Surely, he was still dreaming. Either that or he'd lost his sanity. Or he was going to die as soon as Wanda awoke.

Toad allowed himself to breathe again. He looked around with just his eyes. He made sure he could feel all of his body. Yes. He was definitely awake. And the fact that he held a few of Wanda's silken, auburn tresses in his hand confirmed that he had, in actuality, done it with the Scarlet Witch.

Mort quietly turned his head to look at her. She was facing him, still asleep, with most of her hair fallen over her shoulder. He'd always thought she had beautiful hair. He looked at his own webbed fingers wrapped around her soft curls. He heard her sigh, but her eyes remained closed.

- - -

Before she opened her eyes, a tidal wave of very recent memories broke over her, and she blinked her eyes open to substantiate them. Toad lay next to her, his eyes watching her. Wanda closed her eyes before he could notice she was awake. Four words resounded in her head: What Did You Do?

At that moment, Wanda wanted nothing more than to sit up and reassess the situation. But she couldn’t, as that would give away one advantage she had: she didn't have to look Toad in the face. What had she been thinking? What had she been on to do something like that? Had she not realized that there was no way she'd be able to get rid of Toad now?

“Want me to leave?”

Wanda opened her eyes and saw Toad. And he knew. How had he been able to read her? How did he even know she was awake?

“What?” was all she could think of to say, to stall.

“You want me to leave?” Silent, sorrowful, and disappointed. God, Wanda thought, she'd given him a new wound. One to add to all the others they’d dealt each other over the years. What had she done?

She tried to lean over the side of the bed, away from him, to pick her shirt up off the floor, but her hair was pinned. She looked back and saw that it was twined around Toad's fingers.

“Don't leave.” He was so quiet that Wanda had to read his lips to make out what he'd said.

“I have to make breakfast, don't I?” Even to her, her voice sounded hollow..

“You can get up, and make breakfast. Just, please don't leave me.”

“I . . .” Wanda stared at him, realizing the depth of what he was asking. Don’t abandon me. Don’t throw me away, now that you’ve seen and don’t like. For years, Wanda had looked down on Toad. She been unimpressed by his interest in her, and repelled by his advances. But in the past couple weeks, she’d seen a truly different side of him, and she hoped he’d seen a more compassionate side of her.

She felt no repulsion towards him now. And, strangely, she didn’t even feel the need to escape. She had nothing; she might as well share it. Hadn’t it been only last night that she was so desperate for him not to leave her?

“I won’t leave you, Mort.”

His eyes didn’t change at first. They still looked too afraid of disappointment to believe, but after a moment his face showed a degree of calm. Wanda looked at her hair, and Toad followed her line of sight. Then he realized, and immediately let go.

“Sorry . . .”

Wanda picked up her shirt and put it on, and reached for her blanket at the foot of the bed. She wrapped it around herself and got up, heading toward the bathroom.

“Wanda ...”

She stopped and looked back at him.

“Will you ... stay?”

She looked back at him, uncomprehending. “I said I wouldn’t leave.”

“I know, but,” Mortimer began twitching his fingers. “But not leaving and staying are different.”

Wanda looked at him in silence for a moment. “I said I won’t leave.” She went into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

Mortimer, shoulders hunched, inwardly berated himself for asking too much. He’d blown it now. Couldn’t just be satisfied, had to ask for more. Don’t leave. Stay. He must have sounded like such an idiot to her. She was probably disgusted with herself now, for going to bed with him. Just had to ruin a good thing, Toad, he said to himself. Just had to go and wreck the fact that you were already living with her. He pulled his clothes on and went outside.

The little girl next door was on the front walkway, waiting for her mother to walk her to school. Mort had not looked at the clock, but if the girl hadn’t left yet it was probably seven-thirty or so. He tried not to think about what Wanda might be thinking. Instead, he tried to think about what else needed to be done in their crappy little townhouse. If she even wanted him to stay in the house anymore.

Mort looked at the girl, who was spinning around in place, her lunch box making a ring around where she stood. To be living here, her parents must be as destitute as he and Wanda were, but Mort was envious of them. That girl’s father had everything. At least, everything Mort wanted. He had a wife who loved him. You could tell. She went outside to greet him when he came home and kissed and hugged him. The little girl would run out and say hello to him too. A wife who loved him, and even a kid to love. More than everything Mort had ever wanted.

The door behind him opened. He almost turned around, but managed to hold still. He waited, like a condemned prisoner awaiting a sentence.

Wanda spoke softly. “Mortimer?”

He could tell that she was leaning toward him, trying to see his face. “Yeah?”

“Do you want to eat? There’s bread. And milk ...”

Mort turned around to face her, and saw, by her wet hair, that she’d already taken a shower. “Yeah, sure.”

They both went back inside, and sat down to bread for breakfast. Unsure of how she felt about the night’s events, Wanda wished she could see Mort’s thoughts. He wanted her to stay with him, right? That’s what he’d said. Of course he did. He’d been obsessed with her since they’d met - years ago. But Wanda quickly stopped herself from that train of thought. He was not so one-dimensional, she now knew. He had loved her, but hadn’t he also hated her for a time? She thought that in trying to keep him near her, she might have succeeded in driving him away.

Did he now, like the biblical Amnon, ‘hate her with a hate greater than the love he had loved her with?’ For rebuffing his plea for her to stay; or did he perhaps no longer want her now that he had her? She had imagined that he’d be clinging to her, tripping over her words as he had in the past. But Wanda, bread in hand, had to remind herself that neither of them were the same people they’d been years before.

“Mortimer?” she prodded again.

He looked at her.

“Are you angry with me? For anything?” Mort’s eyes widened. “No, no of course I’m not. Why would I be?”

“For anything. Just for anything I’ve done in the past.”

“No, not at all. Of course not. I ... I love you.”

Wanda didn’t say anything in response, but wiped her hands on her napkin. “I need to go soon.”

“Right, I’ll drive you, if you want.”

“Yes, thank you.”

- - -

After hanging up her apron and heading outside, Wanda had only a few minutes to herself before Mortimer came to drive her home. It was the only time she’d had alone all day. And she had a lot to think about in only a few minutes. And it wasn’t anything she wanted to think about.

She knew what would happen tonight. The question would hang in the air; the question of ... sleeping arrangements. And the burden would fall to her, as she didn’t foresee Mortimer being authoritative about it. But she didn’t have the answer.

Were they ‘together’ now? Did she want to be ‘together?’ Was there any sane reason on this planet she should have a lover? Wanda closed her eyes against the pain she knew would come. She was still married. Still in love, though anyone would wonder why. No one could take his place ... Not Mortimer or even Simon. ...

But those relationships would never be again. She didn’t think she could ever even look at Simon again. And, of course, she’d never be able to look at her husband again.

Wanda pushed the thoughts from her mind. She couldn’t think about it for too long, or she would loose herself in regret and guilt. She knew that much well. But still, there was the question of Mort. She’d never relive her past loves, so why not give in to the timid man who still seemed to worship her, and who had been her anchor for these past weeks?

Because she didn’t want to go through the ordeal again. Relationships never worked for her. With the best of intentions, she broke everything she touched. But, she realized, if she left Mort now, she’d break him anyway. And she had told him she wouldn’t leave.

Though, she hadn’t said she’d stay...

She heard the motorcycle as it rounded the corner. She still had no answer. If she thought of him, she’d choose to stay with him. If she thought of herself... Wanda glanced over the past few years of her life and knew she couldn’t be alone. If not for Mortimer, the solitude would have killed her. He held her down to earth. He kept her in reality. If she thought of herself, of her own well being, she’d choose to stay with him. And if he would stay with her, through her hells, then perhaps she could make it through them.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked, as he put his foot on the pavement, waiting for her.

“Yes,” she said.

- - -

They were sitting back in the livingroom.

“You know what I’ve done, don’t you?”

“What ... with what?”

“Those months ago, with ... The Avengers.” Wanda was still pained to say the name.

“Yeah, I know.”

She took a breath. “Then you know what I can do. What I have done. When I wake up, ever since that day, it’s been like waking up in hell. Or at least it was for a time. And then, after a while, it became more like purgatory. When I left Genosha and came here, I was trying to escape that. But it didn’t work. It didn’t change.” She looked up, but not at him. “Until you came. Then, things seemed to be a little more bearable. But I’ve still never been able to escape.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to have the life I wanted for myself. But when you’re here, I don’t feel so much like I’m in limbo. I feel more like I’m back on earth. But I’ll never make it to paradise.” She looked at him now. “If you want to stay with me, you need to know that.” Mortimer was quiet for a few moments. To Wanda, it seemed he was thinking it over.

Finally, he said, “I’d rather live in your purgatory with you than in a paradise without you,” he said. “If ... if you’ll have me, that is.”

“Are you sure?”

“Well, what’s paradise when you’re alone? ‘Sides, I already promised I wouldn’t leave, even if you threw me out. ” he half smiled.

For a moment, Wanda took her turn at silence. “Then I’ll stay with you,” she said.

And so comes the conclusion of “Re-Creation.”
A whole new set of chapters await, though, because we couldn't have a simple, happy ending, could we? But wait, you say, I thought this was going to be about the happy ending that should have happened.
Well, it is. But we have to be realistic about this. Many complications could arise from such a relationship, yes? So please, enjoy the next installment.