Chapter 7
“Natty…” Wanda whined, wrapping herself around me.
“I know, bug. I don’t want to go either. But Yel and Melina will be here with you. I bet if you ask nicely, she’ll invite Kate over.” I tried, wondering if it would lessen her sadness.
“But what if you get hurt?” She asked with a sigh.
“You know that’s never my plan, sweet girl. I always have the intention of coming home to you.” I said softly.
“Who’s going with you?” She asked, still not convinced.
“Steve, Tony, and Bruce,” I said gently, knowing that wouldn’t be an answer she enjoyed.
“Oh.” She said, her nose scrunching in disgust.
“Baby…” I said, trying to pull her out of her jealousy before she was too invested in it.
She didn’t answer me, and when I looked at her, she wasn’t in her own body. Her eyes looked far away from the room we were in, and I desperately wanted to get her back. I gently ran my hands up and down her arms, trying to ground her before she was too far gone. This mission was important, and I knew that I was needed, so I needed her to be okay when I left. She sighed and seemed to melt under my fingers as she came back to where we were. I got her to calm down before we made it into the common area where everyone was gathered, and Wanda latched onto my arm even tighter. Everyone was talking and laughing and immediately included us in the conversation. After half an hour, I gave Wanda a look that told her that it was time for me to go, and she was immediately upset.
“Natty… Do you promise you’ll be safe?” She asked quietly.
“I promise baby. I’m not even going to be where the action is today.” I said with a soft smile.
“Okay… But I don’t like Bruce going. I don’t trust him.” She said, scrunching her nose in annoyance.
“But do you trust me?” I asked gently.
“I do.” She said with big eyes.
“Then that’s all that matters, right bug?” I asked with a smile.
“Right. You promise you’ll come back to me safe?” She asked one last time.
“I promise. I’ll be back before you know it.” I said gently.
“Plus, you’ll have us!” Yelena said with a smile.
“Invite Kate over,” I said firmly.
“Why don’t I just see if the spider boy can come over too,” Yelena said in annoyance.
“Good idea. Invite Peter as well.” I instructed her.
“Both?!” Wanda asked in surprise.
“Absolutely both,” I said, eyeing Yelena.
“Fine. I will invite them both.” She said, rolling her eyes.
“See, bug. Both.” I said with a smile.
“Fine. But hurry back.” She said with a pout.
“I wouldn’t dream of being away from you for longer than needed,” I said with a smile.
She nodded her head and jutted her chin out toward me, requesting kisses before I left. I happily obliged before it was time for us to part ways. She begrudgingly let me go, and I made my way to the hangar to get my weapons. After grabbing far more than I would need, I went to the jet, ready to get this mission over with. We all loaded on the jet and took off. It was a relatively easy intel mission. The guys would create a distraction while fighting, and I would slip in, undetected, and get what we needed from their systems. It should take less time for me to do than it took for us to even get there. We landed, and all quickly jumped into action. I was able to slip into an open window, and as their alarm went off, I moved through the halls, looking for their control room. Once I found that, I began trying to get into their systems to find what we needed. Someone had left their computer logged in, and I started going through every file, laughing to myself when I realized that none of their files had a password to protect them. It gave me hope that I’d be able to easily find what we needed and make the transfer before I got caught with my hand in the cookie jar.
“Update, Nat. Where are we at?” Steve asked, sounding distressed.
“Almost in,” I said quickly.
“Can you hurry it up, Romanoff? Some of us are fighting bad guys out here, and it’s tiring.” Tony said with a laugh.
“You have a Hulk and a suit of robotic armor. If you want to come in here and do this, be my guest.” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Speaking of… Uncle Sam, where is Banner?” Tony asked with pure curiosity.
“North, currently disarming some tanks to make our leaving easier,” Steve said, sounding out of breath.
“See Tony? That’s what someone sounds like when they’re actually doing something. Now, fight the bad guys, and let me do what I need to do.” I instructed.
The communication between us went dead as the guys continued their fighting, and I typed away. It didn’t shock me that Tony was trying to rush me on this, but it did piss me off. He had every chance to be the one in this room, but he chose to use his fancy suit to fight people instead. I was elated to be the one chosen to be in the room dealing with computers. The last thing I needed was to get hurt and go home to Wanda. She would never let me leave her sight again. I found the file we needed and quickly dragged it over to my external hard drive to start copying it. I watched as the numbers began to move, and it got closer and closer.
“Romanoff!” Tony yelled, pulling my focus away from what I was doing.
“What?! Oh fuck!” I yelled, feeling a burning sensation on my arm.
“What happened? Are you okay?” Steve asked quickly as I turned and put a bullet between the agent’s eyes.
“If the tin man hadn’t pulled my focus away, maybe I could’ve avoided that bullet,” I said through my teeth.
“Shit, are you okay?” Tony asked quickly.
“Oh yeah, other than the fact that a bullet just grazed my arm,” I said in annoyance.
“I’m sorry. I just had a call from your sister and Peter saying that Wanda was a little distraught.” He said with a sigh.
“What happened?!” I asked quickly.
“I’m not sure. Maybe she’s just nervous about you not being there.” He said flatly.
“Of course she is! What do you think she’s going to be like now that I’m coming home after being shot?” I asked with a sigh.
“Nat, what do you need?” Steve asked, not willing to listen to Tony and I go back and forth any longer.
“I need someone to get me the fuck out of this room and back on the jet so I can get home to my fiancée if that’s not too much to ask for,” I said with a bite in my voice.
I grabbed the hard drive and put it back into the pocket it was in on my suit while I searched for something to wrap around my arm and stop the bleeding. I could feel the blood dripping down my arm as the burning spread, and I couldn’t help but think about how I’d broken a promise to Wanda. That was one thing I never wanted to do, and I did it in this way of all things. I never should have promised her when I knew there was no way I could, but I wanted her to feel okay. Apparently, it didn’t matter what I did because she was distraught about something anyway, and I wasn’t there to make it better. Bruce came through the wall, and I groaned, not enjoying that he was the option they sent. Steve appeared to the left and came into the room, easily picking me up and running to the jet. I couldn’t believe how fast he got me there, but it felt like it happened in the blink of an eye, and I was just praying we could get something to stop the bleeding sooner rather than later. He gently set me down at the base of the ramp, and I quickly made my way in as everyone else came in behind me. Bruce was now looking human and jumped into doctor mode immediately. He sutured my arm, closing the gash that was pumping blood from my body as fast as it could, and made sure it was wrapped properly. Tony got us home as quickly as he could, and the second we landed, I sprinted into the hangar, seeing Yelena waiting nervously.
“What happened?” I asked, trying to prepare myself for anything.
“Everything was fine, I swear. But then she started to get quiet. Kate was the first one to notice. We tried to talk to her, but she had already retreated so far into herself that we couldn’t do anything to pull her back. Mama feels bad, but she tried to touch her shoulder, and that only set Wanda off. She ran into your bedroom and had Friday lock the door.” Yelena said quietly.
“Jesus Christ. Of course.” I said with a sigh.
“What happened to your arm?” She asked with a frown.
“Tony,” I grumbled.
“He did this to you?” She asked, her frown only intensifying.
“Indirectly. He distracted me, I missed someone coming into the room; lucky for all of us, he was a shit shot.” I said, shaking my head.
“Do you have a hoodie or something? I’m not sure this is good for Wanda to see.” She said with a pained smile.
“I do have hoodies. They’re in my room. With my wife-to-be.” I said, raising an eyebrow.
“Right…” She said with a sigh.
I sighed and moved past her, deciding to let her do whatever she felt like doing to Tony while I went to check on Wanda. I had to walk through the halls, my head pounding if I moved too quickly. I had pushed it running to the hanger, and that had, unfortunately, been the only fuel I had for running after losing so much blood. It felt stupid when it was just a graze, but it had bled a lot faster than I was expecting it to. When I got to the common room, I saw Pietro hanging out, eating some mac and cheese, and I felt rage flood my body. He looked at me with a smile, and I saw red; making my way over to him to find out where he had spent his day while his sister needed someone.
“Where the fuck were you today?!” I asked, trying to control my anger.
“What do you mean?” He asked with a frown.
“Where were you?!” I repeated.
“That doesn’t answer my question.” He said, shaking his head.
“I was on a mission, and Wands had a panic attack, and no one could find you. So I repeat, where the fuck were you today that was more important than being here?” I asked, doing my best to control my anger with him.
“God, I was training today. Why didn’t anyone get me?!” He asked with a frown.
“No one knew where you were, Pietro. Bring your phone with you next time.” I said, shaking my head.
I walked away, knowing it would do no good to keep yelling at him when Wanda needed me. I slowly turned down the hallway to make my way to our room and suddenly got nervous. I knew that she was going to be upset about my arm, and I didn’t want that to make her feel even worse than she was already feeling. When I was standing in front of the door, I took a deep breath and knocked on it gently, praying she was still awake to answer it. There was a muffled sound that I couldn’t understand, so I knocked again, waiting to see if she was actually talking to me or not.
“Go away!” She shouted.
“Hey, sweet girl,” I said softly.
“Natty?” She asked, her voice muffled by the door.
“It’s me, baby. I heard you were having a tough day.” I said with a gentle sigh.
“It’s dumb.” She mumbled.
“Can you open the door for me?” I asked softly.
Without a word, she pulled the door open, looking at me like she couldn’t believe that it was really me. She practically launched herself into my arms, and I ignored the pain that shot through me when she brushed over the cut on my arm. What mattered was making sure she felt safe and loved, not scaring her with the fact that I’d been not only shot at but hit by a bullet today. She quickly buried her face in my neck, taking a deep breath and tightening her grip. This time I wasn’t able to hold back a pained groan, and she released me, her eyes scanning over every inch of me, trying to figure out where I was hurt.
“I heard you had a rough day,” I said softly.
“What happened to your arm?” She asked with a frown.
“It’s nothing, sweetheart,” I said, dismissing her concerns.
“Who hurt you?” She asked, red beginning to swirl in her eyes.
“Detka, the person that did it, isn’t breathing anymore. You know that’s what happens when someone tries to take me away from you.” I said with a gentle smile.
“Did you get shot?” She asked, ignoring what I said.
“Yes, but it’s technically Tony’s fault,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“You’re okay?” She asked, eyes still focused on the bandage on my arm.
“I’m okay, sweetheart. How are you doing?” I asked softly.
“I couldn’t stop thinking that something bad happened to you, and then you came home to me with a hole in your body.” She said in disbelief.
“I know detka. I know. I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise.” I said, kissing her fingertips, knowing it helped to calm her mind.
“You can’t do that to me.” She whispered.
“I know detka. I’m sorry. Do you wanna snuggle?” I asked with a hopeful smile.
She nodded her head, and I just smiled, nodding my head toward the bed. She quickly moved to the bed and slid under the covers, pulling them back on my side so I could slide in just as easily. I would text everyone later to let them know that everything was fine, but for now, I wanted to make sure I gave Wanda as much time with me as she wanted. She deserved it more than anyone, and I’d had a long day, so I deserved it the second most. Once I was situated under the covers, she molded her body to mine carefully, and I let out a deep breath to relax as much as I could. The events of the day seemed to catch up to my body the second I hit the mattress, and my arm began to throb. I did my best to ignore it, knowing that it would feel worse in the morning. I sighed and closed my eyes, trying to will the pain away, and the next thing I knew, the pain was quickly vanishing. I frowned before opening my eyes in confusion, trying to figure out why the pain would have stopped. That was when I saw red magic dancing around out of the side of my eye. I moved to sit up so I could tell her I was okay before a firm hand pushed me back against the bed.
“You take care of me every day; let me take care of you.” She whispered with tired eyes as her magic danced around my arm.
“Okay,” I said with a nod.
“I love you.” She said quietly.
“I love you, bug,” I said softly.
I knew that arguing with her was pointless and if she wanted to help me, there was nothing for me to complain about. But I also knew when a fight was one that I would win, and this was not one of those instances, so it was better to go along with what she said. I sighed in contentment and let my eyes flutter shut while she worked her literal magic to make me feel as little pain as possible. She may have chosen to take care of me at this moment, but I knew better than to think that she would let me go on a mission without her ever again after I came home with a bullet wound. I’m not sure I could say I disagreed with her; I wouldn’t let her go without me if the roles had been reversed. Hell, I wouldn’t let her go alone now; at least she had a reason other than being overprotective.