"That's it, hold 'er steady…." She could hear him, but his voice sounded far away and muffled, as if she was hearing him through a device that was struggling to work under water.

"You got it, Wanda. Just a little longer." The soothing tone of Steve's encouraging words sounded just as far.

"It's working! Everybody focus now." That one she didn't recognize.

"Come on, Nat. Come back to us." His voice had lowered several octaves, but this time he sounded a little more desperate, and a lot closer.

She saw a bright flash of green light through a cloud of orange sparks, like fireworks, and she shut her eyes against the sudden brightness and then the voices grew louder and more excited.

"Oh my God, I can't believe that actually worked!"

"What are you talking about? It was your plan!"

He was laughing as he wrapped a tight hand around her arm, tugging her forward, although the laugh was short and nervous.

She opened her eyes and suddenly realized why the fireworks had seemed so bright; it was the light reflecting off of a thin metallic wall that was the only thing separating her from her friends and she pushed herself forward to get a better look at the group forming a loose circle around her as they all took a few careful steps closer.

"Welcome home, Widow."

She threw her arms around his neck, stumbling slightly as she was not yet steady on her feet.

His body tensed for a half a second before his arms encircled around her waist, drawing her closer. "It's okay," he murmured softly. "You're safe, you're with us. It's okay."

"I knew you'd find me," she breathed into his neck, still holding on tight.

"I wasn't going to stop," he whispered.

She looked up at him and took in his wide brown eyes, his expression soft with a hint of wonder and reached out a hand to touch his face, her thumb brushing over his cheek, her fingertips gliding over coarse facial hair.

Then, she tilted her head and kissed him, her eyes closing as her lips lightly touched his.

A muffled sound of surprise that was vibrating in his throat cleared up the fuzziness that had still been clouding her head and her eyes snapped open in time to see him lean forward.

"Well damn, baby. If I would've known that's how you were going to greet me, I wouldn't have let the welcoming committee stay," he said, gesturing with his head as he crushed his mouth against hers with his tongue between his lips, pushing past hers.

His hands that had still been locked loosely behind her back now had a firm grip on her and her nose was pressed so far against his face she thought she might suffocate.

She pushed her hands into his shoulders, reached one up to slap his face and he recoiled instantly.

"Ow!" He complained, dramatically rubbing his cheek. "What the hell? You kissed me!"

He stalked over to his console, muttering something under his breath about alternate realities making a person crazy.

Natasha looked around the room, realizing that there were more pairs of eyes on her than she was comfortable with.

"Nat…" Clint said, reaching for her hesitantly.

"It's okay if you're a little disoriented," Steve added cautiously. "But you're safe. We're in Tony's garage. You're back, and everything's going to be fine."

"And you guys didn't even want me to keep the scrap metal from those nanobots we toasted," Tony said with a loud pffft.

"Come on," Clint said. "Let's go sit somewhere while these guys clean up."

"Yeah, great way to get out of doing chores, Barton," Tony called.

Natasha was torn between giving her attention to Clint and keeping her gaze glued to the stranger she didn't recognize, who had now moved towards a shaking Wanda.

"I'll explain that too," Clint said softly, his hand on her elbow as he led her out of the room. "Let's go sit upstairs."

She shook her head. "Actually…. can you drive me back to the new compound?"

"Sure," Clint agreed. "Anything you want."

She smiled dryly. He always was most agreeable when one of them had been in mortal danger. At least this time she could use it to her advantage to get a little space to clear her head.

XXXXX

"So what are you doing here? You said you were done after Ultron." She took a long sip of hot tea from her mug, keeping her eyes trained on him.

"You're kidding, right? You think my best friend is going to go missing and I'd just sit on the sidelines? Of course I came back."

They'd been sitting in the common area of the newly built West Coast Avengers headquarters for over two hours and she'd made him go into as much detail as he could about what had happened since she'd disappeared from their reality and how they'd managed to bring her back and he was still looking at her as if he was making sure she was really there.

"Laura must love that," she said.

"She's just as worried about you as I am," Clint replied. "We didn't say anything to the kids."

She nodded idly. "You never retired where I was."

"Oh yeah? What else was different?," he asked, raising his own mug to his mouth.

"Lots of things. Plus Tony and I were married."

Hot tea spewed from his mouth and he coughed a couple of times. "I'm sorry, I thought you just said you were married to Stark."

"I did." She watched his face carefully for his reaction, but leaned away slightly in case there was any more spitting.

"Huh. That explains that kiss I guess. Well, at least you're back here now. Where things are normal."

"What's normal?"

"I don't know."

"So, how long are you in town for?" She asked, taking a different approach.

He shrugged. "How long do you want me for?"

She shrugged back.

"Well, how long are you planning on staying? I don't see you wanting to stay in California for long. You headed back to New York with Hill?"

"I'm not sure." She wrinkled her nose. "Steve and I hadn't really discussed any of that in detail."

"Cause I was thinking…. Maybe I don't have to be completely retired," He said slowly, meeting her gaze.

"Oh?" She placed her chin in her hand as she regarded him.

"Maybe I could head back east with you. Help this whole underground S.H.I.E.L.D. business get underway before I hang it all up for good."

"Did you talk to Laura?" She asked, raising an eyebrow, not wanting to sound too hopeful.

"She'll be fine. What do you think?"

She couldn't help a genuine smile from spreading across her face. "I think it'll be nice to have you back, partner."

His phone beeped at the same time hers did and they both looked down, holding their devices in their laps.

"It's Cap. Says the team is on their way back over here."

"Mine's from Tony," she said, reading over her text with a frown. "Says he wants to see me at the mansion. I wonder why he's not coming here with the others?"

"That'll be Rhodey not letting him leave his own house," Clint said knowingly. "He, uh… stayed pretty focused on his theories while you were gone. Never really took a break. You'd better get over there and see what he wants before Rhodes knocks him out and forces him to get some rest."

She nodded. "That sounds more like the Stark I know."

"Want me to drive you back?"

She shook her head. "No. I'll manage."