Cain and Wanda

[x-scarletwitch.livejournal.com]

Wanda goes for a run since she has nothing better to do but when Cain startles her she ends up in the lake. More weirdness between them but they actually have a civil conversation.



Wanda was not a sprinter, she simply didn't have the body for it. Endurance, however, was what she had been built for. With little to do during the day, she found herself either running on the grounds or working out in the gym and this day she'd been out running for at least an hour. Her leg muscles were buzzing slightly, a sign she would have to stop soon. Pulling a muscle was not in her plans for the day. Suddenly, the lake came into view and she smiled. Run to the end of the pier and then back to the mansion, a good finish to a good run.

Flipping through the pages of the technical manual, Cain sighed. After talks with Pete, Lee, Nathan and even Lebeau, he'd come to realize that he didn't know the first goddamn thing about security. And he'd be damned if he was going to let someone else fix stuff in his house if he didn't understand it.

Using a piece of beef jerky as a bookmark, Cain closed the book and stepped out onto the patio. The wooden deck stretched out from the back door of the boathouse around to where the pier extended into the lake. Good quiet place to try and clear his mind, he figured.

Concentrating on the ground, she'd already discovered some rough patches before, Wanda paid little attention to the rest of her surroundings. Her feet hit the wooden planks of the dock and then she looked up, to see the water as she ran. And then she noticed, out of the corner of her eye, the moving mountain heading her way. Tired from the run and her apparent lack of sleep, she jumped. And suddenly realized that on a narrow dock jumping at full speed was not necessarily the brightest thing she could have done.

With a sharp curse, Wanda suddenly found herself tumbling head first into the lake.

"Oh, for christ's sake..." Cain sighed. Setting the book down on a chair, he stepped out onto the dock, kneeling to look down into the water at the lake's newest occupant, whoever it was. "There some reason you're taking a swim in the middle of October," he yelled, "or is Jackass Syndrome catching?"

"If you had not startled me, I would not be in here!" she spluttered, trying to get the sopping wet curls out of her eyes. They were like limpets--hairy, sticky limpets. "...besides, it's not _that_ cold in here, thankfully." She was, however, regretting the fact that she was wearing clothes suited for long periods of running and not swimming.

Cain blinked twice. "Wanda?" he asked, extending a hand out to help her from the water. "Shit, I thought you were one of the kids. What in the hell are you doing in the lake?"

"I was not exactly paying attention when I was running and you startled me," Wanda admitted, a bit sheepishly now that the shock had warn off. With a sigh, she grabbed the offered hand and braced herself on the dock, preparing to pull herself up. There was that shock of the touch again and they both jumped slightly, Cain letting go and Wanda cursed as she went back under water.

"Christ, woman!" Cain swore. "I'm trying to give you a damn hand here!"

"You let go!" she barked, spitting out a mouthful of water. Reaching up again, she let Cain grab her hand again, both ignoring that weird buzzing sensation, and finally made it back up onto the deck. Water dripped from her hair and she sighed. "It is going to be hours before this mop curls, I swear." She was really going to have to bypass the main entrances to get dry. White tank top and running shorts--both completely soaked.

Despite his growing annoyance with the woman, Cain had to take in the sight of her breathing heavily in the wet clothes. "I suppose I got something dry. Probably ain't gonna fit, but-" he paused, taking a good long appraisal of Wanda again. Lot of woman there, he thought. Well put together, too.

Averting his eyes when he realized he was staring, Cain turned his attention back to the boathouse. "Yeah, definitely wouldn't fit, but I, um, want something dry?"

Yes, please." She glanced at the sky and frowned. "Especially since it is clouding over. The cold does not bother me all that much but..." Wanda shook her head at her appearance and sighed. "Something to at least _cover_ this would be a good idea." She was faintly amused at Cain's response. He...bothered her for some reason, got easily under her skin, too.

But he was...well certainly not good looking. But his body... Shrugging, she crossed her arms as the wind picked up. "Oh yes, warm clothes are a good idea."

Nodding his head, Cain stepped into the boathouse and quickly up the stairs to his room. Grabbing the first flannel shirt he saw, he headed down the stairs and past where Remy was nose-deep in the newspaper, oblivious to the outside world.

Back on the patio, he tossed the shirt to Wanda, who stood shivering slightly and wrapping her arms around herself. "You might be a bit smaller than an 84 Long, but something tells me none of Lebeau's stuff would come close to fitting," he said with a smile.

Catching it easily, she smiled back at him. The sense of irritation and the want of...something? Chaos? This place was getting to her. Whatever it was had faded after they had stopped touching. "Too big is better than barely fitting. Well, in this case anyway." Frowning, she gave it some thought and the shrugged, turning her back on Cain. She had very little body modesty, to be honest, and she didn't want to wear the sopping wet t-shirt under the warmer shirt.

Ignoring Cain, she quickly pulled off the top and then slide into the shirt. "Well, at least it is not as big on me as it would be for some others," she commented wryly as she buttoned it up.

Cain smirked at the remark. Despite being built like a rather well-curved truck, Wanda nearly vanished inside the shirt tailored for someone eight feet tall with a twenty-six inch neck.

"Great day to be outside, huh?" Cain pulled a deck chair over with his foot and slid into it, then awkwardly maneuvered his book out from under him.

"I'm not used to October being quite so warm," Wanda admitted, turning around to face him again as she rolled, and kept rolling, the sleeves up. "So I'm making the most of it. And it seems that most of the children stay inside during this time of the year so it's...rather quiet out here."

"No complaints from me on that score," Cain remarked, watching the reflection of the grey clouds over the lake. "Less hassle, and seems most of them have learned to act like civilized folks in the house, at least. So," he changed his tone, "what're you doing out here? Figured they'd have you teaching a class by now. Damn near everyone does."

"I did come in to this semester late," she said, sitting down Indian-style as she tried to wring out her hair. "I have a feeling they'll rope me into something next semester. I have quite a lot of free time on my hands until then. Working with Nathan for his Askani but I cannot start that until I go back to London and get a few things."

Cain snorted derisively. "Yay. MORE people talking to the voices in Nate's head. I swear, they ought to have their own reality TV show by now." He cocked his head briefly, trying to discern Wanda's odd accent. "London, huh? You don't sound like the other Brits here."

Wanda grinned at that and peered at him through her hair. "London is only 'home' right now because I work for Cambridge University, even when I travel. I'm Rom--Gypsy--and the accent is, well, muddled to say the least. I was born in Romania."

"Hmm." Cain mused. "Your dad always sounded German to me. Must be you take after your mom's side." Unaware if he was treading on any sensitive ground, Cain rambled on. "Must be a stone bitch, dealing with a family like that. I can see why you changed your name."

She stiffened slightly. "I take after my mother's side because she was the one that was around," she pointed out softly, twisting her hair a little harder in her attempts to get the water out. "And it was, especially when she died a few years ago."

Cain pantomimed raising a toast sarcastically. "Here's to absent fathers, then." Pausing, he did a bit of mental math. "Wait - how old ARE you?"

That was unexpected. "I'm 27--I'll be 28 in February."

Twenty-seven... and Erik's probably a year older than Chuck..., Cain thought. Out loud he simply said "Your dad just seems kind of old to have a kid your age is all." For a moment, his thoughts flashed back to Marie and what she'd told him about Lensherr. "Then again, he kind of had a habit for May-December romances, it seems. Had a bit of a run-in of sorts with a gal used to run with Chuck's X-folks."

"According to my mother, he was much older than she was when they got married," Wanda replied, thinking back to those rare occassions where Magda talked about him without cursing his name. "Apparently he was, and still is, a very charismatic person. And my mother was a very beautiful woman in her day."

"Definitely take after her side, then." Cain complimented, before changing the subject. "Chuck tell you your old man spent some time here back in the day?"

She blinked at the compliment before concentrating on the question. "No he didn't. But then again, we have not talked much since my initial arriving. I knew they were old friends but not much beyond that."

Grimacing for a moment, Cain nodded. "He and Chuck were bosom buddies back in college. You may want to talk with him about that. D'ancato too, if she ever gets back here. That is," he corrected himself, "if you want to know about the guy. Being your father and all."

Wanda frowned and looked up at the sky. "There is a part of me that wishes to find out more about it. After my mother ran, she never had anything good to say about him. It only got worse when my and my brothers powers emerged at the same time. At least I now know that, currently, he is rather insane, to say the least."

"Brother?" Cain's eyebrows raised at the mention. "This no one told me."

She nodded. "Twins, actually. Pietro actually takes more after my father than I do or so I'm told. I...haven't seen him since my mother's funeral and he had left before that."

Cain filed the name away for future reference. "I take it you two don't get along too much?"

Wanda smiled, a touch of bitterness in her eyes. "We actually got along very well. Until he decided he wanted to seek out our father and left the group, leaving me in charge." She shrugged. "I miss him and he was the one that warned me that my father's...people might try and make a move on me."

"Sounds like a peach," Cain snapped. He never really had much leeway in his thinking when it came to the subject of family, specifically fathers and brothers. Pausing for a moment in the awkward silence, he jerked his head towards the back door. "If you want to dry your stuff, there's a laundry room first door on the right past the kitchen. Don't mind Lebeau, he probably won't even notice you."

Grateful that the subject of her family had been dropped, she nodded and rose, brushing her hair back from her face. "Thank you, it'll be easier than having to take this into the Mansion. And you'll get your shirt back that much sooner." Smiling slighty, she moved past him and headed into the house, walking quietly past the other houseguest and into the laundry room.

Closing his eyes, Cain listened to Wanda's footfalls on the carpet. As soon as she stepped inside the house, it seemed as if a ray of sunlight peeked through the clouds, presaging an afternoon of warm sun. Instinctively, he scowled up at the weather.

"And it looked like a perfectly good storm, too."