Chapter 4
Melina had been with us for a month now, still refusing to let Yelena get too far out of her sight for too long. She was doing her best to convince Yelena to come back with her and to her dismay, Yelena was doing everything she could to convince Melina to move here. It was a delicate dance they were doing with each other, both knowing that the chances of changing the other’s mind were slim. On the other hand, Melina fell into her mothering duties rather quickly, bringing Pietro and Wanda under her wing of safety. Pietro seemed to brighten up every time Melina was around, knowing that she would take the time to listen to anything he had to say. It was strange, but Melina being here and brightening Pietro up actually led us to plenty of conversations we hadn’t had yet. Many of them were long overdue, mostly us learning about each other in a way that family would know us. Getting Yelena back in my life also seemed to open me up to the idea that Pietro was practically my brother as well. That feeling only made me feel safer with him and my trust for him came quickly. Not that I hadn’t trusted him before, but now I trusted him to know my heart the way he deserved to. After a call with Clint to talk about him bringing Laura and the kids to the compound for Steve’s birthday, I made my way toward the laughter that was filling the common area near the kitchen. Pietro and Wanda were telling a story about their first time fighting with the team and Pietro did what he always does and teased Wanda for everything he could. I leaned against the doorframe and felt a freeness that I’d never felt before, wash over me.
“I think you’re forgetting the part where she couldn’t even look at me but she could steal my clothes,” I said with an amused smile as I walked over to where Wanda was sitting on the couch.
“Natty…” She whined.
“What detka? Is that not true?” I asked with a mocking pout.
“No one told me that they were yours.” She mumbled.
“And if they had, would that have changed anything?” Pietro asked with a laugh.
“She’s the only girl, that’s not fair!” Wanda said with a groan.
“That doesn’t matter,” Pietro said with a smirk.
“You wore Steve’s clothes! Why doesn’t anyone tease you?” She grumbled.
“Because he’s not dating Steve,” I said with a laugh.
“But that’s not fair!” She said with a pout.
“I don’t know why you’re complaining dorogoy, you’re clearly on the winning end of this. You got a whole closet of clothes instantly and fell in love. Is that not enough?” I asked, raising an eyebrow, sitting down next to her.
“More than enough.” She whispered, her eyes softening instantly.
“Nat, would you take care of your girl? You can’t just tease her and not cave when she’s that cute.” Melina scolded.
“I would never do that to her, would I detka?” I asked before pulling her into my lap.
“Never.” She mumbled into my chest as her body relaxed.
The conversations continued in the room, Melina talking about her past and some of the missions she’s been on, and Wanda stayed buried in my chest. Pietro kept glancing at us and I knew why he was looking, but the look didn’t help to calm my heart. There was no doubt that Wanda could hear it trying to beat out of my chest and I couldn’t do anything to stop it. One of Wanda’s hands found my pointer finger and gently squeezed, knowing it was something that usually helped if my anxiety was spiking. It made my heart soar before evening out once again, allowing me to relax slightly. The conversation continued to flow around us before Pietro was challenging Yelena to Mario Kart. It was they’d always been siblings with the way they would squabble with each other. Judging by the look on Melina’s face, she had missed Yelena and I getting into sibling disputes and she was enjoying getting to hear them again. As strange as it was to think, everything that was happening felt natural. After close to an hour, I gently got Wanda’a attention and asked her to come with me. Of course, by doing that, she had a million questions to ask. She wanted to know where we were going and why, and they were questions I should’ve been ready for but instead, I ignored them and just asked her to trust me. She did as I asked, there was never a chance that she wouldn’t, but my heart was still racing in my chest over the thought that she might not.
I laced our fingers together and we walked through the compound. It was quiet as most people were gone on a mission right now, but that was my preference. There were so many places to hide in this place, but I had one specific one in mind, and Wanda still hadn’t seemed to catch on. I wasn’t going to complain though, I was glad that she was seemingly unaware of where we were going. When we reached the library, she looked at me with a curious frown. I knew she was contemplating the idea of using her powers to figure out what was going on, but she would never do so without my permission. Unfortunately for her, this was one of the few times I wouldn’t grant her that permission. We walked through the rows of books until we got to the reading nook where Wanda and I had spent plenty of silent afternoons together. She used to hide here praying no one would talk to her and I respected her wishes until she was the one to break the silence. It was the place that I fell in love with her mannerisms the most, where I watched her closely and where she was completely free to dream and get lost in those dreams. It was the place that I saw Wanda for who she truly was for the first time, where all of her walls came crumbling down and it was where I could see her reading to our future children while we’re visiting because someone needs to keep Tony in check and we all knew it wouldn’t be Peter. It was the only logical place for us to be right now and hopefully she would agree with me.
“What’s going on Natty?” She asked, her eyes searching the area for an answer to her question.
“I know a million places we could hide away from the world together. I’ve always wanted to keep you safe, so the thought to run away to one of those places was constantly in my mind every time you ended up with so much as a scratch on your face. Because of you, I’ve gained a brother. Maybe an annoying one, but also one that I know will stand by my side to protect you with everything we have. My mother loves you as if you were her own and even my sister loves you. I know I said I didn’t want to rush into this but the more I see our families blending together so perfectly, the more it’s become clear to me that you and I were destined to meet. I know it’s a cheesy line, believe me, I hate that I even said it, but it’s true. Before you, I didn’t think that things like destiny were real, at least not in the romantic sense. I thought that we went through life and some people ended up with their happily ever after and others didn’t. Before you, the words of the Red Room still echoed in the chambers of my mind and it wasn’t until you showed up that you began to fill those once-empty rooms with kindness and love. It was something foreign to me, no matter how hard Melina had tried when we were kids, I truly never believed someone would love me the way you so effortlessly did. You were understanding, much more than I deserved for you to be. It didn’t matter if it was a nightmare or me lashing out at you because I was scared of how close we were getting. You stayed and never once did you sway. Because of how fully you loved me, I was able to start loving myself while also loving you the way that you needed and deserved to be loved. I know that I’ve risked my life more times than either of us would like to count but this is the scariest thing I have ever done. Because I… Wanda, I want forever with you and the white picket fence, kids, all of it. I would give up everything we’re doing here to buy a house wherever you want and live a peaceful life. Detka, I love you with my soul. I may have done some covert work, but I wanted to make sure Pietro was okay with me asking his little sister this question since I kind of skipped asking him if it was okay for me to date you… It turns out that he’s been eagerly waiting for me to come to him about this. So uh, Wanda… Will you continue to make all of my wildest dreams come true and marry me?” I asked quietly, pulling out a box that had her mother’s ring in it.
She was quiet and I couldn’t see her face. I did my best to let her process everything I had just said to her because I knew it was a lot. This entire thing was a lot for both of us. I wasn’t lying when I said that this was the scariest thing I’ve ever done. I had shown Wanda my soul countless times, it was hers to explore, but this was different. This was me asking her to see me for who I truly am and commit to being with me until our very end. She hadn’t even seen the ring yet, but part of me wanted to show her immediately to see if that would help.
“Where are those pretty eyes of yours that I love so much?” I asked gently, anxiety quickly building in my chest.
She looked at me with tear-filled eyes and I prepared myself to hear the words I never thought she would tell me. I couldn’t tell if her eyes were filled with regret or sadness but it was breaking me to look at her and see the tears continue to build and fall down her face. I wanted to take it back and tell her that we could forget about it. Not that I actually wanted to do that but if she wanted it, I could as well. I would wait for her as long as she needed me to and this didn’t need to be the end of anything. Maybe instead of her mother’s ring, I should have asked Melina for one of hers. I had no idea if it was in bad taste to not let Pietro use the ring for someone, but he did offer it to me when I told him that I wanted to marry Wanda, so I figured that it was okay. He also seemed to be under the impression that Wanda wanted this ring when she got married, so maybe it really was me that she didn’t want.
“There they are… You don’t have to answer. Now or ever. If I… Maybe I misread where we are. We can go back to the way things were before I did this. It… It was stupid. I jumped the gun. I think… Seeing our families together probably just got to me. But uh we can pretend this never happened.” I rambled, my heart pounding in my ears.
“He told me that no one would ever be good enough for him to give them that ring.” She whispered, her voice breaking slightly.
“What do you… Oh God…” I mumbled, my heart shattering in my chest.
“He’s never thought anyone was good enough for me. Maybe it was him being a protective older brother, but he was always right. But he gave it to you. He knows what I’ve always known.” She said softly.
“You’re not upset he gave it to me?” I asked, unsure of if I wanted her answer.
“Nat I… I’ve been dreaming of the day that you would ask me this question but even in my wildest daydreams, I didn’t ever see Pietro giving you this ring to ask with. But he sees you for you. He sees what I see and he gave you this ring. I wish you could have met my mother, she would have loved you the way Melina makes me feel. I love you so much.” She said as tears continued to stream down her face.
“Are you… I need to hear you say the words for this to feel real, detka.” I begged.
“Nat, I want nothing more in this life than to marry you.” She said with a teary smile.
In that moment, I finally felt like I could breathe again and pulled her into my arms firmly. Her body shook as she continued to cry and tears of my own fell. The happiness I felt was unlike any other that I’d experienced before. I wanted to scream it from the top of every building and make sure everyone knew that I was the luckiest person alive because this angelic person loved me as much as I loved her. After a few minutes, she began to calm down and she pulled away, finally wanting to put the ring on her finger. I’d be lying if it didn’t knock the air out of my lungs to slide that ring on her finger, but seeing it on her only confirmed that it belonged on her. I couldn’t stop smiling every time I looked at her and it sank in that she wanted me just as much as I wanted her.
“I can’t believe you thought I would say no.” She mumbled before pulling me in for a kiss.
I wanted to point out that it was her hesitation that led me to believe that she was going to say no, but the last thing I wanted to do was ruin the moment we were sharing. It was one we would be recounting for the rest of our lives and I wanted it to be perfect. So I kissed her until my lungs were burning and we had to break the kiss to gasp for air. Our chests were heaving as they worked to recover from the lack of oxygen and I leaned my head against hers, needing to stay as close to her as I could get.
“Is this why your heart was racing earlier?” She whispered.
“Technically, yes. But it was brought on by Pietro sending me knowing looks as we got closer to this happening.” I said with a breathy laugh.
“Of course, he did.” She said, rolling her eyes.
“Speaking of my future brother-in-law, we should probably go let them all in on the news, hm?” I asked, making a face at the idea of breaking our little bubble.
“They all know?!” She asked, yelling in a whisper.
“Pietro and Melina do.” I said gently.
“Oh, okay. But not Yelena?” She asked with a smile.
“She had no idea,” I said with a laugh.
“At least one person will be surprised then.” She said with a smile.
We made our way back to where everyone was, noticing that they were speaking far quieter than they normally would. Part of me wondered if Pietro and Melina had told Yelena what was happening, and I was praying that they hadn’t. Wanda seemed excited about being able to surprise her and I would hate it if they ruined the surprise. All heads but Yelena’s turned to us when we entered the room and I knew that she had no idea what had just happened. She slowly realized that we were back and turned to look at us with a smile. Everyone else was waiting in suspense to see if I’d asked and if she’d said yes so I slowly brought Wanda’s hand up with a smile, showing them that the ring was on her finger. Yelena’s eyes went so wide it was like she was a cartoon character and Melina and Pietro burst with their excitement.
“My baby is getting married,” Melina said with tears in her eyes.
“What the fuck just happened?!” Yelena asked in confusion before Melina started explaining.
“My baby sister is getting married!” Pietro flew through the house yelling over and over again.
“He is going to be the worst.” She grumbled, fighting a smile.
“Let’s just pray he lets us celebrate this uninterrupted,” I mumbled, pressing a kiss against her shoulder.
“Go,” Melina instructed, clearly telling us we could celebrate tomorrow with everyone but tonight was for us.
“Thank you,” I said softly, pulling Wanda by her hand.