chapter xxvii.
(   homecoming   )

brothers and sisters unite
and it's me they're looking  for
and it's me,  i will never survive
but we'll be around some more
brothers & sisters ─── coldplay

queens, new york
june 9, 2016 — august 2, 2016
(   third person point of view   )

"Is that on? No, no, don't film me! Peter, put that down!" A hushed feminine voice dies away into a long sigh.

The black screen comes light as a hand quickly pulls back from the smartphone's lens. The phone is pushed away from finding its current subject and then it is redirected outside the Mercedes' window. The sky is bright and blue while white fluffy clouds hover up high in the air. A city is stretched out before the phone's camera and the large metal globe of the Stark Exposition is planted across the many causeways.

"New York. Queens." The fifteen year old boy says in a low voice, way lower than it definitely should be, "It's a rough borough, but, hey, it's home."

"Who you talking to?"

"No one!" Peter Parker quickly replies, turning the phone to look at the driver turned bodyguard, "Just making a little video of the trip."

Harold "Happy" Hogan peers through the rearview mirror to look back at the two kids still in his charge, "You know you can't show it to anyone?"

"Yeah, I know."

"Then why you narrating in that voice?" Happy continues questioning in a suspicious tone.

"Uh..." Peter answers quickly and rather innocently; his voice raising at the end of his sentence, "'Cause it's fun."

The girl beside him snorts.

As if on cue, Peter immediately turns the phone back to look at Lisa Stark as she sits beside him. Noticing that she is now the one being filmed, her eyes widen and her mouth falls open rather comically. Peter struggles to suppress his laughter at her expression and she rolls her eyes before giving his hand another shove. The camera shakily finds Happy once more as he still watches the boy with narrowed eyes.

Happy slides on his sunglasses, clipping back, "Fine."

"So, uh," Peter goes on, "why they call you 'Happy'?"

"Oh!" Lisa quickly pipes up to offer an answer, feeling rather excited to know that she can actually answer one of her brother's many questions, "Dad told me it's because back before he worked for us, he was a,"

"No talking." Happy snaps, hurriedly trying to keep the girl from spilling the true reason.

The black separation window suddenly slides up between the front of the car and the back, and the reflection of the brunette brother and sister can be seen against the window. They simultaneously glance at each other, make a strangely similar face, and offer a shrug.

The camera cuts and the scene switches to Happy opening the car's trunk outside the Stark Industries' landing strip. Lisa is standing behind Happy, cocking her head to the side and giving the camera a flat smile as she's still not overly pleased that she's being filmed. The camera shakily redirects down to the trunk where Happy is pulling out Peter's luggage.

"Come on." Happy drops the luggage down hard onto the ground before the boy who eagerly snatches it up, "I'm not carrying your bags."

"Thanks." Peter says distractedly, still a little keyed up about the whole thing.

After all, it's been a pretty big day for Peter Parker: he met Tony Stark, found out he had a stinkin' sister, and now he's all becoming an Avenger and everything.

This day has been monumentally huge!

But back on screen, though, Happy clicks his keys towards the plane, making the white robotic stairs unfold, "Let's go."

The bodyguard and the newly revealed older sister lead Peter towards the Starks' private jet, moving along quickly.

"Hey Lisa!" Peter calls from behind, watching as his sister jogs up the steps to the jet's door, "Should I go to the bathroom before...?"

"Oh, don't worry about it," Lisa starts.

Happy's voice joins the girl's, but his is a lot less patient, "There's a bathroom on it."

Peter peeks the camera into the cockpit where the control column and the pilot seat sits completely empty, "Whoa! No pilot?! That's awesome!"

Peter lets out a quiet sigh as he plops down onto one of the cushiony seats directly across from Happy as Lisa sits at his side.

Happy stares at him blankly through his dark sunglasses, leaning on his elbow as he asks, "Is that where you're gonna sit?"

"Yeah!"

As she buckles in, Lisa smiles a little at her brother's duh-toned answer.

Happy takes a moment to respond, "Is this your first time on a private plane?"

"This is my first time on any plane."

Happy promptly stands and moves a few rows back.

As the plan begins to whir to life, the camera darts panickedly between Happy and Lisa, "Should it-should it be making that noise?!"

"Hey Peter?" Lisa's voice can be heard as the camera begins to carefully move towards Happy's snoring sleeping form, "I think this is a really bad idea..."

"Okay, should we stop?" The camera halts in its movement down the aisle of the plane.

"No way! Get closer!"

He laughs a little as they continue creeping towards the man's slightly open-mouthed face.

Peter pulls the camera back so that both he and his sister can be in frame as he holds a finger to his lips, shushing, "Sh-sh, sh."

The camera slowly moves right into Happy's face, practically staring up into his nostrils before the man suddenly jerks awake and begins flailing his arms. Lisa lets out a surprised sound and Peter immediately starts quietly snickering while the camera flops around in a mess of movement. Lisa throws her head back into a quiet laugh before Peter can be seen grinning at her as he hurriedly tries to rush the both of them back to the front of the plane.

The three are rushed through the Berlin airport, the signs printed with German hanging from the ceiling and the speakers chiming with various announcements. Happy pulls along Peter's luggage as he hurriedly clips along ahead of the siblings.

"No one has actually told me why I'm in Berlin,"

The pretty paved streets pass by the fancy black Mercedes before Lisa and Peter tour some of the famous sights, trying to and failing at the following one of their maps and quickly getting lost.

"Or what I'm doing..."

The camera flips over to see a couple of pretty German girls smiling and waving happily at the camera, making Peter blush and make a face.

Lisa rolls her eyes at her brother, smacking his arm and nudging him onward. Happy, still in his black suit, leads them into a warmly lit hotel as Peter 'wow's into the camera and Lisa playfully rolls her eyes behind him.

"Something about Captain America... going crazy?" Peter turns the camera to his sister as they walk through the lobby, "Right, Lisa, I mean, uh, Lees?"

"Yeah, uh, something like that..." Lisa scratches her forehead, glancing around awkwardly.

Happy stands in front of his own hotel room, nodding Peter towards the door beside his, "This is you."

Peter takes in a shocked gasp, exclaiming, "Oh, we're neighbors?!"

"We're not roommates."

Peter looks at Lisa with wide eyes as she stands on his other side in front of a door of her own.

"Don't look at me, you dork." She smiles and shrugs before pointing at his door, "Go get your suit on."

Peter stands in front of a fancy mirror in his own handmade suit, shaking his head and breathing out in nervousness, "Okay, Peter. You got this. You got this."

"Don't stress, Peter, you don't need a pep talk. You," Lisa suddenly stops as she walks into the room with Happy following behind her.

The twenty year old pulls a face and cocks her head to the side in confusion.

Happy throws out his hands, "What the heck you wearing?"

The boy points the camera down at his little socked feet, "It's my suit."

"Where's the case?"

"What case?" Peter responds in confusion making Lisa cringe at Happy who rolls his eyes and guides them both over to another door in the room, "That's not my - what? I thought that was a closet."

"Go in, please," Lisa motions him into the warm-lit room.

"This is still my room?!" Peter exclaims in shock, looking at the camera as his hotel room seems to go on for miles, "Whoa! My room is so much bigger than I thought,"

"Go!" Happy snaps in exasperation, giving the boy a push.

"Oh, I found the case!" Peter quickly hurries to oblige, jogging over to a metal case that sits on the coffee table in front of another couch, "I found the case, I found the case!"

Lisa walks up to his side and puts her hands on her hips, waiting for her brother to open the gift from her dad.

Peter quickly holds up a cream-colored card with small print on it, reading, "'A minor upgrade'?" As soon as Lisa unlatches the case, the thing unfolds into an intricate box full of gadgets, holograms, and a new and fancy suit, "Whoa! Oh my, God!"

Happy widens his eyes at him, saying with no patience whatsoever, "Put it on."

Peter yanks his janky mask off his head and his hair flies up on weird ends.

"What the-," Peter turns the camera between the unimpressed Happy and then the slightly cringing Lisa and then to the awesome suit again as he exclaims in disbelief, "This is the coolest thing I've ever seen!"

"Let's go!"

"Well, yeah, I-I, yeah, I don't understand, i-is it for me?"

Happy turns to Lisa with a flat expression, "Do you have this?"

Lisa smiles and nods quickly at her uncle, "Yeah, I got him."

Happy is already out the door by the time Peter yells after him, "Happy! Happy, wait! Lees, have you seen this?!"

"I have, actually." Lisa laughs a little as the camera still flops around.

"This is insane! Insane! Look at this thing, Lisa!" He redirects both his sister and the camera in front of the suit, "Look! Look at the eyes!" Peter looks at Lisa and shrugs, all jittery and stuff, "This is the greatest day of my life."

Happy suddenly show sup between the two, grabbing onto their shoulders and practically dragging them towards the exit, "Let's go, come on."

"Okay."

"Okay, there's Captain America, Iron Man, my sister - the Red Raven," Peter nearly giggles before continuing, "Black Widow, whoa!" His eyes squint at the Black Panther as the man stands beside his sister, "Who's that new guy?!"

"Underoos!" Tony's voice echoes.

"That's me! I gotta go, I gotta go!" Peter leaps away from his phone, flips through the air, webs Captain America's shield, and gracefully lands before them all just as the camera goes out of focus, "Hey everyone."

"Okay, so the craziest thing just happened, right?!"

"I just had a fight with Captain America and I stole his shield and I threw it at him and I," A monstrous body clothed in a black and red suit shoots up from behind him, holding onto Lisa's leg, and Peter stumbles back a little, "What... the... heck? Oh, he's big now, I gotta go get my sister back. Hang on."

Peter disappears for a minute just for him to reappear, flying through the air and screaming. "Ahh!"

"It was the most amazing thing that's ever happened!" The words struggle to get out of his mouth so quickly as he stands on his bed in his pajamas and with still wet freshly showered hair, "So, Mr. Stark was like, 'Hey Underoos!' and I just sorta flipped in and I stole Cap's shield," He bounces down to a sitting position and makes a face as he mimics his own self, "and I was like, 'Hey, what's up ever'body?' And then Lisa said," A knock on the door cuts him short and Peter hurriedly calls, "Hey, just a second! Coming!" He flips himself over the bed and lands just before Happy walks in wearing a white bathrobe, "Hey!"

"We have thin walls here."

The phone sits in Peter's lap as he comes to the end of his mini adventure with a Stark by his side once more. Only, this time, he's with a different Stark. As the camera sits videoing over the top of a pair of suited kneecaps, a hand suddenly reaches for the camera and readjusts the thing so that it falls back and captures Tony Stark's intrigued face.

Tony smirks a little as he looks back up at Peter, "What're you doing? A little video diary?"

"Yeah." Peter eventually answers a bit breathily, feeling slightly embarrassed and hesitant.

"It's all right." Tony tries to lean forward, but his voice turns to a slight gruff groan from the pain of the fight that's taken place in the past few days, "I'd probably do the same thing."

"I told him not to do it." The camera shakily redirects to the front of the car where Happy still drives them, "He was filming everything."

Tony responds quietly, "It's okay."

"I'm gonna wipe the chip."

Peter starts to defend himself, but Tony quickly cuts him off, "Hey, hey, hey, you know what? We should actually-we should make an alibi video for your guys' aunt anyway." He pulls off his blue-lensed sunglasses, "You ready? Rolling?"

"An alibi?"

"Yeah, get into frame."

"Sure, okay." Peter leans in closer so that both of them can now be seen.

Tony readjusts his shoulders against the leather seat, putting on a small smile, "Hey May! How you doing? What're you wearing? Something skimpy, I hope."

Peter's face changes from its smile as his eyebrows furrow and he sharply looks over at his sister's father.

Tony laughs, ducking his head before looking up and touching the boy's shoulder who is looking at him in an understandable mix of disgust and horror, "Peter, that's inappropriate." Peter puts on a forced smile as Tony points at the camera, "All right, let's start over, you can edit it."

"Mmhm." Peter hums back with a nod and an awkward laugh.

"Okay, three, two, one:

Hey May! My gosh, uh, wanna tell you what a fun time your nephew had with Lisa and what a wonderful job he did this weekend at the Stark Internship Retreat. Everyone was impressed and,"

A loud car horn blares, interrupting Tony pulls back from the camera before Happy shouts angrily, "Come on! It's a stinkin' merger, I'm sorry,"

Peter raises his eyebrows and looks between the two men, still not used to these two guys at all.

"This is 'cause you're not on Queens Boulevard." Tony points at him and gives a mockingly knowing nod before he clears his throat and turns back to the camera, "See, Happy is-is hoping to get bumped up to Asset Management. He was Forehead of Security, before that he was just a driver..."

"This is a private conversation." Happy quietly scolds from the front, shaking his head and glancing back and forth at him from the road, "I don't like joking about this. It was very hard for me to talk to you about"

"No, seriously, was he snoring a bunch on the plane?"

Happy scrunches up his lips and slams his car into a halt, bumping into the curb, "All right, here we are, end of the line, whoops."

Tony laughs and Peter awkwardly puckers his lips before the former says, "Happy, can you give us a moment?"

The stocky man turns back to him with a bit of a peeved expression, "You want me to leave the car?"

"Why don't you grab Peter's case out of the trunk?"

Peter's hands slowly lower from filming Tony and his brown eyes are wide with utter disbelief, "I can keep the suit?"

"Yeah, that was just what we were talking about."

Tony slides his sunglasses back on and he clears his throat, turning back to the kid, "Do me a favor, though. Happy's kind of your point guy on this. Don't stress him out. Don't do anything stupid. I've seen his cardiogram."

Meanwhile, Happy is completely struggling at yanking the heavy metal case out of the trunk.

When Peter doesn't respond for a long shock-filled moment, Tony shrugs his shoulder and dips his chin down, "All right?"

Peter quickly looks back at him and sharply nods, "Yes."

"Don't do anything I would do."

"And definitely don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Peter furrows his brows in deep contemplation as Tony turns away and holds up a space space between his thumb and forefinger, "There's a little gray area in there. That's where you operate."

"Wait, does that mean I'm an Avenger?"

Tony's eyes widen and his head dips as he slowly shuts the kid down, "No."

A knock on the window suddenly interrupts them, making the two turn to look through the back window as Happy holds up a metal case, "This it?"

"Seventh floor!" Tony chirps back carelessly, kind of amused that one of his best friends has to lug the case all the way up there.

"I can take that up." Peter quickly shakes his head and waves his phone at the stocky man, "You don't have to."

Happy raises his eyebrows, repeating him, "You gonna take it?"

"Yeah, I can take that."

"Thank you." Happy gives an aggravated and pointed look at Tony through the window.

Peter hurriedly turns back around to face Tony, "So, when am I going to see Lees again? When's our next-?" Tony's face darkens slightly beneath his blue sunglasses before Peter puts on a nearly giddy smile and uses his fingers a little 'quotation marks', "When's our next 'retreat', you know like...?"

Tony swallows back all of the other answers that he could say about how he has no clue where Lisa is, how he is probably never going to put Peter in an actual fight, how he's really wondering all of those things himself but simply settles for, "What? Next mission?"

"Yeah, the mission." Peter's smile quickly drops as he tries to be the serious Avenger-in-training that he is, "The missions."

Tony dismissively shrugs again, "We'll call you."

"Do you have my numbers?"

"No, I mean, we'll call you. Like," Tony motions his hands out in demonstration, "someone will call you."

"Oh."

"All right? Okay."

Somehow Tony doesn't really seem to mean it.

"From your team." But Peter's way too hyped to really notice as he quickly nods.

Tony leans across the empty seat and his hands stretch out past the boy. Peter thinks this is only mildly weird, but hey, a hug from Tony Stark is one a person can't turn down. So, Peter raises his eyebrows and wraps his arms around his back and puts his chin over Tony's shoulder, encasing him into a bit of strange embrace.

"That's not a hug. I'm just grabbing the door for you." Tony pushes the car door open and retracts his body back from Peter's awkwardly loosening grip.

"We're not there yet."

"Oh." Peter whispers and glances back at the now open door.

He turns back to Tony with a pressed smile as the man turns away and stares straight ahead of him, apparently done with this whole conversation now. Peter quickly looks away, turns, and promptly slides out of the vehicle.

Tony looks back with a half-smile and calls, "Bye."

The car zooms away, the tires screech on the pavement, and Peter Parker is left standing on the street, watching after them. A small smile curves at the corners of his lips as he stands amidst the yellow streetlights in the middle of Queens.

Peter bounces the case in his hand, grinning as he whispers to himself, "They're gonna call me!"

"Two months have passed and, yet, absolutely nothing has been heard."

The same old news report plays on every channel as it has for the past nearly eight weeks.

"Tony Stark's renowned daughter, Lisa Stark, is still missing in the wake of the Avengers' civil war."

The television plays loudly within the café whose table and chairs stay laid out on the sidewalk.

"The twenty year old was last seen in Germany in July, but since then, there have been no reported sightings of the young woman."

The sky is a bright blue and the busy streets yell with life, yellow taxis honking in traffic and people all going somewhere.

"The billionaire father has repeatedly given no comment about his daughter's whereabouts."

On the screen comes a clip of Tony Stark with his sunglasses on, ignoring reporter's shouted questions, as Happy Hogan pushes their way through the crowd.

"Stark Industries CEO, Pepper Potts, has been equally withholding about where Lisa has so mysteriously disappeared to when she told the studio on Friday that she and Tony ask for their 'privacy and the media's respect during this time'."

The CEO of Stark Industries herself is shown in a picture as she enters Avengers Tower.

"Due to their bizzare ambiguity, theories of just what exactly happened to the heroine called the Red Raven and the heiress to billions has become one of the most discussed topics of the year. These theories range from Lisa Stark having been kidnapped to being on the run with her fellow ex-Avenger, Steve Rogers, to the young woman being deceased..."

Hair that stretches down midway to the back blows in the wind and black-painted fingernails distractedly tap at the surface of the café's metal table.

The news report dies out as hands slide on a pair of headphones over a blonde head, not wanting to hear any more of the theories about the girl named Lisa Stark. As far as Lisa Stark is concerned, the girl that the world wants to know so much about really is gone. No more cameras, no more spotlights, no more stages and false faces.

I stay slightly leaned over the metal table with an ink blue pen in one hand, silently sketching the building that towers up in front of me. My black-stained lips are twisted downward and my blue eyes are narrowed as I stare at erratic sketch of the building. There's still time before I need to get back to her, still time before I need to be paying attention to who comes and goes. After all this time, I've worked it down to a science. If the clock on the television screen is right, then I have about ten more minutes until it's time to focus up.

Ten more minutes.

New York City continues to buzz around me, the sight of the city being familiar to my eye after nearly one and a half months of being anywhere but here. But I was drawn back into the city that never sleeps simply because that's where all of my unfinished business lies. After weeks upon weeks of shady motels, bitter cold showers, and changing my appearance, I've finally arrived exactly where I need to be. It was always going to happen here; we were always going to end up here.

This is where it all started.

And this is where it will end.

Nine more minutes.

A shadow appears over my face, blocking the light for my sketch. My pen stills on my paper and my teeth grit in irritation, but I say nothing to the person casting the shadow, expecting them to just move along. But suddenly the figure is releasing a quiet sigh and then sitting down at the only other chair set across from me.

"Hey, sorry, but that spot's..." My eyes quickly dart up and my sharp words die away on my tongue when I see a familiar woman with jet black hair sitting across from me, "...taken."

"Mind if I take a seat?" The woman raises her dark brows at me in question.

I feel my lungs contrat a little and my shoulders tighten from their relaxed position and my a lump rises in my throat.

Natasha Romanoff.

She looks different, a lot different than she did when I last saw her. Then again, with my hair is blonde and the long white scar that curves along the center of my face, I know I can't look too much like my old self either. God, we're so much different.

But she can't be here. No, no! She'll ruin it! She'll ruin everything! After all this time and now, today of all days...

Eight minutes.

I swallow distastefully at the sight of her as her red lips pull slightly into a smirk. It's not that I'm not happy to see her. It's just that... I'm not really happy to see her. The last time I saw her she was on Tony's side, willing to arrest the people who I ended up sort of getting arrested with. No, seeing Natasha Romanoff is definitely not a good sign. If she's found me, then that means others can't be too far behind and that means I'm officially screwed. That means the end to all that we've gone through and made these past two months. If she takes me in, I know that I'll be leaving someone behind and I know what's waiting for me when I do. Prison cells. Scratchy blankets. White lights.

No more me, no more us.

I haven't come this far just to come this far.

Seven minutes.

Trying hard to remain casual, I awkwardly motion at her and scrunch up my lips, "Well, you're already sitting there, so by all means, have at it."

"Thank you." Natasha hums back, picking up a menu and frowning down at the list of items, "I like the new look, Miss...?"

My lips purse and I self-consciously brush my blonde hair behind my ear, "Potts. Natalie Potts."

Natasha lifts her green eyes at me over the pleather edge of the menu, "Natalie Potts, huh? Sounds familiar."

I shrug slightly, but my throat still feels tight with unease, "I guess I can't say I get points for originality."

"No, no, that's good." She nods, leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs over one another, "You use names that are familiar to you, the life comes easier to you." She smirks again but it's lacking her usual snarkiness that I've come to know so well, "I'm glad to see my training has paid off."

"Yeah?" I nod stiffly, my fingers still tapping rhythmically against the table, "Believe me, you're not the only one."

Six minutes.

There's a terse pause where she just studies me and I study her right back. I can't see through her; no matter how much she's always been able to see through me, even back when I was a fifteen year old girl whose biggest problems were wires in her flesh and a psycho Russian dude on a racetrack. But Natasha... I guess I still just don't have that skill. God, what have we come to? How did we get to the point where I feel as if I can't even trust her? This is all such a mess. But I got to remember why I'm doing this, why I've done everything I've done for the past eight months.

Finally, I ask with as much of a blank face and voice as I can manage, "You here to arrest me?"

Natasha scoffs out a laugh, "Oh no, that's way far out of my league at this point. I'm sad to say the authorities and I have parted ways." She squints her eyes thoughtfully, that playful smirk actually coming back this time, "Not so cordially, in fact."

"Tragic." I smirk a little before it fades, "Where are you headed if not back to the Compound?"

She gives a slight head shake to the side, "Wherever a couple of our mutual friends are running off to. It hasn't been easy tracking them down, surprising to say. It seems a few of those friends know how to stay low to the ground just as well as I do."

With my eyes rolling down to the tabletop, I sigh irritatedly, "And here I thought I was doing so well at keeping a low profile."

"Oh, you were!" Natasha nods, nonchalantly looking back over the menu, "Took me about a month to finally track you down, and I've been trying to tail you ever since."

"Any specific reason or am I really that interesting?"

She laughs, "You are pretty interesting, but I just wanted to make sure you were okay, especially in your condition..."

Five minutes.

Natasha's green eyes squint and she shakes her black head, "How have you been? Really. You look like you've found a way take care of yourself..." Her eyes drop down to my abdomen that is now flat within my stolen jean jacket, making me wrap an arm around my stomach and uncomfortably shift under the attention, "How did you... Were you all by yourself?"

It takes everything inside of me to keep my expression blank when I nod.

Natasha's reserved expression cracks and her eyes crinkle as she quietly whispers, "Oh my, God, Kid..."

"No, don't." I shake my head harshly, biting down hard onto my bottom lip to keep myself together, "Really, don't. I just... I don't need your sympathy. It, um, it was..." My eyes sting and I quickly glance down at the tabletop, "Painful, but, uh..." I clear my throat again and I squint up at her, my blonde hair falling into my eyelashes, "Pepper was supposed to be there, you know? She would've wanted to be there."

Natasha frowns deeply at me, "God, Kid, we really did get ourselves into trouble this time, didn't we?"

I don't take my eyes off of her, neither answering or reacting.

She quickly moves on, "You did do decently well at hiding the baby bump. I only figured out in May." I scoff sarcastically and, after a few seconds, she goes on quietly with a sad smile and another nod, "Boy or girl?"

There's a small silence where I nearly hesitate before I respond, "Girl."

"I knew it." Natasha smiles a bit more, her eyes lighting up in a way I wouldn't have expected, "That's good. You'll do good with a girl..." My heart clenches a little bit at her words before she squints, "Where is she?"

"With someone I trust..." I answer ambiguously, careful of whoever may be listening, "...Really, it's the weirdest thing, Nat. I-I'm still just a kid, a stupid, stupid kid and now... I'm expected to be something that I wasn't really sure I could be." My eyes flicker to the side and I shake my head, mumbling, "God, I'm really starting to sound like,"

"Your dad."

My eyes dart back up to Natasha's and my jaw clenches.

Four minutes.

And despite the anger that flies up into my chest, I know that it's true. Of course it's true. Tony Stark was young and all alone, trying to fight the world when I showed up in the picture and changed absolutely everything for him. And now I'm out here on my own, running from the past and now I have this... child that's mine and that's good and that's pure, but she's looking at me like I need to be all that she has. Isn't it rather fitting that I should follow my father's same path? Kids always end up like their parents. Don't they?

I slowly and painfully nod, accepting her substitution but not willing to fully voice it, "I guess I always thought if I ever came to this point, I would have him and Pepper around to tell me how the heck they managed to do it."

"You'll figure it out. You're a smart kid. You'll be exactly what she needs you to be." Natasha eyes flash with something I can't quite decipher before she shakes her head and smirks, "Consider yourself lucky. If your dad was around, he wouldn't stop pressuring you to name the little munchkin after him."

And though it hurts, a small smile still breaks through my reluctant expression, "He would. That's true."

She laughs a little before a small silence follows in which her eyes grow firm and her voice low, "What are you doing, Miss Potts?"

Three minutes.

My mouth goes as dry as cotton and my expression hardens like stone. My heart beats just enough harder for it hurt my rib cage and my eyes drop to the tabletop. My slightly trembling hands slide from my lap and slowly ball into fists on top of the table. My head shakes my blonde hair off of my shoulders and my teeth grit against each other.

"I don't expect you to understand."

"I understand better than you think."

"I don't need to explain myself to you or to anyone else."

"I'm not asking for a 'why'."

"Really? Because that seems to be exactly what you're doing."

Two minutes.

"I know why. Frankly, I understand why. God knows I wouldn't blame you!"

"Then leave it alone."

"I can't. Because I know you, you little freak. I myself offered you this chance two years ago and you turned me down."

"Nat..."

"You know why? Because you're a good person."

"I said, leave it alone, Nat."

"For weeks, I've followed you and I've watched you just watching your target and,"

"Not my target."

"Then, what is this to you?"

I don't answer.

"Huh?!" She leans closer to me across the tabe, pinching her thumb and forefinger together in demonstration, "Because I know what happened to you, Kid. I know and I understand. It was..." Natasha pauses and shakes her head to search for the right word, "Disgusting."

One minute.

My eyes squeeze closed and I swallow hard.

"And it was sick and it was painful and wrong, but I know you."

"At this point, I'm still trying to know me, so how could you even begin to,"

"Because everyone has always known you better than you know yourself!" Natasha suddenly snaps out the words, making me clamp my mouth shut and stare at her for a long moment, "Your dad, your family, your brother, us. So, listen to me because I care about you. You need to remember that you've got more riding on you than just yourself at this point. You have your daughter and you have your brother."

My expression contorts just slightly at the mention of them, my them.

"I know you love them more than anything, Kid, so think about them before you do this."

Time's up.

My eyes flick from Natasha's face until I slowly find the person among the crowd, the person that I've been watching ever since I returned to New York, one of the reasons I left Wakanda in the first place.

She's laughing. A good and loud laugh. A laugh that sounds pure, one that sounds full-hearted and honest. Her now chestnut brown hair falls down her back in smooth waves. Laugh lines are gathered on her cheeks because of her pearly white teeth that put into a careless smile. Her wild blue eyes nonchalantly move through the crowd as she sips at her usual straight black coffee from the café.

She looks so happy, so content.

Lisa.

That's her name.

Lisa.

That's what she's gone by for the past eighteen years.

Lisa Parker.

She took my own name and she desecrated it out of sheer mockery. And I don't know why she ever would have wanted that name of all names.

"She's not my target, Nat." A small breath leaves my lungs as I stare at Janice Montgomery, "She's my mother."

AHHH! Plot twist, and so early on! It was about time Janice finally showed her face, huh? It's a necessary development that as Lisa joins her brother's life that she also needs to deal with Janice. And now she's also got the baby in the picture (which I also debated so much about this, gosh, but having already had the baby was a necessary step to have accomplished and that will definitely be discussed more later, I promise).

Okay, now it's time for some reflection. Whew, that one seriously kicked my butt and left me for dead in a ditch in the middle of a country whose name I can't even pronounce, okay? I wrote and rewrote and deleted and laid facedown in bed and complained a lot. But I got it written and I posted it. It actually freaks me out, was it good? Now, it's your turn to leave some thoughts.

Future Quote:

"God, T, how can you make it so easy?"

"Why do you make it so hard?"

- a conversation between Lisa and T'Challa about their "situation", Black Panther

I'm so crazy excited to write these two in this movie.