Who: Alex Udinov and Wanda Maximoff What: Hanging out Where: The Farm When: Not long after 80s plot (beginning of August) Warning: Probably low Status: Closed/Started in gdoc, continued in comments
Alex felt a little bit out of sorts after the latest dome adventure. It wasn't that she felt bad about it. She'd been through these weird things before. But it had been unsettled that she'd been a spy against the country, when she had always done her best to help people. It was nice that she had been married to Adam, though. She was Katie's mother. All of that was good. It made her realize even more that she wanted that for herself at some point. Adam and Katie were becoming her family more and more. She liked that.
She also liked that she got to be Wanda's sister. Being Natasha's sister had been nice, too, but she was closer to Wanda. She realized it had been too long since she'd been back to the farm. It had been hard for her after Pietro had been sent back, but she did have some wonderful memories of her time there. She also hadn't really gotten to talk to Wanda as much. Being her sister in that strange dome timeline reminded her that they kind of already were sisters, in a way. She missed her and believed it was time to visit.
She texted Wanda ahead of time, picked up some baked goods, then headed over to the farm for the first time in awhile. She knocked on the door and waited, happy to get a chance to catch up with her family.
***
When Alex reached out about stopping by for a visit, Wanda was thrilled. They didn't spend nearly enough time together these days, though Wanda understood that it might be difficult for Alex to be at the farm or around her, since it no doubt brought up memories of Pietro. For her part, it was nice to be reminded that her brother had been happy during his time here.
Wanda was also still struggling to reconcile her alternate persona with who she was now. It would have been far too easy for her to actually become that person and she didn't like the thought of it at all.
She was the only one home when Alex knocked and opened the door to greet her with a smile. "It's so good to see you," she said.
***
Alex smiled right back at her friend. “It’s good to see you, too. It’s good to be back here, too.” She meant every bit of that. Sure, it was a little hard, but she was happy to be back. It almost felt as if she had never left. That’s what being back here felt like. It was a good feeling.
“I brought some pastries,” she continued, indicating the box she was holding. They weren’t the same as anything Pietro baked, but she knew somewhere, he would appreciate it.
***
"There is a fresh pot of coffee on," Wanda said. There usually was, simply because over the years, with so many different people living there on different schedules, it had become a habit. "Or, if you prefer, I can make tea."
She took the box from Alex and gave the other woman a one armed hug. "Living room or kitchen? Your choice." No doubt both rooms held a lot of memories and Wanda wanted her to choose where she would be most comfortable.
***
"You know what, let's sit at the table. I have so many fond memories of just sitting around the table, chatting every morning," Alex said, the smile on her face indicating her happy memories. This was definitely something she needed.
"It'll be like old times." Well, not exactly. There were still certain people missing. She wasn't going to let that stop her from visiting from time to time. Not anymore. She was hoping to make this a regular thing.
***
Wanda smiled at her choice and led her to the kitchen where she set the box on the table and then went to the cupboard for mugs. "Coffee or tea?" she asked, wanting to get them settled with beverages so they could have a proper catch up. A lot had changed and while much of it was sad, there were positive things too and it was important that they focused on the good rather than dwell on the bad.
"How have you been? Are things going well for you?" she asked.
***
“How about some tea this time,” Alex replied. She had coffee often enough. Sometimes, she enjoyed the other notable hot beverage.
“Everything is good, actually. Job’s still good. And I’m still a guardian for Jill,” she continued. “And things with Adam are good.” She smiled more prominently when she mentioned Adam. She truly was happy for the first time in awhile. She would always miss Pietro, but she knew he’d want her to move on to find happiness in any way she could.
“Now you have to tell me how you are.”
***
As she filled the tea kettle and put it on the stove to heat, Wanda smiled. She was glad to hear that Alex was finding happiness again and suspected that things were heading in that direction with Adam. "You and Katie should come over for a playdate with Judith sometime," she suggested. It was odd how they'd both ended up being mothers.
She poured herself a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter to wait for the kettle to start whistling. "I am… okay," she said, the words hesitant. Alex was one of the few people she knew she could be honest with without judgment. "I did not much like the person I was in the 1980s," she admitted.
***
Alex nodded, understanding. Though she had not been quite as ruthless as Wanda had been, she didn’t particularly like being the enemy. In that world, Alex had been just as ruthless before meeting Adam. She had mostly made peace with all of that, though. It seemed Wanda was still struggling, and Alex would try her best to listen.
“It isn’t fair when the dome does these things. That wasn’t you,” she said, her tone reassuring. “But I know that’s easy to say when I haven’t experienced the same thing you have. You know I’m here if you want to talk about it. Or anything.”
Wanda was like a sister, after all. Alex would fight for her like she would any member of her found family.
***
Wanda's cheeks flushed a little and she was grateful that the tea kettle whistled then, giving her an excuse to look away. "I may have gone a little wild the other day," she admitted. "Have you met Belphegor? He's… interesting. We went out drinking and, well… "
The marks he'd left on her body were largely faded now, but she set a brewing cup of tea in front of Alex and pulled down the neckline of her shirt so her friend could see one of the ones that were still visible.
"I haven't done anything like that since John left," she said. Wanda knew there was no reason to feel guilty, her husband had been gone for seven months and clearly wasn't coming back. However, she also knew that Alex would understand how difficult it was to move on.
***
Alex glanced closely at the marks, raising an eyebrow. “I do not know him, and if I wasn’t taken, I might ask you to introduce us…”
Based on what Wanda had just shown her, she was sure he was very likely a good time. “It’s okay, you know. To have a little fun.”
She wanted Wanda to know she absolutely did not judge any way she chose to deal with things. Alex herself nearly went down a very different path to deal with her feelings about certain situations.
She was sure John would want Wanda to move on if she could, just as Pietro would want the same for her.