2016
Manhattan, New York
"Kennedy."
Kennedy groans in her sleep as she rolls over and looks over at Natasha who seemed much more awake than she did. She was laying on her side, head propped up by her hand, watching Kennedy with wide green eyes.
"Nat I just worked a twenty-four-hour shift and I'm tired as hell," Kennedy says, closing her eyes in hope of getting a few more minutes of sleep.
"I had an idea," Natasha says, poking Kennedy's side. She forces one eye open as she looks at Natasha.
"Can it wait?"
"Maybe," Natasha tells her, "But it's pretty interesting."
Kennedy sighs, accepting the fact that she probably wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep. She opens both eyes, and glares at Natasha, "What?"
"Let's get married," Natasha states, "Like right now."
Kennedy's eyebrows furrow, "Are you insane? My mother will murder us."
"She doesn't have to know," Natasha says with a small smile, "It can be our secret."
"Are you suggesting Vegas?" Kennedy asks, "Because I'm on call and I don't think it's a good idea for me to be so far away."
"I'm not talking about Vegas," Natasha says, "I'm talking about going to the courthouse and getting married. We can have a big ceremony later but let's just go ahead and do it. Now is as good a time as ever."
"You're serious?" Kennedy asks.
"So serious," Natasha says, "And it can be our little secret."
"Secrets are sexy," Kennedy says making Natasha grin. She sits up in bed, "Okay I'm in but you're buying me breakfast afterward."
"Deal!" Natasha says as she jumps out of bed and runs to their bathroom. Kennedy laughs as she gets out of bed and follows her at a much slower pace. They brush their teeth while Kennedy looks up what they need to bring to the courthouse.
"Do you have a birth certificate?"
"I have a fake one that looks real," Natasha tells her.
"Do you have a social security card?"
"Yes, and that one is actually real," Natasha tells her, "Courtesy of SHIELD."
"We have driver's licenses; oh, we need to apply for a marriage license. And then we need witnesses," Kennedy states, "I say we get two random people off the street."
Natasha laughs, "Okay."
"Okay," Kennedy says, "And then breakfast and we'll go about our day as though nothing ever happened."
"Never thought I'd say that about my wedding day," Natasha states, "Then again I never really thought I'd have a wedding day so there's that."
"And now you get one!" Kennedy exclaims, "Technically two because my mom will be expecting a real wedding."
"I'd love to marry you twice," Natasha tells her and Kennedy smiles.
They get dressed and grab everything that they need. Kennedy opens the door to Wanda's room only to find that she was still in bed, her arm hanging off the side of the bed and snores falling loudly from her mouth.
"Wanda?"
The snores stop and Wanda opens her eyes and lets out a grouchy, "What?"
"We're going out, we'll be back later," Kennedy tells her, "Do you want us to bring you breakfast?"
"Bagel and mocha latte," Wanda says as she rolls over, closing her eyes.
Kennedy closes the door and looks over at Natasha, "She wants a bagel and a mocha latte."
"Sure she doesn't want her coffee black like her soul?"
"This coming from the woman who wanted to have all black furniture," Kennedy responds as she heads over to the stairs.
"Hey, you know what else I said?" Natasha asks, "That great company makes a great bed, and you have the greatest bed of all time."
"Me?" Kennedy asks, "You do! I'm in it."
"Yeah, well I'm number one on the hottest Avenger's ranking," Natasha responds.
"Well, if I was an Avenger, I would be number one," Kennedy retorts.
"Okay," Natasha retorts and Kennedy rolls her eyes as she follows Natasha out of the house.
"Last names!" Kennedy exclaims, "What are we going to do about last names?"
"I know you want to keep yours because of your dad, so I could take your name?"
"But I like Romanoff, it's so cool," Kennedy pouts, "We could hyphenate. Kennedy-Allen Romanoff. Natasha Allen-Romanoff. Kennedy Romanoff-Allen. Natasha Romanoff-Allen. I feel our last names aren't compatible."
Natasha chuckles at that.
"I could just hyphenate," Kennedy states, "I like the sound of Kennedy Romanoff-Allen. It's sexy."
"Is it?" Natasha asks her.
"Yeah," Kennedy says, "You know what? Romanoff-Allen is the best and since we're not telling anyone we're getting married; we'll just deal with repercussions of too many syllables last name later."
They get in the car and drive over to the register of deeds to get their marriage licenses before heading over to the courthouse.
There was a kind elderly couple outside the courthouse and Kennedy walked over to them with a smile.
"Hi," she greets, getting their attention, "Um my name is Kennedy, and this is Natasha. We were hoping to get married today and we don't have any witnesses. We were wondering if you'd be ours?"
The lady looks at her husband and he shrugs before looking back at Kennedy with a smile, "We'd love to."
"Thank you so much," Kennedy tells them. They help the couple up the stairs of the courthouse and inform them that they intended to get married. They were told to sit outside of a room. Kennedy sat down beside the older woman.
"I didn't get your name," Kennedy says.
"Patricia," she introduces herself, "That's my husband, Harold. We've been married for nearly sixty years now."
"Wow," Kennedy says nodding her head, "That's longer than I've been alive."
"I'd hope so," Patricia says, "You have such a youthful face."
"Thank you," Kennedy says, "So how did you and Harold meet?"
"We grew up together," Patricia tells her, "Harold lived in the house next door to me. We'd play together. Grow together. And then the war happened. Korea first, then Vietnam. He came home both times and we knew it was meant to be. Got married as soon as he came back."
"That's precious," Kennedy says.
"What about you?" Patricia asks with a smile, "How'd you meet the redhead bombshell?"
Kennedy chuckles, "We um we kind of grew up together. She had to move away but we promised to find each other, and we did. Been together since then. She woke up this morning and just said she couldn't wait anymore and now we're here."
"She must really love you then to just wants to wake up and tie the knot," Patricia states and Kennedy looks across the way at Harold and Natasha who were having their own conversation.
"I like to think that she does," Kennedy says, "My goal is to make it as long as you and Harold."
Patricia smiles at her, "Something tells me that the two of you will."
"Romanoff and Allen?"
"That's us," Natasha says and the two of them head into the room. The ceremony was short and easy and when they walked out of the courtroom, they were officially married. Patricia and Harold cheer them on. The kindness of strangers was such a beautiful thing.
"Would you like to join us for breakfast?" Kennedy asks and Patricia chuckles as she pats Kennedy's shoulder.
"We'd love to."
They head to a cute little breakfast place that Kennedy had been to several times with Wanda. She loved the bagels and coffee there and since she requested it, Kennedy felt it would be appropriate to bring it.
"You two look very familiar," Harold states, "I'm having a hard time putting my finger on it."
"Natasha is an Avenger," Kennedy states and Harold looks at her with a grin.
"You're Black Widow! Our granddaughter loves you!"
"Really?" Natasha asks, flushing a little. It was a sight that made Kennedy's heart beat a little faster. She loved when shy Natasha made an appearance.
"Really," Harold says as he pulls out his phone, "Can we maybe take a picture with you?"
"Of course," Natasha says. Kennedy smiles and holds her hand out to take the phone so that she can take a picture. Patricia and Harold pose beside Natasha, the three of them smiling. Kennedy takes the picture and smiles at it.
"Selfie!" Patricia says as she waves Kennedy over and holds up her phone and takes a picture of the four of them.
They sit down for breakfast and Kennedy enjoys getting to know the couple. She mostly enjoys watching them, the way that they looked at each other. The way they talked to each other. It was pure love and adoration.
Kennedy pays for breakfast when she orders Wanda's to go.
"It was a pleasure meeting you two," Patricia says as she gives Kennedy a hug.
"You as well," Kennedy says.
Patricia looks over at Natasha and then back at Kennedy, "I think you two will make it fifty years. Maybe more, health permitting that is."
"I'm a doctor," Kennedy states, "I'll make sure she doesn't die on me."
Patricia chuckles as she reaches into her purse and pulls out a piece of paper and writes her number, "Don't be a stranger."
"Thank you," Kennedy states, "Will you send me the picture that you took? I really want to remember this day and what you and Harold did for us."
"Of course, I will sweetheart," Patricia says.
She watches as Harold and Natasha hug as well before Patricia heads over and takes her husband's hand and the two of them walk out of the restaurant together.
"Your order," the employee says, getting Kennedy's attention. She smiles at them as she takes the bag, leaving a tip as she heads over to Natasha.
"You feel any different being married?"
"No," Natasha tells her, "Because we've technically been married for three years now, but now you can't testify against me in court."
"Please don't do anything where I'd have to testify against you," Kennedy states as they head out of the restaurant.
"I'll try not to," Natasha says, "So how long does this stay a secret? A week? Two?"
Kennedy scoffs, "I give us at least six months. We can plan an actual wedding in that time. The venue? Our backyard."
"Maybe we can pull off six months cause the venue's the hardest part."
"I know," Kennedy states, "I've planned a wedding before."
"And now you get to do it again!" Natasha says with a grin, "If we pull this off do you know how funny it'll be to see everyone's faces when we tell them that we already got married?"
"Whose reaction will be my favorite?" Kennedy asks, "Probably Reagan's. Or maybe Steve's."
They reach the house and when they walk inside music plays loudly from Wanda's room.
Natasha rolls her eyes, "It's like having a teenage daughter."
"Wanda! We have breakfast!" Kennedy shouts as she places the food down on the counter as she heads into the office and files their paperwork. When she heads into the kitchen, Wanda makes her way downstairs wearing a black hoodie and sweatpants.
"Steal any souls today?" Natasha teases.
"Just yours," Wanda responds as she takes a bite of her bagel, "Where'd you two disappear off to this morning?"
"Breakfast date," Natasha lies easily, "We met an elderly couple. They were nice."
"That's nice," Wanda says, "So I was going to go to the facility today. Vision and I were going to do some flight training."
"The fact that you can fly is so cool," Kennedy tells her.
"It's okay," Wanda shrugs, "I got kid's ball out of a tree. That was fun."
"Wanda Maximoff, retriever of soccer balls," Natasha shrugs, "It has a ring to it."
Wanda looks at Kennedy, "Can we leave her?"
"Actually, we can," Kennedy says as she looks at her phone, "I have something that I need to do, and Reagan's interning today."
"Today is my day off," Natasha says, "I'm taking a nap. Might even read a little."
"How fun," Wanda says as she takes a sip of her drink.
Kennedy laughs, "Come on Wanda."
They get in the car and drive over to the Avenger's Facility and Kennedy parks her car in the back lot before scanning her ID to get in the building. She waves at Helen and heads to the second floor where Reagan was sitting at one of the many computers.
"I'm here," Kennedy states, "What is it?"
"Look what I discovered," Reagan says as she spins the screen in Kennedy's direction. A video plays and in it a kid in a red and blue hoodie swing from a white rope, blasting it out of what seems like his wrist. In another video, he stops a speeding car from crashing into a bus.
"Wow," Kennedy says, "He's strong."
"His name is Peter Parker," Reagan informs her as the screen zooms in on the paused video footage and pulls up a picture of a boy who was no older than fifteen, "He's fifteen. Born and raised in Queens. Orphan. Lives with his aunt, May Parker."
"How'd you do all of that?" Kennedy asks.
"The computer has face recognition technology. Take a photo and it runs it through a database that captures public photos and videos and stores them. Things on personal phones can't be accessed but anything posted on social media or caught on security or traffic cameras around the world is ours. It can even pull up videos from twenty years ago."
"Really?" Kennedy asks.
"Yeah," Reagan tells her, "Did Wanda come with you today?"
Kennedy nods, "She's training with Vision."
"I was going to ask her if she wanted to come with me to meet Peter. Do you want to come instead?"
"You're going to meet him?" Kennedy asks.
"Yeah," Reagan states, "Mr. Stark told me to be on the lookout for any enhanced. Peter's young, he's skilled, but like everyone, he could use proper training. He can do that here. That way he knows what he's doing out there."
Reagan made an excellent point. She'd worried about her sister, but it seemed that she knew what she was doing. It made Kennedy smile.
"I'll come with you," Kennedy states, wanting to see how Reagan would approach the situation.
"Rad," Reagan says as she logs out of the computer and grabs her jacket.
They walk the streets of Queens before they end up at a deli. Kennedy expects herself to head inside, but she doesn't. Instead, she leans against the brick wall.
"Hey, do you have your ID on you?"
"Yeah," Kennedy answers.
"Good."
It's not even a minute when Peter rounds the corner and stops when he sees Kennedy and Reagan standing outside the shop. His eyebrow knit together as eyes dance from Reagan to Kennedy and then go wide.
"Oh my god! You're Kennedy Allen!" he exclaims, "You're engaged to Black Widow! I read that article about you in Time and I just think you're a really amazing person. Can I have your autograph? Also, would you adopt me?" Peter chuckles nervously, "Actually I don't know why I said that I love my Aunt May. You should meet her. She loves you too. She always posts you as her Woman Crush Wednesday."
"Oh," Kennedy says surprised.
Peter looks over at Reagan, "Are you her assistant?"
Reagan frowns, "No, I'm her sister. And I'm the one who's here to see you, Peter."
"Me?" Peter asks, pointing at himself, "Why? Did I do something?"
"Yeah," Reagan says as she pulls out her phone and shows the videos. Kennedy watches as Peter swallows nervously as he watches the footage. Kennedy was watching as the lies were developing on his tongue and the best Peter came up with was-
"That's not me."
"That's not you?" Reagan asks, "Peter I have DNA proof that you are Spider-Boy."
"Spider-Boy?" Kennedy asks as she looks at her sister.
"Yeah," Reagan says, "Those are webs he's shooting, like a spider. And he's a boy. Spider-Boy."
"I um," Peter clears his throat, "I actually go by Spider-Man?"
Reagan locks her phone and pockets it, "So you confirm that is you in the video?"
"Wait! No!" Peter exclaims, "That's not – that's not. There's no point is lying is there, you already know, don't you?"
"I do," Reagan states, "And I didn't have DNA evidence by the way."
"Your kind of mean," Peter tells her.
"Just doing my job," Reagan says, "Which is recruiting you."
"Me? For what?" Peter asks, looking over at Kennedy, "The Avengers?"
"You wish," Reagan tells him, "Training. Learn how to properly use your powers in a controlled environment. Access to tech that could potentially improve your webs and a meeting with Tony Stark."
"T -Tony Stark wants to meet with me?" Peter asks.
"That is what I just said," Reagan states and Kennedy rolls her eyes. Reagan's people skills needed a lot of work.
"Peter," Kennedy says, "I know this might be a bit overwhelming to you, but I promise it's nothing scary. We'll show you around the facility, introduce you to the team and some other people that are training. That sound like something you'd be interested in?"
"Yeah," Peter says nodding his head vigorously, "How do I sign up for this?"
"We'll pick you up Friday after school," Reagan states, "We know where you live."
"She means that in the friendliest way possible," Kennedy says.
"I um I just have one thing," Peter says, "My Aunt May doesn't know anything about this so can we keep it a secret?"
"Of course," Kennedy tells him, "We can say that it's a chance for a potential internship. That's what she's doing."
"You're in high school?" Peter asks Reagan.
"I'm in college," Reagan responds, "A sophomore in college."
"Where do you go?"
"Columbia," Reagan answered matter-of-factly.
Peter's eyes go wide, "An Ivy! Wow, that's really impressive. I want to go to MIT, it's a great school and Mr. Stark went there, not that I want to go there because of him. "
"Never said you did," Reagan responds, "We'll see you Friday, Peter."
"Oh okay," Peter says giving them a wave. Reagan walks toward the street hailing a taxi and Kennedy offers Peter a smile and a wave before following after her sister.
"You could have been nicer to him," Kennedy tells her.
"I could have," Reagan states, "But then he'd think that this is all fun and games and it's not."
Kennedy looks at her sister, "That's not what you used to think."
"I've matured," Reagan responds, "Besides I see things doing this job. Sokovia. The attack on New York. There were so many casualties. Wanda lost her brother, and she won't even go on a mission with the team to stop armed dealers. This world, it's scary and Peter is a kid. He's gonna see you guys and see his heroes, but he needs to know the gravity of what he's doing."
Kennedy nods her head, "Maybe there is a method to your madness."
"I'm not mean just to be mean," Reagan says, "Well sometimes I am, but Peter seems like an okay kid."
They make it back to the facility and Kennedy logs on to one of the computers. She looks around to make sure no one is paying any attention to her. She plugs her phone in and sorts through her camera roll, finding a scanned picture from her family photo album. It was from her eighth birthday which she had celebrated with Natasha and Yelena.
The software scanned the photo and Kennedy watched as video footage of younger Yelena pulled up. None of the clips went past 2001 which meant the picture was too outdated to find recent clips of Yelena.
She clicked on one of the videos and Kennedy's heart sunk as she saw what was a slightly older version of the Yelena she once knew at a train station in Austria. She tried not to think too hard of what happened before or after the clip.
Kennedy tried to click on another video, only to see that one by one the videos were beginning to disappear.
"What the hell?" Kennedy mutters. She tries to restart the program, but it doesn't. She reaches over and unplugs her phone from the computer. She looks at her lock screen photo to see a message.
I SEE YOU
Kennedy unlocks her phone and goes to her contacts, calling the number, but it doesn't even ring. In fact, there is no sound. Kennedy pulls the phone away from her ear and looks back at the screen to see a new message.
FIND ME BEFORE I FIND YOU
Kennedy takes her phone and drops it on the ground, slamming her heel into it, shattering the screen.
"Hey," Steve says, "Reagan said that you would be in here."
Kennedy looks up at Steve who was standing in the doorway, "Yeah, do you need something?"
"We've got a hit on Rumlow," Steve says before pausing and looking down at Kennedy's foot, "Is that your phone?"
"Yeah," Kennedy answers as she bends down and picks up the shattered phone, "Guess I have to get a new one. So, you've got a hit on Rumlow?"
"He's meeting with some people in Lagos," Steve tells her, "I talked to Wanda, and she said that she thinks she's ready. I think this will be a good one for her first. She's been practicing with the team, and she works really well with all of us."
"If Wanda said she's ready then why are you talking to me?"
"You know why," Steve tells her, "Do you think she's ready?"
"Wanda told me when she wasn't ready, and she kept telling me when she wasn't ready. If Wanda says that she's ready, then I trust her. So, I say take her with you to Lagos."
"Okay," Steve says. He doesn't leave the room and instead continues to stare at Kennedy. She looks at Steve and offers him a reassuring smile, but it doesn't seem to do anything. Steve was always aware when something was wrong.
"It's nothing, Steve," Kennedy tells him, "I just dropped my phone and stepped on it."
"If you say so," Steve says, "But you know you can talk to me, right?"
"I do know," Kennedy responds with a smile, "And I would if there were anything wrong, but there's not."
"Okay," Steve says, "Well Wanda's waiting for you downstairs. And could you also just make sure that Nat's okay with everything too?"
"Yeah," Kennedy says.
Steve gives her one last look and a nod before heading out of the room. Kennedy glances at her phone and sighs before heading out of the room and toward the elevator. When she reaches the first floor, she spots Wanda with Reagan, the two of them talking amongst themselves.
"Hey," Kennedy says and they both look up at her, "Do you want me to drop you off at your dorm?"
"Yeah," Reagan responds.
"Okay," Kennedy says.
She drops Reagan off and on their way home, Wanda's eyes seem to keep finding their way on Kennedy, something the doctor notices.
"Are you mad at me?" Wanda asks.
"Mad?" Kennedy asks, "Why would I be mad?"
"It's just that you've been quiet and I'm sure Steve told you that I think I'm ready," Wanda shrugs, "I thought maybe you'd be mad about it."
"I'm not mad at you. I'm never mad at you," Kennedy says, "I just – I've had a busy day."
"Anything I can do to help?" Wanda asks.
"You can tell me the truth," Kennedy looks over at Wanda, "Are you really ready?"
Wanda nods, "I've got better control of my powers. Vision says that my flying has improved immensely. Skill-wise I am ready."
"And mentally?"
"Mentally I keep thinking about Pietro," Wanda says, "But I can't be scared for the rest of my life. I can help people. I can stop the bad guys. I believe that I can do this, and I will."
Kennedy smiles, "That's my girl."
"Yeah yeah," Wanda says flippantly, "So can we talk about the fact that you and Natasha are married?"
"What?" Kennedy asks, "How do you know that?"
"I know we have boundaries, but you guys left so early this morning and I couldn't help myself. I know that you want to keep it a secret and so I wasn't going to say anything."
Kennedy couldn't be mad at that.
"Yes, we are married."
Wanda raises an eyebrow as she looks at Kennedy, "Why are you being so casual about this? You're married to the woman that you love! Aren't you supposed to be bouncing off the walls?"
"I'm really happy," Kennedy says, "I just – I think for the first time in my life, I'm really scared."
Wanda sits a little straighter at that, "What are you scared about?"
"I don't know," Kennedy lies. She didn't want Wanda to worry. She was going on her first mission soon and the last thing she needed was to take on Kennedy's problems, "What if Natasha isn't ready to retire? What if she resents me?"
"I wouldn't worry too much about that," Wanda tells her, "You're her world. I've seen in her head, trust me. I know."
Kennedy smiles at that.
They get home and Natasha lifts the top of a box of pizza, making Kennedy and Wanda laugh.
"The fact that neither of you has learned to cook is awful," Wanda states as she grabs a plate and a slice of pizza.
"And the fact that you don't have a driver's license is awful as well," Natasha retorts.
Wanda holds up her middle finger and Kennedy chuckles as she looks at Natasha.
"Steve got a hit on Rumlow so you all will be going after him soon and Wanda's coming with you. She also knows that we're married."
"What?" Natasha asks as she looks at Wanda who was eating her pizza.
"Relax," Wanda tells her, "I can keep a secret."
"You better," Natasha tells her, "You sure you're ready?"
"Kennedy already had this talk with me but if you must know I am sure," Wanda tells her.
Natasha nods, "Good," she looks over at Kennedy, "Anything else happen today?"
Kennedy shakes her head, "No, it was a pretty normal day."
"Except for the fact that the two of you are now legally bound to one another," Wanda states, chewing on her pizza.
"Except that we are now bound to one another," Kennedy says with a laugh, making Natasha smile.