Natasha couldn’t breathe, they had searched the entire farm, the teenager was no-where to be seen. Clint was frantically phoning around the area in hope that someone had seen her. Laura was resting her hand on Natasha trying to calm her, “she can’t have gone far Nat, we will find her.”
Nat looked at her harshly, “she is still wanted by Hydra! How can she be so reckless? We can’t even call the police to find her.”
“I’ve got a lead,” stated Clint rushing towards them pocketing his cell phone in his Jeans, “nearby town, a young girl has turned up out of the blue, not a local.”
“That’s a lead?!” snapped Nat. Laura pulled the irate woman into her, “it is around here, this is a local community, we are not in New York anymore.”
Clint pulled his coat on, “I’m going to go check it out, you guys wait here, in case she returns.”
Wanda sat in the diner trying to determine her next move. She was an idiot. An irrational emotional idiot. She took a deep calming breath to centre herself. Wanda had not thought this through. She had no Id, no money and left in a rush with no plan. Maybe she was a stupid teenager. She had no one to call, no-one could help her. Wanda played with the packet of sugar she had liberated from the cup on the table. She moved the packet between her fingers industriously, it provided a welcome distraction from her thoughts. The packet dropped to the table when it reached the end of her hand. Her hands shook slightly in stress. Wanda reached out to the cigarette packet on the table, and pulled one out of the carton. She lifted it to her lips and lit it with the lighter off the table. She took a slow pull on the lit stick. The smoke calmed her down. So this was the plan, chain smoking and drinking coffee, she thought to herself sadly.
Clint entered what he thought must have been the 10th different diner in this town, he wasn’t sure why the town had so many, surely the population of the town was not high enough to keep them all in business.
Clint glanced towards the diner bar spotting the young witch through the plume of smoke coming from her direction. Wanda turned at the sound of the bell going off as he strode into the building, “Clint…” she whimpered.
Clint stared at the girl, “do you want to explain to me what in the world possessed you to leave in the middle of the night like that?! Natasha is in pieces.”
Wanda cringed at his words, “I’m doing what is best for you all…Nat is better off without me.” She stubbed her cigarette in the ask tray, as if to punctuate her point.
“How can you possibly think that?” questioned Clint, taking a seat next to the girl, signalling the waitress for a drink.
“I am just a living reminder of her pain, What I did to her? What Ulton and I did to her…”
Clint realised in that statement what caused the young girl to run, “you were eavesdropping last night.”
Wanda took umbrage to that, “I was not eavesdropping….” she replied indignantly.
Clint raised his eyebrows at the teenager, “you need to come home and talk to Nat…”
Wanda shook her head slowly, “I don’t have a home.”
“Yes you do, and you have a family that loves you. That wants to care for you, chastise you and I guarantee after this stunt… punish you.” Wanda went slightly red at that, “now come on let’s go home.”
Wanda just shook her head again. She turned her attention back to her now empty coffee cup, "I am fine here."
"Nat is your legal guardian Wanda, unfortunately you are a minor. You have to abide by her rules," explained Clint.
"Then maybe I should go back to Sokovia," Wanda replied snottily.
Clint sighed in exasperation running his fingers through his hair. He was realising logical threats would not work on the emotional teen. "How are you not blood related to Nat,” he voiced out loud, “you are two of the most stubborn people I have ever met."
Wanda smiled at that even when she didn't want to, "you think we are alike?"
"So alike...look Wanda what do you honestly have to lose by coming home with me?"
"My independence," she replied immediately. “My Sanity,” she weakly joked as an afterthought.
"That ship has sailed how many 15 year olds do you know with full autonomy?"
"I'm different."
"Said every teenager ever," sparked back Clint. "You want to be treated like an adult act like one. Come home and talk to Nat."
Wanda turned to look at the man, before nodding in agreement, “Ok.” She threw the money she owed onto the table before standing up and following Hawkeye out of the diner.
…………………………………..
The second Wanda walked through the door she was pulled sharply into a hug, she felt her head being held tightly against the older woman’s chest. She was confused when she felt the top of her head getting slightly damp, before she realised it was Natasha’s tears she was feeling. Clint beckoned to the rest of the inhabitants, “come on, I will treat everyone to a day out.” The rest of the Barton family left the house, leaving just the two women. Natasha pulled the younger girl away from her body, her relief at seeing her now being replaced by anger. “What in the world were you thinking???! Running off like that!”
“I was doing what was best for you….” Wanda trailed off.
Natasha shook her head, “No you were running away, you can’t run away.”
“I hurt you…” exclaimed Wanda angrily, “I hurt you in Sokovia.”
“You heard us talking last night….” Stated Nat.
“Yes I did, I know you must hate me,” was the sad response from Wanda.
“Of course I don’t Wanda. I don’t blame you for any of it.”
“Maybe you should! No-one made me do it, I acted on my own free will. I chose to hurt you and Bruce. It's my fault he left.”
Nat smiled sadly at the younger girl her rage had started to drain away, “oh Wanda, how guilty have you been feeling about all of this? Why have you not spoken to me before now?”
“And say what…. Sorry for fucking with your mind and making you boyfriend run off... can we all be family now?”
“Steve would not be impressed with that language…” joked Nat trying to dissipate some of the tension, “do you really think I would have applied to be your guardian If I held a grudge?”
Wanda glanced at the older woman, “Yes… No… Maybe…..Bruce did say he wanted to choke the life out of me.”
“He shouldn’t have said that. He was just angry about what happened.”
“It seemed like he meant it when he had his arms wrapped around my neck,” Wanda replied back sardonically. “what’s going to happen if he does come back? And he doesn’t want to be around me?”
“I signed up for life Wanda. You are mine now. You have this whole weird family; it’s not blood family. It’s better than that we are all family by choice. You have so many weird uncles now who would do anything for you. You already have Cap, Clint and Tony wrapped around your little finger.”
Wanda laughed slightly at that, and Natasha used the opportunity to pull the girl back into her body. Wanda rested her head on her shoulder, and Nat just ran her fingers through Wanda’s hair in a soothing motion.
“You must talk to us Wanda, if you are feeling unsure talk to us. But I can’t have you running off again, I am being serious, you are not to ever leave without getting permission from an adult.”
Wanda pulled her head away from the comforting shoulder and huffed at that comment, “I don’t need permission.”
“That’s where you are wrong, you may not be an actual child. However, you are now my child,” realised Nat.
“I am an adult!” shouted Wanda aggressively.
“What part of running away in the middle of the night was adult? An adult would have spoke to us, not left in the middle of the night!”
Wanda growled slightly in frustration when she couldn’t fault Nat’s logic. “Do you understand it was wrong for you to leave in the middle of the night like that?”
Wanda nodded in annoyance staring at a spot on the floor, “good, then you understand why you need to be punished…”
Wanda’s eyes flicked up from the floor to meet Natasha’s. “What???”
“You are grounded Wanda, that means you are to stay in the house at all times. You are also going to apologise to everyone when they return for making them all worry.”
Wanda nodded again slightly shell shocked.
“I’m grounded…Even after everything I did, everything I destroyed. You aren’t getting rid of me?”
“Wanda you need to get past this….” Stated Natasha running her fingers through the younger girl’s hair again. Natasha glanced down at the sad girl in her arms, and steeled herself, “this is your one free pass Wanda. You ever scare me like that again…’
She left the threat unfinished.
“Natasha...” said Wanda weakly. “I’m sorry for running off...”
Natasha smiled in spite of the situation, and just hugged her tighter.
“Can I ask you a question?” asked Wanda quietly.
“Of course you can Malyhska,” the Russian term of endearment just casually left her mouth. Wanda found it more comforting than the other words that Natasha had been calling her. The eastern European language reminded her of home and her roots.
“Why did you agree to all this? Why do you care about me?”
Natasha pulled the girl away from her, and realised she needed to open up to her. As much as she hated bringing up any of her past. Trust was not a one-way street. Natasha beckoned the girl to the sofa and they both sat down.
“How much do you know about me?”
Wanda scrunched her nose up, as she thought about the question, “You are an avenger, the black widow. Dangerous, powerful and deadly. Your reputation in Sokovia was such that you were akin to the bogeyman. Don’t misbehave or the the Russian Black widow will get you.”
Natasha laughed slightly at that, but quickly changed back to serious, “Have you ever heard of the red room?”
Wanda shook her head, silently beckoning Natasha to continue.
“I was raised in the red room. Trained to be a killer. My experiences there were not pleasant. One day I will talk to you about them, but that day is not today,” she finished sadly. “I was alone, I graduated from the academy, and was sent out into the world to do the bidding of powerful men. I killed a lot of people. You may have heard me talking previously about my ledger. Trying to balance the scale.”
Natasha took another deep breath to steady her nerves, “I built myself quite the reputation, enough for Shield to take an interest. They sent Hawkeye to eliminate me. He should have killed me, instead he saved me. I don’t mean he saved my life, he saved my soul. They made me human again.”
Wanda had to interrupt, “you were always human Nat.”
“I didn’t think I was,” she replied simply.
Wanda took a second to take in all the information, “I appreciated you telling me this, but I don’t understand how this answers my question.”
“I was raised by the KBG; you were raised by Hydra. I want to be your Clint. I see you and I see a little girl. I see part of myself. I want to help you in a way I didn’t get until I was an adult.”
“So I’m a pity project,” stated Wanda quietly in resignation.
“No that’s how it started,” stated Natasha. “Then I got to know you. You are kind, loyal, beautiful inside and out. You aren’t like me. You make me a better person, and I want to see you flourish in this world. I want to protect you, nurture you...Most importantly I love you.”
Wanda gasped at the final words, “You love me?”
“How could I not Wanda?”
Wanda threw herself into Natasha’s arms tucking her head under the older woman’s chin. She couldn’t say the words back even though she knew how difficult it was for Natasha to say them. “Will you love me when I’m awkward and difficult?”
“Especially then,” agreed Natasha with a smirk, happy that Wanda could acknowledge her own teenage mood swings. “Now come on, you have a lot of work to do.” She gently manoeuvred the girl away from her so they were sat apart again.
Wanda looked back at her in confusion, “What work?”
“You have a list of chores to do,” Natasha replied smugly. Wanda’s face fell, “Nat!”
She pulled her to her feet, and swatted her playfully, “Yeah you can start with moping the kitchen.”