Chapter Text
The weeks pass in a blur of happiness. Kate has never been one for taking things slow, but she finds that with Yelena, it's almost shockingly easy. Maybe it's because they've practically been dating for months now (though Kate makes a mental note to never admit that to Clint), but it doesn't feel like there's any rush or urgency to figure things out.
They talk, sometimes, staying up late nights trading stories from their lives. It never ceases to amaze Kate how seamlessly they fit together in spite of the fact that they’ve led such polar-opposite lives. More than once she catches herself listening to Yelena and thinking God, I love her, the words dangerously close to the tip of her tongue. But regardless of whether they’ve been kind-of-dating-but-not-really for almost a year, she thinks it’s too soon, that saying those words out loud might shatter the tiny bubble of peace they’ve managed to carve out for themselves. So she bites her tongue and shoves all of her grand proclamations of love deep down in her chest and reminds herself that they have time, they don’t have to figure it all out right this second.
In one of the more notable departures from their prior “dating-but-not” dynamic, now there are also nights where there is considerably less talking, and while Kate still sometimes worries that she's not doing enough in the, ahem, physical department for Yelena, she can also admit that Yelena seems perfectly content with their arrangement.
There have been a few tense moments (the time Kate's hand had brushed across the skin of Yelena's ribs while they were having a particularly heated make-out session and Yelena had nearly run out of the apartment, or the time that Yelena had become convinced that Kate would get tired of her and break up with her to be with someone else one day) but Kate thinks that they're doing remarkably well, all things considered. They can take things slow and dance around admitting exactly what it is they feel for each other indefinitely, if that's what it takes.
It sounds like a brilliant plan right up until Yelena almost gets herself killed.
There is a distinctly superpowered villain terrorizing the city one week in late October, and Kate and Yelena agree to tag-team to try to put a stop to him.
Things go poorly almost from the beginning of the night. Kate feels jittery and off, acutely aware of the fact that both she and Yelena are two decidedly human people going up against a being that could easily kill them both if they slip up. She wonders if this is how Clint and Natasha felt when they were the only two human Avengers going up against aliens and gods. She's always known that there are limits to what she can do in comparison to other superheroes, but for some reason that knowledge weighs differently on her now.
Yelena notices that something is off, but she just bumps Kate with her shoulder. "Do not worry, Kate Bishop. I will make sure that you make it home safe and sound."
It's a sweet thought, and Kate doesn't have it in her to say that it's not herself she's worried about. Not really. Obviously she doesn't want anything bad to happen to herself, but if she's honest, it's the thought of something happening to Yelena that really worries her. But this is the life they both live, the choices they both make every day, and so she tries to ignore the worry as they head for the location where the villain was most recently spotted.
The guy they're up against has already shut down multiple streets by the time they get there. Crackling bolts of blue energy sizzle through the air as he stands on top of an abandoned ambulance, grinning as he wreaks havoc on everything within reach. He doesn't even seem like he has a particularly focused plan aside from causing as much damage as possible, and the sense of foreboding that's been brewing all night only grows. Kate knows from experience that it's far harder to negotiate or take someone in if the only thing they care about is destruction.
It's a slow process of ducking behind cars and rubble as they try to get closer to him, running from one hiding spot to the next while they look for an opening. There are a handful of masked men with weapons that emit a similar energy blast to what the main guy is conjuring, and Kate watches with no small amount of admiration as Yelena picks them off one by one to clear them a path forward.
"If I can get a clean shot, I can use one of the trick arrows to bind his arms and prevent him from using his powers," Kate says, eyeing the angles and calculating where she needs to be to make the shot.
"Got it." Yelena's response is half-grunt as she dispatches another of the henchmen, throwing him over her shoulder before pivoting to grab the next one coming towards them. Kate uses the opportunity to move closer to her target, ducking behind an overturned car as she scans the improvised battlefield. She just needs a single second where the guy is distracted so that he doesn't blast her into next year before she can take the shot...
She sees an opening and nocks an arrow as she stands up to take the shot. There’s a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye a second too late, and her heart sinks even as she looses the arrow in the villain's direction, realizing that she's just opened herself up to an attack by a nearby henchman she didn't see.
She has just enough time to see her arrow strike true, binding the villain's limbs and preventing him from causing any further damage, before she hears the sizzle of electricity as the henchman fires. She braces for the agony of the bolt hitting her, closing her eyes a second before she feels her body get launched into the air. She hits the ground hard, but there's none of the spidering pain that she would have expected from the electricity. In fact, aside from the obvious short-lived pain of the impact from where her shoulder and hip hit the ground as she landed, she feels…fine?
Kate opens her eyes and fear lances through her as she sees what's happened. The henchman who had shot at her is laying on the ground in a heap, red energy from Yelena's widow's bites preventing him from moving, and Yelena—Kate feels the world spin around her as she sees Yelena in a crumpled ball, blue electricity from the bolt that was meant for Kate still crackling in the air around her.
"Yelena!" Kate is on her feet and running towards Yelena, her entire awareness narrowing to the motionless shape of Yelena on the pavement. She drops to her knees, her fingers shaking as she tucks them underneath Yelena's jaw, the sharp edge of terror receding slightly when she feels the pulse still beating there. She rolls Yelena over, checking her for any sign of bleeding, but there are no visible wounds aside from a few scrapes and scorch marks.
Yelena coughs, her eyes fluttering, and Kate pulls her into her lap. "Yelena? Yelena, can you hear me?"
"Told you—get you home safe—" The words are barely audible, and Kate chokes back a sob as she hauls Yelena closer, hugging her tightly.
"Not that I'm not grateful, but maybe next time try to do it without getting shot."
"It was just some electricity, that barely even counts as getting shot," Yelena says, but her voice is hoarse and she sucks in a sharp breath when she tries to push herself upright. Kate grabs her by the arm, helping to maneuver her onto her feet, and she loops Yelena's arm over her neck and wraps an arm around her waist to help keep her from tipping over again.
"Come on," Kate says, glancing around to make sure that they aren't going to get hit with any more unexpected attacks. The main guy is still tightly bound by her arrow, flopping uselessly on the ground as he rants and raves, and she can hear the sound of approaching sirens. She'll let someone else deal with him and whatever remaining henchmen might still be hanging around.
Yelena's face is deathly pale by the time they stumble through the door to Kate's apartment. She deposits Yelena onto the couch, frowning as she listens to the harsh, uneven rasp of her breathing.
"Yelena, are you sure you’re okay? I swear to god if you die on this couch because you're too stubborn to let me take you to the hospital, I'll bring you back to life just so that I can kill you again myself."
"I'm fine," Yelena mumbles, waving her hand dismissively. "This is nothing. Just need to sleep it off."
"Fine. Don't move while I go let Lucky and Fanny out, I don't want you falling over and hitting your head or something."
Yelena grunts in acknowledgment and Kate grabs the dogs’ leashes, taking the stairs three at a time so that they can pee and saying a silent thanks that Yelena had brought Fanny over earlier. Fanny and Lucky both give her disgruntled looks when she drags them back into the building as soon as they’re done, unable to shake the fear that she'll get back to the apartment and find Yelena has disappeared again.
Her relief at seeing Yelena exactly where she left her on the couch is tempered by the dark bruising she can already see blooming across one side of Yelena's face, and Kate kneels on the floor next to the couch. She brushes a few strands of hair out of Yelena's face, trying to reassure herself that she's alive and is going to be okay.
"You are staring," Yelena mumbles, cracking one eye open to look at Kate. "It is making it very difficult to sleep."
"I love you."
Kate winces as the words slide out with no preamble, but she doesn't try to take them back. She can't. Not when the memory of seeing Yelena on the ground unmoving is still so fresh, the terror of not knowing whether she was going to feel a pulse or only stillness beneath her fingertips.
Yelena opens both eyes and stares at Kate. "What did you say?"
"I love you." Not for the first time, Kate remembers Laura's advice about not waiting to tell people things because tomorrow was never a guarantee. She'd thought that it wasn't important for her to say the exact words to Yelena, but—suddenly, she can't stand the thought of something happening to Yelena and not having told her exactly what she feels. "You don't have to say it back," Kate says, "But I just need you to know that I love you, and I don't know what I would do if anything ever happened to you."
Yelena is silent for a minute, and her eyes are far away when she finally says, "In the Red Room, they taught us that love is for children."
She rarely talks about the Red Room, and Kate freezes, not wanting to do or say anything to interrupt.
"Even the slightest sign of affection was punished. It was honestly lucky for both of us that Natasha was in the class of widows above me, or else I'm sure they would have found even more ways to use us against each other." Kate thinks that she could fill the Grand Canyon with all of the things she still doesn't know about Yelena, all of the darkness and pain Yelena was forced to endure when she was still barely a child.
"I tried to resist where I could in the days before they perfected Melina's mind control serum. But even those efforts did not last long. The woman who trained us knew what I was doing, and she beat me to within an inch of my life and said that if I did not do what they wanted, she would make Natasha kill me herself." She pauses and takes a careful breath, and Kate bites her tongue to keep from interrupting. "I have lived my life with those words in the back of my mind since I was too young to even really know what they meant. And now…"
"I'm sorry," Kate says, unable to help herself. "I didn't mean to bring up bad memories—"
Yelena cuts her off with a gentle shake of her head. "No, Kate. Listen to what I am trying to tell you. They always said that love was for children, and I saw it as a weakness. But now—now, I am not so sure. The only times in my life I have been truly happy were when I was a child in Ohio and now, with you. And maybe that is not a coincidence. Maybe I just need to be brave enough to admit the truth."
Kate can't even formulate the words to ask the question ricocheting around her head, hope and fear warring in her chest and binding her tongue in knots.
"I love you, too." Yelena's voice shakes as she says it, but she doesn't look away. "And even if we are no longer children, perhaps this is still something that we both can have. That we both deserve."
Kate chokes out a laugh, wondering whether she's dreaming. In no universe did she ever expect her confession to be met with this kind of response. She knows Yelena loves her—knows it in a way far beyond anything that words could ever hope to capture, feels it deep in her bones every time she sees the depth of emotion in Yelena's eyes when she looks at her—but she honestly wasn't sure whether saying it out loud would ever be on the table.
"You realize this means you're not allowed to die on me," Kate says, blinking back tears. Yelena gives her a small, sad smile.
"I cannot make that promise. Neither of us can. But what I can tell you is that I will not leave your side if I have any choice in the matter."
"I can work with that," Kate says, and as much as some part of her wishes for platitudes and pointless promises that they'll both live forever, somehow what Yelena is offering is even better. To choose to stay with each other come hell or high water, to make that choice day after day as the one thing they can control in the midst of a world where there's so much that they can't—yeah, she'll take that over meaningless niceties in a heartbeat.
"Scoot over," Kate says, pushing her way onto the couch so that Yelena is on the inside for once. Yelena starts to protest and Kate shakes her head. "Nope. You've done enough protecting me for one night. Now it's my turn."
Yelena subsides with a huff, but she reaches down and brings one of Kate's hands up to brush a quick kiss against the knuckles. It doesn't take long for her breathing to drop into the slow rhythm of sleep, and Kate lays there and listens to the steady sound of it as the apartment settles into quiet around them.
In spite of the fact that they've now officially said I love you to each other, Kate is perfectly content to let the more physical side of their relationship progress at a slower pace. The tremble of insecurity in Yelena's voice when she'd said that she couldn't give Kate everything she would want in a relationship is still seared into her mind and heart, and she refuses to unintentionally reinforce that idea to Yelena.
That isn't to say that she's been completely celibate. Oh no, she's had some of the best orgasms of her life on lazy afternoons and late nights when Yelena is away on an assignment, her body primed and almost overly responsive to her touches. On one particularly memorable night, she'd only just finished and was basking in the afterglow amidst thoughts of Yelena when the assassin had magically appeared at the window of her apartment.
(Yelena had taken in the sight of her sprawled across the bed and had crossed the room in three quick strides, bending down to give Kate an absolutely filthy kiss that left her gasping for air.
"Looks like somebody was enjoying themselves," Yelena had murmured, and Kate had just smiled and pulled her the rest of the way onto the bed so that she could snuggle into her arms properly.
"Maybe. But I missed you.")
So yes, she's got a new appreciation for detachable showerheads and the assortment of toys she keeps in her nightstand, but otherwise, she and Yelena haven't done much more than kissing and cuddling. There are times when she catches Yelena staring at her almost speculatively, but whatever she's thinking, she never acts on it.
They're coming off of a mission one night, and Kate is already calculating how quickly she'll be able to get herself off in the shower because she desperately needs an outlet for the restless energy flooding her body. There's something intoxicating about fighting alongside Yelena, the way they move seamlessly to match each other and dispatch one opponent after another. Close quarters combat still isn't Kate's favorite thing in the world, but she's grown to have a certain fondness for it simply because there's nothing quite like feeling Yelena firm at her back as they move effortlessly through a sea of attackers.
To her surprise, once they're inside the apartment and she drops her coat over the arm of the couch, Yelena catches her by the wrist.
"Yelena? Is everything—"
The rest of her question is lost in a muffled grunt as Yelena yanks her in for a desperate kiss. It sends lightning licking up and down Kate's spine as she melts into Yelena's hands on instinct, Yelena's tongue dipping inside her mouth to slide against her own in a way that leaves her weak in the knees. The energy that has been simmering in her since the fight sparks into a wildfire, and Kate fists her hands in the buckles of Yelena's uniform to drag her even closer.
Yelena shudders against her and Kate almost pulls back, worried that she's overstepped, but then Yelena kisses her again, hard and deep. "I want to make you feel good," she murmurs into Kate's mouth, and Kate chokes out a laugh.
"Mission—ah—" She trails off into a gasp when sharp teeth nip at her lower lip. "Mission accomplished."
Yelena leans in so that her lips are brushing against the shell of Kate's ear, and her next words are a growly rasp that does things to Kate's insides. "Then I want to make you feel even better."
Yelena starts to pull Kate into another kiss, and Kate uses the last reserves of her non-lust-addled brain to resist just long enough to check one final time. "Are you sure?" She searches Yelena's face for any sign of hesitancy. As much as she feels like she could combust from a single touch right now, she doesn't want it if Yelena doesn't.
Yelena's expression softens and she stretches up on her toes so that she can kiss Kate again, more gently this time. It never ceases to make Kate smile to be reminded that she's the taller one out of the two of them, and by a solid four inches at that. Yelena is so much larger than life in so many ways, and it's endlessly endearing just how small she actually is.
"I want this," Yelena whispers against her lips. The reassurance settles Kate's last thread of nerves, and she doesn't resist when Yelena nudges her backwards until her back hits the wall.
Kate groans as Yelena's hands skim down over her body, the light pressure just enough to tease. She tries to remember how to speak as she asks, "Wait—can I—can I touch you too?" Yelena glances up at her, brows furrowing, and Kate quickly adds, "Not like that. I just—where should I put my hands? I want to feel you, but I don't—"
Yelena cuts her off with another kiss, and as she steals the air from Kate's lungs she grasps Kate's hands in her own and leads them to rest on her hips. Kate's fingers flex, feeling the firm muscle and rounded bone beneath her palms, and Yelena hums into her mouth.
"Just hold onto me," she murmurs, and Kate nods. That isn't going to be hard. She already feels like the slightest wind might send her flying apart like dandelion seeds on the wind, like her grip on Yelena is the only thing keeping her whole and in one piece.
That feeling only intensifies when Yelena begins to move lower once more, kissing a path across Kate's jawline. "Have you thought about this?" Yelena asks, teeth nipping at the sensitive skin just below Kate's ear. "Have you touched yourself and imagined it was my hands making you come apart?"
Kate trembles. "Yes," she breathes out. "God, Yelena, you have no idea how much I want you."
Strong fingers slide down Kate's sides and over her hips, pausing to hover at the waistband of her pants. Yelena waits, breathing quietly, and Kate realizes all at once that she's waiting for permission to continue.
"Please," she whispers, relinquishing her grasp on Yelena's hip so that she can cover Yelena's hand with one of her own and gently press it beneath the waistband. She feels Yelena breathe out a shuddering exhale, and in the next instant those magical fingers—the same ones that Kate knows can end a life, that could just as easily break her apart as they can put her together again—slip inside her pants and underwear to cup her.
Even the barest glancing pressure is enough to have Kate's hips bucking into Yelena's hand, and she feels Yelena smirk against her neck. Yelena sucks a mark that Kate knows is going to be a pain in the ass to cover up, but she doesn't even care. The layers of sensation just keep building and building, and she's desperate for Yelena to just touch her.
"What do you like?" Yelena asks, her accent curling around Kate's ears as she strokes her fingers gently along either side of Kate's clit.
"I—" Yelena's touch suddenly becomes firmer, and Kate realizes all at once that she's alarmingly close to coming. "Yelena, I—" She doesn't manage to say anything else, too wrapped up in the way she can feel her muscles coiling. Her mouth drops open in surprise as the pleasure spikes and she comes with a strangled cry, shaking in Yelena's arms.
Yelena holds her through it, fingers gentling as they both catch their breath. "Did you just—"
"Yeah." Kate knows she should probably be embarrassed at just how little it took for her to come, but she can't bring herself to muster up the energy, too content basking in the warmth of Yelena's arms around her, the little aftershocks still rocketing through her body. "Sorry, I just—"
"You have nothing to be sorry for," Yelena says, moving up to kiss Kate. Kate sighs into her mouth, whimpering when Yelena's fingers shift against her again. Yelena looks absolutely delighted, her gaze dark and pleased as she experimentally dips her fingertips lower to press against Kate's opening. Kate grinds down on instinct, and Yelena chuckles and pulls her hand entirely away, leaning forward to kiss her and swallow the disappointed whine she gets in response.
"Oh, Kate Bishop," she purrs, taking Kate by the hands and tugging her towards the bedroom. "This is going to be fun."
When Clint and Laura invite them for Christmas, Kate is a little nervous about whether Yelena will even agree to go. As far as Kate knows, Yelena and Clint haven't spoken since the prior Christmas, when they'd been on decidedly less friendly terms.
(It still sometimes blows Kate's mind that it was only a year ago that Yelena was actively trying to kill Clint. The life she leads now with Yelena would have been utterly incomprehensible to her back then, and she never in a million years would have imagined that her ploy for them to go get drinks would lead them here.)
Kate doesn't ask Yelena right away when she gets off the phone with Clint, deciding that it's probably worthwhile to think about exactly how she wants to phrase the question. That lasts all of twelve hours, right up until breakfast the next morning when Yelena looks at her and says, "So, I am assuming that we will take a road trip so that we can bring Lucky and Fanny with us."
Kate blinks at her in confusion, and Yelena shrugs. "What? I heard you talking to Barton on the phone last night. Christmas at his place, right?"
"Um, yeah—but only if you're really okay with that. I mean, Clint is great, and I think you would really love Laura, and their kids are pretty awesome too, but if you would rather not, we could just stay here and do Christmas with the two of us. Or we could do Christmas with your parents, if you'd rather."
Yelena barks out a laugh and Kate pauses, not sure how to interpret that. Yelena shakes her head, her expression sad and a little wistful. "No. They are…they are family to me, and the closest thing to parents I will ever know. But they are also still products of the Red Room themselves, and happy family holidays are not really something they do unless it is required by a mission."
"Oh." Kate's heart twists in her chest and she wonders for a minute what Yelena normally does on Christmas. An image flashes through her mind unbidden of Yelena the previous year, alone in an apartment with Fanny, stitching up her own injuries from the fight at 30 Rock and eating boxed mac & cheese by herself. Not for the first time, she wishes she could give Yelena an entire lifetime's worth of all of the care and kindness she's never had. She settles for looping her arm through Yelena's elbow and pulling Yelena more tightly against her side, trying to wordlessly convey that Yelena will never again have to spend a holiday by herself if she doesn't want to.
"You did Christmas with them last year, no?" Yelena asks.
Kate nods.
"And you enjoyed yourself?"
"Yeah, but—"
"Then we will go there for Christmas again," Yelena says. "I promise that this year I will only go for the appetizers, no killing allowed."
"You didn't kill him last year, either," Kate points out, but she's smiling. "If you're sure you're okay with it, though, then I'll let them know we'll be there."
Yelena nods. "I'm sure. On one condition." Kate nods, albeit a little hesitantly, and Yelena grins at her.
"I get to pick the road trip music."
They make it to Clint and Laura's more or less in one piece (Yelena has remarkably good taste in music, and Kate is pleasantly surprised by the playlist she put together for the drive), and Fanny and Lucky bound out of the car as soon as they open the door.
(Lucky proceeds to zoom around the farm, chasing birds and snowflakes in the air, while Fanny sits at Yelena's side and watches Lucky with an expression that Kate can only describe as unimpressed. She never thought dogs could be judgy, but apparently she was wrong.)
"Try not to terrify anyone," Kate mumbles to Yelena, flashing a bright grin as the front door swings open to reveal Clint standing there.
"You wound me, Kate," Yelena says with a smirk. "I have it on good authority that I'm incredibly likable. Charming, even."
Kate rolls her eyes, but before she can say anything in response, Clint is waving them in. "Kate! Yelena! We're so glad you could make it, come on in." He steps aside so that they can come into the house, and Kate glares at Yelena one last time in the hopes of averting any Christmas Eve debacles. Last year was more than enough for her; she has no interest in watching Clint and Yelena duke it out a second time.
Kate says hello to everyone and Clint introduces Yelena to the kids. It takes a second before Laura comes down the stairs, and her eyes immediately land on Yelena where she's standing awkwardly at the edge of the room. Yelena tenses when Laura heads towards her, and Kate holds her breath. If anyone is able to win Yelena over, she thinks that it will be Laura, and she watches as Laura stops just in front of Yelena.
"It's good to have you here," Laura says warmly, and after a second, some of the tension fades from Yelena's posture.
"Thank you for having us."
Kate breathes a sigh of relief as Laura draws Yelena into casual conversation, glad to see that Yelena isn't running out of the house (or trying to kill anyone). The afternoon slides into evening, and the whole thing feels about as homey as Kate thinks can be expected. The kids all disperse to various corners of the house after dinner, and Kate helps Clint clean up in the kitchen. When they finish, she goes looking for Yelena and finds her standing in front of the family photo wall in the living room.
"She had a whole life here," Yelena says quietly, and Kate nods, her eyes tracing the photos of Natasha that are scattered across the wall. There's a shot of Natasha holding a tiny infant Nate, and one of her swinging Lila into the air, both of them grinning and frozen mid-laugh. Another photo shows her reading a book to one of the kids—Cooper, maybe—and then there are a handful of her with Clint, and with Laura. She looks entirely at home in the pictures, and Kate never knew Natasha, but if she was anything like Yelena then she imagines that home wasn't something that had come easily.
"They talk about her sometimes," Kate offers. "Laura especially, but the kids miss her too."
Yelena hums, her eyes scanning the wall a final time before she abruptly heads for the front door.
"Where are you—"
"Just need some fresh air. I'll be back soon." Yelena flashes Kate a quick smile over her shoulder, but Kate can see the anguish lingering in her features. She starts to follow Yelena, but a gentle hand grasps her by the shoulder and stops her.
"Let me."
Kate turns to look at Laura in surprise. She hadn't even heard her come into the room, and she opens her mouth to say that Yelena might not exactly be thrilled to have unexpected company.
As if she knows what Kate is about to say, Laura just gives her shoulder another squeeze. "Don't worry, I've had some experience with widows when they get a little prickly."
Kate nods and watches as Laura goes out onto the porch, the door not quite shutting all the way behind her. She debates for a moment whether to leave or stay, but her curiosity gets the better of her and she creeps closer to the door, where she can just make out the dim silhouettes of Laura and Yelena standing side-by-side on the porch.
The two women stand in silence for a minute, but then Laura speaks. "Natasha told me a lot about you."
"She did?" Kate's heart breaks at the uncertainty she can hear in Yelena's voice.
"Yeah. I think…" Laura pauses, and she takes a few quiet breaths before continuing. "I think she always hoped that maybe one day she would be able to bring you here."
Yelena doesn't say anything in response to that, and Kate wonders if that will be the end of the conversation. Yelena surprises her when she speaks again.
"I am glad that she had you. That she was able to have this family with you, and with Clint." Yelena's voice is rough but sincere. "I wish—I wish I could have seen her here." Her head tips back and she stares up at the darkened sky, little flurries of snow blowing on the wind. "She always felt like she had to be the one to take care of everyone else, to take care of the world. It is good to know that there was somewhere she could go where she would be the one taken care of instead."
Kate sees Laura slide one hand along the railing—slowly, so slowly that it's hard to tell if she's even really moving—until she can cover Yelena's hand with her own. Laura starts to say something, and Kate decides to take that as her cue to leave. They both loved Natasha in ways that Kate will never fully understand, and she thinks that the least she can do is give some the time and space to share that love—and the accompanying grief—between them.
She makes herself a mug of hot chocolate and then goes to wait in the room that she's sharing with Yelena. She scrolls through her phone while she waits, determined to stay up until Yelena comes back inside. She's almost asleep in spite of herself when she hears near-silent footsteps coming down the hall. She knows instinctively that it's Yelena and rubs at her eyes as she sits up in bed, trying to look a little less like she's about to pass out. The door swings open and Yelena slips inside, giving Kate a tired smile.
"I did not think you would still be awake," she says. "You looked like you were going to fall asleep at the dinner table earlier."
"It's not my fault that Laura is, like, the most incredible cook in all of existence," Kate says, rolling her eyes. "How was the fresh air?"
Yelena gives Kate an amused look that makes it clear she knows exactly what Kate is really asking, and she sits down at the edge of the bed. "It was nice. To talk to somebody who knew Natasha." She hesitates. "To someone who loved her."
Kate reaches over and lets her hand rest palm up on the blanket in a silent invitation. The fact that Yelena immediately shifts her own hand closer so that she can slip her fingers between Kate's is a testament, Kate thinks, to how very far the two of them have come.
Yelena lapses back into silence and Kate doesn't say anything, just squeezes her hand gently. If there's one thing she's learned since she met Yelena, it's that sometimes saying nothing at all is the best gift she can give.
Her eyes are starting to droop again when Yelena clears her throat and reaches into one of her pockets. "Here, I got you something." Yelena hands her a small box, and Kate stares at it in confusion.
"It's…not Christmas until tomorrow?"
Yelena just smirks and points to the clock, which now reads 12:01 AM. "Technically, it is Christmas today."
That's more than enough for Kate, and she picks up the box and inspects it. It's wrapped simply with a purple bow on it, and she glances over at Yelena. "It's not anything dangerous, is it?" The last thing she wants is to explain to Clint or Laura why their guest bedroom exploded.
Yelena shakes her head in the negative, but Kate still exercises some caution as she unties the bow and carefully slides her finger beneath the edge of the wrapping paper. Better safe than sorry. She still hasn't quite forgotten the last time she asked Yelena if something was dangerous and Yelena had said no. It had ended with Kate nearly losing an eye and Yelena staring at her in exasperation, mumbling about how Kate had the survival skills of a toddler.
Kate sets the wrapping paper and the bow next to her on the bed before turning her attention to the unassuming black box now resting in the palm of her hand. It's the size and shape of a jewelry box, and she glances over at Yelena in confusion.
"It is not a ring," Yelena says with a faint smile, "In case that is what you are worried about."
Kate's jaw drops. She hadn't been worried about that at all, actually—hadn't been thinking about it as a possibility to begin with—but the fact that Yelena has thought about it enough to even say something like that out loud is...a lot to take in.
She decides to just file that whole train of thought away for later and carefully lifts the lid of the box. Her breath catches in her throat when she sees the tiny keychain resting on the black velvet interior, and she lifts it out with reverent fingers so that she can see it better in the light. It's a tiny metal house, the windows and doors cut out so that they contrast against the bright silver of the rest of it. It's impressive workmanship, and Kate traces a fingertip along the edge of the roof.
"Because you are my home," Yelena says, and Kate's heart stutters in her chest as she looks over at Yelena so quickly that it's a small miracle she doesn't give herself whiplash. She wants to say something—wants to tell Yelena just how absurdly perfect this is—but her throat has closed up, and she's fairly certain that if she tries to talk she's going to burst into tears. She settles for reaching over and pulling Yelena closer until she can kiss her softly, trying to pour every ounce of emotion she's got into the kiss. She feels Yelena smiling into the kiss, and when they break apart, Yelena asks, "Does that mean that you like it?"
She looks almost insufferably smug, because she has to know the answer to that question already, but Kate can't think of a single snarky response while she's still holding the sweetest gift she's ever received in her fingers.
"I love it," she says instead, and she delights in the flush that dusts Yelena's cheeks at her answer.
Kate climbs off the bed just long enough to grab her keys from her coat pocket and carefully add the keychain to the ring before sliding back into the bed next to Yelena. Yelena immediately curls around her from behind, wrapping her arms around Kate and pressing a kiss to her shoulder blade.
(Kate smiles as she remembers when she'd first learned that Yelena liked to be the big spoon. "You're so much smaller than me that it's not even really spooning," Kate had said with a laugh. "It's more like I'm wearing you like a backpack. Is backpacking a thing?"
Yelena had grumbled but made no move to loosen her arms from around Kate's waist. "I would at least be a jetpack," she'd muttered. "I cannot believe you think I would ever be something as uncool as a backpack."
"Backpacks are very functional, though. Lots of pockets."
"...this is true. But they do not fly, so still less cool than a jetpack.")
Kate sighs happily and snuggles deeper under the covers, twisting in Yelena's arms just enough to be able to kiss her softly. "Merry Christmas, Yelena."
Yelena smiles into the kiss, and her eyes are bright and happy as she looks down at Kate.
"Merry Christmas, Kate Bishop."