Natasha pulled the car up outside the large warehouse compound and got out. There was the sound of construction and workers, and she looked at her phone again to double-check that she had the right place. But the address matched.

Going through the front door, she spotted Fury standing to one side, surveying the work being done.

"Fury?"

He turned. "Agent Romanoff."

Temporarily distracted from what had brought her here, she looked around. "What is this place?"

"They were warehouses. Stark is having them refitted as a compound for the Avengers. He thought a base out of the city would be safer both for the Avengers and for the city. And he thought it could be used by…well, not exactly Shield, but for what's left of us."

"He never mentioned it."

"I think there are a lot of things Stark doesn't mention. Good and bad. Now what was so important you needed to talk to me at once?"

She looked round. "Not here. Somewhere private and secure."

He nodded and led her away from the main room, down a hall, and into an empty room. "Well?"

Nat crossed her arms and frowned. "I got a call from Cooper Barton last night."

She saw him tense, almost imperceptivity. Anyone else wouldn't have thought the words had affected him in the least. But she recognized the immediate corner. "Is everything all right at the farm?"

"Yeah. It's fine. But he happened to mentioned that Clint's not there." Fury seemed singularly unimpressed by this, so she continued, "We both know there are pockets of Hydra left. If Clint went to them, not even mentioning the damage it could cause if people find out and Tony's little story he sold the press is torn to shreds, the damage he could do working by continuing to work for them-"

"Barton isn't off helping Hydra. Barton's off on a mission for me."

Natasha blinked. "What? You sent him on a mission?"

"Yes. It was dangerous and you weren't thinking clearly enough to be trusted with it and not get yourself killed. The Avengers were splintering. And Barton proved he was the man I thought he was."

"How…?"

"By trying to make things right. There are pockets of Hydra left and Barton started cleaning them up. People make mistakes. Barton made mistakes. You let him go back home. He could have stayed there. He chose not to. He chose to fix his mistakes."

"He's…really working for you?"

"Yes. I know he betrayed your trust. Mine too. But I think he's trying to make up for that in the only way people like us really know how. I'm not saying killing Hydra agents is the healthiest way but….this has never exactly been a healthy business," he said a little drily. The corner of Nat's lip twitched.

Bucky pulled the car around back of the safe house and got out, Wanda following suit. She came round to meet him at the driver's door.

"Thank you," she said, "for today."

"You did great."

"It was actually fun. Not just the flying bit. Though that was pretty enjoyable. All of it. It felt…good. To fight. To feel…in control." And with that, much to his surprise, she took control again and, stepping forward, kissed him.

For a full second he stood there, her lips on his, his brain not quite up to processing the first kiss he'd had in over sixty years. And then a long buried part of him remembered that this was something he knew, something that once upon a time, he'd actually been pretty good at. And a much more recent part of him realized he was not indifferent to Wanda. It had just been so long, so many, many years since he even had the language to consider ideas of attraction, feelings or love. They were all things Hydra hadn't had need for, so they'd been thrown out with the rest of Bucky Barnes.

It was probably the heady rush of realization of having that control back again, of having choice, that he met her kiss back with one of his own, one hand snaking around her waist and the other reaching up to cup her face…but it was only for a flash of a moment. As he realized it was his metal fingers touching her skin, he let go of her and pulled back abruptly.

She blinked, a look of obvious hurt and embarrassment in her expression. She opened her mouth to say something, seemed unable to come up with the words, and so shut it again.

He hated it. He hated that with the rush of ideas roaring through him right now, he couldn't put any of them into words and so she was just going to assume the worst about herself. Because he saw so clearly that she didn't realize that every one of the reasons why he'd stopped had to do with himself and not one with her.

She gave a weak smile, and stepped away, starting to head back into the house.

"Wanda," he called after her.

She turned back. "It's okay Bucky, you don't have to say anything."

"Would you like to get dinner tonight? Go out somewhere?"

Surprise flickered in her expression. "I…okay." She nodded.

The shower was running. Clint had turned it on to the mask the sound of his voice from the rest of the house, as he sat on the bathroom floor and talked to Laura.

"Yes," she was saying, "the doctor said everything was good. And, it's a boy. We're going to have another son."

"Lila is going to be disappointed."

"I don't know. I think she likes being the only daddy's girl in the house."

"How's Coop?"

"He's…okay."

"What's wrong?"

"…I think he's been a little sad lately. I don't know. He's not really talking to me. I tried but I don't want to push."

Clint nodded. "When I get back, I'll take him camping for a couple nights."

"You and your camping trips."

"It's worked in the past."

"If you ever write a parenting book, every chapter will just be, 'your kid has this issue? Take 'em camping and they'll spill their guts to you by the time the weekend is over'," she teased.

"Hey, name one time it didn't work."

"Wait till they're all eighteen before you start to crow. There is still plenty of time for it to fail on you."

They chatted a few more minutes, then Laura hung up. Clint took a quick shower so as not to raise suspicions, and then came out, heading to the kitchen to make a sandwich. Brock was already there, making one for himself.

"Hey," said Brock casually, as Clint dug into the fridge. "So…how was Laura?"

Clint started and stared at him. "What? What are you talking about?"

Brock rolled his eyes. "Come on. You don't take forty-five minute showers…typically. And even Pierce never bought that you two broke up. I'm not asking where you've got her; I'm just asking how she is."

Clint hesitated and then sighed. Brock had a point and besides…someone else might say he was crazy for doing so, but he trusted Brock. Someone else would probably have said he was crazy for ever bringing Nat to the farm, but that had been one of the better decisions he had ever made.

"She's good." He shut the fridge and leaned against the door. He smiled to himself. "She's been incredible during this whole thing."

"This whole thing as in…?"

"Finding out I was Hydra."

"Ah. That whole thing."

"…we've having a baby."

"What?!" Brock had carried his plate over to the table, but at this glanced up, shocked. "You're serious?"

"Actually…it's going to be kid number three," admitted Clint, ruefully.

"You're a dad? Man. I can't even wrap my head around that."

"You and me both, sometimes. Why did fighting off an alien invasion feel so much easier? Or at least like the consequences of screwing up isn't quite so horrible." Brock snorted, and Clint went back to making his sandwich. As he brought it towards the table, he realized that the house seemed awfully quiet. "Where is everyone?"

"Well, Wanda and Bucky went off to dinner and Pietro went for 'a walk'. I'm not sure he liked the idea of the dinner very much."

"Wait. Dinner as in…a dinner date?"

"Unclear. Very unclear. I for one though, am very excited to watch the whole thing implode beautifully."

It felt incredibly surreal to be sitting down at a restaurant, looking over a menu, ordering what he wanted, and then turning back to Wanda. He might have been out of Hydra control for some time now, but going out to dinner at a restaurant had not exactly been the type of evening he'd had during that time on the run.

They were sitting outside, the air hot and sticky, Congolese music playing from the other side of the restaurant, a tall wall built around the garden to block out the city, and the scent of flowers on the air. It wasn't anything like any place he'd ever been to the last time he'd been on a date but…it was familiar enough to give him the strangest since of surreal-ness and déjà vu.

Wanda had been oddly quiet on the drive over, and was still oddly quiet, leaning back in her chair, fiddling with her fork. He hoped this hadn't been a horrible idea. But then…she'd kissed him hadn't she?

"Is…everything all right?" he asked.

She looked up, took a breath, and then with the air of one taking a plunge, "This isn't necessary."

"Excuse me?"

"It's thoughtful. And nice. But, it's okay you know. I kissed you, you weren't interested, that's enough. You didn't have to bring me here to talk about it or let me down. We're teammates," she said, more confidently now, "and friends." She flickered a smile at him. "It's okay."

"That's…why you think I brought you to dinner?"

"Isn't it?"

"Brock is also a teammate and I'm not bringing him to dinner. No. Wanda, I brought you to dinner because I was interested."

"You pulled away."

"I...I did. But then it was my first kiss since the 40's…and…" He sighed. "You know what I've done and what's been done to me. Balancing that with…well wanting something good. Isn't always easy. And Wanda, even not counting the time I spent in cryo, I'm older than you. And…you know what I've been through. That brings with it certain responsibilities not to rush it."

She was smiling now, and leaning across the table. "What if I want to rush it?"

"Well, truth is, I don't." He smiled back at her. "I know this is going to sound very corny to a girl of the 21st century, but back in my day we courted girls. We took 'em out, we treated them like…we treated them like ladies. It's how my mother taught me. Well I may have done a few things my mother never taught me, but I'm only admitting that off the record. And you know what? I liked it. I liked going out to dinner. I liked dancing. I liked walking a girl to the door and hoping for a goodnight kiss. It was normal. I miss normal. Hydra took normal away from me. And you gave it back. I want to enjoy it. What it is. And however long it lasts."

Wanda looked away. "I'm not normal. Not anymore."

"You're better than normal. You're a fire. The kind that saves lives when everything else is frozen."

"Am I?" She looked back at him. "I used to think of myself one way. But now…after Hydra… I am something else. And still me, I think. But is that really what I am or just how I want to be? And what about what others will see?"

He held up his metal arm, which was currently gloved to avoid attention. "I know what it's like to feel…different. To be turned into something you're not. Into something you were never meant to be. But you…I think this is what you've always been. Deep down. And Hydra never changed you. You saved Clint's life in Sokovia. You've saved mine. And I think you'll save a lot more people before you're done."

"I'd like that."

"What's all this?" asked Steve, stepping into the common room. The rest of the team was already there, and several trays of food had been set up on the counter near the bar. "I thought there was a team meeting?"

"There is," said Tony, "I just thought I'd have it catered. Grab a plate, serve yourself, and bring it over." He himself had already gotten a plate of food, and plopped down onto one of the sofas.

Nat was sitting near him, looking distractedly out the window, but for the most part everyone seemed relaxed and just…happy that things were feeling normal. Steve got himself some food and joined the others around the coffee table. "So what's the meeting about?"

"Well, Pepper really should be the one to go over this, but she's busy you know, running my company, so." Tony pulled a folded paper out of his pocket and opened it on the coffee table, "Essentially, we're doing good. We came off hard and strong on the Clint story and the approval ratings, which took an initial massive hit at his exposure, are climbing back up, and we've won the support back from the government."

"Good? I guess?"

"Since there was talk in some quarters of attempts to impose restrictions and committees on us, I'd say yeah, good."

Bruce looked up sharply. "There was?"

"Hey, like I said, they've backed off. So we're mostly good, but now it's time for the charm initiative."

"Is that not what we were already doing?"

"Not even a little bit. We now move on to charity events, galas, photo ops. The really boring part of trying to fix a hole in your reputation. Trust me on this, I know. By the time we're through we'll probably all want to join Hydra and burn the world to the ground before we put on another tux. Speaking of, I've ordered all of you tuxes…er, ladies excluded. I trusted Nat to do her own shopping. Not that she couldn't pull off a tux"

This did bring Nat out of whatever reverie she'd been in. "In more ways than one."

Tony grinned. "Anyways, next weekend, we have a charity gala and I expect everyone to be there, to be presentable, and to be on their best behavior." He glared all around. "Do not make me the responsible one of the team. I'm fairly sure I'm allergic. Dates are allowed, but remember there will be press there so you might not want to bring one. Any questions?"

Nat smiled at him sweetly. "Are guns allowed? I may have to shoot something if I'm going to make it through an entire gala and not die of boredom."

"No. But don't worry. You will have the comfort of knowing you died for the good of the team."

From there, they took turns asking Tony steadily more ridiculous questions and everyone laughed just a little too much at the silliness of it. But they only did so because it felt good to laugh together again. To sit around and share a meal. To feel like a team once more.

As Bucky held open the front door for Wanda, and they both entered the safe house, he adamantly refused to look over in the direction of the kitchen dining room area and acknowledge the presence of anyone there. As the two reached the other end of the living room Wanda turned to him, smiled and said, "Thank you, for everything," then with a hint of wink, added, "And for walking me to the door." She then leaned forward and quickly kissed him on the cheek before disappearing though the door and down the hall towards her room. Bucky would have liked to have retreated to his own room but thought it only right to give her a minute to reach hers first. It was... definitely a little awkward, he had to acknowledge, coming back from a date when you were both staying in the same safe house.

He turned, with the intention of grabbing a beer from the fridge, when there was a whoosh and Pietro was standing in front of him, arms crossed.

Bucky tensed automatically.

Pietro frowned at him. "If you hurt her, I will kill you." And before Bucky could say a word, he stalked off.

At the dining table, sharing a bottle of whiskey, Clint and Brock sat, watching the scene with very evident amusement.

Bucky glared at them both. "Not. One. Word."

Brock shrugged. "I didn't say anything, did you Clint?"

"Nope. Just sitting here, enjoying my drink."

There was a beat. "But you know," continued Brock. "You shouldn't feel too bad about it. I know, only a peck on the cheek, not a good sign. But you haven't been on a date in over sixty years. It's normal to be a bit rusty."

"Brock!" Clint chided. "You're making assumptions…he might not have any experience at all. This could be his first date ever."

"He should have come to us. We could have given him pointers."

"I'll have you know," said Bucky, unable to stop himself, "both in Brooklyn and in the army, I had no problem getting dates, thank you very much."

Brock shook his head sadly. "Tsk. A ladies man."

"Pietro's not going to like that."

"You two, are the literal worst. And I'm going to bed." As Bucky stalked out of the room, Clint and Brock burst into laughter.

AN: Was it *worth* pushing the climax of the story back just so I could get Bucky and Wanda together? I don't know. All I can say is I became unaccountably interested in getting this AU version of them both together and so I did it.