A/N: Wow, I think that was the most impossible writer's block I've ever had. :( Sorry it took so long.

First, I must get this out of my system. Have you all seen the "leaked" alternate series ending? Go look it up on YouTube. I swear, I thought I had an enormous amount of animosity, er, I was slightly upset with the writers before I saw that. Now, I just feel more played. I probably need professional help if a TV show affects me this deeply. :D

This is, again, dedicated to the myriad people who wanted Patrice. :) And to "warm-up01" who had an idea about Maria and Natasha being former lovers. This is the start of that idea (at least how it played out in my head) and will continue into the next chapter.

Thanks for all the reviews and likes and all the encouragement. Seriously, it helps me a lot when I think I've bitten off more than I can chew.

Enjoy & Review. Thanks.

***YIKES*** A bazillion apologies to my beta StillWaters for not thanking here. No excuse to offer. :( She's been so helpful. It's because of her you I have confidence you all might get a laugh out of these chapters. So freaking sorry. :)!

"I honestly thought you were joking when you said there was a bar called 'Legendary.'"

Maria visually took in the room around her before her gaze settled nervously back on Ted.

"Tracy found it," he told her. "It was about a year after the invasion and, well, Barney was feeling pretty down so when she heard about it from someone at work, she brought us all down here."

"Did it help him?" Maria asked, trying to control her emotions amidst the flood of memories that were now pouring into her mind.

"Our wedding is going to be legendary."

"No 'wait for it?'"

"I've got you. I don't have to wait for it anymore."

"Maria?"

She looked up in surprise to find Ted waving his hand in front of her face to get her attention.

"I'm sorry." She shook her head.

"I just." Maria stopped and sighed.

"How is Tracy?" She changed the subject.

"Amazing." Ted smiled and the way he looked when he did caused Maria to smile in return.

"She's pretty great, yeah?"

"I swear, I'd say that the day I met her was the best day of my life, but somehow she just keeps making it better," Ted said, then blushed.

"Probably sounds sappy."

"No, Ted, it sounds wonderful," Maria said.

She almost reached out across the table to touch his hand but she caught herself in time. That was something Robin would have done. She was Maria, Maria Hill. Robin Scherbatsky was a persona she had played to get what she needed, what SHIELD needed. She stared across the table at Ted. Ted Mosby was a real person, one she'd deceived and used playing that part. Maria leaned her elbows on the table and covered her face with her hands as memories of their times together, good and bad, flooded over her.

"Ted, I'm so sorry," she said as she lowered her hands.

"You didn't really have a choice," he said.

"Yes, I did," she told him. "I could have kept to myself, kept it professional."

"For ten years? Sounds pretty lonely."

Maria groaned inwardly. Why did he have to be so understanding, so, well, so Ted? Why couldn't he just be angry with her? Anger was an emotion she could deal with. It distanced people. She needed distance from Ted, from Barney. She should have asked to work at the California SI offices, she would have if she'd considered even the remote chance of Barney learning who she really was. Or, maybe she wouldn't have, because his reaction was not the one she expected.

"For the record," Ted continued. "I don't hate you, and Barney obviously doesn't hate you."

"You should," she replied, then paused.

"Wait, Barney told you?"

"Well, not exactly," Ted chuckled.

"Mosby, you gotta come quick."

Ted looked up from his desk, then followed his assistant out of his office.

"Look at this idiot at The Avengers Tower," Greg said, and pointed at the TV as they entered the break room.

The camera shot was wide but Ted could make out a (possibly naked) man standing on a window washer platform, spray painting red paint on a high window at The Tower. He smirked and shook his head.

"That looks like something my friend, Barney, would do," he laughed.

Then the camera zoomed in.

"OH, MY, G-D, BARNEY!"

Ted ran from the office as fast as he could, calling Marshall on his phone as he bound down the stairs. He, Marshall, Lily, and Tracy met across the street from The Tower and watched as Barney seemed to be having a conversation with Ironman. Then the platform Barney was on was lifted to the top and the group breathed a sigh of relief as Barney was pulled onto the roof.

His wife and friends crossed the street, Marshall intended to lead them to security.

"Marshall, how do you know where security is in The Avengers Tower?" Lily asked.

"Um, it's kind of a long story," Marshall said.

She looked at him dubiously but followed him, with Tracy, into The Tower.

Ted continued to watch as Ironman oddly carried on with the painting Barney had started. By the time the group joined him, with Barney in tow, there was a giant red heart painted on the side of the tower with the words "Barney loves Maria" added beneath.

"Oh, that's a nice touch, Tony." Barney commented when he saw it.

The group, save Marshall, gave him various confused looks. Then Lily grabbed him by the arm and marched him away informing him that he was going to explain everything to them, then turned back and gave Marshall a pointed look. Ted and Tracy followed along with Marshall dragging behind.

"So, he told us everything." Ted finished his story to Maria.

"I hope Marshall didn't get into too much trouble," she commented.

They were both silent for a few minutes. Maria was unsure what else to say. Aside from interrogating a suspect or a prisoner, she'd never faced someone after an op.

"Ted, what happened." Maria tried, again, to begin an apology.

"Is not a problem." He interrupted.

She glared at him for a moment and it must have been a Maria glare and not a Robin glare because Ted started to look nervous. She softened her face and he relaxed a little.

"I shouldn't have," she started again, but Ted waved her off.

"Did SHIELD actually expect you to spend ten years holed up in that apartment?" he asked.

Maria took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"I was supposed to make my 'friends' at 'work,'" she told him.

He nodded.

"You would have been bored," he said, then added, with a smirk, "We were far more fun."

Maria couldn't help but smile now. It was truer than Ted knew and she owed him at least that knowledge.

"Yes," she nodded and finally reached over to grab his hand. "I never," she stopped, feeling out of her element as the emotions started to come to the forefront of her mind.

"I have never enjoyed myself more than with you and your friends." She finally forced out the words, her voice barely above a whisper.

"They're our friends, Maria," he said and reached across the table to take her other hand.

Tracy was sitting on the living room sofa when Ted finally returned home that night.

"How'd it go?" she asked as he sat next to her and leaned over for a kiss.

Ted sighed. He wasn't entirely sure of the answer himself. He'd hoped to get an idea of just how much Maria Hill was like Robin Scherbatsky. Barney wouldn't be doing much more than jousting at windmills if the two were nothing alike. Tonight, at least, he really couldn't tell. There was only one thing of which he could be certain.

"She's very sad," he said.

Tracy nodded.

"Do you think it's only guilt, or do you think she genuinely misses Barney?"

Ted sighed deeply and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands.

"I don't know," he said. "It's hard to get a read on her. One moment she's acting the way I expect Robin to act, the next, she's an entirely different person."

They were both quiet for several minutes as Ted thought about his conversation with Maria Hill. Tracy finally broke the silence.

"Maybe she's a little of both people, and now, that she has to see the people she was 'Robin' with, she's just unsure how to act."

Ted nodded.

"She tried to apologize to me," he said. "I think she really is sorry about it, but, well, I just don't know where to go from here. Should I support Barney, or should I try to dissuade him?"

"Barney seems to think Maria was really in love with him." Tracy reminded him of their earlier conversation with him.

"His theory does make sense," Ted agreed. "I mean, why else would she have gone through with it? It had nothing to do with her assignment."

They lapsed into silence again and, again, Tracy spoke first.

"Are you OK with all of this?" she asked.

He turned to her and smiled. Then he reached over and touched her face.

"Yeah," he said. "And if you ask me again, I'm gonna sing Country/Western music to you."

"Promise?" Tracy laughed.

"Every long lost dream led me to where you are." Ted began to sing as he stood and pulled Tracy up from the couch, she was still laughing at him.

"Others who broke my heart they were like Northern stars." He pulled her toward the hall.

"Pointing me on my way into your loving arms." He stopped and leaned down to kiss her.

He tried to start the next line but now they were at the bedroom door and it took all his concentration, with Tracy unbuttoning his shirt and placing kisses on his chest, just to shut the door and remember to lock it so they wouldn't have any "accidental visitors."

Happy opened the door of the limo and Maria stepped out onto the sidewalk in front of The Avengers Tower. In her hand she carried her coffee, her fourth cup of the morning. It was having no affect. It wasn't the two glasses of scotch she'd had with Ted the previous night that had inflicted the damage, nor was it the talk with Ted, which had shaken her more than she would ever acknowledge, even to herself. It was the fact that she'd laid awake most of the night starting at her nightstand where she had placed her cellphone, volume all the way up, hoping Barney would call. She couldn't deny that had been the reason, because next to the phone she had placed her wedding set. She also couldn't deny that she had it in a pocket inside her suit jacket right now and had carried it with her since she had taken the ring set off.

She stopped by the downstairs café. She could have had free food in The Avengers common lounge, but then she risked seeing Tony or Sam. That wouldn't have ended well this morning. Fifteen minutes later she stepped off the elevator. She knew something was off immediately. She'd had the same blonde assistant since she'd started at SI. That was no blonde behind the desk. The woman's back was turned to her and Maria walked cautiously forward, and she considered pulling her revolver out of her purse. But then the woman turned to face her and Maria's eyes shot wide. The woman's did as well, though Maria knew it was for a different reason.

"Oh, Robin!" Patrice screamed and jumped out of her chair to run around the desk and take Maria into a crushing embrace.

"It's 'Maria,'" she managed to choke out despite the pain in her rib cage.

"Oh, that's right," Patrice squealed and Maria felt it like a pain going down her spine. "You're a real hero, aren't you?"

"I guess," Maria said. "What the hell are you doing here, Patrice?"

"Oh, Mr. Stark gave me a job," she informed Maria.

"You have a job, Patrice," Maria said, and she felt her jaw clenching up.

She had never liked Patrice. And it wasn't a "Robin" thing. Patrice was the kind of person even Maria couldn't stand.

'Oh, g-d,' Maria thought. 'I'm thinking of myself as two different people and both in the third person'

But Patrice was going on to explain how she ended up at Maria's assistant's desk.

"So, Mr. Stark said you needed an assistant and how could I say no to helping you?"

"'No' would have sufficed," Maria grumbled.

But Patrice ignored her and went on.

"The radio thing was good, but I needed a change anyway, so when Mr. Stark showed up last night with his offer, I couldn't refuse."

Maria stared at Patrice and tried to control her reaction.

"I had a perfectly fine assistant, Patrice." She managed to ground out without completely flipping out, but she could feel herself on the edge. Patrice did that to her.

"Well, Mr. Stark didn't seem to think so," Patrice said, and walked back to her chair.

She opened one of the drawers of her desk and pulled out a plate of cookies.

"He also said you were feeling kind of down so I made these for you." She smiled up at Maria and Maria snapped her mouth shut, then she turned on her heel and marched into her office allowing herself only the satisfaction of slamming the door.

She stared out the window, or she would have. Instead she just saw part of a fifteen foot red heart that Barney and Tony had painted over her window. She walked over and pulled the blinds shut so she wouldn't have to be reminded. Barney might be trying to convince Maria she should get back together with him, but Tony, she was pretty sure, was just trying to drive her insane.

And Patrice, well, that had to be part of Barney's plan, as well. He'd used her last time and, honestly, it had worked pretty well.

Maria shook those thoughts from her head. She couldn't think about that. Couldn't allow herself to remember the very real jealousy she had felt, possibly still felt, at the idea of Barney with anyone else.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at her door. She called for the person to enter and sank back in her chair when Patrice came into the room.

"I have a whole bunch of messages here for you from Barney," Patrice said.

Maria looked at the number of messages in Patrice's hands. It seemed like quite a lot. She was about to ask when they were from when Patrice started reading them off to her.

"This first one says, 'I love you, Maria,'" she said.

"This second one says, 'Everyone in New York knows now.' And the third one says." She started to read but Maria stood and snatched them out of Patrice's hands.

"I can read them myself, Patrice!" she screamed.

As Patrice left the office Maria sat down hard in her chair. What had she just done?

"Woah," she heard a voice overhead and glanced up at the vent as it popped out and Clint Barton followed suit, flipping mid-air like the circus freak he was.

"What do you want, Barton?" she asked. "I thought you were in Malaysia."

"I was, but I got into town yesterday, just in time to see the show," he said, indicating the window with a nod.

"Shut up," she said and ignored the surprised look he gave.

"That's the best you got?" He mocked as he plopped into the chair across the desk from her.

"Shut up, or I'll send you to Budapest, bird brain." She growled and leveled a killer glare at him.

"Ooo, that's better anyway," Clint said.

"So Barney loves you?" He continued.

Maria thought he probably felt he knew her well enough to think she wouldn't at least maim him for talking about this.

"No, Barney loves that Robin Scherbatsky persona I was several years ago." Maria informed him and fought to hide her feelings over that fact.

"I don't know." Clint went on, acting oblivious. "I was talking with Tony and Sam and they seem pretty convinced."

"Stay out of this, Hawkeye, or Budapest won't be your worst memory," she snapped.

"That serious, huh?" he asked as he rose from the chair. "I think I should meet this guy. Never known anyone who could ruffle your feathers like this."

"Keep talking and you won't have any feathers," she replied.

Barton gave her a look of mock fear as he ducked out her door.

Barney sat at his usual table at Legendary. Despite yesterday's success, he felt down. He had hoped Maria might at least call, if for no other reason than to tell him to shove off. He would demand they meet together so she could say it to his face. Then he could talk to her; mainly, he could see her. He just thought if he could get her alone that somehow his words and actions would convince her to at least try to make it work.

His morbid thoughts were interrupted by a strange red-headed woman sitting herself down in the seat across from him. He recognized her in a moment and his blood ran cold. This was the infamous Black Widow. Barney had looked her up after Marshall had mentioned her, he'd wondered how much of a threat she might really be. She was certainly dangerous, and now she was sitting at a table with him. She didn't look particularly amiable, either.

"So, you're Barney." She stated without introducing herself.

He swallowed carefully and nodded, not trusting his voice. The Widow looked him up and down, measuring him. He knew he was no threat to her but she probably knew at least five ways to kill him with her paper napkin under her drink.

"What's the deal with you and Maria?" she asked.

Barney opened his mouth to say something, but no words would come out.

"I know the official story," the assassin said. "She was on an assignment, she met you, and she married you."

Barney nodded.

"That just doesn't sound like the Maria I knew and loved," she smiled a wicked smile.

"Loved?" Barney choked out.

"So, I can definitely see why you'd be interested," she continued. "I mean she is beautiful, and a damned good kisser."

Barney was fairly certain he stopped breathing for several minutes at that point in the conversation.

"But why are you pursuing her? You just don't seem like her type," she finished.

Barney finally found his voice.

"Well, I've never killed anyone." He choked on his words as the Black Widow raised an eyebrow at him.

"Not that it's necessarily a bad thing that you have," he added quickly.

She gave him an amused smile and Barney realized she was playing with him.

"Relax," she told him. "I think I have an idea that will help. I know her pretty well, and she has a certain weak spot."

Barney waved the waitress over and ordered some more drinks for the two of them as Natasha Romanov laid out her plan.