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How do the Avengers normally celebrate thanksgiving? They would first talk Tony out of throwing a huge party. Which they did that, successfully. Then, either a day or two before thanksgiving everyone would all go in the common room and discuss what they wanted to do and eat. After everyone sat down, they went around each saying one thing they wanted to eat. Tony said bread rolls, Steve being the old fashioned Steve said turkey, Bruce added the mashed potatoes, Sam the stuffing, Bucky was like Steve and said ham, Rhodes wanted green bean casserole, Pepper said pumpkin pie, and Clint said apple pie. After everyone decided on the food, they began talking about what movie to watch once they were done eating.
Pepper then spoke up, “Alright, now that we got the food, what are we going to watch afterwards?”
“We have to finish the Star Wars movies,” Clint exclaimed almost immediately.
“We are not watching Star Wars for thanksgiving,” Tony objected. He normally liked Star Wars, but with how many times Clint wants to watch it, it gets pretty annoying.
“I’ve haven’t seen the Lord of the Rings yet,” Bucky admitted.
Sam looked at Bucky like he was crazy, “How have you not seen Lord of the Rings yet?”
Pepper sighed, mumbling, “I knew this was gonna happen.”
“Isn’t it Nat’s turn to pick the movie?” Steve asked.
The Avengers then got quiet and looked around. She wasn’t there. How did they not notice that their friend wasn’t even present? Someone asked where Nat was, and Clint paled. She disappeared before for a couple weeks and was on television. Natasha was seen in Budapest, on camera of destroying a prison, and also seen in a field with debris and fire all around her. When Natasha returned, she was extremely worn out and never mentioned to anybody what happened or why she disappeared without telling anyone. Suddenly everyone got very worried, assumed the worst, and thought she disappeared again.
Clint jumped off the couch and practically yelled, “Jarvis when did Natasha leave the tower and why didn’t you tell us?!”
Jarvis calmly answered back, “Miss Romanoff did not leave the tower and is currently in the gym.”
“What? But she has never missed a team meeting when it comes to the holidays,” Steve mentioned, still worried.
Tony spoke next, “Jarvis, tell Red to get down here so we can discuss thanksgiving.”
Nearly a minute went by until Jarvis replied, “Miss Romanoff has declined the offer to be apart of the conversation as she is not attending this year’s thanksgiving.”
If the avengers weren’t worried about Natasha before, they definitely were now. It was rare for her to even miss a team meeting, but missing a holiday? That’s something Natasha never did, not once.
Pepper looked up to the ceiling and asked, “Well if Nat’s not celebrating with us, what is she doing then?”
A few seconds went by and Jarvis answered, “Miss Romanoff has business to attend to and refuses to explain further.”
“What business is more important than hanging out with us,” Clint whined.
Tony snorted and joked, “She probably just found someone else to have dinner with.”
“I don’t think she has anyone else to spend thanksgiving with,” Rhodey added sadly.
Sam and Bucky both hummed, agreeing with Rhodey’s statement. Steve knew that to be the truth from all of his conversations with Natasha. Tony looked like he suddenly remembered that the Avengers were Natasha’s only family. Everyone else just looked sad because they knew Natasha didn’t actually have anyone besides them to spend the holidays with.
“But then what business is so important that Nat has to forgo having thanksgiving with us?” Bruce asked quietly, like he was afraid of getting the answer to that question.
Tony stood up, “I don’t know, but let’s find out!” He then got out his phone and started texting someone.
Steve groaned, “It’s Natasha’s business, not ours.”
“The last time something was just Natasha’s business she disappeared for two weeks, and to this day we still don’t know what happened.” Sam put a hand on Steve’s shoulder, trying to comfort his friend but also trying to make him see the severity of what could happen.
“For once, I actually agree with you,” Bucky said.
Sam turned around shocked, “Did I hear that right? You’re actually agreeing with me?”
Bucky sighed, “I already regret saying anything.”
“Perfect! I got Peter to hold off on his thanksgiving to come help us instead,” Tony exclaimed.
“Who’s Peter?” Rhodey asked.
“And how is he going to help us?” Clint added.
Tony replied with ease, “He’s my intern.”
Pepper nearly yelled in surprise, “You have an intern?!”
“Yeah. You didn’t know that?” Tony pointed to Pepper, “He doesn’t do much, just helps out here and there. I let him design something for my iron man suit once, best decision I ever made. Anyways, he’s going to help us find out what Red is doing.”
“How is your intern going to help us follow Nat?” Clint asked, clearly unimpressed.
Tony just smirked and replied, “You’ll see.”
•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•
Thanksgiving morning:
The Avengers all stood around a table in the meeting room discussing the best way to tail their friend without her knowing. Well, almost all of the Avengers, Natasha wasn’t there of course, and Pepper and Bruce didn’t want to be a part of their scheming. When Tony introduced Peter to the team, they were first surprised to find out that Tony’s intern was a teenager who was also spider-man. But they quickly realized his smarts and why Tony liked him so much. Tony and Peter clearly had a father-son relationship going on but no one spoke up about it with the kid there, plus they were distracted trying to plan.
Clint spoke first, “Alright, if Nat is leaving at five and getting back before midnight then wherever she’s going, it’s going to be somewhere in New York City.”
“But what if she’s lying and just saying that to throw us off, when she’s really going to disappear for another two weeks.” Steve mentioned, his voice filled with worry.
Everyone winced and Bucky said, “Then let’s hope she’s telling the truth.”
Rhodey chimed in, “So we plan according to Nat staying true to her word, got it?”
Everyone nodded. Sam then informed the team that they had to act like they were still having thanksgiving normally instead of stalking Nat, which meant cooking and preparing the food, even if they weren’t going to eat it. Everyone agreed and they continued planning.
Peter and his friends, Ned and MJ, were going to be armed with each of them having glasses with a tracker, comms, and camera built inside. Ned would follow Natasha as soon as she exits the tower, then alert MJ to trade places and it would be her turn to follow Natasha, then Peter would be last. With Peter being the last one, his job is to find out what business Natasha really has and place a camera to watch her. During all of this, the Avengers would sit in the living room and watch through the cameras placed on their spies the three teenagers.
While yes, it could be considered a huge invasion of privacy, everyone was really just worried for their friend so ultimately decided it was okay. The day went off without a hitch and Natasha didn’t suspect a thing, well they don’t think Natasha found out about their scheming. If she did, she didn’t act like it. The food was cooked, everyone (except Nat) was chilling in the common room, and it was nearing five o’clock. Everyone sitting down was staring at the time, whether that be a watch, a phone, or the clock on the wall. And then, it turned five.
“Miss Romanoff has left the tower,” Jarvis broke the silence.
•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•
Natasha knew something was up with the team almost immediately. She noticed that once she told them she wasn’t going to be spending thanksgiving with them, that they started acting weird. Sharing silent glances with each other, and trying to alert the others when Natasha walked into the room. Clearly they were planning something, Natasha just didn’t know what. Well, she didn’t know at first, but the second she walked out of the tower she then knew exactly what was going on. The team were trying to spy on her to figure out what she was doing and where she was going. The idiots tried getting a teenager —who was dressed in all black and quite obvious to spot— to spy on her. It’s like they were doing this on purpose to insult Natasha and her skills.
She should’ve guessed right away that they wanted to spy on what she’s doing. Ever since Natasha got those vials from Yelena and disappeared to take down the Red Room for a second time, the Avengers were suspicious of everything she did. Natasha meant to tell them after she arrived home from helping Yelena and her family, but could never bring herself to do it. How does one explain that the organization Natasha thought she brought down, was still up and running. Not only that but she left Yelena and the other widows behind in that horrid place. So, Natasha stayed to help Yelena locate some widows and eventually returned home, keeping everything she did from her team.
Natasha stayed in contact with her Ohio family and even Antonia. A couple days ago, Yelena texted her sister mentioning how she was going to be visiting New York and wanted to get together for Thanksgiving. Natasha immediately accepted, and is now walking towards where Yelena was staying while also trying to shake her tail without them noticing. A few minutes went by and the teenager in all black left. Now there was a young girl following her instead. At least she wore normal clothes and didn’t stick out like a sore thumb.
Suddenly Natasha got a call, it was from Yelena. She immediately clicked accept and brought the phone to her ear.
“Heyyyy,” came Yelena’s voice over the phone.
“What do you need?” Natasha responded.
“What? What makes you think I need something?”
“You have no reason to call me when I’m already heading over to you.”
Yelena grumbled, “I forgot to get hot sauce.”
“Why do you need hot sauce?”
“It tastes good with Mac n Cheese!”
“You didn’t only buy Mac n Cheese right?”
“Hmm, do we need anything else?”
Natasha sighed, but forgave her sister. They never actually celebrated any holidays in Ohio, and with Yelena only recently getting out of the Red Room, she was bound to not know what to do or get for Thanksgiving.
“I’ll get what we need, it’ll just take a bit longer before I arrive,” Natasha replied.
“Thank you,” Yelena said before hanging up.
Natasha then stopped by a store on the way to Yelena’s. She bought some vodka, a small precooked turkey, some bread rolls, a salad, and of course a bottle of hot sauce. She walked out of the store with two bags, one full of food and the other with the drinks and hot sauce. As Natasha was walking towards Yelena’s again, she noticed her tail stopped hiding and began walking towards her. It’s not that Natasha forgot about the teen following her, it’s just that she had full confidence in her ability to lose her before she got to Yelena’s hideout.
The girl walked up to Natasha and then began speaking, “Hi, I’m MJ. The Avengers told me to follow you so they can spy on you through these.”
The girl, MJ, then showed Natasha a pair of glasses, clearly made by the one and only Tony Stark.
MJ continued, “They’re not activated. I turned them off when I saw you walk out of the store with stuff for a thanksgiving dinner. That’s when I realized that I shouldn’t be following you, and your friends shouldn’t be trying to invade your privacy. I was going to stomp on them and smash them, but I figured they were expensive so I didn’t.”
MJ then held out the hi-tech glasses for Natasha to grab. Taking them and putting them in her pocket, Natasha said, “Thank you, you know you’re a lot better at tailing someone than your friend in a ski mask.”
MJ smiled, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “Thanks! You’re really cool and I’m a big fan!” MJ said, while walking away, waving.
Natasha gave a small smile in return and then turned around to start walking again. At least someone had enough sense to know what invading someone’s privacy means. As Natasha got closer to where Yelena was staying, she felt someone else’s eyes on her. But whenever Natasha looked, she saw no one. But just because she didn’t see them didn’t mean they weren’t there. She had enough training to know when she was being followed. Natasha looked at her watch and sighed, she was already running late and didn’t want to take even longer by trying to lose another shadow. Besides, who knew how many people Tony hired to follow her. Eventually, Natasha just decided to meet with Yelena anyways, she didn’t want to ruin Yelena’s first thanksgiving, even if the Avengers were being idiots.
Natasha walked up to the warehouse’s side door and knocked, “Yelena! Я вхожу, не стреляй в меня!” (I’m coming in, don’t shoot me!)
Opening the door, Natasha looked around and saw Yelena unpacking a new TV. There wasn’t much in the warehouse but surprisingly, it was quite lit up, with Christmas lights lining the walls. There was a used couch in the middle of the room underneath two heat lamps on either side. Some crates were stacked next to each other with a flattened cardboard box on top of it, this making a makeshift table in front of the couch. And opposite to the couch was Yelena plugging in the brand new TV.
“You didn’t steal that right?” Natasha asked while setting the bags down onto the makeshift coffee table.
“No, I bought it. AHA!” Yelena exclaimed successfully getting the TV to turn on.
Natasha sat down on the couch and then raised her eyebrow, “With whose money?”
“Mine. I can earn some money y’know,” Yelena mumbled.
“What happened to getting an apartment and a safe house set up?” Natasha asked while grabbing the food and drinks and placing them on the table, out of their bags.
“That’s expensive and I don’t have enough to buy an apartment.”
“You bought a TV.”
“Ah! The television is important.”
“So is a building with heating,” Natasha continued talking before Yelena could interrupt, “and heat lamps don’t count.”
Yelena huffed. She then stood up, brushed the dirt off her legs and walked over to her mini fridge to grab the Mac n Cheese.
As Natasha was opening the food from the containers, she kept talking, “What happened to using mine or Antonia’s money?”
Yelena put the Mac n Cheese on the makeshift table, grabbed a pair of plastic knives and sporks, and sat down, “I know it’s to help widows set themselves up but I don’t want to use your money, and Antonia’s money is really just Грязные деньги Дрейкова.” (Dreykov’s dirty money)
Natasha hummed in understanding, “So how have you been?” She then grabbed the remote for the TV and began downloading streaming services.
“Oh so now you ask how I am?”
“You didn’t ask about me when I walked in either.”
“You distracted me by accusing me of stealing a television,” Yelena gasped. “What are we watching anyways?”
“Elf, it’s a Christmas movie and apparently a film everyone must watch.” Natasha responded, she then grabbed some food for herself and gave Yelena some as well.
Yelena then grabbed the bottles of vodka and gave one to Natasha, “We never celebrated taking down the Red Room did we?”
Natasha smirked, “Unless you count freeing widows from mind control, then no.”
Yelena smiled, raised the bottle of vodka and said, “To taking down the Red Room and killing Dreykov for good.”
Natasha clinked the bottles, smiling, “To being sisters.”
Yelena’s eyes lit up, “Спасибо, сестра.” (Thank you, sister)
•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•
When MJ’s glasses turned off, it also turned off her camera, tracker, and comms, which freaked everyone out. For a solid minute, the Avengers thought Natasha caught MJ and killed her. Thankfully, Peter saw MJ walking home unscathed. Although he was unable to check on her and ask why she abandoned the mission because it would’ve given away his position. Being Spider-Man had its perks when tailing someone. For starters he could use his webs and climb to get a great view of the person he’s following. And with his Spidey sense, he was able to duck behind cover and not get caught whenever Natasha looked in his direction.
The Avengers were watching the screen intensely as Peter was successfully able to follow Natasha all the way to an abandoned warehouse. Then, from the comms, they could hear Natasha shout in a different language.
Tony quickly demanded, “Jarvis, translate everything not English into subtitles.”
<I’m coming in, don’t shoot me> was then put onto the bottom of the screen.
Steve exclaimed, “She’s going to get shot?!”
“It’s Nat, she knows better than to get shot,” Clint said, but he was more so saying that to himself than to Steve.
“Go inside and plant a camera and bug, make sure Red and whoever is inside doesn’t see you,” Tony spoke to Peter through the comms, “Once you’ve done that you can back out and go home.”
There was some shuffling heard as the Avengers watched as Spider-Man climbed the side of the building, went in through a window, and planted the bug and camera. Peter then quietly climbed out, said a quick goodbye, and turned off the glasses. Everyone watched as Natasha entered the building and started conversing with the blonde, who had a Russian accent. No one knew what exactly was happening, but Natasha clearly knew this unknown woman and felt comfortable enough around her to have a small thanksgiving dinner with her.
When Clint heard Antonia’s name, he tensed. It couldn’t be the same person, she was dead. But his suspicions were then thrown for a loop as the words <Dreykov’s dirty money> were shown on the screen.
“Who’s Dreykov?” asked Sam.
As Clint thoughts rambled, he didn’t hear Sam’s question so Bucky answered instead, “He was the general of the Red Room, the place where Nat grew up. She and Clint took it down though when Nat first joined Shield.”
“And Antonia?” Sam questioned. Everyone else wanted to know who she was as well.
Clint finally gathered up the ability to finally talk, “Dreykov’s daughter, she’s supposed to be dead.”
But before anyone could ask another question or respond, the blonde, Yelena, spoke about celebrating taking down the Red Room together. Everyone’s heads snapped to the screen and listened intently as Natasha responded. The women then toasted and clinked their vodka bottles. Clint then snatched the remote and turned the TV off just as the words <Thank you, sister> popped up on screen, so no one could see or hear what else was going to happen.
Tony yelled, “What the hell?!”
“I thought you said you took down the Red Room,” Sam said quietly.
“Is that what happened when Nat disappeared out of no where?” Rhodey asked to no one in particular, not really expecting an answer.
Clint shrugged, his head hung low, “I don’t know, but we’ll find out tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? Didn’t you hear them say that they were sisters?” Tony protested, not wanting to stop the ease dropping.
Steve announced, “Nat didn’t want us to know for a reason. The least we could do after we spied on her is to let her have Thanksgiving with her family.”
Even though the Avengers thought they were Natasha’s only family, they were happy to know they were wrong. While everyone was still extremely curious about the Red Room and Natasha’s new sister Yelena, they let the sisters be. At least, they let them be until tomorrow came.