There were only four people in Yelena’s life that ever contacted her. Her sister Natasha. Her mother Melina. Her father Alexei. And her sort-of friend Antonia.
Natasha called her the most, always checking in with her. Alexei contacted her the most just after Natasha, asking her about what she was doing and what she was up to. Melina preferred to text but left long messages for Yelena to read. Antonia would text but never more than what she needed to convey. Often one or two word answers were sent.
Yelena sees the ‘N.R.’ flash across her phone as she glances at her caller Id. It wasn’t the best time, she was hunting down a widow from a rooftop. Melina had developed a soft bullet that explodes on contact with the person, releasing the red dust. Yelena could snipe from across a rooftop and then safely go and collect the widow and explain.
Yelena lets go of the sniper rifle she has, pulling her phone up to her ear to answer. “ Natasha, I’m a little busy right now but --”
“I’m not Natasha.” A male voice interrupts and Yelena freezes, a shiver going down her spine as her heart skips a beat.
“Who are you and what do you want?” She demands, her voice cold as she sits up to give the phone her full attention.
“My name is Clint Barton, codename Hawkeye. I’m Natasha’s partner,” The man tells her, his voice serious. “Something has happened. This number was set to call should anything happen to her.”
Yelena starts taking apart her sniper rifle to pack it up. “Prove that you are who you say you are. She wears a piece of jewelry that you gave her as a sign of friendship. What is it.”
“Oh… the necklace? The little golen arrow?” Clint sounds delighted that she knew about it. “I got that for her five years after we met.”
Yelena lets out a sigh, slinging her bag over her shoulder and sliding down the fire escape off the roof. “I need an extraction from my point. Think you can manage that?” She could pick up the widow at another time. She was in no danger at the moment. Natasha, however, was.
“Yeah. Of course. Can do. Send me your coordinates and I’ll come personally,” Clint said, a rustling indicated that he was packing a bag. “Give me two hours at most.”
An hour and forty minutes later found Yelena slipping into the co-pilot seat, glancing at the man flying the jet. She easily recognized his face from photos in the newspaper on the glorious Avengers saving the day.
He gives her an easy grin. “I’m Clint Barton. Who the hell are you?”
Yelena pulls on the headset, buckling herself in. “I’m the person that is going to get Natasha back and then kick her ass for getting caught,” Yelena comments.
“Right…” The man bobs his head in a nod. “Do I get a name or will I have to call you ‘scary lady from Natasha’s phone’ in my head?” Clint questioned and the corner of Yelena’s mouth lifts up in a half-smile.
“Yelena.” She comments, focusing on helping him get the jet in the air smoothly. “Call me Yelena.”
“Fellow scary Russian assassin?” He jokes, commenting on her accent as they get steady in the air.
“Something like that,” Yelena hums, turning her attention toward him. “Walk me through what happened?” The atmosphere shifts into something more serious.
“You should probably wait to talk to Steve. He was there when it happened,” Clint frowns slightly and Yelena huffs in irritation.
“Then can you tell me how long she has been missing?” Yelena asked. “Or is that top-secret too?”
“Nearly two days,” Clint admits quietly, focusing on the sky in front of him as Yelena mumbles a string of curses under her breath. “Natasha said to call your number in a dire emergency. Who the hell are you?”
Yelena knew how much Natasha could love dramatics. “I already told you.” She faces forward again. “I’m Yelena.”
Yelena steps off the jet to be greeted by Tony Stark. All the Avengers together again to find her sister.
“This is the mystery person?” Tony comments, folding his arms as he peers over at her from behind his sunglasses.
“Yup,” Clint grins as he pushes past him. “And she’s not a patient person.”
Yelena follows after him, focused on the task at hand. “Where is this Steve?” She demands, glancing around for any sign of the Captain.
They approach a room and Clint opens the door. Steve, Bucky, and Wanda were waiting in there. The room was large with a long table surrounded by chairs, a tablet in the middle of the table with holograms pulled up. She glances at the maps and video footage played on a loop.
She watches as Bucky immediately tenses up when he sees her.
“Get him out of here,” Yelena flaps her hand at him, her whole body tense upon seeing him. “Or I’ll kill him.”
Steve jerks, opening his mouth before Bucky sets a hand onto his shoulder and shakes his head, happy to leave and give them both room.
“Thank god…” Tony mumbles under his breath as Yelena approached Steve, craning her head up to look at him.
“What happened?” She demanded, folding her arms as she stares at him.
Steve stares down at her in surprise, glancing at Clint to ensure that she was trustable. Clint gives him a small nod and Steve looks back down at Yelena.
He states what had happened, how he and Natasha were scoping out some suspicious Hydra activity and they got separated in an explosion and Natasha couldn’t make it back out.
Yelena lets out a scoff, turning toward the map as she leans forward to rest her hands on the table and observe what they have so far. “Of course you were going after Hydra…” She mumbles sarcastically, reaching out to manipulate the hologram.
“Hey--” Tony protests but Clint shushes him and lets Yelena work.
It takes Yelena a few moments to figure out how to manipulate the hologram but she learns quickly and starts to put together basic floorplans she knew from her time training with Hydra agents. She knew where they kept their prisoners and where they did punishments for the weak and strong-willed.
Yelena put together a plan, explaining what she knew, the layout, and what they were going to do when they got in.
“I’m sorry--” Steve interrupts her again. “Who did you say you were?”
Yelena lets out a long sigh. “I’m Yelena. Now--” She turns back toward the hologram.
“Okay…” Wanda speaks up for the first time. “But how do you know this?”
“Do you want to play twenty questions or do you want to go and get her!?” Yelena demands, slamming her hand onto the table and enjoys the way that they flinch at the loud noise. “Get your ass moving!”
It takes a few moments before they start to move and get ready to leave. Yelena lets out a long scoff, glancing back at the hologram before pulling away.
She’s offered an earpiece to stay in touch with them and she sits next to the person least likely to question her.
Wanda is quiet and unsure, passing a little red ball of magic between her fingers nervously.
It doesn’t take long after they land for Yelena to find Natasha. Or rather, Natasha found them.
Yelena knew immediately that they were not dealing with Natasha. There was a multitude of things that they could do to her in two days. Mind control and mental conditioning were part of that.
Black Widow-- because this was not her Natasha-- eagerly moves in to kill them.
They’re trying not to hurt her and it’s hurting them instead. Yelena watches them for a few moments, wondering if any of them had a way to break the connection as Yelena clears an exit for them.
They seem to think that talking to her and coaxing her was going to fix her. It won’t, Yelena knows that.
“Natasha, stop-- it’s me!” Steve cries out, trying to stop the Black Widow.
“Wanda, get in her head!” Clint throws out the suggestion.
“I can’t!” Wanda sounds surprised and stressed at the admission.
Yelena grabs the vial of red dust that she had been carrying for the other widow, stepping forward when it was safe and their exit was secured.
“Widow!” She barks at her, knowing exactly what she needed to anger her. “You are weaker than me. They’re going to kill you for it. Prove yourself. Prove you’re better than a fellow widow!”
Black Widow immediately turns on her foot to look at her, her eyes raking over Yelena’s form before lunging.
Black Widow might be deadly but Yelena had four more years of Widow training than her. She fights and she doesn’t hold back, aiming to pin her on the ground to release the red dust. She only had one shot at this.
She keeps missing her changes, pinning her down but never able to keep her down.
So Yelena knocks her off her game by letting Black Widow think she’s won before flipping them over. She pins them down, crushing the vial in her hand and carefully blowing the red dust into the face of the Black Widow before tossing away the shards of glass.
In an instant, the fight leaves the Black Widow, a fogginess of uncertainty creeping into her eyes as her breath hitches in confusion.
Yelena knew exactly what she felt. “ I know. Everything is really overwhelming right now, ” Yelena softens her voice, wiping her bloodied hand that had been cut on the vial onto her pants. “ It’s okay. Look up at me, big sister. Focus on me. Come back to me. ”
Natasha’s green eyes hesitantly flicker to look up at Yelena’s face.
“ Good. Just keep your eyes on me. You’re okay,” Yelena shifts to get off of Natasha, kneeling next to her instead. “ Come on. Sit up. ” She reaches out to grip Natasha’s arm and help her sit up.
Natasha sits upright with some help but surprises Yelena by wrapping her arms around her tightly.
“ Okay. It’s okay, ” Yelena presses her forehead against Natasha’s. “ I’m right here. I’ve got you. I need you to be strong right now. We need to get out of here, okay? Come on. We can do it. I’ll help you .”
With a little more coaxing, Yelena gets Natasha to her feet and leaning on her. “Natasha’s been secured.” She said into the earpiece, starting to make her way to the exit she had cleared beforehand.
“Roger that. We’ll rendezvous at the jet,” Tony replies, and Yelena guides Natasha to the jet, taking out any stragglers that they come across.
Clint was already waiting at the jet, relief on his face when he sees Natasha, and isn’t offended when Natasha shrinks away from his touch.
Yelena settles Natasha down and then takes a seat next to her, feeling Natasha’s tired body droop to rest against her side. Her arm wraps around Natasha to keep her steady.
The others try to ask Natasha questions. “How are you?” “Are you okay?” “Are you hurt?” They try to figure out what happened but Yelena glares at them.
“Shut up!” She snaps at them. “Leave her alone!” Couldn’t they see that Natasha wasn’t going to talk at the moment? She needed time to collect herself.
Natasha turns her face to bury her nose into the crook of Yelena’s neck and inhales the scent. Yelena feels the hot breath on her collar and knows that Natasha is grounding herself with touch and smell.
So Yelena strokes her hair and rubs her arms and tries to provide the touch that Natasha needed.
“ It’s okay. I’ve got you. Just focus on me ,” Yelena coaxed, keeping her touch firm but light. “ Your baby sister got to play with the cool kids today. ”
Natasha lets out a soft huff of laughter against her neck and Yelena grins at the win.
“ You didn’t even get to see me. Even while under the influence, you are such a poser, ” Yelena continues, feeling Natasha’s small smile against her suit. She moves to unzip her suit to reveal more of her neck to give Natasha more skin contact that she wanted. “ It’s rooted in you. Natasha Romanoff. Poser. ”
Yelena keeps talking to her and touching her until the jet lands a few hours later. Natasha still had yet to pull her face from where she had pushed it into Yelena’s neck and Yelena knows that she’s ashamed of her reaction, of showing such blatant weakness in front of the other Avengers.
Yelena waves them on, Clint only lingering behind long enough to tell her the directions to Natasha’s room.
Once the jet is empty and it’s just the two of them, Yelena strokes the fine hairs on the nape of Natasha’s neck. “ Hey. I don’t know about you but I’m pretty tired. Let’s go to your room. ”
It takes a few moments for Yelena to coax Natasha to stand and walk with Natasha, the older woman still had yet to take her face out of Yelena’s neck.
They manage to make it to Natasha’s room and Yelena moves into the bathroom, turning the shower on. “C’mon. You need a shower. Think you can let go of me long enough to shower and clean the grime and blood off of you?”
“ Don’t leave --” The words finally leave Natasha’s lips, the words muffled from her place pressed into Yelena.
“I’m only going to get us a change of clothes,” Yelena replies, running her fingers through Natasha’s tangled hair. “I’ll even let you wear my favorite pajama shirt.”
It takes a few more minutes and promises of not leaving before Natasha finally lets Yelena go and starts to strip to shower.
Yelena rifles through Natasha’s drawers, gathering some underwear and a pair of pants before moving to her own bag to grab her extra set of clothes and her pajama top. She moves back into the bathroom, cleaning the cut on her hand up and bandaging it before changing into her spare outfit.
Soon, Natasha is sitting on the toilet seat and Yelena is tending to her wounds. Natasha is still quiet, watching Yelena carefully as she cleans and bandages her up.
“Was that what it felt like for you?” Natasha finally blurts, the words tumbling out of her mouth.
“What do you mean?” Yelena throws the wrappers away and pulls Natasha up and grabs a comb before moving into the bedroom and sitting Natasha on the bed.
Natasha was quiet, collecting her thoughts as Yelena settles behind her to run the comb through her hair. Finally, she spoke up. “Being mind-controlled.”
Yelena clenches her jaw, focused on untangling her big sister’s hair before sighing. “What do you mean? The way that everything hits you at once? How you go from nothing to everything? Feeling nothing to an overwhelming amount of stimulation? How you saw everything that you did but you were powerless to help it? How there’s a black fuzziness around your vision like you’re seeing through someone else’s eyes? ”
“Yes…” Natasha breathes out, her body was tense as Yelena braids her wet hair back out of her face.
“Yes. It was just like that. I dreaded every time that I went under and came out,” Yelena doesn’t sugar-coat it. “I understand, Natasha.”
“I’m sorry…” Natasha whispers, leaning back against Yelena when she had finished braiding. “I didn’t understand. I didn’t realize --”
“It’s okay, Natasha,” Yelena tilts Natasha’s head up and kissed her forehead. “I know. You don’t need to tell me.”
“Thank you for coming for me…” Natasha mumbles and twists to wrap her arms around Yelena.
“Of course,” Yelena tilts her head to the side to let Natasha press her face against her neck again. “I’m never going to leave you behind. You’re my big sister.”
She feels Natasha sag into her and she shifts to pull her sister further on the bed until they’re cuddled up in the center under the covers.
Yelena curls around her sister, letting Natasha press against her. Yelena pets her hair, keeping up the steady amount of touches until Natasha didn’t need them. “ Sleep, big sister. I’ve got you. ”
Natasha does sleep. She looks peaceful and relaxed for the first time in a while. Yelena keeps stroking her hair or rubbing her back as she sleeps, talking quietly about what she had been up to since their last phone call.
Natasha wakes up a few hours later, looking much better than earlier. “What did you tell them about you?”
“Just my name,” Yelena comments. “They have absolutely no idea who I am. I didn’t know what you told them or wanted to tell them.”
Natasha pulls Yelena close to press their foreheads together again. “You’re my little sister.”
“They don’t know that. Are you willing to tell them?” Yelena questioned quietly, closing her eyes to enjoy the contact.
“Will you be okay if I do tell them?” Natasha asked and Yelena blinks in surprise, having thought that they didn’t know who she was because Natasha was embarrassed.
She didn’t consider that Natasha was doing this for her sake. “Yes. I’m your little sister. I don’t care who knows.”
Natasha smiles. “We owe the others answers. And I’m hungry.”
Yelena grins. “Me too.” She comments.
“You’re always hungry,” Natasha taps the tip of Yelena’s nose before she slides out of bed.
“Mmm, true,” Yelena jumps out of bed with a grin, following Natasha to the elevator.
Natasha lets out a chuckle as they step into the elevator. She reaches out to take Yelena’s hand and Yelena looks down at their connected hands in surprise.
“Are you okay with touching in front of the others?” Yelena asked. It was one thing to introduce her as her sister. It was another to be all touchy with each other.
“I need to touch you right now,” Natasha admits quietly. “I don’t care. Is this okay?”
“Of course.” Yelena squeezed her hand gently as they step out of the elevator and into the kitchen.
There was takeout in the kitchen along with all of the others. There was an awkward and tense atmosphere that they had walked into.
“Hey! Nat!” Clint perks up when he sees her. “There you are. You finally gonna introduce the scary lady from your phone?”
Heads turn to glance at them and feels Natasha take a deep breath. Her thumb brushes over the back of Natasha’s hand, hoping to comfort her.
“Guys, this is Yelena,” Natasha looks over at Yelena and gives her a soft smile. “She’s my little sister.”
Yelena tilts her head back and cackles at the look on their faces.