LRS-Episode II: Black Widow and Hawkeye

Chapter 10

YELENA'S P.O.V.

As the three young adults sat around the table for breakfast at Kate's apartment, the sound of a bulbous LARP arrow hitting Sonya in the back of the head had been enough to draw attention to the little girl.

"Yelena Maryna Romanoff!" Yelena exclaimed, walking over to the kid sitting on the couch. In her hands was the toy Hawkeye bow that was taller than she was. Lena wasn't exactly giggling as she aimed directly. She was definitely fixed on her target. Unlike the other LARP arrows Kate had originally bought her, these were only twenty-eight inches long. They did have strong foam heads to avoid harm, but they weren't as wide. They must have just been made with Kate's workbench.

"That's not nice." said Yelena. "We don't shoot at other people, especially not friends." The woman scolded while approaching the kid and removing the toy bow from her little hands (RIGHT before Lena could put the next foam-headed arrow on). "You have to apologize." And Kate Bishop probably did too, for whatever archery stunts she was passing on. Looking back at the dinner table, Yelena could swear she saw a grin on the girl's lowered face as if she was proud or something.

After half a minute of no response, Yelena flatly said to her niece, "Lena, you have to tell Sonya you're sorry."

The five-year-old pouted at her aunt's words, reluctantly being guided to where the short haired woman was. Lena remained silent, not even looking in her direction.

"Yelena, it's okay," said Sonya, picking up the foam-headed arrow from where it fell to the floor. Her Filipino accent was very light, not sounding miffed at all. "Didn't hurt anyway. Kate has targets all over. She was probably trying to hit one of them and it dropped too soon. I'm sure she didn't mean to—"

"No, it's not. She knows it's not okay, I think that's why she did it in the first place." Yelena crouched next to her niece, trying to encourage her to say the words. "Come on, malyshka."

"I'm sorry." the little girl whispered, giving both adults her best puppy eyes. Yelena wasn't sure she meant it, though. Still, she just wanted the issue resolved, she was tired and not in the mood for it. Especially since Sonya was quick to forgive.

"Apologies accepted," Sonya smiled at the child, handing back the short-enough LARP arrow that had bonked her.

"Good job," Yelena said tiredly.

Sonya whispered to the five-year-old with a wink, "And good shot."

Yelena really wished she wouldn't say that, though. Her niece snatched the arrow back and walked over to where she was.

"Only shoot at TARGETS, Lena. You know Auntie Kate has a big one right over there."

Kate, having cleared her plate, quietly got the toy bow from Yelena and guided the little girl over to her shooting line. Now she could aim at the big target on the wall. When Lena was there with her focus diverted, Kate came back and got started on the dishes with her friend.

-/-

THAT NIGHT...

Yelena had looked all over the loft and came back downstairs to see Kate going through behind-the-scenes Extras of that Robin Hood movie. She was getting more concerned by the second. The fact that Kate wasn't, though, just sitting there in her pajamas with a purple weighted blanket over her lap, showed that she had a good idea where her niece was.

"Where's Lena?" she asked with worry. Of course, the apartment wasn't big so it wasn't like she could get lost. But still, it was lighting a spark in Yelena's head that told her something was off.

Kate answered dryly, "Sleeping," jerking her thumb toward the shadowy spot underneath the metal stairs.

Yelena slowly descended the stairs, seeing that little Lena had fallen asleep on the dogs' beds. They had been placed together against the short wall of the cement steps that led to the metal ones. She lay with her little arms wrapped around Fanny as Lucky was lying close to them, nuzzling his way in since he loved cuddles.