Damage control
Pairing: Mob!Natasha Romanoff x reader
Summary: The day Natasha’s has been dreading, sitting face to face with Alexei again. Emotions run high, words cut deep and secrets get spilled.
Warnings: Angst, Fluff, Hurt Comfort, mentions of trauma, brief smut, uhhh a bit of deceit? Hurtful things being said?? Idk just angst 😂
Word count: 7.4k
Series masterlist: Prev part
As soon as the jet lands no time is wasted, you’re escorted out with your eager best friend awaiting you by the car. “Y/n/n, I’ve missed you!” She squeezes you tight as if you’ve been gone for months instead of two weeks. When she pulls back to inspect your wellbeing her smile quickly turns into a disgusted frown.
“What did she do to you?” She turns your head to the side getting a better view of the marks Natasha left on your skin. “Lena.” Your voice doesn’t reach her ears. Yelena snaps her eyes towards her sister as she approaches the car. “What have I told you about doing that to her?”
“And what have I told you about being in our business?” Natasha pushes her sister out of the way, opens the car door and guides you to the back seat.Yelena curses under her breath and mumbles something about telling Melina how Natasha pushes her around. Yelena asks questions about the trip and if you brought her a souvenir back you’re not really engaging in the conversation your mind is too focused on the fact that you’d be seeing Alexei again, and he will be in your house, sitting at your dinner table with that smug face antagonizing your your girlfriend. It infuriates you, it makes you even more mad that Natasha even agreed to have a meeting with him after what he did.
You shake your head hoping it makes those intrusive flashbacks go away and for the moment it does but you’re sure those flashbacks won’t stay away for long. “Did he tell you what it is about?” Natasha cuts Yelena off mid-sentence, it’s abrupt and a bit harsh but she’s been anxious since she first got alerted about him wanting a sit down.
“For the last time Natasha, no. You know he doesn’t tell me things like that. Especially when things involve you.” Sometimes there was a sense of guilt that Yelena held for still having contact with Alexei. He was still her father, even if he treated Natasha unfairly that’s just how it was. Yelena has a better relationship with Alexei while Natasha has a better relationship with Melina. It wasn’t always like that though, the pressures of the business got to Alexei and in the process, he stopped being a father and started acting more like a boss to his children, again more so Natasha than Yelena.
“Next car.”
“What? Why? I want to spend time with-“
“No! Next car, Yelena!” Yelena's face turns stone hard from being reprimanded. You touch Yelena's shoulder out of sympathy before she leaves her seat next to you and slams the car door shut.
“I know you’re stressed out right now, but you don’t have to take it out on her.” She looks at you but doesn’t say anything. She knows she was wrong for that; however, her sister’s rambling was messing with the small amount of peace she has left. Natasha avoids your gaze and pours herself a drink, you want to comment so bad, but you bite your tongue and let her deal with this emotion she’s feeling. Instead, you slide your hand into hers and link your fingers together. Comfortable silence, that’s just what she needed.
The moment you step foot into the house you sense Natasha is making her way to her home office to be held up in that room. You refuse to stand by and let her be consumed by her thoughts. “Absolutely not, let’s go.” You snatched her hand pulling her up the stairs and through the doors to your shared bedroom as you ignored her complaining. “What are you doing?”
“I had Nora prepare a bath for you.” She remains silent as she slowly accesses the scene. She isn’t protesting against it, so you continue on with your plan. You lead her to the bathroom stripping her of the expensive clothing. You lead her toward the tub edging her to get in. She sinks down into the warm water with a sigh of relief that you can tell was needed. As you turn away from her to leave, she quickly interlocks your fingers, halting your fast movements. “Join me?”
“Nat, that's for you to relax in.” You want to, you really want to. It’s been so since the two of you shared a nice relaxing moment however you needed this to be relaxing for her to take the edge off of what was to come in an hour or so.
“Relax with me.” Her voice comes out calm and sultry, something you cannot resist. So, you silently agree, giving her hand a gentle squeeze before pulling away to strip down from your own clothing. You slide behind her bringing your arms around her for comfort. Natasha shifts comfortably into your skin as you wash the warm water onto her. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“What makes you think that I want to talk about this?”
“It was just a suggestion.” Natasha hums content with your answer as you don’t push further, at least not right away. Your fingers comb through her hair, occasionally massaging her scalp in the process. You plant soft kisses to the side of her cheek and continue your display of affection as you work your way down to her neck.
“Ya know I’m actually upset that we didn’t get to do one thing on vacation.” Natasha sips her champagne with satisfaction, this is exactly what she needs, just you, champagne and relaxation. “Hm, and what’s that?” You curiously ask her. Most of the trip all she wanted to do was stay in the penthouse and fuck. You still went out of course but she never gave you an indication that she truly wanted to do an activity other than what you two actually did. “I don’t know, cheesy things like ballroom dancing, sight-seeing or Couples massage.”
“Well, why didn’t you say anything?” She shrugs her shoulders. “I didn’t know if you would be okay with someone touching my body.” You pinch her shoulders, and she jumps from the sting. “Ouch!” She turns around and glares at you. “Be serious Natasha, you would literally combust if you saw someone look at me the wrong way. I doubt you’d be able to sit through a massage in the same room while someone massages deep into my muscle tissue.” She stares at you briefly
“Alright! You don’t have to explain it like that, ya know.” She turns back around with a pout clearly evident on her face, you try to contain your laugh. “I did if I wanted to prove my point.” Natasha mumbles a “Whatever.” As she cranes her head for access to your neck. She kisses you with precision leaving wet open mouth kisses on your skin, going over her previous marks.
“Tash.” You bite your lip hesitantly as you prepare for your next question. “Yes, sweetheart?” She replies with her attention still focused on placing kisses on your skin. “I really think it would be good for you to talk about how you’re feeling about Alexei.” The kisses stop, suddenly the hot bath turns iced cold, and the silence is no longer comfortable.
“Will you do me a fucking favor and keep the rest of your suggestions to yourself. I said I don’t want to talk about it.” Her head flops back onto your chest with annoyance. The shove of her body has her gaze set on you immediately. “What the fuck?”
“You know, I thought you were progressing away from being a complete asshole, I’m just trying to be helpful during this process, but if you’re going to keep pushing people away then maybe you deserve to feel whatever it is that you’re feeling, alone.” You shove her body forward once more to create a gap of space for your exit from the tub. In the process water-soaked Natasha’s face, she swears you were thinking about drowning her just now.
“Y/n!” Natasha wipes away the water and bubbles from her eyes after the brief sting of pain she’s able to see you storming out of the bathroom. “Shit.” Natasha frustratedly splashes water everywhere as she still sits in the tub contemplating her next move. She knows she can’t fully show confidence against Alexei with you visibly angry with her, it would be a weak point that Alexei will spot instantly. Alexei was never known to play fair; Natasha needs everything to be in order especially since she doesn’t even know what this meeting is about. She sighs; she exits the tub after fully gathering her thoughts. Natasha lingers by the doorway with wet hair still dripping onto the floor and her towel snuggled against her body, she watches you on your side of the closet.
You finger through your section of the walk-in closet knowing Natasha would be close on your heels. She doesn’t say anything right away; she lazily flips through her wardrobe for a moment before she breaks. She doesn’t feel like dealing with this and having to deal with her estranged father in a few hours. It’s too much to handle.
“I feel...nervous.” Her words halt your movements, but you keep your back turned towards her hoping she can give you a little more than that. “This is the first time being near him since that day and- I don’t know…everything I do is to be better. Everything I did was done by the book, done to perfection. What if he sees me after all this time and sees nothing but a failure?”
“What if he doesn’t see the person, he trained performing at the level he spent day in and day out making sure was flawless?” That gets you to turn around, Natasha isn’t vulnerable often, so you never miss out on being her comfort.
“It’s alright to feel like you didn’t live up to his standards, because you didn’t. You made your own path Natasha, it took you a while, but you were able to make your own decisions without him in your ear. And as far as you being flawless goes, that went out the window the moment he caught us together.” Natasha lightly chuckles and cracks a little smile. She can laugh about that situation now looking back on it but at the time it was no laughing matter at all, even ended with her having a sore scalp and bruises on her body that she hid from you for days. You can tell she’s still not at ease. You brush her wet hair away from her face and caress her cheeks. “Is this our home?”
“What?”
“Answer me, is this our home?” You hook your finger underneath her chin. “Yes, this is our home.” Her brows are pinched together curiously waiting for you to get to the point.
“So, act like it, don’t let him get to you. Especially not when he’s in our territory, a territory that he’s not welcome in; he should be the one anxious and afraid. Not you. He should be questioning if he’s a failure. Not you.” The room is silent, and you both find yourself staring at each other. Natasha’s stare is one you can’t quite grasp at the moment. You never know what you’re getting with her in terms of her emotions. And suddenly Natasha smashes her lips against yours, not holding back on how much she wants to show her appreciation for you. Her tongue slides in every part of your mouth leaving you breathless when she finally pulls away from you.
“I love you.” Her words are hot against your lips. In that moment you’re frozen having not heard those three words since you went on a rampage inside the warehouse. She said them again and this time you didn’t have to hold a gun to anyone’s head. This time you didn’t have to force it out of her like you were pulling teeth. The words I love you flowed out naturally. “Ya know usually people say it back, it’s what normal couples do right?”
“I love you too.” You lightly whisper against her lips, kissing her with more affection and purpose. She hums placing her hand on top of yours, slowing your movements down. “I really want to, but we need to get dressed.” Natasha still kisses you even if her words were in total opposite of her actions. She shows no sign of stopping this encounter. “Shut up and spread your legs for me.” You tug her towel down and waste no time with placing your mouth on her neck. A spot right below her jawline that you know sends tingles throughout her body. Your finger's part her folds, you always take pride in doing so. Entering her warmth that was only reserved for you. Natasha releases a satisfying moan in response.
“See? I know what you need.” You don’t want to drag this out, you want to make her feel good, you want to further take her mind off of things. So, you quicken your pace while still remaining firm and precise, bringing her closer to her pleasure. “We still have a few hours left before he gets here.” You nip at her bottom lip as she’s lost in the feeling of you. She isn't speaking right now you only receive an agreeing hum. She doesn’t care about Alexei right now, she doesn't even wanna think about it anymore, she just wants to be in the moment with you. Natasha reels back into reality she takes back control and lifts you into her arms and sits you on top of the marble surface in the center of the walk-in closet.
“And I'm gonna take advantage of every second.” Her firm hand undo's your robe and softly pushes your body back until your skin is met with the cold surface. Her hands slide down from your neck all the way to your center. Her fingers glide against your skin teasing you're not sure if you've ever seen her with a look of patience. She finally dips down between your legs holding your gaze like she's on a mission to prove something. “I’m gonna show you how sorry I am.”
“Show you how much you mean to me.”
“How much I love you.”
---------------
The doorbell rings and Natasha has changed her outfit three times. You let her navigate that all on her own until you see her head back into the closet again. You’ve had enough and you truly don't want her spiraling any more than she has today. “Let me do it.” is all you say as you walk past her it only takes you a few seconds to shuffle through the rack of clothes and you're handing Natasha a Navy turtleneck and a gold link chain to match. “Simple, elegant and powerful all in one.” you tilt your head waiting for her to accept the item of clothing from you. You see her piece the outfit together in her head before she reaches for the hanger and the golden link. After she puts the turtleneck on and the gold link, she looks at herself in the mirror or a moment before staring at your reflection. She turns around fully facing you.
“What would I do without you?” The soft smile on her face is full of admiration and affection. You shrug, truly not knowing the answer to that but also not wanting to even think about that in detail. How drastic both of your lives would be without each other. She leans in and kisses you softly, a silent promise of something much bigger that she wants to express to you later. “You ready?”
Before Alexei could even get his foot fully into the door the guards pat him down multiple times thoroughly. “Is this really necessary?” he scoffs when he’s met with silence. It's fueling to think about, years ago he ran this family, he was in the higher up position that had people filled with fear just from his name, and now he’s nothing. Not even his name holds a higher ranking in comparison to Natasha.
The guards let him into the house but block him from moving any further creating a wall barrier from the rest of the house. After a few minutes they lead him into a room, not filled with many luxuries but a bar, odd furniture and a coffee table. He doesn't get the chance to ask any questions because the moment he’s in the room the door shuts behind him. He mutters under his breath alone. “You’re a terrible host Natya.”
While Alexei is confined in the room you and Natasha head downstairs into the kitchen. The meal is just about ready to be served. It's nothing too fancy but Natasha does want to flaunt what she has and what she’s achieved. The luxury she was promised as a child but never truly could have on her own. One she lived through your eyes only. Nights when you shared your space and your expensive trinkets with her and days when you treated her like she was not beneath you but a part of your world outside of your family business.
You link hands with Natasha, and she takes the lead into the dining area, and pulls out our chair before you sit down. When you both sit down Natasha gives Clint the signal that she’s ready to see Alexei. A simple nod of her head and she’s reaching for the wine bottle pouring you both a healthy amount in the glasses. You’ve been staring at her admirably the entire time after she sips her wine and she finally acknowledges your gaze.
“It's not nice to stare, buttercup.” she turns towards you with that small smirk that you love. “Hmm I know, but it's not fair.” your hand slides firmly against the base of her neck giving a small squeeze before she can ask what's gotten into you. “Maybe we should've gone with another shirt, I don’t like that you're hiding what I left.” your lips stick out in a soft pout one that Natasha finds adorable. Your hand tugs the top of the turtleneck down just a bit. So, you can see the dark purple marks left on her skin. You wear your marks that she left on your skin proudly as always, but you know it will really annoy Alexei, so you let Natasha go rampant earlier encouraging her to take more from you to leave every inch of your body in her hands in her control and she did with no hesitation. Natasha leaves a chastise kiss on your hand. “Behave.”
When Clint goes to retrieve Alexei, he's gone. No where near the room. He curses under his breath and against his better judgement he doesn't call it in to alert everyone. that's one thing he didn't need on his mind right now as being a fuck up especially when it comes to dealing with anything pertaining to Alexei. “Dammit, where the hell did you go?” He walks the first floor quickly opening and losing doors in search of Alexei as he’s about to give in and accept defeat and whatever punishment he'll be dealing with later the last door on the right is slightly ajar the faint sunset light shining from it pulls him closer.
Alexei hears Clint before he sees him but still, he isn't afraid, he isn't intimidated by the daggers in his eyes either he simply ignores it. “Ah, this house. The memories.” He looks around in awe touching the walls and the wooden materials. He makes a confident stride towards a door within the room, when a voice stops him in his tracks. “This room is off limits.” Clint’s voice is firm, and his face is unwavering.
“What? What do you mean off limits?” Alexei feels disrespected already. How could a stranger tell him what was off limits in his daughter's own house? In a house he’s spent many nights in. This very room he spent day and night in brainstorming plots and plans to take over the city.
“That room is-“
“Yes, yes I know what that room is and who are you to tell me it’s off limits?” Alexei’s voice raises in volume. Less than 20 minutes here and he’s already throwing a tantrum. Clint sighs as he tries not to make a scene. He lashes his gun and nods towards the door signaling for Alexei to leave this room. Reluctantly Alexei moves and exits out the room first he stops outside the door waiting for further instructions from Clint.
They walk in silence, Clint not really caring if he's walking too fast, he wants this to be over with just as much as everyone else. “We’ll be having the meeting in here.” Clint nods his head towards the dining area and walks out. Alexei takes a moment to get over the denial of walking into that room, and he walks in the same direction as Clint with Scott following him closely. The tension is high the moment the doors open and everyone locks eyes with each other. The distance between you both and him is an exact display of how both parties feel about each other.
“Well, it's great to see this place still as we left it, but I will say your hosting skills are shit.” he sits down and immediately pours wine like this was a friendly sit down and not filled with history and hatred. He drags out the point of this meet up that he asked for. He rambles on with small talk and talks about his glory days when his name instilled fear.
“I want to know what the hell happened with Tony’s club. I thought you were acquiring the property from him, Natasha.” How does he even know about that? No one in this room has spoken to him about business matters unless Tony and his big mouth are the ones to blame. It's clear he’s been keeping tabs on Natasha and what she’s doing. He might not hold as much weight as did in the past, but he can still get information if he wanted to. He still has his ways.
As Alexei continued with his ramblings and the mention of the club; your club to be specific. You feel emptiness as you desperately try grasping for your objects under the table. “Why is my gun no longer on my side of the table?”
“I had everyone do a sweep in here before the meeting, I know how erratic you can get, and we don’t need any more unnecessary problems.” She whispers low for only you to hear. Your arm still moves underneath the table as Natasha sips her wine ready for what was about to come next. “You took my throwing knives too?” Natasha shushes you and replaces the emptiness with her hand in yours.
“It’s for your own good.” You glare at her; you hate this whole thing and now you couldn’t even shut Alexei up if and when he pushes too far. You know he’ll overstep somehow; you just aren’t sure how fast he’ll do it. Strike one was his questioning of Natasha about Tony’s club, he wants to know more, he wants something more, you can feel it. “I’ll make it up to you.” She places a small gentle kiss to your temple and turns back to an annoyed and grossed out Alexei at the far end of the dining table. “If you two are done being disgusting, can we continue with discussion?” he shifts his gaze to focus solely on you. “I'm honestly not even sure why you’re here, this doesn't concern you.”
“I’m here because- “ Natasha cuts your explanation short. Stepping in to defend you when needed. “Anything that involves me is her business.” He looks between the two of you and the smug smile he had on his face falters slowly. He’s never been a fan of the two of you being together. He blames you for ruining the arrangement he had set in place for Natasha to marry into another family to make both families stronger as a united front. That family didn’t last long, every last one of them were wiped out except for Bucky. Natasha extended the hand to Bucky to join her organization when she took over and he’s been here ever since.
“You think you really know my daughter don’t you?” He has no shame in displaying his smug smile as he says it.
“I know her better than you.” You fire it back with confidence and no hesitation at all. Not just to fuel the fire more but simply because it was true. You know her better than anyone. You’ve always seen past her many telltale signs.
“Ah, so that means Natasha finally told you about what happened with your father?” Natasha’s movements still and you swear you could sense her heart stop beating. You stop your intense stare down momentarily to look next to you.
“What is he talking about, Nat?” Natasha dismissively shakes her head. Not ready to talk about this right now and being completely caught off guard by this. You slowly release your grip on Natasha’s hand at the realization of his words. Sensing your loss of warmth Natasha still remains calm and dominant as she stares back at her father with daggers in her eyes. All while Natasha clings to your limp hand underneath the table with desperation.
“Get on with what you’re here for.” Her words come out harsh yet calm the quicker she got Alexei out of her the quicker she could explain herself. Alexei didn’t get the reaction he was looking for with dropping a hint of a bombshell about your father's murder.
“I want my portion of the company back; it’s time I take things back. You're too occupied with…fantasies. Unable to achieve things under wraps or even on your own. You’ve gotten sloppy, careless and your skills have become amateurish.” Natasha laughs, not a normal chuckle or small simple laugh. She's laughing like she's actually amused by this. You're sure she would blow up on him from the entitlement and the fact that he’s demanding anything from her. “I don’t think I've said anything funny, Natasha.”
“In order to think, you need to have a brain, Alexei.” She takes a sip from her wine glass and tilts her head studying him. “Have you forgotten that you lost your credibility all on your own? No one did that but you. Your prime-time days ended a lot sooner than most. I rebuilt this name to What it is now, and you think you can just walk back here. In my life, in my organization and demand things from me?” The tone in her voice is tethering on the lines of danger. You're too lost in thought still hyper focusing on the weird response from earlier about your father.
“Ah, still such a big-headed little girl. I made you!” Alexei raises his voice and slams his hand onto the table. The crew keeps their guards up, hands hovering over their holsters ready to fire. Natsha holds a hand up silently letting them know that it's okay and to stand down. It takes too long for Natasha to give a response. Well, too long for your liking so you speak up for her especially since she was so vulnerable with you earlier today about how she felt seeing this man again.
“You did not make her; she did that all on her own. What you did was damage her. I'm surprised she is still here honestly from the non-stop traumatic bullshit you put her through.” Natasha still hasn’t let go of your hand under the table even when you went limp for that brief moment but now, you're in protective mode and Natasha feels the warmth from your hand in hers once again.
“I’ve had enough of you meddling into my family's business.”
“She’s my family, she’s been mine long before now and damn sure before I had to tend to her wounds that you gave her on a constant week.” Alexei leans forward in his seat and locks eyes with you. “Stay in your cage little bird, you have no idea what goes on outside of you running up a credit card bill.”
“I know it might seem that way, but my father taught me a lot, and if you think that I’m just some prized jewel whose only purpose is to be attached to Natasha you really are dumb.” you slowly tilt your head quickly analyzing him. “I would love to show you just how wrong you are.” The air in the room is now suddenly shifted. You really wish you had your throwing knives still under the table. A cold and eerie feeling surrounds the dining table; the deadly look in your eyes does nothing to ease Alexei.
Sensing the shift in the atmosphere Natasha rubs small and slow circles against the surface of your hand under the table. Not much longer she tells herself. Not much longer until she’s throwing Alexei out and back in the warmth of your embrace within these walls, within this home that you two have built together. The sensation of her touch has you reeling back into yourself. Back to reality and the dark thoughts that swarmed your mind simply fade away, for now.
“I’ve had enough of this, Natasha. Back to Tony’s club did you or did you not acquire it? Tony hasn’t been answering my calls.” His jaw clenches and he releases a frustrated breath. This meeting is surely nearing the end now, but how it will end is still undecided. “Oh, if you’re waiting on a call from Tony you'll be waiting until you're six feet under.”
“You have done nothing for yourself, following behind my daughter getting into her head and making her weak! His voice rumbles throughout the room and the weight of his fists shake the table. “I'm sure your father is probably turning in his grave.” That's the last straw for Natasha. She had no problem with you voicing your opinion or talking at Alexei but she knows the topic of your father is a very sensitive trigger for you and now she feels a bit guilty for even taking your sense of defense away from you.
“You don't talk to her anymore, you’re talking to me! You don't talk at her, and you damn sure don’t bring up her father.” Alexei sees he's hit a soft spot. His gaze shifts between your brooding and Natasha's enraged emotions. “Oh please, this is so pathetic.”
“He did more for me than you ever did, talk about him one more time and I'll see to it that you’re leaving out of here with your tongue in your hand.” he chuckles with no humor behind it at all. “And how have you repaid him for that? Hm, sneaking around with his daughter? Disgracing our family name and credibility? No,I think…maybe you’re repaying him by keeping things from her.”
“Alexei.” It's the first time all night she’s proceeding with caution trying to stop Alexei from going too far.
“No, why don't you tell your little jewel about her father’s death? Why don't you tell her in great detail. ” He leans forward, elbows planting themselves onto the table as he waits for the show to unfold.
The silence takes over the room once again for the night, your hand has completely removed itself from Natasha's hold. You sit there hoping and praying that what you suspect isn't true, that it couldn't be true. She would never do that to you or to your father, but the level of uncertainty remains strong in your heart. Even the look of guilt and shock is plastered on Natasha's face right now. Alexei sits victorious on the other side of the table smiling wickedly as he watches this mess unfold.
“Checkmate.” He downs the rest of his wine and slams the glass down on the table for dramatics. You say nothing. You stand abruptly practically throwing the chair against the floor behind you as you get away. You can't breathe, not within these walls, not within this room and certainly not next to her. Natasha is stuck, frozen for a moment before she even realizes what just happened. Natasha glares at Alexei before she starts moving to follow wherever you just went.
“This isn't over.” The words leave Natasha's mouth with disdain and absolute finality. She would be getting him back for this and she would do so much worse to him if he causes her to lose you. That would be the first time she no longer cared about her sister's feelings; the only reason he has been spared for all of these years is simply because she loves her little sister. If things end in his favor after tonight, the love she has for you will overpower that sisterly bond. This was the last straw. Alexei isn't in the slightest scared of his daughter because once again in his eyes he made her, he knows what makes her tick and he knows her weakness.
“You know where to find me.” Is all he says before leaning all the way back into his seat as he watches her. Before Natsha can completely leave the room, he speaks again. “Your mother says hello.” She freezes mid-step but says nothing, she shakes her head from intrusive thoughts and memories clouding her mind. She hasn't seen or heard from Melina in years, of course some days Yelena tells Natasha that Melina has asked about her and you, but Natasha keeps the distance.
That relationship was too much for her to constantly turn a blind eye on. Unresolved issues and distant answers were all she got from Melina when it mattered the most, so she cut ties with her once she was in charge of everything. Right now, you are more important. She scrambles out of the room, her mind going rampant with thoughts. She looks around frantically until she’s met with Scott at the bottom of the staircase. They don't speak, he simply points upstairs knowing what was on her mind, knowing that she was looking for you. She races up the stairs, her hand on every doorknob that she comes near in search of you.
When she finds you, she is out of breath, and her eyes are filled with panic. She finds you in this room standing by the window. A room that you only visit twice a year, these four walls hold strong memories of you and your father. Room where you both made art together. It started when you decided to explore your masterpiece on the walls as a child, of course your mother reprimanded you, but your father saw it and most importantly your father saw you. So, he gave you your own space for artistic freedom.
Throughout the years you even invited Natasha to paint with you, to make clay molds together every time she declined if not with an excuse of working or having something more important to do. This is the first time she’s stepped foot in here and as she looks around at all of the things you’ve created she feels a knot in her stomach.
How could she have been so selfish and heartless? Every year you were opening the door for her to walk into something you held sacred, not for a conversation starter, not just because you love her, but because you wanted to have that same feeling of love within this room.
You wanted to keep the tradition alive with Natasha beside you and each year she shot you down. It didn't really upset you but as Natasha stands here replaying everything it hits her, it hits her hard to know that she was so dismissive of you. She swears if she can salvage this situation, she’ll smother you with all the love and affection you can handle even if that means she has to pull it out of the deepest parts of herself she'll do it, she'll do it for you. When Natasha finally speaks her voice is hoarse and airy you'd think she ran a marathon.
“Baby.” She ducks her head or eye contact thinking you would turn around once you knew of her presence. Nothing. Nothing comes, you don't move, you don’t speak, the only thing she can see is the faint movement of your breathing as your back is facing her.
“Talk to me please.” She steps further into the room, with intentions of touching you but you side step her before she makes contact. “Can you look at me?” It hurts to look at her, it hurts to think that she would hurt you in that way. The idea that she’s been feeding you lies this entire time and pretending; pretending to love you when she might have been the cause of your father’s death all along.
“Did you set my father up?” she doesn’t answer.
“Did you do it?” you turn around to face her and still you receive nothing but a stoopid wounded expression on her face. It infuriates you, you step into her space and shove her until she gives you an answer. You deserve an answer whether you believe her or not is your choice to make. One she cant take away from you not in this situation not like she’s done in the past.
“Answer me, did you do it?!”
“No! How can you even ask me something like that? I would never! He was more of a father figure than my own, I would never.” You see no signs of falsehood, but she’s also lied to you on multiple occasions before. She knows how to camouflage so well. She knows how to put on a facade in desperation and right now you smell it you smell the desperate emotions of her trying to reel you back in. But for now, you’ll believe her.
“But you know who did?” The sense of hesitation on her face was clear that this was what she had been hiding from you. This is even worse than her actually being the one to murder your father. “Y/n, listen to me.” The pool of tears in your eyes breaks her heart. It breaks her heart that this is happening. It seems like you two can never catch a break from being in an argument about something. This unfortunately didn’t have a high percentage chance of being forgiven by you. This involves the murder of your father, and she’s withheld information from you for years.
“You knew? All this time and you didn’t say anything?” You cut her off before she can even speak one of her useless apologies. “Who was it?” Her response is like pulling teeth and it infuriates you even more. Your patience is wearing thin so yell at her hoping that will snap her out of whatever guilt.
“Natasha!” The power and anger in your voice slightly throws her off, she flinches. Still trying to understand that this was happening right now and she’s not ready for this emotional turmoil after everything you two have been through. Reluctantly she closes her eyes and releases a breath.
“This person is.” Her response is short lived because you cut her off immediately the word and the tone that she uses is alarming you even more right now. “What do you mean “is”? She's silent again, her mouth is half open like she is going to immediately respond back to you, but nothing comes out.
“The person is still alive?!?” Natasha is trying to find a way to sugar coat it unlike her usual blunt and straightforward self. In this moment she chooses to coddle and protect which isn't helping her case at all, it's making it worse.
“Did you know too?” You finally acknowledge Yelena in the corner of the room, she wasn't allowed to make her presence known while Alexei was here, so she’s been tasked with other things, but the commotion had her in fight or flight mode.
Her mouth opens and closes as she can’t seem to find the words to explain her choices. “The both of you are full of shit.” You storm out of the office heading into your bedroom. Surprisingly Natasha and Yelena don’t follow you.
The rage and frustration were now boiling over and the look in Natasha’s eyes was one Yelena knew too well. Yelena tries holding her sister back pleading with her to not do whatever it was she has on her agenda, but nothing was stopping her this time he’s gone too far. Natasha heads to the dining area with purpose and quick pacing; she briefly searches the area, finding that Alexei was still seated in his same spot as before.
Unbothered as he stuffs his face with her food and her alcohol. Within a blink of an eye Natasha had Alexei’s face slammed down on the table, his face clashing with the expensive dinner plates. She slams his face a few times for good measure before pulling him up and placing him in a chokehold.
“Natasha, stop!” Yelena pleads with her sister. Natasha shrugs everyone off of her and points a finger towards Yelena. “One of these days you’re going to have to pick a side! I’m not tolerating it anymore, especially after today!” She inches closer to yelena, each step she takes yelena takes one step back until her back is met with the dining chair.
“Nat-”
“No! I don't want to see your face again unless you’ve chosen my side.” Those words strike Yelena hard, they've fought, argued and even given each other the silent treatment this is much more severe teetering the lines of saying something unrepairable.
“What? It's not that easy for me and you can't just toss me away like garbage, You’re my sister!”
“I need loyalty, more than I need a sister.” Natasha fires the words faster than she can process them but, in the moment, she needed this to sink into Yelena’s brain. That was the final blow for Yelena. Her lips form a frown that’s barely holding itself together. The slight wobble in her lips is visible. Natasha knows that cut deep she wants it to, but she’ll never get used to seeing that frown on her baby sister's face. Always being her protector, and making her safety the top priority, but right now, Natasha stays firm with her choice, it’s final.
Yelena needed to choose, no longer the baby of the family anymore. She’s aware of the history between Alexei and Natasha. Part of hoped that he would come around and fix things between them. That everything he did was just to make Natasha tougher for this line of business and not because he wanted control and used his daughter as a personal punching bag. Yelena’s experience growing up isn’t the same as Natasha's; she knows this. She was young, not naive. She chalked it up to it being part of the job and not Alexei being filled with hatred towards Natasha.
Yelena's been zoned out and stood silent since her sister pierced her heart with those hurtful words. “Get out of my house and take that bastard with you.” She doesn't say anything, she doesn't argue or fight anymore. It's clear, Natasha doesn't want to talk about this further, her sister no longer needed or wanted her around. So, she helps Alexei up and heads for the side exit of the house without another word or another glance towards her sister.
While everyone is distracted by the tension in the dining room you make your exit, quickly throwing your suitcase into the car, closing the door and starting the engine. Natasha settles in the silence and then realizes it's too quiet. “Where is she?” Natasha looks around and panics when she hears no movement upstairs. She finally races towards the front door when the sound of tires screeching is heard.
“Fuck” Natasha curses under her breath. Clint walks near the front door, calm and collected. This wouldn’t be the first time you stormed out of the house and took them on a wide chase across town.
“Want me to follow her?” She would normally say yes without hesitation, but maybe she should give you space, this was a lot to take in. also Natasha isn’t even sure what she can say to make this right with you. She sighs out a heavy breath that she didn't realize she was holding in.
“No, let her get some time alone.”
