Chapter 22
It takes nearly twenty minutes for Yelena’s nose to stop bleeding. Ayo and Okoye keep a firm grip on her shoulders as she starts to get woozy from the stream steadily dripping into the basin clasped between her knees.
“I’m sorry,” Shuri tells her with a small frown. “I didn’t take into the fact that you were sixteen and not twenty-eight like James Barnes.”
Yelena’s head pounds like a hammer being taken to her skull. “Everything hurts.”
“The human brain doesn’t stop developing until the age of twenty-five,” Shuri rifles through a cabinet. “Are you okay with an intravenous drip?”
Yelena nods her head, watching as Shuri pulls out a bag filled with a pale purple-tinged liquid. Shuri grips Yelena’s shaking hand in her as she tries to find a vein.
Yelena gags on another blood clot from her bleeding nose and she feels Okoye’s hand move between her shoulder blades to pat her back firmly. Natasha still holds her hand, cupping her face and stroking her cheek and whispering to her.
Yelena squeezes her eyes closed when she feels Shuri poke a needle into her skin.
“I wish--” Yelena knows that her thoughts are foolish and stupid but she just needs to focus on something other than the IV Shuri is taping to her skin. “I wish that mama was here.”
Yelena hates the person that Melina had become. Or maybe Melina was always this person and just put on an act for Ohio.
Either way, Yelena wants her mama from back when she was six.
“Mama can’t be here right now,” Natasha’s fingers caress Yelena’s cheek. “But I’m here right now and I hope that can be enough for you.”
Yelena nearly lurches forward, wanting nothing more than to be held by her sister. “It is.”
Okoye and Ayo keep her from falling, their hands gripping her shoulder and upper arms.
Shuri hangs the bag of liquid and Yelena watches the light purple slowly flow down the tubing and disappear into her arm.
“I broke my nose once when I was eleven--” Yelena blurts and Natasha nods her head, letting Yelena talk. “It bled like this kinda. It gushed everywhere. I made such a mess--”
Yelena trails off as she starts to remember.
The front of her shirt, her chin and neck, her hands, everything seemed to be coated in blood. They beat her until the bleeding stopped and then made her clean it up.
Natasha’s hands stroking her cheeks brings her back to the presence. “How about I tell a story now?”
“Can you tell me about SHIELD?” Yelena asked, leaning into the hands more. Whatever was in the bag of liquid was starting to take the pain away in exchange for making her sleepy.
Natasha indulges in Yelena’s request, telling Yelena all about SHIELD. Yelena learns about a man named Phil Coulson who had died in the battle of New York. She learns about a woman named Melinda May who helped Natasha learn to sleep without handcuffs. She learns more about Maria Hill, a woman who had once taken Yelena’s hand to guide her around and would ruffle Yelena’s hair each time she saw her.
Yelena learns all about what Natasha had been up to while free. She learns about Natalie Rushman and working at Stark Industries. She learns of Captain America waking up from the ice, and Bruce Banner and Thor who were currently missing.
She learns that Wanda had a twin brother that gave his life to protect a little boy. She learns that Natasha had trained Wanda for a year before the Sokovia Accords.
Yelena learns that the Avengers were Natasha’s family when Yelena wasn’t. SHIELD looked after Natasha in a way that nobody else ever had.
The bleeding in her nose stops and the guards help her lay on her side as the concoction feeding into her arm makes Yelena uncoordinated and sleepy.
“I wish I could’a met ‘em,” Yelena mumbles, feeling Natasha carefully stroke her hair as Shuri peels BARF from her head. “Coulson. And May. And Thor. And Bruce.”
“They would have loved you,” Natasha whispers with a small smile. “I’m sorry I didn’t go back for you. You could’ve met them.”
“You didn’t know,” Yelena’s so tired but her mind is telling her that it’s not safe to sleep yet. “I don’t blame you. Not anymore.”
Shuri pops back up with a piece of light blue cloth in her hand. “I brought you another shirt and something to drink so your sugars don’t drop. Think you can sit up?”
Yelena just wants a nap but she nods and lets Natasha and Ayo pull her to sit up. Shuri presses a metal cup into Yelena’s hands and she looks down at the liquid.
“It’s guava mango juice,” Shuri replies and Yelena holds the cup out to her sister.
Almost as if Natasha read her mind, she takes the cup and Yelena watches her take a sip before passing the cup back and helping Yelena drink it.
Shuri and the guards then step out so that Natasha can help Yelena change out of her bloodied shirt.
The new shirt that Shuri brought is loose and flowy around Yelena and she isn’t sure if she likes it all that much. She’d gotten used to skin-tight clothing with lots of buttons, snaps, and zippers.
But the shirt is soft and smells of lavender. Not to mention it was a gift from the princess of Wakanda.
Yelena doesn’t remember much more after that. She falls asleep and only wakes slightly when she feels Natasha scoop her up into her arms. She lets her head rest onto her sister’s shoulder, with complete faith that Natasha would protect her.
She’s half-asleep as Natasha carries her out of the lab and presumably back to their room. She can hear the murmured conversation between Shuri, the guards, and Natasha.
“I’m really, really sorry,” Shuri whispers. “I didn’t mean to. How could I have made this big of a miscalculation!”
“I’m not mad at you,” Natasha replies softly. “Accidents happen.”
“I could have accidently melted your sister’s brain out her ears!” Shuri raises her voice.
“But you didn’t,” Okoye interrupts calmly. “Yelena is unharmed, princess. No permanent damage done.”
Shuri lets out a harsh sigh. “I need to call James tonight. He should have told me of the pain he was in. He didn’t even scream.”
Did Yelena scream? Did she thrash and wiggle? Did they hear her?
“It takes a lot for Yelena to admit she is in pain,” Natasha tells the princess. “That was not your fault.”
“I wouldn’t have pushed so hard if I knew the amount of stress it was putting on her brain,” Shuri lets out a groan. “Damned you assassins and your high pain tolerance.”
Natasha lets out a low chuckle. “I’ll talk with her about it tonight.”
Shuri lets out a sigh. “Do you think she’ll be okay to try again tomorrow?”
“You’ll have to ask her that in the morning. We might just stop it here and call it…” Natasha admits and then shifts to heave Yelena up when she starts to slip. “It’s all about what she wants to do.”
“Of course, of course,” Shuri agrees and they come to a stop. “Is there anything that I can do?”
“You’ve already done so much for us. Thank you,” Natasha inclines her head in respect. Ayo steps past Natasha to open the door for her. Natasha shuffles into the room sideways, careful of Yelena’s head.
The door is closed behind them and Natasha walks toward the bed and moves to set her down.
Yelena can’t help the small whine that leaves her lips. She doesn’t mean to but she doesn’t want Natasha to let go of her.
“I didn’t realize you were awake, little one,” Natasha whispers, kissing her forehead as she shifts to sit on the bed and let Yelena curl up in her lap. “How are you feeling?”
“Sleepy…” Yelena pulls her heavy limbs close to curl up into her sister.
“You can sleep,” Natasha’s fingers comb through Yelena’s hair gently.
Yelena forces her eyes open to look up at her sister. She tries to capture the look of love and adoration on her sister’s face to her memory. Moments like these were what Yelena lived for. To be looked upon and know that she’s loved.
Yelena lets her eyes flutter shut, the sight of Natasha’s face still at the front of her memory as she falls asleep.