***Revised Chapter***

Clint studied the sleeping woman beside him as they flew, wondering what thoughts were going through her head. Even being SHIELD, it wasn't every day you used an exit plan, especially when that agent was in a blackout home on maternity leave. No matter her thoughts, Emory didn't let the stress show on her face or in her actions. She was as cool as always. He shook his head again and focused on getting them to Stark Tower.

She woke up just as they were touching down, starting awake before realizing where she was and who she was with. Emory reached down to the spot over her heart where sweet Cara lay, and was rewarded with a coo and sparkling emerald eyes gazing up at her, full of innocence and trust.

Nothing will ever harm you, my love. Not so long as I live. Smiling down into her little face, she crooned, "Good morning little elska, how are you today?"

She was rewarded with a gummy smile and a wiggle. Even at a few months old, the infant knew the sound of her mother's voice. The smile warmed Emory's heart, coming from this little bundle of joy she had created.

Hers. No one else's. There was no one else to claim her, take her away. Except someone was trying. The agent was brought back to the cruel, real world, where people were trying to invade their sense of safety and hurt her and her beautiful daughter.

"I still don't know how Kyle managed to make such a cute kid." Emory looked up to see Tony Stark leaning up against the bay of the quinjet, smiling at the maternal display.

She flashed a quick smile. "Well luckily, she looks just like her mother," she jibed back as she rose. "And that certainly makes it easier."

Tony's eyes tracked her movement as she casually slung the carrier over her shoulder. A panicked look came across his face, uncertainty flashing in his eyes. "What's in there?", he managed to stammer out, backpedaling back down the ramp.

A thrill of perverse amusement shot through Emory, her twinkling eyes appraising Tony in speculation. A fear of animals. She could use that.

"It's just my cats Tony. I couldn't leave them behind." His face went from pale white to green. "Thank you, by the way, for agreeing to accommodate us," she continued smoothly, passing him on the ramp and getting on the elevator.

Tasteful modern decor and sleek metal finishes greeted them as they stepped off, along with a calming buzz ever present in the building. A stable security system, and Jarvis's constant vigilance.

His stuttering increased as they continued down the hallway. "Cats? I didn't say anything about cats!" He tried to get in front of her as they walked, but her pace was quick. "I knew you and the kid were coming an hour ago, and now I have to deal with animals too?"

His tone was growing louder, ending in an impressive tirade once they reached the living quarters. "What if the varmints get their filthy animal junk into my robotics?!"

"Jarvis, what's the chance of that happening?" Emory asked no one in particular, phrasing the question to the air. She knew the AI heard her.

"Not likely, Agent Emory, especially if they were to be contained within the living areas."

Various seating arrangements were scattered throughout the large living room, a massive TV on one wall playing several different news stations to no one in particular. In another corner a fireplace lay cold.

A large kitchen with a center island branched off to the left, and down from there a long hallway stretched, several doors dotting it periodically.

That was her goal. "Then they will stay in the living areas. Thank you again, Tony."

She struggled to maintain her composure and cool expression as Tony's face grew red while he grabbed for any plausible argument, before he finally turned pale and hung his head in defeat. She could hear him muttering about traitor inventions and rabid animals in his tower as he walked away.

Once she lost sight of his irate figure, she let out a chuckle at his expense. It felt good to tweak someone's nose, especially right now. Tony had marked a target on his back now.

"You've been here all of then minutes, and you've already managed to piss someone off? Is that a new record?" Emory turned to find Bruce Banner leaning against the kitchen island, where he had probably watched the entire exchange. She allowed herself a smile for her favorite scientist, hurrying over to be wrapped up in a warm hug. She let herself relax a tiny bit and breathed in the earthy scent of one of her best friends on this world. She hadn't seen him in months.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were on hiatus for the time being." She stood back to look at him fully. He looked good. Whole. Like he had been well fed for quite some time, and was content. "You look great, by the way."

He flashed a bright smile before answering. "I could say the same to you, and ask the same question. But to answer yours first, I had some research that could only be done here.

She smiled fondly at his admission. Boys and their toys. "Is the rest of the team hiding around the tower as well?"

"Actually no. Everyone but Tony, Clint and I are on mission. Natasha is overseas, and everyone else is doing something or other that requires a little more finesse than I can usually offer." He smiled at his joke, although it didn't quite reach his slate grey eyes.

"Hey lighten up Banner. You know being grounded has been good for you. You look better than I've ever seen you, and you know it's because you haven't had any field work." She nudged him with her shoulder, looking up with dazzling, pouting eyes that begged him for a smile.

He looked down at her and rolled his eyes, but nonetheless smiled. "When you look at a man like that doll, how are we supposed to resist?" She felt the grin spreading across her face with the realization of her success and retorted, "You aren't, that's the point."

A low whine interrupted their banter.

They both glanced down at the mostly forgotten bundle on her chest. It had begun to squirm in irritation, not happy with being ignored. Emory knew what that whine meant. Someone was hungry. As if on cue, her own stomach grumbled in response. They both were.

"Well, motherhood calls. I need to get something into this child before she brings the whole tower down in her outrage." Bruce's face fell. He hadn't been formally introduced yet, and she could tell he was dying to hold the baby.

"Let me feed her, and then I'll bring her back out. You can be properly acquainted then while I get something to eat myself."

"Deal. I'll be here, drinking coffee and trying to solve all the problems of the world without turning green." She smiled and turned away, heading down the hallway to the rooms prepared for her.

She hesitated a moment, then turned back around with a wide smile. "Oh, by the way Bruce?"

"Hmm?" He didn't look up from the newspaper he had picked up off the counter. She rolled her eyes at how easy it was to distract him. "The record is six minutes. Fury is pretty easy to annoy."

The quiet scientist's eyes shot up from the paper, taking in the serious face Emory was sporting. He burst into laughter. "Now that I can believe. Six minutes...oh that's great."

Leaving him to his mirth, she picked up her bags, readjusted Cara, and headed down the hall to settle in and feed her daughter.

"Welcome back Agent. It's been some time since you stayed with us. Everything is prepared for your arrival." Jarvis's voice greeted her as she stepped into the suite. A cozy sitting room was before her, with a bedroom and nursery shooting off from either side. She smiled and set her bags down, releasing the cats as she went.

They exited the bag as one unit to explore the new surroundings before apparently growing bored, lounging before the door and lazily bathing themselves. The felines looked up to their master with a knowing expectations. They wanted out.

"Fine, but try to stay in your boundaries for now. We don't need to give Tony apoplexy." The cats meowed in agreement, before touching noses together, black to grey, and bolting out the door.

I'm sure they will find something to get into. It didn't matter. Tony's discomfort or not, Emory felt better with two extra sets of eyes patrolling. She looked down at her daughter, who was also watching her with expectant eyes.

Emory smiled. "Let's get you fed." She settled down on a very comfortable sofa and released Cara from her sling, settling her in beside her mother's body. She unbuttoned her shirt, allowing her daughter to reach her breast and eat.

As Cara began feeding, Emory allowed her mind to wander back to the previous hours. Who was trying to attack them? Were they after her, or Cara? How did they even know where she was, or where or her safehouse was?

So many questions, and no answers. Perhaps Clint would have some information soon, and she would run down her own leads as soon as the dust settled. She would use SHIELD's resources as well.

Although she sat and pondered for several minutes, no immediate leads or clues came to mind. At least none she wanted to think about just yet. When Cara had sated herself, Emory buttoned back up and headed towards the kitchen.

Bruce sat at the kitchen island, propping a stool on three legs while reading the newspaper and sipping more coffee. While she was away, he had been joined by Clint. The archer leaned up against the wall and perused a tablet while balancing a piece of toast on yet more coffee. He looked up when she walked in.

"Those two hellions of yours just tore through here like the devil himself were behind them. They looked like they were ready to sniff out some trouble." Emory smiled at that. "They won't get into too much, I assured me they would be on their best behavior."

"They assured you? So now you can talk to your cats too?" Tony strode in with his signature eye roll, hands on hips. "If I see them sniffing around my machines, I'll use them to test my new weapons."

Emory swung around, Cara on her hip, hair following a split second later to tumble down her shoulders in an ebony mess. "I wouldn't recommend it Tony Stark. The repercussions might be….severe."

He gave her a dirty glare before stalking to the fridge and yanking it open, taking out a carton of eggs and the milk. "Sit down and let me cook you breakfast. You've had a trying morning."

Her eyebrows rose in surprise. She hadn't been expecting civility from Stark, especially right after a spat, but she didn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Emory passed her daughter over to Bruce, whose eyes lit up in delight at the chance to finally hold his goddaughter, and then sat down at the island.

She got straight to business and turned to Clint. "So what do we know so far?" Clint glanced up from his tablet and frowned before answering. "Well here's the thing. We sent clean up crews to both the safehouse and your place, but when they got there, there was nothing to clean up."

"You mean they sent out a crew before we could?" The idea was improbable, but not impossible. He shook his head slightly, a wrinkle forming between strong eyebrows. "No, I'm saying that it was like nothing had ever happened. No blood, no bodies, no clues. Nothing."

Now that was impossible. "Trust me, I left a gruesome work of art in that living room! There's no way they managed to clean up that much blood before our people got there. And what about the door? It was smashed in!" She jumped up in frustration and began pacing.

"I promise you Em, there's nothing there. I know it sounds impossible, but it's true all the same." Emory turned back from pacing to face the seated men. "Well what about Bridgette? Any trace of her, dead or alive?"

He shook his head again, obviously frustrated. "No. No one has seen Bridgette for two days. Whoever did this, they planned well. It was like magic." A chill stole through her at the phrase, and she almost stumbled through her pacing. No one seemed to notice.

Clint continued on, oblivious. "The only thing they didn't account for was a petite woman with a small child to take down seven men on her own, and then evade another team altogether." His lips turned up into a small smile at the thought. "They underestimated you."

"Fortunately for me." She plopped back down at the bar, smiling at Tony as he set down scrambled eggs and toast in front of her, steam rising from the hot eggs. "Thanks Tony. I promise I love you, no matter how much I pester you." He simply smiled and jumped up to sit on the counter, turning to Bruce. "Come on Brucie, you can't hog the kid all to yourself. Let me have her for a bit."

Bruce reluctantly passed Cara over, who had no problem with all the attention she was receiving. Her smile lit up the whole room, and everyone else smiled back indulgently, unable to resist.

Emory sighed, exhaustion slowly creeping up her body as she finished her food. "Well, if I can trust my daughter to the three of you for a few hours, I could really use some sleep." She stood and stretched, allowing her muscles to loosen. "For some reason, I find myself tired."

Tony snorted, causing Cara to giggle as his goatee twitched over her face. "Gee, I wonder why. Go on ahead. I'll make sure nothing happens to the little monkey."

Saying that, he swung her up and headed for the couch. "We can catch the news, maybe watch some R-rated movies. Blood, guts, guns. All the good stuff."

Emory rolled her eyes at his speech, and saying goodnight, headed back to her rooms for some sleep.