Chapter Eleven

After a month, Wanda was cleared to travel. The stitched had been removed, which left an angry red line on her lower belly. Wanda hated it. Like the scar on her leg, it was an ugly reminder of the ordeal she had gone through. It was a constant reminder that she could not bear children.

As soon as he could, Steve booked a flight back to New York. While he knew how dangerous this could be, he knew that Tony was going to need some help with breaking into Ross's office. He did debate whether he should allow Wanda to join them on the mission given that she was still healing and whether she was useful for the mission as a whole. Then Wanda made the choice for him.

"I'm not joining you," she said plainly. "I'm too much of a liability."

"No you're not," Steve replied.

"Let's face it, if I get scared, I am going to expose all of us. That and I don't think I am ready." Steve nodded and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. Wanda smiled against his lips and cupped his face gently. "Steve, thank you."

"For what?"

"Just being there for me this last month. I could never have coped this last month or so without you."

"Hey, I love you. I will always be there for you when you need me."

"So how do you feel about returning home?"

"Nervous. I know we're still going to be in hiding and we have a fifty percent chance of taking Ross down. If it goes badly wrong then there is going to be consequences, especially since people like us are being monitored."

"I think they will have bugged the Tower."

"You may have a point there. We'll work something out. Another S.H.I.E.L.D safe house maybe."

"Steve, are you sure we are doing the right thing?"

"We have to try in order to keep us all safe."

-o-

"So this is it then?" Wanda asked when she looked around the living room of the new safe house. It looked smaller than the one in London, only two bedrooms. Bucky would get the one room while Steve and Wanda would share the other. Sam and Natasha had taken another safe house.

"For the time being," Steve replied wrapping his arms around her waist. "It's going to be okay. I promise."

"I hate it when people say that. As soon as they do, it all goes wrong."

"Listen, Tony and Pepper are coming over in a moment. Let's just clear away some of these bags." Once they had cleared away the bags, Wanda began to prepare some tea and coffee for their guests when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it."

Wanda had a sense that there was still tension between Pepper and Tony, mostly from the distance between them as they sat on the couch. Wanda knew there was something different about Pepper the second she walked through the door. She looked exhausted more than anything, though given the drama surrounding the Sokovia Accords and the split in the Avengers, Wanda imagined that trying to clear up the Stark Industries part of the mess was draining on her.

"You look well Pepper," Wanda commented as she lay the cups on the coffee table. She winced slightly as she bent down due to her healing wound and she had to sit down. "Sorry. Stomach ache."

"So, how is everything?" Steve asked.

"We're good. We've got back together," Pepper replied.

"Oh, good," Wanda replied. "Is that all?"

"Yep, that's everything," Tony answered quickly. "Listen Rogers, I need to speak to you now. Wanda, Pep is taking you out for lunch."

Steve nodded. Wanda grabbed her back and followed Pepper out the apartment. By the time they got to the café, Wanda had started to get suspicious when Pepper ordered an orange juice and a bacon, turkey and chicken sandwich.

"You usually get wine with your lunch," Wanda commented.

"Sweetie, I don't really know how to tell you this," Pepper began.

"You're pregnant aren't you?"

Pepper nodded, "Four months. It happened just before we took a break."

"Congratulations." Wanda felt a pang in her chest, almost as hard as the one that she felt when the doctor told her about the hysterectomy. It was not as though she was not happy for Pepper; she was. It was just poor timing. "Do you know what it is yet?"

"Not yet. I'm sorry Wanda."

"It's fine. Just because I can't have children does not mean everyone else around me can't get pregnant." Wanda took a swift sip of her drink. She really was not trying to show how much it was affecting her because she did not want Pepper to feel guilty about what should be a happy moment, especially under the circumstances. "So how is Tony taking it?"

"Well, I can't say he was not shocked. I actually thought he was going to have a heart attack. But we're going to try to make it work. We've had problems but that was because we were struggling to start a family. So maybe now it's happening we can get back to normal."

"Can we all get back to normal though?"

"We can try."

-o-

"Did you bring those face things?" Tony asked as he loaded up the computer.

"The veils? Yeah," Steve replied. "So what is your plan?"

"Ross and I have a meeting on Monday. While that meeting is taking place, Romanoff is going to break into his office and hack his computer. We get the information and then we get out."

"So what am I doing?"

"We need you to find the hard copies."

"Tony this is mad."

"Rogers it is either this or you keep hiding. It's your choice."

Steve sighed. "Okay, what time is this meeting?"