Cara walked down the hall of SHIELD with a neutral expression that gave away nothing. She was about to deliver the news of her pregnancy to Fury himself so of course she wasn't going to let anyone see her not quite panic underneath her cold exterior. Though she didn't have to pretend to be annoyed much when she saw the stares she was receiving from some of the underlings.

You get compromised just once and this happens.

She was sorry for what she did, she really was, but they could act professional about it and stop looking at her like she had done what she'd done willingly. She immediately pushed that line of thought far away as she still didn't want to even think about it, no matter how cathartic or 'healthy' it was, she still didn't want to talk about 'it.'

Vainly, Cara hoped she could just keep on pretending like what happened didn't affect her; she was good at pretending after all. Though she would have to properly thank 'Tasha for that whack to the head…

The blonde came out of her reverie when she found herself in front of Fury's office. She took a steady breath before knocking on the door.

"What is it?" Fury called from inside.

"It's Agent Barton, sir; I have something to tell you." Cara replied.

"Put in your report then." Fury retorted.

Cara looked around and waited until the agents around her were out of earshot because what she was about to say could be taken the wrong way. "This isn't something I want in a report, sir."

There was a sigh from inside. "Get in here then, and make it quick."

"Yes, sir." Cara replied and walked into the room. She moved over to stand in front of the boss's desk and clasped her hands diligently behind her back to show she was still a professional; which was going to hopefully make what she said next easier to get out. "Recently," 'Not a total lie because I did find out 'recently,' and just didn't tell anyone,' "I have found out I am pregnant."

Fury stopped looking over the papers on his desk and then up at her. "Pregnant?" he repeated. "And when exactly were you going to report this?"

"I'm reporting it now, sir." Cara retorted dryly. "It was…a bit of a shock when I learned of it."

"Right, how long?" Fury questioned and Cara didn't need to think about this part.

"7 months, but I can start the maternity leave on my fourth…" she trailed off as she noticed how Fury's eye narrowed when she started speaking and she felt her face pale at what she'd just said. If only she didn't add that first bit she could have been home free.

"Agent Barton," he began coolly, "am I to understand you were pregnant during the Chitauri invasion or before?"

Cara felt her expression close off into a mask of indifference. She knew that either answer would screw her over because it meant she'd willing gone into a fight when she shouldn't have, and if she answered during the fight, there was only one place she was before that. "During." She said and her voice betrayed nothing.

Under the gaze of her boss, Cara tried not to sweat. "I see. Agent Barton, why don't you take a trip down to the medical wing?"

Cara knew what else was down there besides just the medics. "With all due respect sir, I don't need to see the shrink. I'm perfectly fine."

"Physically maybe; how about mentally?" Fury shot back.

Cara pursed her lips. "There is no reason why I can't still function for the next few months normally. I'm not a risk of any kind."

"If you won't see the psychiatrist then you're leave starts now." Fury said in a tone that left no room for argument.

Cara let out a frustrated sigh. What was she going to do for the next 7 months? Well, for the last stretch she wouldn't be doing much, but for now… "Very well, sir." She muttered and turned on her heel and walked out the door. She wasn't going to see that shrink, because there was nothing wrong with her. She didn't need too see one.

She didn't need to.


"How did it go?"

Cara glanced over at Natasha sitting languidly on the couch and flipping through the pregnancy book. "It went…as well as I expected it to go."

"So you're on maternity leave then?" The redhead asked and Cara nodded reluctantly. "Here, you could use this." She said reaching for something beside her and tossed it at the blonde, who caught it and her expression shifted to surprise as she saw what it was.

"Why'd you give me a baby monitor? I don't need one yet." Cara said, but she felt touched by the gesture.

"A baby monitor can be useful for other things than monitoring your child." Natasha said cryptically. "Oh, and I think I heard Stark talking about where he hid your bike, though I can be sure. He always seems to be the most talkative in his lab surprisingly." She said offhandedly.

Cara raised a brow, but put two and two together and felt any anxiousness slowly fade away. "Thanks 'Tasha."

The redhead raised a brow slowly. "For what?"

"Right." Cara replied and hurried off to find a vent for her to squeeze into. Before she found out about her pregnancy, she had taken it upon herself to know the layout of Stark Tower by the ventilation so in case of an emergency there would be a quick way to get out of it. Luckily for her she was still slim enough to fit into the vents and pulled herself along the one in the training room and used her shirt to keep from breathing in whatever dust was around.

The blonde heard voices that both sounded male and she was willing to bet that it was Banner and Stark. So Cara kept on crawling along the vent, intending to take a shower afterwards to clean herself up. She reached forward with the monitor and turned it up to its highest volume so she could hear Stark and maybe get the bike location out of him.

She wasn't stupid enough to keep using it, but she just wanted it back because it was hers and Stark had no right to take it in the first place after he made her think he destroyed it.

This was more like payback really.

After putting the monitor by the vent opening, she started crawling back the way she came. After taking the vent shaft that would lead her to her floor, she kicked the vent open and dropped down on her feet before making her way to her room. She kicked off her boots and went over to the bathroom to take a shower and get the dirt off her.


After washing herself off, Cara walked out of the bathroom with clean clothing on and walked over to the desk where her bow and arrows were and thought they could use a cleaning too. Pulling her wet hair back, Cara used the rubber band to tie it up and started working on cleaning her bow.

She hadn't even gotten halfway done when an alarm started blaring throughout the tower and JARVIS broadcasted that there was an incoming object from the sky. Cara felt training kick in as she grabbed her bow and arrows and made her way out of her room. She met up with Steve, but oddly enough he wasn't carrying his shield. "What's going on? Who's attacking?"

"No one's attacking." Steve replied and glanced warily at her weapons.

Cara furrowed her brow. "What do you mean no one's attacking? The alarm was blaring and-hey, what do you think you're doing?" she shouted as Steve grabbed a hold of her arm and began to pull her down the hall. "If you think you can just keep me out of the fight you got another thing coming!"

"It wouldn't be a good idea if he saw you just yet." Steve replied.

"Who?" Cara furrowed her brow before realization flashed in her eyes. "You mean that incoming object is-?"

"MY FRIENDS! I HAVE RETURNED!"

Cara paled.