The Girl From The Woods ~ Natasha Romanoff × Adopted Daughter

6.

Tilda's POV:

I don't know why but somehow I feel safe around Natasha. After my mom died I honestly never let anyone get close to me and all of a sudden she's there and for some reason I feel the urge to tell her everything.

But somehow it also makes me feel insecure. What if she's only pretending to be nice and in reality she's going to betray me like Dave did.

Does she want to see me as broken as he is? But something inside me tells me to trust her and let her in.

What could possibly happen? On the one hand, she could betray me like Dave did or she just wants to take advantage of me for some reason. But on the other hand, maybe she could help me find an apartment, preferably far away from here.

I could live with Barry in a nice apartment somewhere here in Norway or even in America. I could go to school and read all the books Mom had always read.

Okay. I think I have a plan. I'll see if she's trustworthy and if she tries to deceive me in the slightest, I'm gone. Yep, that's how I'm going to do it.

'So, how old are you Tilly? ' To be honest, I was surprised at the new nickname. Everyone usually calls me Mathilda or Tilda, but not Tilly.

I'm not complaining, I like the new nickname but somehow it feels weird that someone calls me something other than Tilda. I know that my mother always called me Tilda back then because her mother was also called Mathilda and was German. Tilda was just the abbreviation for Mathilda in German.

Mom lost her mother even sooner than I lost her, which is why she named me after her mother.

Nat's POV:

Tilly zones out slowly and I wonder what she's thinking about now. Did I say something wrong or did I trigger a memory of hers?

I don't want to make her uncomfortable, so I decide not to do anything for the time being and hope that she'll come round on her own.

After a few minutes she's back and I can't help but look at her with a look of concern. I don't know why, but I think it was more of a motherly look than one of concern. She seems to realize this and just looks at me with a questioning look.

'Is everything all right, you're just a bit zoned out? ' I smile gently at her, hoping to relieve some of the tension, but instead of relaxing or giving me a smile back, she starts playing with her teddy's ears.

I want to grab her hands gently to stop her from fidgeting, but instead she just flinches as if I want to hurt her. She grabs her teddy closer and turns slightly away from me.

No matter who has ever hurt her before in her life, she will get to know me and I will make sure that getting to know her will not be pleasant. How can you hurt a small child so much that it flinches at the slightest touch?

'Hey, it's okay, I won't hurt you, I promise. ' I say in a gentle voice, searching her eyes so that she can see that I'm not lying. But what strikes me immediately is that she's not looking for my eyes at all. Normally, people always look for their eyes to see if the other person is lying to them or not. But Tilly doesn't seem to mind at all, she keeps her head down and doesn't dare to look up.

'Hey Tilly, can you take a look at me? ' I ask cautiously. The little girl keeps her eyes down at first, but after I encourage her to look at me again, she slowly lifts her head.

'There's that beautiful face of yours' again I send her a warm smile, which she surprisingly returns with a very small smile.

However, as soon as I look her in the eye, she flinches again and turns her gaze to something else in the room. Okay, so it's clear that someone has hurt her. I don't know who, but I'll find out and he'll pay for it. But first I have to take care of Mathilda.

'Mathilda sweetie, can you look at me, I won't hurt you either. ' She shakes her head slightly in response and I can see a few tears in her eyes. Poor her.

'Okay, you don't have to look at me, but I promise you on my right arm that I won't hurt you. ' I hear her giggle slightly in response and her laughter brings me so much warmth. Suddenly I want to hear her laugh more, I can't get enough of it, the thought that I have given a scared little girl a laugh warms my heart so much.

'Yeah, you think that's funny huh? Well, it's true, I'd give my right arm for it. ' I laugh with her a little until we've calmed down again.

'So if you don't want to tell me how old you are, can you tell me who that is? ' I say, pointing to the teddy bear in her lap. I figure that if she's been clinging to it all this time, it must be very important to her and I'm hoping to get a little closer to her through simple conversations like this.

She just looks down at her teddy and then slowly lifts her head so that my eyes meet hers. God, she has beautiful eyes. She has green-blue eyes that darken on the outside and are brown around the iris on the inside.

She gives me a little smile and then says quietly
'Barry'
'Barry is a nice name. I like it. So how old are you Barry? ' I ask, looking at Barry as if he were a real person we could talk to.

Mathilda giggles softly in response and my heart melts away.
'What's so funny? ' I ask in a soft voice. I know Barry won't answer me, but I try to get Tilda to talk. I once read in a magazine that this trick works with small children. I know Tilda isn't 5 anymore, but I think it's worth a try and as far as I can see it's working.

'He can't talk! ' Tilda says in a half-serious, half-laughing voice, which now makes me burst out laughing too.