Fire and Smoke - Wanda Maximoff x Reader

Chapter 42

Wanda has seemingly decided that the only way to get me to actually relent and stay in bed until Stark and his team can figure out what is going on with me, is to lay down on the bed next to me. Maybe she thinks that by showing a good example, I'll follow. I do appreciate the thought behind it, but the two of us sharing an already not greatly comfortable hospital bed, does nothing to improve how comfortable the bed is and doesn't make me want to lie down any more than before. My right arm is slowly going numb against the railing on the side of the bed but I don't move a muscle, in fear of Wanda realizing that I'm not comfortable at all and that she'd get up. If it means her staying, I'll suffer. Woe is me.

Wanda has interlaced our fingers, having joked that she'd physically hold me down should I attempt to run for it. I don't doubt that she is very aware of my body not being able to run me anywhere at the moment and that I have no intention of doing that, not as long as I get to enjoy her presence no matter how uncomfortable I have to be. I doze off at some point, still extremely tired from having gotten us back in time, and my brain needs a pause from trying to come up with reasons as to why I failed and this entire mission has gone so wrong, and how I'm going to get us both back to the current timeline in one piece.

My dreams must be bleeding into Wanda's somehow, or rather Wanda's must be bleeding into mine because I keep seeing images I do not recognize; images of an old, dark room which fills me with a sense of longing as a dark-haired woman is cooking something in the kitchen, a smell I don't recognize but makes Wanda happy.

"-And why are they here?"
"Shh, Steve!"

"I know, I know."
"Tony, what did you give that one?"
"Fluids, I didn't dare do anything else without the results."
"Right. And what's wrong with her?"
"I'm not sure."
"Do you think she's faking it?"
"Why would she do that?"
"I'm just trying to figure out-"
"Well so am I!"

"Children, play nice."

"Tony, I'm don't want to be the pessimistic one here, but how do we know they can be... trusted?"
"Look at how cute they are!"
I make no sign of being woken up by the hushed voices I can hear. I instantly recognize the voices as those belonging to Natasha, Steve, and Stark. My heart pounds slightly faster at the realization, but I try to remain calm, reminding myself that technically, we haven't met yet. So, they have absolutely no idea who I am, again. The only thing I can't figure out is how it is that logically, they should have recognized me last time I jumped back in time, but they didn't. Why?

Wanda stirs slightly next to me, and the trio start -not-so-subtly hushing each other.

"Which one is the witch?" I hear Steve whisper to the others.

"Ginger-spice over there."

"Please." Natasha huffs and Stark chuckles quietly.

"Sorry, you can be Ginger Spice if you want."

"No."
"What's with the face, then?"
"I don't understand." Natasha mutters. "How come we haven't heard of any witches running around before?"
"She didn't tell me anything."
"And you brought them here?"
"What, I took pity! Witchy said they knew, or know, me? Said we were friends. Personally, I doubt that, but."

"Did Jarvis manage to run anything on them?"
"That one is a student at Columbia. The other one, no idea."

"And did he analyze her powers?"
"He did. Well, tried."
"What does that mean?"
"There's not much to analyze. It seems they are internal, similar in energy levels as a kind of nuclear process, but there's no molecular trace."

"How did she get them?"
"I don't know." Stark admits, and I can hear the doubt in his voice.

"It can't be natural, can it?" Steve whispers.