Melina and Kids

----Melina POV-----

It has been four years since I came here to this place, Shadow Isles. When I came here, I was a prisoner, having my freedom in exchange for my skills. I had my daughters and for them, I could have done everything and anything.

Then, the one above took pity on me and I somehow fell in love with Phil, the leader here. I never thought one day I can fall in love but I did.

We fell in love, got married and our small little family took shape. Phil is a great guy. Charming, funny and he loves Nat and Yelina. I always felt guilty for not giving him a proper family but he never cared. We even adopted a new son. Things were going until this year. Hank Pym went to search for his wife in the quantum realm but left my husband there.

Alone.

Why?

He had no clear answer except a small recording Phil sent for me. Phil said he needed to do some experiments there and will be back within six months. The time we spent apart me realise how deeply I love him and how our daughters cared for him.

"I pray if you are there, Jesus or the red fat guy. If you listen to my prayers, I promise to be a good kid. I will stop stealing those sweets. I will behave. Please just bring Phil back. He is my new father. Please." I heard Yelena praying one day along with Nat & Matt. Those kids had never prayed for anything ever before.

Today, after 8 months, Hank and Steve will go to the quantum realm to bring back my Phil. We were waiting for them outside their lab. Almost half of the base was here.

I finally saw him coming out of that quinjet and I think it was Nat who ran the fastest in his arms. Not me or Yelena but our silent and angry Nat. She rushed towards him and jumped on his neck which made the whole base cheer up.

"YAY!" it was a loud shout in the whole base.

"Papa," Yelena said and also joined her sister and then Matt also took off. Our kids hugged their father and Phil kissed them one by one.

"You are not coming? We still have a lot of space?" he said to me. Bastard.

I could not control my tears and run into his arms. Asshole.

"Next time, If you are leaving me alone Phil, I will break every bone you have. I promise!" I whispered in his ears before kissing him and dragging him back to our house.

Phil and I become inseparable for the next few days. He would spend the morning with kids. Making breakfast and everything and after sending those kids away, he will make love to me like a crazy bunny in the heat. He was unstoppable for hours. Not something I complained about.

He shared his stories, the things he did in those 8 months. For him, it was like almost 5 years in there. I think this was the reason for his newfound habit of hugging me to sleep or kissing our kids goodbye on their way to the academy. He has also changed physically. At the beginning that was scary, too scary, in fact.

The tests I did on him showed something unimaginable. All of the major organs except his brain and disappeared. He had bones, nerves and muscles but that's it. Even his muscles are not pure in nature. Everything else was not there. No heart or lungs or anything in the stomach. All gone.

For me as a scientist, that was scary but knowing this is still my Phil, my husband who accepted who I was before anything, made me accept him easily. We kept the results a secret for now.

We went back to work after a few weeks and Phil met everyone here personally. Our lives turned back to normal again. Now, I can see our family together and stronger than before.

In Jan 1997, Phil and I had a talk about kids. About all the kids on the base. Steve also joined in along with hope. These two have become a couple but they are not in open yet. I think it was meeting her mother again that made Hope looks happier and more relaxed these days.

We decided it was time for kids to go to High school and live like regular kids. They needed more normal human friends and experiences that can shape their own future better. Phil found a school, Midtown High in NY city and our kids together joined the high school like normal kids.

No media and no announcement. Just a big donation to the school from Phil and it was done in total silence. Ava and Matt were fidgety about going to high school as both had some issues with the crowd and noises.

1) Ava could feel vibrations in the air and in crowds, it was like those vibrations would multiply a lot. Phil had to specifically design bracelets for her that nullify those vibrations.

2) Matt was blind legally but we all knew he could even run on trees barefoot and walk across the jungle. But listening to noises also became a problem for him. I designed a beautiful stud earring for him. This will help him control his ability and he can wear these when he wanted to minimise his hearing range.

Yelena and 'Beast boy' Erik had different issues. Yelena loved fighting and wanted to go to a military school or something like that whereas Erik didn't want to leave his 'saber cat' alone.

In the end, Phil bought a huge mansion for kids and transferred some personnel from the base that can maintain their new home and take care of these needs. A fighting instructor for Yelena and a lot of space for the small kitty.

Nat was the coolest one among all but she had her own demands. She wanted us to come and meet them every weekend. Never knew my silent fighter loved her family this much.

By March 1997, Our kids joined the new school and shifted to NY manor. This newfound independence was new to me and Phil. As the result, we broke our beds thrice in our love sessions.

We will visit the manor weekly but kids were growing up and it was time they live a little normal life.

Our research team became bigger with Hank and Janet joining us officially. Also, steve and hope moved in together. Finally. I think Steve went to meet Janet personally for asking her permission on this. It was hilarious though.

On the base, there were still many missions that needed the shadow knights to go out regularly. It was a new enemy that made us lose two entire teams of 10 shadow knights before we discovered them.

'The HAND'.

We had little or no information about this group that was hiding in the shadow just like Hydra. We discovered their tracks thanks to their increased activities in Africa. Suddenly large shipments of powerful weapons were being sent there regularly and Nick sent two teams to find the information.

The teams landed in various small countries and infiltrated these small African communities where guns were supplied but they were all murdered silently in just 2 nights.

Knight commander Steve along with Bucky went to a few on these bases personally and they brought bodies of the enemies they faced. Ninjas with swords and hidden weapons and everything. That would still be a normal thing had these ninjas which were struggling to get out of their restraints were not dead medically.

That just made this whole HAND group come on our radar and this started a major operation after HYDRA. The shadow knights were now searching for these dead ninjas and any information about their leaders but so far, we had little success.

Phil decided to ask help from Kamar-Taj on this.