Chapter 11
YELENA’S P.O.V.
"Malyshka?" Yelena knocked on her niece's bedroom door, opening it carefully to find the five-year-old drawing on the floor. She curiously sat on her heels nearby. "You've been drawing a lot, huh?"
There were so many pictures that Yelena figured maybe she should pick out a folder to put them in. Or a drawer, even, since the child kept it up pretty much all the time when she wasn’t doing something that kept her on her feet.
After carefully going through the drawings that Lena used for showing what she liked and was thinking of, Yelena teared up a bit when she saw the last one. The little girl had drawn them and Fanny, a huge heart around the three of them. In big capital letters, since the child was starting to learn how to write, was written 'For: Auntie Lena'.
"This one is for me?" she asked the kid tenderly. “It’s really sweet.”
Little Lena only looked at her for a few seconds before going back to her drawing, clearly not in the mood. The picture she was now coloring showed what must have been Kate, her bow in hand with three arrows laid over the handle. ‘Auntie Kate’ was written next to her head, and the dog standing next to her was labeled ‘Lucky.’ This drawing also had a big heart, colored purple this time.
Yelena could see where the child was going as she stayed quiet and fixed, drawing the smaller body with another bow.
"Okay," Yelena sighed ruefully, sitting on Lena's bed. ‘I probably had it coming,’ she thought, now getting the cold shoulder. "I know you're upset because I've been spending too much time with Sonya…"
"I don't like her." the five-year-old told her. “She’s mean to me.”
"I know what you told Auntie Kate, what she said about Mama." she nodded with understanding. Yelena assured her, "I'm sorry, I haven't been spending much time with you. So I want to make it up to you." she told the little one. "We could go to the park tomorrow, spend the whole day together, what do you think?"
"And Auntie Kate, and the doggies." the child said. "No Sonya."
"Okay, and Auntie Kate. And the doggies.” she added, loving the sentiment towards Lucky and Fanny. “No Sonya, I promise.” She held out her hand with her little finger extended. When Lena saw it, she did the same and they curled their two small fingers together. “Pinky swear.”
Her niece smiled at her, quickly standing up to jump into her arms, so Yelena embraced her tightly, leaving a few kisses on the child's face.
“Thanks, Auntie Lena.”
"I love you so much, don't ever doubt that, malyshka." she whispered, keeping the little one as close as possible.
"I love you too," little Lena whispered back. "Can we read a story?" The five-year-old pulled away just enough to look at her.
"Of course, sweet girl," she smiled. Neither of them could really stay mad at each other, it seemed. Yelena had hoped her niece’s recent behavior, like with the LARP arrow, was just a phase. And for now, she really hoped that was true since the girl had gotten her time and attention back.
Yelena added, “Kate Bishop says your teacher has been helping you. Why don’t you read to me this time?”
-/-
THE NEXT DAY…
The little girl closed the apartment door angrily after seeing who was waiting in the hall. Yelena sighed tiredly at the child's behavior around Sonya. She didn’t blame Lena as much for doing it as she blamed herself for not anticipating it. Especially after promising that Sonya wouldn’t tag along. Yelena didn’t know that the other widow would be there, though.
“Lena..." she called her niece who was storming towards the couch. Yelena still had to make sure the kid apologized and all. “Open the door, please. You slammed it, so you have to be nice and open it."
"No! She can't come to the park!" little Lena screamed angrily. "You promised it would be the two of us and Auntie Kate with the doggies. YOU pinky-swore.”
Kate Bishop had only recently taught Yelena the pinky-swear thing—something she only just remembered from when she and Natasha were kids—since it would obviously mean a lot to little Lena. For the five-year-old, it was about as strong as a contract. So even though the behavior right now wasn’t ideal, the ex-widow could see where Lena was coming from.
"And I mean that." she assured the kid, coming to grips with how this must have looked to her. Were their roles reversed, she would have probably been totally confused. "Come here." she whispered while scooping her up, embracing the little one before opening the door.
Before Yelena herself could apologize for her niece’s behavior, Sonya waved it aside. "It's okay, I’m not annoyed or anything. I came to say goodbye. I'm leaving."
"Already? I thought you were staying a few more days." Yelena stared at her friend, keeping the little girl in a reassuring embrace.
"I have to." the widow shrugged. Looking at the child she added, "Besides, I think it'll be for the best."
Her attention back on her niece, Yelena said, “Lena, can you get your shoes so we can go see Auntie Kate at the park?" She left the kid on the floor, seeing her nod before running into her room.
The blonde young woman embraced her friend. "You always have a place out here, okay?"
"Thank you for everything, Yelena." Sonya said, hugging her back, just as the five-year-old came running with her shoes on. “Goodbye to you too, sweetie. It was really nice to meet you… and get bonked on the head by you." she chuckled.
Sonya dared to ruffle the kid's hair, little Lena stepping away pouting.
"Bye!" the child waved, not giving her aunt a chance to say anything else, and shut the door closed. "Is she really leaving?"
Yelena put her hands on her hips as the kid shut the door in Sonya’s face again. "That wasn't nice. You know that, right?" She crouched as the little girl nodded slightly. “But yes, she's leaving. It’s just us now. Auntie Kate is going to meet us at the park with Lucky."
"Good." Lena grinned. "Now, let's go!" The child grabbed her hand to lead her so they would leave.
-/-
Little Lena seemed WAY more than relieved. Her aunt, though, could hardly say the same since she was still trying to keep up with her. The kid was letting out whatever bottled-up energy she hadn’t been able to use for much lately. That was probably because Sonya’s visit hadn’t been a good memory. Right now, finally having something to look forward to like the playground, it was like Lena had a sugar rush and was giving it her all to have some real fun.
“Stop running!” Yelena called the little girl, but it didn’t stop her from running towards the playground. She had called Kate’s number to meet up at a nice spot nearby and apparently, she was almost there. But Yelena had to keep the child in her sights the whole time. She was determined to do better now than she had this past week. “Lena!”
The kid stopped for a few seconds, just waiting for her to get closer before running again. That time Yelena didn’t bother to tell her to stop, walking at a quicker pace to keep up with the little one.
It was the first time she was taking the child to the playground by herself. The other times, Kate had been there already. So that was why she had decided to come in the evening, aware that there would not be people around so she would be able to focus on her niece.
Gasping for air, in more of a pleading manner she called out, “Yelena, come back here!” while gently holding onto Fanny’s taut thirty-foot leash. “Not too far from me.”
Wait… For whatever reason, something didn’t feel right.
“But I want to play!” the kid complained, pointing to the swing set. “Come on, let’s swing.”
“I know, sweet girl. We’ll play in a moment, I know how high you love to swing,” she assured her. “Stay there, wait for me.” Yelena sighed as Fanny walked back to her.
It didn’t feel safe to move. They were being watched. She could feel it. There was something unsettling about her niece being so far away from her, too. So she walked on, trying not to look suspicious.
Her whole body tensed at the slight sound she heard, already getting ready to fight. The assassin looked down at her hands searching for her widow bites, but she wasn’t wearing them because of Kate Bishop. A few Russian curses left her mouth in anger, not having anything to protect herself or her niece.
She reached out for her phone inside the pocket of her coat, trying not to make it too obvious. She needed Kate to hurry up, to take the little girl to one of their apartments before it was too late.
The akita turned around and growled, probably with the same sense Yelena had right now.
“Shh, it’s okay.” she petted Fanny’s soft fur, turning around slowly to meet whoever was stalking them.
BOOM!-BOOM!
“AAGH!” Yelena fell to the ground, hissing in pain when she had a moment to even notice what happened. Two gunshots. One had just hit her right shoulder as the other one hit her lower abdomen.
“Auntie Lena!” There was panic in the child’s voice, and fear. “No! No!”
Yelena tried her best to get up, to reassure her niece that it was okay despite the burning sensation spreading through her body. However, all she got to see was how the five-year-old was struggling against the black-uniformed people dragging her away.
“Let go of her! Let go of my niece!” She managed to get up but only to fall again a few steps later, her right hand pressing over the wound on her abdomen.
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she tried again to move, not bearing to listen to the little girl’s screams. She felt completely helpless. They were taking her small niece away and she was doing nothing to stop it.
“Get her, Fanny!” She released the leash from the whining dog, hoping that the akita would be fast enough to get the child.
“I guess they were right,” a voice said behind her. “Kids make you sloppy.” The woman crouched in front of her, casually holding a Glock with the safety off.
“Sonya?” Yelena couldn’t hide the surprise in her voice, not understanding how her friend could betray her that way, especially after knowing how much she cared for that little girl.
“They sent me to kill you.” the widow told her. “But I don’t think you deserve that.”
“Why did you do this?” she begged, getting dizzier. “After everything, how could you…”
Her Filipino accent was thick as she spoke with an aggressive tone. “You ‘blipped’, Yelena. You were erased for five years, so you don’t know how deep in the gutter I was.”
“Ana told me you were living a normal life after that.” she groaned.
“I was. But the last year of it, when things went downhill and I was stuck again. I had to claw my way back up, so the Red Room made me an offer. You just trusted me enough to say where you were going with the child day after day.” Sonya shrugged. “Let’s hope that archer friend of yours gets here before you bleed out.” She holstered the Glock before walking off, leaving her all alone.
“SUKA!” Yelena yelled angrily, groaning with her blood-soaked hand over the second bullet hole. “I SAVED YOU! I trusted you!”
“And that’s your other weakness. You should have stayed away and not bothered with the Red Dust.” Sonya replied before disappearing.
Yelena felt real pain, having her niece taken away from her. It was way worse than physical pain because she knew everything that sweet little angel was going to go through. They were going to break her.
Her heavy eyes fell shut. Breathing was harder, too. But just as she was slowly losing consciousness, she heard a voice.
“YELENA!” Kate called out worriedly, running over. She was there, right before their set meeting time, as Yelena fell on her back. She could see the archer pull her phone out and dial as Lucky ran over barking.
“They took her…” was all she could say with a hoarse groan before everything went black.
-/-
HOURS LATER…
YELENA’S APARTMENT
After the hospital, Kate brought Yelena and both dogs to her friend’s apartment and got to work. She laid one of the two cushions on the couch as a pillow and had the woman lie down. She hung up a list of how many pills (such as painkillers) Yelena had to take per day, plus how often to check for infection, and to use a bottle of betadine in the shower or bath. The bullets, plus the wood chips on the playground surface that had clung to her blood, were definitely germy.
Lucky walked over to the pained ex widow and sniffed as she lay on the couch with a hand over the bandages on her abdomen. Both that wound and the one in her right shoulder still hurt like hell since the numbing was wearing off.
Going over the medicines carefully, Kate said, “Ok, YOU are not going anywhere till you can stand up without groaning. I’m gonna stay right here with you till you can actually hold your ground again.”
“Nnhhh.” Yelena growled in pain. “I’m fine, Kate Bishop. I’ve endured worse than bullets.” She then glared and added aggressively, “Besides, this wouldn't have happened if you hadn’t made me leave my widow bites locked up.”
Clearly annoyed, Kate put the pill bottles down and gave Yelena a stern look. “Ok. One, we both agreed to keep them locked up in the strongbox FOR HER SAKE after she found them and lost control. Same with your vodka being on top of the fridge so she doesn’t mistake it for water. And two, you’re gonna have to wean yourself off those eventually. They’ve become a crutch. If you’re oh-so-defenseless without those damn widow bites on your wrists, then you shouldn’t have them.” she added. “You would’ve been shot either way.”
Yelena groaned, devastated, “Maybe, but at least Lena would still be here!”
“Not if they saw you armed and decided to kill you instead. If they really wanted her, it wouldn't have made a difference. You were outnumbered and outgunned.” Kate raked a hand through her wavy black hair with a deep breath and continued calmly, “Trust me, I hate those Red Room people for taking her. I ALSO hate Sonya’s guts for tricking you into trusting her again and getting all the info she needed…”
With vivid hostility, Kate exclaimed, “And I’m still mad at YOU too for choosing to go to the F-ing bar with her, wallowing in self-pity instead of taking time to simply read to the kid at night!”
Yelena was kicking herself hard as she looked back on it. Trusting Sonya, opening up and spending time with her instead of Lena lately, had led to this. All of it. She hadn’t been able to resist getting drunk a few times, trying to drown her sorrow towards losing Natasha. But it was no excuse for neglecting the child, and now she couldn’t make it right.
Out of guilt, Yelena didn’t dare look Kate in the eye, knowing she was right. She may have been cleaned up by the doctors, but Yelena could still feel the blood on her hands from the playground like it was fresh. She didn’t bother trying to take her mind off the bullet holes. She let the pain in, feeling she deserved it. Lucky noticed and whined, trying to climb onto the couch with her until realizing he had no room and chose to crawl over to where her head was. He sniffed near Yelena’s shoulder with a quiet whimper.
Kate continued, “But because Lena isn’t here, we need a plan… Which leads me to Three: You need to at least heal to some extent before doing any fighting.” She pointed to the bandages. “If you tear your stitches, you’ll bleed out like you almost did back there. Then you’ll be no good to your niece or anyone else.”
Yelena groaned again. After another deep breath, she really felt how much damage the bullets had done. “I don’t have that kind of time! Neither does she. My skin might take a couple weeks, and that’s bad enough. With this shot in my abdomen? The Red Room removed all my reproductive organs years ago, but it will still take too much time for the internal damage. Time we don’t have.”
Yelena was certainly glad to have been unconscious when, according to Kate, the bullets and wood chips had been removed before her wounds were stitched. It would definitely take a while before the former widow was actually ‘fighting fit’ and could do some good out in the field.
She asked Kate desperately, “What do you suggest we do?”