watched as you signed your name "alexandra"

wanna hang out? yeah, sounds like fun

i need to work on this again omfg

Kate wakes up nearly four hours later to a random episode of SpongeBob playing.

Yelena's sound asleep next to her, tucked in a ball under the covers with her eyebrows furrowed and a tiny bit of drool falling out from the corner of her mouth.

It's a bizarre humanizing moment - one where Kate realizes once again that Yelena's not here to be an assassin but instead a friend, one looking for safety.

Kate had a very hard time not thinking about it and trying to sleep before she eventually did fall asleep, but now that she's awake again, it's all that's on her mind. Yelena found safety in her for some bizarre reason. It almost doesn't make sense and the devil on Kate's shoulder tells her to double check all of her things and make sure that Yelena didn't touch anything while she was asleep.

For once, Kate finds herself trusting the blonde. She doesn't know what to think of that feeling. It's definitely weird, and a part of it reminds her of when she first realized that she liked women - nice to one extent because she finally felt understood, but because she hadn't accepted that part, it felt wrong.

This, though, feels more wrong than it does good. But she wants to feel good about this so badly.

She sighs, laying on her side and watching the show for a few minutes before she feels the weight shift on the bed as Yelena starts to wake up.

Kate's eyes shift over to her, watching as Yelena rubs her face against her pillow and loosens up her hold on her body, stretching out her limbs one by one before blinking a couple of times and meeting Kate's eyes.

"You have a very comfy bed, Kate Bishop," she says hoarsely, accent thick from just waking, "Very comfy."

"Thanks," Kate breaks eye contact and looks over to the TV again, "When did you put on Spongebob? I could've sworn Hunger Games was on when I fell asleep."

"Well," Yelena shifts and fiddles with the covers, "The movie ended and you were very quiet, and I realized that you were asleep. And then... I didn't know what I wanted to watch until I clicked through a couple of your apps and saw that there was Spongebob. I watched that when I was little with my sister - good memories."

Kate furrows her brow in confusion. Yelena grew up in the Red Room program, right? So where did she watch Spongebob? To be fair, she brushed off the sister thing because it sounded more colloquial than anything, but now...

She takes a breath, trying to cut the thoughts. This isn't about investigating Yelena right now.

"I know you want to ask about her," Yelena says softly, "You get two questions."

Kate bites her lip, desperate to ask for a name, anything identifying to see if this woman is still alive and associated with the Red Room. But that's not that kind of conversation, she reminds herself, this is a conversation between friends.

Her first question is rather easy, "What's your age difference? You guys sound close."

"Ten years," Yelena replies, "Almost eleven, but I was born in February and she was born in December, well, until my birthday was changed for me to be Alexandra."

"How have you kept in contact with her?" Kate asks, curiosity getting the best of her. She couldn't even keep in contact with relatives without being in a hell-chamber.

"We found our way back to each other," Yelena says vaguely, "Happened a couple of years back. It's still strained, though... we have different motivations in life. I'm lucky she still loves me, really."