A/N: Characters mentioned below are definitely not mine. The plot, however, is my own idea. Story written for pure joy of writing. Not making money from it.

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'Can we talk?' Steve stood at the door of Clint's guest bedroom and apparently wasn't going anywhere before accomplishing his mission.

'Sure, Cap. Unless you want to invest a sinful amount of money in my business or inform me that you've always felt wrong with women and therefore…'

Rogers wasn't in a playful mood and was so good at expressing it (years of military service didn't come to waste after all) that Barton finally understood the gravity of the situation and finished his expose.

'You know why I'm here.'

'I don't. Enlighten me, Cap.'

'I saw you. Hopefully I was the only one because God help me, what you did there was disrespectful and wrong.' He was trying to put healthy distance between himself and the scene he had witnessed.

'Did you inform the authorities?' Clint was still smiling though his eyes became wary, as if involuntary looking for opponent's weakest point.

'If I had talked about this with Detective Coulson and his faithful Miss Lemon Face I wouldn't be trying to talk some sense into you. I only told them about someone who was smoking on the bench. But know this, if I knew that your… activities would be important to report, I would do it without batting an eye.'

'I can't see how my private life has anything to do with you. Or anyone else for that matter. I'm a grown up, Cap, a civilian and this is no "Pride and Prejudice". The only people in place of chastising me are the Odinsons because it's their house. And somehow I don't see why they would bother with me and my non – existing virtue at the moment.'

'You really don't see it, do you.' Rogers was getting seriously annoyed 'Haven't it come to your thick skull that you might have seen something important? Maybe even the attacker?'

For the first time in years Clint looked seriously offended. And hurt.

'That was low, Cap. I made sure that every meaningful detail got to the police. Second by second and with photographic accuracy. The Odinsons are my friends too, you self – righteous prick, and so help me, one more word suggesting I'm a felony accessory and I'm kicking your khaki ass all the way to Sunday. Odds of that happening be hanged, nonetheless I will give you a run for your money even if I die trying, Steve.'

Somehow that passionate offer combined with using his first name, made Rogers stop questioning Clint's behavior.

'Right. I'm going to pack.'

'Don't say, me too.' Barton was returning to his normal cheerfulness 'Sorry for the outburst, Cap. You're still my favorite G.I. Joe.'

Steve smiled reluctantly, but before leaving he said:

'Good to know you've sorted out your differences. I've always said you're a match made in heaven, like thistle and poison ivy.'

Hawkeye shoot him a dirty look.

'You really wanna check how it feels to be an archery target, don't you.'

Guests managed to say a quick goodbye to Odinsons before their departure. After small breakfast and a bit of stalling, all of them found themselves standing in front of the garage. Fandral accompanied Darcy and Jane from the mansion with a slight frown on his perfectly professional face. It seemed that Steve's deduction about two fair maidens left on their own and transporting their luggage made him unhappy.

'Shall I call for a taxi, Miss Foster?' he asked, trying to be useful at least in this way.

'I'll be happy to give you a ride, ladies.' Offered Natasha, opening quite capacious trunk of her car.

'We don't want to cause any problems…' began Jane, but was immediately cut off.

'If it was, I wouldn't speak about it. Thank you, Fandral, we will manage.'

The butler wished them safe journey and went towards the main entrance, while Natasha and Steve with a small help of Darcy and Doctor Foster packed their belongings into the car.

'Normally I would be all suspicious about Miss Agent giving anybody a free ride' Tony finished fixing himself a small drink from confines of the limousine 'but in this situation I tell you: take the offer. She's not that bad driver, they say, and surely Cap here will feel better about your return home. Which shouldn't bother him by the way, though he is such a good boy scout…'

'What Tony meant to say it that it was a pleasure to meet you all and we hope to see each other soon, preferably in a lot nicer circumstances.' Faithfull Pepper smiled apologetically while stepping on her fiancé's left shoe.

'OUCH!'

'Zip it, chatterbox. You had it coming.' Banner gave him a tired look over his glasses.

'Pep, let's get home. Happy, start the engine, I had to make her believe I'm capable of leaving with or without my one and only Miss Soon – To – Be – Stark. Brucey, after me.'

Rolls Royce Phantom rode majestically, with Pepper and Banner waving them goodbye and Tony still making faces expressing the great scale of suffering.

'Ladies first.' Rogers took his motorcycle out from the garage and waited patiently before putting on the helmet.

'Yeah, Romanoff. Cap and I can give you a head start so you will stand a little chance to…' Barton was smiling broadly, ignoring flames burning in Natasha's eyes.

'Hawk, don't. Just don't.' Rogers quickly pulled his motorcycle between two potentially fighting parties. 'Off you go, ladies. I hope we won't have to wait long for another meeting.'

'Same here, gents.'

'Next time when I say anything about boring, predictable weekend, please, please, make me shut up before we find ourselves in another attempted murder scene.' Tony gave up on drinks in favor of dealing with his most recent trauma before they passed the gate to Odinsons residence 'It was so much easier on my nerves when it was all just about me. Now I have you, my divine Miss Potts to worry about and let me tell you, for the first time in like ever, I'm seriously considering giving you some kind of personal panic button with a handy first aid kit, like a very powerful, customized taser in a stylish etui. Or spending next few months in Malibu house, in total lockdown, having JARVIS monitor the premises and contacting the world via Internet…'

'Is he always like that when he's nervous?' Banner interrupted The Great Angst Speech.

Pepper sighed.

'Usually he prefers to deal with stress by designing though when he is too far away from his workshop he tends to overreact. A bit.'

Both men glared at her.

'OK., more than a bit. But that's how he is and I love him despite all his quirks.'

'Fair point. Do you think this murder attempt had anything to do with the merger?' Bruce took off his glasses and started to wipe them with a tissue.

'It's hard to say for sure, but I think it has nothing to do with the business. Why Odinson? His sons help with running the company, so maybe, maybe this deal would have been postponed but eventually everything would have gone according to plan A.' Tony took an example from his favourite science buddy and cleaned his sunshades with a silk handkerchief from top pocket of the jacket.

'Maybe that was the idea? To put off everything, to stall, to gain some time.'

'But for what, Pep? What could this perp aim for in long term? I can't see any logic in it.'

'There can be no logic in it, Tony.' Bruce put the glasses on 'Abstracting from the fact that killing another human being is one of the greatest faults of man, I don't feel this was supposed to have any sense.'

'What do you mean?'

'I just allow myself to think that there is a possibility that Odinson wasn't supposed to be the victim.'

Pepper and Tony fell silent.

'You want to say the bloody murder got so excited he made a mistake?' Stark's voice was deceptively calm 'Pepper, connect with JARVIS. We are not going to leave secured locations before they catch this blind, possibly mental SOB. If Brucey says there could be a mistake, he can be right and if the aforementioned, deluded and dangerous potential murder could have mistaken Odinson with anybody else present in the house, he might as well be hunting any of us. Or Hawk's bow for that matter, because there were no two people similar enough to mistake with each other!'

'Tony, you're going postal.'

'Am I? Let's see what Detective Coulson and his partner Serious Sally have to say about that.'