Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

The Witch and the Widows

By BetterInTexas

Outtake 02:

“Yelena is going to be okay though?” Clint asked again to make sure.

“Yes. As soon as Oksana is sure there is no bleeding in the brain Wanda and Agatha will fix her as good as new. Her foot is in the worse shape. She had a compound fracture of the fibula so that should tell you how messed up her foot is. Oksana had to put twenty two pins and piece it back together with the equivalent of duct tape and glue.” Nat told him. “I’ve never been so scared and then… I left her.”

“You followed her order, Nat, like a team member should. She trusted you with her girls and she was right. Don’t blame yourself. It sounds like it could have been a lot worse.” Clint told her. “The girls followed you.”

“Yeah.” Natasha confirmed.

She could see the smug smile on his face in her mind.

“I told you they would come to accept you. Now they are trusting you to lead them.”

“A small team.”

“It will get bigger, Nat. You are doing good. How is the new girl?”

Nat sighed, not sure.

“Its hard to tell. The other widows think she is okay. She is more even keel than the rest I have seen. She isn’t having foggy memories returning to her with frightening clarity. She said she already remembered. Her mind held onto every kill, every action she ever took. Nobody has asked her but some of us are pretty certain the witch that screwed with everyone’s head was sexually abusing her. We offered her money and a phone, I.D.s, everything she would need for a new life but she wants to stay here.”

Clint was not surprised. “Why wouldn’t she? Go off and start a new life on her own with no one or stay with the ready made family of the only people on Earth who rescued her and understand her. It isn’t a hard choice. How is your adopted kid?”

Nat rolled her eyes. “Stannic is not my daughter.”

“Does she know that?” he asked.

Nat paused. “I’ll be whatever she needs me to be. She is doing better. Her mood has improved for the most part. She still sleeps with me every night and I wake her from bad dreams still but it has gotten better. I’m thinking at this point we should leave her room empty and just put another bed in mine. Not that she would use it. This thing with Steve is new… he understands. He always understands. Stannic is becoming attached to him as well.”

Clint sighed. “Yeah… if you ever need parenting advice for moody young teenagers… Laura is always a phone call away. How is Wanda?”

“Better I guess. Somehow… she was talked into taking some courses online that could get her a diploma of some sort or enough education to get into college. She wants to become involved in government. I think her meeting with the President of Sokovia gave her a lot to think about. She is also trying to stop drinking. I guess she has succeed for a few days. Her hands are shaking. My guess is she will be banging Barnes soon. She’ll trade one bad habit for another.”

Clint groaned. “Yeah… not crazy about that. He has his own demons. I get it though. I guess when they were in each other’s minds, it got pretty intense. I can see how something like that could bring them together.”

Nat snorted, knowing that wasn’t the whole story.

“The first time they saw each other at the airport, they looked at each other with less than innocent intentions. There is more to it. It could be great or it could be a disaster. I guess it depends if two broken people can heal themselves or break each other further. I’m lucky. Steve isn’t broken. I’m going to do my best to not break him.”

“You won’t. You deserve some happiness. You’ve gone through hell but you finally have a place in Yelena’s life, you have a growing family and a smartass kid who thinks the world of you and you and Steve finally got your act together. What about you and Wanda?”

Nat knew this would come up. It always did with Clint.

“There is no me and Wanda. Tense words were exchanged in Germany but I think it’s more than that.”

“The two of you are still fighting?”

“We never started. I wish we would argue so we can work out this gulf between us. There is nothing though. She doesn’t act like she hates me. She just kind of ignores me. She isn’t rude. She doesn’t show any hostility towards me. I don’t think I matter to her or she is doing a very good job of making me feel like it. No… I am fairly certain she hates me. I think she always has and has just been nice for Yelena. I don’t think we will ever be close.”

Clint winced on the other end of the line. “She doesn’t hate you. She will come around. You are important to Yelena and…”

Nat stopped him. “I thought so too, Clint. I thought since we had Yelena in common it might bring us closer but… to be fair she has a lot going on. When we left her in Sokovia we knew she was powerful. We had no idea how powerful.”

Clint laughed softly. “I got the idea from what she did in Novi Grad.”

“That’s the tip of the iceberg, Clint. She has the power… I don’t even want to say it. I will say I am glad I am not responsible for it. That’s why I worry so much about her but I can’t say anything. She doesn’t like me. It may be because the only Avengers she liked were you and Steve. You bonded during the battle in Novi Grad but we never spoke. She liked Vision and he turned into a murderbot. Maybe it was because I was part of SHIELD for so long and that worked out so well. I don’t know.”

“Maybe you two and Aunt Yelena could come to the farm to visit. Tell her to call me. I haven’t spoken to her since before she had me put on the no fly list and held by Homeland Security as a possible terrorist.”

Nat laughed bitterly. “That was my fault. I should have never asked you to get involved. I’m surprised Laura doesn’t want to strangle me for trying to pull you away from her and the kids.”

“Laura understands. You know I always got your back, Nat.”

The intercom went off. It was Mika calling all widows to the briefing room in the basement.

“Damn it. We just got back. I hope this doesn’t involve sorcerers, androids or aliens.”

“Yeah, the big three. Get back to me. Even if you can’t talk Wanda into it, the kids want to see you soon. Give ‘em hell, Nat.”

Clint ended the call and Nat made her way to the basement, taking the three flights of stairs along with the rest of the widows.

When they entered the briefing room, Nat looked around and saw neither Steve nor Bucky was present. So it was a widows only meeting.

Yelena’s bed was rolled into the doorway by Kate and Oksana.

“She wouldn’t stay away. She told me she wouldn’t do this thing I really like if I didn’t bring her.” Kate explained then walked back outside.

Agatha walked in and looked around the room. Then she nodded and walked out.

Nat followed her just past Yelena’s bed.

“Agatha?”

“Widows only meeting. Get in there kid.”

Wanda walked past Nat into the room and the group parted for her.

“What is going on?” Wanda asked Mika who had called everyone down.

“We need to have a meeting. Those of us who were deemed too young to go to battle in Rwanda, talked while you all were away and we would like to revisit some of the items discussed in Wakanda. One item. The age limit for going into the field.” Mika told them.

Rowan stood. “We think it needs to go away. We all joined to fight. We have been through vicious battles and taken hits. If not for those suits none of you would have survived. Look what happened to Yelena with a suit on.”

Michiko rose. “Teams of five with Ingrid, Charlize and Oksana roaming the field. They could have been trapped. You were outnumbered because half of us had to stay back. It is not right.”

Antonia stood. “What isn’t right it discussing something we all decided on only weeks ago without giving it a chance. We talked and came to an agreement. We knew going in that we would be outnumbered.”

“You would all be dead without those suits. You were losing ground to the Wakandans when the witch screwed with your heads.” Stannic pointed out. “Ingrid took a bullet to the chest. The suits biometrics sent pressure increases to each of your displays including your vitals. Charlize would have been responsible for carrying her dead body over hostile ground by herself.”

Wanda was shocked. “Ingrid, you took a bullet?”

“Only a very small one. Hit me in chest pad. No worries.”

“And if it had struck your head? A bullet can’t pierce vibranium but it can crush your skull. Look at Yelena.”

“Why does everyone bring me up?” Yelena complained.

“Have you looked at yourself?” Sonia asked. “I’ve always been a team leader and suddenly I’m sidelined because I don’t turn seventeen for a few months?”

“Eight months.” Wanda corrected her, having memorized their birthdates. “Nearly every one of you sixteen and under was a year younger than we thought.”

Nat placed a hand on Stannic’s shoulder. “Why didn’t you talk to me about this?” she whispered.

Stannic wouldn’t look at her. “You already think I’m a kid. I know what your opinion is.”

Nat cringed, knowing a talk with Stannic was coming, meaning Nat would talk and have to constantly ask Stannic to tell her how she felt.

“A decision was made. We survived. We got lucky in many respects, but we survived.” Wanda reminded them.

“Lucky? Was it lucky that Bosco happened to be a witch guy or that another witch girl made us fight our allies? She screwed with all your heads. Nobody should screw with our heads. We should be great at recognizing it.” Mika pointed out. “Only Ava did something and that was after she almost killed Okoye.”

“Watch it, Mika. You weren’t there. You don’t know what that kind of magic felt like!” Ava responded loudly.

“Exactly! We weren’t there! We should have been!” Staci responded just as loudly.

“Staci calm down.” Wanda told her in a low voice.

“Why should she?” Aino added, uncharacteristically angry.

Naomi laughed. “She is only upset she didn’t get to sing Lion King in the jungle. That is enough reason for you not to be there Staci.”

“Screw you, Naomi!” Staci yelled. “You think you are so badass, lets take it to the mat. From what I saw in the video feed, it shouldn’t be hard to beat you. The Dora Milaje beat you like a punching bag!”

“Staci!” Wanda snapped.

“She is right.” Aino added. “This age limit thing is stupid. We have always been one. Now we are the junior team. Sonia could have led us! We would have been just as effective, maybe more!”

Wanda shook her head and began to walk out.

“Where are you going?” Sasha asked. “If we are going to talk about following the agreement we made in Wakanda, why aren’t all of us following all the agreements?”

Wanda turned sharply toward her. “I haven’t had a drink since we left for Rwanda.”

“You were just about to.” Sasha said. “Am I wrong?”

Wanda shook her head and had a seat, rubbing her forehead.

“Lay off Wanda.” Yelena said from her bed.

“Maybe you should be harder on her.” Zarola said. “I was kept out of a fight because of a rule. We all follow the rules we agreed on, right? Wanda you say you aren’t special so why do you see yourself above the rules?”

“I’m not! I’m trying, okay?!” she shouted.

“Hey Romanoff, what do you think? You are one of us.” Naomi said, bringing attention to her. “Should we let the kids fight?”

“Go to hell, Naomi. You aren’t as badass as you think you are!” Mika shouted.

“No more threatening to fight or you can all face me.” Antonia told them.

Sasha smirked. “It will only take four of us. That’s how many Wakandans it took to take you down, but you were taken down. Why wouldn’t you be? You were outnumbered while we sat in this bunker watching television. I suppose Germany would have been better if we had stayed out of it?”

“Watch your mouth, Sasha.” Antonia told her.

“Why? You forget you aren’t the only badass in the room, Antonia.”

“We fight next time.” Mika said.

“We can vote!” Dani suggested.

“They outnumber us!” Stannic pointed out. “Nat, you never gave your opinion.”

The room quieted for a moment and all eyes were on her.

Nat took a deep breath. “I agreed with the age limit and I still do.”

Stannic turned red and walked out.

“Stannic, wait!”

“Enough!” Yelena shouted, sitting up in her bed. The movement shifted her foot and caused her to hiss with pain but she remained strong. “Listen to me, all of you. We decided. What happened in the past doesn’t matter. Yes, we had missions that took all of us. Yes, we could have used more help in Rwanda. We could also have come back with dead bodies instead of wrecked bodies. You look to me and Wanda to lead. You always have. I have never taken advantage of that. We have always agreed on everything. We have always voted. I am putting my foot down… my good foot. We had this discussion and we are not changing it now. Not after one mission.”

Yelena looked at Zarola. “You want me to be harder on Wanda? She is trying. Since when are we harder on each other? Is our job to be hard on each other?! If we see a problem we help each other! You say she thinks she is above the rules. I am sure she is flaunting the rules because she has thinks she is better than everyone, not because she has a problem. Is she the only one? I’ve seem more than a few hands shaking and moods changing since we got rid of alcohol in house. I cannot believe what I am hearing! I tell Sophie we are closer than blood and this is how we act! We may as well be Avengers! Maybe you can all move in with Tony Stark!”

The room quieted. Yelena’s words seemed to take the fight out of everyone.

“You want me to be harder, then I shall be harder. While you were watching us being shot and criticizing our actions, have any of you given any thought to other ways you wish to help our shared mission? Anyone?”

No one said anything.

“I thought so. You would rather complain than learn to better us all. I can’t believe what I am seeing and hearing. I would spit on ground if I could move without extreme pain. Before any of you call any of us out, look in the mirror for a long time. Sasha, how much did you drink until recently? Who makes everyone else’s business her business? That would be you.”

“I’m sorry, Wanda.” Sasha told her, forcing herself to look at the redhead and see the devastation on her face, feeling horrible.

“I am too.” Zarola said, remembering in Wakanda it was Wanda who stayed up all night talking with her about her feelings and confusion.

Wanda waved it off, her face blank, hiding the hurt deep behind dark eyelashes and hair falling over her face. “You aren’t… its fine. I need to go. I have… things to do. I am fine with whatever is decided.”

Wanda stood up and walked out.

The widows became very still and silent. No one seemed in the mood to yell any longer.

Sophie raised a hand. “Are all meetings like this?”

The room remained quiet, many ashamed by their behavior, especially in front of the new girl.

Yelena’s mother walked in balancing a large tray in one hand and a holding a large pitcher of milk in the other. Agatha was behind her with cups.

“Fresh cookies, just out of the oven. These will calm everyone down. Agatha has cups for milk. Everyone grab cookies. They are my own recipe. It is impossible to argue when eating cookies.”

None of the widows moved, looking at the floor instead.

“Everyone eat cookies now, damn it!” Anya shouted.

The widows snapped to attention and began taking the offered cups and cookies. They all recognized that tone of voice and understood where Yelena got it from.

“Thank you, Mama. These are delicious. They are my favorite.”

Anya kissed her daughter on the forehead. “Of course my baby. Anything you need, Mama can take care of. I’m going to find Wanda and make sure she eats something. I love all of you girls. I love how you love each other.”

She paused.

“So, start loving each other like sisters should.” Anya finished and took the empty tray away, leaving the pitcher of milk and cups. Agatha snickered and followed her.

“These are really good cookies. Oatmeal with a touch of something I can’t identify. Anyone have any ideas?” Rachel said to break the silence. Chloe bumped her shoulder and shook her head.

“Not the right time. Got it.” Rachel whispered.

Nat cleared her throat. “I’m going to check on Stannic.” she told the group and walked out.

Yelena watched her walk away and sat up straighter.

“If any of you have a problem or issue you want to discuss with team, you come to me and we set up meeting. You do not set up some ambush. It will not get you what you want. I understand your concern. We all want to fight. We have all fought before and it doesn’t make sense to those who can’t anymore. Maybe in some widow retrieval missions in the future we can revisit. But these are the rules we all agreed to live by as Red Widows and we will stick to them now as long as we are Red Widows. This isn’t the Red Room. Nobody is holding a gun to your head and making you stay. Do we all understand?”

A quiet chorus of agreements was heard.

“Does anyone wish to leave?”

The room shook their heads.

“Then this behavior will never happen again. We are not Avengers! We do not be harder on each other. We support each other because no one else in the world will.

“I am going back to my bed. I am taking good drugs and getting good sleep and when I wake, Oksana, I expect you to give me all clear and Wanda will heal me. Until then, no more meeting and no more fighting. Mama told me she is making an Italian dish tonight. Please offer to assist her. She is good to us and we must do our part to help.”

The group slowly dispersed, not meeting each other’s eyes. The gathering had been more of an argument than a meeting that settled nothing and caused hard feelings.

Upstairs, Nat entered her bedroom and was disappointed to not find Stannic there. She walked to Stannic’s room next, hoping the girl was there and not on the roof.

Stannic was sitting on her bed watching television.

“Don’t you knock?”

Nat knocked on the open door slowly.

“Very funny.”

She closed the door and sat next to her on her bed.

“What are we watching?” she asked, leaning back on the headboard to mimic Stannic.

“She-Ra and the Princess of Power.”

“What’s it about?”

Stannic sighed. “I am going to start sleeping in here again.”

Nat kept her face impassive. “Okay. If that is what you want. Can I ask why?”

“I’m too old to be sleeping with you. No wonder you think I’m a kid.”

Nat shook her head. “I don’t think you’re a kid because you have bad dreams at night and sleep better with me. I’ve had bad dreams my entire life and I sleep better knowing you are there. Maybe we can bring a bed in my room and…”

“You should sleep with Steve. I know you two are a thing. I’m not going to stand in the way. You should be sharing a room. I’m not your kid or responsibility, Nat. I’m not going to stand in your way.”

Nat sighed. “Were you eavesdropping on my conversation with Clint?”

Stannic shrugged. “What you said was true. I’m not your daughter. I know you are whatever I need you to be, but I don’t want you to feel you have to be responsible for me. I don’t want to be a burden. I can take care of myself.”

Nat understood what she was saying. “The thing is you don’t have to. You aren’t a burden. You aren’t my daughter but I love you. I’m not your mother but I want to be the one you talk to and rely on. I want to protect you. What I have with Steve is new and we aren’t at the moving into the same bed place yet. Even when we do get there I still want to be what you need. Maybe you decide you want a mother. I know if I ever had a daughter, I would want her to be a sarcastic little badass like you. Yelena will always be my little sister, but you are so important to me, Stannic. I’m never going to leave you. You are my family too.”

“Really?” she asked, insecurity in her voice obvious. “I like Steve. I just… I share Wanda with everyone and the same with Yelena. I don’t want to share you but I know I have to.”

Nat pulled her close. “No you don’t. I love you, kid. You are stuck with me. Maybe I share you with other people like Steve but you are never going to share me. The two of us will always have each other. I promise you.”

Stannic nodded.

“Why are you so upset about the age limit? You weren’t before.” Nat asked.

Stannic shrugged and Natasha squeezed her tighter. “Don’t clam up on me kid. Tell me what is going in in that pretty head. I thought you wanted to train to be a pilot?”

“I guess being left behind… I can fight. I’m good at it. I’m great at it. Fighting is the only good thing I have ever known. I was sold like trash by my crackhead mother for a fix that killed her. I… do you know what I was doing in the Red Room if I wasn’t fighting? I was a whore. I was useless, replaceable. If I wanted to live, it wasn’t enough to do as I was told like a good little mind controlled widow. I had to put on a show, act like I enjoyed it. If not, I would be killed and someone else would come in. Dreykov wasn’t the first. He was the last and the worst but… being mind controlled… I didn’t realize I was mind controlled. I couldn’t remember a time I wasn’t, even now. I do know that killing and possibly getting killed on my feet, was better than laying on my back and wondering if this was the time I wasn’t good enough and maybe get replaced. Maybe I die, maybe I didn’t, but I wasn’t even sure which I wanted. I knew I would have rather died on my feet with a gun in my hand than lying on my back.”

Tears fell down Nat’s cheek listening to her, aching for her and wishing she could make the pain go away.

“Мне так жаль, мой ребенок” she whispered.

“So, if I’m not fighting, I don’t… I don’t know what to do. Watching my sisters, watching you fight without me, was too much. None of the others liked it either. Yelena’s parents were wrecks and when that mine went off and her camera busted, we knew she was alive because of her biometrics but didn’t know how badly she was hurt. Kate was freaking out and Eleanor couldn’t calm her. Anya and Dima were watching your camera and saw you leaving. Then they watched you come back and we could tell by the angle of her leg that she was seriously damaged. None of us have felt that helpless since we were freed from Dreykov. It brought back memories. Sonia was furious. She criticized everything Antonia and Ava did. I had never heard her so angry. They weren’t even doing anything wrong but she was still angry. I wanted to be there. I should have been there with you. I could have watched your back on the way to Yelena. You were alone and if I lost you…”

“You won’t.”

“I love you, Nat.”

Nat held in a sob. “I love you too. Never doubt that. I want you to do something for a while. Try to be a kid. I never got to be one. You really haven’t either but you still have time. Try it out so I can experience it through your eyes. Let me watch you grow without a gun in your hand. I can’t promise it will be easy, but try.”

“How?”

“Start by telling me about this show. I see a cat woman.”

“That’s Catra. She was Adora’s best friend but they became enemies when Adora moved to the enemy camp because she found a magical sword that makes her very tall and strong when she raises it into the sky. Adora also realized her army was killing innocents. She also has friends who are princesses and they have different powers. You told me you wanted to celebrate my birthday, even though it has already passed. They do have action figures.”

“Action figures?”

“Collectibles. I’m just saying if you ever want to buy me something. I know you got a thing for dolls. Yelena keeps Twilight Sparkle on her bed. I’m more into mermaids and princesses. At least I’m into cool stuff and not baby stuff like Staci.”

Nat withheld a laugh and nodded. “Maybe the two of us can take a trip to Paris soon and do some shopping for these collectibles. Since I bet you aren’t ready to give up my room yet, we could put quite a few collectibles in here.”

“You think so?”

Nat nodded. “Yeah. You do your best to be a kid and I’ll help you hunt these elusive collectibles down. We have a deal?”

Stannic nodded and leaned into Nat. The redhead kept her eyes on the television, determined to keep up with the plot and planning to take a trip with her to Paris very soon. If it made Stannic happy and more of a kid, she would do it, no matter how bad the graphics were.