Locksmith

“Look, I know it doesn’t sound cool, but I promise that it is. It’s about all of the prehistoric plants they have and how they created them for the dinosaurs to eat.” I tried gently.
“Mom, nothing about that sounds cool. Or fun.” Tommy said with a groan.
“Humor me? I hear the teacher is cool.” I said with a sigh.
“It’s not like we have a choice,” Billy said, rolling his eyes.
“I promise, it’s supposed to be really fun,” I said once more.
“Yeah, you said that,” Billy said with an unconvinced nod.

We made our way into a plain-looking room, and my anxiety shot through the ceiling. The room was remotely empty, which really didn’t help my case with the boys for this class not being lame. I really had no way of knowing if it was or wasn’t cool, but given who was teaching the class, it felt like a safe call to make. I watched the time on my phone get closer and closer to the start time for the class, and my heart began to race with each passing minute. The boys were clearly annoyed and trying to will time to move quickly. As if reading my mind, a door opened, and more people came pouring into the room. Relief washed over me when the boys started to get more interested, seeing that it wasn’t just something dumb that I’d forced them to come to. People were still finding their seats when the clock hit the time that the class was supposed to start, and I did my best not to look around the room.

“Can anyone tell me the types of trees that a Triceratops would eat?” A painfully familiar voice asked.

The room became quieter somehow. As I scanned the crowd, everyone seemed to be looking for someone with the answer. But my heart was racing for a different reason. I watched as the person behind the voice finally appeared. My breath got stuck in my throat as she rounded the room to make her way to the front. She hadn’t aged a day, which felt insane to think. The last time I’d seen her was well over a decade ago, and yet she looked flawless. I strained myself trying to look at her hand for a ring, any hint as to if I’d wasted my time coming to see her. I didn’t book the trip, but the only reason I’d been talking about the park was because I’d learned that she started working at it by accident. I wanted to go without the boys, but Pepper wasn’t wrong in thinking that they would also enjoy it. The same voice cut through the panicked silence once more to offer everyone a sense of relief.

“No one? Wow! I’ll just help you out then! The diet of a Triceratops would have included populus, pinus, corylus, taxodium, and plantanus. If you feel bad for not knowing the answer to my question… Good. Mildred would be very sad to know that you didn’t know her favorite snacks. If you think her name is mean, you would understand if you met her. Instead, and sadly for you, you get to meet me. I am Agent Romanoff, Natasha, if you prefer a less formal approach. I am the park’s covert operation specialist, which is a cool way to say dinosaur wrangler. I bet you’re probably wondering why a covert operation specialist knows so much about a bunch of old trees. As fate would have it, I am the head of the paleobotany department at the park as well. It’s madness! But I will be teaching you guys a little bit about the prehistoric plant life we have here.” She explained with a welcoming smile.
“You were a soldier?” Tommy asked out loud in disbelief.
“Is that so hard to believe?” She asked with curiosity, her eyes scanning the room to find who was talking.
“How did you end up here?” He asked with a frown.
“Well, thankfully, the military will pay for your schooling, so I went to school to study prehistoric plant life and dinosaurs alike.” She explained as her eyes landed on me, and my heart dipped.
“That’s so cool!” He said with a bright smile.
“I’m… I’m sure it wasn’t all fun, though.” I said nervously, swallowing thickly.
“Right. You probably wouldn’t enjoy it.” She said with a pained smile.
“Why?” He asked with a frown.
“You have to wake up really early.” She said, her eyes studying me.
“Why? It’s not like the war is going anywhere. I mean, you can’t fight a war if one side doesn’t show up.” He grumbled, making the adults in the room laugh.
“No, that’s how you win a war. The other side doesn’t show up.” She said with a laugh.

Her eyes were burning into mine, and the look made my stomach twist violently. I couldn’t look away, though I was desperate to. She quickly gathered herself and continued her introduction to the room and what we would be doing in it for the day. I didn’t miss the way her eyes kept finding me regardless of where she was in the room as she spoke. It was clear that no one else realized what was going on between us, but I couldn’t help but feel like the room was suffocating me slowly. I was desperate to know if she felt the same way, but I refused to ask her or show her how much seeing her was getting to me. Maybe it was stupid, but the idea of giving her even the illusion of an upper hand wasn’t something I wanted to participate in. She let us start to use the simulators in the room to try and design an accurate enclosure for whatever dinosaur we selected. The simulator itself was cooler than anything else I’d ever seen, and when you made a wrong selection, it told you why it was wrong and gave you hints to help you figure out what the correct choice was. After fifteen minutes of designing enclosures, the moment I was dreading and highly anticipating happened.

“Is everyone enjoying the simulator?” A voice asked, sending a chill down my spine.
“Yeah! It’s so cool!” Billy said with a smile.
“What about you? Are you having fun too? She asked, looking at Tommy.
“It must be so cool to work here,” Tommy said brightly.
“It is pretty cool. But it is my dream job, so maybe I’m biased. And the two of you are here with your… Mom?” She asked as her gaze finally landed on me.
“Yeah, her name is Wanda. But we’re not allowed to call her that.” Billy said with a shrug.
“I’m afraid I have to agree with her on that one. But the two of you won’t mind if I steal your mom quickly, do you?” She asked with a smile.
“Why?” Tommy asked, narrowing his eyes.
“To talk to her. Is that okay with you?” She asked, a curious smile on her face.
“You’re a stranger.” Billy challenged her.
“I’m not a stranger.” She said with a shrug.
“So you know our mom then?” Tommy asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I’m not a stranger because I’ve introduced myself to everyone in the room. You boys are one tough security detail.” She said with a grin.
“Well… Anyone could try to take advantage of her.” Billy explained.
“Thank you, boys. But I think I can handle it from here. The two of you should keep having fun.” I said lightly.
“Fine. But we don’t care that she’s a lady; if you yell, we’re coming.” Tommy said firmly
“Noted,” I said with a nod.

They stared Natasha down one last time and nodded to tell me I was allowed to go with her. I wanted to roll my eyes at their antics, knowing that they were all talk. More than that, I knew that Natasha could take them both down if she needed to. I followed Natasha to a corner of the room as my heart hammered with each step we took. Her body language was impossible to read, something that was common when it came to her, at least for other people. It had never been something I struggled with, but there were clearly other factors clouding my abilities.

“It’s fun to see that paranoia is genetic.” She said with a sigh.
“I’m not paranoid,” I said with a frown.
“Really? Because I remember watching Zombieland with you and needing to convince you that zombies weren’t going to take over.” She said with a snort.
“That’s not paranoia; based on the number of shows and movies with zombies, they’re more likely than you’re giving them credit for. Plus, I’ve made my boys a safe place for all women. I won’t apologize for that.” I defended quickly.
“What are you doing here, Wanda?”She asked with a sigh.
“Trying to reconnect with my boys,” I said with half honesty.
“And you just had to do it here?” She asked in disbelief.
“You look good,” I said quietly.
“Of course I do. What are you really doing here?” She asked with a sigh.
“I missed you,” I admitted, letting her in on the hidden half of my agenda.
“That’s why some loser in a basement invented Facebook. So you don’t waste your time getting on a plane.” She said coldly.
“Nat, please. It’s been fifteen years.” I tried with a sigh.
“Exactly, Wanda. You’re fifteen years too late. Did you expect me to just come running back to you like I used to? Not going to happen.” She said, shaking her head.
“I don’t want to have this conversation here,” I said, shaking my head as I surveyed the room.
“I don’t want to have this conversation. Full stop.” She said firmly before walking away.

Before I could try to plead my case, her radio started to go off. With how urgent the person on the other end sounded and how intently she was listening, I could tell it was important. I managed to catch a few words of what was being said and figured out that a fence had been damaged, and they needed everyone to respond. The look on her face, alone, told me that she was going to call the class to an end to jump into action and help. It was one of the things I loved about her more than anything. If she could help, she always would. My suspicions were confirmed as soon as the radio went silent.

“Okay, class, I hate to cut this day short for you; I know we’re all enjoying the simulators. But I have an emergency I need to take care of. I’ll give everyone free entry into my next class to make up for this.” She announced 

I wanted to say something, to ask her not to run away from me and from what was happening, but I couldn’t think of a reason that was more important than making sure dinosaurs stayed in their enclosures. Not that it mattered; she moved faster than I could speak and started to grab her gear. As people started to collect their things and file out of the room, I was frozen in place. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her, and it reminded me of the first time I saw her.

The sound of heavy doors ripped me out of my sleep and my bed. I landed on the floor face-first. After allowing myself to sulk for a few seconds, I pushed my body up with a sigh. The clock on my nightstand told me that I was at fault for sleeping in too late, but I was still annoyed. I slowly pulled my curtain open, fighting against the harsh light of the sun, to see what woke me up. There was a moving truck parked in front of the house next door, and boxes were being stacked outside the truck. I watched curiously to see who was moving in. An older-looking woman with dark hair made her way out of the truck with a box in her hands. A tall man met her halfway and accepted the box in his arms. The woman shook her head and yelled toward the truck. After a few minutes, a girl who looked to be a little older than me walked out of the back. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her, no matter how hard I tried. She was beautiful beyond words, and the thought of her living next door made me nervous. Before I could dwell too long, there was a knock at the door, forcing me out of my thoughts.

“Wands, come on. Mom wants us to introduce ourselves to the new neighbors. She says they have a daughter our age.” Pietro said with a sigh.
“Why?” I asked with a frown.
“To be good neighbors? I don’t know, mom just wants us to do it,” He said with a groan.

The last thing I wanted was to drag myself out of bed to go meet the new neighbors. Granted, that was how I met Monica when her family moved in, but the chances of unwelcome friendliness working out twice had to be low. I knew, however, that trying to go against my mother was useless. She would make me go next door to meet them even if they were loading firearms into the house. She would probably tell me that being nice to them would prevent me from being shot by them. So, I turned my light on and started looking for clothes my mother wouldn’t make me change out of. I settled on a soccer shirt and some jean shorts before opening my door to Pietro. He clearly hadn’t trusted me to wake up and was prepared to keep trying until I did. I couldn’t blame him; had he given up, he would have had to deal with our mother alone.

“I have to brush my teeth. Unless you want me to meet them with morning breath.” I mumbled.
“Hurry up.” He said, rolling his eyes.
“I just woke up,” I said with narrow eyes.
“I know. We heard you hit the floor. But that’s still not my problem.” He said with a laugh.
“Funny. You’re doing the talking.” I said as I made my way to the bathroom.

I heard him grumble in response, but I didn’t waste my time arguing with him. There was no doubt in my mind that he would take over the interaction and do the talking. Everyone loved him, and he loved being loved. As someone who was called weird for the entirety of our lives, I couldn’t relate to his excitement for meeting new people. When I was finally in the bathroom, I took my time, making sure to make myself look like someone who could be befriended. With Monica gone, I could benefit from a new friend, and I would take it in whatever way it was presented. Even if it was my mother forcing us on each other. After making myself look human, I met Pietro in the hall. He handed me my favorite pair of shoes with a smile on his face, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and accept them from him. The walk next door didn’t take long, but it did consist of Pietro insisting I carry the krapfen our mother made for them. She told me that she heard that they were Russian and thought they would enjoy some classic desserts. Something I thought was insanely presumptuous, but it was better for me to entertain her thoughts than to challenge her. So, very much like an army, we marched ourselves over to the wide-open front door and waited for an adult to arrive at the door.

“Hello? Can I help you?” A woman with intense eyes asked with a hint of an accent that made me want to roll my eyes; of course, our mother would be right.
“Hi, ma’am. We live next door. Our parents, Django and Marya Maximoff, just wanted us to come by and welcome you to the neighborhood. She made you guys some krapfen. They’re fresh.” Pietro said smoothly.
“Well, this is a welcome surprise. My name is Melina, and my husband is around here somewhere; his name is Alexei. This is my daughter, Yelena. I believe she’s around your age. And then there’s Natasha.” She said as her eyes followed her daughter by the van.
“I’m Pietro, and this is my twin sister, Wanda,” Pietro said easily.
“Wanda. Cool name.” Yelena said with a smirk.
“So is Yelena,” I said quietly with a nod.
“Yes, well, someone should tell that to Natalia, our little Russian princess.” She said, sending her mother a look.
“Forgive me, but we didn’t know we were going to have another baby. She got our first pick of names.” Melina said, placing a kiss on Yelena’s forehead.
“You can go now. I’ll take care of them.” Yelena grumbled, shooing her mother out of the way.
“Fine. You two let me know if you need anything. And Wanda?” She asked, her eyes focusing on me.
“Yes?” I asked quietly.
“I can take the krapfen from you and put it in the kitchen.” She said with an easy smile.
“Right. For sure. Here.” I said, handing her the container.
“Be sure to thank your mother for me.” She said firmly.
“I will.” I agreed before she turned and disappeared into the house.
“How old are you?” Yelena asked, her eyes moving between us.
“Fifteen. You?” Pietro said with a smile.
“Lucky us, we’ll be in classes together.” She said with a grin.
“What about your sister?” He asked as someone brushed past us.
“She’s rude. But she’s seventeen. She’s only a grade ahead of us because we moved around a lot, and she missed out on a lot of school in one year, so she had to repeat it.” She explained with a soft sigh.
“Why’d you guys move so much?” Pietro asked with a frown.
“P, you don’t ask that,” I said with a groan.
“I’m sorry, but I’m curious.” He said with a groan of his own.
“No, he’s okay. It’s my fault we had to move. I was having a rough time, and we didn’t know what was wrong, which meant a lot of hospital visits and seeing specialists. Not that she complained, she almost made me feel more guilty because of how okay with it she was. The only thing she cared about was me getting healthy and focusing on supporting me however she could.” She said gently.
“Well, hopefully, things are better now for you,” Pietro said quietly.
“Thank you, they are.” She said with a smile.
“Well, uh, if you need any tips or tricks about the house, Wanda is your girl. Her best friend used to live here, so she’s spent plenty of time here.” Pietro said with a smile.
“Wait, really? Because Nat’s been having issues.” Yelena asked with a hopeful look.
“Yeah, I uh… I can try to help.” I said with a nod.
“Come with me! She’s going to love you if you help.” She said with a grin.
“I’ll see you later, Wands,” Pietro said with a nod.
“Wait, what?” I asked with a frown.
“You’ll be fine, go help. I have track practice.” He said with a shrug.
“Practice running in a loop so hard,” I said with annoyance.
“Come on, I promise she’s not that bad,” Yelena said, pulling me along with her.
“If you say,” I mumbled.
“She seems scary at first, all of that teen angst, you know? The move was hard on her.” She explained as she pulled me up the stairs.

My heart was beating in my throat with each step we took. The house was familiar, and I knew it like the back of my hand. There were three possible bedrooms she could be in, and I was praying it wasn’t Monica’s. The last thing I needed was to have the hot, older girl next door seeing me be a loser in the sanctity of my room. But my stomach sank as we took a left at the top of the stairs and made our way towards what used to be Monica’s room. My palms were clammy, and I wanted to crawl into a hole to escape what I was about to be face to face with. We stopped in front of the door, and Yelena knocked three times before shouting for her sister.

“Tasha? I have someone who can help!” Yelena called out.
“Who could you have possibly found?” Natasha asked with a scoff.
“Open your door and find out!” Yelena said easily.
“Fine.” She responded with a sigh.
“Remember what I said,” Yelena mumbled to me.
“Who is this?” Natasha asked, her eyes studying me closely.
“Neighbor. Her name is Wanda.” Yelena said with a smile.
“Is that your name, neighbor?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Y-yes. Yeah. And my brother, Pietro.” I stammered with embarrassment.
“Brother?” She questioned, tilting her head to the side.
“They’re twins,” Yelena said happily.
“Well then, neighbor Wanda, how can you be of use?” She asked, her stare making my insides twist.
“Her best friend used to live here. I’ll leave you two here so I can help with more boxes. Don’t forget to say goodbye before you leave.” Yelena said before leaving me alone with her sister.
“So, your best friend used to live here?” She asked with a soft sigh.
“This was her room, actually,” I said with a shrug.
“Well then, maybe you know how to get this door to stay closed.” She grumbled.
“Yeah, you just have to lift it up to get the latch to work. The foundation shifted like two years ago, so it needs help.” I explained gently.
“I swear if this works…” She mumbled as she tested my suggestion.
“It should,” I said, praying I wouldn’t look stupid.
“You are a lifesaver, neighbor Wanda.” She said when the door latched and stayed shut.
“Happy to help,” I said, trying to fight off my blush.
“I’m sure you are.” She mumbled as she looked me over.
“Anything else I can help with?” I asked quietly. 
“Yeah, who is in the room that my window faces?” She asked slowly.
“Does it matter?” I asked, looking anywhere but at her.
“No, I just don’t want to see your brother’s room, and I’d hate to see your parents by accident.” She said with a shutter.
“It, uh, it’s my room,” I said with a gulp.
“Yours? Good to know. Thank you for your help, neighbor Wanda. Once again, you are a lifesaver. I know I said it before, but I really mean it.” She said with an easy smile.

I shook my head clear and focused on the boys. I slowly made my way back to where our stuff was piled and waited for them to turn their simulator off. After I made sure we had everything before we left, we made our way out of the room. I felt slightly disoriented after being so lost in memories, but I didn’t want that to get in the way of what could still be a fun rest of our day. On our walk back toward the rooms, they asked me about Natasha for the first time.

“Mom? Do you know a soldier?” Billy asked as we walked through the resort.
“What? No. Why would you ask that?” I asked quickly.
“She just seemed like she knew you. She didn’t talk to any of the other parents.” He said with a shrug.
“Maybe she just saw the future of paleobotany in one of you,” I said, trying to brush it off.
“Right. Okay. Can we go check out the other stuff the resort has? I saw a surfing class.” Billy said, glancing at Tommy.
“And I saw a snorkeling adventure,” Tommy said with a nod.
“Uh, yeah. Fine. That’s fine. I’ll find something to do.” I said, forcing a smile.
“Thanks, mom!” Billy said with a smile.
“Yeah! Thanks!” Tommy agreed happily.
“I still want to see you for dinner,” I said firmly.
“Text us when and where!” Billy called out as they both took off.