Winter's Widow

Chapter 22: Wakanda

"I know a place." Steve was always good for cryptic messages, but the rest of us had little choice but to follow. We had one shot to get the stone out of Vision's head, and we knew that those creatures could find us easily enough. If Steve had a lead on somewhere we could go to get help, the rest of us were all ears. Natasha and I glanced at each other expectantly as we went our separate ways to pack a bag for the trip. It was easy enough – we hadn't had time to unpack since we first arrived. She paused at the entryway of my old room, glancing around with a smile.

"Weird to be back, right?" She smirked as I picked my backpack up from the floor, swinging it over my shoulder. I looked around the once-familiar room, shrugging.

"Doesn't really feel like home anymore, does it?" I glanced at her, seeing a trace of sadness appearing momentarily on her face before her trademark optimistic grin replaced it.

"I always kind of thought that home wasn't a place, as much as it was wherever your family was." I looked at her, smiling softly.

"Romanoff, it's like you've gone soft on me," I teased. She rolled her eyes and I followed her out of the room as we headed to grab her bag from down the hall. She glanced over her shoulder at me.

"If I've gone soft it's because I've had to spend so much time looking after you," she called. I giggled, following her familiar, determined stride easily. We were on the jet not twenty minutes later, settled in for the long flight to Wakanda.

"You'd better be right about this, or we're going to land a lot faster than you want to," Sam grumbled from the pilot's seat as Steve watched anxiously from over his shoulder. At this point, nothing about Wakanda was going to surprise me, so Natasha and I merely held on for the ride. Once we met T'Challa at the landing area, we split up to identify and work on defenses for our respective stations. Natasha and I initially followed Okoye, the General of the Dora Milaje to their weapons reserve. I had to hand it to the warrior women, they were pretty bad ass. We discussed battle plans and making sure that our perimeter could remain secure. By the time we caught up with the others, it was only a matter of time before Thanos' goons were likely to find us. We were running out of time. Natasha adjusted her vest for the millionth time, pulling something out of one pocket and moving it to another. I smirked at her, knowing by the look on her face that she was thinking about her sister.

"Let's do this for them, Natasha," I mumbled, grabbing her hand. She squeezed reassuringly.

"Let's do this for all of them."

....

When I woke up however much longer it was later, Yelena was laying flat on her back, blanket pulled up around her chin, her arm lazily resting around my shoulder as I drooled on her chest. Oops. I heard a chirping sound that was somewhat familiar, and I extricated myself from Yelena's grip, approaching my bag resting on the floor. Yelena sat up in bed, awoken by my movement, immediately pulling her pants on and glancing over at me expectantly. "What is that?" She gestured towards the bag as I reached inside, reaching for the case which lived notoriously towards the bottom. It chirped when I wrapped my hand around it, finally pulling it from the bag and opening the case. Kimoyo beads. Wakanda. I slipped them over my wrist, grinning as a figure immediately appeared on my palm. Yelena gasped and took a few steps back, startled by the advanced technology.

"How are you doing, Shuri?" I asked the figure on my palm, who grinned at me just as stupidly.

"I heard you ran into some trouble. That doesn't sound like you at all, Winter." I smirked and gestured towards Yelena, who walked towards me, looking intently at the figure on my palm.

"Yelena, this is Shuri, the princess of Wakanda." Shuri rolled her eyes at the discloser of her title, while Yelena widened hers.

"I already sent the king's shuttle to your last pinged location on the beads, Winter. They should be picking you up soon." I smiled and nodded at Shuri.

"Thank you for the lift," she smiled and waved goodbye.

"See you in a bit." I looked around the cabin fondly before grabbing my bag and shoving the few things I had unpacked back in. Yelena and I glanced down at the bed and the ruffled blankets, and I caught her blushing, but she looked away before I could make eye contact. She did catch my index finger with hers as I moved past her towards the door. We waited outside until the trees started blowing above us, waving to the still invisible craft above our heads. When it finally settled in the field and the ramp lowered, two Dora Milaje exited the craft and I smiled, bumping forearms with them both by way of greeting. Yelena scowled but followed me onto the jet. Okoye turned from the pilot's seat, glancing back and Yelena and me as we walked on board.

"Glad to see you again, Winter," she smiled by way of greeting. I made the necessary introductions and we settled in for the trip back to Wakanda. For the first half of the trip, Yelena sat by my side. Every once in a while, she would trace her fingertips lightly over my knee, or brush the back of my hand with her fingers. It made me shiver every time. But before I could respond or reciprocate, she'd pull away, glancing across the jet and refusing to make eye contact. I frowned, making a note to try and remember to talk to her about it later. A few hours later, Yelena stood and crossed the jet, taking a seat across from me instead. I frowned, but wasn't going to complain at the added room to spread out. Sitting for prolonged periods of time really didn't settle with me well, and I was more than happy to stretch out. I watched as Yelena's knee bounced up and down for the remainder of the trip. Once we crossed the border over African Airspace, Yelena got to her feet and began pacing instead of bouncing. I watched her carefully as she circled the space on the interior of the jet. The warrior women watched her carefully too. They weren't quite sure what to make of her yet, but they were giving her a wide birth out of courtesy and respect for me. I smiled, remembering the time that Natasha and I had both spent here. As we approached the area that I recognized to be the housing of the dome, Yelena's pacing became more frantic. She stood, clutching the backs of the pilot and copilot seat, staring out the windscreen in front of us.

"We're going to crash," she muttered dryly. I stood, resting a hand on her hip and she jumped at the unexpected contact.

"No, we're not," I smirked at her. She frowned at me and shrugged her shoulders.

"Okay." I watched her eyes go wide in wonderment as we passed through the entryway of the dome, revealing the capital city ahead of us. "Whoa," she murmured, glancing over her shoulder at me. I smiled.
"Welcome to Wakanda."