Kate
Before Kate had even woken up from her surgery it was all over the news that the vigilante - no, Avenger - Hawkeye was, in fact, Kate Bishop, heir to the Bishop fortune, the individual who held controlling interests in the embroiled Bishop Securities, and daughter of the recently deceased Eleanor Bishop who had chosen to kill herself rather than face punishment for her crimes. In the hospital room Kate joked about it, pretending it meant nothing, but she knew that once she left it would impact her whole life. Everyone knew where she lived and would be watching her.
Yelena didn’t visit. The news was saying that the White Widow had rescued her, that they were partners together in the Avengers, but Kate had no memory of any of it. Every time the door opened she would turn her head, lean forward, try to straighten against the pain… and it wouldn’t be Yelena. She’d plaster a gracious smile on her face and try to be grateful for the people she was getting to see.
Yet again she was indebted to the Bartons. She’d messed up and they’d swooped in. They all spent Thanksgiving sequestered in the Plaza together with Maria and Natasha, after they’d snuck Kate out of the hospital. Their holiday meal, paid for by Kate at her insistence, was lavish, with all the fixings. But she felt empty. Kingpin was still out there. Her mom was still gone. And her girlfriend seemed to have vanished. Trying to fake it, she listened to Nate’s stories and tried to laugh when everyone else did. She was painfully aware that the Bartons were all missing out on celebrating the holiday in their own home, even though they insisted it wasn’t a big deal.
On Saturday Laura and the kids went home, and as soon as it was safe for Kate to fly, she and Clint followed. Natasha had snuck into the penthouse and packed a few bags for Kate. It was almost a relief to not go back to her empty home, emptier now than it had ever been before.
In Missouri Kate settled on the Bartons’ pull-out couch, unable to make it up the stairs. She required physical therapy, and her doctors in New York had coordinated with doctors in Missouri to set her up to rehab in St. Louis. A few times a week Clint helped her up into his SUV and drove the two hours round trip to the city to let the therapists do what Kate was pretty sure was torture. When they’d leave she’d feel drained, wrung out.
One morning Nate woke her early by crawling into bed with her and whispering, “Happy birthday.” He wasn’t as quiet coming down the stairs as he thought he was, which was probably for the best because she’d found herself entangled in nightmares more nights than she cared to count. He moved gently around her body to give her a careful hug.
“Thanks buddy,” she said. “Where’s everyone else?”
“Asleep. Sometimes I’m awake before everyone else.”
“Oh yeah, what do you normally do?”
“I play. But since you’re awake we could watch something! Can we, please?”
His face was so earnest and sweet that Kate gave in instantly. Pulling out her phone she found a few happy birthday texts from college friends and some of the LARPers. It was still early, though, so she moved past them and followed Nate’s directions to pull up his favorite movie. He moved closer, being very careful around her body - luckily the injuries all ran down the same side for the most part.
An hour later Laura found them, still snuggled together watching Nate’s movie. When she leaned over the back of the couch Kate jumped slightly, sending pain through her still-healing body. Laura reached out a hand to steady her as she tried to get comfortable, Nate still totally engrossed.
“You okay?”
“Yeah- yeah, you just surprised me.”
“Happy birthday, Kate. We’re glad you’re here.”
Kate batted her eyes, trying to hold back tears at Laura’s words. “Thanks. I’m glad to be here. I mean- I wish it wasn’t like this, but I- thank you guys for having my back.”
“Anytime. Now what can I get you for breakfast?”
“Oh,” Kate shook her head. “Nothing. I don’t- I’m fine.”
“I picked up ingredients for our special birthday pancakes. Do you want to try those?”
“Yeah, birthday pancakes!” yelled Nate.
“I guess birthday pancakes would be good.”
Lila and Clint both came down after Laura yelled that breakfast was ready. They’d all perfected the art of helping Kate to her feet without jostling her body or putting unnecessary weight on her splinted leg, and Clint had Kate up and to the table before she could blink.
The pancakes were amazing, and afterwards Clint helped Kate up the stairs so she could take a shower, the only time she ever dared go to the second floor. Washcloths and dry shampoo had become her best friends, and she considered herself lucky that her injuries hadn’t happened in the middle of a New York City August when she would've been sweating constantly. It was a struggle to get dressed, but she’d mastered the art of putting on her bra almost one-handed, wearing only button-downs to make it easier to slip things on with minimal movement. Laura helped her back down the stairs and she settled back onto the now-folded couch, leg elevated, arm supported. It had become her usual spot and she often found herself wondering if her butt was embedding a permanent divot in the Bartons’ couch.
The day passed in fits and starts. She was left alone until lunch, trying to focus on a book, but unable to concentrate, instead answering some text messages and reading the news. After lunch the Bartons took her into St. Louis to an escape room, where Clint sat in the corner and rolled his eyes until they all forced him to turn his hearing aid off. After that they went to a bakery and got a dozen cupcakes to split, trying all of the flavors of the day.
Dinner was delicious and rowdy, the sugar going directly to Nate’s head. Kate thought his eyes might just roll out of his head with all the crazy faces he was making. On the drive home she sat in the back, almost falling asleep before they pulled down the long driveway. The house was dark except for the porchlight, and Kate realized that the whole day she’d been holding her breath, waiting. For who?
Her. She was waiting for Yelena. Yelena who hadn’t called, hadn’t texted, hadn’t sent so much as a carrier pigeon Kate’s way. The whole time she’d been trying to bring down Kingpin she couldn’t stop thinking about Yelena. Yelena had been her reason for continuing, for trying to end it. All she wanted to do was be home with Yelena. But it looked like the fight they’d had in October had been worse than she’d thought. Maybe she finally had lost everyone.
“Kate?” Kate looked up, startled yet again. Clint was waiting patiently at the back door, seat folded out of the way to help her out. She swung her leg down carefully and grabbed Clint’s hand, putting all of her weight on him briefly until she could get her good leg on the ground. “You okay?”
“What? Yeah, I’m great- this is great. I’m so grateful-”
“It’s okay to not be okay, kid.” He gripped her good shoulder for a minute, but she couldn’t meet his eyes.
“Kate!” Nate had opened the door and was leaning back out. “Come on, you have to open your presents.”
After everyone else had gone upstairs and Kate was left alone again, she pulled out her phone. There was a voicemail from Jack - she just had to figure out how to listen to it - and texts from more friends and even Natasha, Maria, Sam, Peter, and some of the Avengers-in-training. But there wasn’t anything from Yelena. She opened up their chat thread. The last messages were from when they were in Houston, exchanging information about the widows they were tracking. Her fingers hovered briefly over the keyboard, unsure. Eventually she just turned off the phone and set it down, crying herself to sleep.
The next day was back to their regular schedule. Laura got up early, got the kids up and out for school while Clint and Kate slowly gathered themselves for her Monday therapy appointment. When they’d first met she’d felt the need to fill all the silences he left, but on the drives into the city she found herself actually reveling in the quiet. They could go almost a whole day without saying anything to each other.
Her body had been strong prior to the fight, so the therapists kept telling her how well she was doing and how lucky she was, but everything hurt. Gritting her teeth, she’d suffer through the therapy without complaint, but almost always in tears, either from pain or frustration. She knew how long the recovery was supposed to be and the 12 weeks for the collarbone seemed like an eternity compared to the broken ribs, the ACL sprain, and the internal injuries.
They picked up lunch before driving home. When they got back to the house Kate settled back in her spot on the couch and let her head fall back, resting on the arm.
The next two weeks passed the same way, each day feeling bleaker than the one before. Finally Kate got the break of a whole week off from physical therapy for Christmas, with strict orders to continue the strengthening exercises she’d been assigned. Instead of driving to the hospital on Monday Clint drove to the airport to pick up the rest of their Christmas guests.
Kate was both unsurprised and utterly devastated when Clint came back with just Natasha and Maria. She’d risen to her feet when the door had opened, but when the trio came in, no one would meet her eyes. The brace on her leg had come off a few days before, and so it was easy enough to disappear out the front door. The cold air hit her like a slap, the wind stealing her breath, and she moved around the far side of the house to shelter in the barn. There was nothing for her there, just like everywhere else, it seemed.
“Kate?” Kate yelped and spun around. Maria was standing in the doorway. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine. The Bartons are - you know - they’re looking out for me. And, uh, I’m healing well. I’ll be back in no time! And you can count on me for the team…” she trailed off as Maria stepped closer.
“How are you really?”
“You know: I miss my mom. And my dad.”
“Anybody else?”
Kate looked down and shook her head, trying to surreptitiously wipe away her tears. “No- nope. I’m fine.”
“You’re allowed to not be fine.” Kate knew that wasn’t true. Her being not-fine had nearly gotten her killed. It had cost her Yelena. She shook her head again, hoping Maria would leave. “I don’t want to excuse her - god knows she should be here - but Kate, she doesn’t understand. She thinks you’re better off without her. She can’t see reason, no matter how hard I’ve tried to beat it into her. I know you don’t deserve this responsibility, but if you want to be with her - if you love her half as much as she loves you - you have to make the first move.”
Kate finally looked up. “She loves me?”
“Yes.” Maria held out her phone. Kate was confused. “If you call her from my phone, she’ll answer. Just don’t start world war three while you’re on there.” She plopped it into Kate’s hand. “It’s unlocked.”
She turned and walked out of the barn. Kate glanced down, a battle raging inside of her. On one hand she wanted to hate Yelena, punish her for not being there. On the other hand she could only think about how much she loved her, how much she missed Yelena’s presence in her life every single day. Finally they all melded together in rage. She pulled up Yelena’s contact information and hit ‘dial.’
It only rang twice. “What is wrong?” Yelena’s voice was like a shock, still sending shivers through Kate’s system, freezing her. “Maria. Сука, answer me!”
“I’ll tell you what’s wrong! You crash into my life. You stop me from taking the shot. You make me believe in Hawkeye and the Widow-”
“Kate-” Yelena’s voice broke, but Kate kept going.
“-that we’re partners. More than that you make me believe that we can - I don’t know - be together, love each other, but then when the going gets tough you get scared and you fucking bail. I left because I knew you were too goddamn scared to let me go after Kingpin- which, I guess you might have been right about, but I am an adult, I get to make my own decisions. And you have to trust me. I know that the Red Room was-” her brain stopped, trying not to make it worse. “The Red Room was, but you survived and you are free and now you’re freeing other widows and making the world a better place. But you’re so scared. All the time. Just because I’m not you - not as smart as you, or as fast as you, or as good as you - you act like I’m stupid. I’m not stupid Yelena. I’m good at what I do. I’m making a difference, I’m protecting the world, I’m fighting for what I believe in. And you’re just so goddammed scared that you can’t even fucking love me back!
“I can’t believe I was going to beg you to come home for Christmas.”
“Kate-” Yelena’s voice faded as Kate pulled the phone from her ear, hanging up. She half expected Yelena to call back, but the phone remained silent. Kate carefully turned the screen off, making sure to not accidentally launch any missiles, and pocketed the phone. Suddenly she felt a little lightheaded. Glancing around, she looked for a seat. There weren’t any nearby, so lowered herself carefully to the floor, tucking her head to her legs, trying to ignore the protests of her ribs and shoulder.
Laura found her there, pulling Kate into her arms while she sobbed. “I want to go home,” she finally confessed. “I want to go back to last Christmas before Yelena, before my mom- I just want to go home.”
“Oh, sweetie…”
Kate pulled back carefully. “What do I do?”
“Well, we get you up very carefully and then you come inside and join us for cookie decorating and Christmas movie marathon and ugly sweaters and you stay here because you have a home here, too. You mourn all that you’ve lost. And once you’re healed you go back to New York and back to your awesome job that you love and let Maria give you all sorts of fake documentation so you can find a new place to live under an assumed name. And you save the world.”
“Do you really think I can?”
“Yes. I believe you can do anything.”
----
The days weren’t suddenly better after that, but Kate leaned into the magic the Bartons so carefully created around the holidays. On Christmas morning Nate again woke Kate as he came flying down the stairs. He crawled onto the bed with her and they quietly hypothesized about which gifts were for whom. It was always easy to tell who they were from - Maria still wrapped hers in the Sunday comics, Yelena’s were always wrapped in some corny superhero paper, and Natasha’s were always wrapped elegantly. Kate had tried to follow the theme, finding a purple paper and using black ribbon. It was fun to guess with Nate, but she found herself idly wondering what Yelena had gotten for everyone. She’d sent all of her gifts with the Hills, and Kate had very studiously tried to avoid looking at the boxes as Natasha had placed them all under the tree.
“I think that one’s a robot for me,” said Nate gleefully, pointing at a medium-sized box.
“I don’t know, young Barton. That sounds very dangerous.” Suddenly Yelena was there, standing next to the couch, appearing like a ghost.
Kate yelped in surprise, and then screamed as Nate pushed off of her ribs, launching himself at Yelena and yelling, “Aunt Lena!”
Less than a minute later the room was swarming with people, all the adults in the house suddenly appearing at Kate’s scream. Yelena and Nate were leaning over her, Nate stumbling through apologies while Kate gasped for breath. As Nate started to cry Laura scooped him up and left the room, giving Kate slightly more space, but the four people left in the room all stood over her, asking if she was okay, suffocating her.
Finally she caught her breath. “Go,” she said, waving her hand towards the kitchen. It wasn’t much privacy, but it would give her a minute to just breathe. Maria and Clint walked away, calling to Cooper and Lila to tell them everything was okay. Natasha hovered behind Yelena, but Yelena hadn’t moved from her spot next to Kate.
Kate rolled away from them carefully, moving slowly so as to not make her ribs hurt more. “Kate, no-”
Closing her eyes, she wished for some sort of small defense against Yelena Belova. “I’ve got this. I’m fine.” As soon as she was upright she pulled herself to the edge of the bed, bending down slowly to rifle through her bag. “I’m just-” she waved a clean shirt behind her head and stood, heading for the downstairs bathroom.
Once the door was closed she felt like she could breathe again, the sounds of the others muffled. She tried to move quickly, knowing Nate wouldn’t last long now that they were all awake. When she stepped back out the living room was back together, the sofa bed folded up. The coffee had just finished and Laura was pouring cups for everyone as Nate sat next to the tree, bouncing. Kate sat in the armchair next to him and waited.
The Bartons seemed to be very good about balancing the fun of presents with practical sense. There were plenty of toys, but things the kids needed as well. Kate was getting the impression - after two Christmases with the group - that Yelena never even tried to strike that balance. Her gifts were always over-the-top, generous, fun. Nate did, in fact, get a robot, Lila and Cooper’s gifts equally indulgent.
Nate passed Kate a small box, wrapped in Yelena’s superhero wrapping paper. She tore off the paper to uncover a jewelry box. Opening the lid carefully she found a necklace, an arrow on a chain. She looked up, meeting Yelena’s eyes. “Thank you,” she said quietly.
“You’re welcome, Kate Bishop.” She couldn’t look away. Yelena’s gaze was piercing. Nate squealed in delight and suddenly Kate remembered they weren’t alone. She looked back down at the necklace. It was beautiful, but she couldn’t get it on by herself, probably couldn’t even wear it for a few more weeks. Closing the lid gently, she set it on top of the small stack of gifts next to her chair.
After they opened all of the presents, Maria and Laura made brunch. Kate watched the chaos - Yelena, Lila, Cooper, and Nate were running around the house, while Natasha and Clint sat in the corner, heads down, pretending nothing else was happening. It was definitely different than Christmases with Eleanor Bishop, but it felt good to be surrounded by people who loved and cared about her.
Following brunch everyone scattered, off to try out their toys or read their new books. Kate waited to see what everyone else would do, then changed into jeans and quietly pulled on a coat to go for a walk. She was just past the barn when Yelena called her name. She paused, biting her lip. Did she want Yelena to catch up? Even while her mind couldn’t decide, her body did, frozen, waiting.
“May I walk with you?”
“Uh, yeah, sure.”
“How are you feeling?”
“You know- I mean, fine. I’m tired of not being able to shoot my bow. But fine.”
From the corner of eye Kate could see Yelena scan her body. “Should you be walking?”
Kate bit her tongue, cutting off the snarky response she wanted to make. Honestly, Yelena probably was right… “No, I guess not.”
Yelena stepped closer as though Kate was going to just keel over, but kept her hands at her sides. There wasn’t really anywhere to sit, so they turned back until they came to the fence. Kate sized it up, debating if she could get up there with a bad knee and an arm in a sling, envisioning losing her balance.
Yelena stepped in front of her. “I help,” she said.
“Oh, okay,” said Kate, trying not to meet Yelena’s eyes. She backed up to the fence and Yelena stepped closer, her hands coming to Kate’s waist.
“Ready? I go.” At Kate’s nod they worked together, Kate jumping and Yelena hoisting her up to the top rail. Kate hooked her good leg under a rail while Yelena steadied her. Once she’d gotten a grip with her free arm Yelena stepped away, turning to hop up next to Kate.
“You were right,” Yelena finally said.
Kate was so surprised she almost fell off the fence. “What?”
“I am scared. I am scared I am going to lose you. That either my past will come back and I will be unable to protect you, or that… that as Hawkeye you will be killed.”
“Is that why you’re so hard on me?”
Yelena opened her mouth, then paused. Finally she just shook her head. “No. I wish I could lie and say that it was my fear, but truly I am just… I don’t know how to be a person, Kate! In my world you are either the best, or you are dead. And I am - I don’t know - jealous of your life. When I met you last year you had a perfect life, a perfect childhood, a perfect world and you did not know what you asked to give up! Not only were you not as good as a widow, you were so lucky, so privileged and you would walk away from that.”
“If you hate that part of me so much, how can- could you be with me?”
“I do not hate that part of you.” Yelena hesitated again. “I am- I do not explain myself.” She hopped down. “I am sorry.”
As Yelena headed back to the house Kate slowly realized that she was alone, trapped on top of the fence. The way everyone had been watching her, she knew someone would find her sooner or later, though, so she just settled in to think. It felt like she was painted into a corner. Maria had said that Yelena loved her, but Yelena hadn’t actually said that. Did Kare want her to? Did she want to keep trying?
Natasha found her. “Hey,” she said, smiling cautiously. “Need a hand?”
“What would I have to do to get Yelena to actually talk to me, tell me how she feels?”
“I don’t know. Probably hold her at gunpoint.”
Kate wobbled in surprise. “Do you really think that would work?”
Natasha sized her up. “You really would, wouldn’t you? No, it wouldn’t work.”
“Then what am I supposed to do?!”
“Do you trust me?”
“What other choice do I have?”
“None.”
“Alright, then I guess I’m trusting you.”
“I have a plan,” said Natasha. She moved closer to help Kate down. It was hard to not feel like she was going to crush her - she had to remind herself that Yelena wasn’t any bigger and she’d helped Kate up with no trouble at all.
They walked back slowly, Natasha being attentive without being overbearing. “How are you at poker?”
“Me? I’m good-” she shrugged. “I mean, okay-” Natasha laughed. “Yeah, I mean- okay.”
Natasha let out a low whistle. “You’re not inspiring much confidence, Hawkeye. Good thing my plan doesn’t depend on you.”
Kate tried to not worry too much about Natasha’s plan, knowing that she would do whatever she wanted, with or without Kate’s approval. She was getting the impression that everyone else there except the kids had feelings about what had happened between Kate and Yelena, and she wasn’t sure that she really wanted to know all of the details.
After Nate had gone to bed and Cooper and Lila had disappeared to their rooms, Natasha pulled out a bottle of vodka and a deck of cards. “Poker, anyone?” she asked, wiggling her eyebrows. Maria looked resigned. Laura seemed amused. Yelena was excited. She couldn’t get a read on Clint at all. But if everyone else was playing, Kate decided it was worth a shot.
Yelena poured the drinks while Natasha passed out the chips and shuffled the cards. Kate declined the alcohol, opting instead for water. She was a clumsy drunk, and she didn't want to take any chances on messing up her recovery. Yelena, Natasha, and Laura took shots before they even picked up their cards, and Kate was secretly impressed at Laura.
When she flipped over her cards she almost groaned aloud. If she got really lucky, she might get a flush. When the first bet came around she stayed in, not wanting to give up on the first round of the first hand. After her draw she had a single pair of sixes. Finally realizing that she should have paid attention the whole hand, she glanced up, surveying the group. Natasha and Laura were smirking. Yelena was stony. Maria looked unimpressed. Clint, again, was impossible to read. She saw the bet, figuring a pair wasn’t the worst thing, but the hand was won by Maria with three of a kind.
Clint dealt next, and Kate tried to pay better attention to everyone else’s expressions, knowing that they all were watching her along with each other, so she didn’t want to miss out on any advantage she could get. Even as the players got tipsy, it was almost impossible. Playing against a group of spies, assassins, and superheroes with something like a combined 100 years of experience in lying made Kate’s previous experiences with poker seem like a walk in the park. It wasn’t too much longer before she was completely out of money, sitting back in her chair to just watch the show.
After a few minutes Kate realized there was something fishy going on. Clint was the most obvious, shifting carefully in his chair at regular intervals, fidgeting with his wedding band, and twirling his glass. Maria was more subtle, slightly tilting or twisting her head. Laura was good. She already was one to touch her jewelry a lot, but Kate realized quickly there was a system to the seemingly random acts, a touch to her earrings meaning something totally different than touching her engagement ring. Natasha… didn’t seem to change her expression at all. The smirk from the beginning of the game remained. Slowly, the four ensnared Yelena in their net.
Finally they pounced, wiping Yelena out in the opening round of a hand. Yelena drew two cards, and Kate was pretty sure she knew her girlfriendexpartner well enough to know that it was good. As the bet came around to her, she cursed in Russian. Natasha leaned forward. “We’d be willing to consider other forms of payment. Whaddya got?”
Yelena scanned the rest of the group, skipping over Kate. “Fine.” She pulled off a ring and dropped it in the middle of the table.
“Mmmm… I’m not sure. What do you think, is that enough?” asked Natasha innocently.
“If you lose this hand you have to talk to Kate,” said Maria nonchalantly, not even looking up.
“Сука, you are joking, no?”
Maria shook her head slowly. “‘fraid not. Anybody else got an alternative?”
Laura shrugged. Clint grunted, Natasha finally looked serious when she said, “No.”
Yelena glared around the circle then looked at her cards again. “Fine,” she growled.
The bets continued around the table and Kate could feel the room shift. She didn’t want to be there, didn’t want to know what happened. If she’d known what Natasha had in mind, she wouldn’t have agreed to trust her. She got up, trying not to draw attention to herself. No one even glanced her way as Natasha triumphantly dumped her wager into the pile.
There wasn’t anywhere to go. The downstairs was small, and connected almost all the way around. From the table you could see and hear everywhere. As the chatter got louder behind Kate she grabbed a blanket and walked to the front door to step out onto the porch. Cheers erupted as she pulled the door closed.
It was quiet outside, the stars more numerous than she could have ever imagined growing up in New York. The door opened and laughter spilled out into the night. Kate jumped to her feet, holding the blanket tightly, looking firmly at the stars. “Look, Yelena, I don’t want to- I can’t drag this out anymore. Let’s just say it was good while it lasted and go our separate ways. If you don’t want to be my partner anymore, that’s fine, we can get one of the new recruits up to speed and we’ll only work together when it’s a world ending catastrophe-”
“I love you.” Kate turned sharply. Yelena was watching her, but for once the shields she kept up were gone. She was laid bare to Kate, her emotions plainly written across her face.
“What do you want from me?” asked Kate. There was nothing else to say.
“I… I do not know.”
“I feel like we’re at an impasse. You treat me like you don’t trust me. You’re overprotective. You’re so scared it’s eating both of us alive. And I can’t ask you to change.”
Yelena stepped closer. “That doesn’t mean I don’t need to change, no?”
“No- yes- I mean, that’s up to you to decide. But I don’t want to choose to do something based on the promise of you changing - or not.”
"You are scared of me."
"What? No- what makes you think that?"
"In August I was cooking dinner and I pulled out the knife and you jumped away from me-"
"Because you surprised me! You know how jumpy I am-”
“When we fought you were scared-”
“No, I wasn’t! I’m never afraid of you-”
“You pulled away from me-”
“Because I knew if you touched me I would give it all up. For you.”
Yelena looked shocked. “You would have given up everything for me?”
“Well… no,” said Kate, trying to be honest. “I would never give up being Hawkeye for you.”
“Good girl,” said Yelena.
She probably hadn’t meant to mess with Kate’s head, but it worked nevertheless and her body flooded with desire. “Stop trying to make me like you.”
Yelena smirked. “Sorry, I can’t help it.”
“This whole time… I wanted to be back- home with you. The whole time I was looking for Kingpin I just kept thinking about getting home to my girlfriend. But then I came back and you were gone. I just… I don’t know anymore, Yelena.”
“I thought that if I stayed away you would be safer.”
“I don’t want to be safe!” snapped Kate, barely containing her rage. “You don’t get to make decisions that affect both of us without talking to me. My whole life has been like that, I don’t need it from you, too!” Yelena looked surprised, like she’d never considered that what she was doing wasn’t that different from how Eleanor had run Kate’s life.
“Please leave,” Kate said finally. She couldn’t see any other way forward. Yelena swallowed and nodded, and then her face hardened to its protective mask. Kate turned back to the stars and the door to the house closed quietly.