Chapter 1
“When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed,” Natasha mused, glancing from Bruce to Tony.
“They don't need to be protected; they need to evolve.” Bruce looked up from the butterfly drawing on the table before him. “Ultron's going to evolve.”
“How?” Fury asked, sitting up.
“Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Fury stood, placing his glass down on the table. “But wherever we end up here, you’ll need as much backup as possible.”
“I think I have someone I can call,” Clint said, already pulling up a contact in his phone.
“I’ll call Rhodes,” Tony added.
Natasha felt as though the next few hours were some of the longest hours she’d ever sat through. She felt like she should be doing something useful, occupying herself, but there wasn't anything she could do. It drove her crazy to be so idle throughout the current madness that surrounded her.
Fury had been attempting to contact Cho or anyone else who could reach her, with help from Tony. All the while, Clint had made his call, continuing to book flights with the company card. Natasha thought about talking to Bruce about what had happened in their room, while simultaneously cringing at the idea of ever discussing that with him. Natasha couldn't decipher within herself if she actually wanted him or if she just wanted to feel something. She knew she’d have to speak with him eventually, but suddenly, staying idle seemed more appealing to her than confronting what loomed over them.
It felt like hours since Clint had left for the airport, until he returned with two people following behind him; a peppy woman with dark hair and a shorter blonde woman Natasha so dearly wished she didn’t recognize.
“Kate!” Lila shrieked from where she sat next to Natasha, getting up to run over to the unknown woman. Natasha winced at the noise; she’d been up since the night before. Natasha couldn't sleep when everyone else was doing everything in their power to move the mission forward. She’d sat up with Lila as late as Laura would let her, though Lila came back around six in the morning when she awoke, and since then, the rest of The Avengers began trickling back into the room.
“Hey, Baby,” Kate beamed, ruffling the girl's hair with her hand that wasn't dragging a suitcase. “What are you up to, you little monster?”
“I was drawing with my auntie Nat,” Lila smiled. “Did you bring Lucky with you this time?”
“I left him with some family back home. I don't think they send dog sitters this far in the middle of nowhere.”
“We could've watched him,” Lila pleaded.
“I don’t think your mom would appreciate that.”
The blonde woman had finally come up from behind Kate to stand in front of the kitchen table where Natasha sat. They locked eyes, a glare plastered over Natasha’s face, though Yelena’s remained utterly blank. Yelena knew she could've and should've warned Natasha of her arrival, but she also knew it would be so much more fun to see her reaction.
“Oh, don’t mind her,” Tony mused over the counter, making a cup of coffee. “She’s like a rescue dog; likes to nibble on strangers. Name?”
“Yelena Belova. I don’t mind,” Yelena laughed, her accent thick. “I like a dog that bites.”
Natasha rolled her eyes, gracefully avoiding Bruce's glare into the side of her head.
“I thought you had a person you could call, Barton,” Steve chastised from his seat at the table, motioning to the two women in front of him.
“It was buy one get one at the store,” Clint replied, moving into the kitchen with his wife.
“He caught us at a bad time,” Yelena smirked at him, winking. “Didn’t want to miss out on what fun I am sure this will be.”
Natasha’s gaze hardened. “Мелина знает, что ты здесьdoes Melina know you're here?”
“Она мне не боссshe is not the boss of me ,” Yelena grumbled in response, pausing before dropping her voice to a quiet, embarrassed mutter. “Нет, она не no, she doesn't.”
Natasha’s veil of anger lifted, a toothy smile christening her face. She knew she laughed harder than she should have, considering the weird looks she got from certain team members, though it was almost worth seeing the smug look on Yelena’s face.
“Since you two have seemed to win over the ladies of the house,” Fury unexpectedly said as he entered the kitchen from the living room, gesturing towards Lila and Natasha. “I’m sure you'll both do fine here.”
“Considering that, we need to finalize a game plan. With those twins, we’re still outnumbered if the girl can do again what she did to us before,” Steve asserted, taking a seat at the table and waving the others to join him.
Natasha heard Laura yell something about the bus to the kids as she felt arms slipping around her shoulders, elbows pressing into them. Natasha couldn't see her, but she knew Yelena’s head dipped next to her’s, pulling her into her chest if it weren't for the chair in the way.
“Что делаешьwhat are you doing?” Natasha muttered under her breath.
“Я не могу позволить твоему маленькому парню получать удовольствие, не так лиI can't let your little boyfriend have all the fun, can I?” Yelena replied, letting out a breathy laugh against the side of her head.
“Какой бойфрендwhat boyfriend?”
“он все это время смотрел дырой в твою головуhe has been staring a hole into the side of your head this whole time.”
“As much as this touching and strangely arousing display of affection confuses me,” Tony began slowly. “We’ve managed to contact Dr. Cho. She couldn't tell us where she was, but she could tell us where she was going. Apparently, our twins have gone A.W.O.L, which is either very good news for us or very bad.”
“What did they do before?” Kate asked slowly. “Not that I don’t love surprises.”
“The girl, Wanda, she gets into your head,” Bruce mumbled, pressing his palms into the table. “Can make you see your worst fears in a way that feels like you're living it.”
Natasha could feel Yelena go stiff around her. She almost wished that information remained private because somehow, pretending it didn't happen made it feel better. And somehow, having Yelena know what she’d seen made it even worse. It was like a facade with everyone else because not one of them knew what she’d seen. It’s different now.
“God, I mean, she planted the best member of our team on her ass,” Bruce continued, motioning to Natasha. “I need a walk.”
Bruce exited the room as Laura entered with plates of waffles. She had to make multiple trips to bring out each plate of food. Natasha wasn't sure how the woman managed to cook so much food, or at least would want to, considering the number of people she was willingly catering for. As soon as she smelled them, she knew they were waffles and that they would be topped generously with strawberries; Laura had emailed her dozens of pictures of the kids at a patch to pick some. She wasn't the biggest fan of the fruit, but she had no plans to say anything.
Yelena finally removed herself from Natasha’s shoulders, sitting beside her.
“Cho said they are en route to Sokovia,” Fury added after a long while. “They have the cradle. Ultron wants to make himself a body of flesh, so Banner’s theory seems to be correct thus far.”
“She was able to give us a few details about their trip, and I was able to estimate their arrival time between fifteen and eighteen hours,” Tony chimed in. “In the Quin Jet, we could arrive in as little as three hours, giving us until tomorrow morning to flesh out a plan, pun very much intended.”
“твои друзья тупыеyour friends are stupid,” Yelena muttered, sliding Natasha’s plate closer to pick the strawberries off the side.
“You guys just gonna keep having secret conversations, or do we get to be involved at all?” Clint glared, leaning against the beam that helped the counters divide the kitchen from the dining room.
“Clint, come here,” Natasha glared, though her voice was sweet.
“Why?”
“Just come here.”
“No, you’re gonna hit me,” Clint whined, retreating into the kitchen.
The rest of the day blurred together in Natasha’s mind. Every mission planning and brainstorming was always the same, especially with The Avengers. She didn’t miss the ambiguous legality of her older missions, but it was always more interesting to bend around the law than try to conform. On top of that, Natasha wasn't sure how many more of these boys’ messes she could handle cleaning up. It feels like after every other mission to save the world from some big bad, the big bad is her own team.
“Come to think of it,” Clint began, watching his kids terrorize his guests a few hours after they'd returned from school. “I’m not sure how we’re gonna fit you two.”
“Do you ever plan anything?” Kate groaned as Lila tugged on her hair. “I would've brought my sleeping bag.”
“The My Little Pony one?” Yelena prodded with a vicious grin. “The one with little Twilight Star.”
“No…” Kate glanced away, scratching the side of her head in embarrassment before dropping down to a whisper. “It’s… It’s Twilight Sparkle.”
“I believe Lila will want Kate to have a sleepover, so that solves that one,” Laura stated, followed by Lila’s loud shrieks of joy.
“I am fine taking the couch,” Yelena said, pulling a case of foreign beer from one of her bags. “If someone could put this in the fridge.”
“You’re just like those two,” Laura chided, pointing to Clint and Natasha as she took the case. “Can’t drink beer unless it’s from at least three thousand miles away.”
Most of everyone turned in for the night, though Fury lagged behind to speak with Natasha. “I’m glad you’re finally making new friends, Romanoff. Thought you'd only ever bond with Wingus up there for the longest time.”
“I don't know if I should say thank you or be offended,” Natasha laughed as she made her way to the stairs. “And for the record, I have plenty of friends.”
“Nobody in this work has friends, Natasha,” he smiled. “Not outside the work.”
Natasha tossed over in her bed later that night, knowing Bruce lay asleep on the floor across the room. She had no idea what to think anymore. She moved to press her face into the pillow, her legs abraiding against each other in a manner that made her skin crawl. She could hear every click of the clock on the wall and every noise Bruce made in his sleep.
She abruptly sat up, quietly throwing the sheets to the side and making her way out of the room. The last stair creaked under her feet as she moved into the kitchen to find Yelena leaning against the counter. The woman slipped her phone into her pocket as she saw Natasha approaching.
Natasha grabbed two beers from the fridge, passing one to Yelena as she leaned against the counter next to her.
“Hey, that is mine,” Yelena said, gruffly.
“Too bad, you brought the one I like.”
“I know.”
Natasha smacked the top against the counter’s edge while Yelena somehow managed to pop it off with her fingers. Natasha clinked the bottom of her bottle to the neck of Yelena’s, a feint twinge of pink spreading over her cheeks as she took a sip.
“You cold?” Yelena asked, eyeing Natasha’s short sleeves. Natasha didn't have to answer before Yelena slid off her sweatshirt to slip it onto her.
“We are still both from Russia; when have either of us ever been cold?”
“I missed you,” Yelena mused, holding her drink close to her chest.
Natasha didn't respond but instead rubbed her index knuckle across Yelena’s bottle-adorned fingers.
“Do you remember when we were in Oslo together?” Yelena asked, looking over with soft eyes.
“Governor or politician?” Natasha asked, referring to the nature of the mission.
“Governor. When I met Kate, it reminded me of it; when we ate reindeer at that small restaurant on the lake.”
“God, that was awful. View was beautiful, though.”
“Do you mean me or the lake?”
Natasha remained silent, unsure how to respond, rubbing her fingers together against the bottle's label.
“I can’t keep kissing people pretending it’s you, Natalia.”
Natasha’s mouth slacked open slightly, moving quickly to lean on the opposite counter than she was. She wrapped one arm around her waist, sliding it under the hoodie, and used the other to take a long sip of her drink as her blush crept up her ears.
“I, uh,” Natasha faltered.
Yelena moved to once again stand next to Natasha, moving closer this time. “Я вас любил: любовь еще, быть может, В душе моей угасла не совсем; Но пусть она вас больше не тревожит; Я не хочу печалить вас ничем. Я вас любил безмолвно, безнадежно, То робостью, то ревностью томим; Я вас любил так искренно, так нежно, Как дай вам бог любимой быть другим.”
Natasha’s eyes widened. “Are you reciting poetry to me?”
“Depends. Do you like it?” Yelena lilted, reaching out to grasp at strands of Natasha’s hair with her free hand. “I can feel how warm your face is from here, so I will take that as you do.”
Natasha remained silent, staring into Yelena’s eyes. She smelled like cigarettes, though Natasha knew she didn't smoke. She wanted to ask about it, but she couldn't find the words with her so close.
“I have his book in my bag,” Yelena said slowly, pulling her hand away. “If you would want it.”
Natasha hesitated, before abandoning her drink on the counter and letting Yelena pull her by the wrist over to the couch. Her hand shot back to her side, and her face immediately fell as they rounded the corner to find Laura staring at them.
“How long have you been standing there,” Natasha choked.
“Longer than I think you would have liked,” Laura replied with an awkward, apologetic smile.
“I’m not- I don’t really-” like women is what she was going to say but the words caught in the back of her throat. Her eyes drifted to the floor, her hand against the side of her face as she very outwardly panicked. She was sure this was the most emotion she’d shown Laura since that day years ago when the woman had caught her vomiting after a nightmare.
“Nat, you don't need to explain.” Laura placed a hand on the side of Natasha’s arm. “Not to me. I don’t think of you differently, and I won't tell him, but neither would Clint. But you do need to talk to Bruce.”
Despite how desperately she wished she could slip into the warmth of Laura’s comfort, Natasha instinctively shifted away, lowering her gaze. There was a brief and awkward stillness that filled the air.
“I know I do.”
She sighed. “He thinks there's something there, and I just worry about how this might affect his composure.”
Natasha glanced at Yelena, who had yet to tear her eyes away from Natasha. Laura motioned her head toward Yelena, ushering her to go, and Natasha reluctantly obeyed, following Yelena to the couch.
They sat, Natasha’s back stiff against the arm of the couch as she faced Yelena. Yelena pulled a small book from her bag, passing it to Natasha before sliding her toes under the other woman.
“Your toes are so fucking cold,” Natasha seethed, gripping the book in her hands.
“Yes, that would be why I put them there,” Yelena smiled, pressing the side of her head into the back of the couch with a glint that Natasha had never seen before. “Read to me?”