Living Miracles (The Maximoff Twins)

Chapter Thirteen

Pietro woke up with a scream.

Wanda immediately jolted awake as well. "Wha-what? Pietro!" She jumped up, running over to him. She sat on the side of his bed.

He grabbed her, pulling her into his lap. He was holding her so tightly that she could hardly breathe. His breathing was raged. He ran his hand over her hair roughly, rocking back and forth.

"Pietro, what was the dream?"

"Bomb," Was all he said. His grip on her tightened even more. "Don't leave me."

"I won't, I won't. I promise."

"What's going on in here?" Clint asked. He walked over to them, Cooper trailing behind him.

Pietro didn't respond.

"He had a nightmare. He's not as used to them as me."

"Well, tonight seems to be nightmare night. Lila's already in my room. You two come on, we'll make enough room if we have to."

Pietro got to his feet, still cradling Wanda. They walked to Clint's room. Lila reached out to Clint. He picked her up and Cooper moved into her old spot. "I wan be by Wanna and Daddy," Lila slurred.

"Alright," Laura said. "Pietro can be next to Cooper, Wanda can be in between Pietro and Clint."

"What 'bout me?"

"You're gonna end up on top of your dad, and you know it."

Lila grinned, happily curling up on her father's torso. Wanda felt squeezed, but she could live with it.

"Wanda and I can leave if there's not enough room," Pietro said quietly.

"Nonsense, sweetie. You two are fine," Laura said. "If you WANT to leave you can, but don't feel like you have to."

"Thanks, Mom-uh, I mean-"

"Pietro, why won't you and Wanda call us Mom and Dad? You try to all the time. We won't be mad at you if you do. Is it because of your parents?"

Pietro nodded. "A little of both, but I don't want to offend Máma and Táta or something."

"You won't be offending them, honey. They would want you to be happy. They'd want you to have a family again."

"Don't worry about the dead. They may still exist in Heaven, sure. I know you two believe that's true, given you're Jewish, so that's all the more reason to believe us. They're happy, in the best place that they could ever be. They want to to be happy and live the best lying hat you can. I think that they would be happy that you have two new loving parents. We know that they're still very special to you, and that you miss them. We're not trying to replace them," Clint said.

"Ok."

Cooper and Lila had fallen asleep.

"Twins?" Clint said.

"Yeah?"

"Laura and I really need you to tell us what those nightmares are. At this point, it's probably best we know."

"We get it if it's triggering, but it might be best," Laura added. "But you really don't have to tell us if you don't want to."

"Bombs. Not just Stark's. But the other ones," Pietro talked quietly, his eyes distant, like he was looking at something that was too far to reach. "When the streets got bombed in the middle of the night and Wanda and I had to take cover in dumpsters and in the slides at the playgrounds. Whatever sturdy thing that offered the most cover and was closest was.

"When we got jumped or mugged. When I'd get beat for stealing bread or pickpocketing or something so we could eat. When Wanda... when Wanda got raped and I couldn't help her. HYDRA. The experiments. Ultron. When I got shot and she fell and we died. When she got shot. And, of course, some aren't actually things that happened."

Clint and Laura were in shock and the twins were both crying. Suddenly, the latter duo found themselves wrapped in tight hugs.

"We didn't know about most of those things," Laura said. "I'm sorry all of that happened."

"We're glad that you trusted us enough to tell us about something so personal," Clint said.

"You two are so strong, and we're so proud of you."

"Thanks, Mom," Pietro sniffled.

"You're welcome, honey." Laura's voice was calm, but her thoughts weren't. Not anger over Wanda's assault- though she was furious about that- but more excited by Pietro finally calling her Mom without bailing out of it.

Clint hugged Wanda closer. "What do you say Wands?"

"I love you, Daddy."

"What else?"

Wanda smiled. "Thanks, Mom."

"You're welcome, Baby."

"Please tell me the guy's dead," Clint said. He didn't elaborate, but no one needed him to.

"I don't know. I know a police officer caught him and helped her, then grabbed the guy who had restrained me. I've seen the officer since, but never those guys. I'm not sure what happened to them," Pietro said. "The prison got bombed, though, and a lot of the inmates died. So maybe."

"Hopefully," Laura mumbled.

"On that happy note, let's go to sleep!" Clint said.

The other three laughed, but they all soon fell asleep.