Ivy here.

It was a long night, but by the time dawn came, Edward was stable. Stable meaning that he wasn't in risk of bleeding out for a while. He still really needed better medical attention.

I took Dr. Watson home.

After that, I sank onto a couch across form my brother.

"So... that was you? When I was in the hospital? After Mom and Dad..."

I nodded. "I'm sorry. I didn't have any idea about what was going to happen."

"And that kid. The baby."

"Is my son. Phillip. You're an uncle, Ryan."

"Do I want to know how that happened?" His gaze fell to my hand, where I used to wear a purity ring.

"Let's just say that it wasn't my idea and leave it at that."

He shook his head. "You're right, I don't want to know. Why did you tell everyone you were dead?"

"It's kind of embarrassing... the Doctor pulled me out of S.H.I.E.L.D. after I had a little accident. He told everyone I was dead and set me up on a different planet."

"A different... planet." He groaned. "You really hid a lot from us."

"Yeah. I'm sorry. I should have been more honest with everyone from the beginning."

"Sorry?" he echoed. "My parents are dead."

"'Your' parents?" I snapped. "Their knowing made no difference. I'd do anything to change what happened. I only found out a day later."

He avoided making eye contact.

"I'm sorry, Ryan. I made a mistake – a lot of mistakes – and I need your forgiveness."

He looked straight up at me. His mouth opened, then shut.

He got up and left, back into the kitchen.

"Give him time," said Edward from his position on the floor.

I doubted that time would change his mind.

Ariel here.

It was about dawn when my brother showed up.

I didn't see him at first. I hadn't moved from since I'd first sat down and had fixed my eyes on the grass.

"Ariel? Are you okay?"

I looked up to see him. "I'm fine. Have you heard anything about Edward?"

"No."

"That was Stark's Iron Legion."

"Yes. A... virus got into it. I need you to come with me, you and everyone who knows about Ivy. We need to go, right now."

I nodded. "Yes. Okay."

Jack appeared on his crutches.

"How did you deal with the Iron Men?" asked Clint.

"I didn't do anything. They just fell out of the sky."

"Fell out of the sky?"

"I'll tell you when we're not surrounded by eavesdroppers," muttered Jack.

"What about Edward?" I asked.

"We have no idea where he is. We'll have to go without him."

At that exact moment, my cell phone rang. Carmen.

I excused myself to answer it. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. Shaken up, but I think I'll live. I some some good news for you."

"Even mildly worse news would make my day."

"Edward's here. He showed up about ten minutes ago."

I nearly dropped the phone. "He's... alive?"

"Alive and stable."

"Stable?"

"Oh... Edward was shot. But he's going to be okay."

"Is anyone else home with you?"

"It's just me and Pia, everyone else is in Germany. There was a family reunion. We stayed behind."

I pulled the phone away from my ear for a moment and explained to Clint what was going on.

Jack breathed a sigh of relief.

Miranda appeared. "Hey, I've been trying to call Sharon. Does anyone have her new number?"

I shook my head. "I haven't heard from Sharon since she moved away. She's withdrawn from social media and I can't find her phone number or email address or anything."

"Weird. Well, I'll keep trying. It's like she disappeared off the face of the planet or doesn't want to be found or something..."

I returned to the call with Carmen. "Look, we're coming to get you. Lock the doors, stay away from windows, don't let anyone in but me."

"I can't leave my little sister here alone, Pia would either have a guy over or burn the house down. Possibly both. Besides, Ultron wouldn't be after me. There's no records of my ever being involved with Ivy. She made sure of that."

"You think you can avoid all of this?"

"No. But the fact still remains I can hardly hire a babysiter to take care of my fourteen year old sister, I can't leave her alone, and I can't take her with me. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of things here."

"We'll talk more when we come."

As it turned out, she still refused to budge, even with Clint's urging.

"I won't leave Pia alone, and that's final," snapped Carmen. She sank down into a chair at her kitchen table.

"Carmen, don't be ridiculous. It's safest for you."

"I know what I'm doing," she insisted.

Her sister Pia appeared from the doorway. "Carmen? Mama und Papa haben angerufen. Sie werden kommen." (Carmen? Mom and Dad called. They'll coming.)

"Danke. Gehst du bitte nach oben." (Thanks. Please go upstairs.)

"Warum?" (Why?)

"Geh. Jetzt." (Go. Now.)

"Du bist für etwas die Verantwortung haben nicht." (You're not in charge.)

"Ich bin eigentlich für etwas die Verantwortung haben. Halt der Mund und geh!" (I actually am in charge. Shut your mouth and go!)

Pia glared at her and climbed the stairs.

Carmen groaned and buried her face in her hands.

"Is she always like that?"

"Only when she's being polite. She's fifteen and behaves like she's four. Now do you see why I need to be here until my parents get back? After they come, I'll happily go, but there's no way I'm leaving her in the house alone. She's liable to blow the house up. Look, I just had a very traumatic experience and I want to be left alone. Okay?" Her eyes watered.

"Okay," I said. "Fine. Call us if you change your mind."

"I will."

We left.

Carmen narrating here now.

I waited for five minutes after Ariel left, then called Pia down again.

We slapped high fives. "You really can be a brat when you want to be one," I said. "Didn't know you had that in you."

"I took drama that one year, remember?"

"You failed."

She blushed. "I told you that teacher hated me."

I gave her a hug. "I owe you."

"I still don't get why you didn't want to go with them."

"I wanted to stay uninvolved if possible. Now, let's start that brittle I promised."

"But they said you won't be able to help being involved. What's going on, Carmen? All of this is scaring me."

"It's nothing for you to worry about. I promise." I walked over to the kitchen cupboards and started pulling out ingredients. "Can you get the saucepan please?" Honestly, I thought that if I stayed here and kept my head down, I could keep out of everything. Jack's done it by being in a different country and joining very late, why couldn't I?

"That guy... he looked like Hawkeye."

"Really? I thought Hawkeye had lighter hair."

"Yeah, I guess so." Pia shrugged.

I breathed an inward sigh of relief.