Chapter 2
When the doorbell rang, Yelena had expected Natasha to be on her doorstep, even though she wasn’t anticipating her for another day or two.
Instead, she opened the door to be greeted by Mischa and Phoebe. Mischa was swaddled in far more layers than necessary, her face flushed but cheeks tinged pink from the cold. Phoebe was dressed far more appropriately, looking a little hesitant about showing up as she gripped Mischa’s hand. Both girl only wore one glove so that they could properly grip each other's hands.
Yelena led them inside, pulling them into a tight hug before looking them over. “Is everything alright?”
Yelena watched as Mischa nodded her head, registering the warmth of the house before she started to strip out of her many layers.
“Just got cold,” Mischa mumbled, fumbling to try and get her jacket off when the zipper got stuck on the layer beneath it. “Brought Phoebe…” she grunts out, trying to unstick the zipper.
“I see that,” Yelena commented, watching as Mischa let her zipper go when Phoebe grasped her coat to tug her closer and take over. “Your Aunt Nat is coming over.”
Mischa perks up. “Really?” She questioned as Phoebe managed to unstick the zipper and finish unzipping her coat. “When?”
“Next day or two,” Yelena replied, a small smile crossing her face when she saw Mischa kiss Phoebe’s cheek in thanks. “I’m glad that you two are here.” And she was. Seeing them in person helped some of the anxiety buzzing in her chest. The snow outside coupled with not knowing the whereabouts of her daughter was not a good mix.
“Yeah? Well, I figured a visit home was due,” Mischa said before she scratched the back of her head awkwardly. “Would it be too much to ask to have Varvara and Daria switch rooms so we can take over their beds?”
“You’ll have to ask them,” Yelena replied just as Irina bounded down the stairs to greet her sister.
As Yelena went to check in on her girls that night, she discovered that Varvara and Daria did agree to give up their room so that Mischa and Phoebe could have some privacy. They instead took over Mischa’s bed. But then they paired up three to a bed, Daria ending up happily snuggled between her two oldest sisters in their room, and Varavara taking the right side to sandwich Ksenia between her and Irina.
Yelena doesn’t have a girl join her in bed that night. She also has a nightmare about the cold.
She had been punished with a handful of other girls in the Red Room, dumped in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the clothes on her back. It was every man for themselves for the night.
Yelena had been young, twelve if she remembers correctly, and the youngest in the group she was in. What started off as each girl darting off to try and secure themselves a shelter for the night ended with four of the original twelve girls huddled together, Yelena in the middle as they squish around the pathetic excuse of a fire they had managed to start.
They were the only four to return. Yelena remembered her limbs being stiff and her fingers and toes aching just to move. She stumbled trying to walk through the hallway and ended up having to be carried to the infirmary where she and the other three girls were warmed up and checked for frostbite. She had been stripped, wrapped up in a blanket, and given warm water to drink.
But remembering the bitter chill, how she got so cold that she felt warm, how one of the eldest girls in their little huddle kept pressing her forehead against Yelena’s to try and gauge how cold she was because her fingers were too numb to feel, was all too much. Yelena woke up drenched in sweat, struggling to breathe as she tried to wiggle her fingers and toes.
Yelena couldn’t help but stumble into the bathroom and despite the sweat coating her skin, she turned the shower almost as hot as it could go and stepped under the spray in her pajamas.
She hadn’t even realized that she got trapped inside her head until her second oldest was in front of her, concern on her face. “Mom?”
Yelena felt like she was wading through molasses as she tried to surface from the depths of her mind. “I’m here.”
Viktoria swallowed hard, nodding her head. “You need to get out of the shower,” she said and Yelena belatedly realized that the shower had been turned off. “Can you stand?”
Yelena took one look at her trembling hands and slowly shook her head, shame filling her at the thought of her daughter seeing her in such a position.
“Is it okay if I pick you up and move you to sit on the edge of the tub?” Viktoria looked hesitant as if she didn’t want to spook Yelena. Yelena inclined her head and Viktoria scooped her up and quickly settled her on the edge of the tub before holding a towel out to her a little awkwardly. “Uh… is there anything I can do to help?”
“How did you know?” Yelena questioned, wrapping herself in the towel as she dripped water all over the place.
“The shower was running for way too long. Daria attached herself to Alice so I came to check,” Viktora ran a hand through her hair. “Are you… okay?”
“I’m struggling…” Yelena admitted because there was no point in lying to someone raised to read body language. “It’s the cold. The snow.”
Viktoria’s lips twisted as she nodded her head. “I get it,” she mumbled before she shook her head. “I’ll get you some new clothes.”
Yelena got changed into the new set of clothes that Viktoria brought her, noting in the mirror how red her skin was from the heat of the water. Yelena paused when she exited the bathroom to see that Viktoria was sitting on the edge of the bed to wait for her. “You can go back to bed,” Yelena said, approaching her and taking a seat next to her.
“I can’t,” Viktoria shook her head. Yelena wrapped an arm around her shoulder and Viktoria leaned into her touch. “I didn’t know that the snow affected you like that,” she admits.
“Of course it does,” Yelena shrugged slightly, remembering Natasha’s words. She hadn’t thought about how hiding it from her girls would affect them. “I went through the same training that you did.”
“And you slept with the other girls on cold nights?” Viktoria questioned with a small frown.
Yelena inclined her head. “Ever since I was small enough to fit between two girls. I’ve never been very big, not like you,” Yelena teasingly poked Viktoria’s side, smiling when the tall girl batted her hand away. “I dunno what they did once they started to chemically subjugate me but I suddenly shot up like a weed. I’m not tall by any means but I was certainly very small.”
“Like Daria?” Viktoria frowned slightly. “She’s small for her age, isn’t she? I mean, Carlotta was only a smidge smaller than her and they’re like four years apart.”
Yelena let out a soft laugh. “Yeah. Daria’s tiny but it just makes her all the more snuggly,” she then shakes her head. “But yeah. I was small like she was.”
Viktoria let out a hum. “Were you ever… dumped into the snow? Like--”
“For punishment?” Yelena questioned and Viktoria nodded. “Yes. Were you?”
“Once. I got into trouble for not being able to properly do a routine,” Viktoria shrunk in on herself. “I came back with two other girls but one was killed because she got frostbite. She would have lost two of her fingers. She would have been no use.”
Yelena pulled Viktoria closer to her, kissing the side of her head. “But you came back. You’re here now.”
“It’s too cold,” Viktoria whimpered, leaning into Yelena. “But it’s warm at home but it’s too warm.”
Yelena let out a sigh. “Yeah, I know.” She pulled Viktoria closer.
Natasha arrived early the next day and was greeted at the front door by Daria before Yelena knew she was there. Yelena laughed when Natasha walked into the room with Daria wrapped around her before she stood to hug her sister.
Natasha kissed the bridge of her nose, pressing their foreheads together. Daria unwrapped from around Natasha to let the woman pull Yelena into her arms.
Yelena sinks into her hold, her eyes sliding shut as her hands come up to fist her sister’s jacket and pull her closer.
“I’m right here, little sister,” Natasha whispered into her ear and Yelena’s jaw clenched as she tried to blink away the tears that burned at her eyes.
“It’s cold,” Yelena whispered, Natasha’s fingers warm as they run over the back of her neck.
“I know,” Natasha nuzzled her nose against the top of Yelena’s head. “I’m here to help.”
Yelena exhaled and gripped her sister tighter.
“You’re The Black Widow,” Phoebe breathed out, peering up at Natasha.
Natasha had an amused look on her face as she stared down at the teenager in front of her. “I prefer the name Natasha.”
“Right…” Phoebe slowly nodded her head before she stuck her hand out. “I’m Phoebe. Mischa’s girlfriend.”
Natasha smiled at her. “Pleasure to meet you, Phoebe. You can call me Aunt Nat too if you’d like.”
Phoebe’s eyes got even wider. Natasha let out a soft laugh, reaching a hand out to grasp her shoulder.
“Breathe, kiddo,” Natasha told her and Phoebe took a deep breath. Mischa stepped closer, wrapping an arm around Phoebe’s shoulders. “You two are adorable together.”
“Shut up,” Mischa kicked Natasha’s shin, her face flushing in embarrassment. Natasha chuckled, reaching out to ruffle her hair. “Don’t make me sic my mom on you.”
“Yelena will agree with me,” Natasha hummed, grinning at her.
Mischa narrowed her eyes. “Not if I tell her you’re harassing Phoebe.”
“But she’s not harassing me!” Phoebe quickly interjected, peering up at Mischa.
“She doesn’t know that,” Mischa stuck her tongue out at Natasha, yelping when Natasha dragged her away from Phoebe and pressed a wet kiss to her cheek. “Yuck! Don’t get your spit on me, Aunt Nat!”
“You asked for it,” Natasha replied, letting her go and Mischa stumbled back into Phoebe. “Gonna threaten me with your mom again?”
Mischa gave Natasha a wicked grin.
“This is a lot,” Yelena commented, rolling her shoulders as she fiddled with the zipper on her jacket.
“It’s cold outside. The jacket will help you stay warm,” Natasha replied, bumping their shoulders together. “We’re only going into the backyard so we don’t need too many layers.”
Yelena took a deep breath, staring outside into the blanket of untouched snow. “How deep did they say it was?”
“It was about an inch and a half when I got here,” Natasha replied. “Want me to go first?”
Yelena wanted to say yes but she also didn’t want Natasha to get too far away so she shook her head and let Natasha grab her hand.
Natasha tugged her outside and they stood on the back porch for a few moments, the door still within reach. The snow crunched under Yelena’s weight, barely reaching the top of the toes of her shoe. She hadn’t realized how long she was staring until Natasha’s hand grabbed her chin to pull her head up.
“Look at me,” Natasha instructed. “I’m not gonna let anything happen to you. Do you trust me?”
“Course I do,” Yelena breathed out, her eyes wavering to peer back at the house.
“Uh-uh,” Natasha gripped Yelena’s face. “Eyes on me. You see the house then you’re gonna wanna go back. Come on.” Natasha gripped Yelena’s hands, moving backward further into the snow. “One step at a time. Count with me. One…”
Yelena kept her eyes glued to her sister’s face, quietly counting each step they took until they were twenty paces away from the house. Yelena could already feel the cold seep into her bones, stinging her face and flushing her sister’s cheeks.
Natasha gave her a bright smile, starting to hum one of the songs that Yelena used to hear all the time around Christmas in Ohio. “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.”
And for a few moments, Yelena was back in Ohio, face pressed to the glass as she watched the neighbor boys play street hockey, slipping around on the ice as they laughed, her breath fogging up the glass as she wished to go out to play with them.
And here she was, over twenty years later, finally stepping outside into the snow just as she had wanted when she was little.
“It’s cold,” Yelena breathed out, her breath causing a small white cloud with the puff of air.
“Yeah,” Natasha inclined her head, gripping Yelena’s hands with fingers that were starting to chill. “One more thing before we go inside…”
Natasha let Yelena’s hands go, stooping down to scoop up a handful of snow before she began to pack it tightly into a ball, gripping Yelena’s wrist and setting the ball into her hand. “Here.”
Yelena stared down at the snow in her hand, already starting to melt and drip water between her fingers.
“That’s a snowball. I like to chuck them at Clint’s head,” Natasha hummed, reaching out to close Yelena’s fingers around the snowball, reducing it to powdered snow and letting it fall from her hand. “It’s only water. It can hurt us but only if we let it. Here, we are in control. And we are not going to let it hurt.”
Yelena wiped her hand on her coat, her fingers stinging from the cold.
“Come on, let’s go inside and warm up,” Natasha threw her arm around Yelena’s shoulders. “You did well.”