Kate and Yelena are asleep when there's knocking at the front door.
Kate stirs awake after Yelena incessantly pokes at her side, muttering something about the gun under her bed and someone trying to break in. She pulls at Yelena's shoulder sleepily, missing the pressure of Yelena pushed against her.
"Someone's here, Kate Bishop," Yelena rubs at her eye with the back of her hand, "Should go check."
"You're not going anywhere," Kate sleepily slurs out, "Lay down."
The knocking is heard again and Yelena's eyes flicker in the moonlight coming in through the window, "Go check."
"Ugh," Kate throws the covers off of herself, immediately cringing at the chill in the air and missing her cocoon of warmth, "I don't like you."
"Go check," Yelena emphasizes, poking at her shoulder again, "Gun under bed."
"I don't need a gun," Kate refutes stubbornly, blinking a couple of times so her eyes can adjust to the room.
There's knocking again and she sighs, wanting to put something on over her flimsy t-shirt, but leaving the room anyway and trying not to stumble down the hallway to the front door.
She squints, trying to look through the peephole to see who it is. It's like, four in the morning, who would come at this hour?
(Maybe she should've grabbed the gun.)
There's a woman on the other side, bundled up in a warm coat with some kind of bag slung over her shoulder. Kate doesn't recognize her.
Even though she can practically hear Yelena's voice about the gun under the bed and "You should really be more careful, Kate Bishop," in her ear, she slowly unlocks the door and opens it a couple of inches.
"Can I help you?" she asks, trying not to blink like a crazy person when the onslaught of the hall lights hits her eyes.
"This is where Yelena lives, correct?" the woman asks flatly, hands clasped together at her waist.
Kate furrows her eyebrows, "Sorry, who are you?"
"Melina," the woman states simply, and Kate's face drops.
"Oh!" she recollects herself, opening the door a bit more now, "Um, hi, sorry! You're Melina."
"That's what I said," she responds matter-of-factly, "You did not answer my question, this is where Yelena lives, correct?"
"Um, yeah," Kate nods dumbly, letting Melina in, "let me go get her, hold on a minute."
She locks the door behind her and the dogs finally take the hint, meandering out of the bedroom and wagging their tails when they realize there's another person here.
Kate flicks on the living room light, "Make yourself comfortable."
She then quickly moves to the bedroom, seeing Yelena snuggled back into bed and hating herself for a second that she has to wake her up. If this were literally anyone else, she would've let it go, but this woman is scary.
"Lena," she reaches over and gently shakes her shoulder, "Babe, someone's here."
"I told you to deal with it," Yelena whines, batting Kate's hand away.
"No, Lena," she pulls on Yelena's side, flipping her onto her back, "It's your... Melina. Melina's here."
Yelena's eyes flick open this time, voice incredibly soft as she asks, "Melina's here?"
"Yeah, babe," Kate moves her hair out of her face, "C'mon, get up."
Yelena sits up, blinking at the doorway that's now letting in all of the light from the living room and reaching over the nightstand for her crutches. Kate steps back, not wanting to overwhelm her and make Yelena think she's trying to help before she can ask for it.
YOU ARE READING
till forever falls apart
Fanfictionyelena never expected to hate being right as much as she hates it now. she knew something was wrong, she told isabel, she insisted. she knew it. she just didn't expect that something to be cancer.
