She arrived just after daybreak on Boxing Day. And she wasn't alone.
Lucky was first to notice, and he barked so loudly that everyone was awake in an instant.
"What's going on?" Kate emerged first, hurrying downstairs to where Lucky was barking furiously at the door.
"Kate? What's happening?" Clint arrived next, shivering a little in a T-shirt and shorts. Laura was close behind him, pulling on a thick dressing gown. The children trail behind them.
"Dad? Why's he barking?" Nathaniel's young voice piped up.
"Shut up, Nate, he doesn't know," Cooper hushed him.
"Don't tell me to shut up!"
"I wouldn't if-"
"Cut it out!" Lila's voice cut across her brothers' and there was silence.
Clint pushed past Kate and Lucky to open the door.
A furry golden mass seemed to leap inside without warning, pushing Clint into the wall and delightedly dancing around the living room. The golden mass was also barking. There was now a deafening level of barking.
"Lucky, calm down!" Kate shouted.
"Fanny, come on, we talked about this." This voice was heavily accented, and sounded rather exasperated.
"Yelena." Clint quickly stood in front of the doorway, shielding Kate and his family. "We- uh - weren't expecting you."
But the enraged, dangerous glint in Yelena's eyes that Clint had expected was absent. She was not a master assassin intent on revenge anymore. She was a girl who'd lost her beloved sister too soon.
"I just thought perhaps you might have something of hers," Yelena said quietly. "I gave her my vest. I don't have anything of hers." She looked down at the ground as she spoke, but Clint laid a hand on her shoulder again, and this time, she didn't push it off.
"Come in, Yelena." He stepped sideways, and Yelena cross the threshold into the house, looking more than a little shocked.
"Yelena!" Kate said. "Uh- hi!"
"Hello again, Kate Bishop," Yelena replied, the hint of a cheeky smile on her lips as she said Kate's name in full.
"Yelena? Did you say Yelena?"
"Auntie Nat's sister?"
Lila and Cooper pushed past their mother to get a better look.
Yelena glanced at Clint, even more shocked than before. "Auntie Nat?" she whispered questioningly, and got a wink and a smile in reply.
"Are you really Auntie Yelena?" Lila asked curiously. Yelena nodded, then stumbled backwards as Lila launched herself forwards for a hug, exclaiming, "I'm always wanted to meet you!"
"I'm Cooper," Cooper join in. "My sister's Lila. And my little brother's Nathaniel. Mum and Dad named him after Auntie Nat."
"Yeah, they thought they would have a girl, but then they had - you know - Nathaniel."
Yelena looked at Clint incredulously. Clint's smile was a little wistful.
"Yelena. You named your dog after her, didn't you?" Laura came forward now, arms open to hug her. Laura chuckled at the way Clint's eyes suddenly widened and his jaw dropped.
"F-Fanny Longbottom!"
Yelena was impressed by how quickly Laura had caught on. She must have been close to Natasha too.
"I'm Laura, by the way. I'm so happy to meet you."
"L-likewise," Yelena stammered, feeling completely lost for words.
Only Nathaniel sat silently on the stairs, not knowing what was going on.
"Come on down, Nate. This is your Auntie Yelena. She's Auntie Nat's sister."
Nathaniel descended cautiously and approached Yelena very carefully. Yelena knelt down so that she was eye-level with him. She looked into those innocent brown eyes, so pure and untainted by the world.
"I'm very pleased to meet you, Nathaniel."
Nathaniel eyed her carefully. He took in her every feature, from her braided blonde hair to her tartan yellow-green coat. He frowned a little, as if not quite comprehending.
"What's wrong, Nate? Aren't you going to say hello?" Laura prompted.
Nathaniel turned to his mother. "She doesn't look like the photo, Mum."
A look of dawning comprehension descended upon Laura, and she had to stifle a laugh. "That photo was taken a long time ago, Nate. Auntie Nat didn't look like the photo anymore either, remember?"
"Yeah, but we had other photos, and she looked like those," Nate protested.
Yelena was starting to have an inkling of what was going on, and her heart twisted a little. Natasha had shown her namesake the photos. The two tiny photos that she'd kept since Ohio. She must have cherished them the way Yelena had cherished the other half of that strip.
"Nate, buddy," Clint said. "She can do the thing." He hissed sideways at Yelena, "Do the pose!"
"What? You're serious?"
"Just do it," Clint whispered again.
Yelena rolled her eyes as she shuffled further into the living room where there was more space. But she was smiling. She dropped down into Natasha's signature pose, and Nathaniel's mouth suddenly dropped wide open.
"Auntie Yelena!" he cried, and he sprang into her arms.
Clint's eyes glistened mischievously as Yelena shot him a well-meaning glare.
All introductions complete, Laura decided that some proper hospitality was in order. "Yelena, you must be hungry. Let me whip you up something to eat."
"I'll help!" Kate cried enthusiastically. "We have mac and cheese! How does that sound?"
Yelena's heart gave another jolt, and her smile widened. "Sounds fantastic."
"I'll show you up to Nat's room," Clint offered.
Yelena's heart rate sped up some more. Natasha had a room here? Then again, Clint knew the whistle. She'd thought she would never hear that whistle again. Clint and Natasha had been so close...
"Kids, why don't you get dressed properly, then walk the dog." Clint instructed, the amended, "-the dogs."
As they made their way up the stairs, Yelena commented, "I didn't have you pegged for the mac and cheese type."
Clint laughed at that. "Yeah, I'm not. Kate insisted we stockpile two dozen boxes. Along with ten bottles of hot sauce. Part of me actually thinks she was expecting you."
Yelena wasn't sure whether to laugh or not, but she was strangely touched by the gesture.
The door was closed. Clint hesitated as he reached for the handle, his hand freezing in mid-air. His eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment, and he gazed vacantly into the door.
"What's wrong?" Yelena prompted. "Is it locked?"
"No," Clint replied, and she was surprised to hear how hoarse his voice sounded. He cleared his throat. "No, it's just- I haven't been in there since-" He trailed off, but Yelena knew what he meant. He hadn't been in there since Natasha died.
Yelena put a hand on his shoulder, mirroring what he had done for her. "May I?" she asked, and he stepped aside to allow her to turn the handle. She pushed the door open, and they both went inside.
There was dust everywhere. This room had obviously been untouched for a very long time. But the bed was neatly made, and the items on the shelves were placed in an orderly fashion.
Yelena did not know how much time she spent in that room. She barely noticed Clint's presence as he leant against the doorway, breathing very slowly an deliberately, his eyes scanning the room.
She ran her hand across the bedsheets and along the headboard, not noticing that she was covering her hands in dust. She gazed longingly at the pictures pinned to the wall. There were various photos with the Barton family with gradually increasing numbers of children, and one of Natasha and Clint in SHIELD uniforms with a man wearing a T-shirt that said "Glorified babysitter for Strike Team Delta"- that must have been a joke of some sort. There was one of the Avengers too, and she recognised faces that she'd only seen on TV. Amongst all the photos were drawings - some were recognisable, like a butterfly drawn by Lila, while others were mere scribbles. And there, tucked safely in the top right corner, were the pictures of Natasha and Yelena as children, making faces at the camera.
After a few minutes - or possibly hours - of staring at the photos, Yelena moved towards the shelf. Her eyes caught sight of the item on the top shelf immediately. She reached for it unfolded it, shaking off the dust. There were places where the fabric had been torn then mended with neat little stitches. She threw it on and tightened the straps, closing her eyes as she imagined the last time she had worn this vest. She had hugged her sister in this vest, in the ruins of the Red Room.
She found other items around the room, and fingered them carefully. A tattered case containing Natasha's old SHIELD badge, an ancient CD of songs by Don McLean, a STARK industries pin still attached to a note from someone called "Pepper", a chain necklace with an arrow charm, a child's bicycle bell...
Somehow, it was lunch time when they finally left the room. Laura had had to physically come upstairs and locate them, because apparently neither Clint nor Yelena could hear the rest of the inhabitants yelling at them to come down for food. Her expression immediately softened when she saw what they were up to, and her eyes filled with tears. Clint, shaken back to the present, put an arm around her and kissed her on the forehead.
"I know, I miss her too."
Yelena was back to staring at the photos at this point. She tugged her eyes away to look at Clint and Laura.
"I'll keep this vest." She said it as a statement, not asking for permission. It was hers first, after all.
"Yelena, you can keep anything you want of hers. She'd want that for you," Laura said.
Yelena swallowed hard. "No. Just the vest. Everything else belongs here. She found a home here. Thank you for giving that to her," Yelena said earnestly.
"She was family to us," Laura replied, "which makes you family too. You stay as long as you want."
Yelena suddenly felt a surge of warmth towards Laura, while simultaneously being impressed by her generosity. Then again, she supposed, Laura had had experience welcoming dangerous Russian assassins into her home. Yelena blinked back the tears and swallowed resolutely.
"Mac and cheese!" Kate's voice called from downstairs. "Come on, I've already reheated it once!"
"We should go down," Clint realised. "Kate'll probably burn down the kitchen."
Yelena nodded agreement, and they all exited the room. Yelena was last to leave, and closed the door behind her. "Until next time, sis," she whispered at the door. "Until next time."