When I woke up the next morning, I was no longer on the roof, leaning on Loki's shoulder, but rather I was back in my bed, several blankets draped over me, creating a warm bubble around me. I slowly sat up, immediately spotting a figure sitting in a chair by my window. Before I could even stiffen, the figure, partly hidden in the shadows, turned to look at me and I recognised Loki's face straight away.

"I wanted to make sure you didn't have any more nightmares." He said, as if he could see my unasked question.

"Have you been awake the whole time?" I furrowed my eyebrows at him and he chuckled faintly.

"I wasn't going to fall asleep anyway." He replied, standing up from the arm chair and using his magic to change into new clothes.

"Thank you." I smiled softly at him, sweeping my messy hair out of my face.

"Potts came in here about ten minutes ago to say that breakfast was ready." He said, moving towards my door. "She wants your help with more feast preparations after as well."

"Okay." I nodded, clambering out of my bed only to find that I was still wrapped in the blanket that Loki had conjured up and I quickly called out to him before he could open my door. "Wait, Loki, do you want the blanket back?"

"Keep it." He gave me a grin, opening up the door and disappearing outside, shutting the door and leaving me to get ready.

I had a quick shower and changed into a loose pair of tracksuit pants and a thick sweat shirt, the smell of buttered croissants and toast immediately hitting me as soon as I began to walk down the stairs. I had missed breakfast, the table completely cleared and everyone scattered through the compound, but as soon as Pepper saw me, she handed me a saved plate of ham and cheese croissants.

"I just realised I haven't really thanked you for all of the help you have been giving me with food preparations." She smiled at me as I sat on one of the bench stools, watching her kneed dough on the bench. "It has helped so much, it saves me so much stress."

"That's okay." I smiled around a mouthful of croissant. "I don't mind doing it."

"If you get sick of it, just tell me." She said, seeming concerned. "I don't want to force you to do anything."

"I'm happy to be doing it." I shook my head, trying to give her a comforting smile. "Really, its fine."

"Thank you." She breathed out a small sigh of relief. "You know, you do so much for me, all without complaint. Honestly, you're... you're kind of like a daughter to me."

"Really?" I looked up at her in surprise before a small smile broke out on my face. "Tony said the same thing once."

"I know." She smiled softly, pausing her kneading of the dough. "You really are. We all care for you, not just me and Tony."

I smiled softly and ducked my head, trying to hide the rise of emotions on my face, swallowing my last mouthful of croissant.

"Come on." She smiled down at me. "This bread isn't going to cook itself.

-{+}-

Once all of the final preparations were done for the food, I finally got to curl up on the couch with Clint, Nat, Wanda and Loki, watching the Christmas movie that Wanda had put on chewing left over shortbread.

"Mr. Stark." JARVIS's voice interrupted the movie, causing Nat to groan. "You have visitors at the door."

I immediately tensed up, cursing myself for not carrying a weapon with me as Tony slowly got up, seeming reluctant to leave whatever project he was working on at the kitchen table. All of us turned away from the movie, the others looking at the tinted windows in confusion, while my heart sped up. I heard murmuring voices outside and I tensed even more, my eyes darting around for any weapon I could use as my fire began to bubble in my veins. Loki must have sensed the heat because he put a gentle hand on my arm, trying to send a wave of his calming magic through me.

Tony slowly opened up the door and I bunched up my muscles, getting ready to leap up. The voices stopped and I held my breath, waiting for Tony to be attacked. But seconds later, he stepped to the side and let in a group of three people.

It took me a couple of seconds to recognize the faces, my vision flickering with adrenaline and flames that were ready to burst free at any moment. The first thing I was aware of was a small child running towards me, arms wide and brown hair flying out behind her.

"Lila?" My eyebrows furrowed as I slowly slid off the couch, only to be almost knocked over completely by her as she wrapped her arms around me.

"What are you guys doing here?" Clint slowly stood up from the couch, shock written all over his face as he walked over to the door where Laura was standing with Cooper looking around in amazement and a baby cradled in her arms.

"Tony invited us over." Laura smiled.

"I thought we should make it a family occasion." Tony shrugged,

"Thank you Tony." Clint grinned, causing Tony to look away uncomfortably as he clapped him on the shoulder before he embraced his wife, looking down at the baby in her arms.

"Mum told me you were sick." Lila eventually climbed off me, sitting in front of me as I sat up. "You look better now through."

My stomach soured as I realised she was talking about the... incident with my dagger. I really hoped Laura hadn't told her the full story.

"I'm better now." I smiled weakly, swallowing back the lump that was building up in my throat.

"Lila!" Nat called out from where she was now standing next to Laura as well. "Where's my hug?"

Lila didn't hesitate to jump up off the floor, running over to Nat, who picked her up with ease and tossed her gently in the air. I felt a gentle hand on my back and I looked up quickly, only to find that it was Loki.

"You good?" He asked, concern flickering in his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I nodded, slowly standing up off the floor, quickly looking down at my arms and breathing a small sigh of relief when I realised that my skin was no longer bubbling with my fire.

JARVIS must have alerted the other Avengers because they all soon began to appear in the lounge room from wherever they were, grins lighting up their faces when they saw Laura and the kids. I hung back, not wanting to overwhelm Laura and not entirely trusting myself around the small squirming bundle in her arms, especially since I had almost just burst into flames a couple of seconds ago.

Eventually, she managed to get around to me, sitting on the couch next to me and I couldn't help but shift a little closer to Loki who was sitting next to me as she gently held out the baby in her arms, my heart pounding nervously.

"This is Nathaniel." Laura smiled at me as I cautiously peered down at the small pink face peering out of the bundle with the bluest eyes. "You want to hold him?"

"I-I don't know how." I shifted further away as she held him out more, basically squishing Loki against the arm rest of the couch.

"That's okay." She continued to smile, somewhat sympathetic. "Just put your arm under his head to support him and then another at his bum. Here."

I had no choice but to take him then, as she basically put him in my arms , gently adjusting my hands so that he was comfortably cradled in my arms. Nathaniel made some sort of gurgling sound as he shifted slightly in my arms, causing me to stiffen.

"Relax." Loki chuckled next to me. "It's a mortal child."

I swallowed thickly, trying to relax my muscles as the baby freed one of his tightly clenched fists and reached up to grab a strand of my hair that was hanging over my shoulder. He continued to make gurgling noises and I smiled weakly, hating how fragile he felt in my arms.

"You're a natural." Laura chuckled softly.

"Far from it." I murmured quietly, watching as Nathaniel continued to stare up at me with completely innocent eyes, causing my stomach to churn.

"You trying to steal my child from me?" Clint's voice came from behind me and I jumped slightly startled, looking above me to see him hovering behind the couch.

Nathaniel immediately began to gurgle louder, turning his attention away from me as soon as he saw his father. Clint bent down and scooped him up from my arms, my body immediately relaxing as his fragile body left my hands that I couldn't help but see were covered in blood. Laura laughed at the sounds Nathaniel was making and stood up, moving around the couch to go stand next to her husband.

"I'll be back." I murmured to Loki, moving off the couch before he could stop me.

I walked up the stairs to my room, thankfully not grabbing the attention of any of the Avengers before I slipped inside my room and shut the door. I sat down heavily on the bed and rubbed my eyes, trying to fight back all of the memories of HYDRA that decided to resurface when I was holding Nathaniel. He was so innocent. He didn't know all of the horrible things I had done. He touched me so easily. It just made me feel more like a monster.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of a car pulling up outside the compound from my open window and I froze for a moment. Standing up as silently as possible, I moved over to the door and saw a black car parked in the shade of the tree line, almost blending in with the shadows. My body tensed and a couple of seconds later, a woman with tightly braided blonde hair stepped out, shutting the car door gently. She was dressed in a long purple coat that was over the top of a pair woolen shirt and long black pants. She stuffed her hands into her pocket and I immediately noticed that the thickness of the coat could hold many weapons inside it.

I quickly opened up my cupboard and pulled out my utility belt, wrapping it and tightening it around my waist. Double checking that the rest of the Avengers were safe in the lounge room, I took the lift downstairs and slipped out a back door before any of them could notice me. I peered around the corner of the building, noticing that the woman wasn't at her car anymore and I slowly pulled out my gun as I heard footsteps crunching on the gravel nearby.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped around the corner of the building and held out my gun. However, as soon as I lined up my gun with her forehead, I found she also had a gun pointed straight at mine.

"Put the gun down." Her voice was thick with a Russian accent as I noticed she held a Glock identical to mine

HYDRA.