emmylou | natasha romanoff

thirty-eight.

2016
Somewhere in Russia

Summers in Ohio were hot and winters in Ohio were extremely cold. It was one of the perks in living in the Midwest. It was currently July and Kennedy was sweating her butt off. It had been a month before Natasha had left, the last time that their families had come together for a big celebration before all hell came loose.

"Is this not weird?" Kennedy asks as she kicks her legs on the swing set.

"What?" Natasha asks her.

"The fact that you're celebrating the Fourth of July and you're not American," Kennedy says softly, her words falling deaf to the adults that were currently in the backyard trying to work the grill.

"No," Natasha answers, "Well maybe a little."

"Yeah because like the Cold War and all that," Kennedy says as she swings her feet.

"You're a nerd," Natasha teases and Kennedy looks up at her.

"What? Why?"

"What nine-year-old mentions the Cold War?" Natasha asks her.

"One that reads," Kennedy answers, "And I've read a lot."

"My cute little nerd," Natasha says and Kennedy's cheeks flush as she looks away from Natasha and at the ground.

"I'm not cute," Kennedy retorts, "And I'm not a nerd!"

"We got a fire!" Frank exclaims as he holds a hand up to Alexei who high fives him back.

"Our dads suck," Kennedy mutters, "We could have started the fire quicker than that."

Natasha laughs, "So when you're older are you going to do the grilling instead of your husband?"

"I don't think I'll have a husband," Kennedy answers, "My mom says that men are stupid, and I couldn't deal with that."

Natasha raises an eyebrow, "You think your dad is stupid?"

"Occasionally," Kennedy responds and Natasha laughs.

"So, are you just never getting married?" Natasha asks.

"Nope," Kennedy states, as she looks over at Natasha, "I don't need to get married when I have you."

"But don't you want to walk down the aisle and like have kids and all that?" Natasha asks curiously.

"I can walk down grocery store aisles," Kennedy teases with a grin, "And I can buy a kid."

"Buy a kid?" Natasha asks her with a smile, "You mean adopt?"

Kennedy shrugs, "Same difference. I just want it to be us. You and me forever, you know?"

Natasha smiles at that. Bites her lip as she looks down at her lap and then back up at Kennedy who was watching their dads grill, "I'll propose to you."

Kennedy looks over at Natasha, surprise on her face, "What?"

"It can still be me and you against the world and we can buy a kid and you can walk down a real aisle," Natasha tells her.

Kennedy shrugs, "Sure why not."

"Cool," Natasha says nodding her head.

"Kennedy!" Yelena exclaims as she rushes outside, "We have sparklers! And bubbles!"

"Don't forget the best thing," Kennedy hears Melina say. Suddenly Kennedy feels wet on the back of her head, forcing her to jump up from the swing, Natasha doing the same. The onslaught of water stops, and Kennedy looks up to see her mother and Natasha's standing there with massive water guns in hand.