Little Ballerina (A WinterWidow Story)

Ch. 12 New Beginnings

"тетушка!" (Auntie!) Rina called, pushing the door to Wanda's room open.

She walked into the living room, not seeing the brown haired woman anywhere, she moved toward her room.

She heard soft crying coming from the room, she turned to leave but her curious nature got the better of her. She quietly opened the door and the crying continued.

"тетушка?" (Auntie?) she called softly, not wanting to startle her.

Wanda looked up from the picture she was clutching and smiled,

"Sorry, love. Come in, come in" she said getting up from the floor and sitting on the bed, picture still in hand.

Rina made her way to sit next to the woman as she wiped her eyes. The girl didn't know what to do as she sat down the woman was trying her best to hide her tears.

The silence was comfortable the girl sat there as the young woman cried silently. Rina slowly reached out and pulled the crying woman to her.

Wanda realized what the girl was doing and her body shook harder with tears as she returned the hug. The girl never liked to touch anyone, so the hug was very surprising but Wanda welcomed it.

The girl rubbed her aunt's back as she cried. She remembered Nat telling her that Wanda had lost her twin brother a few years back, that they were held by Hydra too. That's why she felt so close to Wanda, like they were connected in some strange way.

After a few minutes of Rina holding the crying woman, she patted her back,

"This is nice" the girl half joked.

Wanda laughed and pulled back, the photo cradled in her lap. Finally Rina got a good look at it. Wanda saw the girl staring and offered the photo which she took, holding it in her lap to examine.

She looked closely, the picture was creased and folded but it was definitely Wanda but she looked young, around her age. She was with a boy she didn't recognize. It was a candid shot of the two of them. Wanda was laughing at something beyond the camera while the boy who Rina assumed was her brother, looked down at his sister with a smile.

Ekaterina our her finger to the picture and traced Wanda's face, feeling the creases of the worn photograph. Her finger traced from Wanda to the boy she didn't quite recognize. He had bleached blonde hair that was so different from Wanda's brown hair. They did not look like siblings she thought. Her head tilted in confusion.

"That was my brother, Pietro"

"Ah" Rina mused, "you look happy"

The woman laughed,

"We were, that was before..."

"Before they got you too?" Rina guessed softly, she could feel the woman's pain radiating off of her

"Yeah" was all the woman could muster.

"You remind me of him" she said quietly

The girl's eyes snapped up, she was being compared to a hero, she never thought herself capable of that.

"I do?"

The woman smiled with teary eyes,

"Yes. You both didn't think you could be heroes. He didn't think he was capable of it. But he always was. And so are you. You deserve every happiness, Rina. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise"