No Tears | NR

Chapter 22

British Columbia, Canada

Yara spent the rest of the night on the couch in the living room, with a cup of tea in her hands that she finished hours ago. She kept herself busy by reading and watching TV quietly, still trying to clear her mind of her dream.

Yara didn't hear Natasha arrive in the living room in the morning. She only noticed the blonde, when she looked up from her book to crack her stiff neck.

The Avenger wore a look of disapproval on her face but hid her pity for the brunette. She knew Yara well enough to know that the woman didn't want pity and wouldn't react well to it.

"Morning", Yara greeted Natasha in a somewhat questioning tone, wondering what the Avenger was waiting for.

"Morning", the blonde returned the greeting. She looked like she wanted to add something, but decided against it. Instead, she asked, if Yara wanted to have some breakfast too.

Yara gave her a nod in response and placed her book on the small table next to the couch before she got up and followed Natasha into the kitchen.

She didn't even try to get the Avenger to stop helping her make breakfast and just resorted to telling her where to find ingredients and utensils when necessary. Other than that, they didn't talk much which was mainly Yara's fault. She was desperately trying to prevent questions about herself and her nightmares.

To be honest, she wasn't even entirely sure, why she was so adamant at keeping everything to herself. Usually, she just didn't trust people enough to know that they wouldn't let it slip to the wrong people or use it against her. But she was certain that wouldn't be a problem with Natasha. She told herself that she just didn't want to burden the woman who already had a lot of other things on her mind. But, no matter, how much she tried to convince herself of that, she knew that it wasn't the real reason why she kept her life to herself.

Yara came to the conclusion that it had to do with a mental blockade. In her own defense, she hadn't really told anybody anything personal about herself in decades, with the exception of Yelena and her sister. And she hadn't really told Yelena anything of importance in the sense, that the information couldn't really be used against her.

Unfortunately, this was not the kind of thing that would just change within a day or two. This would take time and effort if it will ever change at all.

The two women finished preparing breakfast and laid the table. Then, they took their seats across from each other and started eating. After a while, Yara decided to turn the radio on to have some background noise other than the sound of food being chewed and swallowed. She listened to the news which didn't really announce anything out of the ordinary and finished her food. Natasha got done around the same time.

Together, they cleaned everything up quickly. As soon as they were done, Yara excused herself to get ready for her daily trip to the ski resort, but Natasha stopped her before she could go anywhere wanting to join the brunette.

Yara looked at the blonde with raised eyebrows. "Sure. Do you have any gear at all?"

"No", Natasha shook her head and gave her an almost demanding look.

Yara sighed. "You can have some of mine. It might be a little large, but it should still work. Give me a second to get it." With that, she turned around and walked out of the kitchen into her bedroom. There, she got a small pile of under armor which she dropped off in Natasha's room who was currently in the bathroom. Then, she returned to her bedroom to get ready.

Yara was waiting for Natasha in the basement in her gear with a pair of snowboard pants that were a little too small for herself in one hand and a helmet with goggles in the other one. Barely a minute later, the Avenger came down the stairs as quietly as ever and walked up to the brunette. Yara hadn't been prepared to see the former assassin in under armor and had to keep herself from staring. She tried to keep a blush from creeping into her face but was confident that she had failed at doing so.