Disclaimer: I don't own anything Marvel, I just own Anna.

Chapter 25

Upstate

Though the view from Avengers Tower was astonishingly beautiful with the lights and buildings below, the new view in the Avengers Facility outside the city was more of a realistic beauty. Not everyone had the view the Avengers had had in the city, but there were more people with country homes with the view of the woods from their bedroom windows. It was a grounding experience. Instead of maybe quinting down to see a car accident on the road far below, it was possible on the weekends to maybe see a small family of deer cautiously adventure into the training fields when unoccupied.

The room Tony had designated for her was on the top floor where Steve and Natasha's rooms were. They were above, away from the shared living area and kitchen for more privacy. After all, they were workaholics and the quiet was something appreciated when they wanted to continue to work through the night after everyone else decided to go to bed.

Their rooms were also designed differently with an attached office and private bathroom with walkin closets. The door into Anna's room specifically was in the middle of the bedroom wall. It was a long room. On the left side was where the TV and stand with her favorite movies were located. On either side was a door. On the left of the TV was the door to the bathroom and the closet. On the right was the door to the office. This was one the outside wall so that it allowed one whole wall of the office to be a window to look outside. It let in enough natural light to help her feel like she wasn't stuck inside more than she should've.

Back in the bedroom, that whole wall continued along that same wall. She only had two things next to the window so not to obstruct her view. She had a comfortable chair with a ottoman at the foot, with a bed for Rey next to it facing the television, a large plush rug separating the living and bedroom space. The only other thing over in the living room side of the room was a desk against the same wall with the door. Back on the bedroom side, opposite of the door was a dresser that had things she'd change into quickly so she wouldn't have to go all the way to the closet to get them: like pajamas and lounging clothes. The bed was in the middle of the left wall with a nightstand flanking either side. At the foot of the bed sat a lounge bench which she only ever really used to sit on to put her shoes on.

The walls were all a light gray except for the wall with the bed against it. As an accent wall, this was painted a dark midnight blue. The bedding was a deep eggplant purple with blue pillows, and a matching blue throw blanket at the bottom of the bed. The rug under the bed was white, just as the other in the living space was. The floors are nice dark hardwood. Most of the wooden furniture was espresso, while the headboard, chair and lounge were all dark gray. Blue and purple accents were everywhere from the blankets, the artwork on the walls, to the flowers, candles, and lamps.

It honestly looked a lot like more girls her age would decorate their rooms. Wanda's appeared very similar to her own, though with some lighter colors puffs thrown around the room. As much as her room represented her age well, Anna clearly wasn't like most women her age.

Most women her age were just finishing their undergraduate studies, and either trying to get a job in the real world or moving on to graduate studies. She may have been biologically twenty-two (though her licence said twenty due to the whole complications from her time traveling trip to the twenties), but she'd done more, and seen so much more than any normal person her age. She was married to a man born more than three lifetimes before she was born, who was brainwashed to be an assassin for the very people she tried to take down. She'd killed people, traveled to other planets, and had a best friend that was an alien fox creature that communicated through her head.

Living in a facility outside of New York City with a bunch of super people was definitely not where she'd thought she'd be. She figured she'd still be working for SHIELD undercover somewhere. It was always what she'd known, so it was what she always pictured. Not married. Not ready to have kids (especially not at such a young age). And definitely not trying to track down her runaway assassin nearly one hundred year old husband.

But though she'd prefer to have Bucky with her, being with the Avengers wasn't something she'd have traded to go back to what her original dream had been. Things had a way of working out for the better. They showed her what she really wanted out of life. How could she give that up?

Steve and Tony were escorting Thor out when she'd run into them. Signing as she watched a group of trainees run across the field down below, Anna turned away to head out of her room. Thor was leaving today to go search for answers as to why the Infinity Stones were now all popping up. She'd already threatened him to make sure he kept her updated if he found anything. Steve had asked her to tell Wanda to get suited up for an afternoon training session.

Wanda and Vision had been two people Anna had yet to go out of her way to talk to. There'd been so much going on after the fall of Sokovia, and the death of Pietro, and the move that there'd just been so much to focus on. But that was going to change. Anna wasn't the type of person to let them remain strangers when they were all living and working together. Wanda was a product of her environment, and she'd been misled. But she stepped up when it really counted. Vision hadn't asked to be made.

Standing outside Wanda's open door as she organized some things at the black shelving by her bed, Anna knocked and waited to be told she could enter. Wanda turned to her and hesitantly nodded to her. "Agent Barnes," she greeted, sitting on the edge of her bed as Anna came in and shut the door. "What do I owe this pleasure?"

"I wanted to see how you were doing," Anna said, taking a seat next to her on one of the blue puffs she had scattered about her room. "And seriously, please just call me Anna."

"Alright, Anna," Wanda said. "It's a lot of change," she answered. "In such a short period of time."

"Yeah, I can understand that," Anna said. "Especially doing it alone. Your brother would be proud of you, though. That was clear. We didn't own each other long, but he saved my life, and he very clearly cared about you, like any big brother should."

"He was only twelve minutes older," Wanda said.

"Still, he probably never let you live that down, did he?" Anna laughed. "I know my brother never let anything slide with me."

"You have a brother?" Wanda asked.

Anna nodded, looking out the window above Wanda's bed. "Yeah," she answered. "His name was Clark. He would've been twenty-five this year. I lost him a few years ago on my birthday. We both worked for SHIELD and…"

"I," Wanda started, "I'm so sorry for your loss."

"I know you are," Anna said, reaching out to take her hand. "I just want you to know that you're not alone here. We may be strangers now, but that doesn't have to be the case. We've all been through a lot, and we probably know what you're going through more than anybody. I mean, Steve volunteered like you did to help stop a war that changed your life forever. I know what it's like to lose the people you care most about. We all have things we've been through that we can relate to one another with.

"So if you ever need anything. And I mean anything, we're always here and we all want to help," Anna said. "So if there is anything I can do for you, whether it's easing your transition, or just someone to talk to, I'm around."

"That means more than I think you know," Wanda said. "I don't think I've ever met strangers so willing to help. You're all very different than we thought you were."

"You can't always judge a book by their cover," Anna said. "Especially Tony. Even once you know Tony, you kinda still gotta dig there and chip a whole lot of rock away before you find who he really is. He's got a lot of baggage."

"I just read about how it wasn't him that was selling weapons under the table to our country," Wanda said. "And when he found out he took it upon himself to make sure it all stopped. We misjudged."

"It's easy to do," Anna said. "It's a very human thing to do-"

Vision phased through the wall next to her. Anna screamed and jumped up and away from the wall. "For the love of boundaries, Vision!" Anna gasped. "Dude, we need to have a serious conversation about this, but two you should probably get changed for training."

"I apologize, Miss Barnes," Vision said, as he shifted his clothing back to his battle uniform. .

"It's just Anna," Wanda corrected him.

"Come with me, Vision," Anna instructed. "We can talk on the way down to the training room while Wanda gets ready."

The two left the room through the door, and headed down to the training room. Anna stopped him in the hallway, however, to have a moment of privacy to talk though. There was a lot to be said to the android and there was really only one way for her to start.

"I wanted to apologize," Anna told him, clearly surprising him. "I didn't exactly treat you the best when you first woke up. You didn't ast to be created, let alone have the mind stone thrust into your care. There's no excuse for my behavior."

"I don't fault you for your previous action," Vision said. "I do appreciate the apology and it is graciously accepted."

"Thank you," Anna said. "I've seen what four of the Infinity Stones can do. And it's terrifying, you know? I acted out of fear, and that wasn't fair to you. But I am glad it's you that has control over it. You've proven yourself very level headed."

"Thank you," he said. "I look forward to learning from you all, and showing you further that it is in good hands, so to speak."

Anna smiled. "I look forward to that too.

This one is kind of short, but it involved getting to know some of the other characters better. I wish I had more ideas on how to interact with them better, but I think my head is just so focused on getting to the next movie that I can't think about anything else really. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy the chapter! I'm already a few chapters into Civil War rn, so the schedule will keep going as it is.

Thanks to the following for their review on the previous chapter:

Jedi Jesla777 - I wonder if they'll have him in WandaVision...That might be why they have him in constract...if they do. Honestly Idk about any of that stuff.