Music is "Alfie's Song (Not So Typical Love Song)" by Bleachers.

Picture is Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda outside the Roanoke house.

}0{

Epilogue

{Three Months Later}

It's nearly the end of winter break at Violet Hill, and everyone is itching to return home from the holidays. It's been hard for Wanda over the past few weeks, with everything from Max to Pietro and the fact that she had neither of them for Hanukkah, but I know of a way to cheer us both up. We've been too focused on the past; it's time to look towards the future.

As she closed the door to the occult shop, I grinned widely as she jumps slightly. "Sarai Charbel Rizkallah, you can't just do that," she breathes, placing her hand over her heart.

I shrug with a mischievous grin, signing, "I wanted to surprise my beautiful girlfriend."

Wanda blushes slightly and rolls her eyes, slipping the keys into her jacket pocket. "You don't just get off the hook for calling me that."

"But I know you love it, so it does help."

"It doesn't hurt your chances, no." She shakes her head with a chuckle. "What are you doing here? I thought we were going to meet at the Panda for a date? It is our three month anniversary tomorrow, after all."

"I wanted to do something even more special," I reply, nodding to the car I have parallel parked across the street. "How about you and me take a road trip to the future, Ms. Maximoff?"

Though Wanda seems excited at the prospect of a trip with me, since she's biting her lip with a grin on her face as she sways from side to side, she also seems hesitant. "What kind of trip to the future, Ms. Rizkallah?"

I sigh and roll my eyes, gesturing tiredly to the car. "Just get in the fucking car, will you?"

Wanda gives in, but not before giggling and pressing a kiss to my cheek. "You know I love you, but I also love bugging you, too."

"Seriously, a bug joke? You know, bees aren't bugs--"

"--Yes, Sarai, I know. I'm in the same major as you are, you nerd."

I hop into the driver's seat, and Wanda looks back at the suitcases and snacks I packed for the few hours drive. "I'm the nerd? Fine. I'm the bee nerd, and you're the magic nerd. Sound fair?"

"Super fair," she laughs, looking over her shoulder. "You thought of everything. Where are we going?"

I pull into the road and turn toward the interstate with a smirk. "I could tell you but I'd have to kill you. And I really like you, so I'll just keep it to myself."

In my peripheral vision, I see Wanda's eyes glow scarlet. "You know I can just take it, right?"

"It's a surprise, you witch!" I sign with one hand as a joke. "Let me have this one thing."

Wanda grins and leans back in her chair, her eyes reverting back to their normal green hue. "Fiiine. At least tell me how long we'll be in the car so I'll know if my legs will start to cramp up."

I shake my head. "Can't tell you that either. Sorry."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. Put on some music and stretch out your legs. You'll be fine." I reach over the seat and grab a sealed cup of coffee and a snickers bar. "Here, you're not yourself when you're hungry."

Wanda takes the coffee and chocolate with a playful glare. "You're unbelievable, Sarai."

I lean over to press a quick kiss to her lips before turning back to my task. "I know."

}0{

As the leveled plains turn into hills, and those hills to mountains, I can't hide our destination from Wanda any longer. Even without me signing a word, she knows where we're heading. Even though she's never been, she knows I spent over a month at this place with Melizza and her hive, getting them set up for winter in their new home.

When we pass the sign that reads, "Roanoke County," she turns to me with a wide grin. "I knew it. We're visiting Melizza!"

I lift one hand from the steering wheel and sign, "It's a little bit more than that, but yes! We're visiting Melizza."

"More? What do you mean more?"

I throw a wink her way and push the car faster. "You'll have to wait and see."

From the county line, it only takes another fifteen minutes to drive from the interstate to the smaller roads, and then to the unpaved trail that leads to this particular house in the Roanoke Valley. The evergreens are colorful as ever, spreading across the entire landscape. Oaks and birches litter the sides of the road, creating the landscape of a winter wonderland. I've never seen anything as beautiful as this.

It's the only house for miles, snug in the center of a valley. Mountains are high all around us, and the trees part in the center to unveil open and wide fields. In the center is the building of my dreams and visions--literally--the place Hal would take me over the holidays and breaks. This place is as much home as anything else.

I park the car in the unpaved driveway near the house. Wanda steps out slowly, gazing at the area around us in awe. She's never been here before, and I've only been back once since Hal died. He left it to me in his will, along with everything else, and I never knew what I wanted to do with it.

Now I do. I didn't want to move out here and be alone for the rest of my life. Now I have someone to share it all with. Now I have Wanda.

"This place is amazing," she breathes with a smile, looking from the house to the greenhouse behind it, to the centuries-old oak trees a few meters away, to the beekeeping building near the garden. The birds that have stayed for the winter soar above our heads, and I can see a family of deer in the pasture across the valley. "This is where Hal raised you?"

I nod, and when she turns back to me, I sign, "I lived here for years, when I wasn't in school or when Hal wasn't working. This was home for us." I pause. "And now I want it to be ours."

Her eyes snap up to mine. "Ours?"

I reach for her hand, and she lets me take it. "This can be ours, Wanda. You and I both know we want somewhere quiet, just the two of us."

Wanda hesitates. "But MaxEffect, I can't just abandon it. And we still have a degree to finish."

"We don't have to move now," I assure her. "We'll finish school first, get what we've studied for. And you won't have to abandon your uncle's company. Roanoke has a downtown area with a MaxEffect Industries headquarters. You can have both. We can have both. We can do the good we promised and live the life we deserve. Who says we have to choose?"

Wanda's eyes start to tear up, and when she looks at me, I can see the joy rising inside her. "You really mean it? All this, it's all real? Because it feels too good to be true, and I feel like someone is about to pull the carpet out from under me."

I tuck a strand of her brown hair behind her ear and sign with one hand, "It's true. What do you say?"

The brunette Sokovian lunges into my arms, wrapping her's tightly around my neck. "I say yes," she whispers into my ear, burying her face into my dark, braided hair. "Always yes."

I embrace her back, lifting her off the ground, and we hear a familiar buzzing sound of a hive awakening. When I place Wanda back on her feet, we both turn towards the insulated, glass beekeeping building between the garden and the greenhouse. I see Melizza soaring from the bee-sized door. I swear there's a huge smile on her face as she whizzes at full speed towards us. I haven't seen her since late November after Pietro died, when I transported Melizza and her hive to Roanoke where they could rebuild their hive in the beekeeping building.

"Sarai!" she exclaims excitedly. "Wandaaa!"

"Melizza!" I exclaim with a grin. I open my palm for the little bee, and she lands on it with excitement. I pull her close, letting her nuzzle into my hair like she always does when she's excited. "Did you miss us?"

"So very muchest!" she replies, giving Wanda the same greeting. "We have made the most perfectest hive! Would you like to see it?"

I turn to Wanda, knowing she heard the request, too. She nods eagerly, and we link our arms and follow the little European honeybee as she guides us, talkatively, back to the beekeeping building. As we near, we see the hundreds of other bees that make up the colony, along with some new baby bees that will be out and about come springtime.

As we pass the house, I spare a glance over towards it. I have so many memories here, both happy and sad. I gained a second family here, and lost him, too. I learned how to love again, how to trust again, how to be a girl again here. And in my mind's eye, I still see Hal leaning against the porch banister with a joyful grin on his face.

And for a moment, I swear I see the future. Graduation, getting new jobs, building our lives from the very bottom: I'll do it all with Wanda. I know that much. And in our future, I see bees, I see magic, I see a business and a life we love, and maybe even some little ones someday. Like the flowers that will come in the spring, I can feel our life together about to bloom.

I know that most of that is pretty far down the line, but when I look over at her, I know I'm willing to wait. A woman of magic and the Queen of the bees, we've written our own fairytale. We've waited this long for each other. I'm willing to wait a little longer for the rest of the story, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

}0{

"She grabs your hand, and she leads you into the forest. You are a witch, and a wild thing, and you forgot to be afraid when they told you to, and now you will never get the song of the wind from your blood.

"You do not mind. You tug her closer, because you are both witches and wild things now, and you know that there is nothing that can hurt you in this forest. There never was."

}0{

.

.

.

.

.

SARAI WILL RETURN.

.

.

.

.

.

THE END.