To The Moon and Back (A Marvel Fanfiction)

#19 Scattered and Scrambled

The rest of the day is spent sweetly, we go outside with the whole family. There's a swing in Clint's backyard that the kids love. We chat, watch some TV, have a nice dinner...it feels so... normal. It's so nice to be welcomed into someone's home, temporarily into someone's family. Now I understand why Natasha likes this place so much.

By the time the kids are going to bed I can barely keep my eyes open. Natasha notices this and she lets me lean on her as my eyes droop.

"You want to go to bed?" She asks. Lila and Cooper are already asleep, as well as the baby. The adults and me are sitting around talking in the living room. Rather, they're talking and I'm trying not to fall asleep. Just then, we hear the pitter pats of feet down the stairs. I perk my head up. Lila quickly walks into the room with something in her hand.

Laura looks slightly exasperated, "I just put you..."

"I know mommy but this is important." Dressed in her nightgown, Lila scurries over to Natasha.

"You forgot your nightlight." Says Lila, holding out a rabbit figure with a bulb in it and a plug to Natasha.

"Thank you." Says Natasha, giving Lila a hug.

"What is that?" I ask.

"It's a nightlight. You don't know?" Lila looks at me like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well, sometimes Auntie Nat has scary dreams. And I know that whenever I have scary dreams I like to have my nightlight in case I want to run to Mommy and Daddy's room so I don't trip on something. Do you have scary dreams like Auntie Nat?"

I think of things from the lab that haunt me every time I close my eyes. The blood, the teeth of the snarling werewolves in my face, the surgical tools. I shudder and say "yes, sometimes I have scary dreams."

"Well then you can use it too!" She says. "I can show you how to..."

"You, missy, are going back to bed." Clint scoops his daughter up in his arms.

"Aw but!" Lila pouts.

"No buts!" Clint waggles his finger. "Auntie Nat can plug in the light, she's done it before. She and Katya are going to be okay."

Clint carries his little daughter up to her room.

"She's still so sweet." Says Natasha, examining the nightlight.

"She's kept that one around for you." Says Laura.

"Look." Natasha shows me the bunny. "You plug it into the wall and it lights up at night when the little sensor detects darkness. That's why it's called a nightlight."

"Oh." I say.

"Are you finding everything okay here?" Laura turns to me.

"Yes, thank you, everything has been so nice and peaceful and just wonderful." I say genuinely.

"I'm glad." Says Laura. There's some dark emotions that's she's masking. Fear, curiosity, worry, anger? I know she wants to know what I am but she doesn't say anything.

I yawn. Just then, Clint comes back downstairs.

"I think we're going to go to bed too." Says Natasha. "It's been a long day!"

"It has." I agree. I'm so physically and emotionally exhausted I could fall asleep right here.

But I don't. Because somehow I manage to take a shower and get into bed in clean clothes. Natasha braids my hair and then showers after me, and I feel myself falling asleep while she's gone.