Reviews on last chapter: Moustache1234; Javie-1998; LilyRose14; JamesRogers1122; Nowmyworldisperfect; TheJollyRoger; gundamseeddestiny; NowYouAvengeHarryPotter; DarylDixon'sLover.
And, a quick shout out to NowYouAvengeHarryPotter who asked for more Wanda and Rhodey. You get your wish today, and there is now a little plan in store for these two :D
Wanda rolled her shoulders back a few times as she walked into the gym where Natasha was waiting for her. She checked the time and found that she was early - what time did Nat get here? If there was one thing she admired about Natasha, it was her dedication to the team, even when she was raising a family.
There were a lot reasons that Wanda loved getting back into shape and working out; it gave her a good purpose outside of her daughter. It also helped her prove to herself that she could still be a member of the Avengers as well as connected to who she was before.
However, it was all a lot more effort than she remembered. She had always been active, but having a child put a different kind of toll on your body and with all the rest she had taken, she wasn't in as good of shape as she had been for most of her life. On the plus side, she'd found out that she has a new level of control over her powers - that must have been because she controlled what she used while she was pregnant with and around Arianna. But now that she was back to training, she had the opportunity to safely let it all out, and she had taken advantage of it all.
She started off lightly with the punching bag to warm up and let off any built-up steam she had inside from arguments or just from the frustration of not using her powers to their full potential. She loved her daughter more than life itself, but sometimes the sacrifices she made for her, such as keeping her powers reigned in extra-tightly when she was around, were rather taxing. It felt good to land blow after blow on the unyielding bag, utilising moves Natasha had taught her. She was proud to note that she kept her form perfectly the entire time.
Next she went on to stretches and practised various battle forms, punching and kicking an imaginary opponent relentlessly until every inch of her body was coated with sweat. Natasha had been a silent observer as she went through her own techniques, though she would correct Wanda on little things from time to time. She was trying to make Wanda more independent during training so that she could go through the sessions on her own if need be.
After an hour of training to control her powers better, Wanda teamed up with Natasha and they sparred for half an hour before ending the session with a few laps around the gym. By the time they were finished, Wanda could barely breathe and was sure she looked and smelled horrible, but she couldn't help smiling. It felt good to strengthen herself and gain more control. However, when she thought the session was over, Natasha surprised her.
"I noticed that you haven't used your powers today, let's head to the other gym," Natasha stated before walking off. Wanda checked the time and followed her, they didn't usually train for longer than two hours - not together anyway, Natasha had other things to do. She followed with a curious smile.
They spent another 45 minutes on Wanda's powers alone. Throwing things across the room, catching objects before they hit the wall, and most scarily, using Natasha as an object. Why her coach was willing to put her life in Wanda's hands was really scary, but encouraged her even more - if somebody believed in her this much, she could too.
Wanda was even more tired than she was early, her brain felt like it was melting, but she also felt better than she had in a while - more free.
"Thank you for your help." Wanda thanked Natasha as they towelled the sweat from their brows. She did so every time they trained together.
"Any time," Natasha replied, looking a lot more relaxed and composed than Wanda herself. "Do me a favour and make sure that Rhodey is doing his personal workouts - I'm pretty sure he's slacking."
Wanda chuckled and downed half of the water in her thermos before nodding. "Will do. See you on Tuesday?" They agreed on a time to meet for the next training session and Wanda headed back to her room to shower before she went to see Rhodey. Something told her that smelling strongly of sweat wasn't the most ideal way to present oneself to really anybody.
Wanda was pleased to find Arianna fast asleep in her cot in Rhodey's room when she entered half an hour later. They had a system going where they'd take turns watching their daughter while the other trained. Although, as Natasha had said, Rhodey hadn't been taking advantage of that system to train too much lately. Lightly kissing the baby's forehead, Wanda snuck over to the couch and sat beside Rhodey, who smiled at her kindly.
"Was she fussy at all?" She asked him quietly, referring to the girl's recent increase in fussy behavior. Arianna was starting to get a little anxious when she wasn't with both parents at the same time, something that Wanda found slightly concerning. However, she was sure it would pass with time.
"She was a little angel, as usual," Rhodey replied with a fond smile.
It never ceased to lighten her mood seeing how happy Arianna made Rhodey. He really was an amazing father to her, and it warmed Wanda's heart. Honestly, she did love the man. The feelings were very much there, although their relationship was still in a developmental stage. They decided that the birth of their child (whom they had conceived by accident) wouldn't automatically make them skip the first stages of being in a relationship so they were ready to marry; instead they opted to treat this like any other relationship, where affections grew and developed as they got to know each other more. Arianna's presence did help the process along, sure, but going about this the way they had, by not making it all revolving around the fact that they did have Arianna, made it feel much more genuine. Wanda didn't feel like Rhodey was staying with her solely out of a sense of duty, as she had feared would be the case. She genuinely found that she loved him, and he'd expressed that he felt the same. They were so much more comfortable together now, and Wanda was completely happy with it all.
"Let's just hope she'll be a little angel for me while you train." Wanda replied with a fond yet pointed look. "Natasha is onto you, you know. You can't skip training forever."
Rhodey looked away from her, turning the volume of the TV down. "She didn't really notice, did she?" He asked hesitantly.
She raised a brow. "She told me to tell you that you needed to stop slacking."
"Alright, I'll start back up tomorrow," Rhodey negotiated. "I was thinking today that we could hang out, head out of the base with Arianna for dinner." He suggested.
Wanda smiled at that. "That sounds great." She agreed. She loved spending time with Rhodey, and while she did wish they could have more alone time than what they currently were able to, she wouldn't trade the time they spent as a family for anything. Because if there was anything she loved more than spending time with Rhodey, it was spending time with him and watching him and Arianna interact. Those two were truly peas in a pod.
Rhodey smiled widely at her. "Great! Ari isn't due to wake up for another hour. So we could easily leave at four. Want to watch a movie while we wait?"
Wanda felt a mischievous smile pull at her lips as she decided to be a bit more bold. "I have a better idea." She suggested, leaning forward and kissing him.
There was no hesitation in his response, hooping an arm around her waist and cupping her cheek as he did so.
Natasha flicked through five of her burner phones, still constantly monitoring them for any incoming messages. After seeing there was nothing, her eyes migrated over to the dozens of unused phones and she picked up a pretty decent but standard black phone. It wasn't impressive, but it wasn't anything to be embarrassed about, either.
She pocketed it before walking downstairs and finding Steve on the couch, watching a documentary, and sat down beside him, her knees bumping his. "Steve, Chloe's birthday is in a few weeks, and I want her to be able to contact us whenever sooner than that. So I was thinking about giving her one of my unused burners- standard phone now." She suggested pretty straightforwardly, actually happy in herself for phrasing it as a suggestion and not as something she was going to do regardless of what he said - which she was. "And this way, we'll still be able to surprise her with a smartphone on her birthday. What do you think?"
He shrugged. "Sounds fine to me. We'll just have to make sure we don't even imply anything about a smartphone. When were you thinking of giving it to her?"
"Now," Natasha answered simply. "Chloe's going on a field trip with the school in a few days, so I'd rather she has a few days to get used to it and get her friends' numbers in case something goes wrong then or she gets lost."
Steve nodded in agreement. "Sometimes having a strategist in the family can really come in handy," he said somewhat teasingly. "We'll have to act as though giving it to her is a big deal so she won't suspect something better is coming later."
With a nod, she agreed. "Any suggestions?"
"We could say it was going to be a birthday present, but we felt she needed it sooner than that. Just put it in a gift box so it's more like a present." Steve answered.
Natasha furrowed her eyebrows slightly - that was a good idea, but strange. She didn't know you could give presents early randomly. "Or we could say it's for being such a good sport over the court case?" She counter-suggested.
Steve nodded thoughtfully. "That's better, actually… reinforce how proud we are that she's being so mature about it. I'm sure there are plenty of parenting manuals that would encourage that." He chuckled.
"Good idea. Do you mind if I do it alone?" Natasha asked. She wanted to maintain a good relationship with both of her children, and not by giving them things, but by taking the time to understand their needs. This would be a great opportunity to open up and let Chloe open up too.
Steve smiled understandingly. "Go right on ahead - just make sure she knows it's from me, too." He added with a wink.
Natasha was tempted to inform him that technically, it wasn't also from him, but it was a joint present in a lot of ways. "Alright." She agreed. They shared a kiss before she made her way up to Chloe's room - she passed Selina, who was making a fort under the stairs, and stopped for a moment to chat with her a bit about the mighty castle the girl had built before continuing up the stairs. "Chloe," she said softly, knocking on the doorframe as the teen's door was already open.
Chloe was lying on her belly on the bed, several textbooks strewn across the bedspread in front of her. She looked up, startled, from her Sociology book, a smile forming on her face when she saw who it was. "Oh, hi, Natasha." She greeted.
"Mind if I come in?" Natasha asked with a smile.
The girl nodded and sat up, bookmarking her pages before closing each textbook, looking rather relieved to have a break from studying. She scooted over easily to let Natasha sit by her. "What's up?" She asked happily.
Natasha stepped in gracefully and took a seat. "How is school going?" She asked open-endedly. There were more specific questions she could go into, but this question seemed like the best option.
Chloe shrugged, gesturing to the pile of schoolbooks. "Good," she answered shortly. However, Natasha didn't respond; she stared the teen down in a new tactic to get more information without having to ask - she'd never done it with the children before. "I have a few tests coming up, Sociology, Chem, Algebra and Health. All of the studying is actually starting to get boring, but I'm still nervous that I'll fail something." She admitted.
Natasha had to think for a few moments about what to say; she didn't think saying 'at least you won't be killed if you fail a test' would be very encouraging, as Chloe wasn't in the Red Room and she didn't want to imply that there was a possibility of harm coming to her at all. "Regardless of what grades you get, your father and I will be proud of you, and we'll help you in any way you need."
Chloe perked up instantly at the word 'father' and then even more at 'proud'; that in and of itself made Natasha happy for her choice of words. "Thanks, Natasha," she said fondly.
Once again, it took Natasha a second to respond; she just hoped that those silly pointless movies that Clint and Bobbi made her watch throughout all those years were right. Because this phrase was a big gamble. "If you wanted, you could call me Mom. You don't have to-" She didn't manage to finish her sentence as Chloe's arms were immediately around her. Natasha wasn't entirely sure what to do and patted her back for a few moments with one arm whilst the other hugged the teen back.
"I want to, I really, really want to!" Chloe cried, burying her face in her shoulder and laughing gleefully. "I just… I can't figure out how to now…" She added, suddenly falling back from the hug and looking thoughtful. "It wouldn't be as meaningful if the first time I called you that was just to test it out…"
Natasha nodded in understanding; she wasn't going to put pressure on this, especially because she wasn't sure how she would react to being called 'Mom'. She just wanted Chloe to know she could use it if she wanted. "That's fine, Chlo, you can call me Nat, or whatever. It doesn't bother me - I just wanted you to know that it is an option. Maybe once the papers for your adoption are official, things will seem more… familial."
Chloe chewed her bottom lip as she thought it over. "But you're already my mom to me." She said earnestly. "I don't want to base what I call you solely on when the legal system catches up to the fact that you're my family now."
Okay, that almost choked Natasha up in the good, overly-emotional way. Time for her to get out before she let it show. She offered a smile. "I'm glad - you're my family, too." She took a big breath. "We've been through a lot together, and with you going to school quite far from here and hanging out with your friends more, Steve and I wanted you to be safe and able to contact us at all times. Now, this is a present from us to you for being so mature during your court case and for not going on a rampage when you didn't get what you wanted." She said; it seemed slightly rehearsed, but none of what she said was completely planned. "Therefore, we bought you a phone." She pulled the phone out, which she realised wasn't actually wrapped like Steve had suggested, but it was still in its original box, and held it out to her.
Chloe's eyes seemed close to popping out of their sockets, they were so wide. "Wait… you… really? I… I…" Blinking owlishly, she carefully took the phone from Natasha and stared down at it. "This is amazing! Thank you so much!" She finally exclaimed; it had apparently taken a while for the reality of it all to process.
"You're welcome" Natasha replied with a smile. "It already has both Steve's and my numbers, and you have a ten dollar maximum a month, unless you do chores or get a job or ask for more." Okay, so Natasha wasn't quite sure on how much credit a teen needed on her phone, or what a 'good parent' would give them.
Chloe nodded along distractedly as she turned the phone on and began tinkering with it, pressing random buttons to see what they did. "This is so cool!" She said eagerly. "Thank you so much!"
Natasha stood up with a smile. "You're welcome - don't forget to thank Steve, too," she said before walking from the room. She was going to call that a successful talk with Chloe.
Thank you for reading!
Right, so... my laptop is completely BROKEN! I'm taking it into a shop later this week to see if I can get it fixed, but until then... well... I'm on the computer a lot less. I'm posting this at work right now, and can use my Dads (but not all the time). If I don't get my laptop fixed, then it would be Christmas until everything will go back to normal - so, please bare with me even more than you have before... life isn't being very nice to me lately!