Chasing Ghosts | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 87: Family Is What You Make Instead Of What You Get

Welcome back everyone! Feels so good to post again. Despite having two weeks, I absolutely rushed to get this chapter done (finished it half an hour ago) because I had to pick up extra shifts at work last week. So if there are any mistakes in this, I didn't have time to read it through/edit. Will probably go back and do that a later time :) For now, enjoy!

June 29, 2024

Natasha smiled at the sleeping brunette on her living room couch and the orange cat at her feet, the contents of Antonia's bag scattered all around her. Papers on the floor and the coffee table, an open diary on her stomach, the picture of her mom next to her head... everything moving slightly in the gentle breeze that the open patio doors let in. 

Katya's lips were parted, hand on her stomach as the other lay by her side, facing the TV but resting comfortably on her back. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, but the anxiety had worn her out and Natasha's soft humming as she cooked dinner was so soothing that it just happened.

They'd spent the whole afternoon going through everything in the bag. It was mostly boring government papers, like Irina's birth certificate and her passport and such. But there, they also learned that Katya technically did not exist. 

She had an American passport now, but her mother had never gotten so far as to report her birth to the Russian government. Dreykov also obviously never did that after he took her in. Easy to hide a kidnapping if the child he kidnapped never existed. Therefore, her file existed only internally within the KGB and HYDRA. She had no country until the day she arrived at SHIELD.

That part didn't bother her as much as the fact that in the system, she had never been connected to her mother. As far as the Russian government knew, Irina had never birthed an offspring. So, she was her mother's daughter, just not officially.

They'd been thrown from one emotion into the other like that the whole afternoon. In general, though, Katya was so incredibly happy. She would have been able to live without knowing all of this, but now that she knew, she wouldn't ever want to go back. Being able to look at that picture of her mom, knowing what she looked like, reading her thoughts in those diaries, it was as if Irina sat right next to her and told her the stories herself.

''Honey.'' Natasha lightly nudged Katya's arm, and again, finally watching how the muscles in her face twitched. She grumbled something incoherently, rolling onto her side carelessly and kicking Mimosa off in the process. Natasha was just in time to catch the diary sliding off her stomach and in the direction of the floor. She hated having to wake her wife up. Good sleep never came easily for her. ''Pasta is ready.'' She smiled, getting more adorable grumbles in return. ''Come on. Let's eat.'' But Katya had other things on her mind first.

''Nat,'' she whined, quickly turning onto her back and sticking her arms in the air. A cute pout lay on her lips and her eyes were closed, waiting patiently. Nobody could deny that, and definitely not Natasha. The woman chuckled, laying her head onto her wife's chest and immediately getting squashed into it, struggling to breathe against the soft cotton of Katya's sweater. A content sigh fell off the brunette's lips, muttering, ''I love you so much.''

The redhead smiled brighter and completely sunk into her embrace, loving clingy Kat just as much as the other way around. ''I love you too,'' she muttered back, pressing a kiss to her forehead when she untangled herself. ''Come on.''

Katya groaned some more but then slowly opened her eyes, blinking against the brightness. Two smiling green eyes hung above her, but that's not why she gasped. ''You're wearing your booby apron!'' They named it that.

''Yeah.'' Natasha laughed lightly at her wide eyes, carefully pulling her upright by her hands. ''I wore it especially for you, but you fell asleep.'' An amused, teasing smile lay on her lips, showing that she didn't mind a single bit, but Katya perked up and grew a sad pout nonetheless.