Widow Sisters and Friends (Restoring Our Broken Hearts): Book 2

Safe and Sound: Part 6

Summary: In the aftermath of torturous disaster, Yelena is the only one that can pick up the pieces of what is left of Natasha's mind and bring her back to who she was before. Fortunately, Natasha is extremely receptive to her efforts and craves her baby sister's nearness and comfort.

   It was several days later, and Kate had been coming for visits every day to spend some time with Natasha and Yelena. Natasha had been receiving her well and had been acting more normal in terms of her actions, but Natasha's desperation for touch had not let up as of yet.

Honestly, Yelena was quite pleased with that fact because it meant that Natasha wanted to cuddle literally all the time, and that was something that Yelena was always up for more of.

The only thing that Yelena wished was that Natasha would explain to her what was going through her head. Occasionally, Natasha would freeze up and have these strange looks on her face as she seemed to go through something in her own mind. It was no doubt a side-effect of the sensory deprivation, and Yelena had quickly come to realize that Natasha's mind must be far more tormented than she would let on.

While she had been diligently keeping it from Yelena and had been putting on a pretty good front of normalcy, the mask would slip sometimes. Yelena noticed several times at night, Natasha would fight with nightmares. She would handle them well, and Yelena would always wrap her in her arms safely as Natasha did for her so many times. Sometimes, Natasha would even willingly be the little spoon.

And that was one of the biggest indicators that something was severely wrong with her. Natasha felt like she needed protecting, and that was completely out of character for her.

However, Yelena was not pushing her to say anything. Despite the fact that the curiosity was about to kill her, she knew that if this was bothering Natasha so deeply that it would be best if she just told Yelena about it when she was ready.

At this point, Yelena, Natasha, and Kate were out for a walk around their neighborhood with Fanny. They had been experimenting with increasingly longer walks as Natasha had been getting better, and Natasha had been receiving it well. She had expressed to Yelena through writing that she enjoyed the exercise, and Yelena was more than willing to give her anything she wanted.

"Look, I'm just saying, arrows are handier than guns," Kate proclaimed from where she was on the other side of Natasha. Yelena scoffed, narrowing her eyes at the younger girl. Natasha even had a smile on her face as she rolled her eyes at the both of them affectionately.

"Why? Give me one good reason," Yelena argued immediately.

"One good reason?" Kate declared, sounding very clearly as if she were stalling as she drug the words out a little longer than necessary, and Yelena shook her head as she tightened her grip on Fanny's leash just a little.

"You don't even have one," Yelena declared, and Kate shook her head insistently.

"Yes, I do! They're silent and guns aren't! Ha!" Kate shot back, looking very proud of herself, and Yelena rolled her eyes heavily.

"Guns can have silencers, you cotton-headed ninny-muggins. Besides, guns can shoot at longer range than bow and arrows," Yelena argued, and Kate sucked in a sharp breath before looking at Yelena quickly.

"Trick arrows," Kate blurted out, and Yelena paused for a moment as she allowed Fanny to sniff at a spot on the ground. Natasha stopped next to her, her hand grasping Yelena's tightly. Natasha's other hand was currently interlaced with Kate's, and Yelena attempted not to notice how much Kate enjoyed the entire thing.

"What?" Yelena questioned.

"You can use trick arrows. There are no trick bullets," Kate declared, and Yelena just glared at her wordlessly. Kate just grinned widely and smugly, and Yelena looked away, rolling her eyes.