Heartbeat (Natasha x Wanda + One)

Sixteen

"So," I start slowly.

Allie looks up from her laptop and sighs, "do we have to talk about it?"

"I think we should."

She groans and closes her laptop, "it wasn't a big deal. I just told that bitch-,"

"Amanda Carter," I correct. I didn't have a problem with cursing in general, but I didn't like it when certain words were used to describe people. No matter how much they may deserve it.

"Amanda Carter," she repeats. "I made her a deal she couldn't refuse- either she did what I said or go to jail." She says it like she was answering me about the weather or what she wanted for dinner. "Obviously she didn't want to go to jail and it all worked out. Easy peasy."

I'm quiet as she cracks open her laptop again. I watch her rapidly typing and I whisper, "you are so much like your dad." Her fingers freeze and I continue, "he never could sit idly by either. He always had to fix things, or try to, no matter what it may cost him."

"Fifty grand is a small price to pay for the people I love getting to stay together," she mutters so low I almost don't hear her.

Almost.

"Did you pay that woman fifty thousand dollars?"

She looks up at me and gives me a sheepish grin, "depends."

"On?"

"If you're gonna be mad if I say yes."

"I'm not mad," I sigh. "I'm.. ashamed that I couldn't protect you. I'm ashamed that you had to protect me."

Allie sets her laptop aside and comes over to my bed, sitting on the edge, "you've protected me countless times over the years. Without you.. I'd probably be in prison. Especially after last year."

Rubbing my head I ask, "should I be expecting the feds at my door again?"

"Nope," she answers cheerfully. "It was simple bribery, nothing too fancy."

"I'll take your word for it.. Shadow Walker."

Allie's face pales, "you know?"

Laughing, I answer, "when you're using your dad's old handle, yeah, I hear about it."

"You knew about dad?"

"The man hacked the pentagon in ten minutes on a bet," I deadpan. "Of course I knew."

"Ten minutes?" She scoffs. "Took me seven."

"Allie!" I scold as I lightly slap her arm.

She laughs as she stands back up, "I'm kidding! Mostly. About the seven minutes part, it actually took me six and a half."

"Next you're going to tell me you finished his AI project," I mutter. She doesn't answer but she does get a guilty look on her face. "Allie.. you didn't."

She holds up her hands in a mock surrender, "to be fair I didn't really have to do much. A few tweaks here and there and bingo! A working AI interface." She hits a button on her laptop and says, "say hi MONDAY."

"Hello Mrs Stark," MONDAY says in a chipper British accent. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Uh- yeah.. you too, I guess," I stumble as I look at Allie who was back on her laptop, typing away and doing god knows what.

It was odd, seeing her this way. I've known about her 'extracurricular activities' almost from the beginning, but seeing her being so open about it, being proud of it, was something else.

God she looks just like her dad right now, with that proud cocky smirk on her face, like she was invincible.

Fuck, she looked like a Stark.

It always amazed me how easily Tony fit the Stark mold, just like our father. Of course, Tony changed the mold a few times to fit his lifestyle but it was always the Stark lifestyle. The money and the power that came with it, seemed to come easily to Tony. He never had a problem using either for whatever he needed, but me?

I never could.

At least, not casually like my brother. Only in times I truly needed to did I throw around money and the Stark name. And that was usually only to protect Allie.

I sigh, watching her type away.

It worries me, the world that she's involved in. It's dangerous and reckless. Part of me wants to ban her from ever touching a computer again, but the other part of me, the Stark part, understands.

She is her father's daughter, and there was no stopping Tony, and there for damn sure was no stopping his daughter. Especially when she clearly loved what she was doing.

Even now, I'm the midst of everything, she has a smile tugging on her lips and a glint in her eye that has been missing since Ash got hurt.

I glance over at Ash. There's less machines now that they don't need to breathe. Ash's skin is mostly healed, the bruises and cuts almost a distant memory. Their heart beats steadily, nearly in time with mine.

My hand reaches up, touching the spot where my heart monitor implant used to be. I'd lived with it for so long that it was weird not to feel the hard metal sitting nestled in my skin.

"Allie."

"Hm?" She grunts, not looking up.

"Al," I say again, using a nickname that I rarely break out.

One that makes her look up, "mama?"

"Thank you," I tell her with every fiber of my being.

She gives me a cocky smile, "I owed you one."

"Allie, I mean it." I tap the spot over my heart, "thank you, love."

"You're welcome," she says softly. "Thanks for not dying. I like Natasha and Wanda but if I had to live with them and so did Ash, it would be like dating my sibling and I can't handle being a Stark and a Lannister at the same time."

I shake my head, "I think that you're more of a Martell."

Allie gives me a look, "I'd rather be a Stark."

"Nah," I tell her. "You're a Martell. Their slogan fits you better."

"Unbowed, unbent, unbroken?" She asks.

"No matter what life throws at you," I explain. "You come out of it stronger." I motion to Ash and myself, "I don't think either of us would be here without you."

She gives me a thoughtful look before saying, "yeah, maybe that does fit better." She shrugs and goes back to her laptop, "either way, the Starks are cooler."

"Pun intended?" I ask as she goes back to typing.

"Oh definitely," she answers, fingers flying across the keyboard.

I watch her again, listening to the sound of the keys clicking and the machines beeping. The sound is oddly comforting and I can't but to hope that everything will be alright.

I've essentially got a new heart and Ash has a new home, so maybe, just maybe, this could be a new start for us all. A chance to truly be happy and to live life without fear.