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You can't know up till you've been down

You can't take off tied to the ground

You can't live days scared of the night

And if it's dark don't mean there's no light

But in the silence, we can make a sound

Everyone wants

Everyone needs

And we want something to believe

When we get close, everyone knows

Feels like we're going home

"Going Home", by The Score

Wanda stumbled, almost tripping over her own feet, completely breathless even as her mind lit up with panic from stopping herself from falling over. Her hair was tied back, and over the past forty five minutes, she'd made several small, darkened circles on the training mat. Her feet were very sore, despite the expensive athletic tape she was wearing. She'd gone through a bottle and a half of water yet was still sweating profusely, and exhaustion clawed relentlessly at her resolve not to lay down on the mat and take a small ten hour nap.

However, it was undeniable that she felt happy. Not overjoyed, nor overcome with emotion - simply happy. Such a basic English word, but it fit how Wanda felt very well.

A foot came hurtling toward her face, and Wanda ducked. She would've made a grab for the offending leg, but she chose to wait; Wanda wasn't immediately aggressive by nature before she volunteered Strucker's experiments, for one, and she had never been the strongest or fastest of the pack before or afterward. Wanda knew her strength lay in analyzing her opponent's style, then striking low and hard at their blindspots. Thusly, she avoided each attack that Natasha threw at her, making sure to move in a broadly circular fashion so she wouldn't literally hit a wall.

Wanda took care to ensure that she never let Natasha get close, while also staying at just the right distance to ensure that contact wasn't out of the question. She kept her movements as economical as she could, but her chest was still burning and her muscles still groaned under the strain. Nonetheless Wanda continued to hold off on giving a true attack; she exchanged her own punches and kicks with Natasha's, but made sure they were always something she could get out of if need be.

The chink in Natasha's armor showed itself when Wanda was halfway through a step backward and Natasha had just finished a roundkick. Wanda took the opportunity and spun on the ball of her foot as Natasha began to match her retreat backward, landing a solid kick to her instructor's face.

Wanda's eyes shot wide, and in her distraction she lost balance, falling flat on her back. Scrambling to her feet, she saw that Natasha had already recovered, with a hand on the section of her jaw that Wanda had managed to connect with.

"I'm so sorry!" Wanda sputtered, utterly mortified and simultaneously a bit satisfied that she managed to get in a hit like that. Natasha looked at her with her ever-piercing stare, which contained just a bit of humor.

"Don't stress about it," Natasha said, walking over to a bench and retrieving their water, "I don't want you to do that again, but you did well."

Wanda accepted her bottle of water from Natasha, something she knew she never wanted to see the price tag of, and only drank after waiting a moment to gauge Natasha's reaction. When she felt confident enough, she downed a good fourth of it, sighing once she was done, inadvertendly catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror; her face was red as a tomato, and beads of sweat slowly cascaded down her and onto the floor with sluggish abandon.

"I'd watch the angle of your feet," Natasha said, "but other than that, you're improving."

Wanda nodded in response, thrumming her fingers against her bottle awkwardly. "Can I ask you something?"

Natasha inclined her own head slowly, taking in the way Wanda's lip was threatened by her teeth, and the rigidity of her posture. "Uh-huh. You can talk to any of us, Wanda."

"Right," the young woman said, breathing out, "I was just wondering - we are certain Hydra has been dealt with, correct?"

Natasha placed a hand on Wanda's shoulder after a short space of contemplation. "Right now, yes. The operation run by Strucker was the last functional base Hydra had. As far as we know, they're gone."

Wanda nodded again. "Right. Obviously. I just - I worry, sometimes, that there are more agents alive, ready to hurt people."

Natasha gave her shoulder a sympathetic half-squeeze. "Wanda…" the Blakc Widow paused for a moment to consider her words, "I know that since Clint retired you've had trouble. That's alright. And I know what happened up there was life-changing, but trust me, we all want you here - Clint saw something in you, and you've proven what he saw. Your place is just as secure as Steve's or Tony's."

Wanda took that in with a small, thin smile. "Thank you."

Nat removed her hand from her shoulder, "Anytime. Now, we'll stretch and that's it for today."

Wanda's smile solidified just a bit more. "Alright."

"Stark, don't. You. Dare." Sam grit out. "I'm serious."

"You mean you don't want to change your moniker to Birdman?" Tony asked, face twitching.

"How many times have we been over this? Five? Ten?" Sam turned to Steve, "Help me out here man!"

Steve looked up from the kitchen counter, where three apples remained upright despite being cut in half. Natasha leaned back on the couch, watching the exchange with an expression fighting to be serene.

Or, as she knew she should call it for the sake of her mental health, progress.

The lining room/kitchen was quiet; everyone was gathered for dinner, something Steve tried to make sure happened at least once each week. Natasha had it on good security camera footage that Sam unintentionally gave Steve the idea, but Sam - usually upon Stark's teasing - denied it profusely. Either way, once Captain America announced that all the Avengers would all share at least one dinner a week with all of them present, the bemusing gesture was inarguable.

Natasha hardly minded it. She enjoyed very much in reality; even if some days she wasn't very talkative, Sam and Tony almost always maintained a snippy rapport and, much to her cautious acceptance, Natasha found the dinners were soothing. However, she'd had an eye on her affection for the rest of the team since the Battle of New York, and that eye wasn't going to waver any time soon.

What was more important at the moment (Or what she chose to direct most of her focus too), was that Steve's lips began to curl up. "I dunno, Sam. Those wings are beautifully constructed."

Sam groaned, "Steve."

To Natasha's surprise, Steve's grin got a bit wider. "Yes?"

Sam rubbed his eyes. "You're dead to me."

"Then you're gonna need a big freezer," Tony said, striding into the kitchen and throwing the fridge door open. Steve took another moment before he began cutting his apples again, while Tony peered intently into the fridge. "Speaking of which, do we have any actual food?"

"Nope." Rhodey said dryly. "We ran out of Hot Pockets yesterday."

Tony sighed heavily, "Alright, who's feeling burgers? I think burgers will be great."

Natasha threw her gaze toward Vision and Wanda, who had taken out a chess board and started playing ten minutes and thirty seconds ago. Wanda's hands were knit together under her chin as she clinically observed the board before looking vision straight in the eye as she moved her knight.

"Check." she said coolly.

Vision switched the places of his king and his rook. "I believe you ought to flee, Wanda. My Queen is on space away."

Wanda's brow furrowed as she reluctantly moved her knight to safety.

Natasha turned her eyes back to the kitchen before Wanda could notice her attention, met with the sight of Tony defensively hugging a box of burgers to his chest. "Steve, I paid billions for this facility. I am not eating leftovers. Ever."

"Tony, we have leftovers." Steve responded firmly, "We should use them. Just because we have the ability to eat out every night doesn't mean we should."

Tony stayed stock still, meeting Cap's gaze with steel. "Steve, I'm in my forties, I'm not old yet."

Steve rubbed his forehead. "Tony."

"Steve."

"Tony."

"Steve."

"We could do half and half," Natasha chipped in, rising from her seat. "That would solve both problems, right? Use the vegetables from Wednesday, and order something else."

Tony and Steve's bickering heads turned to her, and after a moment, Steve nodded. Tony's eyes darted regretfully to his burgers, before he slowly nodded as well.

Tony began, "We're ordering-"

Steve cut in, "-Pad Thai. That sounds good, right?"

Tony looked somewhat argumentative for a moment, before he smiled ever so slightly. "You know, Rhodey outranks you, Cap. He could shoot this down."

The room's collective eye went to Rhodes, who stared Tony directly in the face as he said, "I agree with the Captain on this one."

"Hey Sam, you wanna help me out? We're both being betrayed by our friends today."

"Oh, shut up."

Wanda laughed, which made Sam chuckle, and Steve huff quietly, his grin returning a bit.

As Tony took everyone's order, Natasha nudged Steve, who'd relocated to the counter to devour his apples. "This isn't your first time having Thai, is it?"

Steve hesitated for a second, serving as all the catalyst Nat needed to snort. Steve said, "The list is down to one item, Natasha."

Natasha got a glass of water. "And that final item would be?"

"Star Trek."

Natasha shook her head, glancing around for Iron Man, who had disappeared, presumably to place the order. And if he wasn't, well, Pepper was a call away. "Tony'll kill you for that, y'know."

Steve smiled, finishing the last apple and scraping the contents of the cutting board into the trash. "Yeah."

Natasha had to find a different seat after finishing her glass of water, because Sam was lounging in it all too smugly. Rolling her eyes, Nat sat down next to Wanda, focusing on the calm warmth in her chest.