Chapter Thirty-Five
"Alya, come here."
Alya wasn't sure what her uncle wanted, but she obliged, handing the television remote over to Wanda before she got up from her place on the couch. "Hi."
"Hi." He smiled conspiratorially, opening up the freezer to take out a small carton of vanilla ice cream.
Now that came as a shock to Alya. If anyone was going to allow her to break the rules, it would not be Clint. Clint was as bad as Natasha sometimes. Alya guessed it was because he had kids of his own, so he knew what he was doing.
Literally nothing got passed him. One time, she tried to convince him that because chocolate was from cocoa, she should be able to eat it whenever she wanted because, technically, it was a salad.
It didn't work. He told her that Cooper had already tried that one a couple years ago and she was a little late to the game.
Too bad.
At first, Steve had been a real stickler for rules, but overtime, he mellowed out a little. If she wanted to do something mischievous that was borderline silly, she'd go to Steve. Of course, if it was something that would get her into heaps of trouble, the very first person she'd approach was always Wanda.
She and Wanda had that sibling solidarity thing going on. If Wanda had a secret she needed to share, she could count on Alya to keep it in confidence. If Alya needed to talk about something and she didn't want to speak to Natasha, she went to Wanda. It was nice to have someone who wasn't an adult to talk to and confide in.
Clint was more of the uncle that was incredibly fun to be around, but he wasn't to be tested or taken advantage of…..not that Alya would want to do that to anyone anyway.
"It's not even lunchtime yet."
"Ssh." He lifted her up to sit on the counter, handing her a spoon. "It'll be our little secret."
"Mama will be mad." She wasn't actually concerned with Natasha getting upset. She just wanted to make sure that Clint was thinking clearly enough to make this kind of a decision. Dessert before dinner was a big no-no. "At you, though. Not me. I'm her sweet girl."
Clint let out a laugh and nodded. "I promise that if your mother comes in here and sees this, I will take full responsibility. Eat."
Alya eyed him suspiciously for a few seconds before she took her spoon and dug into the sweet treat. She sighed in satisfaction when the cold dessert grazed her tongue, leaving behind its sugary goodness.
She was so going to be the victim of a sugar rush later. Or, maybe it was the other way around. Everyone else was going to be the victim of her sugar rush.
Natasha was going to be so mad if this spoiled her dinner. The thought alone made her rush to take another scoop.
"I wanted to talk to you about something." Clint opened up a new conversation very cautiously.
He watched as she tried her best to shove a large spoonful of ice cream in her mouth, only succeeding in getting it all over her face instead. When she realized that the giant white blob was going to fit, she changed tactics and began to take smaller bites instead.
"I didn't do it!"
"You're not in trouble." This kid was hilarious. The way her eyes widened, accompanied by her sticky little face, almost made him laugh. "I just wanted to check up on you."
"I'm okay." That much was true. A whole week and a half had passed since Alya's breakdown. It seemed like once she got everything out into the open, she was able to cope a lot better. It wasn't perfect, but it was better.
She thinks she just needed to be reassured of her place with her mama.
"Good." Clint looked for any indications that she was lying and found none. "If you ever feel like that again and you need someone to talk to, or want someone to be there to listen, you have Mama, you have Uncle Steve, and you have me. We'll always be here for you, okay?"
"I know." Alya smiled.
"Good." He dabbed a little ice cream on her nose to lighten the mood.
Not that it did anything to make her look messier than she already did.
"Uncle Clint!" She gasped, her eyes crossing in an attempt at looking at the damage.
She didn't care about the ice cream around her mouth, but the minute her uncle dabbed a little on her nose, it was a problem.
Unbelievable.
"What?" He played coy, laughing at her expense. "You've got a little something on your nose by the way. You should probably wipe it off."
"No fair." She huffed, sticking her tongue out to try and lick the ice cream off. All she managed to do was make herself look incredibly silly. "Don't laugh at me!"
"Ice cream before dinner?" Natasha startled them, clicking her tongue in mock disappointment.
"Uh oh." The two culprits froze.
Natasha swore sometimes Clint could be just as bad as the kids. There was no reason for him to look that guilty.
"Now, I know that Alya knows better than to eat dessert before she's had her dinner. I can't believe that my baby would do something like this."
Obviously, she was playing. Clint had run the whole thing by her before he had even approached Alya. He didn't want to undermine her authority while they were now trying to figure out how the new dynamic was going to work with everyone in the house.
But the kid didn't need to know that. He was creating core memories here.
"It was all his idea!" Alya was quick to blame the archer. "I was watching tv with Wanda and he made me!"
"What?" Clint scoffed. "I didn't make you! I told you how bad of an idea this was going to be! You didn't listen!"
"That's not true!" Alya's jaw dropped.
Natasha took both spoons from them, letting them clatter into the sink right before she put the ice cream back into the freezer. "It's clear to me that neither of you two can be trusted around this anymore. What a shame."
"I'm sorry, Nat. I tried to stop her. She threatened to blame the entire thing on me if I didn't join in."
"Now, Alyona." Natasha playfully scolded her daughter, who was trying not to laugh in her face. "That's not nice. I guess you'll have to do without dessert for the next…..two years."
"But I'm your sweet girl." Alya reached her arms around her mother's neck and blinked up at her very innocently. "And I love you lots. You're my favorite-ist in the whole entire world, Mommy."
A few years ago, Natasha would've cringed at the sugar all over the child's face, but at this point, she was used to this and much worse.
And Alya looked so adorable being caught red-handed.
"Stay strong, Nat." Clint coached. "You can do it."
"Hold me, okay?" Alya scooted off of the counter into her mother's arms, kissing her nose. "Mwah!"
"Now, that's not even fair."
"Clint?"
"Yeah?"
"Clean this place up." Natasha snuggled into the child. "We are gonna go wash up for dinner in a couple hours and her appetite better not be spoiled."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Clint mock glared at the child. "You're so lucky you're cute." He stuck his tongue out at her as she was carried away.
Mission to bring a smile to Alya's face? Complete.
"Mama!" Alya came bounding down the stairs in a hurry, jumping to skip the last four.
It was something that really made Natasha's heart leap up to her throat. She hated it whenever the kid did anything that could end in injury.
"Mama! Look at me!"
"You're late for dinner." Natasha sighed whilst everyone else was sat down at the table waiting for the child. "You spent all day in the house, running around like a little road runner, but somehow, you're late for dinner."
Wanda laughed at out loud, catching a look from the blonde that made her stop and clear her throat. "What are we guessing?"
"Who am I?" Alya moved closer so they all could get a really good look at her.
Wanda's eyes widened as she took in her features. Alya must've managed to find her mother's makeup and decided to doll herself up.
But she wasn't very good at it.
She had the lipstick on correctly, so much for small favors, but the eyeshadow was too heavy and she made the mistake of using the bright blue color on the palette. Her blush was way too thick, but then again, Wanda couldn't tell if Alya's cheeks were flushed because of the blush, or because of the fact she had been running around, burning the remnants of her sugar rush off.
She had to guess it was a little of both.
At Steve and Clint's reactions, the teenager could no longer hide her amusement and fell into a fit of giggles, hoping that Alya wouldn't think she was making fun of her.
Steve's eyes were as wide as dinner plates and he was completely frozen in shock at all the makeup on Alya's face. All of this, while Clint nearly choked on his food in an attempt not to catch Natasha's wrath.
The whole thing was pretty hilarious and Wanda wished she hadn't left her camera in her room.
"Little girl?" Natasha's eye twitched. "Are you wearing my makeup?"
"Yes, but you didn't guess." Alya answered in a very chastising manner. It was as if she were scolding her mother for not following simple instructions.
Clint snorted and immediately brought his cup of water to his lips. "I have a tickle in my throat." He explained when Natasha sent him a glare.
"Alya —"
"— You're not guessing, Mama." Alya's little nostrils flared as she tried to give her mother the same look she was giving her.
This time, Steve even managed a chuckle.
"I'm guessing that if I find out that you've been going through my makeup, you're going to get in trouble."
"I'm always in trouble." Alya said innocently, making the entire table, save for her mother, laugh hysterically. "Guess before I go to timeout, okay?"
Wanda knew Alya was funny, but this was just too much. She could feel the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes.
"Come on, Nat." Clint tried to compose himself. "Give her a break and guess."
"Who are you?" Natasha grit her teeth.
"That's not a guess." Alya rolled her eyes as the table, once again, erupted in laughter. "Mama, you're not very good at this game."
"We give up, kiddo." Clint wiped his eyes. "Who are you?"
"I'm Mama!"
"T-This is great..." Steve wheezed. "Stop, my s-sides hurt!"
Now, Alya wasn't really sure why Wanda, Clint, and Steve were laughing. They really thought this was so funny that they were practically falling out of their seats.
She put on the makeup so she could look just like her mother...well, at first. Then she got distracted by all the pretty colors and got carried away.
But it was the thought that counted!
"Okay, you're done." Natasha shot up so fast that Alya got startled and dodged her, screaming as she ran. "You're done."
"Owww." Alya whined as her mother used a makeup removing wipe to get the caked layers off of her face. "Ow, Mama."
"Hush." Now that Natasha had time to cool off and think, she couldn't help but think of how hilarious this whole thing was.
It took a bit of time for her to put things into perspective, and she did, once the laughter stopped ringing in her ears.
But before she got to that point, she had chased Alya all around the house while the child screamed her head off, yelling apologies along with a few, 'I did it because I love you's'.
"That's what you get for going through things that don't belong to you." She chided very lightly, feeling slightly vindicated when natural consequences ran their course.
When Alya packed on layer after layer, she had no idea that it would take this much scrubbing to get everything off.
"Too rough, Mama." She tried to push the woman's hand away. "I need a break."
"What was that?" Natasha gasped. "You'd like to spend the rest of the night like this?"
"Well..."
"Forget it." Natasha cut her off, making it a point to begin wiping her lips.
Alya tried to say something, but it all ended up muffled by the semi-aggressive scrubs.
Natasha swore that it was time like these where Alya reminded her so much of Yelena. Her little sister would absolutely do something like this just to get under her skin and then regret it later. She was really going to be in trouble when Alya and Yelena reunited and teamed up together.
"What was that?"
"I'm sorry I went through your stuff without asking, Mommy." Alya batted her eyes. "Kiss?"
"Oh, I know that's a manipulation." Natasha narrowed her eyes, but gave her a peck anyway. "You're forgiven. Your uncle was right, you're lucky you're cute."
Alya grinned and turned around to look at herself in the mirror. Most of the makeup was gone, but there was still some blush left. "Does that mean I can wear make up now?"
"No way." Natasha scoffed, scrubbing away the rest of the blush. "All finished."
"You wiped off my pretty face." Alya pouted into the mirror. "It's all gone."
"Hey." Natasha lifted her up onto her hip so that they could both look in the mirror together. "Look at that pretty little girl. She's staring right at us, but she has this pout on her face. I wish she'd smile so I could see her beautiful eyes shine."
Alya shook her head, causing her mother to dig her fingers into her tummy to make her giggle.
"There it is!" Natasha peppered her face with kisses. "That beautiful smile I love so much."
For a second, Alya looked into the mirror and saw what Natasha saw, staring back at her...until she didn't. "Mama? How come I'm different than everybody else?"
"Different how?"
"I'm a different color than everybody else, but my eyes are like Papa's." Alya elaborated her point.
"Well, that's because your mommy had dark skin and your daddy has fair skin. You came out as a combination of both of them."
"So...I am a half-breed?"
"What? Where did you hear that?" Natasha's eyes darkened and she grew very serious.
"From a girl at school. She said that I had pretty eyes but an ugly...complexion."
"What did you say?"
"Nothing." Alya shrugged. "I broke her nose, remember?"
Ah, so that was the story behind that little situation. It made sense now.
"Good. That girl is ignorant and she has no idea what she's talking about. She's lucky she'll never have to meet me. People come in all colors. Not one is better than the other." Natasha took her hand. "There are going to be some people in your life that will try to tell you different. I wish I could shield you from that, but I can't."
"Oh." Alya blew out a sad breath.
Why were people so mean?
"Alya, why do you love me?"
"Huh?"
"Why do you love me?"
"Because you're nice to me...you give me lots of hugs and kisses...and you do everything!" Alya couldn't think of a list off the top of her head. "And you protect me. Oh! And you love me, too."
"Not because I have green eyes or fair skin?"
"No!"
"Do I love you because of the way you look?"
"No, that's silly!"
"Do I treat you differently because you look different?"
"No, Mama. You treat me different because I'm your favorite."
That brought a smile to Natasha's face despite the seriousness of the topic. "As much as you'll run into people who look at you and only see your outsides, there will always be someone who will love you for who you are inside. You hold onto those kinds of people and ignore the rest because they don't matter. You are beautiful. You are precious. You don't need makeup or hair dye to change anything. It would break my heart if you thought less of yourself than what you truly are because some idiot tried to bully you. I love you."
"I know." The smile returned to Alya's face once again. "I love you, too."
"I know." Natasha rested her forehead against her daughter's. "My sweet little girl. Come, let's go eat."
"Alright, Alya. Say goodnight." Natasha spoke from her place on the couch once the film they had been watching ended. "It's time for you to go to bed."
After their heavy little discussion, Alya seemed to be even happier than she was before. Her mama knew everything and she made everything better.
Dinner went on without a hitch, even though Alya and Natasha were the only two who were actually eating. Everyone else had finished their meal prior to them returning. But luckily, it was movie night and it was Wanda's turn to pick the film.
She always picked something good.
Unfortunately for her, Alya had conked out long before it finished, cuddled on her mother's lap, which certainly didn't help.
"I'm not tired." She rubbed her eyes, disproving her point. "Let's watch another movie, Mommy."
"Oh my, you're tired." Natasha smiled. "We aren't watching another movie, sweet girl. You're going to bed."
"I have to?" Alya asked, still rubbing her eyes.
"I think so."
"C'mon, Booger." Clint stood up and swung Alya onto his hip. "I'll tuck you in."
"M'kay." She didn't even try to fight him off.
"Say goodnight."
"G'night." The eleven year old waved to everyone. "But I'm not tired."
"Of course not. Let's go, Booger."
"I would appreciate it if you stopped calling my baby, 'Booger', Clinton." Natasha called after them, though she didn't mean it.
It was great the two got along so well. She wasn't going to interfere.
"Here we go." Clint walked into Alya and Wanda's room, tucking her in under the covers. "All snuggled in."
Through closed eyes, Alya searched for her handcuffs, relaxing when her hand caught the cold metal.
Clint looked on very sadly, but didn't comment on it. But, to his surprise, Alya didn't slip her wrist through it. She just held onto to it for a moment before letting go as she slipped into a deep sleep.
Progress.