Widow Sisters and Friends (Restoring Our Broken Hearts)

Easy as Breathing

Summary: A continuation of "Cold, Hard Fear" in which it has been about a week since the incident where Yelena ended up being diagnosed with asthma. The Avengers come to get Natasha and Yelena for a meeting, and when Bruce enters the room covered in chemicals that he accidentally spilled on himself, Yelena starts suffering from another asthma attack. Natasha immediately realizes it and helps her through it. Yelena is horribly humiliated about the weakness, and Natasha stays behind from the meeting to take care of Yelena. It is up to Natasha to reassure Yelena of her self-worth.

   Natasha and Yelena were cuddled in their favorite armchair in the Avengers compound, the both of them squished closely against each other as they watched TV. They both had grins on their faces, the both of them still enjoying their slight tussle from a moment ago when Yelena teased Natasha about something and provoked her to wrestle with her just a little in the chair.

It was the happiest that Yelena had been since the incident last week where she had to be flown to the hospital because of an asthma attack in reaction to one of Tony's chemicals. Yelena had almost died, and she had been ripped away from Natasha. She had not been able to breathe, and when she had woken up, she had been in the horrifying clutches of the hospital in a small, white-walled room that was much too clean and much too similar to the Red Room.

Yelena had been struggling with the idea of that weakness and how she was not nearly as strong as she was before. She used to be able to withstand anything, but now that she was diagnosed with asthma, she was struggling with the idea of having something that she could not control and that could cripple her at any given moment.

And while Natasha had reassured her when they were at the hospital and she knew that Natasha would never think less of her because of this weakness, she was still worried about what everyone else would think. Moreover, she was starting to harbor a lot of self-hatred for not being good enough to power through the breathing issues.

The Avengers deserved better than Yelena and her silly weakness, but Natasha especially deserved better. Some part of her was still just the slightest bit afraid that Natasha might one day realize that her asthma was actually a weakness and she might treat her differently as a result of it.

But she quickly pulled herself from those thoughts as Natasha pressed a playful kiss to Yelena's face, drawing her back to the real world. Yelena met her older sister's gaze, and she could see the unadulterated fondness in Natasha's eyes.

"What're you thinking about?" Natasha asked, her voice gentle as she addressed Yelena. Yelena just shook her head a little, just staring back at Natasha.

However, they were both quickly interrupted as the Avengers team suddenly entered the room. Steve was at the head of the group with Tony, Sam, Clint, and Peter close behind him.

"Emergency meeting upstairs," Steve stated in explanation of their sudden presence, and Natasha immediately lost her smile, moving out from underneath Yelena and standing up as she approached the others.

"What about?" Natasha asked, entirely business as she addressed the group.

"Capcicle realized that we haven't discussed proper emergency protocols and we need to update them," Tony exasperatedly answered, rolling his eyes heavily. Steve shot him a sour look before returning his gaze to Natasha. Immediately, Natasha's posture loosened a little and she raised an eyebrow with a chuckle.

"Really? We seriously have to have a meeting about that? Why don't the emergency things we have now work?" Yelena questioned, and Peter nodded just a little in silent agreeance with Yelena.