Tragedy of Natalie Thomas-MCU

Chapter 7

Chapter 7.

24 hours until the next mission.

Natalie's body jolted her awake every time something made a noise, any noise, however small. That, combined with nightmares, prevented her from the sleep she so desperately needed. She was burrowed into the blanket Sam had brought her, and Cookie was pressed tightly against her chest. She was trying her very best to regain enough energy to leave. You really can't rush rest, but that didn't stop her from trying.

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Alpine weaved his way through the busy common room and over to the stairwell next to the elevator. The stairs were there mostly for building code, so the stairs might as well be cat-sized. Alpine was the only one using them. He went down a few flights, occasionally stopping to bat at an invading ray of sunlight or a clump of dust floating by as he slowly made his way to his favorite nap spot.

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Natalie jolted awake again, and instinctively jumped away from whatever had touched her back. She spun around as quickly as her aching body would allow, and was met with an white, chubby, very fluffy cat.

Is... is this the cat from before?

She collapsed back onto the pillows again.

Then after a few minutes hesitantly held out a hand for him to sniff. She had always wanted a pet, but had moved between foster homes too often.

He sniffed her hand for a while. Then he walked up and made himself comfortable close to Natalie's chest, purring loudly.

Hi kitty. She thought, a small smile poking at her lips. She gently scratched in between his ears, then closed her eyes again.

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Sam was digging around in the freezer for the bags of frozen fruit while the rest of the team got ready for their upcoming mission. Scott had flown in from his home in San Francisco, again. He was downstairs with Wanda collecting their gear. Bucky was trying to do more research on the bases, he finally got a hold of the Hydra files after nagging Sam's ear off for about an hour. But the deal was he had to read them at the kitchen table. Sam was excited to stay home, someone needed to take care of Natalie and he really needed a break.

"Aha!" Sam said triumphantly, holding up the bag of frozen strawberries, "Found them!"

Bucky flashed Sam a thumbs-up from the kitchen counter, his head buried in his laptop.

Sam set down the strawberries next to all of his assembled ingredients. Then he pulled out the blender and a few measuring cups. He had used all of the bananas in Natalie's smoothies yesterday so this time he put in blueberries, strawberries, honey, the boring healthy stuff like kale, then some water to thin it, and hit blend.

While the blender made enough noise to rival a jet engine Sam pulled out the only cup with a screw-on lid and a straw. It was Wanda's iced coffee cup, but she had given Sam permission to use it. After the "soup incident" Sam had tried to pick the dishes that had the least likelihood to spill.

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Sam gently knocked on the door, and Alpine's ears perked up. Natalie jolted awake, eyes wide. Oh god don't touch me don't touch me-

Sam cracked open the door a little more. "Hey kid, just me!" Sam smiled, "I made another smoothie, we're outta bananas now so I put blueberries in. Is that ok?"