Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

1999

A young girl with tangles and dirt-covered red hair just past her shoulders, paced back and forth methodically in the cell she’d been living in for weeks. A camera sat in a corner far away from her, scanning back and forth every so often. 

Natalia had been waiting for hours for her sister to come back and her agitation had slowly started to grow. It was well-known how protective she was of the younger girl. The HYDRA guards knew this as well and used it to their advantage. Often. 

The past few weeks had been especially brutal. Her sister had gained a new form and the bosses were doing everything they could to control it as quickly as possible. Anything they could think of to try and get their ‘failed experiments’ to benefit them in some way.

She had not seen their other faux-siblings Wanda or Pietro in days but knew they were close by. She could hear them or smell them in small doses.

It was hours before Natalia heard heavy footsteps sound from afar. Eventually three large guards dressed in dark colors walked up, holding a dirty creature by it’s neck. The soft beep of the cage beside Natalia sounded and the door unlocked. As she huddled into her own corner, knowing the repercussions by now if she did not, the door slammed open and with a cruel sentence muttered from the guard of ‘such a waste’, a small and bloodied gray and tan feline was thrown onto the floor. Natalia waited until both the cell door and the large metal door to the room itself slammed back shut before quickly crawling towards her.

Soft fur covered the shaking form. “Yelena…” Natalia whispered sadly, not sure if the young girl was conscious or not. If she was herself or not. Almost every time she had been brought back since gaining this new form, less and less of Yelena remained. Natalia was not sure what to do and did not have Wanda to ask and help soothe her worries.

“Yelena, you in there?” Natalia shoved her skinny arms through the holes of the thick and rusted wire wall between them and gently ran her fingers through the fur on Yelena’s cheek, her other hand running along the parts of her body and legs she could reach, checking for injuries and open wounds. A small, quiet mewl emerged, with Yelena’s eyes opening and staring ahead at nothing. Tears threatened to spill onto the dirty fur of her face. Natalia did not waste more time before gently pulling her tiny form towards her and did her best to cuddle her into her arms. Tears filled her own eyes at Yelena’s state and her frustration of the metal separating them.

“Come back to me my sestra… Please come back. I am here now,” whispered Natalia, trying to coax the girl back to herself and out of the new animal’s mind. It was so hard to reach her these days. 

“I promise I will get us out of here, Yelena. I promise. You, me, Wanda, Pietro. Someday…” Natalia continued to whisper her promises to Yelena, her sister, her family. She would get them all out of there. Someday.

2005

Wanda, Natalia and Pietro huddled together in the cold cage, speaking to each other in hushed tones. It had not been a good day for them. Pietro had a gash on the side of his face that would not close, none of them had eaten or drank more than some bread and some water from a slowly leaking dirty pipe from the ceiling. Wanda had bruises on her wrists that were so dark, it looked like she were wearing bracelets. 

But the day was here. They had a plan. And they were getting out of there.

Yelena had been gone for over a day, and when she had been returned, she could not even hold her head up. Marks covered her human body and as soon as the door closed, she allowed Natalia to pull her to her lap, petting her hair and holding her close. Yelena’s breaths came out short and shallow.

“She is fading Wands…” Natalia said quietly at Wanda then shifted the young girl so she lay in her lap more comfortably, “Sestra, you must find strength. We are leaving tonight. We will make it this time, we promise. I promise. Ya obeshchayu.” They could not fail. The last attempt had almost broken them all, physically and mentally. Natalia didn’t think they would make it much longer in the hands of HYDRA.

A broken window in the ceiling was their only way to tell the time, and they waited, Wanda patiently, Natalia and Pietro impatiently, for the moon to tell them when to enact their escape. 

The plan was surprisingly simple. Of all of them, Wanda was the only one with a large flying morph that was capable of carrying them; a majestic golden eagle. So the four of them would morph into the smallest forms they were able. Wanda and Pietro’s case, it was a rat. Yelena had a small mouse morph and Natalia had a red squirrel morph that the doctors had injected in her as a cruel joke because of her hair color. 

The next part of the plan was a lot more risky. Wanda would then quickly slash the collars from their necks, and once they were outside, she would then morph into her eagle and carry them away. But they had to be quick. Very quick. The collars they all wore would tell Hydra they’d transformed as well as track their location.

It was not uncommon for them to morph outside of scheduled times of experimentation and training. Sometimes it was caused by dreams or uncontrollable urges; other times, for warmth or comfort. But once the collars were cut, it was a race against time to get out before the guards came running and they were caught.

“This one better work Wands…I don’t think we’ll get another chance after this,” Pietro said quietly at Wanda, glancing at Yelena from the corner of his eye. He knew they were out of time.

Of them all, Yelena was the youngest, and she knew nothing but a cruel life at the compound. She had no life before this. The other three at least had memories of the outside world to fuel their dreams and imagination. They took turns giving their littlest sister tidbits of the outside world as much as they could, but it only helped so much. It was no different to Yelena than reading a storybook.

Wanda and Pietro had been given to HYDRA willingly at the tender age of 11, after their parents had died during a raid and a bomb had destroyed their home in Sokovia. The two children, twins, had been lucky to avoid death but kind elderly strangers who had taken them in eventually could not care for them, and gave them up to HYDRA with the promise of a better life.

Some life…

Natalia had come from a Russian orphanage, having been there since she was a baby. When she had turned 8, she and other young children had been stolen in the night and taken to HYDRA and had already been there a year before Wanda and Pietro showed up.

But Yelena…she had no other past. Orphaned at birth, she was a ward of HYDRA from supposedly day one. Natalia really did not know Yelena’s past, but she first saw a glimpse of the girl as a baby when she had first arrived at HYDRA all those years ago. 

When Natalia came upon Yelena as a young toddler a few years later, it was like they had been waiting for each other all their lives. The toddler gravitated towards the young red-headed girl every moment she could. 

They were eventually allowed to share a room since they were both being administered the same experiments, adding Wanda and Pietro to the room next door, but the experiments got worse as they got older, and unfortunately Yelena’s age did not save her. That was when HYDRA started messing with hybrid DNA.

There had been others. Other kids, other failed experiments, but they’d come and gone. None of the four knew anyone else’s names that were still around.

A sliver of moon finally became visible and Wanda stood up quietly, her hands pressing on Natalia and Pietro’s shoulders. “Vreyma,” she said quietly. She swiftly knelt in front of Yelena, cupping her cheek. “Look at me, pretty girl,” Wanda waited until Yelena’s eyes cracked open and met her own dark eyes, though very unfocused.

“There, there. It is time for us to go. I will free us. Let us go be free.” Wanda’s eyes moved from Yelena to Natalia. She could see the worry in the older sister’s facial features. Wanda nodded with a small smile and saw Natalia harden her resolve before sitting Yelena up.

The young girl whined quietly and fluttered her eyes closed and back open.

“You can do it, Lene, come on. Do your mouse, okay baby? I’ll carry you,” Natalia told Yelena as she rubbed her pale arms and then cupped her bony cheeks.

Even though Yelena wasn’t a kid anymore, she was still quite small. The compound they were in had been detrimental to their health. None of them could have weighed over 100 pounds each, and it reflected in the skinny versions of the animals they could morph as well. Yelena and Natalia were both pretty short to begin with too, with Wanda a few inches taller and Pietro the tallest of them all. 

“'Talia… go without me…” Yelena whispered weakly. She wasn’t sure if she could even handle morphing again, but she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she was the reason her family lost their final chance at freedom.

Natalia shook her head firmly. “Not gonna happen Yelena. We’re leaving now, and you are coming. Now take a deep breath and morph. I got you, okay? We got you. C'mon, hup hup. Tri, dva, odin.”

Yelena sighed before meeting Natalia’s, then Wanda’s, and finally Pietro’s eyes. She was so tired…

She took a deep breath and focused as best she could to morph to the little mouse who’s DNA lived in her body.

The haggard group started their morphs into their smallest animal forms as soon as Yelena began her own slow change. Soon, a red squirrel, two black rats, and a small mouse huddled together and looked up at the ceiling towards the broken window, right by the leaky pipe that had offered them water. And a hole that was soon to be their escape to freedom.

Natalia shook her bushy tail before gently picking up the tiny mouse with her little arms. She shifted Yelena towards her mouth and strong teeth gripped at the neck of the tiny rodent who used her microscopic paws to grab hold of red and tan fur. Natalia stood then on all fours, signaling to Wanda and Pietro they were ready. 

Wanda took one sharp claw with her paw and ripped through each of their collars that had shrunk down with them. Four tiny pieces of flexible fabric fell to the ground, never to be used again. 

It was game on.

They scurried up to the ceiling on the pipes and loose pieces of wall before reaching the small hole on the outside of the broken window frame. Wanda and Pietro started chewing as fast as they could to create a hole big enough for Natalia’s form to squeeze through with Yelena.

Alarms started blaring moments later with the room being bathed in red light. In a panic, Natalia went to help pull pieces of metal away with her tiny paws, causing deep gouges in the thin paws of skin from the sharp metal. A squeak of pain fell from her mouth and Yelena’s little paws gripped Natalia’s red fur, shivering but cuddling closer to her. <Hold on super tight Yelena,> Natalia said to Yelena with their mind-speech they all had when in any animal form.

Pietro was the first one through the hole with Wanda jumping through after him and  Natalia scurried through with Yelena tight against her just as the door of their room flew open with a loud shout. 

They ran as fast as they could on the roof of the dilapidated building, the moon their only guide. 

Wanda looked around and saw some sort of large vent up ahead and to their left. <There.> She skidded over, the others following her lead. Natalia’s paws left little bloody tracks around them. Wanda glanced at her in concern white Pietro skittered about quietly, keeping a lookout.

<I am fine, they’ll heal quick. Please hurry,> Natalia sent out to the group in a rush, and Wanda waited not a second more.

It was difficult for them to morph in such a quick succession at times, especially without proper nourishment and rest, but it was the only way the plan would work, and Wanda was the only one of them who’d been able to do it successfully from one animal to another without passing out immediately afterwards. 

Wanda cleared her mind and thought of the form she must take to lead her family to safety. She could do this. She would do this for them.

Her fur shimmered and changed to form long gold and brown feathers, her mouth curling into a wicked sharp beak, her back feet growing and forming sharp talons . No more was she a small rat but a deadly raptor of the air. A golden eagle stood regally, the air vent barely cloaking her larger body.

Noises could be heard all around them of alarms and shouting from down below, with lights coming on outside the perimeter of the compound.

<Wanda, we are out of time!> Pietro screamed. Wanda stood tall, and as soon as Natalia and Pietro gripped her ankles, she leaped into the air and pushed as hard as her wings allowed to take flight with a deafening screech, her clawed feet curling under her to help hold her most precious cargo.

Gunshots flew around them in a tizzy before a deep shout was heard of ‘don’t kill them!’. Natalia and Pietro held on as tight as they could as the wind rushed all around them, Natalia pressing Yelena between herself and Wanda’s ankle. Pietro made eye contact with Natalia but they could do nothing more than hope Wanda’s skills of flight were enough.

Wanda flapped and spun and dove around, wings beating a thunderous beat and zooming them as fast as she was able. They just had to get over the perimeter fence a few hundred feet away and everything would be fine.

Bullets were no longer being shot at them but Wanda was sure that there were tranquilizers and other things being loaded and shot towards them.

Wanda pushed her wings to their limit and was finally able to catch a light breeze that helped her fly over the fence. Angry shouts followed and cursing from whoever was below her but she flew higher and higher as fast as her wings would take her, skillfully dodging the last few things shot her way.

She flew aimlessly in the direction of the moon. Eventually the noises of alarms, yelling and shooting faded. Wanda was able to look down and around. All she saw were trees. There were no shouts, alarms, lights, guards or gunshots. It was just the forest around them as the regal bird glided silently through the night above the treetops. The compound they had lived the last five years of their lives in was barely visible from how far Wanda had gotten them, just a dim speck of light behind them.

A smile formed as much as it was able on Wanda’s face as she tried to calm her racing heart. She let out a happy and free trill. 

<Natalia! Pietro! Yelena! We made it!> She shouted joyfully. Pietro rested his little rat forehead on Wanda’s ankle and Natalia looked behind before giving Yelena a squeeze, tears in her eyes. Happy shouts ran in their minds as Wanda kept them above the trees, the moon shining brightly on them as they flew further and further from pain.

<Are you good to keep going Wanda?> Asked Pietro, always the worrier.

<I am good Piet for awhile longer. I will get us as far as I can before we head on foot,> Wanda responded.

The group could retain their animal forms for at least a few hours but with her rapid shift from rat to eagle and the energy it took for her to escape, Wanda knew she would wear down quickly. She vowed to herself to get them as far as she could.

<Yelena, you okay for awhile longer too?> Asked Wanda to the smallest of them, but Natalia was the one who responded.

<She is not aware Wan… but she should be fine until you need to land.> 

As they reached the edge of a cluster of taller pines, a rickety outpost stood forlornly, with one guard on watch. Wanda could see about a mile past the outpost was a wide river as well. If they could just get past the river…

Unfortunately, the guard she had spotted must have been radioed and was not there for forest business because without a second thought, the guard took aim with the sniper rifle they pulled from their back and pulled the trigger. The bullet flew through the air and sliced through Wanda’s right wing with a shrill sound. 

Her screech was full of pain and she fell quickly down into the tree line, trying in vain to ignore the searing pain and straighten herself out into a glide. 

<Sister!! Are you okay?> Pietro screamed at his sister, with Natalia scrambling to re-grip Wanda’s feathery ankles, barely hanging on at this point. 

Her voice came out pained but Wanda answered them both. <I will get us as far as I can. I cannot flap my right wing but I can glide. If we can get past that river… I think we’ll be okay. Hang on.>

Wanda thought the guard at the outpost must have lost track of them once she descended below the tree line as it was still quite dark out, but just as she was passing next to a thinning cedar, another bullet was shot, hitting the bark just next to her with pieces of tree flying everywhere. The group screamed as one and Wanda nose dived down. The three rodents all flew off Wanda in separate directions, screams collectively filling all their minds.

Groans of pain were heard from under a thick bush as Wanda stood up shakily, human once again. Her body could no longer hold onto the eagle form she had been desperately trying to retain. Blood dripped down her injured arm to the forest floor. Wanda quickly hobbled towards Pietro who was balanced on the tallest root fallen tree, still holding his rat form thank goodness.

Holding her good arm out for him to scurry up to her shoulder, Wanda then looked around for her younger sisters. She saw Natalia’s red body scurrying up and down the trunk of a thicker tree a few yards away and jogged over as best she could before falling against the tree Natalia was on, both searching frantically for their youngest charge.

But she was nowhere.

There was another gun shot that hit a tree a few feet away. Pietro flinched and hunched down into Wanda’s neck. 

Wanda made the decision. “Nat…Natalia we need to go.”

<No! I'm not leaving without her!> Natalia yelled frantically.

Natalia sent out a screaming mind-speech message, hoping against everything that she would get a response from her sister.

After giving herself a single moment to breathe and send a prayer up to the anyone listening for forgiveness, Wanda reached up, grabbed Natalia’s little body and began running as fast as she could. Natalia screamed at her, tiny claws scratching Wanda's hand, trying in vain to get out of her grip. 

Wanda saw the river ahead, with a steep drop-off of at least 30 feet below. There was no visible way across.

Wanda knew that this was going to be the hardest part. She was hurt, a man with very good aim was shooting at them, and they had nowhere left to run. She cast one last glance around them for the youngest of them all, listening for anything, any sound of mind-speech or noise from the youngest of them, but when another bullet rang out, hitting a rock just inches from where they stood, she knew it was fruitless.

Natalia would have to forgive her later.

And with a gut-wrenching shout from Natalia, Wanda jumped. She swore she heard a far away call of <Natalia…> before she along with Natalia and Pietro were submerged into the cold, dark water.

Yelena groaned, trying and failing to open her eyes and move her body. Everything hurt.

She could hear yelling but wasn’t sure if it was out loud or in her head.

She tried to yell through mind-speech, but she wasn’t sure if she succeeded. Quite suddenly everything quieted down and she laid there, wherever ‘there’ was, in supposed solitude.

It was cold and dark and slightly damp. And so, so quiet.

Time passed. She’s not sure how much. It could have been minutes or hours.

She eventually came to again when she felt her body being hefted up firmly. A radio crackled to life nearby, words filtering out of it. An accented voice much louder and not through a radio responded after a beep... “Yeah, I got it.” A pause, then, “Looks alive. It’s the blonde one.”

More fuzzy responses on the radio came that Yelena had a hard time deciphering, and then a voice she could place clear as day came on. A voice with a deep Russian accent that haunted her nightmares.

“Bring her back. Now! And forget the others.”

Freedom had been such a fleeting dream for them all, but Yelena had still held onto a smidgen of hope. For Natalia. Wanda. Pietro.

She hoped they were free now. She closed her eyes.

Chapter Text

Natalia leaned forward on all fours, gagging and coughing up more water. Her body shivered from the cold.

Nearby, Wanda and Pietro were in similar states of distress. All three of them were back to their human selves.

They’d floated down the cold river for a long time before the current had eventually tapered off to shove them to a small shore. Now the trio were laid out in the early morning sky, breathing harshly, shivering from the cold, hungry, scared. And angry.

Natalia’s thoughts ran wild. It was her fault. She’d let go of her sister. She’d dropped her. She was somewhere lost and alone out there. Or taken. Or dead. And it was all her fault.

She was furious with Wanda but underneath her anger, she understood that what the brunette had done was the right thing. They had talked about having to split up or leave a member, but none of them actually thought it would have come down to that scenario. Natalia had never prepared herself for it really happening. Or Yelena being the one left behind…

As angry as Natalia was, she was also scared. Had Yelena made it away somewhere? Was she alone but safe? Was she floating down the river? Was she alive?

In her heart she believed that if Yelena was not alive, she’d know. And right now, her heart told her that her sister’s heart still beat.

She spit up more water and tried not to puke from the action.

And then the fear of everything else was there. What do they do now? Where do they go? Were they truly free? Would HYDRA look for them? She wasn’t naive enough to think that HYDRA wouldn’t try and find them, but how far would they go in their efforts? The questions kept coming and she had no answers.

Natalia flopped to her back on the wet grass and laid there for a short while, staring at the sky above as the dark colors slowly filtered from grays to blues. Pietro was the first to stand, pulling Wanda up to her feet with him. That’s when Natalia noticed Wanda’s arm.

During their escape the girl had been shot in her wing while in golden eagle morph. But once she had returned to human, it now left a nasty wound in her upper right arm. Natalia had momentarily forgotten about the injury. Now, she looked again at Wanda and noticed how pale she was. The wound had at least stopped bleeding.

Pietro put his arm around his sister’s shoulders gently. “We should probably find somewhere a little more…inconspicuous to lay low. We need supplies.”

Natalia stood up and shuffled to stand in front of Wanda. She was a few inches shorter than the brunette, so she looked up slightly. “Are you okay Wands?” 

Wanda used the hand from her uninjured arm to squeeze one of Natalia’s. “I’ll make it. It’s already started to heal, I just need to rest.” Natalia nodded and then gripped Wanda in a firm hug around her midsection, squeezing her eyes shut tight to stop tears from forming and falling miserably. Wanda squeezed back, chin over her shoulder, kissing Natalia on her temple. Pietro circled his arms around them both and they huddled together, forming three-fourths of their family circle. He kissed them both on their cheeks before moving away, scoping their surroundings.

None of them could voice what they wanted to, but they knew. Their littlest sister was not with them and the pain of that loss was felt heavily. 

“I see buildings that way. Let’s go.” Pietro pointed and said. The girls followed him, Natalia looping her arm through Wanda’s good arm for support.

It did not take long for them to reach the buildings Pietro had seen but with the uneven terrain, Wanda’s injury, and the past few hours of adrenaline and fear, they were all completely exhausted. Pietro had eventually stopped to have Wanda climb on his back and carried her the rest of the way.

A slew of rundown buildings and houses lay nearby and at random, with the town or city looking like it got busier the further you went. Pietro led them to one that was two stories and most definitely abandoned by the looks of it. Graffiti littered the sides of brick with broken windows every few feet and a dilapidated fence that went around only two sides of the building. A set of metal stairs went up to a door and they hobbled up. Thankfully, the door opened without a problem and Pietro ushered Natalia in, setting Wanda on her feet gingerly before closing the door behind them. 

Around the group was a pretty sad sight. They were on the second story of some sort of abandoned factory by the looks of it. They could see large machines that looked old and rusted on the first floor from over a balcony a few feet away. There was something that looked like a conveyer belt as well, and lots of garbage. Broken bottles, upended chairs, trash, dirt, pieces of glass and who knows what else all littered the floor. Weeds had grown between the cement floor in patches.

A door to their right lay across the way and Pietro pointed to it, as it looked the furthest away from the outside elements. Inside was a small office. Two broken wooden office chairs were in a pile to the left, with a third chair on the other side of a desk that looked like it had once been a comfy fabric chair on wheels. It now looked like rodents had made it their home. A very old computer monitor with a smashed screen lay on a desk in the middle of the room. A small metal cabinet was in the far corner, 2 of the drawers half-open and empty. 

“Well this is comfy,” Natalia said, her nose scrunched up slightly. Pietro hummed as Wanda slid to the ground with her back against the desk. Natalia followed suit and slid down a little more gracefully next to her.

“It’ll have to do for now. Let’s rest and then I will go out for supplies for us. After that, we can plan.” The blonde boy stated firmly, They needed at least a few basic supplies. Food and water, maybe a blanket or two. Wanda would heal quickly enough, but they were all nervous of stopping in one place for too long.

Although it seemed to the trio that they had gotten pretty far from the compound, they were not far enough. None of the young adults were deluding themselves into thinking they’d be safe in an abandoned factory a few short miles from the hell that HYDRA was. HYDRA had moved them from Russia all the way to the States a few years back. They had many more resources than three malnourished kids who could turn into animals.

So for now, they needed to be smart. Remain healthy, keep their wits, have each other's backs. Then they could think of the future. Where do they go? How do they get there? They had no money, no friends or family, no help. No Yelena.

Pietro flopped down on the other side of Wanda and held her hand, giving it a squeeze. Natalia looked almost asleep, her head resting against Wanda’s good shoulder. 

None of them wanted to be the first to bring up Yelena. So they didn’t. 

Golden sunlight filtered in through the tall trees from the morning sun onto a large farmhouse in rural Iowa, USA. A morning dove cooed from nearby, the soft noise blending with the breeze and quickly fading before another coo further away responded.

Upstairs in the guest room of the house, an adolescent girl with long brown hair and gangly legs smiled and stretched, glad to be able to sleep in a little that morning. The smell of coffee had traveled upstairs from the old coffee maker in the kitchen and gave her a warm feeling inside.

It was a few weeks into the summer and Kate Bishop was enjoying every second of it. She had just finished her first year of high school and was staying at Clint and Laura Barton’s farm for the next few months while her mom was away on business. 

Kate’s mom Eleanor Bishop ran one of the most successful security companies in the country. It also caused the older woman to be extremely busy, her work life melting into her personal life on the daily. Her and Kate lived in Manhattan most of the year but every summer since the Barton's had become a permanent fixture in their lives, Kate stayed with them. Every summer she was here, some holidays, and random times of the year if Eleanor was away for work for an extended period of time. Laura or Clint had come up to stay with Kate at the penthouse a few times, but since the birth of their own kids, that stopped being realistically possible. 

When Kate was younger, she’d beg her mom to bring her with on her trips. She’d gone all over the world for them. Australia, London, Japan, Mexico. So many amazing places. But as much as Kate would have enjoyed it, bringing her young daughter on work trips ‘just wasn’t appropriate’ Eleanor would say, while giving her a soft pat on the squishy cheek and a tender smile. She hated to leave her daughter but she didn’t have much choice. Eleanor and Kate were thankful every day for the Bartons.

It was just Kate and her mom these days. Her dad, Derek Bishop, had passed away when Kate was a little girl and ever since that, it was just them two.

Kate was indifferent about where she lived. She loved going to the Bartons. They were her second family; she saw them more than she did her mom these days. She did miss her mom when she was gone, but she could honestly say she didn’t miss the penthouse. Kate thrived at the farm. She loved the animals, the open air, the quiet. Everything about their farm was just so beautiful and relaxing, and helped her feel a little less lonely.

Sitting up, Kate ran thin fingers through her hair, pulling them through a few snags they got caught on. Then she got up and made her way to the bathroom across the hall, using the toilet, washing her hands and brushing her teeth before heading down the creaky farmhouse stairs to the living room. She’d change out of her PJs later she told herself.

Her slippered feet shuffled to the kitchen and poured herself a warm cup of coffee. She fixed it up to her liking and breathed in the delicious aroma of caffeine. Taking a small sip, she hummed happily. Toothpaste aftertaste or not, the coffee was delicious.

Her feet carried her to the dining room where Clint and Laura sat, one half-drank cup of coffee in front of one adult, a mug of tea in front of the other.

“Hmmm,” Kate hummed happily, “Morning. Thank you for leaving me some coffee.” Kate said gratefully, taking another small sip.

Clint tsked good naturedly. “You definitely don’t need it, but you’re welcome.” He wasn’t too keen on giving a 15 year old caffeine, mostly because he didn’t want her to rub off on the younger kids, but her joy made him crumble.

Clint Barton, her only father figure, gave her a small smile. “No problem, kid. We know how fun you are without your coffee.” Kate squinted her eyes at him in mock annoyance.

His wife and Kate’s other mother figure Laura Barton just laughed, enjoying the peaceful morning. Her heavily pregnant belly was just visible above the kitchen table where she sat.

Kate had been at the farm many times since she was young. It was her home away from home. Unfortunately for her, it came with one of her nemesis: chores. The Barton’s farm, although smaller than most in the area, still had its fair share of animals, along with a garden Laura grew each year. And just like all the other family members of the house, Kate did her part.

Soon enough, coffee and tea were drunk and a quick breakfast was shared between them. Clint got up and stretched after rinsing his coffee cup out in the sink. A quick kiss was given to Laura and a side hug to Kate before he grabbed his car keys from the kitchen counter.

“Home before dinner tonight?” Laura asked.

“I’ll do my best, but you know those woods. They have a mind of their own,” Clint responded with a wink, which had Kate snickering and wiggling her fingers spookily.

“Be safe!” yelled Laura.

“Always am!” Clint yelled back, already out the door. Laura’s and Kate’s eyes met.

Kate scoffed. “He’s never safe. He’s always coming back with mysterious scrapes, scratches bruises…or injured animals!” Clint was a lot of things. Strong, smart, reliable. But safe he was not.

“The poison ivy...” sighed Laura while rolling her eyes, remembering a few weeks ago where her clumsy husband claimed the plant fell on him from above somehow, which both women knew was almost impossible. He had probably tripped in the forest and didn’t want to admit it. 

A few minutes later, a Toyota 4Runner with the Iowa State Park Emblem on the side of the black car drove off down the gravel driveway with 2 quick beeps signaling Clint was off to work for the day. 

“I should go get the kids up. You want to feed the chickens today or the goats?” Laura asked Kate, rinsing her own empty cup out and grabbing two water bottles for each of them. She already knew what Kate would pick. The tall brunette groaned and grabbed the water bottle extended to her.

“Brahmamina almost ripped off my ankle yesterday!” Kate moaned, holding one foot in the air and hopping around unsteadily to show Laura the mark that definitely did not exist on her ankle. “That hen has it out for me! I swear it! I’ve been nothing but good to her too!” Laura just laughed at her antics.

Laura headed towards the stairs to where her and Clint’s young children Cooper and Lila Barton still slept. She waddled slowly up the stairs to get the young kids up for the day, heading to Cooper’s room first. Cooper was five years old and Lila would turn two in the fall. 

Kate went into her own room, the guest room, to get dressed for the day. Even though she’s the only one who ever used the room, it was still technically not ‘hers’. It wasn’t heavily decorated by any means, but the decor the room did have, along with any trinkets, clothes and pillows, were all hers. Left here for whenever she stayed. It made her heart happy that she had a room at the Barton’s. 

Once she was dressed, adorning an old T-shirt, shorts, and socks, with her long hair thrown up into a ponytail, she opened her door back up.

Only to almost run over a very energetic and adorable five year old boy.

“Coopie!”

The little boy screamed how only little kids could – ear-piercingly loud and happy. 

“Aunee Kate!” He wasn't the best yet at the hard consonants and Kate adored her name out of the little boy's mouth. She loved being an aunt to him and Lila.

Kate bent over to scoop the adorable boy up, giving him a hug. “Good morning little guy. Wanna be my chore buddy?”

“No way!” he yelled, pushing off her and scurrying to Lila’s room. Kate followed after him, walking in just as Laura had finished changing Lila’s diaper.

“I can’t wait to potty train this one. Hopefully she catches on before this little one makes their appearance,” Laura says hopefully, with a dash of exhaustion mixed in. Lila let out a few babbles, a bottle of lotion in her tiny hands keeping her occupied.

Laura could have asked Kate to do all of the chores outside while she stayed in with the kiddos, but the stubborn woman refused to feel incapable unless ordered by a doctor to stop. Besides, the kids loved being outside and around all the animals, so it was a win-win.

Soon enough, the kids were dressed, breakfast was given to them, and the four of them were headed outside with their outdoor shoes on. 

Laura shoved Kate gently towards where the goats and pigs were fed, heading to the large chicken coop that housed the 20 or so chickens that currently lived on the farm. Lila was strapped to her back, a cute little bucket hat over her head of light-brown hair. 

A dramatic and whispered ‘safe for another day’ was heard from Kate once she realized Laura was taking on chicken coop duty.

“Drama queen!” Laura said with a laugh.

“Am not!” she yelled back loudly, already in the barn. “C’mon Coopie, let’s go play with the goats!” Cooper had been playing in some mud nearby with a stick and threw it before scurrying after Kate. 

With the little boy in tow, Kate knew that chores would take twice as long, but the hilarious company of a five year old made it worth it. 

The drive up to the outposts Clint was stationed at for that week took a little over an hour. Just enough time for him to make it to the first outpost before the public was allowed in for the day. From there, the day was mostly spent doing safety patrols and normal park maintenance on the many trails the state park had to offer. He always ended the day with checking in with the fellow rangers on duty.

Working as a park ranger wasn’t Clint Barton’s life-long dream by any means. He’d come upon the job by accident actually.

Clint had been in the military for over 10 years before being honorably discharged. He had eventually relocated to New York for a few years, working as personal protection at Bishop Securities for Kate and her mom Eleanor after her husband and his best friend Derek had passed. Being back in the real world was a bit of a culture shock to him, but he eventually got back into the swing of things.

He worked hard, saved up money, bought the farm he’d always wanted near his hometown in Iowa, meeting his wife Laura shortly after. The Park Ranger job was something he’d heard about one day while visiting Laura at her job at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic on the edge of town. He’d then worked his way up through a few promotions to his current gig of Chief Park Ranger. 

Although not a job he ever saw himself doing, Clint enjoyed it immensely and was happier than he had ever been in his entire life. He loved his life at the moment, his wife and two kids, a third on the way, Kate and Eleanor, his farm. He was so glad for all the opportunities that had been given to him in life thus far. He could only hope that things would remain as they were.

Clint radioed in from his truck to the home station signaling he was done for the day, before starting up the dirty SUV and maneuvering it to the roadway. After driving no more than a few minutes down the road, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. A flash of tan.

He let off the gas, thinking maybe it was just a trick of the setting sun through the trees. Suddenly, a very large…something, he wasn’t sure what, blurred in front of him and a loud thump was heard before Clint was able to slow the car to a sudden stop.

Cursing aloud, he got his bearings and grabbed one of his guns with the tranquilizers, not sure what he hit but knowing the area was not always the most friendly of places. He had just hit something most likely not human and it was large, so he was going to be cautious.

He hopped out of the truck and slowly made his way around the front end. Eventually the sight that greeted him was not what he was expecting.

A rather small-looking cougar laid a few feet off the road. It was clearly injured, as Clint had just hit the thing with his SUV; one of its back legs looked awkwardly angled. As he got closer, it started hissing and trying to stand, its sharp teeth showing dangerously.

Clint wasn’t taking any chances on who’d win between him and a wild, injured cougar. He moved a few feet to the left and pulled the trigger on the pistol, the bright red dart hitting just above the animal’s shoulder. The tranquilizers worked their way into it’s bloodstream quickly and after just a few moments, he now had an unconscious, extremely dirty, and most likely severely injured cougar on the ground in front of him.

“Aww man, guess I’m not making it in time for dinner,” Clint murmured aloud to himself while pulling his cellphone out of his pocket.

A soft, constant rumble was heard from below her as Yelena tried to blink her bleary eyes open. 

Her brain was so foggy. Was she dreaming?

Through the slits she was able to open her eyelids to, she noticed everything around her was colorless. That either meant it was very dark out, or she’d been shifted too long.

<Natalia?> she called out. Her mind-speech seemed to project, confirming she was shifted into… something. She couldn’t tell what animal, but did it really matter?

She didn’t get a response. She tried the same for Wanda and Pietro. No response. She stopped trying.

More time passed and her consciousness faded in and out. The rumble eventually stopped. She fell under the spell of sleep once again before she felt her body being moved from wherever she was to somewhere much brighter. It hurt her closed eyelids.

Yelena was able to pick out a few sounds that sounded like human voices but she was too tired to try and respond. She didn’t know what they were saying anyway, it was too fast.

She felt a slight pinch on one of her legs before happily floating back to blissful unconsciousness. She’d look for her family… after another nap…

Chapter Text

Laura Barton was not your average ‘soccer mom’ type of woman. At least she didn’t like to think so. She didn’t own a minivan, nor did any of her children play soccer yet. And she definitely didn’t live off iced coffee every day and fast food.

She liked to think of her life as interesting and fun. She had two spunky and energetic kids, with a third on the way. She had Clint, her best friend, an amazing husband and father with the biggest heart, and just in general a kind person. His spontaneity and goofball personality complimented her sometimes-seriousness and rationality well. She was also a pseudo-mom to Eleanor and the late-Derek Bishop’s sweet daughter Kate. 

Derek had sadly passed when Kate was a young girl, before Laura had even met the family. Once getting out of the military, Clint had taken a security guard-type position in the company that the Bishops had started. The two men had been best friends growing up and upon Derek’s passing, Eleanor and her daughter had needed support. With the Bishop’s business falling solely onto Eleanor’s shoulders, Clint and Laura had kindly taken Kate into their home and hearts when needed.

Before starting a family of their own, Kate was the only child in their lives for a long time and she was exactly what Clint and Laura had needed in preparation for starting their own little family as she was not the easiest kid to be in charge of. She was reckless, stubborn, strong-willed, and made rash decisions before thinking things through. Laura couldn’t recall if she had upgraded her first aid kit in the house because of her husband or when Kate started staying with them more consistently. But she also loved with her whole heart, and soon enough had them both wrapped around her little finger.

Laura had felt like an aunt for the littlest Bishop at first. As time went on however, they all saw less and less of Eleanor and Clint and Laura saw more of Kate in their home and lives, making her feel more like a part-time daughter. 

Kate would stay at the farmhouse on weekends and certain holidays, and many work trips Eleanor had to go on. Eventually she started staying whole summers and Clint turned the biggest of their guest rooms into Kate’s room, even though the brunette didn’t like to refer to it as hers. Laura knew it weighed on Kate’s shoulders; she was a growing girl who missed her mom.

The Bishop’s home was in Manhattan, a spacious and very expensive penthouse where Kate had spent most of her early childhood. Eleanor clearly loved her daughter but she was a workaholic and feared not being able to provide for her to the level she thought she deserved. It led to Eleanor missing much of Kate’s young adult life these days. Laura knew Kate didn’t care about the penthouse or the fancy clothes, the money. She just cared about her mom.

In any case, by the time Laura grew pregnant with Cooper, Kate was a moody, dorky, teenage staple in their lives. The daughter they never asked for but would never trade away for the world. Three years later, their daughter Lila was born. And now Laura was pregnant for the third time. They’d all decided to be surprised on the gender, but Clint and Kate had been making bets for months. Names had mostly been decided on, but hearing the names Kate would come up with gave her the biggest belly laughs.

On top of having the most amazing family Laura could have asked for, her job was the other small spot in her life where she could still make a little bit of difference in the world. The Wildlife Rehabilitation Center was a place where animals, mostly wild, were brought in when they were found injured, sick or in places that wild animals shouldn’t be. She had seen and helped her fair share of squirrels, racoons, opossums, coyotes, and many, many birds. Pretty much every type of common animal found in Iowa and the surrounding states. She’d even helped with a few medical procedures on some larger animals, though they usually had to get them transferred elsewhere to neighboring centers or sanctuaries that had the equipment and proper care available.

Laura had gone to school back in her younger years, right after high school, to become a veterinarian. She had grown up adoring animals, always very passionate about them, but life is unpredictable. After graduating and getting together with Clint, she had a hard time finding a job that was within a reasonable driving distance. For a few years she worked a few different jobs to help pay off school debt. Then they got married, purchasing the farm soon after, with chickens, goats and a few other farm animals that followed. Being a veterinarian seemed like a pipe-dream after a few years. But eventually Laura found her way to work at the rehab center, a diamond in the rough of available shitty jobs that existed in a 50 mile radius that an old friend had kindly recommended to her.

Recently she’d gone from working as the top rehabilitator and lead surgeon to working barely part-time and volunteering on the weekends, her pregnancy limiting her frustratingly. The job didn’t pay even close to what she wished it did, but with Clint’s years of service in the military and his current job, they made do. They didn’t need to be rich; just happy. And happy they were.

Working on the less common animals was one of her favorite things about her job, right next to when rehabilitation and releases were a success. When Clint messaged her later that night about being late for dinner, she couldn’t hide the disappointment. But that quickly dissipated and turned into a little bit of guilt and a lot of intrigue as soon as she learned why.

Her husband had sent her a text that he had hit a juvenile injured cougar with his vehicle on his way home and it needed immediate medical care. Fortunately the center she worked at was the closest to the State Park by far. She’d only dealt with a cougar once before and it was during college, so having the potential opportunity to assist and rehabilitate the cougar was a dream. Cougars were quite a rare sight near their parts, but it wasn’t unheard of to spot one on occasion.

The phone service Clint received deep in the woods was subpar at best, so he normally didn’t call while on shift. A second message came in apologizing; a simple ‘sorry honey love u, call soon xo’. Laura sent a similar message back before focusing back on the kids.

Dinner that evening was an ordeal, like it always is with young children. Cooper didn’t want to eat the chicken, pasta and veggie medley Laura had made, Kate had been moody and had sat there poking around the peas and carrots on her plate, and Lila wouldn’t settle for anything less than Laura’s complete and total attention during the whole fiasco. Laura was pretty sure she had pasta in her hair and her floor had food everywhere. Now would be a great time to have a dog, but the last farm dog had passed two years ago and they’d not had the heart to re-adopt just yet.

Lila, her littlest baby, ended up falling asleep towards the end of the meal and Laura settled for finishing her plate lukewarm, not wanting to wake the girl up by getting up to use the microwave.

Not long after dinner, Lila had been put in her crib for the night and Laura had just clicked the door shut to Cooper’s room, the boy fast asleep after a few bedtime books. 

She knocked gently on Kate’s door before opening it, not expecting the teen to already be in bed too. The teenager rolled over to face Laura, the light in the room already off.

“Sorry sweetie, I thought you’d be up reading still,” Laura said softly.

Kate shook her head, mumbling about being tired.

“Alright. Goodnight Kate," Laura murmured. “Thank you so much for your help today.”

Kate let out a quiet yawn. “No biggie Laura. See you ’morrow. Night, love you…” She trailed off, snuggling back into her pillow and turning back to face the curtain-clad window.

“Love you too sweetie.” Laura closed the door.

Laura loved her life, but she never said it wasn’t exhausting at times.

While heating up some water for tea, the kitchen finally cleaned up, her cell phone rang and she picked up after checking the caller ID to see Clint’s name in bold letters.

“Hey honey, are you on your way home?” Laura spoke into the device.

“Hey babe. Yep, I’m almost done here. Just got to the rehab center. Waiting for them to unlock the back door so they can help me unload. Oh–gimme a sec honey!” Clint responded in a rush.

Laura heard the phone being set down and muffled sounds for a few minutes. She went about finishing her tea and was already relaxed on the couch, a warm mug between her hands and the phone held to her ear before she could hear her husband clearly again. 

“Hey Laur, sorry again. I really was on my way home right before I hit the poor thing. I couldn’t just leave it there. Anyway, it’s in good hands with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

Laura just shook her head, even though he couldn’t see it. She clearly knew who he was referring to; two of her coworkers who almost always took the night shift at the Rehabilitation Center. “No worries honey. Darcy and Jane you mean?”

“That’s what I said.”

“Did not.” She joked at him.

“Thing One and Thing Two?” Clint responded back.

She scoffed. “You’re ridiculous.” Laura heard the sound of a car door closing from the phone speaker. “See you soon?” 

“I’ll be home before you know it.”

The following morning was a much more mellow affair. It was Saturday and Clint was off work that weekend, while Laura had planned to head over to the rehab center for a few hours after lunch. Thinking of the young cougar currently housed at the center made her antsy in a good way. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t excited to see the wild cat Clint had dropped off the night before.

She whipped up a quick batch of french toast for the family, a disheveled Kate being the last one of the household to mosey downstairs. Once french toast was set in front of the teenager though, she came to life, shoveling them down like her life depended on it.

Soon enough, everyone went outside after getting dressed and showered for the day, getting started on the daily chores. Cooper usually shadowed Kate, his aunt and oldest-sister-figure until he either got hungry, grumpy or she got annoyed. Kate was still a teenager after all and could only put up with a five-year-old for so long before she needed a break from the energetic child. 

After chores were done and lunch was consumed, Laura changed her shoes and grabbed her car keys from the bowl on the kitchen counter. 

“I’m heading out to the rehab center for a few hours, Clint. Need me to pick anything up from the store on my way home?” She announced to her husband as she went to give him a kiss goodbye.

“Nah, we’ll be fine. We can go together tomorrow to get groceries for the week.” Clint responded, setting the TV remote down to lean up and kiss his wife, then her belly. He was lounging on the couch with his feet up, flipping channels. Kate perked up from where she was laying on the living room floor next to Cooper who was playing with his cars and trains.

“You’re going to the rehab center?” Kate asked Laura, who hummed in confirmation.

“Can I come with?” Kate was already getting up and walking towards where her shoes were.

Laura had picked up Lila from her playpen, giving her kisses and soft tickles to make her laugh. “It’s gonna be a few hours. Is that okay?”

Kate, already one shoe on, nodded her head. “Yep, that’s fine! You think Grills will be there?”

One of Kate’s few friends in Iowa volunteered at the rehabilitation center and although Laura had no idea if he’d be there, there was a good chance since it was summertime. 

“Not too sure but I’d say the chances are high. Plus, there’s a really cool animal we’re caring for at the moment you might enjoy seeing.”

Kate’s eyes widened and a smile formed. “Yeah? Ooo, an eagle? Or a hawk? Please don’t tell me you have a hawk there!?”

Laura laughed, “No, no hawk.” She leaned closer to Kate, “Think a little bit bigger. Try a cougar.”

Kate’s eyes grew wide. “Wow. Woah, no way. That is so sick.” the teenager said mostly to herself before hopping up, both shoes now on, and running out the door. “Bye Clint! Bye Coopie and Liles!”

Clint hollered goodbye back to Kate as Laura set Lila back in her playpen, handing her one of the baby toys nearby. Cooper stood up to give his mom a kiss. “You guys be good while I’m gone,” Laura told the boys. “See you around dinner time!”

“Bye mommy!” Cooper said, focused back on his trains and cars.

“Bye hun! Go save some lives!”

The car was barely shifted to park before Kate was out the door and running into the rehab center. Laura could see Grills through the glass doors standing behind the front counter. Kate was already jumping up and down and they began to talk excitedly.

Gilbert, or Grills, was a young boy a few years older than Kate. He had dark hair and dark skin, and a winning personality. He was kind and hardworking and one of the most passionate young men Laura had ever seen in regards to animals and their care. Kate had taken to his friendship like a fish to water a few years back and they were inseparable whenever they saw each other.

Laura climbed out of the car much more slowly, her large belly not making it easy to get behind the steering wheel of a car. She made her way inside, saying hello to Grills before heading to the office behind the counter. 

The room was used as the main office for whoever was in charge for the day. The office windows could see the front counter clearly from inside but it was closed off enough for if they needed to make any phone calls or have a private conversation.

A southern voice carried through the door as Laura opened it. “Girl, what are you doing here with a belly that big.” 

Laura laughed. 

“Nice to see you too, Rambeau. You know I can’t stay away for long.” Laura gave one of her best friends and fellow coworker a firm hug, the woman in question returning it with a smile.

“Yeah, I know, I know. You bring Kate with you today?” The other woman asked. She sat back down and leaned back in her chair.

“I don’t think I even fully had the words out before she was already out the door,” said Laura, taking a seat in front of the desk Maria Rambeau was behind after hanging her purse up. “How’s the day going so far? Any issues? Is it just you and Grills for the day?”

Maria just rolled her eyes, her arms folding in front of her. “I know you are here to see that cat, Laura Barton.” 

Laura couldn’t help but blush, her friend knowing her main concern immediately.

“I know you know,” she groaned in good fun, shifting in the chair to get more comfortable, “But I am still checking in. This is my home away from home Maria; I care. You know I care.”

“Yeah, I know.” After a moment, Maria spun in her chair and grabbed the clipboard hanging on the wall behind her, then spun back. “Grills is gonna be here probably most of the day. That boy is a godsend, I swear. But it’s been quiet most of the week, besides that giant cat your husband so graciously dropped off. A few coons and squirrels. Lots of ducklings, most ready for release soon. Hmm, Darce and J will be here tonight, as usual. And Maya is on call.”

Laura nodded, happy to hear that things were going well. “And the cougar? How is she?”

“She’s doing good. Hasn’t woken up just yet from the sedatives we gave it last night but I imagine it’ll happen soon. Might have to give her more if she gets too wound up. We gave her some fluids and wrapped up her back hip area too. It was really hard to tell if anything was broken or required surgery; you know we don’t have the right equipment for an animal like that, but her vitals looked good when we checked last. We left some food and water in the kennel. Jane had some fluids hooked up to her until…I think 5 or 6 this morning? It should be on the chart.” Maria relayed, referring to the chart they kept in front of each kennel and were meticulous in filling out and updating.

Laura hummed, glad for the info. 

“I believe Minnesota Cat Sanctuary is coming to pick her up in the next day or two. We just don’t have the right equipment to house her, and I’m worried we’ll miss something vital and she won’t make it. There could be a ton of internal damage, we just don’t know. Your husband has a pretty big car.” Maria finished.

Laura agreed, sad to hear the cat wouldn’t be here long but glad that it would get the best care it could get. Minnesota Cat Sanctuary was a few hours away but was one of the best rehabilitation centers in the surrounding states, especially for wild cats. She’d visited a few times.

“Where’s your mini-me?” Laura then asked as the dark-skinned woman was hanging the clipboard back up, referring to Maria’s seven-year-old daughter Monica.

“With Carol. They wanted to have an ‘adventure day’, as Mon called it. I just told Carol that I didn’t want to see any broken bones when I got home. On either of them.”

Laura couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Maria’s partner Carol and her Clint were like two peas in a reckless, dangerous pod. “And how is Carol? How are you both doing?” 

“Oh we’re good. Nothing new or exciting in that department. But we’re good. It’s all good.” Maria ended her response with a smile, Laura returning the gesture.

“Glad to hear it, Maria.”

The conversation lulled a little and Laura’s thoughts went back to the cougar. She let her eagerness win out. “Let me know if you need anything while I’m here? I’ll be around a few hours, dinner time-ish?”

“Sounds good. I’m sure Grills will keep Kate busy while she’s here, but let me know if she gets to be too much or distracts him. I’ll put her on poop duty or something.” Laura stood up, one hand on her belly to smooth out her shirt.

Maria made a noise of agreement. “I’m sure he will. But if she gets too rowdy, I’ll send her back your way.”

“Sounds good!” Laura made her way out of the office, passing Kate and Grills on her way. The teenagers barely glanced at her as they continued chatting animatedly about some TV show or another.

Laura kept going down the long hall, passing a few small rooms before coming to a set of double doors that led to the back building. It’s where most of the animals that had been recently in surgery and had to remain in solitude were housed.

The rehabilitation center had been updated since she had first started her job there. They’d been able to expand the building to twice the size as well as build a few outdoor pens of different types in the back. Some were roofed and fenced up, for birds. Others had shade but didn’t need floor to ceiling fencing as they mostly housed ground critters and animals that couldn’t climb.

Most of the animals that were still recovering from injuries or surgeries were still kept in the indoor building though. It was a good way to make sure any open wounds would remain as clean as possible as well as keep an eye on them. They didn’t have cameras in the rooms, their budget not nearly high enough for that, but they did enough rounds on the property to keep a close eye on the current residents.

Laura knew without even checking that the cougar would be towards the back of the building. It’s the only area where the cages were big enough to fit an animal that large.

Once she reached the large wild cat, she just sort of stared at it for a few minutes, mesmerized by how gorgeous it was. It had tan fur all over its body, a long tail the same color except for the tip which was a dark black. The cat’s muzzle was white with a little bit of black on the edge, with rounded furry tan ears atop its head. Laura was certain that if the big cat’s eyes were open, they would be a bright amber color. The cougar’s paws were as big as Laura’s hands; beautiful and intimidating, with black claws just barely poking through to be seen.

She checked the chart hanging up to the right side of the door. 85 lbs, estimated just under a year old. Given an injection at midnight to keep the wild animal calm and resting. Fluids given last at 10:15 am. Laura could see a bandage wrapped around the large cat’s left front leg, presumably where they’d had an IV. A large bandage covered most of the animal's right hip and thigh area, the bandage continuing to wrap around its middle section and below the hip around the leg to keep it in place and secure. Two large bowls, one of water and one containing what looked like raw strips of chicken or pork sat in the corner of the kennel across from where the door opened. 

Laura wasn’t too sure if raw meat was the best way to go versus some chunky cat food. She figured if the skinny animal was hungry though, either was an option. And skinny it was. Most of its ribs were slightly visible, and it was very dirty. Laura could only imagine the beautiful coat on it when clean.

She spent some time just looking the cougar over, eventually opening the door and running her hands through its fur after making sure it was still sedated. Kate joined her after about an hour, claiming Maria said she needed help. Laura doubted that was the case; Kate and Grills were probably just goofing around too much for him to get any proper work done.

In any case, Laura had Kate join her in at the edge of the kennel, the young brunette in similar awe Laura had first been in.

“She’s beautiful. She’s–it’s a girl right?” Kate asked, petting her softly. 

“Mhm.” Laura responded. She gave Kate the rundown on what little she knew of the big cat and Kate listened intently. After a bit, the animal seemed to twitch and both girls got a little cautious and stood up. Laura latched the door back up and added a few marks on the cougar’s chart.

“Let’s get some stuff to clean her up. She’s kinda dirty, isn’t she?” Laura said to Kate. The teenager nodded, looking down and wiping her hands on her jeans, marks appearing on the denim.

“Can we name her?” Kate asked.

Laura had turned around to walk towards one of the washing areas in a room to the right of the double entrance doors. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, honey. Another rehab center is coming to pick her up in a day or two. They specialize in large wild cats, so they’ll have everything to take really good care of her. Much better than we could. So we shouldn’t get too attached.”

“Aww man.” Kate got up to follow her before continuing her internal rant aloud, “Well, if she were to have a name…I think she looks like a Honey. Cuz she’s a girl, and well, her fur is kind of the color of honey. But I bet she’s very sweet!”

“Oh the wild cougar is sweet huh?” Laura asked, one eyebrow lifting.

“Mhm. Definitely sweet. She’s just a big baby! A sweet, little, gigantic furry kitty-cat baby named Honey.” Kate nodded to herself.

Flicking the light on to find what she needed, Laura continued humoring Kate, “She’s not exactly a little kitten Katie-girl. She’s almost a full-grown adult cougar. Could probably rip your throat out in three seconds flat. You wouldn’t even see her coming.” Laura quickly spun around, throwing her fingers around Kate’s shoulders. “Yah!”

“Eep!” Kate squeaked out before laughing, lightly smacking Laura a few times on the arm. ”Don’t doooo that!”

“It wasn’t me, it was the cougar.”

“Whatever Laura!” Kate huffed firmly. “Honey wouldn’t do that.”

“Uh-huh, whatever you say, oh brave one.” Laura snickered, grabbing some of the brushes and combs they had near one of the bathing areas, along with a sponge, washcloth, a few towels, and a spray bottle. Humming to herself, she deemed what she had grabbed enough for now and they made their way back to the cougar.

“Can we come back tomorrow?” Kate asked her, grabbing some of the items from Laura to help her carry them.

“I don’t see why not. Maybe after our trip to the grocery store we can spend a little time here again. Grills usually doesn’t come in Sundays, you know,” Laura responded, seeing right through her.

Kate shrugged, flicking off the light for Laura as they walked back through the doorway, “Yeah, I know. But…Honey might wake up by tomorrow. And I don’t want her to be alone. She’s probably really scared.”

Laura knew Kate wouldn’t be much comfort to the cougar, but she wasn’t going to say so aloud.

“Yeah sweetie, she probably is. But that doesn’t make her any less dangerous. Animals that are scared are a hundred times more likely to hurt you, but it doesn’t mean they want to. They’re just afraid,” Laura educated gently. Kate was a smart girl, but her heart was too big and selfless at times. 

Kate walked ahead of her, much quicker with her young body that was not carrying an 8-month old gestating unborn baby. Laura was a few kennel doors down when Kate stopped with a weird look on her face.

“Uhhhh Laura?”

“Hmm?” Laura said.

“The uh…it’s–it’s uh…” She was pointing at the kennel the cougar was in. “Honey is….”

Laura hurried herself the last few yards and stood next to Kate. 

The cougar was gone.

“Did you open this door?” Laura asked Kate seriously.

“What? No! I was with you the whole time!” Kate defended hotly.

“Shit, sorry Kate. I know. Shit.” Laura turned, about to head to the front desk area to check with Maria or Grills, when something caught her eye.

“Maybe she–”

Laura shushed Kate quickly, but she kept going.

“But maybe–”

“Quiet, Kate.” Laura said gently but firmly, leaning against the door until her face was against the bars.

In the very corner to the right of the door, hard to see from any other angle, was a very dirty, skinny blonde-haired human girl wrapped up in a tight ball on the floor. A girl who had bandages wrapped on her, in the exact same spots the cougar had been covered with. Laura was sure Kate heard the ‘what the fuck’ come out of her mouth, though she swore she only thought it. The teenager leaned closer to look at what Laura was seeing.

For some reason, a memory from a few years ago suddenly came barreling to the forefront of Laura’s mind. Something eerily familiar…

A creature, there was no other way to put it, had been found in the woods nearby, and brought to the rehab center late one dark and dreary night. Laura had still been working night shifts during that time. That particular night it had just been her and Jane, the latter still volunteering. Clint had called her; one of his fellow rangers had come across the thing and he had accompanied the young park ranger to the rehab center. 

What they’d brought in was something out of a horror book though. It looked like a deformed small human, but only because of the head, arms and legs. Everything else on it was more reptilian than anything. It had no hair, its entire body instead had been covered in dark, mottled scales, and it had had unnatural eyes. It had been covered in wounds and bleeding out.

The poor creature had briefly gained consciousness at one point and had begun begging for its life; pleading for help. The words had been garbled and so hard to understand, but no one could misunderstand what it was asking for.

It died a few hours later. 

Laura had cried when she got home.

She’d gotten a call the next day that men in an unmarked van had taken the body; for ‘evidence’ they’d claimed. No one had ever spoken of the incident again, but they had never forgotten.

Laura stared closer at the still-unconscious girl in the animal kennel; small and skinny and dirty and bruised, and in her gut, she knew the events were related somehow.

Fear gripped at her. 

She had a phone call to make.

Kate had been mesmerized by whatever was happening at that very moment. The wild cougar she’d just seen a few minutes before was gone and now there was a random girl sleeping in the kennel? 

Maybe she was homeless? Or they went to the wrong kennel? Or…maybe someone had swapped them? People played pranks all the time; she’d seen Punk’d.

But then where was the cougar? 

Laura asked her to stay right where she was and keep an eye on the girl, claiming she had a phone call to make. Kate had just nodded and watched her walk swiftly to the end of the hall where the door led to the front part of the building, holding the phone to her ear. She assumed Laura was calling Clint, but she couldn’t be sure.

She suddenly found herself looking around, worried a cougar was gonna run up on her from behind, but there was nothing. Just Laura down the hall, on the phone, and the sleeping girl. The rest of the kennels were empty. It was quiet and calm.

The door shut behind Laura and Kate turned back to the kennel door. The girl looked like she was sleeping, so Kate opened the door quietly and stepped in. Then she crouched down and scooted inside a little more, just to get a closer look.

The girl had really dirty and messy hair, like way dirty, but it was definitely blonde. Besides the bandages around one of her forearms and around her hip and stomach, she was also very naked. Kate blushed, shuffling back out to find something to cover her with. She didn’t know what to do, but figured if that was her, she wouldn’t want strangers staring at her with no clothes on.

She clicked the door back closed as quiet as she could before searching nearby for a blanket. Just as she had noticed one a few kennels down, Laura came back through the double doors, locking them. She was no longer on the phone. 

“Everything okay Kate?”

Kate nodded, “Yeah, I was just looking for a blanket,” she nodded, whispering loud enough for Laura to hear her.

Laura’s face smoothed to a sweet smile. “You’re such a good girl, Katie. That’s very thoughtful.” She’d made her way back to Kate at this point and wrapped one arm around her shoulders, hugging her close. Kate shrugged, a little self-conscious but leaned into the hug.

“She doesn’t have any clothes on,” Kate murmured to Laura.

“I know, honey. The blanket was a good idea. Let’s just…see if we can’t wake up our new friend, hmm?” Laura pulled Kate with her back to the kennel and opened the door back up. Laura sank to the floor, more in the kennel than not, and Kate knelt next to her, leaning as far as she could to see everything going on.

“How did she get in there? Why is she even in there? What happened to her clothes? Maybe she’s homeless? But the big cat is gone and… Do you think she–” Laura interrupted Kate’s nervous rambling with another hand to her shoulder.

“I don’t know any more than you Kate, but it’ll be alright.” Laura turned to the curled-up blonde and started whispering and cooing soft words, similar to how she would wake up Cooper or Lila. After a few minutes, it seemed to work though, as the girl started stirring, and her eyes fluttered open. She started moaning and shifting around and that’s when Laura set a hand on the girl’s right ankle. 

The girl suddenly jerked away like she’d been shocked, her entire body coming to life. Her giant green eyes popped open and she kicked towards Laura’s hand, shoving herself as far away as she could into the opposite corner, which was really only a couple of feet. But it was too far for Laura to reach from where she was on the ground without leaning forward uncomfortably in her state.

The blonde girl was shaking, eyes flicking everywhere, taking in her surroundings. A very small whine came out of her mouth before it was gone. Kate’s eyes briefly met hers before moving on.

“It’s okay sweetie. You’re okay. You’re safe,” Laura said, using her best ‘gentle mom’ voice. The girl didn’t respond but she did calm slightly, focusing her eyes on Laura. 

“Do you know where you are?” asked Laura. 

The girl focused on Laura before shaking her head no. Her eyes were watery.

“That’s okay,” said Laura. “You’re at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center near the Iowa State Park. We help wild animals that are hurt or sick.”

The girl sniffed but didn’t respond.

“Do you understand what I’m saying?” Laura then asked. The girl looked from Kate then back to Laura and nodded after a moment of hesitation.

Kate saw Laura smile. 

Laura continued her questions, “That’s good sweetie, very good. Do you have a name?”

The girl nodded.

“Can you tell me what it is?” Laura asked.

The girl seemed to think about it, but eventually shook her head; no.

Laura hummed. “Well, my name is Laura. I work here. Is there someone we can call for you?”

The girl didn’t answer the question, rubbing at one of her eyes instead, so Laura moved on. “Are you hungry maybe? Thirsty?” 

Kate looked at the bowls on the floor. She hoped Laura was not going to offer her the food and water in them like a dog. No way would Laura do that.

The girl’s eyes squinted slightly, untrusting, but slowly she sniffed and nodded her head again.

A soft bang was heard from down the hall as Grills had just walked through the door from the main building, causing all three females to jump. “Hey ladies! How’s our sweet little kitty cat doing?” Grills hollered down the hall, his voice causing the blonde girl to tense up, curling into a tighter ball.

Laura cursed quietly, “I thought I locked those doors…” then set her hand on Kate’s shoulder, using it to help her stand as she asked Kate to keep their friend occupied. “I’ll be right back.” She gave the timid girl and then Kate a big ‘mom’ smile before walking towards Grills swiftly. 

Kate turned back to the girl, scooting closer to her and further into the kennel. “Hi. Uh, I’m Kate. Are you okay?”

The girl tilted her head but didn’t answer, no nods or shakes of the head. She looked Kate up and down.

“Alright uh…I brought you a blanket. Cuz, ya know, the no clothes thing and all,” she used her hand to gesture to the girl before she took the blanket from next to her and reached it out towards the blonde. She had been extra vigilant in keeping eye-contact with her and studiously avoiding the uncomfortable nudity. 

“Here you go. It’s just a blanket, you can take it,” Kate said to her.

The girl looked down at herself, noticing she had no clothes on, but didn’t seem too concerned. Eventually she did reach out and take the blanket though, pulling it back to her and sniffing it.

Kate opened her mouth before thinking. “Does it smell bad?” She didn’t even think to check; it’d looked clean when she grabbed it. 

The girl just shrugged before wrapping the blanket around her. Then she seemed to notice the bandage around her wrist. 

“Oh that’s okay, they just had to–” before Kate could finish her sentence, the bandage was ripped off and chucked away. “Oh–okay…okay.”

Kate had no idea what she was doing. She fiddled with her fingers anxiously.

“Your name doesn’t happen to be Honey, does it?” Kate asked randomly. The girl tilted her head, her eyebrows pulling together in possible confusion, but shook her head no. “Sorry, that was a dumb question. So what is it?”

Before the girl could respond Laura appeared back, crouching down beside Kate with a water bottle in her hand; Grills was nowhere to be seen.

Her sweet mom voice came back, “Hey, how’s it going?”

Kate smiled up at Laura unsurely. “Good. I gave her the blanket.”

“That’s very good Kate. Are you okay, honey?” Laura asked, her attention back on the blonde.

The girl nodded, the blanket curled over her shoulders and being clutched together in front of her. She definitely didn’t seem okay, but Kate wasn’t about to call her out. She figured now was not the time to joke around.

“Wonderful. Would you like something to drink? Some water maybe?” Laura asked, shaking the water bottle in her hand.

A very quiet voice then whispered, “Okay.” Her bright green eyes wouldn’t leave the water bottle.

Kate’s eyebrows shot up and she smiled. Laura unscrewed the cap to the clear bottle before holding it out. Not too far, but far enough so she hopefully wouldn’t feel crowded.

One grimy hand reached out and took the bottle from Laura. She sniffed the bottle a few times before taking small sips, then bigger ones until it was empty.

“Good, very good,” Laura encouraged, “Feel a little better?”

The girl nodded. “Where–” she cleared her throat before starting again. “Where…am I?” Kate thought she could detect an accent of some sort but it was hard to tell with the few words the girl had muttered.

Kate was sure Laura already told her where she was, but Laura, kind and gentle and wonderful Laura, just smiled and said the same sentence from earlier. “You’re at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. We rescue injured and sick animals and help them. I work here. My name is Laura.”

“Animals?” the girl said, perking up.

“Mhm, yep. We’re an animal-lovin’ folk around here,” said Laura.

“Help animals? You help my sestra? Moya semya? ” the girl asked, shifting up a little in excitement.

“Seestra? What’s that?” interrupted Kate. She was so excited that the girl was talking. She latched onto how beautiful the words sounded, even though she didn’t understand them.

Her eyes shifted from Laura to Kate, “Sister. Family.” 

“You have a sister?” Kate said.

“Da.” The girl responded. Kate knew she meant yes, but she couldn’t remember which language it meant ‘yes’ in.

“She is here too? ” The girl asked.

Kate looked at Laura, unsure of how to respond. She didn’t want to burst the girl’s bubble.

Laura attempted to steer the conversation elsewhere. “Do you remember how you got inside this room?”

The girl didn’t seem to like that the question of her sister’s whereabouts went unanswered, but she cleared her throat and answered the question. “Nyet. We were flying in woods. Then…I do not remember. Now I am here.”

It was the longest she’d spoken and her accent had Kate entranced; it was positively beautiful. Laura at least had the decency to respond.

“I think…that my husband found you in the woods. Gave you a nasty bump there.” Laura pointed to the girl’s hip area, a small pout on her lips in sympathy. “How are you feeling? Any pain?”

The girl opened the blanket to look at her hip before humming, causing Kate to look away in embarrassment. She used a finger to poke at the gauze, then looked back at Laura.

“You are…doctor?” The sentence ended in an accusatory tone, her eyes slitted.

“Veterinarian,” Laura said. “I’m a doctor for animals. Not people.” She clarified, conflicted on whether to ask the question again or leave it be for now.

The girl didn’t seem to believe Laura fully or really care about the difference, but didn’t say anything further. A shiver ran through her and she curled the blanket back around her a little tighter.

Laura took that as a cue to start standing up from where she’d been sitting on the floor with her legs crossed. 

“Katie-girl, can you keep our friend company for a few minutes again? I’m going to get her some clothes to wear. Is that okay?” Laura said first to Kate, then to the still very-naked girl.

Kate gave Laura a thumbs up and Laura walked away.

When she turned back to the blonde girl, she realized she was being closely scrutinized. It was unnerving. She decided the best decision to fill the awkward silence would be to talk. 

“Laura will be right back! She usually always has a spare set of clothes or two here, in case she gets dirty. From like, pee or poop or puke or…blood or…mud. And other gross stuff. You know? Even though they have a washer and dryer here. But that would take waaay too long. And then she’d have nothing to wear. And uh, yeah. So don’t worry! But you’re sure you’re okay? You aren’t hurt anymore? We could get some food after this if you want. I bet you’re hungry, right?”

Kate’s ramblings ceased as she heard the girl let out a tiny huff of a laugh, squinting her eyes. “You talk much.”

Kate laughed loudly, agreeing, “Yeah, I know. Everyone says so, but I just can’t help it sometimes!” She scooted closer to the girl, realizing that either the blanket or the girl herself was a little smelly. It made her feel sad and even more determined to befriend her.

“So, back to earlier. My name’s Kate! Kate Bishop. Wanna tell me your name?” Kate asked.

The girl didn’t answer at first, just kind of staring at nothing. Then, she finally answered, extra quiet. “Yelena.”

“Yelena?” Kate repeated, much more loudly, making the girl panic and shush her, looking around them as if there was someone listening or watching them.

“Crap sorry,” Kate whispered, “I mean, okay, Yelena. That’s a really pretty name. I won’t tell anyone. If you don’t want me to, I mean.”

Yelena breathed in relief. “You have dva names?” She then asked.

Kate scrunched her eyebrows. “Huh? What’s d… duva?”

Yelena held up two fingers.

“Ah, okay! Kate’s just my first name; I only have one first name. Bishop is my last name. Well, my full name is Katherine Bishop. Katherine Elizabeth Bishop!”

Yelena seemed very confused by the time Kate finished. She did not bring the name topic up again. “You are a girl, da? Like me?” Yelena pointed towards herself with one finger.

“Uh, I mean, yeah, I’m a girl. What do you mean?”

The girl just shrugged. 

The door Laura had disappeared from opened back up and she came waddling back, a bundle of clothes in her hand. Kate leaned back to peer out of the kennel and smiled at Laura.

“Laura’s coming back with some extra clothes.” Kate told Yelena.

Laura came to stand slightly behind Kate, the clothes clutched over her protruding belly. She passed them to Kate, who took them and looked at what Laura had found. There were some blue scrub pants, a dark green zip-up jacket that had the rehab center’s emblem printed on the back in white, and a pair of socks with images of a dog wearing sunglasses. Kate smirked before she handed the clothes over to Yelena.

“Do you need help getting dressed, honey?” Laura asked. Yelena shook her head and stood up, dropping the blanket from around her without a care.

Kate let out an ‘eep’ and turned her head, shielding her eyes with one of her hands.

“Oh boy. Let’s let our friend here get dressed, okay Kate?” Laura suddenly said, a hand on her shoulder to encourage her to get up.

“Okay.” She hoped no one saw her blushing in embarrassment and stood, turning around to give Yelena the semblance of privacy. Laura turned with her, sending a small smile at Kate. The smile quickly left her lips though, turning sad, and Kate didn’t have to guess why. The brief flash of the blonde’s body told a story of a sad life. She was extremely emaciated, and her hair was an absolute mess, dull and ratted. She was absolutely covered head to toe in dirt. Kate thought she saw some scars on her too, but the dirt made it hard to be certain.

Kate heard some shuffling from behind her and then a soft “I’m ready”.

Laura and Kate turned to take a look at the blonde. The clothes Laura had given her made her look even smaller, but at least they were clean. She was short, at least a few inches shorter than Kate and Laura were, and neither were tall by any means, but the blonde was just so tiny that it didn’t matter. The sleeves of the jacket were so long that you could only see the tips of her fingers and the pants were definitely too long. Kate put a hand to her mouth to hide her huff of a half; Yelena had the blue scrub pants on backwards. She was still holding the cartoon-patterned socks.

“You didn’t put the socks on. They go on your feet, silly goose.” Kate pointed to her feet.

Yelena looked at her own feet before handing the socks back to Kate. “No goose.” 

Kate burst out laughing, “It’s just a figure of speech! You aren’t really a goose–” 

Yelena looked mildly offended at the laugh, opening her mouth to say something.

“Alright, alright, ladies,” Laura interrupted lightly, “Let’s get going. Food, yes?”

Kate went to start walking, Laura holding the door open more for Yelena, but she didn’t come out. Her head made it as far as leaning out and looking around.

“It’s okay honey, we won’t hurt you. I promise.” Laura tried to soothe her, while Kate walked back over. 

The blonde hesitated. “Then look for sestra?”

“Yes, of course darling. Food, then we will help you look for your sister.” Laura confirmed.

Yelena seemed satisfied with this answer but still didn’t follow Laura. Kate glanced at the older brunette before getting really close to Yelena. She held out her hand, the other made a fist over her chest. “I’ll protect you.”

It was silly and corny, but it seemed to be the right thing to say. Yelena let out a hum, reached out and wrapped one of her sleeve-covered hands in Kate’s, then officially stepped out of the kennel.

Kate beamed.

Laura took the hint and stepped back, walking ahead of the younger girls, leading the way. 

“Kate, you take our friend to the break room for a few minutes. I’m sure you’ll be able to rummage up something you’ll both eat. I’m going to go talk to Maria.” Laura exclaimed.

Kate pulled Yelena closer, looping her arm in the blonde’s who stiffened slightly but didn’t pull away. “On it, boss lady.”

“Don’t call me boss lady.” Laura rolled her eyes but laughed. 

“Er, yup. Sorry. Got it, Mama B.” Kate said, then whispered in Yelena’s ear, “Maria’s cool. She works here too. Has a cute little kid named Monica who thinks she likes birds more than me, which, pft. No way... Oh! And she makes the world’s best jam in the whole wide world! It’s sooo good. You’d love it.” Kate had no idea what Yelena would love, but Kate loved it so she made an educated guess.

The two young girls walked through the door of the break room after Laura glanced in and waved them through. Kate assumed it was to make sure it was empty.

“What’s your favorite food?” Kate asked the blonde.

“I… do not know,” Yelena replied.

Kate paused for half a second, “Oh. Well that’s sad. My favorite food right now is Maria’s jam. But earlier it was Laura’s french toast. Mmm so good.” She could never decide on a favorite food, so she just chose whatever she was craving as her favorite until her craving changed. That might make her indecisive, but she didn’t care.

“I’ll be right back girls,” Laura said.

“‘Kay!” Kate hollered before heading straight to the refrigerator, blonde girl in tow.

“Clint, I have no idea what I’m doing.” Laura said faintly, panicking internally.

“Take a breath, hun. We’ll figure it out, just like we always do. You need me and the kids to come get you?” Clint said calmly.

Laura had phoned Clint earlier and caught him up to speed on the situation. They decided that as long as Laura was comfortable with it, to bring the girl back to the farm.

Laura let out a huff of a laugh, knowing they would definitely not all fit in his truck, but she appreciated the offer.

“No, it’s alright. Kate’s here and being such a huge help. Really. It’s just–” Laura paused, pressing a hand to her mouth before mumbling around it, “What if something like last time happens? She’s so…I don’t even know Clint.” 

“This isn’t like last time. And we won’t let it happen again. Someone’s gotta do something, you know? Someone’s gotta help. Might as well be us.” Laura sighed, on the same page as her husband. Someone had to help.

After hanging up, she made the stop to Maria to let her know she was leaving a tad early. She claimed pregnancy fatigue and apologized, but knew Maria wouldn’t mind.

“No worries, Laur. Thanks for the help today, both you and Kate.” Laura wasn’t too sure she'd been much help that day, Kate probably not either before separating from her pal Grills, but she appreciated the praise from Maria all the same.

“Thanks Maria. See you next week?” Laura smiled, grabbing her purse from the hook she’d hung it on earlier that day.

Maria laughed and pointed to Laura’s stomach, “Not if that one makes an early appearance!”

“I’ve still got a month! Don’t jinx me.”

Maria just laughed as Laura waved in parting.

Laura had made her way back to the break room, saying goodbye to Grills too when she saw him in a smaller room she passed with a box in front of it. She opened the door and found a loaf of bread, jam and peanut butter on a table between Kate and the blonde girl. Kate was in the middle of making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, evidence on her face that she’d already eaten a sandwich. She was still going on about Maria’s jam, explaining why it was the best jam in the 'whole wide world'. The small blonde was licking the jam off a piece of toast, her eyes lighting up.

“Good, right?” Kate grinned, dropping the knife in the jam jar and slapping her two pieces of bread together.

“Yes, good.” The blonde licked all the jam off, not even bothering with eating the toasted bread.

Laura cleared her throat and told the girls to finish up. Yelena waited until Kate finished eating her sandwich and stood up. Yelena set her jam-less toast on the table and followed the brunette teen quietly. Laura felt slightly bad leaving the food mess on the table but Maria would forgive her. She really didn’t want to waste any more time. 

“Alright girls, here’s the plan.” Laura began, “Kate, I want you to walk with our friend here down–” Laura was stopped as Kate waved to her. Laura bent down and Kate cupped her hand to her Laura’s ear, glancing at the blonde.

“Her name’s Yelena.” Kate whispered. “But say it quietly, okay?”

Laura gave the blonde a smile, so happy to finally have a name. She lowered her voice as much as she could, “Okay. Katie-girl. You and Yelena are going to go to the very end of the hall. By the back door. I’m going to meet you out back with the car. No stopping to talk to Grills or Maria. Meet me straight out back. Five minutes. ‘Kay?”

Kate nodded, gripping the blonde’s hand again and giving Laura a salute. “Got it. Down the hall, five minutes.” The blonde, Yelena, copied Kate, saluting awkwardly and getting jam in her hair.

Laura rolled her eyes at the two and headed out the door to her car.

Get the girl in the car. Drive her back to the farm. Help her. Hide her. 

She read the list of steps to herself in her head to herself, taking a deep breath before driving the few hundred feet to the back building. Funny enough, it was just a few feet away from where the cougar’s kennel had been, but Laura really had needed to give it some time before just trying to sneak the girl out the building and into her car.

Knowing she was capable of communicating, following directions, eating and drinking. Laura hadn’t even thought to ask how her injury from the car accident was, but seeing as she was walking around and seemed fine, Laura hoped she was okay. She wondered of her age too. She seemed a little younger than Kate, but her short stature could be misleading. She made another mental note to herself to ask about both things when she was able.

Laura drove around the parking lot and parked next to the back entrance. She could see Kate’s face from the little tinted window in the door, talking and pointing. Yelena’s face poked up from over her shoulder.

Laura got out and met them, opening the door after punching in the four-digit code to the door. It unlocked and bright early-evening sunlight filtered in on the young girls. The blonde hissed and turned away, shielding her eyes.

Before she could think about it, Laura closed the door and wrapped her hands around Yelena’s face gently, murmuring gently. “You’re okay, it’s just the sun. It’s so bright right? Hmm?”

Yelena was overwhelmed by how close Laura was, where her hands were touching her, the bright light, and Laura’s voice. She went to push Laura away but there was no strength in the action. Laura still gave her a little room though.

“Here,” the older brunette said gently. She pulled the hood up from the blonde’s head over so it shaded her eyes as much as possible. Kate had been watching from the side, shifting from foot to foot helplessly.

Finally Yelena’s eyes opened again and they were very watery and dilated. She pulled the hood further over her head, squinting harshly and letting out a tiny whimper.

Kate suddenly looked down at herself before she took the pair of sunglasses that Laura hadn’t even noticed she had clipped down the front of her t-shirt off. She reached over and slid them onto Yelena’s face. The blonde startled again before looking at Kate, who gave her a big smile and a thumbs up.

“See? Now the sun’s not so bright. Better, right?” Yelena jerkily nodded after looking around through the frames. Laura really owed Kate. She’d make french toast for her every day if the girl asked.

They eventually get Yelena to walk towards the car and climb into the back seat, only getting in after Kate did. She'd practically ran from the door to the car after checking her surroundings a few times, proceeding to curl, hands still holding the hood over her head, feet on the seat. Laura tells Kate not to worry about a buckle; she’d drive safe and had a feeling a restraint of some sort wouldn’t go well. 

Laura started the car and began the drive home, putting the radio on the lowest volume. She could hear Kate rambling in the back, but Yelena spent the entire ride staring out the window through the purple-framed sunglasses as they drove past fields and trees and houses. Laura was almost back home when Yelena finally whispered something to Kate, who then leaned forward towards Laura.

“Yelena wants to know when we’re gonna go get her sister…”

Laura looked back and made assumedly eye-contact with the young blonde. It was hard to tell with the shades on her face. “In a little bit, sweetie. We need help. But I promise, we’ll help you find her. Okay?” Yelena went back to staring out the window after that.

Soon enough, the car was rolling down the gravel driveway of the Barton’s farmhouse. The big white house visible with a huge oak tree, tire swing swaying in the breeze in front. Laura didn’t see Clint or the kids, but they were probably just inside. Cooper would’ve already been running up to the car, waiting for his hugs and kisses, if he had seen or heard them.

Laura turned the car off and glanced back again. Neither girl made a move to get out. Kate made eye-contact with Laura and unbuckled her seatbelt, waiting on direction from Laura.

“Um, Laura. Question,’ Kate asked, “What does Maria think happened to the cougar? I mean…won’t she notice it’s missing?”

The cougar?

Oh shit. Shit shit shit. Laura cursed her pregnancy brain. Why hadn’t she thought of that? She just left! Maria was going to flip. Hurriedly Laura grabbed her phone from inside her purse, turning it on to see if she had any missed calls. Just ahead, she heard the screen door from the front of the house creak open and then closed. Clint walked up to the car holding a sleeping Lila in his arms, squatting next to Laura’s open window; she’d driven the last few minutes at a slow speed with the windows down and the girls in the back seemed to enjoy the breeze. 

Laura tried not to freak out but she wasn’t sure if she was succeeding. “Clint, I just took her from the clinic. I didn’t even think about–about the cougar not being there anymore or…or… I didn’t even mention it to Maria! I couldn’t involve her. She’s gonna think the cougar escaped, or got out. Or...or…I don’t even know! Oh my goodness–” she huffed quietly, upset with herself.

“It’s all good babe! I already called Maria.”

“You did?”

Clint laughed. “Yeah. Awhile ago. After we hung up the first time, I figured you might be a little too busy to come up with a good reason why an 85 pound wild cat who was hit by a car suddenly disappeared. I told her the wildcat rescue from Minnesota came while you were there and picked her up. Told her you forgot to mention it. I also called Minnesota and uh, might have lied to them. Told them the cougar didn’t make it through the night. Just to cover our bases.”

Laura sighed and put her arms around her belly, tears in her eyes. She loved being pregnant and she loved her children. She already held so much love and affection for the one still growing inside her, but she could honestly say that she would not miss all the unfortunate aspects that came with pregnancy, her forgetfulness most of all.

Laura gave him a thankful smile. “Where would I be without you?”

Clint shrugged the shoulder Lila wasn’t leaning and drooling on, “Somewhere with nowhere near as many ER visit bills?” Causing Laura to laugh.

"Thank you. Where’s Coop?”

“Taking a nap on the couch.” Clint finally turned his head to look in the backseat, seeing Kate next to Yelena. “Hey Katie-Kate. Who’s your friend?”

“This is Yelena.”

Yelena, curled up on the seat with big purple shades on and a hood over her head, looked at Clint.

“Hi Yelena. Want to come out of the car?” Yelena shook her head firmly.

Kate leaned over the girl and opened the door, not noticing the flinch she gave of the sudden close contact. “Go on, it’s okay. Clint’s a big teddy bear.”

Yelena did not make any move to climb out, hunkering into the seat as much as possible. Laura turned around as much as she could and looked at the two young girls. “Yelena, this is my husband, Clint. He’s going to help us find your sister.”

Yelena looked at Laura, then Kate, then Clint, and back to Laura, before slowly, so slowly, sliding her body towards the door and out of the car. Her bare feet on the gravel looked painful but she made no outward signs of showing so. She shifted towards the back of the car as Kate climbed out next.

Clint stood and opened Laura’s door, helping her out of the car. When Clint moved, Yelena gripped Kate’s arm and shifted closer, almost hiding behind her. Laura’s face fell sadly at the action.

Kate softly petted Lila’s baby hair on her head before stepping towards the house. “Can I show Yelena around? And the guest room?” She asked.

Clint chuckled lightly, “It’s your room Kate. Stop calling it the guest room.”

“Whatever, whatever.” Kate waved awkwardly with her hands, waiting for permission.

“Sure honey, go ahead.” Clint said, “Just your room for now. And please be quiet! Coop’s napping in the living room. No one wants a cranky Coopie.”

“Ugh, for real. C’mon Yelena!” acting the 15 years of age she was, Kate grinned and walked inside through the screen door. Yelena had no choice but to follow as her grip on Kate did not loosen. Kate paused to ask if Yelena’s feet were okay and the blonde let out a quiet ‘mhm’ before they kept going and eventually disappeared into the house. Laura blew out a long breath of air, brushing her hair back away from her face anxiously.

“She gonna be okay around the kids? And Kate?” asked Clint after a beat.

“I honestly have no idea. She’s good with Kate for now; she’s been sticking to her like a tiny shadow. I think she’ll be fine around the kids but let’s just watch her. Really she’s more… scared than anything...” defeat was evident in Laura’s response.

Her husband let out a hum. “Does she talk?”

Laura climbed out of the car. “Yeah, a little. Half of it is another language though. She mentioned she had a sister and wants help finding her.”

Clint gave a look of thought but didn’t respond so Laura continued. “You didn’t see anyone or anything else out there last night, did you? When you found her?”

“Nah. I did look around a bit but not a huge perimeter. Maybe 100 feet in each direction. But if there was anyone else nearby, I didn’t see any signs of them,” Clint answered.

“What is going on? That poor boy a few years ago and…now this. I’m so scared that bringing her here was the wrong decision, but I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t just leave her there.” She’d never forgive herself if Yelena’s fate ended the same as that poor boy they’d found. Mutilated, scared, dying. Dead.

Clint turned her to face him, hugging her and pressing a kiss to her temple. “Hey hey, don’t think like that. We’ll figure it out just like we always do. Alright? Let’s just…let’s just go inside and think about this rationally. We’ll come up with a plan.”

He passed over Lila to Laura’s arms, the child already giving her a calmness she hadn’t felt in a few hours. She sniffed the top of her baby’s head and smiled lovingly.

“So,” Clint said as they made their way to the house, “What are we feeling for dinner? Burgers maybe? Nice night for grilling out.”

Laura scoffed quietly, “Do you ever not think of food?” 

“No.” Her husband answered immediately.

“Are you sure you and Kate aren’t related by blood?”

“We might as well be.”

Laura rolled her eyes as they met for a soft kiss. “Love you.”

“Love you too honey.”

Chapter Text

The sun had risen hours ago on the first day away from the prison that had held the ragtag group captive for so many years. It was a warm day, with just a slight breeze every so often. Pietro kind of thought he would feel differently, being out of the compound and free from it all. But the sun still rose, same as any other day. 

The lanky boy currently sat on the rickety metal balcony outside of the office Wanda, Natalia and himself had deemed their temporary bedroom the night prior. His long legs dangled over the edge, swinging back and forth, his chin resting on the lower railing. He had been watching through a wide opening down below for some time now. There must have been giant doors attached at one point in time, but time or weather had knocked them down. The large opening now existed and looked out onto a large field of grass, weeds, wildflowers and trees, with just the barest view of a paved road to the left. 

A few cars had driven past but none had stopped. No one paid any mind to the dilapidated building, nor its current residents.

Pietro thought back to all of the times the four of them had tried and failed to escape since being given to HYDRA. How each time they’d gotten caught they had been severely punished. How each time their hope had died a little in each of their eyes and hearts.

It had been hard for Wanda to convince the group to keep trying time after time. For one more escape. But watching their littlest sister slowly become more and more lost in her mind was the last push they needed. And this time…they’d made it! They were free. Well, as free as they’d been as young children. Free to do whatever they wanted, or go wherever they wished. No more doctors or guards, or pain.

Three of them anyway…

Pietro took a deep breath, sighing as he stood up and turned to go back to his sisters. These thoughts would not help him right now. He had to try and be rational, as Natalia was unreliable in that department and Wanda was still out of commission for the moment.

The young boy had volunteered to go out and find the three of them some supplies after their stomachs started rumbling. They’d discussed it once they were all awake earlier that morning. They each also desperately needed some real clothes. As they were now, they were walking targets to anyone looking for them and would raise a lot of questions walking around town wearing nothing but underwear.

The three of them had on only the specially-created undergarments that could barely be considered clothing. And although it was warm outside during the day, the thin pieces of fabric offered no warmth at night or protection from the elements outside. 

Waiting until nightfall might have been the smarter decision but with Wanda’s arm still healing, they agreed he’d see what he could find nearby while the sun was still high in the sky. The winged animal he had morphed the most, a crow, did not have good eyesight in the dark and scoping out the immediate area would be beneficial. None of them were too keen on staying in one spot for long, so the sooner the better. 

At the moment, they were sitting ducks. 

Pietro’s ability to recall layouts of large maps and his memorization skills were one of the main reasons he was alive with them today. It had made him ‘useful’.

And being useful kept you alive. 

Memorization of maps, schematics, words and numbers, colors, orders of things. No matter what, the three girls never did as well as Pietro seemed to do, whether he was in a morph or human. 

Pietro walked through the door to the office they’d slept a few hours in, looking down at his sisters. Wanda and Natalia were curled up together on the dirty carpet, both awake but looked exhausted.

He crouched next to them, slightly closer to Wanda, and the brunette held her hand out to Pietro.

“Please be safe Piet. Use your crow?” Wanda said quietly to her brother.

Pietro squeezed her hand and nodded, “Yes, that is what I was thinking as well. I will see what is around us. Try to find us some goodies.”

He smirked at the last word, then pointed to Wanda’s arm. “How is it?”

“Painful,” She said simply. “But healing.”

Wanda smiled tightly, hugging Natalia closer to her as the younger girl mumbled for them to be quiet. Pietro huffed out a laugh and poked the redhead in the side, causing her to squirm.

“I will kick you, Pietro,” Natalia grumbled.

Pietro scoffed. “After I so kindly offer to find us food and supplies? Such rudeness from a malen’kiy lisa .” 

The red-head’s hand shot up to give him the middle finger at the same time one of their stomachs decided to growl again. Natalia opened her eyes to meet Pietro’s, green meeting blue. He could see the snarkiness in them, always there, along with anger and sadness. 

He let out a sigh, gripping the red-head’s shoulder in comfort for a moment with his other hand. 

The three of them were together. They’d get through this. He hoped.

Pietro stood after Natalia sat up, leaning back against the unsteady desk. She was to keep watch for them while he was out.

“Be back as soon as I can,” Pietro said to his sisters.

He thought of the crow form they all carried inside their bodies. 

Similar to the undergarments his sisters wore, he had on a pair of tight shorts, white with stains. It was standard issued from the scientists at the compound and was the only piece of clothing they had been able to create that morphed with them. All other items of clothing would either fall off, or be ripped up if the morph was bigger than the article of fabric. 

Sadly, embarrassment had stopped being a thing years ago with anyone in the compound in regards to nudity. But they knew clothing was a necessity in the real world, the three of them having grown up in normal society when they were younger. You would most definitely get funny looks if you were walking around town wearing nothing but your underwear.

Pietro let his mind focus and quickly his form shifted, shrinking and changing from a tall, blonde boy to a small, black crow. He let out a few caws, enjoying the feeling of the crow’s body and powerful eyesight, and fluffed his sleek black wings. The crow was a form he easily enjoyed morphing.

He gave a few hops and fluttered to stand on Natalia’s thigh.

<Be back soon. Byt’ bezopasnym.> Pietro sent to both Wanda and Natalia via mind-speech. They couldn’t respond since they weren’t in a morph but both girls took two fingers, kissed them and waved with a soft whistle, a sign they had been giving each other for years. ‘Love you, be safe’ it said. He couldn’t remember who started it; maybe Natalia.

Pietro let out a couple low clicks and a whistle from deep in his throat before hopping back down and through the office door, taking flight through the gap in the metal railing he’d sat at earlier. He glided through the large opening on the first floor before taking flight and flapping into the sunlight. He could see the tips of his wings shine on either side of him, black reflecting the bright glint of the sun.

Flying was a feeling like no other. It was beautiful and freeing and raw. It had been years since he had been outside. And for the first time in his whole life, he could fly without walls caging him in. Just the open sky surrounding him in all directions.

Pietro might have hated his life some days, but flying was something he could never hate or regret.

The road Pietro had spent the morning watching was now a mile below him, bordered in all directions by trees of different types. Letting out a few good caws and flapping his wings, he continued following it towards the town he was about to learn every inch of.

Another spasm of pain twinged in Wanda’s shoulder and she grimaced. 

Getting shot sucked.

She knew it was going to take at least a few days to fully heal but that didn’t make the pain any less.

All of them healed miraculously quickly, faster than an average human; it was both a blessing and a curse. The superiors at the compound took full advantage of this knowledge and tested subjects with painful procedures and injuries to see how quickly they would heal wounds of different types.

Wanda didn’t think her siblings had ever been tested on with real bullets though. She knew she never had. And it was beyond painful. She was just glad it was a through-shot and during a morph. When internal damage was involved, it took much longer to heal. Injuries occuring in their morphs also healed faster as well once they shifted back to human form.

If anyone were to ask Wanda why she was able to heal rapidly, she would not have an answer. It was something they were all able to do ever since first coming into HYDRA’s clutches and being experimented on. She didn’t know enough about what the scientists injected her or others with to truly know how or why. 

Wanda felt Natalia shift under her with a sigh. Wanda was currently laid against the shorter girl, still the injured of the two so off look-out duty. Natalia was casually leaning back against a desk with Wanda more or less laying in her lap. She’d apparently found an old pencil and was spinning it around with her fingers.

A memory popped up in Wanda’s mind.

“Did I ever tell you the story of when Pietro and I first saw you?” Wanda asked Natalia fondly. The red-head snorted with half of a laugh.

“No, but I’m sure it’s something,” Natalia said.

Wanda hummed in memory. “Pietro and I were new. We’d been there maybe a week? At the old compound. We were in one of the old rooms, in Russia. The ones that we used to share? With the other kids? Anyway, all of a sudden, there was a tussle–” 

“Tussle. Hah,” Natalia commented.

Wanda smacked her leg in jest. “Hush, you. Like I said, a tussle. So we looked over and what did we see? A small girl about our age screaming expletives and stabbing one of the guards with a pencil.” Wanda said in fondness. “Pietro and I kept whispering about the scary red-haired girl with the karandashnyy mech for days after.”

“It was a pen, if we’re being technical,” Natalia corrected with a smirk, still spinning the pencil around.

“Ah, so you do remember?” Wanda looked up at her.

“I remember the stabbing part. Not that you and Piet were there.” Natalia went back to pencil-spinning. “But I remember the after part. The punishment part… God, that guard was a mudak. Fucking dickhead.”

Wanda snuggled closer, trying to get comfortable. “Don’t think of that.”

“Did I ever tell you why I stabbed him?” Natalia asked after a period of silence. 

“Nyet,” Wanda said in their native tongue. “Just figured you felt like it. You were always so mad back then.”

“Back then…” she scoffed, “It was when they first started using Yelena as a…tool against me. She was still so little–” Natalia paused, clearing her throat. “She was around three I think, when you guys first showed up. Anyway, she…the guards, one hurt her. The one that I stabbed. I don’t remember much, it was a long time ago, but I remember he deserved it.” She finished.

Wanda had a clear memory of Natalia stabbing a guard three times her size with the utensil. The spirited girl had been a tiny twig of a thing, with a mouth of fire that had been screaming and kicking at a guard when they’d first laid eyes on her, before injuring the man holding her arm. She never knew that it had been for Yelena’s sake though.

Natalia spent a lot of time as a child pissing off anyone in charge, earning her no favors and many punishments. Most often it was to protect one of them.

Wanda shifted her head again to look up, needing to brush some of her unkempt brown hair from her face. Natalia looked much the same as she did as a child. Her hair was still a vibrant red, the tangles reaching down past her shoulder blades now. Her green eyes, almost emerald in hue at times, so fierce-looking. She still had the attitude of a cornered cobra. Strike first, think second. And the fiercest loyalty she had to those she considered her people never wavered.

She watched Natalia pick angrily at the dirt under her nails with the dull tip of the pencil, the spinning no longer entertaining her apparently. 

Both girls faced the open door so they could see anyone coming up, but they were hidden unless someone got all the way up the stairs.

Wanda moved her good arm to cover Natalia’s hands. “Nat…”

The red-head huffed, pulling her hands away before looking at Wanda. 

“I know you are upset sest–” Wanda began.

“Being upset doesn’t even begin to describe it, Wands! I don’t even know what to think o-or how to feel right now.” Natalia let out a few good Russian curses.

“I know... I know. I’m so sorry,” Wanda said.

Natalia sighed harshly. “I am so angry. I am…just so angry inside. And scared. And sad. And…I don’t know. But mostly, angry.”

“I know.” It felt pointless but Wanda didn’t know what else to say. She heard the red-head sniff and she squeezed the hand she was still holding, Wanda’s longer fingers folded over Natalia’s smaller ones. “We’ll figure it out Nat. It’s not forever.”

Wanda watched as Natalia’s chin quivered minutely, her eyes wet as she tried not to cry. The brunette pushed herself to sit up, her shoulder twinging again but she ignored it and set her hands on Natalia’s cheeks, green staring into watery green. 

“It was supposed to be the four of us. We were supposed to always be together. I promised I’d never leave her. We promised her Wanda–” Natalia stopped before her anger could take over again, breathing harshly.

Wanda shushed her as the red-head closed her eyes and tried to calm down. “You’re okay. Yelena is okay too, I’m sure of it. She is strong, so strong.”

Natalia pushed away suddenly in upset. “No she’s not, Wanda! She’s not! She was dying in there! Remember? And now she’s all alone. In the woods or…floating down the river. Or…or maybe they found her. Brought her back. Oh god–they’ll kill her in there. They’ll fucking kill her if they find her–”

“Shhh. No. No, they will not kill her. There is absolutely no chance of that. I know you don’t want to hear it, but they need Yelena alive. They need us all alive. Or have you forgotten the past 3 years?” Wanda said firmly, moving her hands down to hold Natalia by her upper arms.

Natalia scoffed at that. 

“Khuy. No,” She said angrily.

Wanda’s shoulder started to spasm again, tingles of pain shooting down her arm. She grimaced and gripped the wound .

“Sorry,” Natalia whispered. Wanda hummed but didn’t respond.

“Why did it have to be this way?” Natalia asked quietly. 

Wanda had no response. No magic words she knew to say as an answer or excuse. She’d been asking herself the same question for years and had yet to come up with anything.

Natalia hugged Wanda close to her, being careful of her injury. They sat in silence for a while, just listening to the quiet noises of nature and the occasional car from outside and enjoying the sun that peaked in through the boarded window behind them. Wanda’s stomach grumbled again eventually and she huffed out a laugh.

“Well,” Natalia said, “Hopefully Pietro comes back soon.”

Wanda hummed in agreement. “Then we make a new plan. So we can find our baby sestra.”

“Yeah…” Natalia’s voice tapered off. 

Wanda sat up to lean against the desk wall a little more comfortably once the pain subsided again. “Want to play I Spy?”

The day was possibly the most baffling day Yelena had ever been through. And it wasn’t even over yet.

Yelena was currently in a room on the second story of a farmhouse with Kate Bishop, a young girl around her age that she’d met after waking up in an unknown place. It had reminded her of the compound at first but then she noticed it had a different smell. And no guards. 

Kate and the older woman with the big belly, Laura, had helped her leave too. Even given her clothes and food, and then drove her in a real car! No one at the compound had ever done anything like that, so she’d gone with them. 

Yelena also didn’t have any other options besides staying in the other facility that had cages and medical equipment that made her shiver.

Her siblings had told her a lot about what existed outside of the compound over the years, but it was an entirely different feeling hearing about it versus seeing it. Overwhelmed was a severe understatement for Yelena at the moment.

But the woman, Laura, had been sweet and caring. And she was a mama too. She was like Wanda kind of. And Kate Bishop had smiled at her and shown kindness, even humor. She reminded her of Natalia in a way. She’d more or less latched onto Kate immediately after that, the taller girl seeming to have no qualms about it. Yelena’s gut told her she could trust the girl, so she did. 

Yelena should have been with Natalia, and Wanda and Pietro, but they’d gotten separated somehow. She couldn’t remember what happened and she didn’t know what to do, or where to go. She didn’t know where she was. She was having a hard time communicating, as neither Kate nor the other woman spoke Russian. 

Yelena just wanted Natalia…

The blonde tuned back into the brunette’s voice beside her. She’d been pointing around telling Yelena about the room and house, but Yelena could not stop looking at all the stuff scattered about. She wanted to touch everything .

She’d never been in a real house before. It didn’t look much like the ones from Wanda’s stories and it was definitely not like the compound.

There were also a lot of windows. Her eyes felt overly sensitive still but the eye covers Kate had given her helped.

It had been so long since the young blonde had been around natural sunlight; used to either being in dark rooms or rooms that only had lights from the long ceiling bulbs. Sometimes light would peek in from cracks in the walls or ceiling at the compound, but it was not often. There were only two rooms that had a window. One was a cell outside the doctor’s wing. The other was…

She blinked and focused back on the present. She did not want to think about that place. She wasn’t there anymore and that was that. Now she just needed to focus on finding her siblings.

Yelena currently stood in the bright room that Kate Bishop said was ‘hers’ after being more or less dragged up a set of noisy stairs and down a hallway. They had passed a few doors and other rooms downstairs, but the blonde hadn’t been able to get a good look in any of them. She had grabbed onto Kate and let the girl lead her away from the man who’d been standing outside of the car and Yelena had just been content to get away from him. 

She’d never been in a room like Kate’s before, with so much stuff, besides the medical rooms at the compounds.

Kate Bishop’s room contained a few tables, one big one with a blanket on top, two smaller ones on either side of it. There were two big windows that the sun shone through; Yelena could see the car they had rode here in through one of them. There was a desk with more things on it beside her across from the big table. She couldn’t decipher any of the items besides books and writing objects. Something large that looked like the letter eight sat on the floor between the windows. 

A wooden cabinet was inside a tiny room on the same wall of the door across from her. Yelena could see some of the drawers open and clothes inside. More clothes littered the room. The floor, the big table, the desk. There were clothes simply everywhere.

Yelena wondered why there were so many. And they were so colorful! She’d never seen so many clothes in her life. Blues, greens, pinks, oranges. Lots of clothes that were more than one color. And a lot of purple. Yelena had rarely seen so much color together besides in a pack of crayons. Most clothing she’d seen or worn had always been either white or gray, but sometimes she got to wear blue. She really liked it when she got to wear blue.

“Yelena?” 

Kate was talking to her. Yelena focused back on the brunette who was giving her a look she couldn’t decipher.

“Are you okay? You were kind of zoning out,” Kate said.

Yelena nodded, curling her fingers over the too-long sleeves of the jacket she wore. It was a dark green. She couldn’t remember if she’d ever worn green before. It was soft and she decided she liked it just as much as blue.

“Yes. Izvini. I was um–clothes. You have many clothes,” Yelena got out.

Kate’s cheeks turned a little pink and she gritted her teeth. “Crap–sorry. It’s uh, yeah. A little messy. I don’t usually have anyone in here besides Cooper. Laura gets on my case about the mess all the time but–” Kate ended the sentence abruptly, waving her hand around and kicking some of the clothes under the bed and grabbing more to throw across the room in the empty corner near the wooden cabinet.

Yelena watched her do this warily, eyeing the half-open door of the room.

Yelena had yet to see a guard in uniform, but Laura’s…what had she called him? Hus… huzbyan? She didn’t know what that meant, but he could be a guard. In fact, Yelena was almost certain he was. She had never met a man who was not. Laura’s ‘Clint’ hadn’t worn a uniform, but she’d seen guards out of uniform before. 

She remembered that Kate had told him her name and was uncomfortable with that knowledge but wasn’t sure why.

Laura was nice though. Nothing like her superiors from the compound. They were cold and mean and didn’t smile.  Laura smiled, a lot in fact. She had said she was a doctor, but a doctor for animals. 

Technically Yelena was ‘animals’ too, but Laura had been nice, and had helped her…

She scanned Kate’s room, specifically the perimeter of the ceiling, but didn’t see any cameras. She couldn’t remember if Wanda ever said if houses were supposed to have cameras like the compound did. Was it good or bad if they didn’t? Cameras meant the guards and doctors could see and monitor them. That the General could see them and–

The General…

Yelena stiffened up. She didn’t want to think about him.

She focused back on what Kate was saying again. 

“–and this is my acoustic guitar! It’s one of Clint’s old ones, but it’s still in good condition. He got new strings for it a few weeks ago and he’s been teaching me chords. I’m not very good, horrible in fact, but it’s really fun!” Kate touched some of the metal wires on it and Yelena was surprised to hear a deep sound emanate around them. She stepped closer and ran her fingers over the metal strings, smiling at the sound she recreated.

Kate then turned to one of the small tables behind her. “Oh and these are some of my books! These are the ones I haven’t read yet. But I’m working on them! I try to read every night, but sometimes I fall asleep. Summertime, you know?” Kate rambled about.

Yelena did not know, but looked from the wooden item that made noise Kate had called a guitar to the books Kate had been talking about. There was a tall tower of books stacked on top of each other on one of the tiny tables in the corner.

“C’mere, sit!” Kate said, hopping onto the large table. The blanket on top wrinkled underneath, a dark purple color with yellow stars scattered on it.

She finally looked closer and saw pillows near the top. 

It wasn’t a table at all, it was a bed! It had been so long since Yelena had seen a real bed, and she’d never seen one this big! She walked close enough to touch the top of it and pressed down, feeling the softness.

Kate patted next to her, an invitation.

Yelena jumped on the bed, landing on her knees and grinned as she bounced a little. “Soft. And bouncies!” 

She heard Kate giggle at her.

Yelena pushed her hands to the bed, trying to get it to bounce her again. 

“Hmm yeah I guess so!” Kate said in reference to Yelena’s comment of the bed, and she shifted up and down a little to test the ‘bounciness’ of her bed. 

Yelena still struggled with a lot of English words. She understood the English language enough but had a hard time speaking it still, needing to translate in her head a lot which made her responses slow.

She had grown up speaking Russian as her native tongue and had only started learning English since being moved to the second compound in America. Some of the guards and doctors the past few years hadn’t spoken Russian so she had been forced to learn English with the other subjects. Natalia, Pietro and Wanda had helped her learn. They had learned the basics as children in school before coming to live at the compound with Yelena. The blonde, like other children at the compound, had never been to a school.

She had been doing her best the past few hours but her cheeks still pinked up in embarrassment when she was slow to translate her words correctly or said them incorrectly.

“Do you like books?” Kate asked. 

Yelena nodded. “Yes,” She said softly; she loved books. 

Kate reached over to grab the top book of her book tower and handed it to Yelena. The blonde took it and turned it around, looking at the front.

“That’s what I’m reading now! I just got it and it’s very good so far. The author has written a ton of books, but this is the first one I’ve ever read. It’s about a bunch of kids who can fly! They have wings and cool powers, well some do, and they’re like, on the run from these bad guys–” Kate kept going on about what the book was about as Yelena stared at the cover. She flipped through the pages. There were no pictures and the words were tiny and all in English.  There were a lot of pages in the book.

She tried to read the title. Mak… Max… ride?  The first word threw her off, it was too long, but she looked at the cover again. A person with long hair stood on it, with wings coming out of her back.

“She can fly?” Yelena said, pointing to the person on the cover of the book.

Kate nodded eagerly, “Yep! That’s Max! She’s great, she’s the main character and the leader of the group of kids in the book. She’s so cool. Super badass.” She whispered the last word. 

“Max is a human but flies?” Yelena reiterated.

“Yeah. She can fly,” Kate said.

Yelena looked at the cover again, scrutinizing the wings. “What bird?” She asked. 

Kate’s eyebrows drew together. “Uhhh. I’m not sure. She’s not an actual bird, she just has wings. They can like…fold into her back though, like a real bird. They’re like… genetically enhanced kids… I dunno, it’s a little weird, you’d have to read it.”

Yelena hummed, not understanding. “She is half a bird then. She is real person? I mean–a real person? Or pretend?”

Kate tilted her head. “Max isn’t real, she’s just a character in a book. Pretend.” Kate answered, adding the word Yelena used.

“Ah,” Yelena said.

“You can borrow it if you want to. I have other books I can read.” Kate said.

Yelena frowned and passed the book back to Kate. “No… thank you.” She didn’t think she’d be able to read it alone, but didn’t want to admit so.

Kate pursed her lips but took the book back, setting it back on the leaning book tower. They sat in silence a moment before they heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Yelena stiffened up and both girls turned their heads.

Someone knocked on the half-open door and Laura appeared, peeking her head in. “Knock knock girls. I’m about to start dinner. Clint has unsurprisingly suggested burgers. I was thinking potatoes and a veggie to go with. Maybe some carrots or broccoli?”

“Ooooo burgers! Yum!” Kate said happily, rubbing her hands together. “I’m starving.”

“I’m sure you are.” Laura turned to the blonde. “Yelena? Are you okay with that?”

Yelena wasn’t sure what a burger was. Was she okay with it? She didn’t know. Just knowing they would feed her again had her content.

She shrugged, but thankfully Kate came up with an idea.

“Maybe…we can help you?” Kate suggested, looking between Laura and Yelena.

“That’s a great idea, Katie! I’d love the help. Clint already has the grill fired up, so whenever you’re both ready, come on down.” Laura said. The pregnant woman pushed open the door more and gave each girl a smile before making her way back downstairs.

Kate unfolded her legs and rolled off the other end of the bed closer to the door and stood. “C’mon. Cooking with Laura is fun. You can meet the kids too!”

Kids?

Only one set of footsteps was heard but both girls appeared down the stairs shortly after Laura had gotten to the kitchen.

Kate came up to her immediately, asking what she wanted help with. Laura asked her to get the toppings along with the tomatoes and lettuce from the refrigerator and the teen obliged with a pep in her step.

Laura saw the smaller blonde stop at the foot of the stairs. Yelena was gripping the ends of her sleeves as she looked around, taking in her surroundings. The dining room, the kitchen, part of the living room, and the porch where Clint could be seen grilling, before eventually slithering in next to Kate. She still had Kate’s sunglasses over her eyes and her hood up.

Laura noticed immediately that the blonde kept both herself and Kate between her and the door leading to where her husband was. She frowned at that. Right now, she focused on getting food ready for everyone in the house, but she knew some tough conversations were going to have to happen, and soon. 

Cooper was playing outside while Clint grilled and Lila was in her playpen next to the couch in the living room where Laura could still see her. Laura wasn’t sure how the wary blonde would react to the children yet, so had kept them out of the way for now.

Once they had arrived home, Laura hadn’t been able to have much of a conversation with Clint. Kate had kept Yelena busy while she’d been on Mom duty.

Yelena was definitely an odd individual. Not considering the fact that she quite possibly and seemingly most likely could turn into a very large feline, there were numerous peculiar things about the girl. She was sensitive to light, which could be a medical condition, or lack of exposure. She didn’t speak the English language very well, although seemed to understand it well enough. The language she did speak was so foreign, Laura still couldn’t place what it was. She couldn’t think of anyone in town who spoke a language quite like it either. She should really figure out what language it was… She clearly had a fear of men, and although Laura could think of a hundred reasons why someone could develop that fear, for a young under-aged girl to have that fear put an even more uncomfortable pit in the pregnant woman’s stomach. 

She seemed to be around Kate’s age, but Laura couldn’t be certain. She made a mental note to add it to the list of things to ask.

Luckily Yelena also seemed quickly adaptable to her situations and surroundings. Wary for sure though.

Laura finished preparing the vegetables, deciding to go with a simple bag of steamed broccoli, just as Kate plopped all of the ingredients from the fridge onto the counter. Yelena was currently investigating all of the items Kate had procured. Bottles of ketchup and mustard, a jar of relish, two different types of cheese slices, and fresh lettuce from the garden along with three juicy tomatoes. 

“Relish on a burger Kate? Really?” Laura said with jest.

Kate grabbed the relish jar defensively and held it to her chest. “Don’t judge my relish! Clint likes it! Right Clint!?” She then yelled, loud enough for the man to hear her. 

Clint took that moment to open the screen door holding a metal tray covered in aluminum. “Eh, I can take it or leave it.”

Kate began to whisper to her jar of relish before setting it down. Yelena, being the only one who could have heard what the silly brunette had said, made a face that looked like she wanted to laugh at Kate’s antics, but refrained. Instead she watched Clint, shifting closer to Kate as he got closer and set down the tray on the stove.

“Burgers are done Mama,” Clint said to her, leaning to kiss her on the temple. “I’ll grab Coops if we’re about ready?”

Kate gave an exaggerated moan beside her, sniffing the air at the smell of the cooked burgers, which Laura decidedly ignored. “It smells so goooood. Doesn’t it?” Kate said. Yelena sniffed the air too and agreed quietly.

“Sounds good honey. Yep, just about.” Laura said. She reached up to grab some plates in the cabinet, along with a knife and cutting board. Laura handed Kate the two items. “Think you can handle slicing the tomatoes?”

Kate gave a salute with the hand that held the knife. “Roger dodger, Mama B.”

Laura tried and failed not to laugh at her. “You are such a dork Kate, but please be careful.”

“‘Kay,” Kate breathed out, sticking her tongue out in concentration after rinsing off the tomatoes and slowly starting to slice. Yelena watched her do this with rapt attention, finally pulling the shades off her face and putting them in one of her pockets to get a closer look.

 “Apple?” asked Yelena, pointing to the tomatoes.

Laura picked up the first two slices and held one out to the blonde girl who gingerly took it. “Nope, tomato. I grew it in my garden. Go ahead and try it, see if you like it.” Laura told her, eating the slice she took to show it was good.

Yelena first licked it then took a bite, making a sour face. Kate and Laura both giggled as the blonde went to eat more of the tomato slice.

“You don’t have to eat it if you don’t like it,” Kate whispered before going back to her studious slicing. 

Yelena discreetly put the half-eaten tomato slice back on the plate, which Laura took to eat just as her husband came up beside them, Cooper in tow. Yelena seemed curious enough about the young boy, but Clint was now between Laura and Kate, which was much too close for her liking apparently. The blonde scowled and scooted closer away, eyes moving between Kate, Clint and Cooper.

Laura leaned over to whisper to Clint to grab Lila as she inched closer to the blonde. Clint had to go around them to get to the living room and Yelena tracked the man as he walked but did nothing further, Laura acting as a buffer between the two while trying not to be obvious about it. Then suddenly there was a five-year-old between them.

“Who’re you?” Cooper asked loudly, staring directly at Yelena. 

“Oh boy,” Laura whispered to herself as she turned around. “C’mon sweetie, let’s go wash our hands for dinner!” She said to her son, trying to corral him towards the bathroom.

“Yeah but who’s he?” Cooper asked again, pointing to the blonde.

“You mean she, baby,” Laura gently corrected him. “And she’s a friend who’s going to eat dinner with us tonight. Won’t that be fun?”

“So much fun!” Kate sang loudly. Cooper giggled and went to the bathroom with Laura to wash his hands with her help and a stool.

By the time Laura got him settled into a chair at the table, Clint appeared beside her to buckle Lila into her highchair. She was babbling, clearly excited for food, and her sweet husband was playing with her, enjoying the good mood the toddler was in.

“Are these okay, Laura?” she heard Kate ask as she brought over a plate of sliced tomatoes. They were all different sizes of thickness, but Kate had successfully sliced the tomatoes without cutting herself.

She smiled at the teenager and her effort. “They’re great, Kate. Good job.” 

Kate beamed with pride, humming while setting the plate on the table next to the bag of buns and other toppings.

Clint walked over towards the stove to grab the burgers and potatoes under the tray covered with aluminum to keep them warm. As soon as he did so, Laura watched the blonde scurry after Kate, keeping a wide distance away from her husband.

Setting the tray of food on the table, Clint took a seat at the head, in-between Laura and Cooper. The only seats left were between the kids.

“Sit by me!” Cooper said loudly, staring at Yelena. 

After a moment of hesitation, the blonde slid in the chair by the boy.

“Yay!” Cooper said with a big smile. Laura figured that Yelena was a little more comfortable around the child versus the toddler, but would have to ask later why or if it would be a problem. Yelena was as far as she could be on the edge of her chair close to the brunette, wariness etched into her face but Cooper didn’t notice. She had finally stopped staring at Clint though and instead was watching everyone around the table make plates and pass food around.

Kate sat at the remaining seat, across the table from Clint.

Every meal the family had ever had since having children was usually a fiasco; Laura Barton was well aware of this. But she would have bet all the money in her wallet that it couldn’t have been any worse with an additional teenager thrown in the mix. Teenagers weren’t toddlers or five-year-old picky little boys.

She might as well have tossed her wallet into Clint’s grill.

“So, Yelena was it?” Clint said from his seat while scooping some fried potatoes onto his plate. Yelena jerked her head towards him. “Never had a burger I hear.”

“Clint…” Laura warned quietly.

“What?” The man said obliviously. She swore, sometimes her husband was just a plain idiot.

The blonde shook her head stiffly.

“Well,” Clint continued, “You’re in for a real treat.”

“Don’t be a jerk Clint!” Kate said loudly before turning to the blonde, “It’s okay. You’ll love them. I’ll show you how to put it together the perfect way. With relish.” Kate said, and began explaining to the blonde quietly how to put the burger together with the meat, buns, and toppings.

“Burgers is yummy. Daddy’s are the best,” Cooper stated while kicking his feet and waiting for his plate. 

“Thanks bud. I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I’ve been told my burgers are magic,” Clint said proudly, which had Kate and Cooper immediately letting out three adorable ‘toot toot toot’s in unison.

Laura couldn’t help the twinkly laugh she made, Clint snickering beside her. She loved her kids, both the part-time and full-time ones.

Once Kate built Yelena the perfect meal of a put-together burger with every topping available, even the relish, and a scoop of fried potatoes and broccoli, and a cup of water from the pitcher on the table, she set it in front of the blonde before going back to her own plate and digging in. Yelena immediately slid the offensive tomato off, setting it right on the wood of the table. Laura cringed as Clint snorted out a laugh but quickly covered it with a cough. Kate didn’t even bother and began cackling before taking the tomato and wiping the table with a napkin.

Yelena looked around at each person as they picked up their burgers to eat them and attempted to copy, her fingers poking out from the zip-up. The young girl’s eyes grew big once she took a bite of the food, a little ketchup plopping out from the other end onto her plate and quickly chewed to take another bite. She moved onto each food group on the plate with gusto, getting ketchup and mustard on her face and edges of the sweater sleeves. She completely ignored the utensils next to the plate. 

Laura had to cover the smile on her face as she took turns eating her own food while helping her youngest with her own bites. She wasn’t sure which child at the table had the worst manners; the two she gave birth to, the bonus brunette, or the stray blonde at the table.  

But Yelena was no longer focused on her husband or the kids or her surroundings. 100% of her focus was on the food in front of her and for that, Laura was grateful.

Clint winked at her. “Magic,” He whispered.

Laura squinted her eyes at her husband with adoration.

Yelena’s plate was demolished quickly, before anyone else was even close, going so far as to lick the topping drops off the plate which had Cooper giggling hysterically. The boy began copying her, Clint quickly stepping in to stop the young boy and Lila started screaming at Cooper’s antics.

Kate grinned as she leaned over and asked Yelena, “The relish was good, yeah?”

Yelena looked at the green bottle from earlier. “Da.” 

Kate smiled mischievously as Clint cocked his head at hearing the word while helping Cooper with his last few bites. Her husband was clearly focusing on the other language the blonde kept speaking at random, but the man stayed silent. Hopefully he would be able to figure it out, as Laura was still lost. She just knew it wasn’t Spanish, using her 2 years of rudimentary High School classes as her only guide.

After everyone’s plates were finished, Laura unlatched the tray off Lila’s highchair. The child was covered in food. “I’m gonna give the kids a quick bath upstairs. Lila’s got ketchup in her hair.”

“Grooooss. Be right back, I’m gonna go pee!” Kate announced unnecessarily after taking hers and Yelena’s empty plates to the sink.

“Drive safe!” Clint said.

“Har har,” Kate said as the bathroom door closed. 

Yelena still sat in the kitchen chair as everyone else in the room began getting up and moving until Clint had to walk past her to the kitchen sink. The blonde then slid from the chair and padded silently across the room until she was next to the bathroom door. Clint didn’t say anything but Laura saw how bothered her husband was. She watched Yelena try and open the door but Kate must have locked it.  

“Yelena honey? Want to come with the kids and I? There’s another bathroom upstairs.” Laura told the blonde as she unbuckled and picked up Lila from the highchair and headed towards the aforementioned stairs. She knew Yelena had heard her but she chose not to respond, instead eyeing Clint like a hawk. After the bathroom door remained closed for another few seconds, Yelena did walk towards Laura, the woman giving her a smile.

“C’mon Coopie, you and your sister need a bath. She’s all sticky. Icky sticky! Then it’s ni-night time.” Laura held out her hang for her older child to take. Cooper had shown interest in Yelena earlier but once realizing she wasn’t much of a talker, he’d not given the girl a second thought.

The bathroom door opened just as Laura was about to head upstairs. Sadly Clint finally seemed to get the hint that Yelena would not be comfortable near him anytime soon, no matter how harmless or kind he was trying to be.

“Gonna go clean the grill before it’s too dark, babe,” Her husband said to Laura.

“Alright, hun.” Laura headed upstairs to take care of her sticky baby and get both children to bed, the teenagers just behind her.

As much as she wanted to spend a little more quality time with her kids before they went to sleep, she really needed to have a conversation with Clint about the events of the day, and what they were going to do. Kate, too.

“Yelena?” Laura called. Both girls backtracked, Yelena by Kate’s side like a tiny shadow. She glanced into the bathroom to see what Laura was doing.

“Yeah?” Kate responded for the blonde.

“Hey you two. Yelena, I think it would be a good idea for you to take a bath or shower tonight. Okay?” She asked, looking past Kate to the blonde who most definitely needed a shower. Her hood was still up covering the messy hair she had and even though her clothes were clean, Laura still remembered how dirty she’d been at the clinic. 

“Yes…okay,” Yelena mumbled.

Laura gave her a warm smile as she started to run a warm bath for the kids. “Thanks honey. Do you need to use the toilet still?”

Yelena shook her head, staring at Lila in her arms. Laura wasn’t convinced but let it be.

“Alright. I’ll come get you both when we’re done. You two good to kill time until then?” Laura then asked, more-so to Kate, who nodded enthusiastically.

“Yep, we’re good. C’mon,” Kate said, taking Yelena by the hand like earlier and leading her back to her bedroom.

Laura had an inkling that the other guest room was not going to be necessary, but didn’t want to assume without checking. As harmless as the girl seemed to be at the moment, she was still a complete stranger in every sense of the word.

Bathtime was a quick affair, and soon enough both of her children wore clean pajamas and were cuddled up to Laura in Cooper’s twin bed.

Laura had started reading to them back when the boy had just been born and she’d kept up the activity most nights, with Clint sometimes taking over. Cooper had just started to learn to read small books and it was such a joy to see her smart little boy growing up. 

Just as Laura and the kids were finishing their book, Clint rapped on the trim of the door.

“Hey babe. The girls in Kate’s room?” He asked softly. Laura hummed as she resituated Lila on her chest, the young girl almost asleep. Laura brushed some of the baby-fine hairs from her forehead.

“Yeah. Gonna try to get Yelena to clean up. It’s…yeah. I’ll put Lila down if you wanna handle Coop?” Laura said to her husband as she got up. 

“Sure babe.” Bedtime kisses were exchanged between them all and Clint finished settling Cooper down as Laura put Lila to bed, the young girl falling asleep quickly.

Laura then knocked softly at Kate’s door. It wasn’t closed all the way but enough that she couldn’t see either girl.

“Kate? Yelena?” She called out softly, opening the door. Both girls looked up from where they sat on Kate’s bed, with Kate’s guitar that Clint gave to her in her lap. 

Laura took a seat on the edge of the bed. “Hey girls. Clint’s putting Coop down and Lila’s already asleep.”

Kate let out a covered yawn. “Okay, cool. I was showing Yelena some chords.”

“That’s lovely, Kate. You’ll have to show me tomorrow. Do you think you can lend us some spare clothes of yours for the night?” Laura asked, brushing some of the brunette’s long hair behind her ear. She needed a trim badly but that was a ‘Kate and Eleanor’ thing.

“Mhm. Of course.” Kate set her guitar on the bed close to Yelena and got up to dig through her dresser that was in the closet. It was probably the only safe bet for clean clothes if the chaos that was Kate’s room was an indicator.

Kate was a lot taller than the blonde but her clothes would fit well enough for the night. Laura would find some old clothes of hers tomorrow to lend to the small blonde, specifically pants. Both Kate and Laura were taller than Yelena, but Kate moreso. Her pants would undoubtedly need to be rolled up a few times either way. Laura mostly wore maternity-sized clothes or shirts of Clint’s these days, so she’d have to do some digging. 

“My pants might be a little long…” Kate said as she handed a pair of clothes to Laura.

“That’s alright, we’ll fold them. Can you…undies, too?” Laura whispered quietly. Kate’s cheeks pinked but she grabbed a pair and threw them in the pile.

“Thank you. Alright, ready?” Laura asked Yelena, getting up. The blonde obediently followed Laura to the bathroom after a last look at Kate, pausing behind the older woman as she grabbed a spare towel from the hallway closet. Laura then led them back to the bathroom she’d bathed the kids in earlier. 

Laura showed Yelena how to flush the toilet, how to control the shower knobs and where the soap, shampoo and conditioner options were. She gave her a spare toothbrush, a disposable razor, and Kate’s tube of toothpaste. There were whatever bottles Kate kept in there, along with two different kid shampoos she was able to use. Clint and Laura had a separate bathroom in their room.

Laura had no idea on Yelena’s showering habits and what she did and didn’t need so she figured better to give her all the options and hope she’d be alright.

Laura passed the spare towel to Yelena along with the pile of clothes Kate had put together, setting the spare hygiene items on the sink. “Do you…need any help? With your bandages maybe? Or cleaning up? I’m happy to stay if you need, honey.” Laura asked her, unsure of where to go from here. 

Luckily, the blonde seemed capable of her private affairs on her own.

“Nyet, thank you,” Yelena said quietly, looking down at the clothes in her hand and squeezing the pile to her chest.

“Okay, well if you change your mind, I’ll be right downstairs. Okay?” Laura said.

Yelena looked back up. “‘Kay,” she copied back.

Laura smiled. “Good girl. Take as long as you need.”

Laura went to walk out when Yelena’s voice stopped her.

“L… Laura?”

She turned to look at the blonde and paused for a moment, her mind flashing back to an image of the girl just a few short hours ago. The fear etched on her face and unsureness of everything going on around her still remained, but it was less noticeable. “Yeah honey?”

“W-will you still please help to find my sister after?” Yelena asked brokenly, hopefully.

Shit, right, the sister. She had forgotten that Yelena had asked for their help in finding her missing sibling. She’d been so focused on just getting back home and then got distracted with the kids and dinner and bedtime. She’d completely forgotten to bring up the conversation again with her.

“Of course honey, of course. After you’re all cleaned up, you and I will sit with Clint and see what we can do to find your sister. He has a lot of good connections in town and with his job, and might be able to help track her down based on where you were last night. Alright?” Laura answered.

“Kate too?” Yelena asked hesitantly.

“Sure, and Kate.” Laura confirmed, already planning to go talk to the brunette.

“Let me know if you need help with anything. I’ll be right downstairs.” Laura repeated as she walked out.

“Da…” Yelena responded quietly and the door clicked closed.

Chapter Text

Downstairs in the kitchen Clint was just finishing cleaning up dinner, putting the rest of the dirty dishes in the dishwasher with any leftovers and toppings back in the fridge. He felt a pair of warm arms envelope him from behind, his wife’s cheek pressing between his shoulder blades. A content sigh was shared between the two as he kissed inside her wrist on one of her hands before turning around.

“That could have gone worse,” he said to Laura who chuckled weakly.

“I suppose,” She responded.

“Magic burgers…” Clint sang mischievously, making Laura giggle as they rocked side to side. They stood in the kitchen in companionable silence for a time, Clint rubbing his hands over Laura’s tense shoulders, her large pregnant belly invading their cuddle space. “So what’s the plan now babe?”

“She wants to find her sister. I got her situated in the bathroom for the moment and asked Kate to come downstairs. We really need to have a talk with them both,” Laura murmured.

Clint cleared his throat. He knew this was more serious than any of them were currently taking it, but didn’t want to freak Kate out or make things worse with the tiny blonde.

“You want me to heat up some water for tea?” Clint asked Laura.

She nodded graciously. “Please. Chamomile?”

“Can do babe. Go get comfy, I’ll be a few," he said, giving his wife a small kiss.

After water was heated and mugs were made and set on the coffee table to steep, Clint and Laura sat together on the couch. Laura’s eyes were closed, the woman finally being in a relaxed position for the first time in hours as they snuggled. He thought back to cold nights in front of the fireplace and couldn’t wait for summer to end.

Kate made her way downstairs a few minutes later, having changed into soft purple sweatpants and a faded orange school shirt.

“Hey Katie-girl. Doing okay?” Clint asked her.

She plopped on the couch next to him, joining the cuddle party. “I’m good, just tired. Thanks for dinner by the way. So good.”

Clint gave her a hug with his other arm. “No thanks necessary, kiddo.” 

“Laura said you guys wanted to talk?” Kate asked, looking between the two.

“We do,” Laura said to the teen. “I’m sure you have deduced that…our friend here is…well she’s…not exactly–” Laura stopped abruptly, unsure of how to word what she was trying to say.

Clint took the moment to help her out. “I think what Laur is trying to say is that the situation we are in right now is a lot of different things. It’s very unexpected, and potentially dangerous too. And your friend here has some peculiar… abilities that we need to discuss. Among other things.”

“Um. Yeah, like she can turn into a giant cat you mean?” Kate said rather bluntly.

“Yes,” Laura said, “like that.”

Kate shrugged her shoulders, playing with the strings of her sweatpants. “I don’t see what the big deal is. I think it’s pretty awesome. You think she will do it again?” She said with a smile.

“Of course it’s ‘awesome’,” Clint said, making bunny ears with his fingers, “And honestly? Maybe. Probably. Which is why we need to talk about it. It’s not a magic trick or a fun little game. This is pretty serious stuff.”

Kate’s smile fell away at Clint’s tone.

They all heard the shower from upstairs turn off and Clint took that as a sign to pause the conversation momentarily. “Let’s wait for Yelena to join us, hmm?”

Kate leaned against Clint’s strong shoulder and the three of them waited, with Kate stealing a few sips of Laura’s tea. 

The toilet flushed before the bathroom door upstairs opened and then it was silent until they heard a quiet, “Kate Bishop?” from the top of the stairs.

“We’re down here, Yelena.” Kate called out. Luckily the younger kids were hard sleepers or both Clint and Laura would have quieted her.

Before the blonde made it downstairs, Clint moved to sit in the armchair next to the couch. He knew Yelena was not very comfortable around him and was willing to do whatever he needed to placate her. He refused to think on why, knowing it would only get him upset.

Clint watched the blonde get to the bottom of the stairs and check her surroundings before padding to where Kate and Laura sat. She had different clothes on than before, most likely borrowed from Kate, but this time it was a short-sleeved shirt. Her hair, which had been hidden under a hood since he’d first laid eyes on her, was a tangled long blonde mess, dripping water down her shoulders. Not that Clint knew the first thing about hair care, but he was fairly certain it needed a brushing.

The clothes she had on were slightly baggy but they fit well enough. Along her arms Clint could see a few bruises and scars mottled on her skin, causing him to bristle. The girl was clearly still a child, most likely around Kate’s age, but wherever she came from was obviously not an ideal living situation. All he’d seen so far was a small fearful blonde but at that moment he vowed to help, no matter her circumstance.

Kate gave her a smile and the blonde went the long way around the couch to sit gingerly beside her, knees to her chest.

“Feel better honey?” Laura asked Yelena.

They were rewarded with a nod and tiny smile from the girl. 

“Now we find my sestra?” Yelena asked.

Laura looked at Clint. 

“We’re certainly going to try,” Clint said. “I’d like to apologize, by the way. I’m the guy that might have bonked you with my car last night. Are you doing alright?”

Yelena was clearly not a fan of the man but gave him her attention anyway. “Is fine…” She responded warily.

“How’s the injury? Healing up well?” Clint asked. Yelena did a little head tilt but remained quiet.

“Are you in any pain honey? Do you need any medicine?” Laura added on with a glance to the blonde's arms. It was unfortunately, apparently the wrong thing to ask.

“No!” Yelena suddenly growled out harshly, making Kate and Laura jump. Yelena inched closer to the edge of the couch, hackles up. Clint swore her eyes had changed color for a half a second but when he looked again, they were a very normal green.

“Woah, hey, alright, we’re all good,” Laura quickly set down her mug of tea. “You don’t have to take any medicine, it was just a question. You were hurt pretty bad last night so we’re just concerned… No one’s going to force you to do or take anything. Okay?”

Yelena settled in the corner of the couch with a glare. “No medicine,” she stated firmly.

“Got it. Unless you say so, no medicine,” Laura confirmed. “So, your sister. You said her name is Natalia right?” She then asked calmly, trying to move the conversation on.

“Da,” Yelena answered stiffly, still on guard.

“And when did you last see her? Was she with y–” Laura started to ask but Clint interrupted.

“I’m sorry, but what language is that?” Clint asked bluntly, green flashing back to him.

He waited but Yelena again didn’t answer. She went back to glaring. Her dislike towards him was more than obvious and Clint scratched the back of his neck nervously. This was going to be a long night.

“Yelena?” Kate jumped in, turning a little in her spot. “Clint and Laura just want to help. We all do. Please let us help you…” She trailed off at the end.

A brief bout of silence followed before Yelena conveyed softly, “Russian,” to the group, her accent deep. She began picking at the fabric at her knees, a nervous tick perhaps.

Clint found that highly interesting, but also unnerving. Russian was not a common language to speak, specifically where they lived anyway, and the bad feeling in his gut that was saying ‘warning, this is bad news, these are bad guys’ only continued to grow.

The four of them sat in the living room, no one knowing what to say after that. The tiny hand on the kitchen clock ticked away, the only background noise in the immediate vicinity of the house.

Clint thought about the short panicked phone call he’d had with Laura earlier that day. When they’d agreed that the best thing they could do at that moment was to get the girl away from the wildlife center, and then wing it from there. Although neither of them had spoken about the incident from a few years ago, he knew it was what both of them were thinking of and what had led them to make their quick agreed decision. They’d been nervous that whatever had happened last time, that the center would be the first place for anyone looking for the girl to check.

Clint clapped his hands together gently and leaned his elbows on his knees. “Alright, look girls. I need you both to listen for a few minutes. I–We have a story to tell you. So a few years ago, before the kids were born, something…happened,” Clint started, looking at Laura as she was clued into where he was going, “We came across a young erm, creature, I suppose. A fellow ranger in my division at the time had phoned in an injured animal late one night. Laura was working nights a few times a month back then and had been working that particular night and I was in charge of training the ranger who’d called it in. So, I met up with the young guy to help. You know, show him the ropes, make sure he was handling it correctly, maybe get a kiss from my beautiful wife while I'm at it, and call it a night.” 

He gave Laura a small smile as she leaned over to pat his knee before continuing, “When I met up with the ranger however, the animal wasn’t exactly an animal. At first we thought it was deformed, or obscenely injured, and quickly loaded it up into the back of the SUV.” 

Yelena’s face twitched as the last part but she remained silent, both girls did, so Clint continued.

“Once we got into one of the ICU rooms, we quickly realized it was not an animal. It was a little boy,” Clint said.

Kate made a small gasp, her eyes big.

“It was just myself, Laura, and her coworker Jane in the room when we brought him in. The trainee had still been in the car at the time so I sent him home for the night. Didn’t know him well enough to know if we could trust him so I didn’t want him involved. Told him Laura and Jane would take care of it from there. Anyway, this boy…gosh, it was like nothing any of us three had ever seen. He had human features, barely, but–” Clint shook his head. He noticed Yelena was now listening very intently.

“He was with us for a few hours at most,” Laura piped up softly. “At one point he woke up, pleading for help…some of it sounded kind of like how you speak, now that I think about it," Laura nodded at the blonde. "We…tried our best but there was nothing we could do. Something was wrong with him, most likely internal...”

Kate had been eerily silent. The teen was rarely a serious kid, using comedy as her first response to most situations. Clint figured she was just still processing and felt for her.

“The boy looked and sounded quite young, no older than ten we guessed. He had very green, scaly skin. Reptilian almost. And his eyes–” Clint said.

“Krokodil?” Yelena interrupted.

“What? Um-uh, yeah, yes. Kind of, yeah,” Clint said, surprised. He was having flashbacks of that night; of the sad state they’d found the boy in. How he’d looked, the injuries he’d had, and the pitiful cries for help.

Laura nodded. “Yeah, it was very dark green, like a crocodile or lizard. Not like human skin. Jane thought it was some sort of alien,” she said, “but the animalistic features were too similar to animals I’ve studied before. We tried everything we could for him, but he…he died a few hours later. The next day I was informed that men in black outfits with weapons had shown up with some cockamamy story and taken the body before we could figure out what to do or who to call.”

Clint recalled the day his wife spoke of, when the morning after they’d gotten a call from Jane telling them what had happened. She’d been more or less threatened with her life to hand over the body. 

“He was missing a finger?” Yelena asked, three heads turning to her. The blonde held up a hand with her pinky purposely folded down.

Clint kept quiet and thought about it but he had no idea, he couldn’t remember, but Laura’s skin had turned a shade lighter than it had been before.

“Yes…now that I think back… He had been missing a pinky finger on one of his hands. Just like that,” Laura finished softly.

Clint heard the blonde whisper something.

Laura frowned. “Hmm?”

Yelena put her hand back down. “Nicolai… I…remember him. He is from where I am from.”

Clint watched Laura’s breath catch. He let out a hum. 

“He change one day but not change back right. Wanda try and help but…” Yelena pittered off with another shrug.

“You mean change as in changing into an…animal? Right?” Laura asked awkwardly in confirmation.

Yelena nodded. “Da. Nicolai… Kolya is what Natalia call him. Very nice boy. Sweet. Doctors give him a new animal, look like krokodil or something. He could not turn back to all human or all animal. So sad. Never happen before. He cry so much…”

Yelena had been staring off while relaying to them about the boy Clint and Laura had come into contact with all those years ago.

Laura scooted minutely closer to the blonde. “How did your friend end up in the forest honey? Did he run away like you and your siblings?”

The blonde's eyes skittered back to Laura as her shoulders hunched up. “Don’t know. He disappear one day. We don’t see him again. Natalia said Koyla die. Erm, died. But…many die… Many do not come back,” She said numbly. “Pietro…he said doctors and guards talk, said Kolya escape.”

When Clint heard Yelena mention guards, a flicker of anger flared up in him but he kept it at bay. He needed to know anything the blonde was willing to tell them. He could get mad later.

“Escaped? How? From where?” Clint asked softly. Was there a hospital in one of their bordering states that was nearby perhaps? 

“Don’t know. Wanda start planning for us then too. To leave, escape, run away… She was…’fraid we would also not come back too. Die. But we make promises to stay together,” Yelena told them forlornly nuzzling into her knees. “Many plans do not work, so many…” She mumbled out.

“Until yesterday?” Clint asked. Yelena tilted her head to peek at him and inched her shoulders up. From his peripheral, he could see his wife who looked like she was about to cry. Kate wasn’t looking much better. His wife discreetly wiped her eyes.

They all remained quiet for a time, thinking the blonde would continue but she didn’t. 

“When Laura called me yesterday, we figured maybe the incident from a few years back and your situation were related. We hoped not but, well…” Clint said. “We are so, so sorry to hear that though, Yelena,” He then said softly to the blonde, who had gone back to sitting curled up in the corner, arms around her legs.

Kate finally piped up. “Who’s Wanda and Pietro?” She asked, causing the blonde to give Kate her attention.

“My… ses– sister too, y brother… Wanda, Pietro and Natalia. Sem-um, family,” Yelena said.

Clint hummed. “So this place you all came from, er, lived. Do you know where it is? Is it in the forest? Or close-by maybe? Is that where your sister might still be?” He thought about where exactly someone could live near where he’d been last night. He’d been working as a ranger for over five years now and had covered, he thought anyway, almost every square inch of what was in the northeast state that the forest covered. He couldn’t think of anywhere that a bunch of kids could live in the forest without himself or another ranger coming across them at some point.

“Don’t know. But y-yes, forest. We see only trees outside rooms with windows. The walls are gray and brown and the uh potolok sometime leak. Always very cold... Before, we–” Yelena paused before committing to what she was going to say, albeit a little quieter, “We came from Russia before, in bigger place. It was nicer... At night maybe yesterday after… I think Wanda, she fly us away on… mmm...” The blonde trailed off and began rubbing one of her eyes, “But may…maybe they are caught? And taken back…?” She whined out, curling her bruised arms around her knees in worry.

Based on the sketchy men who’d come for the boy all those years ago, Clint didn’t want to know the extent of what ‘failing to escape’ where the girl and her family were from meant. If Clint were honest with himself, he also didn’t absolutely love the idea of having her at the house either with his family. They really didn’t know much about the situation but his concern for potentially bringing danger to where his family lived was valid.

But for the night, he was fairly sure they would be fine. The girl needed somewhere to go, somewhere safe, and Clint hoped that they could offer that safety to her, whether it was for the night or longer. He just knew that in the end, his family would come first. 

He tried for reassurance, “I’m sure they didn’t get caught, Yelena. Your family sounds like a very resourceful bunch.” He in fact did not know that at all, but hoped so. “Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but you and your family lived somewhere in the forest near where I found you, and you got separated from them. There’s four of you, Natalia, Wanda and… who was the third again?”

“Brata, Pietro…” Yelena mumbled.

“Pietro, got it. Alright, so, how about tomorrow, bright and early, you and I go back in the forest area and see if we can find any clues to your family’s whereabouts. I’ll also make a few phone calls in the morning to see if maybe they have popped up elsewhere in town or nearby. I’ll call a few hospitals, check with my department heads, and uh, emergency vets? I guess?” Clint said.

Yelena yawned and nodded, curled up still. “Okay.”

“How old are you and your siblings, honey?” Laura asked helpfully. 

Yelena grimaced. “Don’t know in English.”

Kate, quiet until then, got up and grabbed one of the colored pencils and pieces of paper that was nearby, an earlier activity of the kids’ that day. 

“You could write them down? The numbers?” Kate offered, sliding the paper in front of the blonde and handing her the pencil.

“Okay…” Yelena took the pencil in her right hand and started to slowly write on the blank paper.

“About your siblings and you,” Clint continued, “Can you all do the uh, animal thing?”

“Mhm.” Yelena said quietly. 

“Is it just the one animal you can all change to? The cougar?” Laura tacked on. 

The blonde shook her head. “Nyet. Only for me. I think.” She paused to scribble something out on the paper, “Some same, but most not. Doctors do jokes too, like red belka …squirrel, to Natalia,” She huffed out, sort of butchering the word ‘squirrel’, it coming out more like ‘score-wel’, “but most morphs are different.”

Clint saw Laura freeze. “Morphs? Most? As in, you can turn into other animals? Multiple kinds you mean?” His wife asked.

“D –yes. Many,” Yelena answered, looking at Laura while sliding the pencil and the paper she had finished writing on away from her. She let out another yawn, rubbing her eye again.

Both brunettes read it before Laura picked it up and passed it to Clint with a frown.

It looked like a kid’s handwriting. It had taken Yelena a bit to write, but all she wrote was four names and four ages. 

The paper said, in blue-colored pencil, Natalia - 20, Wan b da И Pietro - 24, Yelena - 16. There was a backwards capital ‘N’ between the names Wanda and Pietro, and the ‘d’ in Wanda had been scribbled out and fixed. The first time she’d written a ‘b’. But knowing that at least Yelena’s siblings were adults and not minors gave him a small speck of hope. Of what, he wasn’t sure, but Clint was fairly confident that the three separated missing siblings couldn’t be any worse off in terms of life skills, resourcefulness or communication than the small blonde in front of him.

Clint folded the paper up and put it in the front pocket of his shirt. “Good. That’s great, Yelena. Do your siblings or you have any identification or documentation perhaps? Or maybe back from where you lived that we might be able to find for you all? Are they able to speak English well enough that if someone were to come across them, they could communicate? Get help? Or is there anyone you all could go to nearby for help that they might try and find their way to? Shit, maybe they’d go to the cops…is that something you think they’d do?” Clint had started to ramble and stopped to give Yelena a chance to respond after Laura placed a hand to his arm but he’d apparently overwhelmed her with all his questioning. 

Met with silence and wide green eyes, he tried again, slower this time.

“Sorry, sorry. Okay, so this place you and your family are from. Was it like a large house? Or maybe a school? Anything you remember besides trees nearby?” Clint then asked her. She shook her head slowly. 

“Nyet. Just trees. Tall fence, with tall lamps. Not house, not school…? Everyone say it-I mean, call it a compound. It…it i-is not nice place. I…do not want to go back again, please…I…” Yelena trailed off, squishing back into the couch corner again, fingers gripping her knees. She looked ready to bolt for half a second.

He might not know much about the girl or be the best at reading people, but Clint could recognize panic when he saw it.

“I want you to listen to me, Yelena. I know there’s a lot we don’t know about each other, and you’re probably really scared. You don’t know us. We don’t know you. But Laura and I–” Kate made a noise, “and Kate, we will do everything in our power to help and protect you, and make sure you never have to go back to that place again. And I will do whatever I can to help you find your siblings too. On my honor as a father.” Clint said sternly, hand on his chest. He hoped to convey to her that she could trust him. He hated the idea of her being afraid of him and hoped his kids and Kate would never have to face a fear like that in their lives.

“Exactly, sweetheart. Whatever we can do, we will. This is a safe place for you from now on,” Laura said, her heart on her sleeve like always.

Yelena curled up, palms pressing into her eyes.. “Okay… spasibo…” The blonde eventually croaked out.

Clint watched Kate put one of her hands on Yelena’s, causing the blonde to peek out at her with shiny eyes. Yelena wiped her runny nose with the collar of the shirt, gripping Kate’s hand back.

 The kitchen clock struck the top of the hour and Clint checked the time. It was 11 o’clock on the dot and he knew the littles would get Laura and him up before 7 the next morning.

“Whaddya say we all get some sleep, hmm? We can talk more in the morning, but I think we could all use some shut-eye after the day we’ve had,” Clint said, standing up and stretching. He’d completely forgotten about his tea. The mug had grown cold long ago and he grabbed it to toss it in the kitchen sink.

Kate and Laura got up next, with Kate pulling Yelena to her feet with their still-connected hand. 

“Do you want to stay down here on the couch, or the other guest room…?” Clint heard Laura ask hesitantly. She’d get the room set up for the blonde if that’s what she asked for, but he had a feeling it wouldn’t be necessary after seeing how the blonde had basically glued herself to his and Laura’s part-time kid.

“She… you can stay in my room with me. If you want,” Kate said, turning to Yelena. The blonde wound her other arm around Kate’s longer one, latching onto the taller teen and nuzzling into her shoulder with a nod. It seemed a little odd in Clint’s opinion, but Kate didn’t seem bothered.

“If you’re sure, Katie.” Laura said.

Kate grinned sleepily and gave another squeeze to Yelena’s hand in hers. “I’m sure. We’ll be fine. It’ll be like a girl’s night sleepover,” she said, making Laura chuckle.

“Alright then, let’s get to bed,” Laura said.

Clint went to the kitchen after that, knowing the girls didn’t need his input to figure out sleeping arrangements for the night. He would just make sure to set up the extra baby monitor in Cooper’s room and check that Lila’s was plugged in. As much as it felt cruel to think of, he still didn’t fully trust the situation and wasn’t about to put his defenseless children at risk. Yelena seemed harmless as she was now, but thinking back to when he’d almost ran her over as a wild cat with a 4000-lb vehicle and she’d still been ready to rip his throat out, he wasn’t going to chance it.

After dumping his tea in the sink, he double-checked the front and porch doors, making sure both were securely locked, before heading up the stairs. He detoured to each child’s room, checking on Lila’s monitor and plugging in Cooper’s old one before dropping a kiss on each of their foreheads and closing the doors. 

He stopped at Kate’s room, tapping on the door frame lightly. The two young girls were sitting on the bed with Laura passing over an extra blanket and pillow.

“Night, girls. Wake Laura or myself up if you need anything,” Clint said to the two teens. Laura bid them goodnight as well before shuffling to their shared bedroom with Clint, snuggled under his arm over her shoulder.

Today had been a very long day and Clint was glad they’d made some progress. He could only make an educated guess that tomorrow wasn’t going to be much different.

Yelena could feel the dark chill of the forest around her. It was quiet yet her ears were ringing loudly. She’d been here before…but when? The guards never let them out of the compound. Only a few times ever had she been outside.

So why was this place familiar?

This was a dream… Maybe…

Shadows moved in her peripheral. A movement to her right. She spun towards it.

Someone was there; a man. He wore dark clothing. He had a weapon. Yelena did not know him.

The man stood up. She stood up too, but the man towered over here ominously.

Why was he so much taller than her? Why was she here? Where was her sister? Where was Wanda and Pietro?

Her mind began to wander; she saw furry paws in front of it, then realized she was on all fours. Ah, that was why…

She eyed the man and closed in on him. Walking, prowling, stalking. She felt a low rumble escape from her throat. 

The man with the weapon backed up a few steps.

A crackling sound was made near the man and voices came after but she couldn’t understand what the words were. 

“Bring her back! Now!”

What? 

Who said that?

Yelena felt herself lift her lips, sharp and pointed teeth showing. A snarl and hiss came next from her, long tail behind her twitching in anticipation.

The man pointed his weapon at her. 

She didn’t let him use it.

The ringing in her ears grew louder; the control she had on her mind slipped through her metaphorical fingers like sand. The fogginess grew.

Where was she again? Oh right, a forest.

The shades of green around her darkened to blacks and grays. Maybe the trees had always been black? The moon peeked out from above in gaps between leaves and needles, but it didn’t make anything around her brighter.

The sharp smell of copper invaded her nostrils and tongue. The man from before with the weapon was no longer standing. He lay awkwardly on the ground a few yards away, his weapon beside him.

Blood covered the man’s face and neck. He was very clearly dead. 

What happened? Did she…? 

She wasn’t sure… She wasn’t sure of anything anymore.

She couldn’t focus. She turned and began to walk.

Time trickled away; it could have been minutes or hours. Her stomach rumbled from hunger, her mouth dry from thirst. Her bones ached from exhaustion. She could still smell and taste the coppery substance.

Why was she walking? Where was she going? 

Natalia?

Her mind-speech wouldn’t work, but she kept trying. It had happened before. She just had to wait…just had to keep trying.

She wanted so badly to call out for her siblings. She hated being alone, more than anything else.

The animal instincts shoved to the forefront of her mind, threatening to take over, and she allowed them. It would take more energy to fight the instincts off. And she had no more energy to spare. She hadn’t for a long time.

She watched through eyes she had no control over as the forest surroundings passed by. A small animal ran past her; a rabbit maybe? She felt herself running after it; her morph deemed it a worthy meal. It had found water at some point as well, cleaning the blood off its paws and face.

Why? Who cared? There’d just be more to replace it.

She ran after the confirmed rabbit, her canines aching and salivating.

Pain suddenly radiated throughout her; her hip was on fire. What the…

A large creature on two legs was walking up to her. It also had a weapon. She went to defend herself but suddenly could not keep her eyes open. The creature had looked… like…

Yelena sat up with a start, a yell on the tip of her tongue, voice frozen in fear. Her hands gripped the blanket that was tangled around her and she pulled it closer, relishing in the softness. 

The phantom pain in her hip vanished but her throat still felt dry with the taste of blood lingering. Her breath was coming out in soft pants, her chest tight as she tried to be quiet.

She was in a dark room sitting atop a soft bed. She shivered involuntarily. 

Where was Natalia? Wanda? Or Piet?

She hated being alone. More than anything.

Yelena went to use her mind-speech but it didn’t work. She took a quick breath.

“N… Natal… privet… ” she whispered and heard her voice. 

Human. She was human. 

She sighed with something like relief, the tightness in her chest loosening minutely.

She hated not remembering.

As her senses came back to her, so did the previous day’s events. Yelena could hear bugs chirping and rustling leaves from one of the open windows in the room. A warm body was breathing loudly beside her and after checking, Yelena recognized it as neither of her sisters or brother but of the girl she’d met earlier; the tall girl with brown hair called Kate Bishop. The brunette was stretched along the shared bed laying on her stomach with her head on a pillow, taking up the entire side she was on. Yelena was beside her, the side of the bed that was closer to the windows and further from the bedroom door.

Yelena still didn’t fully know what to think just yet of her current predicament. Anyone she’d ever met were either in the same position as her, as new residents of HYDRA who would be tortured and experimented on, or a new guard or doctor. Never had she met someone on the outside. Only once did Yelena remember ever even being outside and not surrounded by walls or a fence truly, and that was when they all left Russia to come to America. But it was only a vague memory.

Yet in only one day she had not only met multiple outsiders, Kate Bishop, Laura, Clint, and two small children whose names she did not remember, but she’d accepted their help and gone with them. In a car. To their house. Trusted them.

None of them were how she would have imagined outsiders being. They were so…everything anyone at the compound wasn’t. Doctors, guards, scientists. The Gen–

Her siblings would have been throttling her with how trusting and stupid she was being. 

When they had spoken of the outside world, her siblings had always warned her to be wary of everyone and everything, no matter what. There were a lot of lessons they’d tried drilling into Yelena’s head growing up but her memory was spotty at best these days. She couldn’t remember most of it.

But they weren’t here, and the people that were promised to help. What was she to do, refuse? Was being alone, or back at the compound, worse than this? Yelena didn’t think so.

She had been treated kindly, and given clothes, and food, and a bed and–

Her head hurt. She had been trying to stave off the bloody taste still in her mouth but it would not go away.

Eventually Yelena uncurled from the tight ball she’d folded herself into. Her throat was so dry, swallowing hurt, but she remembered where the bathroom was. Maybe it was okay if she got some water? Or maybe she should ask Kate? Were they allowed to leave the room? Was the door locked?

“Kate Bishop…” Yelena whispered, but Kate didn’t stir. She leaned closer, over Kate’s sleeping face and tried again, slightly louder, but still the girl remained fast asleep.

Yelena tapped Kate’s cheek a few times. “Pomoshch’ Kate…”

The girl in question hummed, shifting and opening her bleary eyes halfway. “Mmm… ’ena? S’okay?”

“Kate Bishop… water? We can go?” Yelena whispered, pointing in the direction of the bathroom. Her voice was scratchy and thick with her accent.

“Mmm… mhm… need ‘elp?” Kate slurring out, eyes back to being closed.

“Nyet…” The brunette was already asleep before Yelena had responded, the girl back to her loud breathing.

Yelena looked at the closed door warily, debating leaving. She didn’t want to leave the supposed safety of Kate Bishop’s room, but she needed something for her throat, and needed the toilet too. She went to swallow her spit, hoping it would help and almost gagged. 

She could go on her own. And Kate said it was okay…

Yelena clutched the fuzzy blanket tight around her, dragging it along as she slid off the bed. Once her bare feet touched the wooden floor, she crept around the bed quiet as a mouse.

The room was dark but she was used to the dark and thus made her way to the door easily. It opened with a squeak and Yelena held her breath. 

She had somewhat cased the house earlier, searching for cameras and coming up empty, but in the dark she still did a double-check and looked for any red or green lights in the corners of the room and hallway. She didn’t see any still and wasn’t sure what to think about that. There were always cameras, always someone watching. But she had yet to find anything.

She wanted so badly to think of Laura and Clint’s house as somewhere safe like they had told her. A place that wasn’t like where she came from. A home like how Wanda had always described. But her mind just kept telling her the same things it always did; that stories were just stories and dreams were only dreams.

The mantra Yelena whispered to herself day in and day out creeped into her subconsciousness, attempting to settle her nerves.

Be quiet. Do what you’re told. Know your surroundings. Know your exits. Eat when you can. Follow the rules. Follow the commands. Never cry in front of them. Never fight back. 

These were the things that she told herself kept her safe. And most of the time, they worked. Natalia hated them. Didn’t know where Yelena came up with them and tried in vain to get them out of the blonde’s head. But it’s what kept her safe. So, there the words remained, playing like a loop in her mind.

Gripping the blanket like armor on her back, Yelena peeked down the hall, but it remained quiet and empty.

The bathroom was only across the hall, both Kate’s room and the bathroom being at the end by the stairs. All of the other rooms upstairs were further down. 

Yelena pushed the bedroom door just wide enough to squeeze through and skittered over. She left the light off, as the room had a tiny little window near the ceiling that shone enough light for her to do her business in, and clicked the door shut.

She let the blanket pool on the floor and immediately turned on the sink and drank greedily from the faucet using her palms as a cup. Finally, the lingering taste of coppery blood was gone and she could breathe again without feeling like she was going to puke. The lasting feeling of the dream she’d woken up from, a dream that had felt so real, was gone too.

Yelena couldn’t remember being so clean in her life or smelling so nice. Even the clothes she was given smelled good. She felt so comfy and soft.. Her hip was mostly healed at this point, just a few yellowed bruises around it, along with a few on her arms and legs in varying colors. She had no idea what they were from but they’d go away in another day or so. She knew her body well enough to know her rate of healing. 

She sat to use the toilet, looking around while she peed. There were pictures on the wall with 3 big towels hanging below them. The clothes and towel she’d used earlier were still in a pile on the floor and lots of baby toys were in a basket on the floor beside her, next to the bathtub. She picked one up, a rubbery blue whale with big eyes that leaked a little water on her hand from the top of its head.

Yelena put the toy back.

After finishing her business, washing her hands and gulping down more water, Yelena picked up the thick blanket from the floor and rewrapped it around her shoulders, tiptoeing back to Kate’s bedroom. She closed the door and climbed back into bed, curling into the smallest ball she could make and snuggling into Kate’s body heat, head against the brunette’s stomach. 

It wasn’t the same as Natalia, but Kate Bishop would do. Yelena fell back to sleep quickly, surrounded by warmth.

Chapter Text

A loud cawing shook Wanda out of her drifting thoughts and she rubbed her eyes to wake up and clear her mind. She and Natalia had spent way too much time playing ‘I spy’ earlier in the day, a very boring edition as they didn’t feel it was safe to venture beyond the doorway, before Wanda had fallen back to sleep. 

Natalia was still on guard and had eventually gone from sitting to pacing back and forth in agitation. It had been hours since Pietro had left and both girls were riddled with nerves. The redhead turned when she heard the same rough caw. 

“Piet’s back,” Natalia said.

The black crow that was their brother flew in through the open door and landed on the desk in the room, slowly turning around so he faced his sisters. He carried nothing with him, not that he could carry much weight in his form anyway.

“Pietro, are you alright? What took so long?” Wanda asked as she sat up. She’d been curled in the corner sleeping against the wall. Her shoulder had finally stopped hurting but healing took a lot out of her, especially without nourishment.

<I’m fine. I am sorry it took so long. The tall buildings nearby are mostly for farming. There’s nothing of use here. But there is another town much larger than this one nearby that looks very promising. Wherever we are is a shithole,> Pietro said to them. Wanda assumed he projected to Natalia as well.

“Well, does this shithole have anything we need? Are we good to like, get out of here?” Natalia asked with an attitude, as usual.

Wanda stood up and walked towards the two of them. “Hush, Nat. You are hangry.”

“Samo saboy…” Natalia mumbled. Wanda rolled her eyes.

<Yeah, we’re good. We need to go to the next town. And did not see any sign of anyone looking for us. No guards, no doctors, no cars that looked like theirs. No sign of the General either. I am…uneasy with it, but I think our best bet is to keep moving. We need somewhere to camp out and I think I found a good spot. There are a few areas that had access to places with food, clothes, and abandoned rooms,> Pietro said.

Wanda hummed. “Sounds promising enough Piet. Good job.”

<We should go before it gets dark,> Pietro stated.

“Wait, now? What about going back?” Natalia asked suddenly.

The two twins looked at Natalia then each other. Wanda cleared her throat. “Nat, we need to keep moving…I thought that was understood.”

“And I thought we agreed we were going back,” Natalia said harshly.

“We did, and we will. But not right this second, we can’t right now. We need to look after ourselves. The entire point of Pietro going to scout our surroundings was for us to get the things we need. Plus, going back now? Only a day after? We would get caught for sure,” Wanda said placatingly.

“I disagree,” Natalia sassed.

“I know you do. You always do,” Wanda responded with an eyeroll, causing Natalia to let out a scoff. “We don’t even know how far the compound is from here. I am unsure of how far I flew before we hit the river and I’m also not sure how far we traveled in the water… It could have been miles, Nat. Nor do we know the direction!”

“Well…well I’ll figure it out! You two can go do whatever you want then. I’m going,” Natalia then said, ignoring Wanda’s protests. Natalia stood up and stomped away out of the rundown office.

“Natalia!” Wanda yelled, aghast, following her.

Pietro flapped after the two girls. <Nat…please be rational…> Pietro said. They both knew that Natalia was anything but.

“Don’t tell me to be rational!” Natalia yelled back at them both.

Pietro eyed Wanda, a black pupil surrounded by white staring into her green before turning back to their hotheaded sister. <Izvini sestra, but please. We need to be smart.> He begged after landing on the metal railing, sharp claws gripping the pole with ease.

“You said you didn’t see anyone out there. Right? HYDRA? Anyone looking for us?” Natalia asked Pietro.

<I…I did not, no. But I–we cannot be certain! No one has ever gotten out like this and returned,> Pietro responded.

Natalia let out another scoff and turned her head. “Yeah, because they’re probably dead,” she said crudely.

“Exactly,” Wanda said firmly, walking closer to the angry girl. “Get your head out of your ass you stupid suka. Let us go together, together,” Wanda reiterated, “to where Pietro has found a place for us to get food and clothes for us. To heal. We need these things Natalia. I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted, starving, and I’m tired of wearing fucking underwear.”

Natalia did not respond, glancing at Wanda’s shoulder before facing away from the twins and glaring out through the opening of the abandoned building and onto the meadow. Wanda changed tactics, her exhaustion turning to anger.

“So where are you going to go, huh Nat?” Wanda asked. “Which way is the compound? Which way is Yelena?”

“I don’t know,” Natalia eventually growled out, avoiding Wanda’s gaze.

“You don’t? Are you sure? You were sure five seconds ago. Is she that way? Or how about that way?” Wanda pointed in two different directions. Pietro made a sound in his throat like a rattle.

“I don’t know!” Natalia screamed at Wanda.

<Stop fighting!> Pietro yelled at them both. Wanda ignored him.

“Exactly! You don’t know, none of us do! That’s the point! The plan was Pietro would find us a place to get food and clothes. We need these things. We cannot make a scene! What if we are caught? And our mladshaya sestra is out there alone? We don’t know if they found her or not. Then what do we do?” Wanda was frustrated that Pietro had to go alone, that she had gotten injured, that their sister was missing, that they were hungry, that Natalia was upset. And many other things. She was certain that their captors would never give them another chance of escape though if they were found. 

Wanda didn’t know what to do and it was all becoming too much. But she would fight Natalia tooth and nail before she let her stubborn-ass sister go off on her own.

Green eyes glared at Wanda and she glared right back with her own sea-green, not backing down and ready for a fight. Wanda knew her sister was upset, but they had to stick together. They had to.

Eventually Natalia’s muscles relaxed minutely and she leaned over the railing, arms crossed. Her exhales came out through her nose in angry huffs.

Wanda sidled up to the redhead, wrapping her arms around the shorter girl. Pietro flapped over and stood on the railing in front of Wanda.

“Natalia…I know patience is not your best quality–” Pietro interrupted Wanda with a laugh that both reverberated in her mind and came out like a weird croaking sound, “–but please…please stay with us. We cannot lose you too. Please?” She begged. It weighed on Wanda that it was her fault their sister was not with them, and she would do anything to find her, but not at the risk of losing another.

Natalia looked up at Wanda, the anger and fight finally leaving her eyes considerably. After a few moments, she returned Wanda’s hug, squeezing tight before smoothing a few fingers on Pietro’s chest of feathers gently.

“Izvini…” Natalia whispered, the fight leaving her. Wanda knew she was, too.

Wanda sighed, “I hate fighting.”

“Me too,” Natalia responded, head against Wanda’s neck.

<Me three. Just saying,> Pietro added.

Wanda kissed Natalia’s temple, “Promise you won’t leave us. We’ve come too far.” She didn’t think her heart could take it if Natalia willingly left them. Pietro was her brother, her blood, but their lives had been intertwined with Natalia and Yelena for so long that she couldn’t fathom life separated from them. They were a family and nothing would change that. 

Natalia nodded against Wanda’s neck. “Obeshchat’,” she promised after a few seconds passed.

They remained in the hug until Pietro made a noise. <It’s going to get dark soon. We should go. We do not all have night-flying morphs and walking will take too long.>

Wanda hummed. “Are you fine to stay as you are Piet? You do not need a break?”

<Nah. I’m good sestra. I found a water source on the way and some tasty bugs while flying about. I’m good until we get there,> Pietro said.

Natalia made a noise of disgust, “Gross.”

Pietro shrugged his shoulders the best way he was able to as a crow, which looked just plain weird. <Tasted fine to me.> He sent out before leaping backward and flying out through the large opening below, disappearing into the sky above. 

They couldn’t see him from where they stood but heard Pietro’s voice call out louder than before, <C’mon losers. It’ll make you feel better.> 

Wanda heard Natalia let out a sad sigh. She squeezed one of Natalia’s biceps in comfort as their embrace ended. She wanted to go back to find their sister too, but knew they had no other option at the moment.

“It’s only been a day. We’ll find her, darling. Yes?” Wanda said. Nat hummed in acknowledgement but said nothing.

“Crow?” Wanda said to confirm. Natalia waved her hand in annoyed agreement and closed her eyes in concentration. Wanda followed her in focus.

It wasn’t necessary to do so in order for them to morph but it helped to have a clear mind, especially with how hungry and thirsty they all were. Soon enough, both girls let their bodies shift and rearrange, shrinking down until they stood about a foot tall on the metal floor below the railing they’d previously been looking over. They were covered in glossy black feathers with a hard beak protruding out from their face.

<Damn. It’s been awhile in this morph,> Natalia said, shifting her wings and tail feathers.

Wanda also could not recall the last time she’d morphed their crow. She’d only recently used her golden eagle though, the only one of the four of them to possess the specific animal DNA, and it was similar enough to the smaller black bird; most bird morphs were. 

<Race you!> Wanda said loudly to Natalia, hopping close to the edge and taking off in an arced dive. Her wing gave off no indication of pain with the movement and Wanda was grateful for her advanced healing.

<Hey no fair!> Natalia yelled after her, not bothering to speak solely to Wanda and instead projecting loudly around them and most likely scaring off a few wild animals nearby. It was sometimes hard to tell but usually there was an echo felt when their mind-speech was sent outwardly in a general spectrum instead of pointedly sent to someone or specific people.

After Natalia raced after her, Wanda letting her catch up with a giggle, they both flapped towards Pietro. The sun was blinding at first but they quickly got used to it, the crow instincts aiding their sight greatly. Pietro was sitting on one of the tallest branches of a nearby tree, watching them.

<You are both idiot children,> Pietro said to them both, never forgetting to remind them all of who was the oldest, even if it was only by a few minutes. <But it feels wonderful, doesn’t it?> He asked as he hopped off the branch and took off with ease, flapping hard above them. Both girls followed a few feet behind, one on each side of him.

Wanda could tell by Natalia’s tone she was not happy about Pietro being correct, her stubbornness usually always present, but even the sassy redhead had to concur. <It’s amazing Piet…> Natalia mumbled, letting the breeze lift her small body around.

Of them all, Wanda had the most experience with flying. She had multiple winged morphs, excelling with them all during her time with HYDRA and their many experiments and wonderful forms of torture, but she was fairly certain that she had been the only one to have experienced flight in the openness of the outside sky if you didn’t include Pietro’s earlier escapade that day. Natalia nor Yelena had never flown outside of the compound fences to Wanda’s knowledge, probably in fear of them fleeing or just to be cruel. Wanda’s heart warmed to see two of her siblings finally able to experience the bliss and absolute freedom flying gave without walls or fences surrounding them. Being high up and in the warmth from the sun, the breeze from the wind fluttering through their feathers. It was an escape like no other and Wanda would be forever grateful for the experience, no matter how much their lives had sucked the past 13 years.

<How far is the next town, Pietro?> Wanda asked. She could see the small town that was below them and it was indeed, very small. Not much was there besides some tall farming-type buildings, a few houses spread out, a dock with some small boats beside them, and a building resembling a bar or restaurant. It was impossible to tell if it was abandoned or not from their vantage.

Pietro looked up towards the graying sky above them, <There is a small pond or lake halfway that we can stop for water, but do you see the big cloud? The one that looks like a donut. Right below that, there is a large town. See the tall, pointy thing?>

Wanda looked more closely and indeed saw some sort of tall building far ahead of them, with a point on top right underneath a large oval-looking cloud. <Is that a church?>

<Ah yes! Church! I could not recall the word earlier,> Pietro murmured with a hint of a smile inflected in his tone.

Natalia started snickering in their heads. <You forgot what a church was?> she said.

<No,> their brother said defensively.

<Sure, alright little brat,> Natalia said, clearly not convinced.

Pietro flapped harder in agitation, speeding up. <Zatknis’! I just forgot the word Natalia,> he said hotly.

Wanda couldn’t help but laugh at their bickering, their normal form of communication more often than not. All they were missing was their little blonde sestra joining in to help gang up on their brother, the shorter girls’ usual antics. It was an easy and familial way to bring a smile to their faces, especially on bad days.

The three of them grew silent and just enjoyed the peaceful sounds of nature and wind around them as they flew in the big, brilliant openness and towards the large town in the distance.

The trio made it to the town Pietro led them to just as the sun was shining its last few rays of the day. They only paused for a brief stop when they came across the body of water their brother had mentioned. It had been a small pond made up of clean water, cold with the help of shade from surrounding trees. One lone canoe laid off to a small sandy area, dilapidated and rotted.

Keeping themselves alert, Natalia and Wanda followed their brother as he smoothly guided them over and past buildings, houses, telephone poles, and lit-up signs. There were people below, and cars, but they were of no importance and they paid the three birds no mind. Street lights had just started to turn on down the main roads. The three of them landed one by one onto the tallest ledge of the town’s church steeple, sitting squat in the middle of town.

<Pretty big town,> Natalia said, looking around warily. The crow’s sight was not great in the dark and she was anxious to shift back. The sun’s rays were now gone and the sky was mostly dark and a gray-blue color, with a hint of orange west of them.

Wanda shifted around beside her. <Just big enough I’d say,> she said.

Pietro scoffed, making a funny noise in his tiny throat. <Well if that wasn’t cryptic.>

<Are you sure this wouldn’t be considered a city?> Natalia asked, looking around and below them. She wasn’t sure what the difference was, she just had been expecting smaller; less populated.

It was a little daunting to be in such a bustling place. Although she could not see too many people outside at the moment, it was clear the population was at least a few thousand based on the amount of houses she could see. Growing up in an orphanage, the redhead had never outright lived in a town, the orphanage being located just on the outskirts of the nearest town in Russia, but she had visited quite regularly when she had started going to school.

Pietro let out a croak of annoyance. <I have no idea, Nat. What a stupid question.>

<You’re stupid,> Natalia retaliated. The two started bickering again.

<Not now, you two!> Wanda said to them both. <Piet, where to?>

The largest of the three crows ruffled the feathers towards his shoulders and let out an irritated croak before pointing with his beak, <Look, just there. Do you see the blue sign down below? The one that is lit up, with pictures of blinking moneta on it. And the surrounding buildings?> Pietro was staring below and to the left. There were a lot of buildings and houses of different sizes below but off the main four-lane street and onto a side street they could all see the sign their brother was talking about.

It was a bright sign that read ‘Coin Laundry’ and had coins on each side that took turns lighting up in an ugly neon-yellow color. Below the sign was the entrance to said laundromat, with a few places that stuck out to the group. 

To the right stood a bar or pub of some sort, with similar lit-up signs in the windows advertising different alcohol brands. On the door it read ‘The Thirsty Goat’ in bright gold lettering. It looked in fairly better condition than the laundromat, but still not extravagant by any means. 

Another noticeable building sat across the street. It was a rather dingy-looking Italian-food establishment  The only sign was on the sun-bleached fabric banner above the entrance doors that read ‘Gio’s Italian Ristorante’. Almost every building on the block was made of old, weathered brick.

In between the two businesses with the lit signs was a dark, sketchy alley. It was impossible to see down from the trio’s vantage point..

There were other businesses and store-fronts up and down the block but they were either closed or it was too dark to see the names and what they offered.

A quiet cooing was heard below and on another ledge a few feet below were a few gray pigeons looking up at the three black crows. They shuffled around the ledge aimlessly.

<Can we…?> Natalia said, eyeing their feathered friends warily. It had been a very long time since any of them had been around other animals that were not morphed humans and made Natalia nervous, even if she wouldn’t admit it aloud. She let out a few caws at them but the pigeons didn’t do anything beyond look at her before continuing their shuffling and cooing.

<These featherbrains won’t mess with us,> Pietro said haughtily, crowing loudly before jumping and diving down to the little corner of buildings he had pointed out, gliding into the dark alley. Natalia and lastly Wanda followed swiftly after him, landing on a large green dumpster one by one.

They now stood in a cold, dark and dirty alley. The smell of rotting food and garbage wafted around them, the summer heat aiding the scent. Their only saving grace at the moment was having a poor sense of smell in their current morph. 

The length of the alley continued back to the end of the buildings on either side before ending at a closed gated door. The alley itself was maybe wide enough to drive a small car in.

<Lovely,> Natalia said flatly, hopping back with a flap of her wings after her foot touched an unknown sticky substance on top of the dumpster lid. 

Pietro flew to the dirty floor to the side of the metal container, out of view from the alley entrance before immediately starting to morph back.

<Pietro! Careful!> Wanda hissed, projecting to Natalia as well. Natalia could see Wanda looking around nervously, Natalia having done the same but the alley had been empty and remained as such.

Natalia watched the boy slowly shift back to the human form he was born as. His skin changed from dark feathers to a milky white color, arms growing where wings had once been, and his hard, sharp beak disappearing altogether. The gash Pietro had had on his face days ago that had been stubborn to heal had finally disappeared.

The boy stood leaning against the green dumpster beside them and breathing heavily, eyes level with his two sisters still standing atop the lid.

<You okay Piet?> Natalia asked, concerned.

It took a few seconds for him to answer. “Yes…I am just more tired than I thought. It’s been a long day. Got a little dizzy. I just…needed to shift before…yeah.” Pietro answered quizzically, breathing hard. He cleared his throat and tapped on the plastic lid the girls stood on. “Come, hop down. There’s food in here.”

Natalia flitted down to the ground and began to shift back. The flight had been wonderful but she was very much ready for food, no matter where it came from. Wanda flapped over and onto Pietro’s shoulder, nudging her beak and forehead gently against the boy’s cheek. Natalia watched with eyes that changed from the bird’s keen sight to her normal green as Pietro patted Wanda on her back and along her feathers. Natalia guessed the girl was speaking to him privately but she couldn’t be certain. As close as they all were, the twins always had a special relationship that Yelena and Natalia would never fully understand or be a part of. They had been together from the day they were born and had gone through the loss of their home, the death of their parents. They’d been each other's companions and confidants their whole lives, and there were some things that the two younger Russian girls would never fully understand.

After the rather private moment, Wanda fluttered down to the ground and began to change back as well. Soon enough, both girls were back to their human forms and the haphazard group stood beside each other. 

And very cold.

Natalia let out a shiver, wrapping her arms around herself. She saw Wanda making a similar action, rubbing her biceps for warmth. 

Pietro was much taller than Natalia and Wanda and lifted the top opening of the garbage container to sift through its contents. As soon as he did so, the smell hit them instantly. 

Natalia cursed, covered her mouth and nose, and took a step back, gladly letting her brother do the dirty work of digging in the trash.

Eventually the boy pulled out a cardboard pizza box and handed it to Wanda before letting the metal lid close with a bang. 

They all shared a look between them as they crouched down to the side of the dumpster, out of view from anyone who might pass the alley entrance. The box of pizza was set on the ground between the three of them. A few sad-looking slices of cheese pizza laid inside the wimpy cardboard.

“Bon appetit...” Wanda said after handing a piece to Natalia and Pietro before taking one for herself. Each of them inspected the slices and after ensuring the food did not contain any visible mold, maggots or other inedible items, they took their first bites.

“Oh my god…” Natalia moaned, chewing slowly. Even cold, it was delicious.

“Mmmhm,” Pietro mumbled, taking bigger bites immediately.

Natalia looked to Wanda who’s eyes were glassy. She chewed and swallowed before getting her attention, “Wands?”

“I… it’s been a long time,” Wanda said quietly, taking small bites and chewing slowly, seeming to savor the cold food they’d just pulled from the garbage.

Natalia looked at the slices of bread, cheese and sauce. She knew what Wanda meant. The compound had never fed them pizza, but the three of them had experienced the taste in their younger years. When life was…better.

Pietro leaned forward to hug Wanda into him, whispering something in her ear before they finished their slices in silence. The pieces of pizza were really probably not much better than the food they were given at the compound, but after not eating for over a day, Natalia would have settled for just about anything.

“The laundromat beside us should have some clothes we can use,” Pietro said, nodding towards the building across from him and behind Wanda and Natalia. The alley they were sat in was much cooler than expected with the buildings on either side and without fur or feathers to cover their bodies, they had each started shivering more. Natalia had goosebumps and could see her siblings weren’t fairing any different. None of them were certain of the date or even the month, but had guessed it was summertime, so the cold evenings were surprising.

Pietro took the last piece of cold pizza and ripped it as evenly as he could into three parts but just before passing the pieces out, a door slammed open. A door they had all failed to notice as it blended into the brick wall beside them.

Wanda let out a squeak, Pietro dropped the pizza pieces with a jerk and Natalia slipped backwards onto her butt.

A very large, very tall, dark-skinned man walked out holding two full garbage bags. He walked around the three severely underdressed young adults huddled around a pizza box but he clearly hadn’t seen them because after tossing the bags in and closing the lid to the green dumpster they’d just dug through, the man stopped short.

He was tall, past 6 feet at least, with so much pure muscle that his shirt barely fit. He wore his hair short, his beard at the same length, with a touch of gray in both. Dark amber eyes looked down, eyeing each of them before grunting and slamming the same door open and disappearing.

Natalia’s heart was pounding so hard she missed what Pietro said. He dragged Wanda and then Natalia to their shaky feet. 

Before any of them could do anything besides take a shuddering breath to try and calm themselves, the same door slammed open yet again but this time a different man walked out, garbage bag-less. They all jumped again but remained standing. 

This man was visibly much older, with a dark patch of fabric that covered his right eye and a towel over one shoulder. He had shoulder-length gray hair and although slightly shorter and less muscular, he was no less intimidating. A lit cigarette stuck out of his mouth in the corner. The one-eyed man immediately clued into the group and sighed loudly, letting the door shut behind him. 

“Well. Guess he wasn’t kidding,” the man said, his voice lighter than expected.

“Excuse me?” Natalia said, unsure of what the man meant but already defensive. Her siblings immediately gave her hushed disapproval and orders to shut up.

The man crossed his arms. “Why are you three back here diggin’ in my garbage like trash pandas?”

“What is a trash panda?” Pietro asked without thinking. Natalia wasn’t sure if he had meant to speak the question aloud but she rolled her eyes at the nonsense.

Wanda took a minute step closer, blocking part of Natalia’s view, “We’re very sorry sir. Please don’t–please don’t call anyone. We’ll leave.”

The man grumbled to himself then looked them each up and down, eyebrows scrunched. “Where’s your clothes?” He asked, cigarette wiggling as his lips moved.

They all looked down. “Our clothes?” Wanda questioned.

“Yes,” the older man said with impatience, “clothes.” He waved his hand up and down in front of him, gesturing to the underwear they wore. “You get lost on your way home from the community pool?”

None of them knew what he was talking about so remained silent, back to shivering after the initial adrenaline of being startled wore off.

The man’s one eye rolled before he took a long drag of smoke. “Jiminy Crickets. C’mon. Let’s go.” He reached to put a hand behind Wanda, the closest of the three, but Natalia was quicker. She pulled Wanda back by her bra fabric and yanked her behind, smacking the man’s hand away.

“Don’t touch her!” she yelled, gritting her teeth. 

She didn’t care that the man was twice her size, she could take him. Probably. Maybe. Or at least injure him enough for them to get away. She had no weapons on or near her but thought of what morphs would be her best bet against him if necessary. 

Before her mind got any further than ‘dog’, ‘cat’ and ‘fox’, the man was holding up his hands. 

“Alright, alright. No need to get into a tizzy there lass. Let’s start over,” the one-eyed man said. 

“Let’s not,” Natalia responded coldly.

Wanda interrupted from behind before Natalia’s smart mouth got them into more trouble, “We were just leaving sir. We’re very sorry, really.”

“For what?” Natalia hissed behind her, backing up a step. Was this old fart really mad they were digging through his garbage? Why should he care?

The older man’s eye flicked between Natalia and Wanda but he didn’t move any closer. More smoke puffed out of his mouth and some ash fell to the ground from the cigarette.

“We get a lot of hooligans and drunks who come behind here and trash the place. Drink, smoke, do and sell drugs. Get into fights, cause a scene and whatnot. But you three don’t look the type. Mind telling me what you’re doing?” The man asked, pointedly looking at the pizza box that was clearly procured from the dumpster and crossing his arms.

“We were just finishing our…dinner. Sir. F-from across the street,” Pietro said, adding the last bit as an afterthought.

“Behind my dumpster?” The man asked, unconvinced. The eyebrow above his good eye rose up.

Natalia heard Pietro’s mumbled protests and whispered for him to shut up.

“Do you three want something to eat that didn’t come from the garbage?” The one-eyed man then said, calling their bullshit.

That got them all to pause and look up at him again skeptically. Wanda was holding Natalia from behind with Pietro beside her. The redhead had a very hard time believing this man who had been about to put a hand on her sister was suddenly interested in giving them food out of the kindness of his wrinkly heart. The embarrassment at being caught eating out of the garbage burned at her too and fueled her anger.

“We’re fine,” Natalia answered harshly. It had gotten dark at this point and the only light available was a tiny bulb above the door. It gave off a sort of halo effect behind the old man’s long hair.

“Nat…” Wanda whispered next to her ear, with her cold hand against Natalia’s shoulder. Pietro was back to being silent, always one to let the girls run their mouths or take the lead, but he had stepped closer to them at least. He was a terrible liar anyway, so it was for the best.

The old man made a noise that sounded more like a growl, then turned to crack the door open and loudly yelled out, “Hey, Hal. Toss me a few extra shirts from last month, will ya? And some sweats.”

Natalia thought about whether they could outrun the old one-eyed man. They were young, they’d make it before he could do anything. Mr. Eye-patch turned to glare though.

“Stay.” He ordered, pointing at the three of them.

Annoyed at being told what to do, Natalia opened her mouth to say something rude back but Wanda shushed her, her chin hovering over her shoulder, easy to do with the couple of inches she held over the shorter girl. Pietro remained quiet next to them, stuck in the corner between the dumpster, the man, and his sisters. Natalia could feel Wanda shivering behind her, most likely from the temperature.

“Don’t provoke him, sestra. Let’s just… wait a minute,” Wanda whispered in Natalia’s ear. Natalia had no interest in waiting but as she half-turned to argue with the taller brunette, something black and yellow was thrust at her. They all flinched, not expecting the movement.

“Here. Put these on,” the man said, holding out…clothing?

No one made a move to grab them. The man with the eyepatch was giving them clothes?

“C’mon, I ain’t got all night. I got a bar to run. Either take them or scram,” Mr. Eye-patch said, cigarette wiggling again.

Natalia swiped the pieces of fabric, handing a pair of each clothing item to Wanda and Pietro that all seemed to be the same sizes. She cautiously held the shirt up, reading the words on the front. It was a large black shirt that said ‘The Thirsty Goat’ in fancy cursive writing, with smaller words below saying ‘2005 Beer Champion’; the back was blank. The other item of clothing was a pair of yellow sweatpants with a rather ugly picture of a goat on the front of one of the pant legs. 

“They’re extra from an event last month,” Mr. Eye-patch explained. “Been trying to sell them but they’re just taking up room at this point, so–” The old man ended abruptly with a wave of his hand. He was considerate enough to direct his gaze elsewhere as the underdressed group of three hastily threw on the clothes given to them. The pants were much too long for the girls but with elastic at the bottom and the waist, they would stay on. 

Natalia looked at her siblings and then down at herself and immediately thought of a giant, fat bumblebee. They were the most ridiculous colors she could remember wearing, but the clothing was soft, clean, and warm. 

“Thank you, sir,” Natalia heard Wanda say gratefully, the brunette hugging herself. Pietro followed her in thanking the man, staring at the clothes on himself. Natalia frowned as her gaze met the old man’s. He had looked away while they’d dressed but was now back to full eye contact. His one eye bore into the redhead’s own eyes, as if he was waiting for her to thank him also. 

As thankful as she was, Natalia knew he’d be waiting an awful long time to hear so from her.

Mr. Eye-patch opened the door again, wider this time. “If you want a hot meal, come in. Otherwise, get lost,” he said firmly before stomping his cigarette on the ground with a boot and leaving to go back through the camouflaged door. He let the door slam closed once again behind him, leaving the trio alone.

They all let out collective breaths of relief. Natalia could feel her heart pounding in her chest and cursed herself at the fear that had gripped her.

“Gavno. That was close. Let’s get out of here,” Natalia said, turning to her siblings; a myriad of emotions bubbling up in her at the situation. Pietro had decided that of all places, a grimy alley was the winner of food, clothes, and safety, yet he’d led them right at the back door of an open bar. She held her tongue, just barely, and refrained from telling him what an idiot he was. 

“I am so sorry sestry, I did not see the door in my earlier chartings,” Pietro said while waving at the door that blended into the brick. He was clearly apologetic. Realistically Natalia knew he would have never put them in danger on purpose but knowing so didn’t make her annoyance of the situation go away. “There was food, and clothes, and–and there is a hose there for water over there,” he pointed, “and one of the windows up there leads to a vacant room, I checked, and–”

“I know, Piet, I know. We’re all okay. It’s fine.” Wanda cut his rambling off, patting her brother's arm and rubbing it comfortingly.

The only open exit from the alley was the way they’d flown in, which was way too public to risk. The other end led to the gated door with a chain around the bars, assumedly locked and attached to a tall building with many windows. Some were broken or covered in wooden planks. It could have been an apartment building or an office building, it was hard to tell. A few of the windows that weren’t broken were lit up, the lights on behind them with shadows of movement behind them.

“He didn’t look like HYDRA,” Wanda stated, getting Natalia’s attention. Wanda was eyeing the door the man had walked through in thought, her eyebrows drawn together.

“Wanda…” Natalia warned.

“He gave us clothing,” Wanda said. Natalia knew where this was going.

“No, Wands,” Natalia said.

Wanda, of course, ignored her. “I think we should follow him,” the brunette declared.

Natalia threw her hands up. “Why do I bother?”

“He offered us a meal. And gave us clothes,” the brunette explained, pulling at the article of clothing over her chest.

“Yeah, 2005 Beer Champion. I feel so special!” Natalia sassed out. They looked like a bunch of drunks! 

Wanda sighed.

“Maybe… maybe we just stay for the meal. Then we can go. I mean, it’s a bar. Bars serve food. Right? He doesn’t know we have no way to pay,” Pietro piped up.

“I’m pretty sure he does know we have no money, Pietro. We’re outside in our fucking underwear.” Natalia said, annoyed. “Well, we were, anyway…”

“I’m starving, Natalia. I’m sure you both are too. We can’t live off garbage and he is offering us a simple meal,” Wanda said. When Natalia didn’t immediately budge on her stance, the brunette stood to her full height.

“Not everyone in the entire world is inherently evil. Maybe he’s just a grouchy old man offering kindness,” Wanda said. 

Natalia shrunk slightly and scowled at the ground. She knew Wanda was right, but…

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” is what Natalia responded with, instead of severely disagreeing with her sister and causing another argument.

Wanda moved closer. “We will leave at the first sign of danger. Alright? Please,” the brunette said. Natalia just sighed again, resigned in the end to follow Wanda’s lead like they always did.

“Da. Alright,” Natalia uttered softly. Neither men had done anything besides be a little rude, and give them something to wear. She supposed it wouldn’t hurt to at least see if the offer was real. Running was always an option in the end.

Pietro walked past the girls and opened the door a crack, peeking through. “It’s really just a bar. The lights are not bright, it’s a…little hard to see. There’s music playing though. I can see the dark-skinned man from before. He is far away, sitting by another door, probably the entrance. The man with the eye-patch is…behind the bar, talking to someone. A customer? There are a few of them, people, probably all drunk…” He leaned closer and sniffed, “I smell burgers…and…fried foods…” Pietro trailed off, looking like he wanted nothing more than to rush in. If this were a cartoon, Natalia was sure Pietro would be drooling. The boy turned to look at his sisters, waiting.

Wanda walked over and opened the door more so she could look inside too. 

“Come, Nat.” Wanda said after deeming the bar safe enough to enter.

“I still think this is a bad idea!” Natalia hissed quietly, not moving. 

Over Natalia’s antics, Wanda held out her hand, “Yes, yes, I know. Let’s go,” Wanda said and waited. Pietro held the door open, arm stretched out.

“We’re together, we’ll be fine. Please, darling,” Wanda pleaded, reaching slightly closer and grabbing Natalia’s wrist to drag her to them.

Natalia doubted that very much, but did as Wanda asked. She walked forward a few steps so that she was in front, always on guard.

“This is a bad idea,” Natalia reiterated, flickering her eyes to take in the room as fast as possible as her siblings followed her in.

“And you are a negative Nancy,” Pietro said teasingly, trying to lighten all their nerves.

“Not my name,” Natalia hummed out, not fully listening. Pietro flicked her on the back of her head with a finger, which she ignored.

The bar was just how Pietro had described it. With a few patrons scattered about but not close by and the two men from earlier were where her brother said they were. Music played from speakers in the ceiling. The delicious smell of food wafted to them and it was…

It was heavenly. Wonderful. The most delicious thing Natalia had smelled in her whole life. Her mouth watered.

Where they entered from the alley door must have been an employee entry; a storage room was to their immediate left, full of boxes, cleaning supplies, and other items she couldn’t place. Natalia could see behind the bar to her right. It had glass mugs, tiny glass cups, with sliced up fruit, cherries, and towels. Behind the bar was Mr. Eye-patch who was chatting quietly with an unkempt stranger across from him; an array of different bottles full of liquid sat on numerous shelves behind the old man. Further into the bar were wooden tables and chairs, most of them empty. Two large green tables with numbered balls were to the right of the front door, far away. A few lit-up boards with circles were on the walls in the same room as the green tables.

Natalia crossed her arms and cleared her throat to get the attention of the gray-haired man, making herself look braver than she felt. 

The old man glanced her way before excusing himself, turning around and disappearing through plastic double doors. The smell of food seemed to drift from that location so it must be where the food came from.

Natalia waited, Wanda and Pietro behind her. No one paid them any mind as they stood awkwardly, out-of-place dirty bumblebees, and waited for the man to return. Not being able to see him gave Natalia knots in her stomach that she tried to tell herself was hunger when she knew it was nerves.

She had already scoped out the only two doors and saw no visible signs of cameras in the bar, although the lighting made it hard to confirm. There were windows along the walls every few feet but none seemed capable of being opened as they had no latches or locks. It just looked like a very normal, crappy bar.

As the redhead stood there  awkwardly waiting with her siblings, she caught the other man’s eye, the tall, muscular one they’d first seen. He was staring at the group of them while sitting in a chair beside the front door, arms crossed. He had a look of almost disinterest on his face. Natalia hardened her gaze and crossed her arms as well, glaring right back. Why was he watching them? 

The sound of the double doors swinging back open startled her from her staring contest and she looked to see Mr. Eye-patch walking out and holding a few plastic baskets with food in them. Natalia felt her siblings sidle closer to her, looking over her shoulders and at the food.

Three baskets were thrust at them, one for each, and skinny arms took them, holding them close as treasured items. They held french fries, pieces of chicken, and a sandwich of some sort with meat and condiments. Natalia could feel the warmth radiating off the food from the bottom of the basket with her hands.

“Go sit over there,” Mr. Eye-patch said while nodding to an empty table in the corner to their left. He didn’t wait to see if they listened, he simply turned back and went about his prior business.

The trio skittered over to the table and huddled as close as they could while sitting in the chairs. They kept their backs to the wall, scooting their chairs close together. Their eyes met and they all couldn’t help but grin at each other before digging in.

No more than five minutes later and the baskets of food were empty, barely a crumb left behind.

Natalia sat there licking the grease off her fingers. Her stomach might betray her later in her haste or because of the fried foods, but she didn’t care. It was the most delicious meal she’d eaten in years. The last time she’d had a hot meal like it was probably back at the orphanage. She had been just under eight years old when taken, so it had been a long time. A very long time.

The combination of the warmth of the food in her belly and the soft clothing was making Natalia’s eyes drift closed; she was ready for a nap but knew it wasn’t the time nor the place. In her fatigue, she missed the gray-haired man walking closer and jerked up stiffly as he set three cups down, filled them with water from a pitcher, and then sat in the remaining chair across from them. His elbows came up to rest on the table, fingers steepled.

“You lot got names?” the man asked. None of them were too keen to respond. Natalia pulled her cup closer and drank slowly, without taking her eyes off the man. Wanda and Pietro did the same with their own drinks.

“Alright then. Well, my name is Odin Borson. That over there is my friend Hal,” Mr. Eye-patch, Odin, jerked his thumb behind him to the dark-skinned man. Hal gave a nod at his name being mentioned, silent otherwise. “And this is my bar. The Thirsty Goat. It’s had many names over the years and been in my family for generations. My sons updated the name over 4 years ago now and it’s been a rather beneficial change.”

Natalia listened to the man, Odin, and his story. Not that she cared, but it was good to have a name to put to him and his friend. But it did not mean they were trustworthy. She very much wanted to leave.

“Now, are you ready to give me the truth? What’s the story here?” Odin asked, looking between each of them and ending on Wanda who had sat up slightly. She was in the middle, with Pietro on her right and Natalia on her left.

“Mr. O-Odin, er, Mr. Borson, sir. Thank you for the clothing, and the warm meal. We are…we are most appreciative, sir,” Wanda said, her accent curiously almost absent. Wanda’s voice was a smooth lilt, accented from speaking multiple Slavic languages as a child. Her and Pietro became fluent in Russian and English only after coming to the compound. Pietro’s accent was similar, though not as light. 

Natalia didn’t have much of one when speaking English, she excelled in languages and someday would love to learn more than the two she was fluent in, but when her native Russian came out, her accent was on par with Yelena’s, her little sister’s accent strong and harsh every time no matter the language.

Natalia listened to the brunette lay the manners on thick while paying close attention to the man’s responses and body language.

“No problem at all, lass,” Odin responded, and waited for Wanda to continue.

She cleared her throat, “We were um…” Wanda paused and Natalia was unsure of what her sister was going to say but she knew Wanda was smart enough to omit the full truth. “We were on our way home and got lost, and r-robbed, so we were just looking for a place to…gather ourselves. I am, I mean, we are sorry for bothering you or being in the way of you and your business. If you would be so kind as to allow us to leave, we promise to never bother you again. Sir.” Wanda finished. 

Natalia thought Wanda was laying it on a little thick with the sir’s and whatnot, but whatever got them out of there safe was fine by her.

“Do you need to use a phone?” Odin asked. Deer-in-headlights look, Wanda shook her head.

“N…no sir, thank you,” Wanda answered. Natalia had never used a phone in her life and wasn’t sure if Wanda or Pietro had either. Maybe as children.

“Why not?” the man then asked.

Wanda paused before she shook her head, “We just...don’t. It’s just us, sir.”

“No family you can call? Hmm. Where are you from?” Odin questioned.

Wanda didn’t answer, looking at Pietro then Natalia before trying and failing to come up with a fake answer.

“Up north. Sir.” Pietro answered for her.

Odin studied Pietro. “North where?” he queried.

“Just…north,” Pietro mumbled out. Natalia closed her eyes. Oh, Piet.

“Hmm. You’re terrible liars, both of you,” Odin said with one eyebrow raised. Wanda stiffened beside her as Natalia's fists clenched.

“You got somewhere to stay tonight?” Odin then asked them. Caught again in a lie, they all remained silent and hoped Odin would just let them leave. They’d figure something out, they always did.

“Listen, I don’t really care what you do or where you go. As long as you don’t fuck me over though, I think we can make a deal,” Odin said ambiguously.

“What kind of deal?” Natalia asked him. She was more than suspicious. Wanda set her left hand on Natalia’s forearm from under the table. She was not about to make a deal with this man. For all they knew, he was going to call the General and turn them in.

Odin hummed to himself in a grumbly sort of way, “I think you’re aIl a bunch of rotten liars,” the man said, causing the trio to freeze. They were backed in a corner and it was unnerving to say the least. “But I need help around here tonight,” Odin continued, “and to pay off the clothes and meals you just got for free, you’re gonna help me clean up around here. In exchange, I give ya’ll a place to camp for the night too. Capiche?”

“And if we don’t?” Natalia challenged.

Odin shrugged, “I’ll call the cops and press charges.” Natalia, Wanda and Pietro all started to argue at once.

“Hey! We didn’t even–” Natalia started hotly.

“Sir, if you would just–” Pietro said worriedly.

“Please, Mr. Borson, we promise to–” Wanda said.

“Shut it! Now, you will help because in all honestly, I could use it. And you clearly have nowhere else to be at the moment. Right?” Odin said to them. The trio, resigned to follow his orders, nodded sullenly. 

“When you can come up with a better lie, or at least some names to call you, let me know,” Odin said. The front door to the bar opened and three people walked in, chatting loudly. One waved hello to the bar owner and Odin waved back before standing up.

“I’ll get you some rags and spray. After that, there’s a giant sink in the bank calling your names,” Odin told them loudly, walking away as he spoke.

“Told you this was a bad idea,” Natalia mumbled as a few rags and bottles of cleaning spray were set on the bar top closest to their table. 

Would this day ever end? Natalia wasn’t sure she could take any more surprises and unknowns. Was a place to stay for the night that had a chance of being safe worth it? Maybe, but it remained to be seen. 

Natalia was the first up, grabbing the items left out and going to work. The sooner they did what was asked, the sooner they could get the hell out of there. 

Kate brushed her fingers through thick blonde locks, braiding strands together before undoing, brushing them out, and repeating the process. The morning sun had woken her up, shining brightly through the bedroom windows. The early birds twittering loudly outside made for a pleasant morning soundtrack. 

Kate had woken up with Yelena curled up into a ball beside her, a blanket wrapped tight around her and using Kate’s stomach as a pillow. She felt the blonde below her stiffen slightly, then relax.

“Utro Kate Bishop,” Yelena said quietly, her voice scratchy. 

“Hi. Morning,” Kate said gently, “You have pretty hair.”

Yelena hummed and snuggled closer, eyes still closed. It was true; Yelena had very pretty hair. It was thick and shiny and very soft, especially after the shower the girl had taken last night. Kate could tell that Yelena has used her shampoo and conditioner based on the nice scent of lavender.

Kate continued playing with the blonde hair on Yelena’s head, taking small sections and braiding them. It was long, much longer than Kate’s own hair that went a few inches past her shoulders. She’d cut it just before summer, donating over 10 inches, and had decided to grow it back out.

Being close to other people was never something that Kate shied away from. She was a hugger, a cuddler, a touchy-feely kind of person. She’d always been a daddy’s girl, cuddling up to her dad when he read to her as a little girl. She was the hugger in her friend groups too. Later, she found herself joining cuddle piles with Laura and Clint when they’d sit on the couch. Her mom had never been very affectionate, more the type for a side-hug and forehead kiss, but she showed her love in other ways. Kate knew she took after her dad.

As Kate got older, girl nights with friends had dwindled but she’d still been to and hosted her fair share of sleepovers in her childhood. Playing dress up, painting each other's nails, eating too much junk food, giggling together until they were yelled at to go to sleep. Sleeping in forts made of blankets, or cartoon-patterned sleeping bags shoved so close together that they woke up in the mornings in a tangled pile of arms and legs.

Kate had never dated beyond the occasional middle school hold-my-hand-to-class sort of thing when her other friends were doing the same, or a few group dates and cheek kisses. It'd always been boys though. Never girls. But Kate knew what she preferred; she'd figured it out once starting high school. She didn't know anyone personally who'd dated a girl, but she’d seen them represented in the media a few times, and she had some secret crushes. Kate could appreciate the beauty of another girl, and appreciate she did. How soft and smooth their skin looked, what they wore, how they spoke, how sweet they smelled and how just so...achingly gorgeous they were. She’d never taken her thoughts past PG-ratings but…maybe when she was older.

Kate was confident in her choice, even though her mom thought it was a phase.

The tall brunette glanced down, eyeing the side-view of Yelena’s face as she continued making tiny braids.

And Yelena was…so pretty. She was beautiful, heartbreakingly so. And when she spoke, it gave Kate butterflies in her stomach.

She’d also just met the girl yesterday, but Kate immediately felt drawn to her. A bond of sorts, or something in her gut that called to care for her and asked her for care and comfort. To learn everything about her and be there for her, in whatever way Yelena needed and Kate was able to.

She continued playing with the blonde locks below her as the shorter girl began to wake up more. Bright mossy green peeked up at Kate as she flicked another finished braid away that would surely come undone without a hair tie. 

“The sun is very bright in your room Kate Bishop,” Yelena said in a husky voice. Kate didn’t think she would ever tire of her accent.

The curtains on the bedroom windows were more for decoration, as they were a very thin tan color, and usually always open, which never bothered Kate. It gave the room that farm-quality feeling, but she hadn’t thought of it bothering the blonde. She suddenly recalled the purple sunglasses she had worn most of the day prior.

“I can nail up a few sheets or blankets over them if you want, until we can get darker curtains. Do your eyes still hurt?” Kate asked.

Yelena laid back against Kate’s side, something that should have been weird and uncomfortable, but wasn’t. “Nyet. It is warm. I like it. My eyes do not hurt.”

“Okay. If you’re sure,” Kate said. “It’s really not a big deal though.”

“Mmm. I never have been so warm from the sun in the morning,” Yelena said to Kate, as if she was admitting she’d never tried sushi or something much more outlandish, instead of just feeling warmth from the sun’s rays. “It is comfy. So warm. Makes me want to sleep all day like a koshka.”

“Koshka?” Kate asked, butchering the pronunciation.

“Cat,” Yelena murmured.

Kate pictured a furry cat laying in the sun napping and had to swallow the bubble of emotion stuck in her throat. “We can stay here as long as you like,” she whispered. 

She felt Yelena mumble against her, she only could make out the word ‘sister’ before falling quiet, presumably asleep again. 

Kate never saw herself as the caregiving type like Laura was, or even her mom could be, but she would have to amend that about herself. Because looking at the blonde sharing her bed and cuddling up to her? Kate was pretty sure she would do anything Yelena asked of her.

Chapter Text

1994

Over two years had gone by since custody of Wanda and her brother had been released from their former guardians and neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Porkovsky. She remembered the elderly couple being happy for them but sad at the same time. The twins had been told it was for the best, as the frail couple just couldn’t care for two eleven-year-olds how they needed. They had kindly taken the twins in after the death of their parents but with their war-ravaged country in shambles and the two children still growing, they needed more than the elderly couple felt they could give them. 

Wanda, nor Pietro to her knowledge, had not been privy to the details in the exchange, but she believed HYDRA had promoted themselves as a type of orphanage or foster care; some sort of organization that cared for children. The Porkovskys had always been kind to them even before the passing of Wanda’s parents and had done the best they’d been capable of under the circumstances. Therefore, Wanda knew that they would never have given up custody of her and her brother if they hadn’t thought they were doing the very best for the twins.

The last day she ever saw the older couple, the four of them had been met by a kind woman with dark brown eyes and black hair at a local coffee shop near the Porkovsky’s weathered house. They had exchanged hugs and tears had been shed, and they all said their goodbyes. Then Wanda and her brother were put into a car and brought to the awful place referred to as ‘the compound’ where they’d remained ever since.

Two weeks after first coming, they saw the same kind woman from the coffee shop who drove them to the compound. She was not so kind during their second meeting, or any of the ones after.

It had also been over a year since Wanda and Pietro had started to get to know some of the other children who resided with them. Specifically, two; the redheaded firecracker Natalia and her tiny blonde ward who she referred to as sestra, her sister, Yelena.

Wanda knew they were not actually blood-related sisters; she understood how siblings worked. How having parents, aunts, uncles and children worked. She’d learned about it in school. But Wanda also knew that blood did not always make a family and she had quickly begun to care for the two girls almost as much as her brother. 

The four children had been through a lot together in such a short time already. They had leant on and supported each other through many tears, confusion and pain. Through the awful things that the guards and doctors put them through that Wanda still didn’t understand why, although she’d finally stopped asking.

Wanda had never been more miserable. She missed her old life with her brother when their mama and papa were alive. She feared her memories would fade away the older she got, but Pietro would always promise to fill in the blanks when she voiced her worries of this.

After the worst of days, when the doctors would poke and prod more than normal, or have them run enough physical tests to the point of passing out, and even sometimes when they were given a new morph that was hard to control, everything seemed slightly better when Wanda and Pietro were allowed with the other two children. It did not happen often, the four being together. The blonde, Yelena, was still very little. She rarely was allowed ‘off leash’, as Natalia crudely put it. Yelena also didn’t seem very…sane to Wanda at times, but it could just be her age. Their living situation wasn’t a desirable place for child-raising after all. 

The blonde was often taken to where the General’s office resided or to the area where the shots were administered and the doctors worked. None of them ever understood why either. Wanda only ever saw Yelena given the same shots everyone else got and put under the same experiments and treatment, yet she was rarely ever allowed to remain with the other children. But sometimes, if Natalia performed well enough or Yelena’s performance that day was especially displeasing, the person in charge that day would store the blonde with them, specifically Natalia as they knew of her protectiveness of the blonde, and the group of three would be four for a short time. 

This was thankfully one of those times. 

Wanda was in one of the larger cells with the other three that night. One that had a toilet in the corner opposite the metal door. The door only opened from the outside with some sort of special badge the guards had, but that was okay. What they needed wasn’t outside the room. 

Pietro sat beside Wanda, resting his head on her shoulder. Natalia was on Wanda’s other side but turned to face her with Yelena on her lap. They were all worse for wear. Exhausted, bruised, a little hungry and in need of a good scrub, but in good spirits.

Wanda held a piece of paper in her hands that she pretended to read a story from. Natalia had swiped it from a garbage can earlier that day and hid it down her pants. It was really just scrap paper with instructions about some electric device the guards had ordered and needed to install, but Yelena didn’t know that. So, Wanda began one of her stories. Between the three older children, Wanda was the superb storyteller, so huddling together for storytime was something they all took comfort in.

The little girl in Natalia’s lap listened to every word Wanda told, enraptured with her story as she always was. Sometimes she would ask questions that didn’t make sense or were hard to articulate. Her speech was still kind of jumbled at four years of age, plus she only spoke in Russian. Wanda and Pietro’s first language was Ukrainian. They’d later picked up some Serbian and Polish from school, neighbors, family and the Porkovskys. Although there were similarities between their native tongue and Russian, coupled with most doctors and guards speaking the latter, they were not yet fluent. When it came to a four year old saying words that came out only half-right at times, it was hit or miss. Natalia would have to translate, but Wanda was getting better, as was her brother. 

Wanda could see why Natalia had taken to the girl though. She was absolutely adorable. Bright green eyes matching Nat’s and a head of long blonde hair that seemed untameable most days, with an innocence that only a four-year-old could possess. She was even the one who got Pietro to laugh for the first time since coming to the compound. Wanda had nearly cried seeing it.

The story Wanda was currently ‘reading’ was one about three kittens with mittens their mama had made for them. Wanda could not recall the whole story she’d heard when she was younger, so she made it up as she went, as she did with most of her stories. She had the kittens eating and drinking milk, meowing and playing with yarn, and described the color of the mittens their mama made for them. She detailed a big adventure the kittens went on and how they each found the mittens they had lost on their journey back home. At one point Yelena had asked for the kittens’ names and without thinking Wanda had exclaimed they were called Natalia, Pietro and Yelena.

Yelena had not believed her at first, asking in Russian if it were really true.

“Oh yes, quite true, pretty girl. You three are the cutest kittens in the whole world. My little kotyata. I wish I could put mittens on you for real,” Wanda said with a wink in a mix of Ukrainian and Russian, hoping to convey what she was trying to say for them to all understand. 

“Dazhe Pietro?” Yelena asked.

Wanda tickled her on the cheek and she laughed, “Da. Even Pietro.”

The blonde giggled then asked, “Ty mama-kotonok iz knigi?” She had noticed Wanda hadn’t named herself in the story. Are you the mama in the book?

“Mmm… tak, okey,” Wanda said softly, petting the side of the blonde’s head and smoothing her long hair back. She caught Natalia’s eye and the redhead smiled at her and cuddled Yelena closer, rocking from side to side. Pietro snuggled further into Wanda’s neck, hugging her arm both for warmth and comfort.

The three older kids had noticed by then that all the children at the compound were orphans. There were no parents or family to look for them or miss them; no one to care. But there had been a few, like Yelena, that Natalia recalled hearing they didn’t come from anywhere. They were just there since always. Most of the children were between the ages of six and ten when they would first come to live at the compound, so it was odd to see any babies or toddlers. 

It was possible some were born there, at the compound. They did have medical rooms there, but there were no mamas at the compound. Only the General, the doctors, and the very mean guards. No nice ladies to tuck them in at night, kiss their booboos, sing them songs, or read sweet stories. 

Natalia was given to an orphanage as a baby so had no memory of her mama or papa, but Wanda and Pietro remembered their parents fondly. 

None of them had a mama now. So, if Yelena wanted Wanda to play mama for a little bit, she’d do it. She’d do anything for her tiny family.

Wanda finished the story of the kittens with mittens with the four of them huddled together half asleep. When the story was done, Yelena asked for another, to which Wanda happily obliged and turned over the paper to ‘read’ another story. This time it was about a princess locked in a tall tower with a giant green dragon protecting her and a handsome knight sent to rescue her.

When she finished the story, Wanda was the last to fall asleep, curled up on the shared blanket.

2005

The morning sun streaming through the windows had moved a few inches by the time both girls woke back up. Kate had accidentally dozed off again until she heard the sound of cartoons on the TV downstairs. Just before she could shake Yelena awake who was still curled up beside her, a soft tapping at the door had the blonde jerking upright with wide eyes. Her hair was a complete mess, fuzzed up and poofy. Kate sat up too and looked to see Laura open her bedroom door.

“Morning girls,” Laura said, “I didn’t want you two to sleep the day away. I have breakfast ready downstairs if you’re feeling hungry.” Kate noticed Laura giving Yelena an unreadable look but the pregnant woman didn’t say anything else.

“Mkay. We’ll be down in a few,” Kate said while stretching. Laura gave them both a smile and left.

“Still feel like a kozko?” Kate asked, trying to remember the word from earlier.

Yelena huffed out a laugh as she rubbed at her eyes, “It is koshka Kate Bishop. Koshka,” she said, repeating the word she had used for ‘cat’.

“Koshka…koh-shka…” Kate said, repeating it to herself a few times and vowing to remember. It sounded cute. 

“Better. Maybe I teach you Russian,” Yelena offered with a smirk. 

Learning Russian would be pretty cool, even though it’s not something Kate ever thought she would want to do. She barely passed her freshman Spanish class.

When she sat up Kate could see some of the scars on her arms, like little white lines and dots. Some were so faded they were barely visible, which meant they were old. Kate quickly looked away and rolled off the bed. 

“Do your siblings speak Russian too?” Kate asked.

“Da. And English. Basic French and German. Wanda and Pietro speak more. Ukrainian, some Serbian, some Polish,” Yelena answered as she also got off the bed, though much more gracefully than Kate, and together they followed the scent of food. Kate’s stomach let out a little growl; she wasn’t a morning person most days but she absolutely loved breakfast food.

“You speak all those languages?” Kate asked incredulously.

“Nyet. Only Russian. And some English. Maybe small words in other, like French. But I learn English when we come here,” the blonde answered.

They’d made it to the kitchen and Kate went straight to the coffee pot and poured herself a cup, breathing it in under her nose and humming appreciatively. She saw Laura with the kids in the living room. Lila was on the floor with some toys and Cooper was engrossed in whatever was on the television. “Here as in Iowa?” Kate asked.

Yelena looked like she didn’t understand the comment. “To American compound. What is Iowa?”

“It’s…the state we’re in…?” Kate trailed off, suddenly realizing that there was a lot she didn’t know about the blonde. She vaguely recalled Yelena mentioning school last night but couldn’t remember if she had said she’d gone or not. Maybe the school she went to wasn’t in America, and learning the states wasn’t part of the curriculum. Or did she just forget what the state names were? Geography wasn’t Kate’s strong suit by any means either but she still knew what state she was in. 

In any case, they let the conversation topic drop. When Kate finished making her cup of coffee, now with a little sugar and milk, she took a few small sips. 

“Do you want a cup?” Kate asked Yelena.

Yelena leaned over to look in the cup. “Brown sok?”

“Coffee! A delicacy of the finest,” Kate told her with a British accent and her pinky sticking out. She already felt more awake after a few sips. “Try it. Careful though, it’s kinda hot still.”

Kate watched as Yelena took a tentative taste of the warm mug she handed her. “It is…good? Weird.”

Kate smiled, “It takes some getting used to. It’s an ‘acquired taste’ says my mom. You can add things to make it sweeter if you want though, like sugar, or honey, or flavored creams. Oh! Let’s add whipped cream!” She jumped over to the fridge leaving Yelena to hold the hot mug gingerly by the handle.

“Kate…” Laura called from the other room.

“Yesum?” Kate answered, her head in the fridge and digging around. “Aha!” she exclaimed to herself when the can was found.

“What are you doing?” Laura asked loudly so she could be heard.

“Nothing!” Kate snickered and shook the bottle, spraying a little bit on her finger to check the consistency and popping it in her mouth. The noise caught the attention of Cooper who came scampering in beside her.

“It’s nine in the morning, you guys…” Laura admonished half-heartedly while looking over the couch at the group in the kitchen. An admonishment which Kate promptly ignored, giggling mischievously with Cooper.

Yelena looked bewildered at the interactions of the household occupants in front of her.

“Here, watch,” Kate said, and tipped the bottle upside down to spray some inside the little boy’s mouth before spraying some into her own. They both snickered mischievously, mouths full, trying not to make a mess.

“What is?” Yelena asked, curious.

“Wibbed greem!” Kate said, trying not to laugh. Then she leaned over, taking the mug from Yelena and setting it on the table. She took Yelena’s hand and sprayed a tiny bit on the blonde’s finger. “Here, try,” Kate encouraged after swallowing. She remembered Yelena eating the jelly from yesterday and had a feeling the blonde would very much love this new sugary treat as well.

After licking her finger, Yelena’s eyebrows lifted. Kate grinned and sprayed more on the blonde’s finger along with covering the top of the coffee, swirling it around as pretty as she could. Then she gave a few more dollops to herself, Cooper and Yelena. 

“Laura! Can Lila try some whipped cream?” Kate asked, walking towards the couch and leaning over the back where the two were on the floor in front of. 

“If she wants some, sure. Just a tiny bit though.” Laura helped the toddler stand up as Kate reached over with her long arms and sprayed a tiny bit on Laura’s finger. The mother held it in front of the toddler’s mouth. 

Lila licked it and promptly spit it out and onto the rug below, drool dripping down her chin.

Kate cackled.

“Ewww!” said Cooper, who had started to try to climb over the back of the couch and had seen his sister spit on the floor.

“Oh, Lila,” Laura sighed, wiping the toddler’s chin and then the mess on the floor with her sleeve.

“Guess she doesn’t like it,” Kate laughed out.

“Guess not,” Laura exclaimed. “There’s a pot of oatmeal on the stove and some fruit in the fridge by the way. The kids and I already ate.”

Kate could see a large silver pot on the stove with a lid. “Yummy, thanks Laura!”

“No problem sweetie. It should still be warm but you can heat it up if it’s not,” Laura told her.

Walking over and taking the fruit from the fridge and grabbing two bowls, Kate thanked Laura again. “Oh, hey Laura? Did my mom call this morning yet?” Kate asked hopefully. It was Sunday and her mom always called every Sunday. Sometimes Eleanor would call during the week if she had time, but she never missed her Sunday calls and Kate had been looking forward to hearing from her all weekend, especially after the exciting last 24 hours.

Yelena gave her an odd look at what she’d asked.

“No honey, not yet, but it’s still early by her. I briefly recall her mentioning a lunch thing, so it might not be until tonight. When she does, you’ll be the first to know though,” Laura told her.

“Okay…thanks.” Kate was pretty sure her mom was in California right now, but it was hard to keep track. She traveled so much for work, especially during the summer. 

“Where’s Clint?” Kate then asked, plopping some oatmeal in each bowl with the spoon left in the pot. She had no idea if Yelena would eat it but it’s what Laura made, so she’d offer it and see.

“He’s outside in the Chevy.” Laura threw a pointed thumb behind her head and to the front door where Clint’s white Chevy Suburban with the Iowa State Park symbol on the sides was parked. Kate peeked out one of the kitchen windows and saw him out there in the front seat on his cell phone with a notepad, scribbling something down.

Bowls full, Kate set her bowl down before grabbing the fruit along with the syrup, sugar, and cinnamon, and put them on the table. Yelena just stared at her own bowl, a frown on her face and her eyes far away. 

“Is this okay with you? It’s oatmeal,” Kate asked, dumping some cinnamon in her bowl.

Yelena didn’t answer but she did pick up her spoon and methodically started eating. Maybe she didn’t like it but didn’t want to be rude? Or she wasn’t a breakfast person? Kate scooted the coffee cup with now-melting whipped cream and the breakfast condiments closer so it was between them to share.

Continuing to load up her own bowl with sugar and fruit, Kate eventually deemed it perfect and mixed it all up, taking a healthy spoonful. 

“What is the korichnevaya shtuka?” Yelena asked after swallowing another small bite.

Swallowing her food, Kate followed her gaze to see what she was talking about, “Oh! Syrup! Ever had it with oatmeal?” she asked, picking up the clear bottle.

Yelena shook her head.

“Well, you are in for a treat! Syrup is one of the best creations on Earth and that is a fact,” Kate stated, and squeezed a good amount in the other bowl. She then added a little of the other items as well, putting in a bunch of fruit on top and mixed it all up before handing the spoon and bowl back to Yelena.

“There you go. Try that!” Kate said just as Laura walked in holding Lila. 

“Goodness gracious, Kate, you are going to give the both of you cavities,” Laura sighed and picked up all ingredients except the fruit from the table, including the can of whipped cream, to put away.

“Party pooper,” Kate whispered. She saw Yelena’s eyes grow wider at the new flavor of the oatmeal.

Laura chuckled, “It’s kind of my job,” and kissed Kate on top of her head then headed up the stairs. 

“It’s way better now, yeah?” Kate said conspiratorially. 

“Yes… way better,” Yelena parroted, now with a smile. “We eat this lot of times back at h–um, at the compound. But it’s never sweet like this.” 

Kate wanted to ask Yelena all about how she grew up, and this compound she kept mentioning, but wasn’t sure if she should or if the blonde would even tell her. It didn’t seem like a very nice story.

“Do you want something else to eat instead?” Kate asked gently. “Maybe some toast? I could probably make you toast.” There was admittedly a 50% chance Kate would burn said toast but she would try anyway. 

However Yelena declined the toast and ate the rest of her meal in contemplative silence while hugging the bowl to her. She seemed a little less sad though, so that was good. Kate did the same and finished most of hers, leaving just a few spoonfuls left and they shared the coffee with Kate drinking most of it.

Yelena looked at Kate’s bowl. “You are not done?” 

Kate shrugged, “I’m full.”

Yelena stared at the remaining food like she didn’t understand the meaning so Kate slid the bowl over for the tiny blonde to finish, which she did with gusto. It was actually quite impressive and Kate wondered where she put it all. 

The bowls were rinsed and placed in the sink just as the front door opened. Clint came walking in quickly, clearly on a mission, and headed straight to one of the extra rooms downstairs he used as an office. Yelena noticed him immediately and tracked him until he was in the next room.

“We go get my sestra now?” Yelena asked Kate as she sat back down.

That’s what Clint had said, that they’d go looking this morning, but the man seemed preoccupied. Kate wasn’t sure what exactly the plan was but she knew that Clint had been a part of many missing person searches in the woods during his time as a park ranger. If anyone could help Yelena find her missing family, Kate was sure Clint could. 

“Yes? Let’s…wait for Clint,” she said to the blonde. 

And so, they waited. Cooper came to sit with them at the table and began chatting animatedly about random things; what was on TV, his breakfast, the newest Thomas the Train toy he got, Betty their cow, and so on. Yelena listened, enraptured with the chatty boy, but didn’t respond much so Kate talked enough for the both of them. Kate adored spending time with the energetic five-year-old, considering him like a little brother to her, even though sometimes he could get a little annoying. What little kid wasn’t annoying sometimes? Kate loved goofing off with him though and letting the kid inside of her out to play, which was never difficult. She was a kid at heart and had no qualms about having fun. Screw age norms. 

Just as Yelena started to get antsy, Clint came back out of the office and sat at the kitchen table with them, taking the spot across from them and next to his son. 

“What’s up, little man?” Clint said to Cooper.

“Hi Daddy. Nothing. Talking to Kate and Yena,” the little boy said, wiggling in the chair.

“It’s Yelena, you goofball,” Kate told him, poking him a few times in his side and making him giggle. 

Clint ruffled his short brown hair. “That’s really nice. You think you could go see if Mama needs any help upstairs?”

“Ya, okay,” Cooper said and happily did so. He ran up the stairs to where Laura had gone.

“We go now?” Yelena blurted out, sitting up and looking at Clint. 

Kate noticed him glancing at Yelena’s arms like she’d done that morning. She wondered how she got them, but was too scared to ask. None of the bruises from last night were there any longer though, so that was…good. 

The man let out a sigh, “We’re gonna have to postpone until this afternoon.”

Kate began to protest when she saw the blonde get a weird look on her face but Clint held up his hands, ”I know, I know. I’m really sorry but I have no choice. I need to run up to the main office for an hour or two. Some of my paperwork didn’t go through the fax the other night and the boss is having a total cow. I wish it could wait until tomorrow but it can’t if I want to avoid a write-up. Besides, there are a few things I need to pick up from there before we go, so it does save us a trip. We were going to have to stop by there otherwise. Anyway, about your siblings,” Clint turned to Yelena, “I did make a number of phone calls and online searches this morning while you two were sleeping. I called all of the major surrounding hospitals in a 50-mile perimeter of us so far and checked some online news reports for a few different police agencies around the area that have sites like that. A lot of agencies don’t do anything online yet, or have rules with what they can post that is available to the public, so that’ll be more phone calls for later. I also called the police department’s dispatch operators in town to see if they’d received any weird calls over the past two days. All nothing. No news of any injured, missing, or found persons, no wild animals on the loose, or atta–uh, anything like that,” Clint caught himself and cleared his throat, “Most vets or wildlife sanctuaries of the sort have just opened so I’ve called…three of them; two answered and weren’t helpful; the other I left a message on their answering machine.”

Yelena looked to be listening intently to the man so Kate had to assume she was understanding and following everything he was saying. She didn’t interrupt or ask any questions. 

Kate had heard many stories where Clint had been part of a missing persons search. A lot of people went missing in state parks apparently. She could not recall a time where he had not been successful in finding whoever was missing though. Unless he just never told her the bad stories…

Clint continued, “Having no news could be a good thing. It could mean they’re fine, just in hiding or a similar situation as you. Maybe they’ve found some help of their own. But it also doesn’t give us much of a lead. So, here’s what I’m thinking. When I get back, we head out to the woods near where I…found you, and search the area. It hasn’t rained so we shouldn’t have any issues tracking your prints. We will still have plenty of daylight by the time we get there. It’s about a 45 minute drive out.” He looked at Yelena, “Do you remember where you were separated from your siblings?”

“In woods, ya dumayu,” Yelena said unhelpfully. The blonde still kept saying things that weren’t in English but at least she answered the main question. Besides, it was pretty to hear, even if Kate had no idea what it meant.

Clint drummed his fingers on the table a few times, catching Kate’s attention again, then looked at his watch. “Alright, well I should go. The sooner I get there and fix my screw-up, the sooner I can get back. Be good, stay with Laura and the kids, and I’ll be as quick as I can.” He got up after stealing a few blueberries from the bowl still on the table.

Kate saw Yelena make a move as if she was about to stand and follow but changed her mind. “Ty obeshchayesh’?” The blonde asked, watching the man go to walk away.

“I don’t…know what you’re saying, honey,” Clint said. 

Yelena twitched at the name. “Promise,” she said. Her green eyes seemed to burn with intent. Kate wasn’t a very serious person most days so she awkwardly sat in her chair and waited for Clint to respond.

The man that Kate looked up to more than anyone leaned over the table and put his hand out, giving Yelena the option to take it or not. 

She did not. 

“I promise. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Three hours max but I’ll try to make it sooner. I’ll call Laura’s cell when I’m on my way home, okay?” Clint said assuringly to them both.

“Okay,” Yelena said softly, Kate doing the same.

A tiny stampede came down the stairs then made of Laura, Cooper and Lila, all dressed for the day. Clint met them at the bottom of the stairs.

“Hey babe, I gotta run over to the main office. I’ll be back by noon though. Give you a call when I’m on my way?” Clint leaned to give Laura a kiss as she reached the bottom step, Lila’s hand in hers as she made her way down the stairs on unsteady feet. Clint scooped the little girl up and pressed a few kisses on her cheeks, making her laugh.

“I thought you three were heading out this morning?” Laura asked.

“Eh yeah, we were, but my paperwork from the other night didn’t go through and the boss said there was something else he wanted to talk about,” Clint shrugged, “either way, I need to run over now before he blows a gasket.”

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to go now? It can’t wait until tomorrow?” Laura asked. Clint tugged her over away from the kitchen so they could talk privately. Kate couldn’t hear what they were saying so turned to her right.

“Do…you want to go get dressed too?” Kate asked Yelena. She felt bad that the blonde kept having to wait for help, but they needed Clint. It’s not like Kate could drive them, she only had her permit. Plus she was kind of a horrible driver. They were still wearing their pajamas so Kate figured maybe getting dressed for the day and showing Yelena around the farm and doing some chores would keep them busy until Clint got back.

Yelena eventually looked at their clothes. “This is not dressed?” 

“Well, like out of pajamas,” Kate explained.

Yelena cocked her head, the puppy-look back, “Pajamas is clothes, da?”

“Uhhh…yes?” Kate felt very confused. “We’re gonna…put on different clothes. For the day. Cuz these are just for sleeping in,” she tried to explain. Maybe Yelena wore her normal clothes for pajamas?

“Alright. Change clothes, if you say,” Yelena said. 

“Yep. I do say so. And the…general rule of clothes-wearing. We can’t go outside and do chores and track missing people in the woods in our pajamas,” Kate stated. Yelena deemed what Kate said as the truth and together they went upstairs to find clothes for the day.

There were a few pairs of pants on Kate’s bed when they walked back into her room. Laura must have gone through some of her old clothes, because these pants were way too short to ever fit the taller girl.

“It’ll probably be hot today. Do you want pants or shorts?” Kate asked, already digging through her pile on the floor for a pair of decently clean jean shorts.

“Clothes from before are good,” Yelena said, standing next to the bedroom door awkwardly. Kate wasn’t sure what happened to what Yelena had worn yesterday. Laura probably threw them in the laundry room downstairs.

The brunette paused, “Well, Laura put those pants there for you,” she said, pointing to the pants on the bed, “I’m not sure where those clothes went but you can wear a pair of my shorts if you want instead. They’ll probably fit you.” After no answers from the blonde, Kate handed her an extra pair of cotton shorts, clean from her dresser, and a baggy light blue t-shirt with a picture of a flower on the front, then a pair of pants on the bed. She grabbed jean shorts for herself and a purple shirt to throw on. The summer had been pretty hot most days, so she figured shorts were the smart choice but gave Yelena the option to wear pants if she preferred.

Kate paused, “Do… I don’t… do you want a bra?” Kate felt awkward asking so. 

Yelena’s puppy look was back, head tilt and all. 

“Alrighty then…” Kate muttered under her breath and just grabbed two random clean sports bras from her drawer along with more clean underpants and put them in the pile of clothes for each of them. They took turns using the bathroom to use the toilet, brush their teeth and change clothes, Kate letting Yelena go first. The blonde took quite a while in the bathroom, about fifteen minutes, but soon enough Yelena came back in her bedroom, dressed in a pair of worn denim pants, flowered shirt and with her hair less all over the place. 

Kate finished much quicker, having to pee like a race horse after the cup of coffee. When she got back to her room, it looked like Yelena hadn’t moved an inch. She was still sitting on the edge of the bed. 

“You could have gone downstairs, you didn’t have to wait for me,” Kate said jokingly as she threw her pajamas on the bed with Yelena’s, who had left them on the bathroom floor.

“Ah… izvini…” the blonde moved off the bed.

“What’s that mean?” Kate asked, grabbing two pairs of socks.

Yelena stopped in the doorway. “What mean?”

“What you just said,” Kate said, handing a pair to Yelena, “Iz-vinee?” 

“Oh. Sorry,” Yelena told her, taking the socks and unfolding them quizzically.

Kate paused. “Why are you apologizing?”

Yelena shrugged her shoulders. She either didn’t know why she apologized or didn’t want to say. Kate didn’t really care either way. 

“Well, don’t say sorry when there’s nothing to apologize for. Silly. Anyway, I’m gonna go help Laura with the morning chores until Clint comes back. Do you want to come with me? You can just watch, you don’t have to help me. Or you can stay in the house?” She asked. She wasn’t going to force Yelena to help her, but she didn’t really want to leave her all alone either.

“I help,” Yelena said and followed Kate down the hall and towards the stairs. 

“You sure? It’s just like, collecting eggs from the evil chickens or cleaning up some poop or whatever. Raking, feeding the animals. Whatever Laura needs help with ‘til Clint gets back I guess,” she tried to explain but Yelena was not deterred. 

“I will help you Kate Bishop with chores. Then we go to my sestra,” Yelena said firmly.

“Do you even know what chores are?” Kate asked with a smirk. She looked behind her as they descended the steps as Yelena blushed slightly.

“No…but I learn. Help you,” she said.

Kate laughed. “Alright, sounds good. Chores are just things you do to help out, I guess? Like cleaning, laundry, mowing…uh… Maybe Laura can explain it better. I’m clearly bad at giving definitions for things.” She’d been concocting a plan to try and get Laura to take over chicken-duty again for the day but unfortunately luck was not on the brunette’s side.

“You are not bad, Kate,” Yelena said, patting Kate’s arm. 

Kate grinned, “Thanks.”

Once the two girls passed the kitchen, Kate realized the house was rather quiet. At a glance, Kate saw Laura and the kids were already outside working on the goat’s outdoor area. 

“Aw shit,” Kate muttered, knowing full well Laura would have started in the coop if that was her plan, which meant Kate was on chicken duty. She bent down and put on her socks then shoes. Yelena went to do the same and copied Kate’s action but once the first sock was over her foot she made a very hilarious face with her nose scrunched up and took it back off.

“I do not like this Kate Bishop.” she stated, handing the tiny pieces of fabric back to Kate. 

Kate on the other hand, didn’t know what to do with the information. “It’s just a sock! You don’t like socks?” She had to try very hard not to laugh. Kate recalled the blonde also not putting on the puppy-faced patterned socks either.

“Nyet,” Yelena said adamantly.

“Oh my gosh, you’re so funny. Okay. Let me…just…one sec!” She opened the front door and hollered over to where Laura was with the kids.

“Laura! Can Yelena wear your slides?” Kate yelled. 

With a thumbs up from Laura, Kate let the screen door slam closed and grabbed the aforementioned sandals that required no socks nor contained a middle piece that went between your toes. They were black with the white Nike check mark on the top and pretty worn out. 

“Here, these are Laura’s. You don’t need socks to wear them, but just be careful. There’s a lot of gravel outside and sticks and…I dunno, stuff. Things that can hurt your feet without normal socks and shoes and whatever,” Kate waved her hand around before dropping the shoes in front of the blonde and Yelena slid her feet in one at a time.

“I… do not think I like these either,” Yelena stated, wiggling her feet and walking around slowly, almost sliding like she was wearing ice skates.

Kate shrugged. “Well, you gotta wear something if we’re going outside in the coop or barn. You can’t go barefoot. They’re just shoes, you’ll get used to them. You never wear sandals before or something?” Kate asked nonchalantly, not really expecting an answer to the last question as she finished tying her tennies.

“Pochemo? Eto sandals?” the blonde asked and at Kate’s slow nod, she said, “No.” 

Kate looked at Yelena who was still staring at her feet, picking them up and sliding around more. “Have you ever worn shoes at all?” Kate asked before she could think about it as she finished tying her shoes on. Yelena didn’t answer, which was an answer in itself. It was possible Yelena hadn’t heard Kate, or was just ignoring her, but Kate doubted it. 

She didn’t ask any more questions about her history of socks and shoes.

Just before she went to lead them outside, she had a thought. “Oh!” Kate snapped her fingers, “Be right back,” and ran upstairs. 

A minute later she was handing Yelena the purple sunglasses from yesterday. She also grabbed a white baseball cap for herself. She asked if Yelena wanted a hat as well but she said no. Once the shades were on the blonde’s face, Kate led them past the screen door and outside. It was a gorgeous day, albeit a little warm, but not humid. Shorts were definitely the right choice in clothing so she hoped Yelena would not get too warm. It would only get hotter until the sun went down that evening.

As Kate headed over to where Laura was to see what the pregnant woman wanted her to do besides trying to avoid death while collecting chicken eggs, she realized Yelena wasn’t following her like she’d been moments ago.

Kate turned around and saw that the blonde had stopped. She was looking around outside and slowly turning in a circle. The walk from the front door to where Laura and the kids were was mostly shaded as the path went directly under the large oak tree in front of the farmhouse. The tree had been there for well over 50 years and was enormous. Clint told Kate once that the tree was one of the reasons he and Laura had fallen in love with the house when they were first looking to buy. Both cars that Laura and Clint owned could fit under it for shade without being in the way of the tire swing or affecting any play or tree-climbing activities.

“Yelena?” Kate called. She walked up next to Yelena who was now staring at the ground in the shade of the large tree. She’d even pulled down the shades to peak over them.

Yelena jumped when Kate’s hand touched her bicep. “You okay?” Kate asked.

“Eto tak krasivo…” Yelena pointed down, then up at the leaves above.

Kate looked up. The sun shone through the green leaves, light blinking through as a small breeze blew through. It was making little dots of light move over the grass below. Yelena put her hand out and stared as the dots moved around on her skin.

“Little fireflies…” the blonde said so quietly Kate almost didn’t hear her. 

“Kate? Everything okay?” Laura called over, breaking the moment.

“Yes! Everything’s fine,” Kate said back. “I’ll be just over by Laura, ‘kay? Take as long as you want,” she said quietly and went over to where the woman and the kids were. Yelena hummed an affirmative, seemingly mesmerized by the tree and the shapes the sun was creating through its leaves. 

Laura was currently cleaning up the paddock where the five goats they owned stayed most of the year. Cooper was feeding a black and brown goat a piece of long grass and Lila was sitting on a blanket outside the wooden fence with a few toys, a large bucket hat over her head to protect her fine baby skin from the sun.

“Sooo… since you’re over here, I don’t suppose you already collected the chicken eggs yet, right?” Kate said, knowing full well she wouldn’t have had time to clean the coop and collect eggs in the short time it had taken her and Yelena to dress for the day. The pregnant mother was already sweating, wearing a long shirt of Clint’s with the sleeves cut off and a pair of spandex-looking shorts.

“I hate to ask you Katie, but would you mind? I’ll bribe you with french toast for breakfast tomorrow. Lila’s been a little terror around the chickens lately,” Laura said, taking a break in her raking of the covered area where the bedding area was kept. It wasn’t a huge area since it was summer and there weren’t a lot of goats, but Laura was also eight months pregnant.

“Nah, it’s fine, no bribe needed. Although, I won’t say no to french toast! I just hate Bramamina.” Kate gave an exaggerated shudder at the thought of the evil chicken who plotted her death on the daily. 

Laura looked past Kate. “Is Yelena okay honey?” 

“Mhm. She said the ground looked like fireflies or something.” Kate supposed that it did, but it seemed an odd thing to say.

“Okay…” Laura said and went back to her task.

Kate sat next to Lila and played with her until Yelena came over, warily kneeling beside them. 

The sun was beating down on them now, the oak tree’s shade unable to reach to the fence and Kate could already feel sweat forming, dripping down the back of her neck. She pulled her hair up into a high ponytail and pulled it through the hole in the back of the cap. Yelena had her long hair down and over her shoulders but didn’t seem bothered by the heat; in fact she looked almost serene in the sun. Kate thought back to this morning and the image of a cat sunbathing came to mind.

Kate giggled to herself. Adorable. 

Kate was being goofy and making one of Lila’s animal toys dance and sing. Lila watched the brown rubbery horse jump around a few times and tried to grab it. Yelena watched and picked one up too, the one that looked like a cow. 

“Chto?” she asked.

Before Kate could remind her that, again, she did not speak or understand Russian and neither did the almost two-year-old, Lila quickly yelled and grabbed it back, “Moomoo!”

Yelena huffed out a laugh, “Tiny, pudgy animals. Hmm, cow?” She pointed to the black and white animal now in Lila’s hand. “Korova.”

Lila showed the cow to her. “Cow,” she chirped out.

Yelena pointed to another animal, a pink one. “Svin’ya.”

“Piggy!” Lila made a noise that was supposed to be a pig snorting which had Kate giggling. Yelena pointed to a few more, saying what Kate assumed the Russian name and Lila obediently named each animal in English, although some were very hard to tell. Goat was more like ‘go’ and sheep was ‘seep’, but Lila clearly knew her animals. 

It was all rather cute.

Kate stood up, hand outstretched to help Yelena up when Lila eventually got bored and started pulling grass and throwing it, in her own little world again. “Ready?”

“Okay,” Yelena let Kate help her up and once again followed.

The brunette led them over to where the large chicken coop was. The entire enclosure was fenced off around and above the wooden building but it could be opened to allow the chickens to roam the farm during the day. There was a rake leaning on a fence beside the open wire door which Kate grabbed and held like a weapon, “So, we’ll have to fight for our lives but we’re on chicken duty this morning. Arm yourself, my lady.” 

Yelena narrowed her eyes at the housing area for the chickens, “...Opasnost’?” she said rather skeptically. 

“Kate!” Laura chided loudly, overhearing Kate’s comment since they weren’t that far away, “Don’t say that! Yelena honey, it’s fine. You can stay with me and the kids if you want. Please ignore Kate’s extreme over-exaggeration of collecting chicken eggs. Goodness gracious...”

“Aww, I was just kidding,” Kate said. She hadn’t thought of her joking around going over Yelena’s head. “Sorry…”

“You are afraid?” Yelena asked Kate. 

“No!” Kate denied as Laura laughed. “Alright, kind of. A little. One of the chickens is really mean,” Kate grumbled out as they got closer.

Some of the chickens were milling around, pecking at the grass or drinking from the water containers on the ground. The door that let them roam outside the enclosure was open, but Bramamina was nowhere to be seen. 

“The mean one is Bramamina. She’s probably inside in the nesting area still…ugh,” Kate said, gripping the rake tighter and dreading having to try and get the chicken out of the coop so she could do her work.

Just as Kate went to walk through the open screen door, a large white chicken with black tail feathers walked around a feeding station that was just big enough for a chicken to hide behind apparently. 

Kate squeaked out a yell and backed up. The chicken in question clucked loudly a few times and stalked towards the open door but slowed and then stopped when it came upon Yelena, who Kate had more or less used as a human shield and sacrifice. The brunette was looking over Yelena’s shoulder, something easily done with the height difference, at the awful chicken. “That’s her,” she whispered, rake-weapon held at the ready.

Yelena seemed unbothered by the small animal. Instead she was watching it as if studying the hen.

“Heyyy Brama… we’re just here to get some eggs and clean up. No need to be upset…it’s okay! ”Kate whispered, in hopes she wouldn’t piss the chicken off any more than her apparent existence already did. Kate tried to make cooing noises and shift Yelena to the left with her so the chicken had plenty of room to leave. “Just…let her pass us and we can lock her out…” she whispered to Yelena.

Yelena cocked her head and made a noise of acknowledgement at Kate’s suggestion but didn’t move out of the chicken’s way. The bird got a few steps closer, turning her head to the side and eyeing Kate and the blonde with her creepy chicken eyes. Kate pulled at Yelena’s arm again to try and tug her to the side but she didn’t budge. They had some sort of standoff, Yelena and the white hen, until the hen decided the blonde was equally worthy prey and went to run and peck at her feet with a loud cluck, wings starting to spread out. 

When the chicken was no more than two feet from them, Yelena suddenly let out a very loud and animalistic hiss. It was absolutely terrifying and caused the hair on the back of Kate’s neck to stand up and her hands to tighten around where she was still holding Yelena by the shoulder with one hand, the other on the rake still. The sound caused Bramamina and a few other chickens nearby to freak out and run in different directions. 

And then the chicken that gave Kate so much grief every time it saw her fluffed its wings and neck feathers and ran past them and out the door as fast as it could in fear.

“Holy freaking shit.” Kate exclaimed.

“Kate!” Laura yelled.

“Shit!” Cooper said.

“Cooper Barton!” Laura scolded the little boy who laughed.

“Whoops,” Kate said, then jumped onto Yelena from behind and wrapped her arms around her petite frame, almost whacking her in the head with the rake handle. “Eeeee! Oh my gosh, you saved us! You’re totally my hero! Thank you thank you thank you! Take that Bramamina!” she yelled after the chicken while waving her rake around. 

Yelena hummed and hugged Kate back around her arms, dodging the tool, “We are done with chores then?”

Kate laughed, “No, that wasn’t the chores. That’s just…an avoidance of injury. Or something. I dunno. C’mon! We gotta clean up their house and collect their eggs.”

The rest of the chickens that remained close by were luckily rather nice and the two girls had no issues making their way into the interior area where the birds slept at night and laid their eggs. 

“Clint built this coop a few years ago. It took him forever to finish! Laura said they are gonna get baby chicks next spring though. They’re gonna be so cute! She just wants to wait until after the baby is born,” Kate explained unnecessarily.

An older chicken, a small gray hen named Amelia, was still laying in her nesting box and Kate gently scooped her and brought her to the door so she could go outside. “Time to get up, old lady. Go on!” Kate said, patting the hen gently on the back as it made its way to where the water was. “That’s Amelia. She’s pretty old and sleeps a lot.”

Yelena watched and listened as Kate rambled on about different things while starting to rake up the floor of bird droppings. Mostly about the coop, the chickens and some of the chicken’s names, and what she was doing. Yelena didn’t offer any help but she did watch what Kate was doing the whole time.

“Hey, can I ask you a question?” The brunette asked after she finished cleaning the floor area. It was important to clean up the floor first, otherwise you got chicken poop all over your shoes that would undoubtedly track into the house. She learned that the hard way her first time solo-ing chicken duties.

Yelena was running her hands back and forth over pockets. “Da.”

“Cool. Okay, so… Can you do the animal thing whenever you want?” Kate asked as she began spreading out the new pine shavings on the floor.

Yelena’s shoulders scrunched up. “Sometimes. It makes me tired. New animal is harder.”

“Are you tired now?” Kate asked. Yelena shrugged but shook her head.

“Sooo…?” Kate trailed off, hoping Yelena would get the hint, which she eventually did.

“Ah,” the light bulb went off in her head. “Which?” the blonde asked.

“Which what?” Kate questioned.

“Zhivotnoye.” Kate pursed her lips in confusion. “Animal.” Yelena clarified, her accent accenting the middle vowel.

“Oh. Uh.” Kate scratched her head in thought, put on the spot, “What about the cougar?”

“Puma ? Oh…is new. I do not… It is not safe.” Yelena explained timidly, eyeing the chickens outside the door, “Maybe…tri ili chetyre times I change.” She held up three then four fingers.

“But dog is good. And cat. Sometimes ptitsa. I morph them many times,” Yelena said proudly.

“So cool…” Kate whispered. She grabbed the wicker basket hanging near the door.

“What about you Kate Bishop? What animals you have?” Yelena asked the taller girl. “Tell me. Maybe we help each other.”

“Oh!” Kate’s eyes lit up, “Well, obviously we have chickens, as you can see. And the goats. And–”

“How is kuritsa useful morph? For more free yaytsa?” Yelena couldn’t help but snicker, looking at the fat, feathery birds outside and the basket Kate now held. 

Kate chuckled with her in response, her eyes stuck on the way Yelena’s nose scrunched slightly. “You’re adorable, but I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Yelena’s cheeks pinked up. “Eggs, Kate Bishop. From kuritsa. You eat?”

“Oh.” Kate said dumbly. “Well, you asked what animals I had. Not about eggs.” Kate pouted in misunderstanding before pressing on. 

“I don’t have any animals. I used to have a fish back home but…yeah, that didn’t go well. Mom says we don’t have time for one but I think she just doesn’t want the mess. Clint and Laura have had chickens and goats here at the farm ever since I’ve been coming here though. So like, at least five years now. They used to have a dog named Koda but he passed away; he was super old. They are building more pastures out back and remodeling the barn though! There’s a horse, Henry, out in the back pasture and a cow in the barn named Betty. I keep trying to get them to adopt an emu but Clint said it would be worse than the chickens with ‘plotting our death’,” she made bunny ears with both hands, which was a little hard while holding a large basket with one of her hands, “He’s such a drama queen. But I think they want another cow or two, and to get sheep, pigs and…maybe alpaca. Or was it a llama? Ooo, what about a peacock? Do you think you can eat peacock eggs? Probably, right? I once heard about someone cooking an ostrich egg; it was huge. Like, a whole omelet from one egg. Oh! Did you know that–”

“Nyet, nyet nyet,” Yelena interrupted Kate’s rambling, “Kate Bishop. You are not horse Henry or this…Betty? I am meaning you. What animals are you?” The blonde huffed and pointed at Kate.

Kate furrowed her eyebrows. “Well, these are Clint and Laura’s animals. I’m not…any? I’m just me. A…human, I guess.” She said awkwardly, thinking of what it would be like if she wasn’t a human. Animal? Robot? Alien?

“You cannot morph to animals?” Yelena asked, stopping Kate’s running mind. 

Oh, that’s what she had meant.

Kate paused her egg collecting, “Morph? Like change? How you su–how you can?” Supposedly can, Kate thought to herself. She would believe it fully when she saw it.

Yelena nodded in the affirmative. “Mhm. Prevrashchat’sya. Izmehyat'. Morph or change is English words.”

“A person turning–er, morphing into an animal… That is not a normal thing for a person to be able to do, Yelena. No one can do that for real life. Well, except you I mean. And your brother and sisters,” Kate amended. She still felt a little like this wasn’t real and she was going to wake up from the very long dream she had been in for the last 24 hours.

The blonde’s head cocked to the side once again, her puppy expression back, eyebrows scrunched harshly. “But…” Yelena started, but fell silent with confusion or maybe sadness painting her face, Kate couldn’t tell. Her gaze skittered away, unfocused.

“Hey, it’s okay though. It’s super cool! It’s not bad or anything!” Kate said, backtracking. She hated the look on the blonde. The egg basket tilted from side to side, almost spilling some of the eggs she’d collected.

“So you can change into animals then. That’s great! It’s all good! Wait, what other animals? Just dog, cat and the cougar?” Kate asked, successfully getting the blonde to focus back on her. Kate had finished collecting the first row of eggs and moved onto the nesting boxes on the opposite side while she spoke. 

Yelena started to follow Kate again as she continued to collect eggs, even helping her with a few. “Mmm…mysh’. Uh, lisa, that is a…fox. Ptitsa, that is bird–” 

“Hawk?!” interrupted Kate excitedly.

“Hawk? That is a bird, da?”

“Yep,” Kate confirmed happily.

“Mmm, nyet, I do not think so. I have crow. It is a black bird, make lots of sounds in throat. I have krechet but… is newer. It… is similar to hawk maybe? Is a white bird of prey from Russia,” Yelena answered.

“Krr… krechet you said? I will look it up later to see then. We could use Clint’s computer,” Kate said. She was barely paying attention to her egg-collecting task and accidentally grabbed the next two eggs a little too rough, almost cracking them.

Yelena felt a tingle of pride, “You like the hawk bird Kate Bishop?” Yelena asked.

“Yes! I love them! They’re literally one of my favorite animals. Probably my most favorite,” Kate said dreamily.

Yelena continued her list of animals she could supposedly change into, “Uhh…Olen, zmeya, puma–that is deer, snake and cougar…  Small bunny. Doctors try others but not always good. Some I have are not…safe,” Yelena explained, excited at first but sort of solemn at the end. She perked back up suddenly with another thought, “But moya semya are the very best! Natalia is red often. Lisa eto her favorite. The red always is supposed to be funny. She is very protective. Mhm. Wanda has krasivyy golden eagle. Very large and powerful. And Pietro, pft. He is a giant, tall goof. But very smart, and very fast too. Mhm.” 

Kate grinned at how happy Yelena sounded while talking about her siblings. “They sound amazing. I can’t wait to meet them.” 

The blonde smiled, looking down, “Da. Me too.”

“Is it just you and your siblings?” Kate asked.

“Mhm. Just us,” Yelena answered.

“So you can do it whenever you want? The animal thing,” Kate reiterated. She was just about done with the egg-collecting task. There were only a few nests left. 

“Most of the time,” Yelena responded.

“What about now? Can you do one right now?” Kate asked excitedly.

“Da okay. If you like,” Yelena said nonchalantly.

Kate’s eyebrows shot up with an even bigger smile on her face. “Yeah? Okay yes! You said dog was one, right? I pick dog!” 

It was clear neither girl was thinking, otherwise they would have stopped to think of what a not-so-great idea this could turn into, alone in the middle of an enclosed space surrounded by defenseless and mostly flightless birds.

In any case, Yelena immediately bent over and began to remove her clothes in the middle of the chicken coop, just like how she’d done at the Wildlife Center yesterday.

Kate made a high-pitched sound and covered her eyes with her free hand, peeking through her fingers. “Yelena stop! What are you doing!?”

Yelena paused, one arm out of the blue shirt. “Taking off clothes? I am not wanting to ruin them. I do not have my…the odezhda…um, uniform.”

Kate could feel her face turning red. 

“You are okay Kate Bishop?” Yelena asked, squinting and leaning closer.

“I’m fine! Um! I just–you can’t just–” Kate spun around so her back was to the blonde, “You can’t just start taking your clothes off willy-nilly whenever you want,” Kate said hotly.

“Pochemu?” She heard the blonde ask from behind her.

Kate didn’t know the word but it sounded like a question so she answered in a huff, “Just…’cause. It’s not appropriate or whatever.” She heard Yelena make a sound, like she was thinking out loud.

“Kate Bishop, you said you do not morph, so you do not know. I teach you. Morphing does not work when in clothes. They are ripped or stuck on body. Is very annoying, and then we get into trouble and have no more clothes to wear,” Yelena said. “Science doctors make special clothing for us, but I…lost them…I do not have them.”

Kate could feel the blush on her cheeks fading, but just barely. “Okay well, warn a girl next time, will ya? Just…do what you have to do? I guess?” She said, cupping her hand around her eyes to block anything she shouldn’t see, the other still holding the nearly full basket of eggs. Kate saw out of the bottom corner of her vision the slides Laura had let Yelena wear kicked over. Yelena’s clothes started to pile up on top of the sandals and Kate intently looked ahead at the wall.

A minute or two passed before Kate got antsy. “Let me know when you’re done?” She voiced, but Yelena didn’t respond. 

“Yelena?” Kate tried again, but when she still didn’t get a response, she peeked behind her then turned around.

“Yele–holy…” the brunette trailed off. 

Sitting in front of Kate beside the pile of clothes and shoes was the most adorable, fluffy dog she had ever seen in her entire life. It was sitting as if waiting for a treat, staring at Kate expectantly. It looked kind of like the dog from Hachi, a movie Kate watched in school last year after her class had read about the true story of the dog from Japan named Hachiko. Both the book and movie had caused her to bawl like a baby in class and get made fun of.

The dog in front of her was similar in size to a labrador or husky, dog breeds she was very familiar with, but the similarities ended there. The furry animal was a mix of color; shades of cream, tan and brown covered its body, with darker-colored ears. The mouth area was white-ish, with some of it spreading down the chest and belly, with a wet, black nose sticking out. Its fluffy tail curled up towards the dog’s back and chocolate-colored brown eyes stared back expectantly.

“Yelena?” Kate said hesitantly, looking around the coop and through the windows then back to the dog in front of her. She had honestly only been about 67% sure Yelena had been telling the truth about changing into an animal the entire time. The whole cougar-turning-into-a-girl thing could have still been an elaborate prank. Or maybe Yelena was clinically insane.

<Kate Bishop?> Kate heard from…nowhere? She looked around again but it was only herself and the dog in the chicken coop.

Scratch that, not the dog. Yelena? As a dog? Yeah, Yelena as a dog.

“Yelena?” Kate called out again, staring in the dog’s brown eyes that seemed to flash from brown to green, then back to brown. Like the color of a Hershey’s chocolate bar.

<Kate Bishop…it is me as dog. I am very good dog. Obeshchayu.> It was almost like the dog was smiling. The words being spoken sounded again in Kate’s mind, but it wasn’t creepy or scary. Just very weird.

“How are you doing that?” Kate asked, feeling silly, like she was talking to herself.

Yelena softly snuffed air out of her nose.

<It is mind-speech. I am animal, so can’t talk with my mouth. We use mind instead.> The dog–Yelena cocked her head in the same manner she’d done before as she explained, but this time as an actual dog. 

“I… see… What kind of dog are you? Er, I mean is that a weird question?” Kate asked nervously, feeling herself buzzing with energy. She was familiar with a good number of breeds but couldn’t place the one in front of it. “You look kind of like Hachi.”

<Akita. Very popular in Russia,> Yelena answered, her accent strong. Her cute doggy tongue lolled out to pant and Kate gave up on her restraint.

She fell to her knees, roughly setting the basket of eggs on the ground next to her and let out a girly squeal. “Oh my gosh, you are soooo cute. Oh my gosh. Can I hug you? Can I pet you? What–what can I not do? Oh man oh man, this is so cool. Dog! You’re a real dog!”

Dog Yelena–Kate wasn’t sure what to refer to her as–started wagging her tail and Kate couldn’t take it. She fell forward and enveloped the furry animal in a hug before she received an answer. It was the type of hug she’d give any dog or furry animal. Not too tight, with accompanied petting between her ears and down her back. Kate relished the comforting feel of the fur running between her fingers. She could feel Yelena’s tail swishing back and forth behind her through the pine shavings on the ground.

“This is so amazing,” Kate whispered, still hugging dog Yelena. Dog Yelena!

Kate leaned back after her too-long hug and squished the dog’s cheeks between her hands, scratching the fur there with another gleeful squeak while Yelena panted.

<You are happy?> Yelena asked her, the sound resonating in Kate’s mind. She would definitely need to get used to the mind-talking. Mind-speech?

“Yes!” Kate said while laughing, “This is so amazingly cool.”

<Khorosho,> Yelena said.

“This is so awesome. Can we go show Laura, Coopie and Liles?” Kate asked, jumping back to her feet. 

<Da,> Yelena said and got up to follow the over-excited brunette, only pausing to shake her furry body from pine shavings. Kate rushed over and ran out the open coop door, basket of eggs forgotten on the floor.

Some of the chickens nearby got agitated as the two passed but for the most part paid the new animal no mind. Most of the birds had been around the Barton’s previous dog, so had no qualms over Yelena. Bramamina happened to be near the screen door and Yelena growled at her. A real growl this time, with very pointy and shiny teeth showing. The chicken clearly got the hint and again ran the other way. 

“Laura!” Kate called loudly, running over to her and the kids. She was practically jumping up and down. “Laura look!”

Laura must have finished her work in the goat area, as she was sharing Lila’s blanket with the toddler which had been moved from the sunny area to under the shade. Cooper was playing on the tire swing, laying on his stomach and pushing around with his feet. 

A water bottle was handed to Lila as Laura stood up, squinted and looked Kate’s way.

“What’s up Katie-girl? Done already?” Laura said.

“No! I mean yes! I mean–look!” She could not hold back the excitement she felt. It was real! The animal thing was real! Not a prank!

Yelena trotted up next to Kate on all fours as she slowed and Kate picked her up around her chest.

“Look!” Kate yelled again.

“Uhh…what? Where did you–” 

“It’s Yelena! As a dog Laura!” Kate continued much louder than necessary, “Isn’t she the cutest, fuzziest, furriest thing you ever freaking saw!?”  

At this point, Cooper perked up at the excited yelling. The little boy pointed to Yelena, “Puppy!” 

“Woah, calm down honey. It’s–Kate, why do you have a dog? Where did you get a dog?” Laura asked, confused.

“I’m trying to tell you, it’s Yelena! As a dog,” Kate said again. Yelena was getting rather heavy and she was slowly sliding down and out of Kate’s arms.

The pregnant woman paused and looked closer at the canine. 

<Privyet Laura.> Yelena’s voice filtered in Kate’s mind. It sounded slightly different than before, more echoey.

Laura glanced to see where Lila was at and then knelt down in front of Yelena. “Put her down Kate before you drop her,” she said quietly.

Kate did as instructed and Yelena shook her furry body, then sat on her butt, staring at Laura. Kate squatted beside the two and looked back and forth between them.

“See?” Kate said, “It’s real.”

A smile grew on Laura’s face as she ran the tips of her fingers through the fur on the dog’s neck then cupped the dog’s cheek. “I see sweetie,” Laura said quietly. 

Cooper had finally wandered over and was waiting to see what his mom did. Kate was glad that Clint and Laura had taught him proper animal introductions. Not that the teen thought it would be necessary in this circumstance, but it kept the boy safe. Most animals reacting poorly towards humans were in fear but it was always better to be safe than sorry. So Kate was a firm believer of children knowing proper etiquette when it came to meeting new animals.

‘What’s the puppy’s name?” Cooper asked, sticking his hand out.

“Coopie-doop, it’s Yelena!” Kate told him, petting her again. She figured if the blonde wanted her to stop, she’d say so.

Yelena must have said something to the boy because he smiled and waved hello. “Hi Yena. Want to play?” Cooper asked.

“Oh honey, I don’t think that–” Laura started to interject.

<Da. We play,> Yelena said and stood up to follow the little boy. He went running around the tree and eventually found a stick, which he promptly threw a few yards away.

“Fetch!” Cooper yelled. 

Kate’s stomach dropped and she jumped up, “Coopie no! Yelena isn’t…that kind of dog! She–”

<It is fine, Kate Bishop. I am good dog,> Yelena then let out a loud bark and ran over to get the stick the little boy had thrown. She picked it up with her mouth and brought it right in front of him, dropping it and waiting for him to pick it up from the ground.

Kate felt incredibly awkward and a little embarrassed for the girl. The dog? Girl dog? Dog Girl? Dog Yelena? She could tell Laura felt the same based on the look on the woman’s face.

“Should we…?” Kate asked, waving her hands around. She was unsure how to word what she wanted to say. Do they stop it? Do they really let Yelena as a dog play fetch with Cooper?

“I just…wow…I mean if…” Laura trailed off unhelpfully.

The two brunettes stood beside one another and watched Yelena play with Cooper for a while. Cooper went from fetch to just running around and letting Yelena chase him, though Kate could tell she was not going very fast. Laura eventually went back inside the house to get them all something to drink. She also brought out a small plastic mixing bowl and poured one of the water bottles in it, though left it beside the tree inconspicuously. But Kate saw it.

The late morning moved to afternoon. Kate wandered back to the coop to get the basket she had abandoned earlier and brought it inside to the kitchen. Yelena accompanied her to said coop to more or less guarding her from Bramamina. 

Then all five of them, Kate, Laura, Cooper, Lila and Yelena, went into the barn to give food to the horse and cow. Kate helped Laura clean up the two stalls, both not being too messy since the animals were outside most of the day during the summer. Once finished, they decided to take a break until Clint returned, and the group went back to lounge in the shade under the large oak and eat a snack of cheese and crackers.

It was all very odd but not at the same time and instead of freaking out or worrying, Kate just rolled with it. Yelena even let Lila get close on her unsteady legs and pet her a few times, staring at the toddler the whole time. Yelena licked the little girl’s pudgy hand, causing her to giggle and babble nonsense mixed with the words ‘ewie’. Laura paid much more attention to the interaction compared to when Cooper had been playing with Yelena. Kate could see the nerves the woman was trying to hide, but Kate knew it would be fine. Yelena would never hurt them.

Clint rang Laura’s phone just before noon to let her know he was on his way back, Laura passing the message to Kate and Yelena, the latter’s tail wagging excitedly.

Kate couldn’t get over how unbelievable it all was. And how freaking cute Yelena was.

When Clint’s white SUV finally pulled down the gravel driveway, it was just past noon. Cooper paused in ‘teaching’ Yelena commands, like sit, paw, and speak when he heard his dad’s car. Kate had tried to have the little boy stop; as much as Yelena was currently an animal, she was still really a girl. They shouldn’t order her around or treat her like a real dog, but Yelena just kept saying it was okay. She seemed almost happy to follow the little boy’s words, so Kate eventually let it go. 

Cooper ran up to meet Clint, waving to his dad and jumping up and down. Clint got out of the car and scooped the boy up, hanging him upside down. “Hey buddy! How’s it hanging? You helping Mama?”

Cooper screamed and held onto Clint’s arm. His hair flounced around and looked like someone had rubbed a balloon on top of it. “Hi Daddy! Yep. And playing with Yena,” he explained.

“Oh yeah? That’s really cool. What did you play?” Clint asked.

“Fetch. And racing. And I teached her tricks,” Cooper told his dad.

“Fetch…? That’s…awesome. Hey Kate, you girls ready to get going?” Clint asked once he got closer. Laura had just walked into the house to put Lila down for a nap.

“Mhm. Unless Yelena wants to change,” Kate said, after she swallowed and wiped her mouth from drinking water. She looked over to where Yelena was laying a few feet away. The girl, or rather dog, had taken to laying under the tree in the same spot that had captured her attention that morning. The sun was making the dots of light shining through the leaves dance over her tan fur and around her in a mesmerizing kaleidoscope. Clint must not have seen the dog however, because when Yelena lifted her head upon hearing her name, he stopped short. 

“Woah. Uhh…where’d the dog come from?” the man asked. He set a giggling Cooper down on the ground back on his feet.

“That’s Yelena,” Kate said, doing what she thought was a very good job on keeping the excitement down this time around.

“Uhhh…huh… Wait what?” he very articulately said

Yelena walked over and stood in front of Clint. <We go now?> she asked aloud.

Kate was slowly getting used to the mind-speech thing but it was funny to see Clint’s reaction. His eyes bugged out and he stared at her like an idiot. Kate had to muffle her snicker of a laugh.

“Y…yeah we can go now…” Cooper was holding Clint’s hand and swinging it back and forth mindlessly.

“Do you want to change?” Kate asked, then clarified, “I mean like, back to yourself. Human…self. Not your clothes. You aren’t…wearing clothes. I mean–do you want to change back and put your clothes on? And go?” She cringed. 

<Nyet. I go like this. Better for tracking.> Yelena said as explanation and trotted towards the car without preamble.

Kate grabbed the clothes the blonde had shed, having grabbed the pile earlier and kept it with her, and shrugged, “Sounds good to me. Bye Coops!” She ruffled the boy’s hair.

“Bye Aunee Kate,” Cooper said.

“Bye Laura!” Kate hollered towards the house and headed to Clint’s car but the man stopped her before she got too far.

“Hey hey, wait a second Kate. C’mere. Is everything good?” Clint questioned, gaze twitching to his car then back to Kate.

Kate looked at him with a smile. “Yeah. Everything’s great. Why?” she asked.

“Nothing, nothing. Just…wasn’t expecting–” Clint started but was interrupted when Kate laughed.

“That it was real?” she said, knowing she was grinning like an idiot.

The man rubbed at his jaw, “I dunno. No, but yeah...”

They walked in tandem closer to the car. Yelena had already jumped in through the open front seat door and was in the back.

<We go? I would…like to go please now. Please.> Kate heard the blonde say, the echoey sound back which meant she was projecting again, presumably to Clint. Kate opened the passenger door and tossed the pile that was Yelena’s clothes on the floor in the back after climbing in.

“Yes, we can go. Give me just like…five minutes? I’m going to grab some water and a snack. Then we’ll hit the road,” Clint told them after closing the door for Kate. He jogged back to the house, yelling, “Five minutes tops!” He tripped on the 3rd porch step and Kate laughed loudly so he heard her.

The car radio was playing a random song that was recently popular and Kate hummed along but Yelena on the other hand began getting antsy in the back again. Walking from one side of the car to the other on the leather seats while staring at the screen door that led into the farmhouse. She’d sit, then stand up and walk around more. Sit again, stare, get up, spin, sit again. At one point Kate was sure she heard a very quiet whine but when she turned around Yelena was up and pacing again.

It was the longest five minutes ever but as promised, Clint came jogging back out holding a quickly-made sandwich in one hand and a Gatorade in the other. He hopped in the car, slamming the door. Kate clicked her seatbelt on with Clint doing the same. After a glance at the dog in the back seat through the rear-view mirror, Clint threw the SUV in drive, circled around and then sped down the driveway towards the heavily wooded forests.

Chapter Text

It was a drive Clint had made many times in the past few years, from the farm to the State Park he spent most of his work days immersed in. This specific drive was a little different though than others.

It was partially because Kate was beside him. They’d visited the park together before for family hikes and whatnot, but it’d been awhile.

It was mainly however because of the large, fluffy dog that was not actually a dog but rather a shape-shifting teenage girl, wearing a path into the vinyl from her pacing in the back seat.

He glanced at Kate in the passenger seat, then in the rearview mirror to try and make eye contact with Yelena again, but he failed. “Yelena…honey, we’ll be there in about twenty minutes. Okay?” Clint said as he drove them smoothly down a paved road. He wanted to try and calm her down but wasn’t sure what he could say to help. He was well aware that the girl was still wary of him and didn’t want to spook her.

“Clint,” Kate whispered, though there was no doubt Yelena’s alert hearing wouldn’t hear, “Can you drive faster?”

As much as he wanted to by-pass every speed limit sign and get them to the woods faster, he wouldn’t risk their safety. Or his perfect driving record. Tickets are not cheap.

“I’m going as fast as I can, Katie. Maybe you can…?” Clint said, nodding back at the still-pacing dog.

Kate turned around in her seat with a determined look. “Hey Yelena. See this number? On the clock?” she said, pointing to the digital clock on the dashboard of the SUV.

Yelena paused her pacing, having gone from one window to the other over and over, to see what Kate was pointing at. It was dizzying. <Number?>

“Mhm, yep! See the 3 right here?” Kate said, pointing to the 3 in the group of numbers that read the time of 12:31 pm.

Yelena didn’t respond but she was still watching, so Kate continued, “When that changes to a 5, it means we are there.”

Yelena cocked her head, then turned, uninterested, and went back to pacing.

Kate sighed. “I forgot she doesn’t know the numbers in English.”

Clint was aware that the shape-shifting girl knew a fair amount of the English language, so to not know the numbers seemed a tad odd to him. “Maybe you can teach her?” They had twenty minutes to kill after all.

Kate brightened and turned again, drawing Yelena back over to her to try and teach her the English versions of one through ten. Clint wasn’t sure how much Yelena was really listening but Kate talking seemed to bring a bit of calm to the anxious air in the car. Clint had forgone any music in the car, unsure on if it would be welcome or not.

After a short span of time, Yelena’s quiet voice spoke in their minds again. <It is a new number.>

“Yeah! Four! Four comes after three. So three, four, five,” Kate explained, like she was talking to a child, using her fingers to count.

<Five we are there?> Yelena asked.

Kate looked at Clint and after a nod from him, said, “Yep.”

Yelena turned so her big, brown eyes stared into Kate’s for a short second. With a small exhale through her nose, she turned away to stare out the window again.

Kate frowned and turned back around again. She ended up being the one to put the radio on quietly, some country station playing. It didn’t cause any panic or negative reactions and Clint savored the soft sound to hold some of his focus as some overly-twangy voice serenaded them. 

Once Clint drove past the large Iowa State Park sign, he cleared his throat. “Alright, girls, keep uh…I mean, everyone stay in the vehicle until I say so. Please.”

He drove slowly, waving at any fellow rangers or visitors they passed with a lift of his fingers off the steering wheel as he made his way deeper into the woods. About fifty feet near where he remembered finding the cougar, Yelena’s voice rang loud in his mind, the echoey feeling in the words.

<I smell me!>

Well, at least it confirmed he had a good memory.

Clint slowed to a stop and then put the car in park off the side of the road and into the grass so he wasn’t in the way of any other vehicles passing by. 

Clint turned off the engine, unbuckled, and turned in his seat so he could face both Kate next to him and Yelena in the back. She was looking out all the windows and let out another pathetic whine.

<Open door?>

Clint cleared his throat. “I know we’re here to try and find signs of your family, but we are still in the middle of a very dense forest and I am extremely wary of what is out there, considering…recent events. I want us to try and stick together. Can we try and make that happen?” Clint said, talking to both Kate and Yelena but really only hoping the request stuck with the latter.

“Yes. We’ll stay together,” Kate said.

Yelena didn’t answer, instead whining again.

“Shit… alright. This is kind of crazy,” Clint muttered. “Just be careful. Please. Alright girls?”

Kate opened her door and was barely off the seat before Yelena was jumping over the center console and out the door. 

And then she took off.

“God dammit,” Clint said to himself, grabbing his keys and backpack before rushing after her.

Kate was looking around the area but had run off in the direction Yelena had gone, confused and unsure on what else to do. Thankfully they could still see her, but she was a good twenty or thirty feet away.

“Yelena! Wait up!” Kate yelled, trying not to trip over roots and uneven ground.

<Kate Bishop, I smell me! Come.>

“Yelena! You have to wait for us, we’re not as fast as you!” Kate huffed out, hoping she was heard. With a squeak, she tripped and went to fall forward but Clint, who’d caught up, grabbed her by the arm before she face-planted the earth.

After that, she slowed to a fast walk instead of a run, Clint beside her. When they finally did catch up with the anxious canine, she was sniffing in circles. 

“What are we even looking for?” Kate asked as they followed Yelena’s random path. She kept stopping to circle around areas and sniff the ground, which was the only way they were able to keep up.

“I just want you to keep an eye on her. I’ll take care of what we are looking for,” Clint said. He didn’t want Kate to be on the lookout for blood or dead bodies whether they were human, animal, or something else, and he didn’t have time to teach Kate how to track in the woods anyway. She was only there because Yelena had requested it. That and he didn’t think Kate would have let them leave without her.

As the three of them got further into the woods, the sun moved slowly across the sky. Yelena did eventually let Kate catch up and they stuck together for the most part. Kate wandered around, more taking in the scenery than anything else as she talked aloud about nothing of much importance. Clint was not surprised, as Kate and silence were rarely a combination of any kind. 

She spoke of the weather, plants she saw, random forest facts, stories of other times she had visited the park with Clint or Laura. She also made a point to announce any animal she saw. Each time Yelena would immediately stop to find the animal in question and stare, but after a few moments her ears would fall slightly and she would move on to wherever her nose led to next.

Unfortunately, Clint hadn’t found anything that Yelena hadn’t on their traipse through the woods. He was glad his watch had a compass though, because otherwise he wasn’t sure they’d be able to find their way back to the SUV.

As the time started to reach into the second hour, he handed Kate a bottle of water from his bag. He had offered one to Yelena too but she declined, simply walking off. Something in her movements had changed though; she seemed more twitchy, but Clint wasn’t sure why. The area they were in seemed no different than any other.

“Ugh, I’m so hot,” Kate said, sitting on a fallen log next to Clint to chug her water.

“Same. It would be much worse without all the shade though,” Clint commented, which was true. Other than a few walking paths they crossed or small batches of open fields that held bushes and prairie grass, they were constantly covered by shade from the woods.

“How much longer do you think?” Kate asked.

“I dunno, Katie. Other than a dead rabbit, we haven’t seen much of anything. I’m starting to doubt her siblings are even out here,” Clint said. He cupped his hand around his mouth and said louder, “Yelena! Can you come back here a moment? We need to regroup.” At the rate they were going, they would keep going until they crossed state lines.

With impatience, Yelena ran over and stood in front of Clint. Her fur had burrs, leaves, pine needles and dirt all over it but her eyes sparkled.

<What is regroup?>

“It means we need to replan,” he said. 

“There was a plan in the first place?” Kate asked. Clint ignored her with a slight roll of his eyes.

“Have you come across any sign of your siblings? Or any other scents? Does anything ring a bell to you?”

Yelena cocked her head, ears wiggling. <Bell?>

Clint sighed. He tried again. “Do you still smell only yourself?”

<Da.>

“But not your siblings yet? Or anything or anyone else?” he clarified.

One ear twitched. She didn’t answer but it was the same as a ‘no’ to Clint. 

“Can you have a little water? You should drink something. But I think we can keep going a bit longer before we need to head back,” he gently requested.

Yelena sniffed the water he had uncapped but stopped short. <Back where?>

“Back home,” Clint said.

She eyed him. It was disconcerting having a dog give you a look that normally a human would. <After find moya s-family?>

He sighed. “Not if we don’t find them soon. We can’t be here past dark. We need to get back to the truck before sunset. We can come back a different day and park where we left off if it comes to that,” Clint explained. It was still bright out but the sunlight was deceiving through the trees.

Kate had poured a bit of water into a collapsible cup Clint had in his bag and finally Yelena started to drink something. When it was empty, she looked at Clint with her big brown eyes. 

<N… We stay. You said find my sister.> Yelena accused with an undertone of a growl he heard. 

Clint recapped the now empty bottle. “I know I did, and we will, but it’s not safe at night. Plus, that’s the park rules.”

“And my feet hurt,” Kate complained unhelpfully.

Clint rolled his eyes again. “And Kate’s feet hurt.”

<You… are hurt?> Yelena asked as her furry face looked at Kate, her tone changing to worry.

“Oh um, no. I’m okay. Just not used to running around the woods all day I guess,” Kate said. “Do you want some more?” she asked, holding the cup out and her own bottle of water that was still half-full. 

Yelena looked to Clint then back to Kate.

<You go back. With Clint.> she said.

“Huh? What do–Yelena wait!” Kate said with confusion as Yelena suddenly turned and sprinted away.

Yelena didn’t wait though. She ran, only this time she didn’t stop. She quickly disappeared from view through the trees even as Kate yelled for her, starting to chase after her.

Clint hung his head, hands rubbing at his temples. They couldn’t keep up with a freaking dog all day, especially one that wouldn’t listen to them.

“Kate, I think we should–”

“Nooo!” Kate whined. She was standing, waiting for Clint to get up. “We have to go after her! Maybe we’re close. We have to be close, right? We’ve been out here for hours. We’ll find something!”

“At this point, I have no idea. There’s no sign of anything or anyone besides a few cougar footprints, which I can only assume are from Yelena herself. Her and her family could have come from miles away though,” Clint said unhelpfully.

Kate shuffled around, squeezing her hands into fists anxiously with a pout on her face. “What do we do?” she finally asked.

Clint paused to see if maybe he could hear Yelena in any way but when the answer was negative, he sighed again before standing. “We need to head back to the truck.”

When Kate started to argue, he held up his hand. “Just to get there before dark. I don’t know about you, but I can’t see too well in pitch-black night. She can see a lot better than we can at the moment. We’ll get in, head back here and from there drive in the direction she went.”

“But we won’t leave without her, right?” Kate said as she eventually turned around and followed Clint back from where they had come from.

“We won’t leave without her,” Clint said, though he wasn’t sure how he could 100% promise so.

It took considerably less time to find their way back to his vehicle, but it was reaching 4:00 pm as they hopped in the truck.

“You know which way, right?” Kate asked.

“Of course I know which way. What kind of park ranger would I be?” Clint said, one eyebrow lifted, making Kate laugh. 

He started the car and took off, hoping that he wouldn’t have to break his promise.

In the fifteen minutes it took him to arrive as close as he could to where they’d left the other girl, Laura had called to check in. Not knowing what to really say, he had passed the phone to Kate to let the two talk as he focused on driving as well as hopefully ease Kate’s mind a little. Kate relayed the important information he missed when the call ended; what Laura was making for dinner. 

Once he got just past where they’d last seen Yelena, the dense foliage petered off a little and instead Clint had to maneuver them on windy roads and a few bridges that went over small streams of water. The sun lowering in the sky started to be blocked by the tallest trees and Clint’s worry began to grow.

Eventually he found the furthest outpost in the park before they reached the three-state corner border and he pulled over. The outpost itself was very old and hadn’t been used in a long time because of some damaged steps and rotted wood that had yet to be fixed.

Kate hopped out and began yelling the other girl's name repeatedly, but there was no response. 

“This was such a bad idea…” Clint said to himself as he closed the door.

Curiously enough, he noticed the rope blocking off the wooden outpost stairs was cut. He turned on his radio and asked who was meant to be stationed there but was informed it was still closed for safety reasons. At closer inspection, some of the steps were in fact still broken but it had definitely been used recently.

“Hey Kate? Stay close please,” Clint said loudly.

“Okay,” she said in answer.

With a decision of direction from Clint based on some prints he noticed in the dirt, they headed off again.

No more than twenty minutes went by before something caught Clint’s eye.

Kate had been trudging along, calling out for Yelena every so often and trying to look around for anything out of place but he could tell she was losing steam. 

Without bringing attention to himself, he wandered over to a spot near a tree that looked a little too dark for his liking. Once he was a few feet away, he realized why.

The side of the tree along with the grass and foliage on the ground was covered in dark, dried blood. A lot of it. Enough to fill the body of a large animal. 

Or a human.

It looked to be at least a day or two old based on the brown color but there was no mistaking what it was. And however it got there was not in a nice way. Besides the giant circle of blood, there were splatters on some of the taller plants nearby and up the bark of the tree. Some of the blood was embedded past the bark that had been crudely hacked into. Other than the dark-brown stain in the forest though, there was nothing else. No body, no clothing, no hints of what had died here.

Whatever bled out here had been picked up in a very clean manner. 

Other than some broken branches and flattened grass, there was nothing else to see around the dark stain on the earth.

A sharp noise alerted him and Clint quickly stood from where he’d been crouched. He flicked the safety off on the gun that resided in the holster on his hip.

“Yelena?” Kate yelled a few trees over, standing on a stump and looking around.

No voice in their heads answered but another noise, the sound of a bark unmistakable, was heard far ahead. Kate scurried off after the noise but with a firm order from Clint, she crouched down and waited for him. His gun was out and Kate eyed it nervously.

<Wanda?> Yelena’s voice rang out, far away but clearly projected. <Wanda!> she then shouted, fear evident.

“Yelena! Where are you?” Kate yelled but quickly snapped her mouth shut with a look from Clint.

<Wanda’s blood. Here. And here. She was here!>

Going much slower than Kate wanted to, they finally caught sight of Yelena again, dirtier than ever. It was getting near sunset and a feeling of dread began to fill his chest. He started regretting letting either of them come.

“Stay by me, Kate,” he ordered. 

Yelena's voice in their heads began to mutter in another language, most likely her native tongue. She jumped on a tree, her nails scratching the bark. She growled lowly. Other than a few wimpy whines, it was the first he’d really noticed her acting so…animalistic.

“She didn’t say anything to you about how long she can stay like that, did she?” Clint asked Kate with a look at the dog. 

She shook her head. “No. But she mentioned something about getting tired before. Or after? I…forget.”

Another whine, more pitiful than before. 

The trees were thinning out and then the sound of water could be heard. They had reached the state border, where Iowa touched Minnesota and Wisconsin. The Mississippi River was up ahead, a sign of the end of the park limits. With no way to continue without heading into Minnesota, he knew that they’d gotten to the end of their search for the day.

Clint reached the edge of the cliff the dog was standing on. Kate kneeled beside her, hugging her around the middle. “Yelena! Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

If Yelena responded, she didn’t let Clint in on the answer. He shone his flashlight down below where she was looking though, but saw nothing unusual.

“Are they–I mean, did you…did you find anything?” Kate then said. 

<Gone…>

“Gone? Are you sure? Maybe they… maybe they just…” Kate trailed off as Yelena’s rambling Russian filled their heads again, like a whisper. It was disconcerting.

Clint deduced that wherever her siblings were, they’d been in the vicinity at some point but were there no longer. The darkening water below gave him plenty to worry about the longer Yelena stared down at it.

He knelt down, resting a hand on her dirty, furry shoulder. “Sweetie, can your brother and sisters swim?”

She didn’t answer. Instead, Yelena inched forward so more of her face could see over the ledge. Clint followed her sight but other than the water below, saw nothing else. He tried again.

“Yelena? Honey? Can they swim?”

<Don’t know… I don’t know.> she said, anguish clear in her words.

She didn’t know if they could swim?

“Okay. Alright. Could they have maybe gone…elsewhere?” Clint asked, looking up towards the sky. He wasn’t sure how to ask if her siblings had maybe been able to fly away without sounding like an idiot.

Again, Yelena did not answer. She sat down and then slid to the ground to lay there, looking over the steep cliff and down into the water many feet below, and whined. Kate began petting her until she got fed up with all the crap stuck in it, and began picking burrs and other pieces of nature off the dog’s fur. 

“Be right back. Stay here together and be careful. Maybe…back up a few feet,” Clint said before walking away. 

With the dying light, he took some time to take a second look around the surrounding vicinity. He found a bullet embedded into a tree nearby and was able to dig it out with his knife, pocketing the piece of metal. The blood Yelena had found, her sister’s, was found in small drops along the forest floor and on an old fallen tree, but it wasn’t much. 

He took pictures of the area that contained the large area of brown, dried blood, along with the scratched-up bark of a tree, some shoe prints that he was fairly certain were not from himself or Kate, and a bush that looked like something heavy had fallen into it. A few feathers were stuck in some of the thorns of the bush and he pulled one out, inspecting the pattern, but couldn’t place what bird it was from. He stuck the long feather in his front pocket then did a good double-search of the radius between the truck and edge of the cliff, but found nothing else to note. 

Having cleared the area as safe enough, he re-holstered his gun and wandered back to where he’d left the girls. When he walked back towards the cliff, the girls were still where he’d left them, a few feet away from the edge.

A small bird flew from a tree across the river, fluttering around in the darkening sky and Yelena’s muzzle lifted off the ground, watching it.

The bird flapped around then flew away, paying no mind to the three of them. Yelena curled into herself, hiding her face.

“She’s been calling to them,” Kate said.

Clint looked over. “To who?”

“The birds. And other animals we keep seeing,” Kate said in answer. 

Clint bent down. “We should go,” he said.

A quiet whine came from the pile of fur. 

“Okay,” Kate said quietly, flicking a piece of burr away that she’d been picking apart. She looked up at him as Yelena whined louder. His heart twinged at the sad sound and he put a hand on Yelena’s head, rubbing down her neck.

“Let’s go home and get some dinner. Laura’s making spaghetti. Does that sound good?” he said.

Kate made a sound akin to minor excitement. “Don’t worry, Yelena. We’ll find them. It’ll be okay,” she said hopefully. 

Russian began to fill their minds again, rambling echoes that meant nothing to them as Kate stood up and stretched. There were marks pressed into the skin of her legs from how long she’d been sitting on the ground. She brushed off the visible dirt and pieces of grass and pebbles stuck to her skin.

“Yelena…” Kate said softly when she hadn’t gotten up. A soft whine was heard again.

Clint sighed. “Sweetie, it’ll be alright,” he said, even though he really had no way of knowing so. “We’ll find them. I’ll keep helping you until we do, but we need to go back for now,” he said. Then, against his better judgment, Clint leaned further onto one knee and scooped the pitiful creature in his arms as Kate stood by helplessly.

<Nyet! Please… please… Oni mne nuzhny,> Yelena cried, switching from English again and dissolving into a continuous ramble of words, though Clint wasn’t sure they were really meant for him and Kate. A long, pathetic howl came from the dog in his arms, as if she was making one last attempt to try and contact someone not there. He could do nothing besides hold on tighter in comfort as he walked them back to the truck. Clint’s eyes met Kate’s, her eyes sad and almost tearful as she gripped his sleeve. Together, they slowly made their way back to the car.

By the time they made it, Clint’s arms were shaking from the weight of carrying a 50+ pound animal for over a mile. Kate opened the back door and slid in the middle. As gently as he could, Clint maneuvered Yelena from his arms onto the seat. She was limp, like a puppet with her strings cut. Kate pulled her closer so he could close the door, then with one last look around the now darkening and eerie woods, Clint rounded the car, hopped in his seat, started the engine, and began the drive home.

The crunch of rocks under tires roused Kate up from the doze she had accidentally fallen into and the lights of the Barton’s farmhouse finally faded into view as Clint drove down the long gravel driveway. 

Ever since Clint had carried Yelena back to his truck, she hadn’t made a sound. Hadn’t said a word. Hadn’t done…anything.

Kate shook Yelena, thinking her asleep, but when her hand rubbed against warm skin instead of fur, she froze.

“Um! Clint, don’t look back here,” Kate said in a panic. She spun groggily in her seat and after shoving a few things around, grabbed what she knew Clint always kept in the way back; a blanket. She waved the checkerboard-patterned fabric out and covered the blonde with it. The clothes she’d brought with them were on the floor in the front seat.

“She uh… she changed,” Kate said when Clint put the vehicle in park. “You can look now.”

When the car’s engine was once again turned off, Clint got out, walked around and opened the door. The blonde was curled up on the seat, her eyes half open and staring into space.

“Yelena?” Kate whispered, afraid to move. 

The blonde curled more into the blanket atop her, head shoved against Kate’s thigh. Kate looked at Clint worriedly but the man just sighed sadly.

Without further ado, Clint reached in and scooped the limp girl back in his arms, using the large blanket to curl around her.

“Yelena?” Kate said again, trying to get her attention as she closed the car door and scurried after them anxiously. Did she know Clint was the one carrying her? Was she scared? What was wrong with her? Should she grab her clothes?

The porch door creaked open. “Hey you three, glad you’re back! How’d it–” Laura began but didn’t finish her sentence. She held the door open for them all to pass. “It didn’t go well?”

Clint shook his head. “Based on the tiny tidbits of information we got, one of the sisters were there at some point, but not anymore,” Clint relayed to Laura. He set Yelena on the couch as he spoke, Laura helping to keep her covered when her bare shoulder popped out. “She might have jumped in the Mississippi or crossed it somehow. Maybe I dunno, flown over,” he waved his hand up in the air, “But we didn’t find them,” he finished.

Laura frowned. “Did she get hurt?” 

Clint shook his head as Kate sat next to Yelena on the couch, wanting to do something but unsure on what. 

“No. She’s just…upset? In shock? Exhausted? I honestly don’t know,” Clint said. “She changed back in the car apparently. I don’t know the ins and outs of it all…”

Although Kate was glad Yelena was herself again, she wasn’t sure what to do to help. She just looked so sad…

Suddenly, Kate had an idea. “Be right back!” she said, though it was hard to tell if the blonde had been listening, and ran upstairs to grab the pajamas Yelena had worn the night before.

Wearing comfy clothes always made Kate feel better, so surely it would help. At least maybe just a little, right?

When she got back downstairs, Laura and Clint were in the kitchen talking in hushed tones while Cooper and Lila were at the table eating dinner. Cooper was multitasking with a coloring book and pack of crayons and Lila was making a mess in her highchair with chopped up noodles and marinara.

Kate walked back over to the couch and tried to coax Yelena to change.

“I got your pee-jays to put on,” she said, holding up the shirt and wiggling it. “Wanna get comfy?”

Kate was ignored.

“...Yelena?” she said with a frown.

Unless she physically forced her to, Kate didn’t think she would be able to get Yelena to put the clothes on. Or do a whole lot of anything. The girl was staring off at nothing, like a zombie.

“Kate? Come eat some dinner, honey,” Laura called over to her.

With a sad sigh, Kate set the clothes on the couch, tucked the blanket tighter around her arms and left to go sit at the table. A plate of spaghetti was set in front of her and her stomach growled again from the smell. “Thank you, Laura,” Kate said quietly, twirling her fork in the noodles and taking a bite.

“Of course. Your mom called, by the way,” Laura said with a kiss to Kate’s head. “I told her you’d call her back when you guys got back home.”

“Oh, okay,” Kate said. She felt bad for missing her mom’s phone call. It had completely slipped her mind that she hadn’t talked to her when she’d hopped in Clint’s truck.

“Don’t worry, she was fine with it. I told her you were with Clint with spotty service and would be back around dinnertime,” Laura said as she wiped Lila’s messy face. “There’s still plenty of time tonight to call back.”

“Okay. I’ll call after dinner if that’s okay,” Kate said. 

“Of course it is,” Laura responded.

Kate glanced over at the back of the couch, Yelena’s head of blonde hair the only part of her visible over the back.

“Eat your dinner before it gets cold, honey,” Laura said.

Feeling slightly better knowing she’d get to talk to her mom, Kate finished dinner with more enthusiasm than she’d started it with.

It felt weird, and bad, eating with Yelena still on the couch. Rude perhaps, but Kate didn’t know what else to do, so she ate quickly. When she was done with her food, she went over to try again with the blonde but Laura stopped her.

“My phone is charging but why don’t you go give your mom a call on the house phone?” Laura suggested. 

“But…”

“Go on,” Laura said as she went over to the couch instead, leaving Clint to care for the little ones. “I got her. I think your mom had something important to tell you.”

With a last glance at the top of Yelena’s head, Kate took the phone off the base and dialed her mom’s number, excited to finally talk to her for the first time in six days.

It felt like a dream. But… one she couldn’t wake up from. 

Yelena was fairly certain she was not asleep. She tried mind-speech but it wouldn’t work. She tried talking but her mouth wouldn’t do what she wanted it to. Or at least what she thought she wanted it to.

She was… She couldn’t remember where. It was soft and warm. And smelled slightly familiar. And although Yelena could hear things, they sounded far away, like her ears were clogged.

Some of the sound got closer, then something touched her, but she didn’t know what. It didn’t hurt, so she didn’t move. She just…couldn’t.

Yelena was exhausted. Against her better judgment, she’d spent too long in dog form. But she’d had no choice. She needed to find Natalia. And now…now she was…

Lost in her head again. 

They promised they would help. The people who took her to their house. Laura, and her…whatever he was. Clint. With their small children. And larger child, Kate Bishop. They promised to help her find Natalia, and Wanda and Pietro. But they didn’t find them. They were gone. 

Gone…

She’d failed. And didn’t know what to do.

The background noises buzzed in her ears. They were not what Yelena was used to. They were soft. Quiet. Maybe…happy?

Yelena was used to loudness. Of metal on metal, and screaming that you couldn’t shut out even if you wanted to.

She was trying desperately to remember what Wanda had told them. She remembered them talking before they were separated, but could not remember what Wanda had said to do. 

She didn’t know what to do…what does she do? Where are her brother and sisters? What if they–

Panic filled her again from the uncertainty, her chest feeling tight at the possibilities and making her breath hitch. Uncertainty of if they were dead. Or that the General found them. Or…

But…she scented Wanda’s blood. She’d been there, in the woods. Hurt, but alive. She’d gone past the cliff. Yelena was certain of it. 

But was that good?

And over that cliff, it was so far down, and the water…there was so much of it. Was Wanda okay? Did she fly over? Could she swim? Yelena wished she could remember. And how did she find her now? Were Natalia and Pietro with her? She thought she had caught faint scents of them, but they’d been small traces. Insignificant. 

So many questions, so many unknowns. 

Her head hurt. And her heart hurt.

The large amount of blood she’d found near a tree earlier had been surprising, but it hadn’t belonged to her siblings, so she didn’t care.

Her mind wandered again.

A weight on her arm was felt. It squeezed, then went away. Then it was on her cheek.

The quiet around her was filled by a kind voice close to her. 

Her mouth worked again for just a moment. “...Wanda?”

Yelena’s senses focused and although it sounded like Wanda, it was not her. Laura’s face became clearer and Yelena’s heart broke a little more when she realized she’d confused Laura for her Wanda. Yelena thought she made a noise but…wasn’t sure.

“Arms up, sweetie,” Laura's kind voice said. Yelena slowly complied when Laura helped her do so, trying to mentally plaster Wanda’s face on Laura’s but it wouldn’t stay. 

Wanda wasn’t there.

Laura slid a shirt over Yelena’s arms and head. Pants were slid onto her legs and Laura had her stand up into them. The blanket around her slid off but it was wrapped back around her quickly. 

Laura had her sit back down, then she disappeared only to reappear with a piece of wet fabric to wipe Yelena’s face off. She had been talking to Yelena the whole time, her voice soft, and warm, and just like Wanda’s…

It made her want to cry. 

Laura disappeared again. Yelena laid down and curled up, letting her eyes close, and waited for sleep to come to drown out the buzz of noise along with the rest of the world.

A few rings and then a curt voice of sophistication answered. 

“Eleanor Bishop,” it said. Kate smiled.

“Hi mom!” Kate said, phone cradled to her ear.

“Oh hello, sweetheart! How are you?” Eleanor responded, voice quickly changing from a professional tone to one she only had with her daughter.

“I’m good. We just got back a little bit ago. We went to the woods today. Er, the park. Where Clint works,” Kate explained. “Then Laura made spaghetti for dinner.”

“That sounds really nice, honey. Did you have a good time?” Eleanor asked.

“Yeah. It was um…it was good,” Kate said, not knowing what else to say. “We went with a new friend of mine and Laura’s,” she then said. 

“Oh? The young man from Laura’s work you’re friendly with?” Eleanor asked.

Kate shook her head unnecessarily. “Grills! And no, not him. Her name’s Yelena! We uh, she…we’re trying to help her…yeah,” Kate finished awkwardly, unsure on what to really tell her mom regarding the girl. 

“Help her? In the woods? With what? Are you being safe, Kate?” her mom asked, worry bleeding through her words.

Kate let out a very loud sigh. “Yes, mom, we’re being safe.”

“Alright, honey. I’m just checking,” Eleanor said.

“Clint was with us the whole time,” Kate said in defense.

Eleanor tsked. “That means nothing and you know it, Kate,” she said while laughing.

“Yeah…you’re right,” Kate said with a shrug. She jumped up on the counter and leaned back against the cabinets as she continued talking.

“Where are you right now?” Kate asked. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Yelena stand up, Laura helping her change into her pajamas.

“I’m in California, in a very fancy hotel in San Diego,” Eleanor answered. Kate heard a noise in the background and then Eleanor murmuring something, then it went away.

“Are you by the beach?” Kate asked.

“I’m a few miles away, but I can see the ocean from the hotel windows since I’m on the 10th floor,” Eleanor said with a smile in her voice.

Kate grinned. “That’s so cool,” she said, trying to imagine being able to see the ocean herself.

“Oh! Laura said you had a surprise to tell me?” Kate questioned. She began to fiddle with a bouncy ball she found on top of the microwave with a chunk missing out, making the missing chunk bigger.

“I do. Ready?” Eleanor said.

“Yes!” Kate chirped out.

Eleanor chuckled. “What do you say you and I take a special day next week and do something? Just the two of us?”

Kate froze. “Next week? You mean…you mean you’ll be here?”

“Mhm. I had a few meetings I was able to reschedule before I fly to Germany so I have two whole days free, just for you and me,” Eleanor said.

In her excitement, Kate dropped the now-horribly gouged ball and had to jump off the counter to grab for it one-handed as it bounced around the floor in random directions.

“Yeah! Yes! What day will you be here? How long? What time? What are we going to do?” Kate asked, talking much too fast as she finally grabbed the godforsaken bouncy ball and jumped back on the counter.

“Take a breath dear,” Eleanor said with a laugh. “I’ll be there first thing Friday morning and I’m leaving very early Sunday morning. I’ve got a hotel for two nights in Northern La Crosse, and we can do anything you want,” she said while Kate picked more at the bouncy ball, making crescent shapes with one of her nails.

“Does the hotel have a pool?” Kate asked.

Eleanor scoffed good-naturedly, “Does it have a pool. Do I not know my own child?”

Kate made a sound of glee. She hadn’t been swimming in ages. “Yes! That sounds so great! What time will you be here Friday?” Kate asked with excitement. 

There was a pause and a shuffle of papers. “My flight lands around seven and I’ll need to grab my rental car, so maybe nine? Nine-thirty?”

“Okay. I can ask Laura to make french toast!” Kate offered.

Eleanor laughed. “Sure Kate, whatever you want. So tell me what you’ve been up to all week?” Kate hugged the phone a little closer to her ear, happy to hear her mom’s voice. 

They spoke for almost an hour as Kate relayed what she’d been doing over the past week, which wasn’t much, but Eleanor listened intently just the same. The only thing Kate kept to herself was the exact details of their new house guest. She wanted to tell her mom, but her gut told her to wait.

Eleanor in return told Kate stories of what she’d been doing in California and all her boring meetings with stuffy men in suits, and fancy restaurants she’d eaten at before eventually she needed to get off the phone. Although Kate’s butt had been going a little numb and the bouncy ball was now just a pile of tiny rubber pieces in her hand, she was a little reluctant to end the call.

“See you soon?” Kate said, a little bit of sadness in her tone.

“I will see you next week, my love. Be good for Clint and Laura, and be safe, okay?” Eleanor said.

“Yes. Okay. I will. I miss you,” Kate said childishly.

“I miss you too, Kate. I love you. Talk to you soon, okay?” Eleanor said with a small chuckle.

“Okay. I love you too. Bye mom,” Kate said forlornly and pressed the red ‘end talk’ button after her mom ended the call.

She threw the tiny pieces of rubber in the trash, then wandered to the living room.

Laura was sitting on the couch with Yelena’s head on her thigh, running her fingers through her still-messy blonde hair. The TV was on but the volume was super quiet, some old show Kate had never seen playing.

“Laura?”

The older woman looked up. “Hey Katie-girl. Have a nice chat with your mom?” Laura said, speaking quietly. She lifted up one arm to motion for Kate to scoot in and sit by her.

Kate nodded, walking around the couch and curling up next to Laura, resting her head on the older woman’s shoulder. Ever since her belly had started showing more, she’d been extra warm to the touch. It made for prime cuddling opportunities in Kate’s opinion.

“Mhm. It was good. She’s gonna be here next week. We get to spend the day together,” Kate told her, trying to talk quietly. 

Laura wrapped her free arm around Kate, hugging her closer. “That sounds so good, honey. I’m sure she misses you so much.”

Kate hummed. “I miss her too.”

Laura ran her nails over Kate’s back as they watched the old show play. Kate could tell it was old because of the grainy sepia-color and the audience’s laughter that was heard at the funny bits.

A tiny whimper came from next to Laura. Kate glanced over as Laura put a hand on Yelena, shushing her like she did for Lila when she was a baby and wouldn’t stop crying.

“Will she be okay?” Kate asked, looking at Laura.

“She’ll be alright, honey,” Laura said, back to petting Yelena’s hair when she was quiet again. Kate wasn’t so sure, but she trusted Laura. 

“What’re you watching?” Kate mumbled, Laura’s nails on her back lulling her to sleep.

“An old show I used to watch with my mom as a kid. Dick Van Dyke. Like it?”

“Mhm. The dad is funny,” Kate said just before yawning.

Laura laughed softly. “Long day?”

Kate curled up more, using Laura’s pregnant belly as a pillow. “Yeah. Is this okay?”

“It’s perfect,” Laura said. 

Kate watched the show with Laura until suddenly she blinked and it was dark in the living room, the TV turned off.

She’d been roused from sleep with a gentle shake from Clint.

“Go to bed, Katie,” he murmured and helped her get up from her curled up position.

“Mmm… wha’bout…?” Kate mumbled as she slowly walked to the stairs.

But she didn’t need to worry. Laura was already up and Clint had scooped the still-sleeping blonde up again, careful not to wake her.

“Practice for when ours get bigger, hm?” he said with a silly smile.

Laura and him had a moment, her whispering something. Then Clint, still in his work uniform, carried Yelena all the way up the stairs behind Kate as she slowly shuffled up the steps in a sleepy daze. 

Kate detoured to the bathroom and when she got back to her room, Clint was gone and Laura was fixing the blankets on the bed.

She took off her clothes and threw on a long shirt, then slid in bed. 

Yelena was curled up in a tiny ball, similar to the previous night and Laura had covered her with another blanket so Kate and her weren’t sharing. 

“Night, Laura,” Kate said, slurring her words slightly. She felt a kiss to her head.

“Good night. Wake me if you need anything,” Laura said, then turned the light off and closed the door.

Chapter Text

Early morning sunlight streamed through a dirty window, blindingly bright. Wanda shielded her eyes, sitting up to check her surroundings. 

She must have been dreaming but couldn’t for the life of her remember what it’d been about.

With a sigh of relief, she found Pietro and Natalia where they’d fallen asleep the night before on the floor beside her.

They were in one of the apartments near the bar they’d spent the previous evening at. It was completely empty, save for some dirt and mouse-droppings. With the windows closed along with each other’s body heat, they had remained warm enough to fall asleep without much of a chill on their skin.

Wanda recalled the night prior, a nervous feeling still inside. 

After the three of them had begrudgingly followed the intimidating bar owner Odin’s request of helping him clean tables, sweep, and finish a very large sink of dishes in exchange for the food and clothes he'd provided, he allowed them to leave. It had been a different kind of experience, as Wanda could not recall doing chores in a very long time, but Odin seemed satisfied with their work. She’d been worried it had all been a trick of some sort though. That he’d keep them there, or call someone. That he was going to do something to them. Or that the people they assumed were looking for them were going to walk through the front door. 

Natalia spent the entire night sending daggers with her eyes at Odin, the large dark-skinned man, and every single patron who walked in the dimly-lit bar. But, after the work he demanded of them was done, he simply allowed them to leave.

Then per Natalia’s very direct request, they ‘got the fuck out of there’ only to remember they still had nowhere to go.

Pietro’s suggestion with a pointed finger to the apartment building down the alley was the best they could do. So after he scaled a nearby ladder attached to the side of the building, he shimmied a window and pulled out the screen to one of the empty apartment buildings on the second story, they’d followed him in. Then like the squatters they were, they made a huddled bed of shirt-pillows with the clothes they’d been allowed to keep and snuggled up. With almost too-full stomachs, they had fallen quickly to sleep. 

It was now the third official day they were on their own and although there was still much trepidation about their current predicament and future, Wanda was making the decision to be positive about it. Or at least try to. The nerves that refused to settle in her stomach were trying to argue otherwise.

Besides, she knew Natalia would feel the exact opposite. She was a negative Nancy to a T. Pietro was a wild card but was more often than not, a follower. He would usually choose either to follow Wanda’s lead, or argue with Nat, so to hopefully save herself a headache, she prayed Pietro would feed off her positivity.

Wanda had taken up one side of their little cuddle pile, with Pietro on the other and Natalia in the middle. Movement beside her had Wanda turning around to tug Natalia’s mumbling form closer, unintentionally waking the redhead in the process.

Natalia blinked her eyes open with a silent inhale of breath, startled.

“Sorry,” Wanda said softly. Pietro was curled up with his back to them, so she was unsure if he was still asleep or not and did not want to wake him unnecessarily.

Natalia settled down, squinting her eyes. “S’okay.”

“Bad dream?” Wanda asked, resting her hand on Natalia’s face to shield her face from direct sunlight. 

A sleepy derisive chuckle made its way from Natalia. “Always,” she murmured, closing her eyes.

Wanda hummed. “There should be a shower or bathtub here,” she said eventually. They’d needed showers before they’d even left the compound and it had been multiple days since then.

Natalia opened her eyes back up as Wanda had started to play with a piece of her hair.

“Not much of a shower without soap, but I’ll take what I can get,” Natalia said as she shrugged the shoulder she wasn’t lying on.

Wanda sat up and stretched before standing. She grabbed her shirt and shook it out.

“Piet, wake up,” Natalia said, poking his leg with her foot. 

“I am awake, suka,” Pietro said in an annoyed tone.

“Why are you always suck a dick?” Natalia asked, sitting up.

“Why are you?” Pietro said in retaliation as he turned his neck.

“Quiet! Both of you. This is not helpful!” Wanda admonished, intervening just as Natalia went to yell something.

A noise from another apartment in the building had them all freezing. Natalia shoved Pietro on the shoulder with a glare after a prolonged silence followed.

Wanda closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. “I am going to wash up. Please get your shit together by the time I am back,” Wanda begged with a hint of a growl. Then without another word, left to wander the apartment in search of a bathroom.

She loved her siblings, more than anything, but the way they were acting lately had her wanting to pull her hair out. Why couldn’t they get along for more than five minutes? They’d argued before, sure, and she knew Nat and Pietro bickered more than talked, but it’d never been like this. They had always been quick to forgive or get past whatever the issues had been.

Now, it’s like every moment was hit or miss between them. Wanda knew they were stressed, but… things were better, right? Getting better at least? 

Wanda wasn’t sure what to do, or if there was anything she even could do, so she focused on where she was going and instead thought about how nice it would be to feel clean. It was only one small thing, but it was something.

The apartment wasn’t very large. Through a small kitchen, at the end of a hallway past a few doors leading to a closet or bedroom was a bathroom. It held an old yellowed tub with a showerhead above it, a toilet, and a pedestal sink. Dead bugs laid around the drains of the tub and sink. Wanda turned on the tub as hot as it would go and after a few seconds and a weird gurgle, water spewed out. She fiddled around until she was able to switch the water from the tub faucet to the showerhead, then closed the door. After the bugs were washed down the drain, she stripped and almost cried from happiness at actual hot water touching her skin. Reluctantly, she did switch the water to a more tolerable and less painful temperature, as much as she wanted to stand there for hours until her skin was red.

Worried that the water would not remain hot forever, she only gave herself a few minutes, cupping some of the water and drinking it greedily while she allowed her body to be warmed before washing as best she could without soap. Squeaking the shower off, she threw her underwear and the clothes that they’d been given last night back on. The fabric stuck to her wet skin uncomfortably but it’d dry soon enough.

By the time she wandered back into the room she’d left Natalia and Pietro in, they were dressed and sitting up, talking quietly.

“Everything good now? Is all forgiven?” Wanda asked.

“Da. We are sorry Wands,” Natalia said, looking down.

“Sorry sestra,” Pietro murmured, looking away. Both of them looked embarrassed.

Wanda kneeled close to them. “The water is hot. One of you go shower. It’s at the end of the hall,” she said. Pietro was the one who stood with a nod from Natalia.

After a minute, they heard the door down the hall close. 

Natalia caught Wanda’s eyes.

“Turn?” Natalia asked with a twirl of her finger. Wanda did and soon she had fingers in her hair, attempting to brush through the wet, tangled strands. 

“I hate when you two argue,” Wanda eventually stated quietly as she rubbed her hands over the soft fabric of the sweatpants.

Natalia’s fingers paused. “I know. I’m sorry,” she said after a moment, then continued trying to get all the snags out of Wanda’s hair.

Wanda knew that out of them all, Natalia was miles more hot-headed. She was quick to anger, quick to insult, quick to react, all usually before thinking… It had gotten her into a lot of trouble the past thirteen years. Probably even before Wanda and Pietro had met her if she had to make bets on it.

By all accounts though, Natalia had been their protector. Even before they grew close, Natalia took the brunt of the punishments from any superiority figure to lessen them on other children, though Wanda was fairly certain her focus was always a tiny blonde they’d get glimpses of. It was as if it was ingrained in her very soul; to protect. She had far more scars than the rest of them did. 

Wanda let her thoughts drift, Natalia’s fingers in her hair soothing. She wasn’t sure what to do about much of anything at the moment but knew they had one joint goal. They needed to focus on finding their sister, while remaining safe. Everything else could be figured out later.

Then she could find them a big house away from everything bad, with lots of trees and open sky, just like they talked about. Just the four of them. 

And live happily ever after.

After getting Wanda’s hair as tangle-free as she could, Natalia wrapped her arms around Wanda and leaned against the taller girl until Pietro came walking back into the room, his own hair looking like the bottom of a wet mop.

When Natalia stood to shower, Pietro ruffled the top of her head as they passed each other. “Left a little hot water for you, mudak,” he said.

Natalia slitted her eyes. “Love you too, mophead.”

Pietro smiled easily and shook his wet hair at her like a dog, flinging water droplets at her. She bounced away with a laugh, and all was forgiven for the moment between them, like it usually was. Quick to start and quick to end.

Wanda took a deep breath, needing the small moment to keep calm in regards to her two siblings and their antics.

When Natalia was out of the room, Pietro went to sit near Wanda but decided last-minute to open the window in the room instead. Then he sat in front of it.

Wanda inched closer to be beside him, enjoying the barely-there breeze of the morning and the too-bright light shining on their faces, drying their skin and hair.

“Do you remember the old brown window? In mama and papa’s room?” Wanda asked, thinking back to the small window that they’d sit by at their childhood house. It had looked out upon a small field that sometimes would be used to grow communal vegetables and fruit in the warmer months. The window never stayed up by itself, needing a piece of wood wedged in to keep it open.

Pietro hummed, closing his eyes. He didn’t answer but Wanda knew he remembered. He had to… 

The sun hurt their eyes, bright even through their closed eyelids, but neither turned away until Natalia returned ten minutes later.

Wanda returned the favor and got as many snarls and tangles out of her bright hair as she was able to.

“We need haircuts,” she said offhandedly as she braided Natalia’s hair together. She had no way to tie it, but it would last for a few minutes at least.

Pietro shrugged. “Priorities.”

“So are we sticking together, or going separately?” Natalia asked, getting back to the main priority at hand. They'd spoken last night of what they should do today and had decided that heading back to the cliff was the best place to start. Natalia was now standing, almost buzzing with energy and Wanda wasn’t surprised. They’d had a rather good night’s sleep and had eaten so much food last night, she swore they’d gone into some sort of food coma. Although slightly hungry again, Wanda felt energized as well, ready to take on the day.

“Um, together, I suppose… We stay far enough apart to not be seen as a group but so that we can still speak to each other. We find the river and travel its length until we find where we jumped off. There’s only one river, right?” Wanda asked Pietro.

Pietro nodded. “As far as I could tell, yes. Just the one that way,” he said, pointing in a random direction through one of the walls.

“Alright. So, we see how far we can get before sunset. We use our quickest flying morphs. Which way does the river flow, Piet?” Wanda asked her brother.

“The water flows South, so we should fly North,” Piet said quickly. Wanda did not question him on how he knew all of what she asked, but trusted the answers were correct.

“Are you sure it is safe, our fastest? You do not want to all do crows?” Natalia asked. “It would be less conspicuous, no?”

“Nyet. We can travel much further and faster. And see better, too. If we stay far enough apart, I think we will be fine. No one will think we are traveling together unless they have very good bina…c-collars… Um. We keep in contact but spread out. If anything seems odd, channel your instincts to throw them off,” Wanda said. No one mentioned her mess-up of the word she had been trying to say. 

“I can cover the ground if you want,” Pietro offered but Wanda shook her head.

“No, not during the day. Plus I think we need to be on the other side of the river and I do not want either of you needing to use two different morphs. Be in the sky with us. Use your falcon. But do not go too far ahead of us,” Wanda warned firmly with a glare. Pietro wiped off the grin he had started sporting when Wanda had mentioned his falcon, nodding seriously. She knew he loved his falcon morph and had yet to use it in the open sky, only being allowed the largest enclosed rooms that never let him max out his speed. He fidgeted beside her impatiently.

“Nat, you good to use your hawk?” Wanda asked. Wanda’s own favored morph was her eagle and she had to fight not to smile herself just at the thought of shifting to it.

Natalia nodded, though seemed much less excited than Pietro was.

“Alright… rende… uh, rendezvous back here at dusk, even if something happens and we are separated. Just… be smart, be safe,” Wanda stumbled out, forgetting another long word for a second. She huffed in frustration then walked over to the kitchen and tipped her head under the faucet to drink as much water as she was able to, Natalia and Pietro doing the same. They each stripped off their shirts and pants and tucked them in a corner of the room. Then the window was shoved up higher, as wide as they were able to. Pietro shifted first, his morph smaller than Wanda and Natalia’s, and perched on the top of the windowsill, sticking his tiny dark gray head out.

<Looks clear,> Pietro said.

Wanda hopped up in the middle of the windowsill, the largest of them, and ducked her head before gliding out effortlessly. The sun shone off her dark tawny-colored feathers beautifully; bits of gold along with tan, brown, and black could be seen. Other than a few unassuming cars on the road or someone a few blocks over out for a morning jog, Wanda thankfully saw Pietro’s words rang true. There was no one out and about in the near vicinity to pay any attention to them this early in the morning.

They waited a minute, Wanda digging her deadly talons into the top of a nearby telephone pole, then Natalia followed Wanda’s path out in her newly shifted winged body, heading a slightly different direction once she was past the alley entrance. She flapped awkwardly until she landed a few flat rooftops over, using the open space to get a better feel of her body and wings.

Wanda was well aware of how strange their bird morphs were. Where hands would normally be, or paws with any of their other forms, instead there were large wings that could lift them miles in the sky, with their feet being deadly talons used for gripping branches as well as maiming and killing. 

Each feather in their wings or tail could be moved a centimeter to adjust themselves in the air. Things the human eye could barely see were now visible from a mile away. They were the most different from a human they could possibly get. 

At times it was scary flying miles above the ground, but they’d been through much worse in their lives. Using wings to fly around in the sky, far above everything, did a good job of quashing any remaining fears.

Natalia’s bird form, although similar in color to Wanda, was far from the same. 

Instead of a golden eagle, instead she was a smaller bird. A red-tailed hawk to be exact. The scientists that chose the animal DNA went a little overboard with the whole ‘red’ theme, but there was nothing to do about it. Anyhow, the species was beautiful and very useful. Could easily keep up with Wanda's eagle, and it was a great hunter as well. It more than exceeded the flying skills and eyesight of the crow. 

Plus, Natalia's hawk really was gorgeous. 

<This is way different than crow. Woah,> Natalia exclaimed after gaining her balance.

From where Wanda was at, she could see Natalia messing with her wings and tail feathers.

<It shouldn’t be too different… How many times have you morphed that, Nat?> Wanda asked. Natalia’s hesitancy on the morph now made sense.

<Um… a few, but it has been a long time. At least a year,> Natalia said in answer. <They only let me use the crow before we… left, but my wings are much longer now. This bird flies differently. I was never allowed into the outside area with anything except crow. For some really weird reason, they didn’t trust me,> she said, oozing sarcasm at the end. She jumped back in the air, flapping hard to gain altitude quickly and then made a small dive to try and build some momentum but accidentally tilted to one side and her right wing folded in. She flapped awkwardly to gain back the air she’d lost and avoid a collision with the ground.

Wanda chuckled in their heads as she flew up higher to land on the edge of a water tower railing. <You are not meant for air sports, silly. You are not a parakeet either. Fly higher and glide. Use the thermals in the air. Tune in to your instincts.>

<Thermals? And I’m trying. I just… am worried to let them take over,> Natalia said after some hesitation, speaking to only Wanda. Which was probably for the best. She wouldn’t be able to handle more teasing or arguing between Natalia and Pietro at the moment. For Natalia to admit any sort of weakness aloud was very rare.

<Thermals are warm pockets of air in the sky that will lift you up and do a lot of the work for you,> Wanda explained.

<Alright…> Natalia eventually said. Wanda was a little surprised that she had to explain this; she’d thought they’d all been taught this about flying. She could see Natalia doing a better job of gliding though, instead of flapping around like she'd first tried. Like a crow normally would. 

<You’ll be fine, darling. We are here. Keep your eyes on me but let me know if you start to go fuzzy,> Wanda sent to her privately. 

Natalia was exceptionally good at controlling her morphs, even when she received new ones. She’d only gotten stuck in her head a few times ever as far as Wanda was aware and it’d been easy to pull her out, but she knew it’d been scary for her. Natalia hated the idea of not having control of herself; it terrified her immensely.

Wanda turned her keen eyesight back towards Pietro. He’d hopped out of the open window while they'd been talking and it took her a second to find him. She caught him zooming around high in the air, diving at a deadly speed that neither girl could ever achieve, just to scoop back up and twist in the air with barely a sound heard. His dark gray wings contrasted well with the mottled pattern of gray and white on his belly.

<Show off,> Natalia grumbled.

Wanda chuckled to herself.

<Having fun, Piet?> she called over. 

He didn’t answer, but made a strong and shrill screech. Wanda rolled her eyes as best she was able to but was glad her brother was having a bit of fun. She had a feeling they all would once they were away from the city area.

<Let’s just go. We’re burning daylight. I’ll be fine with a little practice on the way,> Natalia said impatiently. She began fluffing her wings a bit more and then stretching them. 

<Alright. Nat, fly low and to the left. Piet, fly high but below me. Go as far away from each other as you can without breaking connection. I will stay between you two, high up,> Wanda instructed. She was capable of flying thousands of feet higher than either of them. She leaped off the railing she’d been standing on and effortlessly flew up higher and higher. A pocket of air aided her and she was lifted hundreds of feet in mere moments. 

Flying was so magical.

<We head towards the river, follow it upstream from there,> Wanda said after the buildings meant for businesses petered off and they were only passing houses. The river loomed larger and larger the closer they got.

<For how long?> Pietro asked.

<Until we find Yelena, you idiot,> Natalia said harshly before Wanda could say something. Wanda sighed internally.

<Nat… We will see how far we can get. Let’s just…try and find the cliff, first. But please, please stay alert. HYDRA knows what our morphs are,> Wanda said.

<Then why not choose crow? They are much more common here. Not that I am complaining…just saying though,> Pietro said. Wanda could see him zooming around below her. He would reach an area far ahead then play in the sky or smartly take a break, landing on a tall tree or telephone pole, until Wanda and Natalia could catch up. Although the two girls were large, Wanda much more so, Pietro was almost twice as fast as them. 

<We can cover more ground faster this way. And see better. Pietro, please don’t tire yourself out,> Wanda explained with a huff at the end as he continued to zoom around the sky. <Let’s just…try and find our baby sestra.>

In sufficient agreement, a proper plan in place, and the sun only moving higher in the sky, stealing time minute by minute, the three flew off towards the river. Quickly reaching it, they headed upstream.

Wanda hoped as hard as she could that they found something. Anything. 

<Let me try, Wands. I can do it,> Natalia said.

Wanda glided over to a large flat rock atop the pebbles that made up the shore, landing on one foot, the other holding a large fish she had just caught. She immediately began ripping it apart with her sharp beak and digging in greedily.

<Be my guest,> Wanda said without care, too busy devouring her meal. She was well aware that Natalia and Pietro were not ‘fish-catching’ predators, but was too hungry to put any more energy in arguing with Natalia and her ego.

They’d been flying for a few hours and had so far found nothing to note. While it was good they’d not come across any signs of their captors, it was disheartening to not find their sister or the cliff they’d lept off. Wanda didn’t think they could have traveled too far downstream, but really she had no way of knowing for certain. They’d been covering both sides of the river with Wanda above. They'd circled back a few times thinking they spotted something, but had been mistaken. Every mistakenly-identified ledge was always too low.

<This land is very flat,> Pietro had commented randomly after the first hour, but he was right. They’d all noticed it rather quickly. There were no large hills or tall cliffs of any kind that they could see, nor waterfalls in the river. So either the cliff in question did not exist along this river, or they were a long way from finding it.

Any animals they passed over were also questioned. More often than not, they were forms they were certain their sister did not have. A gray squirrel, a robin, a racoon; common animals that seemed to live in the vicinity. But if they were not sure, as there were a few animal forms they were not sure if their sister had or not, like a crow, a hawk, some of other small birds, a coyote, Natalia would send a mind-speech message over to them. She was the closest to the ground, barely skimming above the treetops, so it was easy, but no response was ever heard. It was never her. The animal would usually perk up and look around, or get spooked and run away in a random direction.

Eventually Natalia stopped broadcasting her shouts, but Wanda could tell it was getting to her. The false hope.

Wanda wished they knew what else to look for, but other than a tall cliff off the side of the river, men in dark uniforms with weapons, Yelena’s blonde hair, a sign of any of her morphs, or the General himself, they were all pretty lost. But they continued on nonetheless.

The sun beat hotly on Wanda's large wings but it was not uncomfortable. On the contrary, it felt amazing. Wanda was certain that if they were not having such a nice time soaring in the open sky, they would not be in as good of moods. 

Flying was just…indescribable. There was nothing else like it. It was wonderful. Beautiful. Freeing.

Wanda had just dove down into the river to catch a fish to eat after Pietro had complained for the fourth time of being hungry and bugs only filled them so much. They didn’t even fly much higher than where Natalia was gliding around, so really it was just Pietro and Natalia making do with the rare free snacks. There was nowhere to go to just grab some food as they were and it would use too much energy to demorph, find food to steal as their human selves, and then morph back. They’d surely pass out. 

They had passed a few small buildings along the river that probably would have contained food but did not want to attract the attention that stealing would gain. 

Channeling the eagle’s mind and instincts, Wanda’s sharp beak ripped into the fish’s body in the parts with the most meat and she ate greedily as she let her shared hunger consume her for a brief time. She felt a little bad at killing a defenseless creature, but not bad enough to not do so. It was part of nature and they needed food. Knowing that water morphs had never successfully been instilled in any of them or other children that they were aware of eased her conscience as well.

With a soft command from Wanda, Pietro fluttered over to share her meal. He was not meant for fishing, was horrible at it really, and Wanda didn’t want him to waste time trying to hunt for small critters when she could easily feed them all.

Natalia on the other hand had apparently had enough of Wanda being in charge of everything.

From her peripheral, Wanda saw her red wings glide down, her feet just barely avoiding skimming the top of the water. She did this a few times before seeing something and going for it. Her dark talons dipped in the river and soon a small fish was caught between one. She flew a few feet before it slipped out and fell back in the river with a tiny plip.

Pietro began laughing loudly in their heads while he swallowed a meaty piece of the half-eaten fish.

An angry screech was heard as Natalia turned suddenly and glided towards them in a rush, almost running into them but tilting at the last second. Pietro jumped back, feathers ruffled in annoyance as Wanda ignored the interaction entirely.

<Just try again,> Wanda said between focused swallows of raw fish and annoyance. She couldn’t necessarily say the fish tasted delicious, but the eagle’s mind as well as her’s were satisfied. <Piet, stop pushing her buttons,> she sent to him privately. 

Impressed as she was at Natalia’s flying compared to how awkward she’d been this morning, she wasn’t about to tell her sister so and promote her actions. After a few more near misses, Natalia was finally successful and glided over near to a nearby rock, feasting on her independently-caught meal that was much smaller than Wanda’s had been.

<Finally,> Pietro muttered.

<Maybe next time I just eat you,> Natalia threatened jokingly. Mostly. Her sharp beak ripped the meal apart crudely.

<Just eat. Fucking children…> Wanda said.

Pietro huffed in their heads. <I am older than you,> he said.

<Maybe you could act like it then,> Wanda retaliated with. Natalia made a point to voice her laugh in their heads at this.

<Whatever,> Pietro muttered as he finished his smaller section of fish, leaving the rest for Wanda.

Their meal devoured, they waited for Natalia to finish, drinking from the river and cleaning themselves off in the process after. Then took flight again in the same positions as before, with Wanda thousands of feet above them, Pietro lower to the right, and Natalia the lowest and on the left side of the river. 

<Did you ever think we would be able to do this together?> Wanda asked after their free lunch. The tips of her wings fluttered in the air.

<What?> Natalia asked, not catching what Wanda was talking about.

<This. Flying, together. Out in the open sky,> Wanda explained. Yes, they’d just done this the day before, but it felt different somehow. 

It took a minute but both Natalia and Pietro sent murmured ‘no’s’ to her. Both sounded a bit wistful.

Pietro kept flying far ahead. When he got too far to communicate, he’d either land and wait for the two brown birds to catch up, or he would fly back. He didn’t say so, but Wanda could tell he was enjoying himself immensely. She just hoped he didn’t tire himself out; she'd already warned him multiple times, which he continuously brushed off.

<Question,> Natalia asked after passing another too-short ledge. <If we knew that we’d originally floated down this godforsaken river from this way, why did we go to a town that was in the opposite direction?>  

No one answered.

<Pietro?> Natalia asked, though she sent it for Wanda to hear too.

<It was the closest and largest town I could see…> he eventually said, none too confident.

Wanda interrupted before Natalia could shout something mean back. <Pietro led us to a place where we found clothes, food and shelter, so leave it be Natalia. Let’s just keep looking,> she said as she continuously scanned the ground far below. <Most of the banks along the river are low, so it should be easy to spot the cliff.>

<Should…> Natalia mocked. Wanda purposely ignored her, not up to playing the arguing game the other two seemed to always be in the middle of.

There were a few times the river would split into separate sections so Wanda would fly as high as she was comfortable with to see ahead, but each time it would eventually run back together into one large channel again, so they stuck together on whichever was the widest path. 

It was well past midday when they found it.

<Look! There!> Natalia suddenly yelled in their heads. <To the left!>

Sure enough, a cliff arose in their view just ahead, growing taller and taller until it reached a height many yards above the river, with a steep drop off on the edge.

<That’s gotta be it! Good job, Nat,> Wanda said excitedly. Even though she was in the lead, Pietro taking a break a bit back on a tall tree, she’d almost missed it. She’d been too busy scanning the ground below after a warm breeze had lifted her up a few hundred feet. She had to have been well over 10,000 feet above the ground. It was higher than she’d ever flown before and although slightly terrifying, it was also exceedingly thrilling. The cliff was barely noticeable to Wanda, looking just as flat as everything else did from her extremely high vantage. 

After confirming to the best of their ability there was no one nearby or watching them, they all dove down into the trees atop the steep drop-off. On the other side of the river it looked similar but it was too crowded with trees all the way to the edge to be the right one. Wanda distinctly recalled the treeline ending well before leaping off into the water.

Speed on his side, Pietro was the first to land, diving rapidly and fluttering into some branches nearest the edge with style.

Wanda landed nearby, on the bark of an old thick tree trunk that had fallen long ago. 

Natalia did a circle of the area before finally gliding down far less gracefully to the same dead tree as Wanda. 

<There’s an outpost on each side. They look old. I didn’t see anyone on them,> Natalia informed them. 

Wanda recalled the man with the gun who had shot her being on one of the outposts and shuddered. It was good that no one was currently there.

<Is this it?> Pietro asked. He sounded a little winded but it could have just been from the adrenaline caused by the dive he’d taken.

Wanda let her worry go for the moment as she surveyed the area. Her sense of smell wasn’t doing her any favors, but her eyes saw everything.

A rock to her right caught her eye. A rock that had a distinct chunk missing from something hitting it.

Like a bullet.

<Yes. This is it. I am certain,> Wanda said. <Let me just…switch to wolf–>

<Wanda, no! We’re fine like this. Let’s just look around,> Natalia suggested, voice stern.

But Wanda shook her head quickly. <Nat, it’ll be fine. We need a better sense of smell. Let’s at least use what the demons gave to us to our advantage,> Wanda argued, already shifting back to her human self.

Natalia sighed harshly in their heads. <Can you at least choose something small? I can carry you back then if you need.>

Wanda thought about it. She needed an animal with a good sense of smell, very good. The only animal Natalia had any hope of possibly carrying with her form was her rat, and that was a big maybe. She also knew that it frustrated Natalia and Pietro that they could not be the one to change forms, though Natalia’s current effort to hide so was commendable. Wanda was the only one who had been able to successfully use more than one animal morph without passing out immediately after. It was extremely draining, shifting in and out even once, but she had hope it would all be fine. She’d been able to do so a few days ago with her body running on no food and pure adrenaline, so this was a walk in the park comparatively. 

At least that's what she told herself. 

Wanda slowly shifted back to her human self and waited until she had a mouth to speak with. “It’s not been too long yet since we left and we have plenty of time for a rest if we need. I appreciate the offer but this is what is best. I’ll be fine.”

Natalia grumbled in her head and Wanda couldn’t even tell if it was sent to Pietro too or just herself. 

“Hey. Whatever it takes, right?” Wanda said. That got Natalia to shut up in resignation.

<Just channel the wolf’s sense of smell,> Pietro suggested.

Wanda glanced over to his small form.

<I’ve… never been able to do it as good as you, Piet,> Wanda admitted. 

Pietro shrugged, or at least attempted to, a small wing lifting up slightly near his shoulder. <Just try. If it doesn’t work, then shift. But you will conserve less energy. We do not need you unconscious for an indeterminable amount of time, sis,> he said. 

“Alright. I’ll try,” Wanda said tentatively, “But look, see this rock? It was hit. I think by one of the bullets the man in the wooden tower was shooting at us.” She could still feel the phantom pain of being shot in her wing and rubbed at her bicep unnecessarily.

<Looks that way,> Pietro said. Natalia said nothing but stared at the rock, bright auburn eyes boring into the part of the rock that was unnaturally chipped.

Wanda closed her eyes and breathed through her nose, trying to do what Pietro said. She thought of the scents invading her nostrils, doing her best to not fully start to shift into her dog or wolf morph. Eventually the smells around her magnified. 

Slowly, Wanda crouched down and began shuffling around on her hands and knees. She thought she smelled…

Natalia hopped alongside as Wanda crawled along the forest floor, nose towards the ground. The scent grew stronger, plateauing as she reached the edge of the cliff.

“I think…yes. She was here…” Wanda said slowly, taking another whiff of the grass and dirt below. “Yelena was here, in this spot. It seems… recent? Perhaps?”

<Well, we were here recently too,> Pietro argued.

“Hmm, yes but it seems more recent. It has been what, two days for us? Almost three? She was here maybe today, or last night? Her scent is very strong, but I barely smell us,” Wanda explained. It was hard to tell for sure, but their sister’s scent had definitely gotten stronger in the area they were in. Wanda was certain she would be able to tell if she were fully shifted, but for now this would do.

<Are you sure?> Natalia asked, trying to see something Wanda could not.

“I… I am just certain it is her. There are…other scents too. Not us. I do not recognize them,” Wanda said slowly.

<She was not alone,> Pietro uttered darkly.

“So it would seem,” Wanda said. The different smells were all mixed in her mind with the normal forest smells. Grass, mud, plants and animals. “The other scents do not smell familiar. They…I…am not sure.” She couldn’t think of how to describe them. Just that they did not seem like a ‘bad’ scent.

After a few minutes of crawling around, Wanda growled out a curse of frustration.

“Fuck this.” 

By the time either sibling could start to protest, Wanda was already half shifted. Of them all, Wanda was by far the quickest at it.

Soon enough, a large wolf stood on all fours between a hawk and a falcon, both birds equally annoyed. A gray wolf, to be exact, though the colors of her fur did not match the name.

But the smells…!

Quickly Wanda picked up her trail again, Yelena’s unique scent growing tenfold, along with everything else. It was definitely strongest near the edge, but seemed to lead both to and away from it. 

<Don’t just stand there. Look around,> Wanda ordered offhandedly, focused on her task. From her peripheral, she saw both birds fly off and into the woods.

Time went by as they each did their own thing. Wanda quietly followed their baby sister's trail around while Pietro seemed to flutter around from branch to branch. It wasn’t until Natalia called out that they spoke to each other again.

She let out a quick noise that was akin to a whistle to get their attention. When Wanda and Pietro reached her, it was clear why she had signaled to them.

<Did… did she do this…?> Pietro asked hesitantly. They were standing in a bit of a U-shape with a very dark spread of old, dried blood on the ground.

Natalia said nothing.

It was completely silent save for the breeze in the air as Wanda walked forward and sniffed around slowly and carefully for numerous minutes, taking in everything she could. She was glad the blood was old, or it would have stained her paws. She made sure to study the spatters on the nearby plants and the gouged bark of the tree that the blood had soaked into.

Then she walked away until she was near a tree stump, sitting back on her haunches. <It’s not her blood, but…I believe she is the cause for it...> Wanda eventually said, very hesitant to speak the words. She saw Natalia bristle, the feathers on the back of her neck puffing out, as Pietro looked back at the grisly scene. Then he fluttered away to look around again, clearly uncomfortable.

Not knowing what else to say, Wanda walked away and continued to scour the area more. She did end up finding some of her own blood along with the large bush she’d apparently fallen into the other night. She could distinctly recall the blood dripping down her arm after she’d been shot.

After following Yelena’s strongest scent towards the outpost, it all but disappeared after she crossed the dirt road.

Fuck.

She slowly shifted back to human and sat on the broken steps of the outpost. After a few minutes, she whistled and Natalia and Pietro flew over.

“She’s gone. It’s like she vanished,” Wanda said. Her hands waved around in the air in her frustration.

<Vanished?> Pietro asked dubiously.

“I mean… I supposed she could have shifted and flown off. It just seems… not right…” Wanda explained. She couldn’t place why, but she had a gut feeling that their sister flying away was not the case. Wouldn’t she have scented her ascent through the trees? Or… something?

<So she was here but now is gone. That is helpful how?> Natalia asked.

Wanda sighed. “It is at least more than we knew before.”

<No it’s not. It’s even less than we knew. We already knew she was here at some point. With me. She could still be dead, or have been found by the General or HYDRA. Or-> Natalia said, starting to get louder in their heads.

“She’s not dead! So stop that,” Wanda ordered in almost a shout. 

They stood around each other in momentary silence.

“She was here recently. More recent than we were, yet the blood is days old. That is something, Natalia,” Wanda said. “The scents with her seem okay…”

<Okay? What does that mean, ‘okay’?> Natalia asked.

Wanda sighed. “I don’t know, Nat. They do not smell familiar. They are not…from the compound. They are mixed with Yelena’s scent though. Like she was with them. Maybe she found help,” she thought aloud. Or maybe she was taken against her will, she thought to herself.

Pietro was still more or less silent. Natalia looked away, refusing to make eye contact with either of them after that. It was quite obvious she disagreed with Wanda about everything, but she didn’t voice it.

“Let’s head back,” Wanda eventually said solemnly. 

Slowly, much slower than normal, Wanda shifted back to her golden eagle. After she was back in the sky, the three of them headed back in the same manner as they had before, though it was eerily silent in their minds. No one knew what to say, so they all said nothing.

The sky was growing into a dark gray, the setting sun blocked by clouds and trees by the time the three of them finally reached the empty apartment again.

Wanda was currently asleep, Pietro’s shirt under her head as a make-shift pillow. She’d all but passed out once she’d been able to change back to human.

The next twenty minutes or so Pietro had taken time to scavenge around the apartment and see if there was anything else there they could use. He went through every room, opening the refrigerator along with every cabinet, and closet. Through his efforts, he found only a few hangers, five socks, and a towel that was crunchy and quite smelly, along with many dead bugs. It seemed the apartment had been empty for some time.

He wandered back to the room Wanda and Natalia were still in; the one that looked out onto the city. Wanda was still passed out hard on the floor, snoozing away. Once Pietro walked in, Natalia stood up.

“I’m going out,” she said suddenly.

Pietro gave her a weird look. “Out?” Where could she possibly be going? “Out where?”

“Just…out,” she said. She looked down to Wanda and sighed. “To get us some food. Let her sleep. I’ll be back soon, okay?”

Pietro eventually nodded, not caring enough to stop her. One of them needed to stay with Wanda. “Alright.”

Natalia went to the window but halfway she paused, spun back around and threw her arms tight around Pietro’s light frame.

“You’re an idiot, but I love you, you know?” Natalia mumbled into his chest.

Pietro returned the hug firmly. “I love you too. Even though you are also an idiot. And a big jerk.”

“I know,” Natalia murmured. Pietro hugged her tighter and placed a brief kiss to the top of her head.

“Go get us food,” Pietro demanded playfully. “And be safe.”

Without another word, Natalia turned and climbed out the window, scaling down to the flat roof below. Pietro sat beside the window and watched her walk across the rooftop to a metal ladder and climb down to the ground. She looked around the alley, then skittered to the door from last night. The one that led to the bar, The Thirsty Goat.

Only pausing to take a breath and shake her hands out, something Pietro didn’t see her do often, she pulled the heavy door open and disappeared behind it.

With nothing left to do besides worry and wait, Pietro took up residence on the floor by the window, able to see both the back bar door and Wanda from across the room as she slept. His stomach growled lightly but he ignored it like he always did. 

“Back again, girl?” Odin said in his growly accented voice. The eyebrow above the eyepatch was lifted and it made Natalia want to laugh. She got as far as the corner of her mouth twitching. 

Once the door had closed behind her, she’d crept in until the man caught sight of her from where he stood behind the bar. She’d briefly thought about sneaking in and stealing food from the kitchen area she had walked past, but with the loudness of the door that’d just slammed behind her, she didn’t think she even had a chance of doing so without being caught in the act.

Instead she shuffled further in until she found the bar owner, unsure on how to go about what she was there for. She hated even being there, hated why she was there in the first place, but didn’t know what else to do.

“Well? Spit it out. Whaddya want?” Odin said as he set a drink full of a light brown liquid on the counter in front of him. Some of the liquid sloshed down the side of the glass.

“I was…I mean…” Natalia cleared her throat. “Can…I work? Like last night? For…food…” she finally asked, trailing off at the end. It was probably the first thing she’d said to the man that hadn’t been full of attitude and he definitely noticed it as well. 

If she were honest with herself, it was probably the first man since she was eight that she’d spoken to where she didn’t sound like she was actively plotting their death in her head. At least not yet. She begrudgingly was there for his help, and her being her normal dickish self to the man would not do her any favors. She was stubborn, but not stupid.

Odin didn’t answer her but he did look her up and down. It made Natalia want to cover herself more than she already was in the ugly bumblebee-colored clothes he’d given them.

“Just you today?” Odin asked.

Her hands curled into fists. “Yes.” She did not add on the ‘sir’ like Wanda had kept doing. She wouldn’t be calling anyone sir ever again if she had a choice.

A loud noise caught both their attention from across the room. A chair had been shoved away from a table and fell to the floor with a loud bang. Two men started yelling at each other, one much louder than the other. 

Without meaning to, Natalia had flinched, hard and taken a few steps backward. And Odin clearly saw it. Her signature mask consisting of a glare reappeared as he stared at her questioningly.

The dark-skinned man from the night before that Natalia couldn’t remember his name quickly broke up the argument and hauled the angrier of the two men outside. It quieted back up in the large room, the soft music playing on some shitty speaker system in the ceiling able to be heard once again.

A piece of fabric caught her eye and when she looked, Odin was holding up an…apron?

“Here. Sink’s in the back. You can be done when it’s empty,” Odin growled out.

Happy to not have to wipe off tables or be anywhere in the vicinity of any strangers or angry men, Natalia grabbed the apron and practically ran away, through the swinging door and into the bright room behind them.

It was a kitchen with what Natalia assumed to be standard kitchen items. Large ovens with stoves on top, microwaves, a giant silver refrigerator with an equally large freezer beside it. On some shelves nearby were pantry items, spices, and food that didn’t need to be kept cold, like bread, potatoes, and whatnot. But in the back was a large double-sink located on the far wall. Last night, Pietro had been the one in charge of doing dishes, so Natalia had not paid much attention to what’d been in the room. 

Without further ado, she threw on the apron she’d been given and got started, trying to finish as quickly as possible. She hadn’t done dishes since she was a child, when she lived at the orphanage, but didn’t think the task had changed. Scrub the dish with soap, rinse, and dry. And try not to break anything in the process.

Natalia got to work, low-key happy to be working with water that she could switch to warm. The entire time, she could smell the food in the kitchen in small doses and it was doing nothing to curb her hunger, but it sure did smell good. 

She wasn’t too sure what constituted as ‘a lot of dishes’ but there were two large sinks. The one on the left was completely full with mugs, coffee cups, plates and bowls of different sizes, pots, pans, and more. The other had a few dirty mugs on the bottom, but was otherwise empty. To the right of the two sinks was a flat spot that had some sort of grooved rack. So Natalia drizzled soap over all the dishes and started the water, and got to scrubbing like how she’d seen Pietro do last night. She’d scrub a dish, rinse it, then set it in the weird rack. At some point though, the rack started getting too full to add more and she didn’t know what to do. There were still at least a quarter of dirty dishes left.

She turned the water off and after debating in her head, hesitantly went to ask the burly man what to do. 

He ended up being at one of the tables, talking to a few people, so Natalia stood off to the side to wait, obscured by the corner wall between the bar and the kitchen door. No way was she walking over there.

Odin eventually walked back over but bypassed her entirely, filling up more mugs of liquid and bringing them to the table he’d just left. Natalia waited silently, though not very patiently. Her stomach had started to growl again and she was getting light-headed. 

“Um… there’s no room…” Natalia started off when passed by a second time, though it was too quiet for him to hear.  She cleared her throat and tried again. 

“There’s no room. On the… end of the sink,” Natalia said, unsure how to word what she was trying to say.

Odin eyed her. He whistled to the other man who worked there, who got up from his seat to take over whatever the bar owner had been doing. Then Odin walked past her, Natalia quickly sliding away so he didn’t get too close. She followed him into the kitchen but stayed near the door as he looked at her work.

“Put those away in the cabinets and shelves,” he said, waving his hand from the clean dishes to some cabinets to the right. Then he went to the area that had all the food and started touching and moving things. A minute later the grill was turned on.

She carefully moved to the clean dishes and began trying to find where they went. Other than the large glass mugs, she could find matching plates, cups and silverware already put away. She quickly found homes for most things, taking a towel and drying anything that was still wet. The few pots and pans she couldn’t find a home for she left on the rack. 

Everything Natalia did, she did slightly turned one way or the other, so she always had eyes on both Odin, who seemed to be cooking, and the door.

When she was done, she looked at the bar owner. It smelled like meat but she couldn’t see what since he stood in front of the grill. He completely ignored her. So, she shuffled back towards the swinging door and waited against the wall in silence. 

For a moment, she fell asleep standing. It was like she blinked but her eyes closed for too long. Her body jerked awake from a nearby noise, causing her heart to race. 

She just wanted to get herself, Pietro and Wanda some food and get the hell out of there. 

Shaking her head minutely, she dug her nails into her palms to keep herself from dozing off again, though the smell of cooking food threatened to lull her back to sleep. That along with her exhaustion.

“Lass,” Odin called from where he stood in front of the oven, causing her to jerk to attention again.

She didn’t like that she was alone with him, but at least there was nothing between her and the door. She would keep it that way, too.

The one-eyed man was closing a styrofoam container. “Grab a bag. Over there,” Odin said, nodding his chin towards a box by the door. 

She did as he asked and grabbed a bag, walking it over to him. He put the styrofoam container in the plastic, then threw in some bread and other items she couldn’t tell what they were.

Odin held the bag out tight in his hand. “Apron,” he said.

Natalia had forgotten she was wearing it. She took it off and swapped it for the bag thrust to her. As soon as it was in her hands, she turned and ran out the kitchen door and then the back door, the latter much heavier than she recalled earlier.

She looped the bag onto her arm, climbed the metal ladder and skittered across the roof until she was under the still-open window.

Just as Natalia went to try and pull herself up on shaky arms, Pietro was there. 

“Natalia,” Pietro said worriedly. He grabbed the bag before helping her through the window. “Are you okay? What did you get?”

“Food,” she said. Natalia looked over to Wanda still sleeping and crawled over to wake her. She heard Pietro start going through the bag. It was dark, so the only light they had to see with were the outside lights from town and the moon shining in.

“What are the yellow and red items?” he asked, squeezing one curiously.

Natalia looked over. “Ketchup. And... gortchisa.”

Pietro turned the yellow one over. “Ah. M…mustard?”

“Mhm,” Natalia said as she gently shook Wanda awake. “Wands. Food,” she said softly.

Wanda moved extra slow, not fully awake but sat up to lean against Natalia. Pietro finally opened the styrofoam and to Natalia’s amazement, Odin had cooked them three delicious and still-steaming cheeseburgers. 

“Bozhe moi… how did you get this?” Pietro exclaimed. He placed each burger between the buns the bar owner had put in the bag and set the container between them. The red and yellow packets he tossed on the empty side that was the underside of the lid but none of them grabbed any to use. 

“Worked,” Natalia simply said.

They ate in silence. The burgers were greasy and nothing special, but they were absolutely delicious. When they finished, Pietro closed the window.

“Did you sleep?” Natalia asked Pietro.

He shook his head. “Waited for you. And kept watch.”

Wanda was drifting off again against Natalia’s shoulder, so she turned and laid her back down where she’d been before. 

“Spasibo, Nat,” Wanda murmured.

Natalia kissed her cheek. “Get some more sleep.”

Seconds later and Wanda was breathing deeply again. Natalia took her shirt off and handed it to Pietro, then curled up behind Wanda to share her pillow of Pietro’s own shirt.

He wadded the material in a ball and laid beside them.

“Nat. Thank you,” Pietro said.

Too tired to respond, she slid her arm over Wanda’s waist to hold his hand, and fell to sleep that way.

Digging through yet another box, Clint flipped past more papers and notebooks before tossing them to the side with a sigh.

He’d been in his office for over an hour. After Laura had gone to sleep and he’d checked on the little ones and in Kate’s room, Clint had quietly gone back downstairs to look for a number he never thought he’d need. 

He’d hoped he’d never need it.

He had multiple boxes in the corner of his office downstairs, never finding a home for them but never truly feeling like he could part with them. They were full of an assortment of items from his military days. Paperwork of all kinds, awards, his old uniform, and more.

Finally, near the bottom of the third box, was a scuffed-up but sturdy leather journal of sorts. He flipped immediately to the very last page.

“Bingo,” he muttered to himself, tapping the number written in blue pen.

Not caring that it was past two in the morning, he carried the notebook to the house phone in the kitchen and dialed.

Three long rings later, a familiar voice he hadn’t heard in over eight years answered, alert as could be.

“This is Hill.”

Clint closed his eyes for a brief moment in relief. 

“Maria. It’s Clint,” he said. “I need your help.”

Chapter Text

“Laura,” a voice whispered. The woman quickly opened her eyes to find Kate by her bed. Her right hand was covering her left arm oddly over the long-sleeved sweatshirt she wore.

“Kate,” Laura murmured quietly so she didn’t wake up her husband beside her, “What’s wrong? You okay?”

“Yeah, but um… Yelena… she was uh, dreaming? But woke up and started like, freaking out. And I tried to help, but she–” 

“Shh, hang on, let’s talk in the hall,” Laura interrupted, sliding out of bed and ushering the teenager out of the room. She’d felt her husband come to bed late and didn’t want to wake him up. She glanced at the clock and saw it was just after 3:00 in the morning.

Once the door was closed, she turned back to Kate who continued her story.

“I'm really sorry Laura. She was like, having a bad dream. I guess? I dunno. And she woke up, and then uh…well, she fell off the bed and was acting all…yeah, and I tried to help but–” Kate paused her rambling, her hand still holding onto her arm. Laura glanced at it, still not fully awake. “Um. I dunno what to… I tried but just made things worse I think.” 

“I’m sure you didn’t. Are you alright, Kate?” Laura asked, pulling the worried girl in her arms briefly. Kate nodded, sniffling softly.

“Yes. I’m sorry I woke you up,” Kate said.

“Nonsense. You know you can always wake up Clint or myself. Okay?” Laura said. Kate nodded again.

“C’mon.” Laura led Kate back to her room but neither saw the girl in question.

“Yelena?” Kate called out, but didn’t get a response. Kate looked at Laura. “She was just here, I swear.”

Kate checked the closet but after seeing it empty, she turned around confused. 

“Maybe–” 

Suddenly a weird echo-ey noise sounded from the bathroom across the hall. Their eyes met before turning and walking across the hall. 

The door was closed, a barrier between Laura, Kate, and a presumably upset blonde teenager. 

Laura rapped at the door as quietly as she could. “Yelena? You in there honey?” Laura called out, voice still scratchy from sleep.

They didn’t get a response but in the quiet, Laura could hear whispers from inside the enclosed room. She sounded far enough away that she wasn’t by the door, so Laura twisted the knob, finding the door unlocked.

The older woman opened the door a few inches. “Yelena? It’s Laura. Can I come in?”

Quiet, quick breaths and some shuffling sounds were heard. Feeling only a little bad at entering without permission but putting Yelena’s wellbeing over her privacy at the moment, Laura snuck into the small room, allowing Kate to follow before closing the door. 

The shower curtain, a soft blue plastic with a cloud pattern on it, was half open and Laura realized the poor girl was inside the tub, hiding in the corner with her head buried in her knees.  

“Oh sweetie.” Laura took a seat on the closed toilet lid, close enough to touch if she tried, with Kate kneeling on the floor rug.

“Honey, you okay?” Laura tried again. The whispering stopped.

“Yelena? It’s Laura and Kate. I heard you had a bad dream and wanted to see if you are okay,” she said, though wasn’t necessarily expecting a response. She didn’t fully know what to do or say. If this were one of her littles, she’d cuddle them close and give them kisses to soothe them. However, that wasn’t exactly an option in this situation.

Checking the girl up and down, Laura noticed her short nails digging into her shins, much too tight for Laura’s liking. She reached over the edge of the tub to stop the action.

Laura didn’t think anything of it when reaching over but in hindsight, she should have known it was not the best move.

As soon as she touched Yelena, small hands that had no business being as strong as they were clamped down around Laura’s forearms. Wild green eyes flashed, sharp canines poking past her top lip as she held Laura from her.

Kate let out a squeak, snaking her hand around Laura’s ankle nervously, but the mother of two remained silent and stoic. She didn’t jump or yell. She didn't try to move or pull away either. She allowed Yelena to stare at nothing, eyes unfocused but full of an unknown fear as she dug her hands into Laura’s forearms. Her breaths came out in quick puffs from her nose, a small growl escaping her clenched teeth. 

“Yelena. It’s alright. It’s just me. It’s Laura. Just Laura and Kate. Okay? We aren’t going to hurt you,” Laura said, talking slowly and softly, hoping it would pull the blonde out of wherever her mind was.

A sudden flick of her eyes and then as quick as before, Yelena pulled her hands back, cradling them against her chest. She was like a caged animal. Fear radiated off her like a palpable aura, making her react without thinking.

And Laura would be a liar if she said her arms didn’t hurt like hell. 

Slowly she leaned back. “It’s just us, honey. You’re okay. You don’t need to be scared,” Laura stated.

“Yeah Yelena. It’s okay…” Kate chimed in, trying to help.

Yelena’s eyes finally twitched to look at Laura but when they moved to Kate, her chin wrinkled. “Izvini, izvini…ochen’ zhal’... izvini Kate… ne govori yemu, pozhaluysta… ” she mumbled nonsensically, voice high-pitched. Her words mixed together in one long sentence.

Laura felt her leg being tapped. 

“The first word means ‘sorry’,” Kate said. “I think anyway… She told me the other day. I dunno the rest.”

Laura stared at the brunette. “Did something else happen?” the older woman asked, curious on the reason Yelena felt the need to apologize for something.

“No,” Kate said quickly, avoiding eye contact.

It felt like a lie, but Laura couldn’t for the life of her think of why Kate would feel the need to do so, and what even about. Kate was a good kid, she never lied. She let it go for the moment though.

Laura wished she knew what the right thing to do was. Yelena seemed to inch further away from them but as much as she’d been Kate’s shadow, she suddenly seemed to want nothing to do with her. Almost fearful of Kate. It caused the frown on Laura’s face to deepen.

The room descended into silence as her thoughts ran, silent except for Yelena’s loud breathing echoing off the tub’s surround and the soft rattle of the always-blowing fan in the ceiling. A few minutes later Kate yawned, covering her mouth halfway while using the tub’s edge as a pillow.

Laura sighed. “Go to bed, honey. It’s late. Although, maybe…do you want to cuddle in Cooper’s bed with him for a bit? I'll come get you afterwards. I don’t want to kick you out of your room but…”

Another yawn, then, “It’s okay, Laura. I’m just making things worse,” Kate said with a look of sadness plastered on her face.

“Oh no, honey no–”

“S’okay. I’ll go cuddle with Coop,” she said sadly. She went to reach out towards the blonde but stopped half way, pulling back. “Feel better, Yelena,” she whispered. Then the tired teen got up, gave Laura a hug and left, closing the door behind her.

Silence descended once again. Laura sighed, making a mental note to check on Kate the first chance she got.

“Yelena? How’s it going over there? It’s just you and me now. It’s just us and everything is okay,” Laura said softly, trying again. She did not try to reach out again though. She’d let the fearful girl make the first move. Laura had worked with enough terrified animals that lashed out in fear.

“Laura…” a small voice said after a good stretch of nothingness. 

Laura smiled, too big for how tired she felt. “That’s right. Hi honey,” she said. It was the first she’d heard her talk in over a day. In English, anyway.

“Laura… I… am sorry,” Yelena said. She’d moved her hands to cover part of her mouth but her eyes were once again visibly wet.

Laura moved slightly closer. She’d needed to readjust herself anyway. Leaning over while sat on the seat lid was doing her back and hips absolutely no favors. “Why are you sorry, sweetie?”

Yelena sniffled. “... don’t tell please…”

Tell? Tell who? And tell them what?

“What do you mean?” Laura asked, eyebrows furrowing.

Yelena squeezed her eyes shut tight again, swallowing painfully in an attempt to hold in her emotions but one lonely tear betrayed her and slid down her face.

“Shh, it's alright. Let's try this... Why don’t you come out of there and lay with me on Kate’s nice, soft bed. We can talk more and be comfy instead of sitting in a hard plastic tub?” she suggested. Laura was trying not to make it noticeable how uncomfortable she was. 

The blonde sat in her curled-up ball as she sniffled and tried to calm down. Laura let her be, leaning back and just being a presence beside her, there if needed.

“Where… is Kate?” Yelena eventually asked, sounding tired but calmer than before. 

“Kate went to go lay with Cooper,” Laura answered. 

Yelena looked down at her nails and started picking at them.

Laura tried again. “Wanna get out of there? Go lay back in bed?”

The girl shrugged, her shoulders remaining hunched up, so Laura let her think about it. She switched to pick at a hard speck on the bottom of the tub, making little ‘dink’ sounds as she tried scraping whatever was stuck there away.

Laura waited another few minutes but eventually she had to get up. When she moved to stand, using the counter as leverage, Yelena followed her with her eyes. 

“Sorry sweetie. Being pregnant isn’t all it’s chalked up to be,” Laura said with a small chuckle while rubbing circles on her lower back. “Coming to join me?”

To Laura’s relieved surprise, Yelena slowly crawled out from her spot, climbing over the tub like it was a fence.

Laura held her hand out and Yelena took it with both of hers, tight but this time not painful. The older woman pulled until Yelena was tucked under her arm and she hugged her, kissing the top of her head. Then they walked together across the hall back to Kate’s room, closing the door behind. Laura had peeked inside Cooper’s room on the way, barely able to see his bed from his own half-open door. A larger form was snuggled beside him, fast asleep so Laura left Kate where she was.

Once Laura was settled on the purple comforter, Yelena climbed up beside her, knees curled under her butt. She looked a mess, and most definitely needed another shower. 

“Laura. Pozh… please don’t tell Clint…” the girl asked. She looked so small in that exact moment, even though she was practically the same size as Laura normally was when she wasn’t growing a child in her body.

Laura tilted her head. “Tell Clint what?”

“I didn’t mean to,” Yelena said in defense of whatever she was talking about. “It was…accident.”

“Yelena. Honey. Look at me,” Laura said.

The blonde did, green eyes big and so very sad. “Izvini…Laura. I did not know it was her. I…hurt Kate. I am sorry…” 

Laura leaned her head back in confusion, “Kate’s fine, honey. She’s okay.” At least, Laura thought she was. She vaguely recalled Kate holding one of her arms oddly but didn't think anything of it. Kate had said she was fine, so whatever it was would have to wait for Laura to delve deeper into.

The blonde looked over at something on the floor that Laura couldn’t see. “But…she…I…”

Laura grabbed one of the blankets on the bed. It was thin but soft. “Shh. Come here,” she gently requested.

Yelena did and hesitantly cuddled into her side, but after feeling how warm Laura was, she wrapped her arms around Laura’s waist above her stomach. 

Finally, she seemed to relax. She sighed so big, her whole body moved up and down, and nuzzled in as close as she could with a whine. 

Laura fluffed the blanket, laying it over them both, making sure she covered them as much as possible. The material felt slightly cooling and conjoined with the temperature of the house and the creeping humidity that always crept through the walls this time of year, it was the perfect comfort. 

“It’s just you and me, and we’re safe. No one’s gonna hurt us,” Laura pushed the thought of the flickering pain of her arms away where Yelena had grabbed her, instead petting the girl’s hair, “You’re fine, and Kate’s fine too. And we’re just going to lay here together because everything is going to be alright. You can sleep if you want, or we can talk about your dream if you want, or talk about something else, or not talk at all. But I'm not going anywhere unless you want me to,” Laura said. Until she had to pee at least.

“Nyet. Stay,” Yelena said. The skinny arm that possessed more strength than it looked tightened around her. “Please. Lyublyu tebya Laura…” Yelena said, face shoved into her chest. Laura didn’t know what it meant, but she pressed another kiss to the top of her head. 

“I’m not going anywhere,” Laura promised.

They stayed like that for the rest of the night. Laura began humming a tune until she got too sleepy to continue and she succumbed to sleep, Yelena already breathing deeply beside her. 

A tiny hand whacked her in the face again and Kate flopped it back over for the fourth time with a small smile, only slightly cringing. Cooper was such an octopus while he slept. It was mostly cute, except for when he was flinging his limbs this way and that, hitting anyone in the near vicinity. 

She’d snuggled with the small boy late last night, not even sure what time it’d been, but it had taken her awhile to fall back to sleep. Kate’s mind kept replaying what’d happened earlier and she wasn’t sure what to do or if she should tell someone or not.

Cooper shifted again but when he touched Kate’s arm she yanked it back with a hiss. She’d been trying to keep it on top of her stomach, not touching it to anything. 

It was daylight but definitely much too early to normally be up yet. She turned her back to the little boy taking up most of the bed and tried to go back to sleep while holding her arm in a way to protect it. The pain faded, but after a good half hour went by and sleep still eluded her, she gave up.

Kate hadn’t heard any noises in the house so assumed no one else was awake yet, but knew Clint would be up to start getting ready for work soon. Quietly, she got out of the twin-size bed, not difficult since it was so low to the ground and her long body barely fit anyway with a five-year-old taking up most of the room, and slid from the room to the bathroom down the hall, locking the door. Finally, she peeled up the sleeve of her hoodie she'd thrown on last night, the fabric sticking to her skin and pulling a bit of the dried scabs away.

Four red lines stood out on her arm, bright and mean. They started close to her elbow and thinned out until they disappeared on her forearm. Where they began though, there were four curved cuts embedded deeply. It’d been where Yelena’s nails had dug in… 

She ran it under water from the sink faucet, rubbing soap in it to clean it. The cool water quelled the burning feeling but Kate found herself cringing from the small bit of pain while wiping off all of the dried blood that she could. Then she dug around under the sink until she found the bandaids and neosporin. The scratches were too big to cover fully but she took two bandaids and stuck them over the deep scabbed parts after spreading some of the antibiotic ointment over the area. The inside of her sleeve was a little stained but nothing had seeped through the light-gray fabric to the other side, thank goodness.

Kate thought about telling Clint or Laura. She was a terrible liar and wasn’t one to hide things normally. And she didn’t necessarily think Yelena would get in trouble; it’d been an honest accident. Kate had scared her, that was all. It was Kate’s fault. 

But she couldn’t be certain…

Decision made, she pulled her sleeve back down after making sure it didn’t get caught on the bandaids. She’d just wear long sleeves for a few days. No one needed to know. 

Laura had to pee. Really, really bad. She didn’t want to move or wake up the sleeping girl wrapped around her but her bladder was currently being crushed by a multitude of things; her unborn child, practically all of her organs, and gravity. Plus, she could hear Yelena's stomach growling from hunger. She'd eaten barely anything in over a day, silently vetoing what they tried to give yesterday, but Laura wasn’t going to let her do the same today. She had allowed her one day of wallowing but wasn’t about to let her become self-destructive to the point of harm to herself.

Her bladder yelled at her again, threatening a mess where she laid, so as slowly as she could, Laura lifted the arm wrapped around her off and climbed out of bed, but when she went to open the door, it creaked and Yelena sat up in a quick motion. She looked around until she found Laura halfway through the door.

“Hey, morning. I need to use the bathroom. Why don’t you meet me downstairs? I think Kate’s awake and already down there,” Laura said, suggesting to the blonde to finally leave the room. She was fairly certain she’d heard footsteps a bit ago and they definitely had not been Clint’s heavy ones.

Yelena had spent literally all day prior in Kate’s room, only leaving to use the bathroom as far as Laura was aware. She’d put Kate in charge of checking in on her for the most part, unable to do the stairs all day and still needing to take care of the little ones; Lila had been extra needy yesterday for whatever reason. After Yelena had slept through the night and most of the morning, she'd hoarded herself away both physically and mentally, refusing to leave Kate’s bed. She had refused to talk, wouldn’t get up, wouldn’t eat or drink.

Laura had been more than worried. Clint and Kate too. 

Kate, with her heart of gold, had stayed in her room most of the day, keeping the upset girl company. Laura wasn’t sure what they’d done all day, but every time Kate wandered back downstairs or outside, her normal glow of energy dimmed more and more.

After using the restroom and checking on Cooper and Lila, seeing them still fast asleep, Laura went to her and Clint’s shared bedroom to change for the day. Her husband was just starting to stir and she placed a soft morning kiss on his scratchy cheek. 

To her surprise, once she made it downstairs she found both teenagers in the living room. Kate was laying down on the couch in a hooded sweatshirt and a thin pair of shorts, curled up and snoozing on the arm with the television on, volume low. Yelena was sitting beside her, almost but not quite touching her, and staring at whatever was on the screen.

After starting a pot of coffee, Laura leaned on the back of the couch to half-watch the cartoons on the television with glazed eyes, trying to shake the exhaustion in her body. 

“They talk?” she heard Yelena ask.

“Hmm?” Laura followed the blonde’s gaze. A Looney Tunes episode was on and Bugs Bunny was dressed up in one of his many outrageous outfits.

“The rabbit. It talks,” Yelena said.

Laura watched the screen. “Mhm. Bugs Bunny can talk. A lot of the characters do but not all of them.”

Her eyebrows scrunched up. “The rabbit is very… long,” Yelena commented.

Laura chuckled, reaching down to smooth down some of the blonde’s hair behind her ear. “You mean tall? Yes, I suppose he is.” 

Yelena was out of Kate’s room and she was talking, so Laura was counting it as a win for the moment.

The coffee pot beeped and Laura waddled back over to make a small cup. It was all the caffeine she allowed herself per day while still pregnant. While preparing her cup, she readied some toast, slathering it with jam Maria had given her after it popped up from the toaster. Laura briefly recalled the two teens having some at her work that first day, so hoped she could entice her again with the sweet food choice. The poor girl needed to eat something.

Laura walked around the couch and handed Yelena the plated toast, then fell back into the large recliner. She inhaled the steam from her coffee with a smile, eyes closed contently.

The cartoon on screen eventually switched to an episode of Tom & Jerry, which entranced the blonde even more, as she licked the jam off the toast then ate the now-plain bread. When Kate woke back up, it was with a big stretch and a smile at seeing her company.

“Hey,” she said, using the arm of the couch as a pillow again.

“Utro,” Yelena said in return. She held the plate of toast to Kate, one piece with jam left still, but she sleepily declined. 

“You eat. What’re you watching?” Kate asked. The screen was currently playing a commercial.

Yelena looked back to the screen, a commercial about sour cream playing. “Animals. Cat and mysh’ can say words with their mouths and walk like humans sometimes. They fight and silly things happen to them,” she said. She finished the other piece of toast then set the plate on the couch next to her. 

“Never seen Tom & Jerry before?” Kate questioned mid-laugh.

The blonde answered with a shake of her head.

Laura opened her eyes to focus back on the conversation the girls were having.

Kate yawned. “Mmm. They’re cartoons,” she said.

It looked like Yelena had more questions but went back to being quiet and watching the animated cat and mouse tease each other instead of asking anything else. Kate laughed at a few parts but Yelena did not.

If Laura thought about it, she wasn’t sure she’d seen the girl smile more than once or twice, and she was certain she’d not heard her laugh at all. So much of the past few days had Laura’s chest aching in empathy. 

A few short cartoon episodes later saw the rest of the household come to life with Clint getting the littles up and everyone began to get ready for the day. Her husband was in a rush, as he was most mornings.

Laura was able to convince Yelena to take a shower, though the girl seemed confused on needing one ‘already’. With the utmost patience, Laura explained that showers were meant to be taken every two days or so normally, and after repeating the directions on how to work everything in the bathroom and giving the timid girl a clean towel and clothes, she left her to it.

After changing Lila, she got to making a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage patties, and fresh blueberries. 

Clint trotted back down the stairs, dressed in one of his Park Ranger uniforms. “Hey babe, I gotta run.”

“Will you be home for dinner tonight?” Laura asked while wiping Lila’s messy hands and face off from her half-finished breakfast.

“Should be, yeah. I’m only scheduled until 4:00 but I also should have left an hour ago and I... Well, we’ll see what the day brings,” Clint said as he leaned down to press a kiss to the top of Lila’s head. “I’ll do my best to be home on time.”

“Sounds good, dear,” Laura said as they shared a sweet kiss. Clint took a moment to cup her jaw.

“Call me if you need anything,” Clint said, rubbing his thumb on Laura’s cheek. 

Laura turned her head and pressed her lips to his palm. “Will do, sweetie. Don’t come home injured.”

Clint scoffed with a laugh. “C’mon, babe. How many times have I done that?”

A barked laugh was heard from the couch in the living room where Kate had parked herself back on after finishing breakfast. 

Laura gave her husband a look. “Is that enough of an answer for you?”

“Yeah, yeah…” Clint said with a shake of his head. “Coop, you’re on my side, right buddy?” he hollered over towards the living room.

Unfortunately for Clint, his son didn’t care about anything they were talking about. “Daddy, Thomas is on,” the little boy said, an acceptable answer as any if you were a five-year-old and your favorite show was on. He was currently obsessed with the old episodes from the 80’s.

Laura shared a smile with her husband at their first-born just as Clint’s pager beeped.

“That’d be the boss,” Clint murmured.

“Have a good day at work. Oh! Before I forget, I have a doctor’s appointment at noon today. Just a check-up to make sure we’re on track for the due date,” Laura said. 

Clint frowned. “You don’t need me there with you?”

“No, you go to work. Save your PTO and vacation for after this little one is born,” Laura said. “It’s just routine.” 

He nodded. “Alright. Well, call me or send me a page if you need anything,” Clint requested with another kiss. 

“I will. Love you,” Laura said to the man she loved more than anything.

“Love you too!” Clint stopped in the living room, ruffling their son’s hair and then crouching in front of Kate to say something to her. It was too quiet for Laura to hear as she unbuckled Lila from her highchair.

After his and Kate’s unheard conversation, Clint left for the day. A certain blonde teenager finally reappeared downstairs on silent feet and clean clothes just as the crunch of gravel from the SUV’s tires got further away. Her hair was very wet and she’d again failed to brush it.

“Hey Kate? Would you mind grabbing me a comb and brush from upstairs? And some untangling spray if there’s any under the sink?” Laura asked. The lanky teen had so far spent most of her morning lounging; Laura was sure she’d not slept well, especially having to share a bed with Cooper half the night who’d been taking over whole beds since he was practically born.

“Sure,” Kate said and slowly trudged up the stairs, passing Yelena as she went with a small smile.

“Yelena? I made some actual breakfast if you’re still hungry,” Laura said.

She padded over, eyeing the kitchen table. “More food?” she questioned.

“If you want,” Laura answered. “Help yourself. There’s a plate and silverware here for you,” she said, sliding the offered items closer. 

As odd as her hesitancy was, Laura had yet to see the blonde reject any offer of food, excluding the previous day which Laura was referring to in her head as Yelena’s ‘wallow day’. Once the wet-haired girl sat at the table, Laura took the opportunity to get Lila settled with some toys and played with her in the living room. She was lucky that the toddler was content with whatever her older brother enjoyed on the screen, for how much she even paid attention to it in the first place. The kids were too little to be at the stage of ‘all we do is argue’ yet, which Laura was more than happy to wait very patiently for. 

Kate came downstairs with the items Laura asked for and plopped back on the couch beside her after tossing them on the coffee table. 

“Thanks, sweetie,” Laura said. 

Yelena eventually crept over after she was done eating. Laura found herself surprised to see the girl decide to sit beside her versus Kate. She must have made a better impression than she thought on her last night.

“Think I could try to tame that hair of yours?” Laura asked Yelena.

Hands went to cover blonde hair. “Tame?”

Laura leaned over and grabbed the hair supplies from the table. “Brush your hair. It’s got a lot of snarls and stuff.”

Yelena eyed the hairbrush. 

“It’s just a brush. It doesn’t hurt or anything,” Kate said helpfully. “Here, look.” She got up only to sit on a pillow on the floor in front of Laura. “Do my hair first Laura?”

With a grateful smile, Laura began to comb through dark-brown locks. She brushed through Kate’s mostly smooth hair, the brush making a noise whenever it caught a tangle.

“Do them together?” Yelena asked, scooting closer.

Laura gave her a look, one eyebrow raised in silent question. The blonde took her fingers and threaded them together. 

“With the hair,” she said. “Mmm…braid,” she corrected, finally figuring out what she was trying to say.

“Ah!” Laura exclaimed. “Whaddya say, Kate? Can we braid your hair?”

Kate gave off a soft laugh. “Sure. Whatever you guys want.”

So that’s how ten minutes later Kate stood with two french braids in her hair. Laura only had one hair-tie so she tied them together at the bottom.

As soon as Kate had moved, Yelena leaned over so her face was in front of Laura’s. “Me too please?”

Laura smiled big and motioned her hand for Yelena to sit in front of her, to which she happily did. There were a lot more tangles so Laura sprayed it good and started from the bottom, going slow so she didn’t hurt her. A few times she apologized, catching a good snag but Yelena didn’t seem to mind. She studiously sat there while watching television, Lila thankfully content with playing with her animal toys or with Cooper and his trains. Funny enough, Yelena was even more confused with what was playing on the television than she was with the cartoons from earlier. An unending amount of questions spewed from her mouth while watching the old Thomas the Train show, from the trains having faces, to why the people were dolls, questions about the trains’ eyes, how the trains could talk, and more. Laura found herself having a hard time answering most of her questions but it was nice to hear her talking.

In an even funnier turn of events, Cooper was the one who kept piping up with answers, although his answers weren’t really answers in Laura’s opinion.

“The trains just talk. With they heads,” the boy said in regards to their mouths not moving.

“Mindspeech,” Yelena said more to herself in return, as if it now made sense.

“Thomas and his fwiends need faces cuz they get feelings,” he said when asked why the trains had faces and eyes.

“How do the train eyes move?” Yelena asked.

Cooper sighed obnoxiously. “They need to see where they’re going, Yena,” Cooper said when Yelena asked how the eyes in the train moved and spun around. So, even less of an answer.

He did all of this while playing with his toys or watching the screen, so was barely even paying attention to her, yet he heard each of her questions all the same.

Kate had returned with more hair ties, handing Laura two and fixing the ends of her own braids so that they were tied separately. She giggled a few times at Cooper's answers but let the little boy take the lead otherwise. 

Three-and-a-half Thomas the Train episodes later, both teenagers had their hair done in matching twin french-braids. They looked positively adorable and it was so nice to see Yelena’s hair actually out of her face, looking clean and tidy. Her green eyes popped and her cheeks already looked a little fuller than when they’d first found her. 

Although they were practically the same age, Kate had a good few inches on her with shorter but much darker hair. Both girls still had just a bit of baby-face left in their cheeks, but they were quite clearly growing teenagers. The brunette normally wore her hair down or in a simple ponytail, so together they looked just the cutest. Laura looked at Lila adoringly; her sweet little girl with light brown hair that was only a few inches long. It’d grow eventually though and soon would be sporting a third head of cute little braids on her own head.

Yelena kept petting her own braided hair, the action seeming to soothe her. Kate took the end of one and tickled her face with it, making her smile and honest to god, laugh. She’d tucked her face away but they’d all heard it. Kate sported a grin that took up half her face.

“Hey Laura, wanna take a picture of us and our matching heads?” Kate asked.

“Sure, that’s a great idea. Lemme grab the camera, one sec,” Laura said.

She wandered to the kitchen, Lila following her around on tiny socked feet, to find the digital camera in one of the junk drawers.

The camera powered on but had a low battery. Enough for a few pictures though, at least. Laura walked back over where Kate was still teasing the shorter girl, trying to get her to laugh again. Laura held the camera up, looking through the tiny peephole and snapped a picture. 

“Hey, we weren’t ready!” Kate complained.

“Well get ready,” Laura countered with a smirk.

Kate threw her long arm over Yelena’s shoulders and posed beside her, all smiles. Yelena on the other hand looked like a deer in headlights.

“Say ‘cheese’,” Laura said.

“Cheese!” Kate said, with Cooper saying the word as well in the living room. Yelena copied them but it was not in a ‘to form a smile’ way.

Seeing the problem, Kate used one of her long blonde braids to again tickle her in the cheek. It got the reaction she wanted though; a small smile. 

“Hmm, cute,” Laura said. She took two more pictures before turning the camera off to save the battery. She’d see if Clint could print out the photos later, uncertain on if they needed more ink for the Kodak printer or not.

The rest of the morning passed by slowly. The temperature outside wasn’t too hot but with no breeze, the humidity seemed to make her clothing stick to her skin in the worst places when she went outside. 

Laura only had time to do some of her garden-picking before it was time for her to leave for her appointment. After she fed the littles a quick lunch she started her car, a small silver toyota that was old but reliable, rolling the windows down to air it out.

Kate and Yelena were in the house, Kate choosing to stay indoors all morning and out of the heat and Yelena sticking with her.   

“Kate? Can you come help me a second?” Laura called, squatting as best she could as she tied Cooper's shoes for him while he was seated on a kitchen chair.

“What’s up?” Kate said. She’d left Yelena to flip through a book in her lap.

“I need to go to my doctor’s appointment. I was going to bring the kids and wanted to make sure you two were okay staying here?” Laura asked, moving onto her son’s other shoe.

Kate shrugged. “Sure. We’ll be fine.”

Taking the blonde to a doctor’s office did not seem like a good idea to Laura. From her reaction at the Wildlife Center to the comment of medicine, Laura deduced doctors and the like might be some sort of trigger for her. 

“Alright. Think you could collect the eggs and feed the animals for me? Everything else can wait until tomorrow,” Laura said.

Kate huffed. “Yeah. Okay.”

“I should be home before three. Don’t burn the house down before I get back,” Laura said in jest. “And thank you.”

Kate rolled her eyes. “I won’t,” she whined out, causing Laura to chuckle.

“Bye Yena!” Cooper said as he ran out the door. Laura held Lila in her arms, securing a tiny hat on her head. 

The blonde glanced up. “You leave?”

Although she’d been separated before when the girls had gone with her husband to traipse through the woods, it was the first time Laura was the one leaving the house.

“I’ll be back in like two or three hours tops, promise,” she said. She hoped her nonchalance would quell any rising panic within the smaller girl.

The blonde looked to Kate who had just taken two popsicles out of the freezer, opening them both and handing one over.

Laura assured herself that they’d be fine. Kate was responsible and knew hers and Clint’s cell phone numbers by heart if she needed anything.

“You two be good!” Laura called out, the door half open. She gave a big smile and a little wave. Then she was out the door.

The frozen dessert in her hand was good. It was cold, yet sweet. 

Kate had called it a ‘popsicle’. Yelena committed the new name to memory as she kept licking the sides.

“Don’t forget the bottom. If you eat it too slow it’ll melt and make a big mess,” Kate explained while sitting next to her eating her own popsicle.

Most of the foods Kate seemed to like were sweet but Yelena didn’t mind. They were some of her favorites too, she was quickly learning, since she’d never tasted anything like them before.

“You like this more than jam?” Yelena asked as she ate the cold treat how Kate told her to, not wanting to make a mess.

“Mmm…” Kate thought aloud as she took a bite of hers, “I dunno. Maybe. It’s a different kind of treat. Maria’s jam is good on bread and toast, but this is a cold treat. Good for hot summer days, or eating on a swimming day.”

Yelena didn’t understand what Kate meant regarding when it was good to eat the melting food, but nodded as if she did. 

In fact, she was quickly realizing that she understood so little about…well, anything. Her siblings had always been smarter, teaching her things when they could, but it wasn’t the same. Sure they’d grown up together, but Yelena knew they’d gone to school at some point before she’d met them. She wasn’t sure what they learned there though. Here at the Barton’s house, even the children understood things she did not, and Yelena did not think they went to school. Everyone seemed to just instinctually know things when Yelena didn’t and she wasn’t sure why or what to do about it. Her feelings felt jumbled inside, making her feel upset, confused, and sad as she tried her best to remember all she was being taught and told and not make any mistakes. It was similar to when her siblings taught her things; everyone was patient and kind to her. But how long would it last? How long before she messed up too bad?

It was also nice to not have the doctors make her do things she didn’t want to, or the guards be mean and hurt her, or getting injections. Living the same routine since before she could remember, as horrible as it was, had at least been something she could predict and expect. Everything now was new, and unpredictable. But not bad. So far, not bad.

Her misery of missing Wanda, Natalia and Pietro not withstanding, Yelena felt…good. For once in her life. She was awake and aware, and clean, and smelled good, and her stomach almost always had food in it. She wasn’t used to any of it but couldn’t say it was a bad feeling. Just…different.

A piece of popsicle started to slide down the wooden stick and she quickly caught it with her mouth, feeling the coldness on her teeth.

“Why did Laura leave?” Yelena asked after the piece melted. She’d put the book she had been looking at back on the table where she’d found it. It was some sort of kids book about a vehicle and she’d slowly read some of it before being given the popsicle.

“She had a doctor’s appointment for the baby,” Kate said nonchalantly between licks.

Yelena tensed up at the word. 

What baby? Why would Laura go see doctors? Laura had said she was a doctor for animals…so why did she need to go to other doctors? What would happen to her? She took her tiny children with her, was it their time for their injections? Were they going to be hurt finally? Were they of age? 

Her mind ran with all the unanswered questions, too many for her to know where to start. 

“-ena. Yelena?” Kate said, hand waving in front of her face.

Green eyes met oddly-wide blue ones. 

“Hey. You okay?” Kate asked.

“Wh… why did Laura go to doctors? And the children,” Yelena asked, getting at least one question out. Her voice cracked. Would Cooper come back hurt? Would Lila be crying? Would–

“It’s just a doctor’s appointment to check on the baby. I guess when you’re pregnant you gotta see a lot of doctors, especially when you get close to the due date, but it’s normal. I don’t think it hurts or anything. They just check to see if the baby is growing alright and…stuff. I’m supposed to take Childcare 101 this year so I’m not sure what they do at the appointments yet,” Kate rambled. 

“Baby? Lila?” Yelena asked. She hadn’t thought Lila was a baby but maybe she was? She could walk after all, and babies couldn’t walk. At least, she didn’t think they could.

Kate gave her a look Yelena couldn’t decipher. “No… not Lila. The baby growing inside her.”

Yelena’s eyebrows scrunched together. “I… do not understand.”

Kate laughed, high-pitched. “Umm… I’ll let Laura explain when she gets back. Just trust me that she’s okay. Her and the kids are fine. Okay?”

“Okay,” Yelena conceded, having no other option.

“Cool. So… want to come help me again outside? With the chickens, specifically?” Kate asked hopefully.

“Da, I help again,” Yelena said. She had nothing else to do and wasn’t keen on being inside the house alone. Kate took her popsicle stick, tossing both in the garbage, then went to put her shoes on.

“I can wear these again?” Yelena asked, pointing to the shoes she had worn the other day. 

“Yeah sure, if you want. Do you need a hat or sunglasses or anything?” Kate asked.

Yelena slid the offending feet covers on with a wrinkle of her nose. “Does not matter.”

Kate went to grab two hats but must have changed her mind. She threw on a pair of sunglasses, handing Yelena a second pair. “Don’t want to mess up our beautiful hair,” she said.

Yelena smiled, sliding the sunglasses on her face. She definitely didn’t want to mess up her hair.

She followed Kate out and mostly watched her as she gave all the different animals food, filling buckets and troughs and filling up where water would go as well. Yelena even helped a little, following Kate’s directions on where the containers went, all while making inconsequential small-talk. Then they made their way to the chicken coop. 

Kate let her go first but it seemed the mean chicken from before must have seen the two girls outside and run off already. 

“Your angry kuritsa is not here, Kate Bishop,” Yelena informed her.

“Oh thank goodness,” Kate said, relief evident. “She must have seen you coming. Well, take that Brama!”

Yelena shrugged but couldn’t hide the small smile of being a little helpful.

At one point, Yelena noticed Kate start to inch her sleeves up but stopping when she flinched, pulling the one back down.

Yelena stepped over to pull it up and look at her arm and the wound she’d caused. Part of it was covered in tan bandages.

She met Kate’s eyes. “I am…I am so sorry, Kate. You are okay?” The wounds seemed to still look the same as last night, which surprised Yelena. It should have been mostly gone by now.

Kate patted her hand and pulled the sleeve back down. “I’m okay. Don’t worry about it.”

Yelena did still worry but wasn’t going to argue.

After Kate swept up the floor, just enough so they didn’t step in any chicken messes, they each took a side and began collecting chicken eggs.

Kate had handed Yelena the basket, reminding her to be gentle, and used her shirt to put eggs in. While collecting, Kate started singing a song about eggs.

“What are you singing?” Yelena asked.

Kate laughed. “Nothing. Just a song I half-made up. I don’t remember all the words.”

“About eggies?” Yelena asked.

A twinkly laugh erupted from Kate’s mouth. “Yeah, I guess so.” She shrugged. “My brain doesn’t do well with silence. Guess I like to fill it with whatever I can.”

Yelena thought about the statement hard. Fill the silence?

“Are you still sad?” Kate asked randomly.

Yelena looked at her. “Sad…?”

“About your siblings,” Kate clarified.

Ah.

Yelena turned and went back to egg-collecting.

“Clint will find them, you know. He always does,” Kate said.

Yelena blinked her eyes a few times until she was sure she wouldn’t cry. “If you say…” she was eventually able to respond with.

Letting the conversation topic drop, both girls went back to slowly and gently collecting the eggs on their respective sides while Kate sang more songs, even making her voice sound funny or have a fake accent in certain spots.

“What is that song?” Yelena asked when she’d grabbed her last egg.

“Which one?” Kate asked as she slowly began to put in her eggs one by one in the basket Yelena held.

“The one you roar in.”

Kate paused, egg halfway in the basket. “Lion King? I wanna be a mighty king?”

Yelena’s silence spoke volumes.

“You’ve never seen Lion King!?” Kate asked, much louder than necessary.

“No? What is it?” 

“No. Freaking. Way. C’mon. Let’s go! We gotta go, right now. This is an emergency,” Kate exclaimed after not-so-gently putting the rest of her eggs that were in the bottom of her shirt that she’d held as a make-shift basket and dumping them into the wicker one. She then took the basket from Yelena, grabbed her hand, and practically dragged her out of the coop.

“K-Kate! What is wrong? I…what is the lion kings?” Yelena asked nervously as they fast-walked back to the house.

“It’s a movie! One of the best movies of all time, Yelena! I can’t believe you’ve never seen it. Oh my gosh. We’re watching it right now!”

“Um! Okay!” Yelena squeaked out. Kate parked her on the couch, took off her slides and threw them by the front door, and then put their basket of eggs on the kitchen counter. Took off and threw her own shoes, whacking the wall with them. Then opened a cabinet below the television, digging through it.

Yelena set her sunglasses on the low table while she waited.

“Aha! Yes!” the crazed girl said loudly, her own shades having been tossed somewhere between the front door and the couch. She fiddled with more things before images started playing on the previously blank screen.

Kate made herself comfortable next to Yelena on the couch, a remote in her hand.

“Are you ready to have your mind blown?” she asked.

Yelena definitely did not feel ready for whatever that entailed. She gave Kate a look that she hoped said so. 

Before long, after a few different short videos that Kate called ‘trailers’, a menu appeared with an odd-looking cartoon rock and purple sky. Kate used the remote to press something, making the image change again. She vibrated with excited energy, knees bouncing.

“You’re going to love it,” Kate whispered. Yelena wasn’t sure why the whispering but kept quiet too, just in case.

The next hour and a half was one of the most amazing experiences of her life. 

The movie in question was everything and more. After clarifying with Kate that the characters were in fact, not real, therefore causing Kate to pause the screen and explain exactly what cartoons and animated movies even were, with a quick rundown on how they were made, Yelena let herself get sucked into the world of the Lion King.

It was beautiful. Like watching one of Wanda’s stories instead of listening. The movie was fun, and sad, and scary, and so much more. Yelena found herself in an array of emotions; smiling at the funny moments, holding her breath at the thrilling ones, feeling her throat close up at the sad parts, cheering the lions on when they would fight. When a young Simba sang the song with the ‘roar’, Kate sang along, vowing to teach every word to Yelena eventually.

Towards the end of the movie, when Simba, now an adult lion, walked along the long rock that he called home and all of the lions roared in unison, tingles went up Yelena’s spine. It was powerful.

Natalia would love this movie. All of them would, actually, but the lions made her think of her fiery and protective sister. Maybe Yelena could show them someday.

Once the movie switched to words on the screen, Kate turned to her. “So what did you think?” she asked.

“Can we watch again?” Yelena asked. 

Kate laughed, big, bright and happy. “Sure. But just so you know, there’s two other movies. Lion King 2 and Lion King 1 ½! The half one just came out last year and it’s pretty funny. The second one is about Simba’s daughter, Kiara. But…I was thinking, since you haven’t seen like, any Disney movies, we could continue our movie-cation with something else.”

“How many movies are there to watch?” Yelena asked.

“Oh boy,” Kate muttered, “a lot. Like a lot. But that’s okay! Let’s see what Clint and Laura have down here.”

She went back to the cabinet under the television and dug around, pulling out a bunch of colorful plastic cases that turned out to be more movies.

“Well, they don’t have the other Lion King movies, but they have a lot of other options, so take your pick!”

Yelena didn’t waste time reading the titles, instead looking at the pictures on the front. One caught her eye, with cats. So when Kate asked her which she wanted to watch next, she tapped that one.

“This one,” she said, smiling at the three tiny kittens on the cover. 

“Ooo, yes! Perfect! Aristocats! You’ll love it. It’s older but so good. Cat is…koshku? ”

“Koshka,” Yelena corrected, handing the case to Kate.

“Right, right. Okay! Well let’s get our koshka-filled movie started!” the brunette exclaimed.

Hearing Kate butcher the Russian language was scary, but endearing. When Yelena said things wrong, she was given correction, which were never fun to receive. When Kate did it, it was with a goofy grin. There was still a lot that didn’t make sense to Yelena, but she was starting to think that maybe how her life had been lived so far hadn’t been all good or…normal?

As the trailers played, showing more movies and things Yelena had never seen, Kate dug around in the kitchen until she came back to the couch with a bag of chips and two bottles of water.

“We can watch Lion King again later?” Yelena asked again as the movie was about to start.

Kate grinned, eyes crinkling, “Yes, definitely. We can definitely watch it again.”

Nodding, the screen switched to a tan background of doodled cats running around, playing with yarn. It was a different type of movie than Lion King but still just as fun and enjoyable nonetheless. It wasn’t as heart-wrenching, but still had many good moments. Yelena also couldn’t get out of her head how much two of the kittens reminded her of Pietro and Natalia; always fighting but still having each other’s backs and having fun. She even caught herself giggling at parts of the movie, Kate joining her. 

Just as the movie was ending, the front door opened to reveal Cooper running in the house with Laura holding a sleepy Lila behind him. They all looked perfectly fine and healthy, a stark contrast to how Yelena had been expecting them to return. She was suddenly glad for the movies she’d watched with Kate. It’d kept her mind off the things she couldn’t control.

“Laura!” the blonde chirped.

“Hey girls! How’s it going–oof!” Laura ended her sentence prematurely as Yelena skittered over to hug her.

“You are okay?” Yelena asked, looking in her eyes. Lila tried grabbing one of Yelena’s braids but they were just out of reach.

“I’m fine. Everything’s on schedule and unless this one decides to make an early appearance, I’ve got a c-section in three weeks lined up,” Laura explained, hugging the girl back. 

Absolutely none of what she said made sense to Yelena but she didn’t care. She was just glad Laura had come back with the kids. She stayed cuddled into her, prolonging the hug.

“Laura! Did you know that Yelena had never seen the Lion King?” Kate yelled from the couch.

Laura chuckled as she finally stepped back and took off Lila’s shoes. “Wow. No, I did not. Did you rectify that problem?”

“You bet we did,” Kate confirmed. “And Aristocats! And we’ve got more lined up.”

“Sounds like we’ve got a Disney marathon planned,” Laura commented. “Oh Katie, did you finish feeding the animals?”

“Uhhh… yes?”

“You don’t sound very sure,” Laura said.

“No, we did! Promise. I think. Actually, let me just…go double-check!” Kate scrambled up, threw on some sandals and was out the door while Laura continued to laugh at her antics.

“Did you like the movies?” the mother asked Yelena as she took a seat on the couch, Yelena following.

The blonde nodded. “Yes. Much. I would like to watch the Lion King again.”

“Sounds about right,” Laura said. “It’s definitely one of my favorite as well, though I do love the princess movies.”

“Kaaaaate!” Cooper yelled as he ran back outside to play a few minutes later.

Laura chuckled. “He was very bored at the doctors. Hopefully he goes to annoy Kate and not me,” she said humorously.

Once the house was quiet again, Yelena turned to the woman beside her. “Laura?”

The woman in question turned to Yelena. “Yeah?”

Yelena spoke while playing with her hair again. “Kate said you have a baby inside you but is not Lila. And you…went to see doctors?” She wasn’t sure how to ask what she was wanting to know. “I was just…wondering? You are okay and not hurt?”

Botched as it was, Laura seemed to get the gist of Yelena’s confusion. “I’m fine, honey. But yes, I do have a baby in me. Do you see how my belly is really big?”

Yelena nodded.

“That’s because there’s a baby there. I’m not just fat, though this one likes to say otherwise by how hungry they make me,” Laura joked before continuing her explanation, “The baby grows inside me and gets bigger until eventually it’s born. Then it comes out and you can see it and hold it. It’ll be very tiny, much smaller than Lila, so we’ll need to take care of them,” Laura explained.

Kate came back all sweaty, Cooper in tow, apparently actually finishing the chores she’d sworn were done as Laura continued giving a very rudimentary explanation about babies. Although confusing, Yelena understood enough. “I can ask questions more?” 

“Sure can. As many as you want,” Laura confirmed with a grin.

A few questions and simple answers later, she was satisfied, so Kate put on another movie, declaring it a ‘movie day’. She let Cooper pick, the little boy choosing a movie called Toy Story, and together they watched the film, Laura included. Lila lost interest rather quickly and Kate fell asleep twice but just as the film finished was when Clint came home.

After that, the rest of the night consisted of dinner being cooked.

“Whaddya guys say to…tacos?” Clint suggested.

Both Kate and Cooper yelled their excitement. Kate took the little boy by the hands and helped him jump up and down very high, singing ‘yay tacos!’ over and over.

“You two are ridiculous. It’s like we never feed you,” Clint mumbled with an eye roll and a smile.

After the house was filled with the delicious smells of a spicy beef mixture, everyone in the house sat at the same kitchen table they’d eaten all of their previous meals in. Laura had spent time cutting up different items to put with the beef and Yelena followed Kate’s lead in building the ‘perfect taco’ on a circular flat but soft item she deemed a ‘soft shell’.

The food was absolutely wonderful, Yelena’s new favorite so far she decided especially after she hesitantly copied Clint and added hot sauce to her taco. She was pretty sure she could drink the spicy condiment from a bottle if given the chance, it was so tasty. 

Stories were told of their day while they ate, Laura filling Clint in on how her doctor appointment went, Kate re-telling Clint of Yelena’s ‘movie-cation’ and Cooper joining in and making sure his dad knew exactly how absolutely boring the doctor’s appointment was, even if he did get a sticker at the end. Clint did not bring up Yelena's siblings so neither did she.

Then it was bedtime. Though still rather early, Kate was still tired from her poor sleep the night before and Yelena wasn’t that far off as she started nodding off at the table.

Laura ushered everyone upstairs as Clint cleaned up. Yelena was handed a pair of pajamas and went into the bathroom to ‘get ready for bed’. Slowly learning that this meant you used the bathroom, brushed your teeth, and put on your bedtime clothes, she went to the bathroom across the hall from Kate’s room. 

A knock at the door alerted Kate and she spun around after yanking her hoodie back on.

“Kate?” Laura called after pushing the door open.

“Yeah?” Kate huffed out. Her face felt flushed. She’d stayed inside as much as possible, practically melting from wearing a sweater all day.

“Got a second?” Laura asked.

“Sure.”

Laura closed the door then sat on the bed. “Come sit with me.”

Kate did so, turned towards Laura.

“Can you show me?” Laura asked.

Kate froze. Did Laura mean…? “U-um, show you what?”

Laura gave her a look. “Honey, you are a worse liar than Clint and Cooper combined. Now let me see what happened. Please?”

The woman who was clearly adept at seeing through Kate and her flimsy lies and cover-ups held out her hand, motioning to Kate’s sleeve-covered arm.

“It’s… it’s fine! Promise. It was just an accident. It was my fault, really,” Kate rambled out but Laura patiently waited until the teenager huffed and pulled her sleeve up, showing Laura the scratches.

“Oh honey…” Laura exclaimed as she surveyed what Kate’d been hiding, turning her arm to assess. The bandaids were wrinkled, starting to peel off, and only partially covered what Kate had meant to hide.

“It’s my fault! Please Laura, she didn’t do it on purpose. She was…scared. I…it…it doesn’t even hurt. Yelena, she just–”

“Hey, hey, Kate, shh, calm down. I’m not mad. I just want to make sure you’re okay,” Laura soothed, checking it out. She peeled the bandages off to inspect the scabs they were barely covering. 

“I promise it doesn’t hurt. I even washed it and used neosporin…” Kate said, lip pushed out in a pout.

“That’s good. They don’t seem too deep, they’ll heal soon enough, but she definitely got you good,” Laura stated, eyeing the deepest parts. They had scabbed over and thankfully were no longer trying to bleed out. “Your mom is definitely going to notice when she gets here Friday, honey.”

Kate sighed. Then she caught sight of one of Laura’s wrists, just a tad darker than it should be from the growing bruise. 

“Do we have to tell mom and Clint?” Kate asked pathetically.

Laura sighed. “I’ll tell Clint. I don’t keep things from my husband, you know that, but please don’t worry. He’ll understand. Your mom is…well, I’ll talk to Clint. See what he thinks. You know I don’t condone lying, but changing the truth to protect someone else is a different story. For now, no more lying or hiding things. And if something like last night happens again, I want you to come and get me though. Okay?”

Kate nodded, sliding her sleeve down and holding her hand to her wound. “Yes. Okay.”

“Okay. Well, get some sleep. And take off that godforsaken sweatshirt. You’ll give yourself heatstroke,” Laura ordered gently.

The offending item of clothing was ripped off and tossed to the floor just as Yelena came back in.

Laura gave each of them a hug, kissing the sides of their heads, and turned the light off as the two girls got comfy in bed.

Yelena put her hands around Kate’s injured arm, pulling it close. “You are not healed yet,” she stated.

Kate kept still as the blonde surveyed the scratches. “No. It’ll be there awhile probably. But it’s okay, it doesn’t hurt.”

Yelena hummed. “I help you. Da?”

“There’s nothing more to be–ah!” Kate was interrupted by Yelena taking her tongue and licking up Kate’s arm, right over her scratches. 

“Ew! Wh-why are you..!? Uh, Yelena, I mean thanks but this is really–”

“It will help you heal faster,” the blonde said and licked more, covering every bit of red angry line and scab. Kate tried, not very hard, to pull away. The feeling was weird, and more than a little gross.

“But! Yelena, you’re licking me. It’s–that’s weird!” Kate whispered loudly.

“You heal too slow,” Yelena explained, which explained actually nothing.

Kate let her finish, even if she was slightly grossed out, and then used the blanket to wipe off her slobber. “Please don’t do that again,” Kate asked.

The blonde scrunched down. “Izvini. I just wanted to help.”

After her arm dried, Kate found her arm actually did feel a little better. Less of a burn-feeling, but when she looked at it, it looked the same.

“Um, well thank you. But it’ll heal on it’s own. Okay?”

Yelena nodded, inching closer but not yet touching Kate. She’d fallen asleep the past few nights more or less using the brunette as a human pillow or cuddling her and Kate couldn’t find it in her to mind. In fact, she rather enjoyed it. She rolled closer and the smaller girl took that as permission, nuzzling into her shoulder.

“Spasibo, Kate,” Yelena muttered. “I will not hurt you ever again. Obeshchayu.”

Kate was asleep before her mind could start to think of any what-if scenarios like it usually tried to do.

The day had been long and with where their conversation was going, Laura felt it just getting longer. 

“Babe, I’m telling you. This doesn’t look good. I had to call her,” Clint said, trying to get his wife to understand his reasons.

Laura sighed, drying the last freshly-cleaned plate and putting it away.

“We promised each other that we’d leave your past where it belongs, Clint. In the past. Calling Maria Hill is only going to cause problems,” Laura said in defense. 

She’d met the woman a handful of times and couldn’t say she was a fan. Maria Hill seemed to be the same on the inside as she was on the outside; too serious and strict for her liking, putting her job before anything else, including family. As resourceful and reliable as she was, she was always surrounded by chaos. Whether it was the chaos that brought her, or she who came with said chaos was still unknown. 

Laura and her never saw eye to eye though. And with where they were in their lives now, two children, a third on the way. Kate with them at times, and now the troubled blonde… Laura did not want to invite anything more to their lives or make things worse.

“Honey, all I’m saying is to think it over. Do we really need her?” Laura said to Clint, turning to lean against the counter. 

Her husband's strong arms wrapped around her shoulders. “I know. I wish the answer was no, we don’t. But…” he sighed, “everywhere I’ve called has been a dead end. Hospitals, police stations, homeless shelters. Hell, all the animal centers too. I got nothing to go on, babe.”

Clint paused, not finished but clearly debating on how to word something on his mind. “Yesterday at work, there was a car… I can’t say for certain if it was connected in any way to her or her brother and sisters, but when it pulled into the main office to ask about a missing woman, I just… I didn’t like the look of them. The man had an accent. He gave me the heebie jeebies.”

Laura snorted. “This is supposed to be a serious conversation, Clint.”

“I know, I know. I might have jumped the gun, but I’m confident in my choice now. Today, the last half of the day, I decided to take a drive. I turned the GPS off my phone and decided to map out all of the areas I could in my car. There’s a spot in the middle I couldn’t get to though. It’s across state lines but it could be where she came from. There’s gotta be something in those woods, something we’re missing. I need to know. I need to find it. And we need to find the other three. God, who knows how many others there are? But Maria can help. She can protect us. Protect our family.”

The look Laura gave Clint was not one of kindness. “Do we need protecting?”

Clint hugged her closer, tucking her into his neck. “I dunno. Maybe. I hope not, but maybe. But that kid upstairs? She sure does. And I’ll be damned if something happens that we could have prevented.” This time.

Laura couldn’t have said it better.

Chapter Text

A loud jangle of keys followed by voices sounded outside of the main apartment door, immediately causing Natalia to jerk awake. 

“Get up!” she yelped, voice high-pitched while shoving Wanda and Pietro as she scrambled to her feet, the twins doing the same. Between curses, they threw their shirts at each other, Pietro rushing to open the window.

He was just able to shove it open as the door knob turned.

“Nat!” Wanda squeaked out as Natalia ran at the door to keep whoever it was from getting in.

“Go!” Natalia growled out, throwing her weight against the wood but it was pointless. She was barely able to push it back a few inches before being shoved back with a strength that well-outmatched her own. She fell backwards as a man she’d never seen stood in the doorway.

As she floundered away, the man grabbed her ankle, the shadow of him looming over her. Natalia ripped herself away from the man’s rather weak grip, Wanda making a squeak of fear from the action. Then Natalia quickly curled up, protecting herself as a deep shout was heard.

“Stop, Lou! Dammit. I know this lot,” the deep voice said.

A snarky scoff. “Bunch of fucking freeloaders! I told you there was a noise complaint,” said a decidedly feminine voice.

“I know, I know Bev,” said the first man, the one closest to her. Natalia felt herself being pulled back against the floor by Wanda, kick-starting Natalia to uncurl from her fetal position and use her feet and hands to quickly shuffle away. Wanda squatted beside her, wrapping a shaking arm around her in the front. Natalia could feel her heart beating wildly in her chest. She was sure Wanda could feel it too. 

The more familiar voice was heard again, speaking to the other two unknowns and Natalia finally peeked around the old man in front of her to see behind him.

It was the bar owner, with the one eye.

He stood in the doorway, his arms crossed, speaking to the two additional strangers. The man in front of Natalia was shorter and older, with balding gray hair and thick-rimmed glasses. An similarly older woman with a pointy nose and even grayer hair was looking around Odin’s arm at them with a glare, her hair pulled into a tight bun.

“Please! We’re sorry. W-we’ll go. We didn’t take anything,” Wanda said as she half-pulled Natalia towards the window. Pietro was gone, already out the window, where Wanda should be. Didn’t Natalia tell her to go?

“Why don’t you ever listen?” Natalia muttered out as they inched closer.

Wanda shushed her.

“Ah ah. No. You two, stay,” Odin ordered. Then he looked around. “Where’s the boy?”

Neither Natalia or Wanda answered. 

Odin sighed. “Boy! Get out here with your sisters.”

“He’s gone,” Natalia lied, finally finding her footing and standing up. She pulled Wanda up with her, placing the taller girl between herself and the open window.

“I’m calling the police,” the old woman stated, voice nasally and annoying.

Before Natalia could shove Wanda out the window, Odin interrupted.

“C’mon now. That won’t be necessary, Beverly. They’re harmless. They’ve been helping me at the bar.”

The woman sniffed. “So you’re responsible for them?”

The other man, the shorter one with glasses, scratched the side of his head. “You all a bunch’a squatters?” he asked.

Natalia didn’t know what that meant, but she did notice Odin didn't deny the accusation. 

“Lou, I got it. Just, be on your way. I’ll take care of this. If they stole or damaged anything, send me a bill,” Odin said, throwing his chin back as he leaned against the doorframe. The two older people grumbled some more but did as Odin asked and left.  

“We didn’t take anything. There’s nothing even here,” Natalia said. She could feel Wanda’s hand gripping the back of her shirt and pulling it tight.

“Poydem!” Pietro whispered from somewhere outside.

Odin stared at the two girls. “So now you’re breaking and entering?” he asked.

“We’re leaving,” Natalia said. She was annoyed that this man kept popping up. 

“Woah, hey now, c’mon. I’m not callin’ anyone so just hang on a damn second. And dammit boy, get back in here!” Odin said, hollering at the end so Pietro could hear him.

Pietro’s head popped up, much to Natalia’s chagrin, and he easily climbed back in, his long limbs making it look easy from the four foot drop down to the roof below.

Once they were all together, Odin started talking again.

“I saw you climb up here last night. You aren’t as sly as you think you are. But you can’t just sleep in an empty apartment. That’s illegal and you damn well know it. At least I sure hope you do. Now Bev and Lou there? The grouchy pair that just left and wanted to call the cops? They’re the apartment owners, and are well within their right to do so,” Odin informed them with a judgemental look.

Natalia looked away, belatedly noticing Wanda’s shirt was on backwards.

“I think we need to sit and have another chat. A better one. Where maybe you don’t sit there and lie to my face,” the man said.

Natalia scoffed. “We don’t need to do anything you tell us.”

“That’s true. You don’t. Would you rather the cops come out? They probably have questions you don’t want to answer either,” Odin threatened.

“I’ll rip your face off before you get the chance,” Natalia growled out, muscles tensing.

The man had the nerve to laugh. “Delightful.”

He turned. “I’m not gonna call anyone. Yet. But you know you can’t stay here. Now close the window, grab your trash and let’s go,” he said, referring to the bag from last night that he’d put their dinner in. 

As infuriating as Odin was, they reluctantly followed, having no other option. Pietro grabbed the empty bag and they walked down the hall until they reached a staircase.

“I’ll kill you if you try anything,” Natalia warned. Just so he knew.

Odin waved her off. “Heard ya loud and clear the moment we met, lassy.”

“Don’t call me that,” Natalia said darkly. Wanda took her hand, squeezing tight. 

They followed down the steps until they walked through a set of wooden double doors with glass panes in the middle that locked behind them when it was shut. Although they could have scattered immediately, Wanda pulled them after the man until they were around the building and in front of Odin’s bar. Since it was morning, the signs were all off but he must have already been there, as the door was unlocked.

Against Natalia’s judgment, they followed him inside.

The bar was thankfully empty and seemed brighter than it had compared to the two other times she'd been there, as if more lights were turned on.

He led them to one of the tables and sat, motioning for them to sit as well. 

Slowly they did, one by one, Pietro still clutching the bag of garbage.

“Alright. First question. Are you all over 18?” Odin asked. 

After sharing looks between each other, they all nodded.

“Good. And your names?” the man asked. “Just first is fine,” he added after a few seconds of silence.

They each provided their first names but otherwise kept quiet, waiting to see what else he would ask.

“You seemed to not like the idea of the cops being called. Is that going to be a problem? You on the run from something? Is someone going to be banging on my door looking for you three?”

“They’re not police,” Wanda barked, eyebrows drawn down, face hard.

Odin blinked. “Who?”

The older girl shifted in her seat. “The…people in charge. From where we lived.”

“And where might that be?”

“We came from that way,” Wanda said, pointing north. “That wasn’t a lie.”

“De Soto? New Albin? La Crosse?” Odin asked, firing off names that meant nothing to them.

They all gave him a wide-eyed look. 

“Minnesota?” Odin asked.

“What’s that?” Pietro asked.

“The state north of us,” Odin responded with an odd look to him. 

“Huh. I never knew for certain which state we were in. Just that we were in the US…” Pietro said. He sounded more like he was talking to himself, but had said it out loud.

“So the cops aren’t looking for you. But someone is?” Odin questioned.

“We aren’t certain. But most likely,” Wanda said. 

“So why stick around? Do you have anywhere you can go stay?” Odin asked.

Natalia played with a groove in the table, digging her nail in it. All his questions she was uncertain about answering or him knowing anything about them. Was it safe? Could they trust him? Was it a good idea to accept his help? Just because he’d helped them out a few times didn’t really mean much. However, could this man help them find Yelena?

Maybe. Maybe not.

“I’m sorry,” Natalia interrupted, “but what is happening. Why are we here? What do you want from us?”

“Nat…” Wanda muttered, rubbing her eyes.

“Is this a kidnapping? Answer your questions or you’ll call the cops?” Natalia asked angrily.

Odin leaned back in his chair. “No. I just think you need more help than you’re willing to ask for,” he declared with an air of certainty.

Natalia’s first instinct was to vehemently deny his accusation. 

“We don’t need your help,” she sneered. “We’re fine. Thanks.”

“Don’t look like it,” Odin remarked sarcastically.

“Well we are! So why don’t you–” Natalia started to say, sliding her chair out when Odin held up his hands.

“Hey, stop. Cool your jets, kid. I’m sorry. Please, just listen for a second. I think perhaps we got onto the wrong footing,” Odin began to say, his gruff voice softer than usual. “I just want to offer help. It might not look like it but I have a bit of a soft spot for people down on their luck.” Natalia could see a pack of cigarettes poking out of his shirt pocket as he spoke, choosing to stare at it instead of his stupid face.

“Why?” Wanda asked, Pietro leaning in to hear the answer as well.

Odin cleared his throat. “Help was offered to me when I was a young lad many years ago. Before I married my late wife, I was in a bad place of sorts. I was offered similar help to get on my own two feet and I’ve since tried to repay it whenever I’ve had the chance. After Frigga passed and my kids all moved away, it’s been…a bit lull here, I guess you could say. In any case, I only want to offer what was offered to me when I was young and needed it. A place to stay, some food, and a little help to get back on your feet, whether it’s an hour, a day, a week. Whatever you need.”

“You have children?” Wanda asked curiously. Natalia recalled him mentioning something about a son or two the other day.

“Aye. Three of ‘em. A daughter and two sons,” Odin answered with a smile and far-away look.

Wanda was such a sucker. Natalia huffed out a sigh, admitting slight defeat internally. Maybe the sooner she accepted his help, the sooner they could get the hell out of there. 

“If you don’t want my help, that’s fine. I can’t force ya. But think about it, will ya?” Odin declared. 

The three younger adults had long since mastered the art of conversing in silence with their eyes and facial expressions, though their mind-speech would have been very helpful in this instance. Natalia met Wanda and Pietro’s gazes. In the silence, she pulled the trigger on what she hoped wouldn’t bite them in the ass later. 

“We are…looking for our sister,” Natalia started, hearing the relieved sigh from Wanda beside her. “We got separated a few days ago. We need to find her,” Natalia finished telling the bar owner across from her.

“I see. Any leads on where she could be?” Odin asked.

Natalia shook her head, digging her nail deeper into the table. “No. We tracked her in the woods where we were last together but she’s not there.”

“The woods? How can you be sure? You in the tracking busin–” Odin grilled.

“Because!” Natalia growled out. Wanda wrapped her thin fingers over Natalia’s arm.

“We just know,” Wanda said quickly as Natalia let out a throaty growl at the man’s doubt.

Odin raised his hands up. “Fair enough. So contacting the police department is off the table. Have you called anywhere else? Checked in with friends or family she mighta gone to? Shelters? Hospitals?” Odin questioned.

“We don’t have a phone,” Natalia said, as if it weren’t obvious.

Odin tsked. “There’s a phone on the wall over there,” he pointed out. 

“We…don’t know any numbers to call,” Wanda said.

Odin sighed obnoxiously. “So I’ll lend you a phone book. But here’s what I was thinking. And before you say anything, I’m not holdin’ you hostage. You want to go? Go. But let me tell you my offer, first.”

They remained seated in silence, having no other real option at this point, so Odin took that as his cue to keep going. “I have an apartment in the same building you were in that I own. My kids had their rounds in it before moving out to live their own lives elsewhere. This town wasn’t big enough for them and their idea of a life. However, the place is empty now. Well, of someone livin’ in it… Anyway, I’m low on staff here. If you help me in the evenings at the bar, I’ll let you use the space. I expect you not to rob me, but you’re welcome to use pretty much anything you find there, including any clothes. God only knows how old they are, plus it saves me a trip to the donation bin.”

“You’re giving us a place to live?” Wanda asked incredulously, the first to catch onto what the man was explaining. 

Odin scratched his beard. “Temporarily. I ain’t usin’ the place. I got a house in town down the road, but just can’t find it in myself to sell the damn thing. Mind you, it’s completely full of junk so…maybe you can make yourselves useful and help me clean it up while you’re there.”

“We just need to…work for you? And we can stay?” PIetro asked, trying to clarify the deal Odin was offering.

“What kind of work do you expect us to do?” Natalia tacked on dubiously.

“Same as before. Cleaning, dishes. Maybe take an order or serve some drinks and plates to a table. Hal can only be here so much, and the young man I had working with me quit a few weeks ago.”

“What about food?” Natalia asked. 

Odin eyed her. “What about it?”

“If we work for you, we get food too,” she bargained. She felt a slap against her side from Wanda but ignored the brunette’s eyes giving her a look that clearly said to shut up.

“One meal a day each,” Odin came back with, surprising them.

“Fine,” Natalia quickly agreed. “And you’ll help us find our sister,” she ordered.

“Please,” Wanda added with a glare to Natalia, then a sweet smile to the bar owner.

Odin pulled out his box of cigarettes and a lighter from his shirt pocket, smacking them against his hand a few times. “I’ll do what I can. But no sneaky business. Hear me? Don’t go breaking into places or stealing shit. I know everyone in this town and they know me.” Odin pulled a cigarette from the box, then stuck his calloused hand out. “We got a deal?”

Natalia shared a look with Wanda and Pietro before shaking his hand quickly but firmly with one of her own, his hand severely engulfing hers. “For now,” she said. 

We’re coming Yelena. Please be okay…

“Here we are. Lucky number four,” Odin remarked as he pulled a ring of keys from his pocket. He flipped through a few until he decided on one and successfully unlocked the door. It creaked open to a very musty-smelling apartment that had a similar set-up to the one a few floors down, except this one wasn’t empty.

It was almost over-full. Packed to the brim with so much furniture, boxes, knick-knacks. Just…stuff. All Wanda could see was the living room and part of the kitchen from where she stood, but she could only guess what the bedrooms looked like.

Pietro whistled. “You weren’t kidding…”

Natalia couldn’t help but snort out a laugh.

Odin ushered them in, turning on the lights, which really didn’t help much since the sun was already shining in. He then immediately cracked open both windows in the kitchen and living rooms to air the place out. 

“Apologies. Like I said, it hasn’t been used in awhile. As in a few years. My wife and I purchased it when we were young and they were still selling apartments instead of only renting ‘em. Even though we moved out to buy a house, we kept it and rented it out until our daughter moved out on her own. Then she passed it down to my sons but they’ve all been out of state for…oh, over five years now I s’pose,” Odin explained as he walked around the place.

Wanda slowly walked, coming across a picture frame on the table the box television sat on. She picked it up to study it. It was quite dusty so she wiped it off until a photo of five people, two adults and three children of varying ages were visible. 

“You said you had three kids? Are these them?” she asked, pointing to the photo.

“That’s right. There’s my wife, Frigga, our two sons and our daughter. All older than you lot now, of course. My sons have been off on a life-searching journey. Always planned to come back and take over the bar but it was never their dream and I’m not gonna force ‘em. Hela, that’s my girl, lives in the southeast corner of British Columbia. No clue where my boys are at the moment. Traipsing through the Rockies last I knew.”

The large man was currently digging through a cabinet under the sink. 

“Rockies?” Pietro’s curiosity peeking through, accent showing off on the first letter of the word as he took a seat on the arm of the couch. The sun shone through streaks of dust and dirt that wafted up in the air from the movement of the fabric.

“Yup. They’re a span of mountains. Biggest in the US.” Odin had an array of bottles around him, turning the sink on to check the water. 

Pietro had decided that the couch was too dusty to sit on and stood back up, coughing in the process.

“Nat, look! Yele–” Wanda was cut off into silence as Natalia made a noise with her tongue to stop Wanda from saying more. The door to the apartment was shut quickly by the redhead who radiated nervousness. The book the brunette was holding was quickly set down.

The older man cleared his throat. “You were saying?”

Wanda shook her head. “Nothing, nevermind,” she whispered. She turned away and picked up another book on the table.

Odin shrugged, uncaring, and looked around. “Well, there’s a vacuum in the closet. Cleaning supplies here. Rags and towels in the closet down the hall. That’ll keep you busy for the day. I’ll come back in a few hours, but if you need anything before then, I’ll be in the bar doing some inventory before I open for the day.”

After more silence, Odin dug in his pocket, pulling the ring of keys out from before. “There’s a phone in the corner, so if you need it, use it. Nothing international though. There’s probably a phone book underneath. Like I’d mentioned before, you are welcome to any clothes here my kids left. They’re probably all in the dressers in the bedrooms, or possibly bins or boxes.” He went to walk out but stopped, as if he forgot something. “And if you want to leave, that’s fine, but I do not want to see you breaking any other laws. I won’t stop the cops from being called next time,” he ended with a firm warning.

He took the key to the apartment, set it on a small table near the front door, and left without further fanfare. The three of them were then left to awkwardly stand in a fully furnished apartment.

“This is weird,” Pietro said, picking up a random knick knack that looked like a giant marble.

Natalia locked the front door then scoured the apartment for cameras. Wanda and Pietro joined to help but the twins kept getting distracted by all the junk everywhere.

And that’s exactly what it was. Total junk. Books that looked older than they were, weird statues, trinkets, boxes, picture frames and so much more, all covered in layers of dust. A couch and large chair sat around a low table in the living room, with multiple bookshelves and tables around the wall edges, most of them piled with books. Along the walls, a few frames held pictures. Most of them were of wolves or nature, with the exception of the photo on the TV stand of Odin and his family.

There were a few boxes that looked like someone had started packing them but never finished. Unsurprisingly, the boxes taped closed all had ‘BOOKS’ written in big black marker on the top. The rest were either empty or unlabeled.

“Hey, look at this,” Wanda said, holding another picture frame she’d found on a bookshelf. It was similar to the one on the TV stand. There were five people in the photo; Odin was to the right, his arm around a kind-looking woman with brown, curly hair. Three children stood with them, two boys and a girl, though they looked much older in this photo. The girl was tall, taller than the mother, with sharp cheekbones and long, dark hair. The youngest, the boy with similarly dark hair, was still missing some of his teeth in his smile, with the older boy wearing a football jersey. His blonde hair was worn to his shoulders, a dashing smile adorning his face.

“This must be him and his family again,” Wanda said. 

“At least he’s not lying,” Pietro said, glancing at the other photo then back to the one Wanda held in her hand.

Natalia walked closer and peered at the photo. Everyone was smiling, even the grumpy man who kept helping them, though he looked years younger in the framed picture. His eye was still covered in both photos so whatever injury he sustained must have happened a long time ago.

The kitchen in the apartment was fairly empty. An old coffee maker, a canister of cooking utensils, and a roll of paper towels with cobwebs on it was all that sat on the counter. After inspecting the cupboards, they found them quite bare, holding only cups, dishes and coffee mugs.

Down the hall, the same set-up as the abandoned apartment continued, with two bedrooms and a bathroom at the end. Each bedroom had a large bed, an unnecessary amount of furniture, and unsurprisingly more junk.

“It looks like he uses this place as storage more than anything else,” Wanda remarked, perusing the items on top of the dresser in the first bedroom, cringing as she pulled her fingers away. They were caked in dust. Even though both bedrooms were decorated plainly, the items scattered about were anything but.

“There is soap in here!” Pietro yelled from down the hall.

Natalia and Wanda poked their heads out of the doorway just as the bathroom door closed. A second later and the shower was turned on.

“So we just…live here?” Natalia asked.

Wanda eyed her. “You got a better option?” 

Natalia shrugged. 

“Come, Nat. Let’s see if there is any edible food.”

After they each took the most amazing showers of their lives with hot water and actual soap, the three of them found themselves back in the kitchen, staring forlornly at one small cupboard. They wore clothes that although could have been a bit cleaner, fit wonderfully, especially in Pietro’s case. Wanda had found clothes in the dresser in the room with tan walls that fit Pietro almost perfectly.

Natalia had found more men’s clothing in the other room with the blue walls in the dresser, but some storage bins in the closet had held women’s clothing. All the pants were too long for either girl, but they could be rolled up. The tops were wearable no matter where they found them. They’d even found underwear! Bras and boxers too. 

Wanda couldn’t believe their luck. She told herself she would do whatever she could in exchange for the help Odin had so far given them.

Natalia still didn’t trust the situation, but she probably never would until Yelena was with them again.

Alas, there they were, freshly cleaned, hair brushed, and staring at the open cupboard that contained the only food in the apartment. If you wanted to call it food.

The food in question, canned goods and a very hard box of sugar, was garbage, literally. Everything was expired, plus most of the cans were without a pull-tab to open it.

“We can cut them?” Natalia suggested, holding a very large kitchen knife in her hand. She smelled honest-to-god good, and her hair seemed brighter than Wanda’d ever seen it. She wore a light green shirt with a white symbol on the front that she didn’t recognize.

Wanda quickly pulled the knife away and threw it back in one of the drawers. “Jesus, Nat. Get a can opener!”

Natalia pursed her lips. “A what?”

“A can opener.” Wanda rolled her eyes. “Nevermind.”

“You don’t know what that is? Hah,” Pietro commented, throwing the marble item he’d found earlier up in the air over and over. He wore a gray shirt with white sleeves along with a pair of dark blue jeans and looked so…healthy. Wanda smiled at him, not even caring that he was goading Natalia, who thankfully merely flipped him off.

Wanda looked down at her own shirt she wore, a faded red color with an animated wolf on the front. She couldn’t recall the character but it looked familiar and made her smile. Yelena would have loved it if she could see it.

Wanda shook her head. When she could see it. Not if. When.

A spider took that moment to walk across the kitchen table, a tiny brown thing skittering by without a care in the world that three humans a hundred times its size were invading its home. After seeing it, Natalia scooped it up and brought it to the window without a screen, setting the spider on the outside of the building. After freeing the arachnid, she leaned on her elbows on the sill, a breeze blowing around her and into the apartment.

Wanda took the can of food in front of her, a can of sweet corn, and eyed the expiration date again. 2004. Everything else was 2002 or older.

“It’s only a year, but…” she didn’t want to make them sick. 

“Then let’s go back down to the bar,” Pietro suggested. “We can work again for food.”

Wanda rolled the idea over in her mind. “I do not know if he will keep allowing us to do that, Piet. He said only one meal a day and I…do not want us to keep using his help. I do not understand why that man is giving us things,” Wanda explained. 

“We need to find Yelena,” Natalia said, getting their attention.

All three looked at the phone, wishing they knew how to utilize it.

“Odin mentioned calling hospitals. Maybe he knows how to find phone numbers to these places, and then we can call them,” Pietro said.

Natalia snapped her fingers. “Right!”

She crouched beside the telephone, opening a drawer. “Jackpot. Check this out,” Natalia interrupted loudly.

“What?” Pietro asked.

“A phonebook. It tells you numbers so you can call them. Places too. There was one at the orphanage, though it was nowhere near as fancy as this,” Natalia explained as she flipped through the large book with yellow pages.

Wanda leaned over. “That is very cool. So, who do we call?”

Natalia flipped through until she got to the business section. “No cops. But maybe a hospital. I mean, if she was hurt, maybe the people she was with took her there? She was with people in the woods you said, right? Maybe they helped her.”

Wanda could hear the fear in her voice. The fear of the people she was with causing their sister harm, instead. “Yes. Maybe. Find the number?” Wanda asked.

Natalia found the section for emergency information and was confused to see an entire page of medical facilities listed.

“Why are there so many?” Wanda asked.

Natalia shook her head, eyes scanning up and down the page. “I don’t know…”

“Which one?” Wanda asked. She’d never used a book like this before.

Not knowing, Natalia picked up the phone and dialed the first number on the list, tapping the numbers slowly.

She held the phone out so they could all hear and after two rings, someone picked up.

“Veterans Memorial Hospital. How can I help you?” a young, feminine voice said in a fast tone.

“Priv–hello! D-do you, I mean, do you have a girl there? With blonde hair?” Natalia asked nervously, almost dropping the phone when the girl had first answered.

“Uh? Are you serious?” The female on the other end asked sarcastically.

“Yes? She is… I mean, my–our sister–” she let out a whine of frustration. Wanda encouraged her to continue. “Was there someone maybe brought in by people who…um…she didn’t know?” Natalia didn’t know what to ask for. She should have practiced what to say.

The female made an annoyed noise. “What’s the name?”

“Yelena!” Natalia said quickly, glad to be able to answer one question correctly.

“Yelena…?” the girl said.

“Yes,” Natalia confirmed.

The girl sighed. “Yelena what? What’s the last name?”

“She doesn’t have one,” Wanda said aloud without thinking. 

“Look kid, this is a hospital. I need more to go on than ‘a blonde named Elena’,” the girl barked out.

“It’s Yelena,” Natalia corrected.

“Is this an emergency?” the girl asked.

“Y…es?”

“Then call 9-1-1.” The line went dead.

Pietro snickered. “Khoroshaya rabota.”

“Shut the fuck up, Piet. This is serious,” Natalia snapped. She hung up the phone as she searched for another number. 

They huddled around the phone, the cord all twisted up, and tried a few more numbers, giving all the information they could. They gave her name, her age, and what she looked like, but got more or less the same responses. Each phone call was like a stab to the gut, making the three ask themselves if they even knew their baby sister at all. Every question they were asked, they weren’t sure how to answer. What was her date of birth? Her height and weight? Where was their sister last seen? What day was she brought in? 

They didn’t know any of the answers…

The last phone call, Natalia was the one to hang up before the staff could do so on her. She slammed the corded phone onto its cradle with a growl.

“What about a hospital for animals?” Pietro suggested.

“Yes! Good idea, Piet. Nat, animal hospital.” Wanda tapped the book with one of her long fingers. “Find a number for that?” 

Natalia flipped through the thin pages.

“What animal do you ask for?” Pietro asked.

Natalia hummed. “Mouse? That’s the last form she shifted to.”

“But it’s been days…you think she’d still be…?”

“I dunno Wands. I dunno...” Natalia dialed the first one on the list but after pretty much laughing at her for asking if they had a small mouse there, she ended the call.

“Call the next–” Wanda started to say but Natalia picked up the book and set it in the taller girl’s lap.

“You keep calling. I think I’m going to go look around,” Natalia said, turning to the open window. 

“Nat. We haven’t had any food. Maybe we should eat first,” Wanda suggested.

“I’ll hunt for something. I can’t just sit here and waste time,” Natalia said. Wanda could tell she was upset but had no way to help. 

It was not their fault they didn’t know these things of their sister… Was it?

Wanda sighed. Pietro went back to tossing the stupid giant marble in the air. “We’ll go with you.”

“No. It’s fine. Stay. Keep calling. I just…need a few minutes to clear my head or something,” the shorter girl said. 

Wanda grabbed Natalia’s hand. “Just for a bit? You’ll come right back?” she couldn’t help the whine in her voice. 

Natalia turned and hugged Wanda around her middle. “I’ll be back.”

“Okay. Be safe,” Wanda said.

The redhead was already removing her shirt. “Always am. Hey, here’s a funny idea. Maybe you can be helpful, Piet.” She threw her shirt at him, the marble rolling to the floor with a loud bang. “Clean something!”

He threw the shirt back but missed, as Natalia’s form quickly shrank back into her form from yesterday of a red-tailed hawk. 

Wanda bent down for Natalia to climb on her arm, then she lifted her to the window. Before Natalia could climb off, Wanda pressed a kiss to her tiny brown head. Then with a leap that was far more graceful than yesterday, Natalia flew off, her piercing cry echoing into the bright sky and beyond. Wanda watched her until she could no longer see her, the sun blinding her. Then she turned back to the book with ugly, yellow pages.

“Pietro, you want to call or clean?” she asked.

Her brother groaned. “Call.”

“Good. Get to it,” Wanda ordered with a supportive smile, and plopped the phonebook in his lap.

Chapter Text

Hours passed as Natalia flew around the surprisingly quiet town before finally heading back to the apartment they were meant to stay in. She wasn’t sure on the time but based on where the sun was in the sky, knew she it was well past midday and should probably be heading back before Wanda had a conniption.

The sun though… 

Natalia didn’t think she would ever tire of it beating down on her. The feeling of its warmth was something she could barely remember. Based on the current temperature, she figured it was probably summertime, but had yet to see a date anywhere. A fleeting thought of chasing the hot ball of fire just so she could forever remain in its warm gaze tumbled through her mind. 

She hadn’t meant to stay out so long, but the flying had helped. Her upset from the phone calls earlier, although mostly dissipated, still lingered. Why didn’t she know the most important, basic facts of the most important person in her life? Reasonability was not an active factor in her mind. Otherwise, she would have remembered to remind herself of the actual reason they did not know the answers they should, and then to correctly direct her anger to the people who’d kept them imprisoned for most of their lives. 

Instead, Natalia continued to berate herself, focusing selfishly on her own faults while she looked for signs of her sweet sister that were most likely not there. 

The sun seemed to be the only thing that had attempted to burn the feeling away. That and flying, which was still a feeling almost too wonderful to describe. Sure, it used a lot of her energy, which she didn’t have much of to start with, but she also was too exhausted and focused to be angry. 

At one point she did find herself gliding along the river but didn’t travel too far down. Instead she mostly kept close to town, scouring the houses, roads, buildings and the town’s outskirts, looking for anything that might catch her eye. Dark cars, men in uniform. Blonde hair. People she recognized. An animal wandering about that looked out of place or potentially familiar.

Twice she thought a particular car stood out, big vehicles with dark windows she couldn’t see through, but both simply drove through town and kept going. They didn’t stop except for any lights or stop signs and no one got out, so she couldn’t say for certain if the cars were someone looking for them or just simply dark cars with harmless strangers inside.

The empty stretch between the town and the river was also a prime hunting opportunity. It was mostly prairie grass, with the occasional group of trees and bushes mixed in. She would only catch and eat what she needed and what she knew no one at the compound ever had been injected with though. She was the only one with squirrel DNA as far as she knew, so brown squirrels and chipmunks were fair game and no match for her sharp talons and quick dives. The mice though made her especially nervous. Natalia worried each one was Yelena, even though her specific breed was not native to the states. She was a slightly different color and size than the normal mice here, but could easily be mistaken otherwise. Each un-answered mind-speech message should have eased Natalia’s concern, but it didn’t. She knew very well how often her sister got stuck in her mind, in the animal’s mind. The chances of her actually being able to respond to Natalia’s messages were well below 50%, especially if she was still stuck in the same form for multiple days in a row.

In the end, Natalia avoided the open fields and instead made quick work of a large chipmunk she’d seen on the edge of the yard of a farmhouse for lunch, apologizing to the animal between her claws even if it didn’t understand her as she allowed the hawk’s instincts to help her deliver a swift death and eat the rather unappetizing but filling meal.

To Natalia’s dismay, her time spent flying around did not bring any solutions to their dilemma. A calmness that she didn’t have before, sure, but no answers. Not that she expected it to, but it was still disappointing. 

Once checking that the window of the apartment was indeed still open, she glided down and through it, landing on the back of the couch. The apartment was a few stories higher than the first they’d snuck into, on the fifth floor. She was glad, as it meant the front door would be the only way in or out for anyone besides them.

“Nat! You’re back!” Wanda exclaimed, sitting up with a smile from where she sat on the floor. She was surrounded on all sides by a small mountain of books. 

<Hey, Wands,> Natalia responded, looking and finding her shirt and pants from earlier. They’d thrown out their old undergarments from the compound, glad to be rid of them. Their abilities thankfully allowed them to shift forms wearing simple store-bought bras and underwear as long as they were tight enough. Once she spotted her clothes from earlier, she fluttered to the floor before starting to shift back to human. 

“Piet, Nat is back!” Wanda hollered down the hall.

Natalia was just buttoning her pants when she saw Pietro turn the corner from the hall. “Finally. What took you so long?” he asked. He was holding a basket of clothes in his arms.

“Was looking around. Seeing if I could find anything. Clearing my head,” Natalia said. She looked down at Wanda and the mess around her. “What are you doing?”

“Reading! There are so many books!” Wanda held one up. It looked old and had a sketched photo of a mountain on the front.

Natalia chuckled. “I can see that. Anything good?”

“They’re all good,” Wanda responded quickly in answer. 

Natalia had a feeling that Odin was not going to receive much help in emptying this apartment. She made her way to the kitchen sink for some water. “Did the phonebook help?” 

“Yes? I’m not sure… Pietro spent a long time on the phone though. We both did. We called many places but…were not successful,” Wanda said, sounding glum. “I'm sorry Nat.”

The boy in question took a seat next to Natalia at the kitchen table as she chugged water from a glass. The cold liquid down her dry throat felt amazing, though it did not soothe the ache in her chest.

“Some of the people who answered the calls were nicer than others. Without her birth date, many places could not help though.” Pietro made a huff of annoyance. “They cannot walk around and use their eyes and ears to look? Takiye idioty. Some said that they looked but she was not there. And animal places…well, we tried a few. We asked for her mouse, house dog and cat, and…crow. But nothing…” he trailed off. When Natalia’s cup was empty, he took it and refilled it with cold water for her.

“We did not ask for the…other ones. And I could not remember the big cat she last got injections for,” Wanda said from her spot on the floor.

“Mmm…me either. Pomi? Something that is from here though. The States,” Natalia answered, trying and failing to remember the correct name.

“Well, if you think of it, let me know. We can call back and ask,” Wanda said as she flipped through another book.

“So…what now?” Natalia asked. They were back to square one it seemed. What do they do now? 

Wanda set her book down to grab another. “We can call more numbers later tonight and tomorrow. And keep looking around tomorrow. We should go downstairs though, to the bar. Piet and I wanted to wait for you, but we did tell Odin we would help him. We must keep our end of the deal for however long we are here for.”

“I know, I know… Are you sure we should be trusting this guy?” Natalia asked.

Wanda shook her head. “No. I’m not. I’m very much not sure of anything at all. I just…” Wanda waved her arms around the room, the book in her right hand’s pages waving about, “we have a place to sleep. And a promise of food. Access to a phone, a shower, a toilet… Clothes. Beds.”

“Seems a little too good to be true, doesn’t it?” Natalia stated, her expression one of concern.

“Possibly,” Wanda agreed. “Probably. I don’t know what else to do though Nat. I just… I just want us all safe. And together. It’s not even been a day, so maybe give it a chance? We can leave tomorrow and never come back if things get bad.”

Natalia sighed in agreement, sipping at her water. She could give it a day.

“I’m sure of one thing,” Pietro piped up after a beat of silence. Both girls looked over.

“That I am very hungry.”

Natalia smacked his arm. “You’re always hungry. It’s like you forgot we spent most of our life hungry.”

“I remember it well, actually,” Pietro said quietly with a frown. “Too well.”

Natalia hummed, staring into her cup of water. “Did you eat while I was out?” she asked.  She did not see the can from earlier. 

“We shared the can of corn,” Pietro said. “It was fine.”

Just then, a wave of dizziness passed over her. She closed her eyes until it passed, hoping neither twin noticed.

“Did you?” Wanda asked.

“Yes.” She did not go into detail on what. She finished her water. “Well, let’s get this over with. Whenever you two are ready.”

After grabbing the key Odin had left, they locked the door behind them and made their way to the bar below to see what the night would bring, with food and Yelena on their minds.

The night went about as well as could be expected, in Wanda’s opinion.

So, it went rather horribly. 

Among the many situations of the night, Pietro had burnt three of his fingers on a pan that he hadn’t realized was much too hot to touch. The pan he’d taken to wash hadn’t cooled off after being used like he thought it would have been. The blistered skin was so raw, it’d take at least a day to heal even with his advanced healing.

Then later on, Wanda accidentally dropped and broke a glass and went running to the back and out the door, bursting to tears, terrified of what the repercussions would be. Pietro had run after her but after being left alone to console her for much longer than necessary, he cajoled her shaking body back inside only for them to find the mess cleaned up and Odin handing her a new one to deliver to a different patron with a simple pat to her bony shoulder. She’d been given a look by Natalia and only belatedly realized they’d practically abandoned her in the bar, alone. Wanda tried to apologize but Natalia wouldn’t let her, saying it was fine.

And finally, towards the end of the night, Natalia got into a heated argument with a man almost twice her size that Odin had to break up. She’d almost passed out after her outburst, coming to her senses only when Odin tried to help hold her up and she shoved him away from touching her. Wanda wasn’t sure what had started the fight and Natalia wouldn’t tell her either, but Odin wouldn’t let Natalia near the customers after that.

They had practically crawled back to the apartment when Odin closed the bar for the night, more than exhausted. Fortunately, they’d been given three big bags of food, much more than a simple meal’s worth. 

As soon as they got to the apartment and the door was locked, Natalia disappeared down the hall while Wanda surveyed the items in the bag, Pietro’s tall form looking over her shoulder.

Milk, bread, a jar of peanut butter and another of jelly, a few unexpired cans of vegetables, a large package of mixed fruit, some instant oatmeal, and two large containers of what she found upon opening one of the lids was homemade soup. 

“Chicken noodle…” her brother had whispered, a tiny smile gracing his face. 

Wanda put the cold food in the refrigerator, the rest in the cupboard beside it, and kept one container of the soup out. Then she separated it into three small bowls. She grabbed a floating carrot from one bowl and chewed it slowly, eyes closed momentarily.

“I think Nat went to bed, sestra,” Pietro murmured after a large yawn as he laid his head on his crossed arms, seated in one of the kitchen chairs he’d moved to. His burnt fingers were covered in tan bandages, gingerly held so they wouldn’t touch the wood of the table.

“That’s fine. I’ll wake her when it’s warmed up,” Wanda said.

She stuck the bowls in the microwave and pressed buttons until it turned on, the food spinning in a slow circle on the glass plate inside. It was much more advanced than what she grew up using as a child, but was luckily able to figure it out. 

After she was able to get the soup to a good temperature, she set three spoons down, then slid the warm bowls on the table, sliding one in front of Pietro, and went to get Natalia.

Wanda found her curled up on the bed closer to the bathroom, the one with tan walls and green pillows. She was using a bathrobe full of pilling as a blanket and looked so small. A memory of Yelena sleeping back at the compound filled Wanda's mind and she smiled. They slept the same way, both Yelena and Natalia; curled up as tight as they could get.

Wanda took a seat on the edge of the bed, brushing fingers through red hair fondly. “Wakey wakey, Nat. There is food. Soup. Homemade soup.”

Glazed-over green eyes blinked and looked up, then closed again. “Ya poyem zaftra,” she said, words so mumbled that Wanda wasn’t sure what she’d said.

“C’mon. It’s still warm,” Wanda tried again.

“Just wanna sleep,” Natalia said, words just barely less mumbled but in English this time.

“I know you do, but you need to eat too.” 

Natalia groaned and nuzzled deeper into the pillow, somehow curling up tighter, bathrobe pulled up to cover her eyes from the hallway light.

“Oh Nat…” Wanda’s lips spread in a thin line, debating whether to force her up or not. “I’ll bring you a sandwich at least.”

She got back to the kitchen only to find Pietro also sleeping, at the table. His bowl was empty.

With her soup cooling off, Wanda ate her own bowl with only Pietro's snores filling the otherwise quiet apartment. Then she put Natalia’s bowl in the fridge with a plate on top to cover it, pulled out the bread and jars Odin gave them, and made a quick peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Sandwich made, she woke Pietro with a soft shake.

“Piet, go sleep in one of the beds,” she said.

He rubbed at his eyes and yawned, looking less like an adult and more like he did when he was a child.

“Where’s Nat?” He said, words slurred.

“In bed, where we should be.”

Wanda grabbed the sandwich, setting it on a small plate and carried it with her, following behind her brother as he shuffled half-awake down the hall. When he got to the first bedroom and saw it empty, he walked further and into the one Natalia was sleeping in, curled up on the edge of the mattress.

Wanda set the plate on the nightstand, then snuggled up behind her, sharing the pillow. It had a weird smell, like something stale, but she didn’t care. Pietro threw a blanket he found somewhere over them and for the first time in many years, they fell asleep together in a warm bed, their hunger sated.

Wanda’s final thought for the night was how appreciative she was of the bar owner and hoped beyond everything it was not a trick.

When Kate woke up the next morning, it was in a much less chaotic manner than the previous day. Yelena was cuddled against her, choosing to use her arm as a pillow. She kind of reminded Kate of Cooper, with her heavy breathing and funny sleeping positions.

Although a peaceful morning, there was no sun shining in like it usually did in the summer. Instead, it was raining outside. A soft, steady sprinkle of taps against the windows and the siding of the house. The sky visible through the bedroom windows was a light gray color.

Kate loved when it rained. She couldn’t pinpoint why, but the sound mixed with the smell just made her brain happy and calm. The windows were all closed since they’d gone to sleep with the air conditioning on, but Kate wished they were open. If she wasn’t so comfortable, she’d have gotten up to crack one open.

The other figure in her bed squirmed around, finding a more comfortable position against Kate, head digging deeper into Kate's arm. 

If she were to allow herself to think about it, about the person currently sharing her bed, who was still practically a stranger by all intents and purposes, Kate was sure it would not go over well with most people. She could only guess what others would say, of sharing a bed with someone the same age as her.

Kate wasn’t stupid; she was fifteen. She was well aware that some of the kids in her grade had already gone ‘all the way’. She knew that she was a little too old to share beds during sleepovers anymore and not have it be assumed that something else had happened. 

But Kate also didn’t care. She loved the company while sleeping. Laura and Clint didn’t make it seem like it was a big deal either, which was surprising. And her mom…well, she was barely ever home anyway, even when Kate was back home in Manhattan. What she didn’t know wouldn’t kill her.

Kate was an only child and for a long time growing up, it was rather lonely. It still was most days if she were honest with herself.  Although she did remember climbing in her parent’s bed a few times as a kid, or sleepovers with friends, it’d been years since she slept with someone in the same bed. Her only bed companions through most of her life had been her stuffed animals, the furry body of Koda, Clint and Laura’s old dog, or Cooper on rare occasions.

Plus, Yelena was literally the perfect sleeping buddy. She didn’t snore, although she did breathe kind of loudly. She was warm but not overly hot; the perfect temperature to snuggle with at night. She didn’t take up a lot of room, or complain that Kate star-fished in bed. She didn’t steal the blankets or flail about, hitting Kate repeatedly like Cooper did. She was just there.

It all felt just very…normal to Kate. Like they’d been doing this routine for years instead of only a few days. 

The blonde in question started to wake up, interrupting Kate’s wandering thoughts. In a mumble of non-english words, Yelena sat up and Kate was able to extract her arm that had been slowly going numb.

“Nyet solnsta,” Yelena commented, looking outside. Her plaited hair was a little fuzzy in spots but still intact. It was the first time she’d woken up without it looking like a giant ball of fuzz around her head.

Kate had no idea what she’d just said.

“It’s raining,” Kate pointed out instead, voice quiet.

Yelena looked around the ceiling but didn’t respond.

“I like the rain. It’s nice,” Kate continued, still snuggled under the lightweight blanket she preferred in the warmer months. It was one she had brought from home.

Yelena rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “Why?”

Kate shrugged. “I dunno. It’s just nice, I guess. It has this unique smell. And when it’s just like, a quiet rain like this? Not loud and scary? And you don’t have to go anywhere, and you can just sit home with the windows open, maybe read a book or have some tea or hot cocoa… It’s just…it’s just a really nice atmosphere,” she said, trying to word how she felt. “Plus when there’s no lightning or thunder, you can play in it.”

Yelena’s blonde head turned to look out the window. “Play?”

“Mhm.”

“How?” Yelena asked.

Kate stared. “How what?”

“How do you play with rain?” Yelena asked, still looking out one of the windows.

“Oh,” Kate smiled, “You just…do. You play in it. Not with it. Well, I guess you can do both,” she paused to yawn, “but this time of year it’s a warm rain. It’s like a free sprinkler from the sky, but not as cold.”

“You say funny things, Kate Bishop,” Yelena stated while she ran her fingers back and forth on the fuzzier blanket on top of her lap.

Kate chuckled. “How ‘bout if it’s still raining, you come outside with me later and I can show you. I’m sure we can convince Cooper to join us. He loves playing in the rain.”

“And Laura? Lila?”

“Nah, probably not Laura or Liles. But Cooper will for sure wanna come with us. He loves the mud. It’s kind of disgusting how much, really,” Kate said, making a face at the image in her head of Cooper’s hands full of mud. She laid in bed a few more minutes as Yelena stared out the window to watch the rain until they heard footsteps in the hall.

“Mama, it’s raining,” Kate heard Cooper say loudly from his room. Laura’s voice could be heard answering him but it was muffled, the words unclear. But Cooper’s loud response of ‘boots!’ was very clearly heard, as he had practically screamed it. Laura laughed.

“The kids are up,” Kate said. “You hungry for breakfast?”

“Da,” Yelena said in response. 

So they got up and joined Laura and the kids. Clint was already gone for the day. He must have left early for work.

Not in the mood to cook, Laura let all the kids have bowls of cereal with milk for breakfast instead. Between the three cereal options given, Cooper picked Apple Jacks, Laura and Kate had Frosted Flakes, and Lila had Cheerios. Yelena wouldn’t choose, so Kate gave her Apple Jacks at Cooper’s insistence. 

Unsurprisingly, she loved them. 

“Kate’s gonna give you cavities if you let her, Yelena,” Laura warned jokingly as she both ate her own food while feeding Lila spoonfuls of her Cheerios.

Kate simply grinned. She’d never had a cavity in her life but would bet that it was worth it for how good sugar foods were.

After breakfast, Laura suggested they put a movie on, calling it an ‘inside day’, and said they’d give it a few hours to see if the rain stopped before going outside to take care of the animals. 

Kate put the Lion King on again, at Yelena’s quiet request when she had asked her and Cooper what movie they should watch. Cooper was more than happy with the choice, barely paying attention anyway and instead building a track for his trains to play with. When Kate immediately agreed to the movie and threw it on, Yelena cuddled on the couch into her, an especially cute smile on her face. She even remembered a few words in some of the songs. Specifically the ‘roar’ part and ‘Hakuna Matata’, which got Laura to laugh. 

Halfway through the movie, Laura brought Lila upstairs with her while she folded and put away clothes.

When the movie was over, Kate turned the television off and looked outside. It was still raining and she hadn’t heard or seen any thunder or lightning all morning. She decided now was a good a time as any.

“Hey Coop. Wanna do something really fun?” she asked conspiratorially. 

Yelena gave her a funny look, waiting to see what she was talking about.

“Yeah,” the little boy said, always ready to join Kate in her crazy, spontaneous ideas. He knew that even if they got in trouble, it would be fun, and Kate would usually take the fault anyway.

“Wanna go outside?”

Cooper jumped up from where he’d been playing with some toys at the coffee table. “In my rainboots!?”

“Yep!” Kate said while laughing. “Wait wait, I need your help though.”

“‘Kay! With what?” Cooper asked, already in front of where the shoes were kept.

“We gotta teach Yelena how to play in the rain,” Kate explained in a fake whisper, trying to emphasize how important this mission she needed his help with was. “And you’re the best rain and mud-player I know in the whole entire world.”

Cooper giggled, a mischievous smirk on his face.

“So think you can help me?” Kate asked. She’d gotten up to go to the door, Yelena shadowing her nervously.

“Yes! Yena, c’mon,” Cooper said. He’d barely thrown on his boots before he was out the door, screaming bloody murder when he was assaulted by the light rain that continued to pour from the clouds above. 

Kate went to walk out too when Yelena stopped her with her hand gripping her shirt. “N…no shoes?”

Kate didn’t think she actually cared about shoes. That maybe it was just an excuse to stall. She grinned. “Nope, not this time! It’s more fun this way, trust me. Just stay on the grass.”

Yelena eyed outside nervously. They were all still in their pajamas but it didn’t matter. They’d change later. 

Kate took Yelena’s hand in hers. “Ready?”

Yelena stood stiffly behind her. “No,” she said, voice tight.

Kate just laughed. “Three, two, one…go!”

She ran outside past the porch door, pulling Yelena behind her. 

As soon as she got to the edge of the steps, Yelena let go of her hand and Kate ran alone into the rain, hollering happily as soon as she began to be bombarded by raindrops. Cooper was already jumping in a puddle in the gravel, trying to make the biggest splash he could.

“C’mon!” Kate yelled from where she stood. She was in the middle of the yard, rain slowly dampening her hair and clothes as Yelena stood under the porch overhang.

“Kate Bishop…! I-I do not…I think–”

“Yelena!” Kate interrupted her, “Come play with us before it stops raining!” She didn’t think it would actually stop anytime soon. She just wanted Yelena to get past her fear or nerves or whatever it was making her afraid to come outside. It’d been a long time since she had played in the rain and she was determined to make the best of it.

After more hesitancy from the blonde, with Kate jumping around and trying to show her everything was fine, she finally cupped her hands over her mouth and screamed Yelena’s name.

Yelena dashed across the yard as fast as she could until she made it to where Kate was under the large oak tree. She was panting from her sprint but Kate just grinned.

“Yay! You made it!” Kate exclaimed.

Cooper echoed her in excitement, splashing in another puddle nearby.

Yelena gave a half-smile, laughing while looking around. “I am–I am outside. In the rain.”

“Yeah! Woo!” Kate felt like a kid and she loved it.

Although the tree provided a cover of sorts, it wasn’t enough to completely prevent them from getting wet. Raindrops still fell between the branches, dripping onto both girls little by little. Kate couldn’t stop an excited laugh from escaping. It was kind of cold out, colder than it’d been the past few weeks, but still humid, and the rain was slightly warm. 

So, a perfect playing-in-the-rain day.

A muddy splat was suddenly tossed next to Kate. She looked up to see Cooper’s hands full of mud and him cracking up. 

“Hey! You almost got me!” Kate said. Then she ran at him, his wet hair many shades darker. From there, they began a game of chase. As soon as she’d catch him, she’d tickle him and then turn around for him to run after her in his clunky boots that were a size too big. The grass was wet and squishy between her toes, which was both funny and slightly gross. 

On a part of the ground that she didn't realize was more mud than grass, Kate slipped and fell, sprawled out on her back and laughing. 

A slam was heard from somewhere above. “Cooper Barton! What are you doing out–”

“Lauraaa! It’s fine, we’re out here with him!” Kate yelled from the ground, still laughing hysterically. Laura had opened the window of her bedroom and was yelling at them. She apparently had only seen Cooper and not Kate. Yelena was still hiding under the tree, practically becoming one with the trunk.

Laura started saying something but Kate couldn’t hear her, but eventually closed the window when Cooper ran over and smashed a giant splat of mud on Kate’s head with a triumphant yell, completely ignoring his mother. Then he picked up another scoop and threw it at Yelena before Kate could stop him.

It hit her in the leg and Kate froze, waiting to see what she’d do.

“N-now what?” Yelena asked, voice timid. She was blinking the water from her eyes, failing at wiping the mud off her.

“Throw it back!” Kate ordered, sitting up and hugging the slippery boy around the middle. “I’ll hold him for ya!”

Cooper screeched, wiggling around to try and get free.

Yelena creeped closer, fully in the rain with them now, and scooped a handful of mud in one hand, studying it. Cooper was still wiggling around when Kate helpfully grabbed the mud from Yelena’s hand and plopped it right on top of his head.

The boy screeched again with laughter and Kate let him run away.

Yelena had squatted next to Kate and picked up another scoop of mud with both hands. She squeezed her hands into fists and watched as the gross consistency bled through her fingers, dropping to the ground and melding back together with the rest of the mud on the ground.

Her face lifted and she met Kate with a smile. 

“Fun?” Kate asked.

Yelena nodded. 

“Help me up,” Kate asked, and stuck her hand out. Yelena pulled, getting mud all over Kate's hand which just matched the rest of her that'd fallen. When Kate was standing, she pulled the blonde to a spot in the middle of the yard, their feet making squelching noises with each step. Their pajamas were completely soaked through and their hair was sticking to the sides of their face.

“Copy me,” Kate said, then stuck her arms out. She caught sight of the bandaids on her arm that she’d forgotten about. They were wet and stuck to her skin, but for now still covered the scabs.

Yelena did, short arms thrown out on either side of her. 

“Now look up and spin around!” Kate ordered, performing the action herself. She spun in circles with her face to the sky, having to blink the water out of her eyes many times, but it was exhilarating. She spun around, Cooper joining them, until she got dizzy and sat on her butt.

Yelena had indeed copied her and spun in slow circles with her face tilted up. She started laughing and even opened her mouth to drink some of the rainwater.

When she also must have gotten dizzy, she sat beside Kate, then spontaneously laid down in the grass, laughing softly. 

Cooper quickly got bored of them sitting and ran off to get more muddy, yelling unnecessarily. Kate laid down beside her, barely able to keep her eyes open from the rain.

“This is playing?” Yelena asked. She was breathing hard, grinning up at the sky. She looked so young and carefree.

“Yeah,” Kate said, breathless as well, eventually closing her eyes. They laid there until their heart rates went back to normal. The rain continued to pour down, still light, and washed some of the mud off their faces. Kate kept her eyes closed until she heard Cooper yell at her.

“Yena! Kate! Chase me!” Cooper yelled.

Kate turned to look at Yelena next to her, then got up and started a game of tag with the little boy. Once she caught him, she tickled him then spun to let him chase her back.

“Y-Yena!” Cooper yelled between laughs, “Help!” He said after he failed to be fast enough to catch Kate, his boots half-full of water.

“Yeah, Yelena. How fast are you?” Kate yelled teasingly, squinting her eyes and stepping from foot to foot.

A twitch between the blonde's eyebrows was seen along with a smirk. “I am fast,” the blonde said, climbing to her feet. 

“Prove it,” Kate taunted, on the balls of her own feet. 

Yelena paused for a split second, then ran at them. As soon as she was close enough, Kate and Cooper went opposite ways. Cooper screamed and Kate yelled, laughter filling their shouts.

Yelena unexpectedly caught them both easily. She was indeed very fast, which surprised Kate for how much longer her legs were than the blonde’s. They took turns chasing each other, sometimes teaming up with Cooper since he was still so little, so much slower. Though, each time it was Yelena’s turn to run away, neither Kate nor Cooper could ever catch her unless she let them. She seemed to enjoy the game very much, especially the part where she was faster than them, so Kate was glad she'd gotten her to play. Even though it was clear to Kate that Yelena had never played outside in the rain, she had clearly played tag before.

It made Kate feel a tiny bit good inside, knowing so.

On one round of their made-up game of rainy tag, Kate tried to trick the blond and turn quickly. Instead all she managed to do was slip and fall, elbows catching her on the mushy grass. Yelena ended up tripping over her body and together they fell into a deep puddle in the grass they hadn’t seen in a fit of giggles, mostly coming from Kate. Cooper dove on top of them to join the fun, tickling them both with his chubby uncoordinated fingers, even more mud than before all over him somehow.

They played together until the sun started to peek between the clouds. Laura joined them outside but remained on the porch with towels, sitting on the porch swing until Cooper started noticeably shivering. Then she called an end to their fun and insisted they come inside to shower and warm up.

As soon as they got to the porch steps though, Laura stopped them. “Ohhh, no. Not so fast. You three better hose off before you set a foot in this house. No way am I letting you hooligans track all that mud inside,” Laura said. All three of them were covered with grass and mud everywhere, and soaked to the absolute bone. 

Kate snickered but did as Laura asked and went to turn the hose on, dragging the end from the side of the house back over to where Yelena and Cooper stood. She rinsed off all their arms and legs as best she could, causing them all to shiver even more from the cold water. She did Cooper first so that Laura could scoop him up in a fluffy towel and bring him inside. Lila was nowhere to be seen, most likely down for a nap. Then she rinsed Yelena and herself off.

Once they were both clean of most of the grass and mud, she put the hose back, winding it back up and turning it off, then quickly tiptoed back to the porch.

Yelena was standing on one of the steps waiting for her, shivering but smiling. 

Kate squeezed the water out of her pants as much as possible, then gave one of the towels to her, grabbing the other for herself. She dried her arms, feet and face, then wrapped it over her shoulders like a cape, Yelena copying her actions.

“That was…fun,” Yelena finally said, voice lilting on the last word. 

Kate gave her a smile back. “Yeah. It was,” she agreed. Then she noticed water on Yelena’s cheeks even though they were under the porch overhang and they’d already dried off. 

She was crying.

“Hey, you okay?” Kate asked, inching closer, unsure on what she should do.

Yelena laughed softly, crying more while wiping her eyes and face, but still smiling. “It was very fun, Kate Bishop. Playing. In rain.”

Kate gripped the towel's edges to pull it tighter around her and felt a shiver up her legs from the wet fabric of her pants. “We’ll do it again soon, okay?”

Yelena nodded, chin dipped down into the towel around her, eyes still leaking. “Yes. I would like that.”

After three warm showers and dry, comfy clothes put on, all three mud-less kids were sat at the kitchen table clean, tired, and starving. Laura had graciously warmed up some food for lunch. After setting a bowl and plate down in front of each of them, she informed Yelena it was tomato soup with half a grilled cheese sandwich. It was warm and delicious and gooey and had all three of them falling asleep afterwards on the couch.

Both Yelena and Kate had sadly had to take their braids out of their hair before showering but Laura had promised to braid it again later. For now, as Yelena laid there dozing, Kate played with her damp hair. 

It was making her brain feel fuzzy, but not in a bad way. There was something playing on the television but she couldn’t focus on it, she was so tired. 

She’d gone through a large array of emotions that day and after being outside and…playing and…

Yelena slowly fell deeper into the comfort of the couch, face shoved into Kate’s thigh. The television colors started turning gray and by the time she realized it, she was too far shifted and too tired to stop or shift back. 

Kate’s hand in her hair disappeared but when it was back on her, this time running through soft fur, Yelena began to purr. She was so warm. And not hungry. And not alone. 

She was happy. 

Yelena stretched out, crawling out from the neck hole of the shirt that no longer fit her, and curled into a ball on Kate’s lap, sighing when the smell of the girl invaded her sensitive nostrils. 

When she was with Natalia and Wanda and Pietro, and they were together, they would always cuddle, no matter their forms. Yelena could remember many times they’d either shift for fun when they were younger, back in Russia, or would be unable to shift back right away. Many times she fell asleep in one of their arms or laps, or them in hers, in an assortment of different forms. Natalia as a red fox or wolf curled around Yelena to keep her warm when she was still little. Wanda holding Pietro as a bunny and making fun of his cute little nose, or holding Nat when she’d shift into a fluffy house cat. Yelena and Wanda as cats, cuddled in Natalia and Pietro’s arms…

She missed them so much. 

Part of her felt guilty for smiling, and having fun today. For her happiness.

She could remember many times when they were together and happy, but it felt different.

They had to be looking for her too, like she had looked for them. And they’d find her soon. She was sure of it. Yelena had been separated from them much longer than this. The only difference was she could still hear or smell them before. She couldn’t any longer. But they couldn’t be that far. 

They’d find each other. They always did. She hadn’t given up either.

And then they could all be together. With Laura and Kate, and Cooper and Lila. 

Maybe Clint too. He could make more yummy food for them. With the spicy sauce. Natalia would love the spicy sauce.

Yelena purred louder and allowed herself to fall asleep to the feel of Kate’s long fingers petting through her fur as she snuggled closer, dreaming of when Natalia, Wanda and Pietro would be with her. And then they could be happy. 

The engine of the SUV shut off but the song on the radio remained playing until Clint cracked the front door open. Then he was plunged into silence, the cacophony of crickets playing their late-night songs as the only exception.

He leaned back in his seat, sighing, cell phone in his hand.

Maria Hill. His old partner. One of his closest friends. 

He’d finally saved her number in his contacts list, but seeing her name still made him pause.

Was he sure he did the right thing? Like, really sure? Calling her? His wife’s words rang in his ears, questionable and worried.

Sure, Maria had his back. She always had and she always would. Just like he would always have hers. The difference was, his family came first now, and Clint wasn’t fully convinced she was on board with that. 

Maria had said she understood, but Clint was dubious. Maria was the kind of person who thought family was a waste of time. Someone who you simply lived with for 18 or so years and then never spoke to again. People who fucked you over and used you, and were not meant to be in your lives forever. Family did not rank very high on her list of importance and it worried Clint just slightly.

When he and Maria had first met, he did not like her; thought she was a frigid bitch. And maybe that opinion hadn’t changed too much, but it had for sure been added to. 

Maria Hill was a hard-ass, sure. Being an ice-cold, heartless bitch seemed to be something she was almost proud of. But she was also smart as a whip, loyal, hard-working, reliable. Deadly. Maria Hill was a force to be reckoned with, which is why they’d been so successful as partners and team members back when they worked together on missions.

Clint didn’t always like to think about his time in the military. Although he’d been honorably discharged and he wouldn’t regret his decision to join, the path he took felt dark and unworthy at times. Missions that were deemed successful had not always gone according to plan and the fallouts of those partial failures ate away at him some days. He could count the injuries or death on his fingers, which was a much lower percentage than most, but it was more than zero. So it would never be a success in Clint’s mind.

Maria’s outlook in that regard, their missions being total successes, was something he never was on the same page as her on. She would tell him repeatedly that he was too hard on himself, or too soft. That he needed to toughen up. Not that Maria wasn’t affected or upset over any of their team members dying. She was. But she didn’t show it how Clint did. She reacted with anger to the ones doing the actual killing. But Clint…Clint put the fault on his shoulders.

One of his main priorities during missions was to keep a good lookout, to keep his team safe. So yeah, he blamed himself.

And although Maria was, above all else, loyal, she was also completely terrifying on a good day.

Ah, well. Clint was never one to chicken out on something, even if that something was Maria Hill’s wrath.

He pressed the green button and she picked up on the second ring.

“What the fuck are you doing, Clint?” Maria’s stern voice growled through the earpiece.

Clint smiled to himself. “Hi, Maria. How are you? How was your day? Mine was great, thanks for asking.”

“Barton. Don’t you even–” she hissed, holding back some of whatever it was she wanted to yell at him, “I told you to wait for us. Instead, you went traipsing off by yourself and almost got yourself killed!” Maria disciplined.

“Oh, don’t be dramatic. I did nothing of the sort,” Clint argued, which Maria just scoffed at loudly.

“I told you we’d be there Saturday and to wait for us . We don’t know what we’re dealing with. But no, you decide to say ‘fuck it’ and go off on your own, no back-up, no plan, with nothing but two brain cells and a handgun as your only defense. For all you know, the place you’re looking for is full of psychotic terrorists and would have shot you on sight if they’d seen you.” Clint could practically hear the scowl on her face through the phone. “You’re a goddamn idiot.”

“More like the KGB…” he murmured, too quiet for her to hear. He ran his free hand through his hair haphazardly, slightly embarrassed but too proud and unwilling to admit it out loud. 

He needed a haircut. 

When Maria started up again to berate him more, he interrupted her loudly.

“Jesus fuck, Maria. I hear you more than loud and clear, alright? I can take care of myself, in case you forgot. I’m just…Shit. I’m getting stir-crazy over here. Been making phone calls up the wazoo the past few days, which has gotten me absolutely nowhere and I know there’s something we’re missing. That I’m missing. I just…” he groaned, closing his eyes briefly and squeezing the bridge of his nose in frustration.

“Waiting was never one of your specialties,” she finished for him, less sharply than before. ”I know Clint. I got to listen to you munch on skittles or play ‘20 Questions’ with us through those shitty-ass earpieces.”

Clint chuckled at the memory. “Good times.”

“If you call blowing a hole in someone’s chest from a thousand meters away a good time, then you definitely left us too soon,” Maria commented dryly. “How you ever became a successful marksman is beyond me.”

He wasn’t sure how to respond to that so he didn’t. She’d always given him shit about being a lucky shot, but they both knew he was just that good. “Think you can be here before six Saturday morning?”

“I’ll do my best,” Maria responded. It was hard to tell if she meant it, or if it was out of her hands on their arrival time.

Clint nodded to himself either way, ready to get inside, say hello to his family, and eat dinner. “Fine. See you then, Maria. And thanks.”

“Don’t be an idiot,” she ordered. Then she hung up before he could utter another word.

Chapter Text

“Kate!” Laura hollered from the porch, “Phone call!”

Kate set down the basket that was already half-full of different colored chicken eggs. “You good to finish?” Kate asked Yelena.

“Da,” she said, grabbing the basket and starting where Kate left off. Ever since Yelena had scared Bramamina off, the mean hen had been but a ghost. Which was excellent news in Kate’s opinion. But Yelena also seemed to insist on always going with Kate when it came to anything with the chickens no matter what.

It was very sweet.

“Cool, be right back,” Kate said and ran inside, leaving the blonde to collect the eggs by herself.

Once she got to the porch, Laura handed her the cordless phone with a smile and walked away to give her some privacy.

“Hello?” Kate questioned, though she was pretty sure she knew who was on the other end of the line.

“Hi Kate, it’s mom,” Eleanor said over the phone, a smile in her words.

“Hi mom!” 

“Hello, love. I just wanted to call and check in with you about this weekend. Are you ready?”

“Yes! I’m ready!” Kate chirped out.

“So you’re all packed?” Eleanor asked, sounding like she already knew the answer.

“Oops, not yet! But I’ll pack tonight. Promise. Yelena can help me,” Kate said, willing herself to remember to actually do so.

“Who?” Eleanor questioned.

“Yelena. My friend,” Kate answered. She had sworn she’d told her mom about Yelena but maybe she hadn’t. 

In any case, her mom moved on quickly, unworried about this person she didn’t know helping her daughter pack a bag, apparently. “Well, just do so tonight so we can have breakfast and leave first thing in the morning. Alright sweetie?”

“Yes. I will, mom,” Kate said. She went to the kitchen and grabbed a pen in the junk drawer that was under the phone’s home base and wrote ‘pack’ on her hand in black ink, underlining it twice. 

Just in case.

“Is there anything specific you want to do this weekend? Get our hair or nails done. Maybe do some shopping before school starts. I could see if there are any excursions or shows we can attend,” her mom offered.

“Sure, any of that sounds good to me. I don’t care either way though. Whatever you wanna do, mom. I just want to spend time with you,” Kate said. “And go swimming at the hotel,” she added as an after-thought. She was so glad she’d remembered to pack her swimsuit.

Eleanor chuckled through the phone. “Of course. Well, I’ll find some fun things for us to do then.”

“Okay,” Kate said, slightly giddy. She wasn’t sure if her mom had been to where they were going recently, but Kate hadn’t, so she really didn’t know what there was to do. Maybe the hotel would have one of those pamphlets of ‘Things to Do’ in the lobby.

Something caught her eye from her peripheral and she turned. She could see the chicken pen through the kitchen window in front of the sink and giggled when Yelena went to pet one of the younger hens only for it to squawk and scurry away.

“What’s so funny?” Eleanor asked.

“Oh, nothing. One of the chickens did something funny,” Kate told her mom but didn’t go into more detail. Her mom was not much of an animal person and hated most farm animals; she thought they were dirty. Kate still couldn't believe it sometimes that her mom let her spend whole summers here.

“What time will you be here again?” Kate asked.

Eleanor hummed. “Looks like right around nine-thirty. Think you can be awake before then?” 

“Yes!” Kate said while laughing.

“Great,” there was a pause, “I need to going, Katie. I have a few last-minute things to finish up, but I will see you tomorrow, my love. Yes?”

Kate was so excited to see her mom. Although she spoke to her at least once a week, she hadn’t seen her in person since the beginning of the summer when she’d gotten to Clint and Laura’s farm. “Okay. See you tomorrow, mom!”

“Bye-bye, sweetie.”

The call ended and Kate jubilantly hung up, practically skipping back outside. This weekend was going to be so much fun!

After dinner, just a quick but filling meal of hamburger helper with some veggies on the side, Kate went upstairs to pack. It helped that towards the end of eating Yelena had pointed out there were words on her hand and had asked why they were there.

Whenever Kate would travel somewhere for more than a few days, her mom would supervise her packed bag to see what she missed, because there were always things Kate was bound to forget. Her toothbrush, extra socks, different shoe options, enough pants, toiletries. Eleanor usually had her swapping out half of her comfy clothes for nicer things. ‘Just in case’ her mom would say.

Kate had started coming to the farm for whole summers a few years ago and by the second summer, she had the bright idea to leave clothes here instead of trying to sneak them here each time without her mom seeing. She never needed nice clothes here but Eleanor begged to differ.

Kate looked around the room, finding her small purple backpack. She thought about making a checklist but decided it was a waste of time. She was only gone for two nights.

As she began throwing things in the bag, Yelena sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed, watching her.

“What are you doing?” Yelena asked.

Kate hadn’t taken the time to tell Yelena about her weekend with her mom yet. Partially because she was afraid of how she’d react, and also partially because she felt bad for leaving. She didn’t want to feel bad, since she was excited; she hadn't seen her mom in over a month and missed her a lot. She just had a feeling that Yelena might get sad, or upset, and Kate didn’t want to be the cause of it.

But Kate had to tell herself that Yelena wouldn’t be alone. She’d gotten pretty close with Laura, and Cooper. She liked Lila, and could help Laura with the chickens. She’d be okay for two days. Heck, maybe Clint will figure out where her sisters and brother were by then.

Unless that meant she’d be gone before Kate got back... 

She selfishly hoped that wasn't the case. 

“I’m uh, packing a bag to spend the weekend with my mom,” Kate explained, letting herself focus back on answering Yelena instead who continued to watch as she packed different items; clothes, underwear, her swimsuit, a book, socks. 

Kate last-minute remembered to grab one of the few nice outfits she had there which was a tan sleeveless summer dress that came to her knees, folding it as nice as she could so it wouldn’t get wrinkly and setting it on top of everything else. She didn’t need any shower stuff since the hotel would have those things, and all her shoes were downstairs.

She had also been both weirded out and pleasantly surprised to see the scratch marks and scabs from Yelena’s nails the other night were all but gone. Only one tiny spot remained and it looked more like a freckle than anything else. When Kate had shown Laura that morning and explained what Yelena had done, licking the scratches, Laura had found it odd as well, but it was good nonetheless that whatever she'd been able to do had worked. Now Kate had nothing to worry about hiding from her mom and didn’t have to worry about wearing long sleeves anymore.

Deeming what was in the bag enough for the weekend, she zipped it closed.

When Kate looked at Yelena again, she was skimming pages in one of the books in Kate’s pile on her nightstand, turning the pages much too fast to actually be reading the book. Curiously, she hadn’t seemed to have reacted at all to what Kate had said though, which gave Kate pause.

“I’ll be back Sunday morning though,” Kate added, watching her from where she knelt on the floor.

Yelena looked outside then at Kate, head tilted.

Kate cleared her throat, even more confused. “Um…but Laura will be here. And Cooper too! And uh…” she was thankfully interrupted when her bedroom door was pushed open.

Cooper popped his head in. “Ni-night Aunee Kate. Night Aunee Yena.”

“Awwww, cute. Night, Coopie-Doopie,” Kate said with a smile and a quick hug to the boy. Cooper looked absolutely exhausted but still emanated energy as only a little kid could do right before bedtime. With a wave to the blonde on the bed, he disappeared back down the hall where his room, Lila’s and Laura and Clint’s rooms all were.

Lila’s voice was heard babbling away in her room down the hall, most likely fighting her sleepiness.

“What is that?” Yelena asked.

Kate turned. “What’s what?”

“Uh-nee,” Yelena asked. “What Cooper said.”

“Ohh, auntie! Aunt or uncle. You don’t have any aunts or uncles?” 

Yelena shrugged. Maybe it really was just her sisters and brother. But surely she had like, cousins, right? Where were her parents anyway? Maybe back in Russia?

“An aunt or uncle is kind of like a parent, but…not. So technically my aunts or uncles would be a sibling to either my mom or dad, like if my mom had a sister, I would call her my aunt, but we use the term a bit loosey-goosey. Most times, aunts and uncles are older than you, and I’m way older than Cooper and Lila. And I’m here a lot, so I’m like an honorary aunt to them. So you get to be, too, now.” Kate gave Yelena a smirk. “Though, it took me a little longer than a week for him to call me that. So congratulations! Guess you’re officially cooler than me.”

A tiny smile pulled at Yelena’s lips. “What do they do?”

“Uhh… what does an aunt and uncle do?” Kate asked.

Yelena tilted her head again. “Mhm.”

Kate thought about it, seeming to have to come up with answers to questions that made her think hard more often than not with Yelena. “Well…I guess they help the younger kids grow up, and be safe. And they do fun things with them. Play with them. They definitely give them candy when they aren’t supposed to,” she stated with a laugh. “But they’re just like, a part of their family. Even if we aren’t related by blood.”

Yelena seemed to ponder what Kate explained to her.

“You’re there for them. And you just…love them,” Kate added on, hoping she was making sense and also internally glad the topic had been changed and that Yelena wasn’t upset about Kate leaving for the weekend.

“I will love him,” Yelena confirmed adorably. It was really sweet and kind of corny at the same time, especially with how serious she was about it.

The hallway light was turned off just then, a sure sign that Laura was getting the kids settled and ready to sleep.

“I’m still a little hungry. Want to see what’s downstairs for dessert?” Kate asked, already dreaming of something sugary and sweet.

“Yes,” Yelena responded like Kate figured she would.

They went downstairs to find most of the lights off other than the living room ceiling light, with Clint watching television on the couch. He’d been a little quiet today in Kate’s opinion, less goofy, but maybe he’d just had a long day at work.

“Hey girls,” Clint called from where he was slouched over on the large armchair. There was a pad of paper on the coffee table that he was writing on.

“Hi. Can Yelena and I share a Poptart for dessert?” Kate asked, already digging through the pantry to find them. Yelena peered around to see what she was doing.

“Sure,” he said distractedly.

After asking if she’d prefer cinnamon or blueberry and receiving only a shrug, Kate chose the cinnamon one, ripped the wrapper off and stuck the two pieces in the toaster.

“Now, we wait,” Kate informed Yelena dramatically with a grin, who cracked a smile at her antics.

Yelena seemed conflicted about something but with a look at the toaster then to Clint, she wandered closer to the man. She seemed to be less wary around him lately, ever since taco night, which was good in Kate’s opinion. Clint was the best, so it made her sad that Yelena didn’t like him all that much.

“Clint.”

The man looked up, surprise coloring his face at Yelena addressing him. “Yelena. Hey.”

She stood behind the couch, a barrier of sorts between the two. “Clint…thank you. For taking us to woods. You find my family yet?”

The man looked back down at the pad of paper, tapping his pen to it. “I’m definitely working on it, but I haven’t been able to find them just yet. Soon though, okay?”

Kate saw Yelena shifting from foot to foot. “When?”

Clint let out a long sigh, running his hand on the back of his neck and hair. “I don’t have an answer for you on that unfortunately. I don’t–”

“Kate says you are the best. That you find people,” Yelena interrupted, quiet but clear. It was an unintentional stab at him and Kate suddenly felt bad at throwing Clint under the bus; that hadn’t been what she’d meant to do when she had told Yelena how good Clint was.

“I mean, I suppose I’m pretty good, but this is just…” he sighed, “giving me a run for my money. But I have help coming. So we’ll find them. Soon, very soon. I promise. Okay?”

“We will go back to woods? I help more,” the blonde offered.

Clint shook his head. “No sweetie, I can’t let you go back to the woods with me again. It’s not safe,” he said. 

Safe? The woods weren’t safe? Then why had they gone before? Had something happened?

“But there is something I could use your help on,” Clint quickly added on before Yelena could protest. “Do you think you can tell me a little more about your siblings? What they look like? Physical features, that kind of thing; that would help a lot. And any details about where you came from. Anything you can think of. What was around you, what you could hear. The people who worked there.”

“I can tell you,” Yelena said after a moment.

Their dessert popped up out of the toaster at that moment, causing both Yelena and Kate, who’d been a silent participant to the conversation, to jump from being startled.

With a grimace of sorts, Kate grabbed a small plate and plopped the Poptart pieces on it quickly, since they were hot, then pulled Yelena to the couch with her to sit so they could share the treat. “Be careful, it’s hot,” Kate informed her.

Clint flipped to a blank page in his notebook but Yelena just sat there staring. “Let’s see…so, your brother and sisters. What can you tell me?” he prompted.

Yelena was poking the food on the plate Kate held. “They are like me,” she said unhelpfully.

Clint chuckled. “I get that, but what do they look like? If I saw them walking down the street, what would I see? Like…what’s their hair and eye color? Are they tall or short? Do they have any sc–erm, out…standing features? That sort of thing.”

Kate handed the plate to Yelena after taking her own piece and chewing on it slowly, cupping her hand under to catch any crumbs. The best part of the Poptart was the warm center so she always ate the edges first to save the middle for last. The treat also seemed to calm Yelena down, giving her something to do while talking.

“Natalia. Moya sestra, has fox color hair,” Yelena informed them. 

Clint began to write and Kate had to try not to giggle. “Alright, red hair. Good, that’s good. Great. What else?”

“Mmm. Eyes are green. Same as me,” Yelena said rather proudly. Kate listened raptly, excited to add to the internal images in her head of Yelena’s family that she’d imagine when she would talk about them.

“What about your other sister?” Clint asked.

“Wanda…” Yelena nibbled on her Poptart, “is tall. Hair like Laura.”

“Brown? Long?” Clint clarified. 

Yelena hummed, nodding her head. “Da. And Pietro tall too, but he is more tall. They come together, in Russia.”

“What do you mean, they come together?” Clint asked, pausing his writing.

“They…just were together,” Yelena said with a shrug, very unexplanatory.

“Okay…moving on,” Clint scribbled the word ‘together’ with a question mark on his notepad with arrows going to Wanda and Pietro’s names. “What about Pietro? Does he have brown hair too?”

“Mm mm. This, but less,” Yelena said, pulling at a piece of her blonde hair.

“Blonde, got it. But darker?” Clint asked, writing again.

“No. The other,” Yelena clarified. Clint scribbled a word out then wrote next to it. Kate was done with her food and was now just cuddled up on the couch, shoulder to shoulder with Yelena, listening.

“Light blonde hair. Got it,” Clint confirmed.

“Siniy. Blue. Eyes, they are blue,” Yelena added on, “for Piet.”

“Okay. Good, this is really good Yelena. Oh, uh, Na…Natalia. Is she tall too?”

Shockingly, Yelena laughed at Clint’s question and answered with a quick “No.”

Clint lifted his eyebrows, failing to hide his smirk as he added to his notes. “Alllright.” Kate smiled too, picturing someone who looked like Yelena but with red hair instead of blonde. 

“And they’re all older than you, correct?” Clint asked. Yelena nodded in the affirmative.

“So you can find them now?” Yelena then asked, licking the crumbs off her fingers once her treat was gone. Other than the tomato from the first dinner they’d shared, there wasn’t anything Kate had found that she didn’t like, and had made it some sort of secret game with herself to help her try as much as she could.

“This will help me find them, yes,” Clint reworded. “Anything else you can think of that’ll help me?”

While Yelena sat there pondering, Kate chimed in, having an idea. “Hey, what about when they uh…change. You know, when they’re animals? What if they are like, changed, and don’t look like themselves when Clint finds them?”

“That,” Clint said, pointing at Kate with his pen, “is a really good point. Good job, Kate.” 

Kate preened, happy she was of help.

“Any animal forms they’d change to that might help me find them? Ones that could be specific to them, or ones they might use a lot,” Clint asked patiently.

Yelena seemed to concentrate, staring at the floor at nothing. “Um…dog. Cat. Fox… Eagle. Crow. V…Wolf. Rat.” Her accent had her rolling the first letter of rat; it was lovely and had Kate hoping she would say more words with r’s. She also spoke slowly, stopping between each animal. Probably to think of the names in English, as Kate noticed she hadn’t said any of them in her other language.

“Oops, hang on, hang on. Let’s back up a second. Let’s start with Natalia. You said dog and fox?”

Yelena cocked her head. “Nyet. Some we have that are same, but some not too. Nat is fox a lot, like her hair. It is her favorite. And squirrel. Wanda is eagle. Big, gold, strong,” a smile graced her, probably picturing the animal in her head.

“Piet… Most he use is same. He is a very good dog though. We all have rat, crow, dog, cat. And wolf. Some bird… Mmm…I…I do not remember all. There are more but it is…mess, in here,” Yelena said, tapping her head.

Clint made a face of concern, setting his pen down. “Hey, that’s alright. Don’t stress, this is very helpful. You did a good job, okay?”

Yelena wrapped her arms around her legs that she had pulled up on the couch, leaning her chin on her knee. “Okay,” she repeated, quietly. She stared down at the paper Clint had written on.

“Other times we are also not together,” she added randomly.

Clint looked at her. “What do you mean?” he asked, sitting back in the chair.

“Other times, before. We are not together, like now, and are alone. And we do not see others for a very long time,” she informed them.

“You were alone? For how long?” Kate asked sadly. Clint gave her a look but Kate wasn’t sure what it meant so instead she watched Yelena with sadness in her eyes, waiting for an answer. 

“Mmm…do not know. No windows to know when is day or night unless in–um,” she blinked a few times, making a weird face. “Guard schedules change. But much longer than now. I think,” Yelena finished. She started poking at the crumbs on her plate with her finger, eating them one by one.

Clint made a noise, exhaling through his nose. “What about where you lived? Can you describe the outside? Maybe what was around it besides trees?”

“Just trees. And fence. Guards. Lights. Smells like…I don’t know how to say. But it was different than home,” Yelena said, unable to have much to tell them about where she lived. 

“Home?” Kate questioned.

“Da. Russia,” Yelena said simply.

Clint cleared his throat. “How so, kiddo?”

“Home was…different. Nice. Cleaner. Shiny. Everyone is less mean. And we are less hungry.” She didn’t provide any more information after that. 

Maybe her old home was like, similar to an old school? Or a converted warehouse, like an old factory or a nursing home-style place.

Kate vowed to herself to give Yelena more snacks.

Clint’s watch beeped, signaling the top of the hour. He glanced at it then looked at Kate. “You packed for tomorrow?”

“Yep, got a bag put together,” Kate murmured. “Mom’ll be here around 9:30 or so.” She took the now-empty plate Yelena had set on the couch cushion so she could put it in the sink.

“And everything’s all…good and figured out?” Clint asked, glancing pointedly at the blonde then back to Kate.  

Kate gave a half nod with a shrug. “Yeah, I guess so. I…explained mom was coming and I’d be back Sunday. It’s fine I guess.”

Yelena watched the two talk but kept silent.

“Okay, kiddo, glad to hear it. It’s getting late though. You two should probably get some sleep. I’m gonna head up to check on Laura,” Clint said.

“She probably fell asleep with Cooper,” Kate said as she got up, putting the plate in the sink. She knew from personal experience how easy it was to fall asleep when putting the kids to bed.

Clint laughed. “Probably. Goodnight girls. See you tomorrow. And good job tonight.”

“Night,” Kate said.

“Night,” Yelena mimicked, grabbing Kate’s hand just to walk up the stairs with her, which Kate was more than happy to entertain.

They each used the bathroom, brushed their teeth and changed into pajamas. Kate had just turned the light off when they heard Clint walk past and into Cooper’s bedroom to wake Laura.

Kate cuddled close to Yelena, who was using Kate’s arm as something to hold. Her hand was still in hers and clutched close to her chest but she was using her pillow as an actual pillow this time, instead of Kate as one, and they were eye-level.

“Are you sure you are okay?” Kate asked, keeping her voice quiet. “About tomorrow?”

“I am not hurt,” Yelena answered. 

Kate exhaled out a laugh from her nose. “No, that’s not what I mean. I mean…I dunno what I mean, actually. I thought you’d…I dunno, be upset maybe.”

Yelena pressed a warm hand on Kate’s cheek. “I am okay.”

“Yeah?” Kate suppressed a yawn.

“Mhm.”

“Okay. Good. I’m glad,” she mumbled, getting sleepy.

“Kate Bishop,” Yelena got her attention before she zonked out, “Your arm is better?”

“Mhm,” Kate hummed out again. “Thanks. Even though it was gross.”

“Pozhaluysta. I am glad it helped,” she said. After a bit of silence that could have been a few seconds or a few minutes, Kate wasn’t sure, she heard Yelena’s voice again. 

“Poptart was good,” she informed her randomly.

Kate could feel her eyes drifting shut again. “Yeah? You usually eat ‘em for breakfast but I won’t tell if you won’t,” she slurred jokingly.

“I will not tell,” Yelena promised anyway, hugging Kate’s lower arm closer with a soft grip, fingers entwined with Kate’s.

When Yelena woke the next morning, it was to find Kate already out of bed, changing out of her pajamas and into clothes for the day in a haphazard manner. She grabbed the bag she had put things in the night before, unzipping it and shoving her pajamas she’d just taken off inside just to zip it back closed.

Yelena found it odd that Kate had done so. Packed a bag of things, that is.

Why did she need a bag to do something with Laura? Maybe they were going outside somewhere and she could not easily come get these things?

Sometimes Yelena got tired of asking questions, of not understanding, of trying to pay attention. She did her best, but eventually it just got tiresome to need everything explained to her, so she would get the gist of something and hope it was enough. 

“I’m gonna go downstairs and see if Laura can make french toast!” Kate exclaimed jovially.

Then she left, bag over her shoulder, leaving Yelena in the bed by herself for the first time.

Was Yelena supposed to follow her? Or put different clothes on now instead of after food? 

She was confused and wasn’t sure what to do. Plus, she had to pee. Why hadn’t Kate waited for her?

Yelena had been at this house for a few days now but she had not had many moments of being alone. Which was how she preferred it. She liked being here but didn’t always know what was allowed, and so felt the safest choices were to do what Kate did. She had never seen any of them get into trouble; Kate, Cooper or Lila. But Kate wasn’t doing what they normally did this morning and it was throwing Yelena off.

In the end, Yelena quickly used the bathroom and went downstairs still in her pajamas, as she wasn’t sure what clothes to wear even if she did try and change for the day, as per the rules of clothes. Kate or Laura always gave her clothes in the morning and she had been informed she couldn’t wear the same clothes more than once unless they were pajamas, which was another rule. The rules didn’t make sense to her, but they weren’t hurtful or scary either, so she did what she was told.

When Yelena got downstairs, Kate ran up to her. “Laura’s making french toast!” she practically yelled, hugging Yelena quick and tight, but her face showed she was very happy, so Yelena smiled and hugged her back.

“You said you’d never had it before, right? Well, now you get to! Yay! You’re gonna love love love it!” Kate chirped happily, running back over to where Laura was in the kitchen. Kate was usually not so energetic in the morning, which was another thing Yelena found odd. 

Clint was not there, so possibly at work since that is where Kate said he usually went during the day, but the kids were at the kitchen table.

“Kate, can you help Lila for a second?” Laura asked from where she stood in front of the stove. Lila was in her high chair, making a very sticky mess and throwing pieces of food on the floor, making Cooper giggle as he stabbed his own food with a fork and took big bites.

Yelena took a seat in her normal chair, the one next to Cooper, just as Laura set a plate in front of her. On the plate were yellowed pieces of bread that looked cooked and smelled very good. Laura had taken the time to cut them up for her too, so the meal matched Cooper’s.

The little boy silently pushed the brown bottle from the other day to her, mouth too full of food to talk, so Yelena took it and poured some on her plate to make her bread brownish yellow like his.

“Syri-yup,” he finally informed her, word muffled by all the food he was still chewing.

Yelena thanked him for the reminder, as she had forgotten the name. She finally took a bite and after confirming it was indeed delicious, ate more. 

“What time is it, Laura?” Kate asked while she fed Lila with a tiny fork.

“About five minutes after you last asked, honey,” Laura informed her with a laugh. “She’ll be here soon, okay?”

“Okayyy,” Kate said.

Yelena paused. “Who is here soon?”

“Mom!” Kate said, a bit too loud but joyfully. 

Yelena looked to Laura, who was right behind them. Was Laura going somewhere and then coming back? Going to a doctor again maybe? 

Kate tapped her plate to get her attention. “Do you like it?” she asked.

Yelena turned back around and nodded. “Da. Is very yummy,” she answered honestly, happy to be enjoying a meal Kate loved. She did not notice Laura turning away from the stove and giving her a weird look.

Just as Yelena stabbed another piece of the food, a noise was heard from outside that sounded kind of like Clint’s vehicle but not as loud. Kate made a funny squeak, sprinting away from the table and rushing out the front door.

Yelena stared at her retreating form as she paused her chewing, confused. She focused on her hearing, trying to decipher what she’d heard. 

She began to hear another voice that was not Clint’s speaking to Kate, and as they got closer, she started to feel funny. Her hands felt tingly and her stomach made flippy movements, her breakfast threatening to come back up her throat. Laura was still behind her and the kids were at the table with her, and Clint wasn’t here, but Kate was outside with someone that Yelena did not know, and–

The front door opened and Kate walked in with a tall woman wearing sunglasses, her hair short and brown. Her feet wore shoes that made tapping noises when she walked.

Yelena got a whiff of something strong and unnatural and she whined without meaning to, body rigid. 

Laura walked over, hugging the woman as Kate bounced around between them, chattering away. Cooper said something and Lila squealed, waving her hands in the air, then everyone was talking and hugging and smiling, but Yelena couldn’t hear anything besides the loud ringing in her ears. 

Who was this woman? Why was she here? Why did she smell weirdly familiar? The woman kept touching Kate like Laura would do. And why were Kate and Laura hugging her?

Was she part of HYDRA? Was she here to take Yelena back? Did this mean Yelena had to leave? Clint had said she could stay…he’d promised. But she smelled like…

Yelena’s head spun and it felt like she couldn’t breathe. 

Kate’s voice filtered into the mess of thoughts currently swirling in her mind.

Mom. Kate was calling the woman ‘mom’.

It was then that the conversations between her and Kate from last night clicked.

This woman was Kate’s mom. Kate was leaving with her mom. With the bag she packed. Her mom, who was not Laura, but this new person. 

The woman, Kate’s mom, got closer at Kate’s insistence. She had moved her sunglasses from her face to the top of her head.

“Mom, this is my friend Yelena!” Kate said, still bouncing around, all smiles.

Yelena on the other hand was just staring at the woman, gripping her fork that had a piece of food stabbed on it, holding it like a weapon in front of her.

“Hello there, dear. It’s nice to meet you,” Kate’s mom said as she had an arm wrapped over Kate’s shoulder. 

Yelena was looking up at her but when she caught another whiff of the scent the woman had brought with her, she flinched and slid off her chair to distance herself.

Someone said something but Yelena didn’t hear what. Something felt wrong, and bad. Like…before.

Both her head and her heart pounded and the part of her stomach where the food she’d just eaten had gone to felt queasy. 

Kate was leaving.

With someone who smelled like–

She dropped her fork on the table, turned and sprinted out the back door.  

“Yelena!?” Kate yelled as the door slammed opened and swung back and forth on its hinges, as Yelena hadn’t stopped to close it.

“Oh. Is she okay? Your friend can certainly run fast,” her mom commented dryly. 

“She’ll be fine, she’s a bit shy is all,” Laura quickly stepped in to say before Kate could shout very loudly that no, she was not okay!

Kate’s mom hummed at the explanation and moved on to say hello properly to Cooper and Lila without any more concern.

Kate on the other hand was more than conflicted and kind of freaking out. What had just happened? Why did Yelena run away like that? Had Kate missed something? What should she do? Should she go after her? But her mom–

She turned to Laura who had rounded the table to clean Lila up.

“Laura, what’d I do?” Kate whined once her mom was out of earshot, Cooper having dragged her to the living room. “Why’d Yelena run off and–”

“Shh. Honey, it wasn’t you, you didn’t do anything. I think she's just…overwhelmed with new people. You’re sure you talked to her last night?” Laura asked quietly as she began wiping Lila’s fingers off. Cooper, bless his soul, had stolen her mom’s attention and was currently showing her some of his toys.

“Yes!” Kate fretted.

“And you’re sure she understood?” Laura then asked.

Kate paused to think about it. “I…I think so. I thought so! She said she was fine. I…but Laur–”

“Katie, sweetie,” Laura sighed, tossing the used baby wipes on Lila’s high chair table that was on the table and unbuckling the less-sticky toddler, “please don’t get worked up. Everything’s gonna be fine. Take a deep breath.”

Kate did so but she didn’t feel much better. 

“You wanna know what you’re gonna do?” Laura asked.

Kate stuck her bottom lip out and pouted childishly. “Go find her?”

Laura chuckled. “You’re going to give me a hug, offer your mom some overly-sweet breakfast that she’ll probably decline, and then go have a wonderful weekend together.”

Kate wrapped her arms around Laura and Lila, worry wafting off of her in waves. She noticed that Yelena hadn’t even finished her breakfast and it just made the guilty feeling worse. “But I feel bad, Laura. She ran away. What if she never comes back? I should go look for her. Explain things. Better.”

Laura kissed her on the side of her head. “Yelena will be just fine, sweetie. The kids and I will find her after you leave.” Kate whined at the thought of not being able to say goodbye but Laura just patted her hair to soothe her and continued talking. “I think Yelena just needs a minute to herself to calm down. I think there may have been just a teeny bit of misunderstanding regarding the situation and she wasn’t prepared to see someone new. It’s no one’s fault, but it happened just the same. But I don’t want you to worry about it. Now go save your mom before Coop makes her build a train track with him. I’ll make sure she’s alright, pinky promise.”

Kate looked outside trying to catch a glimpse of the blonde but was unsuccessful. With a pout, albeit much smaller than before, she went to rescue her mom from Cooper and his hoard of trains and tracks. 

Fifteen minutes later and a quick cup of coffee-to-go that Laura made for Eleanor, Kate was outside by her mom’s rental car, sandals on, shoes in her hand, backpack hanging off one shoulder, and inconspicuously scanning the yard with eagle eyes. 

Unsurprisingly, her mom had passed on having breakfast, claiming she’d already eaten, but Laura let Kate take a few pieces with her in a zip-loc bag anyway.

“It’s really good to see you, Eleanor,” Laura said with a soft smile. “We need to catch up soon, when you aren’t out of the country and I don’t have a beach ball in front of me.”

Eleanor laughed, her normal one that was kind and short, “Yes please. I would love that, Laura. And you don’t know how much I appreciate you and Clint giving my Kate here a place to stay during the summer, especially right before you’re about to pop that little one out. Lord knows how bored she’d be if she were stuck in Manhattan for three months,” Eleanor said good-naturedly, scrunching her nose at Kate.

“Oh I’m sure she’d find some trouble to get into.” The two mothers laughed together. “Well, you two have a nice weekend together,” Laura said, moving to give a hug to Kate with one arm, holding Lila in the other. “We’ll catch up a bit on Sunday before you leave for your flight. See you both in a few days.”

Eleanor got into the front seat, turning the car on and fiddling with the air-conditioning.

“Ready to go, honey?” her mom questioned, door half-open.

“Yeah…” Kate said, looking around the yard again, but Yelena was nowhere. 

With a sad sigh, Kate slowly circled the car to climb into the passenger seat, shoving her bag on the floor and buckling her seatbelt. She was trying really hard to not be sad; she’d been so excited to spend the weekend with her mom, but she hadn’t expected Yelena to freak out and literally run off. 

And Kate couldn’t help but feel like it was all her fault.

Eleanor began backing the car up once the doors were closed and just as she put it back into drive, Kate rolled down her window to wave goodbye to Laura who was now only a few feet away from her. “Maybe…maybe I can call later?” Kate suggested hopefully. 

“That sounds like a great idea. Everyone would love that,” Laura answered knowingly, “Now go have fun.” Laura waved her fingers, getting Lila to copy her in a tiny wave goodbye. “Bye-bye!”

With a last wave at Cooper from Kate, who was busy playing on the tire swing, Eleanor made her way down the long driveway.

“Everything okay, sweetie?” Eleanor asked as she turned onto the main road, catching Kate’s attention.

Kate plastered a smile on her face, turning away from where she’d been looking out the back window, doing one final scan of the yard. “Yes, everything’s fine. I was just…I’d wanted to say bye. To…Yelena. But it’s okay.”

Eleanor made a click, a noise Kate was very familiar with. It was her quiet noise of disapproval that Kate would sometimes hear her make when she didn’t agree with something. “I understand, dear. Well, Laura’s got it handled. How is she related to them again?”

“Relate–? Um. She’s–uh, I don’t…actually remember. I’ll…have to ask Laura,” Kate floundered, forever a poor liar.

“Alright, sweetie.” Eleanor put her hand out, palm up, and smiled. She’d pulled her fancy Prada sunglasses back over her eyes and Kate did the same with the extra pair Eleanor always kept in her purse for her. When she put her hand in her mom’s, Eleanor gave Kate a smile that she couldn’t help but return. 

She really had missed her.

“Let’s get this weekend started right. So what’s first, smoothies or milkshakes?” Eleanor asked Kate.

Her mom might like the finer things in life, but she always knew the way to Kate’s heart.

Kate gave her a real and authentic smile this time, her excitement for their weekend together slowly coming back. “Both and we can share?”

Eleanor chuckled. “Never change, my love.”

Once Kate and Eleanor had turned onto the main road and were no longer visible, Laura turned to look around the farm, debating on where to start with a sigh.

It was unbearably hot already and was only bound to get warmer in the next few hours. Laura really hoped Yelena was not anywhere she would have to climb to get to, or she’d be sitting up there until Clint got home.

With too many choices available, Laura picked where her gut told her she might be; the chicken coop. She could already feel sweat building in areas she wished it wouldn’t as she slowly made her way there, Lila content on her hip. 

It was becoming glaringly obvious to Laura that Yelena, despite her age, did not have a handle on her emotions and feelings, nor how to navigate them, like she should. Laura had expected it to a certain extent based on how the past few days had gone but for the most part, things had been pretty calm. Kate was not the most mature 15-year old by any means but it was the only one Laura had any experience with to compare the blonde to at the moment, and she couldn’t help but feel more and more out of depth.

Part of Laura knew that the situation they were in with Yelena couldn’t go on like they were doing forever. The girl needed help, real help, and Laura was in no way capable of doing so. She needed schooling, and to see a doctor, and most likely therapy. A lot of therapy. She needed documentation, like a birth certificate. So did her siblings most likely. She needed a permanent residence somewhere, whether that was with her and Clint or somewhere else. 

And Laura had no idea where to start with any of it. Clint was hopefully on top of ensuring her safety though, first. That was their main priority. Maybe Maria and her team could help with the rest too.

The main gate to the fence was open so Laura made her way through it and towards the wooden door of the coop itself, weaving her way around the hens pecking at the ground in search of bugs.

She peeked her head in past the wooden door but found it mostly empty, sans a few older hens sleeping in.

“Hmm. Where could she be…” Laura hummed aloud to herself. She would have bet money that the blonde would have been there, as she hadn’t seen her and Kate go anywhere else besides the outside paddocks. “Whatcha think, Liles? Where should we look next?” 

“Down, down,” Lila said instead, pushing herself away so Laura set her feet on the floor. The child then amused herself with petting one of the older hens inside the coop.

“Good job, sweetie,” Laura said to her little girl. She took the time to collect the eggs in the coop while she was there and when she was done, walked with her little girl back towards the house.

“Hey Coop?” Laura called to the boy playing on the tire swing. “Have you seen Yelena?”

He shook his head while he was upside down, hanging by the backs of his knees. “No, mommy.”

“Want to help me look for her?” Laura asked as she pulled at her hair to tie it up into a bun and off the back of her neck. There was no way Laura could go traipsing all over the farm in the heat in her condition.

Cooper flipped to his feet. “Like hide and seek?” 

Laura grinned and gave him a thumbs up. “Yes, exactly like hide and seek.”

“Yes!” Cooper said, jumping up and sprinting off towards the barn, which he was well aware had plenty of good hiding spots.

“I’ll come help in a few, I need to sit down a minute with your sister. Let me know if you find her!” Laura called as she coaxed Lila back towards the house, setting the basket of eggs on an old wooden table on the porch while scanning around the nearby trees and shrubbery. She’d been on her feet most of the morning and unfortunately needed to sit down for a few minutes before the heat got to her.

He yelled an affirmative and then disappeared in the barn, most likely to partially look while goofing off but at least he was entertained. Most of the tools and dangerous things were put away in one of the pens that he knew not to climb into, so Laura was fine with him being in there alone for a few minutes.

As usual, her son continued to surprise her. No more than five minutes had passed but before Laura had a chance to check the house or go help her son search the barn, Cooper was walking back out the double barn doors while pulling the missing girl behind him, his tiny hand holding hers firmly. Her eyes and cheeks were red, a sure sign she’d been crying, but she otherwise looked unharmed. It was also a plus in Laura’s opinion that she was still herself and not some new version of an animal. She was still having a hard time wrapping her mind around that whole part of the…situation still. 

Laura could see Cooper’s mouth moving but couldn’t hear what he was saying just yet until he loudly shouted, “Mama, I found her!”

“Good job, baby,” Laura said more to herself, then repeated it louder. 

Once they made it halfway, Yelena stopped, saying something Laura couldn’t hear. They had some sort of conversation, then Cooper left her and ran up to Laura.

“Is Yena in trouble mama?”

Laura made a grim sort of smile. “No honey, she’s not in trouble.”

“She says she doesn’t wanna get punish,” Cooper tried to explain, not using the correct word as Laura wasn’t even sure he’d ever heard the word before at all. Clint and her did discipline their kids, Kate too, when necessary, but not like that. Never like that. Mostly time outs or firm talking-tos. 

“Yelena’s not in trouble, sweetie, and she won’t get punished. Can you see if she wants to sit and talk with me?” Laura was honestly very surprised Cooper had been able to drag her away from wherever she’d run off to and so quickly at that, but she’d been spending a lot of time with him recently, so maybe she shouldn’t have been as shocked as she had been. 

Thinking deeper about it, Laura figured that Yelena probably didn’t have many good experiences with adults. But children…children were probably never the enemy, so Cooper was safe to her.

Cooper went back over to Yelena and they spoke more, Yelena’s eyes glancing to Laura then back to him a few times. Between the two, it was like their roles were reversed, with Cooper taking charge of the situation and the almost-18-year-old letting him. She wiped her eyes a few times before Cooper took her hand again and pulled her closer, then all but ran off to feed the goats some leaves off a branch he found in the yard.

Yelena stood still as a statue, not meeting Laura’s eyes, attempting very hard to not cry and it broke Laura’s heart. 

“Oh sweetie, are you okay? Do you want to come sit by me?”

Green eyes that were red and puffy looked at her, then away. She slowly inched closer, body rigid.

Laura patted the seat next to her on the swinging porch swing she was on, Yelena sitting stiffly beside her on the edge of the seat in case she needed to bolt again.

“Are you hurt?” Laura asked gently. 

Yelena shook her head, staring at the ground.

“Can I hug you?” Laura then asked, arm already on the seat behind her, wanting to wrap her arms around the girl even in the heat that surrounded them.

Yelena did look at her then, eyes watery. “What?”

“Can I give you a hug?” Laura repeated, head cocked down to meet her eyes better.

“W… why?”

“Because you look like you need it. C’mon, scooch over here,” Laura said in her extra-sweet voice. And that’s all it took for the blonde to curl up into Laura’s open arms, her stiff form smooshing against Laura. She sniffled quietly as Laura pet the back of her head, the braid she’d put in there the day before now frizzed up, with pieces of hay stuck in it.

“Kate is gone,” Yelena eventually whimpered out once her sniffling had died down, voice cracking on the last word.

“She’s not gone forever, sweetie. She’ll be back on Sunday.”

Yelena wiped her nose on her arm then leaned away, which Laura was a little glad about as the blonde was practically a tiny furnace. She had tear tracks running down her cheeks. 

“It is sun out today?” she asked rather pathetically.

Laura’s lips pursed. “Honey, I thought you and Kate talked about this weekend?”

Yelena looked at the floor of the porch with a frown. “Kate… told me… she is being with her mom. But I… I thought she meant you. I don’t… understand. And her mom… smells.”

The misunderstanding now making itself glaringly obvious, besides the weird smelling comment which Laura had no idea where to start with that, she sighed. “Yelena, Sunday is a day in the week. Today is Friday. So in two days,” Laura held up her hand and held up two fingers, “Kate and her mom will come back. She’s not gone forever, honey.”

Yelena still looked sad but mumbled out an ‘okay’, wiping a stray tear off her cheek. 

“Take a few deep breaths for me. Everything’s fine, okay? I think there was a bit of misunderstanding though. I know Kate said she explained this weekend to you but well, obviously that didn’t go as planned. See, Kate’s mom works a lot so she stays with us during the summer when she’s not going to school. Her mom had some free time however this weekend and so they are spending the weekend up North, just for fun. But they’ll be back. Kate didn’t leave forever, okay?”

“If you say,” Yelena said doubtfully, still wiping at her eyes and nose. 

Suddenly Laura had an idea, one that would hopefully distract the kids while helping the older blonde as well. Plus, they could do the activity inside and stay cool.

“I need to finish feeding the animals. Afterwards though, I think I have something you might enjoy doing with the kids and I,” Laura suggested, preparing herself to be back in the sun for a short time. “Something that will help.”

Yelena just shrugged again, following her forlornly when she stood up.

“Help me with checking their food and water and then we’ll go inside, ok?” Laura said.

“Da, I help you,” she responded sadly, but still she went back out with Laura and helped her finish what they needed to, which Laura was very grateful for. Hopefully Clint was home on time today and they could finish the rest together later when it cooled off.

In the end, by the time Laura and Yelena were done with their allotted tasks, the kids content to hang under the shade of the giant oak nearby where Laura could keep an eye on them, they were all shiny with sweat.

Once back inside, Laura poured three glasses of lemonade from the refrigerator that she’d made the day before, letting Lila share hers as they sat on the couch inside, cooling off in the wonderful air-conditioning.

Yelena remained solemn, not saying much of anything, but Cooper had clearly decided it was up to him to keep her company while Kate was gone. He was currently letting her know his plan on the track he was about to start building around the coffee table. Once their drinks were finished, she silently helped him build said track, figuring out how the pieces fit together with his help, with Lila doing the opposite of helping and ripping the pieces back apart every so often. 

It was very sweet and had Laura thinking of the future and how Cooper and Lila would be with the new baby as they got older. 

While they were entertained, and once Lila passed out on the couch for a quick nap, Laura cleaned up from breakfast that morning. She’d offered to heat up Yelena’s unfinished breakfast but she had declined, going back to building Cooper’s track with him.

After they were able to have Cooper’s battery-operated trains go around the track a few times, Yelena simply watching, Laura plopped some books, papers, and pencils on the kitchen table, followed by a plate of carrots, cheese cubes, and celery to snack on.

“Hey, you two,” Laura said quietly to get their attention. “While Lila’s out for the count, you guys want to have some fun having snacks and learning?”

Cooper popped up, immediately knowing what Laura had pulled out. Yelena followed, having nothing else to do.

“What we learning today, mommy?” Cooper asked, jumping into his chair and grabbing a pencil.

“We’re going to learn about numbers and days of the week,” Laura announced.

Cooper cheered even though he had no idea what Laura was talking about yet, but both he and Yelena would be pros by the end of the day. And hopefully there would be one less chance of any misunderstandings in the future.

The hotel Kate’s mom had booked was amazing, which didn’t surprise Kate at all, but it did excite her greatly. It had a pool that had both an indoor and outdoor area, a hot tub, and lots of lounge chairs in both areas. It was the coolest area in the whole hotel in Kate’s opinion, with the gift shop coming in as a close second. 

Besides the very fun-looking pool, the room they got to sleep in for the next two nights on the top floor was like a tiny apartment. It had practically an entire living room, fully furnished, with a small kitchenette area and a bathroom with a bathtub-shower combo nearby. There was a queen bed situated off to the side that had a half-wall keeping it partially separated. Then through a wide pocket door was a very large room that housed a king bed and a comfy armchair along with a very fancy bathroom containing a bathtub the size of a jacuzzi, a large walk-in shower and two sinks.

Kate had of course been to her fair share of fancy hotels in her short lifetime. This one was far from the fanciest; her parents were practically rich by all definitions and her mom had always enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle for as long as Kate could remember. Kate appreciated it, but it wasn’t something that was important to her.

She was still easily impressed though. She’d been to the town they were in maybe once or twice, but not for a long time and never at this specific hotel.

After stopping halfway for smoothies and milkshakes to share during the hour drive from Clint and Laura’s farm to La Crosse, Eleanor had driven them straight to the hotel she had booked. Normal check-in was after 2:00 pm but in true Eleanor-style, they were allowed to check in as soon as they got there. 

“When can we swim?” Kate asked while her mom was putting their clothes from their bags into the dresser located in the bedroom with the king bed.

Kate didn’t see a point in doing so, being fine with living out of a backpack for two days, but her mom always insisted. And it did keep the room looking nicer. Kate’s bag usually began to spill out onto the floor and spread into different areas, making her ransack every nook and cranny by the time they had to leave.

“Later before dinner,” Eleanor told Kate.

“And tomorrow too?” Kate asked, jumping back on her mom’s bed for the next two nights, testing its comfort and bounce-level.

“Sure, honey. We can find time tomorrow during the day I’m sure,” her mom said, standing up and grabbing Kate’s dress and all of her own items to hang in the closet. Eleanor wasn’t a huge fan of swimming, choosing to sunbathe on a lounge chair, read a book, or relax in the hot tub instead, but she entertained Kate’s love of the activity most of the time. 

When Kate had gone to hotels with her parents when she was younger, it had usually been when they were working and she’d be put in the care of a nanny or security guard. Those were the trips that she both dreaded and loved. They were beyond boring, but she’d been too young to stay home back in Manhattan alone, so she always made a game out of giving her charges hell and sneaking away to get into some sort of trouble or other. It still made Kate laugh just thinking about it.

When Kate and her mom had walked into the current hotel they were to stay at, Kate had been ecstatic to find that the front lobby had one of those large holders with a ton of pamphlets of things to do. She grabbed about 20 of them before her mom told her to stop and put some back so she selected a few that caught her eye, bringing them up to the room, and began to read them as her mom finished hanging the clothes. 

Kate started to laugh, feet hanging off the bed. “Hey mom, there’s this place that has a breakfast dish that weighs five and a half pounds! If you finish it, you get it free and your picture goes on their Wall of Fame.”

“That sounds incredibly disgusting,” Eleanor commented.

“I know right? Clint would love it,” Kate said, putting it to the side to show him when she saw him next. The next pamphlet was something about cruises down the Mississippi river. “So what are we going to do today?”

“Well,” Eleanor started, shutting the closet doors, “I made appointments for us at the spa down the street for two hours that start at 12:30. You’re due for a hair trim and I could use one myself. You can get whatever else you want done–”

“Can I dye my hair purple?” Kate asked.

“Besides that,” Eleanor added on, then continued with what she’d been saying, “There’s a lot of old storefronts that offer fun places to shop nearby that we can either walk or drive to. Tomorrow there’s a tour I booked for us at one of the Cruise Lines located on the river, along with a lovely steakhouse nearby we can have dinner at as well. Besides that, the rest of the weekend we still have plenty of time to do anything you want.”

“Okay,” Kate said, moving the cruise pamphlet to the side to put back in the lobby later. “Maybe…we can go somewhere fun for dinner later tonight? And do a little shopping before that?”

Kate was well aware of what her mom did and did not like doing. Shopping was usually number one on Kate’s list of ‘Eleanor-approved activities’ to request.

“Anything you want, love,” Eleanor said, sitting next to Kate. “Find anything worthwhile? And before you ask, no we are not eating a five-pound breakfast meal.”

“Five and a half, mom,” Kate corrected with a laugh.

“Whatever. C’mon, let’s freshen up and then we’ll head to the spa. You can bring some of those with you but I’ve been dying to get a pedicure all week,” Eleanor said with a few pats to Kate’s thigh.

Although Kate didn’t give two shits about a spa, she’d been to one many times and it was always a nice and relaxing time.

“Okay!”

Kate was happily exhausted. She’d gotten up early that morning and it’d been a full day ever since. 

Eleanor and she had spent well over two hours at the spa her mom had found, getting their nails and toes done along with hair trims. She’d chosen a bright purple color for nail polish, even though her mom had tried talking her out of her. Eleanor always got a french manicure, which was very boring but did always look nice.

After that, they spent some time walking up and down a few streets that held little stores to shop in. Kate had even found a candy store, much to Eleanor’s chagrin, and filled it with so much candy that she needed two hands to carry it. Eleanor quickly told her she was not to eat the entire bag in two days, but Kate had plans to share it with Yelena and the kids.

After some shopping, they finally went back to the hotel. For Eleanor it was to relax, but for Kate it was to swim. The summer heat was god-awful that day, even if they’d spent most of the day indoors, and the water was the perfect temperature. It wasn’t too busy luckily either, so Kate swam around, going between the gap in the wall that led from the indoor area of the pool to the outdoor area while Eleanor laid on a lounge chair in the outdoor area, reading a book.

From one of the pamphlets Kate had found, they’d decided on dinner at a place not too far away; an old theatre that offered a movie on the big screen while you ate hand-made pizzas. They were playing Little Women, the one with Winona Rider, and it seemed like a fun thing to do. Her mom had read the book more than once and Kate liked the movie when she first saw it, so they’d made a plan and booked a reservation for 6:30 pm that night. 

During the day, they talked about all sorts of things. What Kate had been up to, what books she’d read so far, how learning the guitar was going, and more. Eleanor answered Kate’s questions about her work and filled her in on some of the places she’d been to so far that summer; San Diego, Miami, Toronto, and Paris. Summer was one of the busiest times of the year for the company and Bishop Securities seemed only to grow each year, which was good for the business, it just meant Eleanor was gone more and more. During the school year, sans-holidays, Kate was mostly alone, but she tried not to let it affect her. She tried to fill her time with after-school activities and sports, or hanging with friends, but there was only so much she could do while still keeping up on her schoolwork.

Kate showered before the show since her hair looked like a ‘rat’s nest’ according to her mom from swimming. The show that night was nice enough, located at a theater called Rivoli, but the pizzas had been so delicious, there were no leftovers to bring back. After driving back to the hotel, they took a walk through a park across the street from the hotel entrance to settle their full stomachs and enjoy the atmosphere of the river at night. There was a tiny cruise boat with lights all over it far into the distance playing music with cars driving up and down the busy roads a few blocks over, but for the most part it was quiet for being a city.

They made their way back up to the room and as Eleanor made her way to the large bathroom area of her room, Kate flopped on the couch. “Hey mom? Can I use your cell phone? Or the room phone?”

“Whichever, honey. My cell’s in my purse.” With that, Eleanor closed the door for privacy.

Kate rolled over until she was on the other side of the couch and picked up the hotel room phone which was closer than her mom’s purse was. There were directions to dial a 7 and then the number you were calling unless it was the front desk, so Kate quickly pressed the 7 and then dialed in Clint and Laura’s home phone number she’d memorized.

After four rings which had Kate holding her breath the whole time, she heard Clint’s voice answer with an upbeat, “Hello?”

“Clint! Hi, it’s Kate! I’m calling from the hotel room,” Kate informed him.

“Hi Katie,” Clint said with a laugh. “Having fun with your mom?”

“Mhm! Yes. It’s been great so far,” Kate said.

“Good to hear, kid.”

“Yeah. Is um… is Yelena there?” Kate asked, getting straight to the real reason she’d called.

Clint hummed dramatically, making Kate huff out an annoyed breath. “She’s sitting five feet away from me eating macaroni and cheese.”

“Oh! Um. Can I–I mean, can you–does she… is she okay? Does she want to talk? C-can I talk to her?” Kate stuttered out.

“Why don’t you ask her yourself?” Clint asked. There was a muffled noise, then Kate could hear Clint giving instructions on how to use a phone.

“Say hello,” Clint said, sounding far away.

“Hello,” Yelena said, the word sounding less like a question and more like just a word she’d copied saying.

“Yelena!” Kate cried with a grin. “Hi. It’s Kate.”

“Kate Bishop? Gde?” Yelena said, voice getting loud then quiet.

“Hi. Yeah, it’s me. I’m at a hotel,” Kate said. 

Kate didn’t get a response from the phone.

“Yelena? Are you there?” Kate asked, afraid maybe the call had disconnected.

“I am at the table,” Yelena answered and Kate rolled her eyes with a smile.

“Clint said you’re eating mac and cheese. Do you like it?” Kate asked.

“Yes,” Yelena said. “It is better with the spicy bottle.”

Kate chuckled. “That sounds so gross. I… was wondering. Um. Are you okay? Are you mad at me?” Kate then asked a bit quieter.

She didn’t hear a response. 

“Yelena?”

“You are not here,” Yelena said instead, also quiet. She sounded sad.

“I’ll be back Sunday…” Kate explained, feeling guilty again. She picked at a piece of dead skin under her finger nail.

“Yes. Laura teach days of a week,” she informed Kate, but it just made Kate feel even worse.

She had really messed up her explanation.

“I’m so sorry Yelena. I really messed up. I didn’t do a good job telling you that I was gonna be gone,” Kate said apologetically.

“You will come back? Dva dnya?” Yelena asked.

For a second, Kate got choked up. She’d left her all alone, right after she’d told her and Clint about being alone for a long time at her old home. 

“I pinky promise I will be back on Sunday. I’m bringing you a present, too,” Kate promised. The bag of candy didn’t count; she’d get her something else. Something special.

“What is present?” Yelena said. She clearly had never spoken on the phone before and it would have been cute if Kate didn’t feel so bad about earlier still. Plus, did Yelena say she’d never gotten a present? Or was she asking what the present was?

“It’s a surprise. You will see on Sunday,” Kate said, taking a guess.

“Ok. Sunday,” Yelena said.

Kate heard her mom’s bathroom door open back up. “I have to go,” Kate said.

“Go?”

God, Kate really needed to learn how to speak normally.

“I have to hang up. Get off the phone. Um…” Kate then heard a far-away voice that sounded like Clint say something. 

“Oh,” Yelena said. “I miss you.”

Kate lips tiled up into a smile, eyes watery and her heart feeling like it was skipping around. Why was she getting all goofy over a person she’d known for like, six days? Yelena was just a friend. 

“I miss you too. I’m… I’m glad you’re okay.”

“I am better when it is Sunday,” Yelena clarified. 

Kate laughed then, even if it was kind of sad, but it was the first sort-of joke she’d heard the girl say. “Me too. Good night, Yelena. I’ll see you soon,” Kate said. “Two days. Tell Clint and Laura and the kids night too.”

She heard Yelena saying good night to everyone at the table as Kate had mistakenly told her to do, with Cooper laughing, then she was louder, talking into the phone again. “Good night, Kate,” Yelena replied. Kate waited a few seconds to see if Yelena would hang up first but eventually ended the call on her end as her mom came back into the room.

That night Kate fell asleep with a big smile on her face, glad that everything was okay, and thinking of the rest of the weekend with excitement.

Just as she had hoped, the weekend with her mom had been so great, in Kate’s opinion. Saturday had been just as hot but the humidity had died down a little, making it a perfect summer day. 

They had breakfast nearby at a cute little cafe that made lattes with designs on top and sold bagels with lots of options for cream cheese. Then they’d gone on a cruise like Eleanor had mentioned, getting a little tour of the Mississippi River up and down La Crosse while a young man stood at the front and shouted both historical and fun facts in a microphone. 

After that the day was filled with more shopping, a spontaneous visit to a nearby arboretum, and more swimming and relaxation. Then Kate and her mom changed into the nicest clothes they had, with Kate glad she’d brought the nice dress with, and going to a very nice and upscale steakhouse that had an actual freight train in the front.

All in all, it was a really nice weekend. She’d even found something special for Yelena that she hoped she would like. She hadn’t been able to call the house that second night, they’d gotten back too late, so she hoped everything was still fine. 

Sunday morning Kate found her and her mom waking up early to pack up, checking out just before 9:00 am and heading back to the cafe with the fancy lattes before making their way back to Clint’s. La Crosse was far from as fancy and glamorous as Manhattan was, but it still had fun things to do and it’d been a really nice weekend nonetheless since she got to see her mom.

“You’re going to London tonight, right?” Kate asked between bites as she munched on her everything-bagel with onion and chives cream cheese.

“Yes, for about a week, then I’m off to Berlin and a few other cities nearby. There’s a convention they hold every three years at ExCel London and we have a lot to talk about and showcase while there. Many investors will be there as well, so it’s a big deal,” Eleanor explained. She went off on a bit of a tangent regarding money and new models they were preparing to release to the public.

Kate nodded, not fully understanding all the lingo with her mom’s work, but enough to know that it was in fact a big deal.

“I probably won’t see you until the week before school starts, though, honey. I hope you understand,” Eleanor said dejectedly. 

Kate did, though couldn’t help but still be a bit hurt about how often her mom was gone. 

“It’s okay, mom. I get it.” Eleanor patted her on the arm, a prideful look at her face at her ‘perfect daughter’ as she often said. Kate was far from perfect, but Eleanor wasn’t around enough to see many of her flaws.

Ever since her dad had passed away, her mom was exponentially more busy, so really Kate barely saw her. Sometimes she would on weekends during the school year or random times of the day in the morning or evening, but it was rare. Her mom had always been a bit more focused on work even when her dad was alive, and sadly when she took over as sole CEO of the company, those rare times of seeing her mom were even fewer.

Kate didn’t even think Clint and Laura knew how often Eleanor was gone. She let them believe her mom had normal office hours most of the year, as she used to when Kate was younger, while filling her summers with 99% of her business travel, but it wasn’t the case anymore. But Kate didn’t want to be a burden or lose the privilege of coming to stay with Clint and Laura for the summer or holidays like she’d been doing the past few years. 

They did enough for her and her mom already; Kate wouldn’t ask for more.

After a nice breakfast and a quick stop for gas, they were on their way back to the farm so Eleanor could visit with Clint and Laura before making her way back to the airport.

Kate wouldn’t see her for another month or so, but Eleanor promised to call every week, if not more, like she usually did. And it was enough. Kate didn’t have a choice of it not being, so, it was enough.

Kate checked the small zipper pouch in front of her backpack, double-checking for the third time that the present she’d found for Yelena was there, then zipping it back up so she wouldn’t lose it. She hoped Yelena liked it. 

Eleanor let her choose what music played on the radio and together they sang to the songs they knew and laughed when they messed up the words, passing the time quickly. 

And soon enough, they were pulling back down the long gravel driveway of Clint and Laura’s house with ease.

The car was barely in park before Kate had her buckle off, the passenger door shoved open, and was running towards the front door.

Chapter Text

When Clint came home that day it was with nothing more to show than the day before. He was optimistic about tomorrow though. He was off work for the weekend and was to meet Maria and her team. They were going to do a thorough search of the woods in the area Clint had mapped that looked a bit fishy up North.

When he pulled up to the house, he found everyone outside, though it still seemed rather quieter than usual. He knew Kate would be gone by the time he arrived home, but it was still always a surprise as to how much noise and energy she seemed to exude when she was around. Laura was finishing up something in the paddock with the goats and sheep around her and with a second glance towards the shade under the oak tree, he could see the other teenager currently staying in his house playing with Lila and Cooper.

As soon as the truck’s engine was shut off, Cooper sprinted over, Clint catching up and throwing him up in the air as he laughed.

“Daddy!”

“Hey, little man. How was your day?” Clint said, holding him on his hip as he walked.

“Good. We did practice school today,” Cooper informed him.

Clint made a noise to show he was impressed. “No way. What’d Mama teach you?”

“She teached us numbers again, and the days. Did you know today is Friday?” Cooper said.

Clint chuckled. “Is it now? Well that’s pretty cool. Hey girls!” 

Lila had finally decided he was cooler than her toys and scampered over with a squeal of delight, her short brown hair a mess around her. Clint bent down to scoop her up, giving her a kiss on the head before standing back up, a kid in each arm. Yelena still sat in the grass, some of Lila’s toy animals littered around her. “Hey Yelena. Doing okay, kid?”

She blonde hummed, not meeting his eyes as she organized Lila’s toys so they all stood up.

“Daddy, Yena is sad,” Cooper whispered, though it wasn’t that good of a whisper.

“Is she now…” Clint responded with a frown and a whisper of his own. “Guess it’s time for some magic dinner tonight, then, huh? Sound good, buddy?”

“Uh-huh,” Cooper said agreeably.

Clint smirked, still in disbelief at times with how lucky he got with such perfect little kids. “Cool beans. Let’s go see what Mama’s up to.”

“Down!” Lila yelled as Clint went to turn and he quickly set the squirming toddler down who proceeded to go back and sit by Yelena, then picked up a toy shaped like a horse. She began making tiny horse noises, making it walk on the grass then Yelena’s leg. 

Cooper giggled but was content to stay where he was, playing with the collar of Clint’s shirt as the man wandered over to the edge of the fence a few yards from where Laura was. He lifted Cooper so he could sit on the tallest part of the fence, keeping an arm around him for balance.

“Hey Laur. Long day?” Clint called out so Laura could hear him. She was near where the shaded water trough sat, looking sweaty and tired.

“Something like that,” Laura said in response.

"What's left to do?" Clint asked in regards to the animals. 

“Raking up the coop and everything inside the barn still,” Laura said. 

“I’ll take care of it, hun. Let’s get you inside before our third decides to make an early appearance,” Clint said. He worried his wife did too much, but he also knew that Laura was not one to argue with or be told what to do. She was quite possibly the most stubborn person he’d ever met. 

It just made him love her more.

Laura slowly made her way back out of the paddock area, the goats moving out of her way. Once the gate was closed and locked, she walked over and stopped in front of Clint and Cooper.

“How was work?” Laura asked.

Clint shrugged. “Uneventful. Frustrating. But tomorrow’ll be better. We’ll hopefully get some answers.”

Laura hummed, brushing some dirt off the back of Cooper’s shirt. “I hope so.”

“I heard someone’s a little down in the dumps?” Clint mentioned with a tilt of his head towards the oak tree after giving Laura a quick kiss. Lila was sticking next to Yelena, still playing.

Laura’s mouth flattened into a line. “Yeah. There was…a bit of miscommunication last night and this morning evidently. Yelena was under the assumption that I was Kate's mom, which is sweet and flattering, but well, yeah. Not accurate. She also didn't understand what Sunday was. She thought it just meant a sunny day. Anyway, therefore she didn't realize Kate would be leaving with someone else and be gone for two days.”

“Aw, jeez, Laur…” Clint had a lot more he wanted to say, but not in front of his 5-year-old.

“Everything’s okay now, but it was a tad… emotional earlier is all,” Laura explained. 

“Well,” Clint continued, “I was thinking, maybe something simple for dinner tonight? Mac and cheese? Some polish sausage and whatever veggie Lila will eat?”

“Lila doesn’t like veggies,” Cooper announced unhelpfully.

Laura rolled her eyes playfully at him. “Let’s try corn. She liked it last week.”

Once dinner was decided, they all meandered back into the house. Clint could tell Laura was tired, even if she wouldn’t admit it, so he was glad she’d been easily swayed to let him finish what needed to be done for the evening.

“Hey Yelena,” Clint called over while pulling out the items he needed from the pantry and refrigerator. The blonde was sitting on the couch next to Laura, watching whatever was playing on the television with indifference. “Ever had macaroni and cheese?”

The blonde in question turned around and shook her head.

Clint whistled dramatically. “Oh boy. I think you’re gonna love it. Whatcha think, Coop? Will Yelena like mac and cheese?”

The little boy laughed, agreeing that she would. The blonde looked at Clint, eyeing the stove in front of him, then turned back to the television.

With a frown, Clint went back to starting dinner. As the water heated up, not yet boiling, Clint took the time to change out of his work uniform and into a pair of shorts and a shirt, glad to be comfortable finally. 

Soon enough, dinner was done and plated and Clint got to witness Yelena’s first true bite of a delicious bowl of macaroni and cheese. He’s pretty sure it’s the first smile she’d made all day from the look on Laura’s face, who reached over and squeezed his arm lovingly.

After a few bites, she took the bottle of hot sauce that Clint had put on the table specifically for her and squirted it all over her bowl, as Clint had learned most of the food they made was too bland for her. That or she just had really weird taste buds. Either way, she simply loved the stuff. Clint was going to have to grab another bottle next time they went shopping.

Halfway through dinner, the house phone rang. It was Kate calling from whatever hotel she was at with Eleanor for the weekend. Laura had given him a very quick rundown of what had happened earlier that morning as he’d cooked, so he was not surprised that Kate was calling. 

With a laugh and some quick instructions given when Yelena just held the phone in her hands like a bomb, she and Kate spent a few minutes talking on the phone rather awkwardly. Clint silently asked Laura if she’d ever used a phone before, who simply shrugged in response. If he had to guess, he’d guess no. It broke his heart just a bit to watch the girl look around the room when first hearing Kate’s voice on the other end of the device. There was so much in the world that he and Laura were realizing the girl didn’t understand or hadn’t experienced at her age and weren’t really sure what to do about it besides take things day by day and wing it.

After the call was over, Yelena perked up a bit, though Clint thought the comfort food had a little something to do with her mood as well, and everyone finished their dinner with a little more chatter. When they were done, Clint went outside to the barn to finish what he could for the night as well as get ready for tomorrow while Laura took the kids upstairs for baths, the blonde following up the steps.

Maria and possibly a few other members of her team were meeting Clint in the early morning, so he wanted to get everything done and his truck packed before he went to sleep. 

The sun was setting but it still offered enough light for him to finish what needed to be done, cleaning up the coop lastly, then packing his work truck with the few things he thought he might need for tomorrow. 

He was as ready as he’d ever be when dealing with a hundred unknowns. Whatever they needed that he didn’t have, Maria would. 

Yelena sat in the middle of Kate’s bed, not sure what to do.

Laura was bathing Cooper and Lila in the bathroom and although she’d asked if Yelena wanted to stay in there with them, she had declined. She did not want to sit in the bathroom filled with hot, steamy air while the small children yelled and splashed water around. Laura had let her shower before, so Yelena was clean and dressed for bed, putting on different pajamas that Laura had given her. She’d never even changed that day from her other ones to daytime clothes, nor had she put shoes on earlier, so she hoped she would not be in trouble for that. 

After her shower, she went to Kate’s room.

Alone. 

She looked around, trying to find something to occupy herself with, but nothing in the room belonged to her and she didn’t feel comfortable going through Kate’s things and touching her stuff without her permission. 

One of Kate’s books, a thinner one that had a long title with the word ‘flower’ in it, sat on top of her pile that she'd offered for Yelena to read from multiple times. Deeming it a safe object to touch, Yelena grabbed it, turned to the first page and started to read, but quickly gave up with a sigh before she got frustrated. 

She sat there in silence after, letting time pass, her hair drying slowly, until the bathroom door opened and two little feet scampered past her door. 

Laura knocked on the outside of the bedroom door. “Hey, sweetie. Want to come in Lila’s room with us? We’re going to read a book before bed,” Laura offered. She looked around the room then at Yelena, sitting there, doing nothing. 

“Yes,” Yelena said. She was unsure of what she should be doing but didn’t want to be alone; she was dreading going to sleep in the room by herself, so was happy to be with Laura and the kids more.

Lila’s room was painted a pretty green color. It had a bed with wood around it that was called a crib, a bookshelf, a comfy chair that moved back and forth, a closet full of clothes and toys, and something square that held more toys inside it. Yelena sat down next to Cooper as Laura held the little girl in her lap and began reading a book. Unlike Kate's stack of books, this one had lots of pictures and not a lot of words, and Laura held the book up so that they could all see the pictures inside.

When Laura read, it reminded Yelena of Wanda. Her voice was soft and kind, and Yelena didn't need to be able to read the words to follow the story of a little boy with a pet dragon who ate tacos. When the book was finished, with Lila half-asleep on Laura’s shoulder, Cooper pulled Yelena to his room.

“I’ll be there in a few minutes, you two,” Laura whispered as she turned off the light in the room, the tiny night-light in the corner still bright enough so that it wasn’t dark.

“‘Kay, mama,” Cooper said.

Yelena followed him and listened as he showed her around his own room. She’d never stepped into it; only seen it from the hallway. It was similar to Lila’s but had a bed instead of a crib, and a lot more toys lying around, and the walls were a dark blue.

He had a bookshelf as well with books in front of it all over the floor and shoved on the shelf in piles, upside down, and backwards. She picked up the book on top of the floor pile. 

“You want to read that one?” Cooper asked. 

Yelena eyed him but shook her head. “I can’t read the words enough,” she said quietly. The cover on the front had an odd creature in the front wearing a hat that looked furry. Something on a plate was green next to him.

“Oh.” The little boy grabbed It from her and sat on the bed. “I can read it. Mama teached me.”

“You will read the words?” Yelena asked, surprised that the small boy could read when she could not. She sat next to him, curious on the answer.

“Yes. Most. But I ‘member the rest,” Cooper said. Then he flipped to the first page and read a book he called ‘Green Eggs and Ham’.

Yelena had never heard of such a thing, green eggs, but Cooper supposedly read each page, giggling at a few of the photos and showing her as she sat next to him on the low bed. 

She liked Cooper. He was like no child she'd ever met before. Sometimes, Yelena was afraid for him. When he was loud, or made mistakes. Both him and Lila were so little, but Yelena had never seen them get hurt. It boggled her mind just a little, but being with Cooper also felt safe for a reason she couldn't explain or decipher. Plus, she was apparently his aunt, so that meant she had a special job to keep him and Lila safe. And love them. 

Laura eventually walked in, sitting behind Yelena while Cooper continued to read, and began to brush out her hair with her fingers, then braid it. It felt so nice and made her feel warm inside and a little sleepy. If Yelena were a cat, she was sure she’d be purring. 

Towards the end of the book, which had a lot more pages than Lila’s had, Cooper started yawning more than reading, so Laura finished it. Then they got off the bed so Laura could tuck him in, kissing his head and telling him she loved him and to sleep well. 

When the door was clicked closed, Laura walked Yelena back to Kate's room. 

“Do you need anything before bed?” Laura asked. Yelena wasn’t sure what she’d need though, so she shook her head. 

“Do you need me to stay until you fall asleep?” Laura then asked. Again, Yelena shook her head no. Laura was supposed to sleep in her own room, not Kate’s. Yelena already felt bad when Laura had stayed with her after she’d hurt Kate the other night.

“Okay, honey. Well, try to get some sleep. I’ll be right down the hall all night, in case you need anything. Just come wake me up. Anything, at all, okay?” Laura said with a squeeze of her hand to one of Yelena’s shoulders. 

“Okay,” Yelena said, though she had absolutely no intention of doing anything of the sort.

Laura pulled her close into a hug, pressing a kiss to the side of her braided hair. “Okay. Goodnight, sweetie.”

Yelena hugged Laura back tight, tucking her face into Laura's shoulder for much shorter a time than she would have preferred. “Goodnight.”

Laura waited until Yelena was under her blanket, a soft cream-color that was warm and fuzzy and supposedly hers. Then the light was turned off and the door closed with a soft click. 

The moon outside shone into the windows of Kate's room but it was otherwise dark. 

Yelena curled up under the warm fabric, making herself as small as possible, as she looked around the room with new eyes. 

No Kate to cuddle, no warmth except from herself, no one to feel breathing against her.

She was alone. And too ashamed to admit to Laura or anyone else in the house that she was afraid. 

Fear was something to use against you; she had learned that at a young age. Yelena didn’t always remember things, she knew that. But she remembered that voicing her fears only ever resulted in pain. So she couldn’t tell Laura and Clint. 

Noises that she hadn’t noticed until now played in her ears while laying in Kate’s bed by herself. Creaks through the wooden walls of the house, a whirring noise that turned on and off on a whim, the wind waving the tree branches outside, animal noises that she could tell were not her siblings but couldn’t place what they did come from. 

Too many sounds and no Kate to ask or muffle it with her loud breathing.

So she stayed curled up in bed, blanket covering her and making her a little too warm in her self-made cocoon as she held Kate's pillow to her tightly, breathing in the scent of Kate's shampoo and something else that was uniquely ‘her’. The image of Kate driving away in her mom’s car played in her mind unbidden, mixing with the dreamlike scene of Natalia leaving her by herself in the woods, for the umpteenth time and she squeezed her eyes shut so tight that they hurt, willing the images to go away. 

Sunday; Kate would be back Sunday. Two days. She had promised. Yelena could wait until then. 

She tried to fall asleep, though it felt like a very long time before she was finally able to. At some point during the night she heard steps coming up the stairs. She held her breath at every one of them until they disappeared at the end of the hall.

That night was the most she had missed her siblings since coming to this house. And if every so often, a tiny whine escaped the back of her throat, she hoped no one heard her. 

Laura was rather surprised when she’d slept through the night, not woken up by either of her kids or the blonde down the hall. She thought either Lila would have woken up, as she had taken a fairly long nap the day before, or maybe another incident would happen with Yelena with Kate being gone, but nope. And Laura was a pretty light sleeper, so would have heard if the blonde had tried. Even so, Laura could tell Yelena had barely slept.

She looked better than she did than when they'd first found her, but she still looked a bit like a zombie. The poor thing had bags under her eyes and Laura could just see the tiredness in her movements.

Laura had gotten up early that morning with Clint, who had left just before five that morning to meet his old comrade Maria Hill and whoever else she’d brought with her. According to her husband, they were searching a section of woods that was in the state above them in an area they thought might contain where Yelena and her siblings had escaped from. Laura wasn’t sure what Clint or Maria was expecting to find there, but it still gave Laua a bad feeling in her gut. It was a whole lot of maybes, a whole lot of unknowns.

The feeling could also be heartburn or just normal pregnancy aches, too.

In any case, Laura gave her husband a few protein bars, a cup of coffee to go, and a kiss with a firm demand to be safe and come home before dinner that night.

With a roll of his eyes and a few sweet hugs and kisses back, he left. Laura dozed on the couch after that until she heard the sounds of the kids waking up and when she went to get them, saw Yelena also awake in Kate’s room, sitting on the bed and staring off into space. Rather, her and Kate’s room, at this point. The bedroom door had been left open, so she must have opened it at some point, maybe to use the bathroom, and left it afterwards.

So like any other day, she got the kids dressed and ready, the littles much more energetic than the blonde teen was. She added onto her routine and gave Yelena clothes as well, a shirt of Kate’s and a pair of long shorts that had elastic in the waist so they’d fit her well enough.

They really needed to make an area that held just Yelena’s clothes and other things, or they’d soon be lost to the void of Kate’s room.

By lunch time, after not hearing a word from her husband or Kate and having completed what needed to be done outside with the slow help of a tired Yelena and the non-so-helpful help of Cooper, with Lila playing in the paddock alongside her, Laura ushered them inside only to have her cell phone start to ring.

She picked it up after digging it out of her purse on the counter to find it was her work. Pressing the green ‘call’ button to answer, she pressed the small flip phone to hear ear as she dug through the refrigerator for something for them to eat.

“This is Laura,” she said over the phone.

“Hey Laura, it’s Jane. Did you get my text?” a voice said over the other line.

“Hey Jane, no, not yet. I’m not too great at checking this thing. I can check when I hang up, but what’s up? Did you need something?” Laura asked, pulling out some fruit along with a jar of jelly.

“Yes and no. We had some visitors the other night and I just…had a bad feeling about it,” Jane said slowly. “Wanted to run it by you. Get your opinion.

Laura paused, plates in her hand halfway to the counter. “Visitors? Who? What time was this?”

“Not sure who they were; none of them would give a name,” Jane quickly answered. “Showed up in the middle of the night, maybe around two or so? But they were pretty odd; kept asking about the cougar. I thought Sandstone picked it up last week?”

Laura thought back to her conversation with Clint that felt so long ago but was not even a week prior. “Yes…they did,” Laura lied. “I never heard anything after that.”

Jane made a noise over the phone. “That’s what I told them but they seemed to think otherwise. Started arguing with Darcy and I, then demanded we hand the animal over, and not very nicely I might add. No clue how they even knew it’d been here; we only had the thing here for a day, if that. Maybe they follow the park’s radio calls? I dunno. But thank goodness Darcy was with me that night. We allowed them to walk back with us to see all of the animals in our care and after proving we were not in fact housing any cougars or other large wild cats, they left.”

“Jane! That was incredibly dangerous. Why would you do such a thing?” Laura scolded while plopping jelly on a piece of bread, glad that the woman was okay but upset at the risk she’d put herself and Darcy in.

“One of them had a gun, Laura,” Jane said tightly.

Laura felt her body go cold for a split-second. “Are you and Darcy okay?”

“Yes, we’re fine. Everything’s fine. But…it made me think. Of…that night. Of–” 

Laura cut her off. “I know, Janey. I know. Shit. How long are you in the office for today?”

“Mmm…Darc and I will be here 'til around four,” Jane answered. “Maya offered to cover tonight for us. We have somewhere to be tomorrow and didn’t want to be dead on our feet.”

“Alright. I’ll stop in before you leave, okay?”

“You sure you’re up for that?” Jane asked.

“I’ll be fine. I don't want to…over the phone. Besides, I’ve got a few weeks still before I’m due. But I’ll have to bring the kids with me. And a family member that’s been staying with Clint and I for a few days,” Laura said, having not had to explain Yelena yet herself and coming up with the fib without thinking. 

“Alright, if you say so. I have some feedings to do, so I’ll see you when you get here,” Jane said. 

“See you soon, Jane.” Laura hung up, taking a moment to gather her bearings and not panic. 

Jane and Darcy, two coworkers who’d quickly become two of her closest friends, were by far defenseless. Jane had a blackbelt in something or other, taekwondo if Laura remembered correctly, and Darcy could outtalk even Kate in a situation to her benefit. Besides that, she was a total whiz with electronics and could hold her own with the self-defense kickboxing classes she took every week. 

Still. Knowing that there was a possibility that whoever had been the culprit of the little boy’s death all those years ago, and were the same organization currently looking for the rather helpless blonde that Laura was caring for, and her siblings, scared Laura. A lot.

Laura went back to making sandwiches for the kids as they watched a movie in the living room, some film that had Lila entertained that Cooper kept complaining about, and cut up the fresh strawberries she’d pulled from the garden recently. Once everything was cut and plated, she gave each kid a sandwich, keeping one for herself as well, and put the rather large bowl of fruit in the middle of the coffee table. 

Laura took a seat next to Yelena, who took the food given to her and ate with tired eyes. “Are you up for a little trip with the kids and I today?”

Yelena looked up. “Trip?”

“Mhm. A drive. In the car. I need to go to the Wildlife Center and I don’t want to leave you here by yourself. Remember when you first met me? At my work?” Laura asked.

Yelena seemed to take actual time to think about it but eventually gave a half-shrug. “You are an animal doctor,” she said.

“Yes, correct. I need to go there today. You can stay in the car if you want, or come in, but do you think you’ll be alright if we take a drive there? The kids will be with us too,” Laura continued to explain. “I just need to talk with a friend of mine. It’s very important. We'll come back home when we're done, ’kay?”

“Yes. I go with,” Yelena said, going back to her sandwich.

Laura sighed gratefully. “Alright. Good girl. We’ll leave after lunch.”

In hindsight, bringing Yelena to the one place that Laura knew someone had already been looking for her was probably not the best idea, but she didn’t know what else to do. She couldn’t leave the girl by herself, but she also couldn’t wait any longer to talk to Jane, and Laura didn’t trust the phone lines. Owning a cellphone was too new to her, she sometimes forgot she even had one, so she assumed anyone could listen in the same way as a house phone. 

So, Laura’s paranoia of who could be listening to any calls forced her hand. Ultimately she decided to drag Yelena and the kids with her to the Wildlife Center on that bright and sunny Saturday afternoon. As much as she wanted to wait for Clint or just go tomorrow by herself, she couldn’t. Laura wasn’t sure when Jane would be back on shift during the day next since she usually worked nights, and they needed to talk without listening ears.

After reinstalling Lila’s car seat after taking it out when Clint had used it in his truck last week, a difficult but practiced task, Laura made her way towards her home away from home. Yelena sat in the front seat this time, nervously but willingly. She’d even allowed Laura to buckle her in, though seemed quite unsettled about it. With Lila in the back half-asleep and Cooper in a booster seat chattering away at all the ‘fun things’ outside, like cows, barns, houses, trees, more trees, clouds, and whatnot, Laura eventually pulled into the parking lot of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. Other than vehicles she recognized of her coworkers, the lot was thankfully empty.

Cooper immediately unbuckled and shot out of the door, only stopping with a loud, stern shout from Laura to wait. After showing Yelena how to unbuckle herself and then grabbing a now-snoozing Lila, they walked in through the front door together. 

As soon as the doors closed, Yelena gripped the back of Laura’s shirt, eyeing the young man at the front counter.

“No way! What’s up, little man?” Grills said, a huge smile on his face as he greeted the five-year-old already running up to him and abandoning Laura.

With a polite wave to Grills as he chatted away with Cooper, Laura walked around the counter and into Maria’s office, practically dragging Yelena with her. 

“Knock, knock,” Laura called. 

The woman in question was seated behind her desk, chair turned and shuffling through some file folders behind her. She turned when she heard Laura.
“Hey, lady! What’re you doing here? Bring the whole brood with ya?” Maria stood up to give Laura a hug which she returned in kind with her free arm.

“Almost. Clint’s out and Kate’s with her mom for the weekend,” Laura explained.

“Gotcha. Who’s this new face with you?” Maria asked, smiling at Yelena who had apparently now switched from Kate’s shadow to hers.

“This is a cousin of mine. Yelena,” Laura introduced. “Yelena, this is one of my best friends, Maria.”

Sensing Yelena’s wariness, Maria didn’t try and shake her hand or get closer. She simply smiled again and waved, similarly to how she’d speak to one of the injured animals that they saw on a regular basis. “Hi, Yelena. I’m Maria Rambaeu. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Hi,” Yelena said, barely looking at her.

“Is Jane in the back still?” Laura asked to get Maria’s attention again, wanting to get straight to the reason she was here and not linger too long. Her back hurt, Cooper would only be entertained for so long, Lila was still asleep in her arms, and she did not want another incident like Friday of Yelena running off to who-knows-where. There were way too many places to hide here. It was a miracle she’d even been willing to walk in with her instead of sitting in the car in Laura’s opinion.

“Yep. Should be,” Maria said, leaning against her desk as a seat.

“Thanks, Maria. I just need to talk to her before she leaves. Sorry I can’t stay to chat. It’s been hell being on my feet for too long. I’m trying to not regret all of the animals we have at the farm right now,” Laura said with a grimace.

Lila rubbed her head back and forth on Laura’s shoulder, causing Laura to shift on her feet.

“Want me to take her while you talk with Jane?” Maria asked, arms already outstretched for the little girl.

“Oh no, it’s fine, really–” 

“Laura, give me that sweet baby girl. I need some sleepy cuddles. Monica barely lets me hug her unless she’s sick these days,” Maria demanded.

With a quiet laugh, Laura easily slid Lila from her arm to Maria’s. Once in the strong arms of the black woman, Lila quickly settled back to snoozing away. 

Maria pressed a kiss on Lila’s head and smiled. “I miss the smell of them when they’re this little.”

Laura rolled her eyes in humor but was grateful as always for Maria. Yelena made a noise beside her but when Laura glanced, she was just watching Maria with Lila.

“Do you need any help after you have the baby? Carol and I would be happy to come over, help with the kids and the farm, and I know Monica would love it too,” Maria offered before going back to her desk chair.

“I would definitely not turn it down, but let me talk to Clint first. I think he’s taking some time off work for those first few weeks,” Laura said.

Maria leaned back in the chair with Lila, spinning side to side slowly. “Well, the offer stands no matter what or when, even if you just need some company and someone to entertain the older two. And by someone, I mean Carol.”

They laughed together at Maria’s partner's antics, always one to rile the kids up and get dirty with them, as well as into trouble with them. When you put Carol with Clint and Kate, nothing but chaos was the outcome.

Laura pulled Yelena, who had moved closer when Grills and Cooper had walked nearer to the door, under her free arm and smiled at Maria who gave a worried glance at the blonde.

“We’re gonna go find Jane before she leaves. Everything else going okay here?” Laura asked.

“As good as can be expected. We miss you but luckily it’s been fairly slow. Maya’s been able to come in more and Grills has been such a huge help too,” Maria said as Lila in her arms.

“I’m glad to hear it, Maria. I’ll be back before you know it,” Laura said.

“Don’t I know it. Well, go do what ya gotta do. And please think about having us over. I can’t wait three months to meet baby Barton number three,” Maria said with a fake scold on her face.

“Want me to take her back?” Laura asked mid-turn, nodding to Lila. 

“You better not,” Maria said, looking affronted and curling her arms around the sleeping toddler. Laura rolled her eyes; even if Lila woke up, she’d be fine. The little girl adored Maria. 

“You’re the best, Maria,” Laura said as she pulled Yelena with her and back out the door to head down the hall.

“And don’t forget it!” Maria said as loud as she dared.

“C’mon, Coop. We’re gonna go say hi to Jane,” Laura called.

“Aww, mommy. I wanna stay with Grills,” Cooper whined.

“Grills has things to do, honey,” Laura countered.

“Actually, we’re pretty dead right now. Phone hasn’t rang in like, an hour. He can hang with me if that’s okay with you, Mrs. Barton,” Grills said as the boy half-hung on his long arm. 

“Well… I suppose. I won’t be long, but you listen to Grills, you got it? And stay in this area. Lock him up with Maria if he starts causing trouble,” Laura ordered with a wink.

“I’ll throw him in the cages with the lions outside!” Grills hollered as Cooper protested loudly, fully knowing there were no lions here.

“Lions?” Yelena asked in a whisper.

“He’s just joking. C’mon, we’re gonna meet another friend of mine, then we can go back home. Okay?” Laura said.

Yelena wrapped her hands around Laura's arm and together they walked back down a hallway that had a few rooms that were clean but empty, the lights off but sunlight shining through the windows, until at the very end of the hall another larger office sat with the door open and the lights on. A large bookshelf sat in the corner and a short, thin woman with straight brown hair was messing with something standing over a metal table. There was another door that was closed but led to the break room area where their food and lockers were.

Cursing was heard as soon as Laura was close enough to the door. 

“Everything okay in here?” Laura called to announce her presence and the woman in the room looked up. 

“Laura! Oh gosh, you’re so pregnant,” the tiny woman commented, making Laura laugh.

“I am indeed.”

“I should have just driven over after I was off. I’m so sorry,” Jane said with a concerned frown.

“Jane, relax. It’s fine. Come, sit,” Laura was able to coax the tiny woman into her desk chair and Laura took a seat in one across the desk after closing the office door. There was one chair left for Yelena to occupy but she didn’t. She remained standing, glaring at Jane. 

After cluing in onto what the blonde was looking at, she realized Jane was wearing a white doctor-type coat. 

Hoping she was making the right decision, Laura decided then and there to be truthful. 

“Hey Jane, can you take your coat off?” Laura asked.

Jane looked at her weird. “Uh, sure…” she said slowly, starting to do so, eyes bouncing to Yelena then back to Laura. “Why?”

“It makes her nervous,” Laura explained, then turned a little. “Yelena, this is Jane. She’s another good friend of mine and is also a doctor for animals. Not people, okay?”

Yelena looked like she was debating whether to open the door and run off or to hide under Laura’s chair in fear. Or maybe do something to the other woman in the room.

Choosing neither option, she instead continued to just stare at Jane as she did as Laura asked, taking off the coat and stuffing it under her desk in a poorly-folded manner. 

“Jane, this is Yelena. I’ve told Maria that she’s my cousin, and that’s the story we’re going with. But…she’s not my cousin,” Laura started off.

The woman on the other side of the desk listened closely, lifting one eyebrow at Laura in confusion. “Okay…?” 

“Remember the little boy? From that night?” Laura asked Jane, voice quiet and somber.

Jane scoffed, looking away and folding her arms. “Yes.” Jane had been equally upset over the boy’s death as Laura had, maybe even more so since she’d been the surgeon in charge that night. She’d always felt like she could have done more for him.

“The little boy…his name was Nicolai. Yelena knew him,” Laura explained. “Lived with him. She’s…like him.”

Jane stared. Then stared some more.

“She…she’s…she knew him?” Jane uttered, eyes wide. 

“Yes,” Laura stated seriously. Yelena didn’t say anything more but stood beside Laura and stared back at Jane, a nervous energy about her. 

“She’s…the…from the… Shit, Laura.” Jane rubbed her hands over her face then wiped her hair back anxiously. “This is why you didn’t want to talk over the phone.”

Laura hummed, rubbing against a sore spot on her side. “Tell me everything you can about the other night.”

So Jane did. She explained to Laura that three men came to the clinic after hours on Wednesday, buzzing the doorbell outside until they were let in. They all wore dark clothing and at least one had a gun that’d been visible to Jane. None of them gave names, and the one that spoke had an accent. After allowing Jane and Darcy to lead them around the clinic and prove that the animal they were looking for was not there, they left. They’d driven two dark vehicles there, very familiar-looking vehicles according to Jane, and then left. Jane did her best to describe the men and everything else she could remember, but as dangerous as the interaction had been, it hadn’t been a very long one either.

“I was a bit more shaken up than Darcy was after they were gone, but it was still pretty unsettling. Honestly, I’m kind of glad I didn’t know about this, her, until now,” Jane said, motioning with her hand to Yelena who was still standing between Laura and the door even after Laura tried to get her to sit down. “I don’t have the best poker face, as you are well aware, and… yeah. Just… gosh, this is crazy, Laur.”

“You’re telling me,” Laura commented dryly. 

Jane looked at Yelena. “But why does she look so different? So…normal. She’s much older, too. Can she talk?”

“Yelena, can you talk?” Laura asked with a smirk.

The blonde twitched. “Da. I talk.”

“Amazing. Simply amazing. I have so many questions,” Jane said. She scooched closer to the desk, sitting up taller in her chair. “Your skin is a normal color. Why is that?”

Yelena’s eyebrows scrunched together and she looked down at her arms and hands.

“It’s not green, and full of scales,” Jane said in a little more detail. “Like your friend.”

“Kolya get stuck and could not change back,” Yelena said.

“Stuck? What do you mean?” Jane questioned.

Yelena hummed. “Between animal and himself.”

“Interesting. Does that happen often?” Jane asked, very interested in the conversation.

Yelena shook her head no.

Before Jane could continue on her line of questions, the door suddenly opened with a slam and a slightly taller girl with glasses and frizzy hair came rushing into the room like a tiny tornado. 

A very loud hiss was heard and Laura was out of her chair, pulling Yelena by her arms away from Darcy who jumped up against the open door.

“Woah, he-llo! Meow to you, too,” Darcy said sarcastically, then quickly moved past the interaction, bypassing Laura and Yelena entirely. “Janey, check this out. I was looking over the cameras the past few nights because–” 

“Darcy, close the door please! My gosh,” Jane barked out as Laura rubbed her hands up and down Yelena’s arms, whispering in her ear to calm her down.

“Sorry,” Darcy said, closing the door and then turning back around. “Oh! Hey there Laura. Laura’s friend.”

“Hey Darc,” Laura said. A growl came from the blonde beside her and Laura made a shushing noise, pulling her closer. “It’s alright, honey. Darcy’s another friend,” she whispered.

“What’s up, cat girl. How’s it going Doc?” Darcy said, a goofy smile on her face. “Damn girl, when are you due again?

“You were talking about the cameras?” Jane said, getting the girl back on track.

“Yes, right. So, remember the other–” Darcy paused, looking at Laura and Yelena. “Do youuu…want me to come back?” she asked, a little too late.

“No. Laura should hear, too. Go ahead, Darc,” Jane ordered seriously.

“Right. Okay. So, remember the other night, when the scary military guys showed up looking like they came off a movie set? Well,” Darcy shoved a few papers in front of the shorter veterinarian, “the cameras were messed with around the same time they were here. Look.”

Jane hummed as she looked at the random times, Laura leaning over to see, too. The papers showed the cameras went back online for seemingly no reason. If it’d been a power outage, chances are the cameras would have all popped back on at the same time, but that’s not what happened. Each camera went offline, one by one, then back on a few minutes after each other. Every single one. 

“And we definitely didn’t lose power that night,” Darcy reminded them unnecessarily.

It was definitely odd. Too odd. “Can I take those home with me?” Laura asked.

Darcy shrugged. “Sure. I can print more out.”

“I want to show Clint. And Maria,” Laura explained.

“Maria…?” Jane questioned.

Laura took the papers, tapping them together in a neat pile. “Hill.”

Darcy whistled. “Hill’s here? What’s going on? What am I missing here?”

Both women knew of Maria Hill, and knew that if her name was involved somehow, something actually serious was going on.

“Darcy, I’d like you to meet Yelena. She’s…” Laura trailed off, not sure how much Darcy knew of the situation a few years ago. Jane had filled her in on what she’d needed to at the time, they’d been living together and were best friends, along with schoolmates and now coworkers for almost as long.

“The cougar,” Jane stated.

Darcy grinned, apparently on the same page as them after all. “Now the hissing makes sense. Very cool.”

Laura rolled her eyes. Only Darcy could make a scary and dangerous situation into something ‘cool’.

Yelena had finally stopped making disturbing noises and had decided to wander over to the bookshelf in the corner of the room as Laura talked more with Jane and now Darcy, possibly just needing space from them but unwilling to leave the room.

After a few minutes though, Darcy turned to study Yelena in her unique way. “How old are you?” she asked randomly, suddenly closer to Yelena but not in an overcrowding-type of way.

“Shestnadstsat’?” Yelena said, quickly pulling her hand back when she’d been about to look at one of the books on the shelf.

“Uhhh… huh. Come again?”

“She’s sixteen, Darc,” Laura supplied. “Around Kate's age.”

“Cool. Cool…” Darcy said, looking at Yelena again like she was a specimen under a microscope. 

“Stop that. Leave her be and come back over here,” Jane said, used to giving Darcy orders. 

Darcy ignored her. “You’re welcome to look. Here,” she pulled down one of the books off the shelf, holding it out to Yelena who didn’t take it. “They’re books about animals. See?”

She began flipping through the book, showing Yelena what was inside it. “Most of these books are boring science shit, I don’t know why Jane even keeps them, they’re way outdated, but some are pretty cool. They have animals in them.”

At the word ‘animals’, Yelena perked up a bit. “I look?”

“Yup. Here,” Darcy said kindly, handing the now-open book to Yelena who did finally take the offered book gingerly and walk back to sit on the floor behind Laura, book in her lap.

Whatever book Darcy had given her kept her interest while they spoke and Laura mouthed a thank-you to the funny quirky brunette. They spoke until Jane’s desk phone rang.

“Yeah?” Jane said. She let whoever it was on the other end talk before hanging up. “Your kiddo’s crying,” Jane then said to Laura.

“Which one?” Laura asked.

Jane shrugged. “The smaller one?”

“Lila is crying,” Yelena suddenly said quietly to Laura in her ear. No noise was made obvious to her in the enclosed room, but Laura had a feeling Yelena had a bit better hearing than she did. 

“Thank you both for your help and letting me know about the other day. Please keep yourselves safe and remember, what we talked about in this room, stays in this room,” Laura said seriously. “Let me know if anything else happens, but don’t be obvious about it.”

Yelena’s hand wrapped around Laura’s arm and she eyed the door that led back down the hall. “She is crying more,” she said.

“Love you both. See you soon. And please be safe,” Laura said, about to walk out the door. Yelena went to set the book that she’d been flipping through on the table but Jane stopped her. 

“Take it with you,” Jane offered. 

Yelena hesitated.

“Laura can bring it back when she comes back to work,” Jane said. “Really, it’s okay. Go on.”

Upon glancing at the book, Laura saw it was a rather thick hardcover titled North American Wildlife with pictures of an assortment of animals on the front. Inside, she was sure one would find facts of all the different animals you might find in North America. Once Yelena grabbed the thick book back, clutching it to her chest, they opened the door and made their way back to the front of the center to grab Cooper and a now-crying Lila with Yelena pulling Laura by the hand until they were back to where Maria was standing, trying and failing to get Lila to stop her tears.

“She was fine for a bit but I think she’s just cranky. I offered her a snack but that was a no-go,” Maria said, passing Lila back to Laura. Once in her mom’s arms, she quieted down, but still continued to sniffle. Yelena seemed to relax as well once Lila was with Laura, interestingly enough. 

Cooper came bounding over, holding some sort of glued-together figure. “Mama, look. Grills made me a bear! Grrrr.”

If she squinted really hard, the object in her son’s hand did vaguely resemble a brown hair. “That’s very awesome, Coop. Tell Grills thank you and say goodbye, okay?”

“Aww, okay. Thank you Grills!” Cooper said, making the bear’s arm wave.

“You’re very welcome, bud. Next time bring Kate with you, ya hear?”

Cooper nodded. “You got it, dude,” he said, making Grills laugh.

Laura nodded to the young man who saluted her with two fingers and a huge smile. She said one last goodbye to Maria who gave her a hug, and then they went back out to the car. Cooper grabbed Yelena’s hand as they walked, swinging it back and forth.

“The man knows Kate?” Yelena asked as they got to the car.

“Yep,” Cooper answered.

“Grills and Kate are friends. He’s a couple years older than her but they like to hang out and get up to stuff when she comes with me here,” Laura explained in a bit more detail as she buckled Lila in her carseat.

“What you reading?” Cooper asked, pointing at the book Yelena held. 

“Animal book,” she said. “It has pictures.” Then she tapped one of the animals on the front cover. “Natalia.”

“Cool,” Cooper said, though Laura didn’t think he understood what Yelena was referring to whatsoever.

Finally back on the road and heading home, Laura glanced at the blonde beside her. She was looking through the book again, scanning each picture, like if she stared hard enough, something would happen. 

“Which one is Natalia?” Laura asked casually.

The blonde flipped to a specific page she must have already memorized until she got to a red fox, smoothing the page out. “Natalia,” Yelena said again.

“It’s a beautiful animal,” Laura commented. The blonde hummed in agreement, and stared at the page until she began to fall asleep when Laura put the radio on quietly, only waking when the car was shut off once they got back home.

Clint stood leaning against his SUV, trying to fully wake up. Although it was bound to be a warm day, the sun hadn’t risen past the trees yet, which seemed to blanket most of the area around him.

It was a rather unattended parking lot of gravel and weeds, the use of it years ago unknown to Clint. It wasn’t part of the park, but near enough that it would be easy to find. A water tower sat down the road, a giant landmark that was almost impossible to miss when driving down country roads but also very useful when giving directions to places not marked on any GPS or map. 

As the watch on his wrist flicked closer and closer to 6:00 am, Clint began to get restless, so he opened the back of his car and began to organize what was back there. An array of snacks, blankets, an extra pair of clothes and shoes, along with a few of his guns. A rifle, two handguns, a pair of binoculars, and a map of the area. He already wore his normal holster, but had swapped his work gun for a personal one, as well as sliding a large and freshly-sharpened knife into a side pocket. Although his knife skills could use some work, it was better to have the weapon and not need it than the other way around. 

Just as he was folding up the map to fit into the front of his bag, he heard the sound of two cars coming down the road. Two militaristic-looking vehicles pulled up and a few soldiers popped out wearing rather casual clothing. One person in particular rounded one of the cars wearing dark sunglasses, long hair in a tight bun, and a stern face.

She walked up to him, footfalls heavy, and glared. She didn’t have to take the shades off for him to know it was a glare.

“Maria.” Clint pulled her in for a hug which she eventually accepted and returned.

“I should punch you,” Maria Hill said.

“I’ll let you after we find this place,” Clint said with a small chuckle. 

“Fine.”

“It’s good to see you, Maria. And thank you, for coming. It’s… really important to me. So thank you.” Clint cleared his throat awkwardly.

“I told you, I got your back, Barton,” Maria said.

Clint nodded. “I always have yours too.”

Maria smirked. “Good to hear. Now, let’s get going. I have a date with a hot tub later tonight that I don’t want to miss.”

After meeting the team of six soldiers Maria had brought with her, a few officers and a lieutenant, Clint pulled out the map and pointed to a large section of woods that in his opinion, could hold this supposed compound that Yelena had spoke of. Maria had been able to get use of some military equipment and older maps of the area. Unfortunately it hadn’t been too helpful beyond providing proof that a large building of some sort did sit in the area. However, that was proof enough for Clint.

In addition, there had been no heat signatures detected from some sort of scan Maria had done the day before, but she wasn’t taking any chances; the utmost precaution would be taken no matter what.

It was about a two-hour trek from where they were, so without further ado, they started walking. Although it would have been nice to get closer, they didn’t want to raise any red flags. When Clint had told Maria about the whole speaking-Russian thing, her tune had changed from slightly concerned to much more. So, here they were, trekking through a dense forest in southern Minnesota, looking for a building that might or might not be there, and that might or might not contain a bunch of angry Russians with weapons, while holding a bunch of animal-shifting kids captive. 

If the last was true, Clint was determined to get them all out. It’d been awhile since he’d had to use his gun for much besides tranquilizers or a threat. 

The plan was as they got closer, Maria would move ahead with four of the men and women with them towards the north side, and then they’d split off if necessary once they got to the other side. Clint would stay back with the remaining two officers and survey the southern area. All in all, the section of land they were to survey was about six acres. Not too big but big enough to be glad there was more than two of then.

Maria had brought an extra walkie for Clint to use as well, which was good. The only one Clint had was for his work, which would not do.

The slow walk through the woods felt longer than it was with Clint’s impatience on arriving, and anxiousness on what they’d find. Maria had given him clear orders to wait until her command before getting closer than a quarter mile, so once Clint and the two soldiers, Lieutenant Greene and Officer Jackson, were in position, they waited the allotted 20 minutes Maria gave them before she gave the all clear to get closer.

In the distance sat a large building that from where Clint stood, looked like a few separate buildings that had been hodge-podged together or added onto throughout the years. The dense amount of trees around them made it difficult to see as much as he wished, but what he could see, he had no words for.

It was a dilapidated building, most of the windows boarded up, and a chain-link fence surrounding it with curled barbed wire on top. There were at least three small outposts made of a red brick with lookout-type sections on top. The rest of the walls were made of cement blocks that’d been painted white at one point but most of the paint had been chipped away by age and weather. 

Not much else was visible beyond that, even with binoculars, so Clint waited with the two officers in a customary silence until his walkie fuzzed to life.

“You sure you’re up for this, Barton?” Maria’s voice spoke through the crackle.

Clint inhaled. “As sure as I’ll ever be. You guys ready over there?”

“Yes,” said her clipped voice immediately. “Not seeing any movement on our end though. You?”

With a glance to the officers to the left of him who shook their heads, Clint spoke into the walkie and confirmed, “Nothing.”

“The drone yesterday didn’t detect any heat signatures or movement either. We had it pass over the area three times with 4 hours between scans,” Maria disclosed.

The walkie was silent for a minute. Then, “Move in, slowly. Watch your six.”

With a glance to the fellow officers with him, in unison they held their guns out and pointed down as they slowly got closer to the giant building. 

The first thought Clint had once passing through the supposed front doors was that it looked like one of those old asylums or prisons you see on ghost-hunting shows.

The brick was old and faded, with pieces broken off in crumbled messes on the ground below. 

It was also quiet; eerily so.

Keeping his wits about him, Clint slowly walked through the front doors that had been hanging half-open. Then for the next thirty minutes, he, Maria, and the officers with them checked every corner of the place they could reach. Every office, every hallway, every dingy bathroom. Every cell he passed held large locks on them that were only unlockable from the outside. Each room that held desks with drawers left open, rusted gurneys made of metal, broken glass littering the floor. Large conference-type rooms that were boarded up from floor to ceiling with lights above that flickered and swayed.

The place was abandoned. There was no one there.

Once it was officially confirmed by them all, having split up in pairs to check every inch, Clint met back up with Maria in one of the larger rooms that had doctor-type equipment in it.

“Most of this stuff is broken, and shit condition, but not necessarily dirty with age. If this was old, there’d be signs. Damage from outdoor elements, cobwebs, wildlife,” Maria said. “They left in a hurry.” She kicked an empty bottle on the ground, trying and failing to read the label on it.

Clint picked up some papers from the ground that’d been upside down. They were a tad crinkled but otherwise perfectly legible. If the words had been in English, that is.

“Is this in Russian?” Clint asked. He was unfamiliar with the language and wouldn’t be able to recognize it just by looking.

Maria took a closer look. “Looks like it. I can’t read much of it, but the letters are Cyrillic. Could be Ukrainian, Serbian, Macedonian, I suppose. You told me the girl spoke Russian, yeah?”

Clint nodded, picking up more of the papers on the ground and shuffling them as best he could into a pile. “Yes.”

Maria made a click with her tongue then pulled her walkie out, flicking a switch. The walkie in Clint’s breast pocket crackled, her voice echoing from a walkie down the hall and probably to the other officers as well. “Navarro and McCoy, West hall. Greene and Quinn, East. Jackson, meet me at the South entrance. Clint you’re with Isles. Take the North end. Photograph each room and grab what you can. Report back to the front steps of the South entrance in one hour.”

Orders given, Clint made his way to the Northern area of the maze of buildings. Once he and petty officer Isles found each other again, they grabbed the disposable cameras that Maria had given them and began to take photographs of each room, with Clint taking the rooms on the right and the tall man taking the ones on the left. It was a blur of an hour and honestly Clint wasn’t sure if he was fully letting his mind compute what he was seeing, but he dutifully did as instructed. He opened the empty sack he’d brought with him and stuffed it to the brim of every piece of paper he found, photographs that he did not spend time studying at that moment, worried he wouldn’t be able to continue if he did, pulling labels off broken bottles or syringes, and picking up discarded pieces of clothing. He’d even found a few rounds of bullets that someone had forgotten and put the boxes in his main pack. 

When Clint got to the rooms with heavy metal doors, past the rooms that had cells like an old prison might, he had to try very hard to not be sick. The smell was horrendous. Blood and other dried liquid of different ages covered sections of the floors, and marks on the walls were so deep, he couldn’t even guess as to what had made them. These rooms also held cameras and although it was unlikely there was any data saved on them, he ripped them from the ceilings anyway. He had not come across any sort of security or surveillance room, so it must be located in a different section. He radioed to ask and Officer Navarro confirmed they’d found one such room and took everything left behind, which wasn’t much of anything. The large floor-to-ceiling computer in the room had been smashed, the power cord cut.

Clint found that almost every room with a window had it covered somehow besides the hallways. Some of the signs on the outside of the rooms Clint was able to rip off with the help of his knife and he tossed that in the quickly-growing bag, the words spelling something he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

Wherever they were, whatever this place had been until only recently, was full of unspeakable things. His boots echoed ominously as he traversed the place.

Towards the hour-mark, just when he and the officer with him, Officer Isles, had bagged all they could and their cameras were almost out of film, their walkies came to life again.

“Commander Hill, this is McCoy. There’s… something you should see. We’re at the back of the West end, last room on the left.”

Clint and his temporary partner made their way to the Western area of the large building as well. He wanted to know what was there, but in his gut he knew it was something bad. Something that would haunt his nightmares more-so than what he’d already seen.

A distinct scent of cologne permeated his nostrils as Clint got closer to where the officer had given them directions to. 

But when Clint walked into the room Maria and the other officers were already in, he was confused. The room he walked into was so…clean.

A large wooden desk set towards the middle with a large window behind it, not boarded or broken, with a rug under the desk. There was a very small water closet in the corner.

As Clint turned though, he saw what the soldier had seen. On the wall behind him, the room was suddenly transformed into some sort of poacher’s dark dream. Taxidermy mounts of all different animals were hung on the wall, covering almost every inch. The mounted and stuffed animals were all different species, ranging from small rodents to the largest, the head of a dark-colored wolf. There were birds with their wings spread and pressed against the wood, many dogs and cats that looked like any common house pet, along with animals Clint had never seen and couldn’t name. Some were placed on wood and hung in a professional and expensive manner, while others were crudely stuffed and glued or nailed to a piece of wood without thought or care.

The worst part; none of the mounted dead animals had eyes. Instead, gaping holes that sunk some of the faces in and gave a soulless, incomplete feel to the poor creatures remained.

There were a very select few spots of the wall that seemed to have held mounts previously, but they were now gone. Only thick, heavy nails sat in their place.

A voice from someone’s walkie crackled to life then disappeared out into the hall, the words meaningless to Clint as his brain tried to understand the purpose of the room he was in and the things he was seeing.

Upon taking steps back to see the entire monstrosity of the wall in front of him, Clint almost tripped on something on the floor. Beside the desk, screwed into the floor in two spots, was a metal chain. It was thick and heavy, made of industrial chain links, and had sections of it covered in something dark that he knew to be old blood, which had stained parts of the rug and desk near it as well. The end of the chain led to a collar made of an odd material. With a hand that slightly shook, he touched the open collar, made of a cold, flexible material. 

With deft fingers and his knife, Clint was able to get the collar separated from the chain that was made of the links usually meant for heavy machinery. But not…this. Not this.

As he shoved the material in his bag, crunchy in spots, he saw something small wrapped in foil on the ground below the desk. He picked it up and as he started to unwrap it, found it to just be a piece of candy, nothing more.

Unable to be in the room anymore, the heavy cologne scent mixed with the smell of blood and stuffed-and-mounted death making the sick feeling worse, Clint went back to the hall and stuck his nose near one of the broken windows, inhaling deeply. 

Maria walked up to him. “Lieutenant Greene found a door leading to a basement. Said it was more of a dark tunnel with enclosed rooms than anything else, and it didn’t lead anywhere. One way in, same way out. She and Quinn found a body in one of the rooms, but nothing else to note.”

A body was nothing to note? Maria had been in this business too long, it seemed.

“A body? What… who… what does it… look like?” Clint managed to get out, unsure what he even meant or if he wanted an answer.

“Like a child,” Maria said simply, voice hard, eyes cold. “C’mon. We’re done here. Let’s head out.”

When Clint went to protest, Maria stopped him. 

“I said we’re done here,” she barked with a glare. The three officers nearby walked ahead, not wanting to get stuck in Maria’s wrath. “I’ll get word to Fury to send a team in to come grab what we couldn’t carry, but our job is done for now. Let’s go.”

As if in auto-pilot, Clint and the officers with them headed back to the front steps, finding the three others already there. Officer Quinn was holding something in a stained sheet, fingers white and body stiff. Something that was the same size as the five-year-old back at Clint’s farmhouse. The one who liked to play in the mud, and run up to his car when he got home, and still said his r’s and l’s funny sometimes. His sweet little boy who he couldn’t imagine existing in a place like this. And yet, the body wrapped in a sheet ten feet from him, had done exactly that. Had lived and died in a place that Clint couldn’t never have dreamed up even if his nightmares had tried. 

He walked off towards a group of tall bushes and crouched down until the nausea won, vomit spewing from the back of his throat with harsh heaves, tears gathering in his eyes that he forced away. The ringing in his ears had him hearing someone else gagging nearby and with a grimace, he was selfishly glad he wasn’t the only one squatting in a bush, puking.

Yelena was pretty sure she was going a little crazy, she was so tired. She knew she’d spent many times with little to no sleep before, so really she shouldn’t be feeling so bad, but for whatever reason, she did. She’d gotten slowly used to this new routine and now that it’d been thrown off with her mostly sleepless night, her body was fighting her. 

She was back in the living room, zoning out to whatever was on the television and the kids playing with toys nearby. The book of animals that Laura’s friend had let her read was in her lap, open to a page of something called a beaver according to Cooper. Yelena had long since given up trying to read much of anything in the book, but she loved the pictures. She’d found a few animals that were almost exact replicas of her siblings and spent a long time just staring at them, one by one. A gray wolf, a red fox, something that the book called a bobcat but looked like a lynx, a golden eagle, a falcon, and more.

Cooper looked at the book with her as well, naming some animals that he liked, like a turtle and a deer.

A few times Yelena found herself nodding off while sitting up, but she’d always be woken back up, whether from Cooper getting her attention, or a sound from the television, or some noise or other.

Later that evening, as Laura was doing things she called ‘housework’ which meant she waddled around the house in different rooms and up and down the steps doing whatever it was she was doing, Clint came back home. When Yelena’s eyes met his as he walked through the front door, a look she hadn’t ever seen before on him stared back. She couldn’t decipher it but it made her uncomfortable, and so skittered her eyes away in worry, trying to make herself smaller in the chair and going back to her book in silence. But over the top edge of the book she watched as Clint randomly went to Cooper and Lila and gave them each very long hugs. Clint looked tired, and when he looked at Yelena again, she got the feeling he wanted to give her a hug as well. He didn’t though, which she was mostly glad about.

While studying the large animal book, specifically the birds in it, an idea grew in her mind. Yelena knew that she had a bird morph, more than one even. She hadn’t used them in a long time, but they were still inside her all the same. Maybe she could fly high in the sky and look for her family? She’d never flown outside before but she knew she could. She knew Wanda had done it before, too, back at the compound. She remembered Wanda telling her that when she was high up in the sky, everything was so tiny down below, and she could see so much.

It seemed like a solid idea, albeit a little scary, but she knew if she even tried to morph now into anything, she’d surely pass out. So, Yelena put her idea on hold for now. After she got some sleep. Maybe tomorrow…

That night, after dinner had been had, a game of some sort played by Clint, Laura and Cooper that she’d declined in playing but did watch, and pajamas changed into, Yelena stood by the door of Lila’s room. Laura was changing the little girl’s crinkly underwear, something she did every so often that Yelena didn’t understand but she didn’t voice her opinion on it, and waited until Laura was done. Then like the night previous, they read a book, this time a book about a sad, pouty fish. Cooper copied some of the words as Laura read them in an obnoxious but fun way.

Afterwards, Yelena followed Cooper to his room as Laura tried to get Lila to fall asleep. Instead of reading a book though, Cooper gave her a very in-depth tour of all the toys in bins and on the floor of his closet. Most of them were things with wheels or stuffed animals, with clothes hanging above them on plastic triangles.

Cooper ended up pulling out some sort of soft thing that came in pieces that he deemed a puzzle, though Yelena had never seen one like it before. She’d done puzzles before, but usually in some sort of scenario that was timed or recorded by the doctors in white coats. She’d never seen this kind of puzzle, but Cooper was smart and had never lied to her, so she did not question him. Maybe the word meant something different here.

The puzzle turned out to form a picture of cartoon zoo animals once connected, which was very cool in Yelena’s opinion. She wondered if there were more soft picture puzzles he owned.

She had let him connect most of the pieces but once they took it apart and put it away, Laura ordered it to be bedtime. 

Yelena went back to Kate’s room, almost too tired to be scared by then.

Like last night, Laura waited until she was under the covers to turn the light off and close the door. 

Just before Laura left though, Yelena needed something clarified.

“Laura?” she called from under the blanket.

“Yeah?” Laura asked, hand on the knob of the door.

“Tomorrow is Sunday, yes?” Yelena asked quietly.

“Yes, tomorrow is Sunday. Kate will be back tomorrow,” Laura said, making the tightness around Yelena’s chest loosen.

“Mkay. I am glad,” she said after a yawn.

Laura laughed softly. “Good to hear it, sweetness. Get some sleep. Come get me if you need anything.” With that, the door was shut and Yelena was again left alone to again sleep in Kate’s room with no Kate with her.

She had an easier time falling asleep that night but after a few hours she woke up with a start, the dredges of a bad dream disappearing from her mind but still making her heart race. She found herself out of the bed and walking down the hall, blanket wrapped around her in comfort, and standing in front of Laura and Clint’s room.

But she didn’t knock or go in. She just…didn’t want to be alone.

Brain still fuzzy from sleep and her simplistic needs taking a front-row seat to her actions, she turned and went into Cooper’s room instead. Laura always left his door open a little bit so she pushed it open more, enough to walk through.

The little boy was sleeping with his mouth open, arms and legs spread out with a toy car in his hand.

Yelena stepped up and curled in a ball at the end of his bed, making sure not to jostle him. If she was more awake or able to pay more attention, she would have realized that the bed was the same height as her and the colors in the room had faded away.

In any case, the blanket she’d brought with her was forgotten on the floor as she used her fluffy tail as a chin pillow, quickly falling back to sleep with the soft snores of the little boy quieting her worry and lulling her back to a thankful dreamless sleep.

Laura made her sit at the table and eat something, even though Yelena didn’t want to eat. She didn’t want to do anything, she just wanted to wait for Kate to come back, but her stomach betrayed her and made noises that meant ‘feed me’. 

Feeling rejuvenated from a night of mostly sleep, Yelena had been so excited that it was now Sunday.

Sunday!

She’d been awoken that morning by Cooper who had been petting her head of fur, finally getting the hint that she had shifted forms sometime through the night. Not on purpose, but she was glad that she still seemed in control, so figured she must be either her dog or her cat. 

Only once Cooper had confirmed she was indeed a dog by calling her ‘puppy Yena’, she left his room, picked up her pajamas from where she found them in the hallway by her mouth, and carried them back to Kate’s room so she could shift back and put day clothes on. She found the shorts she’d worn from yesterday and a clean shirt that Laura had put on the bed. It was purple and smelled like Kate, and made Yelena happy when she put it on.

Another rule of clothes she’d been taught to follow was that other than Kate or Laura, she had to change in a room that was Kate’s room or the bathroom, without people seeing her. 

Yelena was starting to think she needed to write a list of all the rules, lest she forget any, but for now she was able to remember. Maybe when Kate got back, she could help her.

After shoveling whatever food Laura gave her for breakfast into her mouth, Yelena looked outside from the front door window but there was no Kate.

“Laura? It is Sunday?” she asked.

“It’s definitely Sunday, but you’ll have to be patient. Let’s let the kids finish eating and then we’ll head outside for a bit,” Laura said with a smile.

Yelena didn’t know why Laura was smiling, but she sat back at the table and impatiently waited for Cooper and Lila to finish their food, some plate of egg and meat concoction that she had barely been able to taste since she’d eaten so fast. 

Not hearing or seeing a vehicle drive down the gravel rocks that led to the main road, Yelena went to the chicken coop to do what needed to be done there, a small task that she could help Laura with without too much direction. The feeling of being helpful was a nice feeling, and Cooper kept her company, talking and petting the chickens. Yelena had briefly seen the chicken that’d been mean to Kate but it quickly ran away to hide in the barn.

Halfway through trying to figure out how to rake up the inside of the coop like she’d seen Kate do, a crunchy noise was heard outside. As Yelena focused her hearing to try and figure out what she was hearing, a loud thunk was heard.

“Slow down Kate!” Someone said that Yelena recognized as not Laura’s voice. She set down the rake she was holding and ran out of the coop to the fenced-in area to see the car from Friday and the same woman, Kate’s mom, standing next to it wearing the same sunglasses and hair-do she’d had when Yelena had first seen her. 

The front screen door smacked closed and then was swung open again immediately, with Kate Bishop standing there and looking around the yard with wide eyes, ponytail bouncing around.

By the time Yelena made it past the coop door and a few yards forward, Kate was already there, smacking into her and picking her up in a hug that Yelena would bet her life on could heal the dead. 

“You are back,” Yelena breathed out, arms wrapped around Kate’s tall shoulders. She squeezed as tight as she dared, toes barely touching the ground below her as her face was tucked into Kate’s neck, body being wiggled side to side. Yelena breathed her in and squeezed a smidge tighter. “You come back.”

“I’m back,” Kate said while laughing and hugging Yelena just as hard. Her arms around her felt strong, keeping her from falling as Kate continued to hold Yelena up on her tip-toes. 

“I miss you so much,” Yelena said into her neck, squeezing a smidge tighter, making Kate giggle.

“I missed you too,” she said. 

After more hugging and Yelena happy to do nothing else besides that for the foreseeable future, Kate said, “I got you a present.”

“Okay,” Yelena responded, not really caring about a present. She only cared that Kate was here with her. 

“Lemme give it to you?” Kate asked, leaning back so Yelena could see her face which just made the happy bubble inside grow. 

Kate was here and real, in front of her. She had come back just like she’d promised. The smile on Yelena’s face was so big and the happiness inside her matched it. It was like the past two days were only just a dream. 

After Yelena’s feet were firmly planted back on the ground, Kate removed her arms but looped one arm into Yelena’s, walking her over to the car her mom was still standing by. At this point, Laura and the kids had walked over and they were all talking together.

Kate’s mom looked Yelena’s way but with the dark shades over her face, it was unclear what she was specifically looking at. Yelena still avoided her gaze.

As Kate opened the car door, Kate’s mom, Laura and Lila, who Laura was holding, walked inside and disappeared. After Kate grabbed her backpack from inside, she pulled Yelena to the porch. Cooper came over to see what she was doing, saying hi to Kate as she dug through different areas of inside the bag. She handed a book of some sort to Cooper, who said a quick thanks and ran inside, then handed a tiny bag to Yelena.

“Open it,” Kate said as they sat beside each other on the porch steps.

Yelena did, and inside was something made of colorful string. She studied it, feeling the softness with her fingers. “What is it?”

“It’s a bracelet. Like jewelry. It goes around your wrist. For um, decoration. To look pretty,” Kate explained.

“It is pretty,” Yelena agreed. There were lots of colors in it, but mostly blue, purple and green. A design was created with the colors, too. She’d never seen anything like it.

“Can I put it on you?” Kate asked, hand out and waiting.

Yelena nodded and gave the present back to her and after a bit of Kate messing with the thing, Kate successfully tied it onto Yelena’s left wrist.

“I made it so that you can take it off if you want, but it shouldn’t fall off otherwise,” Kate explained. “Do you like it?”

Yelena moved her wrist around, twisting it to see all the colors. “It is beautiful,” she said. “I keep?”

“Mhm. It’s yours. To keep,” Kate confirmed. “If you want, I mean,” she amended.

Yelena ran her fingers along the soft material, similar yet so very different from the collars she used to wear on her neck. “I keep,” she said. “Spasibo, Kate. For present.”

“That means thanks, right?”

“Mhm,” Yelena said.

“Cool,” Kate said.

Yelena smiled. “Cool,” she copied. Kate scooched a little closer so Yelena leaned forward into her, wrapping the arm without the bracelet on it around her again.

Kate had come back. 

The only way she’d be any happier than she was at that moment was if the rest of her family would come back too. But if Kate had come back, then so would they. She was certain now.

Chapter Text

His hand on her body always felt wrong, from the moment she first met him, and each time after. Like a weight that she couldn’t shake off or run from no matter how hard she tried. And she had definitely tried.

It’s not like there was anywhere for her to go; she was chained to the floor, literally, but the general made a point to touch her every few minutes, whether it be a pet to her head, or to rub her back, or turn her head in some way so she was forced to look at him for no other reason than because it pleased him in his twisted, maniacal head. 

As if she would forget he was there otherwise.

It didn’t matter how or why, though.  Natalia hated it, being touched, especially by him. Every time. She had to try very hard to school her features, as his reactions back usually happened to be unpleasant if he were to notice.

“You are a very good girl today, my fiery pet, volunteering and all. Have you turned a new leaf, perhaps?” The man seated above her questioned as Natalia huddled on the ground, as far as she dared to be from him while man's focus was on something atop the flat of the desk he sat in front of. 

She wanted to both laugh and grimace at what he'd just said. No way did he think that; more likely he was trying to get a rise out of her. But if she did either, she would surely regret it.

A hand that was large enough to reach the front column of her throat gripped the back of her neck just then, not painful, but almost. It was a small relief that the collar connected to the chain was around her ankle this time instead of her throat; when his hand would wrap around it, the feeling of being choked was accompanied. 

“Respond, Twenty-four. I believe you were spoken to.”

She hated when her number was used, but hearing her name was sometimes worse. 

She also didn’t know what to say to him. She didn’t want to laugh, but she hadn’t turned over a new leaf, and she wasn’t particularly being good that day either. She was just…protecting, and surviving, as she did every day. What should she say? What did he want her to say? What would get him to leave her be? How long before she was returned to her cell?

The grip on her neck did turn painful then and didn’t loosen until Natalia made a grunt of pain.

A chuckle was heard above her. “I hear you have mastered the lovely new animal that our dear doctors have gifted you,” the stern voice continued, taking the squeak of pain as enough of a response and moving onto a different topic apparently. 

Natalia let her shoulders hunch minutely.

“Correct?” his hand had yet to abandon her neck but the pressure had lessened slightly.

“Yes,” she finally muttered, trying to coat her overly-dry throat with her spit.

The hand finally lifted with a shove and she caught herself before tipping to the side. 

“Show me,” he demanded. She could see him shift in his chair to her left, leaning back as if he were bored.

Natalia had indeed been given a new morph a few weeks ago, of a fox. He’d seen it before, but from afar. It was a beautiful animal with many good qualities; keen instincts, lithe and quick movements, sharp teeth and nails, a lovely shade of fur on its body, and a large fluffy tail that made for a great pillow. But although its animalistic instincts were rather easily controllable, she did not want to change right now. She wasn’t sure why, something in her gut just told her not to and she had a hard time ignoring it.

When she took just a second too long to again respond or do what the intimidating man had ordered her to do, he leaned forward quickly and pressed a button on his desk. “Bring me Thirty-four,” he barked out.

Natalia panicked. She spun around, the chain attached to her rattling as she tried to quickly do as he said while begging him. “No! Please wait. I’ll–”

His voice was smooth as silk but the grip he suddenly threw around her bicep felt like it was about to snap it, which wouldn't have surprised her if he did; he'd done so before. He lifted her up just enough so her knees couldn’t touch the ground. 

Natalia wasn’t afraid of much. Not of the guards, or the scientists. Not of any of the punishments that were forced on her or the needles they stuck in her. Not of silly things like storms or the dark, heights or bugs. Her bravery was almost one of her downfalls at times. 

But he scared her. General Dreykov scared her. And he knew he did.

He glared, his eyes cold and unforgiving and she tried and ultimately failed at matching him, his size dwarfing her bony twelve-year-old body.

“Do not make me ask again, pet,” he threatened in a voice that did not match his actions, a forming smile on his face making his lips curl.

With his hand still around her arm in a too-tight vice, she slowly succumbed to the change in her body and let the requested animal take over. It went faster when she allowed the animal instincts to come to the forefront of her mind, and with how hungry and tired she was, Natalia worried she would not be able to finish what the general was requesting. So, she easily succumbed to the fox's mind in hopes she could please him and deter him from bringing someone else in instead. 

If she failed, he would bring in Pietro like he’d just tried to do. Pietro, or number Thirty-four, had been given a similar morph like Natalia had, but with shiny white and silver fur instead. It was quite beautiful, but he did not have as much control compared to Natalia, and the man knew it.

Once fully shifted and barely able to stand on two skinny back legs, the general let go of her arm and Natalia was able to drop down onto all fours and skitter away in a corner under his desk for the moment.

Sometimes he liked when the animal was all there was, when there was no humanity left. Sometimes he did not.

She would see what he preferred today.

As time ticked by with Natalia huddled under the large wooden desk, hoping she would be allowed to stay where she was as nothing more than something to look at, the room around her started to shift and tilt. At first she thought it was the animal’s poor color receptors taking over, but then everything blurred and re-formed to a different moment in time. 

“Time her in Hall C. Don’t let her out until one of them is dead,” someone said, a thick accent detectable. The general again, Natalia’s mind told her. He was always there, even as just a voice in her head. It was a little odd he was speaking English though. Why was he…?

“Report to me how long. If it is more than five minutes, start again,” the demanding voice ordered.

“But sir, it’s only been a few–” a smack was heard and even though Natalia couldn’t see anything, unsure of where she was or why it was so dark, she knew whoever had spoken out of turn had been hit. Without meaning to, she flinched at the sound.

“Do as I say or I’ll put you in there instead.”

Shuffling was heard, but also…

Someone was calling her name but it sounded so far away. Wanda maybe…? But she was in her cell sleeping. That’s where Natalia had left her. With Yelena, and Pietro in a cell across the hall from them. That was why she was here, and they were not. And the general's office was much too far away to hear any of them.

The faraway voice that sounded an awful lot like Wanda was heard again, calling her name once more. 

Natalia tried sending a mind-speech message back but wasn’t sure if it worked, because suddenly she was thrown from the scene to again a new one. This time she was face down on something hard and rough and although not a bright room, she could see and could tell she was back to her normal self based on the color of the room and how her hands pushed against the hard surface she was on.

She felt herself sweating for some reason, even though the room was so cold. It was always so cold.

A spot on her back flared, as if something hot had just been touching her. It appeared again, burning, and she writhed as if on autopilot, trying to twist away. She was…on the floor maybe? Where was she? 

The edges of her vision were frustratingly blurry again. No matter how hard she tried, her vision wouldn’t focus or clear. A laugh somewhere above her had her scrunching down, trying to make herself small. It was the general again, and she knew what that laugh meant; something cruel. 

Sometimes he let her get away with less if she showed weakness to him. Sometimes.

“How fast will these heal, Twenty-four? A few hours? A day? Impress me. Show me how you have improved,” General Dreykov’s voice demanded. It sounded like his voice echoed, a common occurrence when he spoke in their heads. 

Natalia tried to move, to get up, to lift herself after moments of silence, but something heavy was weighing her down. An invisible force that she was powerless to get away from. She was trapped, and could do nothing more than shift her legs and arms around like a flattened octopus, flailing pointlessly. 

“Do you heal faster than the others yet? Should we check?” Smoke filtered around her face clogging up her nostrils. “I do not think my little Yelena has experienced this yet. Shall I have her fetched? Then you will match.” 

Another painful spot of heat on her back was felt. Natalia tried so hard not to make a sound, clenching her teeth, doing whatever she could to take what he gave her, to not give him a reason to fetch someone else, especially Yelena, but it was unavoidable when he pressed a third time, this time right on a knob of her spine.

He laughed cruelly when she finally wailed. 

Natalia kicked and screamed to be let up after that, for the weight to get off her, for him to get away from her. She no longer tried to keep her anger at bay. She yelled and thrashed her small body until after what felt forever, the weight of what had been keeping her down was gone. With a snarl, Natalia spun and lunged with everything in her, with intent to kill.

Only moments ago she’d been human. She was certain, since her very human nails had dug into the surface below her uselessly. But now a mouth full of sharp teeth and four limbs ending in equally-sharp claws protruded from her as she tried to attack whoever or whatever had held her down. The yell she had meant to scream instead came out as a horrible sound between a bark and a yip.

Guards without faces stood along the wall, wearing unassuming dark clothes, weapons hanging from their belts. The general was there too, laughing as if he were Grandfather Frost himself, his cheeks dark with joy. Instead of presents though, or even a bag of coal, he held a cigar in one hand, some of the ashes falling to the floor as he laughed at her. “There is the fire!” He yelled between deep laughs, slowly clapping his beefy hands together and causing more ash to fall.

He was just out of reach from where she was and Natalia growled, gnashing her teeth at him again, hackles up, the hair on her back sticking together with blood clumped in the now-charred fur. The chain from earlier was back, this time around her neck, not allowing her to be able to reach any of them. It echoed, clinks and clanks hitting the cement, and she yanked harder both in anger and in an attempt to escape as well as reach the horrible man or the guards, even if there was no hope to break the chains stopping her from ripping all of their throats out. 

The room faded away again as both the soldiers and the general against the wall disappeared. Time seemed to be speeding past her, everything just a blur. That’s when Natalia finally realized her memory was just that; that this was a dream. A dream of a memory…

Nightmare, more like.

Her body was shaking but not from adrenaline. It was almost like she was…

Her body felt hot again and she couldn’t focus on what was around her after that, too busy trying to move away from the uncomfortable heat. She just wanted to get away from everything. That’s all she wanted, all she ever wanted. But she couldn’t leave. She would never leave without them.

From a distance, closer and yet still so far, she could hear Wanda yelling again. What did she–

“Natalia! Wake up!” Wanda shouted in her face.

She finally did, though almost wished she hadn’t. 

Wanda’s arms were holding her tight, too tight, her face too close and etched in worry and fear. Feeling trapped, Natalia shoved her harshly, twisting and turning away from the warmth of the blanket suffocating her and Wanda’s closeness, only to find herself falling and hitting the wooden floor below with a solid thunk and a barely-concealed whimper.

As soon as the blanket was off, the coolness of the air conditioning began to surround her. The phantom pain of burns on her back and spine lingered but they weren’t really there. They’d healed years ago, with not even a scar left behind. No proof that they’d ever been inflicted. No visible memento for anyone to ever see.

“Nat…?” Wanda said softly from somewhere close by.

Currently Natalia had her head pressed against the wood floor, hunched over on shaking knees and forearms, whispering to herself between pants in a rather frail attempt to pacify her mind and shake off the awful dream.

Nightmare, rather. 

As her heart rate slowed and her body cooled, she heard Wanda speaking in whispers behind her to Pietro. He must have heard them and come down the hall from the other room he’d been sleeping in the past two weeks. The comfort of squishing together in the same bed had quickly lost its appeal as they grew comfortable, much to Natalia's chagrin on the latter, and he’d soon claimed the other room and bed as his while Natalia and Wanda continued to share.

Wanda called her name again but when Natalia felt her sister’s gentle hand on her back near where the memory of cigar burns haunted her, she flinched away and pushed herself to her feet unsteadily. She didn’t want to be touched at the moment.

Pietro was standing between the doorframe, hesitant on even entering while giving her a worried and rather judgmental look.

Needing a moment to herself without either of them watching her, Natalia skittered past them both, breathing out a plea of ‘please don’t touch me’ which they respected as she slunk to the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind her.

By the time Natalia came back out from the bathroom, choosing to take a long shower to calm her racing mind, she threw on a bathrobe hanging on the back of the door over wet skin and bypassed the bedrooms to curl up on the no-longer-dusty couch in the living room. 

She checked the clock on the stove that Pietro had finally fixed and sighed when she saw the time was only a little after four in the morning. As tired as she felt, sleep was the last thing Natalia wanted. Instead, she grabbed the television remote and flipped through some of the channels until she found some old show that wasn’t a commercial. Then she settled back into the couch, only partially paying attention to the screen. 

After one episode ended and another started, Natalia heard the toilet flush and then light steps shuffle down the hall until Wanda joined her on the couch. 

“What’re you watching?” Wanda asked, keeping her voice quiet.

“Dragnet,” Natalia answered. She had curled up and turned to the side so Wanda had full access to start brushing through her wet red locks with her fingers.

“What’s it about?” Wanda asked while playing with Natalia’s hair.

“Mmm… a detective solves crimes in Los Angeles,” Natalia said, sitting up a little so Wanda could reach all of her hair. She loved when Wanda played with her hair. It was honestly one of her favorite things.

“Where is that? Los Angeles,” Wanda asked, butchering the city name.

Natalia’s lips lifted on one side at the poor but cute pronunciation. “California, I think. By the ocean.”

“Is it good?” Wanda asked. “The show.”

Natalia shrugged. She hadn’t been fully paying attention but it was a mellow show and had taken her mind off of things, so it was serving its purpose. “It’s not too bad.”

As the episode played out, Wanda slowly brushed through her hair, untangling the stubborn pieces and putting little braids in that would surely undo themselves without ties at the end. Eventually, Natalia felt Wanda press a soft kiss to the back of her head and she sighed.

She let herself lean back and turned to lay her head in Wanda’s lap, the cotton bathrobe tied in the front and covering her like a personal blanket with sleeves.

“Want to talk about it?” Wanda eventually asked, adding more tiny braids at random.

Natalia almost did. She almost asked Wanda if she had the same dreams; the same horrible memories of their old home and master; the same pains that had healed physically but never mentally. But she didn’t. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know the answer, but she hoped it was a no. She had tried so hard to protect them all from the worst of it, but no matter how hard Natalia had tried, it never seemed to be enough.

In the end, she just wanted to forget about it all. Leave the memories where they were; in the past.

“No,” she whispered instead.

Wanda let the conversation go, giving Natalia her privacy until the episode on the television ended and a new show called Gilligan’s Island that they had caught Pietro watching the other day started to play. “We still need haircuts, you know,” Wanda murmured, taking the end of a small braid and poking Natalia’s cheek with it.

“Didn’t you find scissors in a drawer the other day?” Natalia asked, pressing her face into Wanda’s thigh and away from the hair tickling her face.

“Sure did.” Wanda poked her some more until Natalia grumbled at her to go get them, smacking her hand away and making Wanda giggle.

The day’s search brought the three young shape-shifting adults back over a nearby town that was west across the wide Mississippi River, the name of said river only recently being added to their limited amount of knowledge. It was slightly smaller than where they had been staying but as Wanda and Natalia spent their third day flying around, they were only finding more disappointment. Natalia had been sleeping poorly and grew less patient and more frustrated by the day. And Wanda? 

She had no idea what to do about it. It almost seemed to be the norm; her not having answers to anything. The only solution she had was for them to find their sister, but it had been almost three weeks since their escape. Twenty days without so much as a piece of hair or whiff of her scent. Yelena had seemingly vanished from the woods.

Ever since the three of them had taken up temporary residence in Odin’s apartment, they had spent every long, arduous day since looking for Yelena during the daylight hours, along with signs of their captors, while the night was spent helping at the bar in exchange for meals and their living quarters.

The only good thing that had happened was something Pietro found by accident. He had shifted during the night with meaning to, not a common occurrence from him normally, but when he shifted back, he found that the clothes he’d been wearing had shifted with him. With tight clothes, they did not need the extra effort of undressing to morph.

They practiced a few times with some failures and some ruined clothing, but finally found things that worked for each of them. Jeans were a no-go, along with any jackets, sweaters, or baggy shirts, but after digging around in the many bins, boxes, dressers and closets of clothes hoarded in the fourth-floor apartment, they were able to find undergarments and acceptable clothing that they could shift in and not ruin.

It had been a bit of a revelation. Back at the compound, they’d been taught that only the skimpy uniforms given to them made of an odd stretchy material would change with them. It gave Wanda an icky feeling inside thinking about all the times they were forced to be clothes-less or practically so. They’d all grown accustomed to it, but Wanda knew better. She knew that it hadn’t been appropriate. 

Natalia still wasn’t fully onboard with the agreed-upon exchange they had been in for over two weeks with Odin, still not trusting of the bar owner, but seeing as they had no other glaringly obvious options of food and shelter at the moment, it was a lost cause for her to argue against. Besides, the food was good and the apartment was the most comfortable thing they’d lived in since probably forever, including when Wanda and Pietro were children and growing up in a war-stricken country.

Wanda as usual had been the one to ask Odin for a bit more help. She’d taken a liking to the man after slowly getting used to his standoffish nature. Behind it, he was unusually patient and kind. And also maybe a little lonely. 

Wanda would never admit so, especially to her brother, but he reminded her of their father.

So, she’d given the old man a bit more information than she had before about their missing sister and their situation. Not much, just enough that he understood they weren’t sure where to look, couldn’t go to the police, and that they couldn’t leave until they found her.

After confirming as much as she possibly was able to that the sister was in the nearby vicinity, Odin ended up giving Wanda a map of the state they were in, a state called Iowa, and showed her where they were on said map. From there, Wanda, Pietro and Natalia had spent every day since searching the nearby towns and woods. Pietro kept track of it all, as reading the thing gave Wanda a headache, but so far, there’d been no good news. 

No bad news, either, but still.

Odin also explained to them the addresses in the phone book and how to utilize them as well, so they finally came up with a subpar plan of marking off towns and important places in each area they could check. They spent each day searching for any signs of their sister while keeping their guard up for anyone looking for them. They made points to check hospitals, vet clinics, police stations, and shelters with the addresses listed in the yellow-paged book, as well as places that were abandoned and seemed like good hideouts. With the added ability to shift with clothing on, they were even able to land nearby and go into a few places as well to ask the workers or look around. 

They hadn’t found anything yet, but kept up the search every day. Something would pop up eventually. Surely.

They’d spent the first week searching different buildings and areas in the vicinity of where they had been staying first but had come back empty-handed before broadening their search to towns and areas further out between them and the direction of the cliff Wanda had jumped off. 

Wanda just wanted to find her. She missed their sister. She missed her hugs, and her smell. How she still liked to cuddle. Wanda missed how Yelena fit like the final puzzle piece into their tattered little family. 

She kept Natalia grounded, she made Pietro smile, she gave Wanda purpose beyond surviving most days, and so much more.

After yet another day of failures, they flew back to the apartment in their crow morphs, blending in easily and sticking close together. Pietro had gone with them that day, but there’d been some days he had traveled elsewhere, claiming they slowed him down. It annoyed Wanda but she let me do as he pleased as long as he was being safe and came back to the apartment before sunset. Him having freedom and independence he’d never had before had the brunette hesitant to deny him from anything he wanted to do, pushing down her anxiety. She and Natalia stuck together every day though, which was fine with her. It’s what they both preferred.

<I think we need to go back to the compound,> Natalia said to them out of the blue just after their sleek black-feathered forms crossing back over the river.

Wanda froze in fear, glad that her wings kept her aloft and not plummeting to her death as memories bombarded her mind and her chest tightened.

Natalia continued, not noticing Wanda’s reaction. <We have spent weeks getting nowhere, when she could have been taken back. I…we need to know. If we are wasting our time or not.>

Wanda knew she was right. Really, they should have done it two weeks ago. But she was terrified. Part of her knew they needed to be sure, but she also didn’t want to know if the answer was yes. 

<Pietro?> Wanda called out eventually, glad her mind-speech couldn’t crack her voice like speaking would have. <What do you think? >

<Of what?> he said back, flying up ahead as usual. 

If Wanda could successfully roll her eyes, she would have. The boy never paid attention to them. <Going back to the compound. To…see. To check...> To make sure Yelena was not there.

Pietro was quiet at first, but eventually responded. <I will head there tomorrow.>

Wanda wasn’t expecting him to agree so easily or quickly. <Are you sure? Do you…should we all go?>

She didn’t want to go. She never wanted to go there ever again. But she couldn’t send Pietro there alone.

<No. You and Natalia look at the town North of us. I will be fine, sestra. If they see me, they will not be able to catch me.>

His confidence was rare to see, and although nice, it did not quell the worry residing in Wanda’s gut that they could absolutely catch him. Or shoot him from the sky like they’d done to her. Her fear of ever being near the prison they once called home warred with her unease at Pietro going alone.

<He’ll be fine. Let him go,> Natalia said to her privately. She did not offer to go with him either but Wanda knew that when it came to splitting up, Natalia would prefer to be with Wanda, for support and protection.

<Do you know where it is, Piet?> Wanda asked. 

<More or less,> he responded cryptically. She had no idea he knew, but wasn’t surprised. 

They let the conversation drop after that; too much to worry about and none of them wanted to voice any of it, lest it help come to fruition.

So they quietly made their way back to the apartment and changed for another evening of work, looking forward to what dinner that night might be.

Later that evening, as the three of them were finishing up their tasks at the Thirsty Goat, Odin walked up to Wanda as she was hanging some clean mugs up behind the bar.

“Hey there, lass. Everything alright?” Odin asked, helping her hang up the glassware. His nickname that he quickly learned to only use on Wanda had grown on her, but she barely offered a smile to him.

Wanda shrugged one shoulder. “I guess.”

Odin hummed, picking up on her glum mood. “Find your sister yet?” The man had caught on to the usual moods of the three young adults but between the three, Wanda was the only one who seemed to enjoy talking with him.

“No…not yet,” Wanda answered forlornly. “Pietro is going to check the uh, place we came from. And see if she went back,” she stuttered out. She wanted to trust Odin and tell him more, but couldn’t find it in herself to do so whenever the opportunity arose. It was not only her story to tell and she wasn’t sure how much was too much while still keeping them all safe.

“Do you think she did?” Odin questioned, using his one good eye to pay attention to what he was doing while still conversing with her. The bar was empty, save for them and the bar owner.

“I don’t know,” Wanda said.

“But do you think so?” Odin reiterated. 

Wanda thought about it, a frosty mug held in her hand. “I…am not sure. I hope not. I…do not think she would go back willingly, no.” Forcibly, yes. Willingingly, no.

“I see. Does your brother need a ride there?” Odin asked. She’d never seen him driving a car, but he must have owned one to offer such a thing.

“Oh uh, no. He is… he is fine,” Wanda declined politely. “He has a means of travel.”

Odin nodded. “If you say so. Where’s this place at anyhow?”

“Up north,” Wanda said. “I do not recall the name of the town. Just that it is…north.”

Odin chuckled. “Fair enough. You got some estranged family up there that you don’t mesh well with or somethin’?”

Wanda met his eyes before looking away once the last glass was hung. “Something like that, I suppose.”

“Well, you know where to find me if you need anything,” Odin said, then left her alone to help Pietro put chairs upside down on the edge tables. 

Natalia had been more or less banned to the back kitchens for the foreseeable future as of last week. She kept getting into arguments with customers and after one had caused some dishes to be broken, Odin had been reluctant to allow her to get even close to interacting with anyone. So, her and Pietro had swapped jobs, much to his annoyance. 

Now, Natalia did most of the dishes, inventory, and organization of the back room, while Pietro did the cleaning and food-delivering of to-go orders up front along with helping Odin behind the bar, with Wanda helping take orders and delivering food and drinks to paying customers. They’d stay for a few hours, sometimes less if Odin closed early, then he’d either cook them something while there or hand them food from the large fridge in the back and send them back to the apartment to eat, a place they were all still reluctant to refer to as ‘home’. 

That particular night, Odin ordered some pizza from across the street instead of cooking and as soon as it arrived, let them leave.

“What about finishing cleaning?” Pietro asked, broom in hand.

Odin waved them off. “I’ll finish up. It was a slow night.” Wanda had an inkling that the man had just caught on to their more solemn moods and was just giving them a break, because the night hadn’t seemed any slower than other weekday nights, but she didn’t voice her thought.

As soon as Natalia walked out of the kitchen, Pietro grabbed one of the pizza boxes and together the three of them left through the back door towards the apartment building. Wanda was the only one to issue a word of thanks to Odin, a small but gracious smile on her face. Since Odin had given them a key to the apartment, they could now enter the building from the other entrance located in the alley and take the elevator or stairs up instead of going around the block.

All through their late dinner they did not talk about the next day. Wanda didn’t want to bring it up, Natalia seemed already fine with the decision, and Pietro wasn’t usually a plan-ahead type of person. He was more likely willing to go through a brief chat in the morning instead like they usually did. 

They simply ate their dinner in front of the TV, a news channel playing that none of them really understood but it had been helping them reacclimate to the world around them, and then got ready for bed. 

Just before they went to their rooms, Wanda stopped Pietro with a hand to his arm.

“Piet?”

Almost half-a-foot taller than his sister, the boy stopped and looked at Wanda with a hum.

“About tomorrow. I am…nervous. I…I do not like the idea of you going. But I just don’t–”

Pietro stopped her. “Wanda, it’ll be fine. I will make sure our sestra is not back in their clutches, and come back, quick as can be. Khorosho?”

She gripped his arm in both of hers and gave a tentative nod. “Byt’ bezopasnym?”

“Of course. Always,” he responded. With a kiss to Wanda’s head and a nod to Natalia who he passed by, already in bed, Pietro closed the door to his now-claimed room and Wanda cuddled against Natalia’s body in their own green-walled bedroom. She had changed the blanket on the bed to something thinner in hopes that it would help them sleep better. 

With murmurs of ‘good night’ from both girls to each other, they fell asleep to the soft hum of the ceiling fan.

It was amazing what one could do on three meals a day and a full night’s rest. Pietro had never felt better, or healthier. Not since he was a young boy, and even then, money was tight and meals were scarce. He found himself able to morph multiple times in a day with just a short rest between each without much exhaustion, or fear of passing out.

Bright and early, before either girl had even woken up, Pietro had a quick but filling meal of yogurt, fruit and toast, wrote a note that he left on the kitchen table, then shifted and flew out the living room window that they’d been leaving open. WIth the apartment being on the fourth floor, the roof had a bit of an overhang that conveniently kept most of the rain from coming in when they did leave the window open.

He’d easily chosen his falcon form for the day, a morph he preferred over almost any other. Smell was the only sense the animal lacked in, but its sight and speedy method of travel largely tipped the scales in its favor otherwise.

As the sun ever-so-slowly rose in the sky, Pietro made his way slightly Northwest towards where he knew the compound to be.

Yesterday, when Wanda and Natalia had questioned him on if he knew where to look in order to find it, he’d vaguely confirmed so. But that hadn’t been the truth. He knew exactly where the awful place was located, because he’d already found it days ago.

And he didn’t need to check that their sister was not there because he already had seen that she was not. Upon discovering it only partially by accident during a flight that took him more north than he’d meant to go and then surveying from afar, Pietro found the entire place completely abandoned. No one was there, living or dead. No children or animals having experiments performed on them, no scientists or guards, no general, and certainly no sign of their sister.

Not knowing how to feel about it, he hadn’t let Wanda or Natalia know just yet. He wasn’t sure what it meant.

They’d been at the compound in America for over five years, so why would they all disappear? Was there a third place they did not know of? And what about Yelena? Did HYDRA find her and leave? Or was she elsewhere? Was she even alive? Surely if not, Pietro would have found her body. Wanda mentioned her being in the forest more recently than they had been, and her scent being there but disappearing beside two other unfamiliar scents. So, was the probability higher that their sister had found help elsewhere like they had, or had she disappeared with the general and HYDRA, off to who knew where?

After finding the compound, accident or not, and making 100% certain that he was indeed alone, Pietro had shifted to human and rested until he’d been able to shift to his wolf. Then he scavenged the compound’s inner and outer grounds, then through all of the buildings, finding an assortment of smells. But between all of the foot traffic, tire tracks, broken bottles and liquids, and more, he’d found no sign of their sister.

He’d been only a little surprised that Natalia was the one to finally bring up going back. Wanda would never suggest it, and he’d never force her to either, but he thought neither of them would have and it’d end up falling on his shoulders. The only reason he hadn’t suggested it before even finding the place was because he didn’t want either girl feeling pressured to go with him. And now, even after sitting with the information he had, he still wasn’t sure how to bring it up. All he knew was the place was empty and he still had nothing to go on in regards to answers to where Yelena might be. Which wasn’t even remotely helpful.

Instead of going where Wanda and Natalia thought he was, Pietro made his way back to the cliff from the night of their escape. Of all the scents he’d found at their now-abandoned home, if he could even call it that, there were some scents stronger than others. Specifically, of people having been there more recently than the people who’d held them captive. Which was of course interesting, but also curiously one of the scents seemed just slightly familiar, and not from his past but of something more recent.

When he’d found the compound a few days prior, he had followed the vaguely-familiar scent from the compound entrance and into the woods, keeping his wolf form as he slowly trekked across the bumpy land of the tree-filled forest. He did eventually lose the scent, but he kept going in the same direction until he found his way back to the woods and surprisingly back at the outpost beside the cliff they’d leapt off. 

Since then, Pietro had gone back to the woods twice during the times he had split from Wanda and Natalia. And since he had already checked every inch of the compound that he could both inside and flying high above, making certain that Yelena was indeed not there and hadn’t been since their escape, he continued searching through the rich forest around him.

A few times he’d come across people in his wolf form, purely by accident, but they left him be. They had looked just like normal hikers and wanted nothing more than to admire him from afar, maybe take a picture or two of his silvery white and gray fur that was very out-of-place.

The only time he had an issue was when a woman driving a beat-up truck with words written on the side had spotted him. Instead of leaving him alone, she’d tried to follow him. Nervous, Pietro had run off at top speed through the thick trees until the woman could no longer follow him, then he shifted back to his falcon and headed back to the apartment.

Between the days he’d been trekking through the forest, he’d also spent time in different towns nearby helping Wanda and Natalia. Of all the things Pietro failed at, he was very good at mapping territories and memorizing maps, understanding streets and where buildings would be located, and so on. It was one of his few strengths.

But today, something new happened as he flew lowly over the trees of the large and expansive forest and outposts. Something Pietro hadn’t been expecting.

He’d found a few buildings scattered among the forest previously and upon further inspection, found these buildings to be where the people who worked in the forest and drove the cars with words on the side went when they weren’t driving around or doing whatever it was they did. 

Sometimes he would perch atop the roofs of the buildings or nearby trees to hear the forest workers talk. They all had radios with them as well and would say things to each other through them, just like the guards had, though nothing they spoke about made him worry. Most of them had guns as well, but none of them had done anything to make Pietro believe they were connected in any way to HYDRA or the compound. Although fairly close in terms of flying, the two locations were still miles apart, separated by trees, roads, and small bodies of water. He’d even seen a situation where an injured animal, a raccoon, had been found by hikers and two forest workers had personally transported it to a nearby center to get it help. So no, he was not concerned over these strangers in tan uniforms who seemed to just be there to care for the woods around it and make sure the rules, whatever they might be, were being followed.

He’d planned to shift to his wolf that day but something told him to wait, to spend just a few more minutes up in the air, eyes above everything. So he’d enjoyed the weather and had flown low through the trees, occasionally eating some berries or bugs he would pass, with plans to find a heartier meal later. But while gliding rather leisurely through the surrounding woods, nothing much catching his eye, he suddenly heard something that had him stopping practically mid-flight. 

A man in one of the trucks with words printed on the side, informing Pietro that he was a forest worker, was on the telephone. It was the kind that didn’t have a cord, and was different from the radio they all kept clipped to their belts. And though it seemed like a normal action, being on a phone, what Pietro heard him say over said phone was what had him getting as close as possible.

HYDRA.

Pietro quickly found the lowest and nearest branch possible to perch on, claws digging into the bark while listening intently to every word uttered from the unknown man’s mouth. 

“I think we should go back,” the man said to whoever he was speaking to on the other end of the phone. “We could have missed something. We have to have missed something. This name, or company or whatever the hell it is that keeps popping up over the documents that were recovered just seems…weird. And these are just…scraps. They didn’t even–”

The man stopped mid-sentence and a voice on the other end of the line spoke. Pietro couldn’t hear what was being said beyond a muffled voice that was a higher pitch than the man’s, but whatever it was, the man didn’t seem too happy about it.

“I’ll go back myself if I have to Maria, because we must’ve missed something! None of this is helpful.” A pause again, then, “Fine, some of it is helpful. But it’s been almost a month. I’m no closer to finding the other kids, and I promised her–” he was again interrupted and stopped speaking to hear the other end of the phone, silently throwing his hands up in frustration while listening.

Pietro shifted his weight, wondering what kids the man was speaking of. Was he a part of HYDRA? Or maybe he was a guard as well as a forest worker? He definitely did not look the scientist-type. And who was this Maria? 

Too many questions and no answers yet.

The man huffed loudly, interrupting Pietro’s racing thoughts. “Were you at least able to ID the body at all? Yes, the child we found…I see…alright. What about getting me some proper paperwork for the kid and her siblings when we find them?”

More silence, then there was a quick back and forth between the man and this Maria person he was speaking to. “I’ve told you like five times, Maria. It’s Yelena.”

Pietro bristled at the quick statement.

“I don’t know her last name. Neither does she. That’s why I think we should go back.” A long sigh, then, “Shit, the kid’s been there for like, her whole damn life.” A longer silence, then, “Well, there and somewhere in Russia, according to what she told me.”

Russia? 

Now Pietro was certain that this man was important. Somehow. Why did he know Yelena’s name? Why did he know so much of their past? Who was he? Were the kids he spoke of in relation to his sister? Or other children from the compound?

Pietro’s shit sense of smell in his falcon morph wouldn’t help any, but if he could just get close enough in wolf form, he was certain this man’s scent would tell him something.

“Maria. Russia’s the largest fucking country in the world and she barely speaks English. I have no idea where and I don’t think she’d be able to tell me either, even if I asked. She didn’t even know what Iowa was, you think she’ll be able to tell me what fucking city she was in while being kept in a cage and experimented on for ten years?” The man’s hand was wrapped around the steering wheel of the vehicle he sat in, squeezing so tight that Pietro could see the skin turning white. He sounded…upset. Like he cared about the horrible things done to their sister…

“Maybe it’s on some of the damn paperwork we found and shoved in garbage bags. How very professional, wouldn’t you say?” The man was sounding more and more annoyed.

The phone call ended soon after that, with zero talk of anything else that Pietro recognized as familiar or important, but he remained on the low branch with a clear view through the front windshield. He watched the man, studied him, as he sat there in the front seat of his vehicle.

He seemed old, maybe in his 40’s if Pietro had to guess. He had short hair that was a dark blonde or possibly light brown color, with only a small amount of hair on his face that could have turned into a beard if he allowed it, and reflective sunglasses that covered his eyes. The tan uniform he wore along with the truck he was in made it clear he worked as one of the forest workers, whatever the technical term might be. Pietro couldn’t see much more but would bet he had a gun and radio on him like the others did; he hadn’t stepped out of his vehicle yet. The phone that he had been on was first tossed onto the dashboard of the car, then grabbed and shoved it into a pocket of his shirt. The man seemed… agitated. Frustrated.

It was interesting, to say the least. Pietro never saw the guards be anything besides cruel or indifferent. His suspicions of this man being a guard from the compound were dwindling, but he hadn’t dismissed the idea completely.

After just kind of sitting in the car for a few minutes, the man then procured a notebook from somewhere in the car, writing in it before closing it, turning the vehicle on, and driving away.

Curious but definitely wary, Pietro spent the rest of the day following the mysterious man, keeping himself inconspicuous but making sure to never fully lose the view of the truck and it’s inhabitant. The sketchy man made no more phone calls, only answering his radio when necessary, which were for work-related things so unimportant to Pietro. 

The man mostly drove around the forest and did work-related things or looked through papers in his vehicle that Pietro wished he could see. He even took a break to eat a meal wrapped up in a zipped bag in the truck, so Pietro took that time to hunt nearby, finding a mediocre but filling meal for lunch of a small rodent sniffing around that he was certain his sister did not have the morph for. Towards the end of the day, the man did finally drive to one of the work buildings, walking inside and doing who-knew-what. Pietro couldn’t tell, but he came back out shortly after, got back in the same vehicle, and then drove further out of the dense forest and onto one of the main roads.

As the sun began to dip towards evening, Pietro continued to follow the man. He flew high enough in the sky to keep a lookout but low enough so he did not lose track of the vehicle. Eventually, the car pulled into a grocery store. Pietro thought of shifting and following him in but clearly the man didn’t live there, so instead he waited atop one of the tall light poles in the parking lot until he came back out with a cart full of paper bags containing various items that looked mostly food-related. The man, still in his uniform but sans the gun and radio on his person, loaded the vehicle up, pushed the car into some sort of metal corral, then drove away.

Again, Pietro followed him, growing more and more curious on where this person was going, now with bags of groceries in his trunk. Back to the compound? Or a different compound? Back to the forest somewhere? Maybe to where the guards and scientists had disappeared to? Maybe to where the Maria he’d spoken to earlier was? Or the General even?

The sun was now low enough in the sky to inform Pietro he should have been back at the apartment by now. Although he didn’t want Wanda to worry, because he was sure she would, he had to figure out where this man was driving to. His gut told him it was important. They’d had no leads and he wasn’t about to not follow this one to the end unless he was absolutely certain it led to nowhere.

The sooner they found their sister, the sooner they could get on with their lives. And Pietro wanted desperately to be the one who found her. To be the hero of the day.

Just as the sky started to turn pretty colors of pink and orange, only part of the sun visible on the horizon, the vehicle slowed and turned down a long gravel road, parking in front of an old white farmhouse. Once the car was shut off, the groceries were brought inside through the front door in one trip and that was it. 

Nearby were an assortment of farm animals and a large red barn with chipped paint. There were fenced fields surrounding the house and no neighbors for at least a mile in each direction.

Pietro could hear many things from where he circled in the sky just above the tallest treetops; farm animals braying, crickets singing, branches swaying from the wind and creating a soft, whooshing sound. No one had come back out of the house so, curiosity getting the best of him for the umpteenth time that day, he flew closer into a nearby tree to look inside a window.

The man he’d followed sat at a kitchen table, finally having changed out of his work uniform and into simple clothes of a shirt and shorts. A woman was with him, and four children from what Pietro could see, each in a wooden chair seated around a rectangular table with food upon it. So this must be where the man lived with his family. It calmed Pietro slightly to know that the man hadn’t driven to some HYDRA base or something, but only slightly. Because the man still knew a whole lot that Pietro didn’t think he should know, and yet he’d simply driven home from work like it was no big deal.

Pietro hopped further down the low branch he was perched on to get a better look at the other occupants at the table. The woman next to the man looked a similar age. She had brown hair and a genuine-looking smile that reminded Pietro of his mother. She was helping the smallest of the children eat their food. Of the other three children, two were older, maybe teenagers, and one much younger. Older than the toddler but probably not by much. The older two, the teenagers, one had a big smile and brown hair that was tied behind her head, darker than Wanda’s and the assumed mother at the table. And the other had blonde hair in a braid that was similar to–

Pietro blinked.

The window he looked through faced the back of the one with blonde hair along with the older of the two small children, so he glided over to land on the wooden railing of the porch that surrounded half of the house. The view from this window was on the opposite side of the kitchen and a little further away, but still more than close enough for Pietro to get a clear view of what he was trying to see.

Pietro looked, and then looked again, wondering if he was hallucinating. But no, there was no mistaking it.

Sitting at a random kitchen table, eating dinner with a bunch of strangers, was Yelena. As if she were playing house. 

An array of emotions shot through him suddenly as he watched his so-called sister eat dinner and converse with the strangers at the table with her. The other teenager, a girl who looked around the same age as her, seemed to talk to Yelena a lot. And although Pietro had never seen any of these people before, it looked like Yelena was very familiar with them.

He couldn’t hear much of what they were saying, since all the windows were closed, but he could see their mouths moving, food being passed, smiles formed on the faces of the strangers, which Pietro was very much inclined to include his sister in at that exact moment.

After a good five minutes of watching the dinner exchange with too many emotions tumbling around inside him, Pietro’s body settled on a mix of disgust and anger, and he glared as much as he was able to at the scene in front of him. Eventually, dinner was finished and the table was cleared, the occupants dispersing in other areas of the house with Yelena following the other teenage girl up some stairs and disappearing from Pietro’s view.

He thought about circling the house and trying to find a view of where she went, maybe giving her a piece of his mind, shouting at her through mind-speech, but the thoughts never turned to action.

They had spent weeks looking for their sister, literal weeks, every day, only for her to be playing house with a new family this whole time. As if he, Wanda and Natalia were replaceable trash. 

Unable to bear being near the girl he called his little sister any longer, Pietro took off in a whoosh of angry flapping only to land in a nearby field of ankle-height vegetation growing. He quickly morphed back to human and paced around, crushing the growing plants under his feet, waiting just long enough until he felt safe to shift to his owl form. His anger gave him the fuel he needed and in no time he had flown back in the now-dark sky in an angry flight. 

Natalia sat on the couch, half-snoozing as Wanda stared at the television without really watching what was on it.

Pietro had not come back home yet and it was late. Very, very late. So late that Wanda and Natalia had already come back from their search that day with again no sign of their sister, gone to work at the bar, eaten dinner, and were now sitting on the couch in the apartment living room impatiently waiting for Pietro to fly in through the open window.

Wanda had already worked herself to a crying fit twice and Natalia had to attempt to calm her down. Her emotions had really been going a bit haywire as of late but Wanda wasn’t sure what to do about it besides try and shove them down deep and focus on the here-and-now.

Just as a commercial about a fast food restaurant started playing, a quiet coo was heard and a large white owl fluttered in through the window, landing gracefully and almost silently on the back of the couch. It’s long, thick claws dug into the old fabric, almost but not quite poking holes in it.

“Piet!” Wanda yelled, much louder than was necessary at two in the morning as she jumped up.

<Hey. I am so sorry for–> he didn’t finish his thought as Wanda practically clobbered him, hugging his large white body to her with shaking fingers before he even had a chance to try and shift back.

“Where were you? What took you so long?” Wanda asked, wet voice muffled in his chest feathers as she petted down his white wings and back.

<I got stuck past sundown after following a truck. Had to wait to shift so I could see, and caught a quick meal on the way. Forgive me, I did not mean to worry you,> he said to them both, large black pupils encompassing most of the yellow of his eyes.

“A truck?” Natalia questioned. “But you…didn’t find anything?”

He shook his small round head from side to side, not easy to do with how tight Wanda was holding him. <Izvini. Nothing. The lead I had was a dead end.>

Natalia nodded, as if she had been expecting bad news, and really, who could blame her? “Glad you’re safe. There’s leftovers in the fridge if you’re still hungry,” Natalia said quietly, then disappeared down the hall.

Wanda finally leaned back from where she’d been clinging to Pietro’s feathery form on the back of the couch, wiping the wetness from her eyes.

“You’re sure you are okay?” Wanda asked.

Pietro let out another soft coo, a rather sweet sound, before walking to the corner edge of the couch and jumping down to the floor. < I’m fine, Wands. Just tired. >

Wanda gave him space to shift back, seeing the tight clothes appear on him like a form of colorful skin, the snow-white feathers disappearing like smoke. It was a different look on him, a large white owl compared to the smaller peregrine falcon that he had been shifting to every day, but Wanda knew that Pietro was a more-than-adept flyer, no matter the winged form.

As soon as he was back to human, Wanda curled her arms around him again, pressing herself against his beating heart.

“I was so worried…” she whispered.

Pietro hugged her back, thankfully not forcing her away even if the closeness seemed a bit uncomfortable to him. “I am okay. No more worrying, hmm?”

“Okay…” Wanda sniffled, then asked, “You…so you did not…you found the compound, yes? Did you find…?” Her words spoken came out as a worried and jumbled mess, trailing off before she could find the words for if Pietro found their sister.

The tall boy was silent for a few moments. “I found it. It was… empty.”

Wanda’s eyes grew comically large. “Empty? What do you mean?”

Pietro sighed. “Empty as in, no one there. No Yelena, but also no one else.”

Wanda’s mind raced on the inclinations of their former home being empty. 

Pietro interrupted her thoughts. “For tonight, let’s just sleep. I will tell you and Natalia everything tomorrow, together. But Yelena was not there and had not been since we were. The truck I found and followed did not lead anywhere, but I was hopeful.”

Not caring about some stupid truck Pietro had followed, Wanda let the feeling of her brother’s warm skin and heartbeat calm her and she loosened her grip but not completely. 

“I’m sorry, Wanda.”

“It’s ok. Thank you for checking, Piet.” It wasn’t okay, but what else was she to say?

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I do not ever want you back there. Not even close.”

They remained in each other's arms until Pietro finally separated them with a crooked smile, Wanda giving one in return. Pietro was back and safe and uninjured, with knowledge that at least their sister had not been taken back to their former prison, so she would focus on the good. As Pietro grabbed a drink and a snack, Wanda shut the window, then they shuffled to bed.

Tomorrow they’d talk about what to do next, and where to go.

Chapter Text

1995

Pietro wasn’t sure what day it was, maybe a Monday. Could have been a Friday. Did it really matter? It was a weekday though, that’s all he did know. 

He knew this because the doctors were there that day. They weren’t there every day, but they were never there on weekends. So, a weekday. 

Not that it mattered.

A loud noise was heard and Pietro stood in a corner of his cell as a man unlocked his door. It was one of the guards that was especially grouchy, even on a good day, and the boy waited until he was given permission to walk out. They made it only a few steps before the same thing happened to one of the doors down the hall.

Hopeful, Pietro paused and waited to see if his sister walked out but was only mildly disappointed. Instead, Yelena skittered out, immediately perking up when she saw Pietro a few yards away. Then, to his horror, she ran right past the guard opening his sister’s door and to where Pietro was, a smile on her face.

Pietro eyed the cell to see if Wanda would also be allowed out, but the guard slammed the door back closed before he got even a glimpse of his sister. Then he opened his arms and caught Yelena in a hug as the guard she’d bypassed yelled at her. She ignored him though and grabbed Pietro’s hand as they began to walk down the hall, as if they were on a stroll through the park instead of to one of the labs holding doctors and pain.

The two guards started talking to each other as they walked on either side of the children. They were unhappy with the young blonde’s antics but decided they didn’t want to listen to any crying when their charges were doing what they were supposed to.

“Pie, Wanda see hi,” Yelena said to him.

Pietro’s hand squeezed hers a smidge tighter but he held in his smile. “Yeah? Did you two have a good night?” he murmured. He was glad Wanda had company through the night, though wished it could have been him instead.

“Mhm! Cuddles y warm. Wanda see istorii,” she said.

He rolled his eyes. “Say. Wanda say stories. Well, told. But it’s not ‘see’. The right word–”

“Shut the hell up,” the guard to Pietro’s left barked with a smack to the side of Pietro’s face, interrupting them. Pietro immediately stopped talking, Yelena making a squeak and squishing closer to him but he continued to hold her hand as they walked. Once they got close to one of the labs however, the doors coming into view, Pietro had to hold hers tighter so she didn’t turn and run the other way. He could feel her nervousness from how tight her hand started to hold his.

“I’ll be here with you, so don’t be afraid. And try to be quiet. Da?” Pietro said to her in a low voice, so hopefully only she could hear him as they walked through the double-doors, but it was moot.

As soon as the doors were closed behind them, the man in charge of Pietro shoved him forward as the other one picked Yelena up by her arms roughly and placed her on one of the beds.

The room they were led to was one of his least favorites. It was not very big, with the walls made of a similar metal to their cells, but with many bright lights shining down from the ceiling. It was almost too bright. There were tables to one side with equipment that looked like a scene from a hospital, like Pietro had seen on TV once. Microscopes, glass jars and vials, little test tubes with labels on them, and lots of medical equipment he couldn’t name. There were many people in the room as well. Three other children that Pietro did not know the names of, at least ten guards, and four doctors in white coats. All of the beds and chairs in the room had straps that were used if necessary, to make it so they couldn’t move while given injections, getting blood drawn, being experimented on, and other not-very-fun things. Pietro did his best to be good though, so the straps weren’t necessary. He didn’t like them.

There were always guards nearby with weapons on them, so unless they wanted to get in trouble, they had no choice but to sit and wait until the doctors were done with their work. Most of the time, the weapons hurt worse than what the doctors did to them, so it was always best to be good and listen. It was something he'd learned early on.

To Pietro’s continued horror, as Yelena was sitting on one of the tall metal beds near him, she started chattering away again. It wasn’t very loud but she was the only one talking besides the doctors and guards in the room. He very much wanted to speak up and tell her to be quiet, but he didn’t want to get in trouble either. Sometimes she remembered the rules and sometimes she didn’t, and apparently this was one of those times she forgot.

Before he could do anything else beyond worry, let alone think of speaking up, one of the doctors walked up to the chattering blonde with a metal needle hidden behind his back. Yelena leaned around him though, trying to talk to Pietro again. She was babbling about food. Breakfast, perhaps, which they’d not been given yet and probably wouldn’t at this point.

The doctor in front of her was trying to get her to turn and provide him her neck but she was having none of it, still too young to fully understand or remember what her noncompliance would earn her. 

A different doctor was by Pietro’s bed then, his wrinkled white lab coat swishing around his lean body, but he did not have the same type of needle with him. He was only there to take some of Pietro’s blood, which was much less painful than the big needles, but wasn’t necessarily a pleasant experience either. After filling a few vials, the doctor walked away and across the room to do whatever it was the doctors did with the red liquid they pulled from his body.

Pietro turned his head away from the direction of the doctor and the blood tests, and back to Yelena just as he heard her whimper, her chattering now over with.

“Byt’ spokoynym!” one of the doctors with a deep voice ordered curtly, upset at the small child moving around, which only made her whine more and pull further away, covering her neck with her hands.

“Ne khochu,” she pleaded pitifully, realizing what was about to happen. Pietro had never seen anyone younger than her here, but most of the other kids gave her no mind despite her age. They had themselves to worry about. 

The bearded doctor huffed and waved over a nearby guard, his patience gone. Not that they ever were, but the new or younger kids didn’t understand that they just made things worse when they complained, or ignored or fought against orders. 

The guard who had been in charge of Yelena from earlier, a beefy man who smelled like cigarettes, stomped over in steel-toed boots, reached over and placed an equally-beefy hand on the whining child’s face, smooshing it to the side against the thinly-padded bed below. His other hand held her down by her shoulder over her arms, keeping her in place. Finally she was in the right position for the doctor to do his job. He brought the large needle up and shoved it in her neck, no longer bothering to keep it hidden from her visage. 

Pietro looked away, fingers tightening over the edge of the table as she began to cry loudly. He knew why she was crying, but there wasn’t anything he could do. The needles always hurt, and whatever was in them always burned, but that’s just how it was. He sometimes wondered if it would hurt less if they injected them somewhere else, but he would never voice his thoughts. He was too afraid of what repercussions would come of questioning the ones in charge.

Further down the room, another kid, a boy who looked only a little older than Pietro, was getting a shot as well, though he was much quieter about it. He stared at Yelena as she cried then met Pietro’s eyes before turning away and staring at the floor, despondent. Pietro wasn’t sure what the doctors were doing with the remaining two children. They were quiet, sitting on their beds, and wouldn’t make eye contact with anyone.

The doctor hushed Yelena again but when she didn’t stop crying, the smelly guard shouted in her face until she finally piped down, holding her breath in an attempt to obey them.

How badly Pietro wished he could do the same to the man. Yell and scream in his face, hold him down instead. Scare him. Hurt him.

The guard in question and the bearded doctor started talking hushedly to each other in quick Russian, with Pietro only being able to pick out certain words about what they said. 

General. Child. More. Crying. Baby. 

They started laughing.

The topics switched. Dinner. Wives. A sports game, and so on. 

He stopped paying attention. Pietro’s doctor, an older skinny man with brown hair and glasses, took that moment to return and started poking around Pietro’s  body, first at the spot the needle for drawing blood had been stuck into, then other injuries that were much older. The tiny dot from the needle was already gone; healed in mere minutes, but cuts and bruises that had been caused from recent fights or punishments still lingered.

“Skol’ko dney?” the doctor asked, tapping a pen against a deep but healing cut on his knee.

Pietro scrunched up his shoulders, unsure of how long it’d been since receiving the injury. “Two days…?” 

The doctor scoffed and flicked the injury with the pen that had Pietro flinching before writing something down. He asked a few more questions, giving a few more disappointing scoffs, before writing down more lines in his notebook and walking away again. When he was gone, Pietro could see the table near him once more. The doctor and guard were gone, and laying atop it was now an immensely quiet Yelena. She lay on her side, one hand pressing against her neck. Pietro could see a bruising mark in the shape of fingers on her shoulder and fat tears on her cheeks.

Seeing his own doctor busy back at the tables with blood vials, Pietro snapped his fingers then waved his hand until he had the little girl’s attention.

“The hurt will go away soon, okay?” Pietro said just loud enough for her to hear, knowing the pain she was in but being unable to do anything about it. Phantom pain from all the times he’d been given the medicine from the large needles had his own neck tingling. He barely refrained from covering his own slender sensitive area of skin, feeling a need to protect himself. Just in case.

“Now go back?” she said, a sad look on her face, bottom lip jutted out in a pout.

“I don’t know if they’ll let you go back with me,” Pietro whispered sadly. He hadn’t seen her in a few days but had to assume she’d go back to her own room, where she was usually kept. It had been a surprise to see her wander out of Wanda’s cell earlier.

Pout still in place, she mumbled something else in response but it was too unclear. 

Pietro had not yet mastered her native language, especially when not spoken clearly. “I don’t know what you’re saying, Lena,” he said with a frown.

She tried again louder but jerked into silence when they caught the attention of one of the guards, who yelled at them to shut up with a bang of his baton on a nearby metal table. 

When no one was paying attention to them and the blonde looked over to him again, instead of talking, Pietro tilted his head, crossed his eyes, and stuck his tongue out.

Big green eyes, still shiny from tears, stared.

He pointed to the smelly guard that was looking away and plugged his nose, waving a hand in front in a silent explanation that he smelled. Then he began making different faces and movements, all silently, until finally he cracked her and she smiled, a sniffly giggle escaping despite the large tears still on her cheeks.

He smiled back and gave her a wink.

After some more tests, the doctor he’d been stuck with gave him his leave and Pietro gratefully climbed off the table and went to follow the guard who was to bring him back to his room.

“Pie zhdat’!” Yelena yelled as Pietro passed her, leaning forward over the doctor’s arm. The bearded man threw up his hands and tossed whatever he’d been holding onto the small table next to him with a loud clang. 

Pietro flinched but stopped walking. He swallowed, squeezed his fists nervously, and inhaled before opening his mouth. “Can she…um… Mozhet li on-ona pa…poyti so m-mnoy?” he asked his guard standing tall beside him, butchering the Russian words but hoping he was close enough for them to understand his question of if Yelena could go with him. Most of them got annoyed if he didn’t speak in their mother-tongue.

Another group of muttered words came from her doctor before Pietro’s guard spoke to the smelly one, who then grabbed Yelena by the arm and yanked her off the table. Pietro stepped forward quickly and caught her before she hit the floor.

When he stood back up, he did so with the girl in his arms. She clung to him like the child she was, arms around his neck and legs wrapped around his waist like a vice. The part of her neck that was touching his own skin was hot to the touch and it had him wanting to shove her off and leave her because of what it would soon mean. But he wouldn’t. She was just a little girl. Whatever new animal they gave her couldn’t be any more dangerous than her others.

When nothing happened and he was fairly certain that he was being given permission to leave like this with her, he walked back to his own guard and followed him through the lab doors and down the corridors, carrying Yelena the entire time. Pietro wasn’t strong by any means, but she was so light, her weight was barely noticed. He could just barely make out her voice puffing out unnecessary pleas. 

When Pietro passed the hall where her room they normally kept her in was, he looked up to the guard, who was smirking at him oddly.

“Lena…let go. I do not think we can–” Pietro stopped in the middle of speaking when she whined again, a sad noise in his ear, gripping tighter to him.

“Stay,” she begged.

With a glance at the guard escorting him, who smiled wickedly and pressed his weapon on Pietro’s back to keep him moving, Pietro sighed, hiked Yelena up higher, and walked further down the hall until he got to his own cell. Once the guard had it unlocked, he walked through, shuffling past the intimidating man who still had a weird smile on his face. The door was made of a strong, meshy wire but the rest of the walls were of some other type of equally-strong metal that were always cold and impossible to bend or break. They had tried.

“Have fun with that,” the guard said with a dark laugh, his words spoken with a thick accent. 

As soon as the door was closed with a slam and locked, Pietro sat down on the blanket in the corner of the otherwise barren room, the little girl on his lap. It was only a matter of time now before the new DNA made its way into her system fully and she shifted. The heat from her neck where the medicine had been injected was hot to the touch, and spreading. 

“Is ‘ot,” Yelena murmured in his ear. 

“I know. Here, lay down. Put your face on the cold floor,” Pietro said, helping her detach from him and lay on the metal floor beside him as he did the same on the blanket. Her eyes were unfocused and she kept rubbing all around her neck, swallowing more than normal. He’d offer her water if he had any, but he didn’t. He smoothed her hair back off her face, pieces sticking to her cheek from sweat. Wanda was much better with comfort than he was, and he wished she were here now with them.

“Gde …?” she half-asked, but Pietro knew what she wanted to know.

“They’re in their own rooms,” he said, thinking of his sister and Natalia. At least, he thought so. Last he knew anyway. “Maybe we will see them later.” He hoped.

Yelena hugged his slender arm to her. “Pie. Love,” she murmured.

It was barely a sentence, but he got the gist. “I love you too,” he said back hushedly, and he meant it fervently. He might not have known Yelena or Natalia as long as his own sister, but he did love them. They’d all become so important to each other. They'd been through a lot in such a short time, though it felt much longer, and when he thought of their future, it was always the four of them together. Him, Wanda, Natalia and Yelena. The two little Russian girls who'd wormed their way into his and his sister’s hearts without even trying, as if they were always meant to be there. But they were a family now, and nothing would ever change that. Just how his mama and papa passed away and were no longer with them, this little girl in front of him and her crazy red-headed sister were now a part of it. 

“Istoriya?” Yelena whispered, but he shook his head.

“Not now, Lenie. Try to sleep,” he said. “I will tell you stories later, da? Maybe the one about the little bears? Malen’kiye medvedi?”

She hummed in response and clung to his arm, eyes already closed, and Pietro did the same, hoping to get some sleep. At least for a little bit.

2005

The acoustic guitar in Kate’s arms felt a little awkward since she hadn’t practiced in a few weeks. She plucked a few strings, warming her fingers up as she tested if any of them needed to be tuned.

“Me-me-me-me-meeeee!” she sang sillily, twisting some of the pegs minutely. Cooper giggled nearby, picking apart a pinecone he’d found into tiny pieces.

“Whatcha playing over there, Katie?” Laura asked as she pushed Lila in a baby swing that hung off one of the large oak tree’s branches.

Kate shrugged. “Nothing really. Just messing around.” 

Yelena leaned forward, her long hair down and flowing around her as she swung her legs back and forth next to Kate. “Lion King song?”

Kate grinned at the suggestion, and after fiddling a bit more with some of the strings, she placed her fingers where she thought she should and strung them roughly. It was unfortunately the wrong chord and it took two more tries for it to sound right, but when she did, she strummed it loud and dramatically, letting the sound reverberate around the porch. 

“Hakuna Matata…” She moved one finger and lifted another, then strung them again. “What a wonderful phrase…”

Yelena giggled beside her, the corners of her eyes crinkling as Cooper joined in and together they yelled, more than actually sang, the next words while Kate miraculously played the correct chords that accompanied the words.

“Hakuna Matata! Ain’t no passin’ craze!” She plucked one of the strings, moving the sound higher each time as she rocked from side to side, like steps in a song, then went back to strumming a chord that reverberated around them again.

After a few more verses, with mostly Kate singing and Cooper joining in on the words he knew, she messed up a few too many times for her liking and gave up, using her fingers to strum all the strings together with mild frustration, ending the song prematurely. 

When the guitar’s sound disappeared, she heard Yelena humming the tune to the song still, giving her this secretive smile that only Kate ever got to see. 

“That was very good, Katie,” Laura said from a few yards away, clapping with Lila and making hushed ‘yay’ noises.

“Heh, thanks. I just thought I should…practice a little,” Kate said, flustered at Yelena blatantly staring at her with that look, along with Laura’s compliment. Yelena had been asking about the instrument ever since Clint had played his own guitar last week outside one evening, but Kate had been hesitant to do so when she kind of stunk at playing.

“You’ll have to show Clint later,” Laura commented. “He’ll be very impressed. Shit…”

Kate looked up at Laura cursing, something she didn’t do very often anymore, lest the kids catch on and start to copy her. 

Laura was no longer pushing Lila in her swing. Instead she was pressing on her stomach, her eyebrows pulled together tightly. 

“Laura? Are you okay?”

Yelena looked over at Laura too, stopping her humming.

“Mmm…hm. All good. Just normal baby-growing pains,” Laura said after a too-long pause, waving haphazardly in their direction.

Kate made a face, very much not believing her. “Okay…”

It was the middle of the afternoon on a Tuesday. The outside chores were taken care of, courtesy of Kate and Yelena, and a lunch of sandwiches and chips had been eaten on the porch, which was where everyone now found themselves. Everyone besides Clint, who was still at work.

Kate thought that things hadn’t been going well recently there, though. It wasn’t anything that had been said, but he’d been getting home late more often than not, and he didn’t seem as happy as he usually was. And he had been extra cuddly with the kids.

So Kate had started a routine. Every time Clint would get home, Kate would ask him how work went. He would give her this grim sort of smile, shrug, and say, ‘work was work.’ Sometimes Yelena would join in and ask if he’d found her missing brother and sisters and he’d say, ‘we’re working on it’. Who was included in this ‘we’, Kate wasn’t sure. But that’s what he’d say. She felt bad that Yelena’s family was still missing, but if it meant that she could stay longer, Kate secretly was at least a little glad. Even though she would be going back to Manhattan once school started, she wanted every moment she could with Yelena.

After the new routine of Kate and Yelena asking him questions upon his arrival home, Clint would then give Laura and the kids hugs and kisses, lots of them, and disappear for a while before returning in comfier clothes, seeming a bit happier.

Other than Clint’s weird mood though, everything had been just really… good, in Kate’s opinion. Ever since Kate’s weekend with her mom, each summer day seemed as wonderful as the day before it. The weather had been nice, the kids had been mostly good, Laura was about to pop, and each day Kate learned a little more about the blonde that she’d become inseparable from. 

She eyed the colorful bracelet tied around Yelena’s wrist and her heart seemed to skip around in her chest. Yelena hadn’t taken it off even once since Kate had given it to her. She even showered with it on, and with them being outside so much, it had started leaving behind a white line around her slowly-tanning skin. More often than not, Kate would catch her playing with the dangling strings like a cat. Then she’d give Kate the same smile she’d been doing lately. The one that made Kate feel all goofy inside.

Tires on gravel caught their attention away from Laura’s odd behavior and she looked down the driveway to see Clint’s car pulling up slowly, so as to keep the dust being kicked up to a minimum. 

Once he got out of the vehicle, Kate checked to see if the routine would be the same. “Hi Clint!” she piped out as Cooper and Lila ran over to give their father hugs, her guitar forgotten and now laying on the wooden porch slats under her feet.

“Hey Katoe-potato,” he said, leaning over to kiss Laura’s temple as he passed by a kid in each arm.

Kate rolled her eyes at the nickname. “How was work?” She wished she could come up with an equally-goofy nickname but was not that quick-witted.

Clint shrugged. “Work was work.”

Kate smiled to herself. “Do you work tomorrow?”

“Every day ‘cept the weekends,” Clint said. He scruffed up Yelena’s hair as he passed her. “Hey kiddo.”

“Hi,” she said, looking up at him hopefully. She’d been slowly getting more comfortable around the man and it was obvious that everyone in the house was glad for it, Clint especially.

He beat her to the punch this time before Yelena could do her portion of the routine that Kate wasn’t sure she was aware she was a part of. “We’re still looking for them, but no news is good news, yeah? Tomorrow’s a new day.”

Yelena nodded with a hum, turning to stare out past the tall fields of corn and tall grass as Clint went inside to change out of his uniform and finish the routine happening only in Kate’s mind, with Laura following slowly but without making any more weird noises or faces.

“You okay?” Kate asked her once they were alone outside.

Yelena nodded again. “Yes. I am thinking.”

Kate tried to find what Yelena was looking at but saw nothing out of the ordinary. “About what?”

Yelena’s eyes moved from across the fields and higher towards the tops of the trees and the blue sky full of puffy clouds. “How to help,” she answered cryptically.

Turns out Yelena’s idea of ‘helping’ was to sneak out later that night through the bedroom window in Kate’s room, which was more like their room.

As much of a hard sleeper she was, Kate still managed to wake up to the sound of Yelena fiddling with one of the windows.

“Yel’na? What’re you doin’? Kate mumbled, trying to force herself awake.

The girl in question was crouched in front of one of the windows, trying to push it open and failing. “Kate. Go sleep more. I will be back.”

Kate was definitely not awake enough for this. “Huh?”

“I will be back,” she repeated.

“Back? From where? You’re…leaving?” she tried not to whine, but wasn’t sure she succeeded. 

“Laura and Clint says stay, but at night it is dark. No one will see,” Yelena explained without really explaining.

Kate rubbed her eyes. Her mouth felt full of cotton. “I’m so confused. See what? What’re you looking for at–” she glanced at the digital alarm clock that she only used to check the time and never the actual alarm, “two in the mornin’?”

Yelena began pulling up at the window but it must have been locked. “Sem’ya. Natalia. Wanda and Piet.” She moved to the other window to try and open that one instead.

Oh.

Kate pushed herself up into a sitting position, covering her mouth as she yawned. “You want to go looking right now?”

“Yes. Now,” Yelena said, much more awake than she should be. Did she even go to sleep?

“But it’s dark,” Kate countered lamely, stating the obvious.

“Da. I use sova.”

Kate groaned at the words that were mysteries to her. “I dunno what that means, Y’lena.” She just wanted to go back to sleep, preferably with a bed buddy to cuddle. She felt herself tipping over and straightened up with a jerk.

Yelena huffed. Kate had rarely seen her act like this; frustrated. “Owl. Sova is owl. I will see in dark and be very quiet. And… and fly up high. Higher than before. And find them. I… I need to, Kate.”

After letting her body wake up as much as it was going to, Kate slipped off the bed and shuffled to the window Yelena was crouched in front of. She slid down to her knees, eye-level with the impatient blonde. “Are you sure we can’t wait ‘til morning?” 

“Laura say to stay, but… I hear Clint,” Yelena said. “After dinner, talking with Laura. He says wolves are in the forest.”

“... Isn’t that where wolves normally live?”

Yelena’s eyes, dark in the room with no light, turned to her fully. “It could be Wanda.”

Kate blinked. “You guys can turn into wolves?” she asked. Yelena nodded, as if the question had been as simple as ‘is the grass green’. 

“I see Wanda before as volk, but maybe Nat and Piet too can be. It is likely.”

After a beat, Kate unlocked and then pushed the window open, eyeballing the screen. The sound of crickets along with the warm night breeze floated in. “I can go with you,” she offered half-heartedly, though wasn’t really sure how unless she walked, borrowed Cooper's kid-sized bike, or borrowed Laura’s car. And they’d for sure get caught if she did that. “We can look together.”

Yelena pushed against the screen, unsure how to remove it. Kate waved her off and unlatched it on each side before Yelena broke the thing, then set it down on the floor against the wall inside the room. 

“I don’t think this is a good idea… What if something happens?” Kate said, voicing her concerns, but when she realized Yelena was already undressing, she turned her head away with a sigh.

“I need to look, Kate. It has been a long time. I think too long and I…I can help. I should help. Maybe I find them, and bring them here,” Yelena explained, sounding hopeful. A brief pause, then her accented voice continued in Kate's head. <Clint is good at finding you say but… is taking too long and I… need them. My mind says to go look, so I must. It is what they would do for me. I just… miss them.>

“Will you come back?” Kate asked, trying but again failing at sounding a little whiney. When she turned around, a beautiful tan owl with large dark eyes stood on the floor, sharp clawed feet digging into the fabric of the pajamas Yelena had just been in. White feathers peeked between the tan and brown colors, and all over her face. It was mesmerizing.

“You’re so beautiful…” Kate murmured. The owl on the floor did nothing besides blink, incapable of most physical human responses as far as Kate was aware.

<You are beautiful,> Yelena spoke in Kate’s mind, and she felt her chest grow warm and fuzzy.  

<I be back, Kate. Ob–promise. Byt’ bezopasnym,> Yelena sent. Kate had no idea what the new group of words meant but didn’t ask, too tired to really care at the moment. Kate also didn’t have it in her to stop the girl–now owl– from trying to find her missing family in whatever way she was able to; Kate would do the same if she was in her shoes, no pun intended since Yelena still had some weird aversion to wearing any shoes besides Laura’s slides.  

Yelena moved around, picking through her wings with her beak before seeming to think better of it and turning her head up oddly towards Kate, dark eyes dilating, body twitching with small movements that looked both odd and natural at the same time. She fluttered up to the windowsill with tiny wings that made barely a sound.

“You’re just so pretty,” Kate whispered, petting some of Yelena’s feathers with the backs of her fingers. It was the first time she’d ever seen her turn into an animal that wasn’t a dog or a cat and Kate, with her sleep-addled brain, continued to pet the soft feathers with a dopey smile on her face.

Yelena cooed, a low sound that should have been made outside, high in a tree in the dark of night. <I'll go to woods, where Clint works, and said he sees wolves at. So… I maybe find them. I will come back before sun is awake in the sky,> she promised and Kate could do nothing besides nod at Yelena’s words. She thought of pulling her small form closer to hug, but refrained, unsure if she should. 

Yelena fluffed up her feathers, shaking her wings out like she was stretching. Then with barely a sound, Yelena gracefully jumped and flew through the open window and into the dark, eerie night, as if she’d been a bird her whole life. 

Kate watched Yelena’s retreating form until she quickly disappeared from sight.

“Be careful,” Kate whispered loudly, but wasn’t sure if she was heard.

The next time Kate woke up, it was to someone shaking her. She wiped the drool off her chin and sat up from where she’d been leaning over a pillow on the sill of the open window.

“Hey Katie, sorry to wake you. Everything alright? Why’re you on the floor?” Clint asked, eyeing the screen against the wall as he rubbed her arm to get her to start moving.

Kate blinked. “Huh?” Her neck hurt from sleeping hunched over and she began to rub it.

Clint looked around the room. “You’re sleeping on the floor. And why’s the–” he stopped short, looked again at the bed, out the hall, then back to Kate who was digging crusties out of the corners of her eyes. “Kate, where’s Yelena?”

“Um. Yelena? She…” Kate looked around the room and after quickly realizing Yelena was nowhere to be found, she then looked outside. It was getting lighter out but the sun had yet to officially peek out over the horizon. “She said she’d be back before sunrise,” Kate murmured, just loud enough for Clint to hear.

He let out a curse. “Jesus fucking Christ, kid. C’mon, let’s go,” Clint muttered, grabbing Kate’s pillow and tossing it on the bed, then helping her stand up.

“S’fine, Clint. She just went to go look around,” Kate said as he popped the screen back into place and shut the window, muttering something about the air conditioning.

“It’s not fine, Kate. There are very bad people out there most likely looking for her. People that might or might not have her sisters and brother already,” Clint stated sternly. He sounded mad.

“But… she said… She was just going to…” Kate stuttered, whiplashed back to being very unsure of Yelena’s decision to go off all alone.

“Kate–” Clint sighed, not finishing whatever it is he wanted to say. He put his arm over Kate’s shoulder, hugging her to him, but he seemed the more panicked of the two of them. “C’mon. We’ll wait for her downstairs together.” 

As Clint brewed a pot of coffee, Kate sat on the porch steps outside, leaning against the legs of the wooden railing as she rubbed her sore neck, still twinging from her poor sleeping position. The sky was turning from a gray to an almost-purple color as the tip of the morning sun started to become visible and it was then that Kate really started to worry.

“You promised you’d be here before morning, Yelena… where are you,” Kate whispered to herself. 

What if she didn’t come back? What if…what if the people Clint mentioned found her? What if something bad happened? Would they take her back to the bad place she’d been before all this? Where she got all the scars on her arms? Where they wouldn’t feed her? Where they– Would Kate ever see her again? She started berating herself mentally at how easily she’d gone along with Yelena going off on her own, not thinking about any real consequences past Laura and Clint ‘finding out’. Like kids.

Clint eventually came to sit outside beside Kate and handed her a cup of coffee, made exactly how she liked it; a little cream and lots of sugar. She was glad for the interruption of her whirling thoughts

“Thanks,” Kate said quietly, looking up into the sky that was turning blue. She cleared her throat, the coffee too hot to drink yet. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, Katie. You didn’t do anything wrong. Just… I worry. I just want you girls safe. That’s all. I want all my kids, bonus or not, safe,” Clint said, oddly emotional beside her. He was wearing his work uniform and sipping his coffee slowly as he bounced his knee up and down, staring out at the lightening sky. 

They remained sitting next to each other in worried silence, Kate leaning against Clint’s broad shoulder, until the sun was completely visible in the sky, drenching them in a warmth that was bound to get hotter as the day progressed. Kate’s pajamas started sticking to her from the growing humidity.

Yelena didn’t show up until both mugs had been drained and Clint had re-filled his. She was hard to see, so tiny in the sky, with the underside of her wings making her practically invisible against the clouds. She was only a few yards away when Kate realized it was her, throwing her hand on Clint’s arm with a gasp.

Albeit a little dirty, she still looked gorgeous, and Kate stared in awe. Yelena glided down on silent wings and landed on one of the tree branches above them, the browns and tans finally visible once her wings were folded in.

“Yelena! Where were you? You said you’d be back by morning! Are you okay?” Kate fretted while Clint remained quiet next to her.

<I am… sorry. I get… lost,> Yelena admitted, not meeting her eyes with her own dark ones. Some of her feathers were sticking out, as if they’d been half-plucked.

“Lost?” She got lost? Kate had no idea birds could get lost, let alone birds with a human brain in the driver’s seat. “Can’t you just like, fly really high and see where you are?”

Funnily enough, Yelena shook her head side to side. Apparently there were some human things she could do after all. <Not like that. In my head.>

Kate didn’t have a response for that. She didn’t get what Yelena meant, but she was extremely glad she was back, so she let it go. Everything was fine now; Yelena was back, seemingly unharmed. 

Kate put her arm out and patted it, causing Yelena to glide down and land on her outstretched arm. Kate then rested it on her knees to keep her balanced.

“I’m glad you’re okay. So… did you find them?” Kate asked instead, smoothing down some of the tan-and-white feathers, mostly because she just wanted to touch her physically in some way; proof that she was there. And to feel her super soft feathers once more.

<No. I… no,> Yelena said quietly, her practically-black eyes twitched to Clint and then away.

“I fell asleep waiting for you and Clint woke me up,” Kate said, wanting to explain why Clint was there and that she hadn’t outed Yelena on purpose. Clint was looking between them.

“Is she talking to you?” Clint asked.

“Oh. Um, yeah. Sorry, I didn’t know you couldn’t hear,” Kate said. She hadn’t realized how quiet Yelena’s voice had sounded, only now connecting the dots of the unique sound of her voice to how it sounded when she would speak ‘aloud’ so more than one person could hear her. Kate still didn’t really understand the whole thing, what Yelena referred to as mindspeech, but unfortunately Yelena hadn’t been very helpful in explaining it either.

No further words were spoken in her head but Yelena’s small clawed feet slowly moved further up Kate’s arm. “She didn’t find them, she said. Any of her family.”

Clint cleared his throat, tapping one of his fingers to his mug. “I’m sorry, kiddo. Keep your chin up. I promise we’ll find them. I just…can’t give you a timeline yet, or a better answer. Hopefully soon though.”

Yelena didn’t say anything as far as Kate could tell; her eyes looked half-closed and she wasn’t even sure if she’d been listening to anything Clint said. “She says thanks,” Kate supplied, not too sure if speaking for Yelena without being asked would be welcomed, but wanting to help.

But it seemed fine; Yelena didn’t say otherwise as Clint nodded. “You two okay if I head to work now?”

“Yep, we’re fine,” Kate answered for them both.

“Can you do me a favor and keep an eye on Laura for me today? Help her with Coop and Liles?”

Kate lifted her free hand into a salute. “Roger. I–we can do that, Clint.”

“Alright. Alright, good.” He squeezed a hand on Kate’s shoulder. “And you’ll both stay put? And not go off on your own? Please?”

Kate looked at Yelena, who was conveniently looking elsewhere. “Yeah. We won’t go off on our own.”

Satisfied, Clint disappeared into the house to swap his now-empty cup for his phone and lunch case, and then he was off for the day with a wave out the window. 

<I’m tired,> Yelena murmured in Kate’s mind when the gravel road’s dust settled. 

Kate carried her up the steps and back to their room for Yelena to change and for them to try and get some proper sleep. 

She’d messed up.

She thought she could help. Do good. Do some thing right. Be in control. She’d been doing such a good job, but Yelena forgot what it was like to shift into one of her other animals. One of the wild ones.

It wasn’t like her dog or cat, and she knew that, but she thought it’d be different, because she’d been doing so good.

It wasn’t.

It was like she was the puma again, back in the forest the night she’d gotten separated from Natalia. And before that too, when they’d first made her use it, and the others. 

Lost, alone, scared, confused. 

The only difference was the puma’s instincts to hunt and hurt had been much harder to fight off, something she’d ultimately failed at, as far as she could remember. 

But last night, instead of flying to where she had a good feeling her siblings could be and finding them, she’d spent most of the night fighting a losing battle with herself in her mind, trying to stay in control and not succumb to whatever the owl’s mind wanted to do, only to notice the sun coming up. She’d barely found her way back to Clint and Laura’s house. 

She hadn’t even gotten close to the forest she’d been planning to get to, and searched for the wolves she’d heard Clint speak of, certain they were not just wolves.

Yelena poked at the cereal floating in her bowl of milk, eating the pieces slowly growing soggier one by one with indifference. Laura had even let her eat at the coffee table instead of the table in the kitchen, which was nice. Cooper sat next to her, humming along to a song playing on the kitchen radio while he colored in a book of black and white pictures.

Kate and Cooper had tried talking to her a few times but had given up when they realized she was not in a talkative mood. Kate chalked it up to her being tired, which Yelena was, but it was more than that. Beyond all else, she was disappointed in herself.

Silent voices screamed at her from her past. Words of degradation, humiliation, and ridicule creeped up and she tried her best to shut them out like Wanda would always tell her to, but it was hard. Because part of her knew they were right. That they’d always been right.

Yelena had just wanted to help. She thought she could do what Natalia would have done for her, but she couldn’t. She never could. 

She scooped a few more pieces of sad cereal in her mouth, happy for the late breakfast that Laura had poured for her and Kate, but her mood remained a gray cloud over her heart.

A loud noise behind her had Yelena flinching and sloshing some of her milk onto the table, messing up Cooper’s coloring. Kate grabbed Yelena’s wrist in a calming manner before she got off the couch to see what had happened. 

Around the edge of the couch Yelena could see glass littering the floor, exploding outward in a circle from where a cup had fallen and shattered. Laura stood by the kitchen sink, bent over with her eyes closed and Kate had a crying Lila in her arms where she’d scooped her up from the floor. She quickly brought Lila over and Yelena accepted the toddler, hugging her close. Cooper was ordered to stay where he was while Kate then procured a broom and cleaned up the broken mess while Laura just stood in front of the sink in the same stance.

“Laura?” Yelena asked, holding Lila steadily and nuzzling her cheek against the toddler’s wet one.

The woman bent over by the sink eventually straightened back up, thanking Kate for cleaning up, and shuffled over. “Sorry. Did you check Lila for any glass?”

Once again, Laura went from acting odd, to back to normal. Yelena felt like she was getting whiplash. She scanned over Lila’s lower body and unfortunately a small piece of the broken glass had indeed lodged itself into the side of Lila’s foot; it was small but had the little girl crying all over again after Laura pulled it out, pinching it between two of her fingernails. As it bled, Kate ran off again to get something, but Yelena didn’t wait to pull the girl’s leg to her and lick at the wound. The unique taste of blood quickly dissipated, the small cut already clotting.

“Yelena! No. That’s…that is not safe or sanitary, honey,” Laura said, concern filling her voice as she pulled the teary-eyed toddler to her own lap to calm her like only she could do. Kate walked back over and handed a plastic kit to Laura, who then opened it to put some sort of goo on Lila’s injury along with a cartoon-covered bandaid.

“You could have gotten glass in your mouth,” Laura explained, though had no heat to her words.

“It is fine, Laura. I heal,” Yelena tried to say, but was too quiet. Plus, Lila interrupted her. 

“Spibo,” Lila said, staring at the blonde while cuddled in her mother’s arms, no longer crying but cheeks still red.

Kate laughed, breaking the awkward tension. “I think Lila is saying thanks for the spit,” she said with a grin. Laura grumbled something about them all being gross children as she settled back into the couch. She seemed fine again, but Yelena wasn’t certain.

“Yena? Want to color with me?” she heard Cooper ask.

That was the other new thing that had happened recently. Apparently, according to everyone in the house, Yelena was very good at what they referred to as ‘art’. Pages upon pages littered one side of the coffee table of drawings from the past few days of different animals, with Cooper and Kate trying to imitate her to no avail.

Yelena didn’t think anything of it. She was just recreating the pictures in her head with Cooper’s colorful pencils and crayons, but it was something that out of everyone in the house, only she could do.

A sketch made mostly of black and gray was nearest to her, and Yelena pulled it closer to stare at it. A crudely-sketched crow stood to attention, its beak sharp and pointed and one visible eye colorless and haunting. Past memories of black crows hopping around with her, no room to fly more than a few feet in the air flitted through Yelena’s mind and she rubbed her finger over the picture, causing black to stain the digit.

“Do a bear?” Cooper asked as tried to color his own picture without going outside the lines.

She nodded. Cereal forgotten along with her appetite, she scooted the bowl out of the way and grabbed some of the colorful pencils that looked like bear-colors, starting with the eyes. Soon enough, a full-bodied sketch of different browns filled most of the page. A large brown bear stared back and Cooper wasted no time in snatching the photo up to show Laura before Yelena felt like it was done.

“Teach me to do a good hawk?” Kate asked, scooching from the couch to the floor next to her, a brown pencil in her hand. 

She thought about it, but in the end agreed, though it was maybe not the best choice; Kate was absolutely horrid at any sort of art, even if her drawings were pretty funny. But she agreed to try anyway, hoping that there was something she could do right. Just one thing, no matter how insignificant.

Helping Kate draw her favorite bird seemed insignificant, so she would do it.

Kate pulled two blank papers toward them and with a grin, did her best to copy Yelena’s tiny strokes of the pencil. In the end though, one page had a rudimentary hawk, while the other had some sort of brown loaf of bread-looking thing with eyes and two different sized wings.

“It looks like a chickie nugget,” Cooper supplied over their shoulders. He quickly scribbled his own brown bird, which looked even less like a bird than Kate’s did, and declared it a ‘bread bird’. Then they began mimicking whatever sounds their birds would make in the wild.

Laura joined in with a pretty impressive imitation of a bird’s whistle that they would hear in the fields outside. When Lila tried to whistle, she just blew out spit on Laura’s arm instead. They all broke out into giggles, and their coloring turned into a game of pretending to be birds and racing outside. 

Her mood briefly lifted, Yelena ran outside to learn more about how a five-year-old likes to play.

That night, Kate was woken again, but this time it was with an insistent shake to her shoulder. Bleary-eyed, she found Yelena scrunched down into the bed, worry written all over her face.

“Kate,” she murmured, as if she’d been doing so for a while with no success. “Kate, open your eyes.”

“Mmm… m’eyes are open,” she said as she immediately closed them.

“Kate, please wake. Something is wrong,” Yelena said. 

“What? What’s wrong?” she said, trying to jerk herself to full-consciousness, scanning the room with ears tuned in to any sounds. “You okay? Did you have a bad dream?”

“Nyet, ” Yelena said. “I hear Clint and Laura go down the stairs. Laura was making weird noises.”

Kate caught the sound of dishes clinking around from the kitchen. She turned over on her side and saw it was a little after five in the morning. “It’s the dishes. Maybe they’re just hungry,” she said, already getting comfy back in her pillow but paused at the look on Yelena’s face. She sighed. “But… we can go see just in case?” she offered.

“Please yes.”

Yelena waited until Kate got off the bed, who paused to rub her eyes and let her brain acclimate to the new position. Then together they creaked open the door and crept to the top of the stairs and down a few steps until they could see into the first level of the house. 

Laura was sitting on a kitchen chair and Clint was power-walking in and out of different rooms, grabbing things and throwing them into a bag.

“You have everything you need, babe?” Clint asked, shoving things around inside a bag on the floor near where Laura sat.

“Yeah, I believe so. I packed a few weeks ago, just in case,” Laura said. She sounded winded, like she’d just got back from running a race.

“What time did Maria say she’d be here?” Clint asked, unzipping Laura’s bag and looking through it before going to a drawer in the kitchen and pulling out something Kate couldn’t see and tossing it into his own.

Laura didn’t answer right away. “Soon. Maybe thirty minutes?”

Clint paused to crouch in front of Laura. “Okay. You doin’ okay?”

Laura laughed. “Right as rain, baby.”

Clint hummed. “We’re gonna be outnumbered soon.”

“We’re already outnumbered,” Laura countered.

They spent a few minutes talking too quietly to hear as Kate sat next to Yelena on the steps in silence.

“Who is Maria?” Yelena asked in a whisper.

“She works at the clinic with Laura,” Kate whispered back out of the corner of her mouth, trying not to be a creeper but absolutely feeling like one as she watched and tried to figure out what Clint and Laura were doing. 

Then a tiny lightbulb turned on in her head. “Hey. Maybe Laura’s in labor.”

“What? What is that?”

“Like, she’s having the–” Before she could explain, one of the steps creaked loudly. Kate wasn’t sure who had moved, if either of them, but it caught the two adults’ attention.

“Kate?” Clint called, making eye contact with her as he leaned around Laura from his crouched position. “Ah, hey girls.”

Kate had a split-second thought of booking it back up the stairs, worried they’d get in trouble for being awake, but then remembered she wasn’t at home, or a little kid anymore. 

“Sorry, we didn’t mean to spy,” she said quietly, so as to not wake the kids. 

“It’s okay. Come down here a sec,” Laura called. Clint stood up with a pat to Laura’s hand and disappeared down the hall again.

“Uhh, everything okay?” Kate asked. She went to pull Yelena down the steps but the blonde wouldn’t follow, choosing to stay where she was, so Kate walked down by herself.

Laura didn’t answer right away, too busy breathing weird again, and that’s when Kate started to worry that something was wrong. “Laura?” she asked, a tinge of fear in her voice.

“Hey Katie,” Clint called from down the hallway, slightly out of breath. “Maria and Carol are going to be here soon. Can you two hold the fort down ‘til then? They should be here way before the kiddos wake up, but just in case?” he asked as he threw another bag down beside Laura.

“O-okay…” 

Logically, Kate knew why, but it was like her brain synapses had all frozen in lieu of watching Laura pretend she was doing some weird breathing meditation while Clint ran around the house like he was on a mission. Which, Kate supposed, he was.

“We need to head to the hospital, honey. The baby’s coming,” Laura said from where she was still sitting, her eyes twinkling. 

“Cool. Okay.” Then the lightbulb clicked on. “Oh! Oh my gosh. I knew it. Oh my gosh!” Now that it was confirmed, Kate’s brain went from calm, to bad-panic, to good-panic, if that sort of thing even existed. She was most certainly awake now if she wasn’t before. “Do you need us to do anything? Are you okay? Is the baby okay? How long will you be gone? Does it hurt? What about–” 

“No panicking!” Clint shouted from wherever he was, making Laura chuckle with a roll of her eyes. 

“Everything’s fine. My contractions are getting closer together though, so we need to get going. I called Maria and she’s on her way here, most likely with Carol and Monica.” Laura stopped to take more weird, slow breaths in and out. It looked to Kate like when people in movies or shows were having a baby.

“Are you doing the masseuse breathing?” Kate asked.

Clint laughed from outside, loud enough that Kate heard him since he had left the front door open. He scurried back in and shook his head as he grabbed a few things from the fridge, still smiling. Kate sent a harmless glare his way but he didn’t see it as he grabbed the bags still surrounding Laura and brought them outside.

“It’s lamaze, sweetie,” Laura explained.

“Uh okay, lamaze. But will you be okay?” Kate asked. 

Kate was an only child. She’d never really been around babies before, other than Cooper and Lila, and definitely not someone actively pregnant and about to give birth. She was trying to not let her nerves get to her but she loved Laura, and worried about her and the new baby, a lot.

“I’ll be just fine. This isn’t my first rodeo, sweetheart. We’ll be back in two or three days with a new little baby you can cuddle that I’m sure you’ll get sick of hearing crying in no time at all,” Laura said in her laid-back voice.

“Okay,” Kate said, not knowing what else to say. She was nervous, but Laura seemed calm as a cucumber.

“You will come back?” Yelena piped up from the stairwell. 

Laura turned slightly and smiled through one of her slow breaths. “We’ll be back before you know it, honey. Remember Maria, my friend Maria from work?”

Kate did, she’d met her many times, but Yelena shook her head no.

“Hm. Well, you probably will when you see her. She’s going to come watch the kids while we’re gone. She’ll be staying here until Clint and I get back home with the baby. She watches them all the time, plus her daughter and Cooper are two peas in a pod and love to play. You won’t even notice that we’re gone,” Laura said.

Kate doubted that, and was fairly certain Yelena felt the same. 

“Can you girls help her out if she needs it? With the kids?” Laura asked.

Kate confirmed they would as Laura started doing her breathing exercises again, rubbing up and down her very round stomach. She tried waving Yelena down again but she remained where she was with a minute shake of her head, halfway up the steps, watching. 

Clint came back in from through the front door again, going to the kitchen to write something down on a piece of paper. “Babe, ready to go?” 

Laura nodded and when he was done, Clint came over to help her stand.

“Katie, Maria’s number is written on that pad of paper on the counter. It also has the hospital’s main number and address we’ll be at. We have our cell phones but not sure how great of service we’ll get in the rooms. I’ll call you from the room phone with any updates when I can,” Clint explained as he walked and Laura waddled towards the car. “Oh, and your mom will probably call later. I sent her a text message, but I’m not sure what time it is by her, so she might still be sleeping.”

“Okay. I’ll call her later and let her know if she doesn’t. Um. Have fun!” Kate said, following behind like a useless duckling.

“Never change, Katie-Kate,” Clint said with a grin as he helped Laura in the truck. “Thank you for your help. Be good. And be safe ,” he said with a pointed look that faded away into his normal grin. “See you two in a few days with a new little eating-sleeping-pooping machine!”

“L-love you! Good luck!” Kate yelled back once she was outside on the porch.

After the two adults were both situated in the running vehicle, with Clint triple-checking they had everything deemed necessary, he drove off with a wave out his driver-side window.

Eventually, Yelena found her way downstairs and stood next to Kate, curling her hand into Kate’s and leaning into her shoulder. Together they watched until Clint’s truck was no longer visible. 

“They will be back?” Yelena asked sadly.

Kate pulled her into a hug, recognizing her quest for comfort and dislike of people leaving. “They’ll be back,” she confirmed.

Maria arrived shortly after Clint and Laura left, barely enough time for Kate and Yelena to do much more than doze off on the couch until they were rather rudely woken up by a loud knock.

One of the women Yelena had met from Laura’s work walked in, followed by a cute little girl with long legs and fluffy black hair in pigtails, and finally a tall woman with blonde hair that just screamed energy.

Introductions were quick before Maria immediately got to work digging through the kitchen for a suitable breakfast as the little girl, Monica, ran up the stairs with the taller woman hot on her heels to get Cooper and Lila up for the day.

Kate seemed to know them well enough and didn’t have any qualms on not-Laura or Clint waking the kids up, so Yelena allowed it. But she kept an eye on the house guests all day. She did vaguely remember Maria from Laura’s work, but the other two were new people.

Monica was nice enough for a little girl. She was sassy and said things that Kate said were considered rude, but she was nice to Cooper and Lila, and quite funny.

“Why do you talk different?” Monica had asked Yelena during breakfast, getting scolded by Maria, whom she called ‘mommy’, before Yelena could even answer.

Later, after losing to a card game against Cooper, Monica called him a ‘nerdy buttturd’, which got her a two minute time out, even though Cooper found it hilarious, as did Kate.

Then just before dinner, she was being ‘bossy’ and made Cooper cry over something Yelena did not know, but he quickly stopped when Kate jumped in to fix the situation.

The phone in the kitchen hadn’t rang all day either, even though Yelena distinctly remembered Clint saying he would call. She’d even eyeballed the paper he had written on, but wasn’t sure exactly how to use the phone yet beyond holding and talking into it, and she didn’t want to mess anything up or ask. She knew Kate would help her, but Kate had been running around helping the two new adults in the house find where things were while also helping keep the peace between three kids, so Yelena didn’t want to bother her.

She just wanted Laura and Clint to come back home so the newcomers would leave.

The blonde woman that had come with Maria, Carol, was also part of the problem. Neither of them did anything correctly, especially the new woman, and it was souring Yelena’s mood as time went on.

Maria was the same from when Yelena met her the first time. She didn’t ask any probing questions, she gave Yelena her space, and she had a sweet smile and kind voice, similar to Laura, even if she wasn’t afraid to raise it at her daughter. 

But Carol… Above all else, she kept making Lila cry. 

Kate just said it was because Lila was too attached to Laura and was being stubborn and whiny, but Yelena wasn’t so sure.

Throughout the day, Carol had given Lila a different plate than the colorful ones she usually used for meals. And she didn’t cut the strawberries up the same way as Laura did during lunch. Then they made her take a nap, even though Yelena didn’t think she wanted to. And then when everyone went outside to play, they wouldn’t let Lila bring the toys she wanted. 

But the worst? Carol had sat in Yelena’s seat for dinner. The seat she sat in at practically every meal since she started living at Laura and Clint’s house. 

By then, Yelena had had enough.

She huffed to herself again, curling up tighter on her and Kate’s bed as she stewed. She was upset but couldn’t decide if it was for one reason or many.

Carol had ordered her to go upstairs after Yelena had screamed at her during dinner. Lila had been crying, again, and Yelena couldn’t take it anymore. She had just started… yelling. She honestly wasn’t even certain if it had been in her native tongue or not, nor could she recall the last time she’d raised her voice that loud, at anyone. She just didn’t want Lila to cry any more. It made Yelena’s heart hurt. 

During dinner Carol had placed Lila’s highchair between her and Maria, while still in Yelena’s spot, and had not been successful at getting the wailing toddler to eat food she didn’t want, but it’d been the final straw. Yelena had stood up and started shouting, about to go and take Lila away and hide with her in her room, away from the two women who did everything wrong, but never got the chance. Carol very firmly told her if she was going to ‘act like that’, to go upstairs and not come back until she had ‘cooled off’. Yelena didn’t even know what that all meant, but when all she got from everyone else in the room, including Kate, were sheepish looks and silence, she threw her fork on the floor with a yell which made Cooper jump, and scurried upstairs where she’d been holed in ever since.

She’d left the light off but with the sun setting, she could still make out the pretty colors of the bracelet Kate had gotten her. She played with the end strands, feeling the soft fabric on the pads of her fingers, unnamed feelings swirling in her gut, heart and head.

“Yelena?” she heard Kate call out quietly from the other side of the closed bedroom door along with three soft knocks. “I’m coming in, okay?” Kate said when Yelena didn’t answer.

Her back was to the door so Yelena didn’t see Kate come through, but she could hear her. “You okay?” Kate murmured. 

“I am fine,” Yelena said, the words feeling like a lie. She felt the weight of the bed shift as Kate sat behind her. 

“You don’t sound fine,” Kate commented.

Yelena shrugged.

“Carol and Maria really are nice…” Kate tried. “C’mon, stop pouting.”

Yelena huffed. “They make Lila cry,” she stated firmly. “And I am not pouting.”

She heard Kate chuckle. “Sure you aren’t. And Lila’s crying because she’s a baby who misses her mommy and daddy, that’s all. Not ‘cause of Carol or Maria. She’s two. She cries if her macaroni isn’t bunny-shaped.”

“But the bunny noodles are yum…” Yelena mumbled.

Kate laughed. “Yeah, but so are the normal-shaped ones, ya goof.” Kate flopped down onto her stomach, close enough so that they could see each other’s faces. “What’s really wrong?”

Yelena shrugged again; she didn’t know. “Lila doesn’t like Carol.”

“Yes she does,” Kate immediately countered. “She loves her. Didn’t you see them playing together earlier? Carol knows like every baby song in existence. Plus, they’ve babysat her loads of times.”

“But… she cries,” Yelena countered back weakly. “She has cried all day.”

Kate hummed. “Yeah, she has been extra whiny today, but not all day. Babies and toddlers are super finicky. They cry over nothing half the time. But I really do think she just misses Laura. She’s super attached to her, you know? ”

In her gut, she knew Kate was right. But it didn’t make Yelena feel better. Hearing Laura’s name had Yelena’s heart twinging.

“Do you just not like Carol?” Kate asked instead of continuing to argue about whether or not a two-year-old does or doesn’t like someone.

Yelena didn’t answer right away. She felt like she didn’t like Carol, but had the woman done anything to her beyond order her to go upstairs or sit in her usual spot? No, not really.

“I don’t know. Carol is… loud,” Yelena finally admitted, though wasn’t sure what she even meant by it.

Kate laughed again. “Yeah, she is. Carol’s kinda crazy. She’s also one of Clint’s very best friends.”

Yelena looked over at Kate’s statement. “Clint and Carol are friends?”

“Sure are. Certified besties! But according to Laura, they get into too many ‘shenanigans’ together,” Kate said, making bunny ears with her fingers.

“What is… shanigans?” Yelena asked, turning from her side to her back.

“Shenanigans. Like, in trouble, but in a good way. I guess? They like… go on adventures and have fun, but always end up getting all dirty and hurt and stuff.” Kate explained. “This one time a year or so ago, they decided it would be a good idea to take the kids hiking up a mountain of sorts when Maria and Laura were working. They didn’t check the weather because of course they didn’t, so it started raining as soon as they got to the tippy-top. Then Monica got stung by a bee and Carol couldn’t remember if she was allergic or not. Then Clint slipped down a patch of mud and rolled his ankle with Lila in a baby carrier on his back, and Carol ended up carrying him and Lila back down the mountain while Monica’s arm slowly swelled up like a tiny balloon. Pretty sure Cooper learned two new swear words that day that took Laura weeks to get him to stop saying.”

When Yelena didn’t respond, Kate continued after she stopped laughing, “Point is, Carol’s really nice and fun. She’s great actually, and I think you’d like her if you gave her a chance.”

“She says what to do,” Yelena said, looking down while picking at her nails.

Kate frowned at this. “Well yeah, but so do Clint and Laura.”

Yelena didn’t have an answer to that, because although she knew Kate was right, it didn’t seem the same to her. Laura and Clint were Laura and Clint. And Carol was… not.

“I think maybe…she’s not used to being around someone our age?” Kate said. “Plus, you did kind of freak out at her.”

Yelena huffed. She did feel bad about that, but not enough to apologize to the woman just yet. 

“I miss Laura,” she admitted suddenly, not understanding why she felt the need to voice so, but feeling her heart squeeze again at the thought of Laura being gone.

Kate made a face and inched closer so she could wrap her arms around Yelena’s waist in a hug. “I know. It’s okay, me too.”

“Everyone leaves,” Yelena announced forlornly as Kate used Yelena’s stomach as a pillow for her chin.

“But they come back,” Kate said with a lilt to her voice. “I came back,” she then reminded her, moving so her chin was on Yelena’s arm. It got the definitely-not-pouting girl to look up so Kate’s eyes met her own. 

“Yes. You come back,” Yelena confirmed quietly. 

Kate smiled. “I’ll always come back,” she said without much thought, not knowing the intricacies of her words and how deep they would mold themselves into both of their souls.

They cuddled together for a while, Kate talking about nothing in particular until Yelena went into her own reminiscent story of how she and her sisters used to do each other’s hair when they were younger.

“You can do mine, if you want,” Kate offered. “If it makes you feel better.”

Something rolled around in Yelena’s gut, heavy and warm, before quickly subsiding. And she did end up playing with Kate’s long hair, twirling the ends and practicing making tiny braids. It made her feel better and she thanked Kate, whose response was simply a silly smile, blue eyes sparkling.

“Kate! Yelena! Phone call,” Maria called from down the stairs, interrupting them.

A bright grin appearing on her face, Kate quickly pulled Yelena off the bed and down the stairs, bypassing everyone to get the phone and holding it to both of their ears. 

“Hi!” Kate chirped. Yelena didn’t know who was on the other end, but hoped it was either Clint or Laura.

“Hey Katie. How’s it going over there?” Clint’s deep voice greeted on the other end. Yelena leaned closer to hear so Kate put the phone on the counter and pressed the speaker button instead.

“It’s good. We just ate dinner,” Kate said.

“Yeah? What’d ya have?” Clint asked, his voice sounding far away.

“Chicken, and broccoli. And some fancy rice that Lila didn’t like,” Kate said. “But it was good.”

They could hear Clint chuckle. “Sounds like Maria was in charge of dinner. What’s for dessert?”

“S’mores!” Carol yelled from the living room at the same time as Kate, making Yelena flinch, a scowl on her face. Clint obviously couldn’t see her through the phone though, because she could hear him laughing.

“How’s Laura? And the baby?” Kate asked. “Did she–er, is it born yet?”

Clint hummed. “They’re good, really good. Laura’s resting right now. Her contractions slowed down a bit earlier so the doctors are monitoring her and the baby closely, but they’ve already picked back up, so should be any time now.”

Yelena only recalled bits and pieces of what Laura had explained to her a few weeks ago, about the baby inside her, but wrapped her arms around Kate and molded herself to her while listening intently to the man’s voice she’d gone from fearing to enjoying to now, curiously, missing. She saw Carol look over but turned her face to better ignore the woman.

Clint and Kate chatted for a few more minutes as Yelena mostly listened, only saying hello when Kate mentioned that she was there too, until Clint announced he had to go.

“I’ll give you guys a call in the morning. Be good ‘til then? Give the kids extra hugs and kisses for me?”

“‘Kay, we will. Love you,” Kate said. When Yelena went to say the same, her voice squeaked and froze at the first syllable. She had never told a man besides Pietro she loved them. Said it and meant it, anyway.

“We love you,” Kate quickly corrected. “Talk to you tomorrow. Tell Laura hi too, and hope it all goes well!”

“Will do. Give Carol an extra hard time for me, will ya? Bye, girls!” Clint said loudly, then ended the call.

When they got off the phone, Carol was giving them a look, now standing and using the back of the couch to lean on.

“Should I be concerned?” she asked.

Kate shook her head, swishing her hair on Yelena’s cheek. “I don’t think so. Clint said that–”

“No, no, not about Laura and the baby. About this,” Carol clarified, waving her hand around them.

Kate froze. “What? N-no! I mean what are you talking about? What do you–there’s nothing–nothing to see, I mean ask, I mean–um–”

Carol started laughing, then reached over to shake Kate by the shoulder. Yelena quickly pushed Kate away though so Carol’s hand fell away. 

“I’m just fucking with you guys. Your little teenage business is your own. Maybe call me in a few years though, yeah?”

Before Kate could respond any more inarticulately or Yelena could try and deduce why Kate’s entire face was bright pink, Cooper slammed the side door open to announce it was dessert time, ending the very awkward moment.

After explaining the correct way to eat the dessert they kept calling ‘s’mores’ and laying out the graham crackers and chocolate near where they sat on old tree trunks used as benches, Kate and Carol then proceeded to eat practically half a bag of uncooked marshmallows, which were puffy white pieces of gooey sugar, by themselves, while Maria got a small fire going in Clint’s steel pit. When she noticed, Maria snatched the bag away with a very annoyed ‘seriously?’ and put Monica in charge, which the little girl was absolutely game for. At one point she made Carol make up a song about marshmallows before she’d give her any more, which to Yelena’s complete surprise and Maria’s enjoyment, Carol did. 

It was absolutely horrible, even if Carol sang kind of prettily, and made all the kids laugh, including Kate who dropped the perfectly-toasted marshmallow she’d been trying to make for Yelena’s ‘perfect s’more’ onto the ground with a dramatic whine. She didn’t want to have to sing songs for more marshmallows, but Monica had no qualms of giving Yelena another, even if Kate was the one cooking it.

Not wanting to burn her own puffy white treat, she allowed Kate to make them all, who other than the one she dropped, was pretty good at roasting marshmallows. And just like just about every other treat Kate had given her to try, they were delicious, cooked or uncooked.

Maybe it was the sugar, but by the end of the night, Yelena couldn’t help but join Kate and the kids’ laughter when every single marshmallow Carol tried to cook caught on fire, though she claimed that was the best way to eat them. Whenever someone would accidentally get their marshmallow too burnt, specifically Cooper, Carol would snatch it up and eat it before he even had time to be sad about it, and then hand Maria a new marshmallow to help him toast to perfection.

It was… sweet, Yelena supposed.

In the morning, Yelena and Kate woke to find Laura and Clint still sadly not home. So once everyone was up, Carol made monstrously-sized pancakes, creating a giant mess all over the counter, the stove, and herself. They weren’t as good as Laura’s french toast, but they were… good. Though Yelena would not admit so out loud to the woman. 

Lila was in a much more pleasant mood that day too, and Yelena was also able to secure her seat next to Cooper, so it was already going better than the day prior. The two older children were dragging, probably because they’d stayed up half the night giggling during their sleepover in Cooper’s room.

The house phone rang just as Maria went upstairs with Lila, so Yelena watched with guarded eyes as Carol answered.

“Barton residence! This is Carol speaking. I’m sorry, but tickets to the child zoo attraction are all sold out. May I interest you in a free walk around our field of goats? Headbutts come free of charge,” Carol chirped out with a goofy accent.

She laughed and spoke to whoever was on the other end for a minute or two before catching Yelena watching her. Carol waved her over but Yelena tapped Kate to get her attention instead, pointing to the tall blonde woman waving now both of them over.

Kate ran and took the phone, spoke to whoever it was for only a short time, then promptly handed it back to Carol with a squeal of happiness. “It’s a boy!” she shouted, scurrying back to her seat. “I knew it. What do you think they named him?” Kate asked as she drenched her plate in more syrup. Her plate looked curiously more like a brown bowl or cereal, and even Yelena knew Laura would disapprove. She subtly pulled the brown bottle closer to her and away from Kate. 

That was another interesting thing about Carol; she didn’t care about what they ate. In fact, her plate looked about the same as Kate’s did; too full and covered with the things Laura would most definitely not approve of. 

“Mike!” Cooper shouted, on a Monster’s Inc. kick lately.

“It’s a boy?” Monica confirmed. “Then…Billy Jo Henry.”

Kate hummed, swallowing the food in her mouth. “That’s a lot of names for one name. What about Kate Jr.?”

“That’s not a boy’s name,” Monica stated firmly.

“Says who?” Kate argued, mouth full of pancake.

“Says everyone,” Monica said. Yelena had learned that the little girl was very good at arguing, even if she was completely wrong. Kate had also been warned repeatedly not to argue with the seven-year-old, which she still kept doing anyway.

“Fine then. What about… Clint Jr.?” Kate offered.

“No way. Absolutely not,” Carol scoffed out from the head of the table, no longer on the phone. “That would be the worst . What about a nice, normal, not-lame name. Like… Bint. Or–”

“Bint!? And Kate Jr. is too a normal name!” Kate half-yelled with mirth.

Carol rolled her eyes, taking a large drink of water. “Not for a Clint-and-Laura kid it’s not. Okay, fine. No Bint. Maybe like… Christopher. Or Brandon. Kevin? Ooo, I got it! Barney!”

Kate barked out a laugh. “Like the dinosaur?”

“No, like his brother!”

Kate paused cutting her pancakes. “Clint has a brother?”

“Yep.”

“Named… Barney?” she asked with a disbelieving laugh.

“Yep,” Carol repeated.

“Carol, maybe that was information that Clint would have shared if he wanted it shared, babe,” Maria announced halfway down the stairs, helping Lila scoot down on her butt step by step.

Carol shrugged, chewing and swallowing her bite of food. “Too late now, secret’s out. What about you kid? Got any name ideas?” Carol asked in Yelena’s direction.

Kate turned excitedly, ready to hear whatever they thought she’d say but Yelena just shook her head, shoulders scrunched up as she ate her good-but-not-as-good-as-Laura’s breakfast.

“Momma, what do you think the baby’s name is?” Monica asked, saving Yelena from any awkwardness of having to come up with a baby name. She’d never named a thing in her entire life, let alone a human.

“I think we should wait to meet the baby and find out what name Clint and Laura gave it,” Maria said, turning her attention back to Lila and ‘yaying’ with her when she reached the bottom step, effectively ending their name-guessing.

“Party pooper,” Carol said in a fake-whisper, causing the younger kids to giggle and Maria to flick her on the head when she walked by. 

“Laura banned Clint and I from name-guessing too,” Kate whispered conspiratorially to Carol with a firm look.

“Sounds about right,” Carol said with a nod, shoving another forkful in her mouth.

Kate caught Yelena’s eye and grinned, cheeks full of pancake, and Yelena couldn’t help but smile back, weak to Kate’s infectious happiness that Carol helped bring out.

Carol was still loud and obnoxious, and said weird things, and Yelena still couldn’t say she was a fan of the woman, but she did kind of remind Yelena of Clint and Kate. She was funny, and made Kate and the kids laugh. So Yelena told herself she would make a point to try and give the woman a chance.

It was a really hot day but still somehow managed to rain in the afternoon, even with the sun shining. Yelena had never seen rain fall when the sun still shone, but chalked it up to the neverending list of things that existed that she was unaware of.

Cooper and Monica played in it but Yelena didn’t feel like getting wet this time, so she sat on the porch steps with Lila, watching the older kids run around and play. Kate stayed with her until Cooper dragged her out, but Yelena stayed quietly playing with some of Lila’s toys with the toddler, keeping her out of the rain as Maria sat on the porch swing nearby.

Maria was very different from Carol. She was quiet and patient, kind, and had large eyes that seemed to convey exactly what she was feeling at any given moment. 

It was a funny thing; the more people that Yelena met, the more she was starting to think that maybe Natalia had been wrong. That maybe there were more good people in the world than bad. She would have to mention it to her when she saw her.

Cooper ran up suddenly to Yelena, hair shiny from the rain he’d just been playing in, even though it’d already stopped. “Yena! Mon’ca says I’m a liar!” he shouted, louder than necessary for being a whole three feet away.

Yelena perked her head up. “Liar? Why?” she asked, holding the blocks that Lila began putting in her lap.

“She said that you can’t be a puppy,” Cooper stated with a wimpy stomp of his booted food.

“Puppy?” Yelena asked. “Dog? But… I can change to dog. That is not a lie.”

“That’s what I told her!” Cooper agreed with a whine. “Can you show her? Please?”

“Show who what, honey?” Maria asked from a few feet away.

“That Yena can be a dog,” Cooper said matter-of-factly.

“Can she now? That’s pretty cool,” Maria said.

Yelena turned to the woman. “Yes? It is… cool?”

“Super cool!” Cooper chirped out as Maria nodded with an easy smile.

After taking only a second more to think about it, Yelena made her decision. “Yes, okay. Well, I be back. I go to the bathroom.”

Cooper jumped up with a yell of ‘yay’ as Maria motioned for Lila to come play blocks with her. 

Following the rules that Laura and Clint had given her, Yelena walked back inside and went to the downstairs bathroom to quickly shift, the bathroom being the closest room that was ‘private’. She still didn’t understand the rules entirely or why they’d been given to her, but she followed them nonetheless. 

Yelena was never to change away from the house, unless Clint or Laura were with her and told her otherwise. She also had to go to a room with a closed door, by herself, and keep it private. Lastly, after explaining a bit more to Laura about what shifting entailed, she was to only take off her big clothes. Shirt, pants, a jacket if she had one on, but keep her underwear and bra on, if she was wearing one. 

Not forgetting the rules made Yelena happy; she forgot a lot of things, so did her best not to ever forget what Clint and Laura, especially Laura, told her.

Thinking ahead for once, she left both the front door and the bathroom door cracked open since no one else was inside to open the doors back up for her. She couldn’t open the doors with her paws; she’d tried before once and accidentally put a scratch in the wood that had Laura frowning. And Yelena did not ever want to make Laura make a face like that again. 

Once in the bathroom, she shed her outer clothes and quickly shifted to her dog after she finished using the toilet, shaking her furry body and getting used to the difference in her height and eyesight. Then she nudged the door back open with her nose after kicking the rest of her clothes into a pile between the toilet and the sink.

There were many times the past few weeks she’d shift into her dog or cat. The kids liked it, and something inside her did too. She couldn’t pinpoint why, nor name the emotion. Just that being on the farm, whether she was herself or her dog or cat, made something inside her happy. It was something she has never experienced before, but wanted as much of as she could get. 

Cooper was looking in her direction when she walked back outside. As soon as she pushed the door all the way open, he started running towards her so Yelena met him halfway, passing Maria and Lila on the porch swing.

“What the–when did ya’ll get a dog?” Maria asked as Yelena passed.

“That’s not a dog. It’s Yena,” Cooper said. “See Monica! See! Told you! I’m not a liar, you are!”

Kate looked up from where she’d been helping Carol in the goat paddock and made a weird face as she said something before rushing towards them all.

“Yes you are too a liar Cooper! That’s clearly a dog ,” yelled Monica from across the yard, arms crossed. As the two children continued to argue, Monica spelling out the word ‘dog’ with a rather large amount of sass, Kate speed-walked across the yard until she was by Cooper and Yelena.

She crouched down. “Hey, um. I don’t think you should–um. I don’t think Maria and Carol know about the whole…you know, animal thing,” Kate whispered in Yelena’s furry ear.

<Maria said it was ‘cool’,> Yelena said.

“I mean, yeah it’s cool. Of course it is. But…don’t think she really understood whatever it was she was saying was cool. Did you check with Laura? Is it okay if Maria and Carol know? Clint said we were supposed to keep it a secret,” Kate said, continuing to keep her voice low, even though there was no way anyone would hear her with the volume of the two young kids still arguing.

Yelena made a huffing noise with her nose. <Laura is not here to ask. And I do not care if they know,> Yelena said, staring into Kate’s pretty eyes. They weren’t as bright, but she could still see the blue shining through the different shades of grays of the rest of the world. It made her want to get closer and get lost in them.

Kate sighed. “I know but… Clint and Laura said to be careful.”

<Da. I am careful and follow rules,> Yelena explained, stopping to itch at her neck with her back leg. 

Kate sighed, scratching around Yelena’s neck and ears, causing her to loll her tongue out. “I dunno... But what about Maria and Carol? And Monica? Are you going to explain all this or am I?”

What did they have to do with anything? <Explain what?> She asked, looking up into faded blue.

“Yena! Come play with us,” Cooper yelled, interrupting her and Kate. “We can play chase!”

Yelena barked, a soft ‘woof’ that had Kate fighting a smile. <Cooper says play.>

“This is crazy,” Kate jested. “We can’t just…” she waved her hands around, “not explain it.”

Yelena just barked again, tapping around on her four feet and wagging her tail, an action that always put a smile on Kate’s face. She knew Kate and Cooper liked her as a cat and dog. They would pet her fur and tell her how fluffy she was. And Cooper loved to run with her. She was much faster than him, but always let him catch up.

“Fine. But only if you help me with the chickens later,” she then said, though it sounded less like a threat and more like a half-assed bargaining chip to have Yelena go to the coop with her and protect her from the mean chicken.

<Da, of course. Always. I guard from angry kuritsa,> Yelena said, then trotted over to Cooper and Monica, lolling her tongue out at the girl and sitting like a good dog when Cooper asked her to.

“Are you suuure that’s Yelena? It doesn’t look like her,” Monica said, though was already enamored with the dog sitting in front of her. Just as Maria started to say something, Monica stuck her hand out for Yelena to sniff. 

Instead, Yelena leaned over and licked the taller child on the hand, making her giggle. <Hi, Monica. I am dog like Cooper says,> Yelena said for Monica and Cooper to hear, though realized belatedly that she broadcasted it to everyone, and not just the two kids. <No lies. I am a nice dog, promise.>

“Uh, hey honey…?” Maria shouted from the porch, loud enough for the other woman still surrounded by angry goats to hear. She was looking around under the roof of the porch.

“Roll with the punches, baby!” Carol yelled back from the paddock, avoiding a headbutt from one of the few goats brave enough to venture back out of the barn to see if the dreaded rain had stopped.

“This is not a punch, Carol Danvers,” Maria shouted back, then mumbled, “more like an avalanche…”

Even though Carol and Maria were acting unsure, and Maria wouldn’t put Lila down for at least an hour, they did let Yelena play with the older kids since Kate was with them and made about fifteen promises, assuring that everything was fine.

 When Kate deemed it ‘chicken time’, Yelena, still shifted, went with her to the coop. And although Kate did all the work, Yelena stayed by her side, daring Bramamina to come close. She wasn’t sure why being in this form felt better, but for whatever reason, it did. Maybe it was because she was constantly being hugged or pet by someone and she enjoyed the closeness. And although she enjoyed the simplicity of the akita’s instincts, she never got lost in her head. It just felt safer. Yelena could protect Kate and the kids, and herself. Maybe. 

Just as they were walking back towards the house together to bring the eggs in and get something to drink, Yelena heard a high-pitched shout and turned her head to see one of the larger male goats headbutt Carol, who was still messing around in the paddock. From what Yelena could gather, the woman was using some tools to fix part of the fence. 

Even though Carol was trying to fix what Clint hadn’t had time to, the goats had clearly had enough of her loud tools and intrusion on their space.

The goat rammed into her again just as she was standing up and Yelena veered away from Kate’s side and towards the fence of the paddock.

“Maria! Help me!” Carol cried out with a laugh, even though she was clearly in some measure of pain.

“Babe, I love you, but I am not putting one foot in there. You should have locked them in the barn like I told you,” Maria stated. “Besides, I’m holding a baby.”

“She’s not a baby! She’s almost two!” Carol whined, attempting to slowly get up again as Yelena got closer.

Maria scoffed. “She’s a baby. Isn’t that right, Lila-girl?” she cooed, tickling Lila and making her giggle.

When the male goat went to ram into Carol a third time, Yelena slithered under the lowest part of the fence with a growl, sprinted forward and gave two loud warning barks, teeth bared as she stood between Carol and the smaller animal. The goat bleated loudly in fright and ran off with the other goats who’d been grazing nearby.

When Yelena turned, she was practically face to face with the blonde woman.

“Woah. Uh. Thanks kid,” Carol said. She sat up, dirt covering most of her skin and clothes, but did not look injured, which Yelena was… glad for? 

<Welcome...>

When she spoke to Carol, the woman had a huge smile spread across her face, and she ruffled the fur atop Yelena’s head. “You’re pretty cool. You know that? Fucking scary and weird as hell, but cool.”

There was that word again; cool. Did it mean the same as how Maria and Kate used it? Yelena didn’t know what to say, so she simply blinked before passing back under the fence and walking back to where Kate had waited for her.

“This might sound weird, but do you wanna be the unofficial like, house guard dog? But like… still you. You know?”

<Guard?> Yelena questioned, not liking the word. <I do not… want to be guard.> 

She distinctly remembered how cruel most every single guard was at the compound, even if she hasn’t had to be around them in almost a month. She didn’t think she would ever forget their cruelty.

“No, like… what you did for Carol, and me around stupid Brama. Like a normal dog. What you kind of already do I guess? When you’re like that anyway,” Kate said, waving at her four-legged form. 

Yelena thought about it, and did not think she was doing anything similar to the guards from the compound, so Kate’s word must mean something different. <I… think I understand. I protect? Like I do with Cooper and Lila?>

“Yeah!” Kate chirped.

<If if is good, then yes, I will be guard.> 

“Just when you’re a dog. Or like, well any animal. All the animals! If you want to, I mean. It’s pretty cool. Scary, but in a cool way, you know?” Kate clarified in a bit of a ramble as they walked in the house, Kate holding the door open.

<Why is everything cool?> Yelena asked.

Kate laughed, setting the basket of eggs on the counter and grabbing two glasses and a bowl. “It just is. Cool can mean a lot of things. Usually though it means good or nice, I suppose. But in a… cooler way.”

Yelena still didn’t understand fully, but gave up asking. Kate was always right, anyway. 

“You gonna change back yet?” Kate asked.

Yelena shook her head back and forth. <Nyet.> 

“Okay.” Kate placed a bowl of water on the floor.

<I will be as you say,> Yelena said. She would be a good dog, and protect, and be cool, all at the same time. She would try her very best, anyway.

The rest of the day went well enough. There was much less crying and no theatrics for dinner that evening. The next day though, Kate was kidded-out. She’d been helping Maria and Carol all weekend and although she loved Cooper and Lila, and Monica was super fun, she just wanted a break from them. Laura usually let her and Yelena go off on their own when they wanted, unless she really needed them for something, Kate had only been a bit more helpful since Laura had been extremely pregnant. 

Nonetheless, Kate was still a teenager and kids were still, sometimes, extremely annoying kids that she needed a break from.

Lunch was weird but funny that day, in Kate’s opinion. After breakfast and a quick phone call from her Mom where she shared the little news she had of the new baby with no name, Yelena had turned back into a dog and refused to change back for reasons she would not share, but the looks she received as she scarfed down a turkey sandwich Kate had cut into squares ranged from disbelief to eyerolls to full-bellied laughter and giggles.

When they were done, Kate got Yelena’s attention and they snuck away together with barely a parting word.

They ended up going on a walk away from the property, past the barn and empty field and towards a stretch of pine trees and long grass. The humidity from the afternoon rainshower had finally dissipated and now the breeze in the air blew Kate’s hair and Yelena’s fur around them. Yelena bounced alongside Kate, close enough to touch if Kate wanted to. She could just set her hand atop Yelena’s head if her furry head was up instead of sniffing the ground.

“When I was little, I used to make bracelets with flowers like these,” Kate said randomly, seeing a bunch of little white flowers all over the short grass.

“I think they’re just weeds, but they’re still pretty,” Kate added as they walked beside a section of grass that came to their waist. Tiny bugs that Kate couldn’t name flew up and away on silent wings.

<How?> Yelena asked, her tail swishing against the tall grass.

“You take the stem and tie it in a knot around the next flower stem. Then you keep doing it until it’s a circle,” she explained, already making her way to the largest area of flowers.

She pulled some of the small white flowers, leaving long stems to work with that she would later trim off with her nails. There were even a few purple ones nearby that she added to her handful. Yelena followed Kate, watching studiously as Kate plucked flowers all around them, until the brunette deemed her small handful enough and plopped down on the grass.

Kate hummed as she worked, the buzz of cicadas and other bugs, and the wind being her background instruments. When she had a completed flower chain, she held it out. “Tadaaaa!”

Yelena cocked her head. <How to make it a circle?>

“Like this,” Kate said. She took the gently-crafted chain and tied it together with the first flower she’d started with. Then she cut the stem short with her nails. “You take the first and knot it around the last one. And… done.” She reached over and set the flower necklace on top of Yelena’s head, around her ears. “Well, I guess it’s more of a crown now.” 

Yelena did her cute little head tilt again, twitching one ear and making the flowercrown wiggle. If Kate squinted, she could swear Yelena was smiling. 

Kate hummed and smiled. “Cute.”

They stayed there in the grass with the sun starting to make its way to the west. Yelena lay next to Kate, listening to the buzz of the late afternoon bugs and the kids far off in the distance playing.

“I love being here.” 

Yelena opened her eyes again and lifted her head up. < In grass? >

Kate shrugged, playing with another flower she’d picked and starting a new chain. “At the farm, away from the city and stuff. Where I live with my mom. I like being here, with Clint and Laura and the kids. And you,” she said. The thought of having to go back home flitted in her mind, the days between now and her last day here getting closer and closer. She had yet to bring up her impending departure to Yelena. Whenever she tried, it was like the words were stuck in her throat, refusing to escape.

Yelena made a noise, maybe acknowledgement, it was hard to tell, while staring at the new flower chain Kate was making. <Me too.>

Kate didn’t think she meant ‘away from the city’, but didn’t ask for clarification.

Yelena's ears twitched and she sat up quickly, looking towards the farmhouse.

“What is it?” Kate asked, pausing her hands.

<A car…> she paused, clearly focusing on whatever it was she was listening to. <Clint’s truck!>

Yelena’s curled tail started wagging and Kate didn’t think she could be any cuter.

She flung her half-made chain away. “Let’s go!”

When Clint put the vehicle into park, it was with a relieved sigh.

Home.

After over two days in the hospital, they’d finally been given permission to leave, and although it was always a little scary bringing a brand new baby home, a living, breathing thing that seemed too fragile to even be touching, he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

He unbuckled and got out of the car, rounding it from the front to help Laura out of the truck before unlatching their son’s car seat from the base.

Just as the car door closed, he heard a high-pitched yell near the porch. 

“Hi Daddy!” Cooper yelled, swinging on the porch swing with Monica. Lila screeched out something that sounded like a mix between ‘mama’ and the sound Clint imagined a happy pterodactyl might make, while making grabby hands at Laura as they walked slowly towards the porch. Maria was holding Lila but could barely contain the toddler as she tried to launch herself towards Laura.

“Hey everyone! Hey Maria. Thank you again, so so much for coming over on short notice,” Clint began as Laura finally got Lila in her arms and covered her face with kisses.

“It was no problem at all. Jane and Darcy kept the center afloat over the weekend with no issues and we had a fun time. Didn’t we guys?”

“Yeah!” Cooper and Monica said in unison.

There was no sign yet of Kate, Yelena, or Carol, but Clint ushered everyone in. Everything was new to the baby and he was starting to get fussy from being cooped in in the car seat and Clint would rather everyone meet him inside where there was a couch to sit on. Just in case.

He helped Laura get settled on the couch, then unclipped the baby from his car seat and set him gently in Laura’s waiting arms, trading her for Lila and hugging his little girl to him. The two older kids crowded around Laura, looking at the newborn and firing off about thirty questions in under a minute.

When Clint went back outside to grab all of the bags and things they’d taken home from the hospital, he finally spotted Carol walking out of the barn. She was full of dirt and who knew what else and he immediately began laughing at her. 

“You take a bath with the pigs while I was gone?” Clint asked as she walked over.

“You don’t own any pigs,” Carol retorted.

“I could get some just for you,” Clint said with jest. Carol just chuckled and slapped him on the back harder than necessary. 

“Gee, thanks. Congratulations, by the way.”

“Thanks. You know, I thought I’d be more… I dunno, anxious over bringing a third kid into the world,” Clint started.

“You? Laura did all the work!”

“Oh fuck off. You know what I mean.”

Carol snickered and grabbed the rest of the bags from Clint’s truck before closing the door. “And now?”

Clint shrugged, their pace slow as they walked towards the house. “I dunno. I mean, I’m still a little nervous. The kid’s barely a day old. I guess I just feel… content? Like everything is how it should be, and I don’t have anything to worry about.”

“Well, I’m sure that’ll go away as soon as you remember you’re outnumbered,” Carol commented.

“We’ve been outnumbered for years, really. First Kate, then you Cooper and Liles, then–” Carol kicked him in the calf which just made him laugh, “and now Yelena. I don’t think Laura and I ever had a chance of having a quiet house.”

Carol nodded in agreement. “Your first born made sure of that. What’s her deal by the way?”

“Who?” Clint paused before opening the front door.

“Yelena.”

“Ah. Um, well…” Clint trailed off, hiking up one of the bags higher on his shoulder that was slipping off, other hand resting on the door handle. “I’m not sure what you–”

“Barton, she shapeshifted into a dog like a wizard,” Carol disclosed bluntly.

“Yeah, she does that... After I hit her with my truck, Laura brought her home and she just… stayed.” Clint tried to recall the rules he and Laura told Yelena about when and where to use her capabilities, knowing full well she would follow them religiously, but couldn’t find whatever loophole she’d found to think doing so in front of Carol and Maria was a good idea. 

“Look, just… Laura and I will explain everything to you guys later, but please keep it between us? It’s important,” Clint said. 

Carol just shrugged one shoulder, nodding her chin to the door. “Alright, later then. Now let’s go see your newest kiddo.”

“As long as you wash your hands and face and maybe change your clothes and disinfect… everything. Laura might chop your hands off before you get anywhere near him looking like that.” 

Carol faux-gasped. “I’m not a heathen, Clint!” she barked as he held the door open for her.

“What’s a heathen?” Monica asked.

“Nothing, baby,” Maria answered quietly as she held Clint’s newborn son. She was one of Laura’s oldest friends and Clint was not surprised in the least that the woman already had her hands on the bundled-up baby.

Clint smiled at Laura sitting on the living room couch with Maria beside her making cooing sounds. The two older children were next to the couch talking as Laura held Lila, who looked more than happy to be in her arms. He didn’t recall a day since their only daughter had been born that Laura or himself had spent away from her that wasn’t more than 24 hours.

“Hey kiddos!” Clint called, setting the bags out of the way for now. Cooper immediately ran over to jump into his arms and Clint held him tightly.

“Hi daddy. That’s my baby brother,” Cooper said, pointing to the baby.

“It sure is. Are you happy?” Clint asked.

Cooper gave an exuberant nod. “Yes! He’s cute.”

Clint laughed. “You might not be saying that later. Boy’s got a set of lungs on him, lemme tell ya.”

“So you gonna tell us his name now? Or are we going to have to start guessing again?” Carol asked, standing behind the couch and over Maria’s shoulder, looking down. “Aww, cute.”

“In a sec. Just waiting for…” Just as Clint began to look around, trying to figure out where the two missing teens were, the front door opened again and Kate hurried in. Clint almost missed the dog that scurried in after her.

“There we go. Hey girls, just in time,” Clint spoke.

“Clint! Laura! Hi!” Kate called, throwing her arms around him in a hug.

Clint happily returned it. Yelena however had bypassed him to jump on the couch next to Laura and cuddle into her side, making noises he could only describe as ‘happy whines’. “Cute. Alright, well since we’re all here, you guys ready?”

“For what?” Kate asked.

“To hear the baby’s name!” Monica yelled, a bit too loud which had Maria shushing her. 

“Ooooo. Heck yes we’re ready,” Kate said. She took a seat next to Yelena, pulling her away from Laura as Maria passed the baby gently back over, Clint watching like a hawk the entire time.

“We aren’t making any more guesses, right?” Kate asked.

Laura just smiled down at the eight-pound human in her arms. “This is Nathaniel Bernard,” her gentle voice announced.

A chorus of awes were heard, which had Clint’s heart soaring at the amount of love and support they had in their lives. He and Laura had thought long and hard about baby names but in the end, after one look at his sweet face, Nathaniel won by miles.

Maria, Carol, and Monica left shortly after getting some baby cuddles, with quiet goodbyes and promises to be back soon. Then it was just Clint with Laura and the kids, hopelessly and forever outnumbered.

Clint glanced over at Kate and Yelena. Kate had already held baby Nathaniel but Yelena was more or less glued to Laura. She had moved off the couch and onto the floor and currently had her chin on Laura’s knee, sniffing but otherwise uninterested in the new baby, until he started crying.

“Wow, that’s loud,” Kate exclaimed unhelpfully. Clint rolled his eyes. 

While the baby cried and Laura attempted to soothe him, Yelena disappeared to the bathroom downstairs and when she reappeared, she was back to her normal human self.

Surprisingly, she shuffled up to him.

“Hey there, kiddo. Feeling okay?” Clint asked. He hadn’t heard a peep from her since he’d gotten home, but she could have just been excluding him, as she tended to do when around Kate. 

He rested his hand on the back of her neck, giving a loving squeeze, but he was not expecting her to get closer. Clint suddenly found himself in a similar embrace like he’d been with Kate. Yelena had her arms wrapped around him in a hug and for just a moment, Clint paused. Not once had she ever allowed him to touch her, let alone hug her, beyond the occasional hair ruffle or a pet when in animal form.

Clint couldn’t help but immediately put an arm around her as tight as he dared. It shouldn’t surprise him how quickly he had come to care for the girl, but it did. He wore his heart on his sleeve most days, and it was probably a flaw more than anything, but he couldn’t help it. Laura used to tease him for it, calling him a softy, but once they started having kids, her teasing turned to tears and looks of adoration at his softer side.

Yelena nuzzled her cheek into his shoulder and he smoothed down some of her hair.

“I am glad you are back,” she spoke quietly into his shirt.

“Me too, kid,” Clint responded. “Me too.” He caught Laura’s eye and winked.

It would be an adjustment for sure with a new baby in the house, but he wouldn’t change it for anything.

More than an entire week of her brother’s shenanigans had gone by before Wanda had had enough. Pietro had been acting weird ever since he had flown to the compound and found it abandoned, and Wanda could no longer ignore it. 

At first she had chalked it up to what he had found, or rather not found, at their old home and him having to emotionally deal with it. Back at the compound, they did not try and make friends with the others, but it was hard not to. Now, knowing they were all gone and with no way of knowing if the other children were alive or dead, it hurt deeply. Part of Wanda wished she would have been able to save them all, but she knew, in the end, she would always prioritize her brother and sisters. 

Even after a few days had gone by though, Pietro was still being secretive. Every day he was more quiet than normal during meals and would go off on his own during the day, only to come back with no news and a flimsy attempt at a lie about where he’d been. His answer was always the woods where they’d been separated, but he was not as good of a liar as he thought he was. Sometimes he didn’t smell the same, which he would if he kept going to the same area. Although Wanda wanted to believe him, and his answers were always reasonable, she knew her brother. And she knew something was off.

In any case, Wanda was over it. 

She’d tried getting the truth out of him multiple times, but he either claimed exhaustion when she wanted to talk, doubled down on his poor excuse of a lie, or gave answers that were almost too vague to even be answers at all.

Another harsh cough was heard from down the hall, and Wanda sighed.

“How long do we let her stay like that?” Pietro asked from the couch.

She wasn’t sure. Natalia was on day three of being sick and Wanda didn’t know what to do. Asking Odin for help had already been vehemently vetoed, much to Wanda’s chagrin, and they knew they couldn’t just walk into a hospital; too many questions would be asked.

Pietro set down his now-empty bowl of oatmeal. “I need to use the bathroom, then I will be back later Wands.”

Wanda looked up from the table she was sat at. “Where are you planning to go today?”

“The woods again, near the compound,” he answered.

Wanda held in her scoff, barely. 

“Do you want to come with?” Pietro asked.

Well that was a first.

“Nyet. I will stay with Nat.” Wanda was definitely worried, but didn’t know what to do. She could try and get her some medicine, but what kind? And with what money?

Besides, she had other plans today, sick sister or not.

Pietro shrugged. “Alright.” He walked down the hall to use the toilet, closing the bathroom door with a click.

As soon as the door shut, Wanda rushed down the hall. “Nat. Nat, open your eyes for me real quick,” she said hurriedly, rubbing her hand over Natalia’s shoulder.

“Mmm, what,” Natalia mumbled, curling tighter under the blanket, face a light shade of pink.

“I need to go out with Piet. I left you food on the table,” she said, pointing to the nightstand closest to the redhead.

“Where’re you goin’?” Natalia asked, squinting up from her pillow.

Wanda paused, wanting to tell Natalia her thoughts on Pietro but not having the time. “I just… I need to check something out. I will be back soon. By lunch time, okay? But if you need anything, Odin’s phone number is by the phone. On the yellow notepad.”

Natalia responded with a grumble.

“Call him if you start to feel worse. Promise?”

No response.

“Nat. Natalia. Promise.”

Natalia kneed her through the blanket. “ Yes , yes, promise. Lemme sleep…”

Wanda sighed and felt her sister’s face with the back of her hand. It felt a little warm to the touch, but wasn’t too worrying. Her hair definitely needed a wash though.

“Maybe take a bath? It might help you feel better,” Wanda suggested.

“Maybe…” Natalia whispered. 

Wanda heard the toilet flush and the door open. Pietro appeared in the doorway and bid a quiet farewell to them both. “Feel better, Nat. Be back later. Lyublyu tebya.”

“Ya tozhe,” Wanda responded.

She sat there until she heard the familiar sound of Pietro’s small wings fluttering against the plastic tarp they’d taped in front of the window, before going silent. It was confirmation that he was no longer in the apartment.

Time was now ticking and Wanda knew it. She had to go. “Love you, Nat. Be back soon.” She took the water bottle and set it beside Natalia on the bed, then closed the door.

Mere minutes later and Wanda was soaring above the clouds, golden wings shimmering from the sun. Taking a deep, steadying breath, she began scanning below her.

It didn’t take her long to spot her brother. He was flying far below her, without a care in the world, weaving haphazardly around the sky as if he owned it. The only reason she was able to pick him out against the other birds beyond his rather unanimalistic flying was his form, as peregrine falcons did not seem too common in this area. 

And he was most definitely not paying attention to anything above him. 

Wanda had no problems keeping up, even with his speed, a good mile and a half above him. Her vantage gave her everything she needed to follow him as he flew further out, past the city, over the river, and over many fields. 

She had no idea where he was going, but it was definitely not where he had described.

Eventually Pietro dove down into a section of pines that Wanda had never been to. Many cars were nearby and although she wished to fly lower and land to give herself a break, she remained soaring high in the sky. Just low enough to see what the hell her brother was doing without getting caught. Not yet anyway.

Interestingly, Pietro wasn’t doing much of anything. He landed on the edge of a building and stayed there until one of the vehicles nearby drove off. Wanda had not paid attention to the vehicle or who had gotten inside, but when the truck drove away and Pietro followed it, Wanda’s curiosity was piqued. 

She spent an hour and a half watching her brother follow the random truck through the woods until finally, thankfully, Pietro turned and headed away. 

Again, she followed. She was a little surprised he hadn’t seen her just yet, but her brother could also be a bit egotistical.

Her stomach started to growl around the time PIetro took a few minutes to hunt, quickly finding something suitable to eat and landing on a nearby overturned log. Wanda wished she would have backed off to give herself time to fish near the river, but they were much too far away now. She would lose track of him.

As he finished his meal, probably a small rodent as Pietro tended to go for, Wanda took a few minutes to glide around and inspect where they were.

Which was… really, nowhere. Fields upon fields surrounded them, with large houses and fences scattered around but most of them were not in close proximity to each other. Some small areas of trees littered the landscape, and every once in a while, she would see cars of different sizes, looking like bugs from her view, making their way down the thin roads below. She even saw a few tractors, which were actually pretty cool. It reminded her of when she would travel with her parents as a young child to visit the strawberry farms where they would load up baskets with berries. The farm was a few miles outside of town and Wanda would spend the majority of it with her head out the windows, watching the fields zoom past.

Her view was vastly different now, but the memory was nice all the same.

Once again, Pietro took to the skies. Wanda glided down a few hundred feet to find that most of the fenced-in areas contained animals. Some she had noticed, like cows and horses, but as she got closer, she saw other animals she hadn’t seen in a long time. Goats, sheep, chickens. 

Pietro flew further on. Where in the hell was he going?

Finally, he glided down and landed in a thin group of trees near an unassuming  farmhouse. Wanda couldn’t see him through the foliage nor anything that jumped out to her on why her brother would be in the area.

It was well past noon at this point and she started to worry about Natalia back at the apartment. She gave it about ten minutes before her impatience won out. When she was as certain as she could be that Pietro would remain where he was, she slowly glided lower until she was able to land on one of the tallest branches of a pine nearby.

The moment her eyes met Pietro’s own dark brown ones, she made a loud warning screech towards him.

<Wanda!> he shouted. She could hear the shock in his voice at being caught doing… whatever it was he was doing here. <What are you… H-how did you– I mean, I…>

<Stay right there, Piet,> she sent to him as he trailed off, her voice low even to herself. 

He tried again, clearly wanting to bolt but refraining. <Wanda. Why did you follow me?>

She glided over, standing on a branch opposite him. She was more than twice his size and staring at his small form, she felt like a parent about to discipline their child. Which was how she felt most of the time, if she were being honest.

<What are you doing here, Pietro?> she turned the question around.

<Nothing. I’m not doing anything. I was just… resting a moment,> he said. 

<You told me you were going to the woods. You lied to me,> Wanda stated with controlled anger.

<I know. I’m sorry. But we should probably get going though.>

How badly she wanted to kick him at that moment. <You are a bad liar. You have always been a bad liar. Now you tell me the truth, Piet. Now!>

She watched as he glanced towards the house they were nearby, then sighed, a feat that was rather impressive to do as a bird. <You’ll see. Just watch.>

Watch? Watch what?

Wanda looked around. She could see the large house with a wraparound porch, a tall tree in front with some sort of tire strung from it, a faded red barn to the right that was connected to a fenced-in area, a building of sorts with chickens milling around, and a small car near the front door. She couldn’t hear anything beyond the normal sounds of nature and animals near them, nor could she see anything that gave her pause. Nothing screamed ‘danger’ to her.

<What am I looking at, Piet? Why are we here?>

<You are not supposed to be here…> Pietro grumbled.

Her patience grew thinner. <Well neither are you! I don’t think… Now why is this house so important? And don’t try to lie to me again. I know something’s up. You’ve been acting weird all week.>

Pietro made a noise similar to a scoff in his throat, ruffling his feathers and shifting a few inches down the branch.

<Piet… Please.>  When he didn’t respond, Wanda’s thoughts started racing. <Is… is there someone dangerous in there? Are the other children in there? Or someone… else from…> she didn’t want to finish her sentence. 

<Wanda, no. It is… It is not him. But… Wanda, I am so sorry I did not say anything before, but I couldn’t. It wasn’t right.>

Now she was confused. <What’s not right?>

<She replaced us,> Pietro spoke angrily.

Wanda bristled. <She? She who? Replaced…? Piet, I don’t understand.> A feeling of unease started to grow in her gut. 

A noise near the house caught both their attention and together they turned to see a door on the porch swing open and a little boy run outside. He did not look familiar to Wanda. <Who is that? Is he one of the other children?>

Pietro cocked his head. <No. He is no one.>

Wanda rolled her eyes. <He is clearly someone.>

<Let’s just go, Wands,> Pietro asked, getting ready to fly off.

Why was he so adamant on leaving? He was the one who led them here. 

<We can leave if you tell me why you came here,> Wanda bartered.

<I was just checking on something! Okay?>

<On what? What could possibly be so important that–> she froze midsentence when she saw what, or rather who, walked down the steps of the porch.

<Yelena…?>

There was no mistaking that it was her sister. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into a french braid, and she looked clean and healthy, a far cry to how Wanda had last seen her. But it was her… it was their sister. Here, alive, smiling. She was hand in hand with a taller brunette that Wanda did not know, nor did she care. 

<Wanda, wait,> Pietro called just as she spread her wings to glide lower.

She paused and turned her head, eyes sharp and angry. <How long have you known?>

He didn’t respond. He just looked at her, then away, guilt written in his movements.

A mix of anger, disappointment, and sadness filled her. Pietro had known where their sister was and kept it from them. Whether he’d known for a week, a day, even an hour, it didn’t matter. He knew, and he’d hidden it from them. From her.

<I can’t believe you Piet.> Wanda didn’t think she’d ever been as disappointed in her brother as she was in that very moment. But the tears she felt wanting to drip from her eyes were not ones of sadness, but of joy.

Ignoring her brother and only half-caring if he even remained, she stared at her sister for the first time in over a month. 

<Pretty girl.>