The next afternoon, after a family BBQ that Clint and Steve cooked for the family, they headed into town for the fair.
Because there were too many people, they ended up having to take two trucks. The Barton's piled into their SUV, and Steve, Nat, Peter, and Wanda ended up following in the Barton's pick-up truck.
Wanda was happy that Nat forgot her booster seat. It made the seat belt a little less restricting, although she caught Nat staring at her in the rear-view mirror, as she was pulling the shoulder strap away from her neck.
"Is it bothering you, Wanda?" She asked, popping her sunglasses off her head and onto her face. The early September day was super-hot and sunny.
"I'm okay." Wanda squeaked, letting the seatbelt go.
Nat reached back to give her knee a reassuring squeeze.
"Don't worry, the drive isn't very long, milaya."
Wanda nodded, focusing her eyes on the passing farmland. It was much different than New York, in which her only ride consisted of the hour car ride to the mall. It was pretty much all highway and tall buildings in the background. But Iowa was different. Much calmer; fewer cars and buildings, and mainly cornfields, apple orchards, and cows.
Beside her, Peter was aggressively pressing the buttons on some portable gaming device.
"Peter," Steve laughed, glancing at him in the mirror, "The ride is only half an hour. You can't last that long without your Gameboy thing?"
"It's a Nintendo Switch, Mr. Rogers. And no, I can't. I'm so close to beating this one part!"
He answered, never taking his eyes off of the screen. His tongue was out in concentration.
Wanda looked over. It looked to her like he was riding horseback through a field, some weird enemy chasing him. Not as fun as Mario kart, where you could play with other people.
Steve rolled his eyes and sighed playfully.
"Kids these days, you can't pry the electronics from their hands." He joked, mainly just to get a reaction out of Peter.
"If I might add Mr. Steve,"
"It's just Steve, kid." Steve corrected Peter.
"Sorry, Steve, whatever. But I'm pretty sure that video games are probably more fun than whatever you did as a kid in the 1940s."
Nat rolled her eyes.
"Peter, you have just learned the hard way. Never bring up the good old days to Steve. He won't be able to quit."
Steve shot her a playful look.
"Well, I'm sorry that kids in my generation actually took the time to play outside. When I was Peter's age..."
They all collectively sighed. This was going to be a long thirty minutes.
...
After following the Barton's SUV into the fairground parking lot, they all hopped out, joining each other at the front gates. Steve and Clint joined Nat by popping on a pair of sunglasses. It was a very rare chance they would get noticed anyways, as they were in a small town in the middle of Iowa, but wearing sunglasses lowered their chances even more.
Steve placed a ballcap on Wanda's head.
"Here you go, Baby Witch. Don't want you to get sunburnt."
Nat couldn't help but smile. The bond between the two of them grew stronger every day. She was just waiting for Wanda to start calling him Dad. It was pretty much inevitable at this point.
Wanda grabbed both Nat and Steve's hands. She took a look around and swallowed, but by observing everyone's facial expressions, some of the nervousness seemed to drift away. Kids ran around laughing and chasing each other, and adults conversed cheerfully. Everyone was seeming to be enjoying themselves.
Cooper's voice snapped her head back to their group.
"Look! Face paint! Peter, wanna get our face's painted like Spiderman?"
Peter laughed, high fiving his little buddy.
"Hell yeah, let's go!"
"Hold on a minute, you two. Wait up!" Clint called to the two excited kids who ran ahead. Lila joined them, but Wanda stayed between Nat and Steve.
Wanda joined Lila at the booth, where she was flipping through the different designs. Lila pointed to different designs, chattering away happily. She decided on half her face painted like a dog.
"Why only half?" Wanda asked, confused.
"Because then when you turn to the side and talk, it looks like the puppy is talking."
She couldn't really picture it, but just nodded anyways.
"What about you, Wanda? Are you going to get a puppy, too?"
Wanda shook her head. The whole idea of having a total stranger way too close to your face while they put paint on it didn't really seem appealing to her.
"I'll wait here while you go. I don't really want my face painted."
Lila shrugged.
"Suit yourself."
Wanda joined Nat and Steve on a nearby bench and sandwiched herself between them.
"You don't want face paint, malyshka?" Nat asked her. Nate was seated on her knee, as Laura went into the booth with Lila. Clint had his nose in a brochure, reading about all the events.
Wanda shook her head, and she was glad when Nat didn't question her further. She was just content to sit with her parents and observe.
"It looks like the parade is in twenty minutes," Clint pointed to the main street, which was blocked off to prevent cars from driving down it. "Over there. After the kids have their faces painted, we should go find a spot."
"A parade? With the horses?" Wanda piped up.
Nat was happy she was finally excited.
"Yeah, there are horses, lots of them."
"Yeah," Clint added. "And they're all dressed up beautifully. It's pretty cool."
Wanda shot out of her seat.
"Can we go now? I want to see them!" She grabbed Nat's hand, pulling her up.
Nat laughed.
"Hold your horses, milaya. It doesn't start for another twenty minutes. But don't worry. We'll go, I promise."
Five or so minutes later, Peter and Cooper came running out of the face paint tent, with matching spiderman face paint.
"Wow, guys! Looks good!" Clint said. He shoved the brochure into his pocket.
Laura and Lila came out right after, her face painted like a dog. She turned to the side so only half her face was showing and barked like a dog.
"See! It looks like he's talking."
Wanda giggled.
"Guess what! The parade starts soon! We are going to watch it now!" She told Peter, Cooper, and Lila.
"Yay!" Lila was excited. It was her favourite part of the festival.
It proved to be Wanda's favourite part, too. Despite it being pretty loud, it was very fun. There were beautiful horses pulling floats; just like Clint promised, and a marching band, as well as some kids who handed out candy.
At first, she was a bit scared when a boy Cooper's age handed her a lollipop. She wasn't sure if she should take it, but Nat gave her a nod.
"It's okay, Wanda. It's candy. You can eat it."
So, she and Lila spent the rest of the parade collecting candy from kids in the parade, until they each had a small pile of it.
"Jeez, it's like Halloween!" Clint said, noticing their small piles of chocolate and candy.
Unfortunately, by the end of the parade, most of the chocolate and taffy had melted into a gooey mess, and they ended up having to throw most of it out. All that was left was a few pieces of hard candies and lollies.
"It's fine," Cooper said, throwing a few chocolates into the garbage. "We probably wouldn't have been able to carry it all anyways."
But Wanda couldn't help but feel bad. For the short time she lived on the streets before Hydra, She and Pietro used to eat whatever they could get their hands on. Now she had no issues throwing out the chocolate. It made her feel slightly guilty.
"Can Peter and I go and ride some of the big kid rides?" Cooper asked, pointing to the Tilt-a-Whirl. Peter nodded, agreeing with him.
"Sure, I don't see a problem in splitting up for a while. I can take them on a few rides for a bit." Clint said. "Come on, boys."
The rest of them walked around for a bit, wandering around and looking at all the different booths and sights.
A few minutes passed, and Nathaniel began to fuss.
"Lila, can you stay with Auntie Nat and Uncle Steve for a few minutes?" Laura turned to Nat. "I just have to go back to the car for a minute. I think Nate's hungry. He might be getting too hot, and I just want to give him a fifteen-minute break in the air conditioning."
Nat nodded.
"Yeah, no problem!"
They sat at a nearby picnic table, to wait for Laura to come back.
"Since mommy left, can we please get a funnel cake?" Lila begged her Aunt.
"You had this planned, huh Lila? As soon as your mother left you were gonna ask, weren't you?" Nat asked, giving her a mock-annoyed face.
Lila nodded.
"Please? Plus, Wanda has never had one. She needs to try one."
Nat gave in.
"Fine, but we're going to have to eat it fast before your mum comes back. Can you do that?"
Lila nodded aggressively, full of excitement.
Nat already knew this was going to be a bad idea, but she couldn't say no to that face.
"Ahem, pushover." Steve coughed.
Nat whipped her head around.
"What was that, Steve?"
"Nothing."
"Thought so. Stay here you three. And don't get into any trouble."
Natasha came back a few minutes later with the funnel cake, covered in whipped cream and fresh strawberries. Wanda had to admit, it looked delicious.
Lila handed her a fork.
"Here, Wanda, give it a try."
Wanda took a bite. It was delicious.
"It tastes like ponchiki," Wanda said, referring to the Russian donuts she had tried back in Sokovia. She and Pietro had once helped the local baker clean the kitchen in exchange for a few pastries, and he ended up giving them each a Russian donut, or ponchiki.
Nat nodded, agreeing.
"Yeah, it doesn't, doesn't it? They're very similar, both like a donut."
Wanda nodded.
By the time they were finished, Laura was still in the car.
"Auntie Nat, can you take me to the bathroom?" Lila asked.
"Yeah, for sure." She said, standing up to take Lila's hand. "Wanda, do you need to go?"
Wanda shook her head, and she stayed with Steve at the picnic table.
"Do you want to go walk around a bit more, Wanda? We'll stay close so your mum and Lila will be able to find us, but we can go explore a bit more if you want."
Wanda nodded, hopping off the picnic table to immediately grab Steve's hand.
Walking around the fairgrounds, Wanda felt herself be a bit more overwhelmed than before. She didn't know if it was because Nat wasn't with her, or if she had had enough, but she felt her grip on Steve's hand tighter as she unintentionally focused on the sound.
Being focused on the noise, she didn't really pay attention to where she was walking, and accidentally ran into a large man.
"Sorry, little girl. You should watch where you're going." The burly man said, patting her shoulder and walking off to join the rest of his family.
Wanda froze in place. This just added to her already overwhelmed feeling. She could hear Steve trying to talk to her, coaching her through her frozen stare, but quite frankly, Wanda couldn't move.
"I...um... "
She wanted to say that she wanted to get out of here, go back to her mother, but the words become jumbled before they could leave her mouth. She became scared. Of the environment, the people, the noise. It was all too much. It started to remind her too much of the loud noise during the war in Sokovia, and then Hydra. Even though deep down she knew that this was nothing like it.
"Hey, Wanda? Can you listen to me for a second?" Steve touched her shoulder, and her eyes flashed red before realising it was him.
Wanda snapped out of her thoughts for a moment, focusing on Steve in front of her. His face was filled with concern, and he scooped her up into his arms. Wanda clung to him for dear life, and Steve could feel the poor girl shaking. He only wished Nat was with her right now, but they were going to go find her.
"We're going to go find your Mama, okay, sweet pea?"
Wanda nodded into his shoulder, squeezing her eyes shut. She refused to look up.
On their way to the public bathrooms, they found Laura, who carried a now happy baby Nate.
Laura smiled, greeting them, but her face fell when she noticed the distraught Wanda clinging to Steve.
Steve jogged up to her.
"Do you know where Nat went? She took Lila to the bathroom, but I don't know where that is."
"Yeah," Laura said, leading him across the fairground. "Is everything okay?" Her face was filled with concern.
"Just a bit scared, she just accidentally ran into a stranger and I think she's a little overwhelmed."
Laura placed a hand on Wanda's back, who jumped a little.
"Look," Laura said, pointing to the public washroom doors, "There they are now."
Nat could tell something was wrong as soon as she made eye contact with Steve.
She ran up to them, with Lila close behind.
"What happened?" Nat placed a hand on Wanda's shoulder, who startled, letting out a small whimper.
"Someone bumped into her, and it scared her a bit. I think she's just a bit overwhelmed."
Nat nodded, taking Wanda from Steve. She was stiff, but loosened up when she realised it was Nat.
"We can take her somewhere quieter for a bit, let her calm down," Nat said. Steve nodded.
Nat turned to Laura.
"Are the horse stables still across the street? That might help her calm down, plus it will be a bit quieter."
Laura nodded.
"Yeah," She pointed to a red barn a few hundred metres away. "Just right there. Come on, Lila, let's go find the boys."
Nat and Steve briskly walked to the stables. The poor girl was still shaking, and Nat could feel the shoulder of her shirt become damp. Wanda was silently crying, refusing to let a sob escape her body.
They were glad to find that apart from a few horses, the barn was completely empty.
With the now quiet environment, Wanda slowly lifted her head to look around.
Her face was tear-streaked and scrunched with worry, but she wiggled out of Nat's arms in embarrassment.
Nat crouched to her level.
"What happened, milaya? Did you get scared?"
Wanda nodded.
"I...I'm sorry. But the noise, it was too much. And then I accidentally ran into someone and he scared me." She accidentally let a sob escape, but quickly wiped the tears away, afraid of showing weakness.
"You don't have to apologise, malyshka." Nat kissed her forehead. Internally, she sighed. She realised how many times she's had to say that these past few months.
Steve crouched to her level.
"We can take a little break in here, sweetheart. These horses told me they really wanted to meet you. Do you want to come see them?" Steve stood back up, and Wanda nodded, taking his hand.
He lifted her up so she could touch the nearest one; a large bay Clydesdale, who was very friendly.
Nat leaned against the wall, observing her two favourite people. Before Wanda came into their lives, she never realised that Steve really had a way with kids. But then again, she didn't realise she did either.
The door to the stables opened, and a middle-aged woman came in, carrying a bucket of feed.
Nat stood up.
"Sorry, I hope it's okay that we came to see the horses."
Wanda surprisingly didn't hide her face into Steve's shoulder. 'She seemed to have calmed down a lot.
The woman gave them a hearty smile.
"No problem at all, just glad someone came to give them some love. They've worked very hard today."
She held out her hand for Nat to shake.
"I'm Josephine Hawke. I run the stables. I haven't seen you around here before. You three from out of town?"
Nat shook her hand, and so did Steve. Wanda gave a shy smile.
"I'm Nat, and this is my husband Steven," She lied. "And our little girl, Wanda."
Nat felt a blush creep onto her face. She was good at lying, but she didn't know where the whole 'husband' thing came from. It just sort of slipped out.
"My brother and his family live here," She said, referring to Clint. "We came from New York to visit.
"New York, wow. That's pretty far," Josephine smiled in Wanda's direction. "She's a cute little thing. Do you like horses, Wanda?"
Wanda nodded shyly.
"I got to ride one once, with my cousin." She said quietly.
"Wow, how cool!" Josephine smiled. She gestured to the horse in front of Wanda.
"This is Duke, he was pulling one of the floats in the parade."
She held out a horse treat to Wanda.
"You can try to give him a treat if you'd like, just hold your hand out nice and flat."
Wanda took the treat from Josephine and held her hand out. She laughed as Duke eagerly ate the treat out of her palm.
Nat and Steve smiled at each other, glad that their little girl was starting to enjoy herself again.
"Well, I should get back to work," Josephine said, grabbing the bucket. "It was very nice to meet you, and feel free to stay as long as you want."
Josephine disappeared behind a corner, and not a moment later, the Barton's and Peter appeared in the doorway.
"Just wanted to make sure everyone was okay," Laura said, poking her head in.
"Are you feeling better, Wanda?" Lila asked, joining her beside the door to Duke's stall. Steve put her on the ground.
Wanda wiped her eyes, making sure that there were no leftover tears.
"Yeah, I'm okay."
Clint pulled out his phone.
"We should probably head back now, the little one's getting pretty fussy. Plus, it's almost dark."
Nate squirmed in Laura's arms.
The car ride back was pretty quiet. Both Wanda and Peter fell asleep in the back of the truck. The first to succumb was Wanda, who slowly rested her head on Peter's shoulder. Peter didn't mind, in fact, he pulled his sweater off of the floor of the truck and laid it across her for warmth. After about ten minutes of playing his game, Nat noticed the faint glow of the screen turn dark, and when she looked back, Peter had his head resting against the window, also asleep.
Nat pulled out her phone, snapping a picture.
"Looks like we've got two tuckered kids. I have to send this to Tony."
She smiled and showed Steve the picture.
Wanda woke up to a stirring Peter, who opened the car door. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and realising it was Nat, letting her carry her into the house.
Laura smiled, pointing to Lila in Clint's arms, who had fallen asleep as well.
It was only 8:00, but Nat and Steve ended up letting her go to sleep anyways. Both Lila and her crashed in Lila's bedroom.
Nat laid a blanket over Wanda, kissing her forehead.
Wand rolled over to face her mother, half asleep.
"Thank you for taking me here, Mama. I had fun." Wanda whispered, half asleep.
Nat's heart melted.
"You're welcome milaya, and I'm so glad. I'll just be downstairs, okay? I love you." Despite Wanda's gaining independence, Nat still felt the need to tell her where she would be at all times.
"I love you too."
Nat brushed her hair out of her face and planted a kiss on her forehead.
She turned the lights off and shut the door slightly.
She ran into Steve in the hall.
"She asleep?" He asked on his way down the stairs.
Nat nodded. "Almost. She said she had fun today. I'm glad she wasn't too traumatised."
Steve lowered his head.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that Nat. I should've been paying more attention."
Nat turned him to face her, grabbing his forearms.
"Don't beat yourself up about it. It's not your fault. She's getting better, but that doesn't mean she won't take a step backwards here and there."
Steve nodded.
Nat sighed, leaning her forehead on his shoulder. He pulled her into a hug.
"It's still so hard to watch, though. She was doing so good, and then something so small triggers something so big. What's going to happen at school? We're so lucky she didn't use her powers." She rambled into his sweatshirt.
"Hey, she'll be fine. Her control is getting so much better, she doesn't resort to it as a defense mechanism anymore, which is good. We can inform the teachers that too much noise can overwhelm her. They'll understand."
Nat nodded, and despite how awful she felt, she couldn't help but smile. The past few weeks, Wanda had increasingly become their child and less of hers, and she was so grateful. Not only did she always want to raise a kid with Steve, but it was just so much easier for a kid to have two parents to lean on instead of one.
Steve tilted her chin up to look at him.
"I heard you in the stables, today. You introduced me as your husband." He flashed her a cheeky smile.
"Well, we have to lie." She said a matter of factly.
"I don't really know what marriage has to do with our identities."
"Shut up, Rogers."
He laughed, bringing his lips to hers.
Nat couldn't help but feel content.