Phil is quite sure he has never gotten out of the best as fast as he did in that moment. But the scream had him flying out of his bed and within seconds he was opening the door to Mary's room. Scanning the dark room, his eyes lands on the young girl, curled up into a ball crying. Phil had read the reports, the mentioning of her nightmares and night terrors. This was however the first time since Mary had been put under his care that it happens, now he would have to be put through it by himself. It was too late to call Natasha to ask for help. Letting his eyes take in the room a second time, his eyes lands on the Mushu plushie on the floor, moving towards her bed slowly, making sure he doesn't scare the already petrified girl. Reaching down, he takes hold of the plushie and sits down on the bed.
He can see how the girl freezes up as the bed beside her shifts, Phil keeps quiet, all he does is hold up Mushu. It took a few minutes for Mary to move, when she finally does, her eyes land directly on Mushu. Her right hand reaches out and grabs hold of the plushie and Phil lets it go, letting Mary hug it close. He wants to ask her what she had been dreaming about, but he knows it's not a good idea in this moment. Looking towards the clock, it read 2 am and Phil had a strong feeling that there's no chance to get her to bed anytime soon.
"Would you like to watch a movie and have some hot coco?"
He asks, keeping his voice low and calm, just trying to not scare the girl even more. Seeing how Mary finally looks at him, he can see her trying to figure out if she trusts him or not. He had earned a bit of her trust, but it had only been shown when Natasha, Clint or even Maria is around. This is the first time she would have to trust in the man without her security net.
"I had Natasha buy the Mulan movie, it's in the living room."
Phil tells her, hopping that letting the girl watch the movie she had seemed to grow extremely attached to would make her feel safer. He could see that his plan worked, a spark lights up in her eyes and Phil can't help but to smile slightly. Standing up, he is tempted to hold out his hand for her but knowing that would be pushing it to much in this moment. Leaning the way out to the living room, Phil starts the tv and preps the DVD. Hearing Mary move behind him, Phil stand up and places the remote in front of her on the table.
"I'm going to make some hot coco; you can start the movie if you want."
He tells her, giving her the choice to start the movie by herself, giving her a feeling of control over what is going on. Seeing how Mary looks at the remote, Phil leaves the living room to make some hot coco for her and some coffee for himself. He would need it if he were going to stay up for as long as Mary needed to. When he returns to the living room, he realises that Mary still haven't started the movie. Lifting one eyebrow at this, Phil carefully puts down the cup in front of her before sitting down.
"Do you want to watch something else or?"
"I just thought waiting for you so you could see the beginning was the best thing."
Her voice was low as she spoke, eyes on the plushie that's still being hold in a tight hug like grip towards herself. Hearing her explanation, Phil starts to smile.
"Well, I'm back now so let's start watching. And thank you for waiting."
He tells her, taking the remote himself to start the movie. Silence feels over them as the movie starts playing. The fact that he's sitting on his couch, with a silent and scared girl beside him watching a cartoon movie at 2 am was something Phil never thought would happen to him. Then again, the fact that he would be taking care of a child wasn't on his list either. Fury had his way to make sure to surprise his agents, somethings those surprises were good once. This one on the other hand, Phil still has a hard time to figure out if it's a good one or not. As the movie starts to reach its end, Phil realises that Mary have managed to fall asleep beside him. Not wanting to risk another round of her waking up screaming, Phil carefully moves from her side to get some paperwork. Returning to the couch once more, he restarts the movie but turns down the volume, there was no way he would end up with any of those songs on his brain for the rest of the week.
Before he knew it, the sun is shining through the living room windows. Glancing towards the wall, he realizes that it would be about time to wake Mary up for some breakfast. Her training is starting in three hours and he knows Natasha wouldn't be overly happy with him if Mary didn't show up, and that's not even counting in the problems he would be having with Mary if she's not allowed to go. Rising from the couch once more, Phil leaves the sleeping Mary, feeling it was for the best to give her as much sleep as she could get in this moment.
Fixing up some quick an easy breakfast, Phil takes it with him to the living room, placing it carefully on the table before looking at Mary. Now comes the hard part, waking up the sleeping girl without scaring her.
"Mary. Mary it's time to wake up."
He speaks, keeping his voice low and levelled, he also makes sure he doesn't touch her. Remembering what he had read in the report and what Natasha and Clint had told him, and then there was the things he had seen for himself. Seeing the young girl move slightly, Phil leans back to see if she's waking up.
"Mary, you need to wake up and eat so that we can head for your lesson."
At the mention of her lesson, the young girl wakes up and Phil can't help but to smile. Seeing that Mary starts to look around herself, a hint of confusion in her eyes and Phil could see how she's trying to figure out how she ended up in the living room.
"You had a nightmare, so we decided that drinking some hot coco and watch Mulan was the best medicine."
Phil tells her, deciding it was best to just tell her what's going on from the start. Seeing how Mary's eyes turns towards the TV, he realises that he had started the movie over once more at one point, but seeing the movie playing seemed to calm the girl down. Smiling, Phil reached for the remote and turned up the volume once more.
"You can continue watching as you eat, but don't take to long. I don't think Natasha would be overly happy if we are late."
Phil tells her, rising form the couch. Giving the girl some space to collect herself, he heads for the bathroom to change and get ready for the day. It was going to be a long day.
-X-X-X-X-
"You look like shit."
Phil rolls his eyes at the comment, knowing that already. He should have known that this was the first thing the Russian assassin were going to comment on.
"Tell me something I don't know."
"What happened to you?"
Turning his attention towards the smiling and laughing Mary. The moment she had stepped through the door to the dance studio, meeting with the lady sitting at the front desk, her teacher and Natasha, Mary's mode had turned completely, and it warmed his heart to see.
"I was woken at 2 am by Mary screaming."
Phil starts to explain, keeping his voice low as he spoke so he didn't disturb the class or let Mary hear what he and Natasha is speaking about in that moment. From the corner of his eye, Phil can see how Natasha freeze up for a few seconds before she turns her attention towards him once more.
"Nightmare?"
Phil simply nods his head as an answer for that question.
"Have she said anything about it?"
This made Phil shake his head and he can see how Natasha lowers her own.
"This is the first nightmare she has had since being placed with me, that I know of at least. She was petrified when I reached her bedroom."
"How did you handle it?"
"Hot coco and letting her watch Mulan until she fell asleep once more."
Seeing how Natasha starts to smile about that, Phil rolls his eyes. He knew he would be hearing about this for a long time.
"When she finally managed to fall asleep, I let her sleep on the couch and I restarted the movie a few times just to have it on if she were to wake up with another nightmare during the night."
This made Natasha laugh slightly, at least he takes her reaction about it all that he had been doing a good job about it all. He couldn't help but to wounder how she, Maria and Clint have handled Mary's nightmares. He is also curious about how the agent before him had been able to handle all of this since the agent had taken Mary in directly from the hospital. He could only imagine the work that had been put into handling and getting to know the scared girl.
Hearing running feet coming towards him and Natasha, Phil pushes those question away for now. He turns his head to the side to, his eyes landing on Mary as she's coming over to him and Natasha, a large smile on her lips. From the corner of his eyes, Phil can see how Natasha is holding out her arms and Mary throws herself into a tight hug from the assassin.
"How are you holding up sweetie? Are your back hurting?"
Seeing how Mary shakes her head, Phil let's that worry go, a worry he didn't know he had in him in that moment.
"Did you have fun today?"
He asks, seeing how Mary turns her head towards him, he's taken aback by the large smile she's giving him. As she nods her head, Phil smiles.
"How about you go and change, and we can stop buy any food place you want for lunch."
He tells her, seeing how Mary's arms grows large with excitement.
"Really? Even McDonald's?"
"Even McDonald's if that's what you want."
Seeing how Mary looks back at Natasha, she hugs the red-haired girl one more time before running off to the changing room.
"And you are about to create one big problem."
Natasha tells him and Phil rolls his eyes. With all the trouble she and Clint have managed to create trouble that he later would have to clean up, he is quite sure he would be able to handle a happy Mary. If the girl is happy and wont shy away from him, Phil will be happy. He also knows that he would do anything to make sure that joy full smile stays on her face for as long as possible. He also knows that he would happily fight anyone that tries to harm the young girl and what he had seen from Natasha, Maria, and Clint he's not the only one.