Home is where the heart is
The first thing Robin notices as soon as she wakes up is how sore she is. Her left side throbs and when she moves a hand to brush over it, she feels thick gauze and medical tape. Her eyes fly open and she peers around the unfamiliar room.
The Red Room. She was back in the Red Room.
Miguel stops by to see her not too long after she wakes up. “Oh, good. You’re awake.” He looked relieved. “You’ve been under for two days.”
“Two days?” Robin jolts at the information and Miguel quickly shoves her to lay back down.
“Shh. Yes.” He fixes a glare at her. “You nearly bled out on the table. You had a ruptured spleen and your abdomen was filled with blood.”
“I have to get back,” Robin murmurs but Miguel shakes his head.
“The General won’t let you go back right now,” He said and Robin’s heart dropped. “I’m sorry.”
He then pulls something shiny from his pocket and pressed it into the palm of her hand. Robin glances down at the object to see that it’s a ring and then her eyes flicker to glance at her empty finger.
“Thank you,” Robin murmurs, clutching the ring close.
“Yeah, yeah.” Miguel flaps his hand. “Rest up. The sooner you heal the sooner you can get out of here.”
Robin can’t rest. Not when her family is without her and the General can show up at any moment.
She stares at the ceiling, counting the panels until the door to her room opens with a little creak.
Robin certainly doesn’t expect the child lingering in the doorway. “Hi, Antonia.” She greets the child in Russian.
Antonia peers up at Robin. “Hi, Dr. Robin.” She said softly.
“Where’s your… father?” Robin questioned, glancing around for any sign that this was a test.
“Helping the girls,” Antonia said, tugging a small red backpack into the room. “I don’t like the woman watching me. She’s mean.”
Robin swallows hard before she beckons Antonia closer to her. “Well, why don’t you come hang out with me?”
Antonia gives her a toothy grin, approaching the bed. “Papa had too much work today.” She comments, setting the bag down on the bed before climbing up onto it. “Will you read to me?”
She pulls out a book in English, holding it out to Robin. Robin reaches out to slowly take the book. It looks new and unopened. “Of course.”
Antonia settles next to Robin, snuggling into her right side as she eagerly waits. Robin opens the book and translates it aloud for Antonia. It’s not Antonia’s fault that her father is a piece of shit and Robin highly doubts that since he had her mother killed for custody that Antonia was getting a lot of maternal affection.
Antonia’s giggles remind Robin of Yelena. When Antonia’s current ‘nanny’ finds them, she reaches to grab Antonia and drag her from the bed like a common Widow. Robin’s pretty sure she has no idea just who Antonia is.
Antonia grabs onto Robin’s hospital gown in fear and Robin draws herself up, identifies herself as the woman’s superior, and orders her to stop grabbing the child.
The woman doesn’t listen and Robin pulls Antonia close to her, fully prepared to pop a stitch in order to take the woman down if it comes to it.
Luckily, Miguel checks in on her, sees the scene, and calls for the General.
General Dreykov takes one look before he orders the woman out into the hall. Robin covers Antonia’s ears because she knew what came next.
Sure enough, the loud pop of a gunshot goes off in the hallway and Antonia jumps slightly.
“Shh, something just fell over,” Robin soothes.
When the body is removed and cleaned, the General shows back up and Robin watches as he fawns over his daughter.
She looks away. She feels like she’s in some alternate universe because never has she seen the General be so kind or tender unless he wanted something.
Antonia rambles to her father in Russian and he affectionately smoothes her hair back. Robin hesitantly settles back in bed, trying not to look like she was eavesdropping.
The next few days are just Robin resting and trying to get better so she can go back home. Antonia keeps popping up despite the fact she told Robin that she only visits whenever the General was really busy.
The General told Antonia that he helps girls reach their full potential. Robin lets her believe that, even if she wants nothing more than to tell her just how horrible her father is.
She’s not as healed as she wants to be when they reach day six. She keeps insisting that she’s fine to go home.
The General tells her that if she’s so sure then she can drop down and give him ten push-ups.
Miguel tells her absolutely not but Robin lowers herself to the ground. Each push-up is agony and tears drip off her face from the pain at the end but she stares at him with a blank face, blood staining the gauze on her torso from where she popped most of her stitches.
If the General is impressed, he says nothing. He merely nods and informs her of when her ride is leaving.
Miguel stares at her with an unimpressed eyebrow raised the entire time he restitches her.
“I could have restitched myself,” Robin murmurs. “Wipe that look off your face.”
“I’m sorry that I’m upset with you for doing push-ups while recovering from emergency surgery,” He grumbles and Robin rolls her eyes. “You owe me.”
“Technically, you still owe me two more from all the times I’ve saved your ass,” Robin retorts, watching as he smooths a new piece of gauze over her stitches.
Miguel lets out a scoff but shoves a bottle of painkillers in her hands before she leaves. Robin probably wouldn’t use them and save them for an emergency.
She can’t wait to go back home and anxiously waits the whole ride back, even if she doesn’t show it.
She recognizes the soldier sent to be her replacement. She’s patched him up a few times often for injuries he received assaulting Widows. Her heart drops into her stomach when she sees him and she doesn’t hesitate to tell him to get the fuck out of her house.
It’s a relief to hold her children close but Melina seems to pull away from her. Robin gives her space, even if she just wants to pull her close and never let her go.
Her children want to be close to her and they obviously need soothing. When Yelena tugs at Robin’s shirt, Robin only hesitates briefly before pulling her shirt off. Skin-to-skin soothes them. They tuck their faces against Robin’s shoulder and cling to her.
Yelena lets out a small sigh of content, planting her thumb between her lips. Robin would have to try and break her habit of thumb-sucking but that was a problem for a whole other day.
Natasha’s the one that asks her to sing and Yelena falls asleep curled up against Robin.
That night, Melina tries to sleep on the other side of the bed and Robin knows that Alejandro must have done something but she just needs to hold Melina close. She doesn’t mean to snap at her but Melina relents and lets Robin hold her close.
She’s not surprised when Natasha shows up in the middle of the night but she does worry when she admits she wet the bed. Robin’s thoughts immediately go toward Alejandro having hurt her. Melina gets up to start the laundry while Natasha climbs into bed at Robin’s prompting.
Robin pulls Natasha against her right side and Natasha slumps against her. Robin presses a kiss to the top of her head, smoothing her hair back. “I’ve missed you, my little one.”
Natasha doesn’t reply, uncharacteristically quiet. She usually asked for a song or tells Robin about what was bothering her with a little prompting.
“Did Alejandro hurt you?” Robin questioned softly and Natasha shakes her head but her fingers curl into Robin’s pajama top. “Did he touch you?”
“Mommy made me lock the door,” Natasha murmurs into Robin’s shoulder. “Yelena slept with me in my room. I had my knife and I thought I was gonna have to kill him.”
Robin lets out a long sigh, cupping Natasha’s face before pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “I’m so proud of you for being strong and protecting your sister.”
“I’m glad you’re back,” Natasha said quietly and Robin smiles softly at the admission. Melina reappears and gets back into bed, sandwiching Natasha between them. Robin turns to lay on her side so she can drape an arm over both Natasha and Melina. “My girls.” She hums fondly.
She falls asleep like that, waking up in the morning when Melina pulls away from her touch. She can hear Yelena calling out and shifts to sit up but Melina notices and stops her. Natasha is sleeping soundly pressed against Robin’s chest and Melina doesn’t want Robin to wake her.
Robin’s lucky it’s the weekend. She doesn’t have to worry about school or daycare or work. She can have all her girls at the same place. She hums quietly to Natasha until she inevitably falls back asleep.
She wakes up once again later on, this time to a gentle hand pushing the hair out of her face. She opened a sleepy eye to peer up at Melina before her eyes slide to the clock and she moves to sit up.
Melina stops her again and Robin’s surprised to find Natasha still tucked against her fast asleep. It was nearing eleven in the morning and Natasha rarely slept past eight, even on the weekends. Robin moves a hand to feel her face to see if she was getting ill but there didn’t appear to be anything wrong.
“Hi, mama,” Yelena whispers from beside Melina. Robin smiles softly, reaching her other hand out to run over the top of Yelena’s curls.
“Hi little one,” She greets her fondly and then glances back up at Melina. She just then notices the plate of food Melina carried with her. “That for me?”
Melina nods her head, setting the plate onto the nightstand. Robin carefully sits up, successfully not waking Natasha up. She can only imagine that Natasha probably stayed whole nights awake because she couldn’t sleep, much like the first few nights in their new house. Natasha didn’t sleep unless she felt safe.
“Can I get up, mama?” Yelena pats the bed and Robin nods. Yelena scrambles up the side of the bed and Robin is reminded that Yelena must have grown because she couldn’t do that at first.
Melina keeps hovering but never letting herself join in. Robin doesn’t want to force her but at the same time, she doesn’t want to let Melina pull away.
They don’t leave the bed much that day, preferring to hold each other close and take naps rather than be productive. Robin tells Yelena it’s pajama day and Yelena seems delighted at that.
Robin does disappear into her office at the end of the day as she usually did to write reports. She mainly wrote about the change in routine affecting her Widows and requested the files Alejandro would turn in for the mission with the claims she wanted to see what he thought they could improve on.
Robin waits a little extra and takes more time with her documents, mainly because she was waiting on one thing.
Sure enough, Melina eventually slides into the room and approached Robin. Robin turns toward Melina and then stops her. “Strip for me.”
Melina froze and Robin stands, locking the door and then approaching Melina. Her retaking her seat spurred Melina to listen.
Robin watches as Melina slowly strips out of her clothes and bruises become visible on her skin. “Oh, my sweet girl.” Robin whispered and Melina bows her head down in shame. “Come here.”
Melina approached Robin and Robin pulls her down into her lap to give her the comfort she deserved. Melina’s clearly nervous about hurting her but Robin won’t let her get back up.
“You are mine,” Robin tells Melina, pressing a possessive kiss to her lips. “And I’m sorry that he hurt you.”
Melina reaches up to wind her arms around Robin’s neck, pulling her down into another kiss. Robin runs her fingers gently over Melina’s bare skin, ghosting over the marks Alejandro left on her body. She stops when her fingers touch a purple patch on the inside of Melina’s thigh.
“Did he--” Robin starts but Melina shakes her head. “Are you telling me the truth?” Robin grips Melina’s chin so she can look her in the eyes.
“I blew him a few times,” Melina admits quietly, her eyes flickering to look anywhere but Robin. “But he didn’t… not fully.”
“It doesn’t matter what you did,” Robin bumps her forehead against Melina’s. “You’re still mine. I’m so sorry that I wasn’t there to protect you.”
Melina’s fingers slide into Robin’s hair. “I just want to forget.”
“I know,” Robin said, pulling Melina closer. “I’ve got you, my good girl.”
Melina’s the one that drags Robin down into another kiss.