Chasing Ghosts | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 93: Sweet Nothing

Another chapter for you guys :) This is essentially part one of two, because I had to split this chapter into two, because I have no self-control when it comes to writing whatever my mind thinks up. Again, this isn't proof-read so there are probably mistakes. Hope you enjoy!!

July 21, 2024

Katya Romanoff-Petrova was a strong woman, but taking care of another person's mental health while her own was hanging in the balance had nothing to do with being strong, but rather with being smart. She was no use to anyone if she couldn't get out of bed herself. No matter how much she hated it, she had to hand over parts of Jordyn's recovery process to others. Natasha was one of those people.

Having a wife who told her to stop when she neared her own limits had saved her from going to sleep burned out and anxious multiple times. Whenever Natasha saw the deep valley between Katya's brows and a zoned-out, worried look in her eyes, she pushed her to do something that engaged her brain in another way; listen to music, watch a show, read, solve a sudoku.

It had been a week since Jordyn joined their household, and it had not been easy. The depressive behavior her mom described came in episodes; episodes of hours or a whole day, mostly where she was unable to do anything except sleep or watch television. She didn't appear to be as bad as Katya was at one point, but her acting was strong, so they couldn't be sure.

The PTSD, on the other hand, was much worse. Jordyn was incredibly scared of the dark and of men.

When she had joined Katya on a stroll around the lake the other day and they ran into their neighbor Scott walking his dog, Jordyn had stiffened completely, hiding behind Katya like a scared animal. She shook like a leaf when they continued on, her heart pounding her in her chest. The only thing Scott had said - to Katya - was hello. He hadn't even looked so much as Jordyn's way.

The day after, the brunette took her to see Eliza, her therapist. She was the other person Katya handed part of Jordyn's recovery process to, to lighten the weight on her own shoulders.

Of course, whatever those two discussed in that office for two hours remained private, but Katya saw on Eliza's face that it wasn't good at all. It only took a brief moment of eye contact between them for her to understand that she needed to bring Jordyn more times a week, something she had counted on beforehand.

In the car home, the girl barely said anything, her eyes red-rimmed and glossed over, lost in bad thoughts. Until Katya started telling her the story of how Maya almost biked into the lake once when she was still learning that skill. It may not have been able to draw a laugh from Jordyn, but it took her mind off whatever it had settled on.

With women, Jordyn was a whole different story. As soon as she was around women only, her brain switched. The tension in her body appeared way less, and her eyes weren't as wide as teacups all the time, afraid. Being in public made her incredibly uncomfortable, her long sleeves and pants acting like a shield from the outside world, but none of that mattered when she was home. There, she was a completely different person.

She loved being around Maya. It got to the part where Katya found them asleep on the couch together more than once, her daughter curled up into her friend's side. She suspected it was Maya's childish innocence which left Jordyn with nothing to fear or be uncomfortable around. Maya was the breath of fresh air, the quiet in the noise, the white between the static. And with her constant rambling and ploys to drag Jordyn into the stuff she was doing, the blonde had no time to think about anything else either.

Around the two Russians, Jordyn was a bit more nervous, but Katya suspected that had more to do with her feeling like an intruder in this household. They had made a cooking and cleaning schedule to calm her down, but she still jumped at every opportunity to help out. They once found their whole pantry organized. No joke. Other than that, she was quiet, so Katya made an effort to ask her things and pull her into their dumb dinner conversations about what bird was the ugliest.