*Author's Note*

Thanks for the follows, faves, and reviews.

Have Your Cake & Eat It Too

Gem POV:

"I got my new prescription sunglasses that are Audrey Hepburn inspired on so I'm ready for this road trip to start." Darcy told me as we sat on the concrete sidewalk that was in front of Billy's room at the local Willowdale motel that gave off Bates Motel vibes.

"Damnit, doesn't that sugar daddy of yours know how to tell time? Him being late means we're going to be late getting back to my place in Hell's Kitchen." Billy grumbled as he lit what had to be his hundredth cigarette by now. Yea, Billy was chain smoking as we waited for Brock to pick us up from his hotel at Norman Bates' place.

"Billy, don't smoke so much. It's bad for you." Darcy chastised as Billy took his first drag off of his cigarette.

"Bullshit, Darcy. Don't give me that bad for you shit. I had you puffing on cigarettes after fucking you stupid the first night we met."

"Too much info, Billy. Too much info!" I exclaimed, shuddering at the mental image that he'd put in my head.

"Oh, don't be a prude, Gem. I'm sure you and your sugar daddy get down and dirty more than me and Darce do." Billy scoffed between puffing on his cigarette. Tipping his ashes onto the parking lot, Billy dryly chuckled, "Sugar daddies tend to be horny old goats."

"Shut up!" I ordered in a loud snap.

"Billy, stop being a butthead. Her jack-booted thug isn't old enough to be a horny old goat yet."

"Fine, Gem, you sugar daddy's the energizer bunny when it comes to hooking up. Keeps on going, a'ight?"

"Oh my god…Why am I stuck with you people?" I muttered under my breath.

"You must've pissed off the big man upstairs, that's why." Billy blew out a large lungful of smoke while.

"Don't pay him any mind." Darcy rolled her eyes, waving dismissively at Billy. "He was raised by wolves." She added in, causing him to just shake his head and let out a sigh like laugh. "You're stuck with us cause you're my roommie and I'm determined to be your sister from another mister cause you seem like somebody that could benefit from a sister."

"Thank christ Chip 'n' Dales is here." Billy remarked, stamping out his cigarette as Brock's Jeep pulled up.

"Stop calling him a stripper, Billy." I ordered the Marine as he bent down to pick up his and Darcy's bags.

"He's right, Brock is a strippery sounding name." Darcy defended her boyfriend's stupid remark wile rising to her feet.

Shooting u and grabbing my bag, I muttered under my breath, "Oh my god…" Without a word I marched over to Brock's Jeep; leaving Billy and Darcy alone in front of his room.

"Who pissed in your cheerios, baby?" Brock asked as I flung open the passenger's side door to his Jeep so fast that it nearly bounced off the hinges.

"My eccentric roommate and her boyfriend the smokestack, that's who." I grumbled, sitting down in the front seat, while Darcy and Billy made their way over to the back. Thank god Brock's Jeep was a 4-door cause I wasn't in the mood of having people climb in behind me.

"Ah…" Brock nodded. "Of course, they did."

"Of course, they did, what, sugar daddy bro?" Billy asked as he tossed his and Darcy's bags into the backseat.

"You pissed in her cheerios." Brock told Billy as the smaller of the two men climbed into the backseat after letting his girlfriend slide in first.

"She pissed in her own cheerios, man." Billy defended himself while Darcy simply shrugged, "We didn't mean anything by it. She just got a bit uptight when Billy made a remark about you guys going at it cause you're a horny old goat of a sugar daddy."

"Jesus Christ…" Brock shook his head. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he asked me, "Why did we agree to this shit again for, baby?"

Tilting my head, I dryly reminded him, "They invited us, plus you want me to make friends with my roommate."

"Are we gonna get a move on or not? I'd like to get to New York yesterday ya know." Billy crooned from the backseat as he snuggled with Darcy. Clearly, they weren't wearing their seatbelts.

"We're going, we're going." Brock assured the couple in the back as he pulled out of the Bates Hotel's parking lot and onto the road.

Being trapped in a Jeep for hours on end with Billy and Darcy was an experience, that's for sure. They were very loud, random, and she was always whining for 'roadtrip' food which was actually any drive thru place she saw advertised on one of those upcoming exit signs. So, yea, we got stuck making a few drive thru pit stops. Also, Billy and Darcy were like big kids on 95 when it came to semi-trucks too. Mhm, they kept making the honking horn arm sign causing every truck we passed by to honk at us.

Finally, after a good 6-or-so-hours, we reached Manhattan. The traffic was, as usual, bumper to bumper. Brock bitched and flipped a bunch of 'bad drivers' off the entire slow as Moses ride to Billy's place in Hell's Kitchen. Billy's place was, for a lack of a better word, a fucking shithole. His building was in a very shady neighborhood and had graffiti on the side and back of it. His apartment was a 6th floor walkup, one bedroom flat. Oh, and when I say one bedroom, I meant it. The small flat's kitchenette/living room was tiny and the bathroom looked no bigger than a broom closet. The bedroom was next to the bathroom and the door had a big crack in it. It looked like somebody either punched it or tried to kick it down at one point.

Brock didn't like the place. AT ALL! He thought it was unsafe for me to be at. Billy scoffed at Brock's insistence that his flat was unsafe and smackdab in a crime invested neighborhood while Darcy just pointed out that both Brock and Billy were jack-booted thugs and could take on a robber stupid enough to break in with their pinky. So, yea, even tho Brock didn't like the place we were stuck spending the weekend in, he had to eat crow and deal with it.

The wedding for Frank Castle (Billy's friend and brother in arms) was tomorrow, but me and Brock were wide awake laying on a very uncomfortable futon while Billy and Darcy got their freak on in his bedroom. The walls were very thin, so unfortunately, we were stuck overhearing shit that we didn't need or want to hear. The sounds of sirens and street walkers striking up deals with Johns echoed from below too since there was a large crack in the front room window, enabling any and all sound to travel into the room.

"God, I wish he would just blow his load so we can get some sleep." Brock grumbled while pointing towards the bedroom door on the other side of the room.

"Brock, be nice. I mean aren't we kinda like that when we're hooking up?"

"No. We're nothing like that." Brock denied. "We actually communicate, don't just howl the whole entire damn time."

"Oh, yea, that's right, you're a dirty talker." I playfully told him, acting like I forgot that little fact about him.

"Oh yea, I am." Brock proudly smirked. Leaning in close so that his hot breath ghosted the shell of my ear, he whispered, "I am and it turns you on like a fucking lightbulb."

I bit my lip as my cheeks flushed crimson. "Yea…" I bashfully admitted before burying my face into his bare chest.

Brock let out a tiny chuckle. "Your innocence is cute." I looked up at him, one of my brows quirked, only for him to smirk, "I quite like corrupting you. It's fun."

I shook my head and sarcastically asked, "So, what, are you my sex guru now?"

Slightly shrugging, Brock chuckled, "Sure, if that's what ya wanna call it."

"We're never gonna be normal friends, are we?"

"Eh, being normal's overrated." Brock chuckled, the sound rumbling deep from his chest.

"What happens when-" I began to ask only for Brock to interrupt me by pressing a finger to my lips and ordering, "Let's not get too ahead of ourselves, a'ight, baby. Let's just enjoy the arrangement we've got; make normal friends with your roommie and her Marine too."

"Okay, but I doubt that Darcy and Billy are sane enough to be considered 'normal' friends."

"Baby, I meant becoming their real friends, not fuck buddies." Brock deeply laughed, causing me to just shake my head and break out in a fit of giggles.

"I know what you meant, Brock." I assured him with a smile once I calmed down and stop giggling. "And don't worry, Billy's not my type." I added in for good measure before pressing a quick kiss to his lips.

"Mhm, cause I'm you're type. Right, baby?" Brock asked in between kissing me.

"Maybe." I smiled against his lips.

"Mhm…maybe…" Brock hummed as he kissed the sweet spot behind my ear.

Suddenly, a loud gunshot echoed from the street below the front room window causing me to jump up in shock. Brock rubbed my arm and settled me against his chest while sighing, "Looks like we're not having any fun or getting any sleep tonight."

"Nope." I half-popped out, half-sighed as I listened to the beat of Brock's heart underneath the ear I had pressed against his chest.

Me and Darcy were using Billy's bedroom to get ready in while Billy and Brock were getting ready in the main room of the shithole flat. The small bedroom looked decent enough, but it wasn't a room that I'd be willing to sleep in let alone hook up in. The bed was a rickety old Murpy's bed that's closet doors were falling off the hinges, for Christ's sakes. The dresser and mirror was old too. I'm talking like scratched up vintage that needed sanding and finished old. The oval mirror had a crack in it too. And don't get me started on the carper. It was shag that was matted. Yea…Darcy didn't seem to mind the poor conditions of Billy's room as we got ready.

Actually, Darcy didn't seem to mind that Billy's building was in a bad part of town either. Hmm, she must really love him to not say anything about his shithole apartment. Yea, I was from Bensonhurst, but even I had enough sense to be freaked out that time I got stuck in Flatbush cause of Geno's dumbass last October.

"Ever see your man in his dress blues before?" Darcy asked, breaking my mental musings, as she leaned into the dusty and cracked oval mirror while lining her eyes with jet black liner.

I paused in applying my smokey grey-blue eyeshadow only to raise a brow at my roomie. "Um, no. Why?"

"Cause you're gonna be drooling over how hot he looks in them." Darcy waggled her brows and shimmied her hips before applying a heavy coat of mascara onto her lashes.

"Oh…" I trailed off, placing my eyeshadow pack into my makeup bag and grabbing my eyeliner.

"He got you a nice dress." Darcy told me, pointing to the blue cocktail dress I was wearing before closing her mascara and placing it into her makeup case (which was actually an old plastic pencil case with My Little Pony printed on it). Grabbing her deep red lipstick out of her case and popping it open, she carried on with, "See he's doing the 'blue' thing a lot of couples do for military balls."

"We're not a couple." I quickly objected while finishing up my eye makeup while she applied her lipstick.

"Sure…and I'm the Queen of England." She sarcastically joked, tossing her lipstick into her makeup.

I grabbed my own lipstick, a matte shade of red, and applied it while telling my roommate, "I'm serious, Darcy. We're just good friends."

"Sure…if you say so." Darcy sarcastically trailed off as I put my lipstick back into my makecase. Looking over herself in the mirror and smoothing any wrinkles out of her navy low cut dress, Darcy smiled, "Damn, I look good. All those single Marines are gonna be so jelly that I'm with Billy." I just nodded while staring at my own reflection. I was skinny and looked nothing like the bombshell next to me. Oh god, while men would be jealous of Billy for having Darcy on his arm, they'd probably be wondering why Brock was even bothering with me for. My roommate must've sensed my self-doubt since she elbowed me and flashed me a smile. "You look gorgeous, Gem." Before I could tell her thank you, she just had to ruin the moment by adding in, "Everyone's gonna know that your sugar daddy's one lucky man."

Yea, bet he is. Everyone's going to be itching to snatch me from Brock. Mhm… I didn't look sexy in my strapless dress. I just looked petite and skinny. I should've never got a strapless sweetheart dress. It did nothing for me, but bring attention to my small chest. Not good attention either. Now, Darcy would look nice in a dress like mine. God, I should've gotten another dress instead of letting Brock 'tell' me that I looked good in this one. Bastard lied. Bet he just wanted to get out of Macy's ASAP. I mean after we bought the dress he dragged me to the sporting goods store so he could browse for MMA and Boxing stuff. Eh…

"Stop calling him my sugar daddy." I hissed, causing the brunette to just burst into a fit of giggles. "We better see if the guys are ready." I told Darcy before going over to the bedroom door.

"The dudes are gonna have a bad cause of slack jaw when they see us." Darcy said matter-of-factly as she followed me to the door.

Brock POV:

I was sitting on the couch with Billy, waiting for the girls to get ready. We were dressed in our dress blues, biding our time by watching some shitty show on a tiny tv. We made small talk, but then the subject of his buddy's marriage came up. And by came up I mean Billy had to start bitching about it.

"Frank's a good guy, but I still can't believe he's marrying somebody he's only known for 3-damn-months cause he knocked her up." The best man in the Castle wedding grumbled next to me while some guy was trying to heckle another at a pawn shop on tv.

"He's trying to do right by her and the kid." I pointed out what I thought was pretty obvious, but apparently wasn't to the guy bitching.

"Yea, but he doesn't have to marry her to help her with the kid."

"Maybe he loves her?" I tossed out there.

"Yea, maybe." Billy nodded. "He's not that bright, so hopefully he doesn't fuck shit up." He smirked in a sly way that hinted he was expecting his brother to fuck up.

"He's gone a lot on deployments; I doubt he'll fuck it up."

"Being deployed doesn't mean you can't fuck shit up." Billy told me before letting out a clipped rhetoric question of, "Hell, you think things are easy for me and Darcy being apart all the time; only being able to Skype and Facetime til I get a leave?"

"I'm a military man, I get it."

"Oh, so what you're saying is you've got yourself a sugar baby cause you couldn't make anything work with anybody else cause of your career." Billy snarked in a smartass, know-it-all tone.

Cutting my eyes at the asshole I was stuck being nice to this weekend, I ordered, "Don't call Gem my sugar baby. She gets embarrassed and upset by that fucking shit."

"She needs to learn how to lighten up or she'll never survive being Darce's roommie."

Before I could say something back to Billy, the bedroom door opened and out walked Gem with Darcy right behind her. Billy turned off the tv with a large smirk as his eyes landed on Darcy, who looked like some kind of pin up girl in a tight navy dress instead of a college Freshman. "Damn, the guys ain't gonna be giving me shit 'bout seeing a college girl now." He whistled while meeting her in the middle of the small room.

Looking over to Gem, Darcy said, "Told you his fellow jacked-boots are gonna be so jelly."

Gem just shook her head at Darcy before looking at me. Her chocolate brown eyes widened as she swept them over me in appraisal. "Like what you see, baby?" I asked, coming up to her, as her tongue subconsciously licked her lips.

"Yea." She shyly nodded. Her cheeks flushed, causing the pink blush on them to deepen.

"Maybe we can sneak off to a room in the hotel during the reception? Hmm…" I whispered in her ear, causing her to turn crimson, while wrapping an arm around her and pulling her into my side. Goddamn, she looked sexy in that strapless dress. I knew the second she walked out of that Macy's dressing room that it was the dress for her. Her bare shoulders were just begging to be kissed and the dress clung to her in a way that wasn't too tight or loose. Oh, we'll be taking off to use a room during the wedding reception. I'd be a mad man not to sneak off with her to fool around.

"Okay, let's go. My brother needs me; we can't be late." Billy piped up, eager to head to the wedding.

"Oh, I can't wait to meet Maria. I hope she's nice." Darcy rambled while Billy ushered her out the door. Without a word, me and Gem followed right behind them.

Gem POV:

The wedding, for being thrown together on a short notice, was really nice. It was held in a ballroom of one of the nicer hotels in Hell's Kitchen. The hotel must have a wedding planning service, cause no way could a couple pull off a large, but nice, military wedding on short notice.

The couple, Frank and Maria Castle, were nice too. Actually, Maria was a sweetheart while Frank was a bit quiet and gruff. Billy and Frank were close; it was clear that they had a brotherly bond that was forged from their time both in bootcamp and serving together. Darcy got under Frank's skin by the way he kept rolling his eyes at her and tossing our curt one-liners. Darcy and Maria seemed to get along fine tho, even tho they just met.

Frank and Brock seemed to get along after being introduced by Billy. They did give each other shit about the Marine/Navy thing tho. You know, that whole the Core is better, no the SEALS are better stuff.

I was sitting at a table, waiting on Brock while he got us some drinks from the open bar. Apparently, Brock deemed this wedding an event where I could drink wine publicly. Nice of him, right? Anyways, I was sitting at my table alone, since Billy and Darcy were on the dance floor doing the Macarena, whenever Frank came up to me. "So, you're stuck with Darcy." He stated, not asked, as a way of greeting me.

"Yea, I'm her roommate this year." I nodded as the hard-faced groom took a seat next to me.

"She's an odd one, but she's good. Tamed Billy down some, which is a feat since he had bad wandering dick syndrome."

"Oh…"

"Eh," Frank shrugged. "he's a pretty boy with that beautiful face of his. Can't blame him for having all the luck with women."

"But Darcy tamed him down?" I asked, finding it hard to believe that my hyper roommate could tame down anybody. She just seemed too eccentric and carefree.

"Yea." Frank nodded before going on to explain, "He met her on some dating app he used to find hookups. Seems that they got along too well cause when we had leave, he saw her and she's been a pain in my ass ever since."

"Oh…" I nervously chuckled. "Well, at least her and Maria seem to get along."

"Yea…" Frank nodded his head.

Not knowing what else to say to the groom I only met a few hours ago, I gave out a generic and weak sounding well wishes of, "Um, congratulations on your marriage and the baby."

"Thanks." Frank gruffly nodded. Looking between me and the bar, he asked, "So, you're friends with a SEAL?"

"Ex-SEAL. He's a STRIKE Commander for SHIELD now." I corrected Frank as I continued to wait for Brock to return with our drinks.

"Once a SEAL always a SEAL." Frank told me before stating, "You'll be the next one married."

"What?" I blurted out. Shaking my head, a bit frantically, I protested his remark with a quick, "No, we're not-just no, we're not that friendly."

Frank just shrugged. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he kept his mouth shut. Right as Brock came up to the table, Frank stood up and told him, "You got a nice friend here. Don't fuck it up."

"Nah, I won't fuck it up." Gesturing to the large and hard looking groom with a tilt of his glass, Brock advised, "You better worry about fucking up with your friend, you Core guys are known to do that shit." Smirking, he expanded with the sentence of, "Fuck everything up."

"Fucking SEAL…" Frunk muttered under his breath before walking off towards his table in the front of the room where Maria was at chatting animatedly with one of her friends.

"What'd he want?" Brock asked, handing me my drink and taking a seat next to me.

"Nothing really, just to say hi." I told Brock, who just let out a huff of disbelief under his breath and took a sip of his Scotch on the rocks. "He also said that we're the next ones to get married."

"He's full of shit, baby. We're not getting married." Brock scoffed. Taking another sip of his drink, he added, "Darcy and Billy'll get married tho."

"Why, cause they've been together for a while?" I asked, sipping on my wine. It was good wine too. Brock refused to drink it tho cause it wasn't an Italian wine. Apparently, Brock was a bit of a wine snob. Only drank two types of Italian wine.

"Yea, that, plus nobody else could put up with their special kind of crazy."

"Yea, they're a bag full of cats crazy, huh?"

"Mhm…" He hummed, sipping on his drink. Leaning into me, he asked in a low whisper, "You wanna sneak off to a room? This wedding's not going to be over for a while, yet."

"I dunno, Brock. I did take Plan B the other day." I chewed on my bottom lip leerily.

"We don't gotta fuck. We can just fool around by kissing and touching for a bit."

Before I could give him an answer, Darcy waved at me from the dance floor and loudly shouted, "Gem, drag your sugar daddy onto the floor and dance! It's fun!"

"Looks like I'm cockblocked by the roommate." Brock groaned as his shoulders sagged in disappointment.

Standing up and taking his hand, I told Brock, "Come on, let's go dance." He let out a sigh and stood up. "Maybe after a few dances we can sneak off; find a room." I smiled as we made our way towards the large dance floor that took up a large majority of the room.

"Oh, we're definitely sneaking off to find a room." Brock lowly whispered in my ear. The way he said it was a promise, not a suggestion.

Darcy POV:

"They look so cute together." I told Billy, referring to Gem and Brock as they slow danced together a few feet away from us. "If only they'd stop claiming they're just friends."

"They're about as friendly as Frank and Maria." My boo-tiful butthead scoffed as we slowly twirled around the dance floor to You And Me.

"I know, right."

Gesturing to Brock and Gem with a slight tilt of his head, Billy asked, "How long you think it's gonna be til she's sitting on the floor of the communal bathroom balling her eyes out cause the piss stick's showing a pink plus sign?"

"I dunno." I shrugged, causing our frame to get a bit sloppy for a moment while dancing. "He's older than her so he may be with the up and up on the protection."

"Protection fails." Tilting his head towards his bro, he added in, "Just look at Frank and Maria."

"Well, since he's sneaking her off the dance floor the pink pee stick might be happening this semester." I told Billy while nodding towards the couple that was stealthily sneaking off like they were on some secret spy mission. Damn, they must really want some nookie to be moving that fast and smoothly thru a crowded dance floor and towards the balloom doors.

"You keep me posted about the sugar daddy and your roomie; I'll keep you posted about Frank and Maria."

"You got yourself a deal, my schmexy jacked-boot."

Leaning forward so our noses touched, my man smirked, "Keep talking like that and I'll be skipping out on my best man speech."

Pursing my lips and wiggling my brows, I told him in a sultry tone, "You don't gotta skip out on it, we can always sneak off to the bathroom for a quickie."

"Hmm…I like the way you think." Billy kissed me before dragging me off the dance floor, not so sneakily might I add.

*An unmeasured amount of time later…*

Gem POV:

"Stop worrying, your hair looks fine." Brock assured me in a whisper while I ran my fingers thru my hair, making sure it was tamed down, as we walked down the hallway leading to the ballroom the Castle wedding was being held in.

"Easy for you to say, you got so much gel in yours that a twister wouldn't mess it up." I quipped while gesturing to his perfect hair with a wave of my hand.

Brock let out a deep and loud chuckle. "That's not true, baby. My hair gets messed up when we're in bed." He smirked. "Oh, it gets messed up in the gym too."

"Shut up, Brock." I huffed as we got closer to the ballroom.

As we neared the bathrooms, we saw Darcy exit the ladies' room only for Billy to stroll on out a few seconds after her. Hmm, Frank was right when he said that Darcy had tamed Billy. From what I saw, the Marine only had eyes for my roommate. It was sweet. Made me wish that somebody would look at me like that. All I ever got was crazy Geno. Hmm…at least I had Brock at the moment. He might not be a relationship guy, but at least he was around and seemed to care.

"Looks like they had the same idea we did." Brock told me while subtly gesturing to Darcy and Billy as they made their way back to the ballroom, hand in hand since he caught up to her once they were far enough away from the bathroom.

"Yea." I nodded, a blush appearing on my cheeks as I remember how me and Brock had snuck into a room (apparently, he knew a trick on how to use a credit card to open up a door) only to have a heated make out session that turned into us laying on the bed in the 69 position.

"I doubt they had as much fun as we did, baby." Brock smirked, waggling his brows as he referred to what we'd done a few minutes ago. Before either of us could say another word, his phone started to ring. He stopped walking and pulled his phone out of his back pocket. I just stood next to him, watching curiously as a look of recognition overcame his face as he looked at his phone's caller ID. "It's my boss. I better take this." He told me before pointing to the ballroom and saying, "Just go on; I'll be there in a couple minutes."

"Okay." I nodded before turning to go into the nearby ballroom.

Brock POV:

"Commander Rumlow." I answered my phone while speed walking towards an alcove that was by the elevators.

"I know you're not due back until Monday, but something's come up and I need you back right now." Pierce's voice said over my phone in a very calm, but professional tone. No doubt he's sitting in his home office going over some plans that are detrimental to HYDRA's rise. HYDRA was slowly taking control; it wouldn't be long until Pierce could reveal our organization; our cause to the world.

"What is it, Pierce?" I asked, standing in the dark alcove; away from prying eyes and ears.

"Some trouble with some Somali pirates." Pierce told me in the tone that he used for briefings. It was a very clipped tone.

"And another STRIKE Team can't deal with it?" I asked, skeptical that Beta, Charlie, Delta, or Epsilon couldn't handle a Somali pirate issue.

"No, the pirates have taken a yacht with the son of a high-ranking organization's member on it hostage in the Gulf of Aden." Pierce revealed.

"Damnit, Pierce. I'm at a damn wedding right now." I gritted out thru my teeth. Just when I was having a good time with Gem, I get called into work. Damnit, I still have a day left on my PTO too.

"A wedding? Since when do you attend those?" My boss dryly asked.

"A girl I know's roommate's boyfriend invite us to a wedding for his brother in arms."

"Ah, so it's a military wedding and you've got a girlfriend now." Pierce said in an 'aha' way. I knew he was nodding his head studiously too even tho he was on the phone.

"I don't got a girlfriend." I truthfully told Pierce, causing the Head of HYDRA to scoff under his breath. "She's a family friend, but in a few years, I think she'd make a good addition to our cause." I told my boss, wanting him to know the truth about my relationship and intentions with Gem. Well, the truth I wanted him to know that is.

"Why in a few years; why not now?" Pierce pried.

"She's young Pierce."

"How young, Rumlow?" Pierce asked, his voice sounding more prying than before.

"Starting college this week; she's barely 19, Sir." I answered while I heard loud cheering about cake and toasts echoing from down the hall; where the Castle Wedding was being held at.

"Yes, well, she is young, but since she's your-how should we word this-special friend, perhaps you should start some probing questions about our doctrine; see if she'd be one to accept us or one of the trouble makers that would fight the order and justice, we want to bring about the world."

"I'm not going to push her into something before she's ready. She needs to experience college, grow a little first or she won't fully grasp what we're about."

"Is she the type to join some sorority; run around partying all the time or is she the type to get drawn into the crowd of hipsters?"

"Neither, Sir. She's a Poli Sci major at Culver from Bensonhurst that has, from what I can tell, a colorful and broken family dynamic."

"Ah, so she's running from the chaos; seeking order in a future line of public service." Pierce concluded in an appraising tone. "Make sure you nudge her from time to time into the right political direction and when she seems loyal enough you may train her as your protégé. If SHIELD can have the Black Widow, I don't see why we couldn't have a female fatale of our own." Pierce told me, taking me my surprise since I thought he'd be against me bringing Gem into HYDRA since she was so young. Honestly, I wasn't expecting him to instruct me to start talking to her about HYDRA's doctrine. "Now, I know you're at a wedding, but I'll be sending a quintjet to JFK to get you within the next hour and a half. I advise you to have your cake and eat it too before time's up."

AN:

I hope you guys liked this chapter. Oh boy, so Pierce knows about Gem and wants Brock to start pushing HYDRA on her. Anybody see that coming? Billy and Darcy knows what's up with Gem and Brock, huh? lol.