Adopted by the Avengers

Bonding with Nat

A/N: Long hiatus! I call it the "I-moved-cities-and-started-nursing-school" special. Hope everyone enjoys this, all of your kind comments gave me the motivation to write another chapter. Remember to comment and vote if you like it! This chapter is dedicated to N11T21 for being the 1000th voter!

Once Thor, Bruce, and I returned with dinner, the tension had mostly disappeared with the exception of side glares between Tony and Steve. Thankfully, Pepper had taken a break from working to join us, putting a cap on any remaining flames of anger. Clint still seemed rather annoyed about my existence, but knowing that a board had overruled their decisions about adopting a kid now justifies his temper a little more. I couldn't imagine being very happy in his situation either.

"How was dinner?" Natasha asks me as we tidy up the coffee table we'd been eating on.

"Good, thanks. I'd never had shawarma before, but I liked it." I say, grabbing the used napkins and mopping up any extra sauce that was spilled.

"It's okay, hon. You don't have to help clean up." She smiles at me and her green eyes light up in the New York golden hour.

"No, no, it's alright. I want to." We bring everything to the sink, where Clint stands washing the dishes.

He looks down at me and murmurs a "thanks" under his breath. 

'Progress?' I think to myself.

The rest of the group seems to be having their own alone time and I watch as Tony takes himself off to the penthouse with a glass of whiskey in each hand; whether one is for Pepper, I don't know. Bruce is reading something that looks like a science journal on the sofa with his glasses on, then glances up to meet my watching eyes.

"You like science stuff, don't you, Charlotte?" He asks. 

I nod. "What are you reading?"

"It's an article about a sheep named Dolly, she was the first sheep to be genetically cloned. It was done in 1996 but I like to keep up with what's going on in research. I guess it comes with the seven PhDs." 

"You have seven?" I ask, my jaw almost touching the floor.

"Wow, Banner. I never took you as one to brag." Clint pipes up from the sink, then each of the men begin to laugh a little too hard. 

I chuckle awkwardly, not quite understanding the full meaning until Bruce leans over in a whisper between giggles. "You see, we don't mention PhDs around Tony because he only has three."

"Jeez..." I sigh with exasperation and think, 'Taking one PhD would be more than enough for one person, but seven? That's insane.'

Clint lets out a last chuckle, shaking his head as he dries his hands and walks over to the elevator. "I'm off to my floor." He says without looking back.

"Yeah, I'll be off to mine soon too. Articles don't write themselves." Bruce sighs, looking much more tired than I remember him being earlier. "You might want to head down to yours and unpack when you're ready. It'll help you feel more settled."

I nod, standing up. "What's my floor number?"

"Thirty-seven, I think?"

"Thanks, Bruce." We make eye contact and he gives me a warm smile before I turn away.

After taking the exceptionally well-maintained elevator down to floor thirty-seven, I was still just as astounded as the first time I'd seen it. 'Who gives a thirteen year-old an entire floor all to themselves?' I think to myself. My suitcase sat upright on the floor beside my bed, and I realize that Thor must have brought it down during the tour.

Giving into the temptation, I walk over to the bed and flop down onto it, only to discover that it was one of the comfiest beds I had ever felt in my life. My old bed felt like this. 

'When will I see Mrs. Tyson again?'  I release a huff of air to nobody but myself. 'You can't think like that, it's disrespectful to the people who just gave you a new life.'

The bed holds my back in the same way I hope a hug would. 'Would they be disappointed in how I feel?' 

Upon realizing that I honestly don't know anymore, I feel a lump form in my throat. 'You forgot your family.'  

Shaking my head at my own traitorous thoughts, I stand up hastily, then turn to unpack my things. The sun had slowly crept behind the trees of the concrete jungle, casting looming shadows across the wooden floor. The floor truly is beautiful, yet my foreign new home doesn't offer me the comfort I crave. 

After ten minutes of unpacking, the lump has faded from an apple to a pea, but intrusive thoughts from today's argument feel like pop-up ads that can't be closed. At least out of all of them, Bruce, Thor, and Clint were honest, despite Clint's abrasiveness. Watching Tony interact with the others is like watching a nuclear missile in slow motion. Between him and Steve, they were the baking soda to the other's vinegar. Thankfully, Pepper seems to be a stable person for Tony to rely on. 

The more I unpack, the more I realize how little I brought. The floor seems barely changed. Beneath my last pair of socks lies a carefully wrapped rectangle that I wish I had packed deeper.

Delicately picking up the small package, I unwrap it to uncover the ever-smiling faces of the people who look like me. The pea grows into a watermelon and my vision blurs with tears. Without looking at the picture, I stand the frame upright on the bedside table, only to hear approaching footsteps coming from above my floor in the stairwell. 

I quickly wipe my eyes, then turn around to face Natasha standing on my floor stair level, giving me a look that didn't make me ask why she had stopped.

"You okay?" She asks, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah."

"Can I come in for a minute?"

"Yeah." 

"We both know there's not a lot of comfort I can give you, right? I've never been adopted or been thrown into a new place that wants to help me. I've been in places where nobody wants to go, where I was imprisoned and tortured and beaten. I built up walls because it was the best thing I could do to protect myself." She holds a firm eye contact with me until I break it.

"I'm sorry." I say, unsure why she was telling me this as I sniffle and play with my hands.

"I'm not finished. What I'm trying to say is that having an environment where you know it's life or death is easier than not knowing where to begin. I don't know your story and I'm not trying to force it out of you, but I know that building walls is a hell of a lot easier than ripping them down. That's your challenge."

I nod, shrugging. "I don't know how I'm suppose to do this. I don't even know you guys."

"And we don't know you. Fury said there would be some growing pains, remember?" Natasha says with a hand running through her loose red curls.

"Yeah." 

"This is them. You'll get there, kid. I know it's hard."

"Thank you."

She pauses before she speaks again. "Do you need anything?"

"Mind if I borrow an extra blanket? I couldn't bring my favourite one at Ms. Tyson's because the other kids shared it with me."

"I have an extra fluffy one, just no crumbs or sneezing on it or something horrid because it's kind of hard to clean." She says with a chuckle. "You can keep it."

"Thanks, Natasha."

"Nat." She calls behind her as she turns around to go down the stairs. I smile.

"Thanks, Nat."

"No worries, kid."