Chapter Eleven

AN: College has started again and the last few weeks have been super busy. As usual, I apologize for how long it takes me to update. I promise I have the entire plot planned out, it's just a matter of finding the time to write...Enjoy!

Wanda did as she promised and rode home with her guards after school. As the car pulled into the long driveway, she immediately noticed her least favorite car was already parked there. As she got out of the car, she was greeted by the fake smile plastered on Ms. Smyth's face as she walked out of the main door with her arms wide open. "Wanda, dear, I'm so very glad you came home the proper way today."

She must have been waiting at the door to have a reaction time that ridiculously fast, Wanda thought. She didn't bother smiling back, or responding to Smyth's wide open arms. She had long ago abandoned any pretense of enjoying the other woman's company. "I came home in the way I promised Walters I would, yes." Smyth didn't like it when Wanda called Walters dad, she thought it was too personal of a term for the man who adopted her and was not her real father.

"So good to see you're finally listening to him for a change." Smyth dropped her arms, but kept her smile.

"You know I always listen to him, Ms. Smyth." Wanda responded curtly.

"That's not what he told me, sweetheart. He said you'd been running home again and explicitly told me to keep an eye on you since I would be here and he would not."

"Is that why you were watching like a hawk at the door?"

"Hmm, you're attitude has not dissipated, I see. I've spoken to Walters about it on many occasions. You know he values my opinion."

"And you know I will never understand why he does." Wanda muttered just under her breath. "Tell me why you are really here, Smyth. Clearly you are not concerned about my safety." She spoke out loud.

"Oh, but I am, darling. You are the leader of our nation's charity project."

Wanda growled when she said this. It had only been recently that Smyth had started referring to her as a 'charity project,' though she never dared use this term in front of Walters. "Well then, besides my safety, what are you here for?"

"Ah yes, I had some documents to drop off for your father to sign when he arrives back. Please stress to him that they are of the utmost importance." Her smile still had not yet faltered.

"May I ask what they are for?" Wanda crossed her arms. She was still standing in the driveway. Her security stood behind her and, for once, she was glad of their imposing presence. Smyth only had one body guard behind her.

"Nothing you would be concerned about, sweetheart, just official grown-up politics stuff." She moved forward and ruffled Wanda's hair. Wanda was peeved that her security didn't bother to stop the repulsive woman from doing this.

The brat, I should have had her thrown off the plane before we even landed in America.

Wanda started. The thought came into her head in Smyth's voice so suddenly and so violently, she wasn't sure where it came from. Smyth hadn't opened her mouth. "Excuse me?"

"I said nothing to worry about, sweetheart. You go inside now and be good. I'll have my eye on you until your father gets home." It sounded more like a threat than a gentle comment.

Wanda only nodded. She couldn't muster the brain power it would take to make one of her usual snide remarks. She whirled immediately to face her security as soon as the woman was out of hearing range. "Did you not hear that?" She asked them.

One of the guards cocked his head in confusion. Wanda knew him only by his last name, O'Connor. He had been with her since Walters was appointed the presidency and in the time she had known him, she had grown quite fond of him. "We heard everything she said, Miss Maximoff. Should we have reason for concern?"

She's been acting so strange lately. I hope she's alright.

This thought came in the voice of another guard, one that was standing to the left of Wanda, but had not appeared to have opened his mouth. Wanda was silent for a moment, trying to work out what was going on in her head. Was she hearing other people's thoughts? Was she going crazy and hearing voices in her head? But why would the voices be voices she knew, the voices of people around her.

"Miss Maximoff?" O'Connor questioned when she hadn't responded for a while. She looked frightened, though he couldn't figure out why.

Wanda let her guard down and sighed inwardly. She wasn't getting enough sleep. She needed to calm down. "Just please make sure she doesn't touch me again. I do not like it when she touches me."

"We can assure you, she will not touch you again if that is your wish. Please come inside now, Miss Maximoff." O'Connor held out his hand in a friendly gesture, something he had done for her since she was a child.

Wanda took his hand and allowed him to lead her inside. "Thank you, O'Connor."

O'Connor smiled briefly in return. He had been trained to never grow too attached to the people whom he guarded, but he made an exception for Wanda, despite the sheer amount of times she had run off and avoided his guard. In contrast, he had never been fond of Smyth. She was generally rude and unpleasant and never seemed to attach herself to anyone that she couldn't leech power off of. He often wondered why Walters failed to notice this. If Wanda asked that the woman never touched her again, he would be sure that her wish was fulfilled.

They walked inside together and Wanda excused herself to her room. She ran upstairs and made it to her window in time to see Ms. Smyth's car pull out of the long driveway and through the gates.

…

Alex wasn't on duty until the night, but he arrived early in the evening with a boy holding onto his hand. His son, Pietro, named after his favorite boy in the orphanage, liked to come to work with him sometimes and play with the other boys. His favorite thing to do was visit his namesake.

Pietro was in his room with the door open. A book was open on his lap and he was trying to concentrate on it, but his mind kept drifting far away: to the race that day, to the strange buzzing feeling that was welling up inside his body, and to his sister, far away in America. He was so engrossed in these thoughts that he wouldn't have noticed the knock on the backside of his door if it hadn't been accompanied by an overly enthusiastic 7-year-old who ran into the room without waiting for invitation.

"Pietro!" The little boy jumped up on the bed as the grown Pietro reacted fast enough (perhaps much more than fast enough) to move the book off his lap and catch the boy midair.

"How is it going little man?" Pietro stood up and swung little Pietro around before setting him gently on the ground.

"I have not seen you since this many." The boy responded, holding up nine of his fingers.

Pietro thought for a moment and put down two of the boys fingers. "And what is new and exciting since that many?"

"Papa bought a new car and ket me ride in the front seat. We had a picnic with Mama."

"That sounds like a lot of fun."

"It was fun, you should come next time." Big Pietro looked at Alex as his son said this and the impossibility of this suggestion passed between them silently.

"It was a used car, actually," Alex clarified, "but it is new to us."

"Congratulations, anyway, Alex, cars are hard to come by these days, or so I have heard."

"It was hard," little Pietro confirmed. "Papa had to work extra. You saw him more than me."

Pietro knew how the boy exaggerated, but her doubted this statement was untrue. Alex had been picking up extra shifts at the orphanage every chance he got and he often remarked that he missed the time he would have spent with his family if he hadn't been struggling to make ends meet.

"Piet, go play with the other boys," Alex addressed his son, "I think Leo has a new toy he would like to share with you. He is in his room now."

"Okay," and with that, little Pietro ran out of the room to find Leo.

The remaining Pietro looked at Alex with confusion, he very rarely sent his son away unless there was something he wanted to talk about in private. "What is it, Alex?"

Alex sat down on the bed next to Pietro and sighed. "Pietro, you know I would not buy a car if I did not plan on using it for something much more than driving out for picnics."

"I know that, Alex."

"Pietro, I want to move my family. I want to leave this country and find a job where I can work less hours and spend more time with my family. You and I both know that Sokovia is a failing country. I cannot provide for my family here."

Pietro opened his mouth to speak, but Alex held up his hand to finish. "I know you are wondering why I am telling you this. It is because you are the only tie, the only person I have that might keep me in Sokovia. You are nearing 18 Pietro. You know I cannot afford to adopt you, but when you are 18, you will be a man and you can leave here on your own. I am asking you to come with me and my family. You can drive with us and we can find work together. You can live with my family. I have already spoken with my wife on the matter and she says she would have you with us like her own son."

"Thank you, Alex, you are very generous and you have always taken care of me." Pietro paused for a moment to let his gratitude sink in. "But you know I cannot leave my sister alone."

"Your sister is not alone, Pietro. She is doing just fine with the rich people of America. She is under the wing of one of the most powerful men in the world. She does not contact you. She does not need you. You need to let her go so you can live your own life as she has decided to live hers." Alex stood up. He was frustrated. He was always frustrated when Pietro brought up Wanda. Since she had been seen on the news with the president, he was convinced that Wanda had left Pietro to rot in the orphanage and moved on with her own life without him.

"I made a promise to her and I cannot break it. I cannot believe that she has left me alone by her own intention. She is the only family I have left and I am hers."

"Do you not understand, Pietro?! She has a family now. She has the president of the United States. She does not need you. And I am offering you a family of your own. You can start new when you turn 18 instead of chasing the dreams of a boy who faced a terrible tragedy."

"I know how you feel, Alex. And If Wanda were not out there, I would accept you as my family and I would move on with you. But I lost half of my family on the day the bomb hit our apartment and I cannot loose what I have left, even if she has decided that she does not need me anymore."

"Okay, Pietro," Alex sat down on the bed once more. "I knew this is what you would say, but I had to make sure you could have no sense knocked into you. If I am not waiting for your coming of age, then I cannot wait any longer. I am taking my family out of the country this weekend. I knew I came today to tell you that I would wait or to say goodbye."

"Alex, you will always be important to me. I cannot tell you how much you have given me hope while I was here. I will be sorry to see you go, but I will be grateful that you are being given a new chance to have a better life for you and your family." Pietro extended his hand to give the man a handshake.

Alex pushed his hand aside and reached over to hug the young man. "There is a reason I named my son after you, Pietro. I am lucky to have known you. You are the most admirable young man I have ever encountered."

Pietro hugged the older man back. Not too long later, Little Pietro ran back into the room and Pietro said goodbye to him as well ("I will miss you little man, do good by my name").

As soon as Alex and little Pietro left, Pietro spent a moment contemplating how he would miss them in his life, but only a moment. Immediately after, he began to plan how he might be able to easier escape without Alex as a guard and with no fear of ruining the man's career should an orphan leave the orphanage on his watch. A new plot was taking shape in his mind and it had nothing to do with waiting to turn 18.