Who. Natasha Romanoff & Rapunzel When. February 1; flower curse plot Where. The Station; Apt 115 Warnings. ... emotions? Talk of prior imprisonment?
Are you scared, too?
She had tried to heal him. Rapunzel had tried to wake her brother because the whole thing seemed very strange but he had not roused. She had said his name, louder and louder, to no avail. So the blonde had wrapped her hair around him with shaking hands and sang the healing incantation with a quaver in her voice. Her hair had glowed but nothing more happened. James still did not wake. That was when she had turned to the network, too afraid to leave his side and uncertain of who to call. She could call Tony and Steve but were they even available? What time was it? Would they even know the phone was ringing and could she risk the potentially precious time it took to see?
Pascal, worried as he was, left his person to go scale the door and turn the lock as Rapunzel had asked. Uncertain of what else to do, he remained there, perched on the doorknob while he waited. Listened.
Pepper and Natasha both had offered to come over and came to keep her company, which she appreciated. The whole ordeal was scary and she kept trying to come up with things she could have done differently. Things she could have done right.
Natasha offered to stay longer, once they were certain nothing seemed wrong with James except that he wouldnโt rouse. She didnโt quite understand all of the words being said, ideas being discarded and decisions being made. Rapunzel sat in Jamesโ preferred seat among their furniture, bare feet pulled up so her heels were on the edge of the cushion. Her arms were wrapped around her knees and she had gone so quiet through the whole thing.
"Are you scared, too?" Rapunzel asked finally, large green eyes lifting to watch Natasha. So brave; so strong. It was easier to aspire to be like another girl--another woman than the men she lived with, especially when she was so much smaller.
**
As much as she craved and longed for a normal, boring life, there was still a part of her that came alive in a crisis. Her shoulders squared. Her focus pinpointed on the problem, and Natasha's mind whirred to life with checklists. Things she could control in an uncontrollable environment, things she could fix and do immediately or in the long term. She could not allow panic and fear to set in and take over, not when it was her kid or her kid's family who needed help. It didn't matter what multiverse James and Tony were from; it didn't matter that she hadn't physically given birth to James: he was part of her, and as much as Tony needed reassurance that the boy he raised was safe, so did she.
That little chameleon was something else, and she told him so when she let herself in. She didn't waste time running her tests. James' vitals were strong, his pupils were responsive. She quickly ruled out head injury and drugs. As far as she could tell, he was just asleep, and she sent Tony and Steve a message letting them know and promising to update them if anything changed.
After Pepper left, Natasha settled on the sofa in the living room and tried to work through what could have caused this. She caught herself chewing on the cuticles of her thumb, the only sign she was stumped beyond chalking it up to magic, and forced her hand to her lap to keep the girl at ease. It didn't work. Rapunzel's question and vulnerability melted Natasha, and she turned in her seat to face the girl, tucking her feet beneath her as she did.
"I am," she replied gently, honestly, "but I'm also optimistic that this won't last. Things like this don't seem to, at least." Nat took a deep breath and laughed ruefully. "Being scared isn't always bad. It can help us focus and persevere. And optimism reminds us to hope. The trick is to not let that hope blind us from reality, or to let the fear stop us from acting." She smiled at Rapunzel, and hoped that the pride she felt for how Rapunzel handled herself showed. "You did everything right today, and James is so lucky to have you for a sister."
**
Rapunzel was quiet as Natasha spoke and the words all did make sense. The woman had admitted to being scared and that had made the blonde feel better already; they could share in that emotion because they both felt it and were worried about James.
"Mother used to keep me in the tower by making me afraid. Everything that was outside the tower, all the bad things," Rapunzel said softly. Her hair was unbound still from her attempts at 'healing' James (though Natasha had already assured her that he wasn't hurt and that was why it wasn't working) and trailed off the couch and around the area as was normal for the apartment. The men she lived with were quite conscious of trying to not trod on it when she didn't have it in the intricate braids she and James had figured out early on. "It didn't stop me, not in the end, so I can see where it isn't always bad."
Her smile was slow but still genuine. "I am lucky to have him for a brother. I think it goes both ways," she said but tears pricked her eyes and her smile wobbled. Rapunzel wiped at her eyes with the heel of a hand and gave a small laugh. "We're supposed to watch out for each other and I still don't know what happened. And he will wake up and he will probably tease me for being so worried for no reason." And then he would hug her and Rapunzel would know that everything was alright. "I don't know how long this is going to last and I am going to worry every second."
**
Only years of training kept the flickers of anger and heartbreak off Nat's face, but her heart ached for Rapunzel. She knew a thing or two about being locked away and molded into a world view that she didn't necessarily want. She knew a lot about fighting her way out of that life. It was softer in the girl, but she could see that same spark for life in her eyes.
"The unknown is reason enough to worry, and the fact that you are worried means that you're absolutely watching out for him." She didn't know her well enough to know if she would welcome physical comfort, and Natasha was still learning how to ask about those boundaries. Her students helped; they gave her insight into the minds of actual teenagers who live in a world where some strange things happened, but only adjacent to them. This one was living with the weirdness every day. Her instincts told her to protect, to gather her up and wrap her in a bubble so she couldn't be hurt, but were those maternal or the instincts of someone who'd been fighting bad guys for a long time?
"I think we're two sides of the same coin." She sat forward, elbow on her knee and chin thoughtfully on her hand. "While you learned to fear in your tower, I learned to fight in mine. I was locked away and made into a tool for other people to use, but I always knew there could be more to life. I wanted people to worry about, and if it's okay with you, I'd like to add you to that list and hang out here until James is awake or your dads are back, whichever happens first?" She didn't think she'd be able to stop something from happening to Rapunzel if it was the magic, but... "It's a strictly selfish request," she continued with a grin. "I'll worry a path in the floor if I can't keep an eye on the two of you."
**
A smile flickered, slow and uncertain, as Natasha assured her that Rapunzel was watching out for the person she viewed as her brother. She had never had siblings, of course, but she and James had taken to each other immediately. The uncertainty grew though it morphed into confusion. How could she and this strong, resilient woman be another side of a shared coin? They were very different.
And then it made sense. Understanding dawned on Rapunzel's face for a moment; she had been a tool as well though she hadn't known it at the time. She hadn't known it here, either, until pieces had slowly slotted into place. But Mother was still Mother and she was the woman who'd raised her. Loved her, in Mother's way. "People shouldn't be used," Rapunzel said quietly. But her seated form shifted so she was turned and facing Natasha with her shoulder pressed against the back of James' place on the couch. "I would like that. If you waited with me," she said earnestly. "I know that James would like it, too. He gets sad when you leave and come back without memories of him but I know that he loves you no matter if you remember him or not. Maybe he will know you're here. That we're here," Rapunzel went on and her gaze dropped. "We're here, waiting for him and worrying over him. I think people like being worried over even if maybe we think we might be a burden sometimes."
She sighed, a heavy thing from such a small body. "I have never met my real mother. Or my real father. I have dreamt about them. Because of this place. The magic isn't always bad," Rapunzel said, rushing as though she needed to defend the bright spots that had happened. "And I haven't had to heal anyone in a while. That's good, right? Only Yelena--oh. She told me not to tell you. Sorry." The blonde grimaced.
**
"No," she agreed gently, her tone soft and thoughtful, "they should not. There's not always a choice in the matter, but when there is, what we do with that choice is very important. I will never forgive the people who used me, but I use that anger and sorrow to try to do better, to leave the world better."
Natasha reached out and gently put her hand on Rapunzel's knee, giving it what she hoped was a reassuring squeeze. "Thank you. And I bet he does. I don't know if he's dreaming, but they do say that people in comas--not that this is a coma--can hear people talking around them. I bet he heard you try to heal him." It was maybe wishful thinking, a part of her that needed him to know that she was there for him no matter what, even though she didn't know him that well yet. It was hope that he knew. "Even those of us who pretend that we don't like to be worried about."
Removing her hand, she leaned against the back of the couch and actively listened. "I don't know my birth parents, either. I sometimes have flashes of memories of my mother, but that was so long ago that they aren't even sepia toned." She thought of Alexei and Melina, her fake parents for three years. They were more real to her than her mother. "I won't tell her you slipped," she laughed, but crossed her heart. "I'm sure she has all kinds of fun and not so safe ways to cope with things. I used to be the same way."
Shaking her head, she glanced at all of the hair. She didn't really want to move around it to cook, but they needed food. "How about we let the two knuckleheads standing guard in the hallway in to check on James themselves, I order some Thai for all of us, and we put on a movie." Nat had caught the conversation between Yelena and Bucky, and even though her sister had advised against everyone converging, she was 99.99% sure Yelena was waiting, too.
**
For the first time since James had gone down that morning, Rapunzel's face lit up. It was still more dim than her usual, much more open expression... but it was a start. "I can let them in. I like the idea of food and then a movie and we can all," Rapunzel said and trailed off for a moment. "Be here for each other."
And it would be easier to fend the update requests if most of them were in the same room. Not everyone was there but that was okay, too. Cher was at least nearby. But Tony and Steve were still many hours away if they were coming back. Natasha had been trying to convince them that there was nothing they could do from either location and Rapunzel couldn't be selfish; she couldn't ask for them to come home anyway. Maybe having Natasha around -- and Bucky and Yelena -- would ease that ache of lonely helplessness. "Can I pick the movie?"