Sasha woke up with the sun, rising up over the tall Manhattan skyscrapers, streaming through her bedroom window. She quickly lifted her hand to block out the July morning sun, before rolling over and burying herself underneath her pillow, in an attempt to get back to sleep. She had had a rough night, tossing and turning as she tried to block out the images of her Dad and her Dad's partner, Bobbie being captured. Every time she had closed her eyes, images of their tormented faces had appeared. In the end she had managed to get a couple of hours sleep by digging out her old baby blanket and cuddly toy. She had clutched the well worn toy bird close to her chest, whilst wrapping herself up into a cocoon, surrounded by her Dad's comforting smell, trying to imagine that he was there next to her, his arms, instead of the blanket, wrapped around her.

Her stomach gave a low loud groan, causing the eleven year old to reluctantly through off her purple duvet and head out of her room into the apartment. Sasha noticed that the guest room door, the room the mysterious Agent Romanoff was staying in, was open. Upon looking inside she discovered the room empty and the bed looking like it had not been slept in.

'JARVIS, where is Agent Romanoff?' she asked the all knowing AI

'Agent Romanoff is currently in the main kitchen' JARVIS replied.

'Thanks' Sasha stated before heading out of her apartment and down the flights of stairs to the main kitchen area which was used by all of the Avengers living in the tower. Her stomach rumbled again, demanding food. Last night's dinner had been a very awkward affair. The quietest dinner Sasha had ever known in the tower. Everyone had kept shooting Agent Romanoff fugitive looks when they thought she was not looking, whilst the Agent had merely kept her head down and picked at the food Bruce had cooked. Even though Bruce had cooked one of her favourite stir-fries, Sasha had not felt like eating, her stomach churning as she worried about her dad.

Sasha came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs as she watched her Uncle Steve exit the nearby elevator and head into the kitchen. She silently walked towards to the door, trying to overhear the conversation that had started between Uncle Steve and Agent Romanoff. From what she had overheard whilst up in the vents yesterday, there was clearly a history between Agent Romanoff and the rest of the Avengers and she was curious to know more. Out of all the avengers and the dinner table, Uncle Steve had been shooting the deadliest glares at the Agent. Practising the techniques her Dad had started to teach her, Sasha bent down, out of sight and started to listen in.

'...Thank you Maks, I'll see you tomorrow...bye' Natasha said in her native Russian, before ending the call. She then turned her attention back to the cup of tea she had been trying to make before the phone call, only to discover a certain Captain America looking at her expectantly.

'Was that to do with Clint and Agent Morse?' he asked, walking towards the fridge and pulling out some orange juice

'No- personal business' Natasha replied

The Captain raised an eyebrow, the Black Widow he had known from 10 years ago hadn't really had much personal business besides her relationship with Clint.

'And it is none of your concern' the Russian stated firmly 'none'

'It is if it concerns Sasha'

'Well it doesn't' Natasha said, before turning away from Steve.

Steve now looked Natasha's back. A white bandage wrapped around her shoulder was visible through the black tank top she was wearing. Looking closer, just where her short sandy blond coloured hair brushed the top of her shoulder blades, he could see spots of blood dotted on the bandage.

'Is did you get shot?' he asked

'Yes, well grazed' she replied 'Did you have a good work out this morning?' she asked, trying to strike up a civilised conversation with the captain.

'You know maybe you should get Bruce to look at it' Steve stated 'you realise it's bleeding'

'Damn!' Natasha swore, reaching up behind her head to gingerly feel her wound. 'I must have pulled some of the stitches when I was checking out the towers security system this morning.'

'I wouldn't call 2am this morning Agent Romanoff' came the smug voice of Tony Stark entering the kitchen, followed by his wife Pepper.

'I did tell you I was going to do it and what better time than when the tower is most vulnerable' Natasha stated taking a sip of her rapidly cooling tea. 'So how did you find out?'

'JARVIS told me after I woke up this morning. I asked for the night's report as usual and he said you had been scaling the side of the tower. Did you have trouble sleeping?'

'Well I have discovered several holes in your security, details of which I'll pass onto you once I've spoken to Agent Carter' Natasha replied, completely ignoring Tony's question and putting down her cup of tea down on the counter.

'You couldn't be losing sleep because you feel guilty being back here?' Tony asked continuing to press the Russian assassin.

'Would you believe me if I said I had jet lag?' Natasha countered as she started to stand up and make her way out of the kitchen and away from Tony Stark and his annoying questions. She thought she had told both Stark and the Captain yesterday not to push the subject. Obviously Tony had forgotten

'So you don't feel guilty at all for abandoning your husband and baby daughter to go off and do God knows what for ten years'

'Stark, don't start this now' Natasha stated heading towards the door and wishing, not for the first time since entering the tower, that she was allowed to shoot or seriously maim the annoying billionaire.

'You know Romanoff, just when I think I can begin to understand you, you come out from completely left field and do something really unexpected.' Tony said, leaning on the counter and looking directly at the retreating Russian. 'Your husband is missing and you are now watching over Sasha, the daughter you haven't seen in over ten years. Do you have any feelings?'

Natasha stopped still.

Over her many years at S.H.I.E.L.D, her ice cold demeanour and cool emotionless mask, had led to many whisperings that she was completely devoid of feelings. In the early days, these mutterings had not bothered her. No showing her emotions had been drummed into her from an early age and she was ice on the inside as well as on the outside. However over the years with S.H.I.E.L.D and being partners and eventually marrying Clint, she had thawed on the inside. The cold, emotionless exterior was now a coping mechanism.

At this moment in time, whilst she was displaying a cool calm exterior, her insides were in turmoil. She was deeply worried about Clint. He should not have been captured, it was not his mission. Fury was an idiot to put Clint and his partner Bobbie on a mission which was meant for her. The director of S.H.I.E.L.D should have been more patient with her shoulder injury and not Clint and Bobbie on a mission against people they did not know well.

Also she was worried about Sasha. She had heard her daughter tossing and turning last night, but did not have the courage to go and comfort her. She could kill a man just with her thighs in her sleep but mother an eleven year old girl made Natasha feel completely out of her depth. So instead of going into Sasha's room, she had told JARVIS to keep monitoring her daughter whilst she checked out the tower's security system, trying to keep Sasha safe the only way she knew how.

Now with Tony's probing questions, Natasha could feel her cool facade breaking and herself slipping. She slipped her hand to her belt and fingered to knife she always kept there. With one flick of her wrist, she could send the knife flying towards Tony Stark.

Natasha was jolted out of her slightly murderous thoughts by a small voice, which cut through the loud noisy kitchen.

'So you're my mother?'

Sasha was enjoying the conversation she was overhearing from her position near the kitchen door. She had had to move when Uncle Tony and Aunt Pepper had arrived but had soon returned to her hiding place to listen in on the extremely interesting talk Uncle Tony was now having with Agent Romanoff. She could not believe that to formidable looking woman had a husband and a child. However what she heard next shocked her.

No

Not possible

Why hadn't they told her?

How could Agent Romanoff be her mother?

Sasha sank to the floor, taking in deep breaths, as all of these thoughts swirled around her head. After a second she shakily raised herself back to her feet and somewhat nervously shuffled into the kitchen.

'So you're my mother?' she asked, trying to sound brave, wanting to clarify what she had overheard.

Sasha could see Agent Romanoff stop and pause before taking a deep breath

'Yes Saskia I am' Agent Romanoff stated softly

'But how? What are you doing back here? You abandoned me! You abandoned Dad!' Sasha exclaimed looking around the kitchen. 'And the rest of you knew?' she asked in disgust turning to Tony, Pepper and Steve 'and you didn't think to tell me that the woman who was supposed to be protecting me is the same one who just disappeared off in the middle of the night without a trace, leaving behind her baby daughter and husband!'

'Now Sasha, please listen-' Steve started trying to calm his obviously distressed Goddaughter down

'I told them not to tell you Saskia' Natasha interrupted; drawing the angry eleven year old's attention back to the woman who apparently gave birth to her.

'I can't listen to this anymore' Sasha stated, walking backwards out of the room, tears starting to fall down her face. 'I need to think' and with that she turned and ran out of the room.

'Nice gone Stark' Natasha said angrily after her daughter had left the room. If only you could keep your big, fat mouth shut'. She then pulled the knife from her belt and threw it, putting all her frustration behind it, towards Tony. It flew through the air, missing Tony's ear by a whisker and imbedded itself in the wall directly behind him. The Russian assassin then turned on her heel and stalked out of the room.

Sasha ran and ran, her bare feet making a slapping sound against the white polished floors of Stark tower. Reaching one of the vent openings, she stood on a nearby plant pot before hoisting herself up inside. Once inside the vents, she scrambled through them, half blinded by tears, until she reached her father's nest, where she collapsed into a nearby pillow.

She could not believe the bomb that had just been dropped. Her mother, the person who had always been a big question mark in her life had now suddenly reappeared. What had occurred in the kitchen was completely the opposite of what she thought would happen when she finally met her mother. Sasha mentally berated herself for imagining that it would be all hugs, tears and laughter. She also imagined her mother to have the same dark curly hair that she had, but from what she could see Agent Romanoff looked nothing like her.

Sasha sat up and reached for the Stark Tablet her Dad normally kept under one of the piles of cushions. There was only one way to prove that Agent Romanoff was her mother.

'JARVIS' she whispered 'can you run a DNA test between me and Agent Romanoff?' she asked

'Miss Barton, the DNA files are heavily restricted and-'

'Please J, I have to know' Sasha begged

JARVIS sighed; he had always had a little soft spot for Miss Barton. Unlike Master Starks two terrors, Milly and Ed, she didn't go around trying to reprogram his systems all the time. 'DNA test coming right up' he stated.

'DNA test complete' the AI announced after a couple of minutes of nervous waiting on Sasha's part. 'I'm sending the results now'

Sasha looked down at the Stark Tablet she was holding tightly in her hands. 100% maternal match between Saskia Barton and Natasha Romanoff, she read in flashing green. 'Thanks JARVIS' she said, not really knowing what to think, everything that had been said in the kitchen now confirmed via science.

'Hey JARVIS, can I see my birth certificate?'

'Accessing the files now' JARVIS replied

Soon a document popped up on the Tablet screen which Sasha skimmed over quickly

Name: Saskia Alys Roksana Barton

Gender: Female

Date of Birth: 6th December 2012

Mother's Name: Natalia Alianovna Romanova Barton

Mother's Occupation: Language analyst

Father's Name: Clinton Francis Barton

Father's Occupation: Bodyguard

Sasha laughed at her parent's false occupations but she guessed you couldn't really write down, international super spies or Avengers.

'JARVIS, one last thing and then I'll stop bothering you. Can you not let everyone know where I am? I need some time alone'

'Yes Miss Barton'

And with that Sasha headed out of her Dad's nest and through the vents towards her special hiding place, but first she needed to get a couple of things.