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Chapter Text

“Wanda?” Natasha’s word was both a question and a greeting, her eyes darting around the bathroom like she expected some threat to come crashing through the vanity. This behavior did not alarm said woman however. After three years fighting alongside the master spy she’d come to expect it. Nat was conditioned to prepare for the worst… and it wasn’t often that Wanda entered her head from halfway across Avenger’s facility, a physic distress call on her mind.

“It’s fine.” Wanda attempted to explain exactly why she had summoned other woman, hoping her voice wouldn’t shake too much. “I’m not in that kind of trouble.”

“You’re on the floor.” Natasha observed, clearly not convinced.

“Y-yeah.” Here Wanda’s voice did break. Shifting in the spot where she’d collapsed a few minutes earlier the woman took a shaky breath as if she could actually will her nervousness away. The action, she could see, did little to reassure her teammate. “My legs gave out. I’ve had a bit of a- a- shock.”

 “A shock? Precisely what kind of trouble are you in?”

Wanda didn’t answer right away. Instead her muscles went rigid as Natasha’s eye’s thinned, studying her for a long moment.  Generally, Wanda (and Nat too for that matter) was known around avenger’s facility for keeping her private affairs private. So faced with exposing this part of herself, even to Natasha who she liked and trusted, gave the woman’s already rattled emotions a rather violent thrash.

Panicked tears tickled at the corner of her eyes then, her mouth suddenly feeling rather dry and useless. The last time she’d been this torn and confused was when she’d lost her brother. Wanda had blown an entire cathedral worth of robots to dust then. It is probably best I don’t do that here. A calmer part of the woman’s thoughts fought for supremacy.  No matter how much I actually dislike the shower’s backsplash.

Still, even as Wanda attempted to will tension from her body, she did not trust her legs to hold her weight. Not when her nerves insisted on going off like land mines every other minute. So the woman summoned scarlet to her hands. Uncurling her fingers from their rigid grip tangled in her skirt Wanda revealed what she had been hiding there, levitating object into Natasha’s space.

 “A pregnancy test?” Nat simply raised an eyebrow.

“Yes.” Wanda made a short, quick nod in confirmation. “And it is positive.”

“I can see that.” The other woman replied rather calmly, her voice sounding to controlled. To untrained ears her tone might have seemed light and curious. Yet Wanda knew Nat well enough to hear past the casual façade. Underneath airy words there was seriousness. “Congratulations I guess, but shouldn’t you be talking to your android about this instead of me? I’m probably not the best person to give advice about babies anyway, if that is where this is going.”

Despite everything else, Wanda had to hold back a scoff at Natasha’s words. Sometimes she wondered how Nat could be just so Nat and still doubt herself when it came to other things. She had a hand in managing Clint’s children after all.

“I don’t want Vision to know about this.” Wanda ended up skimming over topic entirely. That was a matter for another time and place. “At least not yet. Not until I understand what is going on, because this-this-“

“Isn’t possible.” Natasha finished for her when Wanda faltered for words.

“Exactly.” She said inside an exhale, her voice lowering to less than a whisper. Wanda could feel parallel thoughts working their way through Natasha’s mind. She didn’t even have to look inside her friend’s head to know what she was thinking. It was visible enough in her eyes. Thoughts going a million miles a second, just like Wanda’s had upon first seeing that little pink plus on the pregnancy test. It was, just as Nat said, not possible. There was no actual scientific way it would happen, because it simply just didn’t work like that… Vision didn’t work like that.

“I’m going to ask you some rather blunt questions.” Nat finally spoke. All attempts to sound indifferent gone. For some reason, (maybe it was reassuring to know she wasn’t the only one bewildered) this relaxed Wanda’s sparking nerves a bit.  Showing she understood she gave a short nod. The other woman nodded back, relenting her own tense posture then. Apparently satisfied (…for now…) there was no present physical danger the master spy crossed her arms in a somewhat leisure pose, relaxing against the doorframe outlining her.

“Just so I’m sure.” She began. “You know how this generally happens right? Or do I have to give you the birds and the bees talk?”

“I’m confused not ten.” Wanda hissed, red heat flushing across her skin despite herself. “I know how sex works Natasha. I think it is rather apparent, considering my present situation, I am having it.”

 “Moving on then.” Nat segwayed without missing a beat. “I’ll try to spare you some modesty here because I’m a nice person like that, and because I just don’t want to know the details. But what I have to know is, is it sex in the traditional sense? I mean are you two actually putting screw A into slot B? Or is it more of a ‘shove anything else in there so long as it gets the job done’ sort of deal?”

“I hate you a little bit right now.” To the other woman’s credit, Natasha simply blinked when Wanda shot her a disgruntled look. Even after red briefly flashing in her eyes.

“Just answer the question.”

 “The way we have sex is no different than how anyone else has sex. If you must know Vision has all the parts. He just doesn’t… have the ingredients to make a baby.”

“Have you been having any extra creditor activities then? Or has a third party ever been involved?”

“Oh for god’s sake Nat.” Wanda shot back with a bit of a grit in her voice from the implication. “No. There has been no one else.”

“Huh.” Was all Natasha mustered for a moment, her head tilting to one side in thought. “Have you thought of the possibility that it might be a fluke then? A false positive.”

“A fluke?” Honestly the idea hadn’t yet crossed the woman’s mind. She’d been too wrapped up in the how this could have happened she didn’t really pause to question is this actually happening.

A few hours later Wanda sat on her bed, waiting for the results of the seventh pregnancy test the pair had recently bought. So far every device, save for the three Natasha insisted on taking (to serve as a control group she’d said), had turned out positive.

“Even if this last one is negative-” The woman breather as Nat finished up the last of a gallon of raspberry-lemonade they had also purchased for occasion. “I think three out of four is evidence enough. I- Just- We still don’t know how this is happening.”

For a long time, sense before the fall of Sukovia or even the manifestation of her powers, Wanda had suspected she’d never have children of her own. At first her quest for revenge had been all encompassing, then there had been the Hydra experiments. Though Wanda didn’t know what everything she’d been exposed to was (and most the time she didn’t want to know) the ways she’d been poked and prodded… Sterilized was a rather logical conclusion for anyone to make.

 “You know.” Nat chimed, taking another swig from the lemonade bottle. “We’ve been focusing on the how all afternoon. Maybe we should take a step back from that for a while.” Wanda opened her mouth then, ready to argue that the how felt pretty damn important to her, but her teammate cut her off. Swift to react as she always was. “Like you said, regardless of what this last test says, you are most definitely pregnant. Think what that means. You are going to have a baby Wanda. An actual baby. Now, whether that excites or scared the living shit out of you is up to you and Vision, but it is happening.”

As if Natasha could also play with people’s mind her words hit Wanda hard and fast. She was going to have a baby. She was going to raise a child. (Even without thinking Wanda knew any offspring she had would remain hers.) Wanda Maximoff, the girl who had lost everything when Sokovia fell, the enhanced human being that had managed to find new life and meaning with old enemies, and the woman who'd fallen in love with a synthesized man was going to be a mother.

“Fuck.”

“Don’t get me wrong.” Natasha spoke like she hadn’t just hear her comrade curse like she’d just been winded. “We’ll make an appointment with Helen Cho tomorrow. Maybe she can figure out the science to how. You might even want to check with Steven Strange. In case this is less science and more mysticism. Which given it’s you, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“Screw the how this is happening.” Wanda found herself saying, surprising even herself. “How am I supposed to explain this to Vision?”

Chapter Text

The passage of a few days time, an appointment with Dr. Cho, and Natasha just being Natasha, had helped take the edge off of the possibility that Wanda might never know the details of how this had happened. Still, despite a growing sense of comfort with her unorthodox position, the not knowing how certainly wasn’t helping to make the idea of explaining it any less daunting. What was she going to say to the team when she started to suffer from morning sickness? How would the media react upon realizing the Scarlet Witch had been benched because she has started to show a baby bump? Most importantly though, what was Wanda going to say to Vision?

This, more than anything else, was why the woman had spent the past few days in a mental haze. It was a wonder she had not imploded yet, or worse, spectacularly combusted something into scarlet flames. Because really, what was she going to tell Vision? ‘Hey we did the do, and this is crazy, but now I’m pregnant with your baby.’

            Wanda couldn’t help snorting into her cup of green tea at the irony of the situation. Of all the chaos in her life (the Stark bomb, being orphaned and struggling to survive as a result, the Hydra experiments, Ultron, Pietro’s death, plus everything that came with being an Avenger) this was probably the most nerve racking situation Wanda had ever been in. If she was having a hard enough time figuring out how to tell her boyfriend she was pregnant, how in heaven’s name was she supposed to actually handle being pregnant? Let alone raising a child?

            Trying desperately (and mostly failing) to calm her frazzled nerves, Wanda took a sip of her drink. Green tea was a magical elixir, a tried and true method of relaxation. Yet, for whatever reason, it was currently proving to be counter effective. Such a pity it decided to let her down now. She scowled down at the cup in disappointment, as if a stern look would grant her the resolute she wanted.

“You alright over there Wand?”

“Fine.” The woman managed to lie somewhat convincingly as she cast Clint a momentary glace. He was seated in an armchair to her left and Wanda could just make out a curiously concerned look spreading across his features despite her passable reassurance. She did her best to ignore his expression however, because she had more a more important matter to worry about.

The more important matter in question was Vision, who was currently seated on the sofa directly across from her reading today's edition of The Daily Bugle. He was right there, just pursuing the latest article about the supposed ‘spider-person-menace-to-society’, and yet she still hadn’t breathed more than a brief "Hello," to him since the two men had joined her in the common room. In her defense, Clint was also right there, inconveniently ruining any heart-felt words Wanda might have been able to muster just by being present.

Just get on with it! Wanda thought for a split second when her eyes met Vision’s as he looked up from his article at Clint’s inquiry, catching her staring. He tilted his head just a hair at her steady gaze, his own features twisting in mild worry.

“Wanda?”

Taking another fruitless sip from her cup, if only to spare herself one more second, Wanda internally cursed. Was she really that easy to read? Regardless, it didn’t feel like she had much of a choice as to what she did now.

“Vihz.” Wanda forced, somehow managing to keep her voice steady as she placed her cup down on coffee table between them. Enough was enough. No more putting this off. Even if Clint was right there, still eyeing her like the parental figure she hadn’t had since she was seven. He was going to find out about this eventually anyway. “I’m pregnant.”

Wanda held Visions gaze, trying very hard to overlook the sudden movement she caught from Clint in her prorifrial vision and a rather bird like squawk that came from the same place…. How appropriate.

She watched as the mild concern on the synthesized man across from her began to solidify into something more rigid. It was almost as if Vision had subconsciously altered his density at the news and could no longer hold his features steady.

“And you are the father, by the way.” Wanda found herself adding when nothing had been said or done for several strained moments too many. Including, surprisingly, from where she assumed Clint still sat. She dare not turn to check. He was probably stunned shitless, Wanda guessed, considering how uncharacteristically quiet he was being. The man had made it quite clear since early in their relationship that Wanda was now his responsibility. She was essentially, in his eyes, his adopted child.

"I- I do not understand.” Her boyfriend finally spoke, his voice uncharacteristically strained. “That is not… possible.”

“Apparently it is possible.” Wanda laughed a little here. Maybe because that is exactly what she said to Natasha about forty-eight hours ago. Or maybe because if she didn’t laugh at some point during this conversation something in the room might explode.

“But, I do not produce-“ Vision hesitated as another unmanly squawk came from their audience. Vision looked in Clint’s direction then, as if just remembering the archer was with them. Wanda, however her nerves sparking at every noise either man made, refused to follow his gaze. She would not be distracted by Clint, no matter how he might be reacting to all this. Vison’s response was the only one she cared about right now.

So instead of granting Clint the sideways glance she knew he probably wanted her to make, Wanda tried to draw Vision’s attention back to her and conversation at hand.

“If you don’t believe me there are seven positive pregnancy test back in my room that speak for themselves. You can go look if you’d like. I’ll wait.”

“It is not that I don’t believe you Wanda," Turning his sight back to her Vison’s fingers fidgeted with the newspaper still in his hands. It was a tell Wanda recognized. He often couldn’t keep his hands still when flustered.  “I just- Are you absolutely sure?”

“Seven pregnancy test Vizh. Seven. I’ve also talked to Helen Cho if that counts for anything. I know she’s no obstetrician or gynecologist, but she is a doctor and she did confirm it.”

“Wanda-“ Again Vison faltered. If Wanda wasn’t so nerve-racked herself, she probably would have found his awkwardness endearing. She most likely would have smiled at the synthesized man in the way she knew calmed him and held his hand to ease his anxiety. But since Wanda felt just as stressed as her boyfriend presently looked, she opted to stay put. “I don’t- I don’t know how to be a father.”

“What?”

“I’ve no idea how to be a father.”

Wanda blinked once, twice, thrice, taking in what her boyfriend had just said. Opposite her she could see, quiet plainly, how hard he was trying to keep his expression calm. His eyes were fixated on hers. Yet the woman could also see he was still fiddling with his newspaper, which was becoming quite wrinkled. His sight, every so often, flickered down as if ashamed of his confession.

“Is that what worries you the most about this? Not the how or the why? But that you might not be a good dad?”

“I suppose-“ Again Vision’s gaze flinched away from hers for a moment, but it returned before he continued. “Yes. That is accurate. I trust your judgment as well as Dr. Cho’s. If the both of you believe that this has happened, somehow someway, then so do I. Stranger things have happened. Stranger things happen to us on a regular basis. The idea of being a father though - It is unsettling.”

“So... you are okay with this?”

"I don’t quite think ‘okay’ is how I would describe my present state of being. I am a lot of things right now... Wanda…I don’t know how to be a father.”

“Oh Vihz.” Wanda sighed from her side of the room, ready to bolt across distance between them and take Vision’s hands in hers. She would have too, if not for the somewhat skittish look lingering on his face. “You know what? I have no idea how to be a mother. It’s a terrifying thought isn’t it?”

Vision smiled at this. He opened his mouth as if to comment, a bit of that flighty look in his features dissolving. All of a sudden, his eyes focused intently on something behind her. In the next moment Wanda heard a swift whoosh and a brief breeze close to her shoulder. The woman registered something go straight through her boyfriend then, in the same moment he (thankful) changed his density. Gingerly, wearing his own expression of bewilderment, Vision stood up and stepped aside the sofa. There, lodged deeply where he had been sitting just a second prior, was an arrow.

“That-” The woman heard Clint hiss from directly behind her, “-is for knocking up my daughter.”

Chapter Text

After Wanda’s first appointment with Helen Cho (before she’d even mustered the courage to tell Vision he was about to be a father) the doctor had volunteered her services for the duration of Wanda’s pregnancy, or until the soon-to-be parents decide if they wanted to seek alternative health care. There were, after all, pros and cons to seeing a doctor at the local hospital. On one hand, an actual licensed obstetrician was specialized and probably knew how to care for an expecting mother in their sleep. On the other, there was a very large potential that having two Avengers, particularly Scarlet Witch and The Vision, as clients might simply be a tad bit weird for any physician. Thus, for the time being, Wanda and Vision took Dr. Cho up on her offer.

So here the pair of them sat, Wanda rather rigidly on an examination table and Vision at her side, as Dr. Cho prepped an ultrasound machine.

“Wanda?” The synthesized man asked as his girlfriend’s hand shot for his when Helen approached with a bottle of petroleum jelly.

“It is nothing.” Despite her vise-like grip, Wanda directed a brief smile in Vision’s direction as he eyed her wearily. “Procedures of any kind tend to make me jumpy.”

“If it helps any, I have done this several times before.” Helen offered from Wanda’s other side as Vision gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “Although, I will admit, it has not been since medical school that I’ve had this particular purpose to do so. It makes for a nice change.”

“Thanks.” Though Wanda nodded at the doctor’s attempt to comfort her it failed to lessen her unease. The woman flinched as jelly was applied to her abdomen.

                “Cold?”

                “Yes.” Wanda tried to take a steadying breath. “But mostly still nervous.”

“It usually is cold and the situation itself can be nerve-wracking.” To Helen’s credit, she kept her explanations short. She flashed Wanda an understanding smile. This gesture did manage to do some good, the witch noted, as the top-most layer of her tension began to ease away.

Helen Cho always seemed to be able to relieve the discomfort that Wanda felt in an examination room, a trait that had developed during her time as a Hydra guinea pig. Whether this was a reflection of Helen’s talent as a physician or if it was simply do to the fact she was as aware of Wanda’s triggers as Vison was, Wanda didn’t know. What she did know was that she trusted this woman.

It was Helen, after all, that would patch her up after skirmishes when the threat-of-the-month turned uglier than usual. Not to mention that she had been one of the first of the Avengers' extended family to accept Wanda’s presence among them after the fall of Ultron. This was why Wanda didn’t completely panic when Helen’s gaze returned to her device, her normally soft expression hardening very quickly.

“Oh.” Dr. Cho let slip as her features altered from genuine encouragement to something much more concerned, not unlike a child that had just been given candy to ease the blow of bad news.

“Oh?” Vision asked rather calmly, though his grip did tense slightly in Wanda’s hand.

“Oh.” Helen repeated quieter this time, her voice less alarmed. Her expression, for whatever reason, now lined more with curiosity then concern.

“Stop saying oh!" Wanda bit out, barely managed to keep herself from giving off little scarlet sparks. Despite how much she might like or respect the other woman her heart was going a mile a minute as her brain tried to imagined what could have spawned that look on the doctor’s face.  “Is something wrong?!”

                “I am sorry.” Helen turned her attention away from the monitor and focused on the couple before her, her voice breathy.  “I just wasn’t expecting-“ Dr. Cho paused and took a deep breath, as if to gather her thoughts. Despite herself, Wanda's fingertips were starting to give off scarlet flashes as her anxiety reached new levels. Vision looked briefly at their intertwined fingers ensconced in deep red and then turned his attention back to the doctor. 

             "Doctor Cho?” Vision asked in place of Wanda, who was trying very hard not to panic.

“Everything is fine.” She said assuringly as she briefly looked back at her machine as if to double check that fact. “Yes. I promise you that everything is fine. It's just- I am picking up two heart beats.”

                For a long moment following these words there was only silence between the three occupants of Helen’s examination room. Then, before Wanda could truly fathom the meaning of words, Vision found his voice.

“Two heart beats?”

                “Yes.”

                “As in Wanda’s and the baby’s?”

                “N-no.” Doctor Cho’s voice tripped over her reply. Something bright flashed in her eyes as if she were afraid she might have to explain the science of her words to the couple (and hell, considering who she was talking to, that was a direction this conversation could very well take.) “Two heartbeats. As in, the baby and another baby. Wanda, Vision, if I am reading this right which I’m sure I am, then you are having twins. It's not that surprising if you think about it; it's actually quite common for twins to run in certain families.”

                And with that, the tension in room seemed to disperse, scattering and falling to ground like harmless droplets of water. Vision’s grip, which had been tense (even slightly denser than normal) in Wanda’s hand, now softened.

“Twins.” Wanda repeated in a whisper, as if she would make fact untrue if she spoke loud enough. “We are having twins.”

Here Wanda squeezed her fingers that should have been around Vision’s own, because not one baby but two, only to have them close in on themselves. Alarmed, Wanda turned to look at her boyfriend. She hadn’t even felt him pull away.

There he sat, in a chair he had pulled up next to examination table Wanda reclined on, but considerably lower than he should have been. As Wanda’s eyes wandered down she realized with a start that her boyfriend had sunk, and was still sinking, straight through his seat. His density, apparently, having changed from the surprise of news.

                “Vihz.” Wanda snapped to attention. Through the fog of her own awe and disbelief (because twins!) she was fruitlessly reaching for his intangible hand. At this rate he would sink right through the floor, directly into Tony Stark’s office… and as amusing as Wanda imagined Stark’s reaction to this might be, it would no doubt lead to questions about their situation, questions that Wanda was in no mood to discuss (especially with Tony) right now. “Stay with me Vihz.”

                Something in her voice must have struck home because Vision looked at her then. Slowly he rose back to his natural height, his hand resolidifying into hers. The synthizoid’s mind, which was normally so calm and organized, now flared anxiously against the witch’s telekinesis.

                “Wanda.” He breathed, his voice horse. “I’d grown accustomed to the idea of fathering one child but…”

                “Vision.” She opened her mouth, yet nothing came out because she didn’t know what to say in the wake of twins either. Suddenly too overwhelmed for words, the witch unlocked her mind to Vision, showing him her thoughts. His rigid expression relaxed a bit then, watching as her mind sparked with as much shock and uncertainty as his did.

                “Twins, Wanda.”

                “I know Vihz.” Wanda found herself squeezing his hand as he squeezed hers back. “Twins.”