Title: To Be Thankful
Author: Sgt. Pepperony
Fandom: Avengers (MCU)
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, characters. Property of Marvel and Disney.

I want to thank you for giving me the best day of my life.
Oh just to be with you is having the best day of my life.

It was the day before Thanksgiving and it was the day that everyone began to descend on the Avengers facility. While Steve and Natasha would not have minded the small celebration without the fuss (for one they did not know if they would be called on a mission), Pepper had insisted on cooking for everyone, especially since it would be Wanda's first Thanksgiving and holiday she had properly celebrated since she was ten.

"It's meant to be a day to celebrate the coming together of the Native Americans and the pilgrims," Sam explained.

"Right?" Wanda responded as she mixed some herbs and seasoning into some butter. "So this is more important than Christmas?"

"Yes. I suppose it's more an American thing and we love America."

Wanda nodded and returned her attention to the butter. She glanced over at Pepper who was throwing in a cinnamon stick into a bucket of water. "What's that for?"

"Turkey," she answered plainly.

"We're not eating it until tomorrow," Sam pointed out.

"It's meant to soak overnight so the flavours will permeate the meat." Wanda and Sam looked at her as though she had lost her mind. "It was Tony's idea."

"His idea but he isn't going to cook it?" Wanda asked.

"If you knew what Tony was like in the kitchen, you would want him to steer clear of the kitchen."

Wanda shrugged and returned to the task. Her own kitchen experience was limited but she had learnt the basics from her mother. She at least knew how to make a paprikash, soup, and pasta, which was all a person needed to survive on according to her mother. She was struggling to find something to be thankful for, especially this year. Her brother was dead. She had no family left. She had no home. She was stuck somewhere she still felt unwelcome, despite Steve and Natasha's attempts to include her.

Using a fork, Wanda began to mix the softened butter with the seasoning and herbs. At that moment, Steve came into the kitchen. "Anything need doing in here?"

"You can peel the potatoes if you want," Pepper replied. "Wanda is going to make a start on the pecan pie in a moment."

"I am?" Wanda asked.

"You said you were good at pies."

"I meant meat pies. Not American desert pies." Wanda sighed but eventually nodded. "I'll do it, but just don't expect great results."

-o-

"What was I thinking?" Wanda asked herself when she saw the cooked pie. The crust had almost burnt, she had put too much filling in that it had leaked and she accidently put salt instead of sugar into the mixture.

"That looks... great," Steve commented, though Wanda could tell he was lying.

"Please don't spare my feelings. It looks awful. Probably tastes awful."

"You gave it your best shot."

"I should never had said I'll do it. What am I going to do now?"

"Try again?"

"Yeah, right."

"I've never known you to be a quitter."

Wanda smiled a bit. In training, Wanda never backed down from a task, even if it seemed beyond her capacity. To her, however, baking a dessert pie was harder than doing fifty sit-ups. She turned back to the pie and sighed.

"You're right, Steve. I should try again. What is the difference between cake flour and pastry flour? Either one should work right?"

Steve looked at her while trying to hold back a laugh. "Maybe we should go to a bakery."

"Isn't that cheating?"

"Yep, but we've exhausted all avenues."

Wanda shrugged, "So long as you're paying."

-o-

The next day

"This turkey is delicious. Am I a genius or what?" Tony declared after the big dinner.

Pepper raised her eyebrow. "Yeah. Nice to see you do some hard graft."

"I did say it would be good. You doubted me."

"I'm not denying it is delicious. I'm just questioning whether your genius is warranted."

Wanda fought hard not to bit back a laugh as she chewed her turkey. So did Steve. Granted, she had a touch of guilt in the fact that she had deceived everyone with the lie that she had baked the pecan pie. Pepper was smart enough, but unlike Tony, Wanda had at least tried.

"How are you finding your first Thanksgiving Wanda?" Steve asked.

"I still don't understand this holiday. But who am I to judge?" Wanda replied with a small smile. "At least no one got their toe sliced off."

As Wanda sliced her turkey, everyone looked at her with a confused look on their faces.

"How do you know that reference?" Sam asked.

"How do you think I learned English. How you doin'?"

"So you've had us explain Thanksgiving to you for the last two days when you knew exactly what we were talking about?" Tony asked.

Wanda smirked and took a spoonful of yams. "Well, I wanted to see how you explain your traditions to foreigners."

Steve could not help but smirk. Being the son of immigrants, he never really celebrated Thanksgiving. His mother preferred to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day. He was also amused that Wanda – quiet and serious Wanda – had been pulling everyone's legs.

"Nice one kid."

"Thanks. I guess I am thankful to have people around me with a good sense of humour."