sneaky
Yelena can’t sleep that night. She keeps thinking about her big sister alone in the holding cell and it makes her toss and turn.
Finally, Yelena sits up, reaching out and grabbing the bunny that Clint had given her. She slides out of bed and stares at her sleeping mama. Maria was exhausted and dead asleep.
Yelena approaches her small box of things and pulls out one of the coloring books Coulson had given her along with a colored pencil. She tears a page out carefully and makes a note to Maria just like Maria would leave notes for her. Yelena leaves the note on her bed and with her bunny tucked under her arm, slips out into the empty hallway.
Yelena brushes her fingers along the wall as she walks, counting doors until she gets to the stairwell. She slowly walks down until she reaches the right level and then continues on.
She honestly expected more guards to be outside of her the holding cells but instead, the hallway was empty. Yelena glances up at the security cameras that were sure to have spotted her now if anyone was actually paying attention.
Yelena peeks into each holding cell until she reaches the one with her sister.
Natasha wasn’t sleeping either, sitting on the bed with her knees to her chest, boredly drumming her fingers against her knee. It was not until Yelena spoke did her head jerk up.
“Nattie,” Yelena says softly and Natasha’s attention is on her in an instant.
“Yelena. What are you doing here?” Natasha demands, approaching the glass wall that kept them apart.
Yelena shrugs. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you.” She replies honestly. “Are you okay?”
“You shouldn’t be here,” Natasha said sternly and Yelena swallows down her hurt at the comment. She must not do a good job hiding it on her face because Natasha’s face softens. “I don’t want them to think that I’m using you.”
“But you’re not,” Yelena protests. “I came here all on my own.”
Natasha lets out a long sigh, reaching up to rest a hand onto the glass. Yelena reaches up to press her hand over Natasha’s. “Do they make you fight here?”
“No. Here is way better than the Red Room,” Yelena said earnestly, perking up slightly. “I like it here a lot.”
Natasha frowns slightly. “Talk me through how you got here.”
“I was sent on a mission to be the daughter of John Daniel. I don’t know his real name but he was an undercover agent here,” Yelena starts, leaning forward to press her forehead against the glass. Natasha doesn’t hesitate to do the same on her side. “I went as Alyssa Daniel and I collected information. Maria, my mama, saw the marks on me and thought John was hurting me so she gave me her number. I completed my mission but it ended with the death of one agent, my cover broken, and ultimately the files ruined.”
“They should have killed you for that,” Natasha breathes out quietly. “What did they do?”
Yelena pulls away from the glass, gripping the bottom of her pajama shirt and pulling it up to show off the scar on her side. Natasha’s eyes grow dark at the sight of it.
“That still doesn’t explain how you got here,” Natasha reminds Yelena carefully. “Put your shirt down.”
Yelena does, stepping toward the glass again. “Maria promised me help when I was Alyssa should I ever call her. I thought time and time again about calling her. I did when I was ten. I slipped away from my mission long enough to use the payphone and Maria came and got me.”
“And she just adopted you? You committed treason and she just decided to pick you to be her daughter?” Natasha scoffs in disbelief. “They wanted a child soldier. The best child assassin there is. The White Widow.”
Yelena flinches slightly at the name that she had left behind in the Red Room and Natasha’s face softens once again. “It’s not like that.” Yelena protests quietly in English.
“Okay,” Natasha also replies in English. “Explain it then.”
“Maria kept her word. She got me out and she got me help. She stopped me from going to jail. She doesn’t even like it when I fight. She hugs me and she holds me and she loves me,” Yelena squeezed the bunny in her arms closer. “I called her mama first. She didn’t make me do anything.”
“And if you had to choose between her and me?” Natasha questioned in Russian. Yelena stares at her in surprise. “Who would you choose?”
Yelena doesn’t want to choose. That’s not a fair choice. She focuses on the soft fur under her fingers as she rubs the bunny’s ear between her thumb and pointer finger. “I don’t know.” She finally admits quietly. “I’m sorry, Nattie.”
“You really love her then,” Natasha said quietly and Yelena swallows hard as she nods. “I see.”
“You shouldn’t be here,” A voice causes Yelena to jump, spinning to look at May approaching them.
“How’d you know?” Yelena questioned as May finally reaches her.
“I had a hunch,” May deadpans, reaching out toward her. “Come on. Your mom won’t be happy that you’re here.”
Yelena glances at Natasha. “Wait!”
May paused in her tracks and Yelena holds up the bunny. “I wanna give this to her for right now.”
Natasha was quiet, backing away from the glass as May approached until she was sitting back on the bed.
“Yelena…” May sighs out and Yelena gives her the pout that always makes Coulson and Clint cave.
“Please?” She asked. “It’s not dangerous!”
May lets out an exasperated sigh but reaches out to take the stuffed bunny. “Back up against the wall. Both of you.”
Yelena backs up and presses her back against the wall on the opposite side of the holding cell. Natasha does the same. May unlocks the door and cracks it open just wide enough to toss the bunny into the room before relocking the door.
May turns toward Yelena. “Happy?” Upon Yelena’s nod, she reaches out. “Come on the. Bed.”
Yelena reaches out to take her hand, letting May lead her back down the hallway. She peers behind her, watching Natasha slowly approach the bunny and kneel down, picking it up and slowly bringing it up to her nose to inhale the scent on it.
May makes sure that Yelena actually goes back to her bunk. She stops her right before she reaches up to press her hand against the handprint scanner to let her in.
“Look at me,” May said, crouching down in front of Yelena. Yelena paused in surprise, turning to look at May. “You can’t do that again.”
“Why not?” Yelena folds her arms, closing off.
“There are a lot of reasons. But if you keep wandering off then you’re gonna drive your mom crazy. Tensions are high and you disappearing from your bed in the middle of the night isn’t going to help. If you want to see your sister then you ask and you will have supervision,” May reaches out, gripping Yelena’s shoulder. “Do you understand?”
Yelena doesn’t like it at all but she does understand. She nods her head.
“Verbal reply, Yelena. Do you understand why you can’t do that?” May repeats her question.
“Yes. I understand,” Yelena said aloud and May straightens up. “I’m sorry.”
“I know,” May sets her hand onto Yelena’s head. “Go back to bed.”
“Goodnight, May,” Yelena tells her, reaching up to press her hand against the scanner. She slips inside the room, closing the door behind her softly.
Maria was still deep asleep, blissfully unaware that Yelena had ever left. Yelena grabs her note, scrunching it up and shoving it into the drawer with her headphones.
She then approached the bed and crawled in with Maria. Maria opens one eye at the movement, used to Yelena crawling into bed with her, before reaching out and draping an arm over Yelena’s body, tugging her closer and drifting back to sleep.
Yelena feels a little better after her talk with her big sister and the reassurance that Natasha had something that comforted her and hoped that it comforted her too all along in the empty cell.
Yelena finally appeals to Clint when Maria keeps pushing off her going to meet with Natasha.
“You’re my big brother Clint, you’re supposed to let me do things when mama won’t let me,” Yelena tells him, making sure to let a little whine creep into her tone. “I just wanna eat dinner with my big sister. Mama’s too busy to eat with me anyway.”
Clint lets out a sigh. “I’m already in hot water with Maria. I dunno.”
“I haven’t seen her in five years!” Yelena points out, letting tears spring to her eyes. “Please, Clint!”
At the sight of the tears in her eyes, Clint folds. “Okay. Okay, but don’t snitch on me.”
Yelena perks up, throwing her arms around his waist. “Thank you! You’re the best big brother ever!”
Clint lets out a fond sigh, his chest puffed up in pride at her words. “Alright. Let’s go pick up food from the cafeteria.”
Yelena watches them serve the food and carries both trays herself. They approach the holding cell where Natasha is still sitting on the bed, this time the bunny wrapped up tight in her arms and her nose pressed against the fabric. Her head pokes up when she hears footsteps approaching, glaring at whoever dared to interrupt her but her face immediately softens when she sees Yelena.
“Visitor.” Clint tells her. “I say we have an hour or two before Maria comes to drag Yelena back.” Clint enters his ID number into the keypad by the door.
Yelena moves forward into the cell and Natasha sets the bunny down. Yelena holds out one of the trays to her.
Natasha reaches out and takes it hesitantly. “What are you doing?” She questioned Yelena. “You’re going to get into trouble.”
“Maria won’t do anything but lecture me. She’s never hit me before,” Yelena promised, taking a seat next to Natasha on the bed. Natasha glances at Clint warily, wrapping an arm around Yelena’s shoulders. “I wanna eat with you. I watched them serve the food, I promise.”
“Thank you, little one,” Natasha said softly, running her hand over Yelena’s hair.
Yelena smiles up at her, glancing over at where Clint was watching them closely. Clint had a small smile on his face, happy that Yelena was happy.
And Yelena was happy.