***Warehouse, Indiana***

The sky was dark and the night was semi quiet. Perfect setting for a recon mission.

A bird shaped drone hovered through a broken window, high in an abandoned warehouse. This drone was Redwing. He flew down into the building and scanned throughout the whole building. The findings, no people.

"All clear," Sam Wilson's voice said on a com.

From a skylight, a rope dropped reaching all the way down. From this line, Natasha, in full Black Widow gear slid down. As she did, another person dropped past her reaching the ground before her. This person hit the ground with a thud, landing square on his feet.

This person was Steve, in his dark blue stealth suit and shield in hand. Natasha soon touched down and met his side before letting go of the line. And just behind her was the third of their party, Sam.

"Fan out, see what you can find," Steve humbly ordered. Still, he showed concern for them, "But watch your six. We don't know what Mace might've left behind. Or who."

They nodded - or at least Sam did - and split up to investigate.

With five stories to cover, they surveyed the ground floor first, but found nothing. Then they moved up to the second, but found nothing there either. Their search seemed to be coming up dry as they made their way to the third.

Like the others, they found pretty much nothing. That is, until-

"Hey, Cap! Nat!" Sam called out to the rest of his party.

They came to him and found him standing at a table and soon saw why he called them; on the table before him was a laptop.

They were all skeptical, but having the least amount of fear, Natasha went ahead and opened the laptop. As soon as she did, the screen lit up and words came up.

"Hello there, Captain." It was Mace. "So glad you could drop in!"

"Is this live?" Sam asked, even looking around for cameras.

"Recorded message," Natasha stated as the message continued.

"If you're seeing this, then you have decided to follow me, as I thought you might. Now, you will have to suffer the consequences...as will your kids."

A cold chill ran up their spines at the mention of the Twins. The parent instincts of Natasha kicked in as she pulled out a phone and dialed for Bucky. The line rang and rang but she received no answer.

"I'm not getting anything from Bucky!" She exclaimed, her voice cracking a little out of worry.

"But you shouldn't worry about them right now," Mace continued on the video, "You've got more pressing matters of your own at the moment. As you can see, the building you are in has been vacated. But by no means is it not in use."

A hint of confusion hit the trio. What did he mean by that?

Suddenly, beeping could be heard behind them. Following the sound, they soon found explosives on the hidden sides of the pillars and some on the ceilings above them.

"Sh**!" Sam exclaimed.

Quickly, he grabbed the two of them and tried to fly out the way they came in through the roof. But they were too heavy.

Hitting the ground running, Natasha took off to find another route.

"Get outta here! We'll meet you outside." Steve told Sam, beginning to follow his wife.

"Steve!" Sam said, wanting to contradict. He didn't want to leave his friends behind.

"Go!" Steve bellowed, ushering him to go. Reluctantly, he did so. Running to the next ledge, Sam jumped and flew up towards the skylight.

"I told you, Captain," the video continued, with Mace's face smirking cockily, "It wouldn't end well for you if you followed me."

With not many places to run to, Nat ran for a window down a hall. Steve saw it too and followed suit.

The bleeping kept going for a few more seconds before finally...


The outside of the building was quiet when-

💥💥💥[EXPLOSION]💥💥💥


***Farmhouse | St. Petersburg, Russia***

Major headache. That's what Jamie felt as he woke up. He'd had some headaches in his day, but this one was brutal. Then again, it was a brutal fall he took.

As he opened his eyes, his eyelids felt heavy. Multiple times, he opened and closed them, and with each time, his eyelids slowly became lighter and lighter. When they were finally able to stay open, Jamie looked around and took in his surroundings. From the looks of it, he was in a bedroom in a bed. As to who's, he didn't know but he could tell it was a room for a boy. Blue walls, a few posters, and some plane and car memorabilia.

As he looked around, Jamie's mind began to swarm with questions. Where was he? Where were Nikki and Shaun? It was that last one that really woke him and made him move to action.

He rolled over, groaning as he did, until his feet were hanging off the side of the bed. It was then he realized he was in some different clothes; a red t-shirt and long denim pants. Seeing this aroused even more questions. Who's clothes were these? Where were his other clothes? And his gear, too! His wrist gauntlet was gone! Also...who changed him?

Getting to his feet, Jamie's legs wobbled a little as they slowly woke up. He soon got them back as step-by-step, he made his way out of the room. He soon found a set of stairs and descended them into a living room. It seemed to be a nice house from the looks of it. But Jamie knew that looks could be deceiving. Plus, he didn't want to trust anything until he found his friends.

"Hello?" He called out into the house. But he received no answer. He tried again, "Nikki? Shaun?"

Suddenly, Jamie was tackled to the ground. Swiftly, he flipped over, ready to deal with whatever threat had found him. But if this was a threat, it was a cute one. For on top of him was a fuzzy, and playful dog.

The animal licked Jamie's face profusely, gaining laughter from the teen as he held the canine back. "Okay, okay! Easy, boy!"

Eventually, the lick attack stopped and Jamie was able to see and read the collar on the dog's neck.

"Fanny," Jamie read it aloud. Hearing the name caused the dog, or rather, Fanny, to perk her head up. Jamie saw this and smiled. "That your name, girl?"

At that, Fanny whined and shook her tail happily. This gave Jamie some comfort. It also made him think; whoever was here must've been somewhat peaceful to have a dog that didn't attack him on sight.

"Ah, you're up!"

Jamie was pulled from his thoughts as he saw a woman come from the same direction as Fanny, through a kitchen connected to the living room.

Getting back to his feet, Jamie pet Fanny once again as he kept his eyes on the woman. The more he stared, the more he recognized her from when Nikki showed him pictures from their mother's scrapbook.

Melina.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, a caring smile on her lips.

Realizing his stare had been holding, Jamie cleared his throat before replying. "Like I got hit by a truck."

At that, Melina chuckled. "Almost, little one. Actually, it was bus. And it didn't hit you, you hit it."

This made Jamie think back. It was a little fuzzy, but then he remembered. He was shielding Nikki and Shaun from a gas blast, via grenade. He also remembered the force of it hitting his shield, pushing him back, into the air, and off the highway. And then, blackout.

This begged yet another question...

"How did I get here?" Jamie asked.

Before answering, Melina pulled out a chair and motioned for Jamie to sit before she went further into the kitchen. His defenses were slowly coming down, plus his gut told him to trust this woman. So he walked over to the table a took a seat.

"We found you as those men were moving in on you and your friends, and we intervened," Melina explained.

That answered his question. But another quickly came to Jamie. "Where are they, my sister and our friend?"

Another smile came to Melina as she heard the concern in his voice. "They're fine. Nikki is out with Yelena in the barn and your friend Shaun, Alexei is teaching him to chop wood."

As she explained, she poured some kind of tea into a mug. Melina then brought it to the table and set it in front of Jamie, along with two small white pills.

"For your headache," she said, cupping his chin before sitting down at the table as well.

Jamie followed her instructions and took the pills and took a sip of the tea to down them. Melina watched the teen do this as a mother would her cub. In this moment, she was taken back to the 90s when Natasha and Yelena were just kids. Natasha was still young but she was already a major part of the Black Widow program. Even as a kid, barely ten years of age, she would have to be briefed and learn her cover, fake identity, and more.

She didn't really want to do it, but she didn't have much of a choice. But that was where Melina went beyond her duties as a "fake mother." Some nights, when Natasha would lay in bed crying from the many anxieties crushing her, Melina would bring her to the kitchen and give her a little pick-me-up. Sometimes tea, sometimes leftover pizza, cake, or she would just listen to the little girl.

Though she didn't speak it aloud - especially around her superiors- it hurt Melina to see the children put through this. But with that hurt also came amazement. She was amazed at how Natasha kept going. Despite the many pressures, the tests, the torture... the ripping away of her innocence, she fought on and on.

To this day, it amazed Melina. And now, here sat a boy whose hair was as red as his mother's and who had an equally strong spirit. The same went for Nikki as well. She was amazed at how these young ones had made it on their own. Not just to Baltimore, but through the past ten years without their parents.

And it was from this that she felt pride for them. For her grandchildren.

"Thank you, ma'am," Jamie said to her.

Again, the woman smiled at him. He definitely had the manners of his father. "You're welcome, Jamie."

He was about to say more when-

"JAMIE!" A voice from behind shrieked.

Jamie turned around just in time to see Nikki crash into his arms and embrace him with everything in her. Surprised at first but so happy to see her, Jamie hugged his sister back.

"I'm so glad you're okay." She cried into his shoulder.

Jamie, still smiling, snuffed at that. "Same here, but about you."

A few seconds or so later, Jamie opened his eyes and saw the three standing and watching behind Nikki. As the hug broke, the twins acknowledged the other three's presence.

First was Shaun, obviously, who was happy to have his friend alive and well in front of him. Then, Nikki introduced their "aunt" Yelena, and their "grandfather" Alexei. Or "Poppa", as Nikki liked to call him.

Jamie normally shook people's hands when he met them, but that didn't happen as he was immediately pulled into a bear hug by Alexei. Jamie was used to being hugged by tall men as his father and uncles were of good height, but Alexei was taller and bigger than any of them. So much so that he could barely reach around the man's body. But that didn't stop him from returning the hug all the same.

The hug soon gave way a little and then another came by way of Yelena.

"I'm glad you're okay," she told him. And he smiled and hugged her back.

"Well, it has been long day and I think we all could use some good food." Melina spoke up, standing from her chair, "So, who's hungry?"


The next couple of hours were spent well. As dinner was prepared, everyone had a share. Shaun set the table with Jamie, Yelena cut some onions( groaning and cussing in Russian as her eyes began to sting), and Alexei was stuck making a salad. Not the job he wanted, but his wife had spoken. As for Nikki, she worked closely with Melina as she combined the chopped onions with the meat and was at the stove, listening to the sizzling of the cooking meat.

A little job Melina gave her was to boil some pasta, which she did.

Within the next hour, the six were all seated at the table, ready to eat. They were about to dig in when Nikki objected.

"Shouldn't we say grace?" She asked.

Her query caught them by surprise, but they followed her lead and bowed their heads.

"Thank you, Father, for this food, for letting us be here to enjoy it, and the people you've brought into our lives...our new family."

As they listened, the grownups couldn't help the smiles that came. The sweet words of this girl truly melted their hearts.

"Let this food nourish us and please forgive us where we fall short. Amen."

A hearty "AMEN!" came from all around the table before they all dug in. The meal turned out to be pasta with the meat they had cooked. And it came out well seasoned and juicy mixed well with the sauce and the salad as well.

A series of small talk sparked amongst them as they ate. The subject jumped from how old the kids were to their hobbies, favorite song, food, etc. Some jokes were slipped in here and there and laughter would fill the room, then it would become a bit emotional, and then the mood would pick up again.

Like the events of the day, it went all over. Still, though, it was a great evening.


And so, the twins are now with their surrogate family, as well as Shaun. 😌Peaceful, as it should be. Sorry for the long hiatus, on these earlier fics, I've been busy with other stuff, but I'm not done as you know. ;)

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, a nice little something after the rough action in the last chapter. But there was still some heavy stuff at the outset of it. Are Steve, Nat, and Sam dead? And what's going to happen to the kids now? What about Mace? What about their mission? 👀👀

All of these and more will be answered in the chapters to come. 😉👍

See y'all soon. 😌