Disappeared- {Pietro Maximoff}

Chapter 4

"Happy birthday!"

Alex groaned, eyes squinting at the bright light shining on her face. She blinked, and the light refocused into a torch being held by Natasha.

"Mama, what the fuck are you doing? It was my birthday—" she yawned, "months ago."

"We didn't get the chance to do it though, not in the way Tony had planned at least. You missed Christmas too."

"Sorry, I'll try and plan my dying for a better date next time."

"Well don't ask Steve for help, he's as bad as Coulson when it comes to nearly dying." Natasha finally put down the torch and Alex sighed in relief— only to be blinded again a moment later as the main lights switched on.

"Mama!"

"Oooh, didn't mean to make you cry."

"If I'm not back again this time tomorrow," Alex carried on and then Natasha joined in, "Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters."

Alex giggled and moved over, letting Natasha sit on the bed and then hand her a small envelope. It wouldn't be fair to say Alex snatched it, but she grabbed it with a little more enthusiasm than necessary and creased the envelope.

"Alex, for the past— holy crap we're going to England!"

"I spent half an hour writing that card and you focus on the gift. God, you're like Tony."

"Nat, this is amazing," Alex pulled her into a hug, "I can't believe this, thank you, thank you so much."

"And it's just me and you. No stupid men with us. And no Tony to attract a super-villain."

"Oh thank god."

|| You are not going ||

Natasha was still talking but Theundruk had quietened her. Alex closed her eyes and leaned back against the headrest.

|| Alex, tell her you're not going ||

"Shush," Alex muttered, only for Nat to say something else.

|| I won't let you ||

"Listen, Nat, it sounds amazing but are you sure we should? I've only just woken up."

"It's in a month. We're only in London for two days, then we go up north to York for a week and the final stop is Edinburgh for a day before we fly back home. You're up for this."

|| It's too dangerous. If anything happens, even just you kicking a stone on the street, the TVA could track you ||

"I can't exactly say no."

"No, you can't." Natasha said, "I didn't think you wouldn't want to do this, are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Except there was a dreadful headache coming on and Alex knew her emotions would be all over the place for a few days while Theundruk threw a fit over Alex disobeying. But it wasn't as though she had much of a choice.

"I'll leave you to rest for a bit, just wanted to see you before I went to work."

"Thank you, mama. Get a good day, come back alive."

|| I hope she dies. If I pushed her off a cliff, I doubt much would be affected ||

Alex managed to quell the flare of anger Theundruk had lit until Natasha had left— as the door clicked shut, she grabbed a pillow and punched it with all her strength, "Don't you dare say that."