Author's Note: This is a short story idea I had in my head for a few days since I am currently in the process of developing Cadence's relationship with Pietro. I really wanted to make a story about how they met. I am hoping that I kept everyone in character and the idea of a vulnerable Pietro is kind of cute in my eyes.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers or the MCU. they're owned by Marvel and Disney. I do own Candence because she's my OC.

Warnings: None

Pairings: Pietro x Cadence Wilson (OC)

Words: 2,943

Cadence remembered the day she met the man she knew that she'd love forever. It wasn't as if she had expected to find love at her job nor did she have the courage to even mention it to her brother. It'd be weird for him to understand her sudden love for what essentially was a dead man. She remembered the day they brought him in, it was hours after the battle in Sokovia. The helicarrier landed and she saw Hawkeye running into the SHIELD hospital carrying a body. It wasn't a civilian but rather a newly initiated member of the Avengers team. She could tell the archer was worried as he screamed for medics before finally laying the dead man on the table with care.

For a moment she wasn't sure what to do, one-minute Cadence was heading to Director Fury's office with some files and then the next she was standing outside a room watching as the doctors worked on saving the life of the fallen hero. She found herself standing outside the door next to Hawkeye, not saying a word but silently praying with him for the young man's recovery. It wasn't as if there was anything the two could do about it nor could they say anything more than a few words that were either a prayer or in Hawkeye's case berating himself for getting caught by a machine called Ultra or Ultron or whatever it was called.

Shaking her head Cadence once again went to the small window and made out the doctors trying to wake the young man. However, it was all over when she saw them cover his face with a white sheet and doctors looking down in sadness. They had done all they could and weren't able to save the fallen hero. Looking over her shoulder Cadence saw Hawkeye sitting on the bench, his head against the wall, and his hand covering his eyes. She wasn't sure if he was shedding tears or praying but she knew he'd probably shed tears once the doctors came out to tell him of the loss.

Walking back to the window Cadence looked in and saw the doctors talking amongst one another before she saw them wheel in a large crate? Or was it casket made for members of the Avengers? She made out the faint outline of three doctors lifting the young man's body and placing him inside the casket-like item. She raised an eyebrow and saw them close it before pressing buttons. What was that thing? Were they going to send it into space or something?

Giving a soft sigh she went over to where Hawkeye sat and looked at him as she put her arms around his shoulders and hugged him close. She could feel him shaking and her shirt become wet. The archer was crying as he already knew that his comrade had died.

~A week later~

"Sam, I'm going to work now," Cadence called out to her brother Sam Wilson as she stopped outside the bedroom that belonged to him. "I'll be home late since I want to stop at that new restaurant near Stark Tower, apparently Tony recommended it to me."

Sam Wilson better known as Falcon opened his door and looked down at his younger sister with a small smile. He placed a hand on her head and ruffled her hair. "Have a good day Candi."

"First of all, Sam, call me Cadence when I am here, and second please stop messing up my hair, it took me two hours to get it the way I liked it." Cadence moved his hand from her head. "Also, can you be sure that the others help Wanda get used to the city layout? She got lost when she went out on her own, so please be nice and help her."

"I'll tell the others to help her," Sam promised. "Go on now Candi, I'll see you later and maybe if you're good I'll let you join me and Steve on a midnight jog."

"Oh, you are so kind," Cadence gave a mock bow before heading down the hallway. She passed by Steve Rogers better known as Captain America. "Hi Captain, Bye Captain."

"Have a good day!" Steve called after her, he watched as she walked down the hallway, tilting his head to the side as she did. His face held a small look of interest. Did all women in this era wear miniskirts to work? He turned around when he heard a snort and saw Sam staring at him. "What?"

"I saw you staring at Candi," Sam snickered. "But remember, she's MY little sister and I won't have anyone, not even you stare at her like that."

"Sorry, sorry," Steve held up his hands in mock surrender. "Come on, let's get going, we still have to set up the training room."

Sam laughed. "Alright." He walked out of his room and shut the door before slugging Steve in the shoulder. He fanned his hand out of the sheer pain that went through him. "Man, you're lucky you're my friend, I would've had to send red wing after you for ogling Candi like that."


"Agent Wilson,"

Cadence walked into the office of Fury as she held the stack of folders in her arms. She had been busying herself with sorting through the large list of charges that had been accumulated from the last battle the Avengers had fought. Oh, the joy of being able to do accounting with SHIELD when not on a mission.

"Yes Director?" Cadence asked sitting the folders on the desk as she saluted the man sitting behind the desk.

"I have an assignment for you," Fury said. "Are you familiar with the Avengers' battle in Sokovia?"

"Yes, I am well aware of it," Cadence answered. "My brother told me about what happened, and I saw Agent Barton bring in a body from said battle."

"Then you won't be against the assignment I have for you," Fury brought up a screen with the image of the young man that Cadence had seen being placed in the strange casket-like device. "I want you to help with one of our Avengers."

"Unless you have a Ouija board then I cannot help a dead man," Cadence replied dryly. She straightened up when she was glared at. "Sorry sir, a little dead person humor."

"He isn't dead," Fury explained bringing up another screen showing the silver-haired young man lying in a hospital bed hooked up to some machines. "There was something to his fast metabolism that helped him stay alive."

"But he died." Cadence insisted. "I saw him get placed inside a casket when it was determined he was dead."

"That was one of Dr. Cho's regeneration cradles," Fury explained. "Agent Wilson, I am asking you to complete this assignment."

"Alright, so I'm to help him get back on his feet before he goes back to the Avengers?" Cadence asked. "So basically, I'm playing Florence Nightingale to a fallen hero?"

"Essentially yes," Fury said. "And I don't want Speedy to wreck this place the moment he realizes he's fully healed. You're to keep him in check."

"Fine," Cadence said waving a hand. "I'll take care of him."

"Good." Fury said. "You may leave now."

"Yes sir," Cadence walked out of the office mumbling under her breath. "Bald one-eyed bastard…"

"I heard that!"

"Damn he has good hearing," Cadence grumbled walking down the hallway and to the elevators to go to the medical wing.


"Ok, I need to go in there check on him and then walk back out," Cadence said to herself as she paced outside of the room. "Ok, that should be easy, I can make sure he's comfortable and get out of there without making small talk."

She turned and went to open the door before groaning and pulling her hand away. She couldn't just waltz in there and tell him that she'd been assigned to look after him. For god's sake, he was a grown man! He probably would stare and laugh her out of the room. Shaking her head Cadence cleared her thoughts.

"Ok, I can do this," She said to herself and pulled open the door. She was greeted by the sound of machines and the sight of the man lying in the bed with his eyes closed. She kept herself quiet and walked over to where he lay. She began her task of checking the machines monitoring his heart rate and making sure that his pillow was at least fluffed.

"Wonder why I have to take care of you," Cadence said quietly as she began the task of fluffing the pillow behind the young man's head.

She looked down at him with a small smile taking note of his features. She had to admit he was rather handsome, the way his hair fell over his forehead and his chiseled features. What stood out the most was the strange color of his hair, it was a silvery blonde, but the back had hints of brown in it.

As she worked, she didn't notice that the young man's hand moved as it lifted from the bed and took a hold of her wrist.

"What the hell!?" Cadence let out a loud scream and tried wrestling her wrist away. She gave out an annoyed grunt and tried prying the hand off her. "Let go! I swear I will kill you! I'll smother you!"

The sound of a low chuckle was heard, and Cadence saw the young man sit up slowly, his hair tousled and out of place. God, he looked painfully good that way. She wanted nothing more than to run her fingers through it. She bit her lip to suppress her gasp of awe at the beautiful blue eyes staring at her in interest.

"Are you an angel?" the young man asked, his voice laced with a thick accent that Cadence quickly assumed was Sokovian.

"No, my name's Cadence Wilson but please call me Agent Wilson," Cadence said. "Could you release my wrist?"

The young man let her wrist go and he looked at her closely. "You work for SHIELD?"

"Yes, I do," Cadence answered as she resumed her tasks she'd been assigned. "I'm here to help you with your rehabilitation so you can go back to fighting with the Avengers."

"So, you're a SHIELD agent yes?"

"Yes, I am," Cadence answered with a roll of her eyes. She turned and looked at him closely. "Are you in any pain?"

"No, I'm not but…" the young man put a hand on his stomach when it growled. "I'm hungry."

"Well, you're in luck," Cadence went over to the nearby wall and opened a small silver door that had a tray of food inside. She grabbed the tray and closed the door before she went to where the young man was and sat the tray on the small table. "Here, this is chicken soup, I know that it's not much, but we need to be sure you're able to hold that down before you get anything heavier."

"Thank you,"

Cadence smiled and watched him a moment, she saw him shakily holding the spoon, with a shake of her head she took it from him and proceeded to dip it into the soup before holding it to his mouth. "Here, eat."

The young man stared at her a moment before obeying her. She was actually feeding him? Was this something that all SHIELD agents did? Or was it something that Americans did for one another?

"So, your records say that your name is Quicksilver," Cadence began as she fed him more soup. "It's an interesting name."

"My name's Pietro."

"Oh, that's a nice name, I am guessing that's Quicksilver is just a codename you have now," Cadence looked up at him and held back a laugh as she picked up the napkin and wiped his cheek gently. "You're from Sokovia, right? You used to work for Hydra and then for that robot thingy Ultron?"

Pietro nodded. "Yes," he quickly remembered something. "Where is my sister?"

"Your sister?"

"Yes, my sister's name is Wanda."

"Oh, you're Wanda's brother?" Cadence asked with a laugh. "She's with the Avengers at home."

"You know her?" Pietro asked. "Is she ok? Is she safe?"

"She's about ok as one can get after a battle," Cadence saw Pietro look down at his hands quietly. "Don't worry, I'm sure she'll be glad to know that you're ok."

Pietro looked up at Cadence. "You think so?"

"Yes, but we'll work on telling her once you're able to leave that bed," Cadence explained. "And once you finish your rehabilitation."

"Rehabilitation?"

"Yes, you were dead after all," Cadence set the now-empty bowl aside and worked on opening the small cup of juice for him. She held it up to his lips. "Drink."

Pietro did as he was told before continuing his questions. "And I'm still in Sokovia?"

"No, you're in New York City," Cadence explained. "You were brought here to be taken care of, and given the best medical treatment."

"Oh…"

Cadence smiled softly. "Don't worry, you'll be fine," she said patting his shoulder. "You just need to rest up and recover."

"Could you get me some more food?" Pietro asked. "I'm very hungry."

"You just ate but of course, I'll see what I can do."

Cadence laughed and went back to the wall panel as she pressed a few buttons and the door opened a few minutes later with a large bowl of soup and an orange. She grabbed the tray and went back to Pietro's bedside and proceeded to feed him.

"Do all people in America do this?" Pietro asked. "The feeding someone."

"No, just when people are too weak to hold the spoon on their own," Cadence said. "And of course, we do this for babies."

"I'm no baby."

"Didn't say you were," Cadence said. "Your hands are too shaky, and I doubt you'd want a lap full of soup."

Pietro looked at Cadence and had to admit she was pretty from the side and the way her petite hands held and guided the spoon was rather adorable. He took note of her slender frame and could tell that she was like one of the lithe fairies that his mother used to tell him and Wanda stories about when they were children.

"You know Pietro, I've read a few files about you," Cadence's voice broke the silence. "You have super speed, and you got those powers from being experimented on by Hydra."

"I did it to get revenge on Tony Stark," Pietro said quietly. "I hated him and the Avengers of years because of what they did to my parents…. but that was until they showed me a better way."

"Trust me, you made a good decision to join the Avengers," Cadence said. "All of them are pretty cool, well except Tony, he's a prick sometimes especially when it comes to his relationship with Pepper, oh let me tell you, he has serious commitment issues."

"You are close with him?"

"Meh, define close," Cadence shook her head. "I am acquainted with him if that's what you mean, I am closer to Dr. Banner than anyone else but that's because my best friend has a small crush on him, I feel so bad when she finds out he is in love with Nat."

"Dr. Banner? Who is that?" Pietro asked thinking it over for a minute. "Oh, you mean that green giant?"

"No that's the Hulk," Cadence corrected. "Dr. Banner is who the hulk really is, he's a pretty nice guy once you get to know him, I also hang out with Nat from time to time."

"Nat?"

"She's Black Widow," Cadence said. "She's one of the Avengers along with my older brother Sam."

"You have a brother?"

"Yep," Cadence said. "He's way older than me, he's like in his umn…40's now?" She held back a laugh at the thought of Sam pretending to be slain by her words. "I was a surprise baby for my parents."

"Are you close with them? Your parents?" Pietro asked.

"Yeah, I was," Cadence said quietly. "They were killed when I was really young, so I ended up being raised in foster homes with my brothers and sister until Sam was old enough to raise us on his own."

"You're an orphan like me and Wanda."

"Sort of," Cadence said gently as she forced a smile. "Come on enough about sad backstories, you need to rest and I have to go take care of a few things."

"Will you come back to see me?" Pietro asked quickly.

"Yeah, you'll see me around," Cadence said with a small smile. "I'll be back later on, I'll help you with your dinner before I go home for the night."

Pietro nodded and smiled. "Thank you, Agent Wilson."

Cadence laughed as she walked to the door, she turned and looked at him. "Call me Candi."

"See you later Candi," Pietro said brightly as he laid back down tiredly.

Cadence smiled and walked out of the room as she shut the door behind her. Maybe this assignment wouldn't be so bad after all.