Natasha POV (6 Months time skip)
I'm so excited but yet so scared, I'm a trained spy for goodness sake and I have never felt this way before. Me and Lucy are getting married in a few days and I couldn't be happier. After me and Lucy worked out what we wanted we spoke to Wanda who has just dealt with it all for us with Tony's card of course. I wish my family could be here but Melina didn't think it was a good idea to have them both in the same room as the Avengers, plus having Alexei in the same room as Steve and a lot of vodka is just looking for trouble.
I took Lucy last week to meet the people I called my parents. She was worried that they wouldn't like her but she had nothing to worry about. They loved her completely, plus she could keep up with Alexei's drinking too so that always helps. It was a bit awkward with Melina, in her words she thinks her and Lucy have crossed paths before and even Lucy thought that too but I don't see how.
I'm currently in our living room waiting for my soon to be wife and for my sister to arrive. She's met most of the team before and we have an agreement that they can't do anything to her while she just visits me, even though I would love to see them try.
"Hey малыш" Lucy says as she walking into the room and pulls me into a hug. I hug her back tightly, glad to be back to normal after healing from my last injury.
"When is your sister getting here?" She asks, she sounds nervous like she did before meeting my parents but she hasn't got anything to worry about. Yelena will love her just hope not too much.
" Very soon, let's go downstairs to wait for her. Don't need her starting another fight with Tony or Steve again" I say while taking her hand and we leave the room together. Once downstairs everyone else is watching a movie, which is weird since usually one or two are missing. Just as we were about to join, JARVIS starts talking.
"Miss Romanoff, Miss Belova is currently on her way to your location" JARVIS says, making the other turn off the film since they know by now what my sister can be like. I hear the ding of the elevator before locking eyes with my sister. She walks off the elevator before dropping her bag and we meet halfway pulling each other into a massive hug.
"It's been too long" I tell her, just grunts in response while scanning the room.
"So where is your wife to be sis?" She asks as we pull apart from each other, I turn around to see Lucy frozen in place.
"Lucy this is..." I'm unable to finish talking since they both cut me off.
"Yelena?"
"Anna?" Next thing I know they both run to each other and hold each other in a massive hug with no sign of letting go. Wanda comes over to join us and we just stare at each other waiting for them to finish their moment.
"I never thought I'll see you again, I thought you were dead" Yelena tells Lucy as they pull away but still holding each other.
"I escaped before they were going to send me back, I'm glad you're ok, after the last time I saw you I thought they would have killed you" Lucy says back to Yelena before they pull each other back into a tight hug, both of them have tears running down their faces. Me and Wanda look at each other even more confused, it's not like Yelena to cry apart from that one time when we ran out of vodka.
"Sorry to interrupt the moment but what is going on?" Tony asks as he stands up from his chair and walks close to our group. Yelena and Lucy smile at each other but pulling apart to face us.
"We've met before in the red room, she would come for a few months at a time before going back to Hydra. She was supposed to come back for good but she never did so I thought they killed her" Yelean said, trying to stop her tears from falling.
"You've never said you were in the red room?" I ask Lucy, quite confused but does make sense remember her sparing skills when she first joined, how didn't I realise she was fighting like a widow.
"I didn't think it was important, like Yelean said I went for a few months every so often, they taught me to fight and stuff before Hydra would take me back to work on my powers. Before I escaped they were going to sell me to the red room since I just wasn't worth it anymore. It's one of the reasons I had to escape, I knew if I went back they would kill me" Lucy explains letting her tears fall before I pull her into a hug.
"Who is Anna?" Tony asks, looking still confused with what's happening. It's all clicking in place for me now, this is why Melina knew her.
"I am, that was the name they gave me, I changed it as soon as I escaped. I've had a few names over the years. Lucy was just the last one I picked before you found me" she explains, still in my grip but she pulled Yelena over to join us.
"So what happened last time you were in the red room?" I ask but regret it after since I felt Yelena and Lucy both tense at the question.
"Could we go and see Helen, all three of us and I'll tell you there?" Lucy asks looking into my eyes, I can see the fear in them and I understand how hard this is for her so I agree. As I'm about to break apart from the group before I'm stopped. I see the living area disappear in front of my eyes next I know I'm standing in Helen's waiting room.
"How did you do that? That was really cool" Yelena says to Lucy with a massive smile on her face, holding her hand up for Lucy to high five her, she does with a massive grin on her face. Great now they're going to do it all the time.
"I thought you stopped doing that, honestly you're going to give my receptionist a heart attack" Helen says while standing with her arms on her hips looking at Lucy.
"Well be thankful I'm here, it's been like 3 months since you signed me off. Did you enjoy your holiday?" Lucy asks while trying to deflect the conversation.
"What holiday? I'm still here. You're not my only patient you know. But it has been quite without you I will admit" Helen says pulling Lucy in for a quick hug. I know her relationship isn't probably normal with Lucy but as Helen explained it was what she needed to feel safe to open up to her, I get it.
"So who's this? And why are you here?" Helen asks as the hug breaks apart and she looks at Yelena.
"This is my sister Yelena, she's here for the wedding. Turns out Lucy and Yelena already knew each other through the red room, Lucy wants to talk about it here, so here we are" I answer her.
"Nice to meet you even though I haven't got a clue who you are" Yelen offers her hand to Helen.
"I'm Helen, I'm a therapist to all of the Avengers and SHIELD, nice to meet you too. Let's go to my office" she says while shaking Yelena's hand. I quickly block the exit knowing she will try to run, and she does.
"Get your ass in that office, we are here mainly for Lucy. Don't worry you won't have to see her again, apart from the wedding" I tell Yelena while pushing her into the office. She takes a seat farest from Helen.
"So if you three just want to talk and I'll be here to step in if anyone needs me" Helen says while sitting back in her chair with the notebook in her lap.
"Like I said before I went to the red room a number of times of the years, sometimes just for the day, sometimes up to a few months. I was kept apart from the girls in there most of the time, same rules applied to me apart from they couldn't kill me" Lucy started talking to me while Yelena was behind her supporting her.
"Last time she was in the red room they made us fight to the death. They saw that we were getting close to each other, so they made us fight, like they usually do" Yelena explains, I remember that from a young age they would let you form bonds with other girls just to pit you against each other.
"I refused to fight, I knew they wouldn't let Yelena kill me since they didn't last time. I told her to get close enough for them to stop the fight. They didn't stop it" Lucy carries on with tears starting to fall down her face, Yelena isn't far behind her.
"I had her in a choke hold, she was close to passing out, I waited for them to stop but they didn't so I let her go, I couldn't kill her. We were both dragged away after that and I never saw her again. I heard she was sent back to hydra. Few months later I heard she was going to come back but she never did. I thought they killed her since she refused to fight me" Yelena finished explaining. They were both crying and holding onto each other for support.
"What happened when they dragged you away?" I asked both of them, I knew from experience that usually girls who refused to kill are killed.
"I was locked in my room, and sent back to hydra. They punished me for refusing to fight. Thought I had gone soft, so I was no use to them. That's when I heard them about selling me to the red room. I knew if I went back I would have to fight Yelena if she wasn't already dead, and either one of us would live or neither of us, so I escaped" Lucy answered first, her crying slowed down a little.
"I wished they would have killed me, it was the worst punishment I ever had. Then they went through with the ceremony thinking that was making me soft. Then to prove myself I had to fight to the death with 5 other girls that I've known since I first went there. No weapons, just bare hands, I can still see the moment their life left their eyes when I killed them" Yelena explained her crying getting worse, tears were streaming down her face. Lucy pulled her into a tight hold and went over to join.
"You didn't have a choice, they made you. You aren't a monster, they would have killed you if you didn't do it" I tell her while looking at her face, I've blamed myself for the same thing before, took years to get over it and I will be there for her though this.
"Would those girls have killed you?" Helen asks while looking at Yelena while she is still wrapped tightly in our arms.
"Yes" she answers softly, her voice sounding so raspy and broken.
"I know it's hard to see but it wasn't your fault, you were forced to do that. You had one choice, kill or be killed. I don't know of anyone who would choose the second option" Helen explains while passing over the tissue box which I take from her handing Yelena a few tissues as she calms down. She says she is ok so I return to my seat next to Lucy.
"Is everyone ok?" Helen asks, looking over us all. We all nod in response.
"If you two wanna go back I'm gonna stay here for a bit. Talking about this has brought up some other things that I need to work on though. I'll be ok" Yelena says while looking at me and Lucy.
"Are you sure? We can stay with you" Lucy offers, grabbing her hand to hold.
"I'm sure, you'll get married soon, go and party. I'll come back to the compound later, make sure you have vodka. I'm gonna need a bottle or two after this" me and Lucy just laugh while we get up and hug her tightly. We say our goodbyes to Helen after she double checks we are both ok before leaving her office and going back to the compound the same way we arrived.