Chapter Six
"Lainey, stop running." Steve spoke offhandedly as Lainey raced through the Tower for no particular reason.
Since the mission in D.C., Natasha and Lainey packed up all of their things and moved back to New York. D.C. was nice, but New York was home and it was safer. Lainey thoroughly enjoyed being back, expelling all of her energy, day in and day out, just running and bouncing off the walls from sheer boredom.
Steve and Sam had gone off to find Bucky, but the man was nearly untraceable. He just didn't want to be found. And as much as Steve wanted to have his best friend by his side again, he had to step back a little. He was getting a little restless and he wasn't thinking straight, so after a few months of searching, he decided to come home. Sam stayed behind and continued to look, promising the man that the minute he saw something, he'd call.
"But running's faster." Lainey skidded to a stop in her socks, nearly toppling over on the kitchen floor. "Whoa!"
"And that's exactly why you were told not to run inside." Steve gave her a pointed look. "Especially not in socks."
"Fine." Lainey huffed, crossing her arms. Steve did have a way of ruining her fun when she was inside. He was always afraid of her getting hurt. But didn't he know that she knew what she was doing? "But walking is boring and running is better."
"Okay." He shrugged, nonchalantly, causing her to pout because he wasn't giving her the reaction she wanted. "Just so long as you stay boring." He began to take some cookies he had been baking all morning and put them in the cookie jar to be eaten after dinner.
"Uncle Steve?" Lainey made her way over to him and watched him work.
At the sweet tone of voice, Steve had to bite his lip to keep himself from smiling. Children were the ultimate manipulators. They were so good at it and they weren't even malicious. Lainey had been so annoyed with him for taking her safety seriously, but as soon as she saw those cookies, it was like a switch had been flipped and she was back to being that sweetheart everyone knew and loved.
"Yes, Lainey?" He mocked her tone.
"Hug?" Lainey lifted her arms so that he could embrace her.
"You can absolutely have a hug. But you're not getting any cookies before dinner."
"Hmmph!" Lainey huffed, turning on her heel, marching to the elevator, clearly displaying her displeasure.
Once the doors closed, Steve let out the boisterous laugh he had been holding in. Lainey was such a little character. She was so funny when she wanted to be.
He missed being around kids. Growing up, he didn't have any younger siblings to play with or look after. But Bucky had four younger sisters, so he got to hang out with them very often. Kids were just funny small people who were constantly learning how the world works. And Lainey was no exception. He was so glad that she felt comfortable enough to let her personality shine through instead of keeping silent and agreeing with everything out of fear.
Maybe he'd give her an extra cookie after dinner, just because.
Meanwhile, in the elevator, Lainey was wracking her brain trying to figure out what to do. Natasha was busy with paperwork or something, so it wasn't like she could play with her and Clint was training. The only thing she could think of, was joining Tony and Bruce in the lab.
She liked science well enough and Tony was always trying to get her to go down there so that he could show her some things he thought she'd might like.
So to the lab it is.
"Hi, Lainey." Bruce greeted shyly. Even after a year of knowing the child, he was still very cautious around her for fear of turning into the Hulk.
"Hey, kid." Tony hadn't bothered to look up from the project he was working on in order to greet her. "What brings you down here?"
"I'm bored." Lainey whined, dragging her feet.
"I was hoping you'd say that." The billionaire smirked, beckoning her over, ignoring Bruce's panicked look. "We're working on something really important and we could use some help."
"Tony, this is a bad idea." Bruce gave him a look.
The lab was full of dangerous chemicals and equipment. Anything could happen in a place like that. And if anything did happen, it would be their fault, because they were the adults in the situation. Or at least, he was the adult in the situation.
"So, what do you say?" Tony, predictably, ignored him.
"Okay!" Lainey was chomping at the bit for something to do. "Where do I start?"
"How about you get me that box of tools over there and a small flashlight? They're right next to each other."
Lainey looked over to a table full of junk and made her way over to it, picking up the flashlight, making sure that the batteries didn't need changing. Once she had the flashlight in her possession, she picked up the toolbox. And through absolutely no fault of her own, a weird looking item fell off of the table.
She hadn't touched it or anything. The way it was set on the table, made it an easy target to be knocked over by the slightest movement. And picking up the toolbox had done it.
"Lainey!"
Once the item hit the ground, a bright beam of light shot out, forcing everyone in the room to close their eyes and wait for it to dim. Poor Lainey had no idea what was going on. All her muscles had frozen in place and as much as she tried to run, she couldn't move. She had no choice but to stand there until it was over.
Her body grew tingly and her muscles began to constrict quite painfully. She tried her best not to hyperventilate, but she couldn't help it. This was scary. She couldn't see anything and she had no idea what was going on with her body. It was out of control. Nausea rose to her stomach and just when she thought she couldn't take anymore, black dots began to cloud her vision.
All she heard was Tony and Bruce screaming for her before all the dots connected.
"So, who's gonna explain this one to Clint and Steve?" Tony mused.
As soon as the light had shut off, the two scientists rushed Lainey up to med-bay and hooked her up to an IV. She was fine…..sort of. The real problem was going to be telling the rest of the team what happened.
"Forget Clint and Steve." Bruce chewed the inside of his cheek. "How are you gonna explain this to Natasha?"
"Me? Why me?"
"Oh, I don't know? Maybe because you were the one who allowed her to come in and touch things in the first place. And who leaves things like that lying around, Tony?"
"I had no idea it was still there!"
"Which is exactly why Lainey shouldn't have been allowed in the lab in the first place." Bruce ran frustrated hand over his face.
They were totally not making it out of this one alive. Natasha was going to come around and find them, and then see Lainey lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to an IV, and she was going to flip. She was fiercely protective of the child and she didn't care much for excuses when it came to her.
They were doomed.
"Well, I know that now." Tony stressed, pacing the floor, making Bruce even more nervous than he already was. "I don't even remember putting it there. What are we gonna do?"
Luckily, or rather, unluckily for Bruce, he wouldn't have to answer that question, because as soon as he opened his mouth, Natasha stormed into the room with Clint and Steve hot on her trail.
And she didn't look happy.
"What. Happened?" She grit her teeth, glaring at the two scientists.
She had been catching up on some work and naturally assumed that Lainey would be perfectly safe in the four walls of the Tower. But when Jarvis interrupted her to tell her that Lainey had been hurt, she was proven wrong. Her heart dropped when she got the news and she dropped everything just to get to her.
"Well, you see..…it's actually a really funny story." Tony stood in front of her, blocking their view of the child. "And I honestly think you're gonna laugh."
He was already off to a bad start. There was nothing funny about the situation.
"Tony….." Bruce shook his head. Now was not the time to play games.
"Do I look like I'm smiling?" Natasha growled.
"Bruce?" Steve tried to keep the situation calm and collected, but on the inside he was panicking. Maybe if he had given Lainey some cookies and hung out with her, she wouldn't be in this mess.
Why hadn't he given her something to do? She could've helped him with the dishes or helped him with lunch or something. Now she had been hurt and there was nothing he could do about it.
"Lainey wanted to help Tony on a project we were working on and he let her." The soft-spoken man rolled his eyes in annoyance before continuing. "He needed something off of one of his work tables and apparently left some dangerous equipment lying there haphazardly."
"It wasn't dangerous," Tony muttered.
"She's in med-bay, Tony. How is that not dangerous?"
"I had no idea the thing was there, I told you that."
"Enough—"
A small babble stopped everyone in their tracks and Natasha shoved Tony out of her way to see exactly what was going on.
And there lying on the hospital bed, was Lainey. But she was a toddler. And she couldn't have been more than two years old. Her hair shorter, a little past her shoulders. She had plenty of baby fat to provide her with stubby little fists and chubby cheeks, and her eyes were big and doe-like.
"Oh my goodness." Natasha breathed, slowly stepping towards her.
"Stark, of all the things you've done, this really does take the cake." Clint shook his head. "What was that thing?"
"It was ray-gun." Tony answered. "I didn't even know how it worked or what it did. It was a personal project."
His recklessness was absolutely appalling. Clint didn't know what he got out of messing with things he didn't understand. But Lainey was the one paying for it. They were lucky she hadn't been seriously injured during this entire fiasco.
"Hi." Lainey waved so adorably, Natasha momentarily forgot why she was upset.
"Hi, sweet girl." The woman smiled and sat down on the bed, ignoring the four men behind her. "How're you feeling, hmm?"
"Kay."
"You're feeling okay? That's a good thing." The redhead made sure to keep her voice soft so she wouldn't startle her. "Do you know who I am?"
She really did hope that Lainey hadn't lost any of her memories during this whole thing, because it would break her heart to go right back to square one with the child. They had been through so much and she didn't want to let that go.
"Yes."
"Oh yeah? Who am I?"
"My Natassa." Lainey giggled as if Natasha had been silly for even asking.
And Natasha just about gushed at her possessiveness towards her and the fact that she couldn't pronounce her name correctly. Toddlers were the cutest things.
"That's right, Baby. I'm your Natasha." She nodded.
"I want off." Lainey furrowed her eyebrows and clawed at the IV needle in her arm. "Off."
"Okay." Natasha took a look at the bag and saw that it was nearly empty, so she unhooked it from the girl, sending her a warm smile.
She looked so adorable sitting there being swallowed up by her Winnie-the-Pooh shirt that was now several sizes too large. They'd have to go shopping for her soon, because the shirt, as cute as it was, just wouldn't suffice in the long run, or however long it took for Lainey to get back to normal.
"Fank 'oo."
"You're very welcome."
"Loud." The baby pointed to the men, who were still standing around, yelling at one another.
"They are very loud, aren't they?" Natasha agreed. "Hey!"
And just like that, there was peace and quiet. When Natasha spoke, everybody listened. No one would dare to ignore her.
"Hi!" Lainey pushed herself up to stand using her small hands, wobbling before she was steady enough to wave.
"What, were you raised by wolves?" Natasha glared when they offered no reply. "She said 'hi'. Don't be rude."
"Hi, honey." Clint could only offer a tight smile. He thought she was beyond cute, but he was still unbelievably upset with Tony for causing this whole thing. "Be careful, don't fall."
"I not fall." Lainey wobbled, not even realizing that Natasha had her hands up behind her, ready to catch her. "I stand up, see?"
"I do see." He winked, making her giggle. "You're so good at it, too. I can't believe it."
Out of all the Avengers, he was the best with children. And it made sense, he was the only one that had children of his own. Natasha was going to need to lean on him for support and advice on this front, because even though she had experience helping out with his kids, this was completely different.
This wasn't like hanging out with a niece or nephew where you were able to give them back to their parents at the end of the day. Now it was Natasha's turn to be the primary caretaker in the situation. And it wouldn't be easy.
"Up." Lainey tugged on Natasha's pant leg. "Up."
"No, honey. You can walk."
The two had recently gotten back from shopping for clothes and some toys around the city, and to say that Natasha was tired, would've been an understatement. Between carrying Lainey and the bags, and picking out all the items and walking around with them, she was learning quick that this was going to be harder than she thought. But she wasn't in the business of giving up.
Besides, it wouldn't be so bad. She had tons of help. Steve and Clint went out shopping for toddler necessities; anywhere from bottles, pacifiers, bowls, utensils, to diapers. The two even found a nice crib in that short amount of time and had beat them back home to assemble it.
"Up!" Lainey whined, wondering why Natasha wouldn't just pick her up. It wasn't like she hadn't before. What was so different about now?
"Raising your voice at me isn't going to change my mind."
The toddler's eyes filled up with tears and her lip quivered. She wanted to be carried and Natasha wasn't giving her what she wanted. It was making her sad. Why didn't she want to hold her?
The poor girl didn't quite have the grasp of the English language to express that, so instead, she burst into tears. Loud tears. Her little body tensed and sobs escaped her throat, tugging at the heartstrings of anyone who was nearby.
Natasha knew this tactic well. Lila Barton had invented it. She, of course, would hold Lainey later, but right now, she needed to wash all these clothes and put them away. Lainey could wait. She needed to learn that life didn't stop just because she wanted something. She needed to have patience and wait until it was the right time.
"Tassa!" She whimpered, plopping herself down on the floor.
Maybe if she threw a fit, then Natasha would see that she was serious. Whenever adults threw fits, people listened to them. This shouldn't be any different.
"Up! Now!" She whined.
"What's with all the screaming?" Steve made his way out from Lainey's room and into the living room just to see what all the noise was about, only to find Natasha unpacking the shopping bags with Lainey on the floor.
"Lainey wants my full attention, but I just can't give it to her right now. She's going to have to wait." The redhead dumped the baby clothes in the washing machine in the hallway nearby (save for one outfit), pressing the spin cycle to get everything started.
"Well I can do all of that and you can hold her."
"Don't you dare." Natasha warned so sharply, it startled him.
He had literally been reaching out for the child, but snatched his hands back when she denied his offer.
"Why? It's no trouble."
He hated to listen to Lainey cry and he would do anything to make her stop. Honestly, Natasha knew that if it were up to him, he'd spoil her rotten.
"Do not give in to that tantrum she's throwing." She motioned towards Lainey, who had since begun crying with crocodile tears. "You'll only make it worse."
"She looks pretty upset….."
"I'd be upset too if I was exhausted and I missed my nap." Natasha quickly washed one of the pacifiers she had bought for the child, walking over to her and sticking it in her mouth, cutting her loud cries short.
Lainey was shocked to say the least. This thing in her mouth was new, but she didn't feel like crying anymore. Her small hand reached up to touch it and take it out so that she could see it, but Natasha gently tapped her hand away and clipped the lanyard onto the makeshift onesie she was wearing.
The baby looked up at Natasha with wide eyes, allowing herself to be soothed by the comfort item. Pushing herself up to her feet, she latched on to the woman's leg and smiled up at her as if nothing had ever happened.
"I'm glad you're smiling Little Miss, because right now, it's time for your nap." Natasha hoisted her up onto her hip and tapped her nose. "And after your nap, you can play as much as you'd like."
Lainey knew that word 'nap'. She didn't like it. In fact, she despised it. Naps were dumb. She wasn't even tired. She wasn't sure why Natasha wanted her to take one.
"Agbaahhh." She babbled behind her pacifier, waving adorably at Steve before making grabby hands at him.
"No, no." Natasha rubbed her back. "It's not play time. It's nap time. It's time to settle down and go to sleep." She turned to the super soldier. "Did you guys finish with the crib?"
"Yeah, Clint's in there making sure everything is okay." Steve nodded, kissing Lainey's cheek to make her laugh.
"Alright, I'm gonna go and put her down. Thanks for helping out, I really appreciate it."
"Hey, it's no trouble. She's cute." Steve shrugged, watching as Natasha expertly managed to calm Lainey down.
As the woman continued to rub the toddler's back, Lainey's eyelids began to droop and her head felt too heavy to hold up by herself. She felt Natasha's red hair in between her fingers and twirled it around. If Steve didn't know any better, he would've thought that she had some previous experience with young children and knew exactly what she was doing. But that couldn't possibly be the case. It had be maternal instincts at work.
"Say, 'Bye, bye, Uncle Steve'." Natasha whispered soothingly, carrying Lainey into her room, where Clint had just finished up.
"Hey." He smiled at the sight of the two. "I heard her crying out there. Everything okay?"
"Yeah, she's just tired. We had a long day."
"You're doing a good job, Nat." The archer told his best friend while she changed Lainey into something she could sleep in before setting her down in her crib.
"It doesn't really feel like it." Natasha ran a frustrated hand through her hair. "I mean, she literally just threw a tantrum before we came in here. I can't be doing that good of a job. She deserves better."
"I beg to differ." Clint smirked. "Do you even know what that tantrum meant?"
"She was upset at me for not giving her what she wanted?"
"No." He chuckled. "It means that she trusts you and she's comfortable enough to behave like that around you, because she knows that you love her."
"Yeah?" Natasha couldn't help but smile when Lainey stood up, holding the bars of the crib. "Are you comfortable with me, малышка? Hmm?"
Lainey smiled and made grabby hands at her. She loved Natasha. She was her favorite person in the whole world. Of course she was comfortable with her.
"My Tassa." The toddler pulled the pacifier out of her mouth and gave the woman a toothy grin.
"Yeah." Natasha nodded, brushing away some stray curls away from her face. "I'm your Tasha."