Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.

Rhiannon/Leila/JJ & Bucky/Clint: A Christmas Cruise

"So you made that?"

Bucky snorted into his drink. He followed Clint's gaze, to where JJ, Rhiannon, and Leila sat around the pool, talking and laughing loudly.

"Well, I had help, obviously." He dead-panned, "But yes. She's mine."

Clint nodded slowly. "And you were born in 1917."

Bucky rolled his eyes. "That's right."

Clint shook his head. "But how old are you?"

"Technically? 37." Bucky shrugged. "98."

"Wow." Clint laughed. "And I know this is coming from the guy who was abducted by aliens and thrown into an alien version of The Hunger Games, but….that's weird."

Bucky laughed. "Yes." He agreed. "I know." He sighed. "But life has honestly always been a ride, especially with I'll-pick-a-fight-with-a-tree-if-its-bullying-and-I-only-weigh-ten-pound-Rogers."

Clint smirked. "I wish I could've seen that." He grinned.

Bucky shook his head. "He gave me so many gray hairs."

"Oh…so those aren't from JJ?" Clint joked, and Bucky laughed.

"I mostly missed the teen angst," He admitted, "But even then, from what I've been told, she was a very easy teenager."

"Ah, yes, the elusive other father." Clint nodded slowly. "Who is he, by the way?" He asked bluntly and Bucky shook his head.

"I'll tell you when you're older," He patted Clint's arm, and Clint rolled his eyes.

"Right, okay mom." He mocked. Then he turned serious. "But honestly…how do you, as a man, raise your daughter…without a woman in her life?"

"It's not easy." Bucky admitted. "But I'm lucky she has Pepper and Nicole and Jane. And I let her be who she is."

"But really…" Clint pressed, "What about boys?"

Bucky laughed. "So that's what this is about."

"Of course that's what this is about!" Clint scoffed. "I just got her back, now I lose her to some punk?!"

"Ben's not a punk." Bucky reprimanded, and Clint grinned.

"So it's BEN that she likes, is it?"

Bucky winced. "You didn't know that?"

Clint rolled his eyes. "I'd guessed, but you confirmed it for me, just now." Clint huffed. "Are they dating?" He asked worriedly, and Bucky shook his head.

"No." He admitted. "But they've been flirting for years, so I would prepare yourself for inevitability of it."

Clint made a face. "I'd rather just kill him now." He admitted. He perked up. "Hey! Will you help me hide the body?"

Bucky laughed. "No! Barton,"

"Clint," he corrected. "We're both dealing with female teenagers, we're brothers in arms. We're at first names."

Bucky smirked. "Clint," He repeated, "Ben is a good kid, and he adores Leila. It could be worse."

Clint smirked. "Yeah, it could be Thor's punk of a son she's in love with."

Bucky groaned. "Don't remind me."

Clint furrowed his brow. Then his eyes widened in shock. "Wait. Are he and JJ?" Clint asked incredulously, and Bucky nodded glumly. Clint burst out laughing.

"Shut up." Bucky whined, but Clint just laughed harder.

"What do you think their laughing about?" Rhiannon asked, watching the two fathers interact.

"Probably the perils of raising girls." JJ guessed, removing her sunglasses to peer at the men.

"You think so?" Leila snorted.

"No, I think Clint's asking Mom if you and Ben are dating." JJ smirked, and Leila's mouth dropped.

"Me and Ben?!" She squeaked. "Why, I never," She fanned her self lightly as if in shock, but couldn't help the grin that spread over her face.

"Uh huh." Rhiannon nodded disbelievingly. "Yeah, you're right. You two would never work."

"Even though you two have been skirting around each other for the last two years." JJ added.

"And he's totally head over heels for you." Rhiannon input.

Leila laughed. "Okay, fine, I totally have the hots for Ben." She shrugged. "But he won't make a move."

"He's totally waiting to make sure your dad doesn't kill him." Rhiannon guessed with a laugh.

"Probably." Leila pouted. "My dad's so off-putting. But if he'd just give Ben a chance…"

"Just give him time." JJ advised. "He's going through a lot, they all are. He'll see soon enough that it's a GOOD thing you fell in love…IN HOUSE, if you know what I mean." JJ winked, and Leila snickered.

Rhiannon made a face. "Is it bad if I'd rather fall in love OUT OF HOUSE, than in?" She asked. "Barring Ben and, well, Xander's okay but he's my brother, so gross, the rest of them aren't really my type."

"Totally understandable." Leila nodded. "Don't worry, Rhi, you and JJ will find love soon enough."

Rhi shot JJ a look. "I kind of think JJ already has."

JJ looked up from her phone, where she'd been grinning stupidly. "What?" She asked, and Leila and Rhiannon laughed.

"Oh my gosh, you totally have a crush!" Leila clapped her hands. "I didn't realize, but now that I do, it's SO obvious!"

"It is NOT obvious!" JJ argued, cheeks burning.

"But you're not denying that there IS a crush!" Leila observed.

"And you're blushing!" Rhiannon squealed. "Oh my gosh you're in LOVE! Who is it?!"

JJ sputtered. "What…why would you even.."

"Is it someone in house?" Leila pondered.

"Rhi just said the only one who was okay," JJ argued,

"I also said my brother wasn't bad," Rhiannon added, and her eyes narrowed as she thought. She turned to Leila, and the two shared a look. Then they shook their heads.

"Nah." They agreed at the same time.

"So who is it?" Leila asked.

"Is it someone we know?" Rhiannon grinned.

JJ threw up her hands. "I'm not doing this right now." She argued.

"Aw, come on!" JJ's best friends pleaded, and JJ shook her head.

"Who even suggested this stupid cruise over Christmas break anyway?" She complained.

"That would be you." Leila answered promptly.

"Come on! Spill!" Rhiannon begged.

JJ shook her head, refusing to budge, and eventually, the girls gave up.

But the two week cruise was only on its third day. They had plenty of time to get to the bottom of it.

Of course, they hadn't realized how stubborn JJ would be.

They'd found out somehow, of course.

…Eventually.

Xan/Luka/Max/Steven & Sherlock/John/Thor: Mountains

"Morning old people!" Max slid down the stair banister to smile at the adults. "And my brethren!" Max winked at Xander, and Xander's younger brother Luka.

John rolled his eyes. "Is there something wrong with your legs, Max?"

Max's eyes narrowed, then he began to hobble outrageously. "Oh! Er, YES! Much pain, such hurt!" He moaned dramatically, practically dragging himself to the kitchen table.

Xander rolled his eyes and Luka grinned.

John shot his son an exasperated look. "Where did you come from?" He questioned, and Sherlock snorted.

"That's a question not fit for breakfast." He shot out, and Thor grinned.

"Uh..ew?" Max wrinkled his nose. "That's a question never to be discussed or asked, again."

"Agreed." Xander nodded. He threw some food on a plate and handed it to Max. "So, what's the plan, now that everyones awake?" He asked.

Thor stood to refill his coffee cup. "Well," He began. "We've been here for a week and still no one's felt the need to actually go ON the mountain that we're staying on top off."

"Not true." Luka spoke up. "We went tubing yesterday."

"For 20 minutes?" Sherlock raised a brow skeptically. "I'm sure that extensive time period out in the cold and nature was more than enough for you fragile spirits?"

Max shrugged. "Is it our fault that the all the chicks are inside instead of out snowboarding?"

"We came to hang out with each other, not to pick up ladies." John chastised.

"Really?" Max shot his dad a look. "Tell that to the paper in your pocket. How many numbers have you gotten so far?"

John shot his son a dry look. "That's different."

Xander started laughing.

"Wrong." Max tossed his head, throwing his bangs out of his eyes. "You have a problem."

Xander's head hit the table.

"You're ridiculous." John shook his head.

"And you're a player." Max shook his head mournfully, and Xander had to leave the kitchen. "This is not how I raised you."

Sherlock and Thor shared a smirk, and John sighed heavily.

"Alright; how about this; Thor," John turned to the taller man. "Why don't you take the boys out on the mountain? Give Sherlock and I a chance to catch up, and we'll meet you at the lodge for lunch?"

Thor thought for a moment, then nodded. "If the boys agree."

Max sighed heavily. "Fine. I suppose that'll do."

Xander finally stepped back into the room. "Do you even know how to snowboard?" He asked his dad, interested, and Thor shrugged.

"I've been known to hit the slopes every now and then." He answered enigmatically, and Xander raised a brow.

"Well, we'll see about that."

"So, what do you think of the guy?"

"I think he's too blond and too tall and too charming for his own good." Sherlock answered briskly.

John raised a brow.

Sherlock huffed. "I wanted to hate him." He admitted. "When he first appeared I wanted to brag that I had got the girl, that he had lost, that intellectual had finally beaten the physical."

"But then he showed up?" John guessed.

"And he was…nice." Sherlock shuddered. "He was very understanding, and not pushy. He wanted to get to know his children and he didn't want to step on my toes. He thanked me."

"And that threw you." John nodded. "He's a good guy."

"He's a very good guy." Sherlock admitted. "And he's a distant father, but a good one."

"And how are the kids doing?" John took a drink of coffee and crossed his arms.

"They're adjusting." Sherlock shrugged. "nearly seven months and we're finally becoming comfortable around each other."

"No fights?" John asked.

Sherlock laughed. "There have actually been several." He admitted. "But never in the vicinity of the children and it has never overshadowed our agreed vow to focus on what's best for the kids."

"And would you say you guys are friends?" John pushed, and Sherlock thought about that for a moment.

Then, looking surprised, he nodded.

"Yes…I would say that."

"So Sherlock lost a bet." John blurted out over lunch.

The children and Thor had come in pink-cheeked and hair tousled, speaking about snowboarding and their plans to hit the slopes immediately after lunch. Apparently the sport had got to them.

"What kind of bet?" Luka asked, head tilted.

John smirked. "That's not important."

"Yeah." Max spoke with his mouth full and food flew everywhere. "What's important is his FORFEIT."

Xander shot max a disgusted look. "You're gross." He complained, throwing a napkin at Max's face. Then he turned to his stepfather. "What was the forfeit?"

Sherlock grimaced. "Apparently I'll be joining you on the slopes this afternoon."

The kids paused mid-bite, shared a look, and then burst out laughing.

"No way." Max chortled. "No WAY."

Xander just laughed, so hard that he couldn't speak.

Luka tried to hide his smile, but it grew on his face without his permission.

"Hey." Thor smacked the kids lightly on the back of the head. "Be nice. Who knows? Maybe Sherlock will be almost as good as me."

Sherlock raised a brow. "Who knows?" He repeated. "I might be better than you."

That sent the kids into peals of laughter, and Thor smirked.

"Ambitious." He nodded approvingly. "I guess we'll find out on the slopes won't we?"

Sherlock nodded in agreement, though he looked a little nervous at the prospect.

But surprisingly enough, Sherlock was quite the snowboarder.

In fact…he WAS better than Thor, and everyone was suitably shocked…except for Thor, who beamed with pride.

"I knew you had it in you." He slapped Sherlock on the back as if he had single-handedly taught Sherlock everything he knew.

Sherlock and John shared a look and rolled their eyes.

Their retreat in the mountains was going more successfully than anyone had anticipated.

Who knew "divide and conquer" would work so well?

Besides JJ, of course.

Steven/Ben/Marco & Tony/Dean/Steve/Bruce: Beach

"Ugh. Why'd we pick the beach anyway?" Steve wiggled uncomfortable as he attempted to shake the sand out of his swim trunks.

Tony smirked. "Because I'd rather be under the sun than surrounded by snow."

"And everyone agreed." Bruce added.

"Also, Thor called dibs on the mountains and this was second best." Ben piped up.

Dean snorted. "You only wanted to go to the mountains because you know I'm not a fan of the snow." He accused and Ben grinned.

"Exactly!" He shot Dean a thumbs up, and Dean threw a handful of sand at the kid.

Unfortunately, Steve stood in between the two, and the majority of the sand fell on his head.

Dean choked down his grin, but the kids had no such restraint.

Ben, Marco, and Steven burst into loud laughter, and Steve crossed his arms.

"Ha ha, very funny." He rolled his eyes. "But now what am I supposed to do?" He groaned, looking down at the sand that covered him from head to toe."

"Well…." Steven's gaze was drawn to the left. "I have an idea."

Everyone followed Steven's look, and grinned.

"Surfing?" Steve asked skeptically. "I don't know about that."

Tony stood from where he'd been lounging in between Dean and Bruce. "It's easy, old man." He smacked Steve in the shoulder, and Steve winced, Tony's hand having landed right on the sunburn Steve had gotten a few days ago. "I'll teach you."

"You know how to surf?" Marco asked skeptically.

Tony shrugged. "I used to hit the beach all the time." He smiled. "I'm sure I've still got it."

"And if you don't?" Ben asked, grinning.

Tony lowered his sunglasses to look at Ben seriously.

"I do."

"I guess we'll find out." Bruce whispered to Dean, who grinned in response.

"This should be good." Dean whispered back.

And it was.

Tony didn't have it.

Steve didn't have it either.

Ben seemed to enjoy falling into the water too much to actually figure out if HE had it or not, and Steven refused to try, yelling encouragement from the edge of the water.

Marco was the only one who seemed like he knew what he was doing, and he caught the waves more often than not.

Bruce shook his head wryly as he watched the group of surfers cheer on Marco and his sick moves.

Marco bowed in the middle of a wave, causing him to fall, and the cheers turned to boos.

"What a ham." Bruce said affectionately, and Dean snorted in agreement.

"He's a stark." Dean mentioned. "He was born a ham." Bruce smiled.

"I won't argue with you there." The two watched the rest of their group, and then Bruce turned to Dean.

"I know I've said it before," Bruce shrugged, "But I want to thank you."

"Thank me?" Dean raised a brow, lifting a beer to his mouth. "For what?"

"For caring for Ben."

"Oh, that." Dean shrugged. "You don't have to thank me for that."

"I do." Bruce repeated. "You took him in when his own family refused to."

Dean shook his head. "They're not real family, then." He argued. "You don't abandon your family, ever."

Bruce tilted his head. "You don't think they were justified?" Bruce asked interested.

Dean shook his head adamantly. "Absolutely not."

"Even though Ben can hulk?" Bruce pressed. "Even though people call him a monster?"

Dean smiled wryly. "There's a little bit of monster in all of us." He admitted. "If I ran at the sight of that, I'd have left the majority of my friends and family a long time ago."

"Monsters don't scare you?" Bruce raised a brow.

Dean's smile was secretive. "I'm not afraid of monsters." He shrugged. "Monsters are afraid of ME."

"Okay, so maybe I don't have it." Tony interrupted, breathless. "But the only reason I DON'T have it is because obviously, I very graciously passed it down to my son."

Steve shook his head. "Sure Tony." He agreed, rolling his eyes. "Whatever you say."

"Are you guys ready to head in?" Bruce asked, and the teenagers nodded.

"Please!" they begged, and with that unanimous decision, the group packed up their gear to go find food.

"Hey, Steve." Tony clapped Steve's back, on his sunburn once more, and Steve winced. "I've been meaning to ask, what happened to your kid?"

Steve looked at the rest of their group, a few feet ahead of them.

"He's in Vegas with a group of friends from school." Steve admitted, voice low.

Tony raised his eyebrows.

"Whoa. What friends?"

"That's the question." Steve shrugged. "I've never met them. Nicole has once, I think, and she gave him the go-ahead, but I think these are the kids that we've been hearing about."

"The punks?" Tony raised a brow. "I thought they hated the Supers because they were jealous?"

Steve shrugged. "That's what I thought too. But Aaron is getting pretty close with them, and"

"And you don't like it?" Tony guessed. "Have you asked JJ about it?"

Steve grimaced. "I've tried. But she just says she's staying out of it and trusting that Aaron knows what he's doing."

"Does he know what he's doing?" Tony asked, and Steve winced.

"That's the question." He admitted.

Tony sighed and shook his head.

Only time would tell.

Nikki/Becca/Jamie & Nicole/Pepper/Jane: Spa

"I'll be the first to admit," Pepper sighed as the masseuse rubbed hard at a knot in her back, "That I thought everyone splitting up during the holidays would be a really bad idea."

"But it's AWESOME." Nicole groaned, her masseuse hitting a sensitive spot.

"We really needed a chance to get away." Jane agreed.

"And the men have a chance to bond with their kids without us being in the way." Pepper nodded.

"I'm so bummed that this is our last day though." Nicole admitted. "I could live at this spa forever."

Pepper and Jane laughed.

"Agreed." Pepper grinned. "Why don't we take a twelve year vacation and let the men deal with all of the kids?"

The women grinned, then grimaced.

"Of course, they didn't really take a vacation." Jane mentioned slowly.

"True." Nicole huffed. "But they seem to be doing better."

"The nightmares seem to be doing better." Pepper added.

"It must be their therapist." Nicole thought. "Ever since they've been going to sessions they've been doing much better."

Jane frowned. "Therapist?"

"Yeah." Nicole sat up from her massage. "The person they've been seeing once a week for the last few months."

"Sherlock told me they haven't been back to that therapists office after the first few times." Jane furrowed her brows.

The women shared a look. "Then where have they been going?" Pepper asked slowly.

Jane shrugged. "All Sherlock would say is that they've been getting help from a little blue J."

Nicole made a face. "Blue Jay?"

"Two of them." Jane nodded. The women thought for a moment, then simultaneously, they reached the same conclusion.

"JJ" They said together.

Nicole huffed. "So not only does the kid keep our kids from killing each other, but she's helping our husbands as well?"

"What would we do without her?" Pepper shook her head with a smile.

Jane smiled. "Let's hope we never find out." She advised, and the other women nodded in agreement.

JJ was only 17; but somehow she kept the peace.

JJ…was a godsend.

And thought it wasn't very likely, all three women hoped nothing…and no one, would push JJ away from their family unit.

Aaron & PUNKS: A Vegas New Year

"Aaron!" Aaron jumped lightly when Brittany appeared out of nowhere and draped herself over him. "What are you thinking about?" She purred in his ear.

Aaron shrugged. "Nothing." He said…then he tilted his head. "Well, actually, I'm just thinking about what everyone else is up to." He admitted.

Brittany scoffed.

"Probably singing Kum-Bi-Yah around a fire." Cameron snorted. "Why waste time on those guys?"

Aaron shot Cameron a look. "Those guys are my friends." He said a little coldly.

"And why?" Because your parents were friends 20 years ago?" Dylan scoffed. "Shouldn't you be allowed to choose your own friends instead of having some forced on you by your parents?"

"Of course." Aaron agreed. "But they haven't done anything to me." He argued. "So watch what you say about them."

Dylan made a face, but raised his hands in mock surrender. "Of course."

Brittany squeeze Aaron, distracting him from glaring at Dylan. "Stop thinking about your friends." She pleaded. "They're not here." She leaned forward and kissed Aaron, hard. "But I am." She smiled wickedly at Aaron's glazed eyes. "Think about me instead."

Aaron nodded a little dumbly.

"Right. Ok." He agreed, and as Brittany leaned forward to press her mouth to his once more, Dylan and Cameron shared a victorious look and bumped fists.

They almost had him.

Ugh Teenagers are douchebags. Aaron is a weak little boy for following them, and the rest of the Avengers and Supers are adorable and bonding and I love them ALL. Who's your favorite Avenger and Super so far?

~CLC~