Wanda/Wade, Backdated

[x-scarletwitch.livejournal.com]

Wanda finally makes it back to the mansion after picking up Lorna and finds Wade filling her cupbards with the promised beer.

Wade had purchased a lot of beer in the last twelve hours. A lot of microbrewery tastiness that he thought Wanda might like. And there were a couple bottles of wine Marie-Ange had suggested. But it was mostly all beer. He'd just finished storing the last of it in an appropriately unchilled cupboard when the door behind him opened.

It was clear from anyone who had ever traveled that Wanda was well and truly it over it.  Mussed clothes, hair that was threatening to take over the world and smudges under her eyes spoke of a really long trip home.  "God, I love you," she groaned, dropping her well worn leather satchel on the ground with a thud.  Arms opened she took several steps, walked past Wade and hugged the nearest thing of beer she could get her arms around.

"Oh, yes, Wade, I love you, too," she added after a moment, voice slightly muffled.

He'd had a moment of slight panic when he'd briefly questioned just how different this version of the universe was - but then Wanda walked past him and everything was sort of alright again. "Hey, Wanda," he said, quirking a smile despite himself. He knew, intuitively, that this was not the Wanda he'd known. But she was a Wanda that a version of him had known. So that had to count for something, right? "There's some actual food in one of the crispers, too, if you want something other than beer to supplement your calorie intake post trip."

"There is a god somewhere and if it ended up having your face, Wilson, I would not be surprised."  Finally taking her arms off the beer, she turned to give Wade a quick but firm hug.  "I thank you for the beer and both my stomach and my abused liver thank you very much for the food."  Stepping back, she knew she was still tense - despite her calming words to Lorna, she had been more than a little worried it would end badly.  Even being back in the safety of the mansion has only helped a little but in the dimly lit kitchen of her suites, her shoulders started to unwind a little and her face lost a little of the haunted look.

"You have won the honor of being my most missed person."

Wade grinned. This Wanda seemed... pretty similar to the Wanda he'd known. He returned her hug and then stepped back so she could get to the fridge if she wanted it. "Excellent. What'll that get me in a few weeks? I'm considering a camping trip for the weekend."

Shrugging off her jacket, she tossed it on the couch and proceeded to remove her shoes and socks with a groan.  "As much as I would love to, I simply do not think I could get myself away for a while.  I trust the security here more than anywhere else but Lorna..."  She shook her head and grabbed a beer.  Sometimes, her relationship with her half-sister seemed refreshingly uncomplicated when compared to Pietro.  At other times, it was the most complicated thing she'd ever encountered.  "I think I will let her get comfortable here before I venture very far for a while.  Besides, I would just grump at everyone putting the tents up incorrectly."

Fishing another beer out of the fridge, Wanda tossed it gently underhanded to Wade and collapsed sideways on the couch.

"Right, yeah - little sis. What's the story there?" Wade asked, opening the beer on the corner of the counter and catching the top when it flipped into the air. "It's all cloaks and daggers and shady safehouses apparently." He walked over to the couch and sat on the arm of it, since Wanda was taking up the part with all the cushions. It was probably a good idea to get the lay of the land so far as Lorna was concerned. It sounded like things were pretty different.

She pointed up at him.  "This remains team only, which yes I know ironic since you're vaguely not team and all that but I trust you.  More importantly, your girlfriend sees in the future and still has sex with you and wears your boxers instead of stabbing you in the face, so that's a point in your favor."  Wanda had mastered the art of drinking while mostly laying down so she didn't end up drenched in beer when she tried it.  "Long story short, she ended up as our mole in the Brotherhood for a while, after reaching out to me when things started to feel - not right.  We ... took a gamble on having her do that and the teams decided it was worth it."

It had taken Wanda a long time to even trust Lorna but when she'd come around to it, the idea of asking someone so young to do something so dangerous...it had been a weird, bitter pill for her to swallow.  Family always meant complications and their family had complications in spades.

"I do not know what happened but word started to get around lately that there was a mole.  Lorna did the smart thing, contacted me and bolted to a safe house, certain it was only a matter of time before they unraveled it and discovered who it was."

Good to know he was apparently still not on X-Force. Wade quirked a smile. "Yeah, better safe than sorry. Especially with your dad for a dad. He's probably not going to appreciate her defection... I mean, he has to know about it now, right?" He was going to have to take a gander at security things and see if he could pull anything special in from his military R&D resources. Not that he had a lot of those anymore. Half of them had died in the New Years fiasco. "It's good to have you back, TD&G."

A smile blossomed at that and she tipped her beer in his direction.  "It's good to be back and even better to see you, Wade.  The world has gone to hell, again and probably not for the last time, but it is going to be good to see everyone again."  Her thoughts wandered back to Magneto and she sighed.  Sitting up, she slid backwards until her back hit the other armrest.

"Magneto certainly knows by now that Lorna has at least disappeared.  He'll probably run through a few scenarios - wait for the kidnapping call, look for the body - but it is only a very small matter of time before he connects the mole issue to her vanishing.  I told her to stay close for the next few weeks and to only go into town with a group."  Her eyes glanced over at a small hall closet and thought about the pictures that lay hidden in a trunk, of the twins and their father before things got bad.  "I told her I would keep her safe.  And where better to do it at?"

"Right?" Wade said, still smiling. He took a pull from his bottle and sighed almost happily. This wasn't the same, but it was alright. Still, putting up a front for everyone would get old fast - he knew himself well enough to recognize that. "Seems like lots of people are filtering back in, though. Gettin' the band back together and all. Any idea who else we might expect?"

"Honestly, I am not sure.  I certainly hope the old guard reappears but I lost touch with so many while I was traveling."  That had been mostly her fault.  Overworking herself had become such a familiar habit that it had been almost impossible to break when she'd been on her own.  Oh, there had been a few times she'd seen some of the others, like Jean, when the chance came up but keeping in touch via e-mail or phone had been almost nil.  "And M-Day threw so much of the world into chaos..."

"Yeah, it did," Wade said, nodding slowly. He'd been having trouble compartmentalizing - what was new. He didn't usually think about loss or let emotions weigh him down. It was hard now, fighting through a fog of near constant reminders about who was gone and how they'd died. Forcing himself to take another swig of beer, he swallowed as he forced his mind away from thoughts of Matt and Molly. "How about I let you finish up your alcohol consumption and catch some sleep? Jet lag's a bitch, huh?"

The thought of sleep nearly undid her then and there but Wanda resisted simply passing out.  "God," she groaned as her head thumped back against the armrest.  "Sleeping on the plane was nearly impossible since I was paranoid something was going to happen.  I do not think I have slept well since New Years.  So, yes, that sounds like the best thing ever right now."

What time was it?  She had no idea.  She also had no idea how she was going to make it to the bed but the couch was sounding better by the second...

Wade smiled again and shook his head before reaching over and straightening Wanda's listing bottle of beer. "C'mon, TD&G. Let's get you at least sort of vertical so you can then get sort of horizontal and sleep without risking pain later from sleeping weirdly."

"Ugh, you and your logic," The beer wasn't going to make it if she tried to sit up so Wanda handed it over.  It took longer than it should for her to convince her limbs to get her off the couch and she was struck by just how exhausted she was.  Her body was finally coming down from from the adrenaline that had shot through her the moment she'd gotten Lorna's e-mail and she was starting to crash hard.

When she was finally on her feet, Wanda gave Wade a tired but warm smile.  "Thank you.  I do not think I would have been able to convince myself to relax enough without someone here first.  I'm glad it was you."

Handing Wanda her beer again, Wade gave her a small salute with his own before finishing it off and moving to put the bottle in the recycling container. "Happy I could help. It's good to have you back, Wanda. Really good."