"Stolen Moments"
By darthelwig
*** I own nothing. I'm just having fun.***
A/N: This is set between CA:CW and IW, so this is your basic spoiler warning, though I'm not sure it applies here. Enjoy!
Their first meeting after the escape is filled with tense silences and sideways glances. Neither of them knows how to break down the wall that has been erected between them. A couple of brief apologies on the tarmac are not enough to overcome everything that has come before.
But they are trying.
And Vision leaves her with too many words left unsaid and an unsettled feeling in his heart.
He returns too quickly because he cannot help himself. Now that he has found her, he doesn't want to lose her again.
This time they speak of trivial things, tending towards safe subjects that do not threaten the fragile peace they are rediscovering. He makes her smile, which makes him smile, and for a moment it almost feels like it did before. But only for a moment.
She agrees to meet with him again, though, and that is progress.
He visits as often as he can. It helps that she is always on the move, so that his movements have no pattern for those in power to follow.
Every return to her sees their friendship blossom further, and he thinks he sees her blossom as well, the vibrancy and life returning to her as time separates her from her imprisonment.
They no longer speak of inconsequential things, but begin to trust each other with their thoughts and feelings. He discovers that pain shared truly is pain halved, and her support buoys him. Wanda's acceptance has always been the balm to his soul, and never more so than now, when he feels so alone amongst people who should be his friends.
He looks in her eyes, and thinks perhaps she feels the same.
Their first kiss is on a rainy evening, her shivering against him as he sheltered her as best he could from the unexpected storm. She looks up at him with wide eyes and parted lips, and gently pulls him down to her. It is soft and tentative, over far too soon, but it warms them both.
They begin to touch more easily, more often. Her hands seek his when they go out, and he enjoys the feels of them, so tiny and slender, in his grip. Wanda is formidable, but delicate in her way.
He presses his lips to her palm for the first time and watches her eyes darken with the same need that floods him when she stands close enough to feel her warmth. He has never known desire before this, and might've had trouble with it if not for Wanda. She understands him sometimes before he even understands himself, and she educates him on the finer points.
He finds his lessons extremely enjoyable.
Their kisses and greedy touches go no further for a long time. They bask in their deepening connection and are patient.
Sometimes he comes less often, as duty and suspicion bind him to his work. But his thoughts are never far from her, his heart left behind with her every time he leaves. If the others see a change in him, they don't speak of it, and he is glad. He doesn't want to lie, but he would. He will not put her in harm's way or jeopardize their ability to meet. For her, he will do anything.
They can never stay together for long. A day here and there is all they get. She is always moving, to hide or to fight, but he goes to her wherever she is. He would follow her anywhere.
On her birthday, they make love. He doesn't expect it to happen, and he thinks it surprises her as well. She reminisces about her brother and he wipes the tears from her face, then she leans in to kiss him. It is heated, not gentle, and sets a fire in him, one Wanda encourages with bold hands and traveling lips.
He finds himself in awe of her as he gazes upon her naked form for the first time. She is the most captivating she has ever been to him in her raw beauty. They spend the night discovering each other in all new ways.
Leaving her the next day is the hardest thing he has ever done, and he wonders how long he can continue to do so.
He asks her what the others think of this, of their clandestine meetings and stolen moments. She only shrugs and waves a graceful, dismissive hand.
"I am fulfilling my duties. I can have this."
He is surprised to realize he hasn't thought of his own duties once since meeting up with her this time. They matter less and less the more he is around her. That might've concerned him once, but not anymore. She is the most important thing in his world, and he is happy.
Things go on like this for quite a while, and they learn each other inside and out. He knows he loves her, though he has never said it. The time has never been right, and he wants it to be perfect.
So of course it slips out unplanned, while they lay in bed together one evening, her finger tracing the edges of the vibranium plates across his chest. She seems to find the lines that pattern his body most fascinating, and smiles when her touches make him shiver. It is when she presses her lips to his chest where his heart would be that he blurts out the words that have been on the tip of his tongue for so long.
Her body stills and he freezes, wondering if perhaps he overstepped, but then she meets his gaze with a brilliant smile.
"I love you too," she tells him, and all is well with his world.
Love is a double-edged sword. Now acknowledged, it makes it harder and harder to leave her. He dreams of making a life with her, spending endless days together without the ticking of the clock hanging over them.
He examines his life and knows she is the best part of it. He weighs his options, returns to the compound and the gray emptiness it holds for him, and makes a decision.
He walks the hallways and silently says his goodbyes. When next he departs, he hopes it will be for the last time, that Wanda will accept his proposal to leave this existence of duty and battle behind and join him in creating a new life for them both.
They've been careful to make no promises to each other, knowing they could be torn apart at any time. He intends for that to change.
When it is time, he heads to Edinburgh, where his heart awaits.