"I thought we had a deal! Stay close, check in, don't take any chances."
Finally able to rest, Wanda sits in her old room in headquarters, unable to take her mind off Natasha's words.
She doesn't regret the time that she and Vision managed to spend together in Edinburgh, in the two weeks since she snuck away from her latest safe house they'd enjoyed their longest stretch of uninterrupted time together since the signing of the accords.
However, she does regret so completely disobeying Natasha's orders, she knows that the older woman only wanted to see her safe and free. The events of the previous evening, when Vision was so grievously injured, have driven home to Wanda just why Natasha had been so fastidious about their protection in the first place.
Really, it had been fairly simple deal, she and Vis had agreed to meet at irregular intervals, only in pre-cleared safe houses, and check in with Natasha every 48 hours. In return, she and Steve would try to allow them as much time together as possible in between missions and the frequent periods where they all had to scatter to avoid detection.
Considering all of this, Wanda is more than a little surprised that Natasha hasn't sought her out since they returned to headquarters. She's well aware that her mentor is not exactly pleased with her – the tone she's employed and the distance she's maintained between them are enough to tell Wanda that angers linger below her icy façade – but as of yet she hasn't confronted her.
Initially, Wanda was relieved by this, thinking that perhaps Natasha considers her earlier scolding words to be sufficient, but now she's beginning to reconsider. Even if Nat does consider them sufficient, Wanda is no longer sure that she does, and she's starting to be aware of a familiar feeling. Guilt.
It is this realisation, that she at least needs to apologise to Natasha and try to explain that her actions were not meant as a rejection of her, that leads to her next move. Wanda slowly extracts herself from her comfortable armchair and heads down the corridor towards Natasha's quarters, not quite believing that she's about to voluntarily experience her mentor's wrath but knowing that she must.
Reaching Natasha's door Wanda hesitates for a moment, before raising her hand to knock on the door. Almost immediately it swings open, Natasha simply motioning Wanda inside before crossing the room to sink into the armchair beside the room's large window.
For a few moments, neither of them say anything, Wanda finding it increasingly difficult to meet her mentor's steady gaze and wishing she were almost anywhere else.
Unsurprisingly, Natasha is the one to break the silence.
"What can I do for you Wanda?"
A little taken by surprise at this brusque greeting, Wanda takes a moment to respond.
"I…I… wanted to apologise properly, to explain why we… why we..."
At this point she is cut off by Natasha, whose voice has lost its icy tone and is beginning to hint at the anger she feels.
"Why you what? Completely disregarded our deal? Ignored everything we put in place to keep you safe? Made Steve and I think you were in serious danger when Vision went offline?"
Wanda hangs her head, feeling ashamed once more.
"All of it, we never intended to worry you, we just… did not think."
"I can see that" Natasha responds, clearly somewhat exasperated by Wanda's reticence. "Why did you come here Wanda? I thought you'd be with Vision, otherwise believe me we would have already had this conversation."
"He's with Steve."
Natasha nods in understanding, apparently aware of Steve's intentions.
"So. What am I supposed to do with you? Clearly, you don't respect my judgement."
"I do! We do. We just… got carried away. We did not really think about how it would impact anyone else, we just wanted time."
"We gave you time! What you really mean is that you didn't trust that the danger was real, didn't trust that Steve and I were only trying to protect you both."
This hits a little close to home for Wanda, and she finds she can't meet Natasha's eyes.
Seeing this, Natasha decides to reinforce her point a little.
"I trust you, Steve and Sam trust you, but this won't work if you don't trust us and let us help you! If Vision hadn't taken down his shields, you would have died!"
"I know Nat" Wanda intones softly "I…I…feel very guilty."
"So you should!" Natasha replies sternly, before relenting slightly at how obviously penitent her protegee is. "Wanda, you made a mistake, I know you and Vis needed time, but you know better!"
Wanda nods her head slowly "that…that is why I came here, I can't stop thinking about it."
"Well, I know what's happened in the past when you've been this incredibly reckless, but I can't quite believe you're asking for that" Natasha says, her eyes widening slightly.
Wanda looks down at her feet, then back up at her mentor. "Neither can I, but…"
"But what?"
"I…I think I might deserve it"
"You do" Natasha states firmly.
For a moment, Wanda does not react. Then Natasha sits back in her chair and beckons her over. Slowly, Wanda moves across the room to stand right in front of her, and almost before she can reconsider what she's asked for she finds herself face down over her mentor's lap, her skirt flipped up and her hands caught in Natasha's strong grip.
Almost immediately, Natasha brings her hand down hard on Wanda's behind, with a resounding SLAP. As always, the pain is far worse than Wanda remembered, and she can't quite believe that she technically was the one to ask for this.
Natasha briefly feels sorry for her young protegee, but she remembers how afraid for her she'd been the day before and steels herself to carry on, raining an onslaught of swats down on her behind. She knows this is effective when she hears Wanda cry out and curse in Sokovian under her breath.
Meanwhile, Wanda is forgetting all about her initial resolve to accept this gracefully, such is the pain Natasha's practised hand is causing, and flings her hand back to cover her bottom.
Natasha responds to this by pulling down Wanda's simple black panties and simultaneously increasing the tempo of the swats, tilting her forward so that she can target the so far untouched tender sit spots.
SWAT SWAT SWAT SWAT
She continues at a fierce tempo for another few minutes, allowing the fear she had felt for the young woman to help her continue. She doesn't relent, even when Wanda yelps out and promises to be good, nor when her hand begins to tire. She knows she will not be able to protect Wanda forever, and needs her to realise just how precious her life is.
By this point Wanda has long ceased struggling, forcing her body to remain limp she accepts what Natasha is dealing out, well aware once more just how seriously Natasha takes her reckless actions.
Noticing this, Natasha decides that it is time to wrap this up, and so begins to scold for the first time since commencing the punishment, interspersing her words with hard swats from her hand.
You SWAT do not SWAT seem to realise SWAT how precious your SWAT life is! We SWAT only want you SWAT to be safe. You must SWAT try to be SWAT less reckless Wanda! Do you understand me?
Despite the fire in her posterior, and the tears pouring down her face, Wanda manages to choke out "Yes Ma'am"
Natasha picks up an object from the table next to her chair. "Last time you did something this reckless, I promised you something. Do you remember what it was?"
Wanda remembers "you…you said that next time, you wouldn't be using your hand."
Natasha nods. "Yes. Fifteen with the hairbrush and we're done."
With this she raises her the brush high above Wanda's abused posterior and brings it down hard fifteen times, these swats the hardest of the whole punishment. She wants Wanda to remember this and knows that her point will be driven home whenever she sits for the next few days.
Wanda cries out, her backside burning more fiercely than ever before, and then allows Natasha to pull her carefully up into a sitting position, the older woman rubbing her back softly until her charge's sobs finally cease.
"Wanda, I care for you, Steve cares for you. This is a dangerous life that we lead, but you need to do your part. If you don't, we'll be back here every time."
"I know, Nat, I just…"
"You got carried away, I understand. But you can't let it endanger your life like that!"
Wanda bows her head. "I know. I'm sorry."
Natasha helps Wanda to her feet, and draws her into an embrace, wordlessly signalling her forgiveness.
"You'd better go and find Vision, he'll be wondering where you've been!"
Wanda nods her agreement, and walks towards the door, pulling her clothing back into place as she goes.
"Wanda. I don't know what's going to happen in the next few days, but try to keep yourself safe."
By the door, Wanda pauses, and turns to look Natasha in the eyes once more. Her face is unusually easy to read, and the emotion she finds there tells her how deeply her mentor cares about her.
Unable to respond satisfactorily, she simply says, "I will try" and slips out of the room in search of Vision.