Newfound Family

There Has to be Another Way

Two, then three weeks passed as slow as possible. Wanda spent the first two pretty normally. She and Nat fell into a new routine for visiting Steve every day. She even talked to him sometimes, telling him about her day, or something funny Sam did.

Nat never spoke to him, not in front of Wanda. Not only was she afraid she would break down, but she honestly didn't know what to say, or if Steve could even hear her. She'd prefer to do it alone.

When the third week came, Wanda noticed Nat become even more worried than she was before. She never ate, never slept, and she always had a fake smile plastered to her face whenever Wanda was with her, despite her eyes being so far away all of the time.

"Can we go visit Steve now?" It was a Tuesday afternoon, and Wanda had just finished up her math practice for the day. She was getting bored of multiplication tables and had packed her books up, despite Nat's protests. It was only the end of June, after all. Most kids were on summer break.

Nat had a book open, Война и миръ to be exact, but Wanda could tell she wasn't exactly reading it. She flipped the page every minute or so, but it wasn't fooling her.

Nat closed her book.

"Why don't you practice your reading for a bit. You can start that book Lila gave you."

Wanda put her workbook into a random drawer in her desk. She shook her head.

"I don't really want to..."

She didn't mean to talk back to Nat, but she really did want to see Steve, and she thought that Nat could use it too. They hadn't been down to the medical wing yet today.

"I want to tell him how good I've been doing with my training. He would want to know that I'm getting better control, Nat."

That was a lie. She was getting better, but wanting to tell Steve about it was just an excuse to go down. She simply just wanted to see him. Maybe Dr. Cho or Bruce would be there, and they could tell them some updates.

There was a silence in the room for a few moments. Wanda broke it.

"He should be awake, Mama. I'm worried."

Nat's heart dropped. She would never get used to that name. It was only once in a while Wanda called her that, but it was becoming more and more common to hear it come out of her mouth.

Nat sighed, standing up.

"I know, milaya. But you heard Dr. Cho. It could take a little longer. Steve might just need a little extra time to heal."

Wanda nodded. They walked together to the hospital wing, to find Steve in the same place he always was. A doctor was changing the bandage on his head, which was still significantly deep.

Wanda gripped Nat's hand as they watched the nurse carefully.

"Do you think he'll remember us when he wakes up?"

Nat turned to her, shocked.

"Of course. Why wouldn't you think so, Wanda?"

Wanda shrugged.

"Remember that movie that I watched with you and Sam the other day, about the orphan who didn't remember she was a princess because she hit her head on the train tracks?"

Nat nodded. She was talking about Anastasia, the Disney movie about a girl who didn't remember she was the Princess of Russia. It was sort of based on a true story, but Sam had picked it because he thought it was funny, as Nat shared the same last name as the Russian Princess. Sam thought they could use a bit of normalcy in their routine, with everything going on.