The Eternal Avenger: Book Two

Chapter Twenty-Four: Family

A/N: I would like to beg forgiveness if my Russian is not up to par...I'm relying on google translate. Also, if you're interested in my style of writing but with more *spice* check out my best friend's stories at avengerswriter4eva, who has posted a more *detailed* version of Natasha and Claray's time together after "I don't doubt it" in the first book on her Marvel One-shot's story and has two other books (one is oc/Yelena, the other is oc/Nat+Wanda) in the works.

(Claray's POV):

Before I could start to speak and acquiesce to the witch's demand to be informed, I was interrupted by Alexei dashing out the front door, staring at Wanda like he was a five-year-old kid and it was Christmas morning.

"The red witch," he said as little more than a whisper. His tone was reverent. I glanced at Wanda only to see another flash of red, quickly stepping between her and Alexei.

"Wanda, hang on," I warned. She moved to go past me towards Alexei but I intentionally got in her way again. Then she did the head tilt. Shit.

"Get out of my way, Claray." Her voice sounded in my head, and she was definitely not asking. She was ordering.

"Wanda he's fine." I responded. Alexei – smartly, I might add, had begun to back away from his close proximity to Wanda, and I continued to stand between him and Wanda, attempting to avoid any magic hand mayhem.

"Did you hear what he called me?"

"What is happening?" Alexei turned towards Melina, confused. Yelena and Melina were shifting their eyes between me and Wanda and it occurred to me how silly it must look for the two of us to be physically reacting to each other, but no one but me, Wanda or potentially Natasha could hear what was being said in our minds. Natasha glanced at him before rolling her eyes with exasperation.

"они говорят,(they're talking)" she spat out. Melina and Alexei looked at her in shock.

"О чем ты говоришь? (What are you talking about?)" Melina asked, refocusing the two of us. Now Yelena had to jump in.

"They're communicating in their heads," she spoke like she was trying to explain something to a particularly slow child. Melina moved like she was going to walk towards us and inspect us again. Natasha put a warning hand on her shoulder.

"не. (Don't.)" Melina looked at her with an incredulous expression.

"Natalia, this is remarkable science, and you want me to just..." her voice trailed off as Natasha, Yelena, Wanda and I all glared visual daggers in her direction. I caught Wanda glancing behind me, and I raised my hand to the Widows who were now starting to form a semi-circle shape behind us. It was making the witch uneasy, and that's not a headache that any of us needed right now. Alexei made the poor decision to try at that moment to move forward, reasserting his original exclamation.

"I want to see the Red Witch," he pulled away from Natasha's attempted hand on his shoulder. Wanda spun back around at the side of his voice, raising her hand, red magic flickering. Alexei's eyes widened but he didn't pause, which was also a poor decision.

"Alexei, stop," I warned, moving towards Wanda. I was too late. As he approached, eyes bright and shining, Wanda blasted him, knocking him into the wall of the house before sliding back down to the ground flat. "Wanda!" I exclaimed, moving past her and approaching the prone form in front of us. I reached him just as he was beginning to recover.

"Are you okay?" Natasha asked. I caught Yelena attempting to cover a smile. Natasha's voice was full of humor.

"She is amazing," Alexei exclaimed, staring up at Wanda reverently. I glanced over at Yelena, catching a flush starting to move her way up her cheek. She thought so, too.

"Wanda, you have an admirer." Natasha's playful voice came through in my head, and Wanda's eyes went wide, breaking the tension easily. Natasha jutted her chin in Yelena's direction as Wanda's eyes followed, and I caught a blush starting on her face as well. "Maybe now you can keep your hands off of my fiancé." There it was.

"You're cute when you're jealous." My mental voice was soft and tender, and Natasha smiled at me before taking my hand at my side, intertwining our fingers, and squeezing slightly.

"Just reminding everyone that you're mine." Wanda rolled her eyes, but the smile was at least back on her face now. It was getting dicey there for a moment. Melina had made her way back inside the house, re-emerging with plates.

"We're all going to eat, and then talk." She announced. She looked expectantly towards Yelena and Natasha. "девушки помогают накрыть стол. (Girls, help set the table)."

We all got settled on the grass outside under a tree, creating an impromptu picnic. As we ate, the family took turns explaining to Wanda what they had just finished explaining to me. The conversation was frantic, scattered and all over the place, with each of us talking over each other.

"Yelena was going to ask us to come back, but she didn't know that Melina had..." I started.

"Already sent the Widows in case she ran into trouble,"

"But I didn't know..."

"And they automatically sensed danger, recognizing that Natalia and Claray weren't human, exactly..."

"And they thought they were protecting Yelena,"

"But I never told them to just take you,"

Wanda looked around the group of us sitting on the grass, her eyes wide. If she frowned any deeper while trying to keep up with the flow of information, I was afraid what that would mean for the rest of us.

"Okay." She started, finally raising her hands, bringing all the cross talking to a halt. "Let me make sure I understand this. The rest of us waited patiently like schoolchildren who had been scolded by the teacher. I smirked, unable to stop the thoughts running through my head. Wanda glared at me. "I heard that, wolfy." I blinked and immediately redirected my thoughts. Natasha hit me in the shoulder. She clearly didn't have to hear my thoughts to know what they were. "Yelena, Lerato, Natasha and Claray went to go find a Widow." We all nodded. "But there was more than one there, and they thought the two of you were a threat." We all nodded again.

"I mean, they had a point," Yelena spoke up in their defense. Natasha and I shrugged. She wasn't wrong.

"Can we talk about..." Alexei began. Melina cut him off before he could continue.

"No one wants to hear about Captain America," she spoke softly. Natasha and Yelena rolled their eyes.

"I wasn't going to ask about Captain America, I want to talk to the Red Witch," he whined. Wanda's eyes flashed red, and Alexei's mouth immediately shut itself. I couldn't tell if he thought the better of what he was about to say, or if she had done it with her magic. By the surprised expression on his face, I thought it was the latter.

"So what did I walk in on? It looked like you were being attacked." She turned to me, and I smiled at the thought of her trying to protect me.

"Training." She rolled her eyes with my answer.

"Of course it was. Two widows wasn't enough for you?" Natasha elbowed me in the side when I didn't answer.

"Just one widow is more than enough, thank you," I coughed, "but Melina wanted to test m abilities." Wanda accepted that answer and finally turned to Alexei, who appeared to have recovered the function of his mouth but was patiently – if eagerly – awaiting her attention. Suddenly, and in unison, the 18 widows present rose to their feet, and I glanced around unsure of what to expect, but knowing well enough to expect something. Lerato padded over to us, sniffing and licking Wanda's face before throwing herself full force at Yelena, tackling her to the ground and whining out of pure joy to see her again.