emmylou | natasha romanoff

thirty-five.

2016
Budapest

"The thing about Yelena is that she's really shy, so don't be upset if she doesn't warm up to you instantly."

Kennedy nods her head as she and Natasha stand at the back door of the house. It was Kennedy's first time at Natasha's house, and she'd already met her parents. Now she was meeting Natasha's three-year-old sister, Yelena.

"Ready?" Natasha asks.

"Yeah," Kennedy says, and Natasha nods her head as she opens the door and steps out into the backyard. They find Yelena sitting by a tree, staring up at it in awe. She hears their footsteps and looks over at them. She notices Kennedy and jumps to her feet, running to her sister and hugging her legs.

"Yelena it's okay," Natasha says as she kneels to her sister's eye level, "You know the girl that we see in the backyard?"

Yelena nods her head, stealing a glance at Kennedy before focusing on Natasha.

"Well, that's her. Her name is Kennedy and she's really nice and she would like to meet you. Is that okay?" Natasha asks.

Yelena looks at Kennedy and the older girl smiles reassuringly at her. Kennedy takes their prolonged eye contact as an okay to step forward, stopping a little way from Natasha and Yelena.

"Hi Yelena, I'm Kennedy," she greets. Yelena doesn't say anything, she just draws closer to Natasha. Kennedy looks over at Natasha who gives her an apologetic look, but Kennedy wasn't easily deterred.

"Natasha tells me that your favorite food is macaroni and cheese," Kennedy says, "It's my favorite too."

"Really?" Yelena asks and Kennedy nods her head with a huge smile.

"My mom made it for a week when it was my birthday," Kennedy tells her.

"Do you like chicken nuggets?"

"I love them!"

"Vegetables?"

Kennedy was quite fond of vegetables, but she knew that most kids weren't, so she scrunched her nose and stuck her tongue out, and shook her head, "Ew vegetables."

Yelena laughs at the expression on her face and seems to pull away from Natasha a little bit. She points to the tree that she had been sitting in front of, "Forest stars?"

Confused, Kennedy looks at the tree and sees that there are fireflies surrounding it. She looked at Yelena and nodded her head, "I like forest stars."

Yelena smiles and steps away from her older sister and walks up to Kennedy. She reaches up and takes her hand, lacing her little fingers with Kennedy's before guiding her over to the tree. She looks up at it with a wide grin and glances over at Kennedy to make sure she's enjoying them too.

"You know you can catch these," Kennedy tells her.

"You can catch forest stars?" Yelena asks her and Kennedy nods her head.

"If you want, I can show you how someday?" Kennedy asks.

Yelena nods her head vigorously, "Yes please!"

"Okay," Kennedy tells her with a smile before looking over her shoulder at Natasha who was watching the two of them with a wide grin. Proud of herself, Kennedy turns around and listens as Yelena tries to count the fireflies, never making it past thirteen.

"Yelena Belova?" Dreykov questions, "Why your fixation with her?"

Kennedy swallows as she stares at the light fixture overhead. Her routine had been the same. Wake, train, question, repeat. Wake, train, question, repeat. She wasn't sure if it was because she was tired or something else, but she was beginning to lose time. Her days just didn't seem as full, and her body ached beyond measure.