WinterWitch: Control

Chapter 14

Wanda POV

"Well, I'm not apologising first." I folded my arms and leaned back against my chair. We were both sitting in the kitchen with the Captain standing at the table end. James was standing in the corner, observing the situation. He didn't need to be with us, but it was nearly time for our training anyway. He probably wanted to make sure a fight wouldn't break out between me and Romanoff. Clint was probably in the same corner for that reason as well.

I was looking directly at her, but her gaze was on the table. "Clint told me what you said, Nat," Cap said, shaking his head. "What's going on?" She looked up at Steve with a tired expression on her face. Was this a joke to her?

She then stared directly at me, which almost made me squirm. Natasha was the definition of intense. I tried not to let her intimidate me, but she just had something about it. It was probably what made her a good Black Widow and interrogator.

"You don't need to apologise for anything," she began, clasping her hands together at the table. "Recently I have been letting my morale slip. I promise I'll try and be more careful in the future," she said, nodding to me and pushing her chair out to stand. That wasn't going to cut it.

"No, 'trying' isn't good enough!" I barked, surprising myself with the noise level of my voice. I saw Steve's eyebrows raise, but Natasha's face didn't change. "We're not done here. Sit down."

For a moment, I thought she wouldn't follow my orders, but she did. She slowly took her seat again and pulled herself back to the table. I needed to let out everything I had been feeling. She needed to know exactly how her words made me feel. "You made me feel like shit. I never want to be forced to feel that way by you again."

She was actually listening to me, I could tell by the look on her face. Her eyes were on me and her body was leaning forward slightly. She looked a little upset to my surprise, her lips looking drawn down more than usual. "I don't want to be angry at you. I like it when we get along."

Natasha and I did get along. We watched movies, had girls nights in with Pepper and went for coffee, but recently she was being a real pain in the ass. "But if you keep treating me the way you do, then I don't want to be your friend."

She nodded as I leaned forward to lean my arms against the table. It felt more intimate and personal to be there rather than be rudely against the back of my chair. "This isn't even about the team, this is about you and me. I don't want to just be co-workers, I want to stay friends."

She sighed and looked down at her hands before focusing on me again. "I know I haven't been myself recently," she admitted, tilting her head to the side. I noticed her eyes flicker up to Clint and then back to me again. I didn't know whether they had some personal issue going on between them, but I was pretty sure they were secretly dating. There was a bet going around - I would be £50 richer if they were together. My mind focused back on the situation when she spoke again.

"I don't want you to feel that way because of me. I'm sorry." Over the entire time spent with the Avengers, I had never heard Natasha say 'sorry' and mean it in a way that wasn't sarcastic. I knew she meant it this time. "I promise I'll treat you better." The room was silent for a few seconds. She actually meant it. She was looking me straight in the eyes and I knew she was giving me nothing but the truth. I was thankful for her honesty and she knew it by the small smile I let show.

"I'm glad you two have sorted this out," Steve said, smiling at the both of us. He was such a dad to all of us.

"Yay," Clint cheered and I laughed at his excited nature. Clint was the 'real' dad to me. "Now hug each other and say that you love each other very much." I rolled my eyes at his suggestion. He was good at lightening the mood - everyone in the room was smiling. Even James had a small smile on his face, which made me happy. His smile was so beautiful, even though he didn't know it. A lot of him was beautiful actually.