The Tower: Holiday Special

Part 2

Since joining the Avengers, Wanda had not had really had anyone to celebrate Hanukkah or any of her holidays with. It was something that she did with Pietro until they'd unwittingly signed their bodies over to HYDRA. She still celebrated, but you could tell she missed Pietro.

Because we were celebrating a holiday, when normally they didn't, I wanted to make sure she knew she wasn't alone. That I was her family and if she wanted to have someone to share that with I could be that person.

So on the first day of Hanukkah, I spent the morning cooking latkes, sufganiyot and kugel and left them to cool while I went up to work. After work, I showered and got dressed and headed over to Wanda's apartment laden down with food and gifts. I knocked on her door and heard the words, 'Just a minute, sweetheart.' In my mind as the sound of things being hastily moved around happened inside.

The door opened and Wanda popped her head out.

"Happy Hanukkah!" I said with a big stupid grin on my face and holding up the plates of food. "I've been cooking."

Wanda kissed my cheek and took the plate stepping out of the doorway so I could come in. "Thank you. You didn't have to do that you know?"

"I know I didn't. But I love you, and it's your holiday. You're celebrating ours with us, so..." I held up two small wrapped gifts.

Wanda put the food down on the coffee table and we both sat down on the couch. She curled herself into me and took the presents, kissing me on the tip of the nose. "You're too sweet."

"I can't tell you how hard it was to keep this a secret," I said as she opened up the dreidel and gelt. "I thought we could play. I know, it's for kids or whatever, but..."

Wanda put her finger on my lips. "I could tell you were hiding something when you started singing 'Sucker for Pain in your head at random times." She said. "And it sounds good, sweetheart. I would love to do that."

I let out a sigh of relief as Wanda picked up a latkes and tore a piece off. "You know there are better ways to keep things secret from me. You can ask me not to snoop around. Or there's Natasha's favorite. Thinking in other languages."

"I don't know any other languages." I joked, "So earworms it is."

Wanda rolled her eyes.

We spent the night eating and playing and she taught me the song to sing as she lit the candle. The following day Sam joined us. Then Nat and Bucky. Then Vision. By the eighth day, the whole group had come to celebrate too. Wanda and I spent the day teaching Vis to cook. It felt like something had shifted in the group. Like they'd discovered that there was another level to what being a family was.

Gift hunting for Tony wasn't as easy as I had hoped. For real, what do you buy a guy who has billions of dollars? He's not the most sentimental person in the world either. In fact, the Iron Suits and his cars are the only things that he seems to hold on to.

I kept thinking, I can't just get him lingerie for me. That's so lazy. Then I got it in my head, the first real date we went on was to Shake Shack. Maybe I could buy Shake Shack. I mean, how much money could it be? It's a small shack that makes burgers.

Turns out a lot. It costs a lot. Not for that venue. That venue wasn't for sale. Nor were any. It was a publicly listed company. So then I had it in my head that I'd buy him shares. However, the shares weren't exactly cheap and I knew he wouldn't be happy with just some shares. He'd want controlling shares.

So after speaking with his lawyers and accountants and everyone giving me the go-ahead because it was a growing business with steadily growing share rates I went to see Tony. Really feeling confident. Okay, so I wasn't buying him this exactly, I was investing his money. My gift was an investment into something that meant something to us.