Nat leaned on the side of the wall as she saw Megan fold Laura's laundry, she insisted on helping if her team was going to stay at Clint's house. Natasha had been battling with herself, should she tell Megan or should she not? It was an inner turmoil that she had been facing since she had seen that vision. Natasha had promised Megan that she would go easy on the Maximoff kids, but all she wanted to do was strangle the life out of the girl who put her in this struggle.
"Nat, can I talk to you?" Natasha looked back to see Laura leaning against the doorframe as she crossed her arms over her pregnant belly. "Uh..." Natasha looked back at Megan who was calmly folding the laundry. "Yeah." The two walked away from Megan's room and into the hallway that was eerily quiet as the men were out doing yard work at Megan's orders. "When did you start having feelings?" Natasha looked at Laura and laughed, "Oh you think, me and Meg? Ha." "Nat, I've known you for a long time. Don't bullshit me. When'd you start having feelings?"
Natasha looked back and closed the door, softly speaking, "Arguably since I first met her. But, I only realized them a couple of weeks ago when I found myself falling more for Steve." Natasha sighed, "I know, I'm a horrible person. I'm in love with two people and nonetheless two people that are together." Laura looked down one side of the hallway, lost in thought, "You're not horrible. Shit like this happens sometimes, it's not your fault." Natasha nodded and shakily raised her hands to her face as she took deep breaths.
"But you can't tell her right now. I mean you guys are in the midst of a serious battle with twins that have messed with your minds. This will only ruin the friendship you two have now. Maybe wait for this to blow over and then talk to her?" Natasha nodded at Laura, sliding down to the floor, "Life just couldn't be easy for me, huh?" Laura smiled at her, "You're an Avenger honey, you know life's never happy for heroes."
***
The cool wind flowed through Steve's hair as he sat down with Tony, the two drinking their spiked lemonades with silence. "I feel like Meg and I might be going off the deep end." Steve broke the silence, raising the cool, condensed glass to his lips as he took a sip, letting the icy liquid burn down his throat.
"It was only a matter of time before one of us lost it." Tony agreed, raising his glass to the sky, swirling it around to see the liquid sloshing around. The two men watched in silence as Lila and Cooper ran around, the kids were at such ease. Steve envied their ignorance, they knew nothing, they didn't know the problems that were slowly crushing Steve's mind right now. He remembered back to seeing Megan's pained face as she cried in the rain, they could never have children.
The kids ran around with such joy and happiness that it reminded him of that one time Katheryn, Buck, Peg and him had snuck out of the barracks and ran to the forest outside, playing tag in the rain as they enjoyed their last few hours together before Steve and Buck had to intercept the Hydra train. He remembered Katheryn's white summer dress clinging to her body as Steve caught her, spinning her around and pressing her body against his. He remembered how her legs wrapped around Steve's waist as he brushed his lips slightly against hers before Peggy ran and toppled Steve, letting Katheryn run free again.
He remembered her squeals of joy, the both of theirs as the two women ran from the men, laughing and giggling. Steve remembered looking to the side where he saw Bucky grasp Peggy's wrist and bring her close for a kiss on her cheek as she blushed and playfully pushed him away. The four of them had thought of themselves as so old, little did they know that they were as young and ignorant at the time as the kids running in front of Steve now were.
Suddenly the girl, Lila stopped. Her brother ran up to her and placed his hands on her shoulders in concern as he looked over her. "Lila?" He asked, his voice wavering. The little girl didn't budge from her place and her lower lip trembled as she pointed to the forestry surrounding Clint's home. "Lila?" Steve yelled as he ran over to her, "Uncle Steve, she's coming." Lila said terrified as she ran inside.
Within a minute, Megan was outside with Natasha, "Cooper, go in to your mother. Stay in with her." The boy looked at Megan and hesitated, "Auntie Meg-" "GO." The boy nodded and ran in after his sister. Megan looked at Steve and he could see her confidence breaking, "Are you ready for another round?" Megan asked the team. "Let's hope it doesn't come to those awful dreams again." Natasha said as her eyes peered into the forestry.
The two saw as Pietro emerged, holding an unconscious Wanda. With no concern of her own safety, Megan rushed forwards, grabbing Wanda from Pietro's arms and looking over her in concern. "Oh Shit, what happened?" "She tried to erase the visions from you and your team's memories. Clearly it took too much out of her." The team stood nearby, watching and listening, but their hearts did soften when they heard what Wanda had tried to do.
Megan laid Wanda down on the cool grass as she closed her eyes in concentration and put her hands on Wanda's forehead. "What is she doing?" Pietro asked, "She's trying to kill your sister." Pietro looked up at Natasha terrified who let out a small, guilty laugh. "I'm kidding, she's fixing her." The team watched as Megan started to glow along with Wanda as she concentrated on her, just her.
Immediately the memories of the visions hit the team hard, some of them falling to the ground in pain, clutching their chests as they went through that horrible experience again. However, they watched through tearful eyes as Wanda gasped and woke up screaming, Megan wrapped her arms around her as she shushed her, rubbing her back. "The visions... oh god... all of them... they were too much." Wanda stumbled over her words as an onset of tears rushed down her face.
"I know sweetheart." Megan said calmly, the team couldn't see how she could be so understanding and sympathetic towards Wanda. Word of mouth travelled fast within the team and they knew that Megan's vision had something to do with children, something horrifying that scared her from having children. Yet, here she was, consoling the woman that showed her those visions.
"I'm so sorry, I... I can't do anything to make this better, but I'm sorry, please." Wanda begged in between tears as Megan held her, murmuring acceptances of her endless plea of apologies. "Maybe you should lie inside for a while." Megan looked up at Pietro who was watching everything unfold in guilt and fascination, "Did Ultron follow you?" Pietro shook his head, "He has no idea we're here." "Well goddamn, how'd you find this place?" Clint asked in a panic and Wanda coughed, "I... I followed Megan's emotions here, they're very strong."
"Great." Megan muttered, she picked up Wanda bridal-style and looked at Laura who stood at the door for permission to enter and Laura nodded, opening the door to allow Megan inside. Megan laid Wanda down on the couch as she kept crying, "Is she okay?" Laura asked in worry. "She'll be okay." Megan leaned into Laura whispering, "The whole team just went through a vivid replay of their most horrible emotions, so everyone's going to be pretty shaken up." Laura simply nodded, "Yeah, ok. What about you?" Megan shrugged, "I have to be strong for my team."
Laura watched as Megan grabbed a fresh tea towel, wetting it in cool water and laying it across Wanda's forehead. Laura watched as the rest of the team came inside, some of them crashing onto the floor of the living room, others crawling up the stairs to their rooms. Most of them were close to tears, yet Megan remained the strong rock for all of them when inside her emotions were overpowering her, slowly killing her. Wanda felt it, which was why her tears couldn't be contained and controlled because the pain she felt from Megan was simply too much to take.
***
Natasha fluffed the bed's pillows as Pietro tried to give her as much space as possible, "I don't bite, you know." Pietro smirked and Natasha looked up, "Well... not on the first day anyways." "Ah, so you're like me." Pietro said simply and Nat shrugged, "How do you figure?" "I mean... you're a flirt, like me." Natasha smiled, "I suppose I am." Natasha smiled at having something in common with Pietro and connecting to him in that way. This was important, now that they agreed to help end Ultron.
She had kicked Bruce out of her room after their fight, so while Bruce crashed on the living room couch, Natasha invited Pietro to share her room as an attempt to connect with the kid. However, Nat did feel bad for Steve, Megan had invited Wanda to sleep with them so that she could keep a close eye on her to make sure she stays fine throughout the night as well. Why did she feel bad for Steve? When Megan suggested that, Steve's eyes bulged out of his head as he blushed and nodded.
"Your sister... She tried to do a good thing. You two are good kids, glad you chose the right side." Pietro nodded seriously, "I thought we were on the good side, I guess... I guess we are kids." He scoffed and shook his head, "We don't know how to judge people or robots for this matter." Natasha walked over to him and put a consoling hand on his shoulder, "It's not your fault, we've all had those moments. I probably shouldn't tell you this but..."
She took a deep breath as she guided Pietro over to the bed, the two sitting down on the soft material, "I was a master assassin before Clint saved me and brought me to this family." Pietro nodded, "I assumed as much. No one that hot can be a 'good girl' her whole life." Natasha laughed, "Yeah, well here's another one. Meg was a vilaness before she switched over to our team." Pietro's eyes widened at that, "I knew she was a badass, but a vilaness? Why'd she switch?"
Nat took a deep breath, trying to stop her hands from trembling as she remembered that day, feeling the blood splatter on her face. That day she cried in the bathroom, scrubbing the blood off her skin until her skin was scrubbed raw, bleeding in several places. "Uhm..." Pietro put his hands over Natasha's, "It's okay." He murmured and Natasha nodded, "Her evil partner killed her brother and mom by crashing a train on them. Their bodies... they were splattered everywhere."
Pietro trembled slightly as well as he remembered his sister telling him this, at the time Wanda was unable to form coherent sentences and now he knew why. "Wow, she's been through a lot." He whispered and Natasha nodded, "Uh... yeah, she really has." After comfortable moments of silence, Nat spoke up, "I don't know how she does it." "How she does what?" "How she stays strong for all of us when she's the one thats been through the most pain. She's... she's an amazing person." Pietro nodded, "After what I've seen today, there's no doubt about that."