AN: LAST CHAPTER! AHH! Well... thanks to all who've read and reviewed. I'm so glad you like my story. I am planning on writing a sequel and I have a lot of ideas, but I don't know when I'll start it... so stay tuned! As always, I hope you enjoy.

I own nothing.

Chapter Fifteen:

The next few days were a whirl of activity. The team had apprehended Loki and returned him to SHIELD's custody. Each member of the team sat before Fury, debriefing him on the battle. The portal was disassembled and the Tesseract locked in a secure container. There were several meetings, discussing what should be done with Loki and the Tesseract. The team hardly had time to rest after the battle. Cuts and bruises still covered everyone's bodies.

Waverly, though, was glad for the chaos that followed the equally insane battle. It gave her something to do instead of think about what had happened the last few days. Every night, she was so exhausted after meetings with Fury, guarding Loki, and dealing with the Council, the second her head touched the pillow in her room on the helicarrier, she was out. No nightmares disturbed her sleep. But, Waverly knew once things calmed down, the terrible reality of what she had been though would hit her. Yes, she had survived and yes they had won, but Waverly knew she'd have nightmares about Loki and the aliens for quite some time. There was one thing about all the activity that Waverly didn't like. It hardly gave her any time to talk to Steve.

Finally, three days since the battle in New York, a decision had been made. Fury agreed to allow Thor to take Loki back to Asgard. The god of thunder assured them that Loki would be carefully guarded over and couldn't threaten Earth again. Thor insisted on taking the Tesseract as well. It took a while to convince Fury, but the team, all agreeing that was the best decision, eventually got him to agree as well. Surprisingly, the meeting ended with Fury granting them all a leave of absence for a while. No one argued. Not even Clint and Natasha who were both always so involved with their work. Everyone needed a break.

But first, they had to send Loki off.

The team was dressed in normal clothes, as to not attract attention, except of course for Thor. That drew some looks. And then, when billionaire Tony Stark is in your group, that draws some looks as well. But no one approached them, whether out of fear or awe, the team didn't know. They assembled in Central Park. Loki was restrained and Thor had the Tesseract secured in its capsule.

"My friends, I bid you farewell." Thor said. "Do not hesitate to call on me if your planet is ever in any danger."

"Will do, big guy," Tony said, patting Thor on the arm.

The rest of the team bid farewell to Thor. Then, the god offered the capsule to Loki's cuffed hand. The imprisoned god glared but grabbed the other end of the capsule. With a twist, Thor activated the Tesseract's power. A blue light engulfed the Asgardians and in a flash, they were gone.

"Glad that's over," Clint said, staring with contempt at the place Loki had just been standing.

"Nothing left now," Natasha said.

"Well, I don't know about you all, but I have a tower to rebuild." Stark waved around the circle of superheroes, then strode over to his fancy Italian sports car that was parked nearby. "Doctor, care to join me?"

Dr. Banner looked nervously around. It was obvious he had the Hulk under control, but the doctor had been removed from society so long, he was nervous about rejoining the world. But, he eventually nodded. Natasha pulled the doctor's bag from Clint's Camero and handed it to the doctor.

"Thanks for everything, Bruce."

Banner nodded. "You too."

While Banner got into the car with Stark, Clint turned to Waverly. "Are you sure you'll be okay, after all this?"

Waverly nodded, but she ran forward and threw herself against Clint's chest, giving him a hug. Now that their job was over, she could finally be relieved that Clint was alive and out of Loki's control for good. Clint hugged her back.

"We still have things to talk about," he said.

"I know. But not now. Now, I just need you to be my brother." Waverly responded. She pulled away and smiled up at Clint. "Okay?"

"Got it. You take care of yourself." Clint looked over Waverly's shoulder where Steve was standing, waiting for Waverly to finish with him. "Remember," Clint was addressing his sister, but he looked at Steve. "I've got my eyes on everything." His tone was serious, but his lips titled up ever so slightly.

Waverly rolled her eyes playfully. "Whatever. How 'bout you do something useful with your time off. Take Natasha out on a date."

Natasha looked over, confused. Clint blushed. "Right, yeah, whatever. Steve's waiting for you. Go on."

Waverly laughed and said good bye to her brother and Natasha before walking over to Steve. "Ready?" She asked.

Steve nodded. "Let's go." Steve swung himself onto the motorcycle nearby. Waverly climbed up after him, wrapping her arms around his waist and holding tight. With a rev of the engine, Steve and Waverly were off, back to their apartment.


Steve parked the bike in the apartment building's attached garage then followed Waverly to the elevator that would take them to the building's top floor. Finally, they were going back home. It was weird. Before all this, Steve had never referred to his apartment as 'home.' His home was back in the past, a place he could never go to again. But after all that had happened, the bond he had formed with Waverly and the feelings between them, for the first time in a long time, Steve felt like maybe he could be a part of this new world. Maybe the soldier could belong here.

The pair had reached their apartment. Thankfully, this building was on the other side of the city, so the battle with the Chituari had left it unscathed. Waverly opened the door and led the way inside. The place was just like they had left it. Waverly sighed with enormous relief and flung herself on the couch. Meanwhile, Steve shut the door and placed his leather jacket in the closet.

"For the first time, I'm glad to be here," Steve said.

Waverly sat up on the couch. "And why is that?"

"The battle's over. We won." Steve crossed the room and sat down beside her. He looked at Waverly. "And you."

Waverly blushed. "What about me?"

Now Steve was blushing. "Really? You're going to make me say it. You know I'm not good at talking to women."

"You were fine when you kissed me." Waverly teased.

"Yeah, well I didn't think I'd survive the battle." Steve responded.

Waverly rolled her eyes and punched Steve playfully in the arm. "You know, technically, you're still my assignment. Fury doesn't want me to be in a relationship with you."

"Well then, I guess we just can't let him find out."