Word count: 2,490

~>)/|\(<~

Helen pricks Wanda's finger, taking a blood sample for what felt like the umpteenth time. Wanda was gently leaning back against the headboard of her bed. She had told Helen that she felt much better, which was true. The intense nausea was gone, she felt well-rested, the headache had faded away, she was just... overall doing better. While, yes, she had a faint feeling of nausea in her stomach, it wasn't bad at all. Her lightheadedness had faded as well, for the most part. She was even able to get up and shower earlier that morning without feeling more than a head rush from dehydration.

    "I'll get back to you soon," Helen says. "For now, I think you should talk to the others. Be social."

    Wanda nods and starts walking off to the kitchen, a new sense of hope arising in her chest. She feels a smile make its way onto her face. The sunlight, coming through the windows of the rooms she passed, was oddly refreshing. It gave off a warm feeling, and she was so captivated by that feeling that she nearly tripped when she found her way to the staircase.

    "Well, well, well," a feminine voice from the foot of the stairs says. "Someone's feeling better."

    "A little," Wanda says. It was around ten in the morning, and Natasha was leaning against the wall on one side of the staircase, talking with the billionaire one step below her. Both had a mug of coffee in their hands.

    "Want any coffee?" Tony tries to extend a hand to Wanda to help her make her way down the stairs, but she ignores it and walks past him.

    "Yes, that would be nice," she tucks some hair behind her ear. From what, she didn't know, but she had quite a few bruises lined up and down her body. Her legs were a little sore, so, in retrospect, it probably would have been smart for her to have taken Tony's hand. She assumed that the soreness was because she had remained in bed for May 8th, the day she got back home, and through May 9th, the next day. Now was May 10th, when she was feeling much, much better.

    She didn't even reach the coffee machine before a mug found its way into her hands, not from her hexes, but from the blonde standing in front of her.

    "How do you feel?" Steve asks, letting go of the coffee mug once it's secure in Wanda's hands. Wanda sips it and looks up at him before answering.

    "I feel better," she responds, a smile creeping onto her face as the familiar bitter aftertaste of the coffee comes through. She hated the taste of coffee, but Pietro used to bring her coffee in high school, when she had all-nighters on essays or projects. He didn't go to high school. He dropped out as soon as he could in order to work and allow them to pay rent. He also wanted to pay for her to go through college before HYDRA convinced them to join them instead... oddly, the memory didn't bring her grief. For a moment, she had it in her head that he wasn't dead, and it was reflex. Therefore, the memory did little to tamper down her peaceful joy. She repeats, "I feel a lot better."

    Steve starts smiling too, leaning his elbow on the counter to take a more comfortable position. "That's good. Are you going to stay outside of your room today?"

    "That's what I hope to do. It's been days since I went outside, so if you wouldn't mind..."

    "Oh, go ahead. If you need anything, call me," Steve says, gesturing towards the front door, held open by a rock with painted flowers and a handprint. Wanda walks that way, stepping through the open door to go to the front porch. She saw two children playing outside with their dad. Cooper was wearing a helmet and holding baseball bat while Lila wore a softball glove and was standing a couple meters behind her father. There was a net behind Cooper to catch missed balls as Clint tosses him a ball from his position on the ground, on his knees.

    Wanda watches, interested. She had seen people play baseball when she was in Sokovia, but it was odd to her that they would do so for fun. Both kids were grinning, though concentration showed in their eyes. Pietro, too, used to play sports for fun when they were little. Wanda preferred to talk with her parents or play make-believe with her friends. She never liked all the physical activity, nor did she (nor does she) like adrenaline rushes... Pietro loved both. She did, however, enjoy watching him. He would get so happy whenever he did something well or scored a point. Wanda never understood the rules but she could guess from his expression when he had done something right.

    Wanda heard the bat hit the ball, then sees the ball propel straight towards the closed window next to her. Before it hits, though, she sends out some hexes, which knock the ball to the ground. Clint looks over, smiling.

    "Look who's out of her room," he stands up. Wanda rolls her eyes slightly. Did everyone have to remark on that? She gets up and walks to Clint, who slowly approaches her. "I'm glad you're feeling better."

    "Thank you," she receives a hug from the man and returns it. It only lasts a moment or two before he pulls away.

    "Go ahead and play with the kids. You just have to pitch and not get hit in the face," Clint says, starting to walk inside. "But take it easy, okay? I don't want you to be more hurt."

    "Alright," she says, though a little unsure. She had only played this once when she was younger, and her brother accidentally hit her in the face when trying to pitch. The only positive aspect of the experience was that her parents brought her for ice cream after. She walks to the porch furniture and sets down her coffee on a little table before going out to the front yard.

    "I'll supervise for a pitch or two," he assures her. She summons the ball to her hand and looks at Cooper, then serving it gently. He hit it again and it went into the air, almost perfectly vertical. Lila ran forward and managed to catch it as Cooper steps on first base.

    "I caught it! You're out!"

    Cooper pouts and starts going to the outfield to catch. Though he pouted, he was visibly proud of Lila's catch. That made Wanda smile a little as Lila rolls the ball back to her.

    Clint watches, a soft smile on his face as he does so. They were getting along. He always suspected that Wanda would be one to fit perfectly into the family, and now his suspicions have been proven. He goes inside to chat with the others, seeing Tony, Natasha and Steve standing in a circle in the kitchen. They look at him when he comes inside.

    "Wanda's playing with the kids," he leans against the counter. "So. We have quite a few things to talk about."

    "She's doing a lot better," Tony says. "She was smiling when she came down."

    "Yep. She even held conversation for a bit before she went outside," Steve looks through the open door as Wanda helps Lila put her helmet on over her bun. That made Steve smile a little. She looked a little confused and concerned, since she was obviously out of her element, but it was kind of cute to see her like that. Steve only looked back to the group when he felt on a tap on the shoulder.

    "Hello? We're having a serious discussion and you're ogling," Natasha says, having interrupted his thoughts.

    "I'm not ogling. I'm just surprised to see how quickly she's recovered," he defends. "I'm impressed."

    "I was quipping."

    "I was defending."

    Clint sighs, "Both of you are getting defensive. Let's move on to a new topic. Laura and I are thinking of getting a dog."

    Natasha just looks at him, "The kids would love that. Cooper's birthday is coming up, you can give him a puppy for his birthday."

    Steve bites his lip and leaves the conversation, no longer interested. He saw Lila hit a ball outside and walks out there to watch. Clint's glove had been placed on the little staircase that goes up to the porch, so he quickly grabs it and puts it on, watching Cooper just barely miss catching the ball. Lila manages to make it to third base before her brother runs over to her, touching her to get her out at the exact moment Lila touched the base.

    "You're out!"

    "Am not! I'm safe!"

    "I got you first."

    Lila looks at Steve desperately, "Uncle Steve, did I make it or did Cooper get me out?"

    Wanda was giggling dreamily as she watched. Steve smiles and says, "It was a tie. Same time."

    Lila and Cooper huff in unison.

    "Well, we can just redo it. Lila, go back to home. I'll pitch it this time, if Miss Maximoff will let me," he walks over to her.

    "I'm sure you're much better at it than I am anyway," she says, still having that lovely little smile on her face as she steps aside. Cooper tosses him the ball and he catches it. Wanda goes to the porch and sits on the steps to watch. She decided to strike up conversation, "Have you done this beforehand?"

    "What, baseball?" He chuckles. "I played. Nobody's saying that I played it well, but I did play for about five years."

    Wanda smiles, "I imagine you were great."

    "I wasn't this back then," he chuckles. "I was a tiny, asthma-ridden kid. I think in my whole baseball career, I hit maybe three balls. Including tee."

    She tilts her head at him, curiously. She couldn't imagine him being small, being anything but the behemoth he was.

    "I can show you pictures to help you visualize it," he says before Lila sits down at home base, getting bored and deciding to sit. Steve looks at her. "Sorry. Ready?"

    "Yes!" She hops back up again, getting into position. Steve pitches and Lila hits the ball when it comes to her, making it go up in the air. Cooper starts running after the ball and Lila starts running bases, but Wanda's mind was elsewhere. This was nice. Everyone was happy in a peaceful way. Everything was fine. The biggest drama of the moment wasn't whether or not she would see the sun set that night, but whether or not Cooper had gotten Lila out. People were chatting instead of arguing or debating. The porch door was open to bring the pleasant warmth inside. Wanda felt safe and comfortable... everything was perfect for just that moment.

    Wanda leans against the wooden railing of the small staircase that led to the front porch, but it leans too with her weight. It creaked and that surprised her. A moment after she pulls away from the piece of faulty wood, something cuts through her arm near her shoulder, like she had been cut with a knife. She winced and grabs the cut, which was now bleeding quite badly. Before she could say a word, someone comes up behind her and presses a cloth, a fabric napkin, against her new wound. Helen says, "What did you do? What happened?"

    "I didn't do anything," she says quietly, a curious feeling of guilt flooding into her mind. She puts her hand on the fabric so Helen didn't have to. She looks at the wood again, seeing that there wasn't a piece of flesh stuck in a splinter like there would have been if she had cut it on there... but there wasn't even a splinter. The gash just... appeared.

    She feels Helen pull the napkin away as Clint sits next to her. On the gash, Helen was now attaching stitches. Clint wraps an arm around Wanda and she leans into him, resting her head on his shoulder. She began to remember again. Whenever she was hurt before, she and Pietro couldn't afford much. He would wrap up the wound in bandages and hold her until she felt better.

    "You're falling apart, Wanda," he sighs.

    "I know," she mutters, taking Clint's hand and squeezing it as Helen continues attaching stitches. It hurt, yes, but the joy she had felt moments before had been wiped away, which hurt more. Again, she felt numb. Within a couple moments, Helen finished up. A bandage was wrapped around her arm and Wanda sat, complicit, through it.

    "I'll get you something to drink. Laura just finished making lemonade, would you like that?" He asks, gently rubbing her back. "We just installed a porch swing, you could sit on that for a bit. It can help you relax."

    Wanda sighs and nods. She felt ridiculous. She couldn't even sit down without finding a way to hurt herself. She stood and went to the porch swing, sitting down and pulling her legs up onto the swing as well. It was built for more than one person, so she had plenty of room to do so. Tears began building in her eyes. She was an avenger, for god's sake. How could she be bested by something so badly?

    Steve took a seat next to her.

    "I'm not going to ask you what happened," Steve says. "My guess is that it was nothing and your powers somehow caused this. I am going to ask one thing: did you want this to happen?" He seemed concerned.

    Wanda didn't answer. Birds were chirping and there were bugs chirping too, which sounded comforting but felt mocking. Of course, she didn't want this to happen, but if she said that, would anyone believe her?

    "Wanda?"

    He takes her hand. She looks at him, "Steve. I'm fine. I didn't want it to happen."

    She pulls her hand away slowly.

    The swing was gently swaying as a breeze blew through. She had her hair pulled to one side of her neck, so she felt it on the back of her neck. It startled her and sent a chill through her skin, giving her goosebumps. These goosebumps were made worse as Steve runs his fingertips over her arm, where she had a bruise.

    "How'd you get this?"

    "I probably ran into some furniture. Maybe it happened in the hospital," she looks at him and scoots a little closer. She really was falling apart. "I don't want to talk about it anymore..."

    "Then I'll drop it," he gently rubs her uninjured arm.

    "Thank you..." she rests her head on Steve's shoulder and buries her face in the fleece of his shirt, just listening to the sounds of the outdoors and reminding herself to be calm.

~>)\|/(<~

A/N: Act 1 is mostly sad Wanda, but we got a little happy in! Next chapter is also from Wanda's side of the story. I'm on the fence about a certain idea (one for Pietro) so DM me if you want to help me out.

I meant to upload this a while ago but forgot to. I've written two chapters ahead and believe me, things are about to get intense. I'm sorry if these chapters seem redundant, I'm just really interested in the whole denial stage of grief and love exploring it with these characters.

And, if it's not to hard, please tag someone who you think would like this or leave some comments about what you like/dislike/think I could improve upon (even if the think I could improve upon is the bogus updating schedule). Thanks! I hope you enjoyed this!