"How are you doing?" Phil asked, walking into Tony's lab later that day. The only ones who had really needed rest were Clint, Loki and Bucky and so the others had basically just split off to do whatever they wanted. Or have private conversations. Amazingly, the genius didn't flinch at the interruption. "I know that had to have been-"

"I don't know how to respond yet," Tony muttered before slowly looking to the agent. "I'm currently housing the man that killed my parents but he was tortured into doing it. I... I can't think."

"I know there is a lot of issues like that going around," Phil said, nodding. Tony sighed, sitting back in his seat to look over at Phil. "Loki decided to actually write out a report of everything he knows rather than discussing it. The report should have all the things that should matter in defeating Thanos."

"Why?" Tony wondered.

"He feels it might be faster to get through the information if it was all simply written down and people could read it at their own pace," Phil answered. Tony snorted before looking back to the phone he had basically disassembled. Above the parts was a holo image that showed a photo of Bucky and Tony working on building a house. Neither of them seemed to notice how close to the other they were. Steve was standing off to the side talking to Rhodey, both men had smiles on their faces but the main thing that drew Phil's attention was the device strapped to Rhodey's lower half.

"It's hard to believe them until you look at stuff like this," the genius pointed out. Phil nodded, not saying much of anything. He had long ago noticed that he wasn't shown in any of the photos. And he wasn't sure if that disturbed him or not. It wasn't like he could go and ask Clint about it at the moment. As soon as Pepper had shown him one of the rooms, the archer headed to the bed and crashed, hard. Loki had taken the next room and Bucky the final. Steve stayed with Bucky. Natasha had at some point slipped into the room with Clint but Phil found he couldn't relax. Neither could Fury and Hill, both refusing to go back to S.H.I.E.L.D without more answers on the Hydra situation.

"I can't believe they are from thirteen years in our future," Phil muttered. Tony nodded. There was enough evidence but it was one thing that was just so hard to believe. "I'm glad that you become friends with them."

"That's assuming I do now. Just because it happened on-"

"You've already opened your home to them," Phil countered before Tony could continue. The genius looked over to him with a bland look.

"Technically-"

"You could have vetoed. This is your tower. Your home."

"But-"

"Tony." The genius sighed deeply, turning back to the display. Phil paused, looking the genius over a bit closer. Tony seemed tense, uneasy. "Is there something else going on?"

"I trust them," Tony whispered. Behind them, Natasha and Steve slipped into the room. They paused at that. "I don't know why. But I trust them. Even... Even Natalie."

"I thought you wanted nothing to do with her," Phil mumbled, remembering the conversation that he had had with Fury and Natasha over the idea of Tony working with her. Natasha was pretty much certain that after everything Tony had gone through with trusting people, he wouldn't take working with her again. Tony huffed.

"I did. But... After meeting Clint, Loki and now Bucky... Something feels different. Like..."

"You're almost settled," Steve finished, making everyone turn to look at him. He shrugged. It was the best way to describe how he felt. "I felt off when I first woke up. Missing something. I had always just assumed I missed everyone from back then. But, it's this. It's us."

"Natasha?" Phil questioned, looking at the spy. Natasha sighed, looking away. She hadn't realized it until just then.

"We're not complete. We're almost there," she informed. Steve and Tony nodded. They only had one more piece. One more person to add to their group.

The next morning, everyone unknowingly began to gather on the common floor. A magical image of Loki (due to the real Loki writing his report) along with the very real Thor had been the first up. Pepper had come next and got JARVIS to deliver a gigantic collection of cooked breakfast items from the chefs that worked in the restaurant on the third floor of the tower. Thor, though, happily munched away on another delivery which included strawberry pop tarts while he leaned against the glass panel by the dinning room table with Pepper sitting in front of him. Loki was sitting two seats away from Pepper, an empty plate of eggs before him. Steve had come next and he sat across the table from Loki, a large plate of eggs, sausage, bacon and toast before him.

Phil was the next to arrive and like Thor, he simply grabbed his food items and stood, but he leaned against the metal bar splitting the windows into different panes. Natasha settled herself to Steve's right, a bowl of fruit in front of her but she would randomly reach out and snag a strip of bacon as if they had been friends forever. Tony was on Steve's left, no food in front of him. Instead it was Bucky's phone and a small tablet in front of him. Pepper tried to push food in his direction but the genius was clearly not interested in eating.

Fury and Hill arrived at the same time, neither willing to grab food even though Pepper offered some. Bucky came next and Loki couldn't help but arch an eyebrow at the fact that he came alone. He shrugged but nabbed some food and sat on Natasha's right, making sure to grab two cups of coffee. Not five minutes later, Clint stumbled into the room. He bee-lined right to Bucky and dropped his head onto the Sergeant's shoulder. Bucky chuckled and held up one of the coffees as Natasha perked up, glancing at them. Clint mumbled a soft thanks, kissed Bucky's neck gently and backed away. They had been going through this routine since they got together in Wakanda. It wasn't anything new to them. But it was new for everyone else.

"Finally," Steve muttered, drawing Bucky's and Clint's attention toward him. In fact, nearly everyone looked over to them.

"What?" Bucky asked, slightly confused. Steve pointed between the two of them and Clint went beat red, glancing at the gathered S.H.I.E.L.D members that knew of Laura and the kids. The archer hadn't really ever thought about his new relationship with Bucky. In his, well their, minds, Clint wasn't with Laura. But in this time period, he was. To the other, this would look like Clint was cheating on his wife.

"Wow. Didn't expect that," Tony hummed before smiling. Clint winced, ignoring the genius as his gaze settled on Natasha. Out of everyone, he feared her reaction the most. And as he had figured, she looked pretty livid.

"Clint?" Natasha wondered, her voice edging toward dark and hard. Bucky looked to her surprised. He hadn't ever assumed that she'd reject the possibility of them being in a relationship. So, why was she now? It took an extra second before he realized why she was mad and then he winced.

"Look, I..." Clint stuttered before raising a hand to the back of his head. "You have to remember, things changed a lot for me."

"Enough for this?" Phil countered, pointing between Bucky and Clint. If anyone hadn't been paying attention before (IE: Thor), they certainly were now. Clint winced again, looking down to Bucky for help but Bucky held up his hands, wanting to not get involved anymore then he already was.

"Laura... I..." Clint stumbled, unsure how exactly to bring it up. Bucky reached back, snatching Clint's hand, grounding the archer. Clint sighed deeply before looking to the floor. "For me, I've been divorced from Laura for just about six years."

"What!?" Phil, Natasha and Fury called out, stunned. Clint winced for a third time.

"It is currently hard enough on the poor woman to worry about him while on S.H.I.E.L.D missions. Now, he would be the only non-augmented human on the Avengers," Loki explained for the archer. Clint gave him a slightly relieved and thankful look. The trickster had gotten the memories of the Loki Clint had been friends with, and so the trickster knew of the months of Laura suffering while Clint was in the 1940s. "Over the next thirteen years, many times Clint would have had close calls with death."

"She couldn't handle it anymore..." Clint muttered, drawing attention back to him. Natasha stood, moving and pulling the archer into a very quick hug. Of all the things in the world, she had never ever expected Laura and Clint's relationship to fall apart. To her, they were the perfect couple. "I... God, I just got brought back from World War II and she kicked me out of the house."

"We are totally missing some context in there," Tony grumbled which had a few people glare at him. While it had been mentioned and proven that Clint had been sent back to WWII, none of them knew how long Clint had been gone while he was in the war. Clint shook his head.

"I had just gone back to visit after a year... And, that was the day Thanos snapped," Clint whispered. Pepper gasped, her hands going over her mouth before she stood and rushed to pull the archer into her own hug. Natasha backed away, unsure what else to do. Phil made a noise of shock while Fury grunted and looked to Hill, who had gone pale. Steve sat tense in his seat, unsure what to think of this whole thing. He had known, since he found Bucky and Clint after Zola, that they cared for each other.

"Twas your family that disappeared?" Thor softly finished even though it was clear to everyone what had happened. Clint let out a soft sob, remembering the moment of realization that his family was gone, even as he nodded.

"I spent five years trying to get them and everyone else back. But to those who SNAPed..."

"We thought we blinked and suddenly people we had been staring at weren't there," Bucky explained. He hadn't really talked to Clint about what happened. Hell, Bucky was pretty sure that none of those SNAPed mentioned what it had been like.

"She thought you left," Hill mumbled as Pepper pulled away from Clint, to look at the archer. Clint nodded.

"I lost so much and I couldn't even go see them." A small whimper escaped as he remembered the phone call he had after Thanos had been defeated. It hadn't helped that when she first called the call dropped cause the facility had been blown to pieces. With all that on his mind Clint 'broke.' He was not going to officially cry in front of everyone. Shaking his head, he spun on his heel and walked out, intent on heading to his assigned room.

"Clint!" Bucky called, getting to his feet. He went to make chase but Natasha pressed a hand to his chest. Bucky looked sharply to her. He knew that she was his friend but Clint had changed too much for her to know him anymore.

"Leave it," she told him. Bucky pushed her off but hesitated in following. Maybe she was right. Maybe he... Then he shook his head. If this was the Clint she knew, he would have deferred to her advice. But it wasn't.

"I can't. I did that once before and I fucked it up," Bucky hissed before shoving past her and heading off after Clint. Bucky found the archer in the room he had been resting in before. Clint was sitting on the ground at the end of the bed. The archer was mostly curled up into a ball, softly sobbing. Bucky sighed deeply and headed in, sitting down on the floor beside him. He decided to let Clint initiate whatever contact he wanted. But they simply sat there. After ten minutes, Loki appeared in the doorway. His search for answers was stalling and something told him that he was needed here more than out there looking for answers. He had time before anyone would remember Thor's confusing question of the spell. Time enough for Loki to look into it. For now, Loki needed to focus on the archer.

"Is everything alright?" he softly asked. Bucky looked up to him before back down to Clint. The archer had long ago stopped sobbing but he had yet to uncurl himself. Bucky shrugged. Loki sighed deeply, leaning against the door. While he had no been there in person, Loki did know of the entire conversation his magical image had. "I never thought about issues like this."

"You weren't the only one," Clint agreed, his voice cracking. Loki and Bucky looked to him. "It never even occurred to me that I'd see them again. That Laura would have no memory of the Avenging. About... About any of this."

"What do you want to do?" Bucky wondered. Clint snorted. It was clear that Clint hadn't really been able to think anything through. That whatever he would come up with would be spur of the moment and possibly detrimental to something.

"I have to talk to her. Have to explain things." Bucky nodded already getting the idea of what was going to happen. While they were fresh into their relationship, Clint had been with Laura for years. They had built a life together. "I..."

"You have time to think this through. Figure it out. Don't rush into a choice," Bucky told the archer. Clint looked over to him, his gaze shifted into pained sadness. "Hey, I'm fine with whatever. You've always been with Laura longer then me. You have kids with her."

"Buck-"

"Clint," Bucky interrupted, grabbing the archer's hand. "She has no idea. It wouldn't be fair to her or the kids to just end it."

"It's not-" Clint started. Bucky shook his head.

"I'll be fine. I can go back to being your friend," Bucky replied, surprised at the honesty of the statement. It wasn't that he didn't love the archer because he seriously did. But it was more he would be happy with any of the archer's time. Even if that meant sharing him with Laura. Clint grimaced and looked away. That wasn't what he wanted to hear. Loki sighed, nearly pressing a hand to his face. Bucky turned to look up at the ceiling. "Clint, I'm not saying I don't want to be with you. I'd give anything to be with you."

"Then, I'll-"

"But, I can't in good conscious get in between you and Laura. You two were good for each other," Bucky added. Clint scoffed, looking away.

"Key word Buck.. Were," Clint stressed. Bucky sighed. The three lapped into silence for a few minutes. Clint finally let out a stressed exhale. "I'll call her at some point today. Explain things to her. Figure out what we should do."

"Don't rush it. Seriously think about it Clint. Leaving Laura means leaving Cooper, Lila-"

"Nate hasn't been born yet," Clint grunted before Bucky could add the youngest Barton's name. That made the archer pause and he looked up to Loki. The trickster frowned. "You said all these events happened, but, Nate was born after the Battle of New York. Sokovia had happened before that too."

Loki shrugged. Another thing he would have to look into. This whole situation was much more complicated then he had first thought. Though, Loki had to note... This was the first dimension that ever questioned the spell this deeply. "I never thought of those born after these events. Nor did events tend to happen as they have in this dimension."

"We should have asked about that before," Bucky agreed, looking between Loki and Clint. The archer nodded, turning to stare at the ground. They had rushed into going to the past to fix everything and they deserved whatever pains came from that.

"There are bigger problems to deal with then my marriage anyways. Lets... Lets just focus on getting rid of Thanos and Hydra," Clint announced. Loki and Bucky traded looks before nodding. There wasn't much that could be said until the nine months before Nathaniel's birth. And Clint was right. They had bigger fish to fry.

Time travel is so confusing! ARGH! Rereading over all this I'm actually rather disappointed at how this is turning out. But every time I look at this things seem to either move too quickly or I lose track of what I had been trying to say cause the characters interrupt and change the direction. Ugh. Sorry for it being so confusing.

Darius is doing well. A pain in the butt, but well. My main thing going on with him now is that he seriously won't let me type, EVER! And when hubby is home I think, I can type now, the TV gets put on and distracts me. Can't catch a break. Not that my mind has seriously been able to focus on writing anything. Why can't things be easier?