Wanda walked slowly and stiffly, her muscles unaccustomed to movement over the last few days. She drifted a half step behind Natasha and Clint as they patiently led her to the elevator and then the three of them rode up in silence. The residence floor appeared all but abandoned as Steve had gone off to speak with Fury, Tony stayed in his lab as promised and the others seemed to have decided to stay out of their way as well. Still the spies ushered her into a private room as quickly as possible.
The bedroom was lavishly decorated like the other apartments, presumably by Pepper Potts. And it was large enough to be divided into two areas, one with a white bedroom set and the other with a couch, television and even a little kitchen table with two chairs.
"This will be your room for now." Natasha told her as she watched the girl staring around at her surroundings with little interest. "I think it would be best if you cleaned up a bit."
Aside from Natasha's jacket, Wanda was still in the black dress she had worn into battle with her thigh-high stockings and battered boots that looked moments away from falling apart. Ash and dirt streaked her face and hair. She still stayed silent but ticked her head down in agreement. Natasha showed her a door across from the bed, "The bathroom is through there. It should have everything you need, but it you need anything else you can let me know. You can leave your clothes in the hamper to be washed and I'll find you something to wear until we can get you your own things."
Wanda looked in the direction of the bathroom like she barely comprehended then looked back to Natasha. With reluctance she took off the leather jacket, gazing at it for a long moment with watery eyes before holding it out toward the agent. The girl must have realized the article of clothing had originally belonged to her and thought she would want it back. Seeing the Sokovian in her jacket had irritated her initially but now it seemed terribly unimportant. For some reason, the jacket was important to Wanda and suddenly it became the easiest thing to let go for Natasha. She took it from Wanda but said, "I'll have this cleaned as well and get it back to you."
Wanda blinked in surprise as she registered her words, an unspoken moment of understanding passing between them. Finally, she uttered softly, "Thank you."
She then shuffled into the bathroom and closed the door, leaving the adults to step out into the hallway. Clint had not said anything the whole time, but she could feel her partner's hovering, worrying concern. He exhaled heavily and rubbed his forehead sounding astounded, "She is smaller than I expected. Are you sure she is going to be 15? She seems too small… She can't be much bigger than Cooper."
He was probably right, and Cooper was only 10 though tall for his age already a little passed his father's shoulders. Natasha shook her head though, "She could be lying.. but I'd guess years of malnutrition and neglect is more likely the culprit.. She should see a doctor but that feels like a problem for another day."
"Yeah.. I'm going to ah-" He sniffed and pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "I'm going to get her that something to eat."
"I'm going to see what I can find for her to wear." Natasha turned the opposite direction from him to go to her room. Setting the leather jacket aside to be taken to the dry cleaners, she rummaged through her closet to find some black leggings, a grey sweater with a SHIELD logo on the front that had sort of shrunk in the wash, and thick wool socks despite the weather not being very cold yet; Wanda looked like she could use the warmth. She asked FRIDAY to order a variety of clothing for Wanda and have them delivered next day, trusting the sophisticated program to order the correct sizes and styles for her. They were a long way off from doing a day trip to the mall.
She returned to Wanda's new room and cracked open the bathroom door. The shower seemed to be running at full blast, filling the space with hot steam. Natasha did not get a response as she announced her clothing would be right beside the door before closing it once again then went to sit at the little table. Clint joined her not too long after with a glass of water and the plate of oranges and toast he had been preparing before; he remade the toast this time spreading peanut butter on it. They waited for another 30 minutes talking quietly amongst themselves until Wanda emerged in the still too big clothes, her long hair wet and limp around her face. Clint stood up to greet her with a small, tense smile.
"Hey kid. Feeling any better?"
His question was simply met with a shrug. He went on cautiously, "We've got some food here. How about you eat something?"
"I'm not hungry." Wanda said tightly.
"Wanda you have to eat." He insisted.
"No."
"You have to have some water at least." Natasha intervened stepping forward with the glass of water and presenting it to the girl. "Drink this then you can lie down if you like."
Wanda took the glass from her and drank it with deep gulps until it was nearly gone, ending with a grimace, then handed it back to the woman. Natasha nodded with approval, "We'll leave the food here on the table if you change your mind. You can rest. I'll be back later to check on you, but if you need anything you can ask FRIDAY and she will let me, or Clint know. Say hello FRIDAY."
"Hello Agent Romanoff, Agent Barton, Miss Maximoff." The female voice declared to the room with her merry accent, making Wanda startled a little.
"It's okay, it's just an artificial intelligence system. She's throughout the whole building. It's completely safe." Natasha reassured her. The girl calmed and climbed on top of the mattress, settling on top of the comforter without getting underneath it. Lying on her side she reached out with her hand to the empty side of her bed as if something should have been there. Clint and Natasha watched her for a few seconds then backed out of the room to give her some space.
The agents still had their apprehension, but they were relieved that Wanda was settled for now. They walked back to the central room to see if the rest of the team had emerged and as they arrived the elevator door pinged lightly, sliding open to reveal Nick Fury with Steve at his side. The former SHIELD director strode out of the elevator and approached the pair, "So where is Sabrina the Teenage Witch?"
His question was delivered with his usual exasperated frankness. Natasha crossed her arms, "She is resting at the moment."
"Well we need to talk so get her up." He ordered.
"She is exhausted and grieving. The conversation can wait until she has a good night sleep." The Black Widow refused, and Fury deepened his scowl.
"I hope you two have a plan." The man glowered at being thwarted.
"We do." Clint contributed, "Roughly."
"And what does this rough plan look like?" He asked clearly not impressed.
"I will take temporary guardianship of her and she will stay with the Avengers. She can get through the worst of the grief and we will make sure her powers are in control." Natasha informed them of their plan. "When she is more stable, Clint has agreed to take her in, let her live on the farm with his family."
Fury raised his eyebrows and looked at the archer, "You're going to adopt her?"
They had spoken about it in such explicit terms but in reality it was what needed to be done. Clint hesitated but agreed, "Her brother sacrificed his life to save mine. She has no family left. I'm not going to abandon her."
Their former boss did not let up as he grumbled, "The Enhanced is a minor. Forget the fact she is a Sokovian refugee this kind of thing usual requires a case worker, home visits, licensing to foster."
"Are you saying you can't work around that?" Natasha asked knowingly.
"No, I'm saying one of you operating outside the system is part of the reason we are in this mess in the first place." He snapped back.
"This is an exceptional circumstance, don't you think?" Steve spoke up. He had been quiet, though adopted Natasha's posture a subtle signal that he sided with her even though he stood next to Fury. "We can't put her in a system that isn't equipped to handle an enhanced individual like Wanda."
Their former boss ultimately sighed, "I'll get with Hill and arrange the paperwork. We will all meet tomorrow at 1100 hours."
He seemed to direct his words mostly at Natasha, his one eye firmly on her, though she was not quite sure why. The man turned on his heel then and let himself out the way he came in. With him gone Steve said, "Sorry, I tried to tell him not to come yet."
"It's alright, Steve." She placed her hand easily on his forearm. The agent knew Nick Fury better than most and there was little that could be done to stop him when his mind was set on something. She was just fortunate to be one of the people he would listen to. "There is nothing else that we can do now. Everyone should take a break while we can."
They all concurred and went their separate ways for the time being- Clint to call Laura, Steve to the gym, and Natasha finally made it to her room to shower and relax- though all three felt acutely aware of the teenage girl lying somewhere between sleep and grief.
/
Natasha knocked on Wanda's door, balancing a serving tray on one hand with two bowls of chicken noodle soup and two cups of water. "Wanda, I'm coming in."
She opened the door and was greeted by the sight of Wanda sitting up in bed peering at her blurrily, her hair wild from sleeping on it wet. FRIDAY raised the lights a little though the room was still relatively bright with the sun barely beginning to set. It was after 6pm and after some debate it was decided Natasha would take dinner to the girl; since she would be primarily in charge of taking care of her it made sense for her to start getting used to Natasha's presence. She brought her own soup bowl, hoping that eating with her would encourage her to eat. As she set the tray on the table, she saw Wanda had not touched the other plate of food, "You need to come eat something."
"I'm not hungry." Wanda repeated her sentiment in a raspy voice.
"You don't get a choice this time." Natasha said evenly. "You need to eat."
"No."
"I won't let you starve yourself."
Wanda's expression turned angry, and she said darkly. "You're not my mother."
"I know I'm not a mother." Natasha retorted back tersely both of them suddenly conscious of the secrets unwillingly shared between them.
The spy caught the spilt second where Wanda jumped a little at her sharp words, but otherwise her glare remained firmly in place. After a tense moment of them shooting daggered eyes at each other, Wanda broke the silence, though the defiant gleam barely lessened, "I'm sorry."
What she was sorry for Natasha could not be certain- for lashing out in a way she knew would hurt her, for pulling out her past and nightmares, for her part in raising Ultron, for all of the above. Natasha considered carefully what to do next; she had not really been thinking about her own feelings in regard to Wanda since this whole thing started. It was easy to ignore the fact that the girl in front of her was the same person who had violated her, that person had been an adult and she was a child. It was easy to ignore however that did not mean it was the right thing to do. In order for them to move forward, Natasha needed to address it with herself and Wanda. She began slowly, "Wanda, I know you may be feeling guilty about what happened, but I want you to know.. it's not your fault."
The Sokovian looked at her perplexed and opened her mouth to speak though nothing came out. Natasha went on to explain, "You made some bad choices, we all did. But you made bad choices because you were a kid put in a position where you didn't have any good choices to make, you understand?"
Wanda did not look quite convinced, but she nodded her head anyways. This would be a conversation that they would need to have again Natasha imagined as she went ahead, "I know it's hard to trust, but trust is a two-way street. So I'm going to trust you to make good choices now and I need you to trust me that I'm here to help you make those choices."
When Natasha had started speaking, she did not know she really believed what she said but as she finished she realized she did believe it. In Wanda's short life she had already lost more than most, and then her time being indoctrinated by Hydra, she had never known peace and only knew how to wage war. In so many ways, Natasha could perfectly feel her pain. She was a little taken aback by her desire to protect Wanda from that pain. For Wanda's part, she seemed to absorb her words with her eyes wide in an owlish expression as she considered them for a long moment, then simply issued a small sincere, "Okay."
"Okay." It was miniscule but it was a start. Natasha then asked politely, "Wanda, please come to the table and have some soup."
The teenage rose shakily from the bed and sat at the table while Natasha joined her. Wanda mirrored the woman's movements as she took a bowl and spoon, dipping it in to gather a first bite. The soup was only from a can, and a little salty, but Wanda did not complain as she mechanically began to eat. After a moment of eating in silence, Natasha knew she had to bring up another topic, "Tomorrow we are going to meet with a man name Nick Fury and probably a woman Maria Hill and we will talk about a plan going forward."
Catching the fear creeping onto Wanda's face, she added, "You're not in trouble. It's just going to be like a debrief. Do you know what a debrief is?"
She shook her head in the negative and Natasha continued to elaborate. "It's a conversation had after a mission is complete, usually a series of questions for the agents involved. I get debriefed all the time. We just have to ask some questions and get on the same page, alright?"
"Alright." Wanda parroted.
"Do you have any questions for me?"
"No." The girl initially answered but then tentatively inquired, "Will everyone be there?"
"They don't have to be." Natasha assured her. "It can just be Fury and Maria, you, me and Clint and Steve if you're comfortable with that."
"Okay." Wanda consented after a pause and went back to spooning the soup into her mouth. Soon she had nearly finished the bowl, clearly hungrier than she had been letting on. Her fingers unexpectedly, curiously reached out to the orange wedges from that morning. The fruit had started to dry and pucker from sitting out all day however Wanda did not seem to notice or care. Natasha wanted to offer to get her fresh fruit, but she was afraid bring attention to it would stop her from eating them, and she figured the girl had eaten food in worse conditions. Wanda bit into the flesh and her eyes closed at the sweet citrusy taste. When she opened her eyes, silent tears began streaming down her cheeks. Still she devoured all the oranges, even further into the rind than necessary; a tactic to stay fuller for longer the agent guessed. Natasha did not say anything about her tears, she just let the girl experience whatever it was she was going through. Finishing the last one, Wanda roughly scrubbed at her cheeks to try and erase the evidence of her crying.
She took a few sips of water to help herself calm down more. Soon her gaze was drifting back longingly to the bed that hardly looked like it had been slept in. Natasha could see she was done, "Go brush your teeth and you can go to bed."
The girl stood instantly and headed to the bathroom to perform the required task. Natasha listened to the sound of running water and the swish of bristles against teeth as she stacked the dishes onto the tray, except for Wanda's water cup. She topped it off with her own untouched glass and set it on the nightstand on the side she had slept on then also turned down the comforter for her to get under this time. She turned to find Wanda slowly approaching her the way a stray cat may approach someone. Backing away, Natasha allowed Wanda the space to get back into the bed. When she laid down and did not make any move to cover herself, the Black Widow gently pulled the blanket up around her, Wanda watching her movements with more focus than she had been exhibiting before. Natasha pulled away, saying with a flat kindness, "Goodnight Wanda."
"Good night." The girl practically whispered as she turned onto her side and shut her eyes. Natasha left promptly then, gathering up the tray and FRIDAY lowering the lights as she left, hoping Wanda could find some respite in the night.