Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I don't own anything
After spending a few days with her ex-husband Melinda May isn't ready to head back to the Playground and so she decided to go see two of her oldest, closest, friends, a decision that changes everything.
ONLY SEMI AOU COMPLIENT (no Barton family. No Bruce/Nat romance, PIETRO LIVES)
After spending a couple of days with Andrew finally getting the closure that they never so many years before Melinda May made her way to upstate New York to spend time with friends.
As she is able to get into the New Avengers facility with ease Melinda makes an internal note to tell Natasha that her security sucks. As Melinda walks into the facilities main building she has to admit that being backed by Tony Stark's money clearly comes with perks as it's a far cry from the tunnels and struggling to afford weapons and fuel that she has been experiencing for the last year.
"Excuse me, can I help you?" A voice says and Melinda turns around to a man who she knows to be Sam Wilson.
"Yeah, you can actually. I'm looking for Natasha Romanoff. She's expecting me." Melinda explains as she knows better than showing up out of the blue and surprising Natasha and so she called first.
"Sure, um." Sam says looking around as he isn't actually sure where Natasha is, but as he looks up he sees someone who would know, "Hey Cap! Can you come here?" Sam calls.
"Sure." Steve says and he runs down, "What's going on?" Steve says when he is standing before Melinda and Sam.
"Where's Romanoff?" Sam asks, "She's got a visitor." Sam explains.
"Hi I'm Captain Rogers, and you are?" Steve asks, looking at Melinda and thinking that maybe he's see her before.
"MEL." A voice says before Melinda can respond and she turns to see Clint Barton, "Nat didn't tell me you were coming." Clint says rushing over as he knows that Melinda wouldn't be there if she didn't talk to Natasha first.
"That can't surprise you." Melinda says, giving Clint a look.
"Ohhh I've missed you." Clint says getting close to Melinda and throwing his arms around her and hugging her. As he does Clint picks her up and swings her around, doing something that only he could get away with, a fact that he is very well aware of.
"Put me down you idiot." Melinda says, though she is smiling to herself as she has really missed Clint. As they watch both Sam and Steve are shocked as they have never seen Clint great someone so enthusiastically, "And I've missed you too." Melinda admits once Clint puts her down on the ground.
"What are you doing here?" Clint asks as he knows what Melinda's been doing since S.H.I.E.L.D fell, he knows who she's been with so he knows how big of a deal it is for him to be there with a bag, a bag which he is pretty sure has everything of any importance that Melinda owns, even potentially everything she owns considering everything that's happened.
"That's a long story." Melinda admits.
"Want to tell me a drink? I owe you after all." Clint says with a smirk.
"You owe me about twelve." Melinda counters.
"True, and I will pay up, but first want to find Nat?" Clint asks.
"Of course."
"Then come with me, Mel." Clint says putting his arm around Melinda and leading her in the direction of the gyms where Natasha is.
"Okay, was who was that?" Sam asks Steve, sounding shocked.
"I have no idea." Steve admits, wanting to know.
"If that's how Barton greats her I really want to see what Romanoff does." Sam says
"Yeah, me too." Steve says and he and Sam follow the two former S.H.I.E.L.D agents.
"So, where is Nat?" Melinda asks as she and Clint walk through the halls.
"Gym, she's giving the new recruits some lessons." Clint explains.
"Alone?" Melinda asks as she knows that most people can't handle Natasha's teaching methods.
"Maria's with her." Clint explains.
"That's not a comfort, Clint." Melinda tells him.
"Wow, I can't believe you're saying this; Miss Agent with the record of sending the most rookies to medical during training." Clint says with a smirk.
"You're one to talk, you're in second place." Melinda reminds him.
"Which is why Maria said I'm not allowed anywhere near training." Clint informs Melinda, who can't help but laugh, a real laugh, one that she is only starting to get used to having again.
"What?" Melinda asks, seeing the look on Clint's face.
"I've missed hearing that." Clint admits, "It's been too long."
"Yeah, I guess it has." Melinda admits as she and Clint arrive at the gym.
As Clint and Melinda walk into the gym Melinda sees Natasha giving instructions to Maria and people she knows to be James Rhodes, Sharon Carter and twins Pietro and Wanda.
"Nat!" Clint calls, "You forget to tell me something?" he asks.
"May." Maria and Sharon, both of whom know Melinda, say shock.
"I figured you would prefer to be surprised." Natasha comments, "You're timing's perfect, I was just about to give a demonstration, do you want to help me out?" she asks Melinda curious.
"Of course." Melinda says handing her bag to Clint before removing her shoes and jacket, which has her gun in it, and handing them to Clint to.
"Everyone gets back." Maria says as Clint purposely walks back, knowing perfectly well how much space Melinda and Natasha need when they spar
"What's going on?" Sam asks as he and Steve walk into the room and Maria, Rhodey, Pietro, Wanda and Sharon walk over to Clint.
"You'll see." Clint says with a smirk as he knows that everyone is going to be very impressed with what they are going to see.
"What's Mel doing here?" Maria asks Clint in a whisper as she walks over and stands next to him while he puts Melinda's bag over his shoulder.
"I have no idea." Clint admits as Melinda and Natasha start to spar.
"Not even a minute and they're already sparing." Sharon says, going between surprise and amazement as even though she knows both Natasha and Melinda it seems fast to already be sparing, even for them.
"It's how they say hello." Maria explains and those who have never seen Melinda and Natasha fight watch in shock as Natasha and Melinda spare. It being clear that the two of them are both highly skilled and close to one another in skill level.
"Okay, who is that?" Sam asks shocked after a minute as unless they are enhanced he has never seen anyone come close to holding their own against Natasha, and not only is Melinda doing that she is fighting back, actually managing to land blows.
"Agent Melinda May." Maria says.
"S.H.I.E.L.D Legend." Clint adds with a grin.
"Legend?" Steve asks, not being able to help his curiosity.
"Yeah, though she hates that." Maria explains, "She was my SO."
"And mine." Sharon adds.
"And mine." Clint adds, "She brought me into S.H.I.E.L.D." Clint explains and Steve and Sam realise that that explains his reaction.
"May started S.H.I.E.L.D at 18, she was recruited by Peggy Carter herself." Maria explains, and Steve realises that that's why May looks familiar, he's seen a picture of her in Peggy's room, "She worked closely with Fury, and was Phil Coulson's partner since they started." Maria explains.
"Okay, that's an impressive resume." Sam comments.
"You have no idea." Clint says, sounding proud of his friend.
"Why haven't we met before now?" Steve asks curious as it seems, to him, that May is a perfect candidate for the Avengers.
"She's was in pain." Wanda says, "She's hurting less right now, but the scars still remain and fresh ones have begun to form that may end up hurting more." She informs the others, causing Clint to frown.
"Did something happen to her?" Pietro asks.
"Yeah, you could say that, Kid." Clint say causing the others, at least those who don't know anything about the story of the Cavalry or Bahrain, to exchange confused looks, honestly he is more concerned about what Wanda said about the fresh scars than the past.
"What's May doing here?" Fury asks walking into the room, with The Vision, and seeing what is going on before anyone can say anything.
"No clue." Clint answers, "But I'll find out."
"Okay are you two going to stop anytime soon? Coz I'd like a drink now." Clint says, about twenty minutes later, and as they fight both Melinda and Natasha roll their eyes, but at the same time they both agree without speaking that they'll stop after one of them get knocked to the mat again.
It takes almost ten minutes, but Natasha gets knocked to the mats, and once she does Melinda helps her up.
"I win." Natasha says as Melinda helps her.
"Yeah, you do." Melinda says as she got knocked down more than Natasha did.
"I'm glad you're here." Natasha says as she pulls Melinda into a hug once she is standing.
"Me too." Melinda admits as she returns the hug.
"So, what did you learn?" Natasha asks, looking at Rhodey, Pietro, Wanda, Sharon and Sam.
"Never to get into a fight with either of you." Rhodey says.
"Good answer, but not the point." Natasha says, "Think about it, I want an answer tomorrow." She informs them, "Did you say something about a drink?" she asks Clint.
"Oh yeah." Clint says, "Maria you joining?" he asks as Melinda uses him to keep her balance while she puts her shoes back on.
"Maybe later, no good comes from drinking with you three." She tells them as she has experienced that way too many times.
"Your loss." Natasha says.
"Yeah, no, I'm pretty sure it's my gain." Maria admits, receiving three identical eye rolls in response.
"We'll see you later." Clint says and he, Natasha and Melinda leave, Clint still holding Melinda's bag.
"You'll check up on them in a few hours, right?" Fury says to Maria, trying to make it sound like suggestion though Maria know it's not.
"Of course." Maria answers.
"Good." Fury says before leaving.
"Why would they need checking up on?" Pietro asks curious.
"Because no one can drink like Barton, Romanoff and May." Sharon says, "Except maybe you." She adds looking at Steve.
After leaving the gym Clint, Natasha and Melinda head to Natasha's rooms and as before Natasha and Melinda have even sat on the couch Clint has poured them drinks.
"So, do you want to share that long story now?" Clint asks curious as he sits sideways, over the arm rest of a chair after handing Natasha and Melinda their drinks.
"No, but I will." Melinda says, "I left."
"S.H.I.E.L.D?" Clint and Natasha asks shocked.
"Yeah." Melinda says with a nod, "Since S.H.I.E.L.D fells things have been complicated but I thought Phil and I were partners again that we were a team, but he was lying to me the entire time." Melinda reveals, "And the person I was training found out the truth about Bahrain and….. After everything that happened I just needed some time away." Melinda admits and Clint and Natasha exchange looks, both of them realising that there is something that Melinda isn't saying.
"Well, you can stay here as long as you want." Natasha tells her.
"You could even stay permanently if you wanted to." Clint says, knowing that there is no chance that Melinda will even consider it, but wanting to make the offer anyway.
"I'll think about it." Melinda says to Clint and Natasha's shock, before she downs the shot that she is drinking.
Hours later Melinda has passed out from drinking too much while Clint and Natasha, are only slightly tipsy because after they realised how far from okay Melinda is and thought it would be better if they didn't drink.
"Is she okay?" Natasha asks Clint as he walks back in the room from carrying Melinda to Natasha's spare bedroom.
"We both know she's not, but she's asleep and seems to be in no danger." Clint explains, "What I want to know is what the hell happened." Clint tells Natasha.
"You and me both." Natasha admits.
"Do you think we should call Phil?" Clint asks as he sits down next to Natasha.
"Not until we know more." Natasha says, as she would bet on Phil being at least part of the reason why Melinda is so far from okay, "But I just sent a message to Maria, she's been communicating with Phil she might know something."
"It's worth a try." Clint says, "She doesn't let herself drink enough to pass out, not unless things are really bad." He says, it being clear that he is worried.
"I know." Natasha says as they hear a knock on the door, "Come in Maria." She calls and not just Maria but Fury walks in too, which honestly doesn't surprise Clint or Natasha.
"Where's Mel?" Maria asks curious.
"Passed out." Clint answers, simply.
"What the hell has been going on?" Natasha asks looking between Maria and Fury who exchange a look, a look which both she and Clint recognize.
"No. don't even think about saying what you're about to say." Clint tells them, anger in his voice, "You owe us, after waiting months before telling us Phil was alive you owe us." He says as it was only a few weeks before S.H.I.E.L.D fell that he and Natasha found out that Phil was alive.
"Things have been difficult, that much I know." Maria says, giving in first, "Phil started to experience side effects from the procedures that brought him back, and Melinda was doing her best to watch his back while knowing that she might have to put him down if it came to it. Phil ordered her to if he got too bad." She says and both Clint and Natasha feel anger at that as they know what an order like that would have done to Melinda.
"An agent, Carter's cousin, died on a mission months ago and another, the agent May has been training and who she had become quite close to, gained abilities." Fury says, doing so because the look Natasha is giving him tells him that he is not going to get away with not saying anything, "There was another group, led by Robert Gonzales that thought they were the real S.H.I.E.L.D, and they infiltrated Phil and Melinda's, it was basically a Civil War." Fury admits, having been completely briefed by Coulson so he knows exactly what happened, "While that was happening, after helping Coulson escape, May found out that he had been lying about many things, including what he was doing with me, and the fact that he had been seeing Andrew behind her back, and since then things have been far from okay between them." Fury explains, Phil didn't come out and say that but it was clear from what he said, didn't say, and implied.
"The agent who developed powers was found by others like her and the leader, who turned out to be the mother of the agent, made it seem like S.H.I.E.L.D was starting a war so that she could start one. There was a battle, people died. The agent who May had been training turned against her, fought her. The agent came back and helped fix things, but Phil lost a hand." Maria explains and Clint and Natasha exchange confused looks as they can't see Melinda leaving Phil after something like that which means that things between Phil and Melinda are worse than it seems, "The last time I talked to Phil he said that Melinda went on holiday with Andrew."
"How long ago was that?" Clint asks.
"Only a couple of days." Maria answers, "He said that she left three days ago."
"Mel called me yesterday to say she was coming by if that was okay." Natasha informs the others.
"Which means things with Andrew either went really well or really bad." Clint realises, "Anyone want to take bets on which?"
"Not particularly." Fury says.
"Do you think Mel's going to stick around or head back?" Maria asks curious.
"I honestly couldn't say, and I've known Mel for twenty three years." Clint admits and that honestly scares him as he is usually able to get a pretty good idea about what Melinda is going to do but at the moment he has none.
"Well if she's staying then there needs to be a place for her." Natasha says before leaving, needing to talk to someone.
After leaving her rooms Natasha heads straight to the gym where she knows she will find the person she wants to talk to. Just like Natasha was expecting she finds Steve one of the stronger punching bags, just like he does most nights.
"I know I'm interrupting your brooding time, but I need to talk to you." Natasha says.
"From what I heard I expected you to still be drinking." Steve says as he turns around.
"Yeah well, Mel drunk enough for all three of us." Natasha informs Steve.
"Is she okay?"
"I don't know." Natasha admits.
"And that worries you." Steve realises.
"It does." Natasha confirms to Steve's surprise.
"You've known Agent May a long time, right?" Steve asks, attempting to get some explanation about who Melinda is to his friends.
"Yeah, since '97." Natasha explains, "After Clint, she was the first person to welcome me to S.H.I.E.L.D, she went to bat for me." She says as she walks over and sits on the pile of mats, "Clint was facing charges and jail time, he risked everything for me and Mel fought for him, she fought for both of us." Natasha reveals, as Steve walks over and sits next to her without a word, "She talked to me, I'm still not entirely sure how she managed to get into the room I was in, but she did, and she talked to me like a human being. It was only five minutes and the next thing I know she was defending me to Fury. She was telling, not asking, telling, Fury to give me a chance and she took me, and Clint who basically everyone wanted out of the agency, on as her responsibility, any mistake we made would have been on her, but she didn't care, she wanted us to have a chance. I'll always be thankful for that." Natasha admits as she knows that if it wasn't for what Clint and Melinda did for her then she wouldn't be who she is today. Everyone else, even Phil, took longer to come around, but not Melinda and Clint.
"Agent May seems like a pretty great person." Steve says, being amazed by the story.
"She is." Natasha confirms, "Mel had been working with Phil Coulson to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D since the fall." Natasha explains, not worrying about what she is saying as Fury explained everything to Steve, and Tony after Ultron, "But I don't know if she's going to go back, whether she can. If she can't does she have a place here?"
"Absolutely." Steve answers, not even needing to think about it.
When Melinda wakes she is confused about where she is and what is going then the events of the before comes back to her, along with a massive headache. It takes longer than usual but after a few minutes Melinda gets up and heads to the other room so that she can start Tai-Chi.
Melinda has only been doing Tai-Chi for a few minutes when she hears two steps of footsteps and as soon as she hears then Melinda knows exactly who they are. She isn't surprised to hear Natasha's as quiet often she and Natasha do Tai-Chi together, but she is surprised to hear Clint's.
"I thought you were allergic to being up early." Melinda says looking at Clint as he and Natasha come into her line of sight.
"I am, but I wanted to talk to you and the best time for that is when you're doing Tai-Chi." Clint inform his friend.
"It's also the most annoying." Melinda comments as she focuses on her movements.
"Since when has that ever stopped us?" Natasha asks and Melinda gives an amused smirk at that.
For a while Melinda, Clint and Natasha are silent while Melinda does her Tai-Chi routine and Clint and Natasha watch. All three of them trying to outdo the others with stubbornness, something which is not easy to do.
"Okay we can either be silent all day waiting for one of us to crack or we can actually talk about what we're all thinking." Clint says after about half an hour of silence.
"You just cracked." Melinda says as she finishes the last of her routine.
"Yeah, well, one of us have to you and you two are ten times more stubborn than me." Clint says with a shrug.
"More like a hundred." Natasha corrects, and Melinda nods, "So… How's Andrew?" Natasha asks, watching Melinda closely for her reaction.
"Good." Melinda says, not bothering to ask how Natasha knows they've talked, "He's engaged and we got some closure."
"That's good." Clint says as the three of them walk over to the table, "What's going on Mel? Really?" he says and Melinda avoids looking at Clint and Natasha as they all sit down.
"Hey, this is us you're talking to, after everything we've been through, everything we've seen and everything we've done there nothing you can't tell us." Natasha says, attempting to be as supportive as possible.
"S.H.I.E.L.D fell, it was my life and it fell." Melinda says, knowing that if it was anyone other than Natasha and Clint sitting with her then she wouldn't be saying what she is going to say, "But I didn't dwell on that because I had other things to focus on. I had to help rebuild and lead, help Phil deal with the side effects of TAHITI and train Skye, I had to teach her how to be an agent, so I didn't have time to dwell on what I had lost."
"But now you have." Clint realises.
"I though Phil and I were partners, but we weren't." Melinda says, looking hurt about that, "He asked me to shot him if he lost it and he didn't tell me what he was doing with Fury or that he was talking to Andrew. He just told me enough to use my loyalty for his own good." Melinda says, not really sure how she feels about everything but she does know she is hurt, and sighs, "I know we're spies and I know that keeping secrets is what we do…"
"But it still hurts." Natasha finishes and Melinda nods, "That's okay Mel, we're not the robots people believe us to be."
"Sometimes I think that would be easier." Melinda admits, surprising and honestly scaring, Clint and Natasha.
"No you don't." Clint says, knowing that or at least hoping that.
"Don't I?" Melinda asks, "Phil hated me when I kept secrets from him and then he turned around and did the same thing." Melinda says as that was one of the things that got her the most, the fact that Phil knew how much it hurt to be the one lied to and still did, "Between that and what happened to Skye, it's all too much. I don't know what to do. I don't know if I can go back." Melinda admits, shocking Clint and Natasha and causing them to become worried about her.
"Then don't." Clint says, "If you don't want to then don't. If I've learnt anything in the last three years it's that you've got to do what matters to you, not what's expected or what others want." Clint says, internally he is hoping that his friend stays because then he can help her, but he also knows that if Melinda goes back to S.H.I.E.L.D then he's going to visiting a lot.
"I talked to Steve last night." Natasha informs Melinda, "If you don't want to go back to S.H.I.E.L.D then there's a place here for you, with us." She says and Melinda is surprised by that, though a part of her is grateful that Natasha has given her that option.
"You don't have to make up your mind now but just think about it." Clint adds and the three of them drift into silence once more.
"I think." Melinda says, uncertainly as she isn't sure whether it is the right choice, "I think I want to stay here, at least for a little while."
"Then welcome Home." Natasha tells her with a grin, glad to have Melinda there even if it is just for a little while.