Widow Sisters and Friends (Restoring Our Broken Hearts)

Anniversary of A Nightmare

Summary: When Yelena wakes up one morning when Natasha has left early to the compound for a little while, Yelena turns on the TV and starts to prepare her breakfast that morning. However, when she hears the TV announcing the anniversary of the worst day of her life, she shuts down completely.

   Yelena got out of bed, immediately noting the lack of Natasha's presence. She furrowed her brow a little, wondering where her big sister had gone to. She stumbled somewhat uncoordinatedly over to Natasha's bedroom door, opening it as she headed to the kitchen. She knew that Natasha was likely in there cooking breakfast for the both of them as she did many mornings that she did not remain in bed cuddling with Yelena.

However, as she got in there, she quickly realized that Natasha was not even in the house. She came over to the counter next to the sink, realizing that cereal and a bowl with a spoon in it was resting there. As she grew nearer, she quickly realized that Natasha had left her a note.

She came over, plucking the small piece of paper from the counter.

"Gone to the compound. I love you and don't eat mac and cheese for breakfast. I got out the cereal for you and everything," it read. Yelena smiled just a little as she noticed that her big sister very poorly scribbled a doodle of a checkmark next to a bowl of cereal and a big X over what looked to be macaroni and cheese. Natasha's drawing skills were not too great, but Yelena still found it adorable that her seemingly tough big sister was so sweet like this.

Yelena finally just rolled her eyes with a sleepy smirk, immediately knowing what she was going to eat for breakfast. After all, Natasha had suggested it to her so wonderfully. Yelena tucked the note in the pocket of her sleep-shorts that she had on currently and she headed over to the television, just turning it on so that she could listen to something while she prepared some mac and cheese.

She headed into the kitchen, realizing that it was the news playing. She groaned a little but did not bother going back in the other room to change the channel despite the fact that she would honestly rather be playing cartoons or some sitcom. Yelena pulled out a knife from a nearby drawer, experimentally placing her thumbpad on it to test its sharpness.

She was soon satisfied with the sharpness of the blade, and she let out a gentle sigh as she started to cut open the box and listen to the television. They were talking something about the Avengers, which in itself was not unusual, but it was odd that there was a story about them that early in the morning and with no new happenings with them. Or at least happenings that were known to the public.

"And as we all know, today marks the official anniversary of the Black Widow's death and—"

Yelena immediately jerked as if she had been shot, her eyes going wide as she immediately became alert and awake. The knife sliced into her hand, and she dropped the mac and cheese box. The knife quickly followed after, falling onto the counter before her.

Yelena let out a ragged breath, feeling pain start to blossom in her chest as she took in the words and remembered what she had been doing her best to ignore all week since she had accidentally thought of it several days ago.

She had been doing her best not to think of it for so long, and she had been doing well about distracting herself the past few days. Natasha had not even thought about it despite the fact that Yelena had caught the redhead's slightly concerned gaze upon her occasionally. However, she had hidden it well enough that Natasha had not felt the need to ask about it just yet, though.

But now it was obvious to anyone who looked in on the situation. Yelena was breathing heavily, trying to get control of herself. She reached out to grip the edges of the countertop for the counter island. She was almost at the point of hyperventilating and her eyes were locked onto the knife before her as the words played over and over in her head.