The Spark That Never Dies Part: Three

Chapter Four

"What am I thinking?"

You were wiggling your eyebrows with wide eyes, intently looking into hers, but she just scrunched her face slightly and then cocked her own eyebrow.

"Mommy, you're weird."

"You sound like your mama," You grumbled, making her giggle before you focused again, "Come on, humor me, what am I thinking about?"

"Mm..." She thought with a smile, tapping her chin before beaming triumphantly, "Waffles!"

"Damn, you're good," You nodded, impressed, "Okay, that was just a practice one," You narrowed your eyes this time, digging deep into her big brown ones, "Again, Lena."

"Mm...Mommy, it's still waffles."

"Yeah, well, I'm hungry, but no, it's something else this time."

She looked like she was focusing, but then let out a heavy, bored sigh.

"Can I invite some friends over?"

"Yelena, we need to practice this."

"Whyyy?" She whined, drawling out the word.

"Because you have awesome gifts and-" You cut yourself off when she sent you her famous, 'cut the bull' look and you sighed in defeat, "You can't keep going around freaking your mama out like you did the first day of school."

"I don't know what you're talking about." She looked away with half closed eyes, her nose to the sky, and you pursed your lips, not having any of it.

"Lena."

"Fine." She relented, appearing a bit pissed off.

"Do this with me and you can have that sleepover next weekend like you've been wanting okay?"

She lit up at the compromise and nodded her head excitedly, determined to get back to work now.

Normally, you wouldn't barter with your kid to get her to do the right thing, but this was far from normal parenting and you figured a sleepover you were probably going to let her have anyways was a small price to pay.

The following day, you woke up feeling a lot better about everything.

Yelena made some progress, she didn't seem put off or embarrassed by her powers like you were when you were first on your own with them, but she was definitely uninterested in it all. She did everything you asked, determined to earn that sleepover with her friends, but she wasn't into it. It came naturally for her, when she wanted to finish a task you told her to, she'd barely glance over with a frown and get it done. You hardly got the question out for her to read your mind and she'd start rambling about everything that was swirling around in your head. You told her to stop when it became dark or something she shouldn't know about with Natasha and she'd just giggle a bit before moving on.

Sundays had a little more of a tradition between you both, whether Natasha was here or not, and it involved lounging around in pajamas all day just eating out of tubs of ice cream and watching horror movies. You wanted to keep up some normalcy since her powers were going to become a big part of her life and...ah, screw it, you wanted this more than she did.

"Um, Poltergeist is a classic," You sent her a look and she crossed her arms, "I love you, but you need a better filmucation."

"I looked that up and it's not a real word." She told you matter of fact and you grumbled,

"Well, aren't you just full of knowledge."

"At least I'm not full of-"

"Yelena!" You scolded, trying not to laugh, and she tilted her head.

"What? I was gonna say fruity pebbles." She lied, her smile giving her away.

You leaned over and started tickling her, her face soon going tomato red with laughter, trying to push you away, but she was no match. You were laughing as she threw her head back and that's when you both heard the lock on the door being fumbled with.

Your instincts kicked in when Sherlock backed away from where he was in fear, not wanting to be near the door and you nodded hesitantly to Yelena when she looked to you, noticing your anxious demeanor.

She took the go ahead and ran to the stairs, climbing them as fast as she could, Sherlock followed close behind. It was a good thing you had a plan for this type of thing in place because you knew by how they were struggling to open the door that this wasn't someone you knew.

You pressed your back against the wall, if you turned the corner, you'd have a straight view of whoever came through that door, but they would have a clear shot to the steps which was the only downside to the layout of this house. You grabbed a pistol from the basket on the top shelf where Natasha always kept her spare and made sure it was loaded just as they came through the door.

Two guys, both well built, and rough looking spoke lowly, gesturing to the stairs, but they didn't make it that far before you came around with your gun pointed at them.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" The one said in surprise with his hands up and the other looked shocked.

"Who are you?" You demanded, lifting the gun when the other one reached for his back pocket, "Don't even try it, pal."

"SHIELD." The one offered and his accent was thick.

"What kind of SHIELD agent doesn't know how to unlock a door?" You snapped, moving to stand between them and the stairs, "And since when do they fail to call ahead first?"

They paused a little too long for your liking and you cocked your gun, the safety of your child the only thing on your mind.

"Y/n, right?" The first one with an American accent asked, seemingly calmed down now.

"Answer the fucking question," You seethed, "Who are you?"

"We are...how do you say..." The one with an unrecognizable accent started, pretending to think before a sick smirk came across his face when he found the word, "Stalling?"

You narrowed your eyes, opening your mouth to respond, but then the last noise you ever wanted to hear pierced through your skull when Yelena yelled,

"Mommy! Help!" At the top of her lungs.

Your guard fell down and you spun to get to her, but they crashed something over the back of your head, making your whole world go black.