Thread: Tony & Wanda WHO: Tony Stark and Wanda Maximoff WHERE: Getting lunch at Parker Palace WHEN: Probably backdated closer to Wanda's arrival. WHAT: Catching up RATING: Low
Tony was glad he and Wanda were catching up. He knew she had some heavy losses in her time, which he felt guilty about. He couldn’t save Vision and there was no rebuilding him. He was one of a kind. Still, he could be there for Wanda and Tommy, which he fully intended on doing. They were family as far as he was concerned.
“I’m glad we’re doing this,” he told Wanda as he held her chair out for her.
“Me, too,” Wanda said, offering Tony a smile as she took her seat. She hadn’t felt his loss as deeply as she had Vision’s, but he and Natasha were just two more people on a list of losses. More reasons to grieve. She was very happy they both had a chance to live here.
After he made sure Wanda was settled, he took the seat across from her and handed her a menu. “Have you been here before? You really can’t go wrong with May’s recipes.” He may have been a little biased since he considered the Parkers family, but the food was good. “I think I’m ordering the lasagna and antipasta.”
Wanda nodded. “The food is very good,” she admitted. She looked over the menu for a few moments, contemplating what to order. “I’m thinking about the Carbonara,” she said after she’d had a chance to study it a little. “Maybe a small salad, too.”
“Sounds good,” Tony agreed. “Make sure to save room for dessert too.” He fully intended on treating her to the whole nine yards.
He smiled at the waiter, made small talk, and finally ordered. He turned back to focus on Wanda. “Shall we get the heavy stuff out of the way?”
“Dessert is the best part.” Making small talk over the food the whole time would have been easier, but Wanda had known this conversation would be coming eventually. It was a necessary one, she knew that, too. “I’m not certain where I should start,” she admitted. She knew she had been here before, somehow without remembering it. She did not know how much the other her had told him or what he would have learned from others.
“Start where you feel comfortable,” Tony kindly urged. “I know about the war and time traveling, but I’m from when the blip first happened so anything after that is fair game.
“I wasn’t sure what the other me would have told you,” Wanda explained before taking a sip of her water. “Pietro told me I’d been here before.” She hadn’t asked for details. It was strange enough to think of this other version of her, even knowing it was possible.
“She didn’t tell me much,” Tony told her. He was nervous about the news Wanda brought, but he hoped they could deal with whatever she said. “I’m a first time listener,” he added gently.
Wanda nodded. The beginning, then. “After [...] everything, I tried to get Vision’s body back. I wanted to give him a burial. They refused to give him to me. I was angry, I was grieving and then I found the deed to a piece of land Vis had bought for us. It was [...] too much.” Her eyes stung even at the memory of it. “I lost control. Something burst out of me and before I knew it, I had somehow-” She paused, unsure of how to say what came next. “I didn’t mean to do it, but I had him back. We were in an idealistic sitcom life. Literally. That I made with my own mind.”
Literally. Tony listened carefully and zeroed in on that word. “You made a sitcom for you and Vision to live,” he said, wanting to make sure he got it right. “So you lived a life with him through magic, is that it?”
“Sort of, yes. It’s a little more complicated than that, but we were married, we had two sons - Billy and Tommy. It seemed perfect. I didn’t even realize at first exactly what I’d done.” Wanda looked down, staring into the glass that held her drink. A beat later, she looked back up. “I enslaved a town. In the end, I had to let them go. I had to end the spell that kept everyone there. Vision and the boys disappeared.”
Tony swallowed his guilt. He should have made some contingency for Wanda if Vision was destroyed. He should have thought that through. He reached out to silently offer his hand. “You let them go,” he said gently. “I’m so sorry, Wanda. I wish I had thought to do something before it happened…I should have thought of something to preserve Vision.” Tony loved Vision. He loved all his creations, but Vision was more than a machine. He was, in fact, more human than some people.
“It isn’t your fault,” Wanda assured Tony through her tears. “You couldn’t have known what would happen.” Her choices were her own. The creation of Westview had been unintentional, but she’d chosen to keep it going even once she realized what she’d done. Until she’d realized she was hurting the people who were trapped there. “They have him, the real Vision,” she said quietly. “I should have taken his body anyway. They took him and they turned him into- I don’t know. He came to Westview. He was different. He and my Vision fought. I am not sure what happened to him after that.” She couldn’t help thinking that if she’d just taken his body by force, she could have prevented whatever it was they had done to him.
“They made a new Vision?” Tony’s chest tightened. That couldn’t be good. He rubbed his temples with one hand as if to dislodge the million thoughts running through his head. “They might have taken you too,” Tony said carefully. “You couldn’t do anything, Wanda, not without great detriment to yourself, I’m afraid.” She suffered enough without some government official getting their hands on her. “I’m just glad you are here now. You can rest and you have people who love you here.”
Wanda nodded. “I am grateful to be here and to have Tommy with me. And you and Natasha. It is wonderful you are both getting your second chance here.” She ached for Vision and for Billy and there was a part of her that thought perhaps should could- She wouldn’t even let herself finish the thought, not yet. No matter how she dreamed of finding a way to bring the rest of her family to her.
Tony’s smile was kind, but he could guess what sort of turmoil she was going through. She’d lost everything and even here she only had part of her family. He felt greedy when he thought about how much he had compared to her and, again, resolved to figure out the magic and science driving the dimension they were in. “Tommy is amazing,” he said, trying to cheer her up. “Cheeky, for sure. Smart. I love him so much.”
“Yes. He is. “ Wanda was biased, but she thought her son – both of her sons, in fact – were incredible. “I wish you could meet Billy, too,” she said. It was her one wish for herself in this place, to have both of her boys and if she was being truly honest, Vision, too, here. To have her family here with her. Tony was her family, too, as were the rest of the Avengers and she was glad to have them. She just found herself wishing for more.
“Maybe one day.” Tony hoped he was reassuring. He couldn’t make promises, but he would do all he could to bring Vision and Billy to their little home one day. He and Bruce kept experimenting, but so far came up empty handed. “Until then, you and Tommy have to tell me all about him.”
Wanda nodded. “Maybe we could all have dinner soon. Tommy and I can share some of our favorite stories.” She was grateful to have family here.
“Absolutely,” Tony agreed. “I have to hear all about my other grandchild.” He too was glad to have his family here.