Chapter 7:
Clint had been watching them from the corner of his eye for the past couple of bites, before he realized that this wasn't just a one time thing, and Wanda was going to eat Sienna's entire meal for her.
He got up, grabbed Wanda's arm, and pulled her out of her chair. Everyone was looking at the three of them, now.
"Finish your meal, by yourself." Clint said to Sienna, pulling Wanda away. Vision looked distraught, as he knew what was going to happen just based on Clint's face, but knew it was never his place to step in, especially when he was pretty sure he knew what had happened, and that she deserved it. Sienna, however, didn't want to allow it.
"No!" She exclaimed, standing up. Sam quickly pulled her back down. "Clint she was just trying to be my friend!"
"A friend would encourage you to eat, Sienna." Clint said, not turning around towards her again.
When the two of them had left earshot, everyone turned to Sienna, who looked down at her lap, her ears red.
"Sienna." Steve said, trying to get her to look up at him. When she didn't, he added "look at me, please."
She looked up reluctantly, amidst a couple tears. She knew that they would make her eat, now. And also that they would be watching her from now on, until she started eating to their standards.
"What did Clint mean by that?" Steve asked, patiently, though inside he was fuming, as he, too, guessed what was going on.
"Wanda was eating my food when we thought you weren't looking." Sienna said quietly, looking him in the eyes.
He sighed and looked down, in disbelief, despite the fact that he guessed it. Tony spoke up so Steve didn't have to, "you will sit there until you've eaten half of what was originally on your plate. And no library tomorrow. Capiche?"
"Yeah." Sienna said, wondering how long that was going to take. Her food would be long since cold if she waited until she was actually hungry to eat, and she would throw up right now if she ate any more.
Slowly, everyone left the table as they finished, until it was just Nat and her left. Rhodes, who had come back after being away from the tower for a couple days, grabbed Nat's plate from her.
Nat decided to wait and watch the girl, to let everyone else off the hook.
Sienna took a bite, but almost regurgitated it immediately. She had to work to keep it down.
"Hey, if you aren't hungry right now, just wait a bit. We can talk for a couple minutes, and then see if you're hungry then." Nat said, moving so she sat directly across from her. "And if it's not warm enough for you, then, I'll heat it up. How does that sound?"
"Better." Sienna admitted. At least now she'd have time for her body to create a little more space. She really wished she could just flick a switch and be hungry all the time.
"I thought so. So tell me, how was shopping today?"
"Tiring. I don't typically shop with people, and we had been there so long I just wanted to grab what would fit and leave, but they made me try everything on. It wouldn't have been so bad, but Wanda grabbed a bunch of clothes I hadn't picked up and Steve made me try on at least one of everything."
"Well, sometimes it's good to know they fit. I know some companies say they're a size small, but they actually mean extra small or even sometimes medium. It's all according to what their standards are for women." Nat said, thinking she would have probably done the same in a similar situation. "So what all did you get?"
"Lots of shirts, some shorts and jeans, socks, and some workout clothes. Wanda got skirts because she wanted me to wear them, but I didn't want to, so Steve convinced her I could borrow them if I ever felt so inclined." Sienna said, remembering how the skirt felt and shivering.
Nat thought about this, then realized something. "No bras, underwear?"
Sienna flushed. She hadn't really talked about getting those things with anyone since her mother died, and even before that point, it was awkward for her.
"Everyone needs undergarments, Sienna, it's nothing to get embarrassed over."
"I think it might be if Steve didn't think to buy any." Sienna said.
"How many do you have?" Nat asked, once again ignoring the embarrassed look on her face.
"Um, I have three pairs of underwear and two bras with me, in the room." She said, a bit flustered. "Well, two pairs of underwear and one bra in the room. I'm wearing the others, now. I wash them when I shower."
"Okay, well if anything, you needed more of both of those. How about just you and I go out tomorrow to get some? We won't bring anyone else, so you don't really have to shop with people, and Wanda can't pick out a million things for you to try on." Nat suggested.
"Alright." Sienna said, not knowing if she was happy about this new outing or not.
"So, apart from reading, what else do you like?" Nat asked, changing the subject so the girl wouldn't be embarrassed anymore.
"I don't really know. I kind of like movies, as I guess you guessed based on where you picked me up, and I like listening to the radio. It kept me informed because I couldn't afford a tv. I also like hiking, I guess, and drawing. I'm a really bad drawer, though."
"I bet you're still better than I am." Nat said, smiling.
"I'm really not that good. The things I draw are just things people with talent would doodle but would take me weeks to achieve something half as good. I like it, but I'm not good at it. At least it gives me something to do."
"We can find sketch books and pencils, if you wanted." Nat said, thinking about whether or not they would have any. "I think, actually, Tony uses them in his designing of stuff. I'll snatch a couple of his extras for you." She winked at her, and Sienna smiled. At least no one would be spending the money on her.
They talked for another 15 minutes before Tony walked back in to the dining area.
"You haven't touched anything since we left the table!" He exclaimed, not very loudly, but forcefully enough.
"Tony, it's okay. I'm letting her wait a bit before she eats again, so her body can adjust. I'll heat it up when she's ready." Nat said, defending the young girl cowering in her seat. "Just go, you're scaring her."
Tony was shocked at that. "I'm sorry, Sienna. I didn't mean to scare you. I was just frustrated."
"I'm sorry I don't eat very much. I just never used to get three meals, or three good ones at least, in the foster and group homes, and then on my own, I couldn't always afford it, nor did I really ever feel a terrible hunger, so I just didn't eat. My stomach is used to that."
Tony, who had never once in his life not been able to afford something, except when his dad would try and teach him humility by making him save his own money for things, felt his heart ache for her.
"Why don't we heat it up again, and whatever you're hungry for then, you can eat, if not, we'll slowly integrate more food into your diet daily, how does that sound?" Tony asked, surprising Nat by his quick change of tone.
"Better than making me eat it all right now."
Nat suppressed a laugh. Tony grabbed her plate, and took it to the microwave.
"Does this mean I'm still not allowed in the library tomorrow?" Sienna asked, realizing she had gotten away with not eating.
"Yes, it does." Nat said, crossing into a mild disciplinary tone. "You know it was wrong what you were doing with Wanda- and don't try to tell me it wasn't, you were trying to keep it a secret from us, something you wouldn't have to do unless it was wrong, and you knew it. You're lucky it was only the day. If it weren't for Tony, and the fact that we won't overstep another person's decision when it comes to discipline, unless it's too harsh, I would have made it a longer sentence."
"Well then why is Wanda being spanked probably by Clint? Why doesn't she just get banned from something, too?"
"Because that was his judgement call, and she knew that you were underweight, and that we should all be trying to get your weight up. She knew she was doing something wrong possibly more than you did. If you really weren't hungry-"
"Which I wasn't."
"Then you wouldn't have been doing something wrong had you told us and explained the situation like you did with Tony."
"But I tried explaining it before, and it didn't work."
"Well," Nat said, and realized she was basically just talking in circles, "like I said, one person won't go over what another has said, and if Tony had decided it was enough, then you could have stopped. Wanda, on the other hand, knew what she was doing was wrong, and didn't do it for any other reason other than to get you out of trouble. And while we encourage that in fights, we don't allow it to happen between us."
"Which," Tony said as he came in, "would be good to remember. I think everyone here has felt Cap's wrath at one point for keeping something to ourselves that could affect the family, or could endanger oneself, like you were doing, so it's best to just keep that little tidbit in mind."
He put down the food in front of her, and they watched as she ate about six mouthfuls of food before exclaiming she couldn't do it anymore.
"Alrighty then." Tony said, picking up her plate once again and bringing it to the compost, to dump the food.
"I think I'm going to go see how Wanda is." Sienna said, getting up.
"No. You can come watch a movie you may have missed in these past couple of years with me in my room." Nat said, pulling her along towards her room instead of letting her go along to her hallway.
"Why can't I see her?"
"Many reasons. After you're punished, you typically go to sleep, or you're confined to your room for the rest of the night. Unless the disciplinarian looks for you to go and comfort the punished, you aren't allowed to."
She didn't let the girl argue any more, and made her pick a movie she thought sounded the best from the options given.
SM
While dinner was finishing, Wanda was busy trying to get out of her current predicament.
"Clint, it wasn't a big deal. She wasn't hungry, I was. Fair trade." But he didn't stop pulling her along to her room.
She would have stopped him, but she had made a promise to herself never to use her powers on her teammates, and if she ever did, she would have to be on the run forever from all of them, because there was no way anyone would let that slide.
He got to her door, opened it, and pushed her inside.
"Sit." He said, releasing her, and pointing to her bed. She did as she was told, and looked up at him in trepidation. She knew she was in trouble, and she knew why, she just didn't think it was that big of a deal. So, she made that clear, again.
"She really just couldn't eat anymore." Wanda said, justifying her actions.
"Well, that was up to her to decide, and bring up with an adult."
"But I am an adult! I'm 18." Wanda said, knowing that that meant virtually nothing to him.
"Yes, I know, but you are still the youngest out of us, and you still need to listen to our rules. And that will never change. Everyone here has to listen to the rules." Clint said.
"Are there any rules which say I can't eat someone else's food if they ask me to?" Wanda said defiantly, crossing her arms.
Clint was stuck. There wasn't, really. "No, but she was told to eat her meal, and trying to trick us is a lie by omission." There. That works. "You knew very well you weren't supposed to be doing it. I was watching you two for a while doing your little trick, you were trying to hide it."
Lying was bad. Wanda knew this, and was reminded why it was so bad often enough.
"But you guys were making her eat when she couldn't anymore! We didn't see another way, and it worked this morn-" she cut herself off, but the damage had been done already.
"You pulled this this morning, too?" Clint asked, angrily.
Wanda refused to look at him.
He bent down in front of her face and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look back into his eyes. She didn't like the anger she saw there. "Answer me."
"She wasn't hungry, then, either." Wanda said, answering his question without saying the word "yes."
He let her chin go, and turned away. "Geez, Wanda! You know how underfed she is! You've seen how tiny she is! She needs to take vitamins just to get all the missing nutrients back in order! And it's better for her system to take them with food! You can't just eat the nutrients she needs, she won't get better that way! She had ice cream today, which is what made her full, but that's not enough to sustain her. She needs the kinds of meals we're providing."
She was teary eyed at this point, she only wanted to help her friend. She thought she was doing the right thing.
Clint needed to settle down before he dealt with her. He couldn't spank her now while he felt the way he did.
"Go stand in the corner and think about what you did wrong, I'll come get you when I'm ready to deal with you."
She did as she was told, and he walked into her bathroom, splashing cold water on his face and trying to calm down. He took ten deep breaths then headed back out.
Sitting on her bed, he braced steeled himself for what he had to do.
"Wanda, come here." She turned around and walked to him, standing in front of his legs. "Please tell me what you did wrong."
"I ate food for someone who didn't want to eat what was on their plate." Wanda said defiantly.
"You are not in a very good position to be smart with me, young lady. Now properly, what did you do wrong?"
Wanda sighed. She could keep being defiant or save her butt a few extra smacks by saying what he wanted to hear.
"I helped Sienna trick you guys into thinking she was eating her food, and I guess that means we lied about it."
"Yes. And why is that wrong?"
"Because she needs to eat to get healthy and we are only ever allowed to lie to one another when it's concerning presents for the other people."
"I think that about covers it." And with that, Clint pulled her over his knee, and pulled down her pants and underwear in one swift movement.
"Wait! Bare? Does this really warrant that?" Wanda asked, putting her hand back to try and stop him.
He just grabbed it and held it at the small of her back. "You endangered her life, and lied to us. You're lucky I'm only using my hand."
The smacks started hard and fast, with no gradual incline. Wanda started squirming almost immediately. He ignored this, as he had a good grip on her, and kept up the pace, aiming swats all around the upturned butt in front of him.
She started tearing up quickly. Her ass already felt like it was on fire, and he had only been spanking her for about a minute.
"Please, Clint! It hurts! I won't do it again!"
"It's supposed to hurt. That's why it's called a punishment." Clint said, not slowing his pace. Her bottom was quickly turning a nice deep shade of pink. "And I know you won't do it again, because if you do, I have a nice hairbrush, or even an old arrow that would work nicely as a switch."
She started crying full on, pulling the hand that was behind her back from Clint's grip so she could cover both her eyes with them.
She kept muttering "please stop"s and "I'll be good"s but Clint didn't falter in his pace. He kept going for about three minutes, and in that time her butt turned from a deep pink to an undoubtable red.
She went limp over his lap at this point, crying to her heart's content, as she felt like the pain in her ass just wouldn't stop.
That was when he raised his knee. She knew this meant that it was almost over, but she also knew that this was the worst part.
"No, please Clint!" She begged as he began turning her sit spots pink.
"I don't ever want to see you eating her food like that, again." He said, glad it was almost over. He may not have been faltering with the swats, but with every tear and sob he heard, he almost considered stopping. The only reason he didn't was because he knew it wouldn't be in her best interest to do so. "Or lying to us for any reason. Persisting in that could seriously put her on the wrong track of recovery, and if when we go in to the doctor they see that her health hasn't changed, they may take her from us!"
Wanda cried more, and Clint heard something along the lines of "I promise I won't again" come from her. That's when he laid the final four smacks, the hardest of all, two on her left sit spot and two on her right, and finished.
She was crying, inconsolable for a while, but realized that he had stopped spanking her, and was now rubbing her back. She tried to calm herself down, and slowly her breathing came back to normal, save for her occasional hiccuping.
When he saw that she was doing alright, he pulled up her underwear to give her some decency, although she would have preferred they stayed down based on how much it hurt, and picked her up.
She was cradled in his arms, and he moved to sit by her headboard, and he placed her bottom in between his legs to suspend them above the mattress, as he let her cry once again into his shoulder.
"All is forgiven now, Wanda. I know it hurts, but it won't last forever."
"But I could have harmed her, I could have affected her chances of staying here with us!" She cried, holding onto him for dear life. The thought of losing another sibling, even if it was just a foster sibling, was too much.
"But you didn't really. And we caught it early, and you've been punished for it. To everyone else, it's in the past. No one will let someone take her from us."
He kept muttering reassurances in her ear, and eventually she calmed down for the second time, enjoying just sitting there, being held closely by a parental figure of hers.
After a good twenty minutes, she fell asleep. But he didn't move. He kept holding on to her, and wishing he didn't have to be the one to cause one of his little girls pain.
He had to keep reminding himself that this pain was temporary, and if it kept her from doing more permanent damage to someone or herself, he had to steel himself and keep it up.
They stayed like that for about an hour, him, lost in thought, her, snuggly protected by him.
Then, when he felt it was time, he moved again, and set her in bed on her stomach. She stirred a bit as he did so, but didn't wake up.
He quietly left the room and went to go pour himself a glass of whiskey. Tony had it out for him already.
"Thanks." He said, downing it. Looking around, he noticed that Pepper, Nat and Sienna were missing. "Where'd the girls go?"
"Pepper's left for a conference she won't let me come on, and Nat and Sienna are watching a movie." Tony said, a little bitter about Pepper.
"Did she... Eat?" Clint asked, trepidatiously.
"As much as she could eat. We're just going to have to work on her eating for a while, I guess." Tony said.
"Yeah." Sam said, thinking about it, then smiling. "Also little Tink was mad at you. You could tell she wanted to go see Wanda. May be mad at you for a bit."
"Yeah well I'll take it so long as she continues eating properly."
They sat in a comfortable silence for a while, eventually turning on the tv to mindlessly watch sports.
When Clint began to feel his eyelids drooping, he said his goodnights, and headed to his room. As he passed Nat's room, her door opened, and Clint got a glimpse of Nat lying there with a blanket covering her body, and saw Sienna, coming out of the dark room.
She looked at him, but refused to say anything, and he could tell from her body language that she was mad at him.
Well, better to let her sleep it off than explode at me and have me needing to spank another insubordinate child today, he thought, closing the door to his bedroom.
SM
Four am the next morning came quickly, and Sienna put on her socks and left the room. She walked straight into Wanda's, and gently woke the girl up. She wasn't allowed to see her yesterday, but she damn well would talk to her now.
Wanda looked at her and went to turn over from her stomach, but Sienna stopped her.
"You won't want to do that. I've made that mistake." She whispered.
"Oh, yeah, thanks." Wanda said, whispering. "What are you doing here? What time is it?"
Sienna looked sorry. "It's four am. I wanted to talk to you before they woke up, and make sure you're okay. And apologize for being the reason you got into trouble."
"It's okay. It was my fault, too." Wanda whispered back.
"Sorry for waking you." Sienna said as she saw Wanda yawn a bit. "Do you want me to get you the cream you offered me before you fall back asleep?"
But Wanda had already dozed off again. Not knowing where the cream was, she decided that she wouldn't make more noise than was absolutely necessary looking for it. She left the room, and again walked back to hers, unsure of what to do now.
That's when she had an idea. The indoor pool she had seen on the first day had stayed, as far as she knew, vacant the entire time she had been staying with the Avengers.
She liked swimming enough, and figured it was the only place to go, since she wasn't allowed in the training room or the library. Plus, it would mean Clint would have to look hard for her, and she wanted to make him pay for what he did to Wanda.
Sienna hadn't had a swimming suit since her parents had died, so she had to make up what to wear now to swim in.
She could wear an old bra and underwear, since her and Nat would be going to buy some more today, with an old t-shirt and the lightest of her old pants. Not ideal to swim in, it would be a little bulky, but it was better than nothing.
Keeping her socks on to stay quiet, she made her way to the pool. As she had only seen it that one time, it was a little harder to find than the library, but she knew this place decently well at this point, and knew where the pool couldn't be, so she looked in all the places it could.
About ten minutes later, she was inside the little area. It was a nice sized pool, around the same size as the community one she used to go to for summer camps when she was younger. She slipped off her socks, left them on the side of the room, then headed towards the staircase. The water was a little chilly, but she was well covered enough that it wouldn't be too bad. Once she had waded in up to her waist, she dunked herself completely, letting the cool water engulf her before she moved around a bit.
In order to get warm, she knew she was going to need to do laps, so she did. About 100 of them, before she began to bore of that.
She looked around for something to entertain herself with, and saw a bin on the side of the room, hopefully filled with pool toys.
Luck was on her side! She found a noodle, some game, a beach ball, and a pair of weights, of which she grabbed one.
"Let's see if I can still tread water with one of these things." She said to herself, wading back in, and then trying to do it, struggling a bit, but not entirely drowning. "I'll time myself and see how much of it I still have left." She said, and looked at the clock. 6:30.
She was pleased to find that Clint had most likely been up for a while, and would perhaps be looking for her. Serves him right to think she had run away. He shouldn't have spanked Wanda. Their punishments should have been equal.
She pushed those thoughts aside, so she could focus on her treading. She watched the clock as it passed the thirty second, then a minute, then two minute mark. She was about to hit two and a half minutes when she heard a voice from behind her.
"What the hell are you doing in here?" She dropped the weight and turned around, looking at a furious looking Clint. "I have been looking everywhere for you."
"Well, here I am." She said, narrowing her eyes at him and crossing her arms. "What do you want?"
"Drop the attitude, young lady. You're already in enough trouble."
"Why's that? Because I didn't go into the library or the training room or anywhere else I wasn't allowed to?"
Clint, caught off guard, again, by a kid who pointed out where his argument was flawed, took a minute to respond. "Common sense says you shouldn't swim alone, when you could drown, especially carrying that weight that's now on the bottom of the pool."
"I'm a good enough swimmer. I don't need someone to watch me."
"Even good swimmers have their bad days. Come here." He said, pointing to the spot in front of him.
"No. I'm going to stay here, thank you."
"No, you'll come here." He said, losing patience.
"No, I'm mad at you, besides, I can swim freely without accusation now that you're here to supervise."
"Why are you mad at me?" He asked, although he knew the answer already.
"Because you shouldn't have spanked Wanda!" Sienna exclaimed, still treading water in the middle of the pool. "She was just trying to be my friend!"
"While knowingly putting you in danger. We've all sat through Nat's lecture of 'she's too skinny, she needs more nutrients' and she knows that eating your food could cause health problems! You have a doctor's appointment in a month. If you aren't progressing nicely, they'll take you away, and probably send you back to juvi!"
"You could have just grounded her, like I was."
"Well, sometimes being grounded makes people be defiant with what they're allowed to do, like you were."
"No one ever said, 'don't swim in the pool'!" Sienna exclaimed, still not sure why she was in trouble for that one.
"None of us knew you could swim!" Clint exclaimed back. "Now that I know you can, we'll talk about it. Until then, come here." Once again, he pointed to the spot on the pool wall in front of him.
What she did next surprised him. She actually swam towards him. But she had other plans, and when he reached down to grab her hand and pull her out, she pushed off from the wall towards the middle of the pool, bringing him with her.
He came up sputtering. She smiled at him sheepishly then swam away. "Oh no you don't." He said, but the anger he had had before dissolved with the cold water.
He caught up to her and grabbed her, her shrieking. "You think you can do that to me and get away with it?"
She was worried now. She had hoped to get out of trouble, not into more of it. But she received a shock on her end when he picked her up, and threw her. She shrieked again.
Having seemingly forgotten their tiff, Sienna and Clint kept up a splash war in the pool, Sienna eventually grabbing the noodle to blow large amounts of water at him at a time.
Both of them were too distracted to notice the rest of the team, save Wanda who was still asleep, watching them play fight.
They walked up to the edge of the pool, undetected by Sienna, but seen by Clint, who ignored them in favour of not getting blasted with a noodle again.
"Hey Tony." Steve said, absently. "Is your reactor waterproof?"
"Yeah, why?" Tony asked, but as soon as he said that, Steve pushed him into the water, shocking Sienna, and admittedly all the other avengers.
"Oh you're going to pay for that one, Cap." Tony said, sputtering as he came up, but Sam was unceremoniously thrown in after him.
Steve had a twinkle in his eye. "Who's next?"
Nat ran, but Rhodes caught her, and threw her in. Sienna started laughing, and everyone else followed suit.
Steve and Vision teamed up, and were able to get Rhodes in the pool as well.
Then it was Steve versus Vision.
"You know you cannot beat me." Vision said, loving that he was stronger than Steve. "You are going to be next."
"Oh but I'll go down fighting."
Vision had distracted Steve enough for Sienna to get out of the pool, and tackle him. He was caught off guard, but still didn't move enough to fall in, so Vision pushed him a bit, causing the supersoldier and the teen to fall into the pool.
Sienna swam up towards the surface, and was immediately caught in another splash war, this time by Nat.
"Wait! Vision, are you not coming in?" Steve asked, knowing there would be no way to make him if he didn't want to.
"I'll be moderator." He replied, looking amused and watching everything unfold.
Soon enough, two teams had formed, and, had it not been for the specially designed grates, the pool would have had less water than the sides.
There was no real way to tell who was winning or losing in a splash war, but that was okay with everyone.
When everyone got tired of the incessant splashing, they decided to change their sport.
They divided up and began playing various games; pool horseshoe, Marco Polo, water polo, and a tossing game.
Everyone was laughing and having a great time, especially Sienna, who hadn't laughed so much in years.
She, being the smallest, was easiest for any of them to grab and throw into the deep end, so they did. A lot. She tried to get them back by jumping on their backs, making them go under water, but often her stealth attacks weren't so stealthy, and she would just end up piggy backing them.
When this would happen to Steve, he would grip her legs firmly. And start spinning. This became a game of who would get dizzier and let go first, with Steve winning almost every time, as he couldn't get vertigo, and she could.
Finally, everyone seemed to tire, and Vision volunteered to go gather towels for everyone.
Sienna was on Sam's back at this point, as he had been the most recent to toss her, and she let him carry her out of the pool, not realizing until too late that he was walking around it to the deep end to toss her again.
Everyone was laughing, including Sienna, and she took in their appearances, which made her laugh more. All of them in clothes, it was evident this wasn't planned, and they all looked ridiculous.
"Right. I think we should dry off, get changed, and then put all our clothes in the wash." Nat said, trying to unpeel her shirt from her body.
"Wash? Isn't this wash enough?" Tony asked, ringing out his own shirt.
"The chlorine isn't good for the clothes. It would be best to just put them all in the washing machine, even just for a little bit, before switching to the dryer." She said, grabbing a towel from Vision who had returned.
Rhodes looked down and saw that Sienna was still in the pool. He reached down to help her out, and she gratefully accepted it. She was immediately engulfed in a nice and fluffy towel, and she held onto it, hoping it would do to just keep it on her body. It was too cold to remove from her arms to dry herself properly.
Vision, seeing this, brought an extra towel over, and helped her dry by patting it around her as best he could. He then tried to dry her hair. It didn't really work, but it did enough, and Sienna was too happy being babied to say anything.
"Alright. Vision, can you start breakfast? We'll get changed and join you soon." Steve asked, getting a nod from the AI.
"Sienna, once you're dressed, can you get Wanda, make sure she's up?"
"Yeah, sure." Sienna said, walking over to her soaked socks, probably from the splashing, and wringing them out. "Believe it or not, I'm starving." She added, as her stomach rumbled.
Everyone turned to look at her, dumbfounded. "You are?" Nat asked, a smile on her face.
"Yeah, that was a workout. My body needs energy."
"Well look at that," Sam said, pulling her into a headlock and giving her a nuggie, "little Tink just needed exercise."
"Jerk." She said, pushing him off.
"Looks like it." Said Tony, looking at Steve. "We're going to have to let the girl do more."
"We aren't training her." Steve reminded him. He wanted to make sure the girl had a chance to have a normal life.
"But she likes to hike." Nat said. "We can do that. Or go on walks, bike rides, etc. there's more than one way to get exercise."
"I could keep swimming in the mornings." Sienna suggested, happy to talk about being allowed to do more.
"Not without supervision." Clint said, reverting back to his demeanor from before, but less threatening.
"We'll figure it out. For now, let's get dry." Steve said, leaving the pool area.
SM
Nice and dry except for her hair, Sienna peeked into Wanda's room.
"Hey, you awake?" She whispered. Wanda stirred a bit, making "mmm" sounds but not opening her eyes.
Sienna walked into her room and sat on the bed. "You missed swimming. It was crazy. I haven't had that much fun in years."
"Hmm? Oh, yes. We can go swimming later." Wanda said, still not really awake.
"No, that's not what I said." Sienna said, laughing a bit. "But we can go swimming some other time. I think I should get a suit first, though, and we should let you heal up a bit, so whatever shade your butt is, it won't show."
"Ugh don't remind me." Wanda said, turning over. "I reminded me!"
She had turned onto her still sore behind.
She jumped out of bed. "I am not a stomach sleeper. I kept waking up last night when I turned."
"Oh, that's unfortunate. I guess I should count my lucky stars I always sleep on my stomach." Sienna replied, not knowing how she would take it, wanting to sleep on your stomach but not being able to.
"I'm going to go put some cream on." Said Wanda, heading towards her bathroom. "Can you please make sure no one comes in?"
"Yeah." Sienna said, sitting back on the bed while she waited for her friend. There was a knock on the door before it opened.
"Breakfast is ready." Nat said, coming in. "Where's Wanda?"
"Just going to the bathroom, Sienna lied easily."
"Cream?" Nat asked, knowingly.
"How did you-?" Sienna asked, but Wanda came out then.
"She's the one who gave it to me the first time. Couldn't bear to see me in pain."
"It doesn't take it all out so it's still effective. Plus, if you really deserved a longer wait, I'd have it out of your room before you knew it." She winked at both of them. "Now come on, let's go eat some breakfast, then I believe Sienna and I have some errands to run."
SM
They were back at the mall, but this time in only one store, PINK.
"I don't think these are really my style..." Sienna said, picking up an article of... Well not much.
"This is both Victoria's Secret and PINK, in two stores. You'll probably like the PINK side. We can find some generic bras and underwear here."
"Uh, okay." Sienna said.
"What size are you?" Nat asked, picking up a really plain white bra. Perfect.
"Um... Last I checked a... B?"
"You don't know?" Nat asked, raising one eyebrow. "Well, we should get you fitted, then.
She dragged her along to a worker, who sized Sienna, and then set off to find them a bunch of bras in the size they wanted.
"While we're waiting for her, pick out some underwear. It's $5 for $20, so we'll get about 15 pairs for you, so you can go up to two weeks without needing to do your laundry."
"Alright." Sienna said, picking out the regular shapes (or what she thought were regular shapes) and in fabrics she liked. "I only have 7."
"Double up, then, and grab a third of your favourite."
This was all uncomfortable for Sienna, but nothing was going to prepare her for the onslaught of bras the worker brought them.
"Pick out the ones you like and try them on." The lady said, dumping them on the counter.
Sienna picked out three, two white and a black, and tried them all on. They fit perfectly.
"Okay, these are good."
"Good, let's go." Nat said, smiling at her, and knowing just how uncomfortable the girl had been.
They paid way too much for them in Sienna's opinion, but "these are essentials. You don't cheap out on those." So that was that.
"Now, why don't we go get one bathing suit for you. Just one. So we don't keep swimming in our clothes."
As Sienna was trying on the two one-piece bathing suits she liked, having only one fit her, Nat was picking out some for all the others.
"I've never seen them swim before." She said, as Sienna looked curiously at the pile on the counter. "I don't know if they have any. So, we're just going to get some for everyone."
"Are Steve's the ones with the American flag on them?"
"Maybe." Nat smirked, and Sienna smiled at her.
SM
"Now what?" Sienna asked, as they put their stuff in the van.
"I was thinking we'd just go back. Steve's a worrywart, and if you don't return, since he's legally the one on paper who's responsible for you, I think he'd freak out."
"Okay."
When they got back, Sienna had a hard time not going towards the library. All she really wanted was to read.
Instead, she sat on the couch with Nat and Steve, watching some documentary about the Cold War.
When it was over, Steve turned to Sienna. "I missed a lot."
"You did. So have I, and it's only been a few years since my parents died and I've been shut out. I can't imagine what it was like for you."
"It's definitely an adjustment." Steve said. "So, you don't talk much about your parents, and as a respect of your privacy, I haven't looked at your file. What were they like?"
Sienna smiled, and looked at her hands before looking back up at Steve and Nat. "Well, they were great. Quirky, if my friends parents were the normal scales on which to base my knowledge, but great. Didn't trust banks at all. All their pay checks would come straight out and they would keep it in a safe. They were both teachers, and they loved to read, so they also wrote books on the side. That paid for most of our bills. Mom was always dying her hair funky colours, and dad's stayed brown. Though they didn't have a bank account really, the bank let them mortgage out the house, because their down payment was so large, and then in no time, they owned the place outright. But they still kept all their money in a safe. That's how I lived on my own. As soon as I knew they had died, I took the money, and ran to a bank before social servies could take me. My parents also loved going on 'safari' which to them was people watching in Central Park. And every year before we opened Christmas presents, or had Christmas breakfast at 5 in the morning, we had a crazy dance party. They were great, goofy, quirky, but amazing. I miss them all the time."
Her mind had been everywhere, but with this last sentence, she started to cry.
"Hey," said Steve and Nat at the same time, moving to sit on either side of her, hugging her. Nat rubbed her back while Steve kept ahold of her shoulders while she cried.
"Can- can we go visit their graves?" She asked, tentatively.
"Absolutely." Steve said, getting up.
So, that's it! Some light stuff, some bonding stuff, some sad, happy and painful stuff. Hope you enjoyed! I'll try and update once a week with about 5,000-7,000 words. This time I got carried away.
Please recommend to your friends and comment! It's always fun to see what you guys say :)
