CHAPTER SEVEN: A Stirring

SHIELD/Avengers Tower

A knock was the only warning Steve got before Sam barged into his room early in that morning. It was just enough time for Wanda to cover her head with the blanket. They were curled up together with Steve's back to the door.

"Oh! Oh, I'm sorry!" Sam said as soon as he realized someone was with Steve and left, closing the door behind him.

"Do you think he saw me?" Wanda asked, pulling the blanket off of her head. Although Steve's heart was still racing, he smiled sweetly at her. The blanket had messed up her hair so that it was sticking out all over the place. "What?" She couldn't help but mimic his smile. He put a palm down on her hair trying to smooth it.

"You look beautiful with bed head." Wanda smacked his hand away.

"Stop! Go check if he saw anything! I'm naked under this Steve!"

"Alright! Alright! I'm going." He got up and pulled on some sweats and a T-shirt before making his way out of the room. Sam was in the kitchen staring at a tablet. He looked up when he heard the door close.

"Look man, I didn't mean to-."

"No, it's fine, really." Steve gave him a look. "Next time, just give me a moment after the knock."

"To be fair, the last thing I'd ever expect to find in your room is a girl. How scandalous of you Steve Rogers," he teased and smacked his arm. Steve just shook his head and grabbed some water. "Oh and he's dehydrated. Who tired out the supersoldier?" Sam ducked out of the way as Steve went to swat him. Suddenly Sam's eyes went wide. "It's Sharon!" Sam pumped a first in the air and jumped as if he had just won a prize. Steve pulled his arm down and shushed him quickly.

"It's not Sharon."

"What? But then who…?" Steve looked away, unsure of how to answer that. "Do I know her?" Steve didn't answer. "I do!" Sam tried to whisper but he was too joyful. "Look at you Cap. I never took you as a player." Steve knew it was just a light-hearted joke but the comment didn't sit well with him.

"I'm not a… a player. It's not like that."

"So you're with her? But you haven't introduced her to anyone?"

"No, we're not… together."

"Man, you're so jumbled up, you don't even know what you are." Just then Natasha walked out of her room, all dressed and ready as usual.

"Why are you yelling?"

"I just walked in on Cap and his lady." Natasha huffed and walked by them to grab water.

"At least you don't sleep next door to him and have to hear them when they're there." Steve's cheeks flushed bright red. She could hear them?

"You knew?" Sam said incredulously.

"Of course."

"Did you kn-."

"Oh, okay. We're done talking about this," Steve ran a hand through his hair. Part of him was afraid Natasha would tell Sam something and he wasn't sure he wanted to share his and Wanda's… sleeping arrangements yet.

"Yeah, let's drop that topic. Steve, how's Wanda doing?" Steve glared at her and knew what she was doing.

"She's doing great. She was cleared by her doctors to resume regular tasks two weeks ago and to start missions again next week."'

"Oh perfect. I can keep her in mind when we make the mission charts then," she said walking towards him.

"Just take it easy on her." She looked to see Sam distracted for a moment grabbing cereal.

"Why? It's not like you did last night. It sure was noisy," she whispered for just him to hear. He swallowed hard and gave her a look. "You didn't waste anytime-." Steve cleared his throat to make her stop.

"You should be heading out. I wouldn't want you to be late to your debriefing." Natasha just smirked before leaving.

"You better get back to your girl," Sam teased. Steve shook his head as he made his way back into the room. He laughed when Wanda peeked her head out from under the covers.

"Did he see me?" Steve let himself fall onto the bed and hovered over her. Warm, green eyes looked up at his.

"Yep. There goes your reputation." Wanda's eyes went wide making him chuckle.

"Liar!" She laughed and smacked his arm. She had become so much more playful recently. He brushed her hair away from her face and leaned down to give her a deep kiss. It was intense, as they usually were between them, but different. This one seemed gentler and made both of their hearts beat just a little quicker. When Steve pulled away, Wanda became a bit flustered and he swallowed hard.

"What was that?" They were intimate as far as their evening, and now sometimes midday, activities but only when doing so. Wanda, feeling odd, tried to make a joke.

"Are you trying to get a morning one in before work?" She teased and beamed at him. He chuckled lightly, grateful for the shift.

"I think I just might." She squealed as he descended down onto her.

About an hour later, Steve walked out of his room and let Wanda know she was clear to go. She scurried to her room and he heard the shower turn on quickly after. He set out with his day and met with Maria to go over today's course.

Wanda made her way down to the training center where Tuk, her trainer, was waiting.

"Maximoff, you're late."

"Have I ever been on time?" He chuckled.

"No, I suppose not." Wanda looked around at his set up. He had large, heavy weights set around the room.

"What're we doing today?" Tuk took her through the basics of the session. She was going to lift the different weights, in separate spaces, to different heights and hold them. But first was their warm up and hand to hand combat. Though Tuk was experienced and very skilled. Wanda managed to get the better of him a couple times.

An hour into their session, an agent pulled Tuk aside, giving him a tablet to look at. He excused himself for a moment to handle whatever was happening and instructed her to train with the other agents until he got back, calling them over. Wanda was never comfortable around SHIELD agents. She guessed they liked her about as much as she liked them. She walked over to the only agent she had ever spoken to- Simmons or Aiden as she had come to find out his first name was. He had always tried to smooth talk her, much to her disinterest before going completely silent a couple months ago. He looked up and saw her approaching.

"Want to spar?" He glanced around.

"You should find another partner." Wanda's brows furrowed in confusion.

"Did I do something?" Aiden glanced up at the control rooms that overlooked the training area before he slipped past her.

She continued training with a different agent before Tuk returned and they started with her real training on her abilities. She was struggling to maintain so much weight in the air at once, especially at different heights. When the training ended, she had managed to complete the exercise, even though it had taken a lot out of her. She made her way up through the halls before she caught sight of Aiden again. She rushed forward and caught him before he turned a corner.

"Hey!" she called out, before touching his arm. He turned to look at her, confused at first but stony in a flash.

"I need you to leave me alone, Ms. Maximoff." Ms. Maximoff? He had been calling her Wanda.

"I don't want any trouble."

"Any trouble?" From who?" Aiden gave her a look like she should already know.

"Rogers." She stepped back.

"Steve Rogers?"

"Yes," he said slowly now realizing she hadn't known.

"I have to go," was all she said before swiftly brushing by him. Why was Steve telling people to stay away from her? It's not like she could exactly make many friends as is here. Something about this made her blood start to boil... She ran into Sam as she was heading up to the quarters later that day. He was dressed nicely as he usually was before he went out for the evening.

"Wanda!" She gave him a meek smile. "Good thing I caught you. You are coming out with us tonight." Wanda took a step back.

"I appreciate the-."

"None of that tonight. You always stay in your room. Tonight, I'm making you go out and socialize."

"Sam-."

"No, it's happening." He ushered her towards their quarters and into her room.

"Sam, I don't own anything like what you wear. I only have my suits and uniforms." Sam sighed and looked around before his eyes light up.

"You and Natasha look the same size, I'm sure she has something." Before she could argue, he was ushering her into the agent's room.

"We shouldn't be in here."

"Romanoff is too smart to keep anything of value in here. She doesn't care." Wanda looked around uneasily at the room. It was plain and simple, nothing to look at. Sam dug through the closet and pulled out a scarlet, low cut dress.

"Absolutely not." He frowned at her before pulling out a couple more options which she quickly rejected "Wanda, work with me."

"Uh- is there anything just plain? Black, maybe?" He pulled out a fitting black dress that seemed to go slightly longer than the others and gave her a pleading look.

"Fine, but I'm only doing this for you." Sam waited outside her room while she changed. She looked at herself in the mirror once the dress was on. This was very unlike her. She looked like Natasha on a mission. Suddenly she realized she didn't know what to do with her hair or how to do any makeup. Who was she kidding. this whole night out was ridiculous.

"I'm not going," she said as she opened the door to find Sam in the kitchen. Sam whistled when he saw her. "That's it," she mumbled and started back towards the room.

"Hey, hey, hey!" He stopped her before she could step back in. "You look great, Wanda."

"Sam, I've never gone out to a bar. I don't know what I'm doing." The door opened then and Natasha strolled in to her horror.

"Nice dress," was all she said.

"Are you coming out with us tonight?" Natasha eyed them for a moment.

"I think I might." Wanda tried to read the woman but it was impossible. Nstasha walked over and shooed Sam away before guiding Wanda to her room.

"Is this your first night out?"

"It's not really my scene." She vaguely remembered Steve saying those same words to her. The thought of him made her temper flare a tad.

"It might not be but it never hurts to get out once in a while." Wanda just sat there letting Natasha put some makeup on her and straighten her hair.

"How are you and Steve doing? " Wanda felt uneasy on the subject.

"Uh, okay." she answered awkwardly. Natasha just looked her over.

"I don't mean to pry but, are you two..."

"We're just friends," Wanda clarified, not sure why it was so important to answer as quickly as she did.

"Friends that just spend every night together?" Wanda swallowed hard. Had she known Natasha would interrogate her like this, she would've never agreed to the help.

"We don't- we don't always." Natasha raised an eyebrow. "We have overnight missions and... sometimes we don't." She knew there was no use explaining. Barring either being on mission, they were always together. She didn't know how it had happened but it had just become a habit for the past few months.

"Somehow, Rogers doesn't strike me as that kind of guy. He's very traditional."

"It's just how it happened," she shrugged her shoulders, unsure of what to say.

"And neither one of you wants an actual relationship?" Wanda bit her lip.

"No." She had loved and lost everyone at this point. There was no way she'd put herself through that pain again. Natasha seemed to nod at her determined look.

"Does Steve?" Wanda's eyes shot up to Natasha's who were staring directly at her.

"N-no. He knows what we are."

"Let's hope so because he's bending a lot of his own rules for you." Wanda sat there in silence for the next minute as Natasha finished her up and sent her out with Sam, letting him know she'd meet them there. She left the room feeling thoroughly interrogated and set off. She wasn't sure what to do.

"Wanda! Look at you!" Sam laughed and gave a little whistle. Wanda laughed and waved him off. "Damn that's what Nat can do in five minutes?" Had it only been five minutes? She felt like she'd been in there so much longer. A click from the front door made them both turn and see Steve walk in. His head was down looking at some papers. He shut the door and shuffled towards what Wanda knew was her room without ever looking up. She cleared her voice to get him to stop. Steve looked up and his eyes went wide as he took her in.

"Wanda?" Sam laughed beside her.

"Right!" He laughed at the stunned look on Steve's face. "She looks great!" Wanda's cheeks turned a rosy shade of pink. Steve didn't know what to say. She looked amazing. As he looked her over again, his eyes darkened and she immediately picked up on what his mind was thinking. If only Sam weren't here.

"Steve, you have to go too man. If Wanda can go, so can you." To Wanda's surprise he just agreed and left to change. Sam spun around to look at her. "Is it me or did that seem too easy?" Wanda laughed.

"Maybe he's just in a good mood." Sam eyed his door. He was back in a couple minutes in jeans and a tighter T-shirt that gave Wanda a unique reaction. It was so rare to see him in anything but his suit. Sam had clapped his hands and declared time to go. As he led them down the hall, Wanda fell back and whispered only enough for Steve to hear.

"I didn't think you'd come."

"I couldn't let you out of my sight looking like that." His hot breath was on her ear and neck, making her nerves tingle. What had she gotten herself into?