A Place In This World (Beginnings and Goodbyes, #1) {Completed}

run away and hide

The kitchen remains warm as the remnants of dinner cool on the table, the dishes forgotten there, the dirty pots and pans on the stove top, all of us keeping the heat packed into the room. Cooper and Lila draw in the living room, their art supplies strewn across the coffee table, the tops of their heads close together from where I can see them from the doorway of the breakfast nook. The breakfast nook is an add-on to the side of the kitchen where a door used to be that had led out to the barn, but upon Mom's request, Dad had made it a cozy space for morning meal times, or sometimes, snack times. Windows with blinds line the two walls that meet in the corner of the leather booth, the dark wooden table barely big enough to fit all five of us. The old window had been taken out and the empty slot now acts as a serving window, its ledge made up of yellow tiles and open triangular shelves on either side. Dad claims it's to give the window a mock shutter look and to open up the space more, but they just look like the triangular prisms that I see in my math textbooks.

This little room also happens to be long enough to play darts in, my father's brilliant contribution to the use of this room, and I'm playing the game with Mr. Stark as we listen to Uncle Nick compare notes with the other Avengers. He seems to have fared well after his unexpected meeting with Uncle Nick and was only mildly annoyed with me that I set him up like that, accusing me of being a little agent. I didn't deny the accusation. He's determined to kick my ass at darts though, which I find oddly endearing and funny. As if I'd allow such a thing. I lean against the doorframe while I wait for Tony to finish his turn.

I glance at Natasha at the table, dressed in one of Dad's zip up hoodies and a pair of Mom's yoga pants she can't quite fit into at the moment. She leans back in her chair with her hands clasped together on the table top. Lila runs over to her to show her the painting she had been working on, and Natasha's face lights up while Lila excitedly explains her creative choices.

Mom enters the living room and approaches the dining room, already beckoning to Lila. "Sorry to interrupt," she says to everyone. "I'll get these guys out of your way. Give Daddy a kiss and a hug, Lila. You too, Cooper. Say your goodnights."

She gestures for them to hurry, and Cooper gets up from the coffee table. He rubs at his eyes and frowns, but he goes over to Dad after Lila flits about, giving Nat her piece of art to keep, and says her goodnights to everyone, beaming under everyone's warm attention. She hurries to hold Mom's outstretched hand. Cooper side-hugs Dad and follows after Mom.

"Why doesn't Cara have to go to bed like we do?" Cooper asks loudly.

I roll my eyes and purse my lips, biting back the sharp words I'd like to say, but there's company present. I watch the three of them leave the living room and disappear upstairs, and Natasha shares a knowing look with me, and I sigh, stepping back into the nook to play my round. Tony's aim concerns me a little bit, knowing that his suit helps most of the shots he takes, but out of the suit? Worrisome. I try my best not to look at him and retrieve the three darts as Uncle Nick starts getting into the dirt-deep details of the Avengers' current threat.

"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time," Fury explains, pouring himself something to drink over by the fridge. "My contacts all say he's building something. The amount of vibranium he made off with . . . I don't think it's just one thing."

I aim for the single ring to give Tony the illusion that he might win, my throws in quick succession of each other. Tony raises his eyebrows at me, but I smile and shrug. He smiles to himself. I come to stand in the doorway, leaning into the frame.

"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asks, mirroring me across the room as he leans against the archway leading into the living room.

"Oh, he's easy to track. He's everywhere," Fury answers, sweeping out his arm with the full glass of water in his hand.