[2] ɪ'ʟʟ ꜰᴏʀᴇᴠᴇʀ ʙᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀꜱ, ᴍᴀʀᴠᴇʟ.

00.| ᴘʀᴏʟᴏɢᴜᴇ [1]

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.PROLOGUE.
[00]. Prologue.
[Part One]
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❝ ɪ ᴍɪꜱꜱ ʜᴇʀ ❞
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IT HAS BEEN ONLY one month since the married couple moved away from Westview. James had been hurting more than ever. He missed the kids, and so did Wanda of course. They had a theory that the kids had been alive, at least Wanda swore she heard their cries for help. But James just thought she was still grieving. As of right now, the couple lived in New York where they surrounded themselves around the normal civilians.

"I have to go to the store," James announces as he walks into the living room.

There was no response.

The man sighed before walking over to the couch and noticing Wanda who had finally been asleep. Since they arrived the woman hadn't slept one night.

James smiled as he grabbed a small blanket and placed it over her. He gave her a small kiss on the head and walked out of the house after he grabbed the keys. Once the man walked towards the car and got in, he slammed his hand onto the steering wheel. He felt empty. He missed Billy, Tommy, and Natasha. It was painful having to wake up without them. And he hated how Wanda had been acting lately on top of it all. She kept blaming herself for everything.

James inhaled deeply as the tears fell from his face and onto the steering wheel. The man took out his phone and dialed in the number of the one person who he knew would have the right words. The phone rang for about five seconds until they finally picked up.

"Hello?"

"H-hey pops," James says, smiling with tears still falling from his face.

Steve chuckled. "Junior! I was starting to think you forgot about your old man."

"I could never forget you," James replies.

"How are things going? How are you and Wanda holding up?"

James huffed. "We're holding. I um—a lot has happened."

"Like what?"

"We had kids," James starts off. "And uh—we lost them. And it's been hard—it's been really hard, you know? Wanda-- she's been going hard on herself and I keep trying to think of something to help but the right words just won't come out. And I'm scared, pops. I feel like we won't move past this."

Steve sighed over the line. "You know, I don't know if you remember but when you were ten, you yelled at Romanoff and I. You told us you hated us, and you boldly ran away."

James snorted. "What? Why?"

"We told you Barton couldn't give you any more archery lessons since you were going bad in your classes," Steve explained. "While you were gone Natasha—she—she blamed herself so much for getting you angry. She didn't come out of her room."

James slightly smiled over the phone, imagining it all. He missed her.

"I had to try explaining to her that you were just a kid, that you didn't actually mean it," Steve says as he continued the story. "She was worried that something happened because we couldn't find you which made things worse. And you know, I had to give a bunch of speeches to try and get her to lighten upon herself."

"Where was I?"

"Hiding in the archery room."

James snorted. "Who knew I was such a rebel."

"Came out just like her," Steve says, smiling referring to Ntasha. He then cleared his throat. "The point is, just be there for Wanda. She needs you. You both need each other right now, Junior. You've still got a family even without the kids. I know you know exactly what to say to her, your mom taught you that."

The line went silent for a moment. And Steve could hear James's little sniffles.

"I miss her," James says softly, referring to Natasha.

"I do too. So much. But I know she would be proud of you. I know I am." Steve says. "Now go, go talk to her."

James chuckled. "Okay, I will."

"And tell me all about it," Steve adds.

"Will do."

"I love you, Junior."

"I love you too, pops."

With that, James hung up the phone. The man took a deep breath in before he drove away to a restaurant to pick up dinner. After about an hour he came back home with bowls of food. The man unlocked the car door and made his way back inside their home. Once he walked through the door his eyes fell onto his wife who seemed relieved once she saw him.

"Where were you?" Wanda asks with a teary eye.

James places the bag on the table before walking up to her and cupping her face in his hands. "Hey, hey, what's wrong?"

"I thought you were gone." Wanda says with such a sad tone.

James shook his head. "I would never leave you, Wanda." he pauses before pointing at the bag of food. "I uh—I got dinner. Chicken paprikash."

A small smile fell on Wanda's face.

James mirrors the smile. "I love you, Maximoff. And I'm sorry I haven't been a good husband. I'm sorry I haven't been by your side recently. But I promise you, we'll get through this."

"I messed everything up."

"No, you didn't. If anything, you gave us another chance." James says. "And now, we've got to try and push past this all. And I can't do that without you or your help. Because like I said before. We're in this together."

"You think we can move on?"

"If we try."

The witch nodded. "Okay. Yeah—let's live a normal life."

James smiled widely as he placed a kiss on Wanda's head. "Come on, let's go eat," he says as he takes ahold of her hand and brings her to the dinner table.

The two get seated at the table. James then serves him and his wife and they begin to eat.

"So, the kid called me earlier today," James says starting off the conversation.

"Peter?"

James nodded. "He wanted to know if we were able to chaperone him on his school trip to Europe. He said it would be a good vacation for us."

Wanda chuckled. "Didn't Stark say we're supposed to be taking care of him?"

"This would be a good way to keep close to him, you know? and maybe we can try and relax." James says

"I thought we planned on staying off of the grid?"

"I had over 200 miss calls from Peter while we were in that hex," James huffed. "All of it being him asking how we were, where we were, and if I could train with him."

"He has a good heart."

"He does. I see why Uncle Tony chose him," James says with a small smile. "So what do you say? Want to chaperone a bunch of kids?"

Wanda thought for a moment. "Let's do it. I don't see why not."

James smirked. "Let the normal shit begin."