Don't mind

"It's time for dinner my darling." said Natasha as she smiled.

"Okay, I am going to wash my hands." Joy shouted from upstairs as she disappeared.

Natasha smiled to herself, today had been a very good day even though Dom almost ruined it for her early in the morning, at least she had the opportunity to get some well deserved rest and she was also able to work on some important files that she had to go through.

"Lulu, are you hungry?" she asked as she knocked on Lulu's door.

"Of course I am, starving even." she replied.

"I'll be right down for dinner." she said as Natasha smiled and left.

"Aren't you going to ask me if I'm going to eat dinner?" asked Dom as he stood by the corner and Natasha walked past him shaking her head.

"You're a grown man, I don't need to." she replied noticing that he was following her.

"Yes, but you could at least try to be nice and ask me." he said.

"I don't need to be nice, we've spent the entire day in this house together unfortunately, and why are you following me?" she asked annoyed.

"Sorry, I didn't know that my very presence annoyed you so much." he said. In truth he did not know why he was following her, maybe he wanted to annoy her on purpose. Well it seemed to be working, she was annoyed already.

"What's for dinner?" he asked as they entered the dining room.

"Pasta." she replied as Joy ran into the dining room and sat down with Lulu right behind her.

"Didn't we have past last night?" Dom asked his memory foggy as he sat down.

"No, we had pasta three nights ago." Joy giggled.

"It feels like it was just yesterday, but still, why are we having pasta so often?" he asked, usually he never bothered himself with what was for dinner, that was Alfred and Natasha's domain and he never complained about it till now.

"Well if having pasta so much annoys you then you can be the one to plan the meals for dinner this week." said Natasha.

"Oh please Natasha, don't mind him, he can't even plan what to eat in a day for himself, he's going to ruin dinner if he takes over." Lulu scoffed.

"Then he should be quiet and just eat dinner like the rest of us." she replied.

"Whatever you say." Dom said, even though he did not admit it, he agreed with Lulu. He barely had time to remember to eat on a normal day, if he was to plan dinner for a week, he would forget and they would all go hungry.

"I thought as much." Natasha said as she dished Joy's dinner.

...

After dinner Natasha, Joy and Dom walked to the living room to watch tv together.

Joy happily sat on the rug as she watched tv attentively. Lulu was on her phone while Dom worked on his laptop and Natasha watched tv with her.

Lulu's phone rang as she smiled.

"Why are you smiling so much?" Dom asked suspiciously.

"Oh just relax Dom, it's mom calling." she replied as she answered the call.

"Hello mom." she said as she put the phone to her ear.

"No, don't mind Dom, he thought I was smiling so much because a boy was calling me." she said.

"Oh you know your son, very protectively annoying like that." she laughed as Dom scoffed.

"Yes, anyway, what's up?" she asked.

"Mom says hi." said Lulu.

"Hi mom." replied Dom.

"Hello aunt." said Natasha as she smiled.

"Oh, no, no you're not bothering me at all, sure, I can send you some pictures." Lulu said as she stood up and walked out of the living room.

A few minutes passed when Natasha heard her phone ring and she picked it up.

"It's Chloe." she said in surprise to no one in particular.

"Hello Chloe." said Natasha as she answered the call and smiled.

"Oh Natasha, hello, how are you?" asked Chloe.

"I should be the one asking you that." Natasha laughed.

"I'm alright, how is vacation?" she asked.

"Oh it's good, very relaxing, my parents, the boys and I decided to take a nice trip to the beach, we'll be here for a week." laughed Chloe.

"I see, that does sound super relaxing, I can't remember the last time I've been to the beach." said Natasha as she laughed, Dom who did not mean to eavesdrop could not help but listen in, they were in the same room after all.

"I know right, can you hear the waves, we're still at the beach right now." Chloe laughed as she put her phone closer to the waves.

"Yes, I hear the waves alright, so calming." Natasha laughed.

"Oh you need a vacation like this Natasha, next time how about we go together?" asked Chloe.

"That sounds nice, but not right now." said Natasha.

"Of course we'll arrange that later." said Chloe as she smiled.

"So, why did you call, is something the matter? I told you already, you don't have to worry about anything, everything is fine here." said Natasha as she smiled.

"I know that Natasha, I called because I want to apologize." said Chloe.

"Apologize for what?" Natasha asked surprised.

"I want to apologize for leaving you so abruptly, I realize now that the manner in which I left so quickly may seem like I couldn't wait to get out of there, and I want you to know it's not like that at all." she said apologetically.

"Aww Chloe, you didn't have to worry at all. I knew it was not like that, you just needed a well deserved break and I understand that. I have to admit that I thought about that, but I thank you because you've been all hands on deck since we started working together and I know that you need some quality time to spend with your family." Natasha smiled.

"Aww, thank you for being so understanding Natasha, I just wanted to clear away all misunderstandings." Chloe said.

"Thank you for doing that." she smiled.

"So now, enjoy your vacation and don't ask me about work until you get back okay?" asked Natasha laughed.

"Okay boss." replied Chloe as she laughed.

"No, we're partners." she smiled as Chloe nodded.

"So how are Ethan and Neil?" asked Natasha.

"Neil is the most relaxed I've ever seen him be, and well Ethan, he's enjoying his time here so much, he and Pluto have been playing on the beach all day." Chloe giggled.

"That sounds nice, well Joy has missed them both so much." Natasha said as Joy's ears perked up hearing her name and she stood up to sit by her mother.

"Aww, and we miss her too, Ethan didn't even say goodbye to her properly." said Chloe.

"Let me call him right now." said Chloe as she waved her hand for Ethan to come but he just ignored her.

"Ethan!" she shouted as he groaned and walked towards her with slow reluctant steps. He knew that she was just going to call him to greet somebody and all he wanted to do was enjoy the smores with his grandparents.

"Joy misses you, would you like to speak to her?" asked Chloe as Ethan shook his head and she frowned at him, she shot him a knowing glance as he sighed.

"Fine." he replied as she handed him her phone.

"Ethan is on the line my sweetie." said Natasha as she handed her phone to Joy and Joy gasped.

"Hello." she said happily.

"Hello Joy..." Ethan said as if he was being forced to, which he was.

"Hello Ethan, how are you?" she asked happily.

"I'm good and how are you Joy?" he asked. Joy was surprised, he was not calling her dummy like he usually did.

"I am good too, how's Pluto?" she asked.

"Pluto is doing well, she loves running around the beach and swimming in the sea." replied Ethan as he smiled.

"You guys are at the beach?" Joy asked surprised.

"Yes we are, it's so fun, the waves are crashing and it's really cold right now and I love swimming." said Ethan as Chloe smiled, that was more like it.

"That sounds like so much fun." said Joy.

"It is." he replied.

"So when are you coming back?" asked Joy.

"At the end of the summer maybe..." Ethan said as Chloe shook her head.

"Don't mind him Joy, we'll be back next month." Chloe interjected.

"Ooooh okay, I can't wait to see you, I miss you." she smiled.

Ethan frowned as Chloe poked his cheek to respond.

"Say it, go on." she whispered as he scoffed.

"I miss you too." he said relcutantly.

"But we'll see each other soon right?" she asked.

"Right." he said.

"Well okay, have lots of fun, bye." she said while giggling.

"Bye." he replied handing the phone back to his mother.

"Aren't they just so cute?" Chloe asked giggling as Joy gave Natasha her phone and went back to watching tv.

"Very cute." Natasha laughed.