#winterstruth

Dmitri looked away from the medical chart on his tablet to give this random child his attention. "Maternity. Who are you looking for?" he asked, kneeling down so he was eye level with her. "Are you looking for your mom and dad?" He assumed, having seen kids get lost on their way from the bathroom.

"You are the cutest." Karen grinned, looking into the mirror to make eye contact with Clara while stood behind her braiding long crimson hair. It grew so lengthy there were all sorts of elaborate looks to try – mostly sourced from red carpet looks or fantasy shows where braids seemed the only style. Clara wasn't little anymore; she could braid on her own without Aunt Karen's help, but what fun was that? Painting nails and eating ice cream, target practice down at the range, there was no age limit on enjoyable things as long as they were responsible.

"I'd lived in New York for about four years?" Methodically she brushed Clara's hair in even rhythm, careful not to tug at any knots. "Your mom fought the battle of New York around the time I moved from Vermont." She moved on to brush the other side from crown to end.

"I was working a cubicle job for a big company and found they were stacking books. I tried to report it and they weren't exactly... Humble about it."

Karen could skip to Matt and Foggy's assignment as her legal representation as how they met, but Clara didn't warrant a sugar coated story. With her parents? She knew how the world worked.

"Instead of owning up to it, they tried framing me for murder. I still feel bad for my co-worker... They killed him in my apartment after drugging us and left the knife in my hand. It was going to be pretty cut and dry for a jury."

Nimble fingers began a crown braid along Clara's hairline. Her hair was luxurious – full enough round out any look. Karen's wasn't too thin, but who wouldn't envy natural volume?

"Like, no one believed me at the precinct. I'd been drugged and couldn't get remember the night before. It was a pretty solid frame job. But! You're entitled to a public defense in New York, so I was assigned to Nelson & Murdock."

Karen circled around the little vanity stool so she could finish the braid and secure it with a little elastic. "They were... new. I was their first case and I looked pretty guilty. But he could tell I was being honest, so he insisted they take me on as a client and voilá! That's how we met!"

Taking little clips, she dotted them through the braid to decorate, although this didn't need to be the only part of the style if Clara wanted.

@winterstruth continued from here: (x)

"My name is Aleksandra," she'd been told that this girl was her sister, not in the same way they had tried to tell her the other widows of her generation were her sisters.

This one was biological.

“Mama, can you please do my hair for ballet?” @winterstruth

Natasha had been so lost in her work she hadn't heard Clara come in at first, until that sweet little voice called out her new name 'Mama'.

Glancing up from her paperwork she saw her daughter in her dance uniform, complete with the sweet little pink skirt, Bucky had bought for her.

The decision to put Clara into ballet had been hard for Nat, since ballet was tied to the Red Room so closely, but after talking to Bucky it was decided that ballet would be a good outlet for Clara.