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Fridays were the days for sparring. Pietro had been put up against Pete, testing both of their agility. Pete landed a few blows, but was on the receiving end most of the time due to Pietro's speed. The younger boy dodged one of the others punches and went for his legs. The speedster hit the floor, his head bouncing up off of the floor. But he didn't get up. It took Steve and Tony to get him to come to.
“You okay son?” Steve asked.
“I'm okay.” Pietro said.
“That's enough sparring for today, hit the showers.”
The two boys nodded and headed for the locker room, Peter apologizing the entire way. The boys had music playing in the locker rooms. No one had realized that Pietro had gone completely quiet until he hit the floor, shaking.
Peter quickly shut off his shower and grabbed a towel, running to find help. He ran out into the gym, where he ran into Steve, who was beginning to explain what had happened to Wanda. Seeing the panic on the young boy's face, he didn't even have to explain before the two were rushing into the showers.
Wanda got there first, finding the shower stall he was in. He fell to her knees and covered his nude body with her skirts. He had stopped shaking and was now mumbling.
“I gotta get to Wanda. Wanda will fix it.” he was saying.
“I'm here Pietro.”
“I hit my head.” He mumbled as the water poured over them.
“I've got you.” She said as she tucked her arms under his to pull him up. “You gotta sit up baby, I don't want you to choke.”
On the other side of the locker room, Steve was standing with Peter and Tony. The former was trying to figure out what was going on. Steve and Tony had to take him out of the showers to calm him down.
“What happened in there? He was singing to the music and then he just fell.”
“He had a seizure.”
“A Seizure?” the young boy yelled. “Did I do that to him?”
“No no, absolutely not.”
“But he hit is head while we were sparring.”
“Yes you did, but he also didn't have his head gear on.”
“He took it off because he was hot.” Pete explained.
“And then he hit his head when you tripped him. But you didn't cause his seizure.” Tony said calming the boy down.
“Then what caused it?”
“Pietro has post traumatic epilepsy. You didn't cause this Peter.”
“Is he okay?” He asked.
“Wanda is with him, he's okay.”
Back in their room, Wanda was laying on Pietro's chest as he slept. Having eaten and taken his meds, he was out like a light. Her phone vibrated on the nightstand and she rolled over to get it.
you okay? need company?
The message was from Natasha.
everything is okay now. he's sleeping. company would be nice.
She got out of bed and changed into some sweat pants before going into the kitchen to put on the kettle. Natasha didn't have to knock for Wanda to know that she was at the door, she could feel her. She went to the kitchen alarm pad and unlocked the door, the light turning green on the other end. Nat let herself in and joined her in the kitchen. Wanda poured them both a cup of tea and sat on one of the bar stools.
“How are you, after what happened today?”
“I'm used to it. He's had this since we were fifteen. He acquired this condition protecting me, now I take care of him.”
“What happened?”
“He wasn't wearing his head gear when he went down.”
“You know that wasn't what I was asking.”
“You're asking how it happened.”
“You don't have to tell me if you don't want to.”
“I need to tell someone.” Wanda finished her tea and motioned that they moved to the living room. Natasha went to sit on the sofa while Wanda went to make sure her husband was still asleep. She joined the redhead on the sofa and tucked her legs under her. “Well I guess I'll start from the beginning.”
“No pressure.”
“As you know, we were orphaned when we were ten. We lived in a storm cellar until we volunteered. But before that, we scavenged the streets for food and clothes. When we were fourteen, we met a kind chef who gave us the leftover bread from the restaurant to take home instead of throwing it away. We went to the alley to pick up the bag of bread and we were on the way back to our home when a group of thugs attacked us. Pietro tried to get me away but then they grabbed me. They were shouting and laughing about how they were going to have a great time with me. That's when he began to fight back. He was small but he was strong. He took two of them down before he was struck in the head with a pole. I thought he was dead when he wasn't moving. Then there was a loud bang. The owner of the restaurant, Svetlana, had come out the back and saw what was happening, they ran away after that. There was a lot of blood. She helped me get him into her car and she took us to the hospital. It turns out that he had nearly died. His blood pressure had dropped so low that blood was barely flowing to his brain. That coupled with the blow, changed him. He has these seizures now. Post-traumatic epilepsy due to a traumatic brain injury and lack of blood flow. He almost died protecting me, and then he actually did die, but he was brought back to me. So much happened before we volunteered, you wouldn't believe.”
“Like what?”
“Strucker thought the experiments would cure his epilepsy but it didn't. It just made it less frequent. They used to happen at least twice a week but they dwindled down to maybe once a month. But before all of that we were nearly murdered, I was nearly raped. We got pregnant, but we were in no position to have a baby. Even though he had began working with Gus, we still lived in a cellar. We couldn't afford to go anywhere else. But I am at peace now. I have him by my side and I will take care of him, as he did for me.”
“What happened to Gus and Svetlana?” Natasha asked.
“The last time we saw them was when we were fighting Ultron. They were in the helicarriers. After that I do not know, but I wish to.”
Knowing Wanda wasn't prying into her mind without permission, Natasha smiled to herself, thinking about what she could do about that.