Chapter 4
"Hello" Kate beamed as Yelena answered the door. It had been a while since they were in touch. Yelena looked pale, her tiredness was masked by her ever enthusiastic smile. Only someone who had spent a lot of time with her could make out that this smile was fake. The ever energetic, positive Yelena seemed different. In a worrisome way.
"Kate Bishop" Even after years (technically only 1 year) of friendship, Yelena still referred to her by her full name and even after years (again year) of hearing it, it still managed to annoy Kate.
"To what do I owe this pleasure?" The act of being normal which Yelena was putting forward was dropping as Kate saw her smile falter. She hesitated before answering, "I had a mission. I wanted to spend time with you so I checked in afterwards but your New York apartment was empty. I thought you'd be here so.." Kate let out, watching Yelena with concern. The former spy seemed to notice her suspicions as she smiled brighter letting her in the Ohio house.
"I know I leave a mark on people. But following me here, that's impressive." Yelena smirked.
Kate would have come up with a snarky response of her own but she was busy staring at the blonde's condition. Her usual badass dressing was replaced by sweatpants and a t-shirt, her hair woven in a messy braid which would have been normal if it wasn't for the nauseated face.
"Are you alright Yelena?" She asked with concern.
Yelena thought for a while. Kate could see the conflict in her head. Opening up to Yelena wasn't particularly hard for her but Yelena took her sweet time, which Kate didn't mind of course. But sometimes it worried her.
Why was it always up to Yelena to be the stronger one? Why couldn't Kate let her feel safe and comforted in turn?
"No, Yelena settled. "They just killed Sirius Black and I am devastated." There it was the classic Yelena Kate met, befriended and yet hated at times. Times like these when she would pretend to be alright even though something would eat her up in the inside.
Yelena gave her a smirk. Kate looked at her dead serious. She was about to move ahead to the stage of 'confrontation' when a voice emerged from the back. Kate looked at the sound alarmingly while Yelena moved forward with caution. They came to halt at the kitchen when they discovered it was just Melina using the back gate instead.
"Kate, hello!" Kate had met Melina twice before. Her understanding of the lady was that-
She was intimidating
She was funny
She was dangerous
She was a mom.
Kate smiled. "Hello Ms. Vostokoff."
"Oh, we are past the formalities. You can just call me Melina." She responded. In their little tete-a-tete, Yelena had managed to sneak past Kate's side over to the grocery bags Melina had brought with her. She ripped open a granula bar and devoured it like she hadn't eaten a thing in days. Knowing her, it was a plausible idea.
"Yelena, your chore of cleaning the pigpen has still not been done. Go please." Melina commented in her typical dissappointed tone. Yelena got up without any debate and headed straight for the pigpen. Kate added the act to her number of list of why Yelena clearly wasn't alright.
Melina went about her task of putting away the groceries at their respected places.
"Ms. Vostokoff- Melina, she corrected herself, "I don't think Yelena is in good form." She reported with concern.
She could read it on Melina's face that the woman knew about it to. She stopped her task to look at Kate with pained eyes. "I know. She just came back from a mission yesterday. Clearly something is wrong but I can't get her to talk about it. Seen it in other ways though. She stress eats a lot. Mainly junk. Clearly been doing that a lot."
Kate nodded. She was familiar with Yelena's ways of keeping her grounded.
"I've really got two very colliding coping mechanisms. Yelena would keep herself in tact eating a lot. And Natasha wouldn't eat a bit of anything, really. First year in Ohio and I couldn't bring her to take a bite of anything." Melina recollected with sadness.
"You got two very traumatized kids."
"I am the reason they are traumatized in the first place."
Melina replied with guilt gripping her voice. Kate had no answer to that. She just stood by, the silence getting heavy.
"Where's Alexei?" Kate finally spoke.
"He got a job nearby. Works as a P.T teacher now." Melina smiled.
"Nice" Kate remarked.
Yelena entered the room again her granula bar now finished.
"Cleared it." She said before reaching for the cereal. Melina shook her head but did not object.
"Kate Bishop, you probably would be staying here. You should take up my room. I'll manage myself on the couch." In Kate's previous visits, she never extended her stay past a few hours. So, sleeping here would be an unusual experience. She wanted to contradict but realized it was dark out there and she couldn't possibly convince three Russians out of their insistence.
"I can sleep on the couch instead. I don't have a problem." Kate settled for.
"There's another room here as well." Melina pointed out earning a frown from the blonde. Yelena approached Melina in a threatening way. Kate gave them space, Melina doesn't even flinch.
"And that room does not belong to you. This house you speak praises of, my sister bought it back." She declared in a harsh voice. Kate tensed up and formed a lump in her throat. She had known Yelena for a while and never has she appeared more deadly.
"And your sister meant something to me as well" Melina responded without taking her eyes off her youngest's.
"Oh! We are done with this crap. We don't mean anything to you. Not me. Not Natasha. Not when you gave us up. Not now, when you pretend like we are all just a happy family." She spoke resorting to her mother tongue, Russian. Kate didn't get the exchange but stepped in when she saw Yelena move forward dangerously close to Melina. Kate placed a hand on Yelena's shoulder to calm her down. The blonde finally cut her eye contact with her mother to look at Kate with disgust. She shook Kate's arm off of her and stormed out the door.
Melina clutched the kitchen table for balance.
Kate wanted to comfort the woman who appeared so vulnerable right now but her main focus was a friend who was in dire need of help whether she admitted it or not.
She followed Yelena, quickening her pace to match with the blonde.
"Yelena..YELENA" She shouted gaining the other woman's attention. Yelena stopped in her tracks to look at her with a neutral face.
"What the hell was that?" Kate demanded as she finally stood in front of Yelena.
"Nothing you need to be concerned for. None of your business so you should probably stay out of this." Yelena explained, clearly exasperated.
"I am your friend. I need to know if something is wrong. This is not you. Yelena, if I don't know what is happening I can't help you."
"I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP." Yelena shouted at the top of her lungs. Kate stood by in silence, processing the whole scenario. Yelena stared for a while before processing her actions. She shook her head.
Yelena took in deep breaths to calm herself and looked at Kate with regretful eyes," I am sorry, I didn't mean that-"
Kate now saw the tears emerging her friend's eyes.
"It's okay Yelena. I just want you to be okay."
Yelena took a few more deep breaths before finally looking at Kate.
"You don't want to be with me. You don't know who I am. Okay? Just leave. It's for your own good."
"Yelena I-" Before she could finish Yelena had made her way out of her sight.