Yelena eyes Natasha warily as she sits on the small bench just outside the skating rink, the red heads hands making quick work of tying the laces of her skates into two perfect loops.
As a treat, they'd come for the afternoon out at the ice skating rink. She was nervous, but she was also pretty excited too. Especially because she'd never been before.
Natasha looks up at her suddenly, and she tries not to flinch at the suddenness of the action.
"You ready?" The woman asks as she rises to her feet and holds out her hand. Yelena hesitates, but when she realises she wouldn't be able to stand up on her own without falling, she knows she has no choice but to take it.
The hold was loose, tentatively so, and Natasha gives the tiny limb a soft squeeze as she pulls the nervous five year old to her feet. Everything was still so new to Yelena. Physical touch especially. One would think that a child denied of comfort for as long as Yelena had would take all they could get and more. But she didn't, and whilst Natasha didn't know why, she knew she wouldn't ever ask or push.
She gave contact when it was wanted, and although it wasn't much nor often, each time Yelena let herself be soothed was something she'd cherish.
Natasha steps onto the ice first, turning to face Yelena and holding out her other hand for her to take. The child appears to hesitate for a moment before softly grabbing it, and keeping most of Yelena's weight supported in her arms, Natasha helps her step onto the ice.
Almost immediately she loses her footing, and the terrified cry of fear that escapes from her lips doesn't go amiss. Natasha was quick to catch her before she could face plant.
"It's okay. I've got you," she reassures as she lifts Yelena upright again, shifting one of her hands to rest against her armpits to better support her whilst she gets her bearings.
Yelena bites her bottom lip and nods, her grip around Natasha's hand subconsciously tightening.
"You okay?" The red head asks, delicately trailing the pad of her thumb over the back of Yelena's trembling hand.
The five year old nods tersely telling Natasha that she most definitely wasn't, but she decides not to push.
"Okay detka," Natasha murmurs as she brings her other hand down to take hold of Yelena's again, "I'm going to move backwards, slowly, and I just need you to hold on tight, okay?"
Yelena glances up at her and nods. With another small squeeze of the hand, Natasha begins to move backwards. She was slow, cautious, whispering quiet reassurances to Yelena who was attempting to skate along with her. Soon, she seems to pick up on the motions, her tiny feet lifting from the ice one at a time to help glide her along.
"Good girl," Natasha praises with a small grin, and Yelena glances up at her, cheeks flushed red in embarrassment, but a tiny smile on her face all the same.
"You want to try it with one hand and skate next to me?" Natasha asks as she slowly brings them to a stop.
Yelena looks down at her feet for a moment before nodding her head and dropping one of her hands from Natasha's own. The red head comes to stand next to her, making sure her grip around Yelena was secure to silently reassure the girl Natasha wouldn't let her fall.
Yelena was obviously unsure as Natasha begins to skate forward again, her tiny legs shaky as she tries to keep her balance on the slippery surface.
"You're okay sweet girl, I won't let you fall." Natasha reassures, and Yelena's grasp around her hand tightens significantly as she just barely nods her head.
"There we go. One foot, and then the other. Good girl, just like that." Natasha grins.
She continues with the soft praises and reassurance and soon enough they'd done a whole lap around the rink with Yelena only slipping twice.
"See, that wasn't so bad huh?" Natasha crouches down and gently ticks a loose strand of hair behind Yelena's ear. The girl had let Natasha do her hair today, and she pulled it back into a loose dutch braid with a small pink bow to contain the fly aways.
Yelena, bottom lip trapped between her teeth, shakes her head softly.
Natasha smiles, "Would you like to try it on your own? Or do you want to do another lap together?"
The five year old eyes the ice in front of her before dropping Natasha's hand.
"Such a brave girl." Natasha praises again. "I'll be right behind you okay? Just in case you need me." Natasha tells her as she rises to her feet, and Yelena looks up at her briefly before she nods her head and begins to cautiously move forward.
She was noticeably unsteady at first, tiny arms held out in front of her to keep her balance, but the further she skates, she more confident she gets.
Natasha couldn't help but smile softly as she watches the girl become one with the ice, her speed progressing and her confidence growing. She almost wants to capture this moment and keep it forever, because not once had Yelena ever seemed this at ease.
She was skating at nearly normal speed now, and Natasha speeds up to keep pace with her.
All was going great and she beams with pride when Yelena finishes the first lap and starts her second.
However, disaster strikes just moments later when Yelena appears to slip on a deep indent in the ice, her tiny body being thrown forward due to the speed she was going. Natasha makes it over to her in seconds, immediately falling to her knees and placing her hand on Yelena's back.
"Yelena?"
The child was frozen for what felt like an eternity before reality seems to hit and she lets out a loud, choked sob.
"Oh baby, it's okay," Natasha coos as she eases Yelena up into a sitting position, "What hurts my love? Can you tell me?"
Yelena let's out another sob as she holds her arm out for Natasha to see, but the woman couldn't see what possible damage laid underneath due to the thick coat she'd bundled her in before they'd left.
"Let's go sit down on the bench okay? I can't see with your coat still on." Natasha tells her as she eases herself to her feet and scoops Yelena up onto hers as well.
But before she could move, Yelena falls against her leg with a body shuddering cry. Natasha doesn't hesitate to scoop her up onto her hip, her hand resting on the back of her head to keep her steady as she skates over to the exit.
Yelena had only let Natasha hold her once like this since she'd gotten here, and that was after a particular traumatising nightmare. This was the first time in nearly two months that she'd let herself be held, and despite how sad the circumstances were, Natasha was glad the girl knew she could come to her for comfort when she needed it.
"Okay sweet girl, let's take a look at your boo boo, mhh?" Natasha murmurs as she sits down with Yelena straddling her lap, nimble fingers coming forward to begin unbuttoning her coat.
Yelena nods with another choked sob and allows Natasha to slide it off. They start with her good arm first, and she cries out slightly when Natasha attempts to do the same with her sore arm. The red her lets out a quiet apology as she sets the coat aside, her hands gently taking the sleeve of Yelena's shirt in her grasp and cautiously tugging it up.
Despite her gentleness however, Yelena still flinches in pain.
The second Natasha catches the sight of her arm, she knows that this injury wasn't at all like the minor thing she'd thought it to be. Yelena's wrist was twice the size it should be, some light bruising already settling around it, and she furrows her eyebrows in concern.
"Okay baby, it like a trip to the hospital is on our agenda today." She states regretfully, and Yelena falls against her chest with a defeated sob. However surprised she was at the contact, Natasha doesn't show it and instead wraps a protective arm around Yelena's tiny frame.
"I know baby, I know it sucks. But if we leave your boo boo to get worse, it's going to hurt even more than it already does and I'm sure you don't want that." She explains as she trails her hand up and down Yelena's back.
Yelena doesn't respond to her, so Natasha decides to get to work on removing their skates. She slips her own feet into her boots, but not wanting to jostle Yelena when she appears to be in so much pain, she simply slips the child's tiny sneakers into her purse before standing up and scooping her up into her arms.
"It's okay baby, I know it hurts. You're being such an brave girl." She coos as she grabs Yelena's coat before walking out of the rink towards her car.
Yelena's good hand clings to the neckline of her shirt, her tears now silent if the slight wetness of her neck was anything to go by. It breaks Natasha's heart, but she powers through and soon makes it to her car.
She unlocks it and pulls open the back door, easing Yelena down into her car seat.
"Owww." Yelena cries as Natasha attempts to slide her arms through the straps of the five point harness.
"Okay, okay, no straps. Well use the big girl seat belt instead." Natasha murmurs as she grasps the car seatbelt and buckles Yelena in. She folds her coat and places it over Yelena's legs, allowing the injured arm to rest on it before leaning forward to place a soft kiss to her forehead.
"You're such a good girl. You'll feel better soon, I promise."
Yelena nods with a tiny sniffle, and Natasha gives her little leg a squeeze before closing the door and climbing into the drivers side.
She starts the car with ease, Yelena's favourite song, bye bye American pie escaping the speakers. She turns it up a little in hopes it would help as she pulls out of her space and begins her journey to the hospital.
Yelena remains dead silent throughout the entirety of the drive, and Natasha tries not to let that bother her too much as they finally pull up outside of urgent care. She was out the car in seconds, rounding the car to Yelena's side and pulling open the door.
"Hi sweet girl. We're here." Natasha greets as she unbuckles Yelena and carefully scoops her up onto her hip. The child was holding her arm to her chest, and Natasha gives her a small soothing bounce as she locks the car and heads through to the entrance.
She was given a form to fill out, and despite the fact she wanted to yell at the nurse and tell them her child needed to be seen now, she knew that wasn't how it worked. So for the sake of keeping the peace, she sits down on one of the chairs with Yelena sat on her lap.
"Hurts." Yelena whimpers, and Natasha nods her head as she begins filling out the necessary information.
"I know my love. I'm sorry." Natasha murmurs, and Yelena nods with a small sniffle.
She was soon done, and after handing it back to the nurse, Natasha takes her place, once again, on the uncomfortable chair.
"I have some medicine. Would you like to take that and see if it helps?" Natasha asks as she presses a kiss to Yelena's wet cheek.
The child nods, and Natasha knew she must really be in pain because without fail, Yelena had always turned her face at having to take any kind of medicine no matter how sick she was feeling.
She grabs the small bottle of children's medicine from her purse along with a small syringe, filling it up to the full amount she knew Yelena could have.
Yelena's mouth opens as she holds it to her lips, and she pushes it in with yet another soft good girl.
"There we go. Let's see if that helps shall we." She speaks rhetorically as she puts the lid back on the medicine and puts it away. She then, not knowing if it would even help, scoots back into her chair so she was more or less slouched and cradles Yelena against her chest.
The little ones eyes close almost immediately, and she presses another soft kiss to the top of her head.
"Good girl."
Yelena falls asleep against her for the first hour, but soon awakens with a jolt of pain and a small cry. Natasha was immediately on high alert as she sits them both up, running a gentle hand through the child's hair.
"Shh shh, you're okay. I've got you." She murmurs, but Yelena simply lets out a quiet sob.
Before she could go to sooth her, Yelena's name was called, and she finds herself letting out a quiet sigh of relief as she stands with Yelena still cradled in her arms.
"Are you mom?" The nurse asks as she guides them through to a closed off area tucked away by a curtain.
Natsha nods, because even though Yelena doesn't call her mom, it was what it says on her birth certificate.
"Okay, and this must be Yelena?"
Natasha nods again as she sits down on the small hospital bed with Yelena still on her lap. She had gone to set her down by herself, but with the tight grip the child had around her shirt, she didn't even want to attempt it in fear it would upset her further.
"My names nurse Hill. Can I ask what happened?"
"We were ice skating, and there was an indent in the ice she slipped over. She caught herself with her arm." Natasha explains.
Nurse Hill nods, "Can I take a look?" She sits down on the hospital bed next to them in order to be eye level with Yelena.
Natasha looks down at Yelena and see's her looking warily at the stranger in front of her, her arm still clutched to her chest.
"She's gonna make you feel better sweet girl. Can you let her look?" She pleads, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
Yelena hesitates but finally holds her arm out for nurse Hill to see. Natasha immediately praises her.
Natasha could tell by the look on her face alone that she doesn't even have to touch it to immediately know something was wrong.
"I'm going to send her up for an X-ray." She tells Natasha, and the red head nods. "It's upstairs, first hallway to the left. I'll let them know you're coming."
Natasha nods again as she stands up with their things, Yelena now settled on her hip with her face hidden in her neck.
*
The X-ray process was the worst part. Despite Natasha being able to go through with her, Yelena doesn't at all settle. She cries, she squirms, she does everything to get away. Natasha was forced by the instructions of the X-ray technician to gently hold the child down, because if they couldn't get a clear picture of Yelena's arm due to her squirming, they'd have to go through the entire process again.
"Mama no," Yelena suddenly cries out, "let me go!"
Natasha all but balks, but was quick to place a mask over her face to avoid bursting into tears. As much as she loved hearing Yelena call her that, she hated the fact that Yelena was in enough pain for it to slip from her lips in the first place.
"Nearly done baby. Be a good girl for mama. We're almost done." She soothes, but Yelena simply cries.
They were done just a few minutes later, and Natasha thanks all the heavens above as she scoops the sobbing child up into her arms and goes to wait back in the room nurse Hill had brought them into.
"Mama bad." Yelena sobs as she clutches at Natasha's shirt, and the red head nods as she sits herself down with the child on her lap.
"I know sweet girl. Mama's sorry for upsetting you." Natasha apologises as she lightly sways the sobbing thing on her lap. "We're gonna go home soon, and we can snuggle up in bed with some ice cream and a movie. Does that sound good?"
"The big bed?" Yelena pleads as she looks up at her.
Natasha nods as she uses the pad of her thumb to wipe away the tears, "Yes baby. In the big bed."
The big bed was Natasha's bed, and although Natasha didn't let her often, she loved sleeping with her in it because of the tv up on the wall opposite. Yelena didn't have a tv in her room, a choice Natasha had made so the child would get a good nights sleep every night. With how much Yelena loved watching tv, the red head was sure she'd stay up all night if she could.
"Kay." Yelena whispers, and Natasha gives her a small, soothing squeeze.
*
Like suspected, Yelena's arm was broken. There was a small crack in both her radius and ulna, and although Yelena got to pick the colour of the cast, she still wasn't happy with having it applied to her arm.
Natasha holds her, and with the reminder of being able to sleep in the big bed tonight, she begrudgingly allows the lady to fix her up. She was given a sticker, an Elsa one with the words good job written on it, and she beams at it as she shows Natasha.
"Look mama! Elsa!"
Natasha grins proudly, "I see sweet girl. It says good job on it." She tells the child as she slips her little feet onto her sneakers, tying them with ease.
Yelena grins, "Big bed still?" She asks when Natasha lifts her from the bed and onto her hip.
"Well of course. If Elsa thinks you did good job then you really do deserve to sleep in the big bed. Don't you think so?" Natasha picks up her purse and Yelena's coat with her free hand.
"Yes mama, yes!"
Despite the events of today, Natasha was glad at least one good thing came out of it.
She was Yelena's mama.