Red Rooms Black Canary (ON HOLD)

Chapter Nine: Self Identity

M was moved from the hospital room to a room that was no doubt a cell but she didn't mind. They kept her comfortable and well-fed. Natasha visited when she could. Vision and Wanda often came down playing a number of card games with her. They kept an invisible wall between M and her visitors; the only person to breach the wall was of course Natasha. Bruce came downstairs one-afternoon tablet in hand mumbling something to himself "Why am I in this box?"

He snapped his head up almost as if he had forgotten that she was there.

"Just a precaution."

"Afraid I may snap your neck?"

"No..." he said slowly

"It's smart. To not trust me." she smirked "I make you nervous don't I?"

"N-no you don't." he stuttered

"I make plenty of men nervous. Many are bigger than you."

Natasha walked down the stairs "You still have some toxin in your blood, we don't know how you will react as it leaves so this is to keep you just as safe as us."

"Mhmm." She hummed "What are you doing down here?" M was still mostly business,

Natasha gave Bruce a look making him nod leaving. Nat smirked holding up a deck of cards "I thought I'd teach you a new game."

"What game may that be?"

"Speed."

"Like the..." M plugged one of her nostrils breathing in deeply

Natashas eyes widened at the mere idea "No. Nothing like that." Natasha shuffled the cards "This is how you play..."

Natasha and M played several rounds before the two settled into a comfortable silence. After a while, the card game slowed and the two just enjoyed one another's company. M kept her back against the cinderblock wall. Natasha came to sit beside her. It took them back to the early days of their relationship, unsure of one another but yet so willing to trust each other. The two sat mirrored of one another, knees up, while their head rested against the wall. Natasha looked over at her daughter "You can sleep."

M let out a light menacing laugh letting her head roll over to look at Natasha while staying pressed against the wall "We must have been raised by different people."

"Maybe so." Natasha sighed as she turned the same way to look at M

"I'll tell you one day," she said so faintly Natasha almost missed it.

The next day Natasha and M were once again sitting in M's "room" enjoying an easy lunch just trying to become comfortable with one another. M finally broke the silence "What is my name?"

Natasha stopped mid-bite "M?"

"As much as I love it. That's a letter, not a name." she paused, adding more weight behind her next sentence "What was my name?"

For the first time Natasha saw something in M she had yet to see. Humanity. Natasha took a long breath; she had never uttered the word in front of another person "Lena."

"Lena." she tried it out "Why Lena?"

Natasha turned her head forward taking a deep breath before looking down at her hands then back up at her daughter "When I was pregnant with you you were my light-"

"Свет" Light

"What?" Natasha turned a surprised look on her face

"I used to dream of this gold low light where a woman would just tell me О мой маленький огонек. Oh, my little light." M matched her mother, when they felt like vulnerability was coming they looked at their hands, trying to separate themselves from the person next to them "It's one of the things that kept me alive."