a/n: Wow, so it's been a while. Sorry for the wait guys! A lot has been going on lately, and I got distracted. It's not much of an excuse, especially since I have up to chapter 24 written! Anywho, sorry for the wait and to make it up, I'll do a double update.

Searece (all reviews): Thanks so much for the reviews! I low key forgot I was supposed to update this until I got the emails with your reviews lol. I'm glad you're liking the story and I'm glad you like Paige as well! My friend will love to hear that. Please enjoy this update, and the next!

June 2013

Gwen's first week in Avengers Tower passed by rather quickly. The daily routine was the same on most days. She woke up, had breakfast, fed Loki, watched some tv, had lunch, fed Loki, read a book, had dinner with the Avengers, fed Loki, and read until she fell asleep.

After a day or two, Paige started to join her for lunch. It had been awkward at first, but Gwen slowly became used to her silent presence. They didn't do much talking, they ate in silence. Occasionally, Gwen would have Jarvis play her playlist so there would be some kind of background noise to their lunches.

Loki remained sullen, refusing to talk to her. Tony had come down on Friday night and invited Loki to their movie night, but he had rejected the offer. That turned out to work out fine because Steve found a link to Bucky and had to leave with Sam. They decided to reschedule movie night for when they got back.

Gwen decided to call her father once a week, and today was that day. She was out in the kitchen, making herself a pina colada Dr. Pepper (a drink of her own invention, made by mixing coconut and pineapple flavorings into Dr. Pepper) while talking to him over speaker phone.

"So, how's the rooming situation?" he asked. "Are you in the same room as him?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, dad. And even if he was, it's not like anything would happen. I would kill him before even you could get to him."

"I just want to make sure my baby girl is safe," he told her, only half teasing her. "And how are you liking it? Are the other Avengers being nice?"

"Oh my gosh, dad. This isn't an elementary school playground," she told him, glad that no one else could hear this conversation. "But yes, they are nice. Tony's a bit annoying, but a little bit funny. Steve is really nice. Almost too nice, if you know what I mean. Clint and Bruce are chill. They haven't said much to me. Same with Hill and Anderson. Natasha Romanoff is hands down the coolest person in this building. She's just amazing. She can shut Tony up with a single look, something no one else here can do. Plus, she can beat people up and fight like nobody's business."

"Gwen, just go confess your love to her already," Stephen said, somewhat creeped out by her obsession with the ex-assassin.

"Haha," Gwen retorted. "Anyway, then there's Paige, but she doesn't say much. She just kinda does her own thing, really."

"Who's Paige?"

Gwen hesitated. Her dad would freak out if he knew who Paige really was. "Oh, just some other ex-SHIELD agent," she said casually. "She's around my age, so Stark thought it'd be cool to have us be roommates."

Stephen hummed in response and Gwen breathed a sigh of relief. At least he didn't suspect anything. "How's the apartment? Big enough for you?"

"Yeah. I'm thinking about investing in a mini fridge for my room," she admitted. "And maybe even a microwave."

"Why the hell do you need a mini fridge and a microwave in your room?" Stephen asked, sighing a little.

"So I can have midnight snacks," she said defensively.

"The last thing you need is midnight snacks."

"Whatever," she mumbled. "You're just mad that you didn't think of the idea first."

"What… oh, never mind," he sighed, shaking his head. There was no reasoning with this girl when it came to food. "Well, I'm thinking that I'll come up and see you around the Fourth of July or something. I hear Stark is throwing a party for it."

"Hooray," replied the blonde with a roll of her eyes. "That sounds good, dad. I'll see you then."

"Good," he said. "Have a good day, Gwen. I love you."

"Love you too," she answered before hanging up.

She stirred in a bit more of the pineapple flavoring and took a sip. She sighed, smacking her lips in satisfaction. "Perfection," she said to herself.

She moved into the sitting room and sat on the couch, picking up her book and putting her feet up. Gwen had barely gotten two pages in when she heard a voice.

"Bit early for a soda, wouldn't you say?"

She put her book down and saw Steve standing there. He was wearing gray sweatpants and a white t-shirt.

"I'm an addict," she told him honestly. "So, how was the mission? Did you find your friend?"

He shook his head sadly. "No, not yet. Found a clue, maybe. He's good at hiding, though."

Gwen nodded in understanding. "If I can help out, let me know. I'll be here, guarding this Asgardian asshole."

"Language," he lectured her suddenly.

Gwen laughed then saw that he was being serious. "Wait, you're serious?"

He nodded, suddenly a bit embarrassed by his old fashioned ways. "Oh. Er, I'll be here, guarding this Asgardian idiot." She shook her head. "No. That's not a fitting title." He chuckled a little in agreement.

"Thanks for the offer," he said. "So, I was just thinking that you have no physical training. You have your powers and that's good, but you'll need more than that in the field. Romanoff and I thought that we could have training sessions at least once a week."

Gwen didn't exactly leap at the idea. Physical activity was not her strong suit and she didn't want to make a fool of herself in front of Steve and Natasha. But he was right, she did need training. With an exaggerated sigh, she put down her book and nodded. "Let me just finish my drink," she said, picking up the glass.

"That'll just slow you down," Steve started to say, but she had basically drained the glass by the time he finished. "Wow. Ok, uh, let's go then. Oh, you might want to change into better clothes."

Gwen looked down at her outfit. She wore a powder blue skirt with a white Bowie shirt. She sighed and nodded regretfully. It was one of her favorite outfits.

She hurried into her room and changed into a pair of shorts and her Cornell t-shirt. She pulled on her sneakers and rejoined Steve in the sitting room, feeling very underdressed.

He nodded in approval. "Let's get going then," he said. They got in the elevator and Steve punched the button that would take them to the gym.

Natasha was waiting for them there. She was stretching out but stopped when they reached the ring. "Did you hear that Thor is arriving today?" she asked them and they both shook their heads. "He wants to search for the scepter more. But he's agreed to spend a night or two here." She turned to Gwen. "He'll probably stop by and visit Loki."

"Cool," Gwen responded with a shrug. Thor was the one Avenger she hadn't gotten to know yet, and she was interested to see what he was like. She was just keeping her fingers crossed that he was nothing like his brother.

"So, do you have any sort of training at all?" Natasha asked, getting right to business.

"Uh…" Gwen thought back to her training with Sajit. "Sort of. But all that training involved the use of magic."

Natasha nodded. "Alright. We'll stretch and warm up and then we'll see what you can do."

The stretching was easy enough, but the warm up felt like a full workout to Gwen. She was huffing and puffing by the end of it. Steve and Natasha seemed just fine though, and they didn't seem to notice that she was struggling.

"Ok, so you and Natasha are going to spar," Steve explained. When Gwen's eyes widened, he shook his head. "Don't worry. She'll go easy on you." He gave Natasha a look, as if to say "Right?"

Natasha just smiled innocently. Gwen still thought she was the coolest person in the tower, but she was now suddenly a little bit scared of her.

"I'll watch from the sidelines and give advice. Afterwards, we'll work on things like punching, kicking, and such. Ok?"

"You're the doc, doc," she replied. Her reference was lost on the Captain but Natasha gave a ghost of a smile.

The two women stood in the center of the ring, sizing each other up. Gwen was half tempted to pull her fake injury move, but she doubted that that would work on Natasha. Steve maybe, but Natasha was too clever for that.

Natasha seemed to be waiting for her to make the first move. Gwen had no physical strength, but she was plenty smart. If Natasha wanted her to make the first move, she wasn't going to comply. So they circled each other in the ring, neither of them moving towards each other.

Natasha was a bit surprised by the girl's refusal to make the first move. It was easier for Natasha to get the upper hand if the fight went that way. Still, this girl had no previous training. She could probably get the upper hand either way. So she quickly and gracefully stepped forward and aimed a punch at the blonde's shoulder, trying to pull her punch.

Gwen didn't have enough time to register that Natasha had moved. The fist connected with her shoulder and she let out a grunt of pain.

Gwen honestly felt weird fighting this woman that was supposed to be on her team, that she had known for only a week. So, her retaliation was awkward and restrained. She aimed a kick at the Russian's side.

Natasha easily avoided the kick. She used it to her advantage to throw Gwen off balance by grabbing her leg and pulling. Gwen lost her footing and fell to the ground with an "Oof!" Natasha pinned her in a matter of seconds.

"You are really bad at this," Natasha said bluntly before she let Gwen back up into a sitting position.

Gwen muttered some not nice and vulgar words under her breath that would've made Steve gasp if he had heard them.

Steve was busy thinking about how much he was reminded of his past, before he had become Captain America. He used to be a skinny weakling picking fights in back alleys, fights he would always lose. Gwen looked just like he had back then. Now Steve knew what Bucky saw when he had to come to his rescue.

"You're doing fine for your first time," Steve told her. "Take a minute to catch your breath and we'll work on it some more."


After three hours in the gym, Gwen felt ready to collapse in her bed, but she didn't get the chance. It was time to feed Loki and she was actually quite starving herself.

She made two ham sandwiches and took one to Loki while she ate the other.

Loki was tossing a cup of sorts in the air and catching it when Gwen walked in. He stopped when he saw her and sat up, looking at the food eagerly. "You're late," he mentioned to her.

"And you're still an asshole," Gwen replied dryly, shoving the sandwich through the slot. Loki snatched it up and took a large bite. "Oh, by the way, your brother is coming tonight. Also, Tony wants me to invite you to movie night tonight."

"Thor is coming?" Loki asked, looking away from his sandwich. He looked disgusted at the suggestion.

Gwen nodded. "That's what Natasha said," she confirmed. "You don't look too thrilled by the idea."

Loki snorted derisively. "That's an understatement," he muttered as he finished off his sandwich. "And tell Stark that I will not be joining in on his movie night."

Gwen shrugged in reply. "Your loss. We're watching the best film ever made tonight." She wasn't sure why she was trying to convince him to come. She hated the guy. Why did she want him there? He would probably just ruin the movie.

Loki ignored this. "I need to use your restroom," he told her, standing up from the bed.

She nodded and wolfed down the rest of her sandwich before opening the glass door with the same five digit code she used to open the other door.

The first time she had done this, she had been a little scared. But Loki didn't seem to want to escape. He simply allowed her to escort him to the restroom and returned to his cage without any problems.

She let him out and again, he seemed calm. She led him to the guest bathroom which was just past the sitting room. While he was inside, she picked up her book and continued reading it.

"The Kite Runner," Loki read the cover when he left the restroom. Gwen put the book down again. "What's that about?" He was always looking for more entertainment. They had only given him three books, all of which he had read before.

Gwen was surprised that he was being somewhat open with her. Almost… friendly. "It's about this little boy in Afghanistan and his friend. It's… well, you have to read it."

"Do you enjoy it?" he asked curiously.

Before Gwen could answer, the elevator doors opened. In walked a tall, muscular, blonde man wearing red and silver armor. He looked into the sitting room and nodded to Loki. "Brother," he greeted him.

"Thor," Loki replied, his usual cold self returning.

Thor turned to look at Gwen and smiled. "And you must be Lady Guinevere!" he thundered before taking a bold step forward. He took her hand and kissed the top of it. "On behalf of my father, King Odin, Asgard thanks you for doing this service to us."

Gwen knew now that Thor and Loki were about as different as they could come. But now she wasn't so sure that that was a good thing. Loki was rude and annoying but at least he wasn't so forward. "Uh, you're welcome," she answered. "Uh, Loki was just using the restroom and I was about to escort him back to his cage unless you want to talk with him?"

Loki looked like he would rather do anything else. Thor simply shook his head. "No need. We'll have time to catch up at Stark's movie night."

"Oh, norns," Loki groaned. "I am not attending this movie night," he told his brother firmly.

Thor blinked and then shook his head vigorously. "Oh, but you must! It will give you a chance to redeem yourself in the others' eyes." Loki looked like he was going to argue some more, but Thor cut him off. "No. You'll be there, even if I have to drag you there," he insisted. Then, he shot Gwen one last smile. "I had better be off. I need to speak with Stark and Banner about the scepter. Excuse me." With that, he turned around, his cape billowing behind him, and returned to the elevator.

There was an awkward silence that settled over the two of them, but that was nothing out of the ordinary. They rarely exchanged more than five words at a time. Today was an exception.

"I'll go back in my cell now," Loki finally said.

"Oh. Right." Gwen stood and walked with him back to his room. She had left the doors open. That was something Steve and Natasha had instructed her to do. If she closed the doors, she would need to turn her back on Loki to open them again. She wasn't supposed to ever do that with Loki. She was to keep her eye on him at all times.

He stepped back in his cell without a fight. Gwen wondered why he never tried to escape. He complied, maybe unwillingly, but still. Why had he given up?

The girl hesitated to leave after she closed Loki in his glass cage. Then, she put the book in the slot and gave it to him. "If it's damaged in any way, I'll kill you," she threatened. He stared at her, looking a bit confused, but she turned and left, trying not to run out as she always did.


Thor quite literally dragged Loki to movie night with the Avengers. Loki did not look at all happy with the arrangement, and neither did half the Avengers when he showed up on the top floor with Gwen, Paige, and Thor.

Gwen had told Paige that she should come. Paige, who was beginning to trust this girl that she lived with, agreed.

"Finally!" Tony cried. "How long does it take you to get up here?"

"Be nice, Tony," lectured a strawberry blonde woman beside him. Gwen hadn't seen her around the tower before.

"Many apologies," Thor said. "My brother was being difficult."

"Reindeer Games being difficult?" Tony retorted sarcastically. "Can't imagine that."

Gwen caught Loki's glare towards Tony and decided to step in before Loki snapped. "And I can't imagine why he wouldn't want to hang around you, Stark, given how annoying you are," she shot at him. "Can we watch the movie now?"

Everyone was somewhat surprised that the young Avenger had stuck up for the god. She was always going on about how much she hated Loki. It was a part of their nightly dinner conversations.

"Let's do," agreed Sam eagerly. "By the way, kid, you got excellent taste in movies." Gwen returned his nod. She had come to like Sam. The ex-soldier was highly amusing and he made training with Natasha and Steve ten times more fun. Like her, he had no superpowers or super training of any kind. He was, of course, far stronger than she was, having been in the army, but whenever he joined them in training, he liked to joke around with Gwen and make fun of Steve. Neither of them dared tease Natasha.

There were three couches. The first one had Tony, the strawberry blonde woman, Rhodey, and Bruce. The next had Steve and Sam with room for one or two more. Clint and Natasha took up the other couch.

They ended up sitting Loki between Steve and Gwen, both of whom wanted to be close to him to keep an eye on him. Thor and Paige sat on the other couch beside Clint and Natasha. Maria Hill and Clara Anderson were nowhere to be found.

"Everyone comfortable?" Tony asked. "Do we have the popcorn? Right. Jarvis, put on The Silence of the Lambs."

Jarvis complied and the film began to play on the wall opposite them.

It was a dark film, very dark. Gwen had almost forgotten how disturbing it was. Occasionally, she would watch Steve's eyes widen at something, as if shocked that they would put that on the silver screen. Paige, on the other hand, just looked bored. She had seen things just as bad in Hydra and the gore of the film didn't disturb her in the slightest.

Tony would make random comments throughout the film. The first one being during the "fava beans and a nice Chianti" scene.

"Do you know what I just realized?" he asked everyone, as if he had just had an epiphany. "Reindeer Games and Copperfield here are like Hannibal and Starling."

Everyone groaned at the comment, telling him to shut up. "Have fun being called Starling from now on," Sam muttered to Gwen. He was sitting on her other side.

Gwen shook her head in disgust at the thought. She had seen the movie so many times, as well as the sequel, Hannibal, and she knew that Hannibal was supposedly in love with Clarice. She did not like the insinuation there. She herself had seen some similarities to Loki's and Hannibal's cages, but she would never have gone as far as to compare Loki to Hannibal himself. Loki was evil, but he wasn't that bad.

"He looks rather like father," Thor said in a loud, carrying whisper. On Gwen's right, Loki snorted softly, a smirk crawling across his face. Gwen looked over at Anthony Hopkins and then back to Loki. There wasn't much resemblance, if that's what their father looked like.

Come to think of it, Gwen realized that Loki didn't look anything like Thor either. They were practically opposites. Maybe Loki took after a different side of the family? She had no idea. Maybe she would ask him about it later. Or maybe Thor. Thor would probably be more willing to answer her questions.

Almost everyone seemed to really like the movie, and Gwen was proud of her choice. The only one who seemed uncomfortable was Steve. Gwen didn't blame him, though. She had been pretty disturbed the first time she had seen the film too.

Towards the end of the film, Tony was coming back from the bathroom when he crouched in front of Steve to talk to him. Gwen wasn't paying much attention to their conversation, but she knew that they were talking about their mission to find Bucky. Apparently, Tony had found another tip as to where he might be.

Paige suddenly stood up. Everyone turned to look at her. Her fists were clenched and her eyes were burning with anger that seemed to be directed mainly at Steve and Tony. With that, she stormed out of the room and marched her way towards the elevators. Natasha stood up quickly to go and catch up with her.

"What was that about?" Loki breathed to Gwen.

Again, Gwen was shocked that he seemed to be initiating a civil conversation between them. "No idea," she replied with a shrug. "She doesn't normally hang around with all of us. I was surprised that she even came tonight. Maybe she just got sick of being with us all."

"Shh!" Tony hushed them, putting a finger to his lips. Simultaneously, the two of them rolled their eyes at the billionaire, making him grin. Yeah, he was definitely going to start calling them Hannibal and Clarice.

At the end of the film, the lights came back on. Everyone stood up and stretched, talking with their neighbors. Paige and Natasha hadn't returned.

The strawberry blonde leaned across the back of their couch to tap Gwen on the shoulder. Gwen turned and she smiled softly. "Hi. Sorry, I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Pepper Potts. I work with Tony. And you're obviously Gwen. Tony's told me a lot about you."

"It's nice to meet you," Gwen replied with a polite nod and a tiny smile.

"If Tony's ever annoying you too much, just let me know," Pepper told her. Gwen's smile widened. She was starting to like this woman.

Thor was busy talking with Steve and Bruce. He didn't seem to be in any hurry to escort Loki back to his cell, so Gwen decided to do so herself. "Come on," she grunted, gesturing for him to follow her.

Loki didn't argue, he just followed her to the elevators. "Have a good night, Clarice!" Tony called to her. Gwen's fist clenched in annoyance, but she said nothing. She could hear both Steve and Pepper lecturing him about it though, which relaxed her somewhat. She generally liked Tony, but he could be a bit much sometimes.

"It annoys you," Loki said the minute the doors closed in front of them.

"What annoys me?" Gwen asked wearily, punching the button for their floor.

Loki nodded in the general direction of Tony. "Him calling you Clarice." Gwen didn't answer, but the response was obvious in her face. "But not him calling you Copperfield. Why?"

"Because," she snapped. She didn't want to explain it to him. He would just laugh at her.

Loki laughed softly at her anger. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but this girl amused him. "Could it have anything to do with how Hannibal feels about Starling?" he asked, feigning innocence.

"Could it be because I liked to be called by my name?" Gwen retorted right away. They reached their floor. Paige wasn't anywhere to be seen.

The god merely smirked at her obvious attempt to dodge the question. She made it far too easy to get a reaction out of her. He allowed silence to settle over them as she escorted him to his room, shutting the doors of the cage behind him, making sure he was stuck in there. "You fly off then, Little Starling," he told her, turning his back on her. Loki was still smirking as he quoted the film they had just watched. "Fly, fly, fly." He could practically hear her scowling, feel her glare on the back of his head.

Gwen couldn't believe the audacity of the man in the cell. He was really going to play that game with her? Well, Gwen wasn't going to play along. She slammed the door shut, refusing to comment on his new nickname for her.

Gwen was leaning against the door, sighing tiredly. She needed a Dr. Pepper. When she turned around, she was faced with Paige, standing about a yard away from her. She jumped a bit from shock. "Geez! What the hell are you doing?"

Paige said nothing; she just stared at Gwen. It was then that Gwen noticed the blood on her knuckles. "What happened?" demanded the elder of the two.

Paige hesitated before answering. "I punched the wall," she said softly. It was the most she had said to Gwen in her entire time in the tower. "I think I've broken my knuckles."

Gwen reached out to grab her hands. Paige jerked them away. "I just want to look," Gwen assured her. "I can help. Probably."

"You're a doctor?" asked Paige sharply. She had learned not to trust doctors during her time in Hydra. They did nothing to help. They only hurt her and did experiments on her.

Gwen shook her head. "No, but I've read lots of medical textbooks. And I was a nurse." Paige didn't know any nurses. So, she slowly lifted her hands up for Gwen to examine.

Gwen prodded at Paige's knuckles, making her wince. "Does that hurt?" Gwen asked and Paige nodded. "Can you make a fist?" Paige tried to make a fist, but it hurt too badly so she stopped. Gwen nodded. "Yeah, they're broken. Let's wash off the blood first, make sure the cuts aren't too deep. Then I'll call my dad and see what he thinks we should do."

Gwen led a hesitant Paige into the bathroom. She turned on the water. The liquid ran red down the drain. Gwen rubbed away the dried blood as gently as she could. Paige would wince occasionally, but she had a high pain tolerance. She had suffered far worse in her life. She would survive.

"Aren't you upset with me?" Paige asked softly.

Gwen's brow furrowed. "Why would I?"

"Because I punched a hole in the wall."

Gwen snorted. "Dude, you can turn the walls into Swiss cheese for all I care. So long as I don't have to pay for it, it's not my problem."

Her humor was lost on Paige. "The others will be mad at me," she stated.

"Probably," Gwen agreed. "But it's not like Tony doesn't have enough money to fix it. Although, if I were you, I would get a punching bag or something. There's plenty in the gym downstairs."

"That's where the weapons are," said Paige. "I'm not allowed down there."

Gwen shrugged. "Then sneak in. Or something." She reached up and turned off the sink, then grabbed a towel. She dried off her own hands first then gently toweled off Paige's. "I'm going to call my dad and see what he thinks we should do about your broken knuckles," she told the other blonde, pulling out her phone.

"Is he a doctor?" Paige asked, her face hardening.

Gwen nodded. "Yeah, why?"

Paige scowled. "Then I don't want his help or advice." She crossed her arms and sat on the couch.

"What?" asked Gwen in disbelief. "That's ridiculous. I'm going to call him." She was about to unlock her phone when she saw the deadly stare Paige was giving her. She slowly lowered her phone, hoping that she wasn't about to get murdered. "What do you have against doctors?" she asked instead, moving to sit beside her on the couch.

"The doctors in Hydra experimented on me," explained Paige in a low voice. "They tortured me. I learned quickly not to trust doctors. They don't want to help you."

Gwen's eyes widened, horrified by the idea. She tried to play it off, as if it wasn't something that bothered her, but her horror was plain on her face. "I… Wow, uh, I'm so sorry… But I promise that my dad is not like that. He's one of the good ones. He wouldn't hurt you." Paige stubbornly refused. "That's ok. We don't have to call him. I can just… wrap it up as best as I can. Unless you want to call Tony or Natasha or someone."

Again, Paige's face hardened and she shook her head furiously.

Gwen didn't argue with this and she stood up from the couch to dig in the kitchen drawers for some medical gauze. "What was up with you and Natasha leaving halfway through the movie?" she asked curiously. "Did the movie trigger you?"

Paige shook her head, keeping her eyes on her bruised knuckles. "I heard Rogers and Stark talking about Winter," she admitted softly. "They didn't tell me they were searching for him. None of them did. They lied to me. Just like Hydra."

Gwen knew that she was supposed to be sensitive about things like this, but she had never been good at doing what she was supposed to. "Well, I hate to break it to you, but everyone lies. It's not something that's exclusive to Hydra or the Avengers. You're just gonna have to get used to that if you're gonna live in this world."

Paige did not respond. She was used to receiving sympathy from the other Avengers. If she made a complaint or talked about Hydra, they all gave her the same look of pity. It was almost refreshing to have someone talk to her so bluntly.

"I didn't know that you knew Bucky," Gwen continued. "Did you meet him in Hydra?"

Paige nodded. "Yes. He was my trainer. I thought that he was somewhere we couldn't find him. I didn't know that the Avengers were looking for him, or that they had any clues about where he was."

"I'm sorry," said Gwen honestly. "Losing people sucks. But I bet Steve and the others are going to find him and get him to join us. He can't evade us forever." She found the gauze and returned to the couch. Paige allowed her to take her hands and wrap them up. She had a quick healing factor so it was probably unnecessary, but it would at least help the bones set better. "There we are. Do you want any pain medicine? I've got a crap ton of ibuprofen for cramps and stuff."

Paige shook her head. It didn't hurt too badly, just when she touched them.

"Ok. If you change your mind, let me know," Gwen told her. "I'm going to get a Dr. Pepper and head to bed. Uh… do you want one?"

"I've never had one," the ex-assassin admitted.

Gwen's jaw dropped. "You haven't? Ok, you have to. It's the nectar of the gods, I swear." She rushed to the fridge and grabbed two cans. She slid one across the counter to Paige, who caught it with ease. She popped open the tab, took a sip, and let out a sigh. Yeah, she was addicted alright.

Paige sniffed it apprehensively before taking a sip. She wrinkled her nose. The only thing they had given her to drink in Hydra was water. She wasn't used to the sweet liquid. It wasn't that it tasted bad, she just wasn't used to it yet. Paige swallowed and took another sip. She never rejected food. Food had been scarce in the Hydra base and she hung on to every scrap she got.

Gwen had already drained her can. She crushed it and threw it in the trash. "That's better," she sighed. "Well, good night, I guess."

"Good night," Paige responded, watching the blonde return to her bedroom. Paige was intrigued by this girl. She didn't treat her like the Avengers did. She was different. It was a good different. It was as if Paige's past didn't bother Gwen in the slightest.

Paige almost smiled at the thought.