Worth Fighting For| B. Barnes

~The Weeping Willow Tree~

"We think that she's either been scared or upset...we think she's somewhere hiding...We just don't know where..." Nat says.

"Well let's all think...maybe she didn't get scared off by anything...maybe something upset her..." Clint says.

"That's pretty plausible..." Steve says.

"So think about it...Where's her favorite place to go when she's sad?" Clint points out.

"The tree..." Nat says to herself.

"What tree?" Steve says confused.

"You know...HER tree." Steve and Nat both looked up the vast acres of land, leading up to the big weeping Willow tree that sat down stream, a little ways away from the safe house.

Steve showed Ivory that spot, he took her there often, and would read her stories there and would watch Ivory as she sat and admired the wilderness around her.

Without even giving it a second thought Natasha ran like her life depended on it towards the weeping Willow tree, Steve, Clint and Laura following closely behind her. Nat arrived at the tall tree and sighed in relief to see that Ivory had been sat underneath the tree, her 'Yaya' tucked tightly under her arm as she stared off into nature.

"Ivory...Thank God you're alright." Nat said getting down on the girl's level giving her a tight squeeze.

"I'm okay Nana, I'm okay..." Ivory says refusing Nat's hug.

"Jeez, you really gave us a scare kid..." Clint says sighing in relief. "Don't do that ever again, alright?"

Ivory looked up at everyone and then back down at her hands.

"Ivory..." Steve says getting on the girl's level. "Why would you run away from Nana?"

Ivory shrugged her shoulders as she continued to avoid making eye contact with Steve. "...You know that was VERY, VERY dangerous right? You can't just run away from Nana like that...something could have happened to you..." Steve explains to the toddler.

"Uh-No Steve! No! I'm okay!" Ivory repeats once more not looking at Steve or Natasha.

"Ivory, look at me sweetheart..." Steve says.

"Uh-No..." Ivory replied turning her back to Steve.

"What did you just say!?" Steve replies confused.

"No, don't want to..."

"Ivory, will you talk to Nan?" Natasha asked the girl. It took Ivory a minute to answer but Natasha knew that Ivory would listen to her.

"Yeah...only Nan..." Ivory says, gripping her 'Yaya' even tighter. Natasha knew something was wrong with the girl, it wasn't like Ivory to just take off or run off announced.

"You got her from here Nan?" Clint asked earning a small grin from Natasha.

"I got her...Thank you guys for helping us find her..." Nat says sitting down beside the girl. Shortly after, Steve, Laura and Clint left the tree leaving Natasha to try and reason with Ivory.

"Ivory...why did you run away sweet heart? Uncle Steve is right...running away is very dangerous and something really bad could have happened...you could have gotten lost, or the bad men could have taken yo-"