Turning Point

Natasha would be the first person to admit that she had no idea what she was doing when it came to Wanda. For a year she'd been skirting this fine line between being the girl's friend and trainer, and being her actual parent. Natasha didn't want to damage the trust between them by trying to be too much of a mother to the girl, knowing that Wanda had already had a mother, but it wasn't something she could avoid forever. It wasn't something she wanted to avoid forever because as far as Natasha's heart was concerned Wanda was her child, her daughter. It was alright if Wanda only saw her as a friend and guardian, as long as the girl knew Natasha loved her and that she could rely on Natasha to be there for her. Natasha's desire to be a good parent to the girl who'd lost so much often drove her to ask for the advice of those who she felt knew more on the subject than she did, her mothers were at the top of that list of course, followed by Laura, May, and even Clint.

It wasn't always easy, Wanda didn't always like the choices Natasha was making for her, but her Mum assured her that Wanda not liking certain decisions meant that Natasha was making the right call. Now that Wanda was more acclimated to her new American life, and had far more control over her powers, Natasha had decided it was time for the girl to be around other people her own age.

Apparently spending all of her time with the Avengers wasn't something Wanda should be doing. Someone, she wasn't sure who, had convinced Natasha that she needed to be social with her peers. She was an Easteren European refugee with superpowers and more trauma than any one person should have to deal with, she didn't have peers. And yet, here she was, getting dropped off along with Peter to take part in a field trip with Peter's class. Wanda was beyond annoyed, with Natasha and Laura and whoever else had a hand in this. She was perfectly fine hanging around the compound with Vision or training with Steve or going out into the field with Natasha. She didn't need or want to hang out with "kids her own age" as Natasha had repeatedly told her.

"It won't be all bad." Peter had said with his big dopey smile from the back seat of Natasha's car. "I bet you even like MJ."

Wanda had never understood the internet's need to compare people to dogs until she started hanging around with Peter. He was, as they would say on Tumblr, a happy and eager to please golden retriever puppy, and as hard as she tried not to, she liked him a lot. How could anyone not like Peter? He was just so earnest and sweet, and he cared about everyone with his big puppy heart. But as she was about to find out, not everyone liked Peter, and some people, well, one person in particular, went out of their way to treat him badly.

"Well, well," Flash Thompson says as he approaches the group where Peter is introducing Wanda to Ned and MJ. "No one said the guest student would be cute." He smiled at Wanda, pushing Ned out of the way, and completely ignoring Peter and MJ. "Are these losers bothering you?"

Wanda looked the boy up and down as she shifted her weight to one combat booted foot and crossed her arms over her chest. "Peter, who is this," She couldn't find the right word in english so she continued in russian.

"I have no idea what you just said." Peter blinked at her.

Flash moved in closer, smiling what he must have thought was a charming smile but what it really was, was creepy. "The lady must have been asking who the handsome, intelligent, well off young man was, Parker. The name is Flash, Flash Thomason, at your service."

"Actually," Wanda replied. "The closest english translation would be shit spewing moron."

MJ laughed. "Oh I like her!"

Wanda would end up liking MJ as well, Ned too. Flash Thompson she did not like. He was a jerk in general, but what Wanda really didn't like about him was the way he treated Peter. When she asked Peter why he put up with it, Peter just shrugged and said it wasn't a big deal. Wanda disagreed. Peter didn't like truly scary horror movies, and yet he allowed Flash's taunting to push him into seeing one when they were meant to be seeing something animated. She sat beside him the whole time and could practically feel his anxiety spiking, which caused her anger to rise. Her anger and annoyance only got worse later that night. May was out of town at a conference, Peter was staying with them at the compound, and Wanda was still a light sleeper. She heard him having a nightmare, and so did Natasha. When Wanda got up to check on Peter she found her new adoptive mother already there comforting him.

"It was just a bad dream, little spider." Natasha cooed as she held Peter, combing her fingers through his hair, and kissing his temple.

When Natasha asked him about the nightmare, Peter admitted that it was because of the movie they'd seen. But when Natasha asked him why they would see a movie he knew would upset him, he lied and said he had really wanted to see it, and that he didn't know it would be quite so scary. Wanda frowned, and glared at Peter. His stupid puppy eyes begged her to play along. It made her uncomfortable, not telling Natasha about Flash and the way he treated Peter, but she couldn't say no to that stupid puppy face of his.

Peter's school was having a pancake breakfast for charity that weekend, and with May out of town Natasha agreed to step in to help, dragging Wanda along so they could head to Brooklyn for Sunday dinner afterwards. While Natasha was working in the kitchen, helping to prepare the pancakes that the kids were serving up, Wanda once again saw Flash giving Peter a hard time. She heard him calling Peter, Penis Parker, just loud enough for the kids around them to hear but not any of the adults. She watched Peter's face flush with embarrassment, his eyes darting to MJ, who Wanda knew Peter had a crush on. Wanda had had enough.

It was embarrassingly easy for the Avenger in training to sneak up on the school jackass while he was alone in the hallway, and weave a little mind spell on him. It wasn't anything traumatizing, just a little manipulation that would cause him to act out in an embarrassing way, nothing too deep, just enough for Flash to learn what it was like to be laughed at by his peers. Wanda stood with a satisfied smirk on her lips as she watched Peter's bully spaz out, humiliating himself in front of everyone as he crashed through the lunch room doors.

Wanda's pleased with herself smile dropped the instant she felt a strong, familiar hand on her shoulder and the equally familiar scent of lavender and cardamom. Wanda's stomach dropped even before she heard Natasha's voice in her ear.

"If you did what I think you just did," Natasha hissed in her girl's eyes. "You are in so much trouble, young lady!"

"I can explain!" Wanda replies nervously. "And it will wear off soon, I didn't do too much."

"It had better be a damn good explanation, Wanda." Natasha is angry and it's evident in her voice. She doesn't take hold of Wanda's ear the way her Ma would have done, but she does keep her hand on the girl's shoulder, guiding her back into the lunchroom where she calls out to Peter who looked confused about Flash's behavior as well as why they were suddenly leaving early.

Once they're in the car and on their way to Brooklyn Peter asks, "What's going on? Why did we leave early? What was wrong with Flash?"

"Wanda hexed him." Natasha told the boy.

Peter blinked, his head jerking to the side to look at Wanda who sat beside him in the back seat this time instead of her normal place in the front beside Natasha. "You.. what.. why… Wanda! Why would you do that?"

"I don't like bullies." Wanda replied, crossing her arms over her chest. Then she turned to meet Peter's gaze. "And since you weren't going to make him stop picking on you, I decided to give him a taste of what it feels like to get laughed at."

"But," Peter's eyes were wide as his gaze shot towards Natasha before landing on Wanda again. He lowered his voice for all the good it would do him. "I told you it wasn't a big deal!"

"If it's not, why did you let him taunt you into seeing that movie that gave you nightmares?" Wanda demanded. "And why do your eyes always look sad when he says those awful things to you? It bothers you when he gets the others to laugh at you, Peter. I've seen it, and I was done with his shit."

"So you made him humiliate himself in front of everyone?" Peter demanded. "How does that help me?"

"For once it was him getting laughed at." Wanda huffed." Steve says that we should stand up to bullies, especially for those who can't or won't do it for themselves."

Natasha listened to the whole conversation and wonders if May knows about this Flash kid and Peter. She also thinks she might want to have a talk with Mister I-can-do-this-all-day Rogers about being a little more mindful of what he says around her kid. Her kid, with the magic powers who just whammied another kid. How was she supposed to deal with that? If this were a training mission and Wanda had done something stupid, she'd have at least some idea on how to handle it. But this was Wanda using her powers for stupid teenage shit, which meant Natasha needed to act like a parent and not a trainer.

When they got to the brownstone Natasha led the children inside. Looking at Peter she said, "We'll talk later." Before turning her gaze on Wanda. "You and I are gonna talk now." She crooked her finger at the girl, a silent command for Wanda to follow her as she headed down the hallway towards her Mum's study. As she passed the living room she gave a little wave to her surprised looking mothers. "Wanda and I are borrowing the study."

Peggy blinked. When Peter walked into the room looking uneasy and upset she asked, "Peter, darling, what's going on?"

"There's this kid at school." Peter began explaining, unable to resist the inquisitive and concerned gazes of Natasha's mothers. "He picks on people sometimes."

"On you?" Peggy asks gently, motioning for Peter to sit with her and Angie on the sofa.

Peter shrugged noncommittally. "Yeah, I guess, sometimes he does, but…"

"So this punk's a bully and he's been bullying you?" Angie asks as she reached out to brush hair from Peter's forehead. As far as she was concerned Wanda and Peter both were her grandkids, and didn't hold back from treating them as such. Natasha loved both of them, and they loved her in return, and Angie couldn't ask for more. Anyone who loved her Christmas angel, who did right by her, was good in Angie's books.

"No, it's not like that, I mean, he's kind of a jerk but I'm sure he has his reasons." Peter rushes through with a long sigh. "I tried to tell Wanda that, but she didn't listen and she hexed him, and now Nat's pissed, and Wanda's in trouble, and I never wanted anyone to get into trouble because of me, and I tried to tell her it didn't matter if Flash teased me sometimes, but it bothered her, and…"

"Peter darling, stop, breathe." Peggy said gently, reaching out to rub the boy's back. He was getting upset, flustered, and she wanted him to calm down before he had a panic attack or something. Natasha had explained that while Peter was picking up on the whole superhero thing brilliantly, teenager stuff still gave him bad anxiety sometimes.

"Hexed?" Angie asked, looking over the boy's head at her wife.

"It's the term they've adopted for Wanda's powers." Peggy explains after meeting her wife's questioning gaze. "Her ability to affect people, their minds, thoughts, and such."

Peter dropped his head into his hands. "She made him act all weird and everyone was laughing at him." He groaned before admitting softly. "It was nice that they weren't laughing at me for once."

Peggy and Angie shared a look over the boy's head as Peggy continued to rub his back.

In the study Natasha had pointed at the leather sofa and told Wanda to sit while she walked over to lean against the front edge of her mother's desk. Neither of them said anything for a few minutes, this was new to them both. Wanda hadn't really done anything seriously wrong yet, so this was a pivotal moment for the pair and their relationship. Taking a deep breath Natasha put some steel in her voice as she said, "Explain, now."

Wanda swallowed. Natasha was clearly mad at her, angry even, but this was different somehow. Wanda had seen Natasha pissed off before, no, that's not quite right. She'd seen the Black Widow pissed off before. She'd seen Natasha annoyed, frustrated even, but this wasn't like that, and Wanda wasn't sure why yet. Looking up, Wanda caught Natasha's gaze and could see past the anger, to the older woman's concern, disappointment which felt like a sucker punch, and, was that fear? "He's been picking on Peter for ages, and Peter does nothing to stop him." Wanda was angry too. Peter had been nothing but kind, understanding, and supportive of her since meeting her. It really upset her to see him treated so unfairly. "Peter doesn't deserve to be treated so badly, all he ever does is try to help and be friends with people. He lied about the movie, he didn't just decide to see it, Flash taunted him into it, and he refused to leave even though it really scared him. Today, that," She called him something vile in Sokovian, "called him nasty names in front of everyone, making them laugh, making Peter's friends uncomfortable, and embarrassing Peter yet again. I couldn't just stand by and do nothing, Nat!"

Natasha listened, closely, to everything Wanda said and what she didn't say. She was fairly sure Wanda didn't realize it, but she was talking about Peter the same way she spoke of Pietro. The same way Natasha herself spoke of Tony and Sharon. Slowly Natasha's anger melted away, but her concerns and fears remained. "Wanda," She said when the girl was finished. "I understand you were trying to stand up for Peter, and I'm glad the two of you are getting so close. I want you two to be close, it's important to have someone in your corner like that."

"But?" Wanda snapped at her guardian.

"Watch your tone, little girl." Natasha warned, her voice low and threatening, before softening to continue. "But, what you did to the little bastard was wrong, Wanda. He wasn't a combatant in battle or a hostile in the field, he's a stupid punk ass kid who is probally taking out his own shit on other people. Using your powers to manipulate his mind like that was unethical, Wanda, and to make matters worse, doing so put you in danger!" Natasha felt a rush of fear and panic at the thought of what would happen if anyone found out Wanda was using her powers against civilians. "You could have exposed yourself, Wanda!"

"I was careful!" Wanda huffed as she glared at the redhead.

"And yet I saw you do it!" Natasha argues back.

"You don't count!" Wanda replied. "No one else would have known what I was doing!"

"You don't know that!" Natasha bit out as she shook her head. Closing her eyes, Natasha forced herself to take a deep breath and calm herself before opening her blue-green eyes to once again glare at her daughter. "We've worked really hard to keep your identity out of the public, Wanda, but your hand movements when you're hexing, are very distinctive. Some overly observant Avengers fan could have seen you and taken notice of what you were doing. You put yourself, and Peter, at risk Wanda!"

"You're overreacting, Natasha!" Wanda replied even though she was starting to feel the weight of her actions in her chest. She hadn't even thought about exposing them by using her powers. If someone were able to peg her as the Scarlet Witch, then it was possible, perhaps, that they could maybe tie her to Peter, and then Peter to Spider-Man? It was a stretch, far fetched, but still, maybe she could see Natasha's point.

"I'm not!" Natasha yelled back. This wasn't exactly how she thought things would go, there was a lot more yelling than she'd wanted there to be, but Natasha was afraid. She pointed towards the window as if to indicate the people out in the world beyond the safety of the Carters' faded red brick brownstone. "There are people out there who would take you away from me if they knew you were using your powers against civilians, Wanda!"

That stopped Wanda's next angry retort cold. She sat there staring at Natasha, blinking. That's where Natasha's fear was coming from, the idea that someone would take her away? Natasha feared losing her?

Natasha took a deep breath and rubbed her hands over her face before making her way across the room to sit on the coffee table across from Wanda. Looking into the girl's eyes she said, "Being concerned about your safety and well being isn't overreacting, Wanda." She needed the girl to understand, so she needed to say what she'd been trying not to say in fear of spooking the girl. "This is what parents do, what mothers do, Wanda. We get pissed when our damn kids put themselves at risk by making bad judgement calls, and we do what we need to do to make sure they don't make the same mistakes twice."

Wanda frowned, uncomfortable by the implications of what the older woman was saying as well as by the emotions bubbling up in her own chest."What does that mean?"

"That means, little girl, that you're grounded until further notice. School lessons and training is all you'll be doing for awhile. No phone, no tv, no hanging out with Peter and his friends, no leaving our apartment unless it's with me. Extra chores to keep you busy. And, I want a list of ways you could have handled this matter without using your powers." Natasha tells her firmly, and then she looks into Wanda's eyes and adds, "And Wanda, if you ever do something like that again, I swear to god you'll end up over my knee. Have I made myself clear, young lady?"

Wanda's eyes went wide as she gasped softly. "You're not serious!" Bolting to her feet the girl looked down at the redhead with disbelief. "Natasha! You can't! I won't allow it! I'm almost sixteen! I am not a child!"

Natasha stood as well, and thanks to her heeled boots she towered over the girl a bit as she said, "You are a child, but more than that, you are my child, Wanda! And if you ever put yourself, your well being, or your safety in jeopardy like that again, or if you ever use your powers against someone like you did today, I am damn well gonna spank you for it. Just like my mothers would have done to me, and have done, minus the powers part." Taking a breath, Natasha softed her voice as she added, "I can't lose you, Wanda. You're my kid, damnit, and I love you, and I am going to protect you, from anything, or anyone, even if it's from yourself sometimes."

That's what the difference was. Natasha wasn't acting or reacting as the Black Widow or her handler, her trainer, or the person stuck with this freaky kid no one else wanted to deal with or were afraid of. Natasha was acting, reacting, like a mother, her mother. Wanda stood there staring at the redhead with wide eyes that she didn't realize were starting to fill with tears. It had been so very long since she'd felt someone love her this way, that she was trying very hard not to be frightened by it.

Seeing the fear in Wanda's eyes, and the welling tears, Natasha tried not to panic. "Wanda?"

"I'm sorry." The girl says softly as she drops her head, hiding her expression behind a curtain of auburn hair "I just wanted to help Peter. I didn't think about what using my powers could lead to. It.. It never really mattered before."

Natasha sighs softly as she reaches out to hold Wanda's face in her hands. Lifting her head up so they were once again looking at each other eye to eye. "Well, it matters now, baby, because you matter to me, and to your family."

Wanda surges forward and wraps her arms around Natasha, burying her face in Natasha's neck as the tears roll down her flushed cheeks. Natasha sighs, her own eyes burning a bit as she wraps her arms around the girl and holds her tightly.

Peter was having a hard time focusing on the conversation he was trying to have with Natasha's mothers. He was trying to tell them about some of the things he was doing as Mr. Stark's intern, but he was too worried about what was going on with Wanda and Natasha. He'd heard raised voices a time or two, and as far as he knew they didn't really do that, so it was making him uneasy. Mrs. Carter did her best to reassure him that everything was fine, but he was the reason Wanda was in trouble. She'd used her powers on Flash because Flash liked to pick on him, and he'd done nothing on his own to stop him. The guilt was knotting up his stomach. When Peter heard them coming down the hall he tensed up a little.

"Wanda, where are you going?" Natasha asked as she watched the auburn haired teen walk past the living and towards the door.

"You told me to go to my room and do that ridiculous list." Wanda replied. "My room is at the compound."

Natasha rolled her eyes as she pointed to the stairs. "Go to my room, smartass, and it's not ridiculous. I need to know that you know there are other options for handling a situation that don't involve your powers." She watched the teen roll her eyes, but there was a hint of a smirk on Wanda's face as she headed for the stairs. "When you're finished you can come down and help your grandmothers with dinner."

Peter relaxed quite a bit when he saw that things seemed to be alright between Natasha and Wanda, he even caught a hint of a smile on the other teen's face. But then Natasha turned her gaze to him after watching Wanda ascend the stairs, and the tension was back worse than before.

"Grab your jacket, bud." Natasha ordered the boy. "Let's take a walk. I'm sure my Ma has a list of things she needs from the market that she's forgotten to get until she needed it, and we got things to talk about."

While Peter gets his jacket and Angie gets the list ready for them, Peggy walks up to her daughter and puts her hand on Natasha's back. "Alright poppet?"

Natasha sighs and shakes her head. "I hope so, Mum."

Peggy does her best to reassure her daughter. Telling her that a huge part of parenting is knowing your child and relying on instinct. "You love those children as if they were your own, poppet. Trust that above all else and you'll do fine."

Natasha smiled at her mother and kissed her cheek before leaving with Peter at her side. They walk in silence for about a block and then Natasha says, "You want to explain this crap with Flash Thompson?"

"It's not really a big deal, Nat." Peter sighed.

"Peter," Natasha said firmly as she looked over at the boy. "It was a big enough deal that Wanda hexed him, so cut the crap bud, what's the deal?"

Peter sighs as he shoves his hands into the pockets of his jacket. He kicks at a pebble on the sidewalk, and then looks up at the sky as if looking for the right thing to say. Finally he looks at Natasha and starts telling her about Flash, and how the teasing and taunting had started pretty much the first week of ninth grade. While Peter seemed to be a favorite target, he wasn't the only one. Flash came from a well off, influrencial, family and he tended to have a better than everyone attitude. Peter insisted that Flash wasn't a truly bad person, despite the evidence against him.

"You have the biggest heart, little spider." Natasha said softly. "You want to see the best in everyone, and that's great, we love that about you."

"But?" Peter says as he looks at her.

Natasha smiles warmly. "But, that doesn't mean you sit back and take people's shit. You need to stand up for yourself, and yes, you can do that without using your abilities. Mild mannered doesn't mean being a doormat."

"You make it sound easy." Peter sighed.

"It's not." Natasha replied. "I know it's not. I've been the one in your shoes, Petey. I know the strength it takes to stand up to someone like that."

Peter's eyes went wide as he stared at Natasha. Like most kids he had a hard time seeing the adults in his life as children or teenagers who could have maybe experienced the kinds of things he was. "You?"

Natasha laughed softly as she nodded. "There was superficial teasing, mainly about the color of my hair." She explained. "I actually started putting a quarter in a jar every time some little shit classmate of mine made a joke about me being a redhead. By summer, I was having ice cream truck treats damn near every day and didn't have to bother my moms for the money for it." She smiled warmly at the memory, but then her expression softened and turned more serious. "But there was also the deep cuts, the shit that really hurt. Having same sex parents wasn't as accepted as it is now, so I got a lot of crap from kids for that. I caught grief from a couple of really huge jerks about being adopted too."

"What did you do about it?" Peter asked as he slipped his hand into Natasha's as they walked.

Natasha smiled at the offering of comfort Peter was giving her when he took her hand. "Before I was old enough to really have the skills to deal with it, I broke a girl's nose, or I said mean shit back. The best way to deal with it though is to let the other person know their options and comments don't matter, once you take away the power they think they have over you, they lose interest in you. And if it's bad enough, if it's really getting in the way of your day to day, then you tell an adult. That's what we're here for Pete, we have experience that can help you, you just have to let us."

Peter sighs softly. "I'll try."

"You know kid," Natasha smiled at the boy. "I'm a grown ass adult superhero and I still need my mothers help from time to time. There's no shame in relying on the people who love you."

"I'll keep that in mind, Nat." Peter replies with a soft warm smile.

Natasha takes her hand from his so she can put her arm around his shoulder and pull him into her side. "And if all else fails the Black Widow can always pay Flash a visit."

"Please don't do that." Peter laughs. "He'd probably enjoy it, he has a massive crush on the Black Widow."

"Trust me bud," Natasha smirks. "He keeps picking on my kid he won't like a damn thing I do to his sorry ass."

When they get back to the house they head straight to the kitchen with Angie's requested items. Wanda was helping Angie while Peggy stayed out of the way at the table working on her Sunday Times crossword puzzle. It warmed Natasha's heart to hear Wanda and her Ma laughing together, to see the joyful smile on her Mum's face as she listens. Walking over to the counter Natasha puts the paper bag she'd been carrying down and smirks when Wanda looks up. "Finish that list, poppy?"

Wanda rolls her eyes as she pulls a folded sheet of yellow legal paper out of the back pocket of her jeans and hands it to Natasha. "Yes, there's your list."

Natasha takes it, looks it over, and smiles. "Good girl, we'll go over it in detail and talk about what you wrote later when we get home."

The teenager groans, rolls her eyes again and mutters, "Augh, fine, whatever, god Momma you're so lame."

Natasha freezes, Peggy looks up with wide eyes and a soft smile, Angie's about to burst from joy, and Peter's smiling.

Wanda blushes when she feels all eyes on her. "What?"

"Nothing, poppy." Natasha replies as she walks over to hug the girl. "You know you don't have to, right? Nat's always been fine."

"I know." Wanda replied.

"Ok." Natasha kisses Wanda's forehead, trying really hard not to cry. "So, what's for dinner?"