Bittersweet Memories

Chapter 2

"I found the letters that you wrote for me, and I couldn't bring myself to throw them away"

It was quiet. Almost deathly quiet, as Wanda made her way through the compound, the only sounds coming from the echo of her brisk movements.

Most of the team had been sent out on a recon mission, leaving Wanda, Loki, Thor, Bruce and Vision to themselves for a few days. Loki and Thor had taken this as an opportunity to return to Asgard, Bruce kept himself busy in his lab, and Vision would mostly keep to himself, making the occasional appearance to accompany Wanda - trying to ease the loneliness.

While Wanda appreciated Visions attempts at comforting her and being a friend, it just wasn't the same without the missing team members, without Natasha, though Wanda would never admit that out loud.

Visions inability to comprehend human emotions was somewhat daunting to Wanda, but he would still listen on the off chance she needed someone. He would always give Wanda his honest opinion and good advice.

That would explain why she found herself wandering the large halls at 3am, in search of him. His body didn't require sleep to function, so he would bury his head into books throughout the long nights.

Wanda found him sat, lost in a book in the large library Stark had put in at Natasha's request when the new compound was being built.

"Uhm..hey" Wanda announced her presence to Vision to gain his attention.

"Ms. Maximoff, what brings you here at this hour?" He asked, looking up from his book and pulling out a chair for her to sit beside him.

"I'm not sure. I couldn't sleep, so I figured the company couldn't hurt"

Vision stared at her, almost as if he was analysing her, trying to work out what could be causing her nervous and slightly distressed state.

"As you wish" he smiled at her in an attempt to make himself seem more human, hoping it would relax her.

She made her way further into the library to sit beside him, offering a shy smile back.

A comfortable silence fell over the two of them. Vision returned to his book, occasionally glancing up at Wanda with worried eyes. Her breathing was slowly faltering more and more as she appeared to be deep in thought about something, something that was clearly distressing her.

"If you were unsure about something that you weren't ready to talk about, what would you do to help yourself figure it out?" She broke the silence and turned to him, her eyes glazed over with tears refusing to spill.

"Hm.." he thought about it for a moment. "I don't completely understand the inner-workings of the human mind, suppose writing could help. Writing a letter, not necessarily addressed to anyone"

He turned to face her completely as the tears slowly started to fall.

"I can assume from your question you don't want to talk about it, but may I ask if you are okay?" Sincerity was laced throughout his voice as he watched her with kind eyes. She began to fidget slightly under his gaze.

"Yeah, I'm okay..just feeling a little lost" she answered offering him a small nervous smile.

He opened his arms, offering her a hug to which she complied.

Their moment was interrupted by what could only be the missing half of their team returning from their mission.

Wanda pulled herself from Visions grip and took his hand, pulling him along with her to go greet them.

The scene they walked in on was not one either of them were prepared for. Panic settled in when Wanda took in the full sight of her friends. Everyone had been hurt in one way or another and there was blood, so much blood. Wanda couldn't work out who's blood it was through the panic rising in her chest, her vision started to fade slightly as dizziness took over.

Wanda's knees grew weak when she located the cause of all the blood. Natasha was bleeding out. And fast.

She didn't hesitate a second longer before taking Natasha off Caps shoulder and into her arms, trying to gently guide her to the medbay without hurting her any further.

"FRIDAY can you please alert Bruce that the team are back, tell him theres an emergency" the panic was still evident in Wanda's voice.

"Dr. Banner is on his way Ms. Maximoff" FRIDAY replied, easing Wandas worry slightly.

"Thank you, FRIDAY"

Wanda could hear Bruce running through the building towards the entrance of the compound.

He took in the sight before him and ran straight to Wanda.

"Hey I'm here, what's going on? What happened?" he asked, looking up from Natasha's wound to address his team.

"It was an ambush" cap started. "We had 3 buildings to recon over the 4 day trip traveling between locations. Suspected Hydra bases. We got to the last one and somebody had tipped them off about our mission" he finished, giving a defeated look.

Wanda and Bruce placed an arm of Natasha's each around their shoulders and carried her to the medbay, cap following close behind.

"Nat took the worst of the attack. Everything happened so fast, we got her out of there as quick as we could but she's bleeding bad" cap added before stopping in the hall and leaving Wanda and Bruce to take Natasha for medical assistance.

Wanda averted her gaze back to Natasha, she was losing consciousness.

The pair laid her down on the bed so Bruce could asses her wound better. Wanda moved to sit herself up the top of the bed beside Natasha.

"Natasha, love, stay with me please. You need to stay awake" she spoke softly, brushing her hair back out her face, sweat glistening across her unusually pale skin.

"Bruce is gonna take care of your injury, but we have to get the upper section of your suit off first. I promise we'll be gentle" Wanda tried her best to keep her promise to Natasha, but the look of discomfort and pain that crossed her face proved it hadn't quite worked.

Wanda pulled a chair over to sit beside the bed and took Natasha's hand into her own while Bruce got to work cleaning and dressing her wound.

She tried to keep Natasha's mind off of the immense amount of pain displayed across her face by talking to her sweetly about her 4 days spent away from the older woman.

"This is really bad, she's gonna need stitches and strict bed rest for at least 2 weeks" Bruce said to Wanda with slightly defeated look on his face.

It was unusual for the team to see Natasha in such a state.

"Hey Natasha, I'll be back in 2 minutes I promise. Bruce is gonna take care of you, I'll be right back" Wanda reassured her friend and made her way to her room to fetch a couple pillows and a blanket. She wasn't gonna leave Natasha's side. Not until she had recovered.

Wanda returned to find she had been longer than intended. Bruce had finished tending to Natasha and left to check on the rest of the team.

Wanda returned to her chair and positioned her pillows so she could find comfort for the night. She took the now sleeping girls hand back in her own and allowed herself to relax at the sight of Natasha's chest rising and falling at a steady rhythm.

She was gonna be okay, and at that thought Wanda allowed herself to drift to sleep.