Hemlock // Avengers

15. Today On Dr. Phil - A Murderer

Bucky picked up Julia while Pepper tied the loose end together. Everybody had to be in the living room at 1 AM to decorate. Pepper was in charge since she was the best at planning. Before Bucky left they made a picture with the vintage camera that Bruce bought and hung it Julia's room with the other photos. Tony locked himself in his lab. He only came out of it for the picture. Thor brought him some chocolate chip cookies. "How is it going?"  Thor leaned against the wall with his armed folded against his chest. "I'm busy, thank you for the cookies." Thor nodded and stepped outside. Tony let out a deep sight before shoving a cookie in his mouth and returning to the suit.

Bucky returned with Julia in front of him. Julia didn't say anything, she only grabbed a bottle of Arizona and returned to her room. "Who made this picture?" The faint sound of her voice asked. "We, do you like it?" Steve answered. They never had a answer on that question. Bruce turned to Bucky. "What happened?" "I was only supposed to pick her up and she was extremely quiet in the car." Pepper spoke up: "Natasha and I will talk to her." Natasha was playing in her phone. She laid her phone on the counter and walked with Pepper to Julia's room.

Natasha knocked on the door. Nobody answered. Natasha opened the door. With Pepper close behind her she looked around the room. They found Julia sitting on her bed, talking to herself. "Hey," Pepper took the lead now. "what happened at school?" Julia let out a deep breath. "Do you know what it's like if people call you a murderer? Only because you live them, in their eyes." Natasha took a step forward. "I know, they used to call me murderer. Technically I was. I didn't mind t the start, now I begin to care more how they call me. I'm not the Russian spy anymore." Natasha paused. Pepper and Julia shared a quick glance. Natasha never was this open to anyone but Clint. "And you can always stab them." Julia smiled, Natasha sounded more like herself. "We don't have time to be sad. It's your birthday tomorrow and Halloween!" Pepper actually hasn't said anything until now.

Julia was dragged out of her room by the women. "Nina Opal!" Was the first thing Clint said when he saw Julia. She noted the name Clint just gave her. "Saturday we're celebrating your birthday, miss Scott." Thor wrapped a arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him. His touch seemed to calm her. "Is it okay if my own lady came?" "Of course she can come!" "Thank you!" Thor turned to face Julia. He gave her a quick smile before walking away. "Nate Quickson?" "Thank you Clint, for the only one here helping me." Pepper and Natasha both muttered something, but nobody could hear it. "Where is Tony? I need to ask him something." "In his lab." Bruce answered. "Thanks!"

Julia knocked on the door. "Tony?" Julia got no answer and only heard something fall inside. A few moments later Tony opened the door, only revealing his head. "Yeah?" "I'm not going to ask questions." "Good." "Do you have two pairs of goggles Peter and I could lent for tomorrow?" Tony closed the door only to open it again a few moments later. He gave Julia two pairs of goggles. "I don't know, but do you have something that looks like those ghost-trap backpack things from Ghostbusters?" "Glad you ask it." He gave her two of them. "I made four of these. To dress up as Ghostbusters with Bruce, Thor and Steve. But you have it." "Really?" "No, asked Peter what you're dressing up as and figured out that you'll ask me on the last minute." Tony pulled his head back inside and closed the door for the second time. The gear was way to heavy to carry it to her room by herself. "JARVIS, tell Steve to come to Tony's lab." "Right away." Julia waited a minute before Steve came. "Can you help me?" Steve looked very handsome in his light blue blouse of which he rolled up the sleeves, his hair pulled backwards and his beard made him 10 times hotter. Not that Steve ever looked bad. Steve picked up the things that lay on the ground. Both of them now had the same amount to carry back to her room. The walk was an awkward silence, normally they could talk for hours. "Thanks Steve." Julia said to him. Steve answered with a nod, his head was clearly somewhere else. Steve set down the stuff in her room. They both returned to the rest. Julia noticed that Steve sat in a corner, facing away from everybody else. She approached him. "Alright, what's wrong?" Steve shook his head, waking up from his trance. "Loki and The Knitter. They can attack any moment and we're here doing nothing." Julia sat down next to him and placed a hand on his leg. "Cap, if I'm right then there will be a ridiculous amount of Superheroes here. Probably also some that I don't know. We're going to be fine for this one day and after that!" "You're probably right, I'm overreacting but I still worry." They shared a smile before Julia patted on his leg a few times and she stood up. Julia joined the conversation with Tony, Thor and Natasha.
They made dinner and spent the night doing Mario Kart in turns. Clint was still naming names until Julia went to bed.
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Night

Halloween. It was 1 AM. Nobody took the time to get dressed. They mostly decorated in the Halloween theme with a few balloons that said Happy Birthday. Fake spiders all across the wall along with fake spiderwebs. Carved pumpkins where placed on the kitchen counter by Bucky. Pepper and Clint hang a few skeletons around the room. Even the hallway was decorated by Thor, Bruce and Natasha. Steve finished his drawing of Jack Skellington, The Pumpkin King, and signed his name under it. Steve placed it op top of his gift. Tony was almost done with blowing up the balloons. "All the presents are on the counter?" He asked them, catching his breath. Tony looked over and counted 6 presents. His suit wasn't ready and Pepper's was a secret.

I realized I left Bucky and Steve out in the last park of my chapter before this one! I'm sorry for this! Also I know the packs from Ghostbusters are called something with 'Proton' but nothing more pops to my mind, I also had no WiFi to search it. In the next chapter it'll be correct!!