Hey all! Sorry for not updating yesterday, but hopefully I'll make it up with this chapter. It's longer than the rest and a little quicker than previous ones. I think we're getting close to some major drama with our characters.

Speaking of characters, I don't own them or their histories.

X_X_X

"I want you to close your eyes and focus on your surroundings. Your powers are more than what any of us know, don't be afraid to use them. They will forever be a part of you, no one can take that away."

Wanda closed her eyes and listened to the soothing voice of the Soldier. Mentally she envisioned her powers spreading around her and taking inventory of everything around her.

The plants.

The animals.

The Soldier.

As her powers focused on him she could see the Soldier standing there, just as if she were looking at him with her own eyes. Her insides clenched as the wind blew his hair back and the sun hit his eyes at an angle, making them appear as clear and blue as the sky.

His lashes gently brushed his rose-tinted cheeks when he blinked and Wanda couldn't help but notice they were the same color as his lips. She found herself looking forward to outside training if only to be able to see the Winter Soldier in a halo of the daylight.

Then, without warning, she saw him throw a weapon at her. Raising her hand up, Wanda opened her eyes to see the dagger frozen a foot from her face, held up with her powers. With a flick of her wrist, it flew right back to the Soldier who easily caught it with his left arm.

"I didn't know you could hold objects," he said.

Wanda froze, remembering that she still hadn't brought that up during her training with List.

"Yeah, um, me neither," she mumbled looking down at the ground.

She felt him walk closer and gently lift her head up.

"Wanda, I need you to be completely honest with me. You don't want to tell List? That's fine, you have your reasons. But I ask that you trust me. I only want to help you protect yourself in case I'm unable to. Alright?" he asked, running his thumb across her cheek.

She could see in his eyes that he had more to say. A part of her hoped he'd say what he felt so she could also admit it to herself.

Before she knew it, the Soldier was stepping back.

"Lift me," he said.

Wanda blinked at him.

"What?"

"You heard me, lift me," he said again.

Wanda knew what he was asking but her brain somehow refused to make sense of it.

"You want me to lift you?" she asked for clarification.

He rolled his eyes.

The Winter Soldier had actually rolled his eyes at her. This situation was beginning to weird her out.

"Yes, Maximoff, I want you to use your powers to lift me," he said teasingly.

It didn't sit well with Wanda having him use her last name. That felt more like something for Pietro when he was being difficult.

You're being difficult, she reminded herself.

"Look Mr. Soldier, sir," she started, enjoying the look of annoyance that flashed on his face at what she called him. "I'd love nothing more than to fling you into the sky, but the truth is, I don't know what my powers would do to normal humans."

The Soldier raised his eyebrow at her.

Right. She thought. This guy isn't a normal human, he's like a superhuman. He'd have to be to do all of the things you've heard about him.

"I mean, compared to me you're normal. You don't have powers like me or Pietro, so I don't know how your body would take that," she amended.

The Soldier seemed to relax at this.

Guess he didn't really want to be flung around like a doll. Huh. Good to know, Wanda thought to herself.

"What about lifting yourself?" he asked.

Wanda thought about that. It made sense to try. If she ever needed to get out of somewhere, flying would be a quick solution.

"I suppose we could try," she said, calling her powers to her hands.

She tried to think about the best way to do this before deciding that forming a cloud beneath her would be best for now. She could work out other options in the future.

Taking a deep breath, Wanda threw as much energy as she could into her little cloud and flung straight up into the sky.

Fear gripped her as she looked down and saw everything rapidly shrinking. Her focus began to break and instead of rising she found herself falling. A scream broke out from her lips as she saw the ground coming closer.

"Wanda!" she heard the Soldier yell, running toward the direction she was falling.

Wanda saw men running out of the HYDRA building with guns pointing at her. Her fear turned to anger and suddenly her vision cleared. She could see every little detail flying past her and she saw every move in front of her.

With a steady hand she reformed her cloud to steady her descend and twirled her other hand to form a shield around her. Just as she did, multiple bullets hit her shield, disintegrating as they did so.

Wanda floated down to where the Soldier stood with Alexander at his side. It shook her to see her trainer so emotionless when she had gotten used to reading him at a glance.

"Not bad for your first try, Miss Maximoff," the Soldier said.

Frustration took over her words.

"Those men shot at me," she accused, glaring at the Soldier and at Alexander.

"Forgive us, Wanda," Alexander said, "From an outsider's view it seemed as if you were going to escape."

"So that's your solution? Kill us before you even know what's going on?" she asked, anger causing her voice to crack.

"Wanda, you have to understand-" Pierce began but Wanda didn't let him finish.

"No, it's you that has to understand that I'm only doing what you asked of me. I can't gain better knowledge of my powers if your men are going to kill me for any little thing they deem suspicious," she said.

Wanda unconsciously took a step forward and she heard guns shift around her, presumably to follow her movements.

None of that mattered to her. The only thing on her mind was how the Soldier stood between her and Alexander, protecting him. His metal hand rested on his own gun hanging from his belt.

Swallowing back the hurt, Wanda cleared her face of emotion and stood up straight.

"Forgive me, sir," she forced herself to say.

A nod from Pierce had his men lowering their weapons.

"Wanda, no harm done," he said, "I understand all of this is hard for you."

He walked around the Soldier and laid his hand on her shoulder.

"Why don't you let me walk you back inside? All of this drama must have drained you, you look like you're about to fall over any second. Come, dear. I'll clear your schedule for the day and you just rest in your room," he said, gently guiding her back inside.

Wanda let him lead the way, doing her best to ignore the blue eyes watching her leave.

X_X_X
"Rumlow said you had a situation," her brother's voice came from the door.

Wanda sat up from her bed and watched as her brother closed the door behind him, coming over to sit on her bed.

"Yeah, during training," she answered.

"What happened?" he asked.

Wanda curled up into herself and Pietro automatically wrapped his arms around her.

"The soldier and I were training outside for the first time and he found out I could use my powers to lift things."

Pietro sighed.

"Did he ask you to lift yourself?" he asked.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "He asked me to lift him at first, but I told him I didn't know what that'd do to him, so he then asked me to lift myself. I used too much force and flew higher up than I meant to. Alexander said that from his view it seemed like I could escape, so the soldiers shot at me."

She felt her brother freeze.

"They'll kill us if we try to escape?" he asked.

Wanda used her powers to pull a pillow towards her, hugging it to her body.

"We knew that's what they'd do," she reminded him, burrowing deeper into his embrace.

"I know, but I'd hoped that with our powers they'd consider us more than lab rats, I hoped they'd start seeing us as one of their own," he said softly.

"There's no room for hope in a place like this," she told him.

The twins sat on her bed thinking about her words. Silent tears streamed down Wanda's face as she thought about what their life had become.

X_X_X

A knock at midnight didn't surprise Wanda at all. In fact, she'd been expecting it.

Using her powers, Wanda unlocked her room, sitting up as the man came in and closed the door behind him.

"Soldier, what brings you here," she asked. Wanda winced at the raspiness in her voice, a result of crying.

"I wanted to see how you were," he answered.

"Well, I'm fine," she said coldly.

She saw his form straighten at her tone.

"You're angry?" he asked.

"No," Wanda lied, "I'm just tired. In case you didn't hear Pierce, I looked drained today. I'm supposed to be resting."

The Soldier made his way to her bed. The moonlight illuminated his face, revealing the hurt and confusion he was feeling.

"It's my fault you're feeling like this," he said. She was sure he hadn't meant for her to hear, so she didn't comment.

"Wanda, I-," he paused. "I-,"

Wanda closed her eyes. She could feel fresh tears form and she wiped them away.

"Soldier, please just say what you're here to say and leave," she choked out.

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, as her tears fell once more and she couldn't control her sobs any longer.

Wanda felt the Soldier sit on her bed before pulling her onto his lap. She turned and cried into his shoulder, grasping his t-shirt in her hands. She felt his metal arm rub circles on her back while the other one held her close.

They sat there while Wanda cried out her frustrations at the day she had.

"Why did you come?" she asked again, this time softer as her tears had exhausted her.

"I suppose I came to apologize," he said. "I asked you to perform that move. I should have told Pierce about the direction training was going."

Wanda shook her head against his shoulder.

"It wasn't your fault. I'm sure they would have shot anyway, warning or not," she said. His silence confirmed her suspicions.

Wanda pulled away, suddenly embarrassed for crying on the Winter Soldier.

I got my mascara all over the world's deadliest assassin. What is my life, she thought.

She tried to get off but he wouldn't let her go.

"Soldier," she began but he cut her off.

"Wanda, please don't be mad with me," he said. His tone was so lost and it made her pause her movement.

"I'm not mad, Soldier," she answered honestly. "I guess I'm just hurt. I shouldn't have expected anything, but still, it hurt when you took his side instead of mine."

His grip tightened.

"It's my job, Wanda. I'm supposed to keep him protected," he told her.

"I know, and I understand that. I don't know why I reacted the way I did," she said, biting her lip. She didn't know whether to spill it all out or hold back.

"Actually, that's a lie. I do know why," she said, deciding to just have it all in the open.

The Soldier looked at her questioningly.

"What is this, Soldier? What's going on between us?"

She felt him tense up.

"What do you mean? He asked her.

"I mean the smiles, the touching, the kissing. This right now, Soldier. What does this all mean to you?" she asked, gently touching his arm.

She could see the hesitation in his eyes.

With a small smile, Wanda ran her hand through his hair, softly caressing his cheek.

"Do you want to know what it means to me?" she asked.

His nod encouraged her.

"It means that I care for you. A lot, actually. And when you return my smiles, when you pull me in for a kiss, it makes me think that you might care for me too," she whispered.

"I do," he breathed out.

"I know," she said with a smile at him. "If we were anywhere else but here, I'd know what I'd want to do. But unfortunately, we're here. I don't think HYDRA would approve of a relationship between their best weapons," she said sadly.

The Soldier moved his hand to her cheek and wiped away a single fallen tear.

"No, I don't think they would," he said.

"Why me?" he asked her. "I'm no good for you, Wanda. I've killed people, I've lived more than you can imagine. You can do better," he said.

Wanda kissed his jaw.

"Maybe I could," she said, "But I like you, Soldier. I like your kindness and loyalty. I like your patience with training a couple of orphaned kids," she continued, kissing up and down his jaw.

Wanda smiled when she felt his irregular breathing.

"I like how you see me as a normal person instead of the freak or rat everyone else thinks I am," she said.

"And I like how when you look at me, I see the same love in your eyes that are in mine when I see you," she finally said, holding his face between her hands.

He leaned down and connected their lips, giving her no chance to continue.

She could only feel him as he gently laid her on her bed, never breaking their kiss.

Wanda wrapped her legs around him and pulled him closer, both of them moaning when their desires rubbed against each other.

The Soldier pulled away from her lips with a smack as he trailed messy kisses down her neck. Wanda pulled at his hair as he sucked her skin just below her collarbone.

Reaching up to give her another kiss, the Soldier moved so he was next to her on the bed.

"You'll be the undoing of me, Wanda" he said with a playful smile.

Wanda grinned at him, running her hands through his hair.

"So what do we do about this?" she asked.

I'm not going to be able to stay away after that, she thought.

"I'm not sure," he said, a frown replacing his smile.

Wanting to see him smile again, Wanda gently touched his temple, thinking about the last five minutes.

The Soldier inhaled sharply and took her hand in his.

"Can you do that without contact?" he asked her.

With a smile, she focused on sending him her memories again. His quiet laughter let her know that she succeeded.

"For training tomorrow, we'll practice this more. And I want to see if there's a way I can send you my thoughts without you having to dig into my mind," he said, kissing her nose.

"Honestly, I think it's a little too late for the 'dark and mysterious' persona, don't you?" she teased.

Wanda found that she enjoyed kisses more when she could feel the Soldier's chuckles vibrate against her chest.