Someone To Stay | Wanda Maximoff

7. I'm No Stranger To Pain

WANDA's POV

The loud 'oh my god' I let out probably wasn't the best thing to say in the moment, but it felt necessary given that with every piece of clothing Luna took off, a new bruise or mark was revealed. Hundreds of them just scattered across her body, the most prominent being on her torso and back, but that doesn't undermine the damage done to her arms and legs too.

"Luna-"

"I know. It's bad. Let's just get this over with so I can sit back down."

Following her request, I take her hands to help her step into the bath, holding tighter when she suddenly winces upon her foot hitting the water and jumps straight back out.

"What's wrong? Too hot? I put it at a lukewarm temperature," I quickly ask, wanting to make sure she isn't hurt any further.

"Way too hot. I'm used to the freezing cold temperature."

Luna has a shyness about her. It's almost as if she speaks as quietly and hesitantly as possible just in case she says the 'wrong thing'. It goes without saying that she's probably terrified of getting hurt, and I don't know what I can do to help her understand that I would never do that, except keep reassuring her.

So that's what I do. I spend the next ten minutes trying to get it in her head that I could never hurt her and that I wouldn't forgive myself if I did, all the while I re-run the bath with colder water this time, but still not freezing.

When I've helped Luna back in, she doesn't hesitate to pull her knees up to her chest so everything is covered. My poor girl must have been violated so many times. That is a conversation for another day. I don't blame her for being uncomfortable with this.

I have made sure to ask her over and over if she's okay with me being in here and she's said yes every time, so I know that I'm not making her uneasy in any way.

"Can you put your head back for me, please?" I ask of her and she quickly complies, looking too afraid to do anything other than that. I want to remind her that she's safe, and she is allowed to voice her opinion here, but I don't think it matters how many times I tell her, I'm still going to be the same person who left her in an absolute hellhole to live in.

"What's that?" the frightened girl jolts away as I bring the small pool of shampoo in my hand up to her hair. That's right, she's never used anything like this before.

"It's called shampoo. It cleans your hair. It's safe, I promise."

The teen still doesn't seem convinced, but she slowly starts leaning back towards me so that I'm able to start massaging the product into her scalp.

I devote a long hour to helping Luna take a bath, and I can already tell she's feeling more relaxed. Luckily, the water has also brought her temperature down slightly. From her temp nearly being back to normal, you'd have thought that she'd be feeling better, but she's so clearly not in the way she has her head hanging above the toilet bowl whilst trying to hold back this morning's breakfast.

I'm of course sat behind her, rubbing her back in slow circles after already having put her hair up in two french braids earlier. I'm a mother, I can't watch a child be sick and not want to care for and attend to them, even if she is shouting at me for it.

"Can you stop?! I'm not a baby! I'm not incompetent. I've taken care of myself my whole life, you can't just swoop in and take over."

LUNA's POV

I don't know why I'm being so snappy towards Wanda. Maybe it's just because I'm sick, or maybe it's the fact that she hasn't been here to look after me and now all of a sudden, she's trying to be a mom to me. I don't need her.