New chapter! Finally! I had run into a bit of writer's block with this one, since I hadn't planned the second part of this chapter out very well. I'm looking forward to writing the next chapter, though. It'll be fun, and there will be a few surprises~


Later that day, the Avengers mansion had a visitor. "Oh, hey, Fury," Tony greeted, opening the door. "Whatever you're here for, I didn't do it!"

Leana was currently in the living room, watching TV with Clint and Janet. When she heard Fury's name, she felt her heart skip a beat. "Oh, crap. Did I do something to piss him off again?" she mused aloud.

"What'd you do the first time?" Clint asked.

Leana opened her mouth to try to skillfully avoid his question, but Tony led Fury into the room, making it so she didn't have to.

"Hi," Leana greeted, a strained smile on her face.

"Leana, I'm here to pick up loose ends," Fury stated. "I can't fire a person from SHIELD without taking a few precautions. I have already changed all the SHIELD passcodes, so even if you were to tell someone, it would be of no consequence. However, I still need to have you sworn to secrecy. Barton! Please turn off the TV."

"Got it," Clint chimed, pressing the mute button on the remote.

"I said off. Not mute," Fury said without even looking.

Clint opened his mouth to protest, but closed it when Fury gave him a glare and turned the TV off without another word.

"I need to learn that trick," Tony mused to himself.

Ignoring the Avengers around him, Fury trained his eye on Leana. "You know the drill. Right hand," he instructed. Leana held up her hand in the classic position. "Repeat after me. I, Leana Armen," he paused.

"I, Leana Armen," Leana parroted.

"Swear to never utter a word of what I learned as an agent of SHIELD," another pause, in which Leana copied Fury's words. "Under the penalty of death." Again, Leana copied what Fury said. When Fury lowered his own hand, Leana did the same.

"Uh, Fury, can I have a word?" Tony asked. Fury gave a nod, and Tony led him into the currently-empty dining room, out of earshot from those in the living room.

"Well, that was NOT fun," Leana commented, taking a breath to try to calm her heart back down.

"Fury has that effect on people," Clint stated. "I'm surprised, though. You got off lucky. Usually there's more threats and glares. Apparently what you did wasn't too bad."

"Coulda fooled me," Leana replied. She was having flashbacks to when she was fired, and even though she was more successful at not showing her emotions than last time, the slightest push could change that.

"You got out alive. That's always good!" Janet chimed.

Meanwhile, Tony was doing his little background check on the Avengers' new housemate. "I took Leana in on impulse, and now I'm under fire from the others about not thinking of the risks. What can you tell me about Leana?"

Fury sighed, shaking his head. "I have every reason to not give you information," he said. "But, to make this as painless as possible... She was a good agent, but she was too easily distracted from her duties, and she picked up an obsession that I quite frankly frowned upon."

"And this obsession would be...?" Tony prompted.

Fury stared at the pain in the neck in front of him, wondering how much he should say. He figured it would be for the best to be upfront and to not risk Tony trying to hack into the SHIELD mainframe. Again. "The exploits of the Avengers. She was more interested in reading news articles about you than doing her job."

"Any member in partic-"

"Tony!"

"Hey, I was just curious!"

"Bye, Tony." He turned around and walked out the door.

"Well?" Steve asked, walking into the room and leaning on the doorway. He had heard just enough of the conversation to figure out what was going on.

"She checks out," Tony said, giving a thumbs-up. "Just an Avengers fangirl."

"I'll let the others know," Steve said before leaving the room. He peeked into the living room. "Clint," he called, waving the archer over.

With Clint now out of earshot, it was just Janet and Leana. "What do you think they're talking about?" Leana asked curiously.

"No clue," Janet replied, with a shrug. "Could be anything."

Clint gave a nod, before returning to the group, giving a smile.

"Well, we can rule out 'getting in trouble'," Janet commented.

"Ready to get back to our show?" Clint asked, plopping down on the couch. Leana couldn't help but notice how close he ended up sitting to her, and she felt the temperature rise in her cheeks. Janet seemed to notice, too, as Leana noticed her hold back a laugh.


The next morning, Leana was in the middle of eating breakfast. She was by herself, as it was already late in the morning and the others who take up residence in the mansion had already finished eating and were going about their business: T'Challa and Steve were training, Hulk was watching TV, and Thor was out and about in the city.

She was chewing her last bite when Janet walked in. "Hey, Leana!" she greeted. Leana waved, swallowing the last of her food.

"Good morning. What brings you to the mansion this early?" Leana asked.

"The pool," Janet replied, pointing up. "Summer's ending soon, and I want to take as much pool time as I can get. You like to swim?"

"Love it, but I don't have a swimsuit."

"No problem! I keep an extra in my room here. We seem about the same size."

After washing her plate, Leana followed Janet upstairs, and changed into the bikini that was given to her.

"Hey, it fits!" Janet exclaimed, before pulling Leana upstairs to the pool. The two of them jumped right in, shivering a little until they got used to the temperature.

"How are you liking it here so far?" Janet asked.

"It's a lot of fun! Everyone's so nice. Well, T'Challa keeps to himself more than the others, but he's polite when I do see him."

"Yeah, he's the anti-social one of the team. Every superhero team has one of those," Janet said.

"I've noticed."

Janet's smile turned into a devious smirk. Leana recognized this as the "time to press buttons and see how much we can get the new friend to spill" smirk. She's seen it a million times, and probably wore it several times as well. She didn't mind, however. She was pretty open when it came to this game.

"So, I know you're a fan of the Avengers. Anyone in particular?" Janet asked.

Leana knew exactly where this is going. Still, she walked straight into her trap. "Hawkeye, actually."

Janet laughed. "Thought so. You were blushing yesterday when he sat next to you." Her voice took up a slight sing-song, teasing quality to it.

Leana gave a pout. "I can't help it!" she jokingly complained. "He's awesome."

"What about me? I'm awesome too! Oh, I know," Janet pretended to have a revelation. "It's because he's attractive."

Leana let herself sink underwater just enough to get her cheeks under to cool them, while still keeping her eyes above the surface.

"I saw that!" Janet teased.

Leana came up for air. "Well, what about you?" she asked. "Being the only girl on a team of guys, you have your pick."

Janet shrugged. "I like Hank, and I think he likes me, but he doesn't know how to show it unless I'm hurt or otherwise knocked unconscious."

"Am I interrupting something?" Clint asked, walking through the door wearing swim trunks and a T-Shirt.

"Not at all, Clint!" Janet said, welcome for the distraction from the current topic of conversation.

"This is starting to turn into a pool party," Leana commented.

Janet shook her head. "It's not a pool party until Tony decides to show up."

Clint slipped his shirt off. Leana couldn't help but look. However, she started laughing when she noticed something. "A farmer's tan, really?" she asked.

"Hey, not my fault most of the sun I get is in my uniform," Clint pointed out. "Enjoying the view?"

"I probably would be... if your tan lines weren't so distracting."

Clint stuck his tongue out, before jumping into the pool, making sure to do so in a way that he'd splash the two girls. Of course, being Clint, he didn't miss. As soon as he surfaced, Leana splashed him back, and the three of them started laughing.

"So, what were you talking about before I showed up?" Clint asked.

"Girl stuff," Leana and Janet replied in unison.

Clint rolled his eyes. "Girls and their secrets," he said, shaking his head.

"If you like, we could continue our conversation," Janet offered, before smiling at Leana. Leana silently begged Janet not to tell Clint what she said about him. To her relief, though, Janet had another plan. "So, haven't you noticed a lot of guys in show business named Chris are really hot? I mean, seriously, Chris Pine, Chris Evans..."

Leana laughed. "Those two look so alike they could almost be brothers!"

"I'm sorry I asked," Clint commented, which was met with laughs from the two girls. Janet held her hand up for a high-five, which Leana happily returned.

"So, Leann, you never told us where you're from," Janet pointed out.

"West coast. Oregon," Leana replied. "Far away from all the craziness that happens here."

"You call it craziness. We call it excitement," Clint stated.

"Excitement that puts lives at risk. Still, things get boring at home."

"Worried about us?" Clint teased.

Leana was surprised at how close this came to why she was fired from SHIELD, though she laughed it off. "I know you guys can take care of yourselves," she said.

"Hey, Clint, weren't you planning on going out on the town tonight?" Janet asked.

"Yeah," Clint replied. "Provided no one attacks. I need a break."

"Why don't you take Leana? Show her around some?" Janet suggested.

Clint looked at Leana. "Would you like to?" he asked.

Leana grinned. "Of course!"

"I'm going to head out after dinner," Clint told her. "Be ready, or I'm leaving you behind."