Author's Note: I meant to get this up yesterday but time got away from me. I'm also catching up to myself in writing (I always like to have a few chapters written ahead of what's posting) so I gotta get writing again! This stupid writers block though :/ I feel like nothing's coming out right and I just can't shake the feeling.

Review Reviews:

Lollypops101: Thank you :)

KMPcool: Thanks! Aside from Rye and the twins, their ages go in synchronization cause Thor/Jane and Clint/Natasha had kids one after the other haha so Ryland is 20, Anya is 18, Dahlia is 17, Irina is 16, Kellen is 15 and the twins are 11 :)

The Madrigal: :)

Morgan: Thanks! I hate when writers make teen/parent relationships so confusing and complicated. Not every teen hates their parents lol and Natasha's great at dancing back and forth between friend and parent.

maggie: Thank you :)

discordchick: Haha everyone's a shipper ;)

GhostGlowLight: Ryland just doesn't hide his jealousy very well, does he? lol. Thanks :)

Sasha: Thanks! I just thought to add the flashbacks before posting chapter 13 and now I've written a few that will begin the next few chapters. I kept thinking of that chapter of Mini-Vengers when writing that scene! It's almost the same conversation, just all grown up. He might just get a special Ryland Smile :) Anya is really scared to lose, not only her best friend, but Pepper and Tony as well, and also make things weird for the family. She's got some stuff to work out before it'll smack her on the face that Rye is perfect for her ;) haha Thanks!

Epic Elven Warrior Princess: If she just gave up the fight there'd be no story! haha, but she'll eventually come to terms with the painfully obvious solution ;)

kimbee: Parental Tony will always kill my feels. Aceland stamp of approval! We're a go ;)

PJ-NCIS-TF-26: Thank you very much :)

imnotcraZyjustuniQue: Cobblestone is hard, Rye, we feel your pain lol I'm glad to hear you catch the little things! Sometimes I think no one notices those little things that amuse me very much. But it's great to know they're just as appreciation as the major events :)

LeKins004: Thanks! You mean my Polyvore? The website is completely designed to create outfits. If you scroll through it a bit or join you'll see how it works. It's great for writing! And when you're bored haha They have everything from t-shirts and shorts and guns and random stuff! It's pretty great :)

Emrys90: That's okay. I'm sorry to hear things have been bad for you :( But I'm glad they are getting better! Aceland for the win for sure! Tony knows what's up, he sees what's really going on and he'd be an idiot not to support it. Anya's already like a daughter, might as well make her a daughter-in-law LOL jk. I love the idea that Natasha can swing back and forth between friend and parent so easily. My mom and I are just as close as Anya and Natasha so I drew a lot from my mom for that scene :) Thanks! [I have a feeling you're going to like this chapter...hehe]

prontobadjuju: Ryland wears his heart on his sleeve, which, if Anya doesn't straight up and get her crap together soon, will get him pretty hurt. Thanks!

A/N: The begging of this chapter is also a flashback to Rome!

Enjoy!

Rome...

Clint and Natasha arrived back at the villa a little before dinner with a few shopping bags full of souvenirs for the apartment in New York. Vacation was truly a time for Natasha to let lose and be herself; so she wore a pink button up with shorts and gladiators out but spent most of her time indoors in nothing but a bathing suit. Irina was the same way so it was no surprise at all to find her in the kitchen in a red bikini, cutting up a peach for a snack.

"Have fun?" she asked over her shoulder after exchanging pleasantries with her parents. Natasha tossed aside the bags and sneaked a piece of peach off her cutting board as she passed behind Irina.

"Yeah," Clint said offhandedly as he grabbed a patterned sarong off the counter and wrapped it around Irina. "Let's just cover that up, k?"

Irina chuckled as she rolled her eyes and fixed the sarong so it looked right. Clint cringed because it was just around her waist and he wished it to be around all of her. Covering every inch of skin that showed. Which was a lot.

"Where is everyone?" Natasha asked as she looked out a large window to the courtyard where most everyone hung out.

"Tony and Pepper are upstairs," Irina said suggestively. "And Ryland and Anya still aren't home."

"They still aren't back yet?" Natasha asked curiously, making a face as she checked her watch. "They left at ten this afternoon...it's almost six. Where could they possibly be?"

Irina shrugged indifferently, and just to spite Clint, added, "Probably doing something similar to Tony and Pepper."

He almost dropped his glass of ice water, shooting her a dirty look. "Not funny."

"Either way," Natasha cut in with a chuckle. "They aught to be home soon. Have you called her?" Irina shook her head so Natasha pulled out her phone to dial Anya's number but it just went to voicemail, so she tried Ryland but that also went to voicemail. She turned a curious look to Clint who just raised his eyebrows.

"I'm probably worrying about nothing, right?" she mumbled quietly as Clint followed her out to the courtyard so they could have a bit of privacy. Natasha kept trying to call the kids as Clint followed her around the pool, popping grapes in his mouth between sentences.

"You probably are," he replied, popping a few grapes in his mouth. "but then again, they could be lost somewhere freaking out."

Natasha rolled her eyes even as she considered that possibility. "They aren't lost," she finally replied, grabbing a grape from him and returning her phone to her pocket.

"How do you know?" Clint challenged as she ate his last grape. He wrapped both arms around Natasha's waist and pulled her close to his chest where he could kiss the tip of her nose.

Natasha finished chewing a bite of grape, her arms looped around Clint's neck. After swallowing she replied, "Because, much like us, they'll never be lost so long as they're together."

XXX

Ryland made up his mind. He was done asking questions, he was gonna start doing. And good lord was he a force to be reckoned with. He wasn't going to let another day pass the way they always had. He was putting his foot down and making a move. But as soon as Anya and Natasha entered the conference room where he was working with Tony he started second guessing himself like an idiot. It took him a minute to find his resolve again then he moved to sit right next to Anya.

Tony and Natasha shared a loaded glance that made Ryland question if they were in fact routing for Anya and Ryland to date, but then he pushed that thought aside and focused on the way Anya kept curiously looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Sir," JARVIS spoke up, distracting them all. "unfortunately I was unable to find a match to the school uniform."

Tony grumbled a sigh and dry ran a hand down his face. "Still no hits on the photo at all?" Tony asked exasperatedly. He was beginning to resent the little girl for being so damn hard to find. Never in his life had Tony spent so long staring at a picture with so little skin showing.

"Sorry, Sir, but I'm having difficulty locating her."

"Don't look for her," Natasha suddenly cut in, drawing all eyes to her. She pointed to the picture but more importantly to the mountains in the background. "look for what's behind her."

Ryland almost fell off the table and so Anya reached out to catch him. "Why hadn't we thought of that already!?" he wondered aloud as he righted himself with Anya's help. "JARVIS, isolate the mountains and run a geographical trace for similar terrain."

JARVIS immediately got to work but unfortunately it would take a while. "Good catch," He slipped the compliment to Natasha under his breath, giving her a backwards low-five. Anya and Ryland kind of grumbled at their dorky parents but if it solved the case, hell they'd both give him backward low-fives.

While Natasha and Tony were distracted by some intricate handshake Tony was trying to teach her, Ryland leaned over to Anya and whispered,"Take a walk with me?"

Anya looked up with big blue eyes and nodded. Tony and Natasha watched them walk out before bumping fists.

There was no real privacy in Next Gen and that's exactly what Anya and Ryland needed so they found themselves out in the blistering heat, pushing through the broken metal door to get outside.

"Hey!" Ted screamed as soon as he saw them. Anya jumped, instinctively grabbing Ryland's arm. "Lot's of people coming and going today, yeah lot's of people. Something going on? Something happening today?"

Ryland looked pointedly down at Anya as she still clung to his arm. Blushing a little she let go but Ryland would be a fool not to have liked it. "Nothing is going on, Ted." Ryland said calmly, working his creepy monk-ish voodoo.

"Crock o' shit!" Ted snapped and Anya snorted. "I'm on to you. Both of you! Ain't no reason you kids should be hanging out around here."

Anya shrugged as Ryland steered them towards the street. "Maybe we like the atmosphere." she said with a smile.

"Yeah we love the wonderful people you meet outside abandoned warehouses." Ryland added sarcastically.

"Or maybe we come here to make out." Anya tossed over her shoulder before they turned the corner and disappeared from Ted's sight. They kept walking not really saying much but enjoying the silence. The heat was intense and Ryland was glistening with sweat but somehow it still felt nice to just get out of Next Gen and stretch his legs (without someone or something dangerous chasing him).

They walked over to a hotdog cart and ordered a few, their rumbling stomachs eager for something more than just coffee and snack bars. Ryland loaded his up with a disgusting amount of toppings and ate both before Anya finished her one. She shook her head in amusement, buying them a bag of chips to share and two sodas. This mission was blowing her usually perfect diet to pieces.

"So," Ryland mumbled slowly as they found a bench close by and sat together. Twilight was falling over New York and no matter how many years Ryland lived in the city, it always felt transformative and almost magical.

"I'm sorry you caught me and Brant like that." Anya whispered softly.

"I really have no right to be angry."

"You told me how you felt about him and I completely ignored you." Anya thought a long minute before deciding to just tell him the truth. "I don't regret kissing Brant, it was nice and it was my decision. The only thing I regret is doing something that screwed up our relationship."

Ryland smiled softly at her. "You don't need to apologize, Ace. We're both adults here; we're going to make mistakes and decisions the other doesn't agree with. But the beauty of our relationship is that it can withstand these kind of difficulties. I love you, Ace, and I'm not gonna let some other guy get in the way." Ryland said sincerely, reaching over to hold her hand.

"And since we're being brutally honest," Anya mentioned after a minute. "I'm not going to date Brant. He's fun and nice but not what I need right now."

"What do you need?"

Anya thought about it for a long minute before shrugging. "I got no idea." she said with a little chuckle.

"My dad says no one knows what they want until they have it." Ryland muttered thoughtfully before deciding he didn't agree with Tony. So he said, "I disagree. I think, occasionally, you know exactly what you want, you're just too scared to admit it- even to yourself."

"When I was six Thor told me what you don't know is simply what you know without knowing it." Anya said with a smile. "It makes sense if you think about it long enough."

Ryland chuckled, thinking hard for a minute. "I've been scared for a long time." he finally mumbled after a few seconds of silence. "I've been scared a lot this week too. But...I'm just not scared any more."

Even though she knew good and well what he was saying, Anya still asked, "What does that mean?"

Ryland popped a potato chip in his mouth and lazily replied, "It means when this mission is over I'm going to ask you out."

XXX

It took all night to run the geographical trace on the mountains behind the Little Girl Linchpin. JARVIS worked all night while everyone else lounged about the conference room sleeping on and off. At one point Anya and Brant sneaked off for almost twenty minutes but Ryland didn't freak out because when they returned Anya put a good bit of distance between them. Brant and Shaw wondered in and out of the room periodically checking in on JARVIS's progress. In order to free-up the AI to focus on the geo search, Ryland and Tony worked to find the mole. Whoever it was that gave the go-ahead that got Agent Wilson- as well as the two agents transferring him- killed was damn good. Almost too good. It wasn't really surprising seeing as they were trained by S.H.I.E.L.D. but it was still frustrating.

"The car got the go-ahead not the agents. "Ryland told Anya as he worked. "Someone sent a message to the car bypassing Agent Shaw's original hold on the transfer. Whoever it was sent it from here I just can't find out who's computer."

"Why not? Can't you trace it backwards?" Anya asked as she sat beside him, chin in her hand.

"I have been doing that, girly girl." he retorted with a sarcastic look. They were back to themselves again after their little talk so they were sitting too close again- close enough that their shoulders touched. "He's piggy-backing. I can't tell where it originated because it keeps bouncing from IP address to IP address."

Anya was only sort of following him, mostly falling asleep. Around three in the morning while Natasha was face down on the table snoring and Tony was under the table sleeping, Anya finally caved and laid her head on Ryland's shoulder. He smiled to himself as her little head fit perfectly on his shoulder, her hands wrapped around his arm like she had done earlier when Ted scared them. She fell asleep immediately and not but three seconds later his arm went all tingly. He threw his head back at the weird pain but he wouldn't move his arm an inch.

Eventually his arm just went numb which was uncomfortable but less painful. She was asleep almost a half hour before the doors opened with a happy 'how do you do' swoosh. Ryland looked up to see Brant walk in and freeze. The senior agent did an excellent job masking his emotions as he saw Anya peacefully asleep on Ryland's shoulder. He just walked further into the room, asking if they got anything. Ryland just shook his head and they sat in silence.

"She kiss you yet?" Brant suddenly asked. Ryland stammered but shook his head. "You're missing out, it's amazing. The perfect mix of rough and soft. Everyone should be kissed like that at least once in their life."

"Why are you talking about this?" Ryland snapped. It's not like he never thought about kissing Anya but talking about it while she was unaware felt wrong and disrespectful.

Brant shrugged a little. "Just making conversation."

"Well steer the conversation in a different direction please. Ace is more than a good kisser, she's also a person and I don't think she would appreciate you talking about her." Ryland retorted.

Brant paused a minute before saying, "You're protective of her, good." with a surprisingly genuine smile. "She's protective of you too; borderline defensive."

"That's what you two talked about!? Me!?"

Brant nodded once. "More or less. She said something important was brewing and I asked if it was you. Everyone sees it."

"So if you saw it why'd you kiss her?"

Brant thought about it a minute. "Playing off the hope you were the only one with feelings. I thought I was right until you walked into the gym and she flipped out." Then he paused another second before smiling. "Plus I just wanted to see if I could. She turns heads around here, every single man in this building notices her. To be the one to have her? Man...that's a title I want." Brant winked the at the same time the door swished open again and Agent Shaw walked through. Ryland had to stifle his anger and divert his attention from Brant to Shaw as she asked if they made any progress. Ryland shook his head curtly, refusing to even look in Brant's general direction.

Everyone started to wake up again, Natasha snorting as she shot up, jolting out of a dream, and Tony smacking his head against the table when he tried sitting up. Anya turned scarlet red when she realized she'd slept on Ryland but he just smiled at her.

Natasha got up and cracked her neck as she checked JARVIS's progress. "Well shit," she grumbled. "We got nothing."

"Not exactly..." Ryland mumbled, sitting up straighter and clicking away at the projected keyboard on the table in front of him. "I might have the mole's IP address after all."

Everyone crowded around his computer to try and see what he saw. It made no sense to Anya though so she stepped back to let Tony get closer. Tony and Ryland shot technical jargon back and forth as they worked together.

"There, there, there!" Tony exclaimed, pointing at the screen. "It originated there."

"No," Ryland mumbled thoughtfully as he typed. "That's just another fake. Damn he's good."

"But you're better." Tony replied just as Ryland isolated the real IP address where the message was sent. He ran it against all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to find who it belonged to but when the ID appeared on the screen everyone sort of paused for a long minute.

Anya was the first to read the ID out loud. "Brant." she gasped, turning to look at the flustered agent. He looked absolutely shell shocked.

"No, no, no, no, no!" he started mumbling and when he went to raise his hands in defense, everyone drew their weapons. "No! It's not right! It's wrong! I'm faithful! Anya, you know I'm faithful!" Brant pleased as he backed away slowly. Just then a small tech opened the door to give them some news and found herself in the middle of the dangerous situation. Anya watched Brant size her up but before she could stop it, he grabbed the little tech and had a gun to her temple. She shrieked a high pitched sound that pierced Anya's ears.

"Let her go, Brant!" Shaw commanded, her gun still trained on the senior agent she brought in on the mission.

"Anya watched in horror as Brant backed away with the tech still at gun point. "It'd rather live, thanks." he retorted and the next thing they knew Brant was gone.

Author's Note: I'm trying to count how many people were suspicious of Brant from the beginning lol well there you go ;) But everything isn't always as it seems, and there are still some twists and turns left to this story! As always, you can check out outfits from this chapter on my Polyvore (samitballi. polyvore. com) Linchpin: 14

Side Note: I just uploaded a series of ficlets set in the time between Mini-Vengers and Linchpin. There are one-shot plot bunnies I decided I'll upload between updates for Linchpin; so if you want to check that out it's on my profile under the title This One Time

Thanks!