Thanks for sticking with me this far, my lovelies! This chapter will end the AOU movie portion of our tale, but never fear, Wanda, Sam, Rhodey, and Vision will appear later. Please keep reviewing, marking as a favorite, and following. All are greatly appreciated!

UPDATE: I realize I forgot to give credit for the song...The song is I'm Already There by Lonestar...your reminder I don't own any characters or songs, just my OC's.

"Later, M." Mikayla disconnected. She looked out the window, saw the wood still in piles, and decided to pass the time by bringing it into the house. She spent the next hour or so carrying it in and distributing it among the various fireplaces. She looked around the house and tidied up a bit, figuring she could finish in the morning. "I could use a nice, hot bath about now." She went upstairs and soaked in the clawfoot tub for a while, thinking about nothing and everything. After the bath, she was tired, so she went to bed.

The next morning after waking up, she got dressed, then went downstairs to clean the mess up from the night before. She had set the coffeemaker to brew, so she poured a cup and, after cleaning up, sat out on the porch swing taking in nature, hoping the mission was going well. She started humming a song. She'd heard it on the radio and thought the second verse could've been written for her and Clint, with some modifications:

She got back on the phone\

Said I really miss you, darling

Don't worry about me – I'll be all right

Wish I was in your arms

Lying right there beside you

But I know that I'll be in your dreams tonight

And I'll gently kiss your lips

Touch you with my fingertips

So, turn out the light and close your eyes

I'm already there

Don't make a sound

I'm the beat in your heart

I'm the moonlight shining down

I'm the whisper in the wind

And I'll be there until the end

Can you feel the love that we share?

Oh, I'm already there

Somehow going over the words in her head helped her feel closer to Clint. After pondering things for a while, she went back into the house. She poured out the rest of the coffee and started to boil water for tea. She opened the windows to bring the outside weather in and made herself comfortable on the couch reading until the water was ready. She heard the tea kettle whistle, so she put her tablet down and went to make the tea. She poured the tea into a pitcher and as she put the kettle back on the stove, she heard the screen door creak. She turned around and saw Clint, standing there holding his go bag, looking no worse for wear. The knot in her stomach dissipated and a smile grew across her face. She ran to the entryway and flung her arms around him. "Welcome back."

He dropped the bag, enveloped her in his arms, and she laid her head on his shoulder. "Good to be back," he whispered as he stroked her hair.

"I didn't hear the Quinjet drop you off."

"Tony gave me a lift home. His car's fancier than yours, not surprised about that."

They broke the embrace. Clint went to sit down on the couch and Mikayla went to pour them some tea. She came and sat down next to Clint, handing him a glass. "And you didn't kill him, trapped in a car with him for 4 hours?"

He snickered. "It wasn't that long. They've built a second complex for training in between here and the city. Nat and Steve are going to train the recruits and I'll help when necessary. You know, Tony's not that bad, once you get past the ego, and the attitude, and the ego. We had a nice talk."

"Talk? You and Tony? I'm sorry, whoever has abducted my boyfriend needs to bring him back, please."

"He sees me in a different light, now that he realizes my girlfriend has a mean hook."

"He's lucky I held back." Mikayla had curled her legs up under her and was leaning on Clint's shoulder."

He put his arm around her and was running his hand up and down her arm. "This mission was different. I think it opened his eyes to some things. He's starting to look at the world with a different view."

"You mean beginning to realize it doesn't revolve around him?"

"You don't like him, do you?"

"It's not that I don't like him, it's…I just think he's an egotistical ass."

"But he's got the means to back it up."

"I know, and that's why I don't hate him. Plus, he's one of your teammates who has your back, so I appreciate him for that."

Clint laid his head on top of hers and continued stroking her arm. "This feels…normal. I never thought I'd like being normal. I always thought it would be boring."

"Sometimes we need normalcy in our lives. It gives us a sense of consistency, but it's all relative. What's normal to one person may not be normal to another. Normal could also be considered routine but it doesn't have to be boring. It all depends on who you're normal with, and I have a feeling you wouldn't know how to be boring even if the opportunity afforded."

"After this mission, I could use all the normal I could get." Clint stared off into space, thinking about how, if not for Pietro, he wouldn't be sitting here next to the woman he loved.

"I don't usually ask this, I know, but did you want to talk about it?" She was tracing circles on his thigh with her nails.

"This one was different. We…we lost someone," Clint said in a flat voice.

Mikayla sat up and looked at him. His blue-grey eyes were misty. "Who?"

"One of the kids, Pietro Maximoff. It was Pietro and his sister Wanda who were causing the team all the trouble on our last mission." He gave a broad overview of what had occurred. The mind stone, Vision being created, fighting more robots, Banner "hulking out" then turning back into Banner before Ultron shot up the street…though he failed to mention Natasha getting kidnapped, figured she didn't need to know that. "We were loading the rescue boats brought by the helicarrier when a woman said the last place she'd seen her son was at the market. I saw him and went to retrieve him. I went to turn around and Ultron showed up in the Quinjet and started shooting. I figured it was my time to check out, so I protected the boy when suddenly I felt a gust of wind, and the next thing I knew I'd made it across the road safely with the boy in my arms. I looked over, Pietro said something then fell to the ground."

'That explains the sinking feeling I had,' Mikayla thought to herself. "Clint, I'm so sorry," she said, her voice filled with emotion and barely above a whisper.

"He was dead, Mikayla. He was dead because of me…because he saved me."

Mikayla put her forehead against Clint's to make sure he would be focused on her. "Not your fault, Clint, Ultron's. You can't blame yourself. Yes, he saved you, but he also helped you save that little boy. None of you would've been there if it wasn't for Ultron."

"I keep seeing the look in his eyes and hearing the agonizing scream of his sister."

Mikayla stroked Clint's hair. "What happened to her?"

"We brought her back to the new complex. She has some special skills that don't need to be used by the wrong people. SHIELD, the new SHIELD, will help her use it for the greater good."

Mikayla chuckled. "Clint, I think you're taking over my uncle's job, rescuing lost people." He looked over at her. "You rescued Wanda. Back in the day, you brought Natasha back instead of making another call…that one my uncle did tell me about, by the way. Oh, and you saved me and are continually rescuing me from my ghosts. See, Phil Coulson 2.0."

He smiled. "Guess I have. Hope I can live up to him, and what did I save you from?"

She smiled. "Oh, I don't know, a dead-end job, a mundane life. I'm going to let you in on a little secret, Clint. No one can live up to him, so don't try. Like me, you'll have to settle for being the best version of you that you can be. That's what he would want, take it from me."

He leaned into Mikayla and kissed her. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Grounding me, giving me a sense of peace away from all the craziness."

"Yeah, it's not every day you have to fight an army of robots." She laughed, realizing how silly that sounded.

"Thank goodness." He kissed her on the top of her head as she leaned against his shoulder again. "Where's Misty?"

"She couldn't make it, had to meet a new client."

"You've been here by yourself?"

"Clint, I've lost track of how many times I've been up here by myself. I'm fine with it."

"Allow me to be concerned about the safety of the woman I love, would you?"

"Well, since you put it that way," Mikayla said, smiling. "Changing the subject, did you want to stay here tonight or go back to the city?"

"I think I'd feel more comfortable back home in the city."

Mikayla nodded. "I'll drop you off at the tower then go over to the apartment."

"Nope, I'll stay in the apartment with you."

"Clint – "

He interrupted her. "Remember how we were talking about normalcy? In my mind, part of being normal is wanting to spend time with my girlfriend, maybe order in some food, and then…" Clint looked over at her, gazing intently into her deep brown eyes.

Mikayla's resolve disappeared. He knew how to get to her, how to use those eyes of his. "And then?" She quipped flirtatiously.

He stroked the side of her face with his index finger. "You'll have to trust me," he whispered, "you do trust me, don't you?"

"Always, Clint," she replied, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. He leaned in and captured her lips with his. After the two broke apart, Mikayla was breathing sharply and had lost the ability to speak.

"I will never tire of that."

"Me, either." She stood up. "I, I've got most of our stuff packed up, just need to get some odds and ends, then we can head back to the city and you can tell me about your new teammates." She gathered up her tablet and laptop and packed them up.

Clint took them out to the car and loaded them in the trunk, waited for Mikayla to say her goodbyes, and lock up, then they started the trip back to the city. On the trip back, he filled her in on the new trainees. Vision (though he wasn't sure how an android who was previously Tony's AI would need to learn anything), James Rhoades, who was known as Rhodey (again, what a military officer would have to gain from training he didn't understand), the previously mentioned Wanda Maximoff, and Sam Wilson.

"I remember him. He was playing pool with Steve when I wiped the pool table with them at the party."

"That's him. Can't wait to see what happens when he finds out who you are."

"Do they have code names yet, or do they have to earn one?"

Clint laughed. "It varies. Vision will be, just Vision. Rhodey got his nickname because of his last name. I think it was settled Wanda would be Scarlet Witch because of her powers and Tony called her a little witch at one point early on."

Mikayla nodded. "What about Sam?"

"Falcon, it's the code name for his uniform."
"You two should get along well then." Clint looked at her with a questioning look. "Falcon? Hawk? You're both birds, you're the birdmen."

Clint groaned and put his head in his hands. "Seriously? You're going with that?"

Mikayla sweetly smiled. "Yep, plus you have the same flirting style…cheesy."

"When did he flirt with you?"

"Take a deep breath, flyboy. I met him at the party right before I was introduced to you. He used some cheesy line on me, and Natasha called him out on it."

"Then there's the difference between us. Who are you with? Me, of course, so mine worked."

"Please, men are so competitive."

"That may be, but I won. I got the best prize…you. And, before you say anything, you are so much more than a prize to be won. It's a figure of speech."

She smiled. "I knew what you meant, but thanks for saying it."