Yelena was halfway through her mac and cheese dinner when her phone range. She recognised the number even though it wasn't in her contacts, and picked up on the second ring.
"Hello Clint Barton. To what do I owe the pleasure?" she said in that formal, even tone that made it impossible to tell whether she was being sarcastic.
To her surprise, the voice on the other end was not a man's voice, but a child's.
"Auntie Yelena? I'm Nathaniel! Clint Barton's my dad." The boy sounded very sprightly, but he also seemed to be whispering.
Yelena stalled a bit at being addressed as "Auntie", but recovered quickly. Clint Barton must have a son. "What are you doing with your father's phone, Nathaniel?"
"He doesn't know I have it-"
That explains the whispering, Yelena thought.
"-but I really needed to talk to you and Kate's always glued to hers so I had to use it."
Interesting. So Kate was spending Christmas with Clint. In spite of herself, Yelena was pleased by this revelation. Kate Bishop should not have to spend the holiday alone. Not like Yelena was.
"And why do you really need to talk to me?" Yelena asked, keeping her voice even.
"It's for my school holiday project. My teacher says that we all have to write a biography about someone who inspires us. And I'm doing mine on Auntie Nat, but it's kind of hard to do research, because Mum and Dad say that it hurts too much to talk about her, and Lila and Cooper don't know that much."
Yelena processed this information slowly. She had recently discovered that Clint and Nat had been really close. Just in time as well, because in hindsight Natasha would be really pissed off if her little sister had killed her best friend. Yelena bit back a surge of guilt at the thought. But by the sounds of it, it wasn't just Clint that Natasha had been close to. Clint had a family, and he'd made Natasha part of that family. Lila and Cooper must be the older children, and Nathaniel...could it be?
As if reading her mind, Nathaniel rattled on. "I'm named after Auntie Nat, did you know? Mum and Dad thought I'd be a girl, so they were going to call me Natasha, but then they had to change it."
Yelena now felt doubly guilty for trying to kill Clint.
"So anyway, will you help me?. I really want to learn more about Auntie Nat. Please, Auntie Yelena?"
Yelena's eyes had been a little damp for some time, but it was those last two words that triggered the waterworks. They rolled off Nathaniel's tongue as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Yelena wiped her eyes impatiently and opened her mouth to reply, but there was some commotion on the other end of the line. She could hear Clint's voice, and a woman who must have been his wife.
"Nate, what are you doing under the stairs?"
"Is that Daddy's phone? How did you get past the security?"
"Auntie Nat taught Lila and Lila taught me."
There was a scuffle, and Clint's voice came on the line. "Yelena?"
"Hello Clint Barton," Yelena said. She tried to keep up the nonchalant tone but her voice caught in her throat and it came out as more of a whimper.
"Hi Yelena. Listen - sorry about my son. If he's bothering you, I'll-"
"No!" Yelena said, a little too quickly. "I mean - no, he's fine. He just wanted to chat. I- I'd like to talk to him."
There was a long pause, and Clint simply said "ok", and passed the phone back to Nathaniel.
"Auntie Yelena, you still there?"
"Yes, Nathaniel, I am." Yelena pushed her mac and cheese aside, the meal completely forgotten. She sat back in her chair.
"Great! I have so many questions," Nathaniel continued enthusiastically, "Can you tell me about the time Auntie Nat dyed her hair blue?"