Chapter 3
Natasha kept her promise to come back later that night, though this time the spy was a half hour early and didn’t bring any food. She was pleased to see that Wanda’s hair was brushed. The witch was also watching some show on tv when she walked in. This was a good sign. The plan Natasha had been thinking about since breakfast seemed more plausible now.
“Hi” Natasha started.
The Sokovian seemed taken aback by the change in schedule, her head turning towards the clock before going back the lady in her doorway, “Hi.”
“What are you watching?” Natasha moved closer to get a better look at the tv as Wanda sat up in bed.
“The Brady Bunch” Wanda replied as she turned the volume down.
Natasha was amused at the choice, but hey what else was she supposed to watch on cable, the news? She probably had never heard of streaming. “Oh, we have these apps where you can watch whatever you want, you don’t have to just watch what’s on the channels.”
Wanda nodded at the information. “Cool, do they have shows like this?”
“Like The Brady Bunch?”
“Yes,” Natasha found it curious she had chosen the show on purpose, it was much older than the girl. But she guessed in Sokovia culture moved a little bit slower. “Yeah they have tons of sitcoms.”
“You will have to show me some time.” The witch almost smiled at this. Natasha didn’t realize how much she was rooting for a smile from the girl. It felt like a challenge, and Natasha liked to win.
The conversation was also a good sign of Wanda’s mood. Good enough for her to move forward with her plan. “Yes I can show you. But right now, I was thinking we changed things up.”
Wanda looked curious, if not a bit scared at the proposition, so Natasha kept going.
“Steve’s about to serve dinner, I think you should come down and join everyone.”
Now Wanda looked actually scared. When she finally responded the little bit of life Natasha had seen come back to her today seemed to float away. “Um, no thank you… I do not ummm.. I do not think so.” The last part was whispered, and Wanda was no longer meeting Natasha’s eyes.
Goddamn it. She had obviously miscalculated and pushed Wanda too fast; the witch had just opened up to her, and now she was trying to get her to open up to everyone. She would’ve hated it if someone did that when she first came to SHIELD. Time to backtrack. “You don’t have to, I just think it might be nice to get out of this room.”
No response. Wanda’s eyes seemed intent on the hems of her sleeves.
“If you come down you don’t have to eat either, just sit with everyone, team bonding and whatnot.”
Natasha wondered if Clint had told the girl that he was leaving. Or if she would even care about that news. Just in case he hadn’t she wasn’t about to mention that it was his last night at the compound for a while. Different approach, “And you are part of the team.”
Wanda let out a humph. She looked too sad for Natasha to take it as her being bratty. Before Natasha could continue, Wanda finally spoke up again, voice small and heavily accented. “Please just… not tonight please.” Her pleading eyes glanced to meet Natasha’s before looking back down. The spy could see unshed tears glistening in them.
God this didn’t go as planned. “No, of course not, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.” The air was tense. Natasha felt unwanted. “I’ll just bring you a plate after.” She turned to leave.
“Please don’t.” The voice stopped the spy dead in her tracks. She can’t believe how bad she fucked this up. Stupid Clint, why did he even drag her into this. Basically setting her up to fail, she wasn’t made to comfort.
Natasha nodded curtly, she could feel the witch’s gaze on the back of her head. Not wasting another moment she left the room. Almost immediately after the door shut she could hear crying on the other side of it. Not being able to join the team herself after that, she took the stairs down to the training room to clear her mind.
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Wanda couldn’t believe she was almost excited for Natasha to come back. What an idiot. She couldn’t help the tears that came right after she had left.
She hated being a burden, he hated that someone had to check in on her, but the thought of sitting at a table with all of the Avengers made her want to crawl out of her skin. And to be realistic, even leaving the room scared her. She knew that supposedly the Avengers had forgiven her for her actions before joining their side, but she still didn’t feel right using their space and eating their food rent free. She had half hoped the others besides Natasha and Clint had forgotten she even existed.
At least with Clint leaving soon and from Natasha already trying to shed the burden of needing to check in on her, Wanda seemed to be closer to maybe having everyone finally leave her alone.
This thought calmed her down a little. She grabbed a tissue from her bedside table and tried to recenter herself.
But she knew Natasha was right; she’d feel better if she left her room. Just the minimalistic self-care she had done today of brushing her teeth and hair had proven that. She didn’t want an audience though.
Wanda wanted to go outside, her mind had been begging for it for a while. One problem: she didn’t even know how to get outside. With the fog of the battle…and her brother… over her when she moved in she had no memory of even getting to this room, let alone what any other part of this compound looked like.
Luckily the sun seemed to be setting, so she could blend into the darkness. It’d probably be a good idea to wait until it got darker, but now that she had the idea she was antsy to leave.
Wanda went back to the closet, found a pair of black combat boots to wear, and an equally black jacket. She almost wanted to say that whoever stocked the room had guessed her taste well, but the white walls, bedding, and furniture begged to differ. Not the greatest combination for someone who felt like they were losing their mind.
And with the zip of the jacket, she slipped out of her room as quietly as possible. Dimly lit hallway. Nice start. She headed towards the elevators, pressing the button one was already on her floor.
Seeing that the buttons weren’t labeled with anything but numbers was discouraging. Especially since there was a 1 and a G, either of which could have been the true ground floor. She would hate to choose wrong and have the elevator drawing too much attention to her entrance on the wrong floor. She moved to the stairs.
At least she knew now she was on the 5th floor. She moved down the stairs quietly. As she came to the doors for the 1st floor she pressed her ear to it, she couldn’t hear anything, and from looking at the bottom of it no major light seemed to be shining through. Despite not having used her powers since the battle, she trusted them when they didn’t detect any energies coming from the other side.
Wanda found another dimly lit room on the other side, a sitting room maybe? There seemed to be a lot of fancy and uncomfortable looking couches and not much else. There were other doors on the outskirts, but she wasn’t about to investigate once she noticed the big windows ahead looking out on a huge outdoor pool. And there was a door!
Mission accomplished. Being an Avenger wasn’t so hard. In mere moments she found herself in the fresh dusk breeze. She released a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding and started walking.
She made it to the tree line quickly, once she was sure no one was watching or following her she relaxed again. It was easy to disappear into the wood. Wanda didn’t know how long she was walking for, but guided by the moonlight now she found a clearing and sat down under a tree.
Pietro would have loved it here. He loved being out in nature, he would have never wasted so much time in his room when he had so much land at his fingertips. Hell, even if he couldn’t go outside, he would’ve never wasted so much time in his room with that whole building at his disposal. Piet would be eating with the rest of the team right now, he would’ve befriended all of them the first day he was here. He should be the one here.
She couldn’t hold it back any longer, she was crying again. At least in the woods she didn’t have to worry about being quiet.
She was out there for hours, not that it mattered. The witch was pulled out of her mind by a crashing sound and a figure appearing in the clearing with her.
“Wanda.”
She let out an involuntary scream which caused the figure to jump and crouch down, trying to calm her. “I apologize for not announcing myself. I am not a threat.”
The voice and cadence were recognizable, it was Vision. She calmed down.
“May I sit down?” The android was awkward but it was endearing.
“Yes.” She half-heartedly gestured to the space next to her, not meeting his eyes.
“Once again, Wanda, I do apologize for the scare, however when I did my nightly consultation with Friday on the current occupants of the compound, she mentioned you were not inside, and I wanted to secure your safety before powering down for the night.”
“Oh.” Was that something he did? “I’m fine.” Her voice was obviously strained from crying, but hopefully the robot wouldn’t pick up on that.
They sat in silence for a while, neither moving to leave. Vision finally broke the silence.
“You know Wanda, I have always been alone, so I’ve never experienced loss because I’ve never had a loved one to lose. But, what is grief, if not love persevering?”
She had never thought of it that way before. This made the witch look at him, unlike Clint or Natasha, Vision wasn’t looking at her with pity, or like her was trying to figure her out. His look was of pure curiosity, a new soul just trying to help. She nodded and smiled softly at him, which he returned, looking proud of himself.
“Thank you, um, should we head back in?” Wanda’s voice was full of new emotion as she quickly wiped stray tears from her eyes.
“It’d be my pleasure to escort you.”