Its just part of growing up

                                    

                                          
Set pre-chapter 5 of "Starting Over" 
                          
Wanda had slept nightmare free all night only to be woken up to a dull pain in her stomach and lower back. She frowned at the soreness, slowly lifting herself up in bed. She hadn't had a stomach ache since a few weeks ago when she had caught a case of food poisoning from takeout, this feeling was certainly different. She debated having Friday alert Natasha before deciding to go get the spy herself. She felt bad for even considering waking the older woman but Tasha had made her promise to come get her if she ever felt bad or needed anything regardless of the time. She stands up feeling her stomach cramp below her belly button, hopefully after a small dose of Tylenol she would feel better enough to fall asleep again and get a few more hours of sleep before training. The teen softly knocks on Natasha's door, before she hears a mumbled "come in" 
"Hey, Wands, what's wrong?" Natasha asks as she sits up in bed rubbing the sleep from her eyes 
"My stomach really hurts." Wanda replies biting her lip through the pain.
"What kind of hurt?"
"Like my stomach is tightening over and over." Wanda answers, as she crosses the room. "What's wrong with me?" 
"There's a lot of things that cause stomach pain, is that all that's bothering you?" Natasha replies as she runs a hand through the girls messy hair
"My back is sore too." The teen adds leaning into her hand.
" Maybe you just worked too hard in training. Let's get you some Tylenol and see how you feel later, alright?" Natasha adds standing up to lead the girl to their kitchen, she gives Wanda a small dose of Tylenol before guiding the girl back to her room.
"Think you can get some more sleep?" Natasha asks as she tucks the girl in again, who struggles to find a comfortable position to ease her pain, and let's out a sigh in frustration. "Relax, Milaya, the medicine will kick in soon." 
"I'm sorry for waking you up, I should be stronger." Wanda replies once she has gotten comfortable on her stomach. 
"Kiddo, I told you to come get me if you needed anything and I meant it." The spy adds brushing a curl behind the girls ear. "You try to get some more sleep and come get me if you need anything else, alright? Goodnight, little witch, I love you." She says placing a kiss to her forehead.
"I love you too, Tasha." Wanda replies, closing her eyes. 
                          
When Wanda awakes again it is barely 8 am, she figures Tasha had let her sleep in due to waking up in the middle of the night which is usually the case for the young witch. She notices that while her pain is still there is seems much more manageable and dull than before. She stretches, pulling off her blankets before she feels a wet sensation. Wanda lifts her blankets to find a dark red stain on her bottom sheet. She nearly jumps from the bed when she realizes that the stain is blood, nearly sending herself into a panic attack. The feeling doesn't leave as she stands and Wanda immediately heads to her bathroom, panicking at the sight of her shorts and underwear covered in the same red. Wanda uses the bathroom trying to stop the bleeding but she's gone through quite a bit of toilet paper with no luck. 
                          
Meanwhile, Natasha is drinking her morning coffee just back from her early morning sparring session with Steve when Friday interrupts their conversation.
"Agent Romanoff, it appears Ms. Maximoff is in distress as her vitals are indicating an elevated heart rate." 
"Shit." Natasha mumbles and she rushes towards their floor, Steve following close on her heels.
Natasha knocks quickly on the girls door before hearing no response and opens the door. The spy nearly panics when Wanda is no where to be seen but the stain on the bedsheets, causes her to feel stupid for not realizing the teenagers discomfort last night. 
"Nat..." Steve starts already putting two and two together.
"You might want to sit this one out, soldier, seems like it might be more my area of expertise." Natasha replies, Steve nods 
"Let me know if you need anything." He adds before heading out of Wanda's room.
Natasha heads for Wanda's bathroom hearing sniffling behind the door.
"Wanda, Milaya, can you let me in?" She asks, her eyes meet a teary eyed Wanda as the door opens. 
"Nat, I don't... what's happening... I can't... I can't make the bleeding stop." Wanda says letting out a sob
"Hey, deep breaths, everything's gonna be okay." She starts, before guiding the teenager to sit on the side of the bathtub.
"Do you know what a period is?" Wanda shakes her head no, confirming what the spy had thought. She doubted the girl had health class at Strucker's lab.
"It's when your body matures enough to have a baby. Every month your body releases an egg that could potentially turn into a baby if fertilized. If that doesn't happen, your uterus, which is where the baby would grow, sheds it's lining. That's the blood you're seeing. I know it can be scary but it's perfectly normal." 
"But how... how do I make it stop?" Wanda asks sniffling. 
"It will stop after a few days but until then you'll have to use menstrual products while it happens." Natasha replies, going to bathroom sink and pulling out a box. "These are pads, they stick to your underwear and help to absorb the blood. You only have to change them every few hours. Some people prefer pads and others prefer tampons, which are inserted." Wanda looks at her slightly fearful. "It would probably be best to stick to these for now." Natasha adds, lifting up a pad "I'm going to go get you some clean clothes okay, I'll be just outside." 
She returns a moment later with a clean pair of underwear and black shorts.
"Okay so here's how you use them. You just open the packaging like this." Natasha says demonstrating "then the sticky part lies flat on your underwear and once you make sure it's placed right, you pull off this strip and fold the wings over the other side of the underwear to secure it. This will all be a little easier when you actually have the underwear on. Do you have any questions?"
"Why is bleeding a good thing?" Wanda asks looking up at her.
"Well someday, kiddo, you might decide that you'd like to have children of your own and or you might not, either way it's nice that you have the option. Most girls start theirs in their early teens, some even earlier, but mostly it just means your body is finally health enough." Natasha adds squeezing her hand "it will get easier after a few times, I promise. It's all just part of growing up." She says pressing a kiss to the girls hair as she stands. "You wanna clean up and meet me on the couch? we can watch your favorite movie." 
"Sounds good." Wanda nods "and Tasha, Thank you." 
"Always, little witch." Natasha smiles before leaving the room. She hears Wanda turn the shower and heads to change the girls sheets, replacing the dirty white ones with a pair of plumb purple ones that the girl had picked out a while ago, before making the bed. Natasha heads out of Wanda's room taking the dirty sheets to the washer before returning to her kitchen, slightly surprised to see Steve there already. 
"Hey, sorry, I just wanted to make sure she was okay and do something to hopefully make her feel better." he says as she enters, gesturing to the hot chocolate being made on the stove, there's already a cup poured in his own hand
"Relax, Cap, everything is fine." Natasha adds, before stealing the mug out of his hands. "This is really good." She hums, taking a sip before returning it into his hands.
"Glad you like it, considering you just stole mine." He teases
"Friends share." She reminds him
"Is that what we are?" He asks, taking a sip from the mug.
"I thought so anyways, unless you're replacing me." Natasha replies hoping up onto the counter. 
"Wouldn't dream of it." Steve says placing the mug into her awaiting hands. "I thought we were best friends." 
"Well, best friend, wanna stay and watch a movie?" She asks nudging his thigh with her foot
"Sure."
                          
Wanda shows up a few minutes later, hair wet and clad in a new pair of lounge clothes still looking miserable but perking up at the sight of hot chocolate. She hugs the super soldier as thanks, before the trio makes their way to the couch. Wanda was able to ignore her discomfort for a majority of the movie but by the time the credits rolled around a majority of her pain had returned, come dinner time Wanda had ate a measly 5 bites of her dinner before she felt to nauseous to eat anymore. Another dose of Tylenol seemed to do nothing for her cramps and her emotions seemed to be out of control which caused a continuous glow around her fingers. 
                          
Later that night, her discomfort would not leave no matter how hard she tried to fall asleep, crying tears of frustration she reluctantly headed for Natasha's room, maybe she could sneak in quietly without waking the spy. Hoping to take comfort in her presence from the opposite side of the bed. Wanda quietly opened the door and closed it behind her, but not before Natasha was already awake. Taking note of the girls teary eyes, Natasha scoots over allowing Wanda to climb under the covers. 
"I'm sorry, I didn't want to wake you. I couldn't fall asleep." Wanda says as she climbs in. 
"It's alright, little witch." Natasha reassures her as Wanda cuddles into her side. "Try to get some sleep." She adds, trying to give the teen some comfort. Memories of a dirty stained bed sheet and night gown, blood stains dark than her hair, fearing what Madame would do when they came to unlock her cuffs in the morning, fill her mind. She squeezes the girl a little tighter, wishing someone could have provided her 13 year old self with the same comfort. Wanda reaches for her hand absentmindedly in the dark, red magic swirling between their palms before she drifts off to sleep. 
                          
The next morning Natasha wakes up to the smell of pancakes, no doubly chocolate chip for Wanda, Steve trying to make her feel better again. Natasha manages to slip out of the sleeping girls grasp before joining him in the kitchen. 
"Hey, soldier." She greets walking around the counter to where he stands at the stove. 
"Hey, goodmorning." He replies, giving her a small smile. "Wanda stay with you last night? She wasn't in her room." 
"Yeah, she couldn't sleep." Natasha replies, before heading to sit at one of the chairs at the table. Wanda only slept a few minutes later, coming in the kitchen and immediately heading for the spy. Wanda sighed sleepily as she climbed into her lap, finally content again after waking up in a mist of red.
"Good morning, Milaya." Natasha says rubbing the girls back "Steve made you pancakes." 
"My stomach hurts." Wanda mumbles into her neck.
"You still need to eat something." Natasha adds "just a little bit, you can't go days without eating." 
"I don't want anymore days of this." Wanda groans
"Get used to it, kiddo, you're growing up." Natasha reminds her pressing a kiss to her hair, realizing she wouldn't mind getting to watch the little witch grow for years to come, a realization which had been plaguing her thoughts more recently.
                          
Hi guys, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!! I had this idea a while back and it's been sitting in the drafts until now. Anyways, thanks for all the love! Feel free to leave suggestions or prompts as this is a one-shot book and I can try my best to incorporate things you all want to see! -Mae