AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Dedicated to Joy who is going to love the Clint/Sharon in this longest chapter yet…

Also, Joy and I have a site for our OCs if you guys wants to check it out: starkcarverandmett. forumotion. com (so go look at it and enjoy!)

WARNINGS: Language, Sex, Innuendo, Violence, Blood, Angst

ENJOY!

xxxx

Loki was pretty certain that what he needed to do right now was get himself some sort of following before heading out after Sharon. Sure, having Sharon on his side would be nice, but there were other mutants like her that wanted to see William Stryker dead and when you were talking about ruling the world, you didn't want to piss the mutants off. So he decided that it was high time that he did some research of his own…it led him to the house of an Ebony Hughes.

'This should be interesting…' Loki thought to himself.

When he knocked on the door, there was no answer, but then he knocked again and the door opened a crack. There was a beautiful woman standing there, but something was wrong with her veins…with her piercing blue eyes and Lokit swallowed for a moment. He had known that she was not only a mutant but one experimented on by Stryker, still…one wrong move and this blue woman would turn him into a godsicle.

"Who are you?" she asked him harshly.

Loki smiled a little bit. "I'm here to help you."

"I don't want your help," she responded, shutting the door in his face.

"Trust me, you'll like what I have to say!" Loki called through the door, knocking on it again. "I'm not who or what you think I am."

Suddenly the door swung open, the woman stepping out onto the porch to show him what she truly looked like before retreating back into the darkness of the house. Stunning, she was, but her veins were all blue, her hair had blue streaks in it and her eyes were a piercing ice blue, her lips blue as well. It seemed like the sun was almost repelling her and she was certainly menacing—certainly someone that Loki wanted to use.

"That should have frightened you off…" Ebony said curtly. "Why don't you kindly fuck off?"

Loki smiled his toothy smile. "I've seen worse than you, trust me on that. Now, I came here because I want to kill William Stryker."

The name caused Ebony to tense up. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Loki responded, looking into her eyes from his safe location on the porch. "I know more than you think I do, Miss Hughes. William Stryker is a very powerful man and it will take an army of us to rain down on him and make him pay for the travesties he has caused innocent mutants like yourself. All you have to do is promise to follow…"

Loki watched as the wheels turned in Ebony's head, trying to figure out what it was that she was thinking because she certainly looked torn. It could always be a trap and Ebony certainly didn't want to end up with Stryker again, but at the same time the man in front of her seemed rather sincere and she didn't really have anything else to lose at this point. Stryker's experiments had made her powers worse and it was by sheer luck she had even gotten away.

"Why should I trust you?" Ebony asked him slowly. "For all I know, this is a trick."

Loki nodded at her. "All I can give you is my word…but the moment you think I'm betraying you, feel free to turn me into whatever you like."

"Alright…" she said slowly, "…where do I sign up?"

xx

While Bruce and Natasha were taking a break from their work, Bruce found himself unable to take his eyes off of her. The way she moved around, or quirked a smile because she knew he was watching her—it all just made him want her that much more. It was so different from when they met and when she had come and asked him to come in, remembering the fear in her eyes and wishing that he could take it all back…but he couldn't.

He couldn't re-write the past.

Bruce knew that what was done was done and right now it was important that he make sure that he made things up to her. He could always just be the best that he could be now and find a way to control the Hulk better so that Natasha would never have to deal with him again…for that he would enlist some S.H.I.E.L.D. resources and Tony. Tony was becoming his best friend these days and while he still had Andy, it was nice to have a man to talk to that challenged him.

"You're watching me again," Natasha told him with that half smile. "I thought we agreed that was creepy…"

Bruce chuckled as she teased him. "No, you said it was creepy, I thought it was sweet."

"How is staring at me, sweet?" Natasha asked him, turning to face him and leaning back on her hands on the table she had been working on.

His eyes trailed down her body, taking in every curve in that S.H.I.E.L.D. outfit that she was wearing because Nick wanted her to run out on another assignment. Natasha smiled as she watched his eyes rake over her body and pushed off of the table to stand up straight, Bruce's eyes moving up to catch hers. She reached up to her zipper and stepped up to him, zipping it down a little bit with a smirk on her face—she knew that it was dangerous to toy with the sexual tension between them, but part of her just couldn't help it.

She loved having Bruce's hands all over her.

"Tash…" Bruce said slowly.

When his heart started beating a little faster, Bruce knew that he was going to be a goner if he didn't rein it in. So, he took advantage of the situation and covered her mouth with his, kissing her deeply and passionately as his hands roamed her frame before helping her to unzip the zipper just a little bit more, tracing her bra, its straps and the swell of her breasts in the cup of her bra. Natasha moaned into his mouth, letting her own hands move to his buttons, knowing these moments only lasted for so long before Bruce rushed out because his heart rate was far too high for comfort.

"You two I didn't know about," Tony chuckled as he entered the room, chuckling more when Bruce and Natasha broke apart.

Just like that she had zipped the zipper back up. "What are you doing here, Stark?"

"Your boy toy, here, call me," Tony explained with a shrug.

"I thought you weren't coming until later…" Bruce said as he buttoned the buttons back up and calmed himself down—he really needed a handle on this.

"I came early," Tony told him with a smirk on his face. "Which is probably good, unless Agent Romanoff enjoys having you become a big green man during sex—wasn't aware you had such a kink."

Natasha rolled her eyes at Tony, but that didn't stop her from kissing Bruce tenderly. "I'll call you when I get back from my mission."

Bruce nodded and kissed her again before she left the room, Tony watching her leave and then turning to Bruce. He had once thought about tapping Natasha too, but then found out that she was working for S.H.I.E.L.D. and had infiltrated his company and it had just made him mad. Then Tony had thought that she was with Clint, but all signs pointed to Sharon on that front and now there was Bruce and Natasha, who clearly had a thing for each other.

"Seems to me like you need a way to control the Hulk and fast," Tony told him, winking.

Bruce nodded a little bit. "I'm not even going to pretend that I don't."

"Well then…let's rifle through the S.H.I.E.L.D. database and find you a good scientist, shall we?" Tony asked bringing up lists he had saved from hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D. before the Chitauri. "I'd like to get you good and laid by the sexy redheaded S.H.I.E.L.D. agent."

"Is this what it feels like to be your sister?" Bruce asked laughing.

"I don't know—compare notes with her and get back to me." Tony replied with a smile on his face.

xx

Angel was more than happy to be home, but it wasn't her home—her home was mostly damaged and being repaired and so she was stuck, yet again, with Tony. Steve wasn't going to be staying here either, he was going to be going back to his apartment, he just wanted to know that Angel was going to be safe and sound before he went there. She was thankful, but for some reason Angel felt off and she felt like bad things would happen whether she was by herself or here with Tony and she would much rather be with Steve for right now. She knew that Tony would take care of and protect her it was just that Steve made her feel safe and she wanted to be with him all the time.

"Tell me again why I can't stay at your place?" Angel asked Steve.

He smiled and kissed her swiftly. "Because I want to do things right here and having you live with me when we're not married isn't what a gentleman would do."

"You and your 40's values are lost on the rest of the world," Angel responded as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I shouldn't have even stayed at your place in your bed," Steve said as he rested his hands on her hips and kept her close to him.

She smiled and nodded in agreement playfully, shrugging and then giggling when Steve kissed her tenderly, letting his lips linger on hers. Angel pulled him in and kissed him longer this time, pouring herself into him because she wanted him to know what page she was on here. Steve could feel that she was hurting though as the kiss escalated rather fast, shaking his head and pulling away.

"I would never forgive myself if I took advantage right now, Angel," Steve said gently.

Angel bit her bottom lip, remembering how it used to be busted. "It's not, I want it…"

"What happened to you, Sharon and Andy was really bad and sleeping with you this soon after is just wrong, Angel…it is." Steve explained, stroking her hair and sighing when tears filled her eyes. "You can trust me, you know…"

"Everything is just wrong," Angel told him shaking her head, "everything, Cap. That was the worst thing that has ever happened to me and then I find out that I'm an affair baby and it's like everything about what I was is gone. I just want to feel good and you make me feel that way, so," she said as she kissed him again, nipping at his lips as he kissed her back, "just you and me…"

The kiss was determined and passionate, Angel moaning into Steve's mouth as he stroked her hair and took her in. He felt like he was drowning in her essence for a moment, tasting her as she worked her magic on him for just a moment or two. Steve Rogers was still just a man and the woman that he loved was trying to seduce him…he just couldn't be seduced when it would go against everything that he had ever believed in.

"Angel, baby, I can't," Steve responded as her hands trailed down to his belt.

Of course he wanted to sleep with her, but this was wrong and it wasn't what he had planned and he just couldn't do it. He'd hate himself later for taking advantage and she'd hate him later for taking her virginity at such a time and he couldn't let that happen. She needed to get some sleep and deal with everything that had happened and he needed to figure out what she meant by 'affair baby' because that had completely thrown him for a loop.

"I love you, so we have to stop," Steve said as he pulled away, his body still humming from her touch. "This isn't how I want our first time to be—I want it to be special, not you trying to make yourself feel better after a horrific experience. You mean so much to me…I can't hurt you more than you're hurting right now."

"I know, I know," Angel said as she straightened up and straightened out her clothes. "I want to be alone now."

Steve opened his mouth to say something to her, but she had already walked past him toward her room and shut the door behind her. Everything had just gotten ruined and he hung his head a moment before he left, Jarvis locking up after him and trying to make Angel feel better, but she was inconsolable as she lay there, crying on her bed. She stayed that way until she was all cried out, just sad and tracing the comforter with his fingertips, Tony coming home.

"Master Stark, your sister has been crying for hours," Jarvis told him.

Tony nodded and went to her room, opening up the door and seeing her lying there. "What's wrong, V?"

"Everything, Tony—my mom's not my biological mom, Steve won't sleep with me because I'd be using him to feel better, and you're never going to look at me the same way again because our dad cheated on your mother with mine!" Angel told him, the tears coming back.

"Iceman won't sleep with you?" Tony joked, trying to lighten up the situation, but the look Angel gave him made him sigh and nod, holding out his hand for her to take. "Come on, V."

"Why?" Angel asked slowly, but she sat up and took his hand as she wiped her tears away with the other, looking at him intently.

Tony smiled and led her off of the bed toward their coats near the front door. "We're going to solve problems the way I do it—get good and drunk…and laid."

xx

Sharon wasn't exactly sure what she was in for on this date with Clint, but she had gotten a pale yellow blouse and a black skirt together and her best black heels. It was actually nice to go on a real date, but she had a feeling that it wouldn't really change anything because he was trying to get in and she didn't think she could let him in…oh, who was kidding? The fact that she actually trusted him meant that he'd already inadvertently gotten in and she cursed herself thinking that.

Still, she fixed her hair and then waited patiently for Clint to show up, waiting in her quarters at S.H.I.E.L.D. for now because X-Mansion was too far to go to. She and Andy had place off of the grounds, but she didn't want Clint to have to go out of his way to get her. After a little waiting she thought that maybe she had gotten stood up, but upon checking the time realized that she was actually ready early…great, now she felt like she was far too eager about this.

"I am going to strangle that man," she said out loud.

She didn't mean it, but it was making her think a little harder about everything because what if this went well? What if she went on this date and it just made her that much more attached to him and then he started going off about things that he wanted that she didn't? She was suddenly starting to wonder if it was too late to cancel this date already…she hoped not.

Just as she was running through possibly ways to cancel on him, there was a knock on her door and she opened it up to see Clint there in civilian attire. Nice black slacks and a black sweater that zipped from the chest up, unzipped to reveal a white t-shirt underneath and he was wearing nice shoes, his hair a bit flatter than normal. He looked really good and Sharon half wanted to just take him by the hand and drag him into her room and have her way with him, but she had promised that he got one chance…she had to let him have it.

"You look beautiful," Clint told her with a goofy grin on his face. "Come on, I have a surprise for you."

"Okay, but I hate surprises," she teased as she shut her door behind her and followed him out.

Instead of a jet like she had expected, Clint took her out to a boat and she realized that the helicarrier wasn't floating in the sky right now, but rather on the water. She didn't know how she felt about that either because she wanted more than anything do this date, but she didn't want to drown either. It was one of her fears—drowning—and sitting on a little boat with Clint as romantic as the notion seemed, also scared her a little bit.

"Don't worry, we're just going to the mainland—I won't even make you row," Clint said with a smile, holding out his hand to her to help her into the boat.

'Well, okay, if he's going to flex his arms the whole time, count me in.' Sharon thought to herself. "Alright…for this once I'll trust you."

Clint smiled at her choice of words. "High praise…"

"The highest," Sharon responded and then she beamed.

This wasn't so bad, and she enjoyed watching Clint row as he talked about all of these things with her that he'd never opened up about before. He told her about how it was hard for him to get close to people for a long while too because his father was a drunk who beat him and his mother just let it happen, and about how he lost contact with his older brother, Barney…but he wanted to be close to her regardless of his past. Sharon knew he was trying to relate to her and once again decided to throw him a bone.

"My dad was the one that decided I was going with Stryker," Sharon admitted with a nod. "I knew there was something off about Stryker and I didn't want to go, but Dad insisted that I get cured and Mom wanted everything to be normal again, so she just nodded at everything he said and then Dad didn't give me a choice: I was going."

Clint nodded slowly, surprised she was letting him in this much. "When you came back—"

"—when I came back, Dad was more interested in knowing if the experiments had worked," Sharon responded bitterly. "Angel ran to him once without my permission and gave him a piece of her mind, but I was out of there the minute that I realized what he cared about most. Didn't even seem to matter to them that one of them had given me the gene in the first place and so I stayed with Charles Xavier and Andy and the other mutants there became my family…because mine didn't want me if I was different…"

Sharon didn't know exactly why all of that had come out, but it was out there and Clint nodded as he tethered off the boat, pulling her up close to him as he helped her off of the boat. His lips crashed into hers before she had a chance to say anything about it all, and she practically melted into his perfect arms, feeling a shiver of pleasure run through her as he sucked on her bottom lip a moment.

"I wouldn't want you anyway but different," Clint assured her, tugging on her bottom lip with his teeth and then pulling back as she felt like a puddle of pleased goo. "I was told you liked roller coasters, yes?"

Sharon's eyes lit up. "No! You brought me to an amusement park?"

"I did, but don't expect me to go easy on you on the games," Clint warned her with a smile on his face, glad he'd made her look sublimely happy for once.

"If you went easy on me, it'd be over before it began, Hawk," Sharon responded, taking his hand when he held it out to her and letting him lead the way.

xx

Thor had a lot on his plate and so did Andy, Andy finding herself in about the same predicament that she always found herself in: having feelings for a guy it would never work with. Nick was the obvious one here as she'd loved him first and longest, but he was a long distant relationship and those never lasted. Then came Thor: Asgard was about as long distant as things became. Banging her head down on her desk, Andy growled and then grunted loudly, looking up when knuckles rapped on her door.

Logan.

He was always showing up when Andy was feeling down and she kind of loved that about him and also kind of hated it. It was like he knew when things were wrong and she just sighed and ushered him in because whether she liked it or not, things were wrong and she had no idea what to do. Might as well talk Logan's ear off if he was going to be around right now and all she wanted to do for once in her life was sort out her love life…

"I'm sorry, I am having a crisis…" Angel said bitterly, fixing her hair. "I think he wants to have sex and I am in no way at that point."

Andy laughed a little bit. "Then dump him or let Sharon screw his brains out. Problem solved."

"Problem not solved," Sharon responded, pushing on Andy's shoulder. "Sleeping with your best friend's boyfriend is wrong and I refuse to do it."

"Only because in the end, he doesn't do it for you," Andy replied with a laugh as she flipped through a magazine, Sharon pushing on her again. "I just think the night is better off spent not worrying about the opposite sex and what moronic thing they did this time around. I don't know if you two have noticed, but there's a whole world of possibilities opened up out there for single women that I would like to do not on my own."

Sharon and Angel both smiled and laughed, loving how Andy wasn't really the go after the boy type of girl at all. She let them come to him and shortly Nick Fury would do just that and Andy would be cursed for life with bad relationships. Still, she looked up from her magazine and looked over Angel's outfit with a gentle nod, giving her approval of it.

"He's bound to want to take your virginity away from you," Andy said, laughing when Angel tossed her scrunchie at her. "What? Just saying what every guy will be thinking when you go out in the short skirt and the off the shoulder top…your brother is Tony Stark, remember? So, Sharon…you going on a date with that guy of yours too?"

Sharon shook her head. "Nope—I'm a two week only kind of girl, remember?"

"And?" Andy asked her.

"And as of midnight last night, two weeks is up—she broke up with him while she was eating a bagle," Angel laughed.

"Yes!" Andy exclaimed merrily, Sharon and Angel laughing some more. "You and I can go out and toast to being single and doing whatever we want forever!"

Sharon nodded at that. "Hell yes, Amen."

Logan saw the look on Andy's face and took a deep breath, contemplating whether or not to leave the room because he didn't like this. He knew that that look was the look of a woman weighing her options and he didn't want to get involved…even if he cared a lot about her. So he eventually sat down and folded his hands in his lap, shaking his head because he didn't know when he got to be the guy that everyone went to for advice.

"Do you want me to be brutally honest here?" Logan asked her as she opened up her mouth to speak.

Andy nodded slowly. "Yeah, but—"

"Fury is old enough to be your grandfather even though he shot up with that Infinity Formula, so I suggest just letting him go," Logan told her with a shrug. "It's part of why I'm not sure about Angel and Captain America because besides how lame that super hero name is, he's pretty much as old as her dad even though he was an icicle for 70 years. As for this God of Thunder of yours? If you hated long distance, check the area code of Asgard and get back to me."

Suddenly, Andy found herself breaking out into a fit of laughter, wanting nothing more than to scoop Logan up into her arms and hug him. He really did care about her and she loved that about him, so she knew that she had to take what he had to say into account. So she just nodded and let it all sink in, before she opened up her mouth to speak as it was her turn to say something and Logan's turn to listen to what she had to say.

"You think I should just forget about them then?" Andy asked him, nodding slowly. "I have been feeling the need to just focus on me and get my life back on track…"

Logan smiled a little bit and leaned in. "I think there's a man out there for you that's actually a lot closer than you think he is."

xx

"I really don't want to have drunken sex the first time I have sex," Angel told Tony as he downed a shot with ease. "Seems tacky."

Tony laughed a little bit. "Obviously, you haven't had enough to drink."

"I have yet to have anything to drink," Angel reminded her brother. "Are you…is it possible that you're taking this harder than I am?"

"Nonsense," Tony responded with a nonchalant shrug. "While this sucks for both of you, your boyfriend won't sleep with you and my girlfriend found someone else to be her boyfriend, so…time to cast out our nets into the sea and get new fish. To new fish!"

"To new fish!" chorused the drunk people.

Angel didn't want anyone but Steve, but she just raised the shot up and then downed it, making a face and then making a grossed out sound. It was the most awful thing that she had ever tried, but Tony made her drink six more before he was satisfied, catching her watching a couple of men playing pool. He smiled to himself because she seemed happier than when he had found her and he was already incredibly drunk. His judgment had been impaired before, but right now it just didn't exist.

"Which one?" Tony asked her over the music.

"Not the blonde one," Angel responded, shaking her head.

Tony nodded at that. "Iceman is blonde."

"Iceman is blonde," Angel repeated, scrunching up her nose. "I hate when you call him that."

"I don't really care," Tony replied and Angel nodded and then they clinked shot glasses together and each drank them right down, Angel still making that noise. "Go get him! Oh! Bartender is incredibly bangable."

Angel gave him a thumbs up as he headed off, pulling out her cell phone and realizing that everything seemed fuzzy. Her brain, her fingers, her vision…but Sharon was a speed dial, so soon she was calling her up, Sharon really hating that this date was being interrupted. So she slid her phone out of her pocket to decline the call, but she noticed that it was Angel and she sighed loudly, looking at Clint.

"I hate ruining what we've got going, but it's Angel," Sharon told him.

He smiled at her. "Get it—you guys have had it rough, she might need to talk."

"I'll just see what's wrong and deal with it and we can get back to this," Sharon said, kissing him swiftly and then taking a step out of the line for the roller coaster. "This had better be good because Clint planned the perfect first date and I'm this close to getting on a roller coaster!"

"Blonde or brunette?" Angel asked Sharon.

"What?" Sharon asked, rather confused.

Angel shrugged a little. "Blonde or brunette? Tony says I need to get laid when I'm drunk because it won't hurt as much and the blonde looks like Steve a little so I should go for the brunette, right?"

"ARE YOU DRUNK AT A BAR WITH YOUR BROTHER?" Sharon asked her suddenly.

That caught Clint's attention and his heart sank, getting out of the line and going over to Sharon, pointing to the boat. He knew that this meant that they had to go and get her and though it was ruining the date, he knew Sharon would hate him if he didn't help her to help out one of her closest and dearest friends. Sharon just mouthed that she was sorry to Clint and then they got in the boat, heading to the bar as quickly as possible.

It had taken way too long for Angel to tell them where she was, but she had and now it was time for Sharon to work her magic. What she hadn't expected, was to see Angel still at the bar just downing shots while Tony was very obviously hooking up with the waitress on the other side of the door to the bar. Sighing loudly, Sharon walked over to her and felt the most grown up that she ever had yelling at Angel…this pretty much never happened.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sharon asked her angrily.

Angel's eyes lit up when she saw her. "Share! And Clint! Oh, yeah, your date." Angel giggled and pointed between them. "Has she told you she loved you too, yet?"

"Where is your brother?" Sharon asked quickly, trying to talk over Angel so Clint wouldn't hear—but he had and Sharon didn't want to deal with that.

"Just got done getting laid…did that even take very long?" Angel asked, pointing at Tony as he sauntered over to them. "They came to join the party."

"Oh, no, we came to take you home," Clint told Angel, sighing when she shook her head. "Angel, this isn't you and you know it."

Angel shrugged at him. "Whatever was me was tortured out."

Her words cut them all, Sharon shaking it off first and getting into Tony's face about it. She couldn't believe that he would bring his sister out here to get drunk and laid when in the end it would devastate her. This wasn't the way to get through what happened to them and while perfect dates with Clint weren't either, it was a much healthier way of dealing with things. So this wasn't going to happen because Sharon wasn't going to let it.

"HOW DARE YOU?" Sharon yelled at Tony. "SHE IS VULNERABLE! SHE IS SAD! SHE'S WITH STEVE!"

Angel started tearing up at Steves's name. "Now he's going to hate me."

"Share…" Clint tried, not okay with the water works. "I don't…we should get her a cab."

"You take her to the cab, Hawk, but actually take her there, okay—I am yelling at Tony some more." Sharon informed him.

Note: So much happening as far as the couples are concerned, and next chapter is a comedic chapter even though it opens with a tiny bit of angst, then 28 a bunch of you have been waiting for, which brings us to Loki's return in 29…dun, dun, dun! Feedback is always appreciated!