The escapee - Marvel

Chapter 20 - Late night talks

Seven recoiled in shock, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Peter slowly turned to look at her but she shook her head vigorously and mouthed "Later" at him which he understood as he nodded back, his eyes wide. 

She really didn't want to draw any attention to herself but she was overwhelmed, the rest of the team was still talking but she couldn't hear them anymore, her eyes fixated on the pendant around Natasha's neck, the hourglass. 

Seven slammed her eyes shut and then opened them, she pinched her arm, she flicked her finger but nothing changed which confirmed that this was very real and she was about to have another panic attack soon if she didn't get out of here. 

Suddenly the team began to stand up, a few of them hugging Natasha before they all started filtering out of the room but Seven couldn't bring herself to move, staring at the seat that Natasha had been in just moments ago. 

Peter waited until the avengers had left before he went over to Seven, pulling her up by her arm and leading her away from the conference room and back to his bedroom which was much closer than hers. 

"Seven?" He spoke softly once the door had closed and they had sat down on the floor. "Seven are you okay?" 

"It's me Peter," She whispered, her voice low and shaky. "It's me." 

Peter could only watch as his friend began to break down, letting herself go for the first time all day. He was unsure of whether she wanted him to hold her so he reached out and grabbed her hands, holding them in his, letting her cry.

"I can't believe this," Seven gasped as she carried on sobbing, the tears falling onto the hoodie. 

"I know Ven," peter whispered quietly, trying to be as comforting as he could while Seven's world came crashing down on her. 

After a while, she stopped crying and it seemed like she was beginning to process what she had just learned, staring blankly at the wall. Seven reached up for her necklace, usually, she would hold it for comfort but now she didn't even have it anymore and now was when she really wanted it most.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Peter asked quietly, getting her attention. 

Seven thought about it for a moment before shaking her head, she didn't think she could physically form the words to talk about it now, it was still all so new.

"Okay, that's fine." Peter reassured her, "But are you going to tell her? She thinks you're dead Ven" 

Seven hadn't even thought about Natasha, oh god. Natasha was her mother and she had spent Seven's whole life thinking she was dead only for the small piece of hope she had to be destroyed by Ivan. That was a whole lot worse than Seven just not knowing who her parents were. 

Would she even believe her? The only possible piece of evidence she had was no longer with her, blown to pieces in Russia. Or worse, would she reject her completely?"

"I don't know" She cried, "What do you think?"

Peter thought for a moment, "I know it's hard but I think you need to tell her, soon." Seven nodded, she knew he was right. "Now I know it seems so obvious" Peter chuckled.

"What do you mean?" Seven asked sniffling.

"Well you share the same eyes, nose, and your hair is even similar, you grew up in the exact same organisation under the same man and you were constantly being told how perfect you were for the black widow recreation project." Seven let out a small laugh too, it was obvious now that she knew, she had just never thought about it before.