Bi-phobia and terrible Eleanor in this one.
Kate was one big ball of nervous energy by the time Thursday afternoon came around. Yelena had always been nothing but supportive of Kate and her choices pretty much from the beginning. So the fact that Yelena was outside in the parking lot waiting for her wasn't a surprise at all. Nat and Wanda had no idea and Kate kind of preferred it that way.
Despite having all the confidence in the world that Eleanor would see her finally Kate still had a few lingering doubts. Yet as she sat at the table surrounded by a few other people waiting to see their incarcerated loved ones she managed to push it all to the back of her mind. After all, Eleanor had tried to put a hit on Clint to keep Kate away from that life, clearly she cared right?
Before she could ponder it all much more the door opened and several guards lead in some prisoners. They all looked a little rough or a little frightened. Everyone except Eleanor who walked in last. The Bishop woman wore the standard olive green two set of scrub like uniform, she appeared to have a white shirt on under the olive green shirt and she had on the most basic lace less flats Kate had ever seen yet she still walked with her head up. Kate smiled but when Eleanor saw her she frowned and sighed visibly.
"I thought you'd have gotten the point by now I don't want to see you, Kate." Eleanor didn't sit.
"Mom… won't you just sit down? Please." Kate gestured the other chair and Eleanor sighed again before sitting.
"Thank you. How are you? Are you looked after well enough in here?" Kate asks not entirely sure what else to say now she was faced with her mother.
"It wouldn't matter if I wasn't, would it? This is where you put me." Eleanor spoke a little flatly and Kate actually winced like she had been hit.
"You didn't give me much choice, Mom." Kate frowns.
"Why are you here, Kate?" Eleanor didn't seem to want to play back and forth.
"I just… I wanted to see you. See how you are." Kate frowned and really tried to keep the hurt from showing.
"I'm in prison. What do you expect, Kate. I'll likely die in here." Eleanor's tone was cold.
"You… you could get out on good behaviour in a few years." Kate reminds optimistically.
"You're a fool, Kate. What would I go back to? You sold my home, my assets have been frozen." Eleanor was scowling a little.
"I … I'm sorry. It was tied up in too much bad money." Kate shakes her head a little.
"Why are you here?" Eleanor asks again.
"I'm getting married in a few months. I just… I wanted to tell you." Kate smiled gently a little of that hope coming back. Surely her mother would be happy for her.
"Married? To who?" Eleanor was scowling instead.
"Her names Yelena. She's amazing." Kate smiled a little dreamily.
"Yelena? You're marrying a woman?" Eleanor's lip actually curled and Kate didn't understand.
"Yes…? I'm Bi, I told you that years ago, you said it was ok." Kate was confused and that showed on her face.
"Of course I said it was ok. I still thought you would end up with a man. I never expected you'd actually have a relationship with a woman." Eleanor scowls.
"Mom… what? But you haven't even met her. She's amazing and supportive. You'd like her." Kate couldn't understand why her mother was so cold.
"No Kate, I really wouldn't because at the moment I'm struggling to even like you." Eleanor all but snarled the words.
"Don't contact me again. No letters, no calls and definitely no visits. Move on with your life and I'll do the same." Eleanor hasn't given Kate a chance to respond before she was standing and walking towards the door.
"Mom? Please." Kate had tears in her eyes but she still had Hope right up until that moment when Eleanor stopped by the door and turned back.
"You can call me Eleanor from now on." And then she was gone.
Nat and Wanda were home sitting in the living room talking about wanting to order food for dinner instead of cooking when Kate and Yelena got home. They both looked up with smiles and greeted the girls only for Yelena's smile to be a little sad and Kate to not smile at all. In fact it looked like Kate had been crying as she mumbled a little greeting and then headed right for her and Yelena's bedroom.
"Yelena, what happened?" Natasha asks immediately concerned.
"She went to the prison, to see her mother. I don't know what happened exactly, I didn't go in. But I don't think it went very well at all." Yelena looked sad for her fiancée and when Wanda stood up Natasha gestured her sister come and take her place.
"I'll go check on her." Wanda says gently giving Yelena's hand a little squeeze as she moved past her.
Wanda and Kate had a different sort of bond to how Yelena and Wanda did. While Yelena didn't do touch with many people at all she had gotten comfortable with Wanda fairly quickly. The four of them were all very comfortable with each other but it had taken longer with Wanda and Kate. Wanda had thought it was because of Westview so it had been a surprise when it turned out to be more because of respect. Kate had this weird respect for all of the avengers where she tried to push boundaries and respect them at the same time.
These days though it was nothing for the other two to come home and find Wanda laying on Kate on the sofa with both of them laughing at sitcoms. Natasha and Yelena hadn't really been that into sitcoms but Kate would watch anything with a sense of humour. That had been their first bonding point after the fact they were both in relationships with Black Widows.
"Kate?" Wanda called softly when the Archer wasn't in the main bedroom.
"Closet." Kate called rather dejectedly.
Wanda headed in to see Kate changing into her Hawkeye outfit. She had on the pants and was pulling a form fitting black shirt on before grabbing her jacket. Wanda bit her lip at the sight because really if Kate was that emotional maybe she shouldn't be going out but could she really stop her?
"Going out?" Wanda asks redundantly.
"That's the plan… wanna come?" Kate knew that Wanda very rarely wanted anything to do with this vigilante lifestyle. She still didn't quite trust herself.
"Yeah sure." Wanda almost laughed at the surprise on Kate's face.
"Well alrighty then. Go change." Kate actually grinned and it was a genuine one. Wanda nodded and went and did just that.
On the way through to her and Nat's room she took a moment to smile at the sisters. They were watching the news of all things, or at least it was on. Mostly it seemed that Yelena had her head on Nat's shoulder and they were looking at customising a pizza on Nat's phone. Wanda just smiled and headed through, she got changed into some more accommodating and comfortable clothes and Nat's red jacket that Wanda liked so much.
"Kate and I are going out." Wanda informed as she came back through.
"What? But it's almost dinner time." Nat holds up the phone to show the half customised pizza.
"Ok. Hawkeye wants to go and I'm going to go with her to keep an eye on her." Wanda reiterated and it got the point across as the next response was;
"Be safe." From both sisters at the same time.
"We will. Come on Malen'kaya Ved'ma." Kate walked through then with her bow and quiver on her back.
"Coming." Wanda chuckled and smiled at the sister before meeting Kate at the door.
Kate and Wanda had kept to the high points for the most part and Kate refused to even think about the prison visit and her mother at first. But after they prevented one mugging and walked a drunk guy home things quieted down and Kate got visibly sad again. Wanda gave her a few minutes.
"Kate?" Wanda spoke softly.
"You can look." Was all Kate managed with a sigh and Wanda bit her lip but did just that.
Wanda reached out for Kate's mind and watched, it was all POV which made it easier to feel what Kate was feeling in the moment as well. The shock, hurt and complete devastation of having her mother disowning her like that. Being so cold and cruel. It made Wanda's blood boil and she didn't realised her hands, now clenched fists, were glowing until she felt Kate's hands covering them.
"It's ok." Kate says gently and Wanda shakes her head.
"Why do you do that all the time?" Wanda asks with a frown even as she opened her hands and linked fingers with Kate the glow slowly fading.
It didn't cease to amaze Wanda that Kate, Yelena and Natasha were so open and trusting with her. Westview still haunted her, the feet she had that much power she was able to accidentally take over a whole town and it's people with little to no thought. It still haunted her though, the faces of the people she'd unintentionally tortured. People who would have rather die than continue under her control.
Not her family though. They didn't even flinch, not once, when Wanda used her magic for things. Not even the time Yelena had startled Wanda and it was a knife, much like that time with Clint during the civil war of the Avengers. They trusted her implicitly and it was one of the things that made it so easy for her to be around them constantly. This with Kate right now, simply holding hands as that chaos magic fades between their palms.
"Do what?" Kate frowned at the question.
"You keep saying everything is ok. Any time you have an argument with Yelena or Nat you're the first one to apologise while also validating their feelings and responses. It's not ok, Kate. She's cast you aside." Wanda spoke a little loudly her emotions not entirely in check.
"But it is and you know why I know that?" Kate asks gently.
"Why?" Wanda was frowning not entirely sure herself how this young woman could be so bright and forgiving.
"Because of you. You're why." Kate half shrugs.
"This isn't about to be some love confession is it cause I'm definitely in love with Natasha." Wanda wrinkled her nose and Kate rolled her eyes.
"You wound me." Kate huffs playfully.
"Honestly, no. Not a love confession. Not like that anyways. But it's because of this." Kate lifted their joined hands where red glow was still faint.
"You're ok because of magic?" Wanda was still confused.
"No, goof. I'm ok because of your reaction. Because yeah, she did effectively disown me. Told me not to even call her mom anymore. But I've had the best year and she wasn't there for any of that. You were. Nat and Lenny were. Melina and Alexei and Cassie. The Barton's. They were all there. You chose to be. And I love you all for it. So yeah. It's ok. Because the more I think about it, the more I realise she wasn't ever really the role model parent I needed." Kate shakes her head and half shrugs.
"That doesn't really make what she did ok." Wanda points out the glow now completely gone.
"Nah, but that's her choice. She doesn't want anything to do with me and it's not just the sending her to prison. I'd be more upset if that was all it was. But she doesn't like that I'm marrying a woman because it's a woman. She doesn't like who I am at my core and that's her problem. Because I'm me and I'm awesome and my future wife is awesome and my family is awesome. I don't need her." Kate shrugged and Wanda looked at the young woman for a moment.
"No you don't. You're really ok?" Wanda tilted her head slightly.
"I'm really ok." Kate smiled genuinely and let go of Wanda's hands and pulled her into a hug.
"Thank you." She added as Wanda wrapped her arms around the younger woman.
"For the hug?" Wanda asks lightly.
"For being part of my family." Kate chuckles when they leaned back.
"I'm glad to be. Now I'm also starving and the girls ordered pizza so… can we go home?" Wanda asks with almost a whine and Kate chuckles.
"Yes please, I hope they ordered two." Kate had a fairly large appetite and it was one of her tells when she was upset because she wouldn't eat. Or barely eat at most. Hearing that Kate was just as hungry as Wanda was all Wanda needed to hear to know she was actually ok.
