2016
Springfield, Ohio
Kennedy walked into the hospital room and stared at her father. He'd always been such a big and lively man and staring at him, he seemed so small. So, unlike himself. Kennedy wondered if this was what death did to people.
Mustering the courage that she needed, Kennedy forced herself over to her father's bedside and took a seat in the chair that was beginning to smell like her mother who had spent night and day at her husband's bedside, only to leave when the doctors told her that there was nothing left for them to do.
Kennedy was thirteen, which meant she was at an age where everyone was trying to shelter her from what was going on, but Kennedy had always been smart. She already knew what was going on and she knew that this was the last time that she'd be able to hold her father's hand and speak with him.
Kennedy reached out and took her father's hand and held it. It was warm and as Kennedy clutched his fingers, her eyes began to water.
"Hi daddy," Kennedy says, "It's me, Kennedy Emily Louise Allen or just Emmylou to you."
Kennedy's eyes begin to water, "I heard the doctors talking and they said that no matter what they do, it's pointless which I think is bullshit. There's always something that you can do. And I'm gonna prove that when I'm a doctor someday. I thought you should be the first to know my change in profession. Dr. Allen has a ring to it don't you think?"
She waits as though her father can respond, but she knows better.
"I'm not ready to be without you," Kennedy tells him, "I'm not ready for mom to lie about why she's crying. I'm not ready for you to be a stranger to Reagan. I'm not ready for you to just be a memory. I'm not ready to let go of you."
Kennedy wipes her tears, "I want you to walk me down the aisle. To be there when I graduate. Hold me when I'm crying. I don't know who I am without you."
And that's when Kennedy felt it. There was a slight squeeze of her hand and Kennedy's tears stopped instantly as she looked up at her father. His eyes were still closed, tubes attached to every part of his body, and Kennedy wasn't sure what to do.
"Dad?" Kennedy asks, "Dad can you hear me?"
She stands and looks at her father, "Dad if you can hear me, please don't go! Please don't leave us! Please!"
"Kennedy," her mother says as she enters the room, and she turns and looks at her mother.
"Mom, dad squeezed my hand!" Kennedy says, "I felt it! He's still in there."
"Kennedy," Meredith says shaking her head, "Your father didn't squeeze your hand."
"Yes, he did! I felt it," Kennedy insists, "Hold his hand!"
"Kennedy," her mother says firmly, "Your father is brain dead. He did not squeeze your hand."
Kennedy's throat tightens as she looks over at her father's sleeping face and then at the monitors that showed his heartbeat. She fell back in her seat and stared at her father. Those machines were the only thing keeping him here.
"He's already gone," Kennedy says, "What's the point of saying goodbye if he can't even hear me."
"He can hear you," her mother says, "And the goodbye isn't just for him. It's for you too."
Kennedy looks over at her mother and Meredith enters the room, eyes glistening, "I know you have so much to say to him. I do too. And he's always going to with us, but after this, it's going to be different."
"Meaning this is the last time we get to talk to his face," Kennedy says, and Meredith nods her head.
"I'm not ready," Kennedy tells her mother.
"I know," Meredith says, "I'm not ready either."
Kennedy looks at her father. Her lip quivered at the thought of never seeing him smile or laugh again. To never hear him call her Emmylou. She wondered if her father felt anything in the minute. If he felt as though he was abandoning his family for something that was out of his control. Did he worry that they would be mad at him for dying?
Kennedy took her father's hand again and said words that she did not mean.
"Everything's going to be okay, dad. We're going to be okay. I'm not ready, but I guess no one is ever ready when something like this happens," Kennedy looks at her father's fingers, "I promise to smile every day for you. And I'll always try to help people. And when I'm scared, I'll try my best to be brave."
Kennedy begins sobbing again as she squeezes her father's hand, "I promise to always be your little girl and I'll make sure that Reagan never ever forgets that you love her. I promise – I promise to be the best person that I can be and that I'll take care of mom. So everything is going to be okay. You can rest now."
"Kennedy," her mother says as she looks at her daughter.
Kennedy holds her father's hand in both of her own. They were still small compared to his, they'd always be small compared to his.
"I think – I think maybe the dead need comfort too," Kennedy says, "And dad's not gone yet, but I want him to know that it is okay when he goes. That we'll be okay. If dad had a choice, he'd stay here. He would have picked us. But sometimes in life, we don't have choices. Life picks for us. Life picked for dad and now he has to carry that burden and he may feel like he abandoned us."
Kennedy shakes her head, "I don't want him to feel that way. He would have stayed. He would have fought. He would have picked us, but sometimes. Sometimes we don't have a choice. And I want him to know that it's okay."
Meredith stared at her daughter. Kennedy had always thought well beyond her years, but this? This was something different. This was a girl who had been forced to grow up too early. Who often thought of others before she thought of herself.
"I love you, dad," Kennedy says as she leans forward and kisses his head, "To Neptune and back."
Kennedy takes a deep breath as she lets go of her father's hand and looks at her mom, "Neptune is 2.873 billion miles from Earth and has the longest orbital period. 165 years to be exact. Which means I love dad a lot."
Meredith can't hold back the tears anymore as she pulls her daughter into her arms, "Oh sweetheart."
"I'm not ready mom," Kennedy cries into her chest.
"Me either," Meredith says, "But we're going to be okay someday."
Kennedy didn't believe that. She felt like this was a loss that she'd feel for the rest of her life. The type of loss that her mother would feel every day. The type of loss that Reagan would never understand. The loss that people try to give purpose.
The type of loss that can be duplicated.
Kennedy just wasn't sure when.
"Hi mom," Kennedy says into the phone.
"Where have you been?" Meredith asks, "I have been so worried about you."
"I know," Kennedy says. Natasha reaches over at laces their fingers together, "And I'm fine. Or I will be. With therapy and time."
"Do I want to know?" Meredith asks.
"Just know that I'm a different Kennedy, but I'm going to try really hard to be the daughter that you know and love," Kennedy tells her.
"You know I will love you no matter what," Meredith says.
"I really hope so," Kennedy responds softly.
"Does this mean Reagan and Wanda lied about their date?"
"Yeah," Kennedy answers, "But um in other news I'm on my way home and I have a couple of new and old faces that I think you'll be excited to see."
"I'm looking forward to your arrival," her mother says, "Oh and your friend Tony Stark and Vision are here."
"Why?" Kennedy asks.
"Um we can talk about it later," Meredith tells her, "I'm just glad that you're okay."
"Me too. And you don't have to worry mom, I'm officially done with the hero business. Natasha and I have been talking about settling down. For real this time."
"Does this mean you two are finally getting married?" her mother asks, and Kennedy's eyes go wide as she realizes that she'll have to tell her mother the truth about her marital status.
"Um yeah," Kennedy says, "Anyway the signal here is getting spotty. See you in Ohio?"
"See you in Ohio. And Kennedy?"
"Hm?"
"I love you so much, baby girl."
Kennedy's lips spread in a smile, "I love you too mom. So much."
"See you in Ohio."
Kennedy ends the call and looks over at Natasha who smiles knowingly at her.
"She asked when we were getting married, didn't she?"
"Yeah," Kennedy says, as she leans in and rubs her nose against Natasha's, and in a low and threatening voice she says, "Prepare to die."
Natasha chuckles, "Might be more scared seeing your mom again than I was about going back to the Red Room."
"That is a reasonable fear," Kennedy says with a laugh as she looks down at their interlaced fingers, there were cuts on Natasha's hand from when she nearly beat Dreykov to death. She looks up at Natasha, a small smile on her lips, "We did it."
"We did what?" Natasha asks her.
"We weathered the biggest storm in our relationship," Kennedy answers, "It's smooth sailing from here."
"You think telling your mom we're married is smooth sailing?" Natasha asks.
"So, the water has a little turbulence," Kennedy says with a shrug and Natasha laughs at her.
"What should I be expecting in Ohio?" Anya wonders.
"Nothing," Reagan responds, "We live in Springfield and there is absolutely nothing there."
"Nothing?" Anya asks, "Not even a skyscraper?"
"It's not even in our vocabulary," Reagan states.
"Wow," Anya says, "I am suddenly not excited to be in America."
When they land in Springfield, Kennedy rushes to her front door and before she can even knock, her mother opens it, hugging her tightly.
"You look awful," her mother mutters.
"I feel awful," Kennedy says, "But I'm alive. I fought mom and I won."
"I'm so proud of you," Meredith tells her.
"Mom!" Reagan exclaims as she joins the hug.
"Mom, Reagan is a liar," Kennedy says.
"Shhh," Reagan says, "Let's just enjoy this moment of family reunited."
"Speaking of reunited," Kennedy says as she pulls away from the embrace as Reagan latches on to their mother, hugging her on the side. Kennedy waves Melina, Alexei, and Yelena over. As soon as they step into sight, a gasp escapes Meredith.
"It's been a long time," Melina says as she looks around, "Things still look the same."
"It's Springfield," Meredith says, "The most interesting thing to happen here was your arrival and departure."
"Meredith, I am so sorry," Melina tells her, "For everything that happened. We had a mission and we had roles and at first, we were just trying to fit in but at some point, we weren't just trying to fit in, we felt like we belonged here."
"And we were sorry to hear about Franklin," Alexei says, "He was a good man. The best."
Meredith nods her head, "Thank you."
Yelena lifts her hand, "Hi Mrs. Allen."
Meredith brings her hand to her mouth at the sight of the girl, "Yelena?"
Yelena nods her head with a smile.
"Gosh you're so big," Meredith says, "You were just a baby."
"She's still a baby," Melina says and Yelena pouts at the words, making Meredith laugh and almost sob at the same time.
"So," Meredith says, "Are you all here to stay or is there some more data you need to steal?"
Melina chuckles, "No, we're here to stay."
"Good," Meredith says, "Because Springfield hasn't been the same without you."
Everyone took time to get settled in. Kennedy went upstairs to her childhood room and took a shower, changing into her old Ohio State shirt and jeans before she went downstairs where Tony and Vision were sitting in the living room.
"So," Kennedy says, "Why are you here?"
"Dreykov had widows watching your mother," Tony informs her, "But I was able to replicate the antidote and send them on their merry way. Apparently, they stole home videos from you."
"I know," Kennedy says as she tugs at the sleeves of her sweatshirt, "He used some of them as like mental torture."
Tony frowns as he looks at her, "Are you okay?"
"I will be," Kennedy says.
"Well, you'll be glad to know that Peter has been stressing me out," Tony says, and Kennedy laughs at that.
"Oh no, what did he do?"
"What didn't he do?" Tony asks, "Gosh I don't understand how you do it."
"Lots of patience."
"I have yet to unlock that," Tony tells her and Kennedy smiles as she looks over at Vision who had been very silent.
"Vis?" Kennedy says, "You okay?"
"Oh yes," Vision answers, "I'm just glad to see that you are okay, Dr. Allen."
Kennedy smiles and tugs at her sleeves, "Uh Tony I have a very weird request."
"What is it?"
"Before I was taken by Dreykov, I took super-serum," Kennedy notices the way that Tony's eyes slightly widen at the words, but she keeps talking, "Is there any way that you can take it out? Cure me?"
"You want me to separate the serum from your DNA?" Tony asks, "That's more Bruce's area and he's off-world."
"I know, but could you try?" Kennedy asks, "This is the first step to getting my life back."
Tony nods his head, "We can try when we get back to New York."
"Thank you," Kennedy tells him, "And thank you for coming to look after my mom."
"We're family," Tony says with a shrug, "Besides your mom's cooking is amazing! Gosh, I haven't eaten like that in forever."
Kennedy laughs.
"So that's Natasha's family?" Tony asks as he nods at the house next door, where they were currently receiving a tour of the updated house.
"Yeah, I think you'll like her mom, she's really into science," Kennedy shares, "Alexei, her dad, he's a super soldier and Yelena is her sister. She's deadly but cute."
"Any of them want to join the team?"
"No," Kennedy answers, "I think they're done with all of that."
"As a kid, you dream of being a superhero, but when you get older the job is the last thing that you want," Tony tells her, "Why is that?"
"Because you realize how much the job stinks," Kennedy responds and Tony smiles at her.
"I'm gonna miss you."
"Shut up," Kennedy tells him, "I live thirty minutes away from you. Besides I have to help you get Pepper back and keep Peter in line and my sister works for you. Just because I'm focusing on myself, doesn't mean I'm not going to be in your life anymore."
"I know," Tony says with a small smile, "I'm still going to miss you."
Kennedy smiles, "I'm going to miss you too."
"Hey," Reagan says as she enters the living room with a box, "I found dad's old cameras and tapes."
"Baby Kennedy?" Tony asks as he stands and grabs a VHS, "We have to watch. This is Kennedy's first bike ride. Sounds scandalous."
Kennedy rolls her eyes as Tony walks over to the TV and puts the VHS in. Tony points at it and looks over at Reagan, "Do you know what this is?"
"I'm nineteen," Reagan responds, "I used to watch VHS videos as a kid."
"Just wondering," Tony states.
The video on the screen begins to play and Tony awws loudly at the sight of a five-year-old Kennedy. She remembers little of her life before Natasha and as she looks at herself, she wonders if that little girl knows all that she's going to endure.
"Say hi Kennedy," her dad says.
"Hi Kennedy," she says as she waves at the camera.
"No baby, I meant – you know what never mind," her dad says. He turns the camera toward himself, "Today Kennedy is officially learning to ride a bike with no training wheels. Let's go."
He pans it back to Kennedy, "Ready?"
"Ready!" Kennedy exclaims.
"Alright," her dad tells her, "Remember everything I taught you?"
"Yes sir," Kennedy says with a salute.
"Good," her dad tells her, "No climb aboard the bike, matey."
Kennedy giggles as she climbs onto her hot pink bike. The camera is handed off to her mom as her dad rushes over to Kennedy, grabbing hold of the back of the bike. He holds a thumb up at Meredith who returns the gesture, only her thumb appearing in the frame.
"Pedal!" her dad exclaims, and young Kennedy starts going, "There you go!"
"Don't let go," younger Kennedy tells him, "Not yet. I'm not ready."
"I won't let go," she hears her dad say. And Kennedy's eyes begin to glisten as she's suddenly back in the hospital room, pleading for her father not to leave her.
"I'm still not ready," younger Kennedy tells him. She keeps pedaling and without saying anything, her father lets her go, watching Kennedy pedal off with a proud smile. He walks over to his wife.
"You were totally ready," Franklin says into the camera.
Kennedy's throat tightens as the tape returns to static. She bites her lip and grabs her jacket as she heads to the door. Reagan, Tony, and Vision all stare after her. Reagan follows her to the front door.
"Kennedy?"
"I just need some air," Kennedy tells her sister, "That's all."
Kennedy heads out of the house and begins walking. She isn't sure where her legs are taking her until she ends up there. It'd been over a year since she last visited her father's grave. The last time had been after Pietro's death in Sokovia.
She looked at her father's headstone. Franklin Alexander Allen. Husband. Brother. Father. And yet Kennedy thought he was so much more than that.
"Hey dad," Kennedy says softly, "It's been a minute and a lot has changed. Natasha and I got married, which apparently you had predicted a long time ago. I might be receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is insane. I'm a super-soldier, like Captain America super soldier."
Kennedy sighs, "You were wrong you know. I wasn't ready. I was never ready to lose you. And even after all these years, your loss hurts like hell. And I've tried really hard dad. To be a good person. To save the world the way I know how. But the cost is heavy and it's not a price that I'm ready to pay. Is that selfish?"
She reaches out and rests her hand on his headstone, as though she'll feel him or receive an answer.
"I brought our family back together," Kennedy says, "But I think I lost a piece of myself doing it and I'm scared because what if I can't be the woman that I once was? The woman that I promised you I'd be? Would that disappoint you?"
"I wish you could talk to me," Kennedy mutters, "Tell me you're proud."
"He is proud."
Kennedy turns to see her mother standing there, "Your father was so proud of you. He was the proudest of you. The day he became a father, that man cried more than me."
Kennedy laughs as her mother walked over and joined her, "What happened?"
"Dreykov got in my head," Kennedy says, "That piled on with the super-soldier serum, it makes losing dad feel like it was yesterday and not seventeen years ago."
"Honey," Meredith says softly.
"I almost killed myself," Kennedy mutters, "I wanted the pain to end. I wanted to see him again. But uh Yelena shot me before I could pull the trigger. She saved my life."
"Kennedy," her mother says, "Look at me."
Kennedy looks at her mother, eyes sparkling with tears, "What you did, it doesn't make you weak. We all have moments where we want to stop fighting, but how we come back from it, that's what truly matters. You fought back. You didn't let Dreykov win and that's what matters. It's all that matters."
Meredith pulls her in for a hug, "And for that, your father and I are so proud."
"Natasha and I are married," Kennedy mutters into her mother's shoulder.
"You are so lucky that you're in a fragile state right now," Meredith tells her, "When did you get married?"
"A couple of months ago," Kennedy says, "It was a courthouse ceremony. We were going to have a big one later, but we just couldn't wait anymore."
"Your father said he always knew it would be Natasha," her mother says, "Just like he knew you'd be a remarkable woman with or without him."
"I miss him every day," Kennedy says as she sniffles.
"I do too," Meredith tells her, "So much."
"Do you think he's okay? Wherever he is?"
"I know he is," her mom tells her.
Kennedy nods her head, as she wipes her cheeks and looks at her father's headstone. She leans down and places a kiss on it before whispering, "I love you to Neptune and back."
There's a gentle breeze and Kennedy smiles taking that as her father saying that he loved her back.
"Come on," her mother says, "Let's get back home."
Kennedy nods silently as she follows her mom to her car. When they get back to the house, everyone is changed and standing in her mother's living room.
"You're back," Alexei says, "We are watching Yelena's first day of school now."
"Home videos?" Kennedy asks.
"There were a lot," Reagan says, "Seems like dad documented as much as he could."
Kennedy heads over to the box which was in the hallway. In there was his old camcorder, an old polaroid camera, and an old Nikon camera. She and Reagan had never touched this stuff. Neither had their mother.
"Hey Anya," Kennedy says.
"Yeah?" she asks as she joins Kennedy.
"Want these?"
Anya looks at them, "Aren't these your dad's?"
"Yeah," Kennedy says, "But none of us are using them. Your journalism career has to start somewhere. Besides, you should have memories of your youth. You missed out on a childhood, but teenhood's pretty great too."
Anya smiles at her, "You're seriously giving these to me?"
"As long as you promise to take care of them and do them justice," Kennedy says as she holds her pinky, "Pinky promise."
Anya locks her pinky with Kennedy, "I promise."
"Alright," Kennedy says as she hands Anya the box, "Then this is yours."
"This is the first gift I've ever received," Anya says as she looks at these items, "I swear I'll value them."
"I know you will," Kennedy says with a grin.
Anya grins, "I know what my first picture has to be. Come with me."
Kennedy follows Anya into the living room where she sets the box down and pulls out the polaroid camera, "Family photo! Everyone to the couch!"
"Ugh," Yelena groans as she takes a seat on the couch beside Reagan. Tony, Vision, and Alexei stand behind the couch and Wanda takes a seat on the floor. Melina and Meredith sit on the opposite side of their respective daughters. Natasha and Kennedy sit on the floor beside Wanda.
"Everyone smile on three! One, two, three!" Anya takes the picture which begins to print. She shakes the picture, trying to develop it quickly. Anya smiles at the picture and shows it to everyone.
"Oh, Yelena blinked," Reagan says, "We'll have to crop her out."
"I did not blink! Look at you, we should crop out your big forehead!"
"My forehead is not big!"
"Ladies you both have flaws! Quit fighting," Melina says, making Kennedy snort. She looks over at Natasha who smiles at her.
"One big happy family," Natasha mutters and Kennedy laughs as she takes Natasha's arm and wraps it around her shoulder.
They stayed in Ohio for a couple of days, before heading back to New York. Melina and Alexei opted to stay in Ohio and make their home a home again. Yelena and Anya opted to join them for their first visit to New York and Reagan and Wanda had no choice, seeing as their lives were there.
"Anya!" Reagan says, "I come bearing a surprise!"
"Is it a skateboard?" Anya asks.
"Yeah," Reagan's brows furrow, "How'd you know?"
"Context clues," Anya says, before growing excited, "Can I see it!"
"Bam!" Reagan says as she holds up the skateboard, "Warning, it was twenty bucks. Do with that information what you will."
"I don't care, I'm just happy to have it," Anya says as she hugs Reagan, "Thank you so much."
"Yeah well you kind of deserve the world," Reagan says with a shrug, "I'm too broke to give it to you so you'll have to start making Natasha and Kennedy's pockets hurt. Especially when you move in."
"Actually, I'm going back to Ohio with Melina and Alexei."
"What? But it's boring."
"I know," Anya says, "But you guys all grew up there. I guess I want to spend some days there feeling normal. Besides Melina and Alexei need to redeem themselves as parents. But I'll visit all the time."
"You better," Reagan tells her, "I'll visit you too."
Anya smiles as she looks at the skateboard, "I always wanted a family, and it seems that I've ended up with the best one."
"Oh yeah we're like the coolest family ever," Reagan says with a grin.
Yelena rests her feet in the pool and Kennedy takes a seat beside her, "Enjoying yourself?"
"This place is huge," Yelena tells her.
"Yeah, that was Tony and Natasha's doing," Kennedy responds, "You can stay with us if you want, we have plenty of space."
"Actually, I want to go help free the rest of the widows," Yelena tells her, "Melina and Tony have made a bunch of antidotes. We can truly erase Dreykov once and for all by freeing them."
Kennedy smiles, "That's a really good thing to do."
Yelena glances over at her, "Are you going to miss me?"
"A little," Kennedy responds, "I feel like I just got you back and I'm losing you all over."
"You'll never lose me," Yelena tells her, "I'll visit all the time and you know it's nice to have somewhere to call home, whether it be here or Ohio. I have somewhere to return to. Somewhere to belong."
"As long as I'm here, you'll always have somewhere to belong," Kennedy says, "You know it was supposed to be the three of us in New York."
"Yeah," Yelena says shyly, as she looks at Kennedy, "Why did you care so much? I mean you risked your life to find me?"
"Because I love you," Kennedy tells her with a smile, "You're my little sister Yelena and sisters burn down the world to find each other. I would have done whatever it took to find you."
Yelena smiles at her sheepishly, "You're the best person I know and I love you so much, Kennedy."
Kennedy wraps an arm around Yelena's shoulders and the younger of the two rests her head on Kennedy's shoulder.
Anya takes her skateboard to Central Park as she rides it, filming on her video camera. She couldn't believe that this was her life now. She was free to make her own choices. To be whoever she wanted to be.
As she was filming around her, a dog came out of nowhere and Anya lost her balance and focus as she fell to the ground. She went into full panic mode as she looked around for the video camera, only to find that it had landed in the grass.
Someone picked it up and handed it to her. She looked up to see a girl with black hair and blue eyes. Anya smiled at her as she took the camera. She was still getting used to the kindness of people.
"Thanks."
She holds a hand out to Anya, which she takes as the mystery girl helps her to her feet.
"Your camera is okay but the same cannot be said for your skateboard," the girl says as she nods to the board which was missing wheels. Well, Reagan had told her that it was twenty dollars.
"There goes my skater dream," Anya mutters.
The girl chuckles, "You have a skater dream?"
Anya shrugs, "I don't know I thought the aesthetic was cool."
"It is," the girl responds quickly, "I guess I just never really hear people say stuff like that."
"And what do you hear people say?"
"Here are the keys to my Maserati. I don't want to see a scratch on it. Or, more caviar please sir!" she says in a posh accent and Anya giggles.
"So you're rich?"
"Bullseye," she tells her as she holds a hand out, "My name is Kate Bishop."
"Anya Nikolaeva," she says as she shakes her hand.
"I knew you had an accent. Are you from Russia?"
"Yes, but I was adopted and now I live here."
"In Central Park?" Kate asks jokingly.
"No," Anya says with a laugh, "America. Specifically, Springfield, Ohio."
"Oh," Kate says, "Then what brings you here?"
"I'm visiting my sister and her wife," Anya states and it wasn't really a lie. Natasha was kind of her sister if Alexei and Melina were her legal guardians.
"And do you like my city?" Kate asks.
"Your city?" Anya asks, "I don't see Kate written anywhere."
"It's there," Kate tells her, "You just have to look at the fine print."
"I'll make sure to look extra hard," Anya responds with a grin. She looks at Kate and notices that she's not dressed for Central Park and is wearing an evening gown, "Come from somewhere fancy?"
"I was supposed to be going to dinner with my mom, but we got into a fight," Kate says, "I decided to take a walk when I saw you get taken out by a puppy."
"That puppy was going really fast in my defense," Anya says and Kate laughs.
"That's an old camera," she observes.
"It has a lot of sentimental value," Anya says as she holds it up, "My sister-in-law told me to document my teen years. Want to say something random girl I met in Central Park?"
"Hell yeah," Kate says, and Anya opens the camera and begins recording.
"Hi, my name is Katherine Elizabeth Bishop and someday I'm going to be the world's greatest archer," Kate states confidently, "I'm also going to be the girl that gets Anya Nikolaeva a new skateboard so she can be the best skater since Tony Hawk."
"What?" Anya asks surprised.
Kate shrugs, "I'm rich and you have a dream and I support it."
Anya stops recording, "You don't have to."
"Too late, I am," Kate says, "I'll send it to you in Springfield. Consider it a welcome to America gift."
"That's really nice," Anya states.
"Everyone can use a little niceness," Kate states, "Hey, do you want a tour of my New York? You can film it all. Consider it peak teeness."
Anya smiles, "Yeah, I'd love to."
Kate grins at her as she takes her hand, "Come on!"
The two girls wander around New York, grabbing pizza, and ice cream, going into random stores, and Anya documenting it all. When she and Kate made it back to the latter's building, it felt weird to say goodbye.
"That was much better than dinner with my mom," Kate tells her.
"I have been told that I'm more fun than dinner with parents," Anya teases.
"Oh yeah? By who?"
"Okay so I may have lied," Anya says with a laugh.
"Hey," Kate says, "If you ever visit your sister or find yourself in New York, don't be a stranger."
"I won't, greatest archer in the world," Anya tells her with a grin.
Kate smiles at her before leaning in and kissing Anya on the cheek. When she pulls away, she smiles at the stunned look on Anya's face, "I'll see you around skater girl."
Kate heads inside her building and Anya simply watches her. Was she the star in her own romantic film?
When Anya got back to Springfield, there was a package sitting on her front porch. With a small smile, she opened the box and spotted a skateboard and noticed there was an envelope taped to it. She peeled it off and opened the envelope.
"Please don't say 'see you later girl' when you become a skater girl. I had the best time showing you my city! If you're ever in New York, be a hero and come save me from my penthouse. Love, the greatest archer ever, Kate," Anya reads with a smile.
"What's that?" Alexei asks as he opens the front door, before gasping, "No way you have a skateboard! Can I ride it?"
"No," Anya says as she hugs the board to her chest, "It was a gift."
Alexei looks at her surprised, "From who?"
"The greatest archer ever," Anya answers as she looks at the letter, unable to stop grinning.
"Hawkeye sent you a skateboard?" Alexei asks and Anya rolls her eyes as she makes her way inside the house.