Baby Widow Romanova

Chapter 7

The rain soaked through the young girl's clothes as she danced unbothered by the chilly wind from that early morning. Her red hair was already dampened and forming curls against her face, but she did not care at all.

Dancing had always calmed her thoughts, even if it was used as a punishment in the Red Room. They would make her dance until their toes would bleed and they would collapse to the floor completely exhausted, but it was the best pain they could feel while being in there. At least it was not the emotional torturing one.

That time was no different. Her eyes were closed as she focused on dancing the choreography she had learnt by heart. For the first time since she had arrived back to that farm, she felt some sort of freedom.

Vera turned around when she felt like someone was watching her. Her gaze met the dark haired woman that observed her from the small porch of the house; there was a small smile on her face.

"I guess some things never change" the woman commented.

The girl looked down as she recalled the hazy memories from when she was younger. Before being taken away, she could always be found there whenever her emotions were too hard to handle, just dancing. It had always calmed her down.

"Come back inside before you get sick, sweetie" Melina told her and she hesitantly approached her. "Go take a shower and change into warmer clothes, okay?"

She nodded slightly. She tried to make the less noise possible, everyone else was still sleeping. The young widow had had to prey Yelena off of her while slipping out of the bed, since the young woman had comforted her after a nightmare and had remained embracing her the rest of the night.

Once she was changed, she walked into the kitchen. Her eyes shut as the smell of hot chocolate filled the room. There was already a cup on the kitchen table waiting for her.

"You don't like it?" Melina asked her after she had spent the last few seconds staring at the cup with uncertainty.

"I don't remember what it tastes like" she admitted in just a whisper, the woman smiling softly at her while sitting in front of her.

"You used to love it when you were little. I'm sure you still do" the older widow commented as she dared to take a sip.

She took her time, being a little scared that once it would be over there would not be more hot chocolate or that it would be taken away from her. She felt observed, but if Melina noticed it, the woman did not say anything about it.

"What's bothering you?" Melina questioned her, which got her to look down.

"Everything?" she shrugged. "The choices, the freedom... I don't know what's expected of me" the little girl answered, she was scared of failing. Failure meant punishment.

"You're expected to be a child. Not a widow" the woman told her. "It can be overwhelming at first and it's okay. We're all here to help you" Melina looked at her.

All of it was new for the young girl. She was not used to being around people that actually cared about her. All of them had been really welcoming to her, especially Natasha, which still confused her because of what Dreykov used to tell her. Honestly, she had expected the woman to leave.

"Dreykov said Natasha wouldn't want me as her daughter" she murmured. "She's a fugitive, but she's still here" she frowned.

"Your mama isn't leaving, at least not without you, sweetie" the dark haired woman assured her. "She loves you"

The nine year old looked away at those words. Sometimes she did not feel like she deserved that love, not after everything she had done. But living in a house surrounded by older widows that had also escaped the Red Room meant being understood. They were all still healing from their traumatic pasts.

She pulled out the small notebook she carried around with a blue pen. Natasha had told her to write down a list with the things that she liked or didn't like so she could get to know herself now that she was not mind controlled anymore. So she wrote "Hot chocolate" in capital letters under the "Likes" column.

She did not like the color red or braids, especially the tight ones that would always remind her of training. She hated the sound of the General's voice inside her head, the headaches and the sight and smell of blood or how sticky it felt on her hands.

However, there were a lot of things she liked. She liked strawberry ice cream, dancing, Yelena's comfort food, bouncing on the bed around Tasha just to wake her up, playing with Yelena... And she loved to cuddle with Tasha, it always made her feel safe and loved.

-/-

In Natasha's hands was a photo album Melina had given to her. It was full of Vera's baby photos and she was not sure if she was ready to see all the years she had spent away from her daughter through those pictures.

Her eyes watered at the sight of a smiling baby with big green eyes and just a little amount of red hair on the top of her head. There were a lot of pictures of the happy toddler, playing in the sand or the rain, coloring... But the smiles were gone in the last picture, the child barely looking at the camera.

Natasha sighed. She tried to hold her sobs as she stared at the young girl that was sleeping next to her. Her daughter flinched when she caressed her face, her heart breaking at the child's reaction.

"Shh, it's okay" she whispered, taking the kid into her arms.

"Mama?" the child asked in her sleepy state.

She could not help the tears that rolled down her cheeks at the sound of her baby's voice calling her 'mama' for the first time.

"Mama is here" she kissed the little one's forehead.

The little girl settled on her embrace, her little face pressing on the crook of her neck as she gently ran her fingers through her daughter's hair to help her to sleep.

-/-

For her birthday celebration Vera had only asked to go to the city and spend the afternoon with Natasha and Yelena. They had already celebrated it in the morning with a special breakfast along with Alexei and Melina.

As she walked around the store, a small stuffed animal got her attention. It was a grey koala. She liked how soft it felt when she touched it.

"You like it?" Yelena's voice startled her. "I'm sorry, little widow. I didn't mean to scare you" the young woman caressed her right cheek soothingly.

"It's soft" she answered, still with the stuffed toy in her hands.

"Then we're taking it home with us" the blonde said as she frowned, being a little confused. "I'm buying it for you" Yelena specified.

"I don't like gifts" she shook her head; she had specifically asked for no gifts, she did not like "saying" thank you.

"Hey, Vera, look at me" the woman cupped her face in her hands. "No one should have ever touched you that way, not without your consent. Do you understand?" Yelena questioned her, so she nodded slightly. "Okay. Now take that koala, we're buying it"

Natasha was waiting for them outside. She was staying away from crowded places so the people would not recognize her so easily. The woman smiled widely when she showed her the soft toy.

"It's beautiful, baby" Tasha ruffled her hair as she smiled.

The young girl turned to meet her aunt, wrapping her arms around the blonde's waist. Yelena quickly hugged her back, pulling her as close as possible before bending down to kiss the top of her head.

After choosing her "birthday cake" as Natasha had called it, they decided to walk back home. However, an engine sound made them stop walking, a jet landing in front of them.

Tasha put her behind her protectively, wrapping her right arm around her to keep her close. She clung tightly to her mama's t-shirt as a man with a shield, a man with wings and a woman got off the plane.

Hi!

I feltlike the conversation between Melina and Vera was needed. I wonder who the manwith a shield could be?;) 

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

Ayrin