Chapter Twenty-One
"Open up! It's me!"
Lainey put the movie she had been watching on pause and walked over to the door.
It had been a few months since the Avengers had their falling out and went their separate ways. Tony, Vision, and Rhodey were left together at the Compound, Bucky was in Wakanda, Wanda, Sam, Clint, and Scott were all still in the Raft, and no one really knew where Steve was.
Natasha and Lainey had been on the run since the minute T'Challa told General Ross about the redhead letting Barnes and Rogers go at the airport. It had been a mistake to do so, he knew that now, but there was nothing he could do about it. Ross couldn't be convinced to stop his manhunt. So far, the two had been to Wales and Switzerland, before settling down in Norway.
Lainey liked Norway. It was calm and it was quiet, and she kind of liked the cold. Her mother bought a trailer big enough for the both of them to live in and had it in a location far, far away from anyone or anything.
And just because it wasn't near civilization didn't mean they were bored. Not at all. The two would watch movies together, play outside when it was warm enough, and every night without fail, Natasha would read to Lainey.
The girl flourished having her mother's complete attention in a way she never did before. When they were with the other Avengers, there was always someone or something coming up. Of course, Lainey did get her mother's undivided attention back then, but this was different.
She felt selfish, but she loved it.
It was just her, Mischief, and her mama.
Though, she did miss Wanda terribly. Unbeknownst to her, Steve and Natasha were in constant contact as they both searched for the exact coordinates of the Raft. So far, they haven't been able to come up with anything, but they weren't giving up. Natasha didn't tell Lainey about this because she didn't want her to get her hopes up. She'd tell her once they actually found that horrible place and there was a 100% chance that she and Wanda would be reunited.
"Who's me?" Lainey asked cheekily.
"Open the door! You know bloody well who it is!"
"I can't say I do." The child giggled at the obvious frustration. "I need a name."
"If you don't open this door, then you won't see what I brought for you."
Now she was intrigued. "Okay." She unlocked the trailer door, revealing who it was that came knocking. "Hi."
It was Mason.
Mason was an old friend of her mother's. Whenever she was on the run and she needed something and couldn't get it, he would do the job for her.
Lainey liked Mason. More importantly, she liked teasing Mason. It was so easy to rile the man up and get him upset. He was so sensitive.
"Yeah, hi." He rolled his eyes.
"I'm sorry." She gave him a false look of innocence. "Mommy says I'm not supposed to open the door when she's not home."
"And you always do what Mummy tells you?" Mason stepped inside, pushing a plastic bag towards her. "Take it before I change my mind."
As much as Mason acted like he couldn't stand her, Lainey believed that deep down, he liked having someone who messed with him.
Natasha didn't mind the banter between the two as long as it remained respectful. She was glad they got along, it made everything that much easier.
"Thank you!" Lainey grinned and raced into the kitchen to set the bag down on the counter, rummaging through it. "Yippee! You got it!"
The girl had been asking for a specific kind of candy for weeks! Natasha told her she didn't need any sugar, but anytime she went to the store, she would secretly look for it and never find it. Mason heard the girl talking about it and came across it on one of his errands, so naturally, he picked it up.
The item in question? Grape Licorice.
"Don't say I never gave you anything. And don't tell your mother. She'll have my head for giving you that."
Lainey just grinned and opened the package, biting into a twist before sighing in satisfaction.
Just what she needed.
"What time is your mother getting home?" Mason asked, watching Mischief strut across the counter.
Natasha hated it when she did that, but whenever she wasn't home, Lainey let the cat do as she pleased.
"I don't know." She shrugged. "She went to the store a little while ago, but I don't know when she'll be done shopping."
"And she didn't take you with her?"
"Something about not wanting me to buy everything I see." Lainey joked. "Wanna watch a movie? I already started 'Dr. No' before you came, but I can rewind it!"
Mason thought about it for a moment, before ultimately deciding to indulge her. He followed her to the single bedroom and sat down next to her in front of the computer monitor, watching as she played the movie right from the beginning.
And either he was getting old, or traveling through all those different time zones was beginning to have an effect on him. Because as soon as the movie started, he could feel his eyes growing heavier and heavier.
"Lainey?" Natasha called for her daughter as soon as she got home. And upon receiving no answer, she tried again, carefully walking through the trailer just incase something was wrong. "Lainey?"
And when she was met with silence, she began to assume the worst. Taking a kitchen knife from the rack, she lightly walked to her bedroom, stepping in ready to attack whoever might have been in there, that wasn't supposed to be.
If anything happened to Lainey she'd blame herself. How could she have left all alone like this? She should've taken her along. Lainey was just barely eleven, it wasn't safe to leave her alone for long periods of time.
Her heart thumped against her chest as she crept through quietly, trying to keep her emotions under control. That was harder to do when she was thinking with a mother's heart instead of her head.
To her relief, her daughter was sitting on her bed, watching a movie while Mason was knocked out cold.
"Alayna, why didn't you answer me when I called you?" Since the fear had dissipated when she realized Lainey was okay, it was replaced with annoyance.
All of this fuss and Lainey had only been watching a movie.
"Ssh. Mason's sleeping." She had the audacity to put a finger to her lips. "I was watching your movie. Sorry, Mommy."
"Don't 'Sorry, Mommy' me, Alayna." Natasha rolled her eyes at the obvious manipulation tactic, picking up a legal pad and a pen. "I was worried sick about you when you didn't answer. Here." She handed her the items. "Go sit at the table and write your lines. 'I will not scare the crap out of Mama'."
"How many times?" Lainey pouted, sliding off the bed.
She hated writing lines. It was just writing the same sentence over and over again. What was the point? All it did was make her hand hurt.
"Until I tell you to stop. Move." The Russian waited until the girl was out of the room before taking a deep breath to calm herself down. Now that the adrenaline was gone and she knew that everything was okay, she could acknowledge that Lainey was a funny little girl.
The child always tried to 'cute' her way out of trouble. It never worked, not on her mother. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. So she didn't know why the kid even bothered trying.
And writing lines wasn't even the worst thing she could have made her do. There was something a lot worse; going to bed early.
If Natasha didn't know any better, she'd've thought she was sending her daughter off to a small, dark dungeon somewhere. Lainey couldn't handle not being involved in what was going on outside of her room and most often ended up sneaking out to see what she thought she was missing.
The redhead wasn't heartless. She knew that Lainey wasn't doing it out of pure defiance. She just didn't like being left out. So whenever she felt she needed to send her to bed earlier than normal, she'd always spend extra time tucking her in and reading her a story.
If Lainey was receptive enough, they'd talk about what went wrong and what she could do next time to make it better.
No, she wasn't upset anymore. It was hard to be upset with Lainey.
She would let her write a page or two of lines before she went out and stopped her. Maybe those cute little looks did work on her to some degree.
For now, she could mess with Mason.
"You're in my bed." She smirked after startling him out of his slumber.
"I'm…..I'm not even under the covers." He said pathetically, following her back out to the kitchen.
He couldn't even remember exactly when he had fallen asleep. All he could remember, was watching a film with Lainey.
"Did you get everything on my list?" She asked, glancing at Lainey from the corner of her eye to make sure she was okay.
The girl looked annoyed, but she was no worse for wear.
"Got passports, entry visas, a couple of local driver's licenses." He listed. "Mix and match, you should stretch it to twenty or so identities."
"Fanny Longbottom?" Natasha quirked an eyebrow, looking at the name on one of the IDs.
"What?"
"What are you, twelve?" She shook her head.
"That's a legitimate name." The man defended, smiling when Lainey giggled from her place at the table.
"Little Miss?" Natasha looked over at her. "Is there something funny about what I told you to write?"
"No, Mama." Lainey tried her best to suppress her little giggles, but was failing miserably.
Natasha truly didn't mind, though. It was good to hear her laugh like that.
"We've got a generator outside. It's petrol powered and the septic tank will need a flush in a couple of weeks, but, you know, I've got a guy coming for that. You'll have to haul your rubbish into town. It's just a twenty minute drive. I've got your basic hardware kit stashed under the stairs."
"Nice."
"Are you okay?" Mason grew serious. He knew all this running could take a toll on her.
It wasn't easy moving from place to place all while looking over your shoulder.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"I hear things." He shrugged, trying to keep an air of nonchalance. "You know, something about the Avengers getting divorced."
"It's fine." She smiled. "I'm actually better on my own."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
"Because you can tell me, you know. That's the way the whole friends thing works."
"I know. I have friends."
"People who have friends don't call me."
"And I don't pay you to worry." The smile never left her face as she led him out. "What's all this junk?" She asked, motioning to the box full of stuff sitting outside.
"Oh, just some mail and personals from the Budapest safe house."
"Budapest?"
"Yeah, Budapest." He gave her a look.
"No, it's 'Budapest'." She pronounced it with a 'sh' sound.
"Whatever." He rolled his eyes. "I knew you weren't going back there, so I've got someone else in the flat now."
"Sorry you went through the trouble. I would've told you to chuck it."
"Well, if you don't want it, throw it in the rubbish." Was all he said before taking off, leaving the two in their trailer once again.
Natasha picked up the box and brought it inside, dropping it on the floor by the couch before she walked over to Lainey to check her progress.
Lainey stopped writing and looked up at her with those precious doe eyes. "Sorry I scared the crap out of you, Mama."
"Don't—" Natasha had to stop herself from laughing. "Don't speak like that. That's a big people word."
"That's what you told me to write, Mama."
This time, Natasha did laugh, picking up the legal pad to find Lainey had completed about a page and a half of her lines. "Alright, you're done. You can stop now."
"I can?"
"On two conditions."
"What?"
"When I call, you answer. I don't care what you're doing."
"I will. What's the other thing?"
"You sit down and watch a couple movies with me."
"Okay!" Lainey got excited all over again.
"Go get into some lazy clothes."
"Mama?" Lainey stopped herself on the way to the bedroom they shared.
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry."
Natasha just cupped her face and planted a kiss on her cheek. "You're forgiven. Now go before I change my mind."
"I'm going!"
Turns out, Lainey was just as much a lightweight when it came to movies that Mason was. She only lasted about halfway through the first film they watched before she conked out across her mother's lap.
Natasha would carry her to bed later. For now, she was using the child's back as a table while she ate the caviar she bought earlier at the store.
Lainey wasn't that light a sleeper, so she wouldn't be effected by any of this.
The eleven year old was completely out. Two fingers from her right hand were resting inside of her open mouth, while George rested in the crook of her arm and Mischief at her feet.
She stirred a little when someone yelled on screen, but all Natasha had to do was pat her gently to get her to fall back out.
She was in the middle of 'Moonraker' and was throughly enjoying it. She loved Bond films and had tried to get Lainey into them, but the child much preferred old cartoons.
Natasha put another spoonful of caviar in her mouth, enjoying the silence of the nighttime.
That was, until the generator gave out.
So much for trying to enjoy a good film.
"Lainey." She set her dvd player down and rubbed the child's back to rouse her out of sleep. "Lainey."
Lainey whined as her eyes fluttered open. She didn't know why her mother was so set on disturbing her right now, but she wished she would leave her be and let her sleep. "Go away."
"I would, but you're not letting me." The redhead joked. "You have to get off."
"Don't wanna." Lainey grouched. "Let's stay here."
"Uh, excuse me, Little Miss." Natasha tickled her side, making her roll right off of her lap and onto the ground. "But I need to get up."
"That was mean." Lainey stood up. "You know that tickles."
"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm gonna go check the generator. Put your shoes on incase we need to head to town. I'm not leaving you here."
Lainey just huffed, but did as she was told, scurrying around the small trailer to find her boots. She looked under the bed, in the kitchen, and under the couch. Her shoes were nowhere to be found.
Odd.
"Lainey, let's go!" Natasha called her from outside. And once the child stepped out of the trailer, she gave her a very unimpressed look. "Where are your shoes?"
"I don't know." She shrugged, looking down at her white socks. "I can't find them."
"You have more than one pair, Alayna."
"I know, but these are my special shoes. I don't wanna wear anything else."
The shoes she was searching for, were exactly like the ones her mother always wore. Lainey thought that by wearing them, she could look just like Natasha.
It was cute really. Natasha had even gotten her a leather jacket to match.
"You mean to tell me that if I go in there, and I look, I won't find your shoes?"
"I don't think so, Mama..." The girl's shoulders slumped, trudging right back inside. "I'll go look again."
She only got but so far when her mother called her back. "Alayna?"
"Yes, Mama?"
The brunette turned to look at her and saw her holding her missing shoes.
"My shoes!" She grinned, clapping her hands together. "You found them! You found them!"
Now she remembered! She put them under the stairs before coming inside, just so she wouldn't lose them in all the clutter.
That backfired.
Natasha, for her part, was not very amused by the case of the missing shoes. It was getting later and later. The longer they were held up here, the more time it would take to get into town. "Oh, get in the car." She propelled her forward with a love tap.
"What about Mischief?"
"I'm sure that with the way you let her run the house when I'm gone, she'll be fine."