I'm only one call away (wrong number)

Don't die out there.

Egomaniac
Officially interjecting.
Frosty stop terrorising the kid.
Kid stop insulting Frosty.
Now both of you apologise.

Tigger
Ugh! Fine.
I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings
Mr Frosty.
Will you find it in your cold,
iced heart to forgive me?

Frosty
And tell me why I should
apologise to this brat.
She has done nothing but
insult me since I arrived.

Egomaniac
Well I just thought you'd want
to reconsider before-

Spider
What the hell did you just call
my daughter?

Egomaniac
-that.

Tigger
Mom!!!!

Frosty
What is this trickery?
She doesn't have any children!

Egomaniac
I don't know.
She just kinda appeared and
we rolled with it.

Spider
Thor fix it.
Until then me and Tigs are leaving.
Come one kid.

Spider has left the chat

Tigger
Uh, I guess I'm leaving. Bye guys!

Tigger has left the chat.

Spider has opened private chat with Tigger.

Tigger
So, "Tigs" huh?

Spider
Oh shush. You know you love it.

Tigger
I can neither confirm nor
deny that statement

Spider
Whatever you say kid.

Tigger
So what's Goth God's deal?

Spider
Omg!
I'm so telling Clint you called him that!

Tigger
Clint?

Spider
Clint's my friend.
You haven't met him.

Tigger
oh okay cool.

Spider
So, how's your day been?
After this morning? You okay?

Tigger
Yeah, I'm okay I guess.
My foster parents had to come
and pick me up even though they
were in this huge meeting, but
they don't seem that mad.
Then I found out one of my first foster mothers is still alive and I
thought she died years ago so.
Pretty wild really.
How about you?

Spider
Woah.

Natasha's POV

I stare down at the phone in my hand, almost glaring at the screen. Tigger, is. She? Maxi? It makes sense. Or does it? This whole thing- can wait.

"Clint's outside." Bucky says, readjusting his bag. I nod and shove my phone into my back pocket, my arms finding his neck.

"Come back to us." The whisper lingers between the two of us for a second, the word 'us' hanging heavy in the air. 

"I promise I'll come back to you both." We pull away after a few moments, just staring into each-other's eyes, basking in these last few seconds of peace; which were interrupted by movement at the top of the stairs. I glance over and see Max waiting at the top.

"You can come down y'know." Bucky says with a smile. So he's seen her too. Maxi hesitantly walks down the stairs, stopping on the bottom one.

"Stay safe." She whispers looking at Bucky's boots. She suddenly looks up and smiles slightly. "Don't die out there." Oh that's going to become a thing I think as Maxi runs back up the stairs, disappearing from sight. I turn to my husband and nod.

"what the kid said." Bucky goes to respond but is cut off by a horn honking outside of the house. "Barton doesn't like to wait." I add with a smile causing him to return the gesture.

"That I know." He says opening the front door. "I'll see you soon Natalia."

"Until then James." I lean against the door frame and watch as Bucky climbs into the car, speeding off to save the world or whatever. But there's no need to worry. I trust Clint to keep James safe, to bring him home to me, to us now.

I turn and close the door softly, sliding the lock into its place. He'll come home. I take a deep breath and straighten out my posture. Now we can get back to the issue at hand. Is Tigger really Maxi? Or is that wishful thinking? No, no. Let's backtrack Natasha. Why don't we try and piece together some facts I think as I sit on the couch. Well, Max is 16 and Tigger is 16, but that's a common age right? What else do we know? Uh, oh Tigger was stabbed in the shoulder! Does Max have a scar? I've never looked. Next thing: they both go to Midtown and have the same GPA. But it can't be. Can it? Only one way to truly find out. I jump off of the couch and walk as calmly as I can up the stairs, sopping outside of the closed door of Mackenzi's bedroom. And the moment of truth.. my finger hits the call button on Tigger's contact and we wait. Maxi's phone starts to ring. My heart is beating a thousand miles a minute. Please pick up. I hear her voice, but my phones still ringing out.

"Hey Pete." Oh. Never mind. I knew it was too good to be true I think to myself, trudging into our bedroom and closing the door. Too good to be true.