AN: Enjoy!
So, the next Morning, Wanda packed up a few sets of clothes for the twins, and their toothbrushes, and told them to pick out a few favourite toys, and storybooks. Then, she strapped Tommy and Billy into the back of the car (she still drove the red Buick that Vision had left her), and began the long drive out to Tony Stark's Lake House.
They were greeted at the door by Pepper, with little Morgan Stark clinging to her leg, and Nate Barton, now aged nine, who had been dropped off by his Father earlier that day. Tony had already headed out to the Avengers compound the previous day.
"You boys try and behave for Pepper, okay?" Wanda hugged the twins tightly, a lump in her throat once more. It was the first time she had ever left them. "Listen to what she tells you, eat your vegetables, and don't argue about bath or bedtime.."
"Eugh, vegetables.." Tommy cringed. "But I'll try, Mommy."
"I'll be good, Mommy" said Billy. "I promise."
"Good.." Wanda kissed the top of each sweet little head, then reluctantly let them go. "I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise. You two go inside with Nate, I need to have a word with Pepper before I go.."
"Okay.. bye, Mommy!"
They hurried off, and Nate ushered the two younger boys inside. He was beginning to favour Laura in his looks, another reminder of why they were doing this.
"I.. I know that it might seem strange" Wanda murmured, "Leaving my kids here with you when we've hardly spoken a word to each other, but.."
"Don't worry" Pepper smiled at her. "Your boys are safe here. Happy will be here soon so I'm not quite so outnumbered.. We'll hold down the fort while you heroes go do what you have to do."
"Okay.." Wanda swallowed the lump in her throat. "Make sure they know I love them, and I'll be back soon."
"Will do. You go save half the world."
Wanda was the last member of the Time Heist team to arrive at the Avengers Compound, when the plans being made for the Time Heist were already in full swing. With the original Avengers seemingly reconnecting over the plans, Wanda couldn't help feeling just a little out of place, and found herself drawn to Monica, who also seemed a little on the outer.
"I'm not sure while I'm even still here, to be honest" Monica admitted, "In a room full of heroes and Gods. I really just came to let someone know about Vision, which turned out to be relevant to the thing Scott was here for.."
"Which led you to my House.." Wanda cut in.
"Yeah. And then, when it seemed like there was a real, solid plan to bring the decimated back, and its getting closer and closer to a plan that could actually work, I thought of my Mom.. She'd just been through a successful cancer surgery when the decimation happened. She'd just got her life back, and then she was gone.." Monica sighed. "If there's anyway to bring her back, even the slightest chance, I want to be part of it, even if I don't really fit."
"I never entirely fit, and I'm here" Wanda shrugged. "I think it's brave of you to be here, in a room full of heroes and Gods. Most of the Avengers became heroes just being ordinary people who can do a few extraordinary things. There's no reason that can't be you too."
"You think so?" Monica smiled softly.
"I do. I think it's good to have someone like you on the team. You're a reminder that everyone lost somebody they love in the Blip.. that the whole world has a stake in what we're about to do. Its not just us. So.. maybe we can really do this. For people like your Mom."
"People like my Mom.. and everyone who should be here but isn't" Monica raised a fist.
For a moment, Wanda was confused, then chuckled, raising her own fist and bumping her knuckles against Monica's.
"For everyone who should be here but isn't" She agreed.
The pair fell into a comfortable silence, sharing a bowl of chips.
"So.." said Monica after a moment, "Do you think I could be on your team?"
"Funny" Wanda laughed, "I was just about to ask the same thing.."
When the group got their assignments, Wanda and Monica were, in fact, on the same team. The duo accompanied Thor and Rocket Raccoon to Asgard, in the midst of the battle between the Asgardians and the Dark Elves, to retrieve the Aether, aka the Reality Stone.
When Thor suffered a small emotional crisis and wandered off, Wanda took charge.
"Don't worry, I think we can do this without Thor.." Wanda murmured, leading Monica and Rocket towards the door Thor had earlier indicated as the entrance to the room housing Jane Foster."
"Whaddaya mean we can do this without Thor?" asked Rocket incredulously. "Thor was the whole freakin' plan! He was supposed to sweet talk the Ex while I snuck up behind her and sucked out the Stone!"
"Not that I don't trust you, Wanda.." said Monica, as they hid around a corner near the door, dodging a few passing soldiers. "But Thor was pretty vital to the plan.."
"I'm a Mama Bear trying to get back to her kids, and give them back their Dad. Trust me when I say I can handle it" She ran for the door. "Now come on, follow me."
Monica and Rocket glanced at each other, shrugging, then followed her.
The trio burst into the room, and Jane Foster jumped.
"What.. who are.."
Wanda waved her hand, and in a flash of red, calmed and stilled Jane.
"Get the Aether now, Rocket" She ordered. "I'm a little out of practice, so I'm not quite sure how long I can hold her still.."
"Got it.." Rocket nodded and got to work, and as soon as the Aether was extracted, they fled, almost crashing right into an Asgardian Soldier.
Wanda saved the day again, sending a wisp of scarlet energy into the Soldier's temple.
"You never saw us. We weren't here."
"I never saw you" The Asgardian deadpanned. "You weren't here."
"How long have you been able to do Jedi mind tricks?" Monica raised an eyebrow.
"Honestly, it was an educated guess" said Wanda, taking off at a run. "When I first got my powers, I could make people see things that weren't there.. I figured it wasn't too much of a stretch to make someone unsee something that was there."
"Well, whatever that was, it was pretty frickin' cool" Rocket, his small legs beginning to tire, scrambled up onto Wanda's shoulders. "You know, I think we might have the best team in this whole heist thing."
All three of them laughed. The trio soon rejoined Thor, who appeared to be doing much better after a pep talk from his Mother, and regaining Mjolnir. With their part of the mission complete, they returned to 2024 in rather good spirits.
Unfortunately, these good spirits weren't to last, when they returned from the mission to discover that not everyone had made it back.
Wanda choked back a sob at the loss of Natasha Romanoff, trying very hard not to scream. Wondering how she was going to explain this to her boys, how she was going to tell them that Auntie Nat was gone, that there would be no more weekend trips to the ice-cream parlour, or sing-alongs in the car.
The remaining original Avengers, plus Wanda hovering a little away from the rest, stood by the lake outside the compound, grieving in silence.
"Do we know if she had any family?" asked Tony, the usual cocky edge completely absent from his voice.
"Yeah" Steve replied sullenly. "Us."
"And a sister.." Wanda murmured. She felt a little out of place with the four of them, but no-one had told her to go, so she had stayed.
"What?" Steve gasped, while everyone else gave Wanda confused looks.
"I don't know any real details.." Wanda continued sadly, "But she was listening to music with the twins one day, and 'American Pie' came on. Nat told them it was her little sister's favourite song. She sounded sad, so I just assumed she'd been decimated or something and didn't ask any questions.."
"Why are we all just standing here?" Thor argued. "Someone can just go back again and.."
"No.." said Clint, a quiver in his voice. "It can't be undone. At least that's what the red floating guy had to say. Maybe you wanna go talk to him? That's it, you grab your hammer, and you go talk to him!" He crumpled a little. "It should have been me.."
"She wouldn't have let that happen, Clint.." Wanda laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You know she wouldn't. She loved your family too much to let them come back and be without you. All of us with families.." She glanced between Clint and Tony. "She gave her life for the Stone, and she would have done that for any of us."
"Nat bet her life on this mission.. On all of us" Clint sniffled. "She bet her life on it!"
Bruce, in a sudden fit of grief, startled the group as he angrily hurled a bench into the lake, but almost immediately calmed.
"She's not coming back.." He whispered sadly. "We have to make it worth it.. We have to."
Steve stood, determined.
"We will."
A little later, after Bruce had snapped his fingers to bring everyone home, and the team's joy at the fact it may have worked had been almost immediately destroyed by the compound blowing up, Wanda began to wish she'd known Nebula a little better, or at least enough to realise that they'd brought the wrong one back after the Time Heist. The constant pain on the surface of each Nebula's mind was similar enough, and so drowned out by everyone's grief over the loss of Natasha, that Wanda did not think to look any deeper.
However, she didn't have long to dwell on this, instead putting all her energy into digging herself and Monica, who she'd managed to shield at the last second, out of the rubble of the destroyed compound. She was not going to die in hole in the ground without ever seeing her sons again. For her, this mission had been about giving a parent back to them, not making them lose another.
She and Monica emerged from the rubble to a wondrous sight, the cavalry arriving through magical golden portals. Though Thanos had caught up to them again, all was not lost. The cavalry was arriving, their mission had been a success. The decimated had been restored. There was a chance to bring Vision back.
But first, Wanda had a battle to help win.
She took to the sky, at first seeing herself as most useful in helping to deal with the Leviathans before they could do too much damage. However, Wanda made sure to keep one eye on the Gauntlet as first Clint, then T'Challa tried to transport it across the battlefield to the quantum tunnel in Scott's van. If Thanos got the Stones again, it would be the end of them all.
Wanda saw the Gauntlet knocked from T'Challa's hands, and saw Monica scoop it up and try to run. Saw Thanos charging.. Wanda dove, landing between them, blocking his way.
"You took everything from me once. I won't let you take my new friend too."
"I don't even know who you are" Thanos replied smugly.
"You will" Wanda growled, her eyes glowing scarlet as she floated menacingly, lifting large pieces of rubble with her powers and beginning to hurl them at the Mad Titan. "Monica, run."
Monica didn't need telling twice. While Wanda battled Thanos, Monica got the Gauntlet back to T'Challa, who then passed it onto Spider-Man.
In years to come, when the surviving Avengers reminisced about the battle, all would agree that Wanda would have had Thanos beat had he not rained fire.
Wanda never wanted her quest to get her children's Father back to cost another child theirs. And she never would have expected to grieve so deeply for Tony Stark, a man she had once hated with such ferocity. But it was because of his sacrifice that they all lived, and she now had a chance to get Vision back, for herself and her children.
As Wanda arrived at the Lakehouse, and a heartbroken Pepper Potts headed inside with Happy to break the tragic news to Morgan, Tommy and Billy came running out to her, and she dropped to her knees ready to hug them both.
"Mommy, you're back!" said Tommy happily, throwing himself into her arms.
"Of course" She kissed the top of his head. "I promised you both I would be."
"Mommy, why is Mister Happy so sad now?" asked Billy, clinging to her.
"Yeah, he was really happy when he first comed over" said Tommy. "He brought cheeseburgers!"
"That's nice.." Wanda smiled sadly, wiping a few stray tears from her eyes. "Well, Mr. Happy is sad because his friend.. Morgan's Daddy.. Had to go to and.. I'm sorry, boys, but.."
"What, Mommy?" The twins looked up at her with wide eyes.
"Well.." A few more tears escaped. "A-Auntie Nat had to go too.."
They were both quiet for a few moments, before Billy reached up to wipe his Mother's eyes.
"Don't be sad, Mommy. They'll be okay."
"W-What?" Wanda's brow furrowed, confused.
"You said our Daddy was halfway to Heaven" Billy continued. "He woulda pointed Auntie Nat and Morgan's Daddy the right way, and made sure they got there safe."
"You're right, Billy" Wanda chuckled, hugging him a little tighter. "He would have."
Wanda stayed nearby with the twins for another week, first to attend Natasha's memorial service, then Tony's.
Before making the trip back to Westview, she left the twins with Clint and Laura for a few hours, and made a quick side trip to S.W.O.R.D Headquarters. Monica was expecting her, waiting by a Wakandan Jet that had been parked outside the building. As Wanda arrived, a stretcher holding Vision's body was wheeled out, ready to be taken aboard.
"Right on time" Monica smiled at her. "We're just about to take him aboard."
Wanda shyly reached out to take Vision's hand for a moment. It seemed to warm in her grasp.
"You'll take care of him, won't you?" She asked her friend. "Make sure he's safe? I'd go, but I can't leave the boys again yet.."
"I'll be with him the whole way, and I'll keep you updated on what's going on, and let you know when we're ready to try and wake him" Monica promised. "My Mom will help too."
"Your Mom?" Wanda was a little confused.
"Yeah" Monica nodded. "She's coming along because Shuri offered to give her a few special treatments to reduce the possibility of her cancer coming back."
"That's great!"
"It is.. So, we should probably get going."
"Alright.." Wanda pressed a kiss to Vision's fingers, whispering, "Come back to me soon, okay?"
For a moment, she swore she saw his hand move.
Wanda watched as he was loaded onto the jet, Monica following close behind. Watched as the jet took off, until it was out of sight.
Shuri had to save Vision. She had to.