Enjoy the next chapter!
It's a little shorter, but since last chapter was so long I figure it sort of evens out in the end.
Thanks for all the reviews, follows, and favorites. They really make my day. :)
Disclaimer: see chapter one
"Why are you sleeping outside?"
Pietro looked up sleepily. Lila's face gradually swam into view, looking down at him curiously. At first he was confused-especially when he noticed the sun was shining extremely brightly. Then it all came back to him-the events of the last night that had led to him spending the night outside with sticks and small twigs sticking into his back.
"I got bored sleeping inside." he replied, sitting up slowly. The sun's rays were shining directly into his eyes.
Wanda stirred next to him. "Good morning, Lila."
"Good morning. Mommy wants to know if you want some breakfast."
"I would love some." She stood up and followed the little girl inside, while Lila chattered on about one Disney princess or another.
Pietro lay there for another minute, reluctant to get up. He didn't understand how Wanda could do it. He could barely sit up, much less walk the two hundred feet to the back door.
"Pietro!" Wanda called. "Last chance for oatmeal with strawberries!"
He rolled his eyes as he hauled himself to a sitting position. "Coming." The early hour was beginning to matter less and less as he felt more and more alert.
Wanda was finally talking to him again.
After all the breakfast dishes had been washed and piled into the drainer to dry, Laura drove everyone into town to buy new clothes for the harvest festival-including Pietro and Wanda.
The 'town' was little more than a village- a couple streets lined with houses and shops. There was a shop for formal clothing, where they spent most of the morning.
It took almost an hour to find a dress for Lila and a suit for Cooper. Finally, they had their clothing-and Pietro was halfway out the door. After the four hour tuxedo 'fiasco', he was very averse to the idea of buying yet another suit.
"Oh no you don't." Laura said before he could make his escape. "Pietro, Wanda, pick something out. My treat."
"Do we have to?" Pietro asked with just the smallest touch of a whine in his voice.
"Yes, you do. Find something that's comfortable. It won't take more than twenty minutes."
Reluctantly, Pietro examined a row of sport coats. They weren't as high end as the ones he had looked at before-and their price tags didn't make his eyes pop out of his skull.
To his surprise, he was able to find a suit that fit him in only twenty minutes. Meanwhile, it took Wanda a while to find a dress she liked. She insisted on trying on almost every dress in the entire store, while Laura helped and Pietro kept the kids entertained. They explored the village, watching everyone getting things ready for the festival that night.
Eventually, Wanda decided on a simple red dress that wouldn't be able to feed an army of small children with only the value of its ornamentation. "This looks nice, Wanda." Laura said as the cashier folded the dress carefully and made change from the handful of bills Laura gave her.
After that, they got lunch in a small street café with outdoor seating. It reminded Pietro of one of the cafes he'd read about in the Paris guidebook his parents had always left lying around. For those two days they'd spent hiding under the bed, he'd read and reread those guidebooks until they were ingrained in his brain.
By the time they got back to the farm, the sun was beginning to set and they only had an hour to get ready for the festival. While the girls did their hair, Cooper and Pietro crashed on the couch and watched cooking shows, just because there was nothing else on. Pietro also held baby Nathaniel, bouncing him slightly so he wouldn't cry. The baby terrified him, just a little bit. He was so afraid that he would drop Nathaniel or accidentally kill him in some other manner; this tiny human, being, this little boy who shared his name.
Nathaniel Pietro would grow up to do great things. Pietro was sure of it.
Just then, the girls came downstairs and everyone piled into the car so they could get to the harvest festival on time. Wanda had done something new with her hair and it was now braided away from her face. It looked nice; in fact, it almost made Pietro feel guilty for not doing more than running a comb through his own hair.
"So, do the two of you have any idea of what you're going to be doing when you get back to New York?" Laura asked as they walked to the town square. The little village had been completely transformed-lights were strung between houses like strings of small fairy lights, happy people drifting up the streets from their parked cars to reach the hastily erected dance floor in the center of the city laughed and talked quietly, and soft music drifted past them on a soft breeze.
"Not really." Pietro replied. He supposed they would wait for their missions, just like the other Avengers did. He wasn't really clear on how this whole superhero thing worked yet. There had even been talk of enrolling them in a public high school to finish their senior year.
The dance floor was crowded with people, but there was still room for a few more. Pietro was about to ask his sister for a dance, but someone else beat him to it.
Pietro was hesitant to let her go-especially to dance with a complete and total stranger. He couldn't help being fiercely protective of Wanda-in almost anything. But Wanda was looking at him with a barely veiled challenge in her eyes. I'll be fine. I promise.
And so he watched carefully as her new partner pulled her into the whirl of dancers.
For the next few hours, Pietro altered between dancing with one girl or another, raiding the refreshments table, and keeping tabs on both Clint's family and Wanda. Cooper and Lila were too young to really join the dance, so they played Tag with a group of other kids in a deserted corn field. The air rang with their laughter. Laura was busy talking with a group of other women with small babies, content to watch the dance from a distance.
All too soon, the DJ was saying that the last dance was already upon them. Pietro was content to be a wallflower-until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Wanda smiled at him. Her hair had come loose from its braids and now hung in waves. Her eyes were bright and she looked happier than he'd seen her in a long while. "Would you like to dance?"
"Sure." He led her through set after set, counting the music under his breath so he wouldn't screw up. He needn't have worried; Wanda quickly took over, ensuring his feet followed the right pattern and landed in the right places. It felt to Pietro that the other couples on the dance floor didn't exist. There was just him and Wanda, drifting in their own little parallel universe.
He didn't want to leave the farm. He wanted to stay there forever, with the Bartons and Wanda and the wide open world. All of his problems seemed so far away; he tried not to think about the fact that he would have to leave in just a few short hours.
By the time Laura insisted they had been out long enough, especially since they had an early morning the next day, Pietro was almost asleep on his feet. The younger children fell asleep as soon as the car started and Wanda appeared to be on the brink as well. She leant her head on Pietro's shoulder and watched the dark scenery go by outside the car window. Pietro had never known that there could be so many different landscapes in one country, only separated by a few hours of air travel.
"I mean it." Laura said as they passed open countryside. "Come back, whenever you can. We've loved having the two of you here. You're such good influences for Cooper and Lila, and they both adore you. Visit us soon, okay?"
"Okay." Pietro replied. He would try as well as he could to keep his word.
When they reached home, he helped Laura and Wanda put the kids to bed. By the time he was finally able to rest, he fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. Immediately, he set to reliving what had hands down been the best night of his life.
Looking back on it, he wished things could have ended there. He wished that Wanda hadn't woken him up a couple of hours later, saying "Pietro, something is very wrong."
After that, things had gone completely and totally downhill.
Immediately, Pietro could tell she was right. The night was silent-too silent. "Can you sense anything out of place?"
She nodded. "I think there's someone on the property."
"I'm going to check it out."
"I'm coming too."
He didn't even try to argue.
The wet grass cushioned their footsteps as they made a careful circle of the house. Pietro felt alert and on edge, startling at every sound no matter how small-the wind whistling through the trees like a breeze through a ghost town, an owl hooting, crickets chirping. Any noise could belong to their intruder. And he'd made a promise to Clint that he would look after his family. He took his promises very seriously.
Finally, they found a clump of bracken that had been disturbed and flattened. A set of muddy footprints led into the forest. They seemed to be heading to the fast flowing river that marked the edge of the property.
When they reached the river, it seemed to be deserted. Pietro stood looking into the water, waiting for the intruder to give himself away. Whoever he was, he couldn't stay hidden forever-and when he moved, the twins would be ready. After a while of waiting in silence, he began to wonder whether or not he'd just imagined everything. It had been a long night…he could easily be back in his room, fast asleep…
Just a second's lapse in judgment had been enough to distract him. He felt himself roughly pushed to the side. Wanda apologized quickly, saying she'd slipped on the wet grass. Then a gunshot went off, piercing the early morning quiet. "Are you all right?" he asked instinctively.
"Yes, I'm fine. We need to figure out who did that." Wanda said in a slightly louder tone. Almost imperceptibly, she gestured to a clump of bushes directly across from them. There.
Stay here while I get him. Then you can hex him. Pietro was off with a flash and returned a few seconds later with their prowler. He was extremely young; just a few years older than the twins. He didn't seem to mind being caught. In fact, he smiled at Pietro almost sadistically as blood dripped from a cut in his face where he'd been punched a second before. "Hail HYDRA." he whispered.
Pietro slapped him again, hard. "Don't say that. We're taking you back to SHIELD headquarters. We'll see what they want to do with you-but let me assure you that it won't be pretty."
"They can do whatever they want. It won't matter. I can still kill everyone you care about. You can still watch them die-starting with her."
Wanda touched a finger to his forehead, her eyes flashing red. The agent's eyes immediately glazed over and he dropped to his knees, shaking in obvious fright. Pietro would have pitied him if he hadn't been the enemy. He didn't know what visions Wanda had placed in his head, but he imagined they were terrible. "I almost feel guilty."
"Don't. He would have killed us if we hadn't caught him."
Just then Wanda collapsed, one hand clutching her side. With a shock, Pietro realized her shirt was stained with something red.
Please no. "What happened?" he asked, kneeling next to her as he felt the telltale phantom pain himself.
She was shivering even though it was a hot night. "I saw his gun…pointed at you. He was…going to shoot and you…didn't realize. I couldn't let…that happen, but I moved too slowly. I…couldn't get out of the way…in time."
Pietro was no doctor, but the wound seemed pretty bad. It was leaking blood, try as he might to staunch the flow. "We'll fix this." he said, panicked. "Why did you have to do something like that?" It was either act irritated or lose it completely.
"You're my brother. I couldn't…let you die. Not…again." Then she seemed to faint, probably from blood loss-which didn't help Pietro's already shot nerves.
All that blood was making him nauseous, but he tried to ignore the sight. He had a mission to take care of and he couldn't afford to lose even a second letting the panic overwhelm him.
He wasn't going to let his sister die-not for him.
Plot twist-not out of the woods yet!
Review, follow, and favorite!