You've never been one for sappy romantic things, but sometimes you put up with them for Emily's sake. Like your idea of the perfect date is chilling around in your underwear while cuddling on the couch and maybe watching a movie. You remember once mentioning this and Reinhardt doing that big laugh he does and saying you prefer to 'Netflix and chill', whatever that means. You're not good with date ideas apart from the really boring ones, like a nice dinner somewhere or going to see a show. And even then, you don't enjoy those. You feel so out of your depth, having to sit somewhere surrounded by people with this worry someone will recognise you and make a scene. Emily seems to like it when you make an effort though, so you do try just for her.
Today you're going along with her idea to have a picnic in the park. You like the park and you like food so really, it's a good call and Emily knows it. So, that's how you find yourself lounging on a soft blanket laughing softly as Emily tries to dramatically feed you grapes. You sit up and grin at her which makes her forget her grape feeding duties and lean forward to kiss you. You hum happily into the kiss, tilting your head, and cupping her face with your hand. You feel her lips twitch into a smile as you stroke her cheek with your thumb and the world suddenly becomes so much brighter. With all food laying forgotten and you now both just lying there kissing lazily the world feels on fire but in the most perfect way. Everything is destroyed and broken around you but you don't care because you have this gorgeous girl in your arms makes everything okay again.
"Missed you" she whispers, lips trailing down to you neck where she plants a few soft kisses before simply staying there and breathing in your scent. You've been away for the last month basically and you know it's been hell for both of you. Just after your last meeting with Widow you were called away on a really important mission you couldn't turn down that was supposed to take a week tops but ended up taking three instead. You'd kept in contact with Emily all the while, keeping her updated on what was going on but it wasn't the same as having her beside you obviously. You've barely had time to talk to her at all, in fact today's your first day off in ages and you're so glad you're spending it with her like this.
"Missed you too, luv" you say softly, kissing the top of her head and pulling her closer to you. She makes some sort of content noise before snuggling into your shoulder and closing her eyes. The silence that follows is comfortable, you both just lying there feeling as safe and secure as ever in each other's arms. As much as you hate romantic stuff, you'll always love this. It isn't cheesy and it isn't stupid, it feels wonderful and you honestly didn't know love could feel this great until you meet her.
"Lena?" Emily says, her voice a bit muffled because of how she still has her face pressed against your shoulder.
"Hmm?"
"We haven't talked about it yet, you know?"
You blink up at the late afternoon sun in the sky, letting her words set in before turning your head to see she's now moved away from you slightly, just enough so that she can try look you in the eye. When her eye does catch yours she doesn't look all that content and happy as you thought she was. A small burst of panic hits you that you've done something wrong, until you suddenly understand exactly what you're talking about.
"Ya mean 'bout Widow?" you ask, getting a small nod in response "Guess we didn't really get to talk 'bout it, did we?"
Emily sits up, crossing her legs and facing you with a small smile on her lips. Obviously she wants to talk about it. Of course she does, you never got to explaining exactly what happened last time you saw the assassin and exactly what you learned. Sure, you said a little on the phone but you said you'd fill her in on it all when you got home. Getting home never happened thanks to that second urgent mission, so yeah, this conversation is pretty overdue.
You sit up as well, trying to figure out where to start. Somehow 'oh yeah so like she remembers what she did and feels Amelie's emotions and it's messing her up pretty bad' doesn't seem to cover it fully. But that is it really, in its entirety, but there's so much more than that. She's a person, they tried to make her into a weapon but she's a real live living person who although they tried to make her emotionless it didn't work and now she's suffering.
"Hey, don't look so scared" Emily says with a teasing smile "I wanna talk about this. Say whatever you need to"
"What if what I've gotta say isn't what you wanna hear" you reply back, more to yourself than to her. You see her shrug, then reach out and cover your hand with hers. Your eyes meet and she just smiles that wonderful reassuring smile that always puts you at ease.
"So, she remembers then?" Emily asks, saying it more like she's trying to prompt you to talk than actually asking the question. You nod, lacing your fingers together and squeezing her hand in some sort of attempt to communicate exactly how you feel on this. Amazingly she seems to understand, although she's always been good at reading you. She says you're like a book, always open no matter how much you try to close yourself off to the world.
"This is kinda like one of those mystery drama things on the tele, you know" she says with a smile, the excitement already twinkling in her eyes and you know she's about to launch into her detective role any second now.
Apparently being a journalist makes her like a detective she'd once told you when you started dating. The about of Sherlock Holmes jokes made after she'd said that was too much to bear. You thought she might have just broken up with you on the spot when you started making all those stupid jokes, and yet she laughed along and just grinned at you like it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. You knew then that she was something else, no one could ever put up with you the way she does.
"Day dreaming isn't gonna help us babe" you hear her say as she gives your hand one final squeeze before pulling away. You smile sheepishly and she rolls her eyes dramatically, making you both giggle childishly. "Right, so she remembers some stuff, like with her husband and that" you nod "and she remembers what Talon has done to her, right?"
"Guess so" you say with a little shrug "She didn' exactly say it like that. Just said she doesn't want ta be the monster they tried to make her"
"Hmm" Emily hums thoughtfully, drumming her fingers on the blanket beneath her while she looks to the side "How'd you even get her to talk about it?"
You're about to answer straight off the bat that you questioned Widow about why she saved you, but then stop when you remember exactly how the conversation went. That strange feeling comes back to you as you remember how she froze up and visibly stiffened at the mention of Emily's name. how she tried to simply avoid the question by saying that Emily is special to you. It's pretty obvious that she cares for you to some degree, everything she said last time shows that, but for the first time you realise that maybe it isn't just you she cares about at all.
"It…it was you, luv"
"What?" Emily asks softly, the smile on her face faltering at your tone.
"I asked her why she saved me an' she used that same excuse of 'oh we wouldn't be able to fight if you were dead' and I was like well that's all good an' all but what about Emily and she…she just stopped. Like full on froze like I'd said somethin' 'orrible"
"That's weird" she says, her face scrunching up as she obviously tries to think of why Widow would have such a reaction to you just saying her name. After all, as far as Emily is concerned, she just thinks of herself as your partner in crime for this, that she's just trying to help.
As you watch her, you try to think of exactly what Widow had said in reply to you "she said you're special to me, I think. Like she was all hesitant an' that and said it like she…I dunno. It was weird, it was the like the first emotion I've ever seen 'er show"
"That's gotta be 'cause of Gerard, right?" Emily says like it's the most obvious thing in the entire world.
"Huh?" Is all you can answer with.
"I'm special too you, just like Gerard was to her. And she said she doesn't wanna be the monster Talon tried to make her be. She remembers the pain she felt when she was forced to kill Gerard, and doesn't want you to go through that" She grins "Lena, she remembers it all, we were so right!"
"That's not exactly a good thing, luv"
"But it is. Now we know she remembers we can play on that and maybe even try convince her to join the good guys saying we'll help her and-"
"-Em, stop" she does stop, her eyes still wide with excitement but her smile slowly fading as she hears your tone and see's the serious look you must have on your face just now. "She isn't some play thing we can just fix. She needs our 'elp yeah, but we still need to be careful"
"I know" she answers, her eyes now downcast and you swear you feel your heart break a little bit "I just want to help her, and I know you do too. I get you're worried but…There's something good still left in her, I can feel it"
You just stare at her for a few moments, not really sure what to say. You agree with Emily, of course you do. The whole reason this has happened is because you think you can save Widow and she isn't all that bad…which reminds you, you haven't even told Emily the most important part of what happened last month.
"She's lying to Talon, ya know"
"What?" Emily asks, her eyes meeting yours and you see that little spark of determination already there.
"That creep Reaper showed up and asked 'er if she'd found my weakness yet and is like 'you've had three weeks to watch her and you-"
"-She was watching us?" Emily asks, giving you this look you know means you're in trouble for not telling her that sooner.
You shrug, trying not to think on the fact that maybe Widow only saved you that day because she was there to watch you on orders. "According to him, yeah. She was supposed to be watchin' me to see if I had any weaknesses or somethin'"
"And I'm your weakness" Emily answers on cue, visibly paling as she seems to realise for the first time the danger she's in just being with you.
"Yeah, and she found out about you weeks ago…months even" Emily nods, swallowing loudly as she nervously looks at you "But she 'asn't told Talon, that's the thing. Reaper was right up in 'er face giving her grief and she just tells him I don't have any weaknesses and she won't try find them anymore"
"That…That's good, right?" Emily asks, the colour returning to her cheeks slowly as she starts to figure out everything her head "She doesn't want us to get hurt, she's lying to protect us. Babe she…she could get in so much trouble for this, we need to help her!"
"Em, I just said we need to be careful, we can't just-"
"-I get it" she says, a defensive edge to her voice you've only heard a couple of times "I get she's dangerous and you're worried, but she's sticking her neck out for us. They're gonna figure it out evenentually and do all that terrible conditioning stuff to her again if we don't help"
"I know, luv" you reply, placing your hand over hers "But we can't do it ourselves, we need 'elp. If we can prove all this to Overwatch then they'll help us eventually"
"Yeah, yeah. You're right. I mean, really what could just the two of us do?" Emily says with a small laugh, obviously trying to diffuse the tense atmosphere the conversation has caused. Silence stretches out between you both and you can't help but sigh.
"Come on luv, let's call it a day before it gets too dark. Wanna get a chippy on the way home?"
Emily grins "I'm so glad you know food is the way too my heart"
You don't really feel like smiling at all but her smile is so infectious, and you find yourself grinning back at her as you help gather up your belongings and shove them back inside your backpack. It doesn't take long to tidy up, although you would have been done a hell of a lot quicker if Emily hadn't tackled you to the blanket and spent five minutes making out just so she could give you that smirk she always does when you get flustered. She knows you too well, and knows that kissing you will definitely always cheer you up no matter what. It's a bit scary how well she has you sussed out actually, but you just go with it because well really, who's gonna say no to getting with a gorgeous girl.
After Emily is finally done teasing you about the blush still spread across your cheeks it's already getting dark. With your backpack settled comfortably on your back and Emily giving you that teasing smirk you know you can't wait to get home and cuddle up with her. Your trek through the slowly darkening park it's particularly exciting, that is until Emily spots some squirrels and runs off to try give them some left over nuts. You watch her with a smile, almost laughing to yourself when she pouts at a squirrel who runs away instead of coming closer. She stands up, pout still on her face as she makes her way back over to you.
You reach out a hand to pat her arm comfortingly when you see something glinting out of the corner of your eye. Your head snaps to the right, your eyes scanning the trees for whatever it was you'd just seen. There's nothing there, or doesn't appear to be anyway. It's been a long day and you're tired, you're probably seeing things because it certainly can't have been what you thought it was. Must have been a bird or something you manage to tell yourself as you turn back to Emily.
"Babe look, there's a whole bunch of them over there. Go on, you try" she says, pointing to a bunch of about four squirrels all sitting under a tree and then handing you a handful of nuts. You don't particularly want to get your hand bitten off by a small furry animal, but they're cute and it'll make Emily incredibly happy if you do manage to get one to come over so you better try. You slowly walk over to the tree, crouching as you get closer and hold out the nuts in the palm of your hand.
"Hey lil' fella's, how're doing?" you say softly, watching as the squirrels slowly turn their heads and look at you with caution "I'm not gonna hurt you, just got some nice snacks for ya"
Slowly, but surely, the smallest of group starts to move towards you. You can't help but grin as this little furry creatures creeps towards, still scared out its mind but trusting you enough to come closer. "Come on luv, y'know you want these" you say, making some strange sort of noise to try coax the animal closer. It works amazingly, and the squirrel cautiously comes closer and closer until it's staring down at the food in your hand. It looks up at you then quickly grabs a single nut and runs back to the rest of them. You watch it eating with a smile on your face, placing the rest of the nuts on the ground for the rest of them.
"Did you see that Em? It took it right out my hand!"
When you don't get a reply, you stand up and turn towards Emily except- except Emily isn't there anymore. You look around, trying to figure out if she's seen some other animal and gone to pet it or something, but she's nowhere to be seen.
"Emily, luv? Where are you? Hide an' seek isn't fair when it's dark"
The panic starts to set in a little bit when you don't even hear a giggle or anything in return. Where the hell could she have gone? You start to walk towards the bushes to your left, Emily's known hiding spot when she has decided to hide and try scaring you by jumping out, when something grabs your attention. You walk up to the item lying in the grass, your stomach dropping when you realise what it is.
"Em!" you shout, crouching down to pick up her handbag from the ground "Emily this isn't funny!"
You look around, spinning in circles with your eyes wide and your heart pounding in fear. What happened to her? Did someone take her without you noticing? That shouldn't be possible she was standing right next to you how does-
"Lena!"
Hearing her voice both panic and relieves you at the same time. Without even thinking, you blink in the direction the sound came from, finding yourself in a patch of trees almost in complete darkness thanks to how thick they are.
"Em-"
"Babe, over here"
You make your way towards her voice, having to stop yourself from pulling out your gun that you've now started carrying with you everywhere when you see who's with her.
"Are you okay?" you start fussing, pulling Emily towards you get a better look at her "You 'bout gave me bloody a heart attack"
"Sorry" she says sheepishly, her lips twitching into a small smile before she looks over her shoulder to where a certain assassin is standing with her usual emotionless expression. "I thought I saw a cat over here and wanted to pet it. She grabbed me"
You narrow your eyes at Widowmaker, who simply shrugs in return like she's done nothing wrong "What the hell are you going just going around kidnapping people's girlfriends!?"
"I didn't kidnap her, cherie" she replies softly, a hint of amusement in her voice "I just needed to get your attention"
"And you couldn't just, you know, maybe like tapped me on the shoulder or somethin'?"
"You're armed. I didn't want to frighten you and have you accidentally shoot me" she says completely dead-pan which Emily thinks is hilarious obviously because she snorts. You don't want to let Widow know just how right she is so you cross your arms stubbornly and stare her down.
"What were you even doing hiding in the shadows over here?"
"I'm an assassin, I'm supposed to stay in shadows"
"And a sniper so I expect you to be up high-" you stop, realisation dawning on you "Oh bloody hell that was you in the trees watching us, wasn't it"
There's a definite smirk on her face now as she answers you "Maybe"
You make an annoyed noise at the back of your throat and Emily simply giggles, obviously loving watching you and Widow bicker like this.
"What are you doing here?" Emily asks after a few seconds of silence, shifting her gaze from you to Widow. Widow's smirk disappears instantly and you see something in her eyes which you can't read. Emily seems to notice to and casts you a quick glance before putting her eyes back on Widow.
"I have some important information concerning Overwatch"
"And you tracked us down to a park, on my day off, to tell me it?" You ask, putting great emphasis on the fact it's your day off. It gets a smile from Emily, but Widow just scowls at you.
"If it did not actually concern you, I wouldn't have taken the risk of finding you, cherie. Do you ever think before you speak?"
You swear you hear Emily whisper 'burned' quietly but you're way more focussed on what Widow could be talking about. The fact she's taking a risk makes you think that she's definitely not supposed to be here and Talon won't be happy to find her gone. Or maybe her being here with you is a risk itself.
"What going on, luv?" you ask gently, noticing the fact that Widow looks almost frightened. She shakes her head, her blank expression soon returning before she speaks.
"Talon plan to attack Overwatch"
"They do that every other night, why's this special?
She shakes her head again "Non, not in the battlefield" she sighs, her eyes meeting yours "Before your recall, Reaper tried to steal information on Overwatch's agents. He was stopped, but Talon has been pushing more and more for that information. They want personal records on all agents so they can find and destroy them all"
"Why'd they need our data? Surely if they wanted to pick us off an' kill us, they'd just send their own agents to-"
"-They already tried that, didn't they?" Emily interrupts, getting a nod from Widow in response "That was supposed to be your job, wasn't it? Find Lena's weakness and use it to destroy her"
The last few months of your teams constantly finding Talon agents everywhere they've went suddenly makes sense. You feel sick to your stomach when you realise that all this time you and all your friends were in incredible danger. It also makes you realise just how incredible lucky you were to have Widow assigned to you, because both you and Emily would have been dead months ago, if not.
"They…They have plans for certain agents" Widow says, breaking you out of your thoughts.
"Plans?" you ask unsurely, not liking the way she's said it at all.
"Conditioning, brainwashing. Everything they did to Amelie to make her who I am today"
You swear you feel your heart stop. No, no you won't let that happen to any of your friends. If watching videos of a girl you didn't even know go through that hell was too overwhelming, what would happen to you if your friends were forced through it? You'd break, simply as. If Angela, or anyone else you cared about was turned into a monster made only for killing you wouldn't be able to live with yourself knowing you could have prevented it.
"They want to do that to Lena, don't they?" Emily suddenly asks, her voice breaking on your name "You were supposed to find her weakness and use it to break her so she'd be susceptible. You…you were supposed to kill me"
"Oui" Widow simply answers, her eyes on the ground instead of on Emily's now. Emily takes a shaky breath in but holds her head high.
"Well fuck 'em, that isn't happening" Widow's head shoots up in surprise at Emily's harsh words. She was obviously expecting Emily, and probably you, to freak out and tell her to never come near either of you ever again. But instead Emily is now reaching for Widow's hand and she can't conceal her surprise When Emily squeezes her hand and Smiles.
"You're not a bad person. They made you a bad person and we're gonna give 'em hell for it!"
Both you and Widow watch in disbelief as Emily goes off on a rant about how Talon are all evil dicks and Overwatch is going to get them all. Of course Widow is most surprised When Emily looks right in her eyes and tells her with a giant smile on her face we're going to save her from Talon. At first there's no Reaction, Widow is just staring at Emily looking more confused than anything, but then this smile appears. It's not an uncomfortable smile, or a snarky one, but a real proper smile. And god, does a smile look good on her.
You hate to ruin the moment, but there's something niggling at the back of your head that you need to ask. After all, you can't just completely trust her simply because she hasn't killed either of you yet. Yes, this information is valuable if it's right. You know you'll get in a lot of trouble if you give the higher ups info that iSs incorrect, and it definitely could be coming from Widow. She's still with Talon and still under their control technically. "How did ya even find out about all of this?"
She seems to think before answering, perhaps choosing her words carefully "I have what you could call a friend within Talon. She is a hacker, and someone who's using Talon for her own motives. She's taken an interest in me, or should I say an interest in us"
"Us?" you ask softly.
She nods "She doesn't like to play by the rules and loves that we've-" She stops, looking from you to Emily, then back again "That I've chosen to help you. She has been looking out for me, making the system say I've had treatments and wipes when I haven't. It's made me more…human, as you can tell by all these emotions and such"
"Well that explains a few things" Emily says, nodding like she's piecing everything together. You do have to agree though, it does make sense. Everything leading up to this has been because Widow started to show emotions when you fought. It also makes you feel a tiny bit more at ease knowing she has someone looking out for her in there.
"Why did you tell us all this?" you ask, even catching yourself of guard by how sudden and defensive it came out. Emily shoots you a look as if to say stop it, but you can't you need to make sure. "If Talon really are going to attack the watchpoint and kill everyone inside, steal all the data an' all that, why would you tell us?"
"I'm not a monster, cherie" She starts, her voice not as smooth as it normally is "Talon has done enough damage. It's taken countless lives, Amelie's included and I won't let it take Overwatch as well"
The silence that follows her words is deafening, and you almost feel bad for making her say that. She's trying to look cool and composed, but you can see the hurt in her eyes when you look. Yet again, that overwhelming urge to hold her in your arms comes back, but you can't, you shouldn't. Even if Emily wasn't standing right beside you it wouldn't be right, although you're not sure why you feel so guilty all of a sudden thinking about it.
"We better tell Winston then" Emily says, nudging you softly until you slip your hand into your pocket to grab your phone as you walk a bit away from them. You know you should call first to let Winston know you're coming, and to give him advanced warning on the attack. As you press the phone to your ear waiting for it to go through the complicated process of encrypting Winston's number before it can even call him, you watch Emily who's now at Widow's side once again. She has her hand on the assassin's arm, saying something to her while Widow nods. You strain your ears, trying to pick up their conversation.
"Take care, okay? Come to us any time you need help"
"I'm not sure that is a smart move, cherie"
"I don't care" Emily says fiercely "You're a friend now and friends help each other"
Widow seems to freeze at Emily's words, blinking a few times before a smile pulls at her lips and she nods.
"Hello? Lena, are you all right?" Winston's loud voice booms in your ear. You cringe, turning the volume down slightly before replying.
"Hey big guy, Yeah I'm fine, got somethin' I need to tell ya though"
"Oh?"
"Me and Em are coming to the watchpoint. You always tell me ta phone before coming, so here I am"
You can almost hear the frown in his voice "You and Emily? Why?"
"It's…It's not good news, but I'll explain when I get there" You say, hearing him sigh wearily in response "Hey, want me to bring you some bananas to soften the bad news?"
"Lena, we've talked about this" he warns tiredly, but you just giggle.
"Some peanut butter then?"
"Lena, stop!"