Thanks for still being here and for reviewing, following, and adding as a favorite - those notices do make my day!

To Katie: Yes, definitely someone from his past and you'll find out pretty quick who; also, Mikayla's a quiet person and wanted to keep her relationship with Clint quiet to help protect him and also herself due to being Coulson's niece. As you will be able to tell, Clint helps bring her out of her shell.

This chapter starts the bonding of Mikayla with the teammates. The first one a surprising figure...surprising to me, anyway!

Clint increased his pacing, clenching his fists to avoid hitting something, then looked at Natasha. "My brother."

"Barney?" Natasha gasped. "He's still around?"

"Appears so." Everyone except Natasha and Tony had shocked looks on their faces. Tony had already hacked into his teammates' files, of course, so he knew about Barney Barton. "Natasha already knows this, so I'll tell the rest of you about my asswipe brother. We ran away from home and joined the circus. We were both trained in archery tricks, shooting apples off people's heads, objects that were thrown in the air, stunts like that. Barney decided it would be a good skill to use to commit robberies. I helped him on a few jobs. I was loyal to my brother because he was older, even though he kept making me feel guilty for the way our dad treated our mom, that it was my fault somehow. I finally had enough and left the circus, then was a sniper in the Army for a tour, and shortly after that Coulson found me and recruited me. I assumed Barney stayed on with the circus, though I'd heard rumors right after I joined SHIELD about some freak with a bow and arrow robbing pawn shops and loan companies, shooting people with arrows when they didn't cooperate. The guy was going by the name Trickshot, which was the name Barney used in the circus. Damn it! How he found out about Mikayla is what I want to know!"

The group thought for a moment how to act. Natasha was already planning nasty ways to rid the earth of the pond scum. Steve decided he could track down circuses in the area and check them out. Bruce and Thor looked at each other, waiting to hear from their teammates. Tony spoke up. "I'll do research on the bastard and see what I can find. Friday, pull up everything you can on Trickshot and Barney Barton, and any unsolved crimes involving bows and arrows. No one hurts one of the team and gets away with it." He got up and went to his lab, knowing he did his best thinking surrounded by his toys. Bruce followed him, not having an idea what he could do, but he'd be able to monitor Mikayla from there.

"Clint, go sit with your girlfriend. I'm going to the training room," Nat ordered as she stormed off, leaving Clint and Thor in the living room.

"Barton, my friend, I will be happy to sit with your Mikayla if that will help."

"Thanks, Thor. When she wakes up, tell her I'll be up there after I calm down." Clint followed Nat to the training room as Thor returned to Mikayla's suite. "Wait up, Nat," Clint jogged to catch up with her.

"Why aren't you going to Mikayla?"

"She doesn't need to see me this angry. She needs calm and right now, no one's calmer than Thor, which sounds strange but it's true. This is the only way I know to get it out of my system right now."

"You know I won't go easy on you."

"Wouldn't expect you to, Tasha." He opened the door to the training room, and they walked in. As soon as they entered, Natasha tried to trip Clint, but he was ready for her. He grabbed her arm and tried to bend it behind her back. Natasha saw that coming and did a backflip, twisting so she ended up holding his arm and throwing him to the ground.

"Ow," he exclaimed.

"Grow a pair, Barton."

"Shut up, Tasha." Still on the ground, he wrapped his feet around one of Natasha's legs and dropped her to the ground, then hopped up and out of reach of her.

"Good, you're learning," she smiled. She somersaulted toward him, but he evaded her by jumping over her as she rolled by. "Impressive, Barton." She leaped up and tried a roundhouse kick. He saw that coming, grabbed her leg, and threw her back down. "Oof." A reluctant release of breath escaped her lips.

"Now who needs to grow a pair?" He smirked. This continued for some time, one would gain an advantage, then the other one would catch back up.

Upstairs, Thor had made it to Mikayla's suite. He pulled up a chair and sat down, watching Mikayla as she slept. "I'm glad Barton allowed me this duty. It will give me a chance to get to know his lady friend better." The team had taken good care of Jane from time to time, so he was pleased to be able to return the favor.

Mikayla eventually stirred and felt eyes on her. She turned over to see a big, blond man intensely staring at her. It took her a minute to realize who it was.

Oh…hi…Thor." She rubbed her eyes to help her focus.

"This is a sight for sore eyes. I'm so glad you're awake. Before you ask," he put his hand up, "your archer is burning off some anger by training with Lady Natasha. There's been some type of development about your incident. How are you feeling? Is there anything I can get you?"

"Water, please."

"Of course." He walked over to the cart, poured her a glass, brought it back, and handed it to her.

She slowly sat up and took a long drink. "Thanks…and thanks for sitting with me."

"I'm glad I'm able to be of service. This will also give me a chance to get to speak to you. I'm sorry I left your house so abruptly."

"It's okay. I understand you had something to do, so no apology necessary." Her voice was growing stronger. "Thank you for being a good teammate and friend to Clint."

"You're quite fond of him, as are we. He is a valuable member of the team. We wouldn't be able to function without him." Thor thought of the numerous times during missions when Clint had alerted him to unseen enemies, only discovered because of Clint's vantage point. "I learned that you're related to the Son of Coul."

It took her a minute to figure out who he was talking about. "Yep, he was my uncle."

"I'm sorry for your loss. I considered him a friend. I'm also sorry about his manner of death."

"Yeah, I never would've guessed he would've died from being stabbed. I always thought he would be shot or die of old age after he retired."

"Unfortunately, I witnessed it, but he didn't appear to be in pain and went rather quickly."

"I'm glad it was quick."

"Yes, my brother made sure of that."

Mikayla put a pillow behind her back to help prop her up. "Your brother was Loki, right? He…killed my uncle?"

Thor put his large hand on her small arm. "I'm ashamed to say, yes. This entire thing happened because of me. He traveled to another world and…something happened. He became manipulated, possessed by this being called Thanos. That was the reason I had to leave your house so quickly. I was attempting to hunt him down, though I didn't know it at the time." He filled her in on the story of the infinity stones. "I'm sorry it resulted in the death of your uncle and the other tragedies that occurred that day."

Mikayla thought about what she had just heard. The man she loved was possessed by the same man who killed her uncle, but he had been possessed by someone else. The thought made her head hurt a little more. "Thor, thanks for telling me. This is the first time I've heard the story behind his death. Was your brother able to break free before he died?"

"He seemed to, though he had a haunted look about him after that. I've vowed to do whatever it takes to find this monster and destroy him."

"Just be sure you don't let it consume you, Thor. That would make you no better than him."

Thor smiled. "Now I know what our Clint sees in you. You remind me of my Jane, wise beyond your years."

She smiled shyly and blushed. "Thanks, Thor. Can you tell me more about Jane, and about where you're from…Asgard?"

Thor's smile grew into a wide grin. "I would be happy to regale you with tales." He leaned back in the chair and shared stories with her. Mikayla settled in to hear Thor's stories.

Sometime later, Clint and Natasha came into the room to find Thor and Mikayla laughing. "Nothing more beautiful than a woman who is happy, especially when she's my woman." Clint leaned down and kissed her. "Feeling better, I see?"

"I am. Thor has been telling me stories about Asgard."

Thor stood up. "Well, my work here is done. I shall take my leave." He leaned down and kissed Mikayla on the top of her head. "I truly am glad you are doing better, fair Mikayla."

"Hey, man, thanks for keeping an eye on her for me," Clint slapped him on his back.

"It was truly my pleasure to be in the presence of such beauty and to have a hand in her recovery. She is one of us, after all." Thor then left the room.

"I'll be down the hall if you need me, though I doubt you will," Natasha said. "Welcome back, Mikayla." She smiled.

"Thanks, Natasha. Didn't beat him up too bad, did you?"

"No worse than usual. He'll toughen up one of these days, there's hope for him yet." She ducked into the hall before Clint could smack her.

He moved the chair away from the bed and stretched out next to Mikayla. "How are you feeling, really?" He took one of her hands and clasped it between his.

"Much better, now that you're here." She laid her head on his chest. "He's like a giant teddy bear. I can see why women always want to meet him. He's got the heart of a warrior and a gentle soul."

Clint cleared his throat. "Thought you didn't like long-haired guys?"

Mikayla harrumphed and rolled her eyes. "Really? We have to have this conversation again?"

He put a finger over her mouth to shush her. "Just checking, making sure the concussion didn't cause any memory loss."

"Nope, still remember you, Clint."

"Good." He brushed some strands of hair back from her face and caressed her cheek. "I'm proud of you for how you reacted. We caught part of it on video."

"Thor told me there was a development. What did you find?"

"Saw someone climbing down from the roof so I went over there. Found an arrow."

She stiffened. "An arrow? Not one of yours, I'm guessing."

"No, probably my brother's."

"I thought he was long gone."

"Me, too, but who else would be carrying arrows? Like you said when we first met, it's not like you see people toting bows and arrows around all the time. That's not the most important thing I discovered, though."

"It's not? What else did you find out?"

"How awesome of a girlfriend and all-around badass human being you are."

"Me?"

"Yep. We caught a video feed of you going toward the balcony, immediately turning around, and making a beeline away from the window. You made the right decision in a split second, the only decision you could've made that would save your life. You didn't panic. That is my badass woman and I'm so damn proud of you."

She blushed, then chuckled. "Thanks. I hate to burst your bubble. I got the idea from a TV show."

"I don't care where the hell you got it from, you tucked it into your memory bank and used it at the right time. That is badass in my eyes."

She laid her head back down on his chest and listened to his steady heartbeat. Concentrating on it reminded her she was safe and secure whenever he was around. "Thanks," she said softly. She fell back asleep. Clint stayed in bed, holding her until he, too, finally drifted off.