Things Are Almost Perfect

Chapter 12 ~ What's Next?

Yelena smiled softly, how could one family be so chaotic and yet so organized? They really did seem to love each other.

"How about Buck and I take the kids and Fanny somewhere to play while you guys figure it out?" Captain America suggested.

Everyone agreed with that, and the six of them left the room. Slowly, the others left as well, Peter going with Bruce back up to the med bay to rest, Tony going with Sam to brainstorm ideas, Clint heading to an empty room to call Laura, and Wanda drifting off somewhere else to think things over.

Soon, Natasha and Yelena were alone, sitting side by side on one of the couches in the room.

"So..." Natasha started, "I'm the only one who cares about you?"

Yelena bit her lip, but nodded. She had hoped Natasha would forget about that.

"Why do you say that? I'm sure Alexei and Melina care about you."

"I haven't seen them in a while..." Yelena admitted.

"Why?"

"After you died.... I just needed some space... to figure things out. And, I know they care about me, it just... isn't the same anymore.

"When you left, we spent a long time freeing the Black Widows. They came to live with us at the Farm, and our family was suddenly much bigger. Sure, we cared about each other. But we were still nervous around each other, our guards were still up.

"A few months, or well, years ago, they had started to become my greatest friends. But Natasha, I bliped, none of them did. When I came back, they had formed deeper bonds that I hadn't been able to. I tried to form bonds with them, and with a few of them I did. But... your death was hanging over us.... and I needed space, so I left the farm," Yelena traced the pattern printed on the carpet with her eyes, "I thought things were getting better, but that was just another lie."

"What do you mean?" Natasha asked softly.

"Don't you see, Natasha? The greatest parts of my life have only been fake. It's always been that way, and I'm sure that this is all going to turn out fake as well," Yelena smiled sadly up at her sister, "Maybe someone caught me and this is all some weird test? Or maybe I'm in a coma and it's all a dream? Who knows, maybe none of the past few months were real and I'm still in the Red Room."

She glanced away, "I don't want to be back there."

Natasha didn't know what to say.

Bucky led the way outside to a large grassy area, Fanny darting out and rolling around on the grass. The kids followed him out, Captain America behind them. Nathanial immediately ran around, exploring every inch of the area.

Lila flopped down on the grass and gave Fanny a belly rub, as Captain America sat down next to her.

"You're Lila, right?" he asked.

She nodded, unsure of how to talk to the hero. I mean, how do you talk to THE FREAKING CAPTAIN AMERICA.

"You can call me Steve, or Cap."

"Okay... Cap," Lila said.

"Do you have a million questions, like your brother?" Cap asked with a grin.

Lila laughed. "Only one."

"Go ahead."

"How do you do it? Fight for others, even though you could die. Or other people could die. I asked my dad that question, but he's really bad at explaining."