Fudge Chocolate Brownies

Chapter 2: Getting to know you

It is half past eight in the morning. I'm standing outside the Maximoff residence but no one is home. Wanda must have walked the boys to school. I should have known. It doesn't matter. I can wait. I sit down on the front porch step and start fiddling with the folder in my hand.

I don't wait too long though. It doesn't take more than a few minutes until I see Wanda's figure walking towards me. From afar, she looks like an ordinary woman, a simple mother who had just walked her children to school. Not someone who can control the mind and shift reality to her own liking.

Her face contorts to an expression of mild annoyance when she sees me. I see it despite our distance from one another. The way that her eyebrows are furrowed, the way that her lips are pursed.

"Please don't tell me they need me now," she says when she reaches me. I stand up and shake my head to give her the reassurance that she needs.

"No, not at all. You still have the weekend. You leave on Monday," I tell her.

"So what are you doing here?"

I swallow the lump in my throat. "I came to give you this."

She tilts her head in confusion. "What is it?" She takes the documents from my hand, her eyebrows shooting up when she opens the folder. "This... This is your file. From when you were in the Red Room up until your most recent mission. Why are you giving me this?"

I shrug. "Because I know that you're still reluctant about leaving Billy and Tommy with me. You don't know me so you have no reason to trust me."

"Reading about your history won't mean I'll trust you. You're only making yourself vulnerable."

"I know. I'm not doing this to gain your trust. I'm doing this so you know who you're leaving your children with. You might not trust me even after this but at least you'll know that Billy and Tommy are in capable hands."

Wanda ponders my words for a moment. I can hear the gears in her head turning, taking my words and digesting them. Finally, she heaves a loud sigh. "Fine."

"Good. Okay." I turn to leave. That was all I wanted to do.

"Wait. You're leaving?"

I turn around again to face Wanda. Her head is tilted again in that adorable confused look. Adorable?

"Yes. That was all I wanted to do."

"You're not going to stick around while I read this? I might have questions, you know."

This time, I'm the one tilting my head. I am the one confused. She wants me to stay while she reads my file? About the people I have killed and the people I have worked for?

"You want me to get to know the person I'm leaving my kids with, right? I know you think this file might answer everything, but I think it's best if I ask the source herself."

Huh. That's new.

"Okay. Sure," I say even though I am completely unsure about this. Still, I tilt my chin up and act as if I am in control. We have been trained to adapt to any situation after all.

I follow Wanda to the front door and enter her home. I close the door behind me, once again taking in the comforting scene of her house.

"I'm sorry for the mess. It's always like this around here," she says and she... Why does she sound embarrassed?

"Don't apologize. It's a lovely home."

"Thank you. Please make yourself comfortable. Would you like something to drink?"

"Water's fine," I say as I walk around the living room.

As Wanda busies herself in the kitchen, I take my time looking around. My eyes dart from one picture frame to another. There are so many photos of the boys. On their birthdays and in halloween costumes and stolen ones in the park. I stare at the photo of them as a family, Vision and Wanda standing behind the boys and smiling directly at the camera. They're a beautiful couple.