The first thing Yelena noticed when she woke up was the smell of waffles. And the sound of screaming children. But mostly waffles.
"MOM LILA TOOK MY WAFFLE!" Nathanial yelled.
Yelena groaned and rolled over to cover her ears. But ended up rolling the wrong direction and fell off the couch. Grumbling about missing a real bed, she untangled herself from the blankets and dragged herself to the kitchen.
"Auntie Lena!" Lila said, grinning. She grabbed a plate out of a cabinet and handed it to Yelena.
"Morning," Yelena replied, taking the plate and grabbing four waffles.
Nathanial stared at her plate. "That's a loooooooot of waffles."
"Yep." Yelena sat down at the table and poured the syrup on.
Laura was standing at the counter, popping fresh, warm waffles out of the waffle machine.
Cooper dug into a huge bite of waffle, "You have eaten waffles before..... right?"
Yelena nodded as she devoured the waffles. "But none as good as these! These are amazing, thanks Laura," she said after swallowing a bite.
"You're welcome," Laura said.
"Boo!"
Yelena nearly flipped the table. She spun around and saw Natasha grinning mischievously. "Natasha I'm gonna....."
"You're gonna nothing. I'm just fulfilling my duties as a ghost!"
The kids giggled, big smiles crossing their faces.
Laura stared at the four of them like they were ghosts. Which was going in the right direction, but not quite there yet.
"You're in a good mood," Yelena noted, stuffing more waffles into her mouth. Who cares that Laura probably thought she'd lost her mind. She wasn't going to give up a chance to talk to, (and possibly annoy), her older sister because someone thought she was crazy.
Clint walked into the room, also seeming to be in a good mood.
Yelena blinked, realizations dawning on her, "Ohhhhhhhhhhh. That explains it."
The three kids were extremely confused.
"Would someone explain what's going on?" Laura asked. Okay, Laura was definitely more confused than the kids. And was probably concerned too.
"Long story short, Nat's a ghost and all of us can see her," Clint said cheerily, grabbing a waffle and sitting down.
"I thought you didn't believe in ghosts," she said.
"I didn't. Until last night."
Laura stared at Clint for a moment. "I'm calling a doctor."
"Dad's telling the truth," Lila said, lifting her plate up to her mouth and licking the syrup off of it.
Everyone was quiet. Laura blinked, hoping that they were all just pulling an elaborate prank on her.
"Auntie Tasha, do you show up in the mirror?" Cooper finally asked.
Natasha blinked. "One second." She hurried away and returned a few moments later. "Nope."
Cooper sighed. "Darn, that would make everything so much easier."
Laura tilted her head. Cooper too? He'd never been the kind of person to play imaginary games.
Poof.
"Holy--"
"Don't swear in front of the kids," Natasha interrupted.
Laura stared at Natasha. "You're a ghost. My family isn't insane and you're a ghost. Okay."
Natasha laughed, "You're taking this way better than Clint did!"
"So that's who was yelling last night....." Nathanial realized.
Natasha grinned. "Yeah, that was him."
"How was I supposed to know you were a ghost?" Clint said defensively.
"Because I've been telling you for the past day or so. The kids got it before you did!" Yelena said.
Clint opened his mouth to defend himself, then sighed. "Uh, Nat, I forgot to ask, what's the plan?"
"Way to change the subject," Yelena muttered.
"We're trying to get to the Avenger's compound, but I thought having a fellow avenger who could actually see me would be useful," Natasha said.
Lila's eyes lit up, "THE FREAKING AVENGERS COMPOUND?! YOU GUYS HAVE TO LET ME COME!"
"No," Laura said.
"Definitely not," Clint added.
"I agree with your parents," Natasha said.
"Eh why not," Yelena said, shrugging one shoulder.
The three adults gave her a good stare.
"There's no harm in her coming!" Yelena said. "It's not like we're gonna get attacked, we're just going to the Avengers compound, it's like two days away and probably the safest place on earth."
"Yeah! How about we all go!" Nathanial added, grinning widely.
"That is a great plan!" Cooper piped in.
"No," Clint said. "All three of you are staying home with your mom."
The three of them sighed.
"Worth a shot," Cooper stated as he stared glumly down at his plate of glorious waffles, the syrup congregating in a little pool underneath his food.
.....so maybe the author is a little hungry.
"This is why Auntie Lena is my favorite Aunt," Lila mumbled, sending a glare to the three adults in the room that are ganging up on them.
"Do you hear that Natasha! I'm the favorite Aunt! Ha!"
Natasha glared at Lila. "Traitor."
Lila stuck her tongue out at her.
"We'll leave in a little bit," Clint said. "I'll go pack."
He stood up and set his dishes in the sink then headed upstairs.
Lila stood to put her dishes in the sink as well. "Auntie Lena, do you wanna come do some archery with me?" she asked.
"Sure."
After helping clean up, Yelena and the kids went outside. Natasha went to follow, but ran into a wall.
"Stupid walls," she grumbled.
"You're a ghost. You're supposed to go through the walls, not run into them." Yelena grinned at her.
"Oh shut up, being a ghost is hard."
"Here," Lila said, handing Yelena a bow and grabbing her own. Cooper and Nathanial had run off somewhere to play with Fanny.
"Have you even used a bow before?" Natasha asked.
Yelena took the bow from Lila, "Well.... no. But it can't be that hard, can it?"
Lila laughed, "You're in for a nice surprise."
After nearly an hour, Yelena's arrows started hitting the edge of the target.
"Yessssssss!" Yelena cheered.
Lila laughed, letting another arrow fly, which hit the bullseye.
"Show off," Yelena frowned.
Natasha laughed and asked Yelena for the bow. Yelena handed it over, and Natasha got a bullseye first try.
"What?!" Yelena exclaimed, "You're cheating! Ghost cheats!"
"Seriously? You think I'm cheating? My best friend is literally Hawkeye."
Yelena pretended to pout. "I thought I was your best friend!"
"No, you're my annoying little sister," Natasha replied with a grin.
"You're only older by like...." Yelena did some quick math, "a few years."
Natasha drew another arrow and was about to release it when the bow dropped out of her hands. "Shoot," she mumbled, trying to pick it up.
"Why can't you hold it?" Yelena asked, tilting her head.
Natasha managed to pick it up after a few more tries. "I think it takes some practice. Like I said before, being a ghost isn't easy."
Yelena was going to reply, when the conversation was interrupted by Clint walking over to them, Cooper and Nathanial trailing after him. "You guys ready to go?"
Lila pulled her arrow out of the target. "I'm ready!"
"You're not coming," Clint said firmly.
Lila sighed and Nathanial grinned. "Can I come instead?"
"No."
"How about me?" Cooper tried.
"No! None of you are coming!"
"Why nottttttt?" the three kids groaned.
"Because," Clint replied, "your mom would kill me. Now, I'm going to take Natasha and Yelena inside to speak to Mom, and you three are going to stay out here and play nicely."
The three kids groaned again, but put away the bows and grabbed a soccer ball from somewhere.
Clint, Natasha, and Yelena went inside, being met at the door by Fanny and Laura.
"I made you guys some food to take with you," Laura said, handing Clint a basket. "After all, it is like a two day trip to get there."
"Thanks Honey," Clint replied, taking the basket from Laura and kissing her softly on the cheek.
"Is it alright if I leave my truck here?" Yelena asked from where she was kneeling to pet her fluffball of a dog. "And Fanny?"
"Of course you can leave your truck here! And I'm sure the kids will love to have Fanny around!" Laura replied, "Actually, why don't you send Fanny out to play with them right now?"
Yelena nodded and let her dog outside, watching as Fanny ran over to where they had left the kids.
"One last thing, it's almost lunch time, do you want to take something with you?" Laura asked.
Yelena's expression brightened, "Can we make mac and cheese?"
"Mac and cheese?" Clint asked.
"She's always loved it," Natasha chuckled.
"Sure. Do you want to help make it?" Laura replied.
Yelena nodded.
A bit later, they had made amazing smelling mac and cheese, and had dished it into two containers for the ride.... Yelena also asked for hot sauce.
After a bit of everyone teasing Yelena for her food decisions, they set off. Clint hopped in the front seat, while Yelena got in the passenger seat.
"Why do you get the passenger seat?" Natasha asked.
"You're a ghost," Yelena replied, "you can't feel the discomfort of the backseat."
"I'm pretty sure I can still imagine it though," Natasha muttered before floating into the backseat and settling down.
"ROAD TRIP!" Yelena cheered. "This is going to be awesome."
"They aren't as fun as you think," Natasha said.
Clint glanced back at the ghost as he put the car into drive. "Oh be quiet grumpy ghost. Road trips are great!"
Natasha only rolled her eyes in reply.
Yelena on the other hand was practically bouncing up and down in her seat. "This is going to be super fun!"
"As long as nothing goes wrong," Natasha replied.
Yelena's smile grew bigger. "Don't be such a ghost grump! Everything's going to be fine!"
If only she knew how wrong she had been.