Red Daughter

Eight

Elodie opens her eyes again and she's back in the ring with Natasha and Wanda staring at her. "I'm so sorry El," Wanda tells her. "I didn't mean to take you there."

Elodie doesn't answer her. She can't. While she's physically back in that ring, part of her is still in Dreykov's office watching him shoot the girl that she loved.

Wanda touches Elodie's shoulder softly making Elodie flinch away, "нет." No, she says in Russian, reverting back to her first language. "Не трогай меня. Я не могу быть здесь." Don't touch me. I can't be here.

She stands quickly and runs from the training room, disappearing into the hallway. "I didn't mean to do that," Wanda tells Natasha. "I didn't mean to take her there."

"I know kid," Natasha tells her calmly. "It was an accident."

"You didn't see what happened next Nat," Wanda whispers. "She had that memory buried and for good reason."

"What did they do?" Natasha asks, dreading the answer.

Wanda shakes her head, "you don't want to know."

Natasha grabs Wanda's hand, "show me what they did to my kid."

"You can't unsee it," Wanda tells her as she tries to take back her hand.

Natasha holds tighter, "show me. Now Wanda."

Wanda sighs and looks broken as she finally nods. Natasha closes her eyes and finds herself in one of the dorm rooms, young Elodie strapped to the bed in a hospital gown. The door opens and a man in a lab coat walks in, "hello 943. I am Dr Ozlow and I will be taking over your training and programming." He steps aside and a male soldier steps into the room, "this is my assistant, Desmond. He will be working on curing you of your perversion."

"I have no perversion," Elodie tells him. "Where's Dreykov? I want Dreykov!" She pulls at her restraints, struggling to get free as Desmond starts to unbutton his pants. "No! Dreykov!" She screams as Desmond walks towards her.

Natasha is ripped from the memory and finds herself sobbing into Wanda's shoulder. "I told you that you couldn't unsee it," Wanda tells her.

"I have to find her," Natasha says urgently as she pulls away from Wanda. "I have to find my daughter," she repeats as she stands up.

She leaves the ring and heads for the door, about to ask JARVIS where Elodie is when Wanda calls after her, "try the roof."

Natasha rushes to the elevator and slams the button for the roof, praying for the elevator to go faster and nearly sprinting out of it when it finally opens on the roof. Natasha scans the area, finally spotting Elodie standing on the ledge and staring up at the darkening sky. Natasha approaches her slowly but making sure to make enough noise that Elodie wouldn't be startled when Natasha reaches her.

When Natasha gets within a few feet she says, "Elodie I need you to take a step back."

"Почему?" She asks softly.
Why?

"Чтобы ты не упал," Natasha answers her, switching to Russian. "Сделай шаг назад пожалуйста."
So you don't fall. Take a step back, please.

A breeze hits them and Elodie wobbles slightly, "почему он это сделал? Почему он бросил меня?"
Why did he do that? Why did he abandon me?

Natasha reaches out and skims her fingertips on the back of Elodie's sweatshirt, "мне жаль ." I'm sorry. Natasha grabs the back of Elodie's sweatshirt and yanks her away from the ledge, sending them both stumbling back.

Elodie struggles against Natasha's touch before turning and hitting her in the chest, "не трогай меня! Не трогай меня!" Don't touch me! Don't touch me! She yells with each hit to Natasha's chest. After three or four hits, her hands stop and she all but collapses to the ground.

Natasha catches her and pulls her into her lap, holding her tightly as Elodie sobs, her hands no longer hitting but clutching Natasha tightly.

They sit there until Natasha's legs go numb and the air turns cold. They sit there long after Elodie has stopped crying and gone numb, lost in her memories once more. She doesn't make a sound when Natasha lifts her up and carries her to the elevator, or when she puts her to bed and cleans her face with a warm washcloth. She just stares at the ceiling for a long moment before closing her eyes and rolling over.

Natasha settles onto the couch, watching Elodie as she falls asleep, following her soon after. But not for long. It never takes much to wake her up and with someone else in the room it was even easier. Natasha wasn't even sure what woke her up, only that when she did, Elodie was muttering in her sleep.

"Нет. Пожалуйста, нет."
No. Please, no.

Natasha gets up and goes to the bed, sitting by Elodie. She was still muttering in her sleep and Natasha reaches out to comfort her, but when she touches her, Elodie flinches away.

"Не снова."
Not again.

"Elodie wake up," Natasha says softly as she slightly shakes the girls shoulder.

Her eyes flutter open and all she sees is a dark shadow sitting by her and she yells, "no!" She tries to scramble away but can't go very far became of the wall.

"It's me! It's... Natalia." Natasha says gently, using the name she hates but the one that Elodie would recognize immediately. "You're ok, you're safe I promise."

A few moments passed before a shaky reply came, "Natalia? What happened?"

"You were having a bad dream."

"Oh," Elodie says exhausted.

Neither of them move for a minute until Natasha finally asks, "do you want to talk about it?"

"No," Elodie says quickly. She moves back to the spot she had been laying in and looks at Natasha. "Sorry I woke you."

"It's ok. I'm here if you need me," Natasha gets up and was about to go back to the couch when a hand on her arm stops her. She looks back at the girl in her bed who was looking very uncertain.

"Could you... could you stay?"

"Of course," Natasha answers as she gets into the bed and lays down beside her stiffly, not wanting to do anything to make Elodie uncomfortable. They stayed like that for a while, side by side, until Elodie takes a deep breath and snuggles up into Natasha's side. Natasha wraps her arms lightly around the girl who sighs heavily and grabs Natasha's shirt. Elodie never says a word and neither does Natasha, and soon Elodie was asleep.

Natasha didn't sleep that night. She stays up just in case Elodie needs her.