Chapter Text
The restaurant is pretty full, bristling with voices and laughter. Picture-perfect family. Barnes hesitates at the door but Natasha breezes through as if she belongs, not stopping until she spots two empty seats near some younger people, Linda among them. "This seat taken?"
"Nah, my knucklehead brother can stand," Linda replies, looking over to the bar. "Oh, hey."
She sits down, noticing out of the corner of her eye Barnes is standing behind her. "Hi. Natasha."
"So, Ellie," the woman next to her with the child in her lap tries. She's in her mid-thirties, the child maybe five and very tongue shy. "How do we say?"
Linda leans over the table with great interest. "You're, like, a superhero? An honest to God actual superhero?"
"Occasionally," Natasha admits. "Barnes, can you look for the waiter? Maybe a water or something."
He nods, quite glad to get away. Linda doesn't pay him any attention anyway and the other woman is busy removing a napkin from her child's mouth. "Oh, now I get it!" Linda exclaims. "You're the redhead Granny kept raving about. We kept asking whether they had anyone new on staff."
"She talked about you a lot," Natasha replies. "That you're a doctor and all. She was very proud."
Linda pulls a face. "Nah, I'm not actually a doctor. Tried and failed. I just stopped correcting her eventually."
"Oh, sorry." Natasha spreads the napkin in her lap. "So what do you do?"
"Lab assistant," Linda replies. "It's basically the same thing, only you get less money for it."
"That sounds familiar," Natasha agrees. "So, you're one of the grandchildren?"
”Hannah, too," Linda replies, pointing to the other woman. "Ellie is the great-grandchild that Granny always forgets about. Forgot about."
"Not always," Hannah admonishes. "Hi. Uh, sorry, I have dirty hands."
"Wow, how generous of you to show up," Linda says to someone behind her. "I already gave your seat away."
"Oh, come on," one of the guys, probably her brother, slightly younger, complains. "Oh. Hey."
"That's the redhead Granny kept raving about," Linda explains. "Not the nurse. Can you believe it?"
Something about the way he grins and holds his hand out reminds her very much of Barnes. "Hi. I'm Aaron."
Linda rolls her eyes. "Jesus fucking Christ, can't you just be cool for once?"
"Natasha," she replies, shaking his hand. "But you already know that."
"Weren't you one of the ones who died to get everyone back?" the other guy asks, quietly taking the still empty chair.
"Yeah, I was dead for a bit," she agrees. "And then I wasn't. It's complicated."
"Do you remember?" Linda asks eagerly. "Being dead?"
She shakes her head. "Sorry. Probably too traumatic for the brain to handle. I don't remember dying, either. Oh, thanks."
Barnes stands around quite overwhelmed, not sure of what to do. She takes a sip. "Mhm. So, that's your great-grandniece Linda, that's Aaron, that's Hannah with her daughter Ellie, and you're -"
"Joss," the other guy says, nervously pushing his glasses up. "Uh, hi."
"So, what's your, uh, relationship?" Aaron asks.
"I annoy the heck out of him," Natasha replies. "That's our relationship. Come on, grab a chair."
"Hey, scoot over," Aaron demands.
"Fuck you," Linda returns while scooting over to make room. "You lost your oldest child privileges."
"Now, Ellie," Hannah mutters to her kid who is still staring at Barnes with wide eyes. "What do we say?"
"So you got blipped?" Natasha asks.
"Yeah, me and Joss," Aaron replies easily. "Mom, too."
"Yeah, for a few peaceful years, it was just Hannah and me," Linda returns. "And Granny, of course. I guess that's why she talked about me so much, we spent a lot of time together during those five years."
"So thanks for getting us back," Aaron quips. "It was pretty chaotic, though."
"Yeah, it was pretty chaotic while you were gone, too," Linda remarks. "And then, just when we've got things somewhat sorted out -"
"So you've got, like, a metal arm?" Joss asks quietly.
"Uh." Barnes looks down at his glove. "Guess I do, yeah."
"Can I see it?" Joss presses.
"Really, grab a chair," Linda throws in. "You're too tall to stand."
"Oh, and I'm not?" Aaron complains.
"Hate to break it to you," Linda returns. "But you're not, by any definition of the word, tall."
Barnes grabs a chair, then pulls off the glove hesitantly. Natasha takes it. "Yeah, it's basically the whole arm."
"Wow," Joss remarks, hand darting forward. "That's the one you got in Wakanda?"
"Joss reads way too much superhero stuff on the internet," Linda explains, rolling her eyes.
"It goes all the way up?" Joss asks, moving his chair over. "The whole arm?"
"Gotta say, you're pretty cool about all of this," Natasha remarks.
"Honestly," Hannah replies. "Living in New York, it's like something blows up every other week."
"I saw the spider guy last month while I was waiting for my bus," Aaron adds. "Can't lose your mind every time."
Natasha throws a sideways look to Barnes who's hesitantly explaining the functioning of his arm. "So you knew about -"
"Oh yeah," Linda returns. "Granny talked about him quite a bit. So when it came out - I mean, it still took me weeks to believe it."
"Yeah, it was pretty surreal," Aaron agrees. "Being related to someone who has killed so many people -"
"Who's been through so much," Linda adds. "Like, I got so pissed about the UN thing. Because they said he did it and it didn't make any damn sense."
"They had pictures," Aaron defends.
"Oh, those were obviously fake," Natasha remarks. "If he had actually blown up the UN, he wouldn't have gotten caught on tape."
"Okay, I guess that's one way of looking at it," Aaron admits with amusement.
Her phone buzzes, showing Sam's number. "Sorry, gotta take this."
She walks outside, not paying any mind to the people watching her. "Hey Sam."
"Hey. Still hanging out with your new bestie? Can you tell him to call me?"
"Right now is bad but later, sure," she agrees. "Why, did something happen?"
"Not really. He sent me very brief and weird replies to my texts and I'm done guessing what he could have meant."
"Yeah, don't worry, I'll get him to talk to you," she assures him. "But we're at the funeral reception right now."
"Wait, his sister's funeral reception?"
"Exactly," she confirms. "The whole family clan is here. Full house."
"And you got him to go to that? Dang, girl. I knew you're very persuasive but that takes the cake."
"Thank you," she replies graciously. "It's for his own good."
"Using your evil skills for good, I see. Well, he can call tomorrow, too, that's fine. Sounds like you've got him under supervision."
"Yeah, I should go back inside before it all derails," she states. "Alright. Talk to you soon."
Barnes has scooted a little closer to the table, though it looks reluctant. Linda is talking to him. "- fully recovered from losing her brother."
"Sorry," he replies awkwardly.
"Why are you apologizing?" Linda complains. "Not your fault you kind of died."
"Yeah," he admits. "I guess."
"Sorry," Natasha throws in, dropping back in her chair.
"Was that important?" Joss asks. "Superhero business?"
"Nope," she replies, carding her hair back. "But you never know."
"So, do you know all the other superheroes?" Linda asks. "Like Spiderman? Are you all on a group chat?"
"No group chat, no," Natasha replies. "I know a lot of them, I guess, but it's like someone new pops up every other month."
"And do they all know you're alive?" Aaron asks.
"Some," Natasha admits. "Some don't. It's not like we're all in contact. Like, the Spiderman guy, I met him, like, twice."
"I saw him twice in one day," Hannah reports. "I think he lives close."
"You should really get to know your neighbors," Linda suggests. "Might be an interesting guessing game."
"Do you have any idea how many neighbors I have?" Hannah asks back. "Nah, as long as my building doesn't get blown up, I really don't need to know."
"Actually, we used to have an Avengers group chat," Natasha remarks thoughtfully. "But that went downhill pretty quickly."
"Who even is on the Avengers right now?" Linda asks. "Hey, Grandpa, are you on the Avengers?"
"Honestly," Barnes replies. "I'm not sure either way."
"There's no team anymore," Natasha replies. "It's whoever shows up if necessary. Which, let's hope, never happens again."
"Knock on wood," Hannah mutters, helping Ellie off her lap. "Yeah, go find Dad."
"Where's Mark anyway?" Linda complains, looking around. "Haven't seen him once."
Hannah waves her off. "It's fine, he arrived late. He's, uh, not so great lately."
"Hannah gave up his café after he got blipped," Linda explains. "He's still trying to get it back."
"What else was I supposed to do?" Hannah returns. "Sure, being an accountant is not that exciting but it definitely pays the bills -"
"Exactly why he should shut up about it," Linda counters.
"Can you stop trying to ruin your cousin's marriage?" Aaron remarks with amusement.
"Excuse me," Linda throws back. "If anyone is ruining anything, it's Mark by not letting go of -"
"Please," Hannah interrupts, fiddling with the table cloth. "No need to spread it out like that."
"Yeah, yeah, okay," Linda relents. "That's for our private texts."
Hannah blushes. "So, since you're not dead, what do you do?" Aaron asks. "Do you live in the city?"
"That's complicated," Natasha replies. "I'm moving around a lot."
Aaron grins. "And sometimes, you're here."
"Yes," Natasha agrees coyly. "Sometimes."
"I work at this club," Aaron suggests. "Maybe you'd like to stop by sometime -"
"Playing shitty mixtapes for no money is not work," Linda remarks.
"It's an opportunity," Aaron returns. "And making the mixtapes definitely is work."
"Unpaid," Linda repeats. "You should ask Joss to teach you that algorithm wizardry no one understands."
"It's not that hard," Joss mutters.
"They pay you pretty well for it, though," Linda insists. "That many square feet, in Harlem -"
"Yeah, yeah," Joss interrupts, somehow embarrassed. "Okay."