𝐑𝐄𝐃 ▹ romanoff

𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍.

𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍.

❝ brunch plans ❞

"THAT IS A CHILD."

"Very observant of you, Mr. Wilson." Ana quirked a brow at the man.

"My bad. I'm just not the best with kids."

"Lucky for you, I am." Steve chuckled. The girl grinned before taking a bite of her toast. After they had escaped the military base, Steve took them to Sam Wilson in order to seek refuge. Ana thought he was a funny man, despite being awkward by the fact two Avengers and a pre-teen were in his house.

Her chocolate brown irises shifted to the side, accidentally locking with Natasha's green ones. Ana quickly looked back down to her food. They hadn't talked at all after the incident. Anastasia knew that her mother was giving her time and space, but what she really wanted were answers. So, she would have to confront the woman first – which, honestly, made her extremely nervous.

As the three adults discussed the next parts of their plan, the girl slowly sipped her apple juice. She heard how Sam had lost his colleague in a mission with his para-rescue team, and that he wanted to help Steve in stopping HYDRA. So, that lead to the decision that they would break into a facility and steal a piece of high-tech equipment. They all left to their rooms to get ready, but Ana followed Natasha into hers.

"N-Natasha?" Now that she knew the truth, nothing stopped her from calling the woman "mom". But it felt weird, because did Natasha even want to be her mother?

"Ana," The older red-head breathed out, signalling for the girl to continue.

"Did you- Do you-" Anastasia almost huffed in frustration. In the corner of her eye, she spotted the figure of her father. He watched the two with a fond smile, nodding in encouragement of his daughter. "Did you ever want to... be my mother?"

Natasha stopped breathing for a moment. Anastasia thought that she abandoned her own child – which wasn't entirely true. "Of course I do, sweetheart."

"Then why did you leave me?" Her eyes had begun to sting. She didn't mean for the anger to lace her words.

"I didn't want to," The former assassin started, tears of her own starting to well up. "It was the only way I could keep you safe."

Anastasia noticed how her voice broke. Her cheeks were now stained with tears, glistening against her fair skin. She bit her lip, attempting to stop them from trembling. This time, she wasn't crying from sadness or anger. She was happy.

"Do you still want to be my mother?" It came out as a whisper, but it was the only thing Natasha could hear. Overjoyed, she nodded, embracing the young girl. She breathed out a laugh through her tears, as did Anastasia. "Can I call you mom?"

"Please do."

"Okay," Ana's cheeks were hurting from smiling so hard, "mom."

↽──♕──⇁

"Throw him off again!" The girl clapped and jumped as her mother kicked Jasper Sitwell off the rooftop. Natasha smirked at her daughter's words before turning to Steve.

"Oh, wait. What about that girl from accounting, Laura...?"

"Lillian. Lip piercing, right?" Steve corrected.

"Yeah, she's cute."

"Yeah, I'm not ready for that." Suddenly, Sam, in his Falcon jet-pack suit with wings, flew up while holding Sitwell and threw him down on the roof. Steve and Natasha walked up to the agent, who held up his hands in fear.

"Zola's algorithm is a program...for choosing Insight's targets!"

"What targets?" Steve interrogated.

"You! A TV anchor in Cairo, the Undersecretary of Defence, a high school valedictorian in Iowa City. Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA! Now, or in the future. Including that kid!" Natasha stood in front of Ana protectively, the latter weirdly holding a scary look in her eyes. Sitwell visibly sweated, quivering at the expression on the girl's face.

"Can I kick him off the roof this time?" Steve and Natasha looked at Ana, concerned. Until she smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. "It looks fun."

Sitwell finished his explanation of Project Insight, leading to all 5 of them on their way to the Triskelion. It was pretty cramped in the car, but it was suddenly more spacious once Sitwell was pulled out of his seat by the Winter Soldier.

"Wait, what?" Then, the chaos began.

The Winter Soldier threw Sitwell into the oncoming traffic, killing him instantly. Natasha quickly covered her daughter's eyes in order to protect her from the sight. The assassin started shooting at the car, making Anastasia try her best not to go back to that memory. She was much too busy trying to survive. The girl couldn't suppress her scream as the car halted, crashing into another car, before the Winter Soldier yanked the steering wheel through the windscreen.

Sam swore, receiving glares from Steve and Natasha as there was a child in the car. Ana only blinked in confusion. The next thing she knew, she was sliding on a car door through the streets. They all ran in different directions, with Anastasia following Natasha. She squealed when the assassin began shooting at them, using her precognition to avoid getting hurt. Natasha managed to shoot him in his eye goggle mask, giving them enough time to run away. However, this only meant that the HYDRA agent would come for them.

As the assassin was distracted by a voice recording, the woman jumped onto his back, attempting to kill him. He threw her off, causing Natasha to run with Anastasia. They weaved in the crowd of civilians, trying to get them to move out of the way. Ana noticed that the ghosts of the Imperial family began to push the civilians out of the way – somehow. Suddenly, Natasha cried out, with Ana realising her mother had been shot.

"Mom!" The girl turned from Natasha to the Winter Soldier, taking her out her ribbon and whipping it to wrap around his shooting arm. The assassin glared at her before noticing that she was just a young child. Ana manoeuvred the ribbon to disarm the man of his weapon before Steve jumped in and attacked him.

While the two fought, the young princess helped her mother up from the ground, applying pressure to her bleeding shoulder. Ana turned back to Steve, worried, when she saw that the Winter Soldier's mask had come off. He hesitated, realising it was Bucky Barnes, his childhood friend. But he seemed different.

Before they all knew it, the assassin had fled the scene, and they were all surrounded by STRIKE agents. They were ushered into a van, now being held in custody. Anastasia let out a dramatic sigh.

"There goes my brunch plans."