About You || Anakin Skywalker x OC ||

(22) Vodka Problems

She was in the corner of the dark room she and Natasha shared. Sitting on the ground with her knees pulled up to her chest, her arms wrapped around them. She longed to see the man, the one from her memories and visions. She wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around him, because he was home, she knew that much.

Or at least he was home.

The Avengers were her new home now, her new family. Through missions, fights, and days spent lounging around the tower, Leora had created new memories to replace the old. And while a part of her still wanted to know what she was, where she came from, another part of her was scared. Her time spent away with the agents had been agonizing, her feelings filled with longing and loneliness for the family she had joined. She had lied the night Ultron had been created, lied when she said she didn't want to scare them. She just didn't want to scare herself.

Because her memories were returning.

They were mostly flashes of beautiful places, a giant city, a peaceful lake. But there were occasions, occasions where Leora would find herself staring at a bloody battlefield, two hilts in her hand, the man at her side. That seemed to be the trend with her memories, the man was always at her side.

She felt like crying, but she couldn't. So instead, she just sat in the dark, listening to the laughter downstairs. She had eaten dinner with them just thirty minutes ago, however, she couldn't find it in herself to talk, to join in their warmth. As soon as she was done eating, she excused herself, heading upstairs to her room. It was strange to think that Clint Barton had a wife, a family. He had hidden it for so long from them, trying to give his kids a normal life. Guilt flooded through Leora at the thought of dragging his kids, his wife into this. But they were more than happy to help, more than happy to accept them.

They were here because they had no where else to go. Bruce had hulked out in a city near the battle, killing countless people and destorying building along the way. It had taken Tony in a hulk buster suit to subdue him. When they were trying to figure out where to go, Clint had offered his place.

But all Leora could think about was the man.

The first vision she had, the one caused by Loki, it seemed as though the man could see her, as if she were between this world and hers. The same went with her vision from yesterday, only this time the man and the soldier had both seen her. But the timeframe still didn't make sense, the man looked the same as he did three years ago. He was still at the age where he was transferring between boyhood and manhood, it wasn't possible for him to look the same.

But then again, she hadn't aged either, she looked just as she did three years ago. It was something she hoped no one else would notice, but due to Tony's research, he had to know that she wasn't aging, that she was just the same as she was the day he met her. She wasn't twenty-two years old, she was still nineteen.

The door creaked open, light spilling into the dark room. Leora looked up to see Natasha enter, silently cursing herself for not sensing outside the door, for not feeling if someone was coming. Embarrassment flooded through her body as Natasha spotted her.

"You want to talk about it Lora?" The spy asked, stumbling towards her, a bottle in her hand. Leora realized that Natasha Romanoff was drunk.

"No." Leora replied, watching as the woman sat down next to her, her head resting against the wall, eyes closing as she took a sip.

"Good." She passed the bottle to Leora who took it, staring at the clear liquid inside. Something told her it was not water, "Its ok." Natasha muttered, "We all need to take the edge off sometimes." Leora nodded, taking a tentative sip. It was nasty, but as soon as the containments reached her throat, she felt a warmth bloom in her belly. Taking another sip, the sensation grew inside of her.

"Natasha, this stuff is disgusting." Leora grunted, yet she was still drinking it. Natasha opened her eyes, studying the girl next to her.

"Russian vodka." She grinned, "Only the best." Leora's mind flashed back to the party at the tower, it was hard to believe that was only a few days ago. When something big was going on, time flashed by in a painfully slow yet fast blur.

And then it hit her. The Natasha Romanoff was drunk. Wanda had invaded her mind as well, dredging up her memories just like Leora. Whatever Natasha had faced in her past, had endured, Leora knew it was nothing good. "I've seen worse." Natasha's words from The Battle of New York rang through her mind like a bell.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Leora passed the bottle to the Widow who took a long drink before handing it back to her.

The Widow didn't reply this time.

"I think Wanda's powers brings up everyone's worst fear." Leaora muttered, "For me, I saw someone from my past." She laughed, "And my past scares the shit out of me." She sighed, the bottle hanging from her fingers, "But I think, for a moment, she transferred me to my world because I saw him."

"Is that why you didn't want to tell us you were starting to remember? Not because you didn't want to scare us, but because you were scared of yourself, whatever you did." It felt as though Natasha had read her mind, maybe she had, Leora had no idea what the woman was capable of.

"Yeah, I guess it is."

Silence passed between them for a beat before Natasha spoke.

"You know you didn't reach out either." Guilt sprung up in Leora's chest at the woman's words.

"I know but I just didn't want you to worry about me." Leora shook her head, closing her eyes, "Natasha I felt so alone." When Leora opened her eyes again she found the spy starring at her.

"When I was a girl, my sister and I were taken to what was called the Red Room." Natasha closed her own eyes, her face twisting, "On the outside it appeared to be a live in ballet studio where only the finest dancers were accepted." Natasha chuckled, "But it was so much more than that. The Red Room was where I was taught-" She paused, "Forged into a killer. When we 'graduated' we had one last task to complete. A task that would make us the perfect spies, the perfect killers." Natasha shuddered, "They sterilized us, turning us into monsters."

"Natasha-"

"At the time, I didn't care, I was just happy to serve, to be a mindless killer." She hit her head softly against the wall, "But as the years went on and I defected to S.H.I.E.L.D, I realized that maybe I did want kids after all, someone to carry on my legacy. But it was too late, what was done was done." Natasha looked at her dead in the eyes. Leora had never seen such emotion on the woman's face, such pain and sorrow. It was radiating from her, filling the room.

"I think that's why I love you so much." Natasha took another drink, "You became somewhat of a daughter when we took you in, to all of us. We didn't want to scare you with our research, and while we withheld it from you, it hurt us every day." Natasha's voice broke, "Leora I hope you know that whatever happens, we will always be here for you, no matter where you are from or what you are."

A single tear slipped from Natasha Romanoff's cheek as she pulled Leora into a hug, the empty bottle dropping to the carpeted floor.

"I love you too." Leora whispered, the word forgein to her lips.