We walked in silence to the holding cell Wanda had been locked away in. Pietro kept glancing down at me. I didn't know what to say or how to rid the look of shame and sadness from my face. After a minute he gently took my hand and gave it a tight squeeze of recurrence. That hurt, he was trying to be there for me when I'd clearly done something to hurt him. I let go after a moment when we came to the cell doors.

"Agent Carter not again. I can't let you-"

"Ok stop. This is Wanda's brother Pietro, pretty much the only person she needs to see now so you are going to open that door or I'll go and get Romanoff."

"You don't have the clearance." he said warily as Pietro stepped forward and glared at him

"Level six agent." I said holding out my badge "So yeah I do. Open it. Now."

The look on Pietro's face must have broken him because he moved aside to let us past. But before I could follow Pietro in the agent grabbed my arm "Watch your backs in there, she's crazy."

I had to restrain myself as I replied "If I ever hear you use that word around the Maximoff's again I will bust your rank so fast it'll make your head spin. Understood?"

"Got it." he said and let go of my arm

There was a small hallway inside with a room at the end. The room was lined with strong metal walls with small glass widows along the sides.

I had a strange sensation upon walking into the room, the walls were bulging outward like the inside of a fish bowl, or was it just my eyes? I suddenly realized what was wrong, the light in the room was too red and seemed to crackle with energy.

On the far side of the room sat Wanda. Her head was down so most of her hair covered her face. From the set of her muscles she looked like a cornered animal waiting to lash out.

I glanced up at Pietro whose face couldn't have looked more terrified. He threw out his arm to stop me moving any closer and shook his head.

"What's wrong with her?" I whispered.

The moment I uttered those words I wished I hadn't.

Wanda's head shot up and she looked directly at us with blazing scarlet eyes. The fury in her turned the blood to ice in my veins, it was like she didn't even recognize us. Pietro grabbed me around the waist and dashed out of the room. The moment the door slammed shut there was a sound like a bomb going off. Red light shone out of the space under the door and the walls of the room seemed to stretch like they were trying to contain much more power than they could manage. Perhaps the worst thing though was the bloodcurdling scream that came from Wanda's mouth.

"Stay here!" shouted Pietro as he let go of me

"Pietro come back!" I yelled as he opened the door to Wanda's room and disappeared inside.

The agent outside the door looked at me with a smug 'I told you so smile' so I slammed the door in his face.

The light subsidized and there was silence. I peeped into one of the windows and a sob came out of my mouth. Pietro was helping Wanda to her feet, the look on her face was as if she was seeing the sun again after being shut away for years. I could see their mouths moving but couldn't hear a word, I thought I could discern 'I thought you were dead.' from Wanda though. Pietro carefully put his arms around her and she threw hers around him. I felt like I was intruding on a family matter but he met my gaze and beckoned me in with a 'It's safe'.

I slowly opened the door and Wanda raised her head off her brothers shoulder. "Carman?"

"Hey Wand." I said staying back by the door. She let go of Pietro and held out her hand to me. I deliberated for a moment and ran into her arms. "I was soworried about you."

"I'm so sorry. I'm alright." she said and took her brothers hand with her spare one "I'm alright now."

I felt her stiffen and looked up at her. She gave me a very confused stare with her eyes very slightly red. She was looking into my mind. I grabbed hold of her in a hug again and whispered in her ear "It's not what you think-"

"Barton?" she interrupted and pulled back "You and Barton? But I thought-" she paused and looked over at Pietro. "You know?"

He nodded and gritted his teeth. I could feel a knot tightening in my chest as I looked at him. I never meant to hurt him, I thought he'd never wake up.

"I..I should go." I said backing away from Wanda

"No Carman wait I didn't mean-" she tried but I shook my head

"Karma it's ok I understa-" said Pietro though I knew he didn't, he just wanted to keep me in the room

"No you don't. Just…just catch up I'll see you later. I gotta go..I'm sorry." I said before turning tail and dashing out of the room.

An hour later found me sat on one of the walk ways above the quinjet with my legs dangling over the edge. I didn't really know where else to go, I didn't want to see the twins, not now anyway.

"Hey."

The sudden noise made me jump and I grabbed hold of the railing of support. I turned and saw it was Clint.

"Hi." I said as he settled down next to me "Come to yell at me?"

"Do you want me to?"

"Of course not. But you deserve to if you want. Come on let me have it, I'm a big girl I can take it." I said and he chuckled

"Carm I won't hold you to anything that happened back there, we were both upset."

"Oh." I said dejectedly "Right."

There was an awkward silence which Clint broke after a moment. "But I just don't get why you'd let it go that far if you knew Pietro was alive, if you love him why-"

"I don't." I said and he stopped talking and stared at me

"What?"

"I don't love him. He means the world to me but I don't think I love him…not yet anyway."

A slight smile lifted the corner of his mouth but he quickly wiped it away. "And what about me? How do you feel about me?"

"I..I don't know. The same way I think." I said and he sighed

"Then it looks like you've got a decision to make." he said

"I don't know what to do Clint. What would you do in my place?"

He laughed and bumped my shoulder with his "You're asking me would I choose myself or speedy?"

"Ok poor choice of words." I laughed

"Not your best." he said "I can't tell you what do you in this, for one I'm obviously biased." he took my free hand in both of his "And two if you make a choice and do it for either me or for him it's the wrong one."

"What do you mean? If I can still make it work after this then I owe it to him to try right?"

"And what about you? What do you owe yourself?"

I paused and watched his face "To be happy I guess."

"So who is going to make you happier?"

"I. Don't. Know. And it doesn't help that you're being so understanding and calm about the whole thing. Get mad, do something."

He let go of my hand and turned to face me "What do you want me to say? I can't get mad because he's my friend and saved my life. I owe him everything. But I want to be with you, you've known me forever we've been together here for years! I never did anything about it cos I wanted to let it happen on its own. But now this little punk comes onto the scene and suddenly it's like-"

I grabbed the collar of his jacket and kissed him. It only lasted a minute or so but when we broke apart he smiled at me "That's kind of a mixed signal Carm."

I put my head in my hand and groaned "I shouldn't have done that I'm sorry."

"Am I complaining?" he asked and put a finger under my chin to lift my face "Look just go and talk to him. I get it, you thought he was going to die but now he's not. See what's there or you'll regret it forever. Then when you figure it out I'll be here."

"What..like right here? You're gonna get bored-"

"No dumbass I meant in the general building." he chucked as I stood up

"You're a better man than people give you credit for Clint." I said as he stood up next to me

"Balances out all the harm I've done on the job."

"Nobody blames you for that. I don't." I said and moved into his chest "If we never get to do this again-"

He'd already caught my drift and wrapped his thick arms around me "Whatever you choose, do it for you not anyone else, remember that."

As he let go I had to stop myself from calling him back. He grabbed hold of a rope that was handing off the railing and jumped down leaving me by myself.

When I got back to my room someone was sat on the floor outside my door, their long trainer clad legs stretched out in front of them so they were obstructing the corridor. A few people stepped over him and smiled. I could see why. Pietro's back was rested against my door and his head was half lolled onto his shoulder. He looked so peaceful in sleep I didn't want to wake him.

"Pietro?" I said quietly shaking his arm

He stirred and blinked a few times "Oh hey" he said and jumped up "I was just waiting for you I.."

"Fell asleep?" I said with a laugh as he ran his hand through his messy hair "Come on in."

"I know I said I was alright with what I saw but honestly I'm not." he reeled off as soon as I closed the door behind us "You and Barton I don't…just tell me what I did."

"That tech told me you were gonna die Pietro, I made a bad choice because I let my emotions get in the way." I said very fast "You didn't do anything. And nothing really happened between me and Clint."

"Nothing? So he wasn't half naked then?" he said without looking at me

"That..that wasn't meant to happen-"

"Then why did you let it!" he turned round and shouted at me. I could see he was in pain and it was my fault. The only thing I could do now was tell him what I really felt.

"I needed it." I admitted

Pietro's shoulders drooped and he clenched his fists "Yeah well where were you when I needed you huh? I woke up in a cold white room with a bunch of strangers, you knew I was there why…why did you leave me?"

"I wasn't supposed to be there at all. I only had a few minutes with you before they made me leave."

"So you didn't tell them you knew me?"

"No I didn't…if you died I didn't want people to get me involved, it would have been too hard."

"Maybe or you wanted to be with Barton more, you didn't want him thinking you were involved with anyo-"

"Stop it! I made a mistake in the heat of the moment, I'm human! I'm sorry I did but don't turn this into a game of who I love more…"

I didn't mean to say that. But it was true, I realized now I did love them both.

"Who you love more! Are you joking?" shouted Pietro "You've never once told me you loved me and now there's this whole other guy, a guy who was my friend!"

"Friend? I haven't seen or heard from you in over a month! For all I knew you and Wanda had joined Hydra for good! Then I find out from Clint that you were in the battle in Sokovia, and all I get is this-" I yelled and picked up his bloody t-shirt off the floor and threw it at him "-No clue or anything to where you were or whose side you were on, what the hell was I supposed to think Pietro?"

"You should have known that I wouldn't have left if it wasn't for a good reason! I love you, why the hell would I just abandoned you like that?" he said and threw the shirt on the floor

"I have no idea but you did. One moment I'm in Sokovia with you guys and everything is fine and the next you've both dropped off the radar. Now you're saying I should have just sat back and relied on faith that you'd come back while you're off on your revenge kick? So yeah I reached out to him for comfort because I didn't even know if you'd come back to me in the end!"

The look on his face was as if I'd slapped him. He moved towards me quickly and grabbed my hips. My breathing was still fast and my chest rose and fell rapidly as I glared up at him. In one second he'd crushed his lips against mine and pulled us back against the wall.

"I didn't-" he tried to get out "-mean to leave you."

"Shut up." I said as brought my lips back to his "It doesn't matter anymore."

And it didn't, this was all I'd wanted from the moment he'd got back, I just hadn't seen it until now. He lifted me up so my legs we either side of his hips and pressed me against the wall. Someone in the next room banged their fist into the wall "Keep it down in there Carmen!" they yelled and Pietro started to laugh

I didn't break contact with his body at all for the next hour.

I got up and slipped on my dressing gown. Pietro was still fast asleep, the sheets tangled round his legs. It was cold in the room so I crossed to my window to close it. Outside I saw a figure jogging down the path. It was Clint.

He stopped to look over at my window, maybe he did that a lot because he seemed surprised I was staring back at him. I waved slightly and he gave me a small grin. It hurt how handsome and strong he looked in the morning light. I tried to tell him what I was thinking just by looking at him but I had no idea of knowing if he understood me or not.

I turned my head to look back at the man laid in my bad and my heart ached. My relationship with Pietro was volatile yes but we'd known that from the start, it had never come between us. But Clint..he was my safety, the one person I could always count on to be there for me when I needed them. When I looked back at Clint he smiled and set off running again.

Today I'd have to break the heart of someone I loved. And honestly, I had no idea which one of them it would be.