WHAT: Teen Yelena has a talk with her sisters WHERE: Black Widow House WHEN: Backdated to the first day of the timeslip WARNINGS: Some talk of the Red Room but nothing explicit STATUS: Complete
When Yelena stepped back through the door (which she had to tell herself to use because she almost snuck back in through a window), she got hit with the multitude of scents coming from what she figured was Natasha’s cooking. The day ended up being long as she explored Vallo, trying to remember what was different and what was similar from the last time she was here. A half a year ago? At least most of it had been the same.
She closed the door behind her, loud enough for it to be heard and made her way to the kitchen. Along the way, that bird she had seen here last time dropped herself onto her shoulder. “Hey,” she said, rubbing the bird’s belly affectionately, feeling just a little bad that she forgot the name. Apparently, her future version had enough of her shit together to take care of a whole other living creature besides herself.
“Hey,” she repeated, this time louder and to the inhabitants of the kitchen which was… definitely more packed than last time.
With four adults, two toddlers, a bird, a dog, and two cats, the house was anything but peaceful, but Natasha was attempting to keep some semblance of order, particularly for Yelena’s sake (whenever she opted to come back home that was). It would be overwhelming for anyone, let alone for a teenager with that amount of trauma in her history.
Currently the cats were shut away and Lucky was cuddling with the twins under the kitchen table while the two of them colored and played with stickers. Natasha still had a rainbow heart sticker stuck to the front of her shirt that she’d completely forgotten about in her focus on making dinner. Her head snapped up as she heard her younger sister’s voice call out from the entryway, but by the time she’d turned, Yelena had already appeared in the kitchen.
Natasha drank in every detail about Yelena. Body language, tone of voice, that look in her eyes. There was a loaded pause before she gave Yelena a warm smile and hurried across the kitchen to pull her into a hug. “Hey, you.”
Today had been a day, there was no mistaking that. Waking up to find out she and Emily were parents was not something Kate had expected on a random Thursday in October, but here they were. Parents. To two adorable little four-year-old girls who seemed to be endless fountains of energy. They’d worn down enough for a midday nap, but even that hadn’t kept them down long. All three adults had been assaulted with stickers at one point or another, and poor Lucky had rolled right into the watercolor paints they’d brought home from the store. He was in dire need of a bath, but that was an after-dinner task, once they’d gotten the girls settled into the guest room for the night.
At the moment, Kate was setting the table in the dining room for dinner – it wasn’t quite ready, but it wouldn’t be long. She’d helped as much as she could, but her cooking skills still left a lot to be desired. Emily was the better assist in the kitchen, but Kate had sent her off to lock up the cats and take a break for a few minutes. Kate was used to waking up early and going all day; Emily, with her night shifts, definitely was not.
She had just set out the last fork – a kid-sized one freshly bought, decorated with Mickey and Minnie Mouse on the plastic handle – when she heard shouts from her daughter reminiscent of how they’d greeted Nat that morning.
“Auntie Lena!!” Chase and Maren were a little stereo, popping out from under the kitchen table to cling to their much-younger aunt. To them, she didn’t look that different, and they happily bracketed her (and Natasha, incidentally) from both sides. Maren produced a sticker – this one of a fluffy white kitten on a shiny pink heart background – and Chase popped it right on Yelena’s shirt without preamble.
Kate appeared in the doorway and shot Yelena a sheepish smile. “Girls, give Auntie Lena a break, she just got home.”
If a deer in headlights had a human form, it would be Yelena in that moment. But just for a moment. After half a second, she leaned forward and put her arms around each of the girls, even if the angle was a bit awkward. Or the action itself was awkward. It’s not like it was anyone’s fault for them all being there, displaced from their own time. And at least they had landed in a safe space for them. Things could have been worse.
It was that thought of how things could be worse that had her throat closing up with emotion for a bit before she was able to push it down and smile at Kate and Natasha. “It’s fine,” she mumbled as the girls were pulled away. Briefly, she ran a hand affectionately over their heads.
Kate did move up to coax the girls back just a bit. She knew they didn’t mean any harm, that the Yelena of their time was probably a little more used to the affection and freely able to give it, and she appreciated that Yelena now was trying. It was a weird situation. It was weird for those of them who hadn’t aged down fifteen-plus years overnight, but that was Vallo for you. You just had to adjust.
“Do you need a minute with us?” she asked her sister.
Yelena glanced over at Kate and then Natasha and then the girls. There was a tumble of emotions going through her right now, and normally, she could lock it down behind the best poker face in the world very easily, but also, she didn’t want to. Simple as that.
“Yeah,” she said, finally, sliding away from the girls but giving them a wave anyway as she slipped into a stool at the island.
Natasha could see the answer written across Yelena’s face before she’d uttered that single word, but once she did, Nat gave her an encouraging nod. “We can do that.”
Emily, who had ventured out of their bedroom when she’d heard Yelena’s return, arrived at the kitchen in time to hear the short exchange and didn’t need any further prompting. She gave Kate a smile and a nod before she held her hands out to Maren and Chase. “Does anyone in here want to come read some stories with me?”
Four-year-old attention spans turned in her direction, and the girls ran full speed toward her outstretched hands. “Meeeeeeeee!” They echoed in unison. Emily couldn’t help the soft huff of laughter at their energetic replies. “Let’s do it.” She took each daughter by the hand, but not before she gave Yelena a warm look. “You three take as long as you need. I’ve got these two. It’s good to see you again, Yelena.”
As the three of them disappeared from the kitchen and back toward the guest bedroom, Natasha slipped over to the stove and turned off the burners she’d been using. Some shuffling of pans into the oven left her better able to focus on both Yelena and Kate instead of the food. She wiped her hands off on a dishcloth, then nodded her head towards the table.
Kate flashed her girlfriend the most grateful smile, mentally promising she owed her the most kisses when they settled in for the night. Lucky followed in the twins’ footsteps, so soon, the kitchen was quiet and all theirs. She hopped onto one of the other stools and made sure to take the stool at the corner, leaving Nat space in between them.
Deciding to prompt the conversation for both of her typically more reserved sisters, she leaned forward on her forearms. “So what did you get up to today?” she asked. And okay, maybe it was more chipper than the general somber-ish vibe of the room, but she hoped it would make her sisters smile.
Yelena could only give a small wave before Emily was towing the twins away. Right, yes, the girlfriend. And the bird’s name was Mango. She remembered now. At least most of the haze from the time displacement was starting to clear up. She was safe. She lived in Vallo with her sisters in their house that one day decided to show up in this world because that’s what happened. And every once in a while, people either came from the future or the past or their kids did. This was “every once in a while”.
“I explored,” she said, reaching forward to lean on her elbows. “There’s some more places than last time. You all still do that Fight Club thing here? I want to try that again, maybe. There’s no punishment for losing.”
Once Yelena and Kate were seated, Natasha dropped into place between them. She was grateful to Kate for starting the conversation off, as it gave her more time to just observe Yelena. That old pang of guilt tightened her stomach, but her expression never changed. With each instance of teenaged Yelena showing up here, Natasha was able to soften some of those old feelings of guilt and failure, but she knew they’d never be gone completely. It was something she simply had to carry with her. Feeling guilty wouldn’t help this Yelena, but being here for her now could. Continuing to give her space and a chance to be a kid would.
“Yes, they still do Fight Club, we can get you signed up. Anything else you want to do? I know things are a little different this time around, but we’ll still make it happen.”
“Yep, anything,” Kate agreed with a nod. “Like Nat said, you’re still a priority, even with the girls here.” It would be a little more of a priority juggle than usual, but she’d make it work. People brought infants to Fight Club; she could bring Chase and Maren without anyone batting an eye to watch out for Yelena.
Yelena frowned slightly, shifting a little in her seat. “You don’t have to– I mean, it’s okay. They’re kids. They’re a different kind of priority. I’m sure there’s a lot here you have to protect them from anyway.”
She would never have a full idea of what her older self felt about everything, about being left behind to be taken to the Red Room. For her right now, the betrayal was always in the back of her mind, a nagging little voice that would take the first opportunity to rage if she let it, and so she would find herself expending energy to keep it back. She knew this Natasha had regrets, of course, they’d talked as much about it last time. She didn’t want to see or hear regret and apologies from her anymore. She did, however, want to make sure nothing ever happened like this to anyone else.
And now that the thought had entered her head about the twin girls, she couldn’t push it out.
Natasha tilted her head slightly and carefully watched the change in Yelena’s expression. “Yes, they’re kids and we’ll make sure they’re safe and happy. We’re just saying that doesn’t have to be at the expense of you.”
Kate nodded. “Yeah, Nat’s right. We’ve got enough attention to split.” She tried not to add too much because she tended to trip over her words. Having Yelena around this age wasn’t new anymore, but it left her a little bit nervous automatically. Not that her nerves were anything to brag about today. “And we’re glad you came home for dinner.”
“Well, I don’t know how to cook,” Yelena said, giving them a shrug, like it was the most obvious thing. Of course she had to come back home for dinner. Which was actually a lie. She could have gotten takeout. She had money on her person. “I just… I wish I could just stay. Selfishly, I just want to stay here like this. It’s like a break from the Red Room every time.”
Natasha’s expression broke at those words. There was nothing she wanted more desperately than for this younger version of Yelena to be able to stay here with them. It wasn’t fair the way Vallo dropped her here only to yank her away again. Back to the Red Room. Back to that life.
Tears welled up in her eyes and Natasha reached an arm out for Yelena. “It’s not selfish at all.”
Kate bit down on her bottom lip, folding her hands together and staring down at them for a moment. It sucked to hear Yelena say that. It wasn’t selfish; of course she’d want that. She was a teenager under mind control in her normal life, and here she got to be away from that. She got to be just a kid in a way the woman she’d grown into had never experienced. It had to be hard, coming back here again and again and knowing it wouldn’t last forever.
In her own selfishness, as much as Kate wanted to give that to her, she wanted her big sister back, too. The woman who knew her, who teased her while they cooked dinner together, who bantered with her about how loud Mango was, who cackled like a hyena when Kate did something dumb, and called her Kate Bishoooop in that drawn-out way that drove her crazy but she not-really-secretly loved.
She didn’t know what to say. It was probably better to stay silent because it felt like she would definitely trip over her words if she said anything right now. So, instead, she yanked her stool closer to Nat’s and offered out a hand of her own, too. It would be easier to get up, bracket Yelena from the other side, but she wanted to give her that open escape route if she needed it. Just in case.
Yelena hadn’t meant for that to upset them, though she knew they weren’t actually upset at her. Her lips turned downward and her own vision swam as tears spring there as well. She swiped at her eyes with the back of one hand, mumbling a “sorry”. In that moment she decided what she’d do as soon as possible since she didn’t know when she’d leave – she’d write herself a letter. Unclear about what exactly, but she had to leave something.
After dinner, most likely, because she didn’t want to leave her sisters like this right now. Yelena stood up from her stool then and pulled Natasha into the hardest hug she could muster.
Natasha replied with a curt shake of her head. “You don’t have anything to say sorry for, Yelena.” She squeezed Yelena tightly for a long time before she finally pulled her head back enough to look her in the eye. “Hey, look at me.” She waited for Yelena’s gaze to lift back up to hers before she continued. “It means a lot that you shared this with us. Thank you.”
Kate honestly would have been fine just watching that hug for a while longer. These were two of the most important people in the world to her – her sisters – and they deserved every bit of time they could get together. She remembered meeting Yelena back home, seeing how much that loss had broken her. They had each other here now, and this regression that kept grabbing Yelena actually served them well, too. They got to find a different kind of peace, even if it was only temporary.
“Okay, can I hug you, too?” she asked, getting up from her stool to stand beside both her sisters. No more of this distance stuff – a respectful space remained until she got permission, but she needed in on this, damn it. “Because I love you, and I’m really, really glad you’re here, too. I know I’m new, but.” She shrugged a little, raising her eyebrows at her currently-little sister.
Yelena rolled her eyes and said “Obviously,” as she let out one of her arms for Kate. Once she was in, she put her arms around each of her sisters this time, holding them tight. A rational part of her said that they weren’t going anywhere and they should be starting to eat dinner soon, so it’s not like she had to get everything out of that hug right this instant…
But she held onto them both, a little longer. Maybe it would have gone even longer if Mango (who had flown off for a bit before) hadn’t decided to land on top of her head and gave an impatient chirp. “Right,” she said, tilting her head up. “I forgot you’re on an eating schedule too.”
A low huff of laughter escaped Natasha at Mango’s timely landing. She wiped at her eyes and straightened up. “Such a diva, Mango.” The parakeet chipped back at her and Nat shook her head with another smile. “If you two want to go feed her, I’ll finish getting dinner on the table. And maybe after dinner we can make some plans for tomorrow, just the three of us.”
“Just the three of us sounds great,” Kate said, reluctantly leaving space for Yelena to breathe again. She could have stayed like that a while longer, but she’d make up for it when Yelena got back to her normal age. She’d cling to her for a whole morning and make sure the twins scrambled all over her to prove she was missed, too. She got the feeling Chase and Maren wouldn’t need any encouragement on that front.
The same space didn’t hold true for Natasha, who she immediately engulfed in her arms, pressing a messy kiss to her cheek. She knew how her big sister was feeling. She knew the situation was tough, and she knew how Natasha would take it to heart. In these situations, she always did. And though Kate didn’t say it out loud, she wanted it expressed that she was loved and Kate had her.
“Alright,” she sighed, pulling back and looping her arm through Yelena’s to lead her off down the hall, to the birdcage in her room where Mango had her meals. “Let’s go feed your screechy little diva, Lena.” As if affronted by that comment, Mango let out another loud chirp, and Kate rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, keep it up! You’re just proving my point! Screechy. Little. Diva.”