Widow Sisters and Friends (Restoring Our Broken Hearts)

Budapest with a Sh

Summary: After their big tank chase with Taskmaster, Yelena and Natasha have to spend some quiet time together in the vent. Yelena takes time to reflect, and after a little while together, Yelena accidentally finds out that Natasha still cares somewhere deep down in there.

   "How long do we have to stay up here? It seems stupid to just keep lingering around and waiting on him to find us," Yelena pointed out, her voice gruff as she addressed the woman sitting across from her.

After they had both ended up in the vent after throwing Taskmaster off of their trail, Yelena had been sitting somewhat impatiently on the other side of the vent. It had been about thirty minutes now, and she was feeling extremely antsy about the whole thing and she felt that it was time for them to get out of there.

In response to Yelena's question, Natasha's eyes simply flicked over to meet hers for just a moment, and Yelena treasured the short moment of eye contact despite the fact that she intensely hated herself for it.

Natasha had been avoiding her eyes ever since they had met. Looking at her face but never actually meeting Yelena's eyes for more than a few moments. Yelena had quickly come to the understanding that Yelena apparently made Natasha uncomfortable in some manner or another.

"He won't find us up here. He's efficient, but he can't read heat traces. If he did, he would've found me when I had my run-in with him a few days ago," Natasha explained, and Yelena just huffed slightly in reply, unimpressed with Natasha's assessment.

"He is not an idiot, though. He will track us down sooner or later," Yelena shot back in reply, and Natasha rolled her eyes slightly.

"I'm not saying we're staying up here for days or something. I'm thinking we get out and test the waters in a few hours," Natasha told her, her voice still that same cold, slightly irritated tone that she had taken most times that she had spoken to Yelena since they had reunited earlier.

However, Yelena could have sworn that she saw concern in Natasha's eyes when the car had crashed, and Yelena had ended up with the shining cut that was currently on her upper arm. Natasha had helped her up and her eyes had locked with Yelena's the longest that they had since they had been choking each other on the floor of the safehouse.

Yelena just looked away from the redhead, crossing her arms and leaning back against the side of the vent, trying to comfortably position herself since the two of them were going to be there for a while.

Once she saw Natasha mimicking her movements and moving her head back to rest, Yelena took a moment to ensure Natasha had fully closed her eyes before taking her opportunity to truly study the older woman for the first time in many years.

Her hair was that gorgeous, stunning shade of red that it always had been, but she looked tired and burdened. Her face carried the wornness of a true warrior, but there was still some youth to her features that was especially noticeable when she closed her eyes, and one could escape her haunting light green pools.

Oddly enough, a feeling of calm settled in Yelena's stomach as she studied the older woman despite her intense feelings of anger and hurt that filled her at the sight of Natasha.

In fact, though Yelena would have sooner died than admit it, Yelena felt strangely safe when she got on the back of her motorcycle with Natasha at the wheel. Even though they were literally being chased by a tank, there was some sense of safety in the way that Natasha took a protective, in-control role.

Granted, on one hand, it irritated Yelena how Natasha automatically assumed the position and seemed as if she thought Yelena was incompetent to handle it, but on the other, it reminded her of their Ohio days when Natasha would take the helm when Yelena was afraid, keeping Yelena behind her.