Sharp Edges

Chapter Seventeen

James and Yelena made their way through Avengers Campus, and soon found the recreation area. When they walked in, James smiled as he watched Cara and Clint play.

Cara laughed as Clint spun her around and could barely stop as he set her back on her wobbly feet. She caught sight of James and that quickly righted her again.

"James!" She exclaimed, taking off for the man at top speed.

Dropping down to his knees, James engulfed Cara in his arms. "Hi baby girl," he cooed.

"Are you okay?!" she asked him frantically, hugging him fiercely. "I'm so glad you're back! I missed you!"

James kissed her hair, letting her climb him and hug his chest. "I'm okay, I promise," he told her.

She held onto him tightly as she looked up at his face. "Lena said you'd come back... that you wouldn't leave me," she shared, a grateful smile on her expression. "I knew you wouldn't..."

"I would never," he told her. "You're ours, little one."

"Forever?" she asked, her eyes finding Yelena a few steps away before looking back into James's big blue eyes.

"Forever," he confirmed. "You're not going anywhere."

Cara's eyes beckoned Yelena and the blonde woman walked up to them, wrapping an arm around James and the other around Cara. "We're a family," she said quietly amongst the small group.

James turned and kissed Yelena's head then Cara's "Nothing will change that."

Meanwhile Clint grinned and snapped a photo with his phone. "Just think, it won't be long till she'll be calling you guys by a different name."

"What do you mean?" Yelena asked, curiously looking at the older man.

He chuckled dryly. "Mom and dad," he answered plainly.

Cara bit her lip and nervously looked around. "I mean, are you? My... my mom and my dad?" the young girl asked.

James looked down at Cara and watched her brown eyes staring back at him. "Do you want us to be?" he asked softly.

The young girl looked between James and Yelena and slowly, carefully began to nod. She was afraid to be rejected, to share what she wanted. With her families in the past, that had often been met unfavorably.

Yelena felt a hard lump in her throat and smoothed her hand over James's back. "We-we could be that..."

"We're yours just as much as you're ours," James told her, a smile on his face.

"A family," Cara reiterated, just like Yelena had said.

This was something to fight for. Yelena understood then why the Red Room had never wanted them to experience children. It awakened a drive in her that could not be stamped out. "A family."

James stood with Cara in his arms, placing her on one hip. "Our family."

"Can I sleep with you tonight?" Cara asked sheepishly, looking up at James from her position on his hip.

"If you want to," James answered. "The bed here is bigger than the one at the house."

"Maybe you get a bigger one in the new house," she suggested innocently, prompting Yelena to release a husky laugh.

"That's a good idea," she replied. "And you can decorate your own room."

James chuckled. "Anything you want."

"I just want to be with you," Cara told them honestly. She didn't need much. She'd been given so little in her life that their acceptance alone was enough.