When they first heard on the news about Wanda and Pietro’s involvement in the great robot battle that had happened in their country, and about the latter’s death, they started looking into ways to get in touch. They finally sent a letter to a general Avengers-related address, and about a week and a half later she emailed them. By then, however, she had decided she was going to live in their new headquarters upstate, at least for the time being, which meant they had to do some planning to see each other.
Or so Foggy thought until one evening, late in the summer, when she was woken up from fitful sleep by the sound of a knock on the door, and opened it to find Wanda standing there. “We are in the city right now,” she explained, just before Foggy pulled her into a hug. “Where is Matt?”
“Had some late-night stuff to do,” said Foggy, which was technically true. “And I don’t think he’ll be fit company when he’s finally done either. If you’re still here tomorrow you should drop by the office. But meanwhile, if I throw something on you want to go out for a drink?”
So off they went to Josie’s, with Foggy texting an invitation to Karen, but she turned them down. Instead it was just the two of them in the corner, Wanda in one of Matt’s hoodies to make herself less recognizable. A couple of drinks in, she considered all the questions she could ask her old roommate, about which ones of the wild stories flying about were true, but just asked, “How are you holding up?”
There was a pause, and then Wanda shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said. “All I know is I am still here, and he is not, and I must…” She trailed off, and took another swig of alcohol before blatantly fleeing the question with “I heard you lost people too? People you work with?”
“Nothing to compare to the loss you’ve suffered,” said Foggy, although she did take a moment to think of Elena and Ben. “I mean…that would be like if I’d lost Matt.”
And would Wanda ever know just how much she lived in dread of just that? How right now, she could see them having this conversation again, later, when they had both become women bereft of the men that had been the center of their world? She certainly wasn’t telling Wanda Matt’s secret tonight. She honestly didn’t know whether or not she ever would; Wanda’s being an Avenger made her learning it both a distinct possibility and a much more dangerous prospect.
But right now, Wanda was saying, “We did hear, you know, of you two marrying. Only very shortly before…we were…cut off from the world for a long time, and we didn’t hear about such things. But we found time at one point to look you two up, and we saw your wedding announcement. Even photos, on Candace’s facebook. Pietro…he said he had never seen Matt look so happy.”
“How much would those two have loved to see each other again,” said Foggy. “I think Matt will always regret that. I’ll tell him he knew, though, about the wedding, before…that’ll make him glad.”
There was a minute’s silence; they both drank. Then Wanda said, “You’re very different. You’re sad now. It’s strange for me to see.”
“I went out into the world and found out how horrible a place it can be sometimes?” Foggy offered, since that was another thing that was true; she’d even said something similar to Marci already, now that the two of them were friends again. “I mean, I didn’t know it before. Not the way all three of you did. I’d had nothing worse in my life than an evil biomom, and she wasn’t even around much. While you three…”
“Please,” said Wanda. “You shouldn’t be sad. Not you. Matt even talked it over with Pietro and I once, and we all agreed on that. He especially needs you not to be, I think.”
Of course she had no idea of the complications there, but Foggy found she didn’t mind the remark; she was even deeply moved by the sincerity of the sentiment. So she just said, “I’ll see what I can do.”
She’d known her period was upcoming, but it was a bit of a surprise when not long after she started to feel the telltale pain in her abdomen. Luckily by then it was late enough she could easily say she needed to go home, and could even truthfully tell Wanda they had an important meeting with a client the next day. “One who even has enough money we can charge him full rate,” she said to her as she accompanied her home.
“Ah, money!” laughed Wanda. “Maybe you should be glad Pietro and me didn’t join you as lawyers. You’d have even less money then.”
Foggy thought about that possibility, about if Nelson and Murdock had been Nelson, Murdock, & the Maximoffs, or whatever Matt would’ve deemed best for them to call themselves. Pietro would still be alive then, of course, but she wasn’t sure what would’ve happened in Sokovia if the twins hadn’t been there, and if it might not have been very, very bad, so maybe she shouldn’t think about those details and just focus on the image of the four of them, in the office, at Josie’s, out here on the streets of Hell’s Kitchen. Probably with messy lives, but maybe still happy, more or less.
Except it wasn’t actually what Foggy would’ve expected to happen anyway. “Would you have done that, maybe? I thought your plan was always to go home.”
She shrugged. “We had all sorts of plans. Not all of which we could do.” And now it definitely sounded like there was something Wanda wasn’t telling her. Foggy had become an expert in spotting that. But it was late at night, and she didn’t want to push her now, and she hoped to see her again, and not too far into the future, when they were be more a place with each other where she could really probe.
So for now, she hugged her at the entrance to her building, and said, “I’m sure you’ll be a kick-ass Avenger, though. One who your brother would have been proud of. We’ll be keeping our eyes on the news-well, Matt’ll just be keeping his ears, obviously. And do stop by tomorrow if you can.”
Matt still wasn’t back, though at this point in the evening Foggy wouldn’t expect him to be. Her flow hadn’t started in earnest yet; she took her painkiller with the reasonable confidence it would kick in before her cramps started getting serious. In the meantime, she drew the sheets up when she lay back down, and let herself enjoy being covered in silk. She’d probably doze off, she thought, and when Matt was back in and she’d given him whatever first aid he needed(although that suit he had now was godsend) she ought to be perfectly fine, at least physically.
She was managing things well. Foggy Nelson had gotten very good at that.