Black Widow
"Did you ever look for your parents? Your real ones?" Yelena asks her, sitting across from her at the picnic table. Natasha shrugs.
"Well, my mom abandoned me in the street like garbage. What about you?" she said, looking over at the other woman, still not quite believing that she was sitting in front of her after all of these years.
"They destroyed my birth certificate, so I reinvented it. My parents still live in Ohio. My sister moved out west." Yelena said with a smirk, playing with the label on the bottle in front of her. Natasha smiles a bit at the words and how right part of them are.
"Is that right?" she asks, earning another smile from Yelena as she continues.
"You’re a science teacher. You’re working part-time, though, especially after you had your son. Your husband, he renovates houses." Natasha lets out a small huff of laughter at this, surprised at how close she came to the truth. She wonders how honest she should be, looking over at the other woman with a calculating gaze.
"That is not my story." she settles with for now, toying with what to do. Yelena laughs.
"What is your story?" she asks. And Natasha decides to be honest.
"Well I'm not a science teacher, but I did start working part-time because of my son, who does love science like his father." she starts and watches as Yelena's eyes grow wider.
"And my husband does like to renovate houses...sometimes through extreme measures. But he does a bit more than that." Natasha finishes, smirking at the look of shock on her sister's face.
"You have a husband? And a kid?" Yelena asks. Natasha nods with a smile.
"And when we're done bringing down the Red Room, I'll invite you over for dinner to meet them." she says, quirking an eyebrow and earning a smirk in return.
"That sounds like a shitload of work." Yelena responds, still smiling.
"Yep. Could be fun though." Natasha replies.
---
a couple months later
---
Tony walked into the kitchen, head focused on the tablet in his hand.
"Pete, why did JARVIS summon me here? You know I'm trying to finish the new updates on your suit before you're allowed to touch it." Tony said, not looking up. When no one answered he lifted his gaze and stopped short at what he saw. Peter was standing in the middle of an upended bowl of cereal, hand extended out towards a blonde woman who was glaring at him with her arm webbed to the wall behind her.
"Um. What?" was all Tony could get out before Natasha walked into the room. She also stopped short for a minute before looking at the blonde woman and rolling her eyes.
"When I invited you to dinner I assumed you would announce your arrival." she said with a frown, causing the blonde woman to let out a offended gasp.
"Me agreeing to the dinner is announcement enough. Did you know your son could produce webs? Or is that a new development? Seems kind of important." the woman asked casually, and Tony watched in utter confusion as Natasha walked up and cut the woman out of the webs.
"It's rather new, but yes I was aware of it." she said, before turning to Peter. "Pete, what did I say about eating right before dinner?" she asked with a pointed eyebrow, gesturing at the spilled cereal on the ground. Peter snapped out of his reverie and looked between the two women and the spilled cereal, eyes wide.
"Super metabolism?" he said weakly, and Tony watched as Natasha crossed her arms.
"Mhm. Clean it up." she said simply before finally turning Tony's way.
"I'm sorry but can we just like go back a few seconds and discuss our guest?" Tony asked, finally unfreezing. Natasha looked around them before shrugging like nothing was wrong.
"This is my sister Yelena, the one I was telling you about." she said, and Tony let out a breath of relief from finally understanding the situation and watched as Peter stopped cleaning for a second to look up in excitement.
"Aunt Yelena? Hi! Sorry for the web." he said quickly, sending the woman a smile. Tony could tell the title of Aunt affected the woman but he watched as she squared her shoulders and hid the emotion quickly.
"It's okay, it was strange, but okay." Yelena mused with a small smile. Tony spoke up then.
"Yeah hi. You couldn't have knocked? How did you even get in?" he asked, confused. The woman looked at him for a second.
"You live in a tower. On the top level. There's not exactly a front door to knock on?" she said, deadpan. Tony shrugged.
"Fair point. And I'm assuming you're not going to tell me how you got in?" he asked, already knowing the answer. She smiled at him and shook her head, earning a laugh from Peter and a fond smile from Natasha.
"You must be Tony." Yelena said then, and Tony nodded.
"Yes. It's nice to meet you. Even though I didn't know you were coming." Tony said, looking pointedly at Natasha, who glared at him.
"I told both you and Peter this morning that we were having a guest for dinner." she said, with a raised eyebrow. Tony shrugged.
"In my defense we don't really have many friends at the moment so I assumed you meant Pepper." Tony said his arms raised. Peter nodded.
"Yeah same here." he said, and his wife just shook her head but he could see the small smile on her face.
"Dinner will be done in a few minutes, Peter wash your hands." she said before walking out of the room.
"Maybe if you didn't shoot webs and interrogate people when they showed up you would have more friends." Yelena quietly mused before following Natasha out. Tony let his jaw drop in defense. Peter met his eyes and laughed.
"She has a fair point. I'm going to wash my hands before Mama takes away my dessert privileges again." Peter said, shuddering in mock horror. Tony rolled his eyes at his son, waving him out of the room, before he went and joined the two ladies in the kitchen.
---
She felt a nudge on her shoulder half-way through the movie. She looked up to see Yelena pointing towards the other couch. She followed her gaze and smiled at what she saw. Peter was sprawled out across the entire couch, face slack with sleep, head resting in Tony's lap. Tony was sat up straight, head leaning back on the headrest of the couch mouth slightly open as he also slept. She looked down the see his fingers tangled in Peter's hair.
After a few moments she looked over and sees Yelena watching her with a small smile, but Natasha could see the longing in her eyes.
"I'm happy for you. That despite everything you still started a family." Yelena said softly, a genuine smile on her face. Natasha smiled back and sat up a bit, facing her sister full on.
"Hey you're part of the family now. There's no going back." she whispered and Yelena let out a small laugh before shaking her head.
"No, I don't belong. But it's fine." she said, self-deprecating smile on her face. Natasha shook her head and grabbed Yelena's hand.
"I don't think you get it. You're part of my family, just as much as Tony and Peter. You belong. It's a different story if you don't want to be, but don't think it's because you don't belong or we don't want to. I want you here, if you want to be here." Natasha said firmly, and she could see Yelena's mask slip. Her eyes turned glassy and she nodded with a wobbly smile.
"I want to. Please." she whispered as if she wasn't allowed to be agreeing. Natasha nodded and patted her hand.
"Good. Because Peter's already attached. He asked me earlier if he could add you to our family group chat. He named it IronBug family." Natasha said, turning to the TV to give Yelena a moment to herself.
"I would be honored. But that name is awful." she said, and Natasha laughed.
"I'm sure you guys could come up with something." she said with a wink, earning a bright smile from Yelena before it turned timid again.
"What if I'm not good at it? Being part of a family?" she asked quietly. Natasha felt her heart break a bit, but she understood.
"I used to feel that way too. After Peter was born. But Tony reminded me that I just had to let myself be loved and I would learn to love in return. So just let us be there for you." she said, and Yelena thought over her words before nodding again.
"Okay. I'll give it a shot." Natasha smiled.
"Good. I'm glad you're here." she said, finally pulling Yelena into a hug. Yelena cuddled up to her side, before they both silently agreed to turn their attention to the movie that was still playing, both having said enough.
---
Peter woke up and scrunched his nose. He looked around blearily and saw his dad asleep above him, and his mom asleep on the couch across from them. He didn't see Yelena anywhere but just as he was about to get up he heard a quiet noise coming from the kitchen.
He got up slowly so he wouldn't wake his dad up and tiptoed into the kitchen. Right as he walked in, Yelena tuned around with a hesitant smile.
"I made some macaroni and cheese if you want some?" she said, holding out the pot. Peter smiled.
"I'd love some." she smiled and nodded, placing the pot on the island and Peter settled on one side of it. She turned around and rummaged through a couple drawers before turning around holding up two forks. Peter stifled a laugh at the look on her face.
"Is all your cutlery this fancy?" Yelena asked, frowning at the sparkling silver forks. Peter smiled.
"Yeah unfortunately. Aunt Pepper insisted. Hold on." Peter said, walking over and opening his usual drawer.
"This is my favorite silverware." he said gesturing to the drawer of utensils he's had since he was a toddler.
"This is children cutlery." Yelena stated looking down with a frown, her accent thick. Peter laughed.
"Yeah its from when I was younger. But I still use it cause it's better than the fancy ones. My favorite is my Bob the Builder one." he said holding up a small yellow fork, clearly made for a toddler. Yelena stared at him a small smile on her face.
"Okay, pick one for me." she said, eyes sparkling. Peter smiled.
"Here. You have to use the Ironman one. It lights up when it changes temperature. Dad designed it." he said, holding up a red and gold fork. Yelena snorted.
"Kind of full of himself isn't he?" she said, but took the fork anyway and followed him back to the island. They settled on either side, facing each other, both eating straight out of the pot.
"Only sometimes. I promise though he's only like that with the public. He actually hates himself...which we're working on." Peter said in determination through a bite of mac and cheese. Yelena watched him for a moment before nodding.
"Hey! Can I add you to our family group chat?" Peter asked for a moment, and he could tell this surprised Yelena by the slack in her jaw. He watched as she pulled herself together and nodded.
"I would be honored." she answered and Peter smiled at her.
"Good. I'm thinking maybe since you're a black widow too, we can somehow overrule my dad and have a bug themed name." Peter mused, stabbing a chunk of noodles. Yelena chewed with a smile and nodded.
"I think we definitely could." she said quietly, the smile never leaving her eyes.
"Oh and we can add you to our Secret Santa! We don't have as many people as usual, only us and Pepper, Happy and Rhodey. But now we can add you!" Peter said again, hoping Yelena would take this as confirmation that she was a full member of their family.
He could tell she was more affected than she wanted to show, so he focused his attention on putting a noodle on each ring of his fork.
"You would want me here for Christmas?" Yelena finally asked, and before Peter could answer a slurred voice answered for him.
"Oh you have to come for Christmas. It's a big deal here." his dad said, voice thick with sleep. He saw Yelena smile from the corner of his eye but he was more focused on how his dad was headed for the coffee machine at 4 a.m.
"Hey no." he said, standing up quickly and walking over to his dad and putting the mug back on the shelf.
"It's 4 a.m. No coffee." he said sternly, and his dad blinked at him sleepily before groaning.
"But...coffee." his dad whined and Peter rolled his eyes.
"Don't make me get Mama." he warned and at that his dad's eyes widened.
"Fine." he grumbled. Peter laughed and looked over at Yelena who was watching the scene with curious eyes.
"I'm going to take him to bed. I'll text you about Christmas...unless you're going to be here tomorrow?" he asked her, hoping she would say yes.
"Yeah. I'll be here." she answered and Peter grinned.
"Good. Okay, come on old man. Bed time." he said pulling his dad out of the room and leading him to his room.
"I like her." Tony mumbled.
"Me too." Peter replied.
---
flash forward to a couple months after the events of Endgame
---
"Peter get the door please!" Natasha yelled from the kitchen where she was attempting to get Maria to eat some baby food. Most of it had made it's way onto her clothes though.
"Are we expecting someone?" Peter yelled back but she could hear him heading to the door. She racked her brain for potential visitors and couldn't think of anyone, but it could be any of the Avengers. She heard the front door open before she could answer and heard Peter let out a gasp. She stood quickly, barely remembering to move the food out of Maria's reach before rushing to the next room.
She stopped short at the sight of Peter hugging a familiar blonde figure in the door way.
"Yelena?" she gasped out. Peter pulled away from the woman then and she smiled at Natasha.
"Hey." she said lamely, lifting one had in a wave. Natasha let out a wet laugh and rushed over to pull her sister into a hug.
"Where have you been?" Natasha demanded. Yelena sniffed a bit before pulling away and brushing her hair out of her eyes.
"Well I was dusted...and then by the time we were all back everything was so crazy and I didn't know where you were so I had to sniff around." she said with a shrug.
"I'm so sorry I should have come to look for you." Natasha said, her stomach filling with guilt. Yelena smiled and shook her head.
"I saw Peter on the list of vanished when I came to. I knew you had more important stuff to do. Besides I'm here now." she said softly, smiling at Natasha and squeezing her arm in comfort. Peter perked up at this.
"For how long?" he asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Yelena smiled at him and pulled him into another hug while ruffling his hair.
"For as long as you'll have me." she answered, earning a beaming smile from Peter and a soft one from Natasha.
"Forever then. You can have the room between me and Maria." Peter said excitedly. Natasha nodded in agreement until she saw the confused look on her sister's face at Maria's name. Before she could explain she heard her husband's footsteps coming up from behind them.
"Okay if Pepper calls, tell her Steve was the one who let Gerald into the garden. I can't handle another lecture, and that alpaca has it out for me." Tony was saying as he entered the room, a now clean Maria on his hip, babbling away. He looked up after a second and his eyes flew around a bit before landing on Yelena.
"Lena!" he cheered, passing Maria off to Natasha and pulling the woman into a hug. She could see Yelena looking at Maria but she was still smiling and hugging Tony tightly.
"Hey Robot-man." she smiled. Tony pulled away, mouth wide in a smile.
"Hey very convenient of you to show up after all the hard work is done." Tony teased her, to which Yelena rolled her eyes.
"Hey I was dust for a bit there. And how was I supposed to know that as soon as I was back you would want to fight an evil purple grape man in the middle of New York?" Yelena sassed right back, making Tony and Peter laugh.
"You're a funny one. You're staying right? I'll have the room by Peter done up for you." Tony said, wrapping an arm around the woman and steering them all into the living room.
"Thank you, Tony. Really. I'm excited to just settle down for a bit." Yelena said taking a seat across from them in the chair. Tony had sat down next to Natasha on the couch with Peter obnoxiously balanced on the back of it.
"So...the baby?" Yelena finally asked, pointing at Maria as if it needed to be specified who she was talking about. She felt Tony sit up straighter.
"Our daughter. Pepper was our surrogate. We had her during the year we thought Peter was...yeah." Tony explained. Natasha watched Yelena carefully gauging her reaction. She watched as her sister's eyes grew shiney and she smiled a wobbly smile.
"Can I?" she asked hoarsely. Natasha nodded, feeling tears of her own prickling her eyes. She handed Yelena her daughter and watched as Yelena held her gently, her eyes flicking all over her features.
"She's beautiful." Yelena whispered as Maria babbled and played with her necklace. Natasha smiled.
"Thank you." she said, and Yelena looked up at her and nodded. Natasha felt herself uncoil with relief that her sister was genuinely happy for her, not knowing why she was worried in the first place.
---
Later that evening found Natasha and Yelena sitting in front of the fireplace, Tony off putting Maria to bed and Peter face-timing MJ and Ned.
"I'm really happy for you Natasha. Really. I know how hard it must have been to lose Peter and then try and move on." Yelena spoke up suddenly, and Natasha felt a knot form in her throat so she just nodded. She never really talked about what happened, more focused on taking care of everyone else. Yelena seemed to pick up on this and nodded.
"Do you want to tell me about it?" she asked gently, and Natasha blinked up at her letting out a shaky breath. She nodded but it took her a moment to figure out where to start. Yelena just waited patiently.
"I thought I lost both of them at first. Because they got taken up to space...and after the snap we hadn't heard anything from them. But then we got word from Tony, but I knew Peter was gone. It felt like my heart was ripped out." she said quietly, staring into the fire. She felt Yelena grab her hand and squeeze it, and she continued.
"Tony was really broken. He tried to think of a way to fix everything for the first couple weeks, but it just made him depressed. So we discussed it and Pepper agreed. Then Steve and Scott showed up with an idea, and Tony figured it out in one night. And we got him back." she said. Yelena just sat there silently, studying her.
"And then Maria came. And now I have all this. I couldn't be happier." Natasha said, smiling at her sister. Yelena smiled back.
"You are the strongest woman I know. I can't imagine how hard all of that was." Yelena said, her tone full of admiration.
"It was hard. Sometimes I forget Peter is back, and I get scared and freeze up. But usually he's there to babble on about what he and Tony blew up in the lab that week until I'm back." Natasha said and they both laughed quietly. They sat in silence for a moment.
"I'm really glad you're here. I feel like I finally have all of my family back." Natasha said. Yelena let a tear slip out of her eye.
"Thank you for letting me be a part of your family." she said.
"I wouldn't have it any other way." she said, pulling her sister into a hug. They cuddled on the couch, Natasha sharing stories of everything Yelena had missed while she was away. Eventually Tony came in and handed them both mugs of hot chocolate before pressing gentle kisses to both of their foreheads before retiring to bed himself.
Natasha finally felt complete, surrounded by her family.
And that's all she would ever need.
---
THE END.