"Yelena" her eyes snapped open at the sound of someone saying her name.
However, at the lack of recognition, she just pushed that person away before getting up from the bed. She had to find her sister. She had to find Natasha.
She flinched when she felt a hand on her shoulder, grabbing their forearm to flip them over and finally pinned them against the floor. A loud gasp was heard as she took her opponent by surprise.
"Auntie Lena?" that sweet voice got her to finally focus her gaze on her niece's scared face.
"Okay-, I-I guess this is what Clint meant by not waking up a Black Widow assassin" Kate Bishop commented from the spot where she was still pinning her down.
"I'm sorry" she whispered, moving away from her. "Natasha? Where's Natasha?" she asked, still looking for her big sister.
"What do you mean? Is this a trick question or something?" the young archer was confused about what she was referring to.
She sighed while sitting against the bed. Her headache was back. Well, it had never been gone, but it was definitely worse. She pinched the bridge of her nose while closing her eyes for just a few seconds, trying to remember everything that had happened until that moment.
"You took Lena to the park" she looked at the young woman.
"Yes. We took the dogs for a walk" Kate said, to which she nodded, that meant it had not been a dream, hadn't it?
"And before you came back, Natasha broke into the apartment" she continued to tell the events.
"No. Yelena-" the girl shook her head, there was sadness in her voice. "You were having a nightmare when we arrived" Kate explained.
"She was here" she murmured, her heart breaking at the realization that it had been a dream.
"Mama was here?" her niece asked her and she could not avoid the tears that stung in her eyes from running freely down her cheeks.
"Why don't you go to get Auntie Lena a glass of water?" Kate told the little girl, who hesitantly nodded and left them alone. "I'm sorry" her friend pulled her into a hug.
For a moment she fought against the girl's hold, but when the reminder of her sister's death hit her, she formed fits around Kate's t-shirt just seeking comfort.
It had felt so real. Such a cruel dream that brought Tasha back, just to rip her big sister away from her as soon as she would wake up. But Natasha was gone and she was well aware of that.
Kate did not pull away from her until she calmed down completely, still rubbing circles on her back as she tried her best not to start sobbing again, especially when she saw her niece walking to her with the glass of water in her hands.
"Come here" she opened her arms to embrace the little girl.
She removed the glass from the kid's hands to leave on the nightstand, wrapping her arms around the child's small frame before pressing her face against her niece's head.
The little girl just snuggled closer to her, her little face nuzzling against her neck as she sighed content. It soothed her to have that child in her arms.
"Did I scare you?" she questioned her, the child shaking her head. "No?"
"I don't like when you're sad" little Lena whispered as she tried to wipe her tears with her little thumbs.
It brought a smile to her face. She grabbed her niece's hands to leave a few kisses on her palms, blowing raspberries only to get the child to giggle. The little girl tried to remove her hands due to the tickling feeling, but she did not let her as Kate attacked the kid's sides.
"Okay, no more" she assured when the child was laughing so hard that she was gasping for air. "You're tired now, huh?" she commented, pulling her niece into her arms again just as the kid closed her eyes.
"And I'm hungry too" the little girl pointed out before pulling away from her. "We made Mac and Cheese" there was a huge smile on her face while telling her that.
"You did?" she smiled.
"Comfort food to make you feel better" Kate answered.
"Then let's eat" she said while getting up with the child in her arms.
She stumbled a little as a wave of dizziness hit her, which reminded her that she was still ill. The pounding headache returned shortly after.
"Are you okay?" the young archer asked her.
"Yeah. Just a headache" she answered reassuringly. "I bet my macaroni taste better than yours" she grinned at the girl.
"It's box macaroni. They all taste the same, Yelena" Kate commented defensively.
"No, they don't. Mine are just better because I'm a better cook than you, Kate Bishop" she continued to tease her.
"Whatever. It's the last time I'm cooking for you" the young girl told her before leaving the room while grumbling, which only got her to laugh.
-/-
After lunch, the three of them had sat on the couch to watch a movie, but soon her niece had lost all interest in it and had gone to play with the dogs.
"Have you thought about Lena starting school?" Kate questioned her, to which she frowned.
"No" she answered. "Why would I do that?" she asked, being genuinely confused about Kate's question.
"It would be good for her. I mean, she's five. She should be learning at school and socializing with kids her age" the girl explained.
"So you think I should send my niece to school while the Red Room is trying to get her?" she raised an eyebrow. "She's fine here, at home. She's safe. She doesn't need to go to school to learn" she told her.
"I get that, but look at her" the young archer pointed to the where the little girl was imitating the dogs. "Her best friends are dogs" Kate could not avoid laughing at the sight.
"Yeah and what? She's developing her imagination" she shrugged. "And, just for the record, I'm her best friend" she added.
Both of them stared at the child. Little Lena was trying to get Lucky to roll, but the puppy was not following the order, so the child was trying her best to demonstrate to him how to do it.
Her niece grinned at her when the dog finally did as told, so she smiled back at her. It was fine for the little girl to learn at home, right? There was no way she would be sending that kid to a place where she would not be in complete control. Especially not when the Red Room was still out there. Only a few minutes could change everything, she could lose her niece forever.
"Didn't you go to school when you lived in Ohio?" Kate asked after a few minutes of silence.
She flinched at the question. She did not mean to, but it was not easy to think about Ohio. Mainly because there was a huge part of it that she did not remember, but she was not sure if it was because she had been really young or because of the Red Room and the mind control. And it really infuriated her since she did not care about anything else than to remember everything about her big sister.
"I don't know" she murmured, her voice sounding really quiet. "I think I did, but I don't remember" she admitted.
"What do you mean?" the girl questioned her.
"I was only six when we left. Plus the Red Room managed to destroy every memory I had left" she explained while looking down. "I remember a few things, you know? Like when I used to sneak into Natasha's bed at night because I couldn't sleep" there was a little smile on her face at the memory. "She was always trying to keep me safe and I couldn't understand why" she sighed.
Her sister had always been a protector of her. Even the few times they had seen each other at the Red Room.
They both knew it was forbidden for them to see each other unless they were told so, but she always found a way to get to see her big sister. At first, Natasha would be upset, because if they were found, it would mean punishment. Madame B would always find them and, even if she was the one that should be receiving the punishment for sneaking out, her older sister always took her place, refusing to let her go through the darkest and twisted punishments from the Red Room.
"I'm sorry" Kate whispered.
"Stop apologizing, Kate Bishop. It's not like you did all those things" she told her, but the girl just frowned.
"I feel bad you had to go through all of that" the black haired girl said, staring at her with sadness. "And the thought that there are little girls going through it... It's so wrong" the girl's blue eyes shone, there were tears in them.
"It is" she nodded.
She thought the Red Room was done the moment she started freeing widows and no one tried to stop her. But deep down she always knew that there were secret bases that could be still operating from the dark, waiting for the best time to let the world know that they still existed.
"She's safe, right? Valentina told you she would be protected" Kate looked at the giggling child.
"There are widows everywhere" she answered. "They could be your neighbor and you wouldn't even know" she told her. "That's how we're trained, to blend in. And we play our roles to perfection" she explained as the young girl fidgeted with her hands nervously. "They won't attack unless they are told and I don't think they would have any interest to kill you" she tried to calm her down.
"I'm okay. I'm able to protect myself" the girl said confidently.
"With a bow and arrows?" she laughed. "You wouldn't have a chance" she shook her head.
"I fought you" Kate pointed out and she turned to look at the girl.
"Only because I went easy on you" she told her. "If I had wanted you dead, you wouldn't have had a chance to even scream" the seriousness of her voice made the young archer gulp uncomfortable.
"Okay. I think I get it" Kate murmured before she could say something else.
"Don't worry, they won't attack you knowing that you're my friend" she assured her. "I have a reputation" she smiled slightly.
"Yeah, I'm less worried about my neighbor being an assassin" Kate said, to which she could not avoid chuckling.
But she was true to her words. Kate Bishop was her friend and she would not let anyone hurt her.
-/-
"Come on, bedtime, sweet girl" she told her niece, but the child refused to move from the spot where she was playing with Fanny. "Come on, you can play tomorrow" she grabbed the child's hands to help her to get up.
"No! I want to play now!" the little girl got rid of her grip before letting herself fall to the floor.
"Lena, get up from the floor, please" she asked her, trying to be patient with the child.
"No!" her niece shook her head.
She sighed. The five year old was definitely tired by how the tantrum was playing, since the child was not even sure about what she was crying anymore. She gave Fanny a silent order so the puppy would lie down next to the kid.
"See, even Fanny is tired" she tried to reason with the kid, her niece observing the dog before looking at her and stretching her arms. "All done?" she asked her, seeing how the child nodded, so she picked her up.
"Can you read me a book?" the little girl asked, still hiccupping because of the sobs.
"Yes, sweet girl" she kissed her forehead.
As soon as they were both settled down in bed, her niece snuggled by her side as she read the story. However, despite that normally by the end the child would be asleep, that time the little girl remained with her eyes open.
"Did you see mama?" the child questioned her, taking her by surprise.
"It was a dream, little one" she answered as the child stared at her.
"Sometimes I dream of her too" her niece told her. "She plays with me and reads me stories" the child's face lit up while talking. "But then she leaves and promises that she will come back, but she never does" the kid explained with sadness.
She tightened the embrace, gently caressing the little girl's blonde hair as her heart broke at the realization that her niece suffered from abandonment issues. And, honestly, she knew really well how that felt.
"What if someday I don't remember her?" the five year old questioned her.
"What?" she pulled away the child only to grab her little face in between her hands. "You'll always remember her, malyshka" she told her. "Your mama made a lot of videos from when you were such a cute little baby. And you can always ask me or Uncle Clint whatever you want to know about her, okay?" she looked at her, the child nodding slightly.
The child seemed to be content with the answer, since a little smile was drawn in her lips, so she smiled as well.
"I love you, Auntie Lena" her niece murmured already with her eyes closed.
"I love you too, sweet girl" she kissed the kid's forehead, being happy to have that little girl in her life.
Hi!
It's been a long time! I had a little bit of writer's block and I didn't really have time to write.
I've got to say it again. I love Kate and Yelena's friendship!
Thanks so much for reading, let me know what you think,
Ayrin