I've Got Red In My Ledger

Chapter Nineteen

All of us made it out. Melina walks with a limp and with the help of Alexei - but they made it out. Yelena is in one piece, she's smiling at Melina. Wanda is alive. And she went back to him, to Dreykov... for me. To find out as much information about my family, about who I am as she could.
And now I've seen her. My mother. The woman who gave birth to me and then kept searching for me long after I was taken. Wanda did that for me, and she didn't even think twice.
She didn't even think about it, she just went in and she did it.

I turn to face her, completely overwhelmed by everything I am feeling in this moment. My breaths are deep, and I can't take my eyes off of hers. Not even for a single moment. It's always been her, I realise. Ever since the moment I saw her for that first time, it's always been her. And I pushed those feelings down because she was with Vision and she looked happy... but deep down, I always knew it was her. There's no one else for me in this universe. She put herself at risk for me. She knew how much I needed to know. And she did it. She showed me what my mother looked like. She searched through Dreykov's mind, and she found that moment for me. She stayed in there, willing to battle both Dreykov and Antonia, to make sure that she could find me the very thing I've been looking for my entire life. And I have my mother's smile. I have her smile. I know now, when I look in the mirror, where my smile has come from. I look at her eyes, tracing her lips with my eyes, and I smile as a tear rolls down my cheek.
"Wanda," I choke up a little. No one has ever done something like that for me. No one has ever completely put me first. I've always been second, always been the backup. But Wanda... to her... I'm worth losing it all for. She looks up at me, her lips curving into a smile. It's the sort of smile that I can only get from her. She's the only one in the world with this sort of smile. "I don't... you know that words have never really been my thing, and quite frankly... I don't even know where to start... but I... I just wanted to tell you that it's... it's always been you. I've always loved you and I'm so sure that there's no one else out there for me." I pull back a little to wipe the tear from my cheek, but she holds me steady, catching it with her thumb. I can't help but lean into her hand. I'll never get used to her touch. I know that every time will always be like the first. It will always set me on fire. "And I can't thank you enough for everything. I've felt more in the last week than I've felt in months, and that's all because of you." Her eyes start to tear up, and now it's my turn to wipe them away. "You..." I shake my head, in amazement at the woman that stands in front of me. "I am in love with you. And I wish that I could describe it to you... and I've been thinking about how to tell you about it... and I haven't been able to come up with anything. But... all I can say is that I was drowning, Wanda. I was drowning in the dark, alone. I was drowning in the mess of everything I had done and suddenly... all I knew, I wasn't alone anymore. Because you were there and for the first time in a really, really long time... I wasn't drowning anymore."
She's the only one that knows how low I was. How lost I was. She's the only one that's seen me in that place before - because usually I am exceptionally good at keeping it to myself.
"Oh, Natasha." She leans into me and gently brushes her nose against mine. "You said it all perfectly." She kiss my nose, before pulling back and smiling. "You make me feel like I'm not drowning, too." She takes my hands, and brings them to her lips. "And I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad that you're standing here in front of me, that I'm holding your hands. I'm so glad," she tells me as she bites her lip, "that I didn't have to say goodbye to you, too." She pauses. "I couldn't have done it. Because I love you. I love all of you. Even the parts that you think are too broken, too damaged to love." She gently scrunches up her nose and I want to kiss her again, because she's just the most beautiful woman in the entire world. "I love all of you. Scars, cracks, darkness and all." She kisses me, smiling against my lips. "Nat, we've really got to stop crying. Remember," she murmurs softly, "Ross still thinks we're the villains."
She makes me laugh when she makes villainous hand movements.
"We're going to be such a disappointment when he gets here and we're both crying and in a mess." She takes my hand, and we turn to face Melina, Alexei and Yelena. Yelena watches us with a smile on her face, and I can't help but smile back at her.
"Everybody good?" I ask as we join them.
"I'm clearly injured." Melina mutters, but she can't hide her smile.
"Have you got something to say?" I ask Alexei, who opens and closes his mouth.
He just shakes his head. "I'll just mess it up." But he sticks out his hand, and I take it with a smile.
The cars are getting louder in the distance.
"Here comes the cavalry." I glance behind us.
"So? What's our plan?" Yelena asks.
"We'll stay." Wanda says, squeezing my hand. "I think it's about time I face the consequences of what I did."
"That's insanity. We fight. We fight with you." Alexei tells us, and Wanda smiles.
"I can't keep running forever." She sighs.
"We'll hold them off." I glance over at Wanda.
"Natasha, we fight with-"
"No." I interrupt him. "You can't. You guys go."
"Oh my God." Yelena rolls her eyes at the drama.
"Besides," I shrug. "If it can work out with us, then maybe... just maybe... there's a little bit of hope for the Avengers." I smile, and Wanda laughs.
"A little bit." She grins.
Yelena sighs dramatically.
"What?" I ask her, and Wanda leaves my side, going to nudge Yelena.
"Come with us." Wanda says with a smile. "Remember? I promised you we'd bake cookies."
Yelena looks over at Wanda, her eyes soft. "And you said you would get a dog. You could come with us."
Yelena glances over at me. "I wouldn't want to intrude-"
"You wouldn't be, Yelena." I smile. "It would be nice to have you around. I mean, you'll have to get past Ross, but I'm sure between the three of us, we'll be out of there within the hour." I shrug. "Besides. I can't wait to tell the other Avengers about you. About my sister. About how she calls them my superhero friends."
Her eyes catch on mine with these words, her face softening completely. I didn't know how much that meant to her. She smiles as a tear rolls down her cheek. "Really?"
"Of course," I walk over to her and wrap my arms around her. "Of course."
Yelena struggles to keep herself together. "Here." She sniffs, pulling away from me. "I wanted to give this to you before we went to the Red Room but you and Melina had other plans. I know you like it." She tells me, as she takes off her vest.
"You don't need to-"
"I can have a closet full of vests with hundreds of pockets if I want to." Yelena smiles as she hands me her vest. "I want you to have this one."
"It does have a lot of pockets." I smile. I feel like I've never smiled this much in my entire life. Regardless of what happened over the last few hours, there's been very few times where I've felt like this.
"Very handy pockets." She laughs. She pats one of the pockets, and I pull out the vials.
"He had Widows implanted all over the world." I had the vials to her. "You should be the one to tell them all that it's over. We will need to copy the formula... but for now... it's over."
She nods in relief as a helicopter lands behind us. The Widows from earlier pile out, and I feel Wanda tense beside me.
"Thank you." They look at Wanda. "You freed us."
Wanda just nods, smiling.