Chapter 3
‘urghhh its too early’ Yelena groans loudly as Maria drives through the busy streets of New York
‘its 7 am’ Natasha replies quickly and the blonde only replies by breathing on the window of the SHEILD SUV and wiping her baggy hoodie sleeve, watching cars and lights and shops and houses wizz past as the family drive closer and closer to the TRISKELION.
‘why am I doing this again?’ she says and Maria actually laughs
‘well you’ve been crashing in our flat for the last two weeks and I think that the pizza delivery guys know your order off by heart, Netflix has alerted us 5 times about opening up different profiles on your account because it thinks that you are an entire family you watch so much. So you are joining the family business’ the brunette gestures to the large building looming at the end of the bridge
‘posing?’ Lena guesses
‘national security’ Nat supplies ‘SHEILD, the best of the best, and thanks to your incredible connections, mainly through the Deputy Director and Black Widow, which reminds me, thought of your superhero name yet?’
Yelena rolls her eyes ‘what is it with you guys and publicity?’
‘it’s a simple question Lena’
‘white widow’ Yelena says under her breath, then tries again ‘no, that’s stupid forget it’
‘I love it’ Maria says quietly, smiling softly
‘its good’ Natasha agrees
‘clean, clean slate, new leaf, whatever’ Yelena sniffs and Maria laughs again before pulling up at the checkpoint, going into the TRISKELION, then her entire persona changes
‘good morning Commander Hill’ the agent says and hill nods, stiff and cold-faced, pacing over hers and natasha’s identity cards
‘oh and the black widow as well!’ the man looks confused but nat just shurgs
‘I burnt my moterbike last week so I got hill to give me a lift’ she explains and Yelena winds down the window
‘hello’ she says and the man jumps
‘h..hi’
‘this is my sister Yelena Belova’ nat adds ‘shes getting a pass to come in for the day before receiving proper agent status’
‘yep-that’ Yelena agrees and hill winds the window up in her face
‘hey rude’ Yelena starts to complain but is shut up as the blacked out window seals, maria smirks in the rear view mirror so Yelena does the mature things and sticks her tongue out at her, maria waits until she pulled past the checkpoint to return the gesture.
‘woah hill, split personality much’
‘yep, hard ass hill is the terror that runs SHEILD’ Natasha says wisely and hill pokes her
‘right, out now Romanoff, ill see you later’
‘see you’ Natasha leans across the centre console and kisses maria quickly then clambers out off the car with little to no grace at all, almost tripping over her own feet. Maria and lena watch her go
‘wow, she is a clumsy superspy’
‘such a liability’ maria agrees, shaking her head. They park, then maria leads lena through the door into shield.
Yelena is bored 90% of the day. After being poked and proded and scaring the life out of at least 7 doctors (all under Hill’s watchful glare) she was seated in her sister-in-laws office and told not to move, touch or kill anything.
Unsurprisingly she just slept, knife in her boot and head in her arms, twisted into a coil on the soft office chair Natasha had placed in Marias office just for the purpose of sitting on and annoying maria.
Eventually meeting after meeting comes and goes and the day almost draws round ot lunch-that is until the door opens and Agent Roberts walks in. Maria rolls her eyes internally
‘I’m busy’ she tries
‘and I have important news’ he shoots back ‘the Zephyer is coming back to Earth’
Maria’s head snaps up ‘Coulson and his crew? You’re kidding’
‘no, they sent word this morning, spending some time orbiting Jupiter doing repairs so the shp can withstand entering the atmosphere, then coming in sometime on Thurday’
‘good’ maria nods ‘its been a while since they’ve all been around, arrange for a meeting on Friday with myself and Fury for the entire team’
‘Will do ma’am’ Roberts nods them pauses ‘so are you free on Friday, I’d like to take you out for drinks’ maria glares and he tries to backtrack ‘to celebrate-Coulson and the Cavalry being alive and all that, unless you’re busy of course?’
‘Roberts, how many times have our weekly updates turned into conversations about our private lives?’ hill cuts him off sharply and the man goes red
‘twice ma’am’ he replies quickly and maria rolls her eyes
‘and how many of those was I high during, after being on pain meds after being shot’
‘once ma’am’ is the automatic reply. For a moment Yelena almost scoffs at the glare Hill fixes him with, thinking it would never work but even she can outwardly notice the fact the man is now definitely visibly sweating
‘the other time you were impaled’ he gulps, then stands up ‘goodbye Commander’ and he rushes out. Maria holding her gaze until the office door slams shut, when she flips off the closed door.
‘idiot’ she sighs and Yelena hesitates before spurting out
‘so are you like bi or something?’
‘what?’’ Maria is taken a back
‘im not judging or anything im just wondering’
‘why?’ maria starts to tidy her files angrily and Yelena backtracks
‘he was flirting with you. I really don’t care I just don’t want him hitting on you unless youre going to-‘
‘unless what?’ maria cuts her off ‘you think if im bi id cheat on my wife with that scumbag, believe me ive had better offers’
‘then why didn’t you take them’ Yelena replies before she thinks properly
‘excuse me?’ Maria shuts her folder with a snap ‘do you have a problem with me all of a sudden?’
‘no… well yes’ Yelena gets up and starts to pace ‘ive been here for about 5 hours and you’ve been hit on twice, and you haven’t even told your colleagues about your marriage?’
‘and?’
‘I just thought youd be proud of Nat’
‘I am’
‘so why are you hiding this, why don’t you take the other offers and leave her alone rather then hurt her by letting these guys hit on you’
‘that’s just something I have to live with’ maria says, subduing slightly and Yelena winces
‘live with? Seriously?’
‘do you have any idea what its like working in a job like this?’ maria asks suddenly, Yelena opens her mouth, a smartass response ready but Maria cuts her off
‘ive been in this position for 4 years, and I know its changed a a lot, but when I was working my way up it was horrid, the old guard is dying out now and we are coming in but I cant fight some things, I cant shoot all the guys who looked at my boobs instead of my eyes when we talk at a function or the man who grabbed my ass in a an elevator because they are just men being men and he just bumped me.
This will happen. This is the world we live in and its shit but its changing slowly, 50 years ago I was illegal, 15 years ago I couldn’t get married and now you’re saying I should give up the person that means the world to me, just because of some stupid men? That’s not all right Yelena, I have opened my arms to you, opened by home to you and you act like you don’t know me at all’
Maria slumps down in her chair, and opens her laptop ‘you’re dismissed’
‘what? You cant dismiss me I don’t work here’
‘fine, then, but can you just go Yelena, please?’
‘No im not leaving until we’ve worked whatever this is out’ the blonde sits stubbornly, almost sticking out her bottom lip
‘Fine’ maria sits down and sound proofs the room ‘what? What do you want to say to me? What is your issue with me?’
‘Natalia doesn’t laugh’ yelena states ‘Natalia doesnt smile, she doesnt offer to do the school run, or make pancakes, or sneak up behind a women and kiss her hello. My Natalia only smiled when shed won, only looked at children with tears in her eyes, couldnt cook for shit and she didnt love. You broke her’ tears flow easily into yelenas eyes and she blinks them back carefully, adjusting her grip on the chair so the wood splinters slightly as she squeezes her anger out on it
‘You broke my sister, you changed her and made her hollow, you made her normal and carefree and stupid and silly and happy. Thats not her. Thats not my Natalia. Shes fake, the women you claim to love, shes a fake, hollow shell you caved out in your own selfish quest for love’
And thats it. Thats all yelena has heaped onto her shoulder and let sit there-slowly dragging her down. She breaths a sigh of relief then stands expecting to have to dodge a bullet or win an argument but maria is in a daze, staring at her hands
‘If thats all Dr Jones is waiting for you outside’ she says, her voice glassy and breaking slightly, she clears her throat ‘ill see you later at the tower’ then she buzzes the door open and picks up her pen. Yelena doesnt look behind her as she leaves and maria doesnt look up until the room is empty and only the broken chair arms are mocking her silent tears