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It was amazing all that could happen in a year. Christmas was just around the corner and she was spending it (a) not alone and (b) injured. So...apparently some things changed and some didn’t. But there were changes, and it had been a long year.
Clint had given her his blessing to be Hawkeye now. The Tracksuit Mafia may be gone, but that didn’t mean Hawkeye wasn’t needed. The Christmas with the Bartons had been so good for her; her mother refused to talk to her after her arrest and subsequent release on bail. She was an orphan for now, barring any other words that could describe losing both your parents.
And then, just as she was getting into her crime-fighting groove, she got a late Christmas gift: a set of silverware, good cooking knives, and a box of mac and cheese. The good stuff, the one with the sauce packet and not the powdered stuff. She knew Yelena had left it for her, and wouldn’t you know, the next day she came home to Yelena playing “American Pie” on her small CD player, with a bowl of macaroni and cheese for each of them, as well as a proposition: Yelena had had enough of the assassin for hire business, she’d said, and would Kate like a partner?
Needless to say, it was a surprise, but a surprisingly welcome one, as Kate found she worked better with a partner than without one. That should have been obvious when she worked with Clint before she took over the mantle, but with Yelena things were as fluid as their fight in her mother’s office building had been. And Yelena had gotten very good at not making dead people her first priority; she had more skills to incapacitate in hand-to-hand combat than Kate did, so Kate was happy to minimize that and stick with her arrows. Clint had given her the tools to make the trick arrows, so there was no shortage of most of the ones she’d found useful in the ice rink fight. Sadly, the Pym particles one were a no no for her. Too many ethical questions on why people were shrunk.
She could make do without them as long as she had Yelena by her side, though.
Eventually she couldn’t deny they had chemistry together in the more-than-work partners sense. It was just after April Fool’s Day, a day when they were relaxing at Central Park with a picnic lunch and just people watching when Kate broached if this was a date. Like, a date date. Yelena’s simple reaction: “Duh.” So it was rather nice having an ex-assassin as a girlfriend. She never felt unsafe around her, in work-related business or in the bedroom. And the apartment finally started to feel like home.
Of course, every time they went out as Hawkeye & Black Widow, it had it’s hazards. And tripping and falling down a flight of stairs had meant Christmas Eve in the emergency room, and Christmas Day at home with her ankle in a cast and her stubborn butt on crutches. Not exactly how she had planned on ringing in the holiday, but at least Yelena was game to play nurse.
“The doctor said to elevate your ankle so sit down and lift it up and I will put a pillow underneath,” Yelena said as she let them into the apartment. Kate hobbled in on the crutches, every slight motion of her leg making her ankle twinge in pain in the cast. Thankfully it wasn’t a plaster monstrosity like the ones she used to have to wear as a kid when she broke something, but even the metal/fiberglass/velcro casts sucked. Broken bones still hurt like a bitch, in or out of a cast, even one as light as the one she had. At least she could take it off to clean herself. Being stinky was something she’d hated about the plaster casts, even when she wrapped them in trash bags to keep them dry.
Kate plunked herself down on the sofa, with her head on one end and, with some difficulty, her legs up on the other. She moved to a sitting position as Yelena brought over a pillow. “I knew there was a reason you bought those throw pillows, Kate said.
“Yes. Because I knew my girlfriend would trip and fall down the stairs and break her ankle. I am psychic, did you not know?” Once Kate’s ankle was propped up Yelena began bringing over the Christmas presents. Kate wasn’t destitute by any means, even with her mother disowning her; she had full control over her credit cards now and all her finances. She’d used Jack’s advice on a financial management company to handle to details and it worked pretty well.
Oh shit. Jack and the LARP crew were coming over for dinner tonight! How in the hell was she going to cook dinner for everyone.”
“Remind me how we are supposed to make Christmas dinner for everyone tonight?” Kate asked.
“Easy: we order Chinese, just like all the other people who can’t cook in this city. And we ask everyone to bring an appetizer. I can make those calls because after we open presents, you’re taking a pain pill and resting.”
“You’re bossy as a nurse. I kinda like it.”
“Just wait until you’re better. Then I can do nurse/patient roleplay with you.”
Kate grinned at her. “I like the way you think.”
“I can be very careful now, if you’re a good girl with company tonight,” Yelena said as she brought over some more gifts, going over and giving Kate a lingering kiss. Kate wrapped her hand around the nape of Yelena’s neck to keep her close. And when the kiss was over, Yelena shut her eyes, resting her forehead against Kate’s. “Ty budesh' moyey smert'yu, Keyt.”
“I love you too, Yelena,” Kate said.
“That is not what I said and you know it,” Yelena said as she stood up.
“Yeah, but it’s nicer than saying you will be the death of me too, you know. Neither of us are dying anytime soon.”
“A Black Widow lives on the edge of death all her life.”
“But you’re not a Black Widow anymore,” Kate pointed out softly.
“But death is still an old friend to me.” Kate opened her mouth to reply but Yelena took two fingers and her thumb and closed Kate’s mouth before she got a word out. “No more talk of death. We have presents to open and you have medicine to take and rest to get.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Yelena grinned. “I like it when you call me ma’am. It does things to my insides and quite possibly the lady parts I am missing, wherever they are.”
“I can do more things to your lady parts that are still intact!” Kate called back as Yelena got more gifts for them to open. The pile was getting quite large but she’d have to send Yelena to the tree to get the ornament with the engagement ring in it. That wasn’t how she’d wanted to propose, but she hadn’t planned on the broken ankle, either.
She’d had it all planned: “It’s A Wonderful Life” on the TV, vodka-infused holiday drinks, then when the bell rang in the movie she’d get the special bell-shaped ornament with the ring tied up inside and ask Yelena to marry her. That had been the plan for last night. But as she saw Yelena coming with the ornament in hand, she should have known, just like everything else, nothing would go according to plan.
“Don’t worry, I did not forget the ring,” Yelena said. “And yes, of course I will marry you.” She handed Kate the ornament, then reached into the pile of gifts to get the smallest box among them. “But only if you will marry me.”
Kate handed her back the ornament and took the box, opening it as Yelena took the ring Kate was giving her off the ornament and slipped it onto her own finger. Once she got the box open she smiled. Black diamond surrounded by amethyst. Her signature colors.
“I could kiss you,” Kate said.
“As I should you,” Yelena said. And then she leaned in and did just that, sealing their proposals with the sweetest of sweet kisses.