"Bruce? Tony?"
The two scientists didn't look up from their positions, hunched over a table. They were in full lab dress -down to lab coats with safety goggles and gloves. Usually, the billionaire wasn't into the whole safety thing, but Bruce had insisted. Clint was sitting on a high ledge next to the window that Tony had built as a joke. He had named it the 'bird ledge' but the archer seemed to like it anyways.
"Hey! Scientist guys!" Natasha was quickly becoming impatient, so she raised her voice.
That caught everyone's attention. You did not ignore the Black Widow when she was upset.
"Yes Natasha?" Bruce looked up, setting down the vial he and Tony had been swirling around slowly to mix with the bleach they had added.
"Do you realize what time of night it is?" She barked. "You cannot honestly not be tired, especially you Clint."
"I'm fine." Tony shrugged, feigning indifference, but Natasha noticed that he was looking a little jumpy. "I've lived for weeks with no sleep and a steady diet of coffee and protein shakes."
"Not since you've had us all in the tower though, what with Steve and Bruce making meals and all." She replied.
Bruce turned to him. "She is right. Your body may have been used to that a while ago but with a year passing it just isn't."
"Guys, I'm fine." He insisted trying to give one of his normal, cocky smiles.
The Black Widow snorted. "You're about as fine as Clint up there is."
Said man growled in response to his name.
"We've got to finish this though 'Tasha." Bruce said.
"Why tonight? Go sleep on it and it'll get done faster."
Clint jumped down suddenly, a scowl plastered on his face. "What if Steve drags himself back to the tower dying from whatever he was shot with, expecting us to be able to save him? We won't have it! We'll have nothing at all!"
A pregnant silence followed Clint's outburst. This was a natural pause now, the pause where the Captain would come in and say something calming, rational, and patriotic. The big blonde would come in; lay his hand on Clint's shoulder and solve any problem. They could always count on Steve to make everything right.
But he didn't.
He couldn't.
Tony started to shake a little. "If there was ever a time that I felt like praying, it's now."
Bruce put his hand up as if to lay it on Tony's shoulder but set it on the table instead. "Go to sleep Tony, you're really out of it."
"I'm not going God damn it." The inventor snapped back. "It's my lab and if I want to stay up all night for the rest of my life you don't get a say in it."
"Ooh. Look at big bad Stark." Clint gave him a shove. "He always has to be the hero. So tell me now Stark, why didn't we know right away that …" He didn't say it. "Was the target? We could have stopped this entire mess!"
"You're blaming this on me Birdie? I'd like to see you get that any faster." Tony said looking wild with caffeine-fueled rage. "Get out of the lab and let the adults work, you don't even have a power. You're a freaking archer, Legolas!"
"And you think you do?" Clint pushed him again. "Some hunk of metal in your chest and suddenly you're the hero? The big bad Iron Man that still has his nightmares. The only real heroes are Steve and Bruce."
"You're pushing the line, Birdbrain." Tony stepped forward until they were chest to chest.
"I'm not a hero." Bruce said quietly.
All the attention snapped to him and he shifted in a slight amount of discomfort.
"I'm not." He said leaning back a bit for the support of the table. "I'm just a wanna-be, an out of control monster that is just starting to pull it together. I can barely fight for the sake of things other than my life, I just trailed after Captain America in the first place. It's Steve. He's the one and only."
Tony covered his mouth as his emotions took a sudden swing. "God, what if he's dead?"
Clint shifted, taking a step away from Tony. He felt the same emotional swing. It had been years since he had been this concerned about anyone and Natasha could take care of herself. Steve could easily take care of himself, but who knows what kind of wicked crap had been shot under his skin.
"He isn't." Natasha said. "Captain America wouldn't die. Steve won't die. He knows we need him, apparently more than we knew."
Everyone looked at the floor in shame.
"He'll get back. I know it." She sounded determined.
The Avengers stood quietly, and outside it was still dark and freezing cold, signaling the fall of the first snow which was bound to arrive soon.
Natasha suddenly shook the silence off. "I'll go heat up some Thanksgiving leftovers. Anybody?"
Clint nodded. So did Bruce.
Tony did not.
Bruce rolled his eyes. "He'll take some too."
"Birdbrain," Tony mumbled, turning to the archer. "We all right?"
Clint smirked. "Depends Stark, my ledge gonna stay right where it is?"
"Yeah." Tony responded in confusion. "Of course."
Clint turned around to go help Natasha. "Like you say, a bird's home is its nest."
They watched the assassins leave with their silent stalking feet. Tony wiped his eyes harshly. He took a deep breath and Bruce could have sworn he just watched the Tony that he worked with become the iron-spined Stark that he was on TV. The shorter man looked at Bruce and he watched Tony loose his breath harshly.
"They're like cats." Tony complained, trying to pull his world together. "I can read people but not them."
Bruce chuckled a tiny bit and gave Tony a tap on the shoulder as he passed. "What were we doing?"
"Uhh." Tony turned around, flicking his brain on. "We were isolating the toxin in solution and splitting it to neutralize."
"Had we added the bleach?"
Tony waved the tube under his nose. "Yeah. Wait." He sniffed again suspiciously then pulled the vial away. "Oh!"
"What is it?" Bruce said concerned.
Tony laughed a little. "I smelled it and at the end I caught the smell of turkey and gravy."
Bruce chuckled. "We must have really screwed up somewhere."
They shared a bout of muted laughter, but it was solemn.
The microwave pinged in the distance.
"We will get this done." Bruce said sternly.
Tony joked seriously. "I'm betting three hours."
He held out his hand.
"Two." Bruce responded taking the hand.
They shook as the clock struck four with no signs of dawn.