Summary: Laura Barton has invited Natasha and Yelena to stay for a weekend with her, Clint, Lila, Nate, and Cooper because she wants to meet this younger sister that Natasha keeps talking about. Natasha is ecstatic about the visit, but Yelena is considerably less enthused and finds herself quite nervous indeed.
"Are you sure about this? These kids don't know me, and I doubt being Aunt Nat's sister is going to make them automatically love me or whatever," Yelena spoke as they approached the little country house, the nervousness building inside of her with every step they took.
The Barton's had invited the both of them to stay for a weekend since Clint's wife had apparently been dying to meet Yelena since she first heard about her. Yelena was extremely uncomfortable and not ready to face this scary encounter, whereas Natasha was excited as could be about the visit.
"What?! They're going to love you."
"What makes you so sure?"
"You're fun, goofy, and you like to annoy people. And it seems that annoying seems to grow on most people," Natasha teased, bumping her shoulder into Yelena's. Yelena just rolled her eyes heavily, groaning unappreciatively. However, she did appreciate Natasha's attempts to make her feel better.
"I'm sure they're going to adore you. Just let yourself be cool. Y'know, like you did with the rest of the Avengers when you first met them," Natasha pointed out, and Yelena nodded a bit, noticing with dread how the house was growing even closer.
"Yeah. But they were adults," Yelena expressed, and Natasha stopped to look Yelena in the eyes, her light greens piercing Yelena's own honey-greens.
"Maybe so. But you know, I've found that getting kids to like you is a lot easier than getting adults to like you. I mean... Nate's four and he'll love you forever if you just smile at him and talk to him. Lila's just the sweetest and all you have to do is just talk to her like you talk to me. And good grief, Yelena... Cooper still gets a kick out of bathroom humor and other crude, inappropriate stuff," Natasha explained, and Yelena nodded, trying to memorize all of the information.
"You and Cooper will practically be soulmates," Natasha joked, a grin spreading across her face, and Yelena just glared at her playfully, shifting her bags into the same hand so she could shove Natasha's shoulder. Natasha laughed heartily.
"Jerk."
Before Natasha could reply, they were quickly interrupted by a loud noise at the house.
"Aunt Nat!!!" a girl's voice yelled excitedly, and Natasha shifted her gaze from Yelena to the front door where multiple people were spilling out. Yelena watched with surprise as Natasha's eyes lit up with an expression that Yelena had only ever seen Natasha have when she was speaking to Yelena herself. It was that one with awe and pure adoration that almost seemed to communicate Natasha's mental question of how she could be so lucky to have earned such love in her life.
"My kids!!!" Natasha excitedly greeted, immediately dropping her bags and running the rest of the way to the house as a teenage girl and a tiny boy crashed into her. And older boy came running out as well, reaching out to hug Natasha with his siblings.
Yelena walked a bit nearer, her own bags still clutched in her hands, and she stopped a small distance away from them, uncomfortably watching the exchange and not sure how to interact since it was all so out of her element.
"Hey, sweetheart, how have you been?" Natasha asked, her voice communicating nothing but softness and warmth as she pulled away just enough to cup the girl's cheek. She leaned into Natasha's hand, a giant grin on her face.
"I've been good," she replied, her eyes sparkling so much that she was obviously not too focused on what she was saying as much as she was on who she was looking at. Natasha nodded with one of the biggest smiles that Yelena had ever seen on her face. She then bent down to address the small boy that was currently latched onto her leg with his whole body.
"And what are you doing, you little leech?" Natasha playfully questioned before bending down to hoist the boy up into her arms, tugging him off of her leg. She peppered his face with playful kisses, and he squealed joyfully.
Yelena could not help her slight smile that was building as she watched Natasha interact with the kids. This was a side of Natasha that she had never witnessed before.
"And Cooper, you're taller than me now, buddy," Natasha grinned up at the boy, putting down the little kid before reaching out to the teen and squeezing his shoulder fondly. He just smiled at her happily, and Yelena looked around somewhat awkwardly, working up her nerve to add into the conversation.
"That is not too great of a feat. After all, it does not take much to get taller than her," Yelena spoke up, a slight smirk on her face. However, her smile dropped, and she immediately found herself strangely nervous when all of the kids truly paid attention to her for the first time.
Natasha turned to look at her, something that could only be described as pure joy in her eyes as she grinned ridiculously widely.
"Kids, this is Yelena. She's my little sister," Natasha introduced, and Yelena offered a slight smile, not sure how to handle this situation. She would have been much more at ease if the children were adults, but since they actually were kids, she found herself strangely uncomfortable and uneasy.
"And Yelena, I already told you about them, but this is Cooper, Lila, and Nate," Natasha introduced, gesturing to each, and Yelena nodded a bit, looking at all of them nervously as they stared at her.
"Hi," Yelena spoke, unsure of what else to say. Lila replied with a quiet hi and Cooper nodded to her.
However, to her complete shock, Nate came running up to her quickly and latched onto her leg tightly, hugging her as tightly as he could. Yelena froze, looking up at Natasha helplessly, and Natasha had a much too large grin on her face as she moved her head down in the kid's direction, signaling to Yelena to respond somehow.
Yelena reached down, patting the kid's head. To her surprise, he looked up at her from his position holding onto her, a big smile on his face.
Yelena tentatively responded with a smile of her own, and she felt just a little of her nervousness dissipate. She glanced back at Natasha, silently asking for help, and Natasha laughed before heading over and scooping up the boy in her arms.
"Come on, my big man. You think you could help me with my bags?" Natasha asked him, a big smile on her face.
"Yeah!"
"Yeah?" Natasha playfully asked, her voice warm as she leaned forward to nuzzle her nose against his with a laugh. She then headed back with him to where she had dropped her bags on the ground.
Yelena then realized that she had been left with the two oldest kids. She was honestly not sure if that made her less or more uncomfortable.
"So you're Aunt Nat's sister?" Lila questioned curiously, stepping closer, and Cooper moved forward, his hands extended as he reached for Yelena's bags. Yelena hesitantly let him take the bags, closely watching him as he started to head inside with the luggage.
"The one and only," Yelena replied, allowing a bit of confidence to slip into her voice as she returned her eyes to the girl's. Natasha was a topic that Yelena could navigate comfortably since she knew everything there was to know about her sister.
"That's so cool! I always thought Aunt Nat needed a sister or somebody. She used to seem kind of lonely," Lila admitted, and Yelena quirked an eyebrow slightly.
"Huh..."
"So... I've heard a lot about you! I sometimes hear her and Dad talking on video calls, and I always hear her talking about you," Lila expressed with a slight smile, and Yelena could not help the grin that spread across her face at the thought. She turned her head, looking back at Natasha as she praised Nate for his hard work carrying one of the much smaller bags.
"Sounds like her. She's such a softie," Yelena expressed much too happily with a slight roll of her eyes but tried to hold back most of her sarcasm as she headed up the steps to enter the front door. She was not sure how the kid would take it since Lila seemed to think Natasha walked on water or something.
"I know, right? For a tough agent and all, she's really soft," Lila joked with a smile, and Yelena huffed, her smile growing as Cooper passed them by to go meet Natasha and help her and Nate with the remaining bags.
"You don't know the half of it," Yelena expressed with a slight chuckle, and Lila's eyes lit up as she looked at Yelena, eagerly awaiting Yelena's next words. Yelena looked over at her with a slightly conspiratorial smirk.
"You know she's a poser, too, right?"
"No...?" the girl questioned, tilting her head slightly as she listened to Yelena. Yelena headed through the front door, Lila hot on her heels.
"Well, she has this thing where every time she lands, she has to strike some kind of fancy pose," Yelena explained, and Lila laughed a little, nodding as she leaned in a bit nearer to Yelena as Natasha headed up the steps not too far from them.
"I've seen her do that on TV. It's a little over the top but I think it's pretty cool," Lila confessed, and Yelena shrugged, actually conceding to the words since she knew Natasha had no idea what they were talking about.
"What are you two conspiring about?" Natasha questioned playfully, and Yelena could see the happiness and excitement in Natasha's eyes as she looked between the two. Yelena knew that her sister was really excited for Yelena to get along with the kids.
Lila laughed a bit, smiling as she looked over at Yelena. Yelena just tilted her head slightly at Natasha.
"Wouldn't you like to know, poser?" Yelena replied, and Natasha just huffed, grabbing Yelena in an affectionate headlock before looking at Lila questioningly. Lila was still laughing about Yelena's nickname for Natasha, and Natasha just glared at her playfully.
"Okay, then, you traitor. Do you know where I can find your old man?" Natasha asked as Cooper approached them.
"Oh, he's out back with Mom. They told us to keep on the lookout for you," Cooper answered, and Natasha looked at him quizzically.
"What are they doing back there?" Natasha questioned curiously, and Yelena did not miss how Lila glanced at Cooper with mirth in her gaze. Yelena raised an eyebrow wordlessly.
"Well... Let me show you," Lila spoke, and they all followed the girl to the backyard.
As soon as they stepped out the back door, Yelena heard Natasha chuckle underneath her breath, looking out at Clint and his wife.
"Barton, what're you doing?!" Natasha called loudly as she stepped out into the backyard and headed for the barn. Everyone followed along behind her.
Clint turned quickly from his position on the ladder, and he grinned somewhat sheepishly. Laura was at the base of the ladder trying to keep it steady for him.
"Well... It's not what it looks like."
"So you're not trying to get chickens off the barn roof?" Natasha called with a laugh as she approached Laura. Laura released the ladder for a moment to hug Natasha tightly. Yelena remained near Lila since that was the only kid that she had really managed to bond with very much so far.
"Okay... Well, then it is what it looks like," Clint replied, his voice strained as he lunged forward and grabbed a chicken by the legs. It squawked madly, and he grabbed onto her as he tucked her gently against his chest.
"Alright, alright, calm down," he told the chicken before starting his descent down the ladder. Laura turned to hold onto the ladder as he went down, and he finally got to the bottom, landing in the grass. He then let the hen go, and she went running to go and meet the rest of her flock.
Natasha laughed a little as she looked at him. He grinned at her, opening his arms for a hug. However, she just reached out and plucked a feather from his hair where it had gotten stuck in the middle of his chicken adventures.
"Sprouting feathers, Barton? I always knew you were chicken under all that bluster," Natasha expressed with a smirk, and he just rolled his eyes. She laughed before finally hugging him tightly, patting him on the back.
As soon as she was through greeting him, he looked over at Yelena and a smile came onto his face. Yelena could not help her own grin as she headed over to stand next to Natasha.
"Hey, pancake," he greeted and Yelena narrowed her eyes just a bit at the nickname. However, her smile grew as she thought of the perfect response.
"Nice to see you, Clinton," Yelena replied, and he lost a bit of the smile in response to the name. She just chuckled in reply, and he reached out to hug her. She somewhat stiffly hugged him back, not entirely comfortable with it but more comfortable with him than his family.
"You must be Yelena," the woman spoke as soon as Yelena and Clint separated. She looked at Laura, feeling a bit of trepidation. The woman immediately came forward to hug her and she very hesitantly returned the hug, her body stiffened with the contact. She was not sure how to handle this since a stranger had never hugged her as a greeting.
Laura finally pulled away, and Yelena found herself endlessly thankful. Laura just smiled at her with that strange affection, and Yelena smiled slightly in return.
"It is so nice to finally meet you," Laura expressed, and Yelena nodded.
"It is good to meet you, too," Yelena expressed somewhat stiffly, and she could feel Natasha's reassuring hand on her back. Yelena leaned into the hand gratefully, and Clint suddenly spoke up.
"So you guys must be hungry from the drive. Whaddya say we go inside and order some pizza while we catch up?" Clint offered, and the kids all excitedly agreed. Natasha nodded happily, and Yelena grinned at the prospect of one of her favorite foods.
They then all headed inside, and Yelena sat down on the couch. Natasha sat down to one side of her, and Lila plopped down next to Natasha. Cooper and Laura situated themselves in the other parts of the living room as Clint headed into the other room to order the pizza.
Nate, however, immediately came up to Yelena, looking at her with a big grin. Yelena felt her heart slightly melt with his expression. It was so strangely trusting and unguarded as he happily watched her. Natasha, Lila, Cooper, and Laura were all busy talking, and so Yelena focused her attentions a bit more on the little boy that seemed so insistent upon interacting with her.
"What's up, kid?" Yelena asked quietly, raising an eyebrow, and he just laughed as he reached out and started climbing up and onto her lap. Yelena froze immediately, her entire body stiffening as she moved against Natasha a bit. Natasha looked over at the two, a slight grin on her face as she took in the sight.
"Nate, honey, don't—" Laura started, but Yelena quickly shook her head as she very hesitantly placed a hand on the boy's back.
"It's okay, don't worry," Yelena told her, not missing how happy it made Natasha to see Yelena getting along with the kids. Yelena was really uncomfortable with the prospect of interacting with small children, but she would try for Natasha. Plus, a small part of her felt that this was somehow strangely nice in a really weird way.
She held the kid, and he leaned against her, looking at her with a wide smile. Just looking into his eyes, she somehow found herself softening. He did not seem to be afraid in the least, and she could not help but wonder if this was how normal people would be treated.
"Okay, so pizza should be here in about forty-five minutes to an hour. Nat, you wanna help me with the rest of the chickens while we're waiting the pizza to get here?" Clint offered, and Natasha immediately looked at Yelena, slight concern in her eyes as she silently questioned Yelena. Yelena nodded her answer, bumping her forehead into Natasha's shoulder. Natasha smiled slightly, reaching out and tugging Yelena's head against her lips as she kissed the spot just between Yelena's eyebrows.
"Be back in a little bit," Natasha told her quietly, and Yelena just nodded. She watched carefully as Natasha and Clint headed out the door, and she then was forced to turn her attentions to a group of people that she knew hardly at all.
And she could not help but feel at least a little nervous.
.....................................................................................................................
About thirty minutes later, Natasha very hesitantly approached the doorway she had left from earlier, peering in behind Yelena as she somewhat nervously looked in on the scene unfolding inside the room.
She had left Clint outside with the chickens to come and check on the people inside, and she was very much afraid of what state things were in since she had left Yelena completely alone with a group of people she did not know. She knew that Yelena had said she was just fine, but she was not sure how much of Yelena's "fine" was just trying to be tough.
To her complete shock, Yelena was sitting on the couch with Nate snuggled in her lap. Cooper and Lila were throwing grapes at Yelena's face as Yelena demonstrated her ability to catch them in her mouth. Laura was just laughing at the group, and they were all getting way too invested in throwing the grapes.
"If you guys are impressed with this, remind me to show you guys how to burp on command later," Yelena commented, and Natasha felt a huge smile coming onto her face.
"I can burp my ABCs," Cooper told her with a grin, and Laura shot him a warning glance.
"Cooper!" Lila disgustedly cried, but she looked quite surprised as she took in the sight of Yelena cackling gleefully at the very prospect of the idea. Yelena repositioned her hold on the little boy in her arms as she looked at Cooper challengingly.
"Do it," Yelena challenged, and he started burping them. He got to the letter F, and he had to stop since he was running out of gusto to do the trick.
Yelena then immediately picked up where he left off, and Laura groaned a bit at the both of them. She glanced up at Natasha, looking as if she were about to say something to her, but Natasha raised her finger to her lips with a smile. She honestly wanted to see how the interactions would keep going without her interference.
Yelena was only able to hold out until the letter P because Nate was laughing way too much at her, and Yelena could not help but laugh with him.
"You like that, do you, myshonok?" Yelena questioned with a laugh, and Lila leaned in a little as she heard the Russian word, her eyes lighting up with curiosity.
"Ooh, Yelena, can you teach me some Russian while you're here? I'd love to learn," Lila expressed, and Yelena furrowed her brow as she looked over at the girl.
"Sure. Has our favorite poser never taught you any?" Yelena asked, and Natasha could not help the warmth in her chest as she listened to her sister's warmth as she talked about her even if it was in a playfully sarcastic manner. Lila nodded.
"Yeah, Aunt Nat's taught me some. I'd actually love to learn from both of you," Lila told her, and Yelena huffed slightly, a bit of a grin on her face as she looked at the girl and nodded to her.
"I'm sure we could convince her to help teach. Just make sure you pull out the puppy-dog eyes, though. She's a sucker for those," Yelena told her with a wicked smirk, and Lila giggled in response to Yelena's words.
"Revealing all my secrets, are we, malen'kaya sestra?" Natasha chose that moment to speak up, and all of the kids and Yelena turned to look at her. Laura smiled fondly at Yelena, her eyes twinkling with affection, and Natasha could not help the overwhelming feeling of love overcoming her every sense as she very happily realized that so many people that she loved with all of her heart seemed to be getting along so wonderfully.
"I'm trying to help these kids out. It's like they didn't get a crash course in how to properly connive you," Yelena informed her, and Lila smiled happily at Natasha.
"Could you and Yelena teach me some Russian?" Lila questioned, and Natasha caught Yelena's pointed glance between Lila and Natasha. Lila almost laughed, but she experimentally poked out her lip just a bit.
Natasha approached the back of the couch, reaching a hand out to touch the underside of Lila's chin fondly.
"Sweetheart, you know you don't have to use puppy-dog eyes to get what you want from me."
"Wait... Why do I have to then?"
"Because usually what you want is a lot of trouble and takes a lot of convincing," Natasha replied immediately, a smirk on her face, and Yelena just haughtily huffed in response to Natasha. Natasha smirked as she came around the side of the couch. Lila moved away from Yelena to give Natasha a spot next to Yelena, and Natasha sat down quickly.
Before Yelena could react, Natasha immediately started tickling Yelena relentlessly. Yelena yelped, trying to cover herself while also keeping a hold on Nate. Everyone around them started to laugh, finding it hilarious how the tough yet goofy Yelena fell apart at their Aunt Natasha's hands.
"Argh! Kids, help me!" Yelena cried out, and Natasha just laughed wickedly.
"You're barking up the wrong tree! They're on my side, Rooskaya!" Natasha happily announced, but she slowed in her assault as she watched Nate clamber up so that he was standing up next to Yelena from where she had crumpled into the couch.
"I'll help you, Lena!" he cried, unable to get out her full name but going with the quickest nickname he could as he launched himself at Natasha. Natasha immediately raised her arms to catch him.
To Natasha's surprise, Cooper laughed at them and hurried over to sit down on Natasha and squish her legs. Natasha could hardly pull herself out from under Cooper since she was so occupied with Nate who was perched on her torso trying to jab his hands under her arms.
After this struggle, she was laying down on the couch now with her head in Lila's lap as the boys held her down. Lila was looking down at her, her face lit up in a huge smile.
"Attack her, Lila! Show no mercy!" Yelena cried from her position squished just behind Cooper.
"Lila?" Natasha questioned, looking up at Lila helplessly and hoping the girl would not listen. However, Lila was just looking down at her apologetically.
"I'm sorry, Aunt Nat. I love you, but the people have spoken," Lila expressed before digging her fingers into Natasha's sides. Natasha could not help her laughs as she squirmed underneath her favorite kids in the world.
If this was the way she had to go, she would gladly accept her fate.
However, everything was brought to a halt as the doorbell rang, signifying the pizza arriving.
"Pizza's here!" Clint called loudly, hurrying through the house and heading for the front door.
"Of course you show up as soon as food gets involved, Barton," Natasha commented, and he just turned his head to smirk at her before opening the door and dealing with the pizza person outside.
All of the kids got up to go call dibs on their pieces of pizza, following their father into the kitchen, and Natasha sat up, slumping against the couch with a light laugh as she looked at Yelena.
Yelena just grinned wickedly at her and Natasha reached out, shoving Yelena's shoulder playfully. Yelena moved way too dramatically with the push, and Natasha grabbed the collar of Yelena's shirt and tugged her over against her. Yelena leaned into her side, her head resting on Natasha's shoulder heavily. Natasha then happened to look up at Laura.
Laura was just sitting there gazing at the two with the happiest and most fond expression on her face, and she sighed contentedly. Natasha raised an eyebrow, wordlessly questioning the woman.
"It's really good to see you so happy, Nat. You're really lucky to have someone as special as Yelena," Laura complimented, and Natasha opened her mouth to speak, but Yelena quickly interrupted.
"I'm the lucky one because I get the best poser in the world," Yelena expressed, looking up at Natasha with adoration despite her teasing, and Natasha felt a ridiculously happy smile overtaking her as she looked down at the younger woman.
And as Clint and the kids came swarming back in, the former bringing pizza and the latter begging Yelena to tell a story about something or another, Natasha felt something she had not felt in a really long time.
She felt almost whole again.