Heartless

31

"Ivy!" Yelena pulled me away from the kitchen counter. "You can't get drunk at your sisters funeral."

"I can't finish it sober. I could barely listen to Pietro doing his..."

"I get it, but put the alcohol down." I reluctantly listened to her and put the glass of wine back down on the counter.

"You know what, I think I'm just going to leave." I whispered, picking the wine back up and starting to walk away.

"Ivy, how are you doing?" Natasha walked up to me and turned me around. I raised my eyes and gave her a fake smile, leaning forward slightly.

"How do you think? My sister just died and I had to listen to my best friend, who just so happened to be my dead sisters boyfriend talk about how much he's gonna miss her in front of everyone. While nobody even knew who Kate really was, nobody's really gonna miss her." My lip was trembling by the end of my rant.

"That's not true." Natasha said softly, rubbing my arm. I pulled away from her quickly and turned to Yelena. "Just sit down for a moment." I reluctantly followed Natasha to the table and sat down next to her. Yelena sat down next to me and moved her chair as close to me as possible.

"I think I'm going to leave the Avengers." I said suddenly, breaking the silence.

"What, no, you can't." Yelena said beside me, I turned to her, a single tear trickling down my face. "Ivy, you can't." She put her hand over mine.

"Yelena, we need you over here for a second." Tony said, waving her over. Yelena got up then gave me a loving kiss on the cheek, and then left to go with Tony.

"Ivy, you can't leave the Avengers, we need you here. Yelena needs you here." Natasha said, leaning forward onto the table, trying to catch my attention.

"It seemed like you guys were doing great before I came along." I said before chugging my wine glass.

"We were, but you make the team better." She said, I turned to look at her with teary eyes. "We need you on the team." I sniffed, waiting for her to continue.

"You know, I've lost two of the people who were most important to me. And being on this team, I'm in a position that I could lose a third. And I can't do that." I breathed out, she nodded and looked down.

"Yelena's not going to die." Was all she said.

"I know that. But I care about everyone here, believe it or not." I said. "This is all I have."

"Then why would you leave?" She asked with a confused face. "That doesn't make sense, if this is the only thing you have then why would you leave it?" She pressed on after you didn't answer.

"That's a great question." I said while laughing. "Maybe I'm just drunk." I tried to get up but she pulled me back down.

"Ivy, you can't be by yourself." She said.

"Why not?" I asked her, hiccuping. She didn't answer. "Did Yelena tell you something?" I asked her, she nodded. "Goddammit." I slammed my head onto the table. "Can you get Yelena?" I asked her.

"She's not available right now."

"Then can you get Pietro?" I asked.

"He's also not available right now." She patted my back. "Everyone's in a meeting."

"But the funerals not over." I said.

"Yes it has, it's been over for an hour." She said.

"Oh, I've been drinking for that long?" I asked, she nodded. I lifted my head up and looked at her, trying not to close my eyes. "Can you get me one of those hangover pill things?" I asked her, remembering Kate had given me one on one of the first days I was here. She got up and handed me a pill, I downed it and felt better in about three seconds. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She said, staring at me for a second before looking away.

"Are we supposed to talk or something?" She shook her head. "Then what are we supposed to do?"

"I'm just supposed to watch you and make sure you don't do anything while everyone else is in a meeting." She said, I rolled my eyes and stood up, getting on the counter and lying down, appreciating the smooth cool surface against my cheek. She got up and walked over to stand next to me.

"Do you have to keep this close of a watch on me?" I asked her in a tired voice.

"I'm just making sure that you don't hurt yourself." She said softly. "You've been known to do that."

"Thanks." I said sarcastically.

"You know it's true."

"Yeah, I know it is." I closed my eyes and shut my mouth. "I'm gonna sleep, so you can do something else." I said, starting to feel myself drift off to sleep after a few minutes.

"Well, I still have to watch you."

"Ok, well enjoy my snoring." I heard her laugh at my remark.

"I can assure you that I will not enjoy it."

"Well then you better get used to it."