Title: All is Merry and Bright
Author: Sgt. Pepperony
Fandom: (MCU)
Pairings: Wanda/Steve (mildly)
Rating: G/K
Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers characters. Property of Marvel and Disney. Songs do not belong to me either.

Eh, it's Christmas so I thought I would do some nice treats.

23rd December

Oh the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful.
And since we no place to go,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

"Do I even want to know?" Steve asked when a dishevelled Sam walked into the kitchen carrying two bags of groceries.

"I thought Christmas Eve was meant to be the day where people got absolutely nuts," Sam replied. "Some punk tried to steal the damn bird off me. Whatever Natasha is planning to do with this thing better taste damn good because I nearly got killed out there."

Steve could only hold back a laugh. "Well, you're back in one piece."

"Wait until the papers get a hold of it: Avenger's greatest battle: holiday shopping."

"Better you than Nat. I don't think we have quite recovered from the Black Friday incident."

Sam let out a shudder. "Next time, I'll bring Wanda with me." Wanda, who had been sitting there quietly and not paying attention, looked up. "You can cook can't you?"

"A little," she answered. "I would not know where to begin with a turkey though."

"You and me both."

"So what is Natasha planning with the turkey?" Steve asked.

"Something involving a brine," Steve replied. "As someone whose mother used to boil the turkey, I think I am nervous whenever the meat touches the water."

Wanda smiled a little. At that point, Natasha came into the kitchen and commented, "Great, you got the turkey."

"Next year, you are getting the food," Sam replied. Natasha shrugged. "Right, so what are we doing?"

"We are getting the brine together. So, first things first, Wanda you get a bucket; Steve you get me some cloves, a cinnamon stick, caraway seeds, allspice berries, star anise, mustard seeds, ginger, and bouquet garni." Steve blinked at her as though he was just told to recite the opening monologue to some obscure play. "Now!"

"Yes drill sergeant," Steve muttered as he went to the cupboard. "What is bouquet garni?"

"No idea," Sam replied.

In the meantime, Tony was tinkering in the research and development laboratories. He was working on developing new features for the War Machine suit when Rhodes walked in holding some eggnog.

"It's two days before Christmas, and you are hunched over a suit that you don't need to tweek but are because you want to avoid speaking to people," Rhodes said.

"I'm not avoiding conversations," Tony replied shortly. "Vision can back me up."

"No, you are not spending time in this laboratory because you are upset over an argument with Miss Potts," Vision replied.

"What happened this time?" Rhodes asked.

"She thinks I am spending too much time with the team even though I am meant to be on hiatus," Tony answered.

"Well…. It's not untrue," Rhodes pointed out. "You know the whole point of being on hiatus is that you avoid us altogether. You spend more time with Pepper and actually enjoy life."

Tony shook his head. He then turned his head towards Vision and frowned when he noticed the android was dressed in trousers, shirt and a jumper. "What the hell are you wearing?"

"Oh, I thought this attire would help me blend in with everyone else," Vision replied with a proud smile.

"Dude, your head is bright red," Rhodes replied. "I would not worry about blending in so much."

"Anyway, I need to run this simulation so could you help us out?" Tony asked as he plugged something into the War Machine helmet.

"Mr Stark, I am looking at these readings, and I think this simulation may cause a power surge too great for the facility's electrical capacity to handle," Vision pointed out.

"Did I create you to argue with me? You are meant to be derivative of JARVIS and he never answered me back."

"Um…" Rhodes was about to make a counterpoint when he heard the machines around him begin to whir. Only sparks started to fly from the War Machine helmet and after two seconds, the laboratory went black. "What just happened?"

"Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the correct idiom is 'I told you so'," Vision pointed out.

Tony groaned and hit his head off the table.

In the kitchen, Sam, Wanda, Steve and Natasha were looking around wondering what had happened. "Has a fuse just gone?" Steve asked. All of a sudden, the alarms started blaring and the window shutters closed. "Okay, I think we may have a bigger problem."

"What's going on?" Wanda asked.

"I think we're under some sort of lockdown."

"Oh great," Natasha commented sarcastically.

Sam was looking at the computer looking to see if there were any intruders. However, he looked at the CCTV from all angles of the Compound and no threats could be seen. For a second, he thought that it could have been the man who had tried to break in over the summer, given that he had a suit that could make him shrink, but no sign so far and he could not get out to check.

"Okay, nothing on CCTV so what has happened?" Sam asked.

"I did try to warn him," Vision muttered as he floated into the kitchen.

"What's happened Vizh?" Wanda asked.

"Mr Stark was running a simulation and it caused a power surge and it led to a power cut. When the power is cut, the system thinks that there is an intruder and thus puts the Compound on lockdown for forty-eight hours."

"You mean that we are stuck in this place?" Natasha asked. "I'm going to kill him."

"Okay, easy Nat," Steve said blocking her way out of the kitchen.

"I guess we should call Clint and let him know he cannot come tomorrow," Wanda said grabbing her phone. Her battery was almost flat, and she just about had enough to type a text: 'Power cut. Lockdown. Don't come. Stark's fault'.

"Get out of the way Rogers, or else you and going to have that pretty head snapped off as well!" Natasha yelled. At that point, Sam had gotten to work restraining her.

"If it makes you feel better Ms Romanoff, I think Mr Stark is angry enough at himself," Vision reassured.

"Yeah, I doubt it," Sam argued as Natasha struggled against him.

Wanda sighed and sat on the counter. "Well, there goes the tickets for Natasha and me to see The Nutcracker tonight."

"Yeah, and they were not cheap either," Natasha groaned as she broke free of Sam and used her stealth abilities to slide between Steve's legs.

"Shouldn't you go after her?" Wanda asked.

"Part of me wants to say yes," Steve replied. "You okay?"

"Well, it's not the first time that Stark has trapped me so not too bad I guess."

"You want to know why I am pissed?" Sam asked. "I nearly got killed by some old lady over this damn bird, and now we can't cook it."

"I would say that you should stick it in the freezer, but it is likely that is not working also," Vision offered.

"Oh god," Steve said walking to the freezer. "We're going to have to eat this before it goes off."

"I'll have the ice cream if you are offering Steve," Wanda said. Steve handed her the tub. "So what are we going to do for two days?"

"Talk?" Sam asked unsurely.

-o-

Tony had managed to survive Natasha's assault and the rest of the group was gathered. In the living area. From the way everyone stood with their arms folded, Tony knew that they were baying for his blood.

"Right, so…" Tony began.

"You can't say that you did not know this would happen when Vision warned you that it was certain to happen," Steve interrupted.

"To be fair, he did say he thought it would cause a power surge."

"Vision is a hyper-intelligent android who could perform three trillion checks in a second that would confirm that your simulation would blow the power," Natasha added shortly. "You chose not to listen to him."

"Rhodey, back me up here," Tony begged.

"Dude, I am on their side. This is your mess," Rhodey responded.

"Clint and his family can't come to stay, all the food is going to be ruined and we have no way of contacting anyone outside the facility," Natasha listed. "Congratulations Stark, you've actually succeeded in ruining Christmas."

"What do you want me to do? I can't fix the power. I don't want to be in this situation as much as you do Romanoff so give me a break," Tony yelled. "Screw this I am out of here."

"Tony," Steve began but Tony had already stormed off. "Well, the next forty-eight hours are going to be fun."

"You know what, I think we need some time to calm down," Vision suggested.

"You're not even angry," Sam pointed out.

"Yes I am; this is my angry face." Vision's angry face just looked like his regular face. Wanda had to hold back a laugh. "Think about it logically, we are going to be stuck in the Compound for forty-eight hours and while this is a big facility, we are going to get on each other's nerves sooner or later. Since we are already rather irate, I think taking some time to calm down would benefit us as a whole."

Steve took a deep breath and said, "Vision's right, we should take some time to cool off."

"I'll go find some candles," Wanda suggested. "I think there may still be some left over from Hannukah."

"Good thinking," Sam added. "Natasha, why don't you hit a punchbag or something?"

"I might just get some photos of Stark and use him as a target," Natasha replied.

"I should probably check Tony is okay," Rhodey added.

Once the group dispersed, Steve stood alone in the living area with Vision. "Are you genuinely angry Vision?"

"Well, I did warn him and I get the impression that Mr Stark hates listening to me."

"Because you remind him of JARVIS?"

"Possibly. JARVIS would not have died had Mr Stark not created Ultron, and if that had not happened, I would not have been created. I guess I am a physical reminder of what happened."

"Speaking of which, I should check Wanda is okay. It was something she said about this not being the first time being trapped by Stark."

"To be honest, I assumed that was some form of dark humour."

"Trust me when I say dark humour is a sign of something rather serious." Steve went to go find Wanda, and he found her in her bedroom grabbing a load of candles from her drawer. "Hey, Wanda, you okay?"

"Not too bad. I mean it's annoying that I am not going to see Clint I've been trapped in worst places," she replied.

"Yeah, that's what I wanted to speak to you about. You said something about being trapped by Stark. I know what happened with your parents…"

"Steve, I'm fine. It's not the most ideal situation but compared to the last time I was trapped by him, this is better."

Steve had some doubts over Wanda's assertion but he decided not to push her and helped her gather the candles.

In the meantime, Rhodey found Tony hitting something with a spanner. It seemed that tears were pricking in his eye as he smacked the spanner off the side of the workbench.

"Tony, calm down," Rhodey ordered.

"Romanoff is right. I ruined Christmas; actually I have ruined this whole year," Tony answered as he took one last hit.

"No, you haven't."

"Well, given that Wanda's brother is dead, Banner has gone missing, there is a hole in the middle of Eastern Europe, JARVIS is dead and Pepper hates me, I'm not doing too well."

"Okay, but all of those except Pepper hating you happened in a week so you have not done too badly. And I don't think Pepper hates you."

"Well, you should have heard our latest argument."

"What was it about this time?"

"It doesn't matter. It's pretty much off."

"Tony, you two have survived her crazy ex injecting her with some firebreathing serum. I think you can get through anything."

"I doubt it will be possible to do so this time."

Right next chapter will be up tomorrow at 3pm GMT. Next chapter of Infinity and Beyond will be up at 12pm GMT and another story Fairytale of New York will be up at 6pm.

Don't say I do not spoil you.