Better Days

NATASHA POV:

Wanda had continued to eat well throughout the rest of yesterday and then she ate well today as well so I told her that we could get rid of the tube. She was a little nervous to have it pulled out since it had been hurting her earlier so I told her that we could take it as slow or as fast as she wanted it. She just wanted it out though!

"I'm ready," she breathed out as I grabbed a hold of her tube. I gently pulled it out but made sure to do it fast enough that it didn't cause her extra pain. The tube was out quickly and Wanda looked ecstatic. She had been acting off for the past two days but I couldn't place a finger on it. It wasn't causing problems though so I let her be, not pushing her to tell me what was going on. 

"You did it Wands," I told her as I gave her a hug. We were finally ready to put the tube behind us and move forward. I expect to have some bumps in her eating but hopefully she'll do good for a long time and hopefully we'll never get back to how bad she was before. 

"I did it," she whispered as she pulled away from me. She then mumbled something else but I couldn't understand a word she said. Before I could ask her to repeat herself, she was up, running off to the lab. "I've gotta go show Tony!" I smiled and started to clean up the supplies from the tube removal. 

As I was throwing out the tube, I ran into Vision. 

"Hello Agent Romanoff," he greeted. 

"Hi Vision. How are you?"

"I'm doing quite alright. Has Wanda spoken to you about anything?" I looked at him curiously. 

"What do you mean?" 

"Oh nothing, I was just curious to see if you two have had a conversation lately." He knew something that he wasn't telling me, it was extremely obvious. I thought that androids were incapable of lying but then again, I guess he wasn't really lying, it was more of an omission of the truth. 

"What would we be talking about Vision?" I questioned in a tone that told him I was not joking around. When he didn't speak up, I continued, "Vision, what do you know?"

"Nothing Agent Romanoff. Wanda and I have had some lovely conversations and I was just wondering if you too also partook in interesting conversations." Now he was lying, this was not what he wanted to talk to me about but I wasn't going to push it. I'll just ask Wanda later. 

"Yes, Wanda and I have had many pleasant conversations. Now if you excuse me, I have to go find her." He nodded as I stepped around him and headed down to the lab. Once I got there, I saw Tony showing Wanda one of his many projects. 

"Hi Nat!" she said, smiling, as she saw me enter. 

"Hi, I just had an interesting conversation with Vision," I started, watching as her smile faded. 

"What'd he say?" she asked and I immediately knew something was up. I had one idea as to what it could have been and I sure hoped not. I slept with Wanda and was with her most of the day so I don't know when they could have done it but Wanda was a teenager, if she wanted to, she'd find a way. 

"I don't know, why don't you tell me what you think he said," I pushed slightly. I didn't want her to get upset but it was obvious that they were hiding something from me. 

"Well I don't know why he would be talking to you about me," she feigned innocence. Tony looked at us curiously. 

I sighed, I wasn't ready for this. "C'mon Wanda, we need to have a little talk." She looked at me confused. 

"Why?"

"Well I need to make sure that you are being safe and all," I said smoothly, trying to catch her on. "You know, the birds and the bees?" Tony choked on his coffee and Wanda blushed. 

"No Nat! Vision and I are not... we haven't... we're not like that. That hasn't happened and it never will!" I smirked at the horrified look on her face. 

"Okay, I was just making sure." She huffed and turned back to Tony. 

"You didn't hear a thing," she scolded and he held his hands up. I laughed but then realized that I had no idea what Vision was trying to hint to me. 

"Wanda, we still have to have a talk though. You and Vision may not be screwing around but we still need to have a talk as to what he said." She looked nervous as we left the lab and headed to the living room. 

It was empty when we got there so we both sat down and I looked at her. "Do you want to tell me anything before I tell you what Vision said?" She shook her head after some hesitation so I continued. "Well, he was asking if we have had any interesting conversations lately, so, tell me Wanda, what interesting conversations should we be having?" I wasn't mad but I was firm so that she knew that this wasn't a joke. 

"Um, I don't know. He was probably just confused like always," she stuttered out as she looked at me. She was fidgeting with the edges of her sleeves and messing with her rings, both nervous habits she had. 

"Wanda," I warned. 

"It's nothing!" she yelled and I was surprised. She was normally pretty calm or she would start crying but she didn't usually yell at me. "I don't know why you care anyways!" she yelled as she got up to leave. I grabbed her wrist and made her look at me. 

"Wanda, calm down," I told her gently. "I'm not mad at you, I just want to know if there is something that I should know?" I knew that there was something because she got angry which was a defense mechanism but from what I could see, she wasn't doing anything detrimental to her health so she didn't necessarily need to tell me right away. I would like her too but it wasn't required.

"Well nothing is going on that you need to know about so let me go," she said as she pulled her arm away from me and crossed her arms over her chest. She was starting to frustrate me a little bit but I knew that she was a teenager and that this is what they did. 

"Okay, well I want you to know that I am here to talk to anytime you want to," I started gently.

"Well I don't want to talk so don't worry about it," she said with sass as she turned to leave. 

"I wasn't finished," I raised my voice. 

"I am," she said as she continued to walk off. 

"If you're not back here by the count of three, you're going to be sorry," I warned. She stopped but didn't walk back over. "One," still no movement. "Two," nothing. I did not want to say three. "Thr-" She rushed over to stand in front of me. "That's better," I told her. "Now when I tell you to do something, I expect you to do it the first time, not whenever you feel like it." She rolled her eyes at me. 

"Whatever," she mumbled under her breath. 

"Excuse me?" I asked. 

"Fine, I'm sorry. Can I go now?"

"You can. You can go straight to your room and think about your attitude. FRIDAY will be watching you and if she tells me that you left the room, we will be having a serious discussion. Got it?" 

"Yeah," she breathed as she stormed off to her room. I was just glad that she didn't argue with me over being sent to her room. 

I took a breath as I sat on the couch. How did Laura ever deal with me when I was a teenager?

WANDA POV:

Nat pulled out my tube after I told her I was ready and it was such a relief, now Pietro could go back to being happy with me instead of calling me weak and ugly. 

"You did it Wands," she told me as she pulled me into a hug. 

"I did it," I whispered. "I did it for you Pietro," I said extremely quietly, not wanting to chance Nat hearing it and questioning me. I wanted to go show Tony that it was gone so I left as I yelled over my shoulder, "I've gotta go show Tony!" Nat didn't follow me so I went all the way down to the lab where Tony was working on some projects. 

I put the code in the keypad and opened the door. "Hi Tony," I exclaimed as I strolled over to see what he was doing. "Whatcha working on?"

"Oh, nothing much," he said and it looked like he was about to launch into an explanation as he looked up at me and stopped. 

"Notice anything different?" I asked him as I smiled. 

"Wow kiddo, it's gone already? That was fast, you did awesome!" I gave him a quick hug and then asked him to show me some of the things he was working on so he started pulling me through the lab, showing me his different work stations with all of the projects. 

We were so busy that I didn't notice Nat at the door until she was in the lab. "Hi Nat!" I said as I walked over to her. 

"Hi, I just had an interesting conversation with Vision." My heart dropped to the floor. There was no way he told her about what he saw in my room, he wouldn't tell her, would he? 

"What'd he say?" I realized that Nat could be talking about anything, it wasn't necessarily about me, right? I didn't want to give myself up so I wanted to wait to hear her say it before I told her about the rubber band thing. 

"I don't know, why don't you tell me what you think he said." I knew what she was doing, I wasn't stupid, and I definitely wasn't going to out myself. 

"Well I don't know why he would be talking to you about me," I told her innocently. 

Nat seemed upset and then she started asking me to go have a talk with her. She kept saying talk weird and both Tony and I were confused. Then she told me that she planned to have the birds and the bees talk with me and there was no way that I was going to have that conversation with her! I already knew all of that stuff, and even worse, Vis and I were not doing that, never. Ew, that's just gross. 

She seemed amused at my slight panic attack but informed me that we still needed to have a talk. From what she had said so far, I don't think she knows what's going on but I never knew. She was a very sneaky woman who liked to hide her emotions and thoughts. She could be thinking literally anything and I would have no clue what was going on in her brain without using my powers. 

She brought us to the living room and sat me down to have a talk. It felt like I was in trouble which immediately made me want to get defensive. "Do you want to tell me anything before I tell you what Vision said?" Shit, that made it sound like she knew what was going on. Should I fess up and hopefully not get in trouble for hiding this or should I wait and hope that she doesn't know but also risk getting in trouble? I had to decide quickly as I shook my head. "Well, he was asking if we have had any interesting conversations lately, so, tell me Wanda, what interesting conversations should we be having?" She didn't know, thank gosh! 

"Um, I don't know. He was probably just confused like always." Vis usually didn't know what was going on in this modern world so I was hoping that I could pass off whatever conversation they had as a misunderstanding with him. 

"Wanda," she warned me and I immediately got defensive. I didn't want to talk!

"It's nothing! I don't know why you care anyways!" She looked at me shocked before she quickly hid the shock with a neutral expression tinted with anger. I tried to leave but she made sure that I couldn't by grabbing my wrist. I was panicking slightly, hoping that she didn't feel the rubber band on my wrist or somehow feel the welts through my shirt.

She continued to push and I couldn't stand it. "Well nothing is going on that you need to know about so let me go." 

"Okay, well I want you to know that I am here to talk to anytime you want to," Nat told me gently. 

"Well I don't want to talk so don't worry about it," I sassed as I made to leave the room. 

"I wasn't finished," she told me strictly as I continued to leave. 

"I am," I told her. 

"If you're not back here by the count of three, you're going to be sorry," she warned. I stopped but when I didn't move, I heard, "One. Two." I didn't want her to feel the satisfaction of me walking over but I also didn't want to get in trouble. Nat continued, "Thr-" I quickly got in front of her so that she didn't have any reason to punish me. "That's better. Now when I tell you to do something, I expect you to do it the first time, not whenever you feel like it." 

"Whatever," I mumbled as I rolled my eyes. I wanted to say "whatever bitch" but I knew that that would not go over well so I held my tongue at the end. I couldn't hold back the "whatever" though. 

"Excuse me?" she raised her eyebrow at me as she crossed her arms. 

"Fine, I'm sorry. Can I go now?" My voice was still full of attitude but she seemed to be done with me. 

"You can. You can go straight to your room and think about your attitude. FRIDAY will be watching you and if she tells me that you left the room, we will be having a serious discussion. Got it?" 

"Yeah," I huffed as I stormed off. I got to my room and sat on the bed as I rolled up my sleeve. I started snapping the band thinking of all of the words Pietro called me. Ugly, one snap, weak, another snap. I kept going until I was bleeding, then I went to my bathroom and cleaned the wounds. I figured that the rubber band was much better than cutting because I wasn't trying to kill myself, I was just punishing myself and making sure that I felt grounded to reality. 

I felt a knock at the door and I huffed as I called out, "Come in." I expected Natasha so I was surprised to see Steve at the door. 

"Nat told me to tell you that it's dinner time." I looked at him and felt tears come to my eyes. Had I ruined my relationship with Nat? She didn't even want to talk to me? She had to have Steve talk to me because she couldn't? 

Steve noticed the tears and came over to me. "Do you want me to get Nat?" he asked as he sat next to me, rubbing my arm to try to offer me comfort. I shook my head as tears started to fall, I didn't want to see her disappointed face, then hers would show up in my dream along with Pietro's. 

"I'm such a failure," I choked out before I started crying. Before I knew what was happening, I felt big, strong arms wrap around me and I opened my eyes to see Steve holding me. 

"You are not a failure," he told me soothingly. "You are so strong, you got off of your tube. Is that a failure?" I shook my head. "Exactly, you are so strong. Don't let anyone ever tell you that you are a failure." 

I calmed down and pulled away from him, embarrassed. "Thanks Steve," I mumbled, wiping away the rest of my tears. 

"No problem," he told me, smiling gently. "I'm always here to talk to if you ever need it, okay?" I nodded. "Okay, now let's go eat. Nat's probably wondering where we are." I got up and headed into the bathroom while Steve left the room. 

I took some deep breaths while I looked in the mirror. I splashed my face with water, trying to get rid of the red splotches on my face from crying. Once I was satisfied with how my face looked I left the room and headed to the dining area. 

Nat and Steve were talking quietly in the corner of the room and Nat looked at me concerned as soon as I walked in. I knew that Steve was telling Nat what had just happened, that I had a meltdown like a two year old. I looked down as I sat down at the table, getting ready to eat. I was excited to be able to eat without the food pulling on the tube in the back of my throat. 

We were having grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner so I quietly started nibbling on the sandwich while the rest of the team sat down. Nat was on my left, Steve and Tony each had an end of the table, and Vision and Rhodey both sat on the other side of the table, across from Nat and me. 

They all chatted while we ate, I stayed silent though, not really looking up from my soup. I was still upset from the fight that Nat and I had had earlier. I quickly finished my food and then excused myself from the table, heading to the gym. I know Nat said that I was only allowed to train for an hour a day which I already did with her earlier but I wasn't technically training...I was just, working out. 

I started punching a punching bag and then ran around, trying to burn off some calories. I was so busy punching the bag that I didn't hear when the door opened or even Nat calling my name. 

I felt a hand grab onto my shoulder and I spun around and shot a red ball out of my hand, throwing the person against the wall. I almost threw up when I saw Nat groaning on the floor, slowly standing up. 

"Oh my gosh Nat! I'm so sorry! I didn't hear you coming!" I rushed to explain as I ran over to help her up. 

"It's okay honey," she told me as she grabbed my face and made me look at her to try to prevent me from panicking. "I'm okay, I'm not hurt."

"Yes you are," I said. I slammed her into the wall hard, there was no way that she was completely fine. 

"I'm okay, let's go up to bed." I glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was already 10 pm which meant that I had been in the gym for nearly 4 hours! I was glad she wasn't yelling at me about not listening to her about the one hour rule but I had a feeling we would be having a talk about it later. 

I let her guide me all the way to our room and then quickly got changed in the bathroom. I was feeling shaky, probably from all of the exercise, so I was glad when I was finally in bed. Nat climbed in next to me and looked at me. 

"Are you okay honey?" she asked me and I so badly wanted to tell her about Pietro but instead of talking, I just nodded. "You can tell me anything, I won't get mad or judge you." I couldn't tell her about Pietro, she would make me see a therapist and I don't want to talk about my problems. I so badly wanted to tell her though but I couldn't make myself say anything. I was scared that Pietro would get mad at me and call me weak for asking for help. I was getting upset, trying to figure out if I should tell her or not, and tears started leaking out of the corners of my eyes. 

Nat saw and wiped away the tears, pulling me into her chest. "Oh baby, what's wrong?" I shook my head and just enjoyed feeling safe in her arms. Nat had something about her that made it so that when she was hugging me, I immediately felt calmer and safe. 

"I can't tell you!" I told her, distraught. 

"I promise I won't get mad honey. Just tell me what's going on, I can't help you if you don't talk to me. Is eating getting too much?" 

I finally gave in and told her. "Pietro hates me!" I cried. "He hates me Nat and he's going to kill me!" I realized how crazy I sounded but it honestly felt great to get it off of my chest. 

"Pietro doesn't hate you baby," she told me quietly, gently rubbing my back. "Why do you think he hates you?"

"Because he told me!" 

"How did he tell you?" 

"In my dream, he called me ugly and weak and he almost killed me last night with a knife." Nat probably thought I was insane but I didn't want to stop telling her about it since I started. It felt so nice to finally have someone who could protect me from my dreams and tell me that it wasn't real. 

"Pietro loves you so much and he would never hurt you. It's just your brain playing tricks on you, trying to get you to believe things that aren't real. You're okay, you're strong, and you are so beautiful. Pietro loves you, I love you, Steve and Tony love you, the entire team loves you, you are not alone okay?" 

"Okay," I muttered into her chest. "I love you guys too." My crying had slowed down and I was now just tired. One of my hands was holding onto Nat's shirt while the other one was resting on her shoulder. I was really scared to see how Pietro felt about me asking for help and opening up about my dreams but I was really tired and could barely keep my eyes open. 

Nat seemed to know that I was exhausted because she didn't make me move and just continued to rub my back and card her fingers through my hair, making me relax. "You're okay. I've got you. Shh, shh," Nat whispered over and over again until I drifted off to sleep. 

NATASHA POV:

I asked Steve to go get Wanda for dinner while I finished making the grilled cheese. He was gone for a while and I was about to go make sure that everything was okay when he re-entered the kitchen. He walked straight over to me with a serious look on his face. 

"What happened?" I asked, getting ready to run up to go check on Wanda. 

"Nothing, she's okay. She started crying when I came in but she didn't want me to get you so I made sure she was okay before I left. She should be down momentarily."

"What? Wait, why was she crying? Did she say anything?" I asked, trying to figure out why she was upset. We had just fought but she was angry when she left, not sad. 

"She didn't say anything, she just cried." I was about to ask more questions when I saw Wanda walk into the room and sit down at the table quietly, starting to eat her food. Soon the entire team was sitting down and I couldn't help but notice that she didn't say one thing during the entire dinner. She was very quiet but did eat all of her food so I wasn't going to complain. 

She finished before we were done so she got up and left. I got up to follow her. 

"Just give her some time," Tony said from his spot at the table. "She's a teenager and they get moody sometimes." I wanted to explain that this wasn't what Wanda was like but I decided that maybe she needed some time. 

We finished dinner and I decided to go do some work for Fury before I went to go find Wanda. I was so sucked into my work that I didn't notice I had been working for three hours. 

I quickly got up and asked FRIDAY where Wanda was. She told me that she had been in the gym since dinner finished so that's where I headed. 

I entered to see her punching one of the sandbags but she didn't seem to notice me, or she was ignoring me. I walked up to her and touched her shoulder. I was surprised when she whipped around and used her powers to throw me back. My back slammed into the wall and I fell to the floor, groaning. Wanda immediately started apologizing and ran up to me, helping me stand. 

I knew I would have a huge bruise tomorrow but she didn't need to know that so I told her that I was fine. She didn't believe me but she eventually gave up as we went to our room. She got changed in the bathroom like she always did and then she crawled into bed. I followed suit and turned to look at her, she looked upset so I asked, "Are you okay honey?" She nodded but didn't say anything. I could tell that she wanted to say something so I continued, "You can tell me anything, I won't get mad or judge you."

I saw a tear fall down her cheek and I knew that something was wrong. Why wouldn't she talk to me? "Oh baby, what's wrong?" She shook her head and buried further into my arms. 

"I can't tell you!" she cried out and she sounded absolutely distraught. 

"I promise I won't get mad honey. Just tell me what's going on, I can't help you if you don't talk to me. Is eating getting too much?" I desperately wanted her to tell me what was wrong, I couldn't stand to see her upset. 

"Pietro hates me!" I paused and looked at her, trying to figure out what she meant. "He hates me Nat and he's going to kill me!" I just rubbed her back as I thought of what to say. Pietro was dead. Was she seeing him? Hearing him? What was going on?

"Pietro doesn't hate you baby. Why do you think he hates you?" I asked her, trying to figure out why Wanda thought that her dead brother hated her. 

"Because he told me!" she sobbed. Now I was starting to get a little worried. What was she seeing that I wasn't?

"How did he tell you?"

"In my dream, he called me ugly and weak and he almost killed me last night with a knife." Okay, so she was having nightmares with him, poor baby. She couldn't escape the pain even in her sleep. 

She was just getting more upset so I told her, "Pietro loves you so much and he would never hurt you. It's just your brain playing tricks on you, trying to get you to believe things that aren't real. You're okay, you're strong, and you are so beautiful. Pietro loves you, I love you, Steve and Tony love you, the entire team loves you, you are not alone okay?" She started to calm down after I told her that and I was relieved. 

"Okay. I love you guys too," she said quietly, still hiding in my chest. I muttered to her to try to keep her calm as I felt her drift off to sleep. I didn't dare move her, scared that she would wake back up and start to panic so I slept with my sweet girl on my chest. 

After a few minutes of sitting there, rubbing her back, making sure that she stayed asleep, I closed my eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.