"American Pie and Fireflies."

Norway
2016

"Do you remember Ohio?" Natasha asked as she and Becca walked into a bathroom stall. The two of them had more of a past then most of the Avengers knew. A past which Becca hadn't divulged to anyone in her family, not even her mother. It was a past she preferred to remain between her and Natasha. Especially after everything that's happened since then.

Becca nodded slowly as she leaned against the wall, and pulled over the hoodie she had kept from Peter. Her heart ached but she knew she needed this time away from everyone and everything. "American Pie and fireflies." She whispered and Nat smiled softly with a nod. Becca remembered everything about the night they were ripped away from their small time of happiness, but she didn't like reliving it at all. "Why do you bring it up, Auntie Nat?" Becca asked curiously. Memories were surfacing since Becca's encounter with Vulture from her decades in the Red Room. The constant training, the beatings. The manipulation and chemical control.

All of it. She remembered all of it.

"Being with you brought some of those memories back." Natasha said as she pulled out her bruner phone as it rang. Becca plaits her hair slowly as memories flood of her time in Ohio and then shortly after. Being surrounded by other girls in cages. She remembers screaming for Natasha, for Yelena. And Becca remembers Dreykov picking her. He remembered Becca from when he took over the Red Room from it's previous leader.

The girl who couldn't be broken.

He made a vow to break her. But his plans were halted when Pierce came and took Becca for his own missions with his Winter Soldier. And that was when Becca found her family. The family she had been taken from so many decades ago. She escaped before Dreykov could do what he had done to the other widows to her.

"Some have resurfaced for me as well.." Becca whispers shakily as Natasha washed her hands. Becca stepped towards her aunt and began plaiting her hair. It was a calming technique for her at this point, the repetitive movements of braiding hair just as her Uncle Thor had taught her. His stories that he would tell Becca as he plaited her hair.

The stories of his sister back home on Asgard were some of her favorites.

Natasha glances up in the mirror of the bathroom, looking her niece over with a sad smile. "You escaped that life. If it hadn't been for Pierce, you would still be there." Natasha says softly, trying to help in any way she could.

Becca nodded, "I met Papa there. Even though I had a mission, I found my family." She says, trying to turn a bad memory good. "And I found you again."

Natasha chuckled dryly with a slight nod of her head. "You did." She muttered, "I had to lie to your uncle and Tony when I first found you. That I didn't know you but knew of you." Nat says softly with a small smile playing on her lips. "Our past is strictly ours."

Becca nods slowly as she finishes plaiting her aunt's hair. They still were family to each other, after so many years apart and then together again. But their dynamic had changed when it was revealed that Becca was Steve's niece and the daughter of Mary and Bucky. Natasha had become more of an aunt to the girl but deep down they were still sisters playing with the fireflies in Ohio.

Natasha pulled out her phone and Becca knew she had tapped the security cameras. Becca could see SWAT and other agents storming a building, she could hear Secretary Ross's voice. "Auntie Nat? Is this about the Airport?"

Natasha nods as she presses her finger to her lips, "Leave this bit to me, okay?" She whispers as she presses her finger to the button on her phone and dials a number. When Becca hears the other line pick up, Natasha is the first to speak. "Don't do this."

"Do what?" Ross asks as if he isn't doing anything wrong.

"Come after me." Natasha says exasperated. "I mean, you're embarrassing yourself. It looks desperate." She states matter o' factly. Becca smirks underneath her breath, she had never met Ross in person. She was on the run with her father when Ross approached the Avengers with the Sokovia Accords. But she knew of him. And she knew he'd be dead if it weren't for her mother.

"Thought maybe you'd be calling me out to cut a deal." Ross says and Nat puts the phone on speaker, setting it down on the counter of the bathroom sink the girls are in. She grabs her jacket and puts it on herself, Becca zipping her own jacket up. "Cause from my vantage point, it's the federal fugitive who's desperate."

"From my vantage point, you look like you could use some bed rest. What is this, your second triple bypass? No Mary this time." Natasha quips to the Secretary of State, Becca snickers under her breath at her aunt's teasing.

"I wouldn't worry about me. We got Barton, we got Wilson and that other guy, the incredible shrinking convict." Ross states and Becca narrows her eyes. She knew Ross was lying but he also had truth to it. "Rogers is on the run, Barnes is in hiding. You got no friends. Where you gonna go?" Ross questions Natasha, trying to get her to slip and come out of her hiding spot.

Becca grabs onto Nat's hand, squeezing her hand in comfort. Natasha breathes out silently but composes herself. "I've lived a lot of lives before i met you, Ross. You shouldn't have gone to all this trouble. I'm done." She states as she picks up her phone and looks at Becca. The niece gives her own nod, knowing it was time to step out.

"Romanoff?" Ross questions sternly but Natasha hangs up. She was done, and she wanted Becca to have some peace before they both knew she was needed back in reality. Taking her from Tony wasn't ideal, but it was necessary. Becca needed time away from everything and everyone, especially after her PTSD hit her so suddenly. She needed a sanctuary for even just a moment, and Natasha was happy to give her niece that.

Becca and Natasha step out of the bathroom on the boat they're on. The woman overhead speaking Norwegian and it brings Becca a sense of comfort. She knew they were safe where they were in Norway. The home of Thor's people. Becca was excited to see the land where Norse Mythology was born so many centuries ago.

Natasha leans her arm against the edge of the boat, they were by the car dock as they both took in the scenery. Becca took the phone from Natasha, not wanting her aunt to do anything more than enjoy the Norwegian air and mountains. Becca laid the phone down on the edge of the boat and swiftly moved it off the boat.

"So, tell me." Nat says to Becca with a small smile, "You were with Tony, that i knew. But why weren't you at Peter's?" The aunt asks and Becca freezes in her movements. The teenager leaned against the railing of the boat and looked up at the clouded skies. She could feel her Uncle's presence even though he was probably off doing his own thing.

"Be- Peter and I.. we broke up." Becca says as she fiddles nervously with the edge of her shirt that peaked out underneath the sweater. "He wanted to be a superhero more than a normal teenager... and i wanted nothing more than to be normal..."

"You two didn't aline anymore." Nat says solemnly. "I'm sorry, Маленький волк." Little Wolf. Natasha tells her niece. "Your life has never been easy..."

Becca nods as she bushes some baby hairs away from her face, looking out at the mountains and hills they were passing by over the water. "Mama and Papa have their own life in Wakanda now, you were there for Jamie's birth. They wanted me to have a normal teenage life experience with Peter in Queens..." She mumbles.

"But someone always ends up needing to be saved." Natasha adds softly. "And because of your family and their nature, you couldn't say no."

Becca laughs bitterly with a nod, "I come from a family of heroes. It's in my DNA." She says painfully as she sits down on the floor of the boat, her arms resting on her elbows. "I can't escape it, and i thought i could this one time. But Vulture had other plans, and Peter wanted to prove himself so desperately to Buddy that he could be a hero like everyone else."

"He's a young, newly born hero. He hasn't enough life experience as a hero to have a resume like you and your family have. He wanted to prove himself capable and trustworthy." Natasha says, reading between the lines and emotions coming from Becca. It was easy to understand where both parties were coming from in this case. Becca wanted to finally live a normal life right when Peter was trying to prove his worth as a new hero to be taken seriously. It was a collision waiting to happen.

And when it did happen, neither of them were okay.

"Yeah, i know he meant well, but his actions spoke louder than his words at times... and all i wanted was for him to understand where i was coming from. Which i think he did, but he got so caught up in finally being seen as a hero and not losing that momentum." Becca says with a small smile. She still loved Peter, but she needed this time away from everyone and everything she'd known. She needed this break.

"When you eventually leave and go back, you'll be better." Natasha says as she places her hand on top of Becca's head, smoothing her hair down and giving her niece a small smile. "He'll be better as well. This break is needed, but the pain is real."

"I know the pain was real. It still is." Becca responds sadly. She still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that she had been in a coma for about a week, missed homecoming and let Peter go against the Vulture by himself. It was reckless of Peter to do that, but he was so hellbent on proving himself, especially after Tony had taken his suit away after the ferry incident.

"I know you're still coming to terms with everything, and i know.. that me stepping in probably wasn't the greatest timing." Natasha says as she sits down beside Becca. "I just thought... that after everything that's happened. You deserve a little quiet."

Becca looks down, nodding slowly as she glances around at her surroundings. She then looks back at Natasha, "I did miss you, after everything that happened..." She says, referring to Cuba and Ohio. "I saw glimpses of you afterwards... but..."

"Sinclair had his hooks in you." Natasha says quietly. "I know." She tells Becca, "He had them in you deeper than anyone."

Becca nods, "He.. He controlled me even when i didn't know it." She whispers, pulling her knees to her chest. "He made me do horrible things."

"They made all of us do horrible things." Natasha reminds Becca, "You're not alone in that no matter what they told you." She states firmly. "I know they kept you secluded, all of us knew there was one girl that was always hidden away, trained at different times. All of it. I just didn't realize that girl... was you."

Blue eyes meet Natasha's brown eyes, "It's okay." She whispers to her aunt. The aunt that was once her sister. She felt the change in dynamic was appropriate given their newer past. The revelation that Becca was a Barnes. Them both being in the Avengers. Natasha looking after and loving on Becca like an aunt.

"I know we can't go back and change the past. But that would be something i would change." Natasha states, "Was to look for you." She says sadly. Natasha regretted not being strong enough to protect Yelena and Becca. But they were separated the moment the plane had landed and Becca wasn't with them. Yelena was in a panic, crying out for Becca. There were other girls with them, either chosen or killed. Dreykov was with them, the vile man he was.

Becca shakes her head, "Everything happened for a reason. Pierce taking me from the Red Room to aid my Papa... that was like a stroke of luck." She says with a pitiful laugh and a small scoff. "I hadn't seen Papa in over forty years since then... he was there when i was still new in the Red Room."

"He trained you?" Natasha asks, "Winter i mean." She had heard whisperings that The Winter Soldier actually visited the Red Room and trained the girls from time to time when he wasn't on a mission or frozen.

"He did. The Madam at the time also trained me. I was poked and prodded a lot of the time." Becca says, "That may have been why i was chosen to be with you in Ohio.." She wonders. She had always been curious as to why she was picked to be with Natasha and Yelena during those years in Ohio. "My blood... It's different."

"How so?" Natasha asks, she knew most of what had happened during the Hydra raid Steve and Mary led. But not all of it.

"Mama was pregnant with me when Schmidt injected her with the serum that doesn't allow her to age, you know that." Becca begins and Natasha nods, she knew that much of what happened. Mary had told her that personally. "But it affected me as well." She states. "My growth was stunted for a long time, the scientists wanted my blood to see what Schmidt's serum had done to me as a collateral." She adds as she looks down at the panel floorboards of the boat. "My DNA, much like Mama's, was altered."

Natasha wraps her arm around Becca's shoulders, "And then you were given the serum.. the same serum that your dad has." She says and Becca nods in agreement.

"That altered my DNA even more." Becca agrees. "Sinclair was always curious about my DNA... and so was Dreykov.." She whispers under her breath, not liking speaking their names.

"Sinclair is in prison for the rest of his life, and Dreykov is dead." Natasha states, "You don't have to worry about them anymore." She says to Becca firmly, kissing her forehead in reassurance and comfort.