Teeth (READ DISCLAIMER)

Chapter 18: Still beating

"Nat, you need to get some rest." Steve said gently from the door way.

"No. Not until she wakes up." Natasha responded from her seat at the side of Wanda's bed.

"She might not wake. You've been shot Natasha, you need to eat, sleep and shower. Wanda wouldn't want you to neglect your own needs." He tried again, even more softly this time.

"Don’t try and guilt trip me Steve. The only thing I need is for her to wake up."

"Listen, I know you're friends and I know she saved your life. The rest of the team care about her too Nat but they are also taking care of themselves."

Not like I care about her.

"I'll go and clean up in an hour or two ok?" Natasha relented, agreeing to anything that would get him to leave her alone.

"I thought I'd lost you Nat. I thought we'd lost both of you. I just want you to look after yourself."

Natasha sighed and gave him a slight smile.

"I know Rogers. Now, leave me in peace." She said affectionately.

He smiled and let out a sigh of relief as he backed out of the doorway.

Natasha hadn't moved from Wanda's side for three days straight. She had woken up on the Quinjet sore and groggy but refused to allow the medics at the hospital to look her over.

After a full 24 hours of testing and scans, the Doctors had concluded that Wanda had gone into cardiac arrest after driving herself to exhaustion and experiencing extreme mental and physical trauma. They had explained that Wanda's body had entered into a coma to try and repair the damage caused and that there was essentially nothing they could do but wait for her to wake. If she ever did.

After hearing this from several Doctors, Tony made the decision to bring her back to the compound and have his own medical team provide round the clock care. Natasha finally relented when they were back home and allowed the nurses to give her a visual examination; they found nothing other than her scar and some minor cuts and bruising. Natasha had agreed with the team that as soon as Wanda woke up she would allow the medics to perform scans and X-rays on her to ensure there was no internal or lasting damage from the bullet.

Natasha looked around Wanda's room and realised she had never paid much attention to it before. There were books piled high on the shelves, a guitar on a stand in the corner, jewellery and trinkets scattered on her dressing table. Natasha considered the fact that she didn't really know Wanda's likes or dislikes, her passions or pleasures and yet she knew her trauma and heart so well. It was like the complete opposite of a conventional relationship; she knew Wanda's biggest fears, knew what mood she was in or what she was thinking from the slightest change in expression or from the twist of a ring yet she didn't know that she played the guitar or what books she like to read. She knew her soul. Natasha vowed to herself that she would ask Wanda everything she could when she regained consciousness.

Natasha spotted a board full of pictures and pieces of scrap paper above Wanda's desk and moved towards it with interest. The board was littered with Polaroid type photos of Wanda and all the people she cared about. The photos Tony had gifted her of Pietro and her parents took pride of place in the centre. There was a photograph of Wanda and Vision after she had gotten her tattoo, a candid shot of Wanda, Clint and Thor at her birthday party, one of Steve and Tony mid-argument and multiple snaps of Luka in various stages of growth. Natasha skimmed her eyes briefly over a smiling selfie of Carol and Wanda in a park and then her eyes came to rest on a cluster of photos where the subject was always the same; her. Most of them were natural, relaxed shots of Natasha in different places; The Maldives swimming in the ocean, sipping her coffee in the kitchen, cuddling Luka, drawing with Cooper and Lila. One in particular stood out that she remembered Tony taking at Wanda's party; she was deep in conversation with Steve and Wanda was stood next to her, her eyes were focused on Natasha's face and shone with clear adoration. When Natasha thought about it, she could remember all of these photographs been taken but it still shocked her that she was important enough to someone to print them out and display them.