Baby Widow Romanova

Chapter 1

Yelena felt her heart skip a beat when she read the name on that file, doing it a second time to make sure it was not a mistake.

'Name: Vera Romanova

Date of birth: 13-08-2006

Mother: Natalia Alianovna Romanova'

The blonde frowned. She felt sick suddenly. That child had been a sick and twisted experiment of Dreykov. As it was explained on the file, he had taken a few of Natasha's eggs during the graduation ceremony to create his next perfect widow. Another little girl that was brought to the world to be his puppet.

She gagged. An unsettling feeling spread through her whole body as she read about the ways that tiny baby had been tortured. They had truly made sure that child would have the best genetics.

"Melina" she murmured when she read the next fragment, recognizing her adoptive mother's writing.

She was shocked to learn that the woman knew about that little girl and had not said anything to either of them. Though, to be fair, it seemed that Melina had not seen that kid for a long time.

Yelena shook her head. She had not seen Natasha since they took down the Red Room. She had been trying to find the rest of the widows while her older sister was on the run, so they really had not had the chance to meet again. She fidgeted with the phone Natasha had sent her a few weeks ago, one that was not traceable and only had her sister's number in it. It was not going to be an easy conversation.

'Her sister had to know'. She thought as she brought the phone to her ear. Her heart was racing, since she did not know how she was going to explain it.

"I can't talk right now" Natasha's voice came through the other end of the line.

"It's important" she told her, trying not to sound as nervous as she did.

Everything went silent and, for a moment, she thought the woman had hang up the call, until she heard her sister talking to someone else.

"What's wrong? Did something happen during the mission?" Nat questioned her a few seconds later, with so much concern in her voice.

"No, it went well" she answered, before looking at the file in front of her. "I'm getting ready for the next one. It's a..." she paused. "A little girl. She's almost ten..."

"And you don't know if she's going to like you?" her sister chuckled, which got her to frown.

"No. I have her file. She- She's your daughter" the last words left her mouth before she could even stop them. "Natasha-"

"Sent me her file" Natasha demanded, so she did just as told.

Yelena waited in complete silence, giving her sister time to read the information. Fresh tears appeared in her eyes when she heard how Natasha tried to cover her sobs.

"I'm sorry you had to learn like this" she murmured.

"Are you taking her to Melina's?" her sister asked.

"Yes" she answered.

"I'll be there as soon as possible" Natasha told her.

"I promise I'll keep her safe until then, Tasha" she promised shortly before hanging up the call.

The little girl was supposed to be in one of the Red Room secret bases, the one where the best widows would be trained.

Yelena had not been surprised when she had read the kid's scores. There was always a comparison to Natasha's, but that child seemed to be always ahead from her mother's scores. But it upsetted her to know that Dreykov had plans for that young girl to graduate at only fourteen, so she would be sent into bigger missions.

She took a few vials, since she was unsure if there were more widows in that place. She secured them in one of her vest's pockets before finally deciding to start the mission.

With a gun in hand she walked inside. The big, dark corridors and the lights definitely made her feel like she was back in the Red Room. A knot formed in her stomach when the memories became too hard to control her own emotions.

However, not even the tears from her eyes stopped her from pulling the trigger to shoot at one of the guards. And she repeated that action three more times, not caring about them. She would fight whoever was needed to get to the little girl.

Yelena closed her eyes the moment she heard the music playing. Her mind was fighting really hard not to follow her own body to start dancing to the familiar sound.

A young girl was dancing in the middle of the dark room, a slight frown on her face as she repeated the exact same pirouette over and over again, her knees bending the last time. But, still, the little girl tried one more time, landing gracefully on her feet before continuing with the next pirouette.

The blonde stayed by the door, observing in awe how the child looked so calm and relaxed. She could spend hours just standing there. However, the kid stopped abruptly to look at her.

Light green eyes stared at her. The kid's red hair framed her pale face as it fell a little longer than her shoulders. There was no mistake about who that little girl was. It was as if she was staring at a younger version of her sister.

The little girl remained still in the middle of the room, so she approached her, being a little unsure about the child's behavior. But, the moment she was close enough, the young widow kicked her on the ribs, which took her completely by surprise. The air left her lungs as she needed a few seconds to composure herself again, only to see how the kid was running away.

"Okay, no. Stop" she grabbed the kid's arm to pull from her. "I just want to help you" she added at the thrashing child, trying to keep her grip on her.

Yelena managed to hold the little girl with one arm before spraying the antidote on her little face with her free hand, the child going still in her arms. She observed the kid cautiously. Her beautiful red hair fell all over her face as her green eyes remained closed.

It only lasted a few seconds since the kid pushed her away before taking both hands to rub her face. Her body was shaking from the silently sobs that threatened to come out of her throat.

"I didn't want to" the child murmured while shaking her head. "I- I didn't-"

"You're name is Vera, right?" she asked, the little girl staring back at her before nodding.

"I can be a good widow, please don't hurt me" the little redhead begged and she felt how her heart broke at those words. "I'm sorry"

Yelena sighed while standing in front of the little girl. It was the first time she was freeing such a young widow, none other than the kid that would be her niece from that moment on, so she was unsure about how to handle the whole situation.

"There's nothing you have to be sorry for" she told her, taking a step closer, which only got the little one to flinch. "My name is Yelena and I'm a widow like you" she introduced herself. "The Red Room is gone. General Dreykov is gone-"

"Gone?" the young widow looked at her with so much relief in her eyes when she nodded and she frowned, not daring to ask about what he had done to the kid. "Guards?"

"Gone too" she answered. "I'm going to take you somewhere safe. You have to trust me" she tried to get closer again, that time the child did not move.

The blonde reached out her hand so the kid would grab it. But it took a few more seconds before the little girl would dare to grab her hand, so she smiled softly when she finally did.

-/-

Hi!!

I had this idea a few months ago, but it haven't been until this moment that I started writing it.

The story was supposed to be setup during the Hawkeye events, but I thought that it needed a little bit of background.

I think I want Vera to act a little younger for her age, trying to be a normal kid. But at the same time I think she's probably more mature than any kid her age.

Italics are them talking in Russian.

Thanks so much for reading, let me know what you think,

Ayrin