Log: Rhodey & Wanda, early March Who: Rhodey and Wanda What: Uncle visit to the twins When: Early March Where: Wanda's home in the Tower Warnings: none expected
You could get anything delivered in New York, from deli food to groceries to diapers to clothing. Rhodey was pretty sure Wanda had most of what she needed under control. But you couldn't go wrong with soup, so Rhodey had a big container of barley lentil soup with him. It was filling, and vegetarian, and hence met kosher requirements, which Rhodey had no idea if Wanda was even the right faith for that but he figured getting it from a kosher deli couldn't hurt. He also had a pair of envelopes, each with one of the twins' names written on it, in his pocket: a fine American custom that he was going to introduce Wanda to if she didn't already know it.
He knocked on the door and hoped Wanda was ready for visitors.
Billy and Tommy were currently at the age where they slept most of the time - and ate, yes, waking up often to get the nutrients they would need. Their grunts, gurgles, and coos were very cute and a way for them to experiment with sounds, she’d read - so while she didn’t sleep much herself, she kept them on a schedule of napping and feeding and, for her, doing laundry and keeping the Tower apartment tidy.
She had them in their twin baby bassinets when she went to go answer the door, wearing yoga pants and a top that she’d forgotten she’d thrown a burp cloth over, where her shoulder was. Her hair was in a messy auburn updo, and she lacked makeup - but that was okay, she didn’t have anyone to impress anyway.
But, well, she wished she looked not so awful when she saw Rhodey at the door. “Hi!” A grin blossomed on her features. “Come on in. How are you? How’s Tony?” She’d sent him some healthy vegan meals, things that were easy to heat up when he was ready - but still, she was concerned. It was a reminder of how fragile life could be.
Rhodey found himself grinning right back. "He's going to be okay but he's going to sit on his butt for a while. If we need flying armored dudes, I'm handling it." Rhodey made a face. "I'm fine. The important question is 'how are you?' and maybe 'how are the twins?'. I brought soup. I didn't know what you like or what your dietary restrictions are so I went for barley lentil. Healthy and vegetarian."
The whole concept of the twins was still a little weird to Rhodey. I mean, Vision had been an android, right? And unlike Data in Star Trek, he wasn't, as far as Rhodey knew, fully functional. (He did not want to know if Vision had been, thanks.) And fully functional didn't necessarily imply the ability to father a child or two. But Wanda's powers centered around weirdness and probability, and Rhodey had seen a lot of weird stuff go down, so he was just taking it in stride as part of the new normal.
“Oh, that’s so sweet of you, thank you - “ Wanda took the big soup container and headed to the kitchen to pour some into a bowl; it was the right kind of weather for soup too. Cold and drizzly and not quite spring, but winter wasn’t completely gone yet either.
She was hungry (was always hungry, it seemed; breastfeeding burned a lot of calories and she was feeding for two), and certainly wouldn’t turn down a snack. “I’m good though. Can I get you anything to drink?” she asked right as one of the twins decided to add his contribution to the discussion - just a bunch of cooing. It was Tommy - he was always the more talkative one. Maybe he was excited about having company.
"I'm fine, thanks. And thank you," he told whichever of the twins was making noise. He hadn't quite sorted out which was Tommy and which was Billy yet. The chatty twin rapidly found himself engaged in a game of "busy bee" in which Rhodey wiggled his finger and 'buzzed' for Tommy's eyes and ears to track before circling in to let the finger-bee land on Tommy's nose.
So cute. Wanda found a spoon to eat her soup with, smiling as she watched Rhodey with the baby. “That’s Tommy,” she said, since it was still difficult to tell them apart even if they were fraternal twins - they continued to be in that ‘all newborns look like potatoes’ stage; babies didn’t tend to grow into their features until at least six months or so, she thought. “He likes to play, Billy prefers to sleep.” Which he was doing right now, thankfully.
“Do you want to hold him?” she asked, setting her soup down to go and have hands free to pick up Tommy, and pass him off to Rhodey if he wanted.
"Sure." Rhodey waited for Wanda to scoop Tommy up. "Gotta warn you, though, I don't know a lot about holding babies. When they're this little, all I know is I need all my vaccinations--which I've had, wouldn't have come by without--and I have to hold their heads up because their necks aren't strong enough to do it for themselves yet. Anything else I should be careful about?"
“Their necks are floppy, yes,” Wanda agreed with a little laugh. “Nothing else you really need to know though. He likes to bat at my hair but I don’t think you have to worry about that.” They could hold objects now too, Billy and Tommy, grasping whatever they got their little fists on. She found it interesting, chronicling their developmental milestones.
Carefully, she placed the baby in Rhodey’s arms, where Tommy was cradled nicely. “You haven’t held many babies, I’m guessing?”
Rhodey shook his head, carefully not letting the motion affect his grip on Tommy. "I was married but we didn't have any of our own. Not why we split but-- it does mean I don't have a lot of experience. I've handled other people's babies, like my niece, but it's not the same." He looked down at Tommy and added sternly, "No hair pulling."
In response, Tommy just kind of blew spit bubbles - which, well, that seemed very him. It gave Wanda a chuckle, as she sat on the couch (after peeping into Billy’s bassinet, to make sure he was still sleeping soundly). The soup bowl was cradled in her hands - maybe she’d actually get a moment to eat something. It was difficult to find the time - she’d become adept at just shoving food into her face at random intervals.
“Well, you’re doing great,” she assured. “I’m glad you came over. My interaction with actual adults is limited these days.”
"So you should sit and eat and I can tell you about all the exciting things while I keep the mister here preoccupied." Rhodey looked down at Tommy. "Sorry, it's her turn for supper. You get yours later."
“Oh yes, his turn will come,” Wanda smiled fondly; indeed, he’d get fed later. She tried to keep Tommy and Billy on the same feeding schedule - breastfeeding was already difficult enough. If they were fed at different times, she’d never get a minute without a baby attached to her.
She ate a few bites, savoring the taste - it was hearty soup, and a great comfort food. There was always something comforting about eating out of a bowl too, for some reason. “So what exciting things do you have to tell me?” she asked with a sweet little laugh.
"I'm going to have to go down to DC to follow up on the kaiju. It's kind of a bait thing, so I'll have backup, but after Tony's performance in the Senate hearing--not the part where he fell over, the stuff before that--someone's got to do it and I'm elected." Rhodey gave Wanda a crooked grin. "I know you're out of action for a while but that's going to leave you in charge of anything people find out about the magic tablets. Even if you can only distance consult with those two."
He added, raising the timbre of his voice a little and adding the sing-song tone he used to talk to babies, "That's right, kiddo, you don't get to be a superhero yet. Gotta wait until you're bigger and let mom do the work."
Tommy was surely going to take that as a challenge, Wanda just had a feeling. But she was fine with handling the superhero parts before her boys were of age - maybe by then, she’d be ready to retire from the Avengers. Or maybe not, given the way things always seemed to go wrong - no matter which universe they happened to be in.
“I can do that,” she nodded. “It’ll give me a chance to also do more research on the tablets - Stephen has a lot in his library, but I’ll track down other books elsewhere. A lot was lost when Sokovia was destroyed, so it’s a matter of finding the missing pieces.”
"Do you know if we've got anybody we could put on finding what's missing? Someone who can do the legwork while you take care of two of the next generation of Avengers here?" Because Rhodey was pretty sure that Morgan was also going to be a next-generation Avenger. And they had a lot of people hanging around who might be able to check into what had happened to various Sokovian artifacts and if there was a black market. He'd have to talk about that with Natasha and Coulson and Fury, to boot. "Maybe SHIELD can give us a hand with that too."
Wanda considered it. “Bucky, probably,” she suggested. “Or yes, any SHIELD agent who wants a travel assignment. I am certain the area where everything is most concentrated will be Eastern Europe - so someone who speaks Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, things like that.” Natasha would be good for the job too - really, Wanda would video conference anyone she needed to, once she had locations in mind.
Finishing her soup, she wandered into the kitchen to rinse the bowl and store the leftovers - it was a big container of soup, for which she was grateful. “I can take him back if you want,” she offered, with a grin, to give Rhodey’s arms a break. It felt good to actually sit down and eat something though, without having to hurry.
"That's all right. You deserve a rest." Rhodey waved her off, directing her to settle down. "Mr Tommy and I are just making friends over here. He'll be ready to go back in a while." All the while, Rhodey was keeping his hands moving so Tommy would watch what he was doing. It was keeping Tommy too busy to cry to go back to his mother.
“Well, I won’t complain about a break.” Wanda settled on the couch, pulling a blanket over her, as she observed Tommy with Rhodey. The baby seemed content, and sufficiently entertained for the time being, so she may as well rest until Billy inevitably woke up.
In fact, as soon as she pulled the blanket over her, she felt her eyes closing - sleep came easily, since she didn’t get enough of it. Now, it came over her as quick as an ax falling, and she was out - just for a little siesta.