Chapter One
Green eyes fluttered open as the sun’s rays entered through the large window of Alya's bedroom. Natasha would have to remember to put up Alya’s black out curtains for her for when she wanted to use them to block the light out.
Her eyebrows furrowed when she saw that her hand was resting against Bucky’s shoulder while his arm was around her waist.
And her heart jumped.
Having to quickly school her features, the Russian convinced herself that it was only because they had fallen asleep with Alya that this happened.
After flying back from Wakanda, everyone was exhausted and unanimously crashed once they got home.
Which was easy to do after the borderline feast that Alya’s grandparents made for them to eat before they left, even going as far as to send them off with nearly a week’s worth of leftovers.
Alya actually managed to get a good night’s rest, though Natasha couldn’t tell if it was because Anasi tired her out, her full belly, or because Shuri updated her kimoyo beads to control her powers a little more.
Whatever it was, she was glad to see the girl’s relaxed features as she slept.
Sliding carefully out of the bed, she let the two sleep and headed for the kitchen to get herself a bowl of cereal to eat.
“You’re up late.” Wanda commented, she and Pietro already sitting at the island, chomping down on their own bowls of cereal.
“We were all tired, how long have you been out of bed?” Natasha grabbed herself a bowl and poured some milk into it.
“I came out here a little bit before you did.” She shrugged. “I can get out of your way.”
“You’re not in my way.” The redhead frowned. “Where did that come from?”
Even Pietro gave her a look of confusion.
“Forget it.” Wanda shook her head. “It’s nothing.”
“Wanda.” Natasha raised her eyebrow, making the younger girl deflate.
The teen had seen her give Alya that look plenty of times, but she never thought she’d ever be on the receiving end of it. She now knew why Alya always blurted out whatever it was that Natasha wanted to hear. This look wasn’t something to be ignored.
“It’s just that you’re Alya’s mother and Bucky’s her father…..” She knew how Bucky felt about this arrangement, but she couldn’t help but feel insecure.
Pietro, on the other hand, was completely fine with it all.
Wanda was always jealous of how secure he could be in any situation.
“Why didn’t you say something sooner?” The older woman asked. She had no idea that Wanda had been feeling like that and she wished she had known about it before today. “Is that how you’ve been feeling?” She asked Pietro.
“Nope.” The boy popped the ‘p’.
“I don’t know.” Wanda shrugged. “I didn’t want to ruin anything. I like it here.”
“You can talk to me about anything, Wanda.” She assured her. “Nothing you tell me is going to ruin anything. You fit perfectly. I love having you here and Alya adores you. You and your brother are family, you know that.”
Wanda blew out a long breath. It was nice to hear that Natasha’s feelings hadn’t changed so soon after Bucky moved in with them. She thought that there was a chance that they’d want to figure out their family dynamic without her getting involved, but both Natasha and Bucky had told her that she was family.
“Eat up before it gets cold.” Natasha winked.
She was definitely going to make a better effort to make sure that Wanda knew that she belonged, because she did. The family wouldn’t be the same without her.
“Get out of the way!”
Alya didn’t even flinch as she was shoved into the lockers of the school hallway. The movement had been quite rough for a person of her stature to handle, but she’s had much, much worse. This didn’t faze her.
The only thing it did was fuel her ever growing anger.
It was weird.
She’d never been an angry person. She always tried to keep her emotions in check. Sometimes, it didn’t work that way, she was human, but it seemed like now more than ever, she was angry.
She guessed it had something to do with all the sleep she lost.
And everything was so different. It was like the rug was just ripped out from under her all over again.
Schools were opened as soon as possible after everyone was brought back. The teachers and principals claimed it was because they didn’t want anyone to fall behind. But it felt like utter chaos.
Alya was still going to the same school as before, but the only good that came from it, was the fact that she was still only about a block away from Peter and the twins.
But that wasn't going to make today any better.
Bucky thought that this would be good for her because the longer she spent clutching her mother’s apron springs, the harder it was going to be for her to separate from her.
It was too bad. Alya preferred to cling onto her mother.
“Idiot.” Brandy bumped into her.
This was the worst part about going back to school.
Bullies.
Serena wasn’t really a problem anymore, she kept to herself and didn’t really bother anyone, and Alya was beginning to think that she’d grown out of her immature and volatile ways.
She seemed older.
It was like she was tired of fighting, or really, just tired. And Alya could understand that. Everything was so overwhelming and it was taking a lot of time to get used to. And truthfully, she didn’t want to get in trouble the way she did the last time she fought back.
She couldn’t get in trouble now. Would her principal suspend her again? Or would she be expelled? Would her mother be angry?
How would her dad react?
They were still learning about each other as time went on and she didn't want to rock the boat so soon. She knew what happened when Natasha was upset, but she wasn't ready to find out what would happen when Bucky wasn't pleased.
“What’s the matter?” Brandy smirked, feeling a sense of pride wash over her when Alya didn't retaliate. “Got nothing to say?
“Leave me alone. I just want to get to class.”
“Well, it looks like you won’t get to your class.” She reached to grab for Alya’s hair and tugged on it, causing the smaller girl to stumble back in the direction of the pull.
As Alya turned, her eyes caught the shimmer of the metal from a pair of scissors.
The other students in the hall looked shocked, but none of them did anything. They just stared. It was like they were afraid to jump in and help because they didn't want to become the next victim.
Before the snap, Alya’s hair was always pulled into twists and she loved them, but since she was growing up, she wanted to try different styles. Today, she had half of her curls up with the rest of them down, a style that she did by herself and she was very satisfied with the outcome.
Actually, at the moment, she was glad not to be wearing twists because they would've made it easier to cut a large chunk of hair.
Alya’s hair had always been important to her. It was something that Karasi drilled into her head despite the horrors around them. And it was something that not even General Dreykov dared to ruin. He may have pulled on it to control her, amongst the other abhorrent things he did, but he never ever came at her with a pair of scissors.
So she wasn’t going to let this bully do it.
She didn’t want to get in trouble for a fight, but she wasn’t going to make it easy on the girl either.
And with the hope that her parents would understand, Alya twisted around as quick as a cat on the prowl, grabbing Brandy’s arm, making sure it was the one holding the scissors, before shoving her into the metal lockers with a loud bang.
And if there wasn’t anyone really paying attention before, then they were certainly looking now.
Brandy screeched from the impact and tried to kick at Alya, but the smaller girl was too well trained to be done over. Alya slammed Brandy’s wrist onto the locker several times to make her drop the scissors before she whipped her around and caused her to fall in the middle of the hallway.
Brynn and Lindsay, Brandy’s closest friends, tried to sneakily attack her, but Alya was ready for them. As she continued to fight, her blood began to boil. She was throwing punches and blocking hits left and right without a care in the world.
Brynn jumped on her back, sending them tumbling down onto the ground.
But Alya was scrappy enough to turn onto her back so that she could continue to defend herself, though Brynn did manage to get a couple hits in.
Before she could do anything else, Alya flipped her over and was ready to pound her into the ground when a hand grabbed her wrist, stopping her in her tracks.
By the look of it, Alya could see that it was Riona that came to her rescue and Serena was busy telling Brandy off a few feet away.
“Come on.” Riona held a hand out to her, helping back onto her feet. “That’s enough.”
Alya’s eyes scanned the immediate area to find Brandy and her two friends with either bruises, a bloody nose, or a split lip.
Her chest moved up and down as she tried to control her breathing enough to calm herself down, but she was wired. The only reason why she hadn’t immediately attacked Riona was because she recognized the sound of her voice and that snapped her out of it enough to see reason.
“Come on.” Riona pulled her away from the scene, still holding onto her hand to make sure she didn’t bolt.
Alya’s feet moved without her consent, allowing her friend to lead her into the bathroom where she made a beeline for the pepper towels, pressing them to Alya’s nose.
At first, Alya shot her a look of confusion, but when she pulled the paper towels away from her face, she saw exactly why Riona did what she did.
She was so angry, she didn’t even feel that her nose was bleeding.
“What happened?” Riona asked, making her cover her nose again.
“She tried to cut my hair.” Alya growled. It was getting harder and harder to control herself and she just wanted to release her frustrations out on something. “So I fought back.”
Riona shook her head in disbelief. The fact that Brandy would feel so bold as to take a pair of scissors to someone else’s hair was so appalling to her.
Why couldn't she just keep her hands to herself?
“Good.” Was what she ended up saying. “You’re gonna have a nice black eye, though.”
She knew that Alya would wear that black eye as if it were a badge of honor and she couldn't understand why, but she thought it would be a good attempt at cheering her up.
Their conversation was cut short when Serena entered the room, a satisfied smirk on her face. “Well, well, well. Look who got into another fight.”
“Serena, are you here to help, or gloat?” Riona was ready to kick the girl out if she wasn't going to make herself useful.
“Relax.” Serena smirked. “That girl had it coming.”
When Riona opened her mouth to respond, the bell rung, signaling that she was late for her math class. Being an honor student, she wasn't willing to risk her grades for anything, but she wanted to make sure that Alya was alright.
“Why don’t you go?” Serena suggested, knowing that she didn’t like missing this particular class. “I’ll make sure she’s okay.”
“Lainey?”
The decision to go by her cover name was one that both Alya and Bucky made together. Everyone at school already knew her as Lainey and because the teachers took attendance at the beginning of class, if Alya went by her real name, then everyone would find out who her parents were.
And she just wanted to be a normal kid when she was at school.
“Go ahead.” Alya nodded, her voice muffled by the paper towels against her face. “I’m fine.”
“Text me when you get home.” Riona instructed as she opened the door.
“Sure.”
“Alright.” Serena pulled the paper away from Alya and threw them in the trash. Alya’s nose was still bleeding, but it wasn’t as bad as before. Placing her fingers on the younger girl’s nose, she gently pressed down to make sure that nothing was broken. “This hurt?”
“Of course it hurts.” Alya rolled her eyes. “I just got clocked in the nose and now you wanna press on it.”
“With that attitude, it’s obviously not broken.” Serena quipped, pressing down one more time for good measure.
“What’re you even helping me for?” Alya questioned, evidently not in the mood. “I thought you’d be joining Brandy.”
It was a cheap shot, she knew that, but she was angry at the world right now and Serena could handle her frustration.
“I don’t do that anymore.” The blonde shrugged nonchalantly.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t have to.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Alya narrowed her eyes.
Serena rolled her own and walked over to the door, locking it so that no one else could come in before facing Alya again. “It means you’re not being forced to do anything you don’t wanna do any more than I am. Красная комната исчезла (The Red Room is gone.).”
Alya’s eyes widened, a mistake that caused her effected eye to pulse with a dull pain. No one knew about the Red Room unless they were a product of the Red Room, or they were working alongside Dreykov.
And she knew that Serena and Dreykov weren’t pals.
Dreykov didn't have friends.
“I know who you are, Alyona. You don’t have to look shocked. I was under Dreykov’s control same as you were. I was here to complete an assignment.”
“What was the assignment?” Alya was still a bit skeptical.
In the back of her mind, this could still be a trick. What Serena was saying made perfect sense, but Alya needed more.
“You.”
Glancing at the locked door, Alya took a step back and eyed her warily as a chill ran down her spine. “Me?”
“I was sent to keep and eye on you.”
“Why?”
“Dreykov didn’t believe your mother to be loyal to him. He had a suspicion that it was only a matter of time before she defected, and it turned out that he was right. So he wanted to make sure he had eyes on you at all times.”
“So all those things you said….?” Alya thought back to the fight they had after the Avengers went their separate ways.
“Nothing I would’ve said on my own.” Serena spoke sincerely.
“And the fight?”
“The fight you thought you won?” Serena laughed in her face. “I had to be sure you weren’t getting soft.”
“Dreykov was gone by then.”
“It’s not like I knew that, Alya.” She deadpanned. "It's not like Yelena gave me the antidote as soon as the Red Room was taken down."
At the mention of Yelena and the antidote, Alya had no choice but to believe the girl in front of her. There was too much that added up for Serena to be playing games or lying.
She'd be a fool not to take that into consideration.
“Well, I wasn’t expecting to hear that today.” She blew out a long breath after mulling it all over. “I don’t remember you.”
It didn't surprise her. If Serena was sent to watch over her, chances are, they never would have interacted until it was absolutely necessary.
“Well, I remember you.” Serena told her. “You were small, you didn't listen to anything or anyone. Dreykov’s little pet.”
“I wasn’t his pet!” Alya stomped her foot before blushing at the childish action. For once, she wished that Steve was around to give her that ‘look’ which got her to stop before she could start. “Take that back!”
“With a nasty temper that always seems to get you into trouble.” Serena shot her a knowing look. “But you managed, I’ll give you that.”
She had to admit that Alya was impressive.
Most little girls of her stature didn't make it very far in the Red Room and while being Dreykov's favorite 'pupil' might have given her special treatment in some areas, she still didn't have it easy.
She had to scratch and crawl like the rest of them in order to survive.
“….Serena?” Alya's eyes were cast down to her feet, only looking up at the blonde through her eyelashes.
“Hm?”
“Do the nightmares every go away?”
“I’ll let you know if they do.”
Alya’s leg bounced and her nails found her mouth as she sat on a chair in the principal’s office.
After Serena helped her clean up a bit more, she decided that it was probably in her best interest to go to class so she wouldn’t miss anything else.
Unfortunately for her, Brandy and her friends let it slip that she was the one fighting with them. Or rather, she was the one that started the entire thing.
She wasn’t concerned about getting into trouble at school, but Natasha made it clear that she didn’t like her getting into physical altercations. Her only hope was that the redhead would understand why she felt like she had to go that far.
Principal Murray wasn’t understanding at all.
Then again, with the story Brandy made while Brynn and Lindsay backed her up, Alya could see why he wasn’t too happy. Whether his mood had something to do with her fighting or her refusal to defend herself, she didn’t know.
“Miss Romanoff, Sergeant Barnes.”
Alya momentarily froze when she realized that her parents arrived sooner than she expected them to and assumed that Happy dropped them off so they wouldn't have to wait for the train.
“Thank you for coming on such short notice.” The man shook their hands before addressing Alya’s father. “I’m sorry we had to meet under these circumstances.”
“What happened?” Natasha looked directly at Alya, who was focused on her lap.
The jeans she was wearing weren’t too dark in color and there were no holes in them, shielding her skin from the cool weather outside. She didn’t really like holes in her jeans anyway, thinking that it defeated the purpose of wearing them.
“Hey.” Natasha sat down beside her and tapped her leg, snapping her out of her thoughts. “What’s going on?”
Anyone could see that she wasn't upset. She wasn't thrilled, either, but she was so far from angry that Alya should've taken this time to tell her the truth.
When Alya still didn’t answer and refused to even look at her parents, her principal decided to try to clear the air. “Your daughter is a bright student, her teachers never have anything but nice things to say about her. Which is why it was confusing to hear that she provoked a very gruesome fight today in the hallway.”
“Alya?” Bucky raised a brow.
It was okay to use her given name here in the office. It wasn't as if her principal was going to let the truth slip. So she got to be 'Lainey' in class, and 'Alya' everywhere else.
Which was a pretty sweet deal, all things considered.
“Look at me.” Her father gently tilted her chin, his eyes darkening when he saw her black eye and the dried blood that came from her nose. “I hope whoever you were fighting looks just like this.”
“James.” Natasha had to turn her head so she wouldn’t laugh, but she wholeheartedly agreed.
If the kid was going to be fighting, then she should, at least, be winning.
“What happened?”
“Brandy shoved me……and then she tried to cut my hair.” Alya finally spoke up on her own behalf, thought the sound of her voice made it clear that she was hesitant.
“What do you mean, she tried to cut your hair?” Bucky’s jaw set harshly.
“She had a pair of scissors and she tried to use ‘em.” Alya absentmindedly leaned towards him for some kind of comfort. To Bucky’s credit, he noticed immediately and ran his thumb along her jaw. “I stopped her and then her friends tried to jump me.”
“This isn’t the story I received from Brandy and her friends.” Principal Murray began, leaning back in his chair. “However, Riona stopped by earlier on your behalf and Serena left shortly before you came in and dropped off a pair of scissors. I apologize for you having to go through this, but if something like this ever occurs again, I’d appreciate it if you would plead your own case.”
“Is she in any trouble?” Natasha asked, just wanting to take her child home and away from this mess.
“This school has a zero tolerance policy and the penalty for fighting is four day suspension. However, given the circumstances, this will not go on her permanent record.”
Principal Murray knew how impossible it was to walk away from a fight that was started by someone else. Especially if that someone else had a pair of scissors in hand. Actually, he was proud of Alya for standing up for herself, while also controlling herself enough so that she didn't truly hurt anyone.
And everyone in the room was well aware that the day could've ended very differently if she decided to let loose.
“Thank you.”
“And the three that started this?” Bucky inquired.
This wasn't just a regular fight. Someone brought a pair of scissors to the altercation with intent of using them and that didn't sit well with him.
It was true that Brandy only intended to cut Alya's hair and while that was assault in itself, what would've happened if she accidentally cut her?
This kind of behavior needed to stop so no one got hurt.
“It will be taken care of.” The man assured him. “And Alya’s absences will be excused.”
“We appreciate it.” Bucky shook his hand before scooping Alya up to rest on his hip before she could stand up.
At first, she opened up her mouth the complain about him treating her like a baby at school, but found herself wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his neck. She still wasn’t too thrilled about it, but her need to be held was a lot stronger than her pride.
“Here.”
Alya looked up from the program playing on television to see her father holding out a bowl of ice cream out to her. After the meeting in the principal's office, the ride home had been uncomfortably silent. She knew that her parents weren't upset because Natasha spent the entire ride holding her and stroking her cheek, nearly putting her to sleep.
Because it was the middle of the day, the twins were still at school which left her to try to find ways to entertain herself. Figuring she'd better take advantage of having the tv all to herself, she turned it on and found one of the programs she liked to watch.
But her eyebrows furrowed in confusion because ice cream typically wasn’t something given so close to dinnertime.
“Don’t get used to it…..and don’t tell Pietro.” He winked, sitting down beside her on the couch.
Alya was beginning to realize that Bucky was really good at reading her and she didn’t know how to feel about that yet. It wasn't like she wanted to try to fool him, but the way he was able to look at her and tell what was going on, was a little unnerving.
It was just something she would have to get used to.
Besides, if it meant that she could get ice cream while her siblings were in school, then she could adapt.
“What do you wanna do for the next four days?” He asked once she took the bowl from him, almost shooting her a look of amusement when she noticed the blue M&M’s sprinkled over the ice cream.
She was so cute. Her eyes lit all the way up and she had a look of near disbelief because not only was she allowed to have ice cream before dinner, but she was also given candy with it.
“I’m not in trouble?”
“You really think I’d give you the most sugary bowl of ice cream if you were in trouble?” He deadpanned, raising a single brow.
“Yeah.” Alya smiled cheekily.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” He scoffed. “I gave you that ice cream because you were defending yourself. Mama and I will never be upset at you for that. Now, if you started that fight, we’d be having a very different conversation.” He didn't think that Alya would ever go around starting fights, but he wanted to make himself clear.
“No ice cream?” Alya blinked up at her father, reminding him very much of Bambi.
“No ice cream.” He cupped her chin, squeezing her cheeks to make her laugh. Letting go of her face, he kissed her nose before pointing to the bowl. "Hurry up and eat it before I do. I'm hungry." He joked.
But Alya immediately scooped some of her favorite treat onto the spoon, making sure there were a couple of pieces of chocolate there, and held it out to him to take a bite. "Share?"
And right then and there, Bucky wondered how he managed to get so lucky.
“Hold your head back.”
Alya wrapped the towel she was holding, further around her neck as she did as she was told, leaning her head towards the sink as her father worked to wash her hair. She was still small enough to lie across the counter and was grateful that she didn't have to do this standing up.
Because of the fight, her hair was a hot mess, tangled in ways she couldn’t undo on her own, so Bucky offered to fix it for her after she was finished eating her ice cream. Since her hair was going to be untangled and wet, he (with her permission) decided to give her a little trim just to keep the ends healthy.
He was very gentle in getting rid of every single knot, making sure to watch her body language to be sure it didn’t hurt.
Turning the warm water on, he rinsed the last bit of conditioner out of her hair before tapping her shoulder to let her know she could get up. Once she was on her feet, he led her over to the empty chair he placed in the living room that faced the direction of the television so she'd be able to watch it while he worked.
The twins had plans with friends after school, so he needed to keep Alya preoccupied.
The twelve year old felt a brush run over her scalp as he worked through her hair once again and closed her eyes, feeling quite relaxed as the sounds of the 'The Proud Family' theme song began to play.
“I didn’t know you knew how to cut hair.” Natasha teased, watching as the man picked up a pair of shears. “Maybe now I won’t have to do it myself.”
“I’m here for all your barbering needs.” He played along with a wink.
Had he not been cutting her hair, Alya would’ve looked back and forth between the two.
They were her parents, sure. But it wasn’t like they were together or anything. Although, that would be totally awesome, even better if they got married, but she felt she was jumping the gun with that thought.
So she just sat still and kept it to herself.
Since she wasn't facing the elevator, she was surely not the first to notice the familiar blonde who stepped out of it as soon as the doors opened.
But when the person grunted, she figured it out immediately.
“Tetushka!” She beamed, looking as if the day’s events had never even happened. Bucky stopped cutting and turned her chair sideways so that she could see her aunt and still watch the tv if she wished.
Yelena could always brighten up her day.
“I thought you said you’d be here in a week?” Natasha pretended like she didn’t care, but pulled her little sister in for a hug, resting her head against her shoulder to take her in. They had a lot to talk about, but now wasn't the right time. “What, did you run out of people to annoy back home?”
“Get real.” Yelena scoffed, returning the gesture before she pulled away. “James.”
“Yelena.” The man acknowledged her, snipping away.
“Finally decided to get a haircut, Baby?” Yelena smirked before the look hardened when she noticed her niece’s black eye and bruised nose. “Who did that to you?”
“Do you want to tell her, or should I?” Natasha gave Alya a look.
The little girl slumped in her seat and pouted. She didn't think Yelena needed to know at all.
She was going to fly off the handle once she heard.
Besides, she handled it already.
“What happened?” The blonde asked, a lot more calm than she felt.
“Some kids at school decided they wanted to try to cut a chunk of hair out of her head.”
“What?!” The woman speed walked over to Alya so that she could get a better look at her face. “Who did this to you?” She repeated herself.
“Mama told you already.” Alya played coy.
“I want names.”
“I took care of it!”
“Names, Alyona.”
It was rare for Yelena to even call her, ’Alya’. The fact that she was calling her ‘Alyona’ did not bode well for anyone. If Alya thought that her father had taken too long to calm down, she was in for a big shock with her aunt.
She was going to have to think of a really good reason as to why Yelena shouldn’t show up at her school tomorrow and take matters into her own hands.