Chapter Text
Natasha has been hurt in her life. She’s been tortured, shot, blown up, abused, kidnapped, stabbed, betrayed.
None of that hurt like this did. None of that could compare to seeing Bobbi in her hospital bed connected to all sorts of wires and cables, her knee all fucked up and a hole in her lung. None of that could compare to seeing Skye curled in bed with tears streaming down her face and bandages wrapped tightly around her arms.
And of course she knows that Bobbi is going to live and walk again after lots of PT and time, and Skye is fine apart from flesh wounds that will scar and endless trauma. She knows that, but it doesn’t stop it hurting all the same. Bobbi nearly died, they tried to brainwash Skye using the same methods they used on Bucky Barnes.
Skye. God knows how she’s dealing with all this. She nearly brought the facility down on top of the SHIELD agents once they’d gotten Bobbi onto a stretcher, Hunter tried to pick her up and Skye screamed bloody murder, the building quaking dangerously. 5.7 on the Richter scale, she could have destroyed the place. May eventually got in there and managed to calm her down enough that she passed out. Most of the drugs they put in her system were washed out and there’s no lasting effects of the mind control. Natasha watched the video footage they found of Strucker’s torture on the poor girl, and she had to leave the room to beat up a punch bag. He sliced her with a scalpel every time she refused to comply, light cuts that will scar forever. He never actually used the cattle prod on her, only an intimidation tactic.
It’s fucking disgusting and she’s glad he’s dead. Skye was eight years old, how can someone do that to a child?
“Mama?” She’s been watching her sleep, counting the girl’s breaths because she almost lost both of them and she can’t be with Bobbi because she got kicked out to shower and watch Skye. Skye’s thin arms had been curled around her stuffed animals, fingers threading the blanket. She looked so innocent. She’s so young and yet so damaged. It aches because Natasha promised her, she swore, she wouldn’t let her get hurt again.
HYDRA are gone, their little uprising wasn’t strong enough to take down SHIELD but it’s sent warning signals to the entire organisation. Fury’s dead. Coulson is back from the fucking dead and now in charge and Captain America is off searching the globe for his brainwashed best friend.
But Natasha knows she’s going to hunt down every single HYDRA agent in the world to pay for what they did to Bobbi and Skye.
“Hey malyshka. Sleep well?” Her voice is tired, she knows this. She’s spent the past week and a half fighting HYDRA agents and soldiers and then the facility happened so she was at Bobbi’s bedside until she woke up and then she was watching Skye sleep. She hasn’t slept in days but it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that the small girl in the bed with Xmen sheets is okay.
“Where’s Mom?” Skye’s face turned into a frown and then fear as she remembered. She had seen Bobbi get shot. She still didn’t know if she was alive or dead.
“She’s fine, паук, she’s asleep in the med bay.” Natasha comes over to the bed and slides in beside her daughter. Skye instantly curls into her and drums her finger against the sheets, tapping on Wolverines head.
“I was scared Mama. I thought she was dead.” Skye whispers, tears slipping down her cheeks and Natasha hugs her a little tighter.
“I know, baby, I’m sorry.” She murmurs into Skye’s hair. It’s still in the braids she twisted into the brunette locks four days ago. They’re messy and blood and sweat soaked and there’s definitely something sticky stuck in them. Skye still smells like antiseptic and copper, but there’s still the undertone of Skye’s favourite bubblegum scented shampoo.
“He hurt me Mama. It hurt so much.” Skye sobs into her chest and Natasha starts crying too because her daughter was in pain. Someone hurt her child and she couldn’t do anything about it. This small, loving child that already had been through too much was in agony and she couldn’t help it.
“It’s over now, he won’t ever hurt you again.” She says eventually, letting Skye crawl into her lap and wrap her bandaged arms around her chest as she cries. She sings an old Russian lullaby, something distant in her memory she remembers her parents, before they sold her to Madame, singing to her when she was three. Her papa, she remembers, he sang it. She rocks Skye as she sings, slowly and cautiously, and eventually Skye stops sobbing as hard.
“я хочу увидеть маму.” (I want to see Mom.) Skye says, her voice hoarse and sore, eyes pleading as she looks at Natasha. She can’t refuse her, she knows Skye has to see Bobbi for herself.
“Okay, after you shower we can go.” Skye shakes her head fiercely, suddenly angry that she can’t go now. Garner warned this would happen, Skye had been through incredibly traumatic events, her emotions would be a bit all over the place for a while as she came to terms with what happened.
“Нет! Я хочу видеть её сейчас же!” (No! I want to see her now!) Skye shouted angrily and Natasha flinched. Skye had never shouted at them before. She’d screamed sure, but that was more at herself. She can’t even find it in herself to be angry, Skye is in pain and watched one of her parents be shot, she was allowed to be angry if she wanted to be.
“Okay, okay. We can go see her. But you have to shower and eat when we get back okay?” Skye accepts these terms then seems to catch what she’s done.
“I’m sorry Mama.” She whispers, sliding out of the bed and pulling on a hoodie. It’s Bobbi’s old Academy hoodie and it dwarfs her entire body. It’s quite possibly the most adorable thing she’s ever seen.
“It’s okay, you’re allowed to be angry Skye. You can be angry or sad or upset and we won’t get mad okay? Emotions are good, remember?” Skye nods and makes grabby hands to be carried through the Playground. Natasha readily accepts and boosts Skye onto her hip
It’s deadly silent in the medical ward. Fitz is still comatose, he’s still connected to a bunch of machines but they think he’s going to wake up soon. Simmons is flitting between his bedside and Bobbi’s, the blonde agent staring into space. She looks a mess, face bruised and her knee propped at an awkward angle. She’s got another surgery for it later on. But Natasha still thinks she’s the most beautiful thing in the room.
“Mommy!” Skye cries, disturbing the quiet in the room and flying over to the hospital bed. Bobbi’s face lights up when she hears her daughter and she presses the remote to move her bed up. Skye stops before she jumps on Bobbi, eyes going wide at Bobbi’s bruises.
“Hey, Rockstar. You okay?” Bobbi says tiredly, opening her arms with difficulty to Skye, who nods uncertainly then clambers up on the bed, avoiding the thick bandages on Bobbi’s chest and her knee.
”Hey gorgeous.” Natasha says as she moves beside the bed, gaining a glare from Bobbi.
“I know I look like shit, Romanoff.” She says, gaining a giggle from Skye. “Hi honey.” She adds with a smile.
“Are you going to be okay, Mom?” Skye asks nervously, tracing Bobbi’s bruises with feather light finger tips.
“Of course, I’m Mockingbird, aren’t I? I’m going to be just fine.” Bobbi promises, but she looks back at Natasha with worry in her eyes. Her knee will probably never be the same and she’ll be off field work for a long time. Natasha places a hand on her arm and squeezes lightly, a silent promise in her eyes that she’s going to be there every step of the way.
“The snake people are gone now, aren’t they?” They both turn to look at Skye, whose finger is rapidly tapping against the sheets, a Russian polka Natasha hasn’t heard in over a decade. It was the fastest and hardest piece they ever learned in the Red Room.
“Not completely. But we’re going to stop them, okay?” Natasha says, they promised not to lie to Skye about what happened, she deserves to know the truth. Her life will always be threatened because of who she is and who her parents are, and this has proven that hey can’t protect her forever. But they can prepare her.
“Okay. What are we going to do now?” Skye says, her finger tapping slower until it stops. She sits back on her heels and looks up at them.
“I want a vacation.” Natasha says and Bobbi laughs. It’s been a long few days, months even, ever since Yohantov cornered her in that store. HYDRA has been like a shadow hanging over their heads and now it’s over. At least for now, they can take a break. They probably won’t get one, but they can dream.
“Ow, ow. Okay, laughing hurts.” Bobbi winces and Skye immediately scurries down the bed in fear of hurting her any further.
“C’mon malyshka, shower then food. Bobbi needs to rest.” Natasha says when they’ve stopped laughing and Skye sighs, but accepts her fate.
“Oh, I almost forgot, happy birthday Rockstar.” Bobbi says as they leave and Skye looks at them in wonder. No one ever told her her birthday, but they found it in the HYDRA records. Turns out HYDRA and the Red Room were connected. They found pages upon pages of notes about Skye, from her biological parents, (who are now dead) to her favourite food at the time to her favoured knife. They actually learned a lot about Skye, her real last name was Johnson, she’s actually left-handed but they forced her to write with her right, she’s allergic to penicillin.
“I’m nine?” She whispers, staring at her mothers in shock.
“You bet, July 2nd, 2004.” Natasha tells her and Skye grins.
“I’m nine!” She squeals, running off to find whoever she can tell first. They hear Mack’s feigned astonishment and May’s gentle reminder to watch her stitches. Natasha turns back around to her girlfriend, who’s near sleep again.
“I love you.” She says and Bobbi gives her a sleepy smile.
“I love you too. Go find our nine year old, she needs a shower.”
Natasha has never been a religious woman, but she thinks just this once, she believes in holy miracles. Whatever was looking over them had decided that they deserved something good and kept her family alive.
“Skye! Come on, let’s go.” She picks Skye up and the girl winds her arms around her neck.
“Thank you for finding me Mama.” She whispers into her ear, letting her Russian accent twist her voice. Natasha knows that it’s not just for finding her in that facility or that day in the woods at the farm or the car in the woods above the Playground. She means all those months ago, when she was brought to a foreign country and treated like a living weapon. She means that day in the meeting room at the Triskellion, when she was terrified to even tell them her name and kept knives in her socks. She means the day they took in a eight year old spy with trust issues and a shady past and learned to love her.
“Always, baby girl.” She says, looking Skye directly in her eyes. “We will always find you. You’re a Morse-Romanoff.”