Journeys In Love

by breadwitch

One-shots of Natasha and Wanda as mother and daughter. The journey continues! After helping Wanda through much of her grief and through her physical recovery after her time at Hydra, Natasha and Wanda have permanently bonded. These stories will be a continuation of the first story in this series.

3. Wanda's Bad Week

Translations:
varenyky= pierogi
S kapustoy?= with cabbage?

/

Wanda was having a bad week. A very bad week in her opinion.

It started first thing on Monday when she lost her SHIELD sweatshirt. Natasha helped her look high and low for it before they had to give up for the time being. Her mother promised it would turn up eventually and if not they could get her a new one. The Sokovian wanted to pout and say she did not want a different one, but she managed to suppress the childish urge.

Then Tuesday was terrible when she had to take a math test. She really tried to understand the problems on the sheet of paper, but it was practically hieroglyphics to her. When Natasha explained everything to her in lessons, she made it seem so easy. However as soon as Wanda was alone with the numbers, it was like everything went out the window. She could not remember the seemingly arbitrary rules, like the order of operations. Why did the order matter? And how could a number be irrational? And why would she ever need to know the circumference of a circle? These were the thoughts that distracted her from actually comprehending most of the questions unfortunately.

It took her awhile, but finally she got it at least all filled out and brought it to her mother who was sitting at her usual spot on the couch in the library. Wanda was unable to look at Nat's sympathetic face as she took the paper from her. "Alright, we're done for the day. How about you see what Steve is up to and I'll look this over really quick."

"Okay." Wanda mumbled and hurried off without another word, away from the assuredly poor outcome of her test.

The little witch found Steve in the entertainment room trying to figure out which remote changed the channel, but he was making a mess of it, Wanda could tell. Captain America stopped fiddling with the electronics when he saw her and gave her his most encouraging smile, "Hey, how was the math test, little bird?"

"Fine." Wanda answered flatly, her expression surely dour.

"That bad?" His tone full of sympathy.

"Do you ever need math, Steve?" Wanda plopped next to him on the couch.

"Oh no," The man waved his hand in a halting gesture. It had been an ongoing discussion between Nat and Wanda, which Wanda had made no headway in. "I'm not getting involved in the debate whether you need math or not.. But I will watch Singing in the Rain with you for the millionth time."

After a moment of thought, Wanda decided that watching her favorite movie would be enough of a salve for now, "Okay, sounds good."

"You will have to fix the television though." Steve looked sheepishly towards the screen that had a message in the middle of it reading 'No Signal.'

Wanda tried to hide her Natasha-style smirk as she said, "FRIDAY, will you play Singing in the Rain please?"

"Of course, Miss Maximoff." The AI chirped and the TV blinked and the movie opening credits started playing.

"Right." Steve sighed in good-natured annoyance at himself while Wanda tucked herself underneath his arm and pulled her knees up to her chest. "Thank you, FRIDAY."

Wanda got caught up in the story of Don Lockwood and his best friend Cosmo as they made it big in the Silent Era of Hollywood then Don meeting the spunky, yet angelic-voiced Kathy Selden who he falls in love with as they struggle and adapt to the new Hollywood trend of 'talkies.' Don was serenading Kathy, telling her she was meant for him against a dreamy backdrop when Natasha found them. The girl looked at her warily.

"I'll have Vision go over the test with you tomorrow." Her mother sat down next to her and placed a hand on her knee, "Don't worry about it tonight."

"Not you?" Wanda asked, watching her mother sit down next to her. Steve lifted his arm a bit so Wanda could lean on Nat instead.

"I've got an all-day training seminar, remember?" Natasha told her and Wanda did remember having the conversation but had not realized the time for it come up so quickly. "Vision will take over lessons tomorrow."

"Okay." Wanda attempted to not sound too disappointed. Vision was great at teaching sciences and her other subject but something about listening to him talk about math was even more confusing than when Natasha did it. At least Mama had finally repealed the rule that her and Vizh could no longer hang out without supervision after the whole flying debacle last month.

"Don't worry about it tonight." The spy reiterated, brushing Wanda's hair behind her ear. "Let's finish the movie and then we'll make varenyky for dinner, yeah?"

"S kapustoy?" Wanda requested and Tasha's expression turned amused, probably already thinking about the mocking comments they would receive from Sam as he teased them about their Eastern European palettes enjoying cooked cabbage.

"Whatever you'd like." Natasha moved her arm around Wanda as the teenager cuddled into her side.

Maybe Tuesday had not been so bad as she let the movie and being sandwiched between Nat and Steve ease her worries away. Then her and Natasha making one her favorite dinners helped brighten and warm her evening further.

Wednesday had definitely been worse though. Natasha been gone from first thing in the morning and did not come back until late, leaving her and Vision to struggle rehashing her nearly-failed math exam and only making it back with enough time to tuck Wanda in for the night. As of late, spending the day away from the redhead would not have been so terrible but an uncomfortable feeling had descended around her like an ominous dark cloud that day, or maybe it had been steadily rolling in since Monday. It made her feel foggy and a little jumpy and very much wishing to be near her mother. The feeling followed her into Thursday. That was not the worst of Thursday though.

The Black Widow just had morning training that day, so Steve had done history lessons with her and then left her to work on her book report for Literature until Nat came back in the afternoon. Wanda was reading a passage of Crime and Punishment that she needed a refresher on when there was a fat plopping sound and a circle of dark red appeared on the page. She was confused until another drop of red appeared and she realized that her nose was bleeding with a start. Her hand flew to her nose and felt the warm, slickness of blood ooze from it. Her stomach turned unpleasantly with a quick glance at her hand, finding it coated in red. She tried to pinch her nose and hold her back to stop the flow of it, but quickly her hands became a mess, and her panic grew. Not thinking about anything else besides finding her mama, Wanda hurried out of the library and through the residence that was somehow complete vacant save for herself.

She stumbled into the breezeway that connected their living quarters with the other facilities and found herself getting dizzy. Her vision blurred, mostly from distraught tears slowly leaking from her eyes as she pushed forward until she finally found the training room Natasha was in. The redhead was standing with her back to her, observing as two of the recruits sparred with each other in front of her and a group of their peers, and crisply barked orders about keeping their elbows in and moving their feet. Wanda tremulously called to her, "Mama.."

Natasha whipped around in surprise at her child's voice that immediately gave way to concern at the state she was in, "Oh tilt your head down, milaya, not back. You don't want the blood to go down your throat."

She said this as she rushed over to Wanda, the hard demeanor the agent had been projecting vanishing entirely as she put and arm around her daughter and used her other hand to ease Wanda's hands away from her nose. "Let me see.. It's still bleeding a little. Come over here."

Natasha gently pinched her nose and led her over to a shelf of clean towels. She handed one to Wanda for her hands and grabbed another to hold against her nose to soak up the blood. Her mother gave her a reassuring smile, though her brow was still crinkled with worry while she asked, "What happened, baby?"

"I don't know." Wanda's voice sounded congested from her nose being held shut and she leaned against Natasha as she tried to get her bearings back, "I was working on my book report, and it just started bleeding."

"Sometimes nosebleeds just happen." Tasha kissed her forehead and then the bridge of her nose, "You're okay."

The little witch whimpered a little but already felt better and calmer beneath her mother's care. However a solitary cough reminded them of their audience. Natasha shifted her attention to the trainees awkwardly watching them, perhaps a little dumbfounded at the maternal display from the Black Widow who had just been so rigorously putting them through their paces. Her gaze narrowed on them as she told Wanda to wait there for a moment, making sure she the girl held the towel in place against her face. Marching back over to the group, her surly attitude returned, "Did I tell you to stop?"

"No, Agent Romanoff." The lot of them stiffened their posture to appear at attention.

After a moment of giving them an intimidating glare, Natasha glanced at the watch on her wrist and directed, "Run a 3K. With a cool down then you're dismissed."

"Yes, Agent Romanoff." Came back the unanimous reply and they automatically filed to the exit that lead to a track outside. Satisfied with their compliance, Natasha went back to Wanda and gathered her back up in her arms back to her honeyed concern.

"Let's go get you cleaned up." Her mother led her back the way she had come and ended in the kitchen. Wanda washed her hands while Natasha held her nose closed. Then she sat at the island and Natasha pulled her hands away. After gently wiping away some blood, she declared it had stopped. Tossing the soiled towels away in the garbage, the older woman found a clean dish towel and wet it with warm water. Natasha was wiping away the blood when she asked, "Did you get a lot of nosebleeds before?"

She nodded, "Sometimes."

"Hm, some people are more susceptible to them than others." Nat commented as she inspected her face for any lingering blood. "And the air has been dry recently."

"Can you make them stop?"

"Sorry, sweetheart, there isn't any medicine you can take to stop them. I think in some severe cases you can cauterize the nasal membrane." At the horrified look that flashed on Wanda's face, the Widow quickly clarified, "We would only do that if your nosebleeds became much worse and it's an operation you would be asleep for. You don't have to worry about that though now, hopefully it's just something you'll grow out of."

Natasha gave her a pressed grin and went to wash her hands. Wanda looked at some red still stuck underneath her fingernails as she said timidly, "Sorry I interrupted the training session."

"It's fine, milaya. You had a good reason." Natasha replied easily, "Besides it's lunchtime. Are you hungry?"

"Yes."

"What do you think? Sandwiches? Salads? Fruit smoothies?" Tasha listed off as she opened the refrigerator.

Wanda leaned forward, resting her elbows on the counter, "Grilled cheese and tomato soup?"

"You got it babe." Her mother winked then took out the cheese and butter from the icebox. As Natasha made their meal, the rest of the team trickled in for their own lunches. Steve came back from a long run, Sharon and Sam returned from the grocery store with a few items for dinner that evening, and Vision flew back in from the city after helping Stark with some calculations for a new green energy thing that Wanda could not recount the details of to save her life.

She felt okay the rest of the day, mostly because she could stay with her mother for the rest of the day as she did language lessons with her. At the moment she was working on Spanish to add to the languages she already knew- Sokovian, Russian, English and German from the Hydra scientists. The way Natasha taught her though was more than basic vocabulary and syntax. The Black Widow taught her how to mask her accent and take on regional accents so she could pass as someone who had grown up in the country and all the other spy school tricks. It was one of her schooling subjects that came easier to her, so by the end she felt accomplished when Tasha praised her work.

Then she woke up on Friday with the fog in her mind having settled back in, but she thought had done an all right job of powering through it until about the middle of Avengers training, or as Nat like to tease, Physical Education. Steve entered the gym during a water break after Wanda and Natasha had finished a round on the mat. Her mother would not spar with her yet, but she would have pads on her hands and would instruct Wanda through various combinations of striking and dodging. And she was talking about possibly letting her start sparring with Sharon soon; Sharon because she was closer in size to Wanda and less deadly than Natasha. The captain was carrying a cloth sack that looked like it was filled with something heavy and lumpy. He approached Wanda with his usual casual grin as she waited for Tasha and Vision to drag over some thicker mats they used for Wanda's flying lessons while she cooled down a little. "Hey Wands, I found something that could help with training your powers."

They had been steadily integrating Wanda's magic into her exercises. It had started with incorporating her red tendrils into morning yoga, then flying lessons with Vizh, Natasha added throwing rubber balls that Wanda would have to block or knock out the air, and Steve had her lifting increasingly heavier objects, including himself. Wanda set her water bottle down on the bench she stood by and tilted her head curiously as the man set down the bag and it gave a wooden rattle, "What is it?"

"They're blocks." He opened the bag for her to see and pulled out a plain, pale wood block, the edges slightly rounded and scuffed, "I thought you could build towers, see how high you could make them to work on your dexterity."

His words were cheerful and helpful; however Wanda did not comprehend them as a dull ringing toned in her ears. Her vision tunneled around the block in Steve's hand and for a brief flash she was freezing, and the air smelled like mildew and something sour like vomit. There was someone shouting in German at her to keep the blocks floating or Pietro would get the cattle prod, but she was so hungry and so tired and so, so afraid she could not keep it up for much longer and her brother would be hurt.

"Wanda?"

She snapped back to reality and saw Steve's face behind the block, his brow a wave of concern. Wanda tried to say something. When she opened her mouth though, only a sharp gasp came out, then another. The teenager took a step back and shook her head vehemently no. Steve dropped the basic toy back into the sack out of her view and held up his hands, "That's okay. You don't have. Forget the blocks."

He stayed still and made his voice lighter when he spoke to her, until he turned away and carefully called out, "Nat."

The Black Widow glanced over to them and saw Steve beckoning her over. Immediately, she dropped her end of the foam mat she had been moving with Vision, making a beeline over to them. For the second time in two days, Natasha was rushing to her and pulling into her arms as she asked, "What happened?"

This time Wanda could not answer her. She could only take short, shuddering breaths and press into her mama as she tried to ground herself back in this reality and forget the terrible memories that had felt so real, leaving Steve to try and explain what was wrong to the best of his ability. "I brought some blocks for Wanda to practice her magic with and she froze. I'm sorry, I'll get rid of them."

"It's alright. Thanks, Steve." The woman replied and gave him a quick, reassuring smile before turning her full attention to Wanda. Natasha rubbed her back and crooned, "Deep slow breaths, you're alright. You're here in the gym with Mama and Steve. Can you feel me, baby? Focus on my voice."

Wanda pulled in steadier breaths, and slowly the acrid smell of the Hydra labs was replaced with the smell of clean sweat and the slightly herbal perfume of her mother, the cold in her stomach warmed from being held against Nat's body heat, and the harsh German faded from her ears to the gentle hum Natasha had started. The girl nuzzled into the vibrations in her mother's throat and concentrated on it to help her fear dissipated, until the only feelings left in her was the tiredness and a bit of embarrassment. When she had calmed, Tasha shifted her back a little to look her over. Steve stood behind Natasha's shoulder looking nearly ill with guilt while trying to stay back and give them some space. The bag of blocks was gone, the man must have tossed it somewhere and come back already. He began contritely, "I'm so sorry, Wanda."

"I'm okay." Her voice was quiet and rough.

Natasha added, "It's alright Steve, really. These things happen. We'll be done for the day. Let's head upstairs, yeah?"

The little witch wanted to protest. She wanted to do her flying lessons with Vision who was hovering by the mat still and watching them with a similar worried expression as Steve, but she was too exhausted to fight over it. Wanda let her mother lead her upstairs to her bedroom were they sat down on the edge of the bed. When they settled and after a moment of silence, Natasha gently pushed, "Can you tell me about it, malyshka?"

Wanda sniffled a little before slowly starting to explain, "At Hydra, they.. wanted to test my limits. So they had me use my powers for as long as I could with floating wooden blocks like those. It was days I think, but they wouldn't let me stop. I felt like I was going insane.. Finally I think my magic took over, and I lost control. The blocks exploded and I passed out. When I woke up, Pietro said he had not seen or heard from me for two weeks. I don't know how much of that time I awake using my powers or unconscious.. When I saw the blocks Steve brought, I remembered.. I panicked."

Natasha waited and listened until Wanda got her whole story out. Her voice sounded a little strained when she spoke, "I'm so sorry they did that to you, my love."

She kissed her daughter's temple, "Thank you for telling me.. How are you feeling now? Any more bad memories?"

"I'm just tired." She rested her head on Nat's shoulder.

"Do you want to take a nap?"

"I don't need a nap." Wanda claimed, though her tone came across more childish than she had intended. "I'm not a baby."

"I know you're not, sweetheart. It's not only babies that nap though. If that were true, Steve is the biggest baby I've ever seen." She shot her a teasing grin that Wanda could not help but return as she thought of the times she had caught the captain snoozing and snoring loudly on a couch. Nat continued, "And sometimes I take naps. It's okay to let your body rest when you need it."

"Yeah.." Wanda reluctantly agreed, though wished she could still be training instead.

"How about I read some of our book?" Natasha proposed. "And if you fall asleep that's alright."

The Black Widow might as well have said asked 'how about I give you a sedative and we'll see if you fall asleep.' If she laid down with her mother while she read, it was almost guaranteed she would drift off. However, she craved the comfort and accepted the barely-veiled plot to get her to sleep, "Fine. But I know what you're doing."

"Okay." Natasha's smile was soft, verging on a knowing smirk. The older woman moved up the bed, resting against the pillows while Wanda curled against her, laying her head on Tasha's stomach, and tugging her plaid blanket over her shoulders. The redhead grabbed The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn off her nightstand and started reading while threading her fingers rhythmically through Wanda's hair. As expected, she was not awake for very long as she was lulled by her mother's voice and soothing touch. Even after she woke from her nap feeling annoyingly better, Natasha insisted she take it easy for the rest of the day. The spy ordered Chinese for dinner, and they binge-watched a British cooking competition with silly hosts and bouncy orchestral music with the rest of the team.

Wanda made a point to sit with Steve for some of the evening, looping her arm around his and hugging his bicep while everyone chatted and picked their favorite contestants to root for. The man seemed to be trying to give her space, apparently feeling guilty for the accidental trigger, but Wanda was determined to make sure he knew she harbored no resentment towards him. Eventually he relaxed, and she relaxed, and when the little witch went to bed that night the incident was nearly forgotten. Wanda thought that would have been the most terrible part of her week, that the worst of it had to be over. She had been wrong.

On Saturday, Wanda woke to the sound of bombs resonating in her still dark bedroom. She was startled, and bewildered, but figured it must have been a dream she could not remember that had woken her. Until there was a bright flash outside her window and then a huge crash of an explosion. The Sokovian yelped and shot out of bed only for her knees to practically given out underneath her. Then another flash and immediate boom that reverberated through the residence. Collapsing to the ground, Wanda wriggled under her bed in her blind fear. Another bang and she was sobbing hysterically, holding her hands tightly over her ears. She smelled smoke and sulfur. Her apartment had been reduced to rubble and her parents had disappeared underneath it. Pietro had managed to pull her under the bed, but she did not know where he was now. She was alone staring at a bomb that had landed only meters from her that had somehow not detonated. With another rumbling blast, the girl was certain the tremors would set it off. Squeezing her eyes shut, Wanda desperately willed the device not to explode.

"Wanda. Wanda, honey. Please open your eyes, come on baby girl. Look at me." Through her cries and terror, the little witch recognized a comfortingly raspy voice and sweet words calling to her. Wanda pried her eyes open like it asked and did not see debris or a blinking bomb, rather the face of her mother lying on the ground and trying to reach her underneath her bed.

"Mama?" She whimpered with confusion.

"Yeah, baby, it's me." Natasha sounded relieved. "It's just a thunderstorm. You're safe. Can you come out from under there? Can you come to me?"

Wanda realized what had happened and she quickly scrambled to her mother who scooted back to give her space to get out. Once back in the open, the girl crawled into her mother's lap and wrapped her arms around her neck as Natasha held her tightly and rocked her gently. "Sh, sh, you're safe. I've got you. I've got you, milaya."

She released her tears into her mother's nightshirt and shuddering anytime there was a roll of thunder. Her Mama cradled her and murmured sweet nothings until both had seemed to subside. Wanda could hear the rain pattering on the roof, but nothing else as she whispered hoarsely into the quiet, "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry, sweetheart? There's no reason for you to be sorry."

Her voice cracked as she answered, "I'm sorry I'm like this. I'm sorry I can't just be better."

"Oh Wanda, you are better." Nat pacified but the teen interjected.

"No I'm not. I can't take a math test, my nose bleeds, I'm scared of a child's toy.. I can't stop being scared." The girl cried.

"You're just having a bad week, that's all." Her mother softly insisted. "Recovering from trauma isn't linear, baby. You're going to have good days and bad days, and the good will start to outweigh the bad. Do you know what else happened this week?"

Wanda shook her head no against Nat's chest. The redhead replied with a smile in her voice, "You ran a mile in under seven minutes for the first time. On Tuesday you made everyone omelets all by yourself. And you're doing so well with Spanish I thought we might add a second language.. Could you do any of that when you first came here?"

"No." Wanda admitted with realization. The good moments had been buried by the bad, but she remembered how excited she had been what Nat told her time for her mile run yesterday and how please she had been when everyone like the breakfast she had made.

"You are better, milaya, and you're going to keep getting better." Natasha promised as she nestled her nose into her daughter's hair. And Wanda believed her. She was letting her concerns slip away until suddenly thunder roared once again making her flinch. Mama squeezed her and then said, "Come on, let's get up. I want to show you something."

The women rose to their feet and Nat nabbed Wanda's blanket from the twist of sheets on her bed before taking them out to the hallway. At the end of it were large bay windows with a heavily cushioned nook for lounging that looked out to the forest. It was only about 5:30 in the morning and there was still an hour until sunrise, so the field and the trees were still swathed in blue and shadows. The steady rainfall made everything flicker a little, like static. The older woman climbed into the nest of pillows first, getting settled against the wall so Wanda could sit between her legs and gaze out the windows. As her mother situated the blanket around them, she began to explain, "The lightening comes before the thunder. You can count to see if the storm is coming closer or moving away."

Then lightening silently popped into the sky, briefly illuminating everything in white light. Natasha counted in her ear, "1.. 2.. 3.."

Thunder grumbled sounded less like the sky was falling down around them and more like a distant beast. Tasha reported, "That means the storm is about three miles away."

With each bolt of lightning the Black Widow dutifully counted down. The next few times, the storm had still been three miles out, but finally Nat made it to four. After that however, Wanda did not know because she had eased back to a peaceful sleep with her mama not too far behind.

/

Saturday morning were the best part of the week. Everything was a little slower and everyone indulged in a bit of laziness before they started whatever training or errands they had for the day. And usually breakfast was more special than just eggs or cereal. Like today Steve was making his blueberry pancakes, which Wanda was fairly certain he was doing as an extended apology. It was unnecessary but she was not complaining. Nat and Wanda were watching him and drinking peppermint tea as they sat at the island when Sharon and Sam wandered in. The blonde woman greeted her, "Hey Wanda, look what I found."

She held up gray fabric and Wanda exclaimed, "My sweater!"

"I found it in out laundry. It must have slipped in there somehow." The agent passed off the garment into the witch's waiting hands. Clutching it, she brought it to her face and inhaled deeply only for her to wrinkle her nose and pull it away. The sweater smelled clean, but it did not smell right. She declared, "It smells like Sam."

"Why'd you say it with that face?" Sam asked, offended by her apparent dissatisfaction from where he was making his cup of coffee along the other counter. "I smell fantastic."

"Of course you do honey." Sharon walked up and pressed a kiss to his lips, taking the cup of coffee from his hands as she did so. The man was dumbfounded for a moment that his coffee was gone, then for a moment looked like he was going to complain, but in the end thought better of it and just grabbed another mug from the cabinet.

Wanda pushed the sweater onto Natasha lap and her mama smiled, telling her quietly, "We can throw it in my laundry, and it'll be good as new."

The girl returned the smile and dropped her head to Tasha's shoulder, the older woman automatically peppering her with light kisses. Things were finally looking up.

Steve turned around from the stovetop with two plates full of pancakes and he happily announced, "Pancakes are ready."

Things were looking very up indeed.

/

Notes:

Wanda didn't have a lot of luck this week, but she's got a great Mama to help her through. And a little nod to the end credit scene in Winter Solider, where Wanda looks a bit crazed with the floating blocks!

Also, I think the trainees who saw Nat acting all maternal are now even more afraid of her. Moms are scary man.

Thanks for reading! Love to hear your thoughts!