"Wanda Maximoff." Natasha was mad, like really mad. The little witch could feel her anger and disappointment coming off of the woman in waves. "Drop the illusion now."
She had not realized it was still in place and she released the glamour immediately, swiping at her face again for any lingering tears there. Terrible hot guilt burned in her chest. The Avengers did not ask much of Wanda, but one of the rules Natasha had specifically stated was to talk about her feelings and not lash out with her powers, a rule she had very clearly just broken as Natasha continued on with a hard, raised voice, "What did I say would happen if you acted out with your powers instead of using your words?"
Wanda crossed her arms over herself and chewed her lip, knowing she should fess up to her bad behavior yet unable to say the words. Steve who had followed the older woman back into the room, tried to explain his part in the incident in attempts to absolve Wanda of some of the blame, "Nat, I did come in without her permission."
"This isn't about what you did, Steve. This is about Wanda disobeying a rule." Nat bit out her words then redirected her attention to the teenager, "What did I say would happen, Wanda?"
She managed to stutter, "There- there would be a consequence."
"And you said you understood that?" The older woman demanded.
"Yes.." Wanda tried to sound firmer in her answer, tried not to wilt under the crushing disappoint from the woman.
"Apologize to Steve. You're lucky you didn't hurt him." Natasha gestured to the captain and the shame flared in her chest more urgently than it had before.
"Nat-" He started like he wanted to protest the spy's statement, however she cut him off with a withering glare before she could say anymore. The woman swung back on Wanda with an expectantly arched brow, waiting for the girl to speak.
She sniffled, readily stating, "I'm sorry, Steve."
"For?" The Widow prompted.
"I- I'm sorry I yelled and used by powers." A couple tears did escape her eyes then and she quickly wiped them away. Captain America was one of the sturdier members of the team, and she had not really gotten close to being that out of control, but the other members were more human, and accidents could happen. Tears leaked briefly from her eyes, and she rubbed them away as fear of hurting someone she cared for constricted her throat tightly.
"It's alright, sweetheart." The man told her, his eyes shone at her kind and understanding, "I'm sorry too. I should have waited for you to answer before I came in. You have a right to space and privacy."
"I'm sorry." She just managed to whisper once more.
"Steve, can you please leave us." Natasha asked and Steve glanced back and forth between them uncertainly. Finally though he squeezed Nat's shoulder supportively and quietly exited the room. When he left, he left them in an unnerving silence. The Black Widow's shoulders were square and tense though the initial spate of anger she had entered the room with had faded somewhat as she peered searchingly at Wanda. The little witch assessed Tasha in her own way, investigating her pulsing anger and finding different emotions swirling underneath- confusion, pain, fear. Not that she was frightened of Wanda as she had expected, but rather she was afraid for her. Stepping forward, the redhead started evenly yet firmly, "Wanda, why were you so upset when Steve found you?"
Wanda averted her gaze down and shrugged elusively.
"I can't help you if you don't talk to me. Tell me what's wrong." Natasha's words were lightly strained with frustration.
"No." For some reason she felt a stab of hurt from the woman at her refusal.
In a voice that seemed both calm and threatening, Natasha stated, "Last chance Wanda. What had you so upset?"
"Nothing." Wanda said though her eyes shifted worriedly at how Natasha would respond. She had the words, already arranged in her mind to explain what had been going on with her, why she was acting this way. The girl knew that despite the agent not willing to keep her, it did not mean she did not care at all for Wanda. But as much as she wanted to cry and ask to be held, Wanda denied herself that comfort. The thought that she was all alone resolved in her mind.
Nat furrowed her brow and she declared, "Consider yourself grounded until you're ready to talk.. Go sit at your desk."
The teenager quickly complied with the request and went to sit at the wooden desk in the corner of her room. Natasha approached her then, though did not go for Wanda. Instead she opened the topic desk drawer, something Wanda had not done yet, and took out a pad of yellow, line paper and a pencil. The woman scrawled something at the top of the page and then threw it onto the desk in front of Wanda, the whacking noise it made causing her to jump, and setting the pencil resolutely on top of it. She leaned in to read the sentences that Nat had written down:
I am sorry I used my powers in anger. I will not misuse my powers.
Pointing to the items, Natasha instructed, "Write out that line all the way down the page. You'll do four pages, legible and no mistakes. If you make a mistake, start the page over again. When you're finished, brush your teeth and go straight to bed. Do you understand?"
The teenager nodded, but Natasha ordered, "Use your words, milaya."
The term of endearment for her slipped in amongst her hardness and Wanda's attempt at a stoic demeanor wavered. She swallowed it down, managing to say in a clearer voice that did not reflect her true emotions, "Yes. I understand."
Turning away from her then, Natasha walked over to her nightstand and proceeded to open the drawer, then proceeded to remove the drawer entirely from its confines. Wanda leapt to her feet in alarm when she realized that her treasured possessions were being taken. She could not help the protest from flying off her lips, "Natasha, no-"
"Sit back down." The woman snapped, having no patience left. Wanda dropped into her seat so fast she hit her tailbone on the wooden seat. Nat went on with the same sharp tone, "You can have your things when you earned them back."
Wanda's gaze worriedly darted around her room, taking stock of the few items she had left to care for- Shark Steve on the bed, her family photographs on the dresser, her small collection of books on her shelf. She thought of the things she was losing- her pictures of Nat, her posters, her rings. The little witch still had her sapphire ring on her index finger. Suddenly, she had a spasm of concern that the agent would take that too. She tried to conceal her shaky breath and curled her hand into a fist to try and protect it. Natasha seemed to deflate though, her shoulders sagged, and she said in a softer voice that sounded much more like Tasha, "Nothing will happen to your things. You'll get everything back, I promise."
Wanda nodded and chewed on her thumb. While it still made her upset, Natasha had never broken a promise to her, and she knew the items would eventually be returned to her. The woman then said solemnly as if with a heavy heart, "Write your lines. Brush your teeth and get to bed."
Nodding once again, the girl spun to face her desk, slowly reaching for the pencil to start her assignment. Natasha walked to the door with her drawer though left everything else in its place to Wanda's relief. Before she stepped out into the hallway she said quietly, "Good night Wanda."
The Sokovian let her leave without responding, instead directing all of her attention to copying Natasha's words, dragging the pencil steadily over the paper to do her best to emulate the older woman's neat handwriting. The phrases she had to write made her feel terrible and guilty as they reminded her of her reckless actions. However the task itself was soothing. With the repetition the words did not necessarily lose their meaning, but they became less painful. It was like working a new muscle. At first the muscle aches but over time it became stronger as the new movement was integrated into it, just as the words became integrated with her. Wanda was sorry. She would not misuse her powers. She made a mistake on the third page, fortunately toward the beginning, and carefully tore the sheet out, crumpling it up and tossing it in the wastebasket. The girl started the third page again then the fourth and suddenly she had completed the required pages.
Shakily, she rose from her seat and stiffly walked to the bathroom where she washed her face and brushed her teeth like she always did before bed, like Natasha asked her to do. When finished she emerged from her connected bathroom and looked around the nice yet sparsely decorated room and at her inviting, cozy bed. Exhausted, Wanda wanted to climb into the bed but the horrible, clawing feeling that she could not name had returned to the back of her mind. So instead the teenager went back to her desk, trying to recreate the mediative lull that writing the lines had given her only a moment ago. It did not work now though. She began to write frantically, and tears began streaming down her face. In her haste to get out the words, Wanda made more mistakes causing her to rip out the pages and toss them onto the ground around her as she attempted to purge her emotions.
This was not remorse or fear of her magic though and could not be absolved by her composing some sentences on a page. It was her isolation, her pain, her desperate need for Natasha to come bursting through the door and hold her close, telling her everything would be all right. Still the little witch wrote page after page, her knuckles stark white from how tightly she gripped the pencil, the graphite smearing on the page and her hand, until finally her crying took over. Wanda collapsed onto the desk, hiding her face in the crook of her elbow as she sobbed and eventually falling into an troubled unconsciousness.
/
When Natasha woke up, the light was still pale in her bedroom indicating it was very early in the morning. Regardless, she sat up in bed, rubbing her face tiredly, feeling strangely achy like she had a rare hangover. Her eyes fell on the nightstand drawer she had removed from Wanda's room last night and a wave of guilt washed over her. Taking her keepsakes had been a step too far and she wanted to return them as soon as possible. Softly she called out, "FRIDAY."
"Agent Romanoff." The AI seemed to match her volume.
"Will you let me know when Wanda gets out of bed?" There were not cameras spying on them in their rooms but there were sensors for FRIDAY to detect their whereabouts within the Compound. The computer had their biometrics to keep track of them, a little bit to monitor health but mostly as a security measure to ensure no one entered the premise that should not be there.
"Miss Maximoff is not in her bed." FRIDAY informed her.
Fear suddenly seized her heart as she jumped off her own mattress, "Where is she?"
"She is seated at her desk though appears to be asleep." FRIDAY's assessment relaxed her a bit however her brow furrowed in confusion as to why the girl would be asleep at her desk. Running a hand through her hair, Natasha considered what to do as the momentarily relief that Wanda was still within her room faded and a swelling concern took its place, her instinct telling her something was wrong. In a spilt second decision, Natasha grabbed the drawer of Wanda's possessions and headed out of her room. She walked across the hall and gently tapped on the teenager's door. There was no response. Despite this, the Black Widow still pushed her way inside. The room was just as she left it last night except now illuminated by gray morning light and Wanda slumped over her desk fast asleep. Setting the drawer on the end of the bed, Nat approached the girl with her concern as she saw the aftermath of her assignment.
Half-written pages of the lines she had been ordered to write were littered around her feet. The legal pad resting next to Wanda's head definitely had more than four pages flipped over completed, it looked more like twenty or more. On the exposed page, Natasha could see she had switched to writing in Cyrillic, a there appeared to be a few warped spots on the paper, like teardrops had fallen there. Unable to stay away, Natasha hurried to Wanda's side, trying to softly yet urgently wake her up, "Wanda, baby.. Wake up milaya."
She stroked the little witch's hair and even with her gentleness the girl woke with a little start. She blinked at her with blurry confusion as she lifted her head, "Tasha?"
"Yes, honey. What's all this?" Natasha bent over to be level with Wanda. The older woman looked at her searchingly with delicate worry. Her thumb came to rub at smudge of graphite on the apple of her cheek, then her hands moved to clasp Wanda's in her lap, massaging them lightly to try an encourage the girl to talk to her. "You didn't have to do all this, milaya."
Wanda spoke slowly, a quiver already in her voice, "I- I did the four pages, but.. it.. wasn't enough. It wasn't- I'm s-sorry, T-Tasha, Tasha…"
Her words devolved into tears and shuddering gasps as she spoke; her arms went out to the woman silently asking for her. Natasha fiercely pulled Wanda into her arms without a second thought. The girl fell into the woman, her hands coming up to desperately fist Nat's nightshirt and burrowing her face into the side of Nat's neck as sobs wracked her body. With equal desperation, the redhead tried to soothe her. It was as if every little ignored wish or suppressed act of affection was manifesting itself as Natasha rubbed Wanda's back and pressed her nose into the girl's hair and called her every term of endearment she could think of, "It's okay, baby. You're alright, milaya. It's over, everything is forgiven, malyshka. Oh sweetheart.."
Natasha felt more guilt as she realized her mistake. She should not have left Wanda unsupervised after doling out her punishment, leaving her alone having created the space for Wanda to spiral with her own guilt. She should have checked back in, let Wanda know she had done a good job, given her another chance to talk, anything, but she had been so wrapped up in her own emotions that she had not been thinking clearly. The woman slid her arm under Wanda's armpits and got her other arm hooked under her knees as she picked up the little witch and carried her over to the bed to better be able to hold her. She settled against the pillows with Wanda laying between her legs, her head resting on her chest. All the Black Widow could do was let her cry it out while stroking her hair, rocking them as Natasha made gentle shushing sounds.
Steadily, Wanda began to calm down. Her breathing evened out and the stream of hot tears ceased against Nat's skin and her body slackened more on top of the older woman. She would have thought the young teenager fell asleep except for the consistent flickering of her fingers on her collarbone. As terrible as it had been for Wanda to be so distraught, Natasha could not help but be grateful that it brought their closeness back, which was why she hesitated to break the peaceful silence between them. However, the spy knew she had to in order to not let the distance build again, "Wanda, can you talk to me, malyshka?"
The Sokovian exhaled heavily, her voice dripping with contrition, "I'm sorry I misused my powers. I could h-have hurt Steve."
Wanda nearly started crying again as she said it. Natasha pacified her, offering her gentle, encouraging words, "I know, baby. You can't let your emotions control them, at least not for things like Steve coming into your room. It's alright now though, you faced your consequence. We'll keep working on it, yeah?"
She felt Wanda nod against her. Slowly she broached the larger issue, "Wanda, can you tell me why you were upset last night when Steve came in your room?"
"I'm sorry." Her voice cracked like the tear were coming on again.
Natasha sighed, though not with exasperation, more like she was searching to the right thing to say, "I know you are. Wanda, please talk to me. I want to help you.. All I want is for you to be okay, milaya."
Her sniffling started anew before the teenager finally blurted out, "I miss Pietro. I don't deserve this. I don't deserve to be here."
She wept in earnest once again. Holding her tighter, Natasha declared in a slightly admonishing and definitively adamant tone, "Don't say that. You deserve to be here, Wanda. Never think that baby. You deserve to be here and so much more. Pietro would want that for you.. I want that for you."
As Natasha let Wanda go through her emotions, she remembered the past few weeks, remembered Wanda's distant expressions and physical withdrawal. In the time they had come to the Compound, they had not been out to Pietro's grave. The woman thought Wanda would ask to visit it went she was ready but apparently there had been more going on than she realized. Her heart hurt think about her girl dealing with all of it on her own. The Black Widow resolved to never let it happen again, sealing the thought with a kiss to her forehead. It took less time for Wanda's tears to ebb than before, still neither of them made a move to extract themselves from their embrace.
"I'm sorry." The little witch repeated, her voice floating up from underneath Nat's chin.
"It's alright. You don't have to apologize anymore.. I'm sorry too. I brought your things back." Natasha dipped her head in the direction of forgotten drawer she had set at the end of the bed. Wanda glanced down at it but stayed tucked against the Widow as she went on, "I'm sorry I took them. I shouldn't have done that.. Adults can make mistakes too."
Wanda considered her words and then said with quiet understanding, "It's okay.. I forgive you."
"Thank you, baby." Natasha smiled at her immediate absolution. "We'll put it back where it belongs."
After a long pause, Wanda asked, "Tasha?"
"Hm?" The redhead had nearly been on the brink of sleep.
"Can we hang my posters?"
"Of course, milaya." Natasha acquiesced. "We'll find some tape or tacks later. It's still very early now, let's get some more sleep."
As if on cue, Wanda yawned. Natasha had not slept well last night and judging from how many pages the girl had gone through neither had Wanda. And sleeping hunched over her desk probably had not been good for Wanda's back and neck. She would remember to check them over when they really woke up. For now, the woman rolled onto her side so Wanda lay on the bed next to her, the girl curling up against her. Pulling at the edge of the comforter, Natasha wrapped it around them, giving the little witch one last tight squeeze. She lazily hummed Wanda's Russian folksong as they started to fall asleep, completely relaxed and content, everything back where it belonged.
/
"Hi, baby." Natasha greeted Wanda as she came into the kitchen wearing her shark t-shirt under a maroon zip-up hoodie, her hair still practically dripping wet from her shower. Natasha resisted the urge to stop her task of roughly chopping strawberries to put it in a braid. They had woken up not that long ago to find no one else around since breakfast had come and gone. Wanda eyed the fruit Nat was cutting. With an amused grin, the woman grabbed a handful and placed it on the clean counter next to her. Wanda understood the invitation and happily came to stand next to her to start eating the fruit.
"You really like strawberries, huh?" She cut the green top off of one before slicing it in half.
"Mhm." Wanda said with her mouth full of the berries.
"Better than blueberries?" The girl loved blueberry pancakes, but she immediately nodded in agreement.
"Better than oranges?" Oranges had been Natasha's go to snack for Wanda whenever she struggled to eat, and the kid would never turn down a glass of orange juice. The little witch paused then, the strawberry in her hand only halfway to her mouth. She chewed her lip thoughtfully however appeared reluctant to state what she was thinking. Prepared to never disregard a strange mood from the girl ever again, Natasha set down her knife and turned to fully face the teenager, "What is it, milaya?"
Wanda leaned into Nat then, bumping into her softly as she said, "Steve's favorite is blueberries. My favorite is strawberries and.. Pietro's favorite is oranges."
Natasha fully engulfed Wanda into her arms as she pulled her in for a swaying hug, "Pietro's favorite is oranges."
Before they went to bed that night, the woman would ask her about going out to her brother's grave. "Thank you for telling me."
"What's your favorite?" Wanda asked into her neck.
"My favorite is strawberries too." She told her with a kiss to the side of her head. They stayed that way until suddenly Steve cheerfully entered the room.
"Hey guys, what's going on?"
Natasha felt a little caught off guard as she got pulled out of her moment with Wanda, but she effortlessly managed to say, "Wanda's favorite fruit is strawberries."
"Really?" He smiled at her as if she had just said the teenager had given him a puppy or solved for world peace, "That's awesome. Congratulations!"
The Black Widow smiled and considered mocking him for genuinely congratulating Wanda on her favorite fruit, but it was just too endearing to mock. The man continued, "We have to get some strawberry ice cream, you'll love it."
"Strawberry ice cream?" Wanda looked at him wide-eyed, wandering over to give him a hug hello. The elation on the captain's face only grew as the witch willing made contact with him and he gave her an enthusiastic squeeze in return.
"Yeah, with whipped cream."
Natasha added, "I think you'll like chocolate-covered strawberries better."
Wanda spun back to the redhead, eyes perhaps even wider as she fit back under Nat's arm as she said in awe, "Chocolate-covered strawberries?"
"Mhm, I'll have some flown in from a particular chocolatier in Switzerland." Natasha smirked at Steve and the man rolled his eyes at her as he leaned over Wanda to drop a quick kiss on the spy's lips. Natasha always had to win.
"Any plans for today?" Steve inquired while he opened the fridge to grab a sports drink.
"We are playing hooky." She announced as she went back to cutting the fruit. "Want to join?"
He replied easily and happily, "I'd love to."
"What's hooky?" Wanda asked, her mouth once again full of strawberries.
"Playing hooky means were going to avoid our responsibilities and instead watch movies and eat junk food all day. Sound good?"
"We could get tacos and Coca-Cola?" Wanda flashed her a hopeful smile.
"Of course, milaya." Whatever the girl asked for to eat today would be an automatic yes.
"Hey guys." Sharon appeared abruptly looking like she would be heading to the gym. "What's up?"
"Sharon." Leaving the couple of strawberries in front of her, Wanda wandered up to the agent, running into the woman with an unexpected hug for her as well. The blonde shot Nat a bewildered but delighted grin before directing it at the girl and returning the hug eagerly. Everyone had missed having the little witch around. Rubbing her back a little briskly Sharon said to her, "Oh, hiya."
"We're playing hooky today." Wanda informed her, then pulled away enough to look at her face, "Do you want to join us?"
"Heck yes, I do." Sharon proclaimed. "Should I get Sam and Vision?"
"Yeah," Wanda's smiled bloomed on her face. Steve placed his warm hand at the center of her back. Natasha basked in the moment.