While you were out building
Other words, where was I?

Where's that man who'd throw
blankets over my barbed wire?
*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

A SMILE FLASHED ACROSS HER FACE FROM BENEATH REEMS OF HAIR. It created slight dimples and creases that moved her freckles. "Wanda!" She said, her voice laced with happiness as she looked at the woman standing in front of her.

"Welcome to the neighbourhood... Neighbour!" She spoke enthusiastically to the red-head in front of her.

"Natalie! I'm so happy to see you." Wanda gushed, before welcoming her friend into her home.

"I see you've met my next door neighbour, Agnes." Natalie spoke, as she saw the woman in Wanda's home already. Agnes raised her eyebrows, and with a quick tilt of her head she asked, "You gals know each other?"

"Natalie's an old pal of mine, she actually told me about this house. We go way back."

The young woman nodded. "Way back when..." There was a delicious moment where Natalie's face washed blank with confusion, like her brain cogs couldn't turn fast enough to take in the information from her wide eyes. Every muscle of her body just froze before a grin crept onto her face, it soon stretched from one side to the other showing every single tooth. "So... Did I hear something about an anniversary?"

"Oh, yes... Vision's and mine."

The blonde couldn't stop the inevitable smirk that spread across her face as she gently clapped her hands. A small laugh escaped her throat as she spoke the words, "Oh, how marvellous! How many years now, Wanda?"

"Well, it feel like we've always been together."

"Vision's a sweetheart, Agnes. You really should meet him." Natalie raised her voice. She admired the house before turning back to Wanda. "We all need a Vision, too bad there's nothing left of him to go around." She giggled.

"Lucky gal." Agnes huffed, "The only way Ralph would remember our anniversary is of there was a beer named June second."

"So, what do you have planned?"

Wanda's brows furrowed as her head titled to one side. "How do you mean?"

"For your special night, silly."

"A young thing like you doesn't have to do much, but it's still fun to set the scene." Agnes nodded her head. Watching the older woman Natalie couldn't help but think it would be good for her to listen to Agnes. "Say, I was just reading Crackerjack magazine article called 'How to treat your husband to keep your husband, and let me tell you, what Ralph could really use is, 'How to goose your wife so you don't loose your wife.' Hang on. I'll go grab it and we can start planning." Before she knew it, Agnes was already out the door.

"I should get going myself." Natalie spoke sadly after Agnes had left. She smoothed out her skirt, grabbed her bag and turned back to Wanda. "I've got a big dinner to start preparing."

"Oh... Yes, where is Steve?"

Natalie's eyesight suddenly blurred, but not because tears were welling up. Everything became fuzzy; then she saw nothing at all. Her consciousness was floating through an empty space filled with a thick static. Throughout the inky space her heartbeats pounded loudly, echoing in her ears, alongside her quiet fading pleas for help. "Steve?"

"Steve, Natalie. Your husband." Wanda spoke. The was a certain tone attached to the manner in which she spoke which made Natalie's heart begin to pound and quicken a little. She watched as Wanda's grin began to crumble like her facade.

The blood continued to drain from the young woman's skin and every movement became robotic. In that moment, she was more machine than woman. "Oh... Yes, my Stevie."

Suddenly, Natalie's eyes lit up with a new found excitement and her ecstatic grin reached both sides of her face. "Steve's still at the office. You know my husband, he could do that job all day."

Raising from her spot on the chair she made her way to Wanda's front door. "Well don't let me get in the way, I'm only a side piece in your show tonight, Wanda." The young woman said with a quick laugh and a sweet grin.

"Alrighty, see you later Mrs Rogers."

As Natalie made her way across the street in her neighbourhood, she waved at the other women walking past, she grinned at the children on their bikes. However, she couldn't help but feel a weight. A weight that was clinging to her, or rather dragging her down, following her as she made her way to the white picket fence surrounding her home.

Entering the house she was pleasantly surprised to find her husband already waiting for her. "Steve!" She called as she made her way into the living room.

"Sweetheart!"

Steve dashed towards his wife and met her at the front door, excited to see her after a long day at work. As they met, they greeted each other with a kiss and in that kiss was the sweetness of passion, a million loving thoughts condensed into a moment.

Slowly, Natalie pulled away, running her fingers through the small hairs at the back of his neck, while the other hand fixed his tie. "I was just visiting the Vision Residence, I was about to make dinner."

With one of his arms still wrapped around her waist, Steve leaned over to the record player that rested beside the television set, just enter of the doorway. "Now, darling, you can't make dinner without letting me have a dance with my wife first."

Suddenly, the soft melody of the Mills Brothers began to play throughout the home. Dancing together had become as spontaneous and soul-quenching as laughter for the couple. Natalie rested her head on Steves chest as they slowly swayed in a circle.

'You always hurt the one you love...'

Natalie couldn't help herself. She raised her head and leant in for a kiss, the kind she wanted to last forever, but after a time she withdrew to gaze at the face she loved so much. Steve glided his hand over her skin to her face, brushing away curled hairs that fell in front of her face.

'The one you shouldn't hurt at all...'

"Have I ever told you I love you?"

'You always take the sweetest rose...'

She grinned, he said the exact same thing every time. "No, uh uh." She shook her head and fought away the smile.

'And crush it till the petals fall...'

His hand had migrated to her hair, pushing it back from her face once again. "Well, I do." As always she dropped her gaze before meeting his, there was an intensity to it, like his love was kerosene and she was his only flame. She then let her head fall back upon his chest as they continued to dance. Holding each other as though the other would dissappear any second.

"God, I just wish I could go back in time."

Suddenly, Natalie's eyes and mouth were frozen in an expression of stunned surprise. Her heart sank into the pit of her stomach, a vile feeling creeping in her as the words processed in her mind. She pushed the uncomfortable lump that formed in her throat down and slowly lifted her head from her husbands shoulder, lifting her gaze and although she was staring straight at Steve she appeared not to notice him at all.

She quickly stole a glance over her shoulder before she turned back to her husband. "What did you say?" She asked with uncertainty clear in her voice as she slid her hands down his arms and her eyes simultaneously began to water.

A heavy silence settled over them for a few seconds, thicker than the uneasy tension in the atmosphere. Steve wrapped an arm around her waist once again and pulled her closer, gently rubbing her back. Despite the heaviness in her stomach, it fluttered at the feeling of her body pressed against his. She sunk into the warmth of his side, appreciative of the simple gesture. His touch made the room warmer somehow, her future within its walls seeming a little less bleak. "I wish I could go back in time to the first moment we met."

Natalie glanced as Steve who was wearing a soft smile. The look in his eyes at that moment made her hands grow clammy and sent her heart straight to her throat. Her head dropped and she stared down at their hands. The diamond engagement ring began to glisten on her finger.

In that moment of silent wonder, Natalie just admired everything about Steve as he uttered those words. His blonde hair, his beautiful blue eyes sparkling in the dim light of the bedroom as though he were a figure from her dreams. She focused on the way goosebumps arose on her skin as his fingers made any movement on her skin. He was perfect. In that moment, everything was perfect. Natalies problems disappeared with one look from him. Suddenly, life had meaning again.

The young woman's breathing became softer, the pensive look melting into a smile as soft as the morning light. Her body squirmed just a little as her muscles relaxed, all while she held Steve's gaze directing the smile towards him, before she turned and made her way to her first period class.

After a silent moment, she held Steve's hand tightly, wondering if anything in her life had ever been that perfect and knowing at the same time that it hadn't. She was in love, and the feeling was even more wonderful than she ever imagined it could be.

"You need any help with dinner?" He called after they had broken away from one another. He made his way back to the living room and grabbed the newspaper from his brief case and began to read.

Natalie continued to rifle through the cupboards in the kitchen, before she turned to her husband. "Don't worry, Steve." After an awkward moment the corner of her mouth twitched into her cheek. That little rise in the corner of her mouth, combined with the cool detachment in her eyes sealed the couple's fate.

"I've got it all under control."

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 !
first chapter is up ! this chapter
is a little boring but i need to
build up to my big twist. anyway,
i hope you enjoyed it, despite the
fact i hate it lol