The quinjet had been confiscated. "Oh come on," Scott said, annoyed, scowling at the police and military surrounding their ride.
"We need a place to lay low," Steve murmured, as they retreated from the extraction point. "Natasha, Clint, you have any safe houses nearby?"
"Not in Kansas," Clint said, and Natasha shook her head.
Sam checked the street names again and half-raised his hand. "Actually, I think I might know somewhere we can go."
Sam led them to a nice big family home on the outskirts of the town, and walked up to the back door. "There should be a key," he muttered, looking under a flower pot. He found it tucked into a pot of rosemary. "Gotcha."
He opened the door and ushered them in. "Try not to break anything," was all he advised, and led them into the living room.
A young woman wearing an oversized T-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts sat on the bright orange couch with her laptop and a cup of coffee. She yelped, startled, when they came trooping in. "Sam," she choked, blushing to the tips of her ears. "What-"
"You said I could come in case of emergencies," Sam said, unapologetic.
"I said you, not an entire football team of-" She suddenly realized why they were all in gear and her eyes went the size of saucers. "Oh my goodness. There are superheroes in my house and I'm in my pants." She tried to hide behind her laptop and tug her shirt down at the same time.
"My whole life I dreamed of saying that and I missed it by being somebody else," Steve suddenly piped up, giving her a knowing grin.
She blushed again, and then her jaw dropped. "Captain America watches Doctor Who?" she squeaked.
He nodded to her T-shirt, where a blue box whirled through space. "Had to. It was a classic."
Her eyes lit up with hero-worship. "I think I love you."
"Anyways," Sam said, rolling his eyes. "Guys, this is Katie. Katie, the guys."
The tired Avengers chorused 'hello's' and 'hi's', and Katie blushed again. "Hi, uh, so, why are you guys here again? And why didn't you call ahead so I could at least get dressed?" She looked at Sam accusingly.
"We didn't mean to inconvenience you," Steve said, when Sam shrugged. "We needed a place to lay low for a while before heading back." He decided not to mention that the reason they were hanging back was because officials were all over their exit strategy.
"Ah." She stood up. "Well, it's the least I can do for the people who saved the world." She eyed them critically. "There's a lasagna in the fridge and frozen pizzas in the freezer, help yourselves. Let me go dig out some clothes you guys can use."
"That's okay," Steve started.
She raised an eyebrow. "Unless you want to lounge about in fighting gear for hours?"
He grinned. "No I guess not."
She smirked. "Sam, with me."
He put down his wings. "Yes ma'am." He followed her down the hallway.
Natasha and Scott got started on warming up the food, and the others started to strip out of their battle gear, piling it carefully on the floor near the back door.
Katie came back with piles of clothes in her arms. She was now wearing a slightly raggedy pair of sweats. "Sam's in the shower," she explained. "There's another one, if someone wants to get started."
"Clint?" Steve asked, knowing that out of all of them he was probably the most tired.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll take it."
Katie handed the archer a pair of sweats and a T-shirt with a picture of a tractor. "Upstairs, second door to the left, use whatever you want. Towels are in a cupboard."
"Thanks." He disappeared up the stairs.
She handed out the rest of the clothes. For Steve and Pietro, long basketball shorts and sweatshirts, for Scott and Bucky, sweatpants and T-shirts, and for Wanda and Natasha, flannel pajama pants and T-shirts. "I tried to make it so everybody gets at least something warm," she explained. "And, there's sweaters and blankets and whatever. I know it's kind of cold."
"And yet you were out here with nothing but a shirt?" Natasha teased gently.
Katie blushed. "I was home alone, I just felt like it."
"Does anyone else live here?" Steve asked, inspecting the T-shirt he'd been given. It was definitely a men's shirt.
"Just my mom and my dad and my two other brothers and my younger sister, and, my other brother's room," she said, and when they all tensed, she added hastily, "but my parents are on a trip to Arizona to visit my uncle, and my two other brothers are in the army, and my sister is in college up at State, so it's just me."
"And what do you do?" Scott asked.
She grinned wryly. "I am the designated house sitter slash work from home computer programmer slash lazy Netflixer."
"There's one in every family," Scott said, shaking his head and giving a mock disappointed sigh.
Sam and Clint came back, looking clean and refreshed, and Wanda and Natasha went upstairs next.
Katie went over to Sam, who was watching the progress of the pizzas with interest. "You okay?" she asked quietly.
He nodded. "Fight was easy enough."
"But with everything that's happened," Katie continued, pitching her voice low, but not low enough that the two super-soldiers couldn't hear, "are you okay?"
Sam sighed and bumped her shoulder with his. "If I had to, I'd do it again," he said.
She bumped him back. "Okay," she said quietly. Then, slightly louder, "Lasagna's ready, everybody." She pulled away from him and got out some plates. She served single portions for Sam, Clint, and Scott, and gave the rest of the lasagna, almost the entire thing, to Steve, Bucky, and Pietro. "Here."
"The girls," Bucky protested softly.
Katie shook her head. "There's pizza, and you'll eat some of that too. You three need it more."
Steve gave her a small smile. "Thank you."
She returned the smile. "Anything for a fellow Whovian."
Steve poked Pietro in the side. "See? She likes the show."
"But it's so cheesy," the speedster complained.
"That's what makes it great," Katie said seriously.
Wanda and Natasha came back, their hair wrapped in towel turbans, and Steve urged Scott and Pietro to go shower. They left, and Pietro came back less than a minute later, dressed, his hair damp. "Done," he announced, flopping on the couch.
"Bucky, go," Steve said, nodding to the stairs.
"You first, punk," Bucky replied.
"Buck-"
"Steve," Bucky retorted in the same tone. "I wasn't in the thick of it, you were. Go on, now. Don't try and be a hero about it."
Steve rolled his eyes and went to shower.
Sam clapped Bucky on the shoulder gently. "Nice mom tone."
"I oughta have perfected it, after twenty years," Bucky grumbled. "Ninety-five years old and still makin' himself a martyr..." He grumbled his way through his lasagna.
Katie couldn't help but giggle.
Bucky raised an eyebrow at her. "What's so funny?"
She shook her head, still smiling. "Nothing." She didn't wait for him to reply before waltzing off to the kitchen to start the coffeepot.
Clint leaned over to Sam. "So who is she?" he asked in a conspiratorial tone. "Former girlfriend?"
"No." Sam sighed. "She's, this is Riley's family's home. His parents, they aren't here much because of... and his brothers are still enlisted, and Katie, she's the one that really helped me come to terms with everything. She's like, the baby sister I never had."
Clint nodded slowly. "Does Steve know all this?"
Sam nodded. "He knows."
The others around the table were silent for a moment, and Katie glanced over at them from the kitchen. Her expression sobered and she went to stand behind Sam, draping her arms over his shoulders. "Hey," she said, making them all look at her. "While you're waiting, do you guys play Mario Kart?"
Everyone was laughing when Steve came back downstairs.
Bucky went to take a shower, Sam suddenly found a reason to go upstairs at the same time, and Pietro helped Katie clean up the kitchen. "I have a question," she said, looking at him strangely. "You don't have to answer it."
"What is your question?"
"I thought you were..." She didn't finish her question, just waved vaguely.
Pietro shrugged. "I was healing for a very long time, and after the... well, everything, they came for me."
"And now you're all healed?"
"Yes."
"Good." She smiled at him.
Katie turned on the Wii, and the superheroes took turns standing watch and playing Mario Kart. She curled up in the corner with her laptop and watched them with a smile. "Ugh, if you weren't outlaws, I'd put you on Instagram. You guys are so cute."
"You can't say anything about us," Sam said sternly.
"I know," she replied. "I won't say anything, ever. You guys are the good guys."
Sam patted her knee. "I owe you one."
She smiled. "I got to meet the Avengers and help them out. We can call it even."
They stayed the night, sprawled over the floors and couches, and moved out in the early morning. It was two-thirty when they quietly left, one by one, to be less conspicuous. They were going to meet up and get the quinjet, and high-tail it out of the country.
Steve was the last to leave. "Thank you, Katie," he said quietly. "It really means a lot to us. And, I'm sorry, but, eventually, they're going to track our movements. You might get some... unwanted questions."
Her eyes grew round. "The government?"
"Yes, maybe. Maybe Iron Man."
"Oh," she said faintly.
"It might not happen, but if it does, you tell them the truth. We took your food, your spare clothes, and left in the middle of the night."
"That's all I know," she confirmed. She grabbed his arm as he was leaving. "Take care of Sam?" she asked.
He nodded. "We've got his back."
"Thank you." She gave him a brief hug. "Don't go looking for trouble, okay?"
He gave her a final grin. "Allons-y." And he was gone.
She locked the door and leaned against it, grinning. "He said allons-y," she whispered into the empty living room, and then squealed once, before returning to her online business.
AAAAAA
Katie heard from neither Sam nor the government's military for the next two days. She went back to her normal routine, building a website for a small company in Illinois to do business.
She was sitting on her couch, wearing a tank top and pajama pants, when a purple and red figure melted through the wall of her house. "Please do not move," the figure told her.
She stared at him, wide-eyed, and let the floating android figure take the computer from her lap. "Um..."
And then Tony Stark, in a gazillion-dollar suit and a pair of tinted sunglasses, walked through her back door.
Her jaw dropped.
"We come in peace," Tony Stark told her, giving her a reassuring grin. "Nice pajamas," he added, eyeing the Star Trek symbol print. "I prefer Star Wars, myself-"
"A futurist like you?" Katie retorted. "I don't believe it for a second."
Tony smirked. "I think I see why they came to you."
"Who?"
Tony frowned. "Don't play dumb, kiddo. They were here, two days ago. What did they want?"
"A place to lay low," Katie replied. "They ate all my frozen food and took my older brother's pajama stuff. And broke my Wii." She held up the broken remote that had gotten crushed in the excitement of a victory dance.
Tony shook his head. "Never let superheroes play with your stuff."
"Then give me back my laptop," she replied, looking at the android.
He handed it back. "Her records are clean, Mr. Stark."
"Well yeah," she said, "I haven't done anything."
"You knowingly helped fugitives," Tony reminded her.
She scowled at him. "And whose fault was that, Mr. Stark?"
He looked away for a second, put out, and then looked up at her, his gaze more sincere. "How did they look?"
She responded to the change in his attitude and smiled softly. "They looked good. They're okay."
He nodded. "Good." He fidgeted, and examined the Wii remote. "Thank you," he said quietly. "For helping them."
She nodded. "Least I could do."
"Yeah. Sam was your brother's wingman, right?"
She winced at the blunt reminder. "Yeah." Pointedly she asked, "So how's Col. Rhodes?" The superhero's fall had made international news.
He winced at the blunt reminder. "He's fine. Walking better."
"Good." She gave a brief smile. "War Machine rocks."
He snorted. "I'll tell him you said so. He'll get a kick out of that."
She held the laptop to her chest and looked at the two superheroes expectantly. "So is that it?"
"Yeah. Yeah, that's it." He gave her a nod. "Thank you for your cooperation, kiddo." He smirked and held up a hand. "Live long and prosper."
"Peace and long life," she intoned, giving him a silly grin. She watched Vision fade out of the house, and let Stark walk out the door. "I need better locks," she muttered.
"Yeah you do," Stark said, walking back to the doorway. He handed her a key from his pocket. "And move your spare key, for goodness' sake. Anybody could find it." He left again, turned into Iron Man, and blasted away, scorching the grass under his feet.
She tucked the spare key under a different flower pot and went back inside.
A day later, she got an unmarked box sent to her in the mail. When she opened it, there was a brand-new Wii remote, and a smiley face on a sticky note.
She grinned, and tucked it away for safekeeping in a drawer.
~Fin~