Chapter Text
November 2027
Yelena sighed as she finished a set on the punching bag, lately she’d been feeling overwhelmed with the influx of publicity after everything that happened in New York. She sat on a bench and took a drink of her water, resting her forehead against the cool plastic. “You sure you’re not going into rut?” Ava asked, suddenly appearing next to her. The alpha sighed and shook her head.
“I don’t go into ruts… I haven’t for a long time,” she said, standing up to stretch. “I’ve told both Walker and my father that for a while, though they continue to not believe me,” she added with a huff. Ava shrugged, the beta following the blonde as she walked out of the training room.
“I mean, you have gotten a little more… aggressive over the last few weeks,” she said. Yelena sighed and shook her head. “And the only way for me to believe that you don’t go through ruts is if you already have a mate and are just keeping them from us, or the Red Room did something to make it impossible for you to do that and from what I’ve read they were never able to successfully do that,” the beta said with a smile. Her smile dropped when she saw the look on her friend's face and stopped. “Wait… You actually have a mate?” she asked. Yelena sighed.
“It was two years ago… We shared one night and I marked her but she didn’t mark me… It was an incomplete bond and I haven’t felt her in months… I just assume that she’s finally moved on and found someone…” she said, running her hand through her hair. Ava frowned softly and put a hand on her shoulder.
“But you wish she didn’t?” she asked. The alpha huffed, leaning against the wall of the elevator.
“I had hoped that once all of this settled down I could… Stop in and maybe clear the air between us… Explain why I just left and didn’t say a word as to why I did so…” she said softly. “Then, I would hope to salvage anything between us…” she added with a sigh. Ava nodded and shrugged.
“Maybe you can still find her, explain things to her,” she said. Yelena just nodded with a sigh and the two stepped out of the elevator into the main area, only to be taken by surprise at the irritated pheromones that Valentina was letting off while a familiar scent caught Yelena’s nose.
“Well it’s about time you finally get here Belova, not like I’ve been trying to call you for the past 20 minutes,” Valentina growled. Yelena rolled her eyes at the other alpha’s irritation and shrugged.
“I left my phone on the charger in my room, I didn’t want to be bothered,” she stated simply. She looked over and saw an equally as irritated Clint Barton with an unfamiliar omega woman standing next to him. Laura Barton if she recalled Kate’s stories correctly. She nodded at Barton in greeting before looking back to Valentina and crossed her arms. “I know Barton can be irritating, but he must have something good if you’re like this,” she stated. Valentina scoffed and shook her head.
“Why didn’t the so-called leader of my team divulge that she’s got not only a mate but a kid out there?” she said, glaring at Yelena who looked at her in confusion.
“What do you mean? I don’t have a mate and I definitely don’t have a child,” she said, shaking her head. She looked between everyone. “And even if I did have a mate, I couldn’t have a child. The Red Room took that from me,” she stated. Clint cleared his throat.
“It didn’t though Yelena…” he said softly. She looked at the beta with an arched eyebrow. “Natasha and Melina came across some old research from the Room… Dreykov had wanted to make sure the skill and attributes of his best would be able to be passed on… and well… you were the best he had,” he said softly. Yelena shook her head as the information washed over her and she took in his words.
“N-no… No… I would’ve felt it…” she said softly. Clint sighed and nodded, looking down and took a deep breath before he spoke again.
“Kate didn’t think you would want to know, not after how you just… disappeared,” he stated and the alpha could hear the slight growl in the beta’s voice. It was no secret to her that the Barton’s had come to see the omega as their own, so she understood the anger directed at her. She looked at him and shook her head.
“I would have come back had I known… I… Why didn’t she reach out after everything? I know I haven’t felt her in months but I’d just assumed she’d moved on, so why didn’t she say anything?” she asked. Clint sighed and Laura put a hand on his back before she spoke.
“The reason you haven’t felt her in months is because she’s been missing,” she said. Yelena focused on the omega as she spoke. “Fisk targeted her in his Safer Streets Act, by the time we were able to get here she’d disappeared and not even Jessica could locate her after everything cleared up the last few weeks,” she told her. Yelena shook her head and sat down on one of the couches and leaned her elbows on her knees, thinking back to the last time she’d seen the omega.
June 2024
The air was slightly humid outside the penthouse, yet still cool enough after the spring storms that the windows were left open and the sounds of the city filtered into the penthouse. In the master bedroom the blonde alpha was still thinking about her recent conversation with the omega who was sleeping peacefully. She looked down and gently brushed brunette locks out of the young woman's face and sighed “Clint told me… Sometimes you meet someone who just makes you want to be better… In every way,” she’d said to her earlier that night as she snuggled close in bed. “I think you make me want to do better ‘Lena…” she added softly. Those words echoed in the blonde’s head as she continued to think. She looked to the corner of the room where her duffel bag sat along with her boots. She couldn’t stay here. She couldn’t bring the omega down with her own self-destruction in her mind.
“You make me want to do better… and that’s what scares me Kate Bishop…” she thought as she leaned down, kissing the omega’s head. She couldn’t stay and watch the omega suffer as she self-destructed, she had to do what was best for her omega. After ensuring that she had everything and that no one would get into the penthouse when she left, she disappeared into the night. She wiped away the tears as she walked farther and farther from the penthouse, vowing to return if she ever had the chance to and praying that her omega would one day forgive her.
November 2027
Yelena shook her head and put it in her hands, holding back tears. Laura came over to the alpha and put a hand on her back and she let out a strangled sob. It took the Widow a few moments to compose herself before she looked up at Clint. “You… You said she had a child? M-my child?” she asked. Clint nodded.
“You have a son, Yelena,” he told her, causing her to whimper softly. “And he’s been waiting for you for almost two years,” he added, sitting next to her and pulling up a picture on his phone. She gasped softly at the picture of the small blonde toddler with bright blue eyes, the eyes he inherited from his mother.
“Where is he?” she asked. The beta sighed and looked at his wife who smiled softly before he spoke again.
“He’s with Lila, Coop, and Nate at the Zoo,” he said. “If you want, you, me, and Laura can all meet them for lunch and you can meet him,” he told her. She thought for a moment before she nodded and quickly got up, heading to her room and ignoring Valentina’s irritated shouts that followed her. She quickly got changed and rushed out to meet the Barton’s at the entrance. Ava stopped her just before she could meet with them.
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell the boys until you’re back and figure out a way to tell them,” she told the alpha. Yelena nodded in thanks and quickly walked out to meet with the beta and omega. The three were silent for a little while before Clint spoke.
“Did you plan to leave her alone all along? Especially after mating her?” he asked the widow, earning a warning growl from his wife. The blonde sighed, shoving her hands in her jacket pockets and tucked her head into her scarf.
“I never planned on getting so close… But Kate Bishop has a way of… Changing people for the better, doesn’t she?” she said, glancing at the beta. Clint looked at her and sighed, rubbing his head while shaking it.
“Why did you leave then? If she was such a good influence on you?” he asked. The alpha thought for a moment and sighed.
“I never planned on… surviving much after our meeting on the ice,” she stated and the beta listened to her as they waited for the subway. “After that night I tried to figure out what to do next, of course I made the decision to continue working for Valentina but I also picked and chose my assignments as carefully as I could while also finding whatever Widows were left to free… I wanted to also know more of my sister’s life after she’d escaped the Red Room so I stuck around New York and eventually came across our favorite purple archer,” she said, causing Clint to chuckle. “I helped her on a few missions of hers and she helped me with some of mine… I was quite a bit more impressed after she’d come back from your farm and slowly we adapted to working together, even became friends but… I was still grieving my sister and was using horrible coping mechanisms that I didn’t let her see and that eventually led to me leaving… I couldn’t drag her down with me Clint, it wouldn’t have been fair…” she finished. Clint nodded and the three boarded the train and made more small talk while travelling to the Zoo. Once there they made their way to a small cafe where Cooper, Lila, and Nate all sat at an outdoor table waiting for them. Yelena paused and looked at the stroller next to the young alpha teenager and saw the tiny hands of the toddler reaching for something Nate was holding. Laura smiled softly and put a hand on her shoulder before walking over to her children with Lila glancing over at Yelena and Clint before focusing on her mother and brothers. Clint put a hand on her shoulder.
“She had a plan for this you know,” he said, causing the alpha to look up at him. “Kate, she had a plan for if anything ever happened to her. If you were nowhere to be found, he’d come stay with us but if we ever found you then we’d bring him to you,” he told her. Yelena sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
“Maybe… Maybe this was a mistake… I don’t even know the first thing about being a parent… I haven’t even interacted with any children aside from new Widows back in the Red Room, Kate had to have made a mistake,” she said, looking up at him in panic. Clint chuckled and shook his head, putting a hand on her shoulder.
“There’s no rulebook to being a parent, Yelena, trust me,” he told her. “You just need to take it one step at a time and rely on those around you to help you, they’re not joking when they say it takes a village. And you got a pretty big one that’s happy to help, I’m sure even your team is going to be willing to help you,” he added, squeezing her shoulder. The alpha took in his words and sighed, nodding and composing herself before the two walked over to the group. The kids all smiled up at her and she introduced herself before looking at the toddler in the stroller. The tiny pup seemed to scent the air and recognize her scent somehow because he giggled softly and reached out to the alpha who gasped softly. Lila smiled and unbuckled the toddler before picking him up and holding him out to Yelena who was subconsciously reaching for him.
“Hello there…” she muttered, looking at the boy. He giggled softly and patted her cheek before making the ASL sign for mother. Tears came to Yelena’s eyes as she smiled and nodded, pulling him close as she sat down.
“Kate always had something with your scent on it, she made sure Dimitri knew who his other mother was,” Laura said with a smile. Yelena looked at Laura in surprise.
“Dimitri?” she asked. The omega smiled and nodded.
“She wanted him to have part of his heritage, so she named him Dimitri Clinton Belova-Bishop,” she stated. Yelena looked surprised at the name but looked down at the little pup in her arms. Not only did her omega take the time to try and think of a way to honor the boy's heritage but she also made sure he would carry his sire’s name even if Yelena could never be found. She and the Barton’s had a light lunch and the alpha relaxed while holding her son, focusing on learning the subtle cues of what he wanted and how he acted. As lunch came to an end the alpha looked up at the family.
“If you all wanted to come to the tower for dinner… I think it would be easier to introduce Dimitri to the boys if I had you all there to help clear things up…” she stated. Clint and Laura nodded in agreement while their children looked excited to finally see the infamous Avengers Tower. The alpha looked down at her son who’d curled into her and was now sleepily snuggling into her and she silently promised to do whatever it took to find his other mother, no matter what it took.