Widow Sisters and Friends (Restoring Our Broken Hearts)

Chase the Demons Away

Summary: Not too long after Natasha and Yelena are reunited and are living in their own small house, Yelena wakes up one morning much too awake and far too quiet. As this continues to persist and Yelena grows increasingly exhausted, Natasha realizes the girl has been having nightmares. Luckily, Natasha comes up with the perfect idea to help her.

   Natasha looked out the window of her and Yelena's little house, drinking her coffee with her eyes focused on the squirrels running through the yard and playing as they jumped around through the grass. She could not help a slight smile as she saw them, the corners of her lips upturning just a bit as she gazed at the sight.

However, she was soon interrupted by footsteps entering the kitchen. She turned her head to smile a little at her sister who had obviously just woken up.

"Good morning, little one," Natasha greeted but to her pure surprise, she was met with a Yelena that appeared to be wide awake. Natasha furrowed her brow a little, completely shocked by the sight. Yelena was never wide awake in the morning since she always had the worst tendency to wake up like the walking dead.

"Morning," Yelena replied quietly as she sat down at the kitchen table, rubbing at her eyes as she held her head in a hand and looked at her phone. Natasha just eyed her strangely, wondering what exactly had gotten into the younger woman.

"When did you get up?" Natasha asked tentatively, and Yelena just shrugged with a small noncommittal hum.

Natasha just looked at her for a long moment, not saying anything as she took in the sight of the girl. Yelena's silence was exceedingly worrying to her because Yelena was never ever quiet like this. If she was awake, she almost always had something to say.

Natasha looked away from her, having the strangest suspicion that something was not right, and she started to get bowls out for them to have cereal. She sat one of the bowls down a little harder on the counter than she meant to, and she quickly noticed how Yelena jumped a bit with the sound, her eyes flashing with fear as her gaze locked onto the source of the sound.

It was then that Natasha realized that Yelena must have had a nightmare.

The redhead's heart immediately ached at the thought. However, since Yelena was not talking about it and did not seem to want to discuss, she figured that she would let Yelena come to her when she was ready. Especially since they had not been back together too long and Natasha did not want to push the younger girl outside of her comfort zone and upset her.

Natasha wordlessly prepared the cereal, hoping that Yelena would say something soon.

But she did not say anything hardly at all for the entire rest of the day.

.....................................................................................................................

For the next several days, Yelena continued in this pattern. Natasha would wake up, get her coffee, and Yelena would quickly enter the room with the barest of greetings, completely wide awake.

However, as the days dragged on, Yelena's wide awake became a sluggish, drained expression with hardly any life in her whatsoever.

Her eyes were dull and lifeless and had a haunted look about them. Underneath her eyes were large, dark circles, and she looked absolutely miserable. She was not saying anything to Natasha and was not even making her usual jokes or calling Natasha the ordinary nicknames that she always loved to pester Natasha with. And even worse, Yelena had started to fall asleep randomly at some of the worst times.

One day, Natasha had to practically knock down the bathroom door to make sure Yelena was okay. It ended up being a terribly embarrassing situation for them both because Yelena had fallen asleep on the toilet.