𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐃 - 𝐖. 𝐌𝐚𝐱𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐟𝐟

twenty-five

               "CARSON do you want to stay for dinner?"

The sound of Melina's voice dragged Carson Andrews out of his laughter as he looked towards the open door that led down the hallway and towards the kitchen where Melina was waiting for an answer.

"Yes please Miss Vostokoff," he eagerly responded before turning back to the giggling three year old Katerina. "Okay look," he said, grabbing the tiger stuffed animal and putting it on top of the three pillows they had stacked to make a 'throne.' "He's the king now."

Giggling, Katerina knocked him over, putting her pink stuffed bunny on top of the pile of pillows. "No she is!"

Carson looked at her with a grin on his face, lunging forwards and tickling the three year olds sides as she erupted into a fit of squeals, trying to wiggle out of his grasp.

"Carsy!"

Carson laughed, pulling his hands away from her as she took deep breaths, trying to stop her giggles. She grabbed her pink bunny and held it under her arm, climbing into his lap.

"Story," she demanded, looking up at him with her big blue eyes.

"My my, so demanding little bean."

"Pwease," she tilted her head, pouting up at him with her big blue eyes and he sighed, rolling his golden brown.

"Alright alright," he said, not able to resist the pleading blue eyes from the girl he loved so dearly as his own, even if she wasn't. "What story do you want to hear?"

"Ocpopus," the young girl squealed excitedly, unable to properly pronounce 'octopus.'

Laughing, Carson settled down in the fort the two had made, the three year old on his lap and peering up at him with wide, excited blue eyes.

"There was once a young boy, no older than age seven or eight. His father had decided that he was the next person to lead the octopus clan, and demanded that the boy do something very evil."

"What he do," Katerina questioned, eyes impossibly wide and her tiny mouth puckered in a small 'o' shape, despite having already heard this story several times.

"The father demanded that the boy befriend a small girl, a mere baby. He was to be the girl's favorite person, the one that she trusted with everything in her. When he first saw the baby girl he fell in love with how pure she looked and didn't want to go through with his father's orders. He watched as she grew older, said her first words, took her first steps, and she loved him, not knowing that he was a monster."

"What happen," Katerina questioned, tiny brows furrowed together in an adorably cute fashion.

"Well, the boy had to please his father, so he made plans to save the small girl by bringing her to his father. By doing so he saves her from certain death, and he promises to always be by her side."

Carson peared down at the young girl in his lap who watched him with awe.

"Does she happy?"

"Yes, little bean," Carson said, swiping the small tuft of brown hair away from her eyes. "She is happy."

Alexander Pierce was still livid as he walked down the brightly lit, clearly expensive, marble hallways. He had been trying to find Katerina nonstop since she had been captured by the Avengers, and he was going to punish Katerina harshly the moment he got her back. He had not put all of this effort into her only for her to get captured and switch sides.