till forever falls apart

crosswalks of dreamland

almost forgot to post this one 💔 anyway here we GO

"Lena."

Yelena looks away from the TV to the person entering the room.

"Why does it sound like I'm in trouble?" she asks, crinkling her eyebrows together. She doesn't want to be in trouble right now, she wants to watch the stupid show on the stupid TV and take a nap in her stupid bed so she can be closer to leaving this stupid hospital.

"Well," Natasha sheds her jacket, "why didn't you tell me that we weren't telling Melina about the fact that you have cancer?"

Yelena feels all of the color drain from her face, "Oh no."

Natasha cocks her head, seemingly expecting some kind of explanation.

Yelena sighs, burying her face in her pillow and wishing that she didn't have a headache right now. She looks back at Natasha, "To be fair, she didn't talk to me for a year."

"So it slipped through the cracks?" Natasha asks, and Yelena shrugs. "What does that mean?"

"I didn't forget," Yelena prefaces, twisting her fingers in the blanket around her, "I just... haven't called her yet."

"It's been a week!" Natasha responds, "Did you not want to tell her?"

"Why is that a did I and not do I?" Yelena immediately fires back.

Natasha shrinks a little bit, "She called today. Wanted to know why you hadn't called her since January."

"I've been-"

"I told her that you were busy," Natasha explains, "and then she asked why you hadn't been answering her texts and I may or may not have said something along the lines of the hospital has shitty reception."

Yelena grabs the little dog stuffed animal that Kate brought a couple of days back (along with commentary on how Yelena needs friends in the charming Kate Bishop way) and chucks it at Natasha's face, unsurprised when she catches it.

"Hey!" Natasha furrows her eyebrows and musters her best apologetic face, "I didn't mean to."

"Some spy you must've been with your mouth running like that, for fuck's sake," Yelena mutters, leaning back against the pillows and staring at the ceiling. She didn't not want Melina to know, but now knowing that she does, it sets a bad taste in her mouth.

"I'm a very good spy, thank you very much," Natasha retorts, "anyway, she wants to know if she can visit."

"She can do whatever she wants, Natasha, she's a free woman," Yelena responds, "whether she believes it or not."

"She wants to know if you want her to come," Natasha rephrases, "What are your thoughts on that?"

Yelena can't help the feeling in her stomach at that. It feels like a mix of anxiety and excitedness. She knows that she didn't want to tell Melina because she didn't want to face the disappointment of her not caring, but now knowing that she does care... it's almost overwhelming.

She swallows, "Um, can you ask her to not boss around the doctors. I know she knows brains very well, but she doesn't know bones."

Natasha's smile is brighter than ever and she nods, "Of course."

Natasha ends up spending the rest of the evening with her, they play a game of UNO before she leaves and after a very desperate back and forth of plus-twos and skips and any blockade they could come up with, Yelena turns out victorious.

But of course, the exhaustion eventually sets in, and Natasha hugs her gently before leaving - resulting in Yelena having another note in the ongoing cancer pros and cons list. She doesn't want to be treated like glass.