AN: Enjoy!
Wanda dreamed of Vision. Little things to begin with, like his warm laughter, his soft smile, the eternal kindness in his dazzling blue eyes. The way her fingers fit so perfectly between his when they held hands.
But as time passed, she dreamed of more. Dreams of his smile led to dreams of his lips, and that inevitably led to dreams of kissing him. His arms around her.
Dreams of running her hands over his well muscled chest. Of Vision's hands on her body, soft kisses on her bare skin.
Dreamed of them tangled together, moving as one. He would be gentle, because of course he would, because Vision cared about her, he wasn't using her, and she wasn't using him.
Wanda dreamed of him whispering to her, telling her that she was beautiful, because that seemed like something Vision would do, dreamed of crying out his name..
"Vision.."
Wanda woke, sweaty and panting.
Great. Just great. As if her life wasn't enough of a train wreck already, now she was having naughty dreams about her best friend.. Shit, Vision was her best friend, wasn't he? It wasn't like she had any other friends.
The whole thing was completely insane, for multiple reasons.
For one, no man would ever be that sweet and considerate in bed in real life. That was a fantasy taken out of the movies, one teenage girls believed, one Wanda had believed until the harsh reality of life taught her better. No real man was that perfect, not even Vision.
And even if he were, even if, by some miracle, Vision Jarvis was the one perfect man in all of creation, Wanda was probably the last person in the world he would want to be with.
Wanda Maximoff was the dictionary definition of a hot mess. While she had made a few improvements recently (She was painting again, and was even looking into a cheap nighttime Art class), she was pretty much as far from having her life together as it was possible to be. He deserved so much better
Vision needed someone stable, someone sensible. Someone who didn't go out, drink themselves into oblivion, and have terrible one night stands whenever they were upset. Although, Wanda did have to give herself credit, she really wasn't going out much any more, and she actually hadn't had sex since Mr. Terrible Breath the night before her Birthday.
But that wasn't the point. Vision still deserved better, because it wasn't just himself he had to think about. He needed someone who could set a good example for Vivian.
As much as Wanda cared about Viv, she didn't think she was anywhere near ready to be someone's surrogate Mother.
Wanda sighed. She definitely needed a shower before she headed in to work the morning shift.
For most of her shift at the Party Store, Wanda stood behind the counter a little anxiously, still rather embarrassed about her naughty dream. She wasn't sure which scenario she'd rather.. For Vision to show up, hoping that seeing him in a normal setting would help clear her head, or that she wouldn't see him at all until she'd had enough time to try and scrub any and all 'Stupid Sexy Vision' images from her mind.
She took a breath. Fifteen more minutes, then her shift would be over. She could go home, and think some more about whether she wanted to rip the band-aid off and just see Vision, or alternatively, avoid him forever. The time ticked by unbearably slowly. At ten minutes to go, hoping that Mantis showed up in time to relieve her, an announcement came over the Mall speakers that immediately chased every other worry from her mind.
"Attention, Shoppers and Employees. We have a child missing in the Mall.."
Well, that wasn't the part that worried her. Kids got lost all the time. They were usually found in a few minutes. But..
".. Vivian Jarvis, age 5.."
Wanda's heart dropped. The announcement went on with a description of Viv, but she hardly heard it. She felt sick. Viv was missing. Vision must so worried. Where could she have gotten to?
Despite the statistics saying that, more often than not, children who got lost in the mall were found perfectly fine, unpleasant scenarios ran through Wanda's mind. She wanted nothing more than to run out and search for her, but there were still ten minutes to go in her shift, Mantis still hadn't arrived, and Wanda really needed this stupid job.
It didn't occur to Wanda until much later that her reaction to the situation was very much like a Mother.
If time had seemed to move slowly before the announcement of Vivian's disappearance, it had now slowed to a glacial pace. She strained her eyes and ears, hoping for any sign of Viv. Her hair. Her giggle. The usual sounds of the mall, like chattering customers, rustling shopping bags, the idiot teenage boys charging and crashing into each other with shopping carts (security was supposed to deal with them ages ago, but no one had showed up), grated on Wanda's nerves even more than usual, because it kept her from listening properly. It didn't help that the place was busier than usual, with some celebrity Wanda didn't know the name of doing an in-store appearance.
A few more minutes passed. With relief, she saw Mantis making her way towards the store, waving to Wanda and smiling her just slightly too chipper smile.
Then, with greater relief, Wanda saw Viv, wandering alone, looking around for something.. But just as quickly, her relief turned to horror. Viv had wandered right into the path of the idiot teenagers. They'd never be able to stop. They were going to crash right into the little girl. She could be seriously hurt.
A fire ignited in Wanda's chest. Something woke. Something roared. Then she was running, faster than she had ever run, almost flying, past a very confused Mantis and out into the Mall, racing towards Viv, sweeping her into her arms before..
CRASH!
One of the shopping carts caught Wanda's foot, running right over her toes, but her heart was pumping with far too much adrenaline to notice that it hurt. Viv, realizing how close she had come to disaster, clung to Wanda tightly.
Wanda rounded on the teens, fire in her eyes.
"You absolute idiots!" She snarled. There usually would have been an F-bomb somewhere in that statement, in her head there certainly was, but Wanda was keenly aware of the child in her arms. "You could have hurt someone!"
"S-Sorry, lady" One of the teens stammered. "We didn't see the kid.."
"Well you should have looked closer!"
"Okay" came a voice from behind them, "What's going on here?"
Wanda turned to see Sam, a Mall security guard with whom she usually got along quite well. Not Today.
"About time you showed up. These two have been hooning around all-morning!"
"Go easy, Wanda, I've been swamped Today. With the in-store, and now a missing kid.." Sam raised his hands defensively, then paused, spotting Viv in Wanda's arms. "Hey, that's the missing kid!" He reached for Viv.
"I can handle it" Wanda clutched her tighter, protective. "I know her Dad, I'll call him.. You just get these idiots the Hell out of here!"
"Yeah, okay.." Sam began ushering the teens towards the exit. "You heard the lady, out! And don't come back until you learn to be civilized people. You're lucky I'm not slapping you with lifetime bans.."
Wanda headed back towards the store, for the first time noticing the sharp pain in her foot, but the adrenaline was still buzzing.
"Oh, my!" cried Mantis, "Is everyone alright?"
"I think so.. Are you okay, Viv?" Wanda asked, gently setting her on the counter.
"Uh-huh" Viv nodded.
"Good. Stay right there, I'm going to call your Daddy.."
"Okay."
Wanda whipped out her phone, scrolling through her contacts until she reached Vision's name, calling his number. She grew more anxious with each ring.
"La naiba, Vizh, pick up!" Just as Wanda was thinking it was going to ring out, she got a very frazzled, frantic answer.
"Wanda, I can't talk right now, Viv is.."
"I found her, Vision."
"What?"
"Viv's with me, at the party store."
"Oh, thank God! I'll be right there.."
As the call disconnected, Wanda turned back to Viv.
"Your Daddy is on his way, Fata Dulce" she smiled. "Are you sure you're alright? You must have been so scared, getting accidentally separated from your Daddy.."
"No.." Viv seemed sheepish.
"No you weren't scared?" Wanda frowned.
"No.."
"No what?"
"I think" said Mantis, who had an uncanny ability to read people, "The little girl is saying that it wasn't an accident.."
"Vivian.." Wanda turned to the little girl seriously, her eyes widening. Her foot was starting to throb, but she tried to ignore it. "Did you run away from your Dad on purpose?"
"Yes.." Viv slowly nodded.
"That was very naughty of you!" Wanda cried. Unpleasant scenarios raced through her mind again. "What if I wasn't here? You could have gotten hurt! Why on Earth would you do something so silly?"
"I'm sorry" Viv whimpered. "I.. I wanted to find a surprise for Daddy."
"A surprise?" Wanda's expression softened.
"It's his Birthday Today" Viv explained. "He never gets anything special, because it's so close to my Birthday.. so I wanted to find something. I brought all my monies!"
"Oh, Miss Vivian.." Wanda's expression softened further, and she hugged the little girl. "You might just be the sweetest child in the universe. But don't ever run away like that again. You scared me, and you've probably scared your Daddy too."
"I'm sorry.."
"It's okay.." Wanda took a shaky breath. "Now I need to sit down, I think I've broken a few toes.."
Translation:
La Naiba: Damn it
Fata dulce: sweet girl.
