Winter's Widow

Chapter 30: Protection

"Natasha, where are you going?" I hastily followed after the redheaded Russian as she stalked out of my room, narrowly avoiding having the door slam shut in my face. "Natasha!" She spun in her tracks, glaring at me with a look that could potentially melt the sun.

"I said I don't want to talk about it." She spit at me, turning back around and resuming her hasty walk that seemed to be headed anywhere in the opposite direction of where I was.

"Natasha, I know your nightmares are getting worse, and I just want to help you," I pleaded, jogging in an effort to keep up. I finally caught up to her, out of breath, and grabbed her wrist in an attempt to stop her, which was a mistake. She snatched her arm away, turning on me angrily.

"Just leave me alone!" She had given up the whisper part of whisper shouting, and was now just shouting. I heard a couple of doors open in the hall behind us, and I rolled my eyes, shoving Natasha into an empty bedroom beside where we were standing. I shut the door with probably more force than was necessary, crossing my arms and blocking the door.

"We're not leaving this room until you tell me what the hell is going on." I asserted, far more firmly than normal. Natasha gaped at me for a few moments before leaning back against the table, covering her face with her hands. I frowned as her shoulders began to shake, almost like she was crying. Immediately I was by her side, pulling her into my arms. She tensed at the contact initially, but finally relaxed into it. I don't know how long we stood there as I tenderly stroked her hair, planting kisses on the top of her head.

"I'm sorry, Kasey," she finally sniffled, pulling back to look at me. I smiled at her, wiping away a stray tear with the pad of my thumb.

"What's going on with you, Nat?" She sighed, glancing over her shoulder, averting her eyes from mine.

"You. You're what's going on with me." I frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"I was supposed to look after you on your first mission, and you got hurt." She mumbled softly. I smirked and poked her in the shoulder.

"I'm fine, Natasha," I said softly. She smirked and poked me in the ribs right where a large bruise was forming from having two of them broken by a kick to the chest.

"Sure, you are." She teased as I slightly doubled over.

"Natasha, you fought off 30 guys at once. You had your hands full. No harm no foul, it happens." She shook her head.

"I'm never letting you out of my sight again," she scoffed, "you are clearly incapable of taking care of yourself."

"Deal."

...

We stayed at the house in St. Petersburg for a week while I continued to heal. Like in Wakanda, Yelena barely let me out of her sight, but early in the morning when she'd think I was still sleeping, I would watch from the window as she worked out and trained with some of the other women, who were apparently widows that Yelena had freed from the red room's mind control. She was a brilliant fighter, similar to Natasha in so many ways, yet very different as well. Her movements were calculated and direct, while Natasha was always a 'roll with the punches' fighter who figured it out as she went along. Natasha's reflexes were lightning fast and so were Yelena's, but they handled things differently. It was beautiful to watch. The women by and large gave me a wide berth, understanding that I was not only a former Avenger, but also a metahuman as well. They could assassinate and take on governments like nobody's business, but not a lot in their lives had prepared them for dealing with enhanced people like me.

Finally, we were ready to head to the train that was taking us back to Sokovia, resuming our Avengers world tour. Alexei and Melina both gave me hugs goodbye.

"позаботься о ней," he whispered to me. I had no idea what it meant, but I got the general idea when he looked between Yelena and I with a large smile on his face. Yelena's mouth curled into a smile seemingly unwillingly.

"I'll take care of her, отец," she retorted. I rolled my eyes while Melina and Yelena shared a smirk. A few of the braver widows – largely around Yelena's age – approached us, wishing us a safe journey. I smiled at the gesture. Being friendly didn't come naturally to them, and I appreciated the effort. As Yelena and I made our way slowly out of the compound, I caught her index finger with mine and curled around it slightly. She smiled and allowed the contact to continue for a few moments before she pulled her hand away to climb onto the train and offer a hand to help me up. We settled into our seats. There was so much I wanted to say, but Yelena did not seem in the mood to talk. In fact, she would barely even look at me. Instead, she turned her attention out the window, watching the Russian scenery fly by as we made our way back out of her homeland. I guessed that she was probably homesick, and missed her family more than she wanted to let on. I sighed, crossing my arms over my chest and reclining my seat slightly, closing my eyes for the long journey ahead and finally drifting off to sleep.

Yelena was still quiet when we finally arrived in Sokovia. She grabbed both of our bags and flung them easily over her shoulder, looking back at me when I didn't immediately follow. "Are you okay?" I asked, hesitantly. She frowned slightly, but shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm fine," she insisted, turning back around and walking away at a pace that I had to jog to keep up with. I sighed. When one of these siblings said they were fine, they absolutely were not. I learned my lesson with that one already.

"Yelena, you can talk to me," I struggled to get out as I did my best to keep up with her as we exited the station and made our way to the city to hail a cab.

"There's nothing to say," she grumbled. I almost responded, but took it back immediately when the expression on her face immediately shut down. We sat in silence in the cab on the way back to the cabin. A few times I caught her staring at me, and once she nearly reached over to take my hand, but pulled away at the last moment before making contact. I looked out the window at the remaining capital surrounding us, wondering where this awkward feeling came from and what I could do to fix it.

She collected our bags out of the trunk easily and motioned me ahead of her towards the cabin.

"Do you still..." her voice was hesitant, softer than I think I had ever heard her. I spun towards her immediately.

"Do I what?" She stared at the ground for a moment before answering.

"I mean, you haven't...I was wondering..." the woman seemed incapable of completing a sentence. I frowned and took a couple steps towards her again, which immediately made her inhale sharply and taking a step back.

"Yelena, what's wrong? Did I do something wrong?" I frowned, growing suddenly concerned.

"No! No, I mean you haven't...I want y..." this time her gaze went over my shoulder towards the cabin and she dropped the bags onto the dirt.

"Yelena?"

"Shut up," she hissed, pulling a gun from her waistband and crouching. I frowned, looking over my shoulder back towards the cabin.

"What is it?" Yelena glared at the way I deliberately ignored her instructions.

"Shut up!" she hissed again, pulling me behind her and stepping deliberately in front of me. "There's someone here."

A/n:  we're about to see someone new, and I don't think Yelena is going to like it.  Any guesses?