Disclaimer: I don't own the Marvel Cinematic Universe or any of its characters.

4 – Tony

Darcy woke screaming.

That didn't happen as much now. Sure, her sleep was often disturbed, and she had a familiar set of nightmares, but she didn't usually wake so … violently.

Darcy took a deep breath, then another, tried to centre herself.

She was in her rooms in the Tower. She wasn't in Puente Antiguo, or the safe house.

She was ok. None of the Avengers were out on a mission. Her mom was safe, if a distance away, and they had spoken on the phone less than twelve hours ago.

Still, her breaths were shallow, her mind still a little caught up in the images from her nightmare.

So much blood and carnage. Broken bodies littering the ground.

No. She couldn't think about that. Tried to remember when she and Clint had played around in the archery range that Tony had built near the gym. Thought about baking triple chocolate chip cookies and watching as Steve devoured an entire plate in under ten minutes. Smiled a little at the memory of their most recent movie night watching The Goonies.

Darcy jumped when she heard the sound of her door opening, relaxing when it was just Clint who appeared, dressed only in some dark purple sweat-pants and holding a knife in each hand.

"JARVIS woke me," he said to her, "told me that his sensors indicated you were upset."

"And why have you got two knives?" she asked, amusement banishing a little of her exhaustion.

"Oh, right," he shrugged sheepishly and placed them carefully on top of her dresser, "force of habit."

"I'm alright," she told him, trying to make herself believe it.

He narrowed his eyes, clearly aware that she was lying, but didn't call her out.

"You want some hot chocolate?" he asked instead.

It was one of the few things her uncle could make without causing a disaster in the kitchen. Always extra-chocolatey, just the right temperature, guaranteed to help comfort her if she woke in the middle of the night.

She smiled softly at him, "hot chocolate sounds great."

There was no point in trying to protest that she really was ok. She clearly wasn't and Clint knew her too well to be fooled.

"What did you dream about?" he asked as he prepared the hot chocolate, rummaging around in her cupboards until he triumphantly held up a packet of mini-marshmallows.

"I don't remember," she said.

"Darce," he gave her a pointed look.

She sighed, "Loki … everything that could have gone wrong during the battle."

She'd only seen glimpses of Loki's face on the news, but she'd persuaded JARVIS to show her footage from the Battle of New York even though the AI had warned her that it would be distressing. And so, while she'd been far away in a safe house, she'd built up enough of a picture to have vivid nightmares of all the ways the battle could have ended differently.

She only wished she didn't have to admit that to Clint. He already suffered enough guilt about Loki and she didn't want to make him feel worse.

"I'm sor –" Clint began.

"No," Darcy cut him off, "it's not your fault, Clint. We've told you this."

Clint just sat down next to her on the squashy purple sofa she'd picked out, handing her a mug as he sipped from his own hot chocolate. He didn't look convinced by her words, but he didn't argue with her and that was a significant improvement on how he'd been in the immediate weeks following the battle.

"JARVIS," she called up to the ceiling, "play the latest episode of Dog Cops."

The TV lit up, the recap showing the moment from the end of the last episode when Lieutenant Snuffles and Captain Barker had discovered a stash of illegally imported bones.

As Clint relaxed slightly, Darcy did too.

She was asleep again before the two dogs had finished interrogating their latest suspect.

Phil Coulson was standing in the doorway of Tony's workshop.

Tony blinked once, twice, but the image in front of him didn't change.

"J," he called out, "did I make a hologram of Agent while I was drunk?"

"You did not, sir," JARVIS responded, "you made a hologram of Reed Richards and then you became angry when you threw a spanner at the hologram's head and it simply went straight through. Ms Potts cited this as example seventy-four of why you are not allowed to 'science while drunk'."

"Ah, right," he muttered, vaguely recalling that incident, as well as Pepper's loud sigh when she had walked into his workshop.

Urgh, he really did hate Richards.

"Am I drunk now, J? Because it kind of looks like Agent is in my doorway when he is supposed to be very, very dead."

"I am now detecting all life signs from Agent Coulson, sir."

Now detecting.

Tony turned to glare at the man, "have you been messing with my AI again? Is that how you got in without detection? JARVIS, make a note to review security protocols. Maybe we should look into lasers."

"Noted, sir."

"Apologies, Mr Stark," said Coulson (because it had to be him, no one else could pull off that exact deadpan expression), although he really didn't sound very sorry at all.

"Apology not accepted," Tony replied, "just because you're miraculously alive doesn't mean that you get a free pass for what you did to JARVIS – how did you manage that, by the way? I know I closed the loophole that you used when you snuck in before."

"Picked up a hacker who likes a challenge."

And wasn't that intriguing. Tony very much wanted to meet this intriguing hacker. Of course, Coulson was likely to be an absolute killjoy and refuse to let them be in the same room together.

Nobody ever wanted Tony to have any fun.

"So, how'd you do it?"

He was trying to sound casual. After all, Tony Stark didn't beg (unless it was Pepper and he'd really screwed up).

"It's a long story," Coulson said, sounding tired and oddly human for a man who was always so good at supressing any hint of emotion in his expression or body language.

"Fine, fine, I'll get the gang all together. Then you only have to tell the story once. I'm sure you know your way to the common room – feel free to have a drink while you wait, but don't touch the good scotch, that's for me."

And Tony thought he'd certainly need a stiff drink (or two, or five) after being surprised by Coulson's arrival.

"JARVIS, where is everyone?" he asked after Coulson had vanished upstairs to the common room.

"Ms Potts, Dr Banner, Captain Rogers, Agent Romanov and Dr Foster are all in their own quarters. Agent Barton and Miss Lewis are both in Miss Lewis' quarters."

"Barton is in Lewis' room?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, damn," Tony grinned as he checked the time – 3am – "guess we're gonna have to interrupt their little sleepover."

He could see it now. Darcy's blush, Barton's irritated embarrassment, the glorious chance to tease the both of them.

"Sir," JARVIS interrupted, "Ms Potts has woken and is asking for your whereabouts."

Tony didn't pout.

He didn't.

However, he did acknowledge that his plan was now a no-go. Pepper would already be exasperated with him for entirely forgetting about sleep and working until the early hours. There was no way he'd have chance to go and fetch Darcy and Barton in person.

What a missed opportunity.

"Fine," he let out a loud and exaggerated sigh, "wake everyone up, J, and get them to the common room. No spoiling the surprise, but try not to provoke a panic – probably best not to put a bunch of paranoid heroes on edge when they're already going to have their sleep interrupted."

"Of course, sir. And Ms Potts says she will meet you in the common room in five minutes."

Even if he didn't get the chance to interrupt Darcy and Barton, at least Tony could say he got to see everyone's expressions – and hear their shrieks and cries – as they entered the common room and found everyone's favourite agent back from the dead and waiting for them.

He had planned to make a loud and entirely unsubtle comment in Barton's direction once the reunion was out of the way – maybe a joke about cradle-robbing or some kind of bird pun – but, in the end, he just didn't have the heart to do it.

Darcy was sobbing loudly, her face hidden against Barton's shoulder even as her hand gripped Coulson's tightly. Barton was looking at his handler like he couldn't quite believe the man was actually there, as if he'd disappear if the archer looked away for even a second. And Romanov had a sincerely fond look in her eyes, her body trembling ever so slightly.

Even Tony couldn't bring himself to interrupt the moment. There was something so raw and real about the picture the four of them made, a scene that left the corners of his eyes damp with a few blinked-away tears, even though he'd never admit it.

There would be time for Coulson's story, which was sure to be an interesting one.

There would be time to tease Barton and Darcy.

There would be time to work out exactly how to get Pepper to forgive him for three nights in a row spent in his workshop, losing track of time entirely.

For now, however, Tony was going to enjoy the fact that sometimes miracles did happen and those they thought lost could come back to them.

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it.