They heroes, though grateful that Thanos had been defeated and that the universe was spared from his bloodlust, wished that their entire team and survived the fray. Once Claire had recovered, she and Wanda stood up and walked to where Vision was before Wanda destroyed the stone.
Wanda knelt down in the grass and lowered her head, a small whimpering cry escaped her lips. Claire lowered herself down beside her and pulled her into her arms, letting her cry into her jacket. Claire ran her fingers through Wanda's hair, gently untangling the forming knots and removing leaves and small sticks.
"I know, baby," Claire whispered to her as she planted a small kiss on her forehead. Wanda tightened her arms around Claire's waist and buried her face further into her black leather jacket. "It's okay. It'll be okay."
When Wanda had calmed down and pulled away out of Claire's embrace, Claire took off her jacket—which was too big on her since it was Bucky's that she stole—and draped it over Wanda's trembling body, offering her a small smile. Wanda returned it, and pulled the jacket over her more, letting it envelope her, and inhaled deeply, catching Claire's scent that lingered in the fabric.
"So...what do we do now?" Claire asked, turning away from Wanda and towards Steve. Wand kept her eyes down, not looking away from where she last saw Vision. She felt guilty; she shouldn't be missing him this much. She had no right to mourn him, having not seen him or been in contact with him since Germany, and even before then, she wasn't that great of a friend to him. She shut him out during her grieving and when she moved in with Jemma, she ignored him. When he tried to help her, she pushed him away and them almost immediately took control of his mind and shoved him through several floors worth of concrete. And despite this, he still held some kind of love for her—though she wasn't sure if it was strictly platonic or bridging on romantic—and he had forgiven her for everything she had ever done to him.
Even now, that she was the cause of his untimely death, Wanda felt the warmth of his forgiveness wash over her and it made her sick to her stomach. She didn't deserve his forgiveness; she deserved his hatred and condemnation. She deserved to be caged or imprisoned like the monster she—and everyone else—knew she was. She didn't deserve to mourn.
Sensing her distress, Claire placed her hand on Wanda's shoulder and her voice came through her mind, crossing over through the mental connection that she forgot they had.
"You're not a monster."
"Now...we try to live," Steve said as his heart eased and the adrenaline disappeared, leaving him tired.
The Avengers walked out of the forest and back towards the main battle ground where the Wakandans stood, shouting and cheering in victory, walking past the dead bodies of Outriders and broken Threshers. Claire walked Wanda back towards the palace, her hand on her back and her jacket still wrapped around Wanda. She had stopped crying and allowed herself to calm down and she was exhausted, physically and emotionally.
Claire directed her inside and into an empty suit and over to sit on the bed. Claire knelt down and undid the laces on Wanda's boots and took them off, placing them at the foot of the bed. She then stood up, sat next to Wanda, pulled off her jacket, and took off her own long red leather jacket, resting it on the end of the bed. Moving upwards, Claire's fingers gently brushed against Wanda's neck as she undid the clasp on her necklaces, and Wanda shivered and blinked for the first time in a few minutes.
She took the necklaces off and placed them on the little table beside the bed, Wanda's eyes following her, though she said nothing. She turned back to her and grasped her shoulders and pushed her down on the bed, resting her head against the pillows, and moved down and lifted her feet onto the bed, helping her lie down. She then grabbed a small blanket and covered the lower half of her body with it and then grabbed her black jacket and draped it over the front half of Wanda's body.
Claire sat on the edge of the bed and moved her hand to move the hair out of Wanda's face, coming face-to-face with the scar above her left eyebrow. Her eyes moved downward and stared into Wanda's green eyes that were filled with exhaustion and gave her a small smile. They could finally relax and take a much needed breath. Wanda's eyes fluttered and Claire chuckled she caressed her cheek. Wanda closed her eyes, relaxing into the touch. Claire leaned down and kissed her forehead and Wanda opened her eyes, looking into Claire's as she pulled away.
"Get some sleep, love," she whispered as she ran her fingers through Wanda's hair. "I'm gonna find Jemma and work out the plan with Steve. I'll send Jemma back here, but get some sleep, I know you're exhausted; you didn't sleep much the last few days. I'll be back soon." Claire stood up from the bed, but Wanda's arm shot up and grabbed her. Claire turned back around and knelt down on the floor, becoming eye level with Wanda. She gently pecked her nose as Wanda rolled over and sat up a little, looking at her. Her hand came up and latched onto Claire's hair in an effort to keep her anchored.
"Stay," Wanda demanded in a quiet voice, exhaustion hitting her.
"I can't Little Red. One of us has to hear the plan, and you're not going because you look like you can barely stay awake until I finish my sentence," Claire laughed. Wanda smiled and rolled her tired eyes. "Besides, you need rest. I know you wore yourself out, so get some sleep, and I'll be back before you wake up." Claire removed Wanda's hand from her head and tucked it in, close to Wanda's chest and stood up.
"You promise?"
"I promise, Little Red." Wanda gave her a disbelieving look and Claire chuckled as she bent down to kiss her. "Have I ever lied to you?"
"No..."
"And I don't intend to. I keep my promises; especially ones made to you." Claire left the room and wandered the halls looking for Jemma. She needed to find her to let her know that the two of them were okay and to also make sure that Jemma wasn't harmed during the assault.
Walking up a few floors above where Wanda was resting, Claire into a conference room filled with the Wakandans and Avengers. Jemma stood near the back of the room across from the door looking intently as Steve spoke out to the room. He stopped when Claire entered, giving her a soft smile, and Jemma's head snapped over to her. She let out a little gasp as she ran over to the redhead with Claire meeting her half-way, and threw her arms around her tightly, her left hand cradling her head. Claire smiled a little bit as Jemma's soft cries reached her ears. Jemma pulled away from the hug and lifted her hands up to hold Claire's face and her face was contorted in shock, as if she couldn't believe she was really there or that she was looking at a ghost.
Jemma's shocked face quickly turned into an angry frown and she removed her hands and smacked at Claire's arm and upper body.
"What the fuck were you thinking, scaring me like that? God damn, you Claire! What the fuck is wrong with you, pulling a stunt like that? Jesus Christ, I should kill you. I should—" Jemma groaned and embraced a horror stricken Claire again, holding her tightly. She turned her wide purple eyes to the rest of the people in the room, who snickered and smiled. A scowl formed on her face and she glared at them.
Alright. Which one of you fuckers told?"
Bucky and Sam exploded in laughter as her eyes landed on them. Bucky slapped his knee as he doubled over, howling and Sam clutched his stomach and wiped a tear from his eye.
"It was definitely Bicky," Sam said he tried to stop laughing, only to start back up again. Bucky immediately stopped and looked at him, his brows furrowed.
"It was not. It was you," he retorted. Sam looked at him and glared.
"Boys," Claire said as Jemma let her go. "I don't care who it was, the point is that, you broke a promise."
"Actually," Natasha spoke up, raising her hand. "None of us ever actually promised not to tell Jemma." Bucky shrugged while Sam pointed over at Natasha. Jemma turned towards her and frowned, looking a tad angrier.
"You weren't going to tell me you were hurt and that you died?"
"I didn't die! And I wasn't that hurt."
"Claire, you were out cold," Bucky said, his voice low and sad. "You weren't moving, we thought...you died."
Claire noticed another tear fall down Jemma's face. She stepped forward and gently wrapped her arms around the older woman who had become so much like a mother figure to her. Jemma pressed her face against Claire's chest, her ear right above her heart, listening to soft thumping of her heart, letting the steady beating convince her that Claire was really there.
"It's okay, Jemma. I'm here."
"I know. I'm glad you're okay." Jemma pulled out of the hug and kissed her hand before lifting it to pinch Claire's cheek, a smile on her face. "Where's Wanda?"
"She's sleeping in a room a few floors below us. She wore herself out and needed to rest."
"Is she alright?" Claire's face turned serious as she glanced away from Jemma before looking back.
"She will be."
○○○
Claire at the meeting for a while, listening to Steve and T'Challa go back and forth on a plan of action to get rid of all the alien corpses and broken technology. Just like Wanda, Claire's eyes fluttered every few minutes and she would nod off, jolting her head back up as she woke herself. Natasha looked over at her, and moved from her seat, taking the one next to her. Steve didn't notice the shuffle and kept on talking. Natasha studied Claire for a brief moment before she shook her shoulder gently, when Claire nodded off and didn't wake up. Claire jolted awake and stared at Natasha with wide eyes.
"You should go rest."
"I'm fine, Nat." Her eyes once again fluttered as she tried hard to stay awake, albeit failing.
"I'm serious, Claire, you worked yourself hard today. You deserve to rest. You don't need to worry about all this." Claire ignored her and sat up in her seat, hoping that the movement and change in position would help wake her up.
Natasha sighed, looked at Steve and cleared her throat, stopping him in mid-sentence. Steve paused and looked over at her and then over at Claire when Natasha pointed at her. Claire's plan didn't work and her eyes were closed. Steve sighed and walked around the table to sit at Claire's other side. He too shook her shoulder, sending her body flying back into the chair as she jolted awake, a loud snort slipping out of her mouth. Claire looked around confused between Steve and Natasha, both of them giving her small guilty smiles.
"Claire, go get some rest. You did enough today," Steve said as he pulled her up from the chair. Unlike with Natasha, Claire didn't argue, and stood up and walked towards the door to the conference room. Jemma ran over to her and grabbed her hand with her right hand and placed her left hand on Claire's back, helping to keep her steady as she walked with her eyes narrowed so much they looked like they were closed.
"Come on, Claire. Let's get you to bed," Jemma muttered as she followed Claire's half-asleep directions to the lower floors where Wanda was sleeping.
Arriving at the room, Jemma opened the door and walked Claire over to the empty side on the bed, next to Wanda. She accidentally let her grip on Claire slip as she was lowering her down, and Claire flopped onto the bed, face first. She picked her head up and groggily glared at Jemma, whose eyes were wide and was covering her mouth with her hands.
"Jemma," Claire whined as she laid down, getting comfy.
"I'm so sorry," Jemma whispered, not wanting to wake Wanda who was fast asleep, snoring lightly. "You slipped." Jemma made fast work taking off Claire's shoes and pulling the blanket over her. It didn't take long for Claire to completely fall asleep, and Jemma smiled as Claire reached out to Wanda and turned over to her side, facing Wanda, and scoot closer to her, hugging her from behind. A smile formed on Wanda's face and Jemma, feeling like she was intruding, left the room.
"I told you I'd keep my promise," Claire mumbledinto Wanda's ear as her smile grew.