The Bravest of Them All (Pietro Maximoff)

Part 6: The Help

She smiles again. "Sure."

I gently place my hand on her stomach and then it all flashes through my mind. A breath, a pulse, a beat of a drum.

Boom, boom.

Boom, boom.

I can hear the baby's heartbeat. I can feel a sense of safety, warmth, love. . .I feel existence. His existence. I can feel the connection that forms with this baby, a connection with his mother, with his life and hers, just as real as my own. It makes me smile at that very thought. "It's a boy!"

"Yes," Laura says, surprise in her tone. "How did you know that?"

I choose my words correctly. "My powers, I guess."

"What, to tell a baby's gender. . ."

"I cam control all objects with my mind," I tell her. "I can also teleport."

"And how old are you?" Laura asks in spite of curiosity.

I use my right hand to cover side of my mouth to whisper, "Not as old as the rest of them."

"Hey, I heard that." Clint says as he makes his way towards us both. "First Road Runner now Carrie, I'm not even showing yet." He runs his hand through his hair, lifting his fingers up to his face, inspecting them like he's expecting a gray hair to fall out.

Laura laughs and tells me, "We're naming him Nathaniel, after his Aunt Natasha."

"That's a cool name," I say, dropping my hand from her stomach.

Right as I walk away to leave the two alone, my attention whips over to my right. There's a squared window that has a view of a open grass meadow like in the picture. That must have been where his kids were running at. I suddenly felt the urge to look through it, but instead I turned back to Laura and Clint who both seem picture perfect.

Then I am being greeted by a small person. Their daughter. "Can I show you my room?" she asks me, looking up at me like she could explode with eagerness and cuteness.

I look towards Clint who just smiles happily at his child. I bend down to her size and take her hand. "I would be honored to," I tell her. At that moment, I knew I was going to help keep the life that I have been entrusted with knowing a secret. That I will help keep Clint's life and his family's lives like this. A life I envy, a life I would die for.

**

Later that day—more towards the evening, I should say—Fury surprised us with a visit. We all ate a home cooked meal that Laura prepared for us at the kitchen table where we all sat together and talked and ate.

All I did was just stare and eat and laugh at everyone's jokes. I decide to get up from my seat and walk to the kitchen to rinse my plate as Fury starts to explains his orders on Ultron's plans. I was about to do what I intended and quickly join the others, but I catch a glimpse of the same window I saw before. The one that caught my eye.

I don't know what I'm thinking. All I know is that it's as feels as if I'm pulled into some trance I can't break out of. As if my self-conscious knows to join the others, but my body refuses. As if my brain knows I need to figure out what this ordinary window means. Which is why I walk right to it.

The closer I get to the window, the quicker the image paints itself Straight ahead of me is a city that never sleeps, at least that's what I heard they call New York City. In-between me and the city is a thick glass that feels like a barrier, keeping me from reaching out to it. Either I'm overthinking it or the glass is telling me I'm apart from the city. At least that I feel.