Winterwidow One-shots

Summer Camp

A/N: Hi again! This is an AU where Yelena goes to summer camp and when Natasha goes to pick her up one day, she meets Yelena's favorite counselor, Bucky. I researched this heavily to create the backstories for the characters. Much of the details are cannon in Marvel. Even the restaurant and Bucky's sister are real details. I hope you enjoy!

Natasha heard the click of the car shutting off as she opened her car door. While she wasn't thrilled about having to drive out here, she was more than happy to pick her little sister up from summer camp. Happiness was scarce in her family these days, so any chance at Yelena experiencing some was a welcome one.

She pulled herself up out of the car and into the gravel parking lot, the afternoon sun hot on her brown leather jacket. It was filling up with parents here to pick their children up. Lots of suburban moms with fake blonde hair and yoga pants. It made Natasha cringe a bit to look at them. She thought it might be because of how tacky everything about them was, but deep down she knew the real reason why. They all very obviously came from big rich houses and perfect families. Two things Natasha couldn't even dream of having.

Natasha sighed deeply and dragged herself across the parking lot and into the large building where pick up was. The grounds of the camp were quite sprawling and large. There were many hiking trails and lots of equipment for exercises as well as several learning facilities with classrooms and activity halls. This was supposedly the Army camp where the famed Captain America had trained years earlier. When Yelena brought a flier to Natasha advertising the camp, she couldn't say no to the excitement in the little girl's eyes. Yelena had expressed interest in becoming a spy many times, but they didn't have the classes in America that Natasha had taken in Russia when she was Yelena's age. This, she supposed, was the next best thing.

Not that she wanted Yelena in the classes she had been in. That was one of the reasons they had moved to America in the first place. After their parents died, the organization they had put Natasha into began to express interest in Yelena. That was where Natasha put her foot down. They would torture her, but never her sister. She had already been planning to defect for a while and decided that that had been the opportune moment. One night, she snuck home, collected her things along with Yelena, and never looked back. They were in New York within two days.

Yelena seemed to be enjoying herself. As much as a little girl who'd just lost her parents, home, and all of her friends only a month prior could that is. Everyday for the past week, she had come home to her and Natasha's dingy apartment and gushed about the camp. Everything she'd done that day, all the exercises she'd done, and always her favorite counselor, whom she called Bucky.

Natasha hadn't actually been here to pick up Yelena since she began going to the camp. Natasha worked from 12 to 6 hour waitressing shifts, and hadn't been able to make the three o'clock pick up time, so she had been having her friend who had helped her defect to America, Clint, pick Yelena up in exchange for the promise of free food at the restaurant she worked at. He hardly ever came, and Natasha was pretty sure he only said it so she wouldn't feel bad for asking a favor of him.

Today, however, her co-worker, Carol, had found out about her sister and had told Natasha she would cover Natasha's shift so she could pick up her sister on her last day of camp. Natasha had been reluctant to accept, at first, but had caved at the prospect of being there for her sister.

Natasha pushed open the glass door of the large facility. There were kids and counselors everywhere, all wearing matching t-shirts. Most of the kids hung out in groups while their supervisors took the last role call of the day. Yelena was easily spotted because she was not in a group like everyone else. She was bouncing up and down excitedly while a counselor crouched beside her. Her tight braided up-do was still intact, but disheveled enough that it was obvious she had been very active that day.