{Author's Note: Here's a new chapter for anyone who needs a break from reality right now. 2017 is off to a bit of a rough start…but we've got to count our blessings I suppose.}

PIETRO POV

When Pietro finally woke up on his own, his first thought as his eyes slowly opened and he looked up at a bright white ceiling was that he was back at the facility. His body immediately tensed. Perhaps it had all been an elaborate dream, and he had never left there at all. Wanda and Erik had never rescued him, and he was doomed to live out his life in that godforsaken place until his age matched his hair color. But before he could fall into a full blown panic attack, Pietro saw that he wasn't alone, and he knew he couldn't be back there.

His twin was sitting on the end of the bed where he lay, her legs forming an arch over his own as she sat with her back against the wall, gazing at a tablet on her lap. Pietro closed his eyes and lay his head back onto the pillow in relief. He must've made some noise or changed his breathing though because a moment later his sister's questioning voice called his name.

"Pietro?" asked Wanda. Her voice was hopeful, but unsure, like she'd been calling his name for hours and didn't really expect an answer this time any more than she had the other hundred times.

Pietro thought about staying silent. The bed he was lying on was super comfortable and despite actually feeling pretty well rested for once in his life, he was pretty sure that he could easily fall back to sleep if he tried. Now that he knew a calm Wanda was sitting dutifully by his side, he wasn't too worried about where they were. As long as his sister was with him, and she wasn't freaking out, everything was okay. But he was awake now, so he might as well get up and figure out exactly what was going on.

Pietro grinned, opened his eyes, and propped himself up on his elbow before responding "Hey sis! You seem pretty chill, so I'm pretty sure the answer is no, but can you just confirm we're not in some posh prison or the slammer or I don't know, a neat freak's dream home?"

Pietro expected Wanda to give him some witty and annoyed response, but instead, the next thing he knew, Wanda was practically smothering him, pulling him into a tight hug. Okay, so she wasn't really smothering him. She actually seemed to be holding back, like she was afraid she'd hurt him, so it wasn't the strongest suffocating sisterly hug he'd ever endured, but it was probably up there.

When Wanda finally pulled away, her eyes were glistening, and she wiped them quickly on one sleeve.

A little concerned now, Pietro asked, "um are you okay? Now, I'm starting to get a tinsy bit worried that we are actually in prison, like a really nice prison if they give you access to fancy electronics, but still possibly a prison."

Wanda smiled broadly at him. It looked genuine, but something told him she hadn't smiled for a while.

So not prison?

"Now that you're awake, I'm perfectly fine. And don't worry we're not in a prison, or captured or anything like that. We're in a safe place with good people." Answered Wanda leaning back against the wall once more to give him a little space.

"Okaaaay. That was rather vague, but alright cool. If you ask me, a day is moving in the right direction if you start out not being a prisoner." Said Pietro looking around at the room more closely. Minus the flat screen TV on the wall, it had a pretty basic layout. There was the bed he was laying on, a couple of pristine white chairs, a coffee table, and the door to the room, which though closed, seemed pretty normal looking. But the plain whiteness of the room and its lack of windows was concerning, but if Wanda wasn't worried about it then everything had to be fine.

Wanda's voice interrupted his assessment. "How are you feeling? Does your head hurt? What do you remember?" Wanda asked in rapid fire. Not that he minded waiting for his sister to speak, but he did kinda wish she'd speak that fast all the time. It was refreshing.

"Pretty good." Said Pietro without missing a beat. That was the truth, mostly. He did get a little bit of a head rush when he first sat up, and he had a bit of a headache for some reason, but nothing unbearable. He didn't even remember having a nightmare either, so that was a bonus. Overall, he felt like he'd been asleep for a really long time and he was itching to get up and move. Pietro felt like it had been ages since he had had a chance to run, ages since the airport and…wait. Why weren't they at the airport? Why did Wanda ask him what he remembered? Why couldn't he remember how'd they'd gotten to this place?

Pietro frowned.

Not good.

"Pietro? What's the last thing you remember?" Wanda asked again more gently this time as she noticed his frown.

Pietro racked his brain. He knew they'd left the Avengers facility to go help Captain America, and then he'd eventually convinced Wanda to go to the airport once the giant guy appeared and then…"I remember running with you to the airport and saving spider—totally has a crush on my sister—guy from massive splinters." Pietro paused thinking, the frown still present on his face.

The next thing he remembered was Wanda basically telling him he wasn't strong enough to protect himself, but Pietro didn't really want to get into that discussion right now, so he skipped over that part, "then Stark showed up and you totally schooled him before he could lecture us too completely, and then I went off to see if Cap needed help and then…then I…"

Pietro raised both hands to his temples, and closed his eyes willing himself to remember, but all he succeeded in doing was making his headache worse.

"It's okay, Pete." Said Wanda pulling his hands away from his face.

"But why can't I remember?! What happened?!" Pietro was starting to freak out a bit.

Did somebody wipe his memory? His sister was probably capable of doing that, but she'd made it clear she wasn't ever going to do that. Also, he was positive she hadn't been the one to wipe his memory because the stuff he didn't want to remember was still there, perfectly intact.

"Pietro, calm down. Take a deep breath for me and I'll explain." Said Wanda calmly scooching closer to him.

Pietro took a deep breath in and let it out, which did make him feel a little better, but that was probably more to do with Wanda's calm reassurance then the actual exercise of breathing.

"Better?" asked Wanda.

Pietro nodded.

"Good. You don't need to strain yourself trying to remember what happened. I'll tell you."

Wanda took a deep breath of her own, brushed a strand of hair out of her face, and smiled at her brother "You did something incredibly brave. Don't get me wrong, it was incredibly reckless because you put your life in danger, but yea it was really brave and selfless."

"Hmm that doesn't sound like me at all, well I mean the reckless part does, but not the brave and selfless part." Said Pietro giving his sister a sheepish smile causing his sister to laugh, but tears formed in her eyes once again.

Pietro wasn't sure if the tears were one of laughter or sadness, but Wanda wiped them away before he could decide.

"God I'm so glad you're okay." Said Wanda giving Pietro a hug again "And don't say that Peter, you are the bravest, most selfless person I know. Yes, you are more reckless than I'd like you to be, but I can't really talk since I am too…"

Wanda looked down at her hands then back up at Pietro before continuing. "Anyway, I don't know all the details because I didn't see, but there was this man, some other super powered person, or inhuman, or maybe just an Olympian, but he somehow got a hold of the jet Cap and Bucky were in, and you—brave stupidly selfless person that you are—got it into your head that it was your job to get him off of it, so you grabbed him, but you must've not been able to get enough traction or something, I don't know, but by the time you were able to get him off, the jet was high in the air and you both fell…at least 30 feet. The man of course was fine, but you—you hit concrete hard."

Huh.

So that's why his head hurt.

Wanda voice broke a little as she finished, but she pushed on, "I tried to stop your fall with my powers, but I couldn't do it. You hit your head and got a severe concussion. That's why you can't remember it. And it's all my fault. You could've died Pietro, and I wasn't able to save you."

Wanda buried her face in her hands.

"Hey, it's not your fault." Said Pietro "You're right, I was being my reckless self. It was my fault, not yours. I—"

"No Pietro!" said Wanda lowering her hands to look at him. "It is in no way your fault."

"Wanda—" Pietro tried to talk to his sister again, but she wasn't having it.

"No. Listen Pete. It. Was. Not. Your. Fault. I might not be able to convince you that it was my fault, but it was. And I know you don't like it, but it will always be my job to protect you, and you can hate me for that, but that's just how it's going to be because you're my little brother. It makes no difference that I'm only 12 minutes older, whether I was 12 years older or 12 seconds older, you'd still be my little brother. Whether you like it or not, I'm always going to want to protect you because I can't bear to lose you. I can't."

Wanda finished and gripped Pietro's uninjured wrist tightly with one hand. Wanda was right…about some things. He didn't like that she thought she had to protect him. But she was wrong in that he could ever hate her for it.

"Wanda, I don't hate you. I could never hate you. And you're right. I don't like that you think it's your job to protect me, especially since it's turning out to be a pretty difficult job, but I get it because I couldn't bear to lose you either, so I guess I'm just going have to accept that my twin sister is always going to be there to beat up anybody who messes with me…no promises that I'm going to be any less reckless though, or that I won't beat up anyone who messes with you either. Deal?" Said Pietro giving Wanda a wink.

"Deal." Said Wanda as she smiled and hugged him again, and for a moment, all felt right in the world again.

"That's a lot of hugs in a short amount of time, Wands. I think Aunt Marya and Mom are influencing you from beyond." Pietro joked. It still hurt to think about Marya's and Mom's deaths. Mom's he has had years to come to terms with, but Marya's death was recent and it was murder and he didn't know if he'd ever get past it. But he had to able to talk about her. He wouldn't just forget she existed.

"Maybe they are." Said Wanda quietly, her smile a little sadder now.

The twins sat in silence for a moment thinking about the women who had raised them before Pietro spoke, "So you still haven't said where we are or how we got here…"

"Oh right. Sorry, I guess I got a little sidetracked. Well, shortly after you fell, Erik showed up and I guess someone had hooked him up with a ride via a lady known as Agent May, and anyway, she took us all to a secret base of the organization she works for called S.H.I.E.L.D. that apparently fights evil, and they had a doctor, that made sure you were going to be okay. And—"

"Da—Erik is here!" said Pietro getting up off of the bed a little too quickly as the room spun, but only for a moment.

"Yes. I'm sure he'll want to know you're up, so we can go see him if you're feeling up to it. He's probably just down the hall resting, or at least he's supposed to be resting." Said Wanda getting to her feet too. "And the Avenger's Wanda is here too. We've been rotating shifts, so that someone was always with you while you slept. Except when we had to wake you up every 2 hours per the doctor's orders, you've been asleep for over 14 hours."

"14 hours! Whew. And yea I want to see him! Let's go!" said Pietro about to head to the door, but then he noticed something that he hadn't really paid attention to until then because he'd been so wrapped up and what finding out what had happened. That is, the fact that he was only wearing his boxers and a thin hospital gown.

"Um Wanda." Said Pietro as a blush appeared on his pale face. "If I just hit my head, why am I not wearing any pants?"

"Because the doctor had to make sure there wasn't any swelling or bleeding around your brain, Pietro, which required you to undergo a brain scan, meaning you couldn't wear any metal. Hence, the hospital gown." said Wanda gesturing at Pietro's clothing or lack thereof looking like she was trying not to laugh.

"Okay yea that makes sense, but who, ya know, swapped my attire?" asked Pietro knowing he was going to be embarrassed no matter what the answer was.

"Relax Pietro. It wasn't the other Wanda or me or even the doctor. It was just Erik." Replied Wanda nonchalantly.

Pietro put one hand over his eyes. "Ugh, please do me a favor and just kill me now, so I don't die of embarrassment later. I don't think I can live with the embarrassment of being a 15-year-old that had to have his Dad help him get dressed."

"Pete, it's really not a big deal, and don't even joke about that okay? It's not funny. You already did almost die." Said Wanda with a frown.

"Look, if it embarrasses you that much just try not to think about it, and here" said Wanda walking over to grab a neatly folded bundle of his clothes that had escaped his view, which included his silver jacket, shoes, and trusty ankle brace, since, yea he was supposed to be recovering from that injury too. "maybe you'll feel better once you're dressed again. They even cleaned everything, so you'll smell good for a change." Wanda added using humor to try to make him feel more at ease. "And don't worry, I'll leave the room while you get dressed because you really shouldn't be going into hyper speed to quick change. Okay?"

Wanda handed him his belongings as Pietro replied, "Yea, okay. I guess."

Once Wanda left, Pietro put on his clothes at a normal pace, he was still feeling a little under the weather. But once he had his own clothes back, he actually did feel a lot better. Pietro smiled as he tied the laces on his converses.

Hello old friends.

AVENGER'S WANDA POV

Wanda stood outside of the room where Erik was supposed to be resting. Key words: supposed to. Even though they had been alternating who was watching Pietro, she was pretty sure nobody had been getting that much sleep while it was their turn off. How could they when Pietro was still recovering?

Calling on her courage Wanda knocked on the door. She needed to get this over with because she wasn't going to change her mind. A moment later the door flew upon to reveal a disheveled Erik.

Based on Erik's unkempt state, Wanda figured he must have been showering when he heard the knock on the door. He had shaved, but the hair on his head was wet and sticking up and his shirt was only part way on. Erik pulled it down quickly, but not before Wanda saw scars that were old and faded.

"What is it? What's happened? Is it Pietro?" asked Erik immediately looking past Wanda into the hallway. Wanda wasn't really sure what he expected to see.

"Nothing's happened." Wanda quickly assured him. "Pietro is fine, still sleeping the last time I checked. Your daughter is with him."

Erik instantly relaxed, and some of the tension left his face.

"I brought you some coffee. I thought you might want some caffeine." Wanda continued, holding out a thermos, which after a moment's hesitation, Erik took from her.

"Thank you." Said Erik cautiously. "Is that all?"

"No." said Wanda taking a deep breath. "I was hoping we could talk."

Erik gave her an appraising look and Wanda tried not to wilt under his gaze.

"Alright." He said after what seemed like an eternity, stepping aside to allow her to enter the room.

"What is this about?" asked Erik after he closed the door behind her and took a drink of the coffee she had given him. Wanda took that as a good sign, but she was still not looking forward to this conversation.

"I want to tell Wanda and Pietro who I really am." Said Wanda as quickly but distinctively as she could.

Maybe Wanda should have eased into the reason she'd come to speak with Erik, but she thought it was better just to come out with it and get it over with.

Erik's gaze hardened again. "Wanda, I appreciate you looking out for my children, but I thought I already made it clear that telling them who you are will only bring them pain they do not need. They have each other. You are not their sister." said Erik coolly.

Wanda looked away for a moment to steel herself before she addressed Erik again. "You did make that clear, and I know I'm not their sister. I know that they have each other, and I know I'm being selfish to ask you to allow me to do this. And you're right that it will probably bring them pain. But if there's any chance that my telling them will make them realize even a little bit more that they need to look out for each other, then I think it's worth it."

Erik stared at her with his calculating gaze. "I think it's pretty clear to them that they should look out for one another. Do you really think they need to be reminded of that? And what happens after you tell them? Every time they see you, they will only be reminded of pain and loss. They don't need any more of that."

Wanda reminded herself that she wasn't going to back down before continuing. "I know they do, but again, I just…I feel like it doesn't hurt to be reminded that they will always have each other, if they develop their abilities and don't go throwing themselves into danger every chance they get…" Wanda sighed. "And you don't have to worry about me reminding them of pain, because once we leave here, you won't see me again. I'm turning myself in."

"What?!" Clearly Erik wasn't expecting that, her response momentarily distracted him from what she was asking. "Why would you do that? You've done nothing wrong. You fought for your friends and your people. You're not the one who is at fault. The ones who try to control you and everyone like you are the ones who are at fault."

There was venom in Erik's voice now that hadn't been there even when he was disagreeing with Wanda, and it made her realize how glad she was that for the big issues, they were on the same side.

"You might be right." Said Wanda giving a small resigned shrug. "But I've made my decision. The others who helped Steve are most likely already under lock and key, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I walked free and they alone faced the punishment for all of our actions. I've already talked to Agent May, and she's agreed to drop you off at the farm where you entered this world. I think that there you'll have the best chance with your daughter and me working together to get you back to your home universe. And then after you're gone May will deliver me to the custody of the U.S. government. But please, before that happens, I would really like to tell them the truth….to say goodbye…To let them go."

PIETRO POV

"So where's D—Erik?" asked Pietro trying not to sound too eager. He didn't want Wanda to think that he wasn't just as happy to see her as he was to see their Dad.

"He's just down this way, and you can call him Dad in front of me, Peter. I don't care. He is turning out to be a better father than I expected…I just don't know that I'll ever be at a place where I can automatically call him Dad, instead of Erik. I guess it's hard for me to forget that he hasn't always been a father to us."

Pietro wasn't sure what to say to that because she wasn't wrong, but he was saved from responding when Erik and the other Wanda emerged from a room farther down the hall.

When Pietro saw Erik, he immediately forgot about his earlier embarrassment and controlling his excitement. Bursting into a grin, Pietro zipped over to his father, which really wasn't the best idea considering he was recovering from a head injury and also, he was pretty hungry, which he'd sorta forgotten to mention to his sister. So instead of giving his Dad an impulsive but totally manly and dignified hug, he less than gracefully fell into his father's arms.

Whoa. Head rush.

Fortunately, despite probably being surprised by Pietro's sudden wakefulness, Erik caught the boy, steadying him with strong hands.

"Hey Dad! How's it going? Long time no see! Well I guess it really wasn't that long. I mean, you weren't gone for months or years or anything. Well, you were gone up until Wands and I were 15, but you didn't even know about us, so that wasn't your fault. Shit, I didn't mean to make you feel bad. And I guess you've been back for hours and hours now, since I've been sleeping. Wanda filled me in on the whole concussion debacle. Did we get you in trouble? You know, since Wanda and I basically helped the guy you were supposed to capture escape. But don't worry, if they somehow manage to lock you up, I'll just break out again. Maybe that can be our thing. A father-son past time. It was really fu—"

Pietro was silenced as his father pulled him into a hug.

It was nice.

Pietro still felt kinda embarrassed whenever he hugged Erik, or at least, he felt like he should feel embarrassed. 15 year olds didn't just go around casually hugging their fathers, and—believe it or not—Erik didn't exactly seem like the hugging type of guy, so it probably embarrassed him whenever Pietro gave him a hug….But this time his Dad had been the one to hug him, since Pietro had epically failed in his attempt, so he couldn't be that embarrassed about it. Also, Pietro thought he probably had a few thousand fatherly hugs saved up on account of Erik being off Nazi hunting/in prison for the duration of his childhood, regardless of if he knew of Pietro and Wanda's existence or not.

After a bit, Erik released Pietro from the hug and held the boy out in front of him, looking him over as if to make sure he hadn't sprouted any extra limbs or something. Then he smiled down at his son. "Pietro, do not worry about me. No one is taking me away from you. How are you feeling? Did you wake up on your own?" asked Erik, his smile fading back into a look of concern.

Pietro squirmed a little bit. His father's hands were still resting on his shoulders, and he was a little nervous to answer because he was pretty sure he was about to be told that he had to rest again, which was sooooo unbelievably boring…

"Oh that's good. Not that I was worried, like I know you can take care of yourself. And I'm right as rain! By the way, why do people say that? Rain doesn't fall at a 90-degree angle, like ever. I guess, maybe if it's super windy it might look that way, but it's still a weird saying, don't you think? Okay, so I may have gotten just a teensy bit dizzy when I ran over to you, but other than that I'm good. Oh and I did wake up all by myself! Pretty talented of me right?! Hahaha." Pietro finished with his signature grin, before taking probably what was an unnecessary breath and looking at the Avenger by Erik's side.

"Oh and hi other Wanda! Sorry, did I say 'other' out loud? I keep referring to you as the 'other Wanda' in my head. We really need to work out a better system. Having two Wandas is confusing. It was way easier when your name was Wilma, but I guess that wasn't ever really your name. Maybe Wands should change her name because you were born first. Hey sis, how do you feel about that? Got any ideas, because I think I could think of some great—"

"Pietro." Said Erik turning the boy's face back to look at him, his own face serious. "I am relieved that you are feeling batter, but it is important that we get some things straight."

Uh oh. That sounds rather ominous. Is he going to ground me for being reckless? He definitely is. Bummer. On second thought, this is kinda exciting! I've never been grounded by my dad before!

Once he was sure he had Pietro's attention, Erik continued. "You had a very serious concussion and you are still recovering from your previous injuries. Therefore, per doctor's orders, you are not to watch too much TV,"

"But—"

"play video games,"

"But—"

"read excessively,"

"But—"

"and finally, no strenuous physical activity, which means absolutely no running until I say so, at high speeds or otherwise."

"But I love all of those things!" said Pietro with a pout, finally managing to get a word in, which he was usually pretty good at. "Even reading is okay if it's interesting enough!"

"Pietro. This is not up for debate." said Erik again warningly, reminding Pietro of Steve momentarily, which was kinda a weird comparison, since they were pretty different. Well actually, the two men did have quite a bit in common, both having fought Nazis and being a symbol of hope for a select group of people…or mutants.

Erik looked like he wanted to say more, and for a second, Pietro thought he saw him glance down at his arm. But his eyes must've just been wandering because Erik didn't know what he'd done to himself, and Pietro still wasn't at 100%, so his ability to judge what was a normal amount of time to look any which way wasn't the best at the moment. Yea, Erik couldn't know. Wanda had promised not to tell…well one Wanda had. Now that he thought about it, he didn't actually remember his sister promising not to tell their dad.

Shit. Does he know?

Pietro sighed and decided he would err on the side of Erik not knowing because he wasn't about to bring it up anyway. "You know, with all these restrictions on what I'm allowed to do, this means you all will have to entertain me. My brain might've gotten knocked around a bit, butitstillworksjustasfast."

Erik smiled at his son again, "I think together we can manage that."

Pietro grinned back up at Erik. Part of him was still extremely baffled—and probably always would be—as to why Erik not only seemed happy to have Pietro as his son, but also didn't mind spending time with him. Most people tended to find Pietro pretty annoying, not to mention exhausting.

"You shaved" commented Pietro, his ever moving mind switching to a different subject. "I liked your beard. It made you look more like a regular guy/Dad, and not so much like a dude who can crush you like a tin can…with a tin can…I should probably shave soon too. I've been asleep for ages, so I bet my 5 o'clock shadow is terrible at this point." Pietro ran one hand over his non-existent stubble, ignoring his sister's eye roll, even though sadly she was totally right that he was not even close to even needing to own a razor.

Maybe Erik will teach me how to shave. That's something dads did with their sons, right?

Erik chuckled, "I don't think you need to worry about that just yet, Pietro."

Pietro's stomach gave a rumble and Erik's face faded from its smile to a look of concern again.

"You're hungry. I should have thought of that right away. We tried to get you to eat each time we woke you, but evidently you did not eat enough. Why didn't you say something right away?" asked Erik.

"Oh well, I'm almost always hungry, so sometimes I just ignore it. It's not like I'm starving this time." Said Pietro shrugging as if starving was something that he should expect to happen to him again.

Erik frowned reaching into his back pocket and handing Pietro a protein bar.

Pietro grinned.

Ha! What a dad thing to have on hand. Erik is such a dad now!

"Here, eat this and I'll go get you something more substantial. And Pietro, never ignore your hunger. If you're hungry and don't have access to food, you tell me, you tell your sister, you tell someone. Your mutation should bring you joy, not suffering. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." Said Pietro a little self-consciously. "and I'll come with you to get food and the Wandas too. I want to explore!"

Erik ruffled his son's hair gently, "I think I prefer Dad or even Erik to sir. I'm your father, not your commander, Pietro. And you can explore in a bit, but for now stay here. Wanda has something she wants to talk to you about…both of you."

{Author's Note: This was a pretty dialogue heavy chapter, but there's action ahead if you can hang in there. Just FYI, I'm pretty sure I'm going to split this story into a two part series because this is getting surprisingly long, and there's sort of a natural separation point coming up. I'll make sure it's properly linked to this story and marked as Part II though when it gets to that point. Anywho, I'd love to hear your thoughts about the story or anything really. Is anyone going to watch Legion? It looks like it could be interesting. I'm more excited for the movie Logan though. At the very least, the first trailer has me listening to a lot more Johnny Cash songs than I knew were out there. Sorry for the tangent. Thanks for reading!}