Alba looked at her watch and sighed. She really didn't know why she had volunteered to meet her ex at his apartment. They had unfortunately been assigned another case together, but this time he was too sick to come to the office, so she had to bring their work to him. She had to admit, they were a good team that always got results. Marcus specialized in international law, where Alba specialized in criminal law. Together, they were incredibly useful for cases in today's shrinking borders.

She glanced around the posh, renovated Brooklyn building and looked down the hall wearily, waiting for the footsteps on the other side of the door to get closer. The door unlocked with a soft, metallic clink, and Marcus came into view in before of her.

Alba had her insults ready for dealing with him, but one look at his face and the words died in Alba's throat.

He opened the door wider to welcome the woman into his home. He looked like hell. His nose was red, eyes swollen and discolored. To finish it off, his face was pallid, which only highlighted the dark circles around his eyes. Alba set down her briefcase and gave the man a curious look.

"You look like hell."

Marcus shrugged and dropped into a wide, wingback chair in his living room. "I'm going through the flu," He explained, nasally voice only emphasizing his story. He dropped into the plush grey couch in his living room, and Alba caught a glance of a small finger cast on his left hand.

Her mind suddenly went back to the night of the ball, where Marcus and Steve had shared a tense handshake. Suddenly, she had a hard time fighting the grin trying to bloom on her face. She followed the man into the living room and took a seat on the ottoman facing the TV. She knew this apartment like the back of her hand, and yet…it looked different.

"You've made some changes to the place." She noted, complimenting the new, more sophisticated decor. His version of furnishing always turned out to look more like a frat house. How he managed to bring that into an apartment like this, she had no idea.

Marcus grunted at her compliment and tensed up. "Thanks…Shirley picked most of the stuff out."

If Alba still cared about Marcus she would've been seeing red at the thought that he let some gold digging New York party girl have the run of his apartment. Strangely enough though, the words meant nothing to her. She admired the decor with new eyes.

"Not a bad job. Any chance I'll run into her?"

The man in front of her looked at the muted news with renewed interest. "Nah. We uh…we're not together anymore."

Okay, sore subject. Alba looked around and tried to find something else to change up the conversation. She did not want to get into that.

Instead, Alba settled for digging into her briefcase and extracting all the case files he needed to go through. She dropped them on the coffee table between them with a loud thud and jumped to her feet.

"Jesus, what happened to your kitchen? It looks like a five year old raided this place." The posh, white marble countertops were littered with junk food. Well, what was left of it anyway. Pop Tart wrappers were strewn everywhere, crumbs falling everywhere. There was a box of open cereal left out next to the sink, and an empty pint of Ben and Jerry's next to the trash.

Alba sighed. It looked like Marcus knew the definition of stress eating. Now that she thought about it, he did look kind of bloated when she walked in.

She scanned her cabinets before finding her target: a forgotten packet of chicken noodle soup ramen.

"What are you doing over there?" The man croaked. Alba couldn't help aiming a pitiful glance at him over her shoulder.

"I'm making some actual food to eat. Read the briefings while I take care of this." Her ex looked like he wanted to say something else, but shut his trap at the last minute and kept his head down as he took notes about his latest case.

The two worked in silence until Alba dropped into her seat, placing two bowls of steaming chicken soup on the coffee table before reaching over and scanning his preliminary work.

"Not bad. We might have a good defense at the meeting tomorrow of we keep this up." She reached into her briefcase and pulled out her laptop, getting to work while trying to sneak in bites of her soup.

Marcus watched her eat first, probably making sure she didn't poison the soup, before scarfing down his bowl. Once he was finished, he put it down with a result thud and gave Alba a long look.

"Al…I want to apologize for how I've been acting. The cheating, but then everything after that too…I was just…a huge asshole."

Alba snorted. "You can say that again." She hated when he called her Al…it made her feel like an old white guy.

"I mean it. I was a huge douche. And I only really realized what an asshole I was until Shirley broke up with me. Also your boyfriend breaking my fingers kind of made me realize that too."

Alba snorted, remembering the way Marcus hobbled off the night of the gala. The two sat in silence for a long stretch of time.

"So…you got abducted that night, huh? I was home and I saw your face on the news. I was really worried. You could have died, Al. And then I remembered I had been such an ass to you."

The woman sipped on her soup before replying. "You're apologizing to me because I almost died and you feel bad now?"

"Yes. No. It's not how it sounds. I just…realized how short life is. I really don't want the last thing that I ever said to you to be some horrible thing, cause that's not who I am. Really. So, I'm sorry. You really do deserve a lot better than this." He said, waving a hand along his unkept hair and rumpled clothes.

Six months ago Alba would have felt a spark of hope. Now, all she felt looking at the broken man before her, was pity. He really was all alone now. Meanwhile she had gained a family. Maybe it was a dysfunctional, super-powered freaky family that was wrought his danger, but it was a family nonetheless.

"I forgive you, Marcus. I mean, I still think you're an ass, but you've got time to turn it around. Like they say, the first step is admitting you have a problem." The man gave her a weak smile and settled for eating his food.

"So…you're dating Captain America now?" She should have known this would was going to come up.

Alba sighed, and leaned back in her seat, watching the news as she replied in the most bored tone she could muster. "It's complicated."

Marcus groaned, then laughed. "I should've known you were going to say something like that. At least you're not telling me 'it's classified' like those SHIELD agents used to tell me all the time." She almost laughed. He thought she was being evasive. Well, it worked for her. Just cause Marcus spilled his guts to her didn't mean she wanted to do the same. Especially with her ex.

He pointed a finger at her midriff. "They weren't kidding when they told me you were pregnant." Alba froze.

"Who? Who told you I was pregnant?" Marcus looked at her like she was crazy.

"Well, first of all I got that mysterious phone call from that guy with the alien voice a long time ago."

Alba wrinkled her nose. "Alien voice?" What the hell?

Marcus paused and looked off into the distance, deep in thought. "Yeah, alien voice. Although now I'm thinking about it, it could have been a voice modulator. I was really sleepy. It was like 3 am."

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "That would have been Tony." She shook her head disapprovingly, but her lips still turned up at the corners. She could just imagine Tony, sitting on his phone with a voice modulator in his hand. Who was she kidding?

He probably had it built into his phone.

"Wait, you said Tony? As in, Tony Stark? I was on the phone with Tony Stark?" Alba couldn't help snickering at the way Marcus' face paled, with breaths coming in little gasps.

He glanced up at her with wide eyes. "You know the guy?" Alba wasn't one to brag, but she was damned if she let this opportunity pass up.

She played with the remote and shrugged, channel surfing until she found the news channel. "He was at my apartment last week installing my home security system. So yeah, I know him."

"Wait. Do you know all of the Avengers?"

"Not really. I mean, I've most of them. It was one time, though." She said, remembering all of the new faces when she'd been asked to sit in on their super secret meeting for 'legal advice'.

By now, her ex was looking at her like she was some type of god. The resounding quiet in the room was interrupted when Alba's phone started ringing.

Alba picked it from her purse, smirking when she saw the name 'Privacy Police Stark' flashing on her screen.

"Hey Tony."

"Lawyer Lady! Just who I was looking for. You might want to get here, Steve was involved in some type of explosion." Alba jumped to her feet, taking a small sigh of relief when she heard his voice in the background.

"What did he say? Put him on the phone." She heard some type of grunt, followed by some type of mechanical whirring, and then a charging whine. Two thunks later, she heard Tony groan into the phone.

"What the hell was that? Tony, but Steve on the phone."

"I can't," He gasped. "He's uh…busy. Getting checked out by the Doctor."

"Is he ok?" Marcus was staring unabashedly, mouth open in awe.

"I don't know, maybe when you get here we'll find out, lady." There was another scuffle.

Alba picked up her things, shrugging on the jacket while hopping into her shoes simultaneously. "I'm leaving now. I should be able to catch a subway and be there in less than 20."

"Don't bother, Lawyer Lady. The trip is a little bit further north than the Avengers tower. There's a car waiting outside. I sent my best guy." Alba stopped immediately and instead went to peek out the window. Sure enough, there was a shiny black Audi with tinted windows parked outside of Marcus' apartment building. Marcus himself followed her to the window, curious at what had caused to drop what she was doing. He saw the car and gave her a owlish look.

"Is that…Tony Stark? In the car?" He whispered, pointing at the phone and then back downstairs. Alba rolled her eyes and shook her head, trying to somehow have two conversations simultaneously

Tony picked up on the whispering. "What was that? Or should I say, who was that?"

"None of your business." Alba growled, Stomping into her other shoe and imagining it was Tony's face.

"Uh huh. Your ex has a really nice apartment, I'll give him that. Maybe when you get here you can tell me and Steve all about your trip to his place."

"Oh yeah, right after you tell me all about the voice modulator you used to call Marcus and tell him I was pregnant. Without my consent. And an alien voice? Really Tony? The planet was invaded by aliens, and you really think it's good idea to call someone you don't know at three in the morning using an alien voice?" There was suddenly an all-consuming silence on the other end of the line.

"I uh, I gotta go." Muttered Tony.

Alba smirked into the receiver, knowing she had won this one. I mean, it wasn't a surprise. Her whole job was based on arguing with people.

"Uh huh. You do that, Tony."

"Bye bye." He heard Tony muttering to someone who she reminded him of the hulk when she was angry and grinned as she ended the call.

She threw Marcus a hasty goodbye and burst through the lobby doors of his apartment complex, stopping short when she came face to face with a taller gentleman with a bored expression on his face. He was glued to his phone, nearly dropping it into the city gutter when Alba cleared her throat.

He was older than Alba, but moved with an expression of confidence and he strode over to greet her.

"Hello Miss Herrera. I'm happy Hogan, here to escort you back to the compound."

"Compound?" Alba glanced around confusedly as Happy took her personal effects and popped them in the trunk.

"The compound upstate? You haven't been yet? That's okay, it's pretty new. I'm actually planning the rest of the move. You have no idea how much crap the Avengers have managed to scrap together in a few years." He muttered. Even though she just met the man, Alba was sure she could trust him with her life.

She gave the man a friendly smile as they made their way through city traffic. "Sounds like you have your hands full. I hope this doesn't take up too much of your time."

He waved her off. "I was going that way anyway. Besides, it's pretty easy to miss if you've never been before." They chatted for a little while longer before settling in for the trip. Alba had to admit she loved long car rides. They made for the best naps…

"Well…isn't this cozy." Alba cracked an eye open and yawned. She stared at the figure in front of her for a long moment.

"What are you wearing?" Tony Stark stood above her, light glinting in all directions off of the metal armor fastened to his body. He looked like the Iron Man from the news, except his face plate was missing. It made him look ridiculous. Tony looked down at himself briefly before meeting her gaze.

"It's my suit."

Alba snorted, slowly peeling herself off of the most comfortable leather seats she'd ever slept in. "You look like a can of caffeine free Coca-Cola."

Happy, who had been standing guard at the door, started chuckling before trying to disguise his laughter with a very strong cough. Tony glanced between the two of them and gave Alba a dirty look.

"There's nothing wrong with the red and gold." He said, giving himself another once over.

Alba pointed at the spots of gold and made an unconvinced sound as she followed Iron Man into the compound. "I don't know, the gold is kind of gaudy."

"It does not; it's a luxurious touch. It looks good, right Happy?" The man, who was trailing behind them with Alba's belongings, shook his head and sighed.

"No comment."

Tony gave him a disbelieving look. "So that means you agree with her? You think she's right?" Happy gave him a long suffering look before nodding.

"Ha ha," Teased Alba, sticking her tongue out at the metal man as they made their way through the long corridors of the compound.

"I'm not having this argument with people that have no taste. The gold and red looks awesome." Muttered Tony, leading group through a wide glass atrium and into an elevator, pressing the number 8 on a glass panel in the device.

"So…this place?" Alba wagged a finger around them.

Tony cleared his throat. "This is the Avengers compound. It was an old Stark warehouse facility that's been renovated to serve as our base of operations. One hundred acres, a pool, a screening room. That's just the fun stuff. It's a state of the art training facility for our team. Got every contraption anyone could ever want. Even Legolas is satisfied, and he's a hard one to please."

"Legolas?"

"Oh right, I don't think you've met Barton. Hawkeye. The man with the arrows. He's fun."

They emerged from the elevator and entered what seemed to be some type of medical floor. The place looked somewhat like a high tech hospital, with a center desk featuring holographic displays and a series of screens. Along the walls of the room there were what looked to be treatment rooms. Except these treatment rooms were separated by walls of glass. In the far side, she spotted Steve and Dr. Cho.

Alba wasted no time ambling into the room and giving Steve a nervous grin.

"Hey. Are you ok?"

He shrugged. "Just a few broken ribs from the impact of the explosion." Alba tried not to look at him like he was crazy. Just a few broken ribs…?

"What happened out there?"

Steve sighed, not even knowing where to begin. He had made a rookie mistake because he was too busy mulling about what he would say to her when he finally got back home. Well, Tony had been kind enough to set up their meeting. All he had to do was not screw it up.

He came to his feet slowly, trying not to make a face because of his achy ribs, and held out a hand.

"C'mon, there's something I want to talk to you about. In a place where we won't be overheard." He added that last part while giving Tony a pointed look.

Alba took his hand, trying to ignore the little sparks of heat teasing her palm and she followed the super soldier's lead into the compound.

Can you guess what their important talk is going to be about?

Next chapter will be up very soon. I'm heading to work right now so I wanted to leave you guys with something before I left and I didn't want to make the chapter too long so it got split into two chapters. Hope you guys enjoy!