The Way It Should Have Been

Ch. 11-Well That Was....Something.

It wasn't long before we got to the main floor again where we had left Clint and Maria, who thankfully weren't around. We both walked to where everyone would have been, but it was almost empty this time. Bonus because honestly, who wants to be surrounded by a shit-ton of strangers? Not this girl. We both grabbed a sandwich since most of the options seemed gone by the time we got there, and glancing at the clock, it wasn't hard to see why.

"It's seriously already 10 pm?" She checked her cellphone and checked a text before adding "Oh that's good. Looks like we won't have to be here as long, maybe a couple nights longer. Tony said the towers work crew actually put in double time to get it done faster."

I thought back to a hazy memory of construction crew information I'd had to memorize for a mission and how much they seemed to make already. "I don't even want to know how much extra it was to make them finish that fast. How long did you say he had it being built up?"

"Hmm...few months, maybe? It's a pretty large tower, but he managed to get an entire construction company to work on JUST that. You're right though, it was probably some crazy price to do it, but Tony has always been a bit eccentric."

"Mhmm, if the newspapers were anything to go off of, I can believe it. I'm ready to sleep, though. I don't think I can eat anymore." My plate was only maybe a quarter empty but it was still more than I'd been used to eating.

It looked like Wanda really wanted to say something about it, but then just nodded standing up and cleaning up both of our plates.

"I could have gotten that..." To be honest, I felt guilty she was cleaning up for both of us. It felt weird being cared for, even if it was pretend.

"It's okay y/n I don't mind. Is it okay if I walk you to your room tonight? Just in case you get lost, ya know?" Her gaze was fixed in front of her like she was giving me space to think it over.

"That...actually would be helpful. I'm pretty sure I would end up getting lost if I tried finding it alone."

We walked the rest of the way through the winding halls back to my room, where she paused by my door. Her nervous energy was bothering me. Was there a threat behind my door? My gaze drifted between her and the closed door.

"Is there something waiting inside I need to know about?" Wanda jolted when I spoke, like I'd pulled her out of a more important thought.

"What? No, of course not. I mean, I don't think so. No one can get in, but Fury, Maria, and Natasha. I don't see Maria or even Fury going in without warning, and Natasha is out on assignment tonight. She was pulled for a last-minute mission."

"Okay, then, what's with the nerves? You look like you're on edge. Are you worried about the psycho redhead?"

"That's not very nice. She isn't a psycho she is...just tense. I was just..." Without another word of warning, she pulled me into a deep hug, the kind where your body is smashed almost unpleasantly, but you feel the hug spread through your whole being.

This is... not terrible? Why is she hugging me? What's in it for her?...

"I just... I wanted to give you a hug before you went to bed. If you need something, even if it's the middle of the night, you can dial my room, okay? It's a dial by room number, so if you need it, my room is 268.. Sleep well, okay?" With that she retreated around a corner and out of sight, leaving me very confused.

After hesitating and eyeing the door a second longer I opened the door quickly scanning just in case, you never can be too sure. I went through systematically checking windows, doors, locks, and any place a person could hide before finally doing a quick night routine. It was nice to be able to do that again. The bed was a standard twin but much bigger than I was used to and soft to an almost uncomfortable degree.