7
Maria’s pov
When they got to shield Natasha was a little less scared she was happy to go see her grandpa and Maria was happy that she was happy, she didn’t care that Stark didn’t trust her she didn’t trust Stark or any of the Avengers but Steve to be responsible when it came to taking care of Natasha.
As expected when Maria walked in with Natasha everyone stared or whispered as the duo walked but no one dared to say anything to Maria’s face. Wanting to get out of shield as soon as possible, Maria took Natasha straight to FitzSimmons lab, waiting for them to show up along with Coulson.
“You must be Natasha. I’m Jemma.” Jemma said a smile etched in her face as she held her hand out to Natasha who shook it,” I’m Fitz.” Fitz said as he held his hand out which Natasha also shook.
“Now if it’s okay with you we can draw your blood now.” Simmons said to Natasha,” Will I get a lollipop after?” Natasha asked the duo,” Of course you can have as much candy as you want.”
“No, she can’t.” Maria said as she glared at the pair she didn’t need a kid on a sugar rush on the first day she had her,” No you can’t.” Simmons says as she leads Natasha to the chair,” So what I’m I chopped liver?” Phil says, causing Natasha to look back at him and smile,” Hi uncle Phil!”
“Hello, Natasha,” Phil says back and they both watch the little redhead get lifted on the chair by Simmons while Fitz gets everything they need.
“So how's motherhood?” Phil asked
“I wouldn’t know I’m just getting started.” Maria says as she watches Natasha nod to whatever Simmons was saying to her,” I thought you had her for 2 weeks now?” Phil said as he watched Natasha’s hand cross over his chest.
“Steve had her for 2 weeks. He would call me if Natasha wanted to hear my voice after a nightmare.” Maria said flashing Natasha a smile of reassurance when Natasha looked over towards her.
“So why isn’t she with Rogers now?”
“We’re co-parenting.”
“Mmmmmh,” Phil says
“I bet you're jealous,” Mari said smirking as she turned to Coulson it was no secret he was a fan of Captain America.
“I’m not jealous,” Phil says
“Sure you aren’t.”
“I won’t be if you get him to sign my trading cards.”
“You have a worrying obsession with Steve.”
“Steve? So your first name bases?” Phil said
“For now I’m pretty sure it would confuse Natasha hearing her ‘parents’ call each other Captain and Ma'am.”
“Sure it will.”
“I know you're taking a week off of work to spend time with her. But what are you going to do when the week is over?”
“Well since schools are closed for another month bring her to work and have her spend time at shields daycare.” The daycare had been built after they had found out that a large number of their agents had children or were taking care of their younger siblings.
“I heard kids enjoy it.”
“Why wouldn’t they?” Maria asked
“Have you heard the rumors going around?” Phil asked
“No, what are they saying?”
“There’s one where that you and Cap are secretly married and the other where you had an affair and Natasha was an accident but Seve convinced you not to get an abortion and that he takes care of her the most,” Phil said and when he mentioned that they thought Natasha was an accident it made her blood boil.
“That's not all is it?” Maria asked, knowing the Agents that worked at shield gossiped like chickens on a farm,” No but you wouldn’t want to know about the rest.” Phil said turning away from her, just then she felt a tug at her pants leg and looked down to see Natasha with 3 lollipops in hand grinning.
“Can we go now, Mommy?”
“We can after you say bye,” Maria said as she took all 3 lollipops and put them in her purse causing Natasha to pout,” If you hurry I’ll take you to the park.” That cheered Natasha up she ran to Phil she hugged him and said goodbye she did the same to FitzSimmons before she was back at Maria’s side and pulled her out of the room,” Hey I’m coming there’s no need to pull.” Maria told Natasha,” Sorry Mommy but I want to go to the park.” Natasha said as she bounced up and down eagerly.
“Well aren’t you an eager monkey.” Maria teased as they waited for the elevator the sooner they got out of shield the faster they could get out of everyone’s prying gaze,” Mommy why is everyone looking at us?” Natasha asked as she saw many shield agents lancing at them when her mother wasn’t looking.
“Don’t pay attention to them,” Maria said as she glared at the shield agents she caught looking at them. Maria was more than glad when the doors of the elevator opened to reveal it empty except for Melinda May.
“May.” Maria greeted as she pressed the button to floor 1,” Maria I’m guessing this is Natasha.” May said as she nodded her head towards Natasha, as she was hiding behind Maria’s leg,” Yeah Tasha you wanna say hi to May.”
“Hi, Miss May,” Natasha said politely as she looked at May before hiding behind Maria again,” Hello Natasha. Didn’t know she was the shy type.”
“I guess she is full of surprises,” Maria said
“You and Rogers.”
“Platonic.”
“Sure it is,” May said as she got out of the elevator, Maria gave Natasha a warm smile and squeezed her hand in reassurance,” Mommy what does plantonic mean?”
“It means when 2 people or more care about each other but aren’t in love with each other. And it’s platonic Tasha.”
“So you and Daddy plantonic?”
“Yeah, we are,” Maria answered the little redhead, seeming satisfied with the answer Natasha dropped the topic.
The car ride to the park wasn’t as quiet as the car ride to shield Natasha insisted on listening to the radio and as much as Maria wanted to say no she couldn’t and it turned out she didn’t regret it her and Natasha were jamming out to the radio and it was worth everything seeing her smile.
When they got to the park Maria first scanned for any exits and found that the park was full with running children and mothers to Maria’s dismay.” Tasha sweetie there are some rules okay?” Maria got a nod from the eager girl,” No talking to strangers, don’t take anything from strangers, stay where mommy can see you, don’t go anywhere with strangers.” Maria finished her list. She was pretty sure she covered everything that a parent should tell their child,” Can I go play now?” Natasha asked,” Sure baby if you need me I’ll be at the bench.” Maria said that Natasha took off towards the slide while Maria sat where she told Natasha she would be.
“I’ve never seen you around here before.” A voice came from beside Maria when she turned she saw it was a woman probably in her mid 20’s,” Yeah this is our first time here.”Maria answered looking back towards Natasha who was now playing with a blonde girl around the same age as her.
“Seems like our daughters have found each other. I’m Kate by the way.” Kate said, outstretching her hand for Maria to shake, which she did,” Maria.”
“I’m not one of those crazy PTA moms if you were worried,” Kate said now sitting beside Maria. Maria had planned on ignoring the woman since she wasn’t really ready to start having mom friends,” That’s good to know and I’m not one of those PTA moms either.”
“Well me and you both the other moms here are PTA moms, soccer moms, stay at home, and then we have the nannies.”
“There are nannies here?”
“Yeah, you see those girls that are playing with Ashley and your daughter that Emily and Isabella both working mothers, barely seen without their nannies, and moms never have time for them.”
“That sucks.”
“It does but their nannies are great and they have a strong bond with them.”
“You know the nannies?”
“Yeah Marie and Katya are great Emily, Isabella, and Ashely all get along they have many playdates. I think the only reason I like these 2 is that they don’t act snobby like the rest of the kids here who come from rich families.” Ashley explained as they watched the girls play tag they assumed.
“So is the dad still in the picture? If I’m overstepping please tell me to shut the fuck up it’s just you seem very independent.” Maria was taken aback by the question but she supposed it would be asked if she wasn’t wearing a ring or anything.
“No it’s okay and yes Natasha’s dad is still in the picture I just picked her up from his place actually. How about Ashely’s dad?”
“He calls once in a while but he’s not really present and he sends money for her but that’s about it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Oh don’t be I knew he wasn’t going to stick around but she has a great relationship with my boyfriend and she sees him as her father figure.”
“And who might this be?” A voice asked from behind them and the voice belonged to a Hispanic woman and next to her was a woman with lighter skin than her,” Marie, Katya this is Maria she is new to the park.”
Ashley had introduced Maria to the 2 other women and she found that she didn’t hate the conversation they were having the woman had shared funny stories about the kids and things that had worked for them when their kids were sick or in another situation that Maria tok a mental note of it uses in the future.
“Mommy I’m thirsty.” Natasha and the other girls had come over and the girls had made the same calm as Natasha. Maria saw a hotdog stand and led Natasha towards it, getting both of them bottles of water. As soon as Maria handed Natasha the water bottle she was chugging it,” Slow down Tasha you might choke.” That was all it took for Natasha to slow down.
“Mommy I’m going to go back to play,” Natasha said as she ran towards where Ashely, Emily, and Isabella were waiting for her.
“Hey wait you have 4o more minutes then we leave!” Maria shouted after Natasha, she was sure Natasha didn’t hear her.
“You’re leaving soon?” Katya asked when Maria made her way back to the bench,” Yeah it’s coming close to lunch.”
“Since it seems like the girls are getting along we should set up a playdate or meet at the park sometime,” Marie said passing Maria a slip that had all 3 of the woman’s numbers,” Thanks I’ll text you.” Maria wasn’t going to give them her number; she didn’t trust them just yet and they didn’t seem to mind that she didn’t give them her number.
“We’ll hold you to that,” Kate said
The next 30 minutes went with Maria learning a little bit more about the people who visited the park the other woman didn’t know but Maria was very glad for the information it was valuable in knowing who was hanging around the park and when she did background checks on all of them.
“I have to go get Natasha but it was great meeting you guys. I guess I’ll see you around.” Maria told the woman sitting on the bench,” See you around.” Kate said
Maria also received 2 bye’s from Katya and Marie she waved goodbye to them and made her way to Natasha and the girls who were playing on the monkey bars,” Tasha baby it’s time to go.” Maria said to the girl who jumped from monkey bars and landed gracefully in front of Mara who was recovering from the panic attack Natasha just gave.
“Natasha don’t do that you could’ve hurt yourself,” Maria said as she dusted off Natasha,” But I didn’t.” Natasha protested,” That doesn’t mean you should. Promise me you won’t do it again.” Maria said looking at Natasha,” I promise.”
“Good now let’s go your all sweaty.” Natasha nodded waving goodbye to the girls. Maria was happy that she had friends her own age she knew that older Natasha had trouble letting people in and even when she let you in she still expect you at arm’s length and didn’t always tell you everything in a way to protect herself and Maria respected that she did the same thing in their line of work it was dangerous and you could lose the people close to you.