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Chapter 18. Stark Spangled Banner

November 24, 2016. 5:00 AM.

I hear my alarm go off and I quickly hit the snooze and drag myself out of bed. Then, I remember what day it is.

It's Thanksgiving.

I've never really had anything to be thankful for except a roof over my head, clothes on my body, and some sort of food in my stomach.

That was, until the Avengers. Now, I have this makeshift family.

I'm still working on discovering my biological parents but they aren't family.

The Red Room definitely isn't family.

The Avengers? Now that's a family.

I've been talking with Bruce about my flashbacks and how they suck. I was allowed to show up in court for the news lady and Flash getting sued or suing Tony because I was one of the few witnesses for both cases. The Avengers and I have our movie nights every week.

Every once in a while, Tony, Peter and I will sit in the lab for hours building something or tinkering. And I had a few nightmares, but Natasha was always there to talk it out. Steve and Bucky have taught me about life in the 1940s, I FaceTime Shuri every week and she's explained what it's like to live in Wakanda.

Loki and I will text each other numbers on a scale of one to ten, showing how angry we are and we often talk each other out of murdering someone. I mostly keep Loki from stabbing someone though. Peter and I are working our way through pop culture stuff and the Meme Lords are teaching me how to be a normal teenager. In the past week, Nat has taken me out every other day for driving lessons and I'm getting the hang of it.

I've shared a bit more about my past, like some stuff about my mom and some stuff that happened in the Red Room but they still think that I can't remember where I was trained. Tony, Steve, Nat, and Bruce had to go out on a mission but they came back home safely, so that's great. And, they told me about it before they left, so that made me a bit happier. Then, I smell food.

Why do I smell food, it's five in the morning? Oh wait, it's Thanksgiving! Everyone's coming to the compound for dinner! Even the people in space! I heard that Fury pops in to grab dessert. And, Thanksgiving means Christmas is only a month away. And Christmas means that my birthday is the next month! It'll be so odd having a real Christmas.

But, back to the present. Heh, present, Christmas. Now that I'm awake awake I walk into my closet and grab a t-shirt and jeans. I quickly put those on and put my hair into a high ponytail and run downstairs.

"HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!" I shout.

"Hey, Lina. It's just me down here right now but I think that you just woke everyone up." Steve says, peeking his head out of the kitchen.

"Oh. Whoops. Anything I can help with?" I ask eagerly.

"You can start the side dishes. Four bags of corn, two bags of green beans, a giant bowl of mashed potatoes, gravy, oh and no need for biscuits. Clint's bringing the biscuits." Steve lists off.

"Sweet. Hey, I heard that Fury's coming for dessert, that true?" I ask, grabbing an apron.

"Sometimes. He often sneaks in and grabs a slice of pie and talks with Natasha and Clint. Maria too, if she decides to come."

"Cool."

"So, what's got you super excited for Thanksgiving?"

"Well, I actually have more than three tiny things to be thankful for this year and Thanksgiving means Christmas and Christmas means my birthday! I'm going to be sixteen!"

"That's cool! Hey, when's your birthday?"

"January eleventh. When's yours, the forth of July?" I ask sarcastically.

"Yep!"

"WAIT, WHAT?!"

"My birthday is July fourth."

"Holy crud. Are we supposed to sing the 'Star Spangled Banner' instead of 'Happy Birthday'?"

"If you want."

"Wow. That's funny. Hey, do we have the ingredients for a pumpkin pie?"

"Yeah. We have the ingredients for about five different types of pie."

"Jeez, how much pie do you guys eat?"

"Hey, Clint has kids."

"Ok fine."

"Who was shouting?" A sleepy Bruce walks into the kitchen.

"Sorry, that was me. I'm just really excited. It's Thanksgiving!" I say.

"Yeah, I know. It's also 5:30. I expect this on Christmas, not Thanksgiving." Tony says walking up next to Bruce.

"I'm sorry I woke you guys up. I'm just excited!"

"Why are you so excited about Thanksgiving?" Tony asks.

"So, you know that I was kidnapped when I was eight, right?" I ask.

"Yeah." Bruce says.

"Well, because of that I never had a big Thanksgiving dinner. I never had more than three little things to be thankful for. I do now. I've always had a roof over my head, clothes on my body, and food in my stomach. Sure, the roof ended up springing a leak, I had holes in my clothes for a while, and the food I ate was nearly inedible but I had to eat to stay alive. Now, I have nice clothes, a roof that doesn't leak, great food, more friends than I've ever had in my life, and people who care in a good way. That's why I'm so excited for Thanksgiving." I explain.

"Wow. I guess we didn't realize how much this means to you." Bruce notes.

"There was no way to know. I keep my personal problems personal. I always have." I say, working on heating up the veggies and starting the potatoes.

"Since you're awake, you can help cook dinner." Steve says.

"Why are we cooking dinner at five in the morning? Why not three in the afternoon?" I ask.

"I don't know. Banner?" Stark asks.

"I got nothing. Steve?" Bruce asks.

"Sorry." Steve says, shrugging.

"Wait a minute. It's the Stark Spangled Banner!" I say, pointing to Tony, then Steve, then Bruce.

Tony bursts into laughter after a second of silence.

"You ok, Stark? It was just a joke. Wait, is something wrong? Are you dying? Panic attack?" I ask frantically.

"I'm good. And that was an amazing joke. Nothing is wrong, I'm not dying, not having a panic attack. Speaking of, have you had any more?" Stark asks.

"Not really. I almost had one when I talked to Lillia, but Eliza got me out before she could get further under my skin. The flashbacks and nightmares don't happen as often, but I'll have a bad day or two every couple weeks." I explain.

"That's good. If you ever need to talk about something I'm here." Bruce says.

"Who's Eliza?" Steve asks.

"My AI. She's like Friday, but Eliza goes where ever I go." I explain.

"Makes sense." Steve says.

"Ok, I'm going back to bed. See you at nine." Tony says, leaving the room.

Stark Spangled Banner.