Andrea's p.o.v
I finished another training session with Steve, and I was really improving. I stumbled often but the suit really helped, it was really high tech in allowing me to use my senses to fight. If I ever did get my sight back, and I decided to go back to being a hero, I'd probably ask Stark to leave this as a part of the suit in case anything were to happen.
After changing, I planned to take a stroll outside along the grass, if I needed anything I'd probably call Wanda. But, before I could go, I was stopped by a voice calling after me. "Andy! It's me, Natasha," she introduced making me laugh. I was pretty good at guessing their voices by listening, especially as I would hear their voices when we were on comms during missions.
"Hey Nat. Everything okay?" I quizzed, stopping as she caught up to me. "Are you free?" She asked curiously. "Well I was about to go for a walk but..." I trailed off, waiting for what she was going to tell me.
"I wanted to take you on our date. There's a really cool hill around here. I figured we could listen to music, watch the sunset, or well I'll watch it and describe it to you, and eat some food," she suggested, her enthusiasm got lower as she became more insecure. It was almost as if she was expecting me to reject her.
I took a moment to think about it before nodding my head. "Yeah, sounds fun," I grinned. "Okay so I already prepared food, I got us a blanket to sit on because the grass is itchy, let's go," she told me, her excitement coming back rapidly.
"What would have happened if I had said no," I joked. "I would have had to go watch the sunset on my own," she replied. "We can't have that can we?" I teased. "It would be very boring," she remarked, and then let me know she was going to grab my arm. When she did I folded up my cane and put it in my back pocket so we could walk together.
"I'm thinking about getting a guide dog," I informed the woman so we wouldn't have to walk in silence. "Really?" She quizzed. "Yeah, I mean I figured I wouldn't be going on missions anytime soon, and when you guys go on missions I'll get lonely," I confessed. As I waited for her response I noted the change in terrain, and quickly lifted my feet higher so I wouldn't get caught up in the slightly long grass.
"How are you dealing? y'know with being..." Nat trailed off and I grinned as she struggled to say the word. "Blind? You can say the word Nat," I chuckled. "Yeah," she mumbled. "I'm doing good. I'll admit that at first I struggled. It was a big hit. But Steve helped me a lot, I spoke to Tony a few times who gave me some helpful advice and having Wanda there as a sister was really uplifting. I don't know, just knowing I'm not alone in life is really good," I explained.
"You'd never be alone in life," Natasha practically whispered. "I know, I got you guys," I smiled. It didn't take us long to arrive at the place Natasha was talking about. It was a slight incline though, but I navigated it. When we got to the top, Nat quickly began rolling out the blanket and placing the food down.
I sat down and I heard as she began playing music. Not too loud so we could still hear each other, just soft. "This is nice," I confirmed, feeling the sunlight on my face.
We sat, we talked and we ate. Nat did end up describing the sunset to me. It was such a beautiful description that I could picture it in my head. When it was beginning to become nighttime I sighed.
"Everything okay?" Nat asked, whilst chomping on some chips. "I know we already talked about it, but I wanted to ask. How do I know you're not using me again?" I quizzed, furrowing my eyebrows as I spoke, the thought hurting my heart.
"I um. I guess you don't know. I think we've got a lot to work through, hopefully together. I'm hoping that we can overcome my mistakes and I really hope you can trust me again," she let out. "Do you trust me?" I questioned, hinting at the time that she didn't trust me that day in Sokovia when we were on top of that building.
"With my life," she deadpanned without hesitation. "But at Sokovia-" I trailed. Her response made me smile, but I had to be sure. "I wanted to say yes, I really did. But to me trusting your life with someone else was wrong. We were supposed to trust ourselves and only ourselves. But trust me, Rea, I wanted to say yes," she assured.
I nodded in acceptance to the answer. We talked some more, lightening the mood. We giggled when someone was funny and actually had in-depth conversations. We touched on her life in the Redroom and mine with Hydra. I really was beginning to feel she was opening up to me.
6 months later:
Six months. Six short months. I had pretty much mastered fighting whilst I couldn't see. I would often train with Steve and we would get into full fights. We eventually introduced weapons and that just made it easier. I trained with Sam as well at times. Wanda and I would jokingly fight but only without her powers.
Natasha and I had gotten really close. We had dates pretty much every week, except for the week she went on a small mission. However, there hasn't been much need for the Avengers so she spent most of her time training Wanda, Sam and Vision in the art of hand-to-hand combat and carrying a persona in public.
I often listened in on their training, wondering how my sister and my love interest interacted. They got on well, Natasha wasn't closed off with her and that made me feel better.
Endless flirting often followed with me and Natasha. We'd eat dinner together and be flirting, hanging around with the team and flirting. I'm pretty sure the others were getting sick of it, I think they just wanted us to be exclusive once more. But, neither of us were brave enough to make the move, neither of us wanted to risk hurting the other, although I'm pretty sure we already were at a point where we could destroy each other once more, and that terrified me.
We had kissed often, but only privately. It would often lead to some very heated make out sessions, however I would usually stop them from going further. I was scared that I wouldn't know what I was doing because I couldn't see what I was doing. I knew Natasha would be very accepting about it, but I just wasn't ready. Another reason was I didn't want us to repeat previous events. Last time we pretty much jumped in, dated and having a lot of sex. I wanted it to mean something, I wanted our first time back together to be special.
I was interrupted from my overthinking session from Tony announcing himself into the kitchen, where I was sitting. "Hey Tony, what're you doing here?" I asked. The man rarely came by the compound, opting to spend time with Pepper which was entirely cute.
"I was wondering if you would come with me to speak to Dr.Cho," he mumbled. He wasn't his usual peppy self and that scared me. This was obviously about my sight and now I was truly worried. "Can I have the team there?" I quizzed.
"They're already there kiddo," he informed me. I took a moment before nodding and stepping off of the chair and opening up my cane. We made our way there and was shocked to find myself in the conference room.
"Andy, come sit with me," Natasha spoke softly. I nodded and walked around the circular table until Natasha guided me to the chair. I sat down and noted that Wanda was to my left, and Steve was next to her. Vision and Sam were also sitting somewhere but they didn't speak so I couldn't quite grasp where.
"Care to elaborate what's going on?" I asked nervously. "Dr.Cho and I have been working endlessly to find something to return your sight. We think we found something, it's quite painful, but we think it could reverse the effects of the toxin Ryker gave you," Tony spoke.
I took a sharp intake of breath at his words. I felt Natasha's hand in my own. "It's okay, you can take time to think about it," Natasha spoke softly. "No, I want to do it," I nodded. I didn't know how much I wanted my sight back until the prospect of getting it back.
"We must warn you Andrea. It's not a guarantee. We aren't certain it will bring your sight back. But, there is a high chance," Dr.Cho informed me. I took the information in once more and then nodded my head confirming I was sure.
"Great, we can get started right away," Tony told me, I could tell he was excited about what he was doing. Sam, Vision and Steve wished me luck, but Wanda and Natasha were sure they were gonna stay with me.
We made our way to the lab where Tony directed me to a chair. I sat down and took a nervous breath. "Nat?" I spoke, desperate to know where she is. "I'm here," the woman spoke next to me. "I wanted to ask this, with or without it working. Will you be my girlfriend again?" I asked. I knew my nerves were high, but I had to ask her.
"I'd love to," she replied, I could tell she was grinning as she spoke. I felt as her lips arrived on mine and I couldn't help the smile on my own face. "Okay love birds, split up. I've gotta put bandages over your eyes Andy. The light could be too sensitive and reverse any effects," Tony informed me. I nodded and leaned forward as he wrapped my eyes like a blindfold.
"Wanda?" I asked fearfully. "I'm here," she assured me, placing her hand in mine and I squeezed it tightly. "Alright Andrea. I'm gonna put the injection in your neck. It won't hurt initially but eventually it will. We'll try to help you out as much as possible but you just have to get through it, try to picture happy things," Dr.Cho told me.
"What color is it?" I asked, before she could do anything. "Blue," she deadpanned. I nodded and waited for the pain in my neck. When it came, I tightened my hold on both Natasha's and Wanda's hands. At first it didn't hurt, but then it hurt like a bitch. I shouted and squirmed in pain until eventually it became too much and I passed out.
When I woke up though, I felt that I still had the bandages on my face. I groaned and lifted my head feeling the throbbing. "Great you're awake," Dr.Cho enthused. "How long was I out?" I grumbled. "Only about an hour," Natasha informed me. I felt a hand in each which meant Wanda was still here.
"Okay, Andy. We've controlled the lighting in here so it won't be too sensitive to the eyes. We can now take off the bandages, are you ready?" Tony asked. I nodded and waited as I felt the bandages unravel from my eyes.
At first I didn't see anything and I almost lost hope. But then I began to see colors, blurry but colors. My eyes shot to the side Wanda was, and when I could see her smiling down at me I gasped and pulled her into a hug, feeling tears spring in my eyes.
I turned slightly and looked at Natasha. My hand shot up to her face as I felt it and I pulled her into a loving kiss knowing that I could see her once more. I could see her beautiful red hair, her ethereal green eyes, her plump lips.
"I can see."
A/n: hey guys! So this is the last chapter of phase 2. Phase 3 will be civil war, and I'll try to write it as quickly as I can, however school/ college is starting up again soon and I need to focus on my studies so bear with me. But I promise phase 3 will come. Thank you guys so much for reading and I hope you guys enjoyed phase 2! 😄