Aoi Dragon: I hope everyone is staying safe during these unprecedented times. However, today it's Robert Downey Jr.'s birthday, and we love him 3000! So, I'm posting a new chapter for everyone. I hope you like it.

I had a reviewer recently comment on how he or she could see someone drawing fanart of some of the scenes from my story. If anyone does love to draw and would like to do fanart, I give permission but make sure you give credit (my author tag and the name of the story would be all you'd need). You could also link the art to me if you post it online... like on DeviantArt. I'll then link the art in my story although it would be in the correct chapter and scene.

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

*FMttM*

When Diana got down to Tony's floor, the lights had been dimmed so that it almost looked like candlelight all around.

"Diana!" Tony's ecstatic voice greeted her and, to her surprise, the billionaire hugged her.

Several of the other Avengers were already present - Natasha, Steve, and Bruce. Pepper, Bucky, Donnie, Sam, and Colonel Rhodes were all seated at the table. The only two who were missing were Thor (on Asgard) and Clint (in Iowa with his secret family). The two men from the 1940s had stood when she entered the room.

"Drop your stuff off in the kitchen then join us at the table." Tony told her, "We're having a few drinks, waiting for the turkey to be done."

"Okay. Thanks, Tony." She smiled at the gathered friends, "Hey guys!"

As she opened the bag, Bucky came over to her, "You want help?" He asked.

"Sure." She handed him a couple of loaves of potica, "Unwrap those and set them out. Wait-" She moved around the island of the kitchen and went into the cupboards to find plates and then into a drawer to find a large knife, "Put them on these." She set down the plates on the island and set the knife in front of them.

"What are these?" Bucky asked.

"These are pastries that my grandparents always brought around for birthdays and holidays." Diana explained loud enough for everyone at the table to hear, "The bread is potica. It's layered pastry dough with a crushed walnut and honey filling. There's some spices too, cinnamon, I think." She then motioned to the doughnuts, "These are krofes. They're basically bismarcks, but without the filling."

"That sounds delicious," Steve commented from where he sat

"I've heard of potica." Sam commented, "I had a girlfriend whose grandma was from Yugoslavia and made potica for Christmas. I never got to try it, though." The tone of that last sentence implied a break-up.

Once Diana and Bucky finished setting out the pastries, he led her to a seat between his and Steve's. The Soldier pulled out the chair for her and waited for her to sit before taking a seat himself. Diana looked around at her friends with a slight frown, "Were you all waiting for me? Am I late?"

"It's not even six, yet." Steve told her, "So don't worry about it."

"And anyway," Tony put in, "isn't there that phrase of 'A wizard is never late. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.'"

"Yeah, from Lord of the Rings." Diana nodded, "I'll take that, I guess." She glanced at the glasses, which were filled with some red liquid, "What're we having for libations?"

"Red wine." Pepper held up the bottle, "It's from the stock at Stark Manor."

"Wait a minute, you still have your family's mansion?" Diana looked at Tony.

He shrugged, "Never could give it up, but never wanted to go back after… anyway, I use it for storage now."

"What a waste! I'd love to see that place. When was it built anyway?" She asked.

Tony shrugged, "I think Dad had it built just before the US entered the War, so… late 1930s? Maybe into the early '40s before he started helping out Erskine and then Cap and the Commandos. Why?"

"Nice. It might make a nice residence for the Avengers, depending on how big it is. I wonder if it measures up to Glensheen..." Diana looked thoughtful. Then she shook her head, "Something to think about more another time. Anyway… I'd like some wine." She held up her glass to Pepper who poured her a glass, "How long until the turkey's done?"

Tony looked a little guilty, "About an hour."

"I'll give you a break since this is probably your first real Thanksgiving for a really long time." After taking a sip of the wine, she put down her glass and looked over at War Machine, "I don't think we've met. Diana Larson." She stood and held out her hand across the table for him to shake.

"James Rhodes." He did the same, "I've heard a lot about you, Miss Larson."

She smiled, "Diana, please. You're here celebrating a holiday with us. I think we should all be on a first-name basis. Plus, the other James in the room already has a nickname. So there won't be confusion." She tilted her head toward Bucky.

"It's the Commandos all over again." Steve chuckled.

"Yeah, there were three of them." Diana grinned, "Only Jim Morita got to keep his name. His grandson's a high school principal here in New York, by the way."

"Good for him." The Captain gave an approving nod before looking at Bucky, "Maybe we should go visit him someday."

"Sure. Just don't tell him I dropped out of high school. Principals still make me nervous." The Soldier gave a sheepish smile.

"Get in trouble a lot back in ye olden days, Tin Man?" Tony asked, smirking.

"Only because of Steve here." Bucky elbowed his long-time friend, "He's the one who got into the fights. I just had to finish them after Steve got beat up. It's actually how we met."

Steve groaned, "Oh come on, Buck."

At the same time, Tony leaned forward with interest, "Do tell."

The Soldier grinned wolfishly, "We were twelve. I was walking home from school and heard a fight going on in an alley, and there was tiny Steve getting his butt beat into the trash cans."

"Something that I bet became quite the common sight," Diana added.

"Oh yeah," Bucky agreed, "Then again, people tended to avoid or beat on Steve because they considered him a burden on society."

Donnie's eyes went wide, "Why?" It was obvious that he couldn't fathom people being disgusted by Captain America.

"I was sick a lot," Steve explained. He looked a little sad, "I had asthma and weak muscles, irregular heart palpitations. I'd had had scarlet fever and rheumatic fever many times. I got tired easily. The list of health problems was extensive. It's why I wasn't allowed to join the army until I got the serum."

"Back then," Bucky continued, "most families hid away their sick kids out of shame. Sometimes they never even got to go to school. Steve was lucky, though. His ma was a strong lady and wouldn't take any sh-crap from anyone."

"It's not like it was their fault." The kid frowned, "My kindergarten teacher wanted to label me as mentally retarded because I refused to talk to the other kids and didn't like doing the lessons."

"Bet it was 'cause you were beyond the ABC's and 1, 2, 3's." Tony ventured.

Donnie nodded, "I could multiply when I was in kindergarten, and I was reading the first Harry Potter book." He paused, "There's nothing wrong with my brain."

"Yeah, exactly. There's nothing wrong with Steve's brain." Bucky gave the Captain a side glance, "Except he has no self-preservation skills."

Steve opened his mouth, looking like he was going to protest, but Sam interrupted, "Don't you dare try to argue against that, Cap. You know it's true."

The Captain's mouth snapped shut, and he looked at Diana. She put her hands up, "Don't look at me. I happen to agree with Buck and Chocolacino."

"Some Thanksgiving this turned out to be." Steve sat back and crossed his arms with a pout. However, his eyes couldn't hide his smile.

"Speaking of Thanksgiving," Tony spoke up, "we should do that cliché thing where we go around the table and everyone says what they're thankful for. I can start. I'm thankful for… me. My tower. My money and company. Being able to be Ironman." He glanced at Pepper who was glaring at him with narrowed eyes, "And I'm, of course, thankful for Pepper and everything she's done for my company. She's earned herself 12% of my thanks for the company stuff. The rest is for being one of the few people who'll put up with me, along with Bruce and everyone else here, so… there it is. Toast!" He held up his wine glass and took a drink.

Everyone else followed suit and took a sip of the wine. Pepper spoke next, "I'm thankful for everyone here at this table who can keep Tony from doing stupid things." She smiled at him, "I'm proud that you're doing everything you can to protect the world, and I love you for that." Tony's eyes darted down at the "L" word as Pepper continued, "I'm thankful that there's finally people we can count on to help us if we need it and people we can fully trust with any part of our lives. A toast." She lifted her wine glass to repeat the action Tony had done.

Rhodes cleared his throat, "It's been a long road since Tony announced that he was Ironman, over six years. The world has changed drastically since then. Heroes have returned from the pages of history. People are developing superpowers from the most random events and technologies. There are aliens among us! I never thought I'd see this in my lifetime, but I am so thankful that I'm a part of the team and that I can help the people I swore to protect when I joined the Air Force. So, a toast to the team." He raised his glass.

Sam nodded in agreement with the Colonel's sentiment before he added his own statement, "I've seen war. I've been on the front lines, and I've lost people close to me - people I'll never see again." He smirked, "Then, I'm on a run one day and I hear, 'On your left.' Those words ended up changing my life. I heard them over and over again like the guy was trolling me or something. Then I realized who it was. I realized that the guy who beat my running pace was Captain Freaking America!" He laughed a little, "And if it weren't for the simple words, 'On your left' I would be stuck in a boring ass life in DC. I wouldn't have new and improved wings. Now I can not only help people at the VA, but I can also save the world alongside living legends and modern superheroes. I am so thankful for the opportunity to know you guys, 'cause who'd've thought a guy like me would ever get connected to meet awesome people like you." He lifted his wine glass, "A toast."

It was Natasha that spoke next, "I don't trust people easily. I'm thankful that despite my past and my job all of you have chosen to trust me. It's more than I've had in my entire life. So, a toast." She lifted her wine glass in a toast and took a sip of wine.

Steve had a thoughtful look on his face, "You know, when I woke up in this century, I thought I'd lost everything. I'd lost my best friend in the world on a mission that was supposed to be a quick and easy capture. I'd lost my chance with Peggy too." His expression twisted with grief and Bucky put a hand on his friend's shoulder, "There was one thing that kept me from wallowing in that grief because she gave me hope that the timeline she knew would bring some of what I'd lost back to me." Steve smiled faintly at Diana before looking straight at the Sergeant, "And here we are, pal. Spending another Thanksgiving together, but we're finally not at war or scrounging for food. So, I'm thankful that Diana came to this universe and making sure I didn't do something stupid before this place started to feel more like home for me. Because it is."

He looked at Tony, "I'm thankful that you've given me a place to call home, and I'm thankful that you've given me your friendship, even though you're extremely annoying most of the time. So, a toast." He lifted his wine and took a drink.

"I'm thankful to even be here." Donnie blurted, although his voice was still soft. He flushed a little and lowered his gaze to the table, "After what HYDRA did to me, I didn't think I'd be able to do what I love anymore or be around people because I might hurt them with my powers." He lifted a hand and a mist swirled around his fingertips, "I have more control over my powers than I ever thought possible, and I can invent using the best tech the world has to offer. So, thank you for bringing me here and for accepting me as I am." He lifted his glass, "A toast."

Bruce smiled at the young man, "We all seem to be thankful for similar things." He looked around the table, "I'm thankful to have found people who aren't constantly afraid of me, that the other guy might take control and smash everything at a moment's notice if I get too angry. We're all misfits in one way or another, and we've cobbled together a family. That's something I'm thankful for." He lifted his glass, "A toast."

The Soldier's flesh finger circled the wine glass, making it sing a little as he thought about his answer to Tony's challenge. He stared at the crimson wine and grimaced, "My life for the past sporadic seventy years has been nothing but bloody because of HYDRA. I've killed so many people," He looked at Tony, "and I can't apologize enough to those who were left behind in the wake of those assassinations. People keep saying it wasn't me, but I still remember every single one as if I'd been conscious of every move I made. In the end, to me, it doesn't matter whether I knew what was right from wrong or anything like that. My hands still committed those atrocities, and my eyes still watched as the light faded from my target's eyes."

Bucky shook his head to clear his thoughts and took a deep breath, "Despite all of that there are still people who stick by me. Despite the red in my ledger, as moy malen'kiy pauk likes to say, you've all accepted me and everything I've done and don't think me a monster. And I can't thank you enough for that." He paused, "Diana told me that in the original timeline I fled to Bucharest and spent two years there by myself recovering my memories. I'm thankful that didn't happen here. I'm thankful that Diana and Steve found me on the docks in Brooklyn. I'm thankful that they brought me back here. And most of all I'm thankful that I've found a place where I can finally feel like I belong. If it weren't for you, all of you, I don't know where I'd be. So, a toast." Bucky raised his wine glass.

"Well, I guess I'm last." Diana swirled the last little bit of wine left in her glass, "Sometimes I still can't believe I'm here. Sometimes I think this is all a dream and I'll wake up back home and all of you guys are people I'll never meet, never be friends with… ever. Because you're all actors back there. Whoever sent me here placed me right smack dab in the middle of the action and set me up to meet Captain America and the Howling Commandos. And I'm thankful to whoever did that. I'd probably be dead or in the loony bin if I'd been found by anyone else." She paused, "I guess what I'm saying is that I'm thankful that the people I've told my origins to believe me, especially Colonel Phillips and Director Fury. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them trusting that I was telling them the truth about where I was from. So, to those two Colonels - a toast." She raised her glass.

"So we're all pretty much thankful for having this mish-mash family." Tony grinned, "I wish Legolas was here, though. Where the hell is he, Romanoff?"

"I don't know. I'm not his keeper." Natasha shrugged.

"Diana, do you know?" The billionaire asked.

The blonde raised her eyebrows, "Why're you asking me?"

"'Cause you seem to know everything. So, spill. Where's birdbrain?"

"Like Natasha said, I'm not his keeper either," Diana replied.

"Aww, come on. You gotta know something?"

Diana tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at Tony, "He's where he's supposed to be. That's all I'm gonna say."

"But-"

Pepper grabbed Tony's arm, "Let's go check on the turkey." She pulled him away from the table.

Natasha gave Diana a steady stare, "Do you know?"

"Know what?" The blonde decided to play dumb but lowered her chin to indicate that, yes, she did know where Clint was.

"Hmmm…" The redhead took another sip of wine.

Diana changed the subject to their newest member to the team, "I don't think I ever asked, Donnie, but where are you from?"

"Um, I'm from Evansville, Indiana. It's actually really close to Louisville, Kentucky," he replied.

"I've never even been close to that, although I did go into Indiana on a college visit once," the blonde told him.

Donnie gave a shy smile, "I kind of miss home. When I left the SHIELD Academy and with everything that happened with HYDRA, I'm pretty sure my parents think I'm dead."

"We'll have to change that," Steve declared. "We'll figure out a way to contact your parents and make sure they know you're alright."

The young man ducked his head, "My little brother won't believe that I'm living with the Avengers."

"How long's it been since you talked to your parents?" The Captain asked.

"Since before I got powers, so about a year." Donnie looked a little guilty.

"You know, if you have a picture of your house, I could make a portal there if you wanted me to." Diana offered.

The young man stared at her, wide-eyed, "You'd do that for me?"

She smiled, "No one should be away from their family on Thanksgiving."

"Maybe… maybe we should call them first."

"We can do that too," Steve agreed.

Donnie nodded, "Okay. Thank you."

Just then Tony and Pepper strode in carrying a gigantic, steaming turkey, "Okay, so who knows how to cut this baby?" Tony asked before looking to Steve as they set down the bird on the table, "Cap, you do the honors?"

Steve looked a bit surprised when Tony held out the knife to him, "I, uh, okay." The Captain took the blade and stared at the turkey, "You know, I've been awake for two years now and this is actually the first Thanksgiving I've had since before the war."

Bucky nodded, "Rations were tight, so we never really celebrated."

Steve cut through the turkey smoothly, "I didn't think it'd go in that easily."

"That's what she said," Sam mumbled, but everyone easily heard him.

Tony snorted, "Birdman, I think we're going to keep you."

*FMttM*

Toward the end of the dinner, Tony spoke again, "So, I have some good news and some bad news." He paused for dramatic effect as everyone turned their focus to him. He preened under the attention before revealing his news, "Good news is I found the Red Book."

"That's great, Tony." Steve told him with a smile, "We should go get it before someone else does."

Tony grimaced, "That's the bad news. The guy who has it is a paranoid Russian son of a bitch. It's like he knew he'd been found out and moved house. I had JARVIS try to track him through facial recognition and his car, but he's completely off the grid."

"Who was it?" Bucky asked in a soft, but steely voice.

"From the face shots I got it was Vasily Karpov." Tony's eyes narrowed at the Soldier, "Do you know something?"

Bucky's gaze lowered to the table as his brows furrowed. He frowned, "I think… I think he was the one who ordered me to kill the Starks."

"Was he now?" Ironman's dark eyes burned in fury before he called for his AI, "JARVIS, kick up the search for Karpov. Hack security cameras, highway cameras, stoplight cameras, web cameras, everything. I'm gonna find this bastard and do what we do best: Avenge." Then he strode toward the elevator.

"Tony!" Pepper followed after him and took his arm. A quiet argument ensued with the ginger trying to calm Ironman, and Tony doing his very best to keep hold of his anger. After a few moments, the billionaire slumped a little and ran his hand along Pepper's cheek before brushing her hair behind her shoulder.

The two returned to the table and Tony sat in his chair with a sigh, "Pepper says that I shouldn't just leave this dinner since I'm the host because it's rude. And when she's right, she's right." He gave her a small, strained smile, "And she's always right."

"It's alright, Tony," Steve told his friend, "I think we all understand. Just so you know, as soon as you find out where Karpov is, call us, and we'll be there."

"Right." Ironman nodded. A short moment passed before Tony perked up, "So... who's up for some dessert? I've been dying to try what Diana brought."