Summary: It was supposed to be a routine catch and release for Natasha. However, when Vibranium cuffs, Natasha's old Red Room instructor, and, worst of all, Yelena are all mixed in the mission, it quickly becomes one of the worst missions Natasha has ever been on. However, even after the Avengers rescue her and Yelena, there are still somewhat longer-term consequences that the two have to face with Yelena taking the brunt of those said consequences. But Natasha will be there for her every step of the way.
It had been an interesting several days, and Yelena was now having her first checkup a week after the day that she had been in the hospital and had gotten diagnosed.
To Natasha's deep pain, Yelena had been horridly nervous the entirety of the time that she had spent at home and at the compound. Unfortunately, Natasha honestly could perfectly understand why. Yelena had been a wreck between her fear of never hearing again, her constant terror that someone was going to sneak up on her and surprise attack her, and her nervousness for the checkup itself and the results it would bring.
They had already run the tests on her, and now all they had to do was just wait for the verdict. Yelena was a complete mess and had been bouncing her leg nonstop since they had arrived. It broke Natasha's heart to see her like this even though she felt the same emotions as Yelena at this moment. Kate and Peter had been suffering immensely for her as well.
In fact, Kate and Peter had wanted to come with them to show them support, but Natasha, knowing that Yelena did not need any additional stress that could come from Kate and Peter's potential reactions, told them that it would be best if they did not come. After all, if the news was not ideal, Natasha was going to have a hard enough time trying to run damage control on Yelena.
Not to mention doing her best to hold her own self together.
"I'm feeling upside-down," Yelena admitted quietly yet suddenly, sitting there in the seat next to Natasha as she shifted uncomfortably from what Natasha assumed was likely pain and discomfort caused by her ribs. Yelena had repetitively been exceedingly hard on them, and Natasha knew that they were likely going to take longer to heal than normal because she had jostled them so much the past week.
Natasha reached out to trace words gently on Yelena's arm.
You will be fine. I am here for you no matter what.
Yelena looked at her with a pained yet adoring glint in her eyes. She then leaned her head over to press it against Natasha's shoulder. She nestled her forehead into Natasha's neck, trying to hide herself from the world. Natasha was more than happy to oblige her as she leaned over and pressed her cheek to Yelena's head.
"I wish they'd hurry back," Yelena gently expressed, and Natasha knew that she must have been exceedingly nervous to not even make any sort of joke about the doctor and him being an older man. Natasha traced gently along Yelena's skin.
They say no news is good news, sweet girl.
"No news is never good news in our line of work," Yelena disagreed immediately, the sound of her voice vibrating darkly against Natasha's neck. Natasha could not help but chuckle somewhat bitterly, knowing that as much as she did not want to admit it that it was unfortunately the truth.
Natasha almost gave her a verbal reply before immediately remembering that Yelena would not hear her. It was weird to her how Yelena could still speak to her, but she could not actually hear anything that Natasha said. It was strange and disconcerting to her almost.
However, before she could write anything on Yelena's arm, the doctor came into the room, and Natasha stiffened a little at the sight of him. Natasha tried her best to make her movement a little less perceptible, and she moved her hand to softly touch Yelena's ribs in order to remind her to be careful with them as Yelena started a little as a result of Natasha's movement. Yelena glanced at her just barely but as soon as she saw the doctor, she kept her eyes locked on him firmly.
He looked to Natasha, and Natasha forced herself to look away from Yelena so that she could properly listen to his verdict and tell Yelena what he said.
He let out a deep sigh, and Natasha immediately knew that it was not good news. She tried not to outwardly react, however, and she waited for him to speak.
"Well... She is not showing any signs of healing, and it doesn't seem that her hearing is any better either," he explained, and Natasha felt utter terror rising within her as her breath hitched momentarily.
She could feel Yelena stiffening and she knew that her sister was detecting her fear and panic in her body language, so she tried her best to calm herself. She needed to be able to phrase this to Yelena in the best way possible in a few moments and to do so, she needed to remain calm.
"Are you sure?" Natasha asked, her voice a little raspier than it was normally as she stared at the man. He nodded regretfully, and he glanced at Yelena for a moment before returning his gaze to Natasha.
"But the good thing is that her hearing could come back eventually. It's just... Honestly not a wonderful sign that it hasn't healed where it should be by now. By now, almost all of the patients I've seen have healed more than she has at this point," he told her honestly. While Natasha was thankful for the fact that he was not trying to sugarcoat it or deceive her, she still found her mouth going dry and everything starting to feel as if it were crashing down as she took in the words.
However, after a short moment, she quickly zeroed in on a particular part of his statement. She took hold of it and ran with it, looking at him desperately.
"What about the people that hadn't healed properly at this point? What happened to them?" Natasha questioned, trying to keep the unadulterated panic out of her voice. However, she quickly realized that she must not have done that good of a job considering the sympathetic gaze he eyed her with before speaking again.
"Well... They sometimes got their hearing back, but most times they either lost most or all of their hearing or they got a Tympanoplasty," he explained, and Natasha immediately paid close attention at the word at the end of his statement.
"What's a Tympanoplasty?" Natasha immediately inquired, and he was quiet for a moment as he looked over the information on his clipboard.
"It's not generally something that we do this early on, but it's basically a surgery to repair a hole in the eardrum. With holes the size of hers, we usually try to wait and make sure that they're definitely not healing before doing the surgery option," he told her.
Natasha was quiet as she finally risked a glance at Yelena. She looked between him and Natasha with evident concern, her gaze locking onto Natasha's finally. There was so much trust and so much hope and fear within her eyes, and Natasha swallowed hard as she shifted her eyes back to the doctor.
"Can you give us a few minutes? I need to tell her what's going on," Natasha explained, and he nodded before heading out the door.
As soon as he was gone, Yelena looked at her expectantly, a worry in her gaze that told Natasha that she had picked up on the fact that something was very wrong. Natasha took in a deep breath before finally taking Yelena's arm softly and beginning to trace on it.
There is good news and bad news.
"Bad news," Yelena replied, her tone steely as she readied herself. Natasha felt her heart hurting for her baby sister, but she knew Yelena well enough to know that she would choose the bad news first. It was something that came with the Red Room's training.
Bad news is that it is not healing as well as it should be by now.
Yelena looked stricken, but she remained mostly stoic as she looked at Natasha. She was obviously waiting for the good news, and Natasha found herself eager to share it if only to take away the pain in Yelena's face.
Good news is that there is surgery to fix it.
Yelena was deathly silent for a long moment, and Natasha could see a million different thoughts running through her head. Surgeries were never a good thing in their world, and it always meant losing a piece of themselves.
Natasha used her hand that wasn't holding Yelena's arm to grasp at the back of Yelena's neck, and she moved her tracing hand to the side of Yelena's neck to write softly as they pressed their foreheads together. Yelena kept her eyes open, looking as if she had seen a ghost. Natasha kissed her cheeks gently.
We can give it time to see if it heals. Doctor said that was best. But I know you want to hear sooner than that. And I know that we both know this is not healing like it should.
"Let's do it," Yelena spoke gently. However, her tone was firm, and she sounded resolute in her decision. Natasha met her eyes carefully, light greens meeting honey greens in a loving gaze into one another's souls.
Natasha understood Yelena's urgency. Natasha felt the same desperate need. Every moment that Yelena was in pain was a new stab to her heart. She needed Yelena to feel okay again and to start experiencing some semblance of normality again. She knew that this surgery was Yelena's best chance to hear again.
Are you sure?
"Yes. Tell him I want a surgery as soon as he can do it," Yelena informed her firmly, and Natasha nodded gently against her, letting out a deep breath.
I will tell him when he comes back in.
Natasha just stroked Yelena's face softly with her thumbs, brushing gentle trails just underneath her eyes. Yelena let out a deep sigh, her entire form reflecting her exhaustion as she leaned into her.
Fortunately, the doctor came back in pretty quickly. Natasha pulled away from her slowly, her hand stroking along the side of Yelena's face and neck as she allowed it to rest on the junction between Yelena's shoulder and neck.
He looked between them curiously yet expectantly, and Natasha glanced over at the blonde for a final affirmation. Yelena nodded to her, and Natasha looked back at the doctor.
"She wants the surgery as soon as you can fit her into your schedule."
The doctor sighed deeply, and Natasha knew that he did not necessarily agree with what she was saying or what she wanted him to do. However, he also seemed to understand that she was firm and that she would stop at nothing until Yelena received the surgery.
"Well, it turns out that I have an available time slot in three days. So you guys can come in and we can do it," he told her, and Natasha nodded, squeezing Yelena's hand. Yelena immediately squeezed it in return.
"How long will it take?" Natasha asked him, and he shrugged.
"Probably around four hours considering the fact that we're fixing both of her ears," he explained, and Natasha hummed in acknowledgement before letting out a deep sigh.
"Okay, put us in, and we'll be there. What time?" Natasha started to get up as she spoke to him, and Yelena followed suit, remaining close to her as she watched the exchange despite not being able to pick up on any of it outside of body language.
"I've got a free slot at five o'clock AM," he told her, and Natasha let out a small breath, knowing Yelena would not be happy with it but knowing also that Yelena would want her hearing back as soon as they could manage to take steps to do so.
"That'll work... Thank you," Natasha expressed, allowing deep and true gratitude to shine in her voice as she reached out to shake his hand. He shook her hand easily, nodding to her kindly.
"It's not a problem... I have a little brother, so I understand a little bit of what you're going through," he explained with a smile, and Natasha returned it softly.
"You close with your brother?"
"Usually. Except when he steals my tackle box," he chuckled, and Natasha laughed in spite of herself, wrapping her arm around Yelena's shoulders.
"Unfortunately, I can completely get what you mean," Natasha replied, thinking of the many times that Yelena had taken her stuff. He grinned to her, bidding her goodbye, and she and Yelena started to head out to their car.
When they finally got in, Yelena looked to her questioningly, holding out her arm expectantly, and Natasha reached over to take it softly as she started to write.
We are coming back in three days for surgery. It is at 5 AM and will probably take about 4 hours.
Yelena just groaned, and Natasha chuckled warmly as she eyed her, knowing that Yelena was trying to be a little overdramatic to bring some levity to a situation that they both were terrified about. Natasha honestly did not know how Yelena was able to conjure so much humor in the direst of times.
"Natashka, all of this doesn't just magically appear," Yelena declared, waving a dramatic hand in front of her face. "I have to have at least ten hours of sleep to bless the world with this beauty."
Natasha openly laughed in response to her words, immediately regretting it because she knew Yelena could not hear her and that it would simply make her feel worse. She tried to hold it back, looking over at Yelena guiltily.
Yelena looked a little wistful and somewhat broken, but there was an overwhelming flood of affection and love in her eyes as she laughed softly with Natasha. Natasha quieted a little, but still found her chest warming with the pure adoration in Yelena's gaze.
"At least I haven't lost being able to make you laugh," Yelena admitted as she looked down at her lap with a tight-lipped smile, and there was so much pain in her voice that Natasha felt her heart breaking in half.
Natasha reached out to her, taking her cheek in her hand, and guiding her head to face her. Yelena met her eyes, so much pain and suffering in them, and Natasha shook her head, her free hand touching Yelena's arm laying on the center console as she softly traced against her.
You will never lose that. You will never lose me. You will always be my amazing, funny, talented baby sister.
Yelena swallowed hard, her lips wobbling a little as she frowned hard to try to keep away the tears. She leaned toward Natasha carefully, making sure she would not further mess up her ribs as she pressed her face into Natasha's neck. Natasha held her closer, kissing her face near her ear. Yelena pressed a soft kiss against the nearest bit of skin she could reach on Natasha.
Natasha knew two things for sure. The first of which being that absolutely nothing would change how she felt about the wonderful human there in her arms.
The second being that she was really, really hoping that the surgery would turn out well.