Things Are Almost Perfect

Chapter 18 ~ Who Are You?

 "When do you think Bruce will let us leave this room?" Yelena asked.

Peter sighed from where he was laying on his bed, legs swinging off the side, "With Bruce, probably not too long, but with Tony and Nat...."

"They are so overprotective! Like, I know I'm younger than them, but I can still fight just as well as they can!"

Peter sat up quickly, then winced, "Ouch, shouldn't have done that. But still! You're so right! I can do just about anything Tony can, I saved the world for Thor's sake! And yet he's still like, oh no, you're too little to do this or that."

"Right?!" Yelena exclaimed, sitting up too, "Like come on!"

"I think it might be because of how young I look."

Yelena looked him over, "How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"Huh."

"What?"

"You just don't look over fifteen."

"What?! No! I look mature! I am mature!" Peter stuck his tongue out at her and she did it back, before they burst out laughing.

"Sooooo mature," Yelena laughed.

"Okay, fine. So maybe I act a little younger than I am, but I can be mature at times," Peter said, "How about you, how old are you?"

Yelena did some quick math, "twenty-nine maybe?"

"Maybe?"

"We never celebrated birthdays in the Red Room," she shrugged, "It's hard to keep track when you never talk about it."

Peter gasped, "No birthdays?"

Yelena nodded, "Yeah, and I only remember my age because Natasha and I are si-eleven years apart," her gaze grew troubled.

"Then Natasha is forty?" Peter asked.

"Yup."

"Well-"

The sound of an explosion, and the walls of the compound shaking slightly, interrupted Peter, and Yelena was on her feet in an instant. Fanny also jumped up, having been awoken by the violent shaking.

They glanced at each other, before Yelena left the room first, Peter and Fanny following quickly behind.

They rushed down the long hallway and down some stairs, following the trail of smoke that trailed along the ceiling, before they came to the source of it.

At first, Yelena wasn't sure what this room was, then she started piecing it together when they heard yelling.

"Tony!" some voice Yelena didn't recognize yelled, "What did you do this time?! And where's Morgan!?"

Yelena followed Peter into the room, which was filled with smoke and dust, to find a woman with long, ginger hair, yelling at an ash-covered Tony.

He waved away some of the smoke and coughed, "I just messed up a little on one of the experiments."

A young girl, around four or five years old and covered with ash, rushed out from behind Tony, grinning, "Mommy! Daddy was trying to bring back Auntie Tasha! But it didn't work and something blew up and it was awesome!"

The woman picked up the young girl and, after quickly checking her over, turned back to Tony, "You were trying to bring Natasha back? What brought this back, Tony? I thought you had gotten past it!"

"Yeah, well, I was past it," Tony replied, "Until Natasha's sister came to the compound with a ghost Natasha in tow."

"Uhm, what?"

The girl giggled, "Auntie Tasha's a ghost!" she pointed over her mother's shoulder to Yelena, "Just ask her sister! She's right there!"

The woman turned to Yelena with surprise, as if she just noticed she was there, and Tony muttered something about finding out where Natasha ended up before slipping away.

"Hello," Yelena said, "Who are you?"

"That's Pepper," Peter filled in when the woman didn't, "She's Tony's wife, and that's their daughter, Morgan."

"Oh," was Yelena's only reply, as she narrowed her eyes at Pepper.

"She's also my adoptive mother."

"Oh!" all the terrible things Yelena was thinking about Pepper quickly vanished.

Pepper smiled warmly at them, "It's nice to meet you...."

"Yelena." she replied.

Morgan giggled again, "Hewwo Auntie Lena!"

"How did you know I was Natasha's sister before I introduced myself?" Yelena asked the kid.

Morgan only giggled, and Peter was quick to fill Yelena in about how Pepper and Morgan had showed up to see Peter while she was still unconscious. Morgan was hanging out with Tony while he was trying to bring Natasha back, so that's how she knew.

Yelena nodded, "Makes sense."

"I found her!" Tony exclaimed, walking back over to them. He had wiped some of the ash off of his face, and a grumpy looking Natasha followed behind him.

"We are never trying that again," Natasha said sharply.

Tony was quick to reply, "Alright, I'll check that test off the list then."

"Natasha?" Pepper asked. She was definitely shocked, but wasn't handling it as badly as Yelena would have thought.

Natasha looked over to Pepper and smiled, "Hey Pepper!"

"You... you're dead!"

"I have been getting that a lot," Natasha smiled again.

Morgan giggled, and jumped out of her mother's arms, running over to Natasha, "Auntie Tasha!"

Natasha drifted down to smile at the young girl, "Hello again Morgan!"

Yelena smiled softly as she watched Natasha and Tony start to explain what's going on to Pepper, while Peter took Morgan to go find the other kids.

After watching for a moment more, Yelena turned away and slowly made her way back to the Med Bay, Fanny close to her side.

As she walked back, Yelena was once again struck with the feeling that she didn't belong. She never had belonged, and when she had felt like she had, it had turned out to just be fake.

She hadn't belonged back then, and she didn't belong now.

Yelena never would belong.