A/N: Disclaimer to anyone who reads this in the future that Thunderbolts hasn't come out yet/isn't coming out any time soon so we know nothing about Antonia's personality and I'm totally winging it rn

Everything works out in the end.

They let the Russian government take Dreykov in exchange for letting the Widows go unpunished and Alexei go free. Alexei and Melina are shacking it up at her place (something Natasha would rather not think too much about), and Yelena and Antonia are temporarily relocating to the compound, just long enough to get back on their feet. Everyone gets to live happily ever after.

It does kind of suck that she didn't get to kill Dreykov, but at least justice is served. She'll take what she can get.

She stays with Antonia throughout the flight back. The poor girl hasn't spoken another word since she learned that she was free, and Natasha's worried about her.

More than that, though, Natasha feels guilty. This is her fault. Dreykov was never going to involve her in this mess until Natasha nearly killed her, years and years and years ago. She did this to her. She can't take it back now, but she can keep an eye on her; can help set her up to lead some semblance of a normal life after all the hell she's been through. It's the least she can do.

The Quinjet lands outside the compound, and Natasha murmurs a quiet, "Come on," gesturing for Antonia to follow her. She can sleep in a guest room tonight.

Antonia follows her without a word, and the others trail behind her – all going their own ways, she assumes. They've had enough quality time together for today.

And then Wanda appears, which puts a slight smile on Natasha's face. It's always nice to see Wanda.

Wanda gives Yelena a small wave. "I was wondering if you were going to come back."

"I am not staying long," Yelena tells her, and Natasha fights the urge to roll her eyes. She opened up her home for her, and this is what she gets for it. She knows her sister doesn't want to stay here any longer than she has to, but does she have to be so loud about it? Poor Wanda's just trying to be nice.

Still. Wanda doesn't seem all too put off by that. "Well, it's nice to see you again," she says. Then she turns her attention to Antonia, and she gives Natasha by her side a strange look. "Who's this?"

Natasha gives the girl a moment to answer, but when she doesn't, Natasha answers for her. "Antonia Dreykov," she says. "She needed someplace to stay while she gets back on her feet, so..." She shrugs. It's admittedly a very oversimplified version of events, but she doesn't need to spill the poor girl's life story right now – and just saying her last name likely gives much of it away.

Wanda gives her a smile. "It's nice to meet you, Antonia."

Antonia responds with just a nod.

"And the Red Room?" Wanda asks. "That's...?"

"Gone," Natasha answers. "For real, this time."

"Good," Wanda says; a simple, succinct answer that fits the situation perfectly.

With that settled, Natasha says, "I'm going to take Antonia to one of the guest rooms and then head to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight," Wanda says; then, to those who stand behind her, "Goodnight, guys."

Pietro gives her a pointed look. "You better not be going to bed yet," he says. "I have too much to tell you – after I take a shower."

Wanda cracks a smile – the most genuine smile she's worn during this conversation, but with Pietro here, that's no surprise. "Yes, please do," she says. "Do not stink up our room."

Pietro clicks his tongue. "I make no promises about that."

Natasha just shakes her head to herself. She's so glad the twins didn't turn out to be evil. They really breathed new life into the place when they moved in.

So Natasha leads Antonia through the halls, and slowly, the other Avengers branch off until it's just the two of them. They walk in silence, and as much as Natasha wants to say something, she just can't. What even is there to say?

Finally, they've reached the guest rooms, and Natasha makes a mental note of which ones are already taken. Sam and Rhodey have their own semi-permanent homes in this wing, so those rooms obviously aren't up for grabs. Bucky has an actual permanent home here now. Yelena has a room down here, too, that she will very much be making a point to stay away from. It still leaves a couple of options, though, so she picks one and leads Antonia to it.

She opens the door and gestures inside. "You can stay here for the night," she says. "There's a bathroom down the hall if you want to get washed up. I can go find you something to wear – I might have to steal from Stark's closet, though; I don't know what'll fit you." She pauses, eyeing the girl's Taskmaster gear. It's really hard to tell what size she actually is underneath her bulky armor. "If you need anything tonight, you can ask FRIDAY, Stark's AI that runs the place. FRIDAY, can you...?"

"Hello, Ms. Dreykov," FRIDAY says politely.

Antonia's brows draw together, eyes flickering around as though searching for the source of the voice, but there's nothing there.

"Can I get you anything?" Natasha asks. "Other than clean clothes?"

Antonia's quiet for a moment; then, "Something to eat?"

"Oh, yeah, of course," Natasha says quickly. "I can show you where the kitchen is."

Antonia shakes her head. "I want to get out of this suit first."

Natasha gives her a sympathetic smile. She can't fault her for that at all. "Okay, go take a shower, and I'll leave clean clothes outside the bathroom and a snack on your bed. If you need me, tell FRIDAY and I'll be here."

Antonia nods once. "Thank you."

"Of course," Natasha says.

And then she walks away before she starts feeling even more uncomfortable than she already does with this whole situation.

Fortunately, as she's turning the corner down the hall, she finds Clint waiting for her. That's nice to see. Everything's better when Clint is around. It must be that whole 'best friends' thing they've got going on.

"How is she?" Clint asks, joining in and walking side-by-side with presumably no idea where they're actually going.

Natasha sighs. "I don't know," she admits. "She's not talking much. I don't know if that will change in the morning after she gets some sleep, or if it's going to take longer than that, or if this is just how she is now...?" With what she's been through, it's no wonder she's not the same bubbly child she was years and years ago.

Clint frowns, but he doesn't seem all too surprised. "I'm sure this is a long shot, but is there anything I can do?"

Natasha shakes her head. "I'm just going to bring her something to eat and something to wear and leave her alone."

Clint pauses. "Do we have any clothes that will fit her?" he asks. "Who's closet are we stealing from? You think she'd fit in my stuff?"

In spite of herself, Natasha cracks a smile. They really share the same brain. "I don't know; I was thinking I'd just steal from a few people's closets and hope something fits."

"Fair enough," Clint says. "Any ideas on food?"

Natasha shrugs. "I don't know; something room-temperature so she can eat it whenever." They have to have something filling and relatively nutritious that can survive at room temperature, right? What even is there in the compound kitchen?

So, with that settled, they head off to the kitchen. (Should they be finding clothes for Antonia first? Maybe they should have started with clothes, just to make sure she had something to change into after her shower. Oops?)

Unfortunately, someone is already in the kitchen when they make it there – someone who is not at all thrilled to see them, if her eye roll is any indication.

Clint still tries to be friendly about this, though. He gestures with his head to the pot sitting on the stove. "Making something good?"

"It would be better if you guys had hot sauce," Yelena deadpans.

Clint furrows his brows. "Do we really not have hot sauce?" He heads to the fridge, rummaging through all the random junk shoved into it.

Natasha huffs. "You still eat your mac n cheese with hot sauce?" She'd always assumed that's something she would have grown out of – not that the thought of it had actually crossed her mind at all in the last few decades, but if it had, she would have thought...

"Obviously," Yelena says. "It's only the best way to eat it."

Natasha huffs a laugh, a slight smile on her lips in spite of herself. It's kind of nice to know that despite all that's changed since they were kids, there's still at least one constant: Yelena's love of mac n cheese with hot sauce.

"Wait, hold on," Clint says, and as he turns around to look at her, there's a bottle of hot sauce in his hands. "You're going to put this on your mac n cheese?"

"What are you, the food police?" Yelena asks sarcastically.

Clint blinks at that, and he hands Yelena the hot sauce without another word.

Natasha shakes her head to herself, and then she's off to look in the closet for something to eat – for her and Antonia; it's been a long day, and she could use a snack. She's sure they have something in here. They have bread; she could make them both a sandwich or two. She could probably grab some fruit from the fridge for a little fruit salad. It's kind of boring, but right now, boring seems like the least of their problems.

She glances over her shoulder at her friend. "PB and J or ham and cheese?"

Clint pauses. "For me or for her?"

"For you," Natasha says. "I'll just give Antonia one of each."

Clint shrugs. "I'll take one of each."

"Works for me." She pulls out a loaf of bread and the peanut butter and fluff, cradling it all in her arms as she carries it over to the counter. She turns to the fridge, but Clint has already beat her to it, and he tosses the ham and the cheese to her. Now all she needs is a knife, and she's all set to start sandwiching.

She's just finishing up the ham and cheese sandwiches when she notices Yelena's irritated look. A part of her just wants to ignore it, but she figures she should probably say something, so she looks over at her sister and says a somewhat irritated, "What?"

"You're making dinner for Antonia?" Yelena asks, and there's clear judgment in her voice that Natasha does her best to ignore. She really is just so pissed off that she has to exist in the same vicinity as her big sister, isn't she? This is getting ridiculous.

Still, she tries to keep her own annoyance out of her voice as much as she can as she says, "If you can call a couple of sandwiches 'dinner.'"

"Hmph," Yelena huffs.

Now she's getting really annoyed. She turns to look at her sister, putting her hands on her hips. "What?" she asks again, more irritated than before.

"Oh, nothing," Yelena says. "I was just under the impression that you didn't want a little sister. Guess I was wrong; guess you just didn't want this one."

Natasha lolls her head back in exasperation. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just saying," Yelena says, "I know you feel guilty because you ruined her life, but if you're going to take in a new little sister, could you at least have the decency not to do it in front of your old little sister?"

Natasha presses her lips into a firm line. She's not sure how to respond to that. She's not even sure how to feel about it, if she's being honest.

It seems silence was the wrong reaction, because Yelena just huffs, rolls her eyes, and turns away from her, pointedly turning her back on her as she waits for her water to boil.

Natasha glances at Clint, who shrugs helplessly. He's not going to be much help with this conversation – and she really does feel like this calls for a conversation. Not just bickering; not just arguments or insults flung around like they're nothing. They need to have a real conversation.

As if reading her mind, Clint asks, "Want me to go clothes hunting?"

Natasha forces a smile. "Yeah, will you?" As much as she loves him, this is probably a conversation that she and Yelena should have alone.

So Clint slips away, and then it's just the Widows in the kitchen. She's fairly certain the next five minutes are either going to make or break her night, and she's not sure she's ready to see which way it's going to go.

Natasha lets out a long breath and leans against the counter beside her. "What's going on?" she asks. "Talk to me. Let's do this like adults."

"I don't see what more there is to talk about," Yelena says coldly. "You made it very clear how you felt about me and our family."

Oh.

It's about that.

Natasha sighs, and she lets her walls fall, lowers her guard the slightest bit. "I'm sorry," she says. "I wasn't trying to hurt you. Alexei and Melina were just pissing me off, and I just wanted to get past all the drama and do what we set out to do." And she'd regretted it the moment Yelena teared up, the moment she stormed out of the room, but she couldn't take it back. Not when they were in the middle of something that big; not when she needed everyone to focus on the real problem at hand; certainly not in a room with all her teammates who definitely did not want to get involved in all of their fucked-up family drama.

Yelena spreads her arms. "Well, we did it," she says. "Now what?"

Natasha shakes her head helplessly. "What do you want me to say?" What is there to say now? She wouldn't even know where to start.

"Oh, I don't know, an 'I'm sorry' would be nice," Yelena says. "A 'no, Yelena, I don't think our childhood was a waste of three years of my life.' 'Of course I'm not just waiting for you to leave so I can go be a superhero without you.'"

Natasha frowns. "You really think that's how I feel?"

Yelena scoffs. "Is it not?" she asks. "Because it's how you've been acting."

Natasha just looks at her for a few moments.

And then she sighs.

"I'm sorry," she says, and she means it, truly, honestly. Because that is how she's been acting. And, to her credit, it's how Yelena's been acting, too. She thought this is what she wanted. The past is past. Hell, the whole reason Yelena was hiding out in Budapest was because she didn't want to have anything to do with any of this. Can they really fault her for keeping her sister at an arm's length when Yelena tried to keep her on the other side of the planet?

But Yelena just rolls her eyes once more. "That doesn't count if I have to tell you to say it."

"I'm not apologizing because you told me to," Natasha tells her. "I'm apologizing because I really am sorry – about all of it, all the way back to the beginning. I'm sorry we never told you. I'm sorry I let them take you from me. I'm sorry I never went back for you. I'm sorry I blew up at you and Alexei and Melina and I let you think that I didn't care, because I do. I've always cared – because it was real. You were my sister. And I can't tell if you even want anything to do with me anymore, but if you do..." She spreads her arms in a shrug. "The Compound's always got room for one more." If she truly cares, and if she truly wants to mend their relationship, Natasha will do her part, too. It could be nice to have a little sister again.

Yelena's quiet at first. Her eyes narrow, watching Natasha almost suspiciously. Just before she can ask why, Yelena asks, "Did Loki tell you to do this?"

Natasha scoffs. "Did Loki tell me to?" she repeats, incredulous. "Why the hell would Loki tell me to talk to you? He's met you, like, twice! Why would he even care?"

"He told me you were going to do this," Yelena says. "He told me that when we took down the Red Room, you would calm down, and then you would apologize, and that we could still be sisters because he... stabbed his brother..." Her face scrunches in confusion, and she mimes a stabbing motion while she tries to puzzle it out. "Or something."

Natasha is torn between being primarily incredulous that Loki would say this to her or offended that he finds her so predictable, but all she says is, "Loki just likes to butt into everyone else's business." Granted, everyone else likes to get involved in his business so she can't really be mad, but still. It's not necessary.

Yelena eyes her skeptically. "So he didn't tell you to say this."

"I haven't even talked to him since we left," Natasha tells her. "No, he didn't tell me to say anything. I said it because I meant it – and I meant it a hell of a lot more than I meant what I said at Melina's." She gives the younger girl a small shrug. "You're my sister. And I've already lost you once. I don't want to lose you again."

Still, Yelena seems skeptical, until slowly, a smile creeps up on her face. "You're so sappy."

Natasha rolls her eyes goodnaturedly. "Yeah, yeah," she says. "So, are we good?"

"I guess we're good," Yelena says. She waves her off. "Now go take care of Antonia."

Natasha gestures with her head to the pile of food on the counter. "I can't do that until I finish making sandwiches," she says. Yelena can't kick her out quite yet.

Yelena huffs a laugh. "I never pictured you as a housewife," she says teasingly.

Natasha just grabs a slice of cheese and throws it at her.