Disclaimer: Why do the Avengers have to belong to Marvel? WHY? And the picture doesn't belong to me. I can't find the artist again and so I can't un-crop it or give credit where credit is due. If anyone knows the artist, please let me know so I can credit them.

Snow

She still goes by Natalia Romanova and is happily living in Russia with her parents when Natasha falls in love with snow. After all, what's not to love? It's white and poofy and it doesn't hurt when you fall on it. She and her parents are simply walking along a deserted road when little white drops that look like fairies to young Natalia begin to fall to the ground, making a blanket with their tiny bodies. At first, the three year old refuses to take one more solitary step, afraid to crush the fairies that litter the ground. But with some coaxing from her parents, she takes a step. Then she starts to hear the fairies screaming (She's three after all, how is she supposed to know that it's a happy couple in the middle of a snowball fight shrieking with delight and not precious, white fairies screaming for mercy as they are crushed by an enormous monster in the form of a young girl?) Again Natasha freezes and stands, stubbornly telling her parents that she will NOT move. Her cheeks pink from cold and her curly, red hair whipping in the wind make her a sight to see. Her parents, who have finally come to terms with the fact that nothing would ever be able to make their daughter do something she didn't want to do, decide to try a different approach. Laughing, Natalia's father plucks her up from her place, spinning her through the air as she giggles hysterically. With their daughter in their arms, the young couple stomps over to a small cafe and orders hot chocolate. Over the course of four hours and eight cups of hot chocolate, Natalia's parents explain to her that snow is simply cold water droplets. Though still extremely skeptical of her parents, Natalia steps out onto the snow. She listens for the fairies, not breathing for fear. And she doesn't hear anything.

"It no fairies?" Natalia asks in her native language, a look of complete confusion and befuddlement on her innocent face.

"Nope. It's just water. See, it's already melting," her father, an ever patient man, explains.

"But it fall from the sky and fly, like fairies," Natalia protests weakly in a last-ditch effort to price her parents wrong and maybe, just maybe, get another cup of hot chocolate.

"Not everything is as it seems, Natalia. Sometimes we just have to trust that the people who love us know what to do better than we ourselves do," her mother offers. Little does she know that it will be the last advice she will give her beloved daughter.

So, with a dramatic sigh, Natalia takes her parents' hands and walks home. Once they're in the house, in warm, dry clothes, and drinking hot chocolate, Natalia stands up and proudly proclaims, " I love snow!" before promptly running and tackling her parents in a hug.

Years later Natasha, she no longer goes by Natalia, stands by a giant clock in Munich, Germany, soaked to the bone, exhausted, out of bullets, cornered by four men who would nothing more than to bring her body back to their boss, and completely and utterly out of options. If asked, she would admit that the snow that coats the ground is very beautiful, but she would also tell you that she has bigger things to worry about. Where is he? she thinks to herself frantically. Mere seconds later she hears the voice of her partner in her ear through the communication device as he orders her to jump as high as she can. She brushes off the idea immediately. His voice becomes more and more urgent as he tells her to jump again and again. After about the fourth time, Clint shouts into her ear, "JUMP!" And for the first time, Natasha looks up. But it's not a way out that she sees, but the gently falling snow. And instead of Clint's voice, she hears her mother telling her to trust that sometimes the people who love her know more than she does. So because she trusts her mother, Natasha jumps as high as she possibly can, the gently swirling snow falling around her.

Natasha always associates snow with the happy day she spent with her parents and the lesson she learned with them. She never thinks about the fact that two days later she would lose them. She just loves the feel of her parents' arms around her and the warmth of the mug in her hands. Natasha Romanoff, not matter what, loves snow.

Author's Note: I recognize that the above story is probably not all canon. I want to say that Natasha didn't have the best parents, but I can't remember and I didn't want to stop typing long enough to go and Google it. So, sorry if I'm more than a bit off. Hope you enjoyed the story anyway. There is more on the way (I actually have it all written, it just needs to be edited, desperately.) Hopefully a new chapter will be posted each day and the next ones will be better than this. I love reviews and would be thrilled beyond belief if you would tell me what you think of my story. Thank you to anyone and everyone who took the time to read this story and this very random and rambling author's note. I'll be quiet now.

Be fantastic,

-When In Doubt, Smile