Natasha sat alone on the living couch in the Tower, trying her best to get the ten year-old boy out of her head. He had her smile. And judging from what Bruce had said about his little prank on Tony, her sense of humor as well. She wondered what else they had in common. Natasha shook her head. Better not to dwell on that. But those eyes. God, those big blue eyes. His eyes were the color of the sky on a summer afternoon, full of hope and light, an purity that she could never have given him. But there was something else in those eyes. Determination. An inner strength like solid steel. Natasha couldn't place it, but she swore, she had seen eyes somewhere before...
Natasha snapped out of her thoughts as Bruce collapsed down on the couch with a groan. "I'm the orb research isn't going so well?"
"We haven't even made a dent in it," Bruce murmured as he rubbed his eyes.
Tony sighed as he poured a cup of coffee for Bruce and himself. "Gotta admit, it's going to be a tough nut to crack." Tony handed Bruce his coffee and sat down between the Hulk and the Black Widow. "So Mama spy, how's you're day going?"
Natasha took a long sip of her coffee. "Fine," she said coolly "My contact has some info on HYDRA, but it's going to take a while to find out if anything worth looking into." For Natasha, lying was like second nature.
"We're back!" James rushed past Natasha and jumped onto the couch next to Tony "Enjoy you wake-up call?" he asked coyly.
"You are aware that this means war?" Tony warned.
"Been that way since I was six," James countered.
"Please tell me you are not getting into a prank war with a ten year-old," Pepper pleaded as she wrapped her arms around Tony from behind the couch.
"He started it," Tony remarked immaturely.
"You are such a child," Pepper giggled as she leaned in for a kiss.
James scrunched up his face in disgust. "Eww gross!"
"Kid, one day you'll think a whole lot differently about this," Tony advised "trust me."
"Yeah right." James looked at Natasha and smiled "I got you something." James scrambled through the bags of clothes that he and Pepper had brought from the store until he found what he was looking for. A small red paper bag. "Open it."
Natasha starred at the small bag in her lap and slowly dug her hand in the white tissue paper and removed the contents inside.
It was a snowglobe, set on a wooden base, with deep intricate carvings all around. Inside the glass orb along with glitter and foam flakes, was a single object. A ballerina. She stood on one foot, her airborne leg bent so that her foot tapped the knee of the leg standing on the ground. She had one arm pointed straight up, while the other was wrapped gracefully around her waist. Natasha couldn't make out the ballerina's face, but she could see the color of her hair. Red, like fire.
James hopped back onto the couch and sat next to Natasha as she stared at the porcelain dancer. "Watch this." He reached under the wooden base and wound the small key underneath with three slow turns.
A soft melody of chimes rang out in the pattern of a song from Swan Lake, and the dancer within the glass dome began to spin. James leaned in toward Natasha and whispered in her native Russian. "I think you would've made a great ballerina."
Natasha looked at the young boy in shock, his baby blues eyes full of purity and unwavering innocence, completely unaware of how he had shaken her. For a moment, Natasha couldn't say a word. "I'm going to head into the gym," Natasha put down the snowglobe on the coffee table and quickly walk away. "Think I had a little too much caffeine. Need to work it off."
James watched as his mother walked away, the red-haired spy taking long quick strides to reach the gym as fast as possible. He glanced back at the others and saw that they were already wrapped up in their own little worlds. Tony and Bruce were talking about different ways to study the orb, using big words that James didn't have a clue on how to understand. Pepper was on her phone, talking to business execs to make up for the time she spent while shopping with James. Also using big words. They hadn't seen what had happened with Natasha and even if they had, they probably wouldn't have been able to notice it. His mother may have been a word-class spy, but when you truly know a person, it becomes very difficult for them to fully hide their feelings. The slight lift in her eyebrows. The faint change in her voice. James saw it. And he knew what it meant.
He made Natasha nervous.