See Chapter One for Disclaimer

I was 16 when I first met him. He was working, at the coffee shop across the street from our high school. He was taking these cheerleaders orders, and they were all giggles and flashing cleavage, and he looked…bored. He smiled and rang them up, but his gaze stayed firmly on their faces, and his smile was more a grimace than anything else.

They were done ordering but still talking when I walked in. His eyes snapped to mine so quickly that I froze, and I NEVER freeze. Then his smile was deepening, becoming something real, and crinkles appeared next to his eyes, and I remembered to move.

I took slow, measured steps towards the register, and he brusquely asked the girls to step aside and they did so, disgruntled.

When I got to the front, he smiled and the crinkles got deeper, and he said "Hi."

I remember taking a moment to look at my reflection in a nearby window.

It was me, wearing ripped jeans and a hoodie three sizes too big, my gray backpack worn and ripping by the straps. My hair was ratty and thrown up in a bun that was more tangles than hair. I had dark circles under my eyes and no makeup on.

It was just me. But when he smiled at me that first time and I couldn't look away from the crinkles and he just said "Hi," I didn't feel like "just" anything.

He looked at me and I felt like an actual person.

Theo Bradley looked exactly the same.

Same blue eyes, same stupid dimple, same loose blonde hair that made him look like a surfer.

Maddie made a face. "You look the same," She finally said.

"You don't," He shook his head. "You're a completely different person."

"Falling into some freaky alternate universe can do that to a person," she said dryly.

"Well," Theo's head tilted and a few locks of hair fell into his face. "I'm here too, and I look the same."

"Yeah," Maddie snorted. "You popped up in an alternate universe and what? Joined the FBI? You were going to do that anyway."

"Yes," Theo said diplomatically. "But I had prior knowledge," He winked, "that helped speed my application along, thank you very much."

Maddie snickered. "By-the-book Bradley, cheating his way into the FBI?" She shook her head. "It really is a different universe."

"But a successful one; for both of us," Theo raised an eyebrow. "An author, Mads? That's spectacular!"

"Well, I look different because I am different," Maddie shrugged. "Things have been pretty crazy around here."

"Really? What has Madison Grace Sinclair been up to?"

Maddie made a face. "Well – I kind of crashed the Avengers party in Sokovia," Maddie trailed off because while Maddie had always disliked movies, Theo had LOVED them, and the widening of his eyes said he knew what she was talking about.

"Avengers age of Ultron?" he sqeaked. "You were there?"

"Met Ultron himself," Maddie confided. "We were friends, for about ten minutes."

Theo's eyes bugged out. "friends," he said in surprise before throwing his head back and laughing loudly. "Merlin, Maddie, only you."

Maddie grinned. "What? I've always loved the bad boys,"

"And yet you ended up with me," Theo's smile softened, and Maddie's grin turned into a grimace.

"The worst part about universe hopping was that I left you behind," Maddie said truthfully. Theo attempted to pull her closer, but she placed a hand on his chest. "You were gone," she said slowly.

"And you moved on," Theo realized. "Please tell me he's ugly."

Maddie huffed. "You've heard of him. Pretty famous around here actually," Maddie raised an eyebrow. "Captain America?"

Theo's mouth dropped open in surprise. "No!" He gasped. "Really?"

"Well, I mostly used him for sex," Maddie admitted. "He only lasted a few months."

"He's here," Theo's gaze sought out the tall blonde hero. "So you still keep in touch?"

"We kind of have to," Maddie snorted. "He's the father of my son."

Maddie was starting to enjoy the look Theo got every time he was surprised: mouth open, eyes bugged out, eyebrows raised and disappearing underneath his hair.

"You – and him – kid?"

"His names Orion," Maddie confirmed. "He's a year and a half, and he's my world." Maddie caught sight of something over Theo's shoulder, and she made a face. "Or, most of my world anyway."

"Steve Rogers was your rebound," Theo chuckled at the thought. "And now he's your baby daddy. You don't settle for average, do you?" Maddie shrugged, and Theo spun Maddie, taking the opportunity to readjust, so that he wasn't holding her as closely as before. "Well, woman like you? You're obviously not single. Which one is he?"

Maddie raised an eyebrow. "One hint, three guesses. I like em' bad," She repeated, and Theo's eyebrows furrowed as he thought.

Maddie's little group was filled with the good guys – in reality all of them were good guys. But some of them – Theo squinted as he recalled the tall man with the freckles that had been right by Maddie's side the whole evening, as he recognized how easily Maddie had leaned into the man all night. Theo's eyes widened as he realized how the man was familiar.

"Oh my god," He gasped, his face taking on that surprised look again. "You're sleeping with Dean Winchester?!"

"Worse," Maddie said happily. "I'm dating him."

Theo shook his head. Then he opened his mouth, but nothing would come out, so he just shook his head again.

"Enough about my love life. You know how I said Ultron and I were buds back in the day?"

"Yes," Theo nodded, but his expression was confused.

Really? Dean Winchester?

"Well, apparently Iron Idiot didn't do a very good job of wiping Ultron out of the internet because he's been hiding there for the last two years, and my new boss was just stupid enough to download the virus that is Ultron into his body and Ultron took him over in some kind of weird internet brain possession thing – and Ultron knows that I knows but he might still think we're friends, so maybe he won't actually hurt me, but he knows about my son and that's a big friggin no-no, if you know what I mean, but uh, actually maybe you don't? You've not known me as a mom…well, newsflash, I'm very protective, and that stupid face brought up my kid, so obviously, now I have to commit murder for the second time – but I need help moving the body. So. Are you in?"

Theo blinked, trying to process the sheer mass of words Maddie had just blurted out, but one thought, something she'd said earlier, finally caught up with him.

"How old did you say your son was?" He asked vaguely, and Maddie huffed.

"I was hoping you could be objective about this," she said seriously. "But you're such…a civilian. Of course we'll have to involve the others. Come on."

Maddie grabbed Theo's wrist and pulled him off the dance floor, towards the friends she'd made, and Theo followed dumbly, trying to do the math.

"Idiots." Maddie greeted, letting go of Theo to cross her arms. "We have a problem."

"Yes." Clint mimicked Maddie's stance. "We do," he agreed. "Who's the punk?"

"Theo Bradley," Maddie introduced impatiently. "Works with Reid at the BAU, anyways, he's not important,"

"Good to hear," Dean growled. "Was he ever important?" His voice is dark, raspy. "To you, specifically."

Maddie's mouth fell open. "Sure, I guess," She admitted slowly. "Anyways, bigger problems,"

"Like what?" Wanda asked.

Maddie just narrowed her eyes, and leveled a glare at the group in front of her, and they quickly dropped the attitude in the face of her anger.

"What?" Pietro asked suspiciously.

"Is it that bad?" Tasha added.

"Explain, Sinclair," Steve said harshly.

"Well," Maddie hissed, "Before I do that, I highly suggest we remove ourselves to a more secure spot, preferably one that serves waffles at midnight, to discuss this further."

"An issue?" JJ shot her boss a look. "That sounds like a national security to me."

"A federal matter for sure," Rossi agreed lightly.

"Internet?" Garcia added quickly. "I know what that is."

Maddie shot them a look. Theo chuckled.

"Looks like you've got the FBI with you."

"You suck, Bradley," She muttered, shooting him a smile while she said it.

Theo returned the smile with a bigger, brighter replica of his own.

Pietro beamed. "I get it now!" He slapped Steve on the back. "It was a joke!"

"What?" Maddie tore her eyes away from Theo. "What the hell are you talking about, Pie?"

"Steve, fathering your child: it was a joke."

Maddie furrowed her eyebrows. "Why would you say that?" She snapped.

"Well," Pietro chuckled. "Obviously this man –" he pointed at Theo, "is the father. Look," Pietro pointed. "He even has a dimple in the same place."

Theo sucked in his cheeks, removing possibility of his sudden audience to be able to catch sight of the mentioned dimple, and Maddie's face went carefully blank.

"And now," she said slowly, "I need a drink."

Theo Bradley chased me for years.

It wasn't until was years out of high school and he'd already graduated college, years of him chasing me, that I let him take me on a date, and even though I'd accepted, I didn't think it would work.

I didn't think that WE would work.

But we worked all too well.

One date turned into two, then three, then we'd been seeing each other for a month, then two months, then a year.

Then he told me he loved me.

I didn't know how to feel about that. I was nervous, and cross…and nervous.

Because maybe I reciprocrated.

But maybe I didn't know how to say the words out loud.

And two days after he'd told me he loved me, before I'd gotten up the nerve to return the sentiment, I was falling through the subway and befriending a robot.

The things I would do to get out of admitting my feelings, huh?

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~CLC~