* Disclaimer *
This is a piece of Fan-Fiction based on characters from Marvel Comics Inc. I am certainly not making any money off of this or any of my stories, and neither are any of my fellow writers of Fan-Fiction. If you plan to sue us, clearly you do not realize that Fan-Fiction is not only harmless, but also purely for entertainment purposes.~ Waiting ~
The first thing he noticed was the cold as he stepped out through the stairwell door that would lead him back into the warm mansion; if he turned around and walked the other direction. It was one of those temperatures outside that didn't look cold when you wrote it down on paper, or sound cold when someone said it on the news, but it was certainly cold when you were soaking wet and standing out in it in the pouring rain. Like he was.
But he wasn't complaining. As always, he kept telling himself, it could be worse.
*At least it's not snowing...* Simon Williams, the Avenger known to many as Wonder Man, tried not to be bitter. As he kept telling himself, it could be worse.
*It could be Wanda laying on that bed... although, it might as well be.* He really was trying not to be bitter.
His memories, however, if you asked Simon, were only trying not to leave him be. Over and over again in his mind, he could hear her repeating the words, just as clear as when she'd first said them, only hours ago.
"I d'rather be alone with him, Simon."
It had hurt. It still hurt. She hadn't meant it that way, he knew, but that didn't change the way it had made him feel. *So she wanted to be alone with her brother. I can understand that; I'm a pretty understanding guy... but, I was just going to stay with her... why didn't she want me there with her?*
Simon's thoughts trailed off as he spotted the plane approaching. He had volunteered, hours ago, to greet Crystal when she arrived. The chore, usually, would have been left to one of the many team leaders, or at least one of the senior Avengers. But at the moment, they all were involved in other matters; and as Simon had said when he volunteered, Crystal was almost a relative to him. *Well, okay. So maybe being Wanda's boyfriend doesn't exactly make her brothers' on-again off -again wife my sister in law. But I still feel that Crys is sort of like family to me.*
Simon forced his thoughts to stop rambling. The success was short lived.
*Maybe I shouldn't be the one out here, but who else could come? Cap's busy on the telephone with somebody from the White House; last I heard he was still convincing them that the Avengers didn't break any laws by taking Pietro out of Genosha, and back into America. Janet's taken it upon herself to check that all the mansion's security systems are nice and tight: one by one. Hank Pym and Iron Man are picking the brain of that surgeon they called in from Tony Stark's medical staff; they'll probably be sending the surgeon home soon, just after they're convinced that Pietro will remain stable. And Wanda... well, Wanda would "rather be alone with her brother".*
Even as Simon mocked her words in his head, he imagined the same feminine voice, the soft dialect that was mostly noticeable when she was upset... that smooth European accent that made chills run down his spine... Simon shook his head, and rainwater flew every which way from his sopping wet hair.
The plane had landed by now, and he could see Crystal emerging from the airlock with only one piece of luggage. She flew herself down to the ground without a moment's hesitation. As soon as she was a safe distance from the plane, its engines started back up for liftoff. *She must have cleared with the pilots already that there was no need for them to wait around after she got out. Guess she really means to stay.*
Crystal was less than twenty feet from him now.
Even from a distance, he found himself mesmerized by the stunning beauty of the woman coming towards him. Her full blonde hair was already dampened from the downpour, and surprising to Simon, she was wearing her Avengers uniform. For whatever reason, he had expected civilian dress. She was face to face with him now, and he could see, and marvel at, her more closely. Her distinct blue-green eyes were no less striking from the tiredness they betrayed.
*Wow. Lucky Pietro.* Simon thought, blinking.
"Hi, Crys." He said, gesturing that he would carry her suitcase. "Simon, hello." Crystal set her luggage down on the wet ground before Simon could retrieve it from her. He never saw it coming. Even as he was being drowned in a plume of golden, sweet-smelling hair, he still didn't quite comprehend what had hit him.
"Uh..." Simon always did have a way with words. He heard a muffled sob come from his breastbone, where Crystal had embedded her face. It was all he could do to hug her back. "Oh, Simon... How bad is he?" Crystal managed after a moment.
He wasn't looking forward to this. Not one bit. This part was most of the reason why someone else would ideally be out here, instead of him. A team leader should be the one to break bad news.
*Buck up, Simon. The others are busy, so just deal with it!*
"Crystal," He didn't mean to pause, but she looked right up at him when he said her name. Right at him. And when he didn't continue, she looked right into him, as if she'd find the answer if she just burrowed her eyes deep enough into his. He honestly couldn't tell if she was crying or not, for the rain, but he noticed that her eyes looked exactly like Wanda's had, the last time he saw her. So afraid, and regretful.
*Wanda.*
When he thought of her, the woman he loved, some of his nervousness faded away. Of course, this still wasn't going to be easy, but he knew he could do it. "Crystal, it was pretty bad, but he's gonna be all right. We called in a surgeon that Tony said is one of the best. He finished up with Pietro a while ago. He said there would probably be no permanent physical damage."
Crystal braced herself as she listened, as if his words might unexpectedly jump out at her and snap. When he finished, she looked bewildered. "Simon, no one told me anything...I don't even know what happened! Please, what happened?"
"Yeah, okay. But let's go inside first. I'm not getting stuck on monitor duty for the rest of my Avengering career because I let you stand out here and catch pneumonia." Simon was the only one who laughed at his attempt at humor.
Taking her suitcase and opening the door for her, they made their way down the stairwell and back into the mansion. Crystal was leading the way from the start, and she didn't stop walking until they were standing right outside the infirmary room door. Their placement made all of Simon's nervousness come back to him tenfold. He was halfway certain that Crystal was going to go flying through those doors before he could stop her. He hadn't warned her about what to expect yet, and that's precisely what he was supposed to do.
Suddenly Crystal whirled, and stood there like a rock, hands on hips. Her expression had changed. She was probably exhausted, cranky, and by now getting mighty impatient, he figured. *What do you know; they do have something in common...*
"Well?" Her tone wasn't exactly hostile, but it was plenty tart enough to make him smile. At this moment, she looked exactly like her husband would in her place.
"...Yeah, well, so..."
"Wonder Man, don't you think someone should fill her in before she sees Pietro?" Lorna Dane, otherwise know as Polaris; former associate of the X-Men, later a founding member of the government sanctioned team of crime-fighting mutants called X-Factor, and most recently a Cabinet Minister to the Island Nation of Genosha, governed by Magneto himself.
She was coming from the other end of the hall, obviously heading herself towards Pietro's recovery room. She had on what looked most likely to a military uniform of some sort. It was badly battered and bloodstained, but must have been cleaned since it got that way. She wore scrapes and bruises on any visible patches of flesh, and bandages on other assorted parts of her body. Her green hair was still wet from what must have been a recent shower.
Something struck Crystal about the way she walked. Determined, unstoppable. *Like she owns the place.* She thought.
"Of course she should...I mean I do! What does it look like I'm doing?" Simon had nothing against Lorna. Actually, although he had only just met her mere hours ago, if anything he was already quite found of her. She seemed intelligent, resourceful, independent... No, he had nothing against Lorna. His only peeve was when people questioned his ability to get the job done, and that's exactly what he was trying to do.
"I see. Sorry to interrupt, I didn't realize." Lorna smiled at Crystal as she approached and offered her a polite handshake. Crystal accepted, but it looked to Simon like an afterthought. "Hi, I'm Lorna Dane. I worked with your ex-husband when he was a member of X-Factor. You're... Crystal, right?"
Simon couldn't help but wince. *Did she just say 'Ex'? As in 'former'?*
Crystal swiped her hand away as if Lorna meant to steal it. Her expression was colder than Simon had ever seen. If he wasn't so afraid of getting caught in the crossfire of whatever these two women could do to each other with their powers, he would have taken the time to gawk.
"Wrong!" Crystal actually took a step towards the other woman, and Simon, desperately fighting back the not too illogical urge to turn and run, stepped between them; but not before taking the extra precaution of powering up to his Ionic form.
"Ladies, please!" It was a silly thing to say. Crystal was the only one he had to control for the time being. "There's no need to get upset, now." *That's great, Simon. Patronize her. Works every time.*
"Who do you think you are, woman?" Crystal shot around Simon's considerable bulk. "Wha..?" Lorna bristled. "I'm the one who saved your ex-husbands life over in Genosha; that's who I am. You have some kind of twisted problem with that?"
"STOP!"
There was just something about that battle-hardened voice. Something you'd never ignore. Simon knew very well that Captain America wasn't addressing him, but he stopped breathing, moving, thinking, and existing all the same.
Captain America gave the two women a stern glare. From that one look he discerned that Crystal had caused the initial disturbance, which surprised him. His eyes settled on her, disappointment being the obvious overtone to his thoughts. "Crystal, Polaris is here as a guest, and an ally. You-"
"I know...I'm sorry..."
Crystal's face was filled with regret. In fact, it had been ever since Lorna mentioned Pietro, and Genosha. Crystal had no clue what had happened to Pietro involved Genosha, or Lorna. But if she was responsible for saving his life, as she had just claimed, Crystal was not only grateful, but severely out of line as well.
Crystal looked back at Lorna, her feelings of guilt plain to see.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know...I don't know anything yet. I'm very sorry. I'm just so tired, and with Pietro...and I mean he's not my ex-husband either, it's just-"
"Uh, It's all right, I understand." Lorna interrupted, mostly to spare Crystal from her own babbling. *And people say I ramble on when I'm nervous?* "No hard feelings." Lorna smiled and Crystal tried to do the same.
"Fine then." Captain America gave a satisfactory nod. "Now, Wonder Man, I thought you were going to brief Crystal when she got here?"
Simon very nearly did explode.
Before he could mount his defense, he was interrupted once again. This time, Henry Pym, resident scientist, doctor, and all around brilliant Avenger, came out of the infirmary room door that was nearly blocked by the four people clustered in the hallway.
Hank looked up from a ridiculously technical medical text and blinked a few times when he noticed the small crowd gathered just outside the door. "Well, at least this explains the noise."
"Ah, sorry about that, Hank."
"Apologize to Quicksilver, Cap. He's the one trying to sleep through the din out here."
"You mean he's awake?"
"Hi, Crystal, good to see you too. Yeah, he's waking up now. Actually, taking into consideration his accelerated rate of healing as a side effect of his mutagenically enhanced speed, by my calculations he should have been awake an hour ago."
"Account for severe loss of blood as well, Doctor Pym, and a near-total exhaustion of those same powers."
"Ah, well, I had taken into account the loss of blood, but I hadn't really assumed his mutant powers were spent... I suppose you're right Ms. Dane... that might put him right on time after all..."
"Hank, can I see him now?"
"Sure, Crys, sure. But first, has anyone briefed you about the situation? I don't want you going in there unprepared for-"
"I was doing it!"
The four others present gave Simon a collective 'Shush'.
"Wonder Man, we'll take things from here," Cap swatted the other man on the shoulder in a friendly fashion. "I'd like you to go down to the systems monitor room and help Janet check the mansions security. All right?" It clearly wasn't a question, as such.
"Yeah, all right, Cap."
"Good."
Simon turned to leave but stopped mid action. "Cap, do something for me, would you?"
"Of course."
"Tell Wanda that I'm...uh, waiting. Just tell her that I'm waiting, and whenever she gets tired or something, and maybe needs to get out of there for a while, I'll be here waiting for her."
*Waiting for her, eh, Simon?* Steve allowed himself just a second to admire the relationship Simon and Wanda had with each other. And then it was back to business. Back to Captain America. "Sure, Simon, I'll tell her for you."
"Thanks, Cap."
Simon walked away in silence without looking back. *Yeah, it'll be better this way. Wanda doesn't need to see me right now. Just so long as she knows I'll wait for her... I guess.*
~ To Be Continued~