Hydras "plan B"

~Night mommy~

2015

3rd person POV

It had now been almost 6 months since Valerie last saw her dad and was left in Natasha's care. Her birthday was in two weeks, but she didn't know that, because no one ever told her what date it was, and Bucky never knew.

So when her birthday finally came, and Natasha walked into Valerie's bedroom with a cake in her hand, Valerie didn't react as others would. "Happy Birthday, Valerie!" Natasha and the team yelled standing in the doorway.

Valerie woke up with a jerk, looking around the room for threats, having a hard time breaking the habit. When she spotted Natasha standing in the doorway, she looked at her like she had just murdered someone. "What's wrong?" Natasha asked worriedly.

"Never... ever, wake me up by screaming bloody murder." Valerie said slowly keeping eye contact with Natasha as she slowly put her pocket knife back under her pillow. Natasha who spotted the knife, grab her daughter a sheepish smile. "Sorry." Natasha replied.

Natasha POV

I realized that waking up a child assassin while yelling might not have been the best move on my part. "Happy birthday." I said again, but a lot more quiet. Valerie looked at me confused. "What's a birthday?" She wondered. My eyes widened. "What do you mean, what's a birthday?" I asked her. "I mean, what is it?" Valerie wondered.

A sudden realization washed over me. This is probably Valerie's first time celebrating her birthday. Valerie had never been taught when her birthday was, let alone what it was. "Well...?" She wondered looking at me. "A birthday is when you celebrate the day you were born." I told her. Valerie though for a moment. "So I was born... exactly seven years ago?" She wondered.

"Yes, exactly seven years ago." I confirmed. "So I'm seven years old now, not six?" She asked. "You are now officially seven years old." I said smiling. "That's so cool!" Valerie exclaimed. I chuckled. "You know what else is cool with having a birthday?" I asked her. "There's more?" Valerie asked astonished looking at the cake. "Yeah, you get presents, and a cake." I said walking towards Valerie showing her the cake.

"Ooo, it has princesses on it!" Valerie said mesmerized. Valerie had picked up an interest in princesses the past couple months, so I thought a princess cake would do her justice. "Merida and Elsa." Valerie said satisfied inspecting the cake. She had gotten especially interested in Merida and Elsa. Why she likes the two of them the best, I have no idea, but I won't question it.

One thing was for sure. Clint was very proud when he saw the cake decorated with bows and arrows to represent Merida's part. What Valerie didn't know yet, was that Elsa cupcakes were waiting on her downstairs alongside many other things, such as jell-o formed as Elsa's snow castle, and cake pops that looked like Olaf. And of course, the brownie cake that was formed like a not with an arrow.

I had went out a couple days ago and bought an unholy amount of presents, and when I came back and told the team why, they also began to buy presents. "You said something about presents?" Valerie said looking at me. "Yes, there's a lot of presents downstairs waiting for you." I said grinning. Valerie matched my grin. "Just for me?" She asked with big eyes. "Just for you." I confirmed. "Let's get you dressed, and ready to open presents." I said building up excitement.

The rest of the team went downstairs as I began to help Valerie look for something to wear. Valerie picked out a beautiful red dress, claiming that it was her favorite color. I didn't comment on it, because red was my favorite color too. We padded the dress with red flats and white pants. "You ready?" I asked Valerie. "Ready." Valerie said grinning grabbing my hand.

We took the elevator down to the living room, which was situated about 6 floors under our floor. As we walked into the living room everyone once again said happy birthday to Valerie. On the coffee table in the middle of them all was a big stack of presents. Some were even laying on the floor, because if didn't fit on the table. Valerie's eyes grew big as she looked at all the presents.