Soldier Parents

Escape

"That very night in Max's room a forest grew and grew and grew until his ceiling hung vines and the walls became the world all around and an ocean tumbled by with a private boat for Max and he sailed off through night and day and in and out of week and almost over a year to where the wild things are." Y/N points at a monster on the page Nat currently is reading on. The redhead looks at her and smiles. "Yes, it's one of the wild things."

"Scary."

"You think so?" Y/N nods and looks up at Natasha "Bad." She points at the book again and scrunches up her nose. Nat smiles at her again, ruffles shortly through the braid she had made and turns back to the book. While she reads, she feels Y/N's watchful eyes on her. "And when he came to the place where the wild things are, they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws till-" A loud crash sounds through the room and startles Nat for a moment. Y/N stares wide-eyed at her and clings to her arm until a second later tears jump to her eyes, and she starts crying. "Oh, Y/N." Nat quickly pats her back and rubs circles into it while she glares daggers at Sam. The man curses and picks up remnants of his scattered plate on the ground. She lets go of Y/N for a second to put the book to the side and as she turns back around Y/N is gone. She stares at the spot where the little girl had sat just seconds earlier. "Y/N?" She looks at Sam, but he shrugs his shoulders and picks up his food. "Y/N?" Nat looks around widely but sees the little girl nowhere. The redhead scrambles up and looks around once more before her eyes meet Clint's, who sits on the bar and watches Sam. He smiles and winks at Nat. Then he places his index finger on his lips and points with his thumb on a diaper-butt that peeks out from behind the bar. Natasha grins at him and slowly tiptoes over. Y/N crouches on the ground, rolled into a tight ball with hands over her eyes. "Y/N? What are you doing?" She tickles Y/N's sides and for a second, she forgets her sobbing and squeals but after Nat picks her up into her arms she returns to crying. "It's okay, Y/N. Sam just dropped his plate. He scared you pretty much, huh? Stupid Sam." Y/N nods and clings to Nat. The assassin stares once again at Sam who mouths a quick apology before he runs out of the room. Nat sighs and walks back to pick up the book before she walks to the elevator. "I bring her back. Let's wake up your lazy dads, okay, Y/N?" She calls to Clint before she looks at Y/N. The whole walk Y/N cries and Natasha can't calm her down. She doesn't knock on the apartment door from Steve and Bucky. She just bursts in and kicks open Steve's bedroom door. Bucky jolts up with a gasp and looks around confused whiles Steve just turns over and continues sleeping. Both men had asked Nat to watch Y/N for a bit so that they could get some sleep. Y/N had made it a habit to wake up four times at night for the last three days because of a nasty cold which obviously came with a headache. So, neither Buck nor Steve got much sleep.

"Nat?" He rubs his eyes and yawns before he really focuses on the red-haired woman and his daughter. "What's up with her?" He slips out of bed and takes Y/N in his arms, rubs her back and looks at his friend. For a second, he looks back at Steve, then he shoves Nat out of the room and closes the door. He guides her over to the living room and sits down. "We were reading this book." She drops it onto the coffee table. "Ah. 'Where the wild things are'. She wants to look at it a lot lately."

"I know. She knows quite a lot about it." Nat smiles at Y/N but the little girl just ignores her and sobs into Bucky's metal shoulder. "Well, sometime into the story, Sam dropped his plate and scared her. I couldn't calm her down and since I watched her for over three hours now, I thought I bring her back and let you guys deal with it."

"I see." Bucky rocks Y/N and swings her a bit in his arms which makes her actually giggle. A smile forms on Bucky's lips and he chuckles at the little girl. "Thank you, Nat. For watching her."

"No prob. Just try to sleep more. It's not necessary for both of you to stay awake and comfort her. I think one of you is enough. She won't die if she doesn't see both of you in the middle of the night. You're just spoiling her." Bucky nods and sets Y/N back down onto the floor while he guides Nat to the door and says his goodbye. The moment he returns to the living room he stops instantly and stares. "What are you doing, doll?" He chuckles and watches as Y/N bubbles at him and continuous what she's doing. She rolls around on the floor and into his direction. "Papa." She laughs and reaches out her hands to get picked up. "Up, up." Bucky laughs and picks her up but not without blowing a raspberry at her cheeks. She squeals and laughs and pushes his face away from hers. "You can walk very well, young lady. You can even crawl. So, why the rolling?"