"тетушка!" (Auntie!) Rina called, pushing the door to Wanda's room open.

She walked into the living room, not seeing the brown haired woman anywhere, she moved toward her room.

She heard soft crying coming from the room, she turned to leave but her curious nature got the better of her. She quietly opened the door and the crying continued.

"тетушка?" (Auntie?) she called softly, not wanting to startle her.

Wanda looked up from the picture she was clutching and smiled,

"Sorry, love. Come in, come in" she said getting up from the floor and sitting on the bed, picture still in hand.

Rina made her way to sit next to the woman as she wiped her eyes. The girl didn't know what to do as she sat down the woman was trying her best to hide her tears.

The silence was comfortable the girl sat there as the young woman cried silently. Rina slowly reached out and pulled the crying woman to her.

Wanda realized what the girl was doing and her body shook harder with tears as she returned the hug. The girl never liked to touch anyone, so the hug was very surprising but Wanda welcomed it.

The girl rubbed her aunt's back as she cried. She remembered Nat telling her that Wanda had lost her twin brother a few years back, that they were held by Hydra too. That's why she felt so close to Wanda, like they were connected in some strange way.

After a few minutes of Rina holding the crying woman, she patted her back,

"This is nice" the girl half joked.

Wanda laughed and pulled back, the photo cradled in her lap. Finally Rina got a good look at it. Wanda saw the girl staring and offered the photo which she took, holding it in her lap to examine.

She looked closely, the picture was creased and folded but it was definitely Wanda but she looked young, around her age. She was with a boy she didn't recognize. It was a candid shot of the two of them. Wanda was laughing at something beyond the camera while the boy who Rina assumed was her brother, looked down at his sister with a smile.

Ekaterina our her finger to the picture and traced Wanda's face, feeling the creases of the worn photograph. Her finger traced from Wanda to the boy she didn't quite recognize. He had bleached blonde hair that was so different from Wanda's brown hair. They did not look like siblings she thought. Her head tilted in confusion.

"That was my brother, Pietro"

"Ah" Rina mused, "you look happy"

The woman laughed,

"We were, that was before..."

"Before they got you too?" Rina guessed softly, she could feel the woman's pain radiating off of her

"Yeah" was all the woman could muster.

"You remind me of him" she said quietly

The girl's eyes snapped up, she was being compared to a hero, she never thought herself capable of that.

"I do?"

The woman smiled with teary eyes,

"Yes. You both didn't think you could be heroes. He didn't think he was capable of it. But he always was. And so are you. You deserve every happiness, Rina. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise"

The girl nodded,

"Yes, Aunt Wanda"

The woman smiled, her tears drying, she felt better now. She could cry over the dead all she wanted but it wouldn't bring him back, to be honest a piece of herself died with him that day but she could focus on the living.

Wanda put the photograph in a drawer in her night table. She closed the drawer and sighed, closing her eyes, you are alive and so is everyone else. Everything is okay, she thought but she could only reassure herself so much before the doubt crept back in again. It sometimes threatened to swallow her whole but she fought it as best she can.

She turned around to face the girl, a smile on her face as she got an idea,

"Has Natasha introduced you to nail polish yet?"

Natasha paced around the room. Her mind going a million miles per minute.

"Would you sit down? You're going to wear yourself out!" James sighed from his seat on their bed.

She stopped her pacing to stare at him. Her mouth opened in a shocked expression. She was staring at him like he had three heads,

"Sit down?" She repeated, "how are you so calm about this?! Rina just told us that my evil ex husband and his equally evil son are after her and consequently us as well"

He shook his head, he got up from the bed, grabbed her hands and pulled her, forcing her to sit. He sat with his feet on the floor while she draped her legs over his lap and rested her head on his shoulder.

They sat there, limbs intertwined, hearts beating as one. Her breath started to slow and her anger receded.

"Are you feeling better now?" He softly asked the now calm red head.

"Mhh" she murmured softly, the anger had left her veins and she just felt tired.

"Sleep, love. I'll be back before you wake" he said moving her off him and fully onto the bed. She flopped onto her face and said something that got lost in the pillow.

He laughed at the muffled sounds she made,

"I love you too" he whispered to her sleeping form before walking out the door.

"But Auntie, this is so strange! I can not touch anything until they are dry?" Rina questioned, waving her bright red nails in the air to dry them quicker.

Wanda laughed,

"You'll like them when they dry, I promise" she said waving her own silver nails in the air.

The girl looked down at her nails with distrust,

"Hmph" she breathed, "if you say so"

They fell into a comfortable silence before a knock came from the closed door. Wanda waved her hand, red mist flying from her hand as the door opened. Revealing a stunned looking Bucky, he shook his head and walked into the room up to the two people sitting crisscrossed on the floor,

"I'm still not used to that" he admitted

Wanda shrugged,

"You'll learn"

Rina nodded,

"Yeah, Papa it's not that weird. Auntie Wanda's magic is..." she paused thinking, "what's the word?" She mumbled to herself before gasping, "Cool! It's cool!"

The two adults laughed,

"I see that Peter has been reached you slang again" He said each arm extended to help both girls up off of the floor.

"Yup! It is very strange and there is a lot to learn but I like it. It is very dope!" Rina said bouncing on her feet, the last word rolling off her tongue awkwardly.

Bucky laughed,

"It is. You ready to go?"

She nodded her head before looking down at her hands and her face lit up,

"Look!" She exclaimed, shoving her hands towards him so he could see the bright red nail polish

He took her hands and looked at them as if examining something very important,

"Hm" he said, "let me guess, red like someone we know?"

She shook her head enthusiastically,

"Yup!"

He laughed, they said goodbye to Wanda and walked out of the room, hand in hand. They headed towards their rooms but when they got there Bucky walked right past them. Rina tilted her head and looked at him, confused. He said nothing and kept walking.

After what felt like forever, mainly because he had them take the stairs, which Rina was very opposed to. They stopped in front of a glass door and as it opened Rina saw rows and rows of flowers, plants and trees.

"This is my favorite spot in this whole place. It makes me feel safe with all of the plants and trees" he said once they got inside.

Rina has ran inside, taking in all of the greenery. She had never seen anything like it all she knew as the inside of that base and the occasional brutal Russian winter.

"I like it here" she said walking back over to him

He smiled down at her,

"I'm glad" he began walking down the rows of flowers, "Rina I thought we could talk about what happened today"

The girl's body stiffened as they walked but she soon relaxed,

"What do you want to know? I pretty much told you everything"

He stopped walking,

"No, no Katie. It's not an interrogation. I just wanted to see how you were feeling, that's all"

She just stared at him. No one had ever really cared about what she thought or how she felt before. She didn't know what to say.

"Oh" she said, "yeah I'm fine. I kind of expected it but I had hope he'd let me go"

James's head was spinning. This was all too much. Too much for a 13 year old to deal with. She shouldn't have to deal with any of this. She should be in school, making friends her own age and learning and exploring. She shouldn't be fearful of stepping outside.

"Who?" He asked, "Maxim?"

She nodded her head,

"I know. I know, I shouldn't feel bad for him but I do" she rubbed her face with both hands,

"I can't explain it. I've known him since I came to the Red Room, we trained together, my success meant his and his meant mine. But he was different from all of the other boys in the Guardian program. He was... kind. He cared about me. He was the closest to a friend I had" she took a pause, looking down,

"We made a promise to each other, if either one of us got a chance to be free, we would take it without looking back. And I did. And Papa I feel so guilty, for being free while he is still being controlled by Hydra" her voice broke at the end, it all became too much, it felt like the world was weighing on her shoulders.

James couldn't imagine the pain she was feeling and he noticed her shaking hands and led her towards a bench among the flowers.

"Hey Rina look at me. You shouldn't feel guilty about wanting to survive and be free" he said gently

Tears were starting to form in the young girl's eyes,

"I know, but that's not all. Part of me is glad I escaped, that it is all behind me. Does that make a bad person?" She wiped the water from her eyes, the tears starting to fall faster now.

"No, no. Listen, who we are and who we need to be in order to survive are very different things. What we've had to do in order to survive do not define us. Do you understand?"

She looked up at him, the tears slowing. She nodded.

"You are one of the best people I know, Ekaterina. And you know what? I'm glad that you had someone who made that hell easier for you to survive. I know I would not have made it out of there alone" he admitted

She gazed up at him, smiling slightly,

"Natasha" she guessed

"Yeah"

The buzz came from his pocket. He took out his phone and laughed,

"Speak of the Devil. Nat wants to meet for dinner"

The girl looked at him strangely. There were still so many things she had to learn. So many odd sayings and customs she was not used to.

She got up and began walking with his towards the door but a purple flower caught her eye.

"One second" she called to Bucky before running over to the plot of the purple flowers. She read the plaque in front of them, "Daffodils: the flower of new beginnings and rebirth". She reached out and felt the softness of the petals, she had never been this gentle with anything before. She marveled at the beauty of it, how at any moment it could be trampled, how defenseless it was, it wouldn't be able to defend itself from harm.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Bucky who had appeared next to her with a pair of gardening scissors,

"Do you want to take some?" He asked her

She nodded enthusiastically, practically bouncing in excitement.

He cut five of the flowers and handed them to her. She noticed a light sweet scent coming from them. As they walked, she put the flowers close to her nose and inhaled, the sweet, spring-like scent washed over her and she felt safe that this is her new beginning.

Her rebirth.

Yay a new chapter!! So we found out a little more about Rina's past with Maxim and the Red Room. How is Peter going to feel when he finds out? More to come soon!! I have finals in two weeks and then it's summer!!! So I'll probably have more time to write then! Thank you all for voting and commenting! I love reading the comments, it's so fun! Have a good day/night!!
Xo,
Renee