Who: Wanda & Natasha What: sisterly squabbling Where: their apartment When: this afternoon Warnings: no Status: complete doc
Working as a dispatcher in a town where very little happened meant that Natasha generally got off work on time, which was why the sun hadn’t yet set when she pulled up outside the apartment building where she lived with Wanda. As she got out of the car, movement from one side caught her attention and she noticed a flower delivery truck with a driver climbing out. She took her time picking up her purse and the light jacket she’d worn at work, then followed the driver to the building..only to bite back a sigh when she realized she was following him straight to her door.
As she reached it, the redhead called out to get his attention, “May I help you?” He turned and blinked, then gave a bashful smile at her. “Um - I have a delivery for, um, a Mrs - uh I mean, Ms? Natasha -” She cut him off before he could continue and held out her hand for the bouquet he held. “That’s me, thank you. Do I need to sign?” Once she had and sent him on his way, she stared down at the flowers in her hand. She knew without even looking at the card that they’d be from John, and allowed herself the tiniest smile, before steeling herself and unlocking the door to step inside.
“I’m home,” she called out while hanging up her jacket and purse, removing a gun from the latter and slipping it into a hidden drawer under the table by the door, where they generally kept their weapons when hiding them at home.
***
After a long, hard day of preparing food in an industrial kitchen and serving it to the numerous patients in the hospital, Wanda came home and took a long shower, hoping to wash off the scent of institutional food and death off of her skin.
She’d just finished dressing in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, her wet hair hanging loose around her shoulders, when she heard her sister enter the apartment and emerged from her bedroom. Any hint of a smile that might have been on her face immediately turned into a scowl when she saw the flowers in Natasha’s hand.
“What are those?”
***
“Flowers,” Natasha replied easily. “Specifically, cosmos, or if you want me to get technical - coreopsideae.” Rolling her eyes at her sister, she walked into the kitchen to get out a vase to put water in for them. “I met the delivery person at the door - which is probably for the best, because you’d just throw them out.”
Setting the flowers down, she reached into a cabinet for the vase, then added water and slipped the flowers into it, carefully pulling the card out from amongst the petals beforehand. “Do you want to eat here tonight, or drop in on Alex?”
***
Wanda was not amused by Natasha’s response. “Who are they from?” she demanded, though she was certain she already knew the answer. Her sister was supposed to be getting close to an FBI agent to throw him off their trail and she had deep suspicions that Natasha was enjoying that assignment a little too much.
The mention of their other sister deepened her frown. “We should check in with Alex,” she said. Their sister was very committed to her ‘cover’ here in town, married, with a child. It made her soft and Wanda couldn’t tolerate the idea of seeing Natasha go down that same path.
***
“I’m not answering a question you already have,” Natasha replied dryly, but she held out the card while picking up the vase. “But see for yourself.” It wasn’t as though it wasn’t totally harmless - and besides, flowers every few days meant he was hooked, right? Letting Wanda read the card, Natasha walked past her to her own bedroom to set the flowers in the window. Grimm didn’t come over often, but if he did she’d want him to think they had been readily accepted.
While in her room, she slipped off her heels and stockings, then pulled a shirt and loose pants out to change into since she didn’t think they’d have a mission that evening. As she came back out while pulling out the pins in her hair, she looked directly at Wanda. “You should call her.”
***
It was obvious that Natasha was enjoying the flowers and not just because they meant that she was doing her job well. Wanda knew her well enough to recognize that her sister was genuinely pleased by the delivery and she sighed. They were here on an important mission and it seemed she was the only one who remembered that.
“Fine, I will,” she said, walking over to the hallway table where they kept the phone. She dialed Alex’s number from memory and spoke to her quickly in Russian, informing her that they would be stopping by for dinner this evening, not bothering to ask if it was okay and give her sister a chance to say no. When she hung up, she fixed her gaze on Natasha. “We are expected at six pm.”
***
She listened to Wanda’s side of the conversation and gave an internal shake of her head. Yes, the mission was important, but sometimes things needed to be handled carefully, and it often fell to her trying to make that happen. “Fine, I’ll get dressed again in a little bit,” she said, then folded her arms over her chest as she studied the other woman.
“I know you’re upset about the flowers, but you know that it means that I’m doing my job. Why are you angry?”
***
“You are enjoying doing your job a bit too much,” Wanda said. “Same as Alex.” To be fair, Adam hadn’t been an assignment or target the way John was. Still, their sister had fallen in love with him instead of simply using him as her cover. Then she had the audacity to get pregnant. Her husband and daughter were nothing but a liability.
***
“I enjoy killing people more,” she pointed out. “Besides, he’s good in bed. Where does it say I have to hate the sex and fake it for him?” Particularly if she didn’t need to fake it at all. She continued pulling the bobby pins from her hair so that the red wavy strands fell around her shoulders, before shaking her head a bit.
“I was told to make him an asset by any means necessary to get at his work. This is how I’m doing that.”
***
Wanda shook her head. Yes, sex was a necessary physiological need that she occasionally indulged with a one night stand. Having sex with the same person repeatedly left you in danger of developing feelings though. It made you weak.
“And if you’re ordered to kill John?” she asked.
***
“Then I’d kill him, obviously,” she replied just as coldly as she met Wanda’s eyes. “Do you doubt me?” She asked, almost a little hurt that Wanda would doubt her commitment to the work itself. She knew how to set her priorities, even if for her - family came above all.
***
“Yes,” Wanda replied, her tone blunt and honest. She hadn’t doubted Alex soon enough, hadn’t noticed the signs and been able to step in and stop her sister from falling too deep into her cover. There was no way she was letting that happen again. She couldn’t do this on her own and she needed to keep Natasha focused on the job.
She knew that she would be able to take out anyone she was directed to without a second thought, except for her sisters. That was the way it should be.
***
Arching a brow, Natasha shook her head. “This was the mission. If he has feelings for me, then that’s for the better, yes? He’ll tell me more, he’ll want to protect me. If things somehow go wrong and he does find out things he shouldn’t, then I can manipulate him and steer him in other directions. Unlike Alex, I seduced him rather than got seduced by a pretty face. This is what they taught us to do, Wanda. It could just as easily be you with this part of the mission instead of me.”
Though they both knew that she wasn’t quite as good at hiding her true emotions. There was no way John would have believed her as completely as he did Nat.
***
There was a reason that Natasha had received that particular assignment, though Wanda was still not convinced her sister was hiding her true emotions. Not completely. She might think that she was fully in control of this situation, but Wanda was not as confident. From where she sat, Natasha seemed to be developing actual feelings for her mark and that could only lead to dangerous outcomes.
“Be careful,” Wanda said. “We cannot afford to get sloppy.”
Not when they were getting close to meeting their objective.
***
“I am careful,” she replied. “And you know I’m not sloppy. I’ve never been sloppy.” Walking past her sister, she sank down onto the couch and stretched her legs out, intending on relaxing for a couple minutes before she changed so they could go to Alex’s.
“How is your work going?”
***
Wanda followed Natasha into the living room, perching on the arm of the sofa. She supposed she would need to change into something more suitable for a family dinner before they left. At least she wouldn’t have to prepare this meal. Or serve it.
“It is fine,” she said. Working in a kitchen was hot and back-breaking. It allowed her access to all areas of the hospital and she’d been slowly copying records and funneling them out.
***
“Good,” Natasha replied, shifting a little so she could rest her head against her younger sister’s leg, and looked up at her from below. “Do you think we’ll stay here even through the outcome of our mission? That they’ll want us to keep this going longer?”
It wasn’t because of John that she asked, not right now. Alex’s family was at the forefront of her mind, and she didn’t want anything to happen to them.
***
“It seems unlikely,” Wanda said. Once they were successful with this mission, which she had no doubt they would be, they would likely be assigned to a new one. She wondered if Alex would go with them or if she would refuse, becoming a traitor to her country for her family. “If all goes well, we should be done here within the next month or two.”
She was ready for something new. They had been here far longer than any previous assignment and she was restless.
***
“Good.” Natasha wasn’t really sure if she said that because she agreed, or because she knew it was what Wanda would want to hear, but she wasn’t going to think about that at the moment. For now, she’d focus on the mission and on making sure things go smoothly.
“All will go well, because we’re here.” On that, she was firm - it never occurred to her that they might fail, because it wasn’t something either of them - or Alex - did.