𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐂 𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐌

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫

- ⧗  NATASHA ROMANOFF ⧗ -

   ZARIAH DIDN'T JOIN THE TEAM FOR TRAINING AGAIN. After that first session, Natasha had immediately been able to tell something was wrong. If not by the way the girl stormed out of the training room, then the way she had avoided Nat the rest of the day clearly gave it away.

   Natasha had tried to give her some space, let her work through her emotions whilst still being there for her. It wasn't until the next day she had fully discovered what was going on. Clint had came up to her, explaining how he'd found her skulking about the kitchen following a nightmare in the middle of the night. He'd said he'd spoken to her, maybe made her feel a little better about things, but maybe Nat should say something too.

   So she'd approached the young girl very softly, scared to frighten her away from her feelings and asked her what had happened. When Zariah had spilled the whole story and started sobbing in her arms, Nat had whispered comforting words in her ear.

   Eventually they came to the decision that staying away from sparring might be in Zariah's best interest, at least for a few more months until she had fully righted herself. But for the time being, they also decided it might be nice for her to still join the team for warmups. After all, the girl had seemed to enjoy the exercise and Natasha wanted to keep her exposure to the team high. The more time she spent with other people, the less she came to resent them.

   So in the mornings, Zariah continued to smash their training warm up and run circles around everyone else. Soon they moved her to work alongside Steve, apparently the only one who could still outshine her in a workout.

This, Natasha noticed, blossomed a small friendship between the two and soon, Zariah was perhaps as close to Steve as she now was with Wanda. Eventually, Zariah even asked Natasha if she could join him on his morning runs. The redhead had been shocked at the progressing question but had of course said yes, then watched with a smile as she watched the two leave the next day, running off together in the sunrise.

   Slowly, it was if Zariah was learning not to lean on Natasha as much, something she was rather grateful for. Not that she wouldn't hold Zariah's hand till the end of the world if she needed it, but she wanted the girl to truly experience life, and to do that, she'd need to learn to find her own footing in the world.

   Their days found a new routine. Wake up, work out, breakfast. Natasha was still trying to wean Zariah off the peanut butter diet. Then they'd head over to the office. Natasha would bring her laptop to work on the jobs Fury would send her way. She'd requested for the time being to be taken off active jobs, not wanting to leave Zariah and disappear on a mission for who knows how long. Instead, Fury sent her files upon files of encryptions to decipher, or conversations to translate. Whatever came through, it was tedious work.

   While she worked away, so would Zariah. For hours, she'd type at her computer, trying to retrieve SHIELD's data from the KGB. It was hard work for her too, hours spent decoding information she'd find and even longer erasing it completely from the KGB's system. It seemed however that the girl never complained. In fact in their new routine, she seemed more settled than ever.

   The pair would find lunch, eat it up on the roof and chat, before heading back to the office to work for more long hours. Then at dinner, they'd join the team for whatever meal the volunteer chef had made.

Their evenings were spent watching shows or movies, either cuddled up on the big sofa with some more of the team, or on the smaller inside Zariah's bedroom. Sometimes Zariah would read while Nat sat across the room doing something else. They'd chat around the kitchen with some more of the team, or Nat would find Zariah tucked away into Wanda's room, the Sokovian trying to teach her the guitar. Whatever they filled their time with, it all left a wide smile on the young girl's face. A smile that Natasha was more than glad to see. It showed she was settling in, paving the way to her new life.