PURE AND TAINTED ( wanda maximoff )

twenty-six → am i stupid for doing that?

PURE AND TAINTED
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
( am i stupid for doing that? )

ANOTHER HOUR HAD PASSED until Clint eventually landed the Quinjet safely. Aline hadn't even processed the fact that the ramp had lowered and someone was leading her outside until she caught view of the farmhouse in front of them. Clint carefully had an arm around both Natasha and Aline, reassuringly squeezing their arms. It'd been too long since she'd seen Clint's family and although this really wasn't the best time, she was thankful to see them again.

Stepping onto the porch, Thor traced his eyes across the house. "What is this place?"

"A safe house?" Tony echoed, looking over at Clint. He had been one of the many people on the ship that hadn't understood what Clint had meant, but he didn't do anything to ask.

"Let's hope," Clint said. He pushed open the door, and slowly stepped inside, pulling the two women in two. He craned his neck around an archway, stepping into the living room. "Honey, I'm home!" Seconds later, a heavily pregnant woman stepped out from the kitchen. She carefully eyed the rest of the Avengers before landing on Clint. "Hi, company," he quickly explained. "Sorry I didn't call ahead."

"Hey," she greeted and pulled him into a tight embrace, kissing him. Aline grinned at the couple and leaned into Natasha.

"This is an agent of some kind," Tony said quickly, turning to Thor and pointing at the woman.

"Gentlemen, this is Laura," Clint said, wrapping an arm around Laura's shoulders.

"I know all your names," Laura nervously said, and she wrung her hands in front of her.

At the sound of running feet coming down the stairs, Clint turned and shouted, "Ooh, incoming!" A young boy and girl ran into the room, dashing towards Clint and hugging him tightly. "I see her! Hey, buddy! How you guys doing?" Clint said as he hugged and kissed his children.

"These are... smaller agents," Tony said.

Clint's daughter, an adorable girl named Lila, looked up at her father. "Did you bring Auntie Nat and Ali?" she asked.

"Why don't you hug them and find out?" Natasha asked, and the girl rushed forward to hug the two women. Lila tightly wrapped her small arms around Natasha before going over and burying her face in Aline's stomach, hugging her as well.

Shortly after New York, Clint and Aline had gotten relatively close, mainly because the latter had discovered about his family while he was on a call with them. He went out on a limb and decided to introduce the tribrid to his family, who were kind and welcoming to her, and Clint's daughter had taken an almost immediate liking to her. Occasionally, when Clint would go and visit them, he'd invite both Natasha and Aline to come with. Aline was rather glad to be able to that out of her teammates, Clint was able to have a bit of normalcy in his life.

"Sorry for barging in on you," Steve apologized.

"Yeah, we would have called ahead but we were busy having no idea that you existed," Tony retorted.

"Yeah, well, Fury helped me set this up when I joined," Clint said. "He kept it off SHIELD's files, I'd like to keep it that way. I figure it's a good place to lay low."

___

After changing into an extra pair of clothes she hid on the ship, Aline sat in the tall grass beside Lila, a few feet away from where Steve and Tony were chopping wood. While she absentmindedly pulled at the grass, Lila was pulling the small flowers and dandelions, and weaving them into small crowns that could barely fit on their heads. Aline forced out a weak laugh when the little girl placed it atop her head, frowning when it didn't fully fit. She wanted to feel happy, to be able to laugh about Lila's cute frustrated face but she couldn't. Every time she blinked, images flashed behind her eyelids; she saw blood splattering on the floor and heard children's laughter and sobs echoing in her mind.

From behind her, Laura had silently been approaching. "Hey, Lila," Laura called out, hand pressed against her bulging stomach. "Why do you go play with your brother? I need to talk to Ali for a few minutes." The brown haired girl nodded and dashed towards the porch, where her father and brother were waiting. Laura sat beside Aline, lips pressed together. She'd noticed how different Aline looked the moment she walked through the door; the tribrid had this dejected and grief-stricken look in her dark eyes, one that she'd never seen before. "What's wrong, honey?" she asked, leaning back on one hand.

"That obvious, huh?" Aline hummed to herself. She looked over her shoulder to see that Steve was chopping wood alone now. Tony must have stormed off some time ago, though it wasn't very surprising. Aline looked back at the horizon.

"Obvious to everyone but the kids," Laura said thankfully. "But you wanna tell me what happened? Clint told me about those kids, the twins."

"Yeah..." Aline trailed off, reaching up to twirl a bit of her hair. "It's just... well..." She exhaled softly. The woman had always been able to easily read her, and she was thankful to be able to talk to someone about her problems outside her team. Yes, she was glad she had her friends but sometimes she needed an outside perspective. "Ever since I found out about the whole new soulmate thing, I've been excited but both terrified. I loved Madelaine with all my heart... do you know what her last words were?" Laura didn't respond, allowing Aline to continue. "'The stars... I can see them again,'" Aline quoted and sniffled. "She always loved astronomy, absolutely loved the stars. But somehow she loved me more; she was the love of my life... my soulmate...

"When I finally let her go, I got my new mark 一 a new soulmate. But that girl, she made me relive my worst memories. I saw Madelaine die in my arms again. I saw Rome and Maggie leave me again. I was forced to go through all that torment and pain all over again. And do you know what the worst part of this whole thing is?" Aline sniffled even louder, pulling her knees to her chest. "The messed up part is that I forgive her. I forgive her for hurting me like no one else has, for making me go through things that I want to repress so badly, because I know that she is my last chance at true happiness. I forgive her because I know if I don't, I'm going to end up alone all over again and unloved for the rest of my life. Am I stupid for doing that?"

Laura gently shushed Aline, pulling the girl into her embrace. She rubbed a soothing circle onto Aline's back. The woman cupped her face and used her thumbs to wipe away the tears. "You are not unloved," she said. "You will always have people like us and Steve and Nat. You have people, and you're not alone, Ali. And no, you're not stupid for doing that. This girl, she could be doing this to protect you. If what Clint has told me about her, then she must know that if she didn't hurt you, then someone else would have. Whoever she is, I know that if she met you and really got to know you, she'd fall in love with you instantly. Just from your brief meetings, she must like you 一 you're Aline, who doesn't like you?"

She gave Aline's shoulder a gentle squeeze, a little reminder that she wasn't alone, and managed to push herself up to her feet. The tribrid watched her with glassy eyes as the pregnant woman walked back up into the house.

What Laura had said made sense. If Wanda didn't hurt her, there was a very strong possibility that Ultron would have hurt her ten times worse. Besides, Ultron knew everything about her 一 her secrets, her weaknesses, everything she spilled to S.H.I.E.L.D. just to stay alive. The dreaded robot could've used that all against her, easily picking her apart piece by piece; what Wanda did must be nothing compared to what Ultron had planned.

So... perhaps it was okay to forgive her.