Times had been tough around Black Widow House. Steve had made a recent disappearance list, and with that came the return of the eldest member of the household. Kate hated it. Not having Nat back – internally, that part made her ecstatic, even though her sister had never been far – but the circumstances around it. Steve had made Natasha happy. They’d seen some sort of future together. Kate didn’t like seeing that ripped from her so suddenly
Unfortunately, that was Vallo’s way. At a certain point, they had to accept it. It sucked, but Natasha was stoic. She moved forward, even when it was painful, and that meant training continued on. She’d come in and gently shake Kate awake, as usual. Emily led a very different schedule, especially now that she’d taken up a management role at Al’s, and Nat was always careful only to wake Kate. Having her girlfriend beside her did make her whine and try to wrestle Natasha into bed with her much less, at least.
But until Natasha came in, she was usually dead to the world. She always burnt through enough energy to sleep soundly, and she wasn’t particularly prone to insomnia. Being up earlier than the time she was prepared to be up was unusual for her – it had happened, but it was usually due to a shift in circumstances. Most memorable was Teen Yelena’s reappearance back in the spring, and even then, she’d dragged her sister into bed with her and made her lay down a while longer so Kate could keep sleeping.
This particular morning, the door to her now-shared room with Emily at Black Widow House creaked open slowly. Two little sets of feet padded slowly across the carpeted floor. When one of the feet’s owners giggled, the other made a loud shushing sound, and the first went quiet again – for a minute.
They announced their presence by clambering on top of the bed and bouncing onto its occupants. One little voice crowed, “Mooooooooooommyyyyy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!” and the other quickly joined in until Kate inevitably jerked awake, pushing up on her elbows and raising her head to find the source of the noise while her heart pounded madly in her chest.
Her raised head was greeted with two manically giggling little gremlins – well, girls, they were definitely girls, but in the pre-dawn morning, they might have been gremlins for all Kate knew. A little pair of arms clamped around her neck while her brain tried to register what was happening.
“Mommy! You’re awake!!”
“Who, me?” she rasped out in disbelief. No way could that be right, these kids had to have the wrong house. She shoved at Emily’s hip, eyes wide and deeply confused.
Emily registered voices talking as she drifted in between sleep and waking, though she was still far too close to the sleeping side of things to really pick up on anything or wonder why there were so many voices in her bedroom at this early, early hour. The shove to her hip finally jostled her more firmly to the wakeful side of things and Emily mumbled a tired “Huh?” before she rolled over and opened her eyes. She blinked at the sight of the two toddlers on their bed and as she fully processed her shock, she pushed herself upright. One of the children was wrapped around Kate, and as soon as she was sitting, Emily found the other one launching directly at her. Instinct took over and she reached her arms out to catch her.
As the adrenaline from the unknown situation began to wake up her brain, Emily tried to put the pieces together. Twin girls who seemed perfectly at ease in their bedroom, calling Kate mommy. Emily looked over to her girlfriend with slightly shining eyes, then turned back to the little girl who had snuggled securely into her arms. “Good morning.”
“Good morning, mama.”
Kate reached over to her nightstand to slap on the touch lamp, illuminating the room in a way that made her wince until her eyes took a few seconds to adjust. Part of her hoped this was some kind of elaborate illusion, but nope. The light made it very clear that she was looking at kids – no older than four, maybe five years old. The second of whom had settled down and appeared content to just curl up with Emily while this one had her in as close to a choke hold as a kid her age could manage. Probably; Kate wasn’t going to test that theory.
“Wow,” she breathed. She patted at the little girl’s back, plucking at her arms to loosen her grip so she could at least sit up properly. “Uh, hey. Hi, I mean. You’re – Are you sure we’re your moms? Because – well, I think I’d probably remember that.”
“Yep! I’m Chase, and that’s Maren.” The kid’s arms finally left Kate’s neck and she mimicked her sister, taking over Kate’s lap, back to her front, head laying against her shoulder. “We’re four!”
Emily’s eyes watered slightly when the lamp flashed on. (Definitely just the lamp and not anything to do with the little girl looking up at her adoringly.) She blinked back against the stinging, absolutely refusing to take her arms from around Maren, then she looked over at Kate, and down to Chase, who had finally settled down ever so slightly.
“Are-um. Are you two here for a visit?” She stumbled slightly over the words. This had happened before. Kids showing up temporarily from the future. She’d heard Carol talk about Marley several times, and well, she’d seen it for herself all over the network. But she hadn’t dealt with it directly before. At least not with kids. She wasn’t sure if they understood what was happening or not. “Are you hungry? Thirsty? We should make you breakfast.”
This wasn’t an entirely new experience for Kate, but it was. There had been kids around last year, but her interactions with them had been minimal – mostly because Vallo had chosen that same time period to age her up. It was her older self’s interference that had gotten her to confess how she felt for Emily, but she had zero memory of that time. She wished she had, if only so she could have expected these two little rascals who were waking them up well before dawn.
The sun wasn’t even up yet, damn it.
Chase, apparently the spokesperson of the two, answered all of Emily’s questions. “Mommy told us that Vallo gets silly sometimes and that we were gonna be here for two weeks,” she announced. Kate’s eyes went wide and she bit down on her bottom lip to keep from gasping out loud. Two weeks. “And we like banana pancakes, please and thank you!! And I like orange juice, but Maren likes cranberry.”
“Ooookay.” Kate gave the little girl in her arms a little nudge to coax her out of her lap – her attempt failed. “Well, let’s get up and… see if we have those things.” She looked toward Emily; she couldn’t remember who had last restocked the refrigerator. “And if not, I guess we can do DoorDash or something.”
Emily’s own eyes widened a little at the timetable. Two weeks suddenly sounded like an incredibly long time. But as she looked back down to Maren who was settled contentedly in her arms and was now sucking her thumb, she also wondered if it would be long enough. She glanced back over to Kate who was trying unsuccessfully to get Chase out of her lap and had to hold back a small laugh.
“Chase, want a piggyback ride to the kitchen?”
Emily shifted Maren’s weight to one of her arms, then turned so Chase could clamber onto her back. As little arms locked themselves around her neck, Emily choked slightly as her future daughter cut off her air supply. With a now limited flow of air, she managed to adjust both the little girls, Maren in one arm, with Chase on her back and being supported by the other. Thank God she had great arm strength from swimming. With the girls situated, she stood up and turned to face Kate. “I can get them settled if you need a minute,” she said in a low voice, her dark eyes earnest.
Kate was still a bit stunned, but Emily’s offer, watching the way she balanced both of those little girls in her arms despite the obvious risks to her health, snapped her out of it. “No, no,” she said, climbing out of bed and reaching out to scoop Maren into her arms. She smiled at Emily and kissed her cheek with a soft smile. “I’ve got this. We’ve got this.”
It wasn’t such a huge, abnormal change. She played with Francis and Morgan regularly and soaked up every second she could. She hadn’t expected to have two kids of her own – with Emily – just clamber into bed with them, but it wasn’t a bad thing. She just needed to wrap her mind around it. In real time, though; she wasn’t leaving all this on Em for a second.
Heading out of the bedroom, she and Emily plunked Maren and Chase down in front of the TV and turned on cartoons for them – Chase demanded Bluey, to which Maren enthusiastically nodded her agreement, and Kate acquiesced – before heading into the kitchen to see what they had for their unexpected breakfast guests. The fridge was fairly stocked, but a search of the cabinets and countertops showed no evidence of bananas.
“I guess that’s one item for DoorDash,” Kate commented, picking up her phone to swipe into the app. “Why don’t we have bananas, anyway? They’re supposed to prevent scurvy, we should have some.”
That was not correct, but she didn’t notice it. Was it obvious she was still a little thrown? She didn’t think so, not at all.
As soon as they entered the kitchen, Emily inhaled deeply. It felt like the first actual breath she’d taken since she’d woken up. While Kate started looking for breakfast ingredients, she headed over to the coffee machine and hit start. She sent up a silent thanks to the Emily of last night, who had already gotten everything ready to go. The machine perked to life and the sound and smell of fresh coffee began to fill the room. At this point, she let out a quick snort of laughter.
“That’s citrus fruits, baby. Bananas help prevent muscle cramps. But I do agree we should probably have more fresh fruit around here in general. Make sure to add cranberry juice to the list too.” Emily’s mind started to race. There were so many things they needed. Clothes. Shoes. Tiny toothbrushes. Toys? They had to get toys, right? Child locks. There were so many weapons in this house. She felt her heart begin to race in her chest, and suddenly the coffee didn’t seem necessary anymore.
Her eyes wide with growing panic, Emily moved over to Kate. “Oh my god. I’m starting to freak out now.”
Kate diligently obeyed, adding cranberry juice and an assortment of other fruits to the list. She was just starting to browse through the suggested kids’ foods, too; they’d probably need some of that with the addition of kids in the household. But when Emily stepped closer to her, she quickly set the phone on the counter and immediately switched into comfort mode, reaching out to run her hands up and down her girlfriend’s arms. It was a good mode for her right now, actually; if she had someone else to worry about, it might give her focus and bring some self soothing in the process.
“Hey, it’s gonna be okay,” she assured Emily with a smile, kissing her forehead. “We can totally manage this. I’m sure Natasha will be up soon, and maybe we can call Pepper later. They’ll help us get all set up. Two weeks is–” Forever, she wanted to say, but she resisted. “It’s manageable. And they’re…sweet. Kinda loud, but if they’re my kids… yeah, that tracks.”
“Right, you’re right.” Kate switching over into comfort mode did help. Emily inhaled deeply through her nose and tried to focus her racing thoughts on the feeling of Kate’s hands on her arms. Natasha and Pepper were both great with kids, and stayed cool under pressure. Everything would be okay. She inhaled again and nodded her head. At Kate’s commentary about them being loud, Emily let out a soft huff of laughter, then leaned in to rest her head on Kate’s shoulder.
“We’re moms.”
“Yeah,” Kate murmured, lifting a hand to tangle gently into Emily’s hair as she hugged her close. It was hard to absorb that, but it was a fact nonetheless. They were moms. Or they would be someday – hopefully that someday was a little further down the line because the thought made Kate anxious. Having kids full-time wasn’t the same thing as being Cool Aunt Kate to the mini Starks. Not even close.
Emily curled herself up into that hug and continued to focus on her breathing and the gentle movements of Kate’s hands. She moved her own arms to encircle Kate’s waist and just held onto her while they both took a second to process everything. After a few quiet moments, Emily felt somewhat grounded again and lifted her head up to press a kiss to Kate’s lips. “At least we know we manage to keep them alive through toddlerhood.”
Kate tenderly returned the kiss, smiling against her girlfriend’s lips. “Yeah,” she repeated. There was something relieving about seeing these girls were happy and healthy. She didn’t think she’d expected anything different, not really; she had her chaotic bursts, but she knew how to handle herself. She knew how to settle in and be good. Having Emily as this strong, unwavering anchor had only helped. “And we’ll keep them around ‘til they’re at least a hundred.”
That earned a genuine laugh from Emily and she raised a hand to brush a stray curl behind Kate’s ear. “Deal.” She looked at Kate for a long moment, still smiling, before she continued on.
“I’m feeling better now. Thank you. Are you doing okay? Or still just in shock mode?”
“Bit of both?” Kate suggested with a sheepish smile. She could push through for Emily’s sake and for these girls’ sake – because she had to in order to have any sense of normalcy. That didn’t mean her mind wasn’t still racing at the thought of having kids. Kids of her own. “But I know it’s going to be okay because I have you. We’re in this together. And it helps that they’re super cute.”
That drew another smile out of Emily. “They really are, aren’t they?” Ridiculously cute. God, they were probably going to get away with everything.
Childish yells from the living room had Em spinning on her heel with a slight edge of panic. It disappeared as quickly as it had arrived however, as she made out the words actually being shouted overtop of cartoons.
“Auntie Nat!”
The sounds of clumsy toddler legs running echoed through to the kitchen, and Emily linked her hands through Kate’s, then pulled them toward the commotion.
As soon as Kate heard the twins calling for her sister, there was another slight sag of relief to her shoulders. She and Emily could absolutely handle this on their own. She believed that wholeheartedly, wouldn’t have said it if she didn’t, but having a strong support system in the people around them only helped. And Natasha had the magic touch when it came to kids – she was the Cool Aunt that Kate aspired to be to the little Starks. She had no doubt that was true of Chase and Maren, too.
By the time she and Emily made it down into the living room, the two little people had already latched onto their Auntie Nat, and Kate grinned at the sight. “Morning, Natty. Meet Chase and Maren. We’ve been told they’re ours and here for the next two weeks.”
The shock of finding children in the living room faded away quickly for Natasha. This was Vallo after all, and it was about a year ago that she’d sat in this living room with an older, married Kate who had happily told her all about these girls. She’d quickly shifted into Aunt mode by the time Emily and Kate appeared and was in the process of settling herself down onto the floor with the twins. The pair of them squished into her lap together without the slightest bit of prompting and Nat couldn’t help but chuckle and ruffled Chase’s hair.
She gave the moms-to-be a sympathetic smile. They were both still so young, and there was no question that this was overwhelming for them. Perhaps it was a small blessing that she was back at the Black Widow house now. “Lucky you, I guess you get a free pass on training for a couple of weeks. I think these two are going to be all the training you can handle.”
“I get the feeling I’ll get my share of running,” Kate agreed. There was this amazing warmth in her chest at the sight of her sister with the girls in her lap. They looked so comfortable with her, and it settled some of the shaky feelings that had come with the havoc of this month. First Steve disappearing, then the hacked disappearance notifications that had given her a split second heart attack on Yelena’s behalf – yeah, it hadn’t been good.
This, though? She honestly couldn’t have asked for more. If Chase and Maren hadn’t known Natasha, that would have broken her heart because she’d know what it meant. She’d know her sister had gone back to a time where she’d sacrificed herself and they’d never met. She couldn’t stand the thought.
“I’m ordering some quick groceries on DoorDash, Tasha. Anything you can think of we need?”
“Hmmm.” Natasha drawled the word out in an exaggerated fashion which made the twins giggle. “I’m definitely thinking ice cream.”
“Yeah!” Both Maren and Chase yelled the word in unison and Natasha had to fight the urge to burst out laughing.
Emily chuckled and shook her head. “For breakfast?”
Natasha’s eyes sparkled with humor as she heaved a heavy sigh. “I guess we can wait until a little later. Ice cream is always better after a trip to the park anyway.”
“I see Auntie Nat is a bad influence,” Kate huffed, narrowing her eyes at her big sister playfully. “You know what? Why don’t we all go out for breakfast? You girls can get whatever food and juices you want, and we can bring home something for Auntie Lena later.”
Whether or not Yelena was still asleep at this point was debatable, but Kate figured she might just not be ready to face what were clearly a couple of enthusiastic children at this point. A couple hours out would give her time to adjust to the idea of two more mouths in their cozy little house.
“And I’m thinking–” She gently nudged Emily. “–that a stop at Target might be in order since we are, uh, lacking in little girls’ clothes.”
Natasha shrugged at being labeled a bad influence, then gave Kate a knowing smirk. “I think going out is a great idea.” She looked down to the twins once more. “Want me to braid your hair for you before we go?” There was a chorus of agreement from little voices and Natasha was back on her feet with one of their hands in each of hers.
As Natasha herded the girls toward the bathroom, Emily gave a soft sigh of relief and nodded. “And so so much coffee.”