Sick and tired

"Hellooooo" said Lia with a bright smile on her face as she walked into Natasha's office.

"Lia??" asked Natasha in surprise as she looked up from her laptop.

"The one and only" said Lia as she smiled.

"Well this is a surprise" said Natasha as she laughed.

"Mhmm, I know" said Lia as she walked to Natasha.

"Hello Sweetie" said Lia as she smiled and she gave Natasha a quick kiss on her cheek and she walked to sit across Natasha.

"What are you doing here?" asked Natasha as she smiled, she was still surprised, she was not expecting Lia at all today.

"Well I just decided to stop by and check how you are doing, besides one of my clients lives here and I just did an installation for him" said Lia as she smiled.

"Oh well, that's nice" said Natasha as she smiled and she closed her laptop, since Lia was here, she would no longer be able to get some work done.

"So how are you doing?" asked Lia as she smiled.

"Lia, believe me when I say that I am sick and tired of people asking me how I am doing, how do they expect me to feel?" asked Natasha as she sighed.

"Oh Natasha, I know, but we only ask because we care" said Lia as she smiled.

"It would be another story entirely if we did not ask about your well-being at all" said Lia as she laughed.

"I believe you are right" said Natasha as she laughed, Lia did have a point.

"But I am doing better, getting back to work" said Natasha as she smiled.

"That's good" said Lia as she smiled.

"And…" said Lia as she paused.

"And what?" asked Natasha as she smiled.

"And what about Dom?" asked Lia.

"I've seen that he's been more attentive to you" said Lia as she smiled.

"Oh Lia please, I don't want to talk about him" said Natasha as she sighed and she shook her head.

"Why not?" asked Lia.

"Do you really not feel anything for him?" asked Lia.

"Lia, I am only thankful to him, he has been very helpful, but that is it" said Natasha as she explained.

"I really have given up on him, I now realize that we were never meant to be, and forcing myself on him did nothing but make me act crazy" said Natasha.

"He is Joy's father, nothing will change that, but I feel nothing for him at all, in fact it irritates me when I see him" said Natasha as she sighed.

"I see" said Lia as she smiled.

"You know it's good that you have decided to move on" said Lia as she smiled.

"I am only angry at myself for not realizing that sooner" said Natasha as she scoffed.

"We all make mistakes" said Lia as she smiled.

"Anyway enough of talking about men, I have a surprise for you" said Lia as she smiled.

"Oooh, and what is that?" asked Natasha as she was curious.

"Alright, wait, I will get there, but first, are you going to Grandfather's Birthday Celebration?" asked Lia as she smiled.

"Well yes… I cannot dare miss it" said Natasha as she smiled.

"Good, Dom told me you were going, but I wanted to be sure first" said Lia as she smiled.

"Are you going?" asked Natasha.

"Of course, what sort of question is that? You know how much I love parties, besides Grandfather is like my own Grandfather" said Lia as she smiled.

"Yes, how could I forget, you are Lia, the one who likes to party" said Natasha as she laughed, she was the opposite, she was not really one that liked to socialize, she remembered when she had to go to business gatherings with her father, she found them so boring.

"You know it" said Lia as she laughed.

"Anyway, I went out shopping this morning, and I got myself the dress I am going to wear" said Lia as she looked through her bag

"Don't you have more than enough dresses to wear already?" asked Natasha as she shook her head.

"That's besides the point, and also, it is my money not yours" said Lia as she pouted at Natasha.

"Alright, alright" said Natasha as she laughed.

"Anyway, I went to the store, I bought myself a dress, and one yellow dress in particular caught my eye, so I bought it for you here" said Lia as she smiled and she brought out a red box as she handed it to Natasha.

"Oh Lia, you shouldn't have" said Natasha as she smiled and she opened the box.

"Oh no Natasha, yes, yes I had to" said Lia.

"Well I know you, and I know that you don't like shopping, you would end up wearing jeans and a top to the party" said Lia as she just frowned at the mere thought.

"Okay correction, maybe I might have opted for a skirt" said Natasha as she laughed, even though she knew Lia was right, she really did not like dresses… or skirts, she felt more comfortable in jeans.

"Mhmmm, no, no you would want to be comfortable, and you know Grandfather cannot argue with you, so he would let you be" said Lia as she laughed.

"Alright fine, you are right" said Natasha as she laughed.

"But thank you Lia, I really appreciate this" said Natasha as she smiled and she covered the box.

"What are friends for?" asked Lia as she smiled and Natasha smiled at her, she wondered what she would have done without good friends like Lia and Chloe by her side.

"So, where is my lovely niece Joy??" asked Lia as she smiled.

"Ahh well, she is taking her afternoon nap" said Natasha as she smiled.

"Awww, I wanted to play with her" said Lia as she frowned and Natasha moved the box to the side of her desk.

"Well trust me, if she didn't take an afternoon nap, she would give you a workout" said Natasha as she laughed.

"Well it is obvious she is like that because of you, you could never sit still when we were growing up" said Lia as she laughed.

"I cannot refute that" said Natasha as she laughed.

"Do you remember when Uncle Larry took us to the park when we were 10?" asked Lia.

"As soon as he looked away for a second, you were long gone, we even thought you had gotten lost, it took the whole afternoon for us to find you, until you ended up coming out on your own" said Lia as she laughed, that day was very horrible for her, they had spent their entire day looking for where Natasha had gone.

"Oh don't remind me, the sheer anger, confusion, and most all worry on my father's face made me feel so bad" said Natasha as she laughed and she remembered that incident.

"No Natasha, because seriously, we were so scared, we thought you had been kidnapped, and your father, well he was very frantic" said Lia as she laughed.

"Well I had only wanted to play hide and seek, and well I won because you both were unable to find me" said Natasha as she laughed.

"Uncle Larry made you promise that day that you would not go anywhere without telling him" said Lia as she laughed.

"And well I did promise, and I kept my word, I never wanted him to be worried about him" said Natasha as she laughed.

"You know… now that I think about it, that was the first time I ever saw him so worried, so scared, he was not himself" said Natasha.

"He was like that because he loves you" said Lia as she smiled.

"He never missed an opportunity to tell me that, or even to show me" said Natasha as she smiled, her father had always been her hero, and he would forever be.

"Those were the days" said Lia as she laughed.

"They really were" said Natasha as she laughed.

"Now that I think about it, it seems that Joy is well balanced, she is not over the top like you were, she must have taken some of Dom's gentle characters" said Lia as she laughed.

"Oh please, and I am so thankful for that, because I cannot imagine myself chasing after her the way my father used to do with me" said Natasha as she laughed.

"My little niece is just so cute" said Lia as she laughed.

"Yes she is, but I think people should stop telling her that, because she says so all the time" said Natasha as she laughed.

"Oh leave her be Natasha, you are only a child once right??" said Lia as she laughed.

"Well I believe you are right" said Natasha as she laughed, it felt good for her to laugh after such a long while, it made her feel better, much more better.

"Thank you Lia" said Natasha as she smiled.

"Thank me for what?" asked Lia as she could not understand.

"For being here, and for making me laugh and making me feel better" said Natasha as she smiled.

"Anytime Natasha, anytime" said Lia as she smiled.