Locksmith

“Hello?” Yelena asked as she answered the call.
“Yel! Look, you’re going to tell me I was stupid, and you would be right. But I fucked up for real, and I need your help.” I said quickly.
“Do you want to try all of that again? This time with facts and information?” She asked slowly.
“Things with your sister were so… We spent the night together, and she convinced me to let the boys go with her to the lab. She promised they would be safe and that she would watch them. I trusted her because she’s Natasha. I also trusted her because the park didn’t have anything but herbivores. I assumed it would be okay.” I said with a sigh.
“What happened?” She asked gently.
“I made a donation to the park… A donation that gave them the funding to create other types of dinosaurs. When the boys got to the lab, they were told which types of dinosaurs were in which incubators. When the scientist said there were now carnivores, she got angry. But because of her anger, she didn’t see that Tommy was about to have his finger shredded by a newly hatched carnivore.” I said with a sigh, shaking my head.
“It had to be Bruce… She’s constantly fighting him on carnivores, and he doesn’t listen… Wait, what happened to Tommy?!” She asked in shock as my words sank in.
“He was a stupid kid. He heard that dinosaurs imprint on the first thing they see, and he wanted that to be him, which is why I begged her to watch him, to watch them. But in the time she took her eyes off of him, he almost died. When I showed up at the hospital, I didn’t want to listen to anything she said. My guilt was so strong I wouldn’t listen to her. I fucked up, and I took my guilt out on her.” I explained through tears.
“Have you tried to apologize to her?” She asked quietly.
“Yel, I tracked her down at the park to apologize to her. She told me I hadn’t grown up and that she wanted things between us to end differently. Basically, she told me to give up, but I can’t. Lena, the boys know about her, and they’re supportive! Can you imagine that? They’re actually supportive and want me to be happy. I’m not ready to give up, so I’m throwing my hail Mary.” I explained as my heart raced.
“What would your hail Mary be, exactly?” She asked, slowly piecing together that it involved her.
“It does involve you… And a plane… I’ll pay for your ticket.” I said nervously.
“Wanda, I love you, so no offense intended… But if I’m getting on a plane because you fucked up, you better be paying for it..” She said with a breathy laugh.
“Are you in?” I asked slowly.
“I’m not happy you hurt my sister… Again…” She said firmly.
“But…?” I asked with hope.
“Tell me  your plan.” She said with a sigh.
“Do you still have my house key that you said you lost?” I asked carefully.
“Uh…” She said slowly, unsure how much she wanted to admit.
“I’m not going to be mad. I know you didn’t actually lose it,” I said with a grin.
“Yes, I believe I can locate that.” She said with suspicion.
“I need definite answers, Yel. It’s important for the plan.” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Fine, yes. I have it.” She confirmed with a groan.
“If I buy you a red-eye flight, will you go to my house and get a box of things for me?” I asked with a thick swallow.
“You want me to get… A box?” She asked with confusion in her voice.
“Yes,” I said with a nod.
“Are you fucking with me?” She asked slowly.
“No,” I said with a sigh.
“What’s in the box?” She questioned.
“Every memory I ever made with your sister. I don’t know what it’ll prove, but I kept it all.” I said quietly.
“Victor never found it?” She asked gently.
“He would need to care enough to do so,” I said with a breathy laugh.
“Send me the flight information and where to find the box.” She said gently.
“Really?” I asked in disbelief.
“Of course. I’ll sleep on the plane; you come up with the plan of attack.” She instructed firmly.
“Will do,” I said as my heart raced once more.

We hung up, and I instantly began booking her flight. A last-minute international flight was insane, but thankfully, Yelena was the type of friend who would endure it for me. Maybe it was also for her sister, but because it was my plan, it felt like it was for our friendship just as much as it was for her sister. Once her flight was booked, I sent the flight information and ticket to her, as well as letting her know where to find the box in the house. I wracked my brain, desperate to come up with a plan. There was no way Yelena would make it anytime during the night, so I was tempted to try to sleep and then come up with a plan. But there was no way I would be able to sleep without at least an idea of a plan. The original plan had always been to show up and tell her that I loved her. Being that I’d already done that and it didn’t work, it felt like I needed to update it. The first thing I needed to do was find Natasha. In a huge park, the odds of me doing it twice did not seem to be in my favor. I could always ask Yelena to track her phone, but it felt like an invasion if I did. Since I didn’t want to invade her privacy, I settled on the fact that I would just have to hunt her down and speak from my heart until Yelena could find me with the box of things. With a rough draft of a plan in my head, I decided to go to sleep so that I would be ready for the day ahead of me.

I woke up to my alarm blaring, and I sat up, disoriented in bed. It took me a few seconds to figure out why there was an alarm going off and then to figure out where I was. Once that had been figured out, I was able to focus on getting dressed and waited for Yelena to let me know she’d landed. While I was brushing my teeth, Yelena let me know how far from the hotel she was, and I finished up before making my way down to the lobby to meet her. I planned on letting her stay in the other room in the suite, not wanting it to go to waste and wanting her to have her own space. While I was waiting, I made sure to get an extra copy of my room key for her; that way, she didn’t need to wait around for me to let her in for any reason. I felt my stomach twist when I saw her walk into the resort lobby. Seeing her made everything real very quickly. She made her way directly to me with a serious look on her face, and I prepared myself for whatever was coming.

“What’s your plan?” She asked immediately.
“No ‘hello’ or anything?” I asked with a frown.
“Do you want to win her back?” She asked with a groan as we made our way to the elevator.
“Yes. Do you have the box?” I asked carefully.
“Of course I do.” She said with a scoff.
“I would never snoop through your personal things and read every letter you never sent to her. Completely skipped over your dream journal filled with dreams of her.” She said with an offended look.
“Yelena,” I said with a snort.
“So I read it all… I think it’s a solid leg to stand on. Especially since you’re insane and put the date on everything, it helps your story of always loving her.” She said gently.
“The only thing I have to do is find her in the park and bear my soul to her… You can track us, and while you’re doing that, I’ll bear my soul to her and try to get through. After that, I’ll send you a text to tell you when to come with the box.” I said with a frown, knowing the plan sounded better in my head.
“So you’re going to track her down using your luck… And whenever you find her, I’m supposed to track the two of you down and wait for the signal?” She asked with a sigh.
“Yes. Why are you saying it like that?” I asked with a frown.
“I might do it differently. But this is your plan, not mine.” She said, trying to sound supportive.
“You think it’s a bad plan,” I said with a whine.
“Wands, this needs to be your plan. She will love it.” She insisted.

We went back and forth a few more times before she was able to convince me that she was right. I wasn’t confident in my plan, but Yelena had done a lot of work to convince me that it would be okay, so I knew that, at the very least, Natasha probably wouldn’t hate it. It was the effort that mattered the most, and that was what I brought to the table. Once we confirmed the plan, I set out into the park to track her down. I had no idea where I was going, and I knew I could be there for the entire day and not see her, but I would go back every day until I saw her again and got the chance to try to fix things. It took three hours of searching before I finally caught a glimpse of Natasha’s hair. I was minutes from giving up on my search for the day when I saw her moving through the crowd. Like a lost puppy, I chased after her, desperate to get a moment alone with her. I followed her until it was just the two of us, and I decided to call out to her and hopefully stop her in her tracks. 

“Natasha, wait,” I called out breathlessly.
“How did you find me?” She asked with a frown.
“I’m not ready to give up,” I said firmly.
“What?” She asked with confusion.
“I’m not giving up on you without a fight. This isn’t like last time where you get to just walk away.” I said, trying to control my emotions.
“Wanda, it’s too late.” She said, shaking her head.
“It’s not,” I said firmly.
“Wanda…” She said with sad eyes.
“It’s not, Nat. You’re just scared, and I get it. I haven’t given you much reason to be confident in me. Even in us. But hear me out.” I tried.
“Who are you to tell me what I am?” She asked angrily.
“This is all coming out wrong,” I said with a groan of frustration.
“Why are you wasting your time?” She asked with a sigh.
“I don’t see it as a waste,” I said with a shrug.
“Wanda…” She said, shaking her head.
“No, Nat. I have loved you in the most painful silences, and my God, am I desperate to change that. I messed up; I have already admitted that. But I’m not perfect. My mommy brain gets the best of me at times, and I don’t think or see things clearly. I would protect those boys from anything and anyone. But I’m still sorry that I hurt you without even giving you a chance to talk.” I tried with desperation.
“You can’t say things like that to me…” She mumbled.
“Because it feels impossible to say no?” I asked quietly.
“Because I’m scared I won’t be able to.” She corrected.
“Don’t we owe it to ourselves to at least see what we have? Give it a real chance?” I tried gently.
“Maybe.” She said with a deep sigh.
“What are you most scared of?” I prompted cautiously.
“I don’t know the first thing about being a parent.” She said, shaking her head. 
“That’s okay, neither does she,” Tommy said with a shrug. 
“Yeah, and she’s been doing that since we were born,” Billy said with a shrug. 
“You two shouldn’t be here.” She said with a frown.
“But we got a text from Yelena to meet her here,” Billy said with a frown of his own.
“Yelena?” She asked, burning a hole through my head with her eyes.
“Yes, me,” Yelena said with a smile as she came out from her hiding spot.
“What are you doing here?” She asked with a frown. 
“I came here to help her get you back. Come on, Nat. You’ve been stubbornly single for the last fifteen years, and you want to tell me that has nothing to do with her? That it’s a coincidence that she shows up in your life, and you’re suddenly ready to be with someone?” Yelena asked, shaking her head. 
“Lena, come on. She shouldn’t have gone to you.” She said, shaking her head. 
“Maybe, maybe not. But you should have.” She said firmly. 
“Me?” Natasha asked in shock. 
“Yes, you. She fucked up, she has admitted to that and apologized. And you had every right to feel the way you did. But you also could’ve asked me how bad it had been with him. Could ask me what her last straw with him was. But you didn’t, and you fucked up too.” Yelena said with a shrug. 
“Yel,” I said, shaking my head. 
“What is she talking about?” Natasha asked, her eyes burning through mine yet again. 
“Nothing. There’s no excuse for what I said and did." I said, moving my eyes to Yelena. 
“Just tell her. It could help.” She said, frowning in confusion. 
“Wanda, what is she talking about?” Natasha asked again.
“The boys don’t need to hear this,” I said, shaking my head.
“No, I think they could benefit from hearing it. You’ve shielded that man long enough. They deserve to know who they’re defending and who they’re hurting when they do.” Said a familiar voice.
“What are you doing here?” I asked with a frown.
“What? I’m supposed to let you complete an international love story without me?” Pepper asked with a wink.
“Why does this feel like a double intervention?” I mumbled.
“Probably because you both need one,” Yelena said with a scoff.
“They deserve to know the truth,” Pepper said with a shrug.
“What did dad do?” Billy asked, taking a step forward.
“Did he hurt you?” Tommy asked, frowning deeply.
“No. He never physically hurt me.” I said quickly.
“What did he do?” Natasha asked softly.
“Do you boys remember the camping trip your father brought you on?” I asked with a sigh.
“The one where I caught the huge fish?” Billy asked, making a face.
“The one where your father was too busy fighting with someone in the campsite next to his to realize that your brother had been bit by a copperhead, and a stranger brought him to the hospital. He was mad that Tommy made him look like a bad parent because someone else brought him in.” I said, shaking my head.
“That’s when we had to go home early, right?” Billy asked with a frown.
“And when I had to beg him to yell at me instead of your brother,” I said with a nod.
“He told me not to talk about it anymore,” Tommy said quietly.
“His lack of caring about you two, and the fact that he was so angry that he looked bad and not upset about the fact that we almost just lost your brother, was my last straw with him. I could handle him yelling at me, but the second it involved you boys, I couldn’t let anything happen to you.” I explained, knowing I was rambling but needing to say it all.
“He wasn’t watching, and one of them got hurt,” Natasha said slowly.
“Yes,” Yelena said with a nod.
“I had to meet Tommy at the hospital, and he was really out of it, but they explained what had happened, and suddenly, Victor blowing up my phone made sense. He was trying to do damage control and get ahead of things.” I explained.
“See? It’s relevant.” Yelena said firmly.
“You know I hate to agree with my sister…” Natasha said slowly.
“Is now a good time to give you the box?” Yelena asked with narrow eyes.
“Box?” Natasha asked with a frown.
“Uh… Yeah… Sure.” I said with a nod.

Yelena walked toward me with a sheepish look on her face. It quickly sank in that she had jumped ahead before I could tell her I was ready, but it didn’t hurt to try to do things quickly. If anything, it meant I would have an answer sooner than later; at least, I could hope. She set the box in my hands, and with Natasha in front of me, the contents of the box felt far heavier than they actually were, as if they carried the weight of the past, the existence of our love contained in the pages of every piece of paper in the box. Natasha’s eyes curiously looked between the box and me, waiting for an explanation while I tried to come up with a good one.

“What’s that box?” Natasha asked with a frown.
“It’s stupid,” I said with sudden embarrassment.
“It better not be stupid. I traveled across the globe with this thing.” Yelena said with narrow eyes.
“It’s a box of every memory we made together,” I said with a sigh.
“You kept all of that?” Natasha asked softly.
“Of course I did. They’re the happiest memories I have.” I said with a shrug.
“Why?” She asked slowly.
“She had a plan,” Tommy said quickly.
“Tommy,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“You said you did.” He said quietly.
“What was the plan?” She asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, shaking my head.
“Wanda, please?” She asked softly.
“The plan was to go wherever you were and to prove I was ready to love you loudly because you deserve it. And to tell you that I never stopped loving you.” I said, knowing there was no telling her no.
“That was your plan?” She asked with narrow eyes.
“I told you it was stupid,” I mumbled.
“It’s not stupid. You just… Maybe you took your time, but it does seem like you managed to see your plan through.” She said with a tiny smile.
“What?” I asked with a frown.
“Did you not? You found me. You brought that box via my sister. Look at how many people you’ve talked to about your feelings for me. Seems like you proved you’re ready to love me out loud and that you never stopped.” She said, raising an eyebrow.
“I did? Wait, what does that mean?” I asked in confusion.
“Ask me to give you another chance.” She said, shaking her head with a smile.
“Why?” I asked slowly.
“Just ask her!” Yelena said in annoyance.
“Please, can I have another chance?” I asked with a sigh.
“Yeah. I’d be lucky to get to call you mine. I mean, you came all this way; I would hate for you to waste a good plan.” She said with a grin.
“Like, actually?” I asked in disbelief.
“Yes, Wands. Like, actually. As long as the boys are okay with their mom dating someone so cool.” She said, moving her gaze toward the boys.
“No, no problem with you being cool. Maybe more of a problem with you living so far away, though.” Billy said with a shrug.
“I may have a solution to that one. But as long as you’re okay with it, that’s all I needed.” She said with a bright smile.
“We’re okay with it,” Tommy confirmed happily.
“Hear that? They’re good with it.” She said, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
“I do hear that,” I said with a hum and a nod.
“Oh, would you just kiss already?!” Pepper asked with impatience.
“What do you say? Can I kiss you?” She asked, her eyes reading mine.
“Please,” I whispered with excitement.

Her smile grew across her face, and I was instantly mesmerized by it. My heart fluttered in my chest, and my stomach twisted and flipped as she leaned in closer. My eyes fluttered shut, desperate to feel her lips on mine again. It had only been close to two days without a kiss from her, and maybe it was dramatic, but kissing her felt like finally chugging a glass of water after being dehydrated for months. It was as if I were coming up for air when our lips were together. Something that was ironic because when we kissed, I couldn’t breathe; she took my breath away that easily. The kiss was everything I could ask for, from a kiss in front of multiple people and at a place where she worked, but she pulled away all too soon.

“Do I get to keep the box?” She whispered against my lips.
“As long as you don’t tease me about what’s in it,” I mumbled.
“What’s in it that I would tease you about? I thought it was just our memories.” She said, pulling away with a frown.
“Embarrassing love letters to you and a dream journal filled with dreams of you. Plus, it’s all dated.” Yelena said happily.
“Oh, you had it bad, huh?” Natasha said with a purr.
“Shut up,” I grumbled.
“Such a little nerd you are, hm?” She asked with a grin.
“Have I mentioned that I hate both of you?” I said, shaking my head.
“You love us.” She mumbled against my lips.

Before I could argue, she pressed our lips together firmly, leaving me no other option but to agree. She smiled into the kiss, and it made me feel like I was flying. It made no sense that kissing me made her that happy, but I wasn’t someone to ask too many questions that could result in that coming to an end. I planned to enjoy it for as long as I could. Kissing her made time feel like it stood still, and I craved that feeling more and more after I got a taste of it again. She was like a drug I couldn’t stop going back to, not that I was making any effort to stop; if anything, I was desperate to continue my addiction. But something told me she would be just fine with that addiction.