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[x-scarletwitch.livejournal.com]

Wanda's out on the porch just collecting her thoughts when Theo happens by. There is much comforting.




Wanda had retreated for a while after she had received the news about GW's death. She hadn't been as close to him as any of the others but it still hit her hard, the memories from her vacation still fresh in her mind. She curled up on one of the rocking chairs on the back porch, tucking her knees under her chin.

She'd been helping Nathan before simply because she had the free time and he'd asked. But now it was something more personal and she'd do anything in her power to help Nathan destroy his uncle's work.

The door opened, behind her and off to her left, and the porch creaked alarmingly, as if protesting the weight that had just stepped out onto it. "Pretty day," came Theo's hoarse voice. "I like the snow."

Sitting up straight, she peered around the back of the chair at him. He'd been crying, that was obvious, and her heart broke for him. Another reason to make Gideon pay. "Theo," she said, quietly.

"Wanda." The porch creaked even more loudly as he came over and crouched down beside her chair. "I wanted to see you again," he said in a low rumble, "but I didn't want it to happen like this."

"I know and I am so sorry, sweetie." Wanda reached over and wrapped her hands around one of his. She'd lost in the last few years herself so she knew how he felt. "Is there anything I can do?"

He shook his great shaggy head, tears glimmering in his eyes again. "Wish there was. Really do. But he's gone... he shouldn't be, but there's nothing anyone can do."

The fact that he had gone quietly was no comfort now. Standing, Wanda slid her arms around his neck and hugged him, tears of her own coming through. "I'm so sorry," she said again, thickly.

"Me too," Theo said, almost inaudibly, his huge arms going around her tentatively, as if she was fragile and he was reminding himself of that. "He was such a good man, Wanda. Meant so much to me."

"And he cared for you as well, very much. Was so obvious, even to those that were getting to know him. This wasn't fair, he didn't deserve this." And the Pack didn't deserve this kind of grief and pain, not when things had been going so well for them.

"He was so happy," Theo said mournfully. "We all were. Getting the kids out of that last camp... he brought pictures. So that Pete could see, because it was from some of the information he gave us..."

"I think GW would want you to give Pete the pictures," she responded, softly. "I think it might help all of you. How...how are you doing?" Stupid question but she really wanted to know.

Theo gave her a look full of misery. "I can't help," he rumbled, his voice heavy with grief. "Lien won't talk to anyone. Dom's trying so hard to pretend everything's okay. I think the others are all still in shock. And every time Nate looks at me, the look in his eyes... it's like someone's burning him alive but he can't make a sound." It was an oddly poetic image, but disturbing, too.

Wanda gave him a gentle look. "And you?" she asked, knowing that Theo was the type of person who would go to the ends of the earth for someone but completely forget to make his own lunch. "I'm worried about you as well as the others."

Theo was very quiet for a long moment. "I keep trying to remember the good times," he said finally. "How hard GW worked to help me... well, learn how to be a human being. I didn't know how to do the simplest things, when he and Nathan found me, you know. Had no social skills for the longest time."

"He did care for you very much. You should have seen him warning me not to hurt you." She gave him a watery smile. "Cherish those memories and, God, I wish he had had more time..."

"Not even forty, and now he's dead because..." Theo stopped, shaking his head almost angrily. "Because of Gideon. Doesn't matter that he's Nate's uncle. Can't refer to him like that, because it'll make Nate think it's his fault."

"~Blood means nothing.~" It took a few seconds and a gentle poke from Theo to remind her that she hadn't spoken in English. "Blood means nothing," she translated. "Unless you decide it means something. He is just a man, an evil, twisted man. Who will fall."

"Dreamed about what I'd do to him if I got the chance," Theo said dully. "Then I woke up and remembered what Nate told me, about what GW made him promise..." He sighed at Wanda's questioning look. "GW made him promise he wouldn't go hunt Gideon down."

"There are other ways than killing him. Destroying his business and what he has been trying to do with Nathan and his family...that would be the best thing to do. I will help Nathan with as much as I can on that end."

Theo nodded slowly. "We're burying him on Muir," he said after a moment. "He's not got any surviving family here in the States, and Moira... well, it was her idea. Seemed right. Would you... would you come?" he asked very tentatively.

"Of course I will." She hugged him tighter. "I wouldn't be anywhere else but there."