A person, a woman, a human
Robin’s still writing reports in her office when her door opens and Melina slips in.
Robin focuses on her paper, giving Melina a signal to give her a moment so she can finish up her thoughts.
When she finishes with the statement, she looks up at Melina, her mouth opened to ask if there was a problem with Natasha.
Her lips are met in a bruising kiss as Melina pushes her back into the chair and straddles her lap. The whole action takes Robin by surprise. Melina is tugging at her clothes and rolling her hips against Robin’s.
While the kiss feels nice, Robin hadn’t been touched like this in years and something was wrong. Melina is caressing her and touching her in all the right places but it’s rushed and fast and Robin doesn’t really think that Melina wants this.
“Melina, what are you-- no...” Robin pushes away the hand that Melina tries to shove under Robin’s shirt.
“Let me take care of you,” Melina’s voice is husky and she looks up at Robin with half-lidded eyes as she tries to push her hand under Robin’s shirt again.
“Melina-- stop… stop!” Robin shoves Melina away, the woman catching herself before she topples to the ground. “What are you doing?”
Melina falls to her knees, shuffling toward to try and kiss Robin’s thighs. “It’s what they all want after a tough day.” Her fingers move toward the button on Robin’s pants. “It’s okay. I’ll make you feel good.”
“Melina, stop! That’s an order!” Robin tries to shove herself back into her chair to keep away from Melina’s hands. Melina froze when Robin raised her voice, her fingers still resting on the waistband of Robin’s jeans.
Robin tries to catch her breath, turned on and freaked out at the same time. She smooths her shirt down from where Melina had tried to hike it up multiple times. Once Robin had collected herself, she looked down at Melina who was still kneeling but had bowed her head in submission when Robin raised her voice.
“Melina… I don’t want to have sex with you,” Robin tells her, managing to keep her voice firm and steady. “Do you?”
“Of course I do. I can make you feel good, I promise,” Melina’s fingers stray toward Robin’s button once more but Robin grips her wrist at the uncertainty in Melina’s eyes.
“Melina, stop it,” Robin repeats, pushing Melina’s hands away. “I don’t want to have sex with you because I had a bad day. That’s not how I operate.”
There’s a slight crinkle in Melina’s brow as she takes Robin’s words in. “I can make you feel good.” She repeats.
“And I don’t doubt that. But I don’t want that at the moment. Neither do you,” Robin said, interrupting Melina before she protests. “Don’t lie to me.”
Melina’s eyes fall to look at the floor as she went quiet before glancing up at her briefly. “I’m yours to use as you see fit.”
Robin resists the urge to vomit, looking down at the Widow in front of her. “I’m not having sex with you.” Robin repeats.
Melina looks at the ground once again, uncertainty on her face. “Natasha?”
“Jesus fuck--” Robin’s stomach rolls. “I’m not having sex with you and I’m not-- I’m not doing that to a child!”
There’s confusion on Melina’s face and Robin thinks that it’ll be worth the beating she gets if she punches General Dreykov in the face the next time she sees him.
“Melina, sweet girl, come up here,” Robin forces herself to remain calm despite the fact she was freaking out inside. Melina slowly climbs up from her knees to straddle Robin again and Robin ensures that her hands don’t wander this time.
Robin pulls Melina into a hug, holding the woman close to her. Melina’s head rests on her shoulder and Robin takes a moment to look down at the paperwork she was working on before sighing. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“I’ve failed because I cannot please you,” Melina’s voice was clear as she turns her head to speak. “Because you do not accept me. I apologize for not being enough for you.”
“Never once did I say that,” Robin shuts that train of thought down quickly. “You are more than enough for me, sweet girl. But I don’t want sex when I’m upset. I don’t want sex because you think I want sex.”
“I…” Melina hesitates before sighing. “I don’t understand.” She finally admits quietly.
“I don’t want to use you for sex,” Robin finally clarifies. “I don’t want that. You don’t want that.”
“What if I do want it--” Melina pulls away to look her over.
“Then we’ll go to the store tomorrow and get you some toys to keep yourself satisfied,” Robin tells her before sighing. “I mean it, Melina. I do not want you to do this again.”
Melina goes quiet and Robin sighs, reaching up to cup her face. “Look at me and tell me that you understand that.”
“I understand,” Melina parrots back but Robin shakes her head.
“Look at my face, Melina. Look at me,” Robin repeats, waiting patiently. Melina’s eyes finally flickered to look at Robin’s face. “Say it.”
“I won’t do it again,” Melina repeats quietly, doing what Robin had asked.
“Good girl,” Robin drops her hands from where she had cupped Melina’s face. Melina preens under the praise so Robin says it again. “Such a good girl for listening.”
Melina’s eyes slide shut. “I’m sorry…” She whispers.
“I’m not upset with you,” Robin quickly tells her. “Would you like to stay here while I finish my work or return to Natasha’s room?”
“May I say, ma’am?” Melina asked softly, shifting from her place on Robin’s lap to get more comfortable.
“Of course you can. I’m almost finished,” Robin pulls Melina to lean against her, feeling the woman settle against her, before she picks her pen back up and continues to write.
This encounter doesn’t make its way into her report. Robin reaches up to idly play with Melina’s hair and notes her reaction. Melina tenses up at first but slowly relaxes into her touch.
Robin finishes for the night and for a moment thinks that Melina had fallen asleep. But Melina shifts slightly when Robin shuts the file in front of her.
“Why don’t you go to bed now. I’ll look after Natasha for the rest of the night,” Robin tells Melina softly. Robin doesn’t think she’ll be getting any sleep. Especially not with the interaction she just had with Melina.
Melina doesn’t argue and pulls away from Robin to stand. She hesitates for a moment. “May I kiss you, my love?” She whispers.
Robin doesn’t know whether Melina genuinely wants it or if she’s doing what she thinks Robin wants again. Robin sighs and nods her head, ensuring that the kiss was short and soft. Melina disappears again and Robin is counting the moments until she’s alone in the house so that she can have a proper mental breakdown and not care who sees.
Robin stands and slowly makes her way down the hallway, poking her head into Yelena’s room to check on the sleeping toddler before moving to Natasha’s room.
Natasha jerks upright when Robin enters, her fingers curled into the bedspread.
“It’s okay. Go back to sleep,” Robin shuffles toward the rocking chair and sinks into it, absolutely exhausted.
Natasha slowly lays back down but Robin can see her eyes watching her from the dark. Robin leans back in the rocking chair, slowly rocking herself as she closed her eyes.
She hears a shuffling noise but the door to the room doesn’t open so she keeps still. It isn’t until there’s a hand on her knee that her eyes fly open and Natasha jumps back from where she had been standing in front of Robin.
“Did you need something?” Robin asked her quietly.
“Bathroom…” Natasha whispers, shifting in place.
“You don’t need to ask to use the bathroom,” Robin tells her before frowning slightly and sighing. “Okay.” She doesn’t want to argue with Natasha about being escorted at the moment so she gets up and leads the girl to the bathroom.
Natasha exits the bathroom a few minutes later and Robin reaches out to run a hand over her hair that sticks up. “Such a good girl for telling me what you need.”
Unlike Melina who preens at the praise, Natasha shuffles shyly and ducks her head down bashfully.
Robin doesn’t know whether she’s laying the praise on too thick or if they need to be praised more. She leads Natasha back to her bedroom. Natasha gets settled back into bed and Robin pulls the covers over her to tuck her in, just how Robin remembered her mama tucking her in when she was little.
Robin doesn’t know why she sat on the edge of the bed instead of the rocking chair. She doesn’t know why she reaches out to stroke the child’s hair when she told herself not to get attached.
Maybe it was because of what Melina mentioned earlier. Maybe Robin knew that they both needed some extra comfort.
But Natasha doesn’t pull away from the touch so Robin doesn’t stop.
Robin takes the time to observe the child gradually relaxing under her touch and wondered just what she went through. She wonders what age Melina was when she went through the Red Room.
“Robin?” Natasha whispers so quietly that Robin almost didn’t hear her.
“Yeah?” Robin’s fingers brush against Natasha’s cheek softly.
“When do I train?” Natasha asked, her eyes flickering to peer up at Robin through the dark.
If Robin had it her way, Natasha wouldn’t train at all. But General Dreykov would not be having that. Robin was to oversee Natasha’s training. “The weekends.” Natasha had school and homework and was already adjusting to living with strangers in someplace unfamiliar.
“Okay…” Natasha’s eyes flutter shut. “I think you are the best handler I’ve had.” She breathes out softly.
Robin can’t help but melt at the words, the tension she’d been carrying for the past few days seeming to bleed out. “Thank you.”
Natasha settles down and goes quiet, slowly falling back asleep.
Robin eventually stops stroking her hair and just watches her.
This was a child. An eight-year-old girl that had been training to kill and seduce men since she was four. A child who had been taught how to kill men but didn’t know how to tie her shoes. A child that still had all of her baby teeth.
Robin’s watch lets her know when it’s time to wake Natasha up for school. Natasha blinks sleep away as she slides out of bed and waits for Robin to pick out her clothes.
Robin wanted Natasha to gain a bit more freedom to express herself to she called her over. “I want you to pick between the choices I give you.”
Robin doesn’t want to overwhelm her with choices so she grabs three shirts and holds them up. “There is no right choice. Pick one.”
Natasha’s eyes flicker between them, hesitating before reaching up to run her fingers over the soft yellow shirt in Robin’s left hand. Robin does the same thing with pants and socks.
“Get dressed. I’m gonna check in on your mom and little sister, okay?” Robin runs her hand over Natasha’s hair as she passes.
The door to Yelena’s room is already cracked open and Robin paused to observe.
Yelena was sleepily snuggled in Melina’s arms, her thumb tucked between her lips as Melina sways her gently.
“Such a sleepy little one,” Melina murmurs quietly, her face softening as she stares down at Yelena. “Not to mention quite the, ah, snuggly creature.”
Yelena lets out a sleepy whine, burrowing into Melina as the hand not in her mouth clutches a fistful of Melina’s SHIELD uniform. Melina’s hand moves up to brush Yelena’s curls out of her face, her thumb gently brushing against the toddler’s cheek.
Robin makes her presence known by pushing the door open further. Melina gives a minuscule flinch as if she was afraid that Robin would reprimand her.
Robin enters the room, reaching out to smooth the hair out of Yelena’s face before looking up at Melina and smiling before kissing her cheek softly. “You’re so good with her.”
Melina finally lets a soft smile grace her lips as she looks down at Yelena.
The moment is interrupted by a knocking on the door downstairs that causes Robin to frown.
Nobody should be knocking. Especially this early in the morning. “I’ll get it.” Robin pulls away from Melina and moves to walk down the stairs. The knocking picks up and Robin opens the door to reveal the same four soldiers as before.
“You’re being called in,” The one that had the cane replies, reaching out to grab Robin’s arm.
“What?” Robin tries to shrug him off and pull away. “I can’t. I’m on a mission. You’re going to blow my cover.”
“General Dreykov is calling you in,” Another steps forward to grab her other arm. “Don’t resist or make a scene.”
“I’m not even a licensed doctor!” Robin protests, feeling his bruising grip on her arm. “Let me go, I’ll walk out of here. I need my shoes and to let my wife know where I’m going.”
The leader nods to the man and she’s let go. Robin glances up the stairs by the front door, spotting Melina standing at the top with Yelena still in her grip. Robin gives her a small nod as she pushes her feet into her boots. “I’ll be back.”
Melina’s jaw clenches and Natasha rounds the corner, peering down at Robin. Her eyes grow slightly as she shifts to move behind Melina.
Robin feels the gun pressed against her spine. “You don’t have to do that. I already told you that I’d walk.”
Robin walks to the black car parked out front and is squished in the back seat between two of the men. The gun nudged against her abdomen where the leader had hit her the other day. “Lemme see.” The man demands.
Robin swallows hard but pulls her shirt up to show him the faded bruise on her abdomen. “Why am I being called in?”
“General Dreykov needs your help,” The second soldier tells her. “We are on strict orders to bring you in as quickly as possible.”
Robin supposed she was lucky they didn’t shove a bag over her head and toss her in the trunk of the car. “He can’t call me in each time he needs my help. It’s a day’s drive and I can’t keep disappearing.”
“We’re not driving,” The leader spoke before he pulled off the road and to a clearing where a helicopter sat.
Robin really hoped that this wasn’t just a big show so General Dreykov could tell her that he was pulling her from the mission. She didn’t want to go back. She didn’t want to leave her little family. Fake or not, she didn’t want to leave the life she just started living in Ohio.
Robin is shoved into the helicopter and spends the next three hours in worry.
She’d have to postpone her scheduled meltdown because whatever happened next would only add on to everything. She only hoped she could keep from breaking in front of General Dreykov.