The Irony of it All

7

It was decided that Natasha would be the one to seem first after finding out this new information. In the future, she had been with them longer. Many things bothered her with this new knowledge about her future, but what bothered her most was that Steve dies in the future. Leaving her to raise their children alone. The words, even only in her head still felt strange and wrong. 

She stared at the children for a moment with her arms crossed over her chest, and they stared back at her, waiting for her to speak. “Why didn’t you tell me?” She asked. She kept her voice level, and void of emotion, but with no ferocity. 

“Tell you what?” The girl feigned ignorance. 

She kept her gaze steady. “You know what.” And then she decided to try something. “Malyshka.” She said softly, using the only pet name she can remember her birth mother calling her. 

Both their eyes widen into saucers, and tears start to leak from Sarah’s eyes as she buries her head in her hands. She remembers Steve’s words, ‘Treat them like Clint’s kids.’ If these were Clint’s kids, she’d try and comfort them a little. Show them that she cares. Imagine that they were hers. And then it really hits her. They are hers. And her heart softens. She goes down onto her knees and lift’s the girl’s head up. Brushing the tears away softly. 

“I know I don’t know you. In this world, you haven’t even become a thought yet. But until we get you back home, you are mine.” Sarah responds by sobbing again, squeezing her eyes shut as fresh tears emerge. And for the first time, Natasha pulls her daughter into a hug, as the girl clings to her. She’s glad that she had Tony disable the cameras and comms for this. She’s glad that this is private.

When Sarah finally calms down, she turns to James whose eyes are shining with unshed tears. He’s standing up to give them their space. She stands up and opens her arms to him. At first he doesn’t respond. It makes her nervous. He just stares at her. Right as she’s about to get self conscious and put her arms down, he slams into her with a bone crushing hug. He’s much taller than her and he has to bend down so he can bury his head in the crook of her neck. “I missed you so much, Mom.”