Detka ✧･ ROMANOFF-BARTON 1

Sneak peek of next book in this seriessss!

As I promised, there is a second book to this series, and it will tell the story of Ivessa and her family in "Avengers Endgame".

I know you are probably wondering why I would skip Infinity War. Well, I skipped that movie because the plot for the endgame story is already planned out. In fact, I've almost written the whole thing.

As soon as I finish this story, The second book will be coming out. In the last chapter of this story, I will reveal the title of the next story.

Without further a do, here is a sneak peek of a chapter from the second book!

FIVE YEARS LATER

I sat in front of mama as I watched her green eyes coat in a painfully thick layer of tears. I wasn't very far behind.

"It's definitely Barton. What he's done here- what he's been doing for the past few years.." He paused momentarily. "I mean, the scene that he left. I gotta tell you there's a part of you that doesn't want to find out." Rhodey explains slowly.

I haven't seen my father since I was thirteen. That was five years ago, and I haven't seen my sisters either. It's been mama and myself for the longest time now.

I'm not complaining, definitely not. I just long for that same feeling I would get as a little girl; when I would wake up with this crazy excitement to shave my dad's beard. Or when my dad would take us out on our bikes in the mornings, and even how we would run out in the front yard and play with the dog.

It hurt that he had missed so much of my life. All of my teenage years, down the drain. He wasn;t here for any of them. I hadn't seen my mom cry in almost all my years of life. I felt myself break (emotionally) as my face crumpled, letting my tears soak a small spot of my shirt as they fell. Things hadn't been the same lately. Whether my dad was here or not, whether he was out in the world ending people's lives with no purpose, I still missed having him so much.

"Will you find out where he's going next?" She asked, aiming to distract Rhodey from her vulnerability by looking away and eating her sandwich. I watched as mama tried to absorb the information without letting it completely crack her. I could see the pain in her eyes. Not even just emotionally, but physically too. I could see the way her eyes stung as the tears begged and begged to be free.

"Nat?" Rhodey questions. It seemed to him that mama didn't know what she was getting herself into. I know that she did, though. She always knew. Therefore, she ignored the obvious warning as if it were oblivious.

"Please?" She begged solemnly.

The hologram dissappeared when Rhodey stepped forward to end the call. As soon as he'd gone, mama covered her face and shattered to pieces. She'd been broken for the past five years, she just finally cracked and shattered. She couldn't hold it in anymore. Who would've been able to if she couldn't?

Watching my mom hurt like this made me feel exponentially uneasy. My sobs became clearly audible. What we'd been through over the past few years was so much pain and so little happiness.

"I'd offer to make you dinner, but you two seem pretty miserable already," I hear Uncle Steve chime in from the door frame. I caught on to the joke and giggled a bit, turning in my seat to face him.

"Here to do your laundry?" Mama aimed to hide her tears for the time being.

"And to see some friends," Steve admits.

"Clearly your friends are just fine." She lies through her teeth matter of factually. My lips twitched into a small smile before settling again into a thin line.

Eventually, he came to the table and took a seat beside me. "If I move on, who does this?" Mama asks genuinely, looking away as she fell deep into her thoughts.

Steve smirked vaguely. "Maybe it doesn't need to be done." He comments reassuringly.

It went silent before anyone decided it was right to speak.

"I use to have nothing." She smiles weak and laughs at the pain. "Then I got this." She looked toward me, putting her hand across the table for me to hold. I looked down to her ring finger; I felt the diamonds on the promise ring that my dad had given her. "This job." She shakes her head as if in disbelief. "This family." a tear slowly slipped her eye and I reached over to wipe it away. "I was better because of it," She adds on, placing a small kiss on my forehead as if saying a small thank you. "And even though they're gone," Mama paused as she tried to convince herself that not one more tear would fall. "I'm still trying to be better." As a form of reassurance, I squeeze her hand tightly.

We sat in a companionable silence before abruptly-

"Oh! Hi, Hi! Is anybody home?" an oddly familiar voice shouts from the video in front of us. "This is Scott Lang. We met a few years ago? At the airport?" My eyebrows dipped in confusion.

"Is this an old message?" Steve questioned as he marveled at the clip.

Mama stared as if mesmerized and jumped from her seat.

"It's the front gate."