Hey sorry it's been a while! I haven't had much inspiration for this story. I know where I want it to go but its the filler that progresses it to that point that I'm faltering with. So if yall have any ideas for filler, I'm open for suggestions. This chapter is longer than all the others I think. I made it longer because i haven't posted in a while. Hope you guys enjoy and as always please R&R!


A yawn forced its way up and passed through my lips. It was a slow and dreary afternoon and it did nothing to keep me awake. The past couple weeks I had been keeping myself busy by studying Korean. We still weren't allowed to leave so I haven't gone to see Dr. Cho yet. But Helen and I had been face timing every chance we got, when she felt up to it.

Training started up again with Nat and Cap early in the mornings, usually it was just the three of us from the original team. The new recruits trained later in the day working on the basics with Natasha and Steve. And I would help Wanda out with her abilities when she needed it. Our powers weren't the exactly the same, hers was definitely more intricate and complicated and exceedingly more powerful. But we did get them from the same source so I tried to help her out in any way that I could.

If I wasn't training, then I would spend the rest of my day either locked in my room or one of the study rooms playing catch up with Korean. Usually until very late at night. My insomnia looked like it was here to stay for a while. I'd been having nightmares again, or rather they never went away to begin with. So sleep wasn't something I had been keeping up with lately. I couldn't. If I closed my eyes all I would see were aliens, killer robots, and corpses staring at me.

No one said anything about the dark circles under my eyes, at least they hadn't yet. Probably because no one else was sleeping much either. Steve's room was right next to mine, which meant I could hear him getting up in the middle of the night to leave the apartments. And in the morning he was already awake by the time the rest of us were or he was asleep on the couch.

I was worried about him, he had a habit of taking things to heart and taking them hard. And he was a drill sergeant in training. Well I mean he's always been tough to train with but since we got back it's bordering on dictatorship. Nat said to let him be and let him deal with his demons his own way. I just wish that didn't mean I had to get tossed around like a sack of potatoes every morning. And don't even get me started on Natasha, the queen of avoidance and emotional constipation.

So Cap trained like a mad man and fell into the military atmosphere of the facility. While I frantically tried to learn Korean on my trek to ignore my problems. I know it wasn't healthy to push all of my emotions to the back of my mind and study this much, but honestly I still didn't have the emotional or mental capacity to deal with it all yet. I just felt tired all the time, whether that was due to lack of sleep or emotional exhaustion.

We were all feeling it. We all knew what was wrong with one another, but instead of discussing it we refused to acknowledge anything. Very healthy stuff I'm telling you.

"No, try that again. You asked me if my hair had eaten a rainbow." Helen instructed. I groaned loudly and flopped back onto the bed, rubbing my cheeks frustratedly. It's like I had been speaking in tongues the whole day.

"Maybe we should end for the day. You seem like you're having troubles focusing." Helen's voice said coming through the computer. I rolled over onto to my now mostly healed stomach and crawled on top the covers the face the laptop.

Cho was loads better than she had been a few weeks ago. The color was back in her face, her hollowed out eyes were normal again, and she was dressed in a nice dress instead of a hospital gown. That alone did wonders for her.

"I'm fine, just a little tired is all." Helen raised an eyebrow skeptically, clearly not believing me for a second.

"I'm the doctor here and I say that you need to take a break. We can pick this back up in a couple days." I frowned, a couple days?

"Really, it's fine, I'm fi—" a yawn broke out again and Helen gave me a small smirk.

"Get some rest, maybe leave your room for once, Sarah."

"I leave my room." I argued. Helen shook her head and laughed shortly.

"Leaving to go get beat up is not what I mean. Go walk around and do something else. Korean isn't going to become a dead language in two days." I sighed and nodded my head even though I didn't agree. I could probably just study it on my own without her.

"Ok, I'll talk to you later then." I muttered in disappointment.

"Will do."

"Oh, and feel better." I added with a small smile.

Helen returned it and replied, "You too." Before the screen went black and the call ended. I shut my laptop and groaned, slamming my head down onto my purple comforter. It was three o'clock, I guess I should get presentable and head out like Helen suggested. But I didn't want to, I didn't feel up to acting like a human today.

It took a few minutes of just lying there but I worked myself up enough to gather my books and papers together and hop in the shower. When I got out I threw on an old blue t-shirt dress a pair of lion slippers and called it day. I didn't plan on leaving the apartments so I could get away with my weird outfit. Like usual I let my wavy hair air dry and hoped for the best. And by the best I mean I hoped it was a frizzy ball of blonde messiness.

I shuffled out of the room into the hallway and headed to the kitchen. It was quiet per usual, the only people on this side of the facility was the team and sans Nat and Vision. The twins, unlike Vision, didn't venture out much on their own. Steve briefly asked Wanda about it once and she said they felt uncomfortable surrounded by so many unfamiliar faces in a foreign country. And I can't say I blamed them one bit. I mean I'm a part of SHIELD (I still am right?) and I still don't like being here.

And speaking of Wanda, she was seated at the bar with a tea mug in one hand and a book suspended midair in front of her face, a red tinted page turning every few seconds.

"Hey." I greeted, moving around the island to the fridge. I waited a couple seconds but she didn't respond. I glanced over my shoulder and noticed the brunette was completely spaced out.

"Wanda." I tried again as I pulled out the orange juice. Still nothing. That must be a really interesting book.

"So I ate a green unicorn today." Nothing. I sighed and strode over to her and slammed the juice carton onto the counter. She gasped, her eyes flying to my face and her book toppled down out of the air.

"Oh, Sarah. You startled me." Wanda confessed, pushing a stray hair behind her ear. I pulled a glass out of the cabinet and poured the orange juice into it.

"You ok?" I asked, it was unlike her to be so oblivious to her surroundings. Pietro yes, her no. She nodded slowly and carefully picked up her book to smooth out the bent pages.

"Yes, I was just reading."

"What are you reading?" I asked casually, leaning against the counter.

"I…uh…The Great and Vast North American Wildlife apparently." She grimaced, reading the cover of the book for what looked like the first time.

"Sounds intriguing." I commented dryly. Wanda sighed and closed the book.

"I was not reading it." She confessed. I gave her a soft smile.

"I figured."

"I was thinking about…well everything. I cannot get it out of my mind. It just keeps playing and playing, over and over again." She confided, massaging her temple slowly.

"It's exhausting isn't it?"

"It is!" She blurted out, and then ducked her head at her outburst, looking around as if there would be someone to reprimand her. I took the stool next to her and sipped on my juice.

"Maybe you need to talk to someone about it?" I suggested.

"I do. I talk to Pietro." She insisted, "And Clint when he can and sometimes Vision." Wanda added. Maybe not the most qualified people to discuss things with.

"I was thinking more along the lines of a professional. But I'm glad you're at least talking to others." Wanda stared at her tea.

"What about you? You have talked to a doctor before, right?" I nodded in response.

"Yeah, I've actually talked to her a few times since we've been back."

"And you think it helps?" I shrugged.

"Sometimes. I guess it depends on the person, but it can be really helpful and relieve a lot of the stress. But it can also be a little daunting to have to give away your private thoughts like that." I warned her. Worth it for your mental health in the long run but uncomfortable at the time.

"I will consider it then." Wanda confirmed, smiling at me. She didn't seem to share the same sense of hesitancy that I had about shrinks. Which was good albeit a little surprising though.

"Good. And if you need better reading material, Tony just sent over all my books a few days ago. You can borrow some if you like once I get them unpacked. Or we can go into town, if they let us." That was a fool's dream.

"Or we could just sneak out." Wanda speculated with a wicked look in her blue eyes. I grinned at the thought of sneaking of the compound late one night just to go buy books. Such a mischievous act for something so innocent.

"Steve would have a coronary." I reminded her. Wanda shrugged and placed her mug down.

"It would be worth it if I did not have to read this nonsense anymore." She replied gesturing towards the abandoned book.

"Hey have some respect! There are some great North American wildlife in that book!" I laughed.

"Sure, sure." Wanda responded, rolling her eyes.

The front door opened up and Nat strolled in dressed in her combat suit and an IPad in hand.

"I got two of them here." Nat said, heels clicking on the flooring as she came closer. Who is she talking to? She flipped the device around and there was Clint grinning back at us.

"Hey!" I greeted excitedly, sticking my face closer to the screen.

"Clint, how are you?" Wanda asked with a huge grin on her face.

"Good, super tired I've been—"

"Yeah, yeah that's great. Show us Nathaniel!" I interrupted joyfully. The Bartons had welcomed their new baby into the world a whole day ago and there had yet to be any pictures! It was outrageous!

"Show us the baby bird!" Wanda demanded happily.

"Jeez, so pushy. I'm wonderful thank you. Why yes I did get a new haircut, lovely of you to notice! The weather has also been extremely pleasant here." Clint complained while moving the screen around and went out of focus for a minute, but when it came back to there was little Nathaniel sleeping soundly in Laura arms. Wanda and I both made cooing noises and ooed and awed. He was perfect! Just the cutest little baby you've seen! All bald and, and just perfect.

"Laura he's beautiful." I sniffled.

"He really is." Wanda confirmed with watery eyes. I noticed she really liked cute things, puppies and babies in particular.

"Thanks guys." Laura replied sleepily. She was all wrapped up in a blanket, sitting in a rocking chair. And even though she just had a baby yesterday, she looked like a million bucks.

"Yep, our little Nathaniel Francis Barton. The kid's love him." Barton said with the proudest look I've ever seen on his face.

"I can see why." I commented. Their baby was just perfect, and I couldn't think of a better word to describe him. Because he was just…perfect!

"Yeah he's a keeper for sure." Nat piped up, smiling at her godson.

"Congratulations you two, I pray you have a fast recovery Mrs. Barton." Wanda addressed.

"Thanks, Wanda."

"We're going to let you go now, I think little Nate needs a change." Clint told us with a scrunched up face. "Laura I think it's your turn." He joked before handing off his phone to his wife and scooping up the baby.

"I wouldn't bet your life on it." Her voice said as the camera jumbled around before finding her face.

"We'll talk to you later guys. Bye!" Laura called out smiling tiredly. Nat set the IPad down when the screened flickered off. Glancing at my footwear the red head commented,

"Nice slippers." With a raised eyebrow. I almost never knew when Nat was being serious or not, it was one of her specialties. So her raised eyebrow it could either be in an impressed or unimpressed way. How did she manage to look so ambiguous?

"You can borrow them if you want." I told her.

"I might take you up on that. Sadly I need you two to get dressed, there's someone waiting for us. Actually a couple someones." She informed us.

"Who?" Wanda queried, dumping her cold coffee down drain and placing her mug on the rack.

"A guy named Sam Wilson, he might be joining the team."

"Seriously?" I asked, my interest peaked. We sure were adding on a bunch of new people recently, I thought while chugging the rest of my juice.

"Yup, so meet us in the hangar in ten, and bring Vision and Pietro if you see them." Nat ordered shortly before walking back out the door.

"Wait who's the other one?" Wanda asked me when Nat left.

"No clue. But I'm sure we'll find out soon enough. Any idea where the other two are?" I asked, placing my glass in the dishwasher.

"Pietro is still asleep, and I believe Vision is wondering around the intel division." Is he even allowed to be there? Or could they not keep him out would most likely be the better question.

"Pietro's still asleep? It's the middle of the afternoon." I retorted, astonished at the speedster's ability to sleep the day away. Doesn't he need to eat? Wanda sighed and brushed her hands across her skirt.

"He has not been getting good rest at night." She told me simply, "He says it is easier to sleep when the sun is up." The Maximoff woman further explained. I frowned, that wasn't good to hear. She sighed again, "Maybe I should get him to talk to someone else too."

"Maybe." We separated temporarily as Wanda went to wake her brother up and I went to get changed into my uniform. The one from Sokovian had been completely trashed, so much so that I had to get a new one.

Tony tweaked it this time and changed it up a little. It was still made of that durable fabric but now it the gray was so dark it was almost black. And one the chest and back he added a few red dots. He said it was because ladybird was another term for ladybugs so he thought he'd make the uniform more fitting to my name. That idiot. But it looked fine so whatever.

Stark also made official uniforms for the Maximoffs, Nat was especially pleased with this because she was still sore about Wanda taking her jacket.

"This is the first time I've worn it, how does it look?" Wanda asked when we rejoined in the hallway. She was self-consciously pulling on it and adjusting her outfit.

"It looks great." I told her honestly. She had on a red leather jacket, made from the same material as my suit and black pants to match. We were kind of the reverse of each other.

"See I told you it looked fine." Pietro grumbled, rubbing his face sleepily. Speaking of uniforms that looked good…

"Yes, but you're a man, your opinion means little." Wanda reminded him. The light haired man shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Oh yes, of course how could I forget." He replied sarcastically. He looked over at me and grinned. "Would you also like an opinion on how you look?"

"Only if you want one back." I snorted. I hadn't meant to reply so sassily. Pietro laughed and walked to the other side of me.

"I always appreciate being told how attractive I am." He replied in a cavalier manner.

"Wow, I was just going to say you look fine, Mr. Arrogant." There's no way I hell I would ever say what I was actually thinking. Which was that he was extremely attractive with his tight shirt and pants and…I'm going to stop thinking now.

I quickly glanced at Wanda, hoping that she wasn't listening to my thoughts. Luckily she was shaking her head at her brother and not paying much attention to how much heat was rising in my cheeks.

"That is slang for being hot as well, is it not?" Pietro grinned.

"It can be, but that's not how I'm using it."

"Sure." Pietro commented swaggering on ahead of us, with a stupid smirk on his face.


"Rhodey!" I exclaimed, jogging over to the Lieutenant Colonel who was standing in hangar. Of course! That made complete sense, Rhodey had been around since the beginning of the team but he was never an official member.

"Hey, Sarah. How're you doing?" He asked, accepting my side hug.

"I'm great! Does this mean what I think it means?" I asked excitedly. Rhodey grinned proudly and responded,

"Well if you're thinking that Stark thought it'd be a good time to finally let me join your little clique. Then yes it does." Why does everyone think we're a clique?

"Congrats! It's about time."

"I guess my help in Sokovia really upped my chances for admission." Rhodey beamed. I stared at him in confusion. Wait what was he talking about?

"You were in Sokovia?"

"What do you mean was I there?" He asked looking heavily affronted. "Of course I was there! I helped Tony take down dozens of those robot bastards."

"Sorry, I don't remember you being there." I told him truthfully, cringing when his eyes widened comically.

"Oh come on! I came in with the helicarriers." He said in attempt to spark a memory.

"Sorry, James I had no idea you were there. It was kind of a hectic time I don't even remember half the stuff that went down." I felt bad that I didn't remember but in my defense we were standing on a flying city with metal men trying to murder us.

"Ok, well I was there. I did help." Rhodey informed me firmly.

"I believe you." I said putting my hands in surrender. This was not a good way to start our new team relationship. Whoops.

"Mhmm." He was all put off now, but I couldn't help it if I didn't remember him! Maybe I should have just lied. A voice cleared behind us and I turned to face our other three new members.

"Oh, sorry. Rhodey this is Vision, and Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. They're on the team now too. Guys this is Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes of the U.S. Military. Also known as War Machine."

"War Machine? That name is highly provocative." Vision commented with a frown.

"I like it." Rhodey defended.

"You would." Pietro muttered under his breath with a scowl. I elbowed his arm, this was not the time to be starting fights with new teammates. He glared weakly at me but didn't comment any further. I guess his trust in Americans hadn't improved as much as I thought in the past few weeks.

"Regardless, it is a pleasure to meet you Colonel." Vision said politely shaking James' hand.

"Thanks, I'm glad to have the opportunity." Rhodey replied in a very political way.

"So are you going to be living with us or are you going to be staying in Washington?" I questioned.

"I'm going to stay for a couple days to get acquainted with the team. But I need to head out after that and get back to work."

"You will not be permanent here then?" Vision inquired.

"Nope, sorry I can't stay at the frat house."

"Frat house?" Wanda asked confusedly. Rhodey gave her a questioning look, it wasn't her fault they didn't have frats back in Sokovia.

"Uh, it's a house where a bunch of fraternity guys live." Rhodey said unhelpfully.

"It's a negative stereotype of a big place where young people party all the time and get drunk." I clarified for them.

"Oh, then this place is not that much fun." Pietro commented.

"You would like to get drunk all the time?" Wanda repeated dryly, giving her brother a disapproving stare. He shrugged and jammed his hands into his pockets. Why did his uniform get pockets? I want pockets.

"Not exactly, but you must admit it can be very dull here." Wanda rolled her eyes but rebounded with,

"I admit that it would be nice to at least go into town to see the city."

"Why haven't you then?" Rhodey asked.

"We're on lock down after Sokovia, they don't want us out in the media while all of this blows over." I told him sourly. It had been over a month; I think it would be ok for us to meander out of the facility without causing an uproar. Tony got to so why not us?

"Well then I am definitely not staying here." The Colonel joked. I gave him a tight smile because in all honesty just staying here all the time was killing my soul.

"So, Natasha said we're supposed to be meeting someone else. Any ideas on who this Sam Wilson is?"

"That would be me." A man said walking in through the doors. "I'm Sam Wilson." He added shaking hands with Rhodey.

"James Rhodes. You a military man?"

"Airforce." Sam corrected. Wanda and I looked at each other and smiled. He was cute. Never seen him before though, although the name did ring a bell.

"Who invited you?"

"Steve did, we got tangled up with the Winter Soldier a while back with Romanoff." That's right! Now I remember.

"I remember him talking about you. He said something about wings?" I joined in. Sam grinned at me and I jumped back at the sudden expanse of metal wings that flung out from the contraption strapped to his body.

"That is amazing!" Pietro exclaimed, moving around to look at the wings with a childlike expression on his face.

"Very impressive." I agreed, doing much of the same with a big smile.

"And these are light enough to allow flight?" Vision asked. Sam nodded enthusiastically.

"Pretty cool right?"

"Yeah, how come I've never heard of these in the Airforce?" Rhodey cut in looking slightly put off.

"There are only a few of us who manned the team. We were pretty low profile." That almost sounded like a jab at Rhodey's War Machine suit and how ostentatiously it was flounced around. My lips quirked up in amusement.

"Well it's nice to meet you." I said sticking out my hand, "I'm Sarah Byrd."

"Same to you. Steve talks a lot about his team. It kinda feels weird actually meeting you now."

"Oh? All good things I hope."

"Well he certainly never mentioned how good looking his teammates are." Sam teased winking at Wanda and I. Oh jeez another flirt. "Did you bring your suit with you?" He asked turning his attention to Rhodey.

"Of course, man." So Rhodey put on his suit for us to gawk at. I wasn't too impressed by it, I had been looking at these suits for years and the wonderment kind of dwindles after a while. But Sam and the others thought it was great, even if the twins were a little cautious of it.

I heard the door open down below and I glanced over the edge to look down at the hangar. Steve and Nat walked in wearing their gear garb, Natasha waved us down.

"I guess that's our cue." I told the rest of the group, leaping over the railing and breaking my fall with a glob of energy at my feet. Wanda followed suit and lowered herself down on a stream of red energy. Sam, Rhodey and Vision flew down to the ground, leaving Pietro to race to the stairs. And of course he still beat us all down there.

"Avengers." Cap nodded to each of us, drawing out the word as he was about to say something extremely important. "This is our new team." I frowned. Well that was rather redundant and anticlimactic, we already figured that out, I thought in disappointment.

"Now I know that we look a little shabby right now because we hardly have any experience with each other. But I know that we can whip into shape in no time. Have you already met Colonel Rhodes?" When they nodded he continued. "Good, he's only going to be with us for a couple days. But Sam Wilson," He gestured over to our newest member, "will be a permanent resident here."

He talked for a while about how he planned to get us to work as a team, and it was lot more focused that any other previous attempt we had had at it. Mostly because even though the old Avengers team was far from a completely cohesive unit, we didn't really have practices together and we certainly all didn't live together. I kinda felt more like the X-men at the moment than the Avengers. It was a work in progress.

"Nat what did Fury say about Bruce?" I asked once Steve had finished his spiel. Fury made a passing comment the night before that they might have some new info on our missing teammate but he never followed up.

"The jet was found in the ocean, but no sign of Banner. He has probably swum miles away from the wreckage by now to some random island."

"We'll find him." I told her hopefully. Nat tried to mirror my smile but it fell a little short.

"Of course we will." Steve confirmed, squeezing Natasha's shoulder. A looked passed between the three of us. We were all that was that was left of the original team. Tony was back in NYC with pepper, Clint with his family, Thor in is kingdom, and Bruce was MIA. It felt weird that we were basically starting over at square one.

Suddenly everyone's comment about us being a clique didn't seem so strange anymore. We weren't necessarily a clique but we were a family. And it was going to be a big change in our dynamics to be accepting all these new people into our circle.

"So question, I don't have to run around in spandex like you right Steve?" Sam joked, breaking up the heavy air that had fallen onto us.

"Only if you want to. I highly suggest it." Steve commented after a brief pause.

"I think I'll pass, leave the showy costumes to the professionals."

Cap rolled his eyes and slapped Wilson, who jerked forward awkwardly, on the back. "Thanks Buddy."


"Hey, Pietro do you—" He slammed his computer shut so quickly for a moment I had to process if I had actually seen it open to begin with. He whipped around in his chair and I cringed at how intense his expression was.

If looks could kill…

"Uh…you know SHIELD monitors our internet activity. So you probably shouldn't be watching porn." I teased. And you probably should be doing that in your own room. I added mentally. I knew he wasn't actually watching porn in our library room but shutting that thing so quickly was certainly suspicious.

"That is not what I was doing." He told me moodily, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at me. Ooookkkkayyy, normally if I accused him of things of that nature he either went all flirty or got embarrassed. And right now he was neither.

"Then what why did you slam the computer shut?" I asked raising an eyebrow, stepping into the room fully and trying my best not to glare back at him.

"It is none of your business." Pietro replied, subtly pushing his laptop away from him and farther out of my reach. I narrowed my eyes, that just made me more suspicious.

"Then why are you being so suspicious?"

He scoffed and looked away from me, a dark expression on his face.

"Are you always going to assume the worst in me?" That was hurtful and uncalled for. And not to mention totally out of character. He hasn't been this bitter since before Sokovia.

"I am not! I was just joking around with you, jeez if I had known you were going to so weird about it I wouldn't have said anything."

"Then maybe you should be quiet then, yes?"

"What is with you today? Why are you so angry? You realize you're vibrating right?" He was so agitated that his body was blurring in and out of focus. It was concerning to say the least, it looked like he was about to burst into a million pieces.

"It does not concern you Sarah believe it or not. You do not always have to stick your nose where it does not belong. Now run along like a good little Avenger and go snoop somewhere else." He sneered coldly. Well that escalated quickly.

"What the hell is your problem?" I snapped at him, feeling anger rising up in my belly. Who was snooping? He was in a public space for crying out loud!

"You are just annoying is all." He said cruelly, shrugging his shoulders.

"Ha! Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black." I shot back.

"Are you calling me annoying?"

"If the shoe fits."

"Pathetic, you are so childish."

"Don't be like that! Or you know what? Do, I really don't care." I replied scathingly.

"Whatever, I am busy so if you could leave, that would be great." He scoffed rudely.

"Fine then, I was going to ask if you wanted to come on a run with me but I'll just ask Sam. At least he's not an asshole for no reason." I yelled furiously before slamming the door shut behind me so fiercely that it rattled the windows.

I saw him like two hours ago and he was completely normal! Or as normal as Pietro Maximoff got anyway. What could have possibly happened in that time span?

"What's going on, I heard shouting?" Steve asked popping his head up from the couch.

"I have no idea, you'll have to ask Pietro."

"Oh, uh did he kiss you or something—" Two hours ago that would have been a completely plausible assumption! But now…oooooh he was so freaking annoying! Stupid man!

"No, Steve, of course not. I'm going for a run, I'll be back later." I bit out angrily.

"Ok then." Steve said, shrinking down in his seat to avoid my anger. I didn't bother to go find Sam, he was training with Wanda at the moment and I didn't really want to explain why I was so angry. Sure Pietro and I don't always get along, and we banter back and forth. But it's like when I fight with Clint, it doesn't mean anything. But all of a sudden it's like someone's stepping on his balls or something.

Stupid Pietro. Stupid laptop. What is his problem? He's acting like I accused him of murder! He was being weird about the computer so I teased him like always. And now it's like he's got a stick up his ass, maybe Vision peed in his cereal or something. God, what an asshole!

I was fuming by the time I got outside. The poor agents I passed on the way smartly moved out of my path. I would probably feel bad later for being rude but I did not care one bit at the moment. Stupid Pietro. And that stupid expression he had on his face, it reminded me too much of how he looked when I had first met him over a month ago. There was so much hurt and anger and resentment in his eyes that it was like getting punched in the gut when it was directed at you.

But all I did was ask him what he was doing! Would he have had the same reaction if Wanda had asked? NO! So why was he getting all upset at me? And why was it angering me so much! Ugh, I was usually pretty good at keeping a lid on my anger and letting things roll of my back. But for some reason the Sokovian was exceptionally good at getting under my skin. That stupid prat.

I ran through the trail in the woods that looped around the compound trying to clear my head. Or least calm down enough that I didn't have to worry about taking Pietro's head off when I went back inside. There were a few agents jogging, but I was doing my best to exhaust the frustration out of me by running as fast as I could. If I wasn't so pissed I would have laughed at the surprised expressions of the SHIELD agents when I blew past them.

Somewhere on lap four I took a break and slumped onto a rock. I was still pretty upset but the sun was beginning to go down so I figured I should head back. I had never been much of a runner, I still don't like it at all, it just feels like extra work. But it was a thousand times better than being inside with that numpty.

I retied my tennis shoes and fixed my hair into a messy bun, frowning when some stray pieces escaped. I was in the mood where anything could annoy me. And that was not a good place to be. I wasn't going back to the apartments just yet; it was dinner time right now and that meant interacting with the team. Instead I made my way to the cafeteria, I know I swore it off a couple weeks ago but I was not in the mood to see Pietro's stupid face.

It wasn't as uncomfortable as it used to be, but people still stared when I walked in. Quickly, I grabbed a tray and hopped in line. I just wanted to keep my head down, grab some food and then retreat to my room to study a bit more. But others had a different idea.

"Sarah! Hey, Byrd! Over here!" I glanced around frantically, trying to figure out who was calling me so I could get them to stop making a scene. My eyes landed on Ray who was unfortunately right in the middle of the cafeteria. I forced a smile and waved back slowly and with much less enthusiasm before shuffling over.

"Hey, Ray." I said weakly as I got closer. Ray strode over and grabbed my tray from my hands.

"Come on girly, you're sitting us." Alrighty then, there goes my plan of having a quiet and peaceful dinner by myself. A random agent who was sitting with Ray pulled up an extra chair and fit it into the table, slapping the back of it to signal for me to take it.

"What brings you to the cafeteria, I haven't seen any of you Avengers around her in a while." Ray asked digging into his mash potatoes.

"We usually eat in our kitchen, most of us aren't used to the whole SHIELD scene." I replied avoiding his question. I didn't want to bring other agents into our team drama.

"That's too bad, who's that one chick that just joined the team? Scarlet Witch right? She's hot, you should bring her back." The agent who pulled over a chair for me commented. He was a normal looking dude, standard SHIELD agent with neatly trimmed hair and a pristine shirt.

"Oh Wanda? Is that what they're calling her? She probably wouldn't come if Pietro or Vision didn't." I said trying not scowl when I said his name. Ok now I was probably just being petty now. Not that I particularly cared.

"Shame." The agent pouted, not looking too cut up about it.

"You were a SHIELD agent before right?" Another agent, Michaels his badge read, asked me. I nodded and pushed around my green beans.

"I still am, at least I think so." I sighed, "I'm not sure the lines got kind of messy somewhere along the way." I actually wasn't sure where I stood with SHIELD. I hadn't had an official mission in a couple years because I had been living off and on at Stark Tower. And after Fury went down and SHIELD puttered out, I hadn't been in much contact with the organization. Until now that is.

"You were a linguist though?"

"Mhmm, not as good as Raymond here, but I do well enough to qualify." I'm not bitter...

"Why haven't we seen you down there working with us?"

"They won't let any of start working again with others for another couple weeks." I replied keeping my answer simple and short.

"That's a bummer."

I shrugged uncaringly, even though it was killing me.

"These are all my buddies from the department." Ray interjected. "Michaels, Barner, Almasi, Garcia, Kelly and Sow." He pointed to each person and they gave varies waves, salutes and hellos.

"Nice to meet you all. I'm Sarah Byrd." Almasi, I think his name was, the guy with a black man bun, spoke up with a grin,

"We know who you are."

"Right." I accepted weakly, looking down at my green beans again. This was getting awkward, or maybe I was just an awkward person but I really don't like being surrounded by strangers. Especially when they know so much about me. Who knows what they learned after Natasha dumped all of our SHIELD info on the internet.

"So you got your powers from Loki, the alien who attacked New York?" Kelly(?) asked. His question seemed harmless enough, but I was already in a terrible mood and talking about Loki just turned everything more sour.

"What about it?" I asked dangerously, my face settling into a very Clint-like blankness. He better tread lightly.

"Well it was with his scepter right? The same one that was used to control Agent Barton?" My eyes narrowed, was this dinner or an interrogation?

"You read the report I'm guessing."

Kelly nodded his head, pushing his thick rimmed glasses farther up onto the bridge of his nose.

"Correct. Agent Barton was the only one on your team to befall Loki's spell?" I bristled at his question, just where exactly was he going with this?

"I'm sorry but is line of questioning going anywhere or are you just trying to stir up trouble? Because believe me, I am not the kind of person you want to piss off just because you're curious."

"Aright guys come on, let's not talk work at the dinner table." Ray said cutting in, shooting daggers at his workmate.

"Hey no harm done, I'm just wondering if anything was left out of the files." I gave him an incredulous look trying to determine what this guy was playing at. You don't ask these kinds of questions. And certainly not to someone of higher rank. This was profession of lies and secrets, and that meant that our secrets tended to stay that way. He must be new…or dull.

"Even there was, it's none of your business."

"Don't mind him, he's just too curious for his own good. Like a cat." Agent Sow covered, in an attempt to pacify the situation.

"Yeah just ignore him, he's from the intel division. That's what we do." Barner commented, not looking up from his plate.

"Hey, I was just asking!" Kelly defended.

"This isn't the kind of work place to 'just ask' questions." Almasi pipped up. They started arguing back and forth with Ray throwing in the occasional comment, it was reminiscent to how my time in SHIELD was. I felt like such a Debbie downer but I suddenly felt out of place. It was just one of those days where no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't interact normally with others for whatever reason.

"I think I should head back." I announced deciding that I had enough for the night. Ray's face fell and he placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Oh no Sarah come on you don't have to leave." He disagreed, a frown present on his features. I shook my head and gathered my untouched food onto my tray. I felt a little guilty that I wasn't staying long enough to actually talk to him, but with my attitude right now, I was no use to anyone. I could find him later.

"No it's fine, I have some things I have to work on for the team." I lied, knowing I wouldn't be questioned on it.

"Sarah, at least finish your food." I knew he felt bad about his partner's loose tongue, it wasn't his fault. And the guy probably didn't mean anything by, or maybe he did. But either way I was at the end of my rope for the day and my patients was wearing thin. I didn't need to snap in front of all these people.

"Ray I've had a long day and I'd rather just go back my apartments." He sighed and ran his hand over his red hair a couple times.

"Ok, well I'm around if you want to talk." I cringed inwardly. The couple times I had seen him since I've been here, he's told me the same thing. And not once have I sought him out. We weren't as close as we used to be and honestly I didn't want to rehash old memories with him. I was an awful person for it and the guilt gnawed at my stomach, but it was better for my sanity this way.

"Sure thing." I responded with a small smile, hoping it would be enough to appease him. He didn't look to convinced but he smiled back none the less.

"Way to offend an Avenger asshat." Sow hissed to Kelly as I walked away.

To my dismay, the team was still eating dinner when I came in. Wanda turned around and waved.

"Oh good, Sarah we saved you a plate." She smiled, pointing to a plate in my normal seat next to Steve. Wanda and Vision had unofficially been dubbed the house cooks and they had been trying out all types of recipes. It was hit or miss, but the gesture was always appreciated. And it gave them something to do at least.

"Thanks, I'm good though. I ate in the cafeteria." A frown formed on her beautiful face.

"No you didn't." I glared at her.

"Wanda." I chided, she knew she wasn't supposed to read our minds without our permission. Her cheeks flared red and she apologized quickly,

"It was a slip, I'm sorry." She said genuinely. The Sokovian had been doing really well in terms of boundaries since she started training, a mess up was bound to happen. I waved her off.

"It's fine, I'm going to bed. I'll eat a big breakfast in the morning." I added just to keep her and Steve from reprimanding me about it. Pietro wisely didn't make a peep, instead he focused on picking at his pasta. I scowled at the back of his head. "See you in the morning." I said without waiting for anyone else to make a case for me to stay.


I huffed and rolled over, burying my face deeper into my blanket. Blearily I read my alarm clock. 1:14. Why am I up right now? It's too late, or early I guess. There was a soft knock at the door. Oh right, I had heard something. I sleepily pushed my hair out of my face and rubbed my cheeks. Did Ray somehow get into the wing and find my room? God I hope not. It's probably Wanda.

Another knock on the door caused me to sit up on the bed with a groan. I had finally fallen asleep and now someone decided to wake me up. Oh joy. Good thing I didn't dress like all the women on TV who only wore lingerie. I had on a large t-shirt and running shorts, decent enough to answer the door. Slowly I trudged across the floor and pried the door open, squinting at the light in the hallway.

"What?" I croaked, my voice raspy from sleep.

"Sarah?"

"Pietro? What are you doing here?" His voice had cracked a little and it instantly put me on alert. I couldn't make out his features because the hall light behind him blackened out his face.

"I uh," He cleared his throat," can I come in?" He asked uncomfortably, looking past me into my room. Even half asleep I could sense his nervousness. It was infectious.

"Sure." I replied groggily, opening up the door wider for him. I shuffled back to my bed, and paused before turning around and punching him square in the chest. He didn't bother to move out of the way, instead letting my tiny fist bump into him. I think I hurt my hand more than him…

"Hey!" He yelled, startled at my sudden actions.

"I just remembered I'm mad at you." I explained, crawling back onto my and flopping back down onto my stomach. I was still angry but too tired to do anything else about it.

"Oh, should I leave then?"

"You already woke me up."

Pietro nodded slowly, shut the door and awkwardly stood in the middle of the room looking around. He had been in my room once a couple weeks, but it was before I had all my stuff brought in from Stark Tower. It was lot homier and personalized than it had been and not as many boxes. Not that you could really tell when the lights were off.

"You can take a seat." I mumbled, feeling weird about him just standing there. "In the chair, Maximoff." I clarified, kicking his hip with my bare foot when he sat at the edge of my bed.

Pietro chuckled nervously and moved over my window seat, "Right, sorry." He picked up one of the pillows and fluffed it in his lap.

I was having trouble keeping my eyelids open, they kept shutting against my will. I think I might have dozed off when Pietro called my name.

"Sarah, did you fall asleep?"

"Mhmm." I hummed.

"Oh, ok." He was being oddly reserved. I didn't like it, it was weird. He was being weird today. Oh yeah, I was supposed to be mad at him, I remembered sleepily.

"Pietro why are you here?" I asked again.

"I could not sleep."

"Why didn't you go to Wanda then?" I complaiend, running a hand over my face.

"I have woken her up every night for the past month. I feel bad keeping her from sleep."

"But you have no problems doing it to me?" He shrugged noncommittally and played with my pillow absentmindedly.

"I figured you would be up, you usually are at this time." He wasn't wrong. This is the first time I had gone to bed this early in weeks. I didn't realize he had noticed though.

I nodded into my pillow. I was too sleepy to get mad at him again, I knew I should have been but it was too late at night. Wait till morning, I'll be pissed off again.

"So you want a story or something? I'm not very good at them." I muttered, thinking back to the night we spent in the med bay right after the battle in Sokovia.

"Ah, no that is ok."

"Warm milk?"

"No, don't need you to do anything."

"I'm confused then, why are you here?" I grumbled, hoping he would leave soon so I could sleep.

"I am feeling guilty, about what I said to you earlier." Good he should be.

"Good, you should be." I scoffed.

"I was angry, but not with you. I just…" He paused and stopped messing with the pillow. I held in another sigh, ok so he wasn't going anywhere for a while, meaning I wouldn't be going back to sleep anytime soon. I pushed myself up and tuned around to lean against the wall so I could face Pietro, pulling my blanket up around me.

I couldn't make out his expression in the dark, but he was hunched over with hand arms resting on his knees. His body language was closed off and uncomfortable. Maybe he was working up the courage to say what he wanted or maybe he was just trying to put together his words.

In what little light there was shining in behind my blinds, I saw his head pop up and then he was gone. Only to appear right in front of my face, the bedding dipping under his weight.

"Ahck!" I sputtered at the suddenness of his proximity as my sleepy brain attempted to process his inhuman speed.

"Sorry," He mumbled kneeling in front of me on the bed, holding his laptop in his hands. "You wanted to know what I was looking at?" I nodded slowly, trying desperately not to blush at how close he was. He had been shirtless this entire time? I must be tired if I hadn't noticed that.

Pietro clambered over next to me and opened up his computer, both of us wincing at the brightness of the screen. He fiddled with it for a few seconds trying to lower it, so I reached over and did it for him when I got bored of being blinded.

He messed with the laptop for a minute before pulling up a few articles. Even though I couldn't read Sokovian, I instantly knew that they were updates on the refugees and the missing civilians. Wordlessly, he passed over the computer and I pulled it into my lap.

This was something that I had avoided doing. It was torture. To just be reading through all the horror stories of families being blown apart, entire units dying of horrible deaths, the endless pictures of 'have you seen me?'. It was awful. I didn't need to speak Sokovian to know exactly what I was looking at. I had done the same thing after New York.

Why did everything always go back to New York?

I remember sitting on my computer for hours, sobbing at how many people had died, how many I couldn't save. Thinking that maybe if I had trained harder or trained longer or maybe tried harder or if someone else had been there instead that more people could have gone home to their families. It was survivor's guilt, and by taking one look at Pietro's face, I could see that it was close to consuming him.

"Pietro…" I murmured softly unsure of what to say. It was hard to stay pissed off at him when he looked like he was going to crumble. He was wearing a hard expression, like he was trying to restrain himself from losing it again.

"I did not want to tell you because I knew you would not approve." He was right, I didn't think this was helpful to healing his psyche at all. It was ruining him. I nodded solemnly, chewing on my lower lip. I was looking for something to say, something that would be helpful. And not much was coming to mind.

"I knew you would say that it will only make me feel worse." I would have said that. "And it does." He whispered, shutting his eyes tightly and rolling his hands into fists. "It is my fault. Mine and Wanda's. I should have known that Ultron was selfish and that he would make things worse. But I did not think that—" He broke off, grinding his teeth together. He looked so pained that I suddenly felt helpless, I had no idea what to say to him, we weren't very close. So I just let him speak.

"It is my fault; I am the older brother I should not have allowed this to happen." He gritted out. Tears were forming in his eyes and that made the corners of mine prickle. "And Wanda—God, Wanda she blames herself! She thinks that because she reads minds that she should have known. But it is not her fault, it is mine! I have caused everyone so much pain and I—I should have known!" He cried. I was definitely not expecting this earlier in the day.

"Pietro, there's no way you could have predicted that this—"

"I should have known!" He shouted again angrily, "I should have known better! I should have ran faster and cleared more people out, I should have figured it out earlier, I should have never let us join Ultron, I should have just walked away and taken Wanda and just, just, just…I don't know! But I should have done something! Anything else would have been better." Pietro was shaking again, or rather vibrating. I could feel it in the wall he was leaning against and it was moving the bed as well. I wonder if he could move his molecules fast enough to move through the way? I'll save that for another time.

"Ultron would have attacked Sokovia regardless of whether or not you and Wanda helped. And if not Sokovia he would have found somewhere else."

"You don't know that!" Pietro yelled slamming his fist down onto the bed in the space between us. My hand flew to his, to keep him from lashing out any further. His actions weren't scarring me as much as the tears pouring down his cheeks were.

"You don't know either, maybe this was the path of least destruction." I attempted to reason, wiping away my own tears. He shook his head and looked upwards with a joyless smile on his face.

"I just…I do not know what to do. I feel so angry, all the time, and I want to cry constantly." I stared at him, I knew that they were suffering but to this extent… "I just wish I could fix everything."

"Yeah, but sometimes you can't change the world, just your own." That got a depressed laugh out of him.

"Sometimes I do not think I can even do that." Pietro said grimly.

"We're in the same boat." I admitted quietly, tightening my grip on his hand. He rolled his head in my direction and locked eyes with me. He looked exhausted, in every sense of the word. The light coming from the computer highlighted the bags under his eyes but the way he kept his eyes open wide made him younger than he was.

"What do I do then?" He asked. I released a shaky breath and shrugged. When did I become the Maximoff twin's personal advisor?

"I don't think I'm the right person to ask. I just keep myself so busy and stay up so late that I don't give myself time to think about it."

"What about your therapist?" He questioned bluntly, wiping at his runny nose.

"She wants me to come more. I don't know, sometimes I feel like she makes it worse."

"Then what is the point of her?" I laughed sadly and shrugged again with a slight shake of my head.

"I don't know." Pietro patted my hand and said,

"Well, you can come talk to me then. I am sure I am much more fun than that lady." I choked out a another laugh. "Aren't I supposed to tell you that? You're the one who came to me crying." But at least he was no longer vibrating.

"I guess we will have to lean on each other then, yes?" Too emphasize he shifted his weight and pressed his shoulder against mine, leaning into me. I stuck my arm out to prevent us from toppling over.

"Metaphorically, sure. But you're kind of heavy." I smiled, pushing him back up with my shoulder. I tried not to notice how warm his arm was, or the fact that he still wasn't wearing a shirt. Did he know how distracting he was? Pietro laughed and leaned back into a sitting position.

I stared at him in wide eyed disbelief. Here he was cracking jokes with tears still lingering on his cheeks while two seconds ago he was hysterical. Talk about whip lash emotions.

"What did you mean earlier when you said I was being ugly? Was I making a strange face?" Pietro asked rather abruptly. So I guess we were changing the subject then. I shook my head.

"No, don't take it literally. It means that you were being unreasonably rude and incredibly hurtful basically."

"Oh, then why did you not just say that?" He questioned in a confused tone.

"It's a phrase."

"I think it's weird." Pietro replied, copying what I had said to him a few weeks ago. We stopped talking after that, we just sat there in the dark after the computer went to sleep. I thought he might have fallen asleep too until he spoke up.

"I am sorry, Sarah. I should not have said the things that I did." He apologized quietly. Earlier today I was ready to rip his head off, but after seeing him so torn up inside about it, I couldn't bring myself to argue anymore.

"It's ok I understand. You're under a lot of stress." He moved the bed a bit when he shook his blonde head in disagreement.

"It was still wrong of me."

"Really Pietro don't beat yourself up over it." Pietro paused for a moment before saying,

"Wanda was very angry with me when you did not show up for dinner."

"Whoops." I replied rather unenthusiastically. I had figured she would be, and that was partly the reason why I didn't go back. I wanted her to get mad at him for me. That's petty isn't it? Oh well.

"Whoops is right. After you left she came storming in back from training demanding to know what happened. She could sense our anger from the training room." He informed me, rubbing the back of neck.

"Did she bite your head off?"

"What?" He asked in alarm, his head cracked to the side to stare at me.

"I mean did she blow up on you?" I simplified.

"Oh, not exactly, but she was not happy." Pietro said moving back into his previous position, "'Why do you always have to pick fights? Why can't you get along? Why are you so mean to Sarah'" Pietro mocked in a fake high pitch voice trying, and failing, to copy his sister properly.

"She doesn't sound like that." I giggled.

"Oh no, she sounds exactly like that." Pietro disagreed, covering a yawn.

"It is getting late." I commented sleepily, glancing at the clock. It was almost two.

"Yeah." Pietro agreed quietly, not making any moves to get off the bed. I couldn't see his face anymore since the laptop screen blacked out. But I could tell his head was hanging down to his chest. I elbowed him gently.

"Hey, you should go to bed. You look like you're about to drop."

"I cannot get my brain to stop thinking." He told me.

"Ok, well we can turn the TV on. The remote is on my dresser." No sooner had the words left my mouth that the remote was in my hand. "Thanks." I murmured. His speed was still disorienting, how on earth was Wanda so used to it?

He nodded and we repositioned ourselves to face the TV screen. I made sure to give myself plenty of space because the sleepier I got the more enticing Pietro's bare chest became. And that was not a good thing.

We found a random Lifetime movie on, one that I had never heard before and stuck with that. I tried to pay attention as long as I could, Pietro didn't seem to be tired in the slightest anymore so I wanted to stay up. But I gave up thirty minutes in and turned away from the screen, and pulled my blanket over my head to drown out the light. As I was falling asleep it occurred to me that Pietro could have watched a movie in his own room by himself.

When I woke up the next morning I looked around expecting to see Pietro's blonde head but I was the only one in my room. I hadn't dreamed the whole interaction right? I peered over at my window seat and saw that my pillows were displaced. OK, no it happened.

I twisted around to glance at my clock, it was barely seven. I sighed and went to lay back down before I had to be up for training at 9 when I caught a glimpse of yellow. I shuffled over to my dresser and sure enough there were a couple yellow daisies laying there with one of my pink sticky notes pinned to the stems.

Sorry again about yesterday. -P

I smiled at this little gift. It was very sweet and unexpected; I wonder if Wanda put him up to it because I never pegged him for the sentimental type. My nose crinkled up a bit and started to itch when I sniffed the flowers. Absentmindedly I rubbed at it before I broke into a fit of sneezes. Reaching for my box of tissues I had a sudden epiphany. Oh that's right, I'm allergic to daisies. Where's the Benadryl?


So I have a love hate relationship with this chapter. I love certain elements of it while others I completely hate others, and it's a little rough around the edges. Hope you all liked it more than I did lol. Also I gave Nathaniel Clint's middle name instead of Pietro's first name because in this story Pietro didn't die to save Clint's life so I didn't see a good enough reason to name their child after him. Please don't hate me for that, i thought it made more sense!

PLease Review! Have a great weekend!