Wanda moaned and shifted in her sleep. Her dreams were always the same….always beating her up about decisions made…about choices made…about Pietro and people dying…it made her exhausted.

"I've caused enough problems." Wanda moaned the words out loud in her sleep.

"You gotta help me, Wanda. Look, you wanna mope, go to high school. You wanna make amends, get off your ass," said the ghost of a memory of Clint.

"I'm so sorry!" She shouted. Perspiration covered her head, soaking her hair and pyjamas. "It's all my fault!" Visions consumed her consciousness...buildings exploding and bombs going off all because of her. People screaming and dying, all because of her.

"Pietro!" she screamed. Memories of her brother flooded her head…the times they were together…the times he rescued her. He always rescued her. He always took care of her after their parents died.

Wanda sat up suddenly and sobbed into her hands, at the same time a knock was heard on her door but she ignored it.

"Wanda? You okay?" came a muffled voice.

Wanda sniffled and brushed her sweaty hair out of her face. She tried to find her voice, to make whoever it was...go away, but she was shaking and trembling too much to do anything but dissolve into tears.

The door opened and Steve walked into the room. He was dressed in pyjama pants but wore nothing on his upper body. He had awoken startled by the girl's screams and had thought of nothing but seeing if she was alright. If he had been in his right mind, his modesty would have demanded he dress more appropriately in front of the youngster.

Steve came into the dimness of the light and took a good look at the small frame in front of him. Wanda was soaked in perspiration, trembling and shaking while overtaken in tears. It had become the norm for the teen girl, and Steve didn't know what to do about it.

He sat down on the edge of her bed and drew her into his arms to comfort her. He tried every time, hoping that she would seek his comfort.

"Don't!" she cried, shoving him away.

Steve pulled away and his heart ached as he watched her try and gain control over her emotions. It was killing him watching her struggle so hard on her own, never letting anyone in. They had come so far at the Avengers Compound and then everything seemed to fall apart with the Accords. Steve knew she blamed herself and it didn't matter what he said; she refused to listen to him anymore.

"Wanda, you need to let us in. This is tearing you apart, sweetie. Talk to me, and if you can't talk to me, talk to Clint."

Wanda hiccupped and sniffled, trembling so forcefully that she could hardly sit straight. "Go-Go away! Leave-leave me-me alone!"

Steve sighed, reaching out to brush her damp hair off her forehead. She flinched and put her hands together warningly. Red energy flashed around her fingers threateningly. Steve sighed again as he stood to his feet.

"You know better than that, kiddo," said a stern voice from the doorway.

Steve and Wanda both looked towards the door to see Clint dressed in his boxers, standing in the doorway.

"You could have put on a housecoat, Clint," admonished Steve, scratching the back of his head.

"What? Why? It's 3 am. Seriously, man, you need to give up your 1940 puritanism. This is the 21st century. I walk around in my boxers all the time at home." Clint walked into the room, switching on the light. He sat in a chair, scratching at his scruffy face. He looked at Wanda in sympathy but with a bit of firmness too. "Don't threaten us, little girl."

The energy disappeared from her fingers, and Wanda pulled herself back up against the headboard of her bed. She drew her knees up to her chest and hid her face.

Steve looked at Clint and shrugged.

"Nightmares?" Clint said in Wanda's direction.

They could still see her trembling but she didn't respond.

"It must have been bad this time," commented Steve, not caring that she could hear them. Wanda woke them up every night now screaming, and it was getting increasingly worse. He'd talked to several doctors in Wakanda who had all offered to help, but Wanda refused and her behaviour just escalated. Her threats increased against them, and Steve was beginning to wonder if they would be able to contain her if she lost control of herself.

Clint stood up and walked over to Wanda's side. He tapped the top of her sweaty head.

"You can't ignore it anymore, Wanda, and you can't ignore us. During the day, your behaviour is atrocious at best and at night, you keep everyone awake. Something's gotta give, kid. We all need some sleep."

Wanda's head popped up and she inched away from his hand. "I never asked you to come in here! Go-go away!" She screamed at him with fury on her face. It was his fault her brother was dead. Pietro would still be here if he hadn't have saved Clint's life. Wanda's hair began to lift and energy filled the room.

Clint poked a finger towards her face, "That's enough, Wanda. I told you I wouldn't put up with that nonsense. We're not your enemies."

The energy picked up and Steve stepped between them. "Clint, threatening her isn't helping matters. Calm down." He looked at Wanda, whose face was red…her fingers flashed red energy and her eyes were wide in anger. "Same with you, sweetheart; calm down, okay? We just want to help."

Wanda's hair fell heavy on her shoulders and she puffed air out of lips. "I don't want your help. I don't want anyone's help!" she snapped, glaring at Clint the entire time.

Clint growled, dropping his hands to his sides. "Fine, I'm going to bed, but keep your screams down to a dull roar, babydoll. I need my sleep to stay patient with you in the daylight." He held up his forefinger and thumb about an inch apart so she could clearly see. "I'm about this close to pulling you over my knee." With those final words, Clint left the room in an annoyed huff.

"Clint," groaned Steve at his retreating form.

Clint didn't return, and Steve shook his head in irritation. Things were going so well in their joint parenting venture. Steve had thought Clint would better at parenting since he already had kids. Turned out they had very different parenting philosophies. But what did he know? Steve closed his eyes and willed himself to remain calm. He'd never had kids, and he wasn't sure he even liked himself when he was a teenager. And a teenage girl with mental powers she could barely control? Oh, yah, this was fun! What had he been thinking petitioning the Wakandian government to be her guardian? He had to be nuts. Maybe it would have better for her to stay in a safe house, protected and controlled by Vision. The only problem was even Vision was proven to not be able to control her. Wanda was uncontrollable. Their best bet was to teach her self-control. That was his plan. Or so he thought. Clint had been on board with the idea, feeling responsible for her because of the death of her twin brother. Steve knew that Clint was totally committed to the venture. Wanda was worth it to him and to Steve.

T'Challa had suggested they put a cap of the girl's powers. They had the technology to do that in Wakanda. Only Steve thought it would be cruel to take a fragment of Wanda away…her powers were part of who she was intrinsicly, deep down as a person. They needed to help her control them under every circumstance, and so far, Wanda hadn't used them on anyone. She just threatened too. Steve was hoping that given time even those threats would end as well.

Steve sat on Wanda's bed again and looked at her. "You're not going to win any awards with him by threatening us with your abilities, Wanda." He spoke gently and kindly.

"I. Don't. Care," she said and glared at him. The trembles had stopped and her face took on the rebellious appearance it usually carried in the daylight. Steve heaved a sigh when he saw it. He hated it. He hated seeing her so defensive and defiant. It got his back up. Most of the day, he kept his distance from her, working out and thinking about things; trying to make sense of his own life and mistakes. When he was forced to deal with her defiance and disobedience, it just discouraged him. He actually enjoyed the few seconds when he could draw her into his arms and comfort her even when she pushed him away. A small part of him felt her resist just a little less each time. He knew she craved the comfort, but she didn't think she deserved it.

"C'mon, Wanda, you know that's not true. You care about Clint. And I know you don't want him to be angry with you all the time. Things don't have to be this way, you know. T'Challa said there is an excellent high school here. I've looked at your work; you could easily join the 10th-grade students here if you wanted too. The academics are advanced, but I could help you and T'Challa's sister, Shuri, is very sweet. I think she's around your age too."

Wanda ran a hand through her hair; it wasn't shaking anymore. She had managed to brush away the cobwebs of the nasty dreams, establishing her equilibrium once more.

"You said I could homeschool."

Steve smiled at her kindly, "I did, and I stand by that, honey, but I just think you would enjoy life more if you didn't keep yourself so isolated. Wakanda is a beautiful kingdom. There is so much to see and do here. I know this isn't where any of us want to be, but for now, it's safe and we have the freedom to do whatever we want here."

"Staying where I don't want to be is still prison, Steve."

Steve nodded, "I know, and I'm sorry, but it has to be this way for now."

Wanda crawled across the bed past him and stood to her feet. She walked over to her dresser and grabbed her brush, ripping it roughly through her tangled and damp hair. "It's not any different than when Vision kept me prisoner."

Steve stood up and gently took the brush from her hand. He carefully ran the brush through her long, auburn hair. He could see her relax as she let him brush her hair. "None of this is ideal and I'm sorry for that. I never intended for any of this to happen. It wasn't supposed to be this way. Maybe I should have signed the accords. Maybe some say is better than no say."

Wanda spun around, catching his hand in hers. "And then what would have happened to me?"

Steve cupped her cheek in his hand. "I'll always protect you, Wanda. You need to trust me on that."

Tears filled her eyes once more. "Why? What am I to you?"

Steve smiled, "Well, I guess I'd like to think of you as my daughter."

Tears cascaded down her cheeks and her chin dropped to her chest. She covered her face with her hands and sobbed. Steve drew her into him and embraced her tightly. To his surprise and delight, she didn't pull away but allowed herself the comfort.