Chapter Text
“You should come back with me.”
Yelena gave her sister a puzzled glance at this. “What?”
“You said you don’t have anywhere to go back to, so, come with me.” She put the vest on carefully as she smiled at her little sister, watching as her expression changed from confused to doubtful.
“Are you serious?” Natasha saw the slightest hint of tears in Yelena’s eyes; she hadn’t been shown this much love since she was 6 and Nat would bandage up her injuries after a soccer game. Natasha thought back to all the times she would kneel in front of her sister whilst gently blowing on the wound and treating her with so much care you would never guess all that she had already been through.
“I am. Besides, you living with us gets me one step closer to not being outnumbered by men.” She scoffed, the playful tone to her voice easing Yelena’s worries.
“Wait- us?”
Natasha just laughed at this, taking her sister’s hand in her own and squeezing it gently, as if to say ‘trust me’.
And she did. She always would.
***
The journey to the compound was long, almost excruciatingly long according to Yelena. Luckily, Mason had sent them a jet as soon as he knew roughly when they planned to land the red room (although Nat had told him to wait with the jet quite far from the planned landing site, just in case). She could have called Tony, but she figured he would connect her location and request to the footage all over the news, and she did not particularly feel like answering all of his questions over the phone. She had, however, messaged him a few hours before landing, after doing a considerable amount of overthinking on whether she should have told him beforehand.
nat: hey please dont ask any questions but i need you to do something for me
Tony: Nat with our line of work you know I’m probably going to ask questions, but sure what is it?
nat: i just need you to have one of the spare rooms set up, preferably whichever is closest to mine ???
Tony: Who for?? How long are they staying?
nat: i dont know how long, just assume permanent. if thats okay ?
Tony: That’s fine, Nat, I trust you. Who is it for?
nat: ok ill tell you, but dont tell anyone. please. ill explain when im back later.
Tony: You’re starting to worry me, but okay.
nat: its for my sister. yelena? ive spoken about her before
Tony: Yeah I remember, is everything okay??
nat: it is now.
nat: oh and please dont make the room like, military setup. thats not what she needs after everything.
Tony: Sure, it’ll be done within the hour. :)
nat: thanks, tony. really.
Tony: Anytime. Are you okay?
nat: yeah. i think. ill talk about it more when im back.
Natasha let out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding, turning slightly to see that her sister had fallen asleep, curled up in one of the seats in the corner. A smile tugged at her lips as she remembered all the times she never felt safe enough to fall asleep in the red room, and she realised Yelena must finally feel safe. Seeing her like this, however, brought an uneasy feeling into Natasha.
Guilt.
Over the past 21 years, part of her had always blamed herself for not being able to protect her sister, for not doing something to stop her from going to the red room in the first place, or for not coming back for her when she escaped. She would fantasise about the normal life Yelena could be living, ignoring the gut feeling inside of her that it was virtually impossible to escape the red room, and that she had gotten lucky by doing so. Clint had tried to tell her that she couldn’t blame herself, that she was just a child too, but nothing had ever stopped her from wondering if there was something she could have done during those three years in Ohio to stop Yelena being dragged into what she was already involved in.
“I can hear you thinking.” Yelena looked up to meet Natasha’s gaze. “How long was I out?”
“About 6 hours. We should be landing in 3 hours, try and go back to sleep it’s been a long few days.”
“I’m fine, I don’t normally sleep much anyway.” She ignored her sister’s pointed look. “Do you want me to take over?”
Natasha raised an eyebrow at this. “Have you ever flown a jet?”
“Fair enough. I could figure it out though! Surely you need to sleep.”
“You’re not the only one who doesn’t really sleep, I think it runs in the family.” She grinned at her sister, although they both knew they were just too haunted to sleep like regular people, often waking up within a couple of hours startled and alert after a nightmare.
Yelena moved from her position to sit in the passenger seat next to Natasha, staring out the window as she took in just how peaceful everything looked.
“Do you remember when we were in Ohio, and you had to fly the jet after Melina was shot?” Yelena knew she’d remember, well, she hoped, because she did.
Something in Natasha’s face shifted, her grip on the controls tightening. “Of course I do, why?”
“I don’t know, I just… I’ve never felt peaceful in a plane or a jet or whatever, until now. You held it together so well. Were you scared?”
“I think you’d get on well with Barton.” Natasha avoided Yelena’s gaze.
“Why? And don’t avoid the question.”
“Because, he asked me the exact same thing when I told him about that day.”
Yelena studied her sister’s face, trying to process the implications that Nat had spoken about her before.
Nat sighed, glancing over at the younger girl before willing herself to answer. “I just wanted you to be safe.” She said quietly.
They both sat in a comfortable silence for the rest of the flight, with Yelena occasionally commenting on something she saw out the window, and Natasha smiling next to her.
She made sure to message Tony just before they landed.
nat: landing in 15. whos at the compound??
Tony: Just me and Steve, everyone else is out at least for the rest of today. Do you want me to meet you outside?
nat: no thats okay, i dont want to overwhelm her, its been a long few days. what room is hers?
Tony: The one next to yours, Wanda said she was fine to move to an empty one. I just told her you have someone coming to stay, I didn’t say who. I’ve also sorted Yelena out a phone, it’s already got your number in it.
nat: :’) u didnt have to do that
Tony: It’s fine, You’ve been apart long enough.
Tony: Also, I wasn’t going to ask, but the incident on the news? In Russia? I’m guessing it has something to do with why you have suddenly reunited with your sister.
nat: its a long story, ill tell you more when we’re back. thanks, tony, it really means a lot
Tony: Of course, you’re family, so now so is she :)
Nat smiled at her phone, she couldn’t believe she had built this family, and now she finally got to introduce her sister to it.
She landed the jet carefully, grabbing the few bags they had and showing Yelena inside.
“I can show you around properly later, but I figured you’d want to see your room?” She pushed the door to the bedroom open carefully, not even sure herself how it would look.
It was perfect. The lighting was warm, and the bed sheets had patterns of tiny stars all over them. There was a dark green blanket draped over the chair and a string of fairy lights went all the way around the room. On the windowsill sat 5 fake plants, as well as a framed photo of Natasha and Yelena that Nat wasn’t even sure how Tony had found.
“Hey, Lena, what's wrong?” She cupped her face gently as she brushed away a stray tear. Yelena held onto her arm.
“Nothing, it’s just. I don’t know what to say.” She pulled her sister into a tight hug, dropping her backpack to the floor in the doorway.
“Tomorrow, I'll take you shopping. We need to get you some new clothes and you can personalise this space even more. Try and get some rest, okay? I’ll be just down the hall, you can come and find me or give me a call if you need me.”
“I don’t have a phone..” Yelena started, before her sister directed her gaze to a phone sitting on the desk.
“That’s yours. Tony put my number in it already.”
“You didn’t have to…”
“Don’t start that, Lena, just take it, okay?” Natasha moved Yelena’s bag onto the desk, and hugged her one more time before she started to leave.
“Thank you.” Yelena called out, holding the phone tightly to her chest.
Nat just smiled at her, giving her a final nod and going to find Tony; she knew she had to explain… this, sooner or later and she’d rather just get it over with now.
She waited in the kitchen, clutching a glass of water between her hands and trying to think of a way to explain this to Tony, and eventually everyone else. Taking out her phone, and making sure the ringer was on in case Yelena needed her, she opted to text Tony.
nat: did u say steve’s here too?
Tony: Yeah, want me to get him?
nat: please. itll be easier to just tell u both at the same time i think, and then slowly tell everyone else. im in the kitchen, yelenas in her room
Tony: That makes sense. Coming to you now.
“Hey.” She saw Steve and Tony approaching from the corner of her eye and put down the glass of water she hadn’t even drunk from.
“Is everything okay? Tony said you needed to tell us something important.” Steve led them all to sit on the couch and kept his tone cautious.
“Yeah, um, do you remember me talking about my sister? Yelena?” They both nodded. Natasha didn’t know what to say after that, anxiously twirling her necklace between her fingers. “All these years I tried to convince myself that she was fine. That she got out. But she didn’t.” She swallowed back a sob that threatened to escape. “She was still in there. This whole time… and after I got out they started using chemical manipulation, literally altering brain functions so they had no choice but to follow orders.” Natasha had never fully opened up about her time at the red room to the team, only Clint knew the extent of what she’d been through, and even then there were some things she would never tell anyone.
Steve seemed to recognise the hesitation in her face, in her voice. “You don’t need to tell us everything, Nat, if you don’t want to.”
“No, I do. Because if I don’t now then I’m never going to.” She took a deep breath. “Earlier this week Yelena was exposed to an antidote which freed her. And she sent the rest of the vials to me. I didn’t come to you guys for help because I didn’t even realise she had sent them to me at first, and then when I did, I just knew this was something I had to do alone.” She explained the whole ordeal with Taskmaster, who she hadn’t mentioned was Dreykov’s daughter. Maybe she would tell them about that someday, but not today.
“Tony said he saw something on the news about.. what happened. In Russia. That was me. Well, with Yelena and Melina and Alexei, our.. parents? God, that's an even longer story.” She tried to take the edge off by laughing, ignoring the concerned glances being thrown her way. “It was the red room. Dreykov. It’s been active all these years. I can’t believe I never thought to look further into it.”
“That’s not your fault, Nat. You and Barton literally blew up the building he was in and had to spend days in hiding, I think anyone would assume it was over.” Steve reassured her. He was one of the first people on the team, aside from Clint, who she had opened up to about the red room and what happened in Budapest.
“Yeah, well. Anyway, it’s gone now. That’s what all that destruction was. Dreykov’s actually dead this time, and Melina is replicating the formula to free the rest of the widows around the world. Yelena had nowhere to go, so I brought her back here with me. I hope that’s okay, I didn’t say anything beforehand because I didn’t know how and she’s really nice I think everyone will get on really well with her, I couldn’t just leave her-”
“Natasha.” Tony reached out a hand to rest on her shaking leg. “Stop spiralling. It’s perfectly fine. Everyone’s going to love her. Do you need us to do anything?”
“Just give her space? I still need to have a proper talk with her about everything. She’s been through a lot.”
“So have you. Are you okay?”
Natasha buried her face in her hands, trying to ignore all of the memories that had resurfaced over the past few days. The red room was gone now, but the memories would never leave her.
“I’m scared.” Her voice broke, and Steve pulled her into a side hug. “I’m scared that that… place.. Is never really going to leave me. Did you know I flinched? God. I flinched. Dreykov raised his hand to me and I just.. Do you know how embarrassing that is?”
Tony caught her gaze. “It’s not embarrassing, Nat. It’s trauma. What you went through… nobody should have to endure that.”
“But it’s been years Tony. If I’m still not okay, then how will Yelena ever be?” She couldn’t stop the tears that rolled down her cheeks at this. She hated being vulnerable in front of the team, it made her feel weak.
“Natasha, I think everyone would agree with me in saying that you’re probably one of the strongest people we know. You don’t have to be okay all the time. Just the fact that you’re able to talk about it now shows how much you have healed, even if you may not believe it. Your sister will be okay. Besides, it’s different now. You have each other.”
And Tony was right. She could focus on telling the rest of the team later.
But for now, they finally have each other.