"Ready for the aquarium today, little bird?" Steve asked the girl from where he leaned against the kitchen counter drinking a cup of coffee. Natasha brought over two bowls of cereal to the breakfast bar, placing one in front of Wanda where she sat and sitting down next to her with the other.
"Yes, will you come too Steve?" Wanda inquired. Natasha smirked as she watched Captain America struggle against Wanda's big, green eyes. The older woman had told her that she did not think Steve had planned to come with them; she thought Wanda had simply accepted her answer but apparently she had thought all she needed to do was ask.
Deciding to torment the man a little bit more, Natasha turned her own green eyes up at him before taking a bit of her easy breakfast. "Yeah, Steve. Will you come too?"
He narrowed his eyes at her in a not-so-intimidating glare, immediately realizing what she was up to, which only intensified here amused grin. When he spoke to Wanda, he had a much kindlier expression, "I've got to stay back with Sam and Tony. They're going to work on Sam's flight suit and I'm supervising. But I know you'll have fun with the girls."
Sam had reluctantly agreed to let Tony look at his Falcon wings, the genius inventor eager to observe the technology and make some improvements with Sam being much less eager to have him tinkering with them. Steve's presence would probably be very necessary to keep a level head over the situation, which was how the aquarium visit turned into a girl's trip with Sharon and Pepper asking to come along. The Barton's had departed the day before after enjoying a few more days of the beach and pool and taking the kids around to see some sights. This was their last day in Malibu before she, Wanda, Steve, Sam and Sharon headed out to move into the Compound.
"Yeah, us girls are going to have lots of fun." Natasha nudged Wanda's shoulder with her own then added to the teen, "Eat your Cheerios before they get soggy."
Wanda who had only been eating the bananas she sliced overtop dipped her spoon into the bowl to gather the cereal for a crunchy bite. The others filtered into the kitchen, getting themselves coffee and a quick breakfast- Sam made himself and Sharon some eggs, Pepper blended together a green smoothie, and Tony came in with a box of donuts of which Steve ate three and Nat and Wanda split a chocolate glazed one after they finished their cereal.
Then it was time for the ladies to hit the road. Steve waved them off from the driveway as Pepper drove them in a silver convertible car with the top down. They traveled for the most part along the California coast, Natasha sitting in the front and Wanda sitting in the back with Sharon. The car ride would be over an hour with traffic and there was a closer aquarium in Santa Monica, but it did not have as many animals to see as the one Nat had picked for them in Long Beach and she wanted Wanda to be able to see as much as possible. Cruising down the sunny, scenic coastline though with 80's music blaring and the wind in their hair, made for easy traveling though. Natasha would glance back at Wanda in her round sunglasses, hair flying around wildly and grinning at Sharon as the woman poorly, but passionately sang along to Hit Me with Your Best Shot and she could not help the smile that would pull to her lips.
When they arrived, Wanda naturally sought out her hand and stuck by her side as they joined the crowd of people funneling into the large building with the stylistic, metallic roof designed to mimic rolling waves. Upon immediately entering the aquarium, the little witch stopped and gazed in wonder at all of the glowing blue tanks filled with sea life. Eventually Natasha had to tug her along, "Come on, milaya. Let's go see."
First they went to the Coral Reefs exhibit with its colorful underwater flora and fauna. Natasha, Sharon and Pepper took turns reading the various plaques about the animals found there- tangs, wrasses, parrotfish, clownfish and their anemones homes, gliding sea turtles and the conservation efforts for them. By the time the women reached the sea otter habitat, Wanda felt comfortable enough to let go of her hand as she took her turn the glass, "They are so.. cute."
Natasha laughed in agreement. The otters were lazily floating in a loose group, most appearing to be asleep. The Black Widow read a sign for the girl, "To keep from drifting apart from each other in the wild, sea otters will wrap themselves in kelp forming something resembling a raft, which is why a group of resting otters is called a raft. This is why they also hold hands, to prevent themselves from losing from each other."
Some of the otters did indeed have their fuzzy paws adorably linked as they drifted around together. She brushed her hand into Wanda's, the girl's smile turning a little shy as she slipped her hand back into Natasha's for the moment. The Sokovian took her other hand and rested it on the glass. As she did, the nearest pair of otters seemed to perk up. They untangled from one another and dove under the water to come up along the glass right in front of where they stood. The little critters twirled and twisted in front of Wanda like they were observing her in return. The little witch stifled a giggle, her fingers flexing ever so slightly against the glass. Natasha could guess that she was communing with them in her way as she ended up watching Wanda more than the otters. However she had to usher her away as children began to crowd them, trying to see the up-close, playful display of the animals.
The next exhibit was the Shark Lagoon. In an enormous cylindrical tank were smaller zebra and grey reef sharks endlessly swimming around and through a rocky structure covered with seaweed and mossy coral. Flat, wide sting rays skirted around the edges, their fins occasionally kicking up sand as the flapped along the bottom. Wanda got up close to the glass, her face cast in blue from the glow of it, catching the eye of a particularly big tiger shark cutting through the water. The predator abruptly changed directions causing the sharks to scatter as the larger animal swam directly to Wanda, its nose gently bumping into the glass. The little witch began walking around the circumference of the tank with the tiger shark keeping pace with her, pulling Natasha along too as she had yet to release her hand once again.
Natasha let her 'talk' to the shark for some time until suddenly she breath sharply out of her nose and turned to burrow her nose into Nat's shoulder breathing in deeply a few times. "Are you alright, milaya?"
"Yes." Wanda turned back to the beast as they kept walking, "Smell is very strong for her. It's strange like.. smelling electricity."
"Not like talking the horses? Or the otters?" She said talking for lack of a better word.
"Yeah, everything is gray. No colors, less emotion but more.. systematic, sharp." Wanda tried to quantify the differences for her.
"So does she think you're lunch?" Natasha teased.
Wanda shook her head with a pressed smile, like she was trying to not find the woman amusing, "No, but maybe you."
The older woman laughed then dropped her jaw in pretend shock, "You'd let me get eaten by a shark?"
Wanda tilted her head to the side with an exaggerated thinking expression however before she could answer, Sharon interrupted them, "Uh, hey guys, not sure what's going on, but it appears you're being followed and it's attracting some attention."
Furrowing her brow, Nat gave the agent a look of confusion but soon saw what she had been referring to. Not only did the large tiger shark trail after Wanda, but the other sharks had also started to fall in line with them creating a wall of sharks seemingly focused on the two women slowly making their way around the enclosure. She then noticed several of the other guests pointing and staring at them and the animals' odd, synchronized behavior. Wanda looked at her anxiously, but Natasha smoothed over the situation, simply moving them along, "Let's take a break from the sharks. It's lunch time anyways. Are you hungry?"
"Yes, do they have cheeseburgers?"
It was an uncommon request from the teenager that made Nat smirk, "I bet they have cheeseburgers around here somewhere. Come on."
The ladies went to one of the restaurants within the building and ordered some cheeseburgers. In between bites of her sandwich, Wanda explained her telepathy and the way she could use it to roughly communicate with animals with varying levels of success to Pepper and Sharon who listened with fascination. The little witch blushed when they told her they thought her powers were very cool. Natasha found herself grinning and listening for most of lunch as Wanda talked to the other woman more freely than she had heard before, telling Sharon about the horses on the farm and how Nat promised to teach her to ride in the spring, asking Pepper if she liked Singing in the Rain too after Sharon explained to her a bit about Broadway and what like going to a show there would be like. It just filled her with such happiness to see the girl brimming with thoughts and curiosity and engaging with people. She had come so far from the devastated, barely-there girl who had been so scared and uncertain of everything and everyone when they had first met.
After eating, they had a few more things to see. The first was the outdoor section of the shark area that the doubled back to. Outside there were shallow pools with different species of carpet sharks that they could touch; it was one of the reasons Natasha had picked this aquarium and it had been well worth it for the large grin splitting Wanda's face. Even though she cautioned the girl to not use her telepathy to avoid drawing any unwanted attention, the sharks seemed to sense something was different about her and swarmed the area in front of her more than others. The gray striped bamboo sharks and the sand-colored epaulette sharks with dark spots splashed on the surface as Wanda ran her hands over there smooth backs with amazement. A one point an aquarium staff member came out with a bucket of small, silvery fish and went around asking if people wanted to feed the sharks, demonstrating how to hold the tails and drop them into the eager sharks' mouths. The Sokovian was fascinated by all of it.
After they completed the sharks, they had a few more sights to see after that- a jellyfish exhibit where it felt like the ominous floating blobs surrounded from all angles, penguins that waddled helplessly on their rocky shore but effortlessly darted through the water, and finally the gift shop. Pepper had to be talked down from buying Wanda the whole store practically, but the woman insisted that the girl picked out somethings as a belated Christmas present. They ended up walking away with a poster of a teeming coral reef, a t-shirt with various species of sharks and their Latin names printed on it, a book on marine life, and a stuffed shark that was longer than Wanda's torso.
When the ladies finished at the aquarium, Pepper suggested they take a walk along the nearby pier. They strolled over the wooden planks and looked over the little stalls with touristy trinkets for sale that they were not terribly interested in- graphic t-shirts with puns about drinking on the beach, vials of sand with small seashells, spray bottles for water with a whirling fan around the nozzle- but the day was so lovely it was nice to just be out there. The women came across a photo booth, and they all piled in to take pictures together, laughing in the crammed space and encouraging Wanda to make silly faces with them. Then Natasha and Wanda just took a turn, their cheeks pressed together with matching grins.
They came to a vendor with soft serve ice cream. Pepper got a vanilla twist, Natasha and Sharon got chocolate and vanilla, and Wanda requested just chocolate. Taking their treat, the little group walk further down the pier, away from the shops and most of the people where the ocean extended around them. At the end of the dock, a few yards out were rock formations with dozing sea lions, their sleek brown bodies basking in the sun. Natasha caught Wanda leaning too far over the rail with her semi-forgotten ice cream cone in her hand, several of the sea lions perking up and looking in their direction. The Black Widow tugged the girl back by the belt loop on her shorts, "No ma'am, not with the wild animals please."
Wanda gave her a sheepish expression, but still gazed with interest at the animals that had gone back to fully laying down. Natasha shook her head with begrudging amusement as she noticed her ice cream cone was melting in the heat from Wanda not eating it fast enough, "Let me help you. You're dripping all over the place."
She took the girl's cone and handed her napkins to wipe her hands, then licked around the ice cream quickly to clean up the drips before giving it back for Wanda to resume eating it, which she did with a grateful smile, "Thanks, Tasha."
Soon after that, they headed back down the pier to start their drive how, which would probably be longer due to the late-day traffic.
The woman finished the day with one last stop, a taco truck tucked away on a rarely traveled street that Pepper knew about that she said had the best tacos al pastor in California. It was in a strange in between of neighborhoods where the buildings were farther apart and comprised of convenience stores and laundromats, the food truck itself being situated in a parking lot of a self-serve carwash. They sat at a picnic table on a patch of grass a bit away from the few people that wandered through to clean their cars. They ate tacos and drank Coca-Cola out of glass bottles with the just beginning to sun setting behind them and tinny mariachi music playing distantly from an old radio somewhere.
The trip back to Stark's mansion was quieter as the drove with the top up and Pepper listened to some news radio. Natasha sat in the back with Wanda, the teenager sitting next to her with her new book across her legs and Nat reading some of it to her, naturally falling asleep against the Black Widow at some point on their way home.
/
Steve, Tony and Sam were in the living room, appearing all chummy when the women returned. Apparently the flight suit renovations had gone well. Steve smiled broadly at them as Wanda plopped down next to him, still a little disoriented from just waking up in the car, and Natasha settled in the seat beside her. "Hey, how was the trip? Did you have fun?"
"It was a lot of fun. We saw otters and a tiger shark. She was hard to understand though. Then we touched smaller sharks. And there were jellyfish and penguins and sea turtles-" Wanda yawned as she talked through the highlights, "Then we got ice cream. And Pepper took us to the best tacos in California."
Iron Man gasped then, "Not Miguel's Taqueria off of the PCH? Without me?"
"Tony, what do you think is in this bag?" Pepper asked tiredly as she sat a takeout bag on the coffee table and sat next to her fiancé, snuggling into his side.
He exaggeratedly sniffed the air, "Is that achiote, cumin and.. pineapple I smell?"
"There are enough tacos for everybody." She informed them. Tony made an excited fist pump gesture.
"Pepper also got me a Christmas present. Presents." Wanda pulled the stuffed shark that was conspicuously sticking out of the bag she had set at her feet to show Steve. Setting it aside in Natasha's lap then she showed him the other things, the book, the poster, the shirt. His eyes caught Natasha's and they shared a warm look as Wanda filled him in on their day. When she finished, he turned his adoring gaze to the girl, "Wow, that sounds like you guys had a really great day."
"Yeah." The little witch agreed and rested her head on Nat's shoulder.
"You want to go take a shower and get ready for bed?" The woman prompted feeling the tiredness from the girl.
"Yeah."
"Go ahead. I'll catch up." Natasha said and Wanda gathered her things back into the bag. She started to head off when Nat realized that she still held onto the stuffed animal. "Wanda. Akula."
"Ahkoola?" Sam terribly butchered the word. "Is that your shark's name?"
Wanda looked at Natasha with confusion at his question as she accepted her gift back. The redhead clarified, "Akula isn't a name, it's just shark in Russian."
"Oh. Well, what are you going to name your shark?" Sam asked. "It's got to have a name."
Wanda looked seriously at the stuffed animal for a moment of consideration then said frankly, "Steve.. Because the first shark fossils date back from 455 million years ago and so does Steve."
The room burst into laughter, Sam practically roaring, Pepper trying to hide her giggling by covering her mouth with her hand. Steve who looked half impressed and half utterly betrayed by her statement turned to Natasha, "Did you put her up to this?"
"I did not." Natasha put her hand over her heart and said with the utmost sincerity, "But I have never been prouder in my entire life."
"Sorry, Steve." Wanda said with some lackluster remorse as she started off for the bedroom, pressing her face into the shark's blue-gray 'fur' perhaps to conceal her own amusement at his expense.
"It's alright, Wands." He chuckled.
"I think she was talking to the shark." Tony joked.
"Stop, oh my god, I'm dying." Sam claimed in between his bursts of laughter, tears pricking his eyes and Sharon rubbing his back in some attempt to calm him even as she continued to laugh lightly.
Natasha scooted closer to Steve, patting his chest, "Don't worry, you're a very cute fossil."
"Damn right." He muttered under his breath and accepted a kiss from her.
/
Natasha wandered out of the bedroom and downstairs to see if anyone else was still around. Wanda was clean and in bed though she had gotten a little second wind and sat up with the next Nancy Drew book she was reading. Nat could not imagine her being awake for much longer though. Since it was their last night, the older woman thought she would visit with the others for a while longer. She found Steve, Pepper and Tony sitting on the patio enjoying the sea breeze with some beers. Tony greeted her with a mouthful of the last of his taco, "Widow, have a beverage with us."
"Don't mind if I do." She took a green bottle from a cooler that was probably a remnant from the New Year's Eve party and twisted off the cap.
"Is Wanda asleep?" Steve asked as she sat in the chair next to him.
"She's reading. I'm sure she'll be out soon. We had a long day." Natasha felt pretty worn out herself from all of their activities. Relaxing with an ice cold beer in hand was just what she needed to end the fantastic day.
"It was good though." Pepper added, "I'm glad I had a chance to hang out with Wanda. She's a special young lady."
"She is." The redhead agreed tenderly and took a swig of her beer.
"You've really turned the little witch around." Tony appraised then asked, "Do you think she'll do well living on Barton's farm?"
With a bittersweet smile, Natasha nodded, "Yeah, she loves it out there."
Steve shifted next to her in what seemed like discomfort. She did not catch his concerned, furrowed expression as Pepper drew the attention, saying slowly with a bit of incredulity, "Is that still the plan? For her to go live with Clint?"
"Why wouldn't it be?" The spy felt the muscles in her neck tighten.
"You two just seem so.. close."
To say she was close with Wanda was like saying she close to the heart in her chest. Thinking about when the time came for her to permanently leave Wanda with the Barton's made her feel someone was squeezing that heart and trying to rip it out of her. And for that reason, Natasha very meticulously avoided the thought, using her compartmentalization skills finely developed from her spy craft and kept it tucked away in a box in the back of her mind where it sat heavily but could not hurt her. Picking at the label on her beer bottle with her thumbnail, she summoned her most even tone but failed to find the words, "Wanda is.. she was-"
Wanda had been covered by so much pain and grief and anger; she'd been drowning in it and something within the Russian had needed to pull her out of it. Whether it was because she saw a bit of herself in the girl, or she saw the goodness underneath, or, hell, something like divine intervention, Natasha cared deeply about Wanda. She cleared her throat, "She is a sweetheart. I've really loved our time together but staying with Clint and Laura will be the best thing for her. She'll be able to have a real childhood out there."
"She couldn't have a real childhood with you?" Pepper asked ever-so-gently.
She swallowed hard, a subtle crack in her impervious façade, "Have a childhood in the Tower, at the Compound? Training, missions, no one close to her age. On the farm there's the kids and horses and she liked the sky.. Wanda will be happy out there."
"Nat, I think.." Steve spoke up next to her, his voice almost cautious, "I think Wanda could be happy with you."
His words sucked the air from her lungs. She did not want to talk about this. She did not want to entertain the possibility, not when it was her job to do what was best for the teenager even if it meant Wanda did not stay with her. Pretending like she was unaffected, the Black Widow leveled him with calm, yet unquestionable look, "I think Wanda could be happy on the farm."
"Nat-" But before he could begin she cut him off with a little more force than necessary.
"This isn't a discussion. Wanda is going to live with the Barton's. And I'm going to get back to my real life, back to missions, back to what's important."
"Alright." Tony surprisingly came in as a mediator. "The little witch will be happy on the farm. And Nat, you get custody of your right hand back."
No one laughed at his glib remark. Sam and Sharon then appeared hand in hand from the edge of the lawn where they were returning from a romantic stroll on the beach. The Falcon waved to them, "Hey guys, room for two more?"
"Of course. Beers are in the cooler." Tony pointed to the chest.
Sharon sat down and Sam grabbed them a couple drinks. Unaware of any tension, Sharon asked, "How did the renovations go on the wings?"
"Sam should be thanking me. Those things were a deathtrap before I looked at them." Tony made the hyperbolic claim.
The Falcon scoffed, "Man, come on. Just admit that they are finely engineered."
"I admit that they are engineered." The billionaire state evasively leading to a further playful squabble between the two men. The others laughed at their antics. And they moved on to different topics and had a pleasant last night together. Natasha chatted and smiled with ease, but inside she was struggling to put her feelings back in the box.
/
The hardwood floor was cool underneath Wanda's bare feet as she climbed out of bed and headed out into the hall in search of Tasha. She was stuck on a word in her book, and she needed the woman to tell her what it was. The witch considered simply going to bed to wait until the morning, but part of her wanted maybe get one more hug goodnight, maybe even sit up with the other Avengers for a while.
When she got into the kitchen she could hear their muffled voices probably coming from the patio. She started to head that way when suddenly she heard her name and she paused. There was more muffled conversation she could not understand, and she carefully crept a little closer, suddenly feeling like she should not be up out of bed. Then Natasha's voice came through more clearly, strong and matter of fact, "This isn't a discussion. Wanda is going to live with the Barton's. And I'm going to get back to my real life, back to missions, back to what's important."
She could tell Tony said something next, but the sound of her own blood rushing filled her ears and a painful throbbing pulsed under her ribcage. With a few staggering steps backward, Wanda then turned and mechanically headed back to the bedroom. Once back in their room, the girl set her book on the nightstand and sat on the edge of the bed, staring vacantly as the words echoed in her head. Of course she was going to live on the farm. Of course Natasha had more important things to do besides take care of a needy, young teenager. Of course Tasha did not want to keep her. However, after the woman pulled her out of the darkness at the Tower, and stayed by her side in Missouri, and showed a bit of wonder of the world in California, Wanda had begun to believe that maybe she would not have to go away. That she could always have a place with the Avengers and with Natasha.
Now she knew she had been naïve and stupid. A shuddering breath passed over her lips and she recognized that tears were spilling down her cheeks. She roughly swiped at them, in the swell of sadness and there was a stab of anger at herself for fooling herself into thinking she meant more to Natasha than she did. Grabbing her newly dubbed Steve the Shark, the little witch laid down, facing away from the opposite side of the bed and burying her face into the stuffed animal. She did not cry really, more let the devastation silently leak out of her. Wanda flipped off the lamp with her magic hoping to fall asleep before Natasha came to bed. She just had to put herself back together and she had to learn to do it without Tasha.
/
When Natasha finally went to their room, the little witch was predictably already asleep. With her spy-trained silence, the Black Widow slipped into her side of the bed. Something about how Wanda lay made the woman stop and observe the girl for a moment. Her shoulder seemed high and tense, and she was too still. Usually even if the Sokovian was asleep, she tended to seek out Nat, however now she remained unmoved, facing away from the woman and clutching onto her shark. Natasha worried she was having a bad dream.
She reached to Wanda's shoulder then stopped short, her hand hovering over her before she withdrew it. She was projecting her wish to hold onto Wanda and there was no reason to wake up the slumbering girl. Nat settled down against the pillows with a sigh. In the morning, she would wake up to Wanda snuggling into her side and she could wrap her arms around her then and pretend everything was okay for a little while longer.