Here's another chapter for y'all!

~:~

Soon after I got back to the Barton homestead, the sound of aircraft engines were heard above.

"I'm gonna go hide upstairs." I told Laura, jabbing my thumb towards the stairs. "Don't say anything."

"You got it."

I took off running up the stairs and into my room. Looking out the window, I saw their war-torn expressions as they walked towards the house. I heard the door creak open and Clint call across the house.

"Honey, I'm home!" Soon two pairs of footfall run down the stairs, yelling 'Dad!'

I heard Laura in my mind telling me to come on down. As I walked towards the stairs, I heard Clint ask, "Is she here?"

"Why don't you ask me yourself, bro?" I replied as I walked down.

"Angie?" Tony asked.

I gave him a small wave. "Hey, Uncle Tony." Once I saw his face cloud with mixed emotions, I walked up to him, wrapping my arms around him. He buried his face into my shoulder. "It's okay, I got you." The others began walking towards their respective rooms to get cleaned up.

He let go of me and began to wipe the tears off his cheeks. "How long have you been here?"

"Since last night." I replied. "Clint called me to give her a heads up."

"Wait, you knew about this place?"

I nodded my head. "A few weeks after the Invasion, Clint brought me up here. I needed the peace and quiet." I saw him rub his hand over his face. "Go get cleaned up. Take a nap," I said, pushing him towards the stairs. "You need it."

"Okay…" He replied. "You have no idea how great it is to see you."

I gave him a small smile. "I know. I love you, Tony."

"Love you, too, kid."

~:~

"Hey, Angie?" Laura asked as she peeked through the kitchen entry. "Can you come here a second?"

I ran into the kitchen. "What's up?" Clint shut the door to the kitchen and checked for listening ears. He placed a finger to his lips. "What," I whispered.

"Me and Laura talked..." He said in a low voice.

"And…"

Laura gave Clint a nod. "And you can bring Sam here."

I ran up and hugged the two of them. "Thank you."

"But after we leave. And he needs to keep this between us."

I gave him a thumbs up. "You got it. Laura, do you need any help?"

"Can you tell the others that lunch is ready?"

"Sure." I walked around spreading the news to the others, but I had trouble finding Steve. I walked outside and looked around. Finally, I found him sitting in the barn, drawing in his sketchbook. "Hey, Steve."

"Hey…" He muttered.

I sat down next to him. "You okay?"

"Not really, but I will be," he replied. "How's the search going?" I shrugged.

"I don't know if I can do this anymore, Steve." He turned to me with a confused look on his face. "Every lead we've followed keeps leading us nowhere. I can't take it anymore."

"Does Sam know?"

I nodded. "We talked and decided that this is my last lead. After that, I'll stay here, take a break. At least till the baby's born."

He set his book on the ground and leaned back, crossing his arms. "I understand that." Steve noticed my eyes darting back and forth across the room. "What?"

"He doesn't want to be found."

"What makes you say that?"

I debated whether I should tell him the truth. But, finally, I confessed, "He told me."

He turned to me wide-eyed. "When? Where?"

"Right after D.C.," I replied. "I went to see that exhibit again and saw him there."

His face saddened and he shook his head. "Doesn't he know we can help him?"

"He wants to do this by himself." I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. "He wants to find the man he once was. There's only so much we can tell him. It's one thing to tell him and one thing for him to remember, Steve. We just have to give him time."

"I don't know if I can do that, Ange." He sighed, standing up and walking away.

I looked down to see the picture he was drawing: Me, him, my Dad, and another woman. We were happy, like a normal family.

~:~

After my conversation with Steve, I went back in the house to help with lunch.

"You okay, sis?"

I slowly broke out my trace. "Yeah, Clint. I'm fine." He frowned in reply. "I'm fine, really."

"What happened out there," He asked.

"Nothing," I squeaked. When he frowned again, I let out a sigh of defeat. "I told him what he needed to hear. He didn't like it."

"What's that?"

I stopped cutting the vegetables and set the knife on the counter. "To let my dad come home on his own. That he would come back when he's ready. But Steve can't accept that. He wants to fix everything, but he can't."

"Give him some time, sweetie," Laura said. "He'll come around." I slowly agreed and went back to my work.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Clint answered.

"Hello?...Uh huh….Uh huh… Okay, I'll let em know."

"What was that about?" Both me and Laura gave him a worried look.

"Angie, go with Tony to the barn. Tell him the tractor won't start or something," Clint said.

I quirked a brow in response. "Why?"

"You'll see…"

I shrugged and went outside to get Tony and quickly realized i walked into a very heated argument.

"Isn't that the mission? Isn't that the 'why' we fight, so we can end the fight, so we get to go home?"

Steve answered him, "Every time someone tries to win a war before it starts, innocent people die. Every time."

"Um, guys," I called out. "Sorry to interrupt whatever the heck this is...which we will deal with later. BUT, Clint said, if you don't mind, Tony, the tractor isn't starting. Can you take a look at it?"

"Yeah, I'll give her a kick." He pointed at Steve. "Don't take from my pile."

As we walked to the barn, I looked at him extremely annoyed. "Do I need to know what the heck that was back there?"

"Don't worry about it. Spangles just doesn't understand."

"What did the chicken do to you?"

"What?"

I rolled my eyes. "Nothing." I pulled open the barn doors and motioned towards the hunk of junk. "Here she is."

"Hello, Deere. Tell me everything. What ails you?" He said rubbing his hands together.

Suddenly, Fury appears from the other end of the barn. "Do me a favor. Try not to bring it to life." Of course!

"Ah, Barton, you little minx," he muttered. He called out, "I get it, Maria Hill called you, right? Was she ever not working for you?"

Fury made his way towards us. "Artificial intelligence. You never even hesitated."

"Look, it's been a really long day," Tony said, rolling his eyes. "Like, Eugene O'Neill long, so how's about we skip to the part where you're useful?"

"Look me in the eye and tell me you're going to shut him down."

Tony shook his head. "You're not the director of me."

"Tony," I warned. "Don't."

"I'm not the director of anybody." Fury turned and sat down on a bale of hay. "I'm just an old man, who cares very much about you."

"And I'm the man who killed the Avengers," Tony replied.

"What?" I asked, as me and Fury gave him worried looks.

"I saw it. I didn't tell the team, how could I?" he murmured, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I saw them all dead, Nick. I felt it. The whole world, too. It's because of me. I wasn't ready. I didn't do all I could."

"The Maximoff girl, she's working you, Stark. Playing on your fear."

I nodded in agreement. "He's right. She did the same with everyone else."

"I wasn't tricked, I was shown. It wasn't a nightmare, it was my legacy. The end of the path I started us on."

"You've come up with some pretty impressive inventions, Tony." Fury said. "War isn't one of them."

"I watched my friends die. You'd think that'd be as bad as it gets, right?" he scoffed. "Nope. Wasn't the worst part."

"The worst part is that you didn't." And by the way Tony looked at Fury, you knew that he had hit the nail right on the head.

"Tony...first it was the Legion and now this." I began. "I know why you did this, but this is one thing Steve has got right."

"And what's that?" he snapped.

I shook my head in disbelief. "I thought after our last conversation that you'd learn. But I guess I was wrong." I stormed towards the door of the barn. "You're a grown-freakin'-adult. Figure it out yourself!"

~:~