Wandas POV

"What the hell are you doing here?" She growls as she takes the few shorts steps that were separating us.

I am completely caught off guard. Maybe I expected a little too much, but I certainly didn't think she'd be angry with me.

Because that's what she is, right? She sounds angry to you, too?

I am so thrown that I don't even have an answer anymore, I'm just standing here like a fish out of water trying to find the comfort of the water to fall back into.

"Woah, Blue. What's the problem?" The nice fire fighter that helped me before, Max, speaks up, stepping between us and placing a hand on Blues chest.

If this were a different situation I would point out how cliché it is that even their nickname for her has to do with her eye color.

She doesn't look at Max. She's still staring me down, waiting for an answer as the steam escapes her ears.

No, okay. That's my imagination again.

"What? You have nothing to say? Why are you here?" She seethes, reiterating her question.

"Um, I.." who knew something so beautiful could turn so cold and distant? Because I see it in her eyes. They're like an entirely different color with the anger in them evident.

She scoffs, "perfect. No good reason? Figures." She crosses her arms, but backs off a bit.

Even Max doesn't know what to do, just shifting her gaze between us.

"No! I, I just wanted.." wanted what? Her to tell me she hasn't stopped thinking about me either? That she was waiting for us to run into each other? That's clearly not the case.

"Blue, maybe take a step back? I don't know what this is about, but there's no need for it," Max tries to tell her calmly.

I haven't been able to take my eyes away from Blue, but I can tell it's Max that was still talking.

"Exactly. You don't know what this is about."

I don't know what this is about.

Did I do something?

"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to cause any issues.. I just.. wanted to say thank you. For saving me the other day.." I speak softly, somewhat afraid to speak.

Her eyes soften. Not by much, but they do. And she uncrosses her arms.

"Yeah. You're welcome. It's part of the job," she shrugs, but shes speaking softer now too and I guess that gives me enough encouragement to keep talking.

"I was actually.. kind of hoping we could talk?" Am I? What am I going to say at this point?

She just stares at me like she's looking at my soul; holding it in her grasp as she searches it.

I guess she doesn't mind what she sees.

"Fine. Five minutes," and she's walking off.

I guess I follow her?

Since she turned around and I don't have a view of her eyes anymore, I can finally look elsewhere.

And her fellow fire fighters look just as confused as I am.

An arm stops me.

"Hey, I'm sorry about her. I have no idea what the problem is, but she usually isn't like this," Max explains.

The blonde she had been talking to when she walked in just eyes me up and down like she's tearing me apart.

I just direct my gaze back to where she walked off, which she is not waiting to make sure I followed, so I have to quicken my pace.

We get into a room that I'm sure is someone's office and she closes the door.

Crossing her arms again, "okay. What is it? Huh? Why're you really here?"

She steps closer to me again and my breath hitches in my throat. I internally curse myself for still being this affected by her, even as she stares at me with venom.

"I really did come here to thank you, I just.."

"Bullshit," she spits out.

"Um, I'm sorry, I don't.."

She shakes her head while chuckling, "I knew I shouldn't have saved an avenger," she says the last word with so much hate, you'd think she was talking about the devil.

I'm still so shocked by everything, I don't know how to comment on that.

Apparently I don't need to.

She keeps going, "I don't know what twisted plot you have for coming here, but you can forget it."

"No, I.. there's no plot, I.." how do I say this? Confess some kind of crazy feelings I have for her because I got drawn in by her eyes? Which apparently happens to a lot of people, it seems.

I'm just one of many. So of course she has no interest in me. Of course she doesn't care that I'm here. She was just doing her job. I was just apart of the job.

She moved on with her life. Kept on working. Kept on living. Like we didn't even meet. Like it didn't even matter.

Because to her, it didn't.

She's still waiting for me to continue, but I've lost any sort of energy I had for this. I'm completely deflated. This went the opposite of how I was hoping..

Wait a damn minute.

I can read minds! Why didn't you remind me of this sooner?

Maybe if I start talking I can try to.. see why she hates me? Or the avengers all together? I know not everyone is so joyous about how we save people; I've seen the destruction myself and know what kind of trail we can leave.

So what would I truly gain by looking into her mind? It would only make it worse at this point.

And I realize I've waited far too long to even say anything back and this makes it even more awkward than it already was.

Great.

I let out a breath, giving up on any hope I had for whatever this could be. So I decide to play nice and leave it how it is. I don't think I can change any of it.

"Sorry. I guess I don't really know why I came here. I am really grateful you saved me. I know it was a really close call and you risked your life. Because of you I'm still walking and talking. I can't repay that, but I'm grateful for it," I shrug my shoulders like it's simple.

She seems to consider my words for a minute or two, really tasting them to see if they hold any salt.

She nods her head slowly.

"Yeah.. well. You're welcome. I couldn't just leave you there. You looked so.. helpless."

I smile. I shouldn't. This isn't really a happy topic, but I feel like I've gotten her to let her guard down a tiny bit and that's a victory.

A sad victory.. is it a victory?

I kind of like when she's talking to me, for some odd reason.

So yeah, I guess it's a victory.

"Yeah.. I was. I couldn't really do anything.." I scrunch my face in confusion, remembering how the fire seemed to keep its distance from us even though I was mostly unconscious and my powers weren't seeming to work.

I want to ask her about it. If it was true. What really happened. How we made it out of there. How she found me.

But I don't dare ask her any other questions and push her back into her shell.

So instead, "I know I was already in bad shape when you got me out of there. But I had a chance to heal thanks to you. You're the hero."

She lets out a small laugh at that, and I wish I could get her to laugh again like she was before she saw me.

I could float on that sound.

"I wouldn't say that, but, uh, thanks. It's not.. an easy job. But it's one I love."

Again, my heart is doing flips at the fact that she's letting me in.

"And I'm glad you're okay. It looks like you've been healing nicely," she offers me a half smile and I accept with joy.

So, does that mean she noticed how I looked? She knew? She can tell the difference?

Don't get too excited, now.

I was covered in cuts, bruises, and burns. Of course there's a difference.

"Yeah.. I'm really lucky to have the doctors and support system I did. They really helped me through everything," I say matching her smile.

Which completely disappears.

Her cold demeanor once again over taking any sort of happiness she had shown just seconds before.

She's pretty good at that; changing her emotions in the blink of an eye.

But she's also very readable.

"Right. Well, it's been five minutes. And I'm on call. I need to be ready if we get called out," she explains quickly.

"Right, of course," I concede. There's no use in trying to push her farther.

She reaches for the door handle and lets me walk out first.

I go to say something else in goodbye, but she's already walking off in the other direction and I'm forced to watch her walk away.

I walk back out to the entrance, giving a thankful nod to the fire fighters I pass, Max waves and smirks at me so I match her.

Then I'm driving back to the compound.

And for some idiotic reason, I hope I see her again.