Summary: Not too long after Natasha and Yelena are reunited and are living in their own small house, Yelena wakes up one morning much too awake and far too quiet. As this continues to persist and Yelena grows increasingly exhausted, Natasha realizes the girl has been having nightmares. Luckily, Natasha comes up with the perfect idea to help her.
Natasha looked out the window of her and Yelena's little house, drinking her coffee with her eyes focused on the squirrels running through the yard and playing as they jumped around through the grass. She could not help a slight smile as she saw them, the corners of her lips upturning just a bit as she gazed at the sight.
However, she was soon interrupted by footsteps entering the kitchen. She turned her head to smile a little at her sister who had obviously just woken up.
"Good morning, little one," Natasha greeted but to her pure surprise, she was met with a Yelena that appeared to be wide awake. Natasha furrowed her brow a little, completely shocked by the sight. Yelena was never wide awake in the morning since she always had the worst tendency to wake up like the walking dead.
"Morning," Yelena replied quietly as she sat down at the kitchen table, rubbing at her eyes as she held her head in a hand and looked at her phone. Natasha just eyed her strangely, wondering what exactly had gotten into the younger woman.
"When did you get up?" Natasha asked tentatively, and Yelena just shrugged with a small noncommittal hum.
Natasha just looked at her for a long moment, not saying anything as she took in the sight of the girl. Yelena's silence was exceedingly worrying to her because Yelena was never ever quiet like this. If she was awake, she almost always had something to say.
Natasha looked away from her, having the strangest suspicion that something was not right, and she started to get bowls out for them to have cereal. She sat one of the bowls down a little harder on the counter than she meant to, and she quickly noticed how Yelena jumped a bit with the sound, her eyes flashing with fear as her gaze locked onto the source of the sound.
It was then that Natasha realized that Yelena must have had a nightmare.
The redhead's heart immediately ached at the thought. However, since Yelena was not talking about it and did not seem to want to discuss, she figured that she would let Yelena come to her when she was ready. Especially since they had not been back together too long and Natasha did not want to push the younger girl outside of her comfort zone and upset her.
Natasha wordlessly prepared the cereal, hoping that Yelena would say something soon.
But she did not say anything hardly at all for the entire rest of the day.
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For the next several days, Yelena continued in this pattern. Natasha would wake up, get her coffee, and Yelena would quickly enter the room with the barest of greetings, completely wide awake.
However, as the days dragged on, Yelena's wide awake became a sluggish, drained expression with hardly any life in her whatsoever.
Her eyes were dull and lifeless and had a haunted look about them. Underneath her eyes were large, dark circles, and she looked absolutely miserable. She was not saying anything to Natasha and was not even making her usual jokes or calling Natasha the ordinary nicknames that she always loved to pester Natasha with. And even worse, Yelena had started to fall asleep randomly at some of the worst times.
One day, Natasha had to practically knock down the bathroom door to make sure Yelena was okay. It ended up being a terribly embarrassing situation for them both because Yelena had fallen asleep on the toilet.
Another time, Yelena had been eating her dinner and had almost let her head fall into the bowl of soup. Fortunately, Natasha had caught her before any disasters could ensue, but it still could have easily been a problem and Yelena could have burned her face.
As Yelena fell into an increasingly worse state, Natasha steadily got more and more worried. Which was why Natasha had been carefully considering their situation and had come to the conclusion that she was finally going to confront Yelena about the nightmares and make a proposition for the blonde.
They were going to bed that night, and Yelena and Natasha were in the hall, about to go to their separate rooms for the night. Natasha reached out to her as per usual, offering a hug, and Yelena wasted no time in leaning into it deeply, her head buried in Natasha's shoulder.
This was always Natasha's favorite part of the day. It was the time when Natasha had the perfect excuse to hug Yelena tightly for an extended period of time. It was not that she and Yelena did not touch each other usually, but it was just that Natasha did not know how Yelena would feel if Natasha showered her with as much affection as she would like to.
Yelena kept her face pushed into Natasha, and Natasha remained with her arms around Yelena firmly. Natasha knew that she was going to have to bring up her idea sooner rather than later since Yelena would surely pull away from the hug at any moment.
However, just as she was about to say something, she realized Yelena was leaning into her much too heavily and light snores were resounding from her throat. Natasha gently shook her awake, and Yelena jerked away as soon as she had realized what she had done.
"Mmm.... Goodnight," Yelena uttered quickly, starting to turn away and retreat. She no doubt was embarrassed about what she had just done. But Natasha was definitely not going to let her be ashamed about falling asleep in her arms or about enjoying the affection when Natasha secretly wished to share even more affection with the younger girl.
Natasha quickly reached out, grabbing Yelena's wrist as she stopped the blonde in her tracks. Yelena looked back at her quickly, confusion in her eyes.
"Yelena, let's try something different tonight," Natasha suggested, and Yelena paused as she looked at the redhead, glancing quickly down at Natasha's hand on her wrist. Natasha studied her carefully for a moment, and Yelena just gazed at her wordlessly, the tiredness shining in her eyes. The redhead hesitantly let go of the girl's wrist, not completely sure if she was making the blonde uncomfortable.
"Why don't you stay in my room for tonight?" Natasha offered, and Yelena instantly seemed a bit uncertain. However, Natasha could also see her glance longingly toward Natasha's bedroom door.
"Why?" Yelena questioned finally.
"I know you've been having nightmares," Natasha bluntly replied finally, knowing that she was going to have to address the problem directly. Yelena looked at her, her face unreadable as she watched the redhead carefully.
"You're tired and have been falling asleep everywhere... And you've been really quiet lately, and honestly, it's been worrying me. I mean... I know that the nightmares probably won't stop just by sleeping in my room with me, but at least you can see I'm there and whatever that was in your dream was not real," Natasha explained carefully, desperately hoping Yelena would take her up on her offer. Yelena just gazed at her silently, a plethora of emotions swirling in her eyes.
Just when Natasha was sure that she was going to have to insist on the idea, Yelena suddenly nodded, trust dominating her expression as she looked at the older woman.
"Okay," Yelena agreed, and Natasha could not help her slight smile as she mirrored Yelena's own nod.
"Okay," Natasha echoed before turning to go to her room and change her clothes for bed. Yelena headed to her own room, presumably changing her clothes.
Once Natasha finished, she headed over to her bed, laying down on the left side of the bed as she waited for Yelena to come in the room. It did not take Yelena long at all, and she started to hurry into the room with an adorable bounce before catching herself and trying to look more cool about the situation.
Natasha barely bit back the large grin that threatened to spread across her face at the blonde. That one action made Natasha realize that Yelena must really want to be near Natasha. While Natasha knew that Yelena enjoyed some touch, the redhead did not really know how far that feeling went with Yelena. Obviously, she was not uncomfortable with sharing a bed, which made things significantly more comfortable.
Yelena calmly headed over to her side of the bed before sliding in not too far from Natasha. They were not touching, but Natasha could still feel the warmth radiating off of her little hotbox of a sister.
As soon as Yelena's head hit the pillow, she seemed positively exhausted with her eyes already starting to drift close. Natasha somewhat hesitantly reached up to brush Yelena's hair away from her face. Yelena looked at her tiredly, her eyes glowing with adoration, and Natasha felt her heart squeeze a little.
She then moved her hand back so that it was lying between them.
"Goodnight, rooskaya," Natasha whispered, and Yelena mumbled something in reply just barely, her eyes closing as sleep took hold of her consciousness.
Natasha then allowed her own eyes to close, her breaths slowing as she went to sleep to the sound of Yelena's small snores.
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The next morning, Natasha woke up, the midday sun blindingly coming through the curtains, and Natasha squinted a little before closing her eyes again and curling into the overwhelming warmth against her chest.
However, as soon as she fully realized something warm was laying nearly on top of her, she opened her eyes with some bewilderment, blinking through the sun rays.
To her surprise, she was almost face-to-face with Yelena, the blonde as close to her as she could possibly get with her arm and leg draped across Natasha's body. Natasha felt a smile coming across her face as her chest warmed considerably.
Yelena had not woken up all throughout the night unless she had somehow managed to avoid Natasha's detection, which was not likely due to the fact that Natasha was such a light sleeper. Of course, Natasha was feeling a little hungover from her sleep which indicated that she had been sleeping much more deeply than normal.
That was an extremely odd feeling for Natasha. Natasha almost always woke up feeling refreshed and ready to get into action because she generally did not sleep too heavily.
However, last night must have taken a real toll on her because she felt like just staying in bed for a while longer. It was as if she had not truly slept in years, and now that Yelena was laying there and nearly squishing her with her warm weight, Natasha felt that she had actually slept well for the first time in forever.
The redhead leaned in closer, pressing her forehead against Yelena's gently and just barely leaning up to press her lips to the tip of Yelena's nose in the softest of kisses since the blonde was not awake to know it.
However, to her surprise, Yelena suddenly scrunched her nose, and Natasha realized that Yelena was waking up. After only a moment, Yelena froze a little, her eyes shooting open as she blinked a little. Almost immediately, Yelena's eyes locked with Natasha's and they just stared at each other for a long moment.
"Morning," Yelena finally spoke in a deeper voice than normal due to the sleep, her words breaking the silence as she just stared at Natasha uncertainly. Natasha held Yelena in her arms gently, her arms tightening their hold the smallest bit, and Yelena relaxed in Natasha's hold as she realized that she was not unwelcome there. In fact, she moved her head a bit so that she was a little bit closer to Natasha, her eyes still focused on Natasha's.
"Good morning... How'd you sleep?" Natasha inquired with a slight slur to her words as she lazily asked the question, the barest bits of sleep still tugging at the edge of her conscious. Yelena furrowed her brow a little in thought, looking down for a short moment before moving those beautiful honey-greens back up to meet Natasha's light greens.
"That was the best sleep I've ever had," Yelena told her, the raw honestly ringing in her raspy voice, and Natasha felt adoration and joy flooding her as she looked at the girl there in her arms.
"That's absolutely wonderful," Natasha expressed, and Yelena raised an eyebrow curiously.
"What about you?"
"It was certainly the most restful sleep I've had in... Years," Natasha admitted after a long moment of trying to think of another time that she had slept this well. A smile started to spread across Yelena's face, and Natasha carefully leaned in, pressing her forehead to Yelena's as she returned the smile.
"Thank you," Yelena whispered softly, and Natasha grinned in reply.
"You're welcome."
They grew quiet for a long moment, and Natasha could feel Yelena's hesitance and the tenseness in the air as the blonde obviously worked up her courage to say something.
"Could... Could we do this more? Like... Sleep in the same room?" Yelena asked, her voice uncharacteristically uncertain and hesitant as she uttered the words. Natasha felt her heart melting as she looked at the most treasured person in her entire universe.
"Of course."