Hello everyone! So I managed to land myself in the ER. I gave myself a concussion so that's why this was delayed. Sorry but at the same time not really sorry…? That's why this chapter is short. I'll probably come back and edit this a lot more because I can't think straight and I think I forgot something I was going to add. A+ spell check but I make no promises on the grammar.

Chapter 7: Is That Where I Was?

The team and Fury all turned to the door. Pepper stood there, eyes red and drying tear tracks already making her face. Her lip wobbled as she griped the handles of the wheel chair she was pushing.

"Agent Coulson," Fury said slowly, his tone holding underlying danger.

"Director," Coulson said dully.

The teams eyes trailed from the upset redhead to the dead man in the room. He was sitting in the wheelchair, slumped tiredly, or at least as much as the usually stoic man would show. He was dressed in a grey t-shirt and sweatpants. His face was drawn, obviously exhausted, and he kept shooting glances over the team and t.v. screen before they returned to stare at Fury.

"Phil…?" Clint asked quietly, out of his seat taking a hesitant step toward the man, hand reaching out slightly before it fell back to his side.

Phil turned his attention to Clint a smiled slightly. "Hello Clint." he said gently.

And with that Clint as at the man's side, hand on his shoulder like he was checking if he was real, looking between Phil and Pepper. Steve stared wide-eyed at the man, slumped in his own seat now while Thor was smiling broadly and he clapped his large hands together exclaiming about victory and feasts. Bruce was smiling as well as he looked over him from his seat. He seemed well enough, mostly in need of rest and fluids but he wasn't 100% sure of the mans condition. All he had been told was that Loki stabbed him and he had died from his wounds. He had been very upset when Tony told him about that after the battle and when the fighting was over and they sat at the shwarma joint table with food, that fact seemed to settle over them.

"What are you doing out of medical Agent?" Fury asked cooly.

"Oh is that where I was?" Coulson asked giing the director an innocent look. "I was under the impression I wasn't. Seeing as I was in a secluded room at the opposite end of the carrier."

Fury seemed to radiate more anger. "What. Are. You. Doing. Here."

Coulson looked wholly unimpressed. "You ruined my cards." he deadpanned before looking at Clint. "And it seemed you didn't tell the team the whole truth."

"What are you watching?" Pepper interrupted, voice a bit hoarse as she looked around at them, but gaining back the… commanding air they had gleamed from the movie.

Fury looked up at her, a blank look on his face. "Your husbands more recent history," he deadpanned. "His computer seems to think it is a good idea."

Pepper shot his an unimpressed look. "His computer also thought it was a good idea for me to take the route I did through your flying fortress. Imagine my surprise when I came across Phil rolling himself down the hallways."

"How was it you got here Ms. Potts? And how exactly did you get out of bed and in the hallways agent?" Fury demanded, turning back to Coulson.

Coulson just gave a smile and twirled a sleek black taser gun in his hands while Pepper held up the shiny red and silver suitcase she had been holding.

Clint snorted which earned him a glare from Fury.

"Now," Pepper said, voice stronger, holding a 'I-will-put-up-with-none-of-your-shit' tone. "Why exactly are you watching? And where did it come from?"

"I have no idea where they came from," Fury said exasperated. "And I told you why. Stark's goddamned computer is making us."

"Making you?" Pepper sounded a bit amused.

"If I may," Bruce cut in, completly ignoring the glare Fury leveled him with and the looks ranging from impressed to shock his teammates shot at him. "Yeah, Jarvis thinks its a great idea I'm sure. But that's because some feel that he is a loose cannon. He's... like an unknown variable in their equation and they can't figure it out."

"Well said sir." Jarvis piped in.

The room was silent for a moment before Phil shifted and looked around at all of them.

"I assume you aren't to far into the… film yet. Perhaps not even far enough in that we require a lengthy summary of events so far." Phil said evenly, glancing at the screen. "We are supposed to be learning about him so what have we learned so far?"

"Stark was with a military convoy when he was kidnapped after a weapons presentation." Natasha began cooly. "He was.."

"No," Coulson said, raising his hand to stop her. She pulled back looking as shocked as she would allow anyone to see. "We are meant to be learning about the man. At the moment I don't care about the events, I can get those details later. What have you learned?"

"Bruce is protective." Clint chirped suddenly from Phil's side. "Of Tony I mean."

Everyone stared at him silently for a moment.

"No matter how much he looks, he hasn't made a move on any of the women in the movie." Steve conceded.

"He isn't great at keeping promises." Natasha said. "Even to his best friend."

"He has great love for his lady." Thor said, sending a smile toward Pepper.

"Bruce?" Phil said, looking toward the scientist, knowing full well he would never get Fury to open his mouth about any of this.

"The soldier… Jimmy, he held up a peace sign in the picture he wanted Tony to take with him. Tony Stark isn't a hard man to follow on the news, even while on the run. At no point before that boy's death had Tony raised a peace sign for the press. After, it's pretty hard to come by a photo he knows is being taken without it." Bruce said, looking over to Pepper and Phil. He decided to show off a bit, because the others, or really Natasha, Steve, Fury, and well… most of SHIELD, really needed a wake up call. They were spies. They hid and lied and deceived for a living but are being run circles around by a civilian. "He's a bit awkward in social situations with people he isn't comfortable with. He really means to keep his promises, but Pepper will always come first."

That was simply a small bullet point list in his head. He had an unfair advantage over the team which was his young friendship with the man, but he knew there would be a point he would start learning more about the man.

"Told you." Clint said in a sing-songy voice.

"It's a decent start," Phil said with a small smile. "Shall we proceed?"

He motioned Pepper to take on the the chair, which she opted for one near Bruce, before he wheeled himself over closer to the group as well.