Wanda was enjoying her lunch breaks off campus with Vision. Every day they were going somewhere new. She loved sitting in London cafe’s the best, people watching while sipping a cappuccino. It made her feel like an adult, especially sat opposite Vision who was parading around in his human form.
She picked up the large cup and brought it to her lips, she noticed Vision was just staring at her. “What are you looking at?”
“You,” he answered with a smile on his face. Wanda smirked back and then looked at her watch. “Viz, I better get back.”
“5 more minutes,” begged Vision slightly. Wanda smiled back at him, “Ok, just 5 more.”
Wanda snuck back in through the hole in the fence that her friends showed her on her first day. Peter was stood by the fence holding out her backpack for her to grab.
“Cutting it close Wanda,” moaned Peter.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” replied Wanda with a roll of her eyes.
“I don’t like this Wanda. Aunty Nat would have an aneurysm, “ stated Peter simply.
“Well it’s good thing she doesn’t know then,” replied Wanda sharply before she softened her tone, “I’m being careful Peter, I promise. You owe me after last time you told on me.”
Peter shrugged uncomfortably, he hated the fact he felt guilty for telling on her previously.
“Fine, but If you get caught I knew nothing,” stated Peter.
“Sounds fair,” said Wanda in reply.
“You sorted this party yet with Uncle Steve?”
“Don’t worry I got this,” said Wanda. “I’ve been planting the seeds.” She wiggled her fingers suggestively. Peter’s eyebrow’s shot up, “you have been using your powers,” he choked out in whispered shock.
“Not fully,” justified Wanda, “Just a little poke here or there.”
“If they find out Wanda……” Peter let the sentence trail off.
“See that’s the key word there Peter… If…” explained Wanda with an all knowing smirk. Being with Vision was giving her so much self-confidence, potentially too much. The two teenagers eventually heading back towards the building and their afternoon lessons.
……………………………
Wanda sat cross legged on her bed with Natasha facing her. She watched as Natasha carefully painted her fingernails red. Natasha had been serious about spending more quality time with her. Every night they had been doing something different. Wanda was enjoying the company as it felt more equal.
“I have this weird assignment in English,” she stated.
“Yeah,” replied Natasha, not looking up from her task, as she dipped the brush back into the bottle and then wiped the excess away on the side of the bottle.
“Yeah, I have to write an essay on Man’s greatest invention,” explained Wanda.
“So what are you going to write about?” asked Natasha.
Wanda shrugged, “not sure, maybe the wheel. I mean a few people are saying the internet…”
She allowed her statement to trail off, but Natasha didn’t take the bait. Wanda paused for a few seconds. “What do you think is Man’s greatest invention?”
Natasha finally looked up from her task. “I know what I think.”
Wanda looked at her incredulously, “Are you going to tell me?”
Natasha smiled at her, “Man’s greatest invention is language.”
Wanda looked at her curiously, “Language?”
“Yes, our ability to communicate is what sets us apart from the other animals on this planet. Communication is what has led to all other major developments and inventions.”
Wanda looked pensive, “I guess you are right, words are powerful. I saw that before…”
She sat lost in her thoughts for a moment, “You ok sweetheart?”
“Yeah, just thinking.”
“Anything you want to share?” asked Natasha gently.
“Just thinking about back home,” replied Wanda.
“You know you can talk to me about anything..” said Natasha, turning to grab the bottle of nail polish again.
“It just makes me nervous, opening up that big can of worms. I can function, why would I risk that?”
“There is a difference between functioning and living Wanda,” explained Natasha softly.
“What’s the point of dwelling in the past? Talking about it won’t change it,” stated Wanda the bitterness evident in her tone.
“I promise you it helps,” replied Natasha lovingly.
“What if you can’t love me anymore when you find out the truth?” Wanda barely whispered it but Natasha heard every word.
Natasha finished painting the last nail on Wanda’s slightly shaking hand. “I will always love you unconditionally.”
Wanda took a deep breath, ‘I’m not a good person though, I’ve done a lot of terrible things not just at Hydra.”
“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?” asked Natasha watching carefully as Wanda softly blew on her fingernails to dry them.
Wanda continued to look at the back of her hands, “You know sometimes I can still see the blood on my hands.”
Natasha knew better than to interrupt her and let her continue speaking. Wanda never took her eyes off her hands refusing to look up at Natasha’s face.
“I know that’s crazy, but I swear I do. I close my eyes and reopen them and still see the blood. Then I wonder if I’m just imagining it, and whether or not my hands were ever really covered in blood in the first place.”
Natasha grasped Wanda’s hand gently forcing the girl to avert her eyes up so she could see her loving expression.
“The mind is a powerful thing Wanda, sometimes it tries to protect us by shielding own memories from us. It doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”
Wanda looked back at her hands awkwardly, “What if my head is making it all up? But what’s worse? If i’m making it up or it actually happening? How I can talk to you about it when I can’t tell fact from fiction.”
Natasha coughed to clear her throat, “The only way we can find out is if we talk it through.”
“What if I’m a fraud what if I’m lying about something that happened, because my memories seem so cloudy. I can’t risk that,” replied Wanda.
Natasha gripped Wanda’s chin, gently but firmly and tilted her head up to look at her. “All your reactions Wanda indicate something happened, you have tried for too long to deal with it yourself. Let me help you.”
Wanda swallowed but nodded weakly. Natasha smiled back at her, “Ok, why don’t we start with a simple question?”
“Whose blood do you think was on your hands?”
Wanda took a deep breath causing her teeth to whistle slightly as she considered her answer. “I’m not ready to answer that.”
“OK,” replied Natasha. “Why don’t we start more simply, why don’t you describe the house you grew up in to me?”
Wanda looked at her thoughtfully as if trying to understand why she would want to do such a thing. “It was a terraced house in the city, we didn’t have much of a garden, but there was a park nearby that Pietro and I would walk to. We had three bedrooms, I could have had my own room, but I didn’t want to be apart from Pietro.”
“What colour was your bedroom?” asked Natasha.
Wanda smiled, “it was blue, our parents painted clouds at the top and the sun in the corner. It wasn’t very professional, they were no artists.”
Wanda relaxed as she continued to talk Natasha, “We had bunk beds, Pietro let me have the top bunk. He always looked after me. “
Natasha watched her sink into her mind, “We had a routine every weekend, on a Friday night we would have chicken Sach from this local restaurant. On Saturday morning we would go with Papa to pick up grandpa Vasily from the worker’s club. He would always give us sweets and let us play the games,” Wanda smiled warmly as she hesitated on the memory.
Wanda turned to Natasha suddenly feeling embarrassed, “Sorry…. I mean Sorry… you don’t care about that stupid stuff.”
“Of course I do Wanda, I always want to hear about your life.”
Wanda crawled over to where Natasha was sat and snuggled into her body. “Is it ok if we talk about something else now?”
Natasha nodded, “Of course sweetheart.”
Wanda relaxed into her hold, feeling safe and secure.
……………………………………………………………
Peter turned to Steve who was sat on the sofa next to him. “Stop camping!”
Steve laughed at him, “It’s not camping, it’s called sniping.”
Peter huffed loudly but turn his attention back to the screen in annoyance. “How are you good at this? They didn’t even have TV’s when you were a kid.”
“I’m not that old,” exclaimed Steve, as he stared down the scope waiting for the flicker of an enemy soldier.
“How are you feeling though Pete?”
Peter shrugged his shoulders without taking his eyes of the screen, “I’m ok.”
“You know you can be honest with me? I know this whole situation is a bit crazy.”
Peter nodded, “Yeah I know, I mean I miss Mr Stark, and Aunt May, but you guys have been great, and I’m grateful for you taking me in.”
“I didn’t ask the question to get you to say thanks Pete. I’m asking because I want to make sure you are genuinely okay,” explained Steve.
“Well I’m ok,” replied Peter. “Can I ask you a question though Uncle Steve?”
“Yeah of course,” said Steve, pausing the game, and turning to face the teenager.
“What happened between you and Mr Stark in Siberia?”
Wanda and Natasha took that moment to enter the living room. Wanda threw herself onto the sofa between the two males. “Who is winning then?”
Natasha walked over and kissed Steve softly. “I’m sure it’s Steve.”
Wanda sat back up again when she noticed neither of them were really talking, “Did we interrupt something?”
Steve looked at Peter with pleading eyes. “Um No,” replied Peter, “Just busy getting my ass kicked by this dinosaur.”
Steve smiled in relief despite being called a dinosaur. Natasha looked curiously between the two of them, “So who is hungry? Peter do you want to come with me to pick up the Pizza?”
Peter nodded, “Yeah I could do with some air.”
Natasha grabbed her purse off the coffee table in front of the sofa, “Let’s go then kiddo.”
Peter passed his controller over to Wanda, “Here you have a go.”
Wanda took the controller awkwardly, “You know i’m no good at this.”
Steve turned to Wanda, “It’s ok we can play something else.”
They waved as the two others left the room.
“So…” said Wanda.
‘So..?” parroted back Steve comically.
“So there is a party this weekend..” stated Wanda cutely.
“Is there?” questioned Steve in an over exaggerated excited tone.
“So we can go?” asked Wanda.
“Are you inviting me to a party Wanda?” joked Steve.
“No you know I mean Peter and I,” stated Wanda firmly. “Please it will help with our cover.”
Steve looked at the teenager who was giving him full puppy dog eyes. “I don’t think this is a good idea… Have you asked Nat?’
“Please Daddy…”
Wanda wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder. Steve sighed, “Ok…”
“You mean it??” replied an excited Wanda.
“You have to be home by 11, and you check in every hour and no alcohol,” explained Steve trying to make himself feel better aware that Natasha was going to kill him.
“Deal,” said Wanda, she kissed his cheek. “You are the best.”
…………………….
“Why would she not ask me?” questioned Natasha. She was laying in bed next to Steve. “I thought we had a breakthrough today…”
“She probably thought you would say no,” replied Steve.
“I would have said no, you should have said no,” stated Natasha.
“Romanoff,” chided Steve, “you have to release the child reign’s one day. She is 16 not 6… It’s just a party. Peter will be with her. You wanted her to have a normal life, but part of that is letting her be a teenager.”
Natasha wrinkled her nose at him, “Don’t use my own words against me, that’s my job as the woman in this relationship.”
Steve laughed and pulled the spy into his arms.