The Wall and the Flower

Chapter 9: Christmas Meeting (Claire's POV)

The autumn months quickly passed by, and the time only strengthened our relationship. Wanda and I went on a few dates so far, though most of them were supervised by Pietro. I could tell that it bothered Wanda a lot, but to be honest, I was a little fine with it. Wanda and I would always have the privacy of our room, and outside of that...we always had the library.

Soon winter had come. Snow blanketed the ground around campus, bright multicolored lights hung around different buildings, Santas stood on street corners, and the classic catchy Christmas tunes played on the local radio station. Wanda loved Christmas, and as soon as the weather started getting cooler, she went out to the closest store and bought a few boxes of lights, a small tree, and some ornaments. She constantly hummed Christmas music and when she wasn't humming, she had the radio on, tuned to the station that played the music 24/7. I didn't mind though. I loved seeing her happy. I loved seeing her passionate about something. The smile on her face grew bigger and brighter each day as all her free time went into decorating, wrapping gifts that she bought, and studying for finals. Believe it or not, she was a very good multi-tasker.

Wanda sat on her bed, a textbook open on her bed in front of her, and a half-wrapped box in her lap. Her eyes moved from the box to the book in a steady pace, spending a few minutes studying, and a few minutes wrapping.

"Aha! Finally!" she exclaimed, causing me to look up at her.

"What is it?"

"I've finally finished wrapping the last present," she said holding up the small box and getting off her bed to place it on the floor by her desk "under the tree" with the others. "And I'm also done studying. For now at least." She closed her textbook and put it in her bag before coming over and jumping on my bed, resting her head in my lap. I giggled at her and moved my book to the side.

"What exams do you have tomorrow?" I asked her as I grasped her hand in mine, intertwining our fingers. She smiled and kissed my knuckles.

"Just history. There are some things that I still don't know, but I think I'll be alright." I kissed her forehead and brushed some hair out of her face. "Ionako ne bi trebalo biti tako teško (It shouldn't be that hard anyway)."

"Pa, verujem u tebe (Well, I believe in you)," I told her slowly, still not quite getting the language. Wanda's smile turned into a bright grin. I had decided to take a page out of Natasha and Steve's book and learn her language. She once told me that her parents were immigrants from a small country in Eastern Europe, and while she didn't speak it often, the language always reminded her of happy memories of her family.

"Ah! Vrlo dobro, ljubavi moja (Ah! Very good, my love)," she replied, a light blush highlighting her pale cheeks. "What else can you say?"

"Umm...oh. Volim te moja draga...kada (I love you my lovely...bathtub)," I said hesitantly, tripping on some of the words. Wanda burst into a loud fit of laughter and rolled off of me, her face turning a brighter shade of red. I smiled and rolled my eyes at her, picking my textbook back up and flipping the page.

"I'm sorry, love," she said still laughing, "I'm not really laughing at you."

"What did I say?" I asked rolling my eyes again.

"You called me a 'lovely bathtub'."

"I'm sorry."

"No, don't be!" she exclaimed, sitting up and lightly slapping my arm. "You're still learning, and let me tell you, I'm very proud of you."

She leaned over a pecked me on the lips and settled back into my lap, pulling the book away.

"Wanda, I need to study."