Better Days

NATASHA POV:

Morning came and I decided to stop attempting to sleep. I really didn't get much in the way of sleep but I had gone longer, I would still be able to perform just fine. 

Steve was sleeping so I quietly moved back to where the blueprints were. I had memorized them by this point but I wanted to be sure so I studied them even more. I couldn't fail this mission. I hated failing missions in general but this one was especially important. These bastards hurt Wanda, there was no way they would get away with that. 

I didn't have to wait long for Steve to wake up and soon, he was joining me in reviewing the blueprints. We had determined that the hostages were most likely in one large room in the back of the building. There wasn't really any other logical place that they could be.

I went over our plan one more time, making sure that I knew exactly what we were planning on doing. The only slight change I was planning on making was killing every single son of a bitch who ever touched Wanda. 

Steve forced me to eat something for breakfast before we headed out to start watching, observing, figuring out what we needed to do to get in undetected. 

We were stationed a couple hundred yards away from the main base. We both had binoculars to see the soldiers better as we ducked in bushes, remaining hidden. There weren't soldiers surrounding every entrance. It was clear that they had no idea we were there. They didn't know that they had been found yet so their security seemed rather light, making our job easier. That was only from the outside though, we couldn't see inside. 

"Why don't we just go now?" I asked Steve. The coast was clear, there was no one there, we could most likely get in and out fairly quickly.

"I want to make sure that we get a good idea of how many men there are before we go in. That could take days. We need to see how many leave, how many come in, we won't get that much information in a few hours of watching."

"But we already know that their security on the outside is light which means that they don't have that many men. If they had men to spare, they would be outside guarding each entrance. I see multiple entrance and exit points that we can use. We won't be detected," I argued, wanting to do this as quickly as possible. I wanted to get back to my girl, not waste time trying to gather intel that wasn't necessarily needed. 

Steve sighed. "I guess we could do this now but you have to promise me Nat that you won't kill them, I know this is a personal mission for you but we are here to detain them, not kill them."

"I know that Steve," I told him, rolling my eyes. 

"Then promise," he said.

"This is ridiculous, let's go," I said, going to stand up. I felt Steve's hand on my arm though, preventing me from going further.

"Agent Romanoff, we will not proceed with this mission until I hear you promise."

"I promise," I huffed, ripping my arm from his grasp. He sighed but nodded, also standing up. We stuck to the tree line until we were directly in front of one of the side entrances. 

"You ready?" he asked.

"Yeah," I nodded. We both took off running, quickly and efficiently making it to the door. We both took a deep breath before opening it, hoping it didn't set off an alarm. Fortunately, it didn't and we were able to get through the building. 

So far, there were no soldiers spotted so we managed to make it down a long hallway, ducking into doorways if we heard anything. No one had come which meant that we made it in undetected. We made it to where we had thought that the hostages were being held and were disappointed to find it empty.

"They have to be around here somewhere," I mumbled. "This doesn't make sense. Where else could they possibly be?" As soon as the words came out of my mouth, the door behind us closed and a loud alarm started blaring. It was a trap. "Shit," I mumbled under my breath. Steve threw his shield against the door but it did nothing, bouncing back to him. 

We took off running in the opposite direction, passing the room that Wanda had been kept in. I faltered slightly when we passed it but I kept running, moving further away from the large containment center.

Steve pointed to the left so I veered off our straight path, running through a series of rooms. They were all connected and they were all made from cement. They were made for holding hostages but they were all empty.

"They must have known we were here," I yelled. "They moved the hostages."

"Get out of here!" Steve yelled back. I kept running until we turned a corner to another long hallway. Soldiers started filing into the hallway, blocking our exit. 

"Remember Romanoff," Steve mumbled under his breath and I knew what he meant but I had no intention of listening to him. I would kill all of them but I needed to wait for the right moment. Steve would stop me immediately if I tried it now, I needed to wait until after we got the hostages. 

The soldiers came running toward us and we both immediately started fighting back using hand-to-hand combat. It was easy enough and I knocked most of the men out, watching as they fell to the ground. They weren't dead yet, just unconscious. 

I was in the middle of fighting when my phone started ringing. It was buzzing in my side pocket in my suit. In normal circumstances, I would have ignored it to keep fighting but I had a daughter now, this could be important. 

I quickly ducked into an empty room, pulling my phone out of my pocket to answer it. Laura was the caller ID and I felt my heartbeat spike. She wouldn't be calling me on a mission unless something was wrong with Wanda. 

Steve was out fighting by himself so I wanted to make this quick but Wanda was my top priority so if something was wrong, she got my full attention.

The second I heard that Wanda was missing, my heart stopped. I felt lightheaded. What if HYDRA had this whole mission planned out just to get me out of the house so that they could get Wanda? I tried to keep myself calm, knowing that Clint and Laura were there to protect her but I had no idea what had happened. Laura asked me where she might have gone so I told her to check the creek. Wanda had seemed to like it when we had gone there a while ago.

Laura immediately agreed, telling me that she would find her. I trusted her and Clint but that didn't stop the nerves from filling my body. I knew that this was the only thing I would be able to focus on now. I heard gunshots from outside and knew that Steve probably needed my help.

I told Laura to tell me immediately once they found Wanda but didn't get a chance to say much else as she hung up. I knew that she could probably hear the gunshots and didn't want me distracted but now all I could think about was Wanda and where she was. I hoped that HYDRA didn't get her again and that she was just near the creek, getting some air. 

Before I could dwell on it too long, I heard Steve yell and quickly ran back into the fight. There were several more men now surrounding Steve. One of them had a metal bar to his throat, pressing it into his windpipe. I shot the seven men that were surrounding him in the head and watched as they fell to the ground.

"Romanoff!" he shouted, immediately mad that I had killed them all. "What did we talk about on the jet?" he asked, using his commander's voice. 

"They were going to kill you Rogers, what did you want me to do?" I asked with sass, not in the mood to mess around anymore. If they had Wanda, I was willing to do anything to get her back, even going against direct orders from both Fury and Steve. 

He grabbed my bicep and turned me to face him. "What the hell happened? Where did you go?" he asked.

"Wanda's missing," I told him and I watched as his expression changed.

"What? Is she okay?" he asked and I could tell he was worried.

"They don't know, she's still missing. If HYDRA took her Steve, I will kill all of them right here and right now." He nodded, his face grim. 

"Natasha, I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"It's fine, we have to go," I told him, shrugging his hand off my bicep as I kept moving. I was more determined than ever to complete this mission now. I needed to get home, especially if they couldn't find Wanda.

Fortunately, less than half an hour later, I got a text from Laura that they had found Wanda. I asked for details on where and how she was but Laura was very short with her answers, letting me know that they found her in the woods and that she was good. I tried getting more info but she told me to just focus on the mission and that we would talk when we got home. I wasn't happy with her answers but I knew that she was right.

I told Steve that Wanda was fine and he looked relieved as well so we continued, our full attention going back to the mission.

We decided to stay in the air ducts, waiting to come up with a new plan. They knew we were here, it was only a matter of time before they found us again. 

"Where else do you think the hostages are?" I talked lowly to Steve. 

"I don't know. They may have been killed once we entered the building."

"They would have left their bodies in the rooms," I told him, almost positive that that's what would have happened. They wouldn't have gone through the trouble of moving them. 

"I hope you're right," Steve mumbled. "Let's move," he said, hopping out of the vents as soon as the alarm stopped. We were surprised, they must have known that we were still here because our bodies weren't left in the hallway so why did the alarm turn off?

I followed him through the halls, twisting and turning, trying to prevent being seen. We treaded very carefully, wondering why the alarm was turned off. We had a feeling we would walk right into another trap if we weren't careful so we moved slowly and cautiously. 

We moved through another hall and then both ends of the hallway shut, the alarm blaring again. We must have tripped some wire or something to trigger the alarm. More soldiers came flooding into the room. 

Steve and I looked at each other before facing different directions, fighting our way through the men. A man in front of me shot me in the thigh and I let out a garbled yell, stumbling slightly. My body had been turned when he shot me so it shot straight through my phone, lodging itself into my thigh. I was going to have to take it out later. 

I kept fighting my way through the men, pushing my way until I had several men laying on the ground, still, only unconscious. It wasn't time to kill them yet. 

Steve held his own, getting all of his men knocked to the ground as well. We both grabbed all of the men who were unconscious, bringing them into a room, trying to block the door so that we had more time once they woke up.

"This isn't working," Steve said. "We should go back to the jet, figure this out." I nodded, knowing that this wasn't working. My thigh was throbbing, I needed to patch it up before we continued the mission. 

"Let's go," he said, weaving his way through more rooms, the alarm still blaring. 

I followed, keeping my limp to a minimum. I was just glad that he hadn't hit an artery. Blood was continually seeping out of my thigh though and I knew I would bleed out quickly if I didn't get the bullet out and the wound closed. I had pulled out my phone and there was a hole directly through the phone, bits of the screen missing. I realized that those pieces from the phone were most likely in my leg so cleaning the wound would be fun.

We had almost made it to an exit when more men came filing in. I was getting lightheaded from the blood loss but I easily fell into a fighting pose, getting ready to take down more of them. 

Everything was going fine until I got shot again, this time in the stomach. It went all the way through me and hit Steve in his calf. He was behind me and he stumbled, not expecting the bullet. He fell to his knees, only letting out a light grunt. I knew he fell more due to surprise rather than pain. The pain in my abdomen was blinding but I turned to Steve.

He was back up on his feet in an instant but the slight hesitation from both of us was enough for them to swarm. 

"Steve," I said, ready to shoot all of them.

"Don't," he said and I listened. 

Steve and I were back to back. I felt as if I would faint at any moment from the blood loss but I stayed put, continuing to fight the men in front of me. They were very close to us now though but I worked on getting the guns away from them before they could shoot us again.  

The room started swaying and I willed myself to stay conscious. If I passed out, this would get a lot worse. Unfortunately, my will wasn't enough and black dots swam in the edges of my vision.

"Steve," I mumbled, bumping into him. I felt myself losing the battle quickly and before long, I saw as the world tilted, the ground rushing up to my head very quickly.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o

I woke up in the jet, my abdomen and thigh still throbbing. I had no idea how I was in the jet, I thought for sure I was going to have been captured. 

"Nat?" Steve asked. He knelt next to me and he looked extremely surprised that I was awake. "How are you awake?"

"What do you mean?" I asked. 

"You're still losing a lot of blood, you shouldn't be awake yet. I haven't gotten the bullet out." Well that explained the dizziness. 

"Well, don't stop now that I'm awake," I grunted, shifting my position. 

"But Nat," he started and I stopped him. 

"I'll be fine, just get it out. Bits of my phone are in there too," I told him, knowing that if he didn't get the parts of my phone out, the wound would get infected. I knew it was going to hurt like hell but I needed it out. He looked at me again but moved closer to my thigh.

I bit onto my sleeve, knowing that this was going to suck. I felt as his fingers entered my thigh and I choked down a scream. I let out a strangled cry as he dug for the bullet. He pulled out bits of glass from the screen of my phone and he placed them on a towel next to him. 

It took all of my willpower not to kick him away from me. I bit onto my sleeve harder, squeezing my eyes shut. 

Several minutes passed and I knew that he was having a hard time getting it out. "I'm so sorry Nat," he told me as he dug deeper, trying to find the bullet. Another muffled scream made it through my lips at the burning sensation.

Finally, after what felt like forever, he got the bullet out. He set it on the towel and I took several deep breaths, glad that the one in my abdomen had gone straight through. 

"I'm almost done," Steve told me. He grabbed the bottle of rubbing alcohol and poured it over my thigh. I grit my teeth as the burn spread over my leg. 

"Thank you," I told him once the burning feeling had dissipated. I grabbed the gauze and wrapped it around my thigh tightly, trying to staunch the bleeding. 

For my abdomen, I poured some rubbing alcohol on both the exit and entrance wound, putting gauze on both ends. I don't think it hit any organs but that didn't mean it didn't do damage. There wasn't really anything I could do though so I just moved on, making sure Steve's calf was okay. He had dug the bullet out with way less dramatics than me and I felt bad but didn't comment as I sat up all the way.

"How'd you get me out of there?" I asked.

"I fought like hell, grabbing you and sprinting. I got us into the air vents and waited for everything to unlock again, then I got us out. I'm pretty sure they let us go though, knowing that we'd be back. For them, I think this is like a game, they're playing with us right now." I nodded. That would make sense as to why it was so easy to get in. They knew we weren't trying to kill them, otherwise, they all would have been dead, so they are messing with us a little bit. 

"What's the plan now?" I asked.

"I say we wait a few days, go back to our original plan, gather intel, then go back in," he told me.

"But we already know that they have a lot of men Steve," I told him, not wanting to just wait around. "Can't we just go back in now?"

"Can you walk?" he asked me.

"Yeah," I told him, even though putting weight on my leg sent a stabbing pain through my thigh and my abdomen was throbbing. 

"Can you run?" he asked, trying to get me to stand down.

"Yes," I told him. "It's just a gunshot wound, I'll be fine, I've been through worse."

"No Nat, we will rest a few days, get important information, and then go from there." I rolled my eyes but didn't argue, instead opting to grab some of our food and eat. I was surprised he didn't reprimand me for killing those seven men earlier but I think I made it up by getting shot instead of killing them. 

I wanted to call Wanda to see what had happened earlier with her going missing but my phone was trash so unfortunately, I would have to wait. She would be okay, Laura and Clint had her. 

We decided that we wouldn't go anywhere tonight, staying in the jet and resting, tomorrow would be the first day of watching again. 

Another night of no sleep went by before we headed back out to the bushes. The security was greater now, each entrance being blocked. Maybe they weren't playing with us, maybe they just really couldn't stop us. Whatever the reason, it didn't change our mission. 

We spent the day counting cars, tracking what time they came and left, trying to get a feel on how many soldiers there were as well as what they were doing. We also tried to figure out where they were keeping the hostages but that was difficult from the outside. 

We had bugged the air vent that we stayed in but it wasn't super helpful as no one was having important conversations nearby. We listened though, still trying to figure anything out. 

I spent most of my time worried about Wanda. No one knew that my phone had been broken, I just hoped that they hadn't tried to contact me. I would use Steve's phone to tell them but his also got damaged during the fight. We had the Quinjet but the second we turned it on, it could be picked up on the radar of the HYDRA base, if they were tracking us, and we couldn't take that chance right now. 

The next three days were spent doing the same thing, moving around the base, trying to find the weakest point for entrance. One entrance was more heavily guarded than the other, meaning that that one was probably closest to the hostages. At least we now had a better idea of where they were. We wouldn't use that entrance but we did mark it on our maps to tell us that we should look there first. 

We had a timetable for when they switched guards. Unfortunately, they were smart. Instead of switching all of their guards at once, they did it in shifts by group. For example, the front entrance had three groups. Each group was made up of 4 men. At different times, those 4 men would switch out, leaving the other 8 men until their groups switched. It made it so that there wasn't any confusion among the guards on who was supposed to be where and when, making our job slightly more difficult. Each entrance was also on a different time rotation so that they didn't switch out at the same time. My guess was that this ensured that there were enough guards throughout the entire building at all times.

We decided that given this information, we would have the most success in getting in right after a rotation. We would go in one of the side entrances where there were only 4 men. As soon as one of them switched out, we would quickly take out all of the guards, hopefully getting in before they could alert any of the other guards. We would have to be quick though so that we didn't run into the next rotation of guards.

I had barely gotten any sleep the entire time we were there so by the time we were ready to put our plan into action, I was extremely tired. I still knew the plan though and I would be fine. My leg wasn't healed but I could move around a little better at this point, the pain not as bad. It was still relatively painful though but I knew that I could push through that with no problem. 

I missed Wanda terribly, ready to finish and get home to her, I hadn't been able to talk to her for days, ever since my phone broke, so I was more than ready to see her again. If all went well, I would be back by tomorrow.

We were ready to put our plan into action and I was still under strict orders not to kill anyone. Still had no intentions of following it though and I was itching more than ever to kill them. Not talking to Wanda let my brain come up with a lot of creative worries, a lot of them being related to HYDRA. 

We were stationed right outside of the left entrance, waiting for rotation. As soon as we saw one of them switch, we quickly rushed up, taking them out quickly. The first part was a success and we got back into the building. 

We made it through the halls, sticking close to the walls as we made our way to the entrance that was the most heavily guarded. It had been on the right side of the building, the furthest away from our entrance, so we moved quickly but cautiously, trying to get out as soon as possible. 

I was surprised that we made it to the right side without being detected but that wouldn't last long as the next guard in the front was scheduled to switch any minute. When they saw that all of the guards were unconscious, everyone would be looking for us. 

We got to a heavily guarded, locked room, and we figured that that was where the hostages were. 

"You take the right, I've got the left," Steve told me and I nodded, quickly moving around a pillar so that I was on the right side. I looked at Steve and when he nodded, we both took off running, going after the guards. I felt my leg and abdomen pulse in pain but I pushed through, knowing that we had to get this done. 

We got them down and I had managed not to kill them, maybe I would follow orders after all. 

We hacked into the system, opening the doors. There were several guards inside with the hostages and they all pulled their guns out but there was one guard who stood out. He walked in front of them and held a hand up, causing all of the guards to lower their guns slightly. They still had them but they were no longer pointed at us. 

"Wow, you're a fighter, just like your daughter," he said, looking directly at me. I clenched my jaw, bringing my gun up.

I saw Steve shake his head out of the corner of my eye. I glanced at him and he mouthed 'don't' to me.

"You know, she was very excellent, she pleased me. She was strong," he continued, a small smirk on his face. I gripped my gun tighter.

"You are going to suffer for what you did to her," I told him.

"That's okay, I'll just remember how wonderful she was in bed and I'll forget all about it." That was it, I shot him, the bullet going through his forehead. All of the guns of the other soldiers came up but I was quick to shoot them all through the head as well, getting missed by the bullets that they managed to shoot before I killed them. 

"Natasha," Steve said but there wasn't anger. There was a mix of guilt and pity. 

"Get the hostages and get them out," I told him, leaving the room. The guards who were outside of the room were still unconscious but I put a bullet through each of their heads, replaying the words spoken by the lead guard in my head. 

I went to walk down the hall to go find the other guards when Steve walked out. "Romanoff!" he yelled. "Stop," he ordered but I didn't listen, continuing to walk. "Natasha," he tried again. "Come back now, we need to get the hostages out."

I ignored him, horrible images of what happened to Wanda rushed through my head as I continued my hunt to find and kill all of the guards. 

Steve didn't follow me, my guess was he went to complete the mission. I didn't care if I died as long as I killed the guards first. They couldn't get away with what they did to Wanda. 

I went through the entire base, killing the soldiers as I went, not flinching or hesitating. I watched as their bodies littered the floor around me but felt no remorse. They deserved what they were getting.

Some part of me knew that this was wrong, that they should be locked up, not killed, but I couldn't help it. I wanted them to suffer but I didn't have time for that so I would kill them. 

I knew that I was technically failing the mission but I didn't care. I was in a trance, only thinking of the words spoken to me by the lead guard/researcher as I shot them. Eventually, I ran out of bullets. I stood in the hall, panting as the realization of what I just did hit me. Fury would be pissed, there was no doubt about that. I hadn't even really realized what I was doing, the only thought that had gone through my mind was revenge.

I don't know how long I stood there but soon, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I whipped around, my gun aimed at whoever was behind me. I saw Steve standing there, I quickly lowered my gun. He looked pissed. "Let's go," he said. I glanced at all of the bodies scattered around me before nodding.

He kept a firm grasp on my bicep as we left the building. There were SHIELD cars stationed outside, meaning that I had been inside for longer than I thought. The original plan was for them to take the guards but since most of them were dead, they took the hostages, sending other SHIELD agents to remove the bodies and go through the base. 

Steve talked to one of the SHIELD agents while I stood there. I still felt as if I was in a trance, just standing there while I waited for Steve to finish.

He grabbed my arm again before dragging me to the Quinjet. He pushed me inside and I sat down, waiting for the yelling. Steve rarely yelled but this was serious, I knew I messed up, I would probably be put on probation if not completely kicked off. 

"What the hell were you thinking?" he asked, eerily quiet and calm.

"They hurt Wanda," I told him simply. 

"What did I tell you?" he asked, still staying calm.

"Not to kill them, but you heard him Steve, you wanted me to just leave him?" I started, defending myself.

"Not him Natasha, you killed almost all of them. I understand you're angry, but you completely disregarded our mission," his voice was rising now. "Do you have any idea how much danger you put the hostages in?"

"They were fine," I scoffed. "They had you."

"I had to force myself not to go after you. If I had, those hostages would have been killed."

"You don't know that," I told him, not willing to be reprimanded by Steve.

"I do, guards flooded the room after you left, I fought them off but if I had gone to get you, they would have shot all of the hostages."

"I'm sorry Steve, I heard him mention Wanda and I lost it, I'll be better next time."

"There may not be a next time," he said. "Fury's angry, you'll have to answer to him." I nodded, knowing that this would happen. Steve must have decided that he wouldn't get anything more out of this so he moved over to the cockpit, turning on the jet. 

As soon as he did, several messages came through our systems. They were from Clint. The first few were about Wanda, telling me to call him when I got them, then the later ones were telling me to contact him if I was still alive. Fuck. Wanda was probably panicking. 

"We have to go to the farm," I told Steve. "I'll deal with Fury later, please Steve," I practically begged him, something that was rare for me. 

He sighed but nodded. I quickly messaged Clint, letting him know that my phone was destroyed but that we were on our way home and that I was okay. I could only imagine the stress I had put Wanda through in the last few days. I felt absolutely horrible. I just hoped she didn't take it too hard and that she was okay.

WANDA POV:

As soon as Nat didn't answer, Clint and Laura tried distracting me. We all got in the car and went to go get the kids. They weren't far and Lila immediately started chatting once she got back in the car. All I could think of was the fact that Nat didn't answer though. I had no idea what happened to her but I hoped it wasn't anything serious.

We got back to the farm with the kids and I wanted to try Nat again. "Can we try calling Nat again?" I asked. I was incredibly worried and couldn't think of anything else.

"Why don't we give her a little time," Laura suggested. 

"Please," I tried.

"What if we try Steve?" Clint intervened. I nodded, I was fine with that. He pulled out his phone, seeming satisfied with his plan, as he dialed Steve. Unfortunately, I watched as he removed the phone from his ear almost immediately, doing the exact same thing he did with Nat. He called him a few times but the same thing happened. Now the panic was setting in more. They were probably captured.

"We have to go find them," I said, pulling on my shoes. 

"Wanda, hold on," Clint said. "We don't know where they are. They probably just turned off their phones so that they didn't ring during the mission."

"No, we have to go right now! Please Clint, what if something happened?"

"It's only been about half an hour since we tried calling Nat, let's give them some time before we panic, okay?" Laura tried. "We'll call them again in a few hours, they'll probably answer then, okay? I bet there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this."

I tried to tell myself that Laura and Clint were right. She was on a mission, she very well could have just turned off her phone so that she wasn't distracted. 

Laura and Clint made breakfast for all of us. I felt blank as I sat there, I wasn't hungry but Clint and Laura made me eat anyway. I managed one small pancake but that was it. They seemed fine with it though and they let me leave once I was done with that so I went back to my room.

I lay in bed, just thinking. Thinking about where Nat might be, thinking about the mission, thinking about when she would be back, thinking about this morning. I really wanted Nat.

Clint came into my room a few hours later. "Hey kiddo, I got a text from Nat." I immediately bolted up. 

"Is she okay?" He had a smile on his face so I assumed she was fine.

"Yeah, she's doing good. She's sorry she couldn't talk earlier, she had her phone turned off. She's totally okay though and misses you."

"Can I call her now?" I asked.

"Not just yet. She's very busy but she's hoping that she'll be done earlier now." I felt relieved. Little did I know that Clint was making this all up, Nat hadn't texted him, he was making this all up to make me feel better. 

"Okay, thank you so much Clint," I told him. "Can we call her later?"

"Probably, I'll let you know if she says anything else, okay?" I nodded. I felt relief swell within my chest. I was so glad that she was okay. I still missed her but I felt pure happiness for the first time in a while.

I got up and went to go look for the kids but they weren't home. Instead, I went downstairs and found Laura. "Where are the kids?" I asked.

"Lila and Cooper are at school and Nate is sleeping. How are you doing?" she asked me.

"Good," I told her, smiling. I had forgotten that the kids still had school.

"Good, we can try Nat again in a few hours."

"Okay, I'm so glad she's okay though," I told her. I still wanted to talk to her but I definitely wasn't as desperate anymore.

"You heard from her?" Laura looked confused.

"She texted Clint," I responded, getting confused as well, I figured that Clint would have told Laura.

"Oh," she said, plastering a smile on her face.

"Wait, Clint didn't tell you?" I asked, very confused.

"She must have texted him while I was dropping the kids off. That's awesome though! See, I told you she was okay," she exclaimed, passing me a bowl of grapes. She didn't have to tell me that she wanted me to eat it. I hadn't eaten since breakfast and even that wasn't a lot. 

I nodded, now somewhat suspicious. There was a chance that Clint just didn't tell her though so I didn't think too much about it. Laura left the room, leaving me to eat my snack. 

I finished my snack quickly and went upstairs to find Laura and Clint arguing. I couldn't hear what they were saying but I heard angry voices. I wanted to go hear what they were saying but right as I went to go stand outside of their door to listen, the door opened, revealing a flustered Laura. She quickly smiled when she saw me.

"Hey Wanda, did you finish eating?" she asked. Something was going on.

"Is Nat okay?" I asked, wondering if something had come up as I ignored Laura's question.

"She's fine Wanda," Clint told me.

"Okay, and yes, I ate the grapes," I told Laura. "Thank you."

"No problem sweetie. Do you want to go with me to get the kids from school in a little bit?" she asked and I found myself nodding.

"Sure." Laura nodded, disappearing down the stairs. I walked into her and Clint's room. "What was that all about?" I asked Clint, wondering what they had been fighting about.

"Did you hear us?" he asked. 

"I heard you fighting. Was it about yesterday morning? I'm really sorry," I was quick to tell him.

"No, nothing like that Wanda. Couples fight sometimes, we're good now, it was mostly just a disagreement."

"Okay, I can leave if you want me to though," I told him, my happy mood somewhat souring. 

"Wanda," he told me, grabbing my shoulders to make sure that I faced him completely. "We would never, ever, want you to leave. We both love you like crazy and nothing you ever do will change that, okay?" I nodded. He pulled me into a hug and I reciprocated it, enjoying the feeling of comfort.

I pulled away and smiled at him before leaving. On my way back, I heard Nate crying in his room. I heard Laura coming back up the stairs. "Do you want me to get him Laura?" I called down the stairs.

"That would be wonderful Wanda," she said and she sounded sincerely happy.

"Okay," I said, happy to help. I felt like a burden here, no matter what they said, so I would gladly do this. I opened the door to Nate's nursery and saw him holding onto the edge of his crib. He was getting so much older. He couldn't walk or stand yet but it wasn't for lack of trying.

"Hey baby," I said as I scooped him up. His hair was sticking in all directions and I gently smoothed it down with my hand. "Let's get you changed," I told him, laying him down on the changing table. I had seen Laura change his diaper enough times that I felt comfortable doing it. I was careful and I finished quickly, throwing out the used diaper before picking him back up.

I brought him downstairs and set him in his bouncer.

"I was going to do tummy-time with him. Do you want to start it?" Laura asked me. She was folding laundry in the living room.

"Sure," I said. I had also seen her do this several times. He used to hate it but now that he was older, he didn't mind it as much because he could flip over if he tried hard enough. He had just turned 5 months old and from what Laura said, dedicated tummy time could stop once he was 6 months old so he was almost there.

I took him out of his bouncer, setting him stomach-down on the ground. He whined for a second, pushing his neck off of the floor. I lay on my stomach too, leaning my head down so that I was in front of him, almost level with his face.

"Good job Nate!" I told him. He pushed himself until he rocked to the side, flipping over onto his back. "Yay!" I cheered slightly. I had seen Laura do this and she said we have to be supportive so that he knows he is doing good. "Now this way Nate," I said, taking one of his toys and moving to his right, trying to get him to flip over again. His hand came up to try to grab the toy and soon, he had flipped back over, grabbing onto the toy. 

We did tummy time for about 10 minutes, Laura coming to join at the end. "You're really good with him," she said after we had finished. He was sitting in my lap, chewing on a teething ring.

"Thanks," I told her. "He's just too cute." She laughed, getting back up to go get the next load of laundry out of the dryer. 

She folded that next load while I played with Nate and then she announced that it was time to go pick up the kids. "Do you want me to go give Nate to Clint?" I asked.

"We can take him," she said. "Do you want to go grab a snack pouch?"

"Sure," I replied, setting Nate back down in his bouncer. I then went to go grab a snack pouch. We couldn't let him see it yet or he would freak out until he was allowed to eat it so I put it in his bag, waiting for Laura to be ready to go. 

Laura came in with Nate, grabbing the bag. 

"Bye Clint!" I called from the bottom of the stairs. Clint appeared and said goodbye to both of us.

We got in the car and then it was off to get the kids. Apparently, they both went to the same school so we only had to go to one place to pick them up. Laura pulled up into this long line and told me that we wait for the bell to ring and then they both will come running to the car.

We waited for a few minutes before I heard the bell ring. Lila came running first.

"Hey cutie," I said, as she got into the car. I was in the front with Laura and she looked surprised but excited to see me. I had never gotten them from school before, even when I had stayed with them.

"Hi Wanda," she said excitedly.

"How was school?" Laura asked.

"Good, Ellie and I played at recess and I did the monkey bars which was super fun, and then we both played with Carson on the slides." She continued chattering about her day and Laura listened animatedly. She was such a good mom. Lila was still in Kindergarten so she didn't do much in a day.

Cooper came out a few seconds later, climbing into the car next to Lila.

"Hi Wanda," he said, seeming surprised, same as Lila. "Hi mom," he said right after.

"How was school?" Laura asked. He started talking about a test that he had taken. I laughed along with the family on the way home. It felt nice to be included in this stuff. I really did feel like a big sister as we drove home, both of the kids talking about different things that had happened at school. 

Once we got home, both kids rushed inside, getting started on their homework. Cooper had some math and reading and Lila had a worksheet where she had to practice writing her letters and numbers. It brought back memories from when I had gone to school in Sokovia with Pietro. 

As soon as the kids were busy, I turned to Laura. "Can we call Nat now?" I asked. It had been a few hours, it was already 4 in the afternoon, she had to be free to talk now.

"Um, go ask Clint," she said so that's what I did. He had come down to say hi to the kids but had taken Nate upstairs to change him so that's where I headed. 

"Hey kiddo," he greeted me when I walked in.

"Can we call Nat now?" I asked. "Please," I added on once I saw his smile falter. 

"Um, she may be busy kiddo but we can try," he said. He pulled out his phone and dialed her number. It didn't work. "She must have her phone off again, I'll text her and tell her to call us when she's free, okay?" I nodded, my smile disappearing. I had been playing family with the Bartons all day but I missed my mama a lot. "Sorry Wanda," he told me when he saw my expression.

"It's okay," I told him. "Thanks for trying."

Dinner went by fine but my happy attitude was gone as my thoughts were back on Nat. I went to bed early, not sleeping, just laying there. I didn't even argue when Laura came into the room. "No running tonight okay?" Laura said.

"Okay," I replied quietly, turning away.

"Hey," Laura returned. "I had fun with you today." She nudged me and I felt a small smile grace my face.

"I had fun with you too, thank you," I told her. 

"No problem," she replied. It was silent after that. I was glad that she didn't try to convince me to sleep. 

I managed to stay awake the entire night. I continually searched online for 'Steve Rogers' and 'Natasha Romanoff,' trying to see if anything would come up. I wanted to make sure that they were safe. Nothing came up though throughout the night. To me, that was equal parts reassuring and worrying. I wanted to know more information but I was also glad that nothing horrible had happened that caused them to pop up on the news.

The next several days were similar. The kids went to school. I played with Nate, went with Laura to get the kids or to go grocery shopping, stuff like that. We still never got to call Nat though. I was getting incredibly worried. Clint kept saying that he was getting texts from her but this wasn't like her. She would always make time for me so what was going on. This wasn't supposed to be a dangerous mission so there was no reason she shouldn't have been able to talk to me.

I was currently in the middle of another argument with Clint about it. "Clint, what if someone else has her phone and is pretending to be her? She would have called by now!" I've tried getting him to call her right after she texts him but he never did, always saying that she was busy. 

I tried texting her on my phone but they never went through. I tried calling her but it always went straight to voicemail. 

"She's just busy Wanda, she is working super hard. She'll probably be home in a few days though."

"You keep saying that!" I yelled out. I was getting angry. It seemed like he didn't care. "Have her send you a picture or something, please Clint, I need to make sure she's okay."

"You need to calm down," he told me. 

It was day three when I decided to take things into my own hands. Clint had left his phone in the kitchen. He and Laura were both out of the kitchen so I quickly grabbed it, heading upstairs to my room to do some digging. 

When I got there, I realized I didn't know his password. I racked my brain for any ideas but I didn't know any of the kid's birthdays. I made a mental note to figure those out as I started trying random codes. I tried Nat's birthday but that didn't work. I tried several more and was about to give up when I remembered him mentioning that his and Laura's anniversary was coming up. I remembered the date, plugged that in, and low and behold, it worked. 

I quickly navigated the phone to messages, clicking on Nat's contact. I started scrolling through the messages, my heart rate picking up as my stomach dropped the further I read. There had been no back and forth between the two, the only messages being from Clint. They read, 'please respond Nat,' 'I need to make sure you're safe,' 'What is going on?' 'Are you okay?' 'Please respond when you see this,' and more. 

I scrolled up to the day that she left. Then I started reading, trying to figure out what had happened. I felt anger cloud my brain as I read her first message which read: "I should be back in a little under a week. How's Wanda doing? Fury was right, it needed to be me on this mission, it's HYDRA. The people who took Wanda are back and they're trying to find her again. Steve and I are heading to shut it down. It'll be dangerous but we're up for it, anything to get them to shut down. Fury didn't want too many of us going in case we get kidnapped or something else happens. We should be fine but just know that there is a risk. I'll keep you updated though." Clint had lied to me. I now knew that the mission she was on was dangerous.

My heart stopped when I read a specific text from Natasha that said, "I'm so ready to put these guys in their place. They fucking hurt Wanda, that puts them on my bad side immediately." There was more to the message but that was all I cared about. 

I felt as if I was going to throw up. Clint had lied to me, Nat hasn't been texting him, she was probably dead and it was my fault. I should never have left the compound several weeks ago. If I had stayed, I never would have been kidnapped, and then Nat would have never been sent on this mission. These guys were ruthless, I didn't want her going through what I had gone through, I needed to go find her right now.

But first, I had to deal with Clint.