The Girl From The Woods ~ Natasha Romanoff × Adopted Daughter

10.

Tilda's POV:

I listen to her heartbeat and let a few tears fall. I think it all just got too much for me at the end and it made me cry but I don't know for sure.

Tasha rocks us back and forth slightly and makes sure she runs her hands through my hair the whole time.
"Shhhh it's okay Tilly, I'm here. Nothing can happen to you while I'm here, I promise you that."

"It's okay if you don't want to take a bath, but can you tell me why you don't want to?" She asks me after I've calmed down again. I stay quiet for a few minutes to think about whether I should just tell her the truth or nothing at all.
I'd prefer not to say anything, but then she might get angry because I'm not talking to her.

The whole time I was thinking about what answer I was going to give her, Tasha kept swaying me back and forth and running her hands through my hair.
"Don't go" I finally said and I hoped she understood what I meant because I'm really not in the mood to talk big right now.

"You want me to stay here with you?" She asked to make sure she had heard me correctly. I just hummed and nodded slightly.

"Aw baby, you could have told me that, of course I can stay with you if you want me to and you're comfortable with it." I just blush and try to hide my face in her neck. She just chuckles and holds me closer to her.

I know that the last bath I had didn't go very well and I should probably be a bit more careful about who gives me a bath but to be honest, I don't really care right now.

I just want Tasha with me and that's all that matters to me right now. I don't want her to leave even if it means she'll see me naked in the bath. She's not like Dave and I'm sure she won't be like him at first either.

"Okay, do you want to take your clothes off yourself or should I help you?" I just point at Tasha to tell her to help me. I know I can do it on my own but to be honest I'm too tired and just want to stay in Tasha's arms.

Nat's POV:

I hum at this and want to put Tilda down in front of me so I can undress her properly. However, Tilly clings to me again and doesn't want to let me go under any circumstances.

"Hey Tilly, I'm afraid I have to undress you and you'd have to let go of me for a minute. Do you think you could do it? It's only for two minutes, I promise." I try to make it clear to the little girl that I can only undress her if she lets go of me and that nothing will happen.

In response, the little girl just whines and slowly pulls away from me.
"It's okay sweetie, you can sit in my lap while I help you get undressed, okay?" Tilda nods and lets me take her T-shirt off without any further problems.

What I then see shocks me to the core. The little girl is more emaciated than I thought. I had already noticed before that she was a little light and a little thin, but I didn't think it would be this bad.

You can clearly see her ribs without lifting her arms and you can also clearly see her hip bones.

But what worries me even more are the wounds that she has all over her upper body. There are a lot of bruises but also a lot of open wounds and a few scarred ones. Some of the open wounds also look infected.

I can't stop thinking about who hurt her like this, because she could never give herself these wounds. No matter who did this, I will find him or her and make their life a living hell. How can you mistreat such a sweet little girl?

I just feel so sorry for her. No human being and especially no child should have to go through something like this. No one should.

I think Tilly had realized something was wrong because she starts to move around in my lap and get impatient.
"Baby, can you tell me who did this to you?" I ask her, pointing to the wounds on her body.

Tilly wriggles around even more in my lap and starts playing with her fingers.
"детка (baby) everything is fine, you're safe here with me. Can you please tell me who did this so I can help you?" I don't want to push her, but I really need to know who did this to her.

"I know you don't like to talk about it, but I can only protect you properly from the person who did this to you if you tell me who did it. Then i can make sure they never hurt you again in your whole life. I promise. I give you my word or I give you my pinky promise! I think that's better, would you like me to pinky promise it to you?" I ask her and tickle her lightly on the stomach. She nods, whereupon I lift my pinky and hook it on hers. After that, I tickle her a little more to try to cheer her up a little in the hope that she'll feel a bit better and tell me all about it.

Tilly wiggles in my lap and giggles quietly. I stop tickling her and let her calm down again. After she can breathe normally again, I stroke her arms lightly and look down at her gently.

She realizes that I'm still waiting for an answer and slowly looks up at me.
"Dave"