Catch Me When I Fall // KateLena AU

Wrapped Up

Waking with a start, Kate Bishop tumbled off the mattress and, expecting to fall a sizable distance from her raised queen bed, braced herself. Instead, though, she simply rolled right onto hardwood flooring. The pieces came together quickly. She was not in her comfortable penthouse bedroom, or even her college dorm, she was in a shoebox passing for a studio apartment. She was with her.

The archer's jaw clenched as she sat up on the floor, body aching, eyes crusted. She could think of about a trillion things she would rather do than hide out with Yelena Belova, like walk on burning coals, or eat a bowl of nails. God, why was she even still here?

Kate's fried and fatigued mind ran through scenarios of escape. Her mother was still in jail. Her father was long dead. No siblings, no grandparents. She had Jack, sort of, but reaching out would be awkward at best and disastrous at worst seeing as she was still on the run for murder, and Jack did not specialize in subtlety or discretion. She thought of asking to hideout with the Bartons, but what right did she have to do that? She lets Clint die and then asks to bum around?

And then again, how would she get anywhere? Card transactions were easily tracked, as were cash withdrawals. She had no car, had no way to board a bus, plane, boat, anything.

Sighing, Kate grappled with the fact that staying with Yelena really did appear to be her only option. At the very least, she told herself, Yelena possessed street smarts, experience, contacts, resources, all of which Kate had none. So, she would stay with Yelena for now. But that did not mean she had to be happy about it.

"Look who is finally up," Yelena observed, coming into the living area. "How did you sleep?"

Kate eyed her. "Why do you care?"

"That is a good question. I kind of don't." She spun, retrieving a plastic shopping bag from the kitchen. "I did go shopping while you slept for a year, though."

"For?"

Yelena unceremoniously dumped her haul onto the coffee table. "Burner phones, bandages, ibuprofen, protein bars. Not much, but this should keep us afloat until we meet back up with Valentina."

"With... who?"

Yelena hesitated. "That is a problem for another time. Now, let me see your hand."

Kate clutched the limb close to her battered body, not moving a muscle, though the pain had only intensified from sleeping on it, from twisting and turning with tormentous nightmares. The image of Clint's body flashed in her mind, and Kate unconsciously distanced herself from Yelena, nearly in the corner.

Pride added to Kate's hesitation in allowing Yelena to tend to her wounds. Glancing down at her swollen, unnaturally purple hand, Kate scoffed at her own inadequacy. She could not even beat Yelena as the blonde pulled her punches, and with Kate empowered by rage. An indignant, wrathful part of her hungered for round two, but the odds were stacked even higher against her now. Perhaps she should just cut her losses.

"Well?" Yelena asked, rubbing alcohol and bandages in hand.

"I'll do it myself," Kate huffed, and Yelena rolled her eyes.

"So stubborn, Kate Bishop." Yelena handed over the supplies, arms crossed as she stood back to skeptically observe.

Kate quickly abandoned her attempts to wrap with one hand, opting to use her teeth instead. For a while Yelena stood passively by, though she cringed as Kate ended up wasting a sizable chunk of the tape. Yelena stepped up to take over after several agonizing minutes, but the archer shot her a steely glance.

"Maybe if you didn't stand there watching like a vulture I could do it," Kate posited, piece of tape stuck to her lips.

"Yes, I'm sure that's it." Yelena inched closer and again Kate displayed her displeasure, making the blonde groan in annoyance. "Let me do this before you waste the entire roll."