Valencia Smith had a normal childhood. She had a beautiful, loving mother named Rebecca and a handsome, devoted father named Daniel. She was an adorable child, having been blessed with her mother's facial features and her father's brown eyes. She lived in a big house in the suburbs and went to catholic school. She had everything she wanted and more and was a perfect child. She had a 4.5 GPA and got even got a scholarship to Howard University in D.C.

From the time Valencia was born, her mother had doted on her. She had told Valencia she was her light in the dark, her little champion. Because of that, Valencia and her mother had a great relationship. As Valencia grew up she even started to look like her mother, which she adored. The only difference between the two women is that Valencia is 5'5 with brown eyes and her mother is 5'8 with green eyes.

Valencia and her father had a pretty good relationship, but she couldn't help but feel like there was a slight awkwardness between them, but Valencia thought it was normal for a father and daughter to be this way.

Valencia's life was not perfect, but the closest thing to it.

Val had been snooping around the attic, looking for her mother's old clothes to thrift and wear again for senior spirit day. As she was looking through the boxes of off shoulder tops and tight pants, she found a small jewelry box with a four digit lock. Val looked at the mahogany box curiously, tracing her fingers over the heart shaped carvings on the lid.

"Lena!" Her mother called for her, making the brown eyed girl jump.

"Yes, mama?" She replied.

"Clean yourself up, dinner's almost ready!" The mother informed her daughter.

"Okay!" Valencia grabbed the box and walked down the ladder from the attic, she quickly put the ladder back up and ran to her room. Locking her door behind her, she examined the box in her hands closely. She plopped down on her purple bedspread, still studying the lock on the jewelry box. Val chewed on her lip, a nervous habit that would form over the years, and put in a random combination.

1-1-7-0, her mother's lucky numbers. In a stroke of luck, the lock clicked and the jewelry box opened. A tune began to play softly, which made Valencia quickly close the box. Startled, she opened the box again, this time slowly, and the tune played again. Val recognized the melody, it was an old song called 'Greensleeves' her mother used to sing her to sleep to. Valencia smiled softly and dumped all the things from the box on her bed. Sitting on her knees, she began to look through the contents of the box.

There were polaroids, handwritten letters, a small bottle of perfume, and an almost empty lipstick tube. Valencia, wide eyed and curious, picked up a letter and read it to herself.

"My Darling Nicholas,

I love when you write to me. Your words are the only thing that keep me grounded in my solitary life of espionage. You have told me that you will be in Calcutta next month, I will try to meet you at our usual spot. I feel you with me everywhere I go; I wish we could just leave all of this behind and be together. I feel idiotic telling you all of this by paper and pen, but I can't help how I feel. Please tell me that I'm not alone…

Until we meet,

Blackbird."

Valencia furrowed her eyebrows in confusion at the signed name; was blackbird her mother's nickname? And who was Nicholas? And when the hell was her mother a spy? She thought she was a real estate agent!

Valencia picked up a polaroid of her mother and some man. Her mother had a wide smile on her face and the man had his arms wrapped around her shoulders, a small smirk on his face.

Valencia couldn't take her eyes off the man. He was very handsome, despite an eyepatch being over one of his eyes. She turned the picture around and read the back 'Birdie and Fury '87'. She put the polaroid back in the jewelry box and picked up another letter.

"Birdie,

Our situation is dangerous, we could both be killed for treason against our organizations if we were to be found out. But that does not stop my infatuation with you. When I first saw you, I knew that we were meant to be. That white dress you had on looked beautiful sprinkled with my blood. Your petite hands were the perfect fit to my neck, and your long legs struck me with the strength of a horse. I felt like cupid's arrow had struck me in my chest. You're green eyes looked so pretty glaring up at me from under my gun. If I never see you again, that image would be enough to hold me over for a lifetime.

Always Yours,

Fury."

Valencia jumped when she heard a knock at her door.

"Lena? Why is your door locked? You got a man in there?" Her mother joked as she jiggled the knob, trying to get in.

Valencia quickly cleaned up the contents of the box and hid the box under her pillow, she ran to the door and opened it.

Her mother stood in front of her with her arms crossed over her chest. "Dinner's ready, nugget."

Valencia nodded, looking frazzled, "Alright Mom." Her mother looked at her suspiciously then twirled around on her heel, heading to the kitchen. Valencia followed her mother, chewing her lip.

"Hey kid!" Her dad greeted Valencia as she sat down at the table.

"Hey Daddy." She replied with a smile.

"How was school?"

Valencia shook her head, "It was fine Dad, I'm just waiting my other admissions and scholarships to go through."

Her father furrowed his brow at his daughter, "Now Val, I don't want you to get any ideas about going to New York for college, it's just not safe."

Valencia rolled her eyes, "Dad, I'm sure the whole 'alien attack' thing is a once in a lifetime deal."

He opened his mouth to protest but his wife came out the kitchen with a dish of spaghetti. She sat the dish down and sat at the head of the table, looking between her husband and her daughter.

They said grace and then her mother continued the conversation "Daniel leave the child alone, if she wants to go to New York, let her go to New York! I've faced a lot worse than aliens in my day!"

Valencia picked at her spaghetti, "I bet you have…" She muttered.

"What?" Her mother said, quickly catching her daughter's quiet tone.

"I think she means, what possible trouble could you have gotten in at real estate school?" Her dad said with a mouthful of spaghetti.

"Yeah," Valencia quickly said, "Like asbestos and mold don't really count as 'dangerous' Mom."

Her mom squinted her eyes at her, "You'd be surprised, Lena."

"I bet." Val said then proceeded to eat to avoid her mother's hard stare. After dinner she nearly sprinted up to her room so she could finish looking through the box, sparking her mother's suspicions.

As Valencia closed her door, her mother's foot peaked through.

"Not so fast," Rebecca said to her daughter, "What the hell is up with you?" She asked, easily overpowering her daughter.

"Nothing Mom. What are you talking about?" Valencia cooly replied.

Rebecca squinted her eyes at her daughter and walked around her room. She looked in the closet, under her bed, out the window and skimmed her entire room.

Finding nothing, Rebecca shrugged, "I thought I told you to be honest with me? If you want to have a guy over…"

Valencia's eyes widened as she interrupted her mother, "That's not…!"

Rebecca held up her hand to silence her daughter, "You're an adult now, baby. And I understand if-"

Valencia shook her head and sighed, "Mom that's not it." Valencia bit her lip and pulled out the jewelry box.

Rebecca's eyes widened, she looked at the old box with watery eyes as her daughter handed it to her. She traced the carvings on the top and her lip quivered. Her watery eyes looked at her daughter, "You didn't open it did you?" She asked as her green eyes searched her daughters.

Valencia mutely nodded and she smiled at her Mom.

A tear ran down Rebecca's face as she dropped the box and hugged her daughter. Rebecca nuzzled her face in to her daughter's curly black hair and sobbed. "I'm so sorry you had to find out this way!"

Valencia stood in her mother's arms confused. She didn't understand why her mother was crying. Had Fury died?

Val awkwardly patted her mother on her back to soothe her, "Mom it's okay." She whispered, trying to calm her mother down.

"No it's not, baby! I should have told you about your father when you were young!" Her mother croaked out.

Valencia's brows furrowed, "What does Dad have to do with Fury?" She questioned.

Rebecca froze.

Valencia let go of her mother and took a step back, "Mom?"

Rebecca bit her lip and looked away from her daughter.

"Mom!" Valencia said louder, "What does Fury have to do with my father?"

Rebecca shushed her daughter, "Don't raise your voice at me! Remember who you're talking to." She chided.

Valencia scowled, "This isn't the time to be chastising me, Mother." She said icily. "Now answer my question!"

Rebecca's nostrils flared, "It doesn't matter. Why were you going through my things?"

"That doesn't matter! Mother who the hell is Fury?" She yelled at her mother.

"He's your father!" Rebecca muttered.

Everything in the house was silent, as moments passed by between the two. Daniel didn't dare to come in to the room with the two women. Valencia glared at her mother with tears in her eyes, to in shock to say anything. Rebecca looked at her only child with sad eyes, she was hurting for her baby.

"Get out." Valencia whispered, clutching herself.

"Baby I-" "GET OUT!"

Rebecca turned on her heel and closed her daughter's door, knowing she need to be alone. She ran to her own room and fell into Daniel's arms.

Tears streamed down Valencia's face. She picked up the box and opened it, sitting against her bed on the floor. She sniffled as she looked at the polaroids of her two parents. Her real parents.

Fury was her father. And no one felt the need to tell her. Would she have ever found out?

Valencia picked up a final unmailed letter in her mother's handwriting.

"My dearest Nicholas,

I am so sorry that I cannot tell you this in person, but I am carrying your child. I cannot kill it, for he or she is the personification of our time together. I am so sorry. If they find out about our baby, they could kill both of us, and our child. I have to disappear. I don't know if you'll ever receive this letter but if you do I want to finally say the words to you that we forbid ourselves to say, I love you.

Your's Forever,

Birdie"

Valencia sobbed and clutched the letter to her chest. Her real father didn't even know she existed. She climbed in her bed with a polaroid of her father and listened to the music box softly play. Her eyes began to get heavy but before she fell asleep she decided one thing: She need answers.

Valencia woke up with crusty eyes and tear stained cheeks. The melody of the music box was floating through her bedroom, reminding her of what had happened the previous night. She reached over to her nightstand and closed the box, then groggily stood up. She stretched her hands up above her head and yawned, checking the time. Her eyes widened when she saw she was late for school.

"I don't think they care if you miss a day the last week of school, Lena." Valencia looked behind her.

"Hi Mom." She mumbled sitting on her bed. Her mother rushed to her and sat next to her on the bed, rubbing her back.

"I'm so sorry baby." Rebecca said to her daughter, kissing her on her temple.

Valencia sighed, "I just have so many questions."

Rebecca sighed, "Let me tell you a story first."

Valencia look up from her mother's shoulder.

Rebecca chewed on her lip before continuing. "I told you how I grew up in an orphanage right?" Valencia nodded, "Well that was true. But I didn't tell you that when I was thirteen, I became was drafted into an espionage organization where I was trained for three years to become a spy. At sixteen I was finally sent on my first mission. Emotionless, quick, swift, no ties, I was the perfect agent. They called me Blackbird. Everything was going well for me. But the year I turned twenty five, I was sent on a mission." Rebecca paused and licked her lips.

"It was supposed to be a simple assassination of an agent at a rival organization. So that night I planned to seduce him and kill him. A mission I had done multiple times before. I put on this white dress, with a slit up the leg, it fit me like a glove." She smirked, "I found my guy and asked him to dance, but little did I know that he was on a mission to kill me too. We got to a hotel room and it was on. We fought for an hour, and it left us bloody. Somehow we went from fighting to- well you know."

Valencia shook her head at her mother's smirk.

"Well anyway one thing turned to another and we were fucking on a daily bases."

Valencia groaned, "Mom!"

Rebecca laughed, "Sorry, sorry. But our affair soon turned into something more and we feel in love. If we had been found out, we surely would have been killed. But we didn't care. We carried on the affair for three years, writing letters back and forth."

"I read some of your letters Mom, he seemed to be really sweet."

Rebecca smiled softly at her daughter, "Nicholas was very sweet. At every anniversary of our meeting, he would send black roses to me. But then," Rebecca frowned, "I got pregnant with you and I knew I couldn't continue to be a spy and have you. They would have killed both of us. So I disappeared. I changed my name and moved here. I went to real estate school, got a normal job, and I met Daniel."

"Did he know?" Val questioned.

"He know's that you aren't his," Rebecca clarified, "but he doesn't know about my espionage past...Please don't tell him. Knowing could put him in danger."

"But what about me?" Valencia muttered, confused.

Rebecca rolled her eyes. "Valencia you're not that slow are you?"

Valencia stared at her mother confused.

Rebecca sighed, "I have been training you since you were a child. Remember all those little lessons I would give you?"

Valencia furrowed her brows, "Hear, see, strike? I thought that was just for strangers."

She nodded, "That was incase my old organization tried to get to you. At this point you're a fully trained agent. Minus the assassin part. I can't believe you didn't notice this, how many kids do you know knows how to dismantle a gun in fifteen seconds?" Rebecca inquired.

Valencia just shrugged, "I thought it was to build character."

"What about me personally teaching you hand to hand combat?"

Valencia again shrugged, "Again, I thought it was for strangers."

"Valencia you can take down a down a man with you legs wrapped around his neck and your hands tied behind your back and you thought I taught you that for regular strangers on the street?" Rebecca pointedly stared at her. "Jesus Christ, and you have a 4.0?"

"4.5." Valencia corrected and her mother just rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, I told you all of this to say: Don't go looking for your father."

Valencia bit her lip, "Why?"

"It would put all of us in danger. If my ex-agency found out I was alive and that I had a daughter with the famous Nick Fury, they'd send someone to hunt us down. Promise me." Rebecca stared hard into her daughter's eyes.

Valencia stayed quiet and her mother's eyes glared at her, "Valencia Renee, promise me."

Val sighed, "Okay, I promise."