PURE AND TAINTED ( wanda maximoff )

fifty-nine → i literally just told you i'm a criminal

PURE AND TAINTED
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
( i literally just told you i'm a criminal )

THE FIRST FEW WEEKS AFTER their escape had been strange, to say the least. During those weeks, T'Challa had given them amnesty and allowed them to stay there to recuperate. Aline had taken advantage of that, slurping down nearly a dozen blood bags before literally passing out on the first bed she saw. She slept for three days, curled up in the comfy blankets and pillows. She was almost confident she'd felt Wanda's presence through most of it, running her timid fingers through the tribrid's hair. When she woke up finally, the sun setting on the horizon, Aline had once again drained several blood bags before she met up with the rest of her friends. Sam and Clint had hugged her tightly, while Scott awkwardly shook her hand and hoped that she was feeling better. Aline and Wanda remained stuck together like glue, constantly touching or holding onto one another like their lives depended on it. It must have been hell for Wanda 一 constantly hearing but never seeing her soulmate, knowing she was in pain but not being able to lift a finger to do anything about it. 

She was glad Rome was there as well, teary eyed as she wrapped her thin arms around Aline's exhausted form. Her cousin pressed a kiss to her forehead, smiling as she wiped the tears away from Aline's cheeks with her thumbs. It was a sweet reunion and a much needed hug. And yet the moment they pulled away, Aline froze in Rome's arms and she squinted at the blonde.

"Ali?" Wanda had asked cautiously, stepping forward to rub a gentle hand across Aline's back.

But Aline hadn't responded. Instead she squinted harder, looked up and down from Rome's face to her stomach, then spoke in a dazed tone. "Are... are you pregnant?" The brunette had heard the quick little heartbeat fluttering from within Rome, but at first she'd thought it was her senses playing with her. That all of Ross's experimentations and testing had finally started to affect her hearing. But the moment she saw the way Rome blushing, turning as red as a tomato, Aline smiled gently and pulled Rome into another hug. 

The childish part of her wanted to tease Rome for going so far with Bucky Barnes, but instead she held her tongue and congratulated her. While she was happy that her only cousin was pregnant, about to be a mother within the coming months, that had been the only good news.

A series of nightmares are started to plague Aline's mind, always sending her into shaking fits and screaming. Wanda had tried her hardest to reassure her and pull her back into reality, but never failed to watch as Aline cried into her arms. What Ross and those doctors had done were never going to go away, probably not for a very long time. Most of the nightmares left Aline on edge for days, flinching from sounds down the hall or looking into the doorways with wary eyes. She'd been so anxious that one day, she nearly threw Steve out a window because she hadn't been paying attention and heard him walking down the hall. When he called her name and touched her shoulder, a magical force shoved him against the window, the glass cracking beneath his back. Several people had recommended to her to get some help, to talk to someone about the event, but she waved them off. Worse things have happened to her 一 the death of her father and brothers, the countless battles throughout the years, the murder of her soulmate 一 so a little torture was nothing compared to what she'd gone through. She could handle this, they just needed to give her a little longer. 

She couldn't understand why she was going through this, why what Ross had done was affecting her worse than everything in recent years. Aline had endured horrible wars and plagues, suffered heartbreaks and betrayals, and yet it was one man who managed to knock her down. Why did it hurt so much? Why couldn't it all stop?