Chapter Text
After their verbal agreement, the pair took time in silently lounging together, the air around them less tense after their small bonding moment. With the eerie quiet and lack of active movement on the adjacent wall, Yelena assumed the teen had fallen asleep so she made move to leave when Wanda let out a small protesting whine, ‘where are you going?’ she clumsily went to scribble on her board.
Wiping her hands off on her pajama bottoms, Yelena tilted her head as she spoke, “I assumed you fell asleep so I was going back to bed.”
‘Oh. I wasn’t asleep so you don’t have to go,’ Wanda held up with innocent eyes and for some reason, Yelena was having a hard time continuing for the door.
She took a seat back on the floor, rolling her eyes in a teasing gesture, “you know it’s rude not to entertain your guests right?”
‘To be fair, you barged in here uninvited so I wouldn’t necessarily say you’re a guest,’ Wanda wrote on her board, looking very unimpressed with Yelena’s statement.
“Ugh, whatever,” she breezed, “I’ll still stay though.”
Tapping her knees nervously to kill time, Wanda pursed her lips then clicked her tongue to get the Russian’s attention before writing on her board and sliding it over, ‘did they teach you how to pick locks in the Red Room?’
Yelena’s back straightens against her will at the mention of the Red Room but she answers regardless, though her answer is curt, “yes.” She watches with careful eyes as Wanda writes something else down on her board; this line of questioning had a strong possibility of heading south rather quickly.
‘So mama know how to pick locks too?’ Yelena reads in her head, taking a second to process what she was asked.
“Yeah. She could’ve picked the lock anytime to get to you but unlike me, she respects your boundaries too much to do so,” she smugly grins behind pearly teeth.
With a sarcastic eye roll Wanda signs, ‘thanks for that,’ at Yelena’s statement (though she didn’t understand), erasing her board to ask more questions. ‘Can you teach me how to pick locks?’
With raised eyebrows, Yelena stared Wanda down, who holds a strong expression despite the intensity of Yelena’s own gaze. “Would your mother teach you?” the blonde questions slowly.
Wanda only shrugs, there’s a possibility her mama might but she doesn’t know for sure and there’s a part of her that doesn’t feel inclined to ask her. A mischievous smile crosses Yelena’s lips at the half answer, “well then… yes. Let me get us some real food first though,” she states, pushing herself up by her hands to leave the room.
Wanda hums to occupy the empty space, an indiscernible emotion hidden in her face as she took in her surroundings. She appreciated Yelena’s company, more than she thought she would, but she also needed a few minutes alone to get her bearings due to feeling extremely uncomfortable. She knows it wasn’t Yelena’s presence that caused the feeling to manifest so the most logical explanation was that it was residual feelings from last night brewing beneath. The best way to describe what she was experiencing was comparing it to a hum; a constant under the skin buzzing that resonates deep in her body, flowing hazardously through her veins. Shifting uncomfortably against the wall, Wanda did what she unfortunately did well- suppressing the anxiousness the buzzing made her feel. Sucking in a deep breath, all negative thoughts and physical feelings were pushed down somewhere that was a little harder to access; relieving some of the nausea she was experiencing in accordance with the anxiety.
When Yelena comes back less than 10 minutes later, it’s with two sandwiches and two water bottles. She hands Wanda her portions them crosses the room to sit on the floor with her legs tucked under her, keeping an observative watch on Wanda to ensure she ate. It was a simple meal, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with water on the side, not much of a breakfast but suitable enough to count as a full meal. Once the teen finished her sandwich and sipped over a quarter of her water, that’s when the blonde approached her. “Are you done? Good,” she answered, not waiting for a proper response from the young Sokovia. “On your feet,” she helped the teen rise, “now take this,” she shoved the homemade kit into Wanda’s hands. Yelena explained what each tool was, their purpose, and how they worked. However, the actual display of opening a locked door was much more complicated as in order to lock the door one had to be on the other side; rendering the entire lesson useless so Yelena had to get creative.
Finding a small key lock on one of Nat’s draws, she was able to successfully demonstrate how to open a lock. “You can use this to practice until we find a suitable replacement but it should do,” she huffed, tossing the lock in the air for Wanda to collect while also mentally congratulating herself on her quick thinking skills. She knocked away Wanda’s hand when she attempted to return the picking kit, “keep it. I don’t need it anyways. And if I do I can always make another,” she shrugs, her smirk morphing into a smile at Wanda’s appreciative grin.
‘Thanks Yelena,’ she gratefully smiled, tucking both the lock and kit into her backpack.
“Well… as much fun as this has been and I do mean a bunch,” Yelena largely stretched, popping her back in the process, “I’m going back to sleep. I’ll see you at lunch probably … no yeah lunch,” she backtracked before finally exiting.
The excitement of learning a new useful skill almost overshadowed the incessant buzzing Wanda was experiencing earlier. It only seemed to worsen in severity to the point that Wanda has to bite her tongue, literally bite her tongue, to keep her discomfort at bay. The metallic tang assaulted her taste buds as she swallowed the bitter taste down, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt bottom. The cycle repeated itself for an hour- intense buzzing resulting in Wanda minorly injuring herself (tongue biting till it drew blood, digging sharp nails into palms, lightly slapping her thigh) which distracted her for a bit until the discomfort became insurmountable again. She had just finished biting at the knuckle on her left hand when she heard a knock on the door.
“Wanda, sweetie, can we come in?” It was her mama and by the sound of it, papa too. Sinking her teeth into her knuckle one final time, she urged herself to rise to her feet to open the door for the concerned faces of her parents on the other side.
Gently resting his hand on top of Wanda’s head, Steve’s blue eyes aggressively searched her over as he spoke, “are you alright? Something had you upset?” he inquired.
Wanda nods to both his questions, a small part of her feeling grateful that her mama didn’t explicitly detail the events of her panic attack. She was guided to sit on the edge of the bed by her papa, the knowledge of them all needing to have a conversation together the main reason for the behavior. Natasha took a seat to Wanda’s right while Steve sat situated to her left, “do you want to talk about last night?”
Adamantly opposed to that statement, Wanda immediately shakes her head, ‘no, I can’t. It’s too much,’ she signs.
A nonverbal exchange happens between the parents involving minute eyebrow raises and scrunches.
“Okay. It’s fine, we don’t have to talk if it makes you uncomfortable,” Steve easily diverted the subject.
Brushing a hand through Wanda’s loose hair, Natasha tenderly gazes at her, “have you eaten?” She’s a little taken back when Wanda nods yes; she usually didn’t prepare her own meals and if she did, it took a lot of effort to coax her to do so. “When did you do that?”
‘I didn’t, Yelena brought me food,’ the girl replied, squeezing Natasha’s heart at her sister’s actions; she was holding to her word of being nicer.
“So you’ve eaten but we can tell you haven’t slept. You should take a nap,” Natasha suggests, rubbing her hand up Wanda’s arm.
Wanda shrugs, getting up to find Owl, ‘are you gonna stay with me?’
As Natasha prepared the space, Steve’s voice interjected her thoughts, “we still have to pack a few more things so we’ll stay until you fall asleep, if you would like.” His sign language and understanding of it was improving though he was still nowhere near Natasha’s or even Wanda’s level. Wanda smiles at that, crawling into the space Natasha purposely left open for her. Steve joins in after the two get comfortable, crossing his legs at the ankle with his hands behind his head with a sigh. He tells her about the appropriate parts of the date while Natasha tells her about the house in Norway. In 15 minutes, she’s asleep with her arms around Owl.
“Let’s finish packing,” Steve whispers to Natasha, gently taking her hand to help her out of bed. With a kiss to her forehead form each parent, the pair leave the room to get ready for the flight in the morning. They each kiss her head before leaving.
The nap did it’s job in reducing her tired state but nothing for her humming veins. It increased to the point that tears welled up in the corner of her eyes so taking a different approach, she succumbs to the feeling instead of repressing it. Relief immediately washes over her in waves. Digging her nails into her palm, she flexes her fingers to gain circulation again except she does something she doesn’t expect. Her eyes furrow in both concentration and confusion at the barely visible red wisps dancing along her fingertips. With a soothing breath, she refocuses her attention on her hand, contorting her fingers the way she used to when she she did her magic; this time the wisps stay with more purpose, presenting themselves in a cherry red color. She gasps in disbelief then pathetically whines; her powers were back but she didn’t want them, they’ve caused her too many issues as is. She’d have to hide it; she could do that she thought to herself, no one would have to know. Later that night, after her parents made sure everything was packed and in the respective vehicles, they said their good nights and drifted off to bed, ready for sleep and an early morning flight.
A multitude of hugs and kisses were exchanged in the early morning as Alexei and Melina saw their family off. Throwing her arms around her grandpa in the biggest bear hug she could manage, Wanda signed goodbye as she pulled away.
“Oh my tiny spider, my kroshechnyy pauk, I’ll miss you,” he rocks her from side to side, “you still have our number right?” he whispers lowly in her ear to which she pats the front pocket of her backpack.
“Good. Call whenever, mm. Don’t forget about your Deda… Babka either,” he grins down at her. Wanda nods with a bright grin back then shakes her head at the statement. Once she received her phone, they were going to be the first people she called- no question.
Switching her attentions to her Babka, Wanda gave her the same affections, nuzzling her cheek against her chest.
“My little cherub, this was a delight. You are so much like our Natasha. Don’t passively let Yelena keep bullying you,” she said with a stern look.
“Ugh mama! We’ve already worked past that!” Yelena yelled from the passenger side of Melina’s car.
“Either way… I love you,” she crooned against the top of Wanda’s hair. She smiled when the teen released a content hum.
“I love you too, vnucka!” Alexei loudly announced from his vehicle. Melina just shook her head with a powerful eye roll.
“He is too much. I love him,” she relayed to the teen with love.
“I love you too Mother!” Another eye roll presented itself.
“Come, we don’t want you to be late for the flight,” Melina announced, leading Wanda to the forest green SUV in the driveway.
Yelena and Sam ride with Melina while the others pile into the SUV. The ride to the airport was smooth and so was getting through the checkpoints until Wanda was pulled aside for a routine pat down. The workers were professional, keeping their hands flat and in sight and thankfully also women. She bit her lip the entire time as the touching made her anxiety spike; she somehow managed to keep her powers at bay until she was reunited to her parent’s side where they promptly checked to see if she was mentally alright. Forcing her powers to stay inside while surrounded by all these strangers in a public location actually did make her feel alright, much to her parents relief; not that they knew the inner turmoils she was facing. Along the hours long flight, Natasha maintains simple conversation with her family in English and Russian while using ASL- a learning lesson for everyone involved. It was a straight flight from Russia to Norway, thankfully, and the weather change was welcomed.
It took the train and a bus (since they stopped to get a few groceries) to bring them to their new home. The house was modern but warm- resembling a high end cottage. Natasha stopped the two at the end of the driveway , pulling a gun from inside a garden bush on the side of the house to inspect the outside then inside for any suspicious activity. Looking down from the balcony, she smiled down at the two and waved a hand, gesturing them to come in. The house was huge but not cold. The floor plan involved an open floor space on the first floor- the kitchen, living room, and dining room were always visible, no matter which room you were in. There was a half bathroom down the hall by the closet and a room that Natasha said would double as her and Steve’s office for their aliases- she would be a professor at one of the Universities while Steve was a Visual Media Consultant. Upstairs lies the master bedroom, a small sun room, 2 other unoccupied rooms and a bathroom situated near the end of the hall. Wanda claimed the room furthest from her parents, a con but the pro, and main reason for picking it, was closest that it was closer the hall bathroom.
They had two vehicles in the driveway, one a black SVU and the other a gunmetal gray compact car and a backyard which Wanda sped towards when Natasha opened the door. Examining the outdoor area, she grew more giddy as her imagination ran free though she held back a bit as not to activate her magic- there was enough space to have a garden and also a hammock on the porch. For dinner, they have Yelena and Sam come over and have fast food- every single person too tired from traveling all day to go through the process of making a home cooked meal; not that anyone minded the burgers and fries provided by Burgr. As they ate, Natasha chuckled to herself when Wanda began dozing off while chewing on some fries.
Pushing her chair out with her knees, Natasha placed a gentle hand on Wanda’s forearm, “we’ll be back,” she directed to the others, pulling the girl to her feet, “come on malysh.”
The mix matched trio silently ate when Steve pushed out his chair after finishing his meal. He opened his mouth to say something when Yelena immediately stopped him, ”we’re sleeping over,” she munched on her burger, “just so you know. So good night, see you in the morning,” she waved.
Steve’s eyes drifted from Yelena to Sam who just smirked around his straw, “you heard the lady. Good night,” he waved off. “We’ll clean up!” he yelled up the stairs behind them as an afterthought.
Steve rubs his face when he makes it into his daughter’s room, letting his eyes droop as he crawls in to the unoccupied area behind Wanda, “Sam and Yelena are spending the night, their unanimous agreement that I just went along with,” he sleepily explained.
“I figured as much,” Natasha confirmed, running her free hand through his hair, “it’s okay though. We need them here in the morning so we can discuss our courses of action.”
“So it all works out,” he yawned, pecking Wanda on the forehead. “Is she already asleep?” he pulled back when he noticed her steady breathing.
“Yep. Basically as soon as she touched blanket,” Natasha lowly affirmed, her voice raspy and sluggish. They assume that flight tiredness, long day of travel put Wanda out when in reality; she was exhausted from hiding/ suppressing her powers for the past 15 hours which burned through her energy reserve. Steve and Natasha (and Yelena and Sam in the extra room) fall asleep about 30 minutes later, all day travel and filling food aiding in their mission to sleep. When the sun shines bright the next morning, it’s Steve and Sam in the kitchen together preparing a large breakfast with the few groceries purchased last night. Waffles, scrambled and over easy eggs, fruit, and coffee and tea sit on the table greeting the women when they make their way downstairs.
“Morning,” Yelena greeted first, Wanda waving a hello to everyone right behind her.
Yelena plated her own breakfast, dramatically melting at the the first taste of the tea, “ugh, I love a man that knows his way around a kitchen. And I don’t mean with meth.”
Mint green eyes widened in playful surprise, Wanda’s fork hanging in her mouth while Steve tsk’d at the younger Russian, scrambling more eggs in the pan with his spatula. “Yelena.”
“What? Is a compliment!” She argued, taking a bite full of eggs.
“I’ll accept it, thanks Yelena!” Sam gratefully took, placing more cut fruit on the table.
“See, Sam is smart man. You’re welcome Sam,” she beamed in his direction with pearly teeth.
“I don’t know-“ Steve started, cut off by the husky greeting of his girlfriend. “Morning.”
“Dobroye utro,” Yelena replies.
“Morning,” the others greeted back in unison, Wanda waving a chipper hello in tandem.
“What were you guys talking about?” she probed, snagging a strawberry as Sam was about to put a knife through it. “That’s dangerous,” he singsonged, replacing the strawberry with another fruit.
“So I’ve been told,” she smirked, “so… the previous conversation?”
“Good cooking and meth,” Yelena bluntly stated to which Natasha nodded.
“Yelena says she likes a man that knows his way around a kitchen,” Steve chuckled, “to which she relayed the conversation to meth.”
Tapping the table twice with her hand, Wanda tilted her head while putting down her tea, ‘is that how you really make meth? In a kitchen?’
“Yes it really is,” Natasha smiled, “watch Breaking Bad. It’ll show it better than I or Google can explain,” she laughed.
“I don’t think a 16 year old should be learning how to make meth,” Steve admonished, handing Wanda her breakfast with a frown.
“Why not? It’s a reasonable business venture,” Sam hopped on the train.
“Because now it’s an archetype, a cliche,” Steve argued back, taking the spot between Sam and Yelena.
“Cliche how?” Sam incredulously asked.
“Not to be that person but you’re going to have the foreigner selling meth? It’s like something out of an action movie,” he replied, silencing the room. He grew concerned when nobody else said anything, more so afraid that he offended his daughter than anything when light giggles bubbled from the other side of the table. Wanda was giggling behind her hand, eyes and nose scrunched up in pure happiness. ‘That’s funny papa,’ she signed, stabbing into her fruit to eat, ‘I think I’d be good at it though. Minus the math portion.’
Bumping her elbow into her sister’s, Yelena leaned close to whisper in her ear, “what’d she say?”
“That minus the math part of it, she thinks she’d be good at selling drugs,” Natasha mumbled back, shoving a forkful of waffle in her mouth.
“Oh,” Yelena hums.
“My teenage daughter thinking she would be a good drug dealer… riveting conversations at 7:30 in the morning,” Steve scowled, sipping at his coffee.
Sam shrugged nonchalantly, “cause what else would we talk about?”
“Nor-“ he pauses, straining his ears (though he didn’t have to with the super soldier serum coursing through his veins) to listen again. Two more knocks on the front door confirmed his hearing, tensing his muscles as he went on alert. Both Widows withdrew handguns from various places; Natasha from under the table and Yelena from under her seat, faces blank with burning eyes.
“Sam… Yelena… stay here,” Steve firmly instructed, voice strong and unwavering, what the other three knew as his Captain America voice.
Stalking over to the door, Steve took the front lead, Natasha covering his back from behind the nearest wall. Pointing two fingers in her direction, Steve reached for the handle and twisted, adrenaline pushing through him to prepare for an arduous fight. Not hesitating any further, he yanked the door wide, throwing out a right punch when his expression went neutral as his brain processed what was in front of him. Waving off to the side, Steve’s mouth opened and closed twice before he got out what he needed to say, “Nat… Nat… stand down. Come look,” he advised.
Though she didn’t put the gun completely away, only pointing it towards the ground, the former redhead slinked up to stand right next to Steve to see what he saw. And what they saw, they didn’t expect.