Chasing Ghosts | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 15: Finally Threatening The New ''Hero''

Natasha

Earlier this morning

With an almost giddy smile, Natasha opened Maya's bedroom door, the light from the hallway falling into the otherwise dark room. The girl was still fast asleep, curled up with her blanket pulled up to her chin, her mess of a hair scattered all over her pillow. 

Natasha couldn't help it, she watched for a while, until she swore something had started to burn downstairs and ruined the moment. Carefully, she walked in and sat on the edge of the bed, softly nudging Maya awake. Now, a move like this would have had dramatic consequences if done on herself. But luckily, Maya didn't have the traumas that caused those things.

''Happy birthday,'' Natasha whispered when she started to stir, groaning slightly and pushing her face further into her pillow. A Katya move. She laughed quietly about it. ''I made breakfast, and there's a present for you on the kitchen counter. So get your ass out of bed.''

Maya opened one interested eye at the words ''breakfast'' and ''present'', causing Natasha to chuckle again and open the curtains just a tad to let in more light. She left without saying anything else, hurrying back to her pancakes that had indeed burned a little. 

Fairly quickly, Maya came downstairs, a bathrobe over her long pajamas, sitting down at her usual spot. Not wanting to seem too greedy, she ignored the rectangular shaped present to her right until Natasha shoved it over to her, excited to see what she thought of it. A lot of work went into it, all done by the two Russians when Maya was at school.

Carefully, she pulled the wrapping paper away, revealing a dark red leather photo album with her name written in elegant letters on the front. Maya's eyebrows furrowed a bit in confusion, until she opened it and saw all the pictures and papers and notes taped into it. From her birth certificate to pictures of her as a baby, to the sparse couple pictures from the orphanage, to the sneaky pictures Katya and Natasha took at home.

With wondering eyes, Maya took everything in, slowly flipping through the pages.

''Because we may be your parents now, but you should never forget where you came from. I try to forget my childhood, but you shouldn't,'' Natasha explained, smiling at the reaction the present got. Maya was so entranced that she didn't react, just kept staring at the book in front of her as her eyes started to water. And Natasha let her have her moment, going back to putting the pancakes on plates, waiting for her to unfreeze.

Eventually, she did, jumping off the chair and wrapping her arms around Natasha's waist in a quick hug. ''Thank you. I love it.''

A smile broke out on Natasha's face and she dropped everything in her hands and hugged her back. ''I'm so glad.''

Katya

With hanging shoulders, they left the camp. Well, at least the three Avengers did. Zemo... he didn't look too disappointed. And if Katya was right about her suspicions, it was because that little girl whispered more than just a thank you in his ear.

''Well, I got nothin'.'' Bucky threw the apartment door in the lock behind Katya, strolling back to the couch like he had made it his safe place. ''No one's talking about Donya.''

''Yeah, it's because Karli is the only one fighting for them,'' Sam worded what everyone thought, plopping down on the couch next to a heavily sighing Bucky, Katya following and doing the same. ''And she's not wrong.''