Journeys In Love Chapter 8: Can I Still Stay? Part 1, an avengers fanfic

Translations via Google:
Zdraveite, kazvam se Natasha = Hello, my name is Natasha.
Kak se kazvash? = What's your name?
lekuvam = treat
skupa = sweetheart
Zabavete tempoto ili mozhe da se zadavite = Slow down or you might choke
Za teb. = For you.
Tatko.. Mamo.. = Father.. Mother..
Anya, tova e Vanda = Anya, this is Wanda
Ne moga da napravya zakuska i da te durzha. Ne si li gladen? = I can't make breakfast and hold you. Aren't you hungry?
Oh, chakai. = Oh, hang on.

The Compound was practically vibrating with apprehensive energy as the Avengers prepared for their first mission since the events of Ultron, the team having laid low in the aftermath. It only seemed appropriate that their first mission back would have to do with Hydra, who seemed to have gone dark as well, not gone- unfortunately- but rather licking their wounds in the shadows. It was only a matter of time before they reared their ugly head though, fulfilling their insidious motto- If a head is cut off, two more take its place.

So it had been inevitable that they would make their ominous return. That did not ease the Sokovian's anxiety as she watched Steve, Sam, Sharon, Vision and Colonel Rhodes prepare all day for it with last minute meetings, packing the jet, and readying the new recruits for their maiden mission. Natasha had been involved in the preparations as well but only in a consultative manner. The Black Widow was staying back with Wanda this time, which had been a great relief to the girl. It had only been a week since the spy had come back from her solo mission in Minneapolis and the little witch was more attached to her than ever since she had officially become Mama.

And that was how the mother and daughter found themselves standing on the dew-covered lawn in the early morning hours to see the crew off. Sam and Sharon waved as they headed into the quinjet and Steve ruffled Wanda's hair after he kissed Natasha goodbye, so the pair was alone for the day. As much as Wanda loved their friends, her favorite times of day were when she got to do something where it would only be her and Tasha. So while she worried over the safety of the departing Avengers, there was still a part of her that was delighted she would have such a great length of uninterrupted time with her mother. They set about the usual routine they had started- yoga, then breakfast, followed by Natasha going for a run leaving Wanda cozily sitting in the bay window of their hallway with a book. Natasha gathered the little witch for a light lunch at mid-day and then they did some combat training in the gym. After they cleaned up, they huddled against the arm of the couch and put on an old movie to wait for the return of the other Avengers, which was supposed to be around dinner time.

Wanda basked in the calmness of the afternoon, feeling completely content leaning against her mother's chest while a man tap-danced on the TV screen in black and white. Mama vaguely hummed and sang with the music; a funny habit she had when watching movies was reciting the lines along with the characters and she seemed capable of doing it with just about any type of film. Wanda thought of how she wanted it to always be like this as she hid her smile into Natasha's sweater. She always wanted to have peaceful mornings and interesting books to read and grilled cheese for lunch with Tasha guiding her through meditation and instructing her to keep her elbows in her defensive stance and making her laugh with her silly impression of 1920's-accented vaudevillian singing.

"Are you making fun of me?" The Widow asked teasingly while gently pinching Wanda's side, making her squirm and giggle at the tickling sensation. Nat must have noticed the little witch trying to smother her amusement, but she was quick to deny it.

"No." Wanda said, her claim coupled with a giggle though. "I like it."

"In that case.." Her mother started singing with more enthusiasm, instead of the whispery, under her breath crooning she had been doing, eliciting Wanda to laugh louder as well. However, they both stopped short when Natasha's phone vibrated and lit up from where it laid on the arm of the couch. The redhead picked it up and announced, "It's Steve."

She quickly glanced at it before pulling it down for Wanda to see as well, "He says mission complete, but it's taking them longer than expected to wrap up, so they won't be home for dinner."

"Are they in trouble?" Wanda looked up worriedly at her mother.

"No, milaya." Tasha smiled reassuringly, "If they were in trouble, Steve would let me know. Sometimes there are just complications."

"Like what?" The teenager pressed, her concern not quite appeased.

"Like.." She drew out the word to give herself time to think. "Like maybe the facility is bigger than we thought and it's taking longer to clear it, or maybe some reconstruction needs figuring out, or maybe it's something to do with government officials. It could be a lot of things, but I'm sure Steve will tell us all about it when he gets back, okay?"

"Okay." Wanda finally returned her mother's smile.

Natasha kissed her forehead and asked, "Do you want to pause the movie and get something for dinner?"

It was already past their usual dinner time while not being too late, but Wanda had been ready to eat at this point though she had stubbornly been waiting for their companions to return. She told her mother yes and they went to the kitchen to bake a frozen pizza then took their slices back to the entertainment room to finish the movie.

Hey, we're back. Can you talk?

Natasha squinted at her cell phone screen that glowed blue in the darkened room. Wanda stayed asleep on her chest, but she seemed to squeeze her eyes shut tighter against the light. The mother shut her eyes against the light for a moment too. It was after midnight, and she had been sleeping soundly in Wanda's room having accidentally drifted off there while reading to the little witch and she very much wanted to continue doing so. But Steve would not be texting her if he did not have good reason to.

Just a minute.

She tapped out the message with her thumb. Carefully, Natasha began to ease Wanda off of her grimacing a little as her daughter started to stir, green eyes nearly fluttering open. The woman stroked her knuckles against her daughter's cheek soothingly as she whispered, "It's alright. Go back to sleep, sweet girl. I'll be right back."

Wanda hummed and settled back against the mattress, gravitating towards the warm spot on the bed Natasha had just slid out of. Nat took a moment to lightly brush her fingers over her daughter's dark hair as she listened to her breathing even out once more and she only stepped away when she was sure her daughter had gone back to sleep before making her quiet exit. Rubbing her face, the Black Widow walked out of the still darkness of their hallway. She wondered what would have Steve messaging her in the middle of the night that could not wait until morning. As she neared the living room, the woman paused in confusion when she began to hear what would be her first clue in answering her question. The sound was soft but recognizable- a child crying. She almost turned around to go back and check on Wanda on instinct, but the crying was not coming from the bedrooms, and it sounded too young to be from her daughter. Natasha kept moving forward and rounded the corner into the living room where she discovered the source of the crying, which was obvious and yet surprising nonetheless.

"Steve, what's going on?"

The captain turned from where he was kneeling next to the couch in front of a sobbing little girl. She was more of a toddler really, with charming blonde curls framing her face which was red from crying, and her expression was twisted with distress. Steve whipped around quickly at the sound of her voice, "Oh thank god. Nat, do you know Bulgarian?"

"Yes." She answered automatically but obviously did not let her question go as she asked more incredulously, "What's going on? Why do you have a baby?"

"We found her at the Hydra base." Steve told her over the weeping. He tried to delicately shush her and reached out, but this only made the girl cry harder. Whatever disjointed Bulgarian she was babbling was completely indecipherable even to the Widow who spoke it fluently.

His words made her stomach twist, "Was she experimented on?"

"We don't think so." The man shook his head, "Whatever they were going to do with her they never got the chance, thank God."

Natasha relaxed marginally, though the enduring tears and the abrupt wake-up call started making even her feel a little frazzled despite her years of training to cope with waking up under more distressing circumstances. She crossed her arms over her torso, "Okay.. So why is she here and not back in Bulgaria?"

"Their officials wouldn't take her, something about no documentation or no file. I don't know, it was mostly in Bulgarian, and some things were lost in translation. Then we got some information about her being orphaned and potentially having some family that had immigrated to the States, so we brought her back with us." Steve explained, "We're going to try to find her relatives, but I need to get a DNA sample to send to Tony and she started freaking out."

She realized that there were some sterilized cotton swabs and tubes for the task. Natasha then quickly moved to them, telling Steve, "Here, let me."

The superspy took his spot in front of the girl and Natasha greeted the toddler gently, "Zdraveite, kazvam se Natasha."

Upon hearing her native language, the little girl immediately began to calm down, blinking against her tears and peering curiously at the new person she could understand. Nat offered her a smile and continued, "Kak se kazvash?"

"Anya." The child answered with a sniffle, her wide hazel eyes regarding her curiously yet with a level of caution no child should be familiar with.

"Anya, that's a pretty name. Would you like to play a game?" Natasha asked as she kept speaking to her in Bulgarian. She did not respond, but maintained her watchful gaze, though the woman detected what could pass as a spark of interest. The Widow decided to keep going with her proposition as she grabbed one of the wrapped cotton swabs and opened it, "It's easy. All we have to do is brush this on the inside of your cheeks. Like this."

Nat demonstrated, opening her mouth to run the swab against the inside of her own cheeks, her mouth turning upwards once more in a serene smile when she finished taking the sample, "Would it be alright if I did that to you?"

The child again did not say anything but was experimentally poking her cheeks with her tongue to see how it felt. She enticed her a little more, "And afterward you'll get a treat. You just have to open your mouth."

With the prospect of a treat, Anya's jaw dropped open dramatically, allowing Natasha to quickly open a new swab and the swipe thoroughly inside her mouth. She dropped the swab into one of the vials and capped it before handing it off to Steve, "Easy as pie."

"Oh thank God." Steve exclaimed, looking ready to peel out of there.

"You keep thanking God. I think you should be thanking me." Natasha said dryly.

"Right." He gave her a charmingly, rueful smile. "Thanks, Nat."

"You're welcome. And I suppose you'll want me to watch her while you run the sample over to Tony." The woman arched her eyebrow at him.

His expression turned sheepish, "Sam and Sharon should be back with some supplies for the kid any time now."

"It's fine." She waved him off, "I owe someone a lekuvam anyways."

The small child's eyes darted between Natasha and Steve, her gaze lingering more distrustfully on the man. The captain hesitated to leave then, but Nat insisted, "Go on. I can handle this. I was around Clint's children when they were about this age. We'll be fine."

Steve nodded and mouthed the words 'thank you' once again before heading toward the stairs. She watched him go with a sigh before directing her attention back to Anya with a bright smile that she did not feel connected to at this late hour having been dragged out of bed and away from her daughter, but she maintained it for the benefit of this new scared little girl that had been brought to her. She switched back to Bulgarian, "Come on. We'll find something for you to eat."

She offered a hand to help her off the couch, which Anya took, using it to help slide her little body off the cushions. Natasha supposed she was about three years old from her size as they went to the kitchen, Anya toddling steadily beside her. In the pantry, she took a chocolate chip cookie out of a pack that Sam liked to keep around and presented it to the little blonde. She took the cookie and simply held it until Natasha took one for herself and bit into the crumbly treat. After that the food was gone in about two seconds flat. The redhead raised her brow, asking, "Would you like more to eat?"

"More?" The girl looked up at her as Nat nodded. "More treats?"

"No, something better for you. More filling." She explained patiently, though knowing the child did not have a concept of food that was better for her. Still she found some cheese crackers that Wanda liked for a snack and then went to the refrigerator and decided on some applesauce to round out the midnight meal. She got her somewhat precariously set up at the kitchen table when Sam and Sharon returned with seemingly loads of plastic bags in hand.

"Hey Nat. Steve pull you into babysitting duty already?" Sharon set her bags on the counter and Sam followed suit.

"He needed help getting a DNA swab from this skupa." Natasha grinned at the little girl who messily shoveled the applesauce into her mouth, barely bothering to swallow it before chasing it with a cracker or several. She certainly did not have Wanda's eating habits. "Zabavete tempoto ili mozhe da se zadavite."

The girl swallowed hard around the food in her mouth then immediately dipped her spoon back in her bowl of applesauce, then moving the utensil back to her mouth only incrementally slower than before. Sam began unloading the bags of diapers and wipes and baby shampoo and all other kinds of baby paraphernalia, "And you got her to stop crying. You're a miracle worker."

"What exactly was the thought process in bringing a small child back with you when none of you speak Bulgarian?" The Black Widow questioned.

"She understands a bit of English. Maybe less than we thought." Sharon admitted while pulling out tiny clothing from the bags she had been carrying. "She fell asleep on the jet, and I think got disoriented when she woke up here."

Natasha nodded. Seeing that Anya finished her bowl, the woman mindlessly swiped the leftover cracker crumbs into it, "Well hopefully Tony can find her relatives quickly, poor thing."

"I hope so too." Sharon looked at her sympathetically.

"In the meantime, we got her this to hopefully cheer her up." Sam announced, holding up a brown teddy bear with a pink ribbon around its neck. He walked over to the little girl and knelt in next to her chair, "Here Anya. This is for you."

"Za teb." Nat urged her to take the fuzzy toy from the man. Tentatively she reached out and instinctively pulled the bear to her chest. It was an admittedly adorable sight.

"Here are some pajamas if you want to try and change her out of those old clothes." The child had on a sort of institutional gray sweater and pants set that had seen better days. The pajama set Sharon handed to her were much more age appropriate with the silver-lined stars scattered across the purple fabric.

She accepted the clothing and agreed to the other woman's suggestion, "Yeah, I'll get her changed. Hopefully Steve will be back, and we can figure out where to settle her for tonight then we can all go the hell back to bed."

Unfortunately, the Black Widow's straightforward plan of action was not meant to be. Getting Anya changed into pajamas and a diaper since they were not aware of her potty training situation had been easy enough. But then Steve returned and when he tried to take over for Natasha it sent the little girl into another bout of hysterics. She would not let Sam or Sharon care for her either, and it became apparent that she had imprinted on Natasha, most likely because she could speak to her in her language. The team did their best to help in an auxiliary manner, setting up a cot in Natasha's room for Anya and fetching Nat things as she needed them. Still the tears kept coming and eventually the woman sent the others to bed, hoping that without their presence the little girl would be able to settle so she could at least go to her room without worrying about waking up her own child.

There was a rocking chair on the balcony that Steve had brought in to set by the fire before he had reluctantly retired to his room. Natasha sat in the chair with Anya cradled in her arms and sniffling against her shoulder. Using her toes to keep up the gentle rocking motion going, she soothed, "Sh, sh, sh, it's okay. You're alright."

"Tatko.. Mamo.." She whimpered even as her eyes finally began to slip shut. Her heart went out to the little girl asking for her father and mother. Her thoughts automatically drifted towards her daughter as she was so easily reminded of her, and the similar pain she carried. Except this child might have other people out in the world to look after her, to love her. As terrible as her loss was, she knew Tony would be able to find her family and she would have a place to belong again. The way Wanda belonged with her, the Widow thought as the late hour started to take its toll and the steady sway of the chair not only lulled Anya to sleep but Natasha as well.

Wanda gasped, her heart thudding frantically in her chest as she struggled to make sense of her surroundings in her first moments of waking up. She had a nightmare, but she could not remember it. If she tried, she could only come up with a cold, black void and a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach that made her nauseous. Her arms swept out desperately for Mama, but her hands only found cool sheets. She sat up disturbed and remembered her mother softly slipping away and telling her she would be right back. It strangely felt as if it had been seconds ago though clearly it had been longer than that made evident by her lost dream. Her lip trembled and a few tears fell down her cheeks as she tried to suppress the urge to cry out for her mother, going as far as biting her lower lip until she tasted coppery blood. The teenager sucked in a deep breath in an attempt to self-soothe and managed to climb out of bed to go search for her.

Her magic pushed out in search of the woman, and the invisible tether connecting them pulled her toward the living room. Wanda wondered what her mother could be doing out here so late, however all wondering abruptly ceases as she rounded the corner to find Natasha in a far more bizarre situation than she had been able to imagine. She froze, not very certain what to do at the sight of the woman asleep in a rocking chair next to a dying fire with a very small child on her chest. Tears were quickly pricking at her eyes again as the Sokovian was caught between calling out to her and scurrying back to her room, overwhelmed by the unexplainable sense that she was doing something wrong by standing there. As if sensing her presence though, the woman began to stir.

"Tasha?" Her old moniker of the woman slipped out from habit when she called out softly.

"Hm.. Wanda?" Natasha whispered in confusion as the woman struggled to wake up. "What are you doing out of bed, milaya?"

"I- I had a nightmare." Her voice trembled a little and she wiped away moisture from her eyes.

"I'm sorry, malyshka." The woman kept her voice low even when she said, "FRIDAY, can you get Steve?"

Wanda chewed her lip nervously while her eyes darted from her mother's face to the dozing child, "Mama, what's going on?"

"Shh, Steve will explain everything. Just a minute."

A couple seconds later the captain was coming from the direction of the bedroom corridors, "Nat- Oh, what are you doing up little bird?"

"Steve." Wanda lost her vocabulary as the urge to cry started to take over again.

"She had a nightmare." Mama said with a deep tenor of sympathy, "Can you get her to bed and explain?"

"No, Mama." The little witch took a step toward the woman, but Steve wrapped an arm around her to keep her with him.

"It's okay, malyshka. I'll be in with you as soon as I can."

"Come on, Wands. I'll stay with you until Nat can join you." Steve inserted before she could protest more, and he ushered her back to her room as she sniffled the whole way there. The captain helped her into bed but she would not lie back on the pillows, choosing instead to press her face into his chest and clinging onto his t-shirt.

"Steve, what's going on?" She repeated her question to the man that her mother could not answer at the time.

The captain wrapped his large arms around her, which made her feel better but did not curb her desire for her mother to be with her instead as he stated, "The little girl, Anya, is why we were so late getting back. We found her at the Hydra base, and we think she has family here in the States. She'll be staying with us for a little while until we can find them. Nat had to help because she's the only one who speaks Bulgarian. Sorry, little bird."

"Oh.." Wanda swallowed her emotions, trying to regain control so she did not dissolve into hysterics for her mama. "When will she be done?"

She winced at her voice as it sounded too hurt and too small for what was perhaps warranted in the situation. Wanda feared Steve would not be able to answer the question with any certainty, but she asked it anyway, the longing she felt for her mother winning over. But Captain America, always the voice of reassurance in stressful situations, did his best, "I'm not sure, sweetheart. I know she'll be as quick as she can.. Do you want to lie down?"

"Okay." The little witch shifted to lay back on the pillows and Steve maneuvered himself to lay beside her. Wanda curled herself against him with his arm feeling as if it covered her entirely. He was warm and safe, but he was not Tasha. Tasha would know she needed something else to completely erase the chill of her nightmare and nudge her back to sleep with her lullaby or carding her fingers through her hair.

"Do you want to talk about your dream?" Steve seemed to realize that she was not falling asleep, her body tense and mind rapid with thoughts.

"I don't remember." Wanda admitted. "It was just bad."

The little witch was not entirely convinced that she was not still in her bad dream. Waking up to find her mother caring for a strange child was bizarre enough to be a dream for sure and yet she knew it was actually happening. Wanda tried to think logically about the situation. She could see the child was very young and needed help. She knew Natasha would give that help because that was who she was, that was the reason Wanda ended up in her care in the first place. She realized that her mother did not have control of the circumstances. The Sokovian listed these facts off in her head to reassure herself, but she still found it hurt that Tasha was comforting some other child. More than the hurt, suddenly everything felt foreign and unstable, like when she had first arrived at the Tower, and it felt like the world had fallen out from underneath her.

"Do you want to hear about the time Bucky and I snuck into Yankee Stadium?" Steve offered as an obvious way of distraction. Wanda had liked hearing stories of Captain America before he became Captain America so she agreed and he began, "Well, it started out with us finding a quarter on the street.."

As he went on with his story, she reached for her plaid blanket that had been Mama's until recently and pulled it over the bottom half of her face, the amber smell of her Nat's perfume still lingering there enough to help soothe her a bit. The teenager listened at first, and even asked a few questions, but slowly his voice became a deep hum, his words a steady cadence, and her exhaustion finally tugged her back to sleep.

When Wanda woke up again, it was light outside but still early. Steve was gone and Natasha had never come in to see her last night.It couldn't be helped. She had to look out for the new baby, Wanda told herself as she reluctantly crawled out of bed. She wanted to go to her mother, who she could tell was asleep in her room now, but she could also sense that the little Bulgarian girl was slumbering in there with her; a sight that she did not want to be confronted with if she could avoid it. With her desired reassurance put on hold once again, Wanda softly padded down the hallway and into the common space of the residence, which she found quiet and empty. It was something that used to bring her comfort but now that she was used to the company of others it only amplified her anxiety.

It appeared that Steve had already gotten up and was probably out for a morning run. He never seemed to need as much sleep as everyone else. Sam and Sharon were still sleeping like Tasha, most likely exhausted from the mission and late return as well. The little witch could not sense Vision in the vicinity at all and she wondered where he was. Wanda stuck her thumb in her mouth and nervously chewed it as she suddenly felt unnervingly alone, like she was the only person for miles. Her eyes drifted back in the direction of the bedrooms, her thoughts of scampering back there and curling up against her mother intensified for a moment. But the knowledge that she should let the woman rest stopped the teenager and redirected her to the kitchen instead.

Wanda was not usually the first awake, but she had seen the morning routine enough to know what to do. She found the coffee grounds in the pantry, dumped some into a filter to put in the coffee machine, and poured water over it. When she hit the start button, the machine gurgled and a few seconds later coffee began to drip into the pot. Satisfied, she filled up the kettle at the tap. Wanda was turning on the burner when she was joined in the kitchen, "Good morning, malyshka."

"Mama." She quickly turned around. Her body jolted toward her voice but stopped short when she saw Tasha holding the baby on her hip. The little girl was awake now with a stuffed bear under her arm as she warily stared at her, a stare Wanda returned. Her thumb gravitated back toward her mouth, and she mumbled, "Good morning, Mama."

"I'm sorry I couldn't come in last night, baby." Nat looked over her worriedly. She walked toward her daughter, though stopping at arm's length as she cupped Wanda's cheek, "Did you sleep alright?"

The girl gave a noncommittal hum that was neither confirmation or denial, taking a moment to nuzzle her cheek against her mother's palm before deciding, "Yeah, it was okay."

Her statement was not completely true, and she still felt that she needed to be wrapped up in her mother's arms to feel better, but she stopped herself from adding that as Natasha dropped her hand away.

"Good.. Steve told you about Anya here?" The redhead finally addressed that there was another child in the room. Wanda nodded and Nat turned her head to speak to the toddler, "Anya, tova e Vanda."

She was startled when she could not recognize the words her mother said but she could sort of grasp their meaning. As the older woman gestured to Wanda, Anya pointedly turned her head away. Nat gave an apologetic smile, "She's a bit shy.. What would you like for breakfast?"

The Black Widow tried to set the little girl down, but she resisted, clinging to the woman and whining. Natasha attempted to bargain with her, "Ne moga da napravya zakuska i da te durzha. Ne si li gladen? "

"I can make breakfast, Mama." Wanda suggested when Anya continued to fuss and remained unconvinced to let herself be put down, and the older girl could tell her mother was struggling to accommodate both the girl and the need to get breakfast ready. "I started the coffee."

"Yeah? Very good, sweetheart." Nat beamed at her, "How about something quick and easy, like eggs and toast."

"Okay." The teenager dipped her head in agreement and went to the refrigerator to get the butter and eggs out. Wanda buzzed around the kitchen- putting the large skillet on a medium heat to melt the butter, cracking her eggs into a bowl to whisk them, taking the kettle off the burner when it started to whistle. She concentrated on each task so she would not have to see Natasha keeping Anya busy with some crayons and a coloring book that had been left on the island, along with some other toddler friendly toys that had magically appeared overnight.

She was almost about to add the eggs to the pan when Steve walked in and cheerily greeted them, "Good morning team."

He kissed Nat on the lips and headed towards the fridge before Wanda intercepted him, throwing her arms around his waist, "Steve, I'm making breakfast. Do you want some?"

"Yeah, sounds great." The man hugged her in return. She held onto him longer than she normally would, only letting him go when she heard the butter in the pan starting to splatter out. Wanda went to quickly double the amount of eggs in her bowl to account for Steve, and she rushed to whisk them before she could pour them into the already sizzling skillet. Steve got himself and Nat coffee before starting to help the teenager by manning the toaster. Together they quickly made an easy breakfast, divvying everything onto four plates. Wanda gingerly sat on the stool next to Anya who had to sit on her knees to get to her plate. Tasha and Steve talked a bit about training while they ate.

"Do you have training with the recruits?" The Widow asked while crunching into some toast.

"Not today. I'm just doing some sparring with Sam."

"Think you could take Wanda with you today? I don't think I'll be able to make it down there with Anya."

Steve bobbed his head congenially, "The more the merrier."

"What do you think, malyshka?" Natasha peered over to her while simultaneously moving her coffee cup out of Anya's reach as she made a grab for it, "You okay to hang out with Steve today?"

The little witch looked up from where she was shuffling her eggs around the plate, "Yeah, sounds good."

It did not sound good, but she did not want to be difficult, so she kept her feelings to herself and tried to eat her eggs. She struggled with their texture this morning and had forced herself to swallow the bite in her mouth. Her eyes darted around as Steve and Nat said something else to each other when her urge to escape spilled over, "Mama, can I go change for training?"

"You aren't hungry?" The redhead immediately looked back over to her with concern. When Wanda shook her, Nat nodded reluctantly, "Okay, can you take a protein shake with you please?"

The Sokovian hopped out of her seat and went to the refrigerator to take out a chocolate protein shake. She spun on her heel to go to her room, when her mother called to her again, "Hold on, milaya."

Natasha was standing and walking toward her, pulling Wanda into her arms for a tight hug. The girl melted into her mother's arms. She pressed her nose into the crook of her neck and breathed in deeply to maximize the surge of relief she felt. Her mother swayed with her for a moment, then asked, "You're really okay?"

Before her daughter could answer though a sudden clatter came from behind them that was immediately followed up by crying and Nat had to pull away to see what the matter was, "Oh, chakai."

Anya had managed to get a hold of Nat's coffee cup in the end and now the brown liquid had spilled all over the counter and was dripping onto the chairs and floor. The spy scooped up the toddler to stop her from stepping in the mess, swaying with her in a similar way that she had just been doing with Wanda, and Steve jumped up to grab some paper towels. Tasha cooed to Anya in Bulgarian to calm her down. The little witch shrank away from the scene. When neither Mama nor Steve turned their attention back to her, Wanda took it as her sign to leave, reiterating then asking, "I'm going to change.. Mama, can we do yoga too?"

"I'm sorry sweetheart. Not today, I can't with Anya. But you can still use the recording again, like when I was gone." Natasha sounded apologetic but also distracted as Steve had effectively cleaned the dining area and the little girl was squirming to get back to eating her eggs.

"Okay." Wanda accepted with a pang of sadness. She wanted to pout, and throw herself at her mother, and demand that she do their morning yoga with her because she was not gone, her mama was right here. The teenager kept silent though, telling herself that would be too childish, and that was one reason that made her hold back. Another reason, a more secret and yet larger reason, was that she worried that her request would be met with shooing indifference which she simply could not handle. She slipped off back to her bedroom, hoping beyond hope that Mama would be able to spend time with her later and the day would improve.

Hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading!