Time is the Only Constant

It was a long and tedious task packing up their current apartment, Ellie spent a lot of her time that week at Liam's house. They had found that the girl had a tendency to become fixated on nearly every toy she came across, slowing the process of getting them into boxes. By the time they were fully moved, and the transfer of Legal Guardianship was declared in the state of New York, everyone was exhausted. 

“Remember,” Maria swiped sweat off her brow, “the first night might have some different noises but you’re going to be safe. Okay?”

Ellie squinted from her spot in front of the poorly working AC unit while her mother continued to unpack the kitchen. 

“Okay?” She looked at the girl again.

<ok> 

“When you go to daycare tomorrow they probably won't know what you mean when you sign, Bear,” Maria unloaded more cups into the tiny cabinets, “but you can talk to them in Spanish or English or… or you can just stay quiet. Okay?”

The child squinted again and nodded.   

“Nervous?” She finished up the last of the box and walked over to her daughter. 

<yes> Ellie cast her eyes down.

“Want to know a secret?” The Commander knelt down and waited for the girl to nod, “I am too.”

“Really?” Through thick eyelashes, the child peered up. 

“Really, really,” Maria took the girl's hand in hers, “Doing new things is scary, but it shouldn’t keep us from trying. Even Fuzzy was scared sometimes.”

Ellie’s eyes went wide at the realization that even people like Fury could be scared. The girl had brought him up a number of times in the last month, each time she would talk about him Maria would internally wince. She had heard from him once since he went off the grid, letting her know that he would be hard to reach for a while but was still alive. 

“Can bring Aлена?” Ellie glanced at the backpack by the door, the one thing they had kept easily accessible during the entirety of the move. 

“You can, but remember you gave Soldat your travel one so if you lose it, we don’t have a backup,” Maria stood to her full height and retrieved the item. 

She wondered if the girl would ever move on from the flashlight to something else. Fury would make fun of Maria on occasion; laughing at the fact that even her daughter had to be practical with what she carried around rather than sticking to a teddy bear or blanket like most children. 

“She’s not like most children,” Maria would correct him.

“I know,” he would always say with fond eyes and a smirk.

The flashlight was clicked on as soon as it was in Ellie’s hands, slumping against the cool linoleum floor as she did so. Maria turned on music and continued to unpack as the heat of the day turned into the heat of the night. By the time she had called it a night, the kitchen, bathroom, and half of the clothes had been placed in their new home. This was followed by cheap pizza, making the bed, and setting out their clothes for the next day.

“Don’t know,” Ellie shrugged with damp hair at the question.

“You don’t know where your shoes are, or you don’t know if you want to wear the lace-up pair?” Maria scanned the room once more for the tiny footwear. 

<both> The child waited for her mother to turn around before signing. 

“Well if we can’t find them, you’re going to have to go with the velcro pair.”

“For babies,” Ellie shook her head. 

The girl had noticed during their last trip to the farm, that Cooper never wore velcro shoes and had been adamant on only wearing shoes with laces. Her fingers had a hard time tying them properly most of the time, causing her to trip. 

“I think they look nice,” Maria held up the dark green shoes and frowned. 

“Mommy,” the girl squinted. 

“Alright, alright, I’ll try and find your other pair,” she sat down on the bed that still sat on the floor, “you try and get some sleep okay?”

Ellie looked around at the studio apartment and seemed to realize that no matter where Maria was, she would still be able to see her. 

“Okay,” the child concluded it would be safe enough to sleep. 

“I love you, little Bear,” she kissed the girl on the top of the head and pulled her blankets up.

<I Love you> Ellie yawned and watched as Maria signed the same thing back. 

She walked away from the bed and over to the bar in the kitchen where she diligently went over all of the forms she would need to bring to HR the next day. Maria then double-checked she had correctly filled out the forms for the daycare that Ellie would be attending the next day. Finally, the woman took a second to check her phone and rattle off a text to Natasha. They had been, more or less, in constant communication for the first time in over a year. It felt really nice, nice enough for Maria to go to sleep with a smile on her face as she re-read some of the texts from that day. 

Her onboarding was full of incredibly useful information about Stark Industries, there were still gaps regarding what her day-to-day job would be, but she felt a lot more confident as she walked out of a meeting that Pepper had taken her to. Maria had used the time to learn about what their board was looking to do in the future and write down a (long) list of ideas to renovate their onboarding process to make sure training was efficient and accommodating for all new hires. 

“God, Maria, you're so good at this. You’re…” Pepper shook her head.

“Quick on my feet and I know how to adapt,” she recalled the phrase Fury had said to her so many times in her career.

“Yes!” the blonde smiled, “that’s exactly it.”

“Listen, I’d love to stay but I have to go pick Ellie up from daycare, it’s her first day, and-” she glanced at her watch.

“Of course, of course, I’ll see you Wednesday?” Pepper looked up from her phone.

The CEO had offered for Maria to work from home every other day for the first 2 weeks while she got Ellie settled and registered for school. She wondered what other perks she had missed while being in the Army and working for SHIELD. 

“I’ll be here Wednesday and available tomorrow if things change and you need me to come in-” 

“Not how working from home works, you actually get to work from home,” the woman cut her off and ushered her out, “give the little one a hug from me.” 

Maria rode the elevator down to the ground level and walked as quickly as she could to the subway. It was a little after midday and the crowds were not as bad, meaning that she made it to the overcrowded daycare in less than 30 minutes. 

“Hi,” she walked in and spoke loudly over the number of crying and yelling children. 

“Yeah, one second,” the woman behind the counter had a child on her hip and a phone pressed to her ear. 

It was more crowded than it had been in the morning with kids running around while overly stressed adults tried to control them. She searched and couldn’t find Ellie among the group, but the girl had a way of finding small quiet corners. 

“Okay, name?” the woman looked up at Maria.

“Ellie, 6 years old, french braids, space shirt,” she tried to give as many helpful pieces of information as she could. 

“‘Kay,” the woman sighed and called out into the larger room for one of the adults to get Ellie. 

5 minutes passed before the door opened and a child was put in front of Maria. 

“Have a good one,” the woman behind the desk waved them off. 

“Right, so this isn’t my kid,” Maria looked at the girl in front of her with dark skin and a pink unicorn t-shirt on. 

“What’s your name?” the desk lady asked the girl.

“Lexi,” the child shrugged. 

“And you’re looking for?” 

“Ellie,” Maria reiterated. 

“Alright, back in there Lexi.”

The little girl frowned and walked back into the daycare. Another 5 minutes went by before Ellie finally emerged from the room, not making eye contact as she stood next to Maria. 

“Right kid?” the lady asked.

“Right kid,” Maria confirmed as the line next to her grew.

“Great, have a nice day. Who’s next?”

Her braids were frizzy, her lips chapped, and her shoelaces were undone as she exited the daycare with Maria. It was hot and humid outside as the two walked back towards the subway station and then back to their apartment. Ellie didn’t look up the entire time, even when she held Maria’s hand her eyes stayed on the pavement in front of her. The Commander knew it had been a long day for them both and didn’t bring any attention to the odd behavior until they were back in their apartment.

“Let’s talk,” she watched as the girl sat on the floor of the kitchen, trying to cool her body on the tiles, “I know today was hard, but maybe we can find some good things about it. Did you have any good moments today?”

“ No ,” Ellie answered in Russian, her eyes on the tiles. 

“Not even one moment?” Maria pried. 

“ No .”

“Maybe we can go out for a treat,” she tried again.

“ No ,” the girl finally looked up at Maria, “ I want to go home .”

“Ellie girl, this is our home now,” she got closer, reaching to brush the girl's hair out of her face but at the last second the child dodged the hand. 

It took Maria off guard, hurting her slightly. It was the tinge of pain that made her miss the signs, or at least that’s what she told herself later on. 

“Want to go home!” Ellie raised her voice slightly. 

“I know but-” she placed her hand on the girl’s shoulder. 

“WANT TO GO HOME!” she beat her tiny fists into Maria’s side. The Commander made a swift movement to restrain her but not before Ellie flipped in one fluid motion to wrap her legs around the woman's neck.

It was a flex of the Red Room life the child had lived for her first 5 years. Her thighs constricted and her hands began to pelt Maria’s head as if in an effort to remind the woman how she got her nickname. The little bear raised her arm to land another blow but not before Maria was able to break out of the chokehold and pin the child whose eyes were as wild as her hair. Eyes that closed tightly.

“Elizaveta do not even think about it!” she raised her own voice, causing the girl to snap her eyes back open. There would be no teleporting to get out of punishment in the Hill household. 

“Go sit in the corner, you're in time out!” her Commander voice slipped out as the girl’s bottom lip began to wobble.  

She swallowed once, then twice, and breathed out slowly checking to see if there was any real damage to her esophagus. The clock on the stove read 1:48pm and she watched each and every minute pass as the girl sat in the corner.

It was 1:53pm when she spoke up, “Rule 5.”

Ellie turned and scrunched up her face, “we do not hit.” 

“And rule 3.”

“We do not yell,” the girl deflated, pulling her knees up to her chest and cramming herself into a corner. 

Maria sighed and gave the girl space, trying her best not to wince at the pain radiating from her neck. 

“Want to see Liam…” Ellie spoke softly as tears began to fall.

“I know,” she opened her arms in invitation, one that the child took gladly, “but this is our home now and we’re going to go back to see him in a few weeks.”

She had been subpoenaed to answer questions regarding documents that Natasha had released during the fall of SHIELD, they had decided to use the time to let Ellie see her friends. Still, that was weeks away. 

“Want Center,” the child cried. 

“I know, we can maybe visit Grace too.”

“Want old house,” the girl broke fully as tears wracked her body. 

“I know,” Maria rocked back and forth, her daughter in her arms.  

There was a pain in both of them that she didn’t know how to fix. She hated herself for not saving more, for sending so much money to others in need, for being too embarrassed to ask Pepper for an advancement on her quarterly pay, and for moving to one of the most expensive cities in the world. Maria Hill hated herself for putting her daughter in the same position she herself had grown up in. 

“Want to go home,” Ellie whispered.

“Me too,” Maria whispered back. 

“Shit,” Maria looked around the apartment for her finger scanner.

“Shit,” Ellie reiterated. 

“Hey,” she looked at the girl who snickered, “no curse words.”

“But Mommy, you said it.”

“Yeah, I know and I shouldn’t have,” the woman continued to search, dumping out the contents of her bag to see if the device was in there.

She thought back to the day before when she had been given the security device that allowed her to work on her company-issued laptop from anywhere. 

“Field trip to work,” the brunette sighed as she recalled placing it in her desk before leaving for the day. 

And so the two made their way onto the hot subway and to the massive building downtown. Ellie held on to her hand tightly as they emerged from the elevator and towards the woman's office, nervous to be in the large building but ecstatic that she didn't have to go back to daycare until the next day. 

“Baby Agent!” Tony popped up from behind a cubicle, “and now what could the small one be doing at a massive security conglomerate on a Tuesday?”

There was a hint of annoyance in the man’s voice, one that Maria went to shut down immediately, “Stark, I’m working from home today, she’s only here because I need to get my finger scanner.”

“Can she stay just a little longer?” the man gave a small, genuine frown. 

It seemed the Commander needed to learn how to read her boss better. 

“And by ‘she’ I mean Elizaveta!” he smiled triumphantly.

Ellie smiled ever so slightly and watched the man in front of her as he signed <Hello name is T-O-M-Y> 

The child walked over and readjusted his thumb until it was between his middle fingers. She then looked at him and showed him (correctly) <T-O-N-Y>.

Tony frowned and signed again <Hello name is T-O-N-Y>

Ellie nodded, <I am E-L-L-I-E>

“I thought it was Elizaveta!” he huffed, much to the girl's delight. 

“There you are,” Pepper turned a corner, finding them all in the empty cubicle. 

“Busted,” Tony groaned to Ellie who smiled.   

“I need you to actually read over these documents, you can’t just keep building suits, there’s real work that has to be- oh Maria, hi I thought you were working from the hotel today?” the blonde finally looked up from the documents in her hand. 

“I am, I just needed to get the finger scanner,” she explained, “and not hotel, apartment. We found a place last week and are almost moved in.”

There was a heavy silence in the air as Pepper set her jaw and slowly turned her head to Tony who cringed. 

“Anthony,” Potts stared at the man next to her. 

“Okay so I may have forgotten to do a task you asked of me, but look!” he panicked <I am T-O-N-Y>

Maria was positive that she had never seen Pepper as angry as she was right now. The man visibly deflated and looked at Maria, not exactly at her but in the spot just right of her ear, she raised an eyebrow. 

“As a thank you for what you’ve done for the country… and the number of times you’ve saved my ass…” he glanced down to Ellie “I’m probably not supposed to say that in front of you.”

The girl could tell Stark was nervous and beckoned him down to her level before cupping his ear and whispering, “Mommy said 'shit' in morning.”

“Did she?!” he popped up much to the delight of the child.

“Tony.” Potts flicked the man’s shoulder.

“Right,” he cleared his throat, “Pepper and I would like to extend our gratitude by offering you the South wing of the 91st floor, to live in.”

Maria, who had a damn near perfect poker face, couldn’t help but let her eyes go wide. 

“Which is…” the blonde prompted.

“Fully furnished,” the man added.

“And…” 

“you have access to all the building amenities.”

“And…”

“A new mom-mobile.”

“And…”

“And… I’ll pay for the kids' school? What else am I supposed to offer?” Tony looked at Pepper.

“I don’t know, I just wanted to see what else we could squeeze out of you,” the woman finally cracked a smile.  

The Commander still stood in shock of what was just offered to her, unable to do anything other than look down at her daughter who seemed to not quite understand.

“Tony- Pepper-” she shook her head, “I can’t… I can’t accept-”

“You can, and you will. Plus it’s already done, it’s been done since your last visit actually,” Potts looked down at her phone, “Sign this, I have meetings to get to, and then go show them the space.”

Tony took a pen and signed off on a few documents before kissing the woman on the cheek and offering a whispered apology. 

“This way, rugrat,” he exclaimed, pointing Pepper’s pen in the air and walking towards the elevator. 

“Sorry, I’ll touch base later,” the blonde rolled her eyes and gave Maria’s arm a squeeze. 

Ellie followed Tony, glancing back to make sure that her mother was following as well. She gave a nod to the girl and entered the elevator. 

“Jarvis, 91st floor,” Stark called out. 

“Prints, boss,” the voice came back. 

Tony motioned for Maria to place her hand on the scanner, she did as instructed and waited for the elevator to bring them to the correct floor. Ellie once again covered her ears as the lift took them higher and higher.   

The engineer frowned and furrowed his brow as he looked at the child, only looking up again as they reached the 91st floor. Maria had never seen so many windows in her life as she opened the front door and walked into the apartment. 

“I’d say it’s not much but-” Tony shook his head, “It is, because I designed it and, I only design the best.”

Ellie looked up at Maria and squinted. She only had to sign one word to her daughter for her to understand fully.

 <Home>

The girl's eyes went wide as she whipped her head around in shock, much to the enjoyment of Tony who continued to walk and talk. 

“Right so, kitchen- fridge is stocked and you can order on the tablet when you need more,” he pointed out a massive stainless steel fridge placed behind an island that was bigger than their entire last kitchen. 

“Living room, dining room,” he pointed to the large sectional and TV in one area of the open layout and the formal dining table on the other side. 

“I think there’s a bathroom over there,” Tony waved his hand dismissively to one corner, “and then another one by the guest rooms over there.”

It was a hallway with at least 4 doors near the front door they had walked into. 

“But you don’t have to worry about those because there’s also one connected to each of the main bedrooms,” Stark walked over to the far side of the apartment where two doors sat across from each other in a small hallway. 

“This one’s yours, Agent Just Hill,” he motioned with his head, “but it’s boring because Pep designed it.”

Which Maria knew actually meant that it would be impeccable in taste and full of everything she could ever think of, along with things she could never imagine. 

“This one, though,” he opened the door with a small smile, eyes glued to Ellie, “this one was all me.”

The room was massive; full of shades of light blue and white with space memorabilia covering most surfaces. Ellie’s name hung above a desk, pictures of cosmonauts and retro spaceships were framed and placed in various locations. There were costumes and clothes already hanging from a closet in one corner. A massive bunkbed shaped like a rocket already had glow in the dark stickers covering one side. It looked like it had come straight out of a pottery barn magazine.

“How’d you know?” she shook her head in disbelief.

“I saw her at Fury’s funeral,” the man ran his hand over a large moon decal on the wall, “and she only wears t-shirts with rocket ships on them, Hill.”

He had a fair point, the girl currently wore a t-shirt with multiple constellations on it as she spun around taking in the large room. Maria tried not to think about how different the room was from their current apartment, or Maria’s before that, or the horrors of the Red Room before that. 

“Tony, I don’t know how to thank you,” she watched as Ellie found the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.   

“Don't. I mean I had to,” he leaned against the bunk bed, “she’s the first niece in the family who’s not… ya know, a total secret.” 

Ellie moved to the mini library and climbed the ladder next to it, pulling out two books, one in Russian, one in a language Maria didn’t recognize right away. She moved to the beanbag chair and sat down, cracking open the books immediately. 

“Bear, what do you say?” she called out to the child.

<Thank you> the child signed, beaming up at the man.

“You’re welcome,” he smiled back before straightening out, “Jarvis can help you out with anything, and I’m sure Pep will be down at some point. We’re just up on the 93rd floor so… you know if you have any problems or whatever.”

“Thank you, Tony.” Maria finally caught the man’s eye. 

He nodded and picked at the perfect white paint of the door frame, “I should go but um, no more blaming the commute on your constant tardiness.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head as the man left the apartment. 

“What do you think, Bear, should we go look at everything else?” 

“Yes!” Ellie bolted up, placed her books back on the shelf, and followed her mother out of her room. 

It was clear that the man had spared no expense, and to the surprise of Maria, had actually put way more thought and detail into the apartment than he let on. Just as her office had held pictures, the shelves by the TV also held small frames of those they had lost. 

The fridge was stocked with multiple options of easy-to-make meals, fresh fruits and vegetables, and kid-friendly options. The guest bedrooms were like miniature hotel rooms with extra toiletries and slippers at the ready. It seemed like no matter where she turned, Maria found herself in shock of something her vision landed on.  

"Mommy, we are really going to live here?" Ellie couldn't keep still as she took everything in. 

"Yeah," she smiled, "this is it."

And for the first time, Maria felt like she had finally gotten it right with her daughter. Every sacrificed night on the lumpy couch, every lunch debt she had paid off for a rookie, every promise she had made to her younger self that she would get here one day, every once of grit and determination had all led to this moment. 

Had all led her home.