shards - pietro maximoff

chapter seven ; arguments and apologies

"Wanda! Pietro! Are you alright? Are you safe? Are you hurt?" She said frantically, turning to check on them in turn.

But just as her hand was about to make contact with Wanda's forehead, to check for a fever, she disappeared right in front of her, exploding into dust.

"Pietro?"

He did the same, the dust that was left over flying through the wind.

"Come back!" She called, over and over until her voice went hoarse.

"Come back..."

Natasha had been watching Dahlia writhe in her sleep for about an hour now.

Every few minutes, she'd turn and mumble something Nat couldn't hear, and then fall limp yet again.

"Pietro... Wanda... Come back..." Natasha could just make out what she was saying, and she felt herself tense up when she heard it.

Maybe being out of the field for a bit was what Dahlia needed. The poor girl had been under constant stress and could barely get through a day without worrying about anything and everything.

The jet shook around them, and the movement stopped all at once, signaling that they had landed.

Natasha got up reluctantly and headed to wake the girl from her sleep.

"Dahlia, honey. We're here."

Her eyes opened slowly, the amount of light filling the plane making her wrench them shut once more.

"Five more minutes." She grumbled.

"I'm not supposed to tell you this just yet, but if it gets you up then so be it. We're at Clint's."

Dahlia's eyes shot open and she ran out of the jet as fast as humanly possible, leaving Natasha chuckling behind her.

Something that came with practically being Natasha's daughter was being really close with Clint's entire family, even though the rest of the Avengers weren't aware they existed.

Dahlia was particularly close with Clint's daughter, Lila. Nat used to bring her here when she was only eight years old, and at that time Lila was only a baby. Slowly, over time, they had warmed up to each other and became inseparable. Lots of times, when Dahlia was on missions, she missed the little girl, and kept the friendship bracelet Lila had made her on at all times, even when they were fighting.

She ran and caught up with Clint, who was trying to avoid answering questions about where they were until he had to.

"What is this place? A safe house?" Tony asked suspiciously.

"Let's hope." Clint replied. "Honey I'm home!"

As the group entered the house, Dahlia elbowed past Clint and ran up to Laura, Clint's wife.

Laura wrapped her up in a giant hug and a million questions.

"Oh Dahlia, honey I missed you! Lila's been raving about your letters nonstop."

"Are you hurt?"

"Are you hungry?"

"How are you feeling?"