till forever falls apart

the emergency room

"Please don't," Yelena whines, "Head's too fuzzy."

"Alright," the doctor nods, "I hope when I return next time we'll have some scans and I can get some answers for you guys. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Thanks," Natasha says bitterly, glaring at the now-closed again curtain before muttering, "Jesus Christ, where's Wanda?"

"Maybe she's lost," Kate suggests weakly, and Natasha snorts.

"If she were lost, she could find us. She's like a bomb-sniffing dog with those powers of hers," she responds dryly, kicking her feet up on the edge of Yelena's bed, "how're you feeling, Lena?"

"I miss Fanny," Yelena says quietly, pulling at the loose thread in the sheets, "where's my water? I want my water."

"Here," Kate bumps the water bottle against the back of Yelena's hand that doesn't have an IV in it and Yelena grabs it. She flicks open the straw and drinks some before flicking it down again and holding it against her chest. It's only been half a day and she really misses her bed.

"Here you go, ma'am."

The curtain peeks open and Wanda walks through and Yelena furrows her eyebrows, "What happened to your hair?"

"That wasn't the reaction I was hoping for," Wanda says, glancing nervously at Natasha, "Sorry I couldn't get here sooner."

"This is what you were doing?" Natasha asks, standing up and looking at Wanda fully. What used to be red hair is now a really dirty blonde, fully embracing the roots that started showing when Wanda gave up dying her hair at the beginning of the year.

"I mean," Wanda rocks on her feet, "I thought you were going to be out all day and Anya's with Stark all day... I just wanted some change. By the time you called they already were halfway done."

"Jesus," Natasha mutters and Yelena suddenly feels a lot more awake, fully invested in the drama happening, "Um, well, you're here now, I guess."

"Yeah," Wanda nods, moving a little closer to Natasha and kissing her cheek before looking at Yelena, "how are you?"

"Better if I stop getting asked that," Yelena whines, "can you use your wiggly-woos to fix my leg?"

"I don't think so," Wanda says apologetically, "I have used them to help Nat sleep a couple of times, though, if that's what you want."

"No," Yelena pouts, looking past Wanda and at the TV.

Wanda takes that as her cue to sit, placing herself next to Natasha, and the room falls back into silence. Yelena doesn't think she's ever been this bored in her entire life.

"Tasha," Yelena calls out softly, "Can you braid my hair? I don't like it all loose. Feels gross."

Natasha almost looks like she has to shake herself out of something, but she nods, getting up and walking over to the bed.

Yelena's never been more thankful for her big sister.

-

When Yelena's taken to get her x-rays or MRIs or whatever the ever-living fuck they're doing, Kate goes outside.

She can't help it, being in that hospital is choking the life out of her faster than Kingpin ever could. Seeing her - not girlfriend, they haven't gotten that far yet - Yelena (she guesses she's hers) in a hospital bed is enough to make her want to throw up.

She just wants to go back to this morning's bliss and last night's bliss and the time before everything went so badly. She doesn't know what's wrong with Yelena and she's too scared to think about it. Yelena's one of the most important people in her life.