AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter was going to be longer, but I just started a job that has me working crazy hours and I haven't been able to devote as much time to this story as I would have liked to, so I'm going to break this chapter up into two smaller chapters, sorry. Anyways, with my limited time this chapter also didn't get as well of a thrice over proof reading that the other chapters got, so if you spot anything let me know!

"Mom," Wanda screamed as she ran into her apartment, "mom please, Lia is hurt."

Magda took one look at the bloody girl in her sons arms before she grabbed her keys, "in the car, now," she said as she rushed them back out the door, "do you need me to carry her Pietro?"

"No," he said as his hold tightened around Lia, "I can carry her." Magda noted her sons overly protective nature of the girl, and stored his reaction for later when she wasn't in such a hurry.

It only took the family five minutes to reach their silver Ford Fiesta that was stored in the parking garage across from their building, but it felt like an eternity to the twins. Magda held the door open for Pietro, but he just looked from Lia to the back seat in confusion. "Let me see he for a second and you can just hold her in your lap." Pietro nodded and handed Lia to his mother before moving to sit in the car, "buckle in please."

"Mom," Pietro protested as if to say they didn't have enough time for such trivial matters as seat belts, but he quickly buckled in anyways then motioned for her to hand Lia back to him.

"Make sure you support her head," Magda said as she sat Lia down into Pietro's lap. She watched as he situated her in his lap so that he could put one arm around her waist and hold her to his chest and use the other arm to hold her shoulders so that her head was on his shoulder. "Good, just make sure she doesn't roll around, okay?" Pietro just nodded his head and tightened his grip so Lia was more secure in his lap.

"What happened," Magda asked as she situated herself in the front seat as quickly as she could. It normally took about 20 minutes to get to the hospital from where they were, but she was sure if they took a back road that could make the drive in as little as 15.

"It was Jason," Wanda explained, "when Pietro went inside to get new gloves he decided to pick a fight."

"This wasn't about that swing incident the other week was it?"

"Yeah it was," Wanda fiddled with the sleeve of her sweater, "sorry mom." Wanda couldn't help but feel like this was somehow her fault. If she had walked away instead of getting in a fight over a swing than this wouldn't have happened.

"It isn't you fault, sweetie," Magda told her daughter, "Jason is a bully and we all know it. One day he'll get what's coming to him, but if this was about the swings how did Lia get involved?"

"Jason told her not to be my friend anymore. He threatened her, but she stood up to him anyways" Wanda tried to fight tears from falling. No matter what her mother said Wanda still felt responsible for Lia being hurt. Swings incident aside, if she and Pietro hadn't forced Lia to be their friend than Lia wouldn't be passed out bleeding in the back seat of her mother's car.

The rest of the car ride passed in silence, Pietro couldn't say anything as he cradled Lia close to him. All he felt was rage and guilt, he should have known better. Jason had tried to bother his sister when he had his back turned before. How could he be so naive as to think that Jason would leave his sister alone just because someone else was playing with her. He should have made them go upstairs with him to get new gloves, or he should have just dealt with the small tear in his old ones. Anything would have been better than leaving the two of them alone with the other kids. Anything would be better than seeing Lia in her current state.

Pietro looked down at the broken girl cradled in his arms and took a detailed inventory of the injuries that he could see. There was blood dripping from her left brow, which was split open pretty wide. Her nose was crooked as well as a nasty purple shade, there was a thing tickle of blood from her nostrils that blended with the blood that was falling from her mouth. That was what worried Pietro the most, her lip was split like her brow, but although the gash looked like it had clotted the blood from her lips looking fresh, as if it could be coming from inside.

He had briefly seen the first blow that Jason had dealt as he exited the glass double doors of the building, and Lia was a small girl, as well as a few years younger than he and Wanda. He had heard in school that the younger someone was the softer their bones were. All Pietro could think about was the possibility that Lia was hurt on the inside as well as the outside. The only thing that lightened his spirits was the steady rhythm of her chest moving up and down.

Once they had finally reached the hospital Pietro's mother hurriedly took Lia from his arms, "take your sister and find the waiting room. I'll be there in just a minute." Magda rushed through the sliding glass doors of the hospital, "help please, this in an emergency!" The nurse from behind the front deck rushed over and took one look the girl's face before calling for backup.

Soon a team of nurses grabbed Lia from Magda's arms and rushed her back into the labyrinth of treatment rooms. "If you could come with me mam, I have a few questions for you," asked the one nurse that remained in the lobby. She walked Magda over to a glass wall, and as they turned the corner there was a series of three small makeshift cubicles where they nurses could gather personal information from various patients. "If you could have a seat at number two someone well be here shortly to ask a few questions." Magda only nodded as she sat in the uncomfortable hospital chair.

The cubicle was a bleak grayish blue, the dull atmosphere was somehow enhanced by the bleak lighting. Magda had been fortunate enough that the twins were never injured enough to have to go to the emergency room, so this was a new experience for her, she would have imagined that the room would have been a little cheerier, as it was now this room did little to help her mood.

After a few minutes a nurse entered the cubicle and quickly began to ask questions, "So what is the girls name?"

"Lia."

"Last name?"

"Oh, I um I don't know. She is a friend of my children, and her mother wasn't home, so we brought her in."

"Hm," the nurse looked at the computer screen for a second, "and your name mam?"

"Magda, Magda Maximoff."

"Okay, give me one second Mrs. Maximoff, I'm going to go check on something really quick."

Magda nodded as the nurse left. She sat for a few minutes, just looking around and reflecting on the events of the day. As she drove to the hospital she had forgotten how little she had known about Lia. She already felt connected so to the little girl that had stood up for her daughter while Pietro had been upstairs. Plus Lia's quiet demeanor made it very easy to get attached to the child.

"Well Mrs. Maximoff, you're in luck, Lia Saitov is a patient that Dr. Faust is familiar with.," the nurse said as she sat back down and began to eagerly type on the computer screen.

"I'm sorry, why is that?"

"We see Miss Saitov and her daughter quite often here. The girl attracts trouble in a way I've never seen before. I'll be able to fill out the rest of the paper work and contact her mother. If you like, you are more than welcome to wait in the waiting room till Miss Saitov arrives."

"Yes," Magda said in a slight daze, "I uh, I think we'll do that." Slowly she stood up and began to make her way out of the cubicle while wondering what the nurse meant by 'quite often' how much trouble can a girl as shy as Lia make?

"And Mrs. Maximoff," the nurse called before she exited towards the waiting room, "if it's any consolation, Lia is a tough little girl. I'm sure she'll be just fine." Magda just nodded at the nurse with the best thank you smile she could muster before leaving the cubicle.

She paused slightly outside the waiting room as she took in what the nurse had just told her. Lia visited the hospital so often that the doctor remembered her by name. 'But she is so soft spoken. I can't imagine Lia being involved in enough fights for the doctor to know her name.' After a few deep breathes she entered the waiting room to find the twins sitting on a couch. Wanda was leaning her head on her brother's shoulder, and he had his arm around her and was rubbing comforting circles into her arm.

"Is she going to be okay," Wanda asked Magda once she had made her way to the chair next to them.

"I'm sure she is sweetie, the doctor is still looking at her though. Hopefully we'll know in a few minutes. Lia's mother is on her way too, so you'll be able to meet her."

"Oh," Wanda said weakly with glazed over eyes, "I'll be right back." Slowly she got up from her seat and walked over to the bathroom.

Magda took this opportunity too get a good look at her son. Pietro looked a total mess, the front of his dark blue shirt was covered by a large brown stain from where Lia's blood had dried, and he had some blood caked on the side of his face and neck. "Maybe we should get you cleaned off a little," she said as she pulled a wet wipe from her purse and moved so she was kneeling in front of him. Pietro said nothing as she began to wipe at his cheek. "It's not you fault you know," as soon as she said that his jaw tightened. It had just been a stab in the dark at whatever was bothering him, but it seem she had hit the nail right on the head. "Jason is an awful bully, any decent young man would have never done anything like that."

"But I knew that already," Pietro said, "I should have been there."

"We've talked about this, you can't be there to protect your sister all the time. The same goes for Lia. We can try to protect our family and friends, but we can't always be there."

"But I should have been. I saw Jason on the playground. I knew he kept watching us. I should have known he was just waiting for me to walk away. My gloves weren't even that bad, I could have just kept them."

"Hush," his mother commanded, "this is not your fault Pietro, and I know you didn't let Jason walk away unscathed." Magda felt a sense of strange pride at the mischievous smirk her son gave her as soon as she suggested that Jason was hurt as well. She erupted into a bittersweet laughter and tousled his hair, "that's my boy. Now no more of this moping, I'm sure Lia wouldn't want you to feel this way."

"Yes mom."

After a few minutes Wanda came back, and the she returned to her place by Pietro's side. The family sat in what would have been silence if not for the occasional cough of someone else in the waiting room, and the alarming news on TV. Magda never understood why hospitals insisted on playing such depressing programming in an already depressing environment. Currently the TV was talking about how tensions had been because of a terrorist group located new Sokovia. Perfect, exactly what I need to brighten up our day.

"Magda Maximoff." Magda looked surprised that her name had been called, but she walked over to the nurse anyways, "may I speak to you for a moment please?"

"Of course."

The nurse turned and left the waiting room and led Magda past the white two-way doors and back into the labyrinth of treatment rooms. After a few turns along the hallway they came to a room that had a large window so you could see in from the hall. Magda gasped at all the machines that were hooked up to Lia, who still looked passed out on the hospital bed. "Is she okay?"

"Yes mam, she's fine. She was awake a few minutes ago actually. She must had fallen back to sleep. If you would like the doctor can come talk to you in a moment about her current condition."

"Shouldn't you be consulting her mother?"

"Miss Saitov is a very busy woman. She won't be able to get off of work for another three hours. She assures us that she'll be here as soon as she can, and in the mean time she asked that you be consulted about he daughter's condition."

"But I don't even know the woman."

"Miss Saitov is a very reasonable woman. She understands her daughter doesn't trust easily. I suppose she figures if her daughter can trust you with her care that she can as well. Anyways, you're more than welcome to sit in the room, or you can wait out here. The doctor won't be long."

Magda nodded, and watched as the nurse walked away. Decided against standing awkwardly in the hall and entered Lia's room. The first she noticed was the steady beeping of the machine that was hooked through the top Lia's gown. The heart monitor wasn't the only thing hooked up to the girl. Lia had two IVs hooked into her left arm. One on the top of her hand which was connected to a bag of clear fluid, and another on the inside of her elbow which was hooked up to a blood bag. Magda hadn't imagined that Lia had lost so much blood that she would need a transfusion. There was also a clear face mask over the girl's mouth and nose that was hooked up to another machine on the girl's right. They had also cleaned up the girls face, and she could see that Lia had some stitches on her left brow as well as a thing bandage loosely covering her busted lip. They had also reset the girl's nose, leaving behind nothing but a nasty purple bruise and some swelling.

Magda walked around to Lia's left arm and observed her Ivs, for some reason the idea of the blood transfusion, as well as whatever was in the clear bag didn't sit well with her.

"She'll only need about half the bag," came a masculine voice from the door.

"Oh, doctor, sorry I was just-"

"No need, this is the first time you've seen her since you got here," the man said with a charming smile, "my name is Dr. Faust, I normally take care of Lia when she comes in." Magda shook Dr. Faust's hand and took in his clean shaven appearance. The man looked nerdy which his blonde comb over, and was rather lanky. He didn't look as charismatic as most doctor's did, but there was an air of authority about him that Magda couldn't deny.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Dr. Faust."

"Likewise, it's nice to see that Lia has someone else besides her mother looking after her. Not that Miss Saitov isn't a good mother, just that I don't think I've ever seen little Lia with anyone else."

"She is rather quiet, she seems to have enchanted my twins though."

"Good good, she is in need of a few friends. Anyways, I suppose you would like to know what is going on," Dr. Faust said as he grabbed a clipboard from besides the bed, "Lia has suffered from multiple blows to the head. the swelling around the eye and lip should go down in a few days, she'll need to keep those stitches in for at least a week. We also had to reset her nose, but the breakage was relatively small, so no permanent damage there. The problem comes from the blow to her chest. Lia is currently suffering from a pulmonary contusion, caused by a sternal fracture."

"I'm sorry what?'

"Someone fractured her sternum and now she has a damaged lung. Now the damage is minimal, it's mostly just a large bruise, however it seems to be making it a little hard for her to breath. This also caused some internal bleeding, that coupled with the two large cuts on her face caused her to lose quite a bit of blood. We did clean out some fluid from her lungs, and we'll have to keep her over night. Depending on how she feels in the morning she may be able to go home sometime tomorrow. When she does go home I would recommend keeping a close eye on her, no strenuous activity for the next week as well. It can take up to seven days for her lungs to fully heal. She's a tough girl though, she'll probably bounce back in six."

"You say that as though this is normal for her," Magda was alarmed by how casual he made Lia's injuries sound. It sounded like they could have been fatal if she wasn't rushed here.

"It is true that, if left alone, these injuries could have become very serious. However, Lia is a strange case, we don't know her name here for nothing. Her visits cycle every few months, and as far as seriousness goes, for her this is about average. It's hard for Lia to make friends you see. She is quiet, tends to watch more than talk, the other children often see her as strange and different. On a playground with a bunch of other children, being different can be dangerous. Lia often finds herself the target for many attacks. It may not seem like it, but she is a lot tougher than her small appearance lets off."

A brief silence befell the room, Magda wasn't sure what to say at this point. She had never imagined that the other kids could be so hard on someone. She thoughts about it, and realized that Lia had more in common with Pietro and Wanda than she thought. The twins came off as strange to the other children, but Pietro had always stood up for Wanda, and when fights started they always had each other, but Lia had no one. Although after today she might find it hard to ever shake the twins again.

"Now Miss Saitov won't make it for a few more hours, but you and your children are more than welcome to come sit with Lia. She'll probably be going in and out of consciousness, but the company should do her some good. You may also bring some food back here, however Lia can't eat anything heavy, I would recommend liquids while she is here, the straw would be more comfortable for the face mask."

"Thank you very much Dr. Faust," Magda said before turning to leave the room, "I'll go grab the twins, I think they would want to see her."

"The pleasure is all mine Mrs. Maximoff, if you have any other questions let a nurse know, and I'll get back to you when I can." The two adults nodded to each other, and Dr. Faust turned to leave but stopped at the door, "if you like I can have a nurse bring your kids back. That way you won't get lost trying to find your way back."

"Thank you, I would appreciate that," Magda said before watching the doctor leave the room. She sighed and looked around noticing only two chairs against the wall next to the door. She grabbed a third chair from the hall and moved them all next to Lia's bed, knowing very well that the twins would insist on sitting as close to Lia as they could.