Chapter Text
Wanda and Jason’s next adventure was London. They weren’t expecting it, but they fell in love with the city. The chaos, the people. So they decided to stay. Wanda opened up about wanting to go back to school, Jason fully supported her.
Bruce was funding their travels and he was funding their life in London too. He was the only one who knew where they were, and that Wanda was alive.
She was going by Elizabeth these days or Lizzie. It matched her new blonde hair. Jason kept his name; he wasn’t hiding.
Wanda wanted to get a job, too. Preferably with kids, she loved kids. So she got a job at an after school care center. She uprooted her whole life for some normalcy, might as well get a normal job.
She works part-time and studies psychology. At first, it was a tie between psychology and social work, but eventually, she picked psychology. She could help others, and be her own therapist at the same time. God knows she needed one.
Jason finessed a job at a small-scale law firm as an investigator. It gave him a small rush, without being life-threatening.
They worked on the longing for adrenaline by once in a while taking out some local bad guys. Drug dealers, predators, abusers.
Overall, they were doing great. They had a nice, cozy apartment and good jobs. Wanda was studying and fell in love with learning, and fell deeper in love with Jason. They were happy.
Wanda was getting ready for school, after a shower with Jason. She felt like a normal student. She made a few friends and they went thrifting together a lot. She even started going to concerts and karaoke nights.
Today, she wore a little black dress with an oversized white dress shirt over it; the dress shirt was longer than the dress. She put on some vintage Dr. Martens and hoop earrings.
“You look hot,” Jason said as he entered the room, looking for his laptop.
“Shut up.” Wanda rolled her eyes and smiled at him through the mirror.
“You need a ride?” He asked.
“It’s a ten-minute walk, Jase.”
“M’kay. Have you seen my laptop?” He asked as he checked under the bed.
“Living room. Table by the TV.” She said as she turned around.
“Where would I be without you?” Jason said and kissed her cheek.
“Dead.” Wanda said as she kissed him, on the lips this time.
They made out for a little before Wanda pulled away to get to school. She was supposed to get coffee with one of her new friends, Emily, before class.
They were in line talking about Freud’s Ego Defense Mechanisms. They ordered and while Wanda waited on their drinks, Emily got them a table.
Wanda was on her phone waiting when she heard a familiar voice call her name.
“Wanda?” Wanda froze when she heard that voice. No one has called her by her real name in public in, well, years. Jason was the only one who still called her Wanda.
“Sorry I think you’ve confused me with someone else,” Wanda said as she turned around. It was Jules.
“Come on, Wands. Changing your hair doesn’t make you a different person.” Jules said as she went in for a hug. “God, I heard you died . You just left and never came back, but I guess it was just a silly rumor. Why haven’t you called?” Wanda panicked. She didn’t know how to respond. “Are you a mute now?” Right as she said that Emily walked over to them.
“Hey, Liz, they don’t have any free spots. We can just go to the park.” Emily said. Wanda immediately turned away from Julie as if there was nothing going on.
“Uh, yeah- sure.” Wanda quickly said as she rushed Emily out of the café, grabbing their coffee as she did this. She left Julie with a confused look and a bit of anger swirling inside.
Wanda was distracted for the rest of the day. Stress was taking over her body. She was scared that Julie would go around telling people she saw Wanda. Eventually, it could get to Tony and Steve.
But maybe Julie would just leave it alone. Maybe she would convince herself that it was just someone who looked like Wanda. This hope was crushed as she left the university building and saw Julie waiting for her on the steps.
“Wanda!” She stood up as she saw her old friend, who in return shushed her and grabbed her arm pulling her to the side.
“It’s Elizabeth, or Liz, now,” Wanda whispered. “Did you tell anyone you saw me?”
“Who would I tell, Elizabeth ?” Julie said snarkily. “What’s going on?”
Wanda had to come up with a lie, a good one. And fast. “We can’t talk here.” This excuse gave her some time to come up with something while they walked to her apartment.
Wanda racked her brain while they walked. She needed a good excuse for leaving and an even better excuse for staying gone. It had to be unfixable.
She decided on danger. It wasn’t far from the truth, but it was however hard to believe. But then again so was the truth.
They got to her apartment and Wanda went to make some tea for them.
“Spill it, Wanda.” Jules said as she sat down at the kitchen table.
“Julie, you can’t tell anyone what I’m about to tell you, okay? And you can’t ever tell anyone that you saw me here either.” Wanda said, concerned.
“Come on, Wanda. You know me. I’m no snitch.” Julie replied, her face softening slightly.
“Back home I got involved with some bad people. They tried to kill me, and they thought they’d succeeded, but they didn’t. They think I’m dead, and that’s good. If they ever found out I was alive, they’d come to find me and kill me. And everyone I love too,” Wanda saw that Julie wasn’t convinced so she added a personal touch. “that includes you.”
“Um, can you give me some more details? I mean do you hear how this sounds, Wands? Are you on drugs again?” Julie asked. After that, Wanda went on a rant, spewing lies out left and right. She watched a lot of movies and took some inspiration from them.
As the sun was setting and the day was ending, Wanda had created an elaborate story with no loose ends. She told Julie about a gang who had ties in the police, so she couldn’t ask for help there either. She told her she stole from the gang, betrayed their trust, so they could never forgive her. She showed her the scars Hydra gave her and told them she got them when the gang tried to kill her. That was what sold her story.
“Oh god, Wanda.” Julie whispered with tears in her eyes. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I’ll keep my mouth shut, I promise. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Not really.” Wanda said with a grim look on her face. “Just leave. I know it sounds harsh, but it’s for the best.”
“Okay, Wands, I will.” Jules said genuinely. “But my parting words, a little advice, try something more low scale. A lot of people come to London. You lived in Beverly Hills, and you went to a fancy boarding school. You were around so many rich people, people who visit Europe all the time.”
After they said their goodbyes they hugged. Wanda put all her bottled up emotions into the hug. Hugging Julie was like hugging her past and everyone in it. She cried a bit after she left because she realized how much she truly missed everyone.
She took Julie’s advice to heart. She was right, London was too open. When Jason came home, Wanda told him everything. She hated telling him they were going to have to go to a smaller city, they both loved London, but they loved each other more.
They decided to go to Skye, a little island in Scotland. They spoke the language, and it was pretty low-scale. Wanda found a job as a preschool teacher, she only had to work half-days, which gave her enough time to follow an education at a small university.
She’d agreed to make fewer friends now, they were a liability.
Life got boring. Wanda thought it was funny. Her life had been a lot, but it had never been boring. She was okay with a boring life.