The range
‘sooooo’ Yelena pulls out the word ‘Im here now, you’ve got both your families, a job at SHEILD, a sister who’ she flicks her hair ‘is pretty amazing, whats next black widow?’ she asks, laying back on the sofa in the break room.
Both agents were at SHEILD, Yelena had officially been an agent for 6 months and they’re celebrating by, well, having a good gossip, kicking all the agents out of the break room and flopping onto the sofas
‘urm not sure’ nat laughs
‘really?’ Yelena raises an eyebrow ‘cus I have an idea’
‘oh no?’ nat rolls her eyes ‘blow up the white house?’
‘no’ Yelena blushes ‘that’s third on the list, first is love’ she declares happily and, in a moment, shes ducking a pillow thrown at her head
‘shut up’
‘come on nattie, tell me, when was the time time you fell in love’
Natasha mumbles some nonsense under her breath and Yelena grins
‘see exactly’ Yelena reaches in to her vest pocket ‘so I made a list’
She pulls out a ruined dog ball
‘oh hang on’ she pats herself down and opens another one
‘ahah’ she says, pulling out a piece of paper ‘here’ she clears her throat and opens the last fold and grey powder scatters all over the sofa
‘oh shit that’s pure explosives’ she stands up, brushes herself off and confidently brushes the powder under the sofa
‘I swear its in her somewhere’ she open the biggest pocket and searches around in it
‘ahh, urmmm, hang on’ out comes a slice of cold pizza, some bullets, a tampon (yes shes aware she doesn’t have her period but she always carried in case her friends need one-what? She read about 50 articles on how to make friends when she came to Shield, and this thing was number 24 on three lists. And they’re good at stopping nose bleeds and general blood, as well as an effective way of scattering Men) and finally a piece of bark
‘it was a nice tree okay’ Yelena says, noting her sisters eyebrow raise as she places it carefully on the table ‘I slept in it then fell out of it onto a metal pole’
Then ‘aha!’ she yells ‘knew it was in here somewhere’
The blonde wields a tiny scrap of paper happily and uncrumples it, narrowing her eyes to try and read the squiggles on it
‘okay, urm. Yelena’s list of love’ she clears her throat again and Natasha prays for her life
‘number one-steve rogers’
Na opens her mouth to protest but Yelena holds up a finger
‘pros-muscly, kind, hot, superhero, team mate, cons- slightly naïve, the turtle of justice, still is unsure how a lightbulb properly works’
‘next-well it was Clint’ she shrugs ‘but then I met Laura’
Thank god’ Nat sighs ‘and no to Steve’
‘keep your options open’ Yelena says airily ‘I haven’t finished the list yet’
‘number three- Thor I don’t really have any pros or cons but he’s a sweet hot guy whos also a prince-of an entire planet’ she winks conspiringly ‘yeah?’
‘no’
‘all right, tough crowd’ Yelena unfolds the end of the list ‘I was honestly thinking id have a better reaction to Captain America, but we also have T’Challa-just think, you could be queen-you know what that means?’
‘I have no idea how you think Yelena’ Natasha replies dryly ‘do tell‘
‘okay. You’ she points at Natasha ‘Queen’ then she points at herself ‘me-princess’
‘no’
‘shame I would rock a crown’ Yelena move on ‘no way to bruce’
‘thank god we both agree on somethings’
‘and then theres others, Peter Quill’
‘hell no’
‘Fury’s too old’
‘thank god’
‘and well, we’re back to Steve’
‘no’
‘why not’ Yelena wines ‘there’s not many cons, you could…just you know’ she shrugs childishly ‘fall in love, get married, I could have a brother in law, we could go to nicks games together, and each hot dogs in half time. We could have deep emotional talks over your bedside after you’re shot and out cold, talk about our childhood and pian and struggles and he could hug me every time he saw me. He’s taller than both of us so had make fun of how small we are, and offer to get things off the top shelf for me, and carry my bags when we go on family holidays, he would call me ma’am when he firsts meets me, and I could shovel talk him and make sure he never leaves your side’ Yelena sniffs and blink angrily at Natasha ‘I’d have a big brother Natasha’
Nat stops and gently reaches out, wiping Yelena’s eye and catching her hand, holding it gently and looking right into her eyes
‘Yelena Belova, you don’t need Steve Rogers as your big brother’ she says softly ‘you… you are going to have a big sister.’
‘what?’ Yelenas brow creases and she pulls away from Natasha ‘what do you mean? What are you talking about’
‘you are going to have a sister in law, she loves the nicks, im sure shed go with you and definitely eat hot dogs in half time although she might shoot you if you have ketchup and mustard. She’ll talk to you about your emotions and she has childhood pain and struggles and she gives the most amazing hugs’ Natasha smiles, almost able to feel marias arms around her as Yelena’s expression slowly changes from confusion to shock
‘shes taller than me and will make fun of our height and will always grab everything for you and carry your bags. She wont call you ma’am though, but you can shovel talk her and she will never leave my side. You will have a big sister Yelena’
‘I don’t understand’ Yelena says quietly, rubbing her eyes ‘what are you saying? What do you mean?’
‘my urm… my girlfriend… she proposed to me three weeks ago. We… we’re getting married in December’
Yelena stops, and suddenly moves back on the sofa, her arms snaking back from Natasha, whose stomach drops and eyes prick with tears
‘please Yelena’
‘no, I don’t, I don’t understand’ she blonde rubs her hands together ‘natasha I don’t’ she starts to breathe fast, her breath catching in her throat ‘I don’t get it Nattie, what do you mean’
‘Im getting married Lena, Im marrying a beautiful, incredible, talented, smart, kind woman and you deserve to know’
‘you’re marrying a woman?’ Yelena asks, twisting her fingers carefully and trying to breathe evenly in a pattern, slowing down the panic rising in her chest
‘im marrying an amazing person’ Nat corrects gently
‘but a woman?’
‘yes Lena’
‘who? Who is it? Who am I losing my sister to?’ Yelena snaps
‘Maria’
‘I know that name’ Yelena says, her mind working fast, natasha almost able to see the cogs turning in her head
‘Commander Hill’ she says soflty and Yelena narrows her eyes
‘no’
‘yes’
‘no?’
‘yes’
‘no.’
‘Yelena im serious okay’ Natasha rolls her eyes ‘if you cant accept it that’s fine I don’t care, but I wanted you at my wedding, I mean-you’re my family, you should be there when I get married’
‘I know that.’ Yelena pauses ‘I just thought I would walk you down the aisle to a nice guy, with short hair and who always shaves, who has a deep voice and walks around topless to make other women jealous even though he would never ever cheat on you’
‘I’m sorry you aren’t getting that’ Natasha whispers ‘I’m so sorry Yelena, I just, I need… Maria is… shes my life’ her eyes fill with tears and she holds the space on her left hand
‘I thought we were your life’ Yelena gestures around her and Natasha shrugs
‘no’ Yelena shakes her head and stands up ‘no, im talking to her, I’m talking to Maria-I don’t, I don’t believe you’ and with a slam of the door shes gone.
Natasha lets herself cry for 5 minutes, screaming into the pillow Yelena threw at her and then she lets her head fall into her arms and sleeps, exhausted by the trials and tribulations of having Yelena Belova as a sister.
---
Maria breathes, one, twice and then squeezes the trigger
Bang, bang
Bang
Bang, bang
She grins to herself as she winds the silhouette towards her. It has five holes in it, two just off center on the forehead, two on the heart, right then left and one on the side of the neck, just grazing off the side
‘you missed the last one’ a Russian voice speaks right behind her ear and Maria almost jumps and spins on her heel to see Yelena glaring up at her
‘no I didn’t, I tried to hit the femoral artery, they’d bleed out in 2 minutes, so we could save them if theyd be useful to us’
‘huh’ Yelena snorts and maria winds it back out, picking up the gun again
‘you here to practise?’ she asks, gesturing to the free booth on her left
‘I don’t need practise’ Yelena huffs, but doesn’t leave, Maria is unruffled, starting to aim and is about to squeeze the trigger when
‘are you marrying my sister?’ Yelena asks suddenly and BANG the gun goes off, the bullet sailing past, totally missing the target and lodging itself into the back wall
‘you are a shit shot’ Yelena notes and Maria clicks on safelty before dropping it on the table
‘she told you’ is all she says
‘so its true?’ Yelena cant believe her ears
‘yes’ maria looks up ‘yes, im marrying nat in december’
‘and you proposed to her’
‘yes’
‘and she said yes?’
‘you don’t haven’t to sound so surprised’ Maria looks offended and Yelena glares
‘no, she cant’
‘she cant?’ maria raises her eyebrows ‘how did natasha react when you told her that’
‘she didn’t’ Yelena picks up her own gun
‘okay. Whats your problem then?’ maria picks up her own and clicks off safety
‘I don’t have one’ Yelena shoots the target straight in the head and maria scoffs
‘sure you don’t’ she says, squeezing the trigger and hitting the heart
‘how long?’
‘5 years’ Maria hits bullseye ‘I waited until you were here to propose though, I thought she’d tell you sooner’
Bullseye. Maria raises an eyebrow cockily and Yelena winds the silhouette further back
‘well she didn’t. and I don’t like this’
She hits right between the eyes and maria readies herself to take the shot
‘she loves me’ BANG’ and she wants to spend the rest of her life with me’ BANG ‘we’re getting married Yelena, you can’t stop it’ BANG
Three shots, to the head, two hitting bullseye, one slightly off
‘if you widened your stance you’d hit more accurately’ Yelena sing songs, taking her place in front of maria
‘I’m not going to stop her, I just want to know why she would do this’ Yelena shoots once and to Marias annoyance hits dead centre in the chest
‘why she would abandon her family to marry some random women she works with’
‘ah’ maria grins, finally feeling like shes getting somewhere, and narrows her eyes, aiming carefully
‘so are you annoyed shes apparently abandoning her family?’ the ticks them off her on her fingers like a list ‘marrying a woman? or marrying me?’
Shes about to take the shot when Yelena taps her on the shoulder, she spins that way and Yelena slams her full body weight into her other side, making maria stumble and totally miss the shot
‘suchka’ maria murmurs, but Yelena just smirks smugly
‘Im pissed because ive never heard about you, natasha calls me every Friday, even when I wasn’t here, she’d call me, update me, rant to me, laugh with me, cry to me, she told me everything and yet never’ BANG ‘once’ BANG ‘did she mention’ BANG ‘you.’
‘I was there’ maria says softly, putting the gun down ‘Im always there, she calls from our house. You know last December she could only call for a few minutes because she was going out’
‘yes’ yelena admits
‘she was gong out with me, we went ice skating in central park, and a few weeks ago, she was crying when she picked up the phone’
‘uh huh’
‘id just proposed, I was hugging her and she was on the sofa with me, and we were wrapped in a blanket, crying and talking and she called you, the first person she wanted to tell you’
‘but she didn’t’
‘because she was scared you’d react like this!’ maria exclaims, pointing to the target
‘I mean you tried to bloody out shoot me!’
‘and I did’ Yelena smirks cockily and maria sighs
‘she was scared Yelena, she didn’t want to lose you’
‘that’s stupid’ Yelena frowns and Maria shrugs
‘you cant be too careful, I mean we couldn’t even get married 15 years ago, I could have been fired during my time in the army had I come out, we can still lose out jobs. People cross the road sometimes when we’re holding hands, someone turned their child away from us in a book shop the other day’
‘I wouldn’t do that, Natasha knows that’
‘she didn’t, she didn’t want to risk losing you’ Maria siles gently and takes yelenas hand as the blonde turns away ‘I am her world, but you… you Yelena Belova are her universe’
There’s silence for a moment as Maria hopes with every cell in her being for Yelena to accept her sister and Yelena wonders grudgingly if she should, why the hell Natasha wouldn’t want to marry Steve rogers and what was for dinner
Then at last
‘fine’
‘good’ maria grins and starts to walk out of the room ‘well, you coming?’
‘where are we going?’
‘to tell Nat’
‘tell her what?’
‘youll be at the wedding’
‘of course I’ll be at the wedding im her sister’
‘precisely’ maria relies quickly, opening the break room door and putting a finger to her lips when she notices nat’s asleep.
Yelena is about to leap forward and jump on her sister, but she hesitates when he sees Maria walking forward and beginning to crouch down
‘hey’ maria says gently, stroking natashas hair away from her face
‘hey’ natasha croaks, opening her eyes slowly and blinking at Maria ‘you heard about it then?’
‘yes’ maria kissing natashas knuckles gently and then stands aside ‘and Yelena has something shed like to say’
Yelena stands like a robot
‘I… um… baisicaclly I was very unprepared. And its weird you know, seeing your sister and your top secret spy commander’ she laughs awkwardly ‘but yeah, im cool with everything and id love to come to the wedding… If… if youll have me’ Natasha takes one look at Maria who nods and leaps across the room to hug her sister
‘of course you can come’ she shouts, spinning Yelena around
‘yes’
Okay okay’ yelena wiggles her way back to the floor ‘can I be maid of honor?’
‘really Yelena? Natasha rolls her eyes ‘yes, fine allright’
‘yeah!’ yelena woops ‘my big sisters getting married’ she pouts dramatically and puts her arm around natasha
‘yeah yeah little baby one, maybe ill set you up with Steve’ Natasha flicks her pony tail and Yelena shrugs
‘sure’ she looks over at maria whos watching them hugs
‘allright get in here commander’
Maria rolls her eyes at the name but all the same lets both of them hug her tightly, somewhere in the middle of her fiancée and her sister, with their hair tangled together and marias breath hot on her check and Yelena’s picket knife almost stabbing her thought the casing Natasha sends a small prayer to god, her mother, whoever’s up there and just thanks them because finally shes got her whole, entire family.