The Avengers Are My Family

Drew's Birthday

The last week has flown by for everyone! Drew can't believe that tomorrow is her birthday! Little does she know that the Avengers have two big surprises for her.

The first big surprise is that the Avengers have been having secret meetings discussing Drew and adopting her for the last week. By an immediately unanimous vote, they officially adopted her on July 7th. Peter is legally too young to adopt Drew, so he didn't sign the papers. He was also not allowed in the meetings because he is prone to letting secrets slip. Peter will find out when Drew does, which will be double the priceless reaction. They decided that they are going to tell her that they adopted her on her birthday! They arranged for everyone to sign to papers since Drew has grown close with all of them. Of course, she prefers some of them more than others, but she loves them equally. The one person that had to ask someone before signing is Clint because he has a wife and three kids. After a few conversations and zero convincing, Laura told Clint to go ahead and sign the adoption papers. Clint mostly had to ask because Drew would be half-siblings with Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel, and she would technically be Laura's kid too. The adoption certificate and a note explaining are in an envelope wrapped up. The plan is for Drew to open it and read the letter, and that's how she finds out.

The second big surprise is Cass, AJ, Lila, and Cooper are coming to the compound to celebrate Drew's birthday! Their parents are, of course, coming because kids can't go everywhere by themselves. A Quinjet was sent to Cass and AJ's house, and a Quinjet was sent to Clint's house. The kids are arriving at 5:00. Plus, they're sleeping over! The fact that they're coming has to remain a secret until they walk in the door. The kids will find out that the Avengers adopted Drew while they're over later.

It's 11:00 PM the night before Drew's birthday, and Drew is wide awake in her bed as most kids are the night before their birthday. She was sent to bed at 8:00. She has her galaxy ceiling on and is staring at it. She has Friday playing some music. It's not calming lyric-less music as it would be for most people. It's songs like Never Grow Up by Taylor Swift and Scars To Your Beautiful by Alessia Cara. Eventually, Drew falls asleep, and Friday turns off the galaxy ceiling and turns the music off.

At 2:00 AM, once everyone is sure that Drew is asleep, they sneak into her room and place lots of streamers and balloons of all different colors all over her room. There are even some mylar balloons with fun designs on them. After carefully placing the balloons and streamers so Drew won't wake up, everyone tiptoes out of Drew's room and closes her door again. They silently high five each other before going to their rooms.

The following day is Drew's birthday, and everyone is up early. Steve, Bucky, and Sam went out for a run and came back and got cleaned up. The girls have organized all of Drew's presents on the coffee table in the living room. Everyone except Nat, who will be doing Drew's hair, will be downstairs and shout Happy Birthday when Drew walks out of the elevator.

Drew wakes up at 7:00 AM to a rainbow of balloons and streamers. She smiles and jumps out of bed. She quickly makes her bed and showers. She gets dressed in her favorite red jumpsuit and walks into her hallway. "Nat?" asks Drew. "Happy Birthday, Drew!" says Nat hugging her. "Thank you!" says Drew. "I take it you want your hair done?" asks Nat. "Yep!" says Drew. "I thought so!" says Nat. Then the two of them walk into Drew's bathroom, and Nat does French braids as usual. For the last week, Drew's had French braids every other day. On the days when she isn't wearing them, she has her hair in a ponytail. Nat puts white ribbons on the ends of her braids. Then the two girls walk down the hall to the elevator. "Happy Birthday, Drew! Where to?" says Friday. "Thank you, Friday! To the main area, please!" says Drew. "On it!" says Friday.

The elevator doors open, and Drew is shocked to see a massive banner that says, Happy Birthday Drew!!!!!!! She also sees a million more balloons and streamers, all of the Avengers smiling, and a pile of pancakes of all of Drew's favorite flavors on the kitchen/dining room table. "Happy Birthday Drew!!!" shouts everyone in unison. "Thank you so much for all of this and my bedroom! It's already the best birthday ever!" says Drew as she walks up to everyone and starts hugging them. "I'm glad you think it's the best birthday ever! However, we're just getting started!" says Tony. "Seriously?! All of this plus my bedroom is considered just getting started?!" says Drew. Everyone is barely able to contain their excitement. They all nod to Drew's question. "You wanna start with your presents?" asks Wanda. "I get presents?" asks Drew. "Yes!!!" says everyone in unison. They all gesture to the mountain of presents on the coffee table, and Drew is speechless. In the Red Room and Hydra, her birthday was never acknowledged. She has never had gifts before she met the Avengers. She walks over to the coffee table, and everyone else sits on the couch facing Drew.