Evil didn't stop for Christmas, the inconsiderate bastards, so the whole team was having a Christmas themed post-mission wind down as they sat on the couch on Christmas Eve. Every single one of them had wanted to sleep in their own beds that night, so they'd all worked very hard on the op to get it done in time.

They had all also definitely not stayed for down-time on location before climbing into the jet and hauling ass home as fast as the Stark-modified quinjet could get them. They did sometimes. Clint liked collecting souvenirs for his wife and kids from the exotic places his work took him. Bruce sometimes did a round in the aftermath or the nearest ghetto, offering medical aid to anybody who needed it. Steve liked to help clean up any mess an op had caused... that sort of thing.

This time, they'd left all of that sort of thing to the completely civilian support crew that Darcy had sent after them as soon as they'd given the all-clear, and right now they were all sitting together in the communal lounge watching The Muppet Christmas Carol. Not just the Avengers either, because Jane, Helen Cho, Betty Ross (boy had she been fun to find), Pepper and Happy, were all there too.

Scott would be off in the morning to spend Christmas Day with his daughter (with permission from the baby-momma), Steve was going to fly out to DC to visit Peggy for a bit some time in the afternoon, while everybody else with still-living family would be rotating through the communication room to get on Skype and wish people "Happy Christmas".

They were up to the Ghost of Christmas Present and his very cheerful song when they were invaded by a man in red.

"It's true wherever you find love, it feels like Christmas!" he sang along as he tackled Darcy from behind.

Instantly setting all of the Avengers on high alert, even as tired as they were.

For the sake of clarification, this particular jolly man all dressed in red was also carrying two katanas strapped across his back, had a handgun strapped to each thigh, a couple of pouches that definitely had a few more clips of ammo, and the 'red' was spandex that continued up to include a full mask over his face and head. No part of this guy's skin was visible.

"Wade, get the hell off of Baby Girl before somebody guts you again," a voice growled.

So many people got even more tense than they had before.

"Wade as in 'Cousin Wade'?" Jane asked.

"Hi there!" the weapon-toting man in red chirped back happily. "Doc Foster?" he guessed.

"I'm guessing Darcy's talked about me," Jane agreed with a smile. "Nice to finally meet you. Hi Victor, hi Logan," she called over to the two men who were standing just a bit behind, and even waved.

"Frail," Victor acknowledged.

"Doc," Logan said at the same time.

"Victor!" Thor cheered in recognition. "Come, we are watching a most enjoyable performance of seasonal cheer! Is this your brother, the Valiant Darcy's father?"

"That's me," Logan agreed at the same time as Victor grunted. "Wade, get off her. I want a hug from my Baby Girl, and she can't give me one if you're pinning her to the couch."

"Oh alright, if I must," Wade agreed, and rolled so that he wasn't draped over Darcy as well as the back of the couch. The motion did mean that he was draped over Bucky instead. "Hi there," he greeted.

"If Wade gets annoying, you can hit him. Hard as you like. He can actually take it," Darcy assured Bucky with a gentle pat on the knee before she stood from the couch. "Hell, the jerk-wad re-grew a hand once. Seriously, no one will mind if you feel the need to break his face."

"I'll mind," Wade objected. "Getting my face broken still hurts, Baby Girl, even if it's not permanent."

"Shut up, Wade," Victor ordered absently.

From behind the mask, Wade blew a raspberry at his grandfather.

As soon as Darcy was up, and this interesting little aside had devolved into childish noise-making, Bucky reached up with his boinic arm and dragged Wade over the couch completely and dropped him down so that he was sitting on the floor in front of the couch, rather than looming over it.

"Or that works," Wade agreed. "Nice arm. Not as impressive as Colossus, but I get the feeling you're probably more fun than him too, so it evens out."

"Young Colossus or old Colossus?" Logan asked.

"There's more than one?" Wade yelped, spinning around and climbing up to lean back over the couch to stare at Logan.

Bucky yanked him back down and to the floor again.

"Guy has a teen-aged kid, same trick," Logan said absently. Mostly because Darcy had reached him by then and he was more interested in wrapping her up in a hug. "Hey Baby Girl. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas Dad," Darcy answered as she hugged him right back. "Merry Christmas Uncle Grumpy Cat," she added, and reached out a hand to him from within her father's hug.

"Merry Christmas, Baby Girl," Victor replied with a chuckle and an amused shake of his head.

"Wait a bit, back up, Baby Girl?" Tony asked, eyes wide in his face. "Deadpool, Sabertooth, and Wolverine are calling Darcy 'Baby Girl'?"

"And she's calling them 'Cousin Wade', 'Uncle Grumpy Cat', and 'Dad'," Clint pointed out, his expression just as shell-shocked as those of many others in the sitting room.

"And you two knew about this?" Nat questioned, green eyes focused sharply on Jane and Thor.

"First time meeting Wade," Jane admitted with a shrug, "but I've heard of him, and Logan and Victor both came to visit us in London after the Dark Elf thing."

"I regrettably missed meeting Darcy's father then, but I was privileged to meet her uncle at that time, when he came to tutor her in the use of the blade," Thor added with a boyish grin.

"Uncle Grumpy Cat," Bucky said softly, and something clicked into place. "Darcy said that the guys who had kidnapped her couldn't handle her love for Grumpy Cat."

Whatever Natasha said, only those who spoke Russian understood. The tone implied some kind of oath, swear of desperate supplication though.

"Woah, wait and back-up yourself. Kidnapped? When did this happen?" Wade (aka Deadpool) demanded sharply.

"June. Shut up Wade. You and Vanessa were planning your wedding at the time. Of course I wasn't going to mention it!" Darcy snapped out, kicking him in the head as she did so . "Uncle, take off the damn coat and go sit down. Dad, put out the stinking cigar, and you come join us too."

To the surprise of all of the Avengers who knew the reputations of these men, they all did just as they were told. Victor even draped his coat somewhat-neatly over a dining room chair before he took the offered seat next to Thor.

Logan put off sitting down until Darcy had reclaimed her place next to Bucky, and then he sat down on her other side.

"Perfect, now everybody shush, and rewind the movie back to It Feels Like Christmas, because Wade made us miss it and it's an awesome song," Darcy instructed happily as she snuggled down into the cosy spot she found herself in. Really, between one guy with a vibranium arm and another guy with an adimantium skeleton, Darcy was surprisingly comfortable. "We can play twenty questions when the credits start rolling, and not before."

To the shock of Tony, Clint, Sam, Steve, Nat, Rhodey... everybody except for Darcy and Wade, really, Victor and Logan both quietly started to sing along with Bless Us All, adding a couple of nice basses to the song that didn't really have any vocal part lower than a high tenor. Even Wanda and Vision were staring at the pair with wide eyes, rather than watching the screen. Though, granted, Jane and Thor just looked more impressed at Darcy, who had clearly forced her older male relations to watch the movie enough times that they'd learned it.

And invented appropriate bass harmonies to go with.

Darcy and Wade were as surprised as everybody else though when Bucky added a quiet "Amen" to the end of the song while Tiny Tim started coughing on screen.

"Amen," agreed Victor and Logan in soft-voiced solemnity.