Wonderstruck

On Sunday afternoon, Wanda is anxiously waiting for her kids to arrive. To avoid a messy situation with Vision, she sends Pietro out to pick up food from a place an hour away that her boys really love to eat from. You continue to work as she paces around the house. Adjusting decorations here and there, fussing over every little thing since Luna is sitting at the kitchen table being entertained by her tablet. A rare moment that Wanda actually wishes that her niece was being a distraction.

As it gets closer to the time they're meant to be dropped off, Wanda begins to work herself up. Ranting to herself she gets angrier and angrier by the second. Saying that he's the reason their marriage fell apart. That he's the one that left her for a child. That she shouldn’t be worried about how he's going to act after what happened last Sunday since it was his unacceptable behavior that caused the incident in the first place. 

“Wanda,” you call out firmly to stop her on her tracks. She looks at you with a glare that's meant for her ex and you smile at her. Despite how terrifying that glare is. “Can you help me hammer some nails in? Put some of that energy into good use.” You hold the handle of the hammer out to her. 

“Sure, uh,” Wanda blinks a couple of times to clear her head. “What do you want me to do?”  She takes the hammer. 

You set up two pieces of wood that don't really need to have nails in them but figure since they're useless to you they can be useful in this moment. “Just imagine these nails are your ex-husband.” You lay some nails out on the table next to the piece of wood. 

Wanda walks over and stands in front of you. Her anger blinds her from all that she was taught as a young girl and she raises the hammer a little too high for your liking. You grab her wrist, wrapping your body around her from behind, to stop her as she starts to bring it down. “What?” She snaps.

“Last I checked, you need your thumb. Go at it slowly at first. You want to get the nail sturdy before you go crazy on it so that you don't lose your fingers,” you explain yourself and demonstrate the pace she should start with by guiding her hand that is holding the hammer. “See? He's already taken your sanity, he doesn't deserve your fingers,” you say jokingly and it makes Wanda laugh a little. 

“Aw isn't this sweet,” Vision says as he hands Tommy and Billy their duffle bags. You step away from Wanda and clear your throat because you're not sure how that might've looked to Vision. More so what it looked like to the boys.

Wanda hits the hammer hard causing the nail to split the wood and she drops the hammer on the table. “Vision, you're late.”

“Well, I figured since my time got eaten into last week, you wouldn't mind if I took some of yours in exchange. Besides, I was getting the boys new gear.” Vision explains as he steps closer. “By the looks of it, I probably should have come a little later. I do apologize for interrupting, but please. Not in front of the children.” 

Wanda rolls her eyes, “Whatever you're thinking was happening, it wasn't.” She smiles for her kids and gets to their level. “What gear did you boys need?” 

The twins show their mom what Vision got for them as they excitedly open the duffles to reveal all of the new martial arts gear that their dad got for them. “You should be getting an email of their schedule soon. They start this week,” Vision explains. Then he walks over to you as Wanda gives her full attention to the boys as they unpack their bags. “My boys wouldn’t stop talking about you and your daughter all week. I hope that we can come to an understanding that nothing complicated happens between you and their mother. I’d hate for them to lose a friend,” he says in a low tone and your eyebrows crease in confusion. 

“Vision,” you start awkwardly, not really used to saying his name. “I’m only here as a favor to Pietro. There is nothing romantic happening between Wanda and I.”

Vision tips his head to the side and pulls his phone out, “That’s not what it looked like the other night.” On his screen is an image of you and Wanda smiling at the restaurant. Other than being creeped out that he somehow acquired this picture, you can’t help but be impressed by the quality of the image. 

“Hey that’s pretty good,” you pull out your phone, “if I give you my number do you think you could send me that? I don’t normally photograph this well.” Vision is thrown off by your response and he isn’t sure how to continue this conversation. He was expecting you to ask how he got the picture and then he was going to say that he has eyes everywhere in a threatening tone and you were supposed to be afraid of him. Not requesting him to send you the picture. He planned this all out the moment he got the picture. Vision is offended that you have gone so far off of the mental script he had. “Oh you know what, send it to Wanda. She has my number.” Vision steps back and clenches his jaw. There’s no way his ex can know that he has the photo. “That isn’t a problem. Is it?” 

“No, no, it's uh, there’s no problem.” Vision puts his phone into his pocket and clears his throat. “That seemed more than friendly,” he states, trying to gain some sort of control in the conversation. You shrug. 

“I’m sure it does. I mean, a picture can be worth a thousand words and all that but those words depend on the person who is seeing it. When I look at it, I remember the situation that the two of us were laughing about. You see a romantic date. I'm sure whoever took the picture thought it was worth sending to you for the same reason.” Vision's face starts to turn red and you aren't certain from what but you continue. “I can tell you the truth all I want but you have your picture and an idea of what's happening there. It doesn't matter what I tell you.” 

“Is everything alright over here?” Wanda asks as she approaches. The boys are running up the stairs behind her so they can put away their new gear in their room. 

Vision smiles and pats you on the back, “Everything is perfectly splendid. I was apologizing to your friend here about the scene I may have caused last weekend. I was highly emotional. Virginia and I are expecting a girl and well,” he doesn't continue after the dark expression that passes over his ex's features. Vision clears his throat and steps away from you. “I will see you next Sunday, Wanda.” He walks out the front door. 

You watch Wanda and can tell she is struggling with something internally. You want to ask her the significance of what Vision just said but you don't want to pry. “When do you think Pietro will get back?” You ask in order to snap Wanda out of whatever was starting to eat her up.

“Um… um… I'm not sure,” she is fighting to come back to the present. She doesn't want to live in the past anymore. She doesn't want to fall into herself again about something that wasn't meant to be. She has her boys. They are enough, she doesn’t need more than them.

“The twins seem excited about martial arts,” you say conversationally, trying to help her leave her head. “I think I'll be back here fixing holes in the walls in no time.”

“Why’s that?” She asks as she tries to stay grounded to the conversation. 

“Well you never know, they might become super ninjas and start punching holes in the walls,” you make funny motions and noises to get a reaction out of her and Wanda does smile a little.“Then they might start karate chopping your tables and well,” you make the chopping motion with your hand and Wanda lets out a laugh at the image. “Sure, you can call your brother to fix those things but come on. Once this addition is done, you know you'll look for any excuse to get me back in here.”

“Oh is that so?” She challenges with a smirk. 

“Oh yeah,” you wink playfully. “You’re going to miss me taking forever to get the job done.” Wanda shakes her head and takes a deep breath as she is finally free from her head. 

“Thank you,” she says as she reaches for your hand to give you a soft squeeze. 

“Anytime,” you squeeze back. When the front door opens the both of you quickly pull away. As if you'll be caught doing something wrong again. Pietro comes in with bags of food and calls for his nephews to wash their hands and come down stairs. You follow Wanda to the kitchen and stand by her as she washes her hands in the sink as you wait for your turn. Once your hands are clean, you help her set the table despite her insisting that you didn't have to. 

Because you don't have Rachel with you, you stay to work a little bit longer than last time because you hate how empty your apartment is when she isn't there. “As much as I appreciate your dedication,” Wanda starts as she crosses the duct tape line to hand you a water bottle. “I think you should head home. Besides, I need to get these kids to bed and loud saws and drills don't really help with that.” 

You check your watch and your eyes widen at the time, “Oh wow, I'm sorry. I didn't realize. Let me pack up and I'll be out of your hair.” 

“It’s okay, really,” Wanda says as you pack your equipment that you'll need for work tomorrow. “You got so focused I almost didn't want to stop you,” she admits. 

You didn't really hear her as you weren't very graceful in packaging, you keep dropping things and making way more noise than normal. “Thank you for letting me stay after Pietro left. I'll see you next weekend?” You ask as you're stumbling towards the door with your gear. 

“Would you like to see me sooner than that?” Wanda asks as she holds the door open. 

You nearly lose your grip on your bags when she asks. A wave of nervousness comes over you and you aren't quite sure why. You know she isn't interested in dating… wait. No you don't. You think she isn't but she hasn't ever blatantly told you that. “Um sure, if you and the boys have a free day, I think I can convince the ex-mrs to come out with Rach,” you offer. 

Wanda shrugs with an odd expression, “Yeah, we could do something like that.” 

“Alright then,” you respond awkwardly, “I’ll uh get in touch with you sometime this week.” 

“Okay,” Wanda nods once. “I’ll see you later.” She shuts the door once you're at your truck. 

When you get home, you're surprised that you're not ready to fall into bed and crash for the night. You check the time again and figure that it couldn't hurt to give Phil a visit. So you grab your coat, wallet, and keys and make your way to The Hub. Walking in, there isn't much life around and you notice that there isn't anyone behind the bar but you take a seat on one of the stools anyway and wait for someone to appear. Hoping that your old boss is still around so that this visit isn’t for nothing. The wait for someone to come out from the back is longer than you anticipated it would be. You know that when you worked here, no one would have gotten away with this. That is until she is standing in front of you. She’s not who you came here to see but she’s someone that you've been debating on seeing more of. 

“You know that I gave you my number so that you could call me, right?” Daisy says as she grabs a glass to clean. 

“I like to talk face to face,” you shrug, “I guess I'm old fashioned that way.”

“So you did come here for me,” she returns the glass to its spot under the bar and leans on the counter. “Two days isn't too bad. I've waited by the phone longer and for much less.” 

You laugh, “Daisy, I can't date you without talking about it with your dad first.”

She scoffs and steps back, “I’m not a child, I don't need his permission. I don't see why you do?”

“Come on, I respect your dad. He helped me through a rough time. I wouldn't feel right asking you out without his blessing.” You explain and look around the bar. 

“Wow, you are old fashioned,” Daisy mutters. 

“Is he here?” You ask as you tap your fingers against the counter. 

“No, he went home after posting the schedules for the week,” she explains. She looks around the establishment to scan the customers before landing her eyes back on you. “Is that really why you came here?” She asks, a little shy. The girl was being bold in giving you her number but she wasn't expecting you to use it or actually be interested in her. The fact that you might've come here to get permission to ask her out has her mind spinning. 

“Might be,” you respond, unsure yourself about why you came here. Maybe a part of you does want to explore something with Daisy. “But he's not here so I should go home.” 

“Or you can stay and we can chat like we used to,” she leans against the surface between the two of you again as you’re reminded of when the positions were reversed and you were on the other side of the bar. You were around the age she is now. Maybe a little older. On slow nights she was allowed to sit and do her homework at the bar. Especially when she was grounded. Whenever she was going through something tough during her senior year in high school you would talk to her and give the best advice that you could. The reminder of how young she was when you first got to know her makes the idea of dating her uncomfortable to you. However, as you look at her now, you don't see her as a child as you once did. She looks more mature and as she had pointed out, she is an adult now. Would it be so wrong to explore something with her? She is only five years younger than you. 

“Still having boy troubles in school?” You ask with a teasing expression. 

Daisy scoffs with a shake of her head. She crosses her arms over her chest and leans back. “First of all, I never had boy troubles in school.” 

“Right, it was girl troubles,” you quip with a grin. 

“I think I'm going to take back that offer,” Daisy mutters as she tries to hide her growing smile. 

You shrug, “If that's what you want to do. By all means. A person is allowed to change their mind.”

“Ugh, you're no fun. You're not going to let me know how you feel at all before you talk to my dad?” She steps forward and grabs another glass to clean with a rag in order to keep her hands busy. 

“Oh, were you trying to bait me?” you laugh a little to yourself. “Daisy,” you start. 

“I like the way you say my name,” she interrupts. 

You shake your head a little bit and don't pay further attention to her comment. “Daisy, no matter how a person feels about you. Never let them use those feelings as a weapon to manipulate you into staying with them. If you want out, you're allowed to have an exit. You're allowed to change your mind about a person.” 

Daisy nods as she accepts your advice that she didn't know she needed. “Don’t bite my head off for this question. But is that something you learned from your divorce?”

You sigh as you consider how to answer that. “Maybe,” you look at your hands with a frown, “I’m not proud of myself but I… Well, one day Jean admitted to me that she had fallen out of love with me and I convinced her to stay married to me in the hopes that she would feel that love for me again some day. Give me a chance to save our marriage.” You sigh as you remember that time in your life that you don't think about anymore. “It was the most miserable year of our lives.” 

“Wow,” Daisy has moved on from cleaning glasses to wiping down the counter. “Is that why she's married now and you're not? Because she stopped being in love with you but you didn't with her?” 

You are a little thrown off by the deeply personal questioning but you're not against answering. Even when she apologizes and tells you not to answer. “No, it's okay to be curious. I think that even the people that knew us from the beginning have that same assumption. But no, that's not why I'm still single. I held onto that marriage a year longer than I should've only because I didn't want to admit that I had also fallen out of love with her. Especially since I had dreamt of marrying her since we were in the third grade.” You look Daisy in the eyes as you continue. “I couldn't let go of the fairytale.” 

Daisy nods as she falls deep in thought, “I could see how that would be hard to do.” The conversation gets lighter from there and the two of you talk for a couple of hours until you have to call it a night. It makes you feel better about talking to Phil about dating her. You never saw yourself in this position but you think back to Kate encouraging you to go for it. She has a gut instinct that you trust a little bit more than your own. 

When you return the next evening after work, Phil is there. You ask to speak to him privately, he takes you to his office and he worries that you might be in financial trouble again. You quickly reassure him that isn't the case and he relaxes. “I never thought I'd ever ask you this but here it goes,” you clear your throat as you think of how to phrase the question. “Well, you know that I have nothing but respect for you, sir. You're like my second father.” He thanks you and asks you to get to the point because he has a business to run. “Right, um, when I was here the other day, Daisy gave me her phone number. She has since told me that she wants to explore a romantic relationship with me. I had never seen her as a potential partner until then and I didn't want to do anything without you knowing, Phil. If you don't want me to date your daughter, I swear to you that I won't do it.”

Phil crosses his arms over his chest and sighs. “What about that girl you brought here? The two of you seemed pretty cozy,” he points out. 

“We are just friends,” you correct, once again. “She needed a night out, I mean her ex is a piece of work.” You shake your head at the reminder of the drama that man causes. 

Phil nods, “So you're doing free work for her out of the kindness in your heart? No ulterior motive?”

“Come on Phil, you know me. I would never do something like that,” you reply, a little offended by the accusation. 

“Do I know you,” he asks with a scowl. “Because I never saw this conversation coming. Not from you,” he sits forward on his desk. “You used to babysit her.”

“Phil, I have wrestled with this since she asked me out. I can't explain it, we were talking last night - just talking - and I think that we might have a connection. This isn't about an inappropriate relationship, because it wouldn't be it's…” you sigh as you fail to find the proper words with his disappointed glare distracting and insulting. “I know that in your eyes, no one is or ever will be good enough for her and I'm not saying that I am, but… she is an adult. And I think, correct me if I'm wrong, that you trust her enough to make her own decisions. You haven't said a definitive no yet so something tells me that you're not against the idea. Unless I'm wrong and I'm giving you another opportunity to say no and I won't ever bring it up again. I swear.” 

Phil sighs and looks at the picture of him and Daisy in his desk. It's an old picture of the two of them going down the slide at a park. He wishes that she could have stayed that small but you were right. She is an adult now. “Do you love her?” he asks, keeping his eyes on the photo. 

You rub your face, “I don't know yet. I've never thought about her that way before but… I'd like the chance to find out.” You truthfully admit because the last thing you're ever going to do is lie to him. 

“Okay, I will allow it,” he looks in your direction as he talks. You are shocked but filled with relief. “You better not mess this up, you only have one shot at this.” 

“Thank you, sir. I appreciate it, really.” The two of you hug and he kicks you out of his office telling you to make plans with his daughter when he isn't around. She didn't work today so that wasn't a problem. You walked home a little excited about the idea of dating again. 

Later that week, while you're cooking dinner you get a phone call and answer frantically as you're completely ruining your meal. “Hey, are you doing anything tonight?” The familiar voice asks over the phone. The smoke alarm goes off as the pan catches fire and you drop the phone on the kitchen counter.

“Hold on!” You shout as you cover the pan with the lid, run to open the windows,  turn on the fans, and wave the kitchen rag in front of the alarm to keep the smoke away long enough to shut off the horrible noise. Once the beeping stops you breathlessly pick up the phone and see that it was Wanda calling. “Hey, sorry, what were you saying?” 

You are met with uncontrollable laughter from Wanda that makes you cackle a bit as well. “I’m sorry, it's not funny,” she says as she tries to contain her laughter. “Are you okay?” You confirm that you are but your food isn't. “Perfect!” 

“How so? I don't think that almost dying of asphyxiation is perfect.” You throw in sarcastically. 

“No, I just mean since you have nothing to eat and I have more than I can eat that it's perfect! You can come over here for dinner,” she invites happily. 

“Are you sure?” You say looking at the time and figuring that you don't have a lot of time to prepare anything else and you really don't want to get takeaway. 

“I wouldn't have called if I wasn't,” she says with something in her mouth. 

“No I'm sure you wouldn't but um, what about Vision?” you ask carefully. “He hardly likes it when I'm around the boys when I'm working. I'd hate for his private investigator to report to him that I was there when I wasn't. Especially since you have the boys this week.” You explain yourself as you check your burnt food and think of the best way to dispose of it.

“It won't be a problem,” Wanda says with a grumble in her tone at the idea that her ex-husband is still making it difficult for her to have friends. “The boys made some friends at their karate practice and I guess the class has a sleepover for the new kids whenever they join to make sure everyone gets to know each other well. I don't know. All I know is that my house is empty when it shouldn't be and I could really use the company. I was hoping that maybe you could too?” 

You understand how it feels when Rachel has a sleepover on a night when you have her. It's a crummy feeling because on the one hand, you're happy whenever she has friends and gets to create those fun memories that come with sleepover adventures. On the other hand, you only get so much time with her that you don't want to share it with anyone. 

“Alright, I'll be right over,” you say as you grab your keys. She cheers over the phone before hanging up. You grab a bottle of wine that you think she might like as you leave your apartment. It was a gift that you otherwise wouldn't drink yourself. Wanda answers the door with a glass of wine in her hand and you laugh as you hold up the bottle that you brought with you. 

“Oh good, you brought your own. I really wasn't in the mood to share,” she says jokingly as she lets you inside. You smile and set it down on the dining table. 

“And here I thought it was going to be a gift for you,” you walk into the kitchen and grab yourself a glass. 

“Hold on now, I didn't say I didn't want any,” she says as she sets her glass down on the counter in order to make you a plate. You pour yourself half a glass from the bottle she already had open and move to get out of the kitchen. “Is this too much?” She turns to show you the plate but she almost knocks into you, “I’m so sorry!!” She says abruptly and you laugh it off telling her that you're fine. “Are you sure?”

“Come to think of it, there must be something wrong with me since I'm here having dinner with you.” She swats your shoulder with the back of her hand and tells you to shut up before handing you the plate with your food on it. Your stomach growls loudly as the aroma finally enters your senses. “This looks amazing, thank you for the invitation.” 

“It’s my pleasure,” Wanda says. “Sit, make yourself comfortable.” She tries to direct you out of the kitchen. 

You look to her back door and think about how she gets so many more stars here than you do. “Hey, do you mind if we eat out there? I mean, it's such a great night,” you ask and Wanda looks out the window from the door and agrees. 

“You’re right, it is a nice night,” she grabs her glass from the counter and opens the door for you. You thank her as you pass by and get yourself settled on the outdoor furniture. Wanda joins you shortly after with a plate of her own. The two of you enjoy the meal together under the stars with two bottles of wine. When the food is gone the two of you are still chatting. “So what happened to making plans with us and your ex and Rachel?” Wanda asks as she pours the rest of the wine from the second bottle into her glass. 

You cringe at the question as you remember that you told her you'd hang out with her and the boys. “I completely forgot, I'm sorry. This week has been… honestly there's no good explanation. I'm sorry,” you say as you finish your glass of wine. “I’m glad you called me over here.” You make eye contact with her as you say this. Wanda’s smile is warm and inviting and you realize that you never thought you’d have a chance to see this side of her. She is a very beautiful person and you start to feel lucky to have the chance to know her. 

“Do you dance?” Wanda asks, breaking you from getting lost in her features. You didn’t realize she had freckles before. 

“Uh, not sure what you mean by that,” you pinch your eyebrows together but neither of you break eye contact. 

She giggles, “It’s not a trick question. Do you dance?” 

You look away for a second then look back at her. “I suppose it depends on who’s asking,” you reply as you blink slowly. 

Wanda rests her elbow on the armrest and sits her head on her fist as she leans a little closer, “I’m asking.” 

You nod and frown your lips a little before smiling again, “Then yes, I dance.” 

“Perfect,” she says before she finishes the last bit of wine in her glass. She grabs her phone and taps the screen as she stands up and picks a song to play on her outdoor speakers that she hardly ever got to use. “Stay right here,” she tells you as she runs inside to turn the device on. 

You stand and look up at the stars, the weather is perfect for a summer night. Usually it’s unbearably hot and humid. But tonight it’s a perfect warm temperature with a slight cool breeze. The moon is full and providing more light than usual. Though, lighting isn’t a problem as Wanda’s porch lights also shine bright. You close your eyes and take a deep breath through your nose and enjoy the refreshing scents of grass and trees. Then you hear the soft rhythmic strumming of a guitar and you turn around with open eyes as Wanda is rejoining you on the deck. Your heartbeats a little differently as you watch her walk over to you. There isn’t a time that you have ever felt so calm in the presence of someone but she has brought that out in you. You give the credit to the wine because anything else feels dangerous. 

“Hi,” you say as you offer your hand to her. 

“Hi,” she says as she takes your hand and the two of you seamlessly begin to move together. Her free hand resting on your shoulder and yours resting on her waist. The two of you dance to the music, at first facing each other and having light conversation that mostly consists of compliments on movement. Then the two of you fall silent, just enjoying the moment together as you hold each other close and continue to sway along to the melody. 

As the third song ends, you look at her cheek and consider placing a small kiss there but as you move forward she turns to look at you, almost making her lips the target. You clench your jaw as you stop yourself. Wanda leans her head further into your shoulder. “Thank you for spending time with me tonight,” she says in a soft broken whisper. Not that she needed to whisper, she just didn’t feel like her normal volume would be appropriate at this distance. 

“I can’t think of a single place I’d rather be than here right now,” you admit. Wanda hums as she closes her eyes. She doesn’t want to break this moment but she doesn’t want something to happen. Neither do you. Not when you have been texting everyday since Monday with Daisy. That’s when it hits you. Daisy. Sweet, sarcastic Daisy. You follow Wanda’s lead and close your eyes and continue to sway. You don’t look at her, you don’t say another word. You just hold her until the next song ends. And the next. And one more after that until the music stops. 

The two of you break apart and she goes inside to figure out the problem. You collect the dishes and bring them inside to wash. When she still hasn’t returned after you have the dishes put in the dishwasher, you wander around the house until you find her. She is on the phone with her boys. She is singing softly to them. You walk away as you think about how great of a mother she is. You start to wonder what kind of role Daisy would be able to play in Rachel’s life. You can’t believe you never considered this before. She’s young and free, would she be a good step-mother? As much as you don’t always get along with Anna, she is a decent person to co-parent with. Then there’s the Jean of it all. Is Daisy someone that you could bring around Jean? You don’t know yet. But something tells you that there wouldn’t be a problem bringing Wanda to Jean. 

“Hey, sorry about that,” Wanda says as she finds you sitting and facing the torn down wall. She joins you on the sofa. “They were getting anxious about spending the night and they wanted to be picked up. But I’m a little drunk so I had to convince them to stick it out.” 

“That’s precisely why I haven’t left yet,” you admit with a laugh. 

“You don’t have to leave, I have a guest room that is always ready to use,” she tells you. Wanda yawns as she checks the time. Her eyes widened at her watch, “It’s gotten really late. Wow, where did the time go?” 

“I have no idea,” you say refraining from saying something flirtatious. “If it’s not a problem, I could stay,” you say as you look at her. “But I probably won’t see you in the morning because I’ll have to head home pretty early in order to make it to work on time.” 

“Yeah, it’s no problem at all,” she says as she gets up from the couch. “I’ll show you the way,” she waits for you to stand and you follow her up the stairs. Wanda leaves you with a goodnight hug and you thank her for letting you stay. In the morning, you leave a note on the refrigerator so that you don’t leave without some form of goodbye.