Wanda and Jake: Goodbyes

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Returning back to her apartment to retrieve some documents, Wanda discovers Jake doing what he does best. Leaving.



It was a bit odd to have things, after so long, finally start to turn out right. Remy was back and that went a long way to paving over any other troubling things in Wanda's view. Humming under her breath, she tossed her keys onto the dining room table and headed into her bedroom. She was supposed to be at the office but had realized she'd left some necessary documents back at the apartment and had to return.

She paused as she rifled through some paperwork - the muffled sounds of things moving around in Jake's apartment were quite clear in the silence of her own place. Despite the semi-pressing need to get back to work, Wanda grinned, dropping the papers on the bed before she headed towards the window.

A small ... distraction wasn't going to throw her schedule off by much.

Laptop bag and suitcase were by the door, fridge was empty, alcohol and ice cream maker were on the table for Wanda to find. Jake bit his lip, reading the note in his hand one last time, then signed it and slipped it into the envelope. Wanda's name went on the front in big letters. Jake leaned it against the ice cream maker carefully, then stepped back to make sure everything looked okay, going over his checklist one more time. Laptop cord, cell phone charger, toothbrush--

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the windowsill scraping against the frame as it opened behind him. No no no no no, he thought, whipping around in a panic even as he snatched up the letter and hid it behind his back. "You're supposed to be at the office," he blurted out.

It didn't take a person accustomed to moving on to figure out what was happening. Wanda paused in the windowsill and took it all in, wondering for a moment if she should feel like a fool or not. "Leaving without saying goodbye?" she asked quietly as she swung herself in through the window, smoothing down her skirts as she headed towards him.

Jake almost tried to lie--to insist that he wasn't leaving, just going on a job, on a trip, on a vacation. But he knew better. A hot flush of shame tinged his cheeks; this was why he never did this face to face, if it could be helped. "I was going to leave a note this time," he said quietly, holding up the envelope, utterly unable to look at her.

Nimble fingers plucked it from his hand and Wanda turned it over a few times before placing it gently on the table. Those same fingers went under his chin to urge him to look up at her - she was smiling, a little sad one, as she forced him to meet her eyes. "You expect a daughter of the Rom to not understand this of all things?" she sighed. "The leaving without a goodbye, though..."

He swallowed hard as their eyes locked. Anger would've been easier to deal with than this inevitable disappointment. "You said you'd hunt me down and kill me," he pointed out a little desperately, intending it as something of a joke but falling a good distance from his target. "And I kind of suck at goodbyes."

"There is that," she said, dryly, dropping her hand. Wanda sighed, rubbing at the back of her neck. "I think my threat of physical violence was aimed more towards this scenario. I know how much you hate goodbyes ..." She glanced down at the letter on the table and quirked a smile.

"At least you were going to leave something."

He rubbed at his mouth absently, not sure what to do or say. "Wanda..."

"Jake," she responded, stepping in close because even when things turned weird or upsetting, they'd never really had much in the way of personal space issues between the two of them. Wanda looped her arms around his neck and shook her head. "All of this has been a bit too much for you, hasn't it?"

And deep down, she knew she wasn't just talking about the team or the job. Too many personal things in too short a time for her friend.

His hands slid around her waist loosely as he leaned his forehead on hers, eyes closed, searching for the right words. "I can't do it," he said finally, his voice quiet but still full of misery. "I just...I'm going to get someone killed." It was more than that, but he didn't have any way to express that. And deep down, he knew he didn't need to; if anyone understood, it was Wanda. "I'm sorry."

She nodded, gently knocking their heads together. Jake wasn't the only one struggling with what to say next. The fact of that matter was when it came to the deeper emotions, Wanda was as lost as he was. It was hard on her to speak about them or to even dwell for very long on some of the harder hitting, confusing ones.

So, she didn't. She just squeezed her arms around his neck. "I have access to transportion and teleporters," Wanda said, her voice slightly rough with the things that went unspoken. "I can find you -if you want, of course, and are not planning on going to ground completely."

He shrugged. "That depends whether or not Remy's going to try to kill me. He threatened to."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I mean, it'll be a bridge in a different country, so that might help." And then she kicked him in the shin - a sharp, short rap that didn't have much force behind it because of how they were standing. "And I just got my violence out of the way for this, so."

"Ow," he said mildly, complaining for the sake of complaining. He wrapped his arms around her waist tightly, hiding his face against her shoulder. "You're making this hard," he said brokenly.

Wanda cupped the back of his neck, the offer of support and the ability to hide the look of pure emotion on her face, that moment she wasn't able to fully control. "I was trying to make it easier on us both," she admitted. "I completely mucked that up, didn't I?"

Jake shrugged, not lifting his head. "I'm glad I got to see you anyway." And surprisingly enough to him at that moment, despite how difficult this was, he was telling the truth. He squeezed her tight. "Is this what you people call closure?" he joked weakly.

"It damned well better be considering how painful it seems to be." Leaning her head against the side of his, she laughed a little bit. "You disappeared off the radar last time and look where we ended up. We'll see each other again - it is simply a divergence, yes?"

He smiled into her shoulder. "Yeah. We'll just have to make it count." Jake raised his head then, making tentative eye contact. "You promise you don't hate me?" he asked softly.

Still the same Jake, no matter what. Looking for acceptance and a home and people to love even when he ran. And for that reason alone, she could never hate him. And she told him that, as she kissed him once on both cheeks and then on the mouth.

"Never's a long time," he said quietly, eyes darting up to meet hers and then away again.

"Even leaving without saying goodbye would have been a temporary annoyance at best," Wanda responded smartly. "There are only a handful of things you could do, Jacob Gavin, to make me hate you."

Jake shrugged. "I'm good at finding those, I'm told."

"You are being purposely difficult," she sniffed, stepping away with something white in her hand. It was a piece of paper and she flipped it open without so much as a by your leave. "You have some time before your plane leaves, it would seem."

"Especially since my plane doesn't leave until tomorrow," he pointed out with a slight smile. "Just not from here. I have some things to do in DC first. And you picked the wrong pocket." Jake withdrew an envelope from the inner pocket of his jacket that matched the one Wanda had left on the table. "Give this to Remy and tell him not to kill me, okay?"

Pretending to sulk, Wanda handed back the piece of paper she had pilfered from him and waited until he'd tucked that away before taking his hands. "I do detest sending you off without a proper goodbye," she said, grinning a little. She thought of his room, with the bed probably stripped already, bare bones and all, and the smile slipped a little bit before she shored it up.

"Through the window, just one more time?" she teased.

It was tempting to say no, even though he knew he didn't have the willpower; one more time would poke at the wound that leaving was, opening it up before it had a chance to heal and running the risk of leaving a scar. But he surrendered with a smile; maybe this way he could leave her asleep and dreaming that he'd stayed, and maybe allow him to pretend that he ever could deny her anything. "One more time," Jake said gallantly, offering his arm like a gentleman.