Chapter Eight
"Mama? I'm not comfy."
Natasha turned to the source of the small voice and furrowed her eyebrows. She couldn't think as to why Lainey might be uncomfortable. She wasn't sick and she wasn't cold.
But wait.
Her words weren't choppy and her pronunciations were nearly perfect. And she had a hint of a slight accent. Something that sounded like a mix of Spanish and Russian.
Lainey had grown overnight.
Her pajamas were now too small for her, she was a few inches taller, her hair was longer, and her voice had matured slightly.
It looked like there would be no solution to Tony's shrink ray mishap. It seemed as if Lainey's body would just have to fight it off on its own.
"Honey, I can see why." She tried to keep from laughing at her predicament. Luckily, she had a whole lot more experience with small children than she did with babies and toddlers. This part of the process was going to be easier on the both of them. "Your clothes are too small. You grew!"
Lainey just huffed and hid her face behind George in order to show her displeasure at her mother's amused look.
Nothing about this was funny. Her clothes were too tight! She wanted them gone!
"Mama….."
"Okay, okay, I'll fix it." Natasha stood up from her place on her bed and rummaged through her closet.
In the meantime, Lainey crawled up onto the bed and leaned back against the throw pillows, making George sit next to her. Ever since her mother had brought him home, he had become a trusty companion to whom she told everything to. He knew things no one else knew, but of course, he wouldn't say anything.
He was reliable that way.
"Ah ha!" Luckily, Bruce had convinced Natasha to shop for several sizes of clothing when this first happened, just in case Lainey did grow at random. And he had been right. "I found it." She pulled out a cute little red romper with white polka dots and tossed it at Lainey.
The girl giggled when it hit her face and she shrieked when Natasha pounced at her. She tried to crawl away, but the older woman grabbed her ankle and yanked her back over to her.
"You said you were uncomfortable." The Russian's fingers danced over Lainey's ribcage, making her burst into uncontrollable giggles. "Why are you trying to run away, hmm?"
"Mama!" Lainey wiggled like a little worm. "That tickles!"
"It tickles? But I'm just trying to get you to hold still." She smirked, but stopped all the same. Once Lainey was worked up, it was nearly impossible to get her to settle down. "Up and at 'em. Go change. Do you need help?"
"No, Mama. I'm a big girl!" Lainey practically scoffed at the audacity her mother had to even think she needed help getting dressed. Lainey was more than capable of doing that on her own. She wasn't a baby.
"Well, get to it, Little Miss."
"Not little!"
"What are you doing?" Clint furrowed his eyebrows at the five year old child in front of him.
He had come to Natasha's floor to find something to eat since he hadn't restocked his fridge just yet, but stopped short when he saw that Lainey looked like she was doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing. The tv was playing her favorite television show and she had some of her toys strewn across the floor, but of course, like all children, she managed to get into something she shouldn't even be touching.
"Nothing." Lainey lied, holding both her hands behind her back. Clint had startled her, sneaking up on her like that.
"Nothing? Then what's that you're hiding?"
"Nothing, see?" She showed him her left hand while her right one was still perched behind her.
"Lainey, I don't like being lied to." Clint knelt down in front of her and looked her in the eyes. "You know you don't have to lie to me or to anyone else here. None of us are going to hurt you for telling the truth, okay?"
"Okay."
"What do you have behind your back, kid?"
Lainey sniffled and showed him her right hand. And in it, she had a kitchen knife.
Internally, Clint was freaking out with worry for the child. Had she cut herself? Had he interrupted her before she tried something dangerous? What was she doing with that thing? How had she even gotten it? But externally, he remained calm. "What were you doing with this?"
"Practicing." Came Lainey's timid answer.
Allison had made sure she had started training Lainey as soon as she could walk. But when it came to knives and other weapons, she began once the child had reached the tender age of five. She wanted to make sure she had a good grasp on her motor skills. Lainey was good at what she did, so she didn't really understand why everyone else was so nervous about it. It wasn't like she didn't know what she was doing.
It was only a knife. She had worked with bigger and more scary weapons than this.
"Practicing..…with a knife?" Clint arched a brow. "What did Mama and I tell you about playing with knives?"
There goes those rules again.
No running, no screaming at the top of her lungs, no arguing at bedtime, no dessert before dinner, and no playing with knives.
Lainey didn't know exactly why that last one was a rule, she never played with knives. Knives were not toys, they were tools. Tools were not meant to be messed with.
"I wasn't playing." She shook her head, uncomfortable with the scrutiny. "I was practicing."
She didn't understand what the big deal was. If you wielded the knife just right, there was no danger at all.
"What's this?" Natasha waltzed into the room, towel drying her hair from her recent shower.
"Lainey was practicing with a knife." Clint stood back up to cross his arms once he set the item in question down on the kitchen counter.
"What have I told you about that, Honey?"
"Not for playing and practicing." Lainey cast her eyes down to her feet.
"That's right. Do you know why?"
"No."
"Because Mama doesn't want you to get hurt. What if you make a mistake and you cut yourself? I would be very sad if that happened." Natasha felt awful for laying such a guilt trip on the child, but if she had to do this in order for her to stop, then so be it. "And what if you accidentally hurt someone else? You'd feel bad, wouldn't you?"
"Yes." Lainey nodded solemnly.
"Do you understand now?"
"Yes, Mama." She had to bite down on her lip to keep herself from crying. She didn't like it when her mama wasn't happy with her and she didn't like it when Clint scolded her. "Sorry."
"I know you are, sweet girl, but we've talked about this." Natasha swiped at a few tears that had managed to escape Lainey's eyes. "Five minutes, Little Miss."
Lainey pouted, but went to sit down on her little chair at her small table and buried her head in her arms once she got comfortable. She hated it when Natasha made her sit there. She was supposed to take the time to think about what she did and how she could do better next time, but all she could really do was think about how boring it was for her.
She was good with knives. Natasha didn't need to worry. She wasn't going to hurt anyone. Allison had trained her well. What was the problem? Stupid chair. Stupid table.
And she had left George on the couch, so she was now left to serve her sentence in solitude. Maybe if she left the table really quickly, got George, and then headed right back to the table, Natasha and Clint would never notice.
"Alayna?"
Rats. It was hard sneaking around with two of the world's best spies in the room. They noticed everything! All Lainey had done was turn around in her seat and Natasha had stopped her in her tracks!
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Over there." Lainey looked up at her with her large, doe eyes and pointed to the couch where George sat happily next to Clint.
"I don't think so."
"Yana….." Lainey stuck her bottom lip out and tilted her head adorably, making Clint laugh.
"Yana will be there when you're finished."
"Please, Mama?"
Natasha sighed before making her way over to the couch and retrieving the stuffed monkey, plopping it in Lainey's lap.
"Thank you."
"No talking."
Lainey giggled and hugged her little friend tightly. It was glaringly obvious that she had Natasha wrapped around her little finger and the woman hadn't even meant what she said. After all, she did bring George over to her.
And maybe she didn't really need knives if she had George.
"Uncle Tony?"
"You're not supposed to be down here." Tony's eyes widened at the sight of the child. "Go back upstairs!"
He made the mistake of allowing her in the lab once. He wasn't going to do that again. Natasha had let him off very, very easy the last time. He wasn't so sure she'd be as...understanding if she were to find out about this.
"I'm bored." The five year old hopped to see what was occupying his time on the table. "Let's play a game!"
"Oh no." Tony shook his head. "That's how you got me in trouble last time."
"I didn't get you in trouble. I'm telling." Lainey's eyebrows scrunched together. "Mama's gonna be mad at you."
And on that note, the little girl turned on her heel and made her way to the door, causing Tony to fly into a panic. Why he was so afraid of a child tattling on him, he didn't know. But it was pathetic and he couldn't stop himself from trying to change her mind.
"Hey, wait a minute!" He chased after her, but she was faster than she looked.
"Mommy! Mommy!" Tony wasn't 100% sure, but she seemed to be enjoying this. Almost as if it were a game and his life wasn't in danger.
He was so going to get her back for this when she was back to her normal age and size. But for now, he needed to grovel.
"Lainey! C'mon, Tornado Alley!"
"I'm not Tornado Alley!" Lainey whirled around on him. "Mommy! Mommy! Uncle Tony's calling me names!
"Hey, come back!" Tony chased after her once again. "It was just a joke!"
"Anthony Stark!"
All he was doing was minding his own business.
"I think you should take a nap, Little Miss." Natasha rubbed Lainey's foot.
They had spent the better part of their day watching a ton of movies and enjoying each other's company. At this point, they had just reached the middle of movie number five, and Lainey was fighting just to keep her eyes open.
Of course, Steve's hand stroking her hair wasn't helping in the slightest.
Clint had flown home that morning and Natasha decided that having a movie marathon was the best way to distract the child. He would be back the next month, but to a five year old, it was a lifetime. He only stayed this long to help Natasha with her, but now that they had both adjusted, he needed to take care of his own kids.
"I'm not tired, Mama." Lainey blinked, remaining right where she was. "See?"
"I do, see." Natasha humored her. "But I think George is tired."
"George isn't tired." Lainey shook her head. "His eyes are open."
"George? Are you tired?" Steve lifted the monkey up to his ear. "Uh huh..…Yeah…..I'll tell her."
"What'd he say?" Lainey sat up, and she did it so sluggishly, that there was no question to whether or not she needed sleep. She was only fooling herself.
"He said that he's exhausted and he wishes that you would take him to bed." Steve smiled sweetly, hoping that she would buy it.
She was a smart cookie, so he was counting on the fact that she was still young and completely exhausted. She wouldn't question it the way she normally would if she were more alert.
"I'll take him." The girl yawned so widely it nearly split her face. "Mama's coming, too?"
"Of course I am."
"Let's go!" She hopped off of the couch and dragged her mother to her room, clambering under her sheets. She even made sure that George had a little place right next to her.
Natasha smiled at the sight and took a quick picture before she sat down and tucked Lainey in, smoothing the covers over her. "Comfy?"
Most days she looked at Lainey and she just couldn't believe her luck. She wasn't supposed to have any children, but then one, a very special one just waltzed right into her life and wormed her way into her heart. A child that she now called her own. She was sweet, she was kind, she was so brave and so generous with the love she hadn't even been on the receiving end of for many years. Natasha couldn't ask for a better child. She just looked at her adorable little face and her beautiful eyes, and her heart swelled.
"Yes." Lainey's head bobbed up and down as she tried to keep herself awake. "Stay here, please."
"Alright, sweet girl." Natasha climbed in next to her, more than willing to let Lainey cuddled up to her like a little koala. Her hand found Lainey's hair and stroked it lightly, successfully lulling the child to sleep. "We can just lay for a while."
The redhead hadn't even realized she had been so fatigued until she felt her entire body losing tension. Ten minutes wouldn't hurt anything. Her baby wanted her to stay and lie down with her, so she would. She would close her eyes for ten— no fifteen minutes and then she'd get up again.
That sounded fine. Just fifteen minutes…...
Steve on the other hand, had been waiting patiently in the living room for Natasha to come back. So when she didn't, he stood up and decided to go and check on her. Lo and behold, he found her curled up on Lainey's bed. Both were fast asleep and unaware of what was going on around them.
The blonde figured that this was something she'd want documented in that photo album of hers, so he took a few pictures to show her after she woke up. But for now, he picked up the knit blanket that was folded over the rocking chair in Lainey's room and draped it over the woman before pulling Lainey's finger out of her mouth and leaving the room as quietly as possible.
"Sweet dreams."
Lainey woke up to the smell of food that could only be coming from the kitchen. She opened her eyes and found Natasha sleeping right next to her. She must have been tired, because Natasha didn't just take naps in the middle of the day like this.
"Wake up." She poked the woman's cheek to rouse her from her sleep.
Natasha's eyes fluttered open and widened once she saw Lainey. She wasn't five anymore. She was back to her normal nine year old size and height! Once again, her clothes were too small, but there was no mistaking her!
"What?"
"You don't remember?" She quirked a brow, hoping that that wasn't true. All the progress they had made, all the memories they had made couldn't just be…..gone.
"Remember what?" Lainey asked. "I just took a nap…..and I had a really weird dream and at first I was a baby and you took care of me, but that's silly because you didn't know me when I was a baby." She giggled, but there was an air of sadness in her voice. "But I wish you did."
She loved that dream. It was the nicest one she ever had. She wished that Natasha was really her mother and had been with her for her whole life. But she knew it wasn't possible. It didn't work that way.
"Honey, that wasn't a dream." Natasha reached out and pushed some hair from her face. "That really happened. You had an accident in the lab with Uncle Tony and Uncle Bruce, and you were turned into a toddler and then you grew into a kindergartner."
"For how long?"
"It's been about two months."
Two months of being so young? Lainey almost didn't believe it. But she remembered being in the lab that day. How Tony had asked her to get something off of one of his work tables and how a bright light had flashed and she felt all sorts of queasy. And now that she was really thinking hard, she vaguely remembered Natasha taking care of her for all that time. It was like a bunch of memories more so than a dream. Like she had always been with Natasha and they hadn't just met after the Avengers arrested her mother. Like they had known each other forever.
She still had those awful memories of all those years with Allison, but now, she had a whole catalog of good ones, great ones even, to fight them with. Natasha had given her that. She had given her a warm and happy early childhood do-over. And she couldn't even begin to thank her.
"Tasha?" She bit her lip timidly.
"Yes, Honey?"
"Is it okay if I still call you 'Mama'?"
"I would love that." Natasha let out a breath she hadn't even been holding. Lainey remembered. She remembered the way they had felt about each other and she remembered enough to continue to look at her as a mother.
She wasn't losing her.
"Okay. Mama?"
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"George is hungry."
Natasha let out such a boisterous laugh that was so unusual for her that Lainey was shocked. She had never heard her laugh like that in all the time she'd known her. The redhead noticed how startled she looked and pulled her in for a hug, still letting her laughter rumble through her chest.
"Let's go get him something to eat, hmm?"
"Okay, but George really wants ice cream, Mama."
It was good to know that even though something had changed, other things would still remain the same.
Bonus Scene 1:
"Whatever is, I didn't do it." Tony threw his hands up, making sure to keep a far enough distance away from Natasha as he could.
He needed to be able to at least attempt to run away if she said something to accidentally set her off.
"Relax. That's not what I'm here for." Natasha smirked at how jumpy he was and sat down on one of his stools. "I need you to do me a favor."
"A favor? You?"
"Don't get so excited, you're still on thin ice."
"Point take." The man deflated, before perking up again. "What do you want me to do? Modify those bites for you? Does your suit need anything done to it?"
"No, no." She shook her head. "Nothing like that. It's about Lainey."
"Ah." He grinned, displaying his pearly whites. "You want to adopt her and you want me to draw up the papers for you."
"Was it that obvious?"
"Mmhmm." He chuckled. "I'll have them done for you by the end of the week."
"Thank you, Tony."
"Hey, you're doing me a favor. You're not the only one that loves that little girl. I want to watch her grow up, too."
"You're a sweet man, Tony." Natasha stood up from the stool and kissed his cheek before leaving the lab, rendering him speechless.
A sweet man indeed.
Bonus Scene 2:
"Mama, you're taking too long!" Lainey whined from her place on top of the bathroom sink. "It's gonna be too late to go to the park!"
"I'm almost finished, Honey." The redhead spoke calmly, steadily applying her eyeliner. "Just give me a few more minutes.
"You're already pretty! You don't need that stuff!"
"Well, thank you." She chortled. "But I don't wear makeup to make myself pretty. I wear it because I enjoy it."
"Can I wear some?"
Natasha screwed the cap back onto her liquid liner and sighed. Giving Lainey permission to wear a full face of makeup was out of the question. She wasn't even going to entertain the thought. But little girls did like to experiment and explore when faced with new things.
"Here." She dug through her makeup bag and handed her some light pink lipgloss she could wear as a compromise. "You can wear some of this."
"Cool." Lainey beamed and turned so that she could face the mirror to see what she was doing.
But of course, she began to apply far too much of it, so Natasha decided that she needed to step in.
"Look at me." She grabbed a wet wipe and wiped the child's lips clean, despite her protests and pouts. "I will not have you go out there looking like you got ready in the dark."
"Mama!" Lainey tried to turn her head away, but her mother had a good grip on the back of her head, so she wasn't going anywhere. "You wiped it all off." Her bottom lip jut out in disappointment.
"Look at that pout." Natasha smiled. "Stay still."
Lainey's pout ceased when she felt the tip of the lipgloss tube meet her lips once again as Natasha applied just the right amount.
"There." The older woman finished up before putting it away. "Much better."
"I look pretty." Lainey smiled at herself in the mirror.
"You look very pretty." Natasha agreed. "But you are beautiful without any of this. Got it?"
"Uh huh." The child was too busy admiring the new color to acknowledge a word her mother was saying. "Can I dye my hair red...like yours?"
"No, Lainey."
"But I wanna look like you." It wasn't the first time the child had asked, and it probably wouldn't be the last time.
But Natasha wasn't about to give in to the request any time soon.
"You want to look like me."
"Yeah. You have pretty red hair and I have brown hair...I don't look like I come from you." Lainey shrugged, looking at her through the mirror. "I don't come from you. But I wish I did."
That made sense. It was heartbreaking. But it made sense.
Lainey knew they weren't biologically related, but she wanted to be similar in any way she could to bridge that gap.
"Um, can you look in my nightstand and get me the folder that's sitting in there, please?" Natasha asked suddenly.
"Okay." Lainey thought that was a pretty odd request given that they had just been having an entirely different conversation, but did it anyway.
Natasha watched her go, and wasn't at all surprised when she came back in less than a minute, hopping back up onto the sink with the folder clutched tightly in her hand.
"I got it."
"Can you open it for me? I need to wipe my hands off." The Russian came up with the excuse and grabbed another wet wipe.
"Okay." Lainey shrugged and opened the folder, finding a single document inside. "This what you want?"
"Yeah. Read it."
"Out loud?"
"No. You can read it to yourself."
Lainey gave her a weird look and shook her head before taking the document out of the folder to read it properly.
And boy was she surprised at what she saw.
"Alayna Serrano, born 2005 has been placed in permanent custody of Natasha Romanoff. As of 2014, I, Judge Edwards of the court of New York City, hereby announce that Natasha Romanoff is now the legal and adoptive mother of Alayna Serrano."
Lainey's eyes widened and she read the document over and over again. Nothing ever changed. It even had a seal of approval, so she knew it was real.
She felt Natasha gently taking it from her to put it back into the folder, but she paid no attention to that.
It was official now. She wasn't going back to Allison. Allison wasn't her problem anymore.
She belonged to Natasha now.
"Hey." Natasha spoke softly. "Can you tell me what you're thinking?"
Lainey didn't say anything, she just threw herself into the woman's arms and she was positive, this time it felt different. It felt better. "Mama."
"Mmhmm. I'm Mama. Always Mama." Natasha reassured her before setting her down in front of the mirror. "So you see, you don't have to dye your beautiful brown hair to look like me. You don't come from me, but I'm still your mama."
"Uh huh."
"Look at me." She cupped the girl's chin. "You don't need to change yourself to be pretty either. You are beautiful all on your own. Can you say that for me? I'm beautiful and Mama loves me?"
"I'm beautiful and Mama loves me." Lainey smiled.
"Don't you forget it."