Fudge Chocolate Brownies

Chapter 1: The Mission

Wanda looks up at the wall clock and mentally calculates the hours she has to herself before the boys need picking up. No, scratch that. The boys don't need picking up. They're old enough to walk home from school. Eleven is old enough, right?

She sighs, berates herself for overthinking again when she knows full well that her boys are more than capable of handling themselves. And it's not like anyone would dare to harm them. People know who their mother is after all.

Anyway, she's digressing.

It's half past three which means that Billy and Tommy will be home in less than an hour. Wanda extricates herself from the couch and pads barefooted to the kitchen. She rummages around until everything she needs to bake a batch of brownies are on the countertop.

Happily humming a tune, Wanda gets to work. There's something about cooking and baking that soothes her nerves after a tiring day of cleaning up after herself and the boys. It's fulfilling being a mother but heaven help her it can also be so tiring. That doesn't mean that she wouldn't do it all over again though. She would choose this life in every universe. After all, nothing matters more than Billy and Tommy and the life that she's built for herself.

If only Vis and Pietro were here with her now. No, she tells herself and abruptly shakes the thought away. The last time she was overcome with grief she had lost control and brainwashed a whole town.

She takes a deep breath. She's all right now. It's been a year. The people of Westview have forgiven her. Most of them have at least.

She is sliding the tin pan into the oven when she senses it, an intrusion. A black car unfamiliar to her entering the town and making its way to her house. She is cleaning up the flour on the counter when she hears the crunch of gravel at the end of her driveway, a car coming to a slow stop. She takes a deep breath.

Normally, she would be happy to receive guests. Her friends from work (the boys think it's funny when she phrases it like that) have visited her a few times after the incident, have shared their time and their presence and have offered to look after the boys if she ever needs time for herself. She would have been gracious if that's what they're here for. She already knows that they're not.

The confirmation comes when Wanda opens the front door and sees Natasha and Steve on her front porch.

"Whatever you're here for, the answer is no," she deadpans, turning back and returning to the kitchen.

Natasha and Steve enter her home, closing the door behind them.

"You don't even know why we've come. We might be here because we miss you, you know," Steve says and Wanda fights the urge to roll her eyes. He is such a terrible liar. She smiles at him though, having missed his gentle and brotherly presence.

"I miss you too, Steve, but we both know you're here for something else."

"Ah. What gave us away?"

It's Natasha who answers him. "The stupid black car. I told Nick it would be better if we came on our own," she says, rolling her eyes.

Wanda hums in agreement. In her experience, black cars usually mean official business. Natasha is right. They should've come on their own. It would have lessened the anxiety building up in the pit of her stomach.

"So what are you really here for?"

"We need you for a mission," Steve explains.

"Of course you do," Wanda says, dropping the rag on the counter and glaring at her two unexpected guests. She rolls her eyes, uncaring that they can see how utterly annoyed she is. They can tell Fury for all she cares.