i swear
Yelena digs out the set of handcuffs only moments after Natalia leaves for her session, cuffing her wrist to the bedframe and wiggling her way back under the warm covers to try and squeeze in some more sleep.
It takes a little bit but Yelena does eventually manage to fall asleep. She’s in the middle of a dream about Ohio when there’s a knocking on the door and Yelena hears Clint.
“Yelena! Yelena, hey, you’re needed!” Clint calls out, knocking frantically.
Yelena sits up, reaching over to the nightstand for the set of keys to her cuffs only to discover that they weren’t there.
“Yelena!” Clint knocks again. “Yelena, Nat put my handprint into the scanner for emergencies, don’t make me use it!”
“Just a second!” Yelena really doesn’t want to dislocate her thumb to pull it out of the handcuffs. She peers over the edge of the bed, searching for the keys.
She must take too long because the door slides open, Clint pauses in the doorway as whatever he was going to say trails off, and the two stare at each other.
“We will talk about this later,” Clint said, his tone suggesting that he would definitely not drop this. He approached Yelena, pulling a pin from somewhere on his person, and picked the lock easily before grabbing Yelena’s hand to pull her out of bed.
“I’m not dressed!” Yelena protests because wandering around the helicarrier in your pajamas was different at night than it was during the day.
That and she didn’t feel comfortable walking around in a tank top and sweatpants.
“Nat needs you,” Clint imposed urgently, tugging Yelena out of the room before she has a chance to grab a hoodie or shoes. “She’s screaming for you.”
Yelena picks up the pace, following Clint down the hallway quickly. “Screaming?” Natalia didn’t scream.
Yelena can hear Natalia in the hallway before they reach the room. Sure enough, “Yelena!” Is being screamed in a strangled cry and just hearing it makes Yelena pause.
She’s never seen her sister scream like that. Not since she was six and in Ohio and even then it was only the once.
“Yelena,” Clint urges, tugging on her hand. “Come on!”
Yelena stumbles slightly when he tugs, suddenly unable to work her legs correctly as the hallway seems to get longer when they move. She feels like it takes forever until they reach the door.
Clint slams the door open urgently. Yelena takes in the scene, her breath catching in her throat as she stares wide-eyed at the sight of Natalia squirming as hard as she could in the chair, screaming for her as she gasps for air.
Maria was trying to calm her down and she glances up at Yelena when she enters.
Yelena manages to pull away from Clint and moves forward. There’s only one word leaving Natalia’s lips and that’s Yelena’s name. No hints or clues about what set her off or what had happened.
Yelena doesn’t know whether to be herself or pretend to be a Madame.
“Natalia--” Yelena can see that Natalia’s eyes are firmly shut as she tries to fight off something only she can see. “Natalia!”
Yelena can barely hear herself over Natalia’s cries.
Yelena scrambles to think of something to calm her down before taking a few deep breaths and then lets out a whistle.
Natalia goes quiet instantly, her chest heaving for air as she listens.
Yelena whistles again and this time Natalia tries to whistle back but has trouble through her gasps for air.
“Yelena?” She questions again, her voice cracking as she asked much softer.
“I’m right here, Nattie,” Yelena replies quietly, using the nickname she gave Natalia in Ohio to get her attention. “Open your eyes and look at me.” Yelena steps forward, reaching her hand out and gently cupping Natalia’s face.
Natalia lets out a whistle first this time and Yelena finishes their whistle, undoing the forehead strap.
Yelena tries to smile at Natalia when their eyes finally meet but all Yelena can think about is Natalia’s screams for her. “Hi.”
Natalia moves to touch Yelena but she can’t with the straps holding her down. “I can’t move--” Natalia’s eyes flash with panic as they flicker down to look at the straps. “I can’t--”
Yelena whistled the two notes again. Find me.
Natalia takes a deep breath before whistling back. I’m here.
Yelena undoes the straps on Natalia’s left wrist and lets out a yelp when Natalia drags her into her lap with all her might, pulling her close. “I have to let your other wrist--” Yelena starts to protest but quiets down when Natalia pressed her face into her bare shoulder.
Clint starts to step forward but Yelena shakes her head at him, unsure of how Natalia would react to a male presence so close to her. Instead, Yelena glances at Maria, and the commander steps forward to free Natalia’s other wrist.
As soon as Natalia’s other wrist is freed, she wraps Yelena up in her arms, dragging her close as if she was trying to melt their bodies together. Yelena tries not to squirm unhappily at the uncomfortably desperate touch but her arms are pinned against her sides and she can’t move.
When Natalia’s legs are freed, she hauls Yelena up and strides across the room, which ends up into a stumble between the two sisters, until Natalia can press them into the corner.
“I’m safe.” Yelena comments because she instantly understands what Natalia is doing. “They’re not going to hurt me.”
Natalia shakes her head. “You’re only little.” She said, clinging to Yelena like someone would drag them apart. “You’re too little. Too young.”
“You’re at SHIELD, Nattie,” Yelena’s voice softens as she lowers it to a whisper. “We’re not in Cuba. Papa isn’t here. It’s you, me, Maria, and Clint.”
Natalia shakes her head. “They’re going to take you.”
Yelena peers around Natalia to glance at where Clint was guarding the door after Maria herded the doctors out. Her gaze shifts to Maria. “I won’t take her.” Yelena said, staring at Maria. “Say it.”
Maria stares at Yelena for a moment. “I don’t speak Russian.”
“I won’t take her.” Yelena repeats, slowing her words down to sound it out. “Say it.”
Yelena anxiously waits as Natalia grips her closer. Finally, Maria opens her mouth and attempts to mimic what Yelena said.
Yelena shakes her head. “I won’t take her.” She repeats once again.
“I won’t take her,” Maria recites in Russian. At Yelena’s encouraging nod, Maria repeats it. “I won’t take her.”
The combination of the words and the Russian finally takes Natalia’s focus off of Yelena as she pulls her head away from her sister’s shoulder to glance at the commander. “Swear it.”
Maria gazes at Yelena for a translation. “I won’t take her.” Yelena encouraged Maria to repeat. “I swear.”
Maria repeats the first part, listening to Yelena recite the new phrase before she echoes it. “I won’t take her. I swear.”
Natalia stares at Maria for a few moments before some of the tension loosens up. She still clutched Yelena close and Yelena was sure that if she had a weapon that she’d be brandishing it.
“We’re okay, Nattie. We’re gonna be okay,” Yelena murmurs, trying to let herself relax against Natalia because tensing up was only going to make Natalia think there was something wrong. “Do you know why? Because you brought me here. Because Clint said that we could get out and you wanted to do the best thing for me to keep me safe.”
“I couldn’t protect you before,” Natalia whispers brokenly, her gaze falling onto Yelena. “They took you from me.”
“We were children. It wasn’t your fault. I never blamed you,” Yelena insists, reaching up to wrap her arms around Natalia back. “We’re okay. Pinky swear.”
Natalia buries her face into Yelena’s hair and Yelena just lets Natalia hold her. If that’s what she needed at the moment then Yelena would stand there in Natalia’s possessive grip and be held.
Yelena doesn’t know how long they spend in the corner but Coulson eventually enters with styrofoam trays of food from the cafeteria. Natalia jerks at the new person, pushing Yelena tighter into the corner.
“I’ve brought you cheesy bread, Yelena,” Coulson smiles at the two sisters, holding up one of the trays. “It’s not even burnt this time. My question for you today is if you could be any animal in the world, what would you be?”
In exchange for cheesy bread on Tuesday’s, Yelena just has to answer a question from Coulson. Yelena takes a moment to think about it. “A firefly.”
Coulson laughs. “A firefly? I think you’d make a better puppy with all your excited energy.”
Yelena wrinkles her nose. As much as she loved dogs, she’d never be able to be one. “No. They have leashes and collars and things. I want to be a firefly because then I could fly away and nobody would squish me because they’d think I’m pretty. And it would never be dark, I’d always have a light.”
“That’s a great answer, Yelena,” Coulson smiles, passing Clint one of the trays balanced on his arm before he passed another to Maria.
Coulson then moves toward Yelena with the last tray and Natalia jerks, a warning hiss escaping her lips and Coulson pauses before nodding in acknowledgment that his presence wasn’t welcome. He instead crouches and sets the tray on the ground before sliding it over.
“Loosen up your grip, Nattie. I’m hungry,” Yelena’s not starving for food, she could go much longer without it. But her arms were starting to go numb from where Natalia was cutting off blood contact from how tightly she gripped her. “Come on. You have the first bite just like always.”
Natalia loosens her grip enough for Yelena to wiggle free and snatch the tray up. Natalia takes the first bite despite the fact Yelena knew she was not at all hungry.
Yelena eats half of the cheesy bread, leaning against Natalia. Maria and Clint eat their own lunches on their trays. Yelena then holds up the other half of the piece. “Eat.”
Natalia shoves Yelena’s hand away. “Not hungry. Not safe.”
Yelena tears off a piece and eats it slowly before tearing off another piece and holding it up to Natalia’s lips. “You need your energy, Nattie. Eat. Please?”
Natalia is still a coiled spring ready to snap and eyes the room warily before letting Yelena push the small piece of cheesy bread between her lips.
“You were yelling a lot earlier. Do you want a drink?” Yelena questioned once the food is gone, Natalia having managed a grand total of four bites.
Natalia won’t admit to needing anything, not at the moment. Yelena’s not particularly inclined to ask for anything either but she doesn’t have to because her statement makes Clint offer his strawberry milk from his tray.
Yelena takes the first sip this time before holding it up to Natalia. This time, the redhead doesn’t hesitate to reach out and grip the carton before taking a few long swallows.
Yelena lets out a hum of content, leaning against her as the others avert their eyes to give Natalia some semblance of privacy as she drinks.
They end up squished in the corner for so long that Coulson has to bring them dinner. Each time Maria brought up the option of leaving the corner, Natalia would shut her down.
Eventually, Natalia and Yelena move to settle on the floor, Yelena squished between the wall and Natalia as her sister tries to protect her from everything still.
Yelena gets cold in just her tank top and the faded red mark around her wrist from her handcuffs earlier reminds her of the uncomfortable conversation that Clint would force her to have later on.
As far as he knew, only Yelena did it. Yelena would come up with something to tell him later on that wouldn’t make him snitch to the commander about what Yelena was doing.
Bobbi knew that Yelena did it to herself but she hadn’t snitched yet.
Yelena eventually squirms uncomfortably and peers up at Natalia. “I know it’s safe in the corner but I have to pee, Nattie.”
Natalia looks down at her, her eyes scanning for some clue that Yelena was lying. When she sees that Yelena does indeed have to go to the bathroom, she looks up at where Maria, Coulson, and Clint were waiting.
“There’s a bathroom just down the hall close to my office. You can go to my office after if you wish. It’s safe there,” Maria pipes up when she notices Natalia’s gaze. "I'm not the Red Room, Natalia." She reminds her as the two stare at each other for a few moments.
Yelena’s surprised that Natalia seems to give in easily and accepts Maria’s office. Natalia stands right outside the stall as Yelena uses the bathroom and pulls Yelena close on the couch when they enter Maria’s office.
That’s where they end up spending the night, Maria eventually digging a blanket out of the bottom drawer of her desk.
Yelena barely remembers anything past Maria draping the blanket over the two of them before she falls asleep, wrapped up in her sister’s protective embrace.