Chasing Ghosts | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 34: What Could Have Been

2,5 weeks later

''Wakey wakey.'' Katya gently shook Maya awake. How she wasn't awake the second the door opened was weird. Didn't she hear her come in? She didn't have the instincts the brunette had, but Katya always had time to sit down on the edge of her bed and shaking her awake before she groggily opened her eyes. 

Today was a Sunday, but that didn't mean it was an easy day in the household. In fact, it would get really busy and tiring. Because today, they were cleaning the house from top to bottom. All for the very annoying and sarcastic blonde Russian arriving tomorrow. 

Katya knew Maya would love her. And that Yelena would grow fond of Maya quickly, too. 

It had been only six months since Yelena came back to this world after she got Snapped, but as usual, she had shown resilience and lived her life like nothing had ever happened. Even though five and a half years had passed for Katya and Natasha since they destroyed the Red Room and set Yelena free, it had been only six months for her. Only six months of her life lived in freedom.

''It's too early,'' Maya groaned, eying the alarm clock on her nightstand with one eye. Her arms wrapped around her pillow and she pushed her face into it, all her hair covering her beautiful features.

Katya chuckled and brushed the strands out of her face, which did nothing to encourage Maya to get up. ''Hey, you wanted to clean the whole house from top to bottom. Don't expect us to do all the work while you stand idly by.'' Patting Maya's back, she stood and opened the blinds, annoying the girl on purpose with the bright light. ''Come on. Time to get to work. It's a beautiful day.''

They gathered around the kitchen island in their oldest clothes, ones that could get dirty and it wouldn't matter. It was already warm outside and it was predicted to be a hot day. Really hot for New York standards. That didn't make any of their hard work easy, but beautiful days like these had to be cherished. So all the doors and windows were already open, the breeze flowing through the house.

They had made a plan based on the list Maya composed over the weeks. The 'things we need to do before Aunt Yelena arrives'-list. It basically consisted of cleaning every single room in the house, starting with the guest bedroom. 

Natasha and Maya would start upstairs, the girl cleaning her own room and Natasha her and Katya's, including bathrooms. Katya would get started on the kitchen and the living room, working their way to each other somewhere eventually.

Sounded exhausting. And it was. After two hours, Katya had already had enough. Who knew vacuuming was so tiring? And of course, when she poured bleach into the toilet, it got on her shirt. Her black shirt. Which now had some lighter colored dots. 

Despite the ponytail she put in her hair previously, strands kept falling in her face, and she'd have to brush them behind her ears with the back of her hands. In conclusion, she looked like an absolute mess. A sweaty mess. And she wasn't the only one who noticed that when she walked upstairs to check on the others.

''You look like a dog attacked you,'' Natasha deadpanned, forcing her smirk off her face as she cleaned the glass doors of the shower. She didn't look too great herself, but even with hair stuck to her face and clothes all crooked, she looked like a million bucks. Not fair really.

''You're always so nice, babe,'' Katya sighed, placing her hands on her hips. Maya walked up behind her, giggling because she heard the whole thing. ''Lunch, anyone? Please say yes, because I'm in desperate need of a break.''

To her relief, they nodded. So half an hour later, they sat on the porch, in the shade, eating their sandwiches and drinking entire glasses of water because they were thirsty as hell from all that cleaning. And they still had so much left to do.