The closest thing to a daughter

Season 1 Episode 29

Until late in the afternoon, Abigail slept peacefully through the night without a single nightmare. What on the one hand was a miracle but also on the other hand no surprise. After all, only rarely there was a night without a nightmare and sleep through was virtually a foreign word. But yesterday it had been six o'clock in the morning, when she had finally fallen asleep on the couch. But her rest, was soon to be groaned, as Natasha entered the room dressed in a black tank top to wake her. She was already in the middle of party preparations, because even if she thought Tony's idea was at least as bad, she knew that discussions were just a waste of time. "Come on, Abigail, get up, the party starts in 30 minutes," she whispered quietly, shaking the little one awake lightly by the shoulder. There must have been four galaxies between that wake up and the last one, showing how much their relationship had improved. However, Abigail's unenthusiastic reaction had not changed a bit. She let out a sigh and once again pulled her blanket over her head to just go back to sleep. "Nooo! I'm tired," she whined at the thought of the upcoming party. She had never been to Tony's parties before - not even to any at all, but she could imagine all too well with his character how over-the-top the party would be. Thinking of her last attempt to wake the little one, Nat laughed and pulled the blanket off her head, just as she had then. "Of course you are... All you've done all day is sleep," she said wryly but still in an affectionate way. "I'm glad we agree," she countered knowing full well how it was meant and raised her thumb up with her eyes closed. "And you're not wearing a hoodie and jeans," she admonished laughing at Abi's gestures and tossing a pillow in her direction to finally get her off her feet now. "What?!" she exclaimed, playfully shocked, suddenly sitting candles straight on the couch. The pillow was followed by a short black dress with spaghetti straps, which landed directly on her red fuzzy head. "Come on, hurry up and change."

"But..."
"No buts, you wear it."
"...Fine."

Reluctantly, Abigail disappeared into the bathroom and slipped into the shower first. So, since the party was actually supposed to start in twenty-five minutes she had to hurry and quickly put on the dress and made light waves. The smell of alcohol and the loud melody of Payphone hit her in the face as she stepped into the hall full of unknown guests. Overwhelmed by all the people crowded closely together, she made her way along to keep an eye out for Natasha - or at least any familiar face. She found her finally of course at the Baar and she was glad to see her. "Well, Abigail, are you enjoying the party?" she was greeted by the very same as she dropped onto the barstool. Apparently Nat had volunteered-or perhaps been forced-by Tony to step in as Baar's boss, because she stood leaning behind the bar with a drink between her fingers. "I mean... I just got here, but sure," she gave not quite convinced herself by way of reply, and was studying the menu of alcoholic drinks when Tasha also offered her this hope of getting through the evening better. "By the way, no drinking tonight." With that, Natasha fished the card out of Abigail's fingers and placed it behind the counter out of her reach. "Really Nat? That's lame," she mewled mockingly, crossing her arms. "I'm serious, Abigail, you're only seventeen."

"Yeah, well -" she was about to start a lecture about how Natasha's drinking behavior wasn't exactly the best example there, when all at once Danny came up to the two women. "Hello Abigail," he greeted her with wide eyes, while he looked her up and down. The dress was a bit too big for her, since she was shorter than Nat and of course the dress actually belonged to her. But that didn't make her look any less good. "Oh hey Dinsono," she greeted him as well and smiled at him. "I didn't expect to see you here," he said honestly, voicing Abigail's thoughts as well. What was he doing here? Not that she didn't like him, no but she was confused about his presence anyway. "Oh yeah, I'm full of surprises," she winked at him, a variation she'd seen Natasha use to make guys nervous. And it worked even better than she had originally expected. "I need to find someone, but I'll talk to you later," he stuttered awkwardly, disappearing into the crowd at the same time. At Natasha's grin, she realized what was about to come but immediately choked it off, "Don't say it."

"I ship it."
"Nat!"