Theo would've been a great father.

I knew it, and I saw him every day, but you really only had to talk to him for ten minutes to believe it for yourself.

Theo had that eternal patience, the energy, the charisma that kids were drawn towards.

Fatherhood would've been easy for him.

I'd never thought that way about me.

I would've been a terrible father.

And I didn't have all that high hopes for being a mom, either.

But you know, maybe my kid wouldn't have been so upset about having me for a mom if Theo were its dad.

At least, that's what I thought, anyway.

Then I found myself facing motherhood alone.

My God, my kid was going to be a screw up, wasn't he?

No father, AND me for a mom? The odds were NOT in this kids favor.

But then Orie was born, and he was the best thing that ever happened to me.

He made me want to be better. And for him, I was better.

To toot my own horn: I wasn't half bad.

And of course, Orie didn't have just me. He had Bucky, and Cas. He had Sam, and Sherlock, and Dean. He had Dean wrapped around his little finger.

And Steve.

He had Steve too.

The one person I never thought Orie would have….was Theo.

But even at the end of the day, if my son didn't have any of those people, if Dean actually did get tired of me and left, if Steve started a family of his own and forgot about the rejects, if Bucky ran off and Cas and Sam left with Dean, and Sherlock decided that the distance was greater than our importance, my son would ALWAYS have me.

And I would watch the world burn to save my son.

So – Ultron? He had no idea what he was dealing with.

But he was about to find out.

Maddie woke up with a blanket wrapped around her that she didn't remember having before, a groggy voice asking her in panic "Do I have a penis on my face?"

She blinked quickly a few times, waiting for her vision to clear as the blurry blob in front of her solidified into a Theo.

His eyes were wide in worry. "Do I have a penis on my face?" He asked again, worriedly.

"No," Maddie answered slowly.

There wasn't a PENIS drawn on his face, anyway.

Theo sagged in relief. "Oh thank goodness!" The relief bled away though as he took a good look at Maddie.

She grimaced, because she knew what she looked like. "You don't look like you slept a wink."

"Nightmares," She admitted, throwing the blanket off of her. "I got zero sleep. But," Maddie's eyes unfocused, her eyebrows furrowing. "I do have a plan."

And because Theo had known Maddie since high school, his eyes narrowed worriedly. "On the sanity scale, how crazy is this plan of yours?"

"You want me to give you a number that will make you feel better, or the true answer?"

Theo sighed heavily as he watched Maddie hop up and stretch. "Maybe the less I know – the better." But even as he said it, he leaned forward another question falling out of his mouth. "Is this the kind of plan that requires back up?"

"There's a better likelihood of survival with a second, yes," Maddie admitted a little grumpily. "You remember our mock hostage situation during junior year Criminal Law?"

"I still have nightmares about it, yes," Theo nodded. "Why? Is that –" He choked suddenly, "Maddie NO – please tell me you're not thinking about," But Theo's voice trailed off at the smirk on his ex-girlfriends face.

"NO," Theo repeated forcefully. "Your boyfriend is already trying to think of places to bury my body, if he finds out I helped you with this crazy scheme he'd murder me on live television!"

"Fine," Maddie shrugged airily. "The plan will work with one."

"Maybe I can't argue with the effectiveness of your plan, but you can't deny it's not crazy."

"Of course it's crazy!" Maddie threw her hands in the air, whirling on Theo. "Don't you get it?! We're living in crazy-land, nothing else would work!"

"You haven't even given your friends a chance Mads. What's the point of keeping them around if you're not going to at least try to use them?"

Maddie grimaced, hating the fact that Theo was right. But he didn't understand, as sane as she might look, there was a crippling fear in the pit of her stomach – that despite the heroes in her living room, that even with an entire police force on her side, that her son wouldn't make it, that they wouldn't find him.

And underneath that monumental fear was a tickle of doubt; a shred of fear, that no matter what happened, even if she did get Orie back safe and sound, she'd still lose.

But Maddie had never let herself be ruled by emotions, so she forced the cascade of feeling away and thought about the logic in Theo's words.

"Fine. I'll give the idiots crowding my living room a chance. But if they haven't made any satisfactory progress, then I'm moving on to Plan C."

Plan C. for Crazy. Theo nodded. It wouldn't come to that.

"Fine."

The Avengers; The Winchesters and Cas, Sherlock Holmes? At least one of them would come up with something...right?

"Oh God, Bradley. They've multiplied."

"Exaggeration, level five." Maddie shot the man at her side a weak glare before crossing her arms.

"Stark, I vaguely remember disliking you."

Tony Stark, looking well and wearing a dark suit and sunglasses, (inside the house? Heathen) smirked. "So. Ultron?"

"Looks like. You have any ideas?"

The rest of the room watched Maddie interact, not surprised at how tired she looked, but startled at her calm. And those who knew her best began to worry.

"A few. I'm guessing we want him gone right?"

"Duh." Maddie rolled her eyes. "Why wouldn't we?"

"Thought you guys were friends," Tony shrugged, and Maddie snorted. "Right – guess I read that wrong. Give me a few hours – I'll figure something out."

"I will give you one hour," Maddie argued, pulling out a long red piece of candy. "And one redvine."

"That'll work. I'll set up in the kitchen, and I'm stealing the tall one and – her."

Maddie huffed. "Garcia. When'd you get here again?"

"Ten minutes ago." Was the blonde woman's cheery smile. "Here. Sustain yourself." And Garcia handed Maddie a very large cup of coffee and followed Tony and a very bemused Sam Winchester into the kitchen.

"Please tell me that's not Mycroft Holmes," Theo said suddenly.

"Of course it's not!" Maddie was suddenly proven wrong as she eyed the man standing in the corner.

"Well." She paused. Sherlock was standing next to his brother, and Maddie chose to focus on him. "Why?"

"Called in a favor," Sherlock answered briskly.

Which only served to confuse Maddie more. "But – I already used up my favor."

"Yes, the Accords," Mycroft said. "I recall. Consider this one a freebie."

"The british government is NOT handing you a freebie." Theo said, aghast.

"Who cares?" Dean spat, glaring at Theo. "We'll take all the help we can get."

Maddie stiffened at the sound of Dean's voice, and it took her a moment before she could speak again, turning so Dean was unable to see her face.

"Welcome to the team then," She pointed at Sherlock and John. "Work whatever angle you have." She turned to the Avengers. "I've got access to a database that lists everyone Alexander has ties to. Wanna weed your way through them, see if anything interesting comes up?"

Clint made a face, but the others nodded. "Lemme go print out the list," she said.

When she was out of earshot, Theo turned wide eyes towards the large group.

"I know you guys don't like me,"

"Understatement," Dean and Steve said at the same time, and Theo huffed.

"I know why you guys don't like me too, and I understand. Just listen – work fast."

"Yeah, like we were going to take our time," Pietro snorted.

Theo paused and shot the room a stern look. "Your sass is not appreciated," he said primply. "Listen, if you're plans fail, then we will be forced to move onto plan C. Let me say this very slowly: YOU DO NOT WANT TO HAVE TO USE PLAN C."

And even though he was greatly disliked, the worry and emphatic way Theo spoke, had the group nodding around him.

Theo sighed in relief.

The Avengers, Sherlock Holmes, The Winchesters AND Cas? Plan C wouldn't even make it off the ground.

Except, three hours later, no one had made any progress.

"Maybe you should take a break," Steve murmured then, to a harried looking Maddie, whose calm had dissipated the longer the morning went on.

Maddie nodded, grabbed a pair of tennis shoes, said she had to "stop by the bank," and then hurried away, but not before she shot a triumphant look Theo's way.

And honor-bound by the dratted pinky promise, Theo was forced to sit there and say nothing.

Of course, it was less than ten minutes after Maddie had left, that the team made their first break in the case.

And surprisingly enough, it was Theo who had made the connection.