Long Lost And Found

Chapter 23

Tears well in my eyes as I look at the horror in front of me. Tatiana is laying dead on my bed and traitor is written all over the walls with her blood. I cover my mouth with my hands as I start sobbing. The whole team rushes into my room. They all witness the same horror I do.

"What the hell" Natasha says. I start backing away towards everyone. Natasha comes up next to me and looks at me to make sure I'm not hurt. She puts her left hand on my head to make sure I'm really okay. I just look at her in horror. She walks over to Tati's dead corpse on my bed towards the center of the room. She checks for a pulse.

"She's dead" Natasha informs me while giving me a sympathetic look. I keep backing away until I'm against Steve and Sam standing behind me. I'm still looking at the horror in front of me. I start to collapse  onto the floor. Steve and Sam hold my arms as I slowly lower myself to the floor, still crying.

"No." I whisper. I move my right hand down towards my stomach. I slowly stand up with Steve's help. "I think I'm gonna be sick." I say and leave the room. I go into the kitchen in front of the sink and place both my hands on either side of the sink. I start breathing heavily and I also start to cry more. I place my hand over my mouth trying to quiet my sobs so no one else will hear them. I keep trying to get it together but I can't.

"Hey" I hear behind me as I turn around and see Steve. He has his 'concerned dad look' on. I don't even try to keep it together.

"She was the last one of us, She was the only friend I had left from there. She was the last one who understood." I tell him as my voice cracked at the end. Steve pulls me into a hug and I sob in his arms. He starts to stoke my hair in an attempt to calm me

"It's okay Ali, It's okay." He tells me. I pull away for a moment.

"Is it though? I thought I was supposed to be safe here but instead my best friend is laying dead in my room with her blood all over the walls. That is far from okay." I tell him. 

"We will make sure nothing happens to you. Ali, you have the Avengers and more here to protect you." He tells me reassuring me. 

"I don't know Steve" I whisper to him.

"Hey, it'll be okay. Come here." He says as he pulls me in for another hug. Just as we both pull away Natasha comes down. 

"Do you want to cremate her? Or bury her?" She asks me in a gentle voice.

"Cremate, we always talked about where we would spread our ashes." I tell her.

"Okay." She says and pulls me in for a hug. I savor it, that hug was much needed. We both pull away and she smiles at me and walks away to arrange things for Tatiana's body. I walk up to my room. Sam and Wanda are talking right outside the door. They look at me sympathetically as I approach the door.

"Can I have a moment with her?" I ask them. They nod and walk away so I can be alone. I walk over to my bed where Tati was laying. I reached for her limp hand. 

"Remember that one time we both skipped class and went to the closest bar and sang karaoke all day? Madame was so pissed. It was worth it though." I tell her slightly warm corpse. "We were gonna be safe, Lenkov was dead, we weren't gonna have to keep looking over our shoulder for them everywhere we went. I will find who did this to you Tatiana, and I will make them pay." I finish as I squeeze her hand one last time. I start to cry again. I finally pull it together and leave the room. I walk down to where the living room is. I see the whole team looking at me as I enter. I look at them and then walk over to the bar area. I pull out a bottle of vodka and break the seal I turn around facing the team and take a big swig out of the bottle. 

"What? It's been a rough week" I say and then walk over to the team. Natasha goes to the bar and comes back with some glasses so I'll share with the team. I pour out shots for the whole team and we all drink a bit then head up to bed. I told the others that I can't stay in that room anymore. Not after what just happened today. So I moved into a room across the hall right next to Wanda. Her and I stayed up a bit longer talking about things and messing with our powers a bit, seeing what colors we could make if we combined them. Eventually she went to bed but I stayed up. I couldn't fall asleep. Every time I try to sleep, I wake up with nightmares. I decide to get out of bed and head down to the kitchen, hoping that getting something to drink will calm me down a bit, at least enough so I can sleep. I drink a glass of water and then head back up to my room. I lay in my bed for a while and I still can't fall asleep. I head across the hall and knock on a door. Steve opens his door.

"Can't sleep?" I'm asked.

"Nope, care if I come in?" I ask.

"Not at all" He says and stands aside so I can go into his room. 

"Something on your mind?" He asks me.

"Everything I've went through the last week. Every time I try to sleep, I wake up with a nightmare." I tell him. We both sit on his bed and talk for a while.

"Tell me a story from the 40s. I like hearing about how much you got beat up." I ask him and smile. He just looks at me, smiles, and laughs a little. 

"Get comfortable, this is a long one." He tells me. So we both get under the covers and were sitting next to each other leaning on the back board of his bed. He starts the story and he was right, it was a long one. Eventually I started to fall asleep on his shoulder. Once I was asleep he picked me up bridal style and carried me back to my new room and gently placed me in my bed. He pulled up the blankets so I wouldn't get cold and he turned off the lamp on my nightstand.

"Goodnight Ali" He whispered as he quietly left my room and went back to his. For the first time in a long time, I actually sleep without having a nightmare.