No More Excuses//Katelena

14: Homocide. Homosexual?

Kate looks deeply into her mug of coffee as if it might hold the answers to all of her worried questions, but it offers no such thing. Typical. She opens her mouth to say something, but stops when Yelena shifts around and the blanket falls off one shoulder to reveal her neck.

"Yelena," Kate chokes out, setting her drink down and pressing closer to the blonde, her hands already up and trying to figure out what to do. "Yelena, you're bleeding!"

The assassin looks at her blankly for a moment before catching on to the fear rolling off of Kate. "What?" She twists to try to see what her friend is looking at, but she winces and hisses through her teeth, as if she's just now realizing that, yes, she is wounded.

"Сука," Yelena spits, dabbing her finger under her jaw and swearing again when they come back red. She pushes herself to her feet and strides to the bathroom, Kate right on her heels.

"Is this from last night? Did Connor hurt you?" she rushed out, eyes wide as saucers as Yelena inspected the damage in the mirror and cursed colorfully.

"Sort of," the blonde mumbles, her face stormy as she starts pulling supplies out from under the sink. She is quick and efficient, cleaning the jagged cut that arched under the angle of her jaw and slathering it with ointment before dressing it with butterfly bandages.

"What do you mean, sort of? What happened?" Kate's voice is high and frantic and still rough with sleep, and Yelena looks her in the eyes through the mirror.

"I went out last night to find him after you fell asleep. He put up a fight. Got lucky. Hence... this." She waved her hand at the cut, eyes downcast.

Kate sunk down to sit on the edge of her tub, her brain giving up on her without a hitch. Her eyes wandered down to Yelena's hands, which gripped the lip of the sink tightly. If she looked closely, she could see nicks and scratches across the knuckles, the skin red and swelling.

"Is he dead?"

Yelena only looked at her through the mirror again, and the shadows in her eyes gave Kate her answer.

Kate knew she should care more about Connor's safety than she did, but the only thing going through her mind was that he had managed to hurt Yelena, too. He would never do it again, but the fact that the woman in front of her had bled in order to bring Kate more peace of mind was doing something to her heart.

But it was also making her angry.

"I don't need you to fight my battles, Yelena," Kate said gruffly, something hot and uncomfortable squeezing in her chest. The bathroom suddenly felt much too small and suffocating, and she stood to quickly walk out.

Yelena made a noise of confusion and followed behind her. "Kate Bishop, I don't understand. I thought you would be upset about me hunting him down. What is wrong?"

Kate paced in a circle between the couch and the tv, wringing her hands together. It was way too early for this shit. "I'm not mad about that, no. I'm mad because- I- I can take care of myself, you know?" Tears were starting to build up in her eyes, and she wondered why the hell she was so emotional about this.

Yelena softened slightly, still keeping her guard up. She had never known an angry Kate, and did not know how this would play out. "Of course I know that, Kate. You are very capable."

"Then why- you didn't have to go after him. The police could've handled it," she rasped, pacing harder.

Yelena watched her warily, her concern growing. "Kate Bishop, do you truly think your American law enforcement would have given a shit?"