Natasha only realizes she's holding a bottle of vodka once she's at the dinner table amongst the family.
"Thank you," she mutters over Melina's silent dropping of glazed ham in her direction.
Melina clears her throat. She lifts her fork and knife and nods toward Alexei, "We dig in?"
Alexei is through his offering within seconds. Yelena is frowning, and Rebekah Junior is sound asleep in bed after a helping of mashed potatoes before Melina has finished her main course.
Natasha hands off what's left of the vodka to Yelena at her shoulder, poking, chewing her first bite of real meat in years. Her utensils fail.
She remains nauseated over the idea, having grown accustomed to a vegan lifestyle.
Romanoff reaches for a napkin to spit her bite into.
"If you don't want it, I will take your food," Yelena leans like a vulture.
Natasha hands over her plate.
"You are pale," Melina calls attention that she'd instead reject.
"I'm fine," Natasha refutes.
"Eat, Natasha."
"You need food," Alexei shakes his head, disapproving of Yelena's snatching her meal.
"I'm fine," Natasha repeats, uncapping the vodka and siping from the bottle.
"You were,' Melina clears her throat, 'at university for long time today."
Natasha swallows a second. Then, a third sip from the bottle.
"She doesn't want to talk. Stop asking her to," Yelena chimes in.
Despite the nudging and brief argument in the car between the sisters for Natasha to speak on the way back to the house, Yelena Belova is once again coming to her rescue when she has no reason to.
"I enjoy the science," Melina whines.
"Mama," Yelena groans.
"What?! I enjoy detail of how Becks was made. I would love to know if she have powers."
"I need air," Natasha drops the vodka bottle on the table, chair scooting loudly against the floor.
"-Natasha! I need you to pass hot sauce-,' Alexei sighs in defeat, 'she goes. She always go."
Melina slices her ham, "You never chase Natasha."
"I go," Yelena stands, throwing her napkin.
"Good," Alexei reaches for a bowl of potatoes, swatted away by Melina.
"That is your job," Melina refutes.
"What?!" Alexei groans, "Sisters work together."
"You are her daddy. You do nothing!"
"I do things!"
Yelena reaches the backdoor first while the couple argue, eager to meet up with her sister.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Natasha sits on the porch with her half-drunk bottle of vodka.
It's something Yelena was looking forward to enjoying, but she'll give Natasha this one.
Natasha's mind is in another realm, one where the 'world's been spinning since the beginning, and everything will be alright'...
Cover Me in Sunshine recurs in her ears like a prophecy sent from the god of all things future.
She inhales with a thought for Bruce, imagining the man she loves on some forced dose of anti-Hulk, in a uniform he hates, locked and isolated for creating the life of a daughter she's grown to adore.
Natasha wipes her tears with her sleeve.
"Mom wants Dad to talk to you," Yelena announces as she makes her way to the back porch.
Natasha bites the sleeve of her black hoodie to cease some internal pain and to prevent visible tears. She groans, screaming at the top of her voice despite a closed mouth.
"Is it bad time?" Yelena questions, her hands folded as she patiently sits next to her sister.
"I don't know,' Natasha lifts a shoulder and begins to spew, 'my husband is in prison, Yelena. The man I love is being treated like a criminal for giving me the greatest gift, everything I've ever wanted. He is gone, Yelena. Taken from me like every other sister we've had. Every other person I've ever looked up to."
"You didn't need to kill this one," Yelena says plainly as if it's hopeful.
Despite everything the sisters have been through, Natasha still feels an unresolvable sense of rage;
"I messed up,' Natasha admits, with an overwhelming need to confess her sins, 'I gave Becks my blood. If he knew? He wouldn't forgive me. He spent years building her cells."
Despite her intoxication, the look on Yelena's face spells out overwhelmed.
"What do you mean," Yelena questions.
"Don't make me spell it out,' Natasha swirls the bottle of alcohol in her hold, 'I made a call. For Becks. Something Bruce and I have bent over backward to avoid. I gave her my blood. My, raw, blood."
Yelena stares off into the distance, unreadable.
Natasha lays her head on Yelena's shoulder, "It's a whole, circle. Becks gets hurt often. She needs the serum to prevent further injury. I shouldn't have."
"No, you do what mothers should do," Yelena reassures, resting her head on her sister's.
"She has his DNA,' Natasha mumbles, 'a lot of it, even if I'm afraid to say it all out loud. It makes it real. She has his everything: his mind, his mannerisms. Becks takes after her dad in every way except for the part he's tried to insert me into."
"Like?"
"Insect obsession. Her...Stubbornness...No matter what, I can't look at her and not see Bruce. She's naturally compromised in her DNA. It's obvious. And I've gone and made it worse. I could have just turned her into a Hulk."
"No,' Yelena sits up and forces Natasha to do the same, 'You put her first. That is something we were trained not to do..... No matter what, Lena Junior would be cute green monster."
"She would, wouldn't she,' Natasha huffs through her escaped emotional state, 'She's him. It's his work. And that's why he's in jail, for taking risks."
"If there were another way, you would have taken it."
"I would've..." Natasha whispers as she returns to her sister's shoulder, "She can't know, Yelena. No one can. This transfusion needs to stay between us. Please."
"Okay," Yelena says with hesitation.
YOU ARE READING
The Trial of Bruce Banner
FanfictionRebecca Yelena Banner is off to school and out in the world. Bruce and Natasha must manage raising their baby, tabloids, and nosy other families whose questions could tear their family apart.
