Sorry it took so long- I was on vacation.

Clint never thought that so many bad things could happen on the farm. Pepper was bedridden now, and Maria's arm was now seriously injured. He felt guilty for slicing open her already injured arm, but there was no other way that he could have saved her.

Clint dialed the Avengers Tower.

"Hello?" he said.

"Hi, Clint! How are they doing? Are you bringing them back over here soon?" Natasha asked. She sounded tired to Clint's ears.

"Yes. Most likely tomorrow if Maria wakes up. She's still resting. We'll bring them back on the Quinjet." Clint replied. "How are you holding up over there? Bruce and Betty behaving themselves? Steve not driving you crazy?"

Natasha laughed. "We're all okay, Clint. It's just very nerve-wracking knowing that Maria's practically bleeding her life out and Pepper could lose the baby and we couldn't do anything but sit there. I hope that they're alright."

"I do, too. It's just..."

"What?" Natasha asked, her voice laced with worry.

"I'm wondering about Maria's career as a SHIELD agent. What's going to happen now? I'm certain that her arm isn't going to be reliable. I had to slice her wound open again, and now I think her muscles are so traumatized that they'll twitch a lot and throw off a lot of her coordination."

"Now you know how I felt, Clint. It'll be okay. She'll know that you saved her life, and that's all that matters." Natasha reassured him. "I've got to go. Steve and Bruce want to make waffles." Clint smiled slightly.

"Bye, Nat."

"Bye, Clint."

Wanda was in Clint's kitchen trying to make pancakes with her powers. It wasn't working. Flour bags kept exploding all over the place, and it looked like it had snowed. There was flour everywhere, including Wanda's red sweatshirt.

"What happened in here?" a soft voice asked. Wanda spun around so abruptly that the cup full of sugar she was trying to get into the bowl exploded. Maria was leaning against the doorway, a slight smile on her face. Her arm was wrapped in white gauze from her wrist to her shoulder.

"Nothing, I was just trying to make pancakes." Wanda stuttered. Maria raised her eyebrows.

"I thought you could control your powers more than... that." she said, motioning toward the flour-covered kitchen. "I assumed because you can stop a train, you can make pancakes." Wanda crossed her arms over her chest.

"I was a little distracted. It's been very stressful, and I didn't get a lot of sleep. Plus I can see what Clint, Laura, Tony, and Pepper are thinking, and that doesn't help at all." she reminded Maria. The brunette sat on a stool beside the counter.

"Can you hear my thoughts?" she asked softly. Wanda swallowed and nodded.

She could sense Maria's worry, even though her face was smooth and her forehead showed no sign of what she was feeling inside. The agent was worried about what she was going to do with her fresh, new wound. She wasn't sure if she would be able to go back in the field.

"You have no reason to be afraid, Maria Hill." Wanda told her. "You're a very good SHIELD agent. Coulson will fight tooth and nail for you to get back into the field, and if not, you can become an Avenger. With the rest of us." Maria was playing with a pencil in her left hand.

"What are you going to do with an Avenger who can't use their right hand? I don't think writing is an option anymore. I know the science of the human body, and I know that once a muscle is severed, it's very hard to get it back in peak position. I can't even do that without somehow tearing the seal off the artery." Maria said bitterly. "I've tried to write my name and it looks like a kindergartner's handwriting. I've lost so much because of this injury."

"But you've gained so many people who are rooting for you." Wanda reminded her. "Hardships bring people closer together. You have a friend in every Avenger, and probably most SHIELD agents, too. Even if you can't go into the field, we'll still be there."

"Being an agent is what I was born to do. It's what I love, and I don't want that stripped away from me." Maria said. "I never thought my career could end because an Avenger threw a knife at me, and another was forced to slice my arm open to save my life. It's not what I thought would end my career. I thought I'd die in combat and be given an agent's funeral. Not slowly watch the blood drain out of me knowing that I can't stop it."

"Maybe Tony will make you something to help with your arm." Wanda suggested.

"The thing is, Wanda, maybe I don't want to become the next Winter Soldier." Maria said it with a teasing voice, but Wanda could tell that she truly would not accept anything that Tony gave her. She was a proud woman, Wanda knew. All the Avengers sat on high and mighty horses, but all of them really were hurting inside. She had noticed that with Steve and Natasha. They really weren't as arrogant and self-centered as she had originally thought.

"If you want, Maria, I'll help you with your arms. Both of them. We can work on precision with your left hand and just making your right arm stronger." Wanda offered. Maria smirked.

"I think your power needs more precision, if you want to know how to make pancakes." she replied.

"I suppose you're right. Pancakes first, training after?" Wanda suggested.

"It's a deal."