i hate you but

“Miss l/n, while Ethan and Olivia are being questioned, do you want to meet Jackson and Allie for now?” Elise questioned as y/n got back to the waiting area. y/n’s eyes grew wide at the question; was she ready to face her sister’s kids in the state she was in? Was she ready to meet the niece she’d never met before?

“There’s no time like the present, I guess,” y/n smiled, earning a nod from Elise as she led the h/c-haired girl through the police precinct and to a green door with a frosted glass window.

“They’re in this room,” Elise smiled before twisting open the doorknob.

“—fly like the superheroes do, Allie!” Jackson’s high-pitched voice was the first thing y/n heard as the door swung open. There, she saw Jackson holding up an Iron Man action figure over the head of a much younger girl. God, she couldn’t have been over 2 years old.

With the creak of the door, the pair turned their head to where y/n and Elise stood and Jackson’s eyes grew wide in excitement.

“Auntie y/n!” Jackson exclaimed, throwing the toy on the ground and running towards y/n as quickly as his short legs could take him and he wrapped his chubby arms around her leg. y/n froze up at the feeling of it all. She couldn’t believe that her 5-year-old nephew—who she hadn’t seen for 2 years, still remembered her.

“Hey, buddy,” y/n smiled as she broke herself out of her trance. She leaned down to return the hug Jackson was trying to give her before pulling away and tousling his hair.

Allie, at the lack of having her big brother near her, began to wail loudly, her cries echoing off the walls of the colorful room.

“No, no, Allie, don’t cry,” Jackson cooed, rushing to his little sister’s side and instinctively wrapping his arms around her tiny frame. The toddler wrapped her arms around her older brother as her sobbing began to cease slowly. y/n smiled; she saw so much of Cassy in the kids.

“What are you waiting for? Talk to them,” Elise smiled at y/n, motioning towards the kids.

“Allie, this is auntie y/n. She’s mommy’s sister,” the young blue-eyed boy smiled down at his sister as the toddler, out of curiosity, crawled towards y/n. It was the first time she got a glimpse of Allie’s e/c eyes up close. Damn, Allie was a mini Cassy and that thought itself scared her.

“Auntie!” the toddler babbled, reaching up as if to ask y/n to carry her. Of course, to y/n, it sounded more like “OTIE!”

She hesitantly pulled the toddler up, one arm supporting Allie’s weight and the other resting on her back. Allie, with her big e/c eyes, looked up at y/n and giggled, pulling a smile from y/n.

“Auntie y/n, mommy know you visiting?” Jackson questioned, ditching the toys altogether and standing beside y/n. y/n’s heart clenched; of course, Jackson didn’t know about his mother’s passing. Elise sent y/n a look of sympathy before mouthing ‘we told him she’s on a trip’ to her.

“Yeah, she does. Your mommy told me to take care of you while she was on her trip,” y/n smiled warmly at the young boy, holding in her tears as she noticed his face fall.

“Why mommy not bring us on her trip? Does mommy no love us?” Jackson frowned. y/n, Allie still in her arms, got on her knees so she stood at the same level Jackson did and shook her head.

“Your mommy loves you very very very much, Jackson. She didn’t take you with her because she knows Auntie y/n misses you,” y/n smiled as Jackson wrapped his arms around her.

“I hate to break up this moment, but they’re done questioning Ethan and Olivia,” Mike interrupted them as he entered the room. y/n nodded, heading out the door with Jackson and Allie before getting interrupted by Elise.

“Miss l/n, take them away as quickly as you can. I don’t think it would be good for Ethan or Olivia if they stayed here any longer than they should,” Elise requested, earning a nod from y/n. They followed Mike back out to the waiting room and there sat two familiar faces.

When it came to seeing Jackson for the first time, y/n could instantly recognize him. After all, he’d only aged two years since she’d last seen him. Olivia and Ethan however, those two were a different story. Since they were part of the population that didn’t turn to dust after the effects of Thanos’ snap; the two were unrecognizable.

To them, it had been seven years since they’d seen y/n. Ethan, who was a shaggy-haired ten-year-old the last time y/n had seen him, was now a tired-looking seventeen-year-old. Olivia, who was a starry-eyed eight-year-old when y/n had last seen him, was now fifteen; a young woman with a sad smile as she reassuringly held her older brother’s hand.

“Ethan, Olivia, this is—,” Elise began only to be harshly cut off by Ethan.

“Agent y/n l/n. The same one who hasn’t visited us for seven years. Why is she here?” Ethan scowled, crossing his arms over his chest. y/n sighed sadly. What was she expecting? Did she really think all of Cassy’s kids would welcome her with open arms after she stopped visiting?

“From now on, she’s your legal guardian. You’re going to be staying over at her place for a while,” Elise explained carefully.

“Of all the people mom could leave us with, she left us with her? Why?” Ethan scoffed, shooting up from his seat. Olivia rolled her eyes before speaking.

“I trust mom and if she decided leaving us with Aunt y/n’s what she wanted for us, I respect that decision,” Olivia flashed y/n a tired smile as she got up from her seat and wrapped her arms around y/n. y/n, shocked from the action, just stood there, frozen in place.

“Yeah, Ethan. Auntie y/n’s nice,” Jackson smiled, holding y/n’s hand.

“Ethan, I know you’re probably pissed off at me, but I also know you don’t want to stay here, so can we just go?” y/n huffed, already feeling exhausted from the hell of a day she had.

“Fine,” he huffed, motioning for y/n to lead the way to her car.

“Miss l/n, we’ll take care of the documents for now. We’ll contact you if we need anything else,” Elise smiled before letting y/n leave the precinct. y/n, using her handprint, unlocked the doors to her modified Aston Martin coupe (one of the benefits of being an Avenger) as she motioned for everyone to get in the car.

She handed Allie over to Olivia before getting into the driver’s seat and driving to the Avengers compound.

“Auntie y/n, where we going?” Jackson questioned, peeking over to the front seat.

“I’m going to the Avengers Compound. I need to go get my bag, and then we’ll go to your house too,” y/n responded as she took a turn.

“Am I gonna meet the Avengers?” Jackson’s eyes lit up with excitement.

“Sorry, buddy, my teammates are on a mission, they aren’t in the compound. Maybe after a week or two, we can visit them, okay?” y/n lied, not really wanting to explain to her teammates how she became the legal guardian of two kids and two teenagers.

“Promise?” Jackson questioned.

“I promise,” y/n chuckled.

A few minutes later, they stopped at the gate to the compound. y/n rolled down a window and pressed the button on the intercom system.

“FRIDAY, unlock the gates,” y/n requested, only to get a loud beep in response.

“Name?”

“Agent y/n l/n,” y/n spoke into the intercom, only to get yet another beep in response to her words.

“My apologies Agent l/n, but Sergeant Barnes is restricting your access to the compound,” FRIDAY responded as y/n’s nails began to dig into the leather of the steering wheel.

“Redirect this channel to wherever Barnes is,” y/n commanded, rolling her eyes in frustration.

“Oh, hey, y/n,” Bucky spoke nonchalantly from the other side of the intercom. y/n swore she could hear his smirk from the intercom.

“Hey, prick, maybe you want to remove the restrictions you put on my access,” y/n huffed.

“Yeah, no,” Bucky sassed.

“Я возьму все твои ножи и засуну их тебе в задницу, если ты этого не сделаешь,” y/n threatened him in Russian since, well, she had kids in her car and she wasn’t supposed to be threatening people or swearing around them.

“Well, you could try,” Bucky chuckled.

“Barnes, I don’t have time for this!” y/n exclaimed as she now held the steering wheel in a white-knuckled grip.

“Jeez, no need to get so riled up. FRIDAY, remove all restrictions on Agent l/n’s access to the compound. She’s not secretly a HYDRA agent,” Bucky huffed as the gates to the compound swung open and y/n drove into the parking area of the compound.

“I’m going to leave the AC on, but stay in the car. I’ll just grab my bag from upstairs and we’ll be good to go,” y/n explained before walking back into the compound and heading straight to her bedroom.

There, she pulled away a compartment from her closet to reveal a black suitcase filled with enough of her clothes to last her two weeks. Ever since that surprise vacation Tony took the team on—where y/n did not have any of her belongings packed on time—she hid the suitcase away just in case.

“FRIDAY, lock my door,” y/n requested. The light outside y/n’s door flashed from green to red, meaning the door was locked and nobody other than y/n could bypass FRIDAY’s systems or command FRIDAY to unlock her door.

y/n, with the heavy suitcase rolling behind her, came to a realization. A realization that there was no way in hell she could manage to fit her suitcase, the kids, and the kids’ suitcases in her car without leaving it cramped or making two trips between her apartment and their house.

y/n sighed knowing damn well what she had to do.

“FRIDAY, can I have a location on Barnes?” y/n requested, stopping in her tracks and awaiting a response.

“Sergeant Barnes is in the kitchen. Shall I let him know you require his presence?” FRIDAY questioned.

“No, thanks,” y/n responded as she made her way to the partially burned down kitchen area where she found Bucky fixing himself a sandwich on one of the ash-covered countertops.

“You here to burn down the kitchen again?” Bucky raised a brow at y/n, his eyes fixated on the suitcase she trailed behind her.

“Sam already told you he was the one who burned the fucking kitchen down, bitch. I need something,” y/n paused, tapping her fingers against the countertop.

“If you’re going to ask for tips on how to go on the run, you’re going to need a less obvious way to carry everything you own because that suitcase is only going to raise suspicion,” Bucky chuckled, motioning to the suitcase.

“That wasn’t it, bitch. I need your van,” y/n crossed her arms impatiently.

“My van? Don’t you have that car Stark gave you? You know, that fancy sports car you drive around on undercover missions?” Bucky raised a brow at y/n.

“You don’t even use the damn thing! It’s literally rotting away in the fucking car basement. Plus, you prefer using your motorcycle! I’ll give it back, I swear,” y/n begged, facing Bucky with her best e/c puppy dog eyes.

“No,” Bucky smirked.

“Barnes, I swear, I’ll fucking give it back!” y/n exclaimed, letting go of the handle of the suitcase and shaking Bucky’s shoulders dramatically which pulled an eye roll from him.

“Damn it, I don’t know why I’m actually agreeing to this, but fine,” Bucky huffed, walking away from the kitchen and disappearing into his bedroom for a quick moment.

When he reemerged, he set his van keys on to the counter and returned to making his sandwich, acting as though y/n wasn’t in the room—y/n was used to it, though.

She snatched the keys from the counter and headed off to the parking basement where she swung the door of her car.

“I just realized we aren’t going to fit in this car when we go fetch your things so we are going to be using a different car,” y/n explained, earning a nod from Olivia.

“Irresponsible,” Ethan coughed out as y/n pretended not to hear him. Instead, she just promised herself to be more prepared next time she had to deal with these kids—which she knew would be all the damn time now that she had custody of them.