Cara and Natasha walked into the lobby of the Tower, having left after Cara pulled herself together from her mild breakdown and before the technician could see her like that. She'd been given her sonogram picture, and had made one detour to the pharmacy for her prescription. Her stomach growled and she shrugged as she and Natasha split, the redhead continuing on to the training room, while Cara went to the kitchen. As she wasn't completely sure she could stomach something other than crackers for the moment, she took a handful from the box and made her way to her room.

The sound of rambunctious laughter caused her to freeze as she was about to make her way past the living room. Her fists clenched, and she felt the crackers crumble between her fingers. Her lips thinned as she walked into the living room, the only one absent being Banner. "When I said for you to leave, I didn't mean for you to come here."

Barney calmed down on his chuckles. "How come you didn't tell your teammates about me? I'm hurt, figuratively and almost literally." He said and gestured to Stark. "His security system almost fried my ass; I couldn't pull out my I.D. quick enough."

"Shame it didn't." Cara muttered.

"How you're appointment go? Can we take a look at the little terror?" Stark asked flippantly and Barney looked confused. Before Cara could say anything to keep him from blurting the truth, Stark did exactly that. "Didn't she tell you? Your little sis is going to be a mommy."

Barney furrowed his brow before sending a suspicious glance at Steve, who reddened and kept his eyes on the book in his hands. "You mean the Bugle was telling the truth?"

"No," Cara stressed, "it wasn't. He's not the father; the father isn't, and hopefully never will be, around. Now leave." She said pointing to the doorway.

"Hang on Barton, this is my Tower, and uh, other Barton can stay." Stark said and smirked. "Besides, he was just telling us about how you kept misfiring when you first started shooting."

"No, she's right." Barney said and Cara looked momentarily surprised. "If I don't report in soon, my superiors are going to think something's gone wrong." He said standing and made his way over to Cara. "I thought you hated men?" he whispered.

"I just hate a select few." Cara said quietly.

Barney looked rueful. "I'm on your blacklist I take it?"

"Right after Buck." Cara said darkly.

"I thought you liked him?" Barney asked confused.

Cara's lips pursed. "Just go." She muttered and Barney shrugged before he walked past her.

He paused and glanced back at her. "What happened to your hand?"

"Now you notice." Cara muttered. "It was accident, I'll be fine." She said and Barney kept his gaze on her for a moment longer before he kept on walking out of the room. She narrowed her eyes at Barney's back, and turned on her heel in the other direction towards her room.

"Hey, wait a sec; don't we get to see the sonogram?" Stark questioned.

Cara paused and sighed and pulled out the photo reluctantly before holding out, to which Stark moved forward and swiped it from her hand. "Am I excused, or should I ask what you were thinking when you let that man in here?"

Stark didn't take his eyes off the photo as he furrowed his brow. "His I.D. was legit, and your file said you did have a brother."

"You hacked my files?" Cara asked, but didn't know why she bothered to ask when she already knew the answer. "Never mind." She muttered.

"I for one am surprised you didn't punch him in the face, you looked angry enough to do it." Stark said offhandedly.

Cara flushed briefly as she controlled her temper at the reminder of her self-control slipping. She was still worried about what Steve the leader had in mind for a disciplinary action. "I didn't want my other hand to be busted up too." She answered flippantly and snatched the photo back before she walked out of the room.

The blonde thought of why Barney would be here, was he up to something? Their relationship had been strained in the beginning and had only gotten worse at the circus, but she thought what killed it was when he left her. He'd said he would have taken her away, but she'd been distrustful of him ever since he'd said she deserved it for when she busted her old instructor for stealing money from the circus and he'd beaten the crap out of her.

It was one of the many incidents that caused her distrust of men as a whole.

Cara grimaced, her time at the circus had not been a time she'd like to think about, but now that Barney was back, she had a lot to think about. She wasn't willing to believe he truly just wanted to see her, but a part of her, that one part that had looked up to him before he abandoned her came up. Maybe it was the hormones, or maybe it was her, but she was considering giving him a chance to reconnect.

She'd vigorously scorn him until that moment though, because all those years of resentment weren't going to go away overnight. She hadn't given him much thought in her new life, and he probably hadn't either, so this would be new territory for the both of them, despite how he seemed to think otherwise.

When Cara got back to her room, she went over to a dresser to grab a change of clothes as she planned on going down to the gym for a work out. She glanced down at her cast again as she reached for the clothing and closed the drawer, but she didn't let it get her down that she would still be unable to use her bow. She stopped at her nightstand, but there was nothing being picked up on the baby monitor. Cara changed out of her clothing and into the loose gym clothes before she headed down to the kitchen for another water bottle and then toward the gym, thinking she should start on some yoga practice later in her room.

Cara walked into the gym and took a sip of water and set down on the bench before she began her laps around the gym, her pace leisurely slow. The blonde felt herself relax even as she felt her muscles begin to feel the burn. Cara ran a few laps before she slowed down at the bench and drank from the bottle, but a glint outside the window in the ceiling caught her eye. She turned around to face it, her training kicking in as she narrowed her eyes as she tried to make out what the thing on the other roof was, but her eyes widened and she quickly got out of the way as an arrow crashed through the window and was got in the wall where her head had previously been.

The alarms blared and Cara was forced to continue dodging the arrows that kept coming through the windows along the gym as she made her way to the exit. She didn't want to run, even though she knew where the shooter was at, she wouldn't be able to fire back with her busted up hand. She gritted her teeth as she stopped in tracks and reeled back as another arrow came dangerously close to hitting her inches from her face as she tried to make a run for the exit. "Really, all that high tech security and Stark didn't even account for his windows?" she muttered as the doors were blasted off its hinges and Stark came soaring in his Iron Man armour. "Overkill much?" she snarked.

Stark didn't reply as he hauled her off her feet as another arrow came in, but instead of bouncing off, the tip of the arrow gave way to a net and it covered the both of them. "Barton, why does this nut have your arrows?"

"These aren't mine, they're-" Cara cut herself off from trying to tear the net off her as the answer came to her. "Trickshot!" she snarled.

"Trick who?" Stark questioned as he raised one of his repulsors to blast the net away, but another arrow jammed into the blaster and it let out an electrical burst, to which Cara shied away from as she didn't want to get shocked.

"Never mind that, we have to get out of here, the next one could be an explosive." Cara said as Stark ripped the arrow out of his repulsor, but another arrow came whizzing past her head and got stuck in the wall, letting out a gas that had her coughing as she tried not to inhale.

"Hold your breath!" Stark shouted.

Cara glared at him; what he think she was doing? She held a hand over her nose as the others came rushing into the room, looking ready for a fight. She pointed to the windows and Natasha took a several shots at the glinting in the distance where the other archer was at. Steve came over to them and pulled the net off, letting Stark get to his feet and Cara get to hers.

"The shooter's gone." Natasha reported. "But I suggest we leave the room."

"How can you tell their gone?" Steve asked.

"There are no more arrows being fired." Natasha retorted.

"Well I hope one of your shots got him." Cara growled and coughed into her hand.

"Right, she inhaled something, time to get you to Banner." Stark said and Cara waved it away.

"I'm fine, the gas wasn't lethal." She said, but felt the effects start to kick in and she staggered before her legs gave out.

"Nothing's wrong, huh?" Steve questioned as he caught a hold of Cara and picked her up. "This doesn't seem like it's nothing."

"This is just how the gas works." Cara said indignantly, but as she wouldn't be able to move on her own for a while, she was willing to bury her pride at this moment. "Trickshot would use it on people before we robbed them."

"You were a criminal?" Steve asked surprised.

"Really, that's all you can say?" Cara asked and raised a brow. "It's no big deal, water under the bridge."

"Except now that he's trying to kill you." Natasha said grimly. "This gas could have detrimental effects on your child; you really should let Banner give you a blood test."

Cara pursed her lips, and nodded her head weakly, but thanks to the muscle relaxant, her head rested on Steve's shoulder. "Just so you know, this is the gas." She muttered. "I'd never do this of my own free will."

"I'm sure there are a couple things you'd never do of your own free will." Stark retorted and both Steve and Natasha sent him a warning look while Thor merely looked confused at their hostility, but then it clicked.

"When exactly did you become pregnant?" he questioned.

Cara was silent for an awkward and tense moment. "Steve, I'd like to see Banner now." she said abruptly and Steve carried out of the room.

"He's going to figure it out soon." Steve said idly.

Cara stared up at him as best as she could, given the situation. "I don't doubt that, but I will wait until that moment comes." She said and they got down to the lab, where Banner looked at them, and seemed to be trying to remain calm.

"Was anyone else hurt?" he asked in a strained tone.

"No, and I am not hurt." Cara said insistently.

"She says she was hit with a gas that causes this, but could you test her blood?" Steve asked. "We don't need to find out too late if there might be something wrong."

Banner blinked and took a calming breath. "Sure, just set her down there." He said and pointed at one of the chairs with arm rests.

"What, no telling me to leave?" Steven questioned in amusement as Cara's head leaned against the back of the chair.

"You can just set me down in front of the television; I'm going to be hungry when this wears off." Cara replied.

"How do you know this?" Steve questioned perplexed, but then he seemed to get it. "You got hit with the gas before, didn't you?"

"Yeah, Trickshot cursed me out for being an idiot and said he'd leave me on the job if I ever got caught in the line of fire again." Cara explained sourly. She didn't exactly like talking about her past, but given the circumstances, she was able to reason an explanation was warranted.

"Any reason this guy is after you now?" Steve asked, but then he paused. "Or rather, the only attempt I know of?"

"It's been a while since I've seen him." Cara replied curtly. "We didn't exactly part under the best of terms."

"That seems to be a pattern." Steve said quietly and Cara narrowed her eyes.

"Yes, I've noticed that too." She said and saw Banner walk over with a needle and vial, but stopped when the building seemed to shake. "Better do that test quick, doc, I've got a lot of explaining to do after this."