Pov y/n

After a little while of walking, we finally reach the park and Scarlett lets go of Rose's hand so she can run around now. We watch her skip in front of us, running to the side of the way and picking a daisy. She comes back to us and shows us the flower. We smile at her and Scarlett carefully clips it into Rose's hair. That makes her beam up at us before running ahead a little.

"She really is such a sweet child." I say, not directly to Scarlett, more into the world. I catch Scarlett glancing at me with a smile on her lips.

"Yes, she really is." She agrees, her eyes back on her daughter. "There are moments where she has a tantrum or just doesn't want to listen but that's part of childhood. Otherwise she is really the sweetest."

I can hear the adoration in Scarlett's voice as she speaks about her daughter.

"And very curious too." I chuckle when Rose runs up to a tree to take a closer look. She runs her hands over the bark of the tree, looking up at it.

"Oh definitely. She likes to explore and to learn new things. The way she sees the world is something I wish I also still had. Being curious about everything, being in awe about small things because they seem like a wonder and exploring the world with an open mind and heart." Scarlett says a little nostalgic. I hum in response, my eyes looking at the blonde woman next to me.

"To me you seem pretty open minded and hearted." I share and she turns to look at me, a genuine sparkle in her eyes.

"Do you really think so?" She asks back, glancing over to Rose to not lose her.

"Yes. I mean I don't know you that well obviously but from what I've experienced, you never seemed closed off. When Rose first started talking to me, you didn't stop her and paid attention to my reaction but not judging me." I explain what I mean and Scarlett nods in agreement.

"You just gave off a calm, friendly vibe. Call it intuition but something inside me told me, that you wouldn't be mean or rude to Rose." She lets me in on her side of the story. I smile at her in thanks and we follow Rose who just spotted the playground. She jumps up and down in excitement, running back to us and tugging on Scarlett's hand to get us there faster.

"Come on, Mommy. They have a huge slide." She tells us excitedly. We walk a little faster, not wanting to make Rose wait too long.

As soon as we reach the playground, Rose runs off to climb up the slide tower. Scarlett and I sit down on a bench from where she can see her daughter.

For a few seconds, she looks around us as if she was looking for something. When she doesn't find it, she relaxes and leans more against the back of the bench.

Rose found another kid on the climbing frame and they start to play with each other.

"She's really open towards other people." I observe without judgement. Scarlett nods.

"She is, sometimes a little too open maybe. I had a lot of talks with her about stranger danger and I think she gets what I mean by that but she's just too curious to not interact with other people she doesn't know. Usually kids though, which isn't that dangerous. I just don't like her talking to adults without me being with her. On the train I was right next to her and could have protected her from any possible danger. But again, you didn't seem to be dangerous." Scarlett explains and her eyes end up looking at me.

I nod and also look at her. For a few seconds I get lost in the green of her eyes before I catch myself and look at my hands that are folded in my lap while I feel the blush in my cheeks. Before I can say something, probably stupid, Rose comes running at us.

"Will you come play with me, y/n?" She asks me and does her best puppy dog eyes. My heart melts immediately and I agree and stand up.

Rose takes my hand and with the other she pulls the hat off her head and gives it to her mom.

"It's to warm, Mommy. And it will fall down when I run." She explains. Scarlett's eyes scan the surroundings for a few seconds before she nods.

I'm a little confused by that but am pulled away from Rose.

"Can you make me a superhero again?" She asks while pulling me towards the monkey bars. I smile at her request and nod.

"Of course, which one do you wanna be?" I ask and she stops to think for a second.

"Black Widow." She beams and I nod slowly. I heard that name before and I know it's from Marvel but I never saw the movies, so my knowledge is almost none existing.

"Okay, you maybe have to help me a little though." I say and Rose nods eagerly before climbing up the monkey bars. She turns to look at me.

"We are on a mission to save humanity." She tells me with a serious expression and I mirror her face and nod.

Her eyes stay on me before they shortly dart to the monkey bars. She stays silent which tells me she wants me to continue this.

"Alright, to get where we need to be, we first have to get from our flying ship to the ground, using this letter." I say and point to the monkey bars.

Rosee's eyes light up and she nods before turning around. She grabs the first bar and reaches to grab the next one. I stay close to her, just wanting to be sure she won't fall.

"You have to go too." She tells me when she is on the other side and I nod, jogging back and grabbing onto the bars. They are low enough for my feed to touch the ground but I still pretend to be swinging from one to another.

At the last one, I reach my hand out to Rose, pretending to be struggling.

"Help me, Black Window." I plead and she giggles before taking my hand and I come to a halt next to her. She proudly nods when I thank her and pulls me to a balance log.

"Oh no, there's a canyon that we have to get over but luckily there's a tree that fell over it. We just have to be careful not to slip, or otherwise we will land in the huge river at the end of the canyon." I say, my voice lowered dramatically.

Rose's eyes grow big and she gets onto the log. I follow her and we slowly make our way over it.

"Oh no, there's wind that shakes the tree." She yells and wiggles her body from one side to another. I join in.

"Oh no, we must keep our balance and reach the other side to be safe." I play along and while wiggling, we slowly make our way over the log.

Rose points to the slide tower.

"That's where we have to go. They keep a treasure there that could destroy humanity. We have to save it and bring it home with us." She explains the further mission.

"Understood. What about guards?" I ask and Rose spins around to look at me in thought.

"There are guards, we have to fight them off." She decides and with a little fight cry, she runs towards the tower.

I follow her and chuckle when she starts kicking the air. When she turns around to me, I also pretend to be fighting bad guys. She rans past me and throws some punches into the air before proudly looking from the ground to me.

"All done, now up to the treasure." She commands and I salute at which she giggles at.

We climb up the tower and when we reach the highest level, she cheers and points to a little rock that lays there. She tells me that's the treasure and that that's what we need to bring home safely. I nod and she picks up the rock before sliding down the slide, giggling. After she stepped aside, I also slide down and grin, this is really fun.

An idea pops into my head and I turn to look at Rose.

"Surprise attack, I was actually a villain all this time and now want my treasure back." I say and make a silly face at her.

Rose squeals with excitement and takes off. I chase after her.

We run around the whole playground multiple times and I slowly start to get exhausted. Rose seems to as well and aims to run towards her mother.

Scarlett gets up, a slightly worried look on her face but when Rose giggles and hides behind her leg, a smile grows on Scarlett's face. I come to a halt in front of her, panting and leaning down onto my knees.

"Okay, I give up, you win, Rose." I surrender and Rose cheers again before coming back from behind her mother and showing her the rock she saved. Scarlett ruffles a little through Rose's hair and tells her how brave she was before looking at me, mouthing a 'thank you'. I smile and nod in response.

"How about we calm down a little and explore the park some more?" Scarlett suggests and Rose and I both agree.

Again Rose takes off to skip ahead us and Scarlett and I walk next to each other.

"So, you found a job." Scarlett starts a conversation and I hum in agreement.

"I saw they were looking for someone and applied. The next day I had the job and I have to say, I really like it. The people I work with are nice and the atmosphere is calm." I tell her and glance at her before looking at the way ahead of us.

"Sounds nice, I'm really happy you found a job. And you're right, the atmosphere is really nice and the coffee really good. Although I have to say, the second coffee I got wasn't as good as yours." Scarlett says with a grin and nudges my shoulder lightly with hers. My cheeks blush a little at the implied compliment and I smile shyly at her.

"Thank you." I say and she chuckles silently.

"Is the money enough to rent a place?" She continues the conversation. I sigh and shake my head.

"No. It pays good but not enough. I have to get a second part time job to cover rent, I just don't know where to work yet. " I share and we fall into a short silence, both thinking.

It's only shortly interrupted by Scarlett calling for Rose to not run into the way of a bike.

"I'm sure you will find something soon. And eventually you will for sure find a full-time job." She encourages me and I smile at her in thanks.

She's always so genuine and I really like that about her. The things she says aren't just empty phrases, they seem to be truly meant and it warms my heart that a practical stranger cares about me. Well, maybe not that much of a stranger after today. Maybe we can become friends or... no I shouldn't get my hopes up. We're only out together for the first time and maybe the only time.

She probably has enough friends already. I mean, who wouldn't be interested in such a wonderful woman? She seems to be a great friend who you can talk to forever and who wouldn't judge you for anything.

"What about you?" I ask, wanting to know more about the woman next to me. She looks at me for a few seconds and I see hesitation and worry in her eyes. Why is she afraid to tell me?

Does she just not feel comfortable with talking about her life or is she ashamed of her job? But I mean I would never judge her.

"You don't have to answer that, if you feel uncomfortable." I assure her with a warm smile, wanting her to feel comfortable with me.

Besides, I don't want to push her to answer me, it's okay if she doesn't want to.

"No, it's okay. Well, I live with Rose in a house. It's a little outside of Manhattan so Rose isn't growing up in the complete chaos of a big city." Scarlett tells me and I just listen, nodding along so she knows I'm paying attention.

But wait, she lives with Rose alone? No husband or boyfriend? I try to glance at her left hand but it's in her jeans pocket. As if she could read my mind or sense my eyes searching for a ring, she continues.

"Rose's father and I got divorced a few years back, when Rose was around two." She continues, her eyes following her daughter running around.

"I'm sorry." I say, not knowing what else to say.

"Thank you but don't be. He cheated on me and it was healthier for us to split up. Rose visits him regularly and seems to be okay with it. I'm just sorry she had to go through all of this." She says, her lips pressing into a thin line for a second when she tells me about the cheating.

The man must have been out of his mind to cheat on such a beautiful, kind and loving woman. She is all anyone could ever ask for. All I could ever ask for. Wait, no. I got to stop thinking like that.

"His loss, honestly." I whisper, not even sure if Scarlett heard me, her eyes staying on Rose.

A question swirls around my head and I bite the inside of my lip, thinking about if I should ask.

"If this question is too personal for you, you don't have to answer." I start and Scarlett's attention is brought back to me and she nods for me to go on.

"Did you find someone new after that?" I ask carefully, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable with my personal question.

Scarlett thinks about it and seems to search my eyes for something before she answers.

"There were one or two people I found interesting but nothing ever happened. I'm honestly worried to be cheated on again. And I also don't want to introduce Rose to someone who might has different interests... I don't want her or me to get attached to someone who will leave us. It would probably make her really sad and I want to protect her from that." Scarlett answers and I hear how hesitant she is about the answer. Her eyes meet mine again to watch my reaction closely.

"I totally understand that. Rose is your first priority and always will be. You want to protect her from getting hurt. If she allows someone to get close to her, you don't want to rip that person away from her because he turns out to be not right. And you also want to protect yourself from being hurt again. And I think that's a very strong way to handle the situation." I say and look at her.

Surprise shows in her eyes at my answer, as if she wouldn't expect me to be this understanding.

But I get it, the way she looks at Rose and talks about her, it's obvious that she loves her daughter and introducing a new life partner to a child is never easy and she just wants to be sure it will be the right person.

I also understand that she is careful with the people she gets close to, getting cheated on leaves a scar and makes you become more careful to protect yourself and your heart.

"Thank you for understanding. And also for seeing it as strong." She says quietly and a tiny smile tugs on the corners of her lips.

"Of course and I really mean it." I emphasize. Now she smiles and her eyes lose the worry in them

Before we can continue our conversation, Scarlett rushes a few steps forward, calling out for Rose who stands close to the little lake I visited the past few days.

Rose turns around and takes a few steps back before Scarlett reaches her. She kneels down in front of Rose and tugs some hair behind her ear. Just as I get into earshot, she starts to speak.

"Rosie, you have to be careful when you go closer to a lake. It can be very slippery and you can fall in and we don't want that, okay?" Scarlett explains in a calm voice, hugging Rose. Rose nods and Scarlett kisses her daughter's cheek.

"Okay Mommy, but I want to see the fish in there." Rose explains her plans and Scarlett smiles at her and gets up, holding a hand out for Rose to take. She does so and Scarlett leads the two of them to a little platform with a railing that gives a good view of the lake.

I follow them slowly, not wanting to intrude on their moment.

Rose looks between the bars of the railing but whines that she can't really see any fish. Scarlett looks herself but also sees none. I finally step to stand next to them.

"Look, over there where the water lilies are, swim some fish." I say and point into that direction.

Scarlett hums when she sees them and smiles.

But Rose apparently still can't see them and tugs on my shirt, so I turn to her. She lifts her arms up and I glance over to Scarlett, unsure if I am allowed to lift Rose. Scarlett nods and I pick Rose up, setting her on the railing and keeping one arm wrapped around her small body while standing behind her. She leans back into me as she looks over the lake.

"When you look closely, you can see little orange fish where the water lilies are." I say and point again with my free hand. Rose squints her eyes a little and when a happy smile spreads over her face, I know she sees them.

"What kind of fish are those?" She asks and looks up to me. I smile at her.

"They are gold fish." I explain and she nods but then looks even more confused.

"But they aren't gold." She observes and I chuckle at her almost offended tone.

"Well, not quite that's true but some of them shine golden in the right light. There are different kind of gold fish and some are more likely to shine golden than others." I explain and Rose watches me with big eyes before she looks back at the lake.

"Maybe they are too far away to see that." She concludes and I nod.

"Maybe."

When I feel Scarlett's eyes on me, I turn to look at her, my once free hand now also wrapped around Rose to keep her safe.

"What?" I ask and blush at the almost intense look she gives me. Not intense in a bad way, more like an adoring way? But why would she look at me like that?

"You really know a lot about fish." She notices and I nod. "Maybe you could see if the aquarium has a part-time-job for you. You seem to be interested in that field and it would be a nice contrast to your work at the coffee shop." She suggests.

That actually sounds good. I honestly already forgot they have an aquarium here but at the thought of maybe working there, I get excited. That would be really amazing, I would get to work with sea animals, just like I always hoped. Not quite the same way I hoped for, but it's something.

"That's a really good idea, Scarlett. I will see to go visit it in the next days and see if they offer a job." I say, feeling excited about that possibility.

"Thank you. And I hope they do, you seem quite perfect for that kind of job." She says and I almost blush again.

God, this woman really has the ability to make me blush with only a few nice words.

Rose looks up at me and swings her legs.

"You wanna get back down?" I ask and she nods, having looked at the lake enough. I carefully grab her under her arms and lift her up.

"Make me fly." She requests sweetly before I can put her down.

For a few seconds I'm not sure what that means but decide to improvise.

But before I do anything, I check with her if she's okay with what I'm about to do.

"Okay, I will lay you on my shoulder for that. Is that okay?" I ask and she nods. So, I lift her a little higher and angle her body so that she is laying on my shoulder. One arm wraps around her hips to secure her while the other is beneath her shoulder so she doesn't fall forwards.

"You tell me when you want to get down, okay?" I double check and she nods, waiting for me to go on.

I also nod and walk away from the railing before I spin in a circle, which makes Rose squeal and giggle.

I run around with her on my shoulder and her bubbly laugh fills my ear and my heart fills with happiness. This child really is adorable.

I continue to run and spin and when I do a little jump, she squeals again and giggles even louder.

After a while I come to a stop, slightly out of breath from all the running and jumping.

"Again, again." Rose cheers but I chuckle and shake my head.

"Another time. This ship needs a little break." I say. Rose breathes out and pouts but nods.

"Okay."

I decide on one last thing before I set her down.

"Captain Rose, this is ship y/n. Ready to land?" I ask in a mechanical voice. It's not the best but it makes Rose beam.

"Captain Rose is ready to land." She replies.