Starting Over

Ch. 10

Wands smiles sleepily as she wakes up to the sun creeping in from her window, it's fall now but the sun's presence seems to make the witch a little happier than the dreary weather she saw in Sokovia. Wanda stands up pushing off her blankets, she glances as the clock near her bed. Its 10 a.m, don't they have training today? Wanda yawned making her way to the communal kitchen, shocked to find no one else awake already eating breakfast.
"Friday, Where is everyone?" The girl asks
"It appears that Mr. Wilson is currently out of the compound, Ms. Romanoff and Captain Rogers are currently in the common room." The A.I. replies
"Thanks, Fri." Wanda making her way to the common room.

Wanda walkings into the common room, noticing the two sleeping forms on the couch.
She smiles to herself seeing Steve and Natasha cuddled together on the couch. Sam was totally going to lose their bet. Wanda hadn't had much to base love on but she knew that Steve and Natasha had something special. Maybe it was the thoughts lurking throughout the compound at night that somehow made their way into her head or her ability to feel others emotions, but she knew they loved one another. She hadn't seen her parents together, she couldn't remember much about them. She only had them for 10 years and then they were taken away and piece by piece the memories faded. Suddenly a voice pulled her from her thoughts.
"Hey, Wands. You okay?" Natasha asked
"Yeah, no training today?" Wanda replied
"Decided to give you the day off." Natasha said smiling at the girl "You had a tough day yesterday." Wanda silently made her way to sit down next to Natasha being pulled into the older woman's side immediately. Steve awoke to the sound of voices.
"Morning, Wands, Nat." He said sitting up "Coffee?" he asked moving to stand up from the couch, earning a nod from both the girls. "Be right back." He said placing a kiss to Natasha's cheek.
"So we've got to talk about a few things." Natasha said doing a bad job of containing the blush rising to her cheeks.
"Like you and Steve?" Wanda asked raising an eyebrow.
"Wands, we're just friends." Natasha replied "The lawyers have the paper work drawn up for your adoption so all we have to do is go to the court house and sign it."
"That's good." Wanda smiled allowing herself to sink further into the woman's side "Hey Nat? Do you think Steve would sign it too?" Natasha smiled at the question.
"You know Steve loves you, Wands. I'm sure he would be glad to. We can go next week."
Steve returned a moment later carrying 3 cups of coffee.

The three spent the morning enjoying each others company. Wanda noticed Natasha and Steve had grown closer, as if that was even possible. Over the next few weeks they grew more affectionate with one another, though neither had labeled it a relationship. Wanda grew closer to Steve too. Wanda spent the afternoon watching movies with the couple and until she excused herself to go to her room.

Wanda sat on her bed, picking up a new book she had picked up at a trip to the book store. Three weeks ago, she had been an orphan but now she was adopted legally. The thought still seemed so surreal. She was still the same person she had been that was true but now she had a whole new family, she never thought that could be possible. Yet, here she was. The girl carefully wrote her name in cursive on the inside front cover of the book, it was hers now. Another thing to call her own. She admired her work before placing it back on the night stand. Steve and Natasha had told her she could choose to change her last name if she wanted to, but the girl wanted to keep it in honor of Pietro. She smiled at the picture in her nightstand at the court house, the picture was taken by Sam. The three featured in the picture were clearly caught off guard, Wanda was being hugged by Steve laughing at something while Natasha was smiling, pushing the girl's hair out of her face. Still it had been her favorite picture, better than the picture perfect ones Sam had taken a moment later.

Meanwhile in the common area,
"I'm thinking pizza tonight?" Natasha said scrolling through the tv channels
"Sounds good, want me to order it?" Steve asked, looking up from his sketch book.
"Nah, we'll have Friday do it..." Natasha replied "Order our usual please Friday."
"Of course, Agent Romanoff. I would like to inform you that you are currently receiving a call from Maria Hill." Friday replied
"Patch her through, Fri." Natasha said as a holograph popped up in front of her and Steve, being greeted by Maria.
"Hey, Romanoff, Cap" she nodded
"Maria, What can we do for you?" Natasha asked
"I have a mission. We are currently getting reports of another hydra facility." This caused Steve to shut his sketch book placing it on the coffee table. "We think it's another human experimentation case."
"Another, like Sokovia?" Steve asked taking the words out of Natasha's mouth.
"Do you know how many people they have?" Natasha asked
"We don't have any idea how many they are doing testing on but it seems to be more DNA testing, rather than creating the kinds of abilities we saw at the Sokovia Facilities."
"When do you need us?" Steve asked
"I can use your help as soon as possible, the facility is located in Russia." Maria replied, at the mention of the country Steve looked to Natasha for her feelings on the issue. Anyone else would have missed the way her fingers tapped on her thigh, a nervous tick she never seemed to be able to break. 
"You don't have to go, Tash. I can go alone, take Sam." Steve said reaching to stop her hand.
"No it's okay. I can do it. Do you have any other information that we need about the facility?" Natasha asked
"I'll send the file over now, basic layout. We've had our eyes on it for a days, not too many guards. You two should have no trouble, but I'd take Wilson just in case. We'll plan the raid for tomorrow?" Maria replied
"Sounds good. Thanks, Maria." Steve said, as the holograph closed.
"I guess we better tell, Wands." Natasha said getting up from the couch.
"Wait," Steve said gently pulling her back down on the couch "You sure you're okay with this?"
"Yeah, besides I'll have you watching my six." Natasha said giving his hand a squeeze before standing again, pulling him to stand too.

The two made their way to Wanda's room
"Hey mind if we come in?" Steve asked as he and Natasha stood in her doorway.
"Sure." Wanda said placing her book down, looking from Steve to Natasha. "Is something wrong?"
"We just got a call from Maria, she has a mission for us." Steve replied
"Oh, When do we leave?" Wanda asked
"Wands, you're not ready for a real mission yet." Natasha said "You can stay here, Rhodes is coming back for a few days anyways, he can keep an eye on you."
"Can't I just go and stay on the jet? Just listen on the comms?" Wanda asked
"You can't, Wands, this mission is too dangerous." Steve answered quickly
"Please?" Wanda asked, doing her best to try to and convince them. Neither of them seemed to budge but Natasha did make a move to set closer to her on the bed. She could feel the energy radiating throughout her room. "It's about hydra isn't it?" She asks
"Yeah..." Natasha replied "They have a facility that Shield is raiding tomorrow in Russia."
"Are there others like me?" Wanda asked, scared of the answer. Back in Sokovia, she had seen a few others in passing from her cell to the labs. She was younger then, too oblivious to understand what was about to happen as she held Pietro's hand as the guard led them to the lab for a "checkup". But when the Avengers has raided the facility, Wanda and Pietro had only seen guards. The rest of the cells empty. A moment passed as Steve and Natasha exchanges looks between each other. "Mama?" Wanda said snapping Natasha from her thoughts, by grabbing her shirt sleeve.
"There might be." Natasha replied, taking a moment to admire the younger girls face. She could she the red lingering within her eyes, as she took the younger girls hands, pulling the sleeves to go over her palms concealing the red.
"What will happen to them?" Wanda asked in a quiet voice, lip slightly quivering.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there, Wands." Steve said sitting on Wanda's other side "but they'll be safe, I promise you that."
Wanda bit her lip, fighting back the tears. "You promise?" She asked
"Promise." Steve answered pulling the girl into his side. That was enough for Wanda to break down, tears staining Steve's t-shirt as he soothingly rubbed her back. Both he and Natasha knew that the news of another hydra facility like Wanda had been in would hit hard for her. Natasha and Steve exchanged silent conversations over Wanda's shoulder. Natasha ran a hand through the girl's curls that cascade down her back, mumbling comforting words in both Russian and English to the teen.

When Steve felt Wanda rest her head against his shoulder, he knew she had fallen asleep. He quietly untangled the girls arms from around his neck as Natasha folded down the girls sheets and comforter. It was only 7 pm but it was clear that Wanda was emotionally drained. Steve gently laid Wanda onto the bed, pulling the covers up as she got comfortable.
"Goodnight, Malyshka." Natasha said placing a kiss to the girls forehead.
"Goodnight, Wands. We love you." Steve said doing the same
" love you too, Papa."  Wanda replied not fully waking up
Steve and Wanda had gotten closer but the name had not been used as much as Natasha's had. Still he had excepted the role wholeheartedly, she could call him whatever she wanted on her own terms. Though he didn't mind being referred to as her Dad. Still anytime the word would stumble out of Wanda's mouth sleepily with a hint of her accent peaking through, he couldn't help that his heart would practically melt.
He turned off the lights as he and Natasha exited the room.
"I think that went okay." Steve said
"Better than I expected, she didn't argue as much as I thought she would." Natasha added
"She knew we wouldn't let her go on the mission, but she still tried to ask because she's stubborn." Steve said
"She gets that from your side of the family Rogers." Natasha said teasing
"Hmm... I was thinking that was all you Nat." Steve replied teasing her back
"I'm not that stubborn." Natasha said narrowing her eyes at him.
"Whatever you say..." Steve replied, leaning back against the hall way wall smiling at her. "It's a good thing you're cute."
"I'm not cute, Steven. I'm a freaking assassin." Natasha said punching him in the arm
"Ouch... okay... okay... I'm sorry." Steve said holding up his hands in self defense. "You're adorable but you are not an assassin... not anymore. You're an Avenger." Steve said smiling again
"I'm done arguing with you, let's go prep Sam for the mission." Natasha said rolling her eyes, if she didn't stop the conversation now it would probably end with her kissing that smug grin right off his face. She grabbed Steve's hand leading him towards the elevator.

Sorry it's been a few days since I've updated, I've been really busy. I celebrated christmas with my family this weekend. I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year! Also, thank you for all the reads. I'm ranked number 2 in #stevenat , which just seems surreal. Thank you guys ❤️🥺Don't forget to vote and comment on this chapter any suggestions or comments, I'd love to read them! -musicgirl145