WinterWitch: Control

Chapter 21

James POV

A few days went by since Ross came to visit. I was staying, because my head needed to get fixed. Yes, part of me was staying for Wanda and Steve, but I know that finding my memories was more important than keeping friendships.

Wanda and I had discovered more memories over the past few days, some good and some...not so good. We worked through them though, as usual. I hadn't seen her yet this morning, she didn't come out for breakfast. She seemed a little down last night but I didn't question it. Maybe I would see if she was alright later?

Natalia had been avoiding me for a few days or maybe she was just very busy. I wouldn't be surprised as she did help run the place. That time away from her had led me to where I was standing - directly outside her door, hand up ready to knock.

JARVIS had informed me that she had taken an hour to herself. I shouldn't have been intruding but I needed to speak to her about the memory.

I knocked three times. "Enter," she answered immediately. I breathed out as I opened the door to her quarters. She was at her desk with a pen in her hand, writing notes on what looked like paperwork. "Oh, hey," she greeted when she clocked her eyes on me.

"Hi," I replied with a short wave and shut the door behind me.

"I was wondering when you would come and talk to me," she said, shuffling up the work on her desk into a neat pile. She put it to the side and turned to face me.

"Why didn't you come to me?" I asked, walking a little further into the room. I didn't feel very comfortable in her room. Her living space was near and tidy, unsurprisingly having a theme of black and red. She had an entire wall of weapons - guns, knife, even a samurai sword.

"I didn't want to pressure you," she answered, bringing my attention back to her. At least her reason for not speaking to me had good intentions. She gestured for me to take a seat in the chair next to her desk. I slowly, with a bit of caution, walked over and sat down in the chair.

"So, we slept together?" I asked, getting straight to the point. I didn't want to get through awkward small talk and neither did she.

"I'm glad you remember now," she replied, crossing one of her legs over the other. She sat back against her chair and folded her arms over her chest.

"Do you regret it?" I asked. The question had been burning on my mind since I found out it happened.

"No," she said simply, looking me straight in the eyes. "Throughout our lives we were tortured and ordered around." She glanced up at me. "We got to be free for an hour."

I nodded, understanding that her reasoning was the same as mine. Neither of us deserved the torture we went through, but it happened. We wanted to feel something and I didn't feel guilty about it, even if the circumstances weren't great.

"Do you regret it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at me. Her face genuinely looked a little worried.

"No, definitely not," I reassured her, shaking my head. She nodded and I could see the relief on her face.

"Good," she replied, resting her hands on the armrest of her chair. "Now, that that's over and done with, how's your head?"

I was glad we weren't talking about it anymore. I felt we both found out what we needed to know and could move on. I smirked at her question. "I've never had any complaints..." I muttered and she raised her eyebrows, looking a little shocked.

"Wow, the soldier has banter. Who knew?" she chuckled, standing up. She moved across the room to open a cupboard. "Seriously though, how are your memories doing?"