Make You Feel My Love
~Book III~

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

~Chapter 32~
Old Self

"Do you think he's dangerous?" asked Steve.

Once Maria had felt up to the task, having gotten something warm to drink and some fresh clothes from Natasha, Steve had decided to show her around the new Avenger's HQ, seemingly not have taken in the fact that she had decided to leave. Then again, perhaps this was his way of trying to convince her to stay, though she knew it would not help at all. She needed to leave so she could get herself together again.

"Professor Xavier? No. He seems to want to help me… or at least talk to me," said Maria. "That's what he told me in all of my dreams."

At the end of one of many hallways Steve had led her down, there was a large common room conjoined with an open kitchen. It was close to the living room Maria had been put in when she had returned and she deduced that it was the part of the HQ where the Avengers were supposed to live. Albeit it looked rather modern and slightly plain (Maria always enjoyed more colors and more decorations in her home, not that she had ever truly had a real home), the place felt rather homey. She figured it was because most of the people she had met there so far, were her friends and the only thing out there she could call a family. A part of her suddenly felt really heavy as she realized that, in order for her to mend, she would have to leave her family.

"This is basically the kitchen," said Steve, looking back at Maria who, with a smile, took everything in.

Though her smile soon faded as she noticed two people sitting around a table close-by the kitchen; Clint and Wanda. It was not the sight of Clint that had changed her mood, but the sight of Wanda. She briefly wondered how the others could have so easily changed their opinion on her after all she had done, though she stayed silent about it and simply decided to avoid looking at her.

However, avoiding to look at her became very difficult as Wanda stood up, leaving her meal unfinished while quickly hurrying over to the fridge to pull out three delicious looking donuts.

"For you."

Her words shocked Maria tremendously and she watched the young woman walk over to Maria with wide eyes. The tray Wanda carried was cutely adorned with sprinkles and tiny chocolates and the donuts themselves looked utterly delicious. She had not realized how much she had missed eating food until those donuts were put underneath of her nose. However, her happy thoughts about the donuts soon turned dark as her eyes trailed over to Wanda's hopeful gaze.

"She's been bribing all of us for the past week. I gotta admit, it's a good way to become one of the team," chuckled Clint as he leaned back in his chair.

The fact that Clint was not bothered about Wanda's presence seemed to stir something inside of Maria. Perhaps it was jealousy, jealousy of the fact that Clint, the one who loathed mind control the most for a very good reason, had come to accept her as one of the team faster than Maria. Indeed, jealousy made the most sense as a solution to her angered feelings, especially as she noticed Steve smiling so cutely and adoringly at Wanda's effort to bribe Maria's acceptance with donuts which caused her entire soul to flare up in flames; anger starting to take over her.

"I tried to make them as good as possible," said Wanda, her adorable accent not helping Maria's burning rage. "But I had not heard of donuts before I got here."

"Excuse me," said Maria, turning her back on the donuts and Wanda and leaving the room, using her every fiber to keep the flames in control so they would not control her.

Rolling her fingers up into fists, she began to walk down the hallway again, angry thoughts rushing through her mind which she desperately tried to control. The poor woman had done nothing wrong towards Maria and deserved no yelling at for simply making some donuts. But her past actions… Well, for some reason, Maria had a difficult time seeing past them.

"Maria!" called Steve, running up next to her to walk beside her. "What was that all about?"

"Where's my room?" she asked simply.

"She's part of the team now," explained Steve. "Her past might have-"

"Might!?" exclaimed Maria, freezing on the spot, the flames burning even brighter. "Her powers destroyed the team!"

"I thought you were an accepting person, Maria," scolded Steve.

"I'm loyal too. Someone who destroys my team doesn't earn my loyalty."

"Stop it," he said with a look so sharp that his words caused her flames to die in an instant. "She helped us with Ultron and she understood her wrong-doings, deciding that going against us was the wrong thing to do. Now, the team accepted you even after your past. I did. So, please, give her a chance. If not for her, for me."

Maria looked down at the ground in front of her, letting out a sigh though not replying. She wanted to reply with something in the lines of; "Tell Bruce that." Though she knew she would truly hit a nerve then, seeing as Banner was missing.

Gently placing a hand on her arm, Steve continued to talk; "You look exhausted. Let's wrap the tour up by showing you your room."

It was not far away from the rest of the living area in the HQ, just as Maria had suspected. And as she had thought, it was close to the other original Avengers' rooms. Next to her, Natasha had her room and next to Natasha was Steve's. Immediately to the left of Maria's room was Thor's, though she doubted Thor would be using it a lot as he basically lived on Asgard.

"It's not much and it's not so… pretty, but it's yours," said Steve with a soft smile playing on his lips. "I'll show you the training courts tomorrow. I'm sure you'll like them."

"Steve…" she said quietly, looking around at the plain, modern styled room she had gotten decorated with nothing more but a bed, a huge closet, a white rug, a desk and a couple of chairs to sit in. "I told you… I can't stay."

"Doesn't mean I can't show you," he began skeptically though she shook her head, walking over to him as he stayed by the doorway.

"I know. But I won't use them. I think I'll leave tomorrow after Thor has left. It's the best thing to do for the team and for me. I mean, I can't even be who I used to be… That kind person who overlooked people's rough pasts and wrong-doings… At least, I think I used to be like that."

"You're still you, believe me," said Steve, gently placing his hands on her arms. "You weren't wrong about what you said earlier. You are loyal and those who aren't loyal back from the very beginning… well, they have a hard time getting to know the wonderful Maria Dalton the rest of us know," said Steve soothingly.

"But I don't want to be that person. I want to be kind! A person others can look up to."

"You don't think others look up to you?" asked Steve quietly, his emotion-filled eyes rendering her speechless.

He sighed, offering her a soft smile before letting go of her and turning to leave her alone in her new room, which would not be hers for a very long time. However, Maria stopped him before he could close the door behind him.

"Steve? Could you send Wanda up here with those donuts? I'm starving," she quietly spoke, earning nothing but a soft smile in return before he closed the door.

It was the first time she had been alone since she had come back to life. And the moment the door closed, panic gripped onto her heart. She fought against the impulse to run up to the door and follow Steve desperately like a lost little puppy, afraid to be left alone once more. Instead, she walked over to the large mirror hanging from the wall next to her large, empty closet. It was the same size as her and she could see herself entirely. Her cheeks had sunken in slightly over the week that had passed and she looked paler and weaker than before. She would have to train and eat up her strength again if she wanted to go back to the vigilante life again. Though, was that what she wanted?

As she looked at herself in the mirror, she barely recognized herself. The person she had felt like the past week as she had been floating around outside of her body, had been the person that she was right in the beginning of everything. The bubbly, slightly awkward person who barely ever believed in herself. But things had changed; she had changed and now that she looked at herself in the mirror, she did not like the person who looked back at her. She had become hateful and too confident to her own liking. The person she used to be was driven on the fear of failure; the one she was now was driven on annoyance and hate.

A soft knock was heard on her door before it was opened ever so softly. Through the mirror, the first thing she saw passing through the doorway was the tray of donuts before Wanda came into view as well. Fighting against the person she had become, Maria tried desperately hard to smile and be kind to the woman; all Wanda wanted was for one of the original Avengers to like her and accept her. She was apologizing to Maria and there had to be a way for Maria to accept said apology.

"Clint was not wrong," said Wanda after a while, noticing very well that Maria was not going to turn around to greet her. "It's a bribe. A bribe to make everyone forgive me easier."

"So you decided to bake donuts?" asked Maria, finally turning around and walking over to Wanda, taking the tray from her.

"It's the only thing I'm good at. Baking and cooking," said Wanda with a shrug.

Maria looked into Wanda's eyes, seeing the same pain Maria had felt back when her family was torn apart. Though she was unsure of whether or not she should say anything about it.

"I want you to know," said Wanda, looking from the tray to Maria's eyes, a certain sincerity in the young woman's eyes making them twinkle. "That I truly thought that I was doing the right thing when I decided to… mess up your minds. But I wasn't. I was driven on anger and recent towards a man who did not even do anything personally to me. I was blinded by those feelings and could not see Ultron's true intentions until it was too late. I realize what I did to you and-"

"No, please," interrupted Maria, placing the tray on the desk before walking up to Wanda, looking her deep in the eyes. "I accept your apology. I know what anger can do to you. I've seen it destroy people and I've seen it destroy me. You didn't mean to… And I forgive you for it."

The relief and happiness in the young woman's eyes made the lie Maria had just told her worth it. She could not help but smile as Wanda quickly shook Maria's hand; "I will not let you or anyone else on the team down. I will fight for both me and my brother. I promise."

Still smiling, Maria watched Wanda as she began to make her way to the door, about to leave. Though she froze and turned around, her face suddenly serious again which made Maria's smile falter.

"Your father wanted to speak to you. He told me so before he was brought away to the prison."

Her words shocked Maria; "What?"

"He was held in a cell here for a few days before he was brought further to the prison. That's when he told me," she replied.

"He knew? You knew?"

"I didn't know," she quickly said, shaking her head. "I simply thought he was… odd."

Maria nodded her head, understanding her words as Maria would probably have thought the same thing if someone had said that the person she had seen laying dead on the beach was still alive.

"Thanks…" said Maria quietly before turning around, hearing the door closing behind her.

So, this is the beginning of the new Maria. The Maria that I had come up with from the start, so it is actually not really the new Maria but more of the original Maria... The one that the stories were going to come to eventually and we are there now! It is super weird, actually, but I am also excited about letting the original character out and work with her. There will be about three of four more chapters, and then we will move onto Civil War. Just like last time, I would love for everyone to comment something they want to see happen in the next story. Something with Maria or Steve, or maybe a new character being introduced. Logan was introduced to Maria because someone wanted that, so do not hesitate to comment something that you want to see happen!

Till next week!