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『 seventeen. THE ONE EYED MAN 』
HALLIE NEEDED SOMETHING TO DO. To take her mind off of what had previously occurred. Of course, Laura had told her she didn't need to work in case she wanted to get some rest, but rest was all Hallie had gotten and it's done her no good in the last few hours. Tony and Steve were chopping wood, Natasha and Bruce were resting, and Thor had gone of to who knew where. Clint was enjoying time with his kids leaving Hallie very alone. So Laura asked if she could help make dinner for the team. Hallie had never been a great cook, but she was happy to help with something.
Laura chose to ask her with making the dessert while she worked on the dinner, Hallie reading from the cook book that Laura laid out before her. They worked side by side, silently as Hallie put her effort into actually getting the ingredients right. Once she had forgotten to add sugar to her brother's birthday cake. It was a very sad cake and she vowed never to forget an ingredient even though they went out for ice cream which her brother preferred and at the end of the day they were happy.
Every now and then though, Hallie could feel Laura glance at her, as if wanting to say something but deciding against it.
Hallie decided to break the silence, as she cracked an egg, putting it into the dish. "I used to make brownies all the time with my mother. She loved to bake whenever she could."
"So she was a good baker then?"
"Oh no, she was horrible." Hallie laughed, smiling and shaking her head at the thought of how her mother would almost always burn what she made. "We'd always end up going out to get ice cream, or I'd take over."
Laura laughed with her, "Clint can't cook either. I'd be surprised if he could pull off making cereal." She joked and Hallie smiled, the day starting to drift away from memory as she listened to what Laura said. "He may be very good at shooting and spying but anything semi normal and he has to take a nap. I'm just glad Cooper and Lila inherited my cooking skills. Or at least Cooper did."
"They seem like good kids."
"They are." Laura smiled fondly, "They can be a handful, but they are good kids. You have any siblings?"
"Just my younger brother." Hallie answered, thinking of Harley. "He's back in Manhattan right now with our neighbor who should be looking after him. The two of them probably stayed up all night though."
Laura smiled, focusing on chopping the carrots. There was silence in the kitchen, more comfortable this time now that they'd talked and Hallie felt herself able to relax, doing something so mundane and wearing normal clothes, able to forget about the past day, finding the smell of the candles soothing to her. If she focused hard enough she could make the past two years go away. And she was just making dessert while her brother homework. She knew that nothing would be how it once was. But it was amazing.
