WandaWidow - Book 2

Chapter 23 - Moving

Wanda POV

Natasha remained unbearably calm as we approached Karoline's office. My legs were bouncing in my seat, and I was thankful she had driven as I wouldn't have been able to keep myself together long enough for the time it'd take to get us here.

When she pulled into the space outside her building, Natasha turned to me with those green eyes of hers all soft and happy. She looked so content, and I was pleased to be a part of that. She deserved all the happiness I was planning to give her for the rest of our lives. I know Natasha still felt some level of guilt, not only for what happened to me, but for everything else in her life, but even if it took me the rest of my existence, I would make sure she realised that all of the good things that were coming her way were nothing less than what she deserved.

"Well..." she started.

"Well?"

She eyed the clock on the dashboard, "Ten minutes, and we have our home."

"I feel like this will be the longest ten minutes of our lives."

She smiled again, and reached over to give my hand a squeeze. Then her gaze switched to over my shoulder, and I turned to see what she was looking at. I thought it was the lake, or fjord as she had corrected me on, but on closer inspection I knew she had her eye on something more specific.

"We'll have that before you know it, love," I assured her as I turned back towards her, our gaze meeting again.

"I've seen them before."

"Children?"

She laughed, "No. Those two, and their parents. They were here that day when I found the house."

I turned to look back. The two parents were holding hands as they kept a close eye on their small daughter and son walking a few feet ahead of them. The boy had the girl by his hand, and even from here I could see his knuckles white with his grip. He didn't seem to be hurting her, as she happily skipped alongside to keep up with his longer strides, but his eyes never left her. I guess he was the protective older brother, and wanted to make sure that he didn't let her out of his sight, especially this close to the water.

I know Pietro and I were the same age, despite a few minutes which he often felt he needed to remind me of, but he was very much the older brother. He went from annoying and obnoxious to protective and caring overnight after we lost our parents. Their death really made him grow up, but thankfully he always kept some of his silly boyish charm. I think he knew that I also liked to take care of him, so he let me be the sensible one, and let me feel like I had some control over all of the uncontrollable things that would come to happen to us.

"Are you okay?" a quiet voice came from behind me.

"I just," I paused with a sigh, "He reminds me of Pietro, and I know this is awful, but I hadn't thought about him in a while."

Natasha nodded in understanding, and her reaction didn't make me feel bad about not thinking of my brother more often. She took my grief steadily, despite how overwhelming it was for me when it reared its head, Natasha was always ready for it.

She didn't add anything to that topic, she didn't need to, she just continued to look at me how she did, and the wave rolled over me rather than pulling me under.

My eyes darted to the clock, and I gestured to it with my head, causing Natasha to notice it too.

"Time to go?" she asked, to check I was okay to leave.

I nodded, and kissed her on the cheek before we exited the truck. As we met on the pavement, she took my hand in hers as we walked to the door of Karoline's office. Natasha stepped ahead to hold open the door.