CHAPTER TWO: The Beginning

SHIELD Safe House

Steve decided it might be best to give Wanda some space for a while. When almost an hour passed and she hadn't come back in, he began to worry. She wasn't in the straightest mindset and she had been drinking He called her name but heard nothing. He grabbed a flashlight and crossed the kitchen to the backyard. "Wanda!" No response. He looked around nervously. He shouldn't have pushed her. He started back towards the kitchen door when he heard a noise behind him. Steve turned around but there was nothing there.

"Wanda?" He shone the flashlight around but there was nothing. He heard water splashing and looked over at the lake unable to make anything out. He slowly walked towards the lake, careful to take in his surroundings. There could be a chance it wasn't her. "Wanda, I'm really not in the…" He walked up to the shore only to almost trip over something. Steve pointed the flashlight down to find Wanda's suit at his feet. "What the…?" The water splashed again and he flashed his light over to the sound. Wanda appeared out of the water to his relief. "What are you doing?"

"Hey Cap," she smiled, slurring her words. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

"I need you to get out of the water," he tried softly.

"It's so nice in here," she cooed.

"I know but you've been drinking Wanda; it's dangerous. Please, come out of the water."

"Not until you come in," she said seductively.

"Get out of the water." He tried to ignore her tone.

"No." She started swimming around. He saw her head bob in the water like she was barely keeping it up.

"Wanda, please."

"Not until you come in." Her head ducked into the water.

"Wanda!" he yelled out. She resurfaced a few seconds later giggling.

"Stop worrying and just enjoy the moment!"

"I think I'll enjoy the moment more when I know you're safe. Now come out."

"You're always so wound up. You need to let loose." Steve could feel his anger peaking. Why was it always so difficult with her?

"Get. Out. Of the water."

"Mmm, I don't like that tone." She ducked under and took a moment longer to come up this time, coughing up water.

"Please, just this one time listen to me."

"No, come in or I'm going down." His hands wrapped behind his head in exasperation. There was nothing he could do and she was too drunk to realize what she was doing.

"Okay." He stepped towards the water. "Just start swimming to me."

"No!" she yelled. "No uniform."

"Wanda," he warned. "I'm not-." Her cheeks puffed up as she took in a deep breath. "Fine." He quickly stripped out of his suit, leaving him exposed in his boxers. He took a step into the cold waters that lapped the lake's shoreline. "Come on."

"Nooo," she dragged out. "I'm going under and not coming back up until I hear you splashing in the lake," she laughed and disappeared. He waited a moment but she didn't resurface. Damn it. He dove in and paddled over to where Wanda had been.

She finally resurfaced again a few feet away. "That's the spirit."

"I got in the water. Now let's go," he said as he swam up to her. The water was barely shallow enough for him to stand meaning there was no way she could. Wanda just found it all funny.

"You need to ease up." She put her arms around Steve's neck and pulled in close to him. Every part of his brain screamed at him to run but he couldn't move.

"I'll ease up when we're back on land," he whispered.

"Why do you always have to be so serious?"

"Because someone has to look after you when you decide to wander off."

"Stop treating me like a child."

"Stop acting like one," he countered as the water pushed them closer together, their chests bumping into one another.

"If you say so," her lips crashed onto his. He was stupefied, to say the least. He wasn't sure what she was doing or why he didn't seem to push her away immediately.

She pulled back and looked up at him, the night sky highlighting her features. It could have been the moonlit setting or the feeling of having someone that made his body betray him and hesitate before kissing her back when she pulled him in again. Something about this was intoxicating. Wanda's hands tangled in his hair as she deepened the kiss. She hooked her thighs around his waist and moaned when his hand unconsciously grabbed her thigh. He needed to stop and pull away but he couldn't; she just kept pulling him in closer. Steve started placing heavy kisses down her neck when they heard a noise inside the house. They separated in an instant.

"Aaron." With one glance, they were already swimming to shore. "I thought you said that spell was supposed to keep him down until morning?" Steve yelled as they both bypassed their clothes. There was no time to squeeze into a suit.

"It should have." They entered the house only to find the front door open. "Shit." They ran out to see him just a few yards ahead. Wanda shot a hex and he collapsed.

"Really?" Steve whipped around to glare at her.

"Just get the kid." Steve picked Aaron up and put him back in the bedroom. "Stop, doing that. We need to see if he knows anything," he called out, closing the bedroom door.

"I'm sorry. Did you feel like chasing him around the woods for an hour?" Wanda yelled as he entered the living room.

"Of course not but…" He took in Wanda's appearance. She was standing in only her undergarments, soaking wet. Steve cleared his throat and looked away quickly, making Wanda smile.

"What's wrong?" she asked in a taunting voice. She knew exactly what she was doing.

"I'm going to get our uniforms." Steve left the room and headed out. What was he thinking? He should have never let it get that far with Wanda. He was supposed to support her, not cater to her wild tendencies. He sighed and walked up to the lake, leaning down to pick up their suits. He couldn't let himself cave like that, even if it had been nice for just a moment, to be with someone, in any sense.

When he got back to the house, Wanda was on the couch drinking and looking through some books. She peered up as he walked in. The intensity from her eyes was gone from earlier, replaced by a quiet sadness.

"I'll go get us some clothes," he said faintly and went to the master bedroom. He tossed their suits to the corner and rummaged through the closet before finding something to change into. He turned around and bumped right into Wanda. She had walked in without him noticing. She was looking up at him with large, doe eyes and only a breath away.

"What are you doing?" He swallowed at their nearness.

"You know," she said matter-of-factly and put her hands on his chest.

"Wanda, you're not in the right mindset or in control. This isn't-." The clothes in his hands began to glow and levitated out of his grasp. Wanda willed them down onto the vanity chair.

"I am in control and I'm aware of what I'm doing." His eyes darted between hers, trying to figure out what she was thinking. But, she wasn't thinking at all. Her heart was heavy. She didn't want to feel the hurt and pain. She didn't want to feel. She just wanted to do. She wanted to take her mind completely off of today and focus on anything else.

Steve tried not to have such a reaction but his heart began to race, pounding against his chest. Wanda stood on her toes and leaned up, bringing him into a soft tender kiss. Sadly, his heart ached for this kind of affection and made him respond for a second before he pulled back.

"No. We can't… We…" He couldn't find his words. Her eyes were softer now, looking up at him desperately.

"We're all alone, Steve. We have no family. No home. Nothing." She let out a shaky breath. "Everything was taken from us." Wanda glanced down for a second before steadying her trembling hands. "We can have this one thing. I don't want to be alone. Even if it's only for a little." He looked at her, his heart aching to do something. She was right. They didn't have anything. No tethers, nothing they could call theirs. Without meaning to, he reached his hand up to brush a stray tear rolling down her cheek. She felt now how he'd felt every day since he woke from the ice. "Steve."

He gave in to his temptation and kissed her roughly. She was quick to respond and wrapped her arms around him. He grabbed her thighs, lifting her off the ground, and carrying her to the bed.