Chapter Four

Wanda woke the next morning to find Steve's side of the bed cold and empty and she reached over to clutch the bed sheet, smiling at the thoughts of last night entered her mind. However, her stomach made a really hard turn and she made a dash to the bathroom to empty the contents of her stomach. She knew at one point that the morning sickness would set in but not this soon. Once she thought that it was over, she stood up, grabbed a glass of water, and brushed her teeth to clear the taste out of her mouth.

Aside from the morning sickness, nothing felt different. She managed to keep her breakfast down, clean the apartment a bit, and hack the S.H.I.E.L.D files to see where Steve was. It was a way of keeping her reassured that he was okay. She always did the same for her brother as well.

There really wasn't anything else she could do other than read the newspaper. She had been given a couple of days off so that they could recover from the party. Looking through the paper, she came across an advert that had what looked to be for a women's clinic. The headline was 'PREGNANT? UNPLANNED? Come into our clinic to discuss the options.' Wanda thought about it and then grabbed her keys and coat.

-o-

"Well, the blood test has confirmed that you are pregnant," the consultant said sitting at her desk. "I take it that it was not planned."

"It wasn't. I was on birth control so I do not see how this could have happened," Wanda answered.

"You have to remember that birth control isn't always one hundred percent effective but that is normally down to misuse rather than a manufacturing error. Okay, I need to inform you of your options. Legally, the only way that you can have an abortion on request is by going to either Washington or Alaska because in the state of New York it is only legal if it is a threat to your health."

"Okay, I get that. So the only options I have are to either keep the baby or give it up for adoption."

"Yeah. It's not a decision you have to make now. You have to think what is going to be best for you and your baby."

"What would be best for my fiancé, the baby and myself."

"Oh, I assumed it was …"

"No, we're getting married in the summer. The thing is that I want to have a baby with him. He would be an amazing father. I just didn't want to think about it for at least a year after we got married."

"Miss Maximoff, do you think that you want to have this child?"

"I wouldn't be here if I was so sure."

"Personally, I would talk this over with your fiancé before you make a decision. It does affect him as well."

"I suppose you are right. I think I am just in shock."

"As I said jut talk about it. Does he know?" Wanda shook her head, chastising herself for not telling him the previous night instead of having sex. "You do need to tell him."

"I know. He's not in the country right now and I don't want to do it over the phone."

"Okay, I do have some pamphlets for you to look at. I know that this sounds obvious but it is your choice at the end of the day."

"Thanks."

-o-

The next couple of days Wanda tried to push the thought of her being pregnant out of her mind, which wasn't easy due to the morning sickness. Eventually she went to look for some remedies to ease the sickness, eventually finding a blend of tea that eased her stomach.

When she had gone to work at Stark Industries, there was a comment by a couple of people about how different she looked. Pepper had noticed how quiet she seemed and even asked if she was okay. Wanda's alibi was that she was missing Steve. Then after lunch, she was sick due to the tuna sandwich not sitting right with her, at which point Pepper told her to go home.

"Note to self, no tuna," she thought. She knew that her palette was going to change drastically but she didn't think it was going to be this early.

Now she really had nothing to do. Sighing, she went into her bag and took out the pamphlets the consultant gave her. It was essentially the same thing that the consultant had told her: that whatever she chose, it was her choice. Wanda just wished that somebody would tell her what to do, but at the end of the day, she had to make the choice. Instead, she just tossed the pamphlets aside and turned on the television. In the end she fell asleep around half seven. In her dream, she pictured herself having just given birth and Steve was holding the baby against his bare chest, babbling to the infant. He looked so happy, and she felt the same, because he was happy. However, Wanda was woken from her dream by the door being banged the next morning.

"Wanda, are you in there?" Pietro shouted through the door, banging it in rhythm.

"Hold your horses," Wanda said (knowing it would annoy her twin) as she walked to the front door. Opening it, she saw her brother standing there and holding the hand of a two-year-old blonde child.

"I need a favour."

"Hello to you too Pietro."

"Can you look after Luna for the day?"

It was as though fate had intervened and given her a test; making her look after a toddler might help her make a decision about the baby. "Okay. I will look after her. Come on Luna."

Luna walked in and grabbed her aunt's hand. "Where is Steve?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D mission," answered Wanda. "What time are you going to be back?"

"Around seven. Bye honey."

"Bye Daddy," said Luna.

Wanda shut the door and took Luna and her bag into the living area. "Okay Luna, what do you want to do?" Luna shrugged her shoulders. "Do you want to watch television?"

The child nodded and Wanda flicked through the channels. Wanda did not really need to prove her worth as a mother. She would usually be the first person to run to a child in danger, get them out of the danger, see if they were okay and reassure them that they were safe. She would have looked after Luna regardless of her pregnancy, but something in her head felt as though she needed to test herself on her own mothering instinct. It was one thing running to a child she did not know; it was another running to her own child who was in danger. Who knew what Wanda would do to the person who endangered her child? Who knew what Steve would do if that happened.

The first thing she landed on the Disney version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Lust, genocide and religious imagery and that was just the Hellfire sequence. "Okay, might be too scary for a two year old. Ah, Mary Poppins."

The movie kept the child engaged but Wanda had fallen asleep by the time 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' came on. Luna caught onto her aunt's sleeping form and snuggled up against her. When Wanda woke a couple of hours later, she felt less tired and less sick. Once her eyes opened, she saw her young niece snuggled up and asleep next to her. Wanda smiled and thought about the possibility of her own child snuggled up against her or Steve and the potential adorableness of this image.

Later that day, Wanda and Luna were sitting on a small blanket playing with the puzzles, Wanda asked, "Do you think babies are cute?"

"Yep," answered Luna placing the giant jigsaw piece in its place. "Why?"

"I was just asking. I remember that you were a cute baby once. I just wondered if you thought the same."

Wanda grabbed her phone as she felt it vibrate on the coffee table, *Hey Wanda. Mission ended a lot faster than we thought. Stark and I have just landed in D.C. so I will be back in a few hours. Love you.*

*Good, because I have a surprise for you.*

"Come on Luna, your daddy will be here in a minute and I need to spend some time with your Uncle Steve."'