All the Colors of Earth (Natasha Romanoff)

3.6

December 25th, 2014

It's Christmas morning and Wanda and I sit on the couch watching Olympia and Pietro open their gifts. Or rather, we watch Pietro open both of their gifts and exclaim loudly over it all while Olympia was more focused on the bright paper.

We had all agreed not to do gifts for each other this year and to focus on the child that was quickly becoming all of ours. When people say that it takes a village they weren't lying. I don't know what I would have done without the twins and all their help.

When all the gifts are done, I grab a bag and start shoving paper and boxes into it while Pietro takes Olympia to play with her new toys. I smile as I watch them go up the stairs, glad that she has a good male role model in her life.

Wanda stays downstairs with me, helping me clean up the mess. Or at least she pretends to.

"I have a gift for you," Wanda finally tells me hesitantly.

"You didn't have to do that," I say as I look up from the wrapping paper.

She bites her lip before saying, "technically it's not from me. It's from Marzda. She gave it to me before she.. left."

"Ok," I say slowly. "What is it?"

"You should probably sit down," she tells me.

My heart speeds up slightly as I remember the last time she said those words to me. "You're not about to give me another baby are you?"

She smiles slightly, "no it's definitely not that." She motions to the floor, sitting across from me once I've chosen a spot. "I'll need your hands."

"In marriage?" I joke, trying to ignore the nerves that were building in my stomach. "What would Pietro think?"

"Natasha," she says gently. "We don't have to do this. It can wait for as long as you want."

"I don't even know what it is," I say with a sigh. "No, I'm ready, I promise."

She holds her hands out and I take them, "close your eyes and try to open your mind."

Taking a breath I close my eyes and try to do as she asks. Though I'm not entirely sure how I'm supposed to open my mind. I didn't even know I had it closed but now that I think about it, I've never had Wanda in my head before.

"Natasha," Wanda says warningly.

"Sorry."

Taking another breath, I try to make my mind go silent. Meditation was something I'd had a hard time mastering but I was getting better. Focusing on my breathing, I feel myself slowly calming and then Wanda's voice says from far away, "open your eyes."

"Make up your mind," I mutter as I open them. I'm expecting to see her sitting in front of me, but what was actually in front of me almost made me fall to the ground. I was standing in a field of wildflowers under a bright sun.

And standing in front of me was Marzda.

I stare at her in shock and she gives me a nervous smile, "hey."

"Hey?" I ask, snapping out of it as my anger flared. "That's all you can say after everything? Hey?"

She shrugs slightly, "what can I say, I'm nervous. You know I'm no good with words when it comes to beautiful women."

"Are you seriously trying to flirt with me right now?" I deadpan.

She looks confused, "why wouldn't I? I lo-,"

"No!" I yell. "You don't get to say that. Not after everything."

She takes a step towards me, "I'm confused. Why are you so angry with me?"

"Why am I angry?" I scoff. "I don't know Marz, maybe it's the fact that you ran away without telling me that you were pregnant. Or maybe, it was when you had our daughter and then gave her to the twins to give to me. Or maybe, just maybe, it's the fact that YOU DIED!" I yell the last words at her as I sink to the ground, tears streaming from my eyes. "You died," I whisper. "You're dead. I felt it."

A shadow falls over me and suddenly I'm in her arms, her heart beating loudly in my ear. "I'm right here, love. I'm right here."

Leaning against her, I breath her in, my hands clutching her shirt. "Where are we?" I ask through my tears. "How are you here?"

"It's the meadow behind the house that I grew up in," she says gently. "On Calzor." She sighs softly, "of course I never knew what any of it really looked like. As for how I'm here, that's a little more complicated."

I pull back to look at her, cleaning my face with the sleeves of my shirt, "if you're here does that mean you're alive?"

I search her face as she answers, "I don't know. I'm sorry, I wish I did."

"So you're not you?" I ask her.

She pause briefly before saying, "I'm me. Or at least, a memory of me. A.. whisper, that Wanda has been holding onto for me. For you. For when you were ready. I remember everything up until the twins left to find you. After that, I'm blank. I have no connection to what you might call the real me."

I reach out hesitantly and cup her face, "you feel real. You sound like the real you. You even smell like you."

She grins teasingly, "who's flirting now Romanoff?"

My hand falls form her face, "I'm sorry Marz," I tell her, Suddenly feeling exhausted.

She grabs my hand and holds it tightly, "for what?"

"For everything. For bringing that thing back to the tower, for letting the boys try and capture you. For not going with you and then hunting you once you left. For making you feel like you couldn't tell me about our child. For pushing you away and making you think that I didn't love you," I gush out, telling her everything that I've needed to say for months.

"So you do love me?" She asks softly.

I nod quickly, "of course I do. And I never ever should have made you think otherwise."

"I figured that missile you sent could have gone either way," she teases. "Either a declaration of love or a final screw you. I'm glad it was the former."

"How'd you know it was me?" I ask her curiously.

"The twins. I may have had them catch me up on your activities while i was staying with them," she tells me.

"Of course they did," I says softly before admitting, "I thought I killed you. I went there, to Paris, and we found what was left of the Daxomites and what looked like a struggle leading to the house. What happened Marz?"

She grimaces, "you missed one. I missed one. He managed to grab me and did drag me towards the wreckage of the house saying how he was going to burn me alive just like his men had burned. I remember being terrified, like truly terrified for the first time since I was a child and then the ground shook and he was gone. I don't remember consciously using my powers but I must have. I'd been trying not to use the quake because I didn't know how it would affect her." Her free hand goes to her stomach briefly before dropping back down, "I keep forgetting she's not there. Sometimes I think I can still feel her."

"Thank you for her," I tell her sincerely. "She's the most amazing little person. She reminds me of you most of the time."

"Lord help the world when she gets bigger," she jokes. "With you as her mother she'll have the whole world under her thumb."

"I don't think I'm ready for that," I say softly. "Not without you."

"Hey," she says, her hands going to my face. "I am always with you, Natasha. Always."

"Kiss me," I half beg. "Please."

She doesn't hesitate in leaning in and kissing me. And in that moment, it didn't matter if she was really there or not. There was no past, no future, nothing to tear us apart.

In that moment, there was only her and me in a field of wildflowers.