AN: Enjoy!


Wanda had not dreamed much, since becoming a Demon. Dreams were unconscious manifestations of wishes, desires, hopes for the future, and, well, Wanda no longer had much hope. Nightmares, on the other hand? There were plenty of those, both before and after her transformation.

Of the bomb that had killed her parents and trapped her and Pietro for days.

Of the demonic transformation she had never really wanted. Nightmares of what Pietro's decision had cost her. Nightmares of his death, of the terror and pain he had probably gone through. Pietro's death had robbed Wanda of any hope that had remained in her, of her very last reason to dream, because he was the only positive thing she had still had.

But now there was Vision, who had taken her into his home when she was hurt, despite knowing exactly what she was.

Vision, ingerul ei dulce, her sweet angel, who had nursed her back to health, was always kind, and sweet, and polite, even in the face of her early attempts to corrupt him, and his obvious enjoyment of said attempts.

Vision, who was currently on a quest to woo her with coffee dates, long lunches, trips to the beach, or the cinema. Woo her with gifts of flowers, or her favorite treats.

Though she could never admit it, at least not to his face, Vision made Wanda happy. He had planted the tiniest seed of hope amongst the remnants of Wanda's shattered heart.

And some nights, Wanda found that she could dream again.

Of sunsets, and sunrises, and almost forgotten happy memories buried deep within her heart.

Of Vision's smile, of his touch, of softer, gentler intimate acts that life as a demon had led her to believe weren't possible.

Wanda dreamed of a ring on her finger, and a house with a white picket fence, and..

Wanda woke up.

None of it was real. It never could be, she knew that. But it was nice to dream again, even if it would only be for a little while.

She blinked the last of the sleep away from her eyes, stretched, and got out of bed, wincing slightly as she stood (her leg was often still stiff in the mornings), and followed the sound of Vision fussing in the kitchen.

Her breath caught for a moment when she saw him. Her angel was currently dressed in only a pair of boxer shorts, his hair damp from a recent shower. His wings were also in full display, which was not something he was generally in the habit of.

"Good morning!" Vision turned to greet Wanda as he heard her approach, apparently oblivious to what he was doing to her..

"Good morning.." Wanda replied, and she definitely wasn't blushing, because demons did not blush over half-naked angels, especially when she had had said angel's cock in her mouth more than once, and he had regularly had his fingers buried inside her, which rendered any blushing over a simple state of partial undress particularly ridiculous. "Um.. you're not hiding your wings this morning."

"Well, as there's no-one here I really need to be hiding them from, I didn't see the need" Vision shrugged. "You already know what I am, and you quite like my wings.. anyway, I wasn't sure what you would like for breakfast, so I've laid out a few options. Unless you would rather just wait and save room for our Picnic?"

"Hmm?" Wanda was confused for a moment, until her slightly distracted brain remembered that it was Saturday, the weekends being the time Vision had time to dial up his romantic overtures since he was free from his job at the School. "We're going on a picnic?"

"I thought we might, if you'd like to" Vision continued, turning from her as he continued to pack various food items into a small basket. "And you were looking so peaceful that I let you sleep in, so it is technically almost lunchtime soon anyway.."

"Yeah.. I think I'll just save the room then" Wanda replied. "Do I have time for a quick shower first?"

"Of course, go ahead."

Wanda hurried off, and once she was out sight, Vision smirked. He may have been naïve in a lot of ways, but he had learned from Wanda's lessons.. and she just loved his wings.

Once she was naked and situated beneath the shower's warm spray, Wanda groaned.

This was absolutely, definitely not the plan. She was supposed to reject the Angel's attempts to romance her, she was supposed to break his heart. His wooing was never supposed to work. She was not supposed to fall deeper into forbidden love with him. And she was definitely not supposed to turn into a blushing school girl over seeing Vision without a shirt.

As she thought about the matter further, Wanda realized that it wasn't even really his shirtlessness that had got to her.. Or his wings, however much she might have liked them wrapped around her.

She'd been more thrown off by the sheer domesticity of it all.. Of finding him in the Kitchen, packing a lunch for them, as if it was something so completely normal,something that could happen every day.. A snippet of the kind of life she had once hoped for before her demonic transformation shattered any chance of 'domestic' or 'normal'.

This hopeless, pointless dreaming couldn't go on. It had to stop, for Vision's sake, and her own, before they were found out, and one or likely both of them ended up dead.. Yet every time she thought of pushing him away, Wanda's shattered heart ached, rebelling and objecting to what her head needed to do. And as she finished her shower, dried herself off, dressed, and headed out with a pasted-on smile to ask Vision what he was packing for their picnic, it didn't look like that would be changing Today.

Vision and Wanda traveled to a park a few blocks outside of the bad neighborhood, and wandered around for a bit in search of a perfect picnic spot. Being a Saturday, the park was largely occupied by families, children riding bikes, flying kites, tossing around balls and frisbees, playing on the available playground equipment.

As they walked, a little girl rushed out in front of them in pursuit of a rogue ball, and tripped, falling over. Before Vision had time to react, Wanda had hurried forward, helping the child to her feet. The little girl sniffled, but hadn't actually started crying.

"There there, cel mic, no need for tears.. What's your name?"

"C-Cassie.."

"Well, It doesn't look like you're hurt too badly, Cassie" Wanda quickly looked the girl over, as Vision watched them both with a strange sense of awe. "You just gave yourself a fright, didn't you?"

"Uh-huh" Cassie nodded.

"Are you here with your Mommy and Daddy, Cassie?"

"Just my Daddy."

"Well, you take this and hurry back to him" Wanda retrieved the ball Cassie had been chasing, handing it back to her. "Be more careful with your ball next time, okay?"

"Okay" Cassie rushed off, back the way she had come, to a rather frantic looking man who had been looking for her.

Vision, so taken off guard by the sweet scene he had just witnessed, didn't even notice Wanda had moved until she squeezed his hand.

"Picnic?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"Hmm? Oh yes, of course, our picnic.."

The two of them eventually settled beneath a nice tree, shady, but with just the right amount of light peeking down between the trees. They munched on the wares packed in Vision's basket.. sandwiches, salads, a few pastries. Made small talk about weather, TV, Vision's work at the school. Eventually, however, Vision found himself with other, potentially more serious questions.

"You were brilliant with that little girl earlier.." He said, pouring a cup of Wanda's favorite herbal tea from a thermos.

"Cute little thing, wasn't she?" Wanda took the cup, taking a sip.

"Yes. Have you ever, um, thought about having children of your own?"

Wanda very nearly spat out her tea.

"You can't be serious."

"It's not an unusual question to ask someone you are on a date with" Vision pointed out.

"Fair enough.. Maybe, once upon a time. My Mother and Father always wanted to move us to the U.S.. bought into the 'great American Dream' and all that crap. I did too, since I was young and stupid and didn't know any better. And yeah, I guess at one point, that might have included having kids one day.." A small smile tugged at Wanda's lips, but quickly faded.

"What changed?"

"You really need to ask that, Inger?"

"Humor me" said Vision.

"Well, my parents died, and when Pietro and I did eventually get here, it was no dream. Then.. this" Wanda sighed, letting her eyes flicker red for a moment. "I could never willingly bring a child into the world I'm part of now. Any chance that there's something you love.. other demons wouldn't hesitate to use that against you."

"Oh.." Vision frowned. "Yes, I suppose that is an important point to consider.."

"What about you, though, Vision? Do you want to make some mici ingeri someday?"

"I haven't thought a lot about it.." Vision replied, and he meant it, although suddenly, an image of tiny Wandas with wings danced through his mind. "We.. Angels.. we, um, are expected to work for a while before we think about settling down. But I suppose, one day, it might be nice to have some little ones around."

"Hmm.." Wanda drained the last of her tea, then shifted, laying down, her head resting in Vision's lap, eyes drifting shut.

"Are you alright, Wanda?" Vision frowned.

"Just resting my eyes" Said tiny winged babies fluttered behind her eyelids, like the perfect little cherubs in statues or on greeting cards, except that they had her own dark hair. A dream that could never come true, and yet she couldn't bring herself to open her eyes and let the image go. She really needed to think about something else, anything else. "So.. what's it like up there?"

"Up where?"

"You know.." Wanda gestured vaguely upwards. "Up there. Where you come from. Home. What's it like?"

"Why do you want to know that?" Vision was confused.

"Just curious. I mean, it's not like I'll ever see it. A description from you is the closest I'm ever going to get. But if you'd rather not tell me I understand. It must be hard for an angel to trust a demon.."

"No, I trust you.."

"You do?"

"You've never given me a reason not to" Vision shrugged, gently stroking Wanda's hair as she rested in his lap, like it was already a habit, something he would do forever. "Up there… There's light, but not the too bright kind, sort of just a soft, pleasant glow. Always clean, and everyone is always busy.. A lot of coming and going."

"Sounds nice.." Wanda sighed contentedly at Vision's touch.

"Maybe you could see it" Vision mused, "If you came up with me.."

"Yeah, right.." Wanda cracked one eye open. "They don't just let Demons into Heaven, Vision."

"But maybe, if you were with me.. We could explain.. If they could see the good parts of you, see you like I do.."

"It's a nice thought, Inger, but I think we both know that's not going to happen."

"You're right.. It's silly.." Vision's face fell. "Ridiculous.."

Now this fit the plan. Break the Angel's heart, stomp it into itty-bitty pieces, then get far away from him, so he would be safe. This was good. Wanda should let Vision be sad. Let him be hurt. But..

"Hey.." She sat up. "Even if it can't happen.. It really was a nice thought."

"But stupid.." The Angel huffed.

"A lot of nice thoughts are stupid.. Come here."

"What?"

"You heard me."

After a moment, Vision moved closer to her, and Wanda kissed him, a kiss somewhere between their recent softer ones, and the more heated kisses of their lessons. Eventually, his arms wrapped around her, simply to draw her closer.

This couldn't go on. For Vision's own good, it couldn't. But Wanda wanted to dream for just a little longer.