Date: 7/22/2039
Location: Shelter 095, New York

It had been a week since Ethan woke up, eight days since my parents died, and 9 days since anything was remotely normal… well, my normal that is. In this last week we have been adjusting to living together 24/7… and I used to think living with my brother was bad. Today was probably the second worst day of my life, I had to haul Grace out of the "Girl's bathroom" (hair half done) so Jenna could get in and I had to get Bucky to stop annoying Brian, (just because the shelter can contain Titan, doesn't mean I want to go there.) Then, Jessie went on "adventures" to unknown parts of the shelter not once, but 3 times, all of which I had to stop what I was doing and help find her. After the third time, Sarah and I locked her in her room. As if that wasn't enough, Ethan was complaining how "boring" it was being stuck in bed, then Apollo and Grace decided that it was ok to kiss in the living room while there were people around, and to top it all off, Sam had a meltdown because Bucky wouldn't leave him alone, So I had to have Bucky watch TV while I calmed Sam down. Which no one else could do, because he wanted me.
Needless to say, if I wanted to get anything done, I had to do it at night, in my room, alone. I didn't mind though, it was nice to get away from everyone, even if they were only sleeping, some of them do snore. I was finally able to break into the S.H.I.E.L.D systems (with remote help from Fly) and get Reed Richard's (aka Mr. Fantastic's) cell phone number. I would have just called the Baxter building like normal, but there are many reasons not to do that, starting with it's only a block away from where Loki is currently "Ruling" the world (except for Switzerland and Lichtenstein, they're neutral), and ending with I'm supposedly dead. Besides, I have a bad history with receptionists anyway.
I dial the number, put on my headset and crossed my fingers that he'll pick up.
"Hello?"
"Mr. Richards?"
"Who is this?"
He sounded defensive, but then, I would too… "Promise you'll take me seriously."
"Ok…"
"This is Agent Artemis Barton with S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Clint and Natasha's daughter?" he didn't sound like he believed me.
"Yeah…"
"You're supposed to be dead."
"I know. But I'm not, and neither is the rest of my team."
"But, I heard that…"
"Well I can assure you Mr. Richards, I'm not dead."
There was a pause, "The Avengers…" he whispered, "you should know…"
"They're dead, I know. I was there when it happened; I'm the one who left to homing device by the bodies. I take it you found them?"
"Yes…"
"Did you…"
"We took care of them."
"Thank you. I would have done it myself, but I didn't have time, and I couldn't…."
"It's ok. Where are you guys?"
"Shelter 095."
"Ah." glad he knew what that was, he did help construct it. "And S.H.I.E.L.D? What happened to them?"
"They're in Asgard…"
"How?"
"It's a long story involving my best friend, a goat, Ms. Darcy's cell phone, Lady Sif, and the Biofrost."
"What… wait, why?"
"I'm protecting them."
"Oh…"
"So where are you guys? Do you know where Spiderman or the X-men are, or maybe The Winter Soldier?"
"He's not with you?"
"No"
"Hm, interesting, we haven't seen him around. The Fantastic 4 are still in New York, so is Spiderman, as for the others, I have no idea."
"But you're in hiding, right?"
"Of course!"
I sighed, "Good, just making sure."
As I was about to give Mr. Richards the contact information for S.H.I.E.L.D, I heard something pretty loud outside my door. I got up, headset still on, and opened my door.
"Ethan!" I gasped, he was leaning heavily against the wall.
"Hi Artie." He grinned at me, pain evident in his face.
"What the heck do you think you're doing?"
Mr. Richards' voice comes through my headset, "Excuse me?"
"Not you, sorry sir, Ethan's just… being a pain. I'm gonna have to put you on hold."
I threw the thing on my bed, and pulled his arm over my shoulder.
"What were you thinking?"
"That I wanted to say hi…" he was leaning on me now, and he was heavy.
"Yeah? And how's that workin for you?" I sit him down on my bed.
"Pretty good, until I almost fell."
I sat down next to him, "uh huh."
He looked down at his hands in his lap, "sorry."
I sighed, he looked upset, and I supposed that he had ulterior motives, "its fine."
He looked at me and smiled weakly.
"Is something wrong Ethan?"
He looked down again.
"Ethan? You know you can tell me right?"
"Yeah…" he whispered.
"Then?"
"I saw the video."
"What video?"
"Of the Avengers, when they…"
"How did you… I put a lock on that!"
"Artemis, your code is 322023, otherwise known as your birthday."
"Dang it!" I muttered, "I gotta change that."
He raised his eyebrows, "How long have you been saying that for?"
"Forever."
"No kidding." We laughed, then there was an awkward pause.
"Why?" I asked.
"Why what?"
"Why would you want to see that?"
"I …" he sighed, "I just… needed to know." Then he looked at me, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I did tell you how…."
"Not that!"
"Then what?"
"How close you were…" he whispered.
"I… I didn't think it mattered."
"Mattered! Artemis, you were right there! If you had ducked one millisecond later you'd be dead!"
I looked down, I had never thought about it that way.
"I almost lost you…" he whispered.
"Ethan," I spoke softly, slipping my hand into his, "You didn't, I'm right here."
"But…"
"Hey, I almost lost you too, remember."
"Yeah," he put a hand on his stomach, "unfortunately."
"But there's nothing to worry about." I smiled gently, "Because I'm here," Using my hand that wasn't holding his, I put his other hand on my chest, "and you're there." I rested my free hand on his chest, "And we" I squeezed his hand, "are gonna be all right."
He squeezed my hand back, and moved his hand from my chest to my cheek. We leaned in…
My door opened, and revealed…
My brother.
"Ethan James Stark! What are you doing with my sister?!"
Ethan and I screamed and I jumped up.
"Apollo! Get out of my room!"
"What were you thinking?"
"That I had privacy!"
"Well you don't!" I started to shove him out of my room.
"Obviously!"
"You can't just go kissing people like that!"
"I didn't kiss him! Besides, you kiss Gracie all the time!"
"That's different!"
"Is not!" I slam my door in his face and lock it.
"Is to!" his voice carries from the other side.
I sat back down next to Ethan and looked at my hands in my lap, "Sorry." I blushed.
"Its fine," He blushed too.
All of a sudden, his hand was on my cheek again, and our lips met.
It was amazing.
We broke apart, and looked at each other, then down, then back at each other, and then down again, both of us blushing the whole time.
"That was…" I whispered.
"Wow." he replied.
"Yeah…"
We both smiled.
And then I realized that I still had Mr. Richards on hold.
"I should get back to…"
"Yeah… I should probably go back to my room…"
He went to get up, and fell back down on my bed.
"Or not…"
"You could spend the night. Besides, my brother is probably out there ready to kill you."
"Sounds like a good idea."
He lied down on my bed, and I sat next to him, slipping my headset back on. We were both still blushing…
"Hi Mr. Richards, sorry I took so long…" I was grinning like an idiot.
Ethan curled up next to me, back against my leg. He was still smiling too.
I guess this day wasn't so bad.