It turned out that schwarma was actually a good idea. The spicy meat seemed to breath a little bit of life back into me. Jared ate nearly as much as Thor did, much to Natasha and mines amusement. Even Clint ate, which was another relief. While we were eating, Tony filled us in on the plan. Thor would take Loki back to Asgard after lunch. From there, we were free to go. It felt so anticlimactic. We'd fought an actual army from outer space and then it was over.

Just like that.

By the time we got back to Stark Tower, Evans was waiting in the living room with several bags at his feet. Thor had taken Loki to one of the secure areas in Stark Tower to keep an eye on him until the rest of us were ready.

"Fury would like a debrief as soon as possible."

Evans looked perfectly composed as he toed each of the bags.

"Change of clothes. Phones for those who's I could find them. Make it quick. Captain Rogers, I did the best I could with your bag."

"Guest rooms are two levels up," Tony spoke up. He'd lost his suit before lunch and smelt like a teenage boy who'd used half a can of Axe spray. "Use whatever you want."

A change of clothes and a shower sounded exactly what I needed. Without waiting for anyone else, I snatched my bag up and went straight for the elevator. Everyone else was right on my heels, making the elevator packed seconds later. At least Bruce had changed back to his human form. The Hulk wouldn't even fit in the elevator. Two floors up, we all went to seperate rooms. I half thought about joining Clint, but I wanted a shower all to myself.

The guests rooms were as I remembered. It was like a luxury hotel. Tony didn't do anything by halves. Last time I was here, I'd had a lot of fun in the shower with the multiple jets. Right now, those jets were calling my name.

I hopped from foot to foot, untying my boots. As soon as I was free from the heavy boots, I left the rest of my clothes in a trail leading to the bathroom. My hair was free from my braid, turning it into a frizzy mess. As I got to the bathroom, I turned on every single jet in the shower as hot as I could bear and stepped in.

Putting my head against the wall, I let the multiple jets hit my body.

Every bruise, scrape and bump made itself known as the near scalding water. I was missing all the skin off my knuckles. My knees and elbows were bruised. I had so many scrapes that I couldn't keep track. I had no idea how I'd gotten most of them.

I lent back and let the overhead rainfall soak through my hair. It was so grimy that it felt like the water was sliding right off to begin with. Luckily for me, it seemed Pepper was in charge of the toiletries in here. The Oribe shampoo and conditioner sitting in the shower was just the thing for my greasy and disgusting mess of hair. It took two shampoos to get it feeling normal again.

Whatever the soap was, it felt like pure luxury against my damaged skin and body. Every bump, bruise and scrape stung but at least I was clean. I was lucky that my stitches in my shoulder had held. That wound was black and blue on the edges with bruising. My burst of energy after having lunch was fading rapidly. I shut the shower off and wrapped myself up in a fluffy towel.

As I stepped back into the bedroom, I was greeted by a welcome sight.

Clint was on the bed in just a towel, laying on his back, arm over his eyes. Judging by the gentle rise and fall of his chest, he was asleep.

Even before we were sleeping together, I always enjoyed ogling Clint's body. If it wasn't for the scars, he could be easily be on the cover of a men's fitness magazine. It was a very nice sight. He looked so peaceful in his sleep. It was like the last few days hadn't happened.

"I can feel you objectifying me," Clint's voice was clouded with sleep. "The least you could do is come to bed to do it."

I smiled and did as I was asked. Clint didn't move until I crawled in beside him. He picked his arm up so I could cuddle in once I was laying down.

Suddenly the world felt right again. Here I was, lying on Clint's chest, hearing the steady beat of his heart.

"How long do you think we have?" I asked quietly. Clint had a fist sized bruise on his stomach that I idly traced the edges of. It looked a few days old now. The edges were starting to turn a horrid shade of green. It must have been a heavy hit.

"Probably not long enough to catch up on sleep." Clint's fingers trailed down my arm.

The action left goosebumps in its wake. I tipped my head up to smile at Clint. It had felt like a very long time since we'd been able to have a stolen moment like this. Clint craned his head, smiling back at me. Unlike before lunch, this time he didn't look so forced.

Clint shifted beside me, turning on his side so we were face to face. He pulled me in as close as we could humanly get and kissed me.

It was like the kiss we had back in medical on the Helicarrier. Possessive, full of longing with a hint of desperation. My towel which was hanging preciously was gone a few seconds later. My hands wandered down and Clint's towel joined mine on the floor.

I let Clint take charge as he flipped me onto my back with ease. His kisses grew hotter, leaving my mouth to trail down my neck. His teeth nipped at my neck, sending blood rushing straight between my legs.

The kisses grew more frenzied and everything started to blur together. I didn't need any encouragement as Clint hitched my legs up. I hooked my legs around his waist, encouraging him to keep going. Clint didn't waste any time as he sunk into me.

Clint usually took his time. The word quickie wasn't really in his vocabulary unless we had somewhere to be. Right now, his pace was near frantic. I dug my nails into his back, clinging on hard. Clint bit my neck as his frantic pace picked up. There was nothing sweet or gentle about this. It was rough and incredibly hot. My orgasm came out of nowhere. The intensity of it felt like I was going to black out.

There was a vague awareness of Clint coming as well. Whether it was seconds after me or minutes, I had no idea. I felt like I was boneless and never going to be able to catch my breath. When I finally got some wits back, the first thing I noticed was Clint trembling underneath my hands. His head was buried into my neck and he was holding onto me hard.

"Clint?" I said gently. For a moment I thought he may have been crying.

"That's the first time something has felt real in the last few days," Clint's voice was trembling as much as his body. "Nothing feels real anymore."

"I'm real." I pressed a kiss on the side of Clint's head. He smelt clean. The fact he'd even found a razor to shave hadn't gone unnoticed. "I'm very real and I'm here for you."

Clint said nothing. I couldn't find anything that would make any of this better. Nothing would make it better. Clint had his mind taken over by an alien with a magical sceptre that no one knew how it worked. I was struggling enough with the fact there had been an alien army flying through New York a few hours ago.

I traced my fingers down the defined muscle of Clint's back. It was so quiet in this room. The windows kept out all the noise. Nothing else except for our quiet breathing could be heard in the room. I could have happily fallen asleep and not woken up for a month.

"Agent Lyngley," JARVIS' voice chimed above us, disrupting any thought of sleep. "Your mother is is waiting outside. Shall I let her in?"

Every thought of sleep was dashed from my mind. I shared a panicked look with Clint as we both flung ourselves out of bed. I ran for the bathroom to grab one of the fluffy robes I spied earlier. Another shot of panic hit me as I realised there was only one robe in the bathroom.

"This is going to be awkward," I mumbled to myself as I tied the robe up.

Clint was rearranging his towel around his waist as I came out of the bathroom. He looked up and when I came out.

"There's only one robe," I repeated as I came out.

"Walk of shame it is," Clint said, trying to smile. It came out more of a grimace. "Not my first one."

I tried to smile back. Mine wasn't much better than Clint's grimace.

"I'll meet you downstairs." Clint bent forward and gave me a quick kiss. "See you soon."

I wanted to linger against Clint. Fall into bed again and stay there for as long as we wanted. The real world kept pulling us apart. If only we could go back to that peaceful bubble we first had when we started sleeping together.

Clint went around me and slipped out the door quietly. He left the door open ajar enough that I was expected Mom to slip in any second. Except she didn't. There was far too long of a pause.

Curiosity got the better of me as I poked my head out the door. I caught Clint disappearing into his room. What baffled me was Mom staring after him. Clearing my throat, Mom jumped and turned to me with a mischievous smile.

"I feel like I should be congratulating you," Mom said with an embarrassed laugh. "Has Barton always been that buff?"

Before I could reply, Mom pulled me into a tight hug.

Relief poured through me as I hugged her back. I could feel tears starting to prick at my eyes. Relief at not being yelled at for sleeping with Clint. The biggest relief was that I was standing here able to hug her again.

"My brave, crazy girl," Mom sounded choked up as she pulled back, holding my face between her hands. "I am so proud of you."

I choked back something that was caught between a sob and a laugh. Mom let me go and hugged me again.

"I'm not going to ask you how you are because that's a stupid question." Mom let me go and glanced me up and down. "You're in one piece and that's always a good thing even on a normal day."

Despite her joking tone, Mom looked distracted. Her eyes flicked back down the hallway to where Clint had gone.

I didn't need her powers to know Clint was burying a lot of emotions right now. Knowing Clint as well as I did, it would be a lot worse than anyone would know.

"I'm okay if you want to go to him," I said quietly. "Him and Jared are going to need more help than anyone else right now."

"Jared was otherwise occupied," Mom said absently. "You two must have been quicker."

Mom quickly caught what she said. She cringed as she turned back to me.

"It's okay." I felt like I was using that word a lot right now. "Go to Clint. He's lost without Coulson."

My voice caught on saying Coulson. I was feeling lost without Coulson. At least I had my Mom here now. Clint needed someone stable right now. I couldn't imagine anyone better than Mom for him. Even if it was just to give him a hug and soothe his frazzled mind.

"I'll be back," Mom said briskly.

I wasn't offended when she turned on her heel and marched down towards Clint's room. Mom didn't bother knocking, she opened the door and went straight in.

I needed to get dressed. I doubted I had much time left before we were needed again. Heading over to my bag, I unzipped the well worn duffel. On top of everything was my phone. Touching the screen, it was turned off. Holding the power button, I waited to see if it was dead.

To my surprise it was fully charged. It was something Coulson would have done. Another emotion I couldn't deal with right now. Forcing the lump in my throat down, I threw the phone on the bed while waiting for it to power back on. While it was booting up, I pulled out a change of clothes. As I was pulling on a pair of jeans, my phone started going crazy on the bed.

It was a non stop barrage of text notifications. I thought my phone would wear a hole in the bed with how long it went on. It didn't stop until I was nearly fully dressed.

I sat on the bed and picking up my phone. There were so many text messages. My eyes blurred as I scrolled down through them all. Countless STRIKE guys, Gareth, relatives. There was even a text from Greg. I think anyone who had my phone number had sent me a message. Most of them were from today.

What was I going to say to all these people? What we did was nothing short of insane. It didn't feel like it was an accomplishment. Maybe if Jared and Clint hadn't been taken in the first place things would feel better. If I had gotten to Coulson in time before Loki put a spear through his heart. Then it might have been something worth celebrating.

What was the world saying right now? This was something SHIELD couldn't sweep under the rug. There's no way they would have been on top of such a large scale catastrophe. Something like my little incidence when I pulled the lady off the bridge was easy enough to clean up. My face was blurred on TV.

But this time here we all were, in the middle of Manhattan, openly showing off our powers. No one would have missed Clint and his amazing skill. I hoped when Jared and I went full show of our powers that no one saw it. How was SHIELD going to explain Captain America was back after 70 years?

I lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. I had no idea what came next. Or what to do. All I could think of is that I had to protect Jared and Clint. No matter what happened next, they both needed protection. I had no doubts that Natasha would feel the same way. I'd read a lot of SHIELD's very extensive manuals. Being mind controlled was never mentioned. They had redundancies for nearly everything else.

Whoever wrote the SHIELD manuals was going to have to update them pretty quickly.

"Agent Lyngley, Agent Romanoff is at your door. Shall I let her in?" JARVIS broke through my musings.

"Of course." I blinked heavily. My eyes felt gritty and sore.

I really shouldn't have laid down. All of my muscles screamed in protest as I hauled myself up off the bed. The door unlocked with a loud click and in came Natasha.

Before I could react I had an armful of muscle and red hair in my arms. Natasha's fierce hug near knocked me off my feet. After the surprise, I hugged her back just as hard as she held onto me.

"How's Jared?" I asked as we clung onto each other.

If I didn't have Natasha with me these last few days I would have gone insane long before the portal opened up in the sky and I had to shoot at aliens.

"Hanging by a thread," Natasha said as she pulled back from our hug. She looked as exhausted as I was currently feeling. "Is Clint the same?"

"Mom's with him now. She didn't want to disturb you and Jared. Apparently we were quicker."

Natasha let out a small laugh, her cheeks a pale pink in mild embarrassment.

"I think Jared needed to make sure every inch of my body was still in tact," Natasha said, leaning back against the wall. "I may have returned the favour."

"Clint said it was the first time in days he'd felt something real," I said with a small sigh. "What do I even say to that?"

"Nothing," Natasha's bluntness wasn't unexpected. "There isn't anything you can say."

"Pretty much my reaction." I rubbed my burning eyes. "Do you know what's happening?"

"I believe Mr Stark is wanting everyone to gather in the lobby."

JARVIS made us both jump in surprise at his sudden announcement. While he was incredibly handy, he could also be a little creepy.

"I guess I should put shoes on."

The only shoes I had were my boots. At least they weren't a complete mess. I gathered the rest of my clothes which I'd left on the floor before my shower and shoved them in my bag.

Natasha waited for me while I laced my crusty boots up. Arm in arm we made our way to the elevator and down into the lobby. We were the last ones there. Loki was still in his chains and muzzle much to my relief. Clint and Jared were standing as far away as they possibly could without seeming rude. Mom was nowhere to be seen but I knew she wouldn't be far away.

"Let's go this over and done with," Steve spoke up, sending a glare in Loki's direction. "I'll sleep a lot better knowing he's back where he belongs. No offence Thor."

It baffled me that Loki was so oblivious to any of the dirty looks people sent his way. He rolled his eyes at people and just looked like this was all a huge inconvenience to him. Whatever the Asgardian punishment for mass genocide was, I hoped it involved losing a limb or two.

"None taken." Thor looked as nonplussed as always. He grabbed Loki by the chains and yanked him along.

The temptation to put my foot out and trip Loki was great. It might even make Jared and Clint smile a little. Unfortunately he was too far from me that I couldn't do it discreetly.

Our little trip to Central Park didn't take long. We'd discussed the logistics of it over lunch. Selvig would meet us there with a containment device for the Tesseract. Then Thor and Loki would go back to Asgard and life would continue on as normal.

Or as normal as it was going to get.

The air was humid and heavy as we walked. I was sweating within seconds. Clint fell into step beside me. He was so close our hands brushed with every step. My fingers curled around his, enjoying this little bit of private intimacy. Now he was by my side again, I didn't want to ever lose sight of him again.

Jared and Natasha were near identical to us. They were a few steps ahead of us. Natasha was pressed to Jared's side. I couldn't see their hands they were so close together.

Dr Selvig was already waiting for us. He was looking haunted with a thousand yard stare that he only snapped out of when Thor stepped towards him and laid a hand on his shoulder.

The next few minutes went by quickly and without any type of fanfare. Unlike the dramatic entrance that Loki had back at PEGASUS, this time he was gone in a flash of blue light.

It was so anti climactic. I had simply stood back and watched with some kind of detached interest. I simply couldn't muster up any positivity that Loki was now gone. He might have not won the war he'd started. He'd certainly left a lot of fires burning back here.

The flash of blue light of Thor and Loki departing was barely gone before SHIELD cars were pulling up. I didn't have it in me to protest as Evans opened the back door and looked at the four of us expectedly.

"Debrief and you're all free to go," Evans said firmly. "This is non negotiable."

"Dibs front seat."

Clint and Jared both said it at the same time. Being the asshole I knew my twin could be, Jared used his teleporting to his advantage and made it there first. While they argued over it, I looked back over my shoulder.

Tony was already getting into his car he had brought with Bruce. Someone had brought a motorbike for Steve and he was already revving it with a gleeful look on his face. As quickly as we'd come together, we were all leaving again. There wasn't even a heartfelt goodbye. We'd just fought and bled together. I'd expected a little more than what had happened.

"Kari."

Evans speaking my name prompted me to get into the car. Jared had won his fight for the front seat. There wasn't any question about who got stuck in the middle seat. It was always me because I was the skinniest. At least I could cuddle into Clint.

The car ride was eerily silent. Jared went to turn on the radio but it was turned off just as quickly as Evans could manage. Evans looked tense, his knuckles were white on the steering wheel as he navigated through the rubble and wreckage of the city back to the New York headquarters. I couldn't shake the feeling of dread during the slow car ride. Next to me Clint felt rigid and his jaw was set as he stared out of the window. Natasha was persistently twirling a strand of hair around her fingers.

The car jolted as we entered the underground car park for the SHIELD headquarters. A knot formed in my stomach at the sudden lurch of the car. Clint's hand suddenly found my knee and his grip was vice like.

I put my hand over his in a small measure of comfort. Clint's jaw was clenched so hard I could see the muscles in his neck straining.

"If they're going to execute us, I want Kari or Natasha to shoot me."

Jared's sudden declaration made three of us in the car turn to gape at him. He looked like he was going to vomit. He'd gone deathly pale and looked very green.

"Me too."

Clint's even quieter answer made me look at him sharply. He gave me a weak smile.

"You won't miss."

"No one is going to be executed," Evans said firmly. "You saved the world."

The thought of that left a bitter taste in my mouth. Saving the world shouldn't have to come as such high a price. We should all be celebrating. Instead we'd shoved schwarma down our throats and gotten rid of the problem.

"This is like any other mission debrief," Evans continued, his tone leaving no room for discussion. "I think Fury is even giving you a week or two off."

"How generous." The sarcastic quip slipped out before I could stop it.

Evans barely contained snort of amusement took the edge off the mood in the car. Clint's grip on my leg loosened to bruising instead of crushing. Jared still looked on the verge of being sick but his lips had quirked ever so briefly. It even got Natasha's hair uncurling from her fingers.

The car parked and we huddled into the elevator. While the car park was packed, as it should be during a week day during work hours, there wasn't a person in sight. The theme continued in the elevator and into the main conference room. The halls were eerily silent. It wasn't until Evans opened the door to the conference room that we saw our first people.

All of the head's of departments were here, crowded around several TV's. News stations were replaying grainy videos of during the battle. All heads turned towards us we walked in. Doing a quick head count, I was wrong before. Mom wasn't here.

Dad was the closest one to us. He grabbed Jared first and pulled him into what looked to be a crushing hug. Whatever words were exchanged between them were too low for me to hear. Jared nodded and swallowed heavily enough that I could hear the audible gulp.

Our happy family reunion was quickly cut short but the door banging open again. Fury strode in, black trench coat billowing around him. He looked every bit intimidating as he did the first time I met him. I think I may have been less nervous back then.

"Out."

Fury's snappy command did nothing to ease the knot in my stomach. Everyone who was in the room scuttled away from Fury's ire. Even Dad looked like an admonished teenager. I got a quick pat on the shoulder as he left.

"Sit."

Fury pointed at the mess of chairs left in the wake of the mass exit of heads of departments. Obediently, we all found a chair and plonked ourselves down in them. Fury stood at the head of the table, resting his hands flat on the surface. He looked at each of us with his one good eye with an intensity that made me shrink down into my seat. Fury intimidated me on a good day and today was not looking to be one of my good days.

"Why is it always you four?" Fury finally broke the silence.

And then he smiled.

It was barely there. Nothing more than a quick upward turn of his lips. But it was still there.

Seeing Fury smile freaked me out more than it relaxed me. He wasn't wrong about it always being us though. We were shit magnets. The four of us together attracted all kinds of trouble.

"What's going to happen from here, Nick?" Clint spoke up first, the exhaustion clear in his voice.

I glanced over at Clint. He still looked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. I wanted depersately to reach over and comfort him. Now wasn't the time or the place for open shows of affection. Despite everyone knowing.

"I don't know." Fury's honest answer wasn't at all what I was expecting. "What I do know is that you're going stick together. Wherever you decide to go after this, you do as a team."

Fury sounded more like a concerned parent right now. As weird as it was, it actually felt good to have someone give us some direction right now. Without Coulson, we were leaderless. Some adult guidance wasn't a bad thing.

"Evans is going to take over as your handler for the time being," Fury continued. "Do not give him any shit."

That at least got a smile from all of us. Evans didn't look the least bit surprised with the news. He'd taken up residence in the back of the room, feet propped up on a chair in front of him. That made sense to me. Evans was the closest person to us besides Coulson.

"Where ever you go, you're all the check in with Andrew every single day. This is non negotiable. I'm not talking a five minute call either."

That was more than fair. I was planning on doing that anyway.

Fury stopped for a minute. He looked like he was considering his words very carefully. Whatever he was trying to say didn't look like it was coming to him. Especially when Fury pulled up a chair and sat down. His hands came to make a steeple in front of him and he looked between us all again.

"There is a lot of shit that is going to happen after this," Fury said, his tone careful. "A lot of it is going to be unpleasant. You four just had your faces plastered all over the news. Something everyone will be watching right now. People are going to want answers on who you are and what SHIELD was doing in the middle of all of this. It's going to be a media circus."

"We didn't exactly ask for that," Jared said with a grumble.

I agreed silently. All we did was go and save the world. I knew enough from my friendship with Pepper that navigating the media was a nightmare. They loved to take seemingly innocent things and twist them into a new narrative that got people riled up.

"No," Fury said firmly. "But it's still going to happen."

I chewed on the inside of my lip while mulling over the situation. Fury was right. This was going to happen whether we wanted it to or not. Controlling the narrative was a good start though. Pepper had taught me that when Tony first announced to the world he was Iron Man.

"You'll need a face and voice," I spoke up before Fury could go on. The thought of what I was about to do made me extremely uncomfortable. The knot in my stomach wound itself even tighter. "I'll do it."

I knew everyone was looking at me. I kept a straight face and my eyes on Fury. Even he looked mildly surprised at me speaking up

"Pepper always said having one person in front of the media makes it easier to control the narrative," I explained calmly. "It's a circus, but by at least having one hand on the wheel means you can still steer. I'm the one who's done the least amount of undercover work, so putting my face out there isn't going to change much for me."

As I spoke, Fury's gaze intensified as he studies me. It took all of my will power not to squirm under his gaze as I finished speaking. I couldn't tell what he was thinking or feeling right now. Fury had the ultimate poker face.

"I don't think now is the time to be focusing on things like that," Evans said from his position at the back of the room. "Right now, we need the four of you to rest and recuperate."

Fury held my gaze a little while longer before he spoke again.

"Consider this your debrief and you're dismissed."

Even our debrief felt anticlimactic. Fury got up with one final look at all of us and left.

What the hell do we do now?

"Where ever you guys are planning on going, make sure you check in with me too. Twice a day," Evans said, leaving no room for discussion in his tone. "Look after each other."

At least that was one thing we could do. Have each other's backs no matter what. We were all going to need it more than ever now.

"Any idea where you want to go?" Evans asked, more gentle this time.

The four of us looked at each other. I'd go anywhere. Clint was the only one who looked like he had an opinion on where he wanted to go. He didn't need to voice it either. It was the same look he always had when he wanted to go see his kids.

Jared reached out and took Clint by the arm. In a split second they were gone.

I looked over to Evans. He had an understanding smile on his face. He knew exactly where we were going.

Jared was back and he grabbed me and Natasha at the same time. One stomach lurching moment later and we were standing in the living room of Laura's house. Lila's shriek of excitement was near inhuman levels as she launched herself at me and Natasha.

The mouthful of brown pigtails was soothing to my soul. The world nearly felt right again as Lila hugged me intensely. Clint was just out of reach with Laura in his arms and Cooper hanging off him.

Seeing Laura made my stomach roll uncomfortably. The knot felt like it was never going to ease. Adding the rolling sensation made me nearly lose my schwarma. This was a whole new problem. One I'd been putting off for a while now.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Fuck my life.

Authors Note

Just a short one today guys. Thank you so much for all of your messages on here, Facebook and Instragram checking in on me and how I'm healing up. I'm nearly free of my splint and have my last review in 3 weeks with the orthapedic surgeon. I'm back riding which has done wonders for my mental health. It's been a rough few months.

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Until next time.