guardian
Yelena had honestly expected to be cuffed and shoved into a deep dark hole never to see the light of day again.
Instead, Maria sits with her in the back of the van and takes her right back to the medical wing in SHIELD.
They make Yelena strip down to her underwear and poke and prod at the deep bruising and marks on her torso and limbs. Yelena feels horribly exposed and vulnerable but she endures it because any little mistake could make them stop and still throw her away.
Maria’s the one that drapes a blanket around her shoulders when she shivers and snaps at the doctors to do something productive.
Yelena is quiet, watching the people around her move. She lets them do what they have to, even if it’s uncomfortable.
Maria’s there the whole time. She’s hovering over Yelena’s shoulder and she keeps setting a hand onto Yelena’s upper back each time Yelena leans away from one of the doctors on accident. Maria’s still the Ria that Alyssa remembers but Yelena wasn’t Alyssa.
Yelena is then given a shirt that was meant for adults and hangs down to her knees before she’s escorted from the room.
Maria stops right outside of Fury’s office, turns toward Yelena, and crouches in front of her. “Look at me.”
Yelena does.
“No matter what happens, I will help you, okay?” Maria reaches out and Yelena does her best to not to flinch.
“Why?” Yelena whispers when Maria sets her hand onto her hair like she did when Yelena was Alyssa.
“Because I said I would,” Maria stands, her hand briefly ruffling Yelena’s hair before she knocks on the door.
Apparently, Fury hadn’t realized that Maria had gone to get Yelena. Yelena tries her best not to cower as Fury screams at Maria until he’s red in the face.
Maria doesn’t mind when Yelena shies behind her, in fact she encourages it, one hand settled on Yelena’s back as Yelena pressed against Maria’s hip.
Yelena stares down at her bare feet and waits, not really paying attention to the conversation. It’s not like she could change their minds once a decision was made.
She does let out a small squeal when Maria suddenly scoops her up. Maria’s held Alyssa a few times, mainly when she had to get somewhere quickly and Alyssa’s little legs weren’t enough to keep up with her long strides. This time she holds Yelena despite knowing what she’s done. Fury is staring at them, unimpressed and exasperated.
“Fine.” Fury suddenly barks and Yelena jumps slightly. “But one toe out of line and that is it.”
Maria salutes Fury with the hand she’s not holding Yelena with before she marches out of the office without dismissal so Fury couldn’t change his mind.
Yelena doesn’t know what they just agreed to but she doesn’t think Maria would be this kind if she was carting her off to jail.
Maria’s bunk is pretty big. There’s a tiny bathroom connected to it and Yelena thinks the beds are a little bigger than normal.
“I’ll get a cot set up in here for you. For now, you’ll sleep on my bed. I’ll send someone to get you some clothes and I’ll need to get you some--” Maria was rambling off, making lists like she always did. Yelena watches, slightly overwhelmed.
“Ria?” She questioned before quickly correcting her mistake. “Maria?”
Maria paused, looking down at Yelena. “Yes?”
Yelena shifts in place. She hadn’t meant to interrupt. Maria sets down the tablet she had been tapping on frantically, approaching Yelena and crouching down in front of her. Yelena doesn’t like the reminder of her height but also appreciates that Maria and her can look at each other face to face instead of her towering over Yelena.
At Yelena’s silence, Maria guesses the issues. “Are you in pain?” Maria reaches toward the ribs that the doctors had taped up. Fractured but not dangerous. “Hungry?”
“Am I staying with you?” Yelena asks but that’s not what she wanted to ask. She wanted to ask when they were hauling her off to jail for murder and espionage.
Maria then proceeds to explain to Yelena what it means to be a ward.
Apparently, Yelena is Maria’s.
Yelena probably should have paid attention to the conversation.
Yelena trails after Maria everywhere. If Maria has to have private meetings then she’ll sit just outside the door. Reappearing after moonlighting as Alyssa Daniel confused a lot of the agents and Yelena feared retribution so she stayed near Maria.
Maria does a lot for Yelena. She saw that Yelena slept with handcuffs so she worked to help her get rid o that habit. She found out that yelling upset Yelena so she got noise-canceling headphones. She got clothes and a bed for Yelena. She’ll stop working to take Yelena to the cafeteria or get food delivered.
She also gives Yelena kind touches. She never stops ruffling her hair or pulling Yelena up into her lap during long meetings.
Yelena keeps waiting for the other shoe to drop. Yelena is on her best behavior. She tries to help up and keeps herself and her space tidy. She doesn’t cry, she doesn’t act out, she doesn’t hurt anybody. She figures that if she’s good then Maria will want to keep her around.
The first time she does screw up, she was with Phil Coulson, Maria’s friend. She had been inspecting a Captain America figure on his shelf and couldn’t help but reach out to touch it because it reminded her of the Red Guardian, her dad.
The figure fell and broke and Yelena had been terrified. Coulson told her that accidents happen and he was glad that nobody was hurt. Still, Yelena thinks that Maria would be upset with her.
She’s not. She simply tells Yelena to ask next time she wants to touch something that’s not hers and Yelena waits to be punished for messing up.
Maria reaches out to ruffle her hair and Yelena flinches so hard that she stumbled backward.
“I’m not going to hit you,” Maria says calmly and she makes them sit down and talk about feelings. Yelena hates it because she’s not good at identifying her own feelings.
Maria says that it’s okay to cry. Crying wasn’t allowed in the Red Room. But Maria says it’s okay if she wants to.
Yelena doesn’t. She thinks she might have forgotten how to.