AN / If you are confused who Philippa is, see my AN for chapter/part 3; "You're a mean one, Mr Grinch"
I just couldn't get into the writing flow with this prompt. It's a great prompt, just didn't click with my brain ;)
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Find a song (find a song) and sing it round, round, round
And with ties so strong, (oh) your hearts are bound
Hold them near (hold them near)
The ones you found, found, found
For you know that this is really love
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The glistening flash of tinsel glitters brightly throughout the house. The boxes of untouched decorations lay scattered around the room.
Natasha puts up the baubles, one by one. Each ornament is special, a separate and treasured memory tied to each one. When the plan was made to spend Christmas at the farm for the first time, she had coerced Clint into promising that they would decorate it in their own way. Not like those Pinterest aesthetic trees that are colour coded and neat. No, she wanted a chaotic tree, with oodles of colours. So throughout the year, they collected. At every country they visited, they would buy an ornament. If something pivotal happened in Philippa's life, they would take a photo and make their own ornament. This way, the tree was special and felt like an accomplishment.
While Natasha was setting up, Clint was attempting to wrangle his three-year-old daughter. As it was December 1st - the day that the decorations went up - they had let her eat some sugary treats. Cupcakes, Candy Canes, Chocolate. You know the drill. Turns out, despite being two of the greatest spies in the world, they could not say no to Philippa's puppy eyes. So she ended up eating a lot of sugar.
They were meant to be all setting up together, but things had changed when their daughter decided to turn the house into an obstacle course and a dance floor at the same time. With two Santa hats on her head, she managed to; tip over three boxes; upset Lucky-the-pizza-dog, and tire out Hawkeye. It was safe to say that she was one gifted little girl ;)
"Look, Daddy!" Pippa squeaked from her place on the couch. With great dramatics, she jumped off the couch and rolled onto the floor. At first, Clint was worried for her safety, but he calmed down when she landed safely. It was then that he recalled Natasha helping Pip clear the space earlier.
Not even a second later, the three-year-old was off and running. Tearing through the house, giggling the entire way.
"Don't worry, she'll pass out soon. It'll make our job of putting her to sleep tonight much much easier," Natasha whispered to him, with an evident grin on her face. He didn't know why she whispered, the only other person who would hear them was probably on the other side of the farmhouse by now.
Clint sent her an understanding smirk. Because she was right, this would make putting her to sleep tonight a lot easier. Which left time for…other things.
Philippa had always been a great sleeper as a baby. Then she hit two years old and learnt to run. Since then, there was no stopping her. She would never tire out. Just run around for ages. She had Natasha's stamina, and Clint's liveliness, which ended up being an annoying duo to her exhausted parents.
The archer, taking advantage of the small break he had received, began to help Natasha again. Picking up the decorations on the floor and handing them to her to put up.
They managed to get through a whole box before the human version of the roadrunner came racing through. Her blonde curls bounced with every step, her face covered in red frosting.
Clint raised his eyebrows as his daughter slowed down. Not once, this whole afternoon, had she slowed down. Normally it was a constant 'Daddy look at this' or 'Mama race me'. Philippa surprised her father, even more, when she plopped herself down onto the couch
He shared a look with the redhead, both watching their daughter slowly fall asleep. It took all the self-control he had to not snap a photo of the adorable blue-eyed girl sluggishly nodding off.
In a very comical fashion, Pippa slanted over and fell sideways onto the couch, fast asleep.
"She's out," Clint whispered to the only other conscious member in the house. Carefully, he picked her up and carried her to the bedroom, and tucking her in for the night.
Once he returned downstairs, his wife was still putting up the tree decorations. Despite the other activities he had hoped they would get up to tonight, he knew that once Natasha set her mind to something, she wouldn't rest until she had finished it.
So unless he wanted to spend most of the night alone, he would have to help get everything done.
Pulling up yet another box of decorations, he commenced the mission of putting small objects onto a fake tree.
In the end, it didn't take long. Without the distraction of Pip, everything went a lot quicker. They even managed to finish in time for their normal bedtime.
Only one object was left. It was wrapped in a neat embroiled cloth, and placed in a small box of it's own. It was obviously special, and yet Clint had never even seen it before.
Lifting it up in his arms, he noticed how light it was, despite its size. It wasn't big, but compared to the other decorations he had been putting up, it was gigantic.
With delicate fingers, he began to unwrap the cloth covering. Once it was revealed, Clint realised it was a star, perfect for the top of their Christmas tree. It could be the old age, he told himself, but this star nagged at his mind as if he had seen it before.
The archer looked up to see Natasha looking at him intently.
"Do you like it?" She asked quietly - bordering on timidly.
"Yeah, it's gorgeous. Where did you-"
"Budapest. I saw it in a shopfront the first time we went to Budapest. While you were in Malaysia earlier this year, I went to Budapest and bought it. I- I- just…I just thought it would be cute. I can take it back if-"
"Tasha. It's beautiful, I love it," he smiled softly
Natasha breathed out a sigh of relief and took the star out of his hands. Using him as leverage, she climbed onto his back and reached towards the tip of the green tree.
"Uh, Nat?" Clint questioned, placing his hand on the small of her back and pulling her back down to the ground. "It'd make sense for our 3-year-old daughter to put the star on the tree rather than her fully grown adult parents."
Natasha looked almost sheepish and Clint's admittance, but nodded silently and placed the star back into the box.
"How about we use this extra time to be…productive?" He asked playfully, eager to cheer her up.
She took the bait, grabbing his hand and leading him upstairs.
This time tomorrow tonight, they would be sitting on the couch, admiring the shimmering star on top of their chaotic - but memorable - Christmas tree. Excited to fill the tree with even more memories in the coming years.
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Question of the Day; What is your favourite Christmas ornament, and why is it special to you?
