Widow Sisters and Friends (Restoring Our Broken Hearts)

I've Got You

Summary: When Natasha and Yelena go to visit Melina and Alexei, things grow too overwhelming for Natasha and Yelena has to pull Natasha away before she breaks down in front of everyone. Once they are in the privacy of their own room, Natasha falls apart.

   "Natasha! Yelena! It is good to see you! You two came in so late last night that I missed greeting you!" Alexei told the two girls jovially as they entered the room.

The two women had come to visit Melina and Alexei, and they had arrived so late in the night that Alexei had fallen asleep waiting on them to get there. Melina had received them warmly, guiding them to their room and helping them with their luggage.

However, now that Alexei had the opportunity to see them, he was offering them a greeting as big and loud as he always was.

To Yelena's surprise, Natasha stiffened up at the words and at Alexei standing up quickly to rush over to them. But before Yelena could consider this too much, they were both enveloped in a hug quickly and Yelena immediately noticed how Natasha almost jerked violently against the contact.

As soon as he let go of the both of them, he reached out to Natasha, his eyes aglow as he looked at the eldest of the two, raising his hand to grab onto the back of her neck affectionately. Natasha flinched at the contact, her eyes slowly growing in wideness as she stared at Alexei.

"My big girl, it is so good to see you again! You look more muscled and more healthy than you were when I last saw you!" he happily babbled on, carrying on what was effectively a one-sided conversation as Natasha stiffened and grew more and more visibly uncomfortable.

Now that Yelena had time to study her sister, Yelena could see precisely where this was going. It was honestly scary to see that skittish, terrified look in Natasha's eyes that was slowly building with every passing moment that Alexei continued to speak and squeeze at her neck gently.

When they had woken up that morning, Yelena had known something was a bit off with Natasha, but she had chalked it off to Natasha just feeling weird and awkward from having to face their strange parental situation.

But now she knew it ran much deeper than that.

"Let go of her," Yelena told him suddenly, the words falling from her lips quickly, and Alexei just laughed, thinking that she was joking.

"Oh, come now, Yelena! I am just trying to get her to relay a message to my number one adversary—"

"Let go now," Yelena interrupted Alexei immediately, her tone dangerous as her eyes locked onto Natasha's frozen form. Alexei looked at her cluelessly for a long moment, his hand still frustratingly grasped around the back of Natasha's neck in a fond hold. She had managed to shut him up, but he was still completely at a loss as to what she was saying.

Yelena knew he honestly meant nothing by it, and he was just cluelessly trying to talk to Natasha to somehow communicate his fondness for her, but she also knew that if he held onto Natasha much longer, there was a strong likelihood that the redhead would either break down, try to hurt him, or maybe both.

Yelena stepped up, hating to put her hands on Natasha, but feeling that it was the only way to get her out of Alexei's grasp. She took Natasha's arm gently, pulling her from Alexei's hold firmly, and Yelena then immediately released her sister.

Yelena met Natasha's eyes at that moment, seeing the terror and panic increasingly building in the older woman's eyes.

"You good?" Yelena questioned, and she could feel Alexei staring at the both of them as he tried to decipher the situation. Yelena completely ignored him in favor of keeping her gaze locked onto Natasha's light greens.