DISCLAIMER: I don't own the song that serves as inspiration/titles (Maroon 5) or the characters/world (Marvel).

BOBBI

Bobbi checked her appearance one last time in the mirror. She wasn't used to having such short hair, but she would get used to it. Deep cover was sometimes a challenge, but she loved the thrill. She looked down at her phone; she wasn't due at base until five, and it was barely two. Maybe she would invite Izzy to go see Men In Black 3 before her mission.

There was a knock on the door of her apartment and she paused, her phone halfway to her ear. Izzy and Clint would always just burst right in, whereas Victoria, Mack, and Nat were knock-first kind of people. Victoria was on assignment, though, and Mack had been transferred to the Iliad. She supposed it could be Nat, but she hadn't heard from her since she went to Russia two weeks ago.

She opened the door and was shocked to see Lance, looking almost panicked.

"What're you doing here?"

"I happened to be in the neighborhood, actually. Have you been watching the news?"

"No, why?"

He came right in and turned her television on, flicking through the channels until he found what he was looking for. It was New York, Midtown she thought, and she could see Stark Tower in the background.

What she was not expecting to see, however, were all the aliens.

She wasn't paying attention to Lance's words about what had been happening so far, nor was she zeroing in on the reporter's voice, who was mentioning how lucky they were that they were there for their interview with Tony Stark. All she was thinking was What the hell, and why S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't seem to be on sight.

"Hold up," Lance said as the camera was zeroed in on a very distinctive figure.

"That's Clint!" Bobbi shouted in shock, "Which means…"

She let her eyes skim the screen until she finally found Natasha's red hair. Bobbi nodded to herself, giving a little chuckle.

"That's so like them. Be in the middle of important missions for who-knows-how-long and then scamper off to New York to fight aliens with Iron Man and Captain America and the Hulk and… Thor."

"You know those people?" Lance asked, in shock. Bobbi nodded. "I mean, I know that you know Clint and Natasha, but you know the giant green monster-thing? And the bloke who looks like he just walked out of a renaissance fair? And the one who looks like a walking American flag?"

"Captain America was in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody for a little while last year. The Hulk we've been keeping tabs on for the past two years, and Thor we've encountered once, in New Mexico, so even though I don't know any of them personally, I do know of them." Lance nodded.

They watched as Iron Man flew into the giant wormhole with a missile, Bobbi's hand reaching out to grab Lance's. Natasha had mentioned Stark once or twice as being annoying yet okay, and Natasha didn't fight alongside people she didn't trust. Then he fell to Earth and the Hulk caught him, and after a few minutes Stark stood up and told the camera crews that the battle was done, and that they would need some clothes for Bruce so he can change back to human form.

She lunged for her phone and called Natasha, since Clint was bound to be on the phone with Laura and the kids, who told her the whole story. She cried when she found out that Loki had controlled Clint, told Natasha that she was very angry that she wasn't asked to help guard Laura and the kids, and ended with a stern, "I'm just glad you made it home safely," which she made sure to shout so Clint could hear, too. There were times when Bobbi felt like she had to mom Strike Team Delta, and this was one of the biggest ones in a long time.

"Are you alright?" Lance asked after she'd hung up the phone. She shook her head and burrowed her face into his shoulder. He rubbed his hand gently up and down her arm, as if he was unsure whether or not he was supposed to be comforting her.

"I could've lost my best friend without watching him die. I always thought he would die falling down the stairs or something stupid like that when he's too lazy to install one of those little electric chair things on his stairs, when he's ancient and I'm ancient and Cooper and Lila were all grown up with their own families and everything and maybe even Nat would've settled down. But this would've been so much worse, and not just for me."

"I know," he told her, "But from what I've seen, Clint's too lucky to not die before he falls down the stairs." She looked up at him through her tears, laughing the slightest bit. "I'm always gonna be here for you, Bob. I'll even go with you to New York, if you want, since I know that that's what you're thinking. Or Iowa, if you'd rather go to the farm."

She pulled his face down to hers and kissed him hard on the lips. When she finally pulled away, she was biting her lip self-consciously. She shouldn't have done that. They were divorced, for God's sake, and the last time that they'd tried to get back together, it had gone down in flames.

"New lipstick?" he asked, smacking his lips.

"Yeah?"

"Strawberry not good enough for you anymore? This stuff- what is it, kiwi?- is disgusting."

"Shut up and kiss me, you idiot," she replied, crawling into his lap and pushing him back against the couch's armrest.

"You're thinking of leaving the military?" Bobbi asked in shock as they sat in front of Lance's television in his apartment- sorry, flat, as he insisted she call it. Roger had given her an annoyed look when she'd let herself in using the spare key that Lance had given her for her birthday last week, and she'd made a mental note to never come over when he was home.

"I'm a lieutenant now. It's a lot of responsibility!"

"That is so like you," she muttered under her breath, "Leave when the going gets tough."

"No passive-aggressive divorce comments, that's what we agreed!" She shook her head in amusement and asked, "What're you gonna do instead?"

"I dunno. I did study economics in college."

"You failed out of college, Lance."

"I could go back!"

"You hated college, though," she reminded him, "That's why you failed out." He shrugged a little. "What're you thinking?"

"That you look beautiful. Really, I love when you're blonde. I know you like the brown-"

"No, I like the blonde, too, and not just because it's natural that way. I feel very at home when I'm blonde." Lance laughed a small laugh and shook his head at her. "You know, Izzy runs around with that team of mercenaries almost 24/7 now. I could give her a call, see if she wants you."

"You would do that? For me? To spend most of my time with Isabelle Hartley? She hates my guts after what I did two years ago."

"Most people would," Bobbi snapped, "Sometimes I still do."

He looked at her then with one of the most broken looks she'd ever seen him wear. It almost broke her. They may have agreed no passive-aggressive comments, but they'd never said anything about telling each other the truth.

"I haven't forgiven myself for doing that, you know." She nodded; it was always written clear as day across his face whenever they were together.

She fished the pendant of the necklace that was around her neck out from underneath her shirt so he could see it, and then proceeded to take the whole necklace off. His face when he saw the pendant, her wedding ring, was eerily similar to a kicked puppy. He carefully picked it up, as if he didn't know what to do with it. She closed his hand around it, a sign he should keep it. She already had her engagement ring locked away in a drawer in her apartment, and she wasn't sure if she wanted both.

"But that doesn't make it any better."

She thought that that would be the end of them for a while, especially with him on Izzy's merc team. According to Izzy, the life of a mercenary was suiting him just fine.

But, of course, Bobbi was not that lucky.

Clint had dragged her to one of Stark's charity New Year's Eve galas while Nat was undercover God-knows-where and he couldn't exactly reveal Laura to the Avengers like that. She had to wear a long dress- a scarlet red one that Pepper had picked out for her- and heels, and her hair had been arranged in an updo, and someone had even insisted she wear make-up. It reminded her too much of what she had to wear for Lance's military banquets or undercover missions. She was starting to think that Natasha had planned going undercover to miss this, because she hated this kind of stuff almost as much as Bobbi did.

She had had to step out to answer a call from her mother and after she'd hung up, Lance's voice said at her shoulder, "Fancy seeing you here."

"What are you doing here?"

"Relax, love. My hotel's across the street; I'm not at the party."

Bobbi let out a breath and tried to ignore the sadness trying to break its way out into the open.

"What brings you to New York?" she asked.

"Life of a merc brings you all over the world. Undercover or Avengers?"

"Avengers. Clint dragged me."

"Well you look beautiful."

She blushed.

There were excited shouts all around and the countdown began. Bobbi and Lance both turned towards Time Square and the ball that was dropping down.

"Five!"

She looked at Lance out of the corner of her eye.

"Four!"

She took a step closer to him.

"Three!"

She grabbed his hand.

"Two!"

His gaze caught hers.

"One!"

They kissed.