Red Daughter

Ten

A few days later Elodie and Wanda are sparing when Natasha comes into the gym. She goes over to them, a guarded expression on her face. "Hey can I talk to you? Alone," she asks, looking at Wanda pointedly.

"I'll catch up with you later El," Wanda says before  leaving the two of them alone.

"What's up?" Elodie asks as she sits on a bench and started to take off her boxing gloves.

"I'm going on a mission."

The shift in Elodie was almost unnoticeable, from carefree to tactical in a split second. "When?"

"In an hour."

Elodie's eyes snap to Natasha, "where to?"

"Budapest," Natasha says as she sits down by the girl and hesitantly put her hand on Elodie's arm. Elodie eyes it but doesn't move it. "There's a cell of Widows there and our hope is that we can free them."

Elodie scoffs, "you won't be able to." She tosses her gloves under the bench and stands up, crossed her arms, "you have no idea what Dreykov has been up to since you left. The only reason you found those Widows is because he wanted you to."

"We still have to try. I can't stand the thought of them being his for any longer." Natasha stands and put her hands on the girls shoulders, looking into her eyes, "I will come back, El."

Elodie stares as Natasha for a long moment before finally asking, "promise?"

Natasha pulls her into a quick hug that Elodie only slightly hates, "I promise."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two hours later and Elodie is bored out of her mind so she went to find Wanda.

She finally found her jamming out in the kitchen making something on the stove as she danced. Her hair was pulled over one shoulder and she was completely lost in her own world. She looked so happy that Elodie hated to interrupt her so she took a seat and watched her.

But when Wanda turned and finally saw her, she threw a knife at her head.

Luckily she also stopped it before it hit its mark. "Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed as she rushed over to the girl she had almost skewered. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Elodie told her as Wanda ran her hands nervously over her as if she didn't believe she hadn't in fact hurt her. "I didn't mean to scare you, you just looked so happy I didn't want to interrupt." Her hands left Elodie's skin feeling heated even through her shirt and she shrugged out of Wanda's grasp.

"Nat would have killed me if I had hurt you," she looked around as if the woman was going to jump out of nowhere and get her.

Elodie laughed slightly at her expression, "I think you could take her."

Wanda gave her a doubtful look before asking, "so why were you sitting here like a creeper?"

"Oh! Well I was wondering, if maybe, if you wanted to get out of here?" The girl was suddenly nervous that maybe Wanda wouldn't want to hang out today.

"Well I did burn lunch so how about we go out to eat?" Wanda said as she turned back to the girl. "I know a great cafe a few blocks away."

"That would be great!" Elodie jumped up in excitement causing the witch to smile at her enthusiasm.

"Ok let me change and then I have to file a flight plan with Bruce so.. I'll meet you back here in 20?"

"Flight plan?" Elodie asks her.

Wanda nods, "yeah anytime I leave the tower I have tell them where I'm going and for how long."

"That seems like some bullshit," Elodie says.

"I mean, it's better than prison El," Wanda tells her.

Elodie shrugs, "this seems like prison to me."

"I've been in prison," Wanda says softly. "And I'm never going back. So if letting Bruce track me and letting Tony dampen my powers is the price I have to pay, then I'm going to pay it."

Something in Wanda's voice made Elodie not press the issue. "Ok, back here in 20."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thirty minutes later the girls were seated at Wanda's favorite cafe looking at a menu. "The chai tea is good," Wanda tells her. "And the hot chocolate. Oh! And the blackberry muffins."

"What are you getting?" Elodie asks her, feeling slightly overwhelmed with the options.

"Hmm I'd like to say that I'm going to be adventurous and get something new, but I'm definitely getting my usual- chai latte with oat milk and a blackberry scone," Wanda tells her as she sits down the menu.

"I will also take those fancy words," Elodie says, getting a laugh from Wanda.

Wanda waves over the waitress and orders their food before asking, "so how are things going with Nat after.. you know."

"Alright I guess," Elodie tells her. "It's a lot to take in. My entire life was spent hating her and now I don't know who or what to believe."

"That's understandable," Wanda says reassuringly. "Just give it time and it'll get easier. Unless you're still planning to leave?"

Elodie sighs, "I don't even know where I'd go. And it's not like Natalia- Natasha, would let me leave anyway."

"She would," Wanda tells her. "If it was what you truly wanted, she'd let you go. Granted she'd follow you but she'd let you leave."

They are silent as the waitress brings their food and Wanda watches Elodie take her first bite of the scone, the girls eyes going wide, "that is so good."

Wanda nods and takes her own bite, "I used to make something similar to this for Pietro when we were kids. We can make them together if you want?"

"I've never cooked before," Elodie tells her. "I think I'd like to learn how."

                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That night the girls find themselves in the kitchen making pastries. Or, Wanda is making the pastries and Elodie is watching.

"How does this," she motions to the flour, "turn into this?" She taps the picture of a pastry from the recipe book. "It's dust that makes delicious treats. It makes no sense."

Wanda chuckles as she mixes a thick lump in a bowl, "you have to mix everything and then roll it out, make a filling and put them together. It's like edible science."

Elodie shakes her head as she glances at the clock. It had been almost twelve hours since Natasha left and there's been no word. "I never was any good at the science."

"Try not to worry," Wanda tells her. "Natasha always comes home."

And for what it was worth, two hours later she did.

She was just dead.