Chapter 2
Maria groaned as she woke to her older brother rushing around the flat. She could hear him banging pots and pans as he presumably made a quick breakfast for them both. She had no clue as to why he was so rushed. With one quick glance at the clock she was doing the same.
“MAR! Get ready I'm late!” Matteo banged on her door.
“I am! Jesus.” Maria ran a hand through her hair, trying to prepare herself for another day in hell, in other words, the daycare. She only had a few days left before she would be given general access as an adult. God she couldn't wait. With all the screaming gross children she had seen, Maria was sure she would never want to have one of her own.
“Mar!” Maria bit her tongue and emerged from her room, dressed and ready for the day, “Eat quick, I’ve got a meeting in 15.”
Maria rolled her eyes, “Good morning to you too.”
He gave her a quick kiss on the top of her head before running back to his room to grab some files he had forgotten. Maria rolled her eyes and ate quickly.
The second Maria was dropped at the daycare she already had a headache. There were several infants in the room, each worker seemed to be dealing with at least one crying child. Maria simply said hello and went further into the room where the older kids often stayed. Clint was already there, working on some online school work he had. Maria sat next to him and helped him as needed.
The day passed with no notable events. Matteo picked her up for lunch around 11:30 and she was back by 12:15. It wasn’t until much later, around 5:30pm that Maria was getting worried, Usually Matteo would have been there by 4:00. Her and Clint were the only older kids there. Each worker was still occupied when an infant came in. Without any other pair of hands Clint was quickly asked to care for the baby.
Now Maria was alone. She had gotten a text from Matteo saying he would be getting her later and something big came up. Clint received a similar message from Barney. She sat at the front desk in a spinny chair. She spun around and around and around, at least she did until the door opened again. Two agents that Maria didn’t know carried in a young toddler.
“Maria, Sweetie could you sign her in please?” A daycare worker asked over the sounds of screaming children.
Maria gave her a thumbs up. The young toddler was screaming her head off, the only comprehensible words coming out of her mouth being ‘Mama’. The two agents put the girl down and filled out the information Maria needed before informing Maria of the girls situation.
“This is Yelena, Her mother was just brought in for questioning, can’t believe they're allowing this after all she’s done, Whatever, she’ll probably be here soon.”
The other one continued mumbling, “Not fit to be a mother that's for sure… Horrible woman…”
The agents left Maria to deal with the inconsolable child. She knew the basics of how to get kids to stop crying but she had never really tried to actually help one of them before.
First thing Maria tried was picking the girl up. The blonde quickly cried louder for her Mama and backed away from Maria.
“Okay okay, do you want to play with a toy? We have really fun toys. Come on, let’s play. Do you like ponies?”
Yelena continued to cry, Maria thought for a bit before she saw a stroller. She walked away to grab it and Yelena cried a little louder. When she returned the blonde started to climb into the stroller. That was until she realized there were straps that held her down, she pulled at them uncomfortably and cried louder. Maria quickly took her out of the stroller and put it away. She was truly out of ideas. She decided to try holding her again. This time Yelena didn't fight it. Instead she clung to Maria and cried. The brunette began to pat her back and made a calming shushing sound. Yelena calmed down and curled into the brunette.
Eventually, after maybe half an hour of holding the girl Maria got her interested in coloring. Once the girl was focused on that Maria made a break to get to the bathroom. By the time she came out Yelena was crying again, screaming for her Mama. The second Yelena spotted Maria she ran towards her with her arms extended. Maria lifted her up and the cries stopped immediately. This happened about two more times where Yelena would start playing, realize Maria wasn't right next to her, then begin sobbing until Maria picked her up and held her close again. It was about 7:00 by the time Clint got a call about bringing Yelena outside.
“We gotta bring her outside. Barney’s there with her mom.”
Maria nodded, curious to see who her mother was and to find out why those agents thought she was so bad.
They exited the room and to Maria’s surprise the mother was young. She looked to be about Maria’s age, she was a redhead with sharp eyes. She scanned Maria before locking in on her daughter. The blonde had her head resting on Maria’s shoulder so Maria turned around so the girl could look at her mother.
Yelena quickly scrambled to get to her mother the second she saw her. This is when Maria realized the mother was in cuffs. The redhead somehow was able to manuver to pick the blonde up. The second Yelena was back in her mothers arms she melted into the touch and all worry from her little face melted away.
"Did they hurt you?" Maria could hear the mother murmur to Yelena, the girl babbled out something that wasn't really comprehensible in English or Russian. Maria could see the mother looking over her for injuries. She then shushed her gently and rubbed her back in comfort.
"Natalia, this is my brother, Clint, and this is his friend Maria. Maria, Clint, this is Natalia, she will likely be training with you two when Fall session begins."
"Why is she in cuffs?" Clint blunt as ever asked the question Maria and him had both been wondering.
"It's... complicated, they are temporary for now." Barney explained to his brother. Maria was extra curious now.
Barney then slapped his leg on his thigh, "I completely forgot I need to take you both to Medical before we do anything else."
Natalia, who had been murmuring to Yelena, snapped her head up.
"What the fuck did you just say?" She took a step backwards, and all Maria could see was pure fear in her eyes. The woman who had seemed so big and scary looked much like a frightened child. Yelena look a little startled by her mothers loud tone but other than that didn’t react.
"We need to go to Medical, it's like a hospital pretty much, we just call it Medical here. You haven't had an evaluation yet and we need to get that done as soon as possible." Barney furrowed his brow in confusion at why this was upsetting the redhead so much.
"No," Natalia shook her head again.
"What do you mean? Why?”
"You said- You didn't. черт возьми, нет, я не вернусь (Damnit, I'm not going back)” She took a shaky breath, “Я не вернусь. Я не вернусь”(I won't go back. I won't go back.) Maria tried to translate it but couldn’t she really only knew the curse words from Bobbi anyways,
"I don't speak Russian, Natalia.” Barney took a breath "Okay why don't you both sit down for a second and we will figure something out. Maria, I heard your brother will be down soon to get you so why don't you head back inside."
Maria reluctantly left the scene and re entered the daycare. Although Maria swore she hated kids she couldn't deny the fact she felt a need to be there for Yelena again. Maybe she's just crazy but she just felt like Yelena and Natalia mean something. Like there is more to their story that no one knows.
It ended up being around fifteen minutes after that when Matteo was able to pick Maria up, “I’m sorry Mar there was something big happening and they need to pull me for it.”
Maria shrugged, she didn't really mind, she knew her brother's job was important. The only thing she needed now was some food and her bed.