I still do not own :(

"It is not the size of a man, but the size of his heart that matters." ~Evander Holyfield

Fourteen Years Later…

Anora Lucile Williams was sprawled under a tree, a book open beside her, eyes closed, face turned toward the sun. She sighed contentedly. She loved days like this: where it was warm, but not hot, the breeze was gentle, the sun just right, and the world just seemed to be at peace for a moment.

"Anora, there's someone here to see you." The young woman opened her eyes and smiled brightly at the old man who was speaking.

"Okie dokie Granddad. I'll be there in a minute." Anora pushed herself up and grabbed her book, marking the page with a leaf before going inside.

Since she had turned 18 she had been staying either with her brother, who was now going to med school, or her grandfather, helping out as much as she could, which most consisted of chores and listening. And she loved to listen to what people had to say, especially her granddad. She absorbed every word of it. She loved hearing about her parents, the aunt and uncle she never got to meet, her grandmother, the war and her grandfather's friends from when he was in the army. She wrote every one of them down, these stories were important, and she wanted to make sure that they would be around for her family someday. Anora walked into her grandfather's little kitchen and squealed when she saw who was there.

"Uncle Nick!" the girl threw her arms around the spy, hugging him. "Long time no see! How are you? What have been up to? Did you like your Christmas present?"

Uncle Nick's lips quirked, it was about as close to a smile as he got. "I'm fine. It's classified. And it was wonderful, thank you."

Anora laughed releasing him. "What's with the impromptu visit? Not that you normally call ahead, but something's up right?"

He sighed. "I hate to ask-" Anora bit her snarky comment of 'then why are you asking?' "- but I need someone I know I can trust to keep an eye on some very troublesome and volatile people who thought it was a good idea to live under the same roof."

"Mind telling me who these people are so I can decide whether to play glorified babysitter or not?"

"Ever heard of the Avengers?" she stared at him. He was kidding right? They had been all over the news a couple of years before.

"Um, duh. The aliens destroying half of Manhattan and the ragtag bunch of heroes fighting them was front page news for a while there Uncle Nick." She said leaning against the counter. "So you want me to play nanny for them?"

"I would like you to make sure they don't kill each other or start World War 3."

"What makes you think I can do that?"

"You kept your brother and his friends out of a lot of trouble over the years or got them out of trouble when that failed. I think you can handle this."

She thought for a minute. She didn't want to just do a job, she didn't roll like that. She cared too much for that, if she did this, she would be putting her heart and soul out there for people to see and that had a habit of getting her hurt, Uncle Nick knew that, so obviously it was important, or he wouldn't be asking, but she wanted to remind him anyways. "You do know that I'm going to get emotionally involved in this right? It's not just going to be a favor or a job."

He nodded. She was right, it was important. "Okay, I'll see what I can do."

"WHAT?! It's my building Patchy! You can't just put one of your little pets here and expect me to be okay with that!" Tony Stark was livid. It was his tower damn it! His! Not Fury's! He didn't care that Fury looked about ready to kill him for the pet comment.

"Pet? Well, that's a new one. Normally I'm the one getting asked if the boys are my pets…" Tony turned to look at the girl Fury wanted in his tower, she just looked amused. "Oh, don't let me stop you two, this was just getting interesting. Anyone have any popcorn?" she asked looking around, as though there was someone else in the room.

Tony just stared at her, mouth hanging open. He chance a glance at Fury who looked just as surprised, abet less comically so.

"If you don't close your mouths, you'll catch flies dearies, unless that's what you're trying to do of course."

Tony barked out a laugh and smirked. "Oh, snarky. I like it."

Now she was laughing, her whole body shaking, a crooked smile on her face. "I'm glad dearie, it would be such a shame if you didn't, you would definitely be missing out." She winked at him, trying to regain her composure and failing miserably. Tony had to admit, it might not be so bad if she was staying in the tower, at least he would be able to have snarky, sassy, and intelligent conversations with someone other than Banner.

"Williams." Fury barked. The girl sobered immediately looking slightly hurt.

"You never call me Williams…" Tony was surprised to see Fury sigh and apologize. Fury never, apologizes. This kid had to be important to him. "It's fine Uncle Nick, all is forgiven." The girl smiled slightly, before turning to the Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.

"I have a proposition for you Mr. Stark."

"Call me Tony, Mr. Stark was my father."

"Okay then, Tony. I have a proposition. Let me stay here for one week, and if you don't want me to stay after that week is up then I'll leave, no strings attatched."

Tony Stark thought for a moment. There wouldn't be any harm in what she was proposing, but would one week really be long enough for him to make a decision? No, probably not, especially if what he had seen so far was an indicator. "Two weeks."

"Al- what?" the young woman tilted her head to the side, and looked like she couldn't figure out what he had just said.

"You'll stay two weeks and the team will decide whether you stay or not after that."

She blinked. "Okay, two weeks." She smiled shaking his hand, "this will be an interesting two weeks."

Tony couldn't help but agree with her, it would definitely be an interesting two weeks, and that was putting it mildly.

The other Avengers seemed weary of her, but Anora had figured they would be, after all they knew nothing about her, and all they knew was that Uncle Nick had asked her to keep an eye on them. She really didn't blame them.

Bruce seemed to like her well enough and so did Tony. Though half the time when they talked science and engineering she had no clue what they were saying. Clint and Natasha didn't trust her, but she suspected that they had good reasons, she just wished she could show them that they could trust her. And she wished she could work up the strength to trust them with the dark scars on her heart, but trust is difficult and it isn't something that can just be given, it has to be earned, and Anora knew this too well. She knew she would have to earn their trust and show them she wouldn't betray it, unlike others whom had betrayed hers.

So Anora started making breakfast for the residents of the tower. She remembered how they too their coffee and whether or not they preferred tea to coffee or hot chocolate. She made sure they got what they liked without a word or any intention of thanks. She made sure they ate and dragged Tony and Bruce out of the labs from time to time to make sure they slept. She started singing softly when she was cooking or washing the dishes, something she didn't do around strangers, and the Avengers started noticing. When she gave Clint his morning coffee and hot chocolate* he would give her a nod of thanks. When she gave Natasha her black tea, Anora received a ghost of a smile in return. When Bruce got his herbal tea, he would mumble thanks with a thin, tired smile. Tony would moan happily when he got his coffee and looked like he might kiss her if he had less self-control or was more awake.

One morning near the end of her two week stay in the tower she woke up later than she normally did, and when she walked out into the common floor's kitchen, she found a plate with bacon and pancakes sitting at the place she normally sat at with a chi tea made exactly how she liked it, waiting for her. She stopped and looked at the others, all of whom were sitting eating their breakfast as though nothing was out of the ordinary.

"So…" she said walking over to her breakfast.

"We had a team meeting." Natasha said. The others nodded.

"And…?" Nora was understandably nervous.

"You're staying." A smile spread across the young woman's face as she sat down and started eating her breakfast.

"Thank you."

* my one friend puts hot chocolate mix into a cup then adds coffee instead of water or milk, I kind of figured it's odd but might fit Clint.