When I woke up the next morning, the sun was shining but the tower was silent. Or so it seemed. Wanda was wrapped around me so moving wasn't an option. I could just about turn my head to look at the clock on the bedside table which read 13:18. I chuckled to myself; we'd managed to spend nearly the whole day in bed. We had stayed up quite last night in all fairness, deep into the early hours of this morning actually. I smiled as the memories flooded back.
After ten minutes, I nudged Wanda who's only response was to grumble and hold me tighter.
"Wanda, it's one o'clock. We should get up."
"But I'm really comfortable here." She peeked one eye open at me.
"I know, my love. So am I but we already have a barrage of questions to face. The longer we wait, the more they'll come up with." She growled softly.
"I hate your reasoning sometimes." Wanda gave me a quick peck before untangling herself from me. As she sat up, the sun showed the damage to her back. Several scratches ran down from her neck to lower back. I felt kind of guilty, especially as they looked so sore.
"Do they hurt?" I whispered, running my fingers along the marks.
"It's more of a stinging sensation." I sat up behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist and resting my chin on her shoulder. "How's your own back?"
"Just like yours, stinging. But every mark is worth it."
"That is very true." I kissed her neck softly. She moaned very softly. "If you keep doing that, we won't be leaving this room anytime soon." She remarked but moved her head to give me better access to her neck.
"Is that a promise?" I smirked against Wanda's shoulder, slightly tightening my arms around her waist.
"Without a doubt!" She twisted her head to kiss me deeply.
Whilst we were re-enacting a scene from Titanic, someone knocked on our door. I pulled away to groan in frustration but my girlfriend with the patience of a saint just smiled calmly, brushing some hair out of my face.
"I'll go get it," she chuckled at my pout. Whoever it was knocked again. "Nat and Maria clearly aren't going to go away anytime soon." She stood and took the sheet with her.
"And what exactly am I going to put on?" I chuckled and raised an eyebrow.
"Whatever you wish," she blew me a kiss. I grabbed her bath robe from the back of the door and, after tying the belt to keep the robe in place, I went to join my love at the door which she had only partially opened.
"Hey, guys." I walked up behind my girlfriend and leant my head on her shoulder.
"We were just asking Wanda if you two were planning on joining us at any time soon?" Maria crossed her arms.
"Well we were when we first woke up which was about twenty minutes ago but I don't know. It's up to the light of my life here." I gestured to Wanda with a nod of my head and wrapped one arm around her waist.
"We will be down shortly. And no, we won't be answering any questions until we've both had coffee and something to eat."
"You don't play fairly, Wanda Maximoff," Natasha was chuckling.
"I know, and, it's so much fun." Wanda smirked.
"See you two troublemakers in a bit."
After both of us grabbed a quick shower (which may or may not have overlapped at one point because someone got a little impatient! Have you seen yourself?! I couldn't help it!) and we got dressed, I grabbed some snacks and we headed up for the shared area. As soon as we stepped foot in the room, all eyes were on us.
"And the Sleeping Beauties finally decided to join us today," Clint snickered as Wanda sat herself down on one of the sofas with the snacks and I went to the kitchen area for coffee. Some of Wanda's red energy followed me and wrapped around my wrist.
"What can I say, my girlfriend is distracting," the Sokovian teenager grinned at them. Do you want to tell them that sleep wasn't really a major factor in last night's events or can I do it? Wanda giggled and turned to look at me with a wink. Oh, their looks would be priceless.
"How inappropriate was that last mental conversation?" Nat raised an eyebrow at us.
"Let's put it this way: we'll spare you guys from having to hear it."
"Well, that's no fun," Tony joined in and then started looking between us expectantly while smiling. They know, don't they? Of course they do. Then again, the whole building probably knows. I thought the rooms were soundproofed?! With how loud we were last night, I doubt it made much of a difference. I chuckled. I suppose so. I mean, we were both pretty insatiable last night. I finished making our coffees and joined Wanda on the sofa, handing her coffee to her, which she took gratefully. As I sat myself down, my girlfriend nestled into my side contentedly. Now everyone else had joined in with Tony's staring.
"So, now that you're settled… How was last night?" Steve asked politely.
"The best night of our lives," I paused in contemplation. "So far, at least."
"The food was exquisite, the restaurant was the perfect setting for a perfect first date, and the company in which I was wined and dined?" Wanda smiled at me and I gave her my most loving look back. "Well, she's my whole world." And I'm fairly sure I just fell even deeper in love with Wanda. While everyone was cooing over us, I gave her a quick peck not allowing myself anything else because who knows what could happen.
Maria's expression formed into a smirk and something should have told me I wasn't going to like it. I sipped my drink, not expecting her next question. "So, what exactly did you have to eat?" I choked on my coffee and Wanda turned as red as her favourite leather jacket. When I finally regained my ability to breathe properly with some help from Wanda, Maria had the most innocent expression in the world. I could see Steve blushing faintly in the background.
Trying to play it off cool, I answered as casually as I could manage. "Well, I had hunters chicken and my dearest Wanda had lemon sole fillet in a white wine sauce. Both of which were heavenly."
"And what of dessert?" Clint inquired. Very sneaky, Barton, very sneaky.
"Well, I had Eton Mess that came with fig and passion fruit coulis. This one inhaled, literally inhaled, a stack of pancakes and maple syrup." I shrugged.
"Heavenly," I reiterated. Everyone chuckled. "But, Wanda deserves heaven because that is what she is." I grinned.
"Did you have a late night?" I glared at Natasha. They clearly were not backing down.
"Well, we were in the building by quarter past ten."
"So why were you so late up?"
"Because our date didn't finish until about four in the morning," I smirked at the team who all started blushing, even Tony. Game. Set. Match.
"Well, it sounds like you had a great night," Bruce interjected.
"We did, Bruce, thank you. Which reminds me…" I dug the car keys out of my pocket and threw them at Tony's head. Alas, to my dismay, he caught them easily. "There's the car keys back, it's parked out the front."
"Thank you."
"So, what's the plan for the rest of the day?"
"Relax around. We go back to work tomorrow."
And so, we all settled down. Tony and Clint made lunch for us all and we all sat around and talked about everything and anything. Pepper (who came to see us all, asking hundreds of questions about our date and relationship), how Jane was getting on with her work on the Convergence and a major topic; my girlfriend's fast approaching birthday. She tried to deflect any questions about it as it would be her first one with Pietro. Tony understood and promised to keep it a small affair.
"It will be just us and maybe Helen Cho, if Jane would like to attend, she can; obviously Pepper, and Laura and the kids." Wanda agreed to the guest list and Tony gleefully rubbed his hands together. When Clint phoned Laura about it, she immediately offered to host it at the farm. The team all liked the sound of the break and Tony stole Clint's phone and ran away from him to organise the party. He came back forty minutes later and handed him his phone back.
"Barton, I love your wife. And she wants to speak to you."
"Yes, sweetheart?... Okay, so we'll be there the day before so we can get everyone settled and will stay for however long before you get bored of us all…Yeah, of course you can." Clint looked over at Wanda. "Laura would like to talk to you." Clint informed her and she held her hand out for the phone.
Wanda chuckled, putting the phone to her ear. "Hey, Mrs Barton… Sorry, Laura, of course…I'm great, thanks… Piper is too… What's Tony told you?... Yeah, that's right… Well, I have Piper to get me through it and as long as I have her, I'll be fine. I can't forget the rest of the team, as well… Is that Lila I can hear in the background?... Hi, Lila and Cooper… I can't wait to see you all again…Yeah, I'll tell you all about our adventures… I promise… I'll see you soon, sweetheart… Piper misses you too… Can you put Mommy back on for me?... Laura, I can hear you're rushed off your feet so please send me a list of everything we will need…Tony has agreed to finance it…"
"Did I agree to that?" Tony looked around at us, bemused.
"Well, Stark, the party was your idea," Steve smiled. The billionaire shrugged.
"And of course he'll bring an Iron Man suit for Cooper and Lila to see." Tony sighed and gave her a thumbs up. Wanda's look to rest of the team promised mischief. "Yeah, we'll all bring our suits. That way we can be prepared in case of emergency…Steve's shield will be no problem as he sleeps with it…As for Mjolinir, once again, it doesn't leave Thor's side…"
"I don't like where this is going…" Clint interrupted but Wanda ignored him.
"Sure, no worries…Absolutely…We'll be very careful…The kids are gonna have a great time…Anyway, how's the weather down there...It's snowing…That's great news…The best part of having my birthday in the winter is every year I've always had snow…I love the snow…"
Note to self: Make sure, it's snowing by the time my girlfriend wakes up on her birthday.
"Piper will probably take control over the snow when she gets there," Clint commented.
"It's a guarantee," Sam remarked.
"Ha ha ha, I forgot how to laugh."
"We're just messing with ya." Steve came up behind me and ruffled my hair. I batted his hands away playfully.
Paying my full attention back to my girlfriend, she was trying to still say her goodbyes to Laura and the kids. I could hear Lila screaming incoherently in the background. And then Laura shouting at her to be quiet before apologising to Wanda.
"It's fine…Yeah, I'll see you soon…Okay, bye," Wanda laughed as she hung up the phone. She chucked Clint's phone at him and picked her coffee back up off the table. "Well, they're definitely excited to see us."
"I could tell by the screaming," I replied.
"Apparently, you and I are in charge of storytelling duty at bed time," she told me. "I could hear Lila demanding it in the background."
"Please nothing too frightening," Clint begged. "If I know my daughter – and I would like to think I do – she'll want to hear all about what we've been up to."
"She can hear the PG-13, child-friendly version of what we've been up to?" I suggested. "I definitely have no plans to tell her, ever, that I've been shot. I'd rather not emotionally damage a small child anytime soon. Especially Lila and Cooper."
"Thank you," Clint, and Nat, looked grateful at that news.
Conversation took a much more light-hearted turn after that. Sam suggested we found a movie to watch and put on the old Ghostbuster's movie. And then Monty Python. We finished it with Blues Brothers which by the time it started was nearing one o'clock in the morning. They all found out just how much of a geek I was as I mouthed along to every sentence of Ghostbusters. (It was a good movie. Sue me.). One-by-one, however, everyone started to drop-off. Wanda was the first to go. When her eyes fell shut, I manoeuvred us both to a lying down position as gently as I could, trying my best not to wake her. She cuddled into me, and I wrapped my arms around her, making sure she doesn't fall off the sofa we were lying on.
Tony, Steve, and Thor weren't far behind Wanda as they crashed on the floor, Tony surrounded by pillows. I watched Clint's eyes start to droop, followed closely behind by Natasha. She was clearly fighting sleep, shaking her head. She gave in and succumbed to slumber. Bruce very quickly started snoring. Had him and Nat shuffled closer to each other during the night? Because their hands were touching.
Sam and Rhodey were sensible and took themselves off to bed when tiredness hit them, both yawning heavily. Vision left the room five minutes after. I could feel myself started to drop off and nestled myself further into the couch, quite contentedly. At this point, FRIDAY sensed people were falling asleep and turned off the TV and dimmed the lights so I was plunged into darkness. My eyes did a final sweep of the room before the peace and Wanda's gentle breathing lulled me into a peaceful slumber.