Chapter Text
The moment Kate saw the blonde woman on tv, she knew she had to get in touch. It had been over a year since she had last seen the black widow assassin, but from the looks of it, she has turned a new leaf. Maybe, maybe this time she could actually reach out and get an answer this time, not just pathetically text the obvious burner phone that Yelena has revealed her mother's secrets on, and wait for an answer. Yelena probably ditched the phone the moment she sent Kate that video, so Kate had probably not been in the greatest headspace when she messaged the burner.
But that was irrelevant. Her feelings towards Yelena were, irrelevant. But she was going to try to get in contact again anyways, because she'll admit it, she was lonely. Sure she had her mini team, currently Kamala, Cassie and America, but they were kids, and sometimes it felt like Kate was actually almost a babysitter. A lot of people thought Kate was immature, especially in the hero sense, but these girls were far worse than Kate, because they were actually children. So Kate will be damned if she didn't try befriend Yelena again now that she had a real chance, because she was certain, certain they had a bond.
Hell, Yelena had said yes to getting that drink and it hadn't sounded like she was lying about it. So maybe that was why Kate was slightly hurt when she never heard from her again. But again, her feelings towards the dangerous woman were irrelevant. Totally. Irrelevant. It's not like she was absolutely captivated by Yelena's strong energy and beauty, because she wasn't. That's what she told herself anyway as she walked up to what she had discovered was the base of operation for Yelena's new team.
What she hadn't expected when she walked in, was to be met with the former CIA director, now manager of the new so called avengers.
"Uh, Hey! I'm just, I'm just looking for Yelena, is she around?"
Valentina had been idling in the lobby waiting for a package to arrive when a long haired brunette walked in. It took her a moment, but she managed to recognize the girl as Eleanor Bishop's daughter and from what she had heard, this very girl was responsible for the powerful woman being in jail. Her own daughter, Kate Bishop. It almost scared the older woman how righteous one must be to send their own mother to prison.
"I'm sorry, who are you?"
Valentina almost laughed, stepping closer to Kate. She was well aware who this young woman was, but she couldn't care less about helping her get in contact with Yelena. She had never once heard Yelena even mention her, so what business did she even have with the former assassin? Surely with how good she seemed to be, she had no business with Yelena, who's spilt so much blood that Kate should send her to jail 5 times over.
“Oh! I'm Kate, Kate Bishop. You'reeeee Valentina, right? “
Kate was trying to be patient, she really was, but it was hard knowing she was so close yet so far from Yelena.
“Of course, you're the daughter of Eleanor Bishop. How brave you must have been to put your own mother in jail.”
That was not what Kate wanted to hear right now.
“Yeah well, it was the right thing to do.”
She could almost scoff at how much she was disliking this woman's attitude and energy. She just wanted to see Yelena, why was she engaged in conversation about her mother? The last thing she wanted to think about was the woman who murdered a man, manipulated Kate, hired Yelena to kill Clint and framed her own fiance.
Besides, she had done plenty of forced thinking when she had been voided. She didn't need to relive it in real life while her mind was still trying to forget the scenes she saw in there.
Valentina could tell there was a slight edge to Kate's voice, knowing she must've hit some sort of nerve. Her goal wasn't necessarily to hurt the young woman, but she couldn't care less about her business with Yelena when she was still trying to keep their public faces from facing scrutiny. That and for all she knew, this was secretly someone trying to infiltrate their new base of operations and get insider info on Valentina herself. She couldn't trust her, even if she was Eleanor’s daughter. She had met Eleanor a couple times and although Kate didn't quite seem like it, she could be just as much of a snake.
“Then I'll cut to the chase. Why are you trying to get in contact with a former assassin who has far more blood than your mother will ever have?”
Ow. Okay that one hurt Kate a bit.
“I just want to make sure she's okay.”
She was starting to sound almost.. Desperate, at this point, but she didn't think she was getting anywhere.
“Look I'll just be honest with you, I'd never heard of you until you sent your mother to jail, Yelena has never spoken about you, I mean I doubt she even knows who you are. When did you meet?”
Her attitude made Kate's blood boil but maybe that was simply her own hurt trying not to get the better of her. Yelena remembered her, right? Kate didn't think she was a forgettable person, but if Yelena had never once even briefly mentioned her, maybe she was wrong in thinking they were friends.
What was she thinking? Yelena was just a closed off person for very good reason, Valentina probably just hadn't heard of her yet.
“Christmas 2025, but I don't see how that matters.”
It was almost too quick of a reply
“Have you heard from her once since then?”
The question was harsh and for a moment Kate didn't have a snarky thing to say because the truth was, no, she hadn't. But it was something she saw in her “shame room” as people were calling it. Herself checking her phone every damn day and texting Yelena repeatedly at first in hopes of a response. That lasted about a week before the texts turned weekly, which then turned monthly. She finally gave up at the year mark, but even then she'd occasionally just stare at the phone and wish she would receive anything.
The saddest part in her eyes was that Yelena could reach out, because Kate never gave her number to the woman. So she clearly had the capabilities to find it again if she had forgotten. Or maybe Valentina was right and Yelena had forgotten her, or worse, didn't care about her. Fuck, why was Kate even so attached in the first place? This was why it was one of the shame rooms, it felt, pathetic.
Finally, she managed to gather her voice after luckily not actually spending too much real time thinking.
“No, but! That's why I want to see her! She's good now, so I thought maybe it was worth another try. Could you just, pass on a message for me? That's all I ask.”
Kate waited for a response almost eagerly as the woman almost seemed to size her up and down for a moment before shrugging.
“Sure, sweetie, why not. Yelena is very busy at the moment but I'm sure I can pass a message over from, what, a fan?”
“A friend! A friend.”
The older woman sighed and almost pitied Kate at the way she was looking at her and nodded.
“A friend. What did you want me to say?”
Oh. Shit. She didn't think this far. She blurted out the first thing she could think of.
“Uh, tell her I still want to get that drink, she will know what it means. Hopefully.”
A polite smile crossed Valentina’s face, more just pretending to care about the message the girl wanted her to relay. She truly just wanted her package to arrive and get out of here, away from this far to energetic Bishop woman. If there was one thing for certain, Kate was not personality wise, like her mother. She had her mother's looks, but the bubbly girl was far too much for Valentina right now.
But Kate only had this excitement because she thought she had a chance to get in touch with Russian blonde again.
“Yeah, sure, now I'm going to have to ask you to leave, you're disrupting mine and Yelena's time, okay?”
Silly words like that shouldn't have affected Kate, but her psyche was so damaged recently that even then smallest implication that she was bothering Yelena hurt her.
“Right, of course, you've got very important things to be doing I'm sure, just, let her know to text me?”
Valentina almost rolled her eyes at the request, but nodded and hummed before turning away from Kate and giving her a flick with her hand to signal her to leave. So Kate turned with a sigh and left, feeling weirdly rejected, but she had hope. She had to have hope.
She returned home and collapsed onto her bed, not even wanting to think about her responsibilities right now. As she once again impatiently waited for a text from Yelena, she considered calling Clint about what happened with the void, but with him being with his family on a vacation they probably didn't even know something happened in New York yet. Actually now that Kate thought about it, she was sure the Barton's would reach out on their own if they were worried about Kate. So she just lay there, thinking. But, the more started thinking, the more she started overthinking.
Her thoughts drifted to Yelena, the Barton's, her mother, her old friends, Jack, the larpers. All people who had no idea she was even struggling or ever struggled, because they either didn't care, or stopped asking when Kate would swear she was fine. She had to prove she could rely on herself. Which was ironic that she thinks that she's relying on herself while stupidly waiting for a response to come from a woman who hadn't tried contacting her in over a year.
She was grateful that she at least had Lucky to keep her company while the Barton's were away. They usually looked after him, the one thing Kate admitted she couldn't do the best job doing while tackling everything else in her life at the time. But at least Lucky was company at the moment while she had time off after the void incident. It kept her from being truly lonely.
So she called Lucky up onto her bed next to her and just, waited.
And waited.
And waited.