Intertwine

57 - When Is Happy's Birthday

As she finished speaking Aditi gasped in a deep breath of air and began blinking rapidly, looking around. Sophia put a gentle hand on her daughter's back.

"It's okay sunshine." She said soothingly. "You're back now."

Aditi nodded, swallowing. She looked at Bucky, who was at the end of the table, silently watching everything go down. He was due to leave that evening to start his search for Roara. It had taken a lot of convincing to stop him from leaving the day before, but we'd managed it.

"What?" He asked.

Aditi shook her head and quietly began eating again. 

"Well, it's good that nobody warned us that could happen at any moment, didn't scare the hell out of anyone." Tony muttered as he attacked his salad. Tony was not a fan of salad.

"We had more important things." Nat shrugged. "Can you pass me the salad dressing?"

For the rest of the meal Aditi kept glancing up at Bucky, a strange expression on her face. Just as Natasha and I were clearing the plates Aditi murmured something to her mother and father. 

"Absolutely not." Kanan boomed. "No way Ti."

"Papa-"

"I said no Aditi, that's the end of it."

"This isn't fair, it's my life."

"Yes and you're my daughter, and I say no!"

"Peter's 16!" Aditi argued. Nat and I glanced at each other. She was asking if she could stay with us and help us take down the Ascendency.

"Peter is not my responsibility!" 

I glanced over my shoulder. Peter had sunk so low in his seat that I could barely see his face.

"Peter," Sophia looked at him sweetly, "what do you parents think?"

"I think you should leave Peter out of this." I said, my voice carrying. "I don't think it's fair to include him in family discussions."

I saw Peter's eyebrows indicate gratitude before he quietly excused himself and nearly ran out of the room. Tony shook his head and continued to sort through some papers. I didn't want him to have to openly say his parents were dead and that for a long time his Aunt May was completely unaware of him being Spiderman. 

"I think, maybe, we should leave Aditi and her family to it." Nat said to the room at large. 

We all began to awkwardly file out. Just as Clint was about to leave I heard Sophia's voice say, in the way only a sister could, "CLINTON FRANCIS BARTON, GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT!"

He stopped mid-step, rolled his eyes, and pivoted around on the foot that was still on the ground, walking back to the table. 

"Good luck." Nat winked at him.

"I'll get you back for that." Clint promised as he sat down opposite Aditi.

We all stood quietly outside with Peter, who was already there.

"What do you think will happen?" I asked Wanda.

"Her father is very against it. Her mother, not so much." Wanda shrugged. "It's going to be a battle of wills." 

And then the shouting started. I didn't know Aditi had that kind of voice in her, and she'd had no indication of that when she'd been with us the past day and a bit. Half of their conversation was in Hindi, the other half in english, so I only got glimpses of what was going on. 

"Hindi is such a pretty language, don't you think?" I whispered to Wanda.

"It is isn't it." She smiled and then we both winced as the voices started to rise again.