A/N: And here we are, my dearest readers, the final official chapter of this saga.

I don't want to go all 'Oscars' speech' on you, but I do feel like I have all of you to thank for this fic. It was your enthusiasm and support which got this fic written, as well as the wonderful characters created by Stan Lee and of course, the talents of the actors who brought the characters to life on the screen. You're all just so inspiring. :D

Okay, so that did sound like an Oscar acceptance speech, sorry. .

But I really did want to say thank you to all of my readers and those wonderful reviewers who made this so much fun for me. I tried to reply to as many as you as I could and wished I could with the guest reviewers. Thank you for all of your amazing words of support and encouragement.

I'll stop there because I feel like I could fill up the chapter just trying to express my gratitude to you all.

This chapter has the story going out more on whimper than a bang. I knew that'd be the case when I didn't want to end it just after the showdown finale. I hope it's not too much of a letdown for you. I finally got to NaCl and I'm not sure if it's enough for their fans, but I'd written myself into a bit of a corner with how their first meeting was going to go.

Also, I'm not sure about a sequel to this story right now but I have left myself a lot of opportunities to explore this story further. The Olivia/Steve thing, the Darcy's fingernail trophy, is Hammer really dead, is Ghost? Set up a further story with Pepperony as well in this chapter and of course, we have to find out how things go with Lewis and Greg's baby. ;)

Basically what I'm trying to say is that you might want to follow this story or me, in case I start to add to the foundations I've laid down here. It's up to you, of course, but chances are it'll happen. And then, after IM3 comes out in less than 6 months, you can bet I'll be wanting to do some writing then... unless they break my heart, and then I'll be curled up in the foetal position somewhere. .

Anyways, let's get this chapter over and done with and then I'll be posting the epilogue in a day or two.

For one last time, I hope you have fun with it... :D

Chapter Seventy-Seven

Clint's heart was pounding as he ran along the hospital corridors, dodging staff and patients alike. He'd heard a page over the loud speaker to Natasha's room and just panicked. It had been four days since her surgery and she still hadn't woken up. Each of the Avengers had taken turns to be by her side at all times. Clint would have stayed the whole time, only he'd been outnumbered by the others and ordered to take a break. It was finally Bruce with his calm reason that made Clint leave the hospital for a bit. Bruce had said Clint was going to be no use to Natasha if he was an exhausted mess when she did wake up. That had been hard to argue with, so, in the end, Clint had relented. Now he was regretting it. There was no logic to it, but Clint couldn't help but feel that if he was near Natasha, nothing could happen to her. After all of his promises to her not to leave her side, now something had happened to her. He burst into Natasha's room to find her bed surrounded by a cloud of doctors and nurses. A male nurse abruptly grabbed him and stopped Clint from going any closer. "What is it?" Clint cried out anxiously. "What's happening?"

"It's alright," the male nurse holding him back.

A hand was on his shoulder. "Clint, calm down, it's going to be okay." Bruce's reassuring voice was beside him.

Clint spun round and turned to face him. "What's happened?" He knew this was Bruce's shift to sit with Natasha.

Bruce gave a little smile. "Natasha is waking up," he said huskily.

Clint's eyes went wide and he looked back at the bed. "Are you sure?"

Bruce was pulling on his arm. "Let's give the medical staff room to do what they need to do."

Clint reluctantly let Bruce lead him out of Natasha's room. They stood outside the ICU in the hallway and Clint fired questions at him. "What happened? Did she talk to you? When-"

Bruce held up his hand. "I was sitting with Natasha and reading to her from the newspaper and her hand moved, the next thing her eyes were opening and doctors and nurses were everywhere. "

"Did she say anything?" asked Clint anxiously. "Did she see you?"

"No and I don't know. We just have to wait, Clint, but her waking up is a good sign. We're going to know how much damage was done when removing the tumour."

Clint closed his eyes, stomach tightening with nerves.

"Don't worry," said Bruce reassuringly, "Natasha Romanoff is relentless. Whatever she is waking up to, she is not going to let it beat her."

"I know," Clint rasped, "but it's going to be really hard for her to accept any kind of limitations."

Bruce nodded. "She's going to be cranky for a while, no doubt about it." He half-smiled. "At least I've got a huge green giant lurking inside of me." Bruce looked him over. "I'd recommend you start wearing a few more layers while we get Natasha back on her feet. I'm not envisaging a cranky Black Widow being a safe thing to be around."

Clint couldn't help but smile, knowing Bruce was right. Natasha didn't sport that red hair for nothing. She played it cool, but Clint knew there was a fire burning inside of her that could burn just as easily as warm.

Bruce nodded behind him. "The doctor."

Clint turned around to see Natasha's doctor walking towards them. He was smiling, which had to be a good sign, right? "How is she?"

"We've performed some basic neurological testing and I'm very pleased with the outcome," said the doctor, still smiling.

"Natasha going to be okay?" asked Clint quickly, heart pounding painfully in his chest.

"She's responding well to questions and the neurological testing we've done so far s very promising. Natasha is experiencing some weakness down her left hand side and some slowing of the reflexes, but that wasn't unexpected. She isn't up to talking yet, but has indicated understanding of questions we've asked. Her memory seems intact and all in all, I'm very pleased, as I've said. There are further tests which have to be run, but the fact that she's woken up as well as she has, that's a huge plus."

Clint's shoulders sagged as he finally let go some of the tension he'd been carrying around basically ever since Natasha had told him about her diagnosis.

Bruce's hand was on Clint's back in a comforting way. "Are we able to see her?"

"Natasha is exhausted right now. We've got a few more tests to run and then she really needs to rest. Come back in a couple of hours but don't expect too much."

Clint scowled, really not wanting to leave her again. "I'll wait."

"I'm going to call the others," offered up Bruce. "They're going to want to hear the good news."

Clint nodded, eyes on the door which led back to Natasha's room. "I'm going to stay here." She was awake. It was everything he'd hoped for but there were still so many unsaid things between them. Clint needed to say everything he'd been holding inside him for too long. He just had to hope that Natasha was willing to take a chance of them, like he was.

oooOOOOooo

Two days later:

Steve glanced at his watch and looked over at Bruce. "When did Tony say he was going to be back with Pepper from the hospital?"

Bruce looked up from his newspaper and gave a little shrug. "Around eleven, I thought."

"Hospital paperwork takes forever," announced Darcy as she lounged next to Bruce. "I don't know why. It's just one of those things, like seeing Big Foot on the subway when you don't have a camera."

Bruce and Steve exchanged looks.

"What, that's a thing," she informed them. "I saw a guy there the other day that if he wasn't Big Foot, he was his brother."

Bruce half-smiled and went back to his paper. They'd moved back into the Avengers' Tower the day before and Darcy had made herself very much at home. While she wasn't living in, what she liked to call, their clubhouse, she was still around a lot. Bruce had to say he didn't mind. Darcy was full of energy and interesting stories, only half of which he believed, or, wanted to believe, anyway.

"How long do you think until the boss opens up the rest of the Tower?" she quizzed them. "I heard this place has a pool."

"It has two," Bruce informed her. "And Tony's only cleared the floors our apartment is on, this main living area and his lab so far. All other areas are off limits."

Darcy pouted. "Bummer."

"Not as big a bummer as falling through a floor or being overtaken by nano-bots," observed Bruce dryly.

Thor and Jane walked into the living room together and Darcy made a loud noise. "Finally," she exclaimed. "What took you two so long? We're going to be late for the movie."

"You're going to see a movie?" asked Steve. "Which one?"

Thor shook his head. "I do not know, Steve Rogers."

"It's movie roulette," Darcy explained. "None of us know."

Steve gave her a confused look. "Movie roulette?"

Jane jumped in. "Darcy and I always argue about the movies we want to see, so we ended up inventing movie roulette. We just go to the paper, close our eyes and randomly pick out a movie." She wrinkled her nose prettily. "It has mixed results."

"The last one we saw was a French porno," volunteered Darcy freely.

Steve looked at her in surprise, caught off guard. Women didn't watch that kind of thing, did they?

"It wasn't a porno," said Jane hastily, looking embarrassed.

"If it has more than one gratuitous penis shot per ten frames, then it's a porno," said Darcy firmly. "I've seen enough of them to know."

Apparently they did. Steve tried not to look as shocked as he felt.

"It was an art house movie," Jane tried to explain. "It was about a French shoemaker-"

"And his penis," finished Darcy blithely.

"We did see a lot of it," Jane admitted reluctantly.

Darcy grinned. "I'm pretty sure the thing had its own trailer."

Thor looked vaguely troubled. "I do not wish to watch a penis show."

"I had a boyfriend once who used to put on a penis show," offered up Darcy. "He did tricks. Well, just the one, really – shadow puppetry." Her forehead wrinkled. "And now that I think about it, after he did an elephant and an ant eater, he was pretty much out of material."

Steve went back to his sandwich, feeling his cheeks heat.

"I'm not embarrassing you, am I, Cap?" asked Darcy cheekily.

"No," said Steve, not looking up, and knowing that was exactly what she wanted to do.

"Guess I'll have to try harder then."

They'd already spoken more about pornography and penises in a five minute conversation then Steve had his whole life. He didn't want to think what Darcy would be talking about if she was planning on upping the ante.

"Play our roulette game, maidens," said Thor, "and then we will away."

Jane was smiling at him as she looked over his dress pants and shirt. "You look very handsome in your new clothes, Thor."

"I miss the cape," said Darcy.

Bruce tilted his head. "Weirdly enough, so do I."

"It balances out the hair."

Bruce nodded. "I think that's it."

Thor looked down at what he was wearing, seemingly not offended by their observations. "Your attire is somewhat strange, but I grow accustomed to it. I am glad my choices meet with your approval, Jane Foster. I was uncertain if this attire would make all the bitches hot for my britches or not."

Jane's eyes went wide. "Thor!" she gasped.

Bruce made a snorting sound of amusement and Steve couldn't help but look at Thor in horror.

Thor looked at her blankly. "Jane Foster?"

Jane's lips thinned as she looked over at Darcy, who was looking very innocent now. "Darcy!"

Darcy opened her eyes up wide. "What? That's a legitimate concern you should be having. Look at the guy."

"I have said something wrong?" asked Thor slowly.

"No, Thor, Darcy has said something wrong," said Jane disapprovingly, rightly guessing the other woman had set up Thor to use that expression. "You can't call women bitches."

Thor looked confused. "Is it not a term of endearment?"

"It is in my neighbourhood," said Darcy wryly.

"It's not a nice name to call a woman," offered up Steve, trying to help.

Thor scowled. "I did not know this."

Darcy smirked. "That's what makes it so funny."

"You're evil," Steve declared, shaking his head as he looked at her.

"I'm not evil, I'm misunderstood," she protested and then smirked. "Nah, I'm evil."

Tony suddenly burst into the room, already talking and looking a little stressed. "Okay, Pepper is on the way up. Everyone, act normal."

Steve shook his head and gave a wry smile. "You do realise, Tony, that for most people, it isn't an act."

Tony threw him an annoyed look. "Says the guy with a stalk of celery pinned to his chest."

Steve looked down at the celery and back at Tony. "It's Liberty Day," he reminded Tony. "People wear the celery to remember the signing of the Google Treaty which brought freedom to-." Steve trailed off as he saw the way Tony was looking at him. He looked at Bruce, whose lips were twitching and then over at Darcy who had that wide-eyed, innocent look happening again. "Damn it, Darcy!" he growled, pulling the celery off his chest and glaring at her.

Darcy burst into laughter. "I'm sorry," she chortled, "but you just make it too damn easy. You can't hand me a loaded gun and not expect me to shoot people with it."

"Message to self, don't ever hand Darcy a loaded gun," said Bruce wryly. "Before you accept anything at face value from this little miss, I recommend you getting it confirmed from an independent source, Steve."

"I'm getting that," grumbled Steve.

Tony made an impatient sound. "Back on point, guys." He jabbed a finger at Darcy. "You, funny, but not now, this is serious."

"Pepper coming home isn't serious," pointed out Darcy. "It's great. Just unclench, Scarecrow."

"She's still very delicate," argued Tony, looking agitated. "I don't want her to be stressed in anyway."

Bruce looked him over, taking the way Tony was almost buzzing with anxious energy. "Well, being with you must be like lying near a tranquil stream," he noted mockingly. "Why don't you take your own advice and just relax and act normal."

Pepper's voice came from behind them. "Bruce is right, Tony, just try and calm down."

Tony turned around, a big smile on his face. "I am calm." He moved to take her arm as Pepper moved a little gingerly into the room.

"If you were so calm, why did you get out of the car before I'd stopped?" asked Happy, bringing up the rear.

"I didn't notice we were still moving," said Tony in annoyance.

"Yeah," said Happy mockingly, "it's so hard to tell the difference between a moving and stationary car. I'm surprised that doesn't happen to more people."

Jane was smiling at Pepper. "How are you feeling, Pepper?"

"Glad to get out of that hospital," she replied in relief. Pepper looked around. "And very glad to be home."

"You look much recovered, Pepper Potts," said Thor, smiling at her.

"I'm getting there," she agreed. "I just have to take it easy for a little while, doctor's orders."

"You took longer to get here than we thought," Steve noted. "Was everything okay at the hospital?"

"I wanted to check in on Natasha," said Pepper. "Clint said she's been in and out of consciousness since she first woke up."

Steve nodded. "I've been there when she's come out of it, but Natasha doesn't seem that aware of what is going on. The doctors say that's to be expected." He frowned, wanting to believe the doctors when they said she was going to get better. It was hard having a fallen comrade and not being able to do anything to help them.

Tony took Pepper's arm. "Okay, I think that is enough meet and greet time. You need to get some rest, Pep."

"I've been resting for days, Tony," she groaned.

Tony was dogged in his determination. "You had major surgery, you need to not take any risks and as your fiancé I-"

Steve made a surprised face at that piece of information and snuck a glance at everyone else to see if they knew but apparently not, judging by their expressions.

Pepper's eyebrow shot up. "Excuse me?"

"We're engaged," Tony reminded her. "So that makes me your fiancé."

Pepper was looking at him like he'd gone crazy. "No, we're not."

"I asked you in the hospital," Tony prompted her.

"No, you didn't," said Pepper firmly.

"I said I wanted it all with you, remember? Marriage, kids, the whole deal."

Pepper looked even more sceptical. "That was a marriage proposal?"

"Yes," said Tony, looking as though he didn't understand what the problem was.

"Actually, boss," inserted Happy, "that was more of a marriage implication. You implied marriage, rather than proposing it."

"It's the same thing," said Tony, starting to sound a little annoyed.

"It's not," argued Bruce.

"It really isn't," agreed Darcy. "If I'd proposed half the things I'd implied I'd probably be in jail, dead or the wife of a Brunei sultan right now."

Bruce gave Darcy a side-eyed look. "I'm intrigued."

"You should be," said Darcy with a knowing smile.

Jane looked a little uncertain as she looked between Tony and Pepper. "So, you're not engaged then?"

"Yes."

"No."

Tony sent Pepper an exasperated look. "Yes, we are."

Steve rolled his eyes. "Not even you can be engaged by yourself, Tony. It takes two."

"Shut up, Captain Celery," Tony snapped. He looked back at Pepper, a pleading tone in his voice. "Sweetheart, I really did mean that as a marriage proposal."

Pepper gave him an indulgent look. "For a guy who once flew one hundred people out to a Tahitian island to celebrate National Cookie Day, that proposal seemed kind of underwhelming to me."

"And there were no cookies," grumbled Happy.

"There was alcohol," said Tony impatiently. "Everyone knows alcohol cancels out cookies."

"Just like everyone knows an implication is the same as a proposal?" shot back Happy.

Tony waved an impatient hand at him and turned back to Pepper. "Okay, we can agree to disagree on the proposal thing, but you had to know it was sincere, Pepper." A charming smile lit up his face. "So," said Tony huskily, "we're engaged?"

Pepper smiled and put her hand on his chest. "Oh, Tony," she kissed him, "no."

Tony looked like she'd just slapped him. "What, what do you mean no?"

"No, as in the opposite of yes."

"You-you're turning me down?" he asked in disbelief.

Darcy leaned over towards Steve. "This seems private, we should leave." She then promptly picked up the other half of his sandwich and started to eat it, continuing to look between Tony and Pepper with rapt intrigue.

Tony sent her an exasperated look. "You just said you should leave."

"I also said I should give up bacon waffles," she observed around a mouthful of sandwich. "That's not going to happen either."

Tony's attention was back on Pepper. "Why don't you want to marry me?"

"I didn't say I didn't want to marry you."

"You said no."

"I just think now is not a good time to make life-altering decisions," protested Pepper. "I think we should just leave things as they are until things calm down a bit."

Tony made a worried face. "It's me, Pepper, this is as calm as my life gets."

"I just don't want to rush into anything," she said stubbornly.

"It's been twelve years," exclaimed Tony. "How is that rushing? Look, I know we are meant to be together forever and my hunches are never wrong. Take the safety pod-"

"YES!" shouted Darcy, throwing her hands up in the air. "Pay up, bitches!"

"Wait," said Bruce, looking at his watch. "I have it at five days, seven hours."

"And I said five days, five hours," said Darcy. "The next person was Thor, he said six days."

Tony scowled. "What is going on?"

"We were all betting on when you'd start gloating over the hamster ball thing," said Steve. He made a disgruntled noise. "I had you at less than twenty-four hours. I can't believe you held out this long."

"I thought he had another day of guilt in him," said Happy in annoyance. "Damn."

Tony looked outraged. "Are you kidding me?" He looked at Pepper. "Can you believe this?"

"Not really," she said ruefully. "I only gave you two days."

His jaw dropped. "You were in on it too?"

"I knew I was going to put up with you gloating about the damn thing for the rest of our lives," she said flatly. "The least I could do was make a little money on it off the side."

Everyone was reaching into their pockets and pulling out money for Darcy, who was collecting it with great glee. "I knew you had it in you, Scarecrow."

"I'm so glad everyone is getting amusement out of my suffering," said Tony indignantly. He turned to Pepper, a hopeful look in his eye. "You know what would help take the edge off this betrayal?"

"I'm not marrying you, Tony," said Pepper calmly. Tony opened his mouth to protest but she was too quick for him. "Please don't make this a bigger deal than this is."

"You don't want to marry me," said Tony in horror. "How is that not a big deal?"

Pepper wasn't backing down. "I just meant I don't want to marry you right now."

"The implication being that you would want to marry me at another time?" said Tony quickly.

"Tony," said Pepper with a tone of warning in her voice, "don't turn this into one of your obsessions. Just let it be."

"I wouldn't do that," Tony protested.

"Mm," said Pepper, looking less than certain. She smiled at everyone. "I think I will go and lie down now, I'm feeling a bit tired."

Tony was immediately putting his hand to her back and guiding her towards the door. "Here, I'll help you."

The rest of them murmured their wishes for her to feel better soon as Pepper and Tony left.

Steve sat back in his seat. "So, does anyone believe that Tony isn't going to turn getting Pepper to agree to marry him into a complete obsession?"

"Nope."

"No way?"

"You can already smell the crazy on him."

The rest of the room offered up their general consensus of disbelief.

Steve sighed. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

oooOOOOooo

Natasha stirred, fighting her way through the waves of confusion and sleep. She could hear his voice in her ear, anchoring her to the real world. Natasha focused all of her energy on the sound of Clint's voice talking to her. It was like a trail of breadcrumbs leading her home. She forced her eyes open, blinking blearily.

Clint's face was above hers. "Natasha?"

Natasha focused on his concerned face, taking in how tired he looked. "Clint," she rasped with dry lips.

His whole face lit up at hearing her say his name. "Finally decided to join the world of the waking, huh?" he teased her but his voice was shaky and Natasha thought she saw a gleam of tears in his eyes.

Everything had been a confusing mess of voices and faces as she'd move in and out of consciousness. Clint had been the one thing Natasha had clung to, her touchstone as she fought to regain control of her senses. "Clint," she whispered again, hardly able to believe she'd found her way back to him. It had seemed hopeless for so long, but now she was looking into those warm blue eyes of his again, Natasha knew she could never truly lose hope when it came to him. There were so many questions. "How-how long?" she rasped, hoping he'd understand the question.

"You had surgery six days ago," said Clint, filling in the gaps. "They got all the tumour and the doctors are really pleased with everything. You did it, Nat, you made it."

Natasha felt Clint take her hand in his and squeeze it tightly. She tried to squeeze it back but her strength was barely there.

"It's alright," Clint comforted her, "your left hand side is just a bit weak. It's nothing, we can fix that."

She blinked up at him. "We?"

Clint gave a wobbly smile. "Like I'm going to miss out on an opportunity to whip you into shape, Romanoff."

Natasha gave a little snort, appreciating his humour. Her face clouded over. "Ghost? Spiders?" It was exhausting getting the words out, but Natasha needed to know.

"Dead, all of them," said Clint confidently. "You took out Ghost, the rest of us took out the spiders. It's over, Nat, and we won."

"Others, safe?"

"Yes, completely."

"Hammer?"

"Dead, a couple of times over as it turns out."

Natasha closed her eyes, hugely relieved to hear that.

"I love you."

Her eyes flicked open at Clint's heartfelt words. Her stomach turned over nervously even as a flood of joy washed over her.

"I don't know if you wanted to hear that," said Clint hesitantly, "but I made myself a promise that I wasn't going to talk to you again and not tell you how I feel. I love you, Natasha, I always have, even when I was hating you for leaving me."

Natasha's heart swelled to hear that. Love had always been something she'd run from and had no use for in her life, but Clint saying those words to her felt like nothing she'd ever experienced before. She wanted to warn him, tell him that she was a mess and probably only going to end up hurting him again. "I'm trouble," Natasha managed to push out past shaking lips.

"I know," said Clint unevenly. "I think that is what I first fell in love with."

Natasha blinked back tears. "Crazy," she said hoarsely.

Clint cupped her face and stroked her face with his thumb. "I know but I lost any chance of ever being sane around you a long time ago, Romanoff." He picked up her hand and pressed the back of it to his lips. "I don't know what the future has in store for us, but I do know I want to go into that future with you by my side. I told you when all of this started, I want to be more than just partners with you and that hasn't changed." Clint gave her an uncertain look. "What happens next is up to you but whatever you say or do, it's not going to change how I feel about you." A lop-sided smile touched his lips. "You're stuck with my love, sorry about that."

Natasha was overcome with memories of Clint's lips against hers as they plummeted towards the ground. His body wrapped around hers, holding her tight as they both hurtled towards the earth and neither caring as they shared that kiss. He'd been right, she hadn't seen it coming, but then, she hadn't seen her feelings for Clint coming either. He was the one person in the world she'd let see the real person beneath the mask and he hadn't run. Instead Clint was right there, holding her hand and telling her he loved her. Natasha had a lot of things she wanted to say to Clint right then, but she couldn't quite manage it. She just wasn't strong enough physically to have that conversation but Natasha needed for Clint to know how she felt. "Kiss?"

Clint seemed cautious. "Is that a question or a request? Because yes, we kissed and it was amazing."

Natasha shook her head. "Kiss," she said weakly, the talking wearing her out.

Clint's face brightened as he realised it wasn't a question. He bent down, and pressed his lips against hers in a tender kiss. Natasha returned it with all of the strength left in her body. Clint broke the kiss after a long moment, their lips still touching.

"Stay," Natasha managed to get out, lips brushing his as she spoke.

"Always," Clint promised her before claiming her lips in another kiss.

Natasha had kissed a lot of men and never known what it was to have one matter. This mattered and it both thrilled and frightened her but she wasn't the one to pull back first. She wanted this, she wanted Clint. Natasha had never been so sure of anything in her life.

oooOOOOooo

Fury stared out from the control deck of the heli-carrier, watching everyone working away at their consoles.

Coulson was by his side. "Sir, we have a situation developing in LA."

Fury didn't turn to look at the other man. "Aren't you still on sick leave, Agent Coulson?"

"Yes, sir."

"How's that working out for you?"

"I have no complaints, sir."

Fury gave the barest of smiles, appreciating Coulson's dedication. "What's your assessment of the LA situation, Agent?"

"I think this is a level one threat."

He nodded, accepting the assessment. "Time to call them in." The Avengers had proven what kind of team they could be and Fury had a secret sense of self-satisfaction that his hunches had paid off, not just for him, but for the entire world.

"Sir, yes, sir," said Coulson happily.

oooOOOOooo

"That's as fluffed as that pillow is going to get," noted Pepper tolerantly from behind him.

Tony straightened up from where he was trying to get the bed ready for her. "I just want you to be comfortable, Pep." He took her arm and helped lower her carefully onto the bed.

"Then stop hovering over me," she advised him.

"I can't help it. I need to know you're alright."

Pepper settled back against the pillows and smiled up at him. "I am alright, Tony. I'm here and I'm fine."

Tony knew she wasn't fine but didn't want to argue. Suddenly his Avengers' badge started to flash.

"Duty calls," Pepper noted, nodding at the badge.

Tony glanced down at the device and then back at Pepper. "I think I'll sit this one out. You need me more."

"I need you to go and be Iron Man and more importantly now, an Avenger," said Pepper firmly. She gave him a warm smile. "Go, Tony, they need you." She touched his hand. "And you need them."

Tony felt a wave of love for this woman who knew and understood him so well. "I'll always need you the most," he said huskily.

"And I'll always be here," she promised him. "Now go, do what you do and save lives."

"You know what would make me even better at that?" asked Tony. "Knowing I was coming home to someone who happened to be, I don't know, my fiancé?"

Pepper just smiled. "Don't start, Tony."

"I'm going to get you to marry me, you know that right?"

"I know," she said indulgently.

Tony bent down and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. "I'm going to be back soon."

"I know you will, you all will," said Pepper confidently.

With a last look at Pepper, Tony was running out the door. "Jarvis, my suit!"

"Already prepared, sir."

Within minutes Tony had made it to his lab, suited up and was on the roof, finding the rest of the Avengers, already waiting for him by the jet.

"Clint will be waiting for us on the hospital roof," Steve informed him.

Tony smiled, feeling the confidence of going into battle with people who truly had your back. "In that case," his visor slipped down into place, "time to get this party started. Avengers Assemble!"

They were all in the jet and being carried to their next fight, none of them questioning if this was where they were meant to be...

"Where there is unity there is always victory."

Publilius Syrus

A/N: And there you have it, guys. Thanks for reading and don't forget to check out the Epilogue. :D