Chapter 1
‘Mama, mama look how high im going’ Anya shouts, swinging as hard as she can on the swings, blonde hair flying behind her. Natasha is stood a little way off and smiles supportively, her mind wandering as she watches her daughter play
‘wow she is so like you’ a heavily accented Russian voice speaks behind her and in an instant Natasha has twisted, pressing herself close to the mystery women, hiding the tiny knife pricking into the intruder.
‘if you’d wanted a kidney you could have just asked’ the woman drawls, not the slightest bit concerned about the 2 inch dagger stabbing into her abdomen
‘I could have donated one or whatever you do. Humans can live without their kidney right? Or is that the liver?’ her forehead furrows in concentration and she tilts her head slightly
‘we didn’t really get science lessons in assassin school, biology was pretty much where to stab 101 and hysterectomies’
‘Yelena?’ Nat looks at the woman who gasps dramatically and pinches herself
‘in the flesh!’
‘what…what are you doing here?’ Natasha asks suddenly and Yelena raises her eyebrows
‘hey, a girl cant travel halfway across the world to attend her big sisters funeral?’ she jokes and Nat stops in her place, looking down at the floor, theres silence for a moment before Yelena sighs
‘this is bullshit’
‘I agree’ Nat nods ‘but…why are you here Lena?’
‘well, I came to kill Clint’
‘you what-?’ Nat squeaks and the blonde shrugs
‘I thought he killed you, so I was prepared to kill him, but then I heard on the news you were back so I swapped my flight from Ohio to here’ she grins ‘came to find you’
‘Yelena…. I….’ Nat waits for a moment, but words fail to match her feels so all she can do it leans forward, touching her forehead to her sisters, they stay like that for a while, neither wanting to pull away, reveling in the feeling of family.
After the snap Natasha had searched for 5 names in the database, first Maria’s, then Anya’s, then Yelena’s, then Melina’s, then Alexei’s.
They were all gone.
Every member of her family had gone, and when she had the chance to bring them all back shed taken it, shed taken it in a moment, sacrificing herself to get them all back.
‘so, you’re a mama’ Yelena stands back and looks over to where Anya’s trying to swing all the way over the swing, her voice softens as she continues gently
‘does that make me an aunt?’
‘I mean…’ Natasha starts to explains but as they watch Anya swings one final time, flipping herself off the swing before landing crouched, left leg out straight and right crouched under her, one hand on the floor and the other out in front of her for balance. She waits for a moment before flicking her long hair dramatically and running over to her mother.
‘such a poser!’ Yelena squawks, grinning and Natasha rolls her eyes
‘who are you?’ Anya asks, looking up at the blonde woman, who pouts and crouches down next to her
‘hey kiddo im Yelena’
The girl scans her, taking in the trendy clothing and dip dyed hair
‘Yelena?’ her big eyes turn to Nat
‘as in Auntie Lena? The one you tell me bedtime stories about? That Auntie Lena?’
Yelena freezes, her eyes filling with tears
‘yes sweetie, this is The Auntie Lena’
For a moment the girl just smiles then she jumps forward, hugging Yelena tight around the waist and burying her head into her stomach
‘you saved mama, you helped her live’ she smiles and Natasha smiles softly, watching two of her favourite and most loved people in the world meet.
‘she saved my life too’ Yelena states simply and then death glares Nat ‘but never returned my vest’
Anya releases her new aunt and runs off again in a whirl, this time climbing the climbing frame in record time and swinging across the monkey bars.
‘so…’ Yelena rocks on her feet, shoving her hands in her pockets ‘she’s adopted right… so does she have an adoptive dad or are you doing the single mum thing?... I’ve tried that for a while’
‘you? Tried a single mum thing, adopt a child? You? Yelena Belova? What happened; did you kill them by accident?’ Natasha asks quickly, breezing aver the first question and Yelena snorts
‘shes still alive’
‘are you sure?’ Nat raises her eyebrows
‘definitely, she is beautiful and lovely and loyal’
‘loyal?’
‘shes a dog okay, I got a dog?’ Yelena snaps and waits, expecting Natasha to laughs but she redhead doesn’t, instead she nods simply
‘you said you would’
‘you got your daughter and I got my dog’ Yelena waits ‘but seriously, is there anyone I need to meet? got yourself a mystery man yet?’
‘there is someone id like you to meet’ Nat trails off and Yelena turns to where her eyes have wandered; a woman is walking over to them, her dark hair pulled back in a bun at the back of her neck, wearing a suit and speaking on the phone.
‘женщина да?’ (a woman huh?) she asks with an eyebrow raised and Nat stiffened
‘oh no, not a problem sestra, I really don’t mind, but im offended you never said anything to me’
‘it’s a kind of new revelation’
‘really?’
‘fine, not new at all, but I just... we’ve been together a while’
‘how long?’ Yelena asks simply as the woman gets closer
‘urm… a while’
‘a while?’
‘it was a fling before SHEILD fell, then got proper just before civil war, she stayed on my side through it all, then saved my butt several times I was on the run. We got real during the 2 year gap between Russia and Wakanda. She was…. She was the one who kept me running, on my toes, she reminded me of everything I have to live for, everything I need to learn to love’
‘so you love her’
‘with my entire being’ Natasha smiles, her eyes glazing over slightly
‘she was blipped wasn’t she’ Yelena works out, and nat’s eyes snap back to meet her ‘that’s why you died, to get her and your daughter back’
‘and you’ Natasha corrects ‘you are my family, I died for my family’
‘hey’ the woman calls and Yelena spins around with Nat
‘hey Mia’ Nat hugs her tightly and Yelena watches her relax, as a trained spy Nat’s good at hiding her feelings, but as her sister Yelena can see how she feels so much more at ease and safe in the brunette’s arms.
‘hello?’ Yelena questions and the brunette turns around, scanning her with the eyes of a spy. Yelena notes her posture and stance-definitely exmilitary, scans her right back-definatly spy related, and with a ring on a chain around her neck-married. Natalia Alianova Romanova! Yelena thinks you didn’t invite your own sister to your wedding.
‘Maria Hill, nice to meet you…’ she shakes her hand, and Lena notes her grip is strong and her palms calloused-definitely a spy/soldier
‘Yelena’
‘-Belova, I know, Nat talks about you a lot’ Maria smiles gently, Yelena looks at Nat
‘Она горячая’ (shes hot) she notes and Nat smirks
‘я знаю’ (I know) she replies
‘do you have a place to stay, or do you want to stay with us? we have a spare room at the tower.’ Maria asks and Yelena smiles
‘умная?’ (clever?) she asks Nat and the redhead nods
‘Очень’ (very)
‘I would love to stay with you guys, also I didn’t book a hotel so I was really hoping you would offer’ Yelena turns back to Maria, then to Nat
‘своего рода? Хорошо для тебя?’ (kind? Good to you?) she checks
‘Всегда’ (always)
‘никогда не причинял тебе вреда, никогда не угрожал тебе?’ (never hurt you? Never threated you?) she glares at Natasha who doesn’t even squirm
‘никогда, она спасла меня сестренку, она знает, как остановить мои кошмары и остановить мои слезы и сомнения, она моя семья’ (never, she saved me little sister, she knows how to stop my nightmares and stop my tears and doubts, she is my family) she replies calmly and Yelena nods simply.
‘тогда она тоже моя семья’ (then shes my family too)
Natasha is nervous about them meeting and by the end she practically regrets letting them meet each other at all, not because they hate each other, but instead because they seem to have one piece of common ground- Natasha- mostly making fun of her and complaining about her.
45 minutes later Nat looks up from gently plaiting back Anya’s hair to uncontrollable giggles
‘-I know and she poses’ Yelena’s laughing loudly, mimicking the pose, almost making Maria roll over laughing
‘so much, she is such a show off with the cameras! You should see her at red carpet events’ Maria rolls her eyes ‘the suits and dresses she wears are bigger than Banner’s Hulk suit, she could hardly fit through the door last Met Gala’
‘I saw that on the news’ Yelena wheezes ‘she looked like a pom pom’
‘wow I thought mushroom, but pom pom works too’
‘ahh’ Yelena squawks ‘mushroom!’
‘okay, okay, I think we’re having a little bit too much fun now’ Natasha frowns moodily and Maria snorts at her grumpiness
‘okay fine, you looked like a beautiful mushroom Talia, the most beath-taking mushroom I have ever seen in my life’
Natasha glares at her wife, then turns to Anya ‘honey do you mind going and tickling Mum for me, make sure you climb all over her and if you pull her hair by accident its not that big of a deal’
Maria screams as her daughter attacks her and for the next 5 minutes the family turns on each other, Yelena remembering how ticklish Nat’s feet were while Maria picking up her daughters and spins her around on her back.
They stay in the park for hours, talking and playing, Yelena hearing about the wedding and looking at photos of baby Anya that Nat shows off proudly. Eventually they get ready to leave to go to the tower but Maria hangs back to talk to Yelena, whos waiting, watching Nat walking ahead Anya on her shoulders.
‘Я люблю твою сестру Елену, и я никогда не причиню ей вреда и не буду угрожать ей, я буду защищать ее до того дня, когда умру, и буду с ней рядом, пока она мне позволяет.’ (i love your sister yelena, and i will never hurt or threaten her, I will protect her until the day I die and stay by her side for as long as she lets me.) she says quietly and Yelena stops, staring at the woman
‘ты говоришь по-русски?’ (you speak Russian?) she asks in disbelief and Maria snorts
‘Конечно’(of course I do) she starts to walk away, then turns, taking one of the blondes bags and slinging it over her shoulder ‘а Елена?’ (and Yelena?)
‘да мария’ (yes Maria) the Russian smirks
‘добро пожаловать в семью, я считаю, что мне повезло, что ты золовка’ (welcome to the family, I considor myself lucky to have you as a sister in law) Maria says slowly, the words well pronounced and deliberate.
‘черт возьми, ты заставишь меня плакать.’ (aww crap you’ll make me cry) Yelena groans but throws her arm over Maria shoulders anyway
‘im happy to be here, sestra, and you have no idea how lucky you are to have me’
‘stupidi russi arroganti’ (stupid arrogant Russians) Maria sighs under her breath in Italian and Yelena smirks
‘fastidiosi americani multilingue’ (annoying multi-lingual Italians) she replies.