Bad guy in the book
It’s three days later and Robin is in the living room reading a medical textbook as the girls watch Saturday morning cartoons. Melina is in the kitchen preparing breakfast and for the moment everything is nice and quiet.
“Gimme.”
Robin glances up from her book at Yelena’s voice. Yelena is reaching for the remote that Natasha is holding out of her reach.
“No. I’m watching it.” Natasha says, pushing Yelena away from her. “You can watch it after this.”
“Nooo,” Yelena whines out. “Don’t wanna watch Ninja Turtles. Wanna watch Spongebob!”
Robin looks back down at her text because they would probably sort it out themselves. She makes it a few more pages in before there’s an audible thwap and the hitch of someone’s breath.
Robin’s head jerks up just in time to see Yelena lower her raised arm. Natasha’s eyes glance at Robin before she shoves the remote at Yelena.
Robin sets the book aside. “Did you just hit your sister?” Robin asked Yelena. The girl clutches the remote close, looking contrite.
“No,” Natasha says and Robin’s eyes slide to peer at her.
“Don’t lie to me,” Robin can see the reddening mark forming on Natasha’s face.
Natasha clenches her jaw, bowing her head. “I’m not.” She protests. “She didn’t hit me.”
“I do not tolerate fighting and lying,” Robin warns. Yelena opened her mouth but Natasha slaps her hand over Yelena’s mouth, whispering into the girl's ear.
Robin was not in the mood to be ganged up on. She stands, moving toward the couch, and holds out her hand. “Remote.”
Yelena clutches the remote control closer, shaking her head.
“Yelena, give me the remote before you get into even more trouble,” Robin warns. Yelena puffs her cheeks out in frustration but drops the remote into Robin’s hands.
“Both of you, upstairs. Go to your room.” Robin orders and Natasha immediately jumps to her feet.
“No!” She cried out fiercely. “She didn’t do anything!”
“She hit you, Natasha,” Robin replies and Natasha shakes her head. “Natasha--”
Robin doesn’t expect Natasha to slap herself right over the red mark that Yelena had left on her cheek to erase any evidence.
“Hey!” Robin reaches out to grab Natasha’s wrist and Natasha immediately twists to try and break out of her hold. “Natasha that is enough!”
“She didn’t do anything!” Natasha repeats adamantly.
“Do not lie to me,” Robin repeats, moving to grasp Natasha’s other wrist to stop her from doing more damage to herself.
Natasha brings her knee up right into Robin’s pelvis. Robin hoists Natasha up over her shoulder as the girl writhes and throws a tantrum.
Melina pokes her head into the room at the commotion.
“Take Yelena to her room,” Robin tells Melina who doesn’t hesitate to swoop in and scoop the girl up to take her upstairs.
Robin carries Natasha upstairs to her own bedroom, dropping her onto the bed. “You will stay in here until I come to get you.” Robin watches as Natasha roll off the bed and shoves at her. “That is enough, Natasha!” She raises her voice slightly, her tone firm and it gets the expected reaction.
Natasha goes stiff, her shoulders hunched as she warily eyed Robin. “Yelena didn’t do anything wrong.” She protests again.
Robin really wants to sit down with Natasha and explain why Yelena needs to get punished but the longer she waited then the more likely Yelena wouldn’t understand why she was getting punished in the first place. “Sit here and think about what you’ve done. I don’t want you leaving the room unless it’s to go to the bathroom. Do I make myself clear?”
Natasha juts her chin out stubbornly, folding her arms as she ducks her head down. “Yes.” She murmurs quietly.
Robin moves next door to where Melina and Yelena were. Yelena was building with her blocks, all signs of the argument with Natasha seemingly forgotten.
“Yelena,” Robin spoke and the girl paused to look up at her. “Come on, we’re going to my office.”
Robin can spot Melina stiffen out of the corner of her eye. She doesn’t reassure her that it’ll be okay because for Yelena, it wasn’t going to be.
Robin was going to be the bad guy in Yelena’s book.
Yelena stands, approaching Robin and reaching up to grasp her hand. Robin swallows hard, glancing at Melina. “Make sure that Natasha stays in her room.”
Melina gives a curt nod before looking away. Robin leads Yelena down the hallway and into her office, closing the door before locking it so they wouldn’t be interrupted.
Robin guides Yelena to her desk. She takes a seat, angling the child to stand in front of her. “Did you hit Natasha?” She flat out asks.
Yelena hesitates, her tiny fingers wringing the hem of her pink My Little Pony pajama top before she slowly nods her head.
“I appreciate your honesty but you know that we don’t use violence to get what we want,” Robin tries not to think of how the words will no longer ring true soon. “You hurt your sister. You broke the rules.”
“Sorry, mama,” Yelena mumbles and Robin inhales sharply. This was going to be harder than she expected.
“Because you’re a big girl now, it’s time for you to start receiving the same punishment as Natasha,” Robin tells her, and Yelena peers up at her in confusion. “You are not going to like it and it’s going to sting. I’m going to give you five swats.”
“Swats?” Yelena echoes, a tiny crease forming where she furrowed her brow.
“Smacks on your bottom,” Robin clarifies and Yelena’s hands automatically went to cup her backside.
“Don’t want smacks on my bottom,” Yelena tells Robin. “Want a time-out.”
“You don’t get to pick and choose,” Robin lets out a small sigh. “I’m giving you five swats because you hit your sister. Come here.”
Robin reaches toward her and Yelena moves to take a step back. Robin resists the urge to groan, trying to be patient.
“You can come here and get five swats or be difficult and get seven,” Robin says before pointing at the spot in front of her. “Come here, Yelena.”
“Don’t wanna--” A whine slips past Yelena’s lips.
“Yelena Belova, do not make me start counting,” Robin warns and she could see the girl weigh her options. “One…”
Yelena takes a tiny step forward and lets Robin tug her forward the rest of the way. It’s not until Robin hoists her up over her lap that Yelena seems to reconsider her decision and squirms.
Having anticipated the struggle, Robin traps Yelena’s kicking legs between her own.
“Lemme go!” Yelena writhes, her hands moving to try and protect her backside.
Robin has to pry her hands away, gripping both of Yelena’s wrists in one hand. The girl tilts her head back and wails.
Robin sends the first swat and Yelena’s struggles renew as she screams at Robin to stop it.
That continues on until Robin sends the last swat to Yelena’s bottom and then waits a moment before letting her go.
Yelena shoves herself off of Robin’s lap, tears pouring down her face as she clamps her hands over her sore bottom.
Robin doesn’t manage to get anything out of her mouth before Yelena yells one last thing.
“I hate you!” Yelena stomps her foot, staring up at Robin with a look of betrayal but she stands still in the same place and waits.
It reminds Robin of Natasha. Waiting to be dismissed after punishment. Robin stands, moving past Yelena, and unlocks the door before opening it and stepping aside.
Yelena bolts from the office and down the hallway and into her room.
Robin takes a moment to lean against the wall and take a few deep breaths. She cradles her head in her hands, telling herself that everything she was doing, she was doing for them. They can hate her all they want, this was for the best.
Robin pulls herself together. She can break down later when the kids are in bed. Natasha still needs to be punished and Robin needed to check in with Yelena after she’s had some time to cool down.
Robin slowly makes her way down the hallway before opening the door to Natasha’s room.
She froze in the doorway at the sight that greeted her.
Natasha was standing in the corner of the room, her nose touching the wall. It looked like a tornado ripped through the room, clothes strewn on the floor, toys tossed carelessly around, the sheets ripped off of her bed. Melina was nowhere in sight, Robin presumed she went to take a breather in the master bedroom.
“Natasha, come here,” Robin finally breathes out and Natasha turns away from the corner.
Natasha had tried tears on her cheeks, her eyes slightly red. All in all, it looked like she had thrown a massive tantrum, one much suited for a toddler rather than a nine-year-old.
“Come to my office,” Robin says calmly and Natasha seems to shrink in on herself.
“I already got swats from mom,” She mumbles in protest. “And a time-out.”
“But not from me. Come on, my office,” Robin says and Natasha stares at her in disbelief before her face smoothes out and she shuffles past Robin down the hall.
Robin closed the door to her office and then retakes her seat in her office chair. “Come here.”
Natasha approached her warily and Robin thinks about the fact that she’d only ever spanked Natasha standing up bent over her knee instead of sitting down.
“You will be getting swats from me because you lied to me, you kicked me, and you shoved me,” Robin lists, watching as Natasha’s eyes dart around the room to look anywhere but at her. “Over my lap.”
Natasha moves forward and over Robin’s lap. Unlike Yelena, she doesn’t kick or try and protect her bottom. She just waits.
Robin only gives her ten because Melina had already given her swats for the destruction of her room. When she finished, she lifted Natasha up onto her own two feet to face her. “Look at me.”
Natasha had more silent tears trickling down her cheeks, rolling off her jaw and dripping off her chin.
“I know that you were scared to have Yelena get swats and you thought that if you made a big mess that I’d focus on you instead of her and I’d forget,” Robin knows exactly what Natasha was trying to do. “But instead you got double swats, a time-out, and Yelena still got swats anyway.”
Natasha lets out a huff, her eyes flickering away once again.
“Do you understand why I’m giving Yelena swats now? Why she can’t just have time-outs?” Robin questioned. Natasha lets out a half-shrug. “Because I have no doubt that when we visit the Red Room again this summer that they are going to give her swats. If she’s never experienced them before and doesn’t know what to expect then the General will think I’m going soft. He’ll take her away.”
Natasha flinches at the General's name.
“I love you both so very much, Natasha. I want you to have the best outcome. I want to prepare you in every way that I can,” Robin leans forward in her chair. “Do you understand that?”
Natasha refuses to meet her gaze. “Yes.” She says begrudgingly. “Did you use the cane?”
Robin’s eyes automatically flicker to peer at the bamboo canes sitting in the umbrella stand tucked in the corner of the room. She hadn’t picked one up since she hit Belka so hard that the cane snapped in half.
“No. No, I wouldn’t do that,” Robin says before she peers down at Natasha. “Give me an honest answer, Natasha. Do you think that I would beat Yelena into submission with a cane, a belt, a stick, or my hand?”
Natasha takes a little too long to answer. “I don’t know.” She finally breathes out like it pained her to admit it. “You wouldn’t but my mind says you will. You’re our handler first. Yelena was screaming… you didn’t stop.”
“Natasha, I gave her five swats no harder than I gave you yours,” Robin explains, watching Natasha frown. “You’re dismissed.”
Natasha stiffen, her head snapping to look up at Robin. “What?”
“You can go. You can go check on Yelena,” Robin elaborates but Natasha’s feet remain firmly planted where she stood. “What’s wrong?”
Natasha sways like she wants to leave but then reaches her arms out the same way she did before she got comfortable asking Robin to hold her.
Robin has to admit that she’s surprised that Natasha still wants to be held by her after the exhausting ordeal with Yelena. She opens her arms to welcome Natasha into her lap and the girl doesn’t hesitate to burrow into her hold.
Robin cradles Natasha close, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as Natasha buries her face into Robin’s shoulder. Robin reaches up to gently caress the red mark on Natasha’s cheek.
Still, Robin can’t help but think about Yelena’s last words.
“I hate you!”
Robin’s chest hurts. She’s not sorry about what she did but never once had any of them told Robin that they hated her.
Robin can only hope that like everything else, Yelena bounces back from this quickly and all bad blood is forgotten by the end of the day.
Then again, Robin can’t get the look of betrayal on Yelena’s face out of her head.