Worth Fighting For| B. Barnes

~The Weeping Willow Tree~

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3 weeks Later
Location: Iowa
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Tuesday
September 27, 2016
2:30 pm
~~~~~

"Steve!? Steve!?" Natasha said frantically looking around for the man.

"What? What's the problem!?"

"Have you seen Ivory? I can't find her!"

"What!? I thought she was with you!?"

"She was, but does it look like I have her with me now!?" Natasha yells flustered.

"Okay...calm down...where was she last?"

"She was just outside by the sandbox, and now she's gone!" By now Nat had already resorted to tears.

"Nat...it's going to be okay, we're going to find her...you need to relax..."

"DON'T TELL ME TO RELAX STEVE!" Natasha shouted angrily.

"Incase you forgot, WE are responsible for that helpless baby, I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing something horrible happened to her! Please Steve, we have to take this seriously..." Natasha says to the man as she follows him out the door of the safe house.

"Okay...did she wander into the house with Laura and Clint?"

"No, we looked in the house for her and she's not there...Clint and Laura took the dog and the kids and went out to the woods to go look for her..." Nat says getting more tearful by the second. The thought of Ivory lost and scared in the woods did something to her heart, and she hoped that Ivory didn't wander all the way out there by herself.

"Okay, so they are out there looking for her, we need to stay on the main land and try to see where she could be..." Steve says, Nat nodding in agreement.

"Okay...let me think...remember that time at Sam's when Ivory accidentally broke AJ's toy? What was the first thing she did?"

"She hid..." Natasha says instantly remembering how scary that day had been for everyone...today reminded Nat way too much of that day.

"Exactly...but why would she be hiding?

"Well if there's one thing we know about Ivory, it's that she hides when she's upset or afraid..."

"So you think something scared her maybe?" Nat says.

"It's possible...So wait...do you remember what actually happened before she ran off?"

"Nothing happened! She was playing by the sandbox, with her toys, holding her Yaya...then I said to her, 'Nana is going to get you a snack' and she said 'okay Nana' and gave me her precious smile...then by the time I literally went in to grab her snack and came back out she was gone..."

"Okay so maybe she saw something that scared her and she ran off...it's all a matter of where did she run off too..."

"Nat! Steve!" Nat turned and saw Laura, Clint and the kids had all returned back from the woods.

"Any luck?" Steve asks.

"Nope, nothing. We traveled as far out as the woods would take her, and there's no sign of her..." Laura replied with a sigh.