Got requests for part 3, so here it is.
Emma's POV
In my luck, Wanda got up from the cuddle and went to use the bathroom. It gave me the perfect excuse to turn on my side knowing the others would appear any moment now. I could just pretend I'm asleep.
I am not in the mood to listen to them right now. Part of me believes they actually want to yell at me for something that I didn't do during the mission. Or about how what I did was very stupid and idiotic.
I really don't want that.
When Wanda came back into the room, this time with the others next to her, I put on my best act of being asleep.
"She was awake a few minutes ago." Wanda said softly.
I feel someone coming and sitting in the chair in front of me, but I don't move.
"She must be exhausted." Nat said.
"I mean, did you see what she did? Of course, she would be drained after that." Clint said mindblown.
"Yeah, what she did was impressive." Steve said.
I don't let it get to my head. I did what was necessary. And frankly, if I were more prepared, I wouldn't be here in the medbay bed in the first place.
"Did she say anything when she was awake?" Steve asks Wanda.
"No. Not a single word." Wanda I assume shakes her head.
"You said you talked with her before the mission as well." Nat said this time.
"Yes, we have a small conversation before being called into the meeting room." Wanda responded.
I felt a hand caressing my cheek softly, but I did my best not to react to it.
"Did she say anything then?" Nat asks.
"No." Wanda sighs. "She just shakes her head yes or no." Wanda explains.
"She must be really mad at us." Steve concludes.
"No, she is not mad at us." Tony finally speaks. "She is mad at herself."
"What? That doesn't make sense." Steve says.
"Tony is right." Wanda sighs again. "She is mad at herself because she thinks she could do better so she pushes herself to the extreme."
"So, you are saying that in a way, by not speaking she is punishing herself?" Steve asks.
"Kind of. I think she feels as if she is undeserving of speaking." Nat says. "I remember the day before that mission, we had another smaller one and I just caught her coming from the locker room. I tried speaking with her but I only got a nod."
"Unknowingly we did some damage, guys." Wanda spoke again. "Some really deep damage."
"We must do something, right?" Clint asks.
"Yes, but what exactly?" Steve asks this time.
"We should start by apologizing." Tony said, which was surprising knowing that he doesn't really apologize that much when he is in the wrong.
"That won't work." Wanda says. "Not as long as she believes what was said after the accident."
All through the conversation, I felt what I think is Wanda's hand, caressing my face, then my shoulder, followed by my arm.
It felt good to be receiving the soft and tender gesture from her. It's something that I missed so much, but I was too afraid to admit it. Afraid that if I say it out loud then it's becoming more real and I won't ever receive her kind attention.
"Then, what exactly can we do?" Steve asks again.
I wasn't awake to listen to their conversation anymore, I fell into a deep slumber. Something that I haven't done in more than a month.
When I woke up a few hours later I realized that it was the first time since I haven't had a nightmare. I almost forgot how it felt to sleep without any problems.
As soon as I woke up I realized that I was alone in the room. I looked around and realized it was late. It also seems that I no longer have any IV stuff in me, so I got up from the bed and decided it's better for me to be in my room.
In the hallway I see Wanda coming with a tray of food.
"Hi!" She says as soon as she sees me.
I nod once.
"I brought you food." She points to the tray. "I guess you don't want to be in medbay any longer." She softly chuckles.
I shake my head no.
"Come on, let's go to your room." Wanda takes my hand.
I appreciate that she didn't mention eating in the kitchen, where the others could be present.
The journey there is quiet but not at all awkward. Wanda seems to notice that I'm not really in a talkative mood. Even with me not speaking at all.
"Don't worry about me, I've already eaten." She says when I point it to her.
I nod.
"Do you want to watch a movie or something?"
I nod.
I enjoyed her presence through the quiet atmosphere around us. It felt like the old us.
She fell asleep soon after I was done eating. From the looks of it, she didn't get too much sleep while I was in medbay. So I'm glad she is doing that now.
But I'm stuck. I no longer feel tired, and sleeping is the last thing I want to do. I kind of want to train, but knowing her, she will wake up as soon as I start my warm-up, here in the room.
So that leaves me with the training room. As much as I don't want to train there, I don't want to wake Wanda after it's clear she is lacking sleep.
I quickly change clothes and tip-toe out of the room. It's been a while since I've been training in a bigger space than my room. I guess it's an advantage since I can now summon more mist figures and fight with more at the same time.
After a quick warm-up, I create a few figures and tell them to attack me and not hold back.
I receive punches and kicks but I don't falter. Any time I were to hit the ground, I would tell them to go harder on me.
I need to be prepared.
I noticed that I didn't get tired as quickly as I used to, so that is progress in my book.
But I failed to notice that I had some audience.
"That's impressive." I quickly turn around to see Steve, Nat, and Clint sitting at the entrance of the training room.
This is another reason why I don't like training here, and why I prefer it to be in my room. Here anyone could see me, and disturb my momentum.
"Do you need some sparring partners?" Steve speaks again.
I shake my head and quickly turn back into fighting my mist figures.
"Mind if we train with you then?" Nat asks this time.
I shake my head again before quickly dodging a punch coming my way.
After a few more hours spent without any unnecessary words between us, they left since it was kind of late. But I still had so much pent-up energy inside me, that I knew it wouldn't let me sleep even if I tried.
So I opted for some cardio exercises, such as running the treadmill.
I didn't stop until I felt my legs turn to jello. That's when I finally went back to my room to try and sleep it off. I already plan on doing the same thing tomorrow.
The more I push myself now, the better I become in the futter.
In my room, Wanda still seems to be sleeping which is great. I take a quick shower then I join her.
I missed having her in my arms at night. Her cuddling back into me and holding me tight if I attempted to move in the slightest. I just missed her so much.
After a dreamless sleep, I woke up at the same time as Wanda.
"Morning." She says while stretching and letting quiet noises out.
She is the cutest.
"Where were you last night? I woke up and you weren't in the room." She pouted.
I shrugged since I couldn't really explain it. Or more like, I didn't want to explain it.
"I missed you." She continued to pout.
I quickly wipe the pout off with a kiss on her lips.
"Do you want to eat breakfast with the rest of the group?" She asks cautiously when we separate.
I take a moment to think about it. I know that she wants to restore the connection between us but I don't know how I would feel with everybody in a room. This time I couldn't pretend to be asleep anymore.
I mean, I know the rest of them want to apologize and try to remediate things. That's what I gathered from their conversation yesterday.
The question is, do they have something to apologize for?
I was in the wrong that day, I messed up pretty bad and they told me. The way they behaved towards me is justified. A lot of people died because of me, so of course, they were disappointed by my actions.
"You don't have to say yes. I don't want to feel like you're obliged to go." Wanda said softly, breaking me out of my thoughts.
What if I go and if I feel uncomfortable, I leave? Yeah, that seems to be the best option.
I get out of the bed and nod in the direction of the door.
"Okay. If you don't feel good, we leave. okay?" She makes sure.
I nod my head.
"I love you." She reminds me.
I instantly smile. I love hearing her say it. Just like I love her.
I try to open my mouth to say the same words to her, but nothing came out. She seems to sense it.
"I know." She smiles. "You love me too." I quickly nod. "You'll speak when you are comfortable and ready to, okay?"
I nod again before kissing her again.
"Come on, let's go." She takes my hand and drags me outside of the room.
In the kitchen, everybody was present, as excted. They stopped talking as soon as they saw me being dragged into the room by a smiling Wanda.
"Good morning you too." Nat smiled in our direction.
"Morning." Wanda replied easily before making us seat at the table, in our usual seats.
"Steve is making his pancakes." Nat added.
If there is something that I miss regarding the food area, Steve's pancakes take the spot. They are always so good.
"Yay!" Wanda said excitedly.
I don't respond and just stare at the table in front of me. I feel a bit awkward sitting at the table with all of them again.
The last time I sat down here, in the exact same spot, things didn't go so well for me. I received a lot of disapproving looks and snide remarks.
Wanda's hand squeezed mine and it brought me back. She gave a questioning look but I just shook my head. I will make it through. I should at least try.
If not for me, for her.
"There you go, Emma." Steve said and put a plate in front of me.
I nodded in thanks and look around the room, to see that everyone took some as well.
"Emma?" Tony said after a few moments of silence. "We are all sorry for the way we behaved that day." He apologized.
I shake my head once. It's not their fault for me fucking it up.
"No, don't shake your head. We were awful. You didn't deserve all of the bad things we said to you. Or the way we treated you." Steve said this time.
I'm starting to feel uncomfortable.
"Especially Steve and I." Tony said again. "I think we were the worse. I'm sorry for everything kid. I'm sorry for all the damage we have caused." His voice portrayed the honesty that he felt.
My leg has started bouncing and I think Wanda has started to notice that I'm getting worse.
"Let's not talk about this anymore." Wanda cuts in, saving me from having another breakdown.
I keep my gaze on the table and try to calm down.
Everything is just too much right now.
But mostly, I'm torn because I know they have nothing to apologize for, but at the same time, they were awful to me. And it led to me developing this mental obsession with having to be the greatest at all times.
But again, I should have been the best version of myself regardless of what has happened.
"Come on, let's take a walk." Wanda suggests as if she can see the turmoil going on inside my head.
I nod once and get up from the table. The pancakes were great, just as I remember.
"You okay?" She asks me as soon as we are outside.
I shake my head.
"Is there any way I could help?"
I shake my head. This is a 'me problem', I should be the one to deal with this.
Seeing that I want a distraction, Wanda goes into a story of her childhood. How she and Pietro got away with so many things instead of being scolded by their parents for them.
She managed to bring my mind at ease without realizing it.
I know that whatever happens, she will be here by my side, supporting me through everything.
"I love you." I say quietly, interrupting her mid-story.
"I love you too." She says not letting her shock show. She gives me a quick kiss before continuing her story.
The fact that she knows not to make a big deal out of it because that's the last thing that I want, makes me love her even more.
The next few days are still pretty much weird for me. I train pretty much every chance I get. That is unless Wanda stops me claiming it's not really healthy.
I haven't said anything else to her, but she doesn't push me.
The others are trying as well and even though it feel weird, I let them. I got so used to them not caring about me, that now it feels strange every time someone mentions it, or they do something that they know I like.
My mind has been all over the place these days. I'm still conflicted with everything that is happening. I realized that the way I lived this past month wasn't a very healthy way. And it feels like I have to rewrite my brain all over again.
It's confusing and frustrating.
But Wanda is right there next to me, which makes the whole process a bit easier.
To the first team hang-out, I haven't gone to. It felt too much in such a short period of time. The only interactions with other people besides Wanda are when I'm training since I started to use the training room once again, or when I'm eating because I also started to eat with them.
When I finally thought I was prepared for the second hang-out the team had, I went and sat on the sofa which I know surprised everyone. But the proud smile I got from Wanda made everything worth it.
They quickly recovered and I'm glad they didn't make a big deal of me being there. Everything went quite smoothly if I do say so myself.
"I'm so proud of you." Wanda said as soon as we are back in my room, making me blush.
I kiss her cheek in thanks and go to sit down, but she stops me.
"No, I'm very serious. I'm proud that you got out there and managed to stay the whole time. That's progress, don't dismiss it." She cups my cheeks, forcing eye contact. "I'm proud of the small steps you take each day. They might not seem much to you, but they mean everything to me. It means you are getting healthier, mentally speaking. I'm so proud of you, you don't even imagine. I could scream it to the world. I love you so much, don't ever doubt that. Okay?"
"Okay." I say.
She took me into her arms reminding me of the place I feel the safest and the most loved in this whole entire world. Her embrace. I know things would be alright as long as she is here with me.
Ending this one here. To be completely honest with you, when I started writing this one a few hours ago, I had no idea where I should go with it. I felt like I couldn't go straight to fluff since it would be such a harsh transition, and quite frankly, forced, in my opinion.
I hope this one's okay.
I finally put down all of the requests and since I have a few days in which I'm free, I will try and write them and everything.
Your girl did great this semester at uni. Not that I'm bragging or anything.
Anywaaay, have a good day/night.