring your dirt cake." One morning even Steve peeked over Bruce's shoulder, frowning at the file picture. "She looks so young." He shook his head but didn't make a move to leave. Bruce went to turn the page and hesitated, "Steve... They took pictures of the day they found her. They're pretty gruesome. I had to take a break after I first saw them." The blonde just nodded and gestured for him to turn the page. Steve only looked at the first page, seeing four small children, thin as rails and wearing what looked like track suits. The boys were only wearing pants and you could count most of their ribs. They were in a lab setting and he could see SHEILD agents in the corners, waiting for the picture to be taken so they could start helping them. The girl caught his attention immediately, she wasn't looking at the camera, but someone to the side of it. "She didn't take her eyes off of Natasha. The entire time she looked between her and Fury. The two most intimidating people and she latched on to them." Clint was there, looking at the pictures from across the table and smiled. "Kid must not have been afraid of much." Steve said, gaining a small bit of admiration for the girl. "Either that or the monsters from before were a lot bigger and scarier that they were." Bruce said, but the looks from both Steve and Clint had him looking down and apologizing. Clint sighed and sat down, "Ava's never been scared of anyone. You'd like her, Bruce. She wouldn't even flinch if you turned into the hulk right in front of her." The scientists lips turned up for a moment. "I'll try and not test that theory." "She isn't afraid of anything?" Steve asked, frowning. That could be bad for a kid like her. "She's not a fan of labs... Or needles. Nat's taught her to be cautious, not so trusting of everyone, but she's still not really afraid of much. Ava's pretty good at hiding it too, you'd never know it. Natasha has taught her really, really well."

Ava turned the keys of apartment 111 and opened the door, grinning at Natasha who stood to the side with one of the few boxes that she had had brought over from her old apartment. The young woman held open the door as the red head maneuvered in with the big box. Looking around Ava frowned. There was a nice looking couch in the living room, but nothing else. It was the same when she peeked into the two bedrooms, one had a small green bedside table and the other a bed frame. There was a kitchen table at Natasha's old place, so they didn't have to worry about that, or a fridge. But the apartment was still bare for the most part and Nat didn't have decorations, just the minimum. "We've got our work cut out for us." Natasha said after dropping off her box into the room with the bed frame. "I get the walk-in bathroom, you get the big closet." The red head added as she went down to get another box. "So... I'm guessing we're taking a trip to IKEA?" Ava shouted after her.