Chapter 4
Alya blinked lazily, snuggled in her mother’s arms, her head resting on the woman’s shoulder.
Natasha was steadily patting her back, keeping a firm grip on the child, not wanting to let her go. The very thought of what happened made her sick to her stomach. She couldn’t afford to get angry right at this moment, Alya needed her.
She didn’t even say anything when the raven-haired girl stuck a finger in her mouth.
At this point, it was an off-and-on habit for Alya. For years, Natasha tried to break her out of it, but somehow, someway, that lone pointer finger found its way into her mouth.
Natasha wondered if she'd just grow out of it on her own.
“How’s she doing?” Bucky asked, placing a warm hand on Alya’s head while handing Natasha some tea.
He made sure it was herbal. She didn't need to consume any caffeine with the way she was feeling right now.
“Clingy.” Natasha thanked him and took a few sips, offering some to Alya, who lifted her head to take a drink. “She won’t let anyone come near her.”
The redhead noticed that Alya didn’t want any of the male figures in the house getting too close to her, save for her father and even he was kept at a distance.
That was to be expected, but she was really surprised when she refused to even look at Steve.
The blonde offered to try to get her mind off of things, but Alya clung to her mother like her life depended on it and nearly cried when he tried to hug her.
Natasha would never forget the look of hurt on Steve's face. Of course, he understood, but that was the very first time Alya had ever rejected him.
“You think she’ll eat?”
“I doubt it. She hasn’t slept either.” Natasha placed a gentle kiss on her daughter’s forehead. “I don’t like the idea of leaving her here like this.”
She wasn't even sure if Alya would let go of her.
One thing was for sure, the child wasn't stepping foot in that school until everything was sorted out. Natasha was even debating on pulling her out just to homeschool her again.
“We’ll be back as soon as we can.” Bucky assured her. He didn’t want to leave Alya in such a state either, but they needed to go down to the school and get this whole situation rectified. “And she won’t be alone.”
Melina and Alexei volunteered to watch Alya for the morning, meaning she'd be in good hands. Of course, if Alya was with anyone in the Tower, she'd be in good hands, but these were her grandparents.
“Aunt Nat?” Peter interrupted their conversation with a tentative knock on the open door.
“What is it, Peter?” Natasha tried to smile, but it ended up looking more like a grimace.
“I want to go with you.” He spoke firmly. “I want to tell Principal Morita what I saw. I don’t want to Alya to have to go back with Ryan thinking he can do it again.”
“Okay, but you have to promise to remain calm.” Natasha thought it was rich that Bucky was making that a stipulating considering he had a worse temper than Peter did.
“I promise.”
“Alya, come here.”
Alya looked over at her sister who was sitting on the opposite end of the couch. Her arms were wrapped around Fanny while the dog lay over her, giving her the extra comfort she clearly needed.
Their parents left an hour before and she hadn't moved since. She wasn't really sure why, but she just didn't have the energy.
When she didn’t respond, Wanda opened her arms out for her.
She hated seeing her little sister like this. Usually, Alya was bouncing off the walls to the point where it drove her crazy.
Alya gently shifted and removed herself from Fanny’s weight, crawling over to the older girl and allowing her to cradle her. She rested her head on her chest and sighed contently, listening to Wanda’s steady heartbeat.
Wanda knew that Alya hadn’t slept the night before, so she took it upon herself to help her get some rest. She subtly rubbed her back and hummed a soothing tune. It was a song she remembered her mother singing to her and Pietro when they were young.
It was in Sokovian, so Alya wouldn't really recognize the tune, but it served its purpose and got her to relax.
Wanda's hand found her baby sister’s thick locks when she moved to stroke her hair, feeling the when the younger girl nuzzled into her soothing touch.
“Wanda?”
“Ssh.”
“But, Sissy, I don’t wanna sleep.”
If Alya fell asleep, she was afraid she was going to relive what happened in the hallway. There was no way she wanted to do that.
But Wanda wouldn't let anything happen to her.
Not even in her dreams.
“Close you eyes, Alya. You’re safe.”
“Remember what we talked about.” Natasha reminded Peter as they approached the principal’s office.
Peter huffed and fought not to roll his eyes. He wasn’t exactly annoyed with her, he never could be. He was just upset by this whole situation and everything was making him more and more agitated. It was almost as if he was having a sensory overload.
“I know, M— Aunt Nat.” He sighed, hoping she didn't catch his little slip up. “I’m not gonna hit him again.”
“Good.” Natasha eyed her husband. “That goes double for you.”
Bucky just smiled sweetly and motioned for her to step inside the room.
He wasn’t promising anything.
“Ah, Mr. Barnes, Miss Romanoff.” Principal Morita greeted them as they walked in. “Peter, come on in.”
Peter’s nostrils flared when he saw that Ryan was already there, sitting in front of Morita’s desk. He had to remind himself of the promise he made to Natasha before he completely lost it again.
He had to admit, seeing the bruises on Ryan’s face gave him a nice sense of satisfaction.
“Have a seat.”
When Peter moved to step to the side, giving room for Bucky and Natasha to sit, Bucky grabbed him arm and steered him to take his place.
He wanted to stay standing.
Body language was everything.
“Ryan and I were just discussing what happened yesterday afternoon.”
“What did he say?” Peter couldn’t help but ask.
“It seems to have been a misunderstanding.” Morita told him. “According to Ryan, he was being friendly and Alya must’ve taken it the wrong way."
"It happens to the best of us." Ryan shrugged nonchalantly.
Peter felt his body lurch, but Bucky’s firm flesh hand stopped him from flying out if his seat.
“With all due respect, I don’t see how my daughter could have possibly misinterpreted what happened yesterday.” The man tossed something onto the desk in front of them.
It was Alya’s torn clothing.
If Ryan was smart, he would've at least looked remorseful, but all he did was smirk.
Like he was proud of himself for a job well done.
“Since I already have Ryan’s account, why don’t you tell me what you know, Peter?” Morita’s eyes darkened at the evidence.
“Alya came to my class looking for me, when I came back, she was crying and she wouldn’t tell me anything at first. Her clothes were ripped, she was shaking, and she was afraid.” Peter’s nostrils flared. “Because of him.” He pointed at Ryan, who’s face was looking a little to smug for his liking.
“Did you see anything else?” He was already ready to throw the book at this horrible kid, but Morita wanted to know everything.
He was going to make sure this never happened again.
“Yeah, the day before he was talking to her and sizing her up like she was a piece of meat. It was disgusting.”
“You know, she isn’t a baby.” Ryan rolled his eyes with an arrogant scoff.
“Excuse me?” Natasha quirked a brow.
She had been quiet up to that point because she wanted to analyze the entire situation and plan the best course of action.
Ryan just made her decision a thousand times easier.
Looking at Bucky, she stood up and left the room, standing right outside the closed the door as if she were guarding it.
Principal Morita turned his chair around and pretended to keep himself busy.
Peter looked up at Bucky and the man nodded, giving him the okay to do what he wanted to do before he stood with his back to the door.
Natasha was there to prevent anyone from getting in while Bucky was there to prevent Ryan from getting out.
This time, it was Peter's turn to smirk.
And that’s when chaos ensued.
Alya’s eyes fluttered open and she sat up slowly. Her fists reached up to rub her eyes, clearing her vision enough so that she could see that Fanny was right beside her once again.
She was no longer with Wanda. In fact, she was actually in her own room, sitting on her bed. She figured Wanda must've gotten a little busy with her schoolwork and she needed to get something done.
Fanny barked, causing her to flinch at the unexpected noise. Apparently, the bark was loud enough to alert Yelena, who came walking into the room.
“So, Sleeping Beauty finally woke up.” The blonde smirked, sitting down on the bed.
She subtly checked Alya over, looking for any signs of distress, relaxing when she didn't find any.
“Is Mama home yet?”
“Not yet.” She shook her head. “She and your daddy are picking up some food. They’ll be back soon. You know, Deda’s been asking for you.”
Yelena wanted to go with them, but Natasha forbid her from going anywhere near the school.
She said something about Yelena not being able to control herself and she didn't want a lawsuit on her hands.
Yelena scoffed at the implication, but she knew her sister was right.
“Oh.” Alya deflated immediately.
She loved her grandpa. It was just hard to be around any male after what Ryan had done.
If Ryan could do something like that to her, then anyone could do it.
Yelena could tell that’s exactly what she was thinking and she decided to nip it before it got any worse. “He’s in the kitchen making a big ice cream sundae.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Too bad.” Yelena took her hand and firmly pulled her up to stand on her feet. “He spent a lot of time doing this and you’re going to go say ‘thank you’.”
Alya just whined as she was dragged into the kitchen where her grandfather was waiting. Melina was sitting on the couch, flipping through the channels on the tv to occupy herself. Wanda was sitting right next to her, reading a book, possibly for a book report.
“Melina, does Alenka enjoy sprinkles on her ice cream?” Alexei hadn’t even noticed when the two girls came in. He was so focused on making the ice cream sundae, he was ignoring everything else around him. “All children like sprinkles, no?”
“Not Alya.” Wanda piped up, not really paying attention as she turned a page. “She likes chocolate chips…..third shelf in the pantry on the left.”
“Ah! Thank you!” He laughed loudly, finding what he wanted. “She’s going to be very surprised, you think?”
“I think so.” Melina caught Alya’s eye and winked.
It was good to see her up and moving.
While Alexei was debating how many chips to put in, Yelena propelled Alya forward with a soft pat.
“Deda, you have to put them all over.” Alya decided to say.
And the entire room stood still.
Watching her grandfather put so much effort into something as silly and small as an ice cream sundae impacted her in the best way. Because if he was doing all of this just for her, to make her feel even a little bit better, then there was no way he would be able to hurt her.
“Come here, my little Alenka!” Alexei’s booming voice filled the air as she scooped her up on his hip. “Look what I have for you!”
The large man took a spoonful and held it out to her mouth so she could taste it, smiling even wider when she grinned.
“Спасибо, дедушка. Я тебя люблю.” Is what she said, kissing his cheek. (Thank you, Grandpa. I love you.)
Alexei swayed a little and Alya rested her head on his shoulder, feeling content while he rubbed her back. It was a good thing she wasn’t looking at him because he was trying not to cry.
It took a few moments to compose himself, but he managed, not before getting a knowing look from Melina.
“Делиться?” (Share?).
“Anything you want.”
“Mama!” Alya ran to her mother the minute the redhead walked through the door with Bucky and Peter. “Guess, what?”
“Hmm…..” Natasha was surprised to see Alya so up and energetic. It was like a completely different child came to greet her. But she was going to run with it. “Did you go swimming?”
“Nope! Daddy, you guess!”
“Gee, Baby, I don’t know.” Bucky pretended to be stumped when he could clearly see the remnants of chocolate and ice cream on his daughter’s face. “You’ve got me.”
"Peter?"
"Uhh, I don't know." The teen shrugged, putting the several bags of takeout on the kitchen counter. It wasn't lost on Alya that he was wearing gloves.
Which, wasn't all that unusual, but, normally, Peter took them off as soon as he got inside.
“Deda, made me an ice cream sundae and we shared it and now I have to go tell—”
“—Slow down.” Natasha caught the rambunctious child before she could go anywhere.
“I can’t slow down, Mommy!” Alya bounced like a bunny.
“You’re gonna have to, Sweet Girl.” Natasha smiled. “Daddy and I have to talk to you about something.”
“I was good today, Mommy.”
“You’re good everyday.” Natasha rubbed her back. Alya’s overuse of ‘Mommy’ didn’t slip past her, but she didn't comment on it. “We want to talk to you about what happened yesterday.”
“I think it’s time for us to go.” Melina stood up, nudging Wanda. “Come, we’ll see if the others will come up.”
Natasha thought it would be good for everyone if they all had dinner together.
Wanda smiled softly as she followed Melina and Alexei to the elevator, leaving her parents, her sister, and Yelena alone.
“I’m tired.” Alya faked a yawn. “I wanna go to sleep.”
“Not yet, sweet girl.” Natasha rubbed her back. “This is important.”
"I'll go see if Mr. America is done crying." Once Yelena was confident that Natasha was finally going to tell Alya what she needed to know, she climbed into the elevator with a satisfied look on her face.
“What’s important?”
“Well, you’re getting older now.” Natasha began, setting Alya down on the counter. She could tell it was going to take a while for this sugar rush to end just by the way Alya’s legs swung back and forth. “You’re going to start seeing boys differently and boys are going to see you differently.”
“Like how Ryan did?” Alya asked, frowning when her father took a cloth and wiped her face for her. She looked around to ask Peter a question, but saw that he snuck out of the room without her noticing.
“Yes, but Ryan’s version of it wasn’t healthy.” Bucky nodded. “When a boy and a girl find each other attractive, they tend to act on those feelings. They hug, or kiss, or hold hands. This is where consent comes in.”
He was sure Alya had a few years left where she wasn't really going to think about things like this, but she needed to know about it to prevent another incident.
“If one person doesn’t want to hug or kiss, and the other one does it anyway, it’s nonconsensual.” Natasha explained. “Then it’s assault.”
“Like yesterday?”
“Exactly like yesterday.” She nodded. “And sometimes, it can turn into something a lot more dangerous. So if you ever find yourself in a situation like this again, I want you to fight until you can get away and find an adult, okay?”
“Okay, Mama.” Alya nodded dutifully. “What happened when you went to school today?”
“Oh.” The redhead laughed despite the serious situation. “We handled it.”
“Your Aunt Pepper called, threatening to sue the school if this wasn’t taken care of.” Bucky kissed his wife on the cheek.
Natasha smirked at the obvious lie of omission.
Alya was never going to find out what happened at the school that day, but one thing was for certain.
Ryan was never going to bother her or anybody else ever again.