Okay ya'll! This is the last chapter. It's a long one, and I hope you like the way I've wrapped things up. The sequel I've decided is going to be called Ever Present Past. I think it's fitting because when we come in it'll be chapters of Bruce and Minnie's lives outside of the Avengers, but there will always be their past lurking in the shadows. Well, it's been fun, and I want to say thank you to everyone who had written me both, reviewing and private messaging, I couldn't have done all of this without you! Please keep an eye out for Ever Present Past.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers, SHIELD or anything you recognize. I own Minnie, her crazy friends and family and her crazy life.


After we were married I went over to Tony who was standing there with his arms crossed.

"You ever think it would come to this?" I asked and he shrugged.

"I don't know, I should be pissed at Bruce." he said and I raised an eyebrow. "I've got to interview new assistants. I hate interviewing people." he said and I laughed.

"Don't blame Bruce for that one, blame Hydra."

"So when we catch the bastards, you'll come back right?" he asked and I nodded.

"In a heartbeat." I said.

"Good, we'll get right on that." he said. I smiled lightly before I hugged him. "Oh come on, I know I'm hard to resist, but you're married now. You'll have to control yourself somehow." he said and I hit his arm. "I'll miss you too kiddo." he said softly in my ear.

"See you in a few weeks?" I asked and he nodded.

"Of course." he said softly.

"Minnie," Thor walked over and I smiled at him. "Your union was one of legends." he said.

"Thank you Thor." I said with a smile.

"I vow to bring those that tried to harm your child to justice so you might return to your home and family. I know the price one pays to be exiled."

"I'm going under the radar Thor, I'm not exiled." I explained.

"Minnie," I turned and smiled at Steve Rogers.

"Excuse me guys." I said to Thor and Tony as I walked over to Steve.

"I'm sorry it's coming to this." he said softly.

"It's just something we'll have to overcome." I said softly. "I'm just sorry I won't be able to write you." I said and he nodded.

"Bruce is a good man." he said as we looked at Bruce who was trying to calm down Dallas who was clinging to him and sobbing. Bruce looked at me and I smiled.

"I should go save him." I said and then turned back to him. "I'll miss you Steve." I said as I hugged him. He hugged be back and I placed a small kiss on his cheek. "Just take things slowly. It'll come to you." I said softly and he nodded before I walked over to Bruce. "Dallas, calm down. We'll only be gone for a few weeks at the most." I shrugged. "Just think about it like our honeymoon."

"Okay." he sniffled. I went over to Natasha and smiled at her.

"Minnie, I'm sorry I let you get caught."

"Neither of us knew what was going to happen." I said to her. "It's not your fault Nat." I said softly and she smiled lightly. "I wish I could have gotten to know you better while you were here."

"So do I." she said.

"When we get back, we'll have to work on that huh?" I asked and she smiled.

"You bet." she said and I hugged her before I spoke to Clint. He said basically the same as Natasha and promised to catch the bastards before I caught sight of Nick Fury. I walked over to him and he looked down at me.

"I hate to break up your big moment," he said and I nodded. "But we're ready to brief you."

"Can I say goodbye?" I asked and he nodded. I quickly said goodbye to everyone, Tony and Dallas were the hardest to leave, Tony shoved a manila envelope into my hands and made me promise not to read it until they took me wherever they took me, and Dallas clung to me and sobbed for a good minute before Steve walked over and took one for the team and let Dallas sob into his shirt.

"These are your new passports, birth certificates, ID's." Nick said as he handed them to be and Bruce. "We're setting you up in a SHIELD safe house in Maine." he said and I looked at the ID.

"Emily Roberts," I said as I ran my thumb over my picture.

"Bruce Roberts." Bruce muttered.

"Why do you get to keep your first name?" I asked jokingly.

"Bruce is a common name, Simone, not so much." Phil said and I nodded. "We've got a SHIELD doctor who will do your checkups and be there when you deliver, we will meet with you every few weeks to go over the progress on everything, and to make sure you're adjusting alright."

"What's the back story?" I asked and Phil looked at Fury who nodded.

"As we speak the NYPD is finding your bodies in your burning apartment. A gas line broke and when you turned on your hairdryer, it shorted, sparked and the entire place went up in flames." he said and I nodded as I turned my eyes downcast. Bruce took my hand and I smiled at him.

"There's a car waiting downstairs that'll take you to the airport, you'll fly to Maine, and you'll be driven to Nadine, Maine." Fury said.

"You have five minutes to go change." Coulson said. "And then you'll go."

Bruce squeezed my hand lightly as we were led to the room to change. "Have you ever heard of Nadine?" I asked.

"No," he said softly. "You okay?"

"I'm just saying good bye to everyone and everything I've ever known." I said softly and he wrapped an arm around me.

"It's not easy," he said softly. "But it gets easier, and I'll be right there with you." I kissed him lightly and we both changed. When we finished changing we went back out to where Phil was waiting for us. He handed us a small bag to put our clothes into.

"Are you ready?" Phil asked.

"No." I said and sighed. "But it's time." Phil nodded and led us downstairs, before I stopped in front of Director Fury. I hugged him quickly and he tensed up before he lightly put his arm around me. "Thank you for everything Director Fury." I said.

"You don't need to thank us." he said. "It's what we do." I pulled away from him and smiled. He gave me a small smile and I took Bruce's hand and followed Phil downstairs.

"This is where I leave you." Phil said as we got to the car.

"Phil, thank you." Bruce said as he shook Phil's hand.

"Dr. Banner, I look forward to working with you in the future." Phil said, and then looked at me as Bruce slid into the car. "Minnie, it's been interesting knowing you. I don't think anyone can handle Tony Stark quite like you can."

"Well, I feel bad for the next girl is all." I shrugged with a small smile.

"Lord knows it'll be impossible to get him on the phone again." he sighed and I laughed.

"Well, you take care Phil. I hope your cellist knows how lucky she is." Phil made a face and I raised my eyebrows. "No cellist?"

"No, uh, there is a barista though. She's a painter too."

"Well, go for it." I said and he laughed.

"We'll be in touch Minnie." he said and I nodded before I shook his hand and got into the car.

The drive to the airport was fast, the ride to Maine was even faster, and the ride from the airport to Nadine went by in a flash.

Nadine, Maine was a small town. It was like any sort of nameless small town you see in movies and TV shows, where everyone knows everyone, and no one takes too kindly to strangers. We got to the house and I chuckled lightly seeing a moving van with movers bringing stuff into the house.

"Jesus H. Christ." I muttered as we got out of the car. Bruce looked at me and I crossed my arms. "Fury put us up in the suburbs. I swear to god, this is revenge for that time I locked him in Tony's kitchen, when I didn't want him to go wandering off and looking for you, do you remember that?" I asked and he nodded.

"I remember that." he said. "Why didn't you want him to go looking for me?" he asked as the driver left. "You didn't know about the other guy yet. You just didn't want Fury to go looking for me?"

"Mm... No, I don't know." I shrugged. "I think I just knew that you didn't need to be dragged back into all that SHIELD nonsense right away. Like, you needed some time to relax, and get settled a little before they started harassing you. Tony always needed a few days before he was back to his definition of normal." I shrugged and he smiled before he pulled me close and kissed me.

"Hey, Mrs. Roberts," one of the movers called and I looked over.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"You want us to help put the furniture together, like the master bed and everything?" he asked. BRBRBR "That would be great." I nodded. "Thank you."

"Hi there!" I heard someone call and I looked over as a slim black haired woman with high cheekbones walked over. "I'm Erin Stone, you bust be the Roberts." she said as she walked over to us.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you." I said putting on my best publicity smile; I had learned it when working for Tony. "I'm Emily, this is my husband Bruce."

"Hi." she smiled to him. "Honey, come say hi!" she said and a man with sandy blonde hair and a round face walked over. "This is my husband Aaron. I know, Erin and Aaron, at least you won't forget our names." she said and I chuckled lightly.

"Nice to meet you." Aaron said as he shook Bruce's hand.

"You too." Bruce nodded.

"Gosh, we're so happy someone moved in here, that house has been sitting there for months, it's like no one even tried to sell it." Erin sighed as she put her hands on her hips.

"Uh, scuze me, Mrs. Roberts!" one of the movers called and I looked over.

"Coming!" I called. "I'm sorry; I'd better go help out."

"Oh, no, of course!" she said. "I'm sure we'll see more of each other real soon!" she said. "Nice to meet you."

"You too." I said and Bruce and I walked over to the mover.

"Agent Coulson requested you don't get too close with anyone until you've had time to read your packets." he said and handed us both a folder. I laughed lightly and Bruce shook his head.

"Thank you." I sighed to the mover who nodded, and then started shouting orders to people again.

"Well, let's go check it out." he said. We walked to the front door and he surprised me by sweeping me into his arms. I yelped as I grabbed his shoulders and held on, he let me down and kissed me lightly and I smiled through the kiss. "Welcome home, Mrs. Banner." he said softly.

"According to the government, it's Mrs. Roberts." I said and he scoffed.

"I prefer Mrs. Banner." he whispered and I smiled as I leaned in and pressed my lips to his.

"Me Too." I said gently.

That night after the movers had left and I had ordered a pizza from the only pizza delivery place in town, Bruce was looking over his packet, when I remembered the envelope Tony had given me. I found it and opened it, finding an external hard drive. A post it note was stuck to it with instructions. I frowned and found the security system in the house, and popped off the faceplate before I found a small jack I would be able to attack a cable to. I plugged the external hard drive into my computer and ran a line from my computer to the security system. About an hour later I was reading through my file when a voice I recognized filled the house.

"Good evening Mrs. Banner, is there anything I could do to assist you?"

"Jarvis?" I asked in shock.

"Mr. Stark recognizes he wasn't able to get you a real wedding gift in such short time and he knew that once SHIELD had you in their hands contact would be next to impossible, so he trusted you to do the right thing." he said. "Keep in mind, I'm paraphrasing."

"With Tony it's usually best." I said with a small laugh.

"There is a message from him I've been ordered to replay." he said.

"Minnie, Bruce," Tony's voice filled the room. "I know it'll be awhile before I see either of you again, I'm not going to bullshit you, SHIELD has no idea where to look for those Hydra bastards and neither do we. However, if you can get the house running on a centralized computer, which Jarvis will walk you through doing, it's possible for us to keep in touch. Jarvis is now running on your laptop Minnie, because you have a new SHIELD hard drive, it will be hard for us to keep in touch, but with Jarvis, it'll be under the radar. Congratulations, and Bruce, don't worry. Everything will be fine. Remember, it's fifty percent her DNA too, so, you've got that going for you, though you had better pray for a boy because the last thing we need is a mini Minnie." he said and I chuckled softly.

"Smart ass." I muttered.

"I know I'm a smart ass," Tony said and I looked at Bruce who smiled. "But what would you do without me? For the meantime, leave your computer plugged into the wall until you can figure out the centralized computer." he ordered. "And take care. Oh, and Minnie? When I see you, I'm going to kill you for making me interview these new applicants, I think everyone in Stark Industries is applying." he sighed and I laughed.

"Oh please, Pepper's doing all the interviews."

"If Pepper has to interview one more person, it's going to drive her nuts!" he continued and I laughed again as Bruce wrapped his arm around me. "So, until next time, take care you too. And Bruce, try not to turn into a green rage machine. I'm assuming it's the suburbs. Knowing Fury, he's probably getting revenge for Minnie locking him in the kitchen." I laughed. "And don't forget, name it after me." he was grinning, I could hear it in his voice, then the recording ended.

"So, Mrs. Banner, what alias will you be using here?"

"Emily Roberts."

"And Mr. Banner?"

"Oh, he's lucky; he got to keep his last name." I said as I looked at my laptop. "Bruce Roberts."

"Very good. I do hope you're pleased with Mr. Stark."

"Of course I'm pleased Jarvis," I said with a small laugh. "I don't know how I would have survived without you." I felt Bruce lightly kiss my neck and I breathed in sharply.

"Mrs. Roberts, you're too kind." Jarvis said and I laughed.

"Jarvis, when no one is around, you can call me Mrs. Banner." I said.

"Oh, thank you." he said sounding relieved.

"Jarvis, I'm going to shut you down for the night. We'll look into getting that computer system run through the house as soon as possible." I said.

"Very well. Good night Mr. and Mrs. Banner."

"Good night Jarvis." we both said before I stood up, and Bruce and I went to the bedroom.

days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. In that time we rewired the house, putting in the central computer the way Jarvis instructed, and soon he was over the entire house, just like at Tony's. We painted, and made a room for the baby, though Bruce banned me from the room when the paint was wet, saying the fumes weren't good for the baby. Bruce started work as a chemistry teacher at the High school when the winter break was over, and I was a stay at home wife for the time being, though I didn't expect that to last long.

One day in mid August as Bruce and I were washing the cars my water broke. I was rushed to the hospital and with my SHIELD doctor I gave birth to a six pound, seven ounce, seventeen inch long baby girl. We named her Makayla Antonia Banner (According to her SHIELD issued birth certificate it was Makayla Antonia Roberts, but we knew the truth). I remember the doctor putting her into my arms, my sweat covered face made my hair stick to it, they got me cleaned up, and then let Bruce into the room. I was cooing at the small, pink baby when the door opened. He stood in the doorway for a moment, and I smiled at him, before adjusting the little baby.

"See Kayla?" I asked softly. "That's your Daddy." I looked at Bruce who took a small step closer. "Come see her Daddy." I said softly. He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed and I gently placed her into his arms.

"She-" his voice cracked. "She's so small." he said and I smiled as I looked at him holding her. He looked terrified which made me smile. I leaned forward and lightly kissed his hand. He looked at me and smiled making me do the same. He pushed the hair from my face and cupped my face before he kissed me longly.

"Take that Hydra." I said as I lightly tapped Makayla's nose with the tip of my finger. Bruce laughed and handed her back to me. He wrapped his arm around me and I looked up at him. "You ever wanted a family Bruce?" I asked and he looked down at me.

"I wanted one the minute I saw you." he said softly and I smiled, and then looked down at Makayla.

"Your Daddy is cheesy," I said down to her making him laugh next to me. "But he's romantic. I think we'll keep him." I looked at him and he kissed the top of my head before he lightly ran his finger over Makayla's hand.

"You know Jarvis is going to lose his programming." he said and I laughed. "You weren't due for another week, and he's got everything planned out."

"Sometimes I wonder about that program." I sighed and he looked at me.

"Well he was programmed by Tony Stark." he said and I laughed.

"Do you think she'll ever get to meet them?" I asked and he nodded.

"Of course." he said softly. "Hydra can't hide forever. And when they come out, the Avengers will be there." he said.


Nick Fury was standing in front of a row of screen showing the faces of the US Summit. "What is your stand on finding the members of Hydra?"

"So far, we've been unable to locate them, however we believe the leader of Hydra is a young woman calling herself Madame Hydra. Not much is known about her, but we believe an agent of ours has a past with her, we've sent her undercover to find out what she can, and hopefully get close enough to figure out where they are." he explained.

"They're after the Hulk, is using him as bait not working?"

"Dr. Banner is not currently working with us at this time." Fury said after a moment. "Seeing as it was his family who were threatened, and almost killed last time we felt it would be best to give him a leave of absence for awhile."

"Well when will he be back?" a woman asked and Fury looked at a monitor that showed a video of a young girl of around one and a half or two with bright red curly hair and dark brown eyes running around in a yard. Minnie and Bruce were running around with her, the small girl laughed as she fell on her butt and Bruce scooped her up into his arms as a small dog barked and jumped around with them.

"Director Fury? When will the Hulk be ready to fight again?"

"I'd say in about eighteen years." Fury said before he hit a switch, disconnecting the call with the Summit. He looked back at the screen, Minnie stood on her tip toes and kissed Bruce's chin making him smile and cup her face, kissing her deeply as little Makayla ran at the dog who barked happily and jumped around.

He smiled lightly before he walked over and turned the monitor off, then walked out of the darkened room. They were happy, and he wasn't going to interrupt their lives right now with nothing to say except that there was nothing to say.

Hydra would be found, and in the meantime, there was the matter of a certain millionaire and his usual shenanigans he had to attend to. After all, a SHIELD agent's work was never done.