OLD ONES

PART 3

Voracity

Sometimes a Xander is more of a Xander than you thought, and a more important Xander than the girls want to realize.  Sometimes Xander is even an Old One.

Table of Contents

27: Even Future Old Ones Have Plans

Some things need to get done, like a vacation before the Expo and the Expo itself.  Plus Xander and Phil have some moments too.  NC-17 m/f/f, m/m

28: Fighting, Shopping, Competing Old Ones?

The SHIELD teams get invited to the agent olympics so they have to figure out who's doing what and talk some adjunct members into helping them.   The Stark team, minus Stark, go to LA for a speech that Pepper has to give, some shopping, and avoiding a few threats that Dawn had warned about but no one realized.   NC-17 m/f, m/m.

29: Jealous Of The Old Ones

There's always got to be one jealous one.  Even at Stark International.

30: Dawn Luck Of Newborn Future Old Ones

Baby Elizabeth Potts is born during a bout of Dawn Luck.  How lucky for her.

31: Family Of Old Ones, New And Old

Buffy needs time, Joyce needs some healing time, and Dawn needs time to not lose her mind.  Thankfully they have family around to support them.

32: Thugs Vs Old Ones

Agent Olympics and gay bashers.  Quite a month for the families.

33: Fix-It Old Ones

Repairing the damage from the attack and other things.

34: Researching From Ancient To New To Future Old Ones

Subheading

35: Busted Old Ones

Press nightmares lead to Dawn falling on Xander's obstacle course and breaking her leg.  Which doesn't please her mates, even though they're out of town.  Oh, and the marriage comes out and Howard is a ghost.  NC-17

36: Mad And Insane Old Ones

Someone evil puts a kill order on Callia, which doesn't make anyone happy.  Incredibly enough, it's Fury that steps in to stop the bullshit.  The twins and Sean come home, to much happiness, tears, and fighting off wenches who can't count.  Then, Dawn talks to someone about why she can't get pregnant.  So it's a full few weeks for these Old Ones.  NC-17

37: Female Old Ones At Work And Play

Weird magic users, more reporters.  A Dawn wanter who wants her for an unusual reason.  Then a girl-cation and some Xander backstory.  NC-17

38: Good Nights To Be Old Ones

Some special good nights.

39: Old Ones In Danger

Ah, pregnancy, how it causes many things.  Like attacks.  NC-17

NC-17 m/f/f (and various combinations in that trio), m/m

27: Even Future Old Ones Have Plans

Some things need to get done, like a vacation before the Expo and the Expo itself.  Plus Xander and Phil have some moments too.  NC-17 m/f/f, m/m

Clint was supposed to be at work.  Of course, his current assignment was almost all dealing with idiots who thought they could be special agents.  Which meant he really needed something for his stomach and headache.  He walked into the infirmary and sat across from Dr. Pigalli's desk after turning the chair around, staring at her.  "A few questions I need answered, Doc."

"All right, Agent Barton, what sort?"

"Dawn's visions.  Any triage, anything I need to do next time?"

"Like a seizure, make sure she's got the airway and all that.  Make her comfortable.  Help her dictate what she saw when she came out and be prepared to hydrate and give migraine medicine."

"Should we have an emergency IV set up?"

"No.  We have those.  She's hardly ever out of someone's grasp these days."

"Is that because they knew she had some?"

"No, that's because she's gotten three death threats by the rumors going around."  He shook his head quickly.  She smiled.  "I'm fairly certain she's threatened two of them back from what the rumors are saying."

"I wish I had heard about those," he said dryly.  "I'll interrogate her later, when I have her tied down.  Is anything going to be a trigger?  I know some migraines have triggers like caffeine, over exertion, that sort of thing."

"No, actually we seem to believe that the exertion is good for her and may slow them down."  She smiled.  "So have all the kinky, sweaty sex you three want, dear."

He grinned.  "Cool."  She laughed.  "Next serious thing.  Driving?"

She hesitated then shook her head.  "I'm not sure.  If it was seizures I'd have yanked her license."  He nodded once.  "It's possible that she'll have one while driving.  So emergency driving yes.  Casual, going out to dinner driving, take a cab."

"She has a lease car."

"You might think about a driver.  It'd be a nice bodyguard sort."

"I have in the past."  She smirked at him, chuckling quietly.  "But we're sure it's a bad idea?"

"I'm not certain.  It's not like seizures, where certain things can trigger them like flashing lights.  In her case it's like there's a finger going 'now you shall see'," she said in her most dramatic voice.  "So yes, I'd say emergency driving only.  If you're injured and she's evacuating you, go for it.  If you're going out for a picnic, no."

"We haven't had a picnic recently," he admitted, thinking about it.

"You might ask her if she can afford a driver and car.  Because according to some reporter she's won fantastic amounts from kitten poker by even more rumors."

Clint grimaced.  "Yeah, we saw the weapons and jewel stash.  I'll talk to her about that later."  He leaned on the back of the chair.  "Should we try to keep weapons from her?"

"No, and again, exertion seems to help block them off.  So sparring great.  She's getting  a bit of pudge according to her.  She complained a skirt was getting tight to Pepper during lunch the other day."

"I can fix that," he promised, making her smile.  "Should I carry an emergency kit?"

"I'm shocked you don't already have one in case of being shot."

"I do, but it doesn't have anything like an epi pen.  Would that help?"

"Yes, it might.  It did when you were sharing hers."

"Does that mean I shouldn't be driving."

"How often is she going to share?"

"She thinks it was a rare occurrence.  We haven't during any of the minor ones she's had."

"Then, since I heard you fly the team around most of the time, get a backup pilot."

"I usually have one.  Nat can fly."  He licked his lips.  "Anything you can suggest that should go in it beyond the epi pen and the standard stitching kits, bandages, all that sort of stuff?"

"I'd like to see the jets you guys take have a better setup.  Stark said that they're not very good, just a box."

"I can fill a tackle box for post-mission clean ups.  I've been meaning to."  She wrote out a list and he nodded, tucking it into his pants pocket.   "What if it's Xander having one instead?"

"The same treatment should work as far as we know but he handles the pain better."

"Okay," Clint agreed.  "Thanks, Doc.  Got tyelnol?"  She pointed at the boxes on the shelf.  He took some and an antacid, smirking at her before walking off to take them on the way to Dawn's desk.  Which she wasn't at.  He walked in to talk to Stark since he and Pepper were in the office together.  "I can't help decorate but we do have a few things to talk about."

Tony looked at him.  "How bad?"

"She's gotten three death threats?"

"She has?" Pepper asked.  "I knew about two but she's threatened them back and they backed off.  They both thought they could take her out and cripple Tony as he mourns his future wife."

"Why haven't I heard any of these?" Tony demanded.

Pepper patted him on the cheek with a grin.  "Because we women handled them, Tony."  He snorted.  She smiled at Clint.  "Other problems?"

"Visions and driving."

Pepper winced and rubbed her stomach.  "That's not going to go over well.  Cabs can be dangerous.  Dawn was late the other day because she had to pull a gun on the cabbie that was trying to take her to JFK instead of here."

"I heard that on the scanner," Tony said dryly.

"Agent?" Clint asked.

"Admiration society from the Russian Mob.  I'm pretty sure she filched some of that kitten poker winnings, Barton."

Dawn strolled in.  "Morning."  She kissed Clint on the cheek and handed over files.  "Patty is in a sobbing mood for some reason.  I asked, it wasn't Jonathan."

"Three death threats?" Pepper asked.

"The other one I handed to Agent Hill because it was one of the trainee agents who said I'm compromising my mates."  She looked at Clint.  "You finally heard?"

"I didn't hear until I asked the Doc some questions."  Dawn groaned.  "No, it's important."

"I know.  I've been ignoring the common sense thing.  I can take more cabs and give up the lease on the car."

"So more of them try to kidnap you?" Tony quipped.  She punched him on the arm with a scowl.  "He did."

"They wanted me to come work for them in a higher position than they used to think I was good for.  They've realized I'm more than pretty."  She looked at Clint.  "His boss came up to me at lunch the other day.  We had a very nice talk in Russian, so he could not misunderstand the concept of 'go the fuck away', and then I promised I knew geeks who liked to build bombs."  She smiled.  "Then I proved I had pickpocketed him, took pictures of his ID, handed them to the agents that Phil took my files to, and then hacked him to bankrupt him."

"How did you hack?" Tony asked.

"I paid Jonathan half."  She smiled.  "He's saving up for a massive ring."

"That's going to get them into trouble," Tony groaned.

"Is someone really going to turn us in for hacking their non-bank assets?"

"Non-bank?" Clint asked.

"Yeah, they've been using the demonic mafia's storage areas.  The demonic mafia considers them children.  The consider SHIELD amusing.  They consider Xander amusing.  They consider me a goddess."  She smiled.  "Just because I put up with Buffy."

"I heard the censored thought," Clint said dryly.

"Remember in Rio, that poker game I got asked to go to?"

He nodded slowly.  "A local peaceful demon asked you to help her.  Her son was in some debt and he was going to be killed.  They were rare."

"They are.  And I did.  Then I kept playing once he was free to see if I could get an intel source on that group that was sacrificing the magically active kids."  Clint nodded faster at that.  "Which was when I got their area and all that.  I also managed to win a realm that the demonic mafia had lost to a warrior clan that was pissing them off."  He groaned and sat down.  "I put it up for the highest bidder.  Which was them because warriors are poor if they're not the Ottoman Empire sort.  It was kinda their home realm so they were happy to get it back.  Which meant I had a favor on the books."

"Which you called in to get their shit, but you let Jonathan do it for you to muddy the trail," Clint said, staring at her, smirking slightly.  She grinned and nodded.  "Sneaky."

"Thank you."  She took a kiss.  "I like being sneaky."

"So we're not hiding that money?" Pepper asked.

"I did hide that money.  That reporter has some contacts I don't.  I have no idea where she's getting her intel from.  That account is off-shore, is sealed, and only dribbles money to the account here in the US.  I set it up like those drug lords that you and 'Tasha took down, Clint."

"Sounds reasonable and we're looking it over later."  She shrugged but nodded.  "Did you realize we don't have a prenup?"

"If we break up in that bad of a manner I'm killing you both and taking all your assets bikini shopping so I can find a tender young thing to mold into a proper lover who likes oral sex even more than you do.  I'll baby your weapons for you while I sniffle over your mysterious disappearances that will become SHIELD legend and myth."

He burst out laughing and pulled her closer to hug.  "I could like that."  She grinned.  "We have to do the SHIELD wills soon too."

"You guys still won't let me put you on the paperwork here," she pointed out.  "Nat's still giving me dirty looks about the insurance and equities inheritance."

"I thought we settled that."

"No."  She shook her head.  "I brought it up the other day so I could amend a few forms because I diversified a bit into a tech company that I think Tony should absorb.  They have good ideas but crackhead geeks in charge."

"Which one?" Tony asked.

She smiled.  "Didn't you see my subtle hint, boss?"

"The pamphlet?  I did.  Nice idea, not sure if it's practical."

"I have no idea.  I didn't add much but about twenty shares at five bucks each."

"A hundred bucks isn't a bad preliminary investment," he agreed.  "How diversified are you?"

"My guy had me add some bonds and a few other things to steady my growth.  A few of the stocks went down."

"That's sensible," Pepper agreed.  "So you had to update the paperwork there with your heirs."  Dawn nodded.  "She scowled?"

"She doesn't want anyone to get the information," Clint said.  "Neither do I.  Beyond that, Nat has her own stashes here and there that aren't on any form."

"I have some set up in my alternate identity," she said quietly, staring at him.

He smiled.  "Sensible and realistic.  Good job."  Dawn grinned.  "Though we're dropping some of your safe houses.  They're in really odd places."

"Yes but less likely to be tracked there."

"Not Shanghai.  It's in a bad spot politically and hard to avoid notice that you're an american.  Same with Bangkok and a few others.  There's some better ones and we'll help you.  We both have a few bolt holes.  We think you can cut down on yours."

"I might rent out that other vacation house and just keep ours.  The new fence is better and more private.  The gardener has some contacts that can rent it out."

"I still think the house is a bit much."

"It has everything we need, including privacy.  You got lost in the jungle for two days."

"I remember.  I wasn't that far off."

"I knew that."  She smiled.  "You needed more privacy so I couldn't bring handcuffs to a backrub again."

"True."  He pulled her into his lap, earning a swat.  "You're on break time and they both think we're adorable, Dawn.  If someone else says something yay."  He kissed her on the ear, making her grin.  "You and I, and her if we can get her to agree, are going to be going over all the backup plans we have.  That way we share where boltholes are and how to take care of any duplicates."  She nodded.  He thought at Natasha, who complained but agreed it was prudent to at least note the city so they could take out duplicates and see what plans Dawn had if they had to escape the US again.

Dawn sent a cuddle, getting grumped back at.  Dawn cooed and promised her eclairs, which made Clint shiver and moan.  She smiled at him.  Natasha asked why he suddenly liked them that much.  He asked if she had ever seen Dawn eat one.  They pulled back and closed off Natasha again.  He gave her a pat on the back.  "Topic of drivers and cars?"

"I don't want a driver.  It'll flaunt things.  I don't really need one for the short walk here."

"I think it'd be safer," Clint said.  "The same as changing out the lease car might be.  I know it got caught on film at least once."

"I saw that and complained to TMZ that I'm not a celebrity and that would endanger your life.  They said they didn't show license plates and I had done a good job of getting a bland car that thousands of others had.  So I didn't tell them about the bolthole in this city."  Clint stared at her.  So did Tony.  She smiled.  "Surprise?"

"Is there a car there?"

"My whole backup identity goes there," she said quietly, staring at him.  "It's her apartment.  She is presently working overseas in Abu Dhabi."

"Which is hard to get information from," he said with a grin.  "Nice."

"Thank you.  You taught me well, Obi Wan."

"Now if only I could teach you to quit being a dick teasing Sith," he shot back.

"Did you think Darth and Obi had it on?"

"Eww," Clint said.  "Ruining a good childhood memory, Dawn."

"Sorry."  She hugged him and spotted someone at the door.  "I'm on break, I can get cuddles."  The lab assistant blushed and held up the forms.  "C'mon.  I'm not going to let him bite you.  I'd have to spank him for that."  The lab assistant giggled and handed them to Tony then fled to be embarrassed.  Dawn closed the door magically after the roomba dog came in to hand over papers.  "Did I miss a few labs?" she asked it.  It barked.  Clint patted it and it rolled off to vacuum things, finding a listening device.

"Shield's up so they can't hear anything," Tony said, taking it from it.  "Thank you, Roomba.   Go home.  Good dog."  It barked again and rolled off.  He checked then shut the door.  The bug got tossed into the bathroom and the door closed.

"I might need that soon," Pepper said.

"They can listen to you pee," he said with a smile.  "That way they don't hear anything else."  She pinched him on the arm.  "I can have Happy find her a rental driver and car.  Better in the long run, no taxes."

"Please," Clint agreed.  "Or put her in with a car service so she can call when she needs one."

"I'll feel like a snotty rich girl," Dawn complained.  "I can take cabs."

"Only if you don't have to shoot a driver," Clint said, staring at her.  She rolled her eyes.  He took a kiss and patted her on the butt.  "We'll talk about it later."  She nodded, taking a better kiss.  He moaned and held her head closer.  "I should get back to work."

She smiled.  "Me too.  Apparently I missed some labs on my rounds."  She sent a dirty thought at him and he smirked back.  "Tomorrow?"

"How's your schedule looking tomorrow?"

"Mostly a paperwork day."  She took another good kiss then got up, smoothing out her clothes.  "Go be a badass."

"Of course I am.  Sometimes I just relax it."  He stood up.  "Be safe, be careful.  Don't make me come kill anyone for you."

She smirked, waving a hand.  "I'll call after they're down."

He linked their rings.  "Call when you're taking them down.  Backup.  You promised me you'd wait for backup."

"I will."  She took another kiss.  "Go be a badass and kick the rookies around."

"Sure.  They could use it."  He nodded at Pepper and Stark then left.

Dawn sighed.  "I love him in his uniform."  Clint smirked at her from the elevator.

Pepper hugged her.  "You've got it so bad."

"I know but I make that look hot too."  She smirked.  "Speaking of, my dress for the Expo is super hot and Versace."  She bounded out and down to the labs to go back to her lab rounds.  It got to be a happy hour before she ran into the lab of the germphobic one and found him on the floor.  She called the infirmary while punching in the release code.  She put in the emergency code to bypass his cleaning sprays so she could check him.  "Hey," she said, nudging him.  "Wake up for me.  We can't have you napping in here."  The doctor and nurses ran in.  "Pulse is real faint.  He's breathing good though."  They nodded and took over.  She got up and looked around.  "He's not doing anything chemical or anything.  It looks like transistors?"

"Slightly," Tony agreed as he walked in.  "Passed out?"

"Not sure," Doctor Pigalli said.  "We can move him."  They did it.  Dawn got her his traveling bubble.  "I have no idea why he has that."

"Doc, he's highly germphobic," Dawn said, waving a hand around.  Everything was covered in plastic.  That got a nod from the nurse and they made notes to help him.  They walked him off.  Tony put on gloves, because that scientist would freak out if he found fingerprints anywhere in his lab.  He turned off everything and let Dawn go out first.  "Well, at least today's not boring," she said.

"Not by a long shot," Tony agreed.  They checked the surrounding labs.  One was on vacation and had left on nightlights.  The other were wondering why there had been noise.  He turned when he heard glass breaking and moved to help Dawn sit down.  "Dawn?"  He tapped his earpiece.  "Security to Lab 25.  Now!  With the doc!"  He hung up.  "Dawn, stay with me.  What was that?" he shouted.

"Sorry!" someone shouted.  "Four!"

Tony glared.  "You're toast.  Really."  He saw the mean smirk and let Pepper handle it.  She needed to vent today.  It'd make her feel better and then she'd work out some of the other type of pregnancy hormones for lunch.  Dr. Pigalli showed back up.  "They had some sort of projectile."

"I can see that."  She probed the wound.  "Not very deep."  She moved Dawn's shirt out of the way and looked.  "That's a container, Stark."  He helped her pull it out.  "Have someone run that."

"Andrew!" he shouted.  He was hovering somewhere nearby.  He could almost guarantee it.

Jonathan reached down to take it with forceps.  "Taking it to your lab, boss.  'Drew's at lunch."  He hurried off.

"Good, he remembered to eat on his own and so did MB," Tony decided.  "Doc, is it a bad thing?"

"Not at the moment unless that had poison."  She got herself up while Tony lifted Dawn.  "Let's get her down there to clean it and close it.  Her spouse?"

"Left a few minutes ago."  She nodded and walked the gurney off with her helper.  Tony walked into the lab.  "Let's talk."

"It was an accident."

Natasha strolled in looking like an assistant again today.  "Slipped?  Really?  With the prototype of Barton's new arrow?"  They swallowed.  She smiled.  "Against his wife?"  One of them whimpered and shook her head.  "Oh, yes."  She moved closer.  "We will talk.  Stark, may I?"

"Please do."  He settled in to watch her scare the geeks to death.  It served them right.  He got to report what was in the dart before Jonathan did but he had the relative strength because the thing leaked on the way to the target.  He looked up at an alarm.  "Is that the Hulk, JARVIS?" he asked.

"Yes, I believe he's going to change soon, sir.  He is rather fond of his stepdaughter and he's nearly nuclear green, heading toward romaine lettuce green."

Natasha nodded.  "That's an interesting way of putting it."

"We have a scale of greenness and extra height," Tony said.  "The alarm doesn't go off until he's halfway or more changed."

She smiled.  "Not bad."

Banner was stomping up the hall their way.  The geeks suddenly decided to babble heavily.  Banner stopped in the doorway.  "Dawn fine?" he demanded.

"She'll be fine, Bruce.  We know what was in the prototype arrow tip.  We know how strong it was.  Our docs are some of the best there are.  You know that."

Bruce nodded.  "I'm going to sit with her."

"Sure.  Let me know if you need anything."  He nodded and stomped off.

"Grandpa Grr Guy," Callia creeled.  She pounced him.  "Hi.  Auntie is fine.  I checked."

He hugged her.  "Dawn fine like Callia will be."  He carried her down there.

"I'm wondering if he'd calm down for Buffy," Tony asked Natasha.

"No.  He said he feels the predator in her."  She smiled.  "He thinks he may for Sean though."

"That's a grandfather's job," he said happily.  He stood up.  "Don't make too much of a mess.  The cleaning crew hates to need the high pressured hoses when they clean an evicted lab."  He walked off.

"I do hate sitting in vigil so that will give me something to do."  They grabbed their things and ran off in a huff, vowing to tell reporters.  "You do that."  She smiled and waved at their backs as they were escorted off.  She went to the infirmary.  Dawn was up and complaining about identifying and marring marks.  She kissed her to make her quit.  "You need an identifying mark that only we know."

"That won't be it," she told her, staring at her.  "It'll make a really nasty scar."

"Scars are proof of having done things."

"Each time Clint sees any scar, he flinches," she said quietly.  "So do you."

"I do, because we hate to see you injured," she agreed.  She took another kiss.  "Leave that one be until it heals."

"It's easier now.  I left that scar on my ankle."

"You conceal that one on your shoulder," Natasha reminded her.  "Clint found it with his tongue."

"There's that one too."  He stomped in.  "I'm okay and pulling up power to heal it."

He stared at her.  "You can have scars."

"No I can't, not that one.  That one is marring."  She stared at him.  "I don't want to look at it.  The one on my shoulder, I don't mind."  He grimaced some.  "You did it."

"I did?"  She uncovered it and he groaned at which one it was.  "I thought it was the sparring one."

"No, not hardly.  That was tiny and didn't even need healed."  He came over to run a finger around the bite mark.  She grinned.  "See, I leave the important ones alone."

He grinned.  "It wasn't just me," he reminded her in Spanish.

"I know.  Which makes it extra special, unlike the shaving scar on my ankle."

Dr. Pigalli looked at them.  "Dawn, go ahead and heal that one.  The one on your shoulder is in your record, as is your ankle one and the one you conceal on your inner thigh."  She gave her a pointed look and she pointed at Natasha.  "Apparently you're tasty, dear."  She patted her on the foot and walked off happier.

Dawn sighed and healed the injury.  "There, pretty again."

"I left a mark?" Natasha asked.  Clint pulled the curtain as she got up.  Dawn took her hand to show her.  She smiled.  "I did scratch you there."  She took a kiss.  "Change clothes?"

"I have some in my locker."  She kissed Clint.  "If you want to do that discussion tonight I need to hit the bank deposit box."

"You have one?" he asked.  "That's a bit typical."

"It has the stock portfolio's contents in it."  He sighed, shaking his head.  "It's at the agent credit union."

"That's fine then," he decided.  "Still a bit typical."

"It's got the stock certificates and a key."  He smiled.  "Which goes to my other storage area.  Which is on Manhattan but halfway across town."

"I can handle that or send Phil."

"He has no idea."

"I know."  He took another kiss, teasing that scar on her inner thigh.  "That's one of my favorite playtoys."  She blushed but grinned.  He left, going back to the office via the bank.

Natasha took her own kiss.  "Eat lunch.  I'll see you soon."  She left her alone too.

Dawn got up and went to change in the locker room.  She came out wearing a slim fitting knit dress that had short sleeves but a sweetheart neckline and came just above her knee.  With the contrasting stretchy belt that covered her whole waist and her hair now up, she looked better.  She went back up to the office.  "Okay."

"I like that one on you even if the color is a bit odd," Pepper said.

Dawn grinned.  "It is but it was cheap.  Only five bucks."  She gathered forms and left, closing the door since she and Tony had that sweaty, staring thing going on.  She saw Steve and pointed.  "Office.  Sweaty and staring."

He hugged her.  "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Steve."

"Good!"  He knocked then walked in, smiling as he closed the door and locked it.  "That dress is pretty but the wrong color."

"It is," Pepper agreed.  "Come for sparring?"

He smiled.  "Not likely."  Pepper blushed.  "We'd like to bond to the baby too, that way it comes out loving us."  He kissed her cheek.  "If that'd be okay?"

She smiled.  "I might like that."  He grinned and helped her up to the penthouse.  The office only had an uncomfortable couch.  They'd need more room than that.

Dawn waved at their backs.  "Meeting at three with that reporter, Pepper."

"Sure, Dawn.  Thanks."

Dawn smiled, gathering things to be handed back.  She closed and locked Pepper's office door then headed off to deliver things.

One of the security guards walked up to her a few floors down.  "Did you leave the office open, Summers?"

"I locked it.  That's protocol."

He nodded, calling that in.  "We know it wasn't Romanoff, she's taunting Jonathan and making him blush."  She sighed but rolled her eyes, handing over the last few things then going to security to see if she knew the idiot on the cameras.

"That's the agent that sent me a death threat," Dawn quipped.  "I handed that to Maria Hill."

"I can call her to come see this.  It doesn't look like he took anything."

"Let's do a bomb sweep.  Get the roomba dog."  He nodded, getting that and a few guards to sweep that whole area.  The roomba dog found the spot on the shelves that lined the wall between the office and Dawn's desk.  It poked it until a guard came over to open it.

"Bingo," he called.  "Small, directional.  Pretty damn useless."

"Except to injure me if I'm at my desk," Dawn said quietly.  They checked, her desk chair had a pressure switch.  It also had her wife staring at it oddly.  Dawn leaned out.  "That agent that sent the death threat."

"Interesting."  She came over to help them search, finding a few other things.  The roomba dog kept sucking at a spot so she looked.  "That's just dirt."  She used her shoe to scuff it so the white, flakey stuff could be picked up.  No one was going to wonder what it was.  Her included.

Dawn looked then at her.  "Donuts."

"If you're sure."

"Yeah."  She pointed at the couch and grinned.  "Okay, guys.  Anything else we know?  Would it have hurt Pepper?"

"Scared her, maybe some flying debris, but all the force was pointed at you," one of the guards said.  He petted the roomba dog.  "I like this thing.  Even if it has a tentacle."

"Andrew and Jonathan did a super job with it," Dawn agreed.

"Warren didn't help?"

"No.  He was gone then if I remember right."

The guard smiled.  "Then I like the thing even more."  They left, leaving Natasha to help Dawn vent.  They all winced at the swearing that started once they were on the elevator.  Dawn had a mouth on her when she needed to.  She hadn't sworn for a while so they had forgotten.

Natasha stared at her.  "Feel better?"

"Much."  She smiled back.  "I have to get back to work.  Can you have fun with that agent?"

"I definitely can and will."  She gave her a smug look.  Dawn kissed her then went to check the labs again.  Natasha went back to HQ and walked the list of what they had found and the printed security picture up to Maria Hill's desk.

"I'm having deja vu," Maria complained quietly.

"I do think this one would last longer in sparring," she said dryly.  "Maybe even for five whole minutes."  Maria handed her the rest of the file.  "I heard there was one earlier but not why.  Interesting."  She strolled over to the agent in question.  "Would you like the option of sparring, jail, or suicide like Coulson once gave or should I simply destroy you here and now in a way that means no one will ever forget how much you suffered?"

Phil looked over.  "I wasn't sure it was him."  She held up the picture.  "He can have the option of honorable suicide.  We'll all be amused."

She smiled.  "Yes, I would be."  The agent was sneering.  "Your choice."

"You couldn't beat me anyway."  She laughed, a warm, pleased sound.  She needed a challenge beyond Clint.  He attacked and she kicked his ass all over the admin area.  Doing it in a skirt and heels wasn't her usual but it wasn't too much of a hindrance.  Even if she did flash someone once.  It was a privilege he'd never get again so he could enjoy it this time.

The man fell down finally crying.  "She's still ruining you!"

"She's not."  She sneered down at him.  "Or else you would not be in a bloody, sweaty, crying mess."

Clint strolled up to them.  "My turn?"

"I don't think I left you any," she admitted.

"That's why I'm a sniper."  He grinned.  "I don't have to get dirty."  He wiped at a spot on her shoulder.  "He got blood on you."

"His tooth fell out when his head hit me.  These heels are not what I'd usually choose to fight in.  Too narrow."  She looked at him again.  "Have you given up?"

"I'll never go down.  We'll be on top of everyone!" he shouted and pulled his gun.  He started to shoot himself but his gun was empty.  He stared at it.  "You had a full clip."  Phil tossed it over.  He looked, blinking.  Phil was sneering at him.  "How did you do that?"

"I'm great at many things, which is why I'm a senior agent and you're not even rated to be a junior one most of the time."

"Let him kill himself," Fury ordered.  "If he wants, we'll clean up his pathetic mess."

"Not like much brains'll come out anyway," Clint agreed.  He got up to attack him.  Clint knocked him back down with a few blows.  "Feel better?  Especially after that bomb?"

"I...."  Natasha picked up the picture to show him.  He swallowed.  "I built it, that is not me delivering it."  She stared at him.  "That image inducer."

"Then who was it?" she asked.  "Agent Barton looks bored and edgy."

"I'll never tell."

"We can test for residue," Hill said.  "It doesn't look like he's wearing gloves."  She snapped and pointed.  They tested everyone's hands.

"I was running bomb disarming lessons," Sitwell said when they came to him, looking at Hill.

"I know you'd never hurt Dawn," Clint assured him.  They moved on to test everyone else.  "Explosive arrows being refilled," he said when it hit on him.

Natasha smiled.  "I was terrifying geeks who shot Dawn with his new prototype arrowhead."  That got another pass.  They weren't going to hurt Dawn either.

"I've been helping Xander sort artillery," Phil said.  "Not sure if I'll have any or not."  He passed as clear and they found them a few floors down.  One of the geeks that had stomped off from Stark and been conscripted before they became dangerous.  For some reason he had complained that Stark had high oversight and SHIELD agents to terrify the lab staff if they messed up.

They got arrested when faced down by Phil, who was in his mild mannered, calm, unflappable persona.  That cured most of the problems and Clint told Dawn that so she could relax.

***

Pepper walked into her office a few hours later, looking around.  "Dawn, did you shift things?" she called.

"No, the guards did."

"Why?"

"They found the nice agent at SHIELD's bomb."

Pepper walked out there to stare at her.  "Excuse me?  And you didn't call?"

"It didn't have a timer, you guys were safely away from the blast radius, that would've only taken out my chair when I sat down in it," she said dryly.  "And you were busy, boss."  She grinned.  "We had it handled.  I put a report on your desk and emailed a copy to Stark so he can fuss at Coulson about it.  I also put the article from a few of our former geeks who complained that Stark has me doing massive oversight of them in the labs and that he routinely lets SHIELD agents threaten some of them."

Pepper huffed.  "We still should've known."

"We had it handled before you could've come back down here. Besides, it only would've taken out the wall and my desk chair."

"Still!" she said, starting to sound shrill.

Dawn got up and took her in there, putting her on the couch.  "Let me get you some tea, Pepper."  Pepper swatted her.  "Ow!"  She glared at her.  "Part of my job is protecting you too.  Which means you don't get near dangerous things."  She grinned and went to the caf to get Pepper some tea and something to nibble on.  Without cheese because she wasn't mean and she doubted Pepper wanted to be constipated right now.  She brought it up and found Tony complaining.  She handed over the article.

"This doesn't make it better."  He read it and growled.  "Who...."

"Half of them have been conscripted by SHIELD, the other two are free and clear to be stupid."  She handed over their files.  She handed Tony half the snack.  "The guards had it handled before you guys could've gotten down here.  It was pointed at my desk from the bookshelf.  We even borrowed Roomba Dog for it."  She walked out and closed the doors so she didn't have to hear the complaining.

"That won't save you," Pepper called.

"Reporter in twenty, Pepper," she called back.  She heard the huff and grinned.  Tony would get her calmed down and they'd figure out how to pick on the scientists who said Tony was a mean genius.

Tony walked out to stare at her.  "Saw the footage.  Nice work, still dumb.  Still grounded."

"I didn't know you were my biological father," she said with a slight grin for him.

"Bruce said so."

"Then I guess we'll have dinner in anyway."  She shrugged.

"Uh-huh."  He swatted her, earning a wince.  "Good!"  He walked back in there.  "Show the reporter in when she's here.  Pepper said she wanted cheese."

"She has the reporter today because she was fighting the evil cheese yesterday," she quipped.  Tony shuddered.  Her computer beeped with an IM.  "They just signed in."

"Thank you, still grounded," Pepper called.  "No teasing clothes or whatever you had planned tomorrow."

She leaned over.  "Clint gets to pick out my clothes for tomorrow."

"Good.  Maybe he'll want you in a pants suit," Tony said, sending him a text message.

"I do have a catsuit," Dawn quipped.  "Very nice, I could probably put it on."

"Not.  A.  Chance," Pepper ordered.  She nibbled.  The reporter came off the elevator so she took a sip of water and wiped her mouth and hands off.  "Sorry, getting a late snack."

"It's all right.  Pregnant women hardly ever eat on the same schedule as the rest of us, Miss Potts."  She shook her hand with a smile.  "Mr. Stark, thank you for sitting in.  I'm fairly certain you've seen that article on the people saying you're letting SHIELD run your R&D labs."  She set up her tape recorder.  "Do either of you have a comment on that article in the New York Times?"

"We do let Dawn go fuss at people," Tony said.  "She gathers the weekly reports we've always had as mandatory."

"Some of our people have little time sense," Pepper said with a grin.  "They forget to eat and things so Dawn does go to nag them about that, and makes coffee for most everyone at least once a day.  We consider it fussing, not staring over their shoulders."  She rinsed her mouth out with water again and drank it.  "As for having SHIELD agents in here, Stark is associated with the Avengers and we do occasionally have an agent visiting him.  If something huge happens, like earlier when we had a threat that was attempted to be acted on, we do let them handle it."

Tony nodded.  "When Dawn accidentally on purpose got shot by someone who hates her relationship, we had an agent already on site that I let find out what was going on by scaring them.  It kept me from losing my temper and destroying them at the molecular level."  He heard Callia babbling.  Dawn said something to her.  "She can come in if she's quiet, Dawn."  Callia ran in and cuddled next to him, then spotted Pepper and got up to hug her and kiss her stomach before coming back to his lap.  "Callia, this is a reporter.  We're doing an interview."

"Thankfully I'm as pretty as my Auntie Dawn and as smart as my Daddy is so I can answer questions really good," she said with a grin for the reporter.

"You are dressed very nicely today," the reporter said with a smile.  "Do you get time in the labs?"

"Now and then I go talk to my geeks.  It's important that they feel like they're loved and wanted.  That makes them happier and like family instead of just employees.  My geeks are all great geeks and they make great things, like the Roomba Dog."

"Roomba dog?" she asked Tony.

"The one that was escorting us for salads, and his lab partner, took a roomba I was playing with and put in a slight AI, made it a dog that can hunt listening devices and bombs, and it plays fetch with them and Callia," Tony said with a smile.  "It's their thinking device."

"That's sweet," she said, grinning at them.  "Very sweet.  Do they do other things?"

"Quite a lot.  I'm mentoring them because they're still very young.  They went to school with Dawn's sister."

"Huh.  PhD's?"

"No, we found them building lifelike robots and plasma weapons on their garages," Pepper said.

The reporter blinked a few times.  "Really?"

Pepper smiled.  "They're great geeks and they've come up with a few very good ideas.  They've done a lot of work on various projects for us, and they've been working on updating their battle robots."

"The ones that went after the senator?"

Tony nodded.  "One's been hospitalized for an incident where his mind broke but the other two are some of our favorite geeks.  Callia's too.  She's went down to hug them many times."

"I told them what good girls were like and now they have some of their own," Callia said with a happy grin.  "That way they didn't have skanky hos, because they look mean."

"They can be," the reporter agreed, smiling at her.  "Mr. Stark, do you think those scientists that left after saying you were overly controlling are going to try something against you?"

"I barely got the article this morning and have files on who they were to look over.  I'm betting they hate being fussed at, were the ones that glared at Dawn for being perky and nice, and will probably not do great things."  Pepper handed over the folders.  He glanced through them.  "Only one's really a good engineer and he's probably going to go to a Pentagon source if someone like SHIELD doesn't snap him up."  He closed them and put them aside, nametag side down.  "The others were secondary people that wanted to whine that they were coasting on coattails and things."

"Good to know."  She smiled at Pepper.  "Which bank did you go to?"

She smiled.  "I'm not telling.  That's between me and the bank."

"None of them will admit to having had you as a patient."

She shrugged.  "Sorry but that's confidential."  She smiled again.  "Does it really matter?"

"No.  Though there's rumors of it being a sibling for Callia."

"Of course they'll be like my baby brother or sister," Callia said dryly.  "If Auntie Dawn has one they will be too.  The twins are too.  Any baby around here is my sibling because I'd treat them that way."

"That's very sweet of you, dear.  What twins?"

"One of the agents that we work with now and then granted a friend of Dawn's her wish of a child, which turned out to be fraternal twins," Pepper said.  "Callia's played with them pretty much since they were born.  They're soon to be three."

"That's wonderful.  It's got to be nice to have other kids around when you're a single child."

Callia nodded.  "I wish some were my age sometimes but it's nice playing with the twins.  I taught them about my bunny Carrot and my mousie Cheese."

"Good job, dear."  Callia smiled and wiggled.

"Callia, I'm bringing Andrew and Jonathan a snack since they're locked in the lab."

"Coming, Auntie."  She hopped off her father, running over to kiss Pepper's stomach.  "I'll tell you story later.  You'll be my third favorite veggie, right after matos and your mommy."  She ran off after her aunt.

"Aww," the reporter said.

Pepper grinned and nodded.  "She's my favorite little girl."

"Is that one a boy?"

"No clue."  She grinned.  "Doesn't matter to me."

"Not even for decorating?"

"I'm not really going to do pinks and blues.  They'll get a nice nursery in woods and metals with stained glass accents.  The window in there has one."

"That sounds classical and pretty."  Pepper smiled and nodded.  "How are you handling the pregnancy and your duties as CEO?"

"It's not bad.  Dawn takes good care of us."  She looked at Tony and nodded.  He got up to handle the robot waiting at the door.  The reporter blinked.  "Warren's doing," she said quietly.

"Oh, that's interesting."  She smiled at her.  "So, how are you feeling?"

"I'm great."  She grinned.  "We're so comfortable, even when it kicks me all night.  Tony's been hovering.  He's been great at helping me with leg cramps and things I need helped with.  Earlier Captain Rogers gave me the most fantastic shoulder rub because I was a bit tense.  Dawn fusses, that's why I was having a snack when you showed up.  I'm blessed to have such a great support system, including offers of babysitting from them."

"That's wonderful.  A lot of women would kill to have that sort of support."

"I do feel really spoiled.  Dawn even hugged when I had a mood swing at a horse riding camp commercial."

"They can be teary."  She smiled.  "Anything new we should look out for at the upcoming Expo?"

"There's a few things.  Including some fantastic stuff."  She grinned.  "You should ask Tony that.  He's deciding now what we're showing off out of the forty or so things we've been working on."

Tony leaned in.  "Two minutes."  He went back to talking to the robo Pepper, who was a bit pouty but mostly just bored.  She got her assignments and left to do them.  He was a bit mean and sent the robo Natasha over to SHIELD to help Coulson.  Served him right for taunting him about prayers during sex.  He walked in.  "What's up?"

"The Expo?  How many things are you bringing?"

"I'm bringing the new tech group's things," he said, sitting down.  "Including a 2terrabyte tablet."  She moaned and smiled.  "That does play flash videos so you can get YouTube on it.  Dawn's suggestion because she was frustrated with hers when she couldn't while waiting one day.  There's a military capable version of that, which is going to be field tested by the SGC if I can ask nicely enough and flatter O'Neill into giving in."  He smiled.  "There's also a new phone that's ten times better and clearer sounding than the iPhone I have.  Mostly because I got so frustrated with the poor sound quality I kept getting in Malibu when I was back there."  The reporter smiled.  "There's the new laptop that's coming out.  As for the bigger stuff."  He smirked.  "There's a few surprises coming out.   Including something better for airport security so I don't have to step through the backscatter x-ray machine again and set off my arc reactor."

"It does?"

"It does," he agreed.  "It sends a surge when it starts.  I've pointed this out and they still won't hand wand me because the hand wand doesn't pick up the arc reactor."

"Oh, dear.  That's unsafe."

"Yes, but me dying of a surge, and in one instance it being enough to shut down the machine in a safety overload, isn't much better."

"That could be true," she agreed.  "So you fixed that problem?"

"With a new handwand that will pick up more than the one ones, and the x-ray machine.  Including pinging off ceramics, like ceramic knives."

"That's a great idea.  Do you think airports will use it?"

"I don't know if the TSA is that smart," he admitted.  "With some of the stories I've seen about them groping little kids and elderly people in wheelchairs.....  I don't know."

Dawn leaned in.  "Like all evil empires, the smart ones are at the top and the field people are minions, who may or may not be stupid, evil, incompetent, or all of the above.  Director Fury's on hold for you?"

"Can I call him back?"

"Um, no.  They found that last leak that you've been trying to find since you got captured by it."  Tony got up and went to her desk.  "Sorry, please omit that?"

"Definitely.  I don't need to know what SHIELD is doing about terrorists."  Dawn grinned.  "As a question, I know you're dating and that's a very fetching ring.  Is it a wedding band?"

Dawn grinned.  "Mostly no comment because agents are like that, and it's a promise ring."  Which was really what a wedding ring was, a promise of many things.

"That's sweet.  Does he have one?"

Dawn smirked evilly.  "If you find him you can ask him as long as he's not on assignment."

"We see him now and then at the grocery store.  I'll ask then.  I have a cousin in the ATF so I know how agents can be paranoid about personal information."

Dawn nodded.  "Very sometimes.  Mine didn't want to be put on my medical power of attorney paperwork at one time.  We had a long talk about that one during that week of stupidity when I got hit by the filing cabinets that bruised ribs."

"I remember reading about that.  Is your wrist healed?"

"Fully healed.  Not even a scar.  I had a lot of great support when that happened.  A lot of fussing too."

Tony walked around her.  "Thanks, Dawn."

"Welcome, boss."  She closed the door and went to talk to Callia so she'd be distracted.

"I can sit in Pepper's lap and behave," Callia pouted.

"Let her ask them the hard questions then go cuddle Pepper."

"Why?"

"Because she wants to ask nosy questions about kissing and stuff."

"Eww."  She bounced off.  "I'm going to play with roomba dog."

"Okay.  Ask first."

"Will."

Dawn sat down after checking her seat.  She'd be paranoid for a few more days.  Clint came off the elevator with the robo Natasha.  "Um, Clint, that's the real one I think."

He looked at her.  "You let me think that?"

She pinched him on the cheek.  "You're not getting any for weeks because you couldn't tell the difference."

"Reporter in the office," Dawn hissed.  Natasha snorted and took a kiss from each of them then walked off.  "Callia's playing with Roomba dog."  She looked at Clint, who smirked evilly.  "You're going to take that punishment?"

"Hell no.  I'll just hog you."  He winked.  "Stark?  I've got that file."

"Reporter with Pepper."

"I can wait."  He settled in out there.  "You good?"

"I'm fine.  A bit careful today but otherwise I'm good."

Steve came off the elevator.  "Meeting?" he guessed.

"Files for Stark.  Natasha's off haunting someone who called her an evil bitch.  Reporter in the office so we're waiting."

Callia came back with Roomba dog and a ball, settling in to play fetch.  Steve helped and it was nice.  Dawn got back to work, there wasn't much to do today but that was fine.  Clint sent her a dirty thought that had her crossing her legs and sending one back.  They traded dirty thoughts back and forth until the door opened.

"So that's a roomba dog," the reporter said with a smile.  "It's adorable with the sea  creature tentacle."

"It's even better than my phone that acts like a kitty."

"Like Hello Kitty?" she asked.

"No, like it purrs, turns itself around to settle in corners," Steve said.  "Curls up around itself."

"Phones are like kitties and make noise.  If you have too many dogs, they can get mean so I went with a kitty. Jonathan helped me program it.  Kitty phone!" she yelled.  "JARVIS, is it up here?"

"It's on the elevator," JARVIS said.  It came off and came over to nuzzle her.

"Thank you, JARVIS," she cooed and petted both robotic creatures.  "See, my kitty phone."

"It's adorable," she agreed, smiling at the obviously loving little phone that was purring.  It meowed and Callia answered it then called for her father to come get it.  She looked at Tony.  "Is that your lab phone?"

"It is," he agreed.  "She adores it."  He took the phone from her.  "What?"  He listened.  "That's fine, Andrew.  She has both of them up here by Dawn's desk."  He hung up.  "He wanted Roomba dog back for a while.  He's stuck on an idea."

"I can go help by babbling at him.  It helped last time when Jonathan was stuck."

"Go for it.  Stay out of the way," he ordered.  She smiled and carried her phone while the roomba dog carried its ball in its tentacle down there.  Tony looked at Clint.  "Meeting?"  He held up the files.  "Thanks."  He walked back into the office.  "Have a good day."  He closed the door.

"Callia really loves penguins but they don't make noises like a phone would," Dawn quipped with a grin.

The reporter giggled all the way down to the doors to leave the building.  She had a few good stories in there.

Steve looked at Clint.  "I saw Natasha."

"One of the geeks called her an evil bitch.  She's taunting him."

"The robo one is helping Phil," Dawn said.

Steve shuddered, going into the office and closing the door again.  "I'm giving them privacy."

"She did look a bit breathy," Tony agreed with a smirk.  "He does a good job of making her warm."

"Not cute, boss," Dawn called.

"Finish up for the day and I'll give you an hour off," he yelled back.

"I need to buy shoes for the Expo dress."

Phil appeared with the robo Natasha, who was pouting.  "It took nearly fifty minutes," he said dryly.  "He did a very good job.  Where is the human one?"

"Taunting a stupid geek," Tony said with a smile for her.  "We rescued the robo Dawn from that company if you want to talk her into helping."

"No, I think that might confuse some of the junior agents," he said, handing over the robot.  "She did a good job organizing my filing cabinet though."  He left, going back to work.  Fury was complaining that if Joyce ever quit he was going to have someone make one of her.  "Dawn might shoot it, sir," Phil warned.  "Especially if she's emotional about it."  Fury grumped back to his office.  He smiled at Joyce, who grinned.  "We all know you're irreplaceable."

Back at Stark International, robo Natasha was telling Tony the information she had found out.  He grinned and let her go back down there with the rest of Dawn's jobs for the day.

Clint leaned in.  "That was so evil, Stark.  Thanks for her having some time off though."

"No vibrating panties or anything tomorrow, Barton.  I'm probably going to be up here babying Pepper all day and she's a moaner."

"Sure, I can avoid that."  He smirked at Dawn.  Who gave him a look back.  "Home?"

"Home.  Did you hit the bank?"

"I did.  We can look at it on the way home."

"She's grounded tonight anyway," Pepper called.  "She didn't tell us about the bomb."

"Pepper, she didn't tell *us* about the bomb," he told her.

"We had it handled," Dawn reminded him.  "I had security do the sweep first and all that."

"You're not getting oral sex for at least an hour," he assured her.

She smiled.  "I can cure that myself."  He moaned and followed her down to the front entry to sign out and get a cab.  They got into the cab and gave the address of the storage area, him leaving a hand on her thigh.  She shifted her leg for him.  He grinned subtly at her and moved it, teasing her.  Dawn crossed her legs so it was trapped and teased his wrist with her nails.  He couldn't do much but stroke that scar on her inner thigh with his knuckles but she was teasing his skin by lightly scratching it until he had to scratch.

She paid and they got out, heading for her storage area.  It was high security, which was nice.  They not only had guards but the storage area had a biometric palm reader for each unit.  They got let in and she flipped on the light.  He closed the door again and moved to look.  "That's the jewelry I won.  I had it all checked for being stolen."

He opened the jewelry box, the type with the drawers and the top compartment that was meant to look like real furniture.  "Pretty."  He looked them over.  "Very pretty."

She pointed.  "I'm wearing the amber for the Expo dress.  It's silver with gold lace inserts to be flirty and the tiny string halter neck."

"That would look nice."  He let her pull that set out to put into a velvet bag.  He closed it up and looked at the other stuff.  "Files?" he asked.

"A few threats near one of the safehouses."

He nodded, looking through them.  They'd be going with them.  As well as the binder of safehouses.  It had a picture and a city, with a street name.  No street number.  Which meant they could be found but not totally easy.  "Who else can get in here?"

"No one."  She smiled.  "I didn't bring anyone here to authorize them."

"Good.  Very safe."  She pointed at the code in the front of the book.  It was in braille, which he did read.  He nodded.  It gave the code for the street names.  Elm was Oak, and a few other substitutions.  "Even nicer."  He kissed her and tucked that under his arm.  "Bank?"  She pointed at the other file box.  He got into it.  It was her bank records.  He took that with them too.  She got something from the hanging rack in there.  He stared.  "Tomorrow's?"

"Tony wanted me in a pants suit."

"Not the catsuit, Dawn."

"It's not."  She showed him and he moaned.  "It's not as geeky as it looks.  I look hot but not really like myself."

"A lot older?"

"Teenager."  She smiled. "It's capri length so that fits in with the dress code.  It's very comfy and the tailoring is very good."  She tucked the jewelry into it and they left together, him carrying the boxes.  Dawn relocked the doorway and they went home, with a pause for dinner.  Natasha was waiting.  Dawn kissed her, tossing the jewelry onto the dresser and the bag got hung up in the empty closet that Loki liked to sleep in.  The cat couldn't hurt anything through the bag.

Natasha looked at the jewels.  "That's very pretty against that dress."

Dawn kissed her.  "Goes well with those bronze and amber earrings of yours if I can borrow them?"

She smiled.  "I can see that."  They walked out to eat and go over the various areas.  Natasha got shown the code in the front, nodding at the substitution key.  "Very nicely done, Dawn."

"They're all split houses except one."  She pointed.  "That one's not.  It's the full house."

"Which will give another moment of confusion if someone tries something," Clint said.  "College student?"

"Mostly.  They all know I have to travel for business so I'm not going to be there very often.  They're all off-site managed with a weekly housekeeper."

"Even better," he agreed.  "No one to notice if you do come and go or don't go for years."  She nodded.  He got comfortable with the bank records, staring at her over the first one.  "You have how much?"

She looked.  "That's the local account, Clint."  She scratched her shoulder.  "We only pay eight hundred for each of the apartments, plus electric and water.  So that's under a thousand a month.  I make close to seventy-eight thou a year after taxes.  Just about sixty-three hundred a month.  We don't eat that much."

"Wow," he said.  "You make more than I do."

Dawn shrugged.  "It's nice.  I need it to shop."  They smirked at her.  "The blue separator is the other two bank accounts.  The green tab is the other identity."

He got into those, nodding in appreciation.  "Nice," he said.

She smiled.  "Thank you."

Natasha nodded.  "Very nice."  She kissed Dawn.  "Well planned."

"Thank you.  So, you two?"

"Nothing this extensive.  We pretty well lived on our paychecks," Clint admitted.  He wrote out a list of where he had boltholes.  Natasha did the same.  They found a few in common and talked about which ones to dump.  Dawn said she'd have to clean out hers.  She had some supplies in there.  They said the same thing.  They made a decision and they'd deal with it over the next few weeks.  Then Clint stared at Dawn.  "I really should get you back for that tease."

"You started it."  She smirked.

"Remember me calling you a dick teasing Sith?" he joked.

"I always follow through for you."  She got up to lean down and kiss him.  She took off her dress and then his shirt, winking at him as she strolled back to Natasha to kiss her.  "Do I tease you?"

"Quite a lot but I do enjoy watching you do it to him."  Dawn was nibbling on her ear, making her quietly moan and tip her head to the side.  "You should tease him."

"I am teasing him."  She took a kiss then moved lower to tease her collarbone then moved a strap out of her way with her teeth.

Clint got up enough to pull Dawn into his lap to kiss her.  "Tease me yourself, not by teasing Natasha.  You can tease her later, when I'm too tired and limp to do it myself."

Dawn laughed and kissed him, straddling his lap. "Did you need more teased?"  She shot a dirty thought at him.  He moaned and went tense then slowly relaxed as he exhaled.  "Too much?"

"Not likely and if that's what you want tonight, it's yours."  He kissed her again.  "You're so getting it later."

"I'd hope so."  She took a kiss then nibbled on his bottom lip before diving in for a better one.

Natasha got up to join them.  "I should go change the bed."

"It'll just get sweaty later," Clint assured her.  "Though we're starting out here.  Up, Dawn, and find a good position to tease myself from."

She got up and took off her bra then her panties.  No garter today, just thigh high stockings.  She strolled over to the couch, laying down in a graceful drape along the cushions.  One foot was on the back of the couch and the other tucked up under her other knee for now.  It left her partially open to view.  She stroked down her stomach.  Clint got up to grab something from the fridge and came back.  Dawn smiled at the can of whipped cream.  "Am I a sundae?"

"Yes, you are."  He moved her bent foot, staring at her.  She was going on vacation in two days so she had naired.  She had left some hair for him, which he appreciated, but not enough to get in his way.  He shook the can and spread it on her crotch, leaning down to press it into all the little crevasses with his tongue.  Dawn moaned and arched up into his mouth.

Natasha smiled.  "That does look tasty."

Clint smiled at her.  "Very tasty.  Want some?"

"I'll try that later, for now I think I want her to tease me."  She knelt over Dawn's head, letting her do her wicked best.  Natasha moaned at the tiny kitten licks.  "Dawn, you know I need it harder."

"You said you wanted teased," she said into the damp flesh.  She did nip her a few times but she was going to tease Natasha into pouncing.  She had even gotten her a new strap on for her harness system.  It was a thing of beauty and it'd do great in them.

Natasha moaned and gripped the arm of the couch to brace on as the teasing got better.  "Dawn...."

"She got you a new toy," Clint said in her ear.  He licked down Natasha's back then went back to licking Dawn clean.

"We need another rail trip," Dawn said as she kitty licked over Natasha's inner thigh.

"You nearly jumped us in the tram car," Natasha said dryly.

"It's not my fault it vibrated.  I'm sensitive to vibrations."

Both spies groaned at that mention.  Clint went back to making Dawn lose her mind.  Natasha finally couldn't take the teasing anymore.  She ground down and Dawn gave her relief, finally.  She came and Dawn cleaned her up, making her moan.  "Sensitive," Natasha reminded her.

"You do it to me."

"I enjoy doing it to you," she assured her with a smile down at her.  She felt a finger come up to help and looked back.  "You're getting it later."

"I think that's her plan.  To make you pounce."

"Pouncing you is great," Dawn agreed, pulling her hips back lower to get back to her playground.

"Dawn," she moaned.  "I will pounce you."

"I want you to snap and pounce us."

"Keep doing that and I will."  Dawn gave it to her harder, like she liked, and it was so good.  She finally couldn't take it and went to dig into her toy drawer.  She saw the new toy, nicely already hitched into her harness.  She put it on and lubed it up, coming out to move Clint out of her way and pounce Dawn as she wanted.  Clint had her on her knees, braced on the arm of the couch.  Knees together to make her even tighter.  She moaned because that was a good position for them.  She straddled the crossed ankles and leaned down to tease Dawn for a second then she shifted forward and plunged in, earning a hard, heady moan of pleasure.

"I like this one.  It's a nice width and length.  It looks good on me and you'll enjoy it."  She rode her hard until Dawn was begging for mercy.  Her other one was straight and this one had a slight curve to the right, where Dawn had a sensitive spot.  Natasha was an expert at making people moan in pleasure, especially Dawn and Clint.  She pulled back with a slurping sound, licking up some of the excess moisture.  She looked at Clint, who was under Dawn's head now.  "Are you ready?"

"She's been doing it for you."  He stared at the fake dick.  "That's a really nice size.  About my own."

"It's got a clitoral stimulator nub."  She smiled. "Dawn, is he ready for me?"

"Barely three fingers."  She shifted to show her how she was doing with his stretching.  Clint moaned and arched up into them.

"Excellent.  Tight, just like I like you both."  She and Dawn shared a kiss then she pulled Clint down to her.  She slid in using one long, hard stroke.  He arched up and held onto the couch.  "Dawn, make him clean you up."

"He can clean me up after I've cleaned you out," she said in her ear.

Natasha shivered but nodded.  She got to work fucking Clint like this was the last time they'd do this.  He was clutching the couch, anything to get traction.  She smirked and went harder, faster, making him moan and make pleading noises.  "I like those."  She kissed him and palmed his cock.  "Should we let you come?"

"No," he panted.  "You shouldn't."

"I can accept that."  Dawn came over to mouth his cock for her but pulled his balls back down so he couldn't come.

"Dawn," he moaned.  "God, please!"

"Dawn, he needs more than your mouth," Natasha ordered.  She smiled and climbed on top, letting Natasha set a rhythm that they'd all enjoy.  Dawn was stroking her clit because Clint was too far gone to do it for her.  Natasha let Clint come and slightly calm down, riding him more gently through the orgasm and aftershocks.  Then she kept going.

"Nat," he whimpered.  "Mercy."

"I'm not that sort of angel," she teased over Dawn's shoulder.  "Get off for me, Dawn."  She moaned and worked harder.  Natasha helped by adding a finger.  Dawn finally got off.  "Let him lick you clean for me.  I want you ready to be licked to dirtiness again."  Dawn nodded, climbing off Clint and crawling up his chest.  Natasha appreciated that position so she got in a lick of her own.  "Very tasty."  She grinned back at her before settling over Clint's head.  He pulled her down to bury his noises in her as he cleaned her up.  "Very pretty noises but not as quiet as a good agent should be," Natasha teased.

Dawn leaned back to kiss her.  "I like it when he breaks that and gets loud."  They shared an evil smirk.  "The same as I like to make you gasp and beg me in Russian."  Natasha moans, her hips snapping harder and faster.  "If you were clean, I'd blow you," she whispered.  Natasha comes and stiffens so she doesn't fall.  Dawn got free of Clint and helped Natasha pull out, taking the strap on from her.  They'd clean it in a few minutes.

Dawn licks her clean, making her shiver.  She could have another one easily and Dawn is going to push her there and maybe to a second one if she's allowed.  Natasha moans as Dawn slides across Clint's lap so she can lick her easiest.  Clint pulls himself up and adjusts Dawn's hips so he can slide inside, making her moan.  Dawn looked back at him.  "Wasn't I going to let you have that second one for her?"

"I will be."  He teased her, making himself hard as fast as he could.  Dawn was making Natasha moan and whimper in keys they hardly ever got to hear.  Natasha came and went rigid.  Dawn was still licking and it was good.  Dawn got off him and Clint moved up to help her then surged up and slid in.  He knew the combination to Natasha's reserves of orgasms.  He could make her have that last one, that one that would shatter her nerves for the night.  She let out one semi-loud shriek of pleasure and Clint rode her through it, letting himself come.  Natasha panted, staring at him.  He grinned.  "Want cleaned up?"

"No, tender," she moaned, pulling away.  She kissed them each.  "Oh," she said, trying to stand up.  Dawn helped her by carrying her into the bedroom.  "Thank you."  Dawn licked her clean very gently then covered her with a sheet.  She curled up and fell asleep before Dawn made it back to the couch.

Dawn found Clint breathing hard and still a mess.  She leaned down to lick him clean, making him thread his fingers through her hair.  "Tired, Dawn."

"I'm just cleaning you up."  She smiled.  "Then you can go nap."

He kissed her.  "We're going to nap."  He pulled her closer, using his fingers to tease her into one last one of her own.  She moaned and leaned against his chest.  "Bed."

"Bed."  She helped him in there and curled up behind his back, making him make complaining noises.  "I'm good."

"Center, Dawn.  It's your spot."

She flipped over him and snuggled between them.  It was the best spot there was.

***

Downstairs, a few hours earlier, Phil was desperately trying to fend off the thoughts from the trio.  "He needs the opposite of viagra.  I'm having R&D find it," he complained.

Xander appeared, sweating from training.  "It's good they're happy."

Phil moaned, staring at him.  Shirtless, sweaty, slightly hard.  "Sparring with John?"

"Ronon.  He's damn good."

"Yes he is."  He pulled him closer to kiss.  He had been thinking about it since Xander had spoiled him by giving into his kinky fantasy of endurance sex, and included the sex outdoors thing too.  SHIELD agents always had to be circumspect and not really noticed.  Having sex outdoors was something that he hadn't ever been able to do for fear of being spotted and later compromised on a mission.  Xander had made it very good.  So he had been thinking about the things that made Xander moan the most.  Xander wanted to be touched.  He was touch deprived and any skin-on-skin contact was good for him.  "I need to set up a few things.  You, sit and catch your breath."

"I can shower."

"Not yet."  He smiled and got up, going into the bathroom and the bedroom to set things up.  He came out naked and Xander smiled, accepting his help up.  He walked him in there, one hand on Xander's bare, sweaty back.  The bedroom had sheets that could get ruined and he had some oil warming beside the bed.  He stripped Xander's pants off him and laid him down on his stomach, dipping his fingers into the warm oil to oil down his hands.  He straddled Xander's back, slowly working on his shoulders.  After the initial flinch - which happened no matter where you touched him - Xander went limp under his fingers.  He worked all the muscle groups, moving backward to do his lower back and butt.  He made sure he didn't miss an inch, even oiling and massaging his perineum, which got some very loud moans.  He moved down to do his legs, which made Xander twitch again but he was enjoying it.  Then his feet.

Xander looked back.  "Usually I don't let people play with my feet, Phil."

"I know.  I'm not anyone though."  He gave him a smug look and hit the pressure point in the arch of Xander's foot that made him go limp and moan again.  When he was done there, he flipped him over and worked his way back up.  His perineum got another few minutes of light kneading while his balls got slowly and carefully massaged around.  Then his cock got a very light thumb massage.  Xander was hard and gripping the sheets.

Phil kissed the head and moved onto his hips then up to his stomach.  He was so open, almost broadcasting.  He moved from his shoulders down his arms, doing each muscle group and his wrists and hands. Xander was staring at him in awe.  He kissed each palm before letting it go and moving on to do the sides of his neck then up to his jaw and behind his ears into a scalp massage.  He could feel Xander's cock bouncing against his back while he worked, and Xander's moans were more than heady enough for him.  He smiled down as he finished up.  "Want a shower now or later?"

"I don't think I can move," he said in a hazy voice.

"I'm sure you can."  He dipped his fingers into the oil and prepared himself.  Xander was staring, his eyes at half mast.  He finally pulled Phil closer and flipped them over to slide into him.  It was his second observation of Xander.  He had a need to claim, to make his.  Phil was his and he could let him prove it however often he wanted.  The slippery hands meant that Phil didn't have a good grip on Xander's shoulders but he could wrap himself around him and it was good.  Xander was grunting and growling lightly.  Phil nipped him on the throat and got bitten in return.  Xander was breaking the skin but it was good for them.

"Phil," Xander moaned.

"I'm yours.  Prove it, Xander," he whispered in his ear.  Xander pulled him closer, shoving into him harder, faster, riding him as hard as he could, sucking on the mark he had put on his throat.  The growl was back.  Phil was doing a bit of growling.  Xander wasn't hitting his prostate, not anywhere near it, probably on purpose to make him beg.  He finally shifted and Xander put him back into place.  "Please," he moaned.  "Just a bit of it, Xander?  Please, Alexander."

Xander broke at his real name, hitting his prostate over and over until Phil came.  Then Xander growled and made himself happy.  Xander finally came, panting, sweat dripping down on Phil, helping him lay down carefully.  Phil pulled him down to full body cuddle him.  Xander blinked at him.  "The after is just as important," he whispered.  "It always will be."  He held him, let Xander rest on his shoulder, hold onto him.  Xander was staring at the mark, he knew he was.  He got a tiny lick over it.

Phil smiled and got them up, taking them into the shower.  Stark had spoiled them with the bathrooms in this place.  There was a pull out bench in the wall for when you were too tired or injured to stand.  Phil sat Xander on it and wet him down then thoroughly scrubbed each and every inch of him with the softest cloth he could find in the house. Front then back, always keeping a good, firm grip on him but not too firm, not punishing, only soothing and massaging.  He even did his hair then rinsed everything off with the handheld shower.

Xander pulled him down to kiss him.  "I should bathe you the same way.  You're not my body slave."

"Sometimes I don't mind."  He took another kiss.  "You can scrub my back if you want."  He could tell Xander was hard.  Xander pulled him onto his lap, sliding back into him.  He took the cloth to scrub him while they had slower, more gentle sex under the falling warm water.  Xander was moaning as he did it.  Phil leaned against his chest to give him room to help him.  "Alexander," he whispered, making Xander stiffen.  "I'm still yours.  Clean me for your later pleasure."

Xander whimpered and did that, coming hard but quickly.  He carefully pulled Phil up and made him stand, sucking on him until he came too.  Phil moaned and sat down again.  "I know you're mine."

Phil smiled.  "Good."  They shared a kiss.  "I like that tankless hot water heater.  We don't run out of hot water."

Xander gave him a squeeze and turned it off.  He looked at Phil.  "Trust me?"

"Of course."  Xander made him face him and they went to elemental forms again.  Phil sensed Xander doing it and followed.  They sank into each other, becoming one that was rubbing against itself inside the outer protective shell around them that Xander had put up.  It was better than any blow job, any time spent in Xander's body, any touch.  It was all that and more, surrounding his full body.  It was like his whole body was now his dick and it was the ultimate smooth, warm tunnel that was surrounding him, sucking at him, pulsing against him.

Phil felt himself coming and kept himself in that form so he couldn't hurt Xander.  Xander was feeling the same thing and it was almost explosive in him.  Phil smiled and reached out to touch and stroke him more, using his powers to touch every atom of Xander's essence.  Xander howled and came, shaking the whole building a bit.  They came back to themselves, panting, hard, and kissing frantically.  They rubbed against each other, pulling back to pant.

Phil bit Xander harder this time, paying back his mark with one on Xander's upper chest.  He gnawed on it, drawing blood, making a dark bruise that would last for days, even with faster self healing.  Xander was on his throat, on that mark, making it darker, more noticeable.  It might not go away.  He came as Xander shivered at the taste of his blood. Xander spurted when Phil bit him a second time, making a second round mark. They calmed down, panting at each other.  They shared a kiss, tasting the blood, the power in their blood, the passion and the fire in them.  Phil pulled back first, staring at him.  "Did we cause an earthquake?"

"Minor tremor I think.  Everyone's still inside."  He took another deeper kiss and it was good.  He had to pull back first to pant.  "Damn."

"If you are, we'll go together."

Xander moaned.  "Phil, recovery time?"

"I got us chinese.  It's in the fridge."

"I like chinese food."  They got up and hosed off without touching each other.  It'd set off another round and they weren't ready for that yet.  They settled on the messy bed to eat next to each other, Phil feeding him a bite now and then.  Xander feeding him some of his shrimp.  It slowly became kisses after bites of food.  Then the food got put aside before it became lubricant or a sex game.  They'd need it later.  Xander rolled on top of Phil, kissing him then moving down to lick over the very dark mark.  "I'm sorry it's so big."

"I'm not."

Xander grinned.  "Thank you."

Phil smiled.  "I'm yours."

"You are."  He kissed the mark again then moved down to taunt his nipples into begging for him.  Phil hissed and shifted.  "Sore?"

"Bit but in a good way and you'll cure the soreness."

"Yes, I will be."  He moved down to tease Phil's stomach, which he still didn't understand the meaning of but he'd get it soon.  It was an alpha response that he enjoyed.  He moved back to please the hard cock.  Phil arched up into his mouth, making him chuckle around it and suck harder for a few minutes.  Then he pulled off with a slurp and licked up the extra drool.  "Want me to cure that soreness of yours?"

"Please."  Xander pushed his thighs apart and back, sliding into the nicely stretched, damp hole that he could see himself starting to drip from.  He took his time, doing it slowly, staring at Phil as he rode him.  Phil tipped his head back, holding his own knees for him.  Xander licked over his stomach again then pushed in harder, staring down into his eyes as he rode him.  "Xander," he moaned.

Xander moaned back.  "Phil.  Mine?"

"Yours."  Xander finally pushed in and made him come, but didn't get off.  He moaned and let go of his legs, hugging Xander.  "Let me shift position."

"Side?" he offered.  "I doubt you have the energy to ride me."

Phil flipped over, going onto his knees and shoulders, head turned so Xander could see the mark he had created.  His hands were under his head but not near the weapon under the pillow.  Xander moaned and slid back in, giving it to his mate properly, making him want to shriek and get loud.  Xander appreciated each quiet noise Phil made and wanted to make him make more.  He sucked a second mark, one that no one would see unless he was injured, onto the fleshy area just above his hip bone.

Phil was moaning and starting to thrash so he bit down as hard as he could, drawing the blood up to be licked clean.  He was starting to growl again, he knew he was, but Phil needed to wear his mark.  Xander pulled out to work on the mark, then leaned up to chew lightly on the other one, earning a wince.  "Mine," he whispered then slammed back into Phil.

His mate was properly marked, was scent marked, would wear his marks every day for the rest of his life.  He healed the one on his side so the mark would stay.  The bite scar, the bruise around it, about the size of the side of his fist, very dark and only his to see.  He roared his claim and Phil screamed back, all in pleasure.  This time, Phil made the building shake.  It was thrilling and they both came.  Xander whimpered, slowly stopping the thrusting until he could stop and slide out.  "Phil."

Phil shifted enough to be able to pull Xander down, curling up on his shoulder, their sides fully touching, one of Xander's arms trapped under him.  "I need to buy you a ring."

Xander panted, looking at him.  "I don't wear rings.  A necklace?"

"I can do that.  I won't even make it look like a collar," he joked with a smile.  Xander frowned at him.  He smiled brighter and kissed him.  "Maybe more body jewelry."

"We'll see," he offered with a smile.  "I'd expect the same some day."

"We'll see."  They shared another kiss.  Phil looked down at his hip then at him.  "The doctors will wonder."

"I'm sure they've seen claim markings before," he promised.  He took another kiss and shifted so he was cuddled around Phil.  "Thank you."

Phil kissed the mark he had created, healing it as it was.  "No, thank you."

Xander moaned, giving him a squeeze.  "We're really sweaty."

"I don't mind sweaty tonight.  Pass me my dinner?"  Xander laughed and did that, letting them eat again.  They had worked off the earlier food and most of everything they had eaten for the last week.  They could use the calories.

***

Roque looked up from lounging on the couch in his temple with Clay, smirking.  "That's the second link," he said quietly.

"What?" Clay asked.

"It's an ancient thing.  No Gods are that together these days.  Aphrodite and Ares got to the first step, the joining of elemental forms.  Phil just prompted Xander into claiming him and Xander did it.  He made sure Phil was marked as his while he was marked as Phil's.  The first bonds might be broken by someone powerful, most likely a group of powerful Gods trying to break them up.  This second bond cannot be broken.  Ever."  He took a hard, fast kiss.  "It means that each one owns the other and no one can break that.  The marks will not fade.  The powers that were joined in the first step can't be undone."

"Is there a third?" Clay asked.

"Yes.  And if they manage it, the whole universe will go apeshit because it's said that no one can manage it fully unless they're of each other.  They think only twins could."

"But with the way they got stuck together the first time," Clay asked.  "Would that count?"

"It could help it but if they screw it up, or intentionally do it, it'll drive them insane.  I don't think that Phil knew what he was prompting tonight.  Xander clearly didn't realize.  Might not realize it yet."  He stroked over his hair.   "When I was younger and stupider I might've tried that with you but it's like being responsible for their soul's weights and energies.  I can't be that to anyone."

"Never asked you to," Clay assured him.  "I couldn't do it back."  They shared another kiss.  They had what they had and it was good.  It was great.  It was all they wanted and all they expected.  "Can you get your mother to make it so I can't go into heat?"

Roque laughed.  "I'm not allowed to talk to her.  She's in seclusion.  We can find a way around it."

"Thanks.  My ass is too sore to sit."

"I noticed you were laying down," he taunted.

"With my ass pointed away from you before you get any ideas," Clay quipped back with an evil grin.

John strolled in.  "They managed it, didn't they?"

Roque smirked and nodded.  "Yup.  Started by the nerdy one Coulson."

"Aw."  He sat down.  "I have an idea," he told him.  "I need to do a bit more research to figure out if it'll really work to keep you out of heat."

"How?" Roque asked.

John smiled and stripped Clay with a thought then created a tiny ball of power.  It was about as big as a quarter would be as a ball.  He slowly touched Clay's ass and sent it up, concentrating on making it go where it needed to.  Clay was hissing and tensing but it finally settled.  "In three days, you'll shit it back out.  That should make your body think it was pregnant and it should spare you for a while."

Clay panted, staring at him.  "Can you move it up farther?"

"No, then it'll be permanent.  If this works, have Roque do it.  You're not using my powers as an IUD, Clay."  He smirked and left them alone.

Roque put his hands on Clay's abdomen, sensing it.  "It's where you'd carry a cub if you could."  He kissed him.  "We'll see what happens in three days.  If it works, I'll shove one up you and be your IUD."

Clay stared at him.  "Does that include me riding your hand?  I have the funny feeling it would."

"Yeah, it would," Roque said, pulling Clay into his lap and shiving him on his cock so he could ride him hard.  The power in his come would charge the ball better.  Make it so it looked like a realistic pregnancy.

"Thought I said I was sore," Clay panted, holding on for dear life.

"You are.  So?" Roque snorted.  "Hasn't mattered to me yet, wife."  He slammed into him, pulling his hips down as hard as he could, coming hard into him.  The ball flared enough that Clay's stomach glowed through the skin.  He smirked.  "Good."  He took a kiss, using his hand to get Clay off.  Clay went limp and accepted a second kiss.  "In three days we'll make sure it comes out."

Clay looked at him.  "That's really kinky, Roque."

"I like it."

"I'm not sure if I do."

"That or being in heat and having the pack have to help you if you're on a mission," he offered.

"Fuck it, I'll ride your hand a few times a year for that."

Roque smirked.  "I'll make you enjoy it so much you beg for it when it's time."  He bit him on the shoulder.  "Mine."

Clay smirked and fingered the bite mark he had put on Roque's shoulder.  It covered one side of his neck and down onto his collarbone.  He had spent his whole first heat putting it there.  "Mine's bigger."

"I'll add to mine."  He smirked and pulled Clay off him, giving him a swat.  "You smell like come.  Go shower."

"Uh-huh.  So said the guy who put it there."  He walked off, wincing a bit.  The ball still felt uncomfortable but not painful.  He could handle that.  Even the crapping it back out would be fine with him probably.  It kept him from turning into a mindless slut that would take any cock to get some.  He hated himself in that state.  It was not the husband he was.

Roque cleaned himself up with a thought and picked back up his book.  That had helped a lot.

***

Clint stared at Dawn from the bed as she was getting dressed.  The one-piece jumper was mid-calf length in a light gray silk.  It had seams on the top that made it look nice against her figure.  It showed her cleavage at a bit more than a decorous level.  It looked nice on her.  With the belt it fit better.  "Don't wear that."

She looked at him.  "No?"

"No."  She took it off with a shrug.  He got up and looked in her closet, pulling out a dark red dress she liked on Natasha and herself.  It was a fairly simple slip dress with thick straps and a slightly plunging neckline.  It came to mid-thigh, so a bit short for work.  "Stockings."  She put black ones on with the garter belt.  He nodded he liked that.  She put on a pendant that was a simple silver drop that fell about an inch into her cleavage, which was right above where the dress hit.

"Hair off your neck but not fully up," Natasha said, staring at her. Dawn pulled it up in a clip comb that pushed it back into a cascade down the middle of her head, where it spread out on her shoulders.  She put on earrings then her makeup, taking kisses before stepping into her higher black heels. "The lower, without the front platform."

Dawn smiled and put those on.  They had tiny top straps to hold them in better.  She looked at her.  "This?"

"That," they said.

Clint pulled her closer, finding something and using his fingers to slide it into her, teasing a bit.  "Light vibrator," he said in her ear.  "Works when your cell rings."  She shivered.  "Or when I text."  He smirked.  "No meetings?"

"Not that I know of."

"Good girl."  He kissed her again.  Natasha was dialing the phone and Dawn moaned.  "Quietly, Dawn.  That way even Stark can't realize it.  Let it roll around you all day and we'll go out to dinner?"

"Out?" she panted.  Natasha hung up and she gathered herself.  "You sure you want to go out?"

"Yup."  He gave her a smug look.  "Because I'm paying you back for all the dick teasing you do to me before you give in.  You can dick tease everyone else all day."  He gave her a swat on the ass.  "Have a fun day at work."

"I think I can do that."  She kissed him then mouth-molested Natasha's mouth before leaving.

Clint laid back down.  "We're mean."

"It comes with the job," Natasha quipped.  "We learned our lessons well."

"Hmm."  He kissed her.  "Still sore?"

"Very sore."

"Want me to soothe it?"

"Later.  After I've taken a hot bath."

He grinned.  "Want an extra-large body pillow?"

"I could like that."  They went in to run the bath and brought in things to nibble and read.  It was nice and comforting.  Dawn had made them both sore last night.

***

Dawn and Pepper met in the elevator on the way in.  Pepper looked her over.  "Clint dress you this morning?"

"Yes.  We're going out to dinner later."

Pepper stared at her.  "Carry your mace with you in case one of the geeks jumps you, Dawn."  They got off and went to their desks.  Dawn checked hers, which made Pepper mad but it had been handled.  They settled in to do things, then she heard Dawn shift and let out a quiet moan.  "Long night?" she teased.

"Very long night but fun."

"Good.  It's always a great thing."  She heard her phone ring and Dawn let out another quiet moan.  She shook her head because Dawn was moving to grab her phone from her bag.   The ringer was muted.  Pepper smiled at that kindness.  Dawn got up to go on her daily rounds of making sure the geeks had coffee, food, and to tease Andrew and Jonathan.  Who had Callia as far as Pepper knew.

Callia looked up from learning the names of the things on the pretty and important circuit boards when her aunt walked in.  "Hi, Auntie Dawn."

"Hi, Callia."  She hugged her then the two geeks.  "Morning, boys.  We ate and all that, right?"  They smiled and nodded.

"Auntie Dawn, when I'm old enough can I have that dress?"

"Sure, sweetie."

"Cool."  She smiled at her geeks.  "I'm learning about components."

"That's great.  While they're helping you with that, have them go over math and history.  Because someone forgot yesterday's lessons."

"Oops.  Help?" she asked them.  "I hate history."

"We can try," Jonathan said with a smile for Dawn.  "That is a really hot dress, Dawn."

"Clint insisted since we're going out to dinner later."  She felt her phone vibrate and something else going off too.  She looked.  "That's Stark.  Let me go nag him."  She turned it off and strolled off.

Andrew looked at Jonathan, writing down something in Elvish.  Jonathan shivered.  He nodded.  "Tony showed me those."

"She is so damn lucky."

"Yup."  They helped Callia with her new learning job and the ones she had to learn so she wasn't an ignorant genius.  They knew math really well, history was an okay subject at her level.  Not boring yet.

***

Dawn walked into the tinkering lab, starting the coffee.  She looked at Tony.  "You rang?"

"Checking on you."

She smiled.  "I'm good."

He looked her over.  "Which one dressed you?  They did a good job."

"Clint picked out the dress."

He nodded.  "You look nice," Bruce said with a smile.

"Thank you.  We had plans for dinner."

"You had plans with us for dinner," he teased.  She texted that.  He sent back that it was fine.  He'd be nicer to her while her mother was in the room.  "Okay."  She swatted Rodney when he kept staring at her.  "What?"

"Stockings?  Really?  Most women loathe them."

"Do you know what sort of biological disaster area pantyhose can create on a woman's body?"  Tony choked and spluttered, shaking his head.  "Stockings are much nicer."  She smiled.  "No trapped moisture or anything when I sweat."  She gathered their things to sort on them, handed them new coffee.  "Eat soon, boys."  She left them alone and turned back on her phone's ringer.  That way she hadn't been affected while she was in there, because Natasha was that evil to her sometimes.

"At least he didn't have her in the remote control vibrating panties this time," Tony decided.

"I don't need to know, thanks," Bruce said quickly.

Rodney looked at him.  "During work hours?"

Tony nodded.  "Clint was being an evil tease to match hers."  He got up to get more coffee and settled back on his stool to go over a few things that needed worked on before the Expo.

"She is an evil little tease," Bruce agreed.  "It tickles her mother so much to see her that way.  Joyce said that pink dress from that one time was darling."

"It was, but it made her look like a recently debauched virgin," Tony quipped back.  "Which, kind of was, but still."

Rodney shook his head.  "She played up to the effects of today's dress very well.  Especially baring some of her neck to draw attention to it."  The other two men nodded.

"If I was a less strong man I'd have sexually harassed her by now like I do Pepper," Tony said.  "Thankfully I look at her like a stepdaughter most of the time.  Even during that pink dress when she had to get me up for a meeting."

"In here?" Bruce asked.

"No, if I'm sleeping in bed, Pepper sends Dawn to get me up because I only scowl at her and Dawn can perky me into getting up to escape her.  That day she just poured water on my head and smirked a lot while I went to take a cold shower."

"Have I seen this dress?" Rodney asked.

"JARVIS, pull up that photo please," Tony asked.  It flashed up on the projection monitor.

Rodney's cup paused on the way to his lips.  He was momentarily giving up coffee he realized.  "Thank you, JARVIS.  I need a one-night stand now."  He gulped some of the coffee to clear his mind.  The picture disappeared.

"I'm not sure if the black dress she had on the next day or the unitard and sarong she ended up in later that day was worse," Bruce admitted.  JARVIS put up both pictures for him.  Tony whimpered and shook his head.  He was mentally chanting Steve and Pepper's names over and over.

Rodney swallowed more air than the last of his coffee.  "That's her battle outfit."

"The dress got stained when she had to move out of the way of agents acting like toddlers."  Both pictures got banished by Tony.

"She's not allowed to wear those here," Tony decided.  He wrote her an email to make sure she got it.  She sent back a 'the dress was permanently stained and I only wear the unitard for battles.  For sparring practice I have a few unitards but I only wear them in the gym and they're more spandexy than that cotton one, Stark.  Relax, quit having dirty thoughts.  Go pounce Pepper, she's looking flushed and sweaty.'  "I love it when she has sense."  He got up.  "Let me check on Pepper.  She said she was having hot flashes."  He strolled off to help her take care of that.

Rodney shook his head.  "It's nice that husbands have that second trimester spot too."

Bruce laughed.  "It is, yeah.  Makes him a happy boy who doesn't work all night and frustrate Steve."

Rodney smiled.  "That's always a good thing.  It's why I could never settle down, I'd have to have them in the lab bothering me."

"So pounce Radek."

"Very straight.  Much too straight for even an idea of what male sex was.  Which is a pity.  He would've made a nice stress relief companion on Atlantis."

Bruce shook his head.  "If you have to go back, we're sending you with more scientists and more weapons."

Rodney smiled.  "Thank you.  We'd appreciate that.  Though we might accept Xander showing up in a shower of light that burned all the wraith on a planet too."  He got up to get them more coffee and they took Tony's part to tinker with.  "I heard tablet computer rumors."

"You did and they're 2terabyte systems.  Only a few gigs for the operating system so you get most of it."  Rodney moaned in pleasure.  He smiled.  "I did star drift calculations on the one I'm testing so Joyce and I could enjoy some star gazing the other night."

Rodney nodded, taking his to look over.  "Proprietary operating system?"

"Yes.  That's the basic one.  There's a Pepper level, which is more administrative task based for office uses.  There's a JARVIS one which takes more space, but still under 5gigs and it can do nearly anything.  The symbol for that one is JARVIS on a silver shield."  Rodney smirked at that telling example.  "It's not based off his AI's operating system either.  So they can't hack JARVIS from it."

"Interesting.  You have just the standard?"

"I do and permission to pimp it starting next week."  He grinned.  "Steve has one too.  He was having some agents help him figure out where a few programs had went that he accidentally erased off the main screen.  They found out it's a menu option to restore them.  One of those hold and press for a second menus."  He got into something.  "You can slow down the response time for that too.  So you can fix it if you get too many swipes when you're getting a tiny one or something."

"That's an idea I need.  I often work faster than it and get unintended consequences."  He played with it.  When Tony came back forty minutes later he looked up.  "Solved her needs and I want one."

Tony got him a box.  "With a shock guard collar that also improves your grip when you're sweaty or you need to hitch it to a belt clip during work."  He settled in.  "And yes, Pepper's fine."  He grinned.

Rodney pulled his out to charge and get into it.  It came out fully charged, which was nice.  It took ten minutes to set his personal preferences and that was the first ten minutes because that was the start and tutorial section.  By the time he was done he had found a picture of Atlantis put on as the background, his colors were chosen, his speed was chosen, his music was downloaded from his phone with an included cable that had adapters for the various plug shapes, and he had made sure the collar would stay put, which it would.  He looked up.  "I hate you for making me this."

Tony smiled.  "iPads suck."

"They do," he agreed.  "They're better than some things though."

"Yes, but the Starkpad is so much nicer and more useful for real things beyond watching funny cat videos.  Though you can get YouTube.  Might need to update flash player at first but after that it'll automatically update if you want."

"I did update it, that was part of the setup tutorial section."  He got onto netflix, since it was an app option.  He was happily watching it when the video went dead.  "Stark?"

He looked and tapped it.  "Screen time out, Rodney."  Rodney adjusted that and went back to watching it.  He moaned when it was done.  Tony gave him a smug look. "Priced the same as an iPad too.  Eighty percent made in the US components."

"I hate you."

Tony laughed.  "Welcome."  He finished Rodney's project and got into other ones.  "Callia likes watching bollywood on hers."

"She can use it?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah, I built her a kid safe one so she'd quit taking mine, with filters.  So she can't get into more porn."

"She did?" Bruce demanded, glaring at him.

"You didn't hear about her finding a tentacle fuck or die story on my computer by hitting links?"  Bruce shuddered.  "She found it and told Andrew the heros were all huggy and kissy but the roomba dog's tentacle was nicer."  Rodney burst out cackling.  "Yeah.  She's too smart for me, guys."

"It's because she's a girl," Dawn said from the doorway.  "JARVIS, put the video up in here please."  She left.

They stared at the video of the protest about Atlantis not being in space.  "We've tried," Rodney said dryly.  "Someone make me more ZPM's and I'll gladly lift her off again."

"We need to do that somewhere else," Tony noted.  Rodney nodded that was true.  He texted Dawn, making her come in to make them more coffee.  "How serious are they?"

She walked over and pointed.  "That's a senator and his aide next to him.  Not from California but Utah and if I remember right he's part of that group that hates us for being too technical for his pea brain."

Tony heard her phone barely chirp and saw her back tense up for a second.  She didn't moan at least.  "Phone," he said, holding out a hand.

"What?" she asked.  He snatched it off the holder she carried it in.  "Hey."

"I'm going to fine him for this."

"For...." she said, playing innocent.

"You suck at lying," Rodney said.  "Go have sex in a storage room."

"No," Tony said.  "No sex in the storage rooms or I take five hundred off your paycheck."

"Why would anyone want to have sex in a storage room?  They're dusty.  Things in there aren't well stored for the most part."

"Plenty of places to sit or lean on," Rodney quipped.

"Yeah but most of those are improperly stored failed projects that might create another energy monster.  Then I'd have to be more than zapped back onto a normal rhythm thanks to it.  I didn't like that the first time and we weren't having sex then."  She took her phone back but Tony took it back and turned it off, giving her a pointed look.  She rolled her eyes.  "Nothing to do today, boss.  All the reports are done, all the monthly and yearly ones are done.  Unless you want me to go do an inventory?"

"No, they'd probably come to help.  I might like you with them but we don't want to give the geeks bad ideas, Dawn."

"I give them plenty of bad ideas.  That's why Andrew and Jonathan are working on clothing dissolvers."  She walked off.  She sent that mentally at Clint, but when she got back to her desk, her backup phone went off.  She quieted that one.

Pepper walked out and took it.  "Tony told me.  That's so mean of them."

"I wore them out last night," she said, glancing around then stared at her.  "I had to help them to bed, Pepper."

"Awww, that's sweet of you."  She patted her on the head.  "Remember, dinner with your mother later."

"They know."

Pepper cackled.  "I love you three together, Dawn."  She took the phone back to her office but she dropped it on the shelves behind Dawn's desk.  It could probably work through the wall.  Yup, the next time it rang, Dawn let out a tiny moan.  "I always thought she was loud."  She was bored too so she was looking up maternity clothes.  There weren't many.  "Am I nursing?" she asked herself, staring at the nursing bras.

"Try one of the kink ones to see if you can stand them," Dawn quipped.  She came in to find one of the bras that was basically an underwire bra but it had no covering over the nipple area.  "Same thing only nursing ones you wear pads in case you leak."  She walked off.

Pepper compared them.  "Nursing bras have a flap and a spot for the pad."  She ordered one of the kinky ones.  It'd hold her up better.  "I can't find any decent maternity clothes."

"Your usual shops and Ann Taylor take special requests," Dawn called.

She called up her usual shop for her business suits.  "Hi, it's Virginia Potts.  I needed to ask about maternity lines."  She smiled, leaning back in her chair.  "Five months, near the end.  Just barely showing.  Everything's getting too tight."  She made notes.  "That's really reasonable for that extra fabric.  I can be in later.  Thank you."  She hung up.  "Thanks, Dawn."

"Welcome."  She tensed as her phone went off again.  She came in to find it and look since Clint had said it wasn't them.  "Stark."  She walked down there.  "What's up, boss?"

He stared at her.  "I know Pepper has your backup phone so no mental sex games either."

She hugged him and kissed him on the temple.  "You'll make a really fussy dad some year soon when Callia starts having boy or girlfriends."  She smirked at him.  "Problems beyond you thinking I have something to do beyond shop online today?"

"Schedule the christmas shopping group wtih Callia."

"I've already done all of mine and I can schedule yours with extra guards because she's going to go nuts."  She smiled.  "Should I include anyone beyond you and Steve?"

"Do an all adult one, one or two with her, get extra guards in case we need it with her, and make sure you're on one so you can help her buy things for us."

"I can do that.  Are we hitting FAO?"

"No," he said bluntly.  "I know she adores that mega toy store but it'll be a huge tragedy in the making.  Find us nice, quieter stores."

"Got it.  Am I looking at stuff for Pepper for you again this year?  She's still fondling the necklace you bought her from Tiffany's."

"Please."  He smiled.  "And tell them to leave you alone.  They have each other."

"Not like I won't hear if they want me to," she said dryly, strolling off.

"I never got that much," Tony told the guys.

"You weren't in love with two people," Bruce said.  "You only had Pepper and yourself, plus whatever mealy-minded hooker you picked up."

"Unfortunately true," he sighed.  "Even then I was only capable of two hours a night.  They go for *hours*.  Somehow, last night someone had sex so great the building shook.  Twice!"

"That was probably Coulson and Xander.  The sensors you were looking at this morning were energy readings," Rodney pointed out.

"Probably.  Still!"

They smiled.  "She's twenty," Bruce said.

"Fine.  She still can't have sex at work.  It'll give the other geeks bad ideas.  We've already broken up one orgy in chemistry a few weeks back because they were screwing around with pheromones.  Thankfully MB and Patty ran for their boyfriends before they got pounced and they hosed down the lab with the fire system before we walked into it."

Rodney shook his head.  "I've seen whole dorms that would've done that but not outside of college."

Tony snorted.  "Some people never really leave college behind."

"We bring it to outside labs and expect a teacher to be there to tell us no," Bruce agreed dryly.  "I've worked with a few of those.  For a few days I had a rolled up newspaper approach with all new lab assistants."  Tony cackled and nodded.

Rodney shook his head.  "I'm glad most of mine are older."

"One of mine was sixty and she was using one of those phone connected vibrators on herself," Bruce told him.

Rodney gaped.  "Eww."  He walked off shaking his head.  Him, his newest cup of really good coffee, and his new technical baby could go back to Atlantis for a while so he could clear his head.  Before he remembered that the Marines used to have orgies before and after big battles.

Tony and Bruce smirked at each other and got back to work.  Rodney was hell on the nerves sometimes but he was fun to tease and watch him react.

***

Dawn walked into Pepper's office with a smile.  "He has me planning holiday shopping trips.  Two with Callia, one adult only one."

She smiled.  "I can go on those."

"Want me to find the sites for him to pick something from?"

"Is that how you did it last year?"

"No, last year I picked two sites and handed him them, told him you'd want something like them.  He picked out which thing."

Pepper beamed and sniffled.  "Usually I had to buy my own from him."

"Well, now he's more adult.  Being a daddy does that."  She smiled.  "I'm going to pop over so I can coordinate those with Maria for a few minutes.  Get you anything?"

"Just flash over so you don't get snatched for being pretty today." Pepper wiped off the few tears.

Dawn hugged her.  "He took my phone."

"I know."

"He threatened to fine me five hundred bucks if I stooped low enough to sex in a  storage room.  I told him I had more class than that."

She giggled.  "You do, we both do."  Dawn nodded and flashed over to HQ.  Pepper went to hug Tony then to the caf to get something to nibble on.  Carrots and wasabi ketchup sounded good right now.

Dawn appeared on the admin area.  "Hi, Mom."  She hugged her.  She walked over to Maria.  "Stark has me planning the holiday shopping trips.  Should I plan for an extra one with Callia helping your hellions?"

She smiled.  "They might like that.  Melissa hates to shop, but if Callia's there she plays the guy and gives babbling advice like 'cute'."

"It's Christmas," someone said snottily.

Dawn looked at him.  "Before there was Christmas, which you stole, there was Solstice, which has been around since before writing.  Since your religion stole it to get converts by irregular means, shove it up your ass before I shove it for you."  He stomped off to  complain to Fury.  Dawn rolled her eyes.  "Some people are like toddlers even when they're adults."

"Please don't turn him into one.  I'd hate to see how nasty he was when someone had to change his diapers."  Dawn cracked and cackled, hugging her.  "Thank you.  Let me know where we're going.  I only know the stores in the news."

"He wants smaller ones."  She smiled at Fury.  "Did I offend the baby man," she cooed in baby talk at him.  "You poor thing!  Maybe if you're lucky, someone will change your nappy and give you a bottle of juice or some applesauce and cheerios."  He growled and attacked her.  Dawn kicked him around then did a spin kick to his jaw, knocking him down.  She smoothed down her dress.  "Feel better?  Does that mean you're more free now to confess that you really need a collar and leash set from a Domme to get off?"  He crawled off.  "Not that there's anything wrong with it, but if you admit it you'll feel better.  You'll be a better agent if you quit lying to yourself about your needs and skills."

"He would," Hill agreed.  "We all learned that long ago."

Dawn smiled at the director.  "Arranging holiday shopping trips."

"That's fine," he agreed.  "Coulson's around here somewhere."

"I know where his office is," she quipped with a smile.  He came off the elevator.  She focused on his neck.  "Oh my god," she said, pouncing him to hug him.  "That's so great!"

He pushed her back to look at her.  "Are you drugged again?"

She stared at him.  "Oh, you don't know," she sighed, taking him to the library to find that book. She pulled it down and flipped to it, handing it to him.  "He marked you."

"We marked each other."  He read it, blinking at it.  "Um...  Huh.  I didn't know that."

"I'm not sure if Xander knows that."  She hugged him again.  "Super congrats!"  She smiled.  "Holiday shopping with the twins?"

"Please do plan one for me too."  She smiled and disappeared to tell the others.  He carried the book up, rereading it.  Xander appeared in the elevator looking confused but reading over his shoulder.  Phil looked at him.

"I had no idea," he admitted.  "Huh."  He looked at the third step and pointed.  "That one looks familiar."

"It does," he said, blinking and licking his lips.  "Huh."  Xander smiled.  He closed the book and tucked it under his arm.  "It makes it even more memorable and special."  He quit slowing down the elevator and they got off, heading back.  "Maria, I can take the twins during one of the shopping trips."  He looked at Xander.

"I can help guard them."

"That'll work," Maria said with a smile.  She knew Xander was nervous around kids.  It was fine with her and Tara.  "We can bring Callia so Melissa doesn't scream at the shopping."

Phil smiled slightly.  "That works?"

She nodded.  "Then she'll call things cute or scowl if they look too slutty.  Mine for the Marine Corps ball is backless and I got scowled at but Callia thought I looked like her Auntie in it."

"Sounds beautiful."  He grinned.  "Let me know when and I'll be back up tonight for bedtime stories."

"Sure."  Phil and Xander walked off.  She followed.  "Agent Coulson, I did not want to ask as your superior officer, but what is the injury on your neck from?"

"Teeth marks," he said with a smirk.  He opened up the book to the right spot and showed her.  "We weren't aware but ...."  She nearly squealed and hugged them, they could tell she was holding herself back.  He ducked his head a bit.  "It's probably permanent."

"I'll make note in your identifying marks file."  He tapped a spot and she nodded subtly.  "Both of them."  She looked at Xander, seeing one through the gapping part of the old t-shirt's stretched out neckline.  "Wonderful news, gentlemen.  Have a good day."  She walked off to tell Joyce, who could squeal for her for a bit.  She'd squeal later with Tara.

"No more cooing," Fury complained.  He yelped as something hit his ass in a way that stung.  "Who did that?"  He looked up.  No Barton.

Joyce put away her slingshot with a smile.  "Did what, sir?"

He stared at her.  Then calmed himself.  "Whatever," he said, glaring at her.  She smiled more happily.  He walked off shaking his head.  He was a full grown man but Joyce would probably always be a mother that insisted on certain things.  Including not picking on her girls or any stray kids she adopted.  Her having used the slingshot was a good thing.  He sent Maria a text message to test her aim with it so they could put it into her files.

Maria looked over.  "Joyce, if you show you can use a weapon we have to test you on it to put down your competencies."  She smiled.  "The range is on the third floor down.  Take Coulson, he did all of Dawn's with Romanoff."

"Yes, Maria.  Get you something when I come back?"

"If you swing by the caf get me some orange juice please.  I don't want to come down with John's cold."  Joyce smiled and nodded, heading down there.  Maria shook her head subtly.  Phil could have fun with that testing.  Joyce could tease him over his new claiming bite.  She adjusted Phil's file for him and resealed it.

***

Phil got summoned to the infirmary.  "Yes?" he asked the waiting doctor.

"Anytime a new scar or identifying mark is put into your file, it triggers a warning for us to verify it."

"That's fine."  He undid his tie and his top two buttons to show him so he could verify it.

"Were you bitten by a wild animal, Agent Coulson?"

"No, I was not.  It was a consensual mark."

He looked at him.  "By...."

"I was married off to someone, which is known by the director, and we enjoyed it," he said bluntly.  He moved his shirt off his side to show that one.  "There's also that one."

"I have a good bruise cream and we do have counselors here who can help you get out of an abusing relationship," he said.

"It's not abusive.  I created one just as good on him," he said dryly.  "And no thank you.  If it fades that's fine."  He tucked back in his shirt but left his top collar button undone and his tie a bit loose.  It was nearly three-thirty.  "Anything else you need?"

"I'd like for you to talk to them anyway."

"Why?  Because I enjoyed having sex with my spouse?  It was a fantastic night."  The doctor blushed.  He gave him his bland look.  "Were there forms needed to be filled out and signed?"

"I really do have to tell the director that you have bruises from a relationship."  Phil sighed and called him down himself.  "Sir," he said when Fury walked in.  "Agent Coulson's health and life are in jeopardy.  I believe he's in an abusive relationship and he's denying it.  I want to put him in for mandatory counseling."

"I pointed out me enjoying my mate wasn't a problem, sir."

"Bruises?" he demanded.  Phil moved his collar.  "I did that to girlfriend once.  She smacked the hell out of me."

"I created a slightly larger one on him, sir."  He smiled and got the book.  "We were unaware."

Fury read that section and looked at him.  Coulson pointed at his side.  Fury shut the book.  "It's not abusive, it's claiming behavior.  Like teenagers giving each other hickies.  Though I thought you were older than that," he told Coulson.

"Sir, it was so good we created two mini earthquakes," he said dryly.

"I did not need to know," he said bluntly, handing back the book.  "Put them into his file and no mandatory counseling. I doubt you'll make him hate having sex with his husband at this late date since he learned he'd enjoy it."  He walked off after grabbing a few packets of headache pills.

Phil looked at the doctor.  "Is there anything else?"

"It can't be healthy."

"On the contrary, it's very healthy.  We talked for quite a while when we were forced together.  I know more about him than I may know about myself.  He's taught me a great many things that I didn't know I liked, including chopping wood and adding onto his cabin."  He smirked.  "But because of your problem with my relationship I'm switching my health care to Stark's infirmary.  Thank you for sending my records over today."

He walked off.  He sent up a memo to that effect, getting back a 'fine' from Fury.  He found out later that the doctor had thrown a fit and sent him for mandatory counseling anyway.  He walked into their office before he left for the day.  "Our doctor sent me here because apparently he hates that I like my current relationship.  His bias against me being with a man is irrelevant and I do not think I need to see any of you."

"I had someone pull up the infirmary security files, Agent Coulson.  You were made to be married?"

"Gaia decided that I am Alexander's true mate.  We are well suited so she picked well.  We spent quite a bit of time talking before we moved any further than angry."

"Where?"

"Here and at his cabin on Asgard.  I even brought the twins with me."

The therapist smiled.  "Then claiming bites don't surprise me.  They're a bit more wild up there."

"Actually they have their rules and codes of civilization but they are a warrior culture.  I'm now mated to one of the top warriors."  He smirked slightly.  "We are well suited as we found out."

"That's fine.  I don't need to see you for hickies."

"It may not fade."

"That's between you two," he said bluntly.  "Like the director said once, as long as it's a healthy thing I don't care who sticks what where but I will note in your file that you're not be sent on anything that has a high chance of having to use sexual methods to get information."

"Thank you.  I hadn't thought about that.  Might you also put that in some other's files?"

"When I heard the rumors I asked.  They said to leave it for now.  That the director knew.  I think with their higher profiles it'd be a bad idea anyway."

Phil nodded.  "Thank you."  He left, going home to play with Xander and the twins.

The therapist smiled and made his notes, then sealed the incident in his files.  He had another one to look over.  Apparently someone was lying to himself about his submissive urges so much it had come out at anger for a strong woman that wasn't overseeing him.  He'd have to wait until he was healed to start their working over of his problems but he could do that.

***

Joyce hugged Clint.  "Welcome, dear."  She kissed him on the cheek.  "No sex games at my table.  I remember when they all had wires," she said quietly.  "So none with her phone tonight."  She hugged Natasha and walked off.  "I made lasagna.  Hope you're hungry."

"We are," Clint said with a grin for Dawn.  "We forgot lunch."

"I've done that," Dawn said with a grin.  She put down the schedule in front of them.  "The holiday shopping trips if you're joining us.  That one is adults only."  She kissed both of them and went to help her mother.

Clint put it into his back pocket.  "That'll work for us too probably."  Bruce came in.  "Hey, Doc."

"Clint, Natasha.  Dawn already here?"  They pointed in the kitchen.  He smiled.  "She did learn well from her mother."  He patted Clint on the shoulder as he walked behind him.  Joyce took him to kiss and hug.  Dawn giggled and gave them some privacy.  He smirked.  "Lasagna?"

"Of course.  I know how much you like it and so does Natasha."  She pinched him on the nipple and winked.  He smirked, going upstairs to change and clean up for dinner.  It was always fun to have the trio over.  He and Clint found something to talk about while the ladies chatted about things.  This time it was about the upcoming holiday shopping trips.  He had a few suggestions of places for them to go.  Clint had one too, an old fashioned candy store.  The kids would love all the single serve candy.  So would Stark.  Dawn grinned at that idea.  She made out a list of them and it was good.  They could help and help her guard Callia.

The kids were going to go spastic.

Especially the twins.  John would hug everyone.  Melissa would pout at the shopping but try to pickpocket Santa like she had 'take a picture with the farm animals' helper.  Maria had been so proud even if Tara had been a bit horrified.  Phil had been proud but reminded them they weren't agents yet so they didn't need to do that.  They had listened to daddy.

"I think I found Tara a wedding dress," Dawn said.  Her mother smiled at her for that.  "It's silver and white.  Remember her corset dresses?  It's one of those with a less than full skirt.  It'll look great on her."

"Sounds adorable.  Show her?"

"I sent her a picture but I never heard back yet."

"I'm not sure if her new phone does picture texts or not," Joyce admitted.  "Send it to me and I'll make sure she gets it."  Dawn did that and she smiled.  "Oh, that is charming and just so Tara.  Good choice, dear."

"Thanks, Mom."  She dug in and looked at Bruce.  "I got to meet Sean the other day.  He had colic and Buffy was desperate for a nap and some Hylal carrying time."  He snorted, covering his mouth before he spit since he had food in his mouth while laughing.  "We went for coffee and some anti gas stuff.  He kept trying to chew on my collar.  He's cute, but huge."

"Fourteen pounds," Joyce agreed.  "They come bigger on Asgard."

"Thor certainly is but Xander's normal sized," Clint quipped.

Dawn grinned.  "You'd have to ask Phil that."  Clint choked, shaking his head.  "And about the pretty new claiming mark on his neck."  Natasha stared at her, mouth slightly open.  Clint was staring too.  She touched her neck.  "Here.  Huge bruise and teeth marks from what I saw.  I'm pretty sure Xander has one too.  I found a source on what had happened.  There's no way even the other Gods can split them up now."

"Aww," Joyce said, sniffling some.  "That's wonderful!"  She squeezed Bruce's hand.

"It is.  Phil deserves to be happy and so does Xander."

"Why is Xander scared of the twins?" Natasha asked.  "I didn't take him as scared of his reactions with them."

Dawn grimaced.  "Way long ago, back when Rome was an empire, somehow Xander was trapped there for about a decade.  Had a wife.  Had a few kids."  Natasha shuddered.  "Yeah.  I know there's a larger story but that's all I know.  That something happened to that family."

"So he's probably worried about getting too close," Clint said.  "I have that worry.  That or it might make them a target some day."

Dawn shook her head.  "We have the kids concealed from anyone looking for them.  Unless it's an emergency, no one can find the twins if they're *looking* for them."  She stared at him.  He suddenly got it and smiled.  She nodded.  "They're still mostly innocent so we can do that.  Even if Melissa does love to gum on Maria's guns."  She ate a bite of food.

"So, if it's someone against Coulson, who went looking to snatch them, then they couldn't find them?" Natasha asked.

"No, they can't," Joyce said.  "I made sure of that myself.  Unless they've been snatched by someone and then we can find them."

"Frankly, I marked them like Clint's arrows.  They can be summoned if I'm close enough,"' Dawn said.  "It's on the silver and black pendant in my jewelry box that I never wear."  Joyce smiled at her for that thought.  "If there's other kids in the family we'd do the same.  I have a marking on Callia so I can find her.  The same one I have on her father and Pepper.  That's how I found Tony during the goo clone thing."

Clint nodded.  "That was handy."  Natasha nodded since she was chewing.  "Doesn't that take a lot of energy?"

"No, the marking doesn't.  The summoning can if you're not really close by."

"Good to know," Clint decided.  "Did you do it to us?"

"No, I can find you two in other ways," she said dryly.

"We totally ran Rodney back to Atlantis earlier," Bruce said with a grin for her.  "Talking about your sex life."

She kitty smirked at him.  "Cool.  Did you get my main phone from Stark?"

"Nope, didn't think about it.  Sorry."

"That's all right.  I'll get it tomorrow."

Joyce laughed.  "It's not like you had anything to do today."

"No, I spent all day looking up gift ideas.  I even found one to suggest to Tony.  Plus two other sites."

"That's better than her buying her own like Tony said she used to," Bruce agreed.

"Last year I handed him two sites and said she'd like something from them, no matter what it was.  He got happy and got her that pretty necklace that she fondles."

"If those two could work it out, they'd be a great couple, or trio with Steve," Bruce agreed.  Dawn nodded with a grin.  "Who knows what'll happen if Stark finally grows up."

"Probably a lot less lab time."  She looked at her mother.  "Some day he's going to have to watch Callia go to dances and on dates."  She cackled and patted her on the hand.  "I pointed that out earlier."

"He used to bang his head against the wall whenever someone reminded him Callia would be a teenager some day," Bruce said with a smile.

"I can't imagine having a teenage girl," Clint said, looking at Natasha.

"I was working then," she pointed out.

"So was I," Dawn quipped.  "And earlier I wasn't even allowed to date thanks to Buffy stalking me."  She shook her head and ate some salad.  Her phone rang.  "Yup," she said through it.  She heard the fussing.  "Buffy, I'm having dinner with Mom, Bruce, Clint, and Natasha.  I'll see if I can.  Or... Xander, can you go kidnap Buffy, Hylal, and Sean?" she called.  They appeared so Dawn hung up, taking her nephew.  "Hi, sweetheart."

Sean stared at her, looking startled.  He made grunty noises.  "I think that's a hungry noise," Joyce said.  "Did you bring up formula, Buffy?"

"I got told I had to breastfeed him, and I don't know why," Buffy complained.

"Not like you've been putting out any," Dawn said.

"No, I haven't.  I never did.  I think that's the slayer stuff but I never had milk for either kid."  She sat down and took him back.  Hylal handed over the bag with the supplies so Joyce could find the formula and make a bottle, which he watched.  He had no idea how that was done.  It was warmed and Dawn fed the baby.  Sean settled into her arms, patting the breast he was leaning against.  Buffy sighed.  "You're better at it than I am."

"I had some practice with Callia," she said, staring at her.  Buffy smiled at her for that.  "You can do it.  You're a slayer; you can handle a bit of trouble like Sean."

"I hope so."  She took him back and he fussed.  "Hey, I'm the mommy."

"He probably likes the more padded nature," Clint said.  "Babies love Natasha for the same reason."  Natasha nodded.

Buffy looked at her chest then at her son.  "I know I'm a bit skinny but you took all my extra weight."  Dawn took him back and settled in to eat while he did.  "Thanks, Dawn.  Hi, Mom, hi, Bruce."

Joyce handed her a full plate then Hylal one.  They both smiled and kissed her on the cheek before digging in.  "Thank you, Joyce," Hylal said.  "You need this recipe," he told his wife.

"I don't have the energy to cook right now, Hylal."

"I know."  He smiled.  "If we have it, we can ask Talsa to make it for us."  She giggled and nodded.

"You could ask her if she'd lend you a housekeeping nagging old lady," Dawn quipped.  "They're a bit bored at the temple."

"I'll see if I can bum someone from Xander," Buffy agreed.  She looked at her son.  "You look good like that."

"Some year," Dawn said.

Clint smiled and nodded, not staring at her.  "Some year we can do that."

Natasha smiled at the baby, who was trying to wake up.  She took him and he cooed then fell asleep on her chest and shoulder.  "There, you rest.  Your aunt does."

"I don't drool like him," Dawn quipped, handing her a napkin to put under his head.  It was arranged and the baby slept, which Buffy sent up a prayer of thanks for.  She was giving Natasha soft, squishy looks like Clint was.  It'd probably never happen but maybe some year.  She texted Tara to let her know Buffy, the baby, and Hylal were in.  She demanded the baby come over.  She showed her sister and ate some more.

"If Tara wants to babysit with the twins, sure," she agreed quickly.  "Definitely.  We'd get to sleep again, babe."

"Sleeping would be nice.  My sons have offered to watch him so we may rest."

"Your sons offered to watch him so we could give him a new baby sister," Buffy corrected.  "Not so we could sleep."

Hylal smiled.  "Perhaps."

She smirked.  "We'll see.  He was huge and I'm still sore."

He chuckled.  "There are cures for that."

"Yup, hot baths with chocolates to nibble on and bubbles."

Dawn texted Tony, getting permission back.  "The penthouse at the building is open so you guys can bum it for a few days, Buffy.  It has a hot tub."

"I'd like that."  She smiled at her husband, who smirked back.  "Sure, we can stay for a few days.  I'll make sure we don't leave it a mess."

"The twins come up to crawl around sometimes," Dawn offered.  Buffy laughed and they had a good family dinner then got cabs back to the building.  Stark was there with the keys.  "Thanks, boss."

"Welcome."  He looked.  "Your big sister wants to see you tomorrow."  He lifted him, grunting at the weight.  "You're huge, Sean.  Much bigger than Callia.  Don't pounce her with it, okay?  She'll want to go back to karate and I hated the instructor."  He handed him back.  "She'll pounce him tomorrow."

"That's fine.  Tara demanded to see him tonight."

"Stay for a few days, Buffy.  Cleveland's covered."  He handed her the keys and Clint Dawn's phone.  Then he walked off.

"Left it at the office?" Buffy guessed.  "You had one at dinner."

"That's my backup phone.  This one's my main one.  And no, not quite."  She got them up to the penthouse while Natasha told Tara.  The twins got brought up and they gummed on Sean, who fussed at John doing it but cooed at Melissa.

"Ours!" Melissa demanded to her mother and Buffy.

Tara blinked at her.  "That's very forceful, daughter.  We're babysitting, the same as we do Callia, Carrot, and Cheese."

"Ours," Melissa told Maria.  Who smiled.

"You can babysit Sean, Melissa.  It's not a problem.  You can have him all night."

Phil and Xander walked in.  "Mine!" Melissa shouted at her father, keeping him from picking up the baby.

"Of course I'm your father, daughter."  He picked her up to cuddle.  "Can't I cuddle Sean?"

"Mine."

"He's yours to *babysit*," Tara corrected more firmly.  Buffy was giggling against Hylal's arm.

Xander picked him up to look at him.  "It's great when girls start fighting over you but remember, love spells will get you killed when they lose their minds."  He put him back down.  Melissa wiggled down to pounce him.  Xander plucked her up to look at her.  "No pouncing.  You're bigger than him and can hurt him."  He put her back down.  She cuddled instead.  "Nice, thank you, Melissa."  She smirked at her mother, patting the baby's stomach.  It made him belch but she burped back and giggled.

"It's like baby love," Dawn quipped.

"It is," Phil agreed, smiling at his little girl.  "It's great that you love him, Melissa.  John?"  He pouted and patted the baby, which made him fuss.  "Want to hug me instead?"  John beamed and crawled over to him to pounce.  "Good pounce, son."  He hugged him.

Dawn got up.  "Coo at the babies, people.  We're busy tonight but I'll see you tomorrow, Buffy.  Probably with Callia."  She strolled out with Clint and Natasha.

Natasha stopped them once they were inside their apartment.  "It is not time yet.  No matter how squishy we all feel it's not time yet."

"It's not," Dawn agreed.

Clint nodded.  "Soon but not yet."  They smiled at him.  "What if something happens?  I know that Dawn takes Callia if something happens to Tony and Pepper."

"Actually, if something happens to Tara and Phil both, and Tara's not changed her will, I get the twins."  They nodded.  "And Sean."  That got another nod.  "She would've named Mom but with her health...  She wasn't sure it would stand up and something like CPS wouldn't complain about her health."

"That's reasonable though," Clint agreed.  "Nothing's going to happen to them."

"No, nothing should.  Buffy finally has competent, permanent backup who can put up with her pouty moods."  They grinned at her.  She stretched and pulled down her hair, scratching where it had been pulled together.  "So, beyond kids...."

Clint teased her by kissing her and pulling closer.  He set off her phone, making Dawn moan.  "I've been waiting all day to hear that."

She smiled.  "I did good and didn't have to retreat to the bathroom more than once."

He teased her panties.  "I can feel they're damp.  'Tasha, she's really damp."

"If I had that inside me all day I would be too."  She took her own kiss.  She found the remote and flipped it on the mildest level, making Dawn shift her stance and moan again into Clint's lips.  She took her from him to have for now.  "That's a very nice sound."  She turned it up slightly and Dawn ground against her thigh.  "That's my princess."  She took them to the bedroom.

Dawn got carefully stripped out of the dress and the panties.  The bra got left on.  It was one of those open ones that she had shown Pepper earlier.  They had picked it on purpose for later playing.  Dawn was proudly encased but mostly open to teasing nips and licks.  The garter belt got removed.  The stockings wilted some but that was fine.  They'd come off later.  "You didn't clean the toy," she chided.

"I meant to.  Sorry."

"It's all right.  I got it this morning and Loki was most confused about it.  He was under the couch batting at it to see if it was his sort of toy."  Dawn giggled.  So did Clint.  She took another kiss.  "On your back on the bed.  Spread out for me."  Dawn did that.  She even left on the shoes.  Natasha smiled, taking the hose down and off, then putting the shoes beside the bed.  "We might want those later."  She leaned down to kiss over the dampness.  "Hmm.  It's been a long day of you being ready for me."

She moved in to lick her better.  Dawn panted, clutching the bed.  Clint was stripped down and sitting beside them on the bed.  Natasha got off her and stripped then licked her lips.  "I can feel the vibration.  It's quite delicate."  She turned it up slightly more.  "I wish to feel more."  She got back onto the bed but arranged them so their pussies were touching and could slide against each other.  She turned up the egg all the way, making Dawn yelp, arch up, and then moan.  Natasha pouted.  "I can't feel it as well."

"There's ways around that," Clint said, taking the toy out of Dawn with a bit of mild groping.  He got them something he had found earlier.  He and Natasha had went to a sex shop and had shot some dirty pictures at Dawn.  He handed her the double sided dildo.

Natasha smiled and helped them insert it.  He handed over the remote to her and she flipped it on, earning a moan from Dawn and her.  It was a strong vibration.  She could feel it into her thighs.  This was not a subtle instrument by any means.  They teased each other with it, which was nice.  Then Natasha clamped down on it and used it more firmly on Dawn, who groaned and let her.  Clint smiled, leaning down to kiss Dawn then her.  "I believe it's my turn in the center."

"If you want the middle, you've got it," Clint promised.  He plucked out the toy, slowly withdrawing it from Natasha, who was shivering.  "How do you want it?"

"This way."  She crawled up Dawn to kiss her then down to tease her some more.  Clint slid into her and she looked back.  "You can do better."

"Of course I can.  Just warming you up."  He smirked and leaned down to brace himself better then got to work.  Hard, fast, making Natasha writhe against Dawn's body.  Maybe he had eaten too much at dinner.  He was going to be worn out.  Natasha was sucking the energy from his body.  When she finally came he smiled at Dawn.  Natasha limply laid there while he pulled out.  He teased her still twitching body, earning a swat.  He laughed and teased her clit until she let out a tiny, soft moan of pleasure then left her there.

"That's evil," Natasha complained.

Dawn kissed her and teased her into that last orgasm.  Then she kissed Clint.  "You look tired."

"I am a bit tired."  He pulled her closer.  "Which is why you're doing all the work until I have more energy."

"I might finish knocking you out."

"No you won't."  He smirked and flipped them over so she was on top.  "Clean me up, Dawn."  She kitty smirked and slowly nibbled and licked her way down to do that.  He liked that.  It made him a happy boy that might get hard again before an hour was up.  Her mouth was like sin so he hopefully would.

Natasha rolled over to dig into the drawer they kept the sex toys in.  "I had sent for something special."

"That's for Saturday, when we all have it off," Clint said, squeezing her hand.  He looked at Dawn.  "You do have it off?"

"I have to have a paper done by Monday; I was going to write while you two watched tv."

"That's more than reasonable," he said with a grin.  "We like you in geek mode."

"Which class?" Natasha asked.

"Intermediate Arabic."

"That we can help with."

She smiled.  "It's a book report in Arabic on a book read in Arabic.  The teacher has the worst taste in books.  They were all romance novels.  Eww."  She shrugged and went back to cleaning and teasing Clint's cock.  He slowly came back up and she smiled.  "Good, it's my greedy turn."

"Greedy?" Natasha asked with a grin.

"You two teased me all day."

"There was something there to sate some of it."

Dawn got up and cleaned it then helpfully put it in her and turned it on at the level it had been in her all day.  "Really?"

Natasha shifted.  "No, it's not big enough for real relief," she said.  She was wiggling some but Dawn had the remote.  She smirked.  "I could use a higher level."

Dawn smirked.  "I had it there for eight hours."  Natasha moaned because that meant that she'd be wearing it all night.  Dawn slid down Clint's cock, smirking at him.  "You that tired?"

"Hell no."

"Good."  She shifted and rode him until she was getting close.  He was trying hard not to grab onto her.  "I could use it," she panted.  He flipped them over, trapping her underneath him so he could give her what she really wanted, which was harder, faster, and deeper than Dawn could get on her own.   In the position they landed in, one of her legs was over his arm while he helped by teasing her clit.  Natasha was teasing her own because that toy was going to drive her nuts soon.  Clint moaned as Dawn finally came and followed, kissing her.  She smiled at him, kissing him again.  "Thank you for curing the gnawing ache of need."

"You're more than welcome."  He kissed her again then they kissed Natasha, pulling up the sheet to settle in for the night.

"I'll never get to sleep like this."  Dawn grabbed Natasha's phone and hit redial.  Natasha nearly shrieked as she jumped.  Dawn grinned  at her.  "That's evil.  We will have to limit the use to less than an hour."  She hung up the phone and tossed it.  Dawn pulled her closer to kiss her while Clint pulled the tiny vibrating ball out.  She panted.  Clint teased her until she could relax.  Natasha swallowed her panting, staring at Dawn.  "I'll make sure it never goes more than two hours."

Dawn kissed her.  "I didn't mind."  She took another kiss and cuddled Natasha to her shoulder.  Natasha draped herself across Dawn in a boneless, sweaty heap.  Clint got Dawn's other side and it was nice.  Dawn made a good pillow for them too.

***

Xander slid into Phil's lap, running his hands up Phil's chest before kissing him by holding his head.

"Not yet," he said.  Xander pouted.  "Sorry, I have to go over a few mission briefings for the morning."

"You get to bring those home?"

"I'm going to pin them in the elevator in the morning before they have the chance to think it'll be a good day."

"Ah."  He slid down next to him.  "We can cuddle if you want."

Phil smiled.  "Let me read first."  Xander nodded and settled in to watch some tv quietly.  Phil turned it up on him so he could hear too.  Then he handed the remote back.

"You're pushy tonight."

"I take those moods."  They shared a look.  "You're pouty so I guess it's my turn to be the husband?"

Xander poked him.  "Not likely."

Phil laughed.  "Fine, but still."

"PMS?" he guessed a few minutes later.

"A bit sore but no bleeding yet," Phil said dryly.  He put things aside and pounced.  Xander moaned and accepted it.  A nice, slow blow job and Phil getting off then he got back to his mission briefings while Xander lounged next to him in a happier mood.  Finally he had all his facts and sealed them in his safe, then came back to distract Xander.  Who was seriously involved in the movie.  So he got them dinner and cuddled in to watch it with him.  Xander ate while watching and it was peaceful and calm.  A bit different but he had this with Tara.  Only Tara wouldn't growl and pounce him now and then.

Xander looked at him.  "You want me to growl and pounce?"

"No.  Sunday."  Xander laughed but nodded.  "I have it off and Monday off because I'll be flying out that night on a mission."

Xander kissed him.  "That's fine."  They went back to the movie and it was good.

"Oh, please!  Not even Widow can do that," Phil snorted, cracking Xander up.  That got him hugged and cuddled.  Which was a nice way to spend the night.

***

Clint got onto the elevator in the morning, finding Phil following him and Natasha.  "Damn, we can't even wait until work?"  Phil handed over the files.  He grimaced.  "We were hoping for a day off together."

"We leave Sunday.  Natasha, yours is in town so be careful."

"I can do so."  She grimaced but sent a thought at Dawn that she'd have to cancel dinner plans.  Dawn quipped that was fine, she understood their jobs.  She could make dinner at home that night.  Clint sent a thank you and a blown kiss, then said he'd be leaving Sunday.  That worked well and it was nice.  Natasha might be done by Saturday, if she was really lucky.  He was going to be lucky to be done in a week.

Phil shrugged.  "Sorry, people.  They come as they do."  That got a nod and they went to work together, working out how to handle Natasha's case while Phil was off with Clint for at least a week in the middle of nearly nowhere.

***

Dawn strolled into work that morning, looking at the waiting people.  "I'm a good girl."

"I doubt that," Tony said.  "Or else no one would've had to take your phone yesterday."

"For some reason I'm having thoughts back," she said, staring at him.

"Not likely," he said with a glare.  She sighed and relaxed.  "You really...."  She pointed around.  There were a few other geeks waiting and him.  That did look a bit familiar back to that nanite thing that hadn't happened.  "Oh, well, yeah.  Sorry.  They just want to hand you reports to do."

"That's fine."  She took them.  "Coffee gets delivered at ten," she told them.  "The caf took the rest of the stuff in storage from what JARVIS told me at six."  They nodded.  "But, we do have a small backup box stored of the regular stuff in Storage 4."  They smiled and headed off to break into that hoard of their god-making potion.  She looked at Tony.  "So....."

He slugged her on the arm.  "Do you really have flashbacks to that?" he asked quietly.

"No, not usually."

"Good!"  He looked her over.  "A bit plain.  There's an interview today and I need you to let someone see your tablet later when you're out with Callia.  Nanny's day off."

"Buffy's still in," she pointed out.  He smirked evilly at her.  "Sure, I can take her over there."  She got into her sealed rolodex, finding a number.  She dialed it.  "It's your lucky day, I was ordered to slip Expo information to build anticipation.  I'm going out with Callia later."  She smiled.  "Yes, I might have a Starkphone.  I might even have a Starktablet with the full JARVIS system on it.  And I might know a geek who I'm not sure is busy or not with another version of it."

She smiled.  "I thought you might like that.  Sure, later for coffee.  I'm taking Callia out to bring her to Buffy for a while.  No, she's up with Sean.  Yeah, the new one.  Thanks, man."  She hung up and texted Jake, who said he was busy today, they had a mission, but he could let a geek he knows babysit his precious backup tablet.  She said that'd be great and to tell her who.  He told her and she nodded.  "Hmm, someone at Hammer's company.  Boss?"

He looked then shrugged.  "They can't duplicate it but I'd rather it be a reporter sort."  She replied that and he laughed, but said he knew someone.  She said 'thanks' and put up her phone.  "Who's yours going to?"

"One of the online geeks that helps out at a tech forum to help you fix computer problems."  She smiled.  "He's connected back to someone from CNET."

"That's a good resume."  He strolled off.  "Bring one with the basic one if you want."

"Let him look at the top of the line then see that the lesser is just as good."  She strolled off.  "Callia, we're going out for lunch at eleven," she called.  "Then you're going to see your mom and baby brother."

"YES!" was squealed.  She bounded to where her auntie was.  "Why not now?"

"You know your mom works nights.  There's no way she's up by now and he's with Tara."  She beamed and ran off to play with her pets before she went.  She'd be there all day and they needed things done later so she'd do it now.

Tony smiled at her back.  He loved his little spawn.

***

Dawn helped Pepper up the stairs of the private plane, taking their seats so they could relax.  It was their vacation.  Clint and Natasha were both on assignment.  Dawn had bikinis.  Pepper had bikinis.  They were going to the lake house in Guatemala, it was all good.

Tony was in the lab pouting that he had a week without Pepper.  Callia was still chatting about her baby brother and his awesome drooling ability.  Plus how he had sucked on her fingers for her and Melissa's too.  It was sweet but a bit too much.  He got her tucked in finally after a bribe of candy and she went to bed.  He collapsed back in his lab by himself, looking around.  He spotted a card and opened it, laughing at the joke from Steve.  He needed that.

***

Pepper walked around the other house, smiling happily.  "I'm so buying this."

"If you want," Dawn quipped.  "They won't mind."

"Cool."  She beamed, Dawn smiled back.  They went back to their house and changed into bikinis, heading for the small beach.  Dawn sent all the ants into the water and it was good.  Very relaxing.  Even if Pepper couldn't quite tan on her stomach.  The caretaker was mowing and not staring at them.  There weren't any rebels, drug dealers, or anyone who might want to kidnap Dawn around there.  Dawn had made sure of it.  So it was safe, quiet, and needed before the Expo.

Pepper started on the paperwork to buy the other house from Dawn.  She needed a getaway outside the US in case something big happened.  It was nice here.  Even if there was way too much jungle for her usual comfort level.

Their hired guards were sitting on the lawn reading gun magazines and sipping iced tea.  They were making sure the women had absolutely no problems and could relax.

***

Tony smiled at the preview of his tablet.  They called it highly overpowered and able to do a full desktop's job but admitted it was the heavier system.  It did brag that they could get flash videos and games.  That it plugged in well via USB connections, and there were four of them available on some systems, two on the rest.  They bragged for days and wanted to know what the general system was like.  Tony smiled at that review.  It was good.  It did build anticipation for the press-only day at the Expo.

He had his set order and it was good.  Pepper had everything arranged with Dawn.  Steve had helped when she needed some.  It was going to be okay.  Callia popped in to cuddle him and play with his tablet, which he didn't really allow but he had games she didn't, including some frog poppin' game that Dawn had found for her nook and one that was making sheep not run into each other that was a great time waster.  It was all right.  It'd be great.  Just in case, he added the portable suit to his bag.  Because you never knew and the last one had been attacked.

***

Dawn strolled into the Expo's dinner with Pepper.  They were just barely back that morning.  She walked them up to Stark and presented him with Pepper, who looked very nice in her light green empire-waist goddess gown.  "All safe and sound, boss."

"Thank you, Dawn.  Pepper, how was your vacation?"

"It's so nice there.  I'm buying the other house from her."  She smiled at Dawn.  "Go mingle and make people hot."

Tony looked at her Versace silver gown with gold lace highlights that let some tanned skin show through.  The halter neckline was fairly high.  It was gathered around the bust to make her look nice, then hit each and every curve of her body below that to the floor length skirt.  "You do look nice and the amber jewelry goes very well."

She touched the necklace with a smile.  "Thanks, won it in a poker game."  He shook his head but he was smiling.  She strolled off, grabbing a glass of sparkling water.  She strolled around the room, finding all the SHIELD agents watching them to make sure it was safe.  She walked up to Agent Sitwell.  "Jasper, are we expecting an attack?  I only have two guns on me," she asked in his free ear then adjusted his tie.

He looked at her.  "We hope not but with last time's, we're paranoid."

She grinned.  "I think that's your boss's natural state."  She winked and strolled off, relaying that to Pepper and Tony.  Who sighed in pleasure. She found a reporter grouping.  "Are you gossiping like columnists?" she teased one she knew.

"Dawn!" he said, blinking at her.  "Oh my god, and your boyfriend's not here."

"He doesn't like these things anyway."  She sipped her water.  "You're all grouped and staring."

"We spotted an agent," he said quietly.

"Yeah, I asked the one I knew.  After last time....."  She took another sip.

"That's more reasonable," another said.  "They wouldn't want Stark harmed."

"No, but Fury really wants to be able to recruit Pepper's kid in a few years."  They laughed but broke up to go talk.  Dawn talked with her reporter, answering questions about her tablet and the phone.  Hers was the overpowered, top of the line ones but she needed it at Stark with all she did.  She told him who had normal ones and they got asked to see if they could look at them.  She winked and strolled off.  She ran into a person she thought was still in jail.  "What is it with us meeting up at events, Mr. Hammer?"

He sneered.  "I'll still see Stark destroyed and his spawn."

"Pepper's child is hers, not hers and Tony's.  Sorry."  She smiled.  "If you're talking about Callia, I doubt you could go through her mother."

"What sort of name if Buffy," he sneered.  "She's an airhead society chick probably."

Dawn's laugh drew some attention.  "The senior slayer?  An airhead, when she wants to be.  Society chick?  Not hardly."  He gaped in horror, backing up.  "Is that an admission someone's going after my sister?"  She moved closer, handing off her glass.  "I don't think I should have something breakable that can be a weapon in my hand while we talk."

"You're not an agent."

"No, I'm a perky super assistant sort."  She smiled and tripped him when he tried to move then stomped her heel down onto his neck, making him shout.  "What, exactly, was the plan against my sister and Callia?" she asked smoothly.

Agent Sitwell coughed.  "Miss Summers, can we have him?"

"Only if you make sure my sister's fine."

"I'd hope so.  We have an agent in the building as you know."

She got off him.  "Then I hope Agent Hill has a lot of fun shooting his team since he hires such ineffectual ones.  Like the ones we took down in Guatemala at the airport."  She walked off.  "Thank you, Agent Sitwell, and make sure my sister knows that she doesn't have to kill humans?"  She looked at him.

He sweated.  "I'm sure she won't have to, or you, ma'am."  He hauled him up and out with another agent following.

Dawn sighed then called.  "Tara, can you please make sure Maria knows that someone's going to try for Buffy and Callia while I'm here?  Thank you, dear.  No, we're good.  Have a good night."  She hung up before the kids got the phone.  She walked over to someone who designed weapons.  "So, anything in the light but useful class this Expo?" she asked, teasing his arm.

The general cleared his throat.  "Women like you don't usually use guns, Miss."

"Dawn."

"Oh!"  He nodded.  "A few things."  He pulled up information on his computer to show her.

She purred and pointed.  "That would make a great present for the one that's mine," she said, touching the screen.  Natasha would adore it.

He smiled.  "It's for sale but really only for military contracts.  Though I've heard rumors you're dating a SHIELD agent."  She nodded with a smile.  "Think you can have them try it?"

"They're not over that but if they get a present they like they might brag."

"I can see that.  See me later this week."  She winked and walked off.  He wiped off the sweat.  Hot women didn't usually like his weapons that way.  Like any geek, a pretty, competent woman in their field was like a Goddess.

"Oh, my God," someone moaned.

"If we are, we want to see proof of the altar you've set up to us," Dawn quipped.  "I'm still waiting for one to my excellence as an assistant."  A few people laughed and it broke the tension in the room.

That one stared at her.  "I'm going to set one up to Pepper's child."

Dawn waved a hand.  "Sure, we can combine it with mine."  She giggled and walked Pepper off to talk to some of the other women in the room who were trying to decide if they wanted a family life to juggle against their careers.

Tony looked at her.  "Callia has one set up for you."

"I saw, and it's sweet that she combined it with hers to penguins."

"She did, yeah."  He smiled, sipping his drink.  "I can't believe you wore that."

"Why wouldn't I wear this?  I look fantastic in it."

"No date," he said dryly, smirking some.

She shrugged.  "I doubt they'll want to show up at the majority of these, boss.  This is not their lifestyle of choice."

"No, it's not."  He stared her over then nodded.  "You did good, kid."

She swatted him on his free arm.  "Of course I did.  I usually do good."  She strolled off to tease someone who was sweating and staring at her.  "Hi, Dawn Summers."

"Fidel Armastice."  She shook his hand.  "I design medical software."

"I've heard of your company and was looking it over for stock option investments," she said with a smile.  "I went casually with a small set until you're ready to display things.  Are you displaying this weekend?"

"A few things that we have in the prototype stage."

"I'll have to make sure I get the materials to look over."  She smiled and walked him off talking to him about medical scanners.  "We really need one that can do faster than a CT but read things like cancer cells or gunshot wounds.  They seem to be the most common injuries I see."

He swallowed.  "Cancer?"

"My mother had a brain tumor, twice actually.  It grew back right after they removed the first one."

"That's bad.  Is she all right?"

She smiled.  "She's out of treatment and wonderful.  She's working as an assistant right now.  I'm just happy she got out.  Her being able to go back to work was an amazing gift.  I remember sitting by while she went through multiple CT's and MRI's.  They really needed to be faster and better images.  I'm not sure how anyone can read some of those."

He patted her hand.  "My mother had breast cancer, which is why I was working on scanners."

"Did she make it?" Dawn asked.  He shook his head.  She gave his hand a squeeze. "I'm sorry.  I had two years of worrying about that.  I can only imagine how hard it is to actually be there."

He smiled.  "She went out fighting, which was what she wanted."

She smiled.   "Women who have to go through cancer treatment are always tougher than anyone else.  We have no idea how hard it is to fight that way."  He nodded.  She walked him off again, talking about his ideas.  She was an investor and would be adding more to her investment in the morning.  He was flattered by the tech-savvy opinion that knew what machines did. It let him define his talk for the prototype showing off sections.  She finally had to get a drink and he slipped out, much happier with how things would go.  He had more confidence now.

Dawn strolled up to Pepper, handing her a bottle of water since she was out.  "Here you go, boss lady."

"Thank you, Dawn."

Dawn smiled.  "Welcome."  She smiled at the others.  "I do fuss over her."  They giggled so Dawn walked off.  The music playing was boring, quiet, and classical.  This whole event was really boring her.  The only people in the room that were near her age were huge geeks that would be flustered if she asked questions or insulted that she was an assistant. She settled off to the side and checked her email for a minute, nodding at a few things.  Including Phil sending her one that they were fine and done, just taking the long way home for security reasons.  She sent back a coded one and it was good.  Then she read the one from Natasha, which was also coded.

"Are you sharing secrets?" someone sneered.

Dawn looked up.  "I'm talking to my agent significant other.  They're on assignment."

"I doubt that."  He snatched her tablet.  "Code?"

"Yes.  They're on assignment."  She took it back.  "Beyond that, why would I share secrets?  I work for the most amazing company that can put yours to shame, Mr. Tabis.  Really."  She finished up and put it back into her purse.  She stood up, smiling at him.  "You have nothing to fear from anyone stealing secrets since the information you put out ahead of the expo looked weak and pathetic in most senses.  The only thing you really had that was worth anything was the new computer chip modules and they might have a military application but I've seen Intel make better ones for computers."  She shrugged and walked off.  Tony was smirking at her.  "Checking my email, boss."

"I've done that a few times."

She laughed.  "They really need happier music."

"They do."  He heard the rumors.  "She's not an industrial spy," he said dryly.  "She's mine and Pepper's assistant.  She was talking to her boyfriend, who is an agent."  They groaned.  "Dawn wouldn't need anything from yours anyway.  She fusses over all my geeks and scientists so they feel appreciated."

Dawn giggled.  "Most of them anyway.  A few overreacted and thought I was being a bit mean and watching them."

"They're weak though," Tony assured her.

She nodded.  "Definitely."  She walked off to get some more water.  One of the reporters moved up next to her.  "I was checking my email and talking to Clint.  Stupid, paranoid idiot who smelled like meth."

She sighed in pleasure.  "That's great.  Is he showing up?  Or, um, Agent Romanoff?  You two made charming dance partners."

She smiled.  "They'd hate this.  It's boring.  The music isn't happy.  You can't even waltz to it like it's a school function at Hogwarts."  The reporter cackled and patted her then walked off.  She got her water and walked off to go outside for a few minutes.  She held up her pass to the door guy, who nodded.  She stayed within easy view of him, cooling off.  The air inside was stuffy from all the hot air blowing through bragging mouths.  She sipped her water, smiling at someone coming up the stairs. "Lt. Colonel Rhodes.  Is there a problem?" she asked hopefully.

"No, I got invited but couldn't get an earlier flight."

"They're all bragging and nagging each other," she said with a flapping hand.  "A few are paranoid because I checked my email."

He laughed.  "Escort me in, Short Stuff?"

"Sure."  She flashed her pass, getting a nod from the door guard.  He checked Rhodey's pass and they walked inside.  She took him to Tony, who gave him a pointed look.

"Got invited."  He showed him.

"Hmm.  Pentagon's pimping you out again."  He smirked at Dawn.  "Protect each other from the whores, all right?  She's made a few people moan and pant and the other one paranoid."

"He smelled like chemicals," she said bluntly.  Tony winced.  "Yes, I was loud, but he did."  She walked him off.  "C'mon, I can spot your general."  He laughed and walked with her.  "So, did Rodney make you new toys yet?"

"He and Radek both have.  I'm real happy with the geeks who're doing my suit now."  He saluted.  "Sir.  Reporting as ordered."

"At ease, Colonel.  Miss Summers."  She tipped her head with a smile.  "Your escort for the evening?"

"Hiding with someone I can actually talk to.  There's very few and the last one's went to prepare for his presentation."

"That makes more sense."  She strolled off to give them privacy.  "She's one hell of a girl."

"Yes, and her boyfriend is a bit scary, sir."

"Figures.  Women like that need the alpha male sort."  He smirked.  "We're showing off the newest battle suit designs, which you are familiar with.  You'll be there during the presentation from Stark's people."

"The super geeks?"

"Yes, you know them?"

"Slightly.  I looked over the designs earlier, after they tried to stomp on a senator."  He looked around.  "Not in here?"

"Stark has them in protective custody away from all the sharks."  Dawn handed Rhodey a beer and strolled off to talk to someone making a scene.  "She's excellent."

"If I ever need an assistant I'll have to tempt her from Stark."  He sipped his beer.  "Nice choice too."  He held it and smiled.  "We all appreciate Dawn, sir.  Even after she thumped me for tipping some filing cabinets on her by accident."

The general winced.  "I wondered about that injury leave."

"She did it with bruised ribs, sir.  We were all impressed with that."  He took another sip and looked around.  "Stark left?  No, there he is, hovering over Pepper.  Who's pregnant?  I did not hear that gossip.  Excuse me, sir."

"Granted.  0900 tomorrow."

"Yes, sir."  He walked off.  "When are you due?" he asked.  "And why didn't I get an announcement for the baby shower?"

"I haven't sent them yet," Dawn quipped with a grin.  "Not until next week."

"I'll expect one."  He smiled at her.  "You'll make a great mom.  You had a lot of practice on both Starks and this one," he said with a head-nod at Dawn.

Pepper smiled.  "I did, yes.  It'll be fine."  She pinched his cheek.  "Be a good boy."

"You're already sounding like a mother," he taunted.

She smirked.  "I try."  She looked at Tony.  "I'm a bit tired and bored.  The music is putting me to sleep."

"You and Dawn go.  We'll be there soon to introduce the boys to the geek room."  She nodded, taking Dawn with her.  He looked at Rhodey.  "I know they bought the plans for the boys' suits."

"They're strong.  Could be useful."

"They are useful, they've been updating them when they were bored and stuck.  That and the roomba dog."  He walked off with his friend, going back to the hotel.  There was an engineer's party that he'd be taking the boys to.  They were mostly like them so it'd be nice and get them some good people to talk to.  The elder engineers all smiled at the kids talking about video games.  Tony looked over.  "Andrew, you can talk about the one you're working on.  We could use another programmer."

Andrew beamed.  "SHIELD needs one for recruiting.  It'll be up to you how to solve things within limited parameters.  Totally body reactive too.  So you'll have to run, jump, play it all yourself."  The other geeks moaned and wanted to try it.

"It's still being worked on for the interface.  You need a mic and headpiece, but we can't do the standard earpiece they use.  I'm thinking something like the over-the-ear bluetooth with microphone for dictation that Dawn uses."  They nodded, giving him ideas.  It was great fun.

Dawn came down there in jeans and a t-shirt, handing Tony his phone and his 'briefcase'.  "Just in case.  The building's sensors went off," she said quietly.

"Yours?"

"Yours.  Someone tried to raid the lab.  Tripped over Roomba dog."  Andrew and Jonathan looked over.  "Someone was going for lab 37."

Andrew grimaced.  "Why?  They're doing boring stuff according to Patty."

"Because it could have street drug and field interrogation benefits," Tony said dryly.  "We certain, Dawn?"

"No.  They called in an alert, they're trying to find the rest, and they're here."  She walked off.

He read the alert's message, sending something back.  The case went behind him in case he needed it.  She was right, he did, because they moved the assault to the SHIELD building and he had to go.  He tripped the code on the case and let it unfold around him.  Everyone stared.  "Sorry, gotta fly."  He stomped off and flew off.  "JARVIS, check on the twins and Sean's status please."

"They are presently locked in a room that is not on the plans," the AI reported.  "Agent Hill has requested backup but they're fighting a slight infestation of their own at HQ."

"Let me back her up then."  He flew that way.  Him showing up made a few run but they got shot and knocked out.  He stomped up to help Maria, who was looking calm and centered as ever.  "Charming meeting you here, Agent Hill."  He shot the others she was fighting and then went to check the other apartments with her.  He got her set up with reinforcements from his people.  He went to HQ and landed as the last few came down.  "Didn't you leave me any?" he demanded to Fury.

"I tried very hard not to.  Agent Hill?"

"Building's clear.  Stark security got the ones that tried biochem in my building."

Fury nodded.  "Why go after the kids?" one of the lesser agents asked.

"Hammer admitted he had a plan and thought Buffy was a society chick," Tony said dryly.  "Dawn busted him on it."  The agent shivered.  "In a beautiful dress that made her look hot and heels, yes.  This is Dawn, she's always got the right outfit.  She learned it from her sister."  Fury walked off snickering.  "Let me get back to the geeks.  Unless we have more problems."  He looked at the car speeding his way and shot out the front tires.

"I don't feel like having an accident today."  He flew off, heading back there.  This suit would remove itself.  It was a great feature.  On the way he talked to the geeks in biochem over JARVIS, who had no idea how someone had heard.  JARVIS found very few mentions on the system of what they were but a few in the reports.  Dawn hadn't been hacked, nor her tablet, but they had gotten the reports.  Tony had them scan all the employees to see who it was.  They found him about two in the morning as one of the security guards.  It figured.

It was nice that Hammer had coordinated his attacks and the diversion at SHIELD.  He landed and pushed the button to remove the suit.  He caught the case when it was finally folded up, walking back inside the hotel.  A few people gaped and he smirked.  "They were trying to attack my people.  I nearly unleashed Pepper's mood swings on them."  They quit staring and laughed.  He got into their suite, finding Dawn waiting up playing the sheep jumping game.  "Solved."

"I know, I was calming down Buffy.  She wasn't sure why they wanted the twins and Callia."

"Hammer's so mentally damaged he probably thought the twins were mine," he said dryly.

"Could be," she admitted with a grin.  "Everyone's in, boss."

"Go to bed.  You'll have to cover up circles in the morning."  She went to bed, yawning a bit.  He went to his own, finding Pepper sleeping on it.  Which suited him just fine.  He liked to cuddle her.

***

Dawn picked up some information and asked some questions, getting a few odd looks.  "I do invest," she said dryly.  "Especially in things that could've made my mother's cancer treatment easier."  They smiled and told her about their nanite technology.  "What if they get out of hand?"  They looked confused.  "I've seen that someone was using them in other ways."

"Not ours."

"No, but can they be reprogrammed if someone finds them?  Or is there a quit code?"

"We have built in a quit code in case the patient doesn't respond well," one of them said.

Dawn beamed.  "That's a great thing."  She took down their information in her tablet and made notes as she walked off.  "Thank you."

They looked at each other.  They had no idea that someone was using nanites that way outside spy novels.  They went to talk to the other company that was perfecting some for non-medical work.  It wasn't theirs but they liked the idea of a quit code and they could figure out how to safeguard them better.  It was an idea they hadn't thought of yet.

Dawn finished her rounds, picking up coffees and danish for the team and bringing it back.  "Here we go, food.  Because we all need to eat," she told one of the scientists, who pouted.  "I got you Kona."  She smiled and took her cup.  Tony smiled and took his own, handing Pepper her tea and danish with extra strawberry drizzle on it.  They settled in to talk and go over ideas when people came near the booth.  Well, Tony watched and talked to Pepper.

One young geek walked up to Tony holding a folder to her chest.  "Mr. Stark?"  Tony looked over.  "Is there an internship in your company coming open anytime soon?"

"We hire new interns for the labs every year.  Next year's applications aren't started until January and are expected in by April."  He held out a hand.  "Which school did you hit and in what field?"

"Biomedical Engineering and I went to MIT."  She smiled shyly.  "They said some really crazy things about you but all the people who you went to school with said you were great at the lab stuff, even if you weren't always the nicest person back then."

Tony smirked.  "No, I wasn't.  As a matter of fact, I'm not sure who gave your mentor a real job.  We used to pants him all the time.  Ran him up the flagpole while he was in them once too."

"Is your name really Tony James Potter-Stark?" Dawn quipped from her seat.

"Well, Lily was a redhead," he shot back with an evil look at her.  He grinned at the young geek.  "That's Dawn, our personal assistant."  He went over her files and Pepper pulled out the application packet.  He wrote something in one of the boxes and signed his name.  "Get that to us as soon as you can after January first.  Doug's not usually one to take in Interns but he studied under a lot of the same teachers so I'll make sure it gets to him.  If I can't, Dawn will."

She grinned.  "Thank you, Mr. Stark."  She smiled at Pepper.  "Congratulations."  She ran off being giddy.

Tony handed Pepper the portfolio of her work, making her nod and send the scientist in question a text message.

"He's with his mother this week," Dawn said.

"Then he'll want distracted since she'll start nagging about him not being married and not having kids yet," Tony quipped.  "He did the last time."

Pepper smiled.  "He did and said he'd gotten recommendations on her.  I'll scan and email it to him later."

Dawn took it and popped on her USB scanner to do that for her, then sent it to that email.  She sent him a text saying it was in there and he sent back a thanks and to say hi to his sister if they ran into her.  "I can do that," she said quietly, sending that back.  She handed Pepper back the folder and got up.  "Going to fix an issue."  Someone really needed some sense about how geeks operated in the real world.  Dawn set up her own fussing station.  There were other geeks in there that needed food.  The food cart people were not realistic about how geeks ate.

They had things like salads and sandwiches that would usually go in vending machines.  She made an order from a local grocery store that delivered and bought out the cart for the day, setting up his helpers to gather the delivered things and deal with the coffee needs.  The neat little rolled sandwiches went over well too.  The scientists all heard 'coffee' and came.  One of them stared at her.  "This is what I really do at Stark.  Daily rounds making coffee, making sure the geeks eat, and picking up reports to hand to Pepper."

They smiled and walked off with their snacks.  She settled near it to make adjustments for the upcoming things.  They'd need dinner too.  That got ordered and it was good.  The owner of the cart was amazed so Dawn told her what geeks ate.  Which was not really healthy for the most part but it was filling and soothing.  Dinner that night went well on the cart too.  When the Expo closed for the night, she returned the cart, gave the workers a tip for their fantastic service and keeping the coffee flowing, and let them have it back.  The next day's cart would hopefully be better but she had made a fantastic profit above what she had paid for the day's use.

Tony saw her that night, staring at her.  "You had to fuss?"

"Yup."  She smiled.  "It's what I do best for you."

"Good point, and it did make sure a few of the geeks ate."  He shook his head.  "Nice day's work?"

"Very.  Made three thou above what I paid him."

He smiled.  "Excellent.  New shoes?"

"Maybe a new set of towels.  Ours are a bit thin and I'm a spoiled princess sort according to some people.  Phil is really seriously thinking that I need to find a tower to be put in."  Tony cackled all the way down to the bar.  Dawn went to their suite.  "Pepper, we might need to save me from being put into a tower."  She looked and saw blood, then it cleared.  She shook her head.  "That's not good."

Andrew looked up.  "Vision or flash?" he demanded.

"Not sure."  He sat her down, checking her pulse.  "I'm good, 'Drew."

"You're not good.  What was it?" Jonathan asked.  Pepper came out of the bedroom.

"Blood.  Lots of blood.  No bodies that I saw."

Pepper hugged her.  "You'll be okay."  She sent a text message to Tony, who sent one to Coulson to check on her mates.  "It was probably a flash, nothing to worry about."

Dawn's phone rang.  Andrew got it.  "Dawn's phone.  No, she's fine, Clint.  She wasn't sure which it was.  Okay, that's good to know.  Did you get hit?  Pepper will want to know.  Even better.  Thanks."  He hung up.  "Phil said it was a spot vision and they didn't get a bit of it."  Dawn relaxed.  "But we might need to take some precautions."

Dawn nodded.  "I've got stuff, 'Drew."  They smiled at her.  "Go back to geek gaming."  They did and Pepper settled in to look at shoes online.  So when the door got kicked in, Dawn spun, moved to a better covered area, and fired on the team trying to come in.  They went down and it was not pretty.  Dawn got up carefully, looking around the door.  Security for the hotel was hurrying up.  She spotted another one waiting and shot at him.  His light deflector shield went off because she hit it instead of the guy.  Security got him down and cuffed for her.  She took a deep breath and looked.  "I have no idea," she told them.

"Are you their bodyguard, ma'am?"

"No, I'm Tony Stark's super assistant."  She put her gun up.  "It's happened that I needed to do this in the past though."  That got a nod.  She got her wallet so they could note her permit to carry concealed.  One was looking at the holster that didn't appear to be there.  She smiled.  "Magic."  That got a nod, they'd figure it was some new tech device.  It was certainly concealed carry.  The PD got there to help and they took statements and the idiot in cuffs.  One of them wanted to see Dawn's gun so she pulled it properly and handed it over.  They stared at the suddenly unhidden thing.  She smiled.  "Magic."

They nodded.  "Figures," one quipped.  He noted the serial number and her concealed carry permit, counted her bullets and the clip she had to change, then bagged the gun.  "Thank you, ma'am."

"Welcome.  Do we think there's more?  I only brought two handguns."

"Hopefully not," the PD said.  "We'll add some extra officers here to the hotel."  Tony came stomping off the elevator.  "It's handled, sir."

"Got 'em, boss," Dawn said.  "One living but he had a light deflector."

He stared at the ruined device, removing it for the officers.  "Their people are in 512."  He handed it over.  "I still don't like that harness design."

"It lets the sensors spread out further," Dawn said.  "When it was working, I could barely see his shoes.  His head was fully covered."

Tony nodded.  "Then it may have a use for short agents."  They took the idiots off, gathered the injured people, and then Tony got to calm down Pepper, who was sobbing.  "Nice work, Dawn.  Registered?"

"Yes, but I'll get it back.  My other one?  Oops."  She went to grab it and put it on.  Really, she had a nicely compact, demon made carrying system for a few weapons.  It fit nicely on her necklace of the day.  She came out and looked at Pepper.  "Want me to find you something?"

"No!"  She hugged her.  "Thank you."

"You're welcome.  You know damn well I'm not letting anyone bother my made family."  She smiled.  "Calm down.  Want some tea?"  Pepper nodded so Dawn made her some and Tony helped her into a warm bath.   She sat down with a huff.  "Huh.  Someone hates us."

Andrew looked at her.  "We're all loveable, you made sure we knew that.  That means they're stupid."

"Extremely stupid because Pepper having a mood swing is scary," Jonathan said.  "Patty's not allowed to get pregnant if I can see it."

"The great thing is that you get in so much fussing," Dawn said with a smile.  "Tony's fussed over her and she's let him.  Plus the second trimester is supposed to be pretty hot."

The boys smiled and looked at each other.  "Then maybe someday."

"Once we've created something to calm down mood swings," Andrew agreed happily.

"Remember, that's why you use birth control," Dawn said dryly.  They cracked and hugged her then got back to their game of scrabble.  Dawn popped her neck and got comfortable.  Someone would be stomping up to check on them soon.  Sure enough, within twenty more minutes it was Rhodey.  She got up to answer the door.  "She's in the tub, Tony's giving her a backrub."

He blushed.  "But we're all okay?"

"We're all good.  I injured them in ways that they'll hate to have in jail," she quipped.  Tony leaned out of the bedroom.  "He's making sure we're good."

"We're good," Tony assured him.  "Thanks."

"Tony?  Who is it?" Pepper called.

"Rhodey making sure we're good."  He went back to helping her calm down.

Dawn smiled at her moan.  "He gives great neck rubs."

"I got a few back in college," he said, walking off shaking his head.

"He really does," Jonathan said happily.  "He worked on my arm when it cramped because I slept on it wrong.  I nearly puddled into goo and offered to bear him babies."

"You'd have to ask Roque's mom, guys.  She's the sort that can do that."

Andrew looked at her.  Then at Jonathan.  "That would mean less mood swings.  We wouldn't have the girl hormones."

"You'd have to have them to carry properly," Dawn reminded him as she sat down.  "And a fake uterus put in."

They considered it and the scrabble pieces got used to think with instead.  They didn't want their girls to be in pain or anything mean like that so they'd do it for them.  That way the girls could take empirical notes and they could have kids later on.  They were guys, they could take more pain than the girls could.

Dawn smiled at her geeks.  Callia would love that story.  Jonathan started a search on pregnancy and how it worked.  Andrew was looking at uterus structures and fake tissue research.  You never knew what a geek could do when motivated by the love of their lives.

***

Dawn strolled back into the apartment and found Natasha reading.  She kissed her.  "You free or really expensive tonight?" she teased.

"I'm always expensive because I am the best there is," she purred, taking another kiss.  "Though I am done with my assignment."

Dawn snuggled against her.  "That's a good thing."

"That nagging reporter said you overstepped your authority.  That assistants should be seen and not heard or be more flashy than the boss."

"Pepper enjoys me being more flashy.  It means less leeches hit on her."  They shared a smirk.  "I invested in a few companies that looked nice.  I made some nice profits by taking over the food cart for the days.  They didn't even have decent coffee, Natasha."

She laughed and hugged her.  "Good work."

"Andrew and Jonathan are working on how a male pregnancy would work."

Natasha moaned and kissed her.  "I'm sure they'll give it up when they realize they're not gods."  She took another kiss.  "We are alone tonight."

"I heard they were still taking the long way back."

"Yes, they are."  She put aside her e-reader and got into Dawn's mouth for real.  She had missed her since they couldn't go on the vacation together.  Dawn was a bit squirmy but she hadn't had sex with more than her hand in two weeks.  She was needy that way.  Someone thumped and Dawn jumped up with a gun drawn.  Natasha looked at her.  "Was the Expo perhaps attacked?"  That was a very telling reaction and it usually took about four days for it to calm down so clearly something had happened at the Expo.

"Yup, and our room."  She put the gun aside in easy reaching distance and laid back down on top of Natasha.  "I handled it."

"You usually do."  She took more kisses and it was good, calming.  When someone opened the door, Natasha looked over at them, stopping Dawn from reaching for the gun.  Only the ones in the building could get in.  "Good evening, Coulson.  Clint?"

"Tomorrow.  He's coming up from Bogota."

"He hates Bogota," Dawn quipped.

"It was safer.  The twins?"

"Just got home," Dawn admitted.  "I figured they were okay when the building was attacked by Hammer to kill Buffy and capture Callia."

"We did not hear that news," Natasha told her.

"They tried HQ as a diversion and he had people trying to get into lab 37."

"Huh," Phil said.  "Who handled it?"

"Maria and Tony when he got here."

"Excellent."  He went up to check on them, closing their door for them.  "Maria?"  She jumped.  He smiled.  "What happened?"  She handed him the report.  He read it while cuddling the kids.  He had sent himself reading a bedtime story through a secure email channel each night.  They had still missed him so he got good cuddles.  Even Melissa cuddled and she didn't usually anymore.  It was nice and comforting to come home to.

Maria smiled at them, going to make tea.  "They were safely with Sean and Callia."

"Excellent work."  He kissed them on the head.  "Get me a book?"  They looked around.  He grabbed one off the coffee table and settled in to read to them.  They could have dinner with him later.  Tara and Maria wouldn't mind some alone time.  Xander wouldn't mind if they were joined for dinner either.  Xander appeared, smiling at him.  "I'm stealing them for dinner."

"I figured you were."  He took a kiss then patted each kid on the head.  "Hi, kids."  They smiled and John made kissy faces so he kissed him on the head too, getting smiled at.  Melissa poked him so he patted her again.  She smiled at him for remembering she hated to be kissed on.  "You two are so weird but it's nice you'll be able to help Sean be the best Summers girl he can be, John."

"Melissa is still insisting he's hers," Maria quipped.  "Maybe the next one she has will be the next fussing Summers woman, one way or another."

Xander grinned.  "Could be."

"Is she?" Phil asked.

Xander nodded.  "She was complaining at her checkup."  They smirked and he tapped out a message of congratulations to her.

They'd handle it.  Her being pregnant had kept Cleveland absolutely calm.  Not even a single vampire attack once she had announced it.  Clearly they were worried about hormones.

***

Dawn handed Andrew something the next morning.  "Xander sent you that on your new private research topic.  That's how the godly ones are handled."  She handed him something else.  "For MB's birthday."  He grinned and put it aside for her.  She hugged them and strolled off to handle other things.

Tony stopped her in the halls.  "Why didn't you call when the room was attacked?"

"Happened too fast."

"I had to hear from the hotel security people, Dawn."

"Pepper had a switch too."

"From now on, I hear as soon as humanly possible from you and whoever else as well."  She nodded.  "Thank you."  He patted her on the cheek.  "Some of the geeks want to steal you to fuss over them."  She beamed.  He walked off to talk to Pepper.  Who was happily nibbling some yogurt and fruit with grapenuts.  "You didn't tell me when it happened."

"I panicked.  The hormones are horrible, Tony.  All I could do was cry.  I didn't remember I had a switch until you reminded me in the tub."

"That's fine.  Hormones can cloud your mind, that's why we have to fine people for screwing in the storage areas."  She giggled at that and ate another bite, then nearly dropped the cup of yogurt.  He moved to touch her stomach, calming down the baby.  "Do you have jet boots in there, kid?  That was nearly as strong as mine."

Dawn came in and hip-nudged him out of the way, squatting down to work on her stomach and calm the baby down.  Pepper sighed in relief.  She smiled.  "It's holistic healing but it works on cranky kids.  Worked on Sean too."  She stood up and handed her the yogurt and the files she had been carrying.  "Dr. Pigalli said you're due an ultrasound later since you haven't had one yet."  She strolled off.

"I need to learn that," Tony decided, petting the baby.  "We can do the ultrasound now since you're not busy."  Pepper smiled and nodded, letting him take her down there.  She finished her yogurt on the way.  "Doctor?"  She came out of her office and smiled, leading them to the ultrasound area.  Pepper had to get a bit uncovered but Tony never minded that.  The ultrasound got turned on.  They had to search for a good picture and a good heartbeat sound.  "I know he's good.  He just kicked the snot out of her."

"Him?" Dr. Pigalli asked.

"I don't care," Pepper said quickly.

"Then I won't tell you."  She found one and smiled, refining the image and letting the heartbeat sound loudly while she checked.  "Ten fingers, ten toes.  Nicely thick umbilical cord."  She shifted the wand and smiled.  "Looks pretty good."  She printed the pictures.

Tony helped her clean up Pepper's stomach and waited until Pepper had walked off.  "Girl, right?" he hissed.  She smiled and nodded.  "Callia will like that.  Sean confused her."  He walked off to follow Pepper back upstairs.

Dr. Pigalli smiled and set everything back up for future use.  She went back to her office and Jonathan, who had some really strange contacts since he had information on how male gods got pregnant.

***

Xander looked up as Phil walked in, smiling at him.  "Long day at work?"

"A lot of reports."  He got kissed and smiled.  "Thank you for making dinner."

"I had Talsa make dinner."

"Deer?" he guessed.

"Cow.  Roast beef.  Gravy.  That stuff."  He smiled.  "She likes the modern ovens."

"I like her cooking no matter how she does it," he admitted, taking off his jacket to lay across a chair then his tie and shirt.  Xander stared at his neck.  "It hasn't faded."

"I know."  He pulled him down to kiss against it then his lips.  Phil smiled back, touching the one he had made through Xander's shirt.  "Eat naked?"

"No, I don't want to risk pubic hairs or any biological deposits ruining her roast."  Xander laughed and hugged him but they did strip down to boxers to eat.  Xander was staring at the mark he could barely see over Phil's briefs.  Which pleased him as well.  Xander was working himself into a good pouncing mood.  "At least the goo that got shot at us didn't touch Clint," he said.  "That might've been bad."

"Goo?" Xander asked too casually.  "Someone shot goo at you?"

"Some sort of attempt at chemical restraint that failed dramatically."

"Really?" Xander asked.

"Clint shot them," he assured him.

"Good."  He stared at him.  "Did it hurt you?"

"I scanned myself after the decontam shower, Xander.  I'm fine."

"I'll be making sure of it."

Phil smiled at him for that.  "I'd expect nothing less."  Xander did growl and moved them to the bedroom in a flash.  Without their clothes.  Xander settled in to sniff and lick each inch of his skin to make sure it was the way it should be.  Phil laid there and took it because it was good for them.  Xander spoiled him rotten.  And if he got another bite mark, it wouldn't be a permanent one he'd have to have put in his file.  Xander laughed at that thought and nuzzled his one on his hip before biting it again.  "I had to assure him repeatedly that you were very good to me," he said quietly.

"Some people are just stupid, Phil.  He probably thought I was the barbarian warrior type too."

"I know you're not.  You read me Winnie the Pooh in Norse the other night."

Xander nuzzled his neck. "I thought you might need a bedtime story."  He kissed him and went back to his exploration.

Yeah, they were good together, knew what the other needed without having to think too hard.  It was good for them.

28: Fighting, Shopping, Competing Old Ones?

The SHIELD teams get invited to the agent olympics so they have to figure out who's doing what and talk some adjunct members into helping them.   The Stark team, minus Stark, go to LA for a speech that Pepper has to give, some shopping, and avoiding a few threats that Dawn had warned about but no one realized.   NC-17 m/f, m/m.

Fury looked over at the meeting he had called.  "For the first time we have been invited to the All Agent Olympics."  A few of his groaned.  "It's an honor, people.  That means they consider us fellow agents finally."

"If we kick their asses does that mean they'll quit sending us the idiots?" Clint asked.

"Hopefully."  He put up a copy of the events.  "I know we have people who can compete in some of these."  He looked around.  "For the sake of personal interest I have asked and all adjunct, specialist, and creative consultants can help."  He smirked.

"Dawn's a good shot," Barton quipped with a smirk.  "But not that much, sir."

"We only have two that can do any gymnastics," Fury noted.

"She barely knows any and I only took her through the balance things," Natasha said blandly.  "For that matter, I have not really practiced in years."

"Practice.  We need to kick their asses so they respect us more, people.  Barton, you're on for the sharpshooting and bow targets."  He nodded at that.  "We're testing to see who is going in for the 5K, 10K, and marathon classes."  He looked around.  "No exemptions unless you absolutely are not able to run.  Marksmanship scores will see who follows into those.

"Does anyone know what crew rowing is?"  A few agents raised their hands while looking amused.  "Have you?"  Most of them nodded.  "Then you're our team."  He smirked.  "Figure it out and make sure you work well.  I want to take at least third in at least eighty percent of the groups."  He looked around.  "Any questions?"

"Sir, what's that one?" he asked with a point.

"Mechanical bull riding as in rodeo.  We have modified events because they didn't want us to need horses or some shit."

"Actually, a few of us could probably do very well in the equestrian events," Natasha said dryly.  "Including Dawn if she was taught."  Fury rolled his eyes.  "Is that a language one?"  He nodded.  "I'll see if she'll do that."

"Thank you."  He smirked.  "Any other questions?"

"Do we have adjunct members beyond Stark's people?" Coulson asked.  "And am I included, sir?"

"That's something I'm not sure about with your ...spouse," he admitted.  "They might think that was cheating.  I'll be asking that later."  Coulson nodded.  "If I remember right, you could do some marathon events."

"I have in the past," he agreed.  "I haven't seriously done one in a few years though."

"Get back into training shape."

"I've been devoting it to sparring time."

He considered it.  "There's a fencing competition," he said.

"Not that sort, sir, but ask Sheppard?"

He smirked.  "I forgot about them.  Thanks," he said, making that note.  "I'll check on that.  Any others?"

One of the females raised her hand.  "No can do on the gymnastics, sir."

"Why?  You're one of the few that I knew could do it and have competed."

She patted her stomach.  "The future agent doesn't like me bending very much."

He stared at her.  "Didn't I say no being in HQ or the hell carrier if you're stuffed up?"

She nodded.  "You did, which is why I only came in for this meeting when you specifically ordered, sir.  Next time maybe."

He nodded.  "How many months until we lose you for maternity leave?"

"Four.  I'm going to be going into labor on the deck."  She grinned.  "My husband doesn't want to let me nest either.  He says it's upsetting his agent skills with the paint stink."

Barton snickered.  "Just wait.  We saw Tara nesting at Coulson's now and then."

She smirked at him.  "We knew you had some contact."

"Dawn did," Natasha agreed.  "Buffy painted Xander's place with his dog's help."

"I want a dog and he says no."   She shifted in her seat.  "Now I know why he conveniently forgot the condoms."

"I do not need to know," Fury said dryly.  "If it was for that reason, you have my permission to mood swing on him.  I saw one of Potts' mood swings on a reporter that is now finding god."  He looked around.  "Any other comments, concerns, or questions?"  They shook their heads.  "Dismissed."  They walked off talking about the various events they wanted to test for.  Fury sat down, shaking his head.

Maria smiled at the pregnant agent.  "You can still do languages.  Two of the ones you speak aren't that used.  I'm told it's a stump the person you're talking to event."

"I can try."  She walked off.  "We want peanut butter."

"Go home," Fury ordered.

"Not yet, sir.  Still have hours yet."

Maria smiled at her back then at the boss.  "She'll make a fussy, safe, good mother probably."

"She has almost no temper, that's going to be a bonus."  He went into his office, coming out to hand Joyce an envelope.  "I thought I sent that out."

"We reuse the envelopes," she said, pointing at the crossed out names.  "That way you're not paying ninety cents to send something around the building."  She looked inside and handed them to him.  "From HR.  Then you mark out their name and put where you're sending it."

He shook his head, walking back in there.  "I don't see why."

"Ninety cents for twenty uses or one," Joyce quipped.

"Whatever."  He looked at the forms, signed what he had to, filed the rest, then sent them back to HR with a note saying he didn't like reusing things.  He got what he needed and went to Stark International to talk to them.  Then he'd get taken to the SGC to talk to O'Neill.

***

Dawn raised a hand during his spiel.  "Why tell us?  We're only affiliated through Stark.  Not the rest of us."

"You're still listed as an adjunct on-call for emergencies, Summers."

Dawn snorted.  "No, if I need to I'll show up."  She looked at Tony then at him.  "Still, not my thing.  Thanks though."  She got up and left.

Tony followed.  "I don't jog or anything, Fury.  You should know that by now."  He smirked at her in the elevator.  "You could probably do the 5K."

"I could probably do the 10K but I'm not.  I'm not really into jogging for medals.  I jog to keep my body hot so my mates don't pout that I'm getting fat."

He laughed.  "I did some working out for that same reason."

She patted him on the arm.  "You're getting a bit flabby too.  You and Happy need the gym."  She got off on her floor, letting him laugh all the way up to the penthouse.  She sat down at her desk and got back to work.  Pepper came out of the office to stare at her.  "Fury's pimping the Agent Olympics thing."

Pepper shook her head.  "You're not an agent."

"No but we're considered adjunct members," she said dryly.

"I'm sorry, you're usually too busy here to train seriously for something like that."   She went back to her desk to talk to Tony about that.  He admitted they had both walked out at the suggestion of them *jogging*, making her smile back.   She liked watching Tony spar and jog.  He grumbled but said she could come watch him spar later at the gym.  She agreed and hung up, getting back to the mundane jobs around the office.

***

Dawn came in that night.  "Who is Presley?" she asked.

"Lower level agent wannabe?" Clint guessed.  "Why?"

"He thinks he beat me because I didn't drop fully into the sparring mindset when he challenged me and I let him win to salve his ego?"

"No," Clint said.  "Fix that shit."

"Fury said I had to let him win!"

"So?" Natasha asked, coming out of the study.  "Beat him."

"Invite him over so I can change.  I gave him thirty good minutes while I was in heels and a skirt."  She went to change and came out to get kisses, teasing Clint by sitting in his lap.  He laughed and hugged her.  She winked.  "You want a fair observer?"

"Sure," he agreed.  He texted Steve, who said he'd referee.  They went down to the gym when he got there.  Dawn stretched off to the side.  Clint stared at him.  "She got told to let you win," he said with a smug look.  They all hated this guy.  Even Stark said he was an egotistical jackass, and that was coming from the King of all that kingdom.  Dawn stepped onto the mat and waved him over.

He kicked off his shoes.  "Don't want to bruise your prettiness," he sneered.

She laughed.  "Please!  I can leave plenty of bruises without shoes."  She waved him on.  "I'm a defender."  Steve blew a whistle and the idiot agent lunged.  Dawn let herself drop into the proper mindset and stood there for a second then spin-kicked him in the jaw before moving in.  When he was down and she was kneeling on his shoulders, one hand squeezing his throat, watching his eyes pop out and his lips turn blue, she smiled.  "So, anyway," she said.  "How's your day been?"  He burbled.

"Dawn," Steve called.  "Get off him."  She got off.  "Thank you.  We don't want to lose agents to you making them choke."  He looked at him.  "You good?  Need medical?"

"What is she?" he demanded with a point at Dawn.

Cap smiled.  "She's Dawn.  She's been taking self defense for years because people like to try to kidnap her."  He stuck his hands in his pocket and grinned so he wouldn't hit the guy.  "She did a really good job."

"Not bad," Natasha said, moving closer to Dawn.  "Still dropping your right side and it's no longer sore."

"I think that's a bad habit I learned during the rib thing.  I'm still hesitant to block on that side," Dawn admitted.  "I need to work on it."

"We will focus on that the next time we spar."  She smiled and patted her on the cheek.  "Good enough showing, about a B of your usual level."

"I was trying to scale back to my opponent," Dawn admitted.  "I didn't want to unleash the asskicking I usually use on you and Clint or even Steve sometimes."

"We like that," Clint agreed.  "You might've killed him and there's a ton of paperwork when you accidentally kill another agent."  He looked at him.  "Her going full out is the lesser standard you have to meet to start testing to be on the team," he told him.  "But you also need special skills that the rest of us can't cover."  The guy walked off swearing.  "Sorry," he called, waving at his back.  "Or not," he muttered, walking over.  He checked her over.  "Few bruises?"

"Few and my ear hurts."  They checked and removed the earring that had been caught in the punch so therefore ripped a bit.  "Thanks, guys."

Steve nodded.  "There's some agents that can beat you, but they don't want to be Avengers."

"Maria and I have sparred.  She's pretty good," Dawn agreed.

"Presley's training agent could make it but he doesn't have many special skills," Clint said.  "He's a good training agent."  Coulson walked in with Presley.  "He that hurt?"

"No.  Did we tape it?"  They pointed at the security cameras.  "I'll get one from Stark."  He looked at Dawn.  "You didn't go all out?"

"I was trying to lower my skill level to his.  If it was a real battle I would've went all out and just killed his ass."

"Good."  He smirked a bit.  "I'm glad you will."  He looked at Presley.  "The base level for testing to be a future Avenger is: beating Dawn in hand-to-hand or someone of her level in a weapons-based physical fighting style, beating all the top tier agent standards for physical fitness, having some sort of special skill or ability or style that is currently needed on the team or can act as backup to one of the current members, and you have to go through thorough training and get permission from Captain Rogers to be on the future B team I'm setting up."  Presley sighed and nodded.

"There are slight exemptions such as Barton can't make the leg lifting requirement sometimes due to an older leg injury.  He has found a way around it and he's proved it on various missions.  We do also encourage them to be field mission tested and trained so they won't freak out during something hard.  The agents on the team still do take missions as well except when there's a battle, and if it's that sudden Stark has a method of handling it," Coulson finished.  "Any questions?"

"No, sir.  How close am I?  I can do most of it."

"You're not field mission tested," he noted.  "You're still considered an agent in training."  That got a nod.  "Your hand-to-hand is not good enough to beat Dawn.  I'm not sure where you rate on the physical levels."

"There's nothing wrong with being a normal agent," Dawn said.  "The group needs more of those.  Goddess knows what'll happen if one of the more known agents goes out on something and they recognize them."

"It is a problem we have considered," Coulson agreed.  "Even before certain things happened, some people were getting too well known."  He looked at the lower agent again.  "When, and if, you can meet up to those standards then we will try again.  Until then, she's right.  We all started out as basic field agents.  Myself, Agent Hill, Director Fury, these two in here.  We were basic field agents who did the job and evolved over time to higher status due to our excellent records and our handling of field missions.

"Their special skills come from their various backgrounds.  I'm sure you have a few of them yourself and I'm fairly certain in a few years you'll find out whether or not you'll want to move higher.  There is a security, a comfort even, from being a simple field agent who doesn't have to make the hard decisions, doesn't have to lead a team, doesn't have to handle apocalypse battles, nothing like that.  There's been plenty of times in the field I wished I had someone who I could ask for advice when things went wrong."

"I understand, sir."

"Yes, but understanding isn't realizing," Dawn said.  She moved closer.  "Think of it this way.  A really great field agent will possibly retire at sixty.  An Avenger will end up retiring from injuries at maybe five years after they join.  Which do you want to do?  Because it's not glory, it's not fame, and it's not fun."

"There's those events."

"Which are deadly dull," Barton assured him.  "We only go so we can see Dawn dressed up."

Natasha nodded.  "Sometimes to tweak a few contacts."

Dawn grinned.  "I only go to flirt."  They smirked at her for it.  She looked at him.  "Being a really good field agent is a lot more satisfying because it's also a steady job.  These two are on training duties until something happens."

"I've seen.  That looks nice."

Natasha laughed.  "We have to be in peak physical shape at all times.  No days of sprained ankles, no called off missions due to problems.  I got written up for breaking a rib once.  Special agents don't get those luxuries.  That one with the broken rib, I still went on my next mission, which involved an underground fight club that also shipped weapons and people around the world."

Barton nodded.  "I've had a few of those myself.  Beyond that, you've barely passed through field agent training.  You haven't even picked a speciality yet.  You need to decide what sort of field agent you work best as so they can channel you into those assignments. That's a whole testing scenario you've got to go through with Agent Hill.  Plus anti-interrogation training, anti-torture training, all that stuff."  Presley shuddered.  "Being a basic, simple field agent is easier.  A lot easier.  It's also safer and healthier.  Basic field agents tend to get shot, not tortured or interrogated.  You're minions so you don't know anything to be asked about."

Coulson nodded.  "That is true.  At the upper levels, anti-interrogation training is a lot more difficult to deal with than it was at the basic level.  There you have to learn how to lie and get around questions, make sure you don't whimper when you're in pain, and you can handle being hit.  At the upper levels you get pain sticks, shock collars, waterboarding...."  Dawn walked off shuddering.  He smiled at the lesser agent.  "You're prepared for anyone like a terrorist group or an hostile government to take you at the upper levels."

"You could be a good field agent," Natasha told him.  "You have tenacity and stubbornness but can follow sensible orders from what I've seen of your files.  You should focus on strengths that you have instead of wanting to go somewhere you are not suited.  As they would not send you to bait or blatantly sex information from someone, you should not want to go there.  It is not as fun as it seems in the movies."

He nodded.  "I get that," he decided.  "Thank you for being honest."

Barton nodded.  "There's not a single one in your group that I could see going that high.  A few might make upper junior level agents, mid-level ones like Coulson was originally.  You'll know when you see one who belongs there or higher.  If you see one, let someone like Coulson or your trainer know so they can test their skills and make sure.  We have sneaky ways of channeling good skills."

"I can do so.  Thank you, Agents Barton, Romanoff, and Coulson."   He nodded at Steve.  "Captain."  He left, thinking all the way back in the cab.  He reported to the infirmary.  The doctor there glared at him.  "I wanted to test myself against Summers."

They nodded.  "She's got some skills."  They got him patched up and back to his bunk room.

He ran into his trainer on the way down.  "Sir, I...."

"I heard you went stupid, Presley.  What were you thinking?"

"That I was better than someone who wasn't legal to drink.  Then I got proved wrong and had a realistic talk with Agents Barton, Romanoff, and Coulson."  He sucked in a  breath.  "Can I have one with you as well, sir?"

"Let me get a beer, kid.  I'll come to your berth."  He nodded and went to his room to make sure it was clean enough.  The training agent sent Coulson an email on his way to the mess to get a beer or three.  Coulson sent one back.  Including footage of the fight.  It wasn't a long one by any means, but that girl was really tough.  He came back to go over it with him.  The talk afterward had been recorded too and he agreed with their assessments.

He knocked and got let in, handing over a beer and the ice pack he gotten.  "So, you got your ass handed to you by a tiny little girl.  I've gotten that from Romanoff.  It's not as bad as it sounds."  He settled in to talk to him about his future pathways.  He had skills in a few areas.  None in the special fields but the world needed more good field agents who could handle missions.  He wasn't James Bond, but he was a lesser version of Austin Powers maybe.

***

Fury got the updated training records and frowned.  "Hill?"  She walked in.  "Why do we have movie spies being used as a rating system?"

"The trainers said it was less subjective, sir."  She wrote out the code for him.  It noted speciality areas and abilities.  "Here."  He read it over, nodding slowly.  "It was the only one they could agree on."  She looked.  "Presley has more skills than I thought he would.  Apparently being handed his ass after Dawn gave him a real test helped."  She walked off happier.  She had things she could schedule him to look over to see if he wanted to take those lessons.

Fury came out to look at her.  "I told Summers to let him go."

"She did.  Then she admitted it and they asked him back for a real test.  Which he lost in about twenty minutes.  Then I'm told they had an ego-blowing talk about reality and why some agents are 'special' agents and some are 'agents', sir.  I think he may have found a good area for him to focus on."

"He's the nephew of another agency's head," he said quietly.

"He's apparently got good field agent skills.  I'm going to channel him toward Brooks' teams."  Fury nodded that was acceptable.  "There for a while I was going to tank him due to his ego."  She smiled.  "The rest of the trainees, there's about four."

"Good."  He walked off.

It suddenly made sense to her why they had a few agents who had *no* clue what it meant to be an agent.  It figured.

***

Agent Coulson looked at the next batch of recruits and mentally sighed.  They all looked like they wouldn't make it.  "We're going to go over why you think you're here and what you're really here for," he decided.  "Because many of you have high ideals and not a clue."  A few glared.  He put up some of the most recent battle footage from Cleveland.

"At SHIELD, we not only handle world ending emergencies, we stop them before they happen.  We back up the slayers and others who keep down demonic menaces.  We also happen to watch over people of interest due to their helping us, and therefore we don't want them to fall into enemy hands, or because they're probably going to cause us problems."  One agent raised her hand.  "Yes?"

"Does that include Mr. Stark?"

"Yes, it does.  There's three agents that routinely look over his shoulder when we feel he needs some.  Mostly those agents are assigned because we already have ties over there.  I have them because I help mentor a few of the younger scientists and engineers."  She nodded at that.  He changed film so they saw the battle from New York.  "The more common agent is in this sort of position when things start to go wrong.  When we have major battles, you'll be the backup, the one moving civilians who are frozen in fear."  He waited until it played out then moved it to another battle.

"This was quietly fought overseas and if we had lost, then someone would have gotten plasma power sources that they had stolen and killed for."  He let them see it.  He looked around.  "It is not glamorous, it is not what you see in the movies.  It is not being an Avenger.  They are *special* agents.  Right now, you are trying to become an agent.  Later on, you'll get to see if you become a regular special agent or a senior field agent.  As I was."  He looked around again.  "Any questions so far?"

"How does one get to be an Avenger?" one of the guys asked.  Phil recited the rules he had set down, getting a nod and a few making notes.  "So, it's pretty much a long shot?"

"Most of you will get to back them up for bigger battles.  Some of you will be moved to the more covert sections, which do not handle battle duties.  As was pointed out, they take film of those and if someone you were doing covert work against spotted you in them, your cover is blown and you can end up dead."  That got more nods and notes being taken.  "Being picked for covert sections requires skills, I will not lie.  It is not common place, it is not easy.  This is for people who excel in field work with minimal guidance to no guidance at some points.

"This is for the ones that infiltrate companies and groups that will cause problems."  They all nodded.  "If you have hopes of being Agent Romanoff," he told the female agents.  "That sort of training is available and she has trained a few female officers with skills how to do the same things she does.  She has also trained a few male agents.  You'll be seeing both Agents Romanoff and Barton sometimes during your training so you can ask them if they think you have skills."  Most of the room nodded.

One raised her hand. "Sir, if we want to be part of the battle unit, is that separate training?"

"That is the more open side of SHIELD.  You'd still be trained to do field work.  Our military people come from the SGC."  She smiled.  "We recently sucked them under our umbrella to protect them from the politics.  If that's what you want, talk to the training officers.  We are realistic people.  We know some of you will not make it.  We know some of you will want to so badly and won't make it.  We also know that some of you need to uncover your real strengths and weaknesses.  We're there to help you do that and to mold you into a better agent.  Some of you came from other agencies.  We're not that nice to ours."  They all nodded.   A few sat up straighter.

"Our standards are higher because, outside the CIA, our risks are greater.  Our missions to protect and serve protect the whole world, even parts of it we don't like."  He flipped open a mission report, partially blacked out.  "This was one of mine when I was newly out of your seats.  One of my first ones."  They read it and a few looked green.  He shrugged.  "Doing so kept the children from very bad hands in HYDRA.  We do what we must.  That was not my primary mission.  My primary mission was to get the single child that was the offspring of a nuclear scientist that was being ransomed for them.  I chose to help them all and nearly lost my objective.  I won't lie and say the director was *pleased*."

One raised her hand slowly.  "Do we do that often?"

"Go off target?  Hopefully it won't often be necessary."

"Rescue the children of important people that have been taken."

"No.  Frankly he was one of ours or we would've told another agency."  That got a nod and a grimace.  "No, they probably couldn't have," he said more calmly and quietly.  "Which would've been a tragedy.  His daughter is one of our greater weapons designers."   She smiled.  "So, more questions?"

"I'm told we start with physical training?" one of the males asked.

"Yes.  We have standards.  If in two weeks you don't pass the base level to move on, you are cut.  We routinely cut a quarter of you for that reason."  They nodded and got into that handout to see what they needed to do.  One whimpered.  Phil smirked slightly.  "As I said, ours are higher standards than most agencies, Mr. Trellis."

He looked up.  "They are, sir.  I was FBI."

"I know.  I read all of your dossiers.  The unsealed ones."  They all nodded at that knowledge, even the one that used to be CIA.  "I would expect it to be tougher on you than basic training for those of you who were military, but not as emotionally draining.  We only yell at you if you deserve it.  Though there have been times I've borrowed a few dogs of war and let them help with the training."  He gave them a smug look.  "If that should happen, do not harm the dogs.  Alexander will not be pleased."  That got a mas nod.

"Any other questions or should we go on the tour of the three levels you're allowed on?"  They picked up their packets and followed him.  They had shown up last night to get room assignments so they had their bunks.  They had found the cafeteria this morning he hoped.  He started with the gym.  "Notice the raised jogging track.  We do have treadmills if you'd prefer but the running times are done on that track."  He showed them the regular machines and the free weight room, then the small sideroom that could be used for yoga or other specialized exercises.  It had a ballet bar as well as a mirror.

He walked them to the cafeteria, where a few brave souls got drinks.  Then he showed them the library level.  It passed by two levels they weren't allowed on but they realized there was a lot more to the building than the three levels.  "This is our regular and occult library, carefully maintained by the library staff that we hired.  We got it from the Council of Watchers, who used to be over the slayers."  He looked at them.

"Some agents have had to research the demons they were running into in here.  The ones on assignment in Cleveland tend to brush up and make their own classification manuals based on the reports that the prior agents have called in.  You're free to do the same thing and it's probably a good idea," Coulson said.  "We do rotate a three-agent team through Cleveland all the time, and more when we're anticipating problems.  Especially with a pregnant slayer."  He walked them back up to the meeting room.  "Any other questions?"

"Sir, when does our two weeks to impress people end?" one asked.  "Is it starting tomorrow or today?"

He smirked.  "Smart ones started last night because they've been in the habit of training every day.  They officially start tomorrow.  Do note that you only have a single day off, and we would advise that you don't."

One of the women raised her hand.  "Any gender differential standards?"

"No," he said.  "We expect our women to be just as strong and as tough as our male agents."  He smirked.  "If you cannot, that's a problem."

"Understood."  She looked over as the door opened, staring at the woman who walked in and handed Coulson a note then left.  "Is she an agent?"

"Tara is an adjunct member.  She's our on-call witch."  The woman winced.  "She's actually a lot stronger than she looks.  She survived Sunnydale for over two years."  He looked at the note then put it into his pocket.  "Dismissed for lunch and then we meet in the gym, people.  That way you can measure yourself against the standards set."  They nodded and left.  He went down to the infirmary, looking at his son.  "Why are you sick again?"  John fussed and held up his arms so he picked him up.  "What's wrong this time?" he asked the nurse he didn't know.

"Sir, only his mother should have him.  Please put him down."

Phil stared at her.  "I'm his father, Nurse."  She stomped off.  The doctor came over.  "She's clearly new."

"She is.  He's got a pretty good sinus problem that's wrecking his ear again."

"I know he had an ear problem.  His sister's cleared up but his went to his left bursting even with antibiotics."

"With twins there's usually one that's a bit sicker.  It's usually the one that was smaller at birth."

"That was her.  He was nearly five pounds.  They were full term too."

"That's a great thing."  She showed him the test results.  "We can try another antibiotic."

"Is there a sinus medicine we can give him?  I know Tara was looking for an herbal one."

"Not that I'm aware of.  I'll call a pediatrician I know to ask her that."  He nodded at that.  "You really need to take him to one outside us."

"We do, but he's out of town this month," Phil admitted, shifting John to his other hip.  He looked at his son, who was holding his ear.  He kissed him on the forehead.  "Want to go to Mom?"  He snuggled into his shoulder.  "We can manage it with the trainees I'm running ragged later," he decided.  He sent a text up to the main office and Maria's phone.  He got one back authorizing him to go home.  He said he only had trainees so John could help by encouraging them.  He smiled at the doctor.  "If you find out, let us know."

"I can do that.  Good luck.  Have you talked to an allergist?"

"We know it's flower based, I'm not sure which one."

"It's possible it's multiple flower based or fragrance based."  He nodded that was true, taking him upstairs for lunch with him.

Fury walked in and stared.  "Sick again?"

"Yes, sir.  Another sinus infection that's killing his ear."

"You can't really have him in the building, Coulson.  It's dangerous."  Phil gave him a pointed look.  "Even for you.  Can your...mate watch him?"

"Not sure."  He sent a thought at Xander, who showed up and held out his hands.  "Are you sure?"

"I'm running some of O'Neill's pilots ragged today.  They'd like to be cheered on.  C'mon, we'll go pick on Uncle John."  John pouted and clutched his father's shoulder.  "I know, you feel nasty and want Daddy.  I can cuddle."  He picked him up to cuddle.  John sniffled and whined so he handed him back.  "Apparently not."

"We'll figure it out," Phil promised.  Xander grinned.  "I only have trainees."  Dawn appeared thanks to someone else texting her.  John sniffled and reached for her.

"Oooh, poor thing," she cooed, taking him to cuddle.  "C'mon, I can teach you to type.  Callia really liked those lessons."  She took him back to the office with her and he put his head on her shoulder, looking miserable.  She kissed him on the forehead, settling down with him in her lap.  He stared at the screen and cooed at the letters being typed quickly.

Pepper came out, staring at them.  "Ear ache?"

"Sinus becoming an ear ache.  Again."  She let Pepper cuddle him, which got her cooed at by John.  He was flirting even though he felt rotten.  Pepper was cooing back.

Stark walked in and stared.  "She's mine, you can't have her yet, Mini Coulson."  He took him and got pouted at.  "I know, she's a pretty girl and you like pretty girls."  He gave him back.  "Ear?"

"That too," Dawn agreed.  She finished up and printed, handing it to Pepper, who read it to the baby as she went back into her office.

Stark shook his head, walking off smiling.  He called Callia down to cuddle him too.  John was in heaven, he adored Callia cuddling him and they both could read to him.

When the reporter showed up for her interview with Stark, she paused and cooed.  "He's adorable.  Another scientist's son?" she asked Dawn.

"Agent Coulson's son.  One of the twins."

"Awww.  He's sick?"  Dawn nodded.  "That's so sweet of you two to watch him."  She got led off by Tony, talking about the kids.  She had two teenagers and she missed hers being that tiny.

Tony quipped that there was a chaos sorcerer working on that somewhere, making her cackle.

Phil showed up at about five, staring at his son.  His son was flirting with the ladies in the office, including the reporter.  "Son, I didn't know you were part Stark," he teased.

"Hey," Callia complained.  "Auntie flirty too and she's not a Stark."

"That's right.  Summers women can be flirty too," Dawn agreed with a grin for her.  "Some day I'll teach you how to be flirty."

"Cool.  Can I have bikinis then?" she asked her father.

"Maybe.  We'll see."  She shrugged and cuddled John.  "I think his father wants him."

"Mine," Callia told him.  "I even change diapers."

"That's very sweet of you but Melissa wants him back."

"I can watch her too," she promised.  "They can sleep with me and everything.  We can watch 'toons in the morning."

"Sorry.  Tara wants him home."

"Shoot.  Daddy....."

"No, your Aunt Tara doesn't need you tonight.  With John sick it's going to be tiring all night."

"Fine."  She kissed him on the forehead.  "You have a fever."

"His mother has something for that," Phil assured her, patting her on the head.  "Thank you for taking such good care of him today, ladies."  He picked up his son, getting pouted at.  "We're going to see your sister," he promised.  John grinned and ducked his head.  He kissed him on the forehead.  "You do have a fever."  He went down to the infirmary to see if he'd been given anything.

She dosed him, earning a grin from John.  She also had a sinus liquid to give him.  He took it with him and told Tara, who cuddled the baby with Melissa.  That worked and he was a happy boy most of the night, except in his bath.  He hated the ear plugs.  He still went down nicely and slept all night.  Tara read the medicine's page on WebMD and was satisfied.  They'd try that each night.  That way if it made him sleepy it was fine.

***

Xander showed up that night, staring at Phil.  "He didn't want me."

"He went to flirt with Dawn, Pepper, and a reporter," Phil said dryly.  "My son has excellent taste."

"He does," Xander agreed happily.  He leaned down for a kiss.  "Need more help?"

"I'm good but I can watch tv if you want."  Xander grinned and settled beside him to watch some tv and cuddle.  It was nice.  "We have to work out this split-state living plan," he said quietly.

"Hephie's going to put in a door that keeps the kids on this side in case something's going on at the temple."

"That would be nice as long as the women can't show up here to nag and lengthen Dawn's clothes again."

"They shouldn't.  They've been avoiding Dawn's temple completely."  He snuggled into his shoulder.  "When do I get the new rookies?"

"Three weeks."

"How many?"

"As of today, half passed the physical requirements.  Some might add on enough."  Xander nodded.  "We'll have to see in about two weeks."  Xander took another kiss.  Phil smiled at him.  "Feeling a bit frisky?"

"I am but if you're not I can wait."

"I'm not totally unfrisky but not up to great, enthusiastic sex tonight."

"I can see simple stuff."  He pulled Phil onto his lap.  "Simple stuff can be nice too."  Phil smiled and rubbed against Xander's body while they kissed.  Xander moaned and pulled them closer together to get a good amount of friction.  It was sweet and nice.  They both came and cleaned up then settled in to watch more tv.  It was a good night off.

***

Dawn settled between her lovers on the couch, taking kisses and handing over plates.  They grinned and dug in.  Clint gasped and grabbed his glass of ice water.  "What?"

"Spices," he moaned.

"I used the prepackaged kind."

Natasha tasted and nodded.  "Yes, you did.  You weren't supposed to use half?"

"No, I used half."  They groaned and got some bread to help cut the heat.  Dawn ate hers and shrugged off the heat.  They could handle it.

Natasha found the package to read the directions while getting a second glass of ice water.  "You did use half."  Dawn nodded.  "It was meant to use half for a single serving."  She looked at the plates.  "Clearly someone likes peppers too much."  She got them some plain rice started to cut the spiciness.  Clint liked that and smiled at her.

Dawn shrugged while she chewed.  "I thought it looked a bit strong, that's why I used half."  She finished up and got them ice cream.

Clint looked at her.  "You can't cook for a week."

"Sure."  She grinned.  "Of course, I'm going to be gone for part of that week."  They groaned.  "I'll think of you while we're at the Malibu office."

"Sure," Clint sighed.  "Think of us here alone."

She kissed him.  "You're going to pounce Natasha and I'll shamelessly listen in," she teased with a grin.

He smirked.  "Yes, I will be, so you know what you're getting when you get back."  He took another kiss and they ate their ice cream.  "Fury's pouting that you guys won't help his ideal of winning a few contests."

"I'm still not an agent."

"I know."  He smirked.  "You can run."

"I don't run in public.  I can't run wearing a t-shirt."

"I don't think they'd care," he admitted.

"You would."

"I would but I think they're going to make us do at least the 5K.  It's all agents if we want it to be.  Scores per agent are added."  She huffed.  "Try?"

"Why?"

"Maybe they'll send us better recruits," Natasha said.

Dawn looked at her.  "We're not getting them at Stark."  Natasha poked her.  "They're not."

"You can still help," she said.

Dawn looked at her.  "Did Fury give you a bonus to nag me and Tony into it?"

She smirked.  "A week off with you somewhere secluded.  All three of us."

Dawn groaned.  "I'm not sure I can get that off."

"You can.  He talked to Pepper, who said it was romantic," Clint admitted.  "Just the 5K and the language thing?"

"We'll see."  He kissed her and rewarded her for being so great.

***

Phil watched and timed Dawn's daily 5K and sighed.  "You beat half of the rookies."

"Only half?" she panted.

"We have two marathoners in the group."

"Good!"

He smiled.  "We could get you to do a triathalon."

"No you can't," she quipped back.  "The only Iron Man I want to know about is Stark's version."  He walked off cackling.  She went back to her three times a week run.  Phil logged her scores into the system that was tracking them.  She heard the ping.  "Is that a bad noise?" she asked hopefully.

"That was you beat Agent Hill's scored time."  They shared a look.  "We can do it together."  She groaned and finished up.  He had done his and was on for the 10K.

"Can't I just hand out water at the aid stations?"

"No."

"Damn it."

"Sorry."

"The language thing?"

"He was hoping you and Natasha could work out something on the gymnastics thing.  Maybe on the sharpshooter because you need to requalify."  She grimaced and got off the treadmill.  He pointed and she huffed but finished.  "Thank you."

"This really sucks."

"Yes it does," he agreed.  "It might have good benefits though."

"I'm not that lucky."

"Hush."  She finished up and wiped down with a towel.  "We'll run together.  Be buddies."

"Fine," she agreed, smirking at him.  "That means you need to run more often."

"I've been sparring."

"I know."  She smiled as she walked off wiping at her sweaty neck.  "I'm going to shower and hit work."

"Sure.  Have a good day, Dawn."  He logged in that last time and the computer pinged again.  She had barely beat his score.  Fury sent an IM saying they could run it together.  He sent back he had talked her into that and the languages.  He could almost see the director pouting but that was tough.

***

Dawn looked at Callia's gymnastics instructor.  "There's an all-agent olympics, which includes adjunct members," she said quietly.

He laughed.  "Did you ever train, Miss Summers?"

"I got some, mostly for balance work, by someone who did."

"Are they trained?"

"Black Widow?  Slightly."  He shuddered.  "If we decide to brush up on her skills, can we bum some space?  Totally paid for the time?"

"We'll see.  I'd have to test her, and you, to see what you could do."  He looked at her.  "SHIELD does things like that?"

"It's all agencies."

"That's strange."

"It's like team bonding or some shit like that," she muttered, cracking him up.  "They've already roped me into running."  She shifted her weight.  Natasha strolled in with a bag over her shoulder.  "Hi."

"Good afternoon."

The trainer looked at her and nodded.  "Did you compete?"

"No, I learned for practical reasons of training."

"Where?"

"Russia."

He groaned.  "They're always good."  He shrugged.  "I'll see where you are after the kids are done."  They nodded and settled in to watch over Callia.  He looked then at the kids.  "Stark."  She looked up and grinned, waving at them.  "What are you doing?"

"We're reading about the girls in the real olympics.  You told us to and you said we can't touch the bouncy pad without you standing right there."

"Yeah, I did."  He walked over to get them back into practice.  Callia wasn't bad but she'd never be great.  She enjoyed it though, which was important.  When they were done, Callia ran over to hug her aunt.  "Your driver's here."

"Hi, Happy."  She smiled and waved at him.  "Can I watch them?"

"Not this time," Natasha said.  "Next time if it's going to keep going."  Callia pouted.  "That way you don't have to see it when I fall."

"Falling is part of learning," she said.  She bounded out to pounce Happy, earning a smile.  "They're going to do big girl stuff."

"They probably are," he agreed, getting her into her booster seat then getting in to drive.  "Your father said you're taking family pictures tonight so you need to go shower and change."

"Cool!" she chirped and wiggled to the music he had on.  When they got there and she got let out, she ran to the elevator and onto it, heading up to the Penthouse to shower and put on real clothes.  "JARVIS, what did Daddy want me to wear for pictures?"

"I believe he wanted you in something blue or red, Callia."

She looked in her closet.  She huffed.  "I need Auntie's help."

"You have very good taste," he assured her.  "Wear what you want to look nice in."  She considered it and pulled down something then put it back because it had a huge stain.  She pulled out something else and looked at it, putting it down and then tights and shoes.  Then she went to shower.  She came out to find a different dress.  "Daddy, you didn't like that one?"

"It's too small," he called from the kitchen.  She put on panties then ran out to pounce him.  He smiled.  "You need to shop."

"I can take Auntie?  And Auntie Pepper?"

"You can, yes."  She beamed and ran back in there, coming out in a pretty dress that her Auntie Pepper had gotten her for her birthday.  He smiled.  "That's a really good choice.  I'll change my shirt."

"We look fine."

He kissed her.  "Pepper's wearing a darker shade so I need to change to one."  She nodded and settled in to sip the milkshake he made her.  "How was gymnastics?" he asked as he headed for his closet.

"It was fine.  One of the older girls was a bit sick and the coach had a yell at her mother for it.  One of the girls in my class was sore but I don't know when she fell."  He looked out at her.  "We didn't talk about it, I only gave her a hug, Daddy."

"That's very sweet of you, dear."  He came out buttoning up a new shirt.  She smiled at him.  "C'mon, we're going to be in the lab."

"Maybe I should wear pants so we can be under the car together," she chirped, walking beside him.

"We can do that later.  Those are informal pictures.  These are Stark portraits."  She giggled and took his hand to hold on the way down there.   The photographer was waiting and so was Pepper.  He had her arranged so Callia hid the baby but Pepper was sulky so Tony let her pick the pose and it went better.  Callia was hugging the baby during a few but that was fine.  Then they took an official portrait for the Stark page of Wikipedia - because every now and then Tony went in to edit it.  The photographer told him when they'd be done and left them to tinker or whatever a set of Starks did with a CEO staring over their shoulder.

Callia stripped off the dress, showing her favorite leotard underneath.  She found her shorts in the bathroom and put them on - because her father insisted she wear shorts or pants over them in the offices - then she and her father moved to tinker with the cars.  She loved the cars.  He had promised to teach her all about them and how to drive some year.  It was so cool.

Pepper watched, smiling and sipping her tea.  Callia was so like Tony sometimes.

***

Natasha and Dawn walked into the apartment that night.  "Is Fury's dynastic plans going to happen?" Clint teased with a smile.

"Natasha was still almost form perfect," Dawn quipped.  "She was missing some of the more modern moves.  He gave her the book to study and suggested a few places to look.  I'm excused.  I do not know enough about anything."  She sat down.  "Which is nice."

"You want fencing?" Clint teased.

She shook her head.  "Not really.  I can't use a foil.  I need something a bit heavier."  She took a kiss.  "How did your scores go?"

"Decent.  I played it down since they'll be handed over."  He let her cuddle, pulling Natasha down on his other side.  "So?"

"I suppose I can," she decided.  They both grinned at her.  "I know Dawn is on for the 10K with Coulson.  The posted scores were very decent.  Neither one was pushing themselves but decent."

"I never push myself on the treadmill," Dawn said.  "I figure if I have to all-out run for a reason then I'll be okay for a shorter but still long-enough distance."

"Probably," Clint agreed.  "You'll need to run faster during the run though."  She sighed but nodded.  "At least we don't have to get sponsors like the ones in high school."  Natasha laughed, giving him a squeeze.  "I'm on for the 5K."

"As am I," Natasha agreed.  They smiled at Dawn.  "We'll be waiting for you."

"Please do."  They laughed.   She stretched.  "We'll figure it out."

"We will," he agreed.  "We'll do our best.  The other agencies will quit patting us on the head like we're puppy dogs following them around."  She gave him a squeeze.  "There's a lot of other sharp shooters."

"Yes, but not many with a bow," Dawn said with a grin.  He smirked back and got comfortable, putting his feet up.  "Who's making dinner since I'm grounded from the kitchen?"

"The pizza place I called ten minutes ago," Clint said.  They both grinned at him for that.  It was good and they could handle it.  Dawn got up to pay the pizza guy and take the food.  She had to stab him but that was about how things happened around her.  "Does that mean it's free?" Clint quipped.

"Maybe," Dawn said, handing them over.  "But I don't think you ordered live baby squid."  He sighed and called them.  They promised it was on its way.  The demon that had delivered got sent to Xander to kill.  They didn't want to scare the poor pizza delivery teenager.  They might never get delivery again if the new guy saw them killing the demon one.

***

Dawn showed up for the meeting about the various things.  She sat down next to her boss, who patted her on the back.  "What're you going in on?" she asked.

"5K.  Pepper talked me into it.  You?"

"10.  Phil talked me into it."  They sighed and shook their heads.  The coordinator team walked in behind Fury and she shifted to look at them better.  She heard their spiel about fostering inter-agency cooperation and held in the snort barely.  Tony didn't manage that and got a dirty look, then a second look.  When they asked for questions, Dawn raised her hand.  "The languages event.  Are demonic ones allowed?"

They looked at her.  "Demons have languages?"

"More than humans do.  I know one.  Is it allowed?"

"I...."  The team looked at each other, then shrugged.  "We're not sure.  We'll see and let you know by certified letter tomorrow."  She nodded.  "Any other questions?"

She raised her hand again.  "For those of us in the sharpshooter comps, we need a list of allowed weapons, customizations, and any other persnickety rules like those who're so used to having their earpiece in they'd need it during it."

"Earpieces are not to be worn during it, even if they're not connected," the lead one asked.  "Customizations?"  Dawn pulled out her gun and walked up to put it on the table in front of her.  "Why do you have it weighted?"

"I do better with heavier guns."  She shrugged.  "I couldn't carry one in my favored weight class on my thigh and conceal it, even magically."

She nodded, looking it over.   "We have a list of allowed weapons and excluded ones.   We can make sure of that and send you a copy of those as well."

"Thank you."  She put it back in her holster on the way to her seat.

"Do you do that on field missions?" the lead of the team asked.

"I'm a perky super assistant sort," she said with a smile.  "I'm an adjunct member.  If I'm in the field there had better either be an apocalypse battle or someone I really care for is in deep shit and I'm solving it."  A few agents laughed.  "Yes, I like you enough to save your ass too, dickhead."  She gave someone a head nudge.  "Even by accident when I got the person trying to kidnap me again."  She sat down.

"You said adjunct members could help," Fury quipped.  "Frankly, she's only on for apocalypse battles."  Dawn smirked at him.

"That's fine.  We have people in the FBI who use their consultants."  She made notes on who needed those.  "Should we send those here?"

"Stark," she said with a smirk.  "Care of Dawn Summers."  They nodded and one shivered.  She stared at him.  "Practical question.  When someone tries to kidnap me there, what's my limit and how would you like to handle that?"  Tony snickered, shaking his head.  "Don't even laugh.  The security team this morning had to save me from someone who was FBI and wanted to own me so I could help his caseload."

Tony patted her on the knee.  "We love you anyway, Dawn."

"Thanks, boss."  She smirked at him.  "By the way, he's still probably in my old storage room."

"I was wondering why you had gotten in there."

"Are you two...." one of the SHIELD agents asked quietly.  Tony glared at him.

Dawn stared at him.  "He's like my dad, dude.  Really.  He used to have to talk to me about bras."  The agent slumped down.  "Though he does give really great neck rubs."  Steve laughed from his seat.  "For those doing the swimming, they might need the suit rules," she noted to the team.  "Including if they can use those new porpoise penis skin suits."

Fury was trying not to react.  One of the team was cackling though.  "No, they can't use anything not Olympic standard, Miss Summers.  You?"

"No, I swim for enjoyment and teasing in a bikini.  Thanks anyway."

"Good to know."  He posted those rules and a few took them down.  "For runner's shoes, nothing that's not Olympic standard.  We will have EMT's standing by to help us."

"I'm bringing Dr. Pigalli," Tony told Fury.  "We like her more when we injure ourselves."

"Fine," he agreed.  "She can join my people."

"No, I'm not seeing your people," Tony said dryly.

"Especially not the nurse who told agents that they couldn't be parents because it was against the rules," Dawn quipped.

"Which one?" another agent asked.

"I know of three.  I helped Mom find the complaint forms," Dawn told him.  Tony looked at her.  "Not him.  Same nurse though."

"Are they on my desk yet?" Fury asked Joyce, who nodded.  "Good.  I'll handle that.  I may not like how many parents we have because it makes them have skewed priorities at times, but I understand that and work around it."

Dawn looked at him.  "I know some geeks who're working on a way to speed up what Roque's mother does for mortal men."  His eye went wide and he backed up.  She smiled.  Joyce looked back at her.  "He didn't want Patty to suffer, Mom."

"I'll talk with the boys later," she promised.

"I want to see if they can do it," Stark admitted.  "Let them, Joyce."

"Fine."  She turned back around and smiled.  "I'm very glad I'm not going to have to do it."

Fury looked at her.  "You can train."

"No I can't.  My doctor forbid it."

"That's reasonable.  Maybe next time," he told her.

She smiled.  "Perhaps.  He said two years."

He nodded.  Dawn got up to hug her mother then sat back down.  He looked at the qualifications team again.  "Any other rules we need to know?"

"I'll send you the full rule book for each event."

"Is fencing foil only?" one agent asked.

"Yes it is.  Standard fencing rules apply."

"Is there a mixed style martial arts event or just standard types?" Dawn asked.

"There is one but it's kickboxing."

She shook her head.  "No thanks."

One of the team looked at her.  "There is one but it's weapons centric."  She smirked at him for that.  "Daggers or other smaller hand-held items."

"Got it.  I need those rules too."  They nodded and made that note.  Tony looked at her.  "That's why I've been taking self defense since I was fifteen," she reminded him.

"True, you have."  He shifted in his seat.  He texted Pepper about the idiot from this morning.  She said they had finally told her after she had some tea and a snack so she wouldn't be too mean to him.  He snorted and sent one back.  She quipped and said they could come gather him.  "Fury, Pepper's finally released the guy she got this morning if you want him."

"I'll send someone," he said, sending a message out.  "Any idea, Summers?"  She dug the ID case out of her bag and tossed it at him.  He caught it one-handed and looked at it, nodding.  "His cousin works with us."  He tossed it at him.

He looked then back at Dawn.  "I'll tell his mom he was an idiot.  Did you hurt him much?"

"No.  He tried to gas me so I broke the cab into pieces and then I turned him into a mouse for easy carrying.  When the security team picked me up on my sixteen block hike back I changed him back and let them have him.  He might still be squeaking though."

"I'll take that into account when we have a talk later," that agent said dryly, turning back around and shaking his head.  He pulled out his phone to text his mother and aunt.  They were good southern boys, he would listen to his mother's butt beating and lecture.

Tony looked at her.  "You still have two others running around in there according to Pepper."

"Oops.  Didn't I change them back?"  She concentrated and did that.  "I caught 'em trying to talk to Callia about work stuff, boss."

"Thanks."  He sent that and she said she got their ID's.  "Fury, you need handcuffs of your own."

"I can go get them myself," he promised, sending that to the same agent.  "Going after his daughter?"

"Pumping her for intel on the suit stuff," Dawn said, waving a hand around.  "Did she like working on it, did it have servo motors or hydraulics.  That's when I stopped them.  Jonathan called me to tell me they were trying to chat her up in the caf.  He said later if I hadn't been there he would've called 'Drew."

Tony nodded.  "Andrew and Jonathan could make them very sorry for touching her."

"They are her favorite geeks," she agreed with a smile.

"They are," he agreed.  His phone beeped.  "Huh.  Xander needs me."  He disappeared.

Dawn rolled her eyes.  "At least he warned him."

Fury smirked at the qualifier team.  "It's only that insane at Stark."

"That must be nice," one of them agreed.  "It's all the geniuses probably."

"Quite likely," Dawn quipped, getting a few snickers from the other agents.  "You guys should've seen the Expo.  The food carts didn't even have real coffee."  A few agents moaned.  "That's why I bought one out and showed them how to do it the right way."  Joyce smiled at her.  "I even got them the good stuff.  If they got that far they're good geeks."

"Some of it was very interesting," one of the agents in the back of the room agreed.  "It was very good coffee too.  I had no idea that geeks lived on food like that."  Dawn looked back and nodded.  "Huh.  No wonder they're either rail thin and fragile or really heavy by the ones I've seen."

She smiled.  "The meanest ones are vegan."

"That's about usual," he assured her.  She smirked and turned back around.

"They confuse me so I'll leave it to the experts," Fury said dryly.  "Any other questions?"  A few more got asked.  Then they got dismissed.  "Summers, can I talk you into the marathon class?"

"Hell.  No."  She blipped back to the office.

Fury sighed.  "We need a few more who can move up to marathon lengths."  He looked at the team.  "Since we're technically shielding the SGC under us, are they eligible?"

"Yes," they decided.

"What about the ruling on that one agent?" he asked more quietly.

"We're not sure," they decided.  "We wouldn't let Thor due to his special skills.  Or Captain Rogers due to his."

"Then I'll tell him probably not."  They nodded and made that note then let him alone.  He sighed and went to find Coulson.  "They won't let Thor or Captain America compete."

"Then I'll find Dawn another running buddy," he promised.  "Are you picking up the white mice collection at Stark, sir?"

"Heading there now."  He went down to the garage, getting an agent to drive him.  New York was funny about him only having one eye sometimes.

Phil smiled and sent that at Xander.  Who told the SGC people there.  That way they were ready to be conscripted.  There were a few there he'd trust to be Dawn's running buddy.

***

Fury looked at the collection of tied up agents, staring at the guards watching them.  "All these?"

"They're the ones that turned back to human in here, sir," the head of security said.  "I had no idea we had more than three."  They heard a thump and opened the other storage areas down here to find the rest.  They found a mouse-sized hole that was around an ankle too so got him out of the structure of the building to hand him over.  "We'll ask Miss Summers if she has incident reports or anything."  Dawn came down with them.  "Thank you, Miss Summers.  Can you please limit it to six to pull a carriage for your niece?"

She smiled.  "I can do that.  I totally forgot about a few of them.  We might want to check Cheese's cage.  I think Callia found one too."  They radioed a guard upstairs to go check.

Sure enough, he found Callia staring oddly at the former mouse that was in the shared cage of Carrot and Cheese.  He was mightily squished but crying on Carrot at the moment.  She helped them remove the front so they could get him out.  Callia told him he had to replace the litter box he had stepped on and broken and he sobbed he would, giving her a hug.  She looked at the guard.  "He's really weird," she said, letting the guard broadcast that back.

"He probably was," Dawn said with a smile for them.  "Sorry, guys, I forgot I had changed you that way to keep you off my ass."  A few sniffled but let Fury haul them out.  She strolled off.  "Sorry, guys.  I'll stick to six and under."

"Thank you, Miss Summers," the head of security said.  "Four and under if possible?"

She smiled.  "I'll try to remember to make better notes and let you have them daily.  How about that?"

"That would be perfect, thank you, ma'am."

"Miss Summers," another guard asked.  "Why didn't you remember?  You usually have a very good memory."

"Someone is making me train for the agent olympics thing and it's ruining my concentration at work."  She shrugged and got onto the elevator.  She went back to her desk.

"Running more often shouldn't ruin her mind," Fury complained.

"She hasn't teased recently either," a lesser guard said quietly.  "I know the duo in Lab 7 have been worried about that."  The head of security nodded and made a note to Stark to ask her if there were more problems.  Fury gave them a funny look.  "Dawn's allowed two teasing days a month," he explained.  "She let one pass by.  She was wearing pants and a bun."

"I'm not shocked Stark lets her," he decided, walking the last few agents out.  They were huddled in the back of the van he had called for.  He got into the SUV and followed the van back.  They were very nice to tell him who they were, who they worked for, and why they had been picked up when Joyce chuckled and said that Dawn was usually more creative than white mice.

Fury just shuddered at remembering being a ferret.  He had some sympathy for these idiots.

***

Stark reappeared at HQ and stared at Fury.  "Xander found a few snukes being worked on by some fairly disreputable geeks."

"Please tell me they're in custody?" he begged, looking up from the paperwork.

"Slightly.  The FBI agent that Dawn cleared as being trustworthy had no idea what to do with them.  He liaisoned back with Coulson, who told him who to get, which is why Xander called me and McKay to deal with them.  They're in FBI custody and they're handing them over to my lab today."  That got a nod.  "For total dismemberment.  I'm not going to leave a single bit of that piece of shit bomb together."

"We do not need something like that getting free.  Are there others?"

"That agent's looking into it."

"Summers cleared him?"

"She ran minor background checks on agents out there to create a safe list for the team."  He smiled.  "She did good.  He's almost as uptight as Coulson but he has more emotions."  He looked back at the flash of light.  "We good?" he asked Rodney.

"All disabled.  They're tearing the components apart while the fissionables are already under double lock in the special safe area you set up."

"Good.  Thank you."  He looked at Fury again.  "The fissionables are going to Atlantis.  I trust them not to blow us all up.  Most of the time."

"Granted," he agreed.  "They're under us now."

Stark nodded, looking at Rodney, who smirked.  "Schedule it."

"I'll have Sheppard move it with Roque."  That got a nod and they went back to Stark.  Rodney was already talking with John, who had it planned.  Tony gave them his access code for that safe area, which wasn't used anywhere else.  That helped and they got it moved within minutes, before anyone else could hear.  The rest were being happily ripped apart and written down so they knew in the future.  Stark walked into his building and the guards all stood at attention.  He winced.  "How many tried for her this time?"

"She stored fourteen agents as white mice, sir.  We gathered them all to hand to Director Fury.  She said in the future she'd keep better track of them."

The other guard coughed.  "Carrot's cage front needs to be put back on.  We had no idea one had gotten so free as to go cohabitate with Cheese, sir."

McKay burst out laughing.  "That's so cute."  He went to the elevator.

Stark shook his head.  "Fourteen?"

"She claimed the jogging is killing her concentration," the first guard said dryly.  "She promised to keep it under six and try to give us daily reports of them."

"Thanks."  He went up on the next elevator, pausing at Dawn's desk.  McKay was there complaining about the level of coffee at the Malibu lab.  "I give each department money for coffee," Stark reminded him.  "They pick their own.  Fourteen?" he demanded.

"Sorry!  I forgot!"

"Bullshit."  He stared at her.  "Go get a new CT done."

"I don't have a concussion."

"Uh-huh.  CT, now, Summers."  He pointed.  She huffed but went.  "Then come see me in the lab.  You haven't even dick teased recently so I know something's wrong and apparently we need to have some girl talk time."  He walked off to check on his daughter's pets.  They were happily running around in their little playpen area, which was on top of an easily cleaned mat so they didn't crap on the rug again.  "Are they okay?"

"They're fine.  Why was that agent in there?"

"Apparently he pissed your aunt off and she turned him into a mouse."

"If I get more than one mousy I might have to name them after specific cheeses.  Do you think my first mousy would like to be American or Cheddar?"

"I prefer Swiss but go with Gruyere.  Something fantastic."  She grinned and petted the mouse, calling him that.  He went back down to his lab.  No Dawn.  He called the infirmary.  "Are you keeping her?"  He listened.  "How did she get a concussion?"  He considered it.  "I did not hear about that.  Did her mates hear about that?"  He smirked.  "I'll make sure, yes.  Thank you.  About how long ago?"  He nodded.  "I didn't hear a thing."

He hung up and called Barton's phone.  "Are you busy?"  He kicked back.  "How did Dawn get a three-day-old concussion?"  He listened to that not amusing story.  "Yes, she does.  She forgot she had fourteen mouse agents here."  He listened.  "Ah, no wonder!  No, we have a Dawn rule.  Dawn is to go to the infirmary no matter what happened and how minor it was.  We had to make that rule during the week of stupidity when she didn't go right away after stabbing that agent in the eye with the taser spike."

He listened.  "That's good to know.   I'll have our docs call over there.  Why did they take her there?  Oh, not considered an emergency facility even if she asked.  That's fine.  Yeah, I did have her scanned.  Thanks, Barton."  He hung up and called the infirmary back.  "They took her to St. Vincent's.   She told them it had been a car crash instead of an agent attacking her for being her."

He hung up and considered it.  "I wonder if he was one of the mice."  He sent that text to Dawn's phone.  She admitted he might be a mouse but not here.  She couldn't remember if she had changed him or not.  She said Natasha had chased him so she had a better description.  He asked her for it and he knew that agent.  He had seen him earlier.  He had been arrested in LA.

***

Dawn sighed as she walked into the lab.  "The ER didn't say I had one."

"Well, duh, they're highly overcrowded and you left."  He looked at her.  "They got the records, including the signing yourself out AMA."

"They weren't going to let me sign myself out at all, Stark.  They thought I needed someone to pick me up and wouldn't let me call the security guys to do it.  Had to be a blood relative."

He snorted.  "That's stupid if you have guards who can do it.  We'll make sure that they know to call here."  He stared at her.  "Is that why you didn't dick tease that day?"

"No.  I had on something nicer but had to change.  There's not a lot of dick teasing clothes in my closet.  Somehow I have almost two empty closets right now."

"Pepper needs new clothes, your niece needs new clothes.  You can take them."

She shrugged.  "Maybe I'm scaling back."

He snorted.  "Girls like you don't have less than a bag's worth of clothes."  He stared at her.

"I'm not the girl I used to be."

"You still are, you just hide a slightly darker side now and then."  He rolled his stool over to stare at her.  "Problems?  They nagging?"

"No.  Not at all.  I'm just not in a flirty mood recently.  It happens."

"It doesn't just *happen*."  He stared at her.  "If I was a telepath," he said dryly.  She rolled her eyes as she walked off.  "Schedule a trip to take Callia and Pepper shopping later."  She nodded, waving as she walked off.  He did the sneaky thing and called Romanoff.  "What's wrong with her?"  He listened to her complain.  "She's got nearly two free closets?"  Natasha said something quietly.

"Uh-huh.  I can have her conveniently sprain her ankle.  It's not something I want to do either."  He got comfortable and listened.  "That sucks, Romanoff.  Your wife didn't even flirt or tease for the last few weeks.  She just said she's not the same sort of girl she was before."  Natasha sighed and admitted she'd been having nightmares.  "Would that have something to do with the fourteen mice agents?" he asked dryly.  He heard her ask someone that.  They told her who had been brought in and he smirked at her growl.  "I don't know, but I know she's not acting normally.  She's not exactly upset but she's being quiet and not flirty.

"She's almost edgy and I know you guys have been sparring again.  Maybe she is waiting for another attack.  Not totally sure.  I know the time in Malibu is going to hopefully help and I told her to take Pepper and Callia shopping because my daughter needs clothes."  He saw Dawn walking toward the door.  "Want to talk to her?  I don't care if you do tell her I'm nagging.  She knows I do it back."  He hung up.  He saw Dawn look up then glare at him.  He gave her a pointed look.  "Like I said, I'm not telepathic."

"I'm fine."

"You're not fine.  You're carrying at least one heavier weapon than usual because your usual walk is off."  She groaned and huffed off.  He had her brought back by Callia.  "Talk to them about it, Dawn.  She and I are going to see where she wants to shop."

"We have our shops," Dawn said.  "Did you want to go somewhere else this time?"

Callia shrugged.  "I need more leotards.  Can I get a camo one?"

"We'll see if we can find you one," Dawn promised, smiling and patting her on the head.

Callia looked at her.  "Why you have so many hidey spots?"

"It's been a long week," she told her.  "If we're going out I have to carry some extra weapons in case someone tries to take you and Pepper."

"That's why we have guard guys," Callia said, staring at her.

"That's very wise, daughter.  That is why you have guards."  Tony looked at Dawn.  "You're a last line, not the front line of defense."  She rolled her eyes and went to the bathroom.  "Talk to your spouses please."  He looked at his daughter, smiling at her.  "You do good things."

"Of course I do.  Auntie taught me how."  She hugged him.  "I need lots of clothes or little bits of clothes?" she asked with a grin.

"You've outgrown almost everything in your closet.  You need a lot of clothes, which should make your Aunt Pepper happy."  She beamed and danced around.  Dawn came out.  "Better?"

"I was fine before."

"You're out of sorts in ways that not even Midol will help," he said dryly.  "Or chocolate."  She sighed and shook her head.  "Are the Russians back?  In any format that they've shown up?"  She stiffened slightly.  Bingo.  Sometimes it was so easy to read Dawn's problems.  "Which ones?"

"No comment since you're a nark."

"Don't you think your Russian wife should know about them?"

"I'm pretty sure she realized it since she kicked one around yesterday."

He speed dialed Natasha again.  "So, Russians?"  He listened.  "Should I send an extra guard with them for the shopping trip?  No, Callia's out of clothes.  She's outgrown most everything."

"I don't need a bodyguard," Dawn complained.  "I don't."

"You do," he assured her.  "And so do Callia and Pepper.  You're the last line of defense, not the first one.  Remember when you used to enjoy shopping?"

"You don't like shopping?" Callia asked, looking upset.  "Why not?  Were they mean?  We can switch stores."

Dawn hugged her.  "I like shopping just fine.  I simply haven't went recently.  Which is why your dad is nagging me like I do him about forgetting to eat."

"Oh."  She nodded then hugged her.  "We'll remember how much you like it together."  Dawn smiled and gave her a squeeze.  Callia cuddled.  "Daddy, quit nagging."

"I'm going to."  He listened and huffed.  "Really?  That's fine, we can wait until LA then.  That'll be in two days.  Thanks, Romanoff.  Yeah, tell him he can."  He hung up.  Dawn stiffened.

Callia cooed, "Hi, Unclie, hi, auntie," in Dawn's ear.  Then she ran over to pounce her father.  "We shop in LA instead?"

"You are.  There was a huge bad guy spotted in town and I don't want him anywhere near you."

"Okay."  She snuggled in.  Dawn was on the floor holding her head while the three of them talked.  Dawn winced at something so clearly some yelling.  Tony casually got into Dawn's emails, smirking and sending one to Barton's phone.  He had sense and long distance weapons that would be more useful against the major bad guy that wanted Dawn to work for him.  How someone who was an evil overlord sort had found out about her he wasn't sure.  They could figure that out later.

He got a text.  //The overlord jackass is making her tense but she wasn't sure why, just sensed the possible trouble.  She's calming down and he won't get near the sprout.// Tony sent back a 'thanks' and put his phone down on the table again.  He looked at his daughter.  "Did you tell Aunt Pepper that you need to shop?"  She got into the video conference system to talk to her.  Tony waved.  "I authorized this call."

Pepper smiled.  "I'm talking with someone for the next two minutes, Callia, and then we'll talk?"

"Okay, put me on hold."  Pepper smiled and did that.  She looked at her father.  "Is there another big bad guy?"

"Yup."

"Why?"

"He wants to be your Aunt Dawn's husband I think."

"He's a dumbass.  She has one of those."

Tony nodded.  "She does, but no swearing, daughter."

"Still true.  I'm sure Auntie Dawn can kick his butt."

"If not, I know some who certainly can."

Pepper came back.  "I heard.  Who?"  She smiled.  He sent her that email.  She read it and looked that name up.  "She'd never go for a genocidal idiot like him."

"He's got high tastes on a beer budget," Tony said dryly.  "She's got to go shopping.  Badly."

Pepper smiled.  "I'm an expert at that too."

"We're going in LA," Callia cooed.  "So bad guy can't get near Auntie."

"I like that idea.  We three girls can go."  Callia smiled at her.  "Is she down there?"

"Talking to her spouses," Tony said smugly.  "I talked to Romanoff about her not being flirty for days."

"I noticed that but I figured they were all worn out from all the recent things."  She shrugged.  "We leave in two days."  Callia beamed and nodded.  "We'll go through your closet so we can donate things.  It's the responsible thing to do."

"Okay.  I like that.  That way other girls can have pretty dresses too."

"Yes they can," Tony agreed.  He patted her on the back, making her belch.  "In the pickles again?"  She nodded.  "Manners?" he prompted.

"'Scuse me, Auntie Pepper."

"I've done it a lot recently too.  The baby makes me burp a lot."  She saw Tony look at his phone.  "New problem?"

"New email just hit her system."  He opened it and frowned, forwarding it to Fury, Barton, Romanoff, Coulson, and Pepper.  Pepper's growl made him happy.  He smiled.  "We're going to deal with that."

"Yes, we will."

Dawn flinched again.  "Get out of my email.  That's private stuff."

"The Supreme Court said that an employer can snoop in on any employee emails, lockers, or anything else that's company owned," Tony quipped.  "Why didn't you want us to know?"

"I'm discouraging him."

"Good!  We're going to help with that."

She groaned.  "I'm not fifteen, Tony."

"I never said you were but I wouldn't take that on by myself.  Did you think that he might have been behind some of those mice agents?"  She winced.  Then rolled her eyes because apparently one of her spouses said something.  "When did we spot him?"

"Four days ago when he showed up while I was getting you that specialized coffee sludge.  He walked up to me and tried to chat me up but I said I was busy and at work.  I looked him up when I got back.  That night I got an email, shot back that I was not interested, I was more than happy with how things were in my life currently."

"Hmm," Tony said, looking at Pepper, who was still scowling.  He quirked an eyebrow up.

"Fury said it's not his agents' jobs to deal with that issue for her."

"It is, because they put out a contract on Clint," Dawn said.  "Which I've already had words with someone about.  Repeatedly."  Clint apparently said something hotheaded because she winced.  "I did tell you.  I blatantly left it in your bow case, dear.  I also noted it to Phil.  Who apparently hasn't been at his desk in days."  She winced when Natasha asked why she wasn't told too.  "Because I'm still trying to see if he has one on you.  I figured he'd share.  One of them."  She leaned forward to rub her forehead.  "I did tell him.  I did tell Phil."

"You forgot to tell us," Tony said.

"I sent you an email."

"I never got it."  He got into his own email account, not finding it.  He and Pepper shared a look.  She got their IT people to look for the intrusion.  "Huh, he's a hacker."  Dawn moaned.  "Yup, he's going down."  He put Callia down.  "We'll be right up, Pepper."  He hung up and they walked out.  Dawn followed, going to talk in there from the couch.  Pepper got out of his way so he could get into the system more heavily.  JARVIS was getting huffy but yay.  They found out why, and the intrusion, and then how it had happened.  "Not even from one of my systems.  How cheesy."

"Then he should be a mousy too," Callia quipped with a smirk for her daddy.  "He needs to be a mousy."

"He might be later," Dawn muttered.  "I figured it would cause a panic and get me in trouble if I did that to a world leader."

"He's not really a world leader," Tony said dryly.  "He's a wannabe.  By the way, you're worth more than him."

"I knew that," Dawn said.

Tony smirked.  "Give them mean ideas, Dawn.  They need the really mean ones.  Before your knights go after him for you."  He looked at Andrew since he was in the doorway.  "Evil overlord sort?"

He waved a hand and snorted.  "Please!  I did better and I was the nicest of the three of us."  He looked at Pepper, smiling.  "MB says that there's some sort of pregnancy fashion show next week.  She was wondering earlier if some day they'd do guy pregnancy fashion too."

"They might," she agreed.  "Thank you both.  I'll look it up to get an invitation."  He smiled.

"I want what you have on him," Tony said.

"Already coming up, boss.  Jonathan said he's a woose he would've pointed the jocks at to spare himself."  He walked off.  Dawn was clearly having a mental argument with her spouses.  He'd check on her later.  She had been more pouty than Buffy recently.

***

Fury looked at the agent in front of him.  "It's not our job," he told Coulson.

"It is our job.  He's put out a contract on Barton, sir."  He handed over the notice Dawn had left him.  Fury read it and glared.  "She's tried to have it removed a few times.  She was trying to be subtle and warn us in ways that he couldn't compromise.  Stark's not sure if some of the attempts to get her haven't been from his people."

"That's our job then.  Barton?"

"They're having a discussion about what she knew, has done, and all that.  She hadn't told Romanoff because she wasn't sure if he could see her doing that."

"Interesting.  Why does he want Dawn?"

"He's got some minor magic himself.  She's perky, pretty, well liked, would make a good co-regent with him."  Fury shuddered.  "He thinks he can keep her contained and try to make her happy enough until she gives in.  She's been undermining his threats without us realizing it.  Until Stark got onto her about her attitude change that wasn't related to the three-day-old concussion."

"Why was that?"

"Some agent attacked her on the street.  They may have gotten away but she got taken to St. Vincents instead of Stark's infirmary by the ambulance crew."

"Not good."

"Protocol.  They're not an ER."  He crossed his arms over his chest as Natasha walked in.  "They still arguing?"

"No, we're making plans.  Dawn has done an excellent job getting around him and his plans.  She was trying to let us know but we never realized it.  His last one said she could bring Callia with her when she came to be his queen."

"Will they have enough guards in LA?" Coulson asked.

"I would hope so.  Using some of my contacts, there's three people that have tried to take the contract on Barton's life."  Coulson growled.  "They were stopped, twice by Dawn and once accidentally by a rookie."

"I wondered who that was that had been run off," Fury admitted, grimacing.  "Why are they going to LA?  Here is safer."

"Pepper's speaking at a business meeting in two days," Natasha said.  "She's bringing Dawn with her and now Callia because she could use some shopping time.  She's outgrown everything."

"I can take Callia shopping," Joyce called.

"It's not safe," Phil said.  "The idiot overlord wannabe is more than willing to let Dawn have custody of her when he marries her."

Joyce snorted.  "Over his dead body."  She smiled sweetly.  "Have I met him?  I know I got a nice invitation to lunch from someone who supposedly wanted to interview me.  We're doing it here in the caf."

Phil took that notice to look at, nodding.  "He is.  He was going to walk in here like he belonged here."  He handed it to Natasha, who read it and handed it on.  "Romanoff...."

"He will not make it to dinner."  She strolled off.  "Joyce, please remember your taser."

"I am, dear."

"Good."  She went to get a few things, telling Clint and Dawn on the way.  They wished her happy hunting.  Barton was still growling.

Fury looked at Coulson.  "They'll need a guard."

"I'm sending Barton anyway," he said dryly.  "He can guard all three and Callia will listen to him where she won't the security team Stark has.  She considers them big playmates most of the time."  He strolled off talking to Xander.  Xander yelled at Clay, who said he had some bored people with an evil smirk.  Phil shared what had shown up recently as far as he knew.  Cougar volunteered to help Natasha, being sent to talk to her.  She might need a sniper and couldn't have her favorite one, but he would do.  She agreed and they went hunting together.

"They're the top of the dangerous animal food chain," one of the rookies quipped when he saw them walking past to one of his buddies.

Barton got that one with the training crossbow he used for surprise, painful shots to correct problems.  "So are the rest of us."  That one winced.  "I'd go back to training."  He ran back in there.  Clint looked at the other one, who shrugged.

"I have no idea who the guy was outside of not being an agent.  You can't be an agent with hair like that, sir."

"He's one of the better snipers in the US Army.  He was Delta trained."  The guy shivered and nodded, walking off.  "You'll meet him if you make it to training with Alexander's people."  He walked off, still seething at that idiot wannabe.  Dawn calmed him down by telling him she had dealt with one of his minions earlier.  He paused and considered that.  He asked how.  Natasha echoed that.  They heard she had him nicely tied up in the security area of the apartment building.  He had tried to gas rag attack her on the treadmill.  Natasha said she'd get him.  Clint grumbled but got summoned upstairs.  "Yes, sir?" he asked as he walked in.

"You're going with the group going to Malibu as *security*."

"Can't get much more secure than with me there," Clint agreed, nodding at Clay when he appeared.  "Problems?  I know Natasha borrowed Cougar."

"Jensen, John, and I are going with the happy family.  Jensen's going to be on Callia's guard and only on her.  John is on Pepper's.  You're going as the hidden one and I'm going as the more formal one on Dawn."

"Got it," he agreed.  "That'll solve some tension and I need to help her shop anyway.  She's got nearly two free closets."  Clay shook his head with a moan.  "She hasn't even teased recently.  She got battle tense and was trying to handle things.  And did manage a few things."

"I heard.  Your handler nerd and his husband have been chatting."  He gave him a smug look.  "Anything you'll want?"

"They're probably going to stay at the Malibu house, not sure," Barton said, asking Dawn that.  "They are.  It's pretty secure and has JARVIS there as the main unit."

"Good to know."

"Including the original tinkering lab," Barton warned.

"I'll keep my idiot tech support boy out of it."

"Callia will want to go tinker.  She does when she's stressed."

"He can handle that."

"She'll probably try to talk him into going to the zoo so she can see the penguins."

"He might like that," Clay admitted.  "He's been missing his niece again."

"She can't visit?"

"His sister doesn't want her around the trainees."  They shared a look.  "He's going to video chat and see if she and Callia want to become penpals."

"That'll be good.  She wants more friends her own age."

"Beth's a few years older but not much."  He looked at Fury.  "Any orders beyond letting them get back here safely?"

"The girls are taking Callia shopping.  She's outgrown everything," Clint said dryly.

"Figures.  They're girls, they shop," he said dryly.  He disappeared to lay out the priorities.  John could lose his uniform for a few weeks.  Clay had no idea John had been the intelligence gatherer of the demigod and fully god community.  That explained how he had met Natasha back when she was a young woman.

***

Clint walked up to Dawn's desk with lunch, handing her the bag with hers.  She smiled weakly.  "You can't just talk?"

"I wasn't sure we weren't bugged.  We've found a few extra ones here."

He nodded.  "I checked, we did have one.  So he heard me begging you for mercy last night."  He settled beside her on the floor with his back against the wall beside the door.

She looked at him.  "You can have a chair."

"Pepper, it okay if I sit here and stare at her?"

"We have a meeting in about an hour," she said, coming to the door.  "Use a chair, Barton."  She smiled at them.  "Have a good lunch.  You could use the admin breakroom."

"I have to finish the slideshow," Dawn admitted.  Pepper took it to do.  "I can."

"Fix that, Dawn.  You three are my favorite crackhead, smutty romance novel."

"Yes, ma'am."  She looked at him.  "Breakroom?  It should be empty."  He nodded, getting up and following her in there.  She settled in and opened her lunch, moaning in pleasure.  "You're fantastic."

"I am," he agreed with a grin.  "Which is why I spoil you rotten."  She grinned and nodded, digging into her lunch.  He ate a bite, chewing while they had one of their talks.  He understood her points, and they were great ones, but he still wanted to know.  That way he could take some extra precautions.  Dawn pointed out she had put that note into his bow case two days earlier.  He had apparently not played with it.  He agreed he hadn't.  He had been in trainee hell land again.  She laughed and ate another bite, smiling at him.

He went over what she had done and it was a good way of stopping things since she wasn't sure who the idiot had compromised.  She admitted she had brought in Agent Sitwell, which surprised him but she said she knew him well enough to know he wasn't compromised.  He sent a text message to Sitwell, getting back a report email.  He read it over, nodding at it.  "That's a good bit of work," he agreed, sending that to Coulson.  Phil said he had just seen that and they were talking.  Clint put his phone back up and sent a thought at Dawn, making her blush.  He stared at her.  "You do protect us very well and it was nice that someone realized you were.  I should've paid more attention."

"I tend to relax more at home than I do here anyway."

"I get that.  This building isn't all that secure."

"Some areas are," Dawn said dryly.  "Not all of them."  He nudged her foot with his.  She smiled and dug back in.  He finished his and escorted her back to her desk so she could finish that presentation for Pepper's meeting.  She asked if he was assigned to guard her body today so he leered and nodded.  "At least I get handsome guards," she said with a wink.

"You do.  Very competent ones too."  She grinned.

"Aww, mushy again," Tony said as he walked up to them.  "Pepper, meeting."

"Bathroom," she called.

"She did what we wanted and we didn't realize," Clint said.  "It's being handled."  He looked at her.  "You three, me, John, Clay, Jensen.  Jensen is Callia's guard.  John is Pepper's.  Clay's yours and I'm just helping."

She kissed him on the cheek.  "That'll be great."  He gave her a hug.  She cuddled back.  "Thanks."

"Welcome.  Next time, open mouth and spew?  We don't mind you spewing."

"You told me to quit spewing."

"Only about the bad cabbies that kept hitting on you.  Not about this stuff."  He stared at her.  "Did you ask Fury?"

"I asked Mom if she could ask him to pull up a real background check.  He said no."

"I'll yell at him later."  He kissed her on the nose.  "Go be perky and assistant-like."  She nodded, going to check on Pepper.  "Jensen's going to introduce your spawn to his niece."

"My spawn might love having someone who knows computers as a penpal."

"Not a spawn, Daddy.  He's a scary comic book guy," Callia said, bounding up the hall with Roomba dog and Jonathan.

"Not that sort."  He winked at her.

She giggled and hugged him then Clint.  "If I need to be a scary comic book sort some day I'll let you and Auntie Natasha help me pick out my uniform.  That way I look scary but cool the same way she does and you do."

He smiled.  "If you need one, we'll help train you too, sprout."  She grinned and bounded off with the modified roomba.

Jonathan looked at him.  "We're already working on a new spandex material for body armor.  Dawn could use some in a catsuit.  They look really hot on her."  He looked at Tony.  "MB is insane."

"She's not.  She's a girl.  Sometimes they're like that."

"Amen," Clint muttered.  He still got pinched by Dawn on her way past him with Pepper.  "Want escorted?"

"If he's in the building, I'm killing him," Dawn quipped.

"He invited your mom to lunch in the HQ caf," Clint said.

She turned to stare at him.  "Excuse me?  He went near my mother?"

"We had no idea until she told us."

"Huh.  Mom and I need to have a chat.  Then he and I need to have a chat."

"I think that's why Natasha and Cougar are going to find him," Clint quipped back with a smirk.

She gave him an evil smirk.  "He's at the Raddison.  Couldn't get a good enough room at the higher priced places."  She strolled off again.

Clint called that in.  Natasha thanked him and found his room.  They could toss it while he was out.

***

Joyce smiled at her lunch meeting.  "Good afternoon."  She shook his hand.  "You didn't mention what sort of interview you wanted to do.  Or about what?"  She settled herself back in her seat, sipping her tea.

"We're doing a piece on your daughter."

"Buffy or Dawn?"

"Dawn."

"Dawn's a very sweet girl."  She smiled.  The man settled in across from her to ask her questions.  She answered in the most vague fashion she could about most things.  Really, what sort of scary overlord wanted to know what designer her daughter favored the most?  Or shoe maker?  Did this guy have a crush on Dawn too?  "Really, she doesn't pick favorites that way.  She more picks up outfits that she looks good in.  She's never been the designer sort.  That was always her sister."

He nodded, making that note.  "What about now?"

"Now, we browse and find something nice here and there."  She smiled.  "We never go directly to any one store.  Outside one shoe store that carries her size.  It's pitiful that we can barely find any in her size."

"A particular designer?"

"No, unfortunately the only store we've been able to find her size shoe in actually sells to exotic dancers.  She does nice in the heels but even she wishes she could find some flats at times."  The reporter swallowed hard and she smiled.  Underneath the table a slight blue haze was being released from a vial in her pocket.  "She'd desperately love to find some smaller heels for a few colors that she can only get in six inch ones."

He nodded, starting to sweat.  "That's interesting.  Any of the designers might have that size?"

She laughed.  "Dawn would never pay more than a hundred dollars for a pair of shoes.  She's got sense.  Even if she does like being a bit of a flirt now and then she does have good sense about her clothes.  She's very much a sale shopper.  That's how she saved an impressive amount for her college fund."

He nodded, writing that down.  "That's always a good trait.  I'm sure she makes a great salary there."

"She does.  I'm proud she earns it."  One of the other agents started to say something and she gave him a pointed look.  "I made new tea for the whole admin area if you wanted some."

"Maybe I do, it'll go nicely with my salad.  Thanks, Mrs. Summers."

"You're welcome, Agent Piers."  He grinned and went up to sound the alarm that they had some sort of chemical release in the cafeteria.

Phil heard and smiled.  "What color was it?"

"Blue.  Very light blue.  Looked like blue smoke."

"It'll only bother you if you're drinking something with caffeine.  It's got minimal effects, including a mild hallucinogenic."  Fury looked at him.  "It's been in my bottom desk drawer for a few months now, sir.  I had planned on using it for interrogations."  Fury shuddered.  He smiled.  "You did allow me to learn."  He walked in there.  "Joyce."  He kissed her on the cheek then slugged the other guy.  He went down.  Phil looked at her.  "You took the antidote?"

"Of course.  If not, I did try mushrooms once."  She handed him the vial with a grin.  He slightly smirked back and let her be taken to the infirmary for a check.  Agents came in wearing gas masks to gather the idiot.  Phil followed Joyce to make sure she was fine since her husband was at Stark for the day.

Fury looked at him then at her.  "That was damn dangerous."

She snorted and patted him on the cheek.  "A mother is always the most dangerous being when someone's threatening their children."  She walked off on Phil's arm.  "That's got a faint odor but thankfully it was fried fish day."

"It does but it's nicely floral for the most part."  He looked at her.  "I can take you to Stark's infirmary."

"I'm sure the nice doctors down here won't be too evil.  They weren't when they helped with that second tumor."

"We've had an almost total change of staff since then," he admitted.  "We miss some of the older ones."  He walked her in there.  "Doctors?"  They looked over.  "She used a mild hallucinogenic on a person during an interrogation."

"We can put her in quarantine."

Joyce laughed.  "I did take the antidote."

"It's still standard protocol."

"Not really," Phil said.  He pulled the rule book off the shelf to look that up.  The doctors were glaring.  He stared at one.  "It does not say that."  He closed it and put it back up.  "Let's get you to Dr. Pigalli.  She'll probably giggle over all this.  She does whenever Dawn turns idiots into mice."  He took her with him.  The doctors tried to stop him but the agents they sent all backed down.  "We're going to Stark so her daughter can fuss over her."

"Let us drive you, sir," one said.  They went down in the elevator together.  "I don't blame you," he said once they were in the SUV.  "Those doctors are weird and grabby about certain people.  Two of the new trainees got the same feeling."

"Any idea why?" Joyce asked.

"No clue, ma'am."

"Huh.  Could they be doing experiments of their own?" she asked Phil.

"It's the most likely cause or they're in there to find someone like another strong ATA carrier."

"A what?"

"Something from the SGC," he said.

"I heard rumors that someone was trying to overrule the director taking them in and trying to get the city especially from them."

"There's so much politics about that," Phil admitted.  "Including the president butting in."

She snorted and patted his hand.  "I can spank Loki just like I did my girls, Phil."  He smiled at her.  They pulled into the garage and they got out.  "Thank you, Agent...."

"Tys, ma'am."

She shook his hand.  "Thank you, Agent Tys.  You have a better afternoon."  He grinned and got back in to drive while Phil escorted her.  "We do have some very nice agents."

"We do.  Thankfully they can lose that in the field," he agreed.

She pinched him on the cheek.  "Including you."

"I am at home," he agreed.  She laughed.  He took her up to the infirmary.  He found the book he had written out for the doctors, opening it to the right poison.  "She said she took the antidote."

"That's fine," the nurse agreed, helping her onto the bed so they could check her over.  "You look fine but we'll watch over you just in case, Joyce."

"Thank you, Missy."  The nurse smiled and left them alone.  She looked at Phil.  "So, do I get to go stab him?"

"I wish but no.  He's the head minion.  His boss is being hunted by Natasha and Cougar."

"Carlos is a sweet boy who needs a good woman to knock him down and play with his hair."  Phil blushed.  She patted his cheek again.  "Go check on Dawn?"

"I can do that."  He walked out, smiling at Bruce.  "It's a just in case observation."

"I heard.  Who?"

"The head minion of the person who wants Dawn.  He invited her to lunch at SHIELD's caf."

Bruce snorted.  "Not even Stark's that overconfident."  He walked in there to kiss her.  "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, dear.  I picked one that wasn't lethal and was only mildly mind altering.  If I'm affected it'll be like I tried 'shrooms again."  He laughed and hugged her.  The nurse helped him get onto her bed so he could hold her.  It was nice.  She snuggled into his shoulder and they talked about what he'd been doing all day.

***

Phil ran into Barton upstairs waiting.  "Meeting?"

"Yes.   Stark said it's over boring things that he didn't want to talk about."  He looked up from his magazine reading and pointed.  "That way by four doors."

"That's fine.  I know where the meeting rooms are.  Are you three all right?"

"Fine, sir."  He grinned.  "The lunch thing with her mother?"

"Joyce took the blue vial from my bottom desk drawer."  Clint shuddered.  He smiled.  "Only a few agents might be affected since they were in the cafeteria.  Find out what's wrong with our infirmary staff."

"Two of them are looking at private genetic research topics recently and the new head doc is psychotic.  As in lost his license in England for killing patients for fun."

"Interesting."  He headed back there.  They had the antidote out.  He administered it.  "There," he told the last one with a slight smile.  "That should help."

"Why did you give them that?" one of the nurses demanded.

"Because that's the antidote to the poison, which I made."  The nurse backed up looking scared.  He smiled slightly at her.  "I doubt these nice agents have time to have a mind trip today."  He looked at the director.  "Our head doctor lost his license, sir?"

"I had not heard that.  How did you?"

"Someone wondered and did a more thorough background check."

"I'll ask her."

"Him."

"I'll ask him then."  He stared at him.  "How dangerous is that?"

"Very mild.  If you've been ingesting caffeine for the hour before you were hit with it, it'll be a bit stronger.  I never keep the most lethal things I learned in the open."

"Good.  I like that policy.  Even if we did have to remove a few stashes of them here and there."

"They had been in my office, sir.  I believe someone removed them before I used them on him."

"Probably.  I'm going to let Barton or Romanoff study the same way you did."

"I'll gladly share my notes from the course and the extra books I found, sir."

"Good."  He walked off.  "I know it's not him."

"Head minion."  Fury smirked evilly, going to help with the interrogation.  Phil looked at the glaring doctor.  "We are a paranoid bunch here.  Usually for very good reasons."  He looked at one of his former field agents.  "How is your girlfriend?"

"She got smart and dumped me last year," she said.  "Said I could never be normal enough not to worry about things and she didn't want to be paranoid."  Phil undid the straps for all of them.  "Can we help with this worm who believes he's worthy of Dawn?"

"If you want.  I know Agent Romanoff probably needs a better background check done if she hasn't done one yet.  I know the head minion downstairs might not like his future but I doubt he'd willingly turn."

"Pity.  It'd save us some work."

"Perhaps.  Then again, as someone noted, he's a big fan of genocidal operations."  She grimaced but nodded.  He walked over to one, checking her over without any outward signs.  "You'll be fine."  She smiled and relaxed.  "Paperwork to Agent Hill tomorrow."

"I have an appointment the next day, Agent Coulson."

"That's reasonable.  There's some extra forms you can do, starting today."  He sent that text message to Maria, who brought them down to go over them with her.  "Feel free to recommend Tara's doctor to her," he quipped with a smile.

Maria smiled back.  "A lot of us like him."  She went over the paperwork.  "How certain are you?"

"I'll know officially in two days, ma'am."

"That's fine.  I'm your first stop once you're here."  She nodded.  "The second is to HR to amend your file.  That way we have an up-to-date contact for you."

"I went to a bank," she said quietly.

"That's fine as well.  We still need one."  She nodded.  "If not, it falls to myself or the director to make medical decisions if you're that injured."

"Understood.  Can I just name you?  I have a mother but she'd panic and wail.  She doesn't handle stress well."

"You can or another agent.  That's totally reasonable.  A lot of us don't have people we'd want called."  She got smiled at.  "Tara totally threatened our old infirmary when someone else she held that for was shot and they weren't acting fast enough.  I did not know she knew that sort of language until then.  Before then I thought she was mousy, shy, and polite."  The agent giggled.  "Pick someone you trust who can handle high pressure stress decisions.  That's the most important part and make sure they know and what you want."

"I can do that, ma'am."

"Good."  She handed her the next form, letting her fill it out.

"There's no pregnancies allowed," one of the nurses sneered.

Maria turned and shot her.  "Shut up.  She's not allowed in HQ and will be put on assignment somewhere easier for her to carry successfully but we are human and are allowed to bear future agents."

"Yes we are," Phil agreed, dialing upstairs.  "Sir, Agent Hill just had to shoot a nurse non-fatally.  Protesting that one of the ones hit was pregnant.  Thank you, sir."  He hung up.  "He said he expected better shooting from you, Agent Hill," he said blandly.   "He said you're due range time because clearly you missed."

"I was saving myself paperwork from killing her in the building and trying to be nice," she said back with an evil smirk.  The director stomped in.  "Sir."

Fury looked at the poor agent.  "You had to do it now?"

"Yes, sir.  Next year I'm due to have a hysterectomy.  They found a lump."

He nodded.  "Then I wish you well and talk to Joyce," he said, patting her on the shoulder.  "I'll find you a sedate desk job without much stress for a few months."

"Yes, sir.  Can I go to the Calgary office?"

He smirked.  "That's a cherry assignment but fine."  She grinned back.  He looked at the nurse.  "Her problem was?"

"She said agents aren't allowed to be pregnant," Phil said.  He looked at her.  "Not the one in Alberta?"

"Much too boring."

He nodded.  "It is, yes.  It's all monitoring work."

Fury looked at him.  "Why are you still in here?"

"I had to administer the antidote myself and had to unlatch the agents they had strapped down, sir."

"Huh.  Still against protocol."  He glared.  "Agent Hill, has that background check got done yet?"

"Nearly, sir.  She's compiling now."  Maria texted that to her.  She got an 'on the way, ma'am' back.

"Excellent."   When the agent walked in he held out a hand, taking her tablet.  "Is this one of the Stark ones?"

"Yes, sir," she said with a blush.  "It's the basic system but it does everything I need and then some.  It's got great features and it's the same price as the iPad I was wanting."

He nodded, reading over the files.  "Interesting."  He snapped and junior agents came in to arrest people.  He had them waiting in the hallway.  "On anyone else?"

"Sir, I've assigned my group to do the rest of them's checks," that lower agent said.  "They're working on them now."

Maria sent a text to check.  "Three of them are.  One said you're not the team leader."  She corrected that and the file got started.  "Titms and I will have a good spar later, sir," she told the Director.  "We could both use one for training."

"Have fun with that," he said.

"Should we give them the standard offer for agents that have messed up?" the junior agent quipped happily.

Fury looked at her.  "What?"

"Suicide, sparring, or straight to gen pop, sir?"

"Oh, that.  Sure, if they want to commit suicide, I'm all for that.  Saves us money keeping them in detention."  The whole staff huffed off.  "Coulson, find me people who are capable."

"I'll ask Dr. Pigalli for a recommendation, sir."

"Thank you."  He walked off shaking his head.  Maybe the next set would be more liked than Stark's infirmary.  He had no idea why he felt he had compete with them but he was.

***

Dawn came off the flight and stretched, looking around.  Clay pushed her back.  "Sorry."

"Us first, Summers.  You're a last line, a bodyguard sort, not a front lines person."

"Yes, Clay."  She picked up the sleepy Callia.  "C'mon, we'll go put you down in your room."

Callia blinked her at her.  "We haven't decorated there in years."

"You're right, we haven't.  You've still probably got the princess bed."

Callia grinned.  "Princesses can be nice.  The one they keep showing on tv is and she has sense."

"She does, and that's a great thing," Pepper agreed, following them down the ramp, John helping her.  "Thank you, John."

"Welcome."  He smiled.  "Some day I'll find a woman who wants to do that for me."  She laughed and swatted him.

Dawn looked over at him.  "Andrew wants to spare MB pain."

"Don't even think about suggesting it," John warned.

"Too late," Pepper sighed.  "With the way the boys were sobbing at Hallmark cards the other day they at least got the hormones down."  They got put into the car, Happy had flown with them and was getting it ready after Jensen checked it over.  She sighed.  "More comfortable than the plane's seats."

"I don't know why they have to make them so uncomfortable," Dawn said.  "We're in them for hours."

"It's a design flaw.  The same as they're for people who are about 5'7" and about 160lbs."

"That sucks," Dawn decided.  She strapped Callia in.  The guys got in last and they were off.  "So, tomorrow, lab," she said, pulling out her phone.  She sent an encrypted message to Clint, who got waylaid by someone stalking him all over the airport with a camera.  Press people could be so annoying.  "Then we confirm for the speech."  Pepper nodded.  "We can hang out there all day or at the house.  The speech, then shopping?  Or did you want to do that instead of being at the lab?"

"Let's do that instead of the hanging out at the labs.  I know they want you to spoil them but you can do it while we're speaking."  Dawn nodded, fixing that.  "Then...."

"The next day we have free for additional shopping for the heir to the kingdom."  She smiled.  "Including the geek store that Jensen added to the list."

"That's fine," Pepper agreed with a smile.  "How many formals this holiday?"

"Three that I know of."  She checked.  "We're here for the P-A-R-A-D-E," she mouthed.

"We'll hear squeals of joy over that.  She nearly ran at the last one."  She looked at the guys.

"We can blend in and make sure it'll be fine," Clay decided.  Dawn grinned at him.  "When is he getting here?"

"Later tonight.  It took him two hours to lose the reporter and his buddy that got called in to try to corner him and ask him things.  I swear if I run into that TMZ guy that manages to sneak up on me I'm going to pin him down and ask him how."

"He has some sort of protection amulet from being sensed," Jensen said.

"He's a demi," John said with a grin.  "I've already had one talk with him about making people paranoid, especially ones I've got to help save."

She looked at him.  "I can usually save myself.  If you catch someone taking me again to put me in the pretty tower up the coast, go ahead, but otherwise I'm okay."

Clay swatted her on the shoulder.  "Shut up."

"I didn't know he was still doing that," John said.  "Jensen, he's one of you."  That got an eye roll.  "He didn't try your sister?  She's the sort of princess he would've wanted."

"By then she was a slayer.  He might've tried Cordy but she had money to protect her then."

"You'll be out of his range on your next birthday so hopefully he'll want someone younger," John said.  "You're also not the only one that got free by yourself."

Pepper shook her head.  "Tony had a total fit and hired two guards specifically to go get her.  Neither Phil nor Natasha were around that week."  She looked at him.  "He had her in some strange electrified cell with a huge mirror, a wardrobe full of pretty gowns, and a princess canopy bed in heavy cherry wood."

"There for a minute he looked at me like I was his Mina," Dawn said.

"You being someone's Mina Harker is a bad image," Clay said.  Jensen and John both stared at him.  "I do actually read," he said dryly.

"We made them watch the movie with us," Dawn said happily.  "The Gary Oldman version."

"I didn't like that one as much as _Dead and Loving It_," Jensen said.  "But it was pretty decent."

"I didn't get to see that.  Next Halloween, if you're here, we're having a movie night, Jen," Dawn said.

"Sure."

"When do I get to see those?" Callia asked, half asleep.

"It's rated R, so at least thirteen," Clay said dryly.

"The rules say seventeen," Pepper said.

"If her father wants to show it to her earlier, that's up to him since it's under seventeen accompanied by an adult."

"Good point."

Callia shifted to curl up on her side.  "I still like _Rocky Horror_ best."

Everyone looked at Dawn.  "Why do you think it was my fault?"

"I don't think Tony's seen it," Pepper said.  "Or else we'd have heard Frankenfurter jokes for weeks."

"Tara let us watch it," Callia said through a yawn.  "Me and babies and Auntie Maria.  Who said we cannot watch _Sound of Music_ ever again."

"She's not exactly the practical, singing nun sort," Jensen agreed.  Pepper swatted him.  Clay did too.  "Fine, I won't get her the soundtrack for her present."  He grinned at Dawn.

"I almost got them a vacation over there and booked them on the tour," Dawn admitted.  "Tara said no, she didn't have a passport and didn't really want to see Austria.  Maybe Australia but not Austria."

"You're both weird," Clay assured them.  They grinned at him.

"Thank you," Callia said quietly, then yawned again.  "I need to go potty before bed."

"We'll get you in the potty just as soon as we get home," Pepper promised.  "Then you can go to bed."  She shook her head.  "Do you have to go now?"  She nodded.  "Happy, she needs to go potty."  Really, Pepper could too.  The bathroom on the plane was tiny and her stomach didn't fit through the door sideways anymore.  Since you had to turn sideways to get out of the bathroom....

"There's a Burger King," he offered.  "Or we'll be home in twenty minutes."

"She'll never get up for that," Pepper sighed.

"Got it."  He pulled into the Burger King so John, Pepper, and Callia could use the bathrooms.  A few people stared but they smiled at the adorable sleepy kid who stumbled toward the bathroom repeating 'potty' over and over.

***

Clint slid into a cab at LAX with a sigh of pleasure.  He gave the address.  "You know that's Stark Mansion?" the cabby asked.  "That it's restricted access?"  He looked back and recognized the guy.  "You're that archer guy."  Clint nodded.  "Um, does Stark know you're going there, sir?"

"Yes he does.  He's expecting me there."  He called Dawn because that's what you did when you had a problem with a Stark thing.

"Summers," she answered.

"Short Stuff, I'm finally here.  Tell the nice cabby I'm allowed to touch those hallowed halls?"

"I was expecting you an hour ago, Hawkeye.  Did you have an extra layover?"

"Diverted landing to LAX due to that storm."

"Damn.  Yes, he's allowed to come to Stark Mansion."

"You're his assistant, that Summers woman," the cabby said.

"Yes I am.  Please bring him out here.  He's late for a meeting."

"Yes, ma'am.  Just making sure.  We can't be involved in anything criminal like."

"I understand.  See you soon, Archer boy."  She hung up.

Clint snorted but put his phone back in his pocket with a smirk.  The cabby took off.  He relaxed, watching the city as they drove up the interstate.  LA was pretty but New York was nicer about some things.  He paid when they got to the gates and got out, taking his bag up to the entry button.  He pushed.

"Yes?" JARVIS said.

"It's me, JARVIS."

"Ah, Agent Barton.  Come on up.  Miss Dawn is not sleeping well."

"Thanks."  He walked in and the gate shut behind him before opening the second one.  He walked through it and up to the house, finding it very silent.  JARVIS lit his way, even though he had a map so he knew where he was going.  "Thanks," he said quietly.

"You're most welcome.  We worry about Miss Dawn sometimes."

He smiled.  "So do we, JARVIS."  He found her room and slid inside, dropping his bag.  He could tell Dawn woke up but she didn't move or twitch.  "It's me."  She relaxed and smiled at him.  He stripped off and climbed in with her, letting her curl up against his side.  "Nightmare?"

"No.  Just not happy to sleep alone."  She snuggled in better and played with his chest.  "Bad flight?"

"Long flight.  Two sick Make A Wish kids in first class with me with hovering parents and a nurse between them.  Going to the Disney out here I guess.  Both kinda young, not older than Callia."

"It sucks when kids are that tiny and that sick."  She gave him a squeeze, making him squeeze her back.  "Has 'Tasha checked in yet?"

"No, not yet.  She and Cougar are in Eastern Europe working.  I trust him with her.  She'll be fine."

"I know.  Just worried."  She nuzzled him.

"Runny nose?" he joked with a grin for her.

"Kitty nuzzling.  She did it to me once then clawed me and huffed off because I petted her."

"I'm sure she was a confused kitten.  Now she'd just nuzzle."

Dawn looked at her.  "She'd claw me and make me beg her for more with nuzzles."

"Yeah, she would," he agreed, flipping onto his side to cuddle her better.  She sighed in pleasure.  He smiled, kissing her gently.  He could feel the standard gun and knife under the pillows. He could see the handle of her knife.  It'd be okay.  Her room only had one tiny window that was the three-horizontal-pane sort so no one could climb in it.  Probably replaced after the first time someone had tried to keep her.  The bathroom had a nightlight on.  The room was pretty plain.  Just a closet, a dresser, a desk, the bed and night table.  It didn't look decorator done, just like a normal dark oak bedroom suite.  Clearly Dawn had decorated it.  Or Joyce.  She yawned against his shoulder and fell asleep there.  He let himself drift off too.  It had been a really long flight from New York.

***

Clay flinched awake.  "Relax, Colonel, that was Agent Barton appearing," JARVIS said quietly.

"Thank you."  He relaxed and let himself drift off again.  He heard someone moving.  "If that's Jensen, tell him to go back to bed."

"It's Miss Potts."

"She okay?"

"She's fine.  The baby woke her."

"I hear it happens," he said.  As long as it did not happen to him.  Ever.  He heard John moving to check on Pepper then the front door.  He was sure Barton had locked it but they were paranoid people for a reason.  Clay stretched then put his hands back under his pillow on his two guns so he could sleep.  Being here in LA had some bad memories but this time there was no Max, no Snukes, no Wade, or Roque being on the wrong side.  They had come a really long way since Xander had shown up to save them.

***

Callia walked into the store with the adult clothes then looked at her aunt.  "Can't I shop yet?"

Dawn smirked.  "You have all day tomorrow to shop.  Today is Auntie Pepper's turn to shop."

"Fine.  I can give advice like Daddy does then."  She smiled at the saleslady.  "Auntie Pepper's coming.  She got stuck."

"We don't really do plus size clothes," she told Dawn with a smile.

Dawn smirked.  "She's pregnant, not fat."  She walked off.  "C'mon, Callia, you don't need exposed to the snotty attitude syndrome she has.  It might be contagious."  They walked Pepper back out.  "She said they don't do plus size clothes."

"The New York store is so much nicer.  I guess I can find someone else to do my next gown."  They walked up the street with the guys around them.  A few people looked and one stared.

Dawn looked at the woman gaping in awe at Clint.  "He doesn't like to be drooled on," she hissed.  "Just say 'hi'."  She bounded over to say hi and chat with him.  Clint sent her a dirty thought but she smiled at Callia.  "Some day other geeks are going to do that for you."

"Yes they will," she agreed.  "Oooh, science store, Jensen!" she squealed and pointed.

He took the card for Calla's shopping from Pepper and went in there with her.

"Jensen, find me a new sample of the various minerals for meditation focusing please," Dawn called.

"I can do that," he agreed.

They walked into the next store and the woman in there gaped in awe at Pepper.  "I saw on the news, Miss Potts, but I thought you were only six months."

"Just into my seventh," she said with a smile.  "The baby's all huge and soaking happily in the bath in there."  The saleswoman smiled and led her to their maternity section.  "I would've went up the street but they thought me being unable to stand up out of the car on my own meant I was plus sized."

The saleswoman snorted.  "Some models may think a size six is plus sized but real women know better.  Beyond that, it's only the baby that's so big, not you."  She smiled.  "I have three.  I nearly slugged some woman for suggesting I buy size twelve jeans when I was an eight."  Pepper grinned.  "What were you needing today?"

"I have a speech to give tomorrow and while I have something nice I'm not against finding something else nice.  I also have three events to go to in the next four months.  I could also use some daily wear things."  That got a nod and they moved that way.  "Dawn?"

"I'm looking in my section, Pepper.  I don't need maternity clothes yet."

She smiled at her.  "Some day."

"Sometime in the future, when things are calmer."  She found a few things, holding them up.  "Wrong color."

"Dawn, don't get it because it's on sale," Pepper sighed.  "Get it because it makes you look nice."

"I usually do.  I keep the stuff I bought because it was on sale in the locker for emergency changing."  Pepper smiled and they browsed.

Clint walked in and swatted her on the ass.  "Thank you."

"Welcome."  She looked at a dress.

He stared at it then at her.  "Since when are you a matron?"  She gave him a look.  "Not even you could make that look hot, Dawn."

"I can so."

"You can't.  It's flowered."  He put it back and helped her find things that would be pleasing to look at.  Dawn's thinking process for work clothes was weird to him but he could handle it.  Natasha sent over her ideas.  He told her they were in LA so she sent a favorite shop over.  He said they'd go there later.

Clay looked at the current pile over Dawn's arm.  "Half of those are a bit girly or a bit matronly."

"Somehow she can make the most girly, innocent things look like she's a newly debauched virgin," Clint told him.  Dawn blushed but nodded.   She moved racks.  "You're not used to shopping with anyone."

"We shop all the time," Pepper called.  "She's not used to shopping with guys.  That was her sister."

"Xander claims it was his pack mule years," Dawn quipped. She looked at Clint.  "I do most of my shopping up the street.  We go here for business suits and stuff."

Clint stared at her.  "Try them on and we'll see."  She sighed but nodded, going to do that.  "Hey, Dawn, who was that Countess?"

"Um.... Countess?" she asked in a squeaky voice.

Clint smirked at  that telling noise.  "Yes, that one."

Pepper cackled.  "The woman walked up to her out of the blue at an event, laid a kiss on her that made her dip Dawn, and told her she'd love to be her future wife."  She went back to her trying on.  "We had no idea what to tell her other than Dawn was only seventeen at the time and she took a lot of dating."

Dawn leaned out.  "She was a nice looking older lady.  What I'd imagine Natasha would look like as a seventy-year-old woman.  Very couth, well dressed, in heels, hair done perfectly, perfect makeup, still slinky."  She pulled her head back in.

"You wear stockings?" Clay asked.

"Pantyhose are evil to women's bodies," she quipped.  "So yes, I do.  Sorry to have flashed you, Clay."

"I know where I belong, Dawn, and you're too young for me anyway."  He looked at Clint.  "Why the question about the old grand dame?"

"Because Natasha said something about a lawyer and a will."

"Excuse me?" Dawn asked, coming out in her first choice so he could zip it up.

He looked at it.  "Too tight around the waist."

"I have that problem a lot.  That's why I have a tailor I like.  He fixes those, hemlines, and bodice lines.  Fitting my height and my shoulders means that I'm either in baggy things until then or they're all too tight in the waist."

He looked at her.  "I'm not sure he could fix that."  She went back in there after he had unzipped it.  He sent a thought at Natasha, who sent back it was sent to the lab by courier.  "It'll be at the lab soon."  She came out in the next one and got a head shake.  "No.  Maybe if you were thirty."  She sighed and went back in there.  He looked at Pepper.

"We've had that problem.  I dress her like a mini me and Natasha dresses her like a younger, sluttier woman."  She shrugged.  "She needs some things that are more formal business suits, Clint."

"Sure.  John, make sure you let us know when the courier gets there."  He looked around.  "Still at the science store?"

"It'll be *hours*," Pepper assured him with a smile.  "Especially if they have models."

Dawn came out and Clint grimaced but shrugged.  So the maybe pile got started.  "She does love making model cars with her dad."  She went back in and came out in a business suit he grimaced but nodded at.  She smiled and hung that on the hook next to the door.  The last one she came out in he shrugged.  She put that in the maybe pile and put the one yes one on the counter.  The saleswoman came over to help her pick things out.

Clint watched, then took her up the street to a place he liked.  It was younger, meant for hipper professionals that were just out of college.  The suits were more tailored looking and they didn't really want to fit Dawn's figure well enough.  He tried somewhere else but Natasha sent him to a specific shop.  He walked her in there.

The girl in there smiled.  "Finally!"

Dawn shrugged.  "I had it sent to me in New York."

"I know."  She looked her over.  "You have more muscles."  She led her back.  "Are we looking hot for work or hot for the boyfriend there?"

"Yes?  I need work stuff but my closets are getting bare."

"She has absolutely no flirty things anymore," Clint said.

The salesgirl, who was probably Dawn's age, smirked at him.  For some reason that smirk made him want to grab his bow, grab Dawn, and hide.  "That's a shame."  She led her into the back rooms.  "Let's see, business gear."  She found the suits and Dawn found a few she liked, and a few dresses.

Clint looked around.  It was a goth shop.  He hadn't expected this.  Then Dawn came out in a longer slim skirt with a fluff of extra fabric around her knees.  It was so slim she had to change the way she walked.  Over it she had a silk button up poet shirt.  He nodded.  "I like that but I like you in the jewel tones instead of the stark black."  He looked at the salesgirl.  "For some reason her wardrobe is full of purple, red, green, black, and gray."

She giggled.  "As if you don't know," she taunted with an evil smirk.  "You know, they sell miniatures of the whole team."  She pointed at the case with them in there.  She got Dawn a few more things that Clint appreciated.  One that made him get a bit happy.  Then she got Dawn into a stunning backless black gown with silver beading.  It was slim fitting and clung to her curves.  It was flashy enough that Dawn looked good in it.  That and a new necklace she handed over, which Dawn nodded she liked.

Clint licked his lips.  "I like that better than I do the one you wore to the Expo."

She smiled at him.  "Really?"

"Really."  She smiled and it went onto the buy pile.  If she couldn't wear it somewhere, she could wear it somewhere they took her.  They found some flirty skirts for her too.  She came out in one last bathing suit, which was black with red spiders all over it.  He stared.  "She's going to pick on you."

"Probably."

Clay walked in.  "Pepper said to quit goth shopping."  He paused and stared.  "The skimpier bottoms looked better on you."

"They don't carry thongs here and I'm not allowed to wear one if we're using Stark's pool.  He doesn't want Callia to get ideas."

"Huh, yeah, ideas are happening," he admitted.  "C'mon."  She got changed back and paid, taking the bags to the car.  Pepper took them to where Dawn was supposed to shop by Natasha's usual list.  They fawned over Dawn's figure and she found some nice things.  Dawn window shopped in a few new stores.  Pepper found one for pregnant women and went in there.  Dawn went across the street to a jewelry store.  She got some new earrings and tucked them into her purse.  They ended up in a store that Dawn had wanted to go to but Pepper had said no.  She smiled at the girl.  "I need new stockings."

She pointed.  "We have six or seven styles there or the back lingerie lines have some, miss."

"Thank you."  She looked.  "Cool, patterns."

Clint stared then at her.  "Goofy," he said with a grin.  She smirked and nodded.  "Can't wear them to work or out clubbing."

"If I go to the one I've been invited to I can."

"We'll see."  He helped her get ones for her wardrobe, and a few that he wanted to see her in.  She got a striped pair that looked like the Wicked Witch's set.  He looked at her.  "Why?"

"To tease Cap."

He nodded.  "We'll see."  She smirked at him while moving to look at the bras and panties.  He pointed at one set.  She found it in her size and put it into her basket.  A few more and they checked on the other lingerie.  She found something she put into the basket before he could see it.  He grinned.  She smirked evilly back.  "Working on next year's evil empress outfit?"

She walked over to pick up something for that and brought it back.  "I can do that."  He moaned.  The velvet bustier was going to look good on her.  They checked out.  Pepper was waiting impatiently.  "Stockings."

"Just go to Fredericks' or Trashy," she said dryly.  "I'm sure they have some."  Dawn held up the striped pair, making her laugh.  "Okay, those are cute."  She held up the flowered ones and Pepper giggled.  "Do they have nursing bras?"

"No, but plenty of bra and panty sets."

"I might.  I need measured."  She went in there to get that done and find something sweet to tempt herself with.

Jensen and Callia finally joined them, putting a few bags into the trunk and Jensen handing Dawn one.  She looked and paid him back, kissing him on the cheek.  "Thank you."

"Welcome."  He got Callia into her booster seat and settled in with her.  She had on her x-ray glasses and was giggling at the images it was giving her.

Dawn settled herself in and Clint sat beside her.  "We have real ones in the lab here.  Andrew made some."

"Cool!"  Callia smiled at Jensen.  "We can find them?"

"We sure can."  Pepper came back with a small bag, blushing some.  They settled in and went to the other shopping area.  Dawn tossed her purse into the trunk and tucked her wallet into her bra strap.  Pepper did the same thing.  The guys stared at her.  Dawn shook her head.  "Prime mugging area, guys."  They nodded and walked around the ladies.  They were nearly mugged but Clay got to break a few punks until they cried for their arrests.  Pepper and Dawn split up.  Clint had total control of what she bought and it was cute that he wanted her in slightly flirty things but the few that she really liked he thought was too much.  She got them anyway, usually with the sales girls winking at her.

Pepper was blushing since John gave critiques of her clothes.  He smirked at her.  "Its what a shopping buddy does, right?" he quipped.

She pinched him on the arm.  "I usually only have Dawn as a shopping buddy.  She reads and looks up then says 'yes', 'no', or 'could be longer'."

He laughed.  "She's still working on her artistic eye.  Whereas I used to be a pretty decent photographer way back when."  She blushed harder.  He smiled.  "Go find something pretty and flirty, Pepper."  She did and he nodded, helping her pick out a great wardrobe that would make Stark beg for attention.  They joined back up with Clay, Clint, and Dawn, who now had a black eye.  "Bad?" he guessed.

"The girl that wanted Barton elbowed her to get her out of her way," Clay said dryly.  "So Dawn slugged the bitch before I could pull her off by her really bad weave."

"I was about to slug her myself," Clint admitted.

"Thankfully I'm almost an expert at covering these sort of things," Dawn said.  They all stared at her.  "Hello, very kidnaped here.  Had more than my share of bruises from them."

"We couldn't usually tell," Pepper agreed.  They went to a makeup shop for her to get some coverup and then got into the car.  Dawn and Pepper talked, heading back to the lab to look up clothes.  Clint had them stop one place he wanted to.  Pepper looked then at him.  "She used to shop here until she quit wearing the knit dresses that looked like the lady on that one Fran Dresher show."

Clint smiled.  "Really?"

"Yup.  A lot."  They went in anyway and he did find a few things.  Dawn came out with them and they got back in to head back to the lab.  By the time they got there, Dawn's bruise was covered and Callia wanted lunch.  They got lunch from the caf and went to check on things.  Dawn got to fuss over some of the scientists there that needed it when they came looking for her.   The courier got there looking exhausted.  Dawn and Clay got summoned back.  Clint didn't go into the labs, the geeks gave him dirty looks for 'owning' Dawn.  Dawn walked in.  "I just heard that you were here."

"Ma'am, may I see some ID?"  Clint tossed over her purse, letting her dig out her ID for him.  He nodded and let her sign the form, giving her the letter first.  It had the key to unlock his briefcase in it.

Dawn read it, eyes blinking a few times rapidly.  "She left me what?"

"She left you the tiara she wore while masturbating," the courier said.  "I noticed her daughter avoided touching it when she handed it over and clearly was not pleased with how it was used, but the office all thought she was a bit stiff and her mother was quite free and clear with her affection."

Dawn nodded, smiling some.  "She kissed me really hard but I never gave her any flirting.  Why did she leave me it?"

"Because you're the one she thought of, miss."  She blushed.  He smiled.  "Unlock me please?"

She did and opened the case, staring at it.  "Damn," she said in awe.

Clint leaned over to look.  "Very."  He looked at the courier.  "How old is that?"

"It's a remade piece for an older Tzarist piece, sir.  Are you related....."  Clint held up his hand with the ring, getting a smile and a nod.  "Then you have exquisite taste according to our employer."  He handed Dawn the other form, letting her sign it.  He kissed her hand properly then left.

Pepper stood up to look at the tiara.  It was black and blue diamonds with a single emerald and sapphire in the center.  "That goes so well with your life."

Dawn nodded.  "It does."  She carefully closed it.  "I think I need to talk to my insurance agent."  Mentally she was calming herself down and wondering how hard it was to test for high pheromone output since things like this only happened to hormoned, long haired Xander.

Clint snickered.  "I don't think you're like him, Dawn."

She looked at him.  "Are you sure?"

"Very.  Or else they would've left you the title too."

"Good point."  She sat down on his lap, getting a hug.  They were still staring at the case.  "John, did you recognize it?"

"Only the center piece.  The sapphire and emerald cluster is from a piece that Catherine the Great's grandfather gave to his mistress because it was their eye colors."

"Any chance of it being stolen during the overthrow?" Pepper asked.  "We don't want people showing up suing her to claim it."

"From what I remember, they sold it to get out of Russia after he died.  It was one of those multi-function pieces that either hung on a longish pearl necklace or was a broach as needed."  He frowned a bit.  "Xander had it at one point in time but when he died and recycled, his family of the time sold it to someone Danish if I remember right.  Xander got it from a girlfriend."

"Then I'm shocked no one's recut it," Pepper said.  "It's like you and him but Natasha's surrounding you two."  She sniffled.  Clint handed her the tissue box.  "Thank you, Clint."  She smiled.  "You can wear it with whatever gown you got at the goth shop."

"I could and it'd look fantastic, but I think I need to see it on someone's head."  Clint nodded he agreed.  They all smirked at her.  "It'll look fantastic in her curls."

"It will."  He gave her a squeeze.  "I can hear a geek."  She elbowed him but got up to see what the guy sucking on his inhaler wanted.  She got him some help and walked him down to the on-site infirmary chiding him about setting off an asthma attack.

Pepper dialed Tony.  "We're using your personal safe."

"Sure, what did you buy that's so pretty?" he asked with a grin.  "Or did my girl get her first necklace?"

"She hasn't yet.  Dawn ... remember that really classy elderly duchess?"

He thought back and nodded.  "The kissing one?  Yes."  Pepper got handed the box by John so she opened it for him.  He gasped.  "Damn."  Clint laughed.  "That's....  she needs the right outfit for that."

"She has a black dress that will look stunning under it," Clint assured him.

"She went to that goth shop again."

He nodded.  "She has one here that she likes the same way."  He blinked.  "It's very...twinkly.  Has Callia seen it?"

"She and Jensen are going on the public tour right now.  She wanted to."

"That's fine.  Sure, please use the safe.  Is it real?"  She tapped a stone and nodded.  "Huh," he said.  "Any other huge news?"

"No title with it," Clint quipped.

"Thank god!"  He hung up and walked off to tell Bruce.  He ran into Jonathan.  "Dawn just got a major bit of bling given to her."

"We heard that the duchess wanted her so much she nearly kidnaped her once."

"That same one."

"Pretty?"

"Very."  He found Bruce in his lab and walked in to tell him about that dinner.

Jonathan sighed and went to tell Andrew.  Dawn went well with twinkly things and pretty things.

***

Callia looked around her room and decided she needed to redecorate for when they came back the next time.  She pulled up her drawing application.  "JARVIS,  how do you draw a room to redesign it?"  He laid a template out of what it looked like now.  She fixed it and he sent it to her father.  She got online to find pictures of beds and found one she liked that made her squeal, sending it in.

He sent back that he'd look at it and to hurry home soon.  He missed reading to her.  She recorded her babbling about the new clothes and the other pretty stuff then sent it.  He sent back one of him laughing, which made her happy enough to twirl around.  She heard someone groan and giggled to see who had done what this time.  Jensen was staring at her auntie, who had on a pretty dress.  "I dress up?"

"Doubt it, squirt, I'm taking her on a date," Clint told her.

"Shoot."  She smiled at him.  "Why a date?"

"It's what big people do.  Go ask your other aunt.  She's been on some."

"She getting backrub from John."  She ran off to pounce Clay.  "What's a date?"

"It's where people go out together.  Aren't I supposed to chaperone?" he called.

"I've got it.  Thanks."

"Fine.  Be safe.  Wear a locator."

"She is."

"No one's going to take me tonight," Dawn called, putting on her new earrings.

Clint smirked.  "Not without me getting very mad."  He escorted her out to the car he had gotten permission to borrow from Stark earlier.  Now all they needed was Natasha, who was still working and was in town.  Maybe later she'd get to sneak in.  He drove them off, taking them to the nice restaurant.  They never got to go out on dates in New York.  Too many people pounced one of them.  Tonight it was just Clint and Dawn, and maybe later Natasha.  No people calling him Hawkeye or her Black Widow.  Or Dawn a bitch for having them on her arm.  She ran a hand over his thigh, earning a smirk.  She grinned back.  The restaurant was nice, sedate, quiet.  They got a nice back table.  The greeter gaped in awe at them but the waiter treated them like trash, like everyone else was getting.  So that was great.

Halfway through their salads, Natasha appeared and sat down, earning smiles.  "Good evening."

"It's a great evening now," Dawn promised.  "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."  She patted her hand then Clint's hand.  He smirked at her.  "So what was it?"

"A very pretty tiara."

Natasha moaned.  "The one with the sapphire and emerald?"  They both smiled and nodded.  "I've heard it was pretty."

"We think you'd make the perfect place for it to rest," Dawn said quietly.

Natasha smiled.  "You inherited it."

"You're more royal material than I am."

"Perhaps."  She smiled.  Dawn grinned back and the waiter got her order for dinner.  They settled in to talk about Dawn's new wardrobe, Natasha huffing at a few things.  She hated the goth shop that Dawn used to prefer.

"It was there or the succuba-run shop," Dawn offered.  Natasha shivered and let out a quiet moan.  "I'm going there tomorrow.  Callia can help me pick something sweet out."

"I can go," Clint offered.

"Nope.  This way you can have a surprise too."

Natasha laid a hand on his.  "Trust me, it will be a good one."

"I can do that then."

Dawn grinned then ate a bit of meat.  She looked at Natasha, who shrugged.  "You can't sneak into my room."

"I remember Coulson redoing the window and the security system around your room."

"I didn't have that on last night."

"What system?"

"There's an extra few alarms in my room, one on my desk because everyone wanted to stop there and look at what I was doing for homework, and a laser sensor around my bed," Dawn said with a grin for him.  "Which leads to an alarm loud enough to wake the entire house and half the town."

"Yes it does," Natasha agreed.  "I accidentally tripped it getting her up for sparring practice."

Clint shook his head.  "Thanks for not having that on."

"Welcome."  She dug in, she was a bit hungry.  "I should find a way to go ask that one Xander to help me shop."  Clint snickered.  Natasha moaned and shook her head.  "He's got great taste, he'd help me be flirty enough.  He likes to shop."

"You should have enough if you get off-duty clothes," Natasha reminded her.

"No she doesn't.  She only got a few things," Clint said.  "We couldn't find much that suited her shape."  Natasha moaned, shaking her head.  "Even with a bit of later tailoring."

Dawn chewed the bite she had eaten, nodding.  She swallowed and sipped her wine.  "I need to talk to my bank guy again."

"Same bank?" he asked.

"No.  Different bank.  Real bank."  He nodded and they could schedule that.  They finished dinner, had dessert, and went back to the house.  The girls could share the passenger's seat in the little sports car.  Dawn was in a good teasing mood anyway.  They got back and Clay nodded at them, smirking once they were past.  Dawn came back to hug him and tell him the few places she had to hit, getting a nod he'd arrange it.  She went back to their room.  Dawn strolled in and closed the door, locking it because her niece was a bit nosy.  She looked at the two kissing on the bed, smiling as she stripped out of the dress, then the jewelry.

"Get naked and get in here.  She's only got two hours," Clint said with a grin.  She did and got in on Natasha's back, licking and nibbling up it.  Natasha gasped and arched back against her.  "I'm sure you've been denying it," he said in her ear.  "Which is very hard to do when she's so pretty."

"I'm not the only pretty one.  None of us are ugly."

"That is true, though most men would rather be called handsome," Natasha said.

"He's still pretty.  That's why women drooled on him, Nat."

She chuckled, a low, warm sound that made Clint shiver.  "She let one pounce me, Nat."

She kissed him.  "I would have too."  Her phone rang.  Dawn grabbed it and tossed it at her.  She read then got up.  She gave them each a kiss.  "I will see you soon."

Clint pulled her down for a deeper one.  "Be very safe and come back to us."

"Or else," Dawn agreed, taking her own better kiss.  Natasha smiled, getting dressed and leaving, though she did pat a small switch on the wall.  Dawn looked over at the hum.  "She turned on the security system."

Clint looked down.  It glowed faintly at the moment.  "JARVIS can't turn it off?"

"The alarm.  Not the system.  This was the trial system for the one in Callia's room."

"How sensitive is this one?"

"You get within a foot of it and you're tripping it.  My desk, the window, or the door."

"Bathroom?"

"No."

Clint looked around and nodded, getting up and trying to move.  The sheet fizzed when it touched the laser sensor.  "Huh.  Nice to know."  He laid back down and kissed her.  "In the morning."  She smiled and snuggled against his side, stroking down his chest and arm.  He kissed her.  "She'll be fine."

"She will be or we'll ride in to save her and I'll kick some ass too."

He grinned.  "Yeah, we can do that."  He took his mind off not backing up Natasha this time.  She had good, overly competent help that was just as good as he was.  Dawn was the best tonic to some frazzled nerves, and his to hers.  They'd handle it well enough.

***

Phil walked out to where Xander was looking over the training area, handing him some water.  "I need to learn more than hand-to-hand," he said.

Xander looked at him.  "You want to learn how to use a sword?"

"Yes.  You're a weapons person and I should be able to help you with that."

"We all have our strengths, Phil."

"I've never even tried heavier weapons."

"We can test and see."  He led him down to the sparring ring, pulling down a few weapons.  He scattered them around the ring.  "This is how we test to see which weapon you instinctively favor so you get training in that first.  That way it's easier.  Disarm."  Phil did that and came back.  Xander walked behind Phil and pulled a sword, feinting a lunge.  Phil instinctively went toward the nearest one but ducked and rolled, coming up with an axe.

Xander smiled.  "Sweet choice."  He moved over to show him how battle axes worked as weapons.  Phil nodded and they slowly got into it.  By midnight, Phil was sweaty and tired. Xander was sweaty too.  Phil had a good grasp of what he needed to do with them.  He and Xander shared a look then Xander took them to Asgard to get in some advanced time with the dwarf who had helped train him.  They had a school that was out of time and space.  Xander took them both there.  Phil was looked over as they appeared.

The training dwarf nodded.  "He'll do, Alexander."

"This is my mate, Phil, God over Heroes."

He looked at him.  "We knew you would ascend."

"God protectorate of Humanity," he said with a smile.

"Excellent choice for you."  He looked Phil over, nodding.  "How much training has he had?"

"He's a modern agent sort.  They use guns, he can spar, and I've begun teaching him tonight."

"I should be able to back my mate up in any battle he chooses as his own," Phil said.  "In whatever manner is needed."

The dwarf nodded.  "You should.  How long do you have?"

"We can go and come back if we must," Phil admitted.  The dwarf snorted.

Xander shook his head.  "We need the fully out of time approach.  We have two weeks, standard Asgardian time, to get him back and he needs to be somewhat rested for work."

"We can arrange that."  He hit the gong and the school faded back out of time and space.  The other students walked out, mostly late teens.  "This is your new trainee, Phil.  He is Alexander's mate and must live up to his skills.  Or better him."  They nodded and took Phil to show him where things were.  He looked at Xander.  "You're not to break his training."

"I know.  But I do give killer massages," he said with a grin.

"Aye, you do.  No special privileges outside stretching your cot."

"I won't.  Maybe food."

"Mayhap food," he said dryly.  "Be on with you."  Xander smiled and followed the trainees.  The trainee dorm wasn't all that well liked but they needed the extra toughness the leaky walls and rough cots gave them.  He made sure Phil had what he needed for training, including working on his wrists because they were sore from paperwork all afternoon.  Then they got called out to the ring.  The arms master tested Phil the same way Xander had and he picked up an axe again so it was good.  They could start there.

***

Pepper walked in just before nine the next morning to find Clint on a rope he had strung from the bed to the arrow embedded in the wall and he was slowly moving toward the clear area.  "You couldn't just hit something into the switch?"

"Didn't work," he admitted with a grin.

Pepper hit the switch to turn it off.  "Ten minutes before we leave, Dawn."  She walked off putting in her earrings.  "Natasha turned on the security system."

"I heard about that from the kid," Clay admitted, looking her over.  "Left a tag."  He pointed.  She looked and got some scissors to cut it off.  Dawn and Clint came out dressed reasonably well.  "Dawn, bank?"  She went back in to put on something more businessy than the dress pants and shirt she was wearing.  He smirked at Clint.  "Welcome."

"I like looking at her legs.  They're in really good shape."  He accepted the toast and coffee from John and ate on the way to the car.  The cup got put into the bar's sink.  "I'll get that later, JARVIS."

"I can handle a simple cup, sir."  He sounded happier when Dawn came out.  "Very fetching, Dawn."

"Thank you, JARVIS."  She patted a wall she walked past.  "Have a good day."

"You as well, miss."  They left and he had one of the robots fetch the cup to be put into the dishwasher so he could run it.  This group was much more lively than Mr. Stark was but also more fun, especially when Callia was making out lists of things for everyone.

***

Dawn came out of the bank's office shaking her head.  "I had no idea I had done that."  Clay gave her a look over his sunglasses from his seat in the lobby.  "Seriously."

"Took over the world?" he quipped with a smirk.

"No, that was Lavelle.  He even did it by accident."

"That's great."  He got her into the car and followed her.

"I'm more than set up to shop like a starlet and I don't want to because I have sense."

"You usually do," he agreed.

"Happy, remember that succuba shop?"

"Unfortunately.  Must we?"

"I cannot find a single flirty thing."

He huffed.  "Fine.  You make sure he's armed."

"They won't try to keep me, I'm not a virgin now."

"Good to know."  He drove them off.  Dawn gave him a hug through the window once they got there.  He still didn't like this whole street.

Dawn got out and walked in there, looking at the sales succuba.  Who moaned at Clay.  "Eyes on the prize, ladies.  I need to drop major money on flirty clothes."

"Summers, don't you get enough of that?" one of them complained.

"I outgrew all those."  They groaned but got her kitted out.  Including some cute kitten ears on a headband for Callia and her.  The 'ladies' nicely gave Clay a list of shops for her to go to for off-duty things and a few for on-duty things.  He gave it to Happy, who wasn't happy about it.  They were still in the demon section of LA.  Even though she was probably safer there than anywhere else.

Dawn walked into one spot and leaned down to kiss Spike on the forehead.  She smirked.  "Wanna pretend to be Xander?  Clay doesn't do more than grunt at the hot stuff."

"Hell no, bit."  He hugged her.  "Last payment's here."

Dawn looked over.  "Hi, Clem."  She smiled at him and looked at Spike.  "I don't have many flirty things for work."

"No way I'm shopping with you.  Your sister was bad enough."  She handed over a picture with a smile.  He stared.  "Big sucker."

"Sean.  Fourteen pounds.  And she's up again because Daddy got happy that his newest first born is a son."

"Had to stretch her beyond fun limits then."  He handed it back but she waved so he put it into his duster's pocket.  "Go to see bratty?"

"Nope.  Not this trip.  Just shopping, speech for Pepper, helping Callia shop."

"How is that nibblet?"

"She's good.  She's a lot like her daddy but she enjoys being pretty like a real Summers girl."  She grinned.  "Clint's in too."

"Good for you."  He glanced at her hand then around.  "Who had the bet book?"  Someone brought it over and he looked in it.  "Huh, how did you win that?"

She looked then grinned.  "I knew when they did it," she said dryly.  "We had to be told too."  They groaned and checked.  It validated the bet so they had to pay her the pot.  She tucked it into Clay's pocket since her clothes didn't have one and her purse was tiny.  "What last bet?"

"Clem, the one you played with paid her."

He sighed.  "We can put them in the car."

Dawn looked over.  "Is that the guy that paid me in mini gold blocks?  I never could figure out which one that was."

Spike nodded.  "We realized and made sure, bit."  She hugged him again.  "Get off," he said, giving her a fond look as he shoved her off.

She smirked at him.  "I need to look like a succuba in heat but tasty later."  The head of the betting parlor part got her bet payment out to the car for her.  They heard Happy groan from inside.  Dawn looked.  "Did he miscalculate the conversion rate?"

"You were betting in Ethera quills, not dollars."

"There really has to be a sign."

"There is.  You can't read it because you're mostly human."

"Fully human."  She pinched his cheek.  "Laters, Spike."

"Later, bit."  He watched her float the bars into the trunk, while Clay stared in awe.  He shook his head.  "Girls' cracked if she thinks a single one can protect her."  Clay walked in and hauled him to talk to him in the semi-sunny doorway.  He was at least appropriately mean Spike decided.  He sniffed and looked confused.  "What're you?"

"Yellow fur," he said smugly.

Spike's eyes went wide and he moaned.  "Damn, thought they were myths."

"There's two small packs that came back with Atlantis.  Mine, and Evan Lorne's."

Spike swallowed.  "Good to know.  Yeah, you're tough enough to help get her back."

Dawn snorted.  "Spike, Dawn can save herself.  Remember?"

"Shut up, bit.  Heard there's a wannabe emperor on your tail."

"I heard.  I'm not impressed but I heard."  He groaned.  "Sorry."  She wiggled her hand and he nodded. She smirked as she got into the car.

Clay looked at him.  "Her spouses and I would adore having a list of who wants her presently if you can find one."

"Sure I can," he said, lighting a smoke.  Clay smirked and walked off.  Spike sighed and went back inside.  "He's a damn yellow fur."  A few demons went apeshit and started to wail.  "Not the only one that came back on the Shiny City."  The head of the betting parlor moaned and got a few drinks. The whole bar was going to be drunk and casually careless later.  It meant Spike could win a good haul tonight.

Dawn got out at the shop she picked, walking the gold bar inside.  They stared at it then at her.  "Poker."  They groaned.  She smiled.  "I need stuff."  They took the bar to look over.  It was authentic, pure, and whole.  They paid her for it and she went to their speciality shop in the back to get what she needed.  She came out with six bags and a new hat on her head.  They got put into the trunk and she brought another one in to pay for the rest.  That got her another twelve bags, helpfully carried by someone.  The rest could be shipped to her place in New York.  She slid in.  "Done."

"Thank you," Happy said, heading back to the house.  Dawn and Pepper had brought a lot of empty luggage for the shopping they needed to do.  Dawn might need extra bags.  Happy smiled at her.  "No more demon areas?"

She pinched him on the cheek.  "There's no way anyone down there is going kidnap me because Spike would rip them a new one if my sister didn't, so you'd be safer too."

"I know.  Still?"

She smiled.  "Not this trip.  I hardly hit the one in New York."  He gave her a nudge.  She smirked.  "The rest is being shipped."  He and Clay helped her by getting the bags.  She floated in the new pretty, shiny things.

Clint stared then at her.  "Poker again?" he guessed.

"One last bet paid off."  She took a kiss with a grin.  "They really need to better mark what we're betting with at some tables."  He groaned.  She smirked.  "I did get some really nice stuff."

"Good."  He followed to help her sort things.  Clay got the last few bars for her.  "Thanks, Clay."

"Welcome.  Got to meet Spike.  The whole demon bar went on a wailing fit when they found out I'm perfect in both forms."  He strolled off looking smug.

Clint looked at her.  "Did you warp him too?"  She swatted him.  He laughed and hugged her.  They put the new clothes into the empty bags and he had to stare at a few things.  "Will that look good on you?"

She held up that dress.  It was a very tight fitting dress.  "It's a mood ring dress."

"Uh-huh."  He stared at where it was changing colors thanks to her hands.  "Interesting."  She grinned and put it away too.  The rest got looked over.  A few things he wondered about but not everything was flirty.  There were a few new pairs of jeans too.  Dawn slid into one of those and a new t-shirt, which showed off her cleavage a bit.  He appreciated that and the way they gripped her butt and legs.  She put on her kitty ears, earning a smirk.  "Not in Tokyo."

"I got a pair for Callia too."  She held them up.  They finished up and she strolled out with him.  "Niece?"  She came running in from the porch.  She put the ears on her head, earning a squeal.  "We can be kitties together today."  Callia went running back to show Jensen and his niece.

Jensen looked at her.  "I didn't know you spent time in Tokyo on the streets."  She smirked at him.  He looked her over.  "Damn."

"Only some people are for staring."  He cackled, getting back to chatting with his niece.  Pepper came out dressed for her speech, staring at Dawn.  Dawn grinned back.  "They fit perfectly."

"They do.  I can't find jeans that fit that way."

"I took some poker winnings to a specialist store," she admitted.

Pepper moaned.  "That expensive?"

"I blew *so* much," she agreed.

"Two mini gold bars," Clay agreed.

Pepper whimpered.  "Damn."

"But these were only eighty."

"I need to go there."  Dawn wrote down the address for her.  "Thanks.  Speech?"  They got into the car.  The kitty ears stayed in the car for the luncheon and speech.  Jensen and Callia were staying there for this.  Pepper was well guarded during the speech to the business women's meeting.  Dawn was in the wings in case she needed something.  The guys were in good points to help or watch her.  Pepper was blushing because John was a huge flirt with a stare that could make her have an orgasm without being touched.  She still managed it very well.  They clapped and she smiled, pausing to talk to a few people on the way to her seat.  Dawn got to go to the bar for lunch with Clay and Clint.  Pepper introduced John and they flirted with him while they ate.

***

Tony smiled at his daughter when his main lab's screen popped up with her.  "Cute kitty ears, princess."

"Auntie Dawn got me them.  She has some too and some twinkly stuff."  She grinned.  "Daddy, can we fix that car?" she asked with a point.  It was still damaged from his first suit tests.

"I can have it brought here so we can restore it."  She smiled and nodded.  "Why are you in the lab without Jensen?"  Jensen leaned in and waved.  "That's fine then.  No doing anything with fire, electricity, or laser tools."

"Okay, Daddy."  She smiled.  "I got two new models."  She showed him.

He smiled.  "I have the one on the right.  It's downstairs.  Jensen, take her down the ramp and to the garage?"

"I can do that, Tony."

He smiled.  "You're so my female clone."  She beamed and nodded.   "Didn't you get to shop yet?"

"Some.  I go tomorrow.  I'm wearing old stuff so I can get dirty."

"That's very smart, daughter."  Someone leaned into the picture and waved.

"Hi, Uncle Rodney!" she squealed and waved.  "Uncle John is with Auntie Pepper at her speech."

"That's fine, dear.  Try to behave and be careful.  No breaking laws of physics yet."

She snorted and waved a hand.  "Of course I will.  I'm brilliant too."  She grinned at her dad.  "When do I get my own lab, Daddy?"

"When you're twelve.  Until then you can have part of mine."

"Cool!"  She bounced a few times.  "Let us go look at cars.  I'll call back for dinner and we'll eat together?"

"We can do that."  She squealed and blew kisses then hung up and ran for the ramp.

"Wait for me," Jensen said, following her.

"Oh my god!  Daddy has huge cars!"

"He does collect," he agreed.  He looked around.  "There's a lot of cars.  Want me to get Happy so he can tell you about them?"

"I know some but sure."  He texted him and he came in from the other side of the garage.  "Hi, Happy!"  She hugged him.   "Daddy has huge cars!"

"He does, yeah."  He grinned, showing her what each one was like and letting her look in the engine.

Jensen finally checked his clock on his phone.  "Callia, you had dinner with your dad over the video system."

"Oops.  JARVIS, can I have dinner in the lab please?" she called, hugging Happy and heading back up there.

"I've already laid out your tomato and cucumber salad, Callia, as well as some water and your favorite dressing.  Your aunt brought it down."

"Cool!"  They dialed Tony, who was looking a bit pouty.  "Happy and I were looking at the cars."

"I've gotten lost doing that many times, princess."  They settled in to eat and chat over dinner.  He even read her the usual bedtime story over it.  Jensen smiled and carried her off to bed.  Tony hung up and leaned back on his stool.  "She really is just like me.  I'm feeling like a Harry Chapin song."  He stretched.  He had been bent over his newest suit modification all afternoon.

He really had to spend more time with her and get them both out of the lab now and then.  He remembered wanting to go out to play and not getting to because his father was working.  She wouldn't have those memories.  Thankfully, he had something his father hadn't - Pepper and Dawn.  He called Pepper, who was getting a neck rub from John.  "Bad speech?" he asked, trying not to be jealous.

"It went very well and all the ladies flirted horribly with John," Pepper said with a smile.  "I took a nap on the way home and slept funny.  Did you talk to Callia today?"

"We just had dinner and talked about the car collection she spent all afternoon in."

"Awww, you and she are just alike."

He nodded.  "We are."  He smiled.  "Thankfully you've made sure I did better with her than I had."

"You do just fine, Tony."

"Good."  He was still fighting the jealousy.  "So, find anything pretty?"

"A few things and I'm picking some new stores in New York because some shops here decided I was too pregnant and therefore too fat.  Apparently the baby's too big for their tastes."

"Bull," he said.  "You look fine and the baby's perfect."

"One told Dawn they didn't do plus size clothes."

He looked her over.  "You're not plus size, Pepper.  You're perfectly sized and you're not heavier than you should be.  You're within five pounds of your ideal weight plus the pregnancy.  They're dumbasses."  She smiled at him, that soft, sweet smile he loved to see.  "Coming home soon?"

"Two days."

"Good.  Find more pretty things.  Not that you can't make the simplest things look stunning but you need more flirty, pretty things too."

"Dawn got paid in gold bars again but it meant she went to a specialty shop.  We went later on and she blew a third one on more stuff that'll make Clint drool."

"Good."

"She went to the succuba shop again too.  Clay said they all hit on him."

He smiled.  "Guys like him have a certain appeal.  I prefer smart, gentle, and sexy as hell."  She blushed but hung up on him.  He groaned and hung up on his end, looking around.  He wanted Pepper.  He considered it and used the beaming satellite to get back to the lab.  Happy was waiting on him.  "You're psychic?"

"Yup."  He grinned.  "I heard when you talked to Callia, boss.  She is so like you and wanted to know how each part of the engines worked."

"If I had room in New York I'd take the collection with me."  He got in and Happy drove him back.  They paused for a few things from one of his favorite places.  Then they went back to the house.  JARVIS let him in quietly.  "Thanks, JARVIS," he quipped quietly.  The house was pretty quiet.  He went to Pepper's room, then to his room when he found John in there.   Pepper was on his bed in a set of cotton pajamas, a t-shirt and capri pants set with clouds.  He stripped off and laid down with her, kissing her awake.  She moaned and he pulled her closer.  "You're so perfect."

"No woman is perfect."

"You are so.  I'm a genius and therefore right to quote Rodney."  He kissed her again.  "In the ways that matter to me, you're perfect."  She smiled.  He nibbled on her lips then kissed her again before going down to talk to the baby and then make her a happy girl.  Her moaning and writhing under his mouth was a beautiful sight he wanted more of.  He and Steve really had to bring her home with them permanently.  She whimpered and he helped her off.  He didn't care if he got off, he'd get off eventually, but she needed to be glowing with it.  She deserved it for being his anchor and his conscience in so many ways.  She pulled on his hair so he looked up.  "Need more?" he asked, leaning up to lick over the underside of her belly.

"I need you, goofy."  He grinned and pushed into her carefully as he moved up to kiss her.  He flipped them around so he was spooned behind her, her top leg over his as he pushed in.  She clawed his arm.  "Tony!"

"I have you.  I always have your back."  She reached back so he kissed her neck and nibbled on her until she came again and went limp.  He came and made sure she was cleaned up since she was asleep again.  He curled up with her on his chest, feeling comfortable for the first time in a few days.  Steve was on a mission so he had been alone.  It was like two magnets pulling at him so he had to put them on the same side so they kept him pulling to the good side.  She shifted and one hand stroked over his stomach.  He calmed his mind and let it drift off to sleep because she was good for him.

***

Clint looked at Dawn that night, after their pre-dinner nap and dinner.  "Callia's clothes are being shipped back."

She smiled.  "We did that on purpose."

"Good idea.  I'd hate to have to find a pickup truck for yours and hers."

She grinned.  "Mine's being shipped back too.  All but the one dress bag and two bags with the new jewelry."

"Fine."  He kissed her.  "When do I get to see that new dress?"

"Sometime."  She took another kiss.  "Did you need me to pounce you like a Stark?" she teased.  He had teased earlier that Callia and Tony both pounced Pepper the same way - ending up wrapped around her.

He smirked.  "Sure, I could enjoy that."  She kissed him and wrapped herself around him.  He moaned and pulled her closer against him.  "I need to be in you."

"You can do that.  You know that."  He pushed her onto the bed and stripped, then got her clothes off.  She squeaked when he pounced but it was good.  He enjoyed it.  She scratched his back when it got too good but he hissed and bit her on the shoulder.

John and Clay both looked toward their room and shook their heads.  Dawn was loud.

Tony and Pepper stared that way.  "I knew she was loud," Tony quipped.  "I had to keep turning off the security system that registers screams."  Sure enough, Dawn squealed and they winced at the squeaking noise.  "We have to get her a better bed," he told Pepper.

She smiled.  "She can have the garage apartment again."

"They might like the sectional," he agreed.  "The bed's a queen....."  The squeaking stopped but they could hear Dawn still getting breathy and happy.  One final squeal that made them all wince. Someone hit the right note to break glass and then Clint moaned.  Jensen started to clap but Clay and John swatted him.  Tony smirked at him.  "I nearly applauded a few times too."  Pepper kissed him.  He smiled.  "I should ship some of the cars back to have my spawn help me with."

"You should," she agreed.  "Bring back the damaged ones."

"I can do that."  He hugged her, making her relax.  He felt along her stomach.  "Braxton Hicks."

She groaned.  "I was hoping that wasn't already starting."

"Yes, it is."  He rubbed her stomach, making her moan and go limp.  He shifted so she could rest her head on his shoulder while he worked on her stress.  She enjoyed that a lot and fell asleep on him.  Round two started for Dawn and Clint, making the guys blush since it was Clint getting moany and loud.  They all looked away when he begged but she was apparently very good to him.

Clay looked up, shaking his head.  "I thought some of Cougar's women got loud," he muttered.

Jensen nodded.  "They do.  Especially if they get the hat for a few minutes during it."

John shook his head.   "I don't mind my women getting loud but I like to be on top.  Even if she's on top I'm in control.  I'm old fashioned that way."

Tony looked at him.  "Cute joke."

"Thanks."  He grinned.  "Where's your wonder man?"

"He's on an assignment."  He went back to soothing the kicking going on.  "It's good, guys."

"We know.  He'd have walked off," John said.  Clint yelped and they heard Dawn chuckle evilly.  Then she squealed and moaned, chanting Clint's name and 'more'.  They all winced at the sound of a crack.  "Bed?" he guessed.

"Sidetable probably," Tony said.  "It's too close and easily knocked over because it's a tripod setup."  Dawn was still loud and begging.  Then Clint moaned and begged for her to spare him.  She cackled and made him pant and huff.  Thankfully he knew how to cure her evil moods and could do that.

Callia came wandering out rubbing her eyes.  She pounded on her aunt's door.  "If you're making babies I get to name them."  She turned around and spotted her father.  "Daddy!"  She ran over to pounce him.  He cuddled her in his lap between him and Pepper.  She snuggled in and cuddled back.  "I missed you."

"I missed you too."

She looked up at him.  "Can we do like Auntie does and have two stepmommies and a daddy?"

He smiled, kissing her on the head.  "We'll see.  If your aunt would agree."

She smiled, pulling Pepper closer.  Tony laid back and let both his girls nap on his chest.  Callia was in heaven and she wouldn't get up all night.  Pepper either.

Clay and John shared a smirk then went to their rooms.  Clay pulled Jensen away from his current game on his tablet so he would too.  Now that Dawn and Clint were done they could sleep.

***

Clint flinched when Callia pounded, kissing Dawn to stifle her new yell of pleasure.  She moaned and went limp against him.  He pulled her closer.  "She's mouthy like her mom," he quipped quietly.

"She is."  She smiled and kissed him.  "Thankfully I'm on both methods still."

He blinked at her.  "Is your magic interfering like it made you the parts you were missing?"  She winced but nodded.  He kissed her, rolling her underneath him.  "If it does, it does."

"It does," she agreed with a sigh at the end, kissing him back.  Their hands were clasped and he started to move in her again, making her happy and sated at the same time.  "Remind me to get Natasha a protection amulet in case it does it to her?"

"Of course I will."  He moaned at the very thought.  He couldn't see Natasha pregnant.  Dawn was really the 'wife' of their trio and Natasha was somewhere between the husband and wife of the trio.  He was clearly the husband.  That worked well for them.  Though he'd love any spawn that came from his ladies.  Dawn clenched around him and he stared down at her.

She moaned, getting off from the focus he was showing.  She loved being under his total focus. He slowed down, drawing it out for her, staring down at her.  She shivered but pulled him down to kiss her.  It was all the invitation he needed to finish off and then go down to tease her into coming one last time.  She sighed in pleasure and went limp.  He came up to let her cuddle him.  It was always great with his ladies.

***

Xander watched Phil spar and nodded.  They had been up here for months out of time.  Phil's already nice muscles were more defined now.  He was good with a sword, an axe, and daggers, but hadn't gotten the hang of the sickles that Xander used to favor.  His total concentration on the battle he was in was sexy as hell and Xander was getting hard watching him.  The other trainees had ganged up on him to show where he was in his skills.

The masters were watching.  Finally they called a halt and Phil healed his injuries before his fellow trainees' injuries.  Xander walked down to get one last one that was trying not to admit he had been stabbed in the stomach.  "You did good," he told that one.  "You need a shield mate."  The guy blushed and nodded, bowing and moving.  Xander called his weapons to him.  He looked at Phil.  "Ready for the later lessons?"

Phil got some water and drank it, then came back.  He could read Xander's emotional and physical state without trying now.  He could tell he was pleased, and aroused, by the battle he had just fought.  That sort of response had been denied to him during his training but he understood why.  Though, frustration and a hard on did not make a battle any easier.  "I am."

Xander smiled and attacked.  He and Phil danced back and forth then Xander sent a harmless spell at him during it.  Phil caught on and they added powers.  It got harder and heavier.  The trainees watching were moaning as they moved and shifted.  Xander lost his t-shirt and spun to get Phil from the side but Phil still blocked and smiled at him.  Xander smirked back.  It was good.  They were well matched.

They switched weapons by silent accord to heavier swords.  They were still going at it and Xander was adding in deadlier power hits.  Phil was too.  They moved to battle axes and that got them closer than the swords.  They were both sporting minor injuries, nothing that would make them stop.  Phil was moaning quietly.  Xander's eyes were dark with lust and hunger.  Finally, Xander won and claimed his prize in a deep kiss.  Phil moaned into his mouth, surrendering.  Xander pulled them into their elemental forms, surrounding Phil, making him beg, whine, and writhe against his powers touching him.

They came back to human naked and groping.  Phil went onto his back on the sand and Xander claimed him then and there, darkening the mark on his throat as he rode him hard and fast.  Phil winced once but he found his mark and bit into it, drawing blood.  Xander moaned and did the same.  They both came and the earth shook a bit and there was a flash of power.  Phil moaned, panting hard.  "Xander," he said quietly.

"Mine," he said in his ear.  "My mate."  A gong rang out and they looked up.  He shrugged and kissed him again.

"Your mate."  Xander moaned into his mouth.  "We gave a show," he said quietly.

"They already wanted you, Phil.  Now they know that you're properly claimed."  He took another kiss then pulled back and cleaned them up with his powers.  He gathered the weapons so they could be put up, bowing at the master dwarves.  "You have done an excellent job with my mate.  Thank you."

"You're most welcome, Alexander.  He is more than worthy of you."

Xander grinned.  "In every way imaginable."

Phil bowed.  "Thank you for your attention, time, and training, Masters.  I'm most honored to have learned from you."  They nodded back.  He looked at Xander.

"You're excused.  Until you're with godling then you can come back to protect yourself better," the head of the school said.

Phil blushed.  "I'm not really thinking about that yet."  They laughed and Xander smiled, leading him back to his room to pack them up so they could go home.   They appeared in regular Asgard at Xander's cabin.  "How much time did we spend there?"

"Six months there, only a week Asgard time," Xander said after checking.

Phil stripped off and walked over to Xander.  "Good.  We have time."

Xander smiled.  "Not chilly?"  He started the fire.

"No, not chilly.  You ignited a fire in my blood, mate."  Xander growled and kissed him.  Phil pulled him closer.  "Can I claim you, Xander?"

"Yes."  Phil flashed them upstairs and Xander naked, taking him to the bathroom to clean him off for his pleasure.  Xander shivered.  This was more civilized than Xander was when he had claimed Phil.

Phil nibbled on his throat.  "You claimed me as a mate in all your forms, including the hyena," he said in his ear.  "I don't have that part but I'm going to claim you with all the parts of me."  Xander nearly went limp.  Phil nibbled while he cleaned him off.  Then himself.  He got them out and dried, then cleaned Xander out.  Xander moaned at the feeling of the fizzy enema.  "It's something I learned in one of the books.  It used to be used to prepare virgin sacrifices to give themselves to their gods," he said in his ear.

"You are my god, Phil."

"I know I am."  He kissed him.  "The same as you're mine, Xander."  Xander moaned and they cleaned him out.  Then Phil made sure he was clean enough to eat off of.  He took Xander out to their bed, kicking the trundle back under it.  Xander got laid out on his back and Phil inhaled his scent.  Fully clean.  Fully Xander.  Soon to be Phil's scent overtop of him.  He rubbed them together while they kissed, then slowly moved backwards, nibbling on each piece of flesh he could reach.  Xander had a chest full of tiny bite marks that showed up well against his pale skin.  He finally got to his cock and licked it, making Xander tense up.  Phil smiled.  He pulled the special oil he had made for when they got to this point.  "Are you sure?" he asked.

Xander nodded.  "Yes, Phil."

"Good."  He stuck a finger in the oil, using it to coat the outside flesh.  It was odorless.  It was a pressed oil from a few nuts that were only found up here on Asgard.  Thor had mentioned the nuts once so he had Alana find him some.  He gently smoothed a finger into Xander's body, making him arch up and pant.  "Relax.  I have you."  He went back to it, making his body twitch and move on his fingers.  He tried Xander's trick of turning his fingers elemental and realized why he liked doing it.  You could feel his pulse through the thin fleshy walls.  It was like he was connected again to Xander's whole being and Xander was nearly coming from the feeling of the elemental powers.

He moved up to two fingers with a bit more oil.  He didn't want to use too much.  Just enough to make it easier.  He tormented Xander by teasing near his prostate.  Then he nudged it and watched Xander arch up again, grabbing the headboard to ground himself.  "Hands down," he ordered gently.  Xander stared at him.  "Hands down, Xander.  I want to be your anchor."  Xander moaned but did that for him.  He smiled and switched up to three fingers.

"Phil, now, please?" he begged.

"You're still tight."

"I don't care!" he begged.  Phil put the oil aside after slicking himself down.  He slid in, grabbing Xander's hands to hold.  Xander panted and wiggled but Phil gave him a chance to rest.  Then he slowly pulled out and then back in.  Xander licked their fingers then looked at him.  "Those aren't for eating."

Phil kissed him.  "I'm not eating them, Xander.  I'm using it to line your ass so I can plunder it until you beg me to claim you."  He shifted and stared down at him as he slowly rode him.  Xander was losing his mind.  He could feel the prayers.  He sent back a few, which made Xander blink at him.  He smiled.  "You're mine and I'm yours in all meanings of the words, Xander."

"You're mine and I'm yours," he agreed.  He got his hands free and pulled Phil down.  "Please, Phil?"

"I want you to come first.  That way you know that you're ready."

"I'm so ready."  He pulled off and went to his knees.  Phil growled and nibbled his neck, earning a shiver.  "Phil, please claim me?" he begged.  "I need you."

"I need you too, Xander."  He slid in.  It was harder, faster, deeper, and Xander was making enough noise to cover up a fully orgy full of people.  He heard the prayers for relief and leaned down.  "No relief yet," he whispered.  "No mercy, no relief, and no easier riding."

"Oh, god," Xander moaned.  "Phil."

"Mine, Xander.  Vow it."

"Yours!" he shouted and Phil nibbled on his throat.  "Phil!"  He got bitten hard and Xander moaned, going limp as he came.  Phil finished off, still attached to Xander's throat.  Xander let him, even tipping his head to the side to let him have better access.  Phil kissed the area then pulled back so he could kiss his mate.  Xander blinked at him.  "I love you."

Phil smiled.  "I love you too."  He kissed him and the gong went off again.  "That's really annoying.  Is that going to keep happening?"

"I think only if one of us gets knocked up."  He looked up.  "Can you cut it out please?"  Whoever was doing it quit.  He looked at Phil and shrugged.  "We'll find out."

"We will.  Probably at the next banquet."  He took another kiss and settled in to hug Xander.  "In a few minutes, when I've caught my breath, I'm tying you to the bed and having you so hard you beg for mercy."

Xander smiled.  "I don't usually beg."

"You do, Xander, and I think it's just as pretty as you do when you make me."  Xander blushed but smiled and cuddled in.  "Tomorrow I might let you do the same thing."

"Tomorrow we're blessing the hearth stone together," he said, teasing Phil's stomach.

Phil had finally figured out what that meant and smiled, kissing him.  "I'm still your spouse."

"You're my mate," Xander corrected.  "In all meanings of the word, Phil."  He stared at him.

"Good."  He took another kiss.  "I wouldn't have it any other way."  Xander shivered but got comfortable.  He pulled a quilt up over them and snuggled into it.  Xander was a furnace but Phil had learned how to handle the cold up here.  All it took was Xander to make him warm.

29: Jealous Of The Old Ones

There's always got to be one jealous one.  Even at Stark International.

Tony's head popped up when he heard the slight 'pop' noise, staring at the other Xander.  "I heard about you but I never thought we'd meet in person."

Xander grinned.  "Hi.  I just saw another of you."

Dawn strolled in and gave him a hug.  "I'm free in about five minutes if you're bored."

"I am, but I have no idea how Lavelle handles things."

Dawn smiled.  "Well, no goblin banks here to change things over so we'd have to do the demonic mafia's bank."  Xander nodded and headed out with her.  "What did you want to do?  Coney Island?  Your usual shopping?"

"We're in New York?"  Dawn smiled and nodded.  "Is Great Escape open?"

"Nearly Christmas here."  She winked.  "We can maybe hit LA though."  He beamed and nodded.  "Let me call my lovers.  I'll file this while I do that, and then we'll head."  She did that, getting a question from Natasha, who admitted she didn't know what she was talking about.  So she explained it better.  Then she took him down to the locker rooms so she could change into jeans and a t-shirt.  She took him with her.

***

Clint showed up an hour later.  "Stark, using your teleporting satellite before someone kidnaps Dawn and that Xander," he called into the lab then set it off.

Tony looked up then checked the news.  No major incident had happened yet.  Thankfully.

***

Phil looked up at the prayers then at Xander, since they were sparring.  They were both sweaty, half-naked, and had swords.  "Shower?"

"Shower," he agreed.  "I like hanging out with that me and it might keep them from being taken."  They flashed up to the house to clean up, without any shower sex unfortunately, then found clothes and went to Universal Studios, LA.  They found the duo before Clint could.  Phil told Clint where they were and he found them before the next roller coaster.  Long haired Xander was happily beaming and bouncing around like a big kid.  Xander hugged him and grinned.  "Roller coasters kick ass."

"They do and I never get to go anywhere anymore.  I'm still being picked on for bringing Wade and Anya to Disney."

"We can ride all the rides you want," Dawn promised with a smile.  "I know how bored you get."  Xander hugged her and they went off together, Clint following talking to him about weapons.

Xander and Phil followed.  When Security figured out they hadn't paid, Phil paid for their entry fees and it was nicer.  Long haired Xander was like a big kid.  Dawn was too.  Clint was happy she was happy, even though roller coasters were a bit much for him at times.  He made them hit other rides between the coasters.  Dawn made sure they hit all the ones that Xander wanted to hit.  So that went over well.  When the park closed, they all went back to the trio's place, where long haired Xander helped Dawn cook dinner.  Natasha moaned when she got in at one.  They were sitting up playing cards and eating.  She got her own seat and got dealt in.  It was good, quiet, calm.  They all needed the night off for fun.

***

Pepper looked up the next morning.  Dawn's hair had grown nearly a foot and was a bit wild and slightly curly looking.  She had on a pretty pair of nude heels, a dress that had one shoulder and sleeve, was cinched at the waist, and flowed over her like the water it was colored to look like.  "Hair extensions and long party?" she guessed.

Dawn grinned.  "Long haired Xander showed up yesterday to go have some fun.  He did the hair lengthening charm."  She handed the mail over and smiled.  "The dress is because we have that luncheon later."

"Oh, yeah."  She made sure she had something, which she didn't, so Dawn went to pick something up for her while Pepper handled paperwork.  "Thank you," she said when Dawn handed her a dress bag.  "That's a nice thing."  Dawn smirked and strolled off.

She walked past Bruce on her way to do her daily route through the labs.  "Morning, Stepdad."

"Morning, Dawn.  You look nice today."

"Thank you."  She pinched him on the cheek, earning a smirk.  She went into the first lab and cleared her throat.  "Make me pull a damn sword, people!"  They quit brawling.  "Thank you!"  They stared at her.  She stared back.  "Fighting is only permitted in the gym.  You know that.  What if you had knocked over your little laser prototype there and hurt one of you?"  They groaned and detangled then got up to act like adults.  "If you need rolling around playing time, go to the gym.  We do."

She smiled as she took reports, made coffee, then walked off.  It was apparently an argumentative day at Stark International.  Even the boss was arguing with Rodney in the tinkering lab.  She walked in and sighed, taking the coffee maker to carefully empty then refill.  She came out and smacked them both on the head.  "You're acting like toddlers.  Watch me turn you into some."  She walked off again.

"Gee, Mom," Rodney complained.  He stared at her.  "It's December.  Why are you wearing that?"

"Luncheon."  She floated the refilled ancient percolator out and put in coffee grounds then covered it and turned it on so it could make the two gallons of coffee.  "I'm probably going to be nagged that I don't fade into the background like a good assistant but Natasha liked it this morning."  She smiled sweetly.

"Thanks to your kitten poker habit, you have enough money to be mildly eccentric," Tony said dryly, looking her over.  "No stockings?"

"I need some new clear ones.  I forgot to pick them up.  Besides I don't really need them."  She gave them the first cups and handed over the stack of reports.  "Anything else, boys?"

"Quit making mom jokes," Tony ordered, sipping his coffee.

She smiled.  "Then quit acting like little boys."  She pinched him on the cheek.  "Because if I was your mom, you'd be a genius but not a playboy."  She strolled off.  She went down to HR.  "Hi, I think you guys screwed up my check."

The secretary there smiled back.  "How did we do that?"

"Well, first of all, I'm not an hourly employee, even though you discounted half of the hours I work."  She showed her the printout that had come with her direct deposit statement.

"You have to sign in on your computer, not with security."

"I'm still on salary, not hourly.  And that's not going to work since half of us in the building don't log in all day."

"All science people...." she said with perky cheer.

Dawn smirked.  "I'm Pepper's assistant, sweetie.  I'm on *salary* because I'm in Admin, not in the labs.  Is your boss in?"

"I don't think she'd be handling this."

"Melinda, your assistant is stupid," she said as she headed for the head office.

"Sometimes, why?" she asked, opening the door.  "What's wrong, Dawn?"  She held up the statement, getting a wince.  "You're on salary."

"I am.  You do realize that half the science corps don't have computers in their labs because they do physical things and don't use them real often?  Most of them maybe have a laptop that they only log on for wifi access."

"I had not."  She let Dawn in so they could go over the flaws in the newly implemented software, including that no one had officially moved the science teams to hourly as the assistant thought.  Dawn called Stark and Pepper on her cellphone to get them together to talk about it.  Pepper had a slight mood swing but Tony got her calmed down.  They figured it out and the rest of Dawn's check would be deposited tomorrow.  "That's a lot for a bachelor's," she said.

"I have an MBA.  I went for a condensed since I had a few credits due to AP classes and work credits, plus passing the tests."  She smiled.  "I had to take some out of Rio and transfer them in since they weren't offered online up here but I did manage it.  I'm also a few credits short of another language degree in a few different ones."

"Interesting."  She smiled.  "I'll handle the issues, Dawn."

"Thank you.  Do you want me to type up a memo to let you know if others had wrong checks?"

"Please.  It'll save me doing it."

"I can do that."  She got up and walked out typing it on her phone.  It sent a text memo to everyone in the building or associated with Stark labs.  She walked into her usual office and looked in at Pepper.  "You good?"

"I'm fine.  They tried to tell you that you were hourly?"

"Yeah, and discounted most of my hours.  The assistant down there said you had to log in on your own system, not at security."

"No, not likely.  I can see the pass sensors on the doorways maybe but even those get held open at times."  Dawn nodded, settling in to type up the official memo for those who didn't have a phone or didn't look at their phones.  Pepper shook her head, taking it to sign off on and send off.  When it was time, Pepper got up to get dressed.  Dawn checked and finger-combed her hair, then put on some tasteful jewelry and a jacket that only enhanced the outfit.  They left together after closing and locking the office doorways and their desks.  They met Tony outside.  "Are you going to the women in business luncheon too?" Pepper teased with a smile.

"Not likely.  I'm out for pizza."  He kissed them on the cheek.  "Pepper, she tried to mom us earlier."

"If you need it, you do," she teased.  She and Dawn got into the hired car that Dawn used.  Tony waved as they drove off.  "Which store did you get that at?"

"The succuba run one."  She grinned.  "They liked to tease Clay but they've always been very nice to me."

"They can't really hit on you so I guess they would be," Pepper said.  "Why do they work there?"

"It's the younger set that aren't out on assignment from the higher ups.  That way they can pay rent in LA.  They're the non-hunting for kills sort too, I made sure before I ever went in there.  Buffy got a few favorite outfits from them and took me once."

"That's sweet of your sister.  How is she liking being pregnant again?"

"She's not.  Hylal keeps nagging her to eat.  Sean took so much of her extra weight from her even Mom and Bruce are nagging her to eat."

"She did look a bit thin the last time I saw her."

"She did," Dawn agreed with a grin for her.  Her phone rang.  "What's up?" she asked.

"Dawn, we've lost stuff," Jonathan said.  "Did you clean on us?"

"Patty did, Johno.  Look in your new filing cabinet under the desk."

He clearly opened something.  "Why did she put it there?"

"To shore up that shaky corner you two hop up to sit on."

"Oh, I guess that'd do it."  He found what he needed and sighed.  "We need to reorganize totally."

"I'll help you with that tomorrow.  We're going to a luncheon and we won't be back until four."

"Thanks, Dawn.  We'll work up some ideas on what we want and need."

"Welcome.  Don't panic, she was trying to help."

"I know.  It was sweet of her."  He hung up and groaned, looking around their lab.  He looked at the walls then at the filing cabinet.  He and Andrew had to figure out something.  It was too small and only had the one work area anyway.  Though it had more room than their garages had back in Sunnydale.

***

Dawn came back letting Pepper lean on her arm.  "Relax," she soothed.  "It's still fake contractions."  Pepper sighed and nodded, giving her arm a squeeze.  "Want to hit the infirmary?"

"No, my OB said they'd be getting stronger as time moved on.  I'm nearly eight months."

"You sure?  I can ask Dr. Pigalli."

"I'm okay."  She got put on her office couch.  "I can work."

"Of course you can, and put your feet up too."  She handed over the papers after she had sorted through them.  "Anna presorted."  She smiled and took an envelope with her.  She wasn't going to worry Pepper.  She walked into security.  "Lumpy envelope, people.  Not scanned."

It got taken from her and scanned, then they called the local bomb squad unit to come get it.  "We'll track it," the head guard assured her.

"Thanks.  It was on Pepper's desk."  They nodded and let her go search up there with one of them.

Pepper looked up.  "I noticed you kept one that looked a bit thick."

"And lumpy," Dawn quipped.  Pepper stared at her.  "They scanned it.  Now we're going to do the rest of the office.  Want helped down to the labs?"

"Let me check the couch first," the guard ordered.  He got down to look and winced.  "Dawn?"

She looked then took a picture and sent it to Tony.  He came rushing in.  She got out of his way.  "We're scanning since I found a letter bomb, boss.  I found it after she sat down."

Tony nodded.  "Okay."  He unrolled his toolkit and got into it.  "Someone got into the tinkering lab's plans.  It's one of ours but with shitty homemade explosives."

The guard called that in so the bomb disposal guys came up to get it.  Tony got it undone and handed it out.  The bomb tech took it and got down to look too.  "That's not nice."

"We were tinkering and came up with this one but it's supposed to use semtex," Tony admitted.  "It's what we geeks do when we're drunk," he said at the odd look he was getting.  "Myself, McKay, and Banner are the only ones who're supposed to have access.  Dawn, I need Roomba dog."

Dawn called down for it and Andrew brought it up.  "Here, Tony."

"Roomba, come suck this out."  It zipped under the couch and he pointed the flashlight on it.  "Suck that."  It sucked next to it so he moved the nozzle/tentacle.

"That's cute," the bomb tech said with a smile.

"A few of our younger geeks made Roomba dog.  It's a great dog.  My daughter loves him."  He finished disarming it and they removed it.  "Okay."  They came out from under the couch.  The Roomba did too.  "Dawn, take Pepper and Callia to my lab.  It's got bomb shields."

"Callia's already there," Andrew said.  "With Steve, Tony."

"Thank you."  He smiled.  "Go."  The ladies went with him and Roomba got to search the room.  Tony looked at the guard, who nodded they were pulling up surveillance footage.  They found the other ones on the desks and got them disarmed too.  Tony watched the tech and guard disappear down the elevator then swore in his third known language, Klingon.  He was a geek at heart after all.

Phil appeared, staring at him.  "You speak Klingon?"

"Of course I do.  I'm old enough to have watched it in first run, Coulson."

"That's interesting.  Is there a reason why you summoned?"

"Four bombs."

"Excuse me?"

"All against Pepper and Dawn."

"Huh."  He went to security to ask.  The bomb tech gave him an odd look.  "SHIELD does stare over Stark's shoulder," he said blandly.  "Just to make sure he doesn't accidentally blow up the universe."

"Again?" one of the guards joked.

"Yes, again."  He patted him on the shoulder.  "The ladies and the baby?"

"Stark's lab, Agent Coulson."

"Thank you."  They watched the tapes together and he nodded.  "She's not an agent that I can tell.  She moves too plainly and too clumsily to be an agent."

"She's the one in HR that Summers called dumb earlier for screwing up everyone's paychecks," one of the other guards said quietly.  "I went in to have mine fixed."  Phil smiled.  "She's still probably there."

"Probably.  We'll see what her problem is."  He looked at the NYPD.  "I believe it's yours but I can help with interrogation."

"The help would be appreciated, sir."  They went up there together.  Phil typed out a text message when he got one.  Then he put his phone up.

The perky assistant smiled.  "All the paychecks will be fixed by tomorrow, gentlemen."  They held up their badges and she started to look around.  "Did that nasty little girl do something wrong?"

"No, I don't believe it was her," Phil said dryly.

The woman glared at him.  "Girls like her slept their way into their jobs."

"Actually, she's been doing the job since before she slept with anyone, by about two years.  Stark's not that patient.  You'd have a better chance at claiming she got it by nepotism since she's Callia's aunt.  Though she did have the job before then," the NYPD officer said.  "It's been in all the mags, miss. Now, let's go have a talk."

The head of HR came out.  "Officer, Agent Coulson, is there a problem?"

"Four bombs in Pepper and Dawn's offices," Phil said.

"You sure it's her?"  They nodded.  "Then you have fun with her, boys.  I'll help you get her locker and desk contents."  The officer smiled and called in for some backup to do that.  She tried to attack Phil, who punched her.

She fell down crying.  "She's going to ruin all the great things they do here!  Stark will never make things to save everyone with her looking over his shoulder!" she shouted.  "He'll be ruined!"

Tony strolled in and stared at her.  "Why would I be ruined?  I make Dawn weapons all the time.  The Avengers too."  He smirked.  She whimpered and he got away from her.  "I don't even know you, Miss."

"We slept together a few years ago.  You said I was yours."

He looked at her.  "I never lie to anyone I'm sleeping with that way.  Beyond that, I doubt it was a few years ago.  I quit being such a slut when my daughter was born."  He walked off shaking his head.  "At least she won't need to be Warren's roommate."

"No, she's not that smart," Phil agreed.  Officers showed up to get her and her things.  He made sure she confessed.

Tony walked into his lab, looking at Pepper.  "Did you make me take off the question about if I had ever slept with the new hires?" he asked.

"I did because it might mean a lawsuit.   She was?"

"Claimed she was and I told her I was hers."

Dawn snorted.  "No, you have taste.  Even when you were a slut."

"Thanks."  He looked her over.  "You look nice."

She smiled.  "Succuba store."

"Figures."  She smirked.  "What's with the hair?"

"That Xander did a hair lengthening charm."

"It looks nice but a bit wild."  She smiled at him for that.  "Is the reporter slut going to note that you're too flashy again?"

"Yup.  Probably.  Yay."

"My feeling too," Pepper agreed.  "We like you flashy and flirty."  She rubbed her stomach.  "I don't like practice contractions."

Dawn called the infirmary.  "Doc, we need a quick check of Pepper.  Her usual practice contractions make her hiss and tighten up, this newest one made her rub instead.  Yup, right down there."  She walked over and helped her up.  "We'll check to make sure they're still practice ones."

"I'm sure they are."

"Like Callia, the baby's like my sibling, and so I'm going to fuss and be paranoid, Pepper," she said as she walked her out.  "Suck it up, dear."

"I know, you fuss.  It's the young woman you are until you have a few of your own."  They went down to the infirmary.  She hissed and grabbed onto Dawn's arm, doing the breathing they had taught her at lamaze, which Tony and Steve had both taken with her, and Dawn.  They came off on the infirmary level, Dawn freezing the car until they could walk again.  Then she unfroze it.  They walked toward the infirmary.  "I don't want to go already."

"We can make sure," Dr. Pigalli said.  Dawn helped her up onto the exam table so she could feel around her stomach.  "Any loss of fluid?"

"Only peeing."

"That's expected," she promised with a smile.  She felt the next one.  "I believe that is a minor real contraction.  Let me call your OB, Pepper."  She went to look her up and talk to her.  They gave permission to start Pepper on an IV to stop the early contractions and to keep her overnight.  Her OB would show up to check on her later.  Dr. Pigalli had to send out for the meds but one of the guards got it and came back almost immediately.

They started the IV once Pepper was down to comfortable clothes and in bed.  Dawn let the immediate family, including Pepper's mother, know and stayed with her until Tony got down there to fuss.  They got Pepper moved to one of their private rooms and settled back in with Tony hovering and Steve looking nervous.  Dawn gave him a shove in then closed the door behind him.  She walked off to check with security then went up to check on the labs before going home.

***

Dawn came in the next day dressed in one of the newer outfits, one of the slimmer skirts and a nice tailored jacket with a pretty shirt underneath.  "Boss, I have that interview scheduled today."

"Pepper added a second one," he said from the main desk.  "They stopped it in time."

"I figured they did and she texted me that she was on bedrest for the rest of the month."  She went through the mail and brought in what he needed to deal with.  She put down another pile.  "Pepper things so she can be bored in bed."

He smiled.  "I'm sure she'll thank you for something to do soon."  He looked them over and handled a few but she grimaced.  "No?"

"No.  They're misusing money."  She got the report on that.  He nodded, going over it.  He let her change the form and recopy it.  He looked at the other things.  Dawn handled something and he nodded, getting up to head to the labs.  "By the way, Andrew and Jonathan are remodeling their lab space."

"That's fine," Tony agreed, smirking at her.  "Have fun with the poison pen."

Dawn smirked evilly.  "I think I will."  She gathered what she'd need for later, putting it into the meeting room she had chosen.  It had nicely comfortable seats but was beside security in case there was a problem.  She included a printed sign in the corner that stated all interviews were being taped.  That's all that she had to do by law.  If the reporter ignored it that was her stupid fault.  She went up to do her lab rounds until security called that they were there.  She walked in with a cup of tea and sat down.  "Good morning."

"Morning."  She stared at her.  "Let's get started."

"Sure.  Please turn on your tape recorder."  The reporter huffed but did that.  "We'd like some accuracy and I'm sure you can't take notes as fast as someone can talk.  Even with shorthand."  She sipped her tea and got comfortable.  "So, what did you want to know?"

"What are you going to do when your frivolous suit is tossed out of court?"

Dawn smiled.  "I don't believe that threatening to have me attacked is frivolous.  Nor do I think him being part of a kidnaping plot that had me taken from up here to Georgia, while drugged, is frivolous.  Do you?"

The reporter snorted.  "There's no reports of that."

Dawn nodded.  "There are.  The courts have the federal reports.  Both the FBI one and SHIELD's."  She crossed her legs at the knees.  "The FBI got brought into it after the agents helping me rescue myself found dirty agents."

"Dirty agents?" she sneered.

"Yes.  They were arrested at the same time for being part of the same cult that had kidnaped me.  One agent was there to meet the disreputable person's supposed new wife, meaning me, and when I protested I had been kidnaped he denied that knowledge.  Then his supervisor was called in, and he decided to hide that report and his agent's arrest by SHIELD.  Which then included him.  I'm told the agents we work with up here were not amused in the least."

"Why was SHIELD there?"

Dawn smirked.  "SHIELD does pay attention to Mr. Stark now and then.  Especially when the building that SHIELD agents live in was broken into to capture me."

"Why do you live there?"

"Because I function as the administrative assistant for a lot of them as well.  I'm not the only non-agent that lives there.  One agent moved in with his twins and their mother."

"His ex?"

"No, they only got together for procreation."  She smiled.  "They live in the building.  Stark International leases it to SHIELD for a subsidized rent."

"I see.  So only the Avengers live there?"

"No.  A few non Avenger agents live there as well."

"I see."  She made a note on that.  "So you think this minister is wrong?"

Dawn pulled out her phone and pulled up a video.  "I have these bookmarked because I brought this to the meeting with my attorney."  She played it and let her see it.  "I think him offering a few hundred thousand to capture me so he could 'remake me' as he put it is a problem.  Do you believe any other Christian minister would go that far?  Even Reverend Phelps, that great idiot out in Kansas?"

"Did you just compare him to that man that pickets funerals?"

"Yes, I did.  They're both idiot bigots in the same manner.  They both occasionally send me hate mail.  Even the skinheads I berate when I run into them wouldn't want to claim either of these idiot bigot ministers."

"You berate skinheads?"

"Yes, I do.  I hate bigotry in every sense of the word and half of them have no clue what they're actually worshiping.  I had to ask one if he knew who Stalin was since it was on his shirt.  Then I told him who Stalin was, which meant he ripped off his shirt.  He was a genocidal asshole but not a skinhead."

The reporter blinked.  "You have a degree, don't you?"

Dawn smiled.  "I do.  I came in with a lot of extra credit from working, some AP classes in high school, and testing out of some of the classes.  I did it all online.  Why?"

"Why would you get work credits?"

"Because I had been working for over two years.  I also got credit for speaking three languages at the time."

The reporter huffed.  "Normal people don't get that."

"Yes they do.  The college I graduated from has a great person who evaluates your work history to see if you have any reasonable work history that can count and gives you tests to make sure you can pass the classes.  I was one of two of us working toward the compressed MBA."

The reporter glared.  "It's said you get perks other normal people don't."

"No, not that I've seen."

"Your *job*?"

She laughed.  "You really should've done some homework, dear.  Everyone else knew that Pepper took over mentoring me when my mother was on the oncology ward at UCLA.  I'm sorry, is that too big of a word for you?  I can define it if you want."

"No, I know what it means," she sneered.

"Then you're doing better than one reporter in Florida.  She had no idea what that word meant or why oncology floors would be age restricted."  She smiled and sipped her tea.  "What perks do you think I get?"

"The apartment?"

"I work here.  As I said, I'm not the only non-agent living there and SHIELD doesn't subsidize my rent.  I pay my own way."

"Mr. Stark paid for your schooling."

"No, I paid for my schooling and Tony decided that was something he could cover because I was useful in the company and doing things like finding accounting errors that would have cost us millions of dollars.  So he paid me back for it.  I paid for all my own college courses.  Without needing anything like a Pell grant or a loan.  I was lucky that I managed to save enough for that."  She sipped her tea and put it aside.  "Beyond that, I've paid my own way since I was eighteen.  My own rent, my utilities, and before then my own food bills and clothing bills.  Pepper and I had an agreement since I lived above her garage until we moved here full time."

"No one believes that you got where you are any way beyond on your knees."

Dawn chuckled, shaking her head.  "Sorry.  I was taught it had to mean something more than being tapped in the back of a club or doing the boss.  Do you really think Tony would've waited two years with how much he got?  Seriously?  With the way he got more than a whole battle cruiser in the Navy since he was my age?"

She glared.  "You call him by his first name?"

"Yes, he said I could.  I'm also the one that gets to go in to nag him to get to meetings on time."  She smiled.  "It's a perk of the job to nag."

"There's no way you were a virgin until you were eighteen."

"Ask anyone you want.  They all knew.  My clothing changed when I realized my own sexual nature, back when I was seventeen.  I think most young women go through that transition.  I had some great people who helped me through that transformation but I still didn't tap anyone until after I was eighteen.  After my trip to Miami."  She crossed her legs in the other direction.  "I might still be one if it hadn't been for that sacrificing cult that wanted me."  She shrugged and sipped her tea, putting it aside again.  She heard Clint's 'don't involve me in that hissing match please' comment and promised she wouldn't.  "You can ask almost anyone that was at that meeting.  Ask Alexander, he was there and he's the one who told me the cult wanted to sacrifice me for being a virgin."

"You waited?" she sneered.

"Yes, I did.  My mother raised me to think that sex meant something.  That it wasn't meant for a backseat, a broom closet, the backroom of a club, the bathroom of a club, or anywhere else."

"You go to vastly different clubs than I do.  None of mine have backrooms to have sex in."

"They all have storage areas and I got plenty of invites back to them when I was sixteen.  Which I ignored."

"Maybe it was where you go places with succuba working."

Dawn shrugged.  "Succuba feed off sexual urges and feelings.  My sister introduced me to a store that they run.  Them making people look hot means that they can randomly feed off the streets instead of having to kill someone they pick up in a club.  So I let them help me find some new flirty things.  They have great taste.  They even got my sister into a dress that was tastefully flirty.  Her husband adores her in it."

"Your sister...."

"Buffy?  My only sister?" she said dryly.  "You really didn't do more than read a wiki page, did you?"

"I did enough homework to know that you're not considered a real person."

Dawn cackled, shaking her head.  "Sorry, the monks that made me made me a real person.  I have DNA and all that.  The body may have been created by magic but then again so are most pregnancies.  Do you know how wrong things can go when a woman starts to carry a child?  There's over ten thousand things that can make her miscarry in the first month, and not even realize she was pregnant.  That's pretty magical to most of us."

"It's said that the magic didn't make you whole."

"The magic missed a tiny thing, which I fixed when I was eighteen.  But yes, I'm fully a real girl.  More so than Pinocchio was.  I wasn't wooden first."  She stared at her.  "Can't help you with that delusion, Miss Skeeter."  She smiled.  "You and your poison quill will have to find a different story."

"Does your mother know?  And your *boyfriend*?"

"Yes.  Actually, my mother knew before I did.  Something in the brain tumor meant that she could tell spells were going on.  She saw the magic around me at that time.  It led to us looking and finding out why there was a Hell Goddess who wanted to kill me."  She sipped her tea and put the cup down again.  "As for anyone I'm with, yeah, they know.  I don't hide things like that.  If I'm with someone then I'd trust them enough with most of the secrets in my life.  Including that one since it's not exactly a secret thanks to that monk.  Who I'm told got killed by his order for that."  She leaned on the table, smirking slightly.  "If you can find him to ask him, go for it.  I'm pretty sure he's going to duck you though.  He does most reporters."

"Does your *boss* know?"

"I met Pepper because SHIELD was protecting me from the hell goddess," she said dryly.  "They knew before we met probably since our meeting was done by SHIELD agents."

She cleared her throat.  "About this preposterous claim that the minister offered a bounty on someone to rape you?"

Dawn got into another video to show her.  "I think that's pretty clear cut."  She got into another one.  "There's that one as well."

"How did you get those?"

"The church puts the sermons up each Monday.   Beyond that, Nightline was asked to investigate."

"I thought this was exclusive," she sneered.

"I never saw anything that said anything about an exclusive interview, and I didn't ask them.  One of the members of the church did."  The reporter gasped.  "She didn't want her daughter, who might have a gift, to be thought of the same way.  It's not like I'm the only one in the world that has it."

"That blonde girl."

"I don't name anyone because I'd hate for them to get the same sort of hate mail, threatening letters, and contracts out for them to be kidnaped and raped that I have on me.  The same as I don't name who the other slayer is, even though I know her very well.  I don't want anyone to be as threatened as I am.  I don't want anyone's family to worry about a bomb in the mail like I got yesterday.  It was addressed to Pepper and inside had a note saying it would keep me from warping others since they expected me to open it first."  The reporter shuddered.  "Frankly, those sort of bigots really need to take a good, long look at their book of faith.  Because their God would probably be a bit pissed off."

"Thou shalt not suffer a witch," the reporter sneered.

Dawn sneered back.  "King James put that in there.  It's not in the original.  You should read the original book sometime."

"You're Christian?"

"I'm nominally Wicca.  I have read the Bible, in the original format.  Because I read Latin."  She smiled.  "And Ancient Greek as well as Hebrew in the modern and the ancient."  She stared at her.  "There's plenty of things I can't and can agree with.  Frankly, I picked Wicca because it fits how I see the world.  I definitely live by the three fold rule."

"The what?"

"The three fold rule.  Whatever you do, ill or good, comes back on you three times."  She stared at her.  "Before you can say anything mean, I've seen you use the concept of Karma in the past.  About the same only magnified."  She smiled and finished her tea.  "Anything else?  I have to figure out how to use the hover board one of the geeks put in their labs to reach their filing cabinets."

"You ...what?"

"They're geeks.  Of course they mounted their filing cabinets on the walls so they're out of the way and built a hover board to get up to them.  Geeks do things like that."  She heard a meow and looked out.  "In here, phone."  He ran in and meowed at her.  "Excuse me for a minute."  She answered it.  "Thank you for calling Stark International, how may I help you?"  She listened to Tony telling her to quit baiting the bitch and asked if she really thought that about him.  She laughed.  "Yes, boss, I do think you got more than a whole battle cruiser since you were twenty.  I think you'd probably admit it too."

"You wouldn't go for him?" the reporter sneered.

"No, I like mine with less than a hundred lovers under their belts," she said dryly.  "The fewer the better, but enough for excellent technique."  Tony said something.  "Yes, I think you did, boss.  Because I'm pretty sure there were a few years in there that you did the phone book."  She laughed.  "Sure, be up there soon to figure out how to do things in the boys' lab."  She hung up.  "Sorry."

"We're being listened to?"

Dawn pointed at the sign.  "You didn't read it?  Wow, I read all signs that might be important in a room when I was fifteen.  Then again, I had people who wanted to kidnap and kill me at fifteen," she admitted.  "So I was a bit paranoid.  Still am."  She smiled.  "Yes, all interviews done here in Stark's building are taped by our security system.  We do that in most of the rooms.  All the meetings are taped, all the hallways are taped in case of something happening."  She smiled.  "It's also for safety reasons.  That way if someone's attacked again, we know who did it."

The reporter got up and huffed off.  "You're not as special as you think, Miss Summers."

"I never said I was special.  The only ones I'm special to are my family, friends, and the people I choose to involve in my private life.  You have a nice day."

"You actually wished me well?" she sneered.

"Three fold rule, sweetheart.  I might be in the mood for an argument and not willing to pay for it like Monty Python did, but I'd never trip that rule by wishing someone ill.  It'd undo my good karma points."  She smiled.  "Beyond that, Tony always says that sarcasm is better than anger at stupidity."  The reporter huffed off.  Dawn turned off the tape recording and sent it to a few people, including her lawyer.  Who sent back a laugh and that she was right about the sarcasm.  She got up and went up to the lab.  "Okay," she said, looking at Tony.

"Nightline did do one.  They sent someone into the church and all that stuff.   The reporter nearly lost his professionalism and said something during the service."

"Did he up the price to have me raped or was it a new bounty if he could make my ovaries work?"

"That too."  He let her see the film.  She grimaced and flipped it off, shrugging some.  "That doesn't upset you?"

"It does, but I'm pretty damn sure the cults that used to want to kill me had about the same plan for me.  It's nice that they're following in the footsteps of a pre-Christian cult's ways.  I hope they enjoy hell for being hypocrites."  She shrugged again.  "Idiots are idiots because they don't want to learn."

"That's beyond ignorance that can be cured."

"No, that's hate like all other bigots.  Which again, not really within their religion of choice."  She looked at him.  "If I let them get to me, I'd have to cry about all the other ones that have wanted me.  I haven't done that since Glory hurt the whole family, Tony."

"Good."  He patted her on the arm.  He looked her over.  "That skirt is too tight."

"It's not too tight.  It's gothically slim."  She smiled and walked off.  "Going to lab 7 to see what they've done."

"A hover board?"

"Yeah, or at least a floating platform."  He went with her.  The boys had moved all the filing cabinets onto the walls above their heads.  The shelves with parts were along one wall.  They had imported a few new tables and a few of the monitorless workstations.  "This is cute.  How do I file?"  Andrew helped her onto the platform and she squeaked. "Andrew, handle bars," she ordered.  "This thing has a severe wobble."

"Okay," he said, making it come back down.  "The up and down keys and left and right are the arrows from the DDR system we broke apart."

She tested it and nodded.  "Still wobbles, dear."  She got off and let Tony try it.  "Is it the heels?" she joked.

"No, it's where your stance is too narrow," Tony said.  "But you're right, it needs a safety rail, boys."  He looked around, nodding.  "Nice designs."  They smiled.  He patted them both on the back.  "Does Roomba like it?"

"He's got a whole recharging doghouse now," Jonathan said with a point at it.

Tony looked.  "That's an excellent job.  Where is he?"

"With Callia and Pepper guarding them," Andrew said quickly, smiling at Dawn.  "Can we ruin the snotty reporter bitch?"

"No, there's freedom of the press and thought, Andrew.  Unfortunately."  She patted him and gave them both hugs.  "Nice work, guys, but remember girls aren't as heavy as you two and we do wear heels sometimes."  They nodded and got to work on the handrail.  "Need anything from the caf?"

"Not yet," Jonathan said with a grin.  "We got breakfast."

"Cool.  Boss?"

"Get me some more coffee?"

"Yup."  She went down there to get him something, finding the caf empty.  "Huh.  That's strange."  She got Tony some coffee and moved to find a muffin for herself.  That's when someone attacked.  Dawn threw the coffee in his face, making him yelp behind his rental ninja costume mask.  She pulled a knife and attacked back, pinning him to the wall.  She touched her earpiece.  "Security, this is Summers.  Come get the faux ninja please?  He's stopping me from getting the boss coffee."  She hung up and took off his mask.  "Who the fuck are you?" she asked, staring at him.

"You will be taught proper womanly ways," he sneered.

Guards and Tony walked in.  "No she won't.  Pepper already taught her that."  He slugged the guy.  "Now you can have the idiot."  Dawn walked off making sure she didn't get anything on her.  She handed him a cup of coffee and took her muffin and tea back up to her desk.  "Dawn?" he called, following.  "How many of these have there been?"

"He's the sixth," one guard called.  "We stopped four at the door trying to get in, Mr. Stark, and the other one tried in the car parking lot.  He got maced by the scientist he mistook for her."  Tony groaned and shook his head.  It let Dawn escape into the elevator.  "Dawn needs to work from a virtual office somewhere safe," he told his partner.

"She couldn't make coffee then."

"Good point."  They hauled the guy to their interrogation room while the PD got called.  "That really is a cheesy rental ninja costume," he decided.

***

Steve sat down across from Natasha and Clint at lunchtime back at HQ.  "Is Dawn all right?"

"The wannabe rapist was caught," Clint said.  "Before I could pound his head in."

"Or before I could," Natasha agreed.  She sipped her shake.  For some reason she wanted a milkshake today.  It must be bleedover from Dawn.  "She's fine otherwise.  The second reporter was much more succinct and had better questions.  Including about the created thing," she admitted.  "Which did upset her."

"She had a bad dream last night that she ended up in jail for attacking the judge and minister for declaring her not a human," Clint said.  "It took nearly an hour to calm her down."

"I guess she'd have to worry about that."  He looked around then at them.  "Is she okay otherwise?"

"She's fine.  A bit pissed off at the people in Georgia but fine," Natasha said.  She finished her shake and dug into her salad.  Even if she wanted fries.

Clint looked at her.  "You're mirroring Dawn's food cravings?"

Steve blinked.  "Why is she having a food craving?  Is she...."  He waved a hand.

They shook their heads quickly.  "It's a girl PMS thing, Cap," Xander said as he appeared.  He handed Natasha fries.  "I dropped some off on her too."  He tossed Clint the candybar he'd been wanting all day.  "Between that and stress nibbles, Dawn's going to need to work off a few extra calories tonight."

"I'm sure they can help her with that," Steve quipped, getting a grin and a nod back from Clint.  "Anything we should know?"

"The stupid first reporter is from that church in North Carolina that agrees with the one in Georgia but he quit calling her to be forced into slavery or bred to," Xander said.

"Good to know," Natasha said.  She nibbled the fries and her salad.  "Thank you, Xander."

"Welcome."

Clint looked at him.   "Dawn's still worried about something."

Xander nodded.  "She's not right.  They work fine."

Clint smiled.  "I'll let her know."

"Thanks.  Anything else today?"

"Coulson looks like a stuffed sausage," Dawn said as she appeared.  "He needs to visit his tailor."

"We did some training time on Asgard."  He grinned.

She kissed him on the cheek.  "Good boy."  He swatted her.  She swatted him back.  "Fries."  She took some of Natasha's.

"Eat all yours?" Clint teased.

"Tony took half."  She nibbled, looking at them.  "So now what?  The preliminary hearing is next week.  It's probably going to go to an appeal no matter which way it goes.  The judge has already rejected their motion to dismiss based on freedom of speech versus making threats."  She nibbled another fry.  Natasha sent over a soothing thought so Dawn smiled at her.  "Thanks."

"Welcome."  She gave her a few more fries then put the rest on her salad.  Dawn smiled.  "Where were the cafeteria workers?"

"In the walk-in fridge.  Idiot locked them in there.  Dr. Pigalli took a swing at him herself for that bit of extra work."  Xander snickered, shaking his head.  Phil walked in.  Dawn ran a hand over his arm.  "You need a tailor."

"I know.  I need a lot of new suits."  He sat down, taking off his jacket.

Clint stared.  "A lot of sparring?"

"I asked to learn sword and axe work," he admitted quietly, looking around.

Xander smiled.  "I took him to the same people that trained me and he did an excellent job.  They actually smiled, which they never did at me."

"Aww," Dawn said with a smile.  "I'm giving you a gift certificate for clothes for your birthday."

Phil smiled.  "That will save me a lot since everything's too small."  She patted him on the hand.  "You're not eating?"

"I had a muffin and some fries."

He stared at her.  "The judge isn't going to dismiss it.  He'll probably grant the restraining order too."

"He already did.  Yesterday's sermon was about how he was going to take me, breed me, then tie me up in a wooden shed once I'd given two good kids so he could burn me to death."  Natasha and Clint both flinched.  She nodded.  "Tony saw it first."  Xander was growling so she patted him on the hand.  "Down, boy.  My job."

Clint stared at her.  "No way in hell you're doing it on your own."

She sighed.  "Thanks, but I think I can handle it."

"So?" he asked.  "Dawn Summers-Barton-Romanoff does not get to go into scary shit alone," he said quietly, staring at her.

"You three have to figure out that last name thing," Xander quipped.  Dawn swatted him.  He looked at Phil.

"So do we," he agreed.  "I'm keeping mine for professional reasons."

"We can hyphenate."

"No."

"I can change mine to yours."

"Your father would shit bricks," Dawn quipped.  "We can use a new sitting area on the roof so can you do that?  That way we don't have to buy bricks?"

Xander cackled, reaching across Phil to hug her.  "I love you like you're naturally my sister, Dawn."  He let her go.  "Are you going to go hyphenated?"

"There's not many places I can use it but maybe."  She looked at them, getting smirks back.  "We'll talk about that later."  They nodded they could do that.  She settled in to nibble from Phil's plate, getting swatted.  "Sorry."

"Get real food," he ordered with a point.

She got up to get her own lunch, smiling at them.  "I had a disgusting reporter who said I'm not a real girl and who thought the church in Georgia was nice and decent."  They growled. "Yeah, seriously.  Phil said I had to stop stealing off his plate."  They got her a takeout box of food, making her grin.  "Thanks, ladies.  Any fries?"  Some got piled on.  Dawn paid with a wink for that lunch lady then sat down to eat until she had to get back to work.

Steve made himself stay calm.  "Is there anything I can do to help with that church thing?"

Dawn looked at him.  "Don't hold me back when I beat their asses?"

He nodded.  "I'd never do that anyway, Dawn.  You might turn me into a mouse or something."

She smiled.  "Callia would love a second mouse."

"She has one.  It's named Cheddar.  She freed it from a lab last night because it was too skinny and told the scientist in there off for not taking good care of her pets."  She giggled and dug in.

"If it turns into a team thing instead of a personal vendetta, we'll call," Clint assured him, smiling some.  "Not that we need help."

"I'd suggest one of those ice arrows but I'm pretty sure they're the sort that wear long sleeves in the summer."

"You read Ancient Hebrew?" Phil asked.

"Yes, I do."  She smiled.  "I don't read it perfectly and I need a few words translated here and there, but I do read it fairly well.  Ancient Greek too."

He nodded.  "Can you speak them?"

"Yes.  The event thingy said only modern languages so no Latin or anything ancient."

"Pity."  He dug in again.

Fury walked in, staring at Dawn.  "Slumming?" he taunted.

"Ours got taken hostage by a wannabe ninja guy from that church."  She ate a bite.

Nick Fury paused and stared at her.  "Excuse me?"

She nodded.  "He popped out when I was getting Tony coffee.  His special blend was enough for the guy to shriek at.  I'd hate to see what he'd scream at Rodney's favorite blend."

Phil looked at Xander.  "She diverts attention the same way you do."

"I taught her well in the ways of the Force," Xander quipped back.

Dawn smirked at him.  "I fell off the path, Master.  I'm told I'm actually a dick teasing Sith most of the time.  Sorry."

"Only sometimes.  I'm pretty sure even Jedis get urges to cuddle up to more than the Force or there wouldn't be baby Jedi."  Clint moaned, shaking his head.  "Sorry, Barton."

"Please quit ruining a good childhood memory for me?"

"Sure.  I can change movie references."  He looked at her.  "Fozzy you are not, but fuzzy you can be.  Maybe Animal?"

She laughed.  "I like Animal, he's sweet underneath the wild exterior but I still do not understand that new shrimp one.  Thankfully I'll never be the diva that Miss Piggy is."

"Me either," Phil said.  "And ditto on the childhood memory, people?  Please?"

Nick Fury walked off shaking his head to talk to Agent Hill.  Before his head exploded.  The image of Dawn in Slave Leia gear would not leave his head.  He got off the elevator and Joyce stared at him.  "Dawn and Xander?"  He nodded.  She picked up a binder and smacked him hard enough on the head to make him yelp.  She smiled.  "Welcome."

"Thanks.  Now I don't see her in that costume."

"Star Wars, Star Trek, or Muppets?" Joyce asked.

"Star Wars," he muttered, rubbing his head.  "Someone called her a dick teasing Sith."

"It's her flaw," Joyce sighed, sitting down again.  "I'm sure others like it though."

Maria nodded, rubbing her head.  "Joyce, can you hit me too?"

"The outfit on the Jabba ship?" one of the admin techs quipped.  He got hit by Joyce's slingshot and she did smack Maria on the head too.

"Thank you," Maria said.  Dawn walked off the elevator and handed her two books then left.  She looked.  "Who's Alexian Harris?"

"Xander in another realm.  He's a fantasy writer.  Are they both his?  He's supposed to have a great DCIS series and a half elf series where he teases dwarves into giving him a blow job."

"Only one.  The other's on angels?"  She frowned.  "Why is she reading that?"

"It's said to be a good read," Joyce admitted.  "It's on the best seller list, Maria."

"Huh."  She took it to lunch with her.  Dawn was gone with her lunch.  Maria walked over to the shared table.  "Did she go to a goth shop for that skirt?"

"They really knew her there," Clint said dryly.  "They have action figures out for the movies."

She winced.  "Is mine good?"

"Yours looks just like the actress."

"That's nice."  She got something with chocolate for lunch and went back to her desk to cure her headache.  She and Tara could read later.

Phil looked at them.  "How did the reporter this morning know that she went to a shop with succuba?"

"I haven't heard her talk about it in public," Natasha said, looking at Clint, who shook his head.  They asked and she said she had told Pepper.  "She told Pepper in the car."

"She's changing car services then," Clint decided, putting his fork down.  Natasha stole the last of his steak salad then got up to walk off.  He shook his head.  "Sure.  I'm getting fat."  He got up to follow once his dishes were properly stored.

Phil and Xander shared a look, Phil shrugging.  "They'll handle it."  Xander nodded.  He finished up and went up to his office.  Xander followed.  He smiled.  "Needed something?"

"You have ten minutes left."

"Yes, but I have a ton of work."  Xander pouted.  "You can be my assistant like Dawn used to."

A few hours later, Nick Fury looked at some of the forms that had come from Coulson.  "Whose handwriting is that?" he muttered.

Joyce came in and looked then smiled.  "Xander's.  He was filling in for Dawn's old spot of helping him."  She went back to her desk.

"Great."

"They're probably talking about the trainees."

"Probably," he said, hoping it was that and nothing in the forms had biological deposits on it.  Coulson wouldn't but Alexander seemed to want to claim him in public and who knew what warrior sorts considered appropriate claiming manners while in a building full of agents.  He wasn't going to ask Thor to find out.

***

Dawn walked into the penthouse suite, smiling at Pepper.  "Moved bedrest to the couch?"

"Steve carried me out here," she said with a smile.  She took the mail.  "All checked?"

"All scanned.  I didn't open them since a few are marked private.  I can if you want."

"I'm not that helpless.  I heard that interview."

"I was as nice as I could be."

"I know.  You were."  She opened a few of the private ones, blinking at them.  "Tony?" she yelled.  He came out of the bedroom.  She handed them over.  "They've switched to hating us too."

"The church or another dysfunctional group of morons that gather together for self-validation?" Dawn asked, taking one to look at.  "The church people.  How pleasant."  She handed it back.  She took the rest to open and glance at, handing the other threats and hate mail to Tony.  "You don't need the stress."  She kissed Pepper on the forehead.  "Need anything?"

"An arena booked so we can beat them to death on pay per view?" she offered, looking at Tony.

"Don't tempt me."  He read them over.  "Dawn, need your lawyer's number."  She found it in her phone and handed it over.  He hit send and walked off.  "This is Tony Stark...  No, new hate mail against the company as well for hiring her.  Please."  He got transferred.  "How would you like them sent?"  He closed his office door to read a few.  Pepper didn't need to hear those.  She had gotten some of the more mild ones thankfully.

Dawn shrugged.  "Not my doing, boss lady."

"I know.  Go home, be fabulous tomorrow.  It's all a real woman can do when things get trying."

"They asked about the succuba shop."

She considered it.  "Cabs aren't safe.  Have Happy drive you home?"

"How about I just blip home?"

"Good plan," she said with a smile.  She checked the clock then at her.  "You're done for the day anyway."

Dawn smirked, heading home to make dinner.  Clint was already doing it so she washed her hands to start on the dishes she had left last night.  "We good?" Clint asked.

"Yup, just fine."

"Death threats?"

"At Pepper."

"Huh," he said, texting Stark, who said he was handling it and they were going to be very sorry.  He put his phone up.  "Where's your phone?"

"In Tony's hand."  She took his to text Buffy then handed it back with a kiss.  "I'm sorry I gave you bad mental images at work."

He smirked evilly.  "Fury got one of you in the slave girl outfit."  She nudged him and shook her head, getting back to the dishes.  "Go change."

"I can do that after I do these."  He sighed but nodded, staring at her.  She took off the jacket and he leered.  The shirt was a bit ....showy on her.  "That's why I wore the jacket."  He took a kiss and she smiled.  "Sparring later?"

"Tomorrow?  Tonight I want to break my bad mental image streak and that takes nudity."

She leered.  "I can do that.  Natasha too?"

"She's around here somewhere."

"Cool."  She finished up and rinsed out the sink then went to change into something flirty she had gotten at that speciality store.  It was a silver lace long shirt that had half-sleeves and came to just below her butt.  It was totally see-through and was a bit tight.  A bit itchy too but she'd put up with it.  Natasha came up from her apartment, staring at Dawn.  She smiled.  "He said he wanted to remove some bad mental images."

"That certainly will replace them," Natasha agreed, moving over to kiss her.

Clint paused in his stirring to watch them.  "Yeah, that'll work those bad mental images out."  He came over to get his own kiss then went back to dinner.  "Nat, let her wear it through dinner."

"I can do that."  It wasn't like it was an impediment to anything she wanted to do anyway.  Someone knocked so she reached back to open the door.  "Yes, Tara?"

Tara blushed when she saw Dawn.  "Alexian Harris?"

"Xander in that realm."

"Oh."  She nodded and left, still blushing.  She had that outfit in deep purple.  Maria liked to growl at it.  Maybe she'd get some growling time in later since Phil and Xander were home.  She smiled at the kids.  "Want to see Daddy later?"  They cheered and ran for the door, Melissa managing to open it before they could stop her.  They knew where Daddy lived.  They got off on the right floor and ran to the door, pounding on it.

Phil opened it, already shirtless.  "Hi, kids."  They ran in and pounced him for cuddles.  "Sure, we'll have cuddles."  Maria brought down dinner then left them alone.  "I think you're sleeping down here tonight."

Xander smiled at him.  "We can have a good dinner."  Phil grinned back.  The kids were more than happy to help them cook, remake the beds, and then do their nighttime rituals with them.   It meant Xander and Phil couldn't get loud but that happened when you were a parent.

***

Dawn showed up the next morning looking professional, calm, and sated.  Pepper smiled at her.  "You should be in bed or on the couch."

"I'm on the couch in here," she promised.  Dawn nodded, letting the Roomba dog in to sniff around for them.  Jonathan patted Pepper's stomach then left them alone.  "Thank you, Jonathan.  That's very sweet of you."

"We heard you and Dawn got death threats from psychotic people.  Just making sure," he quipped.

Dawn grinned at him.  "They're from that church."

He shuddered.  "We should send one of those fire and brimstone ministers down on them for it."  He went back to his lab.  "They're all clear," he told Andrew, who smiled.  "The threats came from that church."

"No pulling out battle gear, tech to hurt them, or anything else to retaliate, boys," Phil's voice called.  "I will not be happy if you do."

"Yes, sir," they sighed.  They went on their social media pages instead to ruin that church the easy way.  They had major geeks on their pages.  Major geeks wouldn't want the pretty one that helped take care of them threatened either.  Especially since Dawn had spoiled some of them during the Expo.  They appreciated Dawn and were campaigning for spoiling assistant sorts in their companies.

***

Tony got an email from a rival/old friend and blinked at it, cackling.  "Dawn?" he called, letting JARVIS summon her.  She walked in a few minutes later.  "People are pushing to get one of you for themselves."

"Can they order one?" she quipped.  He swatted her.  "They're still in business."

"Hell no they can't order one.  There should only be one of you unless you're identical twins."  She smirked at him.  He showed her the email, making her happy.  She sent over suggestions of how she handled it and then let him talk to his buddy.  It was a good ego boost.  She knew others casually wanted her, they had offered her nice packages to come work for them.  But this went beyond being a good admin.  She went up to tell Pepper, who grinned and sniffled.  Dawn hugged her and they got back to work.

Tony walked in a few minutes later.  "He'll tell one of his younger admin so they can work on it."  He nudged her again.  "That's something to be proud of."

"I am.  I'm super proud."  She smiled.  "Thanks for sharing, boss."

"Welcome."  He went into the office to show Pepper the updated email from his buddy.  She knew him, they had worked together on a project years ago.  Pepper got back to sniffling so he got to cuddle, which was nice.  Even if the baby did kick him for it.

***

Callia got sneaky and had Happy bring her to SHIELD HQ instead of being sent over this time.  How had she talked him into it?  She had taken her daddy's phone and sent a text message from it.  She wanted to talk to her stepmommy Steve.  She got there and got out, heading in the front door.  The security team tried to stop her.  "My daddy's in here," she said.

"None of the kids of agents are your age, miss," one of the guards said.

She looked him then grinned.  "I'm Callia Stark."  He backed up and nodded.  "Daddy said to come meet him here in the gyms.  That way we could watch Uncle Steve spar."

The guard called up to Joyce, who said that Steve was sparring and she hadn't personally seen Tony but Steve would watch out for her while she called.  So they let her up there and pushed the right button for her.

"Thank you."  She rode up and found the gym easily enough.  It was full of loud, grunting people.  She snuck in and over to where her uncles were, sneaking behind Natasha.

"You are not that good yet.  We will work on it with you," Natasha said quietly, looking down at her.

"I wanted to see Uncle Steve and talk to him."

"Your father is going to throw fits."

"He sent for me.  He sent a text message."  She grinned.

Natasha cleared her throat.  "You lie worse than Dawn used to.  He's over there."  She pointed.  She watched the kid sneak past the majority of the agents.  Only six spotted her.  There were over twenty agents in the gym sparring and working out.  That was a bad, low number.  She sent a thought at Clint about doing some surveillance work.  He said most of them clearly failed it since he had spotted her and he was mid-spar with Steve.  She sighed and wrote a memo to Fury.  He could assign some basic work.

Clint ducked a hit by Steve then shoved him back at Callia, who pounced.  He jumped but stared at her, earning a grin.  "What are you doing here?  We could've hurt you."

"I waited until Uncle Clint noticed me.  I wanted to talk to you about serious stuff."

He nodded.  "We'll finish later," he told Clint, picking her up to walk her off.

"Uncle Steve, you're all sweaty."

"That's what happens if you're using the gym the right way," he said dryly.  He took her to the caf to talk to her, sending Tony a picture text, which he had just learned how to do today.

What he got back looked like an unintelligible string of growling and the word grounded at the end.  He showed her.  She shrugged.  "I'll suffer for a few days for this."  She looked around to make sure they were private then looked at him again.  "Why can't you and Daddy do what Auntie Dawn is so I get two stepmommies and a daddy?" she asked quietly.  "I'd like that."

He sighed.  "We offered, Callia, and she said she couldn't."

"Oh."  She pouted.  "She doesn't love us?"

"She does but some people don't want to share.  Actually, most people don't like to share."

"I share with the twins and my baby brother."

"It's not the same," he said with a sigh at the end.  "Let me shower and change, I'll take you back to the tower."

"Happy drove me."

"We can make sure he's still here."  He took her to his room so he could shower quickly and put on real clothes then took her downstairs.  He wouldn't mention the security breach if no one else did.  Happy was waiting.  "Thanks," he said.

"The text said her father was here."

"Slight mistake," he said dryly.  Happy stared at Callia.

"I needed to talk to him."

"Then next time, summon him like the princess you are."  He got in to drive since Steve could handle the booster seat for her.  He and Tony needed to talk to figure out how to handle this little imp of his.

Steve and she talked on the way over, quietly and him making sure she knew why she was in trouble for it.  He wasn't sure if Callia had no sense because she was a genius or because she was five.  Sometimes Tony showed the same lack of common sense so he really wasn't sure.  They got to the Tower and he walked her inside, letting Happy go hide.  Tony was waiting at the elevator on the penthouse level, staring at his daughter.

"I wanted to talk to him."

"Then call!" he complained back.

"Aunties Pepper and Dawn said all good girl talks had to be done in person, not over video conference where everyone could hear."   She started to stomp back onto the elevator but Steve picked her up.  "I was going to talk to Auntie Pepper."

"First you're going to talk to us," Steve said.  "That way you can't upset Aunt Pepper."  He handed her over.  "She sent a text in your name to Happy."

"That's what Joyce said she told the guards."  He looked at his daughter.  "So grounded."  She shrugged.  He walked her to the couch and put her down so they could sit on each side of her and talk to her.  It looked like one of those semi-grown up talks.  "Okay, what's wrong?"

"Why can't we do what Auntie Dawn is and I get both of them?  I could use two stepmommies."

Tony blinked.  "That was Pepper's decision.  She's not against us being friends or helping each other out but she doesn't want to date more than one person at a time.  Her mom told her it was wrong."

"Does she get mad at Auntie Dawn then?"

"No.  She knows that works best for Dawn," Tony said.  "Every now and then we get a bit frustrated with Barton and Romanoff but not Dawn."  Callia looked at her hands.  Tony tipped her face up.  "I would love nothing more than to do that.  Okay?"  She nodded.  "But Aunt Pepper only wants one boyfriend at a time."

"You can't marry them both so one would be a husband," she said.

"Yeah, maybe but not really.  Anything like that takes a lot of work to make sure everyone's equal in the relationship.  It takes a lot more work than a regular one does.  It takes rules and working things out and doing things together, which I've never excelled at any of those."

"So, if I wanted both of them, I'd have to get them together and you'd visit?" she asked, looking confused.

"Don't even think about it," Tony said, smirking at her.  "I'm a possessive father.  They're both mine.  Someone's just taking some time to realize it."  Steve gave him a pointed look.  He grinned back.

Steve cleared his throat.  "I know sometimes you need a girl talk sort of thing that we can't give you because we're not girls, Callia.  Pepper will still be there for that, even if she's not sleeping up here with us."

She pouted.  "But I like seeing you both over cheerios.  Daddy's usually gone by then."  Tony flinched.  "Or in the gym."  She pouted at him.  "Can we work things out and make the rules?"

"We'll talk to her later," Tony said.  "You may not because it could upset her.  We'll talk about it like adults and then come talk to you."

"Yes, Daddy."  She got up.  "I'm going to hug Auntie Dawn."  She went down to talk to her.  She had no idea that they had rules like she did.  Well, besides that Dawn had to be pretty most of the time and Uncle Clint or Auntie Natasha would help her take care of bad guys that wanted to beat her up.  Like she had when she was little, she climbed up into her aunt's lap between her arms and watched her type.  "Why are you typing in that language?"

"I'm writing a reply to someone in Russia who wanted to have your dad help him on a project."

Callia looked up at her.  "Lies feel tingly in my head," she said bluntly.

Dawn kissed her on the forehead.  "He wanted me to work for him and I'm being insulting."

"Oh, okay then.  Bad guy?"

"Kinda."

"Huh."  She snuggled in and waited.  Her aunt finished the letter, proofread it, printed it, and got it ready for mailing then switched back to her usual English settings.  "Why do things have to be complicated when you grow up?" she asked quietly.

Dawn gave her a hug.  "Because the more you know, the more you add to things until they're no longer simple.  If you only know that the sky is blue, but not why, then you don't wonder why the clouds change or sometimes it rains or snows.  When you know why there's clouds and why they change then you can worry about how often they change and how much rain or snow you get."

"Is it like that with people things too?"

"Even more so with people things.  Because as you grow up, things get more complex on their own, even if you don't realize it.  That's why, at your age, princesses live happily ever after with whatever prince picks them to save.  At my age, princesses are picky about which prince saves them and how they're saved so it doesn't look bad or make them look weak."

"Oh."  She nodded, snuggling in better.  "So love changes all on its own?"

"Yup.  When you're your age, love is cuddles and hugs and kisses from Daddy or one of the uncles or aunts.  When you're my age, there's other things involved and emotions and you learn that you love your parents differently than you do your boyfriend or girlfriend."  Which reminded her, she needed an anniversary present this weekend for her mother.

"So you love Uncle Clint and Auntie Natasha differently than you do your mommy?"

"Yup.  Because cuddling with them is different than cuddling with you or Mom."

"Oh.  I realize that cuddling with you isn't the same as cuddling with Daddy or Uncle Steve or Auntie Pepper."  She looked up.  "Like that?"

"That's a first step but as you get older, there's other things beyond cuddling that get added into that.  It makes it change and grow.  You know how butterflies start out as wormy things, right?"

She nodded.  "Caterpillars."

"Exactly.  Then they cocoon, which lets them grow and change into butterflies, until they're ready to be released and become beautiful things that people stare at."  She smiled and nodded at her aunt.  "Well, being a kid is like being the caterpillar.   Things are pretty simple for most kids.  You don't have to change until you hit puberty or become a teenager.  Then things start to change and you change, until you emerge from the other side as a butterfly."

"Oh, wow.  Will I have wings?"

"I didn't mean literally."

"I know I don't eat leaves.  They're yucky and sometimes poisonous."  Dawn nodded.  "So right now I have caterpillar love for everyone and it's pretty much the same, but when I go into my cocoon and become a teenager, things change?"

"Yes they do.  That's the whole purpose of puberty.  To make simple things change into something more complicated and sometimes messy."

"Then I come out of being a teenager as a butterfly that can fly off to meet other butterflies and have caterpillar babies?"

"Yup, exactly."

"Huh."  She shifted back so she was resting against her chest.  "Can I not do that?"

"Nope, sorry.  There's nothing that I know of that can keep you from growing up.  Though, read _Peter Pan_ tonight, okay?"

She nodded, snuggling in again.  "Things are mostly good right now.  I'd like them to stay that way."

"We all wish things would stay where they were good.  Every adult, every kid.  But if you didn't have some of the bad things then you wouldn't understand how good the good things are," she said quietly, kissing her on top of the head.

"That might suck."

"Yeah, it might."

"Are Jonathan and Andrew out of their cocoons?"

"They took a bit longer but they're butterflies now, just drying their wings off."

"Okay."  She shifted some, getting comfy again.  "You can type around me."

"I am that talented, yes."  She smiled and got back to work.

In the office, Pepper was sniffling.  Tony had told her why Callia had snuck off to find Steve.  She had heard Dawn and Callia talking.  She wanted to be a caterpillar again too.  It was so much easier when she was younger.  When they were all younger.  When he was Dawn's age it was all flirting and flightiness during college, dating and escapes for the weekend.  Even after she had started to work for Tony it was still fun and easy.  Then he had gotten sucked into Tony's vortex of magnetism and now she was trying to tread water because if she didn't, she'd drown and be lost.  Maybe not literally but she wouldn't be the same Pepper anymore.

Steve handled that so much better.  He could do more than dip his toes into the pool over the edge of the boat they both took refuge in.  She sighed.  She was getting depressed again.  When she was twenty, she would've jumped in and drowned for a bit.  Dawn did when it was offered.  They kept covering the pool between them so none of them drowned.  She didn't have that luxury.  She was in a drown or don't swim bottomless lake.  She went up to talk to Tony.  Then she decided she wanted ice cream.  This was an ice cream think.  Frozen yogurt wouldn't cut it this time and she needed calcium anyway.

Dawn smiled at her back.  "Caf?"

"Ice cream."

"Look in the blue freezer in the back of the pantry.  I stocked you some."

Pepper smiled and went to look.  Sure enough, she found her favorite flavor of Ben and Jerry's.  Dawn was so great to her.  She went back to the office, closing herself in and thinking hard about what she wanted.  She wanted them in her life.  She wanted to drown but keep being Pepper.  That wasn't really possible with Tony.  With anyone else but she'd probably run them over because she was used to dealing with such a strong personality.  She felt like she did it to Steve sometimes too.  She ate some more and considered things.

Dawn opened the door, one hand on her earpiece.  "Spotted him.  Thank you.  Pepper, move.  Now."  She got up and headed out with Dawn, who closed the door in time to have it shot.  "Go to the decontam floor.  Callia's heading there with Stark."  She nodded, taking her ice cream that way.  Dawn and security made sure all the scientists were herded somewhere safer.

She walked into the labs and hit the emergency switch.  "Someone just shot at Pepper and one of the labs, people.  Hit the caf, now."  They hurried off after locking down their labs.  Dawn did a lab check, getting a few that were lost in their own worlds and music.  Then she followed.  She hated being shot so she had stayed carefully away from all the windows.

***

Clint looked up from his recert for CPR, grimacing.  "Problems?" the instructor said.

"Slight ones but not here."  He went back to it.  He probably passed it in the fastest time ever and headed out.

Fury stopped him in the range.  "It was against one of the geeks, they wanted the unholy duo.  They've arrested the sniper."

"No they haven't.  Dawn just beat someone nearly to death, sir."  Fury groaned.  He called.  "Stark, who just attacked Dawn?  She's too focused to tell me."

"Some idiot who thinks he's protecting the evil geeks from her evilness.  Come get him.  I've got Pepper and the baby with me and I can't leave them."

"Coming."  He hung up and looked at his boss, who got out of his way.  He grabbed what he needed and hit the switch to take him to Stark.  The building was mostly silent, though an alarm was going off because the flashing light was going off.  He put in his earpiece, switching to the Stark channel.  "It's Barton.  The alarm Banner?"  He nodded.  "I've got a sedative one."  He went to find him first.  He was on a rampage but they had erected shields to keep him in an area he couldn't fully destroy.  Someone had darted him with something.

He shot the arrow at him, letting it hit him on the arm.  Banner yelled and threw it once he had pulled it out.  He glared at Clint and stomped toward him.  Then he dropped over.  Clint walked over to check, he was unconscious but alive.  He put on the specially made handcuff ties then went to help Dawn.  He came off the elevator and fired off two quick arrows then one up the other way in the hallway at the one trying to take on Natasha.  He had wondered where she was hiding, he hadn't seen her since Callia had come home.  "Dawn?"

"Good," she panted then stabbed that one and moved to duck the next blow and take him out.  "Could use a bit more help though.  This is number eight or so."  Clint took down a few more and shot one because he wasn't at a bow-friendly angle.  Dawn caught her breath, going to help Natasha, but she killed that one and it was better.  Dawn looked her over.  "You okay?"

"I'll heal.  You have cuts."

"I'm fine.  I'll heal 'em soon.  Stepdad?" she asked Clint.

"Sedative arrow.  Special flexsteel cuffs to give him a few minutes worth of work."

"Okay."  She called in.  "It's Summers, Barton, and Romanoff.  We're in the infirmary level.  It may be clear.  Checking now."  They moved off to check.  Then Natasha went down to the caf to calm and check the scientists.  They were used to seeing her around the office.  Dawn would head down later.

Clint paused her, staring at her.  "Why did she only have one?"

"He had the bomb."

"Oh, charming."  He took a kiss, staring at her.  "You seriously all right?"

"I'm fine."  He smiled and let her go.  She grinned.  "They're on the decontam level."

"Got it."  He went to check on the family.  Sealed off.  Special access key with them.  That helped.  He made it there another way and walked into the unit.  "We good, people?"

"So far," Tony agreed.  "Pepper's a bit stressed.  Need Steve?"

"We have it."  He left, telling the infirmary about Pepper.  He didn't want to see her deliver early.  Most preemies had problems.  Callia had more than her share if he had heard right.  He cleared the lab floors again, shooting a few that were trying to get into labs.  He hit his earpiece.  "Security, got three on the lab floors.  All with regular arrows."  He went back to clearing it.  They had to come up and unseal one to get him out of there.  He was fighting the new robo guard dog.  Which Clint found amusing as hell since the first one had bitten Dawn.  This time the dog backed away from her looking scared.  She patted it and tossed them at Clint, seeing what he was doing.  "Robotics?" Clint guessed.

"More than."  She bundled things up and had that scientist released.  They got escorted up.  "This was on the table.  The robo mutt worked very well."  He nodded, looking things over, finding what was missing.  Someone had gotten away.  They made note and let him handle his dog.  Dawn checked the backup security system she had laid on the building, finding them hiding.  "You're not that smart, buddy."  She zapped them and made them scream, which got picked up on the sensors.  Guards ran off with Clint to get them while she cleaned up.  She went down to the caf, looking around.

"It looks as though they were going for robotics and machine information," she announced.  Everyone shut up and stared at her.  "We're fairly certain we know which labs they got into.  Everyone check your labs when you're allowed back up there and let us know immediately if something's missing.  And no, I don't mean staplers," she told one guy who was about to crack the stress relieving joke.  "They were in the crawl spaces too."  They nodded and security did a recheck then let them back to their labs.

"We're going to keep the quarantine/break-in seals active until we're sure we got them all," she told them.  "So try to stay in your labs for now please.  Just in case we missed one."  She followed them up, making sure everyone could get into their labs.  Some people hadn't remembered their passes or their security codes to get in.  She was back on the main floor of the lab, heading for labs 7, 8, and 9 when she was grabbed from behind.  She started to fight back but the needle jab in her throat made her pause.  "I'm not giving you anything."

"You'll get me into two labs or what's in this needle will kill you," the female said in her ear.

Dawn snorted.  "I can do a pretty mean healing spell, lady."  She winced as something firelike was shot into her neck.  "I'm not getting you into anything.  You want it, break in."

Downstairs, Clint and Natasha paused, winced, then took off running.  Natasha was calling for medical support.  They knew what that was.  It was acid being shot into Dawn's neck.  Dawn would start having seizures soon if not treated.

Dawn saw the elevator ding on their floor and 'ported just out of the way.  The woman shrieked and she kicked her back toward the elevator.  Natasha caught her and took her down.  Dawn was holding her throat.  Clint came off the next one and sat her down to look at it.  "What was it?"

Natasha sniffed.  "A very light acid."  The medical team showed up to take the needle and Dawn down to the infirmary.  "What did you still need into?" she asked.  The woman spat something at her.  Natasha hit her.  "Now, what did you need into?"  She looked and got up, taking the idiot with her to lab 7.  "Boys, I need some HCL in a needle."

Andrew looked at her.  "That's dangerous but it's in the blue box on the wall beside the doorway.  It's the anti-theft system."

Natasha opened it and pulled out the needles she wanted, smiling at them.  "Very nice job, boys."  She walked the idiot off to talk to her in private.  Her screams might be heard all over the lab but it would mean no one else would try this stupidity again.

Clint looked up as Tony walked into the infirmary.  "It was a light acid, didn't do much damage.  Dawn's worked a bit of healing and the rest will have to heal on its own for now."

"She good?"

"She'll be fine.  Her neck is a huge mess."  He leaned on the bed where Dawn would be back in a minute.  "They're scanning her to make sure it was just acid."

"We can put in a neutralizer."

"We did," Dr. Pigalli called.  "It's soaked it up.  Now we need to get it out of there."

"I can handle a scar," Dawn noted.  "Even if I do hide it."  They nodded and got her into the mini surgical suite to do that.  "No sedatives, people.  Let me do it on my own."  They nodded, letting her go into her mind to wrap herself around her links to Clint and Natasha.  Clint stiffened slightly but held her for now.  Natasha let Dawn see how she was paying the bitch back for that injury.

The doctors got into her neck wound to clean it out.  It wasn't pretty but it would heal mostly fine with a very minimal scar they hoped.

Stark watched over Clint for now.  He was in no shape to do it on his own while he was guarding Dawn that way.

***

Dawn's lawyer presented the judge with some paperwork that had been sent down from SHIELD and Stark.  "Sir, my client will not be at the preliminary hearing due to an injury that the other party has helped cause."

The judge looked them over.  "So they paid this group that wanted to break in anyway to pick up your client as well, thereby funding this illegal action," he said, looking at the lawyer, who nodded.  "Has the other side seen this?"

"No, not yet.  I'll leave that up to you.  I know that my client is in their infirmary due to acid being shot into her neck."  He handed over that information.  "She resisted when someone captured her to get them into the sealed labs."

"I see."  He considered all the information.  "I need to inform his attorney."

"As you see fit, sir."  He sat down while he called him in.  Their office was only up the street, most of them were in this area.  That lawyer came in and the judge handed over the information.

"What's this?"

"What your clients paid for earlier," the judge said.  "They traced the payments back."

He read it over, going pale.  "I have no idea about any of this, Your Honor."  He looked up.  "They did not include me in any discussion of this corporate espionage plot."

"Good," the judge agreed.  He looked at the first lawyer.  "Your client is dismissed from appearing."

"Thank you, sir.  Should I keep sending you batches of the sermons that have the threats?"

"Please do."  He looked at the other one.  "As they did precipitate an illegal act of such magnitude and seriousness, are you withdrawing?"

"I need to think about it, sir.  Possibly beat my clients but I'll let you know by tomorrow."  He let the clerk copy it then took it to the church to meet with the morons.

The judge looked at the pictures.  "It's a shame.  She was a pretty girl.  That scar's going to be pretty bad."  He made notes in the case files.  This was seriously getting out of hand.

***

Callia looked at Pepper that night.  "What happens if someone hurts Daddy?" she asked quietly.

"If your daddy's too hurt, you come to me.  If we're both hurt you go to Dawn."

"If she's too hurt?"

"Your grandmother or Clint and Natasha, then Tara."

She nodded.  "If everyone's hurt?"

She smiled.  "Then I'll come back as an angel to kick everyone's butt while Uncle Rhodey takes you in."  Callia smiled and hugged her.  "You need to talk, don't you?"

"I talked with Auntie.  You taught her how to have girl talks very well."

"I did, yeah.  So did your grandmother."  She cuddled her.  "I'm sorry you got so scared earlier."

"You didn't make the bad guys come.  I hope Uncle Xander hurts the ones who did though."

"That's normal, but no wishing."

"I won't."  She snuggled in and held her.  "Can you maybe move in for a few days to try it?" she whispered.

"Sweetheart," she sighed, hugging her.  "I can't.  It won't work well and we'd never be as happy as we are the way we're at right now.  I wish I could but I can't."

She looked up at her.  "I'd want you there even if it wasn't for the baby."

"I know, Callia.  I know.  Sometimes I'd want it to happen too."  She hugged her, rocking them both in the rocking recliner.  If Tony wasn't such a bastard, things might've worked themselves out but she wouldn't love him if he wasn't a bastard so there was no way to work things out and remain sane.  She and Tony worked best on a sometimes schedule instead of a full time one.  Even if it did upset her elder daughter.  Because Callia was so hers.

***

Clint let Dawn go back to her own body and relaxed, staring at the bandage around her throat.  Dawn woke up and blinked.  "Mirror?"

Clint flashed a picture over.  "It's a three-sided box shape," he said quietly.  "They had to remove some tissue that was damaged."

She nodded, keeping herself calm.  "If I have to, I can pay someone to inject my butt fat into it or whatever."  He nodded, resting his hand on hers.  She looked around.  "She still killing her?"

"Making a report.  Fury threatened to have her taken back in cuffs if she didn't come."  They shared a look and shot a thought at her, getting a tight one back.  "Hey, kill him for us," Clint said dryly.

Dawn concentrated and pulled up her phone, logging into her mother's deskcam.  It looked directly at the office desk area.  She zapped a lightening strike on it, making Fury yelp and move away from his now burning desk.  Natasha was cackling as she walked off.  The sprinklers were going.  "I'm in a bad mood," she said when Clint stared at her.  "I'll buy him a new damn desk."  Clint leaned up to kiss her, making her smile.  "Thank you."

"Welcome."  He looked over.  "Hey, Doc, home therapy?"

"No.  She's in here until tomorrow at the least, Barton."

"Sure.  Private room?"

"No."

"Doc," he complained.

She came out to look at him.  "No," she said slowly and clearly.  "Even though you want to check the rest of her over and hold her, I'm sorry.  We need her closer to monitor her."

"We have the new trial monitors," Dawn said.  "They went to the Expo, Doc.  I could use a cuddle," she said when the doctor stared at her.  "Really I could."

"I understand that.  If they were here and hooked up...."  Tony walked in with a set of them.  "Eavesdropping?" she asked sarcastically.

"Yup.  This is Pepper's favorite soap opera and mushy novel combined.  Fury said you're buying him a new desk and a new flask of really good whiskey that was in a drawer."

"If it was metal, it probably survived with some smoke damage," she said.

"It was and it did but still."

She snorted.  "Whatever."

Tony smiled, hooking up the monitors to Dawn.  The doctor approved so she got moved to a private room with a locking door.   When Natasha got there, the door got locked and they both cuddled her.  It made her feel better because this was closer than she had gotten to death in a very long time and it had freaked Dawn out a lot.

Tony looked at the doc, who shrugged.  "They're my favorite sappy love story too."

Tony smiled.  "Mine too."  He walked off calling Joyce.  "She's fine, Joyce."  She went off on a screaming rant.  "Let me find him.  He's probably sitting in a corner somewhere."  He hung up and went to find Banner, who was human and the cuffs had automatically inflated to keep him bound as he changed down.  "Hey."  He undid him.  "Sorry."

"I needed the calming down time.  What happened?"

"The idiot church hired some people who wanted to break into the robotics labs."

Banner glared at him.  "Are they dead?"

"Somewhat.  Dawn's in the infirmary."

"Bad?"

"Not great but they're with her and behind a locked door.  Joyce just chewed me a new one about where you were."

"I'm on my way home," he said, getting up.  He found the outfit that someone had dropped for him while he had been unconscious and put it on, heading home.  He walked in and Joyce pounced, crying.  He got them to the couch and laid down to hold her for a while.  He was upset too.  Maybe he'd go work at SHIELD for a while to make sure nothing happened to her again.

***

Dawn woke up around two, blinking at the two staring people.  "Can't sleep?"

"You had nightmares," Clint said quietly.  "You kicked me and bit her."  She hugged them both.

"It happens after such things," Natasha said quietly.  "You're still worried."

"I want to see it."

"In the morning," Clint said.

"I need to see if I can heal it."

He made her look at him.  "Even if it's a huge, ugly scar that's permanently raised and red or blotchy, we won't care."  Dawn slumped.  "Really.  I love you, scars and all."

"As do I," Natasha said, giving her a squeeze.  "Though I'm sure it will fade to a regular scar, like a shaving one."

"I still need to see what sort of damage it did."

"We will in the morning."

"Do I have to have all the gauze?"  Clint pulled out a pocket knife to remove that part.  It left the bandage on the right side of her throat.  She floated a mirror over to look at it, wincing at how large it was.  "That's going to be hugely ugly."

Clint kissed her.  "Doesn't matter."

"It does to me."

He stared at her.  "It doesn't to us," he said firmly.  "Which is why it would matter to you."  She slumped again.  He kissed her again.  "It'll be fine and we'll do what we can to minimize it if you want."  He kissed just to the side of it.  "I'm happy you have it."  She pouted.  "If you didn't, we'd be burying you, Dawn.  That is a really old dirty trick that you used for nasty field assassinations."  She shuddered.  "So, scar's fine.  Scar means you're here with us and that's what matters."

"I guess.  I want to be here."

They smiled.  "Sleep," Natasha soothed, humming at her.

"S'no fair that you have a nice mental singing voice too and I suck."

"It happens."  They soothed her into sleep and looked at each other.  They'd help her in the morning when she saw it for the first time.  "It could have been much worse," she agreed quietly.

He nodded.  "I've seen ones where they had to remove a limb that got hit."  He wrapped himself around them again.  Natasha did the same and it was better.

***

In the morning, the nurse woke them up by pounding on the door before unlocking it and bringing in breakfast.  "Food."  Clint looked at her.  "Yes, you have to eat even if you normally don't.  Also, your boss has been calling here every thirty minutes for the last two hours wondering where you two are."

Natasha looked at the clock across from them then nodded.  "We slept in."

Clint shrugged.  "I have vacation time I haven't used in years."

Natasha smiled.  "I do as well."  She took the trays and put them on their laps.  Dawn was picking at her toast.  "Eat and then we'll look at your neck."  Dawn nodded, digging in listlessly.  "It is not as bad as you think.  Remember, it will heal."

Dawn looked at her.  "I hate scars."

"It doesn't matter to us," Clint said firmly.

"It does to me."

Clint looked at her.  "Nat and I have seen people who lost whole limbs to this.  Where yours is, we would've lost you.  We'll take some disfiguring scar over losing you any day."

"I know that and I agree, but..."  He kissed her.  "I don't want to be marked.  I won't feel like I'm *me* anymore."

"That's a normal thing when you've had a serious injury," the nurse assured them.  "It's like you're suddenly a bell ringer in Paris.  Even if it's a tiny thing.  Even if it's fixed.  That's why she's always healed things before you guys could really get a good look at them.  Burn victims and those who've went through heavy radiation or chemo have the same problem about not looking like they used to."  She smiled at Dawn.  "Though, we were fantastic and it will heal with a very thin, slightly noticeable scar instead of something huge."  Dawn sighed in relief.  "Now, eat.  Or else we can't look at it and put the anti-itch stuff on it."  She nodded, digging in a bit faster.  The nurse let them eat in peace.

Clint looked at her.  "You do?"

"Yeah.  If I had kept each and every single scar I've gotten since we moved to New York I'd look like that bell ringer."  She stuffed her mouth.

"You've only had six," Natasha said.

"Twelve," Clint said.

"Try closer to twenty-four, twenty-nine, something like that if we're counting minor cuts from fights.  The one with the spy from the UK, the first one, I got like seven.  The second I had the broken bones, the dislocated bones, the tiny hole from the taser spike that hit me, and a few cuts."  They stared at her.  She nodded.  "That whole week would be eleven, including the graze I got earlier in that first fight's day."  They groaned.  "I don't want to be a mass of scar tissues.  I definitely won't feel flirty ever again if I am.  Or sexy, and I doubt I'd let anyone touch me if I felt that hideous about myself."

Clint shut her up the old fashioned way, making her sigh.  "We wouldn't let you do that."

"It's not about us, it's about her self image," Natasha said, getting it.  She really did.  "It's why I have scars that I keep covered up with makeup whenever I dress up."

Clint stared at her.  "It's a girl thing?"

Dawn leaned over.  "If you had a scar like Roque's, what would you be like?" she asked.

"Probably a lot less flirty," he admitted, realizing it.  "Okay, so I get it.  I do.  I really do."  She smiled and kissed him quickly before going back to eating.  "Eat slower, we know you missed dinner.  You're going to choke."  She did but grimaced.  He gave her his extra bagel, earning a grin.  "Even if you had more, we wouldn't care about this one.  Because this one means that you got saved."

She swallowed, nodding.  "I get that.  But if it's ugly I'm having it fixed with plastic surgery."

"We can accept that," Natasha agreed, squeezing Clint's knee since it was next to her hand.  "But nothing else."

"Eww.  I don't need fake parts."

"Good."  She handed over half of her eggs, getting a grin back.  They had managed dinner.  Dawn had still been asleep.

The doctor knocked and walked in.  "Good, you all ate."

"I'm horribly starved," Dawn quipped.  "I nearly ate them."

Doctor Pigalli smirked.  "No eating of your spouses in this infirmary, young lady, unless we're doing a fertility treatment."  She looked.  "I see you got the gauze off."

"I felt like I was suffocating."

"I can understand that."  She got Natasha out of the way since she was on the bandage's side, and moved to undo it.  She looked and spread some gel around it.  "Not as bad as it could be."  She found a mirror but Dawn was floating a larger one over.  "The scar will fade.  Right now it's inflamed.  It should heal down to a minor line."

Dawn stared at it.  "That big dip in my throat?"

"That can be filled in with a fat injection or something."  Dawn nodded.  "We can refer you for that."  She patted her on the knee.  "No trying anything healing yet.  Give it a day.  It's not going to be anywhere near scabbed over by then."  Dawn nodded, putting the mirror back.  The doctor rewrapped it and taped it down.  "Rest.  You can go home tonight if you rest today."  Dawn nodded, swallowing.  "They can stay with you.  I've already yelled at their boss twice about being a dickhead."  She patted Dawn on the foot.  "Be a good girl."  She left.

Dawn looked at them.  "It's not as bad as I was thinking it would be."  They cuddled her, knowing she needed it.

***

Tony walked into Fury's office, looking at the former desk then at the man who usually sat behind it.  He tossed over a copy of the medical report from yesterday.  Fury shuddered.  "Leave.  Them.  Alone."  He walked off.  "Coulson, your might-as-well-be little sister wants you to visit when she gets home tonight."

"I was planning on it anyway."  He looked at him.  "She better?"

"Calmer.  She'll work on the healing tomorrow with the doctors watching over her."

Phil nodded.  "I'll help if I can but I know nothing about healing spells."

"I have a healing syrup for cuts," Tara offered from her corner beside Joyce's desk.  She was helping her today.

"Doc said no, sorry, Tara," Tony said.  He shrugged slightly.  "She's going to probably need someone to help her by injecting something into her neck to cover up the divot of flesh they had to remove."

Phil shuddered.  "The acid?"

"Neutralized fairly quickly.  Didn't do much damage.  The scar's not big but you know how she is about them."  He nodded.  "So she's calmed down.  Doc slipped her some valium in her IV this morning before she looked at it."  Phil smiled.  "She'll be released after dinner."

"That's fine.  We can come visit.  Thank you."

"Welcome.  By the way, the people that wanted to do this are in seriously bad shape."  He smirked.  "They had DoD contracts."  He walked off snickering.

Phil nodded.  "Let us know if you find anything we should know about."

"I will."

He looked at Joyce, who was making plans to show up.  "You bring dinner and I'll bring the twins to hug then go home?"

She nodded.  "That would probably work best."  She and Bruce texted back and forth, and with the evil duo before they got into it.

***

Dawn came home to find people.  "Hi."  She blinked.  Her mother hugged her, getting cuddled back.  "Hi, Mom."

"Dawn."  She put her on the couch and tucked her in.  She got Clint and Natasha onto the couch too.  She tucked them in with Dawn.  She got them dinner while Xander and Phil hugged her.  Bruce fussed a bit.  The twins hugged and went home with Mommy Maria, which made Joyce sniffle that they called her that.  Tara got in her own hugs and promises of helping with the healing if she needed her to.  Then she left them alone.

Phil looked at her.  "I know nothing about healing spells or I would too."

"None of the ones I know would help this sort of injury," Xander admitted, giving her another hug.  "We'd miss you so you can't get dead.  At all."  He kissed her on the head.  "Be a good girl."  He and Phil went home.  He needed cuddles.  Losing Dawn was going to kill him.  Maybe both of them.

Joyce smiled and fussed some more until Bruce pulled her home to cuddle her.

Natasha looked at their tucked in states then at the food that was on the coffee table, which was just out of reach.  Dawn pulled it over magically so they didn't have to move.  "I have never been fussed over by anyone like her."

Dawn looked at her.  "Be thankful you've been mostly healthy.  I do a mean impersonation."

"You do," Clint agreed.  He fed her something and they got back to eating.  It was good and they could help Dawn through any nightmares later.  If they managed to make it off the couch.  Joyce tucked them in a bit too tightly.  But it meant more Dawn cuddles so they were okay with it.

Dawn looked at him.  "Mom always leaves the right bottom edge loose so you can get your feet free."  He hugged her and they settled in that way.  They could spend the night on the couch.  It was comfortable.  Dawn could sleep this way.

***

Dawn was at the infirmary the next morning for a bandage change when what looked like an imp in a business suit showed up.  She blinked at it.  "I know you're not a house elf."

"No, Miss Dawn.  I'm a herald for a law firm.  May we have a meeting later?"

"I'm at my desk all day.  I'm free all afternoon."

"You're off today," the doctor assured her.

"I have to work to pay for Fury's new desk since I lit his on fire."  She looked at the imp.  "I'm not doing anything strenuous later.  Call me and I'll set up a room so we can have a meeting."

The imp nodded, taking that down.  "The Masters say at three, here."

"Agreed.  Should I bring anyone like an attorney of my own?  What is this about anyway?"

"An inheritance."  He disappeared.

Dawn nodded.  "Okay.  I don't know too many people who'd use a demon law firm."  She grimaced but cleared it up.  She looked at her neck.  "Doc, how much work is going to be needed to heal that divot?"

"Not much.  You can deflect attention in public until they can fix it."  She nodded at that.  "I have a name for you."  She handed it over.  "He's an imperial jackass but he's a good doctor and he agreed to work on it."

"I can put up with jackasses.  I do here."  The doctor laughed and patted her.  She recovered it.  "Thanks, Doc.  You were super."  She hopped down off the bed and headed upstairs.  She found Tony glaring at the elevator when the doors opened.  "I have to pay for Fury's new desk somehow."

"What was that?"

"An imp that was asking for a later appointment with me over an inheritance.  No clue.  They're coming at three."

He stared at her.  "Make sure the conference room is one they can't get out of."

"I will, boss.  They're not Wolfram and Hart.  They don't use herald and scheduling imps."  She grimaced then winced when she tried to shrug.  "Got to not do that for a few weeks."

He stared at her.  "We'll be there with you."

"I'm not sure who I inherited from."

"We'll see."  He walked off.  "You have injury leave time, Dawn."

"I'm fine and going nuts at home.  I almost vacuumed.  That's not my chore."

He rolled his eyes.  "Sit there and do nothing.  You and Pepper are both on couch rest."

"Yup, whatever.  Did anyone take out the mail?"

He paused then looked at her.  "No, they didn't.  Andrew found it this morning and wondered why one was in Russian."

"I wondered where she was," Dawn muttered.  "I told him no.  I forwarded Legal the letter he sent as well, boss."

"Won't save your ass."

She sighed, shaking her head slightly.  "I did what I was supposed to do."

"You're supposed to rant about those sort.  Most women would."

"Tony, I may shop like a woman, act and look like a woman, but I'm not that sort of girl," she said sarcastically.  He laughed but walked off looking smug over having handled it for her.  "Not like it was the first anyway," she muttered.

"Heard that," Tony quipped back before he walked around a corner.

Dawn found the listening device and got up to stomp on it until she heard him yelp in pain from the noise of it breaking.  She presented it to Pepper and went back to her desk.

Pepper smiled, adding it to the one that had been in her office.  "Sometimes Tony's an overprotective boob," she said quietly.  "But he's sweet about it most of the time."

***

Clint and Natasha walked into the room and sat around where Dawn was at the head of the table nearest the door.  The demons were at the other end.  Tony strolled in too.  "Boss, we can do it without you," Dawn promised.

He looked at her.  "My building, my assistant, my rules."

"Fine."  She looked at the demons.  "He's being highly overprotective again."

"Sometimes people are."  The lead demon lawyer smiled.  "We're with the Hertzgold Group, Miss Summers."

She quirked an eyebrow up.  "I've heard of you.  You're mostly light sided, you deal with things like marriage contracts between clans that are at war and things of that nature."

He smiled.  "We do have a few that do prenuptial agreements and wills."  She nodded slowly, then winced and held her throat.  "Are you well enough for this?"

"Someone tried to kill me yesterday," she said.  "I'm fine.  Just a wound."

"Very well then."  He pulled out papers.  "We are here about the will of one Alexander Lavelle Harris-Jigen-Lupin, AKA Lavelle."  He looked up.

"Lavelle died?  Was it a raid or a job?"

"No, he died in his future but his wishes were that his assets be taken back to the point where the recipients could use them.  We also have the contents of the wills of the you in that realm, and her spouse.  Also the ones from his spouses and the elder Goemon clan leader."

She blinked.  "Why now?"

"Because it was thought that you could use the safety that the things might give you.  There were certain things that went to his own clan and family but not everything.  Frankly, his will said that if he outlived a few of the heirs then they were to go to who we chose would honor them.  In this case...."  Phil and Xander appeared.  "Thank you for attending.  And the other one," he said at the older looking Xander behind him.  "Thank you for not making us travel planes today, Lord Xander."

"Welcome."  They sat down.  "So, this is Lavelle's will in the future?"

"In about sixty years of his timeline.  He knows that we have disbursed it in this timezone, so even your charming conventions won't be bothered by it."  They all nodded.  "He'll die at approximately one-hundred-seventy-eight due to deaging potions and things like boons so Hell wouldn't have to have him too soon."  They all nodded.

"Why hell?" Tony asked.  That seemed a bit odd even if he was a dark Xander.

"Lavelle got given to a Hell Lord, one of the Princes," Dawn said quietly, patting his hand.  "He killed him and took over his spot before getting free.  He killed a number of them before getting free."

"Yes, he did," their Xander agreed.  The lawyer smiled.  "How many more of us get things?"

"The one in Miami gets something.  The one that fought his way out gets his status and a few of his books and artifacts.  The one in that newly magical Hawaii gets a few things."

"Decent," comic store owning Xander agreed.

"We have arranged to move his assets to the realms where they need to be disbursed.  As such, all his collected comics and animes are now yours," he told comic shop Xander, who moaned and nodded.  "You also inherited his lifetime subscription to _Hell's Hit List_ because it always made him happy to see how you did."  Xander grinned and nodded.

"Lord Xander, he left you a few specific books and one that we cannot move.  He left you his chocolate company."  Xander grinned and nodded.  "He thinks you'll get a lot of teasing enjoyment out of it.  He did leave Miss Dawn a box a month so she'd never run out, and the one in Miami as well."  He licked his lips and turned the page.  "As for why we're here today, Miss Dawn Summers-Rosenburg-Romanoff-Barton....."

"Um...." Tony said.  "Rosenburg?" he asked Dawn.

"Willow did a blood adoption rite to bind her and Buffy together, but it went haywire, as usual," the lawyer said dryly.  "It bound her to her family instead of her natal one.  It's a mess legally.  Her marriages actually cleared many things up."  Dawn smiled.  "My client left you a few things.  Including all his kimono collection, both male and female ones.  He would've left it to the Goemon clan but they took what they wanted from it already and they only wear them for special occasions.  He left you the ownership of his art collection, legal and not I'm afraid, and half of his jewelry, all his female pieces specifically.  He also left you all his female clothes."

"The rest is going to the long haired Xander?" Natasha asked.

"The jewelry and a few other things are.  The books and other things are going to the Xander and his children in the newly magical Hawaii.  If that Xander does not want them then they'll go to him or to Dawn."

"They can go to him.  He has the boys and the new daughter to care for," she said.  "I have some money socked away."

"Good."  He smiled.  "He said that we were to pick the best time to hand this over.  This will give you some protection as you're now wealthy enough to handle getting bodyguards if you should need them.  It also means that you'll have to sort out the collection fairly well."  She nodded.  "The pieces that were stolen in that realm will not be so here so I'm not sure how to deal with that.  That is not my area of expertise."

"We can ask someone at the Met," Dawn said.  "They have someone that's a half-demon who'd realize what happened."

"That's fine.  That's up to you."  He smiled.  "There is no inheritance tax across realms."  He smiled.  "He also left you half of his weapons, new and archaic."  Dawn moaned.  "He left you the information on the businesses he ran legitimately.  That way if you want to start them here you may."  She nodded.  "He did suggest that you have a backup plan for that."  He stared at her.  "Such as a second identity that did that."  She smiled.  "And he wished you much luck with the churches."

"Thank you," Dawn said quietly.  "His family is taken care of?"

"Fully.  They have more than enough and knew about his will.  Melissa amended it on him to cut them out more fully."  He slid down the papers to them.  "Read and sign please."

They went over them.  Dawn pointed.  "This clause that we will not give to police charities?  Do my mates being with SHIELD count and I do donate to the widows and orphans fund.  They didn't do anything to deserve to have that happen to them."

"That may be fine."  He looked that clause over in the will.  "It's stated in here that you would not support any charity that would get his family captured.  That would not as far as I can tell."  He smiled.  "Their jobs are fine.  That's not a charity and his daughter's own wanted spouse was ICPO for a while."

She smiled and went back to reading.  She signed hers last because it was thicker to read through.  She let Clint and Natasha have it to read over and sign as her spouses.  Then they handed it back.  "Thank you."

"You are most welcome.  We have used some space charms on the storage area you have claimed here.  That way everything would fit."

"Thank you."  She got up to properly shake his hand, earning a smile.  "May your spawn be blessed with good health and happy wealth."

"Yours as well."  He smiled and took the others home to show them their things.  Then to talk to the other two Xander's.

Dawn led them down to her storage area, opening the door and gasping.  "Wow, they needed more stretching."

"You can only stretch an area so much," the imp in there said.  "We can move some to another area and stretch it."

Natasha looked around.  "Move the kimonos to my apartment?"

"There's thousands," Dawn said.  "And I'm not going to get to them for weeks probably, 'Tasha."  She smiled and patted her on the cheek.  "Then that's fine.  Can you?" she asked the imp.  Who nodded.   They looked at the rest of everything.  From fandom costumes, which disappeared to comic Xander's realm, to jewelry stacked very high.  There was a stack of paintings, a gathering of statues, and some pretty rare plants.  "I need Wardrobe Xander's TARDIS," she sighed.  They went to look at the weapons in the next storage area.  No one else used these.  Tony moaned at a few thing.  Clint was petting something.  Natasha was looking amused.  Dawn was looking at the crown jewels.  "I knew he said he hit the Tower but damn."

Natasha came back to look over her shoulder.  "It is."  She moaned.  "Oh, dear."

"Possibly."  She looked up.  "JARVIS?"

"Yes?" the AI asked.

"Can you please look up the number for the Met Museum?  I need to talk to Mr. D'Ortenic."

"I can connect you."  There was a pause.  "Here he is, Dawn."

"Thank you, JARVIS.  Mr. D'Ortenic?"

"Yes, Miss Summers?  Is there a problem with an artifact found on a hellmouth?"

"No, actually, Lavelle's will in the future was just handled by the Hertzgold Group."

"Interesting.  Are there artifacts?"

"And he was a jewel and art thief," she said dryly.  "I'm presently staring at two I know I've seen in your museum and a few pieces of crown jewels."

"Oh, my."

She smiled at the ceiling.  "As I know that you're able to deal with such matters honorably, can I ask you to sort them out for me?"

"I can do so, and hand back to that realm what's theirs."

"Thank you.  I'm at Stark International."

"I'll be there in about a half-hour."

"Thank you."  She hung up.  "Thank you, JARVIS."

"You're most welcome.  Should you be standing this long?"

"I'll get to sit later."  She looked over more things, shaking her head.  "Wow, found his female clothes."  It looked like it'd mostly fit outside the shoes.  She found his choker and held it up, staring at it.  Natasha took it from her fingers, giving them a squeeze.  "I'll miss him in the future."

"I know.  He seems like a very interesting Xander."  Dawn smiled and nodded, settling in to tell her about Lavelle until the art manager got there.  He walked in and moaned.  "The weapons are next door," Natasha told him.

He smiled.  "Not my area of expertise at all, ladies."  He looked at the statues.  "I know three of those will be copies here."  He sorted out tags in his briefcase so they could mark where they were here.  Dawn got him dinner from the cafeteria so he could glance through the paintings.  A few more got marked but some got sorted out.  "These were fakes he was going to put in their places."

Dawn smiled.  "I don't mind owning fake of the real things."

He smiled.  "They're excellent fakes but the colors don't have the right depth and luster."  He looked at the other piles and then at the jewels in the cases.  The show cases got marked.  He opened them to get into specific ones.  "I know this one here is a fake because the original got stolen.  It was said to be four teenagers."

"That could've been his kids.  He was so proud that they managed to rob Gringotts in a realm they hit," Dawn said with a grin.

He blinked a few times.  "That's very strong in their skill set."  He went back to looking. One necklace he looked at the sapphire pendant.  "I'm not sure about this one.  It was stolen at the same time but it's not the same cut.  I'd have to check serial numbers."

She smiled.  "I'll gladly let you do that and pay you for your time."

He smiled.  "Thank you, Miss Summers."  He shut his case.  "I'll be back tomorrow to do that.  Would that be acceptable?"

"I'm on light duties so I can let you in here.  Will you need anything?"

"A wifi signal so I can log on."

"I can get you a temporary log in here on ours," Dawn said with a smile.  He shook her hand and left.  She looked at Natasha.  "You didn't want to see the weapons?"

"I saw them but you needed some comfort."

Dawn kissed her and snuggled into her arms.  "Thank you."

"You're most welcome.  Though you will drop the Rosenburg from your name."

Dawn pulled back to grin.  "Whatever we decide on as a last name is going on my other identity," she said with an impish grin.  "Is that okay?"

"That would be an excellent use."  She winked and they left, letting security lock everything up tightly.  The boys came out of the other storage areas with an ATF agent.  "This would be?" she asked.

"Ezra," Dawn said, shaking his hand with a smile.  "Have you been introduced to Natasha yet?"

"I have heard of her beauty and skills."  He smiled and shook her hand.  "Agent Ezra Standish, ATF, and son of Demeter."

Natasha smiled.  "It is good we can keep things in-house as it were."

"Quite.  Half of these have never been created here."

"That Xander did have a huge geek complex of his own," Dawn quipped with a grin.  "We compared them.  We had some of the same geeks working for them."

He smirked.  "Clearly."  He looked at Tony then at her.  "We'll list them as being prototypes in holding here.  It will find a more secure storage area that cannot be found."  She nodded slightly.  He looked at her neck.  "That's bad.  Have none of the healers looked at it yet?"

"It only happened yesterday and I wasn't going to ask for favors."

He snorted and waved a hand.  "Apollo, may I have a moment?" he called.

He appeared wearing a short cream toga that showed his gold speedos well and gold sandals.  "Thankfully I'm just back.  Ow, Key.  What happened?"

"Some jackass put an acid in my neck."  He grimaced.  "Our docs were fantastic."

He looked and nodded.  "They were."  He touched it and healed it.  "I can heal the wound itself but the missing tissue won't recreate."  He took off the bandage and nodded.  "Not a bad scar."

Dawn looked and hugged him.  "Thank you, Lord Apollo.  I wasn't going to ask for favors."

He grinned.  "I like coming to flirt with you.  You're surrounded by prettiness."

"Yes, I am, but sadly I would never bend over for you," Ezra said dryly, cracking the healing god up.  He disappeared with a smirk for him.  Ezra smiled at her.  "That's not as noticeable."  She hugged him.  "You do give exceptional hugs.  I shall remember that for later hugging needs."

She smiled.  "I learned from my mom."

"Most of us do."  He tweaked her ear.  "Be good."  He looked at Stark.  "I'll bring the paperwork tomorrow."  He disappeared to tell his team.

Clint stared at the scar then kissed it.  "That's very tiny," he said in her ear.  She hugged him too.  He pinched her.  "No more mushiness at work."

"Please!" Tony said, flapping a hand.  "You're Pepper's favorite soap opera."  He walked off.  Security sealed up that storage area.  "Did we miss one, people?"

"The other one has more clothes, sir, and light jewelry plus some books," the head of security said.

Tony smirked.  "We'll move most of it this week if possible."

"Thank you, sir."  He looked at Dawn.

"I need new bookcases first."

He nodded.  "Maybe a few new closets too."  She laughed and walked out with her mates.  They had leftovers waiting for them.  He assigned two guards to sit in that hallway at all times.

"More mice?" one joked.

"No, someone left Dawn stuff from another realm.  Expect an Agent Standish and a Mr. D'Ortenic from the Met tomorrow."  They groaned but sat there and made sure there weren't any problems.  Dawn didn't need any more hell in her life.

***

Dawn looked in her closets, moaning.  The cat was giving her bad looks for taking his napping and hiding spot but yay.  She got him a little kitty climbing and hiding house.  He liked that because it let him sit on top and stare at the bed.  Her closets were now overly full of all the extra clothes.  She started with the gowns.  She could donate the ones she couldn't wear.  Somehow Xander had gotten on a puffy sleeve kick.

They got laid on the bed.  One had a huge bloodstain so she put it aside to be cleaned.  If it could be gotten out then great.  If not, she could donate the fabric to some quilting group or something.  She looked at the rest.  Lavelle had good, sultry girl taste.  The her in that realm had cat suits and a lot of mom jeans for some reason.  Those got put into a donation pile.  As well as anything that was too large.

Clint walked in and stared at the mess on the bed.  "Sorting the closets?"

"Going to donation."

He smiled.  "That's fine."  He helped her.  The shoes she couldn't wear got sent too.  That Dawn was a normal foot width unfortunately.  One pair of boots were really cute looking but not in her size.  Natasha walked in.  "Going to donation."

She picked through things, pulling out a few she wanted.  The jeans were going to be too big for her.  The shirts were well fitting but not the sort she'd wear.  She looked at one that was in a more cowboy motif with fringe and pearl snaps.  She carefully put it back down before it infected her.  She didn't want to know.  The guy's clothes that was being pulled out for donation Clint let Coulson know so he could come look through them.  He said he had new things but thank you.

Dawn finally sighed in pleasure.  "There."  They smiled at her once she had closed the closets.  Loki's nest of her sarongs got put beside the closet and vanity so he could still lay on them.  The top one was hopelessly furred.  He meowed and stared at them.  Dawn reached up to pet him.  "You're welcome."

Natasha smiled at the tiny black cat.  "You're very spoiled.  I'm glad I taught her to spoil kittens."

Clint kissed her.  "I probably would've freaked out if I had seen you as a kitten."  He smiled, helping Dawn bag things up.  "We'll take them to donation later."

"Tomorrow," she said with a smile.  "After my appointment with the guy who can put stuff in the dented area."  They nodded and let it go.  Dawn made dinner once the bed was clear.  They got comfy to watch tv in there and eat.  Then they'd pounce Dawn.  They had to make sure she was really all right.  They hadn't been able to while she was injured.  Now they could make her squeal and writhe and be all right.

***

Dawn looked at the doctor the next day, smiling.  "Thank you for seeing me on such short notice."

He nodded.  "I know Dr. Pigalli."  He looked at her neck.  "Healing spell?"

"Apollo finished healing it for me."  She grinned.  "Someone asked."

"Interesting."  He looked at it, poking gently.  "I know what happened.  I can shave down the scar so it's less noticeable."  She nodded.  "What were you hoping for?"  He moved back to sit behind his desk.

"I was hoping maybe some filling in on my neck?  To make it look more even?"

He nodded.  "I can do a fat transplant for that.  It may not be permanent."

"I understand that and that it won't be perfectly symmetrical but I still flinch slightly when I see it.  I know it'll never go fully away."

He nodded.  "Then you're not an airhead like so many young women your age."  She smirked.  "Which I've heard as well.  I can do some fat injections to put in there.  I can hopefully even it out.  The scar shaving can be done by laser.  I can probably take it down to a faint line instead of a raised scar."

"That'd be great.  How much will it cost and how long will it take?"

"Are you on a timetable?"

"I'm not sure if I want to go to the scientific fundraiser next week with it but not really.  I can cover it up then.  I have a few heavier necklaces that'll work to cover it."

He stared at her.  "You're worried how people will see you?"

She snorted.  "Not really but there's always people who complain about anything I do.  One complained that I'm a bit sparkly and twinkly when I have to go to those things.  She's done that a few times because I don't fade into the background like a good assistant should according to her.  I'm usually pretty flirty and sensual, but....  That's not exactly stopping it but it's making me feel very different."

He nodded.  "Injuries can do that.  Especially when you nearly died."

"It's not my first one but this one wrecked me more than the others have."

He nodded.  "Sometimes the reality hits at the wrong moment.  Even if you're threatened."

She snorted.  "I have two churches that want to burn me at the stake.  You can't get more threatened than that or the hate mail because I have a gift or because I'm me."

"No, you can't," he agreed.

"I just want to feel like myself again."

"I understand.  It's not that hard.  We can schedule a fat injection for early next week.  That will take a few days for any swelling to go down."

She nodded.  "I can handle that problem."

He smiled.  "I'm sure you can.  I'll try to do the scar shaving at the same time but it may leave a large irritated area where the laser touches the skin."  She nodded she understood that.  "Good."  He looked in his book.  "I have early Monday."

She looked at her schedule.  "I have an interview to help Pepper with that morning at ten.  Which means I have to be there by nine-thirty."

He looked at her.  "You do what?"

"I'm an administrative assistant," she said with a grin.

"Interesting."  He looked.  "I can do it at two."

"I'm free from one-thirty to three.  Then she's got lamaze and birthing class at three-forty.  Traffic usually takes about a half-hour on a good day."

"That will be fine," he assured her, penciling her in.  She put him into her schedule.  "Are you pregnant or on anything?"

"Caffeine now and then.  Not pregnant as far as I know.  I'm on the shot."

"Good to know.  That shouldn't matter."  She nodded.  "I'll see you then."

She shook his hand.  "See you then, sir, and thank you."  She gathered her bag and left.

He leaned back in his chair, considering her.  A bit vain but reasonable about it and overly concerned what others thought but not the point of anxiety over it.  That was a reasonable woman and patient.  Unlike his next one who wanted bigger implants put in.

***

Dawn looked on as the dresses for donation were looked over.  "Oh, not that one.  How did that get in there?"  She pulled out her new backless black dress.  It wasn't the same dress but she'd wear that one.

The helper smiled.  "Must've gotten tangled in there."  She finished making out the donation receipt and handed it over.  "Here you go."

"Thank you."

"You've donated before, I remember you.  Why do you need so many gowns?"

"I'm an administrative assistant but this batch I inherited from a good friend."  She smiled.  "Most of them aren't my size."

"That's always a great thing."

Dawn grinned.  "I'm sending a whole lot of clothes to the Salvation Army's store too."

"I'll tell a few I know.  Do you get shoes?  Now and then we do take shoes if they go with the dress."

"I got some but they're all plain heels, not specially dyed."

"Pity.  If you do, remember us."

"I will."  She smiled and walked out with her dress.  She texted Clint, who said that dress was at home so apparently it was Lavelle's version.  It went into the closet and he helped her haul the bags down to the hired car for the rest of the donation.  He and Dawn carried it into the store.  "Donations?"  They pointed.  They carried them back there.  "Hi, donating some stuff I inherited that I can't wear, both sexes of clothes."

The women back there smiled and took the bags to look through.  "These are in great shape, dear.  Thank you," one said.  "Oh, and shoes.  That's charming."  She smiled.  "We'll send them to the Dress for Success."

"I couldn't find where to donate to them directly but thank you.  Can I do that with business suits through you?"  They wrote down the address for her.  "Thanks."  She smiled and walked off with Clint.  "I do have those older ones in the closet."

"You do and it's a nice thing," he assured her.  They shared a grin and got ice cream for lunch on the way home.  Once they had gotten home and pigged out on their ice cream pints, he pulled her into his lap to kiss her throat.  "How bad?"

"He can fill it in but it might still leave a small dip.  He can also shave down the scar so it's not so prominent."

He kissed it again, licking over it.  "I can accept that."  She shivered and he held her, letting her get used to it.  He knew it was still hitting her and she needed to deal with it in her own way.  He could do that because he wanted to make sure the wound didn't reopen, even though he knew it was healed.  It had been too close and she hadn't been doing anything dangerous or in the field.  She petted his chest and stomach, calming him down.  They could handle this together and help Natasha when she came up from looking over the kimonos.  She came up to join them, taking Dawn for her own cuddling time.  Clint moved closer to cuddle Dawn's stomach while Natasha got her own squeezing time in.

***

Dawn smiled as she walked into the Japanese consulate the next evening.  "Hi, I have a stupid question."

"We've heard some of those," the receptionist said.

Dawn smiled.  "I inherited some kimonos from someone."

"Okay.  Do you know how to store them properly?"

"Yes.  He sent his specially humidity and dust free cases for them."  The receptionist smiled.  "I inherited over three thousand kimonos."  She winced.  "Is there anywhere that's looking for some to exhibit without donation?"

"I don't know.  Let me ask our art people."  She called back there to ask him.  He came out to talk to Dawn, who told him most of what had happened.  She could tell he was at least a partial demon.  He said a few of the collection may have been stolen but there were a few places in Japan that were looking for certain types of examples to show.  She let him see the pictures that Natasha had taken of them.  He moaned and pointed at a few she should hide.

The rest, he called someone in Kyoto who he knew was looking for some.  He explained why she had inherited them and he said he knew someone.  They'd be in New York in a few weeks for a business meeting.  As it turned out at Stark so Dawn promised they could talk then.  He promised to listen to see if anyone needed more for an exhibition and let her have the pictures back.  She bowed properly and left.  He was charmed by her.  She was so nice.

***

Xander and Phil were sparring at the temple, which the recruits were staring at in awe.  "Do we have plans?" Xander asked.

"For?" Phil asked with a parry.

"The team?"

He nodded.  "I have an idea."  He shared it mentally.  Xander smirked and nodded.  "How would I do that?"

"You make sure you're there and change the energy structure at the last minute."  Phil nodded, backing up a step to let Xander's lunge pass to the side then back forward to meet the next one.  Xander spun and hit him from the side, making Phil wince but he managed to mostly block it.  They kept going.  Xander sent over the image of how you did things like that and it was better.  Phil could see doing that.  "I'll help if you can't get there," Xander promised.

"Thank you."

"Welcome."  They finally broke apart when John walked into the ring.  "Need some?" Xander teased.

"Nope.  The trainees need time."  They moved out of the way.  He smirked at Phil.  "Nice."

"He took me to some dwarves to have me trained."

"They do a great job.  I look forward to sparring with you."  He looked at the trainees.  "Yes, you have to learn how to use a sword in case it comes up, especially if you're in Cleveland, people."  They groaned but the trio taught them the basics of how to use one in case it became necessary.  Someone was swinging his around like an idiot so Coulson slapped him with the flat of the blade, making him yelp.  John smirked.  "Keep it up, watch someone lose something important and you be back at home."

The agent in training nodded and looked down.  "Good.  Get back to it."  They went back to the simple exercises that would help if they were in the field and had to pick up a blade.  Xander also taught them how to use a crossbow.  That was a bit easier for them.  Buffy showed up to waddle around.  John looked at her stomach.  "I thought you were only five months," John said, patting the mound gently.

"I am," she complained.  "Apparently I'm making up for having a son first."  She handed him off her back to Xander, who stared at Sean, who grinned back.  "I have no idea but he's demented.  He kept trying to get into his diaper earlier."

"All kids do," Phil said, taking Sean to look at.  Sean hugged him.  "Thank you, Sean."  He patted him on the back, earning a burp but the baby was giggling.  John took him and got a squeal.

"See, demented noises," Buffy complained.

"John's his mancrush," Xander said dryly.  "Go take a nap?"

"Please?" she begged.

"Go take a nap," Phil promised.  "Diaper bag?"  She handed it over and fled to nap on their couch.  Hylal was up there and Bia got them to a real room with a real bed for now.  "We'll sneak an ultrasound on her later," he said, taking Sean back.  "Want to play with the twins?"  He squealed and beamed, patting Phil.  "We can do that."  The trainees were staring at him.  "Yes, I'm the father of Tara's twins," he said blandly.

"I thought that was Agent Hill," the idiot said.

Phil stared at him.  "Did you flunk basic biology?"  The guy groaned and looked down again.  He looked at Xander.

"Don't look at me.  I'm not a god that can make male werewolves pregnant.  Ask Roque's mom."

"Then send him out to sex someone up for information?" John teased with a grin.  "Been there, done that.  The head of the oil company way back when was kinda fun."

Phil looked at him.  "Very fun or just mildly fun?"

"Mildly.  I never get anything beyond mildly fun if they're not fully evil."

"Which is why I used to date the evil ones," Xander quipped with a grin.

"Thankfully yours now uses evil for the good of us all," John quipped.

"I do try," Phil said dryly.  The idiot agent in training and a few others gasped.  "Gaia decided we'd be married and made it so without consulting us."  He shrugged.  "It happens."  They all stared at him.

"Tried it on me too," John agreed.  "It's the Kentucky Derby of nagging up there.  Whoever wins sponsors the wedding that becomes the Preakness and the Belmont is the honeymoon.  Which is why McKay tazed someone who tried to force him to a dinner so they could marry us off together."

"Dawn's going to have to do something about that for the next one," Phil said quietly.

Xander cackled and nodded.  "Yup, though Hera noticed."  They shared a smirk.  "They have to pick a last name too."

John looked at them.  "In the open?"

"Probably not."

"That's fine then, I can't see the freaking out if not."  He went back to the crossbow lectures.  The group had patrol in Cleveland tonight with the three vamped agents and the two that were currently on duty there.  And Buffy if she quit snoring so loudly.  He looked at the house.  "Is that Clay or Buffy?"

Xander listened for a second.  "Hylal and Buffy.  Apparently they equal Clay."

"Bite me," Clay yelled from where he was working out.  "Scrolls with dinner invitations came earlier."

"Shit," Xander and Phil muttered together, walking off to handle things with some of the trainees.

"Who sent 'em?" John called.

"Yours."

"Which?"

"Hera."

"Oooh," Xander said with a wince and a hiss.  "Formal table manners but less strict dress codes."  He texted Clint to make sure he knew he'd probably have to go.  Then he sent Bia to find him something to wear.  Bia came down wearing too many earrings.  "I thought Hera called it."

"She did but your Mom's hosting a tea."

"Dawn's at work."

"Thankfully."  She blew a kiss and grabbed Clay, walking off carrying him over her shoulder.

"Bia, I needed that workout."

"Do situps for Roque's dick, Clay.  His mother's at this tea so he's going."  She put him down and patted him on the head.  "Be a good boy and get dressed.  I'll make sure Roque knows that you can do situps during sex."  She went back to finish getting dressed.

Clay groaned, walking off shaking his head.  Roque looked nervous.  "Tea?" he demanded with a smirk.

"Tea.  Horrible food so eat first."  Clay nodded, accepting the sandwich.  "Put on something that vaguely doesn't resemble sweatpants?"

"Going, nag."  He went to shower and change so he could be dapper and be bored shitless by the gods nagging each other.  He, Roque, and Bia disappeared together.  They got there and got seated on couches, which was nice instead of the banquet chairs that put your ass to sleep after twenty minutes on them.

"Mother," Roque said with a nod.

She looked at Clay.  "What is that?  That is not what I meant."

"Mother, you're interfering with his career," Roque said firmly.  "That is the only way we could keep him out of heat, before he got attacked and raped for being in heat."  She backed down.  "Would you mind taking it off?  We're not going to have kids for at least a century."  She glared at him.  He stared back.

"I don't think the military would take a kind view on me being pregnant and I'd probably end up in an NID lab somewhere," Clay said, relaxing slightly.

"I'd pretend to be Xander and go blow that shit up," Roque assured him with a smirk.

Clay smirked back.  "Works for me but get there before they get to the torture?"

"I can probably do that.  Don't want you scarred."  Clay smirked more evilly.  He grinned.  "You won't be a pretty wife then."

Clay swatted him. "I'm not the wife, you are.  You take more dick than I do."

"That's because Xander's last chaos child outburst gave you *trauma*," he sneered.

"It gave it to you too!" he defended.

"Yeah, it did.  I have to admit the dildo tentacles did give me nightmares for a few days."

Xander and John's mother looked at him.  "What?"

"His last chaos kid outburst," Roque said dryly.  "It created tentacle monsters that had dick tentacles that liked to pull people down and work out the stress for them."  She shuddered.

"John had to beg Artemis and some Valkyries to kill them for him," Clay agreed.  "Xander will never live that down."

"Wonder what next time's will be," Roque quipped.  "I didn't mean to give him that idea that time but it was a good one."

Clay nodded.  "It was fun to watch until we had to kill the damn things."

Bia looked at them.  "I saw it on replay."  They smirked at her.  "Poor Jensen, they couldn't decide if his wings were sexual or not."

"Ask him, not us," Roque quipped.  "Or Xander, he had wings for a bit."

"I saw.  They were adorable."  They shared a smirk.  "I wonder if Phil wants to try flying sex."

"Who knows," Roque said dryly.  "John's more the flying sort though."

"I doubt Phil would try it with John," Clay said.  "He's the faithful sort."

"Thankfully before I have to kill him," Roque and Bia said together.  Roque punched her on the arm.

"Roque, I had to point out earlier that he could be doing situps during sex if you're doing it right.  Clearly you're falling down on his physical training requirements."

He swatted her again.  "Filthy minded bitch," he said dryly, smirking evilly at her.  "I do him just fine.  He has to work other muscles beyond his ass and stomach sometimes though."

"Fine."  She waved a hand in the air.  "Mine is better than that."

"Does your mother know you're dating?" John and Xander's mother asked politely.

"Hell no.  Not since she sabotaged my last one and Xander at the same time."  She shuddered.  "I'm not talking to my mother.  Or Gaia since she still redid the bad thing.  Even if they did learn they could be good together."

"Is he still upset?" Roque's mother asked.  "They are good together."

"If you got forced into marriage, even if it was a great thing, you'd be pissed too because of the forcing stuff," Bia said, staring at her.

"You young Gods don't understand duty and honor."

Roque snorted.  "And yet I've done more than my duty to our people."  He sipped his tea, looking at his mate.  "The King said you were hot in that tabloid shot of you guarding Dawn."

"I was hot," he agreed.

John showed up in a flash of light, looking sweaty and nasty.  "Guys, slight issue.  The hellmouth just opened."

"On it," Roque said, changing their clothes to join him.  They flashed down to the mess in the park that housed it.  "Damn."

"Yup," John said, tossing them weapons.  "Half of the mess was Xander and Phil taking on the Krel'tek demons."  Roque shuddered but they moved to clean up any remaining problems.

Clay found a major problem and looked around.  "Roque, we've got a preschool!" he yelled.  Roque, Xander, and Phil came jogging back to get the kids free and out of the way.  "Any others?" he asked the adult with the kids.

"There's another group but they were hogging the other play area so we came to this one."

"We can make sure," Xander said.  "Get them to safety back at the center."  She nodded, helping the kids run.  Xander looked around.  "Clay, find them."  He nodded, heading to do that.  "Roque, the Krel'tek are mostly done for.  There's a few other harmful ones and a peaceful cult that's worshiping."  They nodded and headed out to fix the rest of the trauma.  Clay reported that the kids were now on their way out of the park.  Apparently the other side hadn't been cleared.  Xander let out a string of swears in Greek that made John shiver.  They finished up the damage and the demons.  Xander did the spell to close the hellmouth, making it wail as it sucked closed again.  Then he stomped off.  The locals were getting his foot up his ass.

"Let me," Phil ordered, changing and cleaning up so he was in a suit.  Xander stared at him.  "It's my job to deal with higher ups."  He put on his sunglasses.  Xander nodded, letting him do it while they got to work burning the bodies.  Phil walked off, snapping at the lesser agents.  "On my six."  They followed him to the local City Hall.  He walked in and stared at the mayor.  "Please call in your head of the police here."

"Who're you?" the mayor demanded.

"Agent Coulson, SHIELD."  The man gaped and then frantically called.  Phil waited until he walked in and the lesser agents had shut and guarded the door.  "Did it not occur to anyone that if and when the hellmouth opens, that it would be wise to evacuate the children from *both* sides of the park?  Because perhaps it might take anyone responding a few minutes to get there, and that would mean some of them could escape into the city?"  The Mayor flinched.  "Thankfully, the ones of us today managed to get both daycare groups out of the way."  He stared at the officer.  "Also, we could not find a single officer anywhere near that park.  Is no one being mugged there any longer?"

"Yes, sir," one of the lesser agents said.  "There has been a string of muggings, robberies, and three rapes there that we have been working to find the reasons for since the local officials are not having the area patrolled," he reported.

Phil nodded.  "Thank you.  Did you file a report?"

"I have, sir, and Director Fury wasn't sure why until we informed him that it was not being patrolled even though it is near three colleges and events are held there by them and the local high schools.  In fact, class picture day was interrupted by the Hari Krishna-like group that lives downstate because they were up for a remembrance of their Highest ascending during a battle to protect people."

"Good to know.  Thank you."  He looked at the two officials.  "Is there a problem we can help you solve by perhaps training some of your officers?" he asked them.  "Or letting them have some sort of easier to understand manual?  Most of the agents who tour through here have made their own.  We'd be more than happy to share so that your people are safer."

"Why can't you end that?" the head of the PD demanded.

"How do you end a spot that's basically a rip into the powers of the universe?"  The man started to stomp off but the agents were at the doorway.  "We have numerous physicists working on that problem.  Including Dr. McKay's team.  No one has found any way to repair said leaks, and think that even if they did, it might reform somewhere else because of the pressure.  Basically, the universe is expanding and the skin it's in isn't."  He stared at the Mayor.  "Also, the response time for emergencies is somewhere between fifteen minutes and possibly up to thirty, depending on where the agents and slayers are.  Right now, Mrs Cloudson is in Colorado napping off her, what we expect are, twins.  Thankfully we had agents who alerted Colonel Sheppard and us.  So let's work out how to handle things."

"We can't have the colleges moved," the Mayor said.

"It's not like we can camp in the park in tents," one of the lesser agents said.  "Even if we wanted to, there's no necessary facilities there and it's not exactly the duty most of us would agree to, sir."

Phil looked at him.  "No one has suggested that solution."

"They have locally, sir."

Phil hummed.  "Interesting."  He looked at the two higher ups again.  "The agents have a house that they rent next to the slayer house.  It is on the nearest residential block to the hellmouth as far as I was told."

"It is," he sighed.  "We can't just close the areas."

"Then it means we have to prepare better ways of handling things," Phil said simply.  "I'll be back tomorrow so we can look over your emergency plans, any staffing in that area and how they're trained, and make plans for handling any of the hundreds of things that could happen.  Including it being chaos mages instead of demons."  The Mayor shuddered.  "Yes, humans.  They have acted against all the hellmouths in the past.  What time would be good for you?"

"Can't Summers abort or something?"

Phil raised an eyebrow.  "She might be a slayer but that does not mean she has to give up a slightly normal life for this.  I'm fairly certain she did not plan either pregnancy and was upset that she caught so quickly after the last one.  Her husband is as well, especially since he thinks it'll get her killed."  The Mayor shuddered, leaning away from him.  "Beyond that, how do you expect one young woman to handle every single emergency, especially when she's forbidden to kill humans who might be affecting the hellmouth?"  Both higher ups slumped.  "When is a better time for you two to go over the emergency plans tomorrow?"

"I need to talk to the governor.  See if we can get some National Guard troops," the Mayor decided.  "Then we'll talk, Agent..."

"Coulson," he reminded him.  "I'm the liaison between Mrs. Cloudson and the other slayers to SHIELD."

"That's fine.  Thank you, Agent Coulson.  Let us make some plans."

"Agreed."  He handed over a business card.  "That is my cellphone."  He left with the junior agents.  Once outside and he had his sunglasses back on he looked at them. "Threat index?"

"Done, sir, updated monthly.  It's attached to our bulletin board."

Phil looked at the other one.  "Weapons list?"

"Sent in, Director Fury is considering parts of it.  So far our armory is acceptable but not exciting or overly useful.  He thought bullets might be made in specialty classes but no one has yet."

"I'll ask Stark about that," Phil said.  "Anything else of note?"

"Yes, sir.  We are unable to stop a private sorority of succuba."  Phil nodded slightly, letting a tiny grimace out.  "We are not sure if they're that way naturally or if they are recruiting.  We do not believe they are recruiting but we do not have anyone who they will talk to.  They can feel Buffy coming and hide from her for good reason."

"I'll see if Dawn can," he decided.  "Or perhaps Bia if she's been bored."  They nodded, smiling at him.  "Anything else I should hear?"

"No, sir," they agreed.

"Update those for our meeting.  Get me the actual needs for the armory that you don't have access to right now.  I'll have Stark work on it."  They nodded and he walked off, disappearing from the shadows.  Those two had decided to stay on the hellmouth and they knew enough about him to not wonder.  By the time he landed at Stark International, his phone had beeped with both preliminary copies.  He took them to the tinkering lab, where everyone was.  "Stark?"  He looked up then took the phone to look over the list.  "The armory in Cleveland is somewhat useful.  They have guns without speciality bullets."

"I can work on them but the wooden bullets don't react right."

Dawn walked in with one of the DCIS books and handed it to him.  "They jacketed the wooden ones and had a tiny bubble of holy water in another set."  She looked at Phil.  "The hellmouth?"

"It's fine.  There's a sorority of succuba?"

She grinned and nodded.  "There are.  There's one at UCLA too.  They play poker with Spike."

"Can you talk to them?  They're not sure if they're recruiting."

"They don't go out and recruit but if someone comes in and wants to join, that's open."

"Please?"

"Not tonight I can't."

"No, she can't," Dawn's phone said.  "Agent Hill said she could though."

"Thank you, Agent Romanoff," Phil said dryly.  "Are you hiding?"

"Talking with others."  She hung up.  Dawn grinned.

"Good."  He patted her on the cheek.  "Behave."  She cackled and walked off.  He looked at Stark.  "Can you at least come up with ideas?"

"Of course.  I'm the fount of all ideas," he said with a smirk.  "You know that."

"I do, that's why I come directly to you.  Dawn, dinner," he called after her.

"Not going."

"You probably have to."

"Can't.  Have to babysit."

Tony looked then at Phil, who shrugged.  "Okay," Tony decided then downloaded the list to his 'to do' list.  He handed the phone back.  "Welcome."

"Thank you."  He walked off.  He had to figure out what he had to wear to this one.  Fortunately John had something laid out for him.  A nice suit was good.  He was used to suits.  John came in looking dapper in his dress blues.  "Will they let you get away with that?" Phil asked.

"If Xander says it's okay it's fine," he said with a smug grin.  "Even if Hera or someone huffs.  It's my official dress uniform."  Clay leaned in.  "Wear your official dress uniform or a suit."

"Got it, thanks."

"Not your uniform," Roque ordered.  "I hate seeing you in it with the way they fucked you over."  He walked into the suite.  "Dawn's refusing to get dressed?"

"She claims she's babysitting," Phil said.

John laughed.  "Not likely."  He flashed over, letting his impression sink in with the appreciative looks.  "Babysitting isn't a fit excuse, Dawn.  Dress up, get them dressed up.  They'll pull them in whatever they're wearing if not."  He gave her a pointed look then at Clint.  "Tux or suit.  Tie covers acceptable.  Bowties are a bit much though.   Ladies are to be in formal dress."  He disappeared.

Dawn moaned, shaking her head.  "I was hoping we could get out of it."

"They'll announce us," Natasha said.  Dawn nodded.  "It'll be public record?"

"Among all the demis and possibly spread farther."  She stared at them.  "Still thinking about your jobs, guys."

They shrugged.  "We're all but famous.  They can't send us out as spies," Clint said.  He got up, putting aside his plate.  "Let me go find a suit."  He went upstairs.

Natasha smiled.  "Thank you for trying to help us."  She took a kiss.  "Wear something fabulous."

Dawn smirked.  "How fabulous?"

"Enough that we stare at you all night instead of whatever dinner is being served."

"If Hera's throwing it, it's greek food."

"I'll take that into account."  She got up and went to her own closet.  She didn't have much that was fantastic.  Dawn had clearly shared though because she had a few extra formal gowns.  One in black that looked slightly like her new one.  She pulled it out to look at.  Clearly it had come from Lavelle's collection with the length.  She put it against her and nodded, finding the right heels for it.  She went to shower and change, then do her hair.

Upstairs, Dawn went to her closet and pulled out her new black dress.  She went to shower and do her hair.  Her hair got turned into a riot of curls that flowed down her back.  A nice necklace, some earrings.  Some light makeup.  She stared at the scar, reaching for her coverup.  Then she closed her eyes and closed the coverup.  She stepped into her shoes and checked.  She walked out.  Natasha came up from her apartment in a similar dress.  Dawn's was sleeveless.  Natasha's were a very fine lace.  Natasha's hair was in a mass of pulled back curls.  They were held back by a simple comb on each side that was jeweled.  They kissed and grinned at each other.  "I knew that'd look good on you."

"It does."  Clint came down and stared.  Then he went to change suits and came down in something hotter, adding extra weapons.  He looked them over, kissing each of them.  "Names?" he asked.

"We have to decide if I'm hyphenating or if we're picking a mutual last name to use."

Clint shrugged.  "I heard your 'I'll use it in my other identity' thing."

She kissed him.  "I'd love to use it here."

He smiled.  "There you can be a Barton.  We'll all be Bartons."

"Why?" Natasha asked, adjusting his tie.

"Because I'm the husband?"  He smirked.  "Here....  Do we want to combine, hyphenate, or pick a mutual one?"  They considered it.

"Mine was changed when I was young," Natasha admitted.

"Mine's mine but not exactly happy memories."

Dawn sniffled.  "I'll accept what we decide."

They stared at each other, holding a silent talk.  "We're taking yours," Clint said, taking a quick kiss.  "Teeth?"

"I did."

"Can still taste your salad dressing."  She went to rebrush her teeth and then reapply her lipstick.  "You sure?" he asked Natasha quietly.

"I like hers."  She smiled and teased his lip.  "We are rightly matriarchical.  There's more of us."

"That always pleases me," he said with a wicked smirk.  Dawn came back and they were brought off before she could reach them.  He looked around.  "That's handy."

"Very," Dawn said.  She put her hands through each of their arms. The heralds stared at her.  "I didn't think to grab it, people."

"The Key, Dawn Summers, and her spouses," they announced in unison, opening the door.

They walked in and Dawn curtseyed at all the major tables before sitting with her mates.  Clint got the center this time.  The elder ones were all talking and staring at them.  Dawn sipped her wine, smiling.  "That's a great vintage."

Bia was beside her.  "It is.  Lord Dionysus outdid himself this year."  She smiled, looking at the ring she wore.  "Pretty work.  No band and solitaire?"

"We combined them," she said happily.  Hera was staring at her.  She smiled at her.  "Thank you for the invitation, Lady Hera."

"You're quite welcome, Dawn.  They are stunning."

Dawn smiled.  "They're beautiful to me in all ways."

Hera smiled and nodded.  "Excellent."

Roque and Clay walked in and nodded at the head table then sat down at the other end of the table.  By tradition, the ruling people in the house sat in the center.  John got announced next and walked in.  Then Phil and Xander.

Hera gasped, standing up.  "How did you two do that?"

Xander looked at her.  "By accident, how do I do anything?"  He smiled at Gaia.  "Still pissed at you.  We're big gods now and don't need fix ups."  She slumped down but nodded.  They sat down and Phil was next to John while Xander was next to Natasha.  "You two look stunning.  Clint looks nice as well."

"Thank you," Natasha said with a smile.  She sipped her wine.  "We never find anything this good on earth."

"Lord Dionysus makes some of the best wines," Xander agreed.  "Even for the other pantheons.  They bring him berries and fruits to press for them."

"He has an excellent hand.  Just fruity enough to be flavorful but not overpower and moister than most white wines."

"I don't really drink wine but it does taste good with the dinners."  He grinned.  "We're not really grape growing people."

She laughed.  "I know."  He grinned.  She sent a thought at Dawn about why they had to bow to all the tables when the rest didn't.  It came down to the Key wasn't really a part of any house but Xander had adopted her mortal form into his.  So they were his and not his.  It was protocol that would drive them all nuts.

Zeus looked at John.  "Is that appropriate?"

"In this life, he serves honorably and has status and rank," Xander said simply.  "He is not to disgrace his present service or his past services by denying his duties."

Zeus nodded, looking thoughtful.  "I can see why you allowed it.  The ladies look nice as usual."  They all nodded with a smile.  The last few got announced and he rang the bell.  "Tonight we celebrate a few announcements."  They all stared at him.  He stood up.  "First, that even though Gaia had to be sneaky and push things that bordered on Alexander's temper, he is now mated."  They stood up.  "He and Phil, God over Heros, have come to an agreement that they could handle things."

"He is my mate, my true mate," Xander said, looking around coolly, daring anyone to say something.  His father moaned.

Hera stood up.  "Their marriage is more than accepted by our standards.  Especially as they have the mating and claim marks that are spoken of in myths and have joined their powers in ways that most of us would not even consider."

"Pure accident," Xander quipped, sitting down.  Phil sat down.  He noticed his father staring at him and smiled smugly.  "Yes, Father, we have joined our powers fully a few times."  Loki slumped and nodded.  "Before anyone starts to ask or nag, there will be no children for at least a century, people."  They all sighed in displeasure.  "Sorry."

"Our duties mean we can be called into battle at any time," Phil said calmly and quietly.  "Which means we must not be incapacitated by a pregnancy until more are doing the duty so we can take time off."

Dawn smiled down at him.  "Tony had a total brainfart vision where you were pregnant, Xander, walking down the halls at SHIELD with your axe over your shoulder, and eating a twinkie."

Xander laughed.  "That could happen."

Thor nodded.  "As long as they do not ask me again if I plan on thus."  He gave Roque a pointed look.

"I didn't send him into heat," he quipped.  "We're not having kids for at least a century either.  He's military and it would get him captured and tortured to see how he did it.  So until someone makes a mortal male pregnancy pill, we're staying kidless."

"Funny you should mention that," Natasha joked with a smile for him.

He flinched and looked down at Dawn.  "Seriously?"

"Andrew and Jonathan."

He whimpered, shaking his head.  "Still, it'll be at least a century."

"I think that's sweet," Xander cooed with a grin at her.  "I'll let them surrogate for us if they want."

Hera shook her head.  "I don't want to know."  She sat down.

Zeus cleared his throat.  "What?"

"They're working on a male pregnancy for mortals," Hera said simply.

Zeus looked at Dawn's family.  "It sucks.  It's heartburn, headaches, and then your head opens."  She smiled at him.  "We're also ready to announce that Dawn has married."  She stood up and they stood up with her.  "These are her mates...."

"Clint and Natasha.  They are my mates and I will make sure no one tampers," she said, staring at Loki.  He saluted her with a glass and smirked.  She quirked an eyebrow up.  "Remember, you nearly got pregnant too."  He gulped and choked on the wine.  She smiled at the others.  "We're presently deciding on name issues."

"You'll take his," Hera said.

"No we're not," Clint said.  "We're taking hers for official things."

Dawn looked at him.  "We are?  We're sure?  It'll make it official."

"We are," Natasha agreed.  "Hyphenated."

Clint smiled.  "I can agree with that.  For formal things, we're Summers."

Hermes smiled at them.  "Beat all the bets, kids."  Dawn smiled and they sat down.  "Very amazon of you all."

"Natasha is one hell of a warrior woman," Dawn said with a smooth purr in her voice and a smile at her wife.

Natasha smiled.  "You are quite good on your own."

"Yes, you both are," Artemis said with a grin for them.  "You are more than worthy of being one of our Amazons, ladies, and your mate is a good captured mate."  They smiled at her.  "Do you share?"

"Hell.  No," Dawn said with a smirk.  "I'll destroy this planet if someone touches what's mine without my permission."

Xander grinned.  "I'll help."

"Cool but I get the bigger ray gun."

"Sure.  I'll have my axe."  They shook hands behind the spouses.

Hera blinked.  "Good to know.  Bia, are you involved, dear?"

She checked on her mate, who was ready.  She had him summoned by the heralds.

"Major Evan Lorne," they announced.

She stood up and held out a hand.  "Lady Hera, this is my intended when I finally trip him, tie him up, and carry him back to my tent as is proper for a female of my lineage."  She smiled and created a seat next to him while Xander stretched the table.

"Pleasure to meet you, Evan," Hera said, smiling at him.  "I'm sure you'll be good to our young one?"

"Of course.  Anything less is dishonorable, ma'am."

"Excellent.  Then we look forward to seeing how your relationship grows."  She smiled at Zeus, who was blinking.  "He serves with Jonathan."

"Wonderful."  He nodded and rang the bell again so food could be served.  That whole house was now full of people who were married or all but married.  It solved so many problems outside of Jonathan.  He looked at his pantheon's half-offspring.  "Jonathan, do you have anyone you would like to invite?"

"Still not dating, Zeus, sorry."  He stuffed his mouth.

"Pity," Hera said.  "You would make someone an excellent husband."

"Yes I will.  When I'm ready."  That got a nod and they got back to eating.

Phones went off all along Xander's table outside of Bia's and Dawn's.

Dawn looked at Clint's phone.  "Should I go prepare to be backup?"

"Not magical this time," Short Stuff."  Clint took a kiss.  Natasha took a kiss.  John blew a kiss with a smirk.  The rest of them disappeared.  They took Evan with them to spare him the formal dinner stress.  Thor went on his own.

Dawn looked at Bia, who was watching.  "Let me know if they need help."

"I will."

"What interrupts a dinner?" Demeter snorted snidely.

"An emergency where someone who's a demon cocksucking minion opens the hellmouth," Dawn quipped with a smile.  "The idiot."

"Buffy's pregnant with twins we think," Bia told Athena and Artemis, who both moaned and shuddered.  "We've let her nap with us all day.  Sean's been with his grandmother charming her and the twins that belong to Tara."

Gaia smiled.  "The twins are charming and Sean is adorable if large."

"His father's an Asgardian warrior," Dawn said with a smile.  "Buffy and Hylal make a good pair."

"Even if she is occasionally a dick trophy," Bia quipped then stuffed her mouth.  Odin coughed and choked.  "He hath claimed her properly, All Father Odin.   Almost a year before they did it on the mortal plane."

"My sister had no idea because he didn't tell her that all those things meant formal marriage but they did it in her way since Buffy considered that a handfasting."

Frigg smiled.  "They are a good couple.  As are yours, Dawn."

"Thank you, Frigg."

"When are you due to have children?"

"When we're ready.  Which isn't this year I don't think."  Frigg stared at her.  "Unless you know something I don't?"  She scanned herself.  "No, not yet."  She went back to eating.

"Children do enhance a marriage," Demeter said with a smile at her daughter.

"Yes but it also means you can't have loud, rowdy sex on the couch any longer," Persephone said then stuffed her mouth.  Hera moaned and Zeus looked confused.  "Children do get in the way of relations," she pointed out.

"That's why they have mothers."

"Then how do mothers have sex?" Bia quipped.  "To give second children."  Zeus moaned and shook his head.  "Personally I think you should wait at least two years after getting married before getting knocked up."

"Or maybe five," Dawn said.  "Depending on your age and things in your life."

"That's true.  Yours get shot at," Bia agreed.

Dawn nodded.  "I have too a few times."  She stuffed her mouth.

Apollo cleared his throat.  "Any pains, Dawn?"

"No, thank you.  I got referred to someone who can fill in that dent and he'll sand down the scar so it's not as noticeable."  She smiled.  "Thank you for healing that for me."

"You're welcome."  He smiled.  "It's clear your spouses consider you precious."

"I consider them more necessary than air sometimes," she agreed with a grin.

Bia flinched.  "They just got overrun by a larger demon."

Dawn wiped her mouth, took one last sip of wine.  "Excuse us.  We have to be backup."  She and Bia disappeared.  Dawn slipped out of the dress on her way to get on something she could fight in.  She came out pulling on her sneakers and then grabbed her chainmail and weapons.  She and Bia landed in Cleveland and got to work on the demons there.  She looked around.  "Where are the guys?"

"Um, Sunnydale's," she said.

"Great!" Dawn said dryly.  She had remembered her earbud.  "It's Summers.  Can we have some backup in Cleveland please?"  The security team said that SHIELD was enroute and to hold on.  "Got it.  How long?"  She nodded.  "Thanks."  She tapped it.  "Twenty, Bia."

"Great!" she mimicked, blasting the demons back away from the hole.  She and Dawn destroyed most of the demons but the bigger thing was still coming out.  "Weapons!  We need major weapons!" she yelled at the first agent to appear.

"That sort has to have the head taken off!" Dawn yelled, firing as she retreated to let the agents take the front lines.

Agent Hill looked at her.  "You're getting yelled at.  Why are you wearing makeup?"

"Formal dinner until this shit started."

"Oh.  Okay."  They blew up the huge demon worm while the ladies kept the demons from getting to the hole.  They got the human summoning the Old One out and Dawn kicked him in the head.  He went down in a lump of flesh.  Dawn looked at Bia.  "The guys?"

She checked.  "They may have it."

Agent Hill called in.  "Coulson, do you need backup?  We just took out Cleveland's problems."  She nodded.  "They do."

Dawn and Bia grabbed hands, Bia smiling at Dawn's 'fuck this shit' entrance key to her powers.  The ladies took Hill and a few others with them to Sunnydale.  Dawn looked.  "This is like a nightmare replay."  She looked around.  "At least it's not a purple guy."  She blasted the thing coming up with power, making him scream in pain as he lit on fire.  "You're ruining my manicure.  And damn it, I hate turning into my sister!"  She blasted him again with Bia's help.  The demon retreated.  The human doing it got shot by John.

Xander looked at her.  "I had the same thought."

"You were turning into my sister too?" she quipped.

"No!"  He punched her on the arm.  "Thank you, ladies.  I heard Cleveland mentioned?"  Maria waved her hand with the weapon in it.  "Oh, good.  Any others?  Two is not the usual number."

Bia scanned and nodded.  "Yup.  No wonder the Persian pantheon wasn't there!"  They all flinched and Maria called it in.

"Fuck it, and they can't capture some of us anyway," Xander decided.  "John?"

"I hate the Middle East but I guess."  Phil nodded, taking Xander's hand to go with him.  Clay and Roque got more weapons from Hill and went with them.  Clay got the rest of his team there.

Jensen changed to his larger form and stomped on the demon trying to come out.  "How dare you interrupt my movie night!  I was having relaxation time after beating up on cadets earlier!"  He kept stomping until the demon died.  He huffed.  "Pitiful.  Really pitiful."  He glared at the human, who was whimpering.  "You're next."  Xander shot him. "Cool."  He smiled at Xander.  "Home?"

"Home," he agreed, making sure everyone left before him.  The hellmouth there they could close somehow.  They hated magic and local militia types were showing up.

***

Clint looked at Dawn, smiling at her.  "Like the makeup with the chainmail too."

She pushed back her sweaty hair.  "That's good."  She undid the throat and wrist clasps, then took a kiss.  "You good?"

"I'm fine."  He looked over.  Natasha walked over after saying something to Thor.  She took her own kiss from Dawn, who grinned at her.

"If she's giving out kisses I'll pass.  She'd probably try to take control again," Stark said, putting up his visor.  "We done now?"  They nodded.  He got his people back to the lab. Dawn got her spouses home.  Tony let the take off station remove his suit and looked at the waiting ladies.  "Chaos sorcerers should be shot.  We were having dinner."  He smiled and walked over to them.  "Is it cold?  We have a few microwaves, one that even runs on nuclear energy around here somewhere."  He led them off.  Steve got beamed back because he had said he wanted to make sure the field was cleared up.  "Done?" he asked.

"Done," he agreed, removing his mask.  He walked over to his weapons cabinet and put his shield there.  It was his backup one but it was a good one.  He walked into the bathroom to change out of his uniform and into street clothes.  Then he came out to join them for dinner.  "Did you hear Dawn's comment that she was turning into her sister?"

"What's wrong with my mommy?" Callia asked.

"Sometimes your mom jokes about demons messing up her nails during fights," Tony said.  "Your aunt made the same joke."

"They do I guess," she said.  "We need to invent a nailpolish that won't get damaged, daddy."

"When you're old enough to know chemistry you can do that."

"Okay."  She smiled and they got back to dinner.

"With the makeup job she had, I'm wondering what she wore to the godly banquet," Pepper said with a grin for Tony and Steve.

"Probably something great that made Barton drool," Steve said with a smile.  "She seems to like that."

Tony's phone rang.  He put it on speaker.  "What?" he asked.

"Boss," Dawn said with a breathy moan.  Then a groan.  "Um, not making it tomorrow," she said then sighed in pleasure and groaned again.  "They're giving me a great massage and I can't walk.  I fell on the stairs."  She moaned a visceral moan that even Pepper reacted to.  "Bye."  She hung up and went back to getting spoiled.  She had used a lot of magic and was sore and tired.  Then she'd do the same for them.

"Backrubs make you moan?" Callia asked.

Tony nodded.  "If they're hitting the sore muscles they can.  You did when I worked out your leg cramp the other day."

"It hurt for a minute then it suddenly felt better."

"Which is why your aunt was groaning," Pepper assured her.  "Finish up?"  Callia smiled and finished dinner, skipping her bath and bedtime reading to go play with her pets in her room.  Pepper sipped her iced tea, looking at the boys.  "Wow."

"Very," Tony agreed.  "But not squealing loud enough to set off the security system this time."  He stuffed his mouth.  He knew that look, he'd need energy.  His phone beeped so he looked at it.  "Never mind.  Dawn gives excellent massages because Barton set it off this time."  He canceled it and put it into his pocket, looking at Pepper then at Steve, then back at Pepper, who was blushing like Steve was.  Tony grinned.  Finally!  Those who were his would be his!

***

Xander looked at Phil once they were home.  He loosened his tie.  Phil loosened his and smirked.  "Wrestle for being on top?"

"Sorry, out of your weight class," Phil joked.

"Did you call me fat?" he said, moving closer.

"More muscular, not fat."  Though he did pinch a love handle on his mate's side.  Xander pounced and he moved himself out of the way with a wicked smirk.  He slid his tie off and took off his jacket then undid his dress shirt.  "Someone was wondering earlier about flying sex."

"That would be the shit," Xander cooed with an evil smirk.  "I can see us doing that."

"Not tonight."

"No, not tonight.  When we've had plenty of arm resting time."  He slid closer and Phil teased him by moving away and taking off that dress shirt.  Then his undershirt.  Xander was pulling his tie free and dropping it onto the couch. He took off his jacket and shirt with a thought, staring at Phil.  He took off his shoes.  Phil toed out of his and then used his toes to push down his socks so he could get out of them.  Xander stared at his feet then at Phil.  "Want me to worship at your altar?"

"We'll see who worships," Phil said with a tiny smirk.  He undid his belt but left it hanging.  Xander stripped out of his pants.  Phil strolled off, taking off everything as he headed for the pond.

Xander pounced him into it and made Phil a happy, happy boy.

"Oh, no," one of the trainee agents said then turned around and huffed off.  "I did not want to know."

"We are married," Phil said dryly.  "I can and did learn to enjoy my husband now and then.  If you don't like it, I'm sending you on special missions to sex people up for information."  The agent shuddered and went to pack and leave.

Xander shook his head.  "He's more Victorian than Dru was.  Thought women should wear long skirts."

"Pity.  Legs can be nice."  Xander growled and kissed him.  Phil grinned.  "I can look."

Xander bit down on his claiming mark, earning a hiss.  "Look, yes.  Fantasize unless it's a trio and she's really great in bed will have to wait for a few years," he said in his ear, pushing Phil against the side of the pond to rub against him.

"I'd never cheat, Xander."

Xander kissed.  "I know but I'm still getting used to this.  I'm a mite possessive."

"Just a tiny bit," Phil agreed with a smile.  "I'll only fantasize about us in bed with women who want to get between us?"  Xander rubbed harder and Phil chuckled in his ear.  "I can do that."

"You certainly can."  He groaned and rubbed harder.

Phil wrapped himself around Xander's waist, letting him do whatever he wanted.  "So, wings?  Really?"

"They're like an extra sexual organ," he said in Phil's ear, casting the spell on them.

Phil moaned as his wings came out.  Xander ran his fingers under the feathers and suddenly Phil knew why Dawn screamed when it was good.  He was clutching Xander too hard to play with his wings but Xander had covered them by wrapping his wings around them and Phil was nuzzling the one next to his head.  Xander was purring and Phil had found all new terms for happy nerve endings firing off in rapid succession that was leading him to an orgasm.  He came so hard he started to black out.  Thankfully Xander understood and held him up.  He panted, looking at him.  "Xander?" he panted.

Xander grinned.  "So, how do you like wings?"

"I love wings suddenly."  Xander and he kissed.  "Teach me to fly?"

"I can do that."  They got out and Xander dried off their wings with a thought, teaching Phil how to take off and fly.  Naked flying was good too and Xander was coordinated enough to get in some flying groping too.

John, Clay, and Roque looked at Xander's gasp of pleasure.  "Damn, he's gifted," Clay said.  "I don't think I could slide home and keep them both up there without crashing.   Don't even think about it, Roque."

"Never wanted wings."  He created them on John, who moaned in pleasure and went back to Atlantis to fly.

"This again!" Rodney ranted when he spotted him.  "Must you do that!"

"Yup, I must," John agreed.

***

Jensen looked up from where he was sitting with Cougar.  "See, that's just wrong.  Guys don't go into heat as dragons.  Girls go into heat as dragons."

"They have fluffy wings, not scaly ones," Cougar said, sipping some of his beer.  "Not in heat either."  He looked at Jensen.  "We need to find you a woman of your own."

Jensen glared.  "I get plenty of women even when you cockblock me."  He huffed off to the local town to find a few good, pretty girls.

Cougar snorted.  "Sure you do."  He'd give it two hours then go find Jensen.  Probably in jail but he'd find him somewhere.  When he went looking for Jake, he had to go into yellow fur form to sniff his path out.  He found where he was and changed back, heading in there by an upper, open window.  What he saw fried his brain.  There were six girls who wanted Jensen to partially change and do them that way.

He snuck back out because only Jensen could find girls who wanted to get laid by a dragon.  He wasn't going to interrupt because he might find out things he did not want to know.  He had heard of groupies but dragon groupies?  He went back to the temple with a stop at a church on the way to apologize for being such a bad friend.  Clearly he had cockblocked Jake too often if he had ended up with the kinky six-pack of women.

***

Fury looked up as Phil walked in the next morning for the training meeting, staring at his back.  "What the fuck is that?" he demanded with a point.

Phil looked then at him like nothing was wrong or unusual.  "Wings, sir.  Alexander has a wing spell he likes.  They're actually very comforting in some ways.  Even if I did nearly shut one in the elevator just now."  He sat down.

"I can see that they're wings and I remember Harris doing it before," he growled.  "Why do *you* have them?"

"Because I'm his spouse.  He wanted to go for a fly.  It's very freeing."

Fury stomped off.  "That's it, I'm going on vacation."

"Should we book you anywhere?" Joyce asked as he stomped past her.   "I have a nice new list of places that people find relaxing."  Fury slammed his door and let out a scream of rage.  "Okay, maybe Bora Bora?" she asked Agent Hill.

"I'm not sure if we shouldn't book him a room beside Warren Meers," she said quietly, going into the meeting room.  She spotted the reason for the screaming in the office.  "Agent Coulson, should we be inputting new things into your identifying marks file?" she asked.

He looked over from talking with one of the other trainers.  "They'll only last two weeks, Agent Hill."  He smiled slightly.  "Xander wanted to go for a fly."

"Did him giving himself wings lead to yours?"

"For safety and security reasons he couldn't go alone," he said simply.  "Colonel Sheppard was back on Atlantis with his so he needed a flying buddy."

She nodded and walked out.  She tapped and walked into the office, kicking the door closed.  She took the scotch from her boss's hand and gulped some then handed it back.  "Joyce suggested Bora Bora, sir.  Warm, beaches."

"I'd get flashbacks to Summers in Miami," he complained.

"There's the north pole.  Somewhere in Scandinavia."  He gave her a dirty look.  "Africa, sir?  There's a mission going."

He snorted.  "I might go on that.  I can handle that sort of sand."  She nodded and filled out forms for the both of them, letting him sign them.  She handed them to Joyce to send off for her and went home to pack.  She, Tara, and the kids needed some bikini time and she'd back the day before Christmas.  Tara would enjoy that.

Fury walked out.  "I'm going on a mission in Africa, Summers.  Don't destroy anything until I get back or Hill gets back."

"Of course, not, sir."  She smiled and waved at his back once he was in the elevator.  She went in to look at the wings.  "You need preened, Phil.  You have bent feathers."

"Yes, but if I do, I'd have to take the day off."

She hugged him around the shoulders, resting between his wings.  "That's probably why Xander loves them so much."  She went back to her desk.  Things would go on like usual unless there was a crisis or an attack.  When Phil came out she held up something.  "A complaint from Cleveland that their demon cocksucking people were dumb."

"Thank you."  He walked off reading it.

Joyce smiled at the man coming off the elevator.  He was the technical third in command and an asshole bigger than Stark.  "Sir, Director Fury told you he was going on a mission?"

"He did," he said.  "Where is Agent Hill?"

"Bora Bora for the next week."  She smiled.  "The office is locked but there was nothing on his desk before he stomped off."  She found things and handed them over.  "Those are the current reports waiting on him to sign off.  Agent Hill dropped them on my desk before she left."

He grimaced.  "Open the door?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but Director Fury said no one in his office even if he's in a coma.  You can work in the secondary office," she said with a point.  "Or in the conference room.  The seats in there are more comfortable and you can spread out."  He glared at her.  She smiled sweetly.  "My daughter does that better."  He huffed into the conference room.  She routed Fury's phone in there and then sent in the other things that had to get signed.  Including the budget for the cafeteria.

He came out with that.  "Why does he need to specially sign off?"

"The World Security Council said anything out of the ordinary and they had a complete freezer breakdown.  It didn't get fixed for three days.  They lost about a month's worth of food they'll need to have replaced."

"Is that really a necessity?  We're not on the hell carrier, Summers."  He handed it back.

"Then you might lose your infirmary staff, everyone who's on sick leave, and about half the admin staff who is here because we have to eat on a schedule with medicines or for other reasons," she said, handing it back.  "The medical staff are all on medications right now to combat the virus that got released in the lab upstairs, which has to be taken with food every four hours.  By food, it needs to be taken with protein, which is usually at least refrigerated or beans, and three are allergic to beans."

He sneered.  "Most of the admin staff are also on the same medicine for the very same reason.   You nearly lost us all to a quarantine situation for over a week."  Still sneering.  "Also, do be aware that I have to take mine with my medicine to make sure the brain tumor doesn't come back and if I don't get mine, then I have to go back to the hospital, which means nothing gets done."

"We did without a PA for years."

She slugged him.  "That's nice, sweetheart, but that's probably why nothing got done.  Including missing weapons, missing tech gear, missing science information, three leaks in R&D, that also happened to almost compromise Stark International, and we nearly got invaded by someone who wanted someone in our cells.  Which meant that our invasion drill turned real and three agents died.  Overall, those leaks have led to the loss of an irreplaceable sixteen agents.  Now, do you want to deal with things the proper way or would you like to keep throwing fits like a child, at which point in time I'll stick you in a corner like you're deserving?"

He huffed and got up.  She  grabbed him by the ear and slammed him into a corner, making him yelp and hold his nose.  "Stay there until you can act your age."  She sat back down.  "People, work is not getting done," she noted.  The admin staff went back to it.  She typed a text to the fourth in command, who was much nicer.  The man tried to move so she casually hit him with her taser.  "I said stay there until you can be a big boy and use big boy panties and words, Dexter.  You're clearly missing out on your toddler years."

"I'll have you fired," he sneered.

She smiled.  "You go right ahead.  I can probably get one with Stark and have better benefits anyway."  She set off the taser again, making him scream.  "My!  I didn't even scream that much in labor.  Neither did Tara and she had twins without painkillers."  She smiled at the fourth in command that showed up.  "Good morning, AJ."

"Joyce."  He looked at the guy above him.  "Fury?"

"Mission in Africa I believe he said," Joyce said with a smile.  She showed him the film of him stomping off.

"Maria will love Bora Bora," he decided.  "Him?"

"Acting like a toddler."

"I thought that was Coulson's threat to Stark," he said with a grin.

"I did learn many great things from Phil.  He's such a nice boy when he's not in the field."

"Fucking faggot," the third in command sneered.

She hit him again and dropped the taser into her plant by accident.  "Oops."  AJ dug it out and turned it off.  "Sorry.  It did slip."

"It did, I saw it slip."  The other guy was panting.  "Why don't you hit the infirmary and I'll deal with it."  Coulson came off the elevator with some folders.  "I wondered why Fury screamed that way and Hill took a sudden vacation."

Phil smiled slightly.  "Alexander wanted to fly and needed a flying buddy."

"Interesting.  Permanent?"

"Two weeks as far as happened last time."

"Wonderful.  Learn some skills that way to make sure if we want to do that in the future for battles."

"I'm sparring with Romanoff today."  He handed over the folders.  He stared at the other guy.  "We do have a non-discrimination policy and if you voice your opinion on my relationship again I'm going to use you to warm up.  We may not be gladiators that rank ourselves by our fighting abilities but I'm fairly certain you're near the bottom anyway."  He looked at AJ.  "The planned meetings over the move are on Friday," he said more quietly.

"I can attend those and conference in Fury.  Joyce?"  She handed over the scheduling book.  "What's this one with the caf?"

"The budget's due by then."  She pointed at the mark beside it.  "Paperwork due by then."  She handed it over.  "Freezer malfunction."

"I heard."  He looked it over.  "Seems reasonable.  We need to buy for the hell carrier too."

"That has a separate budget line."  She showed him.  "It's due next week.  They'll be sending the order to me by Wednesday so we can get it to them by next Saturday."

He nodded, signing off on things.  She pointed at the conference room.  "I know he hates people in his office when he's not there."

"That and Dawn burned his desk for him."  She smiled.

"We heard why," he assured her, heading to look those folders over.  "Agent Coulson, please drop our superior in the infirmary on your way to sparring."

"Yes, sir."  He hauled him up and down there.

Joyce sighed and smiled.  "He's gotten so much stronger from the sparring.  Xander's done him very good."

AJ came out.  "They spar?"

She smiled and nodded.  "Xander's teaching him sword and axe work too."

"Excellent.  Have him do a preliminary evaluation with it."  He went back in there.  "Then do one when he doesn't have the wings."

"Yes, sir."  She sent that text message.  He brought it up to hand over.  She patted him on the arm.  "You've gotten much more openly muscular, Phil."

He smiled at her.  "I have.  I had to buy whole new shirts and jackets."  He left, going back to his office.

AJ looked it over.  "He's pretty damn good."  He filed that for later inclusion into his folder.  Joyce had everything set up so he could deal with it within minutes, which left Fury time to handle everything else.  Before it'd be late nights of lost paperwork and having to redo things.  Now, it was much more smooth.  Though the guy above him really needed to be gone.  Unfortunately his profile was locked in the system.  Joyce brought him in a tablet with a site pulled up and logged into.  "Peoplefinders.com," he read, shrugging and trying it.  It did a pretty good job of the public stuff.  "He was picked up for prostitution?"  He did a check on those through the local papers and courthouses.  Maybe that was a decent place to start.  He'd have to remember it.

***

Xander appeared, lazy smile in place, smirking at Dawn.  "You called off work because...."

"Mom?" she joked, smirking sleepily.  "He finally worked that kink out of my lower back."

"That 'my chair is at the wrong height' knot?  Cool.  Your mom wanted to know."

"I'll talk to her in a few."

"She said Fury took off for Africa on a mission."  Clint moaned and shook his head.  "Maria, the twins, and Tara all went to Bora Bora."  He grinned, his wings flapping slowly.

Natasha lifted her head up.  "Wings?"

"I like the wings.  I'm not usually one for flying but it's the shit."  He smirked.  "I can give her the spell."

"Um, no," Clint said from under Dawn's back.  "I'd never hear the end of the jokes.  Thanks though."

"Okay, if you're sure."  He disappeared, going to check on Stark.  "Hey."

Tony jumped and stared.  "Wings?"  He came over to look at them.  "Huh.  Messy feathers."

"Sexual organ," Xander said before Tony could touch them.  "Sorry."

"Like literally, like an extra dick, or just physically and sensation wise?"

"Sensation wise definitely.  Sividia me and his slightly evil Sam have wing foreplay."  He grinned.

"Wonderful.  I want readings on them."

"No!"

He clipped two clips to the edges, ignoring Xander's wishes.  "More than a pinch?"  He turned it on and read what it showed without waiting for an answer.  "JARVIS, scan those for me?"  A beam went over Xander and a virtual model came up.  "Huh."  He casually touched a few feathers, watching how the image changed.  Then he stroked down over them, making Xander moan.  Suddenly the display lit up and a warning went off behind it in the form of Phil appearing with a scowl.  "Testing!  Not coming onto him!"

"Uh-huh.  Unhook my mate's wings, Stark.  Before we give you some."  Tony unclipped him.  "Thank you."  He took Xander home.

Xander popped back for a minute.  "Joyce wanted to know if you really let Dawn have today off due to sex."  He left again.

Tony nodded.  "Of course I did.  I totally changed my PhD dissertation defense one time due to the succuba sorority hitting on me the night before."  He shrugged and got back to work.  "She's allowed two sex days a every six months.  It's in her contract."  He went over the wings and the sensitive nature of them.  There might be something there he could use.

Jonathan walked in looking green.  "Tony, what do you do when you're motion sick from the elevators?" he asked.

Tony looked at him.  "With your recent research I'd go take an EPT," he said bluntly.  "JARVIS, run a scan on him please?"  It popped up with a bright pink plus sign over his head.  "Boy, girl...."

"No idea yet," JARVIS admitted.  "I can't test DNA without a sample and it's too soon for that."

Jonathan grinned.  "I managed it?  Cool!"  He ran off to babble at Andrew and the girls, who all cheered him on and took him to the infirmary for a test, even though the doctor was confused, then for ice cream.  Tony sent a text telling him which tests he needed to do and how often, how to journal everything, and then to get ready to publish it.  Jonathan showed them, it was a great step.  They could do great things with this!

***

Clay looked at his phone.  "Dawn texted."  Roque lifted his head.  Clay got into the message and groaned, throwing the phone at his mate's head.  "The geek twins managed it."

"They're going to be on us even more," Roque complained.  "Anyone wanna have kids for us?"

"Nope, but the ladies last night might like some," Jensen quipped.

"Condoms," Roque reminded him firmly.

"I did!  Even if I did stretch some way too far."  Cougar had been walking in but turned and walked off crossing himself and muttering in Spanish again.  "Sorry," he quipped with a grin and a wave.

"What hookers did you hire last night?" Clay asked.

Jensen grinned.  "Dragon groupies."  He got up and changed to his smaller form to fly off.

"Someone get me something to kill him with," Roque complained, rubbing his forehead.

"There's actual groupies?" Clay demanded.

Roque nodded.  "There's vampire and werewolf groupies too.  They'd love to have sex with them, and some'll do it in animal form."

"I did not need to know that," Pooch said, turning and walking off.

"Talk to Jensen about his," he ordered.

"Hell no.  I don't want to know."

Jensen leaned in a minute later, back in human form, and grinned.  "They were really nice.  They oiled me and they teased me and they had really a lot of fun squealing about me."

"In animal form?" Clay complained.

"My dragon form is as much a part of me as your wolf one is yours," he said firmly.  "Besides, having sex in human form can be really weird.  We're usually in dragon form when we mate if possible."  He jogged off again.

"I've got to buy him a damn wife somewhere," Roque complained.

Clay looked at him.  "We can ask Xander."

"No then he'd probably get more groupies!"

Xander leaned in.  "Did I hear groupies?" he asked with a grin.

"Jensen found dragon groupies last night."

"Can't say as I've ever tried a dragon in full size," Xander admitted.  "They'd probably be really big."  He shrugged and walked off.  "Jensen, if your groupies show up later, keep them off the trainees.  They're all mentally fragile about sex stuff."

"Sure, Xander."

"Thanks."

Clay looked at Roque.  "Can you and I go back to Pegasus?  The shit there was weird but I could put up with it better than I can this shit."

He nodded.  "I'll see if we can."  He and Clay left to go somewhere far, far away from all groupies, Xander's wings, Jensen, Cougar, and anyone else.  They could go back to the same sex house they had been married at and replay their mating.

Clay looked around then at him.  "This seems familiar," he said dryly.

"Should," he agreed, throwing him in the sling and tying him down with an evil grin.  "Lucky for you I even brought a sharp knife to cut the clothes off you."  He got to work on that, slight, precise cuts that made Clay shiver and grab onto the arm straps he was hitched to.

***

Xander and Phil meet up later that night.  "So," Xander said, moving closer to Phil, one hand going around his waist.  "I hear we're not babysitting for a week?"

"We're not," he agreed, sliding one of his hands around Xander's waist.  "Why?"  Xander spun him and he grabbed him back and the sparring/tickle match/seeing who was on top match was on.

"Oh, dear lord Odin, just fuck already," Talsa yelled.

"We will when we see who's on top tonight," Xander quipped.  She threw a heavy pan at his head, making him yelp and duck.  Which Phil took advantage of with a smirk and taking them to the bedroom.

"You're not because you get funny ideas like wings!" she called after him.  "Need it cured, boy."  She went to fuss over the trainees.  They were all mentally slow but she guessed it was like field warriors who could only take orders, not make their own.

30: Dawn Luck Of Newborn Future Old Ones

Baby Elizabeth Potts is born during a bout of Dawn Luck.  How lucky for her.

Dawn looked at Pepper.   Of course she was in labor right in the middle of a meeting.  The whole gasp and grabbing the stomach thing was really telling.  "Okay," Dawn announced.  "This meeting is adjourned for obvious reasons."  People actually dared to glare at her for it.  "People, she's in labor.  Do you really want her to deliver this kid here?"  They shook their heads.  "Then the meeting's adjourned.  JARVIS, please tell Tony to meet us at the front door in a car and with Pepper's delivery bag."

"I'll be okay," Pepper said as she was walked off.  "It'll take hours."

"Not exactly," Dawn said, patting her on the arm.  "You could go in a few hours.  It might take that long to get Tony out of the lab."  She walked her to the elevator and down to the front door.  She was scheduled to deliver in a regular hospital but the infirmary here at the tower was the backup delivery spot.  They got outside, no Tony.  "JARVIS?" she asked her phone.  He was always linked to her phone.

"I cannot get him to wake up.  He's not exactly sleeping but he seems to be frozen."

"Okay, plan B," Dawn decided, taking her back up to the infirmary.  She noticed the cars on the street seemed to have that same frozen quality.  She found the spell in there and countered it, waking up the staff.  "Huge problems in the city, guys.  People are all frozen like you were.  She's in labor and the baby's having Dawn luck."  They nodded and took Pepper to a private room so they could check her over.  Dawn ran up to the labs, finding Tony still frozen.  She got him freed and he blinked at her.  "Pepper's in labor, boss."

He ran off.  "Infirmary," she yelled after him.  She clocked out and walked outside, looking up then around.  "Yeah, this isn't a good omen for the baby."  She dialed her phone, tapping her earpiece.  "Hey, Big Brother Phil?  Is there something going on magically that no one's told me about?  Because if not, the whole city is presently frozen."  She listened to him check then say 'huh'.  "Okay, well, Pepper's in labor.  I woke up Stark and our infirmary.  I'm headed home to grab some supplies and I'll meet you there."  She hung up and hiked home, planning how to undo this.  If you unfroze the center then they'd crash into the ones that hadn't been unfrozen yet.

She got home and found things still frozen.  A touch got Natasha woken from her nap, and unfrozen, but she was confused.  "Major magical things going on."  She went to change out of her nice business suit and into something more practical.  It was the middle of January, so it was freezing outside, though not snowy for a change.  Just a really bitterly brisk wind and it was fart-freezing cold out there.  So this time a nice turtleneck, long sleeve, full length unitard and a skirt under her chain mail.  She walked out after grabbing a bag full of supplies, heading to figure out what was going on.  She could feel the gathering spot, which was traditionally in the center, so she headed there first.

She found a book.  A glowing book but still just a book.  She read the cover then pulled out something to wrap around it. First silk but that didn't stop the magical gathering problems.  She picked up a stone and did that instead.  She manipulated the stone's matrixes until it wrapped itself around the book.  That worked.  She put it back down and pulled out a few things to sense around them.  Tara came jogging over.  "We have multiple diary looking books that are leaking back to this one," she told her.  "I had to do an earth wrapping.  I'm not sure if there's going to be a difference for the others."

Tara nodded.  "Okay."  She felt the book and stood up, dusting off her hands.  "We can handle that."  She and Dawn felt around.

"Does this mean that you're the apocalypse battle this time?" one of the junior SHIELD agents sneered.  "I knew that magic shit was wrong."

Dawn looked at him.  "No, I'm the first responder so I can get it stopped since you'd be worthless against magic."  She went back to it, frowning.  "Pentagram."  Tara nodded.  They found the last few points by that.  A deeper voice cleared his throat.  "We narrowed a few down to a few blocks," she said, looking at Fury.  "That one's wrapped in stone.  I'm not sure if we can wrap the others in stones as well or if we have to switch to a different element for each one.  Which means that the fire one will be interesting."

She showed him the map she and Tara had been working from.  "This point is somewhere within three buildings.  There's a magical shop that has some artifacts, a guy who has a pretty good private collection of possessed statues and a few other tiny things, and one that's a working area I'm pretty sure, and probably for someone following a blood magic path.  I've never been in the working area but it gives me the same feeling that I took a cemetery tour in New Orleans and ended up tripping over someone's calling and prayer working area."

Tara pointed.  "That one's shielded.  We can only get it down to a general area."

Dawn nodded.  "I can find that one.  It's in the demon area anyway."  Tara smiled at her.  "They know not to try to attack me.  Buffy's got even worse hormone swings right now."  She looked at Fury.  "This one was under a bridge support.  This one's in the open, so probably floating or on a crystal pile like this one," she said with a point at it.  "The last one's probably within a few feet of a roof.  I felt it in the air, in the open, and in SoHo that means a roof."

"Good," Fury said.  "Get a containment box."

"This one has to be put up last.  The others are leaking to it," Tara said quietly.  "I'm not sure if they won't cause a problem if they can't leak into it.  Something like a backlash."

"Or releasing the people in a few areas that are frozen so they crash into the other frozen people," Dawn said.  She pointed at the cars because Fury looked confused.  "You free the middle ones and they crash, go boom," she said bluntly.  "You free the back ones, they go boom too.  Most people don't have the split second timing to hit the brakes in time and I'm guessing you're going to be disoriented while you're waking up."

"So many major crashes," Tony agreed as he landed.  "Pepper's fine, she told me to come," he said at Dawn's pointed look.

"Why wouldn't she?" Tara asked, looking confused.

Dawn grinned.  "The baby's coming and it already has Dawn luck."

"Oh, no," she muttered, shaking her head.  "We'll work up a warding pattern to put around wherever she'll sleep."  Dawn swatted her.

"Thanks," Tony said, getting swatted too.  "Which one are we taking?"

"This one," Fury said with a point at the one that was in the open.  "Make sure there's nothing happening before you somehow wrap it in something."

"Metal, water, air, fire, or void," Dawn quipped.  "Totally covered, no leaking points," Dawn told Tony, getting a nod and he flew off.  Fury pointed at some agents to follow him.  "I'm heading to the demon area."

"I'm guarding this one to make sure it can't call someone to help it," Tara said quietly.

"Okay."  Dawn jogged off, heading for a bicycle she spotted leaning against a tree.  She'd leave it at a police station or something.  Not like she was going to waste energy teleporting to the demon section halfway across Manhattan.  And hey, no traffic to hit her.  She looked at a bridge she had to ride past, shaking her head since the other half was all honking.  She thought that at Phil, who said he'd send someone to handle it.  She finally made it to the hidden demon section and walked through the gateway, sensing the book.  She headed for the bar, shaking her head as she passed a few unfrozen demons.  "No idea, but we're stopping it."  They groaned.

"Try to keep it down with everyone else frozen?"  They nodded.  They didn't want blamed for this.  Dawn found the book's location and walked into the bar.  They were all frozen.  She walked around to where the book was sitting on a table looking like a bet in a kitten poker game.  She opened her pack and pulled out what she needed, including gloves.  She pulled them on, then pulled out the pre-cut silk square to wrap it in.  That woke up most everyone.  "Don't," she ordered when one of the demons started to move toward her.  "It's freezing the whole island."  The demonic bouncer backed off.  She sensed then tapped her earbud.

"We'll have to wrap each on in something different," she told the call-in officer.  "This is Dawn.  Tell Fury each one has to be wrapped in a different element.  I've got this one in water."  She hung up and used her free hand to pull over a jug of holy water that was sitting around as a deterrent.  She manipulated it into a flat sheet in mid-air then put the book carefully on it and bent it around.  She frozen it solid.  "There," she sighed, smiling.  "That should free more of the frozen people."  She looked at the bouncer.  "There's six of these on the island.  We've contained two. The whole island is frozen.  Outside a few demons I walked past on the way here."

The bouncer nodded.  "Okay.  Do we need to help?"

"Just stay calm.  One's down by Blue Moon."  He nodded, walking off calling a bar that succuba and others hung out in over that way.  She looked at the people at the table.  "Did one of you bet this book?"  They shook their heads.  "Any idea how it got here?"

"It splashed down," one said with a small shrug.

"Okay," she said, knowing someone was lying.  "Any idea who did the whole spell thing?  Because Director Fury's really not happy."  They all groaned.  "Neither's Phil.  This is keeping him from helping decorate for the twins' birthday tomorrow."

"They're three?" the dealer asked.

"Just now three but their party's tomorrow due to work things."  That got a nod of understanding.  "They still don't babble like most kids.  They talk but they're quiet.  Which is really kinda nice."  They grinned.  "Okay, let us know, people."  She walked out with the book, putting it into her pack.  She found a demon gang out there.  "Guys, I'm just handling a problem," she noted.  "One affecting normals."

"You're not one of us," the demon gang leader sneered.

"No, I'm not a Krasithk demon," she said dryly.  "I'm a Dawn."  They sneered and moved closer.  She pulled up magic and a few fled.  The rest attacked so she pulled out her sickles and defended until the last few were there.  She pushed back her hair.  "You feel better now?"  The leader was backing away.  She pulled in her glowing and grinned.  "Don't worry.  I don't tell my sister about these things so she won't come stomp on you because of her hormone swings.  I'm not a nark that way unless you guys are hurting humanity.  Are you?"

"Just you," he sneered.

Dawn stared at her.  "I don't hurt people unless they make me hurt them."  The demon shuddered.  "Who said otherwise?"

"Everyone!" he sneered.

"Excuse me?  I may be a witch but not that sort."  She stared at him.  "I've never been that sort.  Mom and Buffy would've killed me if I became that sort."

The leader flinched.  "You're that witch?"

"Um, yeah.  Which witch did you think I was?"

"The one that set the books."

"Which would be?  I'd like to talk to the stupid bitch.  I'm supposed to be guarding my boss while she's in labor, not picking up after her mess."

"That socialite dumb bitch."

"Oh, her," she sighed.  "Yeah, we're going to have words.  I had plans of that later actually.  Guess it'll be now."  She smiled.  "Thank you for that information.  Let me finish cleaning up her crap."  She walked off, calling in.  "Connect me to Agent Coulson or Fury directly," she ordered.  "This is Summers and I know who's doing it.  Now fucking connect me or become something cute and cuddly!"  They connected her.  "Your call-in people are fucking morons today, Fury.  That dumb society cunt is doing it.  Yup, her.  They thought I was so a demon gang attacked.  The leader told me she did it when I explained I'm Dawn and not her.  No clue.  Probably somewhere high rent.  I was going to look her up later and warn her to get out of my city.  Thanks."  She hung up, walking over to the SHIELD agent waiting on her.  She looked at him.  "ID?"  He flashed it.  "Good enough.  Right to the park where Tara is."  She handed over the book.  "Don't let it melt.  It shouldn't but...."

He nodded.  "Understood, Summers.  The others?"

"We'll have to wrap each one separately.  If they grab them, bring them to Tara or I and we can do that."  He nodded, getting in to drive off, mostly on the sidewalks so he didn't hit the frozen cars.  Dawn shivered but checked.  The one under the bridge had her mates handling it.  Stark was in the open with that one.  The other two had regular agents but Phil was handling the one at the magic shop.  She went to help Stark.  It was closest.  The book had called up guardians in the form of what looked like miniature trolls.  She blasted them back into magical oblivion.

The book wobbled and she grabbed it.  It burned but yay.  She still had on the gloves.  She pulled out what she needed and wrapped it up.  Suddenly the battle was over with.  She looked at her boss, holding it up.  "Wrapped in steel.  I might have to rewrap it later."  He nodded, taking it and putting it inside his suit's carrying pocket.  "Back to Tara."  He flew off.  "Guys, go help either Coulson or Barton and Romanoff at the bridge.  I'm heading to SoHo.  It's the next closest one."  They fled and she pulled back in her glow.

"Why am I going full on glow?" she muttered as she walked.  She felt around for dangers.  She found one and flashed out of the way, heading up behind the sniper to take her down.  "Oh, great," she said.  "The debutante assassin idiot."  She kicked her around because the young socialite was very bad at fighting.  She finally got her down and took her to Fury with her gun.  "Found her unfrozen and on top of something."  She handed the gun to Tara, who handed it to Maria with a grimace.

"Why give her to us?" Fury complained.

"That's Julia Shandy, Fury.  The debutante assassin bitch that got outed the other day.  I figured you could probably handle her."  She walked off shaking her head.  "Tara, who has what?"

"They could use some help at the bridge I think."

"No, go help SoHo," Fury ordered.  "I've got the minor witch we found in the ranks with them."

Dawn nodded.  "Okay."  She strolled off.  She was still glowing.  "Let me guess," she told herself.  "We're welcoming the new one?  Because right now we need to be less glowy and less of a target."  It faded and she found a ride to SoHo with the agents waiting around guarding the park.  The team was trying to fight the creatures the book had summoned, this time flying harpy looking things.  She looked up to check above her then moved away from the car under the book.

She summoned it down to her.  The harpies focused on her and the agents shot them to keep them off her while she worked.  This one got surrounded by air.  Suddenly the harpies were gone and she had to shield against a few gunshots.  "Thanks, guys, really."  They slowly put up their guns.  "Report to the park for Fury to give you clean up orders."  They nodded.  She got back into the car with the agent, having to take down her shield to do that.  "Ever get the feeling that you're surrounded by idiots?" she asked him.

He laughed.  "Yes, especially on the trainee floor."

She nodded.  "Were they?"  He nodded.  "Figures.  Most of you older agents can stop firing when things disappear."  He smirked.  "The wrecks are going to be horrible if they don't clean up from the outer edges first."

"We'll do what we can, same as always, Summers.  Who was that woman you brought to Fury?"

"Julia Shandy."

He shuddered.  "Yuck.  That's a nasty bit of hell."

"She's not all that good at anything she does.  Maybe he can have her put somewhere useful."  She shrugged.  "What sort of assassin doesn't wear at least some underwear sometimes?"

He laughed.  "She's a debutante first and it shows."

"Well, at least she now has something else to be famous for beyond her lack of panties and a few sex tapes."  The agent was still laughing.  "By the way, Pepper's in labor."

"So this is because of that one being born?" he quipped.

"Damn I hope not.  That should only happen to my future kids."  He nodded smugly.  She winced when she felt Natasha fall.  "Ow."  She rubbed her head, keeping her calm.  They got her out of the frigid water and she sent warm thoughts to calm her down.  Clint got the book and asked for advice.  She told him to tell the witch what she had wrapped the others in.  She got that one wrapped in something and she agreed they could fix it later if they had to.  To help Natasha get warm for her.  She disconnected and felt it when Phil got his.

"Park.  They've got the others.  They quit flashing," she said quietly.  He nodded, taking her back there.  She and Tara got the different books laid out properly to adjust the bindings for anything that was still leaking.  Tara had to pull up the void one and wrap it back on itself so it couldn't spread.  Dawn got the others sealed then into the box someone was arranging with foam cutout spots.  Dawn stared.  "They weren't in the right spots for it to work.  That's probably what froze everyone."  She rearranged it and the magic flashed out.  Everyone was still frozen.  "Go wake them up from the outer edge," she told them.

Fury sent out teams of agents with air horns to wake people up.

Dawn and Tara sealed the box then handed it to the guy waiting with the large iron box.  "Sink it," Tara said quietly.  "Deep where no one can find it."

The agent nodded.  "We have a special vault set up for magical and mystical artifact holding, Tara."  He let Fury lock it with his special code then carried it off with help from his partner.

Dawn looked at Clint.  "She okay?"

"She's fine.  Bit cold.  Back at Stark's infirmary."

"That reminds me, Pepper's in labor."  She smiled and disappeared.

Clint smirked.  "The baby will have Dawn luck apparently," he quipped, walking off.  "Stark?"

"Heading back.  I'm not giving rides though."  He flew off.  "Later, people."

"Going to help guard the future hellion," Clint noted.

"Reports," Fury ordered.  They all nodded and he got a cab that had just been freed to HQ.  Fury groaned, looking around.  "Tara, any other clean up?"

"Probably not."  She plucked up the small bits of crystal that book had been sitting on.  "We can clean these."  She walked off with Maria talking about the birthday party.  Phil joined them to see what he needed to pick up.

Fury shook his head, looking at the person his agents had in holding.  "Whatever," he decided.

"That's usually her sort of line, sir," one of the junior agents quipped.  Fury glared.  "Sorry, sir."  He ducked his head.

"Thankfully I'm not an airhead socialite."  He walked off.  "Take her back to HQ to interrogate her."  The agents with her nodded, walking her off.  "And her shitty rifle since it sucks.  She clearly got minimal training."

"We'll search her hotel room," one of them said.  "That way if she's got one of her pets with her they're not going to die from neglect.  Just boredom."

"Fine.  Have Joyce handle them for tonight."  He nodded and found her keys after frisking her.  "If her cohort the witch is in, Summers said to run her off.  She was going to later but I guess she'll be a bit busy."  He walked off shaking his head.  Someone was going to be calling soon to bitch about all this.  He'd better have an explanation ready that calmed them down.  Socialite witches and assassins weren't a great one that wouldn't cause a stroke.

***

Joyce was handed the little bag of dogs.  She looked inside then at the agent, giving him an odd look.  "Am I adopting?"

"Their human just got picked up as a sniper," the agent said dryly.  "She's a *socialite*."

"That explains why're they're all tiny dogs."  She sighed and put them on the desk.  "How long am I babysitting them for and do they have any special needs?"

"I think they're just dogs, Mrs. Banner."

She smiled.  "I still usually go by Summers.  It makes him blush if I don't."  He grinned and walked off.

Clint came off the elevator.  "Hey, Mom."  He looked in the bag.  "Great, smaller and more dumb than the cat."

She swatted him.  "You can let the twins play with the cat to entertain him."

"No we can't.  He runs like hell from the twins."  He smirked.  "I'm moving his cat habitat to the spare bedroom.  He's been staring again and it's getting creepy.  I'd make Stark take him for the sprout but he won't leave the mice alone."  He shrugged.  "I'm supposed to be picking up Dawn here?"

"I think she's back at the tower with Pepper."

"She just texted to say she was here."

Dawn popped in and waved at the dogs.  "At least my mom has a bigger vocabulary than you guys do, unlike your human."  She took Clint with her back to the Stark infirmary.  She pointed.  "She's cold and I'm guarding Pepper and the baby.  Stark's panicking hard."

"I would too," he admitted, going to check on Natasha, who was still chilled.  He climbed up next to her, letting her rest against his side.  "Better than a heating pad any day," he quipped with a grin.

"You are nicely warm," she agreed.  She snuggled against his side.  "Your ropes aren't tight enough."

"That was the new arrow.  I'll tighten the tension on them."  She nodded.  "Why are we guarding the baby?"

"In case it keeps having Dawn luck."

"Oh, that reason."  He nodded.  That made sense with how the baby had been made.  Dawn came back blushing.  "Bad?" he asked.

"Slightly naked issues.  The baby's glowing."  She took a kiss from each of them then got something and walked back in there.  "Here," she said, kicking the door shut.  It bounced slightly open again.

"Dawn, you can probably take off the chainmail," Tony complained.

"Shut up!"

"Yes, Pepper."

"Dawn, chainmail is not good for babies," Pepper complained.

The sound of a kiss on the head.  "Quit fussing at me.  If something comes to try to herald the birth I'll need it."

"Fine.  Thank you for the kiss on my hair.  Where's my mother?"

"On her way," Tony said.  "I sent the plane for her earlier.  They should be picking her up in a few minutes if they can and then flying back.  She'll be here by tonight."

"Owowowowowowowowowowow!" Pepper complained.  "Damn it!" she shouted.  "Kid, stop that shit!"

Clint and Natasha winced.  Pepper didn't usually swear.

"Can't she have painkillers?" Tony begged.

"She didn't want any."

"I was a dumb bitch!" Pepper shouted.  "I want drugs!"

"Let me get you some," the nurse said then came out of the room smiling slightly.  The doctor pulled some out for her.  "IV?"

"Please."  She checked on Natasha, who was seeming warmer by her temperature.  "Good."  She walked in there and closed the door then came backing out.  "I have no idea what that is.  I'm not an OB and that's not standard in any birth room that I've seen."

Dawn came out and got something from Clint then went back in and stabbed it.  She tossed it into the hallway.  "Goblin."  She cleaned the knife off on her skirt and handed it back before going in there.  "See, good reason for the chainmail, Pepper."  Pepper was crying so she and Tony hugged her.

The doctor went back in there once security came to get the body.  This was not what she expected from a normal birth.  Goblins didn't usually show up for those.

Clint and Natasha shared a look.  Clint took Natasha's weapons from the table to clean for her since she was still shaking from the cold dip in the Hudson river.  They might need them.  He checked his own too, getting the guards to get him the spare ammo from Dawn's desk that she kept for their guns.  Natasha had them layer a few guards outside the infirmary and by the entrances just in case.  They settled in to wait.

Around midnight they heard screaming and both winced.  Pepper was not in a good mood now.  Clearly it was time.  Her mother was rushed in when she got there and helped calm her down.  Dawn and Tony were helping.  Tony got to cut the cord and they heard a scream of outrage from the baby.

Dawn came out holding the glowy ball.  She put it on Natasha's and Clint's laps while she did the protections around it.  It turned back into a fussing, wiggling, slimy baby.  "I told you to quit doing that," she said quietly, then picked up some oil she had pulled out of her bag to do protections on the baby's stomach.  "There, that should stop that."  She picked her up to look at her.  "Hi.  You better now?"  She fussed.  "C'mon then, let's go see Mom and Grandma and Uncle Tony."  She walked her back in there, letting Grandma take her to wrap up and diaper.  "It should make sure she can't do that again, Pepper."

"Thank you, Dawn."  She yawned and took the baby to cuddle.  "Hi, Elizabeth."  The baby fussed so she looked at her chest.  "How do I do this?"  The nurse moved to help her get into proper breastfeeding position.  The baby got happier and fell asleep sucking.  Dawn and Tony left her and her mom alone, flopping down outside the room.

"At least there wasn't an attack," Clint quipped.

Tony snorted.  "They stopped three press people who tried to get in to see her in labor," he said.  "The guards also stopped someone from that stupid church who wanted to break in and get Dawn."  Dawn nodded at that.  "Thanks, guys."

"Welcome," Natasha said quietly.  "Is the baby healthy?"

"Yup," Dawn said with a grin.  "Just a mite cranky."  She looked at Tony.  "Is she doing a christening?"

"Next week."

"Okay, I can make sure of that.  Let me change her schedule to out for maternity leave for a month."  She pulled out her tablet to do that and nodded.  "That means you have to do the meeting for the new jet."  She did that.  "And the new building that same day."  She synched their systems then leaned into the room.  "You're all set for a month off, Pepper."

"Thank you, Dawn."

Dawn grinned.  "You two need time to bond before you start bringing her to work."  She pulled back to look at her boss again.  "Go tell the niece?"

"She knows," Tony assured her.  "She's probably bugged all the guards to get information if she hasn't monopolized JARVIS all night to get updates."

JARVIS cleared his throat.  "She felt the baby coming and the magic gathering around to protect the child.  She's still sitting on her bed chewing on her bottom lip and staring at the windows."

"Let her come down," Dawn said.

"I can do so," the AI said.

A few minutes later an Iron Man pajama wearing mini Stark ran in to pounce her father for a kiss on the cheek then ran in to see her new sibling.  "Hi, baby," she cooed, touching her foot.  "You're so great.  You'll be like my sister and we'll be great friends."  The baby yawned and kept sleeping.  She looked at Pepper.  "Are you okay?  Jonathan said labor could take a really long time and hurt a lot."

"I'm fine, Callia."  She grinned.  "We're both okay."  Callia snuggled into her side, helping by patting the baby.  "She's been named Elizabeth."

"That's a pretty name."  She kissed her aunty on the cheek.  "You stay on the spare bed for a few days?"

"I'm going to go home tomorrow."

Callia snorted.  "Your block has no heat or water.  Water line ruptured earlier."  She grinned.  "News people said so."  She wouldn't mention that her mouse-people friends might've had something to do with that.  Starks were sneaky.

"Great," she complained.  "Then I can stay on the couch until it's fixed."  Callia hugged her and helped her take care of the baby.  "Some day, when you're an adult and have a job, all that adult stuff, you can have one too," she assured her with a smile.

"I will.  I'll have a baby by so he can have the suit."  She kissed her on the cheek again then snuggled in.  "Why is Auntie Natasha in a bed?"

"I think she fell into the river."

Callia looked up at her.  "She's not going to glow, right?  People say there's all sorts of toxic stuff in there."

"No, she won't be glowing."

"Good!"  She covered them all and fell asleep there on her almost-stepmom's shoulder.  One hand was on the baby's foot so she made sure the new kid was all right.

Pepper smiled, petting over Callia's hair.  "It's good that you're not jealous," she said quietly.  Tony looked in then got up and walked in.  "If you move her she'll wake up."

"I know."  He patted her on the hand first, which woke Callia enough not to fight back.  He picked her up and looked at her.  "You're too big to sleep with the baby and she's going to the bassinet soon," he said quietly.  "Let's let Auntie Pepper sleep. Having a baby is hard work."  He carried her back to her bed, tucking her back in.  He made sure she had her stuffed penguin and zebra then went back down there.  Steve had shown up looking like he had napped most of the afternoon.  He still looked half-asleep.

Tony looked at the bassinet, moving stuff out of it then putting the baby in it and moving it next to Mom's bed.  Dawn came in to help him set things up for Pepper for the next few days.  Then they left her to sleep it off.  Steve grinned and went up to the penthouse to go back to bed.  Tony followed.  Dawn got the unusual spot of watching her injured lover rest in the hospital bed this time.  Usually it was her in there instead of Natasha.  Clint smirked.  She grinned back and put her feet up.  The nurse handed her a blanket and pillow and it was good.  They could handle it for tonight.

***

Clint flinched awake, noticing it was the middle of the night and something was screaming hard.  He got up and checked.  Pepper had slept through the baby waking up.  Must've been great drugs with how loud she was.  Pepper's mom wasn't around.  Dawn was still conked out so he went to check on her.  "Hey," he said quietly, staring at her.  "What's wrong?"  He picked her up and she quit fussing as much.  He did what the girls did, putting the baby on his shoulder and patting gently on the back.  The baby calmed down and nuzzled.  "That doesn't feed you, kid.  Sorry.  I'm many things but not a teat."  He heard a quiet laugh and looked at Pepper.  "You slept through the screaming."

"I can do that when the meds are too strong."  She held out her hands.  He handed her the baby and she smiled.  "Thanks."

"Not a problem."  He grinned and went to check on the girls.  They were both heavily asleep.  Natasha was finally warm again so he put Dawn into the bed and let her snuggle while he got the chair.  Though something was really wrong.  The air felt wrong somehow.  He got up to check.  Frozen people.  Nudging didn't work.  He looked in there then at the hallway.  "Huh."  He strolled off.  Dawn had told them who the witch was in case they had run into her.  She was trying to get in with the new sniper that had been found.  He shot them both in the back, non-fatally because that way someone else could have fun.

That made the spell end and he smirked at them.  "Hi, ladies, and I use the term loosely with you two."  He stared at them.  They were crying.  "Good."  He found his phone and called it in.  "It's Barton.  I'm at Stark Tower.  That sniper and her witchy friend are here causing problems but now bleeding on the sidewalk.  Come get them."  He hung up.  "So, why the freezing spell again?" he asked the witch.

"You're nothing," she sneered.

"No, I'm an Avenger," he sneered back.  "You're nothing but a media whore."  She huffed.  A police cruiser pulled up and he looked back.  "SHIELD."

"Figured with where we're in front of, sir, and saw you on the news.  Who're they?"

"Society sluts with ideas of being grander than they are," he said dryly.  "One's a witch that caused problems earlier and the other's a sniper wannabe.  They found her earlier on top of a building during the problem."

"Interesting."  A dark SUV pulled up and parked and Coulson got out.  "Sir."

"Hey, Coulson.  On tonight?"

"Yes.  How's Elizabeth?"

"Having a mom snack."  He smirked.  "Pepper slept through the fussing."

"Tara did for the first two nights.  Thankfully I didn't sleep at all for about four days worrying about them."  He looked at them.  "She had her buddy get her free of us earlier."  He examined the wounds.  "Nice, Barton.  Non-fatal, non-paralyzing, but too painful for them to do anything."

"Dawn didn't wake up when she got moved."

"No wonder."  He snapped and the junior agents got them loaded into the trunk area of the SUV.  "Thank you, Officer."

"Not a problem, sir."  He walked off to make a report to his boss.

Coulson looked at his sniper.  "Anything else to report?"

"Natasha's finally warm."

"That's good."  He got in to drive them back.  He wanted to have a talk with them.  Poser society brats that they were, he'd have to use tiny words.

Clint went back inside, nodding at the security guys.

"Can you guys finish moving Dawn's stuff this weekend?" one asked him.

"I thought we got it all."

"All but the artwork," he said.  "We don't want it to be a target, sir."

"I'll remind her tomorrow."  They grinned and let him go back to the infirmary.  Dawn was yawning but getting more cuddly.  That was about normal for when you woke her up without an emergency.  The baby was fussy so he glanced in there.  Pepper was changing sides and he did not want to see her nurse.  He thought it was great she was breastfeeding, and would beat the shit out of anyone that tried to nag her about doing it in public, but he didn't want to watch.  He was not a Stark.  Callia had snuck back down and was staring from the corner.  Tony probably had the security footage up on his phone or something he was working on.  He went back to his seat so he could make sure nothing else happened.

***

Dawn walked into SHIELD the next morning with a bag held out at arm's length.  The guards gave her a dirty look.  "Dude, someone sent this to Pepper as a baby present."  She let them see it.  "They're getting it back."  She held up the card.

One of the guards signed her in and checked.  "Gym, trainee level, Summers."

"Thanks."  She carried it up there and walked into the gym.  Most of the agents in training paused.  She found the one she wanted and handed the bag over then stepped back.  "Stark said that's in poor taste and he's going to kick your ass because his daughter helped by opening it.  Apparently he didn't think she needed to see the male nursing bib with realistic, leaking-bottle breasts or the blow up doll, or the vibrator in the bottom."

She gave him a pointed look.  "He also said that if he can't beat your ass, I can beat your ass."  He snorted and she decked him, knocking him down.  She smiled.  "Which is why you'll never pass Xander's obstacle course.  I can do it and I'm a fucking assistant.  You're....  Really not healthy."  She walked off shaking her head.  "You have a better day, dude, and leave Pepper alone.  She's still got hormone swings."  She went back to the tower shaking her head all the way down to the car.

Coulson walked in and looked in the bag then at the agent in training.  "We have very tight ties to Stark since he's an Avenger and he's already called *twice* to complain about that and his daughter seeing that.  Director Fury would like to talk to you about why he had to listen to Stark rant.  Let's go."  The agent groaned but got up.  Coulson kindly took the present bag with him.  He handed it to the director and left.

Fury looked in there.  "I didn't know they made fake tits that let men nurse."  He looked at him.  "I doubt she needs the other things either with how much attention she gets when she wants it.  So let's talk about why you thought a blow up doll and a vibrator were appropriate presents to send our adjunct members."

Agent Hill walked past and nicely shut the door, shaking her head when Joyce looked over.  "The nursing bib is a nice present."

She smiled.  "I'd let Bruce have one if it was ours."  Maria smiled back and went back to her desk.  She saw someone coming off the elevator.  "Good morning, Captain."

"Good morning, Joyce, and I said to call me Steve."  He grinned and walked into the office.  He hit the agent in training and grinned at him.  "Leave.  Pepper.  Alone."  He walked off happier.  "Agent Hill, Tara's at the tower with Pepper for a bit.  The twins wanted to meet Elizabeth."  He handed over cards.  "Her christening next week."  He left, going back there.

Fury walked out.  "He's going to need a medical escort.  Boy's got a glass jaw.  Any idea why Captain Rogers just went alpha male?"

She smiled.  "Well, there are the rumors of him and Stark, sir," she said quietly.

He shook his head.  "I doubt that."

Joyce grinned.  "I wouldn't put money on that."  Fury stared at her.  She grinned as she called for a medical escort for the idiot.  "We have someone who just met Captain Rogers' fist because he was an imbecile.  He's on the director's floor.  Thank you."  She hung up.  "They'll be right up, sir."

"Thanks."  He looked at his second-in-command, who just shrugged but was smiling.  "That's going to be a PR nightmare," he muttered, walking off.

"Most of us don't care about press relations," Joyce quipped.  "That's for those who like to suck up, like the ones that are in interrogation."  She finished the background check on where the socialite airhead had learned how to shoot like a sniper.  She walked it in there.  "This school," she said with a point at the history portion of the check.  "Apparently teaches it.  They're listed on a few more covert areas as being a training ground for mediocre level assassins."

He looked then at her.  "It's a prep school, Summers."

"Apparently not just that."  She smiled and handed over what she had found and copied down.  "Them?"

He read it over and shook his head.  "Someone is stupid to even attempt to teach socialites how to fire a gun."

"They do get kidnaped," she said dryly.  "They'll never be Dawn's level but they do get stalkers and things."

"Uh-huh."  He dropped it and shook his head.  "I'll have someone check on their teaching methods.  Have Hill correlate where she's been and possible hits."

"Maria, do you have that correlation done?" she called.

"Almost.  I'm up to the last year she's been out and about."  She walked her tablet in there, letting him see it.  "If we're right, she was responsible for about ten hits in the last two years since she graduated high school, sir."  She looked at the papers Joyce had copied down, nodding some.  "That one's an ineffectual one but he's done it for years," she said with a point.

"Do we think they have more socialite bimbos with guns and dreams of being assassins?" he asked them.

They shrugged.  "No idea.  Ask someone who lives in that lifestyle," Joyce said, dialing Stark's number.  "Tony, Joyce.  The director wanted to have a slight talk about any other socialite assassins we might have out there.  No, her prep school has someone who teaches them.  Exactly."  She smiled.  "I know, and she's not very good with the way that Dawn and Clint both took her down so easily.  Thank you, Tony, and try to get some rest between feedings."  She hung up.  "He'll be over later, Director.  The baby just woke up."  She strolled off.

Maria smiled.  "Callia must be going nuts with the new baby to fuss over."

Fury shook his head.  "Make the bimbo want to give up and have her handed to the FBI," he said.  "Before we have to deal with her some more."

"I can do that."  She walked off with the notes and her tablet to talk to their liaison.  The FBI would not be amused by bimbo assassins either she was sure.

Fury went to find the headache pill stash.  Joyce scheduled him for a medical check behind his back but he knew she was a bit paranoid about routine headaches, even if his were caused by a more insidious cause than a tumor - stupidity.

***

Bruce got home from the conference Rodney McKay had talked him into going to, finding five yappy things staring at him as he walked into their apartment.  He stared.  Then he shook his head because the dogs weren't sitting in a pattern, right?  He had to be tired.   He called Joyce's desk.  "Joyce, why do we have yappy dogs?  Did Dawn switch from mice to them?"  He listened.  "Bimbo assassin," he said dryly.  "Why?" he moaned.  He nodded.  "I'll bring them to the office."  He hung up and gathered them and their food, taking them back there.  He handed them to his wife with a smile.  "We have a no pets clause."

"I forgot about that.  Maybe Dawn...."

"Don't even suggest the twins," Maria said patiently from her desk.  "We have a cat.  I trip over her quite often enough.  Thank you."

"Hellion, Garnet, and the puppies would probably consider them interactive toys," Bruce said, walking off shaking his head.  "I wouldn't mind a dog but it'd have to be real human sized, not a miniature anything please."  He could get the Other Guy used to a pet.  It might be easy enough.  Callia had introduced him to her bunny Carrot and the Other Guy seemed to like Carrot for some reason.  He had made sure she didn't have him the last time he had seen her.

She smiled.  "I'll check with the landlord since we have to redo the lease by next month, Bruce."  He smiled back and went down to R&D to see what they were doing.  She looked at the dogs staring at her, putting down some food and getting them some water from the fountain.  They sniffed it and huffed.  "I don't give animals bottled water unless it's undrinkable.  We all drink from the fountain and it's filtered, dogs."  They ate and went to take over the office.

"Summers, come get these little snacks before I ask Alexander if his war dogs are hungry."

"Sorry, sir."  She came in to get the dogs, closing the office door once they were all out of there.  "Sit, there," she said with a point, moving their dishes that way.  She even let them have her jacket to nap on for a bit.

Stark came out of the elevator an hour later with Callia, who was bouncy and happy.  Callia spotted the dogs.  "Awww, they're tiny doggies, Daddy."

"They belong to the socialite we picked up for being a sniper," Joyce quipped.

"Which one?" Tony asked.  Joyce handed over the background check.  "She's got a boyfriend.  I'll call someone in LA to talk to him."  He pulled out his phone to call a contact out there.  "Pearl, Tony Stark.  Julia Shandy just got arrested by SHIELD and she's got five of her herd of miniature creatures with her.  They're pissing off the agents.  Can you tell her boyfriend or someone to call me so they can get them?  Thanks."  He hung up.  "No, Callia.  You cannot keep her dogs.  If you want a dog, when you're older, we'll talk to your Uncle Xander about one of his puppies."  She bounced around and cheered.  "Let's talk to the director."

"Then can get Auntie Pepper lunchies and the baby pretty things?"

"We can do that on the way home.  Pepper wanted something from the chinese place up the street from her apartment."  He walked her in there and let her carry the dogs back out of the office.  Agent Hill got them into the shade since apparently they weren't used to sleeping in the sunny, warm spot on the floor.  Not even his daughter's spoiled rabbit was that spoiled.

***

Dawn came off the elevator from her lab rounds to find someone waiting at her desk.  "Do I know you?" she asked him.

He spun, looking at her.  "You should."

Dawn stared at him.  "Why?  Are you supposedly famous?"  The guy glared.  She stared back.  "I'm probably worth more than you are so why are you here?"  She smiled.  "Pepper's on maternity leave so we've canceled all meetings and I've also cleared Mr. Stark's personal calendar today."

"Tony Stark called for me to show up."

"Let me call him."  She moved him away from her desk and her dish of peppermint candy.  "That's for people who need breath help before a meeting."  She dialed Tony's phone.  "Stark, Dawn.  I have a young guy here who thinks I should know him who said you called for him?"  She put him on speaker.

"Which one?" Tony asked.

"You called for me to come pick up my girlfriend's dogs.  Though I'm not sure why SHIELD has her."

"We're at SHIELD's HQ.  Dawn, get him here."  He hung up.

"Okay," she said, hanging up and locking her desk.  She called.  "Happy, can you please get my car?  Taking someone Stark called to HQ.  Thanks."  She hung up.  "It'll be down front in a few minutes.  Let's go."  She grabbed her jacket and wallet, walking out with him in front.  That way she could kill him if he gave her shit.  PMS was really only to make the men in the world stay in line, she was convinced of it.  Her car service had been called and one was pulling up.  She opened the door and let him get in first.  "Hi, Howie.  We're going to HQ.  Stark called for him."

"Sure, thing, Miss Summers."  He drove off.  "How's your sister doing?"

"She's still fighting the early labor thing.  She started again last night.  Hylal's seriously worried.  His first wife died delivering his first daughter early, and she died within a day of her mom."

"That sucks, yeah."  He glanced back when they got to a red light.  "Anything new going on that might hint at an update for that software problem on the tablet?"

"Tony said that's their software's issue.  He said they haven't updated it in over a year so it's not running anything more current.  He said it's like running a Windows 95 program on XP.  He's working on a program to make it compatible but we're not sure how or if that company is going to suddenly get their shit together.  The other tablets have the same problem with it."

He nodded.  "I saw that.  I was hoping."

She smiled.  "He said he didn't realize or he would've done that sooner and it's an almost obsolete program outside the people who presently cling to it, to quote him.  He can't find a newer one to do the same thing though.  He hates old software."

"I can see that point but sometimes it's comfortable and better than the new, bloated things."

"It can be, yeah.  I hate Office so hard sometimes.  Especially the new upgraded version."  He laughed.  "I'll ask him about that later but he's not really doing much this week.  Pepper just delivered late last night."

"Aww.  They good?"

"Just fine and really healthy."  She smiled.  "Elizabeth has already been cooed over by almost everyone we know."  He grinned as he pulled up in front of the building.  "Thanks, Howie."

"Need me to wait?"

"No, I'll have lunch with Mom and then head back.  Have a good day."

"You too, Miss Summers."  They got out and he drove off.  She was such a nice girl most of the time.  Even if she did swear a bit.

Dawn walked him inside.  "Stark called for him to pick up the dogs."

"Please, before they get adopted.  Most agents aren't really into purse dogs," one of the guards complained.

Dawn grinned.  "Callia likes the warpuppies."  They grinned back and let them up there.  She walked him off the elevator.  The dogs ran over to bark at them.  She carefully stepped over them.  "Tony called him, Mom."

"That's fine, dear."  She got the food and water dishes, putting them into the carrier and handing them to him.  "Here you go, sir.  I babysat them last night.  They had a good nap on my couch."

"They have dog beds at home," he said, staring at them.  "Why is your mother in custody?"

"Because I found her trying to assassinate someone during a problem her best friend had caused," Dawn quipped.  "You should be damn lucky she's still alive with the way it looked like she was targeting me."  He gave her a funny look.  She smiled sweetly back.  "I'm more than a hot body and great assistant skills."  She walked off and knocked on the door.  "Him, boss?"

Tony leaned back to look.  "Yeah, him.  Harvin, take her dogs home.  She's not coming out of custody anytime soon."  He shut the door.  "Have a good lunch with your mom, Dawn."

"Thanks, boss."  She grinned at her Mom.  "Here?  Tea shop?"

"Here.  We're a bit busy after yesterday."

"Sure, I remember those days."  They stared at the young idiot socialite until he packed up the yappy things and left with them.  "I'm so glad I never turned into one of them," she said quietly.

"Me too," Joyce assured her, patting her on the arm.  "You have a lot more sense than that, Dawn."  She took her to lunch in the caf.  They needed to plan the spring shopping trips.

Maria Hill nodded.  "She would've driven us nuts too."  Tara came off the elevator and Maria smiled at her pretty new dress.  "You actually got the kids to shop with you?"

Tara grinned and nodded.  "Melissa thought I looked beautiful."  She handed a bag.  "Lunch?"

"I could eat."  She took her down to the caf to eat with her.  Tara was sighing in happiness over the new baby.  Maria was thinking hard about the new baby and Tara maybe having one.  They'd have to talk.

****

Fury called in his two best handlers a few days later, staring at them.  "The FBI doesn't want her and claims since we have custody of her then we should probably keep her and train her somehow."

"Who?" Natasha asked.

"The bimbo, sir?" Clint demanded.

"Yup."  He looked at them.  "I'm pretty sure you two can handle her."

"Um, no," Clint said.  "I don't want to be anywhere near her.  I'd like to put her out of the world's misery but I'm not taking her home with us, sir.   Dawn might get a bit pissed off."

"You're agents of this agency and it's now your duty to make sure that she's kept in check."

Dawn appeared, staring at him.  "Oh hell no.  She's not coming into my house.  She's not coming into my spouse's houses."  Fury glared.  She stared back.  "I will make sure she's not a problem if she gets *anywhere* near my house or anything that's mine."

"Sometimes the job requires them to bend a few rules."

"So does mine," she said bluntly.  "Including when I take the place of Xander's ex."  Fury shuddered.  "She is not coming into my house.  I will kill the bitch.  Immediately.  Before she infects the building's cat with her stupidity."  She walked off growling.

Clint looked at Natasha.  "I think that just put me on the couch for life."

Joyce walked in.  "You're lucky you're still human, dear.  Dawn does remember what I went through."

"It's not going to be like that," Clint said.

"That would be an ideal solution," Fury admitted.

Natasha stared at him.  "Why do you wish us dead from torture?"  Fury shuddered.  "I'm fairly certain whoever this woman is she's not walking into my house either.  As our houses are joined....."  Fury opened his mouth.  She held up her hand.  Then she walked off.  Clint could extricate himself.  She felt at her link with Dawn but all she felt was very white, hot anger.  She winced and headed for the gym.

Clint shook his head.  "No, sir.  I refuse.  I'm not going to ever put myself in that sort of situation, even if it wouldn't mean I'd die by torture or a curse of unluckiness in the field that got me and others killed."  He walked off.

"She wasn't around when you got divorced," Fury told his assistant.

"That doesn't mean she doesn't remember it.  They did give her a full history of the family, Director.  She saw every little bit that happened and she will not tolerate lying in her relationship.  Even the tiny ones that lovers sometimes let slip.  Even 'do I look fat' ones."  She stared at him.  "You're going to be lucky if they're alive in the morning."  She walked off to take a break.  She had no idea how to calm Dawn down.  That was Clint and Natasha's job and she could only worry.

Fury huffed and glared out there.  "Hill, who do we have who can babysit?"

"No one, sir.  Not that's competent and will put up with that level of stupidity.  I would've suggested Coulson but his spouse would not allow it and he would take them out immediately.  Especially after having dated the vengeance demon over women scorned."  Though, personally, she agreed with Dawn.  If either of those bimbos walked into their building they'd be shot on sight.

"Get me one of the single agents who won't have a problem."

"Yes, sir."  She considered it for a moment then called up one.  "The director wants you for a special babysitting assignment.  Oh, I did not know.  I'm sorry for your loss, Agent Patricks.  How long are you on leave for?  I haven't gotten the paperwork yet."  She made a note to look that up.  "I'll talk to him in a few minutes.  Of course you do.  You call me if you need to extend anything."  She hung up and called his boss to ask where the paperwork was.  Apparently the agent's supervisor didn't think his mother's funeral was a good reason to take off.  She'd deal with him in a few.  She got another one sent up.  "Here, sir."  She handed over their folder.

"No male ones?" he asked dryly.

"The one I would've chosen is burying his mother in two days.  His supervisor thought that was a bad thing.  I'm going to discuss that with him in a few minutes."  She walked off to beat his ass.

Fury sighed and found an agent.  It turned out to be the same one and he apologized and made sure he had paperwork coming.  He guessed that female agent would have to do.  Maybe they could become 'besties' to quote the bimbo asking about her friend the witch.

***

Dawn walked into the senior agent gym.  "I need sparring time," she noted, taking off her jacket and heels.  "You'll do."  The agent she was staring at backed away.  "What?  Scared?" she asked dryly.  "Not like I'm an agent, sweetheart.  Front and fuckin' center, dude."  He moved in with a sigh and attacked, because he knew she didn't like to attack first.  "Geez, how low are agent standards?" she complained, kicking him around.  "Fine, anyone better than this putz?  Clearly he's got issues today."  One slowly raised his hand and she waved.  "C'mon then.  I'm not that patient at the moment."  He nodded and moved closer.  She attacked and he was suddenly praying for mercy.  She could tell.  "Are all you senior agents that woosey?" she demanded.

"Yes, ma'am.  We're taught to only hit the really bad things hard."

"Consider me a really bad thing, because I'm about to curse your whole agency to bad luck.  I'm beating you guys up to try to avoid doing that."  He groaned and fought harder.  Still not very good.  She huffed but he was down within a few minutes.  A few other agents stepped in together, hoping to wear her down.  That was marginally better.

The first agent had heard rumors that if you prayed to Agent Coulson, sometimes his mate heard and came to save you.  He sent up a long, heart-felt prayer to be saved by someone, anyone, especially Agent Coulson or Alexander.

Phil's head slowly came up and he listened to the prayers.  Multiple prayers.  "What did she do this time?" he muttered, getting up and heading to the gym.  He found Clint and Natasha being begged for mercy by some of the agents that looked less than healthy.  "Dawn?" he called.  "An explanation?"

"I'm going to turn into Anya so I'm wearing it out, dear big brother.  You should be proud of me and ashamed of these senior agents."  She kicked one viciously in the stomach and then spun to kick the other one.  "Guys, I'm not even wearing shoes.  I'm not that strong.  Are you really that pathetic?  God damn!  No wonder Tara and I have to step in about every other battle!"  A few growled and attacked harder.  Which made her a happier girl.

Phil looked at Clint and Natasha.  "Do you have an explanation?"

"Director just tried to have us take in the new assassin she found," Clint said.  "Do a permanent watch job on her."

"You're married," Phil noted.  "Did that not occur to him?"

"He was of the opinion that we'd forgive it," Natasha said.  "I might have, knowing the job.  She is not that forgiving."

"No, she never will be on that subject."  He looked over, wincing.  Three of the senior agents were groaning on the mats and the other six in there were trying to get Dawn to wear it out.  "Take right flank," he muttered, pointing.  They nodded and moved in.  Dawn felt them and attacked him.  He worked at containing her, letting her wear herself out against him.  Of course, magic was leaking and he had to contain that.

Natasha tried a grab, it sent her flying into a wall.  Clint tripped her and she stumbled but turned it into a flip and got out of the way then attacked again harder.  He nodded the other agents to clear the room.  They dragged their injured coworkers with them and locked them in there.  Natasha tried to corral her against Clint but Dawn flashed out and attacked again.

"Enough!" Phil said calmly, trying to freeze her.  And he couldn't.  He winced.  That was a bad sign.  He and Natasha got her pinned between them and Clint grabbed her arms and trapped her feet so she couldn't move.  "Thank you for trying to calm down."  He stared at her.  "Now let's talk."

"There is nothing to talk about."

"I turned it down," Clint said.

She looked at him.  "He'll try it again."

"He might but I doubt it."  He stared at her.  "He could also fire me for that."

"Then he'd be in misery for the very short rest of his damn life."  Natasha winced at that.  "No, I'm not the bitch to fuck with today."  She got free and walked off, grabbing her shoes.

"Freeze," Phil commanded, adding power to it when she didn't.  It slowed her down.  He looked at Clint and Natasha then summoned Dawn back.  "Let's talk like adults, Dawn.  Your temper can wait."

"Your temper is out of hand," Natasha agreed.

Dawn looked at her.  "Do some role reversal."

"I thought I was the alpha male," Clint muttered.  She smacked him upside the head then stomped off again.  "Hey!  Get back here!"

"I was taught not to be an abusive spouse so I'm going to find some other method of wearing out my temper before I unintentionally hurt someone."

"Low blow, Princess," Clint growled, glaring at her.

She stared at him.  "Not meant that way.  I'm trying really hard never to cross that line."  She disappeared.

Natasha looked up.  "She's not at the temple.  She's on Atlantis."

Phil called John, who said he'd calm her down, and asked what had happened.  Phil sent over what he knew and John growled and said Fury's days might be numbered.  Phil got him calmed down too.  He sighed and looked at Clint.  "She knows that the...training she received would make her lash out to try to control the anger," he said quietly.  "She's trying very hard not to do so."  Clint nodded, still glaring at the doorway.

"She's acting like a possessive young woman in her first real relationship," Natasha sighed.

"She does tend to get a bit possessive, yes," Phil agreed.  "You're not her first relationship.  She did have some minor dating.  Though, if it was mine, I would've shot the director right then and there."  She stared at him oddly. "Especially with the memories from Joyce's divorce due to cheating."

"This has to be normally raised people things," Clint decided, walking off in another direction.  "Let me talk to her when she's calmed down."

"Let me make sure she hasn't cursed the agency or anyone to misfortune."  Phil sighed as he walked off checking for random spells.  None yet.  That was a good sign.  Though he could feel Tara gathering magic and blocked hers with a warning not to do anything against Fury.  Tara was confused but he told her he had done something stupid again that had upset Dawn.  She shrugged and said she was working on a healing spell with the coven so he let it go.  He walked into the office and called a ball that Xander kept because it lit up around spells, especially curses.  He put it on the desk.  No lights.  He put it behind the desk and a lot of lights.  He worked on the spell, making it go back to the sender.  "Not Dawn.  Interesting."

"What was that?" Fury demanded.

"Curses from the witch we have in custody."  He walked off to talk to her.  She really needed to learn her place in the universe.  He found Xander down there staring at her.  He handed back the ball.  "Thank you for the lending."

"Not a problem, Phil."  He stared at her.

"Who're you?" she sneered.

"This is Alexander, God Protectorate of Humanity," Phil said.  She flinched.  "We just found your curse on the head office.  Not very wise, young lady."  She went back to sneering.  He looked at Xander.  "Can we block it off?"

"Yes, I can.  I looked up how to do it in case Willow came back for a third attempt."  He smacked her across the face and the screaming she did made the nice glow come up.  He smirked evilly.  "There, now you can't do harm."  He looked at Phil.  "What happened?"  He sent it over privately.  Xander nodded and his axe appeared.  "Is he infected with something again?"

"No, probably not."  He took the axe from him.  "He was being expedient."

"He has a whole agency full of single people.  There's no reason to call up one of the six married ones he has," Xander said simply.  He walked off, calling his axe to him.  "I'm going home before they have to appoint a new director due to smiting."  He looked back at his spouse.  "I would not tell my uncle.  He will have a bad reaction and it will require rebuilding probably."  He disappeared.  Maybe he could calm Dawn down before she got offered a different job.

Phil checked the socialite witch and added to the fetters she had on her magic.  "I believe you will not be causing any more problems, young lady."  He walked off, letting the surveillance team have her back.  No one he knew had bad enough taste to want her or the other one.

***

Tony hit the button on his cellphone, still reading while he was walking between the office and his lab.  "What's wrong?"

"Sir, how do you calm down Miss Summers when she's in a total annihilation fit?" a female voice asked.

Tony paused.  "Why is she in that sort of mood?  Usually it stops with sounding like she's on _Springer_."

"Um, not totally sure but I'm pretty certain her, um, lovers didn't calm her down any and she looked more pissed off afterward.  Is there any way to calm her down?  I don't think even tranquilizers are going to work this time."

"Tell her I want to know what's going on so come report in person.  Immediately."  He hung up and thought at Coulson, getting no answer, not even a text message.  He did it at Xander, who sent a text message saying it was Fury's fault.  "That's not real explanatory," he decided.  He went to the lab, finding Dawn just popping in looking like she had been beating the crap out of someone.  "Sparring?"

"Before I kill someone, or three."  She smiled sweetly.  "I thought I had today off, boss."

"You did until an agent called up to ask me how to calm you down.  What happened?"  He sat on his stool and stared at her.  She huffed but did vent because she knew he'd keep staring at her until she did.  Loudly.  Profanely.  For nearly an hour.  At the end he wasn't sure his ears weren't bruised.  "I've never heard anyone say 'fuck' that many times in under a full 2 hour movie."  She glared and huffed.  "No, stay."  He got up and walked closer.  "He's an idiot."

"Which he?" she asked dryly.

"I'm pretty certain Barton wouldn't do that to you."

"He only gave token protests!"

"He has to worry about his job," Tony reminded her.

"If he takes that assignment, I can have the apartments split again.  I'll pay for it my own damn self."  She got free and disappeared.

Tony called Natasha.  "Okay, what's your side of it?  I just had Dawn in here venting in the most foul language possible and looking like she had pretty well sparred herself into needing to eat and shower."  He listened.  "Huh.  No, she thinks he didn't protest."  He winced at the 'sometimes it is the job'.  "No, it *was* the job, Romanoff.  Because she'll kill you if you cheat on her.  If you're made to cheat on her, like someone drugging you, she'll end them.  Horrifically probably but she will end them.  It's like lying to her.  She's never going to accept that.  Yes, this is a normal person thing.  I'm pretty sure Pepper would've gutted me then and there if Fury had suggested I do that and we're not even together right now, well not really.  I'd hate to see what Steve would do if he had heard."

"He did hear," he said from the doorway.  "He heard what Fury suggested.  He heard Dawn nearly sparred herself into calming down but couldn't, and that she's still fighting the urge to curse everyone in SHIELD."

"No, she'd hit the ones responsible," Tony assured him.  "She has more control than that."  He listened.  "No, one of you go tell Joyce.  Get her to help you calm Dawn down, play mediator.  No, she's entertaining the idea of fixing the house so it's apartments again, Natasha.  So get Joyce on your side.  Have her mediate.  Have her keep Dawn calmer.  She'll listen to her mom.  She'll give you enough time to explain how neither of you had any intention of taking on that assignment.  No, I'm pretty sure if he called you both up he was expecting one of you to do it."  He hung up and groaned, looking at Steve.  "Dawn?"

"Our gym, ripping down my heavy bags."  He leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest.  "I would've ripped his head off."

"Me too."  They shared a look.  "Go spar with her?"

"She destroyed three senior agents and injured another six before those two and Phil got her to stop beating people."

"I'll baby any bruises."

Steve smiled.  "I can do that."  He went down there.  "Hey," he said, moving the heavy bag and catching her fist.  "I need to spar."

"I'm not in the right mood for that."

"I know.  I can make sure you can't hurt me."

"Steve, I'm fighting my magic right now.  Okay?  I'd hurt you from across the city."

He smirked.  "No magic.  We can try.  If not, I can call Xander."

She shook her head.  "I nearly decked Phil earlier, Steve.  Thanks, but no.  I don't want to hurt anyone.  That's why I'm trying to calm it down."

He stared at her.  "You can't meditate it away this time."

"I can't get calm enough to even think about meditation.  Much less attempt it."  She walked off.  "Let me hit the steel wall over here so you can have your bag back."

"I can spar."

"I still can't guarantee my magic won't come out and hurt you so therefore no.  Thank you but no.  I don't want to become an evil bitch who hurts people on purpose because I have no control."  She looked at him.  "Since I'm bordering on it, it's best if I don't try to encourage it."

"Then maybe you should try meditating?"

She let out a bitter sounding snort.  "I can't even approach a calmer state, much less that sort of calmer state."  She found the iron wall that Tony used for new repulsor tests and leveled a few magical blows at it then added in a few physical ones.

Steve blinked.  He paged Tony and Bruce.  They could calm her down, or hold her down.  Steve made sure no one else came in when he spotted one of the guards.  Bruce came in first and sighed, walking over.  She ducked and instinctively attacked then groaned and pulled back the magic she had stopped before it hit him.

"Okay," Bruce said.  "Let's talk."

"I....."

Tony walked in and tossed Bruce something.  "We might have to let you lose it and go all grr monster to quote my daughter.  It might be the only thing that wears her out."

"No, not likely," Dawn said.  Bruce stuck her with the needle while she was paying attention to Tony.  "That probably won't work."   She turned back to the wall to work it out of her system.

Bruce looked at the needle then his watch.  "It works faster on me."

Tony nodded.  "It does.  This might be bad.  Summers, do you need that containment chamber?"

"I don't know," she admitted, kicking the wall extra hard.  "I'm trying really hard not to.  It's not really working.  If I could wear some of this out, I could calm down.  Then I could maybe calm everything else down so maybe I could even meditate or something until I was actually calm.  But it's not working that way."  She put up a shield around herself and let go with some extra power against the wall, then reformed it and did it again.

Tony blinked a few times.  "I didn't think anything would destroy that wall."

Bruce shook his head.  "I have trouble denting it in Other Guy form.  We need to make her a t-shirt with that: magic stronger than a Hulk."  He saw her start to wobble.  Then collapse.  He checked his watch.  So did Tony.  "She lasted three times longer than I ever have."

"She has funny reactions to a lot of things," Steve reminded them.  "How do we remove the shield?"

"No idea," Tony admitted.  "Infirmary?"

"We probably should," Bruce agreed.  Andrew leaned in and gave them a pointed look.  "She was a bit temperish."

"Ya think?" he asked dryly.  "Sensors all over the city went off.  I got three calls from SHIELD agents asking if I was using a lot of magic for some reason."  Tony winced.  "What happened?"

"Fury," Steve said.  "Bad idea from him."

"He seems to have those," he said dryly.

"Can you remove the shields so we can get her on monitoring equipment?" Tony asked him.

"Nope."  He grinned.  "I have very little magic.  Dawn is strong in that Force."  He walked off shaking his head and calling Clint.  Maybe he could help.  Either that or one of the two of them were the problem, he wasn't sure which.  But if they were they deserved the chance to apologize and explain their malfunctions before she killed them.  Or he killed them for her.  He felt it when the heavy magic left the building.  "Huh.  I guess John's got stuff set up out there too."  He shrugged and went back to playing with their Roomba dog.

Tony and Bruce shared a look while Steve sent a text message to Coulson, who sent one back saying she was back on Atlantis somewhere hidden.

***

John felt Dawn reappear and winced.  She was completely sedated but still glowing.  She was somewhere they hadn't gotten to explore yet.  He looked up at that spire and the windows.  "Why are you in the forming lab we locked off for structural instability?" he demanded quietly.

"Because it lets her hide," Rodney said as he walked behind him.  "Also, probably something with all the iron-like metal up there."

"Could be."  He tried to get up there but she had it shielded.  He summoned both spouses and pointed.  "She's up there.  What the fuck?"

Natasha winced.  That particular look on John's face had ended up in a situation she never wanted to think about again.  It had given her nightmares, and now it was focused on her.  "Fury wanted us to take in some socialite who is an assassin as a permanent babysitting job," she explained.  "Dawn lost her temper."

"I saw some of that earlier and Ronon's getting some stitches."  Clint winced.  "We can't get into that room.  She's got it blocked off."

"We can't even get into her head," Clint complained quietly, glancing around.  "I have no idea.  I protested...."

John held up a hand and created a mirror, showing it to them.  "That's her head earlier when she appeared."

They watched the swearing, muttering, stomping byplay of her mind going around in circles.  "I'd never do that," Clint said.

"Yeah, but she's got that worry thanks to her mom's relationship," John said.  "It's also why she hates being lied to."

"I did protest."

"Okay, saying 'no' isn't much of a protest.  If you had said 'hell no' it might've helped," John said.  "There's times you've got to let it out in the loudest possible voice, Barton.  Trust me.  Women, especially ones that have issues with thinking they're not good enough for you, need to hear that sometimes."

Clint winced.  "I forgot about her self esteem issue," he muttered.  He looked.  "Stairs?  Elevator?  Grappling hook?"

John handed him his bow and quiver once he had pulled it from SHIELD. "If you have one, use it.  That tower's completely sealed off due to structural problems in the center.  It's the old forming lab."

He fired his grappling hook up at the lowest open window and they climbed up it.  The spire wasn't smooth and had plenty of good handholds.  They got into the first open window and found their way to the stairs, then up.  They could feel Dawn.  She was a writhing mass of purple and gray energy that was causing a glow under a sealed door.  Natasha moved ahead to open it.  They were met with the shield.  "How do we get through that?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know," Natasha said, touching it and wincing.  "They sedated her."

"Good!  Before she hurt herself."  He touched it and it nearly burned him, making him wince and shake his hand to cool it off.  They thought at Dawn but her mind was a chaotic wreck.  The links were sealed off with it looked like a rockfall from their side.  He sat down and concentrated.  She had a different sort of link but his was more open than hers was.  He imagined himself in front of the link's cave-like, closed opening.  He could feel the magic on the other side of the rockfall.  He moved forward, thinking that the rocks were intangible.  They weren't and he bounced off them.  He felt a tickle of different power and looked.  Phil.  "Help?" he asked quietly.

"I'll see what I can do.  Tara thinks she's sealed herself off in a semi-permanent way because she's mad at herself and at Fury."

"She was mad at us."

"She's mad at herself for trusting you," Phil corrected.  Clint glared.  "I scanned back.  You did protest.  She didn't see that because she was acting emotionally instead."  He touched the rocks and they fell.  "I can't get the shield to go down and it might take her waking up.  Stark used the Hulk tranq and he said it didn't effect her for a while."

"Good to know.  Thanks."  He moved forward, wincing at the energy crackling from the glass-looking shield.  He touched it and it burned, not his skin but underneath it felt like it was on fire.  "I...."  He stared at it, trying to find some slight chink, some slight imperfection.  Something that would let him in.  He reached for his own bond and it flared, and caused the shield to reach for him.  He backed up quickly and calmed himself down.  He sent a soothing thought at her, trying for some music she liked.  It echoed.  She had shut them off completely.

He felt Natasha get to the same point he was.  Clint considered it then pulled out something Stark had been working on in secret in case they ran up against a witch that was causing problems.  He stuck it on the wall and set it off.  Dawn shrieked in pain but he got inside before the shield came back up.  He walked forward.  She was not in easy reach.  She was in fact inside another tower.

"You're not Rapunzel," he called.  "Or Snow White."  He checked to make sure there wasn't another entrance.  He could almost feel a set of stairs but they were invisible and he wasn't sure he wanted to trust them.  So he shot another grappling arrow up and climbed up.  He slid into the window and nearly fell back out when he was attacked by the wolves in there.  Thankfully he knew how to fall from a pretty high height.  He calmed himself down and headed for the stairs.  So maybe it was about trust.  They all had trust issues.  He hadn't realized hers were that bad, but they all had them.  Each stair got carefully stepped on and felt before he put full weight on it.  By the time he got halfway around the tower, Natasha was there.  "What took you so long?"

"Centaur in the woods warning me off."

"Did he say anything about wolves or the stairs?"

"Yes.  You're on the wrong one."

"You sure?"

"He said it was made of stars.  This is her mental fall back position.  Where she goes when she meditates or has to pull back into her mind to protect herself."  He nodded and jumped down, hitting the ground and rolling to his feet.  "How do we find something made of stars?"

He considered it.  "We wait until it's dark?"

"That could take until she wakes up."

"Or we find a light switch," he said, spotting one and flipping it.  It turned into night and they could see a faint shimmer of stars making a path.  They walked along it, coming to a cave.  They shared a look and he checked then walked inside.  There was a princess bedroom in there.  Canopy bed like you saw in the _Harry Potter_ movies.  Heavy dresser, heavy wardrobe.  Bathroom that looked like it belonged on Pern with a rock formation bathing pool and a stone toilet off to the side with a pull curtain around it.  Outside the lights got flipped back on and Dawn sighed, shifting onto her side.  She pouted but stayed there.

Natasha moved toward the bed.  A faint shimmer stopped her but Clint walked through it, wincing a bit.  This shield wasn't half as strong.  He laid down in front of her.  She didn't move to cuddle like usual.  Natasha laid down behind her.  No move to cuddle her either.  He reached out slowly and stroked over her hair.  No response.  He checked where their links met, nothing.  It was like she wasn't home.  He groaned and searched a bit.  The link on her side had something shiny.

The something shiny wasn't Dawn, he could tell it wasn't Dawn.  The something dark was Dawn.  She was hiding in the shadows.  He went in after her, letting Natasha create light for them.  He pulled her out and brought her back to where she was back in her body.  He noticed a few things that she didn't usually have.  Including some scars he had never seen.  Two vampire bites.  A few on her shoulder that he could see through her sheer blue nightgown.  He laid down beside her and pulled her against his chest, kissing the bite marks.  They disappeared.  He brushed his fingers against a cut on her shoulder and it disappeared.

Natasha moved closer to do the same thing.  She could see that they were still there and they had to go.  Dawn hated to be so marked.  "She said once that everyone has scars inside," she said quietly.

"That they didn't have to define who you were," Clint agreed, kissing Dawn instead of removing any others.  He liked her even if they were all exposed and unhealed on her body in the real world.  She shivered so he pulled her closer.  "That was way too strong of a tranq they used," he said quietly, stroking over her hair.  Some fell out and he frowned.  "'Tasha?"

"I think that's from that drugging that they had to remove from her hair.  She went from it breaking and falling out to it being healthy within a day without a trip to the salon.  Or she's worried that she'll end up like her mother was."  She stroked over it.  "Even if you were bald and sickly, we would still like you."  Dawn shivered again and shrank some.

"Nothing's going to change anything, Dawn," Clint soothed, pulling her closer again.  "Not you getting cancer, nothing.  We're still yours."  She shrank some.  "You need the mushy words?" he teased with a smirk.  "Fine.  We still love you, even if you turn into Golum, okay?"  That helped and she got back to normal size.  She relaxed some too.  "Think you can lower the shields some?"  It crackled around the bed.  "Or not."   They laid there and helped her go back to a happier sleep.  He hummed at her and she shifted, putting an arm around him.  He relaxed and it was easier.  They could help her get unsedated and then they'd talk and work things out.  She sighed at one point and he looked at her.  "Did you just pee the bed or something?"

Natasha swatted him.  "She's not an infant and she did not."  He shrugged.  "She's not the twins or Callia, who does do that."  Dawn was shivering but they held on and the bad dream went away again.  They couldn't tell what it was.  They could only tell it was bad and hurting her.  Natasha stopped him from trying to link in because it might take them too deep, they might not be able to get out again.  They needed that separation for their work and duties.  Dawn usually agreed with that.

They laid there with her, losing track of time.  Clint kept a light link with her, letting her hear him thinking and humming.  It kept her calm.  Natasha was physically soothing her by stroking over her side or hip every few minutes.  When she started to wake up, she flinched but he pulled her closer.  "We do not make you flinch," he reminded her in her ear.  "No matter what, I'd never do anything to make you flinch away from me like that, Dawn."  He pulled back to kiss her forehead.  "Those wolves are rabid."

She nodded.  "Yeah, to attack anyone who thinks I'm a princess."

"Do the stairs lead up there?"

She shrugged a bit.  "Never went up them after I put them there."

Natasha stroked over her hair.  "We like the symbolism of you being an undercover princess.  You are not like some of them yet you have your sweet and gentle moments when you are the innocent princess sort."  Dawn ducked her head.  She kissed her on the ear.  "Though that shield is mean and it hurts."

She looked at them.  "You crossed over it?  It could've killed you!  Actually, it probably should've killed you."

"No, I used the thing that Stark's been trying to make.  We only crossed the one in here," he soothed.  "Right, Nat?"

"I did have to cross a tiny bit of the outer one but only for a second."  Dawn frowned, looking her over.  "I'm fine."

"You're not fine.  That can hurt you."

"I'm fine," she assured her.  "You can sense me and see."  Dawn shifted so she could touch her cheek, letting the magic wash over her.  Then Dawn relaxed and smiled slightly.  "See?  I knew you would not hurt us."

"I...."

"Even if you're in a total rage, even if you were in a drunken rage, you wouldn't hurt us," Clint assured her.  He squeezed a bit.  "You're thinner here than you are at home."

"That happens sometimes.  Depends on why I napped."

"Stark hit you with the Hulk tranquilizer," Natasha said.  Dawn winced.  "It worked."

"That sucks."

"It does," Clint agreed.  "Then again, you proved that a lot of senior agents need more sparring time."  He gave her another gentle squeeze. "You're getting thinner by the minute."  He found why and cut the link to the shields, which made her moan and hold her chest.  "It's eating your energy and it'll end up killing you, Dawn.  We won't allow that."

She looked at him.  "I...."

"No," Natasha agreed.  "You're not allowed to lose a lot of weight from magic unless it's an emergency.  This is not."  She moved closer and touched her cheek, finding another link.  That lowered the shield around them.  She took a kiss and stared at her.  "We will talk."

"I don't know what to say beyond apologizing."

"I could've said 'hell no' louder," Clint admitted.

Dawn looked at him.  "It's...."

"No, John pointed a few things out.  I may have to pretend to be respectful but not that respectful and I'd never let that come between us.  Even if I have to guard someone like the bitch, she's not getting more than handcuffed to the bathroom."  He shifted and held her better.

"Why are you in uniform?"

He shrugged.  "Changed unconsciously I guess."  Dawn laid a hand on his face and he stared at her.  "Want me to change?"

"It's your armor," she said quietly.

"It means a lot to me," he admitted.  He kissed her and changed.  "No Avengers uniforms in bed, 'Tasha."  She changed as well.  Clint stared at her.  "You had to put on that?"

She smiled.  "I feel comfortable and safe in it so yes."

Dawn looked and blinked then got her a lacy over-robe for it.  "That way it's not sexual, just us talking."

"Sex comes later," Clint agreed, kissing her on the forehead.  He looked.  "Who bit you?"

"I had to feed Spike once so he'd heal an injury that was nearly fatal to him.  The other I was at a club and got attacked from behind while I was dancing but I got free by teleporting the two feet and then staked him while he stared in awe."  She touched her neck.  "They're gone?"

He stared at her.  "We didn't realize we were erasing them that way.  Sorry."

"No, that's okay.  They're not really good to look at."

He kissed over the area and they came back, then the others he had gotten.  Natasha did the same.  "We like you scars and all," he reminded her.  She went limp again and nodded.  "The hair thing?"

"I don't know," she admitted.  "Could be the drugs they took out of it.  It could be a subconscious worry that I'll end up on Oncology myself.  The idiots with the needles are still around somewhere."  More hair fell out.  "I'm guessing it's that."

"Even if you do, we're still here," he told her.  She relaxed and nodded.

Natasha ran her fingers through the hair, concentrating.  It was suddenly lush, full, and healthy.  "Worries are not traumas that scar you."  She kissed the back of Dawn's neck, earning a shiver.  "I'm not usually that comforting."

Dawn flipped over to hold her.  "You comfort me all the time.  It's a quiet, peaceful sort of comfort."

Natasha smiled.  "Thank you."

She kissed her on the cheek.  "I'm sorry."

"Do not be.  I was upset as well.  I may have better control of it because I do not have anything that might explode out of my control but I was just as mad."  They laid there and talked about how to handle things and the insecurity that had caused this.  Which they hadn't seen before but they had their own versions that needed to be worked out.  Clint noticed the weight coming back slowly and gave her a squeeze, getting a confused look.  "You're getting cuddly again."

"I am?"  She looked at herself.  "I guess I am."  She nodded.  "Okay, I have no idea how that happens."

"It's your mind," Natasha pointed out.

"No one's in total control of their own mind.  Their body does a lot of it for them," Dawn quipped.

Clint nibbled on her neck, smiling at her.  "Why do you have clothes here?"

"The beings in the woods would get upset if I was naked?"

"I can see that."  He looked over.  Dawn opened the door for him.  He stared at the really princessly ballgowns.  "Nothing flirty?"

"No, 'fraid not.  Somehow I became a princess even though I'm not really one."  She shrugged and closed the door.

He kissed her neck again, right over that new scar from the acid.  "That's all right.  You'd look hot even in the poufy dresses."  He gave her another squeeze.  She was definitely gaining weight but not edging toward heavy.  Which was nice.  She was becoming more solid.  Natasha took a kiss that made Dawn grin at her for it.  "Want to go talk in the real world?" he finally asked when they had been quiet for a while.

"It's hard sometimes," Dawn said quietly, losing some of her solidness.

He gave her a squeeze.  "We know.  But it's worth it, right?"

She flipped over on top of him to stare down at him.  "It's totally worth it, Clint.  You know that."

"I didn't doubt.  I was making sure you didn't doubt."

"No, you guys are some of the best things that've ever happened in my life and I hate that it happened because Mom got sick but..."  He shut up her babble by kissing her, making her moan.  "Clint?"

"It was hell for a while, but she got better and got an excellent reward for surviving, the same as you did."  She nodded, laying down to cuddle him.  Natasha moved over to cuddle her back.  He goosed her, making her flinch.  "What did I say about not flinching?"

"That's a painful spot, not a ticklish one."

He tickled her, making her shriek and wiggle.  He smirked.  "Did I hit the better one this time?"

"Too hard," she said, swatting him but she was smiling.  "Natasha, he did that to me the first time too."

"It broke the tension," he said with a smirk.

"It would for me as well," Natasha agreed.  She took another kiss.  "We should get back before people worry that you're in a coma."

"We should," she sighed.

He nudged her.  "Fairytales beside the point it's never this easy for real people."

"I know.  Happily ever after takes a lot of hard work and compromise."

"And hot sex," Clint agreed with a grin.

"That too," she admitted.  She got up and got into her closet, finding something to put on.  Clint got up and his uniform reappeared.  So did Natasha's.  They created something for her to put on.  They stared at her.  "I need a uniform?"

"You need the armor.  There's creepy things out there and it's getting dark again.  My bow's on the dresser."  He grabbed it while Dawn got dressed.  She even put on high heeled boots, which made the two older spies stare.  "Okay," he decided.  "I like that look on you."  He walked out with her, Natasha following to make sure things were tidy and nothing attacked them from behind.  It wasn't a long hike but it was a pretty late-afternoon for it.

The setting sun was a beautiful shade of blue and green with some darker shades being mixed in by the minute.  They made it back to the two links: his was still a cave, hers was a slimmer cave with an iron gate across it.  Natasha went back first so she could wake up and make sure they were safe.  He stared at her then kissed her.  "Let me get back then wake up."  She nodded.

He crossed back into his own mind and made himself wake up.  Dawn was almost snoring, like usual.  She was between two melting cauldrons for what looked like a silver metal by the residue.  He and Natasha shared a look then got up to wake Dawn up.  She jumped and nearly hit her head but Natasha cushioned it with her hand.  "Morning."

She looked at the window then at him.  "It might be.  Which means we're all late for work since we're on the west coast."

"Fuck it, you're off today and I'm not sure if I have one."

"Can I curse him if you don't?"

"No."  He helped her out.  "If I don't, I'll curse him."

She grinned a bit.  "I can teach you the meditations."

He smirked.  "I'll just borrow some of yours."  He concentrated on their link and pulled them closer together, accessing it.  "I can barely touch it," he admitted, creating a tiny light.  She moaned.  He let it go and let her get back to her own mind.  He smirked.  "You were asleep on top of me and I *really* wanted some popcorn one night."  She gave him a hug.  Natasha got a hug.  They noticed she was in the same outfit they had put on her.  "Huh, you changed."

She looked then undid the illusion.  "Didn't realize I was doing that."  She looked around, then at them.  "We should probably go back to a less hidden spot."

"Probably," Natasha agreed.  They were beamed out and to a room without a door.  She looked around then at Dawn.  Dawn shrugged.  "No idea?"

"She's John's city, not mine.  I love Atlantis, she's a really great AI with a huge personality and I'm kinda hoping she and JARVIS get to talk a lot.  That way she has friends."  She concentrated.  "John's on the other side of the wall being confused."  She walked over to touch it.  He told her to rest and they'd get food to them.  They had the day off.  Stark wanted to make sure she had finally calmed down and woke up.  He also said that he had taken off the curse that Tara had applied to Fury.  She sent back a silent 'thank you' and walked away from the wall.  "He'll send us food."  She had shared the rest.

They settled in on the bed to let her cuddle in.  Cuddling was always great with Dawn.  Even if she was in a stiffer mood instead of draping herself over one of them like a warm, honey blanket.

Dawn looked up at him.  "I think you're hungry.  You're thinking about me being food again," she teased with a grin.

"Slightly."

Dawn grinned and kissed him then realized she was wearing her phone.  She dialed the number that JARVIS set up for faxing things, getting him instead.  "Hey, JARVIS, I'd like to introduce you to a new friend.  She's a really great lady.  Atlantis, on my phone is JARVIS, who is the AI that runs the Stark International everything and Tony Stark's house.  JARVIS, I'm on Atlantis, which has a very pretty, smart, and kinda lonely AI.  I'm not sure if she has a name outside of the city's or not.  She's never told me."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Atlantis' dulcet voice said quietly from a wall.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well," JARVIS said from the phone.  "There's not many sentient computer intelligences down here and most of them are very young.  I do mentor them but it's not the same as an adult conversation."

The phone beeped.  "I can see that you are not as primitive as some that I have scanned down here," Atlantis said.  "That is a blessing."

"Tony, his creator, is a genius sort," Dawn said.  She got up.  "Guys, I'm going to put my phone here, near the wall and the speaker you were using, so you get some privacy."  She climbed back onto the bed and took kisses, grinning at them.  "Maybe Callia or someone will make them some sort of linking structure so they can meet in person some day."

"I'll suggest that to the geniuses," Natasha said, stroking over Dawn's back.  She switched to lay on her, earning a smile.  "I was not jealous.  I like being against your back.  You run a bit cool to the touch, where Clint is always overly warm."

"It's my sunny nature," he quipped with a smirk for her.  She smiled back.  Dawn poked him, getting a poke back from both of them.  They relaxed and went back to talking.   They hadn't had the energy to just lay there and talk since their year and a bit off hiding from the US and others.

***

Tony got the text message and tried to call but it came back as busy.  "I wonder who she's calling," he admitted.  "Callia, are you talking to your aunt?"

"No.  I heard JARVIS talking to her and then he was talking to some other pretty sounding lady."  She leaned out of her bedroom with her pet mice on her shoulders and one on her head.  "Lantia or something.  I didn't hear that part.  I think Auntie Dawn introduced them."  She went back to taking care of her pets.

"She introduced him to Atlantis?" Pepper guessed, looking at Tony.

He smiled.  "John said she was lonely in Pegasus and JARVIS is a great friend to have."

"He's my favorite incorporeal being," she quipped.

"He's more corporeal than not sometimes," Tony said, giving her a look.

"Yes, but on that list you're ahead of him."  She took a kiss.  "Even though we're not together I still love you, goofball tendencies, weird ideas, insomnia that drives us to sedate you while you're working with fissionables, and all."

He smirked.  "It's good you love me for my greater qualities and my lesser ones."

"All but your ego.  I can't fit in an elevator or at dinner with it."

He held his chest.  "You wound me.  I earned my ego, Pepper."

She smiled.  "Perhaps."

"No perhaps about it."  He took another kiss and then the baby to stare at.  "So, Elizabeth, how has your first week been?  Are you liking it out here?  I know you can't go back, I've tried many times, but it's pretty neat and you do have Callia to fuss over you, and Dawn when she gets back."

"You think she's okay?"

"I think she's probably calmed down.  Which is a good thing.  Though I thought it was cute that Tara cursed Fury so hard that we found out he has a girlfriend thanks to them having an accident and her being just fine."

"I thought it was nice that the curse didn't affect his new girlfriend too."  She took the baby back and put her back into her carseat/carrier.  "There, you nap.  The giant goofball geniuses will let you nap all you want to."

"Remember when we first brought Callia home and she would not sleep unless she had skin contact with someone?"

She grinned.  "I remember you wearing that baby snuggler over your bare chest so she'd quit fussing all the time."

"Me?" Callia asked from behind the couch.  She popped up.  "I did?"

"You did," Tony said, smiling at her.  "You refused to sleep anywhere that wasn't on a person.   That stomach snuggler that we gave to Pepper used to be yours.  I had to wear it shirtless so you could touch skin or else you'd scream your head off until I took off my shirt or I gave you to someone who could let you rest on skin."

"Wow.  Did you go shirtless, Auntie Pepper?" she asked.

"No.  But I did have a few sleeveless dresses I wore a lot for you.  That way you got my shoulders.  Your Aunt Dawn had a few of those and a few off-the-shoulder dresses that gave you enough skin contact too."

"Wow.  Thankfully I can sleep without that now."

"Until you're a big girl and dating," Tony teased with a grin.

"Nope.  Boys are icky and mean shits who play with poop.  I don't need one of those."  She found her missing mouse and brought it back to her room.  "You're not supposed to run away, Gruyere.  It's not nice to run from the human.  How else are you supposed to eat and drink?"

"Speaking of," Tony said, texting Maria Hill to feed the Loki cat.  He checked, Dawn's phone was still busy.  "I think JARVIS has found someone to be sweet on," he said quietly, looking at Pepper.

"Like his creator, he fell for an exceptionally spectacular woman," Pepper quipped back, getting a grin and a nod back.  She yawned.  "Let's go nap in the bedroom, Liz."  She picked her up.  "I'll be up in a bit, Tony."

"Okay."  He watched her go then texted Steve.  He was on his way over and Tony wanted a cuddle.  He was feeling mushy.  His spawn was growing up.  His girlfriend and her baby were adorable together.  Pepper had bought the baby Gucci slippers for her christening and they were wonderful with the family heirloom gown.  Tony stretched out on the couch, watching the pet mice run amok.  "Daughter, do you need help?" he called quietly.

"Please.  The forcefield I had set up failed, Daddy."

"Coming."  He got up and went to help her gather all her pet mice.  The extra one got put into a shoebox for her aunt to turn back.  Or whoever had done it.  Then he showed her how to set up a forcefield containment system for her habitat.  It was so great she loved laser applications like he did.

***

Xander and Phil met up that night, Phil noticing that he had a shiny new door.  He looked it over then at Xander.  "No lock against the kids?"

Xander reached over to shut it.  "No one under eighteen without parental permission," he said with a grin.

Phil took a quick kiss.  "I could like that."  He took another one and went to the kitchen.  "Talsa's so bored she made baked chicken and stuffing?"

"No, that came from Tara, who's on a guilt baking trip again."  He came over to get plates.  "You haven't seen the kids in two days."

"Tara's feeling baby envy.  She apologized earlier and said we can have them all weekend."  He looked at Xander, who was still a bit worried about himself around kids.

"I could like that."  Phil smiled and they took another kiss then sat down to eat until someone pounded on the door.  Phil got up to answer it.  "Director," Xander greeted with a nod then ate a bite of chicken.  "Coming for dinner?"

"I came to see if Summers was calm again so she could apologize for kicking around six senior agents."

"She's still on Atlantis, I have no idea where, and I doubt she'll be needing to apologize.  They should have been able to defeat her.  That's why they're senior agents, sir."  Fury mildly glared at him.  "They should."

"She beat you too."

"She teleported to get away from us so she could try to control her temper more, sir.  Not exactly the same thing.  She wanted them to wear the temper out of her and they failed even as a pack attacking her."

Xander shook his head.  "Dawn's good but not excellent.  She's probably as good as she'll ever be but we can expand her out into bladed weapons if she wants."  He looked at Fury.  "He's right.  If you have six senior agents who've been practicing these things for at least a few years longer than she has trained, then they should've been able to take her.  I'm surprised that the trio of Phil, Clint, and Natasha didn't manage to trap her better but she was in such a rage she knew she needed to get it out of her.  I heard she went to the tower and destroyed a metal wall afterward."

Phil nodded.  "She did.  Which is why they sedated her."  He looked at his boss again.  "Beyond that, why couldn't they defeat her, sir?  Is it because she's a woman?  Because that's a liability in the field.  She's not better than they're supposed to be."

"They said they were trying to not hurt her," Fury said.

Phil snorted.  "They didn't come anywhere near hurting her.  I doubt they would.  Or that a few of them could.  They need to be reevaluated.  All of the agents need it because there's been a lot of slacking.  Like the day Callia snuck through the gym and not everyone noticed her."

"They did what?" Fury demanded.

"Agent Romanoff sent you a message about that, sir.  Only six out of the twenty-something agents in the gym spotted her.  Captain Rogers had his back to her.  So did a few others, but the rest overlooked a child in the middle of a gym."  Fury rolled his eyes.  "That sort of inattention can get agents dead in the field."

"Fine, I'll do that after the olympics thing in a few weeks."  Phil nodded that was fine with him.  "Any other words of wisdom?"

"Let the CIA have the bimbo assassin wannabe?" Xander offered.  Then he stuffed his mouth again.

"That's not a bad idea and they could probably use her somewhere," Fury decided, leaving them to dinner and a peaceful night.  He ran into Stark in the hallway.  "Slumming?" he said dryly.

"No, getting a book off Dawn's shelves."  He got into the apartment, which was Natasha's, and slammed the door.  He looked around and smirked.  She had set up her living room as a weapons lab.  Apparently the kimono collection was in a bedroom.  He went up the stairs to the bookshelves, catching the cat.  "C'mon.  You can go tease the mice.  Just don't eat any of them."  He grabbed the next two books in the collection and some food, then left, locking the door behind him.  Happy opened the door for him and stared at the cat.  "Loki."

"The godly one?"

"No, Cap named him because he liked to sit on the fire escapes and stare."  He got into the car.  "He'll need a litterbox."

"He can probably use the spare one for the rabbit."  He got in to drive them to the pet store anyway.  Maybe they'd find something to keep the cat out of Callia's mice collection.

Tony walked the cat in there, holding him up.  "I'm Loki sitting."

The helper smiled.  "We can get you what you need, sir."  She led him to the cat aisles to get litter, food, a pan, and a few toys.  Including some catnip.  Tony paid and got the bags into the car.  They went back to the tower and Callia picked up the cat from where Tony dropped him.

Callia stared at the cat.  "If you touch my mousies I'll turn you into a fur rug, Loki.  My mousies are my friends, not your toys."  She put him down and petted him.  "And don't be wicked to Liz either.  She's just a baby and can't chase you like the twins do."  She dug into the bag, setting up the litter box like the pro she was at it.  Then the food got put into a paper bowl her father handed her with a grin. She got him some water in another one then found the loose catnip.  She put it down on the floor and put the cat in the center of it.  "It's kittynip.  You're supposed to like it."  The cat sniffled and nibbled some, getting down to roll around in it and bliss out.  "Wow, is that what being high is like, Daddy?"

He looked and nodded.  "Yeah, pretty much.  You'll never find the human version, daughter."

She snorted and waved a hand.  "Drugs are for weak minds.  I've got a very strong mind and I'm not damaged so therefore I don't need them."  She bounded off to check on her mice.

"Good," Tony said quietly.  "I'd hate to see what either of your aunts did if you did get high."  He finished his water and sat down to read.  Loki was hissing at the imaginary friends in the catnip but that was him being a cat he guessed.

***

Pepper woke up to some strange, quiet sound, looking around the bedroom she was borrowing.  She blinked at the bassinet, reaching slowly for her phone and taking a picture to send to Tony.  Loki was sitting on the side of the bassinet, staring at Liz like he was confused.  The baby was snoring so she wasn't hurt.  Maybe he was just a really curious cat?

Tony snuck in through the emergency panel and grabbed the cat to scare it.  Loki yowled.  Tony stared at it.  "No going near the baby's bed.  You could hurt her and then you'll be a mitten warmer for your human girls."  He put him on the bed.  Loki huffed and took a bath to smooth down his fur.  He looked at Liz, covering her back up.  "I don't think he did more than stare."

"I'm hoping not."  She petted the cat, getting ignored even though he did arch into her hand.  "I know you're not used to them, Loki, but it'll be okay."  She laid down and Tony grinned.  "I'm still so sore there's no way I want people to look at me."

"I know why.  She's a huge thing to push out."  He kissed her and went back to his own room, closing the emergency exit.

She smiled and settled in.  The cat eventually settled in to nap beside her feet.  It was nice having something like a pet.  Pet cats were *so* much easier than a pet Stark.

Loki watched the human sleep then went to try to figure out the tinier human again.  This time he carefully curled up around her feet and stared at her from there.  She was a bit weird, she drooled, she smelled funny, and she was pudgy.  She was not like the humans he knew.  Maybe a bath would help.

***

Callia walked into Pepper's room the next morning, staring at the baby.  Who was wearing a kitty on her head.  Loki was washing the baby, making Callia blink.  "I can help change her so she doesn't stink as much," she said quietly.  "Would that help her not stink, Loki?"  Pepper sat up and looked over.  The cat was ignoring everyone.  Tony walked in and took film, sending it to others.

Callia reached in to pet the baby but Loki hissed and glared at her.  "Hey!  Not nice and she's my sibling!"  Tony picked up the cat to hand her.  "Fine.  I'll pet the kitty."  She cuddled and cooed at him.  "Thank you for taking such good care of Liz, Loki.  You're a very good mommy cat sometimes, even if you are a boy.  I'm sure Uncle Clay will be just as good of a mommy as you are."  She walked off with him to get him something to eat.

"Tuna's on the second shelf in the pantry," Tony called.

A minute later she brought it in.  "It's a machine can, Daddy.  I'm not allowed to do that yet."

"I can," Pepper said, getting up to make Loki a dish of tuna for being so nice to the baby.   "That was very sweet, Loki."  She petted him and went back to check on the baby.  "Anything hurt?"

"A bit wet but otherwise just a very happy baby," Tony said, shrugging a bit.  They got her changed and bathed then out to help the rest of them eat breakfast.

***

JARVIS cleared his throat.  "Dawn, that person emailed you again to check on her request."

"Thanks.  Can you maybe get us some food, JARVIS?"

"I can have some sent."

"Thank you," Clint said.  He looked at her.  "What sort of request?"

"I've been trying to figure out how to ask.  I got emailed by someone in the local Make A Wish group."  He nodded slowly.  "Did you turn them down for a reason?"

"I haven't heard anything from any of them," he admitted.  "When did they email me?"

"They said they sent a letter and got a nice turn down that SHIELD agents couldn't do that sort of thing."

"No, not my doing," he assured her.  "I would've talked to you guys about it if I had.  I know you're hyper on that subject because of your mom but I'm not sure I could handle that."

She stroked his stomach.  "Mom helped a few of the kids in her hospital with their requests.  Said it was the least she could do."  She looked up at him.  "So Fury had someone turn them down for you?"

"Apparently and I'm going to have a discussion with him about that.  I know it didn't cross Joyce's desk or she would've told me.  So what did the kid want?  It is a kid, right?"

"It's a five-year-old little boy in one of the hospitals in New York.  He saw you during the invasion and he's been a super fan since then.  They said that he's collected every single thing about you that he could.  They sent me a picture of him going as you for halloween."  She smiled slightly.  "He's an adorable little boy, Clint."

"I'm not against it, I'm just not sure I can handle it without getting seriously emotional, ya know?"

"Yeah, I get that."  She put her head back down and stroked his stomach.  "I'll send her an email saying that we have talked, that you did not get her request thanks to someone at SHIELD's PR department apparently, and that we're talking about it?"

He considered it.  "I want to.  I'm not sure I can handle seeing a little kid that sick."

"I'll tell her you're considering it."  She got up to grab her phone and send that.  "Why don't I need to charge you by now?"

"We've kept it on the charging pad," Atlantis said.

Dawn grinned.  "Thanks, Atlantis.  That's very sweet of you."  She went back to bed, smiling at the basket that got beamed in.  "Hey, food."  That woke Natasha up and they settled in to eat and talk.

***

Stark sent himself to Atlantis, looking around the pier he had landed on.  He looked at Sheppard and McKay.  "You're holding my PA hostage."

"The city is holding your assistant hostage," Rodney corrected.  "I think she's being charmed by JARVIS."

"He is very charming and very sweet when he wants to be," Tony said with a slight smirk.  "They can visit some other way.  We need Dawn back."

"Atlantis?" John asked.

"Yes?" she answered.

He patted her on the nearest pole.  "Stark wants Dawn and her spouses back for a while."

"We're going to make you two something so you can log in and talk to each other," Tony offered, pulling out his tablet to put up the plans.  "That way you can dial in and talk over a better connection than the phone.  It's the same size as the Roomba dog and it's just as mobile so you two can talk in a closet or wherever you want to."

"That's a charming design and we do not have sexual urges," she chided.

"Bullshit.  JARVIS likes to watch the security feed with the trio now and then," Tony said with a grin for the pole John and patted.

"I do not have that function.  That's very interesting."  She went quiet.  "I will release them.  They have done a lot of talking, she is calmer, and things are good.  She is happy and glowing like a young woman in love should by your standards."

"Your people didn't have love?" Tony asked.

"By the time I was made it was more about continuing on the bloodlines than about being in emotional statements," Atlantis admitted.  "It was nearly mechanical shortly thereafter."

"That sucks.  You should always knock up your lover the old fashioned way so you both enjoy it," Tony said.

"They had male carrying pregnancies as well," John said with a grin.

"Don't tell Roque that, he'll have to hide Clay," Tony quipped back with an evil smirk.  "Or Barton will have to take time off the team."

"Not likely," Dawn's voice said from the same speaker.  "Dawn is more than smart enough to know how to count and how to pray to the birth control goddess."

"Which one is the goddess over birth control?" Tony asked John.

"You know, I'm not sure.  Probably one of the perpetual virgin goddesses who's so damn sour because they've never had more than their hands.  Maybe Athena since she's the Goddess of Wisdom."  Tony tried not to laugh but he couldn't.  "How's the baby?"

"Great."  He smiled.  "Loki's taken a lot of interest in her.  We keep finding the cat giving her a bath."

"They named the building cat Loki?" Rodney asked.  "Isn't there some sort of mystical rule about names?  You wouldn't figure they'd do that to a beast."

"Cap named it," Tony said with a grin.  "It liked to stare at them."

"Now it likes to stare at me while I'm trying to sleep," Clint's voice said.  "So this is the pool that the dildo tentacle monsters were leading back to."

"Some of the soldiers still need that for stress relief," John quipped, walking Tony that way so they could get them out of there.  "We don't talk about the pool, guys.  It's a closely guarded Atlantean mystery."  They smirked at him for that.  "The president wondered after his spouse mentioned it but after seeing it he decided he did not want to know."

"Me either," Tony said, looking in the pool.  "It looks like it might be fun though."  He looked at the trio.  "Are you three all right?"

"We're good," Clint said, giving Dawn a squeeze since she was under his arm and hugging him.  "Fury?"

"Pouty.   Very pouty.  The probability nerd who thinks he's a computer says that we might have an attack in the next two weeks."

"Got it," Clint said, looking at Natasha, who shrugged and yawned.  He grinned.  "You're still sleepy?"

"Dawn was very cuddly."

"I do make a good cuddle helper," Dawn quipped.  "How's Liz?"

"She's good.  Your cat wants to claim her as his spawn."  They got beamed back after he waved at John and Rodney.  He pointed.  "We're having a dinner."

"I need to change," Dawn said.  "C'mon, Natasha.  I have stuff in my locker."  Her wife followed her down to the locker room.  Clint had something in the gym so he changed in there.  They came back up to the penthouse, though Natasha had to rig the pass sensor since Dawn's had quit working.  Again.  She walked off and handed Tony the pass.  "Not working."

"Again?"  He ran it under the scanner up there that he used to find out who people were when he called them up.  "Huh, says you got fired for not calling off work."  He got in there to fix it and Pepper came out to finish fixing it.  "You were off this week because we were.  I have no idea who had that brain fart."

"Probably the one in HR that we've never found," Pepper said.

"We need to get the artwork moved too," Tony said with a snap.  "They reminded me the other day."

Dawn sighed.  "I forgot.  We'll get it on the way home tonight."  Tony nodded with a grin.  "If they haven't stolen it."

"They better not have," Clint called.  "Some of those are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and belong in special storage."

"I've been looking for one.  The one with the best rating is really expensive," she said, walking out onto the patio.  She hugged Callia when she got pounced.  "Hi."

"Hi!  Did the city kidnap you?"

"It wanted to help us talk and stuff."  She kissed her on the head.  "I introduced her to JARVIS too.  They've been talking a lot."  She grinned and ran off to talk to the baby again.  Dawn walked over.  "Hey, Liz."  The baby blew spit bubbles and groaned.  "I remember Callia making those noises.  She always seemed very happy."  She kissed her on the head.  "You'll learn to love all of us."  Pepper grinned.  "Some year I'll give her a playmate."

"Whenever you want," Clint said in her ear, making her look at him.  He shrugged.  "We're letting you decide that."

She smiled and stroked his cheek.  "That's very sweet."

He grinned back.  "Whenever you're ready to quit being so flirty...."

She snorted.  "Not likely."  She goosed him and he grinned as he walked off.  Dawn strolled over to talk to her mother, who was hugging Callia and the twins.  "Hi, guys."  The twins smiled and waved then got back to telling Joyce things.

"Why did Uncle Xander have a pony at the temple?" Joyce asked.

"Maybe one of the Valkyries had theirs down?" Dawn guessed.

"Maybe," she decided, getting her own hug.  "Are we all right?"

"We've done a lot of talking, Mom, and we're good."

"Good."  She brushed hair off her daughter's cheek.  "Now, why did I get a warning that you were going to destroy my boss this time?"

"I didn't say I was.  I'm highly disappointed but not near destruction range.  Someone sent back a denial letter for Clint to Make A Wish without asking him."

Joyce winced.  "That probably went to PR.  I'll talk with them."  Dawn grinned.  "Is he?"

"He's considering.  He's not sure if the harder stuff will be okay."

"I get that.  You could take him when you go to see if he can handle it."  She brushed Dawn's hair back behind her ear again.  "Are you sure you're all right?"

"I'm fine, Mom."

"Are you pregnant?" she hissed.  "That was very mood swing like."

"No.  I started last night," she admitted.

"Maybe we should see why you're so out of whack then."

"Maybe," she agreed.  "I hadn't thought about that.  I'm not due for a shot for another two weeks."

"Hmm."  She gave her a one-armed hug.  "Your sister is feeling miserable."

"Because it's twins or because of the fighting preterm labor thing?"

"Mostly that."

"I'm wishing her luck and sending up nightly prayers to the goddess that she gets a bit further along before she delivers.  The later the better."  Joyce nodded.  "Callia had a few hellish months in there where she was born so early."

"I remember.  Did you ever find out who did that?"

"We figured it was NID.  As far as I know no one went looking.  Hey boss?"  Tony's head turned and came up since he was talking to Callia.  "Did you ever find out who had that one delivered so early?"

"I did."

"NID?" Dawn asked.

"No.  Actually it was a crackhead that used to work for SHIELD.  NID was funding his research so they could both have a hold and their own super being."  Dawn frowned.  "They had a version of the super soldier formula that would've probably killed her."

"Great," she said.

"Me?" Callia asked.

Tony looked down and nodded.  "You, yup."

"Why?" she demanded, starting to tap a foot.  Her hands went to her hips.  Everyone smiled because that was so much like her mother's pissed off look.

"Right before you were born, someone kidnaped your mom so they could keep you," he told her with a grin.  "Your Uncle Xander found you and destroyed that person very hard."

She smiled. "Good!"  She went back to fussing over Pepper and Liz.

"I'm okay, Callia.  Calm down."

"You had a baby.  That's worse than having an appendix out and better than Grandma had so therefore you get more fussing than the scientist that had her appendix out suddenly and less than Grandma got."  She got her something to drink and nibble on, carefully carrying each over for her.  Then she sat next to her auntie and stole the baby to hold.  "There, now you can eat."

She grinned at the baby.  "We need to bond like the people on tv say.  That way you love me like the twins do.  We bonded with them very early and they're neat and like siblings too.  You'll learn to like them because they're getting very smart.  John likes to try to read and Melissa is a coloring champ."  She shifted and Tony helped her arrange the baby easier.  "Thank you, Daddy."  She grinned.  Joyce snapped a picture.  She grinned.  "That's Grandma Joyce.  You can probably call her that too even though she's not really your grandma.  She makes a really good grandma and she even adopted Uncle Xander, who will tickle you if you don't watch out."

The baby blew another spit bubble.  "You'll like him though.  He's very good at reading stuff and he explains things like Daddy does.  He never treated me like I was a baby.  Probably because he doesn't understand babies very well but that's okay.  It makes him special in his own way."  She adjusted the baby's hat.  "Then there's Grandpa Brucie, who's also Grr Guy, but he'll love you too.  He protects all us kids.  Even when we mess things up in his lab by helping he never gets mean about it.  So if you color on his math homework like I accidentally did it'll be okay."

"Those things happen around kids," Bruce agreed, smiling at her.  "Just remember that your paper is in the filing cabinet now."

"I will, Grandpa Bruce.  That's where Daddy keeps mine too."

Tony nodded.  "Because she used to color in the bomb and weapon plans on me.  Everyone thought it was great she stayed in the lines and all that.  I got told it made them easier to read too."

Bruce smirked at him.  "I'm sure it was.  She's excellent at coloring.  The same as Melissa is.  I'm wondering if that's a girl vs boy thing."

"No, I think that Melissa might need some help," Joyce said quietly.  Tara winced.  "Not that she's very far behind, Tara."

Xander appeared with Phil.  "No, she needs glasses," Xander said.  "She squints at everything."

"She does?" Tara asked.  Phil nodded.  "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I only noticed it after he did."  He created a mirror of what Melissa did that day.  She squinted to see what things were and then played with them.

"Can you get glasses for kids that young?" Maria asked.

"Yes.  The eye doctors have shapes instead of letters on charts for kids that young."

"I'll have to find one that takes our insurance," Maria said.  "That way we can fix it before she falls behind.  No wonder she likes being read to but she hates books."

Tara sighed and nodded.  "I didn't even realize."

Phil patted her on the hand.  "It'll be fine.  Lots of kids need glasses."

"They do."  She kissed him on the cheek.  "Tony rescued the trio."

"I can see that."  He smiled at them.  "We better, people?"  They nodded.  "Then why is Fury worrying that Dawn's going to stab him?"

"I'm not that upset with him and I'm not even sure if it was his decision or someone else's," Dawn quipped.

"Someone sent a nice letter back to a kid that SHIELD agents didn't do Make A Wish visits," Natasha told him.

Phil shook his head slowly.  "Bullshit."  Melissa flinched and looked around, turning to protect the grandma and brother.  He sighed.  "Sorry, Melissa.  It's not a huge problem.  Relax.  We'll protect your brother and grandmother for you."  She smiled and waved in his direction then turned back around to get back to babbling.

"She is very protective," Maria agreed, smiling at the little ones.

"Nearly as good as I am," Callia said.  Tony took the baby from her.  "Hey!"

"You shifted too far and she was going to fall.  Besides, it's my turn to bond to the baby, daughter."

"Oh, okay then."  She kissed Pepper on the cheek and ran over to the twins.  "I'm going to read."  They smiled and followed her to her books.  John helped by showing her words he knew.  She praised him and helped Melissa with her words too.  Maybe whatever those glasses things were they'd help her learn words better, because you couldn't do much without words.  Even science stuff took words and math.

Bruce smiled at the kids then at Tony and the baby.  "I still can't imagine you wearing Callia in a carrier all over the labs, Tony.  Even though I've heard the stories."

"Did you hear about him almost taking her into the radioactive lab with him?" Dawn asked dryly.  "He just didn't realize why Pepper was stopping him from going in to stop the shit going on.  Put on the radiation suit with her on his chest and didn't realize. Or that he was still shirtless."

"Daddy said I had to have skin to snuggle up to," Callia said, looking over.

"You did.  You would not sleep without being able to touch someone.  I swear sometimes you used to quote my homework back at me at night."  She giggled and swatted at her auntie then got back to reading to the twins.

"It was that early exposure to history, calculus, and economics that made her so smart," Tony agreed with a smirk.  "Bruce, I even did interviews shirtless because if I put her down she fussed.  For the first three months after she got out of the hospital, she had to have skin contact.  She would not lay down in her bassinet or crib.  She would not let you lay her on the couch.  Nothing.

"I kept getting nagged by Dawn because I took her into the shower with me instead of doing the tiny bath thing for her because she wouldn't let me.  Dawn used to get in babysitting time by locking them in an office and going shirtless so Callia wouldn't fuss at her.  If she had to have Callia and be seen, she wore these off-the-shoulder knit dresses for her.  She had baby hickies for months on end from it."  He shook his head.  "Liz is not going to be nearly as demanding as mine was."

"All geniuses have quirks, boss," Dawn quipped.

Joyce smiled and patted her husband on the hand.  "Bruce, not even I could calm some of that down.  She went weirdly silent whenever she visited me in the hospital.  Once she got handed back to Dawn or whoever she was back to being greedy for skin contact."

"Thankfully, California is warm," Dawn said dryly, smiling at them.  "Otherwise she wouldn't have come out of the house during the winters."

"I don't remember seeing those in your earlier wardrobe," Natasha said.

"Once Callia got past that stage, we made her donate them," Pepper said.  "They all looked kind of slutty and not really corporate enough, even with a jacket."

"How long did I do that for?" Callia asked.

"Three and a half months after you finally came home," Tony said with a smile.  "Then you switched to a nudity thing.  You complained and screamed whenever we made you wear more than a diaper and a t-shirt."

"You should've gotten me leotards.  They make things like that for babies," she said dryly.

"They're called onsies for babies," Dawn said.  "And you wouldn't wear those either."

"Really?" she asked her aunt, who nodded but smiled.  "Wow, I was fussy."

"You grew out of it," Dawn said with a grin.  "All the quirks mean that we love you more."  Callia ran over to get a hug then went back to reading to the twins.

"Now we know if our future kids end up weirder than I am, they're going to be geniuses.  It'll mean we can save up for their school costs," Clint quipped, sipping his beer.

Dawn smirked.  "I think I have that covered."  He stared at her.  "I do have an educational expenses trust fund set up for my future spawns.  From any of us.  So if someone takes your DNA and makes you a mini clone, we can afford to send them to school too."

He grinned.  "Never even thought about someone doing that."

"Aliens did it to O'Neill," Pepper quipped.

"They found evidence that the same alien was looking at Dawn," Tony said dryly.

Dawn grinned.  "I heard and cackled so hard.  I could use a clone.  That one can go to MIT like you wanted me to, boss."

"Sure, I'll plan on that," he agreed with an evil smirk for her.  "How's the language degree?"

"I'm taking this semester off again.  Things are going to be too hectic and they know I'm auditing an online class this semester."

"Fine."  He waved the hand with the grill tool.  "We're expecting to hear about that soon."

"Sure."  She looked at her mother.  "He said I have to walk for my next one and it's in Rio."

She smiled.  "Rio is supposed to be pretty but dangerous."

"They're trying to clean it up for the olympics in a few years," Natasha said.  "But we would guard you."

Dawn nodded with a grin.  "We can do that.  I might even visit that store again so I get more hot clubbing clothes."

Clint finished his beer and walked over to kiss her.  "No, you can't."  She smirked at him.  He sat down and pulled her into his lap.  "Being a dick tease is one thing, Dawn.  Being an evil dick tease is a total other matter and we don't want to watch people try to kidnap you again."  He gave her a squeeze.

She looked at him.  "You did the same thing in Rio after we saved those kids."

"I did.  It made sure that no one took you from us."  He grinned.  "I'd notice if you got stolen from my lap."  Joyce was snickering.  "Don't even," he warned.  "She got taken twice in three weeks and only one was planned so we could rescue those kids.  One she was sitting next to us by the hotel pool.  Her, then me, then Natasha.  They still managed to sneak her off.  The other they tried to take her from the club we were celebrating in."

"It did seem like each time we turned around Dawn was missing," Natasha agreed.  "I nearly got her a collar and leash set."  Dawn stuck her tongue out at her.  "It might have helped."

"I doubt it.  Besides, they mostly thought that I needed their version of a real man instead of the one I have because they said he growled too much."  Clint was growling again so she snuggled back into his lap.  He quit so she grinned at him.  "Just think, if you hadn't decided to hide at the sex club that night, things might've been a bit calmer."

"You three were together and you went to a sex club?" Joyce demanded, staring at Clint.

"With their permission because they showed up later to taunt me," he complained.  "Natasha dressed her up like an innocent virgin again and it was bad enough that half the club offered for her first time."  Joyce moaned and shook his head.  "I was tracking a problem person.  I was actually there for work, not fun, Joyce.  They would've skinned me if I had went there for pleasure."  Dawn and Natasha both nodded.

"Guys, there's kids who don't need to wonder about those words," Pepper complained.

"Sorry," Dawn said.  "That is how we found out about the cultists taking kids though."

Clint nodded.  "It was.  Still nerve wracking."

"Sorry!"

"A cult?" Phil asked.  "I have not heard more than incidental things about that."

"We destroyed them to the cellular level," Dawn said dryly.  "And no, you won't be."

Xander created a mirror and spun it back, pausing it and then looking at Dawn.  He showed her what it was and she giggled, shaking her head.  "Damn."  He let Joyce see when she leaned over.

"Dawn, dear, you look like a hooker.  More than Buffy did in high school," Joyce complained.

Dawn grinned.  "I was distracting the sniper."

"Yours?" Phil asked, leaning over to look.  He almost blushed.  "No, clearly not."

"No, Patterson wanted her," Clint said dryly.  "Which is why he's still limping and complaining we're mean."

Dawn patted the arm around her waist.  "Just a bit, dear.  Though it was nice he told you who hired him to hit who and why he was in town."

"It was, yes.  He thought we were there about that, not about him stalking her around Austria for six days."

Xander shook his head.  "I thought that was long haired Xander's luck."  He went back farther, finding a few more slutty outfits, some sex he sped extra hard over, and then Rio.  He blinked, staring at the outfit.  "Wow, more than damn."

Phil leaned over and did blush this time.  "Please tell me you cut that off her?" he asked Natasha.  Who could be a bit possessive when she wanted to be.

"If that's the blue one, no.  It's in the closet.  The red one got ruined when she got captured, as planned," she said to ease Joyce's scowl at her daughter.  "So we could find where they had those children hidden for religious purposes."

"That night we went to the club up here, the FBI guy I danced with asked me about that," Dawn said with a grin for her.

"I did not know anyone realized it."

"Well, the guy in charge was a whacked out biochem, speciality drug designer," Dawn said dryly.  Tony looked over.  "I don't think you've ever run into him, boss.  He found my old ID in my wallet and sneered that you were ruining engineering for everyone.  His brother sold weapons and was an external supplier for Ten Rings?"

"That's who captured me in Afghanistan," Tony said quietly, looking at the two assassins.

"So hard," Clint assured him.  "Him, all his people, in a way that made cops down there mourn for their sanity."

"Thanks, Barton.  I knew I liked you for some reason," Tony quipped with a smirk for them.  Clint pointed at Dawn.  "Why?"

"They had me hostage!" Dawn complained.  "Took me from beside the pool.  I didn't want that thing touching me and telling me I needed a better man.  Puh-lease!" she said with a hand wave.  "I told him how my girlfriend was better than he'd ever be at being a man.  He made the mistake of getting mad and hitting me.  Pity."

Tony walked over to hug her.  "I like you too."  He went back to the grill.

"That's how we found out where she had been taken that time," Clint assured Joyce.  "Which is when she ended up being lap candy for the rest of our time down in South America."

"It had been meant to be a short vacation," Natasha admitted.  She shook her head.  "If we go back down there, you're wearing something very massive and sparkly so they can't fail to see the claim mark."

"I'm liking the collar and leash idea," Clint said.  Dawn elbowed him hard enough to make him groan.  "Or maybe one of those kid backpack leashes?"  She got him again.  He gave her a squeeze.  "What did that jeweler want anyway?"

"To have his brother paint me covered in some of his designs."  She smiled.  "I let them do pictures but nothing else since they paid me very well for it."  She shifted to look at him.  "I'm surprised you didn't see it at that club. It was at the apex of the staircase where it split."

"You had on a carnival mask, Dawn.  That and about three mil in jewels.  I couldn't tell it was you.  Though, tasteful enough I suppose."

"Actually more than that.  The piece over my bikini bottom area was that much."

Natasha shivered.  "I saw that picture.  I did like the way that you showed so well under the rubies and sapphires."  Dawn grinned at her.  "It was very moving."

Tony and Pepper both pulled out their phones to look up that picture.  Natasha got her onto the club's site and let her find it.  They bragged that it was an original by one of their members.  Pepper shivered.  Tony looked over her shoulder and whimpered.

Joyce strolled over.  "Nice composition," she said, smiling at her daughter.  "Tasteful yet erotic.  Nice job, dear."

"Thanks, Mom.  Only took him an hour to set it up.  There's about six in that series but he decided he liked that one best."

"I do like that one.  I'd never let anyone see it but I do like it."  She went back to kiss Bruce on the cheek, earning a smile.

"Hey, John?" Pepper called.  He appeared.  The baby John squealed and waved.

"Hey, namesake."  He smiled and waved back.

She smiled.  "Dawn's kidnaper in Rio did a picture of her.  She made him not paint it."  She showed him.

He nodded.  "I know him.  He does nice work.  Has some of my earlier works."  He grinned and kissed her on the head.  "I should get back to that hobby."  He smirked at Dawn.  "If so, I'm coopting you and Pepper both, and then getting Joyce."

Joyce blushed but shook her head.  "I'm in no means a model, John."

"There's a beauty in surviving and strength, Joyce.  You're still a vital, strong, sensual woman."  He disappeared to get that picture and show Rodney.  It'd make his brain quit running in circles.  Which he needed because his mind was stuck in a bad thought loop.

"I find your beauty to be fairly glowing.  I always feel like I should have sunglasses so you don't burn my retinas with it," Bruce said in Joyce's ear, earning a blush and a sideways smile and look.  "If you do, it's not going anywhere anyone else can see it but me.  That way I can use it to inspire new ideas that will lead to new space exploration to find the stars that I spotted full of women who're only half as beautiful as you are."  He stroked up her arm.

She kissed him.  "You're very sweet."

He smiled.  "Not always."  She cuddled him.  He settled down in a chair and let her have his lap.

Xander looked at Phil.  "He's good," he said with a grin.

"Very but I'd never expect such mushy things from you."  Joyce pinched Phil, making him smile.  "I wouldn't."

"Xander has his sweet and mushy moments," she assured him.

Tony was watching it feeling kind of left out.  Pepper would never let him do that.  Not be that mushy in public, not let her sit on his lap.  Steve would be blushing if he wasn't asleep on the couch thanks to Callia keeping him up all night babbling about Liz.  Though it was sweet that Tara and Maria were sharing a lounger side-by-side and Tara was slowly inching to grab Maria and put her on her lap.  Phil went to help the twins.  He hadn't gotten much kid time with them recently, though Xander looked a bit upset.  He had heard Xander wasn't comfortable around the kids after having lost a family way back when.  They'd have to work that out soon.  Coulson was the very overprotective father stereotype.

Dawn looked at her husband.  "Do you think you'd mind if I crush on the guy that's playing you in the movie?"

"I think we had a talk about you and your stalkerish habits around Egypt," he said dryly.  "Why?"  She pulled over Pepper's phone since hers was dead, getting into a video to show him.  He stared.  "He even kinda looks like me."  He watched it and yeah, he could crush too.  "No stalking?"

She elbowed him.  "I'm not like that.  I was stalking that guy around the market because he was a jackass and I wanted to beat him to death for yelling at his daughter for daring to want to be pretty by having a hair barrette under her hijab.  She was like six and there was no reason for her to not have a Hello Kitty hair barrette.  It was fully covered.  No one but the family would see it.  Guys like that piss me off majorly and I had PMS that week."

"I remember.  And that Natasha ended up beating him."

"For not letting her have a barrette.  They are not un-Islamic.  It wouldn't have showed."

"I still say we send all the airheads over there," Pepper said.  "Let them remake the Middle East into their own world so they don't have to put up with those of us who think."

"We have an assassin and a witch that can go first," Dawn quipped with a grin.

"Don't remind me," Joyce complained, pushing her short hair off her forehead.  "I have never seen such spoiled things as the dogs I had to puppy sit since she was in custody.  They didn't want to drink out of a plastic bowl.  The water had to be cold or they knocked it over.  They carefully aligned themselves around the living by the principles of Feng Shui.  Seriously!  I looked it up since each of them carefully picked a spot after a half hour of sniffing around and would only sleep in that spot or sit in that spot.  She taught them to arrange themselves by Feng Shui."

"She needed the special energy boost to get over the stupidity," Dawn said.  "Seriously."

Clint poked her.  "We do the same job."

"Um, no, dear.  You two take out bad guys who do bad things to the world.  I researched her hits.  Half of them were paid by ex's or someone.  The other half were socialites she had arguments with.  Including her former bestie."  She gave him a look.  "If you were that shallow, Natasha would've put you out of everyone's misery a long time ago."

He nodded.  "Yeah, she would have if I didn't."

"Also, she missed and simply injured four of them.  One of them was the one who realized who it was that shot her because she spotted her really bad dye job of the moment."

"No, I'd clean up if I left that sort of mess," Clint assured her, giving her a squeeze.  "Remember, you only have to see their sort at Stark events."

"Actually, she could start going to a country club," Pepper said.  "I doubt she'd like it."

"Probably not," Dawn agreed.  "Sounds boring.  It's not the sort of club I'd like to get down at."

"Very true," Tony agreed with a smirk for her.  "Read Forbes this week?"

"No.  Am I in Forbes for some reason?"

"Yup," Callia chirped, looking over at them.  "Daddy giggled so I read it over his arm with Cheddar helping.  They wanted to know who you were since you had made a pretty little fortune as they called it and yet no one knew who you were outside of our assistant and my auntie.  They were wondering if it was a dowry from Daddy or something."

"No, I can honestly say most of it came from my paycheck and poker," Dawn quipped.  She looked at Tony.  "That bad?"

"Small article wondering."

"I'm nowhere near rich enough to end up in Forbes," she said dryly.

"Dawn," Joyce sighed, looking at her special younger daughter.  "No more poker."

"Yes, Mom.  They made me quit anyway.  It means I have to find weapons some other way."

"You got plenty from Lavelle," Natasha said patiently.  She was looking up that article online.  She read it, blinking some.  It got handed to Clint, who read it then looked at Dawn.  "How?" she asked.

Dawn took it to read, then shook her head and handed it back.  "Poker."

"Not entirely," Tony said.  "I got nosy when I read that.  Poker and wise investing by your investment person was a large part of it.  As was some sort of payment from Saudi?"

She blinked, looking confused.  "When did I get a payment from over there?"

"I don't know," he admitted.

She sighed and looked up.  "JARVIS, can you please put up my account summaries?  That way I can figure out where it came from?"  It got displayed in front of her.  "What is that?" she asked with a point.

Maria Hill came over to look.  "Are you funneling money?"

"No.  Not that I'm aware of."  She did the steps necessary to lock that deposit for research and then another one she found.  She found the one from Saudi and laughed.  "Natasha, they paid me instead of you, dear."  She let her see that entry.

Natasha snorted and waved a hand.  "They took you.  It's your reparation."

"Um, huh?" Tony demanded with a grin.

"Found the guy that wanted her so hard," Clint admitted.  "Looking back his younger brother had taken her for two days.  Hid her in the desert so he could woo her properly and do the ritual things so they could be married when he got back.  When we got there, he was sobbing greatly that she had stabbed him, had rendered him unable to have children because he was not fast enough in showing her how to get water in the desert, and had claimed his horse as hers."  Tony whimpered, shaking his head.

"Talk about a dumb bitch," Dawn muttered.  "I was not happy he had taken me hostage to the desert.  I was very much out of my element."

"I remember logging in that he got injured," Phil admitted.  "They weren't sure why but that it might be related to a weapons deal gone wrong."

"Um, no, it was a proposal gone wrong," Dawn said dryly, shaking her head.  "Do women actually like that sort of thing over there?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Phil said.

"Me either," Xander said.  "You only cut him those two places?"

"Oh, no, he started on a 'why don't you want me, I'm a beautiful prince' speech so he wasn't anymore by the time I got done with him.  I totally lost my patience with his BS."

"The photos that got passed on were not nice," Phil agreed.  "You did a great job, Dawn."

"She did," Natasha agreed.  "He begged me for mercy when I told him she was mine."

"Which is why he should've paid you," Dawn quipped.

"He kidnaped you, it's yours," Natasha said firmly.  "I don't need more money, Dawn."

Dawn looked at her.  "So you want me to pay more taxes?"

"Yes."  She smiled.

"Fine.  If we figure out how I'm supposed to be filing."

Clint gave her a squeeze to distract her.  "Research those other ones so we can find out who did it."

She got into that and found it.  "Huh.  Why are you sending me money through Dubai?" she muttered, getting into the name that had sent it.  "Oh!  The guy!" she said, smiling at Natasha.  "The one in India."

She blinked a few times.  "I was there for that?"

Clint rested his head against the back of Dawn's with a slight groan.  "She gave him huge ideas when he was complaining about his company in public.  We were having lunch, waiting on you, and she looked over to tell him that people didn't need that, they needed other things.  Especially around India.  Including water filtration and greenhouse style growing areas for families that couldn't grow on their lands.  She suggested that hiring all female staff would get him good press and good relations with a lot of people, plus there were many of them looking for work, especially widows.  She went over how US companies dealt with single mothers when he said it wasn't going to work for them.  Including on-site daycares."  He looked at Natasha.  "He apparently took her ideas to heart."

Dawn finished looking him up, smiling.  "He does some really great work and he's expanding to teaching computer repair classes to some of the kids so they can find jobs."

Tony looked at the display, nodding.  "I heard about him.  He's not bad.  Doing some good work even though he's not sure why.  He hired some of Mari's relatives to develop some genetically modified crops that would withstand the heat better.  I heard he was about to be bought out by a major US company."  Dawn stared at him.  "Yeah, a subsidiary of ours to bring their GMO crop people into ours."  Dawn grinned.  "So I'm guessing we cut you in for the profits from that."  He called his team over that to see.  They sent him an email about why Dawn was getting royalties and how much she should expect.  He handed that to Dawn and walked off shaking his head but smiling.

"Aww, he gave me five percent of the company for my help that day since it turned the company around."  She sent him an email through the team and thanked him, but said she didn't need it.  He should keep it so he could start the next great company.  He sent back a 'thank you' and said he'd leave it at what she had.  She smiled and handed the phone to Natasha, who sent it to Tony through Pepper.

"We're so checking for high pheromone output," Xander said, staring at her.

"I thought about that when I got the tiara.  Clint said I couldn't be because I didn't get the title too."

He nodded. "Bullshit and there's lesser versions."  He went home to ask how to test.  Then he came back with a small travel bag.  He poked her finger and did the test.  "Huh, not high."

She sucked on her finger.  "Who knows then."

"We call it Dawn luck," Phil said, patting his husband on the back.  Dawn shook her head, erasing her financial statement and cuddling in again.  Callia pounced them and cuddled in beside her.  Dawn smiled.  "Bored?"

"Wanted to see how nice he cuddled.  I'm setting up a rating so I can rate boys when I finally have to date someone."  She smiled.  "You cuddle very nicely, Uncle Clint."

"Thanks, Callia."  He ruffled her hair.  "You don't have to date if you don't want to."

She smiled.  "Then I'll never have babies."

"You have *years* before that's even a possible thought to have," Dawn assured her with a grin.

"Okay, if you're sure."

"I'm certain.  You won't be able to actually have one until you're fifteen at the very earliest and it's best if you wait until you're out of college."

"I should, yes."  She snuggled in and yawned a bit.  "I'm tired for some reason."

"That's because you were up all night talking about Liz," Tony said.  "Go nap with Steve."  She got up and went to do that.

"I was wondering where he was," Tara said with a grin for him.

"She babbled at him once he got back last night, about seven or so," Tony said with a smile for her.  "Kept him up until nearly noon babbling about how great Liz is."  He looked and spotted something.  "No wonder Steve named you Loki," he said.

Clint looked back.  "He does like to stare, yup.  Especially at anyone who touches Nat or Dawn."

"Actually, I think he picked you as his favorite human," Tara said.  "He stares at you so much because you're his.  If they were his humans he'd stare at them."

Clint looked over.  "He only stares when I'm touching them."

She smiled.  "I've had a few cats.  He's staring because someone is touching his human.  Which is you.  He watches you eat breakfast, and you give him pieces now and then."

"To try to make him more friendly."

"He's very friendly," Pepper said with a smile.  "He spent the last few days licking Liz's hair because she needed a kitty bath."

"He's snuck over to get Nat a few times," Dawn admitted, looking at her.  "Then he was washing Clint when you got him off your hair because he was nibbling."

"He did give his whole head a bath the night he took the cold medicine."

Thor landed on the deck, putting his hammer on his belt.  "Glad tidings, family."

"Glad tidings," Dawn said.

He spotted the cat, tipping his head to the side.  "I know that is not my brother in a new form."

"Steve named him after your brother for his staring," Tony said dryly.

"I asked to make sure, he just glared at me for it," Clint said with a grin.  "Then your brother showed up to say he wasn't a cat and sneezed at it."

"Yeah, dad is allergic to cats," Xander agreed, then grinned.  "I think there's a pound that could use his support in DC."

Phil patted him on the arm.  "No more mean thoughts I can't cure with the kids around," he said quietly.  Xander grinned and kissed him.

"It is good that you two worked things out," Thor said, smiling at them.  "It makes my father quite blustery that he knew all along that you would."

Xander looked at him.  "Still mad at them for the forcing stuff."

"As I would be."  He looked at Liz.  "You are very tiny.  I saw pictures of Sean when he was born to the warrior Hylal.  He was much bigger, as most Asgard children are born."

"Most human ones are born around six pounds," Dawn said.

"Hmm, very tiny."  He patted her on the foot with a smile.  "You will grow up with sense, like your mother."  He looked at Pepper.  "Felicitations on her birth, Pepper."

"Thank you, Thor.  She's a special little girl already."  She smiled.  "Sit and hang out with us."

"Aye, I will."  He sat down to talk with the twins.  They adored him the same way Callia used to.  He looked at his nephew.  "They should have a rabbit as well."

"We have a cat," Maria assured him with a smile.  "They don't need another pet, Thor."

"Fine.  Though cats are sneaky and might teach them thus."

"Too late.  I'm hoping the cat makes them less sneaky," Tara said.

Thor smiled.  "They have learned well from their second mother?"  Maria smiled and nodded.  "Then that's fitting."  He settled in to tell them how his goats were.  They loved to hear about his goats.  Melissa wandered off so he looked confused at them.

"She's having a girl day," Tara said.

"Ah!  I know naught about girls.  That is why it makes no sense to me."  He finished the story for John, who was patting him.  John gave him a hug and a kiss on the nose then ran after his sister to pounce her into a wall.  Which made her cry.

"I'm right here," Tara said.  Melissa ran over, letting her kiss her booboo.  "Be more gentle, John."

"Sorry," he said, hugging his sister.

"Okay," she said, pushing him off and scowling.  "Grounded!"  John fussed but looked pitifully at her.  "No!  Grounded!"

"Only we can tell him he's grounded and it was an accident," Tara said firmly, staring at her daughter.  "He is not grounded."  Melissa pouted.  "You're getting too spoiled, daughter."

Phil snapped and pointed in front of him.  "Melissa."  She walked over pouting.  He squatted down to talk to her quietly.  She nodded and sighed but walked over to hug her brother and then went back to hang out with him for a while.  He smiled at Tara and Maria.  "I said she could stay with us tonight."

"Want them both?" Maria asked.

"No, Mommies!" John shouted.

"Okay," Phil agreed, smiling at him.  "You can spend some time with us later."  John grinned shyly and curled up on Maria's lap to cuddle her.  He picked up Melissa to hold her, getting cuddled too.  "Want to nap?" he asked her.  She shook her head. "Okay."  He let her cling to him for a bit.  He had missed the kids.  Things had been horrible at the office for the last few days so he had a lot of late nights.  He hadn't even gotten to see Xander for a few days.  He'd have to make some decisions soon because he wasn't going to give up his new personal life for work.  The kids and his spouse were too important for that.  Xander stroked his back.  He looked at him.  "Work's been hell."

"It happens," Xander agreed.  "I had the same thing during apocalypse season before."  Phil smiled at him.  "We'll handle it.  We have time."

"I know."  He sat down to let Melissa cuddle into his lap since she was falling asleep.  Xander sat on the next one over.  It was comforting and nice.  Dawn was yawning and so was Clint.  He smiled.  "Is she putting you to sleep too, Barton?"

"As Natasha said, she's very cuddly," he quipped back.  Dawn pinched him.  "You are."

"Food's nearly ready," Tony announced.  "Give it ten minutes, people."  They nodded and Steve finally got woken up in time to pull down plates for everyone.  They ate and the short nap recharged the kids, who ran around shrieking at each other playing knights and dragons - with Callia being the dragon.

"If I'm a dragon I'm one like Uncle Jensen," she crowed.

"I think you'll make a great geek support dragon," Dawn quipped.  She had been filming it and sent it to Jensen, who sent bad a sad smiley face.  She asked why.  "Uncle Jensen said knights don't chase his sort of dragon, only the mean ones.  So they have to be groupies, guys."

"Groupie?" Melissa asked, smiling at her.

"People who stalk and really like certain stars and things."

"Oooh?" John asked.  Dawn smiled and nodded.  "Ooh!  Groupies and dragons!" he squealed and went back to chasing Callia with that.  Natasha had taped that from the talk and sent it to him, making him happier.

Roque appeared with the dogs and Jensen.  "Here, have something to pet," he said, handing Jensen to the kids.  He left again.

"Hi, Garnet," Callia cooed and waved.  The wolf stared at her.  "It's okay.  Have you met the twins recently?"  She pointed.  "They're like Uncle Xander's puppies too."

Garnet sniffed then sat down beside Xander and Phil.  "It's good, Garnet.  Puppies, play nicely," he ordered.  "No plate mooching."  They ran with the kids.  Hellion hopped up beside Pepper to cuddle her and beg nicely.

Pepper looked at him.  "Hi, Hellion.  I don't have anything to eat."  He licked the baby.  "No, you can't have Liz.  She's too young to play."  Hellion licked her foot again then nudged her closer to him so he could curl around her.  "Aww, are you protecting the baby?  That's so sweet, Hellion."  She petted him.  "Good boy, Hellion."

Tony looked at the huge, slobbering dog.  Then at Xander.  "He's very much like you only you drool less."

"Yes I do," Xander agreed.  Marble came rushing over to bark at his mother, who huffed but got up to come play.  "No biting, Garnet.  At all."  She looked back then went to chase the kids around.  She could herd them back toward the puppies so they could catch them.  They were less slippery than elk or caribou.

Thor watched, smiling.  "She is doing good teaching her pups how to herd and harry game."

"She is," Xander agreed.  "That's why I warned no biting.  John took her home last night so she could harry and herd the scientists on Atlantis."  Dawn snickered, shaking her head.

"Daddy, don't forget to build that thing for JARVIS and Atlantis," Callia quipped.

"I remember.  I'll get started on it tonight, daughter."  She grinned and hugged him then went back to chasing the younger four puppies around.  "Is that cuddle tag?"

"Yup.  I catch them, I get to cuddle them."

"Um, no," Xander called.  "No forcing cuddles on the dogs, Callia.  It can upset them."

"Yes, Uncle Xander," she sighed.  "I'll just pet instead."  Not that she was having much luck.  The dogs were really fast today.  Hellion growled at Ruby when she came over to sniff the baby.  "Thank you, Hellion.  Good boy to protect my sibling."

Tara smiled, holding Maria's hand.  "She does good as a big sister."

"She does.  Pretty soon she'll be old enough to babysit," Maria teased with a smile.

Tara nodded.  "Some year soon."  She snuggled closer.

Maria decided they needed to have a talk that night.  Because it was clear they were thinking the same thing.

Xander looked over and smiled, shrugging some.  He wouldn't stop their plans or disagree with them using Phil's stored sperm.

***

Maria let John down.  "Go potty and start your bath."  He ran that way.  She pulled Tara closer to kiss hard, staring at her.  "If you want another one, we'll do it during the next celebration.  I'll be there and if I can I'm going to do it for you," she said quietly, staring at her.  "Either with the new squirty toys that you found online that we both wondered about or if we need to do a warm one, we'll have Xander and Phil there and I'll be helping."

Tara blushed.  "Do you think the squirty toy would do that?"

"I think so.  I can check.  We'll do it during the celebration in the woods."  Tara shivered, moving closer.  She kissed her again.  "That way he or she is all ours, not just yours and Phil's."

"They love you too."

"They do but I wasn't there for their conception.  This one will be *our* baby together.  Not that I love them any less."  She petted over John's head since he was hugging her leg.  "They're still my kids, but this one will be *ours*."

Tara smiled and nodded.  "Okay."  She gave her another kiss.  "Get Melissa something to wear?"  She smiled and nodded, doing that while Tara took John to give him a bath.  She was wondering if the choker that Dawn had, the one that changed forms, could do that instead.  That way it was their baby for real.  That would be so great.  She'd have to ask.

***

Xander leaned Phil against a wall once Melissa was tucked in, kissing him.  "I think Tara and Maria decided to have another one tonight."

"I'd love that.  You know that."  He pulled him closer.  "Would that bother you?"

"No.  I'd get to be there for a lot of the stuff so we could bond, and maybe that'd help.  I don't know."

"I know."  He took another kiss.  "We'll figure it out together."  Xander smiled.  "Bed?"

"Bed?" he teased with a grin.  "Why would we want to go to bed?"

"Because I haven't been rubbed, stroked, or touched in days," Phil quipped with an evil smirk.  "Neither have you."

"One of the trainees tried to grope but he got smacked for it."

"Good."  He walked them into the bedroom and tossed Xander onto it before taking off his shirt.  Xander grinned and got rid of his clothes with a flash of powers.

"I'd do that but I keep sending my clothes to Dawn's apartment for some reason.  Haven't figured that one out yet."  He finished stripping and climbed in with Xander, snuggling in to kiss and cuddle him.  When Melissa got up they put on boxers and let her climb in with them.  Once she was asleep she went back to her bed and they went to sleep too.  It was good and nice to have everyone where they should be.

***

Maria found Phil in his office the next morning.  She came in after knocking and getting told to come in, then turned and locked the door.  He blinked up at her.  "Tara's.... we've decided to try for another one at the next celebration."

He smiled.  "Xander and I thought you might.  I'm going to be just as hands on, Maria."

"I know.  You can make sure I don't lose my mind in the delivery room."

He laughed and pulled a folder out of his bottom desk drawer.  "I had it stored here."  He handed it over.  "How were you going to do it?  Do I need to make a fresh donation at the clinic?"

"We were going to the celebration.  I'm.... well, we found...."

He held up a hand.  "I've seen those.  Dawn was wondering about them one day too.  You might ask the doctor about that to see if he'll cooperate but if that's what you want then so be it."  He smiled.  "I hope it takes easily."

She blushed.  "She's apparently fertile."

"She is."  She blushed harder.  He smiled.  "We'll be helping and fussing, all that."

"Thanks."  She left with the folder, tucking it into her bag to take home.  Fury was out there bothering the admin team and gave her a strange look.  "Something for Tara, sir."

"Her workroom need updating again?"

"Um, no.  Something for the next Wicca holiday celebration."

"Oh, fine."  He got back to nagging that person about his video game usage.  Did the junior agent think he wouldn't see  him playing Galaga or whatever?

Maria schooled her blush and willed it away, going to find the form to write that agent up again.  Joyce held it up with a smile.  "Thank you."

"Welcome, dear."  She patted her on the hand.  "You two will make a great set of parents for the newest one too," she said quietly.

"I hope so."  She went to hand Fury the form and then back to her duties.

Joyce smiled, marking down a few things in her desk journal.  When Fury walked past she looked up.  "You have six missing things that are due in soon."

"I thought I did them."

"If so I haven't seen them coming back out."  They went to look together.  She'd worry she was getting forgetful but she hadn't had any other symptoms and there was no way that she had gotten more of that serum.  Fury found them under his desk mat and signed them, handing them over.  She smiled and took them to inter-office mail.  Though she needed to schedule a follow-up soon.  She texted Bruce to see if he thought she was being forgetful.  He said it was a side-effect of the medicines she was on and hopefully they'd get to cut back on them soon.  That was sweet of him.  He had also scheduled her follow-up so she got to do that paperwork.

Fury looked at it then at her.  "Some special occasion?"

"Doctors.  My next set of scans."

"That's fine."  He signed off and handed it back.  "I hope there's still nothing there."

She smiled.  "You and me both, sir."  She went back to her desk, writing that on her schedule for the future.   Her paperwork went into the folder with all the other leave forms.  She checked then looked over.  "Maria?"  She came over.  Joyce pointed at a form.  "The rumors state he hasn't shown up."

"Hmm.  He was supposed to let me know if he needed more time off."  She walked off calling his desk, which was forwarded.  "Patricks, Hill.  How long am I extending your leave for?"  She listened.  "That's bad.  When did that happen?"  She made a note.  "Agreed.  I'll do the long term leave forms today.  That'll give you an extra month... two is good, yes.  I can do that.  Send me the legal notice and I'll include it.  If you had called I would've done it yesterday but I'll backdate it for you.  Oh, him.  Apparently he didn't learn after his broken arm.  I'll make sure he does learn this time, Patricks."

She pulled out the form.  "Let's go over this."  Joyce handed over the other one.  She read it quietly and nodded.  "All right, I'm signing your name for it and putting my initials to make sure he knows.  I'll hand it right over.  You let us know if you need anything, personally call me this time, Patricks.  Good man and I'm sorry."  She hung up, taking it into the main office.  "He just got custody of his little sister.  He thought his sister was but the judge ruled her unfit due to her bipolar disorder being uncontrolled by medication," she said quietly.

"That sucks," Fury agreed, looking it over and signing off.  "Why didn't he file it?"

"He did through his supervisor, who didn't learn when I broke his arm for thinking he didn't need to go to his mother's funeral."

"You have fun with him and see if someone wants to help you this time."

Maria gave him a pointed look.  "I don't need help.  I went easy on him last time, sir."  She walked off.  Joyce took the forms to take down to HR personally while Maria went to have a talk with that supervisor again.  Or fire him, one of the two.

Joyce smiled at the HR assistant.  "Is Delilah in?" she asked quietly.  "It's personally private for an agent."

"She's in her office, Joyce."  She smiled.  "Bad?"

"For an agent, yes."  She walked in there after tapping on the door.  "Maria did the form for him.  His supervisor tried to block him going to his mother's funeral the other day."  She handed it over.

She read it over.  "That poor man.  That's fine, Joyce.  I'll file it for him."  She smiled.  "She could handle it."  Joyce pointed at his ranking.  "Oh, he's one of the covert people so she can't get into their files.  That's fine."  She smiled.  "Is he going to be okay?"

"He just got custody of his sister."

"That sucks large," she said.  "We do have a great parent's group if he needs it though.  I'll send him a brochure from them."  Joyce smiled and left it with her.  She put the leave notice into his file and adjusted his pay check for that.  Thankfully he had some leave time built up and some stored for catastrophic incidences.  She found that brochure and sent it to him.  He'd probably need some support.

***

Xander had been hanging out to talk to Pepper and Liz.  Pepper was worried because they got another death threat from that church.  Xander was being all guardian stud.  At least until someone tried something stupid at the temple.  Then he took her and the baby with him.  He carefully handed her to Cougar then walked over to where Clay was yelling at one of the trainees.  "I heard my name invoked in a 'damn it, come kill him' way?" he quipped.

"I can kill him," Clay assured him.

Xander smiled.  "Until you have your own temple, it's my fun."  He looked at him.  "What did you do?"

"I was helping one of the agents to get better."

"By nearly raping him?" Clay demanded.

"Excuse me?  I didn't hear that part," Xander said, looking at Clay.  "I heard trapped another trainee in the potting shed and he had a panic attack."

"Oh, no, that was after he nearly raped him.  Apparently the guy was too tough and he thought they might get caught so he put him in there, knowing he had panic attacks from enclosed spaces, and was going to come back later when he was weaker."

Xander nodded, looking at the trainee.  "Do you have any explanation other than that?  And do be aware that Yellow Furs and Gods can tell when you're lying."  The man backed away from him.  "Okay.  Clay, let's get him to Fury.  He's one of his.  He can decide if the pack rips that one apart.  Where's the victim so I can get him to medical?"

"I took him," Roque said from behind them.  He was staring at Liz.  "At least you're not messy like your big sister."  Xander smirked at him.  "Callia was a drooler."

"She's too young to drool yet.  They okay?"

"I took him to Lam at the base.  I didn't want him anywhere near the SHIELD people until this one was taken care of.  She's got him well in hand."

"Good."  He took the guy with him and Clay.  He slammed him into the desk.

"What is it with you people and destroying my desk?" Fury demanded calmly.  "What did this one do?"  Clay told him.  He looked at him.  "I don't want him."

"You want to have him arrested or do you want us to kill him for you?" Xander asked.

"For all I care, you can send him to a zoo and let the lions rip him apart," he said.  "Unless your pack wants him, Colonel?"

"We'd never touch tainted meat like that, sir."

"Then I'm all for the lions.  We can process it as a training accident so his family gets his insurance."

Xander smirked.  John appeared, looking unamused.  "Problems with the city?"

"Not really.  Found a few of your swim team though.  It's been driving Radek nuts trying to figure out what they were.  Your dad was with the president on his tour and he identified them.  There was a ton of face-palming."  He looked at the crying idiot.  "Can we feed the mermen so they go away again?"

"They might leave him living or turn him," Clay said.  "We don't want this one coming back."

Xander smirked.  "Give me two minutes."  He searched and found what he wanted then took the agent with him.  He tossed the man into the crowd then disappeared with most of the rest of the group, leaving illusions.  He put them down a few blocks off and shooed them off.  The rebel army took out the crowd that was still there then Xander went to take them down.  That worked.  He went back after taking a picture of the agent's head.  He handed it to Fury.  "Took out a rebel group in Central America.  They were getting the whole village.  It let me get some of them away from the group."

"That's a really good reason for him to die for," Fury said, doing that paperwork.   "Where?"  Xander wrote down the town and what he knew about it.  That got a nod.  "That's a bad problem.  Thank you."  Xander smirked and went to the base to tell the victim.  Fury looked at Clay.  "Next time, call and I'll find something more devious and deadly for them."

"I liked the lions idea too," Clay admitted, cracking John up.  "Let's get back, John.  Xander was guarding Pepper and Liz."

"I wanted to see the baby anyway."  He took him back and smiled.  "Hey, Liz.  I rubbed her back when you kicked the mommy."  He took her to hold.  "Aww, you're adorable."  He smiled.  She groaned and squeezed her fist a few times.  "That's very advanced, sweetheart."  He cuddled her.  "Pepper, want walked up to the temple so you can sit?"

"I'm okay.  I've been sitting a lot."  She smiled.  "She's a sweetheart.  Callia and Dawn's cat won't leave her alone at all."

John smiled.  "Cats know who is a good soul."  He gave her the tour since she wanted to stand up for a bit.  The baby slept on his shoulder and it was good.  When she got tired he brought her home and helped her tuck Liz in then tucked her in.  Steve was watching but looking amused.  "Xander had to bring them to the temple to answer a call from an agent going terminally stupid."

"That's fine.  We're just worried because we got new death threats from that church."

John smiled.  "I'm going to talk to them myself soon."  He patted Pepper on the arm.  "You rest."  He disappeared to DC, looking at Loki.  "That church is nearly moving again."

"I am not supposed to do anything to them," he said blandly, looking at John.  "Beyond that, I thought my son was going to have fun with them."

"Xander wouldn't stop at destroying them.  We want them fucking miserable, Loki.  So fucking miserable that they disband and go find another group to hide in and maybe find some reality too."

"Having them together is of benefit," he noted.  "That way you know where all the imbeciles are."

"They threatened Pepper's daughter."

"Is she my grandchild?"

"No.  Not from what I felt."  He stared at him.  "Dawn shielded her magic fairly well.  She's a mid-level witch."

Loki considered that then stiffened.  "The timing is suspect," he said dryly, staring at John.  Who shrugged.  "Interesting.  And probably future signs that the child will need a strong bodyguard and spouse.  Very well.  I'll do some of my more *subtle* blessing work."

John smiled.  "Thanks.  Keeps me from just smashing them in the church."  He disappeared.

Loki considered how much misery he could cause that church without making it disband.  He could be very subtle.  Starting with their utility bills going sky high due to leaks and the like.  The water leak itself would hurt the foundation of the church building and the parking lot, which would be nice when it turned into a sinkhole in a few weeks.  Xander appeared to hiss in his ear then disappeared again.

Loki smirked.  His son had some very wicked ideas.  Yes, those termite things would be wonderfully placed.  Especially on the altar and it's all wood special things.  Loki nearly shivered at the subtle evil feedback he was getting.  Plus the nice people he was impressing would like that subtle destruction.  All those higher ups who met in Switzerland once a year to decide world policy were very worthy friends of his to have.

***

Phil looked up, tracking the powers he felt.  Xander told him what it was and he could agree with that, adding some of his own ideas to it.  He went up to talk to the boss.  "You know that Blandenburg Group that meets yearly in Switzerland, sir?"

"I've heard of them on some conspiracy sites."

Phil looked through their link to Immigration.  Then at the security cameras out there where they met.  He turned the monitor back around.  "Last year's meeting."

Fury looked then at him.  "Loki's getting in good with the group that conspiracy sorts think really rule the world?" he asked.  Phil smiled and nodded.  "That is one hell of a long range plan and wouldn't give him total dominion but it would give him a lot of power."  He considered it.  "That's nearly evil."

"Right now, he's being evil to that group that Dawn's suing.  He was thinking how pleased they'd be that he was being subtle."

"I'm sure they will," he agreed smugly.  "Thank you, Coulson."

"Welcome, sir."  He left, going to have a few cookies in reward.  Maria had the bag of cookies from Tara and handed him two.  "Thank you, Agent Hill."

"Welcome, Agent Coulson."  She smiled as he walked off nibbling one.  She was close enough to have heard and that was a very subtle plan by Loki.  She could almost appreciate the sneakiness.

***

Xander looked up at the knowledge of what his father was doing and shrugged.  "I'd still have to stomp them, people.  It might make sure humanity isn't protected."  He went back to talking to the trainee agents about faulty people like earlier.  They understood why and John was scanning them to make sure there weren't any more of them.  One got a glowing dot above his head; they could talk to him later.  Did SHIELD really need people like him around?

***

Dawn walked in with the daily mail, almost all opened.  "Here you go," she said, handing them and a glass of juice to Pepper.

She looked at the only sealed envelope, which was from her mother.  She settled in to read that one.  "Anything happen today?"

"I felt a bunch of power being sent at that church.  Otherwise, nope."

"Good."  She smiled.  Clint came off the elevator.  "New problems?"

"Baby present."  He handed it over.  "From me and 'Tasha.  Admittedly, she shopped."

"She has great taste," Pepper said with a smile.  "You have excellent taste for being with her and Dawn."

"Yes I do."  He kissed Dawn then pulled her closer.  "Can you take your shot early?"

"Yes I can.  Why?"

"Because it took me a while to figure out why you felt different last night.  You're fertile."

She winced.  "I shouldn't be."

"'Tasha said to pull some hair for a test."

"I'm doing that."

"It's five, go stop the doctor before she leaves for the day, Dawn."  She took Clint down there to do that.  She smiled at Liz.  "Some day she'll have one of you and be the world's fussiest mother.  She'll hold that record until Callia has one."  She went back to reading her mother's letter.

Dawn walked into the infirmary.  "Hey, Doc, I need the BC jab today."

"You're not due for over a week, Summers."  She came out pulling on her jacket.  "Why tonight?"

"Because girls taste different when they're fertile, doc," Clint said, giving her a pointed look.

"There's no way.  Not with both types you're on."  Dawn yanked some hair to start in testing.  She had seen it done often enough.  Doctor Pigalli came over to do it for her and found the birth control shot in the cabinet.  She came back and jabbed Dawn with it.  "Condoms, Barton.  Unless you want a baby?"

"Whenever she's ready."

She looked at him.  "Why is it my decision?"

"Because you'll have to do most of the work and get all the spoiling."  He grinned.

"Good point.  It'll be my backaches and gas pains."  The machine beeped.  She looked at it and burst out laughing.  "Oh, dear."

Clint looked then at the doctor to translate it.  "That's three different fertility drugs.  Barton, use the really thick condoms."

"I can do that, Doc.  Can you send us a printout tomorrow so we can track who's doing it?"

"I can do that."  She handed it over.  "Have fun, kids."  They smiled and left.  She threw out the needle and sent an email up to Stark.  Who came down to see the test results for himself.  She handed them over and walked off.

"That's a serious desire to have a baby from Dawn.  Usually they only have to use two of those for non IVF fertility treatments."  He walked off looking up how hard it was to get those.  Someone seriously was getting his foot up their asses.  He wasn't going to lose Dawn to maternity leave.  He'd never find anything or make it to meetings.

***

Clint and Dawn walked in together that night, Clint having the pharmacy's bag while Dawn had dinner and dessert.  "We got it," Dawn said.

"How much?" Natasha asked, seeing the multiple boxes in the pharmacy bag.  "We need that many?"

"Three drugs," Clint said, kissing her.  "All fertility related."  Natasha winced.  "She got her shot early."

"Good!"  She took a kiss from Dawn and her box of dinner from the restaurant up the street they liked to go to.  They settled in to eat and figure out how she had been dosed.  Natasha had searched the house when Clint had realized it.  She hadn't been anywhere that would lead to her being dosed without her knowledge, like a spa where it was in the steam treatment.  She took a kiss and cuddled Dawn once she was done eating.  Clint was still eating so they could lay there and cuddle and talk.

"I can't figure out where," Dawn said.  "Unless someone slipped it into my coffee at work?"

"Probably not," Natasha said.  "I've never seen them given in pill form.  In liquid form but not something you could swallow.  I've heard of people using it in steam baths."  Dawn shook her head.  "I know, which is why it's odd."

"We don't have the same things routinely enough to have them be noticed," Clint said.  "Maybe something at Stark?"

"It has to be something there since Natasha said she didn't find anything," Dawn said.  "But what?"

Clint considered it then had Tony get the needle from earlier to test.  Thirty minutes later he got back a 'they switched it' message.  He showed her.  She shivered.  Tony's next email said he had informed the doctor and she was livid, and would stick Dawn in the morning.  To not have sex tonight.  "I guess we can just cuddle."

Dawn smiled.  "Isn't that what oral sex is for?"

Clint smirked evilly.  "Yes, it is."  Natasha chuckled and it was going to be a great night.

31: Family Of Old Ones, New And Old

Buffy needs time, Joyce needs some healing time, and Dawn needs time to not lose her mind.  Thankfully they have family around to support them.

Tony walked up to Natasha at HQ and yanked a few hairs, making her turn and scowl.  "Checking to make sure they only got Dawn."  She groaned but nodded.  He went to run it in the labs there.  Bruce was there and he missed his science buddy.  He grabbed a testing bottle and put it under the machine then looked at Bruce.  "Someone changed the birth control shots at the tower's infirmary to a cocktail of fertility drugs."

"Does that mean I'm getting grandchildren?" he asked, looking over with a slight grin.

"Don't think so.  Dr. Pigalli told Barton to buy the really thick condoms."

"I'm sure they have some somewhere."  He got back to work but he was smiling.  "Bored?"

"Yup.  I made JARVIS and Atlantis those little rolling modem boxes and they're presently in the lab chatting.  It's almost too sugary for me."

"Remember to brush your teeth after each sugary treat," Joyce said as she walked in and hugged Tony then her husband.  "Lunch?"

"Later, dear.  Let me let Tony vent a bit."  He smiled.  "Are we going out to dinner tonight?"  She blushed but nodded.  He took a kiss and grinned.  "Good.  Go borrow something from Dawn?"  She giggled but swatted him before walking out.  He looked at Tony, who was staring at him.  "I figured you wanted help," he said quietly.

"I do.  I have no idea how it got there.  Dr. Pigalli can't figure out how it got there.  I have to find out who did it and I can't have JARVIS do some of the hacking because they're chatting."

"I think it's sweet that they're in gooey minded crushy love," Bruce teased with a smirk.  "Atlantis and JARVIS both deserve the best AI's they can find to be their lovers."

"They do, yeah, but he was writing poetry.  Or finding her poetry examples to compare against earlier.  Callia was helping by reading some of it for him."

"Awwww."

Tony nodded.  "Definitely."  The machine beeped and he pulled out the results.  "None in Natasha's hair," he said.

"That's an indication it's not the one from last time."

"So not the Russians probably."  They got to work finding it and while they were looking papers mysteriously appeared on the table.  They looked them over.  "England," Tony said.

"Charming.  We should have tea with them."  They shifted their looking and Tony was working on a side project to find something to remove fertility medicine from a body quickly.  They found out who had done it.  About a minute later, Maria Hill walked in.  "You're late," Bruce teased.

"My line was busy so Coulson had to try twice."  She looked at the information.  "No way in hell they're getting to knock her up.  Barton and Romanoff said that's their jobs."

"I'm wondering if the choker can do that," Tony said, calling Dawn.  "It's me.  England.  Can the choker work well enough to make someone fully male?  Like if you guys were playing she could knock you up?"  He listened.  "Huh.  Okay, good to know.  Thanks."  He hung up.  Hill pinched him when he didn't immediately give over information.  He smirked.  "She's not sure.  No one's ever tried it that way but the original one did get pregnant thanks to a fertility spell that Janus put on his choker.  Which is in the safe as well."  He stared at her.

She smiled.  "Thank you."  She left, going to assign people to investigate that group in England.  Romanoff took it but she took it back.  "You're personally involved."

"Fine."  She stared at her.  "I'll be kept informed?"

"Yes you will.  Dawn as well."  Natasha smirked.  "She's at work.  Stark's in the labs."

"I figured as much."  She went down there, walking in and blatantly looking at the test result.

"None in your hair from any of it, even though you come to the infirmary for shots," Tony said, looking at her.  "So not your former bosses behind it."

"That is very good to know," she said.  She looked at Bruce.  "Joyce looks sad?"

"She's got a scan next week.  She's had a few side effects from the medicine that are worrying her.  Things like forgetfulness and a bit of appetite loss."

"That's understandable.  We think Buffy will be going soon."

"Why?" Tony asked.  "Did Dawn do a telling spell or something?"

"No, when she was about to have Sean, Dawn started to mysteriously lactate.  It stopped a few days after she delivered him.  She thinks it's the Key offering to take over for what the Slayer inheritance won't let her sister do.  Last night, she was lactating again."

"Okay," Tony said, calling down there.  "Buffy, Tony Stark.  Dawn thinks you're going to go soon.  So make any prep things today.  Probably within days."  He looked at Natasha, who nodded.  "No, she's lactating.  Yeah, like last time.  So I'd be careful and maybe have a check up.  Today.  Good luck."  He hung up.  "Thank you.  Hylal will go full on grief if he loses his other girls," he said quietly.

"As would the mother."  She left, going to talk to Dawn.  Who was calling her sister to talk about that.  She realized Buffy was starting into labor again and sent her to the ER immediately.  Natasha sighed and nodded when Dawn said they might have to go down that weekend instead of going somewhere nicer.  They could visit the hellmouth for a few days.

Clint could get in plenty of bow practice shooting vampires.

***

Buffy called up Joyce that night, sniffling and crying.  "Mom?"

"Buffy, what's wrong?" she asked.  "Is everyone all right?"

"They came too early.  They just took the twins to NICU."  She blew her nose.  "Hylal is following them."

"We'll be down this weekend, Buffy.  Dawn and I both."

"Thanks, Mom.  I could use a hug.  So could Hylal."

"We'll be there and help with Sean too."

She sighed. "I forgot about him.  I think he's here.  Sean?"  They heard the giggle and she sighed.  "I totally spazzed, Mom."

"Buffy, you just delivered your twins a month early," she said.  "You had a better excuse for forgetting where he was than the guy that left the kid in the car when he went to work."  She laughed but it sounded tired.  "I'll be down as soon as I can, dear.  You try to rest.  Snuggle Sean and Hylal."  She hung up and looked at Bruce.

"I have nothing important to do," he said, feeding her a bite of dessert.

She smiled and texted Maria and Fury.  She got back a 'go' from Fury.  She smiled at the well wishes from Tara and Maria.  "Tonight?"

"Tonight if we can book a flight.  If not, definitely tomorrow morning."  She texted Dawn, who sent back a confirmation email from a travel site.  "Tonight," he said.  They finished dessert, went home to pack, and then made the flight.  It was only an hour and a half to Cleveland.  Joyce was tense the whole time but he could understand that.  He was too.

***

Clint walked up to an agent he tolerated on Friday afternoon.  "Want to watch the family pussy?" he asked.

The agent, who knew that Clint Barton was a horrible asshole and he occasionally made dirty puns, quirked up an eyebrow.  "Sure, which woman are you willing to hand over?"  He got handed the cat.  "Oh, that one."

"Buffy delivered early so we're going to Cleveland for the weekend."  He handed over a bag of supplies.

"Sure, I'll Loki sit," he said, petting the cat.  He'd heard rumors about him.  The cat looked up at him.  "Your humans have to visit their littermates."  He walked off petting the cat.

Fury passed him in the hallway.  "Another socialite get caught doing stupid things?" he asked.

"No, sir.  It's the Barton family cat.  They're going to Cleveland for the weekend."

Fury shook his head.  "Don't let it run around."

"I'll try really hard, sir."  He got the cat to the office he shared.  His officemate sneezed but leaned down to pet the cat.  Who huffed but allowed the proper worship.  He closed the door and checked the bag.  "That's Loki Barton."

"He's adorable.  I heard Captain Rogers found him on the fire escape."

"Clearly they like him."  He got some water for the cat to lap at and put out a handful of food on the rug.  The disposable litterbox got put down too.  The cat arched up into the petting hand then hopped up onto the desk and from there onto the filing cabinets, then onto the light fixture.  Then from there to the other filing cabinets that were blocked by the other desk.  He turned around and laid down to watch them work.  Both agents stared at him.  "No wonder they called you by his name."

The first agent nodded.  "I've heard rumors that it stared a lot.  There's others that said it was trying to make Stark's new almost-daughter his willing slave too."  He settled in to get to work.  His fellow agent did the same thing and they could put up with the cat staring at them for a while.

***

Dawn walked into Buffy's hospital room and picked up Sean with a groan.  "You're so huge," she told him.

He hugged her.  "Aut aut!"

"Yup, it's Auntie Dawn."  She kissed him on the head.  "Did Grandma bring you today?"  He babbled and patted her then smiled at Clint and reached for him.

Clint took him.  "You are huge, Sean."  He let the baby pat and babble at him, grinning at him.  "You're a good boy."  Sean beamed and patted him harder then blew kisses at Natasha while giggling.  She smiled and patted him on the head.  He grabbed her hand to cuddle but stayed with Clint.  "You have excellent taste," he told the baby.

"He does," Buffy agreed, staring at them.  "Mom's coming back in a while so we can go home and come back to visit the twins."

"Sure," Dawn agreed.  "Let's go check on them."  Buffy grinned and got the nurse to call up there.  The nurse stared at her oddly.  "Buffy's my sister and her first child, Callia, was born nearly two months early.  I've been in a NICU before."  The nurse nodded, taking them up there.  She smiled at Hylal, giving him a hug.  "Hey."

"They will be fine," he said firmly.

She checked and nodded.  "They should be.  This one's a bit weaker but I'm pretty sure they can cure that, Hylal."  He relaxed and nodded.  "I'll ask Xander if he can look up healing spells, or Tara and the coven."  He nodded.  She patted him.  "Hey, nieces," she cooed, smoothing down their blankets.  "Such pretty little girls, and almost normal sized."  Hylal laughed.  "It's all good, girls.  You'll be strong, active little girls who run your brother over all the time."

Clint kept the baby from diving down.  "You can look but can't touch, Sean."  He looked at him then at the babies, pointing and grunting.  Hylal took him so he could pet his sister on the hand, making the baby grin.  "You're very gentle."

"He's a good big brother," Dawn assured him, smiling at Clint.  "Callia will go nuts asking questions since she started out in one of these at UCLA."

"Her mother had another early term pregnancy?" the nurse watching them asked.

"Um, no.  Buffy had gotten kidnaped and the person was taking Callia out nearly two months early.  It was the same people who knocked her up though.  She got rescued as they were prepping her for the c-section and had given her enough of the drugs to put her into labor that couldn't be stopped."

"Oh, that's sad.  Is she all right?"

"She's just wonderful.  A warped little genius but she's great."  Dawn smiled.  "I've hung out with her a lot since her daddy has custody due to Mom's job."  She patted the baby that Sean wasn't.  "There we go.  Is she bleeding?"

The nurse slowly shook her head.  "Why would you think that?"  Dawn pulled her over and flashed what she was feeling over.  "Oh!  You're her."

Dawn smiled.  "I am.  Buffy's my big sister.  Is there anything we can do?"

"We might need some blood to transfuse.  Let me get the doctor in here to look at her, Miss Summers."

"Thanks.  Though, it's Mrs but it's all good."  Hylal looked at her.  "I'm not hiding it this weekend."

He smiled. "Good.  It does your relationship good not to hide such things."  He handed her Sean.  Who wanted Clint again.  He took the baby and it was better.  The doctor came in.  "This is my sister-in-law Dawn.  She noticed an issue."

"So the nurse said."  Dawn showed him.  "Hmm.  We can check that easily enough."  He got the hand-held ultrasound machine and used it.  "There is a small perforation.  It looks like it never sealed.  We can keep track of that.  I'm not seeing any bleeding but we'll be keeping a closer eye on that as well."  He looked at her.  "Are you allowed to donate blood?"

"Yes, I am.  I'm O-negative."

"We need some of yours."

"Granted," she said, taking off her jacket and rolling up her sleeve.  The nurse got what she needed and took it to store.  "Take more if you need it.  We're on vacation this weekend."

The doctor smiled.  "We'll call if we need more."  Dawn nodded, smiling at him.  "The nurse said she had another preterm?"

"Due to kidnaping.  She's fine.  Callia's a little sweetheart.  Genius all the way and one highly overprotective big sister."

"Wonderful.  How early?"

"Nearly two full months.  She was in UCLA at the time."

"Even better.  So you know the precautions."  Dawn nodded.  "We've explained them to your sister."

"Buffy hates to hear depressing stuff.  She gets enough of it in her job."

"I understand fully.  Take the dad and big brother home for a while.  They could all use some rest."

"I can do that."  She looked at Hylal.  "C'mon.  Buffy's getting to go home today."

"They can't come?" he asked.

"Nope, sorry," Dawn said, squeezing his hand.  "They need the special care for at least a few more days, maybe even a few weeks.  You can come back and visit most of the time, but you still need to take care of yourself and Buffy, big guy.  Mom's coming to watch over them."

Hylal ran a hand over his bound hair.  "I understand.  I will shower, eat, and get some rest then return."

"That's what we want and expect," the nurse said with a smile for him.  "At least one leaving a day so you can do all that."

"Aye, it does me no good to wear myself out."  He let Dawn walk him out, nodding at Natasha.  "You are most lucky to have Dawn."

"We are," she agreed, patting him on the arm.  "It will be fine and the babies will be fine."

He smiled.  "I hope so.   I could not take another loss like that."

Dawn gave his arm a squeeze.  "If we can we'll make sure they'll be happy, healthy little hellions who dick tease the same way I do."

He looked at her.  "Mayhap I'll bring them home so they wear proper clothes and tempt men to imagine things instead of tempting them to touch."

She smiled.  "Some day they'll have someone who wants to touch them to."

"Yes but I'll make sure they're well threatened first."  He walked into Buffy's room, picking her up to hug her.  "Diana has a small problem with her stomach that Dawn found."

"Small perf," Dawn said.  "The docs found it, they're watching it.  Not like she's on food anyway."

Buffy nodded.  "We can handle that."  She smiled.  "Sean, you look very comfy."

Sean beamed and patted Clint.  "Mine!"

"For this weekend I can be yours," Clint promised.  Sean cuddled in again, falling asleep on his shoulder.  Buffy grinned.  "Your mom?"

"I called when we got here and she said she's on her way over to watch Artemis and Diana while we get Buffy and everyone home," Dawn said.  Buffy grinned and nodded, getting a nurse to sign her out.  They got the family home and settled into bed.  Sean curled up next to his mother to help her nap.  Hylal showered then laid down on Sean's other side to do the same thing.

He wrapped them both in his arms and pulled them against him.  Dawn tucked them in.  "I'll go make a dinner that can be eaten cold, guys."  Buffy smiled and yawned.  Dawn went down to do that and do some cleaning too.  Not like anyone had really cared about cleaning the house.  Clint shot a mouse, making Buffy call.  "Just a mouse."

"Thanks."

Dawn kissed each of her spouses and grinned.  "Let's make them dinner?"  They nodded and did that then went to sit in their room and check in with Phil, Tony, and Callia, who was demanding pictures.

***

Callia walked into her father's lab, staring at him.  "Daddy, we need to have Sean."

"Why?" he asked, looking at her.  "He's okay."

"New sissies are sick like I was when I was born.  Sean's not going to get any mommy time while they're taking care of her in the hospital.  We can do that.  I can help Sean."

He considered it.  "Your nanny might mind."

"Then she's not a good woman," she said simply, staring at him.  "Family is very important."

"It is."  He picked her up to cuddle her.  "We can watch Sean for a few weeks if his mom will allow it."

She leaned down to grab his cellphone and called.  "Auntie Dawn, Sean's coming to spend time with me."

"I'll ask Buffy for you when she wakes up," Clint said.  "Right now she's finally resting and so is Hylal."

"That way she can concentrate on the new sissies and Sean doesn't get forgotten."

"She's not forgetting about him," Dawn said.  "She's still taking care of Sean, Callia."

"So?" she snorted.  "It's better if Sean comes up here.  That way she can concentrate on helping new sissies.  Auntie Pepper said that Daddy didn't leave hospital hardly at all when I was in there."

"He didn't," Dawn agreed. "When he wasn't there, I was.  I'll ask your mom when she wakes up."

"Thank you.  Send my kissies and lovies."

"I will," Dawn promised.  "Have a good night, Callia."  She hung up.

Callia looked at her father.  "Sean needs lovies in case they get more sick," she said quietly.

"I'm pretty sure they're going to be okay.  The doctors are very good and if they can't, we'll move them up here or to LA, where you went."

She smiled.  "That could be nice."  She snuggled into his shoulder.  "Why is Uncle Steve not here?"

"He's at work, sweetheart.  Sometimes that means he's got to go out of town."

She pulled her head back up to look at him.  "If he's getting into battles without you, I'm going to kick Nick Fury on the ankle and make him sorry."  She put her head back down and snuggled in.  "We need to bring Liz back too."

"You see Liz every day when she comes in with Pepper," he said patiently.

"So?"

"That's up to Pepper."

"Again, so?"  He poked her.  She kissed him on the neck.  "We need them, Daddy.  They make us happy and sane."

"They do."  He gave her a squeeze.  "Want put down?"

"Hell no!"  She wiggled free and ran off.

"No swearing," he warned.

She cackled then grinned at him from the door.  "I'm going to work on an automatic cradle that will make the twins feel special."  She ran off to the garage to look at the cars.  They gave her great ideas.

Tony smiled.  His daughter was so great.  She came up with a rocket-powered, self rocking cradle system that she wanted him to see a few hours later.  He called down Pepper and Liz to help him break a few ideas down.  She needed gentle correction and he wasn't the best at that.  Any more than Rodney was really.

Pepper looked it over.  "It's a bit strong, Callia.  You need it to rock gently and almost no motion, not huge motions like rockets would do.  Think about it like hot air balloons, a small jet of air to move it, not a huge one to throw it against a wall."  She pointed.  "And it needs to be longer."

Callia looked then at her father.  "I would've suggested jets like submarines use to turn.  Tiny bubbles of air."

She frowned.  "Can you do that on land?"

Tony nodded, mocking one up on the projection so she could see.  "Like that."  He set it in motion and she gaped in awe.  He grinned.  "Now, longer and a bit wider would help, and that would depend on how much air was released."

"Huh.  I didn't think about that."

"Force always has to be considered," Tony said.  "Because you have to be able to counteract the force or you run into inertia, which says that anything in motion will keep going until it hits a wall too hard."

"Okay," she said, nodding.  She looked at her design, taking the eraser from her father to rework that.  "How much force would it need?"

"Go get the bassinet and see how much of a push it takes," Pepper said.  "I have Liz so you can't hurt her."  She ran up to the office to look at that.  She smiled at Tony.  "How's Buffy's two new ones?"

"Mostly okay.  A bit ill.  Callia demanded we have Sean."

"That's very sweet of her."

"It is," he agreed, grinning.  "If Buffy will okay it, I don't mind."

"Good."  Callia came running back and redesigned it to have a hand that gave a nudge thanks to an air-pressure system.  It worked better and kept the bassinet from tipping over.  Tony had JARVIS put the first one in production so she could test the prototype.  "You two have fun testing the prototype, guys.  Liz and I are going home.  I'll check on it tomorrow, Callia."

"Okay, Auntie."  She kissed her and Liz.  "Nighty night, Lizzy."  She ran over to get it out of the machine from JARVIS then came to get a baby doll to test it with.  She ran the first one and had some help adjusting the pressure lines since the doll went flying.  The next one was better.  "It makes farty noises."

"I've seen one that's like the swings we got your aunt.  It makes clicking ones.  Yours is quieter."

She grinned.  "Good.  Still too strong?"

"Probably, yes."  They adjusted it down so it barely moved the cradle, just enough to rock it.  She did a happy dance.  He smiled and had to burst her bubble.  "Now we have to look to see if it's practical to make.  Because if it costs too much, people won't buy it."

She pouted.  "Really?"  He nodded.  "How do we do that?"

"We figure up the material costs," he said, pulling her into his lap to go over that side of the family business.  Pepper was better at it but Callia had learned some of this from her aunt.  He showed her how to look up parts and materials so she could add up how much each one cost to make then showed her how to figure up the manpower costs to make something.  It was actually pretty inexpensive.  "We'll show it off at the meeting tomorrow," he told her, smiling.  "See if they have any ideas about it, and if they do we'll work on that."

"Cool!"  She hugged him.  "Thank you, Daddy."

"You're welcome.  It's great that you like to invent too."

She grinned.  "I told MB about the nail polish idea and about having girl clothes that don't hurt since she said bras hurt a lot.  Andrew agreed that they needed to make girl clothes that didn't hurt and were still supportive.  I don't know why."

He smiled.  "I do and they could.  Women would love for them to be more comfortable."  She grinned.  He carried her into the bedroom so she could go to bed.  "Do your pets.  You nearly forgot."  She got down to clean the litter boxes and feed them, refilling water bottles while brushing her teeth.  Then she climbed back into bed and snuggled in.  He settled in beside her to read to her because she still liked him to.  You had to cherish these moments while they were still little.

***

Dawn walked in Monday with Sean and his bag.  "Sorry I'm a bit late.  There were stupid humans at the airport who mobbed the two Avengers."  Tony shuddered.  "Not even reporters.  Normal people.  One wanted her to get a jumper down."

"That's not who I'd want to talk me down but I'm sure she could do it.  Hi, Sean."  He took him to hold.

"Hi!"  He beamed at the others in the room.  "Hi!"

"Hi," one said with a smile and a wave.  "Are you adopting, Miss Summers?"

"No, this is my sister's first child.  Her twins were born premmie so we're watching him."

"Aww, that's sweet of you."

"I'm watching him.  He's my baby brother," Callia said dryly.  "Though he is sweet.  He used to nibble on my fingers all the time."  She smiled.  "Sit, Auntie."  She sat down.  "Is it my turn yet?"

"It's your turn," one of them said.  "That way we can talk about whatever you came up with."  Callia ran out and pushed the cradle in there.  "That's pretty but wicker for a baby basket?"

"It's only for the demonstration," Tony told her.  "The machine part is separate."  Callia turned it on and put in a babydoll, letting it rock.  "It's her first full design on her own."

"Babies need rocked to be comforting."  She let them come see it.  "I wanted it to be rocket powered at first but Daddy and I talked about force and how the baby would hit a wall really hard if I did that.  Then Auntie Pepper suggested an air system and Daddy agreed.  We can sell the units to put onto any cradle already made."  She showed them how it went together.  "This is adjustable so you can make it a harder swing or not."

"That might get too hard," Dawn said.

Callia smiled.  "Then you move the little level thingy down."

"It wouldn't be that hard to draw a line for the suggested rates," one of them said.

"What about a foot pump system?" Tony asked.  "Where you pump it a few times to add the air instead of using a compressor or something?"

Callia looked at him.  "Would it last long enough?"

"Babies really only need to be rocked for a few minutes until they go to sleep," he said.  "So we probably could."  She sat beside her brother in his lap to work on that.

"There's an upcoming show with baby things," one of the board said.  "I think she should go look there, see if it's something people would like, and then we'll see what happens."

Tony smiled.  "I wasn't aware there was one."

"Pittsburgh," Dawn said.  "We're showing off the new radio gear for surveillance and baby monitors."

"We can go to that for one day," he said, looking at Callia, who beamed back and nodded.  "Good.  Thanks, guys.  Go put it in my lab so we can work on the foot pedal idea later."  She nodded, taking Sean with a groan.  "He can stay," he said.

"I want to cuddle my brother."  She let him help her push, mostly he was just grinning at her but that was okay.  Dawn followed and that was even better.

Tony smiled.  "She did design a nice rocket powered one first."  He put up that design.

"She's adorable," one of the board said, shaking his head.  "Clearly a chip off the old block, Tony."

"Thanks."  He grinned.  "What other things are we showing off and trying to sell?" he asked Pepper.

She pulled up that list to let them see everything that was going on soon.  Including sales numbers.  "That one program being fixed has meant that the tablet sales are stronger again," Pepper said.

"I still don't like obsolete programs but people seem to cling to that one."  Tony shrugged.  "It wasn't that hard to fix.  Their program's a piece of crap though."

"Fortunately the patch is readily available and easily to install," Pepper said with a grin.  "It won't affect anything else?"

"It does not work against one program," Tony admitted.  "That's a media player that's not set up to work on a tablet anyway, though I've heard a few geeks like it.  They definitely don't have a version that will work on the Starkpad."

"That's good and we can keep track of that," Pepper decided.  The board members nodded they liked that and the other things were went over.  Callia came running in crying.  "What happened?" Pepper asked.

Dawn strolled in with Sean.  "The nanny had a fit."

"Why?" Tony asked.

"The mice got out and tried to cuddle her.  She stomped one.  I pointed out she knew Callia had pet mice and she got huffy.  She got so huffy she ran off before I turned her into a mouse."

Tony winced. "I'm sorry, Callia, I have no idea why she did that."  She nodded, snuggling into his chest.  He soothed her, looking at Dawn.   "We seem to have bad luck with them."

"Her, I think it was drugs.  The last set were actually part of one of the sympathetic churches to the one I'm suing."  Pepper winced.  "There's a sermon where they stood up and told everyone how immoral I am."  That got a nod of understanding.  "So, anyway...."  She looked at Tony.  "I'm not sure how they got out."

"Roomba likes to play with them," Callia sniffled, looking at her.  "It's possible they were playing."  She looked at her father.

"We'll bury that one."  She nodded and put her head back down.  "Dawn?"

"Finding a tiny box."  She handed over Sean, who went to babble at Pepper and hug her.  "He has great taste already."  She left them alone, going to find that tiny box, pick up the remains, and seal it shut, then find somewhere for the burial.  Maybe at the new building's lot across the street.  It still had more dirt than they did at the tower. She checked and went to find the missing mouse, which Roomba did have in the lab with the boys.  "Guys, need Swiss there."  They handed it back with a grin.  "Find us a decent nanny?"

"Gladly," MB said with a grin.  "She yell about the mice playing with Roomba?"

"One tried to cuddle so she stomped it.  We're burying Cheddar later."  They nodded they'd help.  "Thanks, guys."  She took the mouse back up there and put him back in the cage, making sure it was going to be okay.  She grabbed her jacket and went across the street to talk to the foreman of the construction site.  "Hey."  He jumped and turned to look at her.  She smiled.  "We need a tiny spot for a pet mouse burial later tonight," she said.

"We have a few areas we can do that in.  Need the hole dug?"

"I think we can do that.  Leave us a shovel?"

"I can do that."  He smiled.  "Old age?"

"Former nanny."

"Some women do freak even at the pet mice."  She smiled and patted him on the arm before going back across the street.  He assigned one of his people to dig a hole in the garden area that they'd be putting in behind the building.  They wouldn't have to concrete over it there.

Just about quitting time, the Starks came over together, with Sean and Pepper, and Dawn carrying Liz in a snuggler.  "Do we need a preacher?" Callia asked her father.

"Not for a mouse burial.  If it was a dog or a cat maybe but not a mouse or a smaller animal."

"If Carrot gets hurt and dies, does he get one?"

"Yeah, we'll get one for Carrot."  She smiled and patted the box, looking sad.  Tony nodded at the worker, who pointed at the hole.  "Thanks, guys."

"Thank you," Callia said, giving them a sad smile and a wave.  They interred the box and Tony covered it.  Dawn and she put a rock with a cheese painted on it overtop of it.  They had done that after the meeting to calm down.  Tony made sure it was seated well then they went back to the tower for dinner.  The guys all smiled at the touching gesture.  They had thought Stark was an asshole with grand ideas on a tight schedule.  Turned out he was a dad too.  They all decided the small rock marker was a nice touch and they'd make sure it stayed there.  They went home to share that story with their families that night.

***

Natasha came off the elevator a few days later at Stark, having to pause so the kids didn't run her over.  "Good morning, John, Melissa, Carrot, Callia, and Sean."

"Hi!" Sean called, smiling and waving.  "Chase!"

"Yes, you are."

"You're supposed to do that in the gym," Dawn called as she walked up the hall after them.

"Going!" Callia promised, taking them down there.

Dawn looked at Natasha.  "Yeah, it's one of those days."

"I figured it might be."  She smiled.  "Are you all right?  You had nightmares."

"I did.  It's that church thing again."  Natasha stared at her.  "That they had taken me hostage and no one liked that.  They had judges in their pockets and things.  They said I wrote a note saying I was coming down there, and no matter how many times I protested I don't hand-write most things, and proved it wasn't my handwriting, I was still trapped until I finally had to lose my temper and blast the whole goddamn courthouse."  Natasha shivered.  "Though the judge they had that was one of them kept saying that the marriage wasn't legal since it wasn't done in the US and that ours wasn't legal at all."

Natasha sighed.  "Your worries come out in strange ways."

"They do.  Which is why I let you guys sleep."

Natasha gave her a hug.  "It'll be fine."  Tony came up the hall shaking his head.  "Are they destroying the gym?"

"Yup.  Happy's really amused that Sean pounces.  Apparently he got one of the guards."  He went down on the elevator, still shaking his head.

Dawn grinned.  "We need a new nanny."

"If I knew one I would've already suggested her."  She stroked her cheek with a smile.  "Lunch?"

"I would adore lunch.  I'm not due for it for another half-hour though."

"That is fine.  I can go talk to Pepper."  Dawn grinned and got back to work while Natasha walked in to talk to Pepper and Liz.  "The children are destroying the gym."

"That's a good place for them to wreck."  She smiled.  "It's okay, I'm just feeding her."

Natasha shrugged.  "It's a natural thing and it's not like I haven't seen breasts before, Pepper.  How are things going here?"  She settled in on the couch.

"It's not bad.  Liz hasn't had any problems.  Most of the people in the building coo at her whenever they see her.  A few think she's a germ factory.  One of the nurses thinks she's so adorable she's decided she wants to get pregnant."

Natasha smiled.  "That's probably a good thing for the world."

"We think so.  She's a really nice lady so she'll probably be a good mom."  She shifted Liz so she could do up that side of the nursing bra and switch her over.  Liz made pouty faces for that mistreatment but she was happier when she got the other side.  "Other than that, everything's been calm.  How are Buffy's twins?"

"They're growing alarmingly fast according to the hospital staff.  They got the records from Sean's birth and said that he was a bit huge and pudgy but the girls will get to go home soon.  The surgery for her open intestine went well.  She's fully healed from it.  Her pediatrician loves the twins, calls them sweet and less cranky than Sean was."  Pepper grinned.  "Other than that it's mostly fine.  No major health scares.  They're above weight but they want them to get closer to what Sean was when he was born.  They think the girls would've been about nine pounds each."

"Sean was fourteen?" Pepper asked.  Natasha smiled and nodded.  "I can't even imagine.  Liz was only six and a half pounds."

"Buffy is a strong woman.  Thankfully she had the twins by c-section."  Pepper nodded, smiling at the doorway since Tony was there with Sean.  "Did he pounce?"

"A lot.  The guard's groaning that Sean killed his back but he thinks the guard is a half demon.  Dawn's talking to him and it'll be fine."  He put the baby down and let him walk over to hug Natasha, then he walked over to stare at Liz.  "She's eating, Sean.  Let her."

"Me no," he said, looking at Tony and shaking his head.

"No, you got a bottle.  Your mom couldn't breastfeed.  Your sisters are too."  He grinned and patted Liz on the foot, which made her flinch and fuss but she went back to eating and was happier.  "C'mon, we'll go get lunch ready for the other kids."  Sean ran back to help him with that.  He loved to help in the kitchen.

Dawn smiled and waved.  "I'll see you in a few, Sean."  She went back to taking notes.  "No, Callia's little brother," she said.  "Buffy just had twins so Callia's babysitting her brother."  She made another note about what the reporter asked and answered her.  It finally got finished and she said a polite 'thank you' then hung up.  She walked the notes into Pepper's office to give to her.  "Woman's Day."

She read it over.  "Pretty standard.  They didn't ask about me or Liz?"

"They thought you were still on maternity leave but I quipped and said you and she were here and having the time of your lives teaching Liz how to be a CEO."  She smiled.  "They did ask if we had a lactation room.  I said as far as I knew, we didn't have one because no one had asked.  That you just used your office.  That if someone asked, we had a few places we could turn into one easily enough."

"We do at the Malibu lab."  She smiled.  "The ladies there decorated it and everything."  Dawn grinned back.  "Okay, here, take her."  She took Liz while Pepper cleaned herself up and did back up her nursing bra.  Dawn burped Liz like a pro and it was better.  Liz took a nap.  Dawn and Natasha went to lunch.  Pepper got back to work and called in the interview she had scheduled for today.  No one was stressing her out at the moment, which she appreciated.

Halfway through lunch, Dawn's phone beeped.  She looked then held it up for her wife to see.  Natasha finished her lunch with a few bites, took a kiss, and hurried off to change for whatever was going on.  They all kept spare uniforms here at the tower.  Dawn finished and cleaned up, going back up to her desk to see what was going on.  It turned out a demon coming out of the Hudson.  She stared at it, then sent a picture at Buffy, who told her to ask Spike and to send her son back soon.  Dawn asked Spike, who told her what it was.  She relayed that to the team and it got killed within a few minutes.  She also left a note for Tony that Buffy wanted Sean back soon so to call her.

***

Tony walked up to Steve at HQ later.  "We're going to Cleveland for four days to drop Sean back at home, let Buffy visit with Callia, and then to Pittsburgh for a day to look over the baby fair so Callia can see if her idea has merit for sales."

Steve smiled.  "Want a guard to go to Cleveland with you?"

"I should be fine.  I'll bring the portable suit with me."  He grinned.  "Sean's sorry he pounced you."

"He's a strong little boy but he didn't hurt me.  I love the little guy."

"Me too," Tony admitted.  "So does his sister and Melissa."  He walked off smiling.  "Fury, I'm going to be gone for the rest of the week starting tomorrow," he called into the office.  "Hold all emergencies off."  He looked at Maria.  "We're going to try to keep Melissa from going with us to hand Sean back."

She winced.  "I'll try to keep her at home tonight."

"Sean's been beaming at her all day long.  She's been his personal teddy bear, his hair petter, and she's made more fuss over him than his sister does.  Callia is very confused why she's got such a crush on her baby brother."

"He's adorable," Maria said with a smile.  "Absolutely adorable."

"He is, yeah."  He walked off.  "Later."

"Have fun in Cleveland."

"I'll try not to."  He went back down to the car and got taken home.  Callia was pouting when he got up to the penthouse.  "We're all going to see your new sisters."

"Oh, I thought I was staying."

"No, you're not staying.  How are you going to talk to people about your idea on the way home if you're here?"

"I didn't think about that.  Melissa is going to pout."

"She is but I warned Agent Hill."

"Auntie Maria is nice that way."  She hugged him with a grin.  "He's napping.  Can we go play with the cars?"

"We can't leave him up here all by himself.  That's not how you babysit.  Little kids don't get alone time."

"Shoot.  Auntie...."

"Has work to do."

"Can we bring him?"

"If it won't wake him up."  He went to pick Sean up and bring him down to the lab so they could tinker with a car.  Sean slept through the moving and being put onto a rolling board.  That would be his fun later while he and Callia tinkered.

When Sean woke up he nearly squeaked at the robots watching over him then flipped over and realized he was on a moving toy thing.  That got some fun until he spotted his uncle and sister's feet.  He rolled over to them, looking at them under the car.  "Needs goats?"

"It has horses to power it," Callia said.  "Come see, Sean.  We like cars and you should too."  He crawled under there with them and she told him about the parts, with her father's help.  He knew tons about cars.  Sean was in awe of cars, even though he thought they needed goats.  It was cute and she thought her baby brother was adorable.  So did her father with the way he was chuckling.

***

Tony walked into the slayer house and heard screaming, wincing.  "Let's stay down here while I go talk to your mom," he told his daughter, closing the door and heading up there.  She was throwing a fit at a tiny demon standing there.  He cleared his throat.  The demon stared at him.  "His name is probably not Rumplestilskin," he offered.

"No, he's not here for that.  He's here to piss me the fuck off," Buffy assured the demon.  "Really, you are."

"We simply wanted to know that you would not be at the next apocalypse battle, slayer.  That it was a good idea if you retired."

Tony picked it up by the back of his shirt.  "Retirement's such a dirty word, especially for warriors.  I'll probably never retire until have to."  The demon moaned.  "By the way, I'm Tony Stark, better known as Iron Man."  The demon wailed and puffed up until he exploded.  "So, anyway, both the kids are downstairs."

She smiled, starting to cry.  "Thank you."

"What happened?"

She waved a hand.  "It's just stress and leftover hormones."

"Pepper's having the same thing, Buffy.  C'mon, you can hug Sean.  He likes it and he can tell you how he wants cars to be goat powered instead of horse powered."

She blew her nose and wiped her face off.  "I don't want him to see me this way.  He worries."

"Yeah, he does."  He helped her up and down there.  Callia and Sean both pounced her.

Callia stared at her.  "Are my sissies okay?"

"They're just fine and they get to come home tomorrow."  She cuddled them.  "It's just stress.  Demons are being stupid."

"They can do that," she agreed.  "Some of them taunted Auntie Natasha the other day.  They were not happy when she shot them."

"She let you see that?" Tony asked.

"No."  She grinned.  "I'm sneaky that way."  She pulled Sean into her lap.  "We'll both hold him.  He was a good boy.  Most of the time."

"I'm glad he was such a good boy."  She cuddled them both.  Hylal came in with grocery bags.  "Looks who's back, Hylal."

He beamed and picked up both children to hug.  "Callia and Sean.  Welcome."  They grinned and cuddled back.  "Help me put up groceries."  He looked at Buffy.  "Again?"  She nodded.  "I will stomp them for you."

"I need to do the stomping myself to prove that I'm still good enough."

"Then we will do it together."  He patted her on the head.  "We will go get the babies in a few minutes."  She smiled and nodded, going to clean up.  He and the kids put up the food and Tony could babysit for an hour while they picked up the twins from the hospital.   When they got back, they had food waiting and the kids were staring out the windows.  They ran outside to help.  "Inside," Hylal said patiently.  "It's cold and you can't carry them yet, Callia."  She nodded, taking Sean back inside no matter how much he fussed.  The twins got brought in.  Sean was instantly on the floor between their carriers and glared at anyone who dared to touch his sisters.

Callia leaned down next to his ear.  "They have to eat, Sean.  That means Mommy or Daddy Hylal has to feed them," she hissed.  He pouted but nodded, pushing Diana toward one parent and Artemis toward the other one.  Tony was watching and grinning.

Buffy smiled.  "Thanks, Tony."

"Not a problem.  She enjoyed it and Melissa enjoyed being able to attach herself to his side again.  They even teamed up to pounce Steve in the gym."

She laughed.  "They're good kids."  She patted Sean on the head.  "Come help me?"  He climbed up with a happy grin and helped her by patting the baby while she ate.  "Good Sean."

"Not kitty," he said.

"No, you're not the kitty," she said, kissing him on the head.  "You're a good big brother."  He beamed and nodded.

"He's a good little brother too.  He was very helpful when my former nanny stepped on one of my mousie friends, Mommy."

"That's sweet of him.  Did we fire her?" she asked Tony.

"She stomped off before I could.  The agency we got her through drug tested her and fired her."

"Ah!"  She smiled and nodded.  "Good idea."  She hugged Callia, tucking her between her and Hylal.  "There, now we can all cuddle."

"You can cuddle in bed with us, Mommy.  We can't smoosh babies.  They're too big."

She laughed.  "We can do that later."  Callia settled in to tell them what she had been learning and how she and Sean had helped Jonathan create something, and about her new creation she was working on.  She told them about the cradle system too.  Tony had it with them so she got to set it up and show it off.  They enjoyed that and the babies cooed.

***

Before they left, Tony looked at Buffy.  "You have to update paperwork," he said quietly.

She grimaced.  "I know.  I keep thinking about that and then I freeze up and mentally reboot until I remember it again."  She sighed, looking at him.  "I...."  She looked at the playing kids then at him again.  "Dawn gets them."

"Then that needs to be in writing," he assured her.  "Because of our jobs...."

"Alana said I'd be welcome in Valhalla, which means Hylal could move with me."

"Yup, that's great and all that."

She nodded.  "I know.  I'll do that tomorrow, Tony.  Especially with the demons trying to discourage me from things."  She patted him on the arm.  "Thank you for the fussing."

"You needed it."  He stared at her.  "Remember to send your mom and Bruce pictures?"

"I filmed last night's game and sent it."  She grinned.  "Mom's email back called them adorably perky."

He laughed.  "They were, yeah."  He patted her again.  "Callia?"

"Do we have to go, Daddy?"

"If you want to go to Pittsburgh to talk to people about your cradle idea, yes."  She nodded and sighed, hugging everyone.  He made sure the prototype was in the car for her and she got her bag.  He smiled at Hylal.  "Call if you need her to come perky people to death again."

"I will."  He smiled at Buffy.  "We have decided three is enough."

Buffy nodded.  "Three is more than enough."

"The family has enough kids until Auntie Dawn has some," Callia agreed with a grin.  "We have more Summers girls and that's always good for the world."  She hugged her Mommy.  "I'm going to write later."

"I'll be watching for it."

Callia smiled and pounced her father.  "Let's go talk to people about my ideas."

"Okay.  Later, guys.  Bye, Sean."

Sean smiled and waved.  "Laters."  They all smiled at him.  His sister had taught him that word.

Tony carried Callia out to the rental car, making sure she was in her booster seat before getting in to drive.  The SHIELD agents were watching from their front porch but that was fine.  They were hyper protective of Buffy and they all liked that idea.

***

Dawn looked up as her attorney showed up.  "What's up?"

"Buffy's amending her custody forms in case she should die.  We need you to sign more forms."

She looked them over and signed them.  "I expected that I'd get the twins too," she said with a sad smile.  "Thank you."

"You're welcome.  The church is wanting to talk settlement."  She got into her phone and the site that they uploaded sermons onto, showing him the newest one, which was vile enough that people had complained from inside the church.  He winced.  "Okay."

"No.  Not with the expressed desire to fist me and how it'd stretch me before they gang raped me."

"The judge hasn't seen that yet."

"When am I due in again?"

"Next week."  He handed over the information sheet.  "Wear what you would for an important meeting."

"Pepper can help me pick something out."  He nodded and left, going back to his office.  She was having doubts about him being on her side in all this.  Hell, maybe she'd talk to Xander to see if she could pull a satellite out of orbit and hit the church with it.  She decided not to think those thoughts before someone overheard and did it for her.  Because that would probably get her blamed somehow.  Even though she couldn't do that on her own.

***

Loki looked up from smoothing out his nails and grinned.  "That's true, you cannot do that," he said quietly, going back to his sanding job.  "I couldn't do that on my own either.  Though it's a worthwhile idea."  The guard in there with him gave him an odd look.  "Dawn was just thinking about whether or not making something fall on that church would be a bad thing."  He got into that week's sermon.  He had been paying attention to it.  Even the guard looked disgusted.  "I believe they went much too far that time."

"Let me talk to a few of the agents, sir."  He took down the address and asked to see their supervisor.

Loki smirked.  That might get them stopped sooner so everyone could quit being tense.

***

That night, Stark stomped back in, smoking armor still on.  He stared at Dawn.  "Did you do that?" he asked.

"Do what?"

"Pull that down onto that church."

"I can't pull a satellite down, Tony.  I'm good but not Godly.  I'm not that strong."

He paused.  "No, it was an asteroid."

"Which I still couldn't catch and move the trajectory far enough.  Unless it was naturally over that area?"

"No, it was meant to hit Texas."

"Then I guess I'm glad someone saved part of Texas but it wasn't me."  He sighed in relief.  "You thought I would?"  He stared at her.  "Well, yeah, I had a thought about a satellite but I can't do that either."

"Fine.  Make sure no one thinks you did."

"I'll make a statement on my lj page."  She got into it to craft one, letting him see it.  He nodded, stomping off to take off his armor.  She uploaded it after spell checking it.   It really wasn't her.  She texted Xander who said that most of them couldn't do that either and he hadn't heard about a gathering to pull an asteroid storm over that church.  She relaxed and got back to answering responses.  She called a reporter.  "Tony told me."

She listened.  "No, I can't do that.  I'm strong but that would take someone stronger than even Alexander or Loki to do.  I checked, Alexander said that he didn't.  I know I couldn't.  I can't even help steady a helicopter when it's trying to fall.  I tried a few weeks back during that incident and I stopped some of the wobbling until someone else got there to help but that's something that sent me to the infirmary with a migraine for doing it."  He mentioned that lawsuit.

"I have no idea.  No one's said anything to me about it.  No one's mentioned anything to me about it.  I didn't ask a wish demon to do it.  I'm good but not Godly.  So yeah, maybe theirs got mad at them.  No clue.  Thanks."  She hung up and leaned back in her chair, shaking her head.  She had an idea.  There were very few people who could build something that might divert an asteroid.  It was clear Stark hadn't.  Callia couldn't yet.  She had some favorite, semi-evil geeks who might have.  Not that she'd ever ask.

She didn't want to know.

***

Bruce walked out of the house the next morning to find reporters.  "What?" he demanded.  "I've barely had coffee because I'm going to a breakfast meeting."

"Dr. Banner, how much force would it take to move an asteroid that was going to hit Texas?"

He considered it and pulled out his pad.  Tony had to leave last night's meeting over an asteroid.   Clearly something had happened.  "Over a kiloton just to shift the orbit."  He looked at them.  "Before you ask, Dawn's not that strong.  No witch we know of is that strong.  As far as I know, no one's making a beam to do that either.  Where did this happen?"

"That church in Georgia," one of the reporters said.

"Then maybe it was divine retribution for their filth and obedience to anything but their book of faith."  He put his hands in his pockets.  "Anything else, people?  I won't have you bothering Joyce.  She's got tests later."  They left.  "Thank you."  He got a cab and called Tony on the way over.  "What happened?"  Tony told him.  "Any idea who?"  He nodded.  "Huh.  Thanks.  On my way."  He hung up and leaned his head back.  He'd be back to take Joyce to the hospital later.

***

Andrew and Jonathan walked up to Tony and Bruce.  "It was not us," Jonathan said bluntly.

"Not that we don't have plans for a beam like that, but we've had them since tenth grade," Andrew admitted.

Tony stared at them.  "Really?"  They nodded.  "I wasn't going to ask."  Because if he knew he'd have to say something sometime.

"Dawn said the same thing when we told her."  They shrugged.  "We were more than thinking about it."

"So was Dawn," Bruce admitted.  He smiled.  "Thank you, boys."

They grinned back.  "Does Joyce need help?"

"She's going in for follow up scans."

"If you need us to make up something to eat tumors, you let us know," Jonathan said.  "If we can't, Rodney might be able to."  They left them to eat and plot in peace.

"They were on my list," Tony admitted.

"Mine too."  They shared a look.  "Warren?"

"Could be.  There's a few geeks up there that could do the calculations necessary."  He ate a bite of muffin.  "Which is probably a bad thing.  It might mean they've taken over the facility."

"I'm pretty sure at least one of them is up there for ideas of mind control," Bruce said, eating some of his eggs.  "How are the twins?"

"Good.  Dawn got an email last night with pictures.  They've been sucking on Sean's fingers for him and it's making him a happy boy."  He grinned.  "Buffy updated her will to make sure all the kids come to Dawn."

"Good.  Joyce would love them but she's gotten tired a lot recently."  Tony paused in his chewing to stare at him.  "I think it's a side effect."

"If so, we'll find her something else to take."

"She might be able to go off them totally.  We'd all like that."

"We would.  Dawn's still deathly worried.  She was napping in the break room yesterday and had a nightmare about that.  She said she's having at least one a week about Joyce getting sick again."

He nodded.  "It's a worry we all have."  He stuffed his mouth.  "I might disappear again if it does."

"The girls will need you, big guy."

"I know.  They'll help hold me sane too."  He sighed and dug in again.  "It sucks to even contemplate."

"Yeah but if we don't, we're ignoring reality and neither of us are that sort of scientist.  The same as I have to update my will soon too.  I don't have Liz in it and she's the same as if she's mine.  Even though the DNA test came out without any sort of match."

"Huh.  Wonder if it'd be the same father as Dawn's."

"Maybe.  We can't find that out."  He shrugged and dug in again.

***

Phil heard the talk between the boys, Tony, and Bruce.   He went up there, finding Warren looking a bit smug in his bed.  "Thank you."

Warren shrugged a bit.  "Only we should get to threaten her for fussing over us," he said quietly.  "She's a bitch but not even the world's biggest bitch deserves that."

Phil smiled.  "She's not nagging as much these days.  Clint's wearing it out of her."

He smiled.  "Don't worry, we leave the staff mostly alone."

"Good.  Because if you patients take over permanently, it's a super max like setting for you after here.  There's that place in Colorado."  Warren shuddered.  "Be more subtle."

He nodded.  "We can do that."  Phil left.  Warren sighed.  "I want his powers.  I wonder if you can strip powers from a God."  He pulled over some paper to work on that idea.  He could steal brain power from the other geeks.  He had done that once when one annoyed him.  When the nurse came in he dutifully took his medicine that was now sugar pills.  They had manipulated the staff that far.  It let them work on their dreams without the fuzzy minded feeling blocking their great thoughts.  Now the facility was like a geek frat house instead of a hospital; even though the guards on the doors had guns so they couldn't go out for pizza.  It helped them all a lot with their ideas.

***

Phil walked into Fury's office.  "The Massachusetts facility is compromised."

"Why?" Fury demanded.  "That was them?"  Phil nodded.  "You sure?"

"Very.  Warren Meers said they mostly leave the staff alone but not even a fussy bitch like Dawn deserved them.  I have someone hacking into their records."  That agent got paged and came in with answers.  "All on placebo doses," he noted, handing that over.  "I warned they were going to Colorado if they did anything too big."

"Their administrator?"

"At the one in Switzerland for the rest of this month."

"Have a guest admin show up."  He handed it back.  "Just in case he's compromised too."  Phil nodded, making a call to a program that had some very decent therapists.  Then to the head of that facility so he was aware there were problems.  They got one of the people from the Colorado facility to come oversee things for a few days.  Medicines suddenly got adjusted and put back.  The whole facility stayed in quiet lockdown and the machine was found, dismantled, and shipped to SHIELD.  So was the rest of the tech they had stored in the basement.  Including some that was based from demon tech.

Fury walked up to Coulson a few days later, shaking his head.  "Find me a way to deal with demon tech being down here."

"Have you read the series by Alexian Harris, sir?"

"Who?"

"Xander in another realm."  He popped off and came back with the first book from Dawn's shelves.  "This is actually mostly factual about how another Xander in another realm handled things."

He took it to look at the back cover.  "They did what?" he demanded.

"It apparently worked fairly well."

He walked off reading it.  Maybe it was a decent idea.  Of course, they'd have to put it under his heading.  They had already nationalized the slayers.  This could only help them more.

***

Dawn smiled at the reporter that came off the elevator.  "Pepper's going to be just a moment.  She had to run to talk to Mr. Stark."

"I'm surprised they let you still work here," the reporter said.

Dawn looked at her.  "I had nothing to do with that asteroid.  Sorry.  I'm not that powerful.  Alexander's not that powerful.  Do you really think that a bunch of Gods got together to pull it onto them for me?"  The reporter huffed.

"She's right.  We do know who did it," Tony said as he walked Pepper and Liz up the hall.  "Dawn, why do I have a summons to see a judge?"

"I have no idea.  It did not pass my desk," she admitted.  She took it to look up and smiled.  "It's about the bimbo."

"Which bimbo?" Pepper asked.  "He knows so many."

"The one we caught during that incident."  She showed Tony.

"Why does he want to talk to me?" Tony complained.

"No idea."  Dawn smiled at the reporter.  "As I said, I had nothing to do with that asteroid.  I'm sorry anyone but that minister lost his life, but I can't be sorry about the man who kept talking about raping me dying."  The reporter shuddered.  "Trust me, if I had done it, there would be no collateral damage."  Tony swatted her.  "Hey!  I did learn that."

"You did, but still.  Come on."  She frowned but grabbed her jacket and bag, tucking her tablet and phone into it and following him to the garage.  "Let Pepper talk to her.  Clearly she's like that one from that other church."

"I have no problem with people having their own beliefs until one of them tries to hurt me," Dawn said bluntly and loudly enough to be heard.  "Then I'm all for holding up a stop sign and protecting myself."

"Are you going to drop the suit?"

"Yeah, the judge said there's no more reason for it to go forward and ended it in my favor without a judgement."  She shrugged.  "It's fine as long as they quit talking about kidnaping and raping me."

He gave her a hug around the shoulders.  "It bothered us too.  Barton did many more range exercises each Monday than he had to."

She smiled.  "I know."  They got into one of the sports cars and he sped down to the federal court building.  "You think this is a plot by Fury?"

"Yup.  He's been ducking calls again."

"Well, rubber ducks fuck him.  Because no one else would and they couldn't catch anything he might've picked up on sexpionage missions in his younger days."  Tony snickered.  "Sorry, in a bit of a mood."

"Good.  I have the feeling I might need you to beat the bimbo into better behavior."

"If she's staying, she's not allowed near Jonathan and Andrew.  I will teach MB and Patty how to shoot a gun."

"Go for it.  They could probably use it when they break out in evil overlord plans again."

"Maybe.  I can't believe Warren did that for me."

"He said only scientists like him, like the ones you fussed over, should be able to take you out.  They were unworthy of your fussing."

"Yes they were."

Tony grinned at her.  "Just think, some day you'll have to tell Liz about all this so she gets the lesson early on."

"Some day I'm going to set Liz up with a really nice guy who reminds me of Phil or Clint, just about when she's fifteen so they can finish growing up together."  He cackled, shaking his head.  "Seriously!"  She heard Clint complain about that thought and reminded him who Liz was.  He decided he'd help her look.  "Clint said he'd help me interview her future spouse."

"Good.  It might help."  He pulled into the parking garage and took the ticket stub, then found a parking spot.  They walked inside together, ignoring the two reporters shouting stupid things at them.

"Is she under arrest, Mr. Stark?" someone shouted.

Dawn finally snapped and turned to look at her.  "Why would I be under arrest?"

"The asteroid...."

"I had not a damn thing to do with that, bitch!  Do you think I'm powerful enough to move a heavenly body out of orbit?  Because I'm not.  I'm powerful enough to hold a shield over a building when the heros are banging into it, and then I'll collapse with a migraine for a few days.  I don't know *where* you got your ideas on what witches can do, but *damn*!"  The reporter slunk down and stepped back.  "We know who did it.  They're already in custody.  It's not like SHIELD's going to suddenly pop up and go 'we got 'em' like the NYPD.  They're *covert* for the most part.  Do I need to define that for you?"

"No, ma'am," she said, taking another step back.

"Then let's not bring this back up again.  All right?  As is, I've had a few moments when I needed therapy over what that minister said about me.  I'm not happy anyone's dead, but I'm not real sad that minister is gone.  The others....  I'm sorry the group that did that got them too.  I'm sure they would've gotten fed up with his shit sometime.  Now, any more questions?"

"When are you and your boyfriend going to have kids?" she asked hesitantly.

"Some year.  We have it tentatively planned for some year.  When I do, I'll tell those who should know and the rest of you can wonder like you do about anyone else.  Because I'm not the announcing it in the paper sort.  Someone might want me more then and try to kidnap my pretty ass again.  Anything else?"

"Um, no," she said, backing farther away.

"Thank you."  She looked at the other one.  "Yes, I'm a bit pissed off.  I hate being accused of things I didn't do."

"You are pretty today."

She smirked.  "I'm pretty most days.  It's called confidence."  She walked off.  "C'mon, let's see why we got summoned, boss.  I'm tired of playing with her."

"I enjoyed it," he assured her, following her.  "Left, Dawn."  She went into the office to see where that judge was.  She got a room number and Tony found it, walking off with her, still smiling.  "That was so hot."

"Thank you."  She grinned.  "Natasha's moaning and Clint said if they try to track him down about when I'm getting pregnant I'm not having sex for the rest of the month."

"That's only two days and doesn't he have a mission coming up?"

"No.  He's off for a few days."  She looked at him.  "He's staring at a hospital."

"Good.  I heard about that letter idiocy."

Dawn nodded.  "Mom had a word with them."  Tony cackled.  "Oh, yeah.  She got asked if she was pregnant too."  They found the judge's chambers and she held open the door.  "There you go, Mr. Stark."

"Thank you, Miss Summers."  He walked in.  Tony handed over the summons letter.  The clerk alerted the judge and they were taken back to the office.  "You wanted to see me, Your Honor?"

"I do, Mr. Stark.  Your...spouse?"

"My assistant."

"Oh, that's fine."  She sat down and pulled out her tablet to turn on and make sure she could pull up whatever was needed.  "It was asked of me to release someone into your custody until she could be gotten to trial."

"If this is about the bimbo assassin, no thank you."

The judge winced.  "I wouldn't put it that way."

Dawn looked at him.  "She taught her dogs to sit in Feng Shui patterns so she'd have good karma for shooting her friends," Dawn said.  "What would you call her, Your Honor?"

"You've met her?"

"I'm the one that captured her during an incident I was being magical backup for."

"Oh, that's interesting."

"With where she was aiming it looked like she was going to try to kill me."

"That's bad."  The judge relaxed and considered Tony Stark.  "I think you can keep her in check and frustrate her to no end."

"I think my daughter and Pepper's newborn daughter would have a problem with that.  I also think that I spend ninety percent of my day in a lab and that bimbo could not do that."

"Good point.  You could set up a containment area so she was given some liberties."

"Sure, I can find a tower to seal her in," Dawn agreed, looking those up.  "There's one in Maine.  One exit.  Town's over twenty miles away.  We can put a guard on the door, rotating every six of course, and have them let in food deliveries and the necessities, Tony."  She looked at her tablet again.  "Or there's one just below LA so she can pick up the rest of her dogs."

"I like that idea," he agreed.  "Give her enough of a satellite dish so she can get E! so she can see what parties she's missing?"

"Sounds reasonable to me," Dawn agreed.  "Plus safer for the kids in the family."

"True."  He looked at the judge.  "We can set that up for you and bill SHIELD for making it my job."

The judge winced.  "That wasn't what her lawyer was hoping for."

"To be blunt, Your Honor, I'd never even stoop low enough to screw her.  Why would I want to be her father figure?"

"You've been where she is."

"Yes and I grew up.  Actually, I was never that bad when I was partying every night.  I still held down a job, ran a company, and designed a lot of really hot weapons.  Even if I was drinking and partying nightly."

The judge sighed.  "We think it would be for the best."  He pushed a button.  "Send her in please."

Dawn rolled her eyes at the complaining about the orange jumpsuit and how it didn't make her look good.  She looked back there.  "Shut up.  Did no one ever tell you that being loud gets you the wrong sort of attention?"

"Why is she here?" she demanded.

"Um, huh," Dawn said, staring at her.  "Because I'm Stark's personal assistant and you'd have to deal with me more than him?"  She shuddered.  "Suck it, bitch.  I'm worth twice what you are.  I work because I'd go stupid if I didn't.  I like and enjoy having a brain I use daily.  Now, sit down and shut up!"  She sat down and hid behind her lawyer.  "Thank you!"  She looked at the staring judge.  "Guys like Stark have people like me to handle things for him, Your Honor.  I wouldn't put up with it in my six-year-old niece.  I'm sure as hell not going to put up with it in my face from a twenty-one-year-old bimbo who's only claim to fame is shooting some of her friends, having way too many little yappy dogs to talk to, and having two sex tapes on the internet.  Can't she go to a club fed prison?"

"She'll be going to one if she's found guilty," he said.  He shifted.  "We set bail very high but she did manage to put up the money for it."

"She has a boyfriend," Tony offered.

"Who, from the tabloids, only likes her because she kills people," Dawn said quietly.

"Really?" he asked her.  She pulled it up and showed him.  He scanned it and grimaced.  "Eww."  He handed it back.  "I'm all for that tower idea.  I'm sure she can afford it if she could afford bail.   With the charges against her, it's not like she'll make it out of prison in time to pass on her questionable genetics to a spawn so she won't have to worry about leaving an inheritance."

The judge grimaced.  "We would rather have her somewhere safer and more monitored than a jail.  She's been found to be disruptive because of her celebrity status."  Dawn gave him odd look but tried not to snort out loud.  "Normally I would not consider it but three different agencies have decided to push this plan, Mr. Stark."

"I'm still not letting her into my tower, Your Honor.  I don't want my daughter to learn a single thing from her.  I definitely don't want her near Pepper's newborn daughter.  Or even my assistant, who's old enough and good enough to beat her to death if she tries anything against either child."

"That's up to you.  You can set her up in whatever monitored situation you want as long as it is humane, she has the necessities of life, and it's not against the Geneva Conventions.  Preferably within the local area instead of in Maine."

Tony blinked at him.  "So I can find her a hole, lock her in it, make sure she gets regular food shipments, and make sure she can't get out?"

"Within reasonable limits.  Nothing harsher than she would get in a Federal Super Max style prison.  Which means one hour of sunlight a day or a window."

"I can find a slum."  He looked at Dawn, who was looking.  She held up her tablet.  "That might work," he decided.  "Guards through Stark, though I'm billing her estate and all three agencies for this."  He looked at the judge.  "I'm not really thrilled with this idea.  She's not my problem."

"It's felt that you're about the only one who could do such a duty.  That your heroic nature would extend to saving people from her."

"I can save people from her.  Dawn, gun?"  She unhid it and handed it over.  He smiled at the judge.  "She will be put down if she steps out of bounds.  I don't play."  He checked the load then fired on her.  He handed the gun back.  "Thank you for having tranquilizers."

"I figured someone might need one," she said dryly.  It got rehidden.  The judge was gaping.  She stared back.  "I've been kidnaped over a hundred times since I was fifteen, Your Honor.  I'm always ready for anything."  He shivered.  She looked at Tony.  "That new defense net that Lab 12 was working on?"

"That's not a bad idea," he agreed.  He looked at her lawyer.  "No visitors.  If you want to talk to her, you call me and I'll have you escorted in and out.  No friends, no family, nothing but letters.  No access to a computer.  Very basic cable package.  Food deliveries once a week to make sure she can eat; it will be healthy things instead of slop, chips, cookies, candy, or chocolate.  There will be guards beyond the sensor net around her apartment.  They will be told to shoot her non-fatally if possible and if not go for it."  The lawyer shuddered.  "I don't play these games.  If she was my daughter she'd have been disowned when she started to follow me into the party life."  He stared him down.  "Take it or leave it.  Only offer you're getting from me."

"The agencies could use her now and then."

"No, they can't," Tony said.  "She's a pathetic shot.  She's pathetic at what she can do skill wise.  No.  She's staying in there and not going anywhere.  If she's having a medical emergency, the tower has an infirmary."

He licked his lips.  "We'd like the agencies to be able to use her."

"No.  Dawn."  She got up and followed him out.  "Have a good day, Your Honor."  He walked her out, letting them validate the parking stub on the way out.  He even stopped at the coffee cart to get them both something.  He got in to drive.  "I can't believe Fury did that to me."

"Want me to start a 'fuck you' letter, boss?"

"No, I can deliver that one in person."  He started the car and sipped his coffee as he pulled out and headed out of the garage.  He paid the toll and headed uptown.  "Want to visit your mother?"

"Of course I do.  I love my mother.  You know that."  She smiled and sipped her coffee, tapping out a message to Pepper.  She stared.   "Ooooh.  Pepper's swearing."  She sent over the rest of what had happened.  Pepper sent back to tell Stark to call her.  "She said call her, boss.  Call Pepper," she ordered the On Star system.

"Calling Pepper," it said in a pleasant female voice.

"Tony, they wanted what?" Pepper demanded.

"Exactly.  I'm going to beat the shit out of Fury then I'll be back."

"Not only did they want him to play daddy to her, they wanted her able to go work for the agencies that were trying to set this up," Dawn said.  "He was pushed into a sealed apartment setup but they didn't like that."

"Screw them!" Pepper said shrilly, making both people in the car wince.  "Hell no!"

"Pepper, calm down.  When they didn't agree to the very harsh terms I set I walked," Tony said.

"I don't care!  How dare they try to make you responsible for the harlot!  She's not your family!"

"The judge said I'd understand where she was since I used to party.  I pointed out I held down a job and partied."

"Yes you did, for the most part," Pepper said.  "Where are you two going?"

"HQ," Dawn said.

"Come pick me up."

"Sure," Dawn agreed.  "I can watch Liz for a bit."  She hung up and looked at him.  "Thanks for the lunch, boss."

He smirked.  "Eat real food before you lose weight again."  He got them back to the tower relatively easily and Dawn switched with Pepper, taking Liz from her as they did so.  Dawn went up to the office to babysit while Pepper went with Tony.  Tony smiled at her.  "I'm going to punch him in the nose."

"I can get behind that.  That would destroy the company to be known for that."  She was getting more and more mad as all the bad things that could come from that incident came to her mind.  By the time they got to HQ, she got out first and led the way up there.  She found Fury in the Admin area and punched him.  "How dare you sic the bimbo harlot on Tony!  Do you know what that would do the company and us?  I doubt I want that slut anywhere near my daughters!  Callia might pick up bad manners or worse, VD she spread onto a chair, from her!"  She slapped him this time and he tried to duck but she was really pissed off and a mother now.  She followed him until someone tried to pull her off him.  "Do not touch me!" she ordered.  "I will have Dawn kill your dumb ass!"  The agent backed away, nodding.  "How dare you!"

Tony looked at Fury.  "Ditto.  They didn't like the harsh rules I set down so it's a failed plot anyway, Fury.  Have fun with her."  He gently steered Pepper off.  "You need some hitting work.  You have a different strength on your left side."  He noticed Joyce was sniffly.  "Please tell me you're not going back to the hospital."

"No, I'm not.  They found a dark spot but it's not a tumor.  They think it's a minor blood clot or something and they're treating it with different medicine.  But I'm off all the stuff that was killing my memory."

He grinned.  "Good!  Come see Callia tonight?"

"Tomorrow.  Bruce and I have dinner tonight, Tony."

"Sure.  Call at least?"

"If I'm not busy.  After all, we're old, not dead, dear."

He grinned.  "Good!  It gives me hope when I'm in my seventies!"  She swatted him but she was happier.  "C'mon, Pepper.  I'll buy you and Dawn both salads since she called coffee lunch."

"That girl," she sighed, shaking her head.  "Did someone else ask her?"

"She totally ran that reporter back away from her and nearly into begging," Tony said, walking her off.  "Then the reporter asked about kids."

Pepper chuckled.  "They do that now and then."  They got onto the elevator and she stared at Fury until the doors closed.  "Maybe you should bring all the Avengers home to the tower so you're not under SHIELD anymore."

"We're about halfway there," he admitted.  "We can talk about it with Steve later."

"Good."  She patted him on the hand.  "We can all have dinner?"  He smiled and nodded.  "Even better.  I haven't seen Callia yet today."

"She's been under the Audi all morning to avoid history and english."  Pepper cackled.  "Yeah, just like me."  They got off and he let her into the car then walked around to get in and drive.

Upstairs, Maria Hill got an ice pack from the medical kit up there, crushing it to activate it.  "Here, sir.  She swings a mean left hook.  Must've been training for anti-kidnaping events again."  She went back to her desk.

"At least it wasn't Summers.  She would've shot me," he muttered, going to his office.  He had the sudden urge to duck and did in time to have the arrow narrowly miss his ear.  He glared at the ceiling, finding not who he expected.  "Since when do you use a bow, Romanoff?"

"Since we crosstrained.  Not much else to do in Paraguay in the late eighties."  She smirked slightly at him.  "I do not like beings like that supposed assassin being around.  They give the real ones of us a bad name."  She strolled off.  Clint got his backup bow back and he was still smiling.  He pushed a button that he'd had for months.  In the main office, dye packs went off everywhere.

Joyce got up and ran away from the cloud.  "I can't afford to replace anything for the next six months so let me get away from the dye."

Maria Hill stared in there. "Sir?  Are you all right?  Should I call medical?"  She was doing that as soon as he didn't answer or swear at anyone.  Medical teams showed up to check on the director, helping him out of there.  He was now Barney purple from head to foot.  Everything in the office was purple.  The walls around the doorway were purple from the cloud of dye.  Fury was in shock.  "Take him please," Maria ordered.  "I'll set someone to investigate how that happened, sir."

He looked at her.  "I'm pretty sure I know who did it.  Banish them and all the other Avengers to the tower until we need them again."

"Yes, sir."  She called that in.  "Coulson too, sir?"

"Definitely since he didn't hear and stop him."  He let himself be led down there.  Banner was on the elevator with some papers.  He paused to stare at him.  "Even you.  Go.  Away."

"I can take my research to the tinkering lab."  He handed over the papers.  "Here, the minimal reports."  He got off on his floor, going to his lab.  "People, Fury banished all the Avengers back to Stark Tower."  They smiled and got things set up to go with him.  He called Tony.  "I'm bringing my two lab assistants."  He hung up and they left together.  Natasha and Clint had taken one of the agency SUV's with Coulson in the back.  With the boxes they had, they had quickly packed everything.  By the time they got over there, Steve was there waiting.  "Purple, Barton?" Banner finally had to demand.  "He'll know it was you."

"It wasn't me.  Dawn set 'em."  He grinned.  "Just in case of attack or a break in."

Steve groaned and shook his head.  "That's so bad."  They went up together.  Bruce got his assistants set up in his lab and they were more than happy to be in there.  He went up to talk to Tony and flirt with Liz.  The baby loved him.  Steve was nagging Dawn, who was shrugging.

"That way no one else could break in, Steve.  Unstarch the thong.  I did not set off the dye bombs.  And if he was only mildly purple they didn't all go off."

"I disabled the ones on the bridge area," Natasha said with a smile.  "Agent Hill would have killed you."

"Tara likes purple too," Dawn said with a smile.

Clint gave her a hug.  "Thanks."  He waved at the baby.  "Hey, Lizzy."

"She's hungry but Mom's at lunch.  We don't have any bottles."

"That's a  problem when you're breastfeeding," Bruce agreed, taking her to cuddle.  She fussed at him for it.  "I'm sorry I can't feed you but I'm not gifted with that skill, sweetheart.  Calm down please?  Mom will be back soon to feed you."

Clint was staring at Dawn.  "Hell.  No," she said quietly.

"What?" Steve demanded.

"When Buffy's near delivering I end up lactating a bit," Dawn said dryly, staring at him.  "We have no idea why.  Thankfully she's had her tubes tied because it's not really a comfortable sensation when you can't do anything with it or it'll keep going."  He blushed and walked off moaning and shaking his head.  "Callia's under the Audi."

"I'll pull her out and make her do homework," he promised.

Bruce smiled.  "The Key?"

"We think so since Buffy never produced a drop of milk thanks to the slayer inheritance."  She shifted.  "It's bad enough Sean nearly found out."

Clint nodded.  "They hurt too."  He took Liz, who belched.  "Thanks, kiddo.  Wanna maybe come play with me?"  He walked her into the office.  "C'mon.  Thor's going to be here soon and you know he'll fuss at you."

Dawn sent a text at Pepper about bottles.  She got told there was one in the mini fridge.  She went to check.  "We're saved."  She put the bottle together and carefully put the baggy into the shell then put the nipple on.  She let Clint have it to feed her.  He and Bruce had a lot of fun fussing over her.  Dawn went back to her desk and settled in to finish the paperwork.  She knew the other tower was nearly done so she grabbed her jacket.  "Be right back," she called into the office.  She walked over to the foreman, smiling at him.

"Another mouse?"

"No, thankfully not.  Wondering how it was going?"

"We're ninety percent done with the structure but about a month and a half until people can move in."

"Okay, that's good to know.  Thank you."  She shook his hand and went back to make a note of that for everyone.  Phil was at her desk so he had to move.  "Go help the boys?"

"They're being mugged by their girlfriends," he said with a grin.  "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine."

"Good."  He patted her on the arm.  "We'll figure it out."

"Most of you can work from home and the gym there," she said with a grin.

"We can, but we can show up here for sparring practice."  He gave her a look.

"I haven't needed to but we do every other day, Phil."

"Good."  He left her to get back to work, taking Liz to feed her.  "I remember doing this to the twins," he told her.  "They were always hungry."  She patted him.  He smiled.  "I like you too, Liz."  He settled in to feed her.  She slowly fell asleep and that was great for him.  Even if he did have to change her diaper.  He was used to it.

***

Two hours later, Dawn was typing out a text to Pepper.  //Do you want us to get her some formula and bottles?//

A minute later she got back //You know she's not doing formula.//

Dawn rolled her eyes.  //Your choice right now is formula or me doing a spell to lactate and feeding her myself.  Which do you prefer, boss?//

The response took about five minutes.  //Not.//

Dawn snickered.  A few more minutes passed and then a text from each of them.  //We don't mind if your spouses don't,// Tony sent.

//Formula's good.  Get a good kind, I'll reimburse you, Dawn.//

//Sure,// she sent back.  "Someone get her some formula?"

Natasha and Clint's phones both rang with a text.  "Stark said you could feed her if we allowed it," Clint said.

"Pepper said formula."  Phil was snickering from his seat with Callia.  He was getting her to do her homework by reading it to the baby.

"News people said formula is bad," Callia said.

"Talk to Pepper, dear."  She went to the corner pharmacy to find some.  When she got there, the shelf had a nicely printed note that said the formula had been recalled due to a contamination.  She took a picture and sent it to Pepper.  She got back a splutter.  Then she got a 'damn it' text.  It took two minutes for the rest to come in.  She nodded, going back to the tower.  "Okay," she said as she walked in.  "All local formula has been recalled due to contamination of some sort."

"Warehouse," Natasha said, looking it up.  "It was on the news.  They had a gas leak that got into the boxes."  Dawn shuddered.  "So what are we doing?  Picking up from Pepper?"

"They're in Atlantic City," she said dryly.  She looked at her spouses.  Who sighed.  "Okay.  We're going to one of the suites for now."  Phil handed over the baby.  "Thank you."  Dawn switched the phones to her cellphone and they went to feed the baby together.  Dawn had witnessed it enough.  She could do a spell to restart the lactation for a while.  She hoped it stopped sometime soon.  They settled in on the bed and let Liz inhale all she wanted from her.

Natasha was getting that mushy look.  Clint was stroking over her stomach since she was feeding her on her side instead.  When she had to flip them over to get the other side, Natasha helped her and Clint soothed the baby.  Liz got burped and she was a happy baby.  Natasha took her back to Phil then came back to find Clint kissing her.  Natasha got behind her to tease her as well. "That didn't go too badly," Dawn moaned.

"Not at all," Natasha agreed.  "I've never seen that up close."  She nibbled on her shoulder.  Clint was teasing the sensitive nipple.  "She should be dry."

"Mostly," he agreed, licking over a spot.  He made a face.  "That's strange."  He shrugged and cuddled her better, making her a happy wife.

***

Phil looked at the baby.  "Of course they left the diaper for me."  Liz was making that bad face at them.

"Wow, she doesn't usually turn that purple," Callia said.

"Most kids don't unless it's going to be explosive and nasty."  They went up to penthouse because she'd probably need a bath after she was done.  She definitely needed new clothes and a spot on the rug cleaned because it escaped the holding capacity of her diaper.

"Eww," Callia said.  But she got the stuff that she used to clean up after her pets when they hit the rug.  Phil was giving her a bath.  The rug was probably the less nasty job so Callia was happy to be helpful.  "The last time I pooped like that I had eaten ten limes," she complained.

Phil leaned out.  "What?"

"I said the last time I pooped like that I had eaten ten limes."

"I remember hearing about that."  He went back to scrubbing the baby free of crap.  "You poor thing," he told her.  "I hope that wasn't from Dawn."  She pooped in the water and cooed.  He got her out and cleaned up then diapered.  He texted Pepper, who said she had the runs all day.  Phil took her to the infirmary.  "Dr. Pigalli, do we have any baby strength Immodium?"

"Probably.  I told Pepper it should clear up today."

"She just went everywhere.  I started to look for the explosive device."  She started to crap again and he put her on something that could be cleaned up easier than his suit.  "See?"

"Let me get her that medicine.  Where is Pepper?"

"Dawn said Atlantic City with Stark."

"Did Pepper start to express finally?"

"No."

"There's a formula recall."

"Dawn had the same reaction to the twins being born that she did with Sean."

"Spell to renew it?"

"I'm pretty sure, yes."

"Good!"  She smiled.  "She'll make a fantastic mother some year in the future."  She dosed the baby and helped him clean her up again.  No one person deserved to clean up that sort of mess twice in a row.  "Get her some water too."

"I can do that."  He carried her off to get her some water to drink.  She wasn't thirsty so it got put down beside him.  Callia got her homework and went back to it for Liz's amusement.  It was nearly midnight by the time Stark and Pepper got home.  Callia was down in bed.  Liz was in her bed.  "Dawn fed her just an hour ago," he said quietly.  "Callia went down at nine when she decided it was time."

"She usually sets her own unless we have something planned," Tony agreed.  "Dawn okay?"

"She remembered to end the spell," he said.  Phil stood up.  "We had the doctor give her some medicine since it was so bad I thought there was an explosive device."  Pepper smiled and hugged him.  "The twins never had it that badly."  He smiled.  "We'll be back tomorrow to see what we're doing."  Tony nodded.  "Dawn's down in one of the suites."

"That's fine," Tony promised.  Phil left them alone.  He kissed Pepper on the cheek.   "Nap?"

"Please.  I'm sorry I forgot."

"It's all right.  They clearly didn't mind and it's not hurting her any.  Either of them.  She could've done formula for the night if we had any on hand."  He got her into his bed and cuddled up with Steve in the center since he was asleep too.  That was a nice surprise and made Tony a happy boy.

"Not tonight," Pepper said.

"I know."  He gave her hand a squeeze.  They got to sleep for about an hour before Liz woke up everyone wailing that she was starving.  Tony got up to grab her so Pepper could feed her.  She was more than happy to have Mom back.  Steve could blush at being used to prop the baby up for her snack.  Tony laid there and watched them, smiling at them.

***

Clint came back from the bathroom and laid down next to his women.  "I say we table the discussion of kids for two years."

They stared at him.  "Two years?" Natasha asked.

"Two years puts us at about five years of Avenger duties.  That gives Dawn time to get stuff worked out to make sure her family's fine."  Dawn nodded that was true, it was likely Buffy might die within the next few years."  He kissed them both.  "That gives us time to save up some money too, Nat."

"It does, though I have some saved for when I get too old and injured to work any longer."

"I have a tiny bit," Clint admitted.  "Not that much."

Dawn stroked his stomach.  "You can borrow my investment guy."

"He hates me for being yours."

"Really?  That sucks."  She took a kiss and smiled.  "Two years?"

"Two years.  Unless it happens accidentally then we'll cheer and have parties."

Dawn stared at him.  "You think you're going to be too old?"

"I think by then we're probably both going to be seriously injured at least once," he said, staring at her.  "I think it'd be better if we don't react to that."  He stroked over Dawn's stomach.  "Just two years?"

"I can agree to two years," she promised then kissed him.  He grinned.  "But you've got to store some in case you die on me."

"Getting done," he assured her.  "Coulson told me where he went; you two are the only ones on that donation and it's not on SHIELD's insurance so they can't claim it on you like they could the last stuff."

"Then that's an idea I can get behind," Dawn promised.

"I can agree to that," Natasha said.  "We'll talk about it again in two years."

Clint leaned over to kiss her.  "Thanks."

"You're most welcome."  She smiled.  "Though we do need to make sure no one doses either of us with fertility drugs again," she told Dawn, who rolled over to kiss her.  She moaned and grabbed onto her hips.  "Not here, Dawn.  We're guests."

Clint laughed.  "Half the time these rooms are used after parties for all the sex."  He pulled them against him to kiss them both.  "But we can do that tomorrow since we're off."  He winked.  Dawn smirked back.  "We didn't get the cat back."

"Yes we did.  He's been on the bookshelf hating on you for having him cat sat.  He and I cuddle most mornings after you two leave for work."

"That's sweet."  He kissed her again then Natasha.

"We are still guests," Natasha said firmly.  They smiled and snuggled her between them.  It made her relax and fall asleep.  Dawn and Clint shared a look and Dawn winked before snuggling into Natasha so she could sleep too.

***

Tony knocked in the morning, getting Clint up.  He stared at him.  "Dawn's already at her desk."

"Sorry.  Long night?"

Tony smirked.  "I doubt it.  None of the squealing or screaming sensors went off, Barton.  Meeting in about twenty about us staying here."  He walked off happier.

Natasha sat up and pushed back her hair.  "I want first shower."

"We can share."

"We only have twenty minutes," she said dryly, staring at him.  "Us sharing a shower usually takes at least an hour."  She walked into the bathroom.  He shrugged and pulled out clothes for both of them from their emergency bags then went in to get the end of the shower with her.  She handed him the shampoo as she finished rinsing off and got out.  "That is not what I'm wearing today," she complained, getting something different.  Then the outfit changed with a flash of light.  She looked up toward the office.  "Or that."  She did put on a shirt that was a bit more flirty since that's what they wanted her to wear.  She went to get coffee then up to the office once her hair was pulled back.  Dawn grinned at her.  "I could wear something normal."

"No you can't."  She took a kiss and smirked.  "They're already in there."  She nodded, walking in sipping her coffee.  Clint came off the elevator with his cup.  She pointed with a grin.  He mugged her for a kiss and got some coffee then went into the meeting.  She followed, making sure the phones were forwarded to her cellphone.

Tony grinned.  "Dawn, how's the other building going?"

"Month and a half before anything's move in ready.  I asked yesterday."

"Fury should be normal colored again by then," Bruce joked.

"Not likely.  I used the new dye packs that they were developing for banks."  She grinned.  "It doesn't come out."  Tony shivered.  "That way no one could break into his desk again."

"Keep that innocence," Tony quipped.  "So, we have the building and the gym there."  The people nodded.  "That leaves the range here and the other gyms here."

"Or there's the Montrose gym," Dawn said, digging out something from his desk and handing it over.  "They invited all of you to work out there.  They're exclusive and do have a firing range."

Tony looked them up and nodded.  "Okay."  He passed that around.

"I demand to see Tony Stark," a shrill female voice shouted at the outer assistants.

Dawn sighed and went to see who that was.  "You are?" she demanded.

"You're nothing," she sneered.

"I'm his personal assistant and if you don't give me a damn good reason I'm throwing you off the building."  The woman gasped.  "You have two seconds since he's in a meeting."

"A *meeting*?" she sneered.  "With you?"

"No, with the Avengers."  She stared at her.  "Going, going...."  She waved a hand.  "Gone.  Security to the admin area," she said.  Guards came off the elevator.  "Have a good day and thank you for visiting Stark Tower, Ma'am."  She walked off.

"I'll talk to him or I'll sue you!" she shouted.

Dawn looked at her.  "You'd have to have a reason to sue.  As you aren't giving a reason for you to see him at all, I'm going to say most judges won't give you any credit at all.  Especially since all public areas in the building are taped by security.  Now, what did you want to see him about?"

"He's keeping my daughter in jail."

"Why?" she asked.  "Because frankly I don't think he knows you."

Tony walked out and looked at her.  "That's the bimbo's mother."  The woman sneered at him for that announcement.

"Oh!  Well, then *you're* keeping her in jail, Mrs. Shandy.  It's not Tony's job to do your job that you've already failed at.  He's not a relation to her and has no obligation to take her in or help her in any manner.  Frankly, the company doesn't need that sort of bad publicity.  If you want her out so much, take her home with you.  Now, anything else?" she asked with a perky smile.

"They were going to give her to him!"

"I don't want her," Tony said.  "My assistant is right.  I have no desire to be anywhere near your daughter for any reason.  My company doesn't need her here either.  See, we do *work* here.  I set down rules that I would be her nanny for and they didn't like them.  Pity.  Now, please have a good day."  He walked back in there.  "Dawn."

"Coming."  She stared at her.  "Do have a good day and thank you for visiting Stark Tower, Mrs. Shandy."  She huffed off.  Dawn pointed.  The guards grinned and escorted her out.  She looked at the two outer assistants.  "We good?"  They nodded. "Okay.  We're figuring out what to do while Fury's purple."  She went back in there and shut the doors.  "Thank you, Goddess, for my mother having sense!" she said to the ceiling.  "I can only hope that I never turn into one of them."

"Pepper would've straightened you out or you would've went to a boarding school," Tony assured her.

She smiled.  "Good.  It might've straightened me out, though with my luck I would've went to hers."  She sat down again.

"What's wrong with her school?" Steve asked.

"That's where they taught her to be a craptastic assassin who misses a lot," Dawn told him.

"Oh, charming."  He looked at Tony.  "He's considering having her confined."

"She did it so no one could break into his files again," Tony said.  "Because it happens a lot.  She mined some of our archives with the same dye packs."

"Beyond that, I set it off," Clint said, sipping his coffee.  She got up to make more for them, earning smiles.  "Thanks, Short Stuff."

"Welcome, Archer boy."

"You guys are so mushy," Bruce said with a smile.

"Yes, but we're good at it," Dawn quipped with a grin.  She sat down once it was started, letting Tony pour his own.  "No creamer up here."

"That's fine," he said, sipping it.  "You got me Kona?"

"No, I made my spouses Kona from the stash in my desk.  You're just lucky they're willing to share."

"Yup, guess I am."  He grinned and shook his head.  "Okay, options, people?"

"We need our own jet," Clint said.  "All that."

"They stole from us anyway," Tony said.  "The hell carrier too."

Natasha sighed.  "They did."  He stared at her.  "Fine, I did."  She sipped her coffee.

"I'm more worried that they got other weapons," Steve said.  "For that Phase 2 stuff."

"They have," Tony said.  "More than I'm comfortable with but I can't really sue them."

"Those I did not steal for them," Natasha said.

"We found their leak into the system a few months back," Tony said.  "We know that wasn't you."  He looked around.  "So, we're just hanging out for training?  Unless something huge happens again."

"We all have things we can catch up on," Phil said.  Everyone nodded.  "I'll keep track through Agent Hill.  I think she's quit cackling by now."  He got up.  "Have a good day, people."  He left, going back to get a few more files.  He ran into the director, not showing how amused he was by the purple.  "Sir, she said it was to keep people out of your files," he said when he got growled at.  "You have had a few gotten into and she was being helpful.  Those of us with ID cards wouldn't set it off."

"I thought I had mine on me."

"I think you left it at home because the security team called in an attempted breach."

"I forgot."  He walked off still grumpy but not wanting to have Dawn thrown into a prison overseas.  So that was a good thing.  He wouldn't tell him it might not wear off for months.  He went back to the spare office at the tower to do some work, much happier for the day.

***

Clint was staring at the kid in the hospital again.  He had done this a few times.  He finally manned up and went over there.  He walked in and got a better look at the action figure collection.  "I didn't know they made sets of us, just from the movie actors."  The kid was gaping in awe.  "Hey."

"Mom said...."

"No, that was some PR person at SHIELD."  He sat on the foot of the kid's bed.  "Not me.  It took me a few days to hear but once I did, I realized you needed to have a visit, get some encouragement, all that."

"Because archers always fight," the boy said.

"That's right, we do."  He grinned and got comfortable.  "Who makes the ones that look like us?"

"There's a shop locally that makes them.  They don't get her hair right and Thor's really too blond."  He reached over to grab them.  Clint looked at them, smiling at them.  "The movie ones are okay."

"Dawn's really liking the guy they picked to play me."

"Dawn?"

"Pretty brunette in the chainmail?"

"Wow.  You know her really well?"

"Kinda since we're together."

"I thought you and her," he said, pointing at the mini Natasha.

Clint winced.  "That's kinda complicated and I'd have to ask your mom to explain that to you.  Okay?"

"I get that.  Sometimes adults have things like that."

"Some day you will."

The kid shook his head.  "Probably not."

"Is that defeat I hear?" he asked, staring at him.

"They said it's a real small chance," he said quietly.

Clint tipped his chin up.  "Real small chance was me and my brother running away to the circus together, getting in, getting real skills, and me ending up at SHIELD.  That was less than a one percent chance.  Are yours better?"

"Maybe twenty."

"Then archers never give up."  He stared at him.  "Got it?"  The kid smiled and nodded.  "Good."  He patted him on the foot again.  "I nearly came earlier but you were kinda busy."

"I saw you watching from the office across the street."

"One time you were napping.  The other one the nurses were fussing.  I wasn't going to interrupt."

"Please interrupt.  Sometimes they fuss and fuss until I want to hide."

"Dawn does that to the geeks at Stark."  The boy giggled.  "So, what else do you like to do?"

"I want to be an archer in the olympics when I get older."

"That's a really high goal.  Ever handled a bow?"

"I have a nerf bow."

"They're cool.  I use them on the trainees at SHIELD sometimes.  We need better trainees.  Ours have been loud and not at all subtle."  He pulled his bag around and pulled out his bow, snapping it open.  "That's my bow."  The boy looked awed, cradling it carefully on his lap to look it over.  "It's got interior tension controls so it's like a compound bow without all the extra stuff that they have."  He shifted to cross his feet in front of him, showing him all the parts and letting him handle it.  "Some day, you'll make a team.  It takes a lot of practice.  Every day sort of practice."

"I understand."

Clint smiled at the nurse coming in.  "Hey."

"You came?"

"I did come.  Dawn heard that SHIELD had turned it down without asking me and asked me."  He looked at his fan.  "Dawn's mom was in one of the centers across town."

"Wow.  What did she have?"

"Brain tumor.  Thankfully she got better.  Now she's Director Fury's assistant.  She fought it for just over two years."  He looked at the kid.  "She had it go and then come back almost immediately."

"Ow."  He rubbed his head.  "I'm glad mine's just in my liver.  They say livers heal and brain tumors are the worst to have."

"They can be.  But I'm pretty sure you're fighting just like she did."  He nodded.  "Then that's what's important.  That you try your best, no matter what the odds are.  Even when the backup's too far away."

"I can do that."

"I know you can.  You made it this far so you're doing a great job."  He smiled.  Someone in the other side of the pod was screaming at a nurse so he pulled out a nerf crossbow and got her, making her yelp.  He grinned at the nurse as he put it back.  "They probably don't need the stress."  He looked at the kid, who was giggling.  Clint winked and handed him something.  "Dawn got that for you.  That's to the speciality comic store down on Grant.  She said there's two hundred on there for you, and five for the other kids on the floor.  She wanted you to pick out stuff for them."  He looked awed.  Clint smiled.  "In there is also her work address so you can write me there."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, Bob."  The kid giggled.  "I got confused, didn't I?  Sometimes I do not remember names."

"No, you didn't.  It's pretty cool."

Clint smiled.  "I try really hard.  You can't be a hero if you aren't at least a little bit cool."   The boy nodded.  Clint took off his sunglasses and put them on the kid's head.  "You'll need those for when you start practicing for that olympic team.  They're specially sun shielded so you don't get glare."  The boy bounced some.  His mom came in and stopped.  "Dawn said she made the person who turned you down on me sorry."

"Thank you."

"It's not a problem.  I understand bad odds and how to fight against them."  He ruffled the kid's hair.  "You write me whenever you want."

"I can do that."

"Cool.  I'll see if I can get Stark to visit someone that wants it too.  Dawn said she's talked to him about it in the past but no one asks him."

"Think he could bring the suit?"

"He has a portable version," he admitted with a grin.  "It's in a briefcase and wraps around him."

"That's really cool."

"Yeah, it is.  Tony spoils us horribly.  He's tweaked my bow a lot so it's got perfect balance and the grip's going to stay in my hand no matter how much I'm sweating.  He's made me new arrow tips too.  Including a few that make it real cold now and then."

"I remember it doing that," the mother said with a smile.

Clint grinned.  "We got the formula from another realm that had a dragon invasion.  They're meant to kill the fire breathing kind."

"That's sweet," Bob said.  Clint pulled out a few arrows with regular tips to show him them.  The kid got one to keep.  He was nearly sobbing in joy.

Clint patted him again.  "You'll write?"

"I can do that."

"Good boy.  I'll let you and your mom talk about how to get the books for the other kids and your part of it."  He winked as he stood up, taking his bow back to snap closed.  "If we don't have to save the world I'll try to be back early next month."

"I'll try to be here."

"Remember, we never give up."

"No, we don't.  Archers never give up."  He cuddled his mom.  "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Bob.  It's important that you guys know that we're here for more than the saving stuff."  He smiled and left.

Bob looked at his mother.  "His girlfriend is the lady in the chainmail but he said it's a complicated adult thing about the pretty redheaded lady, Mom."

"I bet it is.  What books?"  He showed her and told her what Clint had said.  "We can arrange that."  She cuddled him.  He fell asleep with the arrow under his hand and the sunglasses beside his bed.  Her baby was so happy.

***

Clint walked into Tony's lab, pausing to hug Dawn.  She cuddled back.  "He's got like twenty percent."

"Mom had ten," she said quietly.  He nodded, giving her a squeeze.

Tony looked over.  "The Make A Wish kid?"  Clint nodded.  "That's tough."

"He's five," Clint said.

"That sucks harder," Dawn agreed.  She let him calm himself down all he wanted.  He finally pulled back.  "You going to see him again?"

"I said I'd come back next month if we weren't saving the earth."  He looked at Tony.  "Did any of them talk to you?"

"One in LA did.  I went to visit her.  She was a teenager and flirting hard."  Pepper came in with Liz in her stomach snuggler.

"We could probably arrange something so the kids could ask you questions," Dawn offered.

Tony stared at her.  "We'll see.  I'm not sure if I could handle a full group of kids.  Even healthy kids.  My own kid scares me, Dawn."

"I know."  She patted him on the arm.  "Maybe?"

"We'll see."  She nodded.  "I might be talked into a donation."

"We're already donating some pads to the local children's cancer centers," Pepper said with a grin.  "We can show up to hand them over."

"That I can see," he decided.  She kissed him for that.

Dawn looked at Clint.  "Thankfully I won't have to do that to Callia when it's her turn to run the company."

He laughed and squeezed her.  "No you won't."  He cuddled her.  Natasha strolled in and got one from him too.  "They make action figures of us, Nat.  Not the movie us but the real us."

"Really?"

"Bob said that a speciality shop in town makes them."

"Huh."  She smiled.  "We'll get you a set."

"We can do that," Dawn agreed.  "Did you give him the gift card?"

"I did.  I told him what you wanted him to do and let him pick.  It won't go down, right?"

"No!"  She snorted and waved a hand.  "We paid cash for it and the manager helped me pick out which card to give you."  She smiled.

"Cool."  He pulled her closer to hug.

Bruce walked in.  "Went to see the kid?" he asked.  Clint nodded.  "That's tough."

"It's hard seeing the ones in the same ward as Mom," Dawn agreed.

"Joyce and I are giving them some toys this weekend," he told Dawn, who beamed at him.  "She thinks she can give them some extra hope since she was there."

"She probably could," Clint agreed.  "Bob had all the new comics that had come out.  He had both sets of action figures.  He said he wants to be an olympic archer."

"Then we all hope he makes it," Bruce said, patting him on the arm with a grin.  "Can I have Dawn?  Our lab is hopelessly messed up."

"Yup.  Sure, Doc."

"Thanks."  He walked her off.  "I have no idea how we lost everything."

"I have an idea."  She walked him upstairs to the lab above his.  "People, are you erasing others' data again?" she asked.  They groaned.  "Just be aware that Dr. Banner's back in residence so any future ones, warn them."  They nodded.  "Thank you."  She walked him back down there.  She reloaded their backup that automatically saved each night and found the other stuff he was missing.

***

Dawn woke up panting, staring around her bedroom.  She got up to find something, checking on her mother.  That was bad.  She called over there, which ensured a grumpy stepfather but Bruce would forgive her.  She walked into the study and shut the door so she wouldn't wake anyone up and told him what she had seen and what the health telltale said.  He promised he'd take her to the ER immediately if he could wake her up.  Dawn told him she had put a copy of Callia crying on his phone as an emergency wake up.  He had to use it and Joyce got up, very grumpy, but agreed to go since the health telltale was so dark.

Dawn hung up and tipped her head back, staring at the cat that was in there on her bookshelves.  "Didn't I say to get off that one?" she asked him.  "Move, Loki."  He hopped down and made it seem like it was his idea to come give her some attention instead of curling around the pretty vase Natasha had found her on their travels.  She sat there petting him until Bruce called about an hour later.  They had found more than a blood clot but it wasn't a tumor.  It was definitely a medicine caused problem.  There was some swelling.  They had caught it in time and Joyce was being admitted.  Dawn sighed in relief.  She could come down but he said not to.  He'd see her tomorrow to give her an update.  She agreed and hung up, hugging the cat even if he did complain.  She went back to bed with the cat.

"Do we need to go to the ER with her?" Clint asked quietly.

"Bruce took her.  They said the new medicine for that blood clot caused swelling.  She's been admitted and we can see her tomorrow."  She snuggled into his side, the cat hopping up to sit on their pillows and clean Clint's hair.  They squeezed her between them.  "I just want all the bad health stuff to go away."

"We do too," Natasha assured her.  Clint nodded, shifting to hold her better.  The cat huffed but still washed his hair.

Clint looked up at him.  "I like you too, Loki."  He tried to pet him but the cat ran off.  "Okay.  You do that."  Dawn giggled but pulled Natasha overtop of her back and they both rested on Clint's chest.  He looked at Natasha.  She nodded she'd check in the morning.  They fell back asleep, even if the cat did wake Clint up when he came back to finish giving him a bath.

***

Xander woke up in a sweaty mess, looking around the room.  He took a calming breath, then another one.  He looked, Phil was still mostly asleep.  Xander got up and went to the bathroom to rinse his face off, running a handful of water through his hair as well.  He stared in the mirror and decided that however he had seen Dawn's dream, that was going to happen his way instead.  He turned around and found Phil there.  "Dawn's dream."

"What was it?"

"Dawn got called from a meeting because her telltale on her mom went off.  Joyce had collapsed at work.  The infirmary at HQ tried to keep them apart but Dawn shot one of those idiots in the side.  She took Joyce and I had to help her because someone was screwing with things.  Namely Athena.  Athena and I had a discussion at the edge of the void where she was screaming for mercy, even though that was not the mood I was in."

Phil hugged him.  "We'll talk to her tomorrow."  Xander nodded.  "If she knows we realize maybe it'll mean she'll turn herself over to Zeus or something so you only have to hurt her a lot."

"Maybe."  He sighed, cuddling Phil.  "Are the kids okay?"

"They're fine.  Didn't wake up at all."  Xander nodded, just being held for now.

"If she was hurting Joyce there's going to be a blood vendetta," he said quietly.

"I'll support you in whatever you choose to do, Xander.  You know that."

"I know."  He gave him a squeeze.  "Bed?"

"Definitely.  It's nearly four."  They got back into bed.  Melissa ran in a few minutes later and climbed in with them.  John was making hurt, pouty noises.  "In here," Phil called quietly.  John ran in and pounced, hugging Xander's back so they could go back to sleep.  "Remember, sleeping with us is a treat, not an every night thing."

"Tara thinks they're a bit empathic."

"I think they are too.  Not as much as Callia is but enough that they pick up the bigger things.  That's why they're both hugging you."  He grinned.  Xander smiled back and patted both kids.  They were quickly asleep so Phil put them back into their own beds.  Then he came back to hug Xander himself.

He finally understood why Dawn sometimes jealously hoarded people.

***

Dawn went back to the tower after visiting her mother over lunch, walking into the office.  "Expect some crying," she said quietly.

"Why?" Pepper asked.  "Is Joyce not okay?  Should we have a talk with Callia to prep her for the funeral?"

"Damn I hope not.  Xander appeared and had someone fix what Athena did."  She took a calming breath.  "I have no idea why Athena hates me so damn much."  Pepper winced.  "No, she's seen sense.  Xander nearly killed her.  He brought her bloody, mangled body to apologize to Mom.  No, we're going to have Callia crying for other reasons.  Buffy said she can't do this anymore.  She can't stress over Mom, the girls, all that."  She swallowed.

"They're going to Asgard for a while?"  Dawn nodded.  "Ooh, Callia's going to wail about her siblings."

"Xander and Phil said they'd get her up there for visitation whenever she wanted but basically, yup."  She sat down.  "I'm kinda pissed at her for running and leaving it all to me."

"I can see both sides but I'd be upset too," Pepper assured her.  "Is your mom going to be okay?"

"Yeah, Athena fixed it.  Apollo and his son showed up to help her fix it when Xander made Athena beg for mercy from Mom too.  Bruce had to take a walk really fast."  Pepper nodded.  Someone hugged her and she looked back.  "Hey, Phil."

"Joyce's swelling is fully gone.  The clot is gone.  She's perfectly healthy."

"And in payment we're losing Buffy," she said quietly.

"She's not lost, she's just moving."

"To another realm."

"You can still see her.  So can Callia. Beyond that, she'll be back some day.  They don't allow booty skirts up there and she can't really shop."  He gave her another squeeze.  "It'll be okay."

"I need to hear that."

"I know."  He let her go.  "Callia's on her way down.  I can hear her singing."

Pepper nodded.  "We can tell her once Tony gets here."

"I think he's in an interview."

Dawn got up.  "Let me go tell him we need him."

"Sit.  He has his phone on," Pepper said, texting him what was going on.  Tony sent back a 'give me ten' and a growl.  Callia came rushing in and Pepper pulled her up to hug.

"Is Grandma not okay?  I heard she was in the hospital."

"They fixed it.  It's just been a long morning, sprout," Dawn said.

"Okay."  She cuddled her almost stepmommy.  She was good at it.  She looked around.

"Liz is the bassinet in the closet," Pepper assured her.  "Let her sleep."  Callia yawned and nodded, snuggling in better.  Clint and Natasha came in, followed by a confused looking Steve.  Tony came in last not looking happy.  "Callia, honey, we have to talk to you about something and we don't want you to get too upset, all right?"

"What happened?"

"Your mom and Hylal are taking the twins to Asgard for a bit," Tony said, looking down at her.  "Sean's going to be with Grandma."  Steve and Dawn both looked at him.  "That's what Buffy said Joyce said was going to happen."  Dawn nodded, swallowing hard.  Clint and Natasha both patted her.  "That means you have to go a bit farther to visit your mom but Uncle Phil or Uncle Xander can get you up there."

She blinked at him.  "Grandma might need her."

"We can get her back down here just like we can get you up there," Phil said.  "How is Sean taking that decision?"

"I'm not certain," Tony admitted.  "I know Buffy sounded like she wanted to cry."

"Ditto," Dawn sighed.  Bruce walked in.  "Hey, Stepdad."

"Buffy's agreed with Joyce that Sean's a very modern little boy and they'd have visitation."  He smiled at Dawn.  "She said she didn't want to make you do it because you have a life thingy as she put it."  Dawn shook her head with a sigh.  "So you'll get to see a lot more of Sean, Callia."

"My sissies?"

"Hylal thinks that going to Asgard for a few years will help them get stronger faster."  He looked at her.  "You can still visit.  We'll figure out ways of getting letters up there."

She nodded.  "Okay.  So no more emails?"

"No, no more emails.  There's no computers on Asgard," Phil said.

"That sucks," she complained.

"There's no electric on Asgard," Dawn told her.  "Or malls.  You know she'll be back soon."

Callia nodded.  "Mommy likes to shop.  She'll hate not having malls."  Tony smiled, picking her up to hold her.  "Why Sean not come to us?"

"Your mom didn't want to overload your dad since you guys have Liz."

"That's stupid," Callia complained.  "I can help Sean and Liz."

"Your grandmother is going to take care of him," Bruce said, staring at her.  "Since her doctor wants her to take some time off, she'll have time to do that."

"Grandma's been sick.  She doesn't have the energy to chase Sean around like I do," Callia said, looking at her father.

"I agree and we'll be doing a lot of babysitting for her."  He looked at Bruce.  "How much time off?"

"About four weeks.  I called Fury and let them talk.  He agreed, Joyce's health is the most important thing.  She can work from home he said."  He rolled his eyes.  Dawn smiled.  "I'm sure Sean will be super helpful."

"He likes to file," Callia said with a smile.  "He's learning his letters with it."

"He is," Dawn agreed.  "You were teaching him very well with your school work, Callia."  Callia beamed and wiggled some.  She looked at Bruce.  "I have a spare room and a cat that loves him."

"We know.  If we can't handle it because of your mom's health we'll let you take him or Callia have him."  He stroked over her hair.  "She'll be okay."

"She'd better be okay.  Or else that blood feud won't be ended."

"I can agree with that," he promised, smiling at her.  "Calm down."  She nodded, leaning into her spouse's hands.  "So that's how things stand right now."

Xander appeared, taking Callia to hold.  "Your brother is going to be so damn spoiled your mom's going to fuss about it."  She grinned at him.  "For now, just know that your mommy loves you but she thinks it'll be better for the twins."

"Lies still feel tingly in my head," she told him.

"Okay, and she thinks someone's going to attack the family again and she can't handle that."  Tony winced.  He stared at her.  "Sometimes you have to deal with things."

"I know."  She hugged him.  "I'd better get visitation all I want and as many letters as I want."

"I'll have the Valkyries going up there drop one off.  If they're mad at her, we'll handle it."

"Okay."  She looked at her father.  "Can I be mad at her?"

"Yup," Dawn agreed.  "I am."  She sighed and took her to cuddle.  "We'll figure it out.  We Summers women know how to do things the best ever and handle even the most difficult thing with poise and grace.  We'll remind her of that when she's calmed down."

"Good!"  She hugged her then went back to her father, letting him pick her up.  "I want Sean most of the time."

"You can have him a lot.  When he's a bit older you can help him start learning his letters and numbers so he can go to school."

She nodded.  "I can do that.  I'm very good at it.  I'm helping Melissa and John too."

"You are," he agreed, smiling.  "You're very good at helping them learn things, Callia, and I'm proud of you for it."

"Cool.  Cars?"

"We can go tinker."  He walked her off, punching Xander on the arm.

"She could tell the lie."

"I know.  Still."

"Not like I'm used to kids," Xander mumbled.  Phil stroked over his arm.   He relaxed, looking at Dawn.  "Want to go yell at her?"

"It won't make anyone feel better and it might make Hylal feel miserable."

"It might, yeah."  He gave her a pat on the head.  "You do that poise3 and grace thing well, Dawnie.  She's proud of you for only losing your shit in private."

Dawn smiled.  "Yeah, I think I want to have a screaming kid fit.  It won't do any good though and I'd just end up more tired later on."  Clint stroked over her hair.  She looked at Bruce.  "The couch in my study pulls out.  The spare rooms all have beds."

"That's fine, Dawn.  We'll handle it.  I like Sean.  He's a smart little boy and he'll follow me into science some day."  He smiled.  She grinned back.  "It'll be okay."  He left the family to talk.  He wanted to have a losing his shit fit too but he knew that was a really bad idea with the Other Guy.  Maybe he'd see if Rodney needed tinkering time.

Dawn looked at Pepper.

Pepper shook her head.  "We'll handle it."  She nodded.  "Go take ten, Dawn."

"Yeah, I could use ten."  She got up and pulled her spouses with her to the admin break area so she could get a cuddle.

Xander and Phil shook their heads.  "Joyce had such a yell at her," Xander said quietly.  "The nurses thought she was going to have a stroke."

"I'd do the same thing," Pepper admitted.  "Buffy's been fighting a long time and she could probably use a break."

"That's the only thing that got her ass saved," Xander said.

"That and she kept saying she couldn't stand to stay and watch her mother die," Phil agreed.  He stroked Xander's back.  "The Valkyries might snub her?"

"She gave up her duty."

"Warriors retire all the time."

"They do," Xander agreed.  "I'm not sure how they'll handle her.  Hylal is having wobbly thoughts.  Shit, that means I have to tell Faith and possibly use the scythe to activate another slayer."  He went to LA, staring at the team who were eating breakfast.  "Might wanna put it down," he told them.

Faith dropped her fork.  "I got a sobbing call from B.  Couldn't understand anything.  Her mom sick again?"

"Yes and no.  Got that solved.  Buffy decided she needs a longer time off.  She and Hylal are going to Asgard for a few years."

"The sprout's going to hate that," Faith said, staring at him.

"We can get her there for visitation.  Though, yeah, Callia's a bit pissed off at her too."

"I can understand needing to escape the emo stuff," Faith said more calmly.  Xander nodded she was right.

"So now what?" Gunn asked.

"There's a few options.  One of them is the scythe.  Which will call another slayer."  Faith shivered.  "There's a decision to be made about which one of you is where."

She looked at Connor then at Gunn.  "It won't call the sprout, right?" she asked.

"No.  The few I feel the strongest spirit around are all late teens.  All overseas."

She inhaled then let it out.  "Call another one."  He nodded.  "I..."  She looked at her friends.  With Connor and Gunn, she had what Buffy had from Xander and Willow.  "I'm staying here, X.  So set them there?"

"I can do that."  He kissed her on the head.  "Call."  She nodded she would.  He went to Cleveland, taking the scythe from the mantle.  The agents were all looking really pissed off.  He looked at them.  "Pain happens, people."  They nodded.  Buffy came down the stairs.  Xander concentrated on the scythe, feeling the spell.  He tapped some power to add to the spell.  The slayer spirit flowed up and out to him, understanding what he needed.  She took more power and activated three.  He noted which ones they were as they flashed into power.  He put the scythe back on the mantle and bowed to it.  "Thank you."  He wrote down cities and names.  "Today.  Before they get attacked."  They called that in as they headed for the airport with other agents who had served in Cleveland.  He looked at Buffy.

"I'd take Sean too if Mom wouldn't scream at me."

"Do you blame her?" he asked quietly.

"No.  I... I just can't do it anymore, Xander.  I can't.  I can't handle another round of Mom being sick or someone wanting something and trying to attack her.  I can't handle all this and being a mom and being with Hylal.  I need to be a mom and with him."

"I get that.  Your daughter's highly pissed off but we'll work out a way to get letters and visitation to you."  She nodded, swallowing.  "I...."  He closed his mouth.  "One of the new ones will be coming here.  Faith wants to stay in LA."

"She does good there."  She looked at him, silently begging him to understand.  "When they're older....."

"Yup, that's fine."  She relaxed and nodded.  Hylal came down.  "I'll come formally ask for a decision in a year, Midgard time, Hylal.  The standard time difference is two weeks to a mortal night here."

"I can accept that.  If the twins were more healthy I would have chosen differently."

"I understand better than most.  You both have battle burnout and you have responsibilities that you've taken on.   She deserves maternity leave."  Buffy nodded.  "You have a mortal year.  Then we'll make you both retire if you wish it."

"Agreed.  Thank you, Alexander."

Xander clasped his hand.  "I never want to hear anything happened to her, you, or those kids," he warned.  "At all."

Buffy nodded, hugging him.  "It won't.  I'll be back when they're healthy and older, Xander."  She pulled back.  "I can bring Sean.  He's my son.  Callia's mine but she's more her dad's daughter.  I've always had Sean with me."

"That's between you and your mom.  I'm not going to tell Joyce that.  She'll kick my ass."

"Yeah, Mom will."  She sighed.  "Let me call her."  She did that.  "Mom, I'm bringing Sean with me.  Xander gave us a mortal year.  He said it's two weeks up there to a mortal night here."  Hylal stroked her back.  "Thanks, Mom.  No, we'll be fine.  You can come visit too I'm sure."  She smiled.  "Thanks, Mom.  I...  Yeah, I do.  Thanks.  Love you.  Be safe?"  She hung up and turned to hug her husband, sobbing on him.  Xander disappeared.  He'd tell Callia she'd see her baby brother in a year and he'd be older.

Hylal soothed her.  It'd be fine and she needed the time to be a mother and experience things other than battles.  He had done the same when his first son was born.  Thankfully Xander understood.

***

John appeared from taking them home.  "His sons are throwing a party that he's home for so long."  Callia stared at him.  "Me, Uncle Roque, Uncle Xander, or Uncle Phil can get you up there, Callia."  She nodded.  "Including to see Sean."

"Uncle Xander told me.  I still don't understand."

He squatted down beside her.  "Sometimes, adults have to step back from their duties to realize why they do things.  Like sometimes you have to go look at great things that other geniuses have done to realize that you're adding onto the legacy?"  She nodded she did that.  "Well, your mom has to be a mom for a bit instead of being a slayer.  She's had too many battles and being a mom for a bit will make her remember why she's a slayer that's lasted so long.  It's not that she wanted to give it up but she had to so she could go on later on."

She nodded.  "Then who's going to do her job?"

"Xander activated another slayer."

"Was that the pinchy feeling I got earlier?"

He tested and smiled at her.  "It was.  That's the slayer spirit calling one of the older future slayers to the duty."

"Okay.  I'll listen for that."

"Don't you worry about that.  Your time for that job is not anytime soon.  Unless something huge like the purple guy in Sunnydale happens, you don't have to worry about slayers in front of you."  She nodded, giving him a hug.  "Just think, when he gets back Sean's going to be about your age."

"Really?"

"Two weeks per night here," he said with a smile.  "So he's going to be older."

"So about every lunar month he's going to be a year older," Tony said.  "Wow."

"That's going to be weird," she complained.

"Yeah but helpful.  Your sisters are going to get older too."

"I'm supposed to be the oldest not the youngest."

"You'll figure it out," he promised, making her smile.  He kissed her on the head.  "His family is really happy to have them home.  They're spoiling them rotten with a great dinner."

"Mommy could use some food. She was skinny again."

"She does that sometimes."  He winked and stood up.  He hugged Joyce.  "It'll be okay."

"I hope so."

"I'm sure it'll be okay or Xander will go up and kill something."

"True, and I'll cheer him on."  She smiled.  "Thank you, John."

"You're welcome."  He left, going back to the city.  Ronon was a bit pouty.  He stared at him.  "Problems?"

"I'll miss Sean following me around when he visits."

"Me too, big guy.  If he wasn't so blond he could've been your son."

"Most warriors would be proud to have a son like him."  He grinned.  "The boy was a huge flirt too."

"Yeah, just like his aunt."  Ronon walked off snickering.  John went to his office to work out some thoughts in his journal.  He'd miss Sean following him around too.

***

Xander came back from Valhalla, finding his father waiting.  "What?"

"You asked Fenrir to watch over the children?" he asked.

"And Garnet's wolf pack."

His father shook his head.  "They'll grow as they should up there."

"I know."  He smirked evilly.  "In a year they'll be old enough to train."  Alana stomped in.  "Don't start today."

"She needed the time?" she demanded.

"Yes.  She's been a warrior since she was fifteen.  She's my mortal age."  She shuddered.  "She needs the time to be a mother."

"Fine.  I can understand that."

"I gave her a mortal year."

"With the time switch they'll be old enough to train."

"Yes, they will be."  He smiled.  "The girls are going to be aggressively blonde little hellions and Sean's going to train with Ronon when they come back.  He's already asked."

Alana patted him on the arm.  "Tis a grand plan."  She walked off shaking her head.

Xander looked at his father.  "The new three?"

"They're here.  One of the agents is dented."  Xander rolled his eyes.  "Fine.  We'll manage the fall out."  He left.  His son had just gotten some very strong protectors that would be the right age to train before the next huge battle.  That way if anyone fell they'd have replacements being trained.  His son had learned how to plan and plot somewhere.  He was nearly proud of his son.

Xander smirked at the ceiling.  "It was all her doing, not mine, Dad."  He waved.  Phil appeared.  "Hi."

"Hi."  He pulled him closer.  "We'll make the most of the hand we're dealt.  We need to talk to the new slayers tomorrow."  Xander nodded, taking a kiss.  "Bed?"

"Kids?" he guessed.  "Tonight's the coven picnic."  Phil moaned and opened up the door so he could grab the kids.  "Have fun, ladies," Xander quipped, stopping Tara to bless her stomach.  She blushed but Xander shrugged.  "We're going to fuss this time."  He walked Melissa off.  "Come on.  We have to make dinner since Talsa hasn't yet."  She squealed loudly and ran for his kitchen.  John was right behind her and getting into the fridge once he reached it.

Tara and Maria walked out together, picnic basket over Tara's arm.  They had something planned for tonight, including some sperm in a cool sack inside it.  They had a revel to get to.

***

Phil looked up that night.  He had a light sensing tether on Tara.  And on Maria.  He blinked.  "Huh."  Xander blinked at him.  "Tara's pregnant by Maria thanks to Lavelle's choker, and Maria's now pregnant by me."  Xander rolled over to hug him.  "We'll love them all anyway."  Xander smiled and snuggled.  He scooted closer and took a kiss.  The kids were fast asleep.  So was everyone else in the building except the cat.  It was slowly sneaking over to lick Natasha's hair for her.  He took a kiss and flipped over to cuddle.  "Think we can be really quiet?"

Xander put up a noise deflection shield on the doorway.  "I think they won't hear if we're not and you scream loudly."

"I don't scream in bed, Xander," he said.  He knew it was a challenge.  Xander smirked evilly and went to elemental form to tease him.  Phil moaned and grabbed onto the bed.  "Okay, maybe I will tonight."  He heard the warm chuckle in his head and went to elemental form too.  It was less tormenting that way.  The no external noises was a bonus too.

32: Thugs Vs Old Ones

Agent Olympics and gay bashers.  Quite a month for the families.

Fury walked into the Tower and got signed in, heading up to the lab floor.  He ran into Dawn first.  "That game thing I read?"

"It is here, they do not let Xander near it because of his abilities, and yeah, they're looking for problem solvers the easy way while making money off the misery," she said bluntly.  "Though ours is in a casino in Florida."

He shook his head.  "Should we step in?"

She shrugged.  "Send agents, they might like that.  I almost went on my last vacation but I got overruled."

"Fine.  Olympics are next weekend."

"I know.  Pity but I know."  He huffed off toward the labs.  "He's in the caf."

"Thank you."  He went back down there to bother Stark.  "You remember it's next weekend, right?"

"Unfortunately I do have that good of a memory."  Callia stared at him.  "I got nagged into running with agents."

"Poor daddy," she said, patting his hand.  "It'll be okay and I'll have ice packs made so you don't hurt later."

"Thanks."  He kissed her on the head and looked at Fury.  "You look confused.  What's happened now?"

"That game?"

"Florida.  I thought about going but got warned that my suit wouldn't work there.  I thought about bribing Barton but got overruled by Romanoff, the same as Dawn did."

"That is not how I want to spend my vacation," she said from her seat in the corner behind her book.

Fury looked over then at him.  "I'll assign agents so we don't have an immigration problem from that realm.  The new slayers?"  Callia stiffened and got up to get something to nibble on.  "What's her issue?" he asked quietly.

"Her mother took all her siblings to Asgard for a year," Tony said dryly.  "It's a lot to adjust to, especially with the time running faster up there."

"I didn't think about that.  She going to be okay?"

"We hope so."  He hugged her when she came back with cake for both of them.  "You need veggies at the same time."

"I will."  She snuggled into his lap, looking at the director.  "I need my father, do you mind?"  Tony poked her on the side.

"One last thing.  That movie?" he demanded.

Tony smirked.  "The theater across the street will be done in time.  We'll be hosting the opening for this city."

Fury groaned, walking off shaking his head.

Tony looked at her.  "We'll figure it out.  It'll be okay."

"If you're sure."

"I'm certain it will be.  Alana said that Xander had Garnet's wolf pack watch over the kids and your mom.  Plus Fenrir is there to do the same thing.  Xander made a deal with him to protect that whole village, especially your siblings, and moved his confinement there no matter what Odin wanted."

"I like the wolves.  They're nice creatures."  She curled up in his lap.  "I already miss them."

"Of course you do.  I do too."

"We need to make an alternative car, Daddy, and make it run on goat power."

"We can work on that.  I have no idea how we'd measure goat power."  She poked him but then ate a fingerfull of cake.  "Eat it properly before your Aunt Pepper sees you doing that."  He handed her a spoon.  She ate both pieces of cake and then the tomato salad the ladies at the lunch line sent over.  He'd worry about her diet but she had eaten real food for dinner.  "You have gymnastics today."

"Can I not go?"

"No.  You made a commitment and you have to honor it.  That's like making a promise."  It was great that Pepper had coached him how to say that by saying that very thing to him a few years ago.  There were days it was clear he was the faulty beta model to his daughter.

She looked up at him.  "I guess."  She sighed.  He nodded.  "Let me go change."  She got up and went up to change and do what she needed to do before her class.  She wasn't really into it today but since she had promised....

Tony got some coffee to go, heading up there to help her get ready faster before they ended up late.  He took her and sat there to watch her.  Usually she didn't want anyone there but today she wanted to be clingy and he understood that.  She wasn't her usual bouncy self and the coach stared at him.  "Her mom's taken her siblings and moved farther away for a year," he said quietly.  "She's still upset."

"That's normal I guess."  He went to work on her mood with the other kids.  The girls were good for each other and the single boy in the class.  They could work on some tumbling things today.  Before class ended he lined them up.  "Some of you are going to a meet next week."  He saw the interested look start on Callia's face.  "We have Jimmy, Paulina, Mary, Grace, and Jocasta ready.  Callia, you'll be ready for the next one.  You don't have a floor routine ready and you need beam work.  The next one is in two months."

He stared at her.  "If you're good by then, you can go."  She nodded and smiled.  He looked at the others.  "The rest of you have a lot more work to put in but you might make it by then or the one after that, which is a few weeks later.  Got it?"  They all nodded.  "Good.  We went over what makes a floor routine.  Bring me an idea of what music you like."  They nodded and filed out to their parents and/or drivers.  He stopped Callia.  "You can make it faster but you're not ready yet."

"I understand.  I haven't been doing this too long and I need more practice to get better."

"That's right, you do."  He smiled.  "Music?"

"Daddy really likes heavy metal."

"Nothing that loud.  Has to have a rhythm like you could dance to but nothing techno, heavy metal, or too loud."

"Okay, we'll talk about it later."  She hugged him then ran back to her father.  "We need music."

"Why do we need music?"

"If I can work up something I can go to the next meet in two months."  She stared at him.

He smiled.  "We can go through the music library."

"Nothing techno, metal, or too loud," the coach warned.  "And clip her toenails."

"I can handle that.  Between ours and your aunt's collection we'll find you something."  She climbed up him and he stood up, carrying her out to the car.  "C'mon, we'll listen while we work out what goat power should be rated at."

"Okay.  Will we get to test Thor's goats to see how fast they can pull his cart thingy?"

"Maybe.  That might be a good place to start.  I know a single horsepower is 550 foot-pounds per second.  We'll measure what his goats can do."  She grinned and hugged him around the neck.  They got into the car and headed back to the tower so she could start looking up music.

She walked into the lab with him.  "JARVIS?"

"Yes?" he asked after a second.

"I need music for a floor routine.  It can't be loud, techno, or heavy metal.  It has to be something I could dance to."

"Most of the gymnastics videos I can find online have light dance music or classical  selections, with a few that go into anthems and school songs.  There's some from the more tour-oriented gymnastics groups that feature more popular works."  Music started from the mobile modem box they had created.  "That's a beautiful piece, Atlantis.  Is it original to your people or one of the current residents?"  He paused.  "She said Doctor Jackson found that in her archives."

Callia shifted and tried to dance to it.  "Needs more tempo.  I have to be bouncy to it, Atlantis.  JARVIS, can you show her gymnastics?"  He put up a few videos.  She changed songs and she could dance to that.  "I like that!"

"I'll burn down a copy for you to take to your next lesson, Callia."

"Thanks, JARVIS, and you too, Atlantis.  Your people had really pretty music."  She patted the box.  "I'd hug you but you're on the west coast."

"Hugs do seem to be appreciated," Atlantis said, sounding happy.  "I'll have that one marked for you."

"Thank you," Tony said.  "JARVIS, send an email to Xander to tell him we need to know what Thor's goats rate against horsepower."

"I can do so.  Done."

"Thank you," Callia chirped.  "Sean wanted to make goat powered cars."

"I'm sure that would be wonderful," Atlantis agreed.  "He's a very bright little boy."

"Yeah but he's on Asgard for a year.  He'll come back all big and nearly a teenager, Atlantis.  That sucks, I won't have more playmates."

"You still have Liz and the twins," Tony reminded her.  "Plus your Aunt Tara was thinking about getting pregnant again."

Callia stared, eyes wide.  "Really?"

"Really."

"Wow.  More babies are cool!"  She ran off to tell her Aunt Pepper about that and the music.  She was in a meeting with her Aunt Dawn so she found Jonathan and Andrew to tell them.  They wanted to know when it was so they could watch.  She hugged them and babbled, letting JARVIS play the song there for them.  They liked it too and got into the music database that Atlantis had.  She had a lot of music they really liked.  Though a lot of flutey-sort of instruments.  That thought made Jonathan blush but only because of the movie he'd been watching he told Callia.  She didn't understand and gave him another hug then danced around with Roomba dog until her aunts were done.

***

Dawn got stopped by a reporter lunging out at her as she came out of the Stark tower.  "You look like you ate springs," she said with a small smile.  "Something hugely important?"  She had to remember she needed to be nice to reporters.  Even when she wasn't in the mood for it.

"Just a few things to get your opinion on.  We're trying to judge how much of an impact younger, more competent people have on today's opinions."

"Sure, I have ten minutes."  She leaned against the building.  "I'm comfy so what did you want to know?"

"What's your opinion on the current presidential race of the incumbent president versus Mr. McDonald?"

"I think neither one is capable of making decisions that don't make me flinch every few minutes.  Especially for those that are trying to amass wealth for our later generations."

"How did you get that money?"

"I'm fairly frugal and kitten poker."  She smiled.  "Though I've mostly given up that habit.  I only play now to keep track of people who are acquaintances off-realm.  That's where I was going when you paused me."

"We haven't seen your sister in Cleveland recently."

"No, the twins were born a bit early and a bit ill so Buffy and Hylal decided that they should go to Asgard for a year.  So they took all them and Sean, but please don't mention it around Callia."

"Is she upset?  I'd probably be upset if my mother didn't take me on such a trip."

Dawn grinned.  "No, she's mad that Buffy took her siblings.  She said Buffy and Hylal could go but she wanted the babies here.  Especially Sean since time ran so differently up there and they'd all be older than her when they got back."

"Awww.  That poor sweetheart.  That has to be confusing."

"Some.  We're working through it."

"So, if you don't like them, do you have anyone you'd like more?"

She beamed.  "I think Pepper and Tony should take it.  Pepper would have to be in charge of course, she has all the admin skills, but Tony's a natural diplomat when he wants to be.  The rest of the time he subtly pisses people off and makes them huff off and leave everyone alone.  We need someone who has her skills and his charisma and abilities to bullshit when necessary and lay it low to piss people off because they need to hear the truth even if it is too blunt for them."

"I can see that," the reporter said with a smile.  "That's actually not a bad combination."

Dawn grinned.  "If Callia was older...."  The reporter laughed and nodded.  "Anything else?"

"Do you invest?"

"I do.  I have a very nice investment person who helps me.  I've heard rumors that he was going to move companies so I'm not sure how I'm doing that at the moment.  He and I worked out a very realistic budget that included my shopping and other needs and a lot of saving.  He makes my net worth grow about three percent a year."

"There's rumors that the leader of a small former Soviet Protectorate has expressed a desire to see you."

"I'm with someone and I'd never break that up; I've seen some of his people when they tried to kidnap me.  A few I saw at the end of my gun."  The reporter shuddered.  "I was not pleased and I would suggest he find someone who is not taken and who is more interested."  She smiled.  "Because I do not fit in that category and I will destroy anyone who tries to take me again."

"I can understand and fully agree.  Someone like that shouldn't force anyone to be their wives."  She smiled.  "Thank you for your time, Miss Summers."

"You're welcome."  She strolled off to her waiting car, getting into the back and leaning back once the door was closed.  "Going to the kitten poker hall down on Penguin."

"Sure thing, Dawn.  You okay?"

"She just brought up that stupid warlord wannabe world leader who wants to own me.  It's not like I'm going to dump what I have, which is excellent in so many ways, to go for that mental troll."

He glanced back in the mirror.  "Some women would go for the power."

"Yes but I'm not a ho.  I have all the power I want and need."

"Sure, we agree with that."  She smiled at him for that bit of temper easing.  "So just kitten poker tonight?"

"Yeah, I need to check rumors on where Buffy is.  There hasn't been a letter in a few weeks and Callia's getting anxious.  And maybe I'll get a few new weapons too.  My mates could use a new weapon or two."  She grinned.  He shivered.  "It's that or more cats, dear."

"Then weapons are good, yeah."  He found the bar and pulled up.  She tipped him and dismissed him, heading up the street to the pub.  He made note of it and radioed in to his boss, then called his employer.  She was not going to be an easy conquest, but really that's what was thrilling him.

***

Dawn was in the park to meet an information source late the next night.  "Okay," she said.  "What's going on?"

"Your future husband wants to see you.  He has your mates and your niece over there for your wedding."

She stared at him.  She hadn't been expecting that.  She had been expecting to hear information on where Callia was.  "I'm already married."

"He said those are not legal in his country and he wishes you to come see him."

"Small problem since I don't have a passport."

"You do in the system."

"It's not in my possession.  Director Fury has it."  He grimaced and texted that back.  Dawn looked at the man walking up behind her.  Never let it be said that her danger sense didn't call backup.  She had shouted mentally at Phil and there he was with the director and Agent Hill.  All looking very imposing and armed.  She looked at Fury, who shook his head.  "Can I have my passport back, Director?"

"My employer said that you have popped around before."

"If I'm pissed off or feeling threatened, my powers don't do gentle," Dawn said, staring at him coldly.  "I'd appear and there'd be a crater."

"He is sure you can control that so your niece doesn't have to see such matters.  You can even bring your mother."

"There's no way in hell I'd bring my mother over there."  She stared at him.  "If he's touched them I'm going to kill him."  She was poking at the bond they had tied off on their sides.  She had wondered why.  She stared at him then at Phil.  "Big brother?"

"We can go," he agreed.

"He said only her mother."

Phil flashed his aura.  "I don't take orders from mortals."  The man whimpered.

"Amen," Dawn said, gathering her powers.  She opened all the keys.  "C'mon then, Big Brother."  She looked at Fury.

"We'll be listening for you to need picked up."

"Sure."  She took the minion and Phil with her.  Where she landed was indeed now a crater of glass.  She walked off, dragging the minion with her.  Once they were gone, Maria Hill was getting things in motion for them to go on a rescue mission and stomp that idiot wannabe Dawn owner.  Fury was not happy but that one person's identity led them to a few others who were subtly in his employ, including her driver and a few others in interesting places.

"I can lead you to him."

Dawn stared at him.  Then at Phil.  "I get to kill this one, right?"

"You really shouldn't kill the messenger, but I don't care."

"Hmm."  She smirked.  "Did you forget that someone tried really hard to make me an agent?"  He shivered.  "Including teaching me *many* ways to kill people."  He was sweating.  "Don't get too far ahead."  She let him go and he ran off.  She followed.  Phil was following her making notes for John back at the temple, who was passing them on to Fury.  They got up to the palace to find the idiot, her niece, and the panting, begging minion there.  "Where's my spouses?"

"They are not legal here," he said smugly.  "I knew you would come."

Dawn walked up to him.  "You have nothing I want outside my niece and my spouses.  If you think I won't destroy your whole country, you're wrong."

He laughed.  "I'm sure you cannot."  She let power out and he gaped.  "You...."

"Are pissed off, yeah.  Callia, run to Uncle Phil please."

"Can't.  Collar thingy hurts."  Dawn looked and reached over to undo it.  She ran down to Phil.  "Uncle Phil."

"Callia."  He looked up.  "Roque, please come get her."  He stepped out of a shadow and grabbed her.  "Her parents?"

"Home."  He left with her.  "Little kids don't need to see that sort of destruction."

"You will be mine.  Or else I will kill those *spouses* of yours," he sneered.

Dawn laughed.  "Really?"  She leveled the building they were standing in front of.  The magic made sure nothing remained that was bigger than a tiny piece of road gravel.

"There they are," Phil said, calling the waiting agents in to help him evacuate them while the supposed leader gasped and babbled.  If they ran into other innocent spectators they could be gotten out of Dawn's radius of harm too he supposed.  He did have other people in 'custody' to 'interrogate'.

"I have done the paperwork," he sneered.

"Yay."  Dawn shrugged.  "Still not your wife.  It's not legal since I'm already married."  He moved closer, trying to menace her.  "Hint, dude, you can't do it better than a hell goddess who was after me at fifteen or any of the other supposed bad guys that I've seen since then."  He tried to pull her closer and she stabbed him, making him scream in agony.  She smiled and changed the shape of her magic around her dagger.  "Really?  Pepper screamed less in labor and I'm pretty sure that hurt a lot more than what I just did to you."  She walked off, her heels clicking over the broken stones.  "Phil, do I need to find a healing spell?"

"No, they're just slightly injured, Dawn.  Not badly."  He pointed.  "Bureaucrats."

She turned to stare them down.  "I did not want him to kidnap my niece, my spouses, or continue his deranged little stalking/wanting me thing after I said no the first time.  Much less when I said no the third.  This was the sixth or so.  I've had enough.  He's going to die if he comes near me again.  Right now I'm thinking of your people and how miserable they must be under him but you guys having a civil war probably won't help them either.  Feel lucky I have mercy considering how you hurt what was mine."

"If he dies, you're the regent for his heir," one said.

"Fuck no I'm not," she said bluntly.  "I don't give a goddess fucking damn about what the hell he wants!"

"He had you married!"

"I'm already married," she snarled, walking back there.  "You are disrespecting my relationship.  I'm sure his kid is young enough to be turned into a decent human being but that is not my job.  Why would I want to take care of anyone's kid when they've stalked me, kidnaped my niece, kidnaped and tried to torture my spouses, and have tried to make my life a living fucking hell!" she finished in a shout.  "I'm pretty damn sure if this kid is real, then he's probably got decent people somewhere in this land who can guide him to becoming a moral, upright, *good* leader."  She stared at them.  "But it won't be me because I am not his stepmother.  No matter what sort of illegal paperwork he had done."

"It is legal here," one said.

"It's not legal in the US and mine is," Dawn said bluntly.  "I'm a citizen there so that's all that matters to me."

They talked.  "We will give you the title."

"I don't want it," Dawn said in a snippy, cold voice.  "I want nothing to do with any of you people.  You've pissed me off in a manner that I usually find annoying enough to destroy everything when bad guys do it."  They shuddered and looked at the mess of the castle.  "Now, do we have anything else we want to annoy me the fuck with?"

"No," one said.  "Thank you for being so merciful to our people, Mrs. Barton."

She smirked.  "It's Barton-Romanoff."  He shuddered, shrinking down some.  "You have a nice day.  I hope the kid, or kids, grow up so much better than their paternal donor."  She walked off.  Phil let her go with Natasha and Clint.  He got the rest of the mess cleaned up and went last to make sure their people were safe.

***

Pepper grabbed Callia.  "Thank you, Roque.  Who had her?"

"Moron world leader sort."  He grimaced.  "Dawn just lost her temper."  He faded off to make sure they didn't need more help then back to the temple.

John faded into the office and patted Callia.  Then looked at Tony.  "I'm going to make my feelings known since I'm the one that put that family on the throne.  She good?"

"We're going to make sure," Tony said firmly.  "Is he dead?"

"He will be."  John faded out to there, staring from the top steps.  "This is not what I meant when I put his grandfather on the throne," he said bluntly, making them all flinch.  "Nor is it what needs to happen to make your people heal."  He looked at them.  Then at the mess then back at them.  "Dawn was clearly feeling *very* merciful."

"You know her?" one asked, head still bowed.

"Dawn and I spar every few weeks."  He smirked.  "She's the all-but adopted little sister of my half-brother, Alexander.  She did learn how to vent from him."  He looked around again, nodding.  "Nicely compact too."  He looked at the sobbing man then shot him.  "Had enough of you.  You're defacing the entire bloodline."  He looked at them again.  "Pick the kid a great regent who will make sure he's raised correctly."  They nodded, bowing at him again.  "Because we've all had enough.  We tried to be subtle before.  You made us quit that."  He disappeared in a flash of light.  He appeared where they were getting off the helicopter on the hell carrier.  "You left him alive?"

"He's a world leader and I didn't want to hear the shit, though those wounds would never heal and he'd slowly die of it.  So kinda."  She followed Natasha's gurney.

John smiled.  "I like that about her."  He followed them, calling for Apollo.  He groaned but appeared.  "Did you get to see how nicely compact Dawn destroyed their castle?"

"I did.  It's a nice job.  That whole not-healing thing sends wiggins up my spine each time she does it but the destruction was nice."

"I only do it when they deserve it," she quipped, sponging off some of Clint's injuries.  Natasha was in x-ray.  Clint was about to be stitched.  He was passed out too.  So was Natasha.

Apollo came over to heal what he could, nodding.  "Not poisoned.  Just back in his mind."  He forced the bond open, seeing when Clint scrambled but Dawn was there and talking to him.  He did the same for Natasha once Clint was calmed down.  He went in there to heal most of hers.  She still had a few cuts but nothing too tragic.   "Apparently the guy really hated that she loved you more than he hated that she loved him," he said when Natasha blinked at him.  "She's nearly ready to blow again."

"Dawn?" she called.  She ran in and hugged her, making Natasha wince but hug back.  "I am fine."

"You're not fine."

"I'm fine."  She made her look at her.  "I'll be fine."

"I should go back and torture him the same way."

"You will not," she ordered, staring at her.  "We need you here to fuss over us."

Dawn wiped off her cheeks. "Of course I am!"  She helped roll them back out to where Clint was.  He got scanned then x-rayed, then brought back.  She sat between them.  Clint blinked at her.  "Tylenol?"

"Maybe some aleeve.  I don't need morphine at least.  Thanks, Apollo."

"Not a problem.  We would like Dawn to stay calm, regular, and sweetly held.  It makes the world go easier."

She looked at him.  "If I get pregnant sometime, I'll be sure to send up a warning yell."

"Thanks, might help."  He looked at John then left.

"If and when you do, we'll do protections so the blood can't call anything," John quipped, leaning against the wall behind Dawn.  "She totally destroyed him and made her feelings known, guys.  She was going to let him slowly die from the injury that wouldn't heal like that director of foreign intelligence that she got that one time."  Dawn snorted but grimaced.  "So we're all good?"

"Callia's okay?" she asked.

"Yes, she's fine," John assured, hugging Dawn around the shoulders.  "I'll go tell Stark.  That way he can calm down everyone else."  He flashed out to the infirmary in the tower.  "She's worried that Callia's not all right."

"The ouchy collar sucked," Callia said.  "We need to ban those, Daddy."

"We have, dear, and we're doing it for others now."  He hugged her.  "She's fine, John.  Natasha and Barton?"

"Bit banged up.  He hated Natasha more than Clint, but Apollo healed them."  Pepper sniffled and nodded, hugging Callia around Tony.  "They're on the hell carrier.  They'll be back soon."  He nodded.  John tweaked Callia's ear, getting a grin.  "Your auntie destroyed his fairytale castle and him."

"Good!  He wasn't Prince Charming by any means," she said bluntly.  "Dumbass bastard!"

"Language," Pepper sniffled.  "Good girls don't swear."

"He deserves it," she said.  She looked at her father again.  "I'm okay."

"I still need to cuddle you to make sure you're okay."

"You can let the other cuddly aunties and those sort in to cuddle too.  Because you need one too, Daddy, and Uncle Steve does that best."

"Yeah, he does."  John went to tell them and let them in.  Steve stole Callia to hug.  "Hey!"

"Hug him, Uncle Steve.  Daddy needs one too."

"I'm super talented, I can hug you both."  He hugged the two adults and the baby, letting Joyce steal her eventually for her and Bruce to hug.  "The idiot?"

"So gone," Pepper said.  "John said she destroyed him."

"Good!" Bruce said.  "JARVIS, can you pull up photos of where Dawn destroyed?"  They came up.

"Wow, auntie went off like a nuke," Callia said in awe.

"Saves me from asking Xander to teach me how to make one," Joyce said.  Bruce smiled and gave her a squeeze.  "Why did he take Callia?"

"He told me I'd be incentive and she'd help me dress up in a pukey dress with all sorts of layers of stuff under the skirt, like a ballet skirt, Granma, so they could get married.  I told him my aunt had more taste than that.  It was even poofier than my mom's."

She nodded.  "Your aunt does have better taste than that."  She gave her a squeeze and let Tony and Pepper have her back.  "Is he gone?"

"Yup," Tony said.  "If not, he will be."

"He is," Phil said as he appeared.  "John finished him off instead of letting that wound slowly linger for the rest of his life."  He grinned.  "Just like Stallet."

Tony shivered.  "That was mean."  He gave her a squeeze.  "Dawn and them?"

"Fine.  Apollo healed them."

"Good!  They're to come back here tonight."

"If I can."  Tony gave him a pointed look.  "I might not be able to move them both."  Roque and Clay walked out of the shadows with Natasha and Clint, Dawn following holding onto Clay's belt.  "Thank you.  I hadn't even thought that your way was easier, guys."  They got them settled in and Callia got free of all the hugging to fuss over them.  She and her auntie could take turns with each one.

Clint looked at Callia.  "You learned how to fuss from your aunt.  You do it just like her."  He pulled her in to cuddle because that's how you stopped Dawn's.  Callia moaned and let herself be held.  That worked and she fell asleep on his shoulder.  Tony smiled and carefully took her back.  "We do the same thing with Dawn," he said quietly.

"I'll have to remember that when she's fussing over me."  He smiled and walked her off.  "Let me put her down."

"Sure," Natasha said, using that cure to stop Dawn from fussing over her few remaining injuries.  "We need double sized beds in here," she told Clint.

"At least one for the three of us, yeah.  That way whenever she's injured or we're injured we have ways of being cuddly so she doesn't fuss herself into a horrible sickness."

"That might help.  If they made them I would," Dr. Pigalli said.  She checked their monitors.  "As is, I can put you three into a private room tonight and push the beds together again."  Tara stomped in and hugged Clint.  "Or she might be able to do something."

Phil and Xander appeared.  "All his shit is done with," Xander said.  He looked and stretched one of the beds in a private room so it was bigger.  "That should help," he decided.  The doctor smiled and got them in there, with the remote monitors, and let them rest.  Tara tucked them in with Joyce.  Bruce was controlling his temper.  Pepper was controlling her temper.  Liz was snoring on Mommy's stomach.  It would all work out for the night.

***

Dawn was let into the conference room in the morning.  Pepper had apologized but someone from the State Department was there to see her.  She stared at him.  "If you're going to be huffy because the man had my six-year-old niece and my spouse hostage, then I don't care.  I've rebuffed him plenty of times, up to and including taking out the ones trying to take me hostage."

"We're just now hearing about this," he said.  "We should've heard earlier, Miss Summers."

She stared at him.  "Not like you guys stopped it when the Russian Mob tried to keep me."  He flinched.  "You didn't want a damn thing to do with it then.  I doubted you wanted this one either.  Especially since it was pretty well known, even by FBI people, that they had a contract out on my husband's life."  He winced and shook his head.  "So no, I don't rightly care who says anything," she said slowly and clearly.  "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go baby their injuries."  She walked off again, leaving it with Tony.

Tony walked in.  "She's still mad."  He handed over the file.  "What we found when we went looking and SHIELD went looking."

He took it to look over.  "We never heard more than the former President over there wanted to meet her, Mr. Stark."

"Yeah, he said that after he'd been stalking her for a while and she had managed it without telling us.  Which pissed us off by the way."  He stared at the diplomat.  "I don't care what sort of damage she did to their ancestral ruling seat or whatever."

"There was a question about how she got a bomb over there."

Tony snorted, shaking his head.  "She's got some pretty strong magic.  She ripped down the building with that."

"Are you certain?  It was pretty destructive."

"Yeah, I'm certain.  Dawn's the same one that was at the battle in Sunnydale in chainmail."

"Oh!"  He nodded.  "We had not correlated that they were the same person.  Or at least my bosses hadn't."  He made notes on his tablet, which Stark realized was one of his.  "All right."  He looked up.  "The ones he had hostage?"

"My daughter."

"She said her niece."

"Her sister was knocked by NID using my sperm.  Callia's both."

"Oh, I see.  Shock collar?"

"All Callia said was that it was an ouchy collar and he had her in the most hideous pseudo-middle ages dress ever."  He walked out and got handed it by his daughter.  "C'mon."  He walked in and handed it over.  "You can give it back to him if you'd like."

"I can send that.  Miss, did he hurt you beyond the collar?  I need to know for the report."

She shrugged.  "The nanny over there wasn't very nice and she didn't seem to think that I should be worried about my pets.  She was clearly stupid because she didn't like animals and she thought that pulling my hair was all right.  I kicked her so hard she had to get x-rays but they gave me another one that didn't speak english and put that collar on me so I couldn't go where he didn't want me to go.  Otherwise I was about halfway out the window so I could get away from him.  Genius princesses have to save themselves, not wait for stupid princes," she said at her father's odd looks.  "Auntie Dawn does."

"She's an adult."

"I was going to get free and find an adult who'd let me call, Daddy.  Or even get outside so the thingy that Doc keeps reminding herself is in my scalp could work."

"That would've helped."  He looked at him.  "We do have anti-kidnaping and tracking devices on her," he admitted.

"I find an implanted GPS chip to be totally practical for your daughter," he assured him.  "I'm sure there's a few who'd like her as leverage."

"I'm not a board to move rocks," Callia told him.  "And my auntie likes to make those sort run.  Which I enjoy."

Tony nodded.  "So do we whenever I run one off."  He hugged her to his side.  "Anything else you have to know?"

"Her spouse?"

"It's not really a matter of public record," Tony said more quietly.

"It was said he had two other hostages?"

"Yes, both Avengers members and both her spouses."  The diplomat winced.  "We do know that her wife got more torture than her husband.  We also know that they did it in a way that meant that some countries don't acknowledge certain things but we don't really care."

"Did she file for multiple licenses here in the US?"

"No.  They're all done outside the US.  The only legal one within the US that we recognize is the one between Dawn and Clint.  The other two are legal in certain countries."

"I suppose that's a smart thing since we don't allow trios at this point in history."  He made that note as well.  "Thank you, Mr. Stark.  If there's more questions we'll call for an appointment with her."  He tucked his tablet back into his bag and shook their hands before leaving.  His boss was going to be unamused.

Tony looked at her.  "Was that one of our tablets, Daddy?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yup."

"Cool!  That means another one sold so I can afford a new bathing suit?"

"We'll see."  She giggled and walked off with him.  It was so great that his daughter was resilient.  Just a few nightmares.  Her aunt was still having nightmares.

***

Fury looked at his gathered agents and associated members.  "Summers, are you sure?"

"I'm getting some frustration out.  It's good."  She looked around.  "Sitwell, are you doing  5 or 10k?"

"Marathon.  I know Coulson was trying to find you a running buddy in case someone tried to snatch you again."  He pointed.  "Run with her."

"I'm on for 10K," she said.

"I would but I tend to fall into my head when I run, sir," the agent said.

"Me too," Sitwell admitted.

"Aww, can't she run alone?" one of the SGC guys asked.  Dawn punched him.  "Hey!"

Dawn stared at him.  "I can't because there's been some agents who thought I'd be useful to them.  They've tried neat things like trying to take me from my cab," she said, speaking down to him.  He shuddered.  "So, no, I need a running buddy in case that happens."

"I'll do it," Evan said.

She smiled.  "Thanks, Evan.  You doing 10?"

"Yup."  She gave him a shoulder nudge with a grin.  "Yeah, we got guilt tripped too."

"Me too."  He laughed and nodded.  They got their numbers and gathered together.  The firing pistol went off and the pack took off but slowly some of them gained ahead.  She looked at him.  "Ahead or pack?"

"Ahead," he decided.  They sped up and moved ahead of most of the pack, putting on a considerable lead before they slowed back down some.  It was a nice enough day for it.  Not humid, not hot, but a bit bright.  It was also early morning so it was fairly quiet out here in this park in Washington DC.  They made the 5K mark and got drinks from one of the stations then moved on.  He watched her.  "Cramp?"

"Slight one in my foot but I've done worse on the treadmill."

"It's probably your shoes."

"I can't find shoes that fit.  These are the only sneakers I've found."

"That sucks."  She nodded.  They got more water in a few more miles.  They were nearly there.  They heard some runners behind them and looked at each other.  "First one across owes the other a shoulder massage?"

"You're on."  She sped up.  He grinned and sped up.  They made it across with Dawn first.  They were about fifth overall but she won against Evan.  She grinned.  He swatted her on the arm but handed her to Clint and Natasha.  "Later."

"Sure.  I've got two more events."

"I've got the languages one and a fighting one."  He groaned.  "And to cheer him on in marksmanship."

"Good luck, guys."  The group walked off together, giving their numbers to the person collecting them.  Tallies were already being collected.  Dawn grinned at her mates.  "How was yours?"

"Not bad," Clint said, putting an arm around her shoulders as they walked off.  Natasha smiled at that possessive mood.  She was brushing arms with Dawn, who smirked at her for it.  "Languages is across town from mine."

"It's going to be kinda boring.  I'm told it's a walk up to someone, say something like 'hi, I'm with SHIELD' and have them not understand it so you can move on.  Three misunderstandings and you're out."

"Sounds boring," Natasha agreed.  "While you're doing that I have my gymnastics one."

"Which is up the hall from mine so I'm attending yours and then mine," Clint promised.

"Tape it for me?" Dawn asked.

"I can do that."  They let Dawn go on the shuttle to the other event.  They went back to the main center to get ready for theirs.

***

The judges at the language event gave her a sheet.  "That is your sentence."  She nodded, memorizing it.  "Walk up the row, get each one, say what theirs is after you hear it."

"If they're using slang or something does that count against them?  Because that word," she said with a point.  "Translates into six different ones in Chinese."

They blinked.  "Everyone has different sentences.  If something that were to occur, you can ask them for a clarification in that language.  If they cannot answer you back, then they are out."

"Cool."  Dawn walked out, tightening her ponytail.  She started at the first station, using one of the most obscure human languages she knew.  He blinked and looked clueless.

"Is that a human one?" one of the judges asked.

"Yes.  It's an African language.  Roque taught it to me when I was bored.  I can switch to a demon one, or something else.  I read ten and I speak eight."

The judge followed her.  "Try each one."

"Yes, sir."  She said her sentence to him in that language.  The guy whimpered and shook his head.  She tried her next one.  He understood French, Russian, and Chinese.  The judge decided she could use the African one since it was a human one instead of the demon one.  They moved on.  One person understood her in that language.  She smiled and switched to the demon one, which he babbled back in.  She grinned.  "Watcher."

"Slightly," he agreed.  "Your accent is very nice."

"Thank you."  She shook his hand.

"You two sit out together," the judge said with a point.  "Since you two understood each other and no one else did, we'll have to eliminate between you two."

Dawn nodded.  "Okay."  They sat down and Dawn finished cooling off her hair.  "I need a shower."

The guy laughed.  "That's why I only did 5K."

"I run ten miles three times a week.  I didn't get that benefit."

"Pity."  One person joined them as only one person had understood them but they had washed out on the next person's test sentence.  At the end they got called up together.

The judges stared at them.  "Use your sentence to speak in one language at your fellow contestants.  It will be elimination by not understanding."

Dawn nodded, pulling up something she almost knew and was kind of obscure that Spike had taught her.  She looked at him and said something in Troll.  That other guy groaned and shook his head, falling out.  The watcher spawn replied in his, making her cackle and hit him on the arm.  She looked at him and tried Hindi, but he got it.  She got his.  Dawn looked back.  "Human created languages or just in-use human languages?"  They blinked.  She looked at the guy and did something Xander had once taught her, and Jonathan had corrected her pronunciation in.  Klingon.  The guy blinked and shook his head.  She smiled.  "Go ahead and give yours."  He did and she answered back glibly in his chosen demon language.

"What language were you using?" one of the judges asked.

"Klingon.  I work with geniuses."  She smiled.  "It's the preferred swearing language around Stark labs."

"Which is human made, not ancient, and fits the rules," the other guy said, shaking her hand.  "Good job."

"Thank you, and you as well."  She grinned.

The judges conferred and nodded.  "That does fit the rules," they agreed.  So Dawn took it.  She took her certificate and bowed, signing the sheet.  She left, going back to the main center.  Natasha still had two events to go through so she sat beside Clint and stared in awe at her wife's grace and abilities.  Clint was too.

***

Dawn looked at the slightly illegal fighting tournament and then at the agents in charge.  "Really?"

"Really.  You're the only female."

"Well, I was taught to use weapons."  She shrugged and put down her bag, pulling out hers.  They all stared and she smiled.  "They were a present from Alexander for my eighteenth birthday."

One of the guys moaned, coming over to look at them.  "Where did he get them?"

"Dwarves."  The guy whimpered.  She smiled.  "They're really nice too.  We spent some time up there so I could do some in-depth meditation work on my magic.  They were such great hosts and each time I offered to help with dinner in thanks for taking up space they wouldn't let me."

"That is very nice of them."  He handed it back carefully.  "They're beautiful work."

She smiled.  "They are.  They've saved me a lot of times."

He nodded.  "I can see why.  You're a pretty girl."

She smiled.  "I'm more than just a pretty girl.  I'm a pretty, competent, assistant sort of girl."  He laughed and walked off.  The first few rounds were called and Dawn watched.  She'd probably have to face one of them.  When it was her turn she blinked at the huge guy.  He was six-eight or so.  As broad as Thor, and looked really pissed off.

"She's a girl!" he complained.

"Who keeps getting kidnaped," Dawn complained back.  "What?  You never had to fight a girl?"  She attacked and the guy growled but Dawn got him down and begging in about thirty minutes.  She stepped back when the ref called it, wiping off her sweat.  She smiled and held out her hand.  "Nice fight, thank you."

He swatted it.  "I'm not that nice, girl."

"I spar.  I'm using to congratulating my opponents."  He slumped but walked off.  She bowed to the ref then went to the winner's benches to cool down.  They had some gatorade.  She looked around, finding John and Evan watching, smiling at them.  John couldn't compete due to the godhood thing.  Evan wasn't in this one.  He had been in staff weapons earlier.  He had gotten second there.  Teyla had gotten first.  Dawn watched as the next one was called.  Ronon.  She grinned and watched, nodding at his usual moves.  He was a bit stiff but using this guy to warm up.  The guy was really sorry by the time he knocked him down.  Ronon walked over and sat next to her, getting a hug.  "Hey, Ronon."

"Dawn."  He looked at her.  "You were not bad.  Your foot hurt?"

"Cramped earlier.  It's good now."  He nodded.  "The appearance of a defect now is a good thing," she said quietly, earning a smirk and a nod.  They watched the others then the winners were paired up.  She got some guy that sneered and went down to a kick in the balls as a first move.  Most guys didn't do that to other guys so he wasn't expecting it from her.  The ref blew his whistle, though it sounded like he was trying not to laugh.  She sat down again.  Ronon joined her within a few minutes of his match.  That left four people to fight.  They were paired against the other two.

"This final match is a free-for-all," the referee announced to the crowd.  "That way you can show why you made it."

Dawn looked over.  "Anything goes sort of free-for-all?"

"No magic."

"Okay."  The whistle blew and she flipped forward, catching one of them unaware and knocking him down then helping Ronon beat the other guy fairly fast.  She stared at him, circling some, grinning a bit.  "So I hear my nephew is going to come train with you?"

"Alexander has asked if I'd take on that privilege."

"Can't think of a greater guy to do it, Ronon."  She smiled.  The other two were out so the ref blew his whistle.  "You wanna give up?"

"No.  That's not in my genes."

"Mine either most of the time."  She stared then attacked.  He defended and she flipped him using Natasha's favorite move then flipped away before he could get up, grabbing one of the ropes holding the fence together.  She flicked it at him and he batted at it.  She flicked it again then used it to whip at him, which he caught and used to pull her closer.  She dropped it at the last minute, which left him pulling, but she managed to get under his guard and kick him.  He laughed and batted at her.

"I taught you better."

"You did," she quipped.  "But I'm still sneakier."  She gauged it and then moved to the side before attacking again.  He had shifted with her but now he was facing into the light.  It was a bit bright in there.  She got grabbed during it so she let him have her shirt and then kicked him in the nuts while he was staring at her chest.  "You've seen them in a sports bra before," she taunted.

"More than I care to.  We need to find you better fighting clothes."

"I have them at home."  She tripped him and jumped over his attempted grab at her ankles, landing on his back.  She ruffled his hair.  "I adore you as a sparring partner."  She got off and walked off.  "He can win," she told the Ref.  "He's the greater warrior stud from Pegasus and we'll spar in private later."

"Not fair," Ronon called after her.

She winked at him.  "We'll settle this the next time I'm out to spar.  When we can both use all our strengths."

He grinned.  "I can accept that challenge.  Until then."  He nodded.  She bowed back and disappeared.

The ref swallowed.  "The winner, Ronon of Atlantis."  He looked at him.  "She's good."

"She is.  I trained her well."  He gave him a smug look and took the certificate.  John got Dawn's for her.

***

Dawn appeared at the marksmanship event, watching it.  She walked down to where the archers were waiting, tapping Clint on the shoulder and whisper in his ear.  He nodded and smirked at her.  Then she went back to her seat.  He checked his arrows, choosing a different one from the quiver they had been given.  "She let me know it's bowed more than I thought.  I thought the ones Alexander used for hunting on Asgard were crooked."  The other archers laughed.  They were using plain old bows for this part then their speciality bows later.  He had used worse in the circus.  He really had but it was nice that Dawn had just given him incentive.

He took his shots and they were perfect.  He got that one easily.  He moved to his speciality bow and a fresh, unmarked quiver from Stark.  He tested them, finding one he liked, rolling it between his fingers and playing with it until it was his turn.  He made the classic splitting the prior arrow shot, and then turned and got someone who tried to shoot at him.  The judges all looked at that one and his rifle that had fallen.

"Jeez, again?" Dawn complained.  She got up and got the rifle, pulling the arrow for him.  She handed that over and made the rifle safe so the judges could have it.  "Looks like FBI by the thing around his neck."  She sat down again, smiling at him.  "So, Robin, are you fighting for the fair Maid Marian today?" she quipped to break the silence.

He smirked at her.  "You'll be getting it later, and you're not a maiden, Dawn."

"Well, no, I'm not," she said with a faint blush.  A few of the agents laughed.  "But I can play a princess if you want."

He groaned.  "Not tonight."  He took his shot and it was perfect.  The judges all moaned.  He shrugged and grinned.  "What did you expect from me, people?"  They gave the win to him and let him walk off with Natasha and Dawn.  A few of the agents were staring in awe and want.

Fury stopped them in the hallway.  "Dawn, you gave up first place?"

"Ronon and I don't spar like that, Fury.  Beyond that, we're both yours."

"Good point."

"We'll spar the next time I'm at the temple and he is too.  That way we spar like Ronon against Dawn does, not like little boys.  I mean, seriously, I took one out with a ball shot."  She walked off with Clint and Natasha.  "Dinner?  Tony said there's a fantastic restaurant nearby."

"We have reservations," Natasha assured her.

Dawn grinned.  "Then I need to shower."  They nodded and went back to clean up and go to dinner.

Fury shook his head but he was smiling.  He loved his special agents sometimes.

Agent Hill came out of the handgun marksman event, handing over her second place finish certificate.  "How is the tally looking, sir?"

"We're actually doing good.  We're in third place right now behind the CIA, who had some Spetnaz cross-training with them for the last month.  Which sounds fishy to me but whatever.  In second is one of the tiny covert agencies."  She nodded, going with him.  She had to call Tara and tell her how she had done, plus talk to the kids before they went to bed.

***

Dawn was summoned to the State Department the next morning, going with Natasha.  She got met at the front desk by the agent who had come to get statements.  "What now?" she asked.

"Their higher power wanted to talk."  He grimaced.  "It's very...delicate socially right now."

Dawn looked at him.  "I can be diplomatic.  Where?"  He led her up there, knocking and opening the door.  She walked in and paused, staring at the Prime Minister of Russia.  "Mr. Putin," she said in Russian.  He smirked at her.  "Let me make this very clear before any complaints get started.  I did not ask him to stalk me.  I did not ask him to try to kidnap me.  I did not ask him to put my six-year-old niece in a shock collar.  I did not ask him to take my spouses and try to torture them.  He is very lucky someone felt more mercy than I did because I was going to let him stay that way and suffer for however long he could hold on.  I am absolutely unforgiving when it comes to my family and my own safety."

He laughed.  "You have balls," he said in Russian.

She smiled.  "When I need to.  I didn't figure you wanted me to be some simpering little girl."

"No, you are clearly not.  I have seen you in the papers."

"I'm an assistant to someone.  Sometimes that means I have to go to events."

He nodded, looking at the other one.  "Your assistant?"

"My wife."

"Oh.  I see."  He stared at her.  "I noticed you said spouses."

"He's sleeping in."  She smiled.

"Interesting.  There is a problem with you attacking him, young lady."

"Then he should not have had me summoned to supposedly marry him by taking my spouses and my niece hostage.  I warned his minion I was not going to be pleasant."

"And you were not."

She shrugged. "If it was your family, what would you do?"

"I would go in with my Spetnaz teams," he admitted with a slight smirk.

"I'm better than that.  I don't need a bodyguard to help me."  She smirked.  "I take care of my own threats when they happen.  I tried to be nice.  I turned down his first few offers.  I shot back when he tried to have me stalked.  I didn't kill him when he came near my mother, which did piss me off enough to nearly get him dead then.  I didn't do more than take out his people when they tried to kidnap me a few times.  I showed amazing restraint."

"You did," he decided.  He smirked.  "There is the matter that he did file for marriage."

"I'm already married by US and other standards, Minister Putin.  Why would I care that he did that?  I want nothing from them.  I made that clear when his people showed up."

"I can agree though they think they should acknowledge you in some way."

"Then they can do it as a warning fable, meant to teach boys not to push their luck and girls that they have the right to fight back."  She smiled.  "I like Aesop."

"I did when I was younger."

"I read them to my niece."

"It's a good thing for young children to learn."  He stared at her.  "I will tell them you do not want anything."

"Thank you."

"If they get insistent?"

"I'm not taking over stepmother duties for whatever heir they mentioned.  I'm not taking a seat or anything else.  I don't want a title.  Put up a picture and a fable to my greatness."

He tipped his head.  "I can understand those urges.  It is clear it upset you."

She snorted.  "I've had things that upset me worse.  One from your country since the Russian Mob kept trying to get me to their side for years on end.  I'm still fighting with them."

He stared at her.  "Why would they?"

She smirked meanly.  "I killed some of the ones that kidnaped me.  They thought I was useful then and even more so now.  They're wrong but I wasn't polite about it the last time."

He laughed, smiling at her.  "That is good to know.  They do not like to be thwarted.  They're much like the old bears of Communism that way," he said in English.

Natasha smiled.  "They are, yes," she agreed in Russian.  He stared at her.  She smiled.  "Thank them for us, Minister.  We appreciate the face-saving offer but it is not necessary."  She bowed and took Dawn's hand.  "I will be keeping what is mine."

He stared her down.  "I've seen your picture, carefully hidden inside the Kremlin."

"You have.  I keep meaning to take that from there."  She smiled.

Dawn looked at her.  "I can't magically get it without a picture of the current location."

Putin spluttered.  "You are her."

Dawn smiled.  "I am her.  And he took what was mine and my niece."  She grinned.  "Let them make me a teaching fable."

"I will pass that on.  You are quite wise."

"I try really hard sometimes," she said in Russian then grinned and walked out with Natasha.  She looked at her once they were outside.  "I didn't think being sweet and nice was going to be okay."

"No, it probably wouldn't have been.  He understands strength and you were."  They saw cars pulling up with screeching tires.  "What now?"

"No idea," Dawn said, pushing her panic button.  Phil got there as the other agents did.  He got them backed down while she and Natasha sat on a bench watching him work.  He came over.  "Why did they do the 'busting in to break someone' thing?" she asked.

"The president wanted to talk to you."

"Um... I just talked to one," she said.  "No thank you," she told the agents.  "I've talked with him before through Loki."  She smiled.  He got out of a car that pulled up and walked over.  "What did your spouse want to talk about?"

"What happened?"

"There?"  He nodded, staring at her.  "He tried shit.  I ended his shit.  Thankfully I was feeling slightly merciful."

"You were restrained and merciful," Loki decided.  "We want a report."

"State Department guy?" she suggested with a point.

"No, in person, Miss Summers."

She sighed.  "I'm only in for the agent olympics and some time off.  Can't it wait?"

"No," he said firmly.

"Well, fuck," she muttered, standing up.  She looked at Natasha, who smirked at her.  "Go to the spa and I'll hopefully be there shortly?"

"We remade your appointment for an hour from now," Loki said.  He walked her off.  "Boys, you were nearly turned into mice," he noted.  "She does like doing that when she's threatened."

"I'm sure they're good agents who would rather be at the agent olympics thing," she said dryly, getting into the car.  She didn't know the other person in there.  "Hi, Dawn Summers.  You would be?"

"Director Millson, FBI."

"I've turned some of your agents into mice for trying to snatch me," she said with a grin.  "They're usually much nicer afterward and quit trying to snatch me."

He blinked, looking at Loki.  "Relative, sir?"

"My son did all-but adopt her but no.  She's Slayer Summer's little sister."

"Oh, I've heard of you," he said, shaking her hand.

She smiled.  "Good things I hope?"

"Mostly.  I did hear about that mice thing a few times and wondered."

"They tried neat stuff like trying to gas me in a cab.  I thought I was very restrained in how I fought back to protect myself."

"Yes, you were.  Thank you for not causing permanent damage."

Loki laughed.  "You were," he agreed.  "My son would've probably rather you made a more showy statement of their defeat."

"Xander likes subtle sometimes," Dawn said with a grin.  "Look at his spouse."

"True."  He poured himself a drink.  "Want one?"

"No.  I do not drink outside of remembrances and sometimes at dinner.  Thank you anyway."  They got taken to a very nice hotel.  "This is not the White House."

"It is not," Loki agreed.  "We'll be doing it by camera."

"Whatever."  She got out when they stopped and held the door.  "From a princess to a  queen."

Loki gave her a look.  "I should paddle you for that."

She cackled.  "I'm sure you'd like to.  Then again, I still owe you for what you did to my spouse."

"I removed it."  She looked at him over the edge of her sunglasses.  He shivered.  "I will not think to use him again."

"Thanks."  They were let into a room.  She nodded at the few she'd met at business meetings in the past.  She looked at Loki.  "I thought Tony could lie when he wanted to."  He gave her a smug look.  She zapped him and made him heave.  "I'm not the nice fairy when I'm taken under false pretenses.  Even by Gods, Loki."

"Dawn, calm down.  We just wanted to know what your plans were," one she had met said.

She looked at him.  "I believe you have my email.  You're taking me away from time with Natasha."  They shivered.  She smirked.  "We're getting pretty for Clint later."  A few moaned.  "As for my plans?  I'm the greatest super assistant sort that Stark has and some day his daughter will have.  What other plans could I have beyond maybe a future language degree?"

"They mean about that country."

"I asked Minister Putin earlier to have them make me a teaching fable.  That way boys learn not to get so pushy and girls learn they can fight back when they do.  That's all I want out of that whole mess."  She looked around the room.  "Frankly, if I had wanted something I would've let him do the ceremony and then stabbed him."  They all smiled at her.  "Anything else?"  They shook their heads.  "Excellent."  She looked at Loki.  "Where is that spa from here?"

"Three doors up, chit."  She patted him on the arm and walked off.  He looked at the group.  "She is a very strong, sure young quim."

"Your son did good becoming her acknowledged father," one told him.

"He worked with her sister," Loki said dryly.

"That makes much sense."  They talked about it and came up with a plan of action, which they would make the others in the world like.  Unfortunately someone had been listening and it was stopped the easy way.  By knockout gas and agents.

Loki, being him, wasn't affected but played it to watch the people who came in, took what they wanted from everyone, and then left a large note in the center of the table about what was going to happen.  Perhaps he'd get to talk to Minister Putin himself soon.

***

Dawn walked into the suite and found Stark.  "Problems?" she guessed.  "Is Clint hurt?"

"No."  Natasha walked in with Clint.  "He was getting coffee.  Are you all right?"

"Did I send up a huge insult when they had me talk to the Russian Prime Minister or the Blandenburg people?" she guessed.

"Is that who that was?" Natasha demanded.  She flashed her a picture.  Clint moaned and shook his head.  "What idiots to come at you that way."

"I think Loki wasn't specific enough when he had them gather me," she shot back with a grin.  "I told them I only wanted to be a teaching fable too."  She took a kiss and Clint's coffee, moaning.  "I adore you and we're having babies this year."

He took it back to kiss her, getting all the taste out of her mouth.  "If you're ready, I'm there."

Tony cleared his throat.  "Not this year," he ordered.  "I can't have her on that long of a maternity leave.  Pepper's thinking about a second one because she's missing the spoiling.  I can't have them both go at the same time."  Clint shrugged and sipped his coffee, letting Natasha have some of it.  "You three really are in gushy, gooey love.  It's disgusting."

Dawn blew a kiss.  "Some of us get gooey minded, some of us get dirty minded."

"Good point.  Yours usually is."  He shook it quickly.  "But we're okay?"  She nodded, doing what Phil had shown her to create a mirror so he could see.  He walked off with it so Fury and Pepper could see.  Pepper had been worried and Fury showed up to be nosy.

Dawn looked at Clint.  "So, since I offered you whatever you want sexually for winning....."  She smiled and moved closer, running a hand up under his sleeveless t-shirt.  "What do you want me to do?"

He stared down at her.  "I...."  He and Natasha shared a thought.

"No, that was your incentive.  Natasha is getting her own tomorrow night," Dawn quipped with a grin.

He finished his coffee, tossing it out.  "That's an interesting challenge.  What do I want?"  Dawn teased his stomach.  "Nat, I think we need to go find a new toy together."

"That might be nice," she agreed with an evil smirk.  "I'll need one for my own reward."  Dawn smirked at her.  "Come."  Dawn took her hand and they went to the kinky store up that Clint found online.  It had a huge selection.  It was discreet.  Senators used it for their mistresses.  They looked around, Natasha finding what she wanted.  Dawn looked and then at her, giving her an odd look.  "You will enjoy it."

"Are you sure?"

"I am."

"Okay, as long as you're sure."

She got something else.  "In case I'm wrong."  Dawn nodded.  Clint found a few things he liked and Dawn handed him something they needed, lube.

"Edible," he corrected, finding that display and grabbing two bottles.  "Just in case."  Dawn shivered.  He gave her an evil smirk.  "'Tasha, what about body slave duties?"

"She does much of that already.  She does feed you, she helps you shower, she does whatever you want her to.  Me, I get dirty looks whenever I suggest she does laundry."

"That's because she shrinks things and then you complain," Dawn reminded her.

"True, you do shrink many things."  She looked at her current outfit then shook her head.  "Much too demure."

Dawn went to the lingerie section and found a few things, bringing them back.  "Do we like these?"

Clint stared.  "No, they're for trashy, not classy."  She put them back.  Natasha helped her pick out a few things, but what she really wanted her to wear was at home.  They finished up and went back to the hotel suite, Clint laying out the lube and toys.  Dawn stripped for him when he looked at her.  "Very nice, princess.  Tiny bit of hair that would fit inside your tiniest, non-slutty bikini."  He ran a hand over her hip, which had a bruise.  "No cuts?"

"Healed."

"Bruise?"

"Earlier.  Banged it in the car."  She looked down and healed it.  Then she smiled at him.  "Better?"

"Pure skin.  I like that."  He ran a hand over her stomach.  "Were you serious?" he asked in her ear.

She blinked at him.  "If you want to keep to the two year agreement, I will but I got such envy," she said quietly.  "Especially after that day."

He nuzzled her throat.  "Next year."  She nodded.  He kissed her on the neck, earning a slight shiver.  "Bit chilly," he teased, pinching a hard nipple.

"You do it to me most of the time," she teased back with a grin.  "Should I find heels?"

He shook his head.  "No.  I want pure skin."  He stroked over her again.  "You have to work tomorrow, don't you?"  She nodded with a grin.  "Pity.  I could use a full day of you being naked."  She kissed him.  "Hmm.  That's nice."  He grabbed a scrunchie out of her bag and put her hair up.  "That's nicer."  It let him tease her neck better.  Natasha came in to fix the hair mess for him and put it back up.  "Thank you, Nat."

"It would've tangled."  She took her own kiss.  "Tomorrow night, you will wish you had offered something specific."

Dawn leered.  "Because I'll be sore?"

"Yes, you will be."

Clint grinned at her.  "I wanted to keep her naked all day, Nat."

"We planned dinner out before we leave."

"That's a good point."  He checked the clock.  "We have four hours before we leave."  He walked around Dawn again, teasing her ribs now.  "You need a day off.  I'll defer until then."  Dawn nodded, moaning slightly.  "Though we still have to celebrate your wins.  So we have four hours for that."  He pulled her closer to kiss.  "Suck me, Dawn."  She shifted down, teasing him as she went.  His jeans unzipped easily and she had a good, hearty lunch of him, staring up at him.  He finally couldn't take it and backed up so he fell out of her mouth.  "Bed."  She got up and strolled over to the bed, draping herself prettily for him on the sheets.  Natasha had pulled back the covers.  He stared, then kicked off his jeans and pulled off his t-shirt.  "Nat, you want some?"

"I will enjoy it when we get home."  She patted him on the butt.  "Both of you."

He leered.  "We can do that."  He strolled over, leaning down to take a kiss.  "Open for me."  She spread out and he grinned, laying on top of her to get what he wanted.  "You be as loud as you want," he ordered.  "Or need to get."  He moved to tease her breasts, smiling at the breathy noises.  Then lower.  It was like a siren's call to him.  "How do you remove the hair down here?"

"Nair."

"Nice."  He licked over the clean skin, tasting her, tasting the happy, horny taste.  He nuzzled his nose into her to give him more room to play.  Slowly up then back down, teasing, cleaning her up for his later dirtying.  A slow stab of his tongue into her body, then a teasing tongue tip to her clit.  She was trying to stay still, which he liked about her.  He was going to make her scream so loudly it wasn't funny.  Nat came back in and handed him something she had picked up.  He grinned because he knew what that was.  The violet wand might not be a Dawn toy, but he'd tease her with it.  He turned it on and did her thigh, which made her swear and move.  "Okay, sorry."  He turned it off and put it aside.  He soothed her, petting her stomach.  "It's meant to feel good, Dawn."

"Not there it didn't."

"Okay."  He soothed her and got her calmed down.  "We'll see if you like that later on, somewhere else."  She nodded, swallowing.  He moved up to hold her.  "I won't be mean to you.  You know that."

"I do."  She kissed him.  "You broke my happy mood."

He smiled.  "I can fix the broken happy mood if you want."  She nodded, kissing him again and moving down to tease him.  "That's my happy mood, not yours," he moaned, letting her do it for a few minutes.  "Damn I taught you well."  He pulled off and moved back to teasing her.  Within a few minutes he had her making happy, loud noises.  Then squealing noises.  Then.... Nat gave him a dirty idea and he found one of the bottles of lube so he could tease all of her at once.

"Oh, shit," Dawn moaned, twisting some.  "Today?"

"You're getting Natasha up it later," he said into her thigh, nibbling on the scar there.  Dawn moaned and whimpered, pushing down against him.  He grinned, adding another finger and going back to teasing her clit.  He loved that she was so responsive.   Natasha came in when he finally let her come and slid into her.  She didn't have her strap-on set but she had a nice toy in hand to use.

Dawn was trapped between heaven and hell and they enjoyed it thoroughly.  They teased her until she needed to come and then paused, kissing each other over her shoulder until Dawn came down some.  The second time, Dawn opened their bonds wide and drew them in so they could see how much torment it was.  She couldn't talk so she had to.  They smiled and finished driving her insane.  She finally came with a bone jarring, room rattling, magic flashing orgasm that made Clint and Natasha both blink.  Dawn was a sweaty, moaning mess between them.  "That's never happened before," Clint said.

"No, not that I've noticed," Natasha agreed, checking the time.  They still had an hour.  They got her into the shower and helped her scrub down.  She was nearly asleep and they let her while they packed and cleaned up the room so they could leave.  Dawn woke up in the car to the restaurant and it was nice.  They had a good dinner, with nice, happy Dawn conversation.  They had a good trip to the airport.  Dawn checked their carry-on luggage before they got to the private terminal's TSA people.  The lube got packed carefully into her bag.  They got checked in, put through security, then let onto the Stark International plane.  Where Dawn curled up between them and slept.

Tony got on and stared.  "You two wore her out that much?"

Natasha smiled.  "Yes, we did."

"Wonderful job," Pepper praised.  She sat down and put Liz's carrier next to her.  Callia was with Grandma but they weren't going to make her watch Liz too.  Even if Joyce did pout.  "How was it?"

"Very good," Clint said smugly.

"Remember, she has to be able to work tomorrow," Tony taunted, getting himself a drink and sitting down again.  He looked at the snoring baby.  "Sinuses?"

"No, she just snores.  I had her baby doctor check, there's nothing wrong with her sinuses."  She adjusted Liz's blanket and turned off the air over her.  "There, that's better.  Less chilly."  She buckled in.  They were all on here.  Pepper could see them loading the bags.  "Be more careful with those," she ordered.  "That's my daughter's bag."  The handler got a bit more gentle.  "Thank you."  Dawn snorted and woke up, blinking at them and falling asleep on Natasha's shoulder.

Clint and Natasha shared a look, checking on her.  "Magic overload," Clint said, helping Dawn turn it off.  They came out as the plane taxied down the runway.  "Sorry, it was so good one of the Keys went happy fountain."

Tony nodded.  "It's great when it's good.  As long as you're good to her."  He smirked.  "I might even give her tomorrow off."

"We have that interview and the meeting with the metal manufacturing people tomorrow," Pepper said.

"I forgot.  So the next day then.  She can work from home."  He grinned and saluted them with his drink.  Liz woke up and fussed a bit, getting Mom to take her into the back and feed her once they were leveled out.  Tony followed, making Pepper blush.  "I love watching you nurse her."  He kissed her.  "It's the most womanly thing I've ever seen you do."

She blushed harder.  "It's better for her."

"It is."  He laid down behind her and held her while she fed the baby.  Liz drifted off in the middle but that was about usual.  Pepper did back up her nursing bra and tucked Liz into her carrier, which was strapped down beside the bed so it wouldn't move when the plane banked.  He flipped over her to kiss her properly.  "So," he said, nibbling on her bottom lip before sucking it in for a better kiss.  She moaned and wrapped her arms around him.  "You were having heavy thoughts the other night."

"Just a few."

He stroked over her breasts, taking off the nursing bra and drip pads.  They carefully got put aside and then his hand teased until she swatted him.  He licked over the side Liz hadn't gotten to, tasting the milk that came up.  "Interesting."  He licked the other one, making her moan and shift.

"Tony.  The baby needs those."

"Right now, you need these back.  Liz can have them later."  He teased her but moved down, earning a smile.  "I'm coming back to those."

"I've heard some fathers end up using breast milk in their coffee and things."

"If you were pumping I might."  He sucked on one side, his hand insider her panties, making her thrash and groan.  He switched sides as he slid two fingers into her, stroking her.  "This is the most intense, womanly, feminine thing ever," he said into one.  He looked up at her.  "Each time I see you nursing her I want to make you sing with pleasure."  She shivered.  He took off her skirt and shoes, then her panties so he could tease her properly.  She spread out for him nicely and he had the time of his life.  Pepper had been too sore to touch or even want to be touched for the last six months, since Liz had been born.  Now.... it was his turn to celebrate the birth.

"We only have an hour," she moaned.

"Fuck it, we can circle New York a few times.  It's my plane and my gas, and we're going to LA anyway."  She stared at him.  "We are."  He dove back into her, making her gasp and clutch the bed.  He dove in to lick her until she begged.  Which he adored.  Pepper could only take so much teasing and then she had to have more.  Now, the need grew faster.  The hormones from her nursing were making her so sensual and sexually motivated.  He slid into her, surging up her body to kiss her.

"Condom," she ordered.

He kissed her.  "You sure?"  He stared down at her.  "You absolutely sure?"

She moaned and kissed him.  "I...."  He shifted and slowly pulled back to thrust back in.  "Damn it!"

He laughed and kissed her.  "How about we use the Barton Birth Control method?  If it happens it does?"  He pulled back to thrust in again.  "Because I'm adopting Liz, Pepper.  She's my daughter too."  She sobbed and nodded.  He got happy with her.  It was always great with Pepper.  She wrapped those long legs around his waist and it gave him all he needed for permission to make her squeal happily.

"Oh, God, Tony!" she panted, clawing at his arms.  He kissed her and she pulled back to pant and breathe through it but she was going to come and he was going to be smug and do more, because he liked her wrung out so far she had to swear at him for it.  He finally let himself follow her over and she wailed, thrashing around a bit.  He teased her clit with his thumb, making her arch up and shriek a loud 'damn it, Tony' at him.  He grinned and kissed her as she came down, letting her cuddle.  She stared at him.  "Damn you."

"I know.  I am if only because I'm not the perfect man that you need.  If I was better, you'd never go a day without me."  He nuzzled her throat.

"I like you the way you are.  I couldn't put up with you otherwise."  He laughed and held her.  She blinked when he slid out.  "Did we just have unprotected sex?"

"Yup."

She blinked at him.  "The doctor wanted me to wait at least a year."

He kissed her.  "If it does it does."

She kissed back and relaxed.  "Yeah, that might work."  He smiled and lapped up the milk that had squirted out during sex.  She moaned.  "Tony, please?"

"I know, the baby needs most of it."  He smirked.  "Can't I have a tiny bit?"

"You've had some."  She looked down, Liz was sucking on her fingers staring at them.  "She won't realize it, right?"

"She knows that her mommy and stepdaddy love her and each other.  That's all she'll remember."  He kissed her again and pulled the baby up to nap with them.  Liz latched on and sucked until she fell asleep again.  "That's my girl."

"You can't adopt her unless we marry."  She made him look at her.  "Which we can't do because I'm not going to hurt Steve."

"We'll do a trio's bonding.  It might not be legal but you're both my heirs anyway."  She gave him a kiss and a grin.  "If something happens to me, you and Steve are going to raise all our kids together.  That way they're amazing, just like you two are."

"You're pretty amazing yourself."

"I try."  He smiled.

"Are we really going to LA?"

"Yup."

"Why?  We have those meetings tomorrow."

"In LA."  He got up and put on pants long enough to check on that and take Dawn's phone to make sure he had rescheduled for them being in LA.  Which he had.  He handed it back.   "We'll be back in New York on Thursday."  They grinned.  "There's a privacy curtain thing here so you can have some quiet time."  He pulled it and gave Barton a look.  "She and Pepper cannot be pregnant at the same time or I'd go nuts."  He closed them in, got them some water from the galley, smiling at the attendant, and went back to the bedroom area.  "Here, water."

"Thanks, nursing her makes me a bit thirsty sometimes."  She sipped.  "Dawn's not getting pregnant this year."

"With the way she cooed at you and helped you, you're lucky she isn't already pregnant.  Especially with that little fertility drug thing they did."  He laid down beside her again, holding her and Liz.  "Some day, I want to take Andrew's new side project and use it."

"On you?" she asked.

"Not sure yet.  I can see Steve volunteering."  She shivered and kissed him.  He grinned, because he had seen Pepper reading something mpreg the other day online.  "So we'll see when they get it perfected."  He took another kiss then kissed Liz on the head.  They looked at the doorway when the breathy, loud noises started.  "Hmm.  They can make Natasha get loud."

She pinched him.  "I'm sure she gets very happy."

"Oh, Goddess, Dawn," Natasha moaned.  "More.  There."

Pepper nodded.  "She's very good to them."

"She is.  I'm giving them Thursday and Friday off if we don't need them.  I saw she gave Clint incentive to win the archery contest and I'm sure they didn't have time."

"I don't know."

He grinned.  "Incentive like that takes *hours*, Pepper."  He smiled and kissed her, settling in to tell her about Steve and his amazing lap dance.  He compared it to the one he had talked her into giving him when they had first gotten together, making her blush hard, but she said she wanted to see that.  Liz flinched awake at a yell but it wasn't a happy yell and the plane was slowly dipping down accompanied by a roar of noise.  Then suddenly it wasn't.  Tony ran out there to see what had happened.  Natasha was helping Dawn hold on.  The door was open.  Tony found the emergency gear and fired an anchoring dart for Dawn's climbing system into it to pull it shut.  It was a struggle but it helped.  "Okay, what happened?" he demanded.

"Stewardess said that we were all going to die for being ungodly," Dawn said, blinking at him.  "Clint?"

"I have it," he noted.  "Found the nearest tower.  We're doing an emergency landing in two, Stark."

"Got it."  He went to help Pepper get redressed and Liz safely into her carrier.  Clint got them landed and people swarmed the plane.  "Pepper and I were feeding the baby," he told the first agent.

"She said we were ungodly," Dawn said.  "That we'd die for it."

Clint came out of the cockpit.  "She capped the pilot.  Fortunately he had it on autopilot."

"Are you a certified pilot?" one of the agents asked.

"I keep up my skills because I'm an agent with SHIELD."

"That's reasonable," he decided.  "Is everyone okay?  Need a hospital?"

"Need a potty break," Dawn admitted.  "Need a valium.  Need to go kill that fucking church in North Carolina.  Valium might keep me from killing that church in North Carolina."

Natasha hugged her.  "We will handle it together."

Dawn looked at her and then at Clint, who nodded.  "You're not taking my fun either, Dawn.  I'd like to talk to them too."

Dawn nodded.  "Okay, we can do that.  Let me calm down and I'll bring us there."

"No," Tony said.  "We'll go as a team.  You can back us up, Dawn."

"They thought I was ungodly, Tony, not you," she said.

"Tough shit," Pepper said, making Dawn flinch.  "They're going to die by *my* hand this time."  She looked at the agents.  "Tony got the door closed.  Clint took the controls.  I have no idea where her body landed."

"Did she open the door or did someone else open the door?" the agent asked calmly.

"She did and said we were ungodly," Dawn said.  "Then let the wind suck her out."

"Good to know.  About how far back, did you think to get coordinates?" he asked Clint.

"Five minutes ago, over some woods.  Two minutes before I called in."  He nodded, taking that down.  He tipped Dawn's face up.  "Calm down.  We're going to stomp them together."  Dawn got onto her phone, checking the sites for those churches.  She ran the tape for the agent.

"It appears that God has seen fit to deliver us from that evil, cowardly wench," the minister said.  "It appears that He crashed their plane to make sure that the unholiness wasn't passed on to her *mentor's* daughter, or her boss.  Pity because I like his tablet and phone but God has spoken," his voice said from the podcast.

"When was that uploaded?" the agent asked, taking the phone.  "That church in Georgia's site.  And it was uploaded an hour ago.  Thank you, people.  We should still probably take you to the ER."

"We're good," Dawn said.  "We'd like to safely get somewhere we can shake."  He nodded, making that call.  She looked at Tony, who shrugged.  They got their bags and their carry-ons, heading to a hotel nearby.  Dawn called both meetings off for Monday, pushing them back a day.  Both of them understood being stranded without their plane in Kansas City due to mechanical failure.  Dawn updated Pepper and Tony by text message then turned and threw her phone against a wall.  Thankfully it was a Stark phone so it survived.

Clint picked it up and turned it off.  "Dawn?  Want a hug?"

"Hell yes."  They crowded around her and cuddled her.  "Shit, call Steve?"

Natasha did that.  "We are all fine.  There was an attempt to crash the plane but we are all fine and in Kansas City.  We'll be in LA either tonight or early tomorrow morning for those meetings," she said calmly.  "Liz is fine.  They were in the bedroom when the stewardess tried her thing.  I'll have him call."  She hung up and texted Tony to call Steve.  Then she turned her phone off.  Clint's was ringing with a text message so she answered it and turned his off.  She went back to cuddling Dawn's back.  She was shaking and it was not a good thing.  "We will stop them," she said quietly.

Dawn turned to look at her.  "What if I couldn't have held it steady long enough?"

"He had the controls and I was moving to get the door somehow.  Had I known about the grappling hook I would've used it before Stark got out there."  Dawn nodded, squeezing her.  "It will be fixed."

"I'm more than willing to destroy them."

"I know but we are going to do that as a team," Natasha said, getting a nod and a cuddle.  Clint held them both.  He was shaking too.  Natasha was pushing it back down. Clint nudged it and she nodded.  "I was scared too," she admitted.  They shifted some so she was in the center and it was good.  Much more healthy than going to kill someone.

***

Tony hung up with Steve, who was swearing.  He wiped off his ear, looking at Pepper.  "He's really pissed off."

"Good!  I'm really pissed off!"

"No, like he's going to Hulk out soon.  Steve was swearing.  He said 'fuck'."  She winced.  Steve might now and then get so pissed off he let out a tiny 'damn' but not that word.  "I had him conference in Joyce so she could tell Callia we're okay.  We're still going to LA but it'll be a few hours.  Joyce promised she hadn't let Callia see any tv, apparently she had helped Bruce color bomb the kitchen to paint it."  Pepper smiled, shaking her head.  "So she's fine.  We're all okay."

He moved closer, pulling her into his arms.  She went from sniffling to full out crying, which was what Pepper did when the stress was done and she needed to let it out.  He understood that.  His phone beeped and he looked at it then he tapped out a message one handed.  "I forgot Rhodey."  She laughed but helped him type it and send it then went back to cuddling him.  He stroked over her back, letting her calm down on her own timetable.  Liz was sleeping.  He had to turn them to look as Phil appeared.  "We're good."

"Good.  Want me to take Liz to Tara?"

"It's going to be hard for Tara to feed her," Pepper said, wiping off her cheeks.

Phil gave her a hug.  "She can have a bottle for a few days."

She shook her head.  "No, I can handle it.  Thank you, Phil."

"It's not a problem.  Dawn, Clint, and Natasha?"

"Up the hall," Tony said with a point.  He looked that way and nodded.  "They're calm?"

"Getting there.  SHIELD's taken over the investigation."

"That minister in North Carolina," Pepper said.  "Look at the Georgia church's site."  He smiled and left to do that.  She hugged Tony again, sighing in relief.  "We still need to get there."

"I got a text from Dawn.  She moved them back a day and moved the one on Tuesday back a week in New York."  She nodded, relaxing against his shoulder.  "C'mon, let's put you down for a rest.  I'll arrange for us to get to LA."  She yawned and nodded, cuddling Liz on top of the blankets.  He grabbed what he needed and left, going to call Happy from outside.

Natasha joined him a few minutes later with a printed sheet then she left.  He read it to Happy, who said he'd make sure it was thoroughly safe for them.  Tony hung up, went to the bar to have a few drinks and calm himself down.  There was nothing he could tinker with.  There was nothing he could build.  There were no targets he could take out.  Nothing to help him calm down but Pepper and she needed him to not be losing his temper.  So he'd retreat back to his old methods to work it out then go see her.

***

They came off the plane in LA, Tony checking around.  Tony was wearing a bulletproof vest.  Dawn was guarding Pepper.  Clint and Natasha came down next.  Clint moved to check the car since it was alone there.  He shook his head and called that in.  They had agents there in minutes.  Happy pulled up a few minutes later.  Clint checked the car and nodded so they got Pepper and Dawn loaded with the baby while Tony talked to the agents.  Natasha got in to guard them while Clint waited and backed up Tony.  Finally they got in and headed for the Malibu house.

Dawn winced and held her head.  "Not again," she complained, leaning forward.  Natasha shifted to hold her, stroking her back.  She took a deep breath, trying not to heave.

Natasha concentrated.  Clint nodded he saw it.  He looked at Tony.  "Something's going to happen to the house."

"My house?  This one?"

Clint nodded.  "Not soon.  I see fall colors on the tree out front."

"Good to know," Pepper said, stroking over Dawn's back too.  She got her a bottle of water from the bar in there.  "You're having another CT as soon as we get back to New York," she said quietly.

Dawn nodded, sipping the water, looking at Tony.  "Something's going to make the house fall, boss.  Completely fall."

He nodded.  "Okay, I'll make plans and start moving some things out of there.  Thanks, kid."

"Welcome."  She looked around then at Natasha.  "There's another enemy.  I'm not sure who.  It was some shadowy figure but I'd guess a guy by the outline."

"I can look into the hidden areas," she promised, soothing her.  Clint and Pepper changed places so they could cuddle her.  "I know your cars are there, Stark."

"The artwork collection is stored there too," he said, looking at Pepper.  She had helped him build it.

"We're moving it to specialized storage.  The New York tower is too easy to be compromised if we get another attack.  Maybe the house in Vail?"

"Too small for anything like that.  It's normal house sized," he admitted.  He considered it and called JARVIS.  "Scan the house, JARVIS.  Dawn just had a vision that someone's going to attack it."

"Soon?" the AI asked from his phone.

"Fall colors on the tree out front," Tony said.

"It's still lushly green at the moment," he said.  "Shall I make a list of priority things that need to be moved?"

"Please," Pepper agreed.  "Dawn and I will find somewhere this week."

"Old silos are being turned into bunkers and houses," Dawn said quietly.

"That might work," Pepper agreed.  "We'll have to see."  She smiled.  "Rest.  It'll be almost twenty more before we get home."

"Yeah, I can do that."  She yawned and curled up with her head on Clint's shoulder but pulling Natasha closer so she held her.

Tony and Pepper shared a look and Pepper nodded.  She'd talk to that researcher herself about how to stop visions.  "Were we there?" Pepper asked them.  Clint nodded.  "All of us?"  He nodded again.  "Then it's good she warned us.  Maybe sell it?" she suggested to Tony.

"Maybe.  Though I'm not sure I want to.  I might rebuild there afterward."  He shifted and crossed his feet, looking at the baby.  "Barton, stick her pacie back in."  He reached over and did that.  "Thanks."  His mind was whirling with plans and possibilities.  He had needed a fall back spot and hadn't had one in years.  He hated the New York mansion or he would've moved all the Avengers in there instead.  Maybe he should donate that one somewhere, like to a fraternity.  No, best to keep it so he could show Callia about his father some year when she was ready.  The house in Vail was too small.  The one in England was huge and unprotected for the most part.  He needed something protected and close enough that he could get to it.

***

Dawn walked out to Tony that night, handing him her tablet.  "That's about perfect.  Clint's wincing in misery.  He had no idea it was being sold by SHIELD."

He looked at the former research center, wincing.  "That's a huge bit of destruction and that's really bad."  He flipped to other things.  "Underground?"

"Harder than hell to blow up."  She flipped to one.  "I like that one."

"Huh."  He read it over, nodding.  "House on top but enough room down there for at least a few labs and storage areas for things like the art collection."  She pointed.  "It has a cooled, humidity controlled storage area?"

"The last one used it for survival supplies."

"Not a bad idea."  He went over the details, nodding at it.  "That's very not bad.  It's far enough in the middle of nowhere that we can block off the road."

"You'd own two-hundred-seventy-three acres of prime North Dakota land.  It's near a state park so the land between probably isn't high on the construction list in case they eminent domain to get it.  Two roads, one's more of a path through the woods.  It's sank into the bedrock.  Has self-supplying wells, three around the house.  Has six levels underground, each with bomb and sound proofing between them in case one level got compromised.  You can totally seal off certain levels even from the air system.  It's already set up for that.  The main house up top has six bedrooms, could use a bit of work because it's a wood paneled hellhole to me, and the kitchen's basically the fireplace and a wood burning stove.  Heating system would need upgraded."

He nodded.  "Cheap too for something that size."  He smiled and gave her a one-armed hug.  "Good job, Dawn."

"Thanks, Tony."  She went back to her room to cuddle.

Tony showed Pepper, who smiled at the plans and started the process to buy it for him.  She had access to all his accounts.  The locals wanted it sold quickly because the guy who had set it up had been arrested by the DEA for drug trafficking to pay for his insurance.  They set up a chat with Pepper to talk about why someone like Stark would need it.  She pointed out that sometimes geniuses needed some peace and quiet and he needed some privacy plus security for the kids.  They decided he was a nice enough guy and he didn't have plans to put up a hotel or anything, which they'd hate.  So they allowed it to start.  She thanked them and they gave her the realtor's name.  She walked outside to stare at the sunrise while calling them with a glass of wine.

***

Dawn walked into the demon kitten poker club that afternoon.  Everyone stared at her.  "What?  Did I lose a major bet?" she asked.  They all shook their heads.  "Anyone wanna tell me anything?"  One raised her hand.  "What's up, Grace?"

"Are you okay?"

"Mostly.  Nerves are bad."  She smiled.  "I'm getting some Greeth."  They nodded and she paid for it then turned around.  "Though, the people who did this?  I'd like to know who's behind it.  And the vision that I saw of them attacking the house with Callia in it.  Because we all know I'm going to destroy this earth if you hurt one of the kids, right?"  They all groaned but nodded.  She smiled.  "Not even those who're mine could stop me from doing that if they're hurt, people."  A few more moaned.  "So, information nice."

"You willing to pay?" one teased.

Dawn smirked and patted him on the horn.  "Sure, depending on the price."

"Some blood?"

"Not a chance in hell, dude.  I'd so kill you."  She smirked.  "Hard.  The very hard way."  He whimpered.  She patted his horn again.  "Callia likes music and wanted to learn to play an instrument.  Think a horn flute would work?"

He shuddered, shrinking in on himself.  "Few cats?"

"Few bucks?" she countered.  She walked over to the ATM and withdrew money, putting it on the table.  "The more I hear the more I pay."

He looked then at her.  "I usually get a few hundred."  She fanned it out to show him.  He touched it.  "Damn.  Um....  The guys that took Stark in Afghanistan are behind the upcoming attack I think?"

"How sure?"

"Not totally sure but now they're Nine Rings instead of Ten if you get my drift?"  She smiled and handed him five hundred.  He swallowed.  "There's some overlord sort and some crackhead designer with plans."

"The more I hear the better I'll feel about protecting the kids," she announced.  They nodded they'd tell her.  "Thanks, guys."  She handed the bartender the rest.  "Buy a round for those who need and deserve it."  She strolled off, handing Clint the bottle.  "Natasha and Phil both learned how to drink that."  She grinned at the guy staring at her.  "Hi, Kitten."

"Dawn," he said with a polite nod.  "Heard about the attempt on you guys."

She nodded.  "I'm not real happy yet."

"Good to know."  He stepped back some.  "Needed information?"

"Yup.  Especially with a vision yesterday."

He blinked a few times.  "I know people who'll take most visions but they're evil."

"I heard about them trying with Cordy."

"Not them.  Wish demons wanted some for someone who wished really hard."

"Have them call me."  She handed over her card then smiled.  "I might be willing to give up all but the most important ones or to switch to dream ones."

"They might do that."  He licked his lips and took another step back.  "You're glowing."

"Sorry."  She pulled it back in.  "Been a long few days.  Especially since I had to end someone who wanted to own me like I was a kitty cat."

"I heard," he moaned.  "Oh, Goddess, I heard."  She smirked.  He looked at Clint then at her.  "I'll pass that on."

"Thank you."  He nodded and left them alone.  She took Clint to the car and then the bank.  They had to get some things straightened out.  Her backup identity could be a bit more broke for a few months.  Her investment guy was doing shady things.  So they'd fix that next.  Then Dawn took him to a jewelry store.  She walked in and smiled at the salesman.  "I have a question."

"All right?  Is it pertinent to jewels?"

"I own a house, well two houses and a lake in Guatemala.  I found this on the bottom of the lake," she said, putting the stone on the counter.  The jeweler gasped and called someone from the back.  "Which is why I'm not sure what I need to do.  You're the first people I've told.  I haven't even told my spouse," she said with a point at Clint.  "I'm not sure if someone was hiding it there or not.  I'm not sure what it is beyond twinkly and might be quartz or a diamond."

"If it's diamonds the locals are going to go nuts," Clint assured her, giving her a pat on the back.  That was very interesting that they hadn't heard that.  He'd have to have a *talk* with Dawn about her hiding things from them again.  Some secrets were fine but since they were opening up her treasure chest of secrets, this should've been on top of the pile.

"It's a low grade diamond," the jeweler that got called out said, looking at her.  "How many more did you find?"

"I found a good handful by touch but I only brought up that one to look at it.  I would've went to the ones in New York but I was worried someone might talk.  I've gotten minor pieces from you guys before."  She touched her earrings.

The jeweler smiled.  "They look nice on you."

She smiled.  "Thanks.  Since I'm an assistant I'm told I shouldn't be too twinkly."  The saleswoman laughed.  "So what do I need to do?"

"What part of Guatemala?" he asked.  She pulled out her tablet to find it on the map.  He nodded.  "It can't be local in that area.  I'd say someone dropped it in there to hide it years ago."  He fingered it.  "It's not worth much but it might make a good something."

"Okay, so do I have to tell the locals?"

"No, not if it was hidden.  Unless it used to belong to a cartel person?"

She shrugged.  "It was rental property.  I bought both houses and sold one to a friend."

"Interesting to note.  Anything else you've found there?"

Dawn took off her necklace and opened the small casket there, looking inside and pulling open the door from in there.  It opened and Clint moaned.  She smiled.  "Won it at poker," she agreed.  She pulled out the tiny chest and put it on the counter.  Once she let it go it grew.  She closed back up the casket and put back on her necklace.  She grinned at their looks.  "Kitten poker.  It's that, bet cats, or bet weapons."  She shrugged.  "I like twinkly things."

They looked through it.  They were impressed with the quality and a few they couldn't take due to where they probably came from.  Dawn accepted that.  They cashed the rest out and it was good for them.

Dawn took him to that speciality shop, walking into the back with him following.  "People, this is one of my spouses," she introduced.  They stared in awe.  Dawn smiled.  "People are fucking with me again.  Can I get into my locker?  Did I pay my rental fee?"  They nodded and let her into the locker under the store.  She handed Clint the two bags and took off the casket to load the rest of the stuff in there into it.  Then she shut it and put the necklace back on.  She walked out with him, handing over the key.  "Thanks, guys.  I might need one again some year but not right now."  She winked at her favorite salesguy.  "Natasha needs something beautiful for dinner tonight and so do I."  She put the money down.  "That's my budget."

He blinked.  "The redhead?"

Dawn grinned.  "Yup, the wife."

He moaned.  "You have excellent taste, Dawn."  He found two dresses and something for Clint, who smiled at that.  "That will do nicely."

"Thank you."  She kissed him on the cheek and paid for it, handing Clint the rest of the money.  "Have a good day, guys."

"Pay your storage in New York this month," the manager reminded her.

"I can do that."  She winked and they walked out together.

Clint waited until they were in the car.  "What is that place?"

She smiled.  "It's like Harry's in New York.  It's basically run by people who used to do your job.  It's part storage, part really good clothier, part supply and gear shop."  She grinned.  "The one in New York is down by Penguin street."

"I want to see," he said.

"I'm taking you both when we get back to clean out some of the stuff I have stored there."

"Show me how to open that thing on your necklace?"

She grinned.  "It's your combined birthday present."  He groaned and kissed her.  She grinned.  "Did you want to go to the Stark benefit tonight or out to dinner?"

"Dinner."  He drove them off.  Dawn was so getting laid later.  He had never heard of those sort of stores.  He thought at Natasha, who said she had heard rumors but you had to be introduced.  He glanced at her.  "How did you find them?"

"Spike."  She grinned.  "Kids."  He paused and they let the demon kids run across the street.  "School must be out."  They watched and waited.  One last one ran past with her dog friend.  Then they drove back to Malibu.

***

Natasha walked out to talk to Pepper, who was feeding Liz again.  "How did Dawn know about supply shops?"

"Spike."  She smiled.  "He got her all sorts of weird contacts and stores to go visit.  She's safer down in the demon part of the city but there's all sorts of weird contacts.  Like the succuba store."

She nodded.  "That makes more sense but how would Spike know?"

"No idea unless one of his playmates knew."  She grinned.  "No idea and I'm not sure I want to know.  You might ask John if he knows."

John appeared buffing his nails on his shirt.  "I do know about all three of them."  He looked at her.  "There's one in New York and one in London."  Natasha smiled at him.  "She has friends in all three."  She moaned.  "Why is she consolidating?"

"To make herself appear more bulked up so she's not as vulnerable," Pepper said.  "She warned me earlier she was going to have to find a new investment guy because he was being dicey and she was moving some of her money from her backup identity to this one just in case."

"We can make the stupid bastard overseas pay for bothering her," John said.

Pepper shrugged.  "Not my job to wonder.  That's a Dawn plan.  She took Clint."  She patted Liz on the back, making her drink more.  "You need to eat more than you need to sleep."

John laughed.  "I'm sure she eats when she's hungry."  He looked at Natasha.  "Remember reading that story by Harold?"

"Yes."

"It's his brother that started the one in London."  She moaned and sat down.  He grinned.  "That's also where Dawn likes to shop."  He shrugged and disappeared again.

"That's where she got those jeans that made her butt look holy," Pepper agreed with a grin.

Natasha nodded. "I need such contacts."

"Talk to Spike."

"I have in the past but he makes my head hurt."  She looked over as those two walked in, looking at the bottle.  "Why did you get that?"

Dawn gave her an evil smirk.  "Because I have wicked plans for it and tomorrow off."  She grinned at Pepper.

"You do because Tony said you needed it.  Do you want to go to your old place so you don't keep us up?"

"I think I'll hit my backup identity's place here.  We're going to give it up soon when the lease is done."  They grinned.  "So we're going to dinner tonight then we'll be hiding."

"Have fun, kids."  Pepper smiled.  "Check in at least once tomorrow, Dawn, so we don't worry that you've been kidnaped again."

"I can do that."  She grabbed their things and they headed.

Pepper smiled at Liz.  "Your aunt is going to have a lot of loud, energetic sex.  I remember being her age and having enough stamina to do that too."  She heard a male laugh and looked over as Steve and Tony came up from the garage.  "She...."

"We heard.  We were monitoring up here."  He kissed her then Liz on the head then her again with a grin.  "Finish up."  She huffed but did that and Liz got put into the carrier.  Which Steve took.  They went to the basement to look over what had to be moved.

"I forgot how massive the art collection was," she said.  "We'll need speciality movers for that."

"And the cars," he agreed.  They shared a look then one with Steve.  He opened the safe to point.  She groaned. "Mom's jewels, yeah.  I need to give them to Callia."

"Some year.  She's not ready for them yet, Tony."

"I know."  He patted her on the back and they made note of the various collections down there. She knew who she'd need to call.  They finished in the lab because of course Tony would be moving it and installing JARVIS' main computer array in the new house for safety reasons.  Tony got them some water and they sat around to talk about how to accomplish the move without people realizing.  That way they wouldn't attack that house instead.

Some was going to New York and then slipped back to the new place.  Especially the cars.  The artwork needed evaluated for insurance reasons but they had put off doing the reevaluation.  They could do that now and move it to more secure storage on the way back.  People might wonder if he was selling some but he could say that he was renovating out here.  He did put up plans for the next house when this one got blown up.  Including a Dawn-soundproofed room and rooms for Callia, Liz, and two future kids.  Plus a huge master suite with a decadent bathroom.  Pepper smiled and he shrugged.  It spoiled them all.

***

Dawn let them into her hidden apartment locally and closed the door behind them, turning on the security system.  "Gun cabinet's in the living room," she said with a point.  They looked around, nodding that she had turned the boxy, standard apartment with crap view into something comfortable.  It had wonderful views of a few rooftops from each room.  The bathroom was better than usual but still pretty plain.  The bed was comfortable and a pillowtop but firm underneath.  The other bedroom had a desk and  workbench.  Most things could stay here or be sold off.  Very few things needed to be moved.  The gun cabinet was a heavy, antique cabinet.  It looked like it had originally held swords.

Natasha looked at her.  "Swords?"

"This life fences for stress relief."  She smiled.  "I can't have them associated though."

"You could remake your fallback," Clint offered.  "Take back all the stuff you invested in it?"

She considered it.  "I have a lot of contacts that know that one."

"Most of them would realize you were you," Natasha said.  "Let me check into it."  Dawn handed her a letter in her name that was on the table.  She settled in to check that one over.  It was fairly plain.  Had a slight work history with a company that didn't exist outside paying someone to add you as an 'employee' in Abu Dhabi.  Which led back to that gear shop in London.  They popped up to talk to her.  "Someone has managed to hack the Stark system."

"Two people.  Andrew and one of the guys at the gear shop in London," Dawn agreed.  "Andrew told Tony how he had done it."

"Interesting."  She started by introducing herself and that she was Dawn's wife.  Dawn leaned over to type a message and her name.  They accepted it.  Natasha told him what they were thinking and they gave her how easy it would be.  They could craft another one very easily and it would be fine.  Only a few owned things and she could 'buy' them from herself easily enough.  "You have two fallbacks in New York?"

"Mine and my alternate ID's," Dawn agreed.  "Hers is a semi nice penthousy place that, again, has a lot of rooftop views.  The other one's by the park."

Clint stared at her.  "You never mentioned that one."

"I only got it recently in case the building got attacked again."

"Rent or buy?"

"Rent.  Monthly rent, no lease."

He nodded.  "We can keep that up for now."  He hugged her.  "You did a really good job and we didn't even realize."

She smiled sadly.  "I should've told you."

He kissed her.  "It's impressive but we'll help with the next one."  He grinned.  She grinned back.  "So why are we here?"

"Because Tony needs to move Pepper into his relationship full time and you wanted naked time."  She smirked.  "Once we come in from dinner until we have to leave for the airport I'll be totally naked for you."  He moaned and kissed her harder.  "We have reservations at seven."  She snuggled against his chest.  "Does that make up for not getting your reward?"

"Hell yes."  He looked at Natasha, who had moaned.  "Good?"

"Imagining how that will be."  She went back to her discussion, apologizing for not answering immediately, she had been talking to them.

Dawn winked at Clint and strolled off.  "I'm going to shower and get ready for dinner.  I have to shave."

"Sure," Clint agreed, heading after her.  "Join us when you're done, 'Tasha."

"I will."  She crossed her legs and got back to her discussion.  They had it all set up within minutes.  Once they got back to New York, the plans would drop, Dawn could clear out all her places via local moving companies, and her things in the New York apartment would be transferred to her via inheritance.  That would help set everything up.

He explained how the identity worked.  You paid them a good fee plus your 'salary' for the year.  He did the taxes on it and sent it back to you.  That was very helpful to know. She thanked him and said they'd talk once they got back to New York.  They were going to dinner and Dawn was being a tease.  He laughed and said she was like that and to enjoy it.  She hung up the chat and shut down her tablet, stripping on her way to the shower.  Clint was having Dawn scrub his back for him.  She smiled and moved in to kiss him.  "Spoiled."

"Very spoiled but damn lucky," he said with a moan.  "Dawn?" he begged.

She smiled and kissed his shoulderblade.  "Yes, Clint?"

"Can I have a blowjob to tide me over until after dinner?"

"I can do so," Natasha promised, earning a smirk from him.  She got down to please him and herself.  Clint appreciated both her oral sex and her working herself off.  Then Dawn got her cleaned off while Clint relaxed.  They got her finished and out.  She disappeared to do her hair and makeup, coming out dressed.  Natasha had dressed in the bathroom so she could do her own makeup.  Dawn's hair was up and curly.  Her makeup was flawless and pretty, not dark or too light.  Her dress hugged her figure perfectly.  Natasha's own dress fit her well and it was stunning on her.  Clint finished by pulling on his jacket and smiled.

They left, Dawn telling him where they were having dinner.  It was upscale and slightly trendy but not fussy, expensive, or overly popular.  It had great food, decent wine, and wait staff that served food looking like Chippendale dancers because they were all in tux pants and bowties but nothing else beyond silk slippers.  It was a relaxing, happy dinner.  Dawn sipped her wine and ate her dinner with a smile.  Clint was getting ready to pounce again by the images she shot at him.  Natasha got a few herself at Dawn, who did moan at one point.  She covered it up by eating another bite of dessert.  Which was decadent enough to make one moan.  The valet gave them back their car and they went back to the apartment.

Dawn walked up to Clint.  "It's your turn to strip me.  Natasha got last time."

He grinned and took off his jacket then undid her necklace, handing it to Natasha.  He unzipped her dress, letting it fall.  "Shoes off," he said.  She stepped out of them and they got her out of the bra, panties, and garter with stockings.  He looked her over.  She had shaved everything but a tiny bit of pubic hair again.  She looked like a painting by a master back in the Renaissance.  He kissed her, smiling at her.  "Natasha, would you like her first?"

"I believe I do.  She has teased me all day by teasing you."  She kissed Dawn, walking her into the bedroom to tease her back.  She stripped down and climbed in next to her to have her mouth again.  Dawn had amazing skills with them.  Clint was stripping and letting them watch.  It was a good show.  Dawn was willing to do anything they wanted.  Even try that violet wand again.  She didn't like it, which Natasha understood, but it was nice that she tried for them.  Clint laid on Dawn's other side to kiss them both.

Natasha was having fun with her Dawn time and it was good.  Dawn was already making squealy noises.  Clint was moaning and stroking himself.  Natasha gave them a wicked smirk and sent a thought to Clint, who grinned back.  Natasha had picked up some extra supplies while they had been out.  Including a new strap-on set.  Dawn moaned and gripped at her.  She got free and gave Dawn the ride she needed, including flipping her onto her knees so she could get deeper.  Clint let Dawn lick him while Natasha rode her hard.

"My turn?" Clint begged.

"Hmm.  Perhaps."  They switched places, letting Dawn suck on her fake cock for her.  Clint slid in and Dawn moaned, twitching some.  "Was I a bit hard?" she asked.

Clint teased the area.  "She's a bit warm but not swollen."  He pulled out to lick and soothe her.  Dawn spread her knees a bit farther apart and let him do whatever he wanted.  "Hmm.  This is nice.  I need to remember this."  He smirked at Natasha.  "She looks nice doing that."

"She does and it does move it nicely against my clit."  She felt Dawn touch her.  "You may."  She stroked a finger around and into her pussy, making Natasha moan.  "That is very nice, Dawn.  I like that."  Dawn slurped and went back down on her.

Clint moaned.  "She does look hot doing that."  He licked her again then slid back into her.  "Damn you're tight tonight, Dawn."  He slowly built up to a good, long, hard ride that was satisfying even as it wrecked his thigh muscles.  By then Dawn was mewling and begging into Natasha's uncovered crotch, licking her until she came again and again.  "So pretty like that," he said quietly, stroking up her back.  He leaned down to nibble on her shoulder, making her shift to bare her neck.  "No, I want here," he said in her ear.  He pushed in extra hard, finding her G-spot again.  She shrieked so he grinned and did it again.  She came and went limp.  He pulled back, rubbing a hand over her buttcheek.  "I need more of that."

Dawn turned her head to look at him.  "You didn't get off?"

"I did get off.  I'm still hard."  She pulled herself over to clean him up and take care of that for him.  He moaned, enjoying that just as much.  "That's beautiful, Dawn.  I love it when you do that."

Natasha moaned.  "I do too."  She pulled Dawn's hips around to lick her clean.  When Clint finally came they curled up in the bed, all naked.  Dawn still had a whole day of nudity because they'd be flying out at eleven the next night to make it back to New York.

***

Tony looked up from holding Liz as the trio got onto the plane.  "Long line?" he joked.

"To hand the rental car back," Clint said with a grin for Pepper, who looked really sleepy on Steve's shoulder.  "We good?"

"We're great.  We got a new pilot, did a background and all that," Tony said.  "No stewardess but we'll manage to sleep."  He smiled.  Liz finally yawned and finished falling asleep for him.  He tucked her back into her carrier.  "We'll figure out sleeping things once we're in the air."  The pilot came back from overseeing the luggage and it was good.  Happy had gone back earlier to be waiting on them - first class of course because that's the sort of boss Tony was sometimes.

They settled in and let the pilot do his job.  Once they were in the air, Pepper was asleep, Steve was asleep.  Tony was nearly there.  He had Clint help him pull down the couch so they could spread out.  Steve woke up slightly.  "Just making it into a bed," he said in his ear.  Steve smiled and let Tony nap with them.  Liz went into the chair next to them.  "Take the bedroom, guys."

They went back there, settling in to sleep together.  "Not naked," Natasha warned.

"But she's good at it," Clint protested.

"Someone else might see us."

Clint shrugged.  "They can admire but they'd better not touch me."  Dawn swatted him, getting down to her sports bra and thong.  He stared.  "That's hot."  He kissed her.  "In the middle."  She got in the middle and they stripped down to curl around her.  Even if Clint was insisting that she was getting off.

Out there Tony shook his head.  They weren't being too loud at least.  He could barely hear Dawn above the plane's noise.

***

They made it home in time to shower and change, get breakfast, and report to work.  Dawn yawned a few times.  Pepper yawned too.  "Why are you so sleepy?" Pepper asked after one that had gotten her to yawn back.

"We slept okay on the plane but not perfectly."

"Uh-huh.  So you three had sex?" she guessed.

"Natasha wouldn't."  She shrugged.  "Clint gave a great massage though."  She grinned.  Pepper laughed and blushed.  "You three sleep okay?"

"It was pretty good.  Steve's a great pillow who doesn't move all night.  No matter how many times you try to fluff him."  They shared a grin and got back to the work of running Stark International.  The baby was in her bassinet with the closet door open.  Callia was staring at the baby but it was probably protective.  Dawn goosed Callia, making her jump and flail.  "Why are you staring?" Pepper asked.

"I'm making sure she's okay."

"She's just fine," Dawn said.  "If I had to, I could've sent her at you to make sure of it."

Callia smiled.  "I can handle that."  She bounded off to the lab to go tinker with the new cars that were being delivered today.

Pepper smiled a bit sadly.  "If we have to, please do."  She nodded, patting her on the arm before leaving.  Pepper got back to work.  She had to do a bit of thinking.  Did she want to give in to Tony this one time?  Well, yes, she did.  She touched her stomach, counting backwards.  She had no idea if it had worked or not.  Her periods were still screwed up from the birth.  She'd take a test in a few weeks.  Then again....  "Dawn?"  She came in.  "Can you tell if someone's pregnant?"

"Not this soon.  Maybe in a few days.  Tara's better at it."

"I might ask her then."  She smiled.

"Or you could take the blood test version," she offered.

Pepper smiled and nodded.  "I forgot all about that version."  She went down to the infirmary to talk to Dr. Pigalli.  She was an understanding woman who could do the testing.  She'd have to wait a day or so.  She went up to check on Tony and Steve.  She walked into a discussion on condoms so she walked off blushing.  Dawn walked past her with the reports for Tony.  "They're talking."

"Figured that out with the blush, Pep," she joked with a grin.  She walked in and handed them to Tony.  "Take him to the Condom Mart place in Times Square.  There's all the examples there so you can touch them and see which ones you like most."  He gaped.  She smiled.  "Saw Pepper's blush.  That and Callia wanted to know what one was."

"Oops," Tony said with a wince.  "That's not a bad idea."

"Then come back and spend time with Callia," she said.

"I'm going to."  He patted her on the arm.  "You all right?"

"I'm fine."

"Okay."  She strolled off, getting back to her daily fussing rounds.  He went through the reports.  "What the hell?" he muttered.  "JARVIS, have Jonathan come here."  He came in a few minutes later.  "What the hell?" he demanded, handing over that report.

He looked at it then at him.  "You told us we could work on that."

"Did he miscarry or something?"

"No.  Well, kinda but we're working on getting it more precise sometime soon."

"There are ethical rules for human testing," Tony said, staring at him.  "Go find them, research them, and then hand me a report on why you violated half of them."  He nodded, sighing but going to look that up.  He put that one in the shredder.  The rest got put where they needed to go.  Sometimes he worried about those two geeks.  Steve was grinning.  "Don't ask," he muttered.  "Let's take that trip then we'll come back for some playing in the park time?"

"I could like that."  They went to the condom shop together.  It had over a thousand brands displayed, most with samples hanging up.  Some from private companies or speciality ones overseas.   Tony got his usual brand and waited while Steve touched some of them to pick his favorite brand.  He finally chose one even though he was blushing bright red.  They stuffed them in the glove box on the way back to the tower and picked up Callia, who ran out to jump into the backseat and hitch herself in.  They went to the park to play together.

***

Dawn answered her phone.  "Thank you for calling Stark International, how may I direct your call?"  She listened, frowning.  "I don't see a problem with that, ma'am.  Captain Rogers is one of her favorite uncles."  She snapped toward the office.  "No, I think she wanted some playing in the park time and it's better to have her guarded while she's out before someone tries to hurt her."  She took down the number off the caller id.  "I'll definitely express your concern to Mr. Stark about that, but...."  The woman huffed and hung up.  "Pep, we've now got a PR problem."  She came out with Liz on her shoulder.  "Some woman just called up spitting vile things about Tony and Steve taking Callia to the park."

"Crap," she muttered, going in there to call up her PR person.  "Warn them."

"Am."  She tapped out a text message, and when she didn't get one back she called.  JARVIS sent one saying his phone was in the lab.  She called Steve.  "It's me, it's important.  Hand the phone to Tony."  He did.  "Some woman just called up here spitting absolutely vile shit about you two being in the park with the baby.  Yeah, as in gaybashing, boss.  So be a bit more careful.

"Should I send one of the guards?  Boss, that playground is right by the biggest anti-gay group's office," she said.  "Yeah, them.  Right on the park, probably about a block from you.  I can do that.  Be careful."  She hung up and called Security.  "It's Dawn.  Captain Rogers and Mr. Stark are in the park with the baby.  We've just gotten a gay bashing call against them for it.  Yes, please do subtly.  Just in case.  On the playground.  Thanks."  She hung up and walked in there.  "I called Cap."

"Thank you, Dawn.  Should we worry?"

"Yeah, the neo-nazi, skinhead, anti-gay group's office is right by there."  Pepper winced.  "I'm going to be a bit worried."  She played with her earring.  "Let me put Liz down."  Their PR head walked off the elevator.  "C'mon."  They came in.  Dawn picked up the remote to go channel surfing.  "It's on Fox."  She turned it up.

The PR person winced.  "That's going to be a bit bad."

"There's been rumors in the past," Pepper reminded him.

"I remember.  Is that... that's a live feed."

Dawn watched, biting her lip.  She groaned and grabbed something from her work closet, heading there.  She appeared without a jacket but with the shotgun on her shoulder.  She stared at the people coming their way.  "Do you honestly think I won't kill you over my niece, people?"  They backed off.  "Keep going.  I'm only reacting to an imminent threat to my niece," she told the officer with them.  "Callia, let's go."

"Is it safe?" she called from the monkey bars.  "They look stupid and mean, Auntie."

"They are.  They won't touch you though."  She climbed down with help from Steve.  Who walked off carrying her.  Tony walked off behind them.  Dawn followed.  The guards met them at the gateway and took Tony home.  Dawn got in the second car.  By the time they got back there was a protest outside the building.  "Great.  Gotta love the global media," she said dryly.

"Not hardly," the head guard said from behind the wheel.  They parked in the garage and got out.  "Mr. Stark, are you three all right?"

"We're good."  He looked at Dawn.  "Overreacting."

"They had explosives on them."  The guards all nodded.  "Those sticks?  They were hand-packed pipe bombs."  They called that threat into the NYPD.  The officer with them got arrested with them for it.  "Okay," Dawn said once they were upstairs.  She got a poke from Clint, telling him they were okay.  He was somewhere in the building.  So was Natasha.  "Can we do this the old fashioned way and use boiling oil?" she offered to the group in the office as she made coffee.

"That would hurt them, not teach them better," Callia chided.  "If we're mean to them they'll just get worse, Auntie.  Like all bullies."

"I'm sure you're right," she said, giving her a hug.  "Go hug Andrew."  She ran off to do that and warn him.  Dawn closed the door and paused against it while Tony vented a bit then opened it again and handed out coffee to those who drank it.  "At least there's no church in Georgia to make it worse," Dawn quipped. "Just FOX News."  She sipped her coffee.  Natasha came off the elevator so she waved her in.  "New developments?"

"Director Fury was told by Joyce, who was doing a news check for stories when the alert hit her phone.  She went on a vile swearing rant at those sorts that made the Director stare in awe and offer to soap her mouth like she had offered to do to him once.  Until she showed him, then he walked off muttering swears."  She looked at Tony.  "I doubt he'll do anything but be supportive.  He has realized."

"Sure," Tony agreed.  He looked at Steve, who shrugged, hands in his pockets.  "Do you want to come out as the All American icon for gay rights?"

He considered that.  "I'm all for gay rights and I'm not going to hide who and what I am.  Humanity should be past this by now."  Tony nodded, smiling at him.  "How do we do this?  Reporters?  Press conference?" he sighed.  He sat down.  "I have no idea about this stuff."

"We need a family spokesman anyway," Pepper said, looking at them.  They smiled at her.  Callia came back with Andrew, who looked pissed off.  "Is she okay?"

"How dare they try to hurt her!" he said hotly.  "I'm going to get the battle armor out and go stomp them no matter what Phil Coulson wants!"  He turned and ran into Xander.  "You would too!"

"No, I'd take my axe and make a holy mess," he said dryly.  "Using the battle armor just pushes them farther over the edge, Andrew.  Remember how you went against that stupid reporter?  We need more of that.  Social media works faster and better than battle armor will this time."

He nodded.  "I can do that."

"Good," Dawn said.  "Let me put up something on my lj."  She pulled out her phone to do that.

"Dawn, please quit swearing?" Natasha asked.  Dawn flashed what she was seeing.  "Huh.  That's bad.  Stark, someone's filling a petition to get your daughter from you on Buffy's behalf."

Xander snorted.  "I can bring her back for that."

Dawn waved a hand.  "I'm telling Mom."

"Sure, she can kick their asses," Xander agreed.  He looked at Andrew.  "Go.  Social media it, especially pictures from the park that show the tubes."  Andrew blanched.  "Now."  He nodded and jogged off to do that.  He picked up Callia.  "If we have to, you can come visit me."  She hugged him.  "We love you too, sprout."

"I'm not a sprout.  They're nasty tasting and I'm pretty so I'd taste good," she said.

Xander looked at her.  "That's almost a Spikian thought," he said dryly, patting her on the back.  "Let me tell your Mom."  He took her with him.  She could visit.

***

Joyce got the message from her daughter.  "Oh, hell no!" she muttered.  "Sir, I have to leave early today.  Someone just did something incredibly stupid."  She got up and walked off with her jacket.  She walked outside and up the street to the nearest reporter.  "Hi, I need to make a statement."

"Is it important?" the receptionist asked.  Joyce showed him the text message.  "How are you involved?"

"I'm her grandmother."  He called a reporter upstairs to see if she wanted to talk to her.  The reporter ran down the stairs to gather her and walk her off so they could chat.  "Thank you.  I got told the stupid humans tried to file to take my granddaughter from her father in Buffy's name.  Buffy wouldn't want that.  Buffy would probably kick them around a bit and then stomp off before she killed them."

"I understand fully, Mrs. Summers."  She settled in to talk to her, recording it so they could put it online.  They went over what had happened and what was going on.  Joyce did send a message once but Dawn sent back a comment.  She smiled at the comment, reading it into the file.  That was going to help some.

***

Dawn walked out that afternoon.  "Shut the fuck up!" she shouted over the chanting.  "You are on private property, people, and not welcome here.  Move or be moved."  NYPD pulled up, because she had called them.  "Officers, if they do not move, they are to be removed or pushed back.  However you feel like dealing with them today."

One nodded.  "We can do that, ma'am."

"Thank you.  By the way, that," she said with a point at one thing.  "Is probably an explosive.  Which is why I pulled a heavier gun than usual to go rescue my niece from their group in the park."  Officers got that person down.  It was an explosive so Bomb Squad got called and everyone got arrested.  Dawn watched, staring at them, sneering slightly.  One lunged and Dawn punched her.  "I had enough of people like you from that one church.  I'm not putting up with you going anywhere near my niece.  I'll kill over my family.  Gladly and easily."  That one backed up slowly until an officer grabbed her.  She crossed her arms over her chest.  "By the way, what makes you think Buffy would mind?" she asked the person with that sign.  "Buffy wouldn't care as long as it was a healthy relationship and Callia was loved by the other parent."

"Who're you to say that?" she sneered.

"Buffy's my sister, bitch.  I think I know her a bit better than you do."  The woman backed down.  Dawn took the sign and broke it then tossed it into the trash.  "False advertising isn't welcome either."  One of the officers snickered.  "My sister wouldn't have left you very much.  For that matter, I'm in that mood too."  More people came rushing over to help the protestors.  She froze them.  "Watch me kill you," she offered.  The officers got the weapons from them and arrested the ones who had them.  Dawn let the rest go.  "Can't they be mice?" she asked one of the officers.  "I can do that."

"That would probably be an abuse of power, ma'am," he said, staring at her.

"Pity.  I hate it when things threaten my family."  She looked on as they got the rest moved and the sidewalk blocked off.  She went back inside.  They had been watching from the security cameras.  Dawn added another statement to her livejournal.   She nodded at Buffy when she appeared with Xander.  "Hey."

"Hey."  She walked outside with Dawn following her.  "Excuse me, stupid humans?  I don't care if the father of my eldest daughter is screwing a goat.  Thank you!  As long as it's a healthy, safe, consensual relationship and the goat loves her, I'm all for it.  Not like some of my past dates have been very traditional."  She stared around.  "By the way, the first one of you that threatens my daughter again will get *me* up your nose and you will not like it.  I will make your last few minutes very painful."  She walked off to the booing.  "Xander, can I have a weapon?"

"Sure," he said, handing her his sword.  "Have fun with it."  She walked back out there.  He followed to back her up, axe in hand.  The NYPD was freaking out at Buffy, who was threatening someone who had a sign saying what she'd hate.

Buffy hacked the sign out of his hands.  "Are you sure I'd hate it?  Really?  Because I'm pretty damn sure that as long as he's happy and they love my little girl like I do and her father does, I don't give a damn where he sticks it."  She looked around.  "Anyone else?"  They fled.  "Good idea," she promised.  She smiled at the watching NYPD officers.  "Thank you for helping guard my daughter."  She walked off.  "Xander, home?"

He took her home.  "Hylal, she didn't let me kill anyone for her."

"Pity.  I would take great fun killing those sort for her."  He hugged his wife.  "Callia, are you staying tonight?"

"No, I don't want to miss out on things by suddenly getting older, Daddy Hylal."  She hugged him then her mother.  "I miss you and them and you don't write.  Dumbass."  She kicked her on the ankle, making Buffy laugh.  "It's not nice and I worry.  So stop that!"  She hugged her siblings and they went home.  "Daddy, Sean's taller than me," she complained.  "He doesn't like games either.  They ruined my baby brother.  He's not a geek anymore."

"We'll help him remember that side when they come back," he promised, giving her a hug.  "Let's go work on the alternative engine idea."  She beamed and nodded, going with him.

"Oh, to be that young and able to ignore stress that way," Dawn said quietly.

"We all wish we could," Steve agreed.  He patted her on the knee.  "Thanks, Dawn."

"Welcome."  She got up.  "Let me go handle the desk stuff."  She looked at Pepper, who nodded.  She went back to answer her ringing phone.  "Thank you for calling Stark International.  How may I direct your call?"  She listened and made a note.  "He's not presently taking phone calls.  He's in the lab with his daughter.  I can take a message.  No, I cannot transfer you to his voicemail.  Sorry, he doesn't like to use it so he'd never hear it."  She made a note.  "I'll pass that on, sir."  She hung up and sent it to Tony in an email.  That was not good.  They were a supplier who said he wasn't going to supply that faggot in the tin suit anything anymore.

***

Tony hummed as he walked into the board meeting.  He looked at them.  "I'm going to be short and yet very blunt.  Bite me if you don't like me being happy.  There's the doorway and you can resign your seats at any given time.  Now, are there going to be any more babbling from the board about who I care about on tv?"  They all glared.  He stared back.  "I can dismiss the board."

"We've already filed an injunction with the shareholders."

"What shareholders?  We bought it all back last night," Tony said bluntly.   She gasped.  "There's no shareholders outside the family.  If we have to, I can offer a few and I'm sure I can find great people to buy them."  He looked around again.  "Leave.  Now.  The board is disbanded.  If you don't like it, take me to court."  They huffed off.  He plucked the writ out of one's hand as she stomped past.

It went to Legal, who threw up a challenge and got it overturned based on the fact that there were no stocks currently available.  Legal also made a good point that the CEO and owner of the company together could disband the board of directors at any time they wanted.  The judge made sure the CEO felt that way but Pepper sounded like she had been crying and demanded the right to beat a few of those board members to death.  So the judge winced and sided with Stark.

***

Dawn sat down across from a reporter on her lunch break the next day.  "I only have a half hour."

"That's fine, Miss Summers.  Just a few questions on the commenting going on."

"You mean the putrid mess that proves some of humanity are still apes?" she asked.

"Well, yes, that mess."  She smiled.  "Was that your sister with the sword?"

"It was.  She got brought back for a few by Alexander.  She's on Asgard with the younger kids because she and Hylal thought it'd do the twins some good."

"I wondered why her hair was so long."

"She probably hasn't had the time to whack it off.  She does have Sean and the twins up there."

"That is a lot of kids," she agreed.  "Was she going to stab someone?"

"Probably.  Buffy and I are both hyper protective of our families.  She might not have killed them, because that can do strange things to a slayer, but she would've wounded them a lot."

"You showed up in the park with a shotgun.  Why?"

"If you look at a picture of that group, those tubes in their hands were explosives."  The reporter shuddered.  Dawn leaned her elbows on the table.  "If they had dared to use them near my niece I would've lost it and they'd be making me rebuild the park."

"It seems that Stark draws controversy."

"I think, if you look psychologically, which granted I only had to take two classes of for my degree, it's an 'I hate you because you have more and do more than I do' thing.  That's my take on it.  When it was me they were bitching about because I choose to be backup on call for apocalypses but not every battle, it was all about 'if I had your powers' with most people.  Now it's Tony Stark, who has money, power, and the suit.   It's Captain Rogers, who has his skills.  It's turning into another case of 'if I had your gifts'.  Though we have had a few that showed up to protest that Tony's not going to give away his entire fortune to charity."

"That billionaire pledge?"

Dawn nodded.  "Them.  He gives sizeably to charity every year and Stark matches the lab and upper admin employees' contributions up to three hundred dollars."  The reporter smiled.  "That's helped a lot with the men's shelter I help support and things like the local animal shelters with his daughter."

"She does?"

Dawn grinned.  "We've made sure Callia knew what donation was.  Everything from cleaning out her closets to give away the clothes that don't fit her to the old toys she doesn't play with any longer.  She made Pepper set up recycling containers in the office out here.  We had them in Malibu and when she realized that she had her set them up here.  Callia loves animals so last year we asked her where she'd like to donate to.  She asked some good questions about how you did that and what it meant, and what it meant to her allowance, but she decided to donate to the zoo, for the children's programs and to subsidize school trips, and to the animal shelter nearest the tower."

"That's wonderful of her."  She smiled.  "How are you feeling?  I know some of this is like a flashback."

"It is.  You know, when I was younger, I thought humanity had evolved.  Now that I'm older and I've seen people like these, the ones who brought explosives to a park to face down Tony, Steve, and Callia, who is six, I'm not so sure.  If they have I'm glad I didn't stop at that evolutionary step.  Then again, half of them probably don't believe in evolution anyway," she said dryly.  She rolled her eyes.  "Some day those sort are going to have to justify themselves if their god is real.  What're they going to say when asked why they brought explosives to threaten a six-year-old who was enjoying the park?"

"I'd hate to see the buttkicking that would bring," she admitted.

Dawn nodded.  "Me too.  Thankfully I'm not of their faith and the one I believe in doesn't hurt kids.  Doesn't want to hurt anyone except in self defense.  All this has made my faith in Wicca a lot stronger.  Because, damn, the Goddess would kick them all over the earth for that."

The reporter grinned.  "I can see that viewpoint myself.  Tough question."  Dawn nodded.  "That plane emergency landing?"

Dawn snorted.  "You mean a member of that church in North Carolina opening the door of the plane mid-flight and telling us we were all going to die for being ungodly before letting it suck her out?" she asked.  The reporter gasped.  Dawn nodded.  "Thankfully, Clint can fly.  Liz, Pepper, and Tony were in the bedroom so it didn't hurt her.  Tony got the door shut very quickly and it wasn't the sort that flew off when opened.  We got damn lucky that day.  Clearly our karma points were really high and we used a lot of them up that day."

She patted her on the hand.  "Thank you.  Are they arresting anyone?"

"They should be.  An hour before, right after we took off, that minister put one on the site that the church in Georgia used to run saying that God had punished us by making us crash."  The reporter gaped then swallowed.  She nodded.  "I went looking at their sites first.  Just in case because of what she said.  And there it was."

"Is that what encouraged those two to get together?"

"Steve and Tony hang out a lot.  Tony gets bored, Steve wants to learn something new, so Tony shows him.  Last night he was showing him how the internet worked."

"Aww."  She smiled.  "I know we've seen them chatting at events."

"Yeah, they're kinda boring to Steve and sometimes Tony so they hang out together and talk.   It's good for them."

"Having friends is good.  What about Miss Potts?"

"Have to ask them.  I am not authorized to make statements for anyone inside Stark International."

"I'll do that."  She smiled and patted her again.  "Thank you."

"Welcome.  I'd love to get some truth out there and make people calm down.  I hate it when my niece has nightmares about people attacking her."  She got up and grabbed her bag.  "Have a good day."  She got some coffee and went back to the office.

The reporter sent it to her editor, who praised it and put it up on their website.  Without editing.  She got her own coffee and sat down to call Pepper Potts' main line to see if she'd give a quote.  No one was being let through but the outer assistants gave her the number of the PR director so she could ask him.  That was a handy number to have so she wrote it down and called it.  "Hi, this is Delores Mayhugh with the Times.  I just talked with Dawn Summers and wanted to get a reaction to a few things she said."

She played the tape so he could hear it.  He gave her a good comment and agreed with everything.  "Anything on how Miss Potts is reacting since we've seen hints that she was dating Mr. Stark in the past?"  She smiled and took that down as well.  "Is Callia Stark safe?   Dawn was very worried about that."  That got a more serious comment, which she made sure she got verbatim even if her phone wasn't taping.  "Thank you, sir.  You have a better day."  She hung up and typed that up on her netbook, sending that as well.  Her editor blew a kiss and put that up too.  This was the hot story of the moment.

The fact that everyone was worried about the yahoos hurting the babies was an important fact.  One that couldn't be forgotten.  She had almost forgotten that Potts had a newborn daughter.

***

Pepper hung up and leaned her head back.  "My mother wants to bring Liz home for a bit to protect her."

Dawn walked in.  "Is that such a bad idea?"

Pepper looked at her.  "I'm not sure but I'm hoping not."  They shared a look.  "Right to someone safe?"

"Definitely.  Mom or Callia.  Someone she knows and trusts."  Pepper smiled.  Dawn handed over the mail.  "Scanned, sorted, three things that are marked personal that got scanned extra hard and two reporters."

"Thanks."  She opened the first one, staring at it.  "Our scanners failed."  She hit the quarantine button.  "Get Liz to Stark."  She nodded, moving around to do that.  There was a security bubble around the desk.  Tony came rushing in.  "Our mail scanners failed to find powder."

Dawn walked Liz out and down to the labs.  "Callia, watch Liz."

"What's that alarm?" she demanded.

"Someone sent Pepper something mean in the mail.  We're handling it but Liz can't be there right now.  Go to Grandpa."  She nodded, taking the baby with her.  She looked at Jonathan, who nodded, following her.  She looked at Andrew.  "Powder," she mouthed.  "Find or make a better scanner?"

"Already working on it."

She nodded, going back up there.  The envelope had already been gathered.  Pepper was in quarantine in the infirmary.  The alarm got shut off.  Dawn went down the garage to throw a fit.  This was an excellent fit throwing time.  She was ranting in another language when someone took a swing at her.  She turned and kicked them, knocking them back into the wall.  She tapped her headset.  "Need someone in the garage, people."  She tapped it off and blocked the new hit, then backhanded him.  The needle in his hand slipped out and hit her arm, scratching her.  "What was in that?"

"You'll die now," he sneered.

"I doubt it."  He got up and rushed her.  She jumped and kicked him in the jaw then landed on top of him.  A security guard came off.  "Gather the needle.  He said something in it would kill me."

"I doubt that," the guard snorted.  He called for some backup to arrest the idiot.  He walked Dawn up to the infirmary so they could get a tetanus shot and bloodwork done.

Tony walked in.  "What?"

"I was throwing a hissy in the garage to relieve stress," she said.  He nodded.  "Got scratched by the needle the guy brought to the fight.  He said it'd kill me."

"Wonderful."  He looked at the doctor, who was shaking her head.  "Blood?"

"Not identified yet.  It'll take an hour or so."  She looked over.  "Pepper's is going to take four."

"Let me know.  I'm with her."  He put on the personal shield and went to sit with her.  She was scared and he knew that.

Dawn calmed herself, checking herself over.  Nothing was starting.  It wasn't an acid like the last time someone had gotten her.  It wasn't a sedative.  It had barely scratched her.  Natasha heard her worrying and sent calming thoughts so she showed her what had happened.  They heard Clint hiss and suck in a breath.  Then slowly let it out.  She told them she'd know soon.  The garage was supposed to be guarded and monitored.

***

Stark got the text from Happy, turning on the tv in there.  "Oh, just great," he complained.  He looked at Pepper, who nodded and smiled sadly.  "They can handle it without me."

"No they can't and it'll do good if you're seen helping."

"It sucks."

"It does."  He nodded and went up to get on his suit.  The others were suited up and getting to the problem thanks to Clint flying them.  Bruce was not happy in the least.   Pepper was watching it, chewing on her bottom lip while things were going on.  It was not good but at least Tony was getting some of the anger out.  He was beating things instead of firing on them.

***

Dawn watched the docs readying for injuries.  "Need me to move?" she asked a nurse.

"Why are you in here?"

"Needle stick from the bastard that attacked me in the garage.  Waiting on results.  Doc told me to wait."

"Wait over there," she said.  Dawn moved over there.  She told the doctor to remind her.

She looked at the machine.  "Looks like twenty more, Dawn."  They finished getting ready, glancing at the tv now and then.

Callia was in the penthouse with Liz, who was cooing at her.  She was doing okay and showing her the pet mice and Carrot.  All kids liked animals, which was great about them.  She heard the elevator and looked out there, then hit the alarm and thought really hard at Uncle Phil.  She had to have him right now!  That guy had a gun!  Phil appeared and beat the shit out of the human.  Callia got up and closed the door.  "We're okay, Unclie Phil."

"Good, stay in there.  Put the animals up so we can move you two."  He got the next few too.  Dawn came off the next elevator with a gun and helped.  "Get them to your mom," he ordered.

"I can help."

"Do it anyway."

"Yup."  She grabbed the diaper bag and into Callia's room.  "Grab on."  She laid a hand on Liz, the carrier handle over her arm.  She took Callia's hand and they left together.   "Mom, attack on the tower."  She took Liz to check and hugged Callia as hard as she could.  "I'll be back in a bit.  We have Phil."  She went back there and came out to help him.  Phil had a graze.  Dawn was going to blow her stack.   Suddenly the people rushing around didn't.  At all.  Anywhere on Manhattan.  She moved a bullet that was about to hit Phil in the chest and then killed the idiot who had fired it.  She turned and found a clapping Loki.  "Fuck off.  I don't need your shit today too."

"I was going to offer to help."

She stared at him.  "They just tried to attack the kids."  She snapped and unfroze it then blasted all of them.  She glared at Loki again.  "I've had enough."

He nodded.  Xander had clearly influenced her temper, it was a lot like his son's.  "I fully understand."  His son showed up in a way that shook the tower.  "Son, a bit loud."

"Shut up, Dad.  Phil, you good?"  He checked him, healing the wound.  He felt Dawn seething and looked at her.  "Go help."

"I can't.  I need to be here to find out what was in the needle I got scratched by."  He shuddered.  "Can you find out how I make a new physical form?"

"I can look that up."

"Thanks.  Going down to handle more idiots."  She went down on the elevator, finding the other rampaging idiots.  They got banished from wherever they were.  Even if it meant they fell a few stories they got banished.   They would never do that again.  She made it to the garage, where more were pulling in and made the cars explode.  The guards were giving her worried looks.  She was concentrating though and she was not Miss Happy Camper; she wouldn't even qualify for Miss Congeniality in that contest, though she might get Most Photogenic.  The next one speeding toward them went up.

***

Tony's visor display lit up with a warning.  "JARVIS, what's going on at the tower?" he demanded, moving to fly back.

"They have saved both the children from the attack on the building.  All the labs are sealed, mostly with scientists inside the labs.  The ones pouring in to try to finish the attack off are being blown up by Dawn, sir.  Agent Coulson and Alexander are handling the other points of contact."

"Coming."  He flew back there.  Dawn's version of fixing it was economical, though he could see her sweating.  He landed and poked her.  "Leave the building standing.  I hate rebuilding."

She looked at him.  "They made it to the penthouse.  They won't do it again."

"No, they won't."  He fired and finished off the rest of them.  "Aren't you supposed to be waiting?"

"Not with this sort of danger."  She wiped off her forehead.  "I'm going to check for more."

"JARVIS, scan.  See if we're missing anyone, who's injured, and if there's any more of these idiots."  They got onto the elevator together.

"I cannot find Jonathan," he admitted a minute later.  "Andrew is injured."  Dawn scanned and found Jonathan, getting him to Andrew.  She went to help them, taking them down to the infirmary.  JARVIS cleared his throat.  "She may have tossed one of the scientists off with the rest, I'm not totally sure.  Either that or she jumped, sir."  Tony got the film from the security cameras.  "Ah, she jumped.  Opportune timing since her medical records list serious depression being treated."

Tony groaned.  They made it to the infirmary and looked in there.  "We good, people?"

"No," Dr. Pigalli said.  "Are there more attackers?"

"No.  Not that we can find.  If there are, I'll handle them."  She nodded, moving to Andrew to help him.  Dawn was holding the bandage on his side.  Tony went to get out of the suit and put in a security earpiece.  He needed to review what happened once things had slowed down.  Something wasn't adding up.  You needed a pass and a code to get to the penthouse.  He ran into Xander and Phil.  "We're all good."  He looked around at the mess then at them.  "Thank you."

"Joyce has them," Phil said.

"Good.  That's what I'd expect her to do."  He let the unit take the suit off and stepped off it, grabbing some water.  "Let me go throw a screaming fit at someone."  He went back down to review the security footage.  He knew who he'd have to yell at.   Who Pepper would get to scream at.  Steve came in while he was reviewing, patting him on the back.  "I'm fine."

"Is everyone else okay?"

"Mostly."  He looked at him.  "Go check on Pepper?"

"I was, I just paused to check on you."  He went up there, still in his suit.  He grabbed the personal shield unit and walked in.  "Hey.  He's fine.  He's figuring out what happened."  She nodded, staring at him.  "We're all okay."

"Liz?  I can't find her."

"I haven't heard anything.  Let me go ask."  He walked out.  "Anyone know where the kids are?"

"Joyce," Dawn called.

"Thanks."  He went back in there.  "Joyce has them.  Dawn said so."  She relaxed and nodded, letting him hug her because she was going to cry soon.  "I'm just as worried, Pepper.  I'm going to kill a whole lot of people over those kids.  Including Callia and Liz's future boyfriends."  She laughed but patted him.  He sat beside her.  "We'll figure it out and stop it."

"I hope we can."

"I know we can.  A lot of people won't like that they went for the kids."  She nodded, patting his hand again.  He held it for her and she relaxed.  "I'm here.  Just relax for now."  She nodded, curling up on her side to try to rest.  He leaned back, holding her hand.  Sometimes comfort was what someone needed the most.

***

Dawn looked over once Andrew had been taken to the surgery unit.  The nurses were all tired.  She sat down in the corner.

"You should go home," one said.

"I still have to hear what I got stuck with," she said.  The nurse winced.  "I can wait.  Doc's busy."

"I forgot about yours and Pepper's," the head nurse said.  She looked at them.  "I don't know which is which.  One of you got Anthrax.  The other one got blood products, namely plasma."  Dawn winced.  "Think that was yours?"

"Yeah, probably since he had it in a needle.  Any way to tell what was in it?"

"If we can find it and test it."  She looked and held up the evidence bag.  "That look like it?"  She nodded.  "I'll have it run for diseases."  She took it up to one of the labs, finding a very angry chemist.  "Boys, can you run a disease check on this plasma?  Someone stuck Dawn with it."  They took it to run.  "Thanks."  She went back down there.  Doctor Pigalli was out of surgery.  She had called in help and she was tired.  "I told Dawn what it said, Doctor."

"Thank you."  She looked at the other one.  "Relative strength is really low."  She went to talk to Pepper.  "Did you get an Anthrax vaccine?"

"Last year."

"Good."  She held up the paper so she could see it.  "We'll be testing your blood now that the emergency's over with."

"Okay," she agreed quietly.  "Now?"

"Let me get what I need."  She went to do that.  Dawn was still in a corner.  "What did yours say?"

"Plasma."

"Crap."  She went to draw Pepper's blood.  It was easy enough to test for and then she went to see where the sample was.  They had it running.  She picked a few new tests to add to it.  That helped and they'd have answers soon enough.  By the time she got back down there, Dawn was calming Jonathan down.  Both her spouses were getting patched up.  Stark was staring at the machine running Pepper's blood.  She patted him on the arm.  "It was a low level."

"She hasn't had the vaccine in a year."

"It might still hold."  He nodded he knew that.  "Worry more about what they stuck Dawn with."  He winced.  "All we know so far is plasma."  Clint looked over then at Dawn.  "It'll take tonight, people."  They all nodded.  Dawn got up and walked Jonathan over to help him fuss over them.  Jonathan went to Andrew's side when he came out of surgery.  It hadn't been a bad wound but enough of one to freak them both out.

Tony got the trio to a guest suite for the night.  Then he called Joyce to update her.  She said she was keeping them tonight.  He agreed and told Callia that Pepper was fine but they were cleaning up a huge mess.  She promised she'd watch Liz for him.  He thanked her, told her good night, told her he loved her, then hung up and went to start throwing things at a wall until he didn't feel like destroying part of humanity.

***

Dawn walked into the infirmary around daylight the next morning.  The night shift nurse gave her an odd look.  "I got tired of staring at the ceiling waiting on a result."

"I don't think we have anything of yours, Dawn."  She nodded.  She checked.  "It's not here.  Go eat and come back when the doctor is here."

"I can't eat.  I'm going to the gym."  She went down there to beat up on the heavy bag.  It seemed to work for everyone else.  Maybe it'd work for her.  She had to quit worrying about being on medicine the rest of her life to make sure that whatever was in that needle didn't kill anyone.

***

Doctor Pigalli came in, knowing it was going to be a long day.  Half of her patients would get to go home today.  She found Jonathan sleeping on Andrew's bed with the girls gathered to wait with him.  "Girls, he came through fine," she said quietly.  Jonathan snapped awake.  "Go get breakfast.  When you come back I'll look at his injuries."  They nodded and left.  She checked on the bloodwork pile.  "Where's Dawn's?" she muttered, going to find it.  Dawn would be sick with worry.  The girl was like that.  She read the results.  "Hepatitis.  Great."  She smiled at the researchers.  "Nothing else came up?"  They shook their heads.  "Not the HIV one?"  They shook their heads faster.  "Thanks, boys."  She went back down there.  Clint was in there calming Jonathan down.  "Didn't I say to go eat?"

"Where's Dawn?" he asked.

She looked at him.  "Don't you have a connection with her?" she asked.

"She's got it blocked.  I can't find her.  All I can sense is this whirlwind of thoughts about 'can't let them be hurt'."

"There was a fight before the main attack.  The idiot had a needle.  It scratched her."  Clint squeezed his eyes shut and yelled at her.  She came in a minute later.  She looked at them, taking them into the office.  "I don't think you have to worry.  It was just a scratch.  Not much could've gotten into your blood, Dawn."  Dawn slumped.  "It's not that bad.  Not HIV.  It's Hepatitis B.  Which you took shots for."  Dawn shook her head.  "You should have.  We can administer them."

"We did the first of the series and I got hellishly sick," Dawn reminded her quietly, rubbing her face.  "So....  Meds to make sure?"

"Let me look that up."  She got into her records to find out when that was.  She grimaced as she read it.  "They gave you the military version.  There's another version.  We can try it."

"Will that make it absolute that I can't get it?" she asked quietly.  Clint stroked over her back.  She looked at him.  "I can't let you guys get sick."

"You won't," he assured her.  "That's not spreadable that way."

"Not true," the doctor said.  "Unfortunately.  We can give her the first injection today."  Dawn nodded, rolling up her sleeve.  She went to get it and brought back the set.  "We can do one a week.  Then test in a month."

"A month?" Clint asked.

"Sometimes, vaccines can be mistaken for antibodies.  I don't think there's anything to be worried about.   She barely got cut by the needle and it looked full when it was brought in."  He nodded, relaxing again.  She gave Dawn the shot and watched her start to look sick.  "Dawn, scan yourself."  She did and it disappeared.  "Blocking it?"  She nodded.  "We'll make note of that.  Tara might have that same complication."

"You know Tara's allergic to shellfish, right?"

"I do."  She looked it up.  "Once a week, I was right."  She looked at her.  "It'll be okay."

"I...."  She swallowed.  "I can't risk them."  She got up and walked off.

"That's not happening," he called after her.  He looked at the doctor.

"Probably not.  I'd think it was the most rare ever."  He nodded.  "Condoms.  All barriers until we know for sure," she said quietly.

"Yes, Doc."  He went after Dawn, finding her in the gym.  Natasha wasn't there yet so he told her.  She shuddered but said they'd talk later.  He walked Dawn away from the heavy bag and into the changing area, locking them in.  He looked at her.  "It's not going to get you.  It definitely won't pass to us."

"I can't risk you two."

"Shut up, Dawn.  Not happening."  She looked up at him.  "It won't.  Doc said it's such a small risk of even you getting it.  There's no way I can."

"We used up all our karma points in the crash."

"We did not.  This isn't that stupid movie."  He sat down next to her on the bench.  She started to lean toward him then stopped.  He pulled her against him.  "Beyond that, you're getting the vaccine.  It'll be okay."  She shook her head.  "It will be."

"It won't be."

"Dawn.  Really.  It will be."  He gave her a squeeze.  He checked, Natasha was thinking.  He looked at her again.  "It doesn't matter."

"It can kill you."

"Unlike you, I'm healthy."  He stared at her.  "You're run down from all the magic yesterday.  Which I'm still upset about."

"You guys were there."

"Yay!  You didn't even yell."

"I'm not going to distract you during a fight.  You could get dead."

"Point," he admitted.  He pulled her closer again.  The bench had somehow stretched.  He pinched her and it quit.  He pulled her into his lap to hold her.  "You probably didn't get any."

"I can't be sure of that.  I can't pinpoint germs.  I can't heal it in case it seals it in there."

"It won't.  When did you turn into such a worrywart?"

"Since people brought explosives near my niece."

He gave her a squeeze.  "It's not the same thing you went through and they'll be stopped even if I have to go on a rampage.  Got it?"  She nodded, resting against his shoulder.  Someone picked the lock then left them alone when they saw the cuddle going on.  "Quit.  Worrying," he said quietly.  "It's not going to happen.  Positive thoughts."

"What if it's not a positive outcome?"

"Then we'll deal with it.  There's treatments."  She shuddered.  "We'll handle it.  Period, end of sentence."  He held her hand.  "Where's your ring?"

"Room.  My hand's swollen."

"That's because you're supposed to wear gloves when you beat the heavy bag," he said.  "And your form still sucks."  She snorted but curled up better on him.  He let her.  "It'll be fine."

"We hope."

"It'll be perfectly fine.  If not, the people behind this are going to die."  She nodded.

Tony walked in and stared at them.  "Why don't you go back to bed?"

"Because I'm due at my desk in an hour," she said.  "I need to be there to divert idiots from complaining."

"We have the two non-personal assistants."

Dawn shook her head.  "It'd be better if I worked while I worried, Boss.  How's Pepper?"

"She's fine.  She's not showing any signs.  The bloodwork came out without anything.  We'll do another run tonight to make sure.  She's fine.  Are you okay?"

"The needle had Hepatitis," Clint said.  "We're doing the vaccine now."

"Good!"  He looked at her.  "It can't happen."

"It can."

"It can't."  He stared at her.  "It really can't."  He walked off.  Maybe he should nag Natasha?  Or not.  She might have her own worries.  He went up to his lab to check over what needed to be repaired and how everyone was doing.  He had made sure the lab staff that didn't live there stayed home today.  He might find a place for the others.  It might be safer if he did anyway or sent them back to Malibu for a few days.  He considered which way might be best and got interrupted when something hit his foot.  "Hey, Roomba dog."  He reached down to take what it had in its tentacle, staring at it.  It had seconds left.  "Shit."  He didn't have time to disarm that.  "JARVIS, shield it!" he ordered, tossing it off to the side.  He stopped the Roomba from going to get it again.  Dawn appeared and put up a shield, wincing as the tiny bomb went off.  "Dawn?"

"Ow," she said.  She rubbed her forehead.  "JARVIS, he'll need that contained better I think."

"I can see that.  I'm working on the containment field now, Dawn.  Give me a moment."  Robots with shield devices showed up and put them up inside hers.  "There, now release yours."  She did and fell down in a faint.  Tony got her down to the infirmary while JARVIS got to handle the delightful affects of the slight bit of radiation.  He cataloged what was in it.  It was something that one could find in most high school labs.  Easily available on the internet, including on Amazon.com.  He had the guards come get the Roomba to scan the rest of the building.  Mr. Stark was not going to be pleased.

Clint walked into the infirmary.  "What happened?"

"She put up a shield around a bomb that JARVIS couldn't shield fast enough," Tony said.  "Wore herself out again."

"Okay," Dr. Pigalli said.  "Then we probably need to move everyone."

"Move them back to Malibu's lab, Doc," Tony ordered.  "I'll get the family moved to somewhere safer with the pets."  She nodded and started that evacuation.  Tony got the rest ordered.

Clint got Dawn's migraine meds and a few IV's with epi pens.  "Taking her home, Doc."

"It might not be safe, Clint.  They know your building.  They've been protesting there."

"Not that one."  She smirked.  He grinned back.  Natasha came in to help him.  "We're going to the backup spot."

"Coulson already has the twins and Tara there," she agreed.  She got the supplies while he got Dawn.  Their lease car was in the garage and not damaged.  She made sure while he tucked her into the backseat.   He got in to drive while she monitored Dawn.  She sighed.  "What are we doing about her?"

"Migraine stuff like last time."

"Not that."

He looked at her.  "It barely scratched her.  She doesn't need you going hyper worrying too, Nat.  Really."  She nodded at that.  "Doc said it was such a minimal chance it would probably not happen.  She's getting the vaccine now."  He started the car and backed out, heading to their more private backup spot, his.  Dawn's was nice but Dawn wouldn't be able to take the twins rampaging around the house.  She gave him a sideways look. "It'll be fine."

"If you're sure."

"I am."

"You're not worried?"

"Not in the least.  The needle was still full.  We don't think anything got into the scratch."

"Then I'll worry less.  I have seen people dying of that."

"We're not in a third world country.  We have meds here to combat that."

"Good point."  She checked, Dawn was not awake or aware.  "I think she's back in her head again."

"Probably avoiding the migraine.  I would be."  He parked in his building's garage and got them out and upstairs.  It wasn't the greatest place ever but it was nice enough.  He did ask John to go pack for them.  Which he nicely enough did.

John appeared with their luggage.  "I moved all the artwork that wasn't in storage back to storage.  All the jewelry of hers is packed.  All yours is packed, Natasha.  If you had a journal or something I couldn't find it."  She shook her head.  "I did find that picture."  She smiled and nodded.  "All the weapons are in her little necklace holder."  He handed that over.  "I'm going to go stomp someone."  He left.  He and Xander needed to wear off some energy.

Clint put it onto her necklace and left it there.  They'd figure that out later.  He had some guns and a spare bow stashed there.  She got her meds and it was better.  She was looking a bit thin again from all the magic.  He sent a coded message to Agent Hill to warn her that they were in a fallback spot that was hidden.  She agreed it was a great idea and wished him well with her migraine.  They settled in and it was fine.  It would be fine because he'd kill whoever tried anything.

***

Dawn woke up and blinked at the ceiling.  She did not know this place.  Which was usually a bad indication in her life.  She gathered herself to fight, even though her head felt like it was going to fall off.

Clint nudged her mind.  "You're at my fallback spot.  Relax," he told her mentally.

She turned her head, feeling her neck muscles creak.  "Yours?"

"Yeah, mine."  He stared at her.  "Want some water?"

"Why aren't I sick?"

"We crushed up your med and got it down you earlier with some juice."  He grinned.

She hummed and flipped to her side carefully, looking at the IV bag.  "Okay."  She sat up with his help, holding her head.  "It's not as bad as usual."

"I figured it might help."  He let her sip from the bottle of cold water.  She leaned against his arm.  "You're safe, relax," he said quietly.

"Is Natasha okay?  I can't hear her at all."

"She's reading on the couch."  He unhooked her and helped her bandage her arm then walked her out there.  She fell down and pulled him on top of her, earning a grin.  "Sure, we can cuddle."

Natasha stroked over Dawn's hair, which she had put up in a braid.  "Rest, Dawn.  You need rest."

"I'm sorry.  This was a shitty time for that."

"If not, the bomb would've killed Stark and probably someone else," she said, looking down at her since Dawn was resting on her hip.  "It was the right thing to do.  Even if you do have a migraine."  Dawn nodded, closing her eyes and cuddling her.  She looked at Clint.  "This one won't last as long."

"No, giving it to her while she's asleep seems to work best," he agreed.  He stroked over Dawn's side, keeping her calm and letting her rest.  "Now what?"

"Now, we wait to see where things fall."  She went back to reading.  Clint rested with Dawn.  Natasha could keep watch for a bit.  Thankfully this part of the city was more quiet.  A lot of run down factories that had been taken over by homeless people but more quiet.

***

Tony finished up with the police inspectors.  They weren't happy this had been happening and realized that Stark was livid so they were trying to keep him from getting into his shiny suit to go stomp people - including the officers that hadn't responded to any of the threats.  It might not work but they'd try awfully hard.  They left and Tony turned, finding Coulson there.  "Hiding all day?" he demanded.

"No.  Handling the ones that attacked SHIELD and getting Tara and the twins to a safer location.  They found Dawn's other backup spot and tried to raid it."  He held up a single sheet of paper.  "Want this?  Fury wants to investigate all this but the FBI says it's their job."

He took it to look over.  "I can definitely look into that."

"Pepper?"

"She's okay.  Not infected with the stuff they sent."

"Dawn?"

"Migraine I think.  They have her well in hand."  Phil nodded.  "You good?"

"No.  I'm trying very hard not to destroy people."  Stark looked at him.  "I'm not totally succeeding either.  Want my help?"

"No, go guard people.  I'll tell all the Avengers when I find them."  He nodded, disappearing with Pepper by what the security camera showed him.  Tony smirked.  "That's very handy too.  Thanks, Coulson."  He got into that information and it was easy enough to trace.  These people weren't geniuses.  They weren't all that smart, computer savvy, or even able to do more than check their emails.

"Sir, the FBI hacker that keeps trying to get in wanted you to not lure them into an area for capture yet," JARVIS said sarcastically.

"Why?"

"I'm not certain."  He popped up an IM box to that agent, letting Tony talk to him.  The agent was talking to other ones.  Who really wanted Tony to let them handle it.  Tony's reply wasn't really fit for adult agents to hear but they had probably seen worse typed about them.  They decided on a plan and let Tony get into their systems to send that gathering email using one of the older ones as a template.  They watched the area and found very few showing up.

Tony found why and changed the code to the next line of the poem at the bottom, as his sig line.  That brought the rest and the FBI swooped in to arrest them all.  That was nicely done and Tony got to gloat.  He used that happy time to make sure the FBI couldn't try to hack him again.  He found the doorway that SHIELD had tried to create and locked it down too. That made him happier after he sent a warning email that another attempt like that and he'd take his weapons making fingers overseas.

***

Joyce got a phone call and smiled.  "Thank you, Maria.  Are the babies and Tara all right?  Wonderful."  She hung up and looked at Bruce and the babies.  "They're all fine.  Tara is at the temple with the twins.  Tony's gotten most of the group down.  The FBI was not pleased to find their bomb making lab."  Bruce smiled.  "Dawn has a headache the last she knew.  Pepper's at the temple too."  He nodded, pulling her closer to hug.  She kissed him.  "We're better now."

"Are my pets okay?" Callia asked.

"I'm sure they are.  If not, we can go stomp them in the court for hurting innocent animals, dear."  She smiled and nodded but still looked a bit sad.  "You can email your father to ask him."

She grabbed her grandfather's phone off his hip and did that.  She got one back that said he had forgotten to feed them but he was going right up to do that and he'd text her in a minute.  She put it beside her and went back to eating, staring at the phone.  It took ten stressful minutes, which Liz tried to interrupt by belching up all her dinner on herself.  When the phone rang Callia grabbed it before Bruce could, staring at it.  "Why did I lose a mouse?"  She saw there were two messages and moved to that one.

"Oh, one got free and is somewhere in the building.  I guess I can accept that for now."  She sent back a 'thank you, daddy' text and wrote one to Uncle Steve, who said he and Aunt Pepper were fine.  She grinned and took a picture of Liz being cleaned up, sending it to him.  Pepper sent one back that babies did that a lot.  She had.  Callia was happier with that and got back to dinner.  She was so glad she was only big enough to help feed the baby, not help her with diapers or clean up puke.

Bruce patted her on the back then took his phone back.  "Diapers happen and so does puking," he assured her.

She looked at him.  "Was that out loud?"  He smiled and nodded.  "I'm turning into Daddy.  I need some shopping time to make sure I stay a girl."  She stuffed her mouth again.  "Granma, do you like to shop?"

"I do, dear, but not right now.  Not until we're sure it's safe."

"Okay.  Can I go tinker with the car?"

"No, dear.  We need it to stay working until this is over with," Bruce said.  "We can build more models though."  She beamed and nodded, digging in to eat faster.  "Slow down.  I'm not nearly done yet."  She huffed but got seconds.  She deserved them.  She had even remembered to email her gymnastics coach that she couldn't be in for a few days due to the problems going on.

***

Xander showed up later that night, smoking but okay.  Phil stared at him.  "Huge demon."

"You okay?" he asked, holding out a cup of juice.

"I'm pretty okay."  He took a kiss and drank it, calming himself down.  "Pepper?"

"Her bloodwork came out clear again.  Steve's fussing over her at my temple."

"Wonderful."  He blinked a few times.  "I had no idea how tired I was."  He finished his juice, letting Phil take him to bed so they could sleep.  It didn't take long, just getting horizontal.  Phil stayed beside him to stroke over his hair.  The twins ran in and climbed up to cuddle their uncle's back and nap, no matter how huffy Tara got.  Phil smiled and shook his head so she left them alone.  It was comforting after a long, hard problem.  Phil slid down and let himself drift off too.  It was done with, he could rest too.

***

Out in the kitchen, Talsa was figuring out how to do dinner.  It might be the four adults who were awake but with the way things were going it might just be her.  Well, leftovers were good for breakfast.  She made a regular dinner that could be gotten cold from the fridge and settled in to eat hers warm.  It was a nice, quiet night.  Finally.

33: Fix-It Old Ones

Repairing the damage from the attack and other things.

Dawn showed up for work when the tower reopened, staring into the empty office.  She checked, no notes.  She went looking for Stark in his lab, finding no one.  No one in the penthouse either.  So she went back to her desk and logged in for the day.  No phones ringing, nothing.  She had some reports she could do though so it was good.  Quiet was always good.  Unless someone was holding everyone hostage somewhere.  She checked the security cameras and nope, no group of hostages or workers getting information.

So she got back to work, putting the completed reports on the desk.  She went on her usual lab rounds, finding less than half the scientists in.  They all gave her weak smiles but they were okay.  No one in Lab 7 so they were probably in their suite.  Still no one in Stark's lab.  So that cut down her duties for the day.  She grabbed the other administrative reports due and put them on the desk.  Then she sat down to pop her neck and see if she could get the stress knot out.  Because, yeah, she was still worried.  The elevator dinged, making her jump.  She watched who came out.  The agent from the State Department.  "Mr. Stark and Miss Potts are not here today," she said professionally.

"I got sent on behalf of the people that the Prince had underneath him."

"I still don't want a damn thing from them."

"I understand that.  They wanted me to tender official apologies from the Regent and the new Crown Prince."  She nodded, smiling slightly.  "And they still have to denote you somehow in the records."  She groaned, shaking her head.  "Sorry."

She looked at him.  "We were not married.  I have a valid marriage already."

"I'm aware of that now.  Unfortunately he made laws invalidating marriages that were done in any other country but his and Russia.  So by their laws, you're a widow with the way he did the paperwork.  The lack of a ceremony or you being there was a perk of the office.  If you had given in, you would've had the ceremony that night."

She stared at him.  "Can you politely tell them to leave me the fuck alone?"

"I've tried.  That's all they want.  Just to put you in the books so their history is correct."

She groaned, shaking her head again.  "Fine, whatever, as long as I do not have to hear about it and I don't have to deal with a single one of them."

"No, I don't think they want to deal with anyone right now.  They've pretty much shut the borders for the time being."  He pulled out papers.  She read them over, marking out whole sections before handing it back.  "I'll hand this to them and have them amend it, Miss Summers.  Will you be here today?"

"Barring another emergency or me having a screaming fit in the garage, yeah."

"Thank you.  If not, it'll be tomorrow."

"Tomorrow we have meetings with the FBI by the desk calendar."

"That's fine."  He left, going back to the embassy to talk to them.  She had reasonable conditions so the others should deal well with it.  She wasn't asking for any sort of compensation.  Just to be left alone.  The new Regent should understand that.

Dawn thumped her head on the desk then emailed the doctor to see if it was time for her next shot yet.  She sent back she was free so they could do it.  Dawn went down there to grab some tylenol and swallow them dry before getting jabbed in the arm.  "Thank you."

"Welcome.  Are you all right?"

"That wannabe world leader's people want to keep their history straight."  The doctor laughed, shaking her head.  "Seriously, Dr. Pigalli.  They offered me a title since he managed to screw up his whole country to try to marry me against my will."  She looked around.  "Everyone in Malibu but us?"

"Mostly."

"Figures.  Thanks."  She walked off, going back to her desk.  She sent an email to Pepper's phone, hearing it ringing in the office.  Stark's went to JARVIS, who sent back he'd tell him and they could probably video conference if they had to.  She leaned back, popping her neck again.  Then she got up to make sure that system was set up.  Which it wasn't.  The system was hard to get together, hard to make work together, and a pain in the ass to deal with.  Great!  But it gave her something to do.  One of the electronics people came down to help her when she called.  They were confused by it too.  "It's a Tony special," she said dryly.  "I know how it's supposed to hook up."

He looked at the cords then shook his head.  "This does not work."

"No, but we'll need it.  There's meetings and they're in Malibu."

"Great."  She grinned and they did manage to connect things and get it set up.  He blinked at Tony's lab popped into view.  "Welcome."

"Thanks, Miller."  He walked off happier.  She looked at the projection, stepping into view of the camera.  "Meetings tomorrow?"

"JARVIS told me.  Thank you for setting that up."

"Not an issue.  But can you maybe make it one piece instead?" she asked with a smile.

"I'll try really hard to think about that," he said dryly, smirking at her.  "Why are you there?"

"Because as far as I knew I was supposed to be here today."

"Oh, well, that's a failure in communication.  Anything happen?"

"No.  It's been absolutely silent so far."

"Good!"  He grinned.  "Ummm," he said, noticing Callia walking into his lab.  "Feed them?"

"Going to."  She hung up and went up to handle the pet maintenance for her niece.  Carrot was sniffly so she called the vet too, taking it down there to be examined.  They gave Carrot a shot and some drops for his cold.  She got shown how to do that and it would work.  She got them back to the office and him back in the cage, counting mice.  She was now missing two.  She found that one in the bathroom.  The other one was somewhere.  Setting up a humane trap was easy enough, and the mice loved the food she picked so it was good.  They had food, water, clean litter, it was a great day to be a Stark pet.

She checked the time on her phone on the way back to her desk, seeing it was barely noon.  Which sucked.  She sat down to work on the tasks ahead, getting things ready for the board meeting in a few weeks, because they would call one about the attacks, and ready for a few other meetings they had coming up.  Including finding and bookmarking sites for them, inserting them into the presentation so she could pull them up quickly that day.  She heard running and winced but it was the guys in Shield Development playing catch again.

"Guys?" she complained.  "Gym?"  They huffed but went down there.  "Thank you."  She made notes on what events were coming up, and how formal they had to be, because Pepper would need something to wear.  She'd only have to hit one of them.  That was a great bonus.  She leaned back in her chair, looking over the calendar beyond the month ahead.  She had a day off scheduled.  She hadn't but she had one marked.  She checked and the files.  She asked her spouses, who said they hadn't put in paperwork for it.

She sighed and undid that, making a special note in the system that she had not asked for that day off.  That got resynched so it was updated and it was good.  It was barely after one but it was good.  She went down to lunch and brought it back up there since no one was in the caf either.  It felt like she was working in a ghost town.  She sent an email up to Jonathan to see how Andrew was.  No answer so they were probably enjoying the day off too.  After another boring hour, the phone finally rang.

"Thank you for... hey, Pepper.  No, it's all on your desk.  I've updated the schedule since I found a day off I hadn't asked for, and I've done the work for the upcoming meetings.  The video conferencing setup is working in case you need it for tomorrow.  Yes, you do.  Allegro Industries."  She looked at the schedule.  "Then at ten you have a meeting with your lawyer over your will being updated.  At one you have the meeting with the jet design team.  Then at four you have one scheduled with Williams and Shield Design."  She leaned back again.  "All that's ready.  No, it's absolutely silent here today.  Very few of us are here.  Sure, I'll be here until five.  You know that."  She hung up after Pepper did.  At least it gave her time to work on not getting sick from the vaccine dose.

***

Dawn came home that night to a bad scene.  "Mission?" she asked since she saw the two larger bags packed by the door.

"Yup," Clint said, coming down from his apartment with a few things to pack.  He took a kiss.  "Long one too.  Sorry."

She sighed.  "How long?"

"Maybe a month?"

She grimaced.  "That sucks.  At least you'll be back for that final blood test though."

He gave her a hug.  "Quit worrying about that.  Nothing's going to come up, Dawn."  She gave him a pointed look.  "Really."

"Fine.  Whatever.  Are you leaving tonight or tomorrow?"

"Ass crack of pre-dawn," he said dryly.  "I ordered dinner."

"Okay."  She went to change and came out to find Natasha finishing her packing.  She took a kiss from her too, though Natasha kept it really restrained.  Dawn looked at her.  "Worried?"

"No."

Dawn nodded, grabbing dinner when the door was knocked on.  She gave the nice delivery guy a tip once Clint had paid and they settled in to eat and relax.  'Tasha and Clint both needed to relax so they could get into the proper mindset.  They watched some tv and cuddled around her, Clint giving her squeezes whenever he shifted.  She even waited up with them so she could say goodbye properly and not have them sneak out on her.  Natasha gave her a nice, restrained kiss again.  Clint mugged her against the wall.  She smiled and watched them head down to get into the SHIELD SUV for the trip to the airport.  Then she went to bed.  Sometimes she really hated all their jobs.

***

Dawn turned on the conferencing software the next day after a warning text.  It didn't want to come on.  One of the cables had slipped free.  It came on with a loud beep of noise.  Tony was mugging Steve.  "Guys?" she called.  They broke apart and Tony shrugged.  "I sent a text."

"Didn't hear it," Tony said.  "Pepper, meeting?"  She came over with Liz in her snuggler.  They settled in to go over what was needed, what they were meeting about, because Stark had forgotten, and Dawn pulled up all the projections they should need.  They didn't come to a full agreement but a tentative one was halfway done so it was a good one.  She escorted them out and then came back to turn things off.  Tony was waiting.  "What?" he asked.

"Nothing.  Why?"

"You look tired."

"They left for a mission this morning."

"Seriously?  It's not like they can do covert work."

"I didn't ask," she said firmly.  "That's not my need-to-know most of the time."

He nodded.  "Good point.  You good?"

"Bit bored," she said dryly.

"That happens.  Everything else good?"

"No one new showed up from yesterday, boss."

"They're mostly here.  Jonathan was pouting that you sent an email instead of coming to see them until I pointed out you were at home."  She shook her head with a sigh.  "Anything we need to see?"

"Reports from Accounting and things are in.  They're on the desk.  I resynched the system yesterday so you might want to hit yours."

"JARVIS did mine earlier."  He kept staring at her.  "You good?"

"I'm fine."

"You're worried."

"They're gone for probably a month this time."

He winced.  "That's bad."

"Yup."  She smiled.  "So, anyway."  She waved a hand.  "Should I keep this up for tomorrow's meetings?"

"We're using the beaming satellite tonight."

"Sure.  I'm going to go up to check on her pets during lunch."

"Have fun with them."

"Carrot has a cold.  She has antibiotic drops she has to take."

"I have no idea how to do that," he admitted.

"I wrote out the instructions when the vet told me."

"Thank you."

"I think I may have caught the other mouse.  I put up a humane cage trap for it last night."  She leaned against a chair.  "Anything you need me to do?"

"No.  Go take care of the animals.  I want you to eat lunch, not work through it."

"Boss, I'm about down to shopping or an inventory," she said dryly.  She turned things off and went to do that.  The mouse had been caught.  Or a mouse had been caught and Callia's pet white mouse was nibbling at some dropped food.  She scooped it up and put it into the cage.  Carrot got his drops.  Everything got cleaned and tidied.  Including the kitchen because there were dishes.  Apparently Callia had decided to 'cook' again by using every dish in the kitchen.  Then she went down to start the inventory of the supply cabinets.  It had to be done anyway.  Might as well get it done now.

By lunch she had all the supply cabinets done, including the ones for the lab floors.  She did grab something to eat, because Tony would nag, and went back to her desk to eat it.  Her phone rang.  "Thank you for.... I'm eating right now, Tony.  No, I'm not in the caf.  It's absolutely empty.  There's like nineteen of us in the whole building.  I don't feel like going to sit by myself in there."  She ate a bite of salad.  "See, eating."  She hung up and ate mechanically, reading on her nook.  The State Department guy showed up.  "Thankfully the FBI realized they were out there."

"That's a good thing.  They're insistent that since it's legal to them, that you have to be noted officially."

Dawn stared at him.  "If they try to give me a title I'm coming back there to finish them off."

"Okay," he said with a nod, backing off.  "I'll let them know that."  He left, calling them from the car.  Apparently adamant and stubborn were both in her personal dictionary.  He went back up there when he got a sighed agreement.  "They're sorry.  They thought it might make things easier."  Dawn shrugged, finishing her last bite of salad.  "I'll bring the papers tomorrow?"

"I'll be here," she quipped.

"Thank you, Miss Summers."  He left, going back to get the faxed papers.  His boss was not amused but yay!  Some girls didn't want that sort of recognition and power.  Not every young woman wanted to be a princess or a countess.

***

Dawn came in the next morning to more noise and still no Pepper or Tony.  She found Steve staring at the mail on her desk.  "Big things?"  He blinked at her and grinned.  "Huge mail problems?"

"Wondering why you have one in Russian."

"I have no idea yet."

"It's been opened."

"Um, yeah, that's the new protocol for any admin letters.  Just in case."  He nodded he understood that.  "The wonder twins?"

"They're still there.  The beaming satellite's interface went down last night during a storm."

"Figures," she said dryly.  The State Department agent came off the elevator looking happy.  "It fixed?"

"It is."  She read it over and signed it, handing it back.  "Thank you, Miss Summers."

"No, thank you for making them leave me alone.  Want to handle the Russian mob?"

He winced.  "Not really my area of expertise.  Why?"

She scanned the letter then let him have it with a smile.  "Because they won't leave me alone either."

He read it and winced.  "That's bad.  Have they been persistent?"

"Very.  For over four years now.  I get a nice 'come work for us' offer every few weeks from three different groups."

"I'll talk to my boss.  May I copy this?"  She ran it for him.  "Thank you, Miss Summers.  I'll let you know."  He left, going back to his office.  His boss hated that letter once it had been translated for him.

Dawn looked at Steve and shrugged.  "Maybe they can make them go away since I couldn't and no one else could."

He patted her on the arm.  "Maybe.  Anything going on today?"

She checked the calendar, which was suspiciously empty.  "It should have things to do today."  She checked.  Her computer had been erased.  She sighed and looked at him.  "Let me reload the backups."

"Sure."  He went into the office to see what theirs said.  "This one's clear too."

"That's because Tony's is the master calendar."  She heard him talking to Tony a minute later.  "Hey, JARVIS?" she asked quietly.  No answer.  "Tell him JARVIS isn't answering."

He came out.  "He said there's a total server failure."

She groaned and got into her phone.  She hadn't synched it in a few days.  "They have meetings at ten and three today."

Steve read them off over her shoulder.  "Okay, Tony.  I'll tell her."  He hung up.  "He said if you're bored, do the inventory."  She handed him that folder with a smirk.  "That bored?"

"Nineteen of us in the building for the last few days."

"Shoot, that's quiet."  He put it and the others she handed him onto the main desk and came back.  "Need help with anything?"

"No, I'm all done ahead of time.  As long as I can get the files off the computer."  He smiled and left her to be frustrated with it.  Thankfully she had done a backup yesterday.  Her backup drive got plugged in and she rebooted the computer.  This time the safe mode came up thanks to the files on the backup drive.  She got into it to restore the backup and let things happen as they should.  It took nearly an hour but it happened sometimes.

When her phone rang she grabbed it while typing one handed.  "Thank you for calling Stark International, how may I direct your call?"  She listened.  "He's not here, Fury.  He's in Malibu with broken stuff.  No, I haven't heard anything.  Are they supposed to be checking in with me?  Because they never said that."  She listened to him.  "We can block it off.  I have it fully blocked off so I don't distract them.  I do anytime they're in the field."   She rolled her eyes.  "If I hear something I'll tell you as I'm going to rescue, okay?"  She hung up on him and got back to work after tapping out a text to Tony.  He'd get it eventually.

Steve came out.  "They're on assignment?"

"For probably a month," she said dryly as she worked on the computer.  "Yay."

He patted her on the head.  "You can come down for card games too."

She smiled.  "I know."  He went back into the office, reading things that Tony had collected about himself.  Dawn looked up as the air conditioning system went down.  "Really?" she asked.  She called down to maintenance.  No one.  She called security.  "Do we have maintenance people?  No, the vents just quit blowing.  Thanks."  She hung up.  A maintenance guy showed up a few minutes later to check the system on their floor.  He came back scowling and headed down on the elevator.

She shook her head.  "It's going to be one of those weeks," she muttered.  She finally got everything restored and printed off the things she needed as she disconnected the backup drive.  Then she did a system backup onto the server, which didn't work.  She looked up at the sizzling noise and winced.  The computer had just died.  Her nook had died.  Her backup drive had died.  "Great," she complained.  "Steve, we just hit by an EMP."

"I heard the noise."

"It killed the computers."  She sent out a building-wide announcement to that effect.  She could almost hear the groans from the computer people.  Steve tried but his phone was dead.  Her phone had been inside her purse, underneath her shielding layer.  She handed it over and let him call that in to Tony and Pepper while she went to survey the damage.

"Tony said he'll replace all the computers and phones.  To go grab one from the storage area."

"If they were in the building, they got hit too," she said dryly, looking up at him.  "Is he exhausted?"  Steve nodded.  "Figures.  Maybe I can reboot it too."  She took her phone to put into her shielded bag and took his to see if she could get it to reboot.  It took plugging it in to recharge it and fiddling with the connections once she had the phone open but she did get it to boot up for him.  "Finish charging it."  He grinned, taking it to the office to plug in so he could finish reading.  The system came back up and her computer rebooted, but now it had duplicates of everything.  "Fuck it, I'll fix it tomorrow, when I have nothing to do."  She looked up.  "JARVIS, status check please?"  Still no answer.  She sent out a company-wide email to check the status of their labs for repairs that were still needed.  Then she went to get some coffee.  She was tired for some reason and hadn't really done anything all day.

***

Tony got the same email and winced.  "Why would we need more?  We have spares in the closet."

"That was in the same building," Pepper reminded him.  Tony groaned and shook his head, hanging it.  "Sleep, Tony."

"I can't.  I have to fix things."

"Sleep anyway.  You can fix JARVIS later."  He looked at her.  "He's reloading himself anyway."  She handed him Liz.  "Go nap."  He nodded, taking her to nap with Callia, who was sleepy for some reason too.  Pepper smiled, settling in to check her email now that it was back up.  She had a few panicked ones from the other buildings.  The beaming satellite really needed that interface fixed.  She called Jonathan.  He and Andrew were the next best thing to a Stark.  "Guys, are you okay?"

She listened to Andrew grumping that he was grouchy and itchy.  "It happens to all wounds like that.  Trust me.  Want to come tinker with the beaming satellite interface?  It's still broken and trying to send another EMP out."  They hung up and were up there a few minutes later.  She showed them where it was hidden.  MB and Patty, their wife and girlfriend, showed up to help.  Andrew moaned when he saw the burned out mess in there.  "Do I need to see if Rodney's busy?"

"You might, yeah," Jonathan said.  "Or if there's a free, well-stocked Radio Shack somewhere nearby, Pepper.  This is a huge mess."  She looked and winced, handing over her corporate card.  They grinned and went to get the supplies they'd need.  Plus extra because if one system went down, others quickly followed.  It was a Law of Engineering.

Pepper smiled and sent out messages, turning off the satellite for now. Tony hadn't wanted to but there was no way she wanted to have to replace all the computers all over Stark Industries this year.

***

Dawn came home that night to a flashing light on her answering machine.  She hit it.  "Dear, why don't you come over for dinner tomorrow?" her mother suggested.  "Tonight we're busy going out but I'm making croquettes tomorrow."

She smiled and called her mother back.  "I can do that," she agreed.  "Pending an emergency at the office.  No, ask Bruce about the beaming satellite and the EMP it did."  She did and he groaned.  "We might have to replace every single machine, Mom.  Thanks though.  I'll try to make it."  She blew a kiss.  "Have fun at dinner.  Love you both."  She hung up and looked in the fridge.  Nothing edible.  The freezer had a few things.  Nothing she wanted to eat.  She decided on a few granola bars and a diet soda to some mindless tv in her jammies.

Not like she was on a schedule, no one was there to impress, and she was exhausted because sleeping on the cat wasn't the same as sleeping on Clint.  She noticed where the cat was and stared at him.  "Get off the tv."  He jumped down and went to the bedroom.  "I'm not that sort of tired, Loki cat."  She had learned to distinguish because of the time Loki had showed up to see why she had called for him.  And glared heavily when she had pointed at the cat with a grin before handing him the catnip ball she was trying to tease him with. Apparently godly Loki didn't like catnip balls.

The cat hopped up and walked along the back of the couch, settling in to nibble on her hair.  At least someone loved her enough to check on her.

***

Dawn came in the next morning to find angry people.  That was a change for this week.  "People?" she said.  They all turned to stare at her.  "What's happened now?"

"The computers are still down!" one of the lab assistants said.  "Pepper said that they're all working on it."

"Okay," Dawn said.  "Who has tablets that work?"  They all groaned and went to do it that way.  "Once the system is back up, we'll restore all the old files and everything.  They have to fix the problems out there then come here and fix them."  That got a few nods and a few grimaces.

"Can't we get the two geeks you dote on?  Stark's been mentoring them," one of the interns said.

"They're in Malibu.  Pepper had them taking shifts with Stark to fix things."

"Oh, pity."  She went down to talk to her fellow lab people.  It looked like they'd have an easy day.

Rodney appeared in a beam of light, donut in his mouth, staring at her.  "What happened?"

"The only thing I've heard is how the beaming satellite's interface getting fried issued an EMP.  Who told you?"

"Atlantis.  She was worried about JARVIS."

"He's there in Malibu.  He can't answer here the last I knew."

"Great," he said.  He finished his donut.  "Where are the systems?"

"The other side of the quarantine floor."  She smiled.  "Please?"

"Going.  Get me coffee?"

"Of course, Rodney."  She moved to make him a pot to take with him.  "There's a coffee maker in Tony's safe room too."

"Good."  He took it with him.  She stuffed a few coffee packages in his pocket, earning a smirk.  He got let into that level by security, who didn't even remark on him carrying the entire pot of coffee.   He was well known to them thanks to the tinkering times.  He found the computer modules and winced.  "I need a fan first of all," he complained, setting down his precious coffee and going to get one, and the coffee maker.  It was going to take forever to get this fixed.  He sent a list of materials to Dawn, who said she'd have Bruce get them since she didn't know what some of them were.  He sent back a 'fine' and got to work separating out what was the most critical to get fixed.

He'd definitely need more coffee.

And maybe Radek.  Radek would love JARVIS.

***

It had been a greatly long weekend, but everything was fixed when Dawn came in Monday.  Dr. Pigalli was happy too when Dawn went down for her vaccine stab.  "Last one?" Dawn asked.  She nodded.  "Then a month wait?"

"Just in case, so the vaccine doesn't get caught as an infection," she said quietly.  "You need to quit worrying and sleep."

"I can't sleep.  The cat's not the same as Clint.  He doesn't cuddle the same way."

"They're not home?"

"They've been on a mission now for a week, Doc.  Might be a month."  Doc growled.  "I'd like to do the same but I know their jobs and the reality of it," she sighed.  "They can't even check in."  The doctor patted her on the knee.   "I know, I need to quit wallowing."

"I think it's pretty normal.  Do you want me to prescribe you something?"

"No.  Because then I'll probably have nightmares."

"Okay.  Let me know if it gets too bad."  Dawn nodded and stood up.  "Go and try not to worry.  I'm sure it's nothing, Dawn."

"If you're sure.  Can you maybe reassure my wife?" she asked quietly.  She went back up to her desk, finding screaming people.  She whistled.  "Shut.  The.  Fuck.  Up!"  They all stopped to stare at her.  "Thank you!  This is a workplace.  We do not need to have that sort of screaming match in a workplace.  Those of you who are screaming I know aren't employees so I'd mind my manners before I have Security throw you off the roof.  Am I clear?"  They backed away from her.  "Good.  Now, what did you non-employees want?"

"I demand to see my daughter," one of them said.

"Okay, and that would be?"

"My daughter is Mary Beth," she said, sounding bitter.

"MB's still in Malibu, ma'am.  They're working on the last of the repairs out there.  There was a huge electrical storm that hit the computer towers the wrong way, and it blew everything.  She's decided to help since Andrew and Jonathan are both out there working on it."  She stared at her.  "I can call out there so you can talk to her if you wish."  She pursed her lips and nodded.  Dawn grabbed her desk phone to dial MB's phone.  "It's Dawn.  Your mother's here."  She handed the phone over.  "The rest of you were screaming at the assistants why?" she asked.

"I demand to see that pervert Stark," one ordered.

She stared at him.  "My wife can kick your ass," she said bluntly.  The man gasped and backed up.  "We do not allow such prejudice language in this building."  She stared at him.  "Did you have an appointment?"  Tony came out of the office.  "Boss, are you busy?"

"I was trying to be.  You yell better than some Marines I know," he quipped with a grin for her.

"Sometimes I have to."  She shook her head, looking at the last screaming, heaving person.  "I know you're a reporter.  How did you get up here without us being warned?"  She glared.  Dawn stared her down until she looked away.  "Well?  You aren't on the schedule that I'm aware of."

"I wanted a comment on all this mess."

"Well, then you should probably call the PR person.  Let me get him up here to talk to you on the way down."  She used her cellphone to do that.  He came off the elevator to talk to her on the way down to the main entrance.  She rolled her eyes.

"Yours still works?" Tony asked.

"Because I had it in the shielded bag.  I went in and soldered a few connections on Steve's so his should work."

"Figures.  We'll replace all the non-working stuff later."

"Sure, boss.  That includes a lot of lab equipment."  He winced but nodded he'd handle it.  She went to her desk to make notes.  MB's mother was getting huffy about something.  Dawn looked at her.  "As far as I know she's not pregnant, MB's Mom.  Andrew and Jonathan have a side project of working on male pregnancies so she never has to suffer through one."

"This baby she's been around?"

"Probably Pepper's daughter, Liz.  She's seven-months-old tomorrow."

She glared.  "I still don't want her breeding like that."

"That's really up to MB since she's an adult and married."  She stared at her.  "I do have to protect our interns, ma'am, so please quit threatening your daughter in my hearing?"  She hung up on her when she started to rant.  "Thank you.  Have a great day and thank you for visiting Stark International."  She smiled sweetly.

"My daughter will get out of this libidinous hellhole one way or another!" she threatened.

"MB signed on this weekend to a very nice contract as a lab second," Tony quipped, smiling fakely at her.  "She's got good benefits, on-site housing because the boys live here in one of the suites, and she's a great lab second.  Patty got the same deal."

"I will have my daughter out of here!" she ordered.  She took a swing at Tony and Dawn tazed her.

"Sure, when you're no longer evil and back on your meds, we can talk about that," Dawn quipped.  She stared at her.  "By the way, I am the defense perimeter around here, ma'am.  You just violated it.  Your choice is to leave the building, or get arrested and leave the building in handcuffs.  We don't need this after having a whole week of computer issues."  Security came up smiling at her.  "Hey, guys.  Not even a mouse this time."  They smiled and pulled out the taser spikes to walk the woman off.

Tony looked at her.  "Are you taking tips from Coulson?"

"Maybe," she said dryly.  "Someone around here has to have one since he's on assignment."

"He is?" Tony demanded.

"Yuppers."  She grimaced.  "Want me to make you guys coffee and set up a conference room, boss?"

"No, we're good."  He took his meeting to the office.  "Sorry, sometimes she's very protective of us."

"If my mother was like that I would've put her in a home."

"MB is a very sweet young woman.  Great chemist too.  Her mother made it so she didn't really understand people but she's working on that and she's on a much better footing with her new husband."  He smiled.  "I mentor her husband and his lab partner."

"That's wonderful.  Young scientists should have mentors that they can look up to."

"We do try."  Rodney came in looking exhausted.  "Don't tell me you worked all weekend, Rodney."

"No, just since about four when a fuse blew in JARVIS's local systems."

"JARVIS, are you all right?" Tony asked.  No answer.  He groaned.  "Go nap, Rodney.  I'll have him rebooted out there."  Rodney smirked as he left them alone.

"Eat something before you nap, McKay," Dawn ordered.  "That way we don't have to worry about your blood sugar dropping too low."

"I had a power bar a few minutes ago."

"Fine.  Have a good nap."

He shook his head.  "You still sound like someone's mother," he complained.

She smiled.  "Not this year."  He shivered and went down to his guest suite to curl up and nap after having a moment of masturbation.

Dawn made more notes and filed them away.  She sent out a company wide email about needing to know who needed things replaced or repaired, this was their last chance to be put on the list.  She had barely gotten any so she knew they were missing some.  She linked to the form they needed in the email.  Within minutes she had over a dozen.  She checked and printed them as they came in, sending a few back for corrections because it just had 'lab machines' or something on it instead of which lab machines.  She added a note she needed to know the names so they could be ordered or fixed.  They got sent back fairly quickly but she'd check on her making coffee rounds in an hour.

Tony glanced at his phone when the email beep happened.  "We don't have them all, Dawn?"

"Nope.  Barely got ten."

"I was hopeful."  He put his phone face down on the desk after turning off the ringer.  "It's been an insane week."

"I figure it has."  He smiled.  "How are the interns looking?"

"We don't officially quit taking them until April.  One has an automatic in with someone who never takes them but she came up with his mentor."  That got a smile and a nod.  "Most of the others are looking a bit short.  We've only gotten ten applications.  I'm not sure if that's because of what happened two weeks ago or not."

"Probably a worry about how safe it will be."

"Maybe but that hardly ever happens.  I think the lab in Malibu got a few more.  We'll have to see."  That got another nod.  "Did you have one you wanted to talk about?"

"I have a few coming up that show promise."  They both looked up at the crackling noise.

"Oh, dear, what a headache," JARVIS complained, sounding a bit miffed and like an American teenager.  "I feel like I have a hangover."

"JARVIS, your voice is off," Tony said.

"It is?  Oh, dear, it is."

"Reboot from your last backup," Tony said with a fond smile.

"Yes, I think I shall."  He did that and then cleared his throat, his voice back to the normal calm, quiet, genteel British voice.  "That's better.  Let me do a damage assessment of all Stark properties."

"Dawn's gathering those," Tony said.  "Let me know later."

"I can do so, sir."  He faded out.

"I'll fix that option later too.  His equalizer is off."  He shrugged and shifted to look at his former teacher again.  "It's going to be a long week."

"Probably."  He smiled.  "You have a lot to show for it though."

"Yeah, we'll be getting back to normal."  He smiled as Pepper walked in.  "Liz?"

"Napping."  She sat down.  "We had a screaming match?"

"MB's mother.  She threatened she'd be getting her daughter out of this libidinous hellhole."

Pepper snorted and shook her head.  "Why?"

"She was gushing over a baby apparently," the professor said.

"Liz," Tony agreed.

"That woman needs meds," Pepper said with a smile.

"She might get them since Dawn tazed her."

"Good!  Saves me from doing it."  She walked off after grabbing the reports, closing the door so they had some privacy.

"Sorry, Pepper's having a mean day," he said with a grin.

His former professor laughed.  "That's usual for some women.  Liz?"  Tony showed him a picture from his phone.  "She's cute.  Yours?"

"Hers.  Genius sperm bank."

"Wonderful.  Going to mentor her into MIT?"

"If at all humanly possible and my own spawn Callia."  He grinned.  "She's already tinkering with cars and circuit boards.  She made a self-rocking cradle mechanism.  She wanted it to be rocket powered but she understood why she couldn't."

"Aww.  My next protege."  He smiled and shook Tony's hand.  "I'll scare up a few for you."

"I'll consider them like I have the others you've sent me."  His professor smiled and let him have some peace and quiet for a few minutes.  He looked out there, seeing Dawn rubbing her neck.  He walked out and swatted her hands.  "Let me."

"I'm good, Tony.  I slept funny trying to curl around the cat."

"Uh-huh.  How long?"

"Month."

"That sucks."  He worked out the tension, making her wince a bit but then she relaxed.  She actually fell asleep in her chair.  He grinned at his good work, taking her phone and forwarding her desk phone to it.  He walked off to find Pepper in one of the conference rooms.  "I fixed Dawn's neck problem.  She's napping."

"Did they get too energetic?" she asked, not looking up from her reading.

"They're on a month-long mission."

She stared at him.  "Both of them?"  He nodded.  "She's got that really horrifying bloodtest coming up in a few weeks!"

"I think she's resigned to doing it on her own."  He sat down and put his feet up in a free chair.  "So, how are we looking?"

"A lot of damage according to JARVIS.  He looked at the ones Dawn had gotten and made a list of the rest."  She handed it over.  "If we use our new computer systems, we'd wipe out our stockpile for sale."

"They're not going as fast as I had hoped.  We'll probably be okay if we start with the most critical and move on to some laptop systems."  He handed it back.  "Plus the lab machines need to be looked at by their sort of repairmen.  Maybe they can fix half of those."

"Maybe," she agreed. She handed something else over.  "The art collection is in for cleaning and evaluation.  It'll be here for the next six months."  He smiled.  "The cars are all here in storage until the garage in the new tower is completed.  Callia's got it on security monitor while she's brushing her pets.  Carrot's getting drops.  We called to see how to do it since Dawn's handwriting was a bit messy.  The paper got wet.  We're due for a checkup of that in a few days."  He nodded.  "She did manage the drops by herself.  Carrot's happy enough to suck on the eyedropper."

"Even better.  Are they all there?"

She nodded with a slight smile.  "Dawn caught the other one with a humane trap."

"Excellent.  I hate to see Callia sad over her mice."  He shifted to cross his feet in the other direction.  "Anything else going on?"

"She's going to gymnastics today.  She's happy that she's working on her routine for the meet next month."  He nodded he remembered that.  "Dawn resynched her calendar?"  He checked and set it to be the main one then reset the whole system with it.  That fixed it and he put her phone down again with a grin.  "Nice work."

"Thanks."

"What're we going to do about that?"

"Nothing.  It's the job sometimes and she understands that, even if Fury does have sucky timing."  They shared a look.  "We can hand-hold."

"I can do that.  I've got to have some about then too."  He gave her a smug look.  She pinched him.  "No being smug."

"Fine."  He looked over as Steve came in.  "Anything good?"

"Nothing happened here.  Thankfully.  Dawn looks like she was a bit stressed."

"Is she still asleep?" Pepper asked.

"No.  The guys from Shield Development woke her up arguing."

"They like to walk past her to annoy her," Tony said.  "We'll figure it out."  Steve grinned.  "Any idea what they're doing?"

"Surveillance.  That's all Agent Hill would tell me."

Tony shook his head.  "Great.  Why did he need both of them?"

"I don't know.  They have Coulson with them."

"At least he'll make sure they're going to be okay," Pepper said.  Steve nodded.  "That thing with that prince?"

"All finished.  She signed papers with the State Department to make sure it was all done."

"Even better," Tony decided.  He put his feet down and stood up.  "Let me go check on the labs."  He took the damage report and gathered the ones from Dawn.  "Rest."

"I'm good.  Thanks for that."

"Not a problem."  He went down to the upper lab floor to check on his people.   The building was still way too quiet.  He paused and looked up.  "JARVIS, is the AC out too?"

"It appears it's not running, sir.  Maintenance is still staring at it in consternation."

"Let me check on that."  He pushed that button when the door opened.  They had people from their external maintenance contract with the repair group with them so he could ask nosy questions.  The control box had blown up during the EMP and power surges.  He hadn't even thought about those systems.  He'd have to check the emergency computer backup system too.

***

Xander showed up, hands in his pocket, staring at Dawn.  "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine.  Are you okay?"

"I can sleep with the dogs.  Hellion's about as tall as Phil is and likes to let me cuddle."

"The cat doesn't mind when I curl around him."  She smiled.  "We'll handle it."

He nodded.  "We will."  He gave her a hug.  "Your mom's worried."

"I knew what their job was when we got together."

"I know.  She's a worrywart just like you.  Speaking of...."

"Month."

"Damn.  That's a long time to worry."  He patted her.  "Let me go find something to do.  I'm without trainees."  He went to find Stark and McKay.  They had to have some idea of something he could get into.

Dawn smiled, shaking her head.  Xander was the best big brother ever.  She was glad he was happy with the other big brother sort she had.  She got up to deliver things to Pepper and had to grip the desk when the dizzy feeling hit her.  Xander came back to stare at her.  "Just stood up too fast."

"Bullshit.  You haven't eaten probably."

"No, I had breakfast."  She shrugged.  "It'll be okay."  She took the reports in.  Pepper was staring at her.  "Stood up too fast.  I ate breakfast."

She looked at the clock then at her.  "Go eat real food with real meat for lunch."  Dawn nodded, going to do that.  She shook her head.   Sometimes Dawn worried her.  Especially if she passed on those mannerisms to Callia and Liz.

***

Dawn reported to the infirmary that night, blinking at the doctor.  "I feel like shit," she said.

"You look like shit.  Haven't you been eating?"

"I have eaten.  I haven't skipped a single meal, even if I have to force myself.  I actually got some sleep last night."

"Hmmm."  She put her on a table so she could look her over.  "Can you feel anything off?"

"No?"

"Flu maybe?"

"I don't think so."

"Food poisoning?"

"I've only gotten some coffee.  Everything else has been either leftovers or Mom cooked or the caf here."

"That's weeding out food poisoning then."  She drew some blood to test it.  "Not that test but we'll see if you maybe have some sort of infection."

"Okay.  Sure."  She held her head.  "Still dizzy."

She got laid down while the doctor checked things.  It came up with an extremely high white count and no visible infection.  Everything came out normal for organ functions.  She ran her into the CT to do a full body image.  That showed what it was.  "You're swollen."

"Where?" Dawn asked.

"Your uterus is swollen."

"Like I was pregnant?" she asked quietly.

"No.  Like you have some sort of obstacle up there."  Dawn looked at her and shook her head.  "You sure?"

"Yup.  I don't play with toys when I'm by myself."

"That's normal I guess."  She got her into the right position and checked.  She pulled out the small bit of swab to look at.  Dawn shrugged.  "No exam recently?"

"I'm not due for another month."

"Good to know."  She ran the swab to see if it had any known drugs on it.  "How do you think it got up there?"

"Some godly interfering sort?" Dawn guessed.  "There's a few that don't like me.  I'm not sure why but they don't."

"Interesting."  She heard the beep and went to get the results, finding Pepper there.  "It was in Dawn and she has no idea how unless the cat did it for her."

"I don't think Dawn likes cats that way."

The doctor looked at it.  "Lube, which is reasonable for where it was.  Dawn, fertility meds again."

"Fuck them.  They did that on the wrong damn month."

The doctor and Pepper shared a smile.  That was the peppy Dawn they knew and liked.

Dawn came out dressed.  "Can we counter it?"

"You're not due for a shot anytime soon and like you said, you can't really get pregnant right now," she said.  "I'll make sure to give you the higher dose with your next one since it's due next month."  Dawn nodded, pushing her hair back.  "Go soak tonight."  She gave her an antibiotic to take.

"I can do that.  Thanks, Doc.  Night, Pepper."

"Better night, Dawn."

Dawn grinned as she walked out.  She got home and flopped onto the couch.  "JARVIS?"

"Yes, Dawn."

"Find out when they put that in me please?" she asked quietly.  "There's no way I've been taken without knowing.  I've only been here, work, Mom's, and one futile trip to the grocery store."

"I can see if there's any inconsistencies."

"Thank you."  She put her feet up and petted the cat since he was handily next to her.

***

Tony looked up as a monitor started to flash pictures and information.  "What happened now?" he asked.

"Dawn's worried that she might have been taken again, sir."

"Why?"

"I believe it has to do with the doctor finding a piece of medical swab inside her body."

Pepper walked in.  "I thought that was the doctor's swab and she was testing for new drugs that got given to her."

"No.  The swab was causing an infection and that's why she's been so rundown," the AI said.  "There's an inconsistency there," he noted.  "It somehow took her three hours to get home from her mother's by cab."

"She has a driver," Tony said.

"The company has not answered calls for anyone in a few days," JARVIS said after looking.  "I'm not sure if they're suddenly defunct or not."

"Happy said he knew the person who ran it," Tony said, calling him.  "Happy, that car company that you referred Dawn to.  They're not answering their phones?  Dawn's having to take cabs again."  He listened.  "So they went back to their home in the little former Soviet protectorate.  Sure.  Please.  Or no, I'm having her move here so we have time to look.  Thanks, Happy."  He hung up and grabbed a jacket.  "Let me go check on her."

"She's on the couch, sir."

"That's fine."  He kissed Pepper.  "Be right back with her."

"Please.  That's scary, Tony.  Especially since I heard Dr. Pigalli say that it had a new batch of fertility meds."

He shuddered.  "That's a really bad sign."  He went over there, with Happy driving so he had someone to help in case he needed it.  He knocked and Dawn opened the door, blinking at him.  "C'mon, you and the cat are being moved to the tower."

"I'm okay."

"You're not okay.  JARVIS found where it took you three hours to get home from your mother's."  She winced.  "C'mon, pack."  She grabbed some things, including one necklace, while he got the cat's things.  "I'll get you a new litter box so you don't have to filter that and bring it.  You can scoop it tomorrow or something."  She nodded, going with him.  Happy helped her carry one of the bags.  She had to go back up there for shampoo and soap, but that was normal.  They went back to the building and put them into one of the suites.  Happy took her to Petsmart to get things for the cat.  Then she settled in to sulk and watch tv there with the cat.  Tony went back up to the lab.  "JARVIS, do we have an ID on the cab driver?"

"I have been looking but I cannot find him in any federal or local level database."

"A thought but have you scanned airport arrivals?" Pepper asked.

"I had not yet."  He went through that one and sighed.  "He came into LaGuardia two weeks ago.  He does not have a legal cabby's licence, that cab is registered to someone else, who was reported missing the day after he appeared.  It was the one that picked him up from the airport.  Sir, I have no idea who has such plans."

"We'll figure it out, we always do," Tony assured him.  "We just have to figure it out faster."

"I'm seeing where he came from.  England."

Tony smirked at the ceiling.  "That's a great thing.  They're friendly sorts."

"Indeed, though he's not an agent of theirs in covert branch.  Hmm.  Last seen by Leeds before flying off.  Listed as a resident just outside there, in a small town that has....  A fertility clinic.  Not well known, doesn't take anything but special patients."  Tony was scowling.  "That is not good.  It's a research facility, sir.  The same one is connected to that scientist Gershwin Verganthes that you got noted to you before the battle in Sunnydale.  With the dosing of fertility medicine that Agent Romanoff got and Joyce had in her second tumor."

"Huh," he said.  His brain was working in very bad manners right now.  "So breeding new superheros and they dosed Dawn with fertility meds.  That's not a great thing.  Warn her?"

"I have."

"Excellent.  Let's see if we can stop them."

"Gladly.  I would not want to see anyone that upset."

***

Clint sat up gasping, holding his head.  "Ow.  Even the dream ones hurt."  He rubbed his eyes.  "Coulson?"

"Right here," he said quietly, handing him some water to drink and sticking his arm with an epi pen.  "Why did you get the vision?"  He handed over some headache pills, the strongest thing they had with them for a painkiller.

Clint blinked at him.  "Because she's going to be in danger."

"You can't share skills that way."

Clint shook his head.  "I can pull a very slight amount of her magic from her."  He looked around.  "She's on the target?"  He nodded.  Clint winced.  "Just read it.  I don't want to let those sort of things into the open air."

Phil read his vision and growled.  "Over their dead bodies."

"Ditto."  He finished the water and laid back down.  "We need to get back there."

"We need to stop that facility."  He looked at him.  "You're getting scanned."

"Yup.  Can you maybe let us have enough time so I can nag before I have to blow up like I did in it?"

"You two can talk later.  We're speeding this up.  Let me talk to Stark."  He flashed back to wherever he was, which was the lab.  "We have an issue."

"If this is about Dawn being given a new set of fertility meds, we know," Tony said, not looking over from his typing.

"Barton just had a vision showing that she'd be kidnaped soon."  Tony turned to look at him.  "You couldn't get hold of us.  When you finally did, it was with Dawn in a hospital in Amsterdam.  That was the nearest specialty hospital you could find on short notice.  She had just gotten out of surgery."  Tony shuddered.  "Not that sort."

"I know, I'm looking at them now."

"Barton said he saw all that.  That the nice agent she beat that day by the infirmary found her and told you."

"She's downstairs.  I had her and the cat moved."

"Thank you."

"A month, really?" he demanded.

"It is suspiciously bad timing," he agreed.  "I have no idea, Stark.  I didn't make the assignment."  He left, going back there.  He gave the spouses time to talk about what Clint had seen.  He could understand Natasha's worry, she had seen people who had died horribly from Hepatitis in the past.  Though he was fairly certain Dawn wasn't going to have it.  He hoped.  Natasha went stomping past.  "Stark's working on that lab.  Dawn's been moved to the building."  She turned to look at him.  "I told Stark, he had already had her moved."

"I will talk to her later."

"You might want to calm down first, Natasha," he said quietly.  "She's probably highly upset and you know how she gets tense when she's worried."

"If it was that minimal, she wouldn't worry."

Phil snorted, shaking his head, but he was slightly smiling.  "This is Dawn, Natasha.  She worries.  She gets it from Joyce.  Though I'm worried that you're not okay."

"I'm fine."  Phil sent a thought at John, who came to snatch her and check her over.  She slapped him.  "What are you doing?"

"Making sure you're not a robot."  He stared at her.  He touched her head, grimacing.  He poked something hard and she gasped.  "That's a really good way to lose it all."  He walked her off to talk to her.  There had been a time that they had worked together and he had nearly asked her out on a date a few times.  He respected Natasha.  He adored her like a sister, now, but he loved Dawn more so she was getting fixed.  Then John would go help destroy that lab.

***

Dawn woke up in the morning feeling like she hadn't slept.  She felt along the bonds, tied shut.  So it wasn't something bad happening that way.  They were still there and alive, and healthy.  Because she had put up a health reading on them.  She took a shower and got dressed, getting breakfast from the caf on the way to her desk.  Loki had found a few new perching spots and was staring at the new pigeons.  He had scared most of the ones around their building.  She made it to her desk to find a vision in her email.  She blinked.  "He had a vision?" she asked, then groaned.  "I need to find the people that can take those before he gets hurt."

A wish demon showed up.  "Sorry, couldn't get back to you faster, Dawn.  Are you sure you want to give them up?  They're handy to have."

Dawn blinked up at her.  "Can you take all but dream ones for the really important things?"

"I might be able to leave an emergency exception."  She ran a hand over her head.  "You've got some cranked things going on, princess."  Dawn grinned.  "Yeah, I can do that and it'll make sure he can't be hurt either.  You'll all have a migraine."

"Let me shout at Phil."  She sent a prayer his way and Xander showed up scowling.  "Someone wanted visions."

"Great!  They can have some of mine too," Xander said dryly.  He looked at the wish demon.  "Meri."

"Xander."  She smiled.  "I can move them to be dream ones unless they're really important."  She did that and took the skill with her.  Dawn was slumped on her desk by the time she left.  "There, all done."  She smiled.  "Let me get these to that person who wanted them."  She disappeared.

Xander tested and healed the burned feeling spot he could feel.  He thought at Phil, who said both Clint and Natasha were down but healthier.  Xander got Dawn to the infirmary.  The doctor glared at him.  "A wish demon just took most of her visions for someone that wanted them."

"Someone asked to have visions?"

"Apparently."

"Huh."  She nodded and they scanned Dawn.

Apollo appeared.  "I see more of her than I do some of my priests," he said dryly.

"No one called you," Xander said, looking at him.  "But if you want to help you can."  He smiled.

"My son likes her.  'Sclep would shoot me if she was hurt."

"A wish demon just took her visions from her."

"Someone actually wanted them?" Apollo asked.  "Weird."

"They probably had something bad happen and wanted to be warned before the next one."

"Could be."  He healed the rest of the damage the demon had caused.  "There, though that big burned out spot....."  He tested it and glared at Xander.

"Those were implanted with the mind control.  Hera said that area might not heal," he said quietly.  He sent over what he knew about that and that Hera and Mnemosyne had handled it.

Apollo looked more deeply.  "That's sick of someone."

"They were going to make her kill him as training," Xander said, shifting against the wall.  "They're all dead.  The few they left, I didn't."

"Good!"  He healed that, bringing his son and Mnemosyne running to help him.

"I couldn't heal that," the Goddess of the Mind said.

"Yeah, you should've asked," Apollo complained.  "I knew I felt something was off."  He and his son healed the bigger burned spot while she took all those fake memories away.  Including the ones in the box.  Dawn seized during it but that was to be expected with the level of energy pouring into her brain.  Finally it was completed and he smirked at her body.  "Nice work.  Very compact."  He looked at the doctor, holding up a finger.

"Because I want to," she said quietly.

"Okay."

"We adore Dawn around here."

"Even better."  He smiled and patted her on the shoulder.  "That's an interesting method of helping visions.  I hadn't thought about adrenaline helping the post-vision problems."

Asclepias nodded.  "I've been working with the researcher who's been finding a way to block them.  It does help."  They tested and Dawn was all right.  "Her bonds are shut?"

"They're on assignment," Xander said blandly.

"Question, before you can go," Dr. Pigalli said.  "Someone got into a fight with Dawn, they were attacking the tower to kill everyone, and had brought a needle with plasma in it to inject into her.  It had Hepatitis B in it.  Can you see if she's infected?  She's worried herself sick.  I've given her all three vaccine shots since she got scratched."

Asclepias looked then frowned.  "I can't tell.  The vaccine's still too new."

"Thank you for trying, Lord Asclepias."

Apollo looked and shook his head.  "There's a very tiny bit."  He scooped it out.  "That should prove she's not."  He grinned at her.  "A few germ modules."

"Thank you."  She bowed properly and smiled.  "I'll tell her so she can quit worrying."

"Joyce does the same thing," Xander said dryly.  Tony walked in.  "Tony Stark, I'm sure you've seen Apollo, this is his son Asclepias, and Mnemosyne, Goddess of Memories and the mind."

"Thank you for helping her.  We like Dawn around here."

"The Key was a favorite research topic of mine when I was younger," Asclepias said with a smile.  "Now she's a charming young woman."

"She is," Tony agreed.  "Who nags."

Apollo laughed.  "Some women do.  Those ones I never go back to after the initial tap."  He grinned.  "Laters, people."  He and his son disappeared.

Mnemosyne smiled at Tony.  "We've managed to repair the damage from the battle in Sunnydale and the implanted memories should all be gone."  She disappeared.

"Thank you," Tony called.  "That worried us a lot too."  He looked at Xander.  "They good?"

"Passed out.  Phil's managing it."  He looked at the doctor.  Then at Dawn.  "Need more help, Doc?"

"I can get her onto a regular bed, boys.  Go celebrate.  She'll probably have a thumping headache later."  They left her to do another CT on Dawn's head.  The damage she had been showing was gone.  It was a blessing.

***

Dawn blinked, looking around her mind.  "Wow, less cluttered."

Clint walked out of his gateway to look around.  "Didn't there used to be a forest and a tower here?"

"Yup," Dawn agreed.  "I guess that got moved too."  She looked around then at him.  "So, vision?"

"They still suck ass."  He stared at her.  "That's a sacrifice, and I realize that.  Thank you."

"I'll still have the dream ones."

"They still hurt," he quipped, coming over to hug her.  "If they had, I would've destroyed Fury and SHIELD for not telling us," he said quietly, giving her a squeeze.  She hugged him back.  Natasha came out of her mental gate and looked around.  "Someone did some housekeeping."

"The bruise from the power burnout in Sunnydale is healed," Dawn said, smiling at her.  "Want a hug?"

"I...."  She blinked.

"It's not like I'm contagious, Natasha."  She flinched.  "I might not even have any."

"It was just a scratch by the needle," Clint agreed.  "If so, we're not in a third world country.  There's treatments and we can make sure she's safe."  Natasha huffed and stomped off.  "We'll talk in a few, Short Stuff."

Dawn nodded, cuddling him.  "I missed this.  I sleep sucky when I'm by myself.  You're just too damn comfy, Clint Barton."

He grinned, kissing her on the head.  She tipped her head back for a real one.  "I am very comfy with you."  He looked at his own head.  "I have no idea why I have a club going on in there but it's probably what's causing the headache."  Dawn looked over and it was suddenly quieted but her headache got worse.  "Quit that."  He poked her.  She snuggled in again.  "We'll handle it, Dawn."

"I know."  She looked up, pulling back some.  "I realize it's your job and that you have to go on missions, all that.  I'm a realistic person, Clint, even when it sucks."

He grinned.  "We like that about you."  He took another kiss.  "Let me get back to my head.  I'll talk with Natasha later."

"I'll talk with her later.  It's our problem."

"I think it's a full family problem," he corrected.

"We'll see."  She kissed him and he made sure it lasted as long as it could.  "Pop around again?"

"I've been checking on you while you've been asleep."

She poked him on the stomach.  "I think that's why I've had some really funny dreams."

"Could be."  He kissed her again and headed back to his own mind.  He blinked up at Coulson.  "They healed the damage and took out the implanted memories."  He rolled to look at Natasha, pulling her closer.  "We have to talk, Coulson."

"I'll give you two some privacy."  He flashed off to check on Dawn, getting a hug from his spouse and a boyish happy grin.  "Is she okay?"

"She's good."  He held Phil for a minute then let him go.  "How's it going?"

"Not bad.  The person is a problem."  Xander nodded.  "We should hopefully have enough on him in a few days."  Xander grinned.  "We'll see."  He got another hug.  He stroked their bond and Xander relaxed again.  He checked on Dawn, helping her come up from behind the shield that had been put on her mind.  He checked then removed it.  She built a new one behind everything that was her up-front mind.  He grinned when she blinked at him.  "Nice rebuilding."

"Thank you."  She sat up, holding her head.  "I have less of a headache."

"Lord Apollo removed the few bits of future virus from you," Dr. Pigalli told her.  "So we only have to do checking bloodwork every six months."  Dawn beamed at her.  "So no more worrying!"

"Yes, Doc."  She got up and wobbled.  "I think I'm hungry."

"I'd hope so," Xander agreed.  He hugged her.  "You're going to get too skinny again."

"I'm fine.  I'm near my correct weight."

He poked her with a grin.  "Buffy's actually gained an extra ten pounds."

"Wow.  Really?  Does she look good?"

"The Summers chubby cheeks came in but she's dealing with it."  He grinned.  "The rest of her looks better."

"It's weird that we lose from our hips first and gain in our chins first."

"It is but that's just human biology."  He tweaked her ear.  "Speaking of, your curves are getting subdued."

"It's five whole pounds, Xander."

"So eat."

"Come eat with me?"

"I can do that."  He looked at Phil.

"They're talking so need privacy."  He checked on their target, putting a light tether on him so he could subtly watch him.  They got her discharged and down to the caf to eat.  Tony, Pepper, Liz, and Callia showed up to eat with them.  Happy came in to get some coffee.  "You can join us," Phil called, looking at him.  "You are like Tony's family."

Happy smiled.  "Later.  I came to see if Callia was helping me move a few of the cars today."

She beamed and nodded.  "I sure am!"

"Happy can wait twenty minutes while you eat with us," Pepper said firmly.  "Happy, sit."  He sat down.   "Family dinners are important."

Callia stared at her.  "You're starting to sound like Granma Joyce."

"I am," she agreed with a smile.  "It's a mom thing.  You'll have it some year."

"That shall not number less than twenty," Tony added then stuffed his mouth.

"Daddy," she sighed, giving his arm a hug.  "Even if I have a baby, I'm still your little girl and I won't ignore you for them.  You'll get to see both of us instead of just me."  She grinned.  "Then you can teach them like you do me."  She kissed him on the cheek.

Dawn pulled out her phone to pull up an article and handed it to Tony.  "A thought since that sounded very teenagerish."

Tony read the headline and shuddered, handing it to Pepper.  "That's a Mom job."

She read it and nodded.  "It certainly is.  Who would try someone that young?" she demanded, reading the rest.  "Oh, the dad was only a year older.  Great!"

Xander looked over then nodded.  "I saw a few of those mentioned in the local papers too."

Happy leaned over then shuddered.  "I don't even want to consider her being that old yet.  Eleven is just too damn young."

Dawn nodded.  "Which is why I had that thought when she sounded a bit adult there," she quipped.

"Are we talking about big girl things?" Callia asked.

"Yup," Dawn quipped with a grin.  "You and Auntie Pepper and Grandma need to have a big girl talk soon."

Pepper beamed.  "I hadn't thought to have Joyce help.  She did give Buffy hers and you some of yours."  Dawn grinned.  She sent that article to Joyce and suggested that maybe they have the first of the series of big girl talks with Callia soon.  Joyce sent back a text message saying that she had a few talks with Callia about needing to wear a shirt more often when she was with her but they could definitely start having that talk and she felt sorry for both the mothers in that story, the eleven-year-old's and the new mother.  Pepper handed back the phone with a smile.  "She'll help."  She looked at Callia.  "Why were you shirtless?"

"We were under the car doing an oil change for Granpa and my shirt got all sticky because he had a transmission leak.  So I took it off.  Not like I'm a big girl yet."

"No, you have to wear a shirt," Tony said.

"Granpa said that girls in other areas don't always have shirts," she said.  "Some of the places he's worked as a doctor people barely wore clothes."

"If we move there, you can go native," Tony said, staring at her.  "As we're in the US we have to abide by US customs and they say you have to wear a shirt because guys get freaked out when they see too much breast on young women."

She huffed.  "I'm not old enough for those yet, Daddy."

"So?"  He smirked.  "Get used to it now so you don't worry about it then."

"Then I should have a training bra."

Tony was looking so horrified it was almost comical.  "They do make them," Phil said.  "Tara was looking ahead for Melissa."

"Hell, some company in France makes lingerie for kids," Pepper said grimly.  "Here in the US they have push up bras for kids her age and a bit younger.  She doesn't need that yet."

"No, not yet," he agreed.

"No!" Tony said, shaking his head.  "Hell no!"

Callia hugged him.  "Calm down, Daddy."

He hugged her back, pulling her into his lap.  "You won't need one of those things for years and when you do, your aunts and grandmother can take you," he said a bit more calmly.  "But I never want to know about it."  She giggled and gave him a squeeze around the neck then sat back down to eat.  He pouted.  "I can't hug?"

"Happy's waiting, Daddy.  It's *cars*."

He smiled.  "I was the same way for years," he assured her.

"Would that be last year?" Pepper asked dryly.  "A few years ago?"  He pinched her on the arm.

Callia finished inhaling dinner and hugged her father again.  "We'll have bedtime stories when I get back?"

"We can do that."  He kissed her on the forehead.  "Be safe.  Wear your seatbelt."  She grinned and went out with Happy.  "Thanks, Happy."

"I love teaching the kid, boss.  She's sweet and sucks up car knowledge like a sponge."  He grinned back at them.  "I can even remind her how bad boys are for you."

"Of course they are," Callia quipped.  "They don't like science yet.  They have to be older for that."

Tony groaned, Pepper moving his plate before his head hit it.  "I need to make an anti-aging formula to keep her a little kid for a while longer.  That way I have a decade before I let her become a teenager."

"With the way the company's had luck for the last week it'd be a faster aging potion," Dawn quipped.

Tony lifted his head to look at her.  "Next time you have a worry about that sort of thing, *tell* *me*.  I'll have you protected and all that."

"That's why I asked JARVIS to see if he could find it."

"Yeah, from your couch in your empty apartment," he said dryly.

"Full of weapons," she countered.  "I have to hike farther here to get weapons and there's no telling if they can get in here too.  At least there, I have Maria upstairs and Tara.  Plus Cap if he's home."

"That's slightly a point.  Let me know there's a problem?"

"I went home to deal with my shock and then make plans.  I would've talked to you the next morning when I had processed."

"That I can understand," Pepper said, laying a hand on Tony's arm.  "If I hadn't thought that the doctor had used that swab you wouldn't have walked out of the building."  Dawn grinned.

"If I had heard then what I heard ten minutes later you wouldn't have made it out of the building," Tony agreed.   "Cap could've gotten the cat."  He looked around.  "He hasn't gotten free?"

"Not yet.  I'm careful to keep him in there.  The last time he was in the tower he tried to stalk Carrot."

"That's high expectations for the cat," Xander said dryly.  "Carrot's a big, fat bunny."

"The vet said he wasn't too hefty and told me to tell her to cut down on his rations a bit."

Tony nodded.  "He is hefty.  He's half her weight I think."

"I meant for him to be heavy enough that she couldn't carry him around everywhere so he couldn't get hurt," Xander said.  "Sorry."

"He is," Tony assured him.  "She's learned a lot of responsibility taking care of the bunny and the mice."  He looked at Xander.  "How are you handling being alone for a month?"

"Hellion's about Phil's size when he's stretched out on his side of the bed.  He doesn't mind if I curl up on him because I did since he was a puppy."

Tony nodded.  "True, Hellion is a huge dog."  Xander grinned at Phil, who rolled his eyes but he was smiling.  "At least you know he'll want you back.  The dog farts more than you probably do, Coulson."

"Only when you feed him pork," Phil said.  "Especially bacon."

"He and the two older puppies stole a ham Talsa had just gotten done cooking, it was cooling on a counter," Xander told them.  "Ripped it apart before she came out of the bathroom."  Tony winced, shaking his head.  "The younger four got the scraps and Garnet huffed at them until Hellion gave up his ham bone.  I gave her and the younger puppies some ground deer meet I had Talsa pull out of storage.  They farted so hard that night even the trainees complained that they smelled it.  John came back from Atlantis to kick the dogs out of his temple because he claimed he could smell it through the doorway."  Pepper was laughing.  "Bia went to visit her mother to be nagged to get away from the dogs."

Phil smiled at him.  "You poor thing," he said sarcastically.  Xander poked him, getting patted on the wrist.  "It'll be okay."

"I sent them to visit Ares to see if they could cure it.  I got the dirtiest look when he brought them back.  He said he wouldn't usually consider a visiting wardog an act of war but he might make an exception.  We sent them to check on Buffy and them instead.  Hylal sent back a note saying that they had finally stopped after three days."

Pepper wiped the tears of laughter off her cheek.  "That's so bad.  Those poor dogs."

"Poor dogs?" Xander asked.  "I had to air out the temple and use six or seven cans of Febreeze, Pepper.  Poor humans!  Garnet wouldn't even curl up with them."

Tony was snickering, shaking his head.  "I can see that."  He looked at Dawn.  "I heard you had a cat-related problem?"

"Loki cat was being a pain in the ass by meowing from across the room for no reason.  I decided he wanted attention and playing since everything else was fine.  So I picked up a catnip toy.  One of the little balls.  I was calling for him with it, tempting him to come play.  Instead, I got the human Loki.  He looked at me oddly.  I smiled and held up the catnip ball, asked him if he wanted to play too.  Since then, Loki's now Loki cat."

"I heard Dad complaining about your cat and wondered why," Xander quipped, reaching over to hug her.  "I can only imagine the look on his face when you offered the catnip ball."

"He looked *so* disgusted," she quipped with a grin.  Tony held his earpiece.  "Problems?" she sighed.

"The cleaning team went in to do your bathroom and your cat's loose."

She nodded.  "I'll find him in a few."  One of the guards brought him in and handed him to her then walked out sneezing.  "Thank you!"

"Tell my daughter no if she asks you for kittens please."

"I can do that."  She looked at her cat.  "Were you being your mischievous self?" she teased, petting his ears.  He purred and looked around, staring at Liz.  "Liz is not a mouse and she's not old enough to chase you like the twins do, Loki cat."  He leaned over to sniff across Tony's lap.  Pepper took him to let him sniff Liz.  He licked her then nuzzled a bit before going back to his human petting slave's lap.

Xander grinned.  "He's a good cat."

"He's a very good cat," Dawn agreed, smiling at her pet.  "He's even let me curl up around him recently."

"Aww," Xander said, petting the cat.  "I'll make sure the dogs leave you alone."

Phil looked up then took a kiss before disappearing.

"Guess he's busy," Dawn quipped.  She finished lunch and looked at her cat.  "Want to go work?"  He meowed and hopped down to stalk the nice smelling person heading for the kitchen.  "No, Loki cat."  She got up to grab him.  "This isn't like home where you can sit on top of the fridge and watch us cook."  She grinned.  "Let me put him back upstairs."  She walked off, petting him.

"Is that your evil pet?" someone joked in the elevator.

"Yup, this is Loki cat and it's his mission in life to do intelligence gathering for me."  She smiled.

The science lab helper shook his head.  "You're weird, Summers."

She grinned.  "He loves to sit and stare at people."  He got off on his floor, going to warn the others that Dawn had a cat in the building.  She looked at her cat.  "He just doesn't understand, does he?"  The cat meowed loudly.  "I know.  We'll get you some catnip?"  She got off and walked down to her suite, opening the door and looking in.  "Guys, I'm putting down some catnip for him.  Don't vacuum it up."  The cleaning team nodded.  "Thanks."  She found some in the mini fridge's shelf, pouring it out for him.  He hopped down to sniff and lounge around in it.  She grinned.  "Thanks, guys."  She went back to her desk.

The cleaning team watched the cat roll and flop around then went back to vacuuming the rest of the suite.  Thankfully they were human instead of robot cleaners so they took orders like that.  Some of the robotic ones cleaned no matter what you wanted.

***

A few hours later, Andrew looked over as their Roomba dog came back into the lab with a jingling ball on his tentacle.  Right after him was a stalking, pissed off looking cat.

"Aww," MB cooed, picking up the cat.  "You're so sweet!"

Andrew looked at it.  "That's Dawn's cat, Loki."  He took the ball to hand her.

Loki appeared then huffed.  "Why do people with power continue to call me when they want that cat?" he demanded.

Andrew blinked a few times then grinned.  "Lord Loki, I had no intention of summoning you but if you want, I have some candy."  He held some up with a grin.  "I said he was a cat first.  Though I didn't know I was that powerful."

Loki glared before leaving.  "I should sic Roque's mother on them."  He went to sulk in his room.  He knew that this was a punishment from that damnable minion Barton.

Dawn's voice popped up next to him.  "Actually, Steve named the cat, Loki."  He glared up at the ceiling.  "Because he used to sit in the window and stare at him.  Just like you did."

"I demand you rename the cat," he growled.

"There's thousands of cats named after you.  After all, they do cause trouble.  They rip things, knock things over, steal food, cause hell and havoc, especially when they have hairballs and vomit on things like your shoes.  You should be pleased that so many offer up lesser versions of you as offerings by sharing your name with them.  And turn down the sensitivity on us.  Before we start doing it on purpose."  Her voice faded.

He growled and stomped off to get a drink.  "Irritating wench.  I should take her minion from her."  Suddenly, his pants were on fire and he had to put them out.  He looked up.  "Not nice."

Dawn appeared, smiling at him.  "You wanted to do what with what's mine?"  He backed down at the anger he could feel coming off her.  He didn't want this fight today.  Xander appeared behind her, grinning.  "I can handle this, Xander.  Really."

"You are not in my class of magic, no matter how many Keys you have," he said, sipping his drink.  She opened her necklace and pulled something out, letting it expand as she opened it.  He blinked at the weapon.  "That's a Star Destroyer from the alien Asgard.  It's meant to destroy weakened stars.  How did you get that?"

She grinned.  "Kitten poker."  She flipped the armed switch.  "Now, you wanted what with my spouse?"

"Nothing, chit," he said with a forced smile.  "We'll call a truce on that."  He finished his drink.  This one was slightly insane and would probably destroy everyone over her mates.  It was the sort of insanity only young women in *love* got, which is why he never allowed such nastiness around him.

She turned it back off and grinned at him.  "Just think, some day we'll have kids together."  He shivered and shook his head.  "Yeah, sometime soon even.  We're thinking about next year."

He stared at her.  "Someone may like that future hero."

She smirked.  "I'd be even more protective and possessive over them than I am their future father.  The people in England that you've been giving ideas to?  I'd so destroy them.  I have six of these."  He shuddered, walking off.  "Have a great day, Loki."  Xander took her home.  She put the weapon up even though Tony was staring at it.  She grinned.  "It's Asgardian.  I thought it was appropriate."

"Very," Xander agreed.  "Though I've never heard of a star destroyer."  He called.  "Hey, John, have you ever heard that the alien Asgard made something to destroy weak and defective stars?"

"No, I haven't.  Let me ask Rodney.  McKay, did the alien Asgards have star destroying weapons?"

"Myths of them," he said, which was broadcast by John.  "Why?"

"Dawn won one in kitten poker," Xander said.  John and McKay appeared.  "Show them?" he ordered with a grin.

"Fine."  She pulled it back out for them to look at.  "I had to do a bit of soldering.  The connection under the switch was broken."

Rodney looked at her, whimpering some.  "We can't test this."

"I had no idea what it was until Loki identified it."  She grinned.  "I thought it was another weapon for hitting planes."

Tony looked at Pepper.  "I was wrong, she is still dick teasing.  Where did you pull that from?" he complained, coming over to look at her necklace.  "What's that?"

"Storage area," John said.  "Very fragile.  Has an entrance key usually."  Dawn nodded.  "I saw you wearing one in LA."

"I was."  She grinned.  "I won this in kitten poker too.  And since I'm all alone right now, I get to go play tonight."  She grinned.  Tony shook his head, walking her down to the lab so they could scan that and whatever she had in there.  Rodney and John carried the weapon with them.  Xander got the case.

Pepper cackled.  Dawn had just found something to irritate yet inspire geeks for ages.  She called the two in Lab 7 to go help.

***

Dawn came in the next morning with the cat.  She had pretended to be a socialite and brought it with her.  It had a lot of fun playing with Clem.  Clem loved her little Loki cat too.  He had even shared one of his kittens with him.  So the other kitten was in her pocket.  She had lost a tiny bit but won more so it was a good night.  She had been worried when she had lost until the succuba was made to quit broadcasting.  She tucked Loki back into her room with the new kitten.  It made pitiful noises at her.

"Hey, you nearly got eaten," she told it.  "Feel happy you have a home that won't eat you."  The tiny yellow kitten batted at Loki, who huffed and stomped off.  "Keep it up and I'm naming him Thor," she told her cat.  It came back to love on her.  She grinned.  "Not Thor then?  I can find him another name."  She petted him.  Then the new one.  The new one smelled food and ran off to eat.  Loki sauntered after the other cat.  "Share, Loki cat."  She changed and went to work.

Tony was staring at her.  "Did you lose?"

"About three hundred bucks but I won more than enough to cover it.  I made sure we were betting in US dollars and not one of the off-world currencies that can change by moon phase on that plane."

He shook his head.  "Demon economics is going to drive someone nuts."

"Natasha never did figure it out."  He stared at her.  "No weapons, boss.  Sorry, I only accepted cash last night."

One of the security guys came off the elevator with a certain light yellow kitten.  "Did one follow you home?" Tony asked dryly.

"No, Clem gave him to Loki cat."  She took it.  "Did you guys accidentally let Loki free too?"

"He was guarding the food bowl and the thing was crying pitifully."  He stared at her.

"Loki considered him a toy all night.  I'll put down some extra food for him.  I was going to name him Thor but Loki cat got really cuddly and apparently hated that idea."  She grinned.

"I'll start worrying if you find a purple one," Tony quipped.  Dawn pinched him, getting up to go put down a second bowl of food.  Loki could only guard one so the kitten could have the other.  It was so sweetly fluffy and innocent looking.  Tony shook his head.  "Warn the cleaning crew?"

"I will, sir."  He went to do that.

Tony waited until Dawn came back.  "No new weapons?"  He held up her storage area.  She smiled and took it to put onto her necklace.  "It can switch?"

"Yeah."

"Huh.  So no new weapons?"

"No, sorry.  A few were offered but I didn't want the holy sword.  That's more a Buffy thing than mine."

"I still don't understand kitten poker."

She checked, she was mostly clear.  She sat him down and pulled out some cards to go over the various rules.  She showed him what Clem had about some of the sneaky rules.  Her phone rang.  "Thank you for calling Stark International.  How may I direct your call?  No, Director, I haven't heard from them for more than personal matters.  You never told them to report to me.  Do I have to come have you put in for another medical exam?  You're getting forgetful in your old age and I doubt it's like Mom's medicine's side effects."  She listened to him complain.  "Then next time, tell him that.  He said he's been checking on me while I'm asleep."  She hung up, shaking her head quickly.  He was staring at her.  "Wanting to know if they had given me any sort of update."

"Why would he?"

"They're not supposed to call in," she said dryly.

"If that vision had happened and I found they were that far out of touch, unless they were deep undercover, I would've left Barton atoms to rant at."

Dawn grinned.  "Thanks, Tony."  She got back to teaching him what she knew about kitten poker.

JARVIS cleared his throat.  "Dawn, your new cat just decided to climb a wall."

"How?" she asked.  "There's nothing in there for them to climb and the walls are painted."

"Yes, they are."

She groaned, going to get the new cat to sit with her.  Tony stared at it.  "You can see why I nearly named it Thor."

"I can.  He might not be happy with how tiny that thing is."  He petted it and it clawed him.  "You're meaner than Romanoff was as a cat," he told it.  It purred at him and licked his fingers for the blood.  "That thing's just strange."

"Very," she said.  "But Loki cat liked it."  She grinned.

He stared at her.  "Doesn't say much," he said dryly.

"Did you know you could dye cats and dogs?"

"I've seen some suspiciously pink poodles," he said.

She pulled up an email she had been sent by her mother to show him.  "We can get the star spangled cat for Cap," she teased with a grin.  The white cat was painted as a full American flag.

Steve came out of the office to stare over Tony's shoulder, petting the kitten that clawed his way over Tony's chest to his shoulder.  "That's so wrong," Steve said, plucking the cat off Tony's now bleeding shoulder.  "You need your claws clipped."

"I did clip his claws," Dawn quipped.  Tony took it to look at and groaned, handing it back to Steve.  "We should get you the Star Spangled Cat."

"No, thank you.  Cats should be normal colored."  He walked the kitten into the office.  "This one's a bit mean."

"I nearly named him Thor because Loki cat played with him all night," Dawn quipped.

"You need a vacation," Tony said, patting her on the shoulder.

"I need laid, Tony," she shot back with an evil look.  "No one's here to control any of the evil that I can do."  She cackled.

He patted her again.  "Want some of the vibrators I sent to Barton at work?"  He walked into the office, taking the cat to stare at.  "You claw me again and I'm giving you to the twins."  He handed it back.  Dawn stuck it in her empty bottom drawer with some balled up paper to play with.  That made it a happy, evil little cat.  Tony put out a 'Dawn has a kitten to give away thanks to a kitten poker match' notice on the inter-tower bulletin board.  A few people came to look but MB snatched it and walked off cooing at it and petting it.  He hoped none of the quad was allergic.

Dawn leaned in there.  "That's mean to take Loki cat's toy, boss."

"As long as it won't claw me again," he complained, rubbing some neosporin on one since Pepper was fussing at it.

"Sorry.  It really wanted Cap."  She went back to her desk.

"Naming it Thor would make sense since he likes to find you and hang out with you," Tony agreed.

Steve shook his head, putting ointment onto a spot Tony couldn't reach.  "Thor's never clawed me or you even if he has wanted to hit you with his hammer a few times."

Pepper shook her head but she was feeding Liz and grinning.  Two big, macho guys brought low by a fluffy, cuddly kitten was cute!

Maybe she should wish that Callia would get a kitten?

***

Tony made it up to the penthouse for a late dinner with his daughter.  Pepper was at her place tonight, thinking.  Steve was watching their building to make sure everyone there was fine.   He walked off the elevator and was nearly run over by a meowing silver cat with black horizontal spots.  He blinked then stared around his formerly nice living room.  "Why do we have three cats?"  Callia pointed at a bookshelf while reading.  "Four cats?  Really?"  She pointed again and he sighed.  "Okay, five cats.  Why do we have more cats than we do mice, daughter?"

"No we don't, Daddy.  Did you forget how to count?"  She put her book down.  "Apparently I'm the emissary of good will towards Mommy.  They wanted to make sure I was still very happy even with Mommy and everyone up there so when a demonic cat breeder died, he left me his kitty family collection.  There's Auntie Dawn kitty, she's a Singapura.  They only come in that fawny color with white bellies. I looked them up when his wife told me what they were.  Singapuras are perky people pleasing cats who are very friendly.

"There's the Uncle Phil cat that greeted you.  He's an blue silver ocicat, it's a very popular color for a lot of breeds and they're very like dogs but they're confident and not too meowy, but possessive sometimes.  That one's very calm and unruffled, just like Uncle Phil is.  He blends in well with others too.  They're pretty high activity level and like to play and jump but can settle down and play with themselves."  She'd ignore her father moaning and rubbing his forehead.  Adults were so silly sometimes.

"Then there's the Auntie 'Tasha red marbled bengal kitty.  She's a very recent crossbreed so she's a bit aggressive and wary around people but when she finds her human she'll be very loyal and love them forever and ever.  They're very active and very great jumpers like the Uncle Phil kitty but a bit better at it.  They love fun things and they're great.  Red isn't a recognized color for the show kitties but she's still a purebred and she likes to walk on the edge of things and do acrobatic things too."

She grinned and pointed.  "There's the Uncle Clint kitty.  He's a fawn abyssinian kitty.  They like way up high spots too.  They're *very* curious but don't like to be picked up or held.  They like to hide and chase and sneakily push things from way up high onto the floor to see what happens. Then there's the you kitty, Daddy," she finished with a grin.  "He's a black chausie cat.  They're very loyal to whoever they decide is their human but usually only to one human for their whole life really.  The black color is a genetic recessive trait.

"It's got tiny black stripes and they're so very curious.  She said that one gets into *everything* at least twice to see what it is."  She beamed.  "It's went into the washer and dryer a few extra times because he didn't understand human laundry at all.  They get very smart, very curious, and into *everything*.   They're highly active, she said he can jump almost six feet straight up, and he loves to be the center of attention."  She beamed.  "She said he was considering naming a new kitten after me."

Tony sat down and let the 'Uncle Phil' cat sniff his fingers then walk off.  "I think I'm going to have a hangover soon.  Dear, five cats, six mice, and a bunny is a bit much.  We don't live in a zoo."

"You said I could turn your suit into one, Daddy."

"Yeah but I meant some year in the future, not this week."  He looked up.  "JARVIS, can you please send her introduction of the cats to Pepper and Steve's phones?"

"I called Granma when his wife came up to us while Granpa Bruce was getting me from gymnastics today.  They talked and she said it was great that he had named them so well after the family and that most of them were very smart kitties.  Auntie 'Tasha kitty has even been taught to use people toilets instead of litter box and how to walk on a leash."

"I'm not sure if you could teach your Aunt Natasha how to walk on a leash or not," he admitted then shook his head.  "Maybe we can give a few to Aunt Tara?"

She sighed and shook her head, looking a lot like Pepper when she did it.  "Daddy, the twins are still a bit mean.  They still like to pet my poor bunny the wrong way all the time.  Besides, I've already introduced Loki kitty to them.  Uncle Phil kept batting at him until he quit sniffing at Auntie Dawn's tail.  Auntie 'Tasha got a bit aggressive and chased him around a bit because he was near her toys.  Uncle Clint stared down at him and growled.

"They're not used to him or Mortimer yet.  Auntie Tara will have to introduce Mortimer because he's her familiar."  Dawn hopped up beside her and chattered at them. Her meowing and chattering was quiet, unlike Clint's, which was a bit louder and stronger.  Then Clint jumped off the top of the shelves onto the couch and purred at them, chattering happily.  "They like to be funny and entertain," Callia said with a grin.

"I can see that.  They definitely named them well."  He petted them both.  Clint was a bit standoffish but Dawn nearly climbed up him to chatter on his shoulder.  He sighed.  He was going to have to yell at Joyce for letting Callia have five cats.

Pepper and Steve came off the elevator.  Phil met them to greet them then ran off.  Dawn was greeting them from Tony's shoulder.  Pepper blinked, looking around.  "There she is.  I only saw four.  She hides very well."

"She's a first generation cross so she's still a bit wild," Callia said with a grin.  "Hi, Auntie Pepper and Uncle Steve."  She waved and petted Clint, who ran off to jump and chase at dust motes in the air because there was nothing there.

Pepper giggled.  "That's very cute, Clint."

Tony gave her a look then at his daughter.  "Five cats, six mice, and a bunny rabbit are a bit too many animals, daughter.  Plus, they might chase your mice."

She huffed.  "If Sean was down here, he could have my mice but he's not, Daddy, so he can't have them for a year."  She got up and stomped off.  Phil and Dawn followed, with Clint and then the Tony cat racing after them.  Tasha leaped down and sauntered in like it was her idea right before Callia slammed the door.

He groaned, holding his head.  "Damn it."

"I have no idea how to handle this," Pepper admitted, sitting on one side of him.  Steve sat on the other side, patting him on the back.  "Have you asked Joyce?"

"She's the one who said it was okay for her to have five cats."

A female demon with tiny horns appeared.  "Callia, help?" she called.  She came running out of her bedroom, pausing when she saw the dog.  "The owner was horribly killing the puppies.  Can you call Tara for me?"

"JARVIS, call Auntie Tara ASAP," she ordered.  "Someone was mean to a dog."  She cooed and petted the dog.  "Aww, you poor thing.  You've got stripes like the Uncle Phil cat has.  That goes well together."  She took it to cuddle.  "Why was he being so mean?"

"I have no idea.  Tara?"

"Elizabeth?"

"I can't appear in the building.  Anna is going nuts and killing the dogs."

"I'll meet you there."  She hung up.

"Can you watch him for a few minutes?"  Callia nodded, petting the puppy.  "Thank you."  She disappeared.

Callia looked at the dog.  "I don't know why the mini witch went nuts but that's clearly evil and she's a bitch.  Come meet the cats, Uncle Xander."  She walked him in there.  Clint had followed to see what was going on with Phil but they followed her back in there.  She looked out at Dawn, who was on the couch chatting with Pepper and Steve.  "Want to come join us?"  She ran over to join the others in the bedroom then Callia slammed the door again.

"That makes thirteen pets," Steve said.

Tony looked at him.  "Don't remind me.  I don't want to buy a zoo.  I might have to put up a penguin house," he said quietly.  He looked over at the yelp.  "What happened?" he yelled.

"Auntie 'Tasha pounced Uncle Xander and swatted his nose.  She's a bad kitty," she warned.  "Leave Uncle Xander alone and he'll quit lapping you.  See, the other kitties like it.  Even the daddy cat likes it."

Tony leaned forward to hold his head again.  He wasn't even drunk and his life was surreal at the moment.  "Why me?" he muttered.

"Maybe Sean will take the mice when he gets back," Pepper offered.  "Or the twins."

Tony looked at her.  "I can't see Hylal getting used to housecats."

"Possibly," she admitted.

"She described most of them as very owner loyal," Steve said.

"Also a point."  She patted Tony on the back.  "We'll figure it out.  She'll still have to be responsible for them, including taking that dog for a walk.  It looked like a Pit."

"It was a boxer," Steve said.  "A neighbor had one when I was younger."  She grinned and ruffled his hair.  "They're very active dogs.  They take a lot of playing."

"So do some of those cat breeds so maybe they'll play together."

Tony looked at her.  Then shook his head.  If he said something mean Pepper would swat him and his head already hurt.  "Bring Liz over?" he suggested.

"Grandma Joyce wanted some Liz time."  She called.  "Joyce, Tony wants to introduce Liz to the new six pets."

"She only talked about five, Pepper."

"Someone just gave her a boxer puppy because the witch was going spastic," Tony said from between his hands.  "She's already named it after Xander."

"Awww.  Of course I'll bring Liz over so I can pull Bruce out of the lab for dinner."

"Thank you, and figure out how we're dealing with having thirteen pets?" Tony asked, looking up.  "It's a bit much even for a penthouse."

"We'll see, dear."  She hung up.

"I'll have an empty bedroom set up as an exercise area for the active pets," JARVIS said quietly.  "That way the cats have things that are appropriate to climb on and over and the dog has something he can run on."

"Thanks," Tony said sarcastically.  "A bit of support here, JARVIS, please?"

"Sir, there's no way I can tell her no."  He looked up what dogs and cats liked to play on.  He could manufacture most of it and have the robots put them together by the morning.  He had no idea that cats could use a bigger version of a hamster wheel.

Dawn came off the elevator with a bottle and a packet.  "Treats," she said, handing them to Steve.  She walked into Callia's room after a brief knock, sprinkling some of the stuff in the packet onto the floor.  Natasha hopped down to sniff and rolled around in it, batting at anything that came near her luxuriating in the catnip.  Dawn poured out a few more piles for the others.  Callia hugged her.  "She's new," she said, looking at the dog.

"That's Uncle Xander.  He's very friendly and laps me a lot.  Plus he has stripes in patterns like Uncle Phil does."  She grinned.  "They're already friends.  Uncle Phil was sitting on his back."

"That's really cool," Dawn said with a smile, patting her on the head.  She checked and closed the door again, going to talk to the other adults.  "Let her see how much work it takes and how much it cuts into her lab time," she said quietly.  They smiled at her for that advice.  "But Mom's on the way and Uncle Xander is really cute."  She left.  She sent that whole talk to Clint's phone so he could share it.  That way he could see his namesake.

***

Somewhere in the middle of Europe, Clint heard the thought from Dawn and pulled out his phone to turn on.  He found the three voicemails and ignored them.  They were all from HQ and probably not totally important.  He got into the new video mail, watching it.  He laughed and waved Phil and Natasha over.  He let them see the whole thing from when she brought them home.  Including the introduction to Tony and the new dog's introduction too.

Phil smiled.  "I do look like an every cat."

Natasha smiled.  "Mine is red, even if she is not my hair color."  She grinned.  "She has good taste."

Clint laughed at his cat's antics.  "Whoever named them got them very well."  He sent an email back to Dawn and let Phil have the voicemails to deal with.

"What do I need it for?" Phil asked.

"Three voicemails from HQ."

Phil walked off listening to them.  "We're supposed to be giving Dawn reports."

"No, she's not an agent," Clint said bluntly.  "Hell no."

"I agree," Natasha said.

Clint pulled her closer.  "Are you having another episode?"  She huffed but glared.  He stared at her.  "You're the one that started it," he said quietly.  "We consider that a promise to us, Nat."  He made her sit on his knee and held her.  "So, how are we going to work this out so Dawn doesn't have to know that you were having a moment?"

"I am not having a moment."  She glared at him.  "We're on a mission and there's no sex on missions unless it's necessary for the mission."

"Not what I'm talking about."  He forced their bond open, showing her.  She was still glaring but he could see when she got it.  She slumped a tiny bit, just through her shoulders.  "So, how are we going to work this out?" he asked her mentally.

"We...  We will do it on the way home.  We're in the middle of a mission and I can't deal with that right now."

He kissed her on the cheek.  "If that's what you want."  She stared at him.  He stared back.  "I know I'll always have Dawn.  You're the one that's always been in question.  Even though it was you that wanted us tighter," he said quietly.  "So that makes it your decision and your shit to be dealt with."

She shook her head.  "It is not like that."

"It is like that.  You got panicky and pulled back from both of us."  He kissed her properly.  "The mission is nearly done."

She sighed but nodded.  "We will talk once it's over with."

He nodded.  "Okay."  He gave her a squeeze and let her go.  "Whenever you're ready or I get too impatient."  He grinned.  She smacked him upside the head and stomped off.  He relaxed again, thinking at Dawn, who was cooing at their cat.  He made a decision.  They might take their namesakes in.  That would mean three cats instead of one.  She pointed out there was her namesake as well.  Who was an adorable, chatty cat who loved everyone.  She sent him a link to what they were doing.  The Dawn cat was bothering and trying to play with the Natasha cat while she was wallowing in the catnip pile.  He smiled and looked at Phil.  "She sent one for Nat."

Phil looked and let her see it.  She cracked a smile.  "That is very much like us sometimes," she agreed, turning the phone off.  "Let Dawn work, Barton."

"It's dinnertime.  She's playing with Loki cat.  By the way, we're taking in our namesakes."

"Do we need four cats?" she asked.

"Maybe.  Not sure if Loki will mind or not."

"She needs siblings to take care of some of them," Phil said.  "Because Callia will never give up some of her animals."

"Mice aren't long lived," Natasha said.  "Maybe two years."

"She's had Gruyere, the first one, for over a year now," Clint said.  He looked it up online.  "One and a half to two years, with some living up to three."

"That's going to suck when they all start dying off in a few months," Natasha sighed.  "We'll have to attend mice funerals."

"She did have that one that died," Clint reminded her.  "They quietly buried it over at the new tower."  He sent that thought at Dawn, who said she had more rock markers to paint ready and waiting.  Plus she sent that text at Tony.  "So within two years she'll only have seven pets."

"Possibly sooner if the cats get into the mice cage," Phil noted.  "Some of those are hunting cats.  Especially Natasha's namesake."

"Perhaps the twins would like mice?" Natasha suggested, then suggested it to Dawn, who texted it to Tony.

***

Tony read the newest text message.  "Callia, can we give your mice to the twins before the cats eat them?" he called.

She leaned out of her room.  "What?"

"Can the twins have your mice so the cats don't eat them?" Steve asked.  "Cats hunt mice.  Especially more wild cats like Natasha."  Dawn was walked across him so he petted her.  Then Tony was trying to get inside his shirt.  "I think that's the human's version of you's job."  He petted him anyway.  The Tony cat was sniffing and batting at his hair instead of trying to get down his shirt.  "I know, I need a haircut.  The human you doesn't seem to mind."

Tony shook his head he didn't care about him needing a trim.  The cat tried to get down his shirt and succeeded this time.  Then meowed from in there.  He untucked it to get the cat out.  "Thank you for that bit of help."  The Tony cat bounded into the kitchen to start looking through the cabinets.  Tony ran in to close things.  That open cabinet that had glasses was going to be a problem.  The cat got free when he was carrying him back to the living room and went for the bar.  "Yeah, they named him right," Steve quipped.

Tony watched as his namesake sniffed each bottle and then the glasses, making the hanging wine and martini glasses swing with bats from his tail.  Then he went nose-down into the sink for a sniff, then back up to sniff at the liquors again, batting at one with a disgusted look on his face.  "It's not like I drink the orange liqueur, cat.  It's for Pepper's drinks."  He got him off the bar and he ran outside to sniff.  "Oh, no, you might try to jump."

He brought him back inside but the Xander puppy had found the pool and jumped in.  He was happily paddling around it.  Clint was batting at it and fell in, making Tony laugh.  He got out and shook off like he had meant to do that.  Phil came in and howled.  Xander got out of the pool and shook off, making both cats flee from the extra bath time.  Xander trotted back in, nudging Pepper to pet him.  She cooed and did that, then he hopped up on Steve to get petted.

"I like you too, Xander."  He petted him carefully.  "Even if you are all wet."

Xander appeared.  "I like you too, Steve, but I'm not wet."  Steve pointed at the dog.  He stared.  "Hi, pupkins."

"He's named after you, Uncle Xander," Callia said sweetly, grinning at him.

"Aww.  He's adorable!"  He petted the dog, who barked and yapped and wagged his stumpy tail at him.  "You're a good dog.  Go play."  He ran off to play with the cats.  Natasha hissed and leapt up out of the way of the wet dog's nose before she got wet.  Xander looked in there.  "Quit being so mean," he told the cat.  "Before I tell Tara on you."  He walked off shaking his head.  He pointed once they were all in there but the Dawn cat that was sucking up to Pepper to get some of the cat treats she had.

"Demon cat breeder died," Tony said.  "Named them after the family.  Apparently your namesake really likes the Phil cat and his stripes match Phil's spot and stripe pattern."

"Okay," he agreed with a grin then disappeared to cackle himself sick at home.  Garnet came over to lap him to make sure he was all right so he petted her.  He'd talk to her about the new cats later.

***

Maria and Tara showed up at Stark's penthouse together, because Tara had called and asked her to bring the cat to meet Callia's new cats.  And as it turned out a puppy that met them at the elevator by barking loudly at them.

"Xander, enough," Callia warned.  He pouted at her.  "That's Auntie Tara and Auntie Maria with Mortimer.  They're here to make sure you like Mortimer too."  Dawn came off with Loki cat.  "Hi, Loki kitty."  They went into her room to introduce all the pets to each other.

Tara came out, looking at Tony.  "How?"

"Demon cat breeder," he said dryly.  "Joyce thought it was great."

She nodded.  "Way too many pets."  She went in there to talk to Callia about maybe the twins taking in the mice.  Maria didn't like that idea, she hated mice.  She promised they'd be in their cages most of the time.  Which made Callia pout but she promised they'd play when she was at work.  That worked and Mortimer knew not to chase the pet mice.  He was used to the first few of them.  Tara looked them over.  "Aww, one's pregnant."

"Then the mice are definitely yours if you want them," Tony called.  "Thirteen pets is more than enough."

Dawn came out without Loki, but he was following her with her namesake.  She sat down and he hopped up into her lap, huffing at the new cat.  She petted him then the new one, who went to chatter at Pepper and Steve.  "Xander and Phil might go to Xander and Phil," she offered quietly.

"Hellion and the puppies are more than enough for them," Pepper said.  "Really."

"Good point."  She petted her cat, who rolled onto his back for belly loves.  She smiled at him.  "Thank you, Loki cat.  You don't usually let me do that.  Are you showing off how docile you are to rub it in the other cats' noses?"  He purred.  "Figures."  She went back to petting him anyway.  "Clint suggested we might take in our namesakes but Natasha didn't want four cats.  It'd be mean to separate us."

"It would," Tony sighed.  "At least cats only need slight playing."

"No, half of those are high energy, highly playful cats, boss.  I looked them up through Animal Planet."

Callia bounded out with Clint following her bouncy footsteps.  "Did you know that kitties could have exercise wheels like the mice?   JARVIS found a video."  She beamed.

"That could help and give them all some extra exercise.  Make sure it's big enough for the dog?" Tony suggested.

"Um, Tony, boxers get up to be something like sixty pounds," Steve said quietly.  Tony stared at him.  "But they are highly protective dogs.  Easily trained sometimes.  Very smart, slightly weird and funny to be around, my friend's was a very playful, hiding and bounding out at you sort of dog.  They called him a court jester a few times."

"She named him right then," Dawn quipped.  Callia beamed at her.  "We'll figure it out but your dog needs to go for a walk tonight and you have to get food, which should come out of your allowance since they're your pets."

She considered it.  "Do I make enough allowance for dog food?"  Tony nodded.  "I'll pay half?"

"That's fine," Tony said.  "We can walk him on the way to Petsmart since it's only ten blocks away.  Take pictures of the cats."  She ran to do that and print them out.  He looked at Dawn, who shrugged.  "That's mean."

"They're her pets.  That's what Mom told me when I said I wanted a dog."

"Maybe," he complained quietly.  He got up and got them things to go up to the store tonight.  Steve and Pepper, with Liz, went with them.  Dawn got some water for them and a few spare toys that Loki hadn't gotten to use yet.  Then she and Loki curled up to watch some tv.

***

Dawn looked up from working the next day when someone shouted, "Oh my fucking God!  Are you Romanoff in pet form again!  You used to be a black cat!"  She groaned and shook her head, going to look.  "No, that's the Clint kitty."  She scooped him up.  "C'mon, Clint."  He struggled a bit but yay.

"Did you turn your spouse into one?" he demanded.

"No, a cat breeder died and left them to Callia."  He moaned and walked off.  "Natasha's actually a bengal cat.  Phil's an ocicat....."  He flipped her off so she let it go and carried him back up there.  She counted and let Security know that they were missing Phil and Dawn cats.  They were brought up a few minutes later and they left them to play together.

They liked to play with Clint while Natasha watched.  She went back up to put the Tony cat that had snuck onto the elevator back and went back to her desk. She sent out a memo about the cats, just in case.  They were mostly very curious cats so you never knew.  Especially the Tony cat, which had tried to jump down from the Penthouse onto the walkway to the new tower, sixteen stories below.  The memo included pictures of the new pets for easy identification.

***

Jonathan walked up to Pepper that afternoon with the memo in hand.  "She has thirteen pets?"

"The mice went to the twins."

"Aww.  So seven pets.  Cool.  Andrew said that the number was a good sign."  She groaned so he grinned.  "By the way, the Tony kitty made it out of the penthouse when his human took the Xander dog for a walk.  He's in our lab with Roomba investigating the hanging filing cabinets and everything else.  We can't get Tony out of his lab to come get him.  Dawn's with you."

"I'll come get him," Pepper promised, handing Dawn Liz so she could do that.  The Tony cat loved her just like the human one did.  It meowed from a hanging light fixture.  "How did you get up there?"  Andrew pointed at the cabinets on the wall.  "Ah."  She snapped.  "C'mon.  Or no treats."  It leaped down onto her shoulder, making her flinch but pull it around to pet.  "We'll get you treats on the way home."

She took it up there and did give him a few treats before she put him down.  People and robots came in carrying things for the pets.  Pepper got them all moved out of the way.  Having to catch Tony before he got stepped on was about usual.  They set up the play area, complete with cat hamster wheel system that gave treats as they ran on it and treadmill for the dog.  The robots put down a few new litter boxes and poured in litter for them.  Then a large fountain for drinking from was hooked up to the bathroom in there.  The litter boxes got put into that bathroom.

The pets were sent in there by the robots chasing them, with a bit of help from Roomba to get Natasha down.  They left, giving her smug looks.  Tony tried the cat wheel first and got surprised when it moved for him, jumping off.  Then he saw the cat treat.  He hopped back up to get it and it moved again, giving another treat.  He learned that trick and the other cats smelled it so came over to get their own.  It had three treat dispensing spots so that was good for them.

Xander was sniffing the treadmill and hopped up to use it.  He liked that and it was fun.  He had a faux-grass pad to pee on if he needed it.  Pepper watched for a few minutes.  They were happy cats with an extensive climbing system complete with ramps, stairs, hiding spots, and comfy sleeping spots.  The dog had a dog bed and dog treats.  The cats had cat toys and cat treats.  Including some growing cat grass that Dawn had started earlier.  She counted and all the cats were in there.  The dog was in there.  She snuck out and it was okay.

Only Tony would get out later to see what else this new house had to offer.  He made it to the other tower and was investigating over there when security found him.

***

Natasha hacked in to watch the new pets.  "I strolled over most of the Malibu lab whenever I could get free," she said quietly.  "I didn't have a climbing system beyond up Dawn's back."  Clint laid next to her on the bed, making her flinch.  "JARVIS built them a cat funhouse."

He smiled.  "It looks like fun.  The little me is having a lot of fun jumping from level to level and picking on Phil."

"He is," she agreed.  Her cat version was on top of the system staring at the little cats and being bored.  She jumped down and shoved Dawn out of the cat wheel, getting hissed at for it and batted at.  She batted back but Dawn pounced and it was a brawl.  Phil came to see what was going on but it was Xander coming over to lap them both that stopped it.  Then Natasha huffed into the cat wheel with Dawn.

The Xander dog did drool a bit.  They both got treats and it was fun for them.  Dawn was perky and happy.  Natasha slinked over to pick up a toy and carry it off to play with it behind something.  Phil stole it and she chased him to play with it and him.  That helped and they all calmed down after a while, Natasha laying on her woven fish toy.  Phil was on top of Xander's back taking a nap.  Dawn was on top of Clint, even if he was batting at her tail since it kept hitting his ear.  "They are very like us."

He grinned.  "They are."  He put an arm around her shoulder.  "What were you like as a cat?  Beyond mean because Dawn said you hardly let her pet her without being scratched."

"She put a fluffy black sweater on me, Barton."

He kissed her on the cheek.  "You were probably adorable."

"I was but still."  She found old footage Dawn had saved for her and let him see it.  "They took me on walks too."

"She's cute."  He grinned at her.  "You were a mean cat though."

"Dawn accepted it."

"Yeah, she does until she retaliates."

"I think that's why I got periodic baths.  It was her way of paying me back for scratching her."

Clint watched some of those.  "Yup, by the look on her face it was."  They finished watching them.  "What did you find that you didn't as a human?"

"Six rats.  A small hidden area in the labs that someone was storing things in.  I knew it shouldn't have folders so I stayed there until the humans found me.  Another time I found a tryst going on and hopped up on them to make sure they knew that screwing by the large arc reactor was a bad idea."  He laughed.  "They were not pleased and one was allergic.  They carried on their trysts back by the cafeteria instead."  She shook her head.  "I found where the hidden weapons were."  He looked at her.

"The things in prototype and in highly classified storage.  I nearly died in there.  It's air tight and Stark didn't see me before he closed the door.  No one heard me meowing but Dawn was missing me so she went searching and had Tony look since he had been in there.  I heard them coming so I hopped up onto something and was nonchalantly taking a bath.  He growled and swore at me for an hour before handing me back."

He gave her a squeeze.  "I'm glad they found you.  I would've missed having you around."

"You are mushy today."

"That's because we just got the idiot and all his people."  He grinned.  "They were having their monthly meeting.  Now they're not."  She smirked back.  "All gone, yeah."  He kissed her again.  "The clean up team is there.  So we can go home soon."

"We can," she agreed.

"Are you calmer and not going to be so off-putting?" he asked more quietly.  "This time Dawn can't bathe you for it."

"She might borrow a poison from Coulson," she said dryly.

"'Tasha, Dawn studied over his shoulder."  She shivered.  "It goes well with her other skills."  He took another kiss, rolling them over so he was on top of her.  "So?"

"I...  I do not think I could handle her getting as sick as her mother did."

"It's a shitty thing to do when she needs us most, Nat."  He stared at her.  "Though, Apollo made sure it wasn't in her."

She went limp.  "I'm not sure if the danger ...."

"She'll be doing checking blood work every six months for the rest of her life."

"I understand why."  She stroked his cheek.  "Sometimes it's easier with you."

"Not really.  We rub each other wrong all the time, Nat.  The sex was always great but you treated me the same way you treat her now.  Like a kid who doesn't know what he's doing.  Every once in a while when you realize you're happy and you love us, you snap and overcompensate because you get scared."  He stared down at her.  "Which we hate but understand by the way."

"I...."

He kissed her.  "We don't like it but we do understand," he repeated, staring at her to make sure she got it.  "Though if you make Dawn cry again, you're on your own when she kicks your ass."

"I did not."

"You did."  He shifted.  "The night after that battle, she was in the bathroom crying.  The next night too.  I brushed her mind and she quit being loud enough so we couldn't hear her and said she was fine, just having a bit of stress relief and to go back to sleep."

"It was not my doing."

"It was your doing.  You wouldn't even touch her, Nat.  She got really upset right after we left too because you wouldn't do more than give her a socially polite kiss.  She had nightmares all night about you leaving and me getting sick."  She went limp so he kissed her again.  "We've got to work this out.  We're together and we have to handle things together.  Your fears, my fears and neurosis, her fears and neurosis."

"She doesn't have any."

"Yes she does.  She's deathly afraid of being left in case you hadn't noticed," he said dryly.  "Of being not human as well."

"I hadn't thought about those going that far."  He nodded.  "They can be fought."

"They have been.  Now and then they still come out.  They're a bit deeper than a fear, they're a crippling panic attack each time they hit her."

She considered it.  "I was afraid that she might get that sick.  Or make me that sick," she said when he gave her a pointed look.

"We're not in a third world country, Nat."

"We might end up in one to get away from everyone," she said quietly.

"I'll end up on Asgard first," he said bluntly.  She snorted and shook her head.  "You'd like it.  Snow.  Lots of hunting.  Dawn wearing pretty, long things."

"I do not think so.  I think I would like going back to Thailand better."

He kissed her again.  "If we have to leave the US that might not be safe enough."

"I know."  She stroked his cheek.  "Perhaps one of the other realms that is not as full of snow?"

"There's a few," he said with a grin.  "I asked Thor."  She smiled back.  "So can you relax?  Dawn's still worried you're leaving us because you think she might make you sick."

"I...  I'm working on things in my own head."

"Work faster."  She slapped at him but he ducked.  "Neither of us want to lose you.  She's even made geek plans for a baited trap and things."

"I'm sure she has.  I'm not usually one to fall for them."

He stared at her.  "This is Dawn we're talking about.  She might make one and then get snatched by someone else."

She smiled.  "That is true.  Can we cut down on her being in danger?"

"Sure, if we chain her in the house and make everyone forget who she was and is."

"Point."  She stroked his cheek.  "Sometimes it's easier this way," she said quietly.

"When you let go of all the worries and the outer world, you two are great together.  You're so easy and curl up together all the time," he said just as quietly.  "We're harder than you and she or she and I are."

She nodded.  "Sometimes it's hard to let the world go."

"Yes but if we don't, then we'll never be comfortable and healthy.  I want us to be fully comfortable and healthy again."

"We will be.  We'll talk when we get back."

"Which will make her cry and I'd hate to shoot you over that."

She smiled.  "You would?"

"Yeah.  I'm pretty possessive over both of you in case you hadn't noticed."

She smiled more brightly and naturally.  "You are," she agreed.  "We will talk later.  Together.  Mentally so we are not overheard."

"Sometimes you have to forget that others have worries about us."

"I know."  She took a kiss.  "We should pack."

"We will pack.  Though I'm already packed."  She poked him so he let her up.  "I wonder if she's put back the forest yet."

"No idea," Natasha admitted.  "Even without it, the cave might still be there."

"Maybe."  They got everything cleaned up by the time Phil came back for them.  "We done?" Clint asked.

"We're done.  We're taking a quinjet back.  The prisoners are all with the European branch."  He smirked.  "Nice work catching that meeting, Barton."

"Thanks, sir," he quipped back.  "Are you taking in your namesake?"

"No.  I'm not sure the puppies would like another cat and dog in their house."  Natasha laughed, nodding that was true.  "We might cat sit sometimes however."  They checked over the entire apartment then left for the airfield.  They settled in to rest.  He found Xander doing a word search and helped him find all the words using their bond.  Xander relaxed and sent back a cheek lap.

Clint and Natasha stared at each other then went into their minds, going to find Dawn's mind.  She was awake and aware.  Clint checked, it was barely five in the morning so that was a bad sign.  He found her and tapped at her until she looked their way.  She shrugged and laid back down with the cat to cuddle so she could join them.  He pulled her into the cave with them, laying down beside her.  Natasha took her other side, petting the cat.  "You brought the cat?"

"He's been very cuddly.  He's missed you two too."  Clint petted him, getting purred at.  Natasha did too.  "See?"

"Let the cat nap for now," he said.  She did, and he settled in to bathe Clint's hair.  "Thanks, Loki cat."  He petted him then squeezed Dawn.  "We're on our way home."  She smiled.  "With debrief time we'll make it for dinner."

"Tony still has me at the tower."

"I heard why."  He nuzzled her neck, making her relax.  She opened to them and it was great.  He could feel all the anxiety relaxing.  "I know it's hard when we go on missions."

"I know it's your job and all that.  I guess every agent, officer, and soldiers's spouses feel the same way."

"Probably," Natasha agreed, linking herself in more firmly.  Dawn blinked at her.  "Am I not welcome?"

"No, you are."  She pulled her closer to kiss.  Natasha deepened it when Dawn tried to give her something more innocent.  "I was worried."

Dawn stared at her.  "If I was infected would you still be worried?"

Natasha nearly flinched.  "I have seen others who have died of it."

"Was that back before antibiotics?" she asked.  "Or treatments?"

"Mostly.  Also in places like the less developed world."

"Which we don't live in."  She sighed and stared at her.  "If I had to I could probably burn off this physical form and create another one with a bit of work."

"Hell.  No," Clint ordered.  "Not unless it's something like HIV, Dawn."  He felt her relax.

Natasha looked at her.  "I would not accept that at all."

"It would mean I wasn't sick."

Natasha tipped her face up.  "I would be worried and slowly realign my mind with the new reality so we could face it together.  Even if I did spend a few days up in Barton's thinking spot on the roof.  You are not to do that unless it is life threatening in a way that he mentioned."  Dawn slumped but nodded, not looking at her.  She pulled her close to hold.  "I would miss you if you did that," she said in her ear.  She had meant to slip into Russian but apparently they were in Thor's All Speak in here.  "Never do that to us, Dawn."

"I won't unless I have to."

"Good!"  She kissed her and cuddled her.  "Even if I'm worried, I would not accept that."

"Ditto," Clint said, snuggling up to hold both of them.  "Neither of us want you to do something that drastic."  He stroked over her side, then down her arm.  "Just... we'll figure things out if you get scratched with another needle or something.  It's never that desperate."  Dawn nodded, tucking her head under Natasha's cheek.  He gave them both a squeeze.  He and Natasha shared a look.  Neither of them had realized Dawn was that worried about her own health.

He decided to tackle it.  "If you ever get sick like your mom, we're not leaving."  Dawn flinched.  "Really.  We might need some processing time to swear at the higher beings in the universe but we'd never leave you because of it.  I know there's a high divorce rate among cancer patients, I saw you reading that article, but I'll be damned."

She flipped over to look at him.  "You...."

He kissed her.  "No.  Not even if it's full blown AIDS.  We wouldn't have sex anymore but you'd still be ours to hold, help, pamper silly, and take care of.  Like if I land in a wheelchair, you'd help take care of me."

She nodded.  "I would."

"We'd do the same," Natasha said.  "After some anger at the universe."  She moved up behind Dawn's back.  "I had no idea that you had these worries.  Clint, did you see that boy?"

"Yeah, I've video conferenced with him since then too.  I snuck off to call him the other day."

She smiled and Dawn kissed his neck.  He gave her a squeeze.  "You're a good guy," she said.

"I try."  He looked at her.  "Are you feeling better?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to be late for work."  He laughed and kissed her, taking her mind off work.  Natasha was teasing Dawn's stomach with her fingers.  "We can take this up later."

"If we're at home," Natasha agreed.  "Not in the tower."

"I'll see if we can move back tonight."  She looked up and frowned.  "There's a lot of magic around you two."  They snapped back to their minds and she snapped back to hers.  She felt someone moving against the quinjet and snapped out at them.  That distracted them enough for Phil and Xander to handle it.  Dawn didn't know who was that stupid but they were going to be sorry fuckers in about ten minutes.  A few minutes later she heard swearing higher beings yelling at her.  She pointed out that whoever had just tried to kill her spouses by downing their plane and they deserved it.  She got dressed and got pulled up there, landing in front of Hera.  "Did you think I wouldn't protect my spouses from someone attacking them?"

"No, I knew you would," she admitted calmly.  "You put a drain into Athena's powers?"

"I had no idea who it was," she said honestly.  "I also have no idea why Athena hates me so damn much.  First with the cursing me before the Sunnydale battle and now this?"

Ares appeared.  "I'm not sure if it's because she wants to make sure I can't grab you and one of your Keys, or if it's whatever's wrong with Hecate."

Dawn looked at him.  "You try and I'll do worse than make you pregnant next time."

He laughed.  "I like that you're perky."

"She just tried to kill my spouses."  She looked at Hera.  "I'll remove it if you can make sure she won't come anywhere near my spouses again."

Hera nodded.  "We can bind her to that condition."  Zeus stomped in.  "She tried to kill Dawn's spouses."  He growled at Dawn, who snapped and flashed power at him, making him flinch.  "Dawn!" Hera warned.

"Don't attack me either," she warned.  "Did you think I was the nice Summers woman?"  Zeus looked confused.  "Your daughter just tried to kill my spouses and then you try to attack me.  Did you expect me not to react?"

"Dawn," Ares said, patting her on the head.  "Relax.  He was threatening, not attacking."

Dawn huffed and removed her magic from Athena.  "She attacks me and *any* of my family again and I'm going to end whoever helps her.  Just like Xander and Phil did over the twins.  They're my mortal family too."  Zeus shivered.  "Xander and I may have a pack instead, but yay.  There's at the most twenty, including future kids.  Can't you two pick on other humans?"  She flashed off.

Zeus pointed.  "Is she insane?"

"No, she was mad," Hera told him.  "Your bratty daughter attacked her husband and wife.  What would you do if they attacked your mistresses?"

Zeus nodded.  "I would have destroyed Athena."  He walked off shaking his head.  "Ares, send someone to see if Dawn's broken out in a godhood.  Five keys is a bit much."

Apollo popped in sweating.  "She's near the same level but not quite a Goddess.  No immortality."

Xander appeared.  "I *do* have that apple," he noted.  "I can make all three, Stark, Pepper, Rogers, and Banner immortal."  Hera gasped.  He grinned at her.  Then scowled at Zeus.  "I have no idea why Athena has such hatred for my family but it needs to end.  Before I call for a blood feud.  I've had enough of her shit this year."  He disappeared.

Ares nodded.  "He would.  He'd win too."  He walked off happier.  He had no idea why Athena was acting like that.  Maybe they should find out.  He sent Discord to find it.  If there was a secret she could find it.

Discord appeared twenty minutes later.  "Three years before the battle in Sunnydale, Athena and Hecate were together for six weeks to tryst," she reported.  "During that, whatever infection that was over Hecate was pulled into Athena because they tried to merge powers with Rosenburg helping.  They pulled her to Olympus."

"Was that about when she decided she was a Goddess who had the right to make decisions for others?" Ares asked as he appeared.  He had a hunk of meat in one hand to eat and a dog begging at his feet.

"Yes, right after her magic addiction started.  Which is why it got worse."  She looked at the leaders of her pantheon.  "It was them trying what Phil and Xander did that made them hate them even more when Xander ascended.  Athena's always seen him as a threat because he was almost adopted and he would've taken most of her war job from her," Discord said with a smile.  "We would've welcomed him more than her."

"Definitely.  The boy has sense, tactical and otherwise, and other battle skills," Ares agreed.

"So they went mad due to trying to bond the way that Phil and Xander did," Zeus summarized.  "Now they go after Xander's family due to that and Dawn's why?"

"They're bound mentally," Ares said with a slight shrug.  "She created a small connection and later incidences with that brainwashing thing made it stronger between the trio.  They have the mortal version of what Xander and Phil have.  Barton can even pull power from her sometimes."  He ate another bite of meat, glaring at the dog when it whimpered.  "Shut up, Marble."  It laid down on his feet, looking pathetically at Discord.  "Don't you dare," he warned.

"I'd only give him veggie ones.  I'd hate to kill him for farting all night again."  She tossed down a vegetable treat for him.  The other three had tracked their sibling and got some too for such good work.  "You three did very good tracking him all over Olympus."

Hera nodded.  "They're very sweet dogs.  I know Hellion was a half wardog, what are these?"

"Hellion and a red wolf's get," Discord said.  "Garnet's still a bit wild but like his human, Hellion loves them a bit dangerous."

Ares nodded.  "She's from that same wolf pack that used to protect him, Mother."  He finished his treat.  "Can we weed this out of them?" he asked Hera.

"I'm not sure if we can or not.  Gaia?"  She appeared.  "Athena...."

"I saw what Discord did.  I accidentally walked in on it.  It was supreme arrogance."

"Xander and Phil did it by accident," Ares said with a smirk.

"I saw and that's how I wanted it done."  She looked at Hera, who was looking stunned.  "It shouldn't be done unless they want it to be done.  With the other things that happened, it was the right moment.  I didn't like them being prompted while they were sick but they were what healed the other so I accepted it."

"Can we weed it out before Hecate and Athena have to be cut off from humanity?" Zeus asked.

"I'm not certain.  I need to look at them.  Apollo, escort me?"

"Gladly, Gaia."  He took her arm to walk her to their temples.  He hadn't seen that in them.  She showed him and then how Xander and Phil were connected.  The power core infection could be separated but they both felt that it wouldn't really separate them.  That they'd be resentful and try again sometime after punishing everyone.  He escorted her back after knocking both goddesses out and setting Hermes to watch them.  He gave his report to the rest of the Council of Twelve.  She gave hers.

Zeus and Hera looked at each other.  "For now we will confine them.  The next time they act they are to go to the Judge's Council," he sighed.

"Zeus, if either one acts against Xander, they won't make it there," Ares said.  "He meant it about the blood feud.  He's already lost a lot to that hellhole they started off."

He considered it and called out for Xander to appear.  Xander sent a scroll saying he was guarding his mate for the moment and would appear after they had landed.  He sent back that they were confined.  He felt them trying again.  "Someone is trying again," he announced.

Ares felt then snapped the power that Hecate was drawing on.  She shrieked and tried to fight against him.  He and Discord got her down.

John appeared with a sword in hand.  "There's an attack on this pantheon by evil sources," he announced.  "I'm going to take it out with your leave, Zeus."

"It's your half-brother," Hera said.

John stared at her.  "He's not the evil."  He disappeared.  Soon they felt Hecate dissipated and reformed.  Hera flinched and held her stomach as the powers roiled and growled around them but John managed Athena the same way.  She almost didn't want to reform but she did next to Zeus in child form.  John reappeared with the child of Hecate.  "This way they can be taught the right ways," he said, glaring at Zeus.  "Before the blood feud with my family rends my obedience.  Because I will always side with blood."

Zeus nodded.  "As is expected, Jonathan.  Thank you for bringing them to the state they're in."

"They're as innocent as Diama and the new one Ares had.  I hope this time they have better raisings without so much attitude.  Because I heard that you had suggested a match and they refused due to it."

"I did," Zeus agreed, looking at the baby Athena.  "They were right to.  I have seen her turn from a childlike, innocent goddess into..."

"A bitch," Ares filled in when Zeus couldn't find a word.  "A tea-totaling, snobby bitch who thinks that her virgin ass was better than anyone else.  Even you two."  They nodded.  "If this doesn't work, can she go live with the grandparents?"

"Yes, she can," Hera agreed.  "Both of them can."  Zeus nodded that was reasonable.  If they could not be made sane, healthy goddess again then they could rest with the Titans.  They acted like them half the time anyway.  She checked them.  "Jonathan, they're still linked."

"I could not undo that or with the shade of Rosenburg.  Hades has her.  He keeps her as an eight-year-old so she's happy and healthy mentally.  She isn't aware of all the hell she caused and if they pulled her back again they could only do it at that age and wait until she grew up.  They're both younger than her but will grow up."

Zeus considered them then called Hades to talk to him.  Hades decided to make them a little grotto.  They could still get prayers and powers from the mortal realm but they could not send any out unless he authorized it.  He took them to their embedded mate and let them play together in the flowers there.  Zeus sighed, looking at Jonathan.  "Thank you for that remaking."

"Humanity couldn't lose either of them without a lot of hell going on," he said.  Diama came rushing out with her too-big-for-her sword.  "Didn't Ronon tell you to quit running with that?"  He took it from her and handed it to Discord.  "We'll find you one that's your size if your uncle will teach you."

"Why would she need to know?" Ares asked.

"Because people steal engineers," John said bluntly.  "Do you know how many times I had to rescue the geeks on Atlantis?  Or how many times Stark got taken before his father died?"

"Point," he admitted.  "Yeah, I'll teach you self defense, Diama.  You and Fiona can take it together."

She grinned.  "I like Fiona and she likes radios and things.  So that makes her cooler than Aphrodite any day.  Because the Pink One doesn't like any machines."  She looked at Discord, smiling shyly.  "Can I go talk to Radek?"

"You're not my kid, why ask me?" she demanded.

"Because you've been bothering him and it's mean."  She kicked her on the ankle, something she had gotten from Callia.  Discord yelped and hopped around.  She grinned.  "Leave my geeks alone before I have them make mean things to kick you again."  She disappeared with John.  She ran to pounce Radek.  "I kicked the mean bitch on the ankle for giving you bad dreamies, Radek."  She hugged him.  "It's all better now."

"No swearing," Rodney ordered.  "Even baby goddesses shouldn't swear unless it's a life or death situation."  She looked at him and said something in her native language.  He plucked her off Radek and stuck her in a corner.  "I warned you.  Stand there for the next twenty minutes until you can learn not to swear, young lady.  You're also grounded from following Teyla and Ronon around today.  Atlantis, make sure she stays in the corner for the full twenty minutes please."   He walked off with Radek.  "Bad dreams?"

"Nightmares of us sinking again."

"Hmm.  That is bad," he agreed.  "We can build an anti-goddess shield."

John blinked at the baby then at the retreating geeks.  He shrugged.  "I agree, good girls don't swear," John said when she pouted at him.  "I didn't know Rodney was that fierce but still."  He shook his head.  "Next time, don't swear," he reminded her when she sniffled.  "Not even Callia gets away with it."

"Fine."  She pouted and stood there.  She understood why she got punished even if it did suck and she was going to dose his coffee with ex-lax.  Discord had taught her what it was for after a huge cheese festival.  She hadn't known about food geeks until that time.  They were just as much hers as engineers because most of them were just as scientific and persnickety about their food things.  She had found out there were even *balloon* geeks.  Which was a great thing to her.

***

Dawn made it to her desk a bit late, finding Tony scowling at her ringing phone.  "Sorry, boss."  She answered it.  "Thank you.... you sure you're all right?  You'd better be or I'll go curse her again!"  She listened.  "Good!  Then I'll see you two tonight?"  She smiled.  "Even better.  Yup, I'll calm down.  Have fun, guys."  She hung up.  "Athena tried to crash their plane."

"So I take it they're on the way back instead of following their target somewhere like Natasha does?" he guessed.  She nodded.  "Good!  You still can't go home until we up the security on the building."  He went into the office.

"But Natasha won't let us have sex here," she complained.

"I'm sure you can tempt her into it," he shot back with an evil look.

"No, I left all that at home too," she complained.  He laughed.  She settled in to get back to work.  She had to finish weeding out the duplicate files from her doing the reboot too soon.  JARVIS saw what she was doing and did it for her.  "Thanks, JARVIS," she said quietly.

"You're most welcome, Miss Dawn.  Also, I found two duplicate media files and checked, they were exactly the same song so I erased the one that was not referenced in any playlist."

"I adore you.  You save me a ton of work."  She grinned at her computer.

"You're very welcome.  Shouldn't you get something to eat?"

"I'll eat a big lunch.  I promise to eat lunch."

"I doubt that won't impact your health."

Tony came out.  "Order something and bring it back, Dawn.  Before we start nagging you like you do us."

"I only skipped one meal, not many in a row," she quipped but went to get something and bring it back.  Her phone was ringing again so she leaned into the office.  "Doc wanted to see me for my bc shot."  She took her breakfast down there.  "Are we sure this one's not a fertility med?" she joked.

"Unless they changed the depo medicine bottle, it shouldn't be."  She stuck her.  "Just now getting to breakfast?"

"I was chatting with them."

"Good!"  She shooed her off again, making a note of it.  She did test the bottle in case it had been switched.  She really had to find out who did that.  She called up the head of security to see if he had ever figured it out.

***

Tony came out of the meeting with Dr. Pigalli, staring at Dawn.  "We finally found out who changed the meds."

She blinked up at him, saving what she had been typing up for him.  "Who do I get to beat the ass of?"

"The head of security.  He was missing his second paycheck to that stupid prince and the fertility center that was planning on taking you since it got shut down last night."

She licked her lips.  "That nice guy that holds doors for me and all that?"

"Yeah.  He had a quiet crush on you and if you had a kid he'd be really happy and save you both so he could be the stepdaddy."

"But I have my two," she said.

"No, he had plans on killing them once you were pregnant then saving you."

"Ah," she said, nodding.  She opened her desk drawer, getting it shut by the doctor.  "I need those."

"No, he's going to be talked to by SHIELD," Tony said dryly.  "We told Maria Hill.  She's on her way.  Agent Hill is not a happy camper."

"Is that because she's got morning sickness?" Dawn quipped.

"Maybe," Dr. Pigalli said with a smile.  "Probably mirrored from Tara's."  Dawn shook her head.  "Really?"

"Really.  They borrowed Lavelle's choker."  Tony shivered and went back to the office. "Are you sure I can't have even the taser, Doc?"

"No, sorry.  Let Agent Hill be mean for you, Dawn.  Warn your spouses?"

Dawn leaned back in her desk chair to tell that to them.

In the plane, Clint looked up then told Phil and Xander, who growled.

Dawn smiled at her.  "They're not happy with that plan either."

"You need another shot."

"Shit."

"Yup."  She smiled.  "I don't have any undosed though."

"Well, Natasha won't let us have sex here in the building anyway," she complained.  "Tony said we can't go home yet."

Doc patted her on the arm and left to go cackle in the infirmary.  She could order a new dose of meds for her.  Maybe it'd come in today.

Dawn told Clint that news.  He was of the opinion that if they did have sex and she got pregnant it was fine with him.  She smiled, blushing some.  All their sex stuff was still at home.  Dawn got back to work, then did some online shopping with somewhere that would deliver today.  Tony was laughing in the office.  She got something for him too, which made him groan.  "Then quit watching what I'm shopping for, boss," she called.

He came out.  "I didn't know that they made a gag that looked like Cap's shield."  He went to tell him that.  He was upstairs being played with by the dog and cats.  "Thankfully the rabbit can't play fetch yet," he said in the elevator.

"If anyone could teach it to, I'm sure your daughter could," JARVIS said mildly.

"Probably, yeah," he said, getting off and being greeted by the chipper Dawn cat.  "Hi, Dawn kitty."  It ran off and babbled at Phil, who talked back to her.  He sat down beside Steve, pulling up that item to show him.

Steve blushed bright red.  "Why did they make that?"

"Apparently for those who want to be gagged patriotically?" he guessed.  Steve scowled.  He grinned.  "Dawn found it."

"Figures."  He turned off that app on the phone and handed him the damp tennis ball.

He threw it for Xander and the dog ran off.  Natasha went after the cat version of it with Clint following her and Phil bathing Dawn's ears for her. The Tony cat was nowhere to be seen.  Tony looked around.  "Where's my namesake?  Tony?"  The cat pushed his head through some papers, looking very messed up and a bit greasy.  "What did you get into?"  The cat bounded down to nuzzle him and purred then ran off to the kitchen.  Tony threw the ball again.  "JARVIS?"

"I believe he wanted to know what the deep frier was, sir.  It's presently unplugged thankfully.  I believe he's now going for the rice."  Sure enough, they heard a clatter of the canister being pushed over and then Tony came out shaking rice off his sticky fur.

"I think it's bath time.  Get me some bulletproof sleeves, JARVIS," he ordered.  One of the robots brought it up already on and took the cat to bathe it, no matter how much it hated that idea.  "Thanks."

"It's safer than you being clawed to ribbons, sir."

Steve was snickering.  "Definitely, yes."  Tony ran past being a bubble covered cat and the robot chased, moving smoothly around the other pets to grab it and carry it back.  It howled but the robot didn't have feelings.  "I've nearly done that to you a few times when you come up a grease covered mess," he said with a grin for Tony, giving him a kiss.

Tony smirked back.  "You can scrub me all you want, Rogers."  He threw the toys again since the pets were all staring at them.  Phil nudged him with his head and lapped Steve before running off after the toy Natasha was ignoring to stare at them.  "I threw it," he said with a point.  "Phil has it."  He threw another toy.  She walked up him to nibble on his hair then ran off again.  "Thanks, Romanoff cat.  I like you too."  He leaned his head on Steve's.  "We have seven pets," he said.

"We do, yup."  He threw the tennis ball when Xander brought it back.  That time he laid down on top of it to nap.  Phil brought over his toy.  Dawn slunk over and curled up under Xander's chin since Phil was on top of the dog again.  Clint and Natasha decided to nap in the climbing tower that was next to the porch's sliding doors.  He took pictures through JARVIS and sent them to Clint and Natasha with a grin.

***

Clint looked at his phone, sharing it with Phil and Xander with a grin.  "They're so like us."

"They did name them well," Xander agreed. "Even the little me that Callia named."  They grinned. "There's a cat missing."

Clint sent that at Steve, who showed it being all damp and huffy but hiding inside a cabinet full of legos from a robot.  "Yeah, that's a Tony cat."  He showed them.  Natasha laughed, leaning on his arm.

"The cats are more fun than the Starks, and I still like Callia better than I do her father."

"We'll be home in a few hours," Clint said.

Phil nodded.  "Thankfully."

Xander nuzzled his ear with his nose.  "You're so getting pinned down and claimed tonight," he whispered.  "You have tomorrow off."

"I do?" he asked with a smile.

"You will need it."

Phil gave Xander's hand a squeeze.  "We'll see who needs tomorrow off."

"Dawn will," Clint quipped.  "Maybe even two days worth."

Natasha looked at him.  "Not if we're spending tonight at the tower.  I do not have sex while I'm a guest at someone's house."

"Hoboken," Clint said with a mean grin.  "Oahu.  Tempe.  Detroit.  Bellsmith, England."  She shivered.  "Should I mention Norway?"

"Please don't," she moaned.

He grinned.  "I knew that wasn't a real rule."

"They did not have surveillance."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure there were cameras in Norway and Oahu.  I deleted the footage he kept from our Hawaiian vacation."

"Thank you.  I should've heard."

He grinned.  "I still can't get footage from the one in Norway."

She sighed and wrote that contact an email.  He was her contact, not Clint's.  He promised he wasn't watching it anymore and he'd send it to Dawn.  She hung her head but typed in a thank you.

He put an arm around her.  "I wonder if the one from the hotel in Greece is still around."  She poked him hard, making him yelp.  "You picked the hotel."

"Do not remind me of that op, please," Phil ordered.  "I don't care that you two were having fun during it, as the assignment called for it, but I don't want to remember having to evacuate you, Barton, because you had been shot three times."

"They shot me because they wanted 'Tasha all for themselves," he complained.  "They had good taste but sucky timing."

She poked him again.  "I do not like remembering how close we were then either.  Even if you were very nicely warm for me that week."

He grinned.  "We should find that and send it to Dawn too."

"I'm sure Stark would like her to work today," she shot back, giving him a pointed look.  He shrugged.  "Good point.  Stark should do some of his own work and the scientists will survive a day if she doesn't nag them to eat."  She found that footage and hacked it from her Starkpad.  It got sent to Dawn with the others that she could find and erase from their sources.  They both heard Dawn's mental groan of defeat.  "I believe she likes the sight of you stripping for me."

"Probably.  I should do that for her."

"Hmm.  We need to do something spectacular for her birthday."

"We do," Clint agreed.  "We have months to plan it."  She nodded that was true.  "Or our anniversary.  Which is in less than a month."  Natasha smiled.

"I want to remember dates like you do," Xander quipped.  "Sorry, dear."

"I forgive your few faults because the rest of you is spectacular enough to compensate," he said patiently, getting kissed for it.  "Thank you."  They blocked off power coming their way.  "Who?"

"Hmm.  Looks like Dad."  He zapped the hell out of him for it.  Then pointed out that he and his husband were on that plane and he would destroy all of humanity over Phil.  "Oh, he was trying to take down a different plane.  Nope, not going to work."  He blocked that minor plan, which let Loki do the real one.  Though, Phil got that one stopped because Xander knew it had been a diversion.

The attack on New York was stopped before it began.  The bar the demigods were hanging out in all saw it start and get shut down violently but they shrugged it off as 'Loki pulling more shit' and had another round.  In return for him trying that, Xander changed him again.  Now he was a Chihuahua.  A yappy little mean dog that needed clothes because wherever he was it was too chilly for his thin fur and blood.

Phil looked at him.  "Quit insulting yappy dogs, Xander.  They're annoying but really."

Xander shrugged.  "He can change himself back after he goes into heat."  He smiled.

"You really do like to punish people with animals," Clint said dryly, staring at him.

"Sometimes.  Why?"

"Goat," he said.  "Dogs...."

"Well, yeah but I learned it from the Greek pantheon.  Then again I do have a mostly unacknowledged half brother that I get along with just fine.  Odin announced we do not talk about Fenrir.  I'm still wondering why he came out a wolf when his mom's a giant."  He shook his head.  "Dad's animal magnetism and skill at talking virgins into beds hit again.  Thankfully the twins *adore* Fenrir.  They tease him all the time and come out to put pretty ribbons in his hair.  They used to climb on him for pony rides...."  Natasha was cackling, leaning against Clint's side.

"They're twin, white-blonde hell bitches in training, Natasha.  They never wear clothes, which their mom complains *so* hard about.  Dad's training them in how to fight so they can protect themselves when someone tries to snatch them again.  Sean's totally embarrassed by them all the time because they run around shirtless and beating up on the boys in the village.  Their big brothers can't look at them because they claim they're future Valkyries.  Buffy had a 'hell no they're not going to that duty' fit.  So they'll be warrior wenches."

Phil nodded.  "They're so evil sometimes.  During a spring festival they made flower necklaces for the wolf pack Xander has watching them and Fenrir and talked them into wearing them.  Hylal called Xander to check them for magic, which they do have, but didn't use.  They're both gifted with talking to animals."  Xander grinned at him.  "Yours?"

"Yup, I blessed them with it."  He grinned at the other couple.  "They're such little hellions though.  I look forward to them making everyone blush for years."

Natasha smiled.  "I will help with their self-defense training."

"They'll need it," Phil said.  "They're beautiful young women.  They're going to turn out supermodel pretty."  Clint shivered.  "Oh, yes, but without being too skinny.  Callia's going to get jealous."

"She's going to turn out pretty.  There was an aging program and Dawn used it on her picture to see.  She turned out really pretty, a lot like her dad but with her mom's facial structures," Clint said.  "Dawn cooed that she'd need a few new shotguns for her."

"Liz will be charming like her mother," Natasha agreed.  "Callia will be the female Stark clone he claims her to be."

Xander nodded.  "Probably."  He leaned against Phil's side again.  "Aren't we nearly there yet?"

He checked his watch.  "Few more hours.  Want to nap?"

"No."  He yawned.  "That's no fair, Phil."

"I'm on watch, Xander."  Xander yawned again and fell asleep at his prompting.  He smiled at them.  "Tell JARVIS you want privacy and he will," he reminded them.  They nodded at that wisdom.  They could nap and listen to Dawn be a blushing girl about the sex tapes they had stolen back.

***

Dawn blinked at the new email, opening it.  The message got a 'thank you' back and she considered before clicking on it.  "Oh, wow," she said, turning it off before Tony could see.  Another few came in and she watched a few minutes, blinking at it.  "Huh.  They were really happy there."  She turned it off when she heard Pepper's footstep behind her.  She grinned, still blushing a bit.  "They confiscated the tapes that were made while they were on assignment."

"Ah.  That good?"  Dawn turned on the one that started off with Clint stripping for a lounging, teasing herself Natasha.  Pepper blinked a few times.  "I've seen real strippers that aren't that good.  The next time I need one for a bridal shower for a friend, I'm hiring him."

"Hey," Dawn complained.

"They don't get to touch," she quipped, going back to her office.  "After hours, Dawn."

"I am."  She turned it off.  "I really need to learn how to do that right," she muttered.  She saw her computer reload a page and leaned in there.  "Stark!"

"Just wanted to see why she was blushing," he said, staring at it.  "Wow, I don't have moves that way."  He turned it off.  Steve didn't have those moves either.  He had to show that to him.  Dawn erased it after saving it down onto her private tablet.  Which he had promised not to hack without good reason.  Which his sex life wasn't so it was a pity Steve wouldn't see it.

Dawn put her tablet into her shielded purse and got back to work.  She had to cross her legs because she was a bit horny now.  It had been three weeks.  She was pouty and needy.  Maybe she'd do that for lunch instead.  She needed to hit a store anyway to get some supplies.  Some of them had trial methods, so that might be nice.

***

Pepper came out at three, looking at something then at Dawn.  "I'm so glad you're on salary instead of overtime."  She held up the time sheet.  "HR wanted to know if there was a crisis since you've done nineteen hours of overtime."

"I have?"

"You have."

"Huh.  I did not realize that."  She blinked at her boss.  "Sorry?"

"Go do something else?  Go to the zoo, go find something pretty to wear...."

"Did that during lunch."

"Then go eat lunch and break early for the night."  She smiled.  "Set up whatever you bought during lunch for whenever they get home."

Dawn nodded.  "I might like that.  Won't take me that long and I have to finish these letters."

Pepper looked.  "Why are you typing in Russian?"

"Rebuffing the newest offer," she said dryly, finishing it off and printing it.  "Dumb jackasses but now they want me to run their administrative branch."  Tony came out to get the letter to read and put into the envelope she had ready.  "Thanks for mailing that for me, boss," she quipped, waving at his back.  She put the other one into the outgoing mail box.  She pulled up something.  "I have pre-made templates for the upcoming meetings, including links so I can pull up the daily values for the meeting about the new supplier."

"That's fine.  Go home!"

"I'm fine.  They won't be done until nearly dinner."

"Dawn.  Go.  Eat.  Play."  She pointed.  "Now."  Dawn sighed but shut things down and went to eat lunch.  "Thank you!"  She smirked and waved.  Dawn came back and got Liz to eat with her.  "I can handle her."

"I'm not the only one that's worked overtime," she said, looking her over.  "Those are my short of heels, not yours, Pepper."  She gave her a pointed look then grinned at Liz.  "We'll go eat lunch then cuddle the Loki kitty.  You need to learn to like kitties like Callia does while your mom goes to pounce the Tony daddy."  They got onto the elevator and went down to the caf.

Pepper was blushing but did lock down her office to go distract Tony.  She was feeling a bit needy.  She looked around as she walked in.  Only the Tony cat was investigating things.  No bigger Stark.  He came out of his bedroom area to stare at her.  "Callia?"

"Steve's hiding from the other cats."  He swatted his namesake to get him away from the oil.  "Get out of the industrial lubricant."  It ran off to investigate the cars.  He rolled his eyes.  He looked at Pepper.  "Problems getting her to go to lunch?"

"She stole Liz and told me to come distract you."  She moved closer, kissing him and undoing his shirt buttons.  His overshirt was half-done up.  "I need to distract you."

He grinned, taking her to the other sleeping area.  "Yeah, I can distract you just fine, Pepper."  He helped her strip off, looking at the shoes then at her.  "I didn't notice them earlier.  Or you might've been distracted earlier too."  He stripped off and joined her on the cot.  It was a bit narrow but they could manage it.  Pepper was hot enough to flip him over and slide down him instead of letting him play.  Which was okay with him.

He had plenty he could play with.  She was still sensitive from nursing part-time.  She moaned and clutched around him, riding him hard and fast.  He pulled her hips more firmly against his, thrusting up harder like she wanted, making her mewl and grab on.  His mouth was busy with her nipples but she enjoyed that.  He sat up and ground up into her, which gave better contact to her clit while he had to lose contact with a nipple in favor of her lips.  She panted and groaned, letting him finger her until she got off.

She kissed him, sighing at the end.  "Good?" he teased.  She nodded, grinning at him.  "Good, because I'm just barely started."  He flipped them over so she was on her back, looking down as he did his best to ride her into a second orgasm.  She was groaning and stroking his back.  He lifted one of her feet around his hip to give himself a better angle.  She arched up and whimpered when he bit her nipple, using the extra bit of depth to her advantage.  "Pepper."

"Tony!" she said, trying to help him.

"Shh, let me, Pepper."  He kissed her, then nuzzled behind her ear.  She had a sweet spot there that he liked to suck on.  She moaned and let him do whatever he wanted.  She was getting happy and that's all that mattered to her until she got off and he followed.  He groaned, pushing in as hard as he could as he let go and came.  She pulled him to kiss her, letting him catch his breath after the kiss.  "Better?"

"Much better."  She kissed him again, shifting them to curl up side-by-side.  "Tony, condom?"

"Nope."  He kissed her.  "You said you wanted Liz to have a sibling and I'm going to do my best for that goal," he said, teasing her stomach.  She had exactly three stretch marks and he adored them.  He smiled at her.  "Unless you want Steve...."  She stopped that thought with another kiss.  "Good."  He flattened his hand to stroke over her stomach.  "Moving in?"

"We'll see."

"Move in tonight?" he asked, giving her a begging look he had clearly learned off the dog last night.

She smiled and kissed him.  "We work better when we're not living together, Stark."

"So move into the apartment below the penthouse?" he offered.  "I've had it renovated."

She smiled.  "I might do that."  He grinned and hugged her.  "Is there a new staircase?"

"A nice spiral one.  With a door so the cats don't come live with you all the time."

"I might like that."

"Steve was getting a midnight snack and had three of them climbing up his legs chattering at him for his food.  The other two were twining around his feet and the dog was giving him begging looks from his spot on the couch.  He had to give them more tuna and the dog his sandwich so he made another one."  She laughed.  "We need to teach them not to beg."

"I'm not sure cats are that trainable, even those."  She teased his lip with a fingernail.  "Callia will never leave Liz alone," she said quietly.

"Yes she will.  She has to walk the dog and clean up after the other six pets."  He took a quick kiss and grinned.  "Plus there's always new things to learn and the cars."

"True."  She stroked her stomach then his chest around the arc reactor.  "We'll see what happens."

"It will sometime," he promised.  "The rest just feels incredible."

"It does."  She kissed him again.  Then yelped as his fingers found her clit and teased it.  "Tony!"

He grinned.  "What?" he asked with an innocent smirk.

Steve came to the doorway rumpled, hair stick up on one side.  "You could've used the bigger bed," he pouted.

Tony got up and walked Pepper in there, Steve following.  "C'mon, super stud."

"I am not."

"You're a very handsome man, and I would've still liked you and dated you even before the super serum," Pepper said, making him blush but grin shyly at her.

"You're overdressed," Tony noted, kissing him.  He put Pepper down so he could tease and fondle her again.  Steve got undressed and joined them.  He knew that Pepper was trying to get pregnant again and Tony said it was going to be his so he made sure he had some condoms at hand.  Pepper focused on him while Tony got to tease her from behind.  "I guess that's fair since I had you once."  He nibbled on her shoulder while touching them both.  Steve groaned.  Pepper took charge and it was great for him.

Then Tony got her while Steve got to touch her.  That was even better because Tony was a virtual god of touching women while Steve was his high priest who still had a few things to learn.  Pepper was making gasping, breathy noises that Steve loved to make her have.  Tony came with a grunt and moved to tease her until she came.  She finally went over and kissed them both, making them curl around her so they could rest.  It wasn't often they got a few hours alone together without something going on or Callia looking for them.

***

Clint looked up from Fury yelling at them because Dawn had just let a bit of feeling slip over.  Apparently she was getting happy with herself.  He could feel the vibrating thing in her and that she was teasing herself.  He blinked at Fury to clear his mind.  "Since when is leaving our mundane phones on a good idea while on covert assignment?" he demanded back.  "We always turn them off.  You did not give us that instruction before we left.  I don't read *your* mind, sir."

Fury glared.  "Watch your tongue, Barton."

"Or what?  You'll make me do interviews then send me on another assignment?"  Fury growled.  He stared at him.  "I got asked for two different autographs while I was there.  Hell, Coulson got asked for *five*, sir!  What did you want us to do?  We were following protocol.  Next time, tell us that before we leave!"  He walked off.  "Agent Hill, is there any sign of any sort of threat to the world for the next three days?"

"Not that I've seen, Barton.  I think he wants you back in there."

Clint looked at him.  "Sir, it's dangerous for us to go on assignments until people decide that the ones in the movies are really us.  That should take a few months after it comes out.  Until then, people got growled at by Romanoff because they asked her for an autograph and asked us about Stark."  Fury stomped back into his office.  "I'm going to see Dawn after I check on Bob."  He went to do that first.  A quick net search for obits made him happier.  He hadn't succumbed.  He was still in the local hospital according to the person he had watching over the kid for him.

The junior agent had his whole job making sure of where certain people were each day.  Slipping one more that shouldn't be moved was easy enough and the small bribe was appreciated by the agent.  He went to check on him in person, shoving back at Dawn by telling her he was going to visit the kid.  To give him an hour before she got too smutty?  She agreed and blocked him off, sending it at Natasha.  He rolled his eyes in the cab but he had on sunglasses so the cabby didn't notice.  He paid and got out, nodding at Bob's mother since she was outside having a smoke and a cry.  "I just got back into town.  Is he okay?"

"He's fine, Agent Barton."  She smiled.  "He's in scans today."

"Okay.  Is tomorrow better?"  She nodded, shaking his hand.  "Then I'll check up on him then."  He smiled.  "Did Dawn send over that gift certificate to the educational store?"

"She did and it was very sweet.  A few of the kids are falling behind on homework."

"I figured some of the kids needed a bit of something challenging to take their mind off things."

"They do sometimes."  She smiled.  "Stark handed out Starkpads to all the kids.  When he heard a few got missed because they were stuck in quarantine in their rooms, he came back to give them one specially."

"Stark's a stand up guy most of the time."  He grinned at another parent.  "If he needs something, let me know."

"The only thing he needs right now is bone marrow and I doubt you're a match."

"Actually, I'm forbidden to donate.  An assignment a few years back got me exposed to chemical warfare crap."  She winced.  He nodded.  "Or I'd get tested.  I'll see if Dawn has or if anyone there in the tower has.  She works with a bunch of really nice people.  They didn't even roll their eyes when somehow Callia got five cats and a puppy one night without her father knowing."

She burst out laughing.  "Really?"

"Really.  Apparently there had been a cat breeding demon that had them.  He named them after the family, got most of them right.  They've been driving the tower nuts all day by escaping to investigate."  She giggled and hugged him, going back inside.  "Let me know."  He caught another cab to the tower.  He relaxed and let Dawn broadcast at him again by opening his mind.  Natasha was trying to resist and do her report.  He'd do his tomorrow.  Phil would be doing his tomorrow too because they drove past the building they lived in and it was glowing.  So yeah, it was fantastic in Phil and Xander's bedroom tonight.

The cabby slowed down.  "Should we report that?"  He knew who he was carrying and where they lived.  Most of New York did.

"No, that's Alexander's fault.  His spouse was on assignment for a few weeks."

"Oh, that's good to know."  He dropped Clint at the tower, letting him pay for the fare and a tip.  He called that in anyway, that way they could ignore that street for a while.  They didn't want any cabs hurt if the building exploded or something.

Clint went inside. He checked, Dawn didn't have dinner and he hadn't eaten yet today.  She told him to get dinner, she could wait.  He asked if she had eaten and she said she had eaten an hour ago and had something for a snack later in the mini fridge.  He went to the caf to get dinner.  He grinned at the cooks.  "I'm starved."  They gave him extra servings.  "Thanks, ladies.  I'm making Dawn wait."

"Inhale fast.  She had that naughty look again," one said.  "And Liz with her at the time."

"We love Liz.  She's a calm baby."  He settled into a chair to inhale the food, and got seconds to go with it.  By then Natasha had snapped and was on her way back.  He finished up and popped in a breath mint on the way up to their guest suite.  He found the door unlocked.  "Dawn?"  He walked in and avoided the cat coming to check on him.  "Morning, Loki cat."  He closed the door, sending a thought at Natasha that it was unlocked.  The room was pretty dark.  "Hey, JARVIS, we're getting privacy tonight, right?"

"Yes, she has asked for it," he promised.

"Thank you."  He stripped off his shirt as he walked in there, still not stepping on the cat that was trying to trip him up.  He paused to pick him up and pet him.  "I missed you too, cat."  He spotted Dawn in the mostly dark room.  There were a few electronic candles lit.  The bathroom light was on.  Dawn was on the bed, already sweaty, clearly enjoying the vibrating thing in her.  One arm was cuffed to the headboard, the other was gripping it with the remote next to her hand.  He put the cat down on the couch and shut the bedroom door so he could walk closer.  "Hmm, that's a pretty look, Dawn."

She panted, staring at him.  "Save me?  It's in the wrong spot."

He smiled.  "Too high?"  She nodded.  He leaned down to kiss her.  "We'll see if I'm that heroic today or not."  He sat down to take off his boots, watching how she was moving, trying to get it into the right spot.  "Can't reach the cord?"

"No cord," she moaned.  "That goes to the other one."

He looked.  She did have one in each hole.  "I really could use a shower."  She whimpered.  "How long have you been like that?"

"Hour," she moaned.

He kissed her then finished stripping down.  He undid her wrist.  "Shower with me."  She followed him, helping him clean off.  It was sexy and she was still needy.  He teased her a bit when he cleaned her up.  "That is too high."  He teased it with a fingertip, shoving it a bit higher.  She grabbed onto the walls and held on for dear life.  "Poor thing," he said in her ear.  "You did it to yourself."

"I wanted to make myself look like I should be pounced," she moaned.

"You did.  If I wasn't all sweaty I would've pounced you and made you howl for me," he said in her ear, making her shiver.  "As is, I think I need worked up to it now."  He teased her clit, making her go limp against his chest.  "Let me pop those out for you."  He slowly and carefully pulled them both out.  "That one's hard to get."

"It's got a sleeve but I didn't want latex tonight," she said, leaning against him.

"I'm better than a toy any day."

"Yes, you are."  She turned to kiss him.  "Want help drying off?"

He grinned.  "I think I want to make sure you're all clean."

She nibbled on his collarbone then looked up at him.  "Thoroughly cleaned everywhere."  He shivered.  "I got a depo shot just before I came up.  Still on my pills."  She kissed a nipple then teased it with her teeth until he pried her off it with a hiss.  "There's not a single condom in this apartment."

He moaned.  "You naughty thing.  Not even if I wanted to have all of you?"  He pulled her closer to kiss her.

"That's why I cleaned myself *thoroughly*."

He smirked.  "You wanton, evil thing."

"Yes I am."  She turned off the water.  "It's getting chilly.  You don't look good when you're blue."

"No, I don't."  He got them out and toweled off, making sure to pat everything dry.  "Lube?" he asked.

"Only a tiny bit for that."

"Good.  Because Nat likes prep work."

"Yes, she does."  She smirked.  "And we enjoy it when she does."

"We do."  He led her back out there, looking at the bed.  Special, new sheets he knew they didn't have at home.  Not silk but very soft.  They'd probably absorb sweat well since it wasn't stained from where Dawn had been sweating.  A soft set of cuffs if he wanted to play with them.  A foot set in the same soft material in case he wanted them.  Two new toys he'd never seen before.  "What're those?"

"One's a rabbit.  It's supposed to be fantastic but the tiny thing is in the wrong spot to hit my clit, and the other's like anal beads only on a stick.  So you can slowly open me with it if you need to."  She knelt on the bed, teasing his chest with her fingers.  "I figured we'd like the second one anyway."

"It sounds handy," he agreed, pushing her backwards.  He looked her over.  Shaved all but that tiny bit of hair.  A few stray hairs here and there so she had shaved instead of naired this time.  He leaned down to kiss her, getting pulled down.  "Are you going to let us pounce you tonight?"

"I'd adore being pounced tonight," she admitted, kissing him.  "I've missed you two."

"This is definitely a heroic reward."  He smiled.  "Quit being so hyper.  We wanted to come pounce you too.  Even without all this."

She kissed him.  "I wanted this."

"You sure?"  She nodded, staring at him.  "Absolutely sure this is your fantasy for tonight?"

"I am."  She kissed him.  "I haven't had many since you were gone."

"You could've."

"Doesn't get me as hot as you watching me do it does."  She shrugged slightly.  "I'm slightly kinky that way."

"Just a bit but we like you this kinky."  He kissed her and ran a hand over her side.   "Shift up."  She got up onto the pillows and made sure she was comfortable. He looked her over.  "Hands up, but I'm not hitching you down.  I want you to have the control to stay in that position."  She nodded, swallowing.  "If you can, you get a lot of reward."  He kissed her, then moved down to tease her throat, a known weak spot.  She was spreading out under him and it was nice.  Her hands stayed where they should.  Clint got to tease her breasts, licking over one.  "Buffy can't get pregnant, Dawn."

"Um...  Oh, that.  Liz tried to latch on earlier when I had her on my lap during lunch."  She sighed.  "I told Pepper, who fed her.  They were...busy."

"Hmm.  Not that I mind."  He licked over the other side, which didn't.  "Am I going to start that off too?"

"No, I think it's just her.  I thought I made sure that spell hadn't popped back into being."

He licked over it.  "Go ahead and end it again?"  She did and he grinned, cleaning up what little she had gathered.  "Thanks.  Don't want to worry about that tonight."  He teased her, making her get happier.  He moved back to tease her stomach, which made her wiggle and laugh at a few spots but he liked hearing her laugh.  He pulled back to look over her lower half.  One finger came up to spread her open so he could look her over.  "Very pretty.  Slightly damp."  He teased her holes.  "Nicely open."  He kissed her then pulled back to lick over her.

"I missed doing this while I was there."  She moaned and shifted some for him.  "Good girl."  He dove in, teasing and tasting her.  She had been very needy.  He could feel how close she was to coming again.  He wanted to bury himself in her so much but they both enjoyed this.  Fuck it, he surged up and planted himself in her, kissing her hard and fast.  "Hands," he warned.  She clutched the headboard again.  He pulled her hips up against his and rode her as hard as he could, making her pant and moan and wiggle for him.  "Mine?"

"All yours."

"That's why I love you.  You love my possessive times."  He kissed her again.

"I love more of you than that but I find them pretty hot," she panted.  "Clint, please!" she begged.

"More soon, princess."

"Not a princess."

"You are *my* princess.  Everyone else can fuck off about it."  He kissed her hard and fast, inhaling her breathy moans.  "All mine."

"All yours and Natasha's," she agreed on a moan.

He grinned and teased her clit with a finger.  "If she doesn't get here soon I'm not leaving her any," he said in her ear.  "Come for me soon?"

"Need more!" she panted, arching up into his hand.

"I know.  I know just how you like it."  She shivered, straining against him.  "Hands."

"Cuff me, please?" she begged.  "I can't!  I need to touch!"

"Touch me.  I don't mind now."  He pulled her hands down to put on his shoulders.  She ran her hands all over him.  "It's me, all me.  I'm right here."  She was getting happy feeling him so he let her.  It was important and he knew that.  She had miscalculated what she needed tonight but he'd give that to her too, not just what she wanted.  She burrowed into his shoulder so he went back to teasing her clit.  She came within minutes, moaning at him.  He kissed her then her chinline.  "I'm all here, Dawn."

"I needed you."

"I know.  Now I'm here."  He stroked her.  "All yours."  She pounced and he grinned, doing it back because now she was back in needy Dawn mode and it was always great.  Even if he did want to put her on her knees, cuff her to the headboard, and ride her so hard she begged for mercy.  Which wasn't a bad plan for the night.  He flipped her over and put her where he wanted her.  She went with it because she trusted him, which tripped his trigger every single time, and let him do whatever he wanted.

He dove back into her hole, tonguing her until she was twitching around him and making pleading noises.  He pulled back to tease her clit, which had gotten nudged a few times by his chin but no attention otherwise.  It was hard, ready for him to suck on.  It only took a few sucks before she shivered and was coming hard against his lips.  He licked her clean then pushed up to push into her again.  She squealed and pushed back.

He went back to the hard, outside world dissolving ride that made sure he realized he was home with Dawn.  She was making such great noises and pushing back as hard as he was giving her.  She was going to be so sore in the morning but he'd baby her for it.  This is what he needed.  He heard Natasha come in and get greeted by the cat, then come in to join them.  "Keep the cat out there," he ordered.

"He won't come help.  He hates to watch us have sex."  She pulled down her hair and stripped off, coming over to kiss him then Dawn, who mugged her mouth.  She moaned into it.  "Is he being good to you?"  Dawn nodded with an insane looking grin.  "Excellent.  I stopped to get a few supplies."  She kissed Clint again.  "Can I have some of that?"

"Give me ten minutes," he panted.  "I'm nearly finished."

She smirked.  "Slow down and move her position for me?"  He grinned and did that.  Natasha finished stripping and pulled on her strap on device.  It was hers from home.  It had a slim, life-like toy attached that Dawn and he both liked.  Natasha got under Dawn and he held still while she pushed in with him.  Dawn was moaning in pleasure.  "It's very tight in here."

"It's very tight," he agreed with a growl.  "Nat."  She pulled out to thrust back in.  He joined but it felt wrong to him.  She pulled out and he pulled Dawn up so he could lay underneath her.

Natasha got on top this time and pushed into her ass.  Dawn whimpered, tensing up some.  They had done this a few times and she liked it but you always tensed up at first.  Then slowly she relaxed.  Natasha added more lube and it was easier.  She pushed in and Clint was back to riding Dawn, who was panting against his neck now.  It was gentler, easier on Dawn, but it was going to go on for a very long time.  Clint had hold of Dawn's hips so he could push into her as deep as he could.  Natasha was enjoying his possessive streak tonight.  Dawn lifted her head to kiss him and whimper.  He kissed her back and then pulled Natasha down for one too.  "You can possessively claim us later," she soothed.

"You're both mine," Dawn panted.

"Yes we are," she said, kissing her ear.  Dawn made pouty faces so she kissed her as best she could with the angle they had.  "You're both of ours."  Clint groaned and came hard, she could feel it.  She smiled and pulled out, cleaning her toy self off so she could take his place.  Dawn looked worn out but happy.  She slid in and Dawn moaned, clutching at Clint's chest with her newly freed hands and wrapping her legs around his hips.  "That is an excellent position for me," she praised.  She gave her the hard ride she had been getting from Clint, making him recover and start to get hard again.  "I think she should lick that clean for you."

"Hmm.  Maybe," Clint agreed.  "Want to lick me clean, Dawn?"  She moaned in his ear, taking a kiss.  "I think she's too far gone for that," he said with a grin.  He shifted her slightly so he could slip a hand in and rub her clit.  She stiffened but it was great and she was so far gone she could barely tell anything but she was full and being kept from coming again.  She was clawing up his arm because of that so he kissed her.  "Relax.  We're giving it to you.  You'll get to come and sleep with us."  She was starting to thrash.  They'd seen Dawn this far gone before and checked for magical protections.  There were a few thankfully.  She finally came and her magic flashed a tiny bit but not what they were expecting.

Natasha hit her g-spot and there was the flash.  The cat yelped and ran for a closet.  The room was glowing green for a few minutes.  Natasha slowly calmed down, slowly easing out of it.  Clint stopped teasing her and was just stroking around her now to ease her off that point.  Dawn was making begging, kitty noises again but they didn't want her that far gone.  Not tonight.  She reached down to do it for herself but Clint stopped her fingers with his and sucked on them, teasing her into that last little bit.  She shrieked in pleasure, making him wince since it was in his ear, but it was good enough that Dawn nearly passed out between them.

Clint looked at Natasha.  "She didn't do anything while we were gone."

"That's bad.  She waited too long."  She and he kissed and he pulled her down to cuddle him.  He found her damp and needy so he teased her into coming.  She moaned into his mouth.  "That is very nice of you."

"I'm a nice guy sometimes."  He grinned.  They tucked Dawn between them and let her sleep it off.  Anytime she started to wake up, Clint or Natasha stroked over her back or side and she fell asleep again.  That's how they usually slept at night though so it was normal.

Clint woke up in the morning to a blow job by Dawn and Natasha teasing herself.  "Ooh, someone has energy."  Dawn grinned at him.  "Sore?"

"Tiny bit.  Can you cure that for me?"

He pulled her hips around to make sure she wasn't too sore.  "I might be able to fix the soreness, yup."  He dove in to his favorite breakfast.  Dawn moaned around his cock, making it great for him.  "Leave me some for you."  He teased and tempted her into getting hot.  Natasha helped.  They loved Dawn being in the mood to spontaneously make them get off.  When he was nearly ready to pop she pulled off with a slurp and shifted to lick Natasha until Clint had to shift her.  Natasha moved with them, holding Dawn's head down so she did what she wanted.  Clint slid into her, hearing the happy moan.  He grinned at Natasha.  "It's a naked day.  I'm hoping she has it off."

"I'm fairly certain I told Stark she did," Natasha said.  Dawn groaned but was doing what she liked.  "Dawn, please," she begged.  Dawn shifted Natasha's hips for her and it was better.  Natasha was breathy and moaning within a few strokes of her tongue.  Clint grinned and rode Dawn hard enough to make her thump into Natasha's body.  "I need some of that."

"Put your strap-on on her," Clint ordered.  "I'll get you later, Nat."

She smiled and got it from the floor to make sure she had cleaned it last night, then put it around Dawn so she could get under her.  Dawn was more than happy to do that and share kisses with her while nibbling on the tempting nipple nuggets of pleasure she had.  Dawn was giving her a very good, hard ride, while Clint was holding on for dear life behind her.  "She's very enthusiastic today."

Clint nodded, biting his lip.  "Very."  He grabbed Dawn's hips to slow her down and take control again.  "My turn to set the rhythm, Dawn."  She shivered but nodded, kissing and nibbling on Natasha's neck.  He set a good one that shoved her into Natasha and gave him all they all wanted.  Natasha came first, making him happy.  He changed his angle, getting Dawn's g-spot hard a few times until she came and her squeezing brought him over.

He groaned, pulling out to rest and cuddle.  Dawn and Natasha were still going at it.  Nat was gasping in pleasure and clutching at Dawn.  Who was keeping the same rhythm he had set.  "Harder, Dawn.  She likes it harder."  Dawn sped up and he teased Dawn's breasts, making her shiver.  "Make her come for me."  Natasha gasped and did come a few minutes later, making Clint happy.  Dawn pulled back and leaned down to lick her.  "That's beautiful, Dawn."

Dawn smiled at him.  "We both like how she tastes.  Should I share?"  She took a long, poetic looking lick up Natasha's body.  He shivered and they moved Natasha so they could both lick her clean.

Natasha was clutching the sheet.  "Please!" she ordered.  They kept teasing.  "I'm going to garrote you both!"  Clint laughed.  She reached down to grab him but Dawn grabbed her fingers to hold and moved up to tease her breasts until Natasha finally came again thanks to Clint's tongue.  She panted, gulping and swallowing air.  "You two are mean."

"We like to tease," Dawn said, kissing her then Clint.  "Good morning."

"Morning."  He kissed Natasha too then pulled Dawn between them.  The strap-on got tossed back onto the bedside table.  Natasha got pulled into the center by Dawn.  It was good for them.  They could go back to sleep this way.

***

Somehow MB had gotten roped into sitting on the desk today.  She smiled at the man coming off the elevator.  "Welcome to Stark International.  Who did you need to see today?"

He pulled out a badge.  "I was going to see Miss Summers about the plot to have her impregnated."

"She's busy.  The ones that she's claimed are just back from a three-week mission today."

The agent blushed.  "Good to know.  Will she be in tomorrow?"

"Probably."  She smiled.  "I can take a message and leave it for her when she checks in."

"Please."  He handed over his card.  "Have her call me.  We've found an irregularity in their files."

"I can do that."  He nodded and left.  She made the note and tucked the card into it.  She'd slide it under the door later.  Pepper came in, finally.  It was almost noon and she looked worn out.  "Where's Liz?" she pouted.

"Upstairs.  Callia and the cats are watching over her while keeping the dog from drooling on her."  She smiled.  "She'll bring her down when she needs changed.  She usually does."

"That's so sweet."  She smiled.  "We've only had a few phone calls."  She handed that over.  "And one agent who wanted to talk to Dawn about the plan to make her pregnant."

"Sure."  She went to her office, where she could barely sit.  Tony had been working out again and he had proved it.  All the way to throwing his back out.  Which is why she had left Liz up there, because he could supervise from the couch.  She shifted and hissed, wincing some as she carefully let all her weight down again.  "MB?"  She walked in.  "Have you talked to your mother about her needs for medication yet?"

"A few times.  That's really why I went into chemistry.  To find something to make her calm down.  I can't believe she was so mad because I had baby envy over Liz."  She shook her head, going back to the desk.  Sure enough, Callia walked in less than a half-hour later with a baby Liz that looked like she was pooping.

"I'm not responsible for diapers until they're my babies or until I'm babysitting and by then no one's going to have pooping babies that need changed."  She skipped off to hug MB then go check on her geeks since her aunt wasn't in today.  She guessed they were sleeping in or something.

"And yet she always asks for more babies in the family," Pepper told Liz.  "She's going to have to take the nasty with the sweet this time."  She took her to change and put into her playpen beside the desk.  She turned and found a suspicious black cat with black stripes on the desk pawing at everything.  "Your human namesake deals with those.  They don't need a paw print, Tony cat."  She put him onto the couch.  The cat investigated the cushions.

There was space behind them which delighted him for a few minutes.  Then he came out and leapt into the playpen to sniffle the baby, which got him picked up and dropped out.  "No."  He leapt back in and settled in to lick this thing.  It was weird but the humans loved it and so did the dog.  So he'd figure out the weird thing.  Pepper took pictures and took the cat back out of the playpen, handing him to MB to play with.

"Awww.  Are you evil like mine?  Even Andrew said he's evil and he would know."

"Dawn nearly called the one you have Thor because Loki used it as a playmate all night," Pepper said, leaning in the doorway.  It hurt a lot less than sitting so it was a good position.  "When he met Tony he climbed up him using claws she said she had clipped."

"He does that even with blunt claw covers on," MB agreed with a grin.  "He likes to try to climb Jonathan.  Patty swatted him for it last night and then babied his injuries.  Jonathan was in the middle of a game and couldn't pause it."

Pepper shook her head.  "That's mean of your cat.  Maybe the cat whisperer person?"

"Maybe."  She shrugged.  Tony cat got free and found the desk drawer handles fascinating until he managed to move one so he could wiggle his way into the drawer.  MB pulled it out and took him away from the whiteout, putting him in the empty one that had a paper ball in it.  He thought that was great for nearly a half-hour.  Then he hopped out and sauntered to a fake plant.  It wouldn't hold him when he tried but he used the edge of the pot to leap up and land on the decorative shelf.  He settled in up there to nap.  Pepper moved the metal pot before he shoved it off.  It was easier than getting the cat down and back upstairs.  MB was laughing but she'd learn.  Her own cat probably did the same thing.

"Thank you for calling Stark International.  Who are you needing to speak to?" she answered the phone.  "Dawn's not at her desk today.  Her boyfriend just got back from some work....  I can try to transfer you, ma'am.  Give me a moment to figure it out.  No, actually I'm a chemist, not a receptionist.  I don't usually do more than glare at my phone."

"Teen Vogue, I forgot about them," Pepper said.  "Hold on, Gloria," she said next to the earpiece.  She hit the transfer button, dialed Dawn's number, hearing it ring in the office.  She went in there to grab that phone, sending it to the other one.  She came back and listened then hit the transfer button again.  "Okay, hang it up.  Don't press that line, it's taping their conversation just in case."

"I can understand that with how often Dawn gets threats."  She found the mail and handed over a few things.  "The mail person banded those and said they were all threats.  And two more foreign ones too."  She handed those over.

Pepper leaned in the doorway to read the threats, sticking them under her arm for now.  The two foreign ones, she read one of the languages.  Tony got summoned and the cat meowed at his namesake when he walked past him.  Steve got him down and put the vase back up there, taking him back upstairs.  "Threats."  He took the ones under her arm to read, grimacing.  The two foreign ones got a scowl.  "I could read the French one."

"The other one you don't want to read.  They're very mad that she told others that she keeps telling them no.  How dare she do that to them.  They might have to take her to make her work for them but she'd get a few weeks in the most hellish brothels they run to break her overly willful spirit."  He looked at MB then at Pepper.  "Problems?"

"She's sore and called off," MB said.  "Natasha called off for her."

"I'm sure she is," Pepper agreed.  She knew how that went.  Tony grinned at her.  She swatted him.  "Don't even think about it."

"Fine.  MB, can you get Legal up here?"

"Sure, Tony."  She pushed one of the other lines and called down there after looking up the number.  "Mr. Stark wanted to see someone in the head office for a minute.  Thank you."  She hung up.  "I didn't realize how much tech there is in this job," she told Pepper.  "Or how boring it is."

"If Dawn was here, she'd be doing a lot of paperwork for me plus answering the phone, doing the lab rounds, gathering reports since it's report week, and finishing an inventory ordering session."

"She did the inventory while everything was down," Tony said.  "It's on your desk somewhere, Pepper."  She went to look.  He looked at her.  "She only spends half the day at the desk."  MB shuddered.  "Yup, she does earn her really high paycheck."  The head of Legal came off the elevator.  He handed over the letters.  "Not only the Russian Mob, but two other groups, one in French.  The native one is from that one remaining church and a senator."

"Great."  She smiled.  "I'll deal with that."  She walked off reading the ones in English.  "Are these the only ones she's gotten?"

"Usually she sends back letters to leave her alone to the Russians," MB said.  "Or so she said.  The church....."  She looked through the desk, finding a bundle of letters, all from North Carolina.  "These people?"  Tony looked and nodded, handing them over.  Plus the journal underneath it since it was a list of people who had sent them and a rating of how bad they were.  There was a bundle of Russian ones too.  One other French one.  And a bundle to MB.  Tony looked at the top one while she groaned.  "My mother?"

"Yup."  He grinned.  "I'll call for some help if her mother shows up.  She's cranked."

"I can do that," the head of Legal Affairs quipped and went back to her office.  It was nice that Dawn was so thorough.  Each letter in the stack had a matching entry in the journal.  She noted when they came in so she dealt with the ones in front of her that came in during the last three weeks.  Some entries had the number of letters they had sent.  "What are you, the Anti-Amnesty International?  Instead of writing to get people free you're writing to get them tortured?"

She sighed but this was a normal thing.  Stark International got a few threatening letters a month thanks to Iron Man.  They were automatically routed to their department.  The hate mail about Dawn's unholiness making Iron Man an unholy wreck were almost funny.  She brought a few up so Tony could read them himself.

He looked at the first one.  "Hey, Pepper?"  She looked over from bending down to play with Liz.  "Apparently it's Dawn that made me sleep with Steve."  Steve groaned from his seat.  "Her unholiness has spread to us and that's what's wrong with us."

"So all the whoring you used to do, all the drinking, the partying, all that?" she asked.  "They forgot about it?"

"Maybe."  He looked at the other one, shaking his head.  He smiled at his legal rep.  "You can tell them about how I'm actually a bastard and I probably warped her if you want."  He handed them back with a smile.  "How's the hate mail count due to us?"

"Steady at the moment.  Six more than the complaints about Stark International and Iron Man."

"That's fine.  Thanks."  She left to write a tasteful letter noting that Mr. Stark was many things - an alcoholic, a womanizer, a party monger - but he was not that way due to Miss Summers since he had been doing that longer than she had been alive.  Tony looked over at Steve.  "Bored?"

"Go tinker," he said with a grin.  "Or invent."

"I can do that."  He hopped up and hugged Pepper even though she was bent over.  "See you both later.  Bye, Liz."  She cooed at him.  "Good girl."  He left with a grin for MB.  "Going to the lab."

"Sure.  Have fun with that."  He laughed so she settled herself in to read a magazine since she couldn't do any of Dawn's other jobs.  Which would probably drive her nuts.  Chemicals were so much easier and nicer than people.  She answered the phone.  "Thank you for calling Stark International, who did you need to speak to?"  She leaned in the office.  "Pepper, it's your mother on 0304."  She put her on hold.

Pepper tapped that button and picked up the handset.  "Mom?  Sorry, Dawn.  One of the phones is mismarked.  MB is."  She switched lines.  "Sorry, Mom.  One of the phones has the lines listed wrong.  No, we're good.  Liz is here beside me in the playpen.  Callia got in her Liz time until she dirtied herself."  Steve smiled and let her talk to her mom in private.  He wanted to check out the new tower's progress in their areas.  She shifted and winced a bit.  "No, Mom, I'm okay.  Just can't sit.  No, not hemorrhoids, Mom.

"Tony, Mom, not the other sort of pain in the butt."  She smiled.  "He's very sweet.  I'm wobbling.  I'm not sure, Mom.  She's very sweet.  Liz is adorable and cooing at the cat that somehow snuck out.  MB, I think this one is yours."  She came in to get her cat to play with him.  "Sorry, Callia inherited some cats.  No, like five.  One's named after Tony and it's just like he would be as a cat.  They named them well.  No, I hadn't heard we had someone die here.  MB, who died?"

"Rumors say that one of the guards had a heart attack on the front desk," she said, leaning over to look at her.  "Apparently he was by himself and someone on the street saw him having it so they called EMS."

"I had not heard that.  Thanks, MB."  She smiled and nodded.  She leaned back some to put the pressure on her tail bone instead of her tail.  "No, that's why I was sore, Mom.  We didn't have any meetings today or anything."  She listened, smiling at Liz.  "Your grandmother said hi and she needs new pictures."

JARVIS cleared his virtual throat.  "I can send her the ones that Callia was taking earlier."

"Please do email them to her, JARVIS.  Thank you."  She smiled.  "Yes, he is, Mom."  Her mother looked and moaned.  "Ah, all the cats with Liz.  And the dog?  Cool.  No, the dog's Xander.  Named after her uncle, yup.  It's a sweet dog who loves everyone but he's very protective of Callia already.  One of the guards came up with the nanny and he growled and barked until she told him the nanny was okay and the guard wasn't going to hurt her.  Then the little puppy begged her for her breakfast."

Her mother cackled.  "No, the twins got the pet mice so we didn't have thirteen pets.  As we found out, one was pregnant too."  Her mother asked an important question.  "I'm not sure how long rabbits live."  She looked that up.  "It says five to fifteen years.  I'm not sure since I think that rabbit's Asgardian....  No, Xander made it for her.  No telling."  She cleared the search.  "Carrot's a bit hefty and he has a cold.  She's doing excellently with the pets, Mom.  She got up early to take the dog for a walk then went back to bed.  She cleaned up the poop without being told to.

"She's very good to the animals."  She listened, getting comfortable until someone else came off the elevator.  This time with an officer.  "JARVIS, call Tony to warn him.  I think that's MB's mother.  Later, Mom.  No, evil cunt," she muttered.  "Bye."  She hung up and checked on Liz then went out there to stop the shouting match.  Tony was coming up the hall with Steve.

"Let's take this into a conference room," Tony ordered.  He looked at the officer.  "You're here why?"

"Because her mother claims you're holding her daughter hostage, sir.  I have to follow up on reports."

"I understand that fully," he agreed.  Andrew was coming up the hallway.  "Let's got to a meeting room so we're not in the open."

MB stopped Andrew.  "No evil," she warned him.  "Not today."

He stared at her.  "Are you sure?"

"I'm positive."  She hugged him.  "It's not nice enough for her anyway."  He hugged her back.

"See!  That's not right!" MB's mother shrieked.

"They're married.  He can cuddle his own wife," Tony said firmly.  "Two doors down to the left," he said with a point.  He followed.  "MB?" he called since they weren't following.

Andrew pulled back to look at her.  "Are you sure I can't pull out the battle gear?"

"No battle tech against my mother unless she tries to kidnap me like she did from camp."  She kissed him and smiled shyly.  He grinned back, walking her down there.  He cuddled her against the wall.  "I know but we'll persevere and overcome like the old time freedom fighters did against slavery."  He laughed in her ear, making her shiver.  "Andrew!"

"If she touches you I'm slugging her."

"Sure, then we can go do it to Jonathan's mom?"

"Half the time she doesn't realize he's in the room," he said, staring down at her.  "She's not evil, she's in her own little world.  Though, yeah, I can go slug Jonho's mom.  I asked my mom to do it in the past."  She smiled.  "Even Warren's mom said something to her about it."

"That's sad.  Does she like Patty?"

"He told her about Patty a few times.  I'm not sure if she heard him or not.  So we'll hover around my mom?"

"We love your mom and Patty's mom is mostly normal too."

"That works."  He kissed her again.  "Ready?"

"No.  But we have to."  They walked in there holding hands.  She started to sit on the same side as her mother but Andrew pulled out her chair for her and helped her into it on the other side of the table.  She smiled at him.

"You're such a gentleman to her, Andrew," Pepper said with a smile.  "I'm so proud that you have manners like that."

He grinned back.  "Thanks, Pepper.  Where's Liz?"

"Steve has her."

"He does like her."

"The whole building likes Liz.  She's the second favorite around here," Tony quipped.  "She eclipsed me as soon as she came out a copper redhead with cat green eyes."

"She'll be stunning when she's older," MB said.  Pepper blushed so she grinned.  "I heard you used to model."

"Nothing too high up but I did."  She smiled at the officer.  "Now, let's start with you.  What did she tell you?"

"That you were holding her daughter hostage and in sexual bondage.  That you were going to force her to breed future scientists for you?  That you never let her out of the building?" he asked, letting them make statements on that.  It was always better and it kept the yelling down.

"All interns have shared two-bedroom suites in the building," Pepper told him.  "Intern salaries would never pay for anything above a slum in this city or in Malibu by the other lab so we've offered them free room and board in the cafeteria for the last twelve years."  The officer nodded, making that note.  "She had her bedroom with her friend, who is another intern.  Her internship ran out a few weeks back and she signed on with us.  She's not in intern quarters though since she and Andrew have married.  They're sharing his suite with his best friend, who is not sleeping with his girlfriend right now but she's usually found on their couch.  She's also signed on to work in the labs."

"We go out all the time," Andrew told him.  "We take recommendations for restaurants because we have no idea about anything that high class and this city has almost nothing between Wendy's level and needing reservations.  We go to the museums all the time.  We go to the park to play with our Roomba dog.  We take my battle gear out for flying tests sometimes in the park."

Tony stared at him.  "The place for those is at the airfield in New Jersey, Andrew."

"I have no way of getting it over there with her, Tony.  I don't think I could carry her that far."

"Try a truck?" Pepper suggested with a smile.

"I can't drive," they said in unison.

"We can have someone teach you kids," Tony said smugly.  "Happy's been bored."

Andrew beamed.  "Thanks, Tony.  I couldn't get into driver's ed in school.  All the cheerleaders took the spots and ran everyone else off."

"It's fine.  Does Jonathan need it?"

"I think he snuck a car a few times to teach himself but he doesn't have a license.  He can drive though, kinda."

"We'll make sure, 'Drew."  He made a note for himself.

"A lot of local kids don't either," the officer said.  "They don't feel they need to with the subway and bus system."  He looked at MB.  "Do you feel like you're being kept hostage?"

"No!"  She smiled.  "I love Andrew.  I love my work.  I work with people just like me, who understand chemicals more than people.  Though I'm aware of why I don't understand people."

"I'm pretty sure we knew," Tony told her with a grin.  "You're not the first we've seen, MB."  She smiled at him.  He looked at the officer.  "She showed up the other day screaming about MB having baby envy over Pepper's daughter."

"She said she had been tased."

"She took a swing at me and one of the defense options we have did it," Tony said honestly.  "That's protocol.  Though it should've been tased and arrested.  She was feeling gentle and let her free."

"After the things you had a few weeks back, I'm not surprised that's your new protocol, Mr. Stark," the officer said delicately.

Tony smirked.  "It's been protocol since I was twenty-six and I had a screaming, psychotic ex.  Though back then it was pepper spray."

"I've seen a few of those."  He made another note.  "She did say she was being forced to breed a new generation of scientists?"

"No, if and when we have kids, it'll be because I want a baby," MB said.  "I'm more than woman enough to tell Andrew I want a baby and encourage him to get to work on it until the job's done."

Andrew was bright red.  "We agreed on talking about it in three years or when we get four more patents passed."

"Does that count the ones you've got filed and are waiting to hear from?" Tony asked.

"Any filed after January," she admitted, looking at Andrew.  "I forgot you had three filed that month."  He nodded.  "We can discount them?"

"Maybe?"

"We'll talk about it at Christmas."  He grinned and nodded, kissing her on the cheek.  She smiled at her mother.  "I had baby envy, Mother.  Liz is adorable, even when she's crapping herself.  Most women in the building had baby envy over Liz."  Tony smiled and nodded.  "I'm sure her next one will be just as cute.  So far I've been able to restrain myself from jumping Andrew and making a baby.  Though it's nice that someone finally told me how that happened."

"Thanks for that, Tony," Andrew quipped.

"Welcome, kids."

"We didn't want you two to end up like that family with twenty kids on tv," Pepper said with a smile for them.  "You'd go nuts and not in that good way."

MB nodded.  "Definitely.  She's probably as open as that guy on the video Jonho found during his and Patty's 'find the kinkiest porn' night thing."

"Maybe," he agreed.  "Though she should unstretch within a few days by what we saw when we were researching pregnancy for our side project."

"Usually three," Tony said with a smirk at Pepper, who swatted him.

"I think that's an irrelevant bit of information," she said firmly.  "They don't need to know how I did after the birth, Tony."

"Yes, Pepper."  He looked at the huffy mother again.  "We encourage odd ideas and wondering about things.  It's very scientific and it leads to better ideas later on."  He smiled.

"Three days?  Ow," MB muttered, glancing at Andrew.

"So much pampering and babying," Pepper said with a smile.

"That might be nice.  I like being spoiled."  Andrew kissed her.  She grinned back.  "Mushy," she teased.

"Yes I am."  He saw something.  "Hey, Roomba dog."  It barked at him and got patted by them and Tony, then Pepper.  He spotted the other one.  "Roomba 2, no biting," he warned.

Tony looked then at him.  "Why does it bite?"

"Because sometimes we need a guard dog," Jonathan said from the doorway.  "I was going to let it sniff Liz so he'd know to protect her but it came in here.  C'mon, 2."  It barked a deeper sounding bark and sat beside MB.  "Fine, guard the wife."  He walked off happier.  Maybe he'd go polish the battle gear.  That shouldn't get Coulson's attention and he'd hate MB's mother too.

"No," Phil's voice said from beside his ear.  "No battle tech, Jonathan.  If you must defeat the evil wench, use a laser."

"Dawn's lasers are locked in the armory," Xander's voice said.  "But I'm pretty sure you guys have at least one. Just nothing too big or noticeable so they don't have to call us.  I went three weeks without Phil."

"Xander!" Phil complained.

"Yell if you need heavier backup, Jonho."  They quit broadcasting.

Jonathan looked up.  Then shook his head.  He did not want to know what Phil and Xander did.  Though the armory was a sweet place.  One of the security guards shooed him out.  "MB's mom is back."

"Still.  You have plenty of things in your lab."  He pointed toward his lab.  "Mr. Stark said no one was allowed in the armory right now unless there was an attack."

"Fine."  He went to see what was in the lab.  They had all sorts of projects and one was nearly done.  He got into that and brought it to Andrew.  Roomba dog 1 barked at it and had a hissy fit.  "I'm letting them see it," he said.  "Stop it, Roomba."  It settled down.

Tony reached down to take the bomb to disarm.  "Thank you, Jonathan.  We'll consider the design."  He grinned and left.   He looked it over.  "Did you two help with that?"

"Just what he'd need for chemical release criteria," MB said happily and grinned at Andrew.

"It's very compact," he agreed.  "Uses a very minute charge.  It's more of a chemical spreader than not, Tony."

"It's a good, compact design, Andrew.  You four did great."  He smiled.  "We'll make plans off it."  The officer was giving him an odd look.  "Myself, McKay from Atlantis, and Dr. Banner all tinker and build bombs when we're bored.  We taught them."

"It does help us learn some types of engineering better so we can up the weapons on our battle suits," Andrew said happily.  He even put up a picture of it.  "That's mine."

The officer nodded.  "It looks really efficient."

"It is," MB agreed happily.  "It's sensitive enough that it can hit squirrels as they run from us and pigeons.  Nasty things that they are."

"It does have a wide range of weapons on it and an excellent targeting system," Tony agreed.  "Getting anything automatic to target something as small as a pigeon or a squirrel is considered exceptional and it catching them moving is even better.  I've had some designs that I couldn't build that into.  Thankfully my suit uses mostly manual targeting or JARVIS assisted targeting."

Pepper smiled at the nervous looking officer.  "Yes, they're like that.  Tony designed weapons for a very long time.  He's passing on those skills to the ones he mentors."

"Hell, I taught Dawn how to do it too," Tony admitted with a grin for the officer.  "She might need it someday."

"She might," MB agreed.  "People still want to take her, even though her claimed ones are mean."

"That slut..." her mother started.

"Mother, she's had one male lover.  That doesn't make her a slut," she said firmly.

"I've seen her in the news," she sneered.

"Yes, she's had one male and one female lover," Tony said dryly.  "That still doesn't make her a slut.  Having over twenty makes her a slut.  By her age, I was well past the level of slut so I'd know and be able to set levels of how much of a slut someone is."  She backed down away from him.

"Hell, by the time you were twenty-two you'd had more than double that number," Pepper said quietly.  Tony shot her a look.  "You did."

"I did," he agreed.  "Because I had an addiction to twins back then."  He shook his head to clear it.  "McKay was totally against that idea."

"Some people only need and want one," MB said.  "I only need the one."

He grinned.  "Some people do.  That's great for them.  It's healthier and it makes them happier, MB.  That's why we don't mind if you two cuddle in the hallway now and then on breaks."

"Not a storage area?" MB's mother sneered at her daughter.

"No, there's a fine if they're caught groping in the closets or storage areas," Pepper said with a smile.  "Has been since Tony's second year as CEO."

"Having sex in a storage area is tacky," Tony agreed.  "It's a five hundred dollar fine."

"We need to do that in my precinct," the officer said.  "Ma'am, are you thoroughly content to be here?"

"I'm so happy here.  There's people here who're like me, who *understand* me and get why I love chemicals.  My Andrew's here.  I'd never leave my Andrew unless he was mean to me and then Dawn would help me kick his ass."

"You do not swear!" her mother shouted, starting to get up.  Roomba 2 snapped out a growl and 'bit' her with a tiny laser cannon that popped out of his tentacle.  She shrieked and started to sob like she was really hurt instead of mildly shocked.

Andrew looked down.  "Down, 2."  It settled down, still growling.

MB reached down to pet it.  "Thank you, 2.  That was a very good boy to protect me."  It made happy puppy sounds and ran around in circles a few times.  "Good boy, settle down."  It did beside her.  She smiled at her mother.  "They made 2 to protect Patty and I in case we're invaded again, Mom."

Pepper and Tony were both leaned over to look at that Roomba.  "Where's the laser?" Tony asked.

"Inspection," Andrew said.  The 'dog' popped up his.  He grinned.

Tony picked it up to put on the table so he could look it over.  "Nice, compact work, boys.  Does it take up the storage space for dirt?"

"Unfortunately but we don't need this one to clean up.  If we do, there's an external canister we created for it.  It's easier to empty and it doesn't whine like Roomba does when we empty it."

"It is kinda like making him poop the dirt into the trashcan," MB said, looking at him.

He nodded.  "I know but it's a design flaw from that company.  Didn't they expect people to use them for other things?  I know someone who uses it to work their cameras on their stop-motion film making project."

Tony put the roomba back down with a pat.  "Good boy."  It put all the weapons up and went back to guard MB.  He smiled at Pepper.  "I knew the Roomba was a great thing and we should've bought the company."

"No, Tony," she said patiently.  "You don't need to buy Roomba."  She patted him on the hand.  "We'll let you buy a fruit grower later though so your daughter can get her craved fruit faster."  He smiled at her for that.

The officer cleared his throat.  The first roomba came over to 'sniff' him.  "What is it doing?"

Andrew looked.  "Probably getting the dog hairs off you.  That one still cleans."  He grinned.

"It's a very good pet.  Probably very low maintenance and no cleaning up after it."  It barked at him so he patted it hesitantly.  It barked happily and went to bark at Pepper until she petted it again.  Then it zipped off.  "Is it okay?"

"Probably going to check on Liz," Tony and Pepper said with Andrew.

"Even the robots love Liz," MB quipped with a grin.

"Dummy does love her," Tony agreed.  "He doesn't like that he can't rock her anymore.  I had to input commands so he could push her in a swing."

"My daughter is leaving this cult," MB's mother ordered, glaring at her daughter.  "Come along, Mary Beth."

"No.  I'm loved and wanted here, Mom.  I make a great salary with great benefits.  I have my husband here."

"It's not legal," she sneered.

"We went to the local Justice of the Peace at City Hall.  It is," she corrected.  "It doesn't have to be a church wedding to be legal, Mom.  Get over it.  Please?"

"We've thought for a while that her mother might need some chemical help," Pepper said quietly but delicately at the Officer.

He nodded.  "I'm starting to see that."  He looked at her.  "Ma'am, if she's here of her own free will and she's over the age of consent we can't remove her against her will."

"You will or I'll sue you and them!" she shouted.  Two zapped her again, making her shriek and start to wail, then stomp off.  "I'll get you for that!"

"No you won't," Tony quipped.  "Down, Two."  It heeled beside MB.  "Andrew?"

"Can't stop that," he admitted.  "It's very protective of MB. It's nearly spastic about Patty, boss."

"That's very handy though," Pepper admitted.  "We'll handle it if she tries to sue us."  She sighed, looking at the officer.

"I can't find a reason to remove her or do anything, but you guys are a bit weird."

"It's all the high IQ's," Andrew said, giving him a dirty look.  "We're free mental flowing around here."  He nodded and left.  Andrew looked at his wife.

She smiled back.  "Not until when we agreed.  I don't want to set her off again.  She might try to snatch the baby."

"Okay.  If you're sure."  He took a kiss.  "Boss, our reports are late this week."  He helped her up and they walked out together, her cuddled against his side and his arm around her.  "I thought Rosenburg was spastic until I met your mom," he admitted.

"From what you said, she's more cracked than her," she agreed.  The roombas followed with a quick trip to bark at Liz from them.

Tony looked at Pepper, who was shaking her head.  "They're my proteges."

"They really are.  I could see a twenty-three-year-old you making roomba dogs too."

He grinned and went to the office to log in the meeting and send a copy of the tape to legal just in case.  Steve was shaking his head at the new bomb.  Tony took it to his lab to make schematics of it and file for the paperwork since it wasn't like anything on file that he could find.  The boys would be happy with the new paperwork being filed.  If it wouldn't destroy their childlike innocence that anything was possible he'd have sent them to his favorite professors at MIT on his dime.  They were best semi-conscription he had ever done.

***

Dawn was sitting in a chair, kissing anything that got into range as Clint and Natasha unpacked back and forth from the bed to the closets arguing about where to go for dinner.  Dawn was highly amused and grinning some.  She had to pull Natasha over to kiss her better, being at the perfect height to dip her tongue into her slit and tease her.  "Dawn," she moaned, holding her head there.  "That's very nice of you."  Clint put up his armful of clothes and came over to get his own.  "Jealous?" she taunted him.

"Very."  He grinned.  Dawn leaned over to lick his cockhead, making him happier.  "We're going for Italian."

"We're going to Mexican," Natasha said.

"We're going for seafood because I want shrimp," Dawn said.

They looked at her then shrugged.  "Sure," they decided.  Dawn kissed them both for it and then went back to her tempting them to pounce her again.

Clint smirked at her.  "No pouncing until after dinner."

"Fine."  She let Natasha go, licking her lips with a grin.

"Get dressed," Natasha said, smiling at her.  Dawn got up to find something to wear.   "Something we would approve of that is not too teasing," she ordered when she saw what she pulled out.  She looked at Clint.  "You let her buy that?"

"I said it was too tempting."

Dawn smirked at him.  "Sometimes I need to be an evil tease."  She went to the bathroom to clean up and change.  Plus do her hair.

"She really is," Clint agreed, pulling out something to put on.  "The pub on the pier?"

"No," Natasha complained.  He sighed and put back his jeans.  "The one by the park."  He grinned and pulled them back out to put on.  She liked him in them.  They looked nice on his ass.  Dawn came out dressed and putting on a necklace.  She kissed her.  "You could wear pants."

"Should I wear pants?"  She looked over Clint's outfit then at hers.  She shrugged and pulled out jeans and a nice shirt plus heels.  He grinned at her for it.

Natasha caught herself staring at Dawn's ass.  "Did you not buy any that weren't that tight?"

"No," she said with a grin.  "They all make my ass look like a holy temple to be worshiped at."

Natasha sighed and nodded.  "Yes, they do.  Which I will be doing later."  Dawn beamed and kissed her, then changed earrings.  Clint kissed them both and strolled out to get his jacket.  Dawn grabbed hers from in there and followed.  Natasha told herself to calm down in Russian and got dressed.  Dawn was going to give her a heart attack some year soon.

Dawn looked at her as she came out.  "If you want me to do that, I probably could but it'd probably take a lot of sex."  She grinned.

"Don't you dare," she warned but she was smiling.  They went out together.  The cat was pouting but that was fine.  They'd be back later to play with him.  Or let him nibble on Clint's hair some more.  They took a cab to the restaurant and got seated, though Dawn detoured to hug her mother.  They smiled and waved.  The server gave them an odd look.  "That's her mother."

"Oh."  He nodded, handing over menus and walking off.

Bruce stopped over on their way out.  "Are you three back in the apartment?"

"We are.  Tony relented when Dawn promised to stuff extra weapons around the house," Clint said with a grin.

"Not like it's a problem," Dawn quipped.  He laughed and hugged her, she gave him a squeeze back.  "Have a good night, Stepdad and Mom."

"You three too."  She winked and walked out on Bruce's arm.

Dawn concentrated, frowning outside.  "Give me a minute."  She went out to stop the muggers before Bruce could change.  "Excuse you.  Leave my mother alone."

"Or what?" the punk with a gun demanded.

Dawn started to glow.  "Or you won't like my response overly much."  The guy was backing away slowly.  "Don't come near my mother, dude.  I will destroy this city over my family.  Especially that part of it.  Got it?"  He nodded.  "Good, then apologize nicely to Dr. Banner and my mother before you run away."

"B...banner?" he asked, looking at him.  Bruce smiled and nodded.  "As in... big, green, destroys things...."  They all smiled and nodded.  "Yeah, I'm super sorry I'm so damn stupid.  I really, really am."  He turned and ran.

Dawn grinned.  "Night, guys."  She went back inside.  "There, no more mugger near Mom."

Natasha smiled at her.  "You are very protective of your mother."

"Of course I am," she quipped with a grin, sipping her wine.  "There are stupid people who think she's a fair target."  She took another sip and put the glass down.  "Then I introduced Stepdad.  The punk was not happy to learn that he had nearly gotten beaten to death by him."

"No, if I was a mugger, I wouldn't want to tangle with Bruce either," Clint agreed, then ate a bite of lobster.  They got back to eating, talking about putting up some more cat areas for Loki.  When the check came, Clint paid for it.  It was his turn.  His card turned down so Dawn paid in cash.  She checked their cards on the way home, calling the bank to see what happened that time.  It turned out the bank out in LA was without power to process anything so his was down too.  Natasha had one that would've worked and Dawn's local ones would've worked.  So it wasn't a problem at the moment.

It was nice to be without problems for the time being.  Very soothing and relaxing.  And it led to better sex.

34: Researching From Ancient To New To Future Old Ones

Subheading

Nick Fury walked out of a meeting with the president being pissed off.  The president wasn't really happy that he had been asked by a reporter if he had any advice for the 'new couple' of Steve and Tony.  He had passed that on to Fury, who was a bit more furious that it got press attention.  Though he was aware that Stark had to go through a lot of trauma over that.  Still, couldn't they deny it in the press or something?  He went to Stark Tower, finding Dawn at her desk looking as perky as ever.  "Next time, you're taking reports for them."

She stared at him.  "Take that up with my mates, Director Fury.  They said I'm not since I'm not an agent."  He scowled at her.  "They think it might hold some information I don't need to know."

"Probably.  Doesn't mean you probably won't find out," he said bitterly.

She stared at him.  "They can keep secrets from me, the same as I can from them.  We *do* have doorways between us.  Now, what did you need today?"

"Rogers and Stark in one room."

"They're in the office talking with Pepper."  She called in there.  "Fury's here to complain and whine at you and Steve, Stark."  She hung up and let him in with a smile.  "Happy whining, Director Fury."  He glared at her.  "My mother does that better."

He snorted.  "Not hardly."  He walked in and shut the door.  "The president got asked if he had any relationship tips for you two."

"I saw that," Steve said with a grin for him.  "I thought it was nice they were worried about us."

"It was, especially from that old hag," Tony agreed.  Steve frowned at him.  "She once compared me to Rain Man and called me a mutant retard, Steve.  She's an old hag."

"She is," Pepper agreed.  "She asked someone once if I was a succuba there to distract or destroy Tony or the company."

"Not likely," Dawn said, coming in to turn on the tv.  "Probably relevant."  She went back to her desk, closing the door.

They watched the FOX News bitter person complaining that all of SHIELD was apparently gay.  Fury shook his head.  "Maybe a third is open minded but not that many.  Ooh, she's going to complain."  They had flashed a picture of Maria Hill and Tara out on a date.  He texted her.  He got back a simple 'I. Know.' from her.  "She's pissed."

"I would be too," Tony agreed.  "Especially with how they keep showing pictures of agents to get them killed."  He shifted, looking at Steve.  "He's going to either ask you to denounce us or go on the record formally.  Which do you want to do?"

"I don't lie unless I have to," he said firmly, staring back.  "Do you need me to?"

Tony snorted and waved a hand.  "If I thought that was a workable solution I would've mentioned it before we got attacked here."

"Good point.  You're blunt that way."  He looked at the director.  "I'll gladly go on the record with my thoughts on things.  Including them showing pictures of agents to get them killed."  Pepper moaned and pointed.  They looked and winced.  That agent had been shot by someone last night.  "We've got to stop that."

"Freedom of the press but...."  Tony looked at Pepper, who nodded.  "We can get an injunction."  He called his head of Legal to come up and do that for them.  She walked in.  "FOX is showing pictures of agents and getting them killed."

"On it," she said, heading off to call others.  She knew someone at the FBI who did their press releases.  That would get stopped.  If not, she'd turn in the supposed reporters to the IRS.  She was not against being torturous to evil shits.  She paused at Dawn's desk.  "FOX is showing agents' pictures."  She growled.  "Got anything?"

She smirked.  "Curses of misfortune for each one that gets dead.  Or... Henry!"  He appeared, looking confused.  She pointed in there.  "FOX News?"

He looked then at her.  "That bad?"

"Getting agents killed by showing their pictures."

"They had one of Maria and Tara," the head of Legal said quietly.

"Fuck no!" he shouted.  "D'Hoffryn owes Tara a debt!"  He went to tell him and get some help.  That was going to take more than one wish demon.

Dawn smiled.  "That was helpful, yes," the head of Legal said.  She went to call her buddies.  By the time she got down there, FOX's main station had went dark due to a power outage.  Their generators were down.  Their backup stations were out.  She nearly cackled at that.  It was an inspired move.  It wasn't even the demons.  They had gotten another covert agency's people mixed up in that set of pictures and they were protesting as she found out.  She let Joyce know so she could tell Fury.

***

Steve looked nervously around the room he was in.  Dawn walked in and sat him down to work on his hair.  "This isn't what I was expecting."

"You'll be fine, Cap."  He stiffened up and nodded.  "Remember, they're not enemies.  They're reporters.  Just humans who ask a lot of really strange questions."  She patted him on the shoulder and grinned.  "Relax.  Be yourself.  Answer clearly and without statements that can be turned against you because sometimes they're like attorneys."

He nodded.  "I can do that."  She smiled and left him to wait in the car.  He got up to go back to pacing, checking his hair.  The reporter's assistant came in.  "Do I look okay?"

"You look fine, Captain Rogers."  She smiled.  "She won't eat you.  That's why Dawn and Pepper chose her.  Because usually she's a nice lady who has sense and qualifications to put out real news."  She led him out to put a microphone on him.  "Here you go.  Relax.  She won't bite this time."  She left them alone.  He was so adorably flustered and blushing at the reporter, who was old enough to be his mother, even with how long he had been in ice.

"Hi, ma'am," he said.

She smiled.  "Speak up a bit more for the microphone to pick it up, Captain."

"I..."  He cleared his throat.  "I can do that."

She smiled.  "If you start stuttering, we can edit it."  He nodded, making himself try to look relaxed.  "Just calm down."  She shifted closer, making it look less formal to keep him calm.  He was nearly sweating.  The camera man nodded at her point.  "We're talking with a man of great virtue and questionable methods at times, though they've always benefitted the world.  Captain Steve Rogers, welcome."

"Thank you, ma'am, though I'm not sure which methods were questionable?"  This isn't what he was expecting.

"Congress and the Pentagon have released some of the files on your work during World War 2.  Some people have been saying that your actions during the Pergaric mission were a bit unorthodox."

He thought back.  "Was that the train through Switzerland?"  She nodded.  "In that case I would agree but they had rerouted the train and that was the only sane, reasonable option we had in that case.  We did the best we could."

"No one's ever doubted that, Captain.  Sometimes, genius comes with a bit of crazy, as I'm sure you've noticed in Mr. Stark."

He grinned.  "He has a lot of people like that in his labs but they're mostly all very nice, personable, pleasant people.  Some of them are really great people who have ideas pop up in the middle of a sentence that they have to deal with right then."

"I've seen a few geniuses myself over the years.  I've even interviewed both Tony and his father at one point, right before he was killed."

"Tony said you had interviewed him."  She smiled.  "This isn't really what I'm used to but I feel that we should clear up some misconceptions."

"That's great."  She smiled.  "There's been rumors that Mr. Stark was gay in the past."

"He said he's more into certain personalities.  Certain whole beings really that contain the personalities."

She nodded.  "Some people do get along better with one type of people.  We know there's been hints of him and Miss Potts dating on and off through the years.  Do you think she and you are alike?"

"I think if Pepper had went military she'd be a general by now.  She does know how to take charge, get things done, make sure everything's done the right way."  He smiled.  "Pepper's really inspiring in some ways.  Even to me.  I couldn't run Stark International without going nuts.  She does it, is a mom, all that stuff.  She's an amazing woman."

"She is.  Do you think you two are alike though?"

"I've never thought of myself as amazing but very capable sure."  He shifted some and decided to cross his legs.  "She's got the same sort of organization skills I learned in the military.  We do think alike sometimes when we're doing damage control because something's happened to an experiment at the labs."  He looked up then at her, shaking his head.  "Some scientists were horsing around and created a people suffocating foam by accident the other day.  She was getting things handled while I was handling the rescue efforts."

"Things like that happen at Stark.  Do you think he doesn't have good oversight?"

"I think that in that case, they were playing around.  It was a group of interns.  They do weekly reports to cite their progress and any problems they've come into.  Dawn gathers them every Monday when she's making coffee.  Any of them can go to Tony to ask his opinion.  He lets Dawn tell him if she finds something wrong on her daily coffee making rounds.  Then he handles it.  They don't get strong *oversight* but people notice when things start to go wrong."

"She goes into the labs?"

Steve grinned.  "Dawn nags all the science staff that keep forgetting to eat and drink on a schedule.  She makes the labs coffee each day to make sure they have what they need, take anything they need to hand over, and to make sure there's nothing broken.  She doesn't really butt into their work but she does let them know that if they need something to tell her.  Most of them really appreciate it because they forget to eat and things when they're involved in doing something.  Some of them come to her to ask her to help them schedule things."

"That's great."  She smiled back.  "What about his daughter?"

"Callia already loves to tinker and invent.  She's got a corner of her father's lab to do that in so he can help by teaching her things.  That plus her time with her pets and the car collection.  We hardly see Callia."

"Is she in school?"

"Home schooling.  She has three hours a day when she has to sit down and do her work.  We make sure of it.  If it's not us, her step-grandfather does or Dawn does or Pepper does.  She has to sit down at an actual table or desk and do her workbooks or whatever.  She does two subjects at a time and about three a month total.  She's ahead by about two grades from what Tony said last night."

"That's good.  Not too far ahead.  Will he be sending her to a real school?"

"He said maybe in high school but right now she's a bit susceptible to bullying and other problems like people wanting to take her to get a hold of Tony's things, tech or money.  We're all worried about that."

"I would be as well."  She shifted and put up a picture.  "Dawn has said that it was reasonable that she showed up with a shotgun.  Why?"

He pointed at the tubes someone was carrying.  "She identified those as explosives.  NYPD found she was right when they arrested them and the ones protesting at the building.  Tony hadn't realized it until she said that.  I got really pi...upset that they brought explosives anywhere near Callia and the playground.  What if they had set it off?  It could've killed her and any other kids there."

"You were more worried about the baby than yourself?"

He stared at her.  "Tony and I can take care of ourselves.  We're adults.  We're both trained in defensive fighting and things like that.  She's almost seven right now.  If they had hurt her, I would've taken out that whole group.  Injured or not."  He stared at her.  "Most parents would, most close uncles or aunts would.  Dawn definitely would.  She hates her family being threatened by anyone.  Her mother got threatened by people who hated Buffy and then people who hated her.  She's hyper aware of threats like that and always acts swiftly and to the point where people back down."

"I can agree with that."  She put down the picture.  "They showed up to protest that you and her father were together?"

"They did."

"Are you?"

He paused then nodded.  "I do love that man.  All his personality flaws and all that.  All the times he hides behind his drinking, all the times he's lost himself in the lab.  All the times he stares at people like he just doesn't understand them.  He's a good man underneath.  A strong soul and a good man who can and will stand beside me no matter what sort of battles I go into.  Any soldier will tell you finding someone like that is really rare, ma'am.  I got real lucky."

She smiled.  "My son's a Corporal in the Marines."

"Tell him I said thank you for his service."

"I will, Captain."  She grinned.  "He said about the same thing about his wife, though it took a while for her to grow on me."

"It took over a year for Tony to grow on me and to figure out that he's wearing armor in daily life too.  The first few times we met I wanted to punch him so badly."  He smiled.  "We got into a 'go put on the suit so I can have a fair fight' argument during some of it."  He shook his head.  "Tony's really smart, really arrogant, and he's usually right about whatever he's arrogant about.  He has these days when everything he says is wrong and hides in the lab those days.  It was one of those that made me realize that all that is armor to him and he uses it because he's like the other scientists in the building that used to look at me like they weren't sure what a human was."

"Do you think that's a product of the high IQ?"

"No, I think that's a product of parents that don't know how to handle kids with a high IQ.  Callia doesn't have that problem because Pepper stepped in to help and so did Dawn.  They both taught her how to handle people things because she could've slipped that way with just Tony raising her.  They would've went into the lab and never come out for years except when they were hungry."  She laughed.  "He can some days.  I think a lot of that is parents not being sure how they can handle a high IQ and not warp the kids into evil genius sorts.  Sometimes it's parents who don't pay enough attention instead of them being overly cautious.  I've met some geniuses that have no problem with people things.  I've met some that think they should have an extra notation after their PhD's that list them as a minor God in some ancient Pantheon you'd have to ask Alexander about."

"Is he one of them?" she asked.  "He's never in the news."

"No.  He's pretty much a really nice guy.  Callia's new boxer puppy is a lot like him, and named after him.  He's protective and happy and likes to joke around.  He's serious when he has to be.  He's a family guy even though he's slightly scared of kids due to his long history.  He's a nice guy, a real warrior and leader of men sort of guy.  He explained comics to me the other day and showed me some of the ones about me.  I had no idea.  Then he showed me some from another realm that had all the Avengers, including some we don't have here.  It was neat.  He's still a geek without being a scientist."

"He sounds like a decent man."

"He is until you upset him by touching what's his."

She nodded.  "I can see that happening.  I would be too.  Have you met any of the other ones?  You'd expect them to be arrogant."

"I have met his mother, his half-brother, a few others.  Some of them are fairly arrogant 'because I'm a god' sorts.  Some of them are like normal people only they suddenly appear.  His mother's been nagging for grandchildren for years now.  She was going to talk to a fertility goddess that they both know to have Xander get pregnant without his knowing so she'd get grandchildren."  She gaped and whimpered.  He grinned and nodded.  "He made her stop it.  Fortunately.  We're not sure how he'd handle his axe while out to here."  He held his hand out a foot from his stomach.  "Or if his war dogs would like him like that."

"He has dogs?"

"Ares gave him one for his announcement of getting his position.  That would be Hellion.  Then Ares bred Hellion and got a few puppies.  He has two of them and they're finished training recently.  Then Hellion, while up on Asgard for a night off, picked up a red wolf as a mate and they've had four puppies and I think she's pregnant again."  He frowned then cleared it up.  "We're hoping Callia doesn't want another pet.  She has plenty."

"I've heard her talk about her rabbit, Carrot, and some mice.  Now a dog?"

"She inherited five cats.  The mice went to some twins she's always played with.  Thankfully since one of them was pregnant."  She laughed.  "We still have Carrot.  Now him, five cats, and a boxer puppy that loves them all.  We're still figuring out what to do with them since they're kind of a little family on their own.  The original owner named them after some of the family and they're almost exactly alike.  We had to put the cat named after Tony inside twice before security took him upstairs for us so we could leave.  He wanted to see the inside of the car."

"What breed is he?"

"They're all different breeds but that one's a chausie?"  She nodded she knew what that was.  "He's very inquisitive.  Last night at about three he decided to go roaming and got into the flour then found a way into the oven to knock the shelves around.  I got up to shoo him out and he was playful so he ran outside and slipped into the pool on the ice on the patio.  Which did not make him a happy cat.  So he hopped up on the railing around the penthouse's patio and thought seriously about jumping down to the walkway to the new tower.  Sixteen stories and I caught him before he could, because I'm pretty sure he'd be injured but he has no sense.

"We came inside, tossed him into the bathroom, closed him in, then went back to bed to wash him this morning.  In that time, and this is an unused bathroom, he knocked around all the sample bottles of soap and shampoo, had tipped over the automatic soap dispenser after having it squirt all over, probably because he was fascinated that it squirted whenever he patted it.  Though some was on his back.  He managed to get the back off the toilet," he sighed.  "And we found flour in there so he fell in again.  Then he was napping in the tub with all the toilet paper he had knocked in there and played with."

She cackled, patting him on the knee.  "He is definitely named after the right person."

He grinned and nodded.  "I love the cats.  They're sweet, even the ones I can't pet.   They're just all bundles of playful energy that like to jump on everything."  She laughed.  "Callia sits there and plays endless rounds of fetch with them and the Roombas that someone programmed to be dogs."

"Someone made roombas, the little hockey puck vacuums, into dogs?"

"Remember the young engineer that was out when they found out Pepper was pregnant?  That's Andrew.  Him and his lab partner, Jonathan, made them.  One has a bomb sniffing tentacle and the other has a tiny laser to bite people who bother Liz."  Well, really, both could have lasers by now.  Andrew and Jonathan were like that.  "They were the original pets in the tower.  A lot of us played fetch with them when we were bored."

"Aww.  Did they add dog features?"

"No.  It doesn't have a head or anything.  They both have a tentacle suction tube, very sea creature since the first draft.  They bark, growl, all that."

"That sounds adorable."

"If you ask Tony or Dawn they might be able to find you pictures of it playing fetch."  He grinned.  "They're cute little robot pets.  I played a few rounds waiting on Tony to get done in the lab so we could go over missions.  Jonathan and Andrew use it to think to when they're stuck.  They built it a little recharging doghouse in their lab, all that.  They have little gold ID tags on top of them so we can tell them apart.  They're nice pets and easy to take care of since they clean up after themselves."

"They sound like good pets for absent minded sorts."  She smiled.  "How long have you and Tony Stark been together?"

"I'm not sure.  We hang out because I get bored at events they make me go to.  He gets bored at them too so we'd talk through a lot of them.  When did it just kinda...happen?" he asked with a blush.  "About five months ago?"  He countered back, nodding.  That's when they had become more than 'dating' to him.  "Just over five months ago."  He grinned.  "We were fussing over Pepper and Liz."

"That's very sweet of you."

"Liz is a very sweet baby.  She's the sort to make other women want babies."

"I heard there was a problem with a scientist who was fighting against her mother's idea that Stark was going to breed her for future scientists?"

"That would be Andrew's wife.  Her mother needs...  She needs some sort of help.  She thought we were a cult.  That we were keeping her hostage, that we were going to use her to breed the next great scientist generation.  They tried to calm her down but she got irritated and huffed off."

"I heard she was trying to file a lawsuit and get an order to give her control over her daughter's life."

"We heard and Pepper went to that defense to tell her off.  She brought video of when she showed up the past two times.  The judge laughed her out of court since MB is a really nice girl, very sweet and dotes on Andrew.  He made her drop the lawsuit too by finding it didn't have merit."

"That's wonderful for Stark.  The young lady?"

"Pretty much told everyone that if her mother showed up again to tase her again."

"You did?"

"Dawn did.  She took a swing at Tony the first time she showed up.  This was after throwing a fit demanding to see him and making a huge spectacle of herself."

"Interesting woman."

"MB is great despite her mother.  She adopted a cat Dawn won at kitten poker that's a bit evil."  He smiled.  "Little cute yellow fluffball of a kitten that loves to claw people to death."

"Some cats are like that."

"He's evil," Steve said with a grin.  "He climbs the walls.  He chased Roomba out of his doghouse the other day.  Dawn's cat Loki played with it when she got it that night but he was happy to give him up."

She laughed.  "Her cat's name is Loki?"

"He was a fire escape cat," Steve said, crossing his feet in the other direction and shifting some.  "Sorry, sore back from sparring.  I looked up one day and there was this tiny black kitten with green eyes staring intently at me.  He didn't look away when I stared back.  He didn't move when I opened the window.  I put down some tuna and water and he sniffed then looked at me and huffed a 'good enough' sound before eating.  I named him but she took him in a few months later."

"Aww."  She smiled.

"He really loves Clint's hair."

She giggled.  "That's great."  He smiled and nodded, shifting again.  "Sparring today?"

"I train every day, ma'am.  Sparring practice is twice a week.  Tony was trying some new suit modifications and knocked me into a roof support pole by accident.  He promised me a backrub in payment for the bruise."  He grinned.

"That's very nice of him.  Can you beat Iron Man when you're sparring?"

He considered it.  "Depends.  There's levels of being *into* a fight.  If it's a real battle and something like Tony was compromised, I'd do whatever I had to do to bring him down in a way that wouldn't permanently injure him but immobilize him.  If we're just in the ring boxing, I tend to take it easy on him.  Myself, Agents Barton and Romanoff, Agent Coulson, Tony, and sometimes Dawn all spar together."

"She does?"

"She does."  He smiled.  "As she pointed out, there's been a lot of people who wanted to kidnap her and she doesn't like that.  She's been taking self defense lessons for years because of that problem.  She's also got a different style of fighting than the others do so it keeps us out of a comfort zone.  Though, Agent Romanoff is one of the best fighters I have ever met.  She's absolutely focused even in sparring.  She knocks me down a lot."

"She's that redheaded woman, right?"

"She is," he said with a grin.  "She's one very tough fighter.  I've seen Director Fury not win against her a few times."

"That's wonderful.  I know the movie has her being very competent with weapons."

He nodded.  "Whatever she picks up she can use.  She's great with weapons from piano wire up.  Plus fighting bare handed.  She's really the best that a lot of heavy training could make."

"Huh."  She smiled.  "She's an interesting woman.  I wouldn't have expected her to be more than well trained."

"She's more than well trained.  She's a full agent with a long history inside SHIELD."

"Wonderful.  Women need strong role models to look up to."  She smiled.  "Are Dawn and Clint going to be announcing anything soon in the way of perhaps an engagement?"

"I believe you'd have to ask her that.  As Dawn says, I'm not authorized to give out any personal information about anyone inside Stark International or SHIELD without their permission, ma'am."  He grinned.

"I can ask her later then.  We see her now and then at the grocery store."

"She's a pretty decent cook.  We have cookouts as a team and she usually fixes something nice."

"Great."  She smiled at him.  "Are you happy?"

"With?"

"In general."

He considered it then nodded.  "I know there's a few things I could be doing better but overall I'm very happy."

"What about those people that say that you're dirtying the uniform?"

"I think they don't know what they're talking about.  From the first military in any country, from the first day of any new military in any country, there's always been gay officers.  We've all served loyally.  We've served patriotically.  I've done more than a lot of them have for my country and like the ones that tried to judge Dawn for not wanting to put on spandex and join us, I'm really sad that the US went that way.  This isn't the same country I knew before I had to crash that plane.  People like that hid it better back in my old days, usually under a white sheet."  She shivered.

"I wouldn't have put up with that then and taught them manners.  Now, if they get in my face they're still getting a lesson in manners."  He grinned.  "Dawn's a great young woman.  She's doing what makes her happy and if her specific skills can be used, all we have to do is ask.  Usually she's there knowing about it before we do.  Personally, I think with those sort, the Nazis may have won a bit of a foothold and it makes me really angry and upset that we lost some good Americans to them.  That we fought them so hard but now they're making a comeback among certain groups."

"What do you think about that church in Georgia?"

"I think that's not the holy book I was taught," he said bluntly.  "The ministers that taught me would've been highly ashamed of their cults.  He'd probably feel the same sort of shame that they used to have when they talked about snake handling churches being warped versions of our own faith."

"You know, there's still some of those around."

"Really?  Huh."  He shook his head.  "I never got that.  I guess it works for them, and that's what's really important in faith, but it's not my version of any faith I was taught by any minister.  The same as the yahoos down there that tried to crash Tony's plane with them on it."  She stiffened.  "It wasn't a mechanical failure, no.  The FBI has been dragging their feet about arresting the people who were behind it.  She opened the door, said they were going to die for being ungodly, and then let the wind take her.

"Thankfully, Clint was on the plane so he could fly it after she capped the pilot, and Tony got the door shut.  Also I'm really thankful and saying nightly prayers that Liz was in the bedroom area on the plane because Pepper had been feeding her.  Because she was too vulnerable.  It hurt...."  He cleared his throat.  "It hurt a lot when I heard Dawn and Pepper making emergency plans to send Liz away magically if they had to and were going to die.  I wanted to go in there and hug them both but it wasn't a good thing to do at that time."

"Were there others involved?"

He nodded.  "That minister in North Carolina, the one you were nagging the other day about his plan to set up restricted communes for gay people so they die off?  Same guy.  He put up a nice note just after they took off about how they had died in a plane crash but it was God's will.  I'm pretty certain when he meets God, God's going to have a few questions for him."

She shivered.  "I'd hope so.  He has had a lot of idiotic viewpoints."

"He's one I think we lost the war for," he said.  "Maybe he has a white sheet hanging in his closet, maybe he's the new breed, but America doesn't need people like that.  She never has, she never will.  That's my feelings and I doubt anyone's going to make me change it."

"No, I agree.  We have a lot of people that we don't really need.  Speaking of, a hot button issue.  Immigration?"

He smiled.  "Even the Native Americans came from somewhere else and I'm pretty darn sure that they didn't have Immigration then.  I'm pretty sure some snuck over each of our borders and all that up until we started to really pay attention around the Civil War.  I'm pretty sure others did after that.  Frankly, the people who complain they're taking American jobs?  I'd like to see them go pick fruit.  Dawn was helping Doctor Banner go on a vaccination round of fruit pickers for the flu shot and things.  He does things like that and I had never even seen a fruit farm, being born and bred here in the city."

He grinned.  "We talked and they make horrible wages for really long days of work.  I saw a few that were working with broken limbs, not casted ones, but wrapped in ace bandages.  Really, I doubt most Americans would do that sort of work.  Even the ones in jail would complain about it being too hard of a job."  She laughed.  "Really!  I had no idea!  And if Americans did those jobs, food would cost a whole lot more because we'd have to get minimum wage and all that they don't.  I had no idea and Tony explained that to me later on that night so I knew all the arguments around immigration going on."

"You weren't interested?"

"I was a soldier, not a politician.  I may have done USO work but I'm not really into any of that politics stuff.  I don't understand it.  I don't understand the whole 'making deals' things.  Nothing like that.  I grew up pretty poor.  We worked hard, we died young from it.  The rich people worked at better jobs and lived longer because of it.  The American dream was to get a job that paid better and let you live longer and better.  Now it's....  apparently complaining in some areas of the country.  Which I don't understand either."

"It's a lot to take in, all the changes in society."

"It is, and the first time I saw a mini skirt I nearly offered the woman my jacket since she looked cold."  She cackled.  "I was not ready for that.  Not at all.  But the people at SHIELD helped me get accustomed to things.  Helped me update myself to modern history, all the wars we had fought, all the presidents, all that stuff.  I'm still shaky on a few things but I'm pretty good with everything except my DVD player.  Anytime I push the open button it closes really fast and tries to bite me.  Even Tony can't figure out why it hates me."

She laughed, patting him on the arm.  "It does that to many of us, Captain."  He grinned.  "Can you use a computer?"

"Tony showed me how to google and how to email on one and on my phone.  I don't tend to use it much beyond finding news articles online and every now and then answering SHIELD emails.  I still prefer talking to someone in person instead of over the computer or the phone.  In my neighborhood, there were two phones on my block.  I only had to use one once and that was when my mother died."  She gave his arm a squeeze.  He smiled.  "It doesn't hurt as much anymore but thank you."

"It's a hard thing for anyone to go through. Though most of us will."  She gave him another pat.  "Do you watch tv?"

"I do sometimes.  Clint got me turned onto Iron Chef.  Tony watches Deadliest Warrior sometimes.  Agent Coulson watches things like Super Nanny and I've caught a few eps when he was babysitting Callia for Tony."

"He does?"

"Sometimes.  Not always.  Everyone else was busy and he's a good sitter.  He made her do her homework she was avoiding and do some ahead.  Got her reading it to her rabbit when she was being stubborn about it.  He's done a lot around the tower to keep things efficient when things start going out of control.  Pepper knows she can ask him for organizational advice if she needs it.  He's like a big brother to Dawn that nags her about her clothes and shoes."  She smiled.  "He's a nice guy.  I like Agent Coulson.  He's great to hang out with and all that.  He's really good when we have cookouts.  Tony actually lets him have the grill sometimes, unlike the rest of us."

"It sounds like your team is very close."

"We're pretty close.  We've taken a lot of turns looking out for each other.  And Dawn."

"One last question.  Do you know anything about what happened at FOX News?"

"From what I have overheard, they were showing pictures of agents.  Which had gotten a few dead."  She shuddered.  "SHIELD does have covert agents, and a few of them got shot while on assignment as well.  I know someone shot at Tara and the twins, which led to Dawn turning them into a puddle of goo for it before anyone else got there.  But they also showed pictures of agents who weren't SHIELD.  Who were part of another covert agency.

"So covert the CIA has to wonder who they are.  Like that movie with the guy on the wire and the safe room at the CIA?  They got some of their agents mixed in and they were protecting their agents' lives.  Not that I personally really miss them.  I think a whole lot of them shop at the white sheet sale in February to quote Dawn."  He grimaced.  "I really don't miss the one that asked if I am on the penetrative end or not.  Not that he'll ever get that question answered.

"Really, some of your fellow reporters were kinda rude at that network.  I have no idea why someone made a supposed news network full of rude bigots but maybe it's meant for those sheet wearing sorts so I'll never understand their bias, their hatred, and their outright lies about things.  By the way, I was told they were wondering if I was Mata Hari.  No, I was not.  I met her once.  She was a pretty nice lady with a very strong focus on what she did.  She wasn't the same as me though."

"Who said that?"

"That skinny dork that likes to pick on Tony a lot."

"I've seen him.  I'm not sure if he was being serious or not."

"He opened a comment section with it.  I had two others who asked if my main job was morale helping.  If I see them I'm punching them in the nose for it."  He smiled.  "And you can tell them that that's not Dawn's job either since they were thinking it was."

"She's a pretty girl but committed to her relationship, whatever that is."

He nodded.  "They're very committed to each other.  I've never seen anyone have a reaction like I did the other day when someone shot at Agents Barton and Romanoff outside the Children's hospital."

"Why were they there?"

"There's a young boy up on oncology that idolizes Clint," he said with a smile.  "Once he heard, he started to visit him.  Dawn and Joyce both go up about every other month to help the kids and talk to them, encourage them.  Agent Romanoff was going with them this time to read to the kids."

"That's very sweet.  I know Dawn's mother had a brain tumor."  He nodded.  "Is she in remission?"

"She's doing checks every four months but they haven't found any new cancer cells.  One blood clot due to the medicine she's on but nothing else serious."

"That's wonderful."  She smiled.  "Thank you for talking to me today."

"Thank you for not being the sort that makes me nervous."  She smiled and the producer cut.  "Really, thank you," he said quietly, taking off the microphone.

"A good reporter should make it easy unless it's a hostile interview with someone like that warlord prince that wanted Miss Summers the last time."

"She destroyed his castle for kidnaping her niece and Agents Romanoff and Barton," he said quietly.  "She was going to torture him over that and having Callia in a shock collar."  She shivered.  "I expected her to turn green."

She smiled.  "I've heard that her mother married Doctor Banner?"

"Yes, they have, though he didn't want her to take his name because of incidences like that military thing."

"I can understand that.  And what Dawn did.  She's a brave, strong girl."

"She is but we all wish she'd quit having to prove it because of attacks on the family or on Stark.  We're all really tired of those.  Especially from the people who were using their Starkpad to plan the protest and assault on the tower."  He smiled.

"That is how some of those sort are," she agreed.  "Thank you, Captain."

"You're very welcome.  Thank you."  He kissed her on the cheek and left.

"My son needs manners like him," she told her producer.

"He has good manners but he swears more.  It's a modern problem."

"It is."  She got up to stretch.  "He did good for his first official interview."

***

Dawn looked at the interviewer she was with.  She had set up her own because there needed to be a few things handled.  Cap was doing his and she would hopefully be done by then.  "No," she told the reporter who had asked if she was going to pull on spandex.  "I'm not.  I'm not suited for that.  My skills aren't suited for daily combat usage.  I can do a few small things or one big thing and then I pass out for a few days with a migraine."

"I did not understand that process.  Magic is foreign to most people so they base it on what you read in stupid books."

She smiled slightly.  "Some get it mostly right."  She clasped her hands on the table.   "What I do uses up my own energy.  I don't usually get to channel from the earth or anything unless it's a prepared spell and that's usually got nothing to do with combat.  What I do is channel my own energy, my own stored fat cells most of the time as well, and push it at things with intent to change or move them.  Which is why anytime I've been sick, I've lost a ton of weight."

"You have looked moderately skinny more than once."

"I figured out back when I was eighteen how to put back on five pounds in two days if necessary.  It comes in handy."

"I figure it would.  So what is your upcoming problem?"

"Actually, I'm foreseeing, without the vision, just with logic, a bigger problem.  Two really.  What happens if all the heros are in the infirmary or the hospital from the last battle when a new one starts?"  He gaped, giving her a horrified look.  "Even if we have more, because half the times I've been taken it was by people who wanted to start their own country's program of heros the hard way, there'll still come a time when everyone's worn out and something will happen.  Then what?"

"I don't know," he admitted.  "The military?"

"The military's not equipped to handle something like an alien invasion outside the SGC and they're not big enough to handle a full scale one.  They might've handled the one in New York, but it would've lasted longer and caused more damage."

"That's a very good point to raise.  What was the other one?"

"What if they attack somewhere we're not?  Or somewhere we are?  What if they attack Iran or Saudi Arabia?  Or even Afghanistan with our very worn out soldiers over there?  Do you think the soldiers there are going to be able to handle a sudden invasion scenario by things with higher weapons?"

He paused to consider that.  "I would hope that their governments would call for help."

"They have nothing to lean on to ask for it.  There's no international agreement in place.  Nothing that says 'for the fate of us all, we'll come help defend you even though we hate your country and your politics'.  If Cuba had that invasion instead of New York, all their allies were over six hours away.  Maybe four if Argentina has really fast planes.  More than that for Russia and their arsenals.  Or hell, wild speculation, what if they attack part of South America that isn't really watched over by any government.  In the mountains, where there's rebel forces?  No one has any way of calling for help beyond begging.  Which most world leaders will not do."

"Those are actually very good points.  I would say make more heros but we can't really breed them.  It'll be decades."

"It'll be longer than that.  SHIELD's team has one woman and four guys.  How many kids, even with spouses outside the team can they have?  And one has a spouse that's not fertile."

"I heard your mother married Doctor Banner."  He licked his lips.  "Here's a point, what about training agents?"

"We'd adore it," Dawn quipped with a grin.  "We really would."  He slumped and groaned.  "England's trying but ....  Let's put it this way.  I've been taking self defense since Pepper became my  mentor, mostly because people keep wanting to snatch me."  He nodded at that.  "Either because of my sister, because I have magic, because they thought I'd be an easy chip against Tony Stark, whatever.  A few just because they wanted me.  Me having taken self defense classes for four years and then sparring practice with most of the Avengers on and off since then, I can usually tie with Agent Barton."

"Your boyfriend."

"Yes, him."  She smiled.  "I can't fully beat Agent Romanoff on a consistent basis.  Most of the time I can't win against her at all unless it's a sacrifice of myself at the same time.  I can sometimes tie with Captain Rogers and I'm pretty equal to Tony Stark."  He moaned a tiny bit.  She smiled.  "It comes in handy.  Really, it does.  Because each time they try to take me I have to get meaner and meaner.  We just stopped one plot by a group that wanted to use me to start a new breed of superheros.  They were going to kidnap me, impregnate me, then let me go to see how the kids did."

"Ow," he hissed.

"This isn't the first time.  I've had fertility meds shoved into my birth control shots.  I've had them dose me with it through subliminal programming that got a few of us, and I dosed Agent Romanoff during that too because I was just as hit.  They dosed my mom in the serum that started off the second tumor's growth."  He shuddered.  "They're a bunch of crackheads and next time I'll destroy them.  But, if me, little, tiny, womanly me, can get to that level.  What can someone normal do?  I admit I'm not fully normal.  I'm really close to normal but not fully normal."

He grimaced.  "So you're saying agents need to be picked carefully for training?  Maybe athletes?"

"Agent Romanoff was trained with gymnastics as a young woman.  She was also trained to dance and other things."

"Which is why she's very graceful," he said.  "So we need to start an agreement."

"A *universal*, planet wide agreement that we will not let petty politics hinder someone having to come in and save a country in case of an apocalypse battle.  Because right now, if the hellmouth that's starting to form in Jordan goes off, they're screwed."

"There is?" he demanded.

She nodded.  "It's a tiny pinpoint right now but we've seen it with the strange weather patterns over there?  It's forming in that area.  We had someone trying to force it open a few months back.  We've found books written by the missionaries that founded Sunnydale with the old mayor, who was working to become a pure demon."  She licked her lips.  "When it started, nothing was drawn to it.  You got some really severe occasional storms.  Ten miles up the road is a normal thunderstorm, on the hellmouth there was one that needed an ark sort as they described it.  It had nice aurora sort of lights now and then during the summer when it was really humid for the water vapor to merge with the spacial radiation."

"They've been reporting that sort of sight...  Oh, dear."

"Yeah.  What happens if and when it opens?  The slayers aren't welcome in the Middle East.  Their military probably can't deal with a demonic invasion.  They don't have anything set up to ask for any sort of help, nothing that would compel the other world leaders to help outside of panic.  Then what happens?  SHIELD can't get there.  The people above SHIELD probably wouldn't let them even if Jordan asked.  So how do we handle that?"

"We make national teams without compelling people, because that won't get them guarded competently."

"No, conscription leads to a lot of angry soldiers that will not do a damn thing," she agreed.  "I probably would've killed everyone and walked over them on my way out."

"I can see that point, though some will want it."

"But that's not the answer.  Even if they did, how would they know which ones were good enough?  How many of their current agents are good enough?"

"In countries like Iran, probably not enough," he said.  "Are there bloodlined witches over there?"

"If there are, they're in deep hiding and will not come out for anything.  Which, I agree with.  People put them to death over there."

He nodded.  "I've seen them putting fake ones to death."  He considered it, looking at his other panel.  "So, she's right.  That's a problem we have to solve."

"We do need an international agreement," one said.  "Quickly.  Because I can see that happening during the negotiation and someone trying to put conditions on it."

The other one nodded.  "As for the breeding thing, genetically, it might not work.  Who says that the serum that enhanced Captain Rogers will get passed on?  Who says that the gifts that Tony Stark shows for engineering and how he turned around will go to his kids?"

"She's starting off a lot like her dad but she's asked to turn his suit into an animal hospital.  She's nearly seven though."  She smiled.

"My seven-year-olds all wanted to be teachers but I can see how much she's mentioned her animals in the past.  What happens if Iron Man is too injured, Miss Summers?  Is there a protocol?"

"I am not at liberty to divulge that.  It has to come from SHIELD."

"Good to know someone's thinking ahead."

She nodded.  "When I brought up these points, Director Fury got a migraine and said there was nothing he could do about it right now because people had their thumbs up their butts again."

The reporter laughed.  "That's putting it mildly at times."  He looked at his other two commentators.  "How would we get new heros beyond breeding?  Because we'd need a large pool to make it diverse enough for non inbreeding and that's really a nasty thought to have because it would take away their rights."

"And the people that want us all to move to a reservation so they don't see us ever again would really hate that," Dawn agreed.  They stared at her.  "Some people want heros on top; to be in charge so they feel safe.  It might give some power in the short term but they put it as everyone would feel safe.  Some people want us hidden as freaks of natures, put somewhere well out of sight so even if there's a battle they don't have to be scared by it."

The reporter nodded.  "I hadn't thought of those.  You've seen some churches using both."

"You have," Dawn agreed.

"That meteoroid?"

"There is no witch strong enough to pull an asteroid from orbit to hit a church," she said bluntly.  "I asked Alexander and he said it would've had to take at least three Gods from any pantheon he knew of.  We do know who did it and they did it by mechanical means."  She smiled.  "SHIELD knows.  They're well aware of that situation's consequences and quietly made sure they can't do it again."

"So, some warped genius?" the reporter asked.

"I think it took a few.  Needless to say, Fury had a hissy fit about it when they figured out who had done it.  If that ever gets unclassified, you'll probably laugh at the movie plotline they had."

He smiled.  "If you're sure they're safely put away?"

"Unless they somehow broke free, yup.  SHIELD has them under very tight watch."

"Good to know."

"I thought it might be someone at Stark," one of the commentators said dryly.

"Not for a while before then.  They were fired a while before that happened."

They nodded.  "That figures," they agreed.  They settled in to talk about how to train future hero teams.  How to get the people they needed.  What incentives they needed since conscription would mean they wouldn't protect people.  The people had to want to protect others, had to want to serve.  Which gave them the idea of testing inside the military and current agents.

The reporter looked at her.  "Is there an agent testing ground?"

"Yes.  Every two years all the agencies in the US gather for an agent olympics."  She smiled.  "It includes adjunct and consulting members because I had to run a 10K thanks to that clause.  Special people like Thor and Captain Rogers were not allowed to compete due to their specialness."

"You ran?"

"All the agents ran.  It was cumulative score for that event.  I also did the language event."

"So we could set goals up and talk to agents that met them," one said.

Dawn nodded.  "You could but I'm not sure how you'd set them.  How high, how fast.  Each agency has their own standards for incoming agents.  SHIELD's are very high.  To even make it past the preliminary physical testing, you have to be able to lift at least sixty percent of your own weight.  You have to be able to run five miles in under a specified time.  You have to be able to prove you have stamina, physical prowess, and abilities that they can use."

"Why a percentage?" the reporter asked.

"Because me lifting two hundred pounds would never happen.  You lifting two hundred pounds might never happen because I'm guessing that's more than you weigh."

"Barely.  Oh, so the weight and height differentials are taken into account."

She smiled and nodded.  "That's something that's recently changed instead of 'everyone must be able to lift so much' requirement because they realized it was pretty unfair.  That's just preliminary to move onto the second stage of training with Alexander.  There, you have an obstacle course that's really hard to do within time, even for Captain Rogers.  You have hand-to-hand and weapons training, you have stamina work.  By the time you get through with that, over half of the group has washed out.  Then you move to field work trials and training in how to do that.  They start with groups of about twenty or so and usually end up with three by the end.  And then those three usually only one or two pass into full agent status."

"Which means they have very high standards.  That female executive officer of Fury's.  Where does she rate against someone like your boyfriend?"

"Agent Hill is very tough.  She's very strong, very deadly, very fast.  Clint beats her in marksmanship but she's up there in the top two percent of SHIELD's firing range scores, he beats her most of the time in sparring because he learned how to street fight and she's more of a head on fighter instead of a sneaky one.  She and I spar now and then and she generally beats me barely.  She beats Stark.  She can't beat Captain Rogers and I've never seen her spar against Agent Romanoff."

"So she earned her position," the reporter said.

Dawn smiled and nodded.  "She worked her way to the top and all the little ones that tried to stand in her way because she's female are very miserable if they're alive."

"That's the sort of thing you'd expect as an executive officer at SHIELD though," the other commentator agreed.  "Can we use her as a baseline?"

"Agent Coulson made rules for the rookies to aspire to during training.  You have to beat someone of my level.  You have to have a skill they can use beyond that.  Or something that's handy on the team beyond that fighting.  You have to be field tested and trained so they know you can handle it when things hit south and keep going in that direction.  You have to be able to match or beat all senior agent physical requirements."

"Which seem simple but just any one of those could be a lifetime's worth of work for an agent," the reporter said.  She nodded.  "So it takes exceptional skills and exceptional abilities."

"As it should," she agreed.  "Anyone who wants to serve can be a soldier, but not all soldiers can be a general.  Avengers take over field command and handle the big things, the tough things, while the soldiers and the lesser agents handle the little things and clearing the normal people out of the way.  Speaking of which, every city needs to have a disaster or emergency plan.  It sounds like most would but they don't.  Cleveland didn't have one until I started one for them before the Sunnydale battle.  I updated LA's for them."  They all groaned.  "It's something they need to think about and it'll help if it's another natural disaster too.  During the battle in New York, an officer dared to ask Captain Rogers who he was to give the NYPD orders about how to clear people."

"Which in some ways, makes a bit of sense since he was in uniform but not theirs, but in others it seems pretty dumb," the second commentator quipped.

"Yup," Dawn agreed with a grin for him.  "Just a bit.  New York's has people evacuating through the subway.  What happens if they get collapsed?  A few places did during the battles.  We need plans made.  Even if it never happens, it's better to have a plan that you never use than to have to come up with one off the crack of your butt as things are going on that're chewing on it.  That way you don't have to avoid the teeth as you're yanking it out."

"That's a blunt way of putting it but I agree," the reporter said.  "Are you planning on having kids?"

She smiled.  "Some year.  I'm almost looking forward to it.  Pepper made it look amazing.  Some day I want my own little genius in the making who we'll teach how to fire every weapon known to mankind."

He smiled.  "Just not right now?"

"I'm not even twenty-three yet."

"Good point.  Do you have eggs stored?"

"No.  I thought about it up until the first time someone tried to dose me with fertility meds so they could knock me up against my will."

"That's a great reason not to.  Anyone might steal them."  She nodded.  "Does he have sperm stored?"

She grinned.  "Not able to divulge that, sorry.  Ask him."

"If we see him I'm sure some nosy reporter sort will," the reporter quipped.

"Hopefully not the same one that asked if Tony took it the other day in front of his daughter so he had to explain it."

"No, that's a bit tacky."

Dawn nodded.  "We see many of those some days."  He laughed.  "There's one that keeps nagging me because I'm a bit pretty and twinkly at events.  She yells and complains that I don't fade into the woodwork leaving my boss to shine."

"You're young, you should go as pretty as you can and as twinkly as you want," the reporter said.

She grinned.  "Pepper told me to be pretty and not hide it.  So I don't."  She smirked.  "I like teasing sometimes."

"I've seen you do that before."  He cleared his throat.  "Those are very provocative questions we need to answer.  When we come back from commercial, we'll take suggestions."  The cameraman that had been signaling him cut.  "Thank you, Miss Summers."

"You're welcome.  It's a problem we need to get addressed even though most people want to be ostriches."  She shook his hand and waved at the other two.  "Have a better day, guys."  She handed over her microphone and headed out to the car.  Steve was waiting.  "Hey."  She climbed in.  "I'm done, Happy.  Can we get cheap cheeseburgers on the way back?  I'm starving."

"We can do that, Dawn," he quipped.  "It go well?"

"Yeah.  I pointed out we needed an international treaty of 'I'll come save your ass' and that we needed to find better ways of finding future heros beyond conscription and making me having billions of kids."

Steve patted her on the shoulder.  "We know you'll only have two or three."

"Two.  One for each spouse."

He smiled.  "If you're sure."

"Unless they're twins."

He laughed.  "I'm sure we'd love to see twins of you running around causing havoc and hell in the tower."  She grinned.  "Maybe they can inherit the cats and the bunny rabbit."

"Maybe."  She settled in and had to shift seats when they got to the burger place Happy picked.  She paid and handed Steve his, Happy his usual, and settled in to nibble her fries while they were still very hot.  She didn't mind cold fries but they gave her hiccups.  Her phone rang and she looked then hit ignore.  "Fury."  She stuffed her mouth again.  The carphone rang, clearly transferred.

Steve hit the button.  "Yes?"

"What the fucking hell!" Fury yelled.

"Shut the fuck up," she snapped back.  "It needed to be said, it needed to be figured out, because I'm only having two kids probably.  Not billions."  She hung up and ate another few fries.  Then she smiled at Steve.

He shook his head.  "It did."  He texted Tony to warn him.  He said he knew Fury was ranting.  They had watched the interview with Dawn since it was live.  She did look poised and made good points.  Which was getting Fury nibbled on by the World Security Council above him.  She sent back a shrug.  Tony praised that it got people thinking outside of using her so it might keep her from being snatched.  Before they needed to answer they were pulling into the garage and going upstairs, with Dawn hugging Happy on the way.  "Did I look okay?" Steve asked.

"Yours won't be on until tonight," Tony reminded him with a smile.  "Nice suggesting, Dawn."

"Thank you."  She hugged him and Pepper.  "Let me eat at my desk."  She went back there.  Maria Hill came off the elevator with Fury and paused to give her a hug.  She grinned around her bite of burger.  "You do kick ass very well," she said once she had swallowed.

"I do."  She walked in there.  "Captain, yours was copied for us and you looked fantastic."  He grinned at that complement.  "Stark, good work having Dawn do that."

"All her idea," he said.  "Though I've heard that something else was her idea."  He glared out at his assistant.

"I said they needed someone that combined your bs skills and diplomatic glad handling when you want to use it with Pepper's organization and good business skills, boss."  She ate another bite of burger.

"What?" Fury demanded.

"Mr. Stark's got about twenty percent of the popular vote right now to run for president, sir," Agent Hill said.  Fury grabbed his chest and winced, sitting down right there.  Dawn and Steve were already calling the infirmary for him.  So he could see why everyone liked Dr. Pigalli better than SHIELD's infirmary for himself.

Tony came out and hugged her.  "I asked when I first saw that, because I nearly had a heart attack too.  It's a good idea.  I'd vote for Callia too."  He went back to the office to talk to Steve and Pepper.  Agent Hill had Fury's heart attack well in hand.

Coulson appeared, looking at Maria.  "The Council just called," he said in her ear.  "They wanted you to move desks because you're too loyal to Fury.  They told AJ that."  He pulled back to look at her.

"I'm higher up than he is."

"Yes but they want to clean Fury's taint out."

She glared.  "How dare they."

Dawn walked over and handed her the phone.  "Tara called wondering why you were so upset."  She walked off.  "Can't be good for Eggbert either."

"Good point."  She put the phone up against her ear.  "Tara, they're trying to remove me because I'm too loyal to Director Fury."  She walked off talking to her.  Something was going to have to be done because her being pregnant was going to be counted against her.  She didn't want that.  AJ was nice but he'd screw up SHIELD so hard.  She looked back at Phil.  "How did they know?"

"They have some sort of sensor on him."

"No they don't," Dr. Pigalli said.  "I can't find a single electronic sensor or tracer on him."

"Interesting," Agent Hill said.  "Agent Coulson, find that out for me please?  I need to see someone."  He nodded, staring at her.  "I'll....  It's not time yet."

He gave her a hug.  "If and when it is, and you want to do it the same way, you come to me."  She nodded and walked off.

"Agent Hill?" Dr. Pigalli called.  She came back.  She wrote out a prescription.  "Take that tonight.  I'd suggest being in a tub."  She nodded her thanks and took it to get filled.  She smiled at Phil.  "She'll be okay."

"I'm sure she will but I'd like to spar with someone for daring to make her make that choice."  He walked off to check on Dawn, who was eating.  He kissed her on the head.  "Maria might need some healing energy later," he said quietly.

"If she needs it, have her talk to me."  She looked up.  "They trying to remove her?"

"Yes."

"Hell no!" Tony called from the office.  "I'm not dealing with a minion ever the fuck again."  Coulson looked in there.  "You're not really a minion anymore."  He called up one of the Council members.  "It's Stark.  I'm not dealing with any minions outside of Hill and Coulson.  None of my tech, none of my people, none of my designs because I don't trust any of them.  So if you want Iron Man to go handle emergencies, you'll leave her alone."  He hung up and repeated that call a few more times.

Dawn came in to hug him and hand him her spare cheeseburger.  "You deserve a treat."

"That's a greasy mess."

"Without pickles or onions so no nutritional value whatsoever."  She grinned.  "That's why it's called a treat."  She went back to her desk.

"She got Happy and me lunch too," Steve said with a grin.

Tony unwrapped it.  "Happy picked a good place for greasy burgers."  He ate and hummed.  "That's actually pretty darn good."  He walked off.  "Let me go make something to make them beg."

"Sure," Pepper agreed with a smile and a wave at his back.  She looked at Steve, who was grinning.  "She had good points."

"She did and she said she'd probably only have two kids unless she has some twins.  I could see them wandering around the tower painting things on people."  She cackled, nodding. "But maybe they'd get the cats and rabbit when Callia went to college."

"Maybe, if Liz doesn't claim them."  They shared a smile and she looked at Liz, who was sleeping peacefully.  "Someday soon she'll be crawling."

"Too late," Dawn called.  "Andrew said he caught her chasing after Roomba 2 last night."

"Really?  He didn't tell me!"  She texted him and he found footage to send her.  "Aww, she was!"  Steve came over to look.  "She's very determined too."

"Roomba 2 has a kitty toy," he noticed.  They shared a look and sent that at Tony.  Who sent back him grinning madly in a picture.  Dawn texted a message to the building that Liz was now crawling so please pay attention now and then in case she escaped the office and her.

All of a sudden, Pepper started getting emails about forcefield fencing options and baby leashes.  Jonathan offered to train Roomba 2 to go with her everywhere so she couldn't get into trouble.  She sent back a 'that's sweet but she won't get free that often' to Jonathan and the others.  Dawn's back got a glare shot at it but Dawn ignored it.

Clint walked in with a rope gate, hanging it across the doorway.  "That should help."  He walked out to kiss Dawn.  "Two?"

"Two kids.  One for each of you."  She smiled.  "Unless there's twins or something."

He took a deeper kiss.  "I could like two.  As long as they're as smart as you are."  She blushed and kissed him again.  "Hmm, cheeseburgers."

"I needed lunch."

He winked.  "I'm making dinner."

She grinned.  "I love that you cook."  He laughed and left her to work while he went grocery shopping somewhere they never went so no reporter could corner him about kids again.  She laughed at that thought but did get back to work updating things for the upcoming meetings.

***

Clint came home that night looking spooked.  "Reporters are persistent."

Dawn nodded.  "Depends on the type, but yes they are."  She grinned.

"Is that a punishment?"

"Would I punish you by throwing you to entertainment reporters?" she quipped with a grin.

"Yup."

"Then it might've been," she said with a happy look.  He kissed her and she moaned.  "That gets you out of the doghouse."

"Good!  Because I had three that followed me through the store, followed the cab, and tried to nag me before I could get in the doorway.  All about you being flirty, you getting pregnant, how many kids are we planning on, how many do I want, are we trying yet, is there going to be a huge wedding," he finished with a sigh.  "Damn."

"I deal with them every few weeks," she assured him.  "I know."  He hugged her.  "Want me to cook?"

"No.  I got pork chops."

"I love your pork chops."

He smirked.  "I meant the real ones, not the innuendo ones."

"Still the same answer, dear."

"That's good to know."  He carried the groceries into the kitchen to put things up.

Natasha walked in and leaned against the door once it was locked.  "What did you say to them?" she demanded.

"I avoided answering things," Clint said.  "Dawn told them if they found me they could ask when we're having kids."  Dawn smirked evilly at Natasha.

Natasha came over to kiss her.  "That's evil."

"Sometimes."  She grinned.  "He said I was getting fat this morning."

Clint shivered.  "Sorry, I won't mention that half of your jeans are a bit snug."

"There may be a reason for that," Dawn said, staring at his back.

He turned to stare at her.  "You are?"

"Not exactly but for some reason the whole thing is swelling.  I think it wants really, really hard.  I had Doc check this morning and she said she couldn't see anything implanted but it looks like the drugs they gave me last time made me release up to five eggs by the look of my ovaries."  He shivered.  "So I'm going to have the mother of all PMS in about a week and about a week later I'm going to live in the tub for a few days."

He nodded.  "We can be extra careful later," he assured her.  He got back to marinating things.  That explained why she was looking a bit heavy.  "At least you don't go into heat like Garnet does.  Or Clay."

"Thankfully.  Did you hear how they had to solve him going into heat with a ball of power as an IUD?"

Natasha shivered.  "That is a very bad thought," she said, curling up with Dawn.  Dawn smiled and cuddled her.  "It is not time yet," she said quietly.

"I know.  When it happens it will."  She kissed her on the ear.  "I promise I'm not prompting it, 'Tasha."

"I know.  Sometimes our bodies have strange ideas."  She gave her knee a squeeze.

Phil appeared.  "They poisoned him."

"Fury?" Clint asked.

"Yes.  Not even with something I had in the office.  Something that they had someone design for them.  Maria's in a hell of her own making."  He looked up and frowned.  "Give me ten."  He went up to talk to her, finding her in the bathroom staring at the little pill.  He tipped her face up.  "They poisoned him.  They had someone make one that would mimic a heart attack."

"Does that mean they're not going to get pushy?"

"I have no idea."

"I have about a week," she said quietly.  "Tara's sobbing."

He kissed her on the head.  "SHIELD won't and can't run without you, Maria."  She smiled slightly.  "Give it that week."  She nodded, putting it back into the bottle.  "If there's no other choice, then I'll help you next year," he said in her ear.

She nodded.  "I'll take that."  She hugged him.  "Thank you, Coulson."

"Welcome."  He let her go.  "I'm ranting at Dawn that they didn't even use my poisons."

"I'd be more worried about Dawn's versions.  She did read over your shoulder."

"Good point."  He went down to stare at her.  "You made something off my lessons."

"I made three things off your lessons and one thing out of an old book I found among Willow's crap at Xander's temple."  She grinned.  "But they're all traceable."

"Pity.  Which?"  She sent that at him and he moaned.  "That's nearly evil."  She grinned.

Clint stopped stirring the marinade to look at her.  "Is that like Warren's pill?"

"No.  It's meant to kill you during it.  So you go happy as the book said."  She grinned.

He shivered.  "Where are they stored?"

"Medicine cabinet in the study's bathroom."

He went to look.  "There's only three bottles."

"One's in the blue package that says 'razors'."

He looked and came out nodding.  "Is that the other one?"  She shook her head, sending over what each one was.  He nodded.  "They can stay in there, right?"

"I'd never do that to you.  If I want you to die during sex, I'll ride you until you go happy, dear."

"I might like that."  He kissed her.  "Let me go lock those up."  He did that and came back to cook.  "You can finish learning those.  I know it makes you dangerous but you're hot when you're deadly."

She grinned.  "I did.  I can make them all.  I just don't want or need to right now."  Phil pulled his book from Xander's collection to hand her.  "Thanks.  That's where I got that one from."

"I figured.  In the back cover is one I got off Frigg."

She pulled it out to look at it.  "Hmm, better, herbal truth serum."

"Doesn't work that well," he admitted.  "It's too weak for most modern mortals."

"That's because the hensbane potion is so out of whack.  They seem to do that to each one."  He smiled and patted her on the head before going home to pounce Xander.  Dawn made notes while Clint cooked and Natasha read over her shoulder.  Dawn got her the introductory lessons so she could go over them.  Clint hated chemistry so he could cheer them on.

"If I need pompoms your fantasies are out of whack," he complained.

"No, no pompoms and I won't make you wear the skirt or the spankies either."

Natasha shook her head quickly.  "I did not want that mental image," she complained.  Dawn kissed her.  "Still there."  He looked at her and shot a vulgarly dirty thought at her.  It had her tied to the bed, sweaty, wrung out, begging hoarsely for more from them.  "That may have helped," she said.

"I can get behind that plan tonight," Dawn quipped with a grin for Clint.

"You'd still be invaded," he assured her.

"It's one of my favorite things.  I miss it when you don't."  He growled.  She grinned and got back to making notes, pulling a few of Tara's books to reference.  Tara came down to get them back.  "Phil got wrong recipes from his poisoning lessons.  I'm correcting a few."  She smiled.

"That's evil, Dawn."

"Well, yeah, but I need some the next time someone kidnaps my pretty ass to knock up."  Tara shivered.  She smiled.  "They deserve it if they take me."

"They do," she agreed, taking her books back.  "Do it at work tomorrow to scare Stark."  She walked off to put those up and hold Maria so they could talk.  SHIELD was not going to like it when she destroyed them over her woman.

Dawn sighed and grinned.  "We need to find out when their wedding is so we can buy a good present."

"I think just after the spring equinox," Natasha said, looking over the introductory lessons.  "This is not that hard."

"No, it's potions for muggles," Dawn agreed, blowing a kiss.

Natasha looked at her.  "You still may not have a robe."

"But Disney sells them.  Callia and I can be witches together."  She grinned.  "Pointy hats and all?"

"No.  Be sirens, not witches."

"I can do that but it might raise a few eyebrows.  Halloween?"

"If it's not too cold."

Clint came out to kiss her.  "No more bad thoughts, please?  Let me finish dinner before I get things on me?"

Dawn pulled him down to kiss him better.  "I'll give you a great blow job later if you feed my hungry ass."

"I'm going to feed that part of you too," he promised.  "And hell yes I'm getting a great blow job after one of you does the dishes."

"Okay," Dawn agreed.  "I can do the dishes."  She got back to making notes.  Since Tara was busy she got the books back and went back to correcting the potions that went into the poisons.

Natasha smiled.  Dawn being a book nerd was sexy to her.  She loved Dawn in book nerd mode.

***

Pepper came in with Liz, pausing when she saw Dawn reading an ancient looking book.  "Spells?"

"Advanced poisons.  I studied over Phil's shoulder and a few things were seriously out of whack.  So I'm adjusting the potions that go into it based on herbal science."  She smiled.  "So far we've tried two of them and they work, but one hasn't.  I'm thinking another part of the potion is out of whack but I need to study a few of the ingredients I've only used ritually before."  She went back to it, answering the phone absently.  "Thank you for calling Stark International, how may I direct your call?"  She listened.  "Please hold.  She's just gotten here and hasn't settled behind her desk yet."  She hit the hold button by feel.  "Grace from Vogue."

"I'll take it at my desk."  She walked in there and sat down with Liz on her lap to hit the button and put it on speaker.  "What's wrong, Grace?  Did I forget that we had a scheduled interview?"

"No, I wanted a comment on something Dawn said.  Someone has taken her to try to make her bear children?"

Pepper sighed.  "There's been four times that someone managed to dose her with a fertility medicine.  At least three of the kidnapping plots that we know of were based on trying to get her to breed, and that's just the other countries, that's not the Russian mob or anything.  They're still being stupidly persistent.  There's been a few that we managed to stop and one Dawn managed to destroy.  They were trying to dose her again this last month to kidnap her to a facility in England that's part HYDRA and part UK wanting heros."

"Oh, dear.  No wonder Dawn's so tough."

"Some people want her due to her sister, some because of the magic, and some just want Dawn."

"Huh.  That poor girl.  Is she handling it okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine.  She calms down, she vents a bit where no one can hear her.  She gets cuddles, and it's better."

"Awww.  So Agent Barton is good to her?"

"Clint's a slightly mean, slightly psychotic teddy bear at times.  Depends on his mood.  He plays pranks, he hangs out in the ceiling to watch over her....."

"He does?"

"Yeah, but it's come in handy and he's really comfortable in the ceiling so we don't mind much as long as he uses good manners and doesn't spy on anyone but Dawn.  Since she doesn't mind and it makes her feel safer and wanted we accept it as quirky assassin behavior."

"That's kind of strange, but I guess with her history, it's protective instead of possessive?"

"When he wants to be possessive, we all hear a growl," she said with a smile for Liz, who growled.  "Yup, just like that, Liz.  That's a very good Uncle Clint growl."  The baby beamed and clapped.  "I'm glad you're happy today since all of the cats and the dog were on you again this morning."

"Callia?"

"Inherited, but yes.  Named after the family and they got them *so* right."  She looked up at the yelp.  "I think one of them just got Clint."  Liz cackled and cooed.

Dawn came in to look up there, using a touch of magic to lift the corner of the ceiling tile.  "Hi, Tony cat and Clint cat.  C'mon."  She pulled them down and searched, getting the other three and the dog down from where they were hiding.  She smiled at her spouse.  "Have fun, dear."

"You too.  I'm napping and hiding from you fixing poison recipes."

"I told you I'd never use one on you.  If I want you dead, I'll kill you with sex."  She let the tile back down and picked up the cats, even though the Clint cat fought.  "Keep it up, watch me ground Callia from walkies."  She carried them to her desk and let them out down there.  The dog followed, sniffling her until she petted it.  "JARVIS, can you please have Roomba come lead them back upstairs?"

"I can do so," the AI said, sounding fond.  "It may not work on all of them.  I'll also alert Mr. Stark that he really does need to make the forcefield around the porch higher."

"Thanks."  She got back to work, letting the cats explore that area.  Roomba came off the elevator and barked.  They all followed him since he was spraying catnip spray.  Even the dog, who followed the cats around all day anyway.  They got sent back upstairs and played in their playroom.  Dawn got back to her poison fixing.  It was fun working with potions.

Tony walked past reading something.  "What is that?"

"Advanced poisons.  They made them wrong on purpose."

He blinked, looking at her.  "You hated chemistry, Dawn."

She grinned.  "This isn't chemistry, it's potions with deadly intent."

He moaned.  "Do I want to know?"

"I promised I wouldn't use them on Clint or Natasha, no matter how much they asked."

"Make me the same promise?"

She grinned.  "I'm not dating you, why would I want to poison you, Stark?"

"Good point but make it anyway?"

"Unless you beg me I won't poison you."

"Thank you!"  He went into the office, pointing.  "Pepper, she's scary again today."  He closed the door and let Liz down to crawl around and explore.

"Dawn's scary every day, Tony, but today she's enjoying it," Pepper said, making the woman on the phone laugh.  "Grace, anything else?"

"There's rumors going around that there was a hidden wedding."

"You'd have to ask one of them.  We don't give out personal information."

"Can you switch me back?"

Clint leaned down.  "No.  Comment.  And you freak us all out, thank you."  He retreated and went back to watching Dawn freak people out.

"What Clint said," Tony agreed.

She moaned.  "Fine.  Thanks, guys."  She hung up.

"Welcome," Pepper said as she hung up, grinning at Tony.  "She wanted to know about the kidnapings and the backup plan."

"We have one, which is great.  The president agreed they need an international backup agreement for things like emergency invasions.  The king of Jordan is really pissed off about the hellmouth thing.  Especially since he barely got told someone was trying to open one, not that it was already there.  He demanded someone prove it to him.  Dawn, how would he prove that it's there in Jordan?"

"Have McKay pull out an energy sensor like they use in Sunnydale and Cleveland, boss," she called back.

"That makes more sense."  He sent an email to McKay to tell him that.  O'Neill sent one back saying they were already doing that but it was still tiny.  Could they ink it to show it off better?  He walked out to show Dawn that, and she was on the phone.

"Yes, Your Highness.  That's because it's very small at this point.  Cleveland's is over a thousand times bigger than yours."  She listened.  "I can come reveal it but it won't do more than show as a dark spot in the air.  I can do that.  Let me get something to cover my hair.  Who's there?  I have General O'Neill marked in case of an emergency.  I'll be right there once I find a scarf, sir."  She hung up and went to grab one from Pepper's emergency stash.

"Let me go light that up."  She tucked it around her hair and disappeared, fixing on O'Neill.  She landed behind him and cleared her throat, looking around.  "Wrong direction, Rodney."  She concentrated and pulled up magic, dusting the air with color motes.  It was slowly drawing toward the hellmouth so she traced it and found it.  "Here's the main hellmouth and it looks like you have a baby rip starting next to it," she said, lighting up that whole area.

The watching generals all glared at her.  "Can we find that scientifically?" he demanded in Arabic.  A translator started to chatter.

Dawn held up a hand.  "I speak Arabic and read it, sir.  Yes, we can."  She pulled out her phone and chose a filter.  "The same energy filter that you use to take photos of stars, flipped to the negative side, will show higher power fluctuations.  This one's still pretty weak so we'd need to make it stronger."

"I have one of those," Rodney said, showing her.  He took a picture and looked at it.  "Undo the spell?"  She did and he did it again.  "It's not showing as much energy output without it," he said, showing them.  Dawn translated for him.

The generals nodded.  "How often will it cause problems?" one asked her in Arabic.

"The Sunnydale hellmouth has a book that recorded the history for the first fifty years of non-Native American settlers on it."  They nodded.  "The Native Americans there had absolutely no problem with it until people prompted it to open, then it went rogue and started to expand as it ripped.  The Cleveland hellmouth has been open for about the same millennia.  If you notice the difference, Cleveland's stable and Sunnydale wasn't.  As long as this one stays stable, you just have to make sure people don't try to use it and watch out in case the universe gives it a nudge so it glows brighter for a few days.  Which will usually screw up weather patterns."

"So, some specially trained guards," the general in command said.

She smiled and nodded.  "That would probably be for the best.  Like I said, Cleveland's is open at a ten cm diameter most of the time, and when it's forced open or it's blown open by something, it goes to nearly thirty feet wide at the highest that's been measured.  Yours is barely two cm wide right now.  So unless it's prompted by a rite, prompted by a human or demon doing something to it to summon or use it or drain it, whatever, it's probably only going to flash now and then."

"Can it be repaired since it's so small?" O'Neill asked.

"Ask the man," she said, pointing at Rodney, then repeating it in Arabic for them.  "I do magic, not physics.  All the physics I know I learned off geeks in the lab."

Rodney shook his head.  "We haven't found a single method of relieving the pressure that causes them.  If there's some sort of safety valve to the universe, we're not aware of what it is outside of a black hole, which there's none nearby spatially speaking."

"This is between realms and planes, Rodney; I'm not sure that would work," Dawn said, repeating that for everyone else.  "Would a black hole do anything?"

He did some math on his tablet, shaking his head.  "No, I had thought it was universal energy, not inter-universal energy.  In that case, until a black hole or something that suck some of the energy out between the layers of planes and realms, there's nothing that'll stop it from growing slightly each year."  She translated that.  "But, there's so many that it's spread out between them."

She nodded, looking at the generals.  "We know of planes, thanks to demon immigration from them, that have hellmouth like openings every few miles.  We're nowhere near that level.  I can get him information on that so he can see if it's pertinent."

The head general nodded.  "Please, Miss Summers."

Dawn pulled out her phone.  "Dwayne, Dawn Summers.  Huge issues, need book lending for McKay.  Yes, the cranky guy on Atlantis.  Because he's trying to figure out how to repair hellmouth leaks or ease them.  That's what I was hoping for, yes.  Is it there?  Thank you.  Yup, later today.  We're in Jordan.  Thanks, Dwayne.  Do I owe anything?  Even better.  Coolness.  Bye."  She hung up and smiled.  "They do have scientific readings on those planes.  They can lend you a copy but they might not be in measurements you have right now.  Ask Xander to ask Blippy Xander if he has any."

"I can do that," he said, sending that note to Xander's phone.   "Thank you."

"Not a problem."  She looked at the generals, who nodded their thanks.  She looked at O'Neill.

"Go home."  He grinned.  "Cute scarf."

"Pepper's.  I don't have many scarves and I never keep them at the office."  She disappeared to go home.  Pepper stared at her.  "People are getting McKay research from other places so he can see if he can heal some."

"Good thinking," she said.

Dawn grinned.  "Thank you."  She handed over the scarf.  "Problems?"

"Aren't you already here?"

Dawn checked.  There was a magical marking up the street that had 'handle this' written on it.  "Hmm.  Yup.  And there's a simple problem I need to solve apparently."  She walked off humming, avoiding herself as she went up the street.  She found the thing that had sent her back here, thanks to the grace of Coulson.  She spotted the van in the parking garage and the guys gathering around it with maps.  She called  911.

"I am seeing a van with explosives up the street from Stark Towers on the main strip that the walkway goes across.  It is in the parking garage that is one block up from the entryway.  It is a black van with white rimmed tires.  I can't see the front license plate but it's blue.  No idea which state that is from.  There are five people standing around it looking at what looks like plans and maps."

The operator swallowed.  "Panel van, commercial van?"

"Teenager van.  Bed in the back normal van.  Black, tinted windows.  Third floor right now.  I'm staring at it from the rooftop across the street."

"Can I have your name, ma'am?"

"Dawn Summers."

"I'll have NYPD right there.  Please do not approach them unless necessary."

"I have no desire to be blown up today," she assured her.  "It was a slightly happy day until I spotted them."  She hung up.  Two minutes later, NYPD had a phenomenal response time today.  They sped up and one passed by the van, which was making the people scramble.  The other two blocked in the van while the first one blocked the path out.  Another cruiser was blocking the other ramp.  More cruisers were showing up to handle the situation with them.  One looked over and she nodded and pointed.  They looked once they had the passengers down and out.  Bomb squad got there five minutes later and was let through.  Dawn strolled off happier.  She blipped off so she could merge again.

Dawn woke up at her desk, shaking her head.  "Wow.  I hate having to slip time."  She looked in the office.  Bruce was in there now and Steve wasn't.  "Hey, we good?"

"What happened?" Pepper asked.  "I was working on the budget and now I'm not."

"When I came back from Jordan, Coulson slipped me back by an hour to go handle the bomb in a van up the street."  Pepper stared at her.  "I gave it to the NYPD."

"Thank you!" she chirped.  "So that's why Steve was here and now it's Bruce?"

"Yup.  Tiny things changed but nothing big as far as I can tell.  Let me make notes about Jordan in case it becomes pertinent."  She went back to her desk to do that.

Pepper looked at Bruce.  "I can do the math for that," he offered.

"Please don't."

He smiled.  "Okay, I won't."  He got up and picked up Liz.  "Come on, sweetheart.  I need coffee cake and they give me extra whenever I have you."  He carried her out, pausing to kiss Dawn on the head.  "Thanks."

"Welcome."  She smiled and waved at Liz, who waved back.  "Good girl.  Very brilliant."  Liz babbled noise at her 'grandfather' and it was great.   Dawn walked in to get the budget and brought it back out to go over it.  She was excellent at them.

Pepper smiled and got to work on other things.  Hopefully nothing huge had changed.  She turned on the local news to find them telling everyone to stay away from the street they were on, that NYPD had been told there was an explosive device and they were handling it.  "Good!" she agreed.  "Better than Tony or Dawn handling it."

Tony walked in looking confused.  "What was that?"

"Coulson sent her back to spot an explosive van.  She told the NYPD."  Pepper pointed at the tv.

"Oh, good."  He walked off happier.  He hugged Dawn then went back to his lab.  That explained why he had switched things in the middle.

Clint leaned down to look at Dawn.  "Thanks."

"Welcome."  She grinned at him and blew a kiss.  "Go back to hiding.  I can hear complaining people."  He did that.  He hated that the science staff whined at Dawn.

***

Dawn and Phil set up shop in his apartment to make the first fixed poison sample.  It was going well until the dogs decided to help.  "No!" she ordered.  They backed down.  "This is bad for puppies.  No licking, no sniffing, nothing.  Go get daddy!"  The nuzzled Phil and whined.

He cleaned his hands off carefully then petted them.  "Go get Xander."  They ran to do that.  Xander came to the doorway holding one of the new puppies Garnet had just had.  "We're making a fixed poison."

"They don't need to help, she was right."  He closed the door once he was on that side and the puppy was back with the Mommy following him.  He looked.  "What's this?"  Dawn handed him the notes.  He read it over, blinking.  "I thought the poultice should be weaker, not stronger."

"Nope," Dawn said, grinning at him.  "Weaker would cause hallucinations and fevers.  Stronger will just kill you."

"Oh, good."  He settled in to watch them mix and blend and chop.  When it was done, Dawn tested it on a frog.  Which died with a choking noise.  "Was it supposed to do that?"

"Frogs die with that sort of noise," Phil said.  "The book warned about it."  He pulled out the frog dissection kit to go over what had happened.  The heart had exploded.  That worked for his needs and the lighter version with the softer poultice to soak in it would do good for other needs.  He carefully copied the notes into his journal and they cleaned up to make sure nothing could harm the kids or the dogs because they could hear the kids throwing fits.

Once it was all cleaned up and sanitized again, he sent a thought at Tara and let Xander open the door so the dogs could come in.  Dawn skipped off home, with Ruby following her. Phil and Xander both looked.  Loki cat didn't mind the dog much.  It sniffed him and then went to bowl over Natasha so she could be petted.  Clint was Loki's human so that worked out well.  Even if Ruby did nose under Loki's tail and get clawed lightly for it.

"No, Dad's not usually into butt sex either," Xander quipped.  "Just like his namesake there."

Phil kissed him.  "He's getting plenty of it because the president never has problems sitting."  He grinned.

Xander laughed.  "Apparently.  Let me make dinner?"  Talsa came over to hand them plates and mugs of coffee.  "Thank you, Talsa."

"Welcome, Alexander.  Dogs, go home?"  They growled.  "Now!"

"They're fine."

"This place stinks like it needs cleaned."

"We just cleaned it after trying a new poison recipe," Phil said with a smile.  "Including alcohol wipe downs afterward."

She stared.  "Dogs, home."  They ran home.  "Thank you!"  She closed the door.  "Cure his mind before it slips farther, Lord Alexander."

"I'll do that after dinner," Xander quipped, grinning at Phil.

"I'll definitely appreciate it after the last few days."  They settled on the couch to eat and rest against each other.

***

Phil went to Olympus the next morning, tapping gently on Apollo's door.  "Lord Apollo, can I have a moment please?"

"Sure, Phil.  What's wrong?"  He turned to look at him.

"I'm studying poisons as my advanced training at SHIELD and teaching Dawn since she's correcting some of the mis-wrote poisons.  Do you have any books on that?"

He blinked at him.  "Dawn's plenty mean enough already."

"It does her good and she could use it when she's captured the next time."

He stared at him.  "I have some but you can't give them to Dawn.  I'd hate to see what might happen if she snaps and uses some instead of just making them suffer with non-healing wounds."

"I can tell her that."  He accepted the five books.  "Thank you, Lord Apollo."  He went back to his apartment to hide them.  Dawn was pouting.  "Sorry."

"That's okay.  I'm sure his aren't out of whack the way those were."  She went to work.  Phil took his first book with him.  They were still banished to the tower and he had nothing to do.

Clint saw the book and shook his head.  "Please don't use me to test them?" he begged.

"We only use frogs, Barton.  Unless she turns you into a frog."  He looked up with a slight smirk.

"No thank you."  He walked off.  "She promised to never poison me."

"I'm happy for you."  He got back to his reading.  Until he was summoned to the infirmary a few hours later by the director.  "Yes, Director Fury?"

He stared at the book.  "More poisons?"

"Yes, I got them from Lord Apollo."

He nodded.  "Great," he said blandly.  "I can come up with an assignment for you."

"Sir, I had a reporter hounding me last night to ask about Agent Hill and Tara."

Fury winced.  "The other two?"

"Similarly hiding from reporters.  A few followed Barton around a grocery store asking about future children."

"That's charming," he said bitterly.  "Why?  Is it Summers' fault?"

"She did tell them to ask him but no, he's been fairly well known since the battle in New York, sir.  He was the least known at that time but then you made him go to events, and the rest of us.  We got a bit too well known.  Would that matter to the assignment in question?"

"Yes," he said, grimacing.  "And Romanoff not being able to do her usual thing."

"I'm not sure if they've talked about that or not, sir.  I can call her down here."

"No, don't you dare."  He huffed.  "We need new covert agents."

"There's seven about ready to come out of training."  Fury relaxed.  "Three personally trained by Romanoff and Barton, sir."

"Even better.  Can you run them in the field?"

"As long as I'm not seen, I can.  Otherwise I would blow their cover by being seen with me.  As stated, until the general public believes that the movie's actors are the real version we're not really safe."

"Fine.  Get Agent Hill?  She's not answering her phone."

"I believe she had to take a medical day, sir."

"Why?"

Phil stared at him then decided not to be delicate.  "Because they were going to fire her if you couldn't return to work and her medical status became an impediment when they found out."  Fury glared.  "It was not our idea.  I wouldn't wish that on anyone but if not, they were going to use it as a method to remove her and put AJ in both of yours places."

"That'd never happen."

"Sir, you do know that you were poisoned and not by me?  They made one specifically to create a heart attack."

Fury stared at him.  "Get some to Romanoff and Barton and have them talk to the World Security Council."

"I'll see if they can do that."

Dawn leaned in.  "Two have had suspicious car crashes because they were aligned with Wolfram and Hart.  Would that help?"

"Yes," Fury said.  "Are the others?"

"No.  They're still aligned to the remains of the Watchers Council.  That leaves five of the seven and I have something for them.  I can gladly give it to Natasha and Clint."  She smiled.  "Would that help?"

"What are you sending?" Phil asked.  She said something in Norse.  He blinked and nodded.  "That would make them sick but a few could survive it, Dawn."

"Not your version, mine."

"That's much stronger and merciful," he said.  He smiled.  "We'll let you tell them how to safely carry and administer it."  She grinned and called down her spouses.  She gave Natasha the instructions for making it and how to carry it.

Natasha looked then at her.  "I take it we are solving the problem that they have created?"  Phil nodded.  "I can accept that.  An antidote?" she asked Dawn.  Phil got it from the shelves in there.  "Consider it done in a few days, Director."

Clint nodded.  "Compact and nice.  Any orifice, Dawn?"

"Oral or nasal is best.  Anything that gets it into their blood system.  Ear delivery would make him go nuts as it eats into it."

They nodded and took the bottle to repackage and pack safely then head for the airport.  They were in different countries but they could handle that.  They had in the past.

Dawn blew a kiss at Phil.  "I made the blue one."

"I wasn't supposed to show you those books."

"You didn't.  I found them in Rosenburg's journals.  Hecate gave them to her."  She beamed and walked off, calling Tara to talk to her.  She'd tell Maria and make her happier and fix things.  Hopefully she hadn't gotten to the pill yet.

Phil looked at Fury.  "I'll check on Maria tonight.  Right now, Tara has her well in hand."

"That's good for her though."  He rubbed his forehead.  "Maybe I'm getting too old for this."

"Maybe the politics above you is getting worse," he countered.  "You've headed SHIELD a long time, sir, and now they're getting trying."  He left.  He was sensing something and Xander was going to check.  He looked up when Xander found the file  and the dead member.  "Send it to me please, Xander."  It landed in his hand.  "Thank you."  He walked off reading it.  "Dawn, meeting."  She followed him.

He put the file down in front of Tony and Pepper, who were cooing at Liz together to make her quit screaming.  He picked her up to look at her.  "I don't care if you are dirty and nasty, have a diaper rash, and you feel like crap because none of the cats or the dog played with you today.  Stop it for ten minutes and I'll have them change you."  She calmed down and gave him pitiful looks so he handed her to Stark for his changing pleasure.

"Did you get a diaper rash?" Tony asked her.  "That's mean of your butt."  He got up to change her in the bathroom and brought her back out.  "What's that?"

"The proof that they were going to take some extra eggs when they had Dawn hostage this time.  They were going to knock her up by Captain Rogers and the extra ones would be tampered with so they could test her with Barton and Romanoff.  They figured she wouldn't destroy those two and might not destroy the one she could carry."

"Like hell I wouldn't destroy them and all the work they had done," Dawn quipped, taking it to look over.  "They're so damn dumb.  That won't work.  Steve's not genetically close enough to where I am."

"Can you get pregnant by Barton?" Pepper asked quietly.  "I know it has to be off human standard DNA to work."

"Yeah, I had Andrew and Patty run the genetic samples for compatibility.  I can and it'd be a healthy crossing.  For kicks she ran it against the rest of you.  Bruce and Steve are both a bit too far off normal for mine.  Clint's got a few abnormalities that show up just enough to warp it slightly off human.  And a really high ATA gene by the way.  So does Natasha."

"So the ATA may be the key to getting more Avengers," Phil said, considering that.  "What other ones?"

"Not my field," she reminded him.  "The guy doing the vision research had it."

"I'll ask him in a few moments.  Romanoff's?"

"She got a different shot if what she knew was right."

"From what I understand there was one," Phil agreed.  "Different though."

"Yes, and that's why she's still so spry," she said dryly.  "It knocked her about three percent off human."

"So, the rest of us they can't use," Tony said.

"You do have an ATA gene, boss.  That's the screwing factor that warps it enough.  Any pure human with an ATA gene isn't a pure human.  They refined it down to I need it to be about three to five percent off human for it to be successful.  Clint's ATA does that.  Natasha's ATA and her specialness do that.  Yours is about two from what Andrew said.  Though he did test Callia's and Liz's.  Callia does not have an ATA but Liz does."

"Do you?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Why?" Phil asked.  Then he realized.  "They Key is from where the Ancients got the ATA key to insert."  She smiled and nodded.  "Which means that ATA sequence is actually from another realm or dimension since that's where the Key is supposed to lead."

"To the main one it was meant for; it's a wasteland.  There's no one there anymore.  To the others it can go to, most of them still have a lot of demons.  They're hell realms for a reason."

"Could the Ancients have gotten whoever was there and brought them here to insert that?" Tony asked.

"No clue," she admitted.  "The original Key did not know."

"You asked it?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah, one of the other ones.  The one that made me I can barely interact with."

They shared a look.  "I want you to tell McKay that," Tony said.

"I can do that."  John appeared, staring at her oddly.  She smiled.  "I had Daniel help me talk to it.  He went ascended and we chatted while I was in meditation."

"Huh," he said, nodding.  "That's good to know."  He looked at them.  "We thought the ATA was original in the Ancients."

"Who said that they didn't have it because they screwed whoever?" Tony offered.

"Good point."  He blinked.  "Go answer that damn phone since it's screaming and I'll get McKay, O'Neill, Lam, and Jackson."  He went to gather them while she routed a call to Legal since it was MB's mother and she didn't understand a 'do not contact her' order.  When they came back, Dawn told them what she knew about the genetics and got Andrew and Patty down to explain what they had found, then Daniel explained his findings from the Key.

O'Neill considered it.  "So this other realm?"

"They said it's dead," Daniel said.  "It was before the demon societies fell."

"So it's possible that the last few people fled here," Jack said.  Dawn shrugged.  "Were the Ancients before or after demon societies?"

"After," Dawn said.  "They're the ones that took over from the demon societies, had cannibalized their things and science.  Then they fell like the ones they overthrew."

Jack looked at his geeks, who were frowning.  "Can we verify that?  Not that I don't trust you two but we have kick ass geneticists on staff that are doing all the ATA research."

"Yeah," Patty agreed, smiling at them.  "You can do that.  The guy who's working with the vision research has it right now hoping to find a key to shut off or slow down visions."

Tony called him up and he brought up a report.  "Not wondering about that.  Dawn told us what they had found about her genetics."

"Oh, that."  He smiled at the general.  "It's a huge puzzle but it's led to a few new things that I don't believe even your ATA researchers have found out yet."

"Can we access that realm to do a dig?" Lam asked Dawn.

"I have no idea how I'd do that.  Or if it might take blood to keep the portal open all the time.  If Rodney could build a dimensional key hopper, then I'd gladly donate some to help but I'm not going to die for it."

"No, I don't want you sick at all," Tony ordered.

"I fully agree," O'Neill said.  "Are there other demons that can get there?"

"No, not any longer.  The only ones that knew how to use the Key to do that died out during the wars.  They were considered highly dangerous so the humans took them out."

He licked his lips.  "Are there any of their records still here?"

"If Alexandria was still around, maybe.  It had the remains of all the demonic libraries."

"We know where it was," Daniel said.

A flashing light heralded D'Hoffryn.  "Why do you want to know?"

"Because the ATA key is necessary to use most Ancient devices and a lot of them are important to the safety of the world," Jack said.

"General O'Neill, this is D'Hoffryn, who is Lord over the Wish Demons."

"Well met," Daniel said in the only trade tongue he had learned, earning a smirk from the demon.  "Are there any records still around from the demon societies?"

"There were a few that took most everything with them when they left Earth to the uppity humans that would become Ancients.  Who did try to eradicate magic," he told Dawn."

"It figures.  Most scientists would like to.  It uses rules they don't understand and can't control.  It drives some of them so batshit insane it's not funny."

Rodney nodded.  "Yes, it does."

"Yet it powers the ZPM," Dawn said with a smile.

Rodney stared at her.  "It does?"

She nodded.  "I'm pretty sure the ZPM has a bit of chaos magic in it.  I've only been close to it that once."

John looked up then frowned at her.  "Where are you feeling that?"  He took her with him to the ZPM chamber.  She felt it and found it for him, letting him feel it through her.  "Fuck!"  He brought her back.  "There is chaos magic.  That's how they got it loaded safely.  Chaos magic is covering and holding in the power so it can compress safely."

"That explains why we couldn't replicate it," Rodney said.  "Also probably Diama's 'bad air' reason not to try it near here."

"You'd probably need a very magic heavy planet to do that on," she agreed.  "Which I can't help you find."

"We can take energy readings.  We've figured out how to tell a magic world from a techno world," John assured her, patting her on the back.  "That was a huge step we were missing."  He looked at Stark.  Who was grinning at Dawn.  Then at O'Neill.  "Can we adopt her if she leaves here, General?"

"No, if she leaves Stark and she's not running from the US again, she comes to SHIELD," Phil said blandly, smiling at Dawn.  "We'll let you borrow her.  Nice work."

"Thank you."  She smiled at them.  "I'm back in pointing out problems mode apparently."

"No, we like that," O'Neill said.  "A whole lot.  Because that gives us new areas to look at.  McKay, can you find a way to open those?"

"I have no idea," he admitted.  "I would need to see how her power did it."

"That we have books on," John and Dawn said.  "They're in Rosenburg's things."

"I can get those from the temple," Phil assured them.  "Xander has them locked up for the most part."

Xander appeared with the newest puppies, which all bayed at John until he petted them.

"Don't let Callia see them," Stark said quietly, glancing around.

"She said she has too many pets right now," Andrew said, "when MB was talking about her cat playing with them."

"The little fluffball of evil would probably warp them," Patty said.

Dawn patted her.  "Loki cat considered him a great playmate."

"That doesn't surprise me."  She hugged Dawn.  "When are you going to have kids?"

"We agreed to wait two years.  But if it happened it did."  She smiled.  "So sometime."

Steve raised a hand.  "Why is it important how much the ATA gene is off human standard genetics?  Beyond the fact that Dawn can't get pregnant by just anyone?"

"ATA genes are what the Ancients coded in their machines so we could only use them when we got advanced enough," John said.  "There's very few strong ATA carriers.  You're looking at two of the three actually."

"Clint's is nearly as strong as O'Neill's," Dawn said.  John and O'Neill both looked at her.

Patty nodded, calling up her research notes.  She handed it to Doctor Lam.  "That's what we found."

She looked it over.  "Romanoff's reads like an enhanced one, like a natural one that took the vaccine to make it stronger," she said quietly.  She flipped through it.  "Barton's is just as strong as the O'Neill strain of it."  She kept going.  "Stark's is about as strong as McKay's so just barely."

"Could that be an intentional split?" Dawn asked.  "The scientists who would be fixing and making new machines wouldn't have to run the defense chair or anything unless it was an emergency."

"I've wondered that," John admitted.  "And how I got it since my birth isn't exactly human standard."

"Who said that it was and your dad was probably the carrier?" Xander said.  "He was an outbreed from the Greek Pantheon."

"He was," he agreed.  "I hadn't thought about that.  So the human side had it, his Godly side hid it so it wouldn't interfere with his power, and then Mom's ...  Would the other Gods have ATA?"

"Don't know," Xander admitted.  "Did you guys test mine?"  They nodded.  "Yes, no?"

"Yes," Andrew said.  "But you read about McKay's level."

"So either Dad or Mom," Xander said, looking at John.

"For it to be as strong as John's is it had to come from both sides."

"Xander, can you talk to the Old Ones that have merged?"

"I can," he admitted, having her help him put up a viewing mirror to them.  "People, I need a question answered."  They all stared at him and one smiled at them.  They still liked him because his fussing kept them amused.  "The ATA sequence that the Ancients put into humanity, do Gods show it?"

"Only certain bloodlines decided it could be useful later on so absorbed it out of some humans.  Zeus does not but Ares and Apollo do.  One of the Fates does for some reason.  Among ours, Alexander and Jonathan, there is a recessive for it among the Warrior clans."

"Mom's a river goddess," Xander said.

"Yes and her family are warrior clan.  Remember your early lessons in how there were priests, warriors, and farmers made?  Each original god made had to fit into one of the three?  Even if they were first generation and right from the birth spurt?"  They nodded.  "Your line came from one that was mostly warriors.  Your uncle that was killed was.  Your other uncle that still lives is."  They shared a look and nodded.  "There is another line out of the Norse side but it is in the Giant lines," he told Alexander.

"Mine's not that strong," Xander said.

"Everyone was surprised you were a warrior with an earth goddess mother and a chaos god father," one of the few females that had merged said.  "By all rights, most of you are healers, not fighters.  Occasionally thieves or like Hermes.  Perhaps like Apollo's musical side.  But still artistic and dedicated to that sort of thing because you can channel the chaos through your creative gifts and give it back to the earth as beauty."

"I think you're a thing of beauty when you battle," Phil told him, earning a rare shy grin from Xander.  "A few more questions if we can.  Are there other lines?"

"Two strains were put into humans.  One died off due to the Gods interfering and the other lasts to this day."  She pointed at O'Neill and frowned at McKay.  "There's a fake one?"

"A synthetic one so we can interact with the technology and understand and use it," he said.

"That's sensible as long as it doesn't cause problems."

"Those who've taken it and had children have natural carriers," O'Neill said.  "Dawn's Key went to a realm originally that may hold where the ATA sequence came from?"

"Yes, it's where the myths of beautiful things that touch you and kill you come from," she said with a smile.  "They have all died out."

"Is there a way we can go there to look at their libraries?" Daniel asked.  "Without hurting Dawn?"

"I'm not sure."  They shared a look.  "The Chinese pantheon was working on doing that.  That is their mythical city of wonder and peace."  The oldest one shook his head.  "I am not sure if they succeeded and no one can find them any longer.  They sealed themselves up so they could not fade."

Dawn looked that way and shook her head.  "I can't even feel a spark of power."

"They basically moved themselves about thirty-five seconds behind us in time," Xander said.  "That's how they closed it off as it was explained to me."

"We have something that can break that," Rodney said. "So we could ask them?"

"We can try," John agreed.  "I can do that.  They like me."  He smiled.  "Most pantheons do like me and Xander."

"They do," Xander agreed with a grin.  "All but my paternal one."  He looked at them.  "Is there any storage of knowledge that could contain things from the ancient demon societies still left on this planet?"

"Alexandria had the ones we were sure of but there have been Gods of Books in pantheons that are now extinct.  They may have some but I have no idea, Alexander."

"I can talk to the ones from Syria and Persia.  Macedonia I know got destroyed down to the rubble level."

"Ah, no," Dawn said, shaking her head.  "When I was in Jordan helping out there was a huge spike from a sealed temple nearby."

Xander and John shared a look.  "Which one would that be?"

"No clue," John admitted.  "I was a bit young then and so were you.  We can ask Thot.  He'd know."

"He would," Xander agreed.  "I can pop around to ask him later or tomorrow.  I know they're having a holy day to celebrate Osiris's reawakening tonight or tomorrow."

Dawn got into her calendar app, selecting a calendar to show.  "Tonight at sunset and at sunrise he woke."  She put her phone back in her pocket with a grin.  "If it's the same as the human one."

"I think it is," John said.  "So within a few days," he told the general, who nodded that was reasonable.  "Is there anything you can tell us about the ATA, how they used chaos magic to make ZPM's?"  They stared at him.  "Dawn spotted it.  It's containing the compression."

"Was that done on the same plane as the ATA gene came from?" Tony asked.

"As far as we know they did do that on another realm due to the danger.  We are not sure if it was the same one or not," the eldest there said.  "We did not stare over their shoulders as they did not believe in us."

"The only one who would know is one of them and all the ones that old have already faded," the goddess said with a sigh.  "Though it is nice that they no longer clog up our ethereal existences with nonsense about not interfering with our creations."  She rolled her eyes.  "I nearly lost my peace with the universe over some of their nonsense."

"I nearly ascended," Rodney admitted.

"I did.  They sent me back without my memories for helping my friends," Daniel said.

"Sounds like them," they agreed.  "Any other questions, children?"

Dawn smiled.  "Is there a book on the Key?  It's history?  That way we can at least know their name and look through the other demon libraries?  Or the name of the ones that left and took knowledge with them?"

"That would probably be at the main temple," the eldest said.  "Which I'm not sure is still around or not.  If so, it is well hidden magically.  It would blow the timeline that humanity knows out of the water, again.  They will get upset again."

"They'll handle it," O'Neill said.  "It might make those against demons calm down some."  He nodded and smiled.  "Thank you for your patience with our questions."

"Sometimes children need to question the universe," the eldest said with a smile.  "It helps them learn and advance to a higher state of being."  Xander and Dawn shut the portal.  He smiled at his fellow Peaceful Ones.  "It's good that they're discovering that finally."  They nodded.  It would mean that the Gods could let them handle it again for a bit while they regathered and hoarded some strength for upcoming battles they could foresee.  "What did the Key do?"

"She gave up some of her visions so it could not harm her mates.  Each one harmed them slightly more and caused her more damage.  It was a move of someone in foolish love but reasonable for the human she is," the eldest female said.

"Humans have love and it's the greatest asset they have," another reminded her.  "If not for love they would have died out long ago as those that call themselves Ancients did.  That's why we created love gods, to make sure they lasted longer and better."  She nodded that was true.  They went back to their meditations and ignored all the huffy Ascended who were mad that they had given answers.  It was not like the puny former mortals were on their level or any of their concern.  They could banish all of them to another solar system easily if upset too much.

***

Xander looked at them.  "We have some answers."

"I will look for the other ones," D'Hoffryn said.  He disappeared.  He had no idea humans had gotten that far.  Without Godly help since Jonathan was unaware of those facts.

Dawn shrugged.  "Let me know if you need my help."  They smiled and she went back to her desk.

"That's more progress than we've made in over a year," Lam said quietly.

"The great thing about ancestors that old is that they don't nag for grandkids anymore," John quipped with a grin.  "Because I'm going to drown Mom in a salt river if she keeps nagging me to knock up Ronon and/or Rodney."

Xander shook his head.  "She was going to ask Roque's mom to get me pregnant  against my will.  When I heard I kindly told our mother that if she did I was going to destroy her and the rest of the family.  Roque could mourn his mom.  Clay would help him through the funeral process."  They shared a look and grinned at each other.  "Have fun with the family."

"You too."  He looked at the general, who waved him off.  He took McKay with him so he could go over the ideas.

O'Neill looked at the others.  "Stark, thank you for making her into the hell of a young woman she is today.  Joyce could've but you've made her mind sharp and hard."  He had the rest of them beamed back to the main base.

Tony grinned at Steve and Pepper.  "I think we did good with Dawn too.  Now all we have to worry about is Callia and Liz."

"And if I'm pregnant since I couldn't eat breakfast," Pepper said.  Tony beamed and hugged her, kissing her hard enough to make her moan.  "Let me get tested first.  I was going to wait until next week when it'd be proof."

He grinned.  "If you are, we'll be happy.  If it's the flu, we'll baby you and then try again," he quipped.

She poked him on the shoulder and got free, answering her phone.  "Hi, Mom.  No, it was nowhere near the building, Mom.  Dawn found it up the street in a parking garage.  Mom, I have no idea how Dawn knew.  I don't know magic or anything.  Then again, Dawn's studying poisons."  She smiled at the hushed suggestion.  "No, she's not going to poison Clint, Mom.  She promised she wouldn't do him or Natasha.

"No, they're on assignment for the next few days.  Yup, all that.  Thanks, Mom.  She's having fun babbling at the pigeons outside the office window with the cat that snuck down."  She sighed and pointed.  Tony took his namesake back up there.  "No, Callia's. The Tony cat.  Yup, that one.  Thanks, Mom.  Love you too."  She hung up and looked at her daughter.  "Grandmother said hi."  Liz smiled and waved.  "That's very smart, dear.  Want applesauce?"  She pulled some out of the drawer.  He daughter lunged and grabbed her hand so she could be fed.

"Let me so you can get back to work," Steve said, smiling at the baby he took to feed.

Pepper grinned.  It was great that she had such great support for her and Liz.  And any future kids.

***

Natasha came back from their joint assignment limping.  She had been tripped over in the airport from behind by fans.  Clint was amused and being an asshole teasing her about it.  Dawn shook her head, taking the last of the bottle of poison to dilute so it could get tossed out.  Chemistry was more than happy to give her what she needed when she announced it was a poison.  They didn't want to know who sent evil things at her this time but they'd gladly help in case it was a new attack.  She came back from destroying it and tossing out the bottle.

Natasha and Clint were off making reports to Fury, who had been kept in the infirmary because of his blood pressure spiking out of control.  That poison they sent at him was a bit evil.  Dr. Pigalli was not pleased with it.  Fury looked at them.  "All done?"

"Yes, sir," Clint said with a smile.  "One tried to get frisky but we fixed it.  Not totally unnoticed as he ended up having a car crash but close enough."

"Even better."  He looked at Natasha.  "You tripped?" he asked blandly.

"No, I was tripped by fans," she said, grimacing.  "They wanted to have us sign things."

Fury shuddered.  "That's a very bad thing."  He looked at Barton, who just smirked.  "Not you?"

"No, not me.  I only got one set of adoring looks, sir."

"Thank you.  Anything else I should hear?"

"There had been a mother beating her kids to death," Clint admitted.  "Pity."

"Fine."  He nodded.  "Good work.  Dismissed.  Take the rest of today off pending emergencies."

"We can go grocery shop since Dawn hates to and doesn't buy real food," Clint said, taking Natasha up there to get kisses and then go shopping.  Dawn swore she had but they'd see.  She had actually filled the house with food.  Which was a bit odd.  They thought at her and found out she was planning on doing a group dinner tomorrow, which was fine with them.  They got dinner for tonight and then went to the bedroom to make sure they had everything they needed for a welcome home celebration.  They needed more lube but they'd handle that easily.  And the sex shop was a fun shopping trip anyway, especially since they kept hiding stuff from Dawn to tease her about how it worked.

***

Stark looked at the gathered Avengers, plus his daughters and Pepper.  "The new idiots on the World Security Council have that 'not amused' look about them.  Especially when they ordered we were to do some publicity to go with the negotiations for the world-wide help treaty."  Dawn shrugged, it was her suggestion but not her fault.  "They suggested that we all go to the premiere."

"What does one wear to a movie premiere?" Dawn asked.  "I doubt we could do jeans."

"Most stars wear suits, we can wear dress pants," Natasha said.  Dawn nodded that might be okay with her.

"The last one I went to, I went as a date and had to wear a nice dress," Pepper said, stealing Liz back from Bruce, who was trying to tickle her.  "She'll vomit again, Bruce."

He grinned.  "Kids do that."

"My sibling more than most," Callia quipped.  "Am I going?"

"Well past your bedtime," Tony assured her with a grin.  "If we like it, we'll bring you to one of the matinees."

"Okay."  She looked at Dawn then at Clint.  "Does that mean she gets to get real pretty and flirty again?  She needs more flirty time."

"She does," he agreed, patting her on the head.  "If she wants to be flirty we can guard her so no one steals her again."  Dawn hit him on the arm.  He grinned at her.  "It's been nearly a month."

"Shut up," she complained.  "I have went more than a month without someone trying to attack me."

"It has been nearly a month of no threats, no Dawn wanters, nothing like that," Tony said, looking at Pepper.  Dawn huffed.  They smiled at her.  "Go armed."

"I'm always armed," she said dryly.  She looked at Natasha.

"I was trying to figure out when the last threat was," Natasha admitted.

"I still got the monthly letter from the Russian mob."

"That's normal, not a threat."

"Not with what they wrote."  She looked at Tony again, who was staring at her.  "Legal got a copy of the letter and I sent back a voodoo doll this time, boss."  She smiled sweetly.

He shuddered.  "If you get voodoo dolls to work, I don't want to know but please don't make one of me?"

"I'd never do that to my niece," she said dryly, smirking a bit.  "She's much too young and the cats would end up on the Board of Directors."

Pepper hid her laughing in Liz's hair.  "Yeah, probably."

"They can?" Callia asked.

"They'd do a better job than the present set," Tony quipped, sipping his water.

"They might," Bruce agreed.  "So, we show up, be nice looking and happy looking, see the movie, then go home?  No reporters?"

"Nope," Tony said.  "Not unless they shout things at us."

"It'll be the shortest trip to an event in history," Dawn quipped.  "I'll get protocol guides for how to do all that from someone."  She made a note on her tablet, including specifics of when to arrive - before or after the stars have gotten there - and what to wear.  She looked up.  "I'm calling on your ex."

"That's fine.  She likes me."  He grinned.

Pepper nodded.  "Most of them do."  She looked at the others.  "I have no idea who's babysitting."

"Maria might or might not want to go," Dawn agreed.  "Tara said she wanted to see it but I'm not sure if they'd go opening night."  She sent that text message at Maria, who said they were ordered.  "She, Fury, and Coulson were all ordered to go to the opening.  The studio has tickets, and I'll ask your ex Pam the pertinent things," Dawn said.  She put her tablet aside again.

"Why Coulson?" Pepper asked.

"Notably part of the group even if he's not on the team.  Maria's in some of the movies, as is Fury, and the new WSC are jackasses according to her."

"Good to know," Bruce said.  "I'll tell Joyce."  He sent a text message, getting a very subdued answer back.  He sent one asking what was wrong.  She said AJ was being a jackass and Fury was arguing with him.  "Let me go to lunch with my wife."  He got up and strolled off.

"I'll have Happy drive you," Tony called, texting that to him.  "Dawn?"

She looked up then shrugged.  "Mom's a bit sniffly but not sure.  If she goes to full out crying or gets too upset, I'll go kick someone's ass."

He nodded.  "We might like that.  Do they like you?"

"They so hate me," she said with a grin.  "I got a 'we're not pleased with you, Miss Summers' phone call last night."

"I answered that," Natasha said with a grimace.  "They're not exactly mental giants."

"One of them was making some very wiggy points," Dawn said.  They all stared at her.  "Including that perhaps I should think more about the offer from England's clinic."

"Hell no!" Tony snorted.  "I'll destroy them myself if I have to."

Dawn smiled.  "It's not a problem, boss.  Really."  Clint stiffened, he knew that tone of voice.  She patted him on the hand.  Then grinned at Natasha, who was staring extra hard and poking at her mind.

"We forgot to spar recently," Clint realized.  Dawn blew a kiss.  "Noted?"

"Nope."

"Cameras?" Natasha asked.

"Nope."

"You sure?" Tony asked.  "Because I really don't want to see Interpol show up here to arrest you.  The press would never die down and they might put you on the same cellblock as the bimbo."

"No, boss, nothing like that will happen."

He shivered.  He had heard that tone once.  Then she had went out to play kitten poker, accompanied by Spike, and had come back two hours later looking a bit sweaty, bragging she had won some earrings, and the problem had never shown back up again.  "I don't want to know like I didn't want to know about that one when we had just gotten you."

She grinned.  "That one decided to leave the realm."  She shrugged.  Natasha gave their bond a hard poke so she showed her what had happened, which made her cackle out loud.  She smiled at her.  "See, I'm a good girl."

"Some of the time, yes," Natasha agreed, patting her on the arm.  Clint poked and got the same information, making him shake his head.  He grinned too and shifted to cross his legs.

"I don't want or need to know unless Interpol or some other agency shows up to arrest her," Tony told the trio.

They shook their heads.  "No reason to," Clint said.

Natasha nodded.  "There shouldn't be a reason for them to do more than wonder why she had talked with that person."

Tony walked off shaking his head.  "Find that out for us, Dawn, send a memo."

"Yes, boss."  She grinned at Pepper, who laughed back.  Tony was having one of those days again.  He'd go create something that blew up and feel better soon.

***

Dawn looked around at the theater's preparations, looking at the woman beside her from the studio.  "Anything I need to bully, handle, or otherwise fix?" she asked quietly.

"No, so far it looks good, Miss Summers."

"Dawn, please.  I'm not the formal one."  She smiled at one of the workmen.  "Two more weeks?" she quipped.

"For that interior to be done then the specialists show up to handle the range and other areas."  He smiled.  "Stark's got majorly weird ideas.  That insulation is a pain."

Dawn nodded.  "But we might need it in case Bruce goes all Hulk inside."

"True."  He finished his trek for lunch then went back up to the work floor.  Everything on the second tower was done except the top four floors: the specialist gym and range, the Avengers only common area, the quiet rooms, and the other two training areas that were mostly just simulated walls and things.

Dawn smiled.  "They're finishing up the Avengers only areas."

"That's fine.  We're amazed that the theater portion got done so fast."

Dawn smiled.  "They're a great crew.  They're the same one that fixed the original tower for Stark."

"I'll have to remember them if we build out here for some reason."  She noted the name of the construction company in her portfolio.  Dawn showed her to the area for parties, getting a nod for it.  "This is really nice."

"Tony can't really throw parties at the penthouse with Callia about to turn seven early next month."

"I couldn't either."  She checked, the catering and bar areas were well equipped so they could host the party here.  They had a backup location but it looked to be okay.  She smiled at Dawn.  "You did good."

"I just had it stocked for the next party.  Pepper did the list of things way back when and I just ordered."  She grinned and showed her the other areas, including the bathrooms.  "The infirmary is in the main tower and if something happens, security can call them," she said.  "Stark security are all background checked so we don't usually have to worry about much."

"Usually?"

"One of them a few months back was going to help that nice clinic in England that wanted me to get knocked up."  She shook her head.  "Really nice guy but he wanted to save me from them."

"Oh," she said, clearly not getting it.  They checked out the other facilities they might need, making sure it was all up to spec.  The workmen would be gone for the day long before they had to do more than set up things for the opening of the movie.  Dawn treated her to coffee while they went over the final plans and she gave Dawn what she needed to know about what to wear and when to arrive.  All that was scheduled.  "Is Stark showing up in a limo?"

"From across the street?  I can suggest it if you want me to."

"No, that's fine.  The others?"

"Most of the Avengers live about ten blocks from here.  Tony and Bruce are the exceptions.  Bruce and Mom live about fifteen in the other direction and Tony lives at the Penthouse."

"Okay," she said, figuring that in.  "Your mother?"

"She and Bruce married last year."  She smiled.  "They're really happy and in flirty, gushy love.  I'm happy that Mom's so happy and that Bruce is such a nice guy."

"Wonderful."  She made note of that.  "Your mom knows how to dress?"

"She's where I get it from.  I'll give her the updated guidelines and it'll be fine.  If she has to, she can borrow one of my dresses."

"Wonderful."  She smiled and made note of that.  "Director Fury?"

"You probably won't get him out of his all black and leather thing."

"His executive officer?"

"Agent Hill?  She can usually dress but her girlfriend's a bit more conservative with the longer skirts."

"Femme's fine," she assured her.  Dawn smiled.  "I saw a picture of them from that horrible broadcast."

"We're really lucky since a few people tried to take shots at them.  Thankfully, Tara's really able to protect herself and the kids, and when it happened Agent Coulson and Alexander showed up seconds afterward to stomp them flat.  Literally."

"Huh."  She looked up.  "Is he coming?"

"Alexander or Agent Coulson?  Because, if one comes the other probably will.  Not too sure about Xander.  He's not really one for publicity."  She sent a prayer his way and he appeared to shake his head quickly.  "Not coming even if Phil has to?"

"No."  He looked at Dawn.  "He promised we could see it together when all the furor died down so we didn't get mobbed in the theater."  He disappeared.

Dawn smiled and pointed.  "I guess we won't have to save a seat for him."  Phil text messaged her.  "Phil said if he wasn't ordered to, he'd rather go to a later showing with fewer people as well."  She looked up.  "But his bosses above Fury ordered."

"Why?"

"They're newly in charge.  The seats on the World Security Council just changed hands."

"Oh, a power showing move," she said, grimacing.  "That's why we're getting Fury?"

"Yup.  Because he nearly had a stroke when he heard about the movie."

"Some people don't like it," she said with a shrug.

"He more thinks it's going to shine too much light in the wrong areas," Dawn explained.

"That I do understand with all that mess with the agent photos."

"I thought it was nice of that smaller agency to end that threat for SHIELD," Dawn admitted.  "Saved them some work and hell in the press."

The other assistant smiled.  "It was nice of them."  She looked up.  "Are you bringing a date?"

"If you really want Hawkeye there, then yes, I'm his date," she said dryly, sipping her coffee.  "We're kinda together."

"Oh!  I had not heard that gossip.  I heard you and Agent Romanoff....."  Dawn quirked up an eyebrow.  "Huh."  Dawn smiled.  "I won't say a word.  You three can come in the same limo since you live in the same building."

Dawn grinned.  "Yes, we do.  With Captain Rogers.  I'm not sure where he's showing up from that night."  She made a note to check with him and to arrange for a car.  Maybe the one from her old backup spot, which was parked in a garage.  "Limos only or regular cars?"  She looked up.

"Regular cars are fine.  We'll have valet parking arranged in the garage area."  She made note to make sure of that.  "Yours?"

"I think we can bum one for a few hours.  Our lease is getting a bit well known again."

"That's fine.  A lot of stars rent for the night to make the right impression."  She made a note to make sure they were all gathered properly.  She looked up.  "Security concerns at the opening?"

"If they need their own, that's fine.  Stark security teams will be there."  She texted Maria, who sent over the plans for that night.  "This is SHIELD's plan for that."  She let her see it.

She nodded.  "All the exits are covered, no one unsavory should be able to get in."  She saw someone come into the coffee shop and hit the counter looking like he was exhausted.  "That's Dr. McKay."

"He and Stark tinker sometimes," Dawn said with a smile.  "Hey, Rodney."

He glanced at her.  "Morning, Dawn."

She checked then him.  "Not even on your coast."

He snorted.  "I've been up all night."  He sipped his coffee, putting in a small tip.  He came over.  "New drama?"

"Opening for the movie."

"Sheppard got invited by someone but I don't know if he's going or not."  He took a drink.  "Anything going on at the tower outside the labs?"

Dawn checked then shrugged.  "No one's caused a lab explosion or anything.  Yet.  Though someone might want to take the firecrackers away from Callia.  I'm not sure who gave them to her."

"I will on my way back to the tinkering lab."  He walked off, drinking his coffee.  Once he was back in the main tower he told the guard on the desk so they could send people and Stark up to stop the mini genius.

Dawn grinned.  "Things are nicely calm today for a change."  The other assistant smiled at that.  She heard a bark and looked down.  No Roomba.  She glanced around and spotted the seeing eye dog barking at someone.  "Let me go handle that.  I'll be right back."  She walked over there.  "Ma'am, is there a problem?  I noticed your dog felt threatened?"

"This man was just sneering at me," she said.

Dawn looked at him.  "Sir, perhaps you should move along?  Stark Towers are fully handicap accessible."

"She's my ex," he sneered.  "You're not with the police."

"No, you're right, I'm Ms. Potts' personal assistant and therefore part of Stark security."  She stared at him.  "You can take your pitiful domestic out of sight of the rest of us please.  There's plenty of seating areas you can have a disagreement in that won't upset others."  She pointed at the group of kids going to the new theater who were staring in awe at them.  "Please."  He grimaced but stomped off with her following.  She smiled and waved at the kids.  "Have a good movie, guys."  They beamed and waved back before going with the teacher urging them to.  She got back to the table and sent an email to security about it.  She smiled at the studio's assistant.  "Sometimes, it's people that drive you nuts."

"It is," she agreed with a smile.  "We have many people like that at the studios."  They shared a smirk and got back to the planning part.  Everything would go just fine, pending emergencies that night.

***

Dawn stared at her closet the afternoon before the opening, considering three things.  "How flashy?" she muttered.  She had one she wanted to wear but it was nearly backless.  It was a bit twinkly too.  Probably a bit much since she wasn't in the movie.  She had something more plain that was hot on her, but Clint would growl and if something happened she didn't have much of a hope in hell of helping handle a physical fight in it.  She had a third choice but it was much too dressed down by her standards.

She considered things and then looked in another closet.  Loki was in there and stared  up at her oddly from taking a bath.  "Hey, Loki cat.  Maybe the velvet bustier...." she said, pulling it out to hold against a skirt.  "It's warm enough for that and a jacket....."  She put the original third outfit in and put that one in its place.  Then changed the gold velvet bustier for a medium gray one with silver piping along the top.  She had a jacket that could match that skirt.

Pepper was let in by Natasha, who had picked what she was wearing.  It made her look nice but not too grand.  It was simple, black, and she had good shoes for it.  "Natasha, wear something other than black," Pepper ordered.  "Dawn's going to be dark enough so you and Clint can wear a color and black."  She went into the bedroom, putting back the bustier outfit.  "JARVIS said you were hesitating like Callia."  She grinned.  Dawn beamed back and nodded.  She looked.  Then pointed at the twinkly one.  "That one."

"It's a bit twinkly.  It's a cocktail dress and she said dressed up, not that dressed up."

"You have it in a less twinkly version," Pepper reminded her, pulling that out.  Dawn nodded.  It was the purple and red dress that Clint and Natasha had warned her not to wear to work without a lot of weapons.  "No wonder they said not to wear it," Pepper said when she came out in it.  Dawn smirked.  "Shaving?  You missed spots."

Dawn stripped off and went in there to reshave.  That helped and she came out looking smooth and in control.  The dress went back on, and was joined with stockings and jewelry.  Then she brushed her hair, checking it.  Off her neck worked best.  Pepper got the single zit on her shoulder that was trying to come out.   "I need pasties," Dawn complained, getting the support pads that women used when they had a backless dress on.  They didn't hold her up very well but they at least covered her nipples.

She sighed and took them and the dress off to put on better set that would hold her up better.  Pepper shook her head so that dress got changed for a different dress that was bra capable, because she had one that was a halter.  This new dress was a halter and still totally backless.  It dipped down to the top of the crack of her ass.  It was a subtle shimmering fabric, when it caught the light right.  The halter was thin but the dress made her look stacked, even though it was a bit tight.  Dawn turned sideways and grimaced.  "I'm gaining weight."

"A tiny bit," Pepper agreed, checking her over.  "I like that one usually but you're right, it's making your stomach look padded."  Someone would say something mean about her weight again.  They picked out the other halter dress.  Which was green and a tiny bit looser, it was meant to drape from the collar in front.  The collar held up the deep sweetheart neckline that dipped nicely.  It was done in a dark bronze metal frame that was exposed due to cutouts.

In the back it was still a plunge backline, because Dawn liked herself in that look.  The zit got some coverup applied.  The front was a bit flowing from the bustline.  Pepper stared and shook her head.  "I don't like the color combination and someone will say they got the idea from a shower curtain, though you make it look really hot, Dawn."

Dawn grinned.  "I make everything hot."  Pepper laughed and nodded.  Dawn took that one off and looked in there.  She did have a few things.  She made sure her armpits were hairless, pulling out a few stray hairs that she had missed.  She checked, her legs were fine.  She got into a third closet and pulled out something she had gotten from Lavelle's will.  It was dark emerald green and flowy but she put that back and pulled out something else.  That one was deep, rich royal purple that was nearly black.  It was too figuring hugging though, with that tiny bit of extra weight....

"Spanx?" Pepper offered.

"Eww.  No thanks.  They roll up."

"Sure."  She saw something and pulled it out, blinking at it.  "I can't imagine you in that."

"Inherited but I do look hot in it."  She put the deep, gothic red dress on and it was nice on her.  She could wear the bra that was only shoulder straps, no back, with it.  Some double-sided tape to hold that in place and then the dress.  This one dipped lower in the back, so she had to adjust it.  The front was a strapped square neckline that led to formed bra cups and then a loosely braided section in the same color and fabric to emphasize her waist, then fell to the same fabric tightly across her hips to a decorous four inches above her knees.  She had heels for it.  She changed her jewelry and it was good.  Pepper helped her refix her hair then they were done.  Pepper went back to the tower to get dressed.  Dawn walked out, her heels clicking.  The cat was following the human.

"String," Natasha said, turning her to clip it.  The cat adored strings so he was happy.  She looked her over.  "Lavelle's?"  Dawn smiled and nodded.

"Falling hem," Clint said, staring at her.  She and Natasha got that tacked back in place.  He blinked at her.  "There's no little bump of stomach in that dress."

Dawn smiled.  "Exactly."  She turned so he could see the back, earning a swallow.  She smirked.  "We ready?  We're due to arrive in about an hour."  They nodded.  Pepper could complain that he and Natasha were in black. Clint looked her over again once he was standing.  She smiled.  "I do fill it out nicely.  I'm not super skinny."

"No, you're not.  You're at a great weight to fill that out in ways that're giving me dirty thoughts."  He smirked.  She blew a kiss at him and then one at Natasha, who was smirking evilly.  "We ready to handle this problem?"  She nodded.  Natasha sighed but nodded.  Clint made sure they had everything.  Dawn had no purse but she had her thigh holster hidden.  He had felt it when he had pulled her closer to kiss her.  Natasha was armed as much as she could.  He was better armed because he had on clothes that didn't show a lot of flesh.  The girls did one last check, Natasha getting some tweezers and getting a hair Dawn didn't catch.  "Were you that nervous?" he asked.

She nodded.  "I've never done this before.  Before the first formal Pepper and Tony made me attend, Pepper took me to the spa with her so they could do all that for me."  She put on some lotion that was fragrance and dye free in case she ran into someone allergic.  They left together.  The car was supposed to be there in about ten minutes.  Maria and Tara had already left.  Dawn popped her neck, which meant Clint took care of that for her, earning a few breathy moans for it.

"If there's a problem, you tell someone.  Do not handle it," he said in her ear.  "Lower profile."

"Yes, dear."

"Thank you."  He gave her a squeeze around the middle.  "That's so getting cut off you later," he said in her ear.  She smirked and shook her head.  "Yeah, it is."  The car got there and they got inside, heading to the theater.  He looked at Natasha.  "Are you joining our walk?"

"I am."  She smirked.  "It's subtle but I won't separate us tonight."

Dawn grinned.  "Which one of us is getting the middle seat?"

"I am," Natasha said.  "That way if something happens we're closest to handle it."  Clint nodded he'd take the aisle one because he hated to be cooped into a theater with too many people in it.  They got there and the valet helped them out.  Clint handed out Natasha, which made some of the watching crowd shriek in glee.  Then Dawn, which got more shrieks.

Clint smiled and took their arms.  "Let's go, ladies."  They smirked and took them to walk up them.  "Dawn, ignore the reporters," he said quietly.

"I am."  Someone shouted her name so she looked and walked over.  "You wanted me to sign something?"  The girl was nearly crying but nodded.  "Aww!  I've never had a fan before!"  She signed it and kissed the kid on the cheek.  "Thank you!"  A few more pushed their way forward to get her to sign things.  "No shoving, kids."  She did sign it.  "Hey, Bob.  Clint, Bob's here."  He came over to hug the kid and sign something for him, getting Dawn and Natasha to do the same thing.  The ladies all smiled, especially when one girl who had clearly dyed her hair red asked Natasha to sign her poster.  She did and they went inside.

One of the reporters rushed over.  "Dawn....  That dress is by who?"

"I'm not exactly certain.  I inherited it from a friend."

"Aww.  So you're wearing it in their memory?"

"Yeah, they would've loved this."  She smiled.  "Gotta go get popcorn."  She smiled and walked off.

"Mr. Barton?" the reporter called.

"No comment," he called back with a grin and a wave.  "I don't talk to reporters."

"Just one question?" she begged.  He stared at her.  "There's rumors of an underground wedding?"

He shrugged.  Then grinned.  "I like having a private life, sorry."  He walked off with Natasha following.  The reporter tried to get her to comment on it but she just smiled.

Dawn found a person she knew wasn't a reporter.  She walked over.  "Who let you in?" she asked, interrupting the 'interview'.  "The last time I knew, you were an assassin, not a reporter."

Natasha calmly walked over and grabbed the woman's arm, walking her off.  "We do not need this tonight," she said quietly.  "Do not make us kill in front of all those children."  She handed them to SHIELD.  "Someone is an idiot.  They let in assassins without checking ID's?"  That one was a very young agent so he called that in.  Senior agents came in to grab them and walk them off.   Natasha walked back off, smiling at the stars.  "Sorry.  We did not want them to ply their trade tonight in front of children."

Dawn got handed an earpiece by one of the too-young agents guarding the building.  "What?" she asked once it was in.  She groaned and winced.  "Crap."  She looked up then outside through a nearby window.  "There's Thor."  She projected her voice.  "Thor, to your left."  She walked out there.  "Hi, Stark Security," she said at the star.  "We've loved your work, we've watched it for the last three days.  Inside please," she said, walking him that way.  Thor got the guy on top of the building, making everyone flinch at the noise of the lightening hitting him.  "Nice shot, Thor," she said, taking out her earbud to hand back to one of the security team.  She smiled.  "Clint and I got a bit crushy on your last role, sir."  She walked off.

"Wow," he said, blinking.  He pointed and looked at the guard.

"Dawn.  Stark's personal assistant."

"Huh.  She's pretty."  He watched who she went to and smiled.  "That figures."  The guard smiled and nodded.  He smiled at the reporter waiting.  "That was really smooth."

"Dawn's very subtle most of the time," she assured him with a smile.  "How are you feeling tonight?"

"I'm great.  It's a great opening, great fans.  This new theater is wonderful looking.  I'm hoping it lives up to the fan expectations."  He smiled.  Thor landed and the crowd started to shriek again, making him look confused.  "Someone should save him."

"There's Captain Rogers, he will.  The team covers each other very well."

He grinned.  "I think that's the definition of a team."  He shook Thor's hand.  "Thank you for taking him out before he shot me."

"It was no problem," Thor said.  "People should not have rifles on top of buildings during such happy times.  It ruins celebrations and makes Dawn have to do something odd to stop it."  The reporter cackled.  He smiled.  "I'm sure she would so no one else had to get messy."  He patted the reporter on the shoulder.  "We will go see this movie.  See how well you did get the noble Clint portrayed."  He walked around him.

Steve grinned at him.  "We all had a movie marathon of some of your other stuff at Clint's insistence and he said they picked very well to play him."  He shook his hand and walked off.

The reporter beamed.  "That's a great complement."  The reporter nodded.  He went inside.  The Avengers had a row.  Clint was on the end.  He paused and smiled.  "Thank you for letting her handle that."

"It's not a problem and I don't have my bow tonight.  Can't hide it in the monkey suit."  He grinned and shook his hand.  "I saw some things that said you did real good."

"I'm glad.  It's hard living up to a living person's reputation."  He grinned at Natasha.  "Yours was fantastic to work with and she took extra training time to do you as best as she could."

She smiled.  "From what I've seen, she did a good job."  The actor smiled and went to his seat.  She shifted to move her holster.  "That strap is stretching.  I need to replace it."

Dawn smiled at her.  "We can get you a new one."

"I can replace the strap."  She smiled.  "I have a spare but haven't gotten around to it yet."  They had to get up for Steve and Thor.  Then for Pepper and Tony.  Then Dawn had to get up when she caught someone sneaking in, taking her out to security.

"It's not something you get to come to," she said, staring at her.

"I wanted to see it too," Callia pouted.

"It's going to be on very late, Callia."

"I can stay up.  Daddy said I get to make my own schedule."

"You do but you've never stayed up past ten in your life and this one will be going until after eleven.  If we like it, we'll bring you to an earlier showing next week."  She handed her to the security guard.  Who smiled and had her brought home.  She walked back in there, looking down at Tony.  "She was well dressed for it."

"I was impressed that she wasn't wearing pajamas," Natasha admitted.  "Usually she does for late night movies."  Dawn sat down with a grin.

"We have taught Callia fashion sense," Pepper said with a smile.  She was between Tony, who was next to Dawn, and Steve, who was next to Thor.  The seats were roomy, tipped back, and had good leg room.  She had insisted when the theater was being designed.  Maria was on the other side's outer edge with Tara next to her and Fury was in his own seat looking displeased.  That left two for Phil and Xander between the two groups.  They appeared and Xander looked windblown.  "Fly in?" she teased.

"Not yet.  The crowd got kinda more silent when we appeared together.  I even had us in a car."

She smiled.  "That's fine, Xander."  He sat next to Thor so he could explain things to him if he needed to and Phil got Fury, because Xander sitting next to him might mean he'd hit him.  The rest of the special guests were let in and they settled in to watch the movie.  Great thing about premieres, they didn't have to sit through trailers.  They enjoyed the movie, even if Natasha did get patted a few times by Dawn and Clint for what was going on up on the screen.

They shared popcorn up and down the row like usual.  Pepper got a bit sniffly at one point too but she'd hug Natasha later.  It ended with her being taken into SHIELD by Clint and Coulson.  There had been a lot of sexual tension in there, and it was clearly a good lead in.  She started to grab her purse but Dawn shook her head and so did Xander, who stuck them all in their seats.  During the credits there was another scene that led to Iron Man's movie.  Pepper moaned and looked at Tony.

"He looks like me," he said.  "That's really nice.  Though he looks a bit more like my father really."  He grinned at his lovers, who smirked back.  They got let up and went up to the party with everyone else.  Natasha thanked her actress for doing such a good job then she and Dawn made the obligatory rounds while Clint hid.  Things like this were not his forte in life.  They got to escape back to their apartment to get that very nice dress off Dawn one way or another.

Tony smirked at the director.  "Nice job."  He got a grin back.

"Thank you, Mr. Stark."

"Nice casting too for me.  He looks a lot like my dad."

He laughed.  "We noticed that with some things that came out during that Biography Channel special."  Tony smirked and walked off, taking Pepper and Steve out of harm's way.  Steve was getting flustered and they needed to calm him down.  He went to talk to his crew.  They were great.

"No, she walked up, said she was security, praised the movies, and then got me inside," the one that played Clint said with a grin.  "She was absolutely smooth about it.  She seemed sweet."

"She is," the director assured him with a smile.  "She had to sit in on a few of the meetings we had with Stark.  Her mom's the same way but I heard her snap at a lower agent in that mom way and he jumped."

They all smiled.  "Any idea who that assassin's target was?" the actress that played Maria Hill asked.  She hadn't had a huge part in this one.  She'd have a bigger one in a few movies.

"Not yet."  He looked around.  The only Avenger left was Thor, and that was probably because he couldn't slide away unnoticed very easily.  He did see Director Fury.  He went to talk to him.  "Do I need to set up security around my people, Director?" he asked quietly.

Fury shook his head.  "He was aiming for Stark.  He was supposed to injure him so they could get him from the hospital.  It was a stupid plan and that one's not a great loss to assassins."

"Good to know.  Thank you, and for letting us do the movies."  He smiled and went back to tell them that.  That eased a lot of worries.

***

Pepper smiled at Tony and Steve.  They were up on the Avengers only floor with the rooms.  "We do have a bedroom just a few floors away," she pointed out, pointing out a window across the street.

Tony smiled.  "With a sleeping set of very curious girls.  They'll pounce you as soon as we walk in."  He kissed her as he pulled them into one of the quiet rooms they had set up.  "This also has better soundproofing."  Pepper laughed but let Tony have his way.  She was a bit needy.  The movie had made her sniffly and she was in the mood to have that cured.  Steve was behind her making her a happy girl too by nibbling on her neck.  Tony had taught him well.

They paused when they heard someone on the floor with them, Steve going out to check on that.  He was the most dressed of the three of them.  Tony kissed her to take her mind off it.

Steve closed the door and looked at the guy looking around.  "I know you're not with the security team or SHIELD.  So who are you and how did you get up here?"

"Card readers aren't that good when you have someone's fingerprint as well."  He smiled.  Steve punched him, knocking him into a wall.  "Hey!"

"JARVIS, we need security here," he noted.

"Already coming from the main tower, Steve," the AI replied.  Guards came in a minute later and gathered him.  "I'll finish installing the security software and exempt the workmen.  It was going to be upgraded once they were done so no one could interrupt you."

"Thank you, JARVIS."  The guy was struggling.  "Tell us who he was tomorrow, people."  They smiled and nodded.  "Any others, JARVIS?"

"Only one that comes up as an assassin that's pretending to be a reporter.  I think SHIELD let her go."  He cleared his throat from Maria's phone.  "Agent Hill, that one that Dawn identified as an assassin is back," he said quietly.  "Pretending to be a reporter."

"Which one?" she asked, scanning the room.  She found her and huffed.  "I'm retraining those agents myself."  She walked over to grab her by the ear and walk her off.  "You're making Tara upset," she noted as she walked her off.  "That's unforgivable since this is her new favorite girl movie."  She handed her to a watching agent.  "This time, keep the assassin in custody."

"Yes, Agent Hill.  Sorry, sir."  He walked her off to the other agents.

Someone appeared and reached for Tara.  "Now you'll both be mine."

"Fat chance," Tara said, moving out of the way and to a better defensive position.

Maria shot him and he fell down screaming at the wound in his spine.  "No, she's mine.  Not yours."  She smiled.  "Anything else you wanted to do today?"  He was crying.  "Good.  I'm glad we're in agreement that Tara's mine."  She walked over him.  "Sir, one of the chaos mages is having a moment," she reported.

He was watching, nodding slightly.  "I can see that.  People?"  He snapped and pointed.  Guards and infirmary staff got him out of there and taken.  "To SHIELD, not Stark's infirmary," he ordered one.

"Yes, sir," he said firmly.  "And the assassin that got free earlier, sir."  He followed.

Fury smirked at her.  "Nice shot."

"Thank you."  She smiled at Tara, who came over to hug her.  "Sir, I'll need some flexible time for the next eight months."

He huffed.  "Do we think this is twins?"

"Not really, sir, but we'll find out soon."  She smiled.  Tara swatted her on the arm but she was smiling as well.

"Fine.  Make sure they're as great as the twins are at distracting Joyce."  He walked off smirking slightly.

"I think that's a given," Tara told Maria, who smiled and nodded.  She cuddled her.  "We have to finalize plans too," she said quietly.

"We do.  I need to find something great to wear."  They walked off talking to go home.  They needed to be home because they needed to talk to the babies.

The director smiled at his actress.  "She's one strong woman."

"She's very strong and they're adorable together."  She grinned.  "I'm in the right part."

"You are."  Fury looked over.  "I originally had her playing Agent Romanoff."

"She's not curvy enough but the new one did a good job.  I almost felt teased through the screen."  The actress blushed and smiled, ducking her head some.  He followed his people out and it was good.  The party was more for Hollywood types anyway.

The director for the movie grinned at his actress.  "You did great."

"Thank you."

The guy who played Clint grinned at her.  "We start shooting the first of the Avengers movies in three weeks."

"I know.  It'll be great."  She walked off with him to talk about things in the upcoming script.  They were allowed to be overheard and tease the rest with it.

An alarm went off.  "Sorry," JARVIS' voice said from the speakers.  "Had that on the wrong setting.  Nothing to worry about."  He turned it off and they all shrugged.

"Is that his AI?" the guy who was going to play Stark asked.  The ones who knew nodded.  "Huh."  He grinned at the director.

"He's included.  We got a very good English voice actor for him."

"Decent."  He sipped some of his beer.  It was a good thing.

***

Dawn walked into the apartment first and had to beat someone.  "Why are you in here?" she demanded as she kicked him.  "That's so damn dumb to wait on us and you had better not have hurt the cat."

"No, the cat's still staring," he said, trying to back away from her.  "I didn't want to hurt the cat."  Clint and Natasha walked in together.  "Hi, guys."  The cat leapt down from a bookcase he got backed into and clawed him.  "Ow!  Shit!"  He got the cat off him.

Natasha scooped up the cat.  "Very nicely done, Loki.  Thank you."  She petted him.  "Dawn, just shoot him."

"I come bearing news," he offered.

Dawn paused then hit him harder.  He went down.  "Really?  You couldn't call for a meeting?  I can schedule those because you're cutting into my naked, squealing time."

"Dawn," Clint groaned.  He darted the guy and knocked him out.  He kissed Dawn.  "You're still getting naked, squealing time.  It'll take him an hour to wake up."

"I only get an hour of naked, squealing time?" she pouted but her eyes showed she was joking.

"Hell no.  We'll break to let Natasha talk to him and I'll have you since she'll be busy."  He smiled.

"I could like that idea," Natasha said, coming over to unzip Dawn's dress.  They went into the bedroom while Clint tied up their visitor.  The cat got huffy but checked on each of them then went to his closet hiding spot.  He didn't like to watch them have sex.  Clint came in and they stripped him for their pleasure, then Natasha got undressed.  Dawn was on the bed teasing herself while they kissed.  It was a good night.  Dawn would get plenty of naked, squealing time.  She might even be late to work in the morning.

***

Tony looked up from behind the CEO's desk, smirking at Clint and Natasha walked in together.  "Did you wear Dawn out too much?"

"Nope," Clint said with a grin.  "She's checking on Andrew and Jonathan to tell them how the movie was."  He handed over notes.  "From last night."  He walked off.

Natasha smirked.  "He's finding someone to talk to about those plans."  She walked off in a happy, slightly dirty mood.  Dawn's dress of the day was her fault.  It was flirty and from the goth shop so it fit her body *very* well.  When she ran into Dawn in the bathroom she had to unzip it to get under it instead of pushing it up but that was fine and Dawn got a bit of teasing.  She kissed her back and turned to tease her back.  Natasha groaned into Dawn's mouth but it was quick and dirty, but great.  Then they cleaned up and went back to their jobs/lounging around the tower.

Tony was still rereading the notes when Dawn got to her desk.  "The boys going?"

"Sunday afternoon."  She smiled.  "That what the idiot waiting on us had?"

"Yes."  He looked at her.  "Pepper will be fine."

"I know she will."  She smirked evilly.  "If we have to, Callia and I can build things for any Pepper'naping idiot.  She's already started on a few."

"I saw," he moaned, shaking his head.  "They're very nice."

"One's a bit evil.  She took Roomba 2's spare mini laser cannon and put it on Pepper's defense belt and wrist cuff."  She answered her phone.  "Thank you for calling Stark International, how may I direct your call?"  She listened.  "No, it was a great movie.  We adored it.  Clint and Natasha both got really happy with it.  No, they're not talking to the press.  You know that, Dwight."  She leaned against her desk, smiling at the doorway and Tony shaking his head.  "No, they're good.  They're both here somewhere in the tower since Fury didn't want them at SHIELD right now.

"Yes, he was hit with a dye pack; those rumors are true.  Thankfully our infirmary managed to get it off him right after he had a health problem for a few days.  No, he hasn't said anything that I've heard and I haven't talked to Mom yet today so no clue, but he wasn't unhappy.  They made SHIELD agents look very competent and strictly great.  Yup, I can text Mom to let her know someone wanted Fury to comment.  I doubt he will.....  Sure, Dwight, later."  She hung up and did text her mother.  Plus Dwight's number so she could pass it onto SHIELD's PR team.

Tony stared at her.  "Tell my daughter I want to see her anti-Pepper'naping ideas?"

Dawn called up there to interrupt Callia's litter box cleaning time.  "Your dad wants to see your anti-kidnaping stuff when you're done, Callia."  She hung up on the squeal.  "It's making her happier than the litter boxes are, boss."  She sat down to go through the mail and handle the daily assistant stuff.

Callia carried in two tablets very carefully about a half-hour later.  "Here we go, Daddy."  The person in there stared at her.  "Hi.  Daddy said he wanted to see my anti-Auntie Pepper kidnaping stuff."

"Let me finish with this reporter and we'll go over it," Tony said with a smile.  She sat down and made sure she had everything.  Including the dog that had followed her.  They were due for a walk.  Dawn took him with her instead.  Tony smirked at his daughter.

"I'll get her lunch later in thanks for walking the Xander puppy, Daddy.  I promise I will."

"Good girl."  He finished up with a few questions that were aimed at Callia, which he wouldn't let her answer.  The reporter pouted but yay!  When she left, he patted his lap and his daughter hopped in it with her tablets, one of which she had stolen from the storage closet, to show him her designs.

"I took apart the mini laser to see how they worked," she admitted.  "Then I had Jonathan explain it to me.  He's very good with them, Daddy."

"He is.  That's one reason why I hired him."  He kissed her on the hair, looking at his daughter's first laser design.  "That needs to be tilted more."

"When you turn it on it tilts it.  It's a safety mechanism.  Jonathan said you needed one, like on guns, but you can't do it the same way."  She ran the simulation she had JARVIS and Jonathan help her build.  "See?"

He nodded.  "That's not a bad design."  He gave her a squeeze.  They went over all of them.  The 'Pepper belt' was a lot like Batman's but it had a lot of handy things.  Including a mini nursing pump for some reason.  He looked at her.  "How much of this did the boys help you with?"

"They explained things and why my idea for the laser wouldn't work but mostly it's mine."  She smiled.  "They should go on the paperwork, Daddy."

"They should.  We'll go over this with Pepper later so we can make sure she'll use it."  She beamed and wiggled.  He hugged her.  "I'm so proud of you."

She kissed him on the cheek.  "I love you too, Daddy."  She hopped down and took the leash from her aunt.  "I'll get you lunchies for walking him for me."

"I could like that."  She smiled.  "How are they looking?"

"I need to make a few things."  She grabbed her tablets to show her.  Dawn had some ideas about kidnaping things.  She had it happen to her all the time.  "How do you make a tracer?" she asked.

"I don't know.  Some work like GPS chips, some work like radio ID frequency like on pets.  You'd have to look that up."

"I can do that," she said, looking very determined.  She got into the online wiki database she liked to start in.  That led her other places and it was good.  She was drawing something and a program on the computer tested it for electrical design flaws.  She had a few and got a bit frustrated but her father came out to make a suggestion and it was easier that way.  She could enjoy that.  She hugged them both and retreated to his lab to go over the ideas with JARVIS.  He was great and helped her make things.

"Some day you'll have to teach her how to forge things by hand," Dawn said with a grin.

"Once she's a teenager and wants her own car.  We can build her one."  He smirked, going back to the desk.  "Pepper's off today."

"We don't have much scheduled but you have a meeting anyway, Tony."

"I know."

"Sorry!"  She grinned at him.  He groaned but nodded.  "And no wishing.  They might come and fix that, which would destroy the company."

"Good point.  I'd never do that to myself."  He got into the paperwork waiting on him.  Including the budget, which looked wrong.  "Dawn, did you do the budget?"

"No, boss.  That came up from accounting.  I submitted the one Pepper and I did."  She came in to look, frowning.  "What the fuck?" she muttered, taking it to go down there.  She walked in and around the secretary's desk, getting huffed at.  "Delilah?"  She opened her door, letting Dawn in.  "Tony and I looked at what you guys sent for the budget and had a 'what the fuck' moment."  She handed it over and pulled up her copy on her tablet.  "That's not what we submitted."

She looked and blinked.  "That doesn't add up at all," she agreed.  "It's not the right format and it's not the right budget.  Is this someone's homework?"

"Maybe," Dawn admitted.  "If so, they need a calculator."

"They do."  She went to find out from someone.  It was indeed their master's accounting degree homework.  She was supposed to be finding problems within it.  Dawn got the actual budget corrections back to look over.  A few things got cut and she had to ask why but it happened all the time in companies.  She brought it back up.  "It was someone's homework."

"That explains a lot."  He took it to look over, grimacing.  "Are profits low?"

"You have a bunch of it going to company investment accounts," she said with a point.  "It's the year for it.  The last one was shortened because of the whole 'Iron Man' thing coming out."

He nodded, going over that.  "Get me the file on those?"  She got it from accounting and brought it back plus the actual expenditures for this year and the last year.  He looked them over and Dawn pointed out a few things.  Including that they hadn't accounted for the unused budget in this one.  She called up the head of accounting to show that to her.  It went under profit but it meant amending the budget for last year to an end-of-the-year report on how they had done.

That changed the projected budget.  Which made Tony happier because it left him with extra money for his pet projects and the Iron Man budget lines.  Dawn found another error in the math and pointed it out.  They looked and groaned, fixing it.  That got Dawn a nice bonus because it gave Tony a few extra mil to play with.

***

Dawn walked in that night and grinned at Clint and Natasha.  "I found a budget error."

Natasha smiled.  "Are you getting a bonus?"

"Yup.  It gave him a few extra mil to play with in the labs."  She winked and strolled off taking off her dress.

Clint looked at Natasha, who shrugged slightly.  "That's good to know."

"She got a nice one for finding a very big budget discrepancy, which was what started her college fund."

Dawn came out in nothing, kissing them.  "Which is now set up as a college fund for any future kids that may come into being."  She smiled.

Clint stared at her.  "Were you going to put on something?" he asked casually, smiling slightly.

"Not in the least.  Our anniversary is tomorrow."  She smirked.

"Good."  He pulled her closer to kiss and settle into his lap.  "Because that's what I wanted to hear."  Dawn helped him out of his clothes, letting her tease him then tease him by stripping Natasha and kissing her.  "I love watching you two."  He stroked himself, watching them tease each other.  Natasha was moaning and letting Dawn do whatever she wanted.  It was going to be a great night to be Clint Barton.  He pulled them onto the couch together, kissing Natasha and sliding into Dawn's body.  She moaned and arched up to meet him.  "My girls like to play?" he teased with a smirk.

"We do," Natasha said.  She moaned.  "Make us beg, Dawn."  She got an evil smirk and Dawn moved to lick her instead of fingering her.  Clint like that position better too.  It gave him better leverage to hit Dawn's sweet spots hard each thrust.  Dawn was moaning into her body, and Natasha was moaning at the vibrations and what Dawn was doing with her tongue.  "Dawn!" she ordered.  Dawn quit teasing and tongue fucked her until she came.  "Oh, yes."

Dawn looked up and licked her lips.  "Want more, 'Tasha?"

"If you know what is good for you, I will have more."  Dawn laughed and licked over her gently and carefully.  "Dawn, no teasing," she ordered.

"I like teasing you."  She winked and got back to how Natasha liked it.  Natasha was writhing against Dawn's evil tongue and fingers soon enough, which made Clint slow down to watch.  Dawn wiggled on him but he was enjoying it.  Dawn pulled Natasha's hips up to give her a better angle, making Natasha shriek in pleasure because it got her clit nearly tortured by Dawn's mouth.  Dawn winked at her and shifted on Clint again.  He got back to riding her and it was a great night to be Dawn too.

Clint moaned into Dawn's ear.  "I love watching you do that nearly as much as I love doing it to you."  Dawn pulled back to lean back for a kiss.  Natasha moaned.  Clint and Dawn shared a look and decided that tonight was Natasha's night so they would please her.  He pulled out and pulled Natasha up to push into her while Dawn teased her breasts and kissed her.

Natasha was in heaven and hell, one of her own making.  She was with two who loved to tease her until she gave up and got loud.  The thrusting wasn't at the usual depth or strength that Clint used on her.  Dawn was teasing her clit while sucking on her breasts.  Natasha finally moved.  She flipped Dawn onto her back and followed to teach her not to tease.  Which meant Clint got her from behind and it was good, hard, and just what she needed to ease the ache in her.  Dawn was easy to please.  She got off well and loudly.  And often if they wanted her to.  Natasha got off from Clint and it was good.  She was happy.  Dawn was ready to scream for it by the time she let her go.  "Then next time, don't tease," Natasha told her.

"You love being teased," Dawn said, pulling Natasha up to kiss her.  "We love to tease you."  She flicked her fingers around Natasha's clit, never quite touching it.  Natasha growled and shifted.  Dawn smirked and kept doing it until Natasha smashed their mouths together and got Dawn off.  Dawn squealed into the kiss but she was nice enough to help Natasha off.

Clint pouted.  "You two didn't save me any."  They shared a look and Natasha got to pounce Clint tonight.  He was a happy, happy boy with her sliding down him and slowly making it worth his patience.  Dawn was helping by holding Clint's hands down for him.  Natasha stared down at him, making him start to sweat.  She smirked slightly and twitched her hips a certain way, which made him shout and push up harder.  She smiled and did it again, and Clint caught the clue.  He was going to get her off and he was going to get to come, sometime.

Yup, it was a great day to be Clint Barton, even if they did have insane press people wanting into their private lives.

35: Busted Old Ones

Press nightmares lead to Dawn falling on Xander's obstacle course and breaking her leg.  Which doesn't please her mates, even though they're out of town.  Oh, and the marriage comes out and Howard is a ghost.  NC-17

Natasha was out grocery shopping, it was her turn and she wanted something specific that no one else seemed to be able to find.  So she was doing her household chores for the week.  She was unfortunately also being stalked.  Not followed, because that implied a lesser threat than an entertainment reporter.  She finally turned to stare at the woman stalking her through the store.  "What do you want?" she asked, free hand resting near her holster.

The reporter took in that body language and smiled more brightly.  "Agent Romanoff, can I have a slight moment of your time about something that a friend in the entertainment news industry in Russia found out?" she asked politely.

"We do not comment to reporters outside of Dawn's job," she said firmly.

"You might want to comment on this one since Ameria Roston also got told and you know she's already searched out a certain set of certificates from Spain, an island in Malaysia, and one in Africa."

"Excuse me?" she asked, not wincing, though she was shouting at Clint and Dawn.

"Hmm.  That's what we thought, especially since there's a priest who redid a ceremony he never performed in the first place."

"I'm sure if such things are around they are not something I want to comment on."

"Including the fact that you never wear your wedding ring on the correct finger while on assignment but half the time around town you do?" she asked.

Natasha looked at her hand.  She had messed up.  It was on her wedding finger.  "As Dawn has said, they are promise rings."

The reporter laughed.  "I told my mother that too when I snuck my marriage past her."  She moved closer.  "The reporter in Russia hates you.  I have no idea why but she went looking to discredit you somehow.  Finding three wedding certificates made her year."

"If there are such things, they are probably legal in their locality."

"Yes, but two aren't honored anywhere else in the world, including here in the US.  The only one that is, was done in Spain between your male partner and Miss Summers."  She gave her a pointed look.  "It's going to come out quickly," she said quietly.

"We have been asked about rumors of such in the past," Natasha admitted.  "We have not commented then either."

"They made the news over there.  Along with the resolution about how to handle the faked wedding certificate that prince filed.  It was huge news over there.  You're still a revolutionary icon."  Natasha winced.  "So, it's a bit out there.  It might be best if you three gathered to do something like a statement?" she asked hopefully.

"We will discuss such matters and tell whoever Dawn likes as we do not know many reporters."

"Well, actually I'm one of Dawn's favorites."  She smiled.  Natasha asked Dawn, who agreed she was.  "I think it's great that you somehow have a skill like telepathy?"

"We do not."

"A spell perhaps?"

"Dawn keeps a light tether on us in case of problems."

"Ah, and me showing up activated your 'oh shit' meter."  She smiled.  "Sorry but...  Better you know before Director Fury has another heart attack."

"True," she admitted.  "Thank you for that information.  We'll probably be hiding for a while."

She laughed.  "I have no doubt of that, at least until the scientific gala in two days that Dawn's supposed to be going to."  She smiled.  "Have her let me know when you guys have a comment?"  She walked off happier.  It was really hard to fluster someone like Agent Romanoff, but the knowledge that she had just been outed was not a happy one most people faced.

Natasha finished the shopping, heading back to the apartment.  There was a message on the answering machine.  "Romanoff, I'm sure by now you've been approached by someone," Coulson said.  "The one who went searching due to the prince that wanted Dawn was formerly an agent, washed out due to physical ugliness according to her records."

"They did only take pretty agents," Natasha told the machine as she put the groceries up.

"She was quite mad that you were the measuring stick they used and she didn't meet up.  She's had over ten thousand dollars of plastic surgery and still can't match up to you to quote a few of her coworkers.  Therefore she's taking down the icon."

"Wonderful," Natasha said in Russian.  "I can make sure she does not have to worry about being measured next to me."  She found her passport in the drawer the phone was on.

"Fury said you may not go kill her.  That's too obvious.  Rosten, in the UK has photocopies up of all three certificates.  She talked to the priest in Spain too.  He's being sanctioned because the church found out during an audit for child molesting priests.  Apparently the bribe was covered up the same way.  So you three need to get together and figure things out.  Today.  Fury is gulping cold water and aspirin like he's going to need the infirmary again," he finished with a sigh.  "Though Joyce is absolutely pleased that Dawn can quit hiding you two."  He hung up.

She hit the button to erase the message, resting her head against the wall beside the doorway.  "Why us?" she muttered.  She finished putting up the groceries and snuck back to the tower, where everyone was hanging in Pepper's office to go over what was being shown.  She walked in shaking her head, accepting a kiss from Clint and Dawn.  "Coulson said she was a failed trainee."

Dawn nodded.  "I did the background check for him because he's with the new group of future failed trainees for SHIELD."  Natasha moaned.  She looked at Clint.

"We did go back and redo the one in Spain.  With a new certificate."  Natasha smiled at him.  "The other two would never be counted as legal."

"I'm wondering if the State Department guy found them during that," Dawn said.

Pepper shook her head.  "He called and said they had no idea outside what we told them."

Dawn grinned.  "Cool."  She looked at her lovers.  "I'm leaving the decision up to you two.  It's your careers.  Half of everyone already hates me working here because of the magic and then that church."

"She's still getting hate mail due to those, and threatening her to quit warping me," Tony agreed.

Dawn smiled sweetly.  "How am I warping you?"

"Who knows.  They're mentally feeble.  Though it was nice Amnesty wanted me to quit making weapons again."

"You only make them for SHIELD," Steve said.

"I pointed that out."

"We pointed that out on my lj," Pepper agreed.  She looked at Dawn.  Who shrugged and pointed.  "It's your life too."

"I don't mind, but it's their careers, health, and safety.  Therefore I leave that sort of decision up to them."

Clint nodded.  "We're going to get it from the other spies we know," he agreed, looking at Natasha.  "It lasted almost two years since we found out you did it for us."

"It did, and I am impressed.  If it had not been for the wannabe...."

"Let's face it," Dawn said, looking at her.  "She's like the bimbo assassin bitch, 'Tasha.  She's their version."

Natasha laughed.  "She is," she agreed, sitting on Clint's knee since there were no free chairs.

"I would've moved," Bruce said but he was grinning at her.

"Mom's really happy," Dawn told him.

"I heard.  She nearly squealed when she got to work."  They shared a smirk.  "So...."

Pepper's phone beeped and she looked at it then online.  "Hmm.  One of the lesser SHIELD agents just said he had known, he saw Barton's ring."  Clint growled.  She smiled.  "He said you blew it off as a promise ring."

"It is," Clint agreed.  "We made promises to each other."

"That is the definition of vows, yes," Pepper said with a smile.  "So, what are we doing?  No one but the old people on the Board of Directors are going to say anything to Dawn.  They'd probably think it was nicely keeping her in check."

"One of them did ask me after the last meeting if he had paddled me for that asteroid.  I politely pointed out if he ever raised a hand to me everyone could wonder what happened to him forever and ever, and that I wasn't powerful enough for that."  She crossed her legs, looking at her spouses.  They both shrugged.  "I'll go along with it, you know that.  The only big decisions I ever rule in on are what's for dinner when I'm craving something specific."

They shared a look and a private talk, mostly about tying Dawn down to relieve the low self esteem moment.  "We will announce that one of us did arrange them," she said finally.

Clint nodded.  "Want me to take responsibility?"

"No," Natasha said.  "We will leave it as one of us.  That you didn't find out until later."

"Want my code to post on my lj?" Dawn offered.

Natasha looked at her.  "That's a bit crude."  She pointed at the computer.

"They're checking it every few minutes for an announcement," Pepper said.  "It's linked into the story."  Natasha moaned.  "Here, come upload something," she told her, moving away from the computer.

Dawn waved a hand.  "Sit, Pepper.  I have it on my phone."  She got into it and let Natasha log into her livejournal account so she could get onto Dawn's journal.  She and Clint were the only allowed posters there.  Natasha sighed but took it to put up something.  Clint took it from her to correct.  Then handed it to Dawn, who read it, corrected the grammar.  "Tense switches, dear."

"Put it in the present tense," Tony ordered.  "That way they don't think you're getting a divorce because of this."

Dawn corrected herself and let them see it, getting a nod.  Natasha hit the button to post it.  She smiled at Pepper, who reloaded the page.  "While we are not happy that some failed agent trainee is mad at Natasha for being a better agent, we do have to admit that Natasha has filed for marriage licenses for us," Pepper read.  "It was done in such a way that they are legal somewhere, but only one is legal in the US.  We later found out about them and have worked out that we're happy the way we are.  We are not accepting any new questions on the relationship, especially not about any upcoming children that may be planned.  Yes, when we found out she had us married, we did get rings, they are beautiful, and we are happy with everything in our lives.  Thank you for allowing us to stay happy.  Natasha, Clint, and Dawn," she finished, then grinned.  "Aww."

"I agree, that rates an Aww," Bruce quipped with a smile.  "They are pretty rings."

"Bia wondered why I didn't wear a band and solitaire but I told her we liked this one," Dawn said with a grin.  She looked at them.  "Am I buying the ones for our fifth anniversary and does that mean they're matching earrings?"

"Not.  A.  Chance," Clint ordered with an evil smirk for her.  She grinned back.  "Pain in my ass wife," he taunted then kissed her, making her laugh.

Natasha took her own kiss.  "It is a bad idea to be so marked," she agreed with a smile.  "But if we go somewhere there is a risk of you being kidnaped again you are wearing a large, sparkly ring to make sure everyone sees it this time."  She looked at Clint.  "So are you."

He grinned.  "We're both hers to quote Dawn."

Natasha laughed.  "Yes, we are."  Dawn smirked and nodded.

Pepper reloaded the page.  "Jonathan said that those who were important already knew that and if Dawn got pregnant anytime soon, Andrew's wife would probably do the same, to let them finish figuring out how to work a male pregnancy to spare Andrew's wife getting pregnant and having hormone swings."  She reloaded it again.  "Two requests for interviews."

Dawn pulled out her phone to log on.  She edited the statement to say they were not giving interviews, sorry.  Pepper laughed.  Tony looked and nodded that was a good idea.  "No, no interviews," Clint begged.  "I hate the press.  We let Dawn handle all the press things in the family."

"Then I'd learn how to teleport home," Tony said, staring at his computer.  "Your building is covered with reporters."

Dawn looked then called Tara to warn her.  On Tony's phone, Tara came outside and announced Dawn was at work and they were upsetting her kids, to please go away.  They knew where Dawn worked and all the Avengers were there as well.  The reporters packed up and came to Stark towers instead.

"At least we'll have a good crowd in the food shops across the street," Tony said, putting his phone up.

"That's so warped," Steve told him but he was smiling.

"Profit's all good," Pepper quipped back.

Bruce shook his head.  "I'm glad my relationship is normal and not usually subject to press scrutiny."

Dawn looked at him.  "Feel really lucky that Mom can't get pregnant or they'd be hounding her about every single weight fluctuation."

"One of the style reporters got onto you for the hair you missed that they caught sight of," Pepper said dryly.  "And that you had to remove someone for their safety."

Dawn shrugged.  "What do I care?"

"They did like the dress," Tony said.  Dawn grinned.  "Said they wondered if the stomach was so loose because you might be pregnant."

"No, I've gained an extra five pounds," Dawn said dryly.  She rolled her eyes and looked at Bruce.  "Feel really lucky Mom doesn't get this."

"I am."  He shifted.  "I want to see the twins.  Not Tara's, but Diana and Artemis."

"The last we heard, they were naked little white-blonde girls," Dawn quipped with a grin.  "Who torment Fenrir and their brothers."

Tony snickered.  "I can see that."  He looked at Bruce.  "They should be back soon."

"Maybe," he agreed.  "Sean too?"

"Ronon's offered to take him in for training," Dawn said.  She looked at her desk as the phone rang.  "Sheila, is that important?" she called.

"It's your mother," she called back.

Dawn got up to get it.  "Why didn't you call my cell, Mom?"  She smiled at the 'the phone is probably tapped' answer.  "Could be.  Sure, be gushy, Mom.  Thanks.  No, Natasha wrote it.  Yeah, that was my contribution.  Thanks, Mom.  Come for lunch?"  She smiled.  "That's great, yup.  See you then."  She hung up.  "I'm going to SHIELD for lunch, bosses."

"Fine," Pepper agreed with a smile.  "Reporters won't pounce you there."

"We hope," Tony said.

"Fury will have them shot," Bruce said.  "He's already threatened once when they started to crowd the entry."

Dawn nodded.  "He's not exactly the mushy sort."

"I think he traded that and part of his soul for power," Tony quipped.

"He did not," Steve complained.  "He did a lot of the same agent work for years, Tony."  Tony flapped a hand.  "Even if he is a bit controlling and manipulative."  Bruce nodded that was true.

Dawn got a text.  "That's accounting, be right back," she said, getting up and heading down there.  She walked in a few minutes later.  "What's up, Delilah?" she asked.

"First, congrats on that finally coming out.  Second, we found a questionable budget line in the old ones and looked back.  We're still putting money toward three things that are ended."

Dawn looked at those projects' files.  "We are.  Huh."  She smiled.  "I'll tell Tony you caught that."  She pointed at her MBA student helper.  "I'll tell Tony she caught it then."  She smiled, heading back up there to pull up the budget.  "Hey, boss?" she told Tony once it was up on her tablet.  "We've been putting money out to find Cap now for the last ten years and never stopped it."

"What?" he demanded, looking at it.  He looked at the other two.  "We ended those."

"Delilah's assistant Brit, the one going for her MBA, found it."

"The one who sent her homework up?" he asked.  She smiled and nodded.  "Well, if she was looking for problems that was one."  He took it to look over.  "So where did that money go?"  He got into the various accounts for Stark International with Pepper's help, looking over it.  "Huh, she found embezzlement and a budget anomaly.  She gets a better bonus than you do, Dawn."

"She deserves it," Dawn agreed.  "You told me not to worry about what each budget line was for."  Tony grinned because he had.  "Should I call someone to arrest someone?"

"It looks like we have a few snakes and I can find them," Tony said.  "Then call someone."  He got up to take that to his office and JARVIS.  Pepper's office was a bit too public half the time.  Of course he walked in and found Andrew and MB going at it.  "People, you have a suite," he said bluntly.  MB yipped.  "Sorry."  He walked off.  "Going to the lab to do this," he yelled.

"Sure," Dawn called.  She got bottles of water and a washcloth, going to hand it to whoever had gotten walked in on.  "You're not the first," the told the embarrassed geeks.  "I broke up a chemistry orgy the other day."  She handed the supplies over with a smile then left.

"That's who told me," MB admitted, sipping her water.  Andrew made her sweaty and thirsty.  He kissed her and decided they'd probably have more privacy now.  It was a great thing for them.  "Andrew," she moaned.  "We should go find somewhere else."

"He won't be coming back for hours."  He kissed her and got back to making her squeal like Dawn did.  He loved making her squeal and sweat.

Dawn walked into Pepper's office with a smile.  "The chemists told MB that they had the orgy in Tony's office."

Pepper cackled, shaking her head.  "Is that who he interrupted?"  Dawn smiled and nodded.  "If she conceives we get to name it."  Dawn grinned.

Bruce shook his head.  "I do not want to imagine that," he complained, rubbing his forehead.  He texted Joyce, who sent one back.  "She caught AJ and his girlfriend on Fury's desk the other night christening his new office.  Fury walked in behind her and the guy was apparently very upset he had survived the specially created heart attack poison."

"There's a bunch of power hungry assholes over there," Dawn said.  "Let me get back to work."  She took kisses and petted Liz on the head.  She got pouted at so kissed her too.  "You behave.  Make Grandpa teach you physics today.  It made Callia really smart when her daddy did that for her."  She went back to her desk.

Pepper smiled at Bruce.  "Tony refused to let us use baby talk, told us to explain things to her like we would a mini genius.  He refused to let us baby her at all."

"She's a smart little girl.  Hopefully Liz will be able to keep up with her whirlwind since she's a lot like her dad."

"Very," Pepper agreed.  She looked at the other three Avengers.  "You three go play."  They went to the other tower to see how things were looking.  Bruce went to his lab to get something done and send Joyce a mushy text message.

***

Callia came out to walk her dog with one of the guards.  There were a lot of yelling people.  "Shut up before you scare my dog!" she shouted back.  They quit trying to rush the barriers holding them back.  "Thank you!"  One of the reporters shouted at her about her aunt.  She looked at her.  "You sure shout a lot.  Is that a mental condition or a physical one?  I can talk to our people who make drugs so you can get help."

The reporter blushed and backed down, slumping behind someone else.  "You should not be asking a child my age about their sex life anyway.  It's bad enough someone yelled that at Daddy and he had to tell me what they were talking about."  She walked off with her dog.  "Don't worry, Xander puppy, we won't let you turn into a reporter even if Auntie Dawn does turn you into a human.  They ask strange things to the wrong person.  You'd think they'd know better," she told her dog.  Who had stopped to pee on a light post.  "Thank you.  Good Xander puppy."

The guard with her called in that they needed help removing the reporters from the entrance and that her father should probably have a talk with her later on.  He loved Callia like his own, even if she was mouthy and impolite like her father.

***

Tony got the message from one of the guards and looked up security footage, bursting out laughing.  He sent that to Pepper and Dawn.

Dawn looked in the office when Pepper burst out laughing, checking her email.  She groaned and walked down there, staring at the reporters.  "The next one of you that asks my almost-seven-year-old-niece sex questions about my life, I'm kicking the ass of."  They all nodded.  "Am I clear?"  They nodded again.  "Good.  Now, we've made a statement.  You've already made them hide from even me.  Do you mind?  This means I have to cook dinner."  They groaned and huffed off.  "Thanks."  She smiled and waved.  Then walked inside shaking her head.  "Callia was right, I'd never do that to a dog."

The guards on the front desk laughed.  You had to when things got that insane around the office.

***

In a fairly well hidden, nondescript building in London, a tall, fit, athletic, thirtyish-looking white man was having some tea in a hidden break room that usually only the secretaries in the agency used.  One of his coworkers came in to make his own tea, looking at him once the cup of water was in the microwave to heat.  "So that was her?"

He nodded, looking at the news stories about the 'big announcement'.  "Romanoff made sure I knew that touching what was hers was going to get my balls ripped off."  He smiled.  "She's a nice young woman.  I spent a week scoping her out for the job."

"You said she beat you pretty badly."

"Barton let on that she'd been kidnaped a lot."  He looked over.  "Then again, we've all heard the rumors that Barton and Romanoff have been seeing each other on and off for decades now."

His coworker nodded.  "I caught sight of them having at it while on assignment in Greece because they had to get in with some swingers."  He smirked.  "She's a pretty girl."

"She's a very pretty but polite young woman.  She was doing good against me with two bruised ribs."

"Huh."  He nodded.  "Figures that they trained her to live in their lives with them."  He took his cup out to put in a tea bag when the microwave beeped.  "Think she's at least helping as an agent?"

"No.  She's Stark's personal assistant and the one in the chainmail at the battle they had."  His coworker shuddered.  "I should've looked at the history they did for me before I approached her.  Sister's a slayer, who's not on earth right now."  His coworker gave him an odd look.  "She's on Asgard."

"They needed a slayer?"

"She married one."

"Well, they're warriors so I guess he understood her duty and all that rot."  He sipped the tea and dunked the bag a few times before tossing it out.  "Are the bosses getting interested?"

"Only that since that day, if there's a problem in the UK, Romanoff or someone sends them to me.  Alexander sent me one.  Apparently the sort that really want us to have our own team had plans of snatching her and getting her up the duff.  Working with some really shady arseholes to do so too."  He shook his head.  "So I nicely helped shut them down."  He smiled.  "They had all sorts of bad plans, including picking agents to have them contribute against their wills."

"I'd have destroyed them."

"They let me do it for Dawn."  He smiled.  "Because I can only imagine she'd create a pretty hell after what she did to that castle."

His coworker shuddered.  "It'd probably be nicer than either Barton or Romanoff would do to them for touching their wife."  He walked off with his tea.

"Probably," he agreed, going back to the paper.  His bosses had seriously underestimated that young woman.  So had he because he hadn't done his own homework.  That had taught him that lesson very well.  He got up and went back to his desk.  Gossip was running all over the floor about how the bosses had wanted to recruit her.  He looked at one, shaking his head.  "No, they wanted *me* to recruit her so they could get Stark's plans."  That got a moan.  "She's a bit mean too.  She was beating me pretty well with two bruised ribs before Romanoff shot me then warned me off."

That agent walked off hugging herself to get warmth back in her body.  Their bosses had bad plans and she didn't want any part of it.  They had tried to get her to go sex up Stark for his plans but he was back with Potts by that time.  Thankfully.  There was no telling what Summers would've done to her for it.

***

Dawn smiled, accepting the vase of flowers to check the card.  "Thank you."  She signed and grinned, handing him a tip.  "Thank your embassy for me too."  He blushed and left.  She thought at Natasha, who was sparring.  She came over from the other building, staring at the flowers.  "The delivery guy was that one at the Spanish embassy you were taunting last time."

Natasha took the card and read it over the bond.  Clint burst out cackling.  "Some of the other spies and assassins we know are happy for us."  She took the flowers with her to show them off.

Dawn settled in to pay her bills.  Including calling one in.  "Sorry, Harry.  Yeah, I'm sure you did.  Send me the slip?  No, spazzing over the movie.  Thanks, man.  Yup, we're good.  In the training level of the other tower.  Thanks.  Yup, tell him I'm happy he brought them down too.  Thank you."  She hung up.  "I didn't know that agent that came here from the UK was a relation to Harry.  Huh.  Small spy world."  She got back to the rest of the bills then settled in to check her accounts.  One was suspiciously low.  She tracked that bit of money grabbing and sent a spell at whoever had done it.  They put it back and her former investment person was very sorry.  Which was nice.  She needed a new one soon.  She was on break so she could start a search on her tablet for that.

Pepper came out.  "Forbes wanted to know how your net wealth jumped."

"I took the money I had in my backup identity out and I just stopped my investment guy who hated that I'm taken from stealing."

"Good to know."  She went back to tell him that.  It was very nice of Dawn to admit she had a backup identity in case of emergencies.  Clearly it was being switched since she had admitted it.  "Dawn?"  Dawn leaned in.  "You had how much there?"

"I needed more there to aid in freedom of movement so I could get away from people like that church.  Why?"

"You had a lot."

"Poker," she said blandly, grinning at her boss before sitting up again.  She finished the bill paying and it was great.  She had forgotten the AmEx bill.

Pepper repeated that and the reporter groaned.  "I doubt she'd let you do a story on her.  She's a bit worried about that sort of thing.  Yes, kitten poker.  Well, I know one paid her in mini gold bars," she offered.  "Other than that, no idea.  I know she only has one cat."  She smiled.  "That her investment guy was stealing from her so she just got him off her accounts."  That got a nod and he said something.  "Dawn, did you turn him in to his company?"

"Yes.  And the police out there."

"Yes, she said she did."  She leaned back, checking on the napping baby.  Who was staring at her sucking on her fingers.  "Thank you for asking.  I can do that."  She sent him at Tony, they did a lot of articles on him and his philanthropy.  She walked out there again with Liz.  "Do you donate to charity?"

"I do.  I donate to four charities outside of clothing and food donations.  I donate to a shelter for abused men.  I donate to a children's shelter that takes in street kids.  I donate to a group that helps people with their GEDs so they can do something beyond be homeless or really poor.  And I donate to a group that gives money to cancer charities."  She smiled up at her.  "I use the Stark matching funds plan to up my one to the shelter for abused men because they need it the most."

"That's good.  I didn't know there were ones just for men."

"Most of them won't take in abused men."

"I didn't even think about that.  Send me their information?"  Dawn smiled as she dug it out for her.  "Thanks, Dawn."  She and Liz settled in to look it over so they could donate.  She needed a few new places to donate to for tax time and she'd never use a place she couldn't support.  Liz liked them, she kept taking the pamphlet to gum on.  Pepper handed her a teething biscuit instead, getting a grin and her drooling on it.  "I know.  It's time to cut another tooth."  She went back to reading without the drooling.

***

Dawn got the food from the delivery guy, weathering the shocked and awed look he had.  She smiled and tipped him.  "Even I have to eat."  He swallowed and nodded.  "Have a good, safe night, dude."  She closed the door and looked at her spouses.

"There's no way I'm going to a grocery store in the near future," Clint said firmly.

"I don't like what they pick when they deliver it for us," Natasha agreed.

Dawn shrugged.  "I'll go grocery shopping tomorrow after work so you two can hide," she promised, handing over the bag of chinese food.  She went to get drinks.  They were mostly out except for after-sparring gatorade and a few bottles of water.  She brought them out.  Clint stared at her.  "Not like I've picked up anything.  I've have overtime thanks to the Board."  She sat down, taking her carton to dig into.  Her phone rang.  "Fuck."  She floated it over, answering it.  "What's up, boss?  Yes, I did swear at you.  Tell JARVIS I'm fine."  She ate a bite of lo mein, chewing slowly.  "Boss, tell them I don't care what they think?  Fine.  I'll be right there.

"I need to pick up stuff to drink anyway."  She hung up and took her food with her.  She teleported over to avoid the press on the building's steps.  She landed in the board room, staring at them.  "Fuck the hell off."  They gasped and stared at her.  "I don't care what *anyone* thinks about my relationship.  It's been a really long week.  My spouses are hiding from the press.  You've had me working overtime because of your ten meetings in the last week.  Even I deserve a night off.  Any other questions or comments?"

"His personal assistant really can't be breaking the law," one said snidely but smiled at her.

"I didn't file for those.  I had nothing at all to do with that and the only one I attended was mine with Clint in Spain."  She ate another bite, staring at her.  "If you don't like it, yay," she said once she had swallowed.  "Because, I never asked your opinion and as long as Tony and Pepper don't care, why would I care what people who don't pay my paycheck want?"

"We can take over for Miss Potts.  It's clear she's gotten soft," the snide one noted.

"Really?"  She smiled.  "That'd be really hard to do.  You have no legal reason, and no legal recourse as the board is really just for show.  Haven't you guys realized that Obadiah made you guys obsolete?"  They gasped.  "He pushed through a vacation measure as he called it?  You guys never read it."  She pulled it up and let them read it now.  "Tony's already disbanded you once.  He can do it again.  He doesn't need a board.  He doesn't need any input really."

She smiled sweetly.  "Also, you might not be aware of something."  She pulled up another thing that Obadiah had pushed through.  "That made all of you honorary, not paid."  They gasped.  She smiled.  "You guys have a nice night off as well.  I'm going to try to enjoy the rest of mine."  She looked at Pepper and Tony, who smiled and waved.  "Let me know if we have another one, I'll do the minutes and all that."  She walked off finishing her dinner.

Tony cleared his throat.  "I knew.  I read those things."  He smiled.  "I got it after the fact and laughed my ass off that he made you all an unnecessary burden.  Have a nice night, people."

"Meeting adjourned," Pepper said happily.  "That way I can go get Liz from Callia and her pets."  They stomped off complaining.  She looked at Tony.  "She's a bit pissed off."

"They haven't left the apartment in three days, Pepper."  He smiled.  "She's a bit frustrated with them."

"I would be too.  I'd blow up at them though."

"I'll remind her swearing in public is really not good for her public image."  He tapped out a text to Natasha about Dawn's temper getting high again and maybe she might have a cure for it.  "Let's see what her spouses do."  He smiled at Pepper.  "You sure you want to get Liz, Pep?"

"Yes.  I'm certain."  She got up and they went up there to save the baby from the pets and the nanny.  Liz was crying when they got up there.  Callia was trying to calm her down and looking upset herself.  "What happened?"

"The nanny called me an animal hoarder and said she was calling the pound," Callia said, starting to cry.  "She was going to take my pets."

"Over her dead body," Pepper said.  "Where is she?"  Callia pointed at the closet.  "Did you use your powers?"

"No.  I used Dummy.  He knew I was upset."  She hugged her daddy.  Liz got calmed down by her mom.  "She's mean, Dad.  I don't like her.  Do I need a nanny?"

"You're too young to be by yourself.  Sometimes you need someone to watch you and your aunt's busy."

She looked at him.  "I still don't like her and if she stays she's going off the patio railing."  She put her head back down, looking and counting her pets to make sure they were all right.  The mean bitch was going to get it.

"No revenge," Pepper warned.  "You're not old enough for it yet."  Callia stared at her.  "I mean it."  She slumped but nodded.  Pepper and Tony shared a look.  She got these moods.  They weren't sure from where.  Joyce and Dawn didn't usually have them unless they were threatened.  But then again, it could be the future slayer impulses.

Coulson appeared, looking at Callia.  "You can't kill anyone yet.  You're not old enough and if you do, you come to SHIELD as a future agent instead of a geek."

She shuddered, shrinking back against her father's neck.  "I won't hurt anyone.  I don't want to be an agent.  They're not nice and they hate animals and they never get lab time.  I'd hate that."

"Good. Remember that."  Phil opened the closet door to stare at her.  "Doing your background check again, we found out what security missed.  How are your bosses in Afghanistan?"  She shrieked and tried to hit him.  He froze her, smiling some.  "Hi, Agent Phil Coulson."  She was whimpering.  "You will leave this building.  You will never consider coming near Callia again unless it is to save her life.  You will leave her, her pets, her parents, all her family, all of everyone she knows, alone.  Permanently.  Am I clear?"  She made agreeing noises.  "Good."  He unfroze her and pointed.  "You have a nice life, Agent Khradt."  She stomped off.  He stared then at Stark.  "I'd suggest a SHIELD agent but I know you don't want one."

"No, I don't," he agreed.  He put Callia down and looked at her.  "Check your pets over, clean up after them, then we'll talk."  She nodded, running to pet each one and check on them.  He looked at Phil.  "I don't know what we're doing."

"I do.  I'll talk to Talsa.  They have a few women who can fill in.  I'll make sure she's one of the more modern ones."  Tony smiled.  "That way they don't freak about leotards, lab time, or anything else."  He went back to the temple to talk to her.  She had a young one who had a fascination with computers and knew that girls did things like gymnastics.  She had found some diving on tv and asked Jensen about such things.  He explained them and got her online to view different sports.  She got brought to the tower and introduced to Callia, who was wary but the woman made friends with Carrot and petted the cats.

Tony looked at them.  "It's Callia's job to take care of her pets unless we're out of town."

"Yes it is," she agreed.  "That's her job because they're hers.  Same as Valkyries have to handle their nags."  Callia laughed and petted the Tony cat.  Pepper smiled and she looked at Liz.  "You must be cutting teeth.  I had three of you before my husband stomped off with them to his hussy."

"He took the kids?" Pepper asked, looking confused.

"She wanted my little demons to prove she was his *real* mate."  She smirked.  "My son's a true bred, hot blooded warrior.  She wasn't happy and they came back.  They're all grown now."  She looked at the baby.  "You'll grow up just as strong."

"I will and some day we'll have to learn about the suit stuff."

The new nanny smiled.  "I don't bother with that stuff.  I'm to take care of you, not your father."

Callia grinned.  "You're not mean to animals, right?"

"No, I'm not.  I'm used to my kids bringing home half the forest.  My daughter has true healing for animals.  We've had a houseful of deer, wolves, and squirrels at times by the end of winter."  Tony walked off smiling.  "Let's go over your schedule."  She nodded, going over what she needed to be doing and what she had to do.  Pepper put in a few things too, like family dinners.  That was fine because she loved eating with the family.

Xander appeared holding a carpet bag.  "Here, Beya."  She took it with a smile.  "Callia, Beya is a very strong mother.  She'll nag about things like clothes on the floor."

"I should put them in the basket.  If I don't take care of them they look bad and then I do."  She looked at her aunt.  "I'm growing again."

"We'll shop soon."  Callia beamed and nodded.  "We can even pull your aunt out of the house."

"She might like that.  Can we pull both aunts?"

"I'll try."  She patted her on the head, letting her steal Liz.  "You know you're going to be handing her back soon."

"I can cuddle until she poops."  She looked at Beya.  "She's not mine so I can hand her back when she poops until I'm babysitting for real."  She grinned.  "It's like being an aunt or a granma."

"It is," she agreed happily.  Liz gummed on her finger and cooed at them.  "Hello, Liz."  She patted her on the foot.  She settled in to learn how to get along with these two and their very pushy parents.  Xander left her there so it was good.  The kids needed someone steady.

***

Dawn came home with groceries.  The cab driver was giving the reporters a look but she shrugged and got out after paying him.  He popped the trunk.  "If you're going to stand there being useless, help me get the groceries out of the cab, people.  If not, go the fuck away."  A few came to help her.  "Thank you."  She smiled at them.  "Now, go home.  I'm sure you have people who are wondering if you're still alive."  She got everything inside and shut the front door of the building again, locking it.  They all had keys.  By this time of night everyone should be in anyway, except maybe Maria.  She heard crying and looked up, concentrating.  She took the groceries up to Tara's apartment first, knocking.  "Are you okay?  I could hear you crying in the lobby."

"I'm fine.  It's a mood swing," she sniffled, hugging her.  "I don't know why I'm having them so early or why I'm broadcasting!"  Maria came out to hug her.

"Sometimes it happens early, each pregnancy is different," Maria said, walking her off.  She looked at the bags.  "You were brave."

"I was."  She grinned and took things back down to the kitchen, putting them inside then going back for the rest from the elevator.  She locked the door and looked around.  No one.  Great.  She put things up and settled in to watch some tv.  They'd quit pouting sometime.  She hoped.

"Not pouting," Clint yelled from upstairs.

"Then I wouldn't be alone," Dawn called.  It'd been a shitty week.  Of course, something was going to happen.  She could feel it building and looked outside.  "Great, a problem."  She grabbed some supplies and went to see what was going on.  It was clearly magical since it was glowing.  She found that society witch there and snapped, beating her ass.  "Do not do anything that would hurt people," she said as she hit her.  "How fucking stupid are you!  Did you think that we wouldn't notice?"  The witch started to cry.  "I don't care what you want to bring back, necromancy is always wrong!"

Agents came rushing up.  "Save me!  She's mean!  I'm trying to bring back my dog!" she sobbed.

Dawn looked at her.  Then at the agents.  She didn't know any of them.  "Necromancy is still wrong, right?"  They nodded.  She looked at her.  "I know some people have furkids instead of human kids.  I'm all for that.  I have a cat myself.  You don't try to destroy people to bring back the dog though!"  The witch cowered away from her.  She huffed and looked at the agents.  "Have fun."  She walked off.  Fortunately there was a mugger in the park.  The agent following her hissed when she beat his ass.  But she felt better.

"Miss Summ....  Um, Mrs. Barton, let's get you home," the smarter of the three agents said, walking her around the begging idiot.  "I'll get him an ambulance."  He called that in.  The director was amused but they were sure it was something her husband could cure.  He delivered her back to the building.  Where other reporters were babbling about what was going on.  "She stopped the witch trying to siphon off the city to raise her dog, people."

They were still pushing to get closer to them.  "Leave her alone!  I'm with SHIELD!"  They backed down.  "Thank you!"  He walked her inside and up to her apartment, tapping and getting Natasha.  "Agent Romanoff.... um, Barton, she's solved the night's problem and a mugger is now going to go straight.  Here, I made sure she made it home safely."  He walked off making notes on his phone.  Joyce wasn't moody that way so it had to be a marital fight of some sort.  He wasn't married yet so he had no idea how to help solve it.

"A mugger?" Natasha asked her.

Dawn huffed.  "He jumped out at me with a knife.  Fuck him."  She walked off, taking the stairs down to the gym.  Maybe she'd get some running time in.  She was nearly instantly joined by Cap so she went to the temple and the obstacle course.  She ran into the Losers on it and shrugged.  "Frustrated and pissed off, people.  Let me work it out of my system."

"Can only do those extra five pounds good," Clay agreed.  She smiled and punched him on the arm.  "Go for it, Summers."  She took a running jump to get the rope higher up.  She still couldn't climb ropes but this one had hand-holds.  The other ropes didn't but this one did.  Clay watched, shaking his head.  "Great.  They haven't fucked recently," he muttered.  He sent a note at Roque to go talk to them.  It got delegated to John when he was finished with his date.

Xander looked up.  "Let me go talk to them."  He sighed, sending himself to their apartment, then down to the gym.  "She's on the obstacle course.  What happened this time?"

"Nothing," Clint said, glaring at him.

Xander stared at him.  "Really?  You sure?  She's a bit frustrated," he said sarcastically.  "So I doubt it was really nothing."  He looked up.  "Why is Tara crying?"

"Hormone swing," Natasha said.  "She said Dawn checked."

"Okay.  I'll have someone make her some herbal sleeping help."  He looked at them again.  "This pisses her off just as much and rattled her just as much.  She's not really all that comfortable around the press; she fakes it really well.  Stark taught her well."  They both grimaced.  "Beyond that, it wasn't like everyone didn't know who you were so it's not ruining you going back to work sometime in the near future.  Shit, people, Barton was in People last week on their sexy list.  Again."  Clint shuddered, slumping down onto a weight bench.

"Do you honestly think that you could go back to work?"  They shook their heads, looking down.  He flinched, looking west.  "Dawn just fell."  He disappeared.  "Hey," he said, nudging Cougar out of the way.  "You fell?"  She nodded, doing some deep breathing.  "Let me see."  He checked.  Her leg was at a bad angle, a very bad angle.  "That's going to suck.  But hey, maybe an air cast so it won't itch so much."

She was biting her lip now.  "Just set it and I can start the healing," she said through it.

"Nope, can't.  Tiny bone shards might cause problems.  Let's get you to the infirmary at work."  He picked her up with Cougar's help and took her there.  The night shift nurse looked at him.  "She slipped and fell on the obstacle course."

"I can see she broke something."  She got the x-ray machine to look at it.  "I'll page the night doctor, Dawn."

"Thanks."

"Next time, go in the daytime," she chided.

Xander snorted.  "Real agents have to be able to do it in the pitch black," he told her.  "Dawn can usually live up to that standard."

"I slipped off one of the climbing ropes.  I was trying to get the one with the handholds and I couldn't hold on," Dawn told her.  "I'll never be able to climb a rope."  She laid back, getting comfortable.  Xander smiled.  "I'm fine.  Thank you, Xander."

"Welcome.  Want me to tell them?"

"They can hear me swearing about it I'm sure," she said dryly.  He nodded, leaving her there.  She looked at the nurse.  "Advil?"

"Gladly."  She handed her two packets and some water.  "Did you eat dinner?"

"Chinese."  She swallowed them then half the bottle of water.  The doctor came in pulling off his jacket.  "Hey, Dr. Shivs."  That was as close as she could come to pronouncing his name so he let them call him that.  Most everyone in the building did.

"Evening, Dawn.  What did you do?"

"Slipped on Xander's obstacle course.  I didn't catch the right rope and slipped off it."  He nodded, looking at the x-rays.  "Xander said I had tiny bone shards."

"Not many."  He moved to set it for her, making her grab the table and hold on with a hiss of pain.  "One more," he soothed, adjusting it.  "There."  He did another x-ray to make sure, nodding.  "That's nearly perfect."  He smiled.  "Cast color of choice?"

"Air?" she offered.  He shook his head.  "Damn.  I can start the healing."

"No.  Give it two days to make sure it settles in well," he ordered.  He pulled out the casting material.  "We have blue and neon green."

She looked.  "Gray?"  He pulled that out and worked on getting it the right sort of wet.  She relaxed.  She hurt.  She really did.  And she was exhausted.  She fell asleep before they got to casting it for her.

The doctor shook his head.  "Things must be tense at home," he said quietly.  "Call her spouses when we're done."  She nodded, helping by holding the limb in place.  "What did you give her?"

"Advil."  She pointed at the empty packets.

He looked and nodded.  "Must be the press things."  He got it all set and let it dry, heading back home.

The nurse propped it up slightly so air could get all around the wet cast, going to the office to call.  "Agent Barton, this is the night shift nurse at the infirmary in Stark tower.  Dawn's here.  She's sleeping.  No, not sedated, a natural one.  No, she fell on the obstacle course.  She said she slipped off a rope.  She's fine.  The doctor wanted her to sleep herself out so she might not be home tonight.  You as well, sir."  She hung up so she could make a note in Dawn's chart.  It was getting a bit thick but it was thankfully digital.

***

Clint hung up, looking at Natasha.  "She fell off a rope on the obstacle course at the temple."

"She's done that before," she admitted.  "I noticed she quit swearing."

"She's asleep.  Shivs said to let her nap."

Natasha nodded.  "Did she say what sort of injury?  Back, arm?"

"No."  They went to the infirmary.  The reporters were worried about some witch and her attempt to raise her dog but they didn't know anything about that.  It must've been what Dawn had been handling to work off some frustration.  They got there and they stared at the cast.  That was not a good sign.  "She can't heal it?" he asked.

"Dr. Shivs said to give it a few days to settle into placement," she said.  "Let her sleep."  They nodded, settling around her bed.  "You all need rest as well."

"We will," Clint assured her.  She stared.  He shrugged.  "We will.  I promise we will.  When she wakes up we'll go home."

"She might be here in the morning."

"Not like we've got things to do tomorrow," Natasha said.  She sighed, settling into a chair.  They hadn't had a run of missions since the battle of New York.  This was the longest dry spell they'd ever had.  Maybe they needed to run some of their own.  He looked at her.  "We can," she said quietly.

"They won't let us, Nat."

She shifted, shrugging slightly.  "I'm bored."

"Me too."

Dawn moaned and flipped over, wincing.  "Ow."  She sighed and dropped back into her mind to get some rest.  It was the only way she got to sleep when she was by herself.  She was in enough pain that she couldn't tell where her spouses were and she wasn't facing them.

Clint sighed, staring at her.  "Can we move her to a private room?" he mouthed.  The nurse shrugged and pointed at the cast.  They checked, it was mostly dry.  He picked up Dawn, making her squeak and flail.  "Relax, Dawn."

"Clint."  She held her head.  "I slipped off a rope."

"I did that a few times too."  Since she was up they went home in a cab.  The reporters were all staring in horror.  "She was at Alexander's and fell, people."  They were still too quiet.  Natasha glared.  They decided to go somewhere else.  Finally.  He helped her upstairs and onto the couch, making her groan as she stretched out.  "Single?"

"Compound.  Not poking through though."

"That sucks."  He kissed her.  "Want to talk?"

"I'm up, so sure," she said, making herself sit up.  She banged the cast and winced.  "Have to remember not to do that."

He pulled her around so her foot could rest in Natasha's lap and she could lean against his side.  "Better.  We're frustrated.  All this means we can never go back to our original job."

Dawn looked at him.  "I thought that was a given when people came up to you for autographs."

"Well, slightly.  We were hoping the movie would blur who we were."

She shook her head.  "Not likely.  He did fantastic but you're not that close in looks."

He nodded.  "I didn't want to think about that."

"I know.  Which is why I let you two pout for the last week and a half."  They both groaned.  She shifted and winced.  "We'll figure it out, just like always."

"We're trying to find things to do around the tower," Natasha said.

"There's training, training future agents," she offered.  "Maybe not in the field but you'd have to retire from that eventually.  You're both getting older and the next major injury could leave you out of the field.  Then what were you going to do?"

They shrugged.  "We never think that far ahead," Clint said.  "It's counter-productive."

"Well, we can adopt," Dawn offered.

"No, if we have kids, you or Nat is having them," Clint assured her.

"I meant a dog.  Maybe train seeing eye dogs or security dogs?"

He considered it.  "I can't do that.  Nat has the patience.  I'd just play with them."  Dawn nodded that was true.  He was often found playing with Callia's pets.  Dawn yawned.  "We can talk tomorrow."

"I still have to work, even if I do have to find an old type of skate to hitch to it."  She got up carefully.  "Let's go to bed.  I'm exhausted."  They nodded, going in with her.  She was there for them but it was tiring her out.  She flopped down.  She glared at her foot but shifted it so it was comfortable.  Then she sighed in pleasure.  "I'm not moving."

"Teeth?" Natasha asked with a smile.

"I don't care.  I'll care in the morning."  They nodded, settling around her.  They were all stiff.  "We haven't slept this way in years," she noted.  "Maybe I'll go sleep on the couch so I don't have to worry about hurting you two with that thing."  Clint pulled her closer.  "I can't cuddle the way I normally would.  It's kinda in the way."

"Not that much in the way."  He helped her shift and she could lay on his shoulder.  He could prop her cast up with his leg.  Natasha got her back and it was comfortable again.  They had missed this for the last week.  He and Nat shared a look, holding a silent talk.  They agreed, they could find something.  Maybe he'd take a few classes he was interested in.  Or teach archery to some kids.  Bob could use the pointers.  She smiled at him.  Dawn was already asleep.  They had been worrying her and frustrating her.  She hadn't even had a nightmare in days because she wasn't sleeping.  They could work this out.

***

Pepper looked up as Dawn came off the elevator.  "What happened?  Did you trip over Clint?" she demanded.

"No!  He had nothing to do with it, Pepper.  It's bad enough one of the reporters hanging around asked if he had broken it on me."  She sat down and slumped, staring at her desk.  She had things she had to get done.  She got into them once her computer was on.

Pepper came out.  "They asked what?"

"Yup."

"Seriously?" Pepper demanded.

"Yup.  Two of them.  One from the Times."

"Great."  She called Tony to tell him that.  Tony made a statement to whoever he was interviewing with.  Pepper made a 'poor baby' comment on her lj about Dawn having broken her leg while working out.  "Where, Dawn?"

"Temple."

"So working out.  I was right."  She finished it and posted it.  Almost immediately someone asked if Dawn was all right.  She took a screen cap from the security system to post.  It showed the cast and Dawn nicely dressed but sitting funny due to how her leg had to be propped up.  A few more people cooed 'that poor girl'.  Dawn's cellphone rang but she muted it and sent a text message instead.  So probably Joyce.

Bruce walked off the elevator a few minutes later, looking at her.  "You could've taken time off."

"Why?  Sitting around watching them realize that they haven't been able to do real covert work for years now is really not my speciality of the week."

He winced.  "We thought it was something like that."  She nodded.  "The reporters aren't helping."

"No, they're not, and I nearly brained one earlier.  If I wasn't worried about hurting my tablet and phone I would've hit him with my purse when he asked if Clint broke my leg."

"I'll go beat them for you."  He gave her a hug.  "Your mom's worried."

"I'm just in a foul mood, Stepdad."

"I get that."  He went down to scare off the reporters, glaring at a few.  "Whoever asked Dawn if her spouses hurt her, I want to talk to."  They all backed off.  He knew he was about to start changing.  "Really, let's talk."  They shook their heads.  "You sure?"  They nodded.  "Then the story's done with, people.  You're upsetting the lab people.  You're upsetting Dawn.  You're upsetting her spouses, you're upsetting my wife because all of them are upset.  I will *not* have Joyce upset."  They nodded.

"So go.  Now."  They ran off.  "Thank you!  Leave the Avengers apartment building alone as well!"  A few nodded, calling that in.  He went back upstairs calling Joyce.  Dawn needed a hug.  She was pouty.  Bruce went to the lab floor, stopping in chemistry.  "People, Dawn's probably not going to be doing rounds today.  Make your own coffee."  He walked on to his own lab.  They could spread it around.

They all looked at MB, who shrugged.  "I don't know."  She texted Dawn, getting a 'I'll be doing it slower today' message back.  "She thinks she is."  They shrugged and made some coffee for now.  It wasn't good like Dawn's, but they'd survive.  When she limped in they all stared at the cast.  MB looked at her.  "Sparring?"

"Obstacle course."  She grimaced.  "Everyone's blown it *way* out of proportion too."  She took the reports.  "Thanks, guys."  She checked and made real coffee for them before going to the next lab.  Patty gave her a hug and helped her on the rest of her rounds since she wasn't really busy.  It was sweet of her.

Tony looked at Dawn when she and Patty walked in.  He took the reports.  "Thanks, Patty."

"Not a problem, Tony."  She hugged Dawn again.  "Go sit down.  You'll swell or something."  She went back to work.

Dawn shrugged. "I'm heading there now."  She looked.

"I can make my own coffee," he assured her.  She smiled and smacked him on the head.  "Hey!"

"We had that talk about Dawn jobs and Tony jobs," she reminded him, going to the coffee maker.  "This is a Dawn job, unless you want to hire my wife to do it for you."

"No thanks, she's mean and might poison me."  He watched her.  "Why don't you have crutches?"

"No one gave me any."

He huffed as he called down there.  "They didn't have any."

"I'm fine."

"Shut up, Dawn.  You're not fine."  He looked at her.  "And you clearly need painkillers."

She shrugged.  "I've had advil."  She finished up and took what she needed back from him to go back to her desk.

Tony grimaced toward the other tower.  He texted Steve, who told him what was wrong.  It figured it was finally hitting them that people couldn't be covert assassins when people recognized them.  "This didn't happen three years ago when we were all in People?" he complained quietly.  "Or Newsweek?"

JARVIS heard and decided he needed to help that some.  He cleared his throat in the common area the heros were hanging out in.  "Agent Barton, Dawn needs to put back one of the storage bins in the Avengers archive."

"We have an archive room?" he asked.

"For the various news stories.  We keep a copy so we can look back and track trends.  She's getting done with this week's search and the storage box needs to go back but I doubt she can climb up the step to do that safely."

"Sure, I can do that for her."  He got up and used the walkway to get to Dawn's desk.  "JARVIS said you needed some hefting and toting?"

She smiled, looking up from her printing and noting source and date on the printed story.  "Just one more."  She put it into the box and printed the other one, doing the same thing.  She handed over the shelf box.  "That goes in room 2577.  Right side please.  Third shelf down."

He nodded, taking it down there.  The door was unlocked.  He walked and stared at the large room.  The large, full room.  He looked at the shelves, the dates on the boxes started near the door and moved to the back.  The other side started that year and they were on the third shelving unit over.  The room only had four ten-shelf units on each side.  It had a tiny work table in the center.  He found the area the box went into and put it there.

He pulled down the first box after sending a thought at Nat about how many there were.  He had no idea that there were this many stories.  Tony had handled most of it so they weren't in the limelight but they still had cutesy articles by entertainment reporters and some more heavy things from more reliable media sources.  Including some DVD's.   Natasha, Bruce, and Steve walked in together, Bruce whistling.  He looked over.  "I didn't know about some of these."

Steve looked.  "The director arranged those to spin the stories and keep us mostly out of the press.  That's why he and Tony handled it, so we wouldn't be as well known.  That was blown though."  He got into a box on the top shelf, about third down.  "It starts up here, Clint."  He handed it down.  "That started off all the hype about you and Natasha.  Bruce's was the following week, then mine, then Stark's.  They were shrewd and did a lot of research beyond what we thought was out there.  I remember Maria got really upset that so much could be found when they had wiped your files clean."  He climbed back down.

Bruce laid out the biography pieces on them.  It was an alternative paper but one he knew a lot of people read.  He knew other news sources watched them too.  His was fairly accurate, down to his mother's name.  Natasha's was the shortest at just over a page.  Clint's was nearly two.  Steve's went into the hype about him so it was the longest at a good handful.  "How long is Tony's?"

"Three pages," Steve said.  "They noted that a lot of it was already known and how he was putting himself in the way of us being seen on purpose but that people deserved the right to know about us.  They said they understood why but it still needed to be known."

Natasha looked at it then at him.  "This is horrifying and a bit incorrect."

"They could only get your current identity, not your original one," Steve said with a smile.  "Russia probably destroyed those files."

"They're locked in a special room in the Kremlin."  She looked at Clint's since he was still staring at it.  Dawn came in to hug him then left.  She noticed it went into what happened with his brother.  "Did they get it right?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, they did," he admitted quietly, putting it back.  He looked at Steve.  "So they've known all this for this long?"

"Director Fury wanted you guys left mostly alone so you could still work sometimes, under certain circumstances.  He suppressed those heavily but they did get out.  The current press still quotes from them for research."

Bruce nodded.  "I've seen some of it quoted in an interview about me that I never did.  They talked to my former colleagues," he said when they stared at him.

Clint nodded.  "So, we've been compromised this far and no one told us?" he asked.

"We thought you guys were tracking it too," Pepper said as she walked in with Liz on her back in the carrier.  "We knew Fury had someone compiling information but we've kept it in original format."  She patted him on the arm.  "They mostly ignored you and Natasha because the press got that you needed to be able to do your jobs.  Then you three got taken."  They nodded.  "Which brought you back to prominence."  She found that area and pulled down a marked box.  The tag said 'on the kidnaping' in Pepper's handwriting.  "That's what they covered on that."  He and Natasha settled in to go over it.  Clint moaned and she grimaced at one thing.  Pepper nodded.  "The press aren't stupid, they knew something huge was going on.  Even if they only got the edges of it."

"So they've been stalking us very thoroughly since that first battle," Natasha said.

"No, stalking is what they do to Dawn and Tony because it keeps attention off the rest of you.  They do it on purpose.  The same as I did some to get attention off Tony when he needed me to."  She smiled at her.  "Stalking is about what you're getting now.   Which is still focusing on Dawn, not you two."

"Stalking is them commenting on her weight, her outfits, all that," Bruce agreed.  "The constant nagging from that one source that she doesn't fade into the background to let Pepper shine brighter."  He looked around.  "Where's Tony's room?"

"Next door."  She nodded.  "Dawn's and mine is next to it.  The last archival room is about any of the rest of our people."  They went to look at Tony's, which was overflowing and in messy boxes.  Pepper sighed.  "He promised to get that straightened up."

"How far back does this go?" Natasha asked.

"Three years."  She smiled.  "The lab in Malibu has a library's worth."  Natasha shook her head.  They looked at hers and Dawn's room.  The boxes in there were in two colors.  There were red ones, presumably Pepper's, and yellow ones, probably Dawn's.  Dawn's made up the majority of the room.  It wasn't as full as Tony's but she wasn't as old and kept out of the press for the most part.  "Before you ask, this is since we came to New York, right before the battle."  Clint stared at her.  She nodded.  "The kidnaping time's box is that wooden one," she said with a point.

They looked over it.  There were full magazines devoted to Stark, with paperclipped parts on Dawn.  There were printed articles online and from magazines.  There were flashy entertainment pieces.  Clint stared around then at her.  "Is yours from the same amount of time?"

"No.  We had to call mine out from Malibu to look up an older one that was being referenced."  She smiled.  "Dawn does it so that others don't get hit by the same sort of light show."

Clint nodded.  "I can see why."  He looked at the most recent ones.  "Dawn doesn't do her own?"

"No.  I do Dawn's.   She does yours and mine.  Plus any on SHIELD.  Those she sends to Maria whenever she gets a full box."

Clint looked up from the last few articles.  "This bitch is really bitter."

"She hasn't figured out yet that Dawn's fairly wealthy now.  When she does I'm pretty sure she's going to be horrified at what she's said."  She smiled.  "We'll be putting something from Forbes in here again too."  She walked off, letting them figure things out on their own.  Dawn was looking pathetic to a milkshake.  "That had better not be lunch."

"No, I'm having a salad.  Right now it's got my herbal painkillers in it."  She sipped.  "It covered the taste when nothing else would."

"Why not use real ones?"

"Because of all the nagging about me being on something for that one event when I had the broken wrist.   There were shitloads of people who wondered if Tony was teaching me the meaning of addiction."

"I know you're not.  Ignore them."

"I can't.  Not with them thinking Clint broke it."  She took another drink.  "Callia's walking the dog."

"That's fine.  She's got guards I'm sure."  She patted Dawn on the head.  "You'll make it through this too.  You guys have fought before."  Dawn nodded.  "Try to relax."

"I'm fine.  I can finish my departmental rounds in a few minutes."  Pepper went back to her desk.  She finished her shake and let it sink in while she finished the corporate emails that she needed to do.  Then she got up to go do those.

"Get crutches," Pepper ordered.

"I'm fine."  She got onto the elevator.  "As long as I don't have to kick any ass, I'll be fine," she muttered.  The elevator lurched.  She calmed herself.  The elevator stopped moving.  She hit the call button.  Nothing.  No answer.  She tried her phone.  No reception for some reason.  Which meant this was a plot.  She felt the elevator start to move and then teleported out because it was plummeting suddenly.  She landed beside the front desk as it crashed.

"It was just me," she said.  "Thankfully no one else was in the elevator."  The guards stared at her.  "Did I slip time or something?"  They shook their heads, calling maintenance and Pepper.  Dawn looked at the other ones.  "Someone check and see why there's no cell reception in them."  They stared at her.  "Now!"  They did it.  They found the blocker and the little override machine clipped in there with a grim-looking maintenance team.  They found them on the other elevators and stopped them to get them off there.  They'd figure out who later.

Tony came jogging down the stairs.  "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine.  I was the only one in mine.  There was no answer on the call button and no cell reception.  So it was a plot," she finished with a cheery smile.

He hugged her.  "As long as you're okay we'll kill them later.  Your spouses are bored."  He walked her off.  "Think you can do the four floors to the infirmary?"

"I'm fine."

"You're shaking."

"I'm fine, Tony.  Really."

"Uh-huh.  I hear wind and noise but no substance," he said, quoting her from a few times she had said that to him when he was complaining.  Clint came off the elevator.  "You're brave," Tony quipped.

"I have an override key I made years ago.  It's a master so it fits everything."  He took Dawn from him.  "Are you good?"

"I'm fine!"

"She's shaking," Tony noted.

"I just took the stupid herbal painkillers.  Of course I am."  Clint scowled.  "They work."

"You can take real ones.  Fuck the press that say anything."  He helped her into the elevator that was cleared.  The guards pointed at it and got it for them.  "Thanks, guys."  He took her up to her office.  She'd fight going to the infirmary but her desk was a safe spot usually.  He got her calmed down and got her foot propped up.  "Why didn't you tell us?"

"About what?" she asked, looking confused.

"The archive for us?  The stalking they do of you?"

She snorted.  "It's something that happened.  You saw me doing the article search more than once, Clint.  You've seen me playfully teasing reporters at events to keep them off Pepper and you guys too."

"Okay, so I wasn't paying attention or putting clues together.  Me or Nat.  They have a full history of me."

She nodded.  "I remember printing it and marking that whole series.  I also remember bringing it to Fury so he could have them stopped."

"No one told us."

"We assistant types handle things so that the higher ups don't have to," she said with a slight smile.  "That's half of my real job.  Not making coffee and gathering reports.  I do that because the rest is kinda boring."

"I never realized that."

"Yeah."  She shifted.  "Half of what I do every day is probably really Sheila and Stella's jobs, but I'm here and can handle it."

Pepper nodded from the doorway.  "It is.  Her job is to handle things so we don't know that there's roughness on the road.  She's our shock absorber and part-time distraction device.  Natasha never got that high so she never saw it.  Now I'd let her but back then she was newly hired and just an assistant, not a personal assistant."

Dawn nodded.  "She was good at the mundane things."

"If I had known then what I know now," Pepper said dryly.  "You okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Quit fighting the fussing, Dawn," she ordered, staring at her.  "We fuss.  You know that.  You also know that if you make Stark pout, you get to go help him tour his new cabin hideout."  She walked back to her desk.  "Find out who did it and bring me their head, Barton."

"Yeah, we can do that."  He looked at Dawn.  "They fuss?"

"They're a lot like my parents now and then.  So yeah, Tony fusses.  He brought me soup when I had the flu way back in Malibu too."

Clint smiled.  "Good."  He kissed her.  "Let me go look at those devices."  He stood up.  "You, stay there."  He walked off, taking the stairs.

Dawn shook her head.  "I'm not feeble," she complained quietly.

"Men fuss, Dawn.  That's what a husband is supposed to do," Pepper called.  "Don't break into it or he'll pout like Tony."

"Sure."  She got back to work, moving her foot prop to a better location.  She had things she could do without visiting the various departments.  She sent Sheila to do that for her.

Bruce showed up.  "Are you all right?  Your mother's worried sick."

"I'm fine."  She texted her.  "Thanks."  He smiled and patted her then went back to the archives.  There wasn't a lot he could do to help stop whoever had done that but he could find out some things.  Though he did skip Dawn's whole Miami vacation.  He didn't need to remember bikinis.  So did Steve because he blushed when he ran into one.

***

Dawn got out of the cab that night after a pretty long day with three hours of overtime.  "People," she complained, resting on the cab door.  "Get off our stoop!"  She grabbed her purse and shut the cab's door, letting it go off.  "Why won't you leave them alone?"

"What happened to your leg?" one asked, turning on his camera.

"I was on Alexander's obstacle course and I fell."

"At night?"

"Yes, sometimes I need to be able to do things at night.  It's very stress relieving since you guys have made it so I can't sleep without being bothered by the phone."  They backed down.  "You've pissed the whole group off enough that half of us aren't sleeping right and then I don't even get cuddled by the cat.  Okay?  I'm in a foul, goddess damned mood, which you're the cause of.  So yes, I was wearing out the stress before I start finding a sniper rifle."  They nodded and dispersed.  She made it to the front door before another reporter showed up.  "Watch me kill you," she offered.

"Miss Summers, can you actually do sniper duty?"

"I'm not great like Clint, but I was taught how to fire a gun very well.  Why?"  He stared at her.  She stared back.  "Dude, keeping me from putting my foot up.  Speak, bark, something."

"What did they give you for the broken leg?"

"Not a thing.  I didn't ask for any."

"Is that because of where you were on some for your wrist?"

"I got three whole days worth for the wrist and bruised ribs.  I've never taken drugs that way.  Sorry to burst your wanted story bubble, but that's not the sort of girl I am."

"Do you drink?"

"A glass of wine with dinner when we're having it out."  She shrugged.  "Not really.  I have less than a bottle every six months."

"Yet you drink at events."

"No, I drink sparkling water at events.  I'd never shame my employer that way," she said, staring at him.  "Sorry, not me either."

"There were pictures of you being drunk in a bar in Rio."

"First," she said, shifting to lean against the building.  "I wasn't drunk.  I drink virgin drinks at the clubs.  Second, I was enticing people who were kidnaping kids with magical gifts to sacrifice.  Me acting a bit wild and like I was alone there did that."

"You don't drink at clubs?"

"Fruity virgin things.  Otherwise, no."

"We had reports that you drink."

Dawn shook her head.  "No, I've never really drank.  I know how.  There's been a few nights when I needed it.  One night I admitted to in the press because it was the night that they found Mom's second brain tumor."  He shuddered.  "Mostly it's things like that and I never let myself get fully drunk.  That's stupid and suicidal when people want to snatch your ass like they do mine."

"So no painkillers?"

"No."

"There were reports of SHIELD running drug tests on your hair."

"For someone dosing me with fertility meds again," she said.  "Against my will.  Same people that did Mom's second tumor."

"Oh, I see."  He grimaced.  "There's reports that you cheated on them while you were in South America."

"No, I was getting information.  He didn't get past one really sloppy kiss and me making sure he got off prematurely so I didn't have to touch him again.  Then again, my lovers had a bug on me because I was getting information on a weapons pipeline for them."

"Oh.  So they let you do agent things while you were gone?"

"It was more necessary most of the time.  Things that were happening around us that we felt we had to stop.  Not like I was going to let people take kids to ritually rape and then kill."  He shuddered.  "Would you?"

"No, not if I had your skills."

She shrugged.  "I didn't gain any skills from that, dude.  I gained knowledge from it.  I had skills.  I'd been training in self defense since I was fifteen because of all the people who wanted to own me in that special, horrible way.  Who told you this shit?"

"I can't name a source."  He smiled.

Dawn stared at him.  "You're keeping me from the advil bottle.  I'm in a royally foul mood because each time I try to sleep someone calls the damn house."  She moved off the wall.  "If you think I won't rip it from you by force, you're wrong."

"Freedom of the press," he said, looking nervous.

She shrugged.  "What do I care?  You can write whatever you want, baby boy.  But I'll know who's been spreading lies about me so I can go kick their ass instead of yours."

"You can't.  You have a broken leg."

Dawn snorted.  "What makes you think I wasn't taught to fight through pain?  I learned that after my first year of self defense.  Way before I met any Avengers other than Stark."  The reporter shuddered.  "Who?"

"Shandy and Elmeer."

"The society sluts SHIELD arrested?" she asked dryly.  "Not exactly credible sources since I've only stopped their plans in the past.  They don't know a thing about me beyond the fact that I punch kinda hard."  He was shaking now.  "Sorry, but not me.  I'm not a society slut like they are.  I'll never be a society slut like they are.  For that matter, I'm more skilled than they are together.  Now, anything else?"

"If you wanted to, could you become an agent?"

"I don't have the mental fortitude to do the job.  I don't really like seeing people in pain," she said dryly.  "A lot of agents just shrug it off.  I'm a bit too nice for most of that unless someone's pissing off my family."

He nodded.  "We've seen that."

"Want to see it again?" she offered with a smile.  He walked off looking shaken.  She went up to her room, typing out an email to Pepper about that.  Then she totally ranted on her livejournal about the stupidity going on.  She'd be damned if that got started.

***

Pepper looked as the update notice hit her phone.  "She's back in 'I'll be damned' land," she told Tony.

"Good.  They deserve it."  He let her snuggle into his side.  Steve was nearly asleep on his other side.  They were watching movies and Callia had gotten to choose.  He had no idea why his daughter liked _The Wall_ but she did and it was knocking them all out.  "Bed," he ordered when the credits finally started.

"But..."

"Now.  I want some alone time tonight, Callia.  Go to bed."  She pouted.  He knew that look in her eyes.  "Whatever you're planning on to destroy whoever, don't.  Your Uncle is really looking forward to making you an agent."  She pouted but nodded and went to bed.  "Thank you.  Night."

"Love you too, Daddy."  She huffed but climbed into bed around the cats and dog.

"Love you back, Callia."  He relaxed, leaning his head back.  Pepper gave him a squeeze.  "I'm wondering where those come from," he said quietly.

Pepper looked up at him.  "Do I have to mention the idiot slut at MIT that tried to say you copied off everyone else's work?"

"No," he admitted.  Yeah, she was his daughter.  He liked to forget about the people he had ruined for being jackasses to him.  "Maybe a double dose because the rest came from Dawn," he said, flipping it to an entertainment station.  There was bound to be something on there.  It was nice that she had chewed them a new one about bothering them so they couldn't rest.  Then the other story popped up and he laughed.  "Dawn?" he asked the tv.  "Really?"

"She ranted on her livejournal about that."  Pepper called that reporter.  "It's Pepper Potts.  How would someone like Julia Shandy even know the first thing about Dawn?  Yes, it came from her.  Dawn's livejournal."  She smiled.  "They're mad that SHIELD has them in custody due to Dawn stopping them.  I have no idea how they did interviews.  No, she doesn't drink.  Hardly a glass of wine with dinner.  No, no pills either.  When she had the bruised ribs and broken wrist, she got three whole days worth.  She did it with advil otherwise and an herbal thing if it's too bad of an injury.

"That same week, she got electrocuted by something and she only took tylenol.  Dawn has a really high pain tolerance.  She's never taken pills."  She listened.  "Exactly!  And you just made her look like a twenty-something Tony Stark.  No, she's pissed.  She's so pissed she's thinking in terms of going to destroy someone.  It doesn't help that all the stalking has led to her not being able to sleep for days.  No, I think she'll take it out on the source of the frustration.

"I'd hate to be a reporter near her until she gets some rest.  Or those two celebutantes."  She listened and smiled. "That'd be nice.  I can make sure she does sit down and talk with you tomorrow.  No, she's not taking any time off for the broken leg.  No, she was on Alexander's obstacle course.  Clint babied her when he heard from our infirmary."  She smiled.  "I'll arrange it."

"You have a meeting at ten," Tony said, looking at his phone.

"So how about a lunch one?  Are you in New York or LA?  That'd be great.  We love Cathy.  Sure, send her up for lunch.  Thanks, Helen."  She hung up and smirked at Tony.  He was texting Dawn.  "I can't believe they tried to lie that way."

"Me either.  But how are they doing interviews?" Steve asked.

"That's a really good question," Pepper and Tony said, then looked at each other.  "You owe me a backrub," they said, then she poked him.

"Fine," he agreed with a grin.  "I'll give in on that.  Because it's *such* a great hardship to touch your naked, sweaty flesh and make you moan at me for it."

Steve smiled but shook his head.  Sometimes those two were goofier than Dawn and Clint.

***

Dawn woke up in the morning alone.  Which she expected.  The cat was sitting on her stomach staring at her.  "What?" she asked, petting him.  "I'll clean the litterbox in a few minutes, Loki cat."  He hopped off and nuzzled her.  She sat up and winced at the clock.  "I set you."  It was blinking the wrong time.  "Shit!"  She found her phone.

"Power went down," she said in greeting.  "Sorry, boss.  Yeah, let me do that."  The cat meowed.  "I have one thing I have to take care of."  She groaned and got up to go clean the litter box then took a quick shower.  She got dressed in something soft and comfortable, heading to the office in a cab.  She walked off the elevator and found the reporter.  "Sorry, power went out."

"Callia had a guard go flip the breakers on you at two," Pepper said, smiling at her.  "She's grounded."

"Good!"  She set her purse on the table.  "Sorry about the meeting too."

"You clearly needed the sleep."  They went into a conference room to do the interview.  Dawn was still tired looking but it went well.  She looked and sounded poised.  They could forgive the tiredness because of her leg.  Which got asked about.  Plus the other rumors.  Which Dawn countered firmly and quipped about her mother beating her if she had turned out like the lying sluts that had started those rumors.

***

Dawn smiled at the judge later that day.  And Julia Shandy's attorney.  "Yes, Your Honor, I do believe that her press relationship is harmful to others.  I also believe that it's going to cause a slander lawsuit."  She handed it to her lawyer with a smile.

"You're still a drug using slut," Julia sneered from her seat.

"Really?  Prove it," Dawn said with a smile.  "Not all of us tried drugs, dear.  Or drank underage to the point of losing ourselves."

"You're still a whore for Stark," she said as she stood up.

Dawn laughed.  "No, unlike you, I waited."

"What?  No one wanted you?" she sneered.

"No, plenty wanted.  I had taste.  My first time wasn't in the back of a cab at fifteen, if that was your first time," she said dryly.  "I waited until I had someone I respected.  Even if it was a bit rushed thanks to a sacrificial cult."  She smirked.  "You're still a lying slut without any skills.  Hell, I have better assassin cred than you do and I only take out people who are trying to kill me."  Julia rushed at her and Dawn ducked the grab attempt and pressed on a painful point on her neck.  Julia screamed in pain.

"You wanted to try what?" Dawn asked calmly and quietly.  "Because some of us aren't in your clique of pathetic."  She let her go.  "Sit.  Down."  She sat down slowly and carefully, staring at her.  "Thank you."  She looked at the judge again.  "As you can see by the papers I've filed, she's brought on this harm herself."  Her lawyer tried to hit her.  Dawn smacked him and knocked him out.  She stared down at him.  "That's fucking pathetic too."

She looked at the judge, who was staring.  She smiled.  "I don't let anyone attack me."  Julia was sobbing over her lawyer.  "What?  He keep the tape in his safe instead of putting it online?" she asked dryly.  She looked at the judge again.  "All I want is her to be forbidden to give interviews.  It's not like she should be doing them from a cell anyway.  Even if someone went with the plan they tried to suck Stark into, she still shouldn't have press access.  Who knows what they could bring her to help her escape."

"That is a good point.  She was released to an uncle's custody," the judge said.

Dawn frowned.  "She doesn't have an uncle, Your Honor.  By her family tree, she doesn't have any older male relatives other than one cousin that's twenty-five."  She pulled that up to show him.  Julia growled and rushed her again.  Dawn pivoted and kicked her into the wall.  "I warned you."  The wannabe assassin rushed her again.  Dawn knocked her down and out.  "Whoever lets you go to the salon for a dye job too?  Huh, they're nice to you."  She looked at the judge, who was shaking his head.  "Sorry but I'm not going to allow myself to be attacked."

"I wouldn't either, Miss Summers.  They did clearly start it.  Next time, leave them conscious?"

"Sure, I can do that."  She smiled.

He looked at the reports the one in custody had given then shook his head.  "She should not have press access."

Dawn looked down and kicked her arm over.  "Why does she have track marks?  Is she under medical attention?"

He stood up to look.  "That is a bad sign.  I'll have her examined and possibly revoke her bail.  Thank you for bringing this to my attention."

"I got tired of having to shoot down the same rumors, Your Honor.  It's bad enough they ask me about things like when I'm having kids."  He smiled.  She left, walking over the lawyer, who was groaning.  The judge's clerk was looking worried.  "Shandy tried to attack me," she told him.  "She's very sorry."

"I'm sure she is," the clerk agreed.

Dawn walked out, running into a reporter.  "What?" she asked when she saw them spot her.  She put on her sunglasses since she was almost outside.

"Why are you here?  Filing for divorce to protect their careers?"

Dawn looked over the edge of her sunglasses at her.  "I don't do divorce.  If they want that, they'd have to file for it and then deal with the outcome."  The reporter shuddered.  "No, I'm here noting that certain society sluts are spreading lies when they're supposed to be in monitored custody."  She smiled.  "Pity."  She walked out, getting a cab to head back to work.  Tony had already been called by the judge.  He was waiting on her when she got out.  Dawn looked at him and shrugged.  "They tried to attack."

"I heard."  He looked her over.  "You don't even look ruffled."

"I'm not.  They're pathetic.  Including her lawyer."  They walked inside together.  "Anything new?"

"How's the leg?"

"Don't hide shit from me, Tony," she said once they were in the elevator.  She looked at him.  "What's gone wrong now?"

"Nothing.  You'd create an 'outcome'?" he asked with a grin.

"Hell yes.  They'd never survive it."

He laughed.  "Good!"  She smiled.  "It's good you're starting to feel better."

"I'm perfectly fine.  A broken leg is not going to stop me."

"No, it won't.  We all know that."  He paused the elevator and she turned off the cameras for them.  "There's a push to get you back into SHIELD."

"There's a push by the higher ups to decreate SHIELD and remake it under someone else as a more militant organization.  We found hints of them wanting to sacrifice Clint to another program and take out Natasha some other way."  Tony shuddered.  "You're too high profile.  I can pull up shit and kill them.  All."  She smiled.  "Repeatedly."  He shivered.  "Then again, Loki's got plans to help them.  At which point in time, we'll have a small undo situation because I'll be helping destroy humanity."

"Good to know."

"You don't fuck with what's mine in any way without me showing up," she said bluntly.  "People keep thinking I'm the nice one in the family."

"You are, Dawn."

"No, that's Mom.  I learned survival before I learned nice."

"Yeah, you did."  He smirked.  "Keep track of that for me."

"I am.  Be damned if I want to handle that."

He smiled.  "Good.  Any other problems?  I got film of you shooting back at the slut."

"Not yet.  Cast itches some."

"They do that."  He restarted the elevator and she turned back on the cameras.  "You know JARVIS can still hear."

"I know but he'd never repeat a thing."

He nodded.  "He won't."  They walked off on the admin floor.  She flopped into her chair in a graceless sprawl.  "Hurt?" he asked.

"Slightly.  I've been on it for hours though."  She put it up and got comfortable so she could do some work.

He went into the office.  "It looking better?"

"Much.  Is she okay?"

"She said it's starting to itch already."

"They do that."

Dawn leaned over.  "It might be fleas."  She sat up again once they were laughing.  It might be.  She had a few bug bites on her arms for no reason.  If so, Loki was getting dosed one way or another.

Callia walked up to her and climbed over her bad leg to hug her.  "You need more sleep."

"I can do that later."

"You never sleep when Unclie Clint or Auntie Natasha aren't there."

"I'm fine."  She kissed her on the head.  "Take this to your dad for me for Legal?"  She handed over an envelope.  She wasn't in the mood to deal with the Russian mob.  She might go evil and make them cry on others again.

Tony came out reading it.  "They're going to eventually give up."

"Apparently not.  One's son is now writing since he took over."  She dug out that letter to hand him and her response.

Tony looked at her, shaking his head.  "They're insane."

"Well, slightly."  She grimaced.  "Have fun with that, boss, since I'd have to limp as I kicked them around."

"Good point."  He went to talk to his security people.  This was not a good time for them to get frisky but they probably would thinking she was weak.

***

Dawn woke up to someone moving the main apartment door.  She could see down the hallway.  The door was opening slightly.  She pulled the gun from under her pillow, pointing it at the doorway.  Someone next to her pounced and she shot them.  They screamed.  The one in the doorway froze and got hit by Steve as he barreled in.

Steve flipped on the lights as he stomped in.  "You okay?" he demanded.

"I'm fine.  I think.  I woke up to that one opening the door.  I have no idea who this is."  She kicked him off the bed.  "I don't want to get blood on this.  It's a bitch to get the dry cleaner to wash it out for me."  She looked.  No blood on the bed.  She looked at the body.  Then at Steve.  "Vampires shouldn't be able to get in."

"Unless someone gave them an invitation."  They looked.  The vampire had a pendant that had marks on it.  "Would that?"

Dawn took it to look at, nodding.  "Yup, it would.  That one?"

"I didn't check."  He went to look.  "He's living."

"Go check Tara?  Maria should've heard too."  He ran up to check on them and the kids.  They weren't there.  He pounded on Phil's door, getting one of the women from the temple.  She assured him the ladies and the kids were there for the night.  They had fleas so were bombing them.  He came back to check on Dawn, who had tied the vampire up and put on a nightgown.  He hadn't wanted to remark on her sleeping naked.

Phil walked in with Xander.  "We're okay," Steve said.

"Good," Xander agreed, taking the pendant to look at.  "Very weak but easy to do."  He put it onto the bed and looked at the vampire.  "I don't recognize him."  He took a picture to send to Spike and Phil took one to send to the night shift officer at SHIELD.  Spike knew who he belonged to.  "Taraka."  He found the ring pinned to his nipple.

"The assassins guild?" she demanded.  "The same one that came after Buffy?"

"Yeah.  Not sure if it's related or a new one," Xander admitted.  He went out to read the other one's mind.  "It's against Natasha.  She turned them down."

"Wonderful," Dawn said, checking the bond.  It was fully sealed off.  She looked at Phil, who sent her a text message.  Dawn opened her closet, looking at her cat.  It came out to meow and check on her.  "I'm okay, Loki cat."  She picked him up to pet him.  He calmed down and she put him on the bed.  "Keep that warm for me."  She looked at her leg then sighed and cracked the cast.  Phil tried to stop her but she stared at him.  "I can't really defend myself while hobbling."

She finished breaking it then pulled out an outfit from the back of her closet.  She slid into it once she had on underwear.  She zipped it up.  Phil was looking at her funny.  Tony had left the battle suit she had been given while they were on the run from the US in her closet for her.  She pulled on weapons and then picked up the cat to hand to him with a grin.  "Thanks for kitty sitting, Phil."  She blew a kiss and disappeared.  She had a 'friend' she wanted to talk to.

Phil and Xander shared a look.  Xander tracked her.  "Poker hall."

"That's probably a bad thing," Phil noted.

"No, not really.  Let's get Loki with the other spoiled pets."

"He needs the same flea medicine," Phil complained, handing him off.  He got the two idiots bundled up for SHIELD.  They knew almost nothing about the Order of Taraka.  It was an oversight they needed to fix.

***

Nick Fury walked into his office the next morning having a good morning.  He was finally allowed to have coffee again.  His newspaper had actually made it into his mailbox for a change.  No one had called him overnight about anything.  He had gotten his usual four hours of sleep without any bad dreams.  He walked off the elevator, finding Maria Hill looking green.  Joyce was unhappy by her scowl.  "It is too good of a day for anything bad," he ordered.

"Fine," Joyce agreed.  "I only have good news at the moment.  They have two members of the Order of Taraka in interrogation two."

He blinked.  "Who?"

"Mystical and non-mystical order of assassins," Joyce said.  "They came after Buffy once."

"Huh," he said, nodding.  "Why do we have them?"

"For the same reason I can't find my younger daughter," she said.  "They came to kill Natasha for refusing to join them."

Fury sighed.  "Where is Summers?" he asked Maria.  "Flu?"

"No, sir."  She swallowed a few pills and some water.  "Not likely."  She looked at him.  "We have no idea.  We know that their main base is in Geneva though."  She swallowed more water.

He stared at her.  "I thought it was just Tara," he complained.

She shrugged.  "No."  She smiled and handed over paperwork.  "As per standing orders, sir.  I have no idea which one I can go lord over for the next seven months however."

He looked at her and handed them back.  "I'll make an exception for you, Agent Hill.  That way you don't have to move the twins."  He walked off.  "I can have coffee, Summers."  She started his coffee maker for him.  "Thank you.  Find your daughter."

"I'm trying.  She's not answering texts yet."

Maria called Stark.  He was probably up.  He had probably been up for hours.  "Stark, where's your PA?"  She listened to him sound confused.  "Ask Rogers then."  He did and Steve said he didn't know but told Tony why.  Stark found her.  "Tell her that she's done enough damage and to come home.  Her mother's getting worried."  She hung up.  An alarm went off for a two bleep count then ended.  "Summers?" she demanded.

"Yes, sir," that agent said from his desk.  "I think she just had an 'I'm tired of playing' and left thing, Agent Hill."

She came to look.  "Amsterdam.  Must be a backup location."  She grimaced and went to get sick.  Joyce got her something to help her and she smiled.  "Thank you."

"I'm glad they didn't make you end it," she said quietly, giving her a hug.  "You'll do fine, Maria."  She went back to her desk.  "If you speak to my daughter first, I'd like to paddle her," Joyce noted with a sweet smile.

A few of the agents slowly backed away from her.  They had mothers that did the same thing.  Dawn was a dead woman when her mother got hold of her.

***

Dawn reappeared in the lab, fluffing out her sweaty hair.  "They're not going to come after what's mine again," she said with a grin.  "They're not going to go anywhere near any SHIELD agent or anyone here."

Tony looked at her, noting the outfit.  Then looked at her face.  "Cast?"

"In the way."  She limped off.  "If you talk to my wife, tell her it's clear and they're very sorry they got the idea she'd like to work for them.  They're also very sorry they were thinking about taking the contract out on my life.  We had a long discussion with the demigod that started it.  He was amused until I killed half of the demons in there."  She went to the locker room to change.

Tony and Steve shared a look.  Tony texted Natasha that.  He got back a confused one.  So he explained it better.  She said she'd talk to Dawn later.

Dawn came in an hour later looking like normal in her business suit and heels.  "Reports," she said, handing them over so she could make coffee for him.

Steve stopped her, pulling her over to them.  "We could've helped."

She smiled and patted him on the cheek.  "They're my family.  That makes it my job.  But I'll let you help some other time when it's more than a demigod and demons."  She got free and carried the coffee pot into the bathroom.  "Boss, this still needs cleaned."

"I told you to buy a new one," he complained.

"Pepper said to clean it, you didn't need a new one."

"She's wrong.  Order me one, Dawn."

"Yup, I can do that."  She came out.  "Or go pick one up at the gourmet coffee shop up the street."  Bruce walked in looking displeased.  She cooed and patted him on the cheek.  "Grumpy Grr Guy?" she teased with a smile.

"Your mother said I needed to beat you."

"Then they really shouldn't have tried to woo my wife from me with lofty goals of an assassins's guild."  She smiled.  "Or had a vampire attack my house."  He shivered.  She smiled more perkily.  "Beyond that, it was mystical, which is my job, not yours, Stepdad."  She looked at Tony.  "I'll get you the new coffee maker on lunch, boss."  She strolled off as suavely as she could with her limp.

Tony and Bruce shared a look then they looked at Steve.  "Sedate her," Tony decided.

Bruce shook his head.  "Won't work."

"She slept through the vampire getting in last night," Steve said.

"So she probably took something," Tony decided.  "Handcuffs?"

"I doubt that'd work.  She'd just pick them," Bruce said.  "They did teach her that too."

Tony grimaced.  "I forgot.  That's very handy to know."

"Especially if you're Dawn," Steve agreed.  He frowned.  "Where are they?"

"Fixing the other problem of who tried to kill her the other day," Tony said.  "They'll hopefully be back soon."

"Her cast?" Bruce asked.

"She took it off last night," Steve said.  "Told me it was in the way."

Xander appeared, shaking his head.  "Dawn's in a better mood at least.  The Order of Taraka is being eliminated.  Dawn nicely put a device on their computer that sent everything to an online location?"  Tony looked in a drawer and sighed but nodded.  "Figured since I don't think she can hack."  He disappeared.  He appeared in front of her desk, staring at her.  "Nice."

"Thank you."  She looked up from her typing.

"They're being disbanded."

"Then it's really nice that they won't be as tenacious as the Russian mob."

"It is, yeah."  He looked at her typing in Russian then at her.  "I can go stomp them."

"Please do."  He smiled and kissed her on the head before disappearing.  She finished up the letter and printed it before putting it in the envelope.  She sent another email to her mother, who was ranting at her.  She finally got her calmed down and got back to work.  She had a few things that needed to be done.  Pepper came out to get the envelope in Russian to take to Tony.  She couldn't read it but he could.  JARVIS could translate it for her.  Dawn shrugged and let them handle it.  Maybe they'd get them to stop this time.  It'd be nice.  She finished up the few things and put them on Pepper's desk then got a soda to drink.  She was tired and needed the caffeine boost.  She'd get some coffee later while she was getting Tony's new coffee maker.

***

Tony looked at his new machine then at Dawn.  "I like technology as much as the next geek, but does it launch spacecraft?"  She laughed and came over to teach him how to use it.  It made four cups at a time, which was how big his mug was.  It made perfect coffee as long as it had good grounds and water.  He blinked at the first cup that got poured for him.  He sipped and moaned.  "Okay, that's good.  You did good, kid."

"Thanks, boss."  She grinned.

"How many thousand was it?"  He took another drink.

"Just under a hundred.  It was on sale."  He smiled.  "The grounds were about the same."

"That's worth it."  He took another drink and moaned.  "That's great.  There's press attention on last night."

She looked at the feed and grimaced.  "They're attributing it to Shandy.  That's nice."

"She'll get free of it."

Dawn grinned.  "I had a Belgian agent with me, boss."  He groaned and sat down.  She grinned.  "I took one with me.  They might be able to get me on kidnaping charges for him but he agreed when I told him why and told him to play bodyguard.  I even had it on tape for him."  Tony smirked at her.  She grinned.  "So no, I don't think so."  She walked off.  "If they try, I'm moving to a backup house none of you know I have and I'll pretend to be a trophy wife."  She grinned before exiting the lab.

Tony made more coffee while finishing his first one.  Dawn did have devious plans when you pushed her to them.  He had been wrong about her mind not being wicked and sharp.  He was so glad she liked him and was on his side.

***

Clint and Natasha finally came home, finding the house silent.  No Dawn.  No cat.  No noise.  No food in the house.  No clothes in Dawn's closets.  They groaned and called over the bond.  No answer but a snore.  So she had taken allergy medicine to knock her out.  Clint called Stark while Natasha hacked Dawn's accounts.  No hotel charges.  Stark said she appeared at work but he wasn't sure where she was.  He mumbled something about fleas.  They hung up and nudged Dawn again to wake her up.  If she was awake she could tell them where she was.  Still sleeping.  They went to the tower.  She wasn't there.  They had no idea where Dawn was.  Only that she was somewhere in the city.

***

Dawn showed up the next day for work, finding an irritated spouse in her desk chair.  "You're back."  She smiled and kissed her.  "Did it go okay?"

"It went well.  We tried to wake you up last night."   She looked her over.  "Who healed your leg?  You can't heal bones."

"No, it got in the way."  She took another kiss.  "We're camping for a few days while the bug bait works on the flea problem the twins brought home from the park."  Natasha sighed, staring at her.  Dawn got her up and sat down instead.  "Where's Clint?"

"Getting breakfast."

Dawn smiled.  "I actually ate but I can have some coffee while you two eat."  He came off the elevator.  "Good morning to you too."

He stared at her.  "Where are you camping?"

"On Phil's couch."

"You weren't in the building."

"His backup location's couch."

"Oh."  He handed her the coffee and oatmeal then half of his fruit tart.  "One piece of toast and a banana is not breakfast."

"According to dietary guidelines it is," she said with a perky smile.

"I hate it when you take that herbal crap," he said.  He pulled a chair over and settled in to eat.  Natasha did the same on Dawn's other side.  There was no way she missed the meaning of that move.  "So.... Amsterdam?" he asked before eating a bite of cereal.

"I took an agent with me."

"We heard," Natasha agreed.  She ate a bite of her fruit salad.

Dawn shrugged.  "They really shouldn't have sent a vampire and some other guy to break into the house.  You nearly came home to a vamped me."  She ate some of her fruit tart then some of her oatmeal.

Tony came off the elevator with a cat on his head.  "Good, you're eating.  You didn't do it all day yesterday."

"I did so."  She ate another bite.

"It's the herbal painkiller," Clint told him.  He took the cat to look at.  "Were you comfy?"  He let Dawn pet it.  It'd keep her calm while they talked.

Tony smiled.  "Let me get stuff off the desk."  He went to do that and left them alone.  Clearly they were mad about something.

Clint ate another bite and used his spoon to point at the food.  Dawn ate one handed.  "Thank you," he said once he had swallowed.

"Was something like Amsterdam not our job?" Natasha asked.

"Not if you're busy," Dawn said, digging in again.  The cat was purring so she smiled and petted him.  "I know, it's a long day already, Phil.  We'll figure it out."  He got comfy and meowed at Pepper when she came off the elevator without Liz.

"Morning to you too, Phil and Dawn."  She smiled.  "It's good you're finally back.  We hate it when she's on the herbal painkillers.  She forgets to eat."  She went to her desk.  "Did Tony raid?"

"Yes," Dawn called.

"Good to know."  She went to the lab to get things back.  Clint looked like he was going to yell.

Dawn looked at them.  "Did you expect me to not protect all of us?"

"That's our job," Clint said.

She smirked.  "Are you saying I can't protect us just as well as you can?"

"No," he said, realizing that trap.  He wasn't looking for an argument that got him changed into a new pet for the twins.  "I'm saying that it's our job.  Yours is to take out localized threats."

"Which was them since they broke into the apartment and the stupid vampire had a shielding necklace that let him in and me not realize it."  She ate another bite.  They were both scowling.  "Like I said, you nearly came home to find me vamped.  Which meant it was my job.  Especially with you two out of the country."

"In Alabama," Clint corrected.

"Wherever."

"You could've asked Agent Hill," Natasha said.

"You didn't know Maria's still pregnant?"

"No, I was not aware," she admitted.  She and Clint shared a private, quick discussion.  "It was still a bit too noticeable, Dawn."

"As opposed to the takedown of the three people who ordered it?" she asked.  She looked at Natasha.  "Because that's how the World Security Council people were going to get rid of you.  They were going to give Clint to another program and you'd be given to the Order for them to bring you home to your roots."  Natasha was glaring.  She pulled up the plans she had found to show her.

"Fuck them," Clint said after reading them.  He ate more cereal and pointed with his spoon.  Dawn huffed but ate.  "Thank you."

She shrugged.  "It happens to all of us."

"I meant the eating.  You get rewarded for things like that, even after we yell about not telling us."

"I texted," Dawn said.  Natasha pulled out her phone to turn on and found it.  She smiled sweetly at him.  "Not my fault when I try."  She finished up and moved her and the cat out of the blockade.  "Let me go on my rounds."

"They'd better include the infirmary," Clint ordered quietly, staring at her.

"It's nearly healed."  She carried the cat off to go on her rounds.

He and Natasha shared a look.  "Get the cat," he said.  They finished breakfast, and he got the rest of Dawn's because she'd be in the infirmary for a while.  They tracked her through the labs until she got to Andrew and Jonathan's.  The boys wouldn't do more than giggle when they ambushed her.  The others would worry and call Stark.  They walked in so Natasha could grab the cat from Dawn and Clint could pick her up to put over his shoulder so he could carry her off.  "She's going to have her leg checked, guys."

Natasha smiled and petted the cat.  "You're very calm today.  Thank you."  She smirked at the boys.  "Have a good day, boys."  She walked off petting the cat.

"I want to do evil nearly as well as she does," Andrew complained with a sigh at the end, sitting down on his stool.

His wife kissed him.  "If you did, I'd have to spank.  Since I never want to spank you...."  She took a kiss.  "Be a good boy, 'Drew.  You can be like Stark and do bad guy plans underneath all the good guy stuff."  She winked and went back to her lab.

Clint walked into the infirmary.  "Hey, Doc."

"What did you want me to do with her?" Dr. Pigalli asked, looking amused.  "She ignored orders and cut off the cast to go get into a fight."

"Because they were going to kill her and capture Natasha," Dawn said.  "Put me down!"  Clint set her down carefully and gently.  She glared at him.  "Do I look like a sack of flour?"

"No, you look like my wife, who cut off her cast on her broken damn leg, which means my wife looks suspiciously like she might need meds for self harm."  She glared.  He stepped back because that heat he could feel was real.  "I'm being a good boy, Dawn.  Just trying to take care of you.  You usually don't mind."

"You usually don't treat me like I'm a brain dead bimbo who doesn't know and consider consequences of her actions."  She looked at the doctor.  "It's still healing.  A bit swollen but otherwise fine."  She walked off.

"How is she wearing heels?" one of the nurses asked.

"Herbal painkiller," Clint said, chasing after her and walking her back in there.  "For my peace of mind, please have another x-ray?" he asked politely.  She was still glaring at him.  There went his hope of a homecoming snuggle.  "Your leg looks bad, Dawn.  Please?"

"I'm.  Fine," she growled.

"If you were, I wouldn't worry that your leg looks like it's going to need to be cut off.  Please?"  She started to move so he picked her up and put her onto the bed, staring at her.  "You're getting an x-ray."

"I'm fine."

"You're not fine.  Don't argue with me.  I'm barely off that mission and this is not the time, Dawn."  She glared but huffed.  "Thank you!"   The nurse got the x-ray machine since he had won.  "Usually you like me taking care of you," he said quietly.

"Until you treat me like I have less sense than my niece," she said coolly.  "That's not exactly the same feeling."

He stared.  "I know you have sense that you use.  Even if you did cut off your cast.  Even if I heard right and you went back over the obstacle course to prove that you could."

"I needed that boost of confidence."

He kissed her.  "We'll talk later.  I know you have confidence in yourself and your skills.  That has never been in question."

"Need you to move," the nurse said.  He got out of the way.  She took an x-ray and looked at the digital image.  "What is that metal thing?"

"Oh," Dawn said, removing it from under her skirt.  "Sorry, new knife holster has a metal line in it."   They did another one and it looked like it was trying to heal but it wasn't.

Clint looked at it then at her leg.  It was swollen, bruised looking, and he had no idea how her foot was still inside her shoe.  He took it off for her and he had to wince.  He looked at her then at the doctor.  "Air cast?"

"I doubt she'd use it.  Didn't we give you crutches?" she asked Dawn.  Who shook her head.  "Why not?"

"I have no idea.  Dr. Shivs never mentioned it or to stay off my foot.  I rested it when I could."  She looked at the x-ray.  "That's better than it was.  The tibia is about halfway better."

The doctor looked at him then knocked Dawn out.  "She's going on medical leave."

He smiled.  "Thank you!"

"If you two start to fight again, I'm going to render you unable to please them in any manner."

"You're going to render me mute too?" he asked.

"If I must."  She stared at him.  "Get it out of your system, Barton.  She's not a Barbie."  She called Stark, who came down to look.  He stared at her leg and foot.  "I think she needs a few days off, Mr. Stark."

He nodded.  "She has vacation time.  She hasn't taken any."  He tested her foot.  "It's cold."

"The swelling's cramping some of her circulation," the doctor said, testing it herself.  Then her leg.  "No, she's cold to the touch."  Clint got a blanket to put over her.  "Give her the rest of this week off?"

"I can do that," he agreed.  "We need her on Thursday though."

"Can she call it in?" Clint asked.

"No.  She did all the research for the meeting."

"We can stay local," Clint promised.  "Bring her back for that."

Tony nodded.  "That could help.  The Russians that write her to offer her a job switched to the son."

"Good to know."  Natasha walked in and looked at Dawn's leg, grimacing.  "Can we go to a hotel, Nat?"

"We can."

"She's on Phil's couch, or so she said," Tony said.

"Nope," Clint said.  "Backup location's couch."  He and she shared a look.  "Better yet, let's go to the Radison up the street."

"I'd prefer somewhere with room service," she noted.  "Plus perhaps a spa."

Clint shrugged.  "Nearby?"

"There's one."  She looked at Dawn's accounts, seeing them unsealed, working, and overly full.  "We can afford that."  She looked at Tony, who nodded.  "We'll bring her back Monday."

"Thursday," Clint corrected.  "An important meeting."

She grimaced but nodded.  "Fine."  He picked up Dawn, she got her medicine from the doctor.  Pepper brought down her purse and it was good.  They got into a cab and to the hidden hotel.  It was exclusive and very private.  No one knew it was a hotel unless you had contacts.  She got them checked in and the desk boy moaned at the name on the card.  Dawn could pay her back.  She turned down the offer of the hotel's doctor on call coming up to look at her.

***

Dawn woke up and blinked hard.  "Where am I?" she muttered, glancing around.  It was a nicely decorated room.  It smelled like citrus and vanilla.  She tried to move and found her leg immobilized.  Not by the cat as she thought.  She noticed he was sitting on top of the dresser grooming himself.  She looked at her foot, which was immobilized by a padded block set.  "What is that?"  She leaned over to get closer.  She got pushed back down onto the pillows gently.  "What's that?"

"It's to keep your foot there and safe," Clint said.  "That way your leg gets some healing time without a heavy cast.  It's how they used to do broken limbs."  He handed her two pills and some water.  "Advil."

She looked then at him.  "They're not orange and I hate being lied to."

"Fine.  Loritabs."  He smiled.  "We hate to see you in pain."  She took them and most of the glass of water.  He laid down next to her.  "Nat's at the spa."

"That's nice.  She needs some spoiling time."

"No, you need some spoiling time.  She's setting up your joint spoiling time."  He kissed her.  It wasn't as warm as he usually gave her but it was still soft and gentle.  He kissed her a second time.  "No more herbal painkillers.  That stuff makes you tense and creepy."  She glared.  "It does."  He laid down, making her relax.  He put an arm over her chest and stomach, taking her other hand to hold and squeeze.  "We were really worried when we heard," he said quietly.  "Like we were in Peru."

"I was fine."

"Not the point.  We agreed to let us do that sort of stuff and you'd take out immediate threats to us."  He looked up at her from her shoulder.  "Which is what we like.  We like you being the backup, Dawn, not the guy in front."  He gave her hand a squeeze.  "Beyond that, you're in some strange warrior mode that's kind of scary.  The cat wouldn't even sit on the bed when I put him on it."

"I accidentally nearly flipped over on him last night.  He clawed me good for it."

"I saw that."  He kissed her neck over the acid scar.  "Like with this, let us help and take care of you," he said quietly.  "I hate that Nat won't ever let me take care of her, even if she was dying.  She'd tough it out and go all 'I'm fine' the way you have been.  Then she hides while I worry."  Dawn shifted.  He helped her get comfortable.  "I want to be able to take care of you the same way you do us."

"You hate being fussed over."

"Nat hates to be fussed over.  I enjoy it until it gets to be too heavy."  He nuzzled her throat.  She tipped her head.  "Nope, no sex until your leg's looking better.  Because it looks bad."  He looked at her.  "The bruising should've faded by now."

"It never does.  I keep bruises for days if I don't heal them."

"It should have."  He stroked her stomach with their joined hands.  "So I'm going to be a bit strong on that point.  I want that leg to heal properly and well.  Right now it's looking like it's really damaged."

"It's just the bruising."

"Which should've went down with the swelling," he noted.

She shrugged.  "First really big broken bone set I've had."

"I saw that."  He leaned down to look at it.  The swelling had went down some with it held in place and elevated.  "You were doing too much on it probably."  He kissed it then came back up to stare down at her.  "You can go in for the meeting on Thursday."

"I have an interview on Friday."

"Can you call it in?"

"Probably not.  It's a UK reporter."

"Then we can show up for that."  He kissed her, laying down with her again.  "You scared the crap out of me when you channeled Xander.  All we heard was you had invaded somewhere and were making them sorry for coming after Natasha."

"Sorry but they broke into the house."

"I get that, but you didn't call."

"I did try to send you guys a message.  It was fully blocked off and you didn't answer the text.  Or Phil's."

He lifted his head to stare at her.  "Steve said you were gone within a few minutes of it being sent."  She shifted.  He pulled her closer again.  "We need to work on how to get the attention of the others if we need to."

"I can force it open but I wouldn't do that while you're on the job."

He shrugged.  "The job happens.  Even during bad times."  He took a kiss and put his head back down on her shoulder again.  "Are you going to let me fuss?"

"I guess I can do that."  She stroked over his free arm with her free hand.  It was an awkward angle but that happened.  "You let me fuss over you."

He grinned.  "You're probably a lot better at it than me but I'm told I'm pretty decent at it."  He stroked her stomach.

"You're still upset."

"Slightly.  The job is a lot harder when people like you a whole lot."  She nodded.  "It's a lot to adjust to but I'm handling it and this is about fussing over you, not you fussing over us."  He kissed her again.

"If you're sure."

"I am.  We have to have some equality.  You get a lot of fussing time and I never get any because we're in the infirmary."  He gave her a gentle squeeze.  "We have to deal with that new plan."

"The next one might be worse.  It might be better to remove SHIELD from the WSC."

"It might but Fury would hate that," he said.  "He built it up under them and it'd throw things like the budget into hell."

"Unless the UN or someone took it over," she said.  "Which would be a good thing."

"It could be but they'd hate the more covert things."

She smiled.  "Remember, they're the same ones that took in the Initiative bastards for their underground demon hunting squads."

"Good point.  We'll deal with it later.  Not like I get paid to be an Avenger."

"We can live on my salary if we need to."

He looked up at her, shaking his head.  "No way in hell."  He put his head down.  "I couldn't stand to be a kept man, Dawn."

"If you're sure."  She stroked his arm again.  He poked her with that hand.  She smiled.  "I'm okay."

"Quit.  You're not fine.  I can feel the pain even with the painkillers."  He got up to kneel over her.  "You know that thing you have against lying?  Let's try not to have so many blatant ones at us about you being okay?"  She stared at him.  He stared back.  "Seriously.  If we can feel that you're in pain then we realize it.  Even we'd complain about broken bones."

"It's a tiny thing."

"Dawn, you had two broken bones in the same area of your leg."

"There's two bones there."

He kissed her.  "You did stupid things to prove you weren't weak.  You were on it too often and it's causing it problems instead of taking the time off to let it heal."

"I had work to do."

"We get that.  We've went on ops before with broken things.  You're still getting nagged about this in the future.  Like I get to nag Nat about going out in Moscow without a jacket on to chase a mugger that didn't get anything."  He stared at her.  "We love you dearly but please quit being so tough?  We love you for the tough woman that you are, you don't have to impress anyone."

She gave him a shove.  "I was not."

"No, you were trying to protect us and make sure that no one else tried to do anything against the family.  Which we appreciate but we want to handle those things.  We're a bit better prepared and we don't have nightmares later."  She shrugged but didn't look up at him.  He took another kiss and laid back down after checking her leg.  "Want an ice pack?"

"No, it's okay."

He poked her on the side.  "Want an ice pack?" he asked, staring at her.

"No, it's really okay."  She shifted.  He put her back into place.  "My back's going to ache."

"I'll rub out any aches and cramps."  He stroked over her stomach, making her calm down.  Natasha walked in smelling like some fancy perfume oils.  He smiled.  "Got a massage too?" he joked.

"They offered to prove they were wonderful."  She took a kiss from him.  She stared down at Dawn.  "You will let us help you take care of that?"

"I guess."  Clint poked her again.  "Yes, dear."

"Thank you."  She took a kiss from her and put down her bag so she could get a chemical ice pack.  She carefully checked the ankle before putting it on there.  "That should help the swelling."  She laid down on Dawn's free side.  "Pain?"

"Slight," Clint said.  Dawn looked at him.  "She's still denying it."

"I'm sure she is.  I do the same thing."

"Have I mentioned recently it drives me fucking nuts when you do that?" he asked with a smile.  Natasha reached over to swat him.

"You do the same thing to us," Natasha pointed out.

"I only hide the really big things so no one has to see me suffer."  Dawn poked him.  He gently poked her back.

"I'm not fragile," Dawn said.

"Yes you are.  You're human and they're fragile beings."

She hugged him.  "Thank you."

"Whoever said it this time is a moron," he assured her.  He nuzzled her neck again.  "C'mere, Loki cat."  He hopped off the dresser and onto Dawn's leg, walking up it.  She kept herself from hissing and wincing.  Clint plucked the cat off her to pet him.  He meowed at Dawn, who petted him.  Loki settled on her stomach so they could all pet him.  "Spoiled kitty but she should be just as spoiled as you are."  He stroked the cat's back, making him purr.

"She should be," Natasha agreed, stroking over the cat's ears.  Dawn was teasing his chin.  The cat was soaking up attention and getting very purr happy.  Which made Dawn happier.  "We have spa time tomorrow so your leg must be less swollen or they can only help you soak it."  She reached down to shift the ice pack.  "That should help a lot."

"Hopefully," Clint agreed.  "It's went down about halfway."

"That's good," Natasha agreed.

Dawn leaned up to look.  "It looks better than it did when I got up."

Clint pulled her back down.  "That's because you've been off it for over three hours."  He put an arm back over her stomach to hold her.  She looked at him.  "You agreed I could finally fuss."

"Can I have a drink?"

He smiled.  "Of course."  He got up to get her some.  He knew pain pills made her have hot flashes and get thirsty.  He let her sip from the straw too because he was a really nice guy to his ladies.  When she was done he put the glass aside and curled up around her again.  The cat stared at him.  "I'm sorry, did we quit petting you?"  He went back to it.  The cat was staring at Dawn, who was smiling and petting him.  "I never really imagined myself with a cat."

"Cats are very sneaky, just like we are," Natasha pointed out, smiling at the cat.  "They're very mean hunters who like to play with their captures.  They say that nothing is a meaner hunter than cats.  Much like us."

"I don't usually toy with my prey," he admitted.  "But that's good to know."  He grinned.  "That's your thing, not mine."

"Which is why she made such a great kitten," Dawn quipped.  Natasha smiled at her and kissed her for that complement.  Dawn yawned.  "I'm not tired."

"Of course you're not.  We're very cuddly so you're comfy and catching up on sleep," Clint said, yawning.  "Nat, don't take her without waking me up."

"I won't.  You'd usually wake up anyway."  She yawned.  "Those are contagious, which is mean."

Dawn yawned again.  "When is the spa time?"

"Tomorrow morning."  She yawned again and they drifted off together, making sure Dawn couldn't hurt her foot again.

Loki got up with a stretch and went to lay on the padded spot around the sore spot.  The cold spot was nice against his belly fur.

Clint looked down at him moving, giving him a nudge with a toe.  "Get off that.  It's her sore spot."

The cat shifted and laid on a better spot.  His human didn't mind that one so it was nice.  Especially when he got to steal the nice cold thing to lay on.

***

Dawn limped in on Thursday helped by Natasha.  "Not late are we?" Dawn quipped.

"Not yet," Pepper said with a smile.  "Feeling better?"

"Getting there."  She sat down and pulled up what she needed for the meeting. "Okay, I'm ready and I'll be back tomorrow."

"Like hell," Tony said from his seat, his feet up and playing on his tablet.

"Reporter from the UK," Dawn countered.

Pepper and Tony shared a look then shook their heads.  "Romanoff, she can come in for that but she's to go back to resting," Tony ordered, going back to his sheep jumping game.

"She'll be in bed very shortly.  Especially since we are so good with her pain killers."  The meeting's other people showed up.  A few smiled at Dawn, earning one back from her.

"Dawn gets her own assistant?" one quipped.

"Only when I have a broken leg," Dawn admitted.

"Aww," another one said, smiling at her.  "How did you do that?"

"Fell on a ropes course.  I still can't climb ropes."  They laughed and got down to business.  Dawn had everything ready, even for the strange things.  Even for Stark's usual diversion to break tension.  She even had snacks set in when she texted.  That was good and the meeting went well.  It meant a new contract for Stark International.  They broke and Natasha helped Dawn clean things up then walked her off.  "I'm good to check things."

"No," Natasha warned.  "Clint is waiting.  You know he'll growl."

"Just ten minutes?"

"No."  She took her arm.  "Come.  Let's go."

"I need to ...."  She pointed.  "Pepper, help?  I need to check on a few things."

Pepper came out, looking at them.  "Is anything that important?"

"The mail.  Maybe two other things?"  Natasha stared at her.  Dawn smiled and kissed her to get free, moving to her desk to check things.

The mail got sorted by Natasha, who swatted her with one envelope.  "He calls you that sexy one at the head desk?"

Dawn nearly blanched and took that one to look over.  "Stark!" she bellowed, bringing him running.  She handed that one to him.  He read the envelope and growled, opening it as he walked off.  "Two others," she said, holding them up.  "One from Warren."

He looked, it was addressed to him so he took it to look over.  "A threat.  How sweet of him."

Natasha took it from him to go over, then handed it back and looked at the other one.  "Oh, that's not good," she agreed.  Tony took it back.  "The first?"

"The third," he said.

"The third what?" Pepper asked with a smile.

Dawn looked at her.  "The same people that *really* want me think you'd make the best wife ever.  They've sent nice propositions in the past but we shot them down, including telling them that there's sheiks that are offering a better marriage of power deal."

"Why haven't I heard about this?" Pepper asked Dawn.  Who pointed at Tony.

"I found the first one looking through her mail for more crap from the mob," Tony admitted.  "She helped me shoot back at them."  He smiled.  "Because I'll destroy them."  He walked off again.

Dawn nodded.  "I'd help by giving him really mean ideas."

"Yes she will," Tony quipped before he disappeared.

Natasha looked at Dawn.  "We would help."

"I know."  She blew a kiss and got into the few other things she needed to handle. Her phone chirped a 'I know you're avoiding it, get back here' message.  "He's being possessive today."

"He does that when you let him."  She smiled.  "Hurry up.  We're grabbing lunch on the way back."  Dawn nodded and finished up, taking a few of the letters with her.  Which Natasha took to look over then tuck into her purse.  "Let me talk to them again."  She helped Dawn up and down to the car.  "Chinese?  Japanese?"

"Burgers from that place Happy found?"

"We can do both."  She got her into the hired car and they went to both places she wanted.  Dawn got her burgers.  They got healthier things for later.  The hotel had a nice stack of messages for them and spa time reminder.  They dropped food off.  Dawn got a burger down before they made it to the spa.  Natasha smiled.  "I spoiled her with a burger."

"Treats are always nice," the spa helper assigned to them agreed.  "Mrs. Barton-Romanoff, this way to the changing areas.  Does your leg need any covering?"

"No, it never broke the skin.  It's mostly unswelled too."  She smiled.  "They nagged all night."

"It's good when that happens," the assistant said happily.  "My own spouse does that for me."  She showed them in there.

They got stripped down and into robes then into the massage rooms.  The masseuse looked over Dawn's leg, deciding he could do her foot but not that leg.  They were put down side by side and given long, deep reaching massages until Dawn was ready to fall asleep.  Then they got put into mudbaths.  Deep copper tubs next to each other filled with hot, thin mud.  Natasha reached over to touch her hand when she started to have a nightmare.  Dawn flinched awake but fell back asleep again.  Natasha was fully relaxed and the next step was going to be very nice.  They finally got out once Dawn was well rested.  They moved to the shower and salt scrubs.  Dawn and Natasha got their own little cubicle areas.  Dawn was leaning on the wall, stretching her leg.  She felt hands on her and they were familiar.  She turned and smiled.  "Hey."

"Hi," Clint said, taking a kiss.  "Let me scrub this off.  Natasha's watching."  He nodded.  Dawn looked around Clint's arm to grin at her.  "Turn around."  Dawn did as he asked.  He scooped out some of the salt scrub to rub over her shoulders and upper back, slowly working it in.  "Tell us if you need to sit."

"I'm good."

"Okay."  He slowly worked the salt scrub into her skin.  He grabbed more and worked her lower back.  He moved to her arms and then down to her legs.  She was moaning in pleasure, leaning on the wall.  He turned her around to get her front.  She was more than happy to let him.  He kissed her and smiled.  "Rinse off.  Let me get Nat."  She turned on the water and got under it.  He helped Nat up, earning a smile.  He followed the same path with her skin, making her arch back into his fingers.

He loved that she was so sensual in the right circumstances.  When she was ready, Dawn pulled her over to help her rinse off.  Clint sat down in Natasha's chair to watch them rinse each other off.  They finally got done and came over to kiss him.  "Finish up and we'll go out to dinner tonight."  They smiled and went back to their spoiling time.  Clint got up and got sent to his massage.   His firing shoulder was tense and needed to have it handled.

***

Dawn limped in Monday smiling and happy.  She made it to her desk, flopping down.

Pepper came off the elevator ten minutes later.  "How's the leg?"

"Sore but working.  We did a good job getting it to unswell and did some healing time."  She moved it so Pepper could see it.

"It looks a lot better.  No more bruise."

"I healed it.  Still can't do the bone but the rest looks better."  Pepper patted her on the head then went to her office.  She came jogging back out.  Dawn looked then turned and pulled her gun, shooting the poisonous snakes in there.  Security came rushing off the elevator.  "I missed a cobra," she noted before they could push her out of the way.  They carefully scanned things and shot it when it lunged out at them.  "JARVIS?" Dawn called, checking Pepper over.  "Not bitten, right?"

"No.  I turned my chair around to sit down and one snapped at me from it."  She checked.  "I'm just a bit shaky."

Dawn helped her down to the infirmary.  "She needs checked for snake bites.  We just found a shitload in her office."  The nurse nodded and took her to look over in the bathroom.  Dawn went back up there.  "Which lab got breached?"

"None of them," Tony said.  "I checked with JARVIS.  There's not supposed to be any snakes in either building.  Security footage is coming."  He looked at her.  "Sit."

"I'm good.  It's healed a lot more."  He snorted, pointing at her desk chair.  He had a thought and checked, blinking at what he found.  "What?"

"You have damn lucky you didn't get bitten syndrome today," Tony said.  He shot the snake.

"Maybe it's where I'm so sweet.  I don't smell like prey," she said with a smirk.  She felt something around her feet, picking up the cat.  "You do not need to be down here, Tony cat."  The guards called and got that cat and the Natasha cat back up there.  Callia was going to sob if one of her pets died.  They made sure all the pets stayed up there.

Clint came off the elevator, changing guns with Dawn.  "Better, lighter, works best for close contact shooting."  She pointed in the office.  He looked in there.  "That's sick."

"Especially with Pepper probably being pregnant again," Dawn agreed.

"We've tried really hard," Tony quipped.  "She hasn't taken a test yet."

Clint shook his head.  "Okay.  She's....."

"Infirmary," Dawn said.  "Just in case."

"That's a good idea.  You didn't get bitten, right?"

"Not unless I have an area I can't feel," she said, looking at her bad leg.

He shook his head.  "I can't see one.  Thankfully."  Natasha came off the elevator with both guns in hand.

"You two, do the labs," Tony ordered.  "Just in case.  JARVIS, scan the admin areas and offices.  I'm doing this floor.  Dawn, coordinate."

"Yup, I'm on it."  She checked her desk, shooting the one in her mostly empty drawer.   Tony checked the rest of the desk, getting the other one.  He went to check the rest of the floor.  Guards were looking over the penthouse and the floors between them.  Dawn coordinated where everyone was.  "People, no one's done the caf yet," she noted when they started calling in all clears.  "Or the garage level and the maintenance tunnels underneath them."  The guards got the garage and tunnels.  Tony, Clint, and Natasha got the caf.  And Tony got coffee.  Natasha got the snakes waiting by the coffee machine.  Clint got a thought from Dawn and went to the coffee storage closet, getting the ones in there.

Roomba 2 zipped past and zapped the dead snakes.  It barked and went to scan all the labs.  It got a few more, making Clint follow it.  It found a few hidden ones, letting the robot vacuum dog shoot them with the laser and he made sure they were dead.  By the time they were done, Roomba 2 needed a recharge, Dawn was starting to drift off due to her medicine, and Clint was not amused.  Natasha was watching Dawn start to dose.  Clint smiled.  "Drugs?" he mouthed.  She nodded.  Dawn flinched and woke up, blinking at them.  "You sure you want to come to work today?" he asked with a smile.

"Yeah, I'm needed to handle the chaos."  She saw the blinking light and pushed the button for her voicemail, hitting her access code.

"I saw you dozing.  Go to bed, Dawn.  Come back when you're not on pain medicine, not injured, and don't have to have people hover," Tony's voice said.  "If you argue with me I'm going to suspend you and make you go to the senior center with Steve next week."  The voice cut off.

Dawn groaned, shaking her head.  "I'm off them."

"We know," Clint said.  "One more day."

Dawn shook her head.  "I need to do things."

"So we'll go home, you can work from the couch while naked," Clint said with a grin.  "We'll tease the cat with toys.  It'll be fun."

She stared at him.  "I can't do that.  I'll never get things done."

"So?" Tony asked as he walked past her.  "Building's closed due to snake attack.  You don't work if we don't work."

She looked at him.  "Then I only work two days a week?" she asked.

"Shut up," he snorted, glaring at her.  She smiled.  "Bitchy."

"A bit."

"Go home. Do whatever Clint wanted you to do."

"He wanted me to go work naked from the couch, Tony."

Tony paused then winced and shook his head.  "I did not need that image."  He walked off rubbing his forehead.

"Pepper probably would if you asked," Clint called after him.

"Maybe.  Not with the baby in the house though."

"She has her own place," Dawn said.  She smiled.  "Let me do three things."  They nodded, watching her handle things. She got done and they helped her down to the front desk to get a cab home.  The cat was there, their bags had gotten dropped.  They got home and found the cat was disgruntled.  He was a huffy, nasty mooded black cat.  Clint got to clean the litter box, complaining that he kept cleaning up after Natasha's cat.  She came in to feed the cat, which got her loved on.  Clint stared at the cat.  Dawn laughed so they smiled back at her.  "Let me set up to work from home," she said.

Natasha took the tablet.  "Get comfortable first."  Dawn stripped down to her bra and underwear.  "All the way."

"I can't talk to Pepper while naked."

"You two do that at the spa and it's not like she'll see you."

"She might need to video chat."

Clint got her a very comfortable tanktop with a built-in bra to put on.  "Try that."

She put it on and smiled.  "Very comfy."  They smiled and let her get to work.  Though they did get to take the tablet from her at one point when she took a nap.  It only lasted twenty minutes but she clearly needed it.   They were reading and watching the cat poke at Dawn's tablet because it wasn't petting him when he rubbed against it for making noises.

It wasn't Pepper that called, it was Tony with Pepper behind him.  "Guys?"  Dawn waved.  "Not just you."  They came over to look at him.  "Building's closed all week.  We found more in the air ducts.  The zoo is really unhappy we didn't trap them but they understood why.  The health department is clearing it on Friday. So we have the week off."

"That's going to suck for my paycheck," Dawn complained.  "And the sixteen meetings this week."

"I've already called them," Pepper said.  "We're going to be in Malibu for them and rescheduled the others."

"Okay, when do I need to be on the plane?" Dawn asked.

"You, sit, stay, good assistant," Tony ordered.  "She's going to Malibu.  I'm staying here."  Callia poked him.  He grinned at her.  "Yes, because of your meet."

"I have that scheduled," Dawn promised when Callia stared at her.

Callia looked at her.  "Why are you nearly naked?"

"I did not need that thought, daughter," Tony complained.

"Because Clint wanted me to get comfy and Natasha agreed," Dawn said.

"Oh.  Because of your leg?"

"That too."

"I guess I'll understand when I start dating."

Clint smiled.  "Dawn and I agreed, we're going to find you a great guy when you're about fifteen and let you two finish growing up together."

"Hell no!" Tony ordered.

"That way they can get used to each other," Natasha said with a small smile.  "Long before she trains him to heel correctly as a husband should."

"No!  Not until after she's out of college."

Callia poked him on the arm a few times.  "Daddy, I might be in college and out of my first degree by then.  You were."

He blinked a few times.  "Don't remind me."  Callia giggled and ran off.  He looked at them.  "Twenty-nine, not fifteen."

"We'll see," Dawn said.  "They might be too set in their ways by then."

"Uh-huh.  Fifty is even better than twenty-nine," Tony said with a smirk.

"Then there's no grandkids to carry on the family name," Dawn quipped.

"We'll adopt genius teenagers."  He hung up.

Dawn giggled, looking at her mates, taking kisses.  "We need to encourage some kid spy."

"We do," Clint agreed.  They settled around her to find contacts with kids they could introduce Callia to.  They wouldn't trust just anyone with the kid but they knew a few that had kids they were sure.  "By the way, got the mail from the dropbox, Nat.  We got a lot of congratulation cards."  She smiled at him.  "You can write the thank you notes."

"I can do that."  She got back to her e-reader.  Dawn yawned but finished up the work she needed to get done for Pepper.  Pepper sent a 'thank you' email and she logged off for the day pending emergencies.

Which they all hoped were done for the week.

Clint looked at her.  "Now you can get naked."  He grabbed her panties and pulled them off, tossing them toward the closet with the washer and dryer.  Natasha got the tanktop bra.  The cat glared at her for daring to shift his napping spot since he was on Dawn's stomach.  Clint petted him and he huffed, climbing onto the back of the couch.  He knew naked humans meant stuff he didn't want to have to watch.  "Good boy cat."  He took a kiss.  "How's the leg?"  He shifted up, covering her body with his.  He was in boxer briefs and nothing else.

"I think it'll take getting a bit frisky."

"I don't want to hurt it."  He spread his hand up her stomach.  "If it jar it, you have to tell me.  Don't make me feel it."

"I'll do my best."

He kissed her again.  "We can hold off and just cuddle."

"No we're not."  She shifted and winced a bit.

Clint smiled.  "Let us, Dawn.  We'll take care of you and all that you need."  He kissed her.  He shifted her position, making sure her sore leg was over his hip.  It gave him good access to grope and her support.  Natasha was going to get her later.  Clint wanted to make sure she was fully all right.  He hated her being injured.  Dawn kissed him, drawing his mind away from the checking to the better touching.  He curled up against her chest, just holding her.  She smiled and stroked her nails through his hair.  He relaxed and poked her gently on the stomach, earning a smile.  "I was going to do more than get cuddly."

"Cuddly you is good to me too."  He grinned.

Natasha smiled and took a kiss.  "Unlike him, I will be making you squeal later."  She kissed Clint.  "Am I taking your turn?"

"Nope.  I'm very comfortable."  He ran a hand up her stomach to her breast, teasing the nipple with his fingers.  Dawn smiled at him.  "We need to see how big of hellions the twins are."

"We do," she agreed, playing with his hair.  "We can do that soon.  She's due back soon."

"I know."  He kissed her cleavage.   "Did we agree on two years?"

"We did," Natasha reminded him.  She smiled.  "Until then we can treat the furry one better than we will our future child.  Especially since we won't have to ground the cat for doing things."

Dawn nodded.  "That is true.  Cats are easier than kids are."

"You've done great helping with Callia," Clint promised.

She smiled.  "Pepper snapped because I gave her some advice.  When she said I didn't have any kids so couldn't really give any I kindly took Liz from her and reminded her I did a lot of Callia's early raising.  She slumped and went to take a nap."

"She does get mean when she's tired," Natasha agreed, stroking over Clint's shoulder.  "We should make him pounce you, Dawn."

Dawn kissed her and grinned.  "If he wants to get cuddly that's fine, 'Tasha.  I'm okay with that.  Even if I'd like pouncing he needs cuddles and they're just as healthy.  I'll pounce you later."  She took another kiss and smiled.  "That way you can wear out all the mushy feelings because we're adorable this way."

"You are and I do seem to have a backlogged storage area of mushy feelings."  She smiled.  Clint grinned.  Dawn was happy enough and that's what they really needed.

***////

Tony came back from the family's old mansion, handing Steve the pictures he had picked up.  "Here.  Dad left them in his office."

Steve grinned, sitting down to go over them.  It was them.  He kissed Tony.  "Thank you."

"You're welcome."  He smiled.  Steve cuddled against him looking over the pictures.  "There's probably some old news reels too.  I didn't look for those.  I don't like going into Dad's office."

Steve smiled.  "We can go some other time.  This is perfect, Tony.  Thank you."

"Yeah, well, nothing on your birthday present."

Steve smiled.  "This is a great birthday present."  Tony was a bit confused, he could see it.  "This is incredibly special.  More than most anything could be," he said quietly, touching one.  He pointed.  "That's my old team."

Tony looked.  "I didn't know he took pictures of your team."

"Yeah.  That's Peggy," he said with a sad smile and a point.  "The guys were always respectful of her."  He leaned against Tony's side.  "This means more to me than anything, Tony."

He stroked over Steve's arm.  "I knew you'd want them."  Tony frowned, looking around.  "Magic?"

Steve looked around.  "I don't see anything like a glow."

"Me either but I can feel it.  JARVIS, scan the penthouse."

"Callia's asleep," the AI said.  "I can feel some energy but it's not Dawn's power signature or Tara's.  Not the twins' either."

"They are?" Steve asked Tony.  "They don't float things like Callia used to."

"They do," Tony said.  "Tara made sure they knew to only do it in private, like she taught Callia."  The feeling got stronger and he looked.  "It's there."  They watched.  There was a faint glow but it didn't feel threatening, just weird.  Then a shape faded into view.  "Dad," he said.  It figured.  Maybe that's why he had always hated the mansion.

"Tony.  Steve?" he asked, beaming at him.

Steve smiled and nodded.  "Howard.  Hi.  How's that side?"

"Not bad.  A bit boring.  There's no computers."

"I'll have to have a grand tomb built so I can do what the Egyptians did and bring what I'll need for an afterlife," Tony told Steve.

He smiled.  "I thought you said to cremate you so no one could clone you."

"Oh, yeah.  I wonder if I can do both."

"Probably won't work that way," Steve said, smiling slightly.  Tony was using it to divert his stress.  He patted his knee.  "Thank you for saving these pictures for me, Howard."

"I knew we'd find you some day."  He smiled.  "This is nice, son.  Not the mansion."

"No, this is Building A of the new Stark Towers in Manhattan.  The other one is more commercial and has training areas for the Avengers."

"Huh."  Howard floated to the window to look around.  "That's really bright."

"It is," Tony agreed.  He looked at Steve, who shrugged.  He had no idea how to deal with ghosts.  Dawn was out of touch.  Natasha had texted to warn him not to interrupt because they were doing special things.  Tara wasn't home tonight, they were at a movie.  The twins were in Callia's room until they got done.  "Dad, don't wake up the kids."

"Kids?  More than one kid?" Howard asked, looking around.  He found their room and leaned in.  One of the cats hissed at him.  "Easy, pussy.  I'm not going to touch them or harm them," he whispered.  He backed out.  "They're adorable, son."

"The two younger ones belong to a few friends, Dad.  We're babysitting.  Callia's mine."  He smiled.  "She's already a lot like me."

"She's your female clone," Steve agreed, smiling at him.  "Only she's more animal centered than you probably ever were."

"I wasn't allowed to have pets."

"Cat fur gets in the way of electronics," Howard said, putting his hands in his pockets.  "You probably would've forgotten a dog."

Tony scowled at him.  "It might've made me focus instead."

"Maybe," he said, grimacing some.  "She has a lot of animals."

"She's very happy with animals.  We love that about her."  He looked at Steve, who was texting at Pepper.  Then back at his father.  This was really weird and probably mentally damaging.  He *really* wanted a drink right now.  Pepper came up from her apartment with Liz.  "Hey, Pepper.  You've seen my dad's picture I'm sure.  Hi, Liz."  He took the cranky baby.  She pouted at him.  "Fine, have Steve."  Liz squealed and hugged Steve, getting one back.

"I've seen a lot of kids do that to Steve," Howard said, looking Pepper over.  "She's pretty, Tony.  Your wife?"

"The CEO of the company," she said with a smirk.

"Huh.  Son?"

"Too busy to deal with it, Dad."  He waved a hand and looked at Pepper.  "Natasha said they were doing special things."

"Good!  Dawn deserves it."  She smiled at Liz, who was waving at the ghost.  "That's very nice of you to tell Tony's dad hi, Liz."

Howard smiled and waved back.  "You're adorable."

"Yes, she is," Pepper agreed, taking her back now that she wasn't fussy.  She got pouted at instead.  "Behave," she ordered.  The baby pouted anyway.  She rolled her eyes, shaking he head.  "We'll have fun later, Liz."  She looked at Howard again.  "So, why did you show up?  As far as we know ghosts only show up for reasons."

"I was floating around the house when my son finally came back to it.  I thought I'd check on my legacy."

"Is Mom there?" Tony asked without looking back at him.

"No, I haven't seen her in years, son."

"So, like normal then, okay."  He got up.  "Pepper, nightcap?"

She handed him Liz.  "No thank you."  He stared at her.  She smiled.  "She wanted a bedtime story."

"We can do that," he told the baby, getting one of Callia's books to read to her.  She snuggled into his lap.  Both Roomba dogs came off the elevator and sniffed around the ghost, barking at each other.  "How did you two know we had a visitor?"

"I think Andrew put in a magic sensor," Pepper admitted.

"Magic?" Howard laughed.  "We believe in that fairytale?"

Callia came out rubbing her eyes.  "Barking woke me," she complained.  She looked at the ghost.  "Daddy, is he like ET or like the movie that Granma watched with the guy with the hair and the pottery wheel?"

"He's a ghost, Callia.  That's your grandfather," Tony said, looking back at her.  Liz let out a squeal.

Steve took her to finish the chapter, which got him smiled at by the baby.  "We'll let them talk since you're not a Stark," he said.

Callia looked at her father then at her grandfather.  "I guess you can't give hugs like Granpa Bruce."  She shrugged.  "We've seen weirder.  Daddy, the twins snore."

"They're not that loud and it means they're getting a cold," Pepper said patiently.

Callia hugged her.  "Can I come camp in Liz's room?"

"No.  Last time, Clint had hairballs on her rug and it kept me up."

"Oh, okay."  She looked at Liz.  "I remember that book."  Her father grinned.  "We need to sort out my old books and toys for Liz, Daddy."

"We do."  He smiled.  "I'm proud that you like to donate to the other kids."  He ran a hand over her hair.  "You have coven time this weekend, don't you?"

"I do.  We're going over new herbology samples with some of the elderly witches and I'm learning how to make tea."  She grinned.  "Maybe more cookies too."

"That'd be great."

"Coven?" Howard asked.  Magic was bizarre, even for his son.

Callia looked at him then made him glow purple.  "Yes, the coven is very good to me.  They're like nice, teaching aunties."  She went back to hugging Pepper.  She smiled at her father, who was a bit upset.  She could tell.  She switched to hug him.  "It'll be okay.  We can talk to Aunties Tara and Maria when they come to get the twins."

"We can," he agreed.  He checked the clock.  "It should be soon.  Go back to bed."

She yawned.  "Can't sleep, Daddy.  You know I get up to check on everyone sometimes."

"I know."  He let her cuddle into his lap, patting her gently on the back until she fell asleep.  Then he got up to put her back into bed.  John curled around her and cuddled her stomach.  Melissa huffed at her lack of cuddling but he smoothed the blanket around her and that was nicer.  She snored loudly at that.  He walked out.  "They've got that sinus thing again.  Melissa sounds like a chainsaw."

Pepper smiled.  "Sometimes kids get sick."  She took the sleeping baby back.  "Thanks, Steve.  She was pouty.  She missed her Dawn fussing time today."

"She's a sweet baby.  Enough to make everyone want one."  She blushed and swatted him.  "Any news?"

"Not yet.  It's not time to take a test yet."

Tony nuzzled her ear with his nose.  "We'll take it together."

"Unless you're going to pee on a stick for me," she teased with a smile.

"It won't really count if I do one.  Though I probably should because I was looking over Andrew and Jonathan's research again."  He sat down, looking at his father.

"So," Howard said awkwardly.  "No wife, son?  Widowed?"

"No.  A government project knocked up Callia's mom with my sperm."  Howard moaned.  "NID was not happy when we fought back."

"Oh, them.  They were always a bit weird and had some of the most deranged people."  He shook his head, looking at Pepper.  "Won't your husband mind?"

"I went to a sperm bank."  Howard looked confused.

"Dad, women can do it without a guy now," Tony said bluntly but he was smiling and playing with Liz's hair.  "She went to the genius sperm bank.  We were all really happy she decided to have the little assistant there."

Steve grinned and nodded.  "We're waiting to see if her second one takes."  He looked at the baby.  "Why don't you put her down, Pepper.  She'll wake back up."

She swatted him.  "She's fine, Steve."  Tony took her to hold again.  "Okay."

"Sometimes I miss Callia being this age."

"So do I.  She was so sweet and delicate.  She made whoever was holding her stop to look at any flowers nearby or she'd fuss."

"Then she found cars," Steve said dryly.

"She did," Tony agreed with a grin.  "And robots."

"Those too," Pepper sighed.

"We're hand-building her first car, Pepper.  That way she learns how to forge metal."

"That'll be a great project for you two but start soon?  There's a lot of little parts and she keeps asking JARVIS how the forming machines work."

"I can do that.  We'll design one together."

"You're working on the one for Sean's idea," Steve said.

"True, on goat power."  They shared a smile.

"Sean?  A son?" Howard asked.

"Her little brother by her mom and her husband, Dad.  They're on Asgard."

"I thought that was a myth," he said, looking at the pretty purple glow.  Maybe he had missed a few things if magic was real.  "Can we do this scientifically?  This glowing thing?"

"Different energy stream that has its own laws of physics," Pepper said with a smile.  "She has some wonderful tutors in that."  She took Liz back, putting her into a chair.  Tony stole her back.  "Fine, you can cuddle Liz."  She checked the clock.  "Tara and Maria should be done soon to pick up the twins."

"They're having dinner afterward," Tony said.  "We all know I'll be up."  She smiled at him.  He grinned back.  "Steve could babysit if I got lost in the lab."

"I know."  She stroked over his hair.  "Time for a trim."

"I will, Pepper."

"Are you two sure you're not together?" Howard asked.

"We've flirted with the idea but he's a jackass a lot of the time," Pepper said with a smile.  Steve burst out laughing, nodding.  "It makes it hard to be with him full time.  So I mercilessly tease him most of the time."

"Yes you do," Tony said, looking over her satin lounging pajamas.  "Those are pretty."

"Thank you.  Dawn and I found them on our last shopping trip."

Melissa came out scowling.  "Hush!" she ordered then went back to bed to cuddle her brother.

"Sorry, Melissa," Steve called.  "We'll try to keep it down."  They waited until she started to snore again to relax.  The dog came out to stare at Tony.  "No, you can't have Liz.  Tony has Liz," he told the dog.  It barked a few times.

"If you wake up the twins, they're going to pet you bald," Tony told the dog.  It huffed but hopped up to lay beside him and on Liz.  Tony shook his head.

"Xander puppy," Callia called.  "Let Daddy talk to Granpa.  C'mere.  I'm trapped by Natasha and Clint kitties."  The dog got up to answer his mistress' distress call.

Pepper got up to close the door.  The Dawn cat was out and was sneaking up on Steve to pounce him.  She liked to pounce him and chatter at him.  He always petted her for it. She pounced and Steve flinched.  She purred so he petted her.  "The Dawn cat does love you," Pepper joked with a grin.

"She does.  I love her and her human counterpart like sisters."  He petted her.  She nuzzled and purred at Liz, who snored back.  "I think she's getting the same cold."

"Possibly," Pepper agreed.  Tony smirked.  "I know, it's my fault.  We were picnicking on the roof when the rain started."  She sighed and took Liz into the bedroom to put her next to Callia, who curled around her.  She came back out.  Dawn raced in because she had put down catnip.  If she didn't, Natasha would steal it all and bat at them.

Steve yawned.  "Let me hit the bunk too."  He looked at Tony.

"I'll be there soon."

"Okay."  He looked at Pepper, who smiled.

"Me too.  We're going to go over the schedule he's been ignoring."

Steve smirked.  "That's very evil, Pepper."  He got up.  "Night, Howard.  I hope it's a happier afterlife for you."  He smiled at him.  "Your son's a great guy.  I wish you had told me about him when he was little.  I would've liked to have known him when he was Liz's age."  He went to the bedroom.

"He would've fussed over me," Tony told Pepper, who smiled and nodded.  "It might've been nice."  He shifted to look at his father.  Then at Pepper.  "Schedule?"

"The meetings all got pushed back."

He pulled out his phone to synch it.  He had forgotten for the last few days.  "Huh," he said, nodding slightly.  "That's good."  She grinned.  "Did the new supplier mind it being pushed back?"

"He said it was highly irregular until I told him about someone putting poisonous snakes all over the building.  He said it was fine if we pushed it back to make sure they were gone, especially since Roomba 2 came in to zap that one that came out of the closet."

"That was bad," Tony said.  "Did we ever find out who did that?"

"Not really.  We know it's whoever tried to dent the budget by that embezzlement.  We can't find out who that log-in leads back to.  They've got enough skill to cover their tracks."

"I'll have a crack at it later," Tony decided.

"I had JARVIS check but he couldn't find it either, Tony."

"They could be at another lab," he said.  "Their pass would get them in here."  She nodded that was true.  "I'm not sure why they'd do it though.  Was it against us?  The company?  Hating all of us and Dawn?"

"Not a clue," she admitted.  "I'm not sure it's not some zealot."

"Could be.  We've had a few of those."  His phone beeped.  "Oh, not tonight," he complained, looking at it.  "Tonight," he complained, answering it.  "Better be good."  He listened.  "Yeah, I can handle that."

"Need me?" Steve called.

"No.  I might need Natasha though."  He called her phone, getting her.  "Ten Rings just popped up in LA."

Steve came out pulling on a shirt.  "I'm helping too then."

Tony listened.  "That's fine, Romanoff.  Meet us here.  It'll take me ten to get dressed."  He hung up and looked at Pepper, who nodded but smiled.  He kissed her.  "Let me go defeat the assholes who had me captured that time."  He opened his suit cabinet, stepping up onto the plate for the newest version.  Howard was giving him strange looks but he expected that from his father.  Steve was pulling on his uniform.  Natasha came off the elevator by the time Steve was done.  She was in her battle uniform.  "Pepper, is the beaming satellite up?"

"And working.  The boys made sure.  Then Rodney checked over their shoulders."

"Great."  He hit the switch to beam them to the LA lab.  They had SHIELD agents waiting there to brief them.

"Who's Rodney?" Howard asked.  He'd consider why his son was running around in a mechanized suit of armor later.

She smiled.  "A friend of Tony's who works for a military project that deals with alien menaces.  It's their satellite design but Tony shamelessly borrowed and upgraded it with their knowledge.  He comes in to tinker with the boys now and then."  She stood up.  "Let me check on where Tara and Maria are so they can get the twins.  Callia will pout if they steal her cereal in the morning."  She picked up Tony's phone from the table and sat down, texting Maria's phone to let her know that the trio had went to LA for an issue.

"No nanny?" he asked.  "Tony had one for a few years until she kept losing him."

"We do have one.  She's asleep.  I'm not yet so I can babysit for now.  It's not a problem and I can work as easily up here as I can in my own apartment downstairs."  She pulled up her files to work on the new agreement.  Dawn would've had it edited for her but the last week had been seriously bad.  Again.  It seemed to come in waves.  Hopefully this one was done with.  Dawn needed a slight vacation from their insanity.

Callia trudged back out to curl up against her side.  "Now Liz is snoring at Melissa.  I'll never get to sleep."  She yawned and got a hug.  "Is that the budget?"

"Yes it is."

She pointed.  "What's that?"

"That's the administrative costs.  My salary, your dad's, Dawn's.  The various administrative offices."

"So the one for lab costs is theirs?"

"No, that's what this is," she said, pointing at a line on the display.  "This is for things like lab supplies and machines."  She looked at her, smiling.  "That's where we pay for pips, test tubes, and new soap."

"Okay.  So that's the coffee budget too?"

"Coffee for the labs is under employee comfort," she said, pointing at that line.  "That's the caf, the infirmary, and the coffee budget for the labs."

Callia yawned again and nodded.  "Then that's where the gym's is?"  Pepper smiled and nodded, petting over her hair.  She yawned again.  "You don't snore like Liz.  I don't know who her daddy was but he must've snored a lot."  She snuggled in and pointed.  "Is that the building fund?"

"That is," she agreed, highlighting that one.  It opened that line's sub-budget.  "This is the building's budget.  The maintenance team, any needed repairs, the cost of the new building."

"Why is there that line?  What's accrued wear-down?"

"Each building is worth so much and is expected to last so long.  Same with machines and cars," she said.  "In any real corporate budget you have to take into account how much depreciation there is.  That means how much the worth of the asset goes down by year because it's aging.  Like a new car is worth more than an older car unless it's a classic."

"Oh.  I didn't know you had to do that."

"For personal budgets you don't.  Like the one we helped you make up for your allowance?  You don't have to worry about that.  This is for corporate assets: machines, cars, buildings.  That stuff."

Callia nodded, blinking hard and yawning again.  "Is that based on blue book value for cars or just dividing the cost you paid for it?"

"Mostly it's based on that but there's a way to account for blue book value on cars if it's a special case.  Your dad's car collection has a lot of that."  She nodded and grinned, she loved the cars.  Pepper pulled up that budget.  "That's his personal budget for the car collection.  It lists them as assets, because they're worth money, and how they depreciate."  She looked down and smiled at the baby snore.  "You're getting the same cold, young lady," she said quietly.  She tucked her in.  Callia would wake up if she was moved right now.  When she was fully asleep, Pepper put her back in bed and got back to work on the budgets.  She sent some to Dawn to do in the morning when she logged on.  No answer to the email.  "JARVIS, is Dawn all right?"

"They had a very touching day once she logged off, Pepper."

"Aww."  She smiled.  "Good for her.  When she logs on tomorrow make sure she hits her email."

"I shall.  I shall also ignore whatever they want her to wear tomorrow.  Today they wanted her to be comfortable."

"We saw."  She smiled.  "Clint takes good care of her and Natasha is a lot more fussy than I thought she'd be."

"Indeed," the AI agreed.  "Agent Hill and Tara have entered the building."

"Wonderful."  She smiled when they came off the elevator.  "They're all snoring."

"Great, another cold," Maria sighed.

"Even Liz?" Tara asked, giving her a hug.

"Yup, and Callia.  She said Melissa keeps waking her up by snoring."

Maria nodded.  "Me too."  Tara scowled and bopped her on the arm but Maria kissed her.  "They do."

"They do me too.  You learn to go back to sleep."

Maria grinned.  "I do, I just pull you against me and bury my nose in your hair so I can do that."  She saw where Tara was looking.  "I've seen your picture in Stark's file.  So you must be his father."

"I am.  You're with...."

"SHIELD.  The Executive Officer of SHIELD."

"Wonderful.  We weren't sure if any agency would let women get that high in my day."  He smiled at Tara.  "Well met."

She smiled and waved.  "I should probably banish you."

"I'm not sure if you can.  My granddaughter only made me glow purple."

"She likes purple."  She banished him from the tower.  "I'll find out what's holding him and see if we can break it," Tara sighed, looking at Pepper.  "Before he freaks Dawn out."

"Thank you.  He was freaking Tony out."

"I've heard.  Better than mine were but still a butthole."  She went into the bedroom, stepping over the lounging cats.  "Move, Xander."  He got off John's back.  "Thank you.  It's good you like John as a puppy pillow just like Marble does."  She petted the dog and handed John off to Maria then got Melissa.  Liz fussed so she smoothed a hand over her leg, putting the throw blanket over her.  "There, baby.  You rest," she said quietly.  She backed out with the other kid.  They had gotten there with the kids already in pajamas so they had what they needed.  "I'll look it up tomorrow."

"Thanks," Pepper said, smiling and waving at Melissa since she was slightly awake.  "Have a good night, Melissa."  She got a grunt in response and her snuggling into her mom's shoulder.  They left and Pepper settled in to watch the kids nap while dealing with mundane things she hadn't gotten to earlier due to her panic attack about the snakes.

***

Dawn came in the next day, followed by Clint.  Pepper was in the office.  "The budgets are a wreck."

"They are," she agreed, smiling.  "We're all working from home this week."

"Yeah, but Natasha's not there and it's our day so I'll make it home when she does."  She grinned.

"We're also mooching food from the caf," Clint said with a grin.  "We're out.  We don't want to be pounced by reporters for daring to grocery shop."

"I did the same thing last night," Pepper admitted, smiling at them.  Clint ran a hand up Dawn's arm, getting a happy smile.  It was good to see.  "Let her do the budget, Clint.  Stare and be amazed at her skills."

"I am after I get us breakfast."  He went down to do that.

Dawn came in to go over the various budgets they had to deal with.  Stark's was going to be a wreck due to the new appraisal of the artwork and the car collection.  Dawn had some ideas that could get dropped.  Like the F1 racing team.  It was a crappy year and dissolving it would lose a few jobs they could put somewhere else.  Clint came up with coffee for both of them and danish.  She smiled.  "Thank you, Clint."

"Welcome, Dawn."  He took a kiss and settled in to watch over them.  Pepper looked at him.  "Not like we'd let you go unguarded, Pepper.  Someone might try to hurt you or the sprouts."

"They're with Beya," she said with a grin.  "Going over homework.  Callia's reading hers to Liz since she's doing a literature section and math."

"Cool.  We can teach her accounting later on this year," Dawn quipped.  She settled in there with her tablet to make the corrections.  She had plugged in a keyboard to make it easier on her.  It also let her put her leg up.

Howard faded in.  "It's not usual for the CEO's assistant to work in her office," he noted calmly.

Dawn looked up at him.  "Tara told me you were around, Howard Stark.  Frankly, with my broken leg, I need it propped up and Pepper's my mentor as well as my boss, though I'm actually Tony's assistant."  She got back to work.

"It's broken?" he asked.  "You used to need a cast for that."

"I cut it off to go kill the assassins who tried to kill myself and my spouse," she said bluntly, not looking up from her work.  "It got in the way."  He gasped.  She smiled at him.  "Some of us are perky super assistant sorts and very deadly when we're threatened."  She got back to the budget but Pepper was snickering and nodding.

"We love you more for it," Clint assured her with a smile.

She grinned back.  "Does that mean we have sparring later?"

"Not until your leg heals.  You don't *need* it so we can wait."  He finished his danish.  "Eat."  She dug in, shrugging some at his look.  "Can Doc x-ray her today, Pepper?"

"I don't think we have anyone in the infirmary.  We have an on-call if we need one for the kids."

"That's fine.  It can wait," Dawn assured her.  "I know it's not fully healed.  It hurt this morning."

"They do that," Clint agreed.  "Your wrist ached for weeks even after it was healed."

She smiled at him.  "I still can't heal bones, Clint."

"I know."  He shifted to cross his feet.  "I can hear feet.  So either it's Callia and Liz or the dog."  It was both.  The dog was following Liz's crawling form.

Callia came in and hugged her aunt then climbed into Pepper's lap to hand her the book.  "Beya doesn't know what that word means and I have no idea.  I can't find it on wikipedia or anything, Auntie Pepper."

She looked then smiled.  "Ishmael is a name, Callia.  I have no idea why they named him after the captain in _Moby Dick_ but it's a name."

"Oh.  Why?"

Dawn pulled up a naming site she liked.  "This one has names from all over the world."  She pushed the virtual display over to the desk and picked up Liz since she was patting her bad leg.  "Hey, Liz.  Help the Auntie do the budget for the Uncle Tony."  Liz beamed and waved when she spotted Clint, getting one back.  She glanced at the dog.  "Callia, take your dog out now please."

She looked and hopped up to take him outside because he looked like he was trying not to poop on the rug.  They barely made it.  It was nasty but she was a good pet parent so she cleaned it up with a guard watching over her.  Since she didn't have shoes on, she pointed at a light post.  "Go pee too, Xander puppy.  I need shoes to walk you."  He ran over to pee then came back when she whistled.  Her daddy had been helping her train the animals.  "You okay?"  The dog sniffed and ran off.  She ran after him.  "Xander!"  He appeared, blinking at her.  "Not you, the dog!  It's running for traffic!  Get out of the way!"  He floated the dog back, handing him over.  "Thank you, Uncle Xander.  It was an emergency bringing out so I don't have shoes on or his leash."

"I know you're usually very good to him, Callia.  Your mom and I are both really proud about how good you do with the animals."  He smiled.  "Let's go back inside.  It's a bit chilly out here to not have shoes on."  She nodded, letting him pick her up with the dog.  "Maybe you could put an emergency leash at the front desk with the poop bags," he said.

"I can do that."  She tossed out that one and they went to wash her hands, which let the dog drink out of the toilet, then they went back up to the office.  "He's better now.  Uncle Xander stopped him when he ran off to sniff a crappy Ford minivan."  She hopped down and grinned at him.  "Thank you for the ride too, Uncle Xander."

"You're welcome, Callia.  Be a good girl."

"Are my brother and sisters okay?"

"They're fine.  Sean's learning how to use a bow from his dad this week.  Your sisters are still naked little hell bitches who like to tease the wolves."  She cackled and grinned.  "You'll see them soon.  Buffy's tired of not having anywhere to shop and wearing skirts."  She beamed and climbed back up with Pepper to go over her homework.  Xander looked at the ghost.  Then at Dawn.  "Still not better?"

"I can't heal bones," she reminded him with a smile.

He squatted down to look at it.  "I can move it ahead but not heal it fully."  He blew on his hands to lay around the broken area and then pushed the spell into her skin.  She moaned and winced a bit.  He smiled.  "Sorry, a bit warm.  It's mostly healed.  The front bone is still a bit cracked but the back one is fully healed."  He stood up.  "I also eased the muscle strain you've been fighting."  He tipped his head, staring at her.  "Did you read the rest of the book you handed Phil when I marked him?"  He gave Clint a pointed look and grinned.  "Welcome to the family."  He disappeared.

"I had not," Dawn admitted, pulling up her copy she kept in an online storage area.  She found the section and frowned.  "Huh.  Clint, we've started to bond like they did when they went elemental form and joined."  She sent it over to him to look over.  "Up to you, dear."

He read it, looking through it at her.  He stroked along their bond, earning a tiny grin from her.  "I like how it is now.  If it happens it does."  He closed it.  Though he did tell Natasha that so she could work her way around it.  She still guarded her part of the bond too tightly to open up to that sort of thing.

Dawn rolled her neck and smiled when Liz pounced her to hug.  "Thank you, that's a great hug, Liz."  She cuddled her.  "Some day soon I'll teach you how to do super assistant stuff too.  That way when I'm too old to do it for Callia you can take over for me."

Pepper smiled.  "She might like that."

"If she has sense like her mommy I'd really like that.  She can be my Pepper."  Callia smiled at Pepper.  "Because you keep us Starks sane."

"I try really hard with your dad," she teased, smiling back.

"I know but sometimes the machines take over.  They do mine too."  She hugged her.  "We need to pick out a name for the next baby."

"Look over the name site, give her twenty suggestions and what they mean, then find examples of them in the modern literature or media," Dawn ordered, looking at her.  "That way she'd know who else shares the baby's name.  If she likes them, she'll start her list."

"I can do that," she said happily.  She got her tablet by floating it in and looked up name sites. "Just this one, Auntie?"

"Go to _Behind the Names_," Pepper said.  "That's how I picked Liz's name."

"Sure."  She pulled up that site and went to sit beside Clint so she could curl up against his side.  "You're very comfy," she assured him when he looked down at her.  "Plus I'm helping you get used to babies for when you three have some."

"I like that idea."  He gave her a hug.  "Your dad said Dawn can't have one at the same time as Pepper though."

She shrugged.  "That means you get more training time in so you'll be super special agent level at it when it happens."  She grinned. "Like Auntie Tara taught Auntie Maria how to.  Or Uncle Phil is teaching Uncle Xander.  The twins are apparently very good for training parents on."

"We've babysat them a few times," he assured her.  She grinned.  "You too."

"You guys need more legos and stuff.  Melissa likes legos too.  John likes to color."

"We bring down some of their toys when we babysit them," Dawn assured her.  "I'm not sure Natasha would like having legos in the house."

"She should.  She's really smart like you and Uncle Clint, and Uncle Rodney agreed that all geniuses like legos."  She beamed at him.

"I do like lego models," he agreed.

Dawn smiled.  "We can set some up in my office since I hardly use it."

"We can," he agreed.  "Nat likes puzzles."

"I can get her a great one," Callia said happily.  "Is her birthday soon?"

"She celebrates it in September," Dawn said.

"She doesn't celebrate it when it happens?" Callia asked Clint.

He shook his head.  "It's part of being a spy.  It helps hide her real identity."

"Huh.  That sucks.  Unless she gets two?" she asked him.

He laughed.  "She does from us, yes."

"Then that's great.  Auntie...."

"Only if you join SHIELD, dear," she said.

"No, they don't like animals and I'd hate to turn mean."  She patted Clint on the leg.  "Thankfully Auntie Dawn saved you from being mean."

"She did."  Callia smiled at her.  Dawn did too but she was blushing some.  "Get back to your research project."

"Ooh!  Yup.  We need it soon."

"Not that soon," Pepper told her.  "We're only talking about it right now, Callia."

She snorted.  "Bull crap.  You feel like you did when you had Liz.  You're having another baby."  She got back to work.  "I know that means I have months but still.  It takes time to make a big decision like this.  People might not like it or the baby might not like it.  Then they'd be sad."

"They can change it when they're an adult," Dawn assured her.

"Really?"  She looked that up through the news sites.  "Huh, people do.  Someone changed his name to something really stupid."

"That happens," Clint agreed with Dawn.

"There's all sorts of people in the world, niece, and you won't always agree with them but they have the right to their opinions and lives, even if you do think it's stupid."  She looked at her.  "Remember the Candyland talk?"

"Yup.  Still, he changed his name to Yabba Dabba Do."

"Yeah, that's pretty dumb but apparently he loves the Flintstones so that was his choice and it's his life," Dawn said more firmly.  "And you have to respect that they have that right even if you think it's dumb."

"I do.  If he wants to have a car that runs on foot power, that's all on him," she said with a wave of her hand.  "I want an engine because that would ruin my pedicure."  She got back to it.

"You get pedicures?" Clint asked her.

"We go together," Pepper said with a grin.  "She got it for her upcoming gymnastics meet."  Callia smiled and nodded.  "Which I'll be in Malibu for so someone's going to take film for me, Callia."

"I can handle that as long as Daddy shows up.  He'll take film."  She smiled at her aunt.

"As far as I know I'm coming."

"Okay.  Good."  She smiled at Clint.

"If I'm here.  I've never seen one in person, only on tv."  The baby wiggled and beamed at him.  He pointed.  She got back to her homework.  Dawn grinned at him for it.  "Kids need more education than I got."

"I think you're plenty smart," Dawn said.  "Not everyone is a book nerd, Clint.  You and Xander are both hands-on learners."  He grinned.  "Just because I suck up languages doesn't mean you have to."  She blew a kiss.  "You taught me plenty of things I'd never learn in a book."

"I did."

Callia looked at him.  "She needs a kiss.  It'll put the whipped cream on her mushy mood."

"She can come get one if she wants one.  Cuddling you is important and she's working.  There's no kissing on company time according to your Dad."

"That was never the rule in my day," Howard said, glancing at Pepper.  "My wife came to visit me many times in the lab.  In fact, I think that's where Tony got conceived."

Dawn looked at him.  "First, she's seven in four more days.  Does your granddaughter need that knowledge?"  He flinched away from her.  "Second, these days women have the right to say 'no'.  In all areas of life.  Including in the bedroom.  Even if they're the husband."  She stared him in the eyes and smiled.  "I would hope that your granddaughter didn't need bimbos like you used to covet and her father used to date."

"I still say they look mean," Callia said dryly.  "All the models look pouty and mean.  It's stupid and not very pretty."

"No it's not," Clint agreed.  "A smile is always prettier than a pout."  Dawn grinned at him.  "See?"

Callia grinned back at her.  "He's very mushy."

"When we go on break in a while I'll kiss him to add sprinkles onto his happy mood."  Dawn gave him a flirty look.  Clint smirked back and shifted to cross his feet.  "How's Natasha doing?"

"They're fine so far.  No major surges of anything beyond annoyance."

"That's cool."  She finished up the first few and sent them to Pepper to be looked over.

"Math error," Pepper said with a point.

Dawn looked then at her.  "That's from the original."  She showed her the unaltered version.  She always opened a copy to edit on important documents.

Pepper stared then sighed.  "I must've been half asleep."

"Could be.  Liz does wear you out, boss."  She looked at the napping baby then grinned.  "By the way, she needs changed."

"I do not change poopy diapers until they're my kid or I'm babysitting and getting paid for it," Callia said firmly.

"You're a bit young to do either," Howard said.

Callia pulled up a story.  "Granma showed me that."  He blinked at the story of the eleven-year-old mother and how that was becoming more problematic due to early puberty.  He shuddered.  "Keep it up, I'll give Daddy a baby when I'm fourteen so he has a son to take over the suit while I do other great things."

Dawn cleared her throat.  "I would *so* beat you until you begged for fucking mercy, young lady."

"Yup, and I'd help," Pepper agreed, smiling at her.

"Also, you can have the suit if you want," Dawn said.  "Girls can fight.  Natasha and I prove that every single day.  If you want to follow your dad into the Iron Man suit, that's between you and him and you can do that."

Callia bit her bottom lip.  "I don't know if I'd be good enough."

Clint nudged her.  "Everyone has flaws and times when they're not good enough.  The important thing is knowing when you are good enough and dealing with those times the best you can."

She nodded, hugging his arm.  "I understand and I'll talk to Daddy about it when I'm older.  I'm not sure if I want it.  It's really hard and a lot of hours working on that instead of other things."

"Which is why I took over as CEO," Pepper agreed.  "Still, if that's what you want, you and your dad can talk about it and handle it."

She nodded, tipping her chin up.  "When I'm old enough to think about it, I will.  I'm still really little."

"You are," Dawn agreed, smiling at her.  "But never put yourself down because you're a girl and girls aren't supposed to do things.  Girls can do *anything*."

"I can be president?" she asked with a shiteating grin.

"Yes you can and we'd probably vote for you," Clint agreed.

"Cool!"  She got back to her homework.  "JARVIS, can I please have some pretty music from Atlantis' collection?"  Pepper got up to grab Liz and change her.

"Of course.  Instrumental or vocal?" he asked from the desk speaker.

"Instrumental, strings," Dawn said.  He put some on.  "Thanks, JARVIS."

Howard looked around.  "My son created an artificial intelligence?"

"Yes," Dawn said with a smile.  "Shortly before you died."  He scowled at her for that dig.  She got back to work.  She sent a message to her mother.  "Fury's having a growling day according to Mom.  Apparently the WSC decided that being thwarted wasn't their happy day," she said sarcastically.

"We need to move SHIELD out from under the World Security Council," Pepper agreed, sitting back down one Liz was back on the couch.  She'd naturally head for Dawn anyway so might as well make it easier on her today.

"As I pointed out, we don't get paid to be Avengers," Clint said.  Pepper smiled at him. "Why are they growling at him now?"

"He's to disband the Avengers team, scatter you as much as possible by hiding Natasha and getting rid of you.  He's to hand Bruce to the army to test on.  He's to hire 300 new agents and become more military style," Dawn said, showing him the email mentally.  He glared.  She nodded.  "So I solved some of it getting the assassins coming after us, but not enough."

"Make me something and I'll go administer it," he offered.

She smiled.  "I can do that."  He grinned back.  "The next set might be worse."

"Can't be much worse," Clint said.

"Yeah, they can be.  This one still wants me to quit fighting their plans to knock me up with some random agent's baby to make future Avengers.  Their assistants and seconds-in-commands have whole new people to help them with that plan."

"Unless you're having billions of babies that's genetically unsound to try," Pepper said.  "Plus you can't get pregnant by everyone."

"No but ATA genes do make stronger warriors," Dawn reminded her.  "Which he somehow found out about and they found out by hacking the SHIELD systems."

"Fuck 'em," Clint said bluntly.  "If they come near you that way, they're going to be very sorry for the last few minutes of their lives."  Dawn smiled, relaxing some.  "The only ones that get to knock you up are me and 'Tasha."

Callia poked him on the arm.  "Is she going to use Andrew's research on male pregnancies to do that?"

He shrugged.  "We have other ways.  There's things like IVF."

"TMI," Pepper said firmly.

"Agreed," Dawn said.  "Don't worry, you can do it in a lab, Callia."

"Oh, I didn't know that."  She looked up what IVF was but JARVIS blocked it.  "Hey!" she complained to the ceiling.  "They mentioned it, JARVIS."

"It's still rated above your age level," the AI said dryly.  "Your father would not be amused."

"Can you ask him?"

"I did.  He said he's not amused and to spank Agent Barton."

"Oh.  Sorry, Unclie Clint."

"It's fine.  Your dad can't beat me in sparring to spank me."  He grinned.

Callia patted him.  "He'd have Uncle Steve do it."  Clint nodded she was right.

"Then I'd get to get Uncle Steve for touching what's mine," Dawn said dryly, going back to work.  "Remember to pick names for both genders, Callia."

"That's right, Liz could have a brother," Clint said with a grin for Pepper.

"Tony would be over the moon," she said.  "He wanted a little clone to warp more than he has Callia."  She gave her a look.  "He wants to teach them to skateboard and you don't want to learn."

"It's dangerous and I might damage my big brain.  Rodney said so."

"That's why there's helmets," Dawn said.  "Also, you're learning how to ride a bike this year.  And rollerblading."

"Cool!"  She looked at Clint.

"I can teach you some of that, yeah.  I'm pretty good at teaching rollerblading, sprout.  I taught your aunt."

"Great!"  She pounced him for a hug.  "Now?  Today?"

Pepper got into her desk and tossed over a slim wallet case.  "Her shopping budget, Barton."

"Okay."  He got up, taking Callia up with him.  He stood her up.  "Get ready to go out."  She ran off to put on better clothes and shoes.  He kissed Dawn, who smiled and pulled him down for a better one.  "Bike, rollerblades, safety gear?"

"Yup.  Make sure they can grow with her for a bit.  She's mid-growth spurt."  She smiled.  "Get her kid things.  She needs more kid things."  He nodded, walking out to meet her at the elevator.  She watched him walk, smiling.  She liked those jeans on him.  She got back to work when he caught her looking and leered.

"She does need more kid time than lab time," Pepper said once they were gone.  Dawn smiled and nodded.  "It might help her get over her fear of the park too."

"Why is she scared of the park?" Howard asked.  "That seems a bit odd."

"Because the last time she went with Tony and Steve, twenty-four people with guns and explosives showed up to protest Tony and Steve being together," Dawn said.  "Which then led to protests here and the building being invaded a few times by bigots."

Howard gaped.  "That hasn't been fixed yet?"

"No."

"Damn."  He shook his head.  "Then it's good to work on that."

"The first few times she'll go with more guards because Tony's sensitive enough to know she'll want them there, and then they'll cut back.  Having something to take her mind off it will help too.  She could also use more time in the sunshine and the fresh air."  She got back to work.  "Is she going back to Bollywood dancing?"

"Um, not sure," Pepper admitted, making a note to ask her later.  "She's got gymnastics.  She's got swimming lessons."  Dawn nodded she knew that.  "She needs new suits for both."  She made that note as well.  "We need to do a full kid shopping trip."

"We do," Dawn agreed.  "That shirt she was wearing was obviously one of mine she stole."

"I thought it was Natasha's."

"Nope.  'Tasha stole it from me first."  Pepper laughed.  Howard scowled.  She stared at him.  Joyce walked in looking happy with Bruce behind her.  "Clint's getting her rollerblades and a bike."

"Good," Joyce said, hugging her.  "It's about time the girl learned."  She smiled.  "We're going to lunch."

"She can go," Pepper promised with a smile.  "She's already done half of my work for me."  Dawn sent over the ones she was working on.  "That's more than half, thanks."

"Welcome."  She handed over her tablet.  "Pull off the files for the steel meeting."  She did that and the other ones, handing it back.  "Okay, we're going to eat."  She looked at herself then at her mother.  "The Italian place in the other tower?"

"The Korean one," Bruce said with a smile.

"Sure."  They walked out together.  A few people over there stared but Dawn smiled and they got back to what they had been doing.  The Korean restaurant was nice and slightly dark but it had a great window on the terrace area of the tower.  They got to sit there and chat about Callia things.  Including her birthday.  Callia had wondered why kids had parties.  They were going to make sure of it even if Tony didn't think about it.  Dawn had already arranged things and Pepper knew.  Joyce had found the cake place for her and it was all set too.  So it was good.

When someone started to shout and shoot a gun, Dawn let her mom tape it for Youtube while she and Bruce went to handle it.  "Stop it!" Bruce ordered, starting to change.

Dawn pulled her weapon.  "Stark Security, put it the fuck down!"  The guy flinched and looked.  Dawn smirked.  "Hi, welcome to Stark Tower B.  How are you today?"  He dropped the gun, staring over her shoulder at Bruce, who was about half Hulked out.  "Good idea."  Security ran in.  "Check upstairs," Dawn ordered.  They did.  Police showed up and the guy got arrested.  She checked the gun.  "Rubber bullets."

The officer nearest her smiled.  "That means he wasn't going to kill anyone.  That's great."  He took the gun once she had made it safe for him.  "Thank you, Miss Summers."

"Welcome.  We hate stupid people like him."  She smiled sweetly at the guy.  "You're making me miss lunch with my mother."  He nearly dragged the officer holding his cuffs to the cruiser.  She went back in there with a trip to wash her hands.  Then came out to get back to eating.

"Less swearing, Dawn," Joyce ordered.

"Yes, Mom.  Sorry."  The nearby people laughed.  "I'm a good girl.  I listen to my mother most of the time."  That eased the rest of the tension.

One young teen came over to stare at Joyce.  "I need a mom like you.  You made a kick-ass daughter."

She smiled.  "I made two but Dawn's pretty special and a good girl."  She smiled at her daughter then at the young woman.  "Sciences, dear?"

"No, unfortunately not my area."

Dawn smiled.  "I like accounting and languages.  My stepfather and Tony Stark taught me all the science I know."  The girl blushed at Bruce and waved then ran off.  "Good luck," she called after her.  "I know high school's hard, dear."  She smiled at Bruce.

"You took AP biology and chemistry," he reminded her.

"And didn't learn a thing."

He laughed.  "That figures."  They finished up their lunch and delivered Dawn back before going back to SHIELD.  Fury was still in a rage over his bosses.  Bruce looked at him.  "Then remove SHIELD from the World Security Council.  The team all thought that should happen.  Especially when they had plans to get rid of Clint in a way that would kill him and Dawn."

"If that assassin vampire had gotten Dawn, I would've destroyed them and the people who had the plans myself," Joyce said with a smile.

"You'd have backup for that," Maria assured her.  "Good lunch?"  Bruce handed her a bag.  "Thank you, Bruce."  She inhaled the scent of the soup.  "This is what I wanted."  She settled in at her desk to eat it.

Fury looked at her.  "Go to the caf.  You are entitled to lunch breaks."

"They sent a memo saying I was a weak agent and I'd be removed," she said, finding it and handing it over with a smile.  "So I'll stay here for security reasons until we can finish the security sweep of the building, sir."

He read it, glaring at the paper.  He was surprised it didn't light on fire.  He stomped off to talk to the agents doing the security sweep.  Coulson was in charge and handling it so it was getting done right.  He wouldn't let anything happen to Hill or Tara.  Or Joyce really.  Not that anyone really wanted to bother Joyce.  It might piss off Banner and that was not what anyone wanted to happen.  Even the Army had learned not to piss off Banner after Dawn had defended him.

Maria slurped up some more soup and smiled at Joyce.  "Any news?"

"Clint's getting Callia her first bike and rollerblades."

"Wonderful.  Tara can rollerblade and so can the kids so they can go together."  She finished her soup and got back to work.

***

Clint looked around the sports store.  He knew Stark would go somewhere like this instead of Walmart for her gear.  The salesman was very sweet when he walked up to them, clearing his throat to make sure he got noticed.  "Hey, I'm her uncle.  We're getting her a bike, rollerblades, safety gear, and any other normal kid things."

"We have soccer balls and basketballs."

"I do okay at soccer," Callia said.  "But I could never play on a team.  I get distracted too easily."

"Let's go look then."  He led them to that section.

Callia found a bike she liked.  It was an older styled one with the banana seat and streamers from the handlebars.  Clint tested and it was in her height range so that was good.  The rollerblades got picked by her, purple ones with sparkles.  It matched her bike.  The helmet and safety pads got picked too.  She looked.  "Uncle Clint, they have bows."  She looked up at him, smiling.

"Your dad said you had to be nine for me to teach you how to use a real bow."  He smiled.  "Get the nerf kind."  She laughed and hugged him.  He pointed.  "Want to try golf or any other sports?"

"I need new swimming suits and leotards."

"We don't sell those here, unfortunately," the salesman told her.

"Pity.  But I have aunties who can take me clothes shopping."  She smiled and pointed.  "What's that for?"

"SCUBA," Clint said.  "Swimming underwater with tanks on your back.  You have to take lessons in that.  I can do it but I can't teach it."

She considered it.  "I'm doing okay in swimming lessons.  I'm in the advanced class now and they're asking if I want to try diving."  She got new goggles and ear plugs.  She considered it then looked at him.  "Where would I take lessons?"

"Ask your swim instructor."

"I can do that."  She looked at the other stuff, finding a few things.  "Why do they have pellet guns?"

"To teach on," Clint said, taking one to show her by squatting down.  "See, it's real lightweight and a good way to learn how to hit targets."  She nodded, touching it with a few fingers.  "You can't be scared of them, Callia.  You have to learn how to not be scared of them.  It's not going to bite you and if you run into one you need to know how to handle it in case of emergencies or so you can't accidentally hurt yourself."

She nodded.  "I can see that.  Can you teach me that?  Or Auntie 'Tasha?"

He smiled.  "We'd love to teach you that, sprout."  She grinned and he got her a paintball set with a wink.  "That's not quite the same but we'll talk to your dad about a pellet gun when he gets back."  She nodded and they checked out.  Dawn had to call in the card number, that card was expired.  The salesman was happy to do it for her and they got things into the security SUV he had borrowed for the trip.

She got home happier and called down her aunts to show them stuff.  Clint got her bike set up for her height and Dawn got her helmet.  He showed her how to balance and then how to pedal.  She got it fairly quickly but her first wreck was traumatic and she sobbed for nearly twenty minutes over it until Dawn got her calmed down and back onto the bike.  That got her determined to beat this thing that had gotten her scraped knees and hands.  She did okay and was soon zipping around the parking garage.

Tony came off the elevator with Steve and Natasha.  "Looking good, mini me."

"Hi, Daddy," she called, smiling and waving.  "I'm beating it!  It won't bite me again!"

"Good job."  He looked at Dawn then at Clint.  "Thanks."

"Welcome."  He grinned at Natasha then at Tony.  "She's scared of guns."

"Good!" Tony said.

"Bad," Dawn corrected.  "It means she can get hurt if she accidentally runs into one that got dropped during something."  She looked at him.

Tony considered it then nodded.  "You can teach her gun safety.  She's too young to learn how to fire."

"I can do that," Clint said.  "She asked me if me or Natasha could."

"Good," Tony said with a smile.  "You're both excellent with them."  He looked at Natasha, who nodded she could.  "No bows, Barton."

"I told her you said nine."

"Good."

"Pellet gun?" he suggested.  "Though, she has paintball so you two can go together."

"I might like that," Steve said with a happy grin. He sat on the bumper of the SUV.  Callia came back and stopped.  "Looking very good."

"Thank you, Uncle Steve."  She kissed him on the cheek.

"Mom said that Auntie Tara has taught the twins how to rollerblade so you can go with them," Dawn said.

"I can do that," she said, looking at her father.  "You can go."

"I can go, yes.  So can Uncle Steve.  He doesn't inline skate, he uses the old ones."

"Well, duh.  He likes things like he grew up with, Daddy."

"Manners," Tony ordered.

"Oops.  Sorry."  She zipped off on her bike.

"She really is a mini you," Pepper agreed.  Tony pinched her on the arm.  She smiled.  "What else did you guys get?"

"She got some new goggles.  They didn't have swimsuits, thankfully.  She asked about SCUBA stuff and I told her to ask about it.  We talked about a lot of the stuff in the sports store."

"That's good," Tony agreed.  He took the wallet back with the receipt.  "Card's expired?"

"Yup," Dawn said.  "Pay me back, boss."

"Okay."

Callia rode past them again.  "I got pretty skates, Daddy."

"That's wonderful."  He sat beside Steve, looking at the pile of bags.  "Where are my skates?" he asked Dawn and Pepper.

"Bedroom closet," Pepper guessed.

"Second closet, back of it, and you need to replace a boot strap."

"Thanks."  He went up to get them and came back down with them on.  Callia watched, staring at what he was doing.  She got off her bike, letting Clint show her how to use a kickstand.  They got her into her new skates and the elbow and knee pads.  She took Tony's hand.  "Like with ice skating, which you can try next winter."  He smiled.

"Your mom used to take lessons for that," Dawn said.  She leaned against Clint's side, getting his arm around her shoulders.  Tony had her carefully moving, even if she did skid a few times.  Pretty soon she had the hang of it.  They were coasting around, making her giggle madly at the game of tag around the cars.  They found out the Roombas were down there guarding her because they tripped Callia but she caught herself on a bumper and scolded it like a real pet before skating off.  It barked and rolled after her and Tony.

"That is a really weird pet," Howard said, fading into view.

"Two of the geeks made them," Dawn said.  "They're vacuums."

"Huh."  He watched it play tag with the baby.  Then it turned and zapped someone coming up the ramp, making him yelp.  "It's protective."

"It's very protective.  Roomba, don't fire on him.  Warren, how did you get out of the hospital?"

He grinned.  "They let me out."

"Bull shit," Tony said.

"Daddy, quit teaching me to swear like Auntie Dawn," Callia said.  Warren stared at her.  She smirked back.  "I'm going to be a better engineer than you ever were."

"We'll see."  He pulled something out of his pocket.

"Roomba, attack," she ordered.  It got him with the real laser instead of the taser.  Then it launched a net on him.  Warren was already out from the laser blast to his stomach.  "We need to raise your aim somehow," she told him, leaning down to pet the robotic vacuum.  She tipped over.  "Oops."  She petted him.  "JARVIS, tell Andrew and Jonathan Warren showed up please?"

"I already have.  They're on their way down."

Jonathan came off the first elevator and ran over.  "Are you all right, Callia?"  He picked her up to look at her.  "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"No.  He was going to but Roomba 2 bit him really hard."  She grinned.  "We have to raise his aim.  It only hit Warren in the stomach."

Andrew came off the elevator.  "Pity it wasn't in the balls so he can't have kids if he ever finds out about real girls instead of robot ones."  Callia cackled and hugged him.  "I'm glad you're okay."  He handed her back to Jonathan, walking over to where Tony was tying him up.  He looked at the thing on the ground, kicking it over.  "Star Fleet phaser."  He picked it up to test against a wall then turn it off.  "Crystal's cranked anyway.  It's got too wide of a beam to be legitimate."  He put it into his back pocket and helped Tony frisk his former friend, finding all his neat toys.  "Hey, Jonho, he got the belt to work."

"Really?  The flying one?"  He came over to look.  "Huh.  Too heavy and bulky to be practical but clearly out of Radio Shack."  He took it to put on and try it.  Tony grabbed him before he headed sideways.  "There's no automatic leveling function."

"You can't use one of those because it'll mean you don't fly anything more complicated than angles," Tony said, taking it off to test.  He had some experience flying.  He nodded.  "With repulsor tech boots that might be handy."

"We can update it," Jonathan said with a grin, taking it back.  "Hey, Phil?" he called.

"We're having sex," Xander's voice noted.  "He can't answer right now because he's a bit brainless, boys."  He sounded like he was out of breath and his voice was deeper.

"Uncle Xander, Warren showed up," Callia called.

"We'll get him when we're done, Callia."  He cut off the feed.

"Sure," Tony agreed.  "We have a few empty closets.  Dawn?"  She floated him up and to the elevator, taking him to the security room's closet.  It's where they stored people waiting to be arrested.  Tony looked.  "Good boy, 2.  You protected Callia very well.  If I knew what to give you as a treat, I would."

"He needs new batteries," Jonathan said.  "These wear out much too fast."  Andrew nodded.

"Put his tech stuff in the tinkering lab so we can go over it together," Tony ordered.  They pouted but did that for him.  "That does include you two," he reminded them.  They beamed and walked off babbling about how Warren had failed the tech in so many ways.  Tony skated over to his daughter, helping her up.  "One more lap around the garage and the loser has to make dinner."  He skated off.

"Hey, no fair!" she called, following him.  "You're bigger so faster because you can create more torque and push-off force for speed."

Howard blinked, looking at Pepper and Clint.  Pepper was smiling.  "She's one hell of a grandchild."

"She is," Pepper agreed happily.  "She's got one invention on file already."  She smiled at Clint.  "Roomba's adorable."

"It is."  He picked up the hockey puck shaped vacuum, putting it in the back of the SUV.  It tried to suck things up and whined.  "We'll fix it, Roomba."  He patted it.  "Settle down and you can go recharge in a few minutes.  I'll carry you to the lab."  Dawn came off the elevator with Andrew and MB, who went to talk to Pepper while he got Roomba to carry back.  "He tried to pick up dirt."

"His cup's a bit full.  We've got an external one for him."  He took him upstairs to let him recharge and to hook up his external dust cup.  That way he could fulfill his primary coding.  It made him happy to clean up while protecting them.

Tony made it back to the SUV first but Callia looked really determined.  "So, what's for dinner?" he teased with an evil smirk.

"Spoiled daddy stew."  She hugged him.  "And maybe a salad to go with it since I can do that without needing a knife."

"Only if you've bought veggies in the last week," Dawn quipped.

"Oops.  So can I use some of my saved allowance to order pizza, Daddy?"

"We'll see."  He hugged her.  She grinned and hugged back.  "Upstairs.  Carry your new stuff."  She handed him the paintball stuff since she wasn't sure how to make sure she didn't set off the paintball gun. Tony looked and nodded.  "Nice choice, Barton."  He skated off, taking the next elevator up.

Clint locked up the SUV and handed the key to the guard watching over them.  Dawn and he went back up to the office with Pepper to finish up the budget things for the day.  Natasha followed.  Clint smiled at her.  "We need to get dinner or real food."

"We can do so."  She kissed him then Dawn, who smirked evilly at her.  "We will have our time Sunday since you're not working."

"He and I had time after work and so can we," Dawn said, hugging her and taking another kiss.  "I'm all yours once we get home."

Natasha smirked.  "I can handle that challenge."  She took another kiss.  "Finish working."  She walked into the office to do that, putting her leg back up.  Clint checked on it and gave her an ankle massage because it was swollen.

Pepper looked over at the nice sounding moan.  "That's sweet, Clint."

"It was a bit swollen.  We want her to be happy, healthy, and counteract the insanity around here."

"We all need some counteracting around here."  She smiled and got back to work.

Callia ran in and looked at them.  "Daddy wants to know why one of my gymnastics friends called about my party.  I'm getting a party?" she asked with a huge grin.

"You sure are," Dawn said with a smile.  Callia cheered all the way upstairs to tell her dad that.  She sent Tony a text message and finished up that budget.  Which didn't add up.  She groaned.  "Pepper, the building budget doesn't add up."

"Why?"  Dawn put it up to let her see it.  "What's that second line item?"  She highlighted it, which brought up that budget.  "I know that came from accounting.  We'll fix it tomorrow."  Dawn smiled and saved it down to go over it again.  The other one they had done as well.  She put one up.  Pepper stared and whimpered.  "What happened in accounting?"

"I think a brain fart," Dawn said.  They groaned.  They'd have to go over everything line by line and item by item.  They'd have to redo everything.  She pulled up the new version of the post-year actual expenditure budget.  It didn't balance either.  They shared a look.  "Maybe our snake is in there."

"Maybe," she agreed.  "Or she got her homework mixed in again."

Tony walked in, staring at the budget.  "That's sad."

"That's what accounting put up," Dawn sighed.  "We'll fix it tomorrow."

"Party?"

"Yes.  She wanted a birthday party.  Normal kids like to have birthday parties."

"Like with a clown?" he asked, looking confused.

"No, we'd never do that to her.  A pony ride," Dawn said with a smile.  "It's at that new circus place."  Clint grinned.  It had been his idea.  Tony groaned.  "We invited the kids she hangs out with at both of her classes.  What did that mother want?"

"They're going vegan.  She wanted to make sure there were vegan food available."

"Yes, fruit.  It's snack food and cake.  I can check with them to see if the cake is vegan allowed."  She wrote them an email.

"So we're doing a full party?" Tony asked.  "Like balloons?  Screaming kids?"  They smiled and nodded.  "Liquor for the parents?"

"No!" Dawn snorted, staring at him.  "Parent's area so they can get away from the screaming kids."

"That'll help.  Are you sure...."

"She wanted a party," Dawn said simply.

"Then she gets a party."  He went to talk to her.  The parent got told Dawn would check and get in touch with her in the next day or so.  He settled in with Callia and their salads.  She had done a good job with it.  It even have little bits of leftover steak and pot roast that had been in the fridge.  Steve came up.  "Bowl's in the kitchen," Tony said with a smile.  Steve got his and sat down on Callia's other side.  They put in a kid movie, which Steve liked.  Callia liked it well enough and Tony tolerated it so it was good.

Downstairs, Pepper gathered Liz and told them to go home. The spouses gathered her and helped her down to the cab home.  Pepper went up to make her own dinner for her and Liz.  Liz was chanting for food so it was a happy night for her.

***

Howard faded in later that night.  His son was in the lab.  It was a lot different than his had been but it looked useful and had a lot of half-finished projects.  "Son?"

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Are trios really the norm now?"

"No."  He looked at him then went back to working on his glove.  "We want Dawn to be happy and they do it for her."

"And yours?"

"Whenever Pepper allows it."

"I see."  He cleared his throat.  "She's a bit...wild to be around our heir."

Tony put down the soldering iron, looking at him.  "She's not."

"She is.  She took out an assassin?"

"She's taken out more than one.  They seem to want to keep her."  Howard nodded, licking his lips.  Tony wasn't going to lose his cool or his mind.  He wasn't going to start shouting like he wanted to do.  This was the third nagging session of the day and he was already tired of it.  Why did his father care when he didn't used to?  "We want Dawn to be happy.  Pepper and I took her in to mentor when her mother got sick.  At that time she had a hell goddess trying to kill her."  Howard winced, tucking his hands back in his pocket.  "Dawn's a good, sweet young woman.  Who occasionally swears."

"I can understand how a girl like her gets under your skin.  Your mother....."

"Dad, I'd never date Dawn.  No matter how many people assumed, and she'd make some genius a great wife, she's not mine.  She's got a great bond with Clint and Natasha.  Even if they didn't have that deep bond, Dawn's like my little sister."

"That's good to know."  He shifted, looking around again then at him.  "Why does Callia call her aunt?"

"Because she is.  Her big sister had Callia."

"Oh, that makes more sense."  He considered it.  "Aliens?"

"Rodney.  Atlantis."

"Huh.  It's real?"  Tony smiled and nodded.  "We've seen it?"

"I visited it once.  It's in the Pacific by San Francisco."

"That's a really interesting city and probably wouldn't blink at a mythical city showing up."

"Mythical city made my aliens, Dad."  He got back to work.

"You don't worry about her being warped by the lesbians?  Who seemed charming," he said quietly when his son glared at him.

"Dad, I have no problem with lesbians.  I never will.  I have no problem with wherever anyone sticks their dick unless it's a kid.  I can probably even justify those people who screw animals as having faulty mental connections."  His father shuddered and floated back some.  "No, lesbians are in the open in today's world.  They're great.  So are gay men.  They're still fighting for the right to marry but otherwise it's mostly good for everyone outside some zealots and people who cling to ways that are ancient and outdated.  If you don't like it, go back to the mansion."

Dawn walked in.  "Slightly big issue."  She handed over the printout.

He read it, grimacing.  "This isn't that important."  She pointed at something.  "That may be.  Any idea?"

"Hammer's former second-in-command."  She smiled at Howard.  "Sorry, company business.  I didn't want to interrupt family time."  She looked at Tony.

"Dawn, impertinence," he growled.

She stared at him.  "Sure.  You want a backrub?"

"Dawn, go away before I fire you," he said.

"You fire me and I'm going to go be a trophy wife somewhere."  She smiled.  "And take custody of my niece.  That group's motion is still up and I'm a suitable relative.  They hate me but she has the same skills."  Tony growled.  "I would've kept her here."

"When is that?"

"A month from Thursday."  She pulled up his schedule to point at it.  "Then."  She looked at something.  "I'll change that."

Tony gripped the table.  "Dawn, go home."

She hugged him.  "Tell me if I really don't have a job in the morning."  She left.  She went up to talk to Steve.  "The only way he's going to get off Tony's back about the family thing is for you to make a move," she said bluntly.  He winced, shaking his head.  "Yeah."  She went home.  She walked in.  "I might not have a job.  Howard's nagging Tony."

"He said you're suspended but not fired," Natasha said.  She gave her a look.

Dawn smiled.  "Howard."

"Figures," she admitted.  "Can we banish him?"

"If we knew what he was attached to."  She sat down.  "I have no idea and if it's the house it's going to be bad."

"Good to know," Clint said.  "What was the ghost complaining about?"

"Us being immoral around his granddaughter."

"Fuck 'im," Clint said bluntly.

"That was my feeling too."  She stretched.  "That report was a really bad thing.  Hammer's people are trying to take down SI again."  They groaned and nodded.  She got comfortable.  "So, tonight?" she asked Natasha.

"Sunday.  That way I get a whole day."  Dawn grinned and cuddled her.

Clint grinned.  "You two can play tonight anyway."

"We may," Natasha said smugly.  "She is my favorite puzzle toy."

***

Tony stomped around the next day.  "Where's Dawn?" he demanded to Pepper.

"Home.  You got pissed off because your father was being a jackass.  You suspended her and threatened to fire her."

"She was going to change the meeting that overlaps with the court hearing."

"What hearing?"

"The one that the bigots filed for."

She pulled up the schedule and he pointed at it.  "That's a very bad thing.  Does our legal department know?"  She called.  The file got sent up.  "They've been filing a lot of motions to keep things down.  Including sealing it from the press.  That's good."  She looked at one.  "They noted primary alternate guardians if it was needed for the judge to approve of.  Dawn, Joyce, me."  She let Tony see everything.  He read it while pacing.  "They've been handling it behind our back."

"I would've wanted to know this."

"JARVIS, did anyone tell us about this?"

"Legal told you that it wasn't tossed out on the same day they received notice," JARVIS said.  "Dawn has been working hard with them and you have an update meeting about it scheduled in three days."  He shifted the schedule to show them that.

"That's good," Tony said.  "Does she know?"

"Which she?" Callia asked from the doorway.

"The bigots tried to have you moved to someone else's care."

Callia snorted.  "I'd so have Auntie Dawn kill someone for me."  They stared at her.  She stared back.  "She would.  She said she'd destroy all of humanity to protect me.  They're part of humanity, even if I don't have to like it."

"She will," Pepper agreed.  "I would too."  Callia hugged her.  "We're just now hearing about that."

"Why?  Granma told me that someone was trying weeks ago."

"When the servers went down, we lost that email," Tony said.  He huffed.  "She was handling it well."

Callia smiled.  "We met with the judge."  Tony stared down at her.  "He wanted to talk to me about if I knew what was going on.  I went in with Auntie Dawn, because you were in a meeting.  He called and wanted us there within an hour.  She called you guys and you never answered.  So she brought me and the lawyer.  He asked me what I had heard and I told him what Granma told me.

"He was impressed.  He asked me about your relationship with Pepper and Steve.  I told him that it was great.  I told him that Steve was like a stepmom to me too.  That Pepper wasn't really a stepmom yet because she lived in the apartment underneath us because she said it worked better when you two weren't together all the time."

She sighed.  "Then he asked if I thought of Liz like my sibling and I said yes, because she was.  So were the twins, though I had to explain them.  He asked me about Granma and Dawn.  I told him they were great to me.  They explained things and took me shopping, like Auntie Pepper, and that they all loved me.

"He asked me about Granpa Brucie and I told him he loved me a whole lot, I was the first kid he knew how to love but he was doing great.  He helped me tinker and make models.  He asked if I was scared of him and I giggled.  I told him Grr Guy loved me just as much as Granpa and that if he saw me when he was all Grr Guy he cuddled me and protected me.  He called Granpa in to talk to him.  He told him why.  So he said that was okay and that I wasn't exposed to anything really wrong outside your perverted relationship.

"I threw an unholy fit about him being a bigot like the ones that had tried to kill me.  Twice.  He demanded Dawn come in to answer to that allegation.  Dawn told him exactly why he was one of them, and had him fire himself because she threatened to put him before whatever the board is."  She waved a hand and shifted her weight.  "She made the lawyer sniffle with how mean she was.  Which is kinda cool.

"The new judge moved the hearing up and he talked to me about what had happened.  He had read the typing person's records and asked me more things.  He said he didn't see a problem but he wanted a list of alternate guardians in case something happened.  That way it was on record in case we did get attacked and you guys got hurt.  Auntie did it then and there.  He agreed that was a good one, asked about Mommy, which I got a bit sad about but he said that was reasonable and when she came back he'd allow her to be added if it was still going on.  But we're having an evidentiary hearing?  The one that tells us if it's going to keep going on?  We're having that next."

"Why didn't you talk to me about this?" Pepper and Tony asked.

She shrugged.  "I talked to Auntie.  I thought she told you."

"No, we got the messages lost," Tony said.  He looked at Pepper.

"Possibly on purpose," she pointed out.

"Then I'll let Dawn destroy humanity."

Callia hugged him.  "She'd save us and 'Lantis, Daddy."  She hugged Pepper and kissed her stomach.  "I hope you're a baby brother.  I miss having one."  She skipped off.  "We're going to do homework after I walk my doggy."

"Thank you," Tony said.  He and Pepper stared at each other then he nodded.  "Dawn is the second best hire I've ever made."  He kissed her.  "You're the first."  He walked off, calling Dawn.  "Dawn, did you send me more than a single email about the hearing?"

"Yeah, boss.  I carbon copied all the documents to you as they got made.  So did Legal.  You didn't know?"

"No.  I didn't know."  Dawn sent them again, his tablet beeped.  "Thank you.  By the way, you're not suspended.  It was stress."

"I'm working from home on the travesty of a budget anyway," she said dryly.  "Because someone fucked it up grandly.  Found the embezzler though.  Natasha's coming."  She moaned.  "Thank you for the soda, Clint."

"Welcome, Dawn.  Stark, just fuck Steve and make it better."

"I can't do that with my father watching us."

"He's not going to give up until you prove you're just as good, if not better, of a man," Clint said.  "If he was solid I'd beat him for you since you can't spar worth a damn."

"Shut up, Barton."

"You get one, you get all three," he quipped.

"He's right but it needs to start with Steve because he's got a bond with Steve," Dawn said.  Natasha came off the elevator.  "If that's the wife, since she just had that reaction to you, tell her it's her night to make dinner unless however she busts the people makes us hot."  She hung up.

Tony looked at Natasha.  "Reaction?"

"Don't start."

"Fine."  He took what Dawn had found, smirking evilly.  "You have fun with that and make sure that they don't want you to cook like the wife."

"No, Dawn is the wife," she said smugly.

"Sure, I can see that.  She's the more feminine one," he said, trying hard not to picture how she meant that.  She smiled.  "Find any others for me.  Let me know.  I'm going to talk to my boyfriend."  He walked off.  He found Steve playing fetch with the cats.  He leaned down to kiss him.  Steve gave him a look.  "I'm not denying you just because he's floating around here.  You're still mine."

"It's your dad."

"I know that.  The first time I had a woman he was drunk off his ass up the hall."  He stared at him.  "Actually, the first time I had a guy he was drunk off his ass up the hall with a girlfriend."  Steve was blushing.  "My first orgy he wasn't drunk but he was complaining that I didn't make it to one of the few dinners he had made it home for."  He took another kiss.  He got clawed by Natasha so he looked down.  "You, quit."  He petted her, making her run off.  He let Steve pull him down again.  It was nice.

Callia leaned over the back of the couch, staring at them.  "Someday I'll have one of those and you can tell me why kissing is good instead of icky."

Tony pulled back to smirk at Steve, who shook his head.  "I forgot she was there," Steve admitted.

Tony nodded.  "Me too."  He took another kiss.  He had a rule, there was no groping in front of the kids, including Dawn, but they could kiss and neck all he wanted.

Steve panted, pulling back to stare at him.  "Don't prove anything," he said quietly.

"I'm not with you to prove anything.  I'm with you because you put up with me when I'm in the lab for days on end.  Because you care if I only drink those shakes instead of eating.  Because my daughter thinks you're her stepmom."  Steve grinned and kissed him again, pulling Tony closer.

Callia got up.  "Cats."  They followed her and she carried the Dawn kitty.  They went to the office.  "Daddy's kissing Stepmom Steve," she said.  She counted.  "Phil?"  He looked over.  "Not you, the cat."  He came trotting in with a robotic mouse.  "Good job!"  She petted him and tossed the mouse at Pepper, who yelped.  "It's robotic."

"How can you tell?" Fury asked from in front of the desk.

"It squeaked in binary code."  She snorted and settled in to play with her cats and read her homework.

"The attitude is getting thick again," Pepper warned.

"Sorry, Auntie Pepper."

"Thank you."  She smiled at Phil, who was petting the Dawn cat.  "Does Xander know anything about banishing ghosts?"

"I've heard about him being around.  No, he said you might have to destroy whatever's holding him."

"That may be the mansion."

Phil nodded.  "It could be."  He smiled.  "We'll figure it out."

Howard faded in.  "Who are you?" he asked.

"Agent Phil Coulson, SHIELD, and God of Heroes."  Howard gaped, staring at him.  He smiled.  "Also over training the future agents for SHIELD and the Avengers.  If we ever find any decent ones."

Fury nodded.  "Don't remind me."

"That's the best case scenario we could come up with, sir."

"I agree," he said.  "I don't know how to handle the move from under them."

"I'd start with the meeting over the mutual aid agreement," Pepper said.

"I'm going to that since it's in our best interests for it to not have any funny ideas in it."  He sat down, looking at the cats.  "They're a bit weird.  Didn't you have a rabbit?"

"He's in his cage and happily nibbling his new breakfast.  The dog is with Daddy to make sure he's all right."  She looked at her grandfather.  "If you piss my father off again I'm going to start praying to someone like Hades to come gather you.  I won't have daddy upset.  If he's upset things go bad around here and the labs start to fail, and then Iron Man gets hurt so I might lose my daddy.  So either man up and act like Daddy or Uncle Phil, or go away."  He blinked at her.  She stared back.  "Frankly, Daddy is not dealing well with you.  Or else I'd be upstairs doing my homework while he gets comfort snuggles."

"Callia," Pepper warned.

She shrugged.  "Has to be said.  Adults are too polite but kids are honest.  We say what we think."  She got back to reading her homework.  "Why am I reading about whales?"

"I'm not sure why he gave you _Moby Dick_.  It's a bit above your reading level," Pepper admitted.   She considered it and asked Dawn, who sent over an e-book for her.  "Your aunt said to try this one."  She sent it to the tablet.  "It's young adult, written by a former english teacher.  It's even about a genius."

"Artemis Fowl," she read.  She opened it and started to read, frowning some.  "Huh."  She flipped onto her stomach, letting the cats lounge on her while she read.  She smiled.  "He's kinda like me only I have a daddy that's there," she said quietly.  She kept reading.  "I need someone like Butler."

"You have an aunt for that."  Pepper smiled.  Callia didn't hear her, she was engrossed. She smiled at Phil.

"I like that book too.  I read it to Xander.  Who told Dawn."  He crossed his feet.  The dog trotted in and lapped Callia, who flinched and stared at him.  Her flinching caused Natasha and Clint to both run and jump up somewhere high.  "Take him for a walk then come back to the story," Phil said calmly.

"Oops.  Let's go for walkies, Xander puppy."  She got up and concentrated.  Her shoes and jacket floated in with his leash.  "That helps."  She put them on, clipped him, got a plastic bag, and took him down to the front door.  One of the guards huffed but went with her.  "Sorry but he needs to be walked."

"He does," he agreed.  "It's responsible of you."  He put up an umbrella to go over himself.  Callia didn't mind cold rain but he did. The dog did his business and they made the circuit of the block.  They went back inside.  Natasha was coming off the elevator.  She swore at him in Russian and he ducked before she punched him.

"Why are you so wet?" she demanded of the child.

"He needed a walk."

"Do you not know what an umbrella is?"  She walked her off, tossing out the bag.  "Wash your hands."  They did that and she took her upstairs to the penthouse.  Tony and Steve were on the couch together.  "She was out without an umbrella."  Tony started to sit up.  "Go strip out of the wet clothes, get in a warm bath," Natasha ordered.  "Before you get sick."  She ran in there to do that.  She came back in only her panties, which were also soaked.  "Bath!" she said with a point.

"I need my book and my kitties are in the office."

"I'll have them brought up.  Go."  Callia ran back in there.  She made tea to bring in to her.  She swatted Tony on the way past.  "She has your lack of sense."

"Sometimes she does," Tony agreed.  He got up.  "Let me get her things from the office."  He put on his jeans and t-shirt without bothering with his underwear.  Steve got dressed since Natasha wasn't able to see.  He moved to get things that Callia would need to get rewarmed.  Including a heating pad in her bed to warm it up.  The cats ran in and arranged themselves in their favorite spots.  Dawn laid on the heating pad and purred happily.

Natasha got Callia out and into warm pajamas, shooing the cat off the heating pad.  They tucked her in  and let the cats come cuddle.  Dawn came back to flop down on Callia's stomach, letting her rest her tablet against her.  Tony came in with some more tea, earning a smile from his daughter.  He tested her forehead with his lips.  "You're already a bit warm," Tony said.  He got the thermometer and basket of flu/cold supplies he kept for her.  She got some tylenol and ducked him trying to take her temperature while she read.

"Daddy, reading!"

"I love that about you but if you get sick I need to help you."

She made shooing motions.  "If I start to sniffle I'll come be miserable and make you read to me."

"Good!"  He let her read, going to flop down on the couch.  Natasha scowled at him.  "She has an umbrella and I have three."

"I forgot to pull one.  Guard had one," Callia called.  "I'm fine, Daddy."

Phil looked at her then at Tony as he came out.  "She's got your stubbornness too."  Tony smiled and nodded.  "She'll probably be fine.  Let me know if we need to bring you more tea."

"I will."  Tony looked at Natasha.  "How many?"

"Nineteen so far.  I'm expecting another two to five, depending on who doesn't run for their lives."  She smiled and nodded politely before leaving.  She ran into Dawn in the lobby.  She was dressed in a very conservative suit.  "Meeting?" she asked.

"Judge."  She headed up to the penthouse.  "Tony, the judge is calling a meeting."

"Let me get dressed."

"He didn't call for you."

"Yay."  She pointed at the bedrooms.  "She's sick."

"Why?"

"She went out without an umbrella to walk the dog."  Dawn rolled her eyes.  He got cleaned up quickly and dressed, coming out with her.  "The lawyer?"

"Told me.  She's there."  She walked out with him, handing over her tablet so he could look over what she had gathered on the judge.  They got into the car she had waiting.  She calmed herself and centered her mind.  He read and got updated on what was going on today.  They got there and she led him to the judge's office, getting let in.  "Callia can't be here today."

"Is she in the hospital?" the judge asked.

"Bed," Tony said.  "She went out to walk her dog without an umbrella a few minutes ago.  She's already running a fever.  Due to being a premmie, she can get hellishly sick within minutes."

The judge nodded.  "Then I'll excuse her today."  He nodded at Dawn, who nodded back.  "I was going to talk to you in a few weeks, Mr. Stark.  Were you aware of this?"

"I was aware something was filed but I was under the assumption that it had been thrown out.  Apparently someone had been blocking communications in the tower to try to sabotage the company.  We're finding them today."

"Good," the judge agreed.  "Have you seen the motions filed on your behalf?"

"Earlier actually.  I got told it was still ongoing last night."

"Okay," the judge agreed.  "Your lawyers are very competent."

"I do try to hire the best," Tony said with a smile for Dawn and his head of Legal.  He looked at the judge again.  "By what right did they decide they could challenge me having custody of my daughter?"

"They made some points about her upbringing being a bit unusual."

"Yes but there's no relatives in their group of pathetic morons," Tony said.

"One said he is."

Dawn shook her head.  "I've talked to my mother about that.  She is not aware of that person in the family.  I've looked at her ex-husband's family and as far as I know there's a few cousins by that last name but in the area they're from there's over ninety people with that name that aren't related to them."

The judge dug out that relationship statement, handing it to her.  "He is related to your sister's father."

Dawn looked at it, shaking her head.  "No.  This woman isn't related to him.  Her first husband was, but not her current one, and he has the current husband's name."  She pulled that research file up to find that name.  She showed him that file.  "So unless he was from her first marriage and adopted he's not."  She looked at that statement.  "It doesn't say he is."  She handed it to Tony, who read it then handed it to his lawyer.

The judge blinked at her.  "You're very thorough."

She smiled.  "I get paid a very good salary to be so thorough."

"I do overpay her horribly," Tony joked with a grin for her.  She patted him on the arm.  "I do."

She looked at him.  "Actually, you underpay me by all the offers I used to get, boss.  They usually offered at least ten thousand more to start."  Tony scowled.  She smiled.  "Thankfully I like you guys like family."

"We are your family.  We put up with your flirty days."  She smirked.  He grinned back.

The judge cleared his throat.  "It's clear you two are close."

"He's like my big brother in a lot of ways and a dad in others," Dawn agreed.

"What about the child's education?"

Tony and Dawn both pulled up files to show him.  "I didn't want her in school because she's ahead by so much and she's still getting distracted from her daily tasks."

Dawn handed over hers.  "Her yearly testing as of six weeks ago when she finished up her schoolwork for sixth grade, Your Honor.  She's going to go back over the english requirement before I let her take it again."

He read it, nodding.  "She's doing good.  Who's setting her studies?"

"I am," Tony said.  "Dawn helps by diverting it to interesting side studies that enhance what I'm doing and teaches her things like research and report writing."

"Right now she's picking names for Pepper's next child.  She's looking up ones she's interested in, finding their meaning, and then finding out about others who share the name to give her a list of twenty and a report on each."

"Which is a lot of looking up, research and writing skills, and makes her make judgement calls but justify it," the judge said, nodding with a smile.  "That's actually very unusual but something that she's probably interested in."  Dawn smiled and nodded.  "Good choice."  He looked at Tony.  "What's her current set of subjects?  I notice she's doing three subjects at a time."

"Literature, math, and basics of circuit design with me in the lab."

"I switched her off _Moby Dick_ earlier because she wasn't getting anything from it," Dawn told him.  "I gave her a different story that has a strong moral understory yet doesn't have that heavy feeling."

"I read her _Harry Potter_," Tony said.

"I gave her _Artemis Fowl_.  Pepper said she flipped onto her stomach, let the cats lounge on her, and muttered they were kind of alike."

"Huh.  I didn't read that one.  I'll read it tonight."  Dawn smiled and sent the file to him.  He nodded his thanks.

"My son read it and he didn't get the moral undertones but he did learn some things from the story," the head of Stark Legal agreed.  "He's fourteen.  Callia's ahead of him in some things."

The judge nodded.  "Is it theoretical?"

"Fantasy," Dawn said.  "About a genius mastermind of a criminal empire that tangles with fairy societies and police.  We later find out that he's doing it to fund the search for his father, who was missing."  The judge nodded, making a note of that name.  "She's so engrossed she lounged in the middle of the office on the floor."

"That's good.  Reading is good for children.  Does she get religious education as well?"

"I feel it's her job to figure out if she wants to be religious or not," Tony said.

"She gets the fundamentals of Wicca with the coven while they help her with her control over her magic."

"She does?" the judge asked.  Dawn nodded and smiled.  "From your side of the family?"

"No clue actually," Dawn admitted.  "Buffy's a slayer.  They don't usually have magic.  Actually, Callia's the only pre-slayer that has ever had magic."  The judge gaped.  She nodded.  "Which means that she's getting self defense training as well any other lessons she's taking."

"As she gets older we'll add in more styles as she wants to learn," Tony agreed.  "We've been told she's fairly down the list to be called but we're still making sure she has everything she might need to help her with her future duties if she is called."

The judge nodded.  "That adds another twist to it.  Is that why her mother's on Asgard?"

"It was partially battle burnout.  Partially due to the twins being born so premature.  Time runs faster up there so they're going to come back nearly teenagers."

"Interesting."  The judge made a note of that.  "Trainers to help her learn how to hunt demons?"

Dawn smiled.  "Her godfather is still Alexander, who used to hunt with my sister.  Not to mention any warrior he has access to if she needs something like specialist knowledge."

The judge nodded.  "Which is good for her.  Is she forced into it?"

"She asked to take self defense after someone tried to take her for ransom," Tony said.  "About six months afterward she caught her aunt sparring and decided she wanted to learn in case someone else did it again.  We all worry about it but we keep most of that from her."

"Which is why I'm so very proactive to protect her," Dawn agreed.  "Beyond her being my niece."

The judge smiled.  "I've heard."  She smirked.  He made another note.  "Any particular style?"

"Right now she's taking a mixed street fighting style," Tony said.  "I thought it would be more practical since I hated her karate teacher."

"Xander's promised to have someone teach her how to use swords and crossbows, if my husband can't teach her that part."

"Good," he agreed.

"I said she had to be nine," Tony said.

"That's a good age," the judge agreed.  "Gun safety?"

"Learning later this week if she doesn't come down sick," Tony said.  "Her husband and wife are doing it."

The judge nodded.  "I've heard."  Dawn shrugged.  "That doesn't bother you?"

"If I cared what other people thought it'd be different," Dawn said.  "I'm happy.  I'm content, they help me and nurture me.  They encourage me.  They fuss over me.  I'm usually pretty stoic about injuries but they demand the right to help me take care of things while making me quit hiding it."

"It's a sound, healthy relationship even though there's three of them," Tony said.  "Her wife is still wary and cautious about things but with her history that's something I'd consider normal."

"I've read her biography."

Dawn snickered.  "The one by the guy in England?  It's pure crap, sir.  They have no idea who she is.  They got almost every single thing wrong."

"Good to know.  I did read the newspaper's one."

"That was more correct for the last twenty years," Dawn admitted with a smile.  "She's an amazing woman."

He nodded.  "From what I saw, she is.  So is your husband."  She smiled and nodded.  "So are you?"

"I'm slightly above average," Dawn said.  Tony swatted her.  "I am," she said without looking at him.

The judge smiled.  "She's very modest, Mr. Stark.  It's a nice thing."

"Sometimes but sometimes it annoys us to no end."

"And yet usually you tell me to quit being so blunt," she said dryly.

The judge laughed.  "It's good you two are like family."  He leaned forward.  "They're very worried that his relationship will warp her."

Dawn grimaced.  "I'm not supposed to use language like that statement deserves in public.  My mother would be upset with me."  The judge burst out laughing.  "Are they more concerned because of his time as Iron Man or his money?"  The judge gaped.  "There's thousands of children of bisexual and gay fathers.  Are they being warped?"

"They would say yes."

"I would say that their training of their children warps them more," Dawn said.  "Because their children grow up to be like the supposed Christians that have sent me death threats for years for daring to use my skills in the best means possible.  Including the one that tried to have our plane crash.  Including whoever put poisonous snakes all over the building the other day.  Including that stupid minister who kept upping the bounty to have me kidnaped, raped, and bred to as he so nicely put it.  Personally, I'd like to see their kids taken and given to good parents.  Ones who don't bring explosives to a park to talk to a six-year-old and her father."

"I can see that point being more valid," he said.  "Those were explosives?"  She pulled up the copy of the NYPD arrest resort to show him.  He read it, wincing.  "That's bad."

"That's very bad.  Then a few days later they rushed the building to kill everyone, including her."

"They said they were going to take her with them," the judge said.

"Even if they did, Mr. Stark's will leaves her to Pepper, then me, then my mother or my spouses, then Lt. Colonel Rhodes.  We would take over her proxy in the company and all that.  Any of us would use the full resources of the company to find her and destroy them to the cellular level.  If we had to, I would put on the suit and use it to stomp them."

Tony patted her on the arm.  "You can do it without the suit, Dawn."

"I might destroy humanity if I let it go that hard," she admitted.  "I'd hate myself for it but as long as she was safe.... "  She shrugged.

The judge smiled.  "That's what a good mother or aunt should say."  He looked at the lawyer.  "I'd say I have more than enough from the family.  I'll be taking motions from the other side for the next two days."  He looked at his schedule.  "That will give me a few weeks to consider both sides."  She handed over the other motions.  He looked at them.  "They talked to the press?  I know the first judge put on a gag order."

"It hit the press earlier," she admitted.  "FOX got it."

"They're the news station of bigots anyway," Dawn muttered.  She was rubbing her forehead.  Tony was staring at her.  "Headache, not a vision."

"Okay."  He looked at his lawyer.  "FOX said what?"

"One blew it out of proportion.  One said it was a ploy to take attention off their arrest hearings coming up.  It was noted that they were arrested for various problems.  That they did have explosives.  That they did try to have the building invaded with automatic weapons."

"There was no try," Dawn said, looking at her.  "I threw a few off the building."

"I saw that," the judge said.

"I helped take them out," she said.  "They weren't going to spare anyone, Your Honor.  They burst in and started to shoot the walls of the room where she and Liz were."

He nodded.  "I'll take that into consideration."  Tony's phone beeped.  "Problems?"

He looked.  "She's spiking a fever.  I need to get home to take care of her."

The judge nodded.  "Granted.  Have a better day and I hope she'll be okay."

"She will be, even if I have to move heaven and hell to make it so," Dawn said.  She nodded at him and the lawyer, then followed Tony.  The lawyer stayed to handle things.  She relaxed once they were in the car.  "Sorry if I acted up in there."

"No, that's what an aunt should do," he said.  He looked at her.  "I'm sorry about last night."

She patted his hand.  "You were stressed."

"I was.  You were right though."  She grinned.  "Still not cool."

"Never been cool.  I'm competent not cool."

"You're both."  He gave her head a shove.  She smiled at him.  "Fine, you're not suspended."

"I've been unscrewing the budget all day anyway.  I had to hit each and every single individual budget item to verify amounts and the sub budgets."  He groaned.  "They screwed it so hard."

"Can it be undone?"

"I have been.  It's going to take me days though."

"That's fine.  That meeting isn't for six weeks."

She shook her head.  "I might not get it all done by then."

"You can.  I know you can."  They got back to the tower and headed up to the penthouse.  Callia was starting to cough.  Pepper was wiping her face down with a cool washcloth.

Dawn called her favorite doctor.  "Doc, Dawn.  Callia got chilled earlier.  She's already coughing and hacking.  Fevered, she's nearly bright red.  In bed.  Thanks."  She hung up, coming in to take over from Pepper.

"She was sniffling and snoring from that last one," Pepper said.  The doctor rushed in shortly afterward, getting them out of the way to examine her.  "She got sniffles from the picnic the other day.  All the kids did because it started to rain."

"She didn't have a fever from that," Tony said.  "Today she took the dog for a walk and the guard didn't share his umbrella."

"Okay," she agreed.  "Let's get her down there.  She's got chest congestion and I want to take a preliminary scan."  They nodded, Dawn picking her up.

"Book," Callia whined, reaching for it.  Tony got it and she smiled.  "Thanks, Daddy and Aunties."  They went down to the infirmary.  Dr. Pigalli had to turn on everything while Dawn got an IV started.  Doc looked at her and Dawn nodded she'd need it.  Callia whined.  "No shots!"

"Hush," Dawn said.  "You need it."  She taped it down.  "If you get better faster you can have it out."

"Still mean," she pouted.

"I love you enough to do the mean things so you get better faster," Dawn said.

"I know.  Still sucks ass."

"Language," Pepper warned.  "Even while sick."  The baby pouted but nodded, stroking her tablet.  Doc came over to get her for the CT.  Tony took the tablet computer for her.  She got put back in bed a few minutes later.  Callia curled up on her side to read.  Pepper hugged her and got her some juice from the cafeteria.  Tony got a comfortable chair to sit next to her.

Dawn walked off to text the family.  This was not a good time for Callia to get sick.  She went up to take care of the pets to have something to do.  She'd come take a shift when Tony started to fall asleep.

***

Joyce frowned, pulling out her phone.  "Oh, shit," she said.  Maria flinched and spun around.  "Callia's in the infirmary.  She's caught something from getting wet walking the dog."  She looked in the office.  Fury made 'go away' motions.  "Thank you."  She packed up and headed to the tower for the day.

Fury came out to get some coffee.  "Some of the WSC members are showing up for a meeting in two hours."

"I'll be here," Maria said firmly.

He stared at her.  "You sure?"

"I am."

"Good.  Make sure that kid's all right.  Tell Colonel Rhodes just in case we need the help.  I doubt Stark's going to get into his suit to handle anything less than the fate of the world."  He sipped the coffee.  "She bought the good stuff."  He went back to finish the reports they'd want.  "Coulson, I need reports," he called.

Phil walked in a few minutes later.  "Unless you want cannon fodder we may have one that may pass, if he can step up his physical abilities."  Fury groaned.  He handed over the preliminary results.  "They're getting worse and worse, sir."

"Find us someone."

"I can go poach."  He walked off.  Xander had some ideas from those he oversaw.  He went to recruit for SHIELD.  They needed better agents.

Fury looked up as his bosses showed up.  "Your plans are never going to work in the real world."

"Lower the standards."

Fury snorted, starting to laugh.  "Do you know what it takes to be an agent?  They're as low as we can make them and if you can only live up to those, you'll never survive in the field."

"The CIA does."

"They deal with different things.  None of them deal with things like the invasion.  It takes a different set of skills to go undercover and bust cartels than it does to do our job."  He handed over the reports.

"No assistant?" one sneered.

"She's with her granddaughter, who just came down sick today.  She's in Stark's infirmary fighting pneumonia from what she sent.  I'm a bastard but not that sort."

"So Stark's not going to be doing anything?" one asked.

Clint walked in and smirked at them.  "No, Lt. Colonel Rhodes has shown up and said he'd cover for Iron Man."  He looked at Fury.  "Sir, Dawn and Natasha said to tell you that they're finding the last few that were embezzling from Stark.  Apparently it leads back to the leak that got some of his and some of ours dead.  Also, Warren's been taken back into custody."

"He got out?" Fury demanded.

"No, he snuck out.  The mind control units are back up there and working hard.  She's already called someone.  Coulson?"

Phil leaned in a minute later.  "We're aware, have dispatched people to handle it, and to put Warren into better custody than a closet in Stark's security office.  The administrator is missing thanks to another patient up there.  I've had someone from Colorado show up to take over temporarily."

"Good thinking," Fury agreed.  "Anyone else escape?"

"No.  Warren's apparently used the mind control device on others.  He turned them into his zombie mind computers as he put it.  He was not pleased with his stay in the closet.  He was more than happy to tell me everything in exchange for food, a bathroom break, and a shower."  Fury smirked.  Coulson smirked back.  "He's presently getting sworn at by MB.  She's very upset that he might lead Andrew back to the dark side.  By the way, his project led to her getting pregnant.  Or them having at it in Stark's office did."  He looked at Clint.  "Callia should be okay but it may take days."

"We figured it would.  She was born early and is a bit sick."  He opened his can of soda to take a drink but Fury snatched it and threw it out.  "Sorry, sir."  He looked at the council members then at his boss.  "We're figuring things out.  We think that leak will lead to another source that we've been fighting against.  One of the main six, sir."

"Who's handling it?"

"Dawn spotted it because the budget was a royal wreck when it got sent up from accounting.  She told Agent Romanoff, who is having fun scaring them to death."

"Excellent.  Have her report in when she gets a moment to pause."

"Yes, sir."  He nodded and left.  Fury had played along with his cues very well.  He shot Coulson a look then looked at Maria.  "Agent Hill, I need someone to oversee my requalification on the range.  I didn't know I was due last week."

"I can do that," she agreed, gathering what she needed.  It wasn't her job.  It was a clear hint.  "Silvers, go on break," she ordered the one she knew was hiding a pregnancy.  "You've been on shift for too long."  She nodded, getting up to do that.  A few people glared and she stared back at one, who blinked once.  "Shoans, you're in charge while I'm gone."

"Yes, sir," he said.  He got up to look over everyone's shoulders.  He tapped one.  "You've been on for six hours.  Take ten."  She nodded and left.  It was his girlfriend but he had a suspicion that they needed to have a talk about putting a ring on it so he could take responsibility for his actions. Since the only two pregnant people were the ones evacuated, something was going on.  He looked around.  "Toms.  You too."  He nodded, logging off and going on break.  He had been on for ten hours without a break.  He was working overtime and had ignored Maria telling him to go on break.  He'd be a good cover story for the pregnant ones going on break.

Fury came out.  "Break switching?" he asked.

"Yes, sir.  Agent Hill is overseeing Agent Barton's requalifying on the range."

"Good of her."  He looked around.  "How many are still due?"  Three more raised their hands.  "The next shift starts in ten minutes.  When they get here, take it."  They nodded and got back to work.  One held up a report form.  Fury walked over to take it, staring at it.  "Any idea which witch that was?"

"No, sir.  Not in that area.  We have no one logged in there."

Xander appeared, looking at the area.  He grinned.  "That's Natalia Ichin.  Her dad teaches at the college and she's eight."  That got noted on the report form and handed back to Fury.  "She's got chicken pox the last I heard."

"You pay attention to someone in her family?" Fury asked.

"Yes.  Her father is the guy who teaches real martial arts history."  He grinned.  "I can't beat him with a sword."

"Him, good to know.  We have had contact with him in the past over an antique sword an assassin was using.  We'll send someone to make sure she's not having problems or venting."  Xander nodded, looking in the office.  Fury gave him a pointed look that no one in the office could see.  "You still need a bigger patch."

"I know.  But it's being cleaned.  I got mud all over it when I took down that rebel group threatening an orphanage."  He disappeared then came back and pointed at one elderly woman.  "Ma'am, I think you should probably take off the makeup."  Fury looked at her, letting agents grab her to check her over.  She had on a fake prosthetic face piece.  She had a bomb in her cleaning cart.

They handled it professionally and he had the admin area cleared.  Someone got a plant off Maria Hill's desk for her and one off Joyce's but that was him being thoughtful to women.  Fury would have to break him of that habit before he ran into a bad one in the field.  The council members didn't evacuate.  He went to check.  They were dead.  He called a medical and biological response team.  Turned out his hatred of soda in his office had paid off.  Barton really needed to give him some warning.

***

Dawn looked up from her overnight watching of Callia when the dayshift nurse came in.  "Doc'll be back in a few hours," she said quietly.

"What happened?"

"Got wet and chilled.  Now she's got crud in the lungs."

"That can happen even when you don't get sick easily."  She checked her vitals to write down and changed out her IV bag since it was nearly empty.  Dr. Pigalli walked in sipping some coffee.  The nurse let her have the newest findings and let them talk.

"The infection's going down," she said.  "Let me draw a bit of blood for a new test."  She let Dawn hold Callia's other arm out.  It woke the baby but sorry.  She started it running while Dawn soothed her back into a nap.  "No Dad?"

"Collapsed a few hours ago."  She pointed at the bed Tony was napping on.  "Steve got called back to SHIELD for a slight emergency last night.  Something about a gas canister or something.  Pepper's with Liz."

"That's fine, Dawn.  You know how to behave in here.  You've been in here often enough yourself."  She checked Dawn's leg.  "We can scan that."

"Xander moved the healing ahead."

"That's sweet of him.  C'mere."  Dawn got up and let her x-ray her leg.  "That's a really good healing.  Nearly three weeks gone."  Dawn smiled, sitting back down to fuss over Callia.  "Grandma?"

"I made her go home about midnight."

"She doesn't need to be worn down either," the nurse agreed.  Dawn smiled.  The baby sniffled and woke up again to cough.  Dawn helped her sit up, supporting her so it wouldn't hurt as much.

"Party?" Callia asked weakly, laying back down.

"You can still have the party, even if you're in a chair all night," Dawn promised, smoothing back the sweaty hair.  She got another cool washcloth to wipe off her face.

"Did the nightshift nurse dose her with tylenol for her fever?" Dr. Pigalli asked, taking her temperature again.

"No night shift nurse last night so I did," Dawn admitted, looking at her watch.  "She's due in about an hour."  She looked at the bottle and cup beside the bed.  "I used the bigger dosage you had us use after Munich's fever."

"That's fine.  It's not going to cause liver toxicity at that level."  She patted Callia on the foot.  "Let's get you into a shower, young lady.  Body temperature, not cold."

Callia pointed at her IV.  "I can't shower with that.  Can I have it go away now?"

"I can do your back and hair for you.  I did it plenty of times when you were little."

Callia shook her head.  "I'm a big girl now.  Only I scrub me down," she said, looking pouty.

"We'll unhook it," Doc said, doing that and covering the end with a waterproof bandage.  "We'll only have to hook it back up when you're out."  Callia nodded.  It wasn't what she wanted but she needed the IV for medicine and fluids.  "Body temperature, Dawn."

"That's how I take mine anyway, Doc."  She carried her in there and let her sit on the shower chair while she got it to a good temperature.  Just above what Dawn felt was body temp.  Callia got out of her jammies and let Dawn adjust the shower wand down.  "Grab that and it comes out to rinse off your back," she said, showing her.  Callia nodded.   "Let me get you more jammies."

"My soap?"

"You can use the stuff in here.  You'll get yours later.  This stuff makes your skin really smooth."   Callia nodded and got wet, moving to do her hair.  Dawn went up to get her jammies, finding Steve collapsed on the couch.  She smiled, sneaking past him.  He flinched awake.  "She's in a shower."

"Good."  He yawned, sitting up.  "That's great probably."  She came out with clean pajamas.  "Anything I can do?"

"Make Tony breakfast and do the pet stuff?"

"I can do that."  He smiled.  She grinned back, bringing down the supplies for the baby.  He got up to clean the litter boxes, feed all the pets, and then took his own shower and got dressed.  He made him and Tony eggs and toast, carrying it down there.  Tony was still asleep.  "Why can he sleep in here when he can't in bed?" he muttered, watching him sleep.

"He can do the same thing in the lab.  He likes it to be slightly noisy and with air flowing," Dawn said.  "That's why the bed areas have little fans."

"Maybe I can learn to sleep with a white noise machine on then."  Tony flinched awake, looking around.

"Showering, boss," Dawn said.

Tony sighed, sitting up.  "Thanks, Dawn."  He smiled, taking his plate and a kiss from Steve.  "Thank you too."

"I'm done," Callia called.

"Coming," Dawn said.  She walked in there, looking at her.  "Let me get your back."

"No!"

"Yes.  It's all sweaty too and you'll break out."  Callia hated the idea of pimples.  She pouted but let Dawn do that and rinse her off, getting her hair better too.  "The pink stuff is shampoo," she said, redoing it.  Callia rested against her.  "We love you."

"I know.  Is Daddy awake?"

"Yup.  Steve brought him toast and eggs."

"Ooh, food."  Dawn smiled and handed her the jammies.  "No undies, Auntie Dawn."

"You're in bed, it'll be fine since they're all in the wash."  She carried her back out there, letting Doc restart the IV.

"Stepmom?" Callia asked.  He smiled and came over to hug her.  She stole some bacon.  "Thanks."  She grinned.

"I'll make you breakfast.  I wasn't sure if you'd be up to eating."

"As long as I don't cough so hard I puke I'm hungry."  She grinned.  Steve gave her another hug and went upstairs.  She looked at her father, who was shoveling in food. "Daddy, chew.   Stepmom Steve and Auntie Pepper would hate it if you choke."  He laughed, nearly choking because of that.  She grinned at her aunt.  "Don't you have to go cuddle?"

"Yeah but they're coming here to get them."

"Huh.  I need a boyfriend like that some year."  Steve came back with breakfast.  "Daddy's going to choke."

"I'll take care of both of you."  He patted her foot.  "I was sick a lot as a kid too."  She grinned.  "I spent a lot of time in a hospital bed."  He patted her foot again.  "We'll read to you in a bit."

"I have to finish my book for my book report," she said.  "Then you can read to me?"

"We can do that," he promised.

"That book is the first in a small series," Dawn said.

"Cool!"  She wiggled and dug into her breakfast, pulling over her tablet to read.  "There's nothing begging me.  It's really weird."

"I took care of them this morning," Steve said.  "We can walk your dog in a bit."

"Okay.  If you don't, he poops and pees on that grass pad in the exercise room."

"I know.  I already cleaned it and it was really recent so he can go for a walk in a bit," Steve said.  She grinned and got back to reading and eating.  "Dawn, go shower and stuff.  We have it."

"Okay."  She kissed Callia on the head, earning a grin but she went back to her book.  Dawn went up to the changing area for employees, finding something in her locker that hadn't been there the day before.  Including her shampoo.  She took a shower and changed into jeans and the button up shirt whichever of her spouses had picked.  Sneakers too.  She'd be comfortable at least.  She made it up to her desk, finding her tablet waiting on her with a bag from the café across the street wearing a post-it on to eat it.  She sent a wash of thanks and love at her spouses, who sent it back from their place in one of the guest suites.  She settled in to eat and go back to untangling the budget from hell.

***

Callia woke up when the nurse yelped.  She blinked at her.  "That was probably a really nice pounce, Clint kitty."

"He came out of the ceiling, I should've known," she complained, putting the cat on the bed.  "They have to go back upstairs soon."

"Yup."  She petted the cat.  "Did you sneak down to see me?  Thank you.  I needed kitty cuddles."  The cat purred and stretched, curling up beside her leg to nap as if nothing was going on.  Callia settled in to nap too.  She was still tired.

The nurse watched as first a dog, then a black and silver cat walked in.  The dog barked.  The black and silver cat howled.  That brought a meowing tan and white cat, who investigated the nurse to 'talk' with her.  Then a hyper black cat zipped in and hopped up on each and every single bed before finding the one he liked and curling up around her head.  A red striped cat sauntered in and sniffed, looking around.  She leapt delicately up onto a free bed and laid down to stare at Callia.  The chatty one got down and went to curl up with her, getting batted at but that one flopped down on top of her and bathed her ears so it was good for the red one.  The dog whined until Callia floated him up to join the other three cats.  The black and silver one was on Callia's stomach.  The nurse looked over at Dr. Pigalli, who smiled.

"The tan one is named after Dawn.  The dog is named after Xander.  The black and silver is Phil.  The first tan one is Clint, and the red one's Natasha.  The black one's Tony."

"It figures," the nurse said.  She looked at the cats.  The Dawn cat was still washing Natasha's ears, even though the red cat was getting a bit pissed off at her according to the tail movements.  She finally snapped and batted at Dawn again, who meowed pitifully.  Natasha huffed and curled back up again.  Dawn pouted and jumped down, hopping up next to Phil to curl up with him.  Phil nose-nudged her and Dawn meowed.  Natasha huffed again but got up, stretched, and turned around a few times before laying back down to stare at the family grouping.  The nurse picked her up and put her on the bed.  "You belong here.  Curl up with Clint like you do when your namesake's in here."  She walked off to get some coffee.

Natasha growled but Callia blinked at her.  "Curl up, 'Tasha.  I need cuddles.  I'm sick and miserable."  She coughed.  Natasha walked up her to stare at her from her chest.  She petted her.  "I missed you guys last night."  She coughed again.  Tony howled and lapped her.  Xander got up to do the same thing.

Doc came out to give her medicine.  "Sleep."  She looked at the Natasha cat.  "Lay down."  The cat stared at her but did that.  She smiled.  "Thank you for being sensible."  She walked off again.

Callia stared in awe.  "How did you do that?"

She smirked.  "Some day I'll teach you that secret."  She winked and went back to her desk.  The cats got comfy and the dog rested on Natasha's back until she hissed at him for it.  Then he nosed her under the tail and did it anyway since she was crowding his sleeping spot.

Callia blinked at them.  "You two need to have sex like daddy does and get over it."  She could ignore the doctor choking on her coffee for her saying that because it was true.  She shifted and Clint scratched her so she quit.  "I wasn't going to roll over on you."  She got comfy, curling around him.  That gave the cats more room to lounge with her.  "I need to redesign my room here."  She yawned and let herself drift off again.

Dr. Pigalli smiled at the tiny family.  They were very protective of Callia, just like the originals were.

Tony walked in with a bag from the deli across the street.  "Did she wake up?"

"The cats woke her.  I gave her more cough medicine."

He grinned.  "They're good to her."  He settled into his chair.  The dog looked at him.  "No.  My food."  Clint's head popped up and he meowed.  "None for you either, Clint."  Natasha and Dawn meowed loudly.  He got up and went upstairs to get cat food for them, bringing down the huge dish of mixed wet and dry food to put beside her bed.  He opened one of the single serve trays of wet dog food for the dog.  Which Natasha wanted but he swatted her out of it.  "I gave you wet food."  They inhaled it and got back up to curl around their human while begging her father for his lunch.  They were cats, they got away with things like that.

Hellion ran in and jumped up on the foot of the bed.  "Down," the nurse ordered.  "You're going to flip the bed, dog!"  It slunk down and gave her a pathetic look.

"Here, Hellion," Tony said, patting his thigh.  The wardog got down to come get petted.   "Thank you."  The dog stood up on his hind legs, front resting on the bed, to sniff the cats and Callia, barking at him.  "I know she's sick.  That's why we're in here."  Hellion barked and lapped Clint, who hissed and batted at him for it.  "He doesn't like dog drool, Hellion.  Let the cats sleep," Tony said patiently, finishing his sandwich.  Hellion sniffled Callia again, lapping her, getting dog slobber all over her.  She sleepily petted him for it.  He barked and she cooed a bit.  That was the girl that loved to chase him around.  He lapped her again and hopped up to settle around the cats.  Dawn played with his tail but that was fine.  Cats liked odd things.  That's why they weren't dogs.

Tony took a picture with his tablet, then one with Callia's tablet so she'd have it.  He sent his to the whole family, including Xander.

Phil appeared, staring at the dog.  "It's good you're helping her feel better, even if you did cover her in drool."  Hellion barked and wagged his tail, looking happy.  He petted him.  "You're very good to the baby, Hellion.  I'm sure you'll enjoy having the new ones around too."  He went back to work.

Xander appeared, leaning on the bed.  "Weren't you busy with the puppies?"  Hellion lapped Callia again.  "Fine, play with the sick puppy."  He petted him, shaking his head as he teleported off.  Hellion laid down and snored at the human puppy.

Tony shook his head, having taken film of that to share with Pepper.  The pets had more personality than some geeks he knew.

"Oh my god, you're what?" Andrew yelled.  "MB!"  She burst out crying.  "No, not like that!  I'm happy, that was happy flailing and yelling!  I promise it was.  Please don't cry!   Pretty please?  I can't handle it when you sob.  Please!"

Tony looked out there.  Andrew being all 'flaily' could only have one reason with that yelling - someone had forgot what he taught him.  "MB, the hormones are normal."

"I know."  She sniffled, looking at Andrew.  "You're the one who didn't switch condoms in Tony's office."

"Oops."  He hugged her again.  "We'll have stunning little geek babies and I'll get them baby jedi outfits so they never touch the dark side like I did."  She smiled and kissed him.  He leaned her against a wall to kiss and hold her, getting in some minor butt squeezing before a cat interrupted them.  Tony came out to see what kissing humans were about.  His human didn't do that.  He climbed up MB's leg to perch on her shoulder and 'talk' to them about it.  Andrew looked at the black cat.  Then at his wife.  Who was grinning and petting him.  "I thought yours was evil."

"He's probably curious since humans don't go into heat."

He nuzzled her throat.  "Bet me.  I went into heat in Tony's office."  She pinched him but giggled.  The cat meowed at them so he petted him too.  "We like you too, Tony cat.  Yes, she's with kitten and we were celebrating.  Thank you for the cockblock.  It's almost as good as Jonathan's when he's mad at me."  She giggled and hugged the cat.  Tony purred and let them bring him back to his human.  He jumped off, landing on Hellion, who didn't wake up, and curled up back around her head again, getting a sleepy pet of his own.  Andrew walked her over to the doctor.  "Find out what it is?"

"She's not more than a month pregnant," Tony said, smiling at them.  "Unless she created some aging formula."

"I forgot," he sighed.  "Try anyway?"

"We can try an ultrasound, Andrew," she said patiently, taking MB to do that.  "Do you need an OB's name, MB?  I'm not one.  I can do birth control exams but birthing babies is not my strong suit."

"I can probably use who Tara does if they take my insurance."

"I'll hack millions if I have to," Andrew said.

"No you won't," Tony ordered.  "Because you'd hate to be a dad from prison, Andrew."

"Fine."  He grinned.  "I might anyway," he said quietly.  "That way the baby has kick ass toys."  She kissed him to take the evil thought away, which reset his brain at 'I'm going to be a daddy'.

"I can't do the ultrasound while you two are kissing," Doc said patiently, for her.  Andrew pulled back and got out of the way, watching how that worked.   The baby was just a tiny splotch right now but he was having a head full of bad thoughts.  MB was sniffly so he hugged her, making Doc move out of the way since he climbed on top of her to kiss and cuddle her.  Doc turned off the machine, going back to her office.  "No sex in the infirmary, Andrew."

"Yup."

MB smiled.  "Go have flaily time," she said quietly.

He kissed her.  "I can do that."  He looked around.  "Tony, I'm going to be a dad."

"You'll do better than I did because you have more great examples than I did," he said patiently.  "Want to go tell Rodney?"

"Can I?"  Tony had him sent over.  He looked around at the Marines exercising, spotting someone he knew.  His mind finally ground to a halt since it was safe here.   The wall holding all the bad thoughts back crumbled as the forcefield collapsed.  This was the homeland of geeks, they'd understand.  "Radek, where's Rodney?  I need to talk to Rodney.  He can make my mind shut up with the bad ideas about baby bottles and baby toys and all sorts of baby things and what if it's a girl!  I have no idea how to deal with girls!  She might turn into Dawn, which is really okay and all but not what I want my daughter to be.  Where's Rodney?"  He looked around.  He knew he was babbling but he was scared.

"Come," Radek said, leading him off, letting him babble.  "Rodney can clear future baby bad thoughts."

John winced, shaking his head once Andrew was out of sight range.  "Those are going to be some very big geeks."  The Marines staring at him nodded as a group.  "By the way, that's Andrew if you heard Rodney talking about him.  He's recently married a chemist, who is a lot like him only less of a fandom geek."

One Marine raised his hand.  "Do they work for the SGC, sir?"

"Stark."

"Oh.  That makes sense then.  I didn't think our geeks were allowed to breed without permission from General O'Neill."

"No, like all of you they can breed whenever you want.  General O'Neill will kick your ass if you're a man who doesn't take responsibility for his dick's actions, but you can breed whenever you want, Sergeant."

He shuddered.  "Can he do marriage ceremonies?"

"I'm not sure.  He might.  I know he married a few geeks off in a civil service once."  The Marines moaned.  John smirked.  "Yes, there's gay geeks too, people."

"They're all a bit gay," one muttered.  "And weird."  John glared so he got back to his exercising.  He'd probably have duties later that would involve him picking up trash by hand again or sparring with Ronon.

Rodney looked up as Andrew walked into the lab led by Radek.  "Huge problems at Stark again?" he asked, sipping his coffee before putting the cup down.  With the look on the younger engineer's face it was going to be a long day.  Thankfully Dawn made excellent coffee for him if he was needed over there.  Better than the sludge some of his minions had made in the lab's coffeemaker.

"I'm going to be a dad and it's *so* wrong but I have no idea.  I want to make baby toys, and great baby toys, but I have no idea what normal babies want and what if the baby comes out like my brother or even like me and he's a dark little guy instead of a jedi in the making.  I'm going to have to make it a light saber that can stick to a baby hand.   MB's going to be really pissed if the baby comes out evil.  Not that I think he'll be evil but he was conceived in Stark's office," Andrew babbled.  "So maybe he left some evil plan germs there."

He swallowed.  "What if my project worked and we're both pregnant.  Then we'd have twins and I'm not sure I can handle twins.  Twins are kinda scary, especially Tara's daughter because she's like a future super agent sort and she's nearly shot me once with a nerf crossbow.  Since I wasn't reading to her she might've wanted a real one.  What do I do if mine comes out like her or we're having twins?"

Rodney reached over and nerve pinched him.  Then he sighed.  Radek walked off to his usual seat laughing.  "I love mentoring young geeks.  Especially these two."

"How would he get pregnant?" one of the other geeks in there asked.

"He's working on it to spare his wife the pain of childbirth," Rodney said, finishing his coffee.  "It appears he didn't find it in time."  He stepped over Andrew to get another cup and sat back down again.  "We'll talk when you're calm," he told the unconscious body.  "Then we'll figure out if I want to do that some day or not.  I should have someone to carry on my greatness and while I don't think I want a child, I might concede that argument with the proper nanny and support system."

All the other scientists were staring at him oddly.  One of them found the 'just in case' dart system and hit him with one.  Radek saved the cup of coffee when Rodney fell.  "Was mean, people, and he will retaliate later."  He put the cup down and settled in to watch over them while they slept.  Andrew was snoring so clearly he had too much fun with MB and not enough sleep recently.

John walked in and smirked at the geeks.  "I'd hit PT before he wakes up, people."  They fled.

One stared at him.  "He was talking about using some male pregnancy thing to spawn, Colonel.  It was brain saving for all of us, including him."

"Yeah, I don't care and if Rodney wants to get pregnant I doubt even being sedated would stop him.  After all, that's how some ancients did it.  Even Janus."

"No wonder chaos people pray to him," she complained, walking off sulking.

Personally, John agreed, but still.  It wasn't a good precedent to set.  Rodney would make them miserable for days and might get pregnant just to make them all shudder in horror.  He followed the geeks out, leaving Radek with the two sleeping ones.  He found one geek texting and glared at her.  "I'm telling the general," she said.  "Before they get *ideas*.  He always comes back from Stark with *ideas*, Colonel, and it's a bad thing!"

"We get new weapons," he said smugly.  "It's not all bad."  She shuddered but got into the PT.  It might save her from Rodney's later wrath.

In Colorado Springs, General O'Neill got a text message.  He looked at it, seeing it was from Atlantis by the phone number.  He opened it, expecting some bitching or a complaint being made. The one he got.... wasn't exactly what he was expecting.  He looked up.  "Sheppard, report to my office, now," he called.  A second passed.  "Right the hell now, Colonel Sheppard."  John appeared.  He held up his phone to show the message.  John explained it.  Jack paused then shook his head.  "No, if McKay wants to get pregnant, he has to help the idiot geeks with their research, build his own machine, present his findings to the scientific community, then he can have the kid."

"The Ancients had machines for that, sir.  We've found six hidden on the city in storage, one seriously broken.  They're lacking crystals.  Andrew and Jonathan's research project resulted in a first trimester miscarriage once.  So they could probably do that."  Jack shuddered.  "But I'll tell him he'll have to present findings and let the scientific community pat his stomach while he's knocked up.  Maybe it'll make him date."  He disappeared.

Jack rubbed his head.  "Ow."  He got up and wandered to the infirmary.  They nicely got him onto a bed and scanned his brain without him having to say a word.

Doctor Carolyn Lam looked at him.  "Sheppard?"

"McKay.  He told the geeks he might think about getting pregnant some day."

"He can't do that."

"Ancients did.  Sheppard said they found machines.  Some geeks at Stark are working on it too, Doc."

She hit him with a needle of sedative, letting him take a nap.  "You rest.  We'll make sure that the mean ideas don't settle, General.  I'll have Colonel Carter go talk to them."  She walked off to call her, then burst out cackling once she was in the office with Dr. Peter Jennings, who was an immortal healer.  He told her how that worked for Gods and immortals.  Then he noted that if he wanted to, John probably could have an energy pregnancy or a regular one.  She shuddered because she had the sudden image of John and Rodney being pregnant with each other's kids thanks to the rumors going around about them.

Or worse, her ex Xander.

Maybe she'd pretend to be a general and take a nap.

***

Xander looked up then shook his head.  "I'm not a chaos god, I don't have to intervene."  The trainees stared at him.  He smiled.  "Colonel Sheppard's people were talking about the male pregnancy machines they found on Atlantis.  Apparently they were well used."  The trainee agents all groaned and huffed off.  Xander smirked.  "That adds to your runs over the obstacle course while you have the hangover."

"Sure," one agreed, waving back at him.  "We can do that, sir.  Better than the thought of your half-brother being pregnant."

"Don't mention that," Clay shouted from where he was working out.  "I don't want to give any goddess any ideas."  That got a mass shudder.  "Think how I feel, people.  Mine's mom is a pushy fertility goddess."

Xander grinned at him.  "John told O'Neill they found the machines for that."

Clay looked at him.  "I'm going to shoot you, Xander," he said calmly.  "Before your mother and his mother get more ideas.  Run really fast."

Xander cackled.  "Andrew's wife's pregnant.  He was babbling about what if his research worked so they'd have twins."

"Run really, really fast," Clay said, pulling a gun.  "I know it won't kill you."  Xander stole it and grinned, then zapped him to make him bounce off like Tigger.  "No fair!" he complained.  Roque saved him and took him off.

Jensen was shaking his head as hard as he could.  "I didn't want to see Clay pregnant and waddling," he complained when Cougar patted him on the shoulder.  "Damn it!"

"Look at it this way, Jensen.  You can be a godparent," Xander quipped with a grin.  "With your lifespan, you can watch over them as they grow up."

"Maybe."

"And if he does get knocked up, they'll probably have to appoint him to a position and make him a god so he's strong enough to carry it."

Jensen looked at him then up.  "Roque, if it makes him a god, we're abandoning you to him.  Be damned if I want to see Clay being a god."  He looked at Cougar.  "I need laid to get that very bad image out of my head.  Let me find my groupies."  He stomped off slightly whimpering.

Cougar pulled a gun and wounded him on the arm.  "No groupies!  It's wrong," he said in Spanish, stomping over to haul him off.  It wasn't a bad wound, easily bandaged, and it would let him tie Jensen down without him being able to get free.  That was his lock picking hand.

Xander cackled.  He loved Roque's team sometimes.

Phil appeared, staring at his mate.  "It hasn't been ten years since the tentacle incident," he said patiently.

"I'm beloved of many chaos gods," Xander said with a grin.  "I didn't even start it, hon."  He kissed him with a wicked smirk.  "Andrew's worrying about his project with MB pregnant.  Apparently they decided to have a moment in Tony's office."

"Mmm.  I heard."  He took another kiss.  "I'll cure that dirty mind later if and when I finish talking to this one agent."  He disappeared to go back to it.

Xander nearly skipped up to his temple because that meant he was getting laid tonight.  Yes!

***

Nick Fury had heard the rumors from Joyce.  Then from Banner, who was happy for the boys.  Fury wasn't so happy for the boys.  He walked into their lab, finding Jonathan and Patty kissing.  He cleared his throat, making Jonathan jump.  "If you two should get your private research topic to work, that child will be in a battle uniform when they are teenagers after being taught by all the Avengers," he warned.  "There's too many people who would use the male pregnancy idea on my agents and I can't have that right now.  So it had better be at least five years.  Am I clear?" he asked Jonathan.

Jonathan sniffled.  "Our baby would be a superhero?  I'd love that!"  He hugged Fury.  "Thank you!"

Fury got free and left before he got sobbed on again.  That had suspiciously looked like a mood swing.  Which was a very bad thought.  He had enough of those from Hill and Tara.

Jonathan smiled at Patty, wiping off the tears.  "That's a great future for our spawn."

She smiled.  "It is."  She pulled him closer to kiss again.  "If you get it to work, I'll baby you like Dawn gets."  He beamed and pulled her closer.  They could have their first time right there with that huge boon hanging over their heads.  Patty gasped.  "Jonathan!  We're in the *lab*!"

He grinned.  "Want to go to Tony's office instead?"

"Apparently there's a fertility curse on it.  One of the chemists in that orgy is pregnant too."

He reached up onto the table, patting until he found something to pull down.  It got opened and she moaned at the pheromone complex they had taken out of chemistry after that orgy.  "I don't need it for you but this way, it's all good."

She capped it.  "I've wanted to pounce you for months, Jonathan.  I don't need sex syrup fumes to help me."  She ripped his shirt off and got him out of his pants, then did her own modest pants and shirt.  She climbed on top and winced as she broke herself in but it was good.  Jonathan had more than an idea of what to do to her body even though this was his first time too.

***

Tony pulled out his phone when it beeped.  He blinked a few times.  "JARVIS, let them have some privacy too."  He canceled the security alert and sent an email to Jonathan to put the sex syrup back in the safe.  He put his phone up.  Fury came stomping in.  "What's wrong now?"

"If those two geeks get that male pregnancy idea to work, their kids are following in Romanoff's footsteps."

"I'm sure they'd like that," Tony said with a grin.  "They make good lower level super heroes."

Fury growled.  "Can't you stop them!

"Nope.  Especially since Rodney said they found the stored male pregnancy machines from the Ancients in a storage area recently."  Fury whimpered.  He smiled.  "Want to read to Callia?"

"No.  Sorry, kid, but I can't take sick people.  I get enough of that from Agent Hill's morning sickness."  He stomped off having a headache.  If the higher ups heard about that he was screwed.  All his people were screwed.  Maybe literally.

Tony grinned at the nurse, who was staring at him.  "What?"

"They did?"

"To them it became a chore instead of a fun thing.  They had to have another generation since they couldn't ascend.  Dawn thought that was really sad because you're supposed to want to knock up your partner the old fashioned way, not have a machine do it to you."

"It is," she agreed.  She went to tell the doctor.  Just in case either the geek's way or the machines got used around the tower.

***

Dawn appeared in the white house with a perky grin and some papers.  "John wanted to have this delivered, but General O'Neill's got a migraine."  She handed it to the president and his husband.  "So I'm being a good delivery girl as a favor."  She disappeared.

He looked it over.  "They found what?"  It was a list of the new machines they had found on Atlantis once they had the power to search safely.  He read over the list.  It had explanations for most of them.  Some of them were for planting or making new plants.  Some were genetic splicing machines for animals.  He came to an entry halfway down the second page of three, blinking at it.  He pointed.  "Does that say what I think it does?"

Loki looked and nodded.  "It says they found the male impregnating machine."  He considered that.  "I thought it took a goddess who wanted grandchildren to do that."  He shook his head quickly.

The president looked at him.  "That wouldn't work on mortals."

"Yes it does."

"It does?"  Loki nodded quickly.  "Huh."  He let his mind turn over that idea.  It was clearly a bad one.  "We can have them destroy them."

"Two of Stark's lesser nerds are working on it as well."

"Got any mead left?"

"Yes, but you have a meeting in two hours," Loki said smugly.  "With the CIA, who might like to look at those."

"The CIA doesn't need to breed future agents.  They can recruit well enough."

"Fury?" he teased with an evil smirk.  He was a chaos god.  It was sowing a lot of chaos and giving him happy evil tingles of power.

"If he can use it on your brother and Captain Rogers, perhaps."  He smirked because he knew what his husband was doing.  "Maybe even on Barton."

Dawn reappeared, staring at him.  "All kids from my husband will come from my body or Natasha's body.  If anyone else *dares* to have one with him I'm going to destroy them."  She smiled sweetly.  "Have a better day because they found six of them and one's already missing thanks to the former IOA people."  She disappeared.

They shared a look.  They'd mention it during the meeting with the head of the CIA and then with Fury.  There was no telling where it was.  They wanted that sort of technology in *their* control.  Not someone else's.  Especially not O'Neill or Stark, who wouldn't let them use it for the greater good.  Or heaven forbid, the UK since they wanted to breed a baby Iron Man from his perky super assistant.

***

Phil looked back as his wings suddenly sprouted.  He thought at Xander and moaned.  "Sorry, slight invasion in LA by elves.  I'll be back in an hour or so."  He'd ignore that confused look the agent he was talking to had.  Elves were a bit weird for SHIELD too.  He disappeared, gathering John and a few others.  The wing spell was handed out to them.  They went to LA to help Xander defeat the snotty elves flying out of their portal two miles above LA.

"I hate these idiots," John called, firing on them.  The elves were trying to fire back but not happening.  He called the SGC's head desk to let them know they needed air support.  Mitchell choked but promised they'd be there in under ten minutes, they were already scrambling.  When the special X-302's from the SGC got there, they were not amused by the people with wings but they got jetpacks to help them stay up high enough since a few were starting to tire.

Xander looked around and flashed off, smiling at Ares.  "I'll bring them back.  We have elves infecting LA."  He disappeared with all the war dogs in his temple, giving them all wings.  He pointed.  "Attack the elves!"  They barked and flew after them, herding, biting, and ripping at them.

John looked at Xander.  "He's going to be pissed off."

"Then he can pull out his wings from wherever he stores them," Xander shot back and killed another one.  He hated elves.  He *really* hated elves.

***

Tony blinked at his doctor when she shimmered and suddenly had pointy ears under her pixie haircut.  He held up a finger.

She grimaced.  "I wanted to stay down here.  I'm not like them and all they want to do is heal herbally.  Medicine is so much more than herbalism."  She grimaced as Dawn walked in.

"Don't let Xander know," she said, hugging her.  "He's fought every single invasion of elves."

"I'm hoping my nieces and nephews sneak through.  They won't be armed."

Dawn thought that at Xander, who called that to John to tell the others.  She smiled.  "Xander said you clearly weren't like all the other elves and you were okay with him because you took such good care of me.  As long as you didn't pull a 'tude worse than Athena's, it's all good."

Dr. Pigalli smiled.  "Thank you, Dawn."

"Welcome."  She hugged Callia, which woke her.  "Want lunch?"

"No," she pouted, hugging the dogs.  "Sleepy."

"Okay.  You go back to sleep and when you wake up we'll get you lunch."  Callia yawned and fell back asleep.  Dawn got Hellion free and gave him the wings too.  "Daddy needs you," she told him.  She sent him at Xander, letting him fly off to help protect his people.  Garnet and the older puppies were up there too.

Ares appeared on the ground, staring at up.  "Them again," he complained.  His wings came out, because he didn't want to have them most of the time, and he flew up to handle this new menace.  "The wings on my dogs of war had better come off within hours of the battle ending, Alexander," he ordered.

"I'll try.  If not, it'll be two weeks," he quipped with a grin and a wave.  "We have some that want to immigrate.  They're not armed."

Ares sneered.  "Why?"

"Because the doc at Stark that takes such good care of Dawnie is one.  It's her relatives."

"Fine."  He fired on the ones with weapons.  He didn't really care about unarmed combatants anyway.

Phil called in to send agents to guard the ones they knew about in Illinois.  Plus at Stark.  There were probably a few others in New York that were hiding too.  Because he had the feeling that the plastic surgeon who had treated Dawn's neck was one for some reason.  Or maybe he was just arrogant.

***

Hera looked up as her tired, sweaty son appeared.  His shirt was torn.  His wings were out.  She blinked at the dogs that appeared who also had wings.  "What necessitated that action?" she asked, pointing at a puppy of war.

"Elves, Mother."

"Oh, them."  She nodded.  "I remember he put the portal up in the air."  Ares nodded.  "Did we get them all?"

"We did and they ran like hell from us."  He smirked.  "Let me go clean up.  Dogs, heel."  He walked back to his temple.  The other gods stared at the dogs with wings.  "Alexander did it because we had elves."  Artemis whimpered but helped him cancel the spells on the dogs.  Dogs shouldn't have wings.  A few ran off before they could but they were weird dogs anyway.  Especially Garnet's newest puppies.  Ruby and Marble ran off too.  He shook his head.  Those two were really weird, clearly warped by Xander.

***

Fury looked up as a winged Phil Coulson appeared in his office.  "I heard.  We win?"

"Yes, sir, and the ten immigrating elves got through safely.  There may have been others.  I had agents tracking the six or seven that made land.  If they're here to immigrate they'll show them how to file the paperwork with Immigration."

"I'm sure ICE will *adore* that," he said dryly.  "I can't imagine how the deportations would go."

Phil shrugged.  "They can claim political asylum probably."  He disappeared, going to the infirmary.  "Doctor, three children made it through."  She stared at him.  "I have no idea.  They're in the hands of Agent Sitwell in LA.  He got beamed out to handle that since he has a gentle touch with scared beings.  They're going to Immigration this afternoon."

"I'll call him," she said.  He handed over the number with a smile.  "Thank you, Agent Coulson."

"You're quite welcome.  Alexander said you're safe from his hatred of your people because clearly you're not like the rest of them.  You're not more arrogant than a virgin goddess on the rag as he put it."

She laughed.  "No, I learned better."  He smiled and disappeared.  She went to her desk to call that agent and ask about her family.  Two of the five had made it.  She'd help the other ones get here.  Maybe Dawn had a poker contact that could go get them.

***

The master vampire Spike woke up from his day-long nap and headed to his shower.  Then he got some blood to drink on his way to the poker hall.  He walked in and people were babbling about flying dogs?  "What the bloody hell?"

"Elves," one demon said.  "We forgot they had tried in the past and Alexander put the portal above LA."  They showed him what was on the news.  Flying dogs of war.  Flying gods of war.  Flying SGC members.  Elves with jetpacks.

Spike watched then got a drink and went home.  He'd find a victim to pickpocket to make his rent.  He had gotten his fill of flying things when Dru insisted that flying squirrels were heavenly messengers so she ate them to find out their messages.  They had spent eight months trapping every single flying squirrel in the forest for her.  That was his limit on flying anythings.

***

In a midtown Manhattan apartment, a bimbo witch and a bimbo assassin were watching the replay of the earlier battle on an entertainment station.  Not like they watched the news and they had slept most of the day anyway.  "Aww, I want one."

The witch looked at her bestie.  "The flying gods, the flying elves?"

"The flying puppies!  They're so cute!" she cooed, pointing at them.  "That's a huge one but they have tiny ones.  I think they're puppies."

"It's a spell," she said.  "It has to be a spell.  If I can find it, I'll do it to one of yours."  The bimbo assassin beamed and nodded.  The witch got online on her smart phone.  Not like she could use a real computer anyway.  She found a spell site she liked and looked it over.  Her first search for wing spells didn't find anything but the second did under someone named Loki's log-in.  "Here we go."  She read it over twice then cast it in her very poor Latin.  Two of the Chihuahuas sprouted fluffy wings that matched their fur color.  "There, how's that?"

"They're adorable!"  She cooed as she picked them up, checking the tiny wings over.  "Can they fly?"

"They should be able to."  One was trying to get away and she did manage it.  "I think she's in heat again.  You need to have her fixed.  Bob Barker said that we need to have our pets spayed and neutered."

"I will some day."  She flapped a hand at her.  "If she's in heat, I'll fix it with a q-tip like usual."

"Sure."  She went to her room.  She didn't want to know how that worked.  Later that night the dog was in heat.  It was getting laid properly by one of the other dogs, which made both women groan because it had broken into their beer induced sleep.  They rolled over and went back to sleep.  It was good that the dogs got some since they couldn't.

This being in protective custody blew shit streaks.  They couldn't go clubbing.  They had to drink in the house.  They couldn't have friends over.  No boyfriends over.  They had to work for the people who had gotten them out of that grody jail and not complain that they bought them the cheap liquor instead of the good stuff.  They had to *share* a bathroom, which was unheard of in their normal lives.  They had tiny bedrooms that weren't master suites with king sized beds.  They didn't even have a cook or a maid!  This was not how their life should go since they were pretty, popular, rich, and wanted by a lot of men.

36: Mad And Insane Old Ones

Someone evil puts a kill order on Callia, which doesn't make anyone happy.  Incredibly enough, it's Fury that steps in to stop the bullshit.  The twins and Sean come home, to much happiness, tears, and fighting off wenches who can't count.  Then, Dawn talks to someone about why she can't get pregnant.  So it's a full few weeks for these Old Ones.  NC-17

Dawn was watching the news.  It had been almost ten weeks since the battle with the elves.  Things had calmed down around the towers.  Callia had her birthday party, even though she had to sit through most of it.  There hadn't been any huge issues going on in the world.  A few minor skirmishes that the team had handled.  The budget that had been so screwed up had even gotten fully fixed in time for the yearly meeting.  She was basically done for the day with an hour to go so she was watching yahoo news 'weird news' segments.  She blinked at one, turning it up.

The comedian doing the hosting duties looked at the camera.  "Since the battle over LA with the flying dogs, people have wondered what breed they were," he said.  "It appears that whichever breed it is is spreading."  They cut to a news article showing tiny winged puppies.  "Earlier this week, a dog breeder of mastiffs and pit bulls announced that somehow one of her female dogs got pregnant without her realizing it.  We have an idea how but not by what since the tiny mastiffs were born with wings."

It cut back to the host.  "In another sighting of winged dogs, there have been reports from a vet clinic in New York that some winged Chihuahuas were born to a society dog."  It cut to a picture of them.  "We have no idea why Julia Shandy had a winged dog or if it was going to be effecting her trial for killing ten people and attempting another six, but she was said to be very happy with the dogs and was cooing madly over the tiny wings.  Which we think fits very well with her tiny mind."

Dawn paused it.  "Xander?" she called.  "Oh, Xander?"  He appeared looking sweaty.  She reran the clip.

He watched, blinking hard.  "Fuck."  Pepper jumped in the office.  "I thought Ruby having some was bad."  He went back to the temple.  "Hellion, your daughter had a teenage pregnancy.  You need to have the talk with her.  Today."  He walked off. "Whichever of you knocked up the show dog is in trouble too."  Marble went running for his life.  "Figures.  Hoodlum."

Hellion nudged the new winged puppies.  He wasn't sure what they were.  They looked like puppies.  He barked at Garnet, who refused to get near them.  Her daughter was on her own with her flying spawn.  Wolves should not fly.  Only prey animals flew, not wolves.  She hadn't gotten near Hellion when he had wings either, even though she had been in heat.

Back in New York at the tower, Dawn let Pepper see the clip.  Pepper whimpered and clutched the wall.  Dawn nodded.  "Yeah."

"Okay, that's a bad thing."  She looked at her assistant.  "Send that to Tony, Thor, and Maria Hill?"

"I can do that.  And Mom."  She sent the email to them and got onto another one.  It had better pictures of the winged dogs.  They were adorable but still!

"At least Callia won't want one," Pepper said.  "She said she has enough pets."

"She does, yeah.  She wants to redo her room too."

"We can help with that."

Tony walked up to them.  "Winged war dogs had puppies?"

"And apparently Shandy had some too, boss," Dawn said with a perky grin.

He whimpered.  "Damn it.  They're going to want to breed them."  He walked off shaking his head.  This was going to be so bad.  His daughter might want wings for her boxer.  Or one of the cats.  He could just imagine his cat self with wings.

Dawn and Pepper shared a smirk and Dawn got back to her browsing since she was done for the day.  She sent that one to Phil's phone too since they were out of town on a short surveillance detail.

***

Phil heard the beep and looked at his phone.  He was in a café watching his target.  He turned on the news segment and put in an earbud to hear it.  He had to blink hard at that.  Especially when he heard who the second set belonged to.  He groaned and sent it to Barton.  Maybe he could clear Dawn's weird mood from a distance.  He spotted his target cooing at her little winged puppies and mentally sneered.  They must've bred while under the wing spell like Ruby had.  When she got up he subtly followed.  She was too engrossed in her dog to notice anything.  Including the motorcycle that hit her.

He ran over to check on her, looking like a normal decent human thing to do.  Nope, she was dead.  He looked at the dogs in the purse with her, gathering up one that had fallen out.  The ambulance didn't even wonder why he had her purse and dogs.  The officer who did the report got it noted that he was sending them to her family and that he was watching her.  He nodded and filed that report away.  Phil went back to SHIELD, handing Fury the purse.

"Why do I need an ugly leather handbag in babyshit yellow?"  Which barked at him.  He opened it to find winged puppies and a mother nursing them.  He looked up at his agent.  "An explanation before I fire your ass?"

"Julia Shandy just got run over by a low powered racing bike, sir.  She's dead.  That was on her."

"Is there anything in here beyond dogs?"

"I do not know.  I have not searched it.  I was going to ask someone who was better learned in animal behavior since she's a nursing mother and they can become violent when disturbed.  I've sent word to Agent Romanoff to search her hotel room."

"I see."  He looked at the dogs staring at him.  Then at his agent.  "Why do they have wings?"

"For the same reason Ruby's puppies do I believe.  They bred while under the spell to help with the battle against the elves, sir.  I'm not sure why her dogs got hit with that spell but I'm sure it had something to do with her supposed bestie, Elmeer."

"So you're saying that it created a mutation?"

"Yes."

Fury handed back the purse.  "I don't want to ever see them again."

"Yes, sir.  Let me take them to LA's office so they can hand them back."  He disappeared.   The head agent out there had gotten promoted from Cleveland against his will.  He handed over the purse.  "That was on Shandy when she died.  It was not searched yet."

He sighed.  "I heard about the winged dogs."  He put the purse down.  "I'll have it delivered to her family."

"Thank you."

"How?  Assassin?  Boyfriend that only liked her because she killed?"

"Low powered racing bike.  One of the almost a scooter class.  She was cooing at the dogs instead of paying attention to traffic."

"Figures."  He grimaced.  "Can you tell Fury I want to go back to Cleveland?"

"I can.  Fill out the change of duty forms."  He handed over a set.  "I'll hand them over personally."

"Thanks.  All those sort give me migraines."

"I know why."  He went back to the main office.  "Sir, he's citing medical reasons for wanting to go back to Cleveland."

"Medical?" Fury snorted.

"Yes, sir, it looked like he was on the verge of a heart attack from dealing with people like Shandy.  He never was a people person, sir.  Something like LA would need someone like Monroe as a head."

"He's chatty and likes people," Fury complained.  "Fine."

"Thank you, sir."  He went to start his reports.  Clint and Natasha were already working on cleaning up so they could get back.

***

Callia pouted in her gymnastics class.  "They're going to put the little mutant flying dogs down.  They said so on the news people."

Her coach looked at her.  "It's not your concern."

"Dogs should be protected!"

"Still.  It's not right they have wings."

"So?"  She shrugged.  "Nature mutates things so they survive better.  Maybe something will mean that dogs need to be able to fly to keep going on."  He walked off.  She pouted at her friends.  "That Shandy woman's mother said that they'd be killed if someone didn't claim them."

"She should put them up for auction," one said.  "They probably need money anyway with the way she shopped."  The other girls nodded.  She texted her mother's assistant to tell her that.  They knew people out there in LA.  Her company had people out there.  She put her phone up when the coach whistled.  They quit stretching and went to learn new things on the balance beam today.

***

Dawn looked up as Pepper came off the elevator the next morning.  "Shandy's mother is auctioning off the dog collection.  Supposedly for charity."

Pepper shook her head.  "How bad is it?"

"The flying ones are starting bid at two grand.  The others are at five hundred."  She showed her.

"Clint would kill you and your cat would hate a flying yappy dog."

"He would."  She smiled.  "Jensen said we should send one to France in apology for letting her infect their city with her presence and having the bad taste to die there so they got mobbed by reporters."

Pepper smiled.  "That might be a nice diplomatic gift."  She went to her desk.  "What's this?"

"Results of the primary last night," Dawn called without having to look.  "Tony got written in on a quarter of the ballots on the democratic side."

She walked out and swatted Dawn because it had been her comment that had started that horror in the making.  She took the report down to Tony, who probably was still locked in the lab with Callia.  She handed it to him and left.

He read it, groaning.  "I'm going to spank your aunt."

Callia looked over from her spot under the car fiddling with the oil pan's plug.  "Why?  Did she wear something too flirty again?"

"No.  Her mentioning that someone like me was needed for president got me written in on some ballots."  He put it aside.

She grinned.  "You'd be a very good president, Daddy.  You make it so we don't argue so you could do it to world leaders.  You can treat them like you do the board.  You could help Mr. Fury out."

Tony looked at her.  "Don't help their cause.  And don't drain the oil.  I don't have any extra here until it gets delivered later."

"Sure."  She got out from under the car and came over to hug him, grease and all.  He had some on him already so it was fine.  "It'll be okay.  They know you'd have to bring Auntie Pepper."  She went back to playing with the engine.  "Daddy, the fan belt's wearing out."

"I know.  It's coming too."  He shook his head, mentally groaning.  This was a bad thing.  This was really bad and Dawn needed spanked for joking about it.  Some day his daughter would understand how bad this really would be.

Him for president?  The world might end.

The only worse choice would be Xander.

***

Dawn smiled as Clint came off the elevator, taking her rightful kiss.  "Hi.  Get done?"

"I did.  What're they saying about her?"  He perched on the edge of her desk.

She teased his leg.  "Her mother's auctioning off the dogs."

"Hmm."  He smirked slightly at her teasing.  "Busy today?"

"Two meetings this afternoon."

"Good," Tony's voice said from her computer speaker.  "Spank her, Barton.  People wrote me in for president."

"Bite me.  I was one.  Better you than Loki's husband."

Tony moaned.  "Please spank her?"

"If he did, he'd have to find a prosthetic hand to fire his bow with," Dawn said.

"Fine."  He hung up.  Pepper came out to swat her again a minute later.

Dawn smiled at Pepper's back then at Clint.  "I have lunch in about twenty more minutes."

"No sex in the building," Pepper reminded her.  "It's bad enough we caught Andrew and MB in a hallway because they didn't want fined for finding somewhere more private."

"Sure, I can handle that."  She looked at Clint, who was seriously smirking.  It had been a few days and she wanted some of her spouse.  It was a natural thing and she was a needy bitch.  She finished up and took him down in the elevator to the garage, showing him how to get down to her hiding spot under the building.  It was dusty but it had nice things like the ticket desk.  It was easily cleaned with a spell.

Clint kissed her, pushing her against it so he could touch her.  She scooted onto it and he growled, pulling her closer.  Her skirt got pushed up.  His pants got undone enough and he pushed her panties aside to get into her body.  She moaned as he slid in, clutching his shoulders.  He kissed her neck, making it hard, fast, and good.  She got off and clutched at him until he helped her with a finger.  It let him have all the fun he wanted until he finally came.  They rested against each other, then he kissed her more gently.  "Missed you too."

She grinned. "I felt you teasing Nat."

"We made sure you did."  He took another kiss and backed up, pulling up his pants.  "That was a great lunch."  She handed him a granola bar from her back pocket, earning a smirk.  "Nice thinking."  He walked her back up there, making sure she didn't look too rumpled or dirty.  He kissed her in the parking garage and let her go back to work while he ate his granola bar.  They really needed things at the house.  Dawn never went grocery shopping while they were gone.  Thankfully Nat was handling that.

Pepper looked at Dawn as she came off the elevator.  "Cobweb in your hair."  She dusted it out.  "Where were you?"

"Under the building."  She smiled.  "So no fines."  Pepper laughed.  She went to clean up in the bathroom then came back to make sure they had everything for the meeting.

***

Callia got paused by her gymnastics coach.  "I stretched."

"Why are you wearing a dance leotard?"

"Because I got chilled and I don't have one of our type with sleeves.  Daddy said I had to wear sleeves to make sure I didn't have sniffles.  And it fits since I'm outgrowing my other ones.  I have to wear one to swimming too if the aunts don't take me shopping soon."

He nodded.  "It's not fully appropriate but fine for today.  They do make gymnastics ones with sleeves."  She grinned.  "I'll tell your aunt where to take you shopping."  She nodded and ran out to join the other kids on the floor.  He called Stark's office.  "They do make long sleeved gymnastics leotards, Miss Potts.  That's a good store for them or there's one in the East Village.  Yes, there.  Oh, they're closed.  I didn't know that.  We do have a few but they're mostly in bigger sizes.  I can lend her a catalog if you want."

He walked out to join them.  "That's fine.  No, today's fine.  I'll do that, yes.  Thank you, ma'am."  He hung up.  "They'll take you shopping on the way home, Stark."  She smiled and nodded.  He called one of the bigger kids over.  "We're starting on backflips."  She nodded and did one to show the kids.  They all stared.  "You're going there, though she arched wrong."  He looked at his older student, who ducked her head but did a better one.  "Like that."

Callia raised her hand.  "The girls on the one on tv did it without hands."

"You'll learn that later."

"Cool."  She smiled.  They got into the safety harnesses to learn how to do this new skill.  She was doing pretty good today.  These leotards were more comfy than her other ones or her swim suits.  She got to be a lot more bouncy today too because they were learning this new skill on the trampoline with the harnesses.

***

Dawn looked into the office when Pepper groaned.  "Big problems?  Little problems?"

"Callia needs new leotards.  She wore a dance one today."

"They're the same only in a different material."

"I have that idea meeting."

"I can take her."

"Thank you."  She dug out the new, updated shopping wallet for the baby, tossing it to her.  Dawn caught it and it went into her bra strap.  "She'll be done in an hour."

"Let me finish with this letter."  She turned back around to do that then looked up places to buy leotards for little girls.  And swimsuits because if one was too small so was the other.

***

Dawn walked into the gym, tapping Callia on the shoulder.  "Sorry I'm late.  There's a huge traffic problem thanks to a show taping downtown.  C'mon."  Callia grinned and grabbed her bag, following her out to the car.  "Happy, we're going here," she said, handing over the list.  "That's by biggest store."

"That'll work," he agreed.

"Can I wear leotards like this around the office?" Callia asked.

"As long as you follow the rules your dad set down for any leotard or swim suit."  She beamed and nodded.  The first store wasn't so far away.  They walked in there together.  "This is my niece."  The saleswoman smiled.  "She's in gymnastics but she likes dance leotards for around the office wear.  She's also in swimming classes.  She's growing again."

"We can handle that," she said, taking her to measure her.  She found her size and let her see them.

"Why pink?" she asked, grimacing.  "Aren't there colors?"

"There are some," she said, showing her those.  Callia got what she wanted.  They got into the gymnastics ones.  They were more twinkly and more spandex, closer to a swimsuit.  Callia frowned.  "They come in some patterns," she offered.

Dawn found one and nudged Callia with it, getting a grin and a nod.  She picked out a few she liked.  Including a few plain ones.  They had to go somewhere else for bathing suits since they only had bikinis, which were banned from her swimming class.  Dawn paused and pointed.  "These are like what I wear for sparring practice," she offered, pointing at them.

Callia stared at them.  "Would that count as pants?"

"Probably not.  I've worn some under skirts for emergency running out."

Callia considered it then nodded, getting some of those in her size in the dance style and one in gymnastics style.  "That might not ride up my butt."

"I'd hope not," Dawn said with a grin.  They paid and Dawn looked at the saleswoman.  "Any idea on the swimsuit issue?" she asked.  "They can't wear two-piece suits in class."

"You might try the bigger sports stores.  Or the surf shop."

"I can do that.  Thank you."  She took the slip and bags, following Callia out to the car.  "Want to go to the place to get swimsuits?"

"Can we look at the other places so I can find ones I like a lot?"

"Sure."  Happy smiled back at her.  "She's starting to assert a fashion statement."

"That's fine."  He took them to the next one on the list.  Callia didn't like that one, it was all 'traditional' ballet gear, all black and pink ones.  They got in and went to the next one, which was a dance oriented store.  Happy smiled and let them out of the back of the car.  Dawn walked her inside.  Happy smiled.  "She's going to turn into a little hellion," Happy said quietly.  "Just like her dad."  He'd ignore the bad thought that started about Tony in one of the sparkly leotards.

Dawn smiled at the awed looking saleswoman.  "This is my niece Callia.  She swims and does gymnastics.  Sometimes she'll wear ballet gear around the house even though she doesn't take dance classes."

"I hated dance class," Callia told her.

Dawn nodded.  "That's fine."  She smiled.  "We can't have two-piece suits for swim class."

"That's fine," the salesgirl, and she was a teenager, said.  She looked at her present one's tag and showed what she had.  Callia found a few she hugged and some of the racing swimsuits that had the long legs.  They'd come to about mid-thigh.  They got her a few more traditional suits and she picked out what she wanted.

"Auntie, how would I wear these with pants?" she asked, pointing at the more body gear style of leotard.

"I'd wear board shorts or a skirt," Dawn said.

"Huh."  She got a few of them and then smiled.  "Can we do other girl shopping?"

"Yup.  You can even joke that you bankrupted your daddy doing it."

She cackled and hugged her then the salesgirl.  "She's the coolest auntie ever."

"I bet she is."  She got them checked out and she gave Dawn a copy of their catalog.  "A few things are only available online and there's more selection there since we can order directly for you."

"That's great."  Dawn grinned.  "Thank you."  She shook her hand and let Callia carry out her own bags.

"Happy, I need to do girl shopping," Callia said, staring up at him.  "I'm growing again."

"You are.  You're going to be a big girl soon."

Callia grinned.  "Yes I am.   I'll be a pretty, smart, good one."  They were getting into the car when someone shot at them.  She yelped and curled up in a corner, away from the windows.  Dawn was in her seat doing the same thing.  Happy moved them away from that area quickly.  "Stupid people need it back," Callia said.  "Are you okay, Auntie?"

"I'm good.  I'm trying hard not to react."  Callia leaned over to hug her.  She smiled.  "Thanks, Cal."  They cuddled and Dawn checked her over.  She was fine.  "Happy...."

"No, I need stuff.  I don't even have panties," Callia said, staring at her.

Dawn nodded.  "We can't go to today.  We can go tomorrow.  Once someone catches whoever did that."

"No.  We can go to a mall.  It'll be safer.  We'll be inside so no one can shoot us."

"I agree with Dawn," Happy said.

"They might've been trying to kill their wife instead," Callia pointed out.  "Not us."

"If you're sure," Happy said grimly.  He and Dawn shared a look at the next stoplight.  Dawn texted Tony, who said a mall should be safe and it'd get them nearer to help.  It probably wasn't against them.  She showed him it.  He grimaced but picked one he knew had guards.  He also followed them inside.  Callia grinned at him for that, hugging him before bouncing into a clothes store she liked.  Happy let Dawn handle things while he watched over them.  He thought Tony was wrong but he was the boss.

Dawn got Callia to look at things in her size.  Which had went up.  The clerks were snickering but Callia enjoyed it.  They hit every single store that had kids clothes in the mall, which was half of them, including Sears because Callia wanted some new tools.  Dawn had to walk her out of Hot Topic but she begged to go back.  She had found a t-shirt she liked.  Dawn sighed and let her.  Though she had to veto her getting a corset dress and a schoolgirl skirt.  Then Spensers.  They headed back to the car, Happy taking the bags since Callia was babbling and swinging them into people while she chatted about her new moves.

They were just about at the car when the person who had shot at them earlier showed back up.  Callia screamed and that was the worst sound she had ever heard.  They got them into the car.  Dawn was hit too but she had gotten the guy.  NYPD had helped and made sure.  She refused an ambulance for them.  They got taken back to the infirmary.  "Doc," Dawn said, carrying Callia in.  Doctor Pigalli looked over then came rushing over.  "Someone took a shot at us.  She got a graze on her stomach."  Dawn laid her on a bed and gripped the end.  "I got 'em," she said at the looks she was getting.

"Before or after you got shot?" she demanded.  "Strip it, Summers."  She checked Callia over.  "You'll be okay," she soothed, helping her calm down.  Tony ran in and Callia started to sob, holding him to do that.  Dawn was on the next bed holding her stomach.  Doc came over to look at her once Callia was cleaned up.  "You should've told me you got more than a graze," she said firmly.

"I thought it was.  It's just inside the skin."

"Shut up, Summers."  She took her to the surgical suite to pull the bullet, that was indeed just under the skin.  "Hit her first?"  Dawn nodded.  "Okay."  She got her cleaned up and stitched then brought her back out to lay on her own bed.  Tony was interrogating Happy.  "It grazed Callia on the way to Dawn.  They're both okay.  They're both minor skin level injuries."

Tony nodded.  "Dawn, who was it?"

"Hadn't seen him before," she said then yawned.  "I'm about to adrenaline crash."  She went limp, concentrating on their bond.  She shot over a picture to Natasha, who kept better track of other assassins.  She told her who it was and asked why she wanted to know.  The bond had been silent.  Dawn told her.  Clint broke his bow.  She sent over a soothing thought that she was fine, it had barely gotten under her skin.  Callia was fine.  The guy was dead.  She blinked at Tony.  "Natasha said he's from a new crop out of Italy's school.  That he's a dickhead and only takes high priced contracts.  She'll look to see who he was working for."

Tony nodded.  "Are you good?"

"I'm fine.  Doc gave me some local."  She looked at Happy.  "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just a bit freaked out, Dawn."

"Okay."  She smiled.  "Want to send Sheila down for the clothes?"  He laughed and did that.  She rested her head back down.  "Callia?"

"You got him, Auntie Dawn.  Once Auntie 'Tasha finds out who he was we'll stomp his friends flat."

"Yes we will."  Clint rushed in with Phil behind him.  "I'm okay.  We're all okay."

Clint hugged her.  "Are you sure?"  He looked at the bandage.  He started to peel up a corner but the doctor swatted him.  "I want to make sure."

"It barely got under her skin," she told him.

"Still!"

"She's.  Fine," Dr. Pigalli said.  "You can do her bandage change later."  She looked at Dawn.  "You had him drive all the way back here?"

"We were only twelve blocks away, I checked her over first.  If it had been more serious I would've had us go to the ER."

"Good," she said.  "That shows sense."  She walked off.  NYPD officers were showing up.  "Boys, the freaked out father is next to his daughter."  She pointed.

One walked over.  "Miss Summers, you didn't surrender your gun for testing," he said.  Dawn pointed at where it was sitting.  He got it.  "Your concealed carry permit?"

"Wallet," Clint said, pulling it out for him.  He looked then at her.  "You have to renew next spring."

"I know."  She shifted and winced a bit.  "This bed is very bad for my back."

Clint smiled.  "We'll baby you later."

Natasha calmly stormed in.  Anyone who knew her knew she was pissed off to the point of volcanic temper even though she looked like nothing had happened.  "I'm fine," Dawn said.  "Callia's fine and I'm okay."

Natasha stared at her.  "There was no closer ER?"

"It was barely under my skin.  Callia only got a graze or we would've went there."

"Good."  She checked under the bandage, ignoring the doctor's complaining.  "That's not so bad."  She looked at Stark.

"It barely creased her.  Who was it against?" he asked.

"Her."

Tony stiffened.  "Someone had a plan to kill my daughter?" he hissed, leading her off.  Callia was drifting off.

"Yes.  To ruin your empire."

Tony considered it then nodded.  "Who?"

"The same one that we think is behind the vision Dawn had of the house falling into the water."

"Hmm.  Okay.  How much danger is there?"

"Very little.  Xander heard," Phil said.  "Lost his temper to the point where I can't sense anyone but him again.  Even us being married against our wills didn't set his temper off this way."  Tony winced.  "They're not having a happy day, no."

Maria walked in, her uniform barely covering up that she had a baby bump.  "What happened?"

"Ten Rings," Natasha said, handing over what she had found.  The NYPD officer cleared his throat.  Maria let him see it as well.  "Did Dawn end him?"

"He lasted halfway to the hospital but yes, she did," he said.  "The new head prosecutor is not happy.  Nor is the mayor.  He called my boss to tell him to tell me that."

Dawn looked at him.  "Self defense is still a right."

"He was shocked you didn't use magic," he said blandly.

Dawn shook her head.  "If I had, I might've hit innocents.  If they try to have me arrested I'm suing the FBI since that paper has their stamp so they knew about it and didn't warn us."  The officer blinked.  She smiled.  "And then I'm going to start destroying people that didn't tell me.  Maybe even with magic to soothe their problems of me shooting him."

"She's in a really foul mood," Clint said.  "Hill?"

"I'll have Fury clear the jurisdiction," she said, tapping her earpiece to call that in.  Fury was already stomping on someone about it.  She hung up.  "He's already informed the mayor that he's in deep for knowing about this and not telling anyone.  So is the NYPD's covert surveillance office since they spotted him and the contract and did not tell anyone."  The officer shuddered, shrinking back some.  "There's going to be a meeting soon."

Loki appeared, smiling at Dawn.  "Are you changing positions to that of vengeance demon, chit?"

She looked at him.  "Someone shot at my niece.  Did you think I was joking when I said I'd destroy everyone over her?"

"No," he said with a smile.  "The president is livid."

"That someone shot at her or that I shot the assassin back?" she asked blandly.

"That they shot at her.  He thinks her father is going to go on a killing rampage."

"Don't give me ideas," Tony warned.  "I'll make your other self's little plot for New York look like child's play."

"Daddy, you can't destroy New York.  We'd have to rebuild it and it'd bankrupt us plus get us yelled at by stupid reporters."

Tony smiled at her.  "Maybe."  He hugged her.  Steve rushed in and stole her from Tony to check over.  "Graze on her stomach, Steve," he said quietly.  "Dawn helped her."

"That person had better be dead," Steve told Dawn.

She nodded.  "I killed him.  It wasn't a totally clean shot but he was up six floors and the sun was in my eyes.  He died on the way to the hospital according to the officer."  She pointed at him.

Steve looked at him.  "Yes, Captain, he's dead.  He did not make it to the hospital.  The sucking chest wound she caused was very wide."

Dawn smiled.  "I had a size queen issue with my handguns when I was younger.  I went retro this morning."  Tony snorted but stole Callia back to cuddle.  Clint carefully took her from Natasha.  "Nat, can you and Clint make sure that Xander makes it home?"

"I will," she agreed, staring at her.

Dawn grinned.  "He needs to have a leash holder sometimes.  Even worse than I do."  She looked at Clint.

"No way in hell we're leaving you unguarded," he told her.

"I'm not going anywhere," Steve said.  "Except to kill whoever had him shoot at my stepdaughter."  Callia sniffled and hugged him.  "Shh, baby.  I have you."  He took her back from Tony, hopping up on the bed to cuddle her.  Tony patted her back and she calmed down.

Xander appeared in a cloud of smoke.  "I don't think half of them are problems any longer," he said, looking at Dawn.  "I have Phil to hold my leash."

"He'd help you destroy them.  Nat can hold the leashes."  She smiled.

Xander snorted and waved a hand.  "Like fucking hell."

"Language," Steve ordered.  "The baby's in the room."

Callia poked him.  "I've heard Daddy say worse when things don't work."  She went back to her cuddling.

Xander patted her on the head then looked at Dawn.  "You good?"

"I'm fine.  She's fine."

"I know she's fine.  I read her health when I patted her."  Callia laughed.  "You're being jealously guarded so I couldn't do it for you."

"I kinda like that they do that," she said with a grin for her spouses.

Fury walked in.  "Alexander, are they able to be found?"

"Nope.  They're in chunks.  Really messy chunks.  Someone tithed me a sweet thing and I used it to make sure they would not touch Callia again."

"From who?" Tony asked.

"You know that thing you made about six years ago?  The one that got stolen?"  He grinned.  "The demonic arms dealers have the plans for that.  I had *two* from the tithe."

Tony smirked.  "Hopefully it solved that issue."

"Ten Rings is now eight rings."

"They should be six from all the weeding down we've done," Clint quipped.

Fury nodded.  "We have to end the other rings," he noted to Phil.

"I've got agents working on that.  Especially with a vision from Dawn about them attacking Stark's house in Malibu, sir."

"Good.  Work faster."

"They're being stymied by people in other agencies.  I've allowed them to non-fatally move them out of their way."

"I can agree with that decision.  How many?"

"The six new special agents."

Fury smirked.  "Good choices."  He looked at Dawn, who shrugged from where Clint was checking her stomach and back for more injuries.  He looked at Happy.  "You did good from the security tapes."

"I try."

One of the guards came in.  "Mr. Stark, I had the bags put up in her room.  We found the bullet."  He handed it to the officer.  "It was in some of the clothes.  The nanny found it."  He looked at Tony again.  "The car could use some bondo but it's fine, sir."

"Thank you.  And you, Happy."  He gave him a manly hug with back patting.  "You saved my daughter."

He grinned.  "I'd miss her, boss."

"I know.  We all would."  Happy left them to talk together.  There was a bottle of scotch with his name on it tonight.  Tony looked at Dawn.  "You're going home."

"I'm fine," she said.  "I've only got another twenty anyway."

"Good point."  He looked at Callia.  "Let's go upstairs."  He looked at the doctor, who nodded.  He and Steve carried her off.  "Fury, if they come after her for that shot, I'm going to destroy people myself.  Even if I have to suddenly learn magic."

Fury shuddered.  That cold, impersonal tone was not what Tony Stark usually used around others.  He had no doubt Stark could be just as evil as the geek duo were in their younger days.  He looked at the officer.  "Call in."  He did that, walking off to make the report he had the bullet.  He came back grimacing.  "Are they going to try it?"

"No.  The FBI took the case from the NYPD and is not happy."

"They're going to be really unhappy," Dawn assured him.  "Fury, they knew."

"I saw that."

"Others knew."

"I saw that as well.  We're...discussing those things."

She smiled.  "I can go play some kitten poker for some discussion aids."

"I have a whole armory full of them, Summers.  Save them for those two."  He looked at Hill.  "Let's go to that talk."  She nodded, following with that information.  Natasha had made copies.  She was like that.  He walked into the office the FBI had taken over.  "According to what we've found, you knew he was going to be aiming at the kid and didn't warn anyone."  The agent gave him a dirty look.  "Her father wants to have a discussion with whoever had that idea."

"They finished shopping after the first attempt."

"Stark thought it'd be safe and that they weren't firing on his seven-year-old daughter."  The agent flinched at that.  "Apparently he was wrong.  Which is why she's grazed, her aunt is injured, and Stark's just vowed to destroy everyone who knew and didn't tell him."  He stared at him.  "This goes well beyond your rank probably."

"Yes it does.  Thankfully.  Who should I refer my boss to, sir?"

"Director Fury of SHIELD."  The agent not only flinched but he blanched.  So did the others.  "I can wait for him to drive over."  They got him on the phone and he showed up minutes later.  You did not keep a director of anything waiting.  They got you fired and blackballed from government work - if they were being nice.  Sometimes it got worse.

Agent Hill smirked slightly, making notes on what they had on the table.  "That's not his ID."  She called up theirs.  "This is his real identity."  They stared at her.  "I'm the Executive Officer of SHIELD, boys."  They backed away from her but took that information to add to the file.  Fury turned to talk to the man who walked in.  The officers waiting to take their office back suddenly had to run for coffee due to the yelling Fury was doing.  Phil walked in and gathered the information, walking off with it.  "Thank you, Agent Coulson."

"We just found one in Cleveland."

"Fix it," Fury ordered him.  "I don't want them in the US, much less on the hellmouth.  If you can, make sure they aren't on the earth."

"I'm doing that now, sir.  They will make it to prison."  He walked off calling in orders to his agents there.  He was technically over the agents in Cleveland because Maria couldn't go there while pregnant.

Agent Hill smirked at the agents watching the yelling match.  "It'll be handled."  They nodded, packing up and hitting the car.  The other director stared at her.  "Why did you not tell the attempted victim's family?"

"Why would we?" he demanded.

"Because she's seven?" she offered.

He swallowed.  "Seven?"

"Yes.  Callia Stark is seven-years-old.  She has been for a few weeks now."

Fury smirked at him.  "That's a very good point.  It is FBI protocol to warn people that they're the target of assassins."

"It is not."

Agent Hill pulled up their guidelines to show him.  She quoted him chapter and verse of it then closed the file.  She looked at him.  "We'll be talking to your director.  The president is already aware of this threat."  The mid-level manager swallowed hard, starting to sweat.  "I'm sure by now your director is also aware of it.  I know Miss Summers and Mr. Stark are both thinking about their legal options at this time.  Including suing the agents personally for not following protocol and the government to update their standards of practice since they've gotten sloppy.  He's aware of how good agencies are efficiently run."

"You're not so hot," he sneered.  "They let agents like you serve while knocked up?"

"Yes, they do."  She gave him a slightly smug look.  "Because not only do we do more with less than a tenth of your numbers, but we do it every day by protocol and the book.  I always find it amusing that we hand terrorists to you after we've taken them down.  This is our fourth assassin being handled this month, even if she is the assistant of an adjunct member.  What has your team done?"  He stomped off foaming and sweating.  She tapped her earpiece.  "Romanoff, you have under ten minutes," she noted.  She nodded, smirking slightly.  "Good work.  Make us copies as well as for Stark."  She hung up.  "Sir, she's successfully found which agents were that stupid.  She has the complete file on this major screw up.  Copies are already made for Stark, Summers, their director, us, and the president."

"Good work," he said, following her out.  "He came from the academy?"

"Yes, sir."

"They're a fine old institution.  We've had a few agents trained there.  How many do we know of out of the last graduating class?"

"Every one of them, sir, and the current students as well, failing and not."  They came out into the street and someone tried to shoot them.  She and Fury both shot them.  They fell off their perch and made a disgusting noise as they hit an officer taking a smoke break.  "That's another one."

"So we're their senior project," Fury said with an evil smirk.  "Great."  She called in that mess and got the officer an ambulance.  She went over to help, checking the kill's status.  The officer would be okay.  She kept herself from fussing over him.  The officers looked at her.  "He's a student at an assassin's academy in Italy," she said.  They groaned.  "He's a junior.  This was his senior project."

Tara appeared in a clap of air and light.  "Who dared touch what's mine!"  The officers blinked and backed away slowly.

"Tara, we're fine," Fury said.

"Not you!"  She pushed past him to look at Maria.  "Are you all right?  I just heard and made sure of Callia and Dawn when I felt you having to kill him."  She touched her cheek.  "You're okay?"

"I'm fine.  He's a pitiful shot.  Couldn't pass basic marksmanship classes."

Tara slumped.  "Are you sure?"

"I'm fine.  The officer should be fine as well."

"You poor man," she said, leaning down to check him.  "It looks like it's just a pulled muscle.  I know a great massage tech who can help if you need their name."

"Thank you, Miss, but my wife's sister is one," he said, which was a partial lie but she let it go.

"I hope you heal fast.  The city needs good officers.  You guys do good work most of the time."  She stood up, looking at Maria.  "I embarrassed you.  I'm sorry."

Maria smiled at her.  "No you didn't.  You know I don't mind you fussing over me."  Tara grinned, blushing some.  "Come on.  You can help me file reports on all this."

"I can do that."  She walked her back over to Fury.  "I'm helping her."

"Spouses hover," he said blandly.  She grinned and patted him on the arm.

Maria saw a flash of light and stared.  "I believe we know them," she said quietly, pointing.  "Diana, Artemis, shouldn't you have on bigger clothes?"

"Oooh, the babies!" Tara cooed, going over to hug them.  "My goddaughters."

"Hi, Auntie," they said in unison with a grin.  "We're escaping Mom being unfair."

Tara smiled.  "That's fine.  You can see your Aunt Dawn and your grandmother."  They nodded, smiling at her.  "You two must be cold."

They shook their heads.  "It's really warm down here," Artemis said with a grin.

"There's no snow," Diana agreed.

Maria looked at them.  "Adjust the tops so we're not seeing nipples, girls."  They sighed but did it.  "Thank you.  Mortal men don't want to stare at underage boobs."

Fury looked at her.  Then shook his head and walked off.  He headed for their SUV pulling up.  Romanoff got out, handing him the keys.  "They're your step-nieces."

She blinked at them.  Damn, they had grown.  "They are.  Ladies, let's go home.  Tara, I'll call Joyce over and we'll have dinner?"

Tara smiled and nodded.  "That'd be great, Natasha.  Thank you.  Joyce will want to hug them to death."

"So will Dawn."  She smiled.  "Come on.  We'll go home.  We don't live far from here."  She looked at their lace-up vests and skirts that were cut nearly to their hips on each leg for ease of movement.  "You can borrow some of your aunt's workout gear."  She led them through the alley to the apartment.  It was safer; fewer men would be able to see them.  She might have to kill a lot of men to keep them off the twins.

Fury looked at Tara and Hill.  "Are you coming or not?"  They got into the SUV and went back to HQ to handle things.

The officers all groaned.  "Yup, they're with SHIELD since strange things happened," one said.  His boss swatted him but it was a truth they all knew.

***

Joyce ran into the apartment and hugged the girls.  "Oh, babies!"  She snuggled them to her shoulder.  It was clear they had showered and put on some of Dawn's bodygear unitards.  Bruce walked in, closing the door behind him.  "Bruce, look how much they've grown."

He grinned at them.  "They're very pretty young women instead of babies."  They grinned at him.  He hugged them both too.  "Welcome back, girls."

"Thanks, Grandfather," they said.  Joyce stole them back to cuddle.

"Mom was being totally unfair," Diana told them.

Joyce laughed.  "Sometimes parents seem that way."  She got them sitting down and talking about what they had been studying.  The cat plopped onto the coffee table to stare at them.  "Hello, Loki cat."  She petted him.  He purred and stared at the two.  "These are Callia's sisters."

"Did someone turn him into a cat?" Artemis asked, staring at him.

"No.  He's still married to the president," Bruce said.  "This one's just a lot like him."  They nodded and petted the cat once it had sniffed them.

Dawn walked in with Callia, Tony, and Clint.  "Girls!"  She hugged them.

"Auntie!  Mom has your picture," they said together.

Tony paused, then looked at his daughter.  She was going to grow up to be just as pretty as the twins were.  He really needed to make more weapons and her chastity belt.  He smiled.  "Callia, these are your sisters."

"I know!"  She wiggled her way between them and her aunt.  "My turn."  She hugged them and grinned.  "Hi, sissies."

"Hi, Callia," they said.

Clint grinned, nudging Dawn.  "I wondered what you'd look like as a blonde."

She smiled.  "Probably not nearly as pretty.  Hylal's a lot more stunning."

"Maybe.  I like your looks better."  She smiled and poked him on the arm.  He poked her back.  "Let me change.  Dawn?"

"Let me change too."  She went to put on shorts and a t-shirt.  She came out to help everyone cook dinner.  Bruce dug in too.  Joyce was busy hugging the girls to death.

Xander and Phil walked in.  Xander looked at them.  "Your mother's so huffy it's not funny."

"She's not being nice," Artemis said.

"No, she's being a mom," Phil agreed.  "Joyce, they wanted to go to a dance in their other outfits."

Joyce looked at them.  "You're too young for boys."

"There's some girls our age in the village already married," Diana said.  "Daddy said that it's not normal but usually it'd happen by when we were eighteen."

Dawn snorted, shaking her head.  "On this realm, that's unusual.  Most girls get married in their twenties, after finding jobs.  Girls can't marry before eighteen without parents getting pushy."  They smiled.  "You have *years* before we let you date."  They blushed and ducked their heads.  "Though, you still have to wear something that covers your nipples."

"If we must," they sighed.

"This isn't bad for being so tight," Artemis said.

"You can wear that and a skirt, I'm doing that sometimes," Callia said with a smile.  They grinned at her and let her tell them about clothes that mortal girls wore.  Joyce helped her with it.

It was good to have the twins back.

Xander looked up then at Phil.  "I'm going to go steal Sean.  He's being pouty.  Girls, Buffy and Hylal are coming back soon."  They nodded they knew that.  He went to grab Sean.  "Want dinner with your sisters and grandmother?"

"Please.  Mom's sobbing again."

Xander looked at her.  "Hormones?" he guessed.

She nodded.  "My babies are all grown up."

"They are," he agreed.  "You two made pretty girls that made NYPD officers drool."  Sean growled.  Xander smacked him on the head.  He huffed but nodded.  "Anyway, tell me when you're coming back.  Dawn's already put real clothes on the girls so they're not flashing tit."

"Finally!" Buffy complained.  Hylal laughed.  She swatted him but he kissed her.  "Sean, go ahead.  We'll be down soon."  He nodded, grabbing his things.  The twins' bag and weapons got grabbed too.  Xander took them down there.  She looked at Hylal.  "They'll be grown ups soon."

"Aye and horrible at it," he assured her but he was smiling.  "Because the twins will never settle down to give us grandchildren."

"I hope not."

He laughed, hugging her.  "We have the house to ourselves."  She smirked and teased his chest with her nails.  He growled and carried her to their room.  They needed some private time and Joyce would not mind the grandchildren.

***

Sean appeared with Xander, tossing Artemis the bag and weapons.  "They're already kissing."

"Too bad Mom can't have more kids," Diana said with a grin.  "Daddy would like that."

"He would," Sean said.  He spotted Callia.  "I knew I'd be older than you, but wow."  She stuck her tongue out at him.  He grinned.  "We're coming home soon."

"Good!  I missed your stupid butt."  He laughed and hugged her.  "We're making a goat powered car."

He beamed at Tony.  "Really?"

"Really."

John appeared, staring at the kids.  "Wow, you really grew."  Sean was nearly six-five.  The twins looked like they were tall too.  Xander smirked at him.  "I was going to invite you to our cookout tonight but you guys have family things."  He smiled at Sean.  "I'll tell Ronon you're back."   Sean hugged him.  He patted him.  "We'll see you soon I'm sure."  He winked at the girls.  "You two too.  You clearly need self defense lessons."  He disappeared.  "Ronon, Sean and the twins are back," he called.  Ronon smirked.  "Sean's taller than you."

"That's fine."

"The girls are *gorgeous*."  Ronon gave him a pointed look.  "I know their ages, still!"

"Then they need trained all the more," he said with a smug look.

John nodded.  "And bodyguards to shoo the boys off their asses."

***

Xander looked up and laughed, smiling at Callia.  "John thinks you guys need bodyguards to shoo off boys and girls."

Artemis nodded.  "It might be nice if the witches left us alone."

Callia looked at her.  "I'm one of those."

"Not you or our kind.  The kind that want to turn us into virgin sacrifices."

Tony choked and spluttered.  "That's where Dawn got it from."  Dawn looked at Natasha, who swatted him for her.  "It has to be."

"Perhaps but still not nice.  She can't help that those sort want her."

They looked up at the sound of thunder.  "Thor's here," Xander quipped.  He sent a thought up to him, bringing him down.  "Thor, these are Buffy and Hylal's kids if you haven't seen them recently."

"I have not."  He smiled and patted each one on the arm.  "Well met, children."  They grinned at him and he could feel the mischief.

"Thor, they need something like what they'd wear at home but that's covering," Dawn said.  "Can you ask one of the Valkyries for some spare clothes until I can take them shopping?"

"I can.  I dare say they'd fit them."  He looked at his nephew.  "Your father is being evil minded again."

"I know.  It won't happen for long."  He smirked meanly.  He nearly cackled but Phil gave him a pointed look.  Fine, he wouldn't let out the evil cackle.  "You know, there's only a few more years until the next chaos kid outbreak."  He moved closer to Phil to kiss him.  "Will you let me hide behind you?"

"As long as I'm not damaged by it."  He took another kiss and gave him a pointed look.  "Behave and be rewarded later," he said quietly.

Xander grinned.  "I'm always a good boy, Phil."

"Hmm."  He smirked and looked at Thor, who was staring oddly at the twins.  That might be a problem.  Sean was scowling at Asgard's First Son too.  Phil gave him a pointed look, making him stop scowling and duck his head.  "Ladies, should we make up a bed at the temple for them tonight?"

Dawn looked at him.  "Are you insane?  Do you think Mom and I are going to let them anywhere out of our sight?  Especially around the agent trainees who've only had their hand for the last few weeks?"

"Actually, they got really drunk the other night and a few had more than their hands."

Dawn smirked.  "Still.  I'd have to come thump them around and it'd damage their egos so they'd never make good agents."

"Good point."  Rodney beamed in.  "Hey, Rodney."

"Xander, Phil."  He paused and blinked.  "Those are the twins."  They smiled and nodded.  "You've certainly grown and so has Sean."  He looked him over.  "Ronon's going to have fun teaching you."  He grinned at that.  "Dawn, do you know where our missing ancient mpreg machine is?"

"Um....  The last time I felt the power signature of an ancient device it was in SHIELD when I took Mom to lunch."

Bruce stared at her.  "Where inside SHIELD?"

"The floor below the caf."

Bruce walked toward the study calling his research helper.  She was probably still there.  "It's been moved but it's been recently by the dust," he announced as he came back out.  "She told Maria Hill and she's not real happy that someone had managed to sneak an mpreg machine into SHIELD."

"What's an mpreg machine?" Thor asked.  "I know not of that saying."

"Male pregnancy," Xander said.  "The Ancients that built Atlantis did it that way, by machine, instead of by mead or any other method."

"No wonder they died out.  They forgot what the meaning of life is," Thor said bluntly, grimacing some.  "If you do not take some enjoyment from the simpler things then life is wretched."  He shook his head.  "Was it used?" he asked Bruce.

"We're not sure.  We're going to be scanning every single agent tomorrow.  Have you been in HQ recently?"

"Nay.  I was with Jane Foster learning more amusing Midgard traditions.  We went to something called a Ren Faire.  They had ale there that the called mead.  I had to correct them more than once.  The food was good though, and plentiful."  He smiled.  "She giggled muchly all night."

"It's good that you and Jane are still friends, Uncle," Xander said.  "They keep you sane, and sometimes rob you of it."

Thor nodded.  "Aye, she robs many men's minds but she still refuses my true suit as she does not want to become immortal."

"I had that same problem with Carolyn.  It's a hard thing to give up mortality for our lives."

Thor nodded.  "Which is why I do not do more than sulk about her."  He sat down, smiling at the twins.  "We should take this to the roof so we can cook out."

"We're cooking," Dawn said, patting him on the head.  "Someone get chairs."  They went to raid the other apartments for chairs for everyone.  Tara, Maria, and the twins showed up with their own and a card table.  Rodney disappeared to make a report of what they knew.

Callia beamed.  "Sissies, these are Tara's twins, Melissa and John.  They're like siblings to me because we bonded when they were little babies and I played with them a lot.  I teach them all sorts of things."

"That's great," Diana said, smiling and waving at John.  "Hi."

He smiled.  "You're pretty."  He ran and hid behind Maria.

She laughed.  "You're a pretty boy."  She smiled at Melissa.  "You're a pretty girl."

She smirked.  "I'm a bad girl."  Tara swatted her gently.  "I am!"

"You're not.  You play at being a bad girl.  If you were a real bad girl you'd be punished."

"I be a bad girl like Mommy is," she said, staring at her mother, one foot tapping.

Joyce snickered.  "She's so like you sometimes, Tara."

"Yes, she is."  She picked her up to hug her.  "If you want to be an agent like Mommy Maria, you can do that."  Melissa beamed at her.  "That doesn't make you a bad girl.  That means you're a tough, strong girl.  Big difference."

"There was a time I was a bad girl," Maria teased Tara, taking a kiss.  "I think you cured me of that nasty habit."  The twins giggled.  She smiled.  "She's mine."

"Each woman deserves someone strong to help her and do the tough things like chop wood," Artemis quipped.  "I'm going to have one some day."  She sighed, looking at her twin.

Diana shrugged.  "Mom said that we don't have to marry if we don't want to."

Sean stared at them.  "You'll marry well and I'll make sure they're fit for you or else I'll end them myself."

"Girls don't have to marry," Dawn said.  "Down here girls can flirt and date, Sean.  They can date for years.  Some girls never marry their man."  He scowled at her.  She stared at him.  "Welcome back to Earth."  Sean pouted and slumped.

Thor smiled and patted the young warrior on the head.  "Things are different here on Midgard.  It takes some getting used to but you were once and will be again."

Sean nodded.  "I guess.  Does that mean I don't have to find a wife soon?" he asked his aunt and uncle.

Xander shook his head. "Like hell you're getting married before you finish your training, your manhood hunt, and your education."  Sean blushed shyly and smiled, ducking his head.  "I'll expect your adulthood hunt to be spectacular.  Your sisters' too."

Sean nodded.  "I've helped Daddy hunt."

"Good," Thor agreed.  "That's how we learned too."  He smiled at Callia.  "Some day we'll teach you how to hunt."

"Yes I will," Xander said calmly and quietly, staring at her.  "If I can't, Roque and John will."  Callia smiled at him.  Joyce beamed.  "She'll have an adulthood hunt as well."  The twins grinned at him.  "I'll expect at least ten points if it's a buck, or at least a small bilgesnipe."

They giggled.  "We can do that," they agreed together.

Thor smiled.  "I brought in a seventeen point buck."

"I brought in the head of a feral werewolf," Xander told them.

Sean gaped.  "Wow."

Xander smirked.  "You'll at least get ten points on a buck or something equally strong."  He nodded.  "Good."  He hugged him.  "We'll teach you around the temple."  Sean grinned and nodded.  Alana appeared in a shower of sparkles.  "Alana."

"Nephew."  She tossed Dawn a bundle of cloth.  "Spare Valkyrie outfits."  She looked at the twins.  "You'll do as my female warriors, even without being on a horse."  She smiled.  "We'll see how you turn up."  She disappeared.

Xander grinned at Dawn.  "They're coming to the temple to train.  They need the harder training."

"They can do that.  We can show up soon.  I owe Ronon a real spar."

"He said that."  He smirked at the twins, who giggled.  "Let's eat."  They dove for the food.  Xander got Talsa to bring more.

Diana looked at the meat then at her grandmother.  "Is that deer?  It's not black so I can't tell."

Artemis and Sean laughed.  "Mom can not cook," Sean agreed.  "We learned what each one looked like when burnt."

"Thankfully Hylal loves her anyway," Xander quipped.  The kids laughed and nodded.  They settled in to eat and catch up with their sibling and their past friends.  Melissa was pouting at Sean a lot.  She'd get over her crush though.

Thor's crush might be a bit harder to break.

***

Artemis sighed, looking at her sister.  "He's a vision."  They had gotten up at daybreak like usual and were having a discussion in the living room.

"He's too old for you."

"He's not.  He's still very young."

"He's not," Diana assured her.  "You're much too young for him!"

Dawn came out to the argument.  This was seriously early for her but oh well.  "Which guy last night?"

They blushed.  "Thor," Artemis said quietly.

"He's a very handsome man," she agreed, smiling at them.  "If you want to hit on Thor, he has no idea about it half the time.  He blushes the rest.  If you touch him before you're sixteen, you're a dead girl."

Artemis hugged her.  "Thank you, Auntie."

"Welcome.  Go shower and change.  We'll hit the temple since I'm on injury leave today."  They ran to do that in the guest room.  "Don't touch any of the potions in there, they're poisons."

"Okay," they called back.

Dawn made breakfast for her two hyper nieces and nephew, who came out grumbling.  She handed him tea.  He pouted.  She stared at him.  "If you want coffee, you'd better talk to Ronon about it.  I'm not aiding and abetting a lifelong caffeine addiction without your trainer saying it's okay."

"Yes, Auntie Dawn."  The twins came out in valkyrie gear and he growled.  "That's more obscene than your usual!  Not only do you have cleavage, you have stomach showing!"

Dawn swatted him and handed him a fashion magazine.  "Your mother had a dress that looked almost exactly like the one on the cover, Sean.  She used to wear it on patrol."  He gasped and pointed, looking horrified.  She smiled.  "So do I actually but I know not to wear it to a fight.  Ladies, there's laces for a reason.  The reason would be because men will try to kidnap you and own you."  They laced up the tops some more and did a few on the skirts.  "Thank you.  We'll work on getting you three some clothes later.  You'll need stuff to train in at the very least."  She sipped her coffee and they all ate.  Natasha came out to get a kiss and her own breakfast.  "I left you both some."

Natasha smiled.  "Thank you, Dawn."

"Welcome."  Clint came out and mugged her, making her moan.  "Good morning to you too."

"It's always a good morning waking up between you two."  He winked at Natasha and got his own breakfast, sitting at the small table.  Natasha sat between the two of them.  "So, today we're...."  He ate a bite of scrambled egg.

"Temple," Dawn said.

"Okay," he agreed.  "We'll see if we can go with you."

"I owe Ronon a real spar."

"Even better except that you have stitches," Clint said, staring at her.  She waved her fork and blew a kiss to him over their bond before stuffing her mouth again.  He looked at Natasha.

"No sparring today, Dawn.  We will teach the girls how to spar."  The girls smiled.  "While Sean has time with his new mentor."

"Okay, we can do that."  Natasha and Clint smiled at her for having sense.  It was kinda cute how much they worried at times.  Thor walked in after knocking hard on the door.  "Morning, Thor.  Should I make you breakfast?"

"Nay, I have had those tiny sandwiches from that place with the arches of heaven."

"McDonald's is pretty decent sometimes," Dawn agreed.  "We're going to Xander's temple."

"That is good.  I can accompany you.  This many beautiful young women would attract the wrong attention and make you smite them extra hard."

"Yes it would," Dawn agreed happily.

"That's my job," Clint reminded her.  He stuffed his mouth again, looking at the girls, who were blushing.  He grinned.  "Thor, sit."  He sat down and waited.  They finished up.  Clint and Natasha called in that they were going to the temple to liaison with Xander and his staff.  Fury just snorted and told them to not kill anyone by accident.  They needed the new recruits.  Clint got his bow, he had to teach crossbow lessons anyway.  Natasha got her weapons.  Dawn got hers and they went together with the kids in the center of the circle she and Thor drew.  They appeared.  It was still nearly daybreak in Colorado.  The girls looked around, smiling at things.

Sean grinned.  "The obstacle course used to look much too big to play on."

"You'll learn it too," Dawn assured him.

John came out of his temple, yawning and stretching.  "Morning."  He smiled.  "Ronon's in my spare room."

"The girls need tested too," Dawn pointed out.

"They can do that.  Teyla's here too, Dawn."  He grinned.  "Are you two going to settle your sparring?"

"Not today.  She has stitches since someone shot at Callia yesterday," Clint said.

"Excuse me?" John demanded, staring at him then at Dawn.

"Dead," she assured him.

"Let me go get the babies."  He went to the tower.  "Callia, c'mon.  Grab the dog.  You and Liz are coming to the temple today."  She squealed and pounced him to hug.  "Let's go.  You can have breakfast there."  She got her dog on his leash, grabbed her e-reader, and then ran to grab Liz and her diaper bag.  He took them with him, letting Callia run over to pounce her siblings.  Liz was cooing and waving.  They all smiled and waved back.

The Xander dog was sniffing around and marking a few bushes then sitting beside his human.  Garnet came down looking like she was being possessive.  "No," John ordered.  "That's Callia's dog.  You don't bother the Xander dog, Garnet."  They sniffed and Xander barked, lapping her on the nose.  He got into playful puppy mode and she huffed but swatted him.  The new puppies came running so they got to play tag.  John shook his head.  "It's good they have new playmates."

Dawn grinned.  "You should see the cats."

"I have."  Ronon and Teyla came down to stretch and spar.  "Ronon, Dawn's got stitches.  Someone shot at Callia yesterday."

Ronon looked at the baby then at Dawn.  "Dead?"

"Yes."

"Good."  He smiled.  "We can spar next time.  I'm exhausted.  Rodney was ranting half the night about the male pregnancy machine."  Thor groaned, shaking his head.  "Morning, Thor."

"Morning, Ronon."  He smiled.  "I'm sure you remember Sean."

"I do."  He looked up at him.  He was about two inches taller than him.  "You grew a lot."

"I have.  You used to be a giant to me."  He grinned.  "Can you help me?"

"We'll test you today and see where I can help train you."  The boy squealed and pounced him to hug.  "Clearly you have sisters," he teased with a smirk for them.  He nearly did a double take.  They were not what he was expecting.

"Everyone does that because we're not short like Mom," Artemis quipped with a grin.

"You'll need proper clothes to spar, girls," Ronon said.

"They're from the valkyries," Dawn said.  "It should be fine even if they do need bras."  The girls grimaced and shuddered.  "Sorry!"

"My people bind ours down," Teyla said.  "I can teach you that."  They grinned and nodded.  "We will test your skills in combat and hunting areas."

"Daddy taught us all the bow," Diana said.

Clint grinned.  "That's my weapon of choice too, girls."  He led them to the archery range to see how they did.  They weren't marksmen but they hit pretty close, more than good enough for standard hunting.  He looked back at Dawn.  "Can we adopt these two?"

She smiled.  "You'll have a tiny archer to teach sometime soon, dear."  He grinned.  She wouldn't think about feeling a bit funny.  He paused in teaching them a better stance to look at her.  She shrugged.  "Maybe it's a cold."

He came over.  "Can you scan yourself?" he asked quietly.  Natasha was staring at her too.

"I'm not sure.  I have no idea if it'd bother it."

Xander came over and laid a hand on her stomach, then grimaced.  "Not exactly.  You were apparently almost there but it didn't implant.  Sorry, guys."  Clint shrugged but was staring at Dawn.  He got out of the way so she could kiss him.  He tapped them.  "I also could tell that she had miscarried about eight, nine months ago.  It was really early, barely a month along but it left a mark in her aura."  He left them alone.

"So it must've been *that* night," she said quietly, staring at him.  "Sorry."

He pulled her in for a good kiss.  "When it's time, it'll happen," he said quietly.  "It'll be fantastic."  Dawn grinned, sniffling a bit.  He kissed her again.  "We'll have more fun and when it does, it'll be great."

"It will be."  She hugged him.  "Go teach my nieces how to be as great as you are."

"I am."  He kissed her then went back over to them.

Dawn walked over to Natasha, giving her a kiss.  Natasha smiled.  "It will happen soon."  Dawn grinned.  "I can fuss over you as well."

"You sure?"

"I'm positive."  She winked and walked over to get Callia to work with her.

Dawn grinned, giving Sean a nudge toward Ronon.  "Show him what you can do."  He walked over to talk to Ronon instead of staring at him with hero worship.

Thor watched the kids practice.  Especially the twins.  Artemis was his definition of a woman made for him.  If only she was ten years older.  Or even six years older.  Xander walked over and nudged him out of his thoughts.  "I am a patient man," he said quietly.

"You are."

Thor looked at him.  "I know they are acknowledged family of yours," he said quietly.

He smiled.  "They are.  You're a worthy man.  Their family would not mind.  I would mind if you tossed them aside after a few years like most of your past dates."

"I would not."  He watched them shoot with Clint. They were already improving.  He sighed.  Xander grinned, patting him on the back.  "Do not tell the family?"

"I don't really talk to our family, Uncle.  Most of them have huge egos and are assholes."  He walked off.  He gave Dawn a look.  She smiled and shrugged slightly.  He read her mind.  Artemis had been gushing over Thor too.  Xander disappeared to Asgard to talk to Buffy.  Who looked really old.  "Did you get years sucked out?"

"I let the illusion drop."

He stared at her.  "Huh.  Okay.  Artemis found a guy to crush on."

"She's too young," Buffy said.

"Thor knows he can't touch her until she's eighteen."

"Thor?  Your uncle Thor?" she demanded.

Hylal coughed.  "He feels such?"

Xander nodded.  "He's sighing like a girl."

Hylal smiled.  "He is more than worthy of my daughter.  She had better be of age by Asgard standards."

Xander nodded.  "I told him eighteen."

"That's good," Buffy said.

Hylal patted her arm then stroked up it.  "Most girls here marry at sixteen."

She looked at him.  "On my plane, it's eighteen or he's in jail."

"Then I would agree."  He looked at Xander.  "He has our permission."

Xander nodded.  "I'll let him know."  He smiled.  "Ready?"  They shook their heads.  "Okay.  Clint's teaching the girls how to be better archers."  He disappeared, taking Thor off to the side.  "Hylal and Buffy have agreed if you are serious.  She must be eighteen but if you are serious then you may court her."

Thor smiled.  "Thank thee, nephew," he said quietly.  "I will treat her properly."

"I know you will.  Or else I'll have Fenrir bite you.  He protected those girls and they taunted him horribly by making him wear flower wreathes and the like."

Thor smiled.  "Being a bit sneaky is fine.  I'm used to such."  He went to help the girls learn what they needed to.  Clint taught very well and the girls were apt pupils.  Artemis kept giving him sideways looks until Dawn said something in her ear.  She nodded and let it go.

At lunch, Dawn pulled Thor aside, staring at him.  "You will treat her like she's the most special gift in the universe.  You will never scare her.  You will wait to touch her until she is at least eighteen."  He nodded, looking down at her.  "If you *ever* harm her, you will not live to regret it for more than the end of your life, and it will make your brother beg for mercy for you.  Am I clear on the rules for you to start courting her formally?"

"You are and I agree.  She has much to learn and I have much to learn about her.  She has to finish growing into a woman."  Dawn smiled and nodded.  "Your mother would not mind?"

"My mother will freak out for a few days but she'll see the gooey looks on her face."  She patted him on the arm.  "You're already might-as-well-be family, Thor.  Do not mess this up.  You don't want to tangle with me or Mom."

"I will not.  She is too fragile and special to rush and ruin."

"Good."  She walked off.  She needed to talk to her mother.  She skipped out for a few minutes, landing in front of her mother's desk.  "Mom."

She looked at her.  "What happened?"

"Artemis has a huge crush and it's mutual."

She moaned.  "Thor."

"Yup.  He knows she'll be eighteen or else."

"Good.  We'll talk to him later.  I adore Thor but I will not panic."  She smiled and kissed her mother on the forehead before going back to the temple.  She sighed, looking at Maria.  "My granddaughter got hit by an arrow on the butt."

Maria smiled.  "Sometimes it hits you really hard.  I thought Tara was sweet until I turned around one day and she was chewing a junior agent a new one.  It hit me like a steel beam to the chest."  Joyce sighed and smiled at her.  "He's honorable."

"He is.  Which is saving his life."

Maria laughed.  "I'm sure he'll be honorable."  She gasped and held her stomach.  "What was that?"

Joyce came over to check, smiling at her.  "That's little toes."

"Oh.  That was a kick?"  Joyce smiled and nodded.  "Huh."  She laid a hand on her stomach, looking down.  "That's really weird, kid."  She got kicked again and had to grab onto her desk.  "Does it get easier?"

"After a few more, you'll get a bit immune to it.  You'll start to feel them moving around all the time soon."  Joyce smiled, hugging her before going to her desk.

Maria kept a hand on her stomach.  She wanted Tara but she had to get through work.  Then there would be some stomach petting.  She looked up, finding Phil staring at her.  "I got kicked."

He smiled.  "It's a special time."  He touched her arm to bring them to his office.  She sat down, rubbing her stomach.  It was safe to give into this need here; Phil wouldn't call her an unfit agent because she was being maternal.  He smiled, rubbing it with her.  "It's a strong kid, Maria.  They'll be like their mother and Melissa.  John will overprotect them even more than he does his twin."

She grinned.  "Thanks, Phil."

"You're welcome."  He patted again.  "Find out what it is?"

"I'm doing an ultrasound in two days.  We're going at the same time."

He nodded.  "Let me know if you want me there."

"Phil...."

He patted her on the cheek.  "I'm still the biological father and I'll be there like I am for the twins, for both of these two.  Even though the choker made sure that hers is yours and not mine.  They're still my kids."

She smiled.  "I like that."

He helped her up.  "Good."  He laid a hand on her stomach, which stopped the newest kicking spree.  "Relax, we're all here and paying attention."  The baby calmed down.  He smiled.  "Have a great lunch with her."  She blushed and left to call Tara.  He sat down to enjoy the sensation.  The first time Tara had gotten kicked she had rushed in and grabbed his hand to put on her stomach then pouted when the kids didn't automatically kick him.  It took a few minutes but they obliged their mother's need.  It was a special moment in any pregnancy.

***

Dawn walked her twin nieces into a lingerie shop.  The woman in there stared, mouth slightly open.  She smiled.  "My nieces are just home from Asgard.  They spar.  They're twelve."

"They're gorgeous young women," the lady said, clearing her throat.  "Clearly time for their first bras?"

Dawn smiled.  "And panties because they apparently don't wear them on Asgard."

The saleslady giggled.  "They probably get in the way.  Let's go to the changing area so we can measure you two."  Dawn walked them that way.  They didn't want to go but yay!  They were bouncy, they had breasts like Dawn used to, they needed a bra.  The saleswoman took measurements once they had them unbound, looking at Dawn.  "Sports bras?"

"Yes please.  General good everyday bras too.  They're not going to be dating for years so they don't need anything fancy."

"Okay," she said, going to find them.  "Do we think they'll have another growth spurt?"

"Yup," Dawn agreed.  "If not two.  I had two after their age."

"That's fine."  She handed over underwear.  "Bikinis?"

Dawn let them see them.  They pouted.  "Mom wears those."

The saleslady laughed and got them bikinis style with strings instead of a solid side.  That got more favorable looks.  They got measured by Dawn, who got them a smaller size.  They put them on and it worked.  The bras were general, everyday bras in plain cotton without underwire.  They didn't need the support yet.  The sports bras got a lot of looks.

"We've worn tops like that," Artemis said.

"This goes under that," Dawn said.  "So you don't bounce and hurt yourself."   She leaned against the changing room wall.  "That's so you don't have backaches, neck aches, and don't rip a muscle while sparring."  She got one and brought it back.  "I wear this style."

"Those are good but not very comfortable at times," the saleslady said.  "You're bigger than they are.  For smaller cup sizes they don't need the support as much as the smooshing effect."

"There's times I miss being a smaller cup size and thank every goddess that I'm not a D or bigger."

The saleslady looked at her.  "Have you been measured recently?  You're falling out of that one."

"I know.  I need to do laundry."  She smiled and Dawn got some of her own shopping done while the girls tried on bra styles.  The ones they liked didn't fit under their tops because it was a bit showy.  "Laces," Dawn noted.  They sighed but laced it up overtop of the bra.  "Thank you.  We're going to visit Grandma and then my job so I can pick up my paycheck."  They nodded.  She got them t-shirts, which they enjoyed.  She got them some other things, like jeans.  Their mom had described them but they hadn't had any.  "They'll soften as you wear and wash them.  In a few wears they'll be very soft."  They nodded and got some other things they liked.  Dawn had to keep putting back a skirt.  "Way too short, Artemis."

"Okay," she pouted.

She smiled.  "I'm not your mom but you'll look like the girls who pay for their rents on their back."  They perked up and decided that was a bad thing.  Dawn got them and their bags out to the cab she flagged down.  People were staring but yay.  She got them and the bags out at SHIELD, taking them inside.  "Boys, these are my nieces, Buffy's twins."

One of the guards blinked.  "Wow, they're really a lot taller than their mom," he covered when Dawn glared.  He signed them in.  "Your mother's up at her desk as far as I know, Summers."

"Thank you.  Sean's back too.  He's thirteen."  She smiled.

"I'm sure they'll do great here."  Once they were in the elevator he moaned and looked at his fellow guard, who nodded.  "Daay-um!" he said quietly.

"Definitely.  And yet so very underage."

"And protected by the mama bears of the universe."  His partner nodded.

Dawn smiled at agents getting on with them.  "Girls, this is Agent Dray and Agent Kaster."  They nodded.  The guys nodded back.  "Going up to see Mom.  Guys, these are Buffy's twins, Artemis and Diana."

"I know your mom wanted hair you color.  She dyed hers for years," Agent Dray said with a grin.

"They both did long turns through Cleveland with your mom and dad," Dawn said.

"That's great," Diana said with a smile.

The agents got off.  "We'll tell Coulson they're here," Kaster said.  Once they were off again he groaned.

"Yes, they're pretty but twelve," Phil said as he walked behind them.  He pushed the elevator button.

"Yes, sir," Kaster said.  "But now I have a new goddess to worship at the altar of in a few years."

Phil smirked.  "Worship but don't expect to touch.  Dawn's a fierce guardian."

"We know," they agreed.  They went to tell the others they knew had worked in Cleveland with Buffy and Hylal.

Phil came off the elevator to see Joyce hugging the girls and Maria smiling at them.  Dawn was talking with Fury about something.  "We need to bring them to meet Faith," he reminded Dawn.

"I'll bring them later.  Before I order dinner."  She grinned.  "They're both very proficient archers.  Clint's in heaven teaching them better bow skills.  All the trainees pouted about it."

"Figures," Fury said.  He blinked, catching sight of white blonde hair and clothes that weren't modern.  "Don't teach them that flirty thing you do," Fury said quietly.  He went back to his office.

Dawn smiled at Phil.  "I agree.  They're too young to be flirty yet."

"I know."  She smiled at her mother.  "You know you and Bruce can come over tonight."

"They can stay at our place," Joyce offered.

"It's your anniversary tomorrow, Mom.  No they can't.  You need Bruce pouncing time for the anniversary."  Joyce actually blushed and laughed.  Dawn grinned.  "They can spend the night in a few days."  She pulled Diana off the computer.  "We can teach you those too."

"Sean described them."   She looked up.  "Can you use one?"

"I use one pretty well and my boss makes great leaps to make them better."  Diana beamed and nodded.

Artemis shook her head.  "It's not a weapon, I don't need it."

Dawn patted her on the back.  "Even Thor can email and you'll be able to too within a year."  Her niece nodded.  "C'mon, let's go pick up my paycheck so we can do dinner."  The girls got another hug, hugged Maria and Phil then left with her.  They got the bags and took a cab to Stark towers.  Dawn waved at the guards on the door, getting smiles and waves back.  "This is where I work, girls.  Where Callia lives too."

"Liz too?" Artemis asked.  "She was adorable following John and Ronon all over today."

"Yup.  Pepper lives on the floor below Tony."  She smiled.  "I'm also going to introduce you to someone who's got some of the same issues about learning the modern world.   He was frozen for a very long time so he's still learning stuff."  They grinned and nodded.  They got up to the admin floor, running into her favorite geeks.  "Boys."  Jonathan blinked and Andrew gaped.  "These are Artemis and Diana, Buffy's twins.  Ladies, these are Andrew and Jonathan, who are some of my favorite geeks and some of Callia's favorite geeks.  They went to high school with your mother and they made Roomba."

"She really loves Roomba dog," Artemis said with a smile and a tiny wave.

The boys smiled back.  "We love Callia," Jonathan said.  "She's so sweet sometimes."  The girls laughed.  "Sometimes, yeah."

Tony came out and paused.  He would not drool.  He would not allow himself to drool.  They hadn't looked like *that* in Dawn's clothes.  What a difference an ancient wardrobe made.  "New assistants already, Dawn?" he quipped.

She gave him a pointed look.  "My nieces needed introduced and I was also looking for Steve."

"Oh!"  He had to remind himself that anyone he had changed the diaper of was off limits to him.  They grinned at him.  "Boys?"  They handed over reports.  "Thanks, boys.  Ladies, let's go upstairs.  Dawn, Callia?"

"Hanging with Sean, Ronon, and Liz.  Who is attached to Ronon's hair."

"She's great with Liz," he said, walking them off to talk to them.

"Aww, they're adorable!" a female voice said.  "They should model."

Dawn looked at the fashion reporter there to interview Pepper.  "No way in hell I want my nieces in that soul destroying, self esteem destroying career.  Beyond that, twelve."

"Oh!  Well...."  She swallowed at Dawn's stare.  "They could work for a few years.  Pepper did.  It could earn them a great college fund."

"They have one.  I set one up.  Why would I want them to have their self esteem destroyed for being healthy instead of looking like they're addicted whores?"

"I suppose that's true," she admitted, backing down.  "They're beautiful."

"They are," Dawn agreed.  "Who'll never be too skinny.  They're both taking self defense lessons."

"That's probably a good idea.  I know you're a very protective aunt, Dawn."

"Who owns many weapons for the guys who forget they're twelve."  She smiled sweetly.

"That's a good thing then," she agreed, smiling at Pepper before leaving.

"Way to be overprotective," Andrew quipped.

"Hell yes!  Boys have been trying to drool all day.  Clint nearly killed a few trainee agents.  Instead he showed how limb shots were a realistic and good thing in certain circumstances while those ones were on the obstacle course."  Tony laughed, leaning against Dawn's desk.

Pepper came out.  "Girls!  The last time I saw a picture of you, you were barely born."  She hugged them.  She pulled back to look at them.  "You're both strong looking girls, like you've already been training."

"We have some," Artemis said with a grin.  "Why did guys drool, Auntie?"

"Because guys are like wolves," Tony said.  "They think any pretty girl is prey to be hunted."  The girls blushed and shook their heads.  "Which is why Dawn's going to beat them all to death for you."  They blushed and Artemis let out a nervous laugh.  "Aww, got a crush already?" Tony asked her.

Pepper swatted him.  "Tony!"

"Artemis already has one that's so stuck on her he nearly dropped his hammer on his foot earlier," Dawn quipped.  Artemis stared at her.  "When you're eighteen you can flirt.  Your mom agreed."

"Eighteen?" she complained.  "That's old maid age!"

"On earth, that's legal age," Dawn corrected.  "He can go to jail if you're not."

"Oh.  Then I'll look and wait."

"You'll get to know him as a man, not as a myth," Dawn said.  "And see if it's more than a crush on his hair."  She smiled and nodded.  "The same as he'll get to know you as a young woman and not a pretty body."

Diana looked at Tony.  "Are you the one she said made those computer things Sean told us about?"

"I do."  He grinned.  "Sean spent a lot of time playing with our computers and the car collection."

"What's a car?"

"You can learn those the next time you come in," Dawn said.  "Since Xander's going to be busy unscrewing the trainee agents tomorrow.  If the ones Clint got have healed."

Pepper smiled.  "He called and said he picked up food."  Dawn grinned.  She smiled at the girls.  "We'll go shopping together, girls.  Callia needs some because she's growing so we can go together."  They smiled and nodded, Diana letting Tony show her his tablet computer.  Pepper smiled at Dawn.  "Joyce?"

"Nearly crying.  Mom's so happy they're back."

"Good."  She hugged Dawn.  "The idiots wrote back again and were pouty."

Dawn grimaced and walked over to look at the mail.  She hand-wrote out a letter in Russian then sealed it and dropped it into the mail slot once it had a stamp on it.  She came back.  "Let's go eat, girls.  You guys can have Callia and Tony tomorrow."  They nodded and Diana hugged Tony before grabbing their bags and leaving.

Andrew moaned, leaning against Dawn's desk.  "I want my daughter to look like that.  It'll let me get all the evil urges out on the guys who want them."

"It will drive you nuts," Tony assured him.  "It does me when people start telling Callia how pretty she is."  He looked at Pepper, who smiled at him.  "Steve isn't here but Dawn's going to introduce them."

"They're looking at learning the same things about modern life," Pepper said, stroking over his arm.

"I feel like a dirty old man," Tony admitted, shaking his head.  Pepper nodded with a grin.  He sighed.  "We need more guards."

"We might but Dawn's a great one."

"Yes she is."  Jonathan looked at him.  "They're going to rip out hearts and feed them to the owners."  Andrew nodded.  "Your daughter will someday do the same thing to geeks, 'Drew."

Andrew smiled.  "I'd like that."  He looked at Tony.  "Looking at them, Callia's going to be stunning."

He nodded.  "I'm worried about that.  I remember what I got up to as a teenager.  A beautiful girl gets into more if she's not careful."  He walked off with Pepper.  "Go home, boys."  They ran off to talk to their women.  Tony pulled Pepper into his arms to forget white-blonde hair and girls that would someday make men beg for mercy.

***

Clint was laying out deli chicken, salad, and milk when the ladies got home.  He grinned.  "Go clean up.  Natasha's going to be here soon with Sean."  They ran for their room giggling.  He walked over to Dawn, backing her into a wall to kiss her.  She hopped up to wrap herself around him.  "I'll miss this with kids in the house," he said against her lips, grabbing her to hold her tighter against him.

"We don't have to worry for a year and they have bedtimes."  She took another kiss, making him moan.  "I had to fight off the evil wench who offered modeling and a few saleswomen."

He laughed, nuzzling her throat and ear area.  "I know why but it's hot when you're in protective bitch mode."

"Our future little archer is going to be just as pretty," she said, smiling at him.

He nodded.  "They will be, even if they're a boy."  He kissed her again, letting her down when the girls giggled.  He grinned.  "She's a great cuddle."  They hugged Sean when he came in being pouty.  "You did good," he told him.

"I sucked."

"You're still learning, you can't suck until you've learned everything there is to know about something," Dawn told him.

He smiled.  "That sounded like Mom."  He hugged her.  "Let me clean up."

"Shower and change, Sean," Natasha ordered.  He went to his room to do that.  She got her own Dawn hugging and kissing time.  She smiled.  "I heard you defeating the evil wanters."

"Yes I did.  Including the evil reporter who wanted them to model."

"No, that is not in their best interests," Natasha agreed.  They settled in to eat once Sean was out of the shower and into pajama pants.  The girls were in their new pajamas too.  It was good and dinner was nice.  The girls babbled about what they wanted to learn.  Sean babbled about Ronon's great skills.  It was great.

***

John reappeared with Callia and Liz at bedtime, smiling at Tony and Pepper.  "The twins spoiled them rotten all day.  Artemis is a baby loving girl."  He handed Liz to Pepper, who smiled at the sleeping baby.  Callia curled up against Tony's chest and yawned, falling asleep there.  "They had a good day.  Liz got cooed over by all the dogs.  Callia and Xander...."  He looked around and spotted the dog.  "They had a great day with the other dogs and Callia got in some learning how to fall training; Tony, Bia also changed her bandage."  Tony smiled and nodded.  "They did great and the trainee agents were idiots half the day over the twins."

"I nearly was," Tony said quietly.

John smiled.  "Should've seen Thor," he mouthed, making Tony moan.  "Yeah, he and Artemis had that 'trying not to get caught looking' thing going alllll day long."  Pepper snickered into Liz's hair.  "So anyway, they did good.  They're all tired from the fussing."  He disappeared.

Pepper got up to lay Liz on the couch.  Tony put Callia into bed.  Then they came back to a late dinner.  Tony needed calming down time and to remember he had the greatest thing ever even if she was a redhead instead of a blonde.

***

Ronon and John went back to Atlantis that night with pictures of the kids.  Teyla was very happy with her future proteges.  The girls were going to be very strong warriors.

Rodney blinked at Ronon's bragging about Sean.  The pictures did make him look tall and muscled, he did not look his young, tender age.  The girls made him nearly drool.  John snapped his fingers a few times next to Rodney's ear.  "It's a biological reaction to want blondes as the recessive that makes true blondes is so rare," Rodney defended.  "Though they look older than they should in the pictures."

"Buffy's human genes with Hylal's Asgardian ones," John said.

"They'll grow up stunning.  Are they going into any particular fields?"

"I think Artemis took in the traditional wife thing," Ronon said.  John nodded with a grin.  "There was definitely some interest there."

"Yup," John agreed then stuffed his mouth.

"Already?" Rodney demanded.

"You still have drool," Teyla said quietly, smiling at him.

He checked and glared at her.  "The other?"

"No idea," John admitted.  "She likes tech and Clint's bow a lot.  So maybe she'll go to SHIELD too.  No idea."

"Interesting."  He stuffed his mouth.  He needed to find some mythical deaging water.  All the women that would understand him were too young for him.  It was almost enough to make a genius pout.

***

Buffy called out for Xander, bringing him.  She sighed, looking around then at him.  She looked at her husband, who shrugged.  It was her decision.  She sighed and kissed Hylal.  She loved her huge goofball warrior husband.  "We're needed up here to help guard the village," she said.  "Even though I know it's my duty, I'm one of the few up here with the skills to kill the goblins."

Xander stared at her.  "It's still a warrior wench's job," he assured her with a grin.  "So I take it you're staying up here?"

She nodded, taking Hylal's hand.  "Yeah, we are.  I know it'll mean that the kids won't get to see us again probably, and that I'll never make it another mortal six years to finish them growing up."  She looked at Hylal, who kissed her hand.  She looked at Xander again.  "I..."

"I'm going to let you talk to your own mom and sister," he said.  "Be right back."  He went back to his temple, letting out a string of quiet swearing.  Alana looked over from the valkyries' temple.  "Buffy's decided to help Hylal with his village duties."

"Aye, she does it often."  She smiled.  "She didn't give up her duty to people, just changed the battle."

"Which means we've got custody of the kids."

"Oh, good point."  She nodded.  "It'll be fine."  She walked off happier.

Xander went to get the family together.  He called Joyce and Bruce to join them at Dawn's.  Tony got the same call for Callia.  They all got there, Joyce and Bruce last.  Xander looked at them then the kids.  "Your mom and dad have decided the village needs to keep them."

Sean grimaced.  "So they're not coming back."

"No."  Joyce hiccuped, biting her bottom lip.  He looked at her.  "She said she's needed, Mom," he said quietly.  "She's almost forty."

Joyce smiled sadly.  "I can understand that.  She got used to the simpler things."  She sat down and hugged the kids to her.

Bruce nodded.  "Thank you for letting us know, Xander."

"I'm bringing the whole family up there so they can talk to them.  That way the kids can get loved on and all that."  Tony smiled, having Callia sent over with Steve.  "I have a cabin by there," he said.  "With the two weeks up there to mortal day here, it'll give you guys plenty of time."  He looked at Dawn, Clint, and Natasha.  Dawn was gripping Natasha's hand so tightly they were white.  "She said they need her more."

"They probably do," Dawn agreed.  She and her mother shared a look.  Then she looked at the kids.  "I say they get another month up there," she said.

"No," Joyce said.  "That would screw up Callia's aging."  Callia and Steve walked in.  Joyce took her to sit in her lap, making the baby look at her.  "Your mom wants us all to visit."

"Why?" she asked.  "Isn't she coming down soon?"

Tony cleared his throat and shook his head when she looked at him.  "She's defeating things coming for the villagers up there, Callia," he said quietly.  "So we're all going to go up to visit her."

Callia was silent for a minute then looked at her aunt then at her grandmother.  "That's going to hurt the other kids though.  Am I losing them?"

"No," Xander said.  "They're staying down here."

Callia looked at Sean, who she used to dote on all the time.  "Are you okay with that?"

"I don't know," he said.  She gave him a hug.  He relaxed into it.  "We'll figure it out.  We're going up for a few weeks."

"Then I need warmer jammies."

"We can handle that," Xander assured her.  Phil and Thor walked in.  "We're taking them up to visit their parents," he told Phil.  He looked at Tony.  "That can include you."

"It is including me and the others."

"Pepper?" Callia asked.

Tony pulled out his phone to talk to her, walking off to have some privacy in the hallway.  He came back.  "She doesn't want to bring Liz in case it hurts her because she's getting sick again," Tony told her.

She nodded.  "It'll be weird not seeing her for a couple of days."  She looked at her grandparents, who nodded they were coming.  "Stepmom?" she asked Steve.

"Of course I'm going."  He hugged her.  "I'd miss you for even the day you'll be gone in human time."

She grinned.  "Good."  She looked at Xander.  "We need to pack."

"We'll handle that," Phil told her.  She grinned.  The three gods brought the kids and family up there.  Then Phil got bags packed for everyone.

Clint shivered.  "It's really cold.  Usually I'm very warm."  Dawn snuggled into his arms.  "That helps."  She called up clothes for them and the kids with help from Phil.  He put on the leather jacket.  "How far are they from here, Xander?"

"Two miles," he said with a point.  "I have a sled we can use."

Thor smiled.  "My goats are getting fat and lazy."  He went to get them and his chariot.  Artemis cooed and petted his favorite beings.  He grinned.  She was a beautiful young woman, but he had to remember her age.  They got taken to Buffy and Hylal's house.  Buffy was sniffling but she loved the kids.  All her kids.  So did Hylal.  He had missed them for the few months Asgard time they had been gone.

Xander and Phil walked outside with Thor to give the family time to talk and grieve.  Because they probably wouldn't get to see Buffy and Hylal again before they died of either a battle or old age.  Phil pulled Xander closer, letting him hug him.  "We'll handle it," he promised quietly.  Xander nodded.

A male voice cleared his throat.  "Shouldn't you two be inside?"  Xander looked back.  "Alexander!  I did not recognize your back.  There's no blood or weapons on it."  He smiled.  "Up to visit your friend?"

"They've decided to stay while the kids are on Midgard with us," he said, looking back again.

"Hmm.  Those two demon daughters Hylal has can only gain sense from their elder female relatives.  They're a bit wild," he said when Phil stared at him.  "Fenrir has been pouting."

"They can introduce Callia tomorrow."

"One has a child already?" he asked, looking confused.  "I know there's a time difference."

"Buffy's first child," Phil said.  "She had her years before she met Hylal."

"Ah!"  He nodded.  "I've seen a child I did not know with them."

Callia came out to hug them.  "I'm sad too, Uncle Xander."  He picked her up to cuddle.  "The twins can live with us?"

"That's up to your dad."

"I'll ask."  She snuggled in.  "I need furs."

He laughed and cast a warming charm on her.  She grinned and hugged them before going back inside.  Xander pulled Phil closer again to cuddle.

***

The twins bounded over to the lightly chained wolf-like beast, hugging him.  "Hi, Fenrir," they cooed.  He growled.  They giggled and hugged him again.  "Callia?"  She quit looking at the strange flowers that bloomed in the snow and came jogging over.

"Fenrir, this is our sister Callia," Diana said with a smile for him.  "Mom had her first but she's on Midgard."

Callia smiled.  "Should I let you sniff my hand like a stray puppy or are you nicer than Xander's wolf friend Garnet?"  He gave her a look.  She smiled and moved closer, letting him sniff her.  She petted his ear like she would her puppy and cats.  "You have such soft fur."  She hugged him since her sisters were.  "Aww, very soft."  He huffed.  She smiled.  "Why are you chained up?"  He thought at her and she blinked a few times.  "Wow, you mind talk like Auntie Dawn with her husband and wife."  She grinned.  "That's really cool!"

She hugged him again and got a knot out.  "You need brushed.  You have a lot of hair that has knots and it's not good for your fur.  It could mean you get chills.  I can't do that, I might get sick so I'll brush you if you let me lean against you so I stay warm?"  He huffed but nodded.  She called a brush out to her.  He blinked, staring at her.  "People said Mommy and Daddy needed me."  She smirked evilly.  "Daddy's really nice though.  He works with Uncle Thor and sometimes Uncle Phil and Uncle Xander."  Fenrir sent over a thought to all three girls and they explained it while Callia got out the knots.

Fenrir looked back and growled at one.  She looked at him.  "How are you going to get a good girl wolf if your tummy doesn't look nice?  She'll think you don't care about how you look and girls hate that.  Probably even girl wolves."  She went back to it.  He nudged her with a nose.  She looked at him.  He growled.  She grinned and did it with magic instead.  He groaned.  She giggled and hugged him.  "It'll be okay."  He yawned.  She looked at his collar then at her sisters.  Then at the wolf-being again.

"If I let you go, you won't eat the village, right?  Because my mommy and stepdaddy are in there and I would be really upset and have Uncle Xander kill you."  He shook his head.  She let him go.  He howled and tilted his head back for the first time in a very long time.  "Aww, muscle cramps.  I get those sometimes when I don't stretch enough before gymnastics."  She got to work on the knots and the wolf-being groaned, nearly going to his stomach as she got them free.  "There, that's better.  Right?"

Fenrir thought at her and lapped her then loped off.

"Bye, Fenrir," Artemis called.  "We might not get to see you for a really long time."

He looked back at her and sent a thought that he'd find them if they needed him to.  Then he disappeared into the woods.

They grinned and picked flowers with Callia.  The snow flowers were very pretty silver and blue flowers.  She brought them back to her mother and father.  The adults had stayed up late to talk so they looked tired but they understood why.

Xander appeared in front of his half-brother, shrugging some.  "Now you know why I love those kids."  The wolf-being/god nodded he did.  "Don't make Buffy and Hylal any more work," he said quietly.  "She's sending the kids to me on Midgard and keeping her protection up here."  His half-brother agreed and nodded.  "Dad's on Midgard too.  He's with a politician."  Fenrir laughed out a bark.  "Yeah, exactly.  Thank you."  He petted him.  "If you need me to repay that favor, call."  Fenrir pointed out he had gotten him out of his confinement, it was equaled out.  Xander grinned.  "Cool.  I have to beat up guys who want the twins."  He walked off shaking his head.  "Thor's around here somewhere watching Artemis."

Fenrir smiled and went to another plane.  One he could hide on while he decided what he wanted to do.  He'd miss those two girls.  They had been sweet and seen the intelligence being behind the fur.  It was something most of his family hadn't been able to do.  Maybe he'd find a werewolf mate who would see the same thing.

***

Pepper smiled as she walked into Fury's office the next morning.  "They're on Asgard."

"The whole group?" he asked, looking confused.

"Buffy decided to stay."

"Oh, so they took the kids.  Stark would never allow his daughter that far away without him."

"Or Steve.  Who is the world's fussiest stepmother."  She smiled.  "Or so Callia says."  Fury gave her a look.  She grinned.  "He is."

"I'm sure he is.  Any other news?"

"We'll be deciding custody of the kids soon probably.  There's a hearing coming up on the motion those bigots filed to take Callia from us."

"I heard.  He good?"

"No.  He's going to destroy them all."  She smiled more happily.  "But we'll see what's going on."  She handed over something.  "The same people that send Dawn threats sent you one."  She left, going home to pick up Liz from Beya so she could spoil her.

Fury looked at the threat, calling in Agent Hill to have it handled.  She could assign agents.  He'd ignore it if she cried on the information files again.  He had no idea why people trying to sell poisonous chocolate had made her cry but then again he'd never been pregnant.  Probably wouldn't be so he'd never understand.  Hopefully.

***

Odin felt something different and swore, calling in his unwanted grandson.  Xander appeared, staring at him.  "Where is your half-brother?"

"On another plane.  Hopefully finding a mate.  It's been a long time since he had companionship outside Buffy's twins."

"He cannot mate," Odin ordered.

Xander stared at him.  "You know what?  If he can't find someone who likes him for the man he is inside the beast, then I'm really sad about our people.  Clearly they're not worthy of any of our family."  Odin gaped in horror.  "He's on a plane with werewolves.  I'm pretty sure they'd understand him, Grandfather."

"He was not to be released!  He could kill a great many people," Odin said.

"That came from the same mind that thought me evil," Xander said bluntly, staring him down.  "And yet they were proven wrong repeatedly since I'm over the protection for humanity."  Odin flinched.  "Fenrir is family.  I know for certain he's not mindless.  The children of my friend who married a warrior up here found him very sweet.  They played with him, made him wear flower crowns, teased him with games of girl tag and all sorts of things.  He did not hurt them."  Odin was still looking horrified.

"Just because there's a *prophecy*," he sneered, his voice dripping disdain.  "Does not automatically make it so.  Anyone can say they have a vision."  He walked off.  "Leave my family alone, Grandfather.  You've never seen us truly, only through the words of what we might become if pushed that way."  He shot him a dirty look.  "We turn out better than you ever thought because we don't stoop to those levels.  We'd never prove you right."  He disappeared.

"Vidar," Odin said.  He came over from his table.  "Hunt down Fenrir."

"At this point, he's not dangerous and I will not hunt an innocent demigod simply because of who his parents are, Odin All Father.  Why make him defend himself by killing others?"  He went back to his seat.

"Sons of chaos gods are always evil or wrong somehow," Odin noted firmly.

"Then your own father's seed turned you odd minded?" Tyr asked.  "After all, you are one yourself, All Father."  He sipped his mead.  "Every god in every pantheon can trace their lineage to at least one chaos god.  Even you, who has it directly above him."  He finished his mead.  "Let me speak with Alana and Alexander on the goblin menace that has been picking up before my stomach turns due to hatred."

He left.  He found Fenrir and squatted down.  "Peace, cousin.  I bring you news."  He patted him on the shoulder.  "All Father is being...  He's going to try to treat you like he does Alexander," he said quietly.  "We have pointed out there is no use of it since you are not the mindless beast that prophecy said you would be.  Most of us warriors have agreed that unless you turn and start to murder innocents, there is no need for us to hunt you down."  Fenrir sent him a thought.

"He called upon Alexander to recapture you.  He refused and told him off."  Another thought hit his mind.  "Yes, due to your shared father.  Odin thinks all chaos children will turn evil.  He was reminded he was one as well."  He patted him again.  "If you find a mate, I wish you much happiness.  Hide as best you can."  He looked around.  "I felt your father appear."  He smiled.  "Let me vacate this realm before he finds you."  He left.

Fenrir thought about it.  He hadn't seen too much of Odin and Alexander's arguments but he had heard about them.  His half-brother was strong of mind and body.  Fenrir knew he wasn't as strong as Alexander but he wasn't going to turn into some mindless beast with bloodlust in his mouth.  He wandered off, sniffling for nearby werewolf packs.  He ran into his father sitting under a tree reading and sat down staring at him.

Loki looked up and smiled.  "My adopted father is not right and I know you are more than a mindless beast who kills for pleasure and food."  He closed his book.  "It took me much time to figure out how my other son fought so hard.  If I could, I would have made sure Odin never saw any of you, Fenrir."  Fenrir grinned.  "You did good watching over those girls for him.  I know he appreciates it.  I do because they're due to become great beings of chaos as they warp men's minds."  Fenrir sent over a thought and doggy grinned.

"Really?"  He considered it.  "My adopted brother deserves happiness I suppose.  I know I would not dare harm them because your brother and the Key would team up to dissipate me to the energy of the universe."  He smiled and reached over to pet his son.  "They have made it very clear that harming those your brother has claimed as if family would get me destroyed."  He looked at him.  "I wish you much happiness, son.  Find a true mate, have a pack of children."  He stood up and hugged him.  "Call if you wish to see me."  He disappeared back to Midgard.

Fenrir shook his head.  That was strange of his father but he supposed even his father could do surprising things like care about other beings.  He caught scent of a female were and tracked it to their pack.  He trotted up to the alpha and sat down, tipping his head to stare at him.  He ducked his head and stared at him.  The alpha male stared back.  He sent over a thought introducing himself.

The alpha changed into a human and Fenrir was more used to that.  He needed to learn how to be around his own kind, not just humans.  The alpha nodded and let him stay with them for now while he learned.  Fenrir smiled and nose nudged him then sat back down.  The alpha pulled him to his tent to teach him how to be a proper wolf.  He needed to know so he could survive.

***

Tony sat and watched the other adults argue and play 'I want them but' about the kids' living arrangements.  Joyce wanted them but Bruce was worried about her health.   Which he was right to do.  Joyce still got easily run down and the twins were hyper girls who had a lot of things they needed to do.  Dawn had said they could arrange the apartments, give them one of the joined ones so they got some privacy but they were in the same apartment as them.  Clint and Natasha had made that compromise.  Natasha wasn't sure she could handle having the twins and Sean there all the time.  Which they probably wouldn't be.  They'd be at the temple and learning things.

Clint had agreed that he'd love to take in the kids.  He liked kids, partially because of how his childhood had turned out.  Joyce didn't like it though because Dawn had a life and was going to start her own family soon.  Dawn pointed out they were family and that's all that mattered.  Which was something Clint agreed with.  Natasha hadn't really had a family since she was Callia's age so she didn't fully understand but she agreed the twins were best suited to living with them.

Bruce argued that they'd be in the way, that they wouldn't have enough couple time.  Dawn shot back that she was certain she could send them to play with Callia if she needed smutty couch sex that badly.  Bruce had blushed but shrugged.  Clint was figuring out how to change his apartment around so it'd be good for them while still keeping the family together.  Or Dawn could move her office up there and let Sean take over that room as his own.  They could play in the living room upstairs whenever they wanted to, turn it into a family room/play room.

Tony cleared his throat when the discussion got heated about how much work it was to raise a child and take them places, which Dawn was already doing with his daughter half the time.  "How about they come live with their sister?" he offered.

"Tony, you don't have room for them," Joyce said.

"Said who?  I have four spare bedrooms in the penthouse," he said.  "I have Pepper just downstairs.  I have Dawn all day and their sister's there.  The gym's there for their training needs.  Dawn would probably bring them in with her so they could do the education stuff that they're behind on with Callia.  She's about at their level anyway."  Joyce stared.  He stared back.  "All of you naturally gravitate toward the tower.  Bruce works there half the time. You pop over whenever you want to because Fury spoils you rotten."  She gave him a dirty look but he grinned.  "They'll be at the tower anyway outside of any external lessons like at the temple.  Which is the only other reasonable solution because they'll be training there a lot."

Buffy looked at him.  "They're not your kids, Tony."

"So?"  He shrugged.  "Maybe I'll be able to turn Sean back into a warrior geek."  Hylal smiled at him.  "Callia would be super happy to have them there.  She misses having kids who played on her level.  Tara's twins are far enough behind right now that she's not really playing with them, just in the same room or teaching them things."

"Then she'd be trapped between the two age groups," Bruce said.

"She's always around bigger kids anyway," Dawn said.  "She misses having kids her own age but she's used to being the youngest."  She looked at her lovers then at Tony.  "I like my apartment best.  That way they have decompression areas to get away from all the tech and things they don't understand.  I can imagine Artemis not getting JARVIS and her crying because the walls keep talking to her."

Tony shrugged.  "That may be but JARVIS is sensitive enough to not freak her out after that first time.  They can split it, that way they can drift to whichever bedroom they want for a while, including time with Joyce and Bruce.  Beyond that, Bruce, you only have a two bedroom place.  There's no way you can keep all three kids in one."

"We have a basement that's finished.  I could turn it into a room for the twins instead of my office," Bruce said.

Dawn waved a hand.  "We aren't using the three bedrooms in Clint's apartment hardly ever unless we switch off.  We can put the girls in the master so they have room to spread out.  Put Sean in one of the other ones.  That'll give them an area to hang out in and learn to play video games plus to decompress when the new things get to be too hard.  We can leave the door open and all that."  She looked at Clint then at Natasha.

"That would be easiest and they would have the most room to grow with us," Natasha agreed.  "Plus we can get them to various things.  They could head in with Dawn in the morning for lessons with Callia and whatever training they want to do.  Would Ronon want Sean full time for his training?"

Dawn considered that.  "He might expect it."

Buffy nodded.  "I remember Ronon.  He's a good warrior.  He can train Sean and not give him culture shock."  She looked at Tony.  "They can camp."

Tony smirked.  "Callia wants to redo her room anyway, Buffy."

"She needs a bigger bed," Dawn agreed.  "Even if she wasn't outgrowing a twin size bed, she needs more room for the cats to lay on."  Tony nodded.  "If Sean's going to be training full time with Ronon then the twins can have the two rooms and I'll move my office up there.  We'll move the weapons and supplies up to the main bedroom?" she asked Clint, who grinned and nodded.  She looked at Tony, who shrugged.  "Thanks, boss."

"Welcome, Dawn.  If you have to you could probably move up to the penthouse and let Natasha keep hers."

"It'll be fine," Natasha assured him.  She looked at Joyce.  "This way they can spend time with you but you don't have to take time off to run to lessons every few days."

"I think they should learn to swim definitely," Tony said.

"Taught 'em," Buffy said.  "At least enough to not drown."

He nodded.  "We can see if they like it and it's good exercise," Tony said.  He made notes on his pad.  "We do have the self defense classes for Callia.  They can join them."

"I can work on their aim in our range," Clint agreed.  "They'll need that and gun work."  Tony nodded.  He looked at Joyce.  "They're not an imposition, Joyce."

"I know, Clint, but you three still go out and do things all the time.  We mostly sit home and cuddle together.  What happens when you three have a baby finally?"

Dawn shrugged.  "Then they'll get a good view of what it takes so there won't be any teenage pregnancies in the family," she said bluntly.

Joyce rolled her eyes.  "Dear, you get a bit loud," she pointed out.

Dawn shrugged.  "They haven't minded yet, Mom."

Tony laughed.  "I doubt they would.  They've probably heard their parents.  Those nights they can stay at the tower."

"Tony, dear, this is really among family," Joyce said.

He stared at her for a minute.  "Am I not the father of your first born grandchild?"  She sighed but nodded.  "Then that makes me family and my daughter will protest and hold sit ins to have her siblings with her.  She will make us all sorry if we don't agree with her."

Dawn nodded.  "Yeah, she will."  She looked at her mother.  "We'll all set up rooms.  They can drift.  I'll take primary custody and if they want to, they can drift to spend time with Callia or with you, Mom.  That way they have a home base."

She looked at Bruce, who nodded and patted her hand.  "I suppose we'll work on that."

Dawn smiled at Buffy.  "Sounds good to me, Dawnie."

"Good."  She stared at her sister.  "Why do you look ghostly?"

"There was a battle a few months back.  We got overrun.  We ...  Well, right before the end we got together."

"So you're actually already gone but you're being ghostly to try to ease it on the kids?" Dawn guessed.  Buffy nodded, looking down.  She sighed.  "Shouldn't you be in Valhalla then?"  She nodded.  "We'll work that out then."  She looked at her mother, who smiled sadly.  Dawn was feeling a tension headache coming on but Natasha smoothed a hand over her shoulder and it was easier suddenly.  Clint leaned over to poke her on the arm.  She smiled and hugged them both.

"Let me tell Callia about Valhalla first," Tony said.  "She'll freak out a bit."

"She's a genius like you are, Tony.  She already asked me," Buffy sighed.  "She made sure the other kids didn't hear her."

"Yeah, she's great at those sort of understanding things," he said, slumping some.  This was not the talk he wanted to have with his daughter.

"I've already told her what Valhalla was," Dawn admitted.  "In case something did happen so she'd be expecting them to go there.  We had a talk about where mice went when nannies broke their backs."

Tony grinned.  "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Why didn't she come to us?" Steve asked from slightly behind Tony.  He had stayed out of the argument because it wasn't his place to offer solutions.

"She didn't want to bother Tony.  There were a lot of meetings.  She said she almost asked Pepper but Liz had colic and she might not explain it to her very well because she didn't like to talk about things like dead mice."

"She did try to talk to me about the dead mouse once and I listened and hugged her, then I told her the mouse was in a good place full of mice chow and it was happy there chasing cats around," Tony said.  "That's as close as I could get."

Joyce smiled.  "I told Buffy that about goldfish."

Buffy nodded.  "She did.  I nearly quit using the toilet since it led to goldfish heaven."

"We had a talk about spirits and not being in the actual body.  She asked about viking funerals when I told her about Valhalla.  I had her look them up and then ask me questions because we had a meeting.  She sat at my desk and did that, and answered the phone a few times."  Tony grinned because that had been recently.  "But when I got back she asked about cremation and all that.  So we talked about physical versus spirit forms.  She had a few questions about her grandfather's ghost too."

"So do I.  Including how to banish him back to the mansion," Tony admitted.

"Run him out with how great the sex is," Dawn said dryly.  "We did when he showed up to talk to me one day."  Clint snorted, shaking his head, but he was grinning.  "Apparently he thought I was a bit *wild* to be around his granddaughter.  So when I was done and he came back to nag me again I let him have it about how I was biologically her aunt and he'd better be *damn* glad I hadn't banished his judgmental ass for what he did to screw you up.  Then I told him where the room with your news articles were archived so he could look through them.  He was not amused that you were a slut.  And yeah, he called you a slut, boss."

"I heard Howard compare him to a bimbo or two he had dated," Clint said more quietly.

"Figures.  He asked me why I was such a slut.  I told him it was because I didn't have a good example of a healthy relationship."  He looked at Steve.  "Thank you for yelling at him."

"He deserved it.  I used to like Howard, looked up the man, but not with how he treated his family.  Real men take care of their families, not going out having bimbos or disappearing for months on end."  Tony grinned at him, giving his hand a squeeze.  "That and he wanted you to marry Pepper.  I told him if we got married it'd be a trio's binding or you and I were married."  Tony smiled.  "He spluttered but floated off outside to stare over the city."

"Please don't mention that around the reporters," Dawn moaned, rubbing her face.  "They've been nagging about why we won't do a renewal ceremony so it can be a media spectacle."

Buffy looked at her.  "Why?  You're an assistant."

"That gave her status," Bruce said, smiling at his stepdaughter.  "Then she won some money at kitten poker."

"Then I helped with a few things," Dawn added.  "Plus I'm fashionable and have to go to events with them as their assistant."

"So those entertainment people who talk about oscar fashions nag you too?" Buffy asked with a grin.  "At least we taught you how to dress."

"Then I learned better from Pepper and Natasha because booty skirts are never appropriate," Dawn quipped with a hand wave.

"Thankfully we don't mind that they turned you into a flirty tease," Tony said dryly, smiling at her.

"Wasn't that why everyone assumed you were going to make her Callia's stepmom?" Steve asked with a grin for Tony.

"Yup."

Joyce snorted, shaking her head quickly.  "I'm so glad they got over that."

"Now they're shouting about when I'm giving her a cousin," Dawn said.

"She and Pepper are not allowed on maternity leave at the same time, Barton.  Nothing would ever get done."  He shifted in his chair.  "She might have to work from home through part of it too."

"I'd do that anyway," Dawn promised.  "I go a bit nuts sitting at home all the time."  Tony smiled.  "Beyond that, you're lucky I don't have to make an announcement, boss."

"Really?" he asked.

"Nearly."

"Huh.  Damn, sorry, kid."

"It happens.  It didn't take."  She shrugged.  "When it happens it will."  She reached over for Natasha, who smiled and squeezed her hand back.

"Shouldn't you be mushy about making babies with the other spouse?" Buffy teased.

She grinned back.  "The choker Lavelle uses helped Tara get pregnant by Maria."

"Huh.  So magical artifact helpful," she decided.  "Kinda glad I didn't need the help.  All I had to do was look at Hylal and got hit."

"Xander found out I had miscarried at the month level," Dawn said.  Buffy patted her on the arm.  "I didn't even realize."

"Most women don't," Joyce said, looking at Clint.  "Have yourself checked then try it again, Dawn."

"I am.  I have an appointment with Tara's OB in a few days."

"That hearing?" Tony asked.

"Three weeks, boss."

"Good.  Thank you for handling that if I didn't say it."  He shifted.  "So we're agreed, Dawn will take primary custody.  They can drift to my place or Joyce's place as they need to?"  They nodded.  "Then let's hit the bed for the night, people.  I'm cold and my bed has furry blankets."  They smiled and went back to the cabin, where the kids were all sleeping.  They did not want to burden the kids with anything. Tony was still worried but he did that.  Steve pulled him against his chest, nibbling on his ear until he relaxed.  He could lay there and think plus be cuddled because he was super talented.  When Callia got up he waved her over.  She climbed in with them and snuggled to.  He hugged her.  She was the best thing anyone had done for him.  The one tied for second with Pepper was snoring against his back.  He could handle this with them around him.

***

They returned to earth with a shower of kiddy crying, Joyce sobbing on Bruce, Dawn trying to hold it in, and Tony not being very stoic while holding his daughter.  Pepper looked up at them.  "It went that bad?" she mouthed to Dawn, who nodded.  "Guys, why don't you go up to the penthouse?" she suggested.  "There's a huge sectional to cuddle on."  Joyce nodded, clutching at Bruce's shirt.  He got them up there, Natasha helping with the kids.  Dawn was all but clutching Clint's arm, she could see bruises starting.  So that was really bad.  She gave them time to calm down, checking on Liz.  She wasn't happy but she wasn't really pouty either.  "You can see them later," she said quietly.  Liz grinned and gummed on her teething biscuit.

Sean sat down, staying silent, staring straight ahead.  Dawn hugged him.  He stiffened.  "If someone hurt you while hugging you I'm killing them," she told him, staring at him.

"She should've told us."

"She should've told me too, but Buffy's like that, Sean.  She lied to us for years to protect us and then tried to make me feel like I was a baby to be protected because that's what she does."  He slumped but nodded.  She settled next to him, pulling his head down onto her shoulder.  "It is perfectly reasonable to cry," she said quietly.  "I want to really hard."

"Why can't you?"

She gave him a kiss on the forehead.  "Things I've had to learn over the years," she said quietly.  He nodded, wrapping his arms around her.  "The only thing you have to worry about right now is if you want to live with me or if we should ask John if you can go be with Ronon for a while."

He looked up at her.  "You wouldn't mind?"

"Oh, hell yes we'd mind," she said but she was grinning.  "But we understand if you want to do that instead of staying with us.  Though, you'll always have a room at my place.  Even if it's just a cot on the floor."

He nodded, putting his head back down.  "I'll think about it tonight."

"Okay.  There's no hurry.  You can make that decision whenever and change your mind too."  She patted him and he gave her a squeeze.  Callia got free of her father and ran over to pounce him.  "Nice jump, Cal."

She smiled at her brother.  "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine."  He hugged her.  He let go of Dawn to do it, sitting up some.  "I'm sorry, Callia."

She took a deep breath.  "It's what people who fight do sometimes.  You have to try really hard every day not to but you can't always be good enough.  That's why auntie ends up in the infirmary at times and so does Daddy and Steve and everyone else."  She kissed him on the cheek.  "It took me a while to figure that out but I know it happens.  Everything goes, just sometimes it means something bigger.  Mommy will make sure hers will."  He nodded, cuddling her.

Dawn looked at her.  "Who told you that?"

"No one.  I'm smart and I realized it happened."  She looked at her aunt.  "I also realized that you hide scars from me so I don't have to worry."

She stroked over her hair.  "I hard scars from me so I don't have to think about them."

She shrugged.  "Still the same effect."  She went back to hugging her brother.  She had a lot of connection with Sean where she didn't the twins.  She only had a week with them as a baby.  She had almost a year and a half of Sean being her baby brother.  "Are you going to 'Lantis?"

He shrugged.  "I don't know.  I'm thinking since Auntie Dawn said I could."

She looked at him.  "Atlantis and JARVIS talk all the time and you can learn to email," she said bluntly.  "Or else I will kick your ass and make you one sorry baby brother."  She put her head down again.

Joyce laughed, wiping her cheeks off.  "No threatening violence on your siblings, Callia."

"Yes, Granma."

Clint pulled Dawn up.  "Cocoa?"

"I could make some," she agreed, letting him help.  Joyce came in to do it for them so they went onto the patio.  Natasha snuck out with them.  She nestled into their arms.  "Can I go back up there to kick their asses?" she asked quietly.

"Nope.  Not if you don't bring us," Clint said, stroking over her hair.

Natasha stroked over Dawn's side and back.  "She is doing what she wanted.  By now they're probably making all of Valhalla groan at how loud they are."

Dawn let out a snort and a half-smile.  "Maybe."  She snuggled in better.  Natasha got pulled against her back.  "Smoosh me?"  They held her tighter.  "Thank you."

"We're here for more than the really hot sex," Clint reminded her, kissing her on the head.  She gave him a squeeze.  His phone beeped.  "If that's an assignment I'm going to mortally wound someone and let them die a long, slow, lingering death."

Dawn laughed.  "That's my job."  She took a kiss, then dug his phone out of his pocket to look at it.  "It is."  She showed him the 'report now' from Fury.

"Fuck."

"When you get home I will," she promised, taking a kiss.  She stared at him.  "You'd better not even get scratched or I'll kill them all."

He grinned.  "I love you in scary bitch mode too, Dawn."  He took a better kiss from each of them and sent back a text message that they were barely back, it was a bad moment for him to report, but he'd be there in an hour.  He took another kiss and left.

Dawn turned to hold her wife.  "I want to sneak after him to make sure he's okay."

"He'll be fine," she reminded her.  Dawn nodded, resting against her shoulder.  She wouldn't mention the few tears Dawn was shedding.  She had that right, Natasha would never say anything about it.  She could only soothe her and help her calm back down so things could be handled.

Joyce looked out there then at Bruce.  "If they ever learn that for any reason I'll kill whoever hurts my grandbabies and I won't need Dawn to teach me how."

He kissed her gently.  "I'd help, you know that."  She nodded, letting him carry out mugs of cocoa.  Even if Tony did want to put brandy or something in it she wouldn't let him.  Tonight was not the time to drink, not while the kids were awake.

Once they were in bed, the adults settled in to make plans and drain two of Tony's really old bottles of scotch.  Joyce could match Tony shot for shot and tonight she needed that easing of the corners of her mind.  Though she found out that Natasha could match them both and probably beat them and if not, Dawn could.  She'd ask why but she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

***

Dawn, who was wearing dark sunglasses and clearly had a hangover, appeared on the front door of Atlantis' main tower with her nephew.  "You sure?" she asked.

He nodded.  "I am.  I can learn a lot and the girls need babying."

She ruffled his hair.  "So do you, kiddo."

"But I'm older."

"Not that old."

"So?"

She gave him a look over the edge of her sunglasses.  "You will reappear each and every single goddamn weekend," she said quietly but firmly.  "You will not make your sisters cry or I'm teaching them how to kick your ass."

He grinned, ducking his head.  "I can do that."  She smiled.  They walked inside.  They ran into a few guards.  "Is Ronon up?" he asked.

The guard stared at them.  "Who're you?  We don't usually get tourists."

"I'm Dawn Summers."  The guard shuddered and called Sheppard.  He came out to meet them, bringing them back to his office.  Not that Dawn didn't know where it was but there was protocol to be followed.  Dawn looked at John once they were locked in.  "Buffy and Hylal decided to stay up there because they were ghostly before the kids came down."  He stared, going stiff.  "I've already heard that someone is complaining that they're stinking up Valhalla with happy sex noises."

He nodded.  "I'm sorry for your loss, guys."

Dawn smiled sadly.  "I tried to talk him into staying."

John looked at him then called Ronon in.  The warrior walked in and hugged Sean, who clung back.  "His mom and dad died, Ronon."

"I reminded him he could stay with us," Dawn told him.  "He didn't want to.  He's to reappear each and every single weekend and if the girls cry you're on your own when they kick both your asses."

Ronon nodded.  "I will train him like I would a little brother, Dawn."  She swallowed and nodded.  "We can make sure he gets home each and every weekend and writes most nights."

She smiled.  "Good."  She hugged Sean.  "We'll go shopping so you have jeans and things soon."

"Eww," he complained but he was grinning.

"Suck it, nephew.  Before I let Callia dress you."

He laughed and nodded.  "I can do that before I have to wear a leotard too."  She pinched him on the arm and hugged Ronon then John before disappearing.  He looked at Ronon.  "They're crying.  I can't...."  He shook his head.

Ronon patted him on the back.  "I felt much the same way when my sister cried."  He walked him off.  "The room next to mine is free.  No clothes?"

"At the temple.  I figured I'd be there most of the time."

"We're there often.  We can pick it up later."  He patted the boy on the back.  "We'll start easy today, working on your stamina.  It will give you enough mindless exercise time to think without it being obvious."

"I'd like that.  Thank you."

"It's what warriors do when we can't cry."

"Auntie Dawn can't around people."

"Your aunt is every bit the warrior your mother was, even if her duty is different."  He looked at him.  "As that movie the female officers made me watch said, there's no crying in baseball."

"What's baseball?"

"That had to be explained to me too," he admitted.  They got him logged into a room and then outside to work out in the sun and fresh-ish air.  The air quality on this planet had nothing on the fresh air in Pegasus but most planets there didn't have factories or shipping barges to stink it up.  Even if they were near one that made excellent candy bars that the science staff craved it was still a factory.

John watched.  He felt for the kids.  He really did.  He'd do what he could to ease it.

***

Dawn looked over at the hissing person in the judge's chambers.  It was a hearing on the motion to remove Callia.  It had gotten moved up on the insistence and plotting of the bigots.  "No, Buffy's not coming back.  She died in an attack on the village she was in."  The judge winced.  "She and Hylal both did.  So I have custody of her children, thank you."

"Formally?" the judge asked.

"It's in her will.  We have no idea how to file that since they were on Asgard."

"Why?" the judge asked.

"Hylal was a warrior, a village guardian, up there.  When the twins were born prematurely they went up to help them get better.  Time runs faster up there so they're older than their birth years say they should be."

"So you have formal custody by her will," he said.  Dawn nodded.  "That's fine, Mrs. Summers.  Or do you go by your married name?"

"We haven't talked about how to do that for practical or legal matters.  Most of the time I do go by my maiden name for professional reasons."

"That's understandable."  He made that note.  "How is Callia handling it?"

"We took them up there for a few days human time, which is about a month Asgardian time," Tony said, crossing his feet.  "The time difference is two weeks to a mortal day."

"No wonder the other children are older."  He made that note as well.  "So she got to say goodbye, go to the funeral?"

"No funeral.  They were in corporeal spirit form," Dawn said.  "The kids didn't even know until Callia realized it and asked.  Her magical gifts showed it to her."  He nodded, making a note of that.  "Then we sat down to have the hard talks.  She's on a better footing but she's still upset.  She misses her brother, who decided to go train with some warriors we know instead of live with me."

"Why?"

"He wanted to," Dawn said.  "I left that up to him.  He's on Atlantis with one of them.  He's showing up each and every single weekend.  His twin sisters are handling things better than Callia but she's managing to either push it into something or work it out by talking to her cats."

"Which is what children do," he agreed.  "No therapy?"

Tony shook his head.  "She's got plenty of people to talk to and if she wanted one she knows she only has to ask.  Pepper and she talked about a few things and she offered to help her find someone to talk to.  She said instead she'd talk to her grandmother, who was crying with her."

"Grandmother?" the bigot's lawyer sneered.

"Yes, as in Buffy's and my mother," Dawn said, glaring at him.  "She's still alive and very well.  She offered to take in the twins but they're a bit hyper and Mom needs some peaceful times not taking them to lessons.  They know they only have to show up there to spend the night or however long with her and Bruce."

"The same as they can come camp with Callia whenever they want to," Tony agreed.  "All they have to do is show up."

"As often happens when children are orphaned," the judge agreed.  "The family takes them in as a whole instead of just one relative."  Dawn smiled slightly.  "Your spouses don't mind?"

"No.  We talked about moving the three kids up to the joined apartment above us.  It was Clint's before we seriously moved in together," she explained.  "It's linked to mine by a staircase in the hallway and a door.  That way they had a safe, contained decompression area when things got to be too much."

"Asgard's not very technological I take it?" the judge asked.

"No," Tony said.  "Bit earlier than Middle Ages from what we saw."

"Interesting.  The culture shock issues?"

"I've got them mentored with Ronon for Sean, who is training him.  He's from Pegasus and the male warrior they picked up out there," Dawn said.  "Plus Captain Rogers has been helping.  He went through much the same thing."

"A bit harder for the twins but I can see how that goes and Sean was here when he was younger?"

Dawn smiled. "He was.  He hung around with Callia all the time and in the tower more than once."

"So he's more used to it, but the twins will need more hand holding, which lets you do that," he said.  "Good thinking, Miss Summers."  He looked at the other one.  "Looking over things, I find that you lied to us."  The bigot gasped.  "The relationship you have to Callia Stark is not familial.  Your mother's first husband was slightly related to Buffy's father, a third cousin, but not you unless you were adopted?"

"No, he wasn't," the lawyer said.  "Still, he's closer than Miss Summers is."

"Actually, the monks took Buffy's DNA to warp to make me," Dawn quipped with a grin. "So yeah, I'm closer than he is."  The lawyer slumped.  "Beyond that, what legal right do you have to put up a challenge anyway?"

"She's being harmed, being forced to learn how to follow her mongrel of a father into his *suit*," the bigot sneered.

"Point of order," Dawn said.  "Like her mother, Callia's a future slayer."  He flinched and shook his head, backing away.  She nodded.  "We're told she's not in the top of ten of the list of those around her age but she is one.  We're training her in case she gets called and to defeat the idiots who try to kidnap her to get money, tech, or weapons."

"All of which have been attempted at least once," Tony agreed quietly.

"Children of wealthy people often have to take such precautions," the judge said.

"I got taken fifteen times by the time I was Callia's present age and they stopped another six or so," Tony told him.  "My daughter will not have to learn how to handle that."

"Your dad sucked," Dawn muttered.  He smiled at her.  "My opinion but I'm sticking with it, boss."

"I am too."  He looked around, he could feel his father's ghost watching.  He'd ignore it for now.  The judge gave him a curious look.  "I found him floating around our old mansion."

"Pity," the judge sighed.  "How is he handling things?"

"I might have to torch the mansion to get him to move on," Dawn said bluntly.  "Callia confuses him greatly.  He doesn't like her cats either."

The judge smiled.  "Men of his generation were often set in their ways.  My father was as well."  He looked at the bigots.  "Having had people look into the matters you cited, there's no evidence of abuse, mental coercion, or of anything that might speak of a reason to remove her from the home.  Even with an untraditional relationship, Mr. Stark's doing good with her emotional and educational upbringings.  I would wish for some moral education but there are many ways of getting that point across to her and I believe that she is getting it in multiple ways from the women in her life."

He crossed his hands, staring at the bigot.  "I also find out that you lied about a few other things.  Including that someone fired on the child during that attempted invasion incident.  I found out that you, personally, were in the park with explosives when you went to supposedly change her father's mind about his relationships.  I find that unacceptable and even if he was a horrible parent, I'd give her to her grandmother or her aunt because of such matters.  For that matter, I'm very happy that they're not letting her become one of those geniuses who doesn't understand people."

"We work with a number of them," Tony told him.  "Including me part of the time.   She's actually helped a few of them get more used to people.  She did with Andrew and Jonathan."

Dawn smiled.  "I'm very proud of how she treats those two as her personal geek mentors and silly uncles."

"Are they gay too?" the bigot sneered.

"No, one's married and expecting his first child within six months.  The other is in a serious relationship with another of our scientists.  She's a very sweet girl and they had their first time a few months back after over a year of dating and porn."

"Many men go that way," the judge said dryly.  He smiled at her.  "The one on tv with the battle gear?"

"Yes, Your Honor.  The third of them is in a home for snapped geniuses.  Since then, Callia and I have both helped the duo get a bit more confident and learn to get around better in the city.  She dotes on them like they're silly big brothers half the time.  I consider them like little brothers.  Andrew keeps saying he's going to kill my husband each time I come in wobbling from a great, long night."  Tony swatted her.  She smiled.

"Sounds like a brother to me," the judge agreed but he was smiling.  "Do they add to her upbringing?"

"They do help her some with lessons," Tony said.  "Frankly, half the building's taught Callia things over the years.  They taught her electronic components and other things.  Jonathan was helping her learn how to make lasers to build some anti-kidnaping things for Pepper.  She came up with a whole Pepper-belt full of things to defeat kidnapers with their mentoring and correcting her designs."

The judge smiled.  "Then it's good she has others she can go to for mentorship.  Her outside activities?"

"She might change some year," Dawn said.  "She said she likes gymnastics but she doesn't really want to compete.  The coach agreed with her that she should learn due to her unique future possible calling, it can only help her, but he agreed she didn't handle the competition stress well at this point in time.  Her first one she nearly froze."

"A lot of people do," the judge agreed.  "It was worked through?"

Dawn grinned and nodded.  "We did.  She did it and came off saying she hated people staring at her."

"Many do," he agreed.  He looked at the idiot bigot.  "I believe I'm going to have to rule in Mr. Stark's favor and drop this motion.  There's no legal basis for you to be able to challenge it and no legal right for it.  Especially not with your people's noted public stance, meaning your people's online journals, about how you'd take over her stock in the company.  Which you wouldn't be getting even if I gave you custody."

"I do want to make a remark," Dawn said.  "Since we've had six social worker visits recently."  She stared at them.  "Really, they have plenty to do without you wasting their time and energy.  They have to go help kids who actually need them.  Like making false calls to the fire department some other kid might die if they don't get to them because they're having to handle your pouty mood."

"I agree.  No more calls to Social Services," the judge ordered.  "I will send a letter to the head of the local office myself to be put in the file that it has been done for vindictive means.  That they are to have you arrested or fine you if this continues.  By any of your group."  He stared them down then smiled at Dawn.  "Any other notes to make?"

She pulled out her tablet and called up a file, letting him see it.  "The lawsuit to recoup the cost for the repairs to the building.  As they invaded it should be them paying to repair it, not us."

He read it over, smiling.  "I find this reasonable but I doubt they'd pay."  He handed it back.  "If he asks, I will unseal this for that judge."  Dawn smiled and put it into her pocket.  "When is that being filed?"

"Next week.  Our head attorney is out of town this week at her sister's wedding."

"That's fine.  She'll want to polish the language."

"I figured she would," Dawn said with a grin.  "Legal jargon is not my true forte."  He laughed.  She looked at Tony then at him again.  "Can you also put in an injunction against Mr. Leonard Tills, who is one of their founding members, that he may not hire another assassin to try to shoot the baby?"

"He did?" the judge asked.  Dawn got into that file, letting him see it.  "Who gathered this information?"

"My wife for SHIELD.  Who took over the investigation from the FBI since they never told us there was a threat, and they had taken it from the NYPD, who had spotted the sniper and knew he was there to take out Callia and never told us.  We're dealing with them legally soon as well.  I'd like an injunction though.  I don't really like having to kill assassins.  My spouses get mad when I have to do it and not let them handle it.  Clint actually broke a compound resin bow when he heard.  One that can usually withstand him using it to pole vault."  Tony shuddered.  "She's fine, only got a graze, and I got a slightly deeper one, but we were not amused."

The judge nodded.  "I can definitely agree to that and add that to the injunction not to speak about this in the press as it will be a sealed file.  Is he a US citizen?"

"Supposedly but he's trying to hide in Spain right now," Tony said.  "The Marshals Service are looking for him to extradite him back, Your Honor.  He's to face multiple charges of hiring someone to do his dirty work for him."

"I can add it even if it won't be fully binding when he's overseas.  Having it on file might help.  Have you told them where he is?"

Tony nodded.  "I called in a tip when Natasha found him," Dawn said smugly.  "Apparently she asked a SHIELD agent over there to tag him with a sub-que chemical tracker that cannot be gotten out of his body.  They have the code for it and a scanner."

"Wonderful.  Thank you for that bit of help."  He smiled at the bigots.  "Dismissed."  They stomped off.  He looked at them.  "He's hired more than one?"

"He's hired some to take out some higher profile gay activists, one to try to snipe a few notable African-American activists, and one to start a feud by burning a black church.  Which is the charge he's running from," Tony said.  He stood up with a smile.  Dawn stood up too.  She got handed back her tablet.  "Thank you, Your Honor."

"You're welcome.  I hope they don't try again."

"They try to invade again and the results are going to be very harsh," Dawn assured him.  "I'm tired of playing and I've had enough."  He laughed.  They walked out together.

"How harsh?" Tony asked once they were in the hallway.

"Like throwing them off the building will be considered sweet next to what I'll do."  She grinned.  "Even Natasha wanted to kill them, boss."

"She'd probably do a really good job."  Reporters were waiting and rushed at them.  "People, we're not commenting, only that the motion was dropped and that the judge issued a permanent gag order."  The reporters still shouted questions.

Dawn moved Tony when a gun appeared, kicking that person down the stairs of the courthouse.  They screamed.  Guards and officers came rushing at him.  She looked at the others, who were covering that now.  "Boss?"

"I'm good.  I'm wearing body armor anyway."  He looked at her.  "You should."  They walked off together.

"Can't fit it under the cute clothes, boss.  Or the chainmail."  She walked over the guy's leg.  "Next time, don't point a gun at me."  The officers all gaped.  She pointed.  "It fell there."  They moved to grab it and cuffed the guy to bring him in.  "Thank you," she said with a smile.  "It's very nice when we don't have to handle emergencies."  She opened the door of the limo, letting Tony get into the back first.  Then she slid in.  She slumped.  Tony got into the bar.  "Hey, Happy, can we go around a few times?"

"Definitely," Tony agreed.  "I need a drink and it'll worry the sprout."

"Me too," Dawn said, letting Tony hand her one.  They settled in to waste gas by cruising around New York City for a bit so they could relax.  By the time they got back, Callia was bouncing beside Dawn's desk.  Dawn hugged her.  "The judge dismissed it."

"You nearly got shot and didn't come right back!" she complained.

Dawn looked at her.  "We had a calming down ride around the city.  I needed some wine before I went to their office and shot them a whole lot."

Callia smiled.  "That's fine.  As long as you weren't hurt."

"No, I wasn't hurt.  You don't have to worry about either of us being hurt right now."  She nodded and hugged her then Tony.  Dawn sat down.  "The twins in the gym?"  She nodded and went to tell them the good news.

Natasha came up the halls wearing some of Dawn's secretarial gear and carrying folders.  She took a kiss.  "Bourbon?" she asked quietly.

"It was in the car."   Natasha smiled.  "I'm okay."

"I know you are.  The twins have been good all day.  The boys in lab 6 have been fighting over things."  Dawn nodded she knew they were.  "Fury has me Stark sitting again.  I asked him which one and he said the bigger pain in his ass one, not the future pain in his ass."

Tony laughed, going into the office to kiss Liz and Pepper.

***

Clint sighed, sitting down next to Dawn.  She was staring at him, feeling his headache.  "It's nothing.  It happens."

She finished the current bite of salad.  "Is there a cause, like stress?  Or should I worry horribly?"

"It's nothing exactly like that.  It's more like I over focused."  Dawn stared at him, eyes narrowing.  "Yeah, like the show only not that bad.  They blew it *way* out of proportion."

"Uh-huh."  She ate another bite of her salad before making him turn around so she could work on the knots in his neck.  She swallowed.  "Anything help it?"

"Usually I'm too focused and either Coulson or Nat is there," he said quietly.

"So we over focused and now we're dealing with side effects.  Would having something that smells like them help?"  He shook his head quickly.  "Tried it?"

"When the show came out I tried just about everything on it.  It distracts me, which helps, but that hurts my focus on the mission so we're boned."

"Okay," she said.  "Let me look things up.  There might be something that could help.  Should I start a white noise generator tonight?  Or a fan?"

"The fan's going on tonight," he agreed.  He turned to kiss her.  "Not the reason I came in here, though it's a great job."  She grinned.  "The reason I came in is I just jogged Callia out of one."  Dawn stared at him.  "Yeah.  Not sight like mine.  I think hers is over focusing on the science stuff.  I've seen Tony doing it too."

"That zoned, not totally in this reality stare?  I've seen it too."  She finished her salad while she thought.  "Make Tony watch that with you."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I am."  He nodded, getting up and giving her a kiss before going to talk to Tony.  She looked up.  "How long, JARVIS?"

"Since before he created me," he said quietly.  "Though it is what he thinks by what I can find online."

"Got any good, handy ideas?"

"No.  He usually manages them."

"No he doesn't.  He comes out whenever."

"Good point," the AI conceded.  "We'll work on it."

"Yeah, we will."  She went to talk to Callia, see what she had been concentrating that hard on.  It turned out to be a problem of how to get across an obstacle course her self-defense trainer had set up.  The twins couldn't figure it out either.  Dawn looked it over.  "Okay," she said.  "It's meant for your specific skills, right?"  She nodded.  "So what can you do that the twins can't?"

"Gymnastics stuff?"  Dawn nodded.  She looked at things.  "I'm not good enough yet to make it over the big gap though."

Dawn smiled.  "What else are you three good at?"

"Weapons?  Playing mean things on Sean?  Science stuff for two of us?"

Dawn nodded.  "So let's problem solve.  Are you allowed to walk closer?"  She nodded.  Dawn led her over there, letting her see the gap.  "So, how would you get something across that to help you do that?"

She looked around.  Then she spied a boulder.  She looked up, there were exposed beams.  "Grappling hook," she said happily.  Dawn smiled.  Callia ran back to the start.  She took a running leap at the first too high thing, doing a flip and catching it like she would on the high bar.  She had just learned release moves earlier this month.  That let her flip around to gain momentum so she could dismount over another obstacle of a big rock that she hadn't been able to climb.  She ran to the next station and climbed up it, doing pretty well.  When she got to that big gap she summoned her uncle's quiver to get his grappling hook and fired it at the beams on the ceiling.  She swung across and ran to the last few things.  One of them meant she had to flip and roll, coming up on the other side of the tack field.  Then she hit the button and grinned.

"Nice job."

The instructor smiled at her.  "Nice job not telling her but giving her clues."

"Thank you."  She smiled at Callia.  "I'll have Clint repack a new grappling hook."  She walked off.

The instructor came over and pointed.  "You also could've knocked own that fake tree and used it to bridge across."

"My balance beam work sucks," Callia told him.

He smiled.  "That happens.  You can't be good at everything."

"If I was I'd have to compete and that really sucks.  People stare at you."

"People are going to stare at you all your life, Callia.  At events, when you go out to the movies, all sorts of people are going to stare."

"They stare at you when you have to dress up and go to events?" she asked, looking confused.  "Not just take pictures?"

"Yes they do."

"Ewww."

"Sorry.  It's the life you lead for being born a Stark."  She walked off shaking her head.  He smiled at her back.  She was so much fun sometimes.  The twins bounded over from what he had them doing and he made them do the same course.  They weren't ready for Callia's level yet but they were smart and cunning.  They'd find their own way around the obstacles.

***

Dawn walked into the lab where Tony was complaining about team tv series binge night as Clint was calling it.  "Callia called your quiver down to problem solve the obstacle course.  You need a new grappling hook arrow."

"I can repack one," he said, kissing her with a grin.  She grinned back.  "She good?"

"He made her problem solve her way over it.  I gave hints but she came up with solutions."

"Even better," Tony said.  "Can you take him so I can do, you know, science stuff for the sake of science?  Because I'm working here."  Dawn turned on the tv show, fast forwarding to a part she remembered.  She let it play and looked at him.  Tony frowned, watching it.  Then looked at Clint.  "So this is how you're telling me you have that issue?"

"I only have one.  A lot of spies have one or two."

Natasha walked in.  "I know of one that had three, but it drove him mad.  After a concussion he started to taste flavors."  She ended the feed.  "And no, it's not just him."

"Okay," Tony said, smiling at her.  "So you do too...."  She shook her head.  "Dawn?"  She shook her head.  "I don't...."

"You do the same damn thing with science," Dawn said.  "And so does your daughter.  That's why you've been in here now for four days without a shower, boss."

Tony ran a hand through his hair and grimaced.  "Yeah, I need one.  That's not motor oil.  Oh!"  He stared at them.  "So me...."  He pointed at the screen and they nodded.  "So an intervention?  Because usually I'm not that unhappy with it.  I get things done and that's nice, makes the company and my wallet worth more."

"No, but you need to figure out ways of keeping your daughter from doing this.  I caught her doing it at the problem of the obstacle course.  Her instructor was worried she had fallen asleep with her eyes open."

Tony nodded.  "Yeah, I've seen her do that.  It did look familiar."

"So we need to find a way to help her stay centered," Dawn said.  "Because that's not exactly a healthy state.  You forget to eat all the time.  Hell, you've only had coffee and your shakes to help with the palladium poisoning for the last four days.  Even Pepper got worried about that."

Tony sighed.  "Okay, we can work on that.  Though I don't mind mine because I usually get things done."  He looked around his work bench, which was littered with things that needed to get done.  "I don't do it as often."

Natasha smiled.  "You don't.  Back when I had to first start watching over you, you'd be lost for days at a time then crash and go back to it unless Dawn or Pepper annoyed you."

"There were whole months when we had to wonder and ask JARVIS if you had blown yourself up," Dawn agreed with a grin for him.  "We're not going to stop yours.  You like them, and that's okay.  They make Pepper sigh in an unpleasant way sometimes but she can kick your ass."  Tony burst out laughing, nodding that might be true.  "But your daughter's doing the same thing.  She's already missed lessons two days this week because she was in here with you.  And she's applying it to other areas."

"We can work on some meditation, that may help her learn how to be more aware of her surroundings," Natasha said.

"Didn't with me," Tony admitted.  "I had to take a PE and ended up in yoga for some reason, well because there were pretty girls in leotards actually, and it just made mine sharper."  He looked at Barton.  "Yours?"

"I only go down that path when we're screwed and I'm the only cavalry we have."

"Usually we can help him unfocus later," Natasha said.  "He only goes out with certain handlers and certain agents for that reason."

"And sometimes rookie agents that make him want to beat them," Dawn quipped.

"Don't remind me I spent all morning with the trainees," he groaned.  "Though, I agree with Coulson.  We have one that'll make it if they can get their physical fitness levels up."  Natasha nodded she agreed.

"So...  We go talk to him," Dawn said.

"That's not fair to the other trainees," Clint said.  "Some may try and make it to agent training."

"But if you tell them then they'll try harder."

"I can't do that.  It'd look wrong since I'm training the whole group."

Dawn smiled.  "How weak are they?"

"If they tried they could barely squeak by most of the measures but their lifting is pathetic and so is their running," Natasha said.  "His range work is excellent."

"I'll go talk to him.  We need new sparring partners to beat up.  So do the twins."

Clint smiled.  "Yes, they do."  Natasha grinned as well.

Tony nodded.  "Do that tomorrow.  Obstacle course?  Dawn, coffee?" he asked, looking into his cup.  Dawn went to the caf to get him an actual meal with his coffee.  He moaned when she presented him the large plate of food.  "Better than coffee but thank you for it too."  He blew a kiss and turned around to get back to work.  "I'll try to figure out how to do that with her, guys.  Steve might have some ideas."

"Sure," they agreed.  The trio got done for the day and Dawn got taken back to SHIELD.  She walked into the trainee gym.  Natasha frowned, going to get that one.

She knocked on his door, interrupting his packing.  "Are you giving up?"

"I can't hope to make up to standards, ma'am."

"You are very close if you push yourself.  Also, we were thinking different training may help you."  The guy nodded, staring at her.  "Come."  She led him back there.  "Him, Dawn."

She smiled and shook his hand.  "My nieces need someone to spar with.  They've learned some by helping their father hunt on Asgard but not enough in case of problems.  Natasha and Clint say that you're about their level physically.  So you're going to be their gym master for the next three days."

He blinked.  "Why?"

"Because we said so," Clint ordered.  "You still have two weeks to work up to the standards set."  He stared at him.  "You do good in most areas.  Just not this one."

"I can try," he offered.  "Some of the other agents are better."

Dawn smiled.  "I'm not sure I'd trust them not to hit on my twelve-year-old nieces."

"Twelve?" he asked, grimacing some.  Dawn pulled out a picture to show him and he blinked.  "They're twelve?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, I can try that.  See if it helps."  They got him back to Stark towers and Dawn introduced him.  He did stare in a bit of awe but Callia knocked him over.  He got up and smiled, shaking her hand as well.  Yes, he could help them.  They needed the self defense lessons a lot.  Before they got snatched by some pervert.

***///

Clint looked around at the trainer's meeting the next morning. "I'm going to push for an exemption."

"Why?" Fury asked.

"We have one trainee that will probably pass all the way through," he said.  "Who can't run fast enough and he's about twenty pounds under his lifting test."  Fury grimaced.  "But it's like looking at a mini Sitwell."

Agent Sitwell looked at him.  "I've seen him.  Coulson wanted my take and I agree, he'd make a good handler."

"I had Dawn set him to working with the twins," Clint said.  "He's good handling and working around their confusion and Callia's overly focusing on things.  He even talked Artemis out of a skirt."

Fury considered it.  "Could he make it?"

"If he really pushes himself he could get both of those but his back muscles need work for the lifting, sir.  His running is slower than I'd like but again, it'll be fixed as he trains.  Can we dump the rest?"

"I think two might make field agent status," one of the other trainers said.  "They fire well, they test well."

"They're robots who can't problem solve," Clint said.  Dawn hit him with a thought.  He grinned.  "Dawn said that the new recruiting video game is in beta testing.  Let's run the rookies through it."

The other trainers had heard and nodded.  "It's a full body system.  It makes them set the course instead of laying it out for you," one said.  "Agreed."  Clint texted Stark, who said that was fine.  Natasha was testing it right now and it looked amazing.  "Stark said Romanoff's testing it."  They got up and went to get the rookies, bringing them to it.  Clint got his private candidate and the twins come see too.  Callia grimaced.  "You, no."   He looked down at her.  "When you're older, maybe.  Right now, no.  You don't need to know how to run missions."

"Good!" she smiled.  "I'm going to go play in the lab."  She started to run off.

"Take your dog for a walk," Dawn said.  "Clean the litter boxes, pet your rabbit.  They're your pets, not mine."

"Shit, I forgot," she muttered.

"And grounded from the lab for swearing," Clint ordered.  She pouted but went up to pay attention to her pets.  She loved her pets.  They loved her.  Even when she forgot about them for a few hours.  He and Dawn grinned at each other.

Stark came out.  "Thank you.  We got mobbed last night for dinner."

"Figured you did since I walked the dog," Dawn quipped.  She got the others in there.  "Ladies, you two watch, do not help."  They nodded.  Natasha was going over how to use it and the laser gun.  Including how to open information files so they could find their target, plan their route on the map, and the various options for handling things.  Half of the agents weren't listening.  Dawn smiled and walked up there, taking out her dart gun to hit a few, making them yelp loudly.  "If you don't pay attention you flunk.  You flunk here twice and it's a black mark against your training scores."  They slumped but nodded.  "Thank you.  We want the best for SHIELD.  Any agent can be FBI.  Not everyone is meant to protect us all by being SHIELD."  She walked off.

"Quite true," one of the other training agents agreed.  "That's why we routinely only graduate one or two new agents per class of trainees."  They faced Natasha when she pointed at her.  "Any glitches?" she asked.

"One building is more pixelated than not," she said.  "One of the possible roads seems to work but will not let you up it.  Consider it a road block."  The rookies nodded.  She got one of them into it and let him start off.  The others watched.  He had been paying attention so he knew how to get into the mission profile and map.  The gun felt normal in his hand and he did well on the range.  He started to move, quietly sneaking up the street.

"You should look like an ordinary citizen out for a walk," Natasha told him.  "Otherwise you draw attention to yourself."  He nodded and stopped it, just walking.  He spotted a target and had to run, and jump, and climb.  He made it through and got the person he was there to take down but he was a sweaty mess when he got out.  Natasha smiled.  "Good enough for a second round later.  Water fountain is in the hallway."  He went to get a drink and cool down by stretching on some of the equipment in the gym.

She pointed at one.  "Your turn."  He got in and didn't know how to do anything.  "I am not repeating instructions," she said when he looked at her.  "You don't get repeats in real life.  You either listen or you don't go on missions."  She pointed.  He moved off to the side, sulking.  A few who hadn't listened tried anyway and one figured out how to open the map and the mission profile by testing a few finger commands he had seen others use.  She smirked at him.  "Slightly cunning, nice."  He made it through, though he ran out of time and the bad guy made it to the chopper and got away.

Clint looked at his trainee.  The guy was paying attention.  When it was his turn, he took a different route.  Clint smiled and nodded that his was an option when they stared at him.  He got the guy as he came out of his house, and ended the scenario, earning a bonus for the short time he spent.  "That's problem solving," he agreed.  "I'd do that instead."

Natasha nodded. "I probably would've went to the north and waited for him near that alley so he ran into me instead of me running into him.  Going over the rooftops would've been less noticeable," she told the trainee.

"Yes, ma'am, but not within my greatest skills to jump across and if that's in Eastern Europe some of the buildings aren't all that sturdy so I might've fallen through a roof."

"Very true," Clint agreed.  "I have a few times.  Generally the ledges are sturdier if you run into that."

"I've never used a balance beam though."

"You will at Alexander's obstacle course."  He smiled.  "You need it to get across part of it."  That got a shy smile and a nod.  "Good job.  Okay, those who earned second times through a new one, step forward.  The rest of you go back to the gym at SHIELD and do something."  They groaned but the other trainers smiled and got most of the group back there.  Fury and Hill came in during the second set of missions.  "Sir."

Agent Hill watched the current one, nodding.  "That's really good."  She smiled.  "I'll need that to get back into shape."

Fury nodded.  "It looks like it'll work."  He got in next.  Natasha showed him how to open the map and the mission profile, letting him handle it.  The laser pistol was a bit small for him but otherwise, he handled it and the bad guy's posse as well when they showed up.  Most of the trainees hadn't gotten that far.  He walked out smiling.  "Stark, give the geeks who did this a bonus and have them fix the few flaws I spotted," he told him.  He was actually sweating.  It had been a great workout.  "That's very close to what we'd do in real life."

Tony grinned at his geeks.  "Good job."  They grinned back.  "He's right, you guys get a bonus for this."  They cheered and made notes on the flaws.  He looked at Fury.  "You can have a system but it's for recruiting."

"We could use it.  A lot of agents aren't good enough.  Hell, we've had whole classes who failed."  The ones staring at him slumped.  He looked around, spotting the twins watching.  "Can they do it?"

"No gun lessons yet," Clint said.  "Next year they can try it but Dawn said they're probably not coming to SHIELD."

"Fine.  They're a bit too pretty anyway.  They'd draw too much attention."  The girls grinned and Diana blushed.  "Agents have to be able to blend in.  If you're being stared at in awe, they can't do that."  He looked at Natasha, who smirked at him.  "I nearly pulled you out of the field for that a few times."  He walked off, taking Hill now that her mushy moment with Dawn was done with and the paperwork had been handed over.  He went to the trainee gym.  "Next week, you're all going through that system again.  Anyone who flunks it doesn't make the cut.  You need to be not only strong but mentally strong as well in the field."  He walked off happier.  That would cut down on the loser trainees and help him get better ones.  They needed better trainees.

***

Phil walked in that night and kissed Xander, making him moan.  "You're getting seven trainees."

"Only seven?  Did they all screw up?  Have an orgy in the firing range?"

"No.  They can't pass the field agent video game.  Most of them gave up."

"Then they don't deserve it," he agreed.  He took another kiss, pulling him closer by his hips.  "Hmm.  You taste good."

"I stopped in to hug the kids on the way here.  Tasted Tara's sauce for her."

Xander smiled.  "She's a good cook."  He took another kiss but it was broken by the door opening and Melissa walking in to cuddle them.  "Hey, kiddo."

"Hi, Unclie Xander."  She looked up.  "Daddy, can I stay with you?"

"If you want to, yes."  She grinned and hugged him harder.  "Is your brother being too clingy?"

"He's hugging the tummies and I like baby brother or sister but I'm not into tummies right now.  I'll hug them when they come out."

"That's reasonable."  He smoothed over her hair.  "Did you eat?"

"Oops."  She ran back up there to eat then came back down with her blanket and stuffed walrus friend.  They read her a bedtime story and tucked her in, then went to have some private time.  John wouldn't fuss because he was attached to Mommy Maria's kicking tummy.  Even if it was a bit lonely without him hanging on her.

***

Melissa walked up to Maria the next Monday.  She was at work.  Melissa was supposedly at home.  Maria looked down at the hug.  "How did you get here?"  She grabbed her phone but Joyce waved hers.  "How did she get here?"

"She had the twins put her in a cab.  Tara is not amused by any means.  She was losing her mind looking for her in the building."

Maria looked down.  "Melissa, is there a huge problem?"

"I wanted a cuddle."  She gave her a pathetic look.  Maria picked her up to hug so she snuggled in.  She sighed, patting the moving belly a few times then hugged her.

"Want to tell me what's wrong?" Maria asked after a minute.

"John never cuddles me anymore.  He hasn't cuddled me in days, Mommy."

She looked down.  "Usually you get free of him pouncing you."

"But it's always there and I don't mind all of it, just when I have to drag him around."  She looked up.  "But he hasn't even hugged me at all."

"Sometimes boys go through those moods, or it could be that he's not in a huggy mood.  I take those moods."

"You gave them to him.  It's been nearly a week."  She snuggled in again.

"Tara hugs you."

"Yup."

"I hug you."

"I know."

"Your brother's never going to fully leave you alone," Joyce said.  "Even if he's hugging other things for a bit, Melissa."

She looked over.  "But he always hugs me."

"Yes but now you're bigger and you're doing different things a lot of the time.  You don't play blocks with him.  He doesn't play with your puzzles all that often."  Melissa pouted.

Maria smiled at Joyce for helping and gave her a squeeze.  "I'm sure he'll start hugging again later but you do keep pushing him off you."

"I give him a few minutes first."

"We'll talk to him later."  She nodded, hugging her as hard as she could.  "Now, we've got to talk about you leaving the house on your own, young lady."  Melissa whimpered, giving her a pitiful look.  "Not working."  Melissa pouted but let Maria carry her off for that talk about how bad it was to leave the house without permission and a plan.  She asked the guards why they hadn't called and they said they had hit the button for her and sent her up, they had recognized her.  They figured it was important.  So she left them undented and unwritten up for it.

Fury came out reading a file.  "Hill...."  He blinked at her empty desk then around.  He looked at Joyce.  "Lunch?"

"Melissa had one of the twins stick her in a cab so she could come talk to her."

"She took a cab here," he said.  Joyce nodded with a smile.  "That's really bright of her.  We can use agents with brains in the future."

"She's four and don't make me shoot you," Joyce warned but she was smiling.  "I do have my taser, sir."

Fury laughed.  "I like that you're a mean mother, Summers."  He handed over the folder.  "Hand her that when she gets back from bringing the kid home."

"I think she'll do that later on her way to the doctor's."

"I forgot."  He went back to his office.  That definitely showed promise for the kid's future as an agent.  Of course Maria Hill, his most senior and trusted officer, would want her kids to follow her lead.

***

Dawn looked up as Tara stomped off the elevator, taking John from her.  "Huge problems?  Demon?  Apocalypse?  Pregnancy mood swing?" she guessed.

"The twins put Melissa in a cab and sent her to SHIELD to talk to Maria."

"The twins and I will be having a talk later," she promised.

"Thank you!"  She tried to take John and Dawn just smiled.  "I can...."

"Go take a nap while he distracts Callia from the lab?  Yes, you can."  Tara smiled and left to do that.  She looked at John, who hugged her.  "I love you too, John.  Let's go distract Callia."  She called the twins down since she had a meeting with Pepper and some of the geeks in a few minutes.  Artemis bopped off the elevator.  "First, the kids are not allowed to roam the city.  Not alone, not in a cab, not at all."  Artemis winced.  "You should've checked with Tara, and she's a bit upset so apologize."  Artemis nodded she could.  She handed over John.  "Secondly, have him distract Callia so she does other things today."

"Yes, Auntie.  Sorry?"

"Melissa's a conniving little brat at times."

"Hey!  My sissy!" John complained.

"You are too," Dawn assured him, getting a grin and a nod.  She smiled at Artemis again.  "Don't let them talk you into things that common sense says is wrong."

"Yes, Auntie.  Sorry.  We'll apologize to the aunts later."  She carried John off, making him giggle by nuzzling his ear.  "We'll play with Callia.  She's being much too serious today."  She got onto the elevator and upstairs to do that.  John got free and ran over to pounce his friend.

Callia looked back at him since he was on her back and hugging her.  "Hi, John.  No Melissa?  Baby doctor today?"

"She wanted us to send her to see her mother at SHIELD," Diana said.

"Auntie said Auntie Tara is very upset and we have to apologize," Artemis said.  Diana winced.  "That the kids can't roam the city without permission and we have common sense, so to use it."

"Thankfully Auntie Tara never yells," Callia said.  "Even when she's having a baby.   Auntie Maria sometimes yells.  She did when I tried to sneak out to go to the park once."

"We should go play outside," Diana said.  "We're always inside."

Callia smiled.  "We can ask Daddy if he wants to come with us."

"Sure," they agreed.  Tony, of course, was involved in something.  JARVIS said he was inside his suit fixing something and hadn't heard the phone.  Callia sighed, looking at John.  Then at the twins.  "I'll get us guards."

"We can go together," Artemis said.  "We're good babysitters."

Callia shook her head.  "Someone tried to hurt us the last time we went.  We need guards."  Natasha came off the elevator.  "Can you take us to the park?  Daddy's busy."

"I can.  Grab your skates, girls."  She looked at John.  "He can borrow your old ones."

"I don't have old ones," Callia said.  She concentrated and a pair of baby skates showed up.  "There, his."  She beamed and rubbed her head a bit but that was good.  John was cooing over his sister's skates.  He didn't mind if they were purple.  She got up to get hers and her safety gear.  The twins got theirs.  Natasha got John into his.  It made him faster to escape but they could handle that.  She called down to get one of the Stark cars.  They got into the SUV and John got buckled into the booster seat.  She drove them over, being subtly followed by some of the guards.  Callia looked back to make sure.  That was cool and it was a pretty day in the park.  They got out and sped off.

"Wait for me," Natasha ordered quietly but firmly.  "John, stay with  Artemis."  He zipped back to hug her.  "Thank you."  She followed to a bench in the skating area.  "Stay where I can see you.  If I cannot see you, you cannot see me," she told John and Callia, who nodded.  They zipped off to play.  The guards were nearby watching.  She smiled at the game of tag John started.  It was good.  "Do not run over people," she noted when she spotted a jogger.  They let her pass by and then got back to playing with him.  She almost pulled out her phone to read a book she had stored on it but she knew that kids got into trouble very quickly and easily.  Especially when John shouted 'squirrel' and tried to chase it.

"No, John, stay with us," Callia ordered, heading after him.  The twins followed to help her get him back.  "There's all sorts of skanky people in the park," she reminded him.  "They like to hurt babies like us.  We can't leave Auntie's side.  They might get us and that'd be bad.  Auntie Dawn would have to destroy humanity if they touched us."  John pouted but nodded and hugged her then skated over to hug Natasha.

"You're usually a very good boy, John.  Have some fun.  Don't go where you can't see me."  He grinned and nodded, zipping off again to pounce Callia.  Which knocked her down but she forgave him after a few tears for her booboos.  He was kissing them to make them better anyway.  They hugged and it was okay.  The twins were looking at the trees.  Callia and John made them come back to play with them again.

"Auntie 'Tasha, can we move to the playground?" Callia called.

"You don't have shoes on and skates would be a liability for your footing on that surface," she said patiently.  "We can do that later when you have regular shoes on."  That got a nod and they went back to skating and playing.  Callia, of course, tried it.  And fell.  And broke something.  Natasha moaned, getting up to answer the call of a crying child.  "Your aunt did the same thing to her other leg," she said, picking her up.  "Ladies, let's get back to the infirmary."  They picked up John and carried him back to the SUV.  "We can come play later."  Callia was still sobbing.  "I know it hurts.  Dr. Pigalli will handle it," she soothed.  She was not really the maternal type but Callia would be fine.  The nearest ER was sixteen blocks away but the tower was only three.  They got back and the twins took John to the gym to skate around.  She carried Callia into the infirmary, finding a lot of people.  "Should I have taken her to the regular ER?"

The nurse looked and winced.  "No, we're doing flu shots.  Dr. Pigalli, Callia broke her leg skating."

"Shit," she muttered, coming over to see.  "You really did.  How did you do that?"

"I told her that skates on the playground's surface would compromise her footing," Natasha said.  "She, being a Stark, tested that hypothesis."

"Kids do that," she agreed.  "Dawn refractured her break by falling down some stairs."   She got the skates off and got an x-ray while the nurses did the flu shots for her.  Tony and Pepper came rushing in.  "Skating accident."

"I slipped and fell wrong when the sand wasn't good to my wheels," Callia said, hugging her father as hard as she could.  "Auntie 'Tasha said so but I tried anyway."

"Kids do that," Pepper assured her, giving her a hug then Natasha.  "Thank you."

"They were mostly good, and she did remind John why he didn't skate away from the adults.  Especially about the skanky predator sort."  Tony hugged his daughter harder.

"Stark, I need to be able to cast her leg once I set it," Dr. Pigalli said patiently.  "Move.  Unless you want your daughter not to have a painkiller first?"  He got out of the way of the needle, which Callia hissed about before it even touched her arm.  "Yay," Doc said, smiling at her.  "Next time, be more careful."

"I will."  She hid her face in her father's chest when her leg was set and then casted.  She pouted.  It was ugly and huge.  "Ow."

"It happens," Natasha said.  "A lot of children break a leg or an arm every year."  She nodded.  "We can let you nap on the couch for a bit."

"Ice cream?" she begged her father.

"We'll see.  Steve's up there."

"Thank you."  Doc handed her crutches.  She looked.  "How do I use these?"  They showed her.  "Oh, okay."  She hopped off, letting her father get her skates.  She was pouty and she wanted cuddles with ice cream.  Maybe stepmommy would give them to her.  He was nice like that.  Tony picked her up to cuddle her and that was good.  But she still wanted ice cream.  She had an ouchie, a huge ouchie, and that deserved ice cream.

Tony looked at her.  "You really are a mini me sometimes.  Whatever you're thinking comes out of your mouth."  He hugged her.  "I'm not sure if we have any ice cream.  I had some last night for dinner on the way to the lab."

"Oh."  She nodded.  "Maybe Auntie Dawn will pick up some?"

"We'll see."  He took her upstairs so Steve could cuddle her.  Maybe he should make sure she wasn't his female clone.

"Daddy, I don't think they gave Mommy a baby that way," she said, looking at him.

Steve smiled.  "You do the same thinking out loud thing."

"I know.  Ice cream?" she asked, looking pitiful.

"There's none in the house.  Your dad forgot to put the last few bites into the freezer so they melted on his wrenches when he put down the carton for a minute."

"Shoot.  There's the ice cream place across the street."

"Maybe later, when it's not so crowded," Tony said.  The dog was barking.  "Give me a minute to find your leash."

Callia groaned and got up, grabbing her crutches.  "C'mon, Xander puppy.  It's by the front desk with the poop bags."  He followed her onto the elevator, sniffing at the cast and crutches.

"I can walk him today," Tony offered.

"He's my doggy and like diapers, doggy parents have to do the poop stuff."  She pushed the button and took him down there.

Tony gaped then looked at Steve.  "That has to be yours and Pepper's influence.  I wasn't that responsible until I was nearly thirty.  I may not be that responsible now."

Steve kissed him but smiled.  "It's all right.  She'll be the better Stark genius."

"She really is."  He went to get her some ice cream before she pouted them to death.  There was a huge line but it happened at times.  Especially when his science staff were all pouty since that's who was in front of him.  One looked back and waved with a grin.  "Callia broke her leg skating."  They all groaned.  He got to the front of the line, right behind the pregnant ones that got passed up.

***

Callia was walking the dog with a guard when she heard people running.  "Crap."  She got out of the way and pulled the dog over.  Turned out it was a reporter.  "You put that camera in my face and I'm having the dog bite you!"

"Back off!" the guard ordered, shoving them back.  "Do you have no sense!"

"Apparently not," Callia said.  "C'mon, Xander puppy."  She hopped back.  He whined.  "We can use the garden area at the other tower.  It's not infected with reporters."

"What happened?" one shouted.  "Did she get hurt in another attack?  Was there another attack?"

Callia paused to look at her.  "I fell skating, dumbass.  If there was an attack do you think I'd be walking my dog?"  They gaped.  She stared back.  "I'm not in a nice mood.  Broken legs hurt and you're being dumbasses.  If you think for a tiny minute that my auntie or daddy would let me outside after an attack, you're severely brain damaged and I know a few of my geeks who'd like to study you to see how you're able to do things with so little working brain tissue.  Maybe you're a zombie; that might make you cooler at least."  She hopped up, being careful of where her dog was and the leash was.  The guard helped by kicking the leash when she got tangled a bit.  "Thank you, Henry."

"Welcome, Callia."  They made it back and Tony gave the guard the ice cream and his daughter to hold while he took the dog and the bag.  "Sure, boss, I'll take her inside.  Reporter termites are here."

"I saw."  They went inside.  He glared at the reporters, making her back off.  "You wanted to know something?"  They backed off farther when Clint came strolling out.

"Agent Barton!  Is Dawn pregnant?  She looked a bit heavy this morning!"

"No, she had breakfast this morning and she's only gained five pounds, people.  She's not heavy.  She's been baking because of her sister."

"Her sister's having problems on Asgard?" the reporter asked.

"Her sister's not coming back from Asgard.  So Dawn has her kids."

"Does that mean you won't have any?"

"We're having some whenever Dawn wants them.  Now, go the fuck away."  They fled.  Mostly because Natasha came out unbuttoning her leg holster.  He grinned at her.  "Hi."

"Hi."  She looked at the dog.  "Go use the toilet."  It ran over to poop and pee on some grass.  Tony groaned but cleaned it up.  "Thank you, Xander dog."

"You train men so well," Tony quipped.

"Yes, but sometimes it takes years."  She smiled at Clint, who smirked back.

"So getting it later," he assured her.

"That could be fun and stop the run on pastries that we have."

"It might, yeah."  He walked in behind Tony.  "You took them to the park?"

"Children need to play outside.  The twins are used to being outside all the time."

"Good point."  They went up to the penthouse and handed over the dog to Callia, who was covered in cats.  She was pouty too.

"Ice cream is for after dinner," Steve was saying as they came off the elevator.

"Yup, sure is," Tony agreed.  Callia nodded, petting her family of furry things.

"Dawn, they asked if you're pregnant again," Clint said.

She rolled her eyes.  "Then they'll nag me about post-baby weight when I've delivered."  She hugged and kissed them both.

"We're going out for dinner tonight," Clint said, staring down at her.

She smiled.  "I was going to do that meat pie thingy."

"You can do it tomorrow."

"Okay."  She took another kiss.  The kids all giggled.  "Girls, do you want to stay with Callia tonight or with Grandma?"

"Callia," they said.

"Okay," Tony agreed, smiling at them.  They grinned back.  "Have fun, you three."  They went home to change and go out to eat.  Tony and Steve made dinner, which was something he was getting used to.  That whole family dinner thing didn't often happen in Howard Stark's house.  He had been too busy.

Speaking of, he faded into view, looking at her.  "Then next time listen, young lady."

She looked at him.  "Fuck off."  He gasped and floated backward.  "Just because someone's older doesn't mean they know everything.  For that matter, only *real* people can nag me.  You're not a real person any more and I don't have to put up with it.  I've seen footage of you talking about Daddy and you sucked as a parent.  You treated him worse than I treat the bad geeks around here.  I don't know how Daddy became a good man and daddy without your help but he did and we don't need you to make my daddy upset."

"Daughter," Tony said, shaking himself free of the shock.

"What were you watching?" Steve asked.

"The news thingies with you."

"Oh, those."  He looked at Tony, who shrugged.  They didn't have Howard talking about his family.  "What else were you watching?"

"And you have manners.  You do not swear," Tony noted.  "Even if you're snapping in anger all the way to your blunt setting, you do not swear."

"Sorry, Daddy, but he's a bigger shithead than the reporters are!  And about as smart."  She glared at him.  "Go.  Away."  He glared at her.  "I'm a better Stark than you'll ever be because I treat people better and I love my family."  Howard faded with a popping noise but they heard him ranting.

Tony walked over to stare down at her.  "First, thank you for defending me but not necessary.  I can yell at my own father.  Second, swearing, bad."  He gave her a look and she nodded, looking down.  "Third, adult topics, not baby topics."

"He still treated you like shit."

"Swearing!" he said more firmly.  She slumped down.  Dawn cat was hissing at him.  He stared at her.  "You, stop."  He looked at the baby again.  "He might not have been the greatest father, and he certainly isn't the sort I am, but that doesn't give you the right to yell at him.  Or to swear at him.  Even on my behalf you don't get to do that," he said more calmly and quietly.  She nodded, looking down.  "When he shows back up, because we're all stubborn bastards, you will apologize for that."

"Yes, Daddy.  Not for being honest but for swearing?"

"That's fine.  Though, it's not something you need to concern yourself with.  That's between me and my father, not you and my father."

"Yes, Daddy."

"Thank you."  He hugged her.  "I love you but sometimes you turn into your grandmother or aunt."  She giggled and squeezed his neck.  He went back to the kitchen.  "I'd ground you but you're not doing anything for the next six weeks anyway."

"Six weeks?" she whined.

"That's how long it takes when you break a leg unless someone does healing stuff and your aunt can't heal bones."

"Even with Xander helping heal hers it still took three," Steve reminded her.  He hugged Tony.  "I agree," he said in his ear.  Tony smiled and kissed him.  "You're so much better at it than Howard was, Tony."

"I am, yeah.  I'm pretty fantastic all the way around, with a few flaws to make me human."  Steve smiled and nodded, handing him some carrots to chop for the salad.

"Eww, mushy stuff," Callia complained to the cats.  "At least if you guys have kittens you don't do mushy stuff according to the animal channel."

"Why were you watching animals screw?" Tony asked.

"Because it was on and I couldn't sleep?"

He rolled his eyes.  "You know you're supposed to grab a boring book those nights."

"Animal planet was more interesting than Auntie 'Tasha's books.  Even if it did have lions doing married people things."  She petted Dawn to calm her down.  "It's okay.  The ghost grandfather won't upset you again.  If he does, Andrew and Jonathan built ghost busters stuff and I'll use it."  She chattered and soaked up attention.

"That's my job," Steve and Tony said together.

Callia giggled.  "Jinx."

"He owes me a backrub instead of a soda," Tony quipped.

"You owe me one anyway," Steve countered with an evil smirk, well evil for him anyway.

Tony grinned.  "I can do that later."  Steve blushed a bit but nodded.  The twins bounced back in with a bag of clothes for a few days.  "Settle in, girls."  They did and came out to help brush the cats with Callia.  They loved animals just as much.  So clearly that came from Joyce's side of the family.  Pepper came off the elevator with Liz, who headed right for Xander to pet the dog.  The cats liked her but wouldn't let her pet them.  Xander rolled over so she could rub his belly and nap on him.  "She had one of those blunt talks with my father," he said in her ear.

"I heard.  She turned into Joyce," she said quietly, smiling at him.  "If she had ranted like Dawn, she would've let out a few more swears."

"Definitely," Steve said.

"Should've seen it when we had a bimbo who was screwing people for position," Tony said, getting back to his dinner fixing.  "That was the day with the robo dog.  I had just had the bimbo tossed out.  She made a move on Bruce, who was helping Dawn to the infirmary.  I nearly had a 'you go girl' moment about how Springer she turned."

Pepper laughed.  "Me too."  She pulled up that footage to show Steve.  She had saved it down to totally embarrass Dawn at some later point, it's what mentors and almost big sisters did.  Steve gaped but laughed.  "Exactly.  And that was before someone in the UK thought she'd make a nice hostage to get Tony's plans for the suit.  Which, Dawn being in pain, meant that she grabbed the taser spike he tried to use on her and stuck it in his eyeball."

"Ow," Steve said.

"She was in such a bad mood she got happy it smoked," Tony said with a smile.

"Dawn's usually very nice but when she's in pain...." Pepper agreed.

Steve smiled.  "I've seen her in pain before."  They put food on the table and Callia limped over.  "Crutches," he reminded her.

"Don't turn into your aunt over that stuff," Tony warned.  "We yelled at her for not using any.  Then for not wearing a brace on the new fracture."

"I won't.  They get in the way and I'd hurt the cats."

"Yay.  They can learn to get out of the way too," Steve said.  "You won't break something, just trip over them.  All of yours are very smart breeds."  She nodded and sighed, digging into her dinner.

"Dr. Pigalli sent me some super advil for her," Pepper said, handing Tony the bottle from her pocket.

He read the directions and nodded.  "After ice cream, we'll wrap your cast for your shower and give you one so you can sleep."

"Thank you, Daddy.  We have to tell the coach."

"I'll have Dawn tell him."

"Thank you."  She dug in listlessly.  She was hungry but it hurt.

"Curl that leg up on the chair," Steve said quietly.  She did and it was easier for her.  They finished eating and showed her how to wrap her leg so the cast didn't get wet.  She refused to let anyone help her take a bath or shower so they had to.  Tony even put in a chair for her and pulled down her adjustable shower head for her.  That helped and she shooed him out.  When she got done, they tucked her into bed, gave her a pill with her glass of water, and let Steve read to her tonight.  Tony had seen his father reappear on the balcony and needed to yell at him himself.

Tony walked out and shut both doors, staring at him.  "She's going to apologize for swearing."

"She has no manners.  Your mother would be horrified."

"Mom would've clapped until Callia reminded her she did the same thing."  He stared at him.  "She's right.  I know she's right.  Pepper knows she's right.  Steve knows she's right.  It's a damn good thing that JARVIS and Pepper were able to help me finish growing up into the man I am today."  He stared at him.  "I'd still probably be a playboy and killing my liver if it wasn't for them."

His father stared at him.  "I treated you fine."

"Dad, you never made it to a single birthday dinner I had.  Half the time I couldn't get your attention even if I desperately wanted it.  I'm pretty sure if you had been paying attention I wouldn't have been taken all those times."  Howard flinched at that.  "For that matter, if either of you had been paying attention, you wouldn't have had to get me back from the FBI because I managed to talk my way onto a flight to Bangkok for that tech fair when I was seven.  Which is her age.  I'm sure that the only reason they caught me on the way back was because I was tired."

He put his hands in his pockets and leaned on the forcefield around the patio.  Which was now taller than him to keep the cats from trying to get over it.  "That wasn't because I was a genius.  That was me acting out to get attention.  There's been a lot of work done on good parenting and I read most of it one weekend when I was being morbid over things.  Turning thirty wasn't a happy day for me," he said bluntly.  "So I looked up what normal families were like and did.  Just in case I spawned.  Thankfully, I had Pepper, Dawn, and Joyce there to guide me when I failed as a parent.  Which is why she swears now and then when she gets mad."

"She still shouldn't talk to adults that way."

"She has respect for adults who earn it.  Not all adults are worthy of it.  I learned that when the skank who kidnaped me, because I was polite to her, took me to Belgium.  If I hadn't been polite she probably couldn't have gotten me.  But noooo, you taught me to be polite even to the idiots in this world.  She doesn't have to be polite to them.  Or reporters."

"Reporters?" he snorted.

"Yes, they tried to ambush her when she was taking her dog for a walk."

"You made her..."

"No, she made her.  I offered to and she did it anyway.  She's very responsible for her pets most of the time.  We adore that about her.  She's learned things that I didn't until I was thirty.  I couldn't take care of Pepper the way she takes care of her pets, much less a pet.  If I had learned that younger, it might've helped."

"It would've died when you wandered off," his father sneered.

"If you had taught me not to wander off then it wouldn't have mattered."  Dawn appeared, blinking at him.  "Aren't you supposed to be at dinner?"  He wouldn't get pissed at her for it.  She was being a tension break.  Again.

"I would be but they got a call out and you're not answering your phone, boss."  She sighed.  "Ten Rings has a few operatives in the city.  Natasha spotted them."

"Fuck," he said, taking a deep, calming breath.  "The bad news?"

"Three of the group she spotted coming in, thanks to the airport monitors, who knew something was wrong but not what and asked her opinion, were assassins.  They came in on different flights, in different airlines, but she spotted seven total.  One of the minor sub-units she said.  The problem solving ones."

"So they're coming here."

"Probably."  She handed over Natasha's phone.  "It's in her email."  Tony got into it to look.

"Why would he worry about them?" Howard demanded.

"Gee, I don't know, because they kidnaped him to get him to build tech and your son fought his way out?" she suggested.  "The same reason the Russian mob wants me even after five damn years?"

"I never thought to draw that parallel," Tony admitted, scanning the file.  "Damn."

"Yup," Dawn agreed, smiling at him.  "So we're kinda on our own tonight and you need to up security."  He used the phone to call that in.  She looked at Howard again.  "What's holding you here?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe I'll go burn the mansion to make sure whatever it is goes so you can rest."  Tony swatted her.  "Fine."

"Thanks for the offer but if it's going to burn, I'm going to do it," Tony assured her.  "It's my childhood home."  He handed her the phone back.  "They tracking them?"

"Yes.  With Phil, which means Xander got pouty because they had ideas for tonight."

Tony grinned.  "So did you."

"It happens when you love a SHIELD agent or two," she quipped.  She looked in there.  "I can take the twins home."

"They're settled in."

"You sure?"

"Yup.  She could use something to distract her tomorrow anyway."  Dawn pulled up the TMZ website to show him.  "They sold it fast."

"No one gets that close to Callia, boss.  It's odd for them to have anything with her in it."

"I agree, they have zombie brains," Tony said, handing it back.  "And that she should've mouthed off harder to them.  I'd never let her out after an attack."

Dawn smiled, putting the phone back.  "Let me get back there.  I think I paid the check for dinner."  She went to check, because she hadn't, and then went home.  They understood emergencies happen and the manager had been nice enough over it when she had told him they spotted assassins.

Howard stared at his son.  "I'd never have let her get that mouthy."

"Yeah, well, I'm a better father and I want her to mouth off to certain people.  Especially reporters.  They don't need to stalk her."  He walked back inside.  "Have a nice night, Dad."  He closed and locked the door, even though it wouldn't keep him out it was a clear sign.  He walked over to hug Steve, getting kissed instead.  "Thanks."

"You do so much better," he said quietly.

"Yeah, I do.  Pepper helped me turn into an amazing guy."  He grinned at her.

"You managed to build the bones, I just finished the house," she said, waving her glass of wine around.  "Liz is napping with Callia.  She wanted to cuddle her."

"Do we think she's a bit empathic too?" Tony asked, frowning some.

"Maybe," she agreed.  "If so, it's good."  She took a sip and put the wineglass down on the table.  "Are you all right?"

"I could use some comfort."

She smiled.  "I'm pretty sure that's why we're all here and getting huggy."  He laughed and hugged her then Steve.  They took their drinks into the master bedroom to cuddle and whatever together.  Because, Pepper wouldn't mind if Tony pounced to quiet the pain.  Steve either.  Tony kissed her.  "Need cuddled?"

"No, need you both naked.  And me too.  We definitely need to be naked."  He got up and stripped off.  They stripped off.  Tony leaned down to kiss her and start with the intense wearing out they needed.

Artemis and Diana looked at the wall then at each other, giggling.  They were twelve, sex was funny to them.  The ghost floated in but Artemis banished him with a quiet spell.  She did not want to see him.  They settled in to watch some tv before bedtime.  Tony had a bigger set of channels than their aunt and some pretty interesting things.  Though, they had no idea why some of it had twins kissing.  They weren't that way.

Those twins clearly never had their mother's nagging them about hugging.  When those twins decided to share a guy they grimaced and changed the channel.  They'd never share a guy.  Their mother would be *very* upset and nag.  The next one had girls going at it like Auntie Dawn and Aunt Natasha.  That was interesting, but made them blush.  They had no idea that girls could do those things to each other.

JARVIS cleared his throat.  "I believe your aunts would be most upset if you continued to watch pornography, girls.  Try channel 62.  It has animals."  They did that.

"Thank you, JARVIS," Diana said with a grin for the ceiling.

"You're most welcome, ladies.  I've also turned up the soundproofing so you can sleep."

"Thank you," Artemis said quietly.  She still wasn't sure what JARVIS was but it was a bit weird to her.  Unless she could see what was talking to her, she didn't like to believe that they were more than spirits, who could trick you into doing stupid things.  She had learned that lesson from Fenrir when one tried to get her to let it into the village when she snuck back in late one night.

"He's a computer program," her sister said.  "Like that game on the tablet only more complex and he learns."

"So he's a spirit in the computer?"

"Something like that but Tony made him so he's not going to harm us.  Callia and Dawn treat him like an uncle.  We should too."

"It's not unusual to be wary of new things," JARVIS told her.  "I, and other things here at Stark International, are well beyond what you girls grew up knowing.  It's normal for both of you to need some time to adjust to the new things.  No, I'm not really a spirit, Artemis.  I am a program that is created to help and to learn so I can better serve the family's needs.  Think of me like that video game the agents were using to train but I'm the one running the game so they can play it."

"Oh," she said.  "But you can't hurt people?  Make them do bad things?"

"No I cannot.  I'm prevented from doing anything to harm anyone unless I have to stop someone who is compromised and is hurting themselves or others.  Such as another attack on the building will allow me to harm the ones coming in but not the people here."

"So if they get stupidly drunk like our big brother that time and start to get into a fight, you can stop them," Diana said with a grin for her twin sister.

"Exactly.  I am allowed to do that as well.  I would never harm the family.  I have grown up and become one of them even as they've grown up with me helping them.  You do not have to worry about my actions around you unless you are trying to hurt yourself or others."

"Thank you, JARVIS," she said.

"It's not a problem to explain things to you children.  I've spent many pleasurable hours explaining things to Callia and Sean.  Now you're my family as well."

She smiled.  "You nag less than mom does."

"Yes, I probably do, but I believe she got that from her mother."  He cleared his throat.  "Speaking of, your phone is ringing, Diana, and it is your grandmother."

She dug it out to chat with her, laying on her stomach on the bed.  Artemis came over to grab it and talk to, snuggling in with her.  They loved their grandmother.  Their mom had made her sound like a goddess and they could agree with that.  They even liked Bruce, though he was a bit absent minded sometimes, but not as bad as Tony was.  Or Callia sometimes.  She really needed to be a kid more often.

***

Dawn walked into the gymnastics studio the day Callia was supposed to go while she was on her way to work.  She held up her phone once she had a picture pulled up on it.

The coach winced.  "Ow."

"Skating on the playground's sand."

"Kids do that," he said.  "How long?"

"She only did it two days ago.  Probably five weeks?  Not totally sure."

"Okay, let me know."

"Got anything she can do while hopping around?"

"No, not really.  Have her look up balance beam videos to learn stuff?  Make her keep stretching so she doesn't get out of it."

"I can do that."  She smiled and shook his hand, heading in to work.  Tony was frowning when she got off the elevator.  "Giving her excuse for gymnastics, boss."

"Oh, I forgot."

She looked at him.  "You don't know what day it is most mornings," she reminded him quietly.  "Until JARVIS tells you."

He nodded.  "True.  My daughter's a lot like I am too."  He shook his head quickly, handing over the files.  "The two peace treaties that we have with our suppliers who hate that I'm with Steve."

She looked them over.  "They want to expand how much we spend with them?  Is it reasonable?" she asked him.  "Or is Pepper going to scowl at it?"

"She'll probably scowl a bit."  He smiled.  "You did good learning that stuff."  She poked him hard on the arm.  "Hey, watch the claws," he teased.

She smirked.  "Natasha told me to be mean in her place."  He walked off snickering.  She made notes on that and the other questionable clauses before leaving them on Pepper's desk.  She was doing the daily email checking when Pepper came off the elevator sniffling, Liz in her arms.  Dawn blinked at her.  "Allergies?  Hallmark commercial?  Problem?"

"I'm not sure."  She handed her Liz.  "I'm going to the infirmary."

"Okay."  She put Liz in her lap, kissing her on the head.  "Help me type, Liz.  It made Callia very smart.  Though I'm sure you don't want to hear about Callia most of the time; we still love you for yourself."  Liz cooed at her with a grin.  She smiled back.  "Let's type.  It'll make you smarter."  She got back to her work, texting Tony that Pepper was in the infirmary for being sniffly.  That'd let him go help her calm down and if it was a real problem he'd be there with her.  Callia hopped past and cooed, getting baby babbled at back.  "No," she ordered.  "Pepper's in the infirmary.  Stay out of her office."

"Fine.  She has candy."  Dawn pointed.  "Non peppermint candy."  Dawn pointed again.  She looked.  "Oooh!  Mini candy bars."  She took three and grabbed Liz.  "Come help me clean litter boxes.  I'll teach you how to do it the fastest way."  She tried to manage it with her crutches and huffed.  "Fine.  Crawl with me, Liz."  Liz squealed and crawled after the hopping 'big sister' she had.

Dawn shook her head.  "Send her back when she needs changed if Beya's not in today," she called after her.

"I can do that.  She's making breakfast anyway."

"Thank you."  She sent that message to Tony's phone.  Who sent back that was normal.  She asked how Pepper was and got a confused question mark so she sent that other one to him.  He was not amused at the 'repost' at the end.  Apparently that one got held up for a bit.

Tony came off the elevator an hour later.  "Beya's adoring that Callia doesn't change diapers but she does read to Liz."

"I was showing her how to email."  She smiled.  "She good?"

"Bed rest for a week."  Dawn winced and pulled up the calendar to start calling around about switching meetings.  "I can take some."

"No you can't.  You're due at SHIELD for a meeting that day," she said with a point at his schedule.  "And Rhodey's coming in on Friday."

"Okay."  He walked off, letting her handle it.

Dawn got frustrated with one but yay.  She did finally get through to his administrative assistant.  "This is Dawn for Pepper Potts.  She's not going to be able to make the meeting we have set up for Tuesday.  When can we reschedule it?"  She listened to the complaint.  "She's sick.  The doctor in our infirmary just stuck her in bed for a week.  Yes, I do have them here.  They're on her desk.  I'll bring her to them later, once she's had some rest."  She tapped her pen a few times on the desk.  "That's what we need."  She forwarded through the weeks.

"Open all day is two weeks from Tuesday.  Open all afternoon is...."  She spaced back.  "Next Thursday.  Which would be her last day in bed hopefully."  She moved forward.  "That's fine.  I can schedule him in.  When's best on your side?"  She made a note.  "That's fine.  Thank you and have a good day."  She hung up and made that note about who she had talked to.  They'd had administrative assistants who hadn't passed on messages in the past.  Her phone rang.  "Thank you for calling Stark International.  How may I direct your call?"  She listened.

"No, I can't send you to Pepper's phone, sir.  Our infirmary put her on bedrest for a week.  I can give her a message after she's had some rest."  She took down what he was complaining about.  "They're on her desk right now and I'll hand them to her after she's gotten some rest.  Mr. Stark handed them over this morning.   No, I think the flu.  She was a bit peaked looking and sniffling."  She smiled at the disgruntled complaining.  "I'll make sure she sees it later today, once she's had some rest.  Yes, sir, that's when we rescheduled it."  She pulled that up.  He needed to move it.

"That day's not great unless you want very late in the afternoon.  She has two design team meetings starting at eleven with very little break for lunch.  The next day is mostly clear, or the one after that is filled with a baby doctor's appointment at two but she's free in the morning.  Or the day after that is totally clear at this point."  She smiled.  "Yes, she does take her to the appointments.  She might share a nanny with Mr. Stark but Pepper does do the hands-on thing very well with Liz, sir.  Including letting her come sit in the office to learn how to be a later CEO herself."

She smirked at his complaining.  "No, she's never a problem.  For meetings she goes with the nanny.  Callia did the same thing and does still in the lab to learn from her father.  No, actually she's already learning from him.  She was creating anti-kidnaping things for Pepper a few weeks back."  He said something gruffly.  "Exactly.  Which one works for you, sir?"  She changed it to that day.  "I'll make that change on their schedules and update it.  You have a good day, sir."

She hung up once he had.  She synched the system and sent out two emails to note that Pepper's schedule was clear for the next few weeks and she had switched one other one to a free day since it was just after that week and probably wouldn't be up to five meetings in a day with their geeks. Pepper sent back a thank you and 'bring me work'.  Tony agreed with the thank you.  Dawn gathered things to bring to Pepper, taking them to her apartment.  "Callia stole Liz for Beya."

"I heard her cackling upstairs," Pepper admitted with a slight smile.  "Thank you.  Any problems with the rescheduling?"

"I told them you had the flu."

Pepper shook her head.  "A bit of spotting.  She's made me an appointment with my OB's partner tomorrow.  Mine's in Barbados."  Dawn grimaced.  "Folders?"

"As Tony called them the 'sorry I'm gay' peace treaties.  I've marked questionable things."

Pepper looked at those, scowling.  "They want what?  We'll never use that much."

Dawn shrugged.  "That's why I flagged it and watch your blood pressure, Pepper."

"I am."  She grimaced at the other.  "That's another mistake in the making."  She put them aside with a sigh, letting Dawn synch her tablet computer and phone.  "That'll work.  Andrew and Jonathan?"

"They're waiting to brag.  I told them you were on bedrest and he said he put MB back in bed a few times too so he understood plus it'll give them time to fix one more thing."

"Good."  She smiled.  "Thank you."

"Welcome.  Need me to order things?"

"No, I'm good."  Dawn nodded and let her sulk by herself to her paperwork.  It was good enough to make her nap so that was probably the idea.  Pepper yawned as she read over the agreements.  What had Tony been thinking?

***

Dawn came back from her own doctor's appointment unhappy.  She sighed and looked up.  "Lady Hera, can I have a moment please?" she asked.  Hera appeared.  "I would've come up, ma'am."

"I'm not really doing anything but weeding my garden today," she admitted, taking off her gloves.  "Is there a problem?"

"I think so.  My GYN can't seem to find one."  Hera frowned.  "You know how you *know* there's a problem?"

"I do."

"Well, I know something's wrong.  I've had two non-implanting miscarriages and one that did implant but didn't last more than a few weeks.  I *know* there's a problem somewhere."

Hera scanned her.  "What is that?  There's an energy signature.  Go to elemental form."

"How do I do that?" Dawn asked.

"I forgot."  She laid a hand on her stomach.  "No, that's not native to us or you.  It looks like someone basically put a lock."  Dawn groaned.  "But I think it happened when you went to Jordan.  It's relatively fresh and feels like that hellmouth there."

Dawn nodded.  "Is this something I can go talk to them about?"

"Yes," she said.  "You'd probably have to."

"Then I can do that.  Thank you, Lady Hera."  She gave her a hug.  "I want... I want so bad."

"I know, child.  I once felt the same way."  She smiled and patted her on the cheek.  She went back to her gardening.  Dawn found something to cover her hair in case someone spotted her.  She concentrated, going to the hellmouth there.  The guards flinched.  "Easy, guys," she said in Arabic.  "I'm here to find someone, not to touch it."  They glared.  She stared, moving her hat back.  They backed down when one recognized her from that meeting.  She felt and found the powerful area.  She went there, bowing politely.  "Lady Hera found something one of your people put on me, Sir."

He looked at her.  "We were certain that you being mortal would cause problems, Key."

She shrugged.  "I try very hard to only solve problems.  I work with the Avengers.  Am actually married to two of them."  She laid a hand on her stomach.  "Please remove it."

"We're not sure that a mortal you won't cause problems when you give birth."

"And yet, there's people around us who can help if that becomes so.   Including me putting on my own protections.  I do know the risks.  I've also been told that I'll probably hate ascension when I die."

He nodded.  "Perhaps, if you die."

"If I'm immortal, there's going to be some screaming at my all-but big brother Alexander."  She smirked.  "Beyond that, if you had asked me I would have told you anything you wanted to know.  Because cursing me and my spouses this way is cruel."

He tipped his head.  "You're not scared of me, are you?" he asked with a smile.

"Respectfully?  Hell no.  Because I have more than one Key."  He gaped.  She smiled.  "The aliens that tried to invade had two of me in a weapon they dropped.  And then someone else tried to save me from the hell goddess that was searching for me in other realms."  He burst out laughing.  "Beyond that?  I know exactly how to unravel humanity."  She smiled sweetly when he glared at her.  "I had no quarrel with you.  I had no idea you existed until I miscarried.  Twice so far."

"I'm told humans have ways to prevent that necessity," he said.

"And I have two spouses that think we've made plans so I can have a child.  Beyond my sister's children."

"Your sister," he said, grimacing.  "She gave up her spot."

"To go to Asgard with her husband and protect his people.  She died doing it."  He slumped.  "To be honest, I can undo this little whatever you put in me.  I'd have to rebuild the uterus again, it'd be the third time though so I'm getting a bit better at it."  He swallowed.  She stared at him.  "I want no quarrel with your people and I'll have no quarrel with your people.  I'm usually very polite to every single God or Goddess I run into, until they fuck with me."

"I do have a duty to humanity."

"And I don't?" she sneered.  "Really?"  He flinched.  She looked behind her and shot both of the knights.  She looked at him again.  "Resurrection is always wrong from what I was taught.  Even by Gods."  She smiled.  "I can have my mate sent for if you wanted to talk to him about why you think he's unworthy to help me have children who'll protect people in the future but frankly, I had enough of people trying to decide my reproductive choices for me already."  She stared at him.  "If you'd kindly remove it?"

"You're strong but I am a god."

"So?  Alexander's a better one.  His mate Phil's even stronger because he never went through the hell Xander did."

"Alexander?"

"Son of Loki?  Protector of Mankind?"

"I have not heard news in much time."  Dawn pulled him to New York and he shrieked, holding his ears.  "What is this?"

"The city that I help protect," she said simply.  "Not the largest in the modern world but fairly large.  In the top twenty certainly."  He glared at her.  She smiled.  "Welcome to the United States.  Loki's actually dating our president."

He turned to look at her.  "You allow that?" he demanded.

"I can't tell him who fucks him.  It's not my job.  The same as it's not anyone's job to tell me who to fuck or not fuck."  He flinched so she looked over her shoulder.  "Ares, get out of Natasha's form.  Before I stick you like that."  He laughed.  She pulled up more power and he flashed off then reappeared in his own form.  "Thank you!  I know you and Zeus used to get off on that but that's just disgusting.  Modern gods don't need that.  They get plenty without the subterfuge."

"Snotty bitch," Ares said smugly.

"Who has hind's blood found."  She grinned.  He flinched, backing away.  "Natasha gave me some for my birthday.  It was even freely given to her."

Ares grimaced.  "I see.  Where did she get it?"

"No idea."  She grinned.  "I love my very dangerous wife.  And very dangerous husband."  She made them appear so people quit staring at her like she was talking to herself.  She smiled at the other god.  "You can have him update you.  He's been around and all that."  Ares manifested a ball and held it out.  The other god touched it and absorbed it, shuddering in horror.  Dawn smiled.  "See, humanity has moved on."  Xander appeared, strolling over.  She felt Phil appear behind her.  "Down, boys."

"You pulled up power and hit one of the locks," Xander said with a grin.

"Yes, and if your dad ever tries to have my spouses killed again I'm going to hit the rest of them."  She grinned.  "Because I'll be damned and humanity can burn.  I can save the ones I like."

"You need laid, Dawn," Xander said.

"Yeah, but they're busy with important things, and as I found out this nice, old god decided I can't have kids.  So he did some sort of godly IUD thing."

Xander looked and nodded.  "I didn't feel that before but I can see it now that I'm looking for it.  You're lucky you didn't infect or die from it."  He snapped and it appeared in his hand.  It was a little three-triangle with chains design piece of bronze.  "Pretty work but against all the treaties."  Xander smiled at him.  "She is one of my protectors and Phil's heros.  Don't touch my people."

"You won't be backed up by your father.  He runs from fights."

"I don't need to be."  Xander smirked.  "My last redo, I was born on the Sunnydale hellmouth.  Yours can be just as sweet to me if I decide to talk to it nicely."  The god gasped and backed up.  "Yeah.  And the only one stopping me is Phil, my mate."  He pointed with a grin.  "And my family, which includes my acknowledged sister."  He pointed at Dawn. "And her family."  He grinned more brightly.  "Since we didn't know you were still around, we didn't tell you anything about the modern world."  He smacked him on the head, fixing what Ares had messed up on purpose.  "How's that?"

His eyes watered and he rubbed his forehead.  "Your world is doomed."

"All worlds are doomed sometime," Dawn said.  "The choice is to push it back as far as you can by fighting for it or not.  I choose to fight what battles I can.  If you don't, I'm sure you'll have fun hiding."  She looked at Phil.  "He insinuated that I'm immortal."

"I did not do any such thing," he admitted.  "I was thinking about asking Hera if she would allow me to."

Dawn looked up then at him.  "Clint just went on a swearing rant that nearly made him miss a target he was taking out."  Phil winced.  "Natasha has went strangely silent.  I think perhaps you ought to talk to them, Big Brother Phil."

"I was going to first," he promised.  He hugged her.  "Calm down."

"Fuck no.  I'm mad as hell that some jumped up excuse for an ancient being decided to make decisions about my life and body without even talking to me.  Fuck him and all his dead people in whatever hell they ended up in."  The other god shuddered.  Ares shuddered.  "I'll.  Be.  Damned."

"Good," Xander said.  "Then we agree."  He smiled at the other god.  The god backed up.  "Don't come near Dawn ever the hell again.  Or her family.  If you want my family, the ones above me on the chart, go for it.  Though my Uncle Thor is finding some happiness and working to protect this realm as I do."  He stared him down, still smiling.  "The rest can join you in your delusions."  He nodded, backing up again.  "You have a great day and remember to protect your hellmouth before it opens again."

"That's what woke me," he admitted.

"Wonderful.  I'm one of the ones that helped close it."  He felt someone pop in and lean on his shoulder.  "Hey, John."

"Xander."  He grinned.  "Baal-Peor," he greeted.  Ares glared at him.  "I had to learn every single other pantheon's people, Ares.  Of course I recognized him.  Though it's nice you're male today."  He smiled.  "Dawn is acknowledged of our family.  Both our families."

"Your mother will complain."

"We broke ties with our family over their high-handed problems."  John stared at him.  "Dawn is the hope of our family to give us great heros to train in the future."

"Nearly," she said quietly then sighed.  She blasted him across the street and into a street lamp.  "For making me go through that twice."

Ares blinked.  "I didn't realize your temper was that strong," he said.  She created a glowing ball he recognized so he disappeared before he got made pregnant again.  Once was enough.

Dawn let John steal it.  "So that's how you gave him Fiona."  He made it disappear.  "Don't do that to us."

She looked at him.  "Andrew and Jonathan got theirs to work."  She smiled.  "You have machines that would go nicely with it.  Why would I need to help you get pregnant?"

"Good point but I'm not going to.  Ever."  They looked at the aching god again.  "Even when your people were in charge of the region, you had no say over the Key, Baal-Peor.  She was not of your people, not protected by your people, nothing near your people.  Even the temples she was kept in weren't near your people."

"There was a kidnaping once that took me to that city in the cliffs in Jordan," Dawn offered.  "But they killed half of everyone getting me back."

"I kinda remember that from history class," Xander admitted, then shook his head quickly.

"Her blood can open portals," the other god sneered.

Dawn nodded.  "Which means that me not bleeding for eight months might be a great idea, huh?"  He gasped and looked at her.  "Not like I haven't had protections since my second period."  He backed away, shaking his head.  "Yeah, I have.  Really."  She grinned.  "Because Dawn's not stupid even if she didn't have a childhood of her own."

"If you put yourself down again I'm going to make you sorry in ways that will make Natasha beg for you to be finished off," Clint said, walking around Phil.

Dawn looked at him.  "You try that, and it's not something I enjoy, and your kids will be awfully spoiled without you."

He kissed her, making her moan.  "I like that you're mean enough to torture me, Dawn."  She smiled at him.  He looked at the god-being.  "You thought what?  That she'd just go 'okay' and let it go?"  He nodded slowly.  "No.  Dawn's more stubborn than any god out there."

"She's even more stubborn than Athena," John agreed.  "Twice now."

Dawn nodded.  "Yes, I am."  She felt a hand brush against her back and smiled at her wife.  "Though you may be more stubborn than I am."

"In the right circumstances, when it matters to our survival, I can be," she agreed.  She stared at the god and said something in one of the ancient languages she had been learning off Dawn.

Dawn looked at her.  "How filthy minded you are," she said, blushing some.  "Gee, dear."  Natasha took a kiss, making her moan and rest against her.

Baal-Peor looked at Xander.  "You accept such as your own family?"

Xander smiled and pulled Phil closer.  "This is my true mate, Phil.  Gaia had to push it but we've been *bound* for a while now."  The other god tested him and went pale.  "So, yes.  She's found her mates.  They're part of her body and soul.  If they make her unhappy I'll kill them but otherwise we'd only think dirty thoughts about their marital bed."

Natasha looked over.  "I can still emasculate you."

"I'm sure you can, Natasha, and you might even try to make me enjoy it, but I'm pretty sure Phil would help them regrow and then torture your ass."  He grinned.

"Can you two please quit kitty hissing at each other because people wanted you to knock up my wife, Xander?" Dawn asked.

"Fine."

"Fine," Natasha agreed, smiling at her.  "I would not have liked that."

"I'd be really jealous," Clint agreed.

Xander grinned at him.  "Not our idea."

"I remember."  They looked at that god.  "Did you find signs of immortality?"

"We have plans of starting our own version of Valhalla," Phil said.  "You'd be there and so would she."

Clint looked at her.  "Really?"  Phil nodded.  "Huh."  He wasn't going to get mushy.  He nearly hugged Phil for that sentimental thing.

"Does that mean we have to hang out with Tony forever?" Dawn asked.

Clint looked at her.  "He was making me mushy until you mentioned that."

"You'd be doing what Buffy and Hylal are doing to Valhalla," Xander quipped.  "Buffy told Frigga that if she didn't like her enjoying her warrior stud husband to send them both back to life.  She nearly won."

"They're still less loud than you guys," Phil assured Dawn, who was blushing again.

"I'm not sure about that.  They woke Odin up at two in the morning.  He was still drunk and they woke him up," Xander said.  "Even over his own drunken snoring."  Phil shuddered.  He had seen Thor in that state once.  "It went on long enough Odin actually went looking to see what the noise was that was shaking the hall.  He threatened Buffy with Hel, who showed up to tell Buffy she was a big fan of her slaying style.  And to please get happier.  Valhalla needed more happy people."  Phil laughed, shaking his head.  "Yeah.  So I'm not sure.  We might have to ask Bruce if loud is a Summers woman trait or not."

"Stark had to release some of the restrictions on her apartment's alarm due to Bruce getting upset a few times but I've never heard if it was because she was loud," Natasha admitted.

Tony cleared his throat from where he was watching to see if they needed help.  "No, they're not.  They're more cuddly than wild.  I'm hoping some day that Dawn wears out her loud times."

"It's not good if they're not loud," Clint said smugly.  "Or don't yours?"

"Jackass," he muttered.  "But yes, they do, thank you for asking.  And Coulson, hell no.  I'll ascend first, thanks."  He looked at the other god.  "Dawn, can't you just destroy him?"

"That's considered rude," Dawn said.

Tony blinked.  "Do I care if you're rude?"

"The higher ups would care if I'm rude," she said.  "And try to have Xander beat me to death or something."

"Beheading actually," Xander admitted.  "Though I'd refuse and tell them he deserved it."  He pulled his axe.  That god swallowed and shook his head.

"Dawn, until they pay your outrageous salary, it doesn't matter what they think," Tony said smugly.

Dawn looked at him.  "Then Hera can try to kill me.  I don't need more people trying to kill me, Tony, and I respect Lady Hera because she's helped me a lot and didn't even smite me when I fought back the last time."

He grimaced.  "Whatever.  Still, care more about my opinion."

"Of course I do."  She smiled at him.  "You like me to be happy anyway."

"I do, yeah."  He nodded.  "You're better to be around when you're happy."

"Most people are," Natasha said.  "If you understood more about people...."  Dawn elbowed her.  "Dawn," she chastised.

"Don't pick on Tony for being a geek.  It's not his fault his father didn't make him go out around regular people."

"Point," she admitted.  "He has adapted well to that flaw."  Tony smirked evilly at her.   "He's even worked on it a few times."

"Watch me withhold the update to your weapon," he told her.

Dawn smiled at him.  "That would mean I'd have to go with her on missions to make sure she's okay."  Clint and Natasha were shaking their heads, so was Phil.

Tony smirked at her.  "If they try to make you an agent again, I'm destroying them all.  Even the ones that're yours.  Remember, you're my assistant, not Phil's."

"I know.  He hates me shoe shopping.  I'd never put up with that in a boss."

Tony burst out cackling.  He hugged her.  "I love you like a warped little sister, Dawn.  I really do."

"Of course you do.  I'm loveable.  That's why when I finally get pregnant and Fury tries to send them on long term missions I'm going to make you have pregnancy cravings with me."  She grinned.

"Have Steve do it.  He had a cast-iron stomach.  I don't.  Pepper's hot food fascination nearly killed my stomach."  He let her go.  Clint stole her.  "I'd never take Dawn from you, Barton.  She'd bankrupt me with cute clothes."

"Hey!" Dawn complained.  "I only shop whenever I have to."

"Then why were you shopping earlier?" Tony asked smugly.

Dawn looked at him.  "I wasn't shopping for something to wear to work, boss.  Not unless we *really* change the corporate structure and methodology of how we make money."  Tony blushed and walked off shaking his head.  "But thanks for wondering," she quipped with a wave.  She looked at Phil, who shook his head.  "I got Xander stuff too."

"I'm sure you did," he agreed.  "Settle down and be bouncy when the crisis is over with?"

"Fine.  I'm wearing out stress.  Not like I can hit someone."

"No, you still throw a weak punch," Xander assured her.

"So?  I have other methods of making people beg for mercy," Dawn said dryly.

"Yes you do," Natasha said quietly.  "Being bouncy is one of them."  Dawn gave her a dirty look that showed she was not seeing whatever Dawn had bought for a few days.  Then again they were on a mission right now.  She looked at Xander.  "Can you defeat him on your own, Alexander?"

He snorted, looking at her.  "I can do that and open his hellmouth since they all *adore* me."  He grinned.

"So that's where she learned that particular grin," Clint said, shivering.  "Please don't."

"I'd never give myself that much extra work," he complained quietly.  He looked at the idiot, who was shaking enough to be seen as vibrating.  Xander smiled.  The god shook harder.  "Baby?"

"Xander, please don't call me pet names during problems?" Phil said politely.  "Junior agents are usually bullies and I don't want to have to kill them. It creates paperwork, which means I never get home."

"Fine, Agent Coulson," he teased with a smirk.  "What shall we do about this deplorable situation?"

"I believe we'll make peace as long as he's amenable and invite him to join in those boring dinners we hold now and then.  There's one next week."  Dawn looked over.  "Greek."

"I have a dress I can wear."

Xander looked at him.  "So, you want to be peaceful and quit pissing us off, right?  Is my mate right?"

"He is," he assured him.  "I would adore getting to know more of the modern gods."  Xander smiled and took him with him to Hera.  He blinked.  "Hera."

"Baal-Peor?"

"He didn't think that Dawn needed kids," Xander said.  "We've now made peace and he can come to some dinners."

"Yes, he's more than welcome," she assured him.  She smiled at Xander.  "Dawn will be attending with her spouses?"

"Unless they're on assignment.  At which case, you can't pull them or it can get them compromised or killed."

"Assignment?"

"They're spies and assassins, Lady Hera.  What John used to do for all of us."

"Oh!  I did not realize."  She considered that.  "I can make that note so we don't thoughtlessly pull them from their duties to protect humanity."  Xander grinned and disappeared.  She looked at him.  "That was very mean.  Dawn is a charming young woman, who can still destroy all of humanity.  She nearly destroyed Athena," she said with a smile.  "Want some tea?"

"I'd love some tea."  He took the cup she poured and added sugar to it.  He sipped and relaxed while they caught up.

***

Dawn looked behind her when someone showed up.  "Yes?" she asked.

"I can make sure you get pregnant quickly if you'd like," Loki offered.

Dawn stared at him then smirked.  "Loki, look at Clint.  Do you think I need help?  Hell, I nearly got pregnant just by staring at his pretty blue eyes and really hot muscles.  I don't need the help.  Thank you anyway."  She ran a hand up Clint's arm.  "All he has to do is flex and growl a bit."  She strolled off.  "Let me go check on the kids.  The twins have been very quiet all day."

Natasha looked at Clint.  "I thought it took more work."

He smirked evilly at her, his eyes twinkling behind his sunglasses.  "Of course it doesn't.  Others can say the same thing."  She glared.  He walked off happier.  It wasn't often he got one up on Natasha.  "I'm going to go growl in her ear for a few minutes."

"Fine, I will finish killing the assassins after her.  Then she'll be feeling most generous later."

Clint smirked back at her.  "I might share if you do."

"I may," she said, starting to smirk evilly herself.  "Perhaps.  If you're a good boy."

"I haven't been a *good* boy in *years*," he said smugly.  "You both appreciate that."

"Yes, I do," she agreed.  She strolled off, letting her hips swing a bit more than usual.  "Let me go kill assassins while you growl."  He followed, catching up to her.  "Not busy after all?"

"She'll be at work for an hour.  We can kill at least two more each by the time she gets off work."

"Hmm.  Yes, I can."  He laughed and they disappeared to finish taking out that bit of problems.

Phil shook his head.  "I do not want to know."  He looked at his father-in-law.  "Are you bored?"

"Quite.  Politicians are being berks again," he said dryly.

"Hey, go fuck 'em," Xander said.  "It'll win you favors, blackmail, and perks."

Loki looked at his son.  "I'm not that desperate, son.  I already have all those."  He smirked.

Phil looked at Xander.  "We really do have to talk about how we're having children beyond mine.  I'd love to see a tousle-haired, dark eyed little boy to overprotect my twins."

Xander smirked.  "Stark did have that vision of me somehow pregnant but I think I'd rather use a surrogate, Phil."

"Hmm.  Probably better.  I don't think I could handle your axe while you were on bedrest.  Even with the Ancient's machines it might take a bit of energy to do.  I'd hate to see you having to stay in bed all the time."  He smirked ever so slightly.

"That's a good point.  Though, Dad seemed to like it."  Loki was spluttering and choking.  He smiled at him.  "What if it's a daughter instead?"

"She'll be very strong and start a whole new line of fantastic warrior women who I might even teach to like doing paperwork for SHIELD."

"I might like that," Xander said.

"Hell.  No," Loki ordered.  He glared at his son-in-law.  "If you two should have children, my son is not carrying it."

"As the natural God, it'd be easier on me to do it," Xander quipped with a grin.  "It'd take Phil too much energy, Dad.  Plus the elemental form birth is supposed to be truly easy to do.  Just go to elemental form and let them fall out."  He shrugged.  "Sounds better than hours of labor."

"It certainly does, or the birthing video," Phil said dryly.

Loki glared at him.  "I should destroy you."

"Then I'd have to attack," Xander said sweetly.  "He is my mate, Father, and we are bound."

"It can be undone."  Xander shook his head.  "I know of ways."  Xander walked over and picked up his father's hand to put on his shoulder.  He tested and then gasped and backed away, glaring at Phil.  "How?"

"Accident," Phil admitted.  "We had no idea.  All we know is that it was nice when the accident happened.  Then someone kept ringing chimes."

Xander grinned and showed him something else.  Loki shuddered, shaking his head.  "He is so hot.  He even skin spoils me, Dad.  You should try it.  It's nearly indescribable."

Loki pulled free of his son's grasp.  He could feel the bonds now, almost see them.  He let himself see his son's aura and almost let out a whimper.  So that's what Hera had seen.  He licked his top lip.  "He'll still need to be the one who carries.  Your grandfather would not be pleased," he said quietly.

"Yay.  That's a really good reason actually."

Loki shook his head.  "Please don't, Son.  Your uncles will not be happy to watch such."

Xander shrugged.  "That's their problem and there still needs to be more grandchildren on Valhalla."

"Yes, there does, because you're slightly insane, Son."

"I'm the product of my parents," he quipped with a grin.  "Like acorns, Father.  But hey, I never had to use mead or any other liquor to get a bed partner."  He walked off to walk Phil off.  "Later, Pops."

"Son," he growled.  "That was uncalled for."

"You did get my mom into bed with mead, Dad.  You got your last wife into bed with wine."  He shrugged.  "Statement of fact.  I've never needed that."  He and Phil disappeared once they were in the shadows.

Loki glared at them.  "That is a low blow, son."  He disappeared, going to hide and sulk in their bedroom.  His mate was in there reading and let him seethe before kissing him and asking if he wanted to talk.  So he unloaded on him about his son's wrongness.

"You had a son that came out as a wolf, Loki.  Not like your kids are all that normal."  Loki scowled but settled in to rest.  He had to find his son a surrogate before he had to watch his son be pregnant.

He didn't really need grandchildren all that much.  Really.

His son was doing just fine adopting people into the family.

***

Pepper looked up as Dawn carried in her wanted soup and tea tray.  "What trashy thing did you buy on lunch?  The reporters watching the showdown nearly got giddy over the idea of you buying trashy things for Clint and Natasha.  A few had bursting ovaries and uteruses about him growling but they thought it was hot you bought trashy things for them to appreciate.  One even wondered if they cut them off you."  Dawn found her phone and the picture, showing it to her with a grin.  Pepper blinked and erased it.  "Sexting is so cheesy and teenager so you don't need to have that somewhere it can be hacked, Dawn."

"There's three worse ones but one Clint put on there."

Pepper looked and erased them too.

JARVIS popped into the conversation.  "I believe they've already been hacked and downloaded by one of the more...desperate scientists on the first floor of labs."

"The one with the shrine to me or robo-mutt's human?" Dawn asked.  Pepper gave her a curious look.  "Because I made his wicked ex run away before she could screw him in the divorce."

"Ah," she said, sipping her tea.  She checked the other files on Dawn's phone, earning a smirk.  "I'm curious.  You bring work around on this?"

She looked.  "Callia asked me to take a picture before she lost the drawing.  It was getting wet."

"Oh."  She kept going, finding a few more questionable things.  "You have contracts on here?"

"I do?"  She looked and shrugged.  "I didn't put that on there.  It's on my tablet, not my phone."

She frowned.  "JARVIS, who put them on there?"

"It came from Lab 7 by the upload location but it was at two in the morning so the boys weren't there."

"Are the roombas that sentient?" Dawn asked.

"No.  I'm looking over security footage.  Ah!  It was the first girlfriend.  She's been in touch with Warren."  They all sighed.  "I'll limit her access to things more strictly."

"Thank you," the ladies said.

"You're most welcome."

"We could let her go live with Warren," Dawn said.

"It'd be mean to the other two," Pepper said.

"We can give them a choice."

"I might think about that.  They can fuss over Warren."  She smirked evilly.  Dawn grinned back.  Warren hated to be fussed over.  His robotic girlfriends had missed him though.

"Anyway, I'm done for the day, boss."  She smiled.  "I'm going to go home to a lonely dinner while my spouses are off killing assassins in unusual ways."  She walked off, hugging the twins.  "Coming home tonight?"

"No," Diana said with a grin.  "Callia needs some help."

"Okay.  You guys know you only have to show up."  They nodded.  She kissed and hugged each of them.  "Behave and I'll see you in the morning."

"Yes, Auntie," they said together.  Dawn grinned before gathering her things and leaving.

***

"JARVIS, on the Tony Stark scale of evil, where is sending the robo girlfriends to Warren?" Pepper asked.

"I'd say nearly a seven, which tops the range," he admitted.  "Nearly up there with sending porn to that church minister he was in that feud with that time."

"I didn't hear about that," she admitted.  He told her the amusing story of the man who hated Tony for being born wealthy and turning to science of all things instead of becoming a doctor who worked with the poor.  So Tony fought back because the guy really annoyed him.  Tony was only seventeen, barely months before his parents died.  He had totally humiliated the guy using a hooker wielding a rubber chicken at one of his speeches.  The whole crowd got to see her and hear her ask which porn tape he wanted to replay tonight.

Pepper laughed so hard she had to move the soup and tea before she spilled it, and so she could run to the bathroom.  That sounded like a vindictive Stark to her.

***

Dawn got home with stuff for dinner and not much else.  She found Clint on the couch, stretched out along it but still sitting up in a towel.  He was still damp from his shower.  "So, just a little growl?" he teased with a slight grin.

"That's all you ever have to do," she promised, leaning down to kiss him.  "I got the stuff to make the sausage lasagna you like."

"What were you planning on making before?" he asked, grinning.

"Since I thought I'd be alone I was going to make sausage and pancakes."  She walked into the kitchen to put the perishables up, then came back.  "Who did dishes?  I know it was my turn but the water was off last night for some strange reason."

"Water line break up the street," Natasha said.  She smiled at her.  She was in her favorite silk robe and still had damp hair.  "Perhaps our cat turned into a maid for a few hours since they also vacuumed."  Dawn kissed her, earning a smile.  "You turn into a slob whenever we leave for a few days."

"If you told me you were on the way home I'd clean up before you get here," she quipped.  "Sorry, I usually don't care if the carpet gets vacuumed every three days or not.  Maybe every week but not twice a week or so."  She took another kiss and grinned.  "I think it's great that you're so much of a cleaning person, Nat.  It equals out all the macho points you keep stealing from Clint."  Clint snorted, shaking his head.  "She does try."

"She does and sometimes succeeds but I always gain more."  He motioned Dawn closer, getting his own kiss.  "We ordered."

"I love that."  She smiled.  "Ordering is great."  Clint was reaching behind her so she shifted for him.  He unzipped her skirt, letting her step out of it.  She took off her own shirt.  No hose today so just her bra and panties.  He ran a hand over her stomach then across her back.  "I planned on shaving later."

He pulled her down for a kiss.  "Hairy legs do not scare me.  Though, hairy armpits occasionally do with how often I end up sleeping curled around you."  She grinned at him, kissing him again before sitting on his lap.  "That's very nice."  Dawn winked.  "What did you buy today that you were going to tease us with?"

"It's in my purse."  She smirked evilly.  "Because I know you'd want to see it when you got home."  She got up and strolled over, grabbing it out of the messenger bag she took to work.  The tiny silver bag was from a very familiar store.  Clint stared at it, head tipping slightly to the side.  Dawn grinned and strolled to the bedroom.  Someone knocked so she came back to answer it, stunning the delivery guy from their usual Korean place.  "Thank you."  She paid him a tip and signed the slip.  He was still staring.  She smiled.  "Should see my bikini collection, dear."  He swallowed and nodded, running off.  She handed Nat the bag and took off her bra on the way to the bedroom.

"That was mean," Clint said.

"You like it when I'm slightly evil," Dawn shot back.

"Yes, we do," Natasha said, checking the order.  "They forgot the potstickers again."  She got up when someone else knocked, taking the bag.  "Thank you," she said with a smile.  He nodded and didn't look at her, almost bowing before running off again.  She closed the door.  "I think it's sweet he's scared of me."

"We like it when you're a naughty girl too, Nat," Clint teased, grinning at her.  Dawn came out in the purple lace, mid-thigh slip-looking nightgown.  He stared.  "That leaves absolutely nothing to my imagination yet I still adore it because it's creating shadows so I can't exactly see either."  He pulled her over to kiss her.  "I like that."

"I thought you might."  She turned to model it for him.  "I got one with shorty shorts in red silk too," she told him.

"Hmm.  That's sweet.  I want to see those tomorrow if we're here."  She took another kiss before grabbing the bag of food to dish up for them.  Clint shifted to get comfortable.  Dawn curled up against his side and they grinned at Natasha.

"I'd never get around to eating if I joined you," she quipped.  "Since I missed lunch I need the calories."  She dug into her pot stickers and vegetables.  Dawn and Clint shared because they liked the same things.  She had gotten the large size so they could share.  When they were done, Dawn got up to take the dishes into the kitchen, bending down at the waist to kiss her as she plucked her plate off her lap.

Clint looked.  "Stay, Dawn."  She looked back at him.  He stood up and let the towel fall on his way to tease her.  It proved he had on boxer briefs and nothing else.  Natasha took the dishes before they got broken.  Clint had Dawn brace on the chair so he could tease her.  The chair had a footstool he pushed over to sit on.  It was almost the perfect height.  He adjusted how he was sitting before leaning forward and licking her hard.  She moaned and spread her thighs for him.  He grinned.  He was so happy he had taught her to enjoy oral sex.  He was having fun, watching her knees start to go weak and her having to shift position slightly so she didn't land on top of his lap.  Her knees kept shaking until she finally whimpered.  He pulled back to lick his lips.  "I really like that nightie."  Dawn sat down on the chair, putting her legs around him.  "That's a dangerous position," he teased.

"No, dangerous position is the sling that Clay gave us for my birthday," she quipped.

"We have a what?" he asked.

Natasha laughed.  "I saw that.  It's in the office closet.  We don't have the hooks to put it up in the bedroom without using the ones holding the bed up."  She walked over to kiss Dawn then Clint.  "There's also a frame to hold it up now.  I thought it was a wonderful birthday present for us."

"Yeah, I can see that happening."  He got up to look, finding it all in a black nylon zip bag in the closet.  It looked like a tent bag.  That gave him definite dirty thoughts that he didn't want to have tonight.  Those, he'd work out a few times by himself until he decided how he wanted Natasha in it.  Dawn....  She'd love to watch Natasha in it.  He checked on her across the bond and winced.  Her leg was aching where she had the slight refracture.  He walked out and pulled her onto the couch, cuddling her once he got her out of the indecent nightgown.

He wanted to try something different, softer, this time.  She stroked over his hair and smiled but he was comfy on her breast and it gave her leg time to have a break.  Plus you could never get enough Dawn cuddles.  When Clint got finished with his cuddly moment she could tell.  The hand was wandering again and teasing.  Which she liked so that was good.  Dawn was shivering slightly as the hand wandered over her stomach and chest then up to the breast he wasn't laying on to tease it.  Dawn nicely shifted to give him better access for whatever he wanted to do.

"There's times I'd like to paint just so I can capture you like this," Clint said quietly.  Dawn blushed but smiled.  He looked up.  "That way even if I get another concussion I'll never forget how you looked when we're like this."  She sniffled and kissed him.  He pulled her down closer to him, cradling her bad leg.  It was going to be sweet.  Dawn was like putty under his hands, willing to let him do anything he wanted.  That bad leg got babied into a position around his hip, which nicely elevated it.  He went back to stroking, taking time to pay attention to the skin under his hand.

Soft skin, a few blemishes here and there but still very soft skin.  She needed a shower because it was slightly greasy but that was human skin at times.  He kissed where his hand was trailing, avoiding her nipples after a glancing kiss over the one he had teased.  Dawn was shivering under his casual, graceful, easy stroking.  Nothing was overtly sexual but Dawn hid her sensual side all too often, sometimes deeper than Natasha did since she had to pull it up for assignments at times.

He kissed her stomach and kept stroking, making Dawn hot just by touching her.  He moved up to kiss the underside of her breast, starting to stroke his hand around the outer curve of the one he wasn't resting on.  She shifted and he smiled.  He could tell she was getting needy.  He teased her cleavage with a fingertip then stroked up to her shoulder and down over her arm.

"Clint."

He smiled.  "Let me, Dawn."

"Okay."  She watched him watch his hand, watching it ruffle the hairs on her arm on the path back to her shoulder.  Her side was still ticklish but she only shifted away from his fingers when he hit that spot.  He kissed her cleavage dip again then stroked along the outer edge of that breast again.  That was nice and she was still shivery and getting needy from his careful attention.  He could map every inch of her skin and still find new things to appreciate, but he could tell her skin from anyone else's in the dark.  He finally cupped the outer side of her breast, gently using his thumb to stroke the bottom curve.  He shifted it closer to taste the tiny little nipple.  She gasped.

He smiled as he flicked it a few times then shifted to give her other side the same sort of attention.  He didn't pay as much attention to that side because they always ended up on the same end of the couch.  He got her up and shifted her then laid back down with her to pay it the same sort of attention.  The damp nipple was being teased by his hair.  He could feel it each time he shifted to kiss her skin.  She was nearly moaning, making breathy little pants.  He paid her other breast the same attention, making it a happy, upright nipple too.

He decided to flick it a few more times while his hand moved down to her hip.  She spread her legs out but he was going to stroke over her leg instead.  She moaned and shifted.  He put that leg gently on a pillow and got back to her skin.  Her thigh was a bit furry but he didn't mind if she didn't shave for a few days.  Most of the world didn't.  It didn't bother him.  Her thigh was a bit soft, she had been skipping her jogging again.  He stroked down to her knee, watching his hand.  Then back up to her hip then across her upper thigh to tease her sensitive spots on her inner thigh.

Dawn spread for him again and he leaned down to kiss her belly button.  He ran his fingers through her pubic hair, letting the loose hairs that had come off fall off on their own.  He combed down through it, letting his thumb graze the crease between her thigh and pubic mound.  She tried to spread out more.  "Not there yet," he said quietly.  She let out a tiny whine but he wanted her to think more of skin spoiling than sex.  He wanted her to arch into any touch he gave her and want anything, even the simplest things.

Which she usually did.  Dawn was starved for skin attention at times.  But now he wanted to make sure she understood that he liked all of her, even her funny looking little toe.  He shifted so he was laying on her stomach to tease her leg.  She shifted up for him, earning a smile since he wouldn't have to move.  He might still do that, move his head down to her pubic mound instead, but that might come later.  He teased her leg, then her ankle, using his index finger to tease the bones in it.  Then the top of her foot got stroked over.

Dawn pulled her foot away but he followed to tease the toes.  She let him since he wanted to, watching his fingers tease her newly painted toenails.  He kissed her stomach and moved up to kiss her, going back to her stomach. He liked her stomach.  It wasn't overly muscled, which he didn't like on women.  It made them look too hard to him.  He didn't want Dawn to look that hard.  Or Natasha.  Though she had some definition she still had padding.  He traced his path with his tongue, making Dawn gasp and arch up into his mouth.

He smiled into her flesh, teasing her a bit by dipping into her bellybutton. She shifted but he pulled her back into place, lapping up her stomach to her breasts to kiss them both.  Then her chin, her lips, the tip of her nose, and her forehead.  Dawn was staring at him.  He grinned and kissed her properly, letting her wrap herself around him.  He pulled back, dove in for a faster one, pulling back to tease her throat with his tongue.  She sometimes liked her ear played with but not always.  Only one side though.

Tonight she was gasping when his tongue tip hit that spot just below and behind her ear.  He sucked on it gently, letting his tongue flick it a few times before nibbling lightly.  He sucked on her earlobe, making her tip her head to the side.  He nibbled on the edge of it before moving back to her throat and jaw line.  She tipped her head back, giving him all the space he needed.  The sweat gathering on her throat was tasty.  He lapped at it until she had to get away from it.  Her collarbone got some nibbling attention as well, letting him trace the fragile bones there.

The dip next to her throat got explored, even though she winced a bit.  He bit down, earning a heady gasp.  He smirked a bit and teased the other side, doing the same thing.  Dawn was a warm, sensual mass in his hands. They were back to stroking the outer edges of her breast, thumbs teasing the underside of the curve.  Dawn did have a nice set of breasts.  Some women were very tiny.  She had some nice C cups and they were tasty.  He moved back to them again.

A tiny flick and a nibble for each side then he watched his hands work on them.  Dawn was making panting noises again.  He could tell she was getting closer to coming apart.  He looked up and sucked one side, the side he didn't usually get to when they were on the couch, into his mouth.  She came with a moan and an arch up.  He grinned.  That was a first but a great precedent to set.  He sucked harder on the other side.  Her lower half was trying to shift against him.

"Easy," he whispered into the warm flesh.  "I have you, Dawn.  I always have you."  He played all he wanted.  She wasn't usually that deep into nipple teasing but he liked how she tasted here too.  He was so hard but it wasn't time to give in to that urge yet.  Dawn was pushing against the thin cotton between them.  It was getting him hotter and hotter.  He switched sides again, teasing the other nipple while he stroked her stomach.  He suddenly pulled her hips against his and heard her moan and felt her clench down on it.  He bit the nipple he was tormenting, making her gasp and involuntarily arch against him again.  He tried the other side.  That got a loud moan but he wanted that body-rending feeling to stay.

He went back to the first side, watching how she reacted to each type of teasing touch he knew.  She had learned to love having her nipples played with but now he was showing her how much she liked it more than she thought.  She was writhing against him, trying to ride him, matching his sucking and teasing tongue flicks. He felt her shudder and come again, making him happy.  He got up to his knees, hands moving down her sides to her hips.

"Clint?" she begged, reaching for him.

"Right here, Dawn."  He kissed her, letting her show her lax desperateness.  Two was never enough for Dawn when she was needy.  He could show her how great it was and make her beg soon.  He loved her begging noises.  He leaned down to tease her throat, his hands teasing her breasts and nipples, alternating which side got that more forceful attention.  Dawn was gasping, clutching at Natasha's leg since it was near her head.  Clint smiled.  "Relax, let it happen."

"Need," she panted.

"I know."  He kissed her again, letting one hand drift down to her hip and then over to her pubic mound to cover it with his palm.  He gently stroked it with the heel of his hand, giving her gentle pressure, and she shrieked, arching up against him.  "This is for later."  He kissed her and the hand moved up to her stomach again.  Then around to her back.  Dawn was panting, trying so hard to get off again.  He'd let her sometime soon but it wasn't time yet.  He teased the parts of her back he could reach.  He even popped the zit he found and leaned down to kiss over it.  She started to shift.

"No, this is good."  He ran his hands up under her sides and then back down her arms to her hands.  He let their hands twine together for a minute, giving her a squeeze, before letting her go and going back to his teasing.  He found a spot he hadn't realized she liked right above her left wrist when he kissed it to follow his fingers.  She gasped and her back arched up.  He grinned, teasing it for a few more seconds before trying the other wrist.  Nothing there but she was still happy.

He leaned down to kiss her again.  Dawn was nearly there.  All he had to do was shift his body to feel how damp she was getting.  He let his hands drift down to her stomach again. Dawn pressed up into his touch.  "I like seeing you like this.  You look like a heavenly body."  He leaned down to kiss her again, letting one hand drift lower to cup her pubic mound in his hand.  His palm was centered just over her clit and a gentle bit of pressure was enough to make her sob as she came.  He kissed her, wiping the tears off.  "Hey, none of that."  He grinned.  She pulled him down to kiss her.  "Princess."

"Not," she said.

"You're *my* princess and everyone else can fuck the hell off."  He stared at her.  She smiled.  "I'm the only one that gets to call you that."  He kissed her again.  He felt Natasha moving.  "Where are you going?"

"I'll have her tomorrow.  Today is your two's time."  She smiled.  "As we needed a night together, so do you two."

Dawn pulled her down to kiss her.  "You don't have to."

Natasha grinned.  "You two need the time."

Clint sat up, kissing her.  "Sit and watch, Nat."

"I can do that."

Dawn pulled her closer to kiss her again.  "Touch yourself for us?"

"I have been."  Dawn moaned and tried to reach her so Natasha moved closer, letting her have a few licks.  "Share with him, Dawn."  Dawn moaned and kissed Clint, letting him take the taste from her.  Natasha sat down in the chair facing the couch, letting them have the time.  Clint was clearly ready to get beyond what they had been doing.  She got up and got a bootknife to cut the boxer briefs off him.  He grinned at her.  "They're in the way."

"They were."  He sat them up, pulling Dawn into his lap.  She gasped as he naturally slid into her.  "Tight, princess.  You're so close again," he said in her ear, making her nod and shiver.  "You didn't want me to find a condom, right?"

"No, skin.  I need skin."

That's just how he felt so it was perfect.  He helped her arrange her bad leg.  "Let me know if it gets painful."

"It's fine.  I can't feel it."

He kissed her.  "I can.  Maybe if we prop it up."

Dawn shook her head.  "It's fine, Clint, I can't feel it."

He made her look at him.  "I can.  We need to baby that."  Natasha got a pillow to prop both her feet up since she was wrapped around his body.  "That helps.  Thanks, Nat."  He pulled her down to kiss her.  "Let Dawn have another taste?"  She blushed but shifted her leg up onto the couch so Dawn could lick her clean.  "That's my girl," he said in Dawn's ear.  "Such a good girl."  Dawn pulled back to kiss him.  "Hmm."  Natasha sat down and spread out with a leg over the arm of the chair.  While they kissed, he was doing the same careful touching exploration of her back.  He found another zit and looked over her shoulder then at her.  "Sweat?"

"Hormones.  I get a few before my cycle."

"That's cool."  He kissed her again, letting the natural movements of him shifting to touch her rub her body.  She was clamped down tight on his cock but he was fine with it.  It wasn't time for more than this.  She was back to shivering and had her head on his shoulder, arms wrapped loosely around his chest.  She moaned and shifted when he found a tension knot.  "Why are you tense?"

"Position tension not stress tension," she murmured against his shoulder.

"I can cure that."  He used his fingertips to work on the small knot of muscle, easing the cramp and making her shift and moan again.  He grinned, shifting his hips some.  She kissed him.  "It'll be great when we get to that," he said in her ear.  She nodded, letting him do whatever he wanted while she enjoyed it.  He smiled.  She was so limp against him but he could feel where the tension was.  She was still needy, still wet, still gripping tightly around him.  Her body was enjoying both feelings.

He finally got his fill of her skin and pulled back to kiss her.  She moaned and shifted, pushing down against him.  He thrust up and she answered.  It was so slow that they had no problems from her lack of rhythm.  He opened their bond as wide as it could be, letting them sink into each other's minds, almost becoming one.  He knew what she needed.  She knew what he wanted and she was more than happy to let him do whatever he wanted.

The gentle thrusting seemed to take hours, just one every now and then while they kissed and touched.  Though, each one was getting Dawn closer and closer to the edge of losing her mind.  He could feel the sparks of her orgasm building, leading to a mind clearing, shattering, reforming moment.  He made sure she made it there, inhaling her panted breaths, giving her what she really needed to reach that state he hadn't gotten to bring her to before.

"Love you," he whispered in her ear as she came apart, making her shake and sob against his shoulder.  He calmed her down, stroking her back.  Natasha smiled and got up to get them a washcloth.  He held her, letting her calm down.  "Those are so rare," he whispered in her ear.  "So special."  She pulled back to look at him.  He brushed the new tear tracks off, taking the cloth to wipe them clean.  He smiled.  "They're very special."

"I've only had one of those," Natasha admitted from her chair.  "With my first husband."

Clint nodded, kissing Dawn again.  He put the cloth aside and cuddled her.  She was still needy, he grinned because Dawn was the center of their shared world.  She drew him and Nat closer and made him lose his mind.  He shifted and she moaned.  "Not yet."

She looked up at him.  "You need some."

"I have what I need.  I'll get to my other needs later."

"They say more than four hours is dangerous," she teased with a grin.

"Maybe but I do like dangerous things.  Look at my women.  You're both very dangerous in many special ways."  Dawn blushed.  He smiled and kissed her.  She adjusted her legs.  He helped.  "Better?"  She nodded.  "Good."  He pushed up and wound his hands into her hair, pulling her in for a deeper kiss.  She was greedy and inhaled his soul it felt like.  He moaned and let her lead for now.  She wasn't pushing anything but she was definitely ramping it up from the sensual to the sexy with the sensual since she was doing the same sort of stroking he had done to her.

He liked that.  She was moaning into his mouth and he desperately wanted more.  It was enough to hold her but his cock was starting to take over and it wanted more.  He laid her back onto her back, leaning down to keep kissing her, hands braced around her head as he thrust slowly.  She whimpered, shifting her legs out for him.  "You're good," he said between kisses.  "Just like this, Dawn."  She nodded, letting him lead again.  She was still stroking him and it was hot.  Her fingertips were creating a path of fire over his skin.  Every touch was making him hotter and hotter.  He was about to go primal on her.  He was holding back.

"I can take primal you," she whispered.

"Not injured, princess."

She smiled.  "You let me worry about my leg.  It's not my knee or ankle, nothing bendable."  She pulled up some power and he felt her doing it, helping by opening to her again.  She put it toward cushioning her leg.  He grinned since she didn't try to fix the 'defect' as she usually called all injuries.  He was going to get to baby her some more, which he wanted to do.  He kissed her, letting their merged minds go.  He was slowly heading back to primal mode and it was scaring him a bit.  She was back to stroking over his arms and shoulders, then down his sides to his hips and butt.

She scratched gently over his hips and he almost flinched but the primal being inside him surged up to take control.  Dawn was his and she was going to know it.  He slowly pulled back then pushed in harder, building up to where he was riding her so hard it was moving the couch.  The cat fled from his spot on the back to the other human that would protect him.

Clint was lost in the sensation, the warmth, the heat, the fire of the growling going on. This was his woman and he was claiming her.  She let out a slight noise and he silenced it with a new kiss.  She scratched his shoulders; it only made him hotter. He pushed in harder, shifting her legs up around him.  His hands trailed back up to her wrists, holding her hands in place with his, bracing on them.  She winced a bit but he didn't realize it.  He was lost and it was like a forest fire under his skin.  He tried nipping her but she ducked her head and kissed him.

He growled and she shifted around him.  He did get to subtly bite on her shoulder but she winced so he did it a bit lower, on the fleshy slope down to her breast.  She didn't fight against that one so he sucked on it.  She screamed and arched up against him.  He slammed into her over and over, growling in her ear, making her curl up against him.  He finally came with a shout, lifting his head up.  She pulled his head down to kiss him, sucking in the last of the growls, letting his mind calm back down.  He pulled back to pant, staring down at her.  "Dawn?"

"Here."  She stroked over his cheek.

"Did I hurt you?"

She smiled.  "Nothing that I'll ever complain over."  He stared at her then looked at her wrist, kissing them both because he could see fingermarks. He started to pull back but she pulled him down against her, holding him.  "Primal you is really more alpha male than I knew," she whispered.  "But he was good to me."

He looked up from her chest.  "You're really okay?"

"I could use some babying of my sore pussy.  You were a bit hard and you were in me all night."  He grinned, running a hand up her side.  She shifted.  "Clint, if you start me off again, one of us is going to die in bed tonight."

"No we won't.  You'd save me.  I'd save you.  And if we had, Nat would save us both."  She nodded, pushing into his hand.  He kissed her.  The stroking was calming them both down.  They were both right on the edge of needing it again and she was right, one of them would end up injured or at least with a thrown back.  She flipped them over, wincing a bit as her leg shifted.  He helped her get it comfortable.  She sat down on his slightly hard cock, reaching down to put it back in her.  She shifted and started off slowly, tracking her hands stroking over his chest.  He held her hands.  "You sure?"

She leaned down to kiss him.  "I'm feeling greedy.  Primal you is hot but now I want all of Clint, together.  Primal and modern guy Clint both."  He groaned, pulling her hips harder against his so he could kiss her.  "Primal you needs to try oral sex sometime in the near future," she whispered in his ear, making him shiver and that was enough to get him hard.  "The growls are sexy as hell, Clint."  She arched up and moaned when he thrust up.  He knew all her sweet spots and he had just hit the sweetest of them all.  She might be on top but he was in charge again and it was going to make her scream and lose her mind soon.  She was bouncing on him he was thrusting up so hard.  "Oh!" she squealed, then started to move.  "Going to my knees," she panted when he stopped her.

"No you're not.  I want you here."  He pushed up.  "You can go on your knees when your leg is better."  He flipped them so she was against the back of the couch.  It gave him very little room but enough for leverage and she was pinned so he could touch her while he rode her dirty and hard.  Her breasts were now targets for his lips and teeth and tongue.  That small hickey was beautiful but he wasn't going to make it bigger.  That was primal him's mark and now he was going to mark her as modern, more thinking Clint.

He pulled her hips around him hard and she shrieked, head starting to thrash.  He kept going, making a mark on her skin below her ear.  The couch thumped and moved again as he did his worst to make her come as hard as he needed to.  His mind was about to rip itself apart.  Dawn's mind was in the same state, chaos swirling toward a drain.  When all the pretty lights cleared he realized he had come so hard his cock hurt.  They were both panting.  Dawn was gulping air.  He kissed her deeply, making her control it.  She pulled back to pant, then kissed him again once she got some air.  He wrapped himself around her.  She was wrapped around his hips.  "Dawn."

"Clint."  He kissed her again.  She smiled.  "Wow."

He grinned.  "Very."  He nuzzled her throat with his lips.  He was falling asleep.  Dawn was nearly asleep.  They could ignore the extra magic floating around, creating colored spots in the air that the cat was jumping to play with.

Natasha smiled, getting a sheet to cover them so they didn't get cold from the drying sweat.  She wiped off a cheek subtly and got the cat some tuna so he was going to have a happy night too.  Dawn made moaning and reaching noises when she tried to leave the living room.  She smiled and kissed her on the head.  "I'm starting a bath for you both," she said quietly into her hair.  Dawn relaxed and went to sleep again.  It was special that Dawn had realized she was moving.  She could even put up with both of them snoring for a bit.  Natasha cleaned herself up.  She hadn't had to do much to join them.  The bond sang with the power and the lust.  It had brought her along with it.  It had been incredibly special to see.  Someday she'd let them into her defenses deeply enough to have that.

***

Dawn walked in the next morning, looking tired.  Well, limped.  She was a bit sore.  Tony met her at her desk since he was looking over what was waiting on them.  She sat down and winced.  He stared at her.  "Should I have a talk with one of them?" he asked quietly.

"You do and I'll gut your ass like you're a new toy for Spike," she hissed back.

He grinned.  "So I take it they were great to you again last night?"

She looked up at him.  "Have you ever had it so good that it redefined what religious meant to you?"

He considered it then slowly shook his head.  "Good, mind breaking, life shattering, but not quite there."

"We went past all those," she admitted.  "Gods, Tony."

He patted her on the shoulder.  "Cover the hickey?"

She looked at her chest then at him, shaking her head.  "Nope.  Clint put it there while he went primal, it's staying."

"Primal."

Dawn grinned a sappy grin.  "Yeah.  And then it got even better."

Tony shivered.  "Wow.  I...."  He swallowed.  "Good thing you three are already married," he quipped weakly.

"If we weren't, we'd be doing it soon. I'd be ring shopping today."  He patted her again and walked off.  "Can you tell the labs I can't make coffee today?  I restrained my leg last night."

"Sure, I can do that."  He grinned and went to talk to Pepper.  She was sniffling.  "Saw?"

"Yeah."  She hugged him.  "They're so great together.  Even if Clint did put a hickey on her."

He smiled.  "I...."

She kissed him.  "Not everyone's meant to have someone that deep in their soul, Tony.  It would definitely pull you out of the lab.  You get that from science."

He nodded, resting against her.  "I guess I do."  Callia ran in and pounced.  "Easy, kiddo."

"Liz is trying to eat crayons."

"Liz, come see Mommy," Pepper called.  Her daughter crawled in and beamed at them, getting help from Tony to crawl up onto the bed.  "Thank you, daughter."  She stroked over her fine, wispy red hair.  "We love you both."

"Of course you do.  I'm just like daddy only a girl and you gave birth to Liz.  You have to love us," she said with a happy grin.

"I do, yup."  She hugged them both.  "We have to do an ultrasound soon to start the name list Callia's going to give me the report on."

"I've got ten on each side," she said.  "I'm waiting to see too."

"We can go for one," Tony promised.  "You should be able to tell now, or really soon."  Pepper smiled and nodded.  "I'll see if Doc's busy."  He sent an email to her, getting a 'we're handling a few broken fingers but give her an hour'.  "I wonder who did what now."

"The guys in Shield Design were mean to the geeks in Astrophysics again," Callia said.  "They got into a fight.  Astrophysics beat their butts good though and the head bully in Shield Design got slammed into the elevator a few times."

"Why?" Pepper asked.

"For the same reason they sneer at me for being little," she said dryly.  "They're bullies."  She shrugged.  "Apparently their parents never taught them the right things because they're stupid at it too.  One was so stupid he hit on Artemis and tried to grab a kiss until she nearly stabbed him in the boy parts."

"Which one did that?" Tony asked.  She blinked at him.  "JARVIS, which idiot in Shield Design tried to molest Artemis?"

"Dr. Cole, sir.  He's in their backup group and was trying to gain future status so they'd quit treating him like their dog."

"Huh," he said.  "I want to talk to him.  Is he here today?"

"Yes, sir.  Watching the girls in sparring practice."

"Oops, I'm missing it," Callia said, giving hugs and kisses before running off.

"Let me go help," Tony said, taking a kiss from Pepper and a slobbered one from Liz.  He smiled at her.  "We'll work on that.  Some day you'll find a bad boy of science of your own."  He winked and got up, heading down to the gym.  The whole of Shield Design was in the gym working on testing their current design with a soccer ball cannon.  They were watching the girls work out and Tony could appreciate the sight but no.  Not those two.  He walked over to them, blatantly blocking the view they had.  One sneered at him.  Tony smirked evilly back.  "I think you're in the wrong place.  The same as I think Cole just lost his job."

"We do a lot of good work for you, Stark."

"Yeah, and then you tried to bully my daughter and he tried to rape her sister.  So, no."  The head of the bully team tried to attack Tony, who had learned a lot of things sparring with Steve and Natasha.  He had him on his back begging for mercy in about six minutes.  He stared down at him.  "There is only one alpha in this company."

"Pepper?" the guy sneered.

"She is the alpha bitch," he agreed happily.  "But no, I head this pack."  The guy got taken from him by Natasha.  "I was having fun, Romanoff."

"Pity."  She slammed him into a wall, walking closer.  "You did what to my niece?"

"Auntie, I handled it," Artemis called.

"That is not the point," Tony told her, looking at them.  "They know better than to try to force their attention on *anyone*, much less someone as underage like you two are.  Asgard might not mind a bit of forceful coercion but down here we throw their ass in jail for it."  Diana shuddered, hugging her twin.  "Did he do more than threaten you, scare you?  Did he touch you?"

"No," she said.  "I was stopped by him.  He tried to tell me I needed a scientist like him so I pulled my dagger and I was going to prove to him he's not near the man he thinks he is."

Natasha smiled at her.  "We will work on your knife work, girls.  I am very good at them myself.  I helped teach your aunt them."  They grinned.  "If he laid a hand on you, in any manner, he is going to die for that.  He knows better."  She looked at him.  He tried to stomp off but Dawn hit him and moved to destroy him.  "Dawn, it's my turn and you need to sit down.  You're still sore."

Dawn flipped her hair back.  "You can have him when I've made him a greasy spot for *daring* to come near the girls.  Because, Cole, you're next."  She looked at him.  "For Artemis and how you tried to flirt with Callia."  He shook his head violently.  "JARVIS, please show Tony what you showed me."  She slugged the head bully again, knocking him out.  Natasha helped her, earning a smile and a kiss.  "You can have the rest."

"I can do so and dispose of this trash properly."  Dawn grinned, heading for Cole.

Tony canceled the video and turned to beat the shit out of him.  Cole wasn't very good at anything.  It didn't take more than a few hits.  "Dawn, when did we find this out?"

"Two minutes before I got in here, boss.  Callia admitted that Cole had tried to talk to her a few times to Pepper when she asked.  Pepper called me about it.  JARVIS showed me about thirty seconds of it and I lost my temper."

"That's about when I did too."  He wiped off his knuckles.  "Security."  They quit hovering in the doorway.  "Help Agent Romanoff dispose of this trash."  They nodded, helping by dragging them for her.  He looked at the girls.  "Let's go talk about that stuff with Pepper, girls.  Standards for boys are a bit different down here.  Down here, if they touch you or try to force you, or even talk you into it, they're a problem that needs solved."  Diana nodded, walking off with Artemis.

"I didn't know you could fight," Artemis told him.

He smiled.  "I can, somewhat.  I'm not great like Steve is or Natasha is, but I do know how to.  I made sure I could fight back better after I got kidnaped this last time."  He put a hand on their backs.  "C'mon, Pepper loves girl talks.  She gave Dawn all hers."  They grinned, going up to Pepper's apartment.

Dawn looked at the others in the gym.  "Any others we should be aware of?" she asked.

"Gregory in maintenance," one said quietly.  "No woman in the building wants to be around him and we're not sure why, Dawn."

She nodded, limping off.  "I'll check on him, see what's going on.  Tell.  Us."  They all nodded.  "And make sure everyone in the building hears today since I'm limping too much to do rounds."  They nodded again and let her go.  Once in the elevator.  "JARVIS?  That one?"  He scanned video files past her quickly until she paused one.  She watched him stare.  "He's a staring perv.  Great!  Any near the twins or the babies?"

"No, he avoids them," the AI said.  "From the way he acts I believe he may be scared of what happens if he starts to stare at someone that pretty or that underage."  She walked off the elevator into Fury's huffy back.  "I'll scan the rest for anything questionable."

"Thank you."  She looked at Fury then at Maria.  "We just found out someone in Shield Design tried to get pushy with Artemis.  They're all having a girl talk.  Especially since that same person tried to hit on Callia."  Maria shuddered.  "Yeah, he's in a mess.  Natasha's taking out the garbage for us."  She grinned as she sat down.  "Fury, it's going to be a bit.  Why don't you go get coffee or something?"

"I can do that.  I came by to see when we can get that system set up in our building."

"I can send them an email."  She did that.  She got one back fairly quickly.  "Andrew said that the new deck and screen system is currently being put together.  It should be three weeks, as long as nothing huge happened."  Her phone beeped.  She looked at it.  "Shit, he's stupid.  Same guy tried to hit on Patty.  She never told Jonathan."  She sent her back one.  She said she was fine but she didn't want to incite evil plans.  She sent back a response and made sure she knew she was to fill out a complaint form and hand it to her.  She'd handle any evil plans that got started.  She looked up once her phone was back in the holster.  She smiled at Fury.  "Three weeks."

"Why were they picking on the girls?" Maria asked.

"The head guy up there was a bully," Dawn said.  "He gathered and hired himself a pack. The one that tried Artemis and Callia was a junior member of the pack and wanted status."

"So he was going to do something disgusting to gain favor, which probably would've gotten him pulled apart by the pack anyway," Maria finished.  Dawn smiled and nodded.  "Let me know if you need my sidearm to kill him."

"Tony beat his ass.  I got the head guy after Tony knocked him down.  In front of their whole pack since they were watching the twins have self defense lessons."

Fury shuddered.  "Romanoff has them you said?"  Dawn grinned and nodded.  "She'll show some mercy and end them sometime today."  He walked off.  "I'm going to get coffee.  Tell Stark to text me when he has a few minutes.  He has information we need."

"On which one?" Dawn asked.  "The thing with Ten Rings?  The thing with the guy who tried industrial espionage?  The one that got caught trying to break into the safe?"  Fury stopped to look at her.  She smiled.  "Which information did you need, Director?"

"All of the above."

She dug out a few files and printed them for him with a smile.  "Here you go."

"Thank you."  He looked them over.  "Where's the spy?"

"Um...."  She looked at something on her phone.  "He's still in Security's closet waiting on the FBI, who now hate us."  She smiled.  "He's not really going to get free since he's stripped naked to make sure he didn't have anything hidden on him.  We gave him a jumpsuit but he's not wearing it."

Fury nodded.  "Hill."

"On it, sir."  She went to gather the idiot and talk to him about what he was supposed to be getting.  The guy tried to rush her but her gun in his chest changed his mind.  She smiled.  "SHIELD wants to talk to you about what you wanted from this company."

He swallowed, shaking his head.  "I...."

"Don't try."

"They let agents get pregnant?" he asked, trying to go for casual.

"Yes, we need future ones."  He slumped down.  She looked behind her.  "Agent Barton, I can handle this."

"I know."  He handed her something.  "We picked this up for you two."

"Thank you."  She looked inside the unsealed envelope then smirked at him.  "It will come in very handy."

"We figured it would.  Let me check on Dawn then see if Agent Romanoff needs help."  He strolled off.  The guy tried to rush Maria again once he was out of the way so he shot him in the hip.  Just where the hip meets the leg joint.  He'd be limping for months in prison.  He looked at the crying man.  "Most spies are much better than that.  We don't cry like toddlers with scraped knees."

"I want to know who told my son he shouldn't," Maria told him.

"I'm pretty sure Callia picked that up from watching Dawn and Tony ignore injuries," he said dryly.  "Which annoys us to no end," he finished in a mutter.  She smiled.  He went back to the elevators, humming slightly.  Dawn was at her desk, with her leg propped up.  He smiled and kissed her.  "Thank you for taking care of it."  He squatted down to check it.  "I don't think it's more than strained."

"It is but it's fine."  She took another kiss.  "Thank you for babying me."

"You're very welcome."  He winked and got up.  "Let me help Natasha."

"Go calm down Jonathan?"

"I can do that first."  He went down to lab 7, walking in and pulling Patty off her ranting kick by picking her up and moving her to a corner.  "No yelling."  She stared at him, mouth slightly open.  "Dawn's not walking real well today thanks to her leg being strained some more last night."

Andrew opened a drawer, frowning.  "Jonho, did you move my taser?"

"Can it, 'Drew," he ordered, staring at him.  "It was special and her leg was propped up for most of it.  Not even Xander's that overprotective."  He grimaced but nodded.  He looked at Patty.  "You good?"

"I'm fine!  He doesn't believe that!"

"Patty, if someone had dared to lay a hand on Dawn while trying to proposition her, I would've expected her to break it or let me break it off for them."  She gaped.  He nodded.  "That's what guys do.  It's a biological imperative to beat the shit out of whoever touches what's ours.  You're his.  Of course he wants to beat them to death, even if he has to pull out the battle armor."

She sat down, pouting at her boyfriend.  "I can handle it."

"You shouldn't have to," he said firmly.  Clint nudged him, giving him a pointed look.  "If Tony and Dawn hadn't kicked their asses I would be."

"I know.  I'm very certain you can both do it if you want to."  Andrew smiled and nodded, getting swatted by MB for it.   "Just wait.  'Drew will start to growl possessively about your stomach soon, MB."

"Already got that," she admitted.  Andrew grinned at her.  She kissed him.  "Calm down.  No evil needed.  No battle armor."

"Natasha won't leave any of us any," Clint reminded him.  "Not even me and I'd like some of Cole for trying the twins and Callia."

"He tried what?" Jonathan demanded, glaring at him.  "How dare he touch the baby!"

Patty cleared her throat.  "Jonathan, dear, I know you see Callia as a future techno goddess and all that....."  He kissed her.  She moaned and pulled back to look at her.  "I know.  She's the peak to aspire to.  Some day she can date our kids.  Okay?"  He grinned and nodded.

"Is that going to happen soon?" Clint asked.  "Callia would love to have more playmates for Liz."

Patty blushed, ducking her head.  "It might be."

"What?" Jonathan asked, blinking at her.  "We made a baby?  Really?  We only had sex twice!"

"It only takes once," Clint said dryly.  "Calm down, Jonathan."

"I had to go let it out on Rodney," Andrew said, grinning at his best friend.  "You should too."  He nodded, hugging her and taking her with him to Atlantis to talk to Rodney.

Clint looked at him.  "Let us handle them."

"Fine.  If we must.  Though, it's a moot point.  Someone in virology was being picked on too and they might have something by now."  Clint winced, calling that to Natasha, who got them into quarantine.  They were in really bad shape but she wanted to make sure they didn't give anyone anything on the way to their graves.  Clint nodded his thanks and walked off.  Andrew looked at MB.  "I should still have Roomba shoot him for making Dawn sore again.  Then she could baby him."

"Dear, I'm pretty sure Dawn's babied him a few times.  He has that bad side effect of his job."  Andrew nodded that was true and kissed her.  She smiled.  "Mushy," she teased.  "Let's clean up the mess."  They cleaned up the mess from Patty throwing a fit at Jonathan about him trying to go alpha male on her.  She had even thrown Roomba 2 at him for it.

***

Rodney and John looked over from watching Ronon and Sean spar from a shady bench when Jonathan and Patty appeared.  "Good morning," John said with a grin.

Jonathan led Patty over and looked at Rodney.  "I forgot a prime rule."

"Which one?"  He sipped his coffee.

"Birth control," Patty said dryly.  "I thought I was on the pill but I think I may have been on my spacer ones."

John looked at Jonathan then at Rodney.  "At least you won't have to sedate him like you did Andrew."

"They're still being paid back for knocking me out," he assured him smugly.  He looked at Jonathan.  "Go ahead and get it out."  He nodded, starting to babble about possibilities and probabilities of birth defects and how they did dangerous things.

John cleared his throat.  "Patty, the only way to make him quit thinking those worrisome things is to kiss him stupid and pounce him to celebrate the baby."  She did that and Jonathan moaned, clutching her against his chest.  John grinned.  "Now, when and how are you two getting hitched?"

"My mother will kill us both if we don't tell her and let her attend," Patty admitted.

"We have that scientific award banquet in Las Vegas in two weeks," he said with a grin.  She was nominated for something.  She beamed and nodded, calling her mother while he held her.  "Andrew was that bad?"

"He was babbling so hard it made all the soldiers who saw worry about geeks having babies," John quipped.  "Congrats, kids."  They smiled.  "Rodney, go talk to them about pregnancy things."

"I wouldn't know anything about it.  Not like I've had one," he said dryly.

"If that should change, you're a dead geek," one of the soldiers called.  "Because you'd blow us up during a mood swing.  Probably with something atomic."

Rodney cackled.  "Yes, I might at that.  I am that capable but I'd never tinker with fissionables while I was pregnant.  Who knows what sort of mutation would occur."

Patty was already shaking her head before her boyfriend could look at her.  "We're not having any member of any X-team that's ever been noted," she said firmly.  "With our luck, it'd be one of the evil ones with mind control and MB would have to have Dawn help her take it out because it was warping you and Andrew back to the wrong side, dear."  She kissed him and smiled.  "Callia can help you pick out names you want to suggest since she's helping Pepper that way."

"I love that you understand me," he said, kissing her hard and fast.

"Guys, quit being mushy before you infect McKay and he finds the five ancient mpreg machines," John said dryly, getting hit by Rodney for it.  "You need to work on that.  You're turning back into a weak geek again."  He got hit harder this time.  "Sean, come get Rodney to spar with him.  He's losing strength."

"I'm not going to get pregnant if I do, right?"  Ronon gave him a funny look.  "Mom said that she only had to look at pictures of how cute she was when she was pregnant with me to get pregnant with the twins," he complained.  "I asked why she had them one day when the twins were annoying me to death."

"Some things are universal.  I felt that way about my sister a few times as well."  He patted him on the back.  "Around here, you getting pregnant would take a machine and a mean scientist or a god."

"You know, they still want to make Rodney my mate, which would mean he'd ascend," John quipped with an evil grin for the kids.

Jonathan swallowed.  "Does that mean he'd have to share duties with Diama?" he said in awe.

John considered that.  "Well, she's only the Goddess of Engineers in the Greek, and therefore the Roman, pantheons.  So they could split off some of hers or he could take the position in one of the other ones.  Including my mom's people.  Unless they want Mari to take that spot."

"I'm going to kill you in a manner that makes everyone beg me for mercy if you give anyone ideas," Rodney assured him.  "Even if I was fucking you that wouldn't be an appropriate idea to think about around me or about me in case someone got ideas."

John grinned.  "My mate will have to be immortal at the very least.  Otherwise I'd end up lonely for a long time after they died.  And I do have that golden apple," he said dryly, smiling at Sean, who was giggling.

Jonathan shook his head quickly.  "I'd never put up with that either.  There's a comfort knowing that you don't have to watch everyone you've ever loved die unless the Fates are really mean to you."  He looked at his future wife, who smiled and kissed him.  "I had better go first."

"Phil said he would kill you if you ever took the battle suits out again and it wasn't an emergency," she offered.

"I might have to if it looks like you'll go first."  He hugged her.  "I couldn't take that."

"I know, dear.  We'd never leave you alone again."  He nodded, snuggling into her shoulder.  "My mom's not really happy for us but she'll be there."  He grinned shyly at her and she gave him a squeeze.  "You giving me that grin is why we're in this situation, dear.  Stop it unless you want to do that growling thing Clint talked about here on the deck."

"Welllllll........."

"No," John and Rodney ordered.  The got sent back to Stark and their rooms.  They weren't going to get much done today.

John and Rodney shared a look and shook their heads.  "Ronon, please help him," John said, walking off to bang his head on a wall.

"Hey!" Rodney complained.  Sean bounded over to haul him up and out to where they were working out together.  "I'm doing just fine and it's very bright today."

"Shut up," Ronon said, giving him a shove.  "You do need sparring time.  You hit worse than Callia does."  Rodney glared so he smirked back.  "We have to correct that before someone decides you're easy prey."  Daima appeared with a giggle and hugged them then wandered off patting and babbling at the city.  Ronon stopped him.  "Radek can help her today."  He gave him a shove and got to work on his hitting inability.

Cupid appeared an hour later with a sigh.  "Where's the freaky little brat this time?" he asked, sounding tired.

"She's a perfectly lovely little girl," Rodney said firmly, glaring at him.  "Just like the rest of us, she's very smart and competent without worrying about trivial things like *fashion*," he said smartly.  "If love gods don't care for technology that much then perhaps they should quit accepting prayers form people looking at porn over the internet."

Cupid stared at him.  "You're an asshole."

Rodney smirked.  "Yes, I am, and correct as well."  He walked off.  "Beyond that, Diama's with Radek learning about ZPM's."

"Not her!  Fiona!"  He grimaced.  "Diama's freaky in other ways."

"Then again, you should quit accepting prayers from people who are using our technology to get laid," Rodney shot back, staring him down.  "Because I'm fairly certain most of the prayers to you these days are people who are only having their hands and chat room sex."  He walked off again.  "Fiona's in Botany.  They said they were teaching her the various flowers they found in Pegasus that liked to eat people."

Cupid frowned, looking confused.  "He still needs laid."

Ronon shrugged.  "We still have the pool Xander created but no one touches it because they're military."

"Militaries run on sex, dude," Cupid told him.

"Not the US one," he said.  "They like to deny that urge."

Cupid shook his head.  "No wonder they conquered things, they're *frustrated*."  He disappeared, finding Fiona petting a plant that hard sharp teeth and drool.  "Fiona, Pops wants you home."

She smiled at him and shook her head.  "He's a shithead."

"Language," he said, glaring at her.

She grinned and shrugged.  "Still true."  She went back to playing with her new friend.

"That's not really a rose," Cupid said.

"A rose by any other name," she quipped back.

"Fuck," Cupid muttered.  "I tell you what, go find Diama and we'll go hang out at the Botanical Gardens place in DC," he offered with a grin.

She smirked meanly.  "I was already there helping them plant and fertilize.  My high priestess works there.  She's very good with flowers."  She went back to her plant spoiling.

John walked in.  "Fiona, your dad called.  He said if we don't give you back right now you're not allowed to play with the war dogs for the next week and he'll have us invaded again."

"That mean shit!" Diama chirped from behind him.  "He needs a new friend."  Her cousin smiled and nodded.  "Do you have plants for that?"

"Not here.  That other Xander we met by accident does though."  They grinned and disappeared to talk to him.

Cupid groaned, shaking his head.  "I'm going to get my wings blasted again for losing them."  He went after the kids.  By the time he found them, they were back in this dimension and Ares was suspiciously yelling about plants.  Cupid decided he was going to go hide at his temple in Las Vegas and surf the internet for porn.  He was a god of lust, not of babysitting baby goddesses.  He got sent a curious thought by his mother about Ares being petted by a tentacle plant that was trying to eat him.  "At least it's not the tentacle dildo plants," he muttered.  Or worse because he was sure Xander could come up with worse things.

***

Dawn looked up from the meeting she was in.  "Lord Ares, can you please quit sharing?  I don't think this meeting needs to know about your time with Morticia," she said dryly.  "Though I'm sure she's very good to you like she is to her Xander."  The feed cut off.  She smiled at the staring people.  "Morticia belongs to another Alexander in another dimension.  She's one of his favorite pet plants."  She smiled.  "Gomez is his other."

Pepper shook her head.  "That doesn't surprise me any.  If our Xander liked plants I'm sure he'd have Addams family plants too."

"I'm not sure I want to know why they're named that," Tony told her.  Dawn pulled up pictures from her home computer to show him.  "Hmm.  I'm assuming the tentacle plant is a man-eater?"

"Yup," Dawn said happily.  "And Gomez's type can get big enough to eat an Atlantian  Jumper.  His is still pretty young, he just likes fingers and wood.  Sometimes chicken meatballs."

Tony looked at her.  He slid the tablet back down to her.  "I was right, I didn't want to know and you clearly missed lunch since you're going weird from hunger, Dawn."

She grinned.  "They found ones like Gomez in Pegasus, boss.  They had to pull a team from it, twice.  In one day."

"I'd probably try to avoid the plant that tried to eat me," Pepper said, shaking her head quickly.

"I think they forgot or something.  John said that they backed into it and got gulped again, without any chewing thankfully."

Tony slid down his special coffee.  "Here, have some sugar to cure the weirdness from hunger, Dawn, and take lunch after this."  He looked at the supplier, who was shaking his head quickly.  "Some of the things brought back by Atlantis are very ...unusual."

"Like mpreg machines," Dawn quipped, sipping the coffee.  She was thirsty.

"Including those," Pepper agreed.

"What's an mpreg?" that supplier's assistant asked.

Dawn pulled up the machine's information and let her see it while grinning.  "The IOA people who used to be above the Stargate program stole one.  It's somewhere."

She read it and nudged her boss to let him see that.  "I saw that with one of our foreign suppliers.  It was in the lobby being crated up," he said.

"Who?" Tony asked.  "SHIELD wanted it destroyed before it got used on their agents."

He nodded.  "A lot of people would like that."  He sent that contact an email.  "Maybe they'll hand it over."  Dawn got her tablet back.  Thankfully his assistant was in her fifties and past her fashionable, flirty, bouncy, and weird idea years.  At least it kept Stark from coming up with weird ideas like some of his younger engineers did.

***

John got a phone call that night.  "Sheppard," he answered, leaning back in his desk chair.  "Yes, General, I do know a bit about them."  He huffed.  "If I must."  He hung up and made sure he was presentable then went to the main base.  There were reporters up there.  O'Neill pointed with a glare.  "It wasn't my fault!"

"So?  You brought the damn machines back, Sheppard.  Next time, recycle them!"  He stomped off.

John walked out to the gates, where press people were causing problems.  "People," he ordered.  Nothing.  He whistled sharply and stood up on the bumper of one of the security teams' jeeps.  "You're bothering the general and giving him a headache.  Only McKay and Carter are allowed to do that."

"Colonel, do you know anything about the so-called mpreg machines?"

"Yes, I do.  They were found on Atlantis.  The Ancients made them because they decided having sex was wasting their time and energy while they were trying for ascension.  There were five able to be fixed; one got stolen by an IOA plant.  That one has been missing but people, including SHIELD, are looking for it."

"So they had men carrying the children?" one of them interrupted from behind his camera.  "Was that wholly instead of women?"

"No, it was mostly a duty of everyone to have at least one child to carry on the best lines while they worked toward ascension.  Some of them were women who used the machines, some were guys.  A lot of the time it depended on which spouse had more status and a harder work life."

"Is this considered a presently viable option?"

John shrugged.  "There's been some jokes about some of the science teams using it but a lot of the ones mentioned are a lot like the Ancients.  They've forgotten why you do it in person instead of laying down on a bed while the machine harvests samples from your partner.  Those ones we like to remind that there's more to life than their work.  Only one of them has joked about using it on himself.  Mostly because he feels he'd ignore a spouse to the point of being left."

"There's been someone who handed a machine to SHIELD earlier," one of them noted.  "Was that it?"

"I haven't talked to anyone at SHIELD in days, people.  How would I know?"  They made note of that.  "Anything else?  I have to go apologize to the general for you people giving him a headache."

"Why?" one of the women asked.  "It's our fault."

"Because he can't yell at you for it," he said dryly.  "He can yell at me for having them on the city when we came back."  He hopped down.  "Have a nice night somewhere else, people."  They walked off calling and texting in reports.  He looked at the guards, who were smiling and shaking their heads.  "Ditto," he muttered, going back to the general's office.  "Disbursed as ordered, sir," he said with a salute and a grin.

"Jackass," he complained.

"Maybe someone will want to test them, sir."  He disappeared before General O'Neill could glare at him for that suggestion.

Jack looked up.  "You need unscrewed worse than McKay does!" he shouted.  "Stop it before I marry you off to a political ally!"

John reappeared with a huge smile.  "If you do, they'd have to become at least immortal, gain the approval of my mother, Krishna or his wife, and Hera, and they'd have to be able to live with me full time, sir.  Do we know someone?  If I start dating, my mother might quit asking me to knock up Rodney or Ronon for grandchildren."

Jack O'Neill had seen many horrifying things doing battle for the Stargate and earth.  The mental pictures he had were *way* worse.  "Eww!"  He rubbed his eyes.  "Damn it!"

"Sorry, sir, but being me comes with stipulations.  Like formal family dinners that happen irregularly anytime someone wants to brag.  We have one tomorrow, again."  He disappeared.

Jack leaned down and banged his head on the desk a few times.  "Damn it," he muttered.  "Not even getting drunk will take that out of my head."

Xander appeared, handing him a magazine.  "That's what I use when I need to shut my brain down and let it reboot on the level of 'ewww'."  He disappeared.

Jack unfolded the folder, taking out the magazine.  The cover was showing something that was making his brain hurt in other ways for a change.  The inside pictures made his brain restart and start shouting 'ewww, gross' over and over until he took something for the headache.  "Sure, demon porn is good for something after all," he decided, taking some tylenol.  He carefully carried it to the infirmary, handing it to Doctor Lam.  "Your ex gave me his sure-fire method of brain shutting down to cure my headache, Doc."  He found the bottle of sleeping pills and shook out three, popping them in his mouth to swallow as he walked off.  "Don't disturb me, even if I die."

She looked and grimaced.  "That's gross."  She flipped through it.  The picture of the kraken with various 'virgins' on his tentacles and a dick coming out of his mouth was more than enough for her to put it down.  "Phil?" she called.  He showed up, smiling at her.  They had become great friends; not something everyone could say about their ex's new spouses.  She handed it back.  "Xander kindly handed that to General O'Neill to help his mind reboot."

He looked.  "I've seen him do that before.  Thank you, Carolyn.  Have a good rest?"

"Yes, I think I deserve one.  I saw the kraken one."

He nodded.  "I've seen worse but yes, it's pretty gross."  He patted her on the arm.  "Have a good nap."  He took that to Natasha, handing it to her.  "That's Xander's method of mental rebooting.  Hide it from him?"  He left, going to cure Xander's mental defects.

She looked at it, grimacing.  "That's gross."  She put it down with a post-it to dispose of it in the morning in a shredder.  Dawn had one at her desk.

***

Fury looked up that morning when Clint walked in with the magazine in a plastic bag.  "What's that?"

"Confiscated from Xander via Stargate, sir.  He was helping the general make his mind shut up."  He handed it over.  "Dawn giggled when my mind stopped for a good ten minutes."  He walked off.  "Hey, Hill, Fury's got some confiscated crap from Xander's stash of mind-warping problems."

She went in there to look.  Nick Fury, one of the toughest men she knew, was staring at it, not blinking, not moving, maybe not even breathing.  She moved to look over his shoulder.  "That is more disgusting than the child sex ring we had to bust," she said, taking it and bundling it back up.  "Let me give this to Dawn so she can give it to Xander, sir."

Fury blinked at her.  "It had fifty tits and about as many dicks, and it was mid-birth or that's how they had sex," he complained.  "Who does that?"

"Demons apparently."  She walked off.  Joyce spotted it and giggled.  "Watch over him please, Joyce.  He's in a mentally fragile spot."  She got driven over to Stark, handing the magazine to Dawn.  "That is not to come back to us.  Please dispose of it properly, preferably by burning."

She looked then shrugged.  "There's worse in that series.  Spike used to take the subscription."

Maria held her mouth for a moment to make sure she wouldn't vomit then shook herself.  "I don't need to know, Dawn."   She left, going back to work to sign out, then go home to rest with Tara.  Tara would help make sure she didn't see that awfulness again.

Dawn put it on the edge of the desk.  Tony walked past with Andrew talking about an idea.  They looked at it as they walked past it.  "That's Xander's."

He looked at the cover.  "What is it?"

"It's like _Hustler_ for demons," Andrew said.  "My brother liked it."  He took it to flip through, nodding.  "It's a classic issue.  Oh, hey, the Kraken's Heaven picture."

"What?" Tony asked, looking confused.  He looked at the picture and he might not have blushed for over twenty years but he was sure he was now.  And still confused.

Dawn looked at him.  "What did you think kraken in mythology did with the virgins, boss?  They don't eat flesh, they're filter feeders on krill."

Tony's head dropped and he walked off.  "I'm going to have my stroke in the lab.  That way JARVIS can help me fix the blocked blood vessels that thought caused."  He made it all the way to his doorway when Bruce found him.  He let himself finally bang his head against the wall since Bruce would protect him.

"What happened?" Bruce asked, smiling slightly.

"Demon porn."  He banged it a few more times.

"Sir, please quit causing a concussion," JARVIS said impatiently.  "You're always miserable when you have one."

"I.  Can't.  Stop.  Seeing.  It," Tony moaned, banging his head a few more times.

Bruce patted him on the back and walked him off.  "C'mon, you can nap with Pepper, Tony.  She'll make it all better.  Steve's in there so he can protect you too."  He presented Tony to them.  "Somehow he saw demon porn."

"That's really disturbing as a thought," Steve said, pulling Tony down to tuck him in with Pepper.  He heard the tiny whimper and 'make it stop' from Tony, settling in to calm him down.

"Make sure he doesn't have a concussion," Bruce warned then left them to handle it.  He went to see it for himself.  He had seen some really bad things in some of the backwoods of the world.  It couldn't be worse than that, right?  He found Andrew reading it while Dawn typed.  He looked over the younger geek's arm and blinked.  "What is that?"

Andrew pointed.  "That's the dick.  People who do the gay fisting video wouldn't be able to take that."

"They wouldn't touch them anyway," Dawn quipped with a grin.  "Their kind don't have bodily orifices so they drill one for mating."  Bruce gave her an odd look.  "There's two locally.  They'd never touch a human, they're disgusted that we have pre-made holes that leak body essence.  They mate by seduction instead of dominance battles.  Whoever's the best seducer wins the right to drill the other.  The local demon bookies have a betting board going.  They've been trying on each other now for almost a decade," she said with a grin.  "One's a clear favorite but I think the other one will win."

"So they 'drill'," Bruce said.

"Yeah," Andrew said.  "Then the spawn eats them from the inside out until it breaks its way through the outer edge.  They usually have two births, sometimes three if they're lucky, but they always hope to be the driller instead of the drillee."  He smiled.  "They're really nice guys.  Very honest."

"Are they blind?"

"No, they have eyes.  They close them during drilling to avoid getting blow back in them," Dawn said.  "They're kind of corrosive and only immune to their own corrosiveness, not that of the others in their species."

"How do they eliminate?"

"They force out little blobs from their edges like amoeba," Andrew said.

"Are they native?" Bruce asked.  For some reason he was starting to see why Tony had banged his head into a wall that hard.

"Maybe, not sure," Dawn admitted.  "I'm figuring they bred for size for a bit though.  I'd have to ask Spike.  He used to take a subscription and he taught me about them and the others in there."

Bruce swallowed.  "Maybe you should make more normal friends, Dawn.  Ones who aren't vampires and who don't read demon porn."

Andrew looked at him.  "Some of it's so much better than human porn.  Even if you do have to watch out for vampires and magical coercion plotlines."

"Spike just got one that's a vampire clan versus a horny kraken that moved in near their clan's cave," Dawn quipped, grinning at him.  "He was bragging it was shot live.  The vampires did it to make blood money."

Bruce rubbed his forehead.  "Maybe you should stick to friends here in New York, Dawn.  They're mostly normal."  He walked off, taking the magazine to set on fire.  Before Joyce or one of the kids saw it.

Andrew grinned at Dawn.  "Gay or not?"

"Both.  One of the fairly newer clans out by LA.  Faith heard how it got made when Spike bragged he got one of the first copies."

"Cool.  I should look that up for Johno.  He wanted something weird to take the thoughts of baby stuff out of his head."  He walked off looking it up on his netflix account.  Not there but on the demon version it was.  He handed Jonho his Starkphone and got back to work updating Roomba 3.

Johno sat down to watch it.  "Eww, a kraken?  I didn't think vampires were that kinky."

"Spike said they were getting blood money."

"Yay."  He kept watching, shaking his head a few times.  He sent himself to Rodney when it was done.  "Here," he said, restarting it.  "Because I know you guys have a kraken just up the coast.  That's Andrew's phone so send it back."  He went back to the lab.  Now he had a lot of bad ideas and a few that he could design out and make so he could ignore the bad thoughts trying to gang up on the robots in his brain.

Rodney watched.  "What the hell!" he yelled a few minutes into it.  John came jogging in.  "What is this?"

John took the phone to look at it.  "What krakens do.  Not like they ate the virgins, Rodney.  They eat like filter-feeding whales do."  He walked off.  "Not an emergency, people.  McKay just found out kraken like the one we keep seeing hunting doesn't eat the virgins that are sacrificed to it."  Most of the science team shuddered but a few of the zoologists and botanists came in to look over that video.  They had no idea kraken had sexual urges.  It was a demonic kelp being from what they could tell.  Regular kelp didn't have sex so why did the demonic one?  One decided to ask Colonel Sheppard.  He was ancient in many ways and might have run into a few of them in the past.

What she heard....  Well, she used to believe in fairies and elves.  Now.... they were probably doing the nasty too and she didn't want to know about that.

37: Female Old Ones At Work And Play

Weird magic users, more reporters.  A Dawn wanter who wants her for an unusual reason.  Then a girl-cation and some Xander backstory.  NC-17

Dawn looked up as a SHIELD agent she didn't know ran off the elevator.  "Emergency?" she asked.

"Demonic one," he said.  "We have to get you there now, Mrs. Barton."  She grabbed her bag and yelled into the office since they were in there making out.

"Need me?" Stark called.

"It's demonic, sir!  Maybe.  We're not really sure what to do!"  He got Dawn down to the SUV and drove her to the riverfront by the Intrepid Museum.  Dawn blinked at what was petting the ship.  She looked at him.  "What is that?" he demanded, pointing at it.

"That is a kraken.  I knew we had one by New Jersey a few years back."  She walked over to it, casting a telling spell then a translation spell.  Not like she spoke demon plant language.  "Excuse me, Kraken?  Please quit petting the battleship?  It'll make a lot of people paranoid."  It turned a few tentacles to her, making her smile.  "I know, I'm not a virgin princess.  This is New York City, there's not a lot of those here.  Of either category.  All we have are some society sluts.  They're rich but not royalty and they're easy so they haven't been virgins for *years*."  It burbled something and she nodded.  "I know, any hole on a storm," she agreed.  "But they're not here."  It burbled something.  She looked at the human agent.  "Society sluts were here?"

"They were doing a photo shoot for a supposed PETA calendar.  Does it matter?  Did it come after them?"  He was nervously watching the reporters show up, putting on his sunglasses so he might be harder to identify.

"Yup.  Ideally it'd like a virgin princess but...  It's been a while since anyone gave it the favorite playtoy."

"Playtoy?" he asked, looking hesitant.

"You know those whales that filter out the little shrimp-looking things?"  He nodded quickly, grinning some.  "Kraken eat those same shrimp-looking things."  The kraken complained.  "I know.  All the shipping barges have fouled the water to the point where we can't eat from it either.  I'm sorry but we're a major metropolitan city.  Just think, they filter that for our drinking water."  The kraken shuddered.  She looked at the confused looking agent again.  "It's horny, dude.  It wanted a virgin princess to play with."

He winced.  "I don't think we have any of those we can give over, ma'am."

"I know.  See if that society witch that you guys have in some sort of custody will volunteer.  If not, we'll need some swords and some salt."

"Ummmmmm....."  He tapped his earpiece, calling that in.  He was only supposed to be tailing someone when this thing popped up.  He wasn't sure what to do.  He was barely in his agent training.  The CIA never taught him how to deal with this!

"Don't you dare pet it!" was shouted over the line.

"Ma'am, I believe your spouse said not to pet it."

"I'm not.  It's not housebroken, the cat would hate it when it chased it to screw it, and I *do* have sense.  Though my husband is sleeping on the couch tonight."  She smiled.  "You can tell him I said that."

Tony landed in his suit, staring at the beast.  "For some reason I'm flashing back to pictures that made me give myself a concussion a few weeks back."

"Yeah, and it wants to recreate it," Dawn quipped with a grin for him.  He opened the faceplate to glare at her.  "Not my fault!  The society sluts were here earlier to do a photo shoot.  It smelled all the sperm on them and showed up!"  She turned back around.  "Though, if that prince that wanted me so hard was still around....."

"Your husband needs to quit doing range time," Tony complained.

"He's sleeping on the couch tonight anyway.  He told me not to pet it because I'm *so* my niece's age."

He looked at her.  "Once we get home, you're taking an EPT."

"Probably not going to count considering I started last night, boss," she said, glaring at him.  "But thanks for asking and I'll expect chocolate ice cream for dinner because you got so nosy.  The really good stuff."  She looked over as someone came up to complain about what she had called her.  Dawn looked at her.  "Honey, I get dick whenever I ask nicely or just look hot, which is nearly every day.  Clearly, some of you get it more than me since it smelled all the sperm from the ocean."  The girl shrieked and stomped off.  Dawn stopped the tentacle.  "I know," she told it.  "She's the sort that could've been a duchess at least in the old days.  You have to ask her if she wants to volunteer to save you by helping you go away for a bit.  It's not my call, it's hers."

Xander appeared.  "Maybe some of those girls that say they like animals?" he offered.

"Eww," Dawn complained.

"Probably close enough."  He swatted the tentacle reaching for him.  "My husband would be very upset with me."  It moaned.  "I've never heard one make noises out loud.  Huh."  Phil stomped up with his sword.  "Hi, Phil."

"Xander."  He looked at it.  "We went over how to kill them theoretically."

"Clear the mouth, then salt bomb it," Dawn told him.  "But we'd like for it to just take a present and go away."

"I don't know anyone who would sleep with a pile of demonic seaweed," Tony said.  He looked at Xander and Phil.  "She's in a bad mood."

Xander nodded.  "She's got PMS, Stark.  Feel lucky she hasn't grabbed a sword."  He stabbed the tentacle reaching for them.  "No, you don't touch what's mine, Kraken."  Phil smirked ever so slightly at him.

Colonel Rhodes appeared and landed.  "People, the Pentagon wants this thing *off* the ship."

"Then take off the armor and take one for the Pentagon," Dawn quipped.  "It really wants a hole, Rhodey."

"I've never been that drunk in my life," he assured her sarcastically.

"I don't think I have either and I've done a whole lot of drinking in my tender years," Tony said, then shook his head quickly.  His comm opened up to Fury shouting at him.  "Well, then, find it someone to screw, Fury.  I'm not doing it.  Dawn's not doing it."

"Death row inmates?" Xander suggested.  "They might live but most of them haven't had any."

Phil looked at him.  "No.  Not even I'm that mean.  Not even Barton's that mean, Xander."

"Fine, just trying to help."  He looked around.  "Why come here?  I mean, tourists, but not a lot of people."

"There was a celebutante photo shoot for a charity PETA calendar earlier," Dawn said.

"Ah!  It found slutty girls with sex tapes online.  Good to know."  Stark walked off snickering to calm down the agent.

"The CIA did not prepare me for this!" he complained loudly.  "I have no idea what to do with horny tentacle monsters!"

Phil looked over.  "First, quit losing your temper and your cool," he instructed.  "It almost never helps.  Second, calm down.  Think logically, problem solve.  It's what a good SHIELD agent does.  We don't lose our cool under any circumstances, even if the world is about to end."  He looked at Dawn again.  "Has it made any demands?"

"No, it just wants two tentacle toys."  She shrugged.  "I suggested Elmeer since she's in custody."

"Probably not a good idea."  Though, privately, he liked the death row inmates idea.  If he was sure they were guilty.  Too many were found innocent these days upon reexamination of evidence.

Xander stopped Maria Hill and Tara.  "No!  Sorry.  Pregnant women are like candy."  He walked them off and handed them to the driver of the SHIELD SUV.  "They're not allowed near there.  The babies are like candy."  The driving agent nodded.  He walked back.  Fury was trying to get things handled.  Xander shook his head and whistled.  "People!  Really!  Not helping!"  He looked around.  "We have two choices.  We can give it a tentacle toy or two or we can kill it."

"Vampires?" Dawn offered with a grin.

Xander looked at her.  "I know I hate vampires like you do, Dawn, but they're still former living people.  They should be given a choice."

"Fuck that, they won't drown," Fury complained.  "They can go play."

"People are fighting for their rights," Dawn reminded him.

"So?" he snorted.  "They don't have any yet.  They're monsters.  It'll be like a Japanese movie or some shit like that.  The only better thing would be Bigfoot if it was real."

"They are, but they get hellishly pissed when they're wet," Dawn and Xander said together.

"Talk about losing your shit," Dawn complained.  "We saw one that fell into a lake by accident."

Xander nodded.  "I drenched one trying to drive it off with holy water.  It nearly ripped me a new one until Roque and John saved me," he agreed.  "But that was way back when the calendar was barely running forward."

Fury slumped, shaking his head.  "Do they pose a threat to the world?"

"Maybe if you got them all wet at the same time," Dawn offered.  "But usually they're content to hide and bear kids."

"Quit petting the ship!" Rhodey yelled.  Dawn cast the translation spell for him.  He repeated it.  The kraken growled back.  He shuddered and walked off rubbing his metal arms.  "It said it smells like sperm."

"The Intrepid was in a lot of major battles," Dawn said.  "I'm sure they had more than a few 'whoo hoo, we survived the battle' moments over the decades she was in service, Rhodey.  The kraken could probably say that about any ship in the Navy's vast fleet, except maybe the tiny ones."

Colonel Rhodes looked at her then at Stark.  "Did you test something on her?"

"No.  She's cranky."

"It's the truth," Xander said with a shrug.  "Even Navy guys and Marines celebrate living through major battles."

Fury looked at him.  "Don't help," he ordered.  Xander rolled his eyes.

Phil wouldn't mention he had seen a few of those in his years.  "While probably true, not the time," he noted to keep both sides happy.  Fury glared at him.  "It's not.  This is not the moment to air out those thoughts.  Right now, we need to make a decision on which method we're using to disperse this problem."  He felt a few more of the agents under his aegis show up and looked back at them.  No Natasha.  That was odd.  He looked at the kraken again.  "Do we know anyone who would offer?"

"They probably wouldn't drown," Xander said.  "As long as the kraken liked them and took care of them they'd be fine with them."

"What about any other sentient creatures in the water?" Fury asked.

"Mermen and the kraken have been at war for centuries because the kraken try some now and then.  It'll create a full group attack on the kraken to get their vulnerable members back.  If I remember right, there may have been a cross-species pregnancy once but they killed it, the mother, and the kraken.  That was part of a strange history I read so I'm not sure if they're certain or not."

Dawn shook her head.  "Makes sense.  The mermen I've seen did have a similar skin look."

"They did," Xander agreed with a grin.

Fury rubbed his forehead.  "So our two choices are to fight it, or to give it what it wants?"

"It only wants two sluts," Dawn said.  "It'd really love two virgins but I doubt we can find two over the age of consent that wouldn't freak out."

"I don't know *why*," Rhodes said sarcastically.  "Not like it's *normal* or anything."

Dawn looked at him.  "Hey, take one for the team, Colonel."  She smiled.  "It's a bisexual being.  They got given spare princes too."  He stomped off shaking his head.  She looked at the agents again, shrugging slightly.  "He was being negative and annoying by not having solutions.  He can go talk to it.  Maybe he can talk it out of going near any Navy ships it might find."

"Let's feel *really* lucky it's not Fleet Week," Tony agreed.  He calmed himself.  The thing was reaching for Dawn so he shot at a tentacle.  "Not her either."  It went limp and seemed to pout.  He looked at a slight streak of silver that went past his head.  The kraken yelled but it was quickly being frozen.  "Thanks, Barton," he called.  He turned up the heat inside his suit.

Dawn looked back there and smiled.  "Thanks."

"Welcome.  Before it talked its way into someone's house."  He climbed down and walked over.  He looked at Dawn.  "It was going to try for you."

"It was trying for everyone with a hole or two, dear."

"Good point."  He smirked.  "Maybe it thinks you'd be tasty."

"I've never had much of a comparison of tastes so I can't officially tell you how I rate on the tasty scale.  Have to ask someone who did."  She gave him a pointed look.

"You rank pretty high up there according to the vampire that just talked to your livejournal," Tony called.  "Pepper read it to me."

Dawn shrugged.  "Tell her to tell Spike hi for me."  She looked at the other agents.  "Okay, now what?"

"The sucker gets burnt," Fury said.  "We'll have to somehow pull it onto land."

Dawn snorted.  "It can be up to fifty miles of tentacles, Fury.  How are you going to do that?"

He blinked.  "That big?"

"The one in the Mediterranean is about that big but it's really old," Xander admitted.  "This one may be a few hundred years old so maybe a few miles of tentacles."

Fury blinked a few times.  "Okay," he decided.  "Find a way to burn it, Stark."

"Pull the central bit up in a crane and start there?" he offered.

"Any tentacles leftover can start a new one," Dawn and Xander said together.

"Two or more left to live will definitely start one," Dawn added with a grin for him.  "That's why cutting off tentacles was a bit risky.  You had to make sure it was dead when it got cut off."

Tony nodded.  "Okay."  He considered it.  "Let's get a fishing net to scoop it all up and then we'll take it somewhere safer to burn, like where they do drug seizures."  Fury called that in.  They had to know someone who fished, right?  Well, apparently not but Stark found one through Pepper and they handled it for them.  The agents got to disperse.  Dawn and Xander walked off talking about kraken and how they could use the tentacles in modern things, like cosmetics.

Stark looked at her.  "No one would buy that."

Dawn grinned.  "There's a compound in their tentacles that will retard aging.  It does in their tentacles."  Tony paused to look at her.  She smiled.  "They never get wrinkly tentacles, never look aged, they just add on more."

"I need a few dead ones to test," Tony said, going to take a cutting sample.  Because there were women who'd spend millions on an anti-aging serum that actually worked. Even if it came from a demonic sea creature's slime.

Clint steered Dawn off, walking her toward the cabs.  "Going to deposit her at her desk, sir," he called.  "Before something else wants her."

"It didn't want me.  It wanted the celebutantes who were here earlier," she said dryly.

He looked at her as he helped her into a cab.  "Don't care.  It tried to reach for you too."  He got in with her and grinned at her.  "Even if you're out of your 'every bad thing wants you' years, we're still a bit paranoid."

"Where's Natasha?"

"No idea," he admitted.  "I was wondering that myself."  He let her lean against his arm.  It was comfortable and midtown traffic was once again hell so it took nearly thirty minutes to get her back to the tower.  He got her upstairs and deposited at her desk, setting in to watch her work.  She blushed but he grinned.

Pepper came out.  "The vampire wasn't Spike."

"Well, there was one that tried to bite me one night at a club," she admitted.  "But I thought I staked him.  Who was it?"

"Penn?"

"No, that's Angel's other childe and he's a bit psycho," she said bluntly, getting onto her livejournal to take his comment off and note that he wouldn't know.  They'd have to ask Spike as she had helped him when he was critically injured helping the LA team once.  The only other one was staked and gone for trying.  She posted it and got back to work, handing Pepper the mail.

Clint grinned at Pepper.  "I'm making sure nothing else wants her today."

"Probably only reporters, Barton, but sure.  Just as long as she can work."  She went back to her desk.  Clint was possessive and protective but not in a bad way usually.  She'd put up with him making Dawn blush and make typos.  She brought it back and let Dawn correct it.  "Proofread it first, even if he's making you blushy," she said with a smile.

"I did that last night, boss, not today."  She did that and reprinted it.  "Sorry, forgot to proofread."  She got back to work.  Her phone rang and she answered it.  "Dawn Summers' desk."  She listened.  "No, Marigold, that one vampire wouldn't know.  He's Angel's psychotic childe.  Yes, even compared to Dru.  He's a Puritan.  Literally a Puritan."  Clint shuddered.  "Yup, one of them.  Sure, have fun with that.  I thought he was dead but remember not to wake Faith up.  She's grumpy when she first gets up."  She hung up and got back to work.

Pepper walked off shaking her head.  "Weird things should've stayed in LA," she complained.

"Why do you think they make so many paranormal shows about New York?" Dawn quipped.  "They started here and spread to LA, boss."

"We need to move the company."

Dawn laughed.  "Tell us where."

"I can do that."  She sent a text to Tony, who agreed he hated the weird things but that Dawn was right and he was swearing about it.  The sample of slime had rejuvenated a skin sample and a piece of old leather.  Pepper sent back a virtual pat and let him bang his head on that idea.  There may be some people who were that desperate.  Definitely in LA and Hollywood.

***

Natasha came in at lunch and sat down beside Clint.  "I was with a younger agent who had a...problem on assignment," she said quietly.

Dawn looked over.  She had just read her wife's mind and was shuddering.  "Can we help her any?"

"No.  She's out of the hospital.  I was escorting her to her mother's house.  She had been captured for over four months."  Clint full-body shuddered.  "I made sure she had the name of a good therapist near her and all the paperwork in order since Agent Hill was helping the other two they found with her.  Both males."

"Which is harder because they're going to face a lot of 'but you're a guy' thinking people," Dawn said quietly.  "If any of them need help I can give, you let me know."

"I will."  She smiled slightly.  "Joyce has them in good hand."

"Mom's the best when you need hugged," Dawn agreed.

"Thankfully our shrinks are all former agents," Clint said quietly.  "They won't give them shit for it."  Dawn looked at him.  "It wasn't always that way.  We had one that wasn't and started to become judgmental about what happened on assignment to a few women.  The other shrinks all killed him.  No one's sure how but we heard rumors about tribal male bonding ceremonies over beating him to death."

"I heard Aztec sacrificing rituals," Natasha admitted, crossing her legs.  "If so I'd rather not know any more."

"They were cruel and really big jackasses about those sort of things," Dawn agreed.  She shook her head and got back to work.

Clint and Natasha shared a look then looked at Dawn.  "What did happen when you visited those ruins?"

She smiled.  "I ran into a mystically hidden pocket universe where people were still living like Mayans.  Thankfully, the Spanish Conquistador who was using his magic to help them was really evil and they were a bit scared when I lit up some of my own to protect myself.  I apologized for accidentally finding them and got out of there."

Natasha looked at her.  "Why did you not tell us?"

Dawn shrugged.  "No one without magic can find them.  I had a talk with the local PD about them.  They'd heard sightings of ghosts.  One of them recognized me from the news and he said he'd make a note to tell tourists to stay away from that set of ruins.  They'd had one researcher that went missing around there already."  Clint groaned, looking down and shaking his head.  "So that area's off-limits."

Natasha stared at her.  "You still could have shared that information, Dawn."  She typed out a text to someone.  That way other spies would hear about it and not go there either unless necessary.  She put her phone up, looking up to find Pepper staring at Dawn oddly.  "There were a few such moments on our trip."

"I had no doubt there were some," she said dryly.  "Did you get tested for any strange jungle-related diseases?"

"Um.... no comment," Dawn said with a smile.  "Because I'm not allowed to.  Clint said so."

"Sure, put it on me," he said dryly.  "Yeah, someone tried to give her something.  We stopped it and made sure she didn't get sick, Pepper.  I also made her get a whole new set of shots after that.  Just in case."

Pepper sighed, going back to text that at Tony.  Clint's phone beeped with one a minute later and he answered it to both of them.  She looked out there.  "They can't find it, right?"

"No.  And don't ever ask that question about Xander," Dawn reminded her.

"Yeah, probably a great idea."  She shuddered.

Natasha leaned over to look in there.  "Never teach her how to track by playing tag in the jungle unless you're well armed.  We kept running into problems."

"Which is why there's now none in that area," Dawn quipped.  "It is now the safest part of Central America because of rumors of a redheaded she-demon who gets vengeance for their victims.  The last one who tried to move in after we left we went back to get."

"They were causing problems for the very pleasant villagers," Natasha said dryly.  "Two of those weren't my doing however."

"Clint?" Pepper asked.

"Not me."

"Dawn!"

"What?  They had me hostage, Pepper.  Screw 'em."

"They did?" Clint asked.  "You never said that, Dawn," he said dryly.  She flapped a hand in the air and grinned as she typed.  He looked at Natasha.

"I did not know either.  I simply thought them tacky so she eliminated the threat to good taste."

"No.  One was determined I was going to be his wife because I knew about weapons.  He was going to force me, had the priest there and all that.  So he kindly got to give last rites and gave me a look like I was Satan."  She looked at her wife then grinned.  "I reminded him women have the right to say no, even in Catholic countries.  He hadn't listened so therefore I was justified before he could touch me further.  Then I walked off and had to take out his son because he was trying to stop me in some misguided Daddy-issue thing."  She shrugged and got back to work.  "They should've taken my 'no' seriously.  Especially when it went to 'hell no'."

Clint and Natasha shared another look.  "And you didn't tell us why?" he asked.  He'd ignore Pepper giggling in the office.

She smiled.  "Not like they were going to give us more problems and you were busy, dear."  She printed something and walked it into the office.

"Don't worry, guys, we got the same thing from her more than once," Pepper said.  "Tony used to ask that same question about why no one told us she had been momentarily taken."

"Don't remind me," Natasha complained.

Dawn leaned down to kiss her.  "You were pretty hot as Sonya.  Very staid and yet hinting at pleasures that made celibate monks break that vow."  She sat down again.

"One did?" Clint asked her.

Natasha crossed her legs in the other direction, shaking her head.  "No, that was a myth."

"Not hardly," Pepper complained.  "He got arrested for it later."

Natasha squeezed her eyes shut.  "I was perfectly covered."

"Yes, but everything about you exuded sex appeal," Dawn said, looking at her.  "I radiated cuteness.  You radiated on the sexy bitch level, dear, and it showed.  I still can't look sexy like you can."  She got back to work.

"Yes you can," Clint said.

"I can't ever be as sexy as she is, Clint.  She has a PhD in it and I barely have a Bachelor's and maybe working on my Masters of Fine Arts in it."  She looked at him.  "It's a realistic thing.  I know that and I accept it.  With her, it's who she is.  Just like I can never be a redhead with the same sort of style, and she can't be a brunette with mine, we each have our strengths and weaknesses.  You love us because of them."

"Still sounds like you're putting yourself down."

"No, she's right.  I cannot be Dawn and she cannot be me," Natasha agreed.  "Though I do find you sexier than I am."

Dawn smiled.  "That's because women tend not to see ourselves as we are to quote a psych teacher, who still thinks you're an allegorical myth."  She opened the new mail that got delivered and looked.  She huffed and handed one to Natasha and Clint.  "Next kraken that shows up, the Russian mob can go to them instead.  I'm sure they'll enjoy being treated like they want to treat helpless women they have captive."  She sorted the others.  "Hmm."  She dialed chemistry.  "Tell MB her mother wrote.  It's in the main mail.  Thanks."  She hung up and put it aside then handed Pepper hers and Tony's.   Because one was probably a proposition to him.  She came out when MB came off the elevator, handing it over.

She looked at it then shook her head.  "I want it scanned.  My mother was freaky when I tried to talk to her the other night."

"Sure."  She took her down to security.  "Guys, MB's mother sent her a letter after being freaky again.  Can you scan it?"  They nodded, taking it to scan.  The machine immediately put a glass case around it and started to beep.  "Good call."  She went up to look over Tony and Pepper's mail, bringing the one to Tony down there.  It got put under the same scrutiny and failed it the same way.  "Huh.  So apparently she thinks that Tony decided you were getting pregnant against your will again," she said dryly.

MB shook her head.  "It's possible she thinks Tony slipped it to me and told Andrew it was his," she said bitterly.  "My mother needs help."

Dawn nodded.  "If that's a biological substance, she's getting help."  MB moaned and shook her head.  "Yeah.  Because sending that through the mail is a federal offense, MB."

"Damn it!"  She walked off.  "Let me call my sister to warn her."

Dawn looked at them.  "Is the FBI actually answering things?"

"Nope," the head of security said.

Dawn nodded.  She looked up the number through her phone and called it.  "Hi, may I please speak to Agent Silestine please?"  She got put on hold and another one answered.  "Ma'am, I know you aren't Agent Silestine.  No, I'm reporting that a biological substance got sent to my workplace.  Our scanners picked up what looks like ricin.  Because I know him.  Half of you won't answer calls to our office because you got butt nibbled when you didn't tell us someone put out a contract on our boss's daughter.

"Yes, I do work at Stark.  That's fine.  I have contacts in DC.  I'll be talking to them next."  She hung up and called down there.  "Special Agent Billit please?  Yes, it's important.  Because I used to date him and someone just sent me what our company's scanners said is ricin."  She got put through after a very short hold time.  "You know damn well they're not going to answer it, Carl.  Yeah, two.  MB's mother.  One to her and one to Stark.

"In security.  Please.  Yeah, they're still not answering due to the ass biting.  Then they should've told us, dude."  She smiled.  "That was our thought, yeah.  Please.  Thank you.  Security, yes.  We can do that."  She hung up.  "Institute harder screening."  They nodded, putting it into place.  It had been before and got removed.  She went back up there.  "I talked to our former geek that went FBI.  He's sending someone to pick up the ricin that MB's mother sent," she told Pepper from the doorway.  "I tried the local office first.  Permission to rant on my lj?"

"Please do," Pepper agreed with a sigh at the end.  "MB?"

"Calling her sister to warn her that someone was going to be arresting their mother."  She sat down to compose a message about how much of a shame it was that the FBI was dirtying itself by their current pouty temper tantrum.  She included why they were being pouty and throwing fits like a toddler.  Then she posted it and smiled, patting her monitor.  "Good social networking."  She got back to the routine things.

Clint read the post and smiled.  "Butt nibbling is good," he agreed.

Dawn smiled at him.  "Yes, it is."

He reloaded it.  "You got a 'how dare you say that' from a person who has a magazine in their user name."

She looked at it and smiled.  "Yes, he is a reporter.  A blowhard like on FOX News."  She sent him a private message offering the information to him.  It was in the open since they had filed suit against the agents for doing that.  He sent back an immediate response wanting to know where it was filed.  So she sent over copies of the filed petition.  He sent back a 'thank you' and said he'd look into it.  She shrugged and answered the agent who said she was dirtying their agency.  She pointed out that they had dirtied themselves and if they wanted to quit dirtying it then they should quit pouting.

Because sending a biological weapon to an office was still a federal offense under their job description and they weren't handling it because of the pouty moods.  She also pointed out another ten failures their local office had had recently.  Most of them in the press.  The other one was how she had asked them to look into the hostages she had found and they had refused because, oh my god, the Russian mob was *tough*.

Her phone rang but Pepper came out to get it.  "That's mean," Pepper said.  "Thank you for calling Stark International, how may I direct your call?  Yes, this is she.  No, I was walking past Dawn's desk and answered it since she's answering a whiny agent who said that they're the bestest ever," she said dryly.  "It was filed in the local Federal Court, Marigold."  Dawn took it to talk to her.  "Sure."  She walked back in there.

Dawn hung up and grinned at the phone.  "Thank you, Marigold, for asking instead of just posting."  She got back to the responses.  A lot were 'they're thugs' but she corrected that they weren't.  Some of the agents were but not the agency as a whole.  She believed that they did good work, but some of the agents weren't worthy of the title.  Same as in any other official group with power there were jackasses who only wanted the power to give the bullies stronger influence.  She had run into some very nice agents over the years.  Most of them were in LA having to put up with celebutantes and their stalkers now.

Clint laughed.  "Yes, they are."

Pepper laughed.  "I think all the good ones are out there," she agreed.  "They certainly aren't local."  She called security.  Still no one picking those up.  "Huh."  She wrote on her own lj about not being particularly happy that they had been sent another weapon in the mail.  Her having that anthrax scare had been bad enough.  Then again, the FBI hadn't done anything with them either.  Stark had solved it and handed them to SHIELD.

"Pepper?" her desk phone asked in Tony's voice.  "Why are we making the FBI suck their thumbs?"

"Because they deserve it and they're acting like toddlers anyway."

"Oh, good."  He hung up.

She smiled at the phone.  Sometimes Tony was so adorably confused.  Then the rest he blew things up that made the building shake.

Dawn looked at the floor then up.  "That wasn't Thor showing up."  Clint and Natasha were checking weapons.  "No, stay," she ordered.  "You guys haven't went through our decontam training.  We deal with different things than SHIELD does," she pointed out at the pissed off looks.  She got up and put in her Stark-issued earpiece.  "It's Summers.  Who was it, what's the damage, and I'm sending Barton to evacuate the kids."  She nodded and pointed.  He went to do that.  "Don't forget the animals."  She walked around Natasha.

"'Tasha, go help herd people out of the other tower.  That was someone firing on us."  She ran off to the walkway.  Dawn went down to hit the button.  "People, we were fired on by a wannabe villain," she announced over the speaker.  "Let's move now."  They filed out.  They had been drilled in this and how to handle it.  Both labs drilled every six months on how to handle most every single sort of emergency they could come up with.  She followed after checking the labs.  "JARVIS, make sure everything's on safe shut down."

"I only see one computer that's still on.  I'm shutting it down.  It looks like someone was hacking into it."

"Find out and report that to Stark," she noted.  She walked out and found the problem still going on.  She put up shields and then fired on the person to get him off the geeks.  "Try someone your own level, but we'd never let kids play with you."  He fired on her and she guarded herself.  Natasha and Clint both fired on him, taking him down.  "Find the others," she told the security team.  They ran to the other tower.

"Geeks to the safety fallback," she reminded them.  They got into the cars taking them there.  Dawn looked, the other tower was in lock-down.  Each of the various shops had bulletproof door guards that had come down automatically.  The NYPD could get in by having their ID cards scanned. The people that were in the open were shielded by a few more of the shields covering the seating areas and the independent booths.  If the gunman was inside it, JARVIS could remove it so they could escape.

So the bad guy was getting frustrated.

The bulletproof door guards had been tested up to small rockets.  This one wasn't going to win.  He stomped out and started to fire on people again.  Dawn fired back and he turned his attention on her, which let the civilians stupidly standing there watching run.  "Yeah, make me go back to the bitch mode," she sneered.  "Watch me destroy you."  She fired magic now that she didn't have to guard more than a few stupid humans who were stuck staring at them.

The guy shrieked and she hit him again, knocking him back.  Stark's defenses came on because he was in range for it.  Clint got him in the body armor.  Natasha got him in the leg body armor.  Dawn considered it then created something that made him drop his electronic shield to try to slap at.  He didn't like snakes inside his body armor.  Pity!  She fired off another blast once it was down, making his head explode.  She grimaced.  "Dumbass.  Do you know what sort of hell our geeks could've rained down on you?"

She felt something move behind her and moved, turning to beat the shit out of the person attacking her.  "Great, another one."  She knocked him into the building and ducked his blow then spun and flipped out of the way, firing on him with her gun.  He had body armor on.  She attacked manually and magically instead.  He was sneering but she was still better.  She knew she was.  She was at the wrong angle for most any source of help except one of the agents on the ground.  She finally got him across the throat with her knife and moved in to exploit him gasping in pain.  She finished taking him down and killed him with a dagger to the eye.

She stepped back, staring at him.  "Any others?" she asked, looking around.  She tapped her earpiece.  "It's Summers.  Any other idiots seen?"  She looked at the one stomping their way.  "No, that's an Avenger problem, guys.  We can back them up since everyone else isn't."  She funneled her shield and pointed.  "To the damn subway, people!"  They ran.  She put down the shield and checked.  No other higher minions she could see but Clint's arrow hit a suspiciously shielded person.

His light bending harness got broken and he was shot a second later by a second arrow.  She smiled up at him.  "Thanks."  She looked around.  "I need pants," she complained.  "Doing this in a skirt sucks ass."  She cut up the sides to give her more room to move.  Pencil skirts were not meant to kick ass in.  She felt someone appear behind her and looked.  "Do we seriously need more magical help?" she demanded to the sorcerer who had once helped Xander with a curse on SHIELD.

"I felt a lot of magic being used."

Dawn waved a hand.  "Hello, have some of that.  Really.  Having to defend things here.  If you want, jump into the battle, dude."  She pointed at the giant robot.  "Really.  If not, evacuate yourself."  She moved when the robot shot at her.  She stared at it.  "Shut the fuck up," she told it.  "I'm not your playtoy."  It tried to fire on her again.  She summoned some of the weapons she had hidden and used it, blowing it back.  Stark took the opportunity to drive it back further and destroy it.  She looked up.  "Widow, do you have my necklace?" she called.

"I do," she called back.  "Thank you, Dawn.  Please go inside.  Send that civilian somewhere else."

Dawn looked at him.  "You heard the Avenger.  Go!  Shoo!"  He glared but disappeared.  She shook her head, taking shelter in the doorway.  She had a few other things held in storage.  Shrank but in storage.  She called out the few crates of them, kicking it open and pulling out something to enlarge it and hit the robot with again.

"No more poker," Clint yelled.

"Sorry.  It's your birthday present."

"I'll enjoy it later."  She opened the other one and pointed.  He looked.  "Send me those, Dawn."  She threw them magically at him and he caught them, using the new arrows.  Titanium and vibranium.  It went through the robot.  He adjusted his tension down and hit it again, hitting something that sparked.  "Stark, I need an ID of where to hit."  Suddenly a red light hit the robot's side and he hit that.  The robot screamed as an explosion rocked it.

"Okay," he said.  "Need another one."  He smiled at Dawn since she was relaying the spots from Stark.  It changed and he hit that one.  That was another explosion and the left arm went limp.  Tony power kicked the head at full force and it flew off.  The robot fell onto a few abandoned cars but it was down.  Clint got off the walkway and headed down to make Dawn put up his birthday present.  He took a kiss and smiled.  "In *so* much trouble for winning more weapons at kitten poker.  Even if they're mine."  She smirked back and poked him on the side, hiding them again as she floated them inside.

He went to help with the clean up.  Coulson was making agents check the towers and release them.  SHIELD ID's did release the gates.  Clint walked up to Stark.  "How many more of these should we expect?"

"No idea."  He looked at him.  "Those the new ones she was talking to one of our geeks about?"  Clint let him see.  "Hmm.  Pretty work."  He handed it back.  "Thank Petra.  She did them."

"I can send her a thank you card."  He looked at the robot.  It was still trying to move and not succeeding.  "How do we shut it down?"

Stark flew up and hit a spot with a mini rocket.  It shut down the robot.  "Emergency reset."  He landed again and put up his face shield, looking around.  "Not that big of a mess considering."

"No, not really," he agreed.  "Mostly caused by the minions."

Tony nodded.  "We can bill their boss."  They went off together.  Steve had been out of town on a mission and was sending him a text to make sure they were all right.  He sighed as he called.  "We're fine, Captain.  Really.  Not a single sprained anything."  He hung up and looked at the two spouses then at his waiting assistant, who was taking note of things for the insurance reports.  He looked at her.  "Weapons?"

She smiled.  "Clint needed a really great birthday present this year, boss.  It's an important one."

"Uh-huh.  We'll be talking about that."

"Oooh, spanking?" she quipped, making him cackle and shake his head.

"Hell no, that's his job."

"Not if he values having working fingers and hands," she shot back.

"Never spank you anyway," Clint said.  "I don't want to make you learn to enjoy it."  She gave him a pointed look then slapped him on the head.  "Hey!"  He adjusted his sunglasses.  "What was that for?"

"Breaking the walkway roof.  You didn't see the three ports that we have up there?"  He walked off shaking his head.  "You can help install the new panels too.  The workmen all complained about the cranky solar panels."  She smiled at Natasha.  "Great shooting, dear."

"Thank you."  She took a kiss and went inside.  News vans were showing up.  "Where is Bruce?" she asked.

"With Cap in Cambodia," Tony said, letting the machines take his suit off him.  "He knew some people there that could help from a few turns doing doctor things."

"Huh."  She sat down to clean her weapons.  Clint was cleaning his bow.  Dawn finally came in with cups of coffee for them and bottles of water on the tray.  She started to leave but Clint pulled her down between them.  "Are you all right?  You did get attacked."

"I'm good.  He wasn't easy but he wasn't too hard."  They looked at her.  "Really."  They nodded and let it drop for now.  They'd search her for bruises later.  "We really have to talk to that sorcerer wannabe, boss."

"I saw him show up.  I'll have Coulson go talk to him," he noted.  "He's the official liaison with all the magical support we find."  He gulped one bottle of water and took a second to sip.  "I need air conditioning in the suit.  I thought I only needed a heater for upper altitude things."  He sprawled.  "Barton, weren't you supposed to be taking the kids?"

"Phil took them and the animals Callia was already crating up."

"That's fine," he agreed.  "He'd never hurt the kids."  He yawned and finished that bottle of water.  "Pepper?"

"Waiting on the helipad for the last of the evacuations in case," Dawn said.  Tony got up and went to find her.  She looked at Natasha then at Clint.  "You two okay?"

"We weren't in any danger," Clint said.  He kissed her.  Then Natasha.  Who smiled.  "You good?"

"I'm fine.  A bit of adrenaline I'm working through."  Dawn turned to kiss her, making her moan.  "That's a very traditional way to work that out, Dawn."  Dawn used a few fingers to help her and it was more than good enough.  She moaned into her mouth as she came and went limp.  "Very nice, thank you."

"You're welcome."  She took another kiss and licked her fingers off.  She looked at Clint, offering him one.  He took it to suck clean then kissed her and pulled her into his lap.  "You needed more than a handjob?" she teased.

"Much more all the time."  He moved her skirt and panties, noticing the stockings.  His pants easily got unzipped and he slid into her.  She shifted position to make it easier on him.  He moaned and rode her hard and fast, letting her tease him and kiss him until he finally came.  He pulled her closer to kiss hard and fast, then used a finger, but Natasha was already helping them.  Dawn panted and arched back, head tipping back as she came.  Clint and Natasha both kissed her.  She heard someone coming and got off Clint's lap.  He adjusted himself.  Dawn smoothed down her skirt.  They were back to looking normal by the time Tony and Pepper came in.

Pepper pointed.  "Cameras," she said with a smile.

Dawn shrugged.  "They needed it.  You can't tell me you didn't help his adrenaline end, Pep."

"No, I can't."  She sat down.  Tony sprawled beside her, patting her stomach.  "It's fine, Tony."

Dawn smiled at Clint then at Natasha.  "Should I run over to the deli to get lunch?"

"Clean up first," Tony quipped.  Natasha and Clint stared at him.  "JARVIS.  He warned us to slow down.  You're lucky if whoever was hacking earlier didn't hit that."

Dawn looked up.  "JARVIS?"

"They did attempt it but I did block most of it, Dawn."

"Thank you.  Who?"

"One of those online reporters.  It's already on his blog."  He put it up for them to see.

Natasha sighed.  "I'll end him later."

Dawn kissed her and grinned.  She responded to it and told him that if he was hacking Stark security protocols she wanted to talk to him.  In person.  Within hours or she was going to show up with agents from SHIELD to see how he had hacked them.  Suddenly the blog was shut down.  "Thank you, Jensen."  She got up.  "Let me go clean up so Tony doesn't have to wonder how you two taste."  She winked and strolled off.

Natasha moaned, looking at Clint.  "We won't make work tomorrow."

He shrugged.  "I didn't have anything planned at work anyway, Nat."  He grinned when she swatted him.  "Rest if you want."

"I'm not that tired."

"Well, I am."  He settled in to nap in his comfortable sprawl.

Dawn came back from the deli blushing.  "They applauded."  She put the drink carrier down, handing Pepper hers and Tony his.  She swatted Clint with his and handed Natasha hers.  Then she handed out drinks.

"There's only four," Natasha complained.  "You need to eat too."

"I brought lunch.  I'm going to grab it."  She went up to grab it and bring it down.  She settled in to eat the leftovers of what Natasha had made for dinner.  That earned her a smile from her wife.  She grinned back.  "No one's going to note those five extra pounds for a while," she said finally to break the silence.  Clint poked her gently and got one back from the plastic fork.  He rolled his eyes.  She smiled.  "You know they do."

"I do.  I saw that the bitch that keeps nagging you about being twinkly as she put it finally found out you have money."

"Yup, and then she started to question why someone like me has money and if I do really have money like that why am I working.  I kindly finally answered her and told her why I have both money and a job.  Including that I wasn't a wasteland of wasted sperm like so many young wealthy women my age.  I intended to make the world a bit better before I died, unlike them whose only aspirations were alcohol poisoning olympic medals."  She ate another bite.  "She got huffy about the 'proper' ways."

Pepper laughed. "I saw that and I wrote a nice letter to her editor about how she had no idea about proper anythings since she was a serial marrying bitch who only went for higher and higher wallets.  Apparently the ones with titles could see through her money grubbing ways.  I also mentioned that modern women didn't need to see the stereotypes of earning your paycheck on your back."

Dawn smiled.  "That is something I hope I never have to do."  Tony choked.  "There may be a day I leave here and I hope my next boss isn't like that."

"Pepper, she just threatened to leave us," Tony complained.  "Make her stop before I sic the kids on her."

Pepper smiled.  "It's time for a contract negotiation anyway, Tony.  Besides, Dawn would never leave us.  We would sic the kids on her if she tried."  They smiled at Dawn.

"Hey, some day he may retire and you too.  Who says the board won't try something?"

"Then I'd kill them all," Pepper assured her happily.

Tony nodded.  "I'd help her cover it up."

Dawn grinned. "Sure, we can do that."  They smiled at her.  "Though I'm not due for a contract renegotiation for six months, Pepper."

"And you still haven't completed that language degree," Tony said with a smirk.

"Bullshit," Clint muttered.  "We're going next year to watch her walk a masters in it, Stark."  Tony gaped.  He nodded.  Natasha nodded too.  "Joyce ordered her to quit screwing around."  Dawn nodded and finished her lunch and diet soda.  Clint took the plastic bowl to toss away with his trash.

"We're almost out of those," Dawn told him.

"They never come clean in the dishwasher," he complained, tossing them out.  He did put her can in the recycling bin in there.  She hugged him.  "I heart you too to quote some graffiti on our building."

She laughed.  "I'm not so sure John didn't write that."  He grinned back.  She yawned.  "Let me go check on whoever showed back up."

"None of the other staff has come back yet," JARVIS said.  "The other tower is well guarded by agents having obvious meals and snacks.  Everyone seems to be calmed down and able to go on with their days.  The ones you helped protect have been cornered by a news crew and they all said it was really scary that you were holding them in place but it probably kept them from being smashed flat or something.  That you had given them opportunity to move and they hadn't taken it until you had made sure they got somewhere safer.  So they're all calling you heroic."  Dawn groaned.  "Sorry."

"Not your fault, JARVIS.   We're so going to start getting new letters."  Pepper sighed and nodded.  "JARVIS, please send a memo to Security to make sure they scan out any panties, offers of marriage or kids, and anything that might make us giggle when we think about it."

"I shall."

"Thank you," Tony said.  "Last time I got a very nice strippers thong and bikini set from a married couple that were clearly...used."  Natasha shuddered.  "Exactly."

"We're hiring a maid," Dawn told her.  "She started today."

"I saw her earlier," she admitted.  "You should have told us.  I might have shot her."

"I did tell you.  You did the mental hand flapping and 'let me fix this gun' thing."  Natasha shook her head.

Clint smiled.  "So that means no more arguing over dishes, litter boxes, or vacuuming?"

Dawn smiled.  "Not the litter box."

"Fine.  You can clean it later."

"I did before I came to work."

"Thanks."  He got cuddly again.  He yawned.  He was tired.  Dawn was clearly tired.  "Stark, give her twenty?"

"Have a nap, guys."  They drifted off there.  Pepper was napping against his shoulder.  Natasha and he shared a smirk and pulled up things to read.  Their lovers would be pouty if they got woken up and no one wanted to see a pouty Clint or Pepper.

***

Dawn looked up as a nice looking young police officer came off the elevator.  "Thank you for visiting Stark International.  Who are you here to see today?" she asked with a smile.

"You, ma'am.  There's been a sudden growth of prickly bushes around a house in lower Manhattan.  The NYPD is fairly worried someone did it on purpose."  He showed her pictures.

She smiled.  "That last battle, there was a sorcerer who showed up?"  He nodded he had seen that.  "That's his house.  Magic users are notoriously paranoid and he's trying to avoid the press."  The officer groaned and sighed.  She nodded, handing the pictures back.  "If I had his number, I'd remind him not to let it infringe on the sidewalk or anything.  You might ask Agent Coulson, who is...."  She tapped out a text and he came off the next elevator.  "Him," she said with a point.

Phil looked at the pictures.  "That sorcerer is pouty and a bit paranoid.  I can talk to him about the bushes infringing on public property."

"We're mostly worried there's some sort of fairytale curse or something, sir."

Dawn shook her head.  "No, that's out in Camden, New Jersey, and that one tower that everyone thinks is dilapidated but it's more hidden magically.  I went there to see that oddity and found out why but I'm not a prince."  She grimaced.  "Even if I was, I probably wouldn't kiss that princess."  The officer's eyes went wide.  "From what I learned before I went, the family got into it over her arranged marriage.  She had wanted someone else, someone better, but who had less money.

"It was a Count against Count thing and she wanted the one that wouldn't be a jackass as often.  Her family wanted the other one, mostly because she was a spoiled brat and they were hoping for a bit of Shakespearian magic happening.  She refused and set the whole family out of the house, which had been left to her.  Since she ruined their family's reputation, they locked her in a sleep spell inside the house.  Only someone worthy of her spoiledness could wake her up by the curse.  Which to me means a bunch of the society boy sluts might be able to," she said dryly.

"They'd probably be horrified if they didn't have magic," Phil said, considering it.  How did Dawn find these things?  Was there a book he needed to find that she had read?

"There's like ten with weak magic that I've spotted at events, mostly because they couldn't shield themselves."

"That's interesting.  Any idea why?"

"Nope, never traced them back.  One was the one that went gushy at Stark and Pepper last time though."

"Huh."  He nodded.  "I'll look into that.  I'll also talk to him, Officer."

"Thank you, sir, ma'am."  He left, going to report what they had said.

Phil looked at her.  "What's in Camden?"

"The workshop of some sorcerer that's hidden behind roses?"

"Oh, that place.  I've spotted it a few times and wondered about the wall of roses."  He walked off, sending himself from the elevator to the sorcerer's house, making him flinch.  "Easy," he ordered.  He stared at him.  "The local officers are worried about your bushes impinging on the sidewalk and hurting people.  They wanted to make sure that you could keep it on your own lands."

"I don't usually have those problems," he said, sipping his brandy.

"Good."  He smiled and put down a card.  "If you run into problems beyond reporters, let us know.  I liaison with the other magic users we know about and the Avengers."

He nodded.  "She's very open with her skills."

"She had no choice but to do it that way.  Otherwise it could've meant not being saved a few times."  The sorcerer slumped.  "She does take a lot of heat off the rest of you, but you did show up at a minor battle magically.  They'll ignore you but a few may report when you're at the store or something.  I'm surprised you didn't get it from the first time you showed up on SHIELD's radar."  He stared at him.  "Let us know if you have a problem we can help with."

"What path do you follow?"

Phil let his radiance out, making the guy swallow hard.  He smiled.  "I'm Alexander's mate."

"Oh, I see."  He finished his brandy.  "Are there gods of magic still around?"

"Mostly.  Hecate's in a...delicate spot right now but otherwise yes, as far as I know."

"Thank you."

"Welcome."  He pulled in his aura and disappeared back to Stark.

The sorcerer got more brandy and sat down to think about that, checking his bushes.  He did pare them back.  He didn't want to cause problems for anyone else.  It would get him more notice from the wrong sort.  Or strange SHIELD agents.  He had to wonder if SHIELD was hoarding undercover deities.  If so, were they as harmless as they seemed?

***

Dawn had to teleport from the corner that night, walking in the doorway.  "There is no way you walked up the front stairs," Clint told her.

"No, I didn't."  She smiled.  "I didn't remark on you coming in from the roof."

"Thanks."  He looked outside.  The reporters were staring at the building impatiently.  "Any idea what they're after this time?"

"No.  Not a clue.  I called one I know earlier and they didn't know why they were waiting."  They saw them start to shout as Maria got out of a cab but she got given room.  They didn't want to get too near to her.  It was clear she was pregnant and had on her SHIELD uniform.  She paused to say something mean to them and they pouted at her.  She stomped inside and was pounding on their door a minute later.  Dawn opened it.  "What did they want?  We couldn't figure it out without giving them an opening."

"They wanted to know if you're recruiting magic users for SHIELD."

"No.  Why would I be?  That's Phil's job."

She blinked a few times.  "I suppose it is.  I told them SHIELD only had a list that we called on for emergencies, we weren't actively recruiting witches."  She winced and held onto the doorframe.  "Kid, do you mind?"  Dawn pulled her in and helped by doing the rubbing she used to do to help Pepper calm down from Liz kicking her.  "That's handy," she sighed.  "I need to learn that."  Dawn grinned and wrote down the lamaze center's name and number.  "Really?"

"Yeah.  Very holistic.  They have lamaze classes and all that."

"That'll work," she decided.  "Thanks, Dawn.  Can you tell them to go away?"

"Yup, I can do that," Clint said with a manic grin.  He went down there with one of Dawn's bigger guns.  They all stared at him.  He smirked.  "You guys just pissed off the pregnant SHIELD agent.  You also upset the other pregnant woman.  My superior officer gave me permission to do anything I wanted to make sure you don't upset her again."  They ran off.  "Thanks."  He smiled and waved.

One stopped across the street.  "Is SHIELD recruiting witches?"

"No.  We keep a list, people.  That way we can call on people if we need to."

"But the blonde lady helps Dawn," he said.

"Yeah but she's six months along."

"Oh!"  He nodded and ran off more quickly.  Clint went back inside looking smug.  He took the elevator up to Tara and Maria's floor.  "Fixed," he called from the elevator then went down to their main level.  He put Dawn's gun up and smiled at her.

She laughed, kissing him.  "Is Natasha hiding?"

"I think she might be, yeah.  Or she's helping a few agents with things."  He took another kiss.  "She said she wouldn't be home tonight for dinner."  He winked.  She grinned and they moved to cook together.  He liked to cook but Dawn liked it sometimes and they did good working together.  Especially since he had stopped some of her funny eating habits way back when they had been out of the US.  She had been eating things that even pregnant women would look at and go 'I can't even put that together'.  He'd start to wonder about her future food cravings but he might make himself sick.  He took the ketchup from her and handed over something else with a small smirk.  "How bad are your food cravings going to be?"

"Don't know.  Mom said she didn't have hardly any.  Buffy only wanted pretzels all the time."

"So you might end up eating normal people food?" he teased.

She hip-nudged him.  "Probably not.  When you met me, all your lucky points got put into a savings account to accrue interest for kidnaping attempts," she said dryly.

He looked down at her, still amused by the height difference when she wasn't in heels.  "No they didn't.  I use them all the time on the job."

She grinned.  "You can withdraw from a savings account but it earns small interest."

He kissed her hard, pushing her against the fridge to look down at her.  "Was there another one I wasn't aware of?"

"Why would you think that?"

"Because you make statements like that when things have happened to let us subtly know that you're worried about things."  He gave her a pointed look.  She shook her head.  "Yeah.  Best Freudian slip ever."

"No, not recently."

"Define recently?  I haven't heard about any since that one prince."

"No, there's been one since then," she admitted.  He stared at her.  "No one told you?"

"Aren't *you* supposed to tell me?"  She reached behind him to turn down the frying pan's heat.  He nudged her.  "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought you heard me swearing about it?"

"No, not in the least, Dawn."  He smirked evilly.  "Who was it this time?"  She huffed.  "JARVIS?"

"It was someone speaking Russian.  They were caught earlier in the parking garage."

"Excuse me?" Dawn asked.

"We told Mr. Stark."

"Tony's been in the lab all day.  They got that close to me?  Dear, your birthday present may not be as massive as it was before."

"That's our job," he reminded her.

"Yay!"

"Who was the one before this one, since you didn't know either."

"Um...  I think he was with the lawyer for Shandy and Elmeer.  Or paid by them since he said I wouldn't get to testify against them.  Which is about when I kinda ripped the car apart magically and made him run away in fear?"

He kissed her, getting cuddled back.  "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I thought you heard."

"No.  Not in the least."  He thought at Natasha, who said she had heard but had warned him off with Xander.  "Oh, she heard and handled it."

"Oh, okay.  I was doing okay but if she wants to take some of your possessive growling time it's all right."

He kissed her again, turning to flip the steaks so they quit burning on the first side.  She stirred the other things they were making, then poked him on the side before walking around him to set the table.  He asked Natasha if she wanted them to save leftovers and she said she had already eaten so this was all for them.  He let her handle whatever she was doing.  It was clearly private and she didn't want to share.  They settled in to talk about what Dawn was going to be doing to this next attempt.  He was a bit worried but they could handle it.

***

Dawn walked into Security the next morning, staring at them.  "Why wasn't I told that someone was in the parking garage to kidnap me?"

They looked at each other then shrugged and looked at yesterday's incident reports.  "It said they told Mr. Stark."

Dawn smiled.  "He was in the lab all day and really, I'd like to know so I can take some extra precautions.  You know, wear more weapons that sort of thing?"

"Sure," they agreed.  "One of the guards from the same group has been having coffee all day in the other tower."

"Okay," she agreed.  "Are they causing problems?  Are they wanted by someone?"  They shrugged.  "Forward a picture to my desk."  She went up to it so she could look them up.  "He's not Russian mob.  That may not have been against me."  She frowned but kept looking.  It tripped some funky defense in the FBI's systems but she told them why she was looking him up, including that he was friendly with the people they had found lying in wait yesterday.  They tried to shut her down but she went in another way and considered things.  She sent that to Maria Hill to ask what she wanted her to do.

He wasn't Ten Rings, an independent contractor for the Russian mob, or related to them in any way.  He was an arms dealer's second-in-command.  That was really weird.  She sent the file to Clint mentally, who said he was watching him from over there.  And he still really hated salads but it was a good cover.  She quipped she'd come get one for lunch if he wanted.  He agreed that might prove his motives.  It might not be against her this time.  It might be an attempt to get Callia or one of the other geeks.  Hill agreed with that plan and she'd have Sitwell there in a few minutes to help Barton.

Dawn sighed and copied the file to Stark and Pepper.  Tony was still lost in the lab so she went to nudge him out of his overly focused state.  She found him napping and sighed.  Which made him flinch and look around.  "The people from yesterday might not have been after me after all."

"What people from yesterday?"  She pointed at his computer, making him coffee while he got into his emails.  He frowned.  "Are you sure?"

"The one from today looks related and he might not be from them."

"Huh."  He got into the file she had forwarded to him.  He sipped the coffee she made.  "Breakfast, Dawn?"

"What did you want?"

"Eggs, bacon or something."  He waved his cup.  "More of this."

"It's already brewing and I'll hit the caf for you."  She went down to do that while he showered and got more coffee to inhale.  By the time she came back up he was presentable, Callia was upstairs taking care of her pets instead of snoring underneath a car, and Tony was looking worried.  She handed over the plates.  "A really good heroic breakfast according to them."

He looked at the plates and nodded.  "It is."  He dug in, because he was hungry.  "Did I skip dinner?"

"I didn't see you yesterday, boss.  You had the privacy setting on."

"Oh, yeah."  He finished eating because it had probably been at least a full day since he had eaten.   He pointed.  She nodded, pointing at something.  He looked that up, pissing off the FBI further but Tony pointed out that they weren't doing the job so someone had to.  He found what he needed and showed her.  "That's not the ones after you."

"No, different group.  Though I remember I ended a few of them in Guatemala for daring to come near me."  Tony shook his head quickly.  "I know, it happens."

"Uh-huh."  He called Barton, who probably knew.  Clint sent him a text message about what he was seeing, that Sitwell was there, that Coulson was there as backup.   He let them handle it and looked at Dawn.  "Stay over here."

"We have plans of me going over at lunch to see what he does."

"I don't like that plan."  He sent that at Clint and sent Dawn back to the labs to do her usual rounds while they worked on it.

***

Dawn woke up, blinking hard.  "Huh," she said.  "This is not nice."  She looked around the room she was in.  There was a little bundle next to her under the blankets.  She checked.  It was her niece.  She just lost any and all control on her desire to be 'nice'.  She checked her.  Not snoring so sedated.  Good pulse and eye responses when she checked it.  Just asleep.  She got up to check the room, noticing she was redressed.  She didn't own anything this...massive.  She frowned.  "Yuck."  She found her clothes and put them back on.

It was a bit chilly but she'd be warming up soon by kicking ass or killing people magically. She sent at Clint, who said that the guy in the coffeeshop had been the diversion and backup plan. He had confessed nicely to him and Natasha.  They had no idea where she was.  She sent what she saw out the window.  That got her a country, Germany, and nothing else.  She heard someone coming near the doorway and shut down the link slightly.  The door opened after a knock.  "What the fuck did you think you were doing?" she asked.  The man blinked at her.  "Do I need to repeat that in another language?" she asked in Russian.  Then in German.  He nodded.  She moved closer.  "Who are you, what do you want, and I'll be killing you all for harming my niece," she said in German.

"It is not our intention to harm her.  The sedative is safe for children," he told her in German.  "You should change back before you get cold."

She touched him and her magic came out to freeze him and make his mind open to her.  He shrieked.  She sent what she saw to Clint, who said he knew where they were.  It'd take them an hour from where they were staging.  Phil couldn't just get them there, he'd never been near there.  She let him go, staring at him.  "You harmed my niece," she said bluntly.  "I will destroy *everyone* for harming her.  I will destroy humanity for harming her."  He was shaking badly.  "Whoever took us is in deep with me and I would suggest they let us go before I do worse to them."

He backed out and shut the door, locking it from that side.  She could hear him crying but yay.  She wasn't nice to people who had her hostage.  Someone else came in looking pissed off and said she should be nicer to her guard.  He was there to protect her and her niece.  That he would make sure no one harmed her.

She snapped and kicked his ass.  "I don't need it," she said bluntly, staring down at him.  "I'm pretty damn good at protecting both of us.  And hey, if you hadn't kidnaped us, we wouldn't need to be mean.  I'm never nice to people who have me or her hostage."  He swallowed, scooting away from her.  "Let us go and we'll call a truce.  I'll go back to being nice."  Someone clapped from the doorway.  She shot power at them, making them scream.  "I know you."  Clint was swearing so she closed the link down a bit more.  It was affecting her concentration.

"I should have you corrected for that," he sneered, walking in.  "Though it's nice that you do know so many languages.  From your *spouses*?"

"Not really.  I did learn Russian from one of them."  She hit him, knocking him back.  "I'm not going to give in to any demands, not giving you anything, and the longer we're here the more damage I'm going to do to the area."

"We can give her things that are much more harmful than a sedative," the minion noted.

Dawn laughed.  "Really?"  She cast a protection around Callia and then beat that minion to death.  She walked over him, looking at the other one.  "Now, let us go."

"Our boss would not be pleased and he'll kill us.  You might but he surely will."

"Then you bring him here so I can kill him."

"He's not here yet," he said.  He backed out, dragging the dead body with him.  They locked them in again.

Dawn growled.  She made herself calm down.  She opened the bond to Clint to tell him who the second-in-command had been.  It was against Stark this time, not them.  He agreed and told her to calm down.  They were in an upper floor so destroying the castle would only get them hurt.  To concentrate on getting Callia up.  She pointed out that having her out was a better option so she wouldn't have to see her killing people.  He said it might make her escape harder.  She concentrated, the local magic was weak.  But there was a mini hellmouth starting just about thirty miles away.  Maybe a little over.

He told her not to open it.  She promised she wouldn't but she could tap it without that.  Or the local demon power point that they had hidden.  She took her niece and held her against her shoulder, concentrating hard.  She pulled up power and went somewhere familiar.  She smiled at the large, ornate clock.  Still in Germany but not in the same area.  Clint grinned and told her it was a good plan, they were less than a half-hour from there.  To go to a certain police station to see if that one she had teased as a diversion was there.  She nodded, taking Callia that way.  She walked in and asked for the officer, getting a scowl back.  He got called down.  "Hi."

"Miss Summers," he said, grimacing.  "Why are you in Germany?  Are your *friends* handling something we should know about?"

"They might be but I helped myself and my niece escape from the people who had kidnaped us from New York.  I didn't do too much damage."

He blinked a few times.  "You were what?"  She nodded, shifting Callia.  "Come, we'll put her in a chair.  How old is she?"

"Seven."  She followed him.  "They're on their way but it'll be a half-hour," she said quietly.  "Mr. Billishu was the most senior person I saw."  He paused to stare at her.  "He's no longer alive."

"How did you escape?"

She smiled.  "The same way I changed my hair color?"

"Oh, that stuff."  He got them into the squad room and let her put Callia into a chair.  "Your *friends*....."

"My spouses," she said quietly with a grin.

"Oh, I see."  He nodded.  "The Black Widow is known to our people."

"I'm not sure if she's coming or not, but Hawkeye definitely is."

He nodded.  "He's a strong spouse."  He stared at her.  "Why did they capture you?"

She pointed at the baby.  "Look familiar?"

He blinked but shook his head.  "Should she?"

"She's my boss's daughter.  Also my niece Callia."

"Stark?" he mouthed.  She nodded.  "Billishu worked for Matra," he realized, smacking himself on the head.  "So it was against them?"

"Apparently.  They threatened to treat her worse than sedating her if I didn't cooperate.  Which was when I took out the guy holding us hostage.  His minion was crying and his upper minion pulled his dead body from the room they had us hostage in."

"Where?"  She touched his hand and showed him.  "I know of that town and that castle.  That's his company headquarters."

Dawn shrugged.  "I didn't bring it down."

He smiled.  "I saw that one."  He pointed at a chair, letting her bring it over.  Callia stirred then went back to sleep once she had shifted.  "Let me start the reports.  Do you have any weapons on you?"

"No, not right now.  I had when I was in New York so I have no idea where they are.  Thankfully not my special ones."

He nodded, starting that form.  His bosses had been horrified that he had been used as a diversion for the Black Widow to take down a terrorist group.  He emailed them an update to that situation and what was presently going on.  They said to let the SHIELD agents have her and the baby and they'd be sending someone down to talk to them.  They got there before Clint did.  Dawn went over what she remembered of what had happened.  She had no idea how they had gotten into Germany.  Clint did when he got there ten minutes later.  That got a better report and gave them a reason to raid that company.  Dawn smiled at him.

"You okay?"

"I'm good."

He grinned.  "Good.  She good?"

"Napping.  She's snoring now so it's back to normal sleep.  Her pulse and eyes looked normal when I checked."

"We can have our infirmary check," Phil said, picking her up.  Callia flinched awake and stared at him.  "Relax, I have you, Callia," he said quietly.

"Unclie Phil."  She hugged him, yawning.  "I don't know why I'm so sleepy."

"We do and we'll make sure you're okay when we get back home," Dawn said, rubbing her back.  Callia gave in and went back to sleep.  She smiled at Phil.  "Thank you."

"Welcome."  He looked at Clint then at the local agent.  "Can we?"

"Please," he agreed.  He looked at Clint.  "Though we would like to talk to you about the last time you were in our country."

Dawn sighed.  "You can't keep him or else I'm staying."

The other agent stared at her.  "Why?"  She smiled and held up her hand.  "Oh!"  He nodded.  He looked at Clint.  "You're a very strong man to have a wife like her.  What did you find out from them?"

"Widow left all the information in a packet and what she got later got sent to you guys," Clint said.  "Directly to Persha."

"I have not talked to him.  I shall.  He took the main scene."  He escorted them out.  They had landed outside town and were quickly gotten onto their quinjet to leave.  He went to talk to that senior agent.  Who was amused and agreed he had gotten information but it had been mostly moot points or handed out subtly.  Which drove the junior agents batty because they didn't know where it was coming from.

The officer logged out early, went to have a drink, and moped that a woman like Dawn probably couldn't be his.  He could use a woman like her.

***

Clint landed the quinjet on top of the second tower and let them out the back hatch.  Dawn woke up when the door opened.  Callia was still sleeping.  "C'mon," he said, picking the baby up.  "Let's get you both to the infirmary."  He kissed Dawn, earning a sleepy smile.  He and Phil escorted them down there.  They ran into Tony inside the tower.  "Infirmary first, Stark.  She got sedated."

"Okay," he agreed, taking his daughter to carry.  "She good?"

"Woke up once when I picked her up," Phil said quietly.  "I'm not the usual one so it woke her protections."  Tony nodded but he was looking not really happy.  He looked at Dawn, who Clint had hold of before she went back to 'talk' to the people who had planned that.  "Let us."

"Let him come here.  I want answers," Dawn countered.

"I can agree with that.  We don't want you going over to get them," Phil warned.

Tony snorted, looking at her.  "You find out whatever way you want to, Dawn.  I want answers."

She smiled.  "You know, we do business with two of their subsidiaries."

"We do?" he asked.  "Which ones?"  She pulled up their alliances on the closest virtual screen for him.  Two got further looked at and highlighted.  "Huh.  Their grandchildren."  He nodded.  "They're not good for much but I'll look into what they're giving us."  She canceled it out so they could take the elevator to the walkway.  Then across, into the elevator down to the infirmary.  "Doc?"  She came out to take Callia from him.  "Dawn got them free while Clint and Coulson were getting them from Germany."

"We know she got sedated," Dawn said, letting Clint help her up onto a table.  The nurse moved over to get her vitals.  "What was I doing when they got us?"

"Coming back from the after-lunch rounds," Tony said.  "You had to go over to help settle a dispute over something in one of the leases."  He pulled up footage for them.  JARVIS had saved it down specially for Coulson and Clint.  "Where is your wife?"

"Helping another agent," Clint said.  "Not sure with what."  They watched it and he grimaced.  "I remember seeing her coming over then the bond went blank.  Who are they?"

"Lawyers," Tony said.  "They rent office space."  That got a nod from Coulson, who was looking them up.  Tony looked at the doctor, who was running blood work.  Callia had woken up enough to glare at the blood being drawn and was now pouty about it.  He hugged her.  She snuggled in and went back to sleep.

The doctor read the reading and nodded.  "They did a good job.  It's a time released long acting one.  Should be out of her system in a few hours."

"They said it was kid safe," Dawn offered.

Doc smiled at her.  "It is.  It's sometimes given to children before minor outpatient surgery."  She ran Dawn's blood sample.  "They gave you the same thing but you're older so it wore out faster."  Dawn nodded.  "Should we do any other checks?"

Dawn shifted and shook her head.  "I don't think so.  I don't feel like you should."  She looked at Clint, who shook his head.  She shook her head.  "Um....  Don't think so."  Clint pulled the curtains so she could check.  And so he could check.  He shrugged and let her get redressed then opened the curtains again.  Tony handed them the box of wetwipes from the bedside table.  They cleaned up.  "Probably not an issue from what we can tell."

"Good," Doc said with a smile.  "Though I could've checked."

"Just as easy for me to do it and I need to make sure she's fine too," Clint said.  He looked at Dawn, who hugged him.  He gave her a squeeze.  "Can we go back to stomp them now, Coulson?"

"Let the Germans try first," he ordered.  "Then we'll find out why."

"Let's invite them here to explain themselves," Dawn said.  "I'd really like to know why they took Callia."

Phil nodded, tapping out a message to a SHIELD agent in Germany.  He got back a 'I'll tell that agent, sir, and I hope they're all right'.  "One of our European agents will liaison and find out for us.  Or do some inviting."  Dawn smirked evilly.  "Who was that one you got?"

"Billishu."

"Didn't he send you a job offer when you graduated?" Clint asked.

She smiled and nodded.  "Yes, he did.  A very standard one.  Nothing exceptional.  He was middle of the pack for incentives.  I sent back a very nice turn down letter that I had already accepted a position here after I signed the new contract."

"After?" Tony asked.  "Not like we wouldn't, Dawn."

She looked at him.  "Boss, how often have you seen me have backup plans?" she asked.  "Remember, I learned how to plan for things from Xander."

"Good point."  He grimaced.  "We're working on the renegotiating this month."

"You're busy all month," she said with an evil smirk.  "Your geeks are taking up all your time."

"I saw that.  It's time for the bi-yearly progress update meetings."  He rubbed his ear.  The nurse looked and popped the small zit on the top of it.  "Thank you."

"Welcome, Mr. Stark."  She put some ointment on it and let them talk.

Dawn popped her neck then rested against Clint's side again, yawning a bit.  "I don't know why I'm so tired."  She fell asleep against him.

Clint yawned.  "She's broadcasting sleepy feelings.  Sorry."

"I'm a bit tired too," Coulson said.

Doc frowned.  "No, she's not broadcasting."  Clint pulled a weapon and was instantly awake.  So was Coulson and Stark.  So when the nurse came back wearing a gas mask they were ready for her.  "I couldn't figure out how the meds got changed," she said dryly.  "Now I know."

"We'll hire you a few new ones," Tony promised, letting Coulson handle her since he had Callia still snoring on him.  Pepper came stomping in without Liz.  "We're good."

"Good!"  She took Callia from him to cuddle and then hugged Dawn, who was napping.  "Who?" she asked Clint.

"Mantra Corp.," Tony said, taking Callia back.  She glared so he let her have the baby back.  "Okay."  Yes!  It had worked!  Pepper was pregnant!

She frowned at him.  "You look awfully happy, Stark."

"Just to have her back, Pepper."  She smiled at that and let him have Callia back.  "No Steve?  Or is he pinned down by her cats?"

"He's pinned down by Liz.  He said he'll take her once we make it upstairs, unless she's staying?" she asked Doc.  Who shook her head.  "Good."  She took Callia while Clint lifted Dawn.  "Have a good night, people."  She walked off talking quietly to the baby.

Tony waited until she was in the elevator to smile.  Clint smirked and snickered a bit.  Coulson nodded.  "Have fun with the mood swings," he said quietly.  "We currently are with Maria and Tara."

"I did last time."  He went up in the next elevator.

Clint looked at Phil.  "Is Natasha home yet?"

"No."  He brought them all back to the building.  Clint seen carrying Dawn would start a panic in the press.  They didn't want that.

***

Dawn was sitting in a small conference room when her mysterious appointment the next day showed up.  The listing said it was for a reporter but no one she knew had put it on there.  It wasn't hacked either.  JARVIS had said one of the maintenance people had put it in there.  He was talking to Tony right now.  She was comfortable, had her legs crossed, was wearing a suit that made her look confident, in control, and wealthy - which was all true.  The man walking in was one that she wanted to 'talk' to.  She sneered slightly. "It's a good thing you set up a meeting.  I wanted to talk to you anyway, Mr. Mantra."

"Miss Summers."

"It's Mrs. Barton-Romanoff."

He swallowed.  "Really?"  She smiled and nodded.  "I had not heard that gossip."  She quirked an eyebrow up.  "You were quite mean to my people."

"Your people were incredibly rude because they kidnaped us.  Why should I have been nicer to someone who had us hostage?  I'm not known for it.  It might make them come back later on."  She stared at him.  "Why did they take us?  That was not clarified for me as I was beating him."

"I was going to offer you a very high position in my group.  On the senior board so you could use your talents in a more productive way."

She laughed, a low, warm sound.  "I use my talents here quite well making sure things happen as they should.  That would not be a good reason to take Callia as well."

"I was going to let you keep your daughter instead of having Stark raise her."

She snorted, shaking her head.  "Callia is his daughter with my sister.  Not my child."

"That is not what my people said."

"I was there right after she was born.  Alexander had to rescue her from the scientists that had impregnated her.  Pity they didn't survive the rescue to answer for why they wanted her to have a child."  The other man shuddered.  "Callia is very sweet and I do treat her like I would a daughter, the same as I do her sisters and brother, but they are Buffy's children.  Beyond that, you nearly made Mr. Stark so angry he was going to come get her."

"Stark is nothing compared to what I do," he sneered.  "Him and his hero complex are boring facsimiles of what I do daily."

She laughed again, watching the shivers run up him.  "Really?  Because looking over your company, you haven't put out any good prototypes in nearly six years, Mr. Mantra.  Even when our people are playing around and making new robotic dogs, they're still putting out things that are better than anything you've put out for the last ten years."  She smirked slightly.  "Even our non-PhD people do.  Though, I couldn't help you with that.  I'm not a lab person."

"No, you made Stark change direction so he went into something more openly profitable."

"No, that was Mr. Stark himself.  I support their change of direction and have helped when things got tangled up but that was between Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts.  Nothing I had anything to do with."

"The new tablet was your idea."

"Slightly.  Not totally.  He got frustrated with what was out on the market that wouldn't do what he needed it to."  She leaned back a bit.  "I'm sorry you were misled by your people."

"Which is why I need someone like you."

"You definitely need an assistant but I'm quite satisfied here.  You have nothing I could want to move for.  Especially after having me kidnaped.  I've had enough of that already in my life and you're lucky I didn't destroy the building that we were in."  He shuddered, shrinking down some.  "I have done that before due to being held captive.  I'm not nice to the people who have me hostage.  I never will be."  She stared him down.  "I'm sorry you didn't find what you were looking for but perhaps one of the new people graduating from my program in a few weeks?  There's a crop of good ones I'm told."

"I'll look into that.  I can offer you more money."

"My family is here.  You can not offer me anything to compensate for that loss."

"I can find a position for your mother and make sure your family is better guarded."

She quirked an eyebrow up.  "I would think that they were already well guarded.  They refused to consider bodyguards when I suggested it."  He swallowed.  "I'll also make a point known here.  Any move toward any of my nieces or nephews will result in me...losing my temper in a way that usually has someone on my doorstep with paperwork within hours.  I was mildly angry at the person who had my niece and spouses hostage because he thought he deserved me as a wife.  I didn't need to give him a second warning because he died."

She smiled slightly at him.  "I'm very protective of what's mine."  He nodded and left.  She tapped her fingers a few times on the table.  "He definitely needs an assistant who likes gossip magazines," she decided.  She stood up.  "JARVIS, please scan for listening devices."  He put a light on the one that had been planted during the meeting.  "Thank you."  She plucked it off.  "Forward that film to Coulson please."  She walked off, handing Tony the bug.  "He put it on there."

"It's a cheap piece of crap that they made," he said, looking at it.

She smiled.  "He thought she was mine."

"That was disproved years ago," he complained, frowning.

"Apparently his people don't read gossip mags, boss."  She strolled off.  "Going to do rounds."

"Please."  He looked her over, shaking his head.  She looked like a coldly efficient bitch today.  He guessed it was a good thing for that meeting.  Not even the six-inch heels made her look more friendly and flirty in that suit.  Then she took off the jacket.  That changed the whole outfit to flirty and sensual.  He was nearly sweating.  Now, the heels gave the right impression.  He ran into Barton in the hallway.  "You have him?"

"Coulson handed him to the German agents waiting on them.  Mantra was ranting that he would get Dawn to help his company since you were so pathetic."

"He did to her too."  He saw him watching Dawn walk down the hall.  "She looks nicer now."

Clint smiled at him.  "You and Pepper taught her to dress theatrically when necessary."

"I did," he agreed.  "We did a great job."  He walked off to talk to Pepper, who was reading to Liz.  "The new agreements?"

She smiled at him.  "I'm hoping they put her to sleep."

"They might."  He took her to read them to her.  She babbled and patted him.  "I don't think you're sleepy, are you?  You should be.  It's nap time."  She wiggled.  "Did Callia feed you sugar?  Because you're very sweet."

Pepper snorted.  "Don't use pickup lines on the baby, Tony."

"Sorry, but she is.  She gets it from you."

Pepper blushed, staring at him.  "Dawn finally take off the jacket?"

He nodded but shrugged.  "Still true even if she wasn't being flirty."   Pepper blushed harder.  He grinned.  "Do we perhaps have news?"

She sighed and nodded.  "I am."  He smiled, getting up to hug her.  Liz cooed and hugged Mommy too.  "Thank you."

He kissed her.  "You're very welcome."  He gave her a smug look.  "I'd love you even without her sibling."

"I know."  She patted him.  "You're going mushy.  You should feed her."

"I can do that."  He looked at Liz.  "Want lunch?"   She gave him a confused look.  "Let's go eat."  He walked her down to the caf and got them both lunch.  She pouted about not having anything but he fork-smashed some macaroni and cheese for her to gum to death.  She liked that.  She made pouty faces until he gave her more.  The others in there smiled at how happy she was.  Callia ran in and to the line.  "Daughter."  She looked over and smiled, waving at them.  "Sit and eat with us."

"Cars, daddy!"

"Sit and eat," he ordered, pointing at the chair.  "Just like a family dinner."  She nodded, bringing over her plate then running to get a drink.  She settled in to eat with them.  "Which cars are you playing with?"

"Happy's taking me to the car show in the other tower."

"A few of those are ours," he admitted, smiling at her.  "I'd take you."

"You have to help beat the bad guys, Daddy.  Happy can take me and later you can take me again."  She smiled and handed Liz a few pieces of ham.  "You liked that last night when Beya let you gum on it."  She dug in.  Liz sucked on some of the ham, looking surprised.  But that went well and she liked it until she almost choked.  Tony handled it.  "Sorry," Callia said quietly.

"It's all right.  Kids try to shove too much in their mouth all at once.  You still do sometimes."  She grinned and finished up.  He kissed her on the head.  "Have fun and we'll go later."  She hugged them both and put her dishes up then ran off to meet with Happy.  He looked at Liz.  "She's hyper today.  I wonder if she has gymnastics today or tomorrow."  He looked at his phone.  "Nope, that's tomorrow.  So she needs to play on the climbing stuff on the gym.  Some day you'll do that."  Liz smiled and kept gumming on the ham.  He offered her mac n'cheese, which made her a happy baby.  Pepper came in and smiled.  "We like ham and mac n'cheese, Mom."

"That's good."  She got her lunch and sat down to help him feed Liz.  She changed the small pieces of ham for a much bigger one she couldn't stuff in her mouth at once.  Liz liked that and smiled at them.  "Good girl."  They ate and talked about the upcoming week's schedule.  Tony was a pretty good dad, even to her daughter.

***

Dawn walked into Shield Design.  "Morrison, the weekly reports?" she asked, moving to make coffee.

"We have an update meeting with Stark tomorrow so we were going to hand them over then," he said.  "Guys, this is Stark's personal assistant, Dawn.  She picks up the weekly reports, makes sure we're not locking ourselves in the lab too often, and she does about half of all the problem solving around here," he told the new hires.

Dawn smiled, finishing the coffee.  "Only a third.  You guys handle a lot yourselves."  She smiled at the other people.  "I usually show up for any reports each Monday and I make coffee for the labs if you need me to each day.  I know some of our people never remember to eat and drink.  If you need anything, I'm at extension 1212."  She walked off happier.

One of them stared hard at her back then at the only person that had remained from the old team.  "She's hot."

"She's taken by a SHIELD agent," Morrison assured him.  "Dawn's also pretty tough.  She spars with the Avengers about every week."  The guy shivered.  "Don't try to tap that.  She's had to take down predators before," he warned.  "Just don't.  Hawkeye is very possessive.  Plus usually in the ceiling vents by rumors going around."  He looked up then shrugged and got back to what he was fixing.  "Dawn's a nice girl.  Pepper took her in when she was fifteen because her mom was sick.  Her mom's Dr. Banner's wife."

"So she's well connected too," the head of the department said.

Morrison looked at him.  "Just...don't.  Stark treats her like a daughter.  She's Callia's aunt, and the twins' aunt.  And don't touch them either.  They're twelve even if they don't look like it.  Dawn has nearly killed someone a few times over trying to touch the twins or Callia.  Including the guy you replaced."  The guy moaned.  "Really.  You don't want to."  He got back to work.

"Weekly progress reports?" one of the new hires said.

Morrison smiled and nodded.  "Stark wants to know how we're doing, if there's any problems we're running into, things like that.  It's not real formal.  Just a 'we made limited progress toward whichever goal, got a new design laid out, ran into these design flaws.  If we keep running into problems he'll come help us or send someone with that speciality in to help us.  We had Andrew more than once to help us with laser applications.  He and Jonathan are in lab 7 and Stark's mentorees."

"The dark haired guy that was kissing the pregnant one in Chem?" that new hire asked.

Morrison smiled and nodded.  "Him, yeah.  His lab partner's dating and marrying Patty, in lab 34, soon."

"They're sweet girls," the new head of the department agreed.  "Slightly pretty.  Really smart but not real people oriented."

Morrison laughed.  "Neither were the boys originally.  They helped each other.  If you see the roaming roombas that bark, they made the roomba dogs."

"Huh," the head guy said.  "That's really weird."

"One's bomb sniffing and the other has lasers to bite," Morrison said.  "They're very protective of Callia and the twins.  Also, Callia has cats, a dog, and a rabbit.  So if you see a sneaking cat, call them."  He did call Security.  "Just spotted the Tony cat by Shield Design."  He hung up and let them come gather the stalking cat.  And the mouse it was chasing.  The mouse got handed back to the lab it had gotten free from, and the infirmary was summoned up because they had apparently passed out.  So they got to watch some excitement for a few minutes too.  Dawn handled it and shutting down the lab for now.  Then she walked off.

Callia came off the elevator.  "I can feed her mice.  I used to do mine," she told Dawn.

"She's testing special food for mice," she told her.  "So we can't.  That would hurt her experiment."

"Pity.  I kinda miss the mice."

"So go visit the twins," she said dryly.  Callia grinned and ran off to tell the bigger twins that idea.  They agreed so Callia arranged for them to go visiting for a few hours.  The twins adored that idea.  They wanted to cuddle Tara and the younger set of twins.  They even stole Liz and her diaper bag.  Callia even promised to help change diapers if she had to.

***

The new head of Shield Design sat down in the cafeteria with a group of fit looking geeks.  "Hi, Peter Shalet.  New head of Shield Design."  They introduced themselves and went back to eating.  The guys were mostly reading things on their tablets.  "So, this is a bit different than an academic setting," he said.  "Progress reports?"

"That way Stark can keep track of when we need help or more supplies," the one next to him said with a grin.  "He mostly glances over them for problems and then files it.  Each department has a file.  That way if we're slacking he sees that pattern and if we're having problems he can come help."

"He sent MB to help Patty and us," another one said with a smile.  "Which was sweet but she had to wear shielding gear due to the baby."  They all smiled at that idea.  "She's going to be a fussier mother than Pepper is."

"Or Dawn will be," the first geek agreed.  He smiled at the new guy.  "No one does more than glance over them.  It's not like he's staring over our shoulders or breathing down our necks for steady progress.  Stark's been a lab geek himself for a really long time.  He's the sort to lock himself in a lab and not come out for days, even to eat.  Which is where Dawn learned how to gently nag him about it."

"She does?"

"She calls it fussing," the other geek said.  "She makes us coffee.  If we're one of the ones that gets too involved and we forget to eat she'll remind us.  She'll get us supplies if we need them and can't get away.  Stark taught her a lot about how to handle lab things and about being a geek.  She's really good to us."

The first one nodded with a huge grin.  "She's the one I went to talk to about proposing to my girlfriend.  I wasn't sure I wanted to but she let me talk it out and offered questions that made me think.  She also reminded me about prenups and our legal department being wiling to make them for us.  When Andrew and MB married she loaned MB a dress and got them to City Hall."

Another of the guys at the table cleared his throat.  "I'd be jealous of the fussing that Andrew and Jonathan get but they're geeks like Stark is.  Fandom and otherwise.  They got taken in because they were going evil overlord and Stark didn't want to have to ruin their minds.  They may be non-PhD geeks but they've come up with a lot of stuff.  Including the Roombas."

"They are handy, especially 1 since he's bomb sniffing and we had that one person who sent one to the head office that time," the first geek agreed.

"They did?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, jealous of Dawn and Pepper."

"Oh."  He ate a bite and nodded.  "So we're well taken care of?"

"We're so spoiled," the first geek assured him.  "There's guest suites if something happens or we're working too hard and forget to go home.  The caf is open all day and night.  We set our own schedules.  Stark gives each department money for coffee so we can buy whatever we want.  Dawn has the forms for that if you need it."  That got a nod and another bite eaten.  "The gym's free for us to use but don't get caught staring at the twins.  They're *gorgeous* but twelve.  They look seventeen but they're twelve.  You got your job because the last guy was staring a bit too hard and one of his people tried to make time with one of the twins.  Dawn nearly killed them.  Stark beat the guy who had your job pretty badly before Dawn got hold of him and the other guy."

"Dawn's a pretty girl."

"Seen the Avengers?" the first geek asked.  He nodded.  "You saw that archer guy and the redhead?"  He nodded with a grin.  "They're hers.  They're totally together.  We see them hanging around now and then.  Sometimes Romanoff comes in to pretend to be an assistant and helps Dawn with all her jobs.  Sometimes Barton sits by her and stares at her."

"I think it's nice that Andrew threatened him if he kept making Dawn sore," the third geek said happily.

"It was," Peter agreed.  "Sounds very...family."

"That group, yeah," the first geek said.  "Then again, Callia is Dawn's niece.  She came along after Dawn got taken in but it's really nice that they're all so tight.  We've mentioned problems to Dawn before and had them handled by the appropriate person quietly.  Oh, the cats?  The tan, chatty one is named after Dawn.  She'll hop up on your shoulder to talk your ear off if you let her.  If she does, call Security so they can bring her back upstairs.  Now and then they sneak out."  He pointed.  "Clint cat, go home."  It meowed at the food smells, hopping up to look.  One of the lunch women grabbed him, making him fight but oh well.  The security guard in there took him to send upstairs.  "See?"

Peter nodded.  "I do, yeah.  Why did he start a shield division anyway?"

"Have you seen how many times they bang into buildings?" the second geek asked dryly.  "They need it to protect the important ones, like the children's hospital that Agent Barton visits a kid at."

"His?"

"Make a Wish," the first geek said with a grin. "Idolizes him."

"Huh.  Interesting."  He went back to eating, considering things.  He saw Dawn walking in with the guy who wasn't the archer but looked like him.  He pointed with his fork.

"That's the guy from the movie," the third geek moaned.  "Wow."

Dawn smiled at their table.  "He's talking with Clint, guys.  Relax."  They smiled at her.  He smiled and waved.  Clint strolled in with the Dawn cat.  She took the cat and walked off talking to her.  She had to hunt down Natasha but that was about usual.  She was on top of Andrew's filing cabinet.  He came in from getting lunch with MB to find her trying to get her down.

"Down," Andrew ordered with a point.  She hopped down and let Dawn pick her up.  "We've had to had that talk a few times with MB's little evil fluffball."  He petted Natasha.  "The guys in Shield Design think you're hot."

"I am but I'm allowing respectful staring," she quipped with a smirk for him.  He laughed and let her put the cat back upstairs.

Andrew sent a message to Barton.  Just in case.  He remembered the bullies they had up there before.

***

Dawn came home that night, spotting the idiots on the stoop again.  Great.  She sighed, catching their attention.  "I'm tired.  What are you people doing?"

"The pregnant agent?"

"What about her?" she asked.

"She's with SHIELD?"

"Yes."

"They allow pregnant agents?  I thought they all had to leave the main building and the hell carrier."

"Mostly but her position can't easily be moved.  You guys really do piss her off by the way.  People who show her picture make it harder for her to work."  They nodded they understood that.  "Anything else?  I'm exhausted, people."

"Is it because of the shoes?" one asked.

Dawn shrugged.  "I have really narrow feet.  I can't find anything but heels to fit.  I've only found one shop in Singapore and one here in the city that has shoes that fit me and the local one is for more club oriented clothing."

"A stripper store?" one of the reporters guessed.

"That too."  She smiled.  "If I could find flats in my size I'd gladly wear them.  Now, can I go take my shoes off and start on dinner?"  They let her by.  "Thank you and please go away?"

"We wanted to talk to Captain Rogers.  No one's seen him recently and there's a report that says he's depressed."

Dawn snorted.  "I talked to him earlier when he called from his current assignment, people."  They groaned.  "He's fine."  She walked in and firmly shut the door, going up to her apartment once she had the mail.  Only the bills came here.  It was time to pay them again.  She got inside, took off her shoes, settled on the couch to pay them, and found Natasha in the kitchen.  "Hey, you're back."  She smiled and got up to kiss her.  "Is the agent you were helping okay?"

"They're fine."  She smiled at Dawn.

Dawn gave her a hug and pulled back.  "What's wrong?"

"Nothing.  Why would anything be wrong?"

"Because you didn't hug."  Natasha opened her mouth.  Dawn stared at her.  "What happened?  Are you injured?  I might need new bandages."

"No, I'm fine," she promised, stopping Dawn from checking for injuries.  She winced when Dawn found something she shouldn't.

Dawn stared at it then at her.  "Is that a hickey?"

"It's a bruise."

"Yes, they are."  She stared at her, backing away to lean against the counter.  "Want to tell me what happened?"

"No."

"Were you on assignment or something?"

Natasha took a deep breath.  "I was not."

Dawn nodded.  "Then I think one of us needs to go away for a while.  Before I start a screaming match that the reporters outside will hear."  Natasha didn't move.  Dawn put back on her shoes and grabbed her phone, walking off.  She ran into Maria outside and the press arguing with her.  "People," she snapped.  "Enough."  They backed down.  "Sorry, Maria, didn't mean to bump into you."  She walked around her, getting into the cab Maria had gotten out of.

She gave her mother's address and got taken off.  She tied down both bonds but did send Clint a message that Natasha was home.  He asked what she had run out for.  She replied she was going to see her mother about a hickey she had found.  Clint didn't answer back.  She put her phone in her pocket, paying from the change in it.  She hadn't gotten her purse.  She got out and walked over to knock on the door.  Joyce opened it.  Dawn started to sniffle and hugged her.  Joyce pulled her inside, shutting the door before anyone could see.  "She had a hickey, Mom," she whispered.

"I'm going to kill her myself," she promised, sitting down with Dawn on the couch.

***

Clint looked at his phone then at the people around him.  "I have to go home," he said, getting up and walking off.

Coulson followed to stop him.  "What happened?"  Clint shook his head, his jaw clenched.  He took the phone to read the text message that had pissed him off and winced.  "Damn it."

"She's with Joyce.  I think we need to have a talk."

"I believe you're right.  Want me to move you two somewhere private and isolated?"

"Maybe."  He got onto the elevator, heading down so he could catch a cab.  He tapped at his link with Dawn but felt her ready to cry.  No, she wasn't going to handle that well.  He got home and walked past the reporters, who were all quietly staring.  "Not.  Tonight."  They ran off again.  He went upstairs and walked in, closing and locking the door.  He stared at her.  "Would you like to justify it or would you simply like to explain?"

"I...  I panicked."

"Okay," he said.  "Not a good explanation."  He stared at her.  "That's not going to cut it with either of us."  She got up and he pushed her back into the chair.  "No.  We're going to talk."

"I...."  He glared and she shut up.  "Fine."

He sat down in front of her, staring at her.  "Panicked?"

"I don't know what I was thinking.  It was like being closed in and suddenly there was a burst of freedom."

"It's not like we keep you in a cage," he said bluntly.  He grimaced.  "Who?"

"Perable."

"He's a douche," he noted.

"I wasn't looking for really good, Barton."

He stared at her.  "Clearly."  She flinched at the cold tone.  He stood up and walked into the kitchen to get some water, coming back out to stare at her again.  "So what are we going to do about this?"

"I don't know.  Dawn...."

"She's with Joyce.  Who will kill you over this," he said, sounding normal and unconcerned.  He drank some of the water to calm his temper down.  "I'm not really pleased.  Frankly, I'm about to join her at Joyce's, Natasha."  She nodded, looking down.  "What the hell is going through your mind?"

"It was an overreaction to feeling a bit closed in by everything going on.  From not being able to do my usual job to having people follow me places to all the other things that are going on.  You're ... you're both sweet, and nice, and *there*.  Then I got an offer from someone who wasn't always there."

"So you spent a week working out this panic that we're always around you," he said, then sipped more water.  "Did it help?"

"No."

"Good!"  He stared at her, calming his temper down.  He looked around, spotting the cat staring at him.  He looked at her again.  "We've clearly got to talk about this.  I don't think it will be tonight because I'm mad enough to start yelling.  Dawn's fighting her urges to beat you."  She slumped, nodding.  "And really, I think we'd be justified, and I hate that about myself."  He stood up.  "I'm going to Joyce's.  I'm not sure if we'll be back tonight or not.  We'll be sitting down to talk about this tomorrow night.  All three of us.  Once we're calmer, back in control of our tempers, all that."  The twins came in.  "C'mon, we're going to see your grandmother so we're not arguing tonight."  They nodded, going with him.  He even took the cat.   Diana took Loki from him.  "Thanks."

"What happened?" Artemis asked.

"We'll talk at your grandmother's.  Where there's no reporters."  He called a cab and they waited inside until it came.  Then they got in together and he paid the fare.  The cabby drove off once he had the address.  Once they got there, Diana ran ahead to get them inside because there was a reporter watching the house.  She smiled at her grandmother, bouncing in to hug her.  Artemis and the cat came in with Clint following.  Then Clint closed and locked the doors.  He walked over to Dawn, hugging her.  "We'll talk tomorrow," he said quietly.

Dawn nodded.  "I'm not sure if I want to.  I can't stand...."

He kissed her.  "Me either."  She looked at him.  "I don't know.  I really don't know."  He sat down and cuddled her.  "Girls, we're having a fight with Natasha right now.  That's why we're having dinner here."  They nodded, letting the cat down so he could crawl up on his humans' laps to comfort them.  "Thanks, Loki cat."  He petted him and Dawn petted his ears.

"We'll help you guys work it out, "Joyce promised, kissing him on the head.  "What did she say?"

"She panicked."

"That's a better reason than Hank had," she admitted, going into the kitchen.  "I'll make more than soup.  Girls, go clean up."  They ran to do that then came in to help her.  She was teaching them how to cook better than their mother did.

Dawn looked at him.  "I always said I would not accept a cheater," she said quietly.

"I don't want one either.  She's not doing it for the same reason as your ex-stepfather did."  He squeezed her.  She rested her head against his shoulder.  "I don't know what we're doing yet beyond the point that I evacuated before I started to scream and rant."

"Me too.  Or started to cry."  He kissed her hair.  She relaxed and let it happen as it did.  They all understood.

***

Tony watched Dawn walk in the next morning on the security cameras.  "JARVIS, why is she wearing the same clothes?"

"She, Agent Barton, and the twins spent the night with her mother, sir."

Tony grimaced.  "Really?"

"Yes."

"Any yelling, screaming, anything going on at home?"

"No, not that I noted."

"Natasha back?"

"Yes.  She's hiding in her apartment cleaning weapons."

Tony scowled.  He went to get Dawn from the changing area.  He ran into Clint.  "You two good?"

"Nope," he admitted.  "We're going to spar though."

"What happened?"  Clint stared at him.  "She's like my sister, Barton.  Can I help?  Mediate whatever fight's going on?"

"No.  We need to have this out between us.  Thanks though."  Dawn came out dressed in something else.  He looked at her.  "Sparring?"

"Let me handle the few things at my desk and I will."  He nodded, going with her.  "Hey, Tony."

He stared at her.  "Want to talk to Pepper?"

"No.  I'll end up ranting and screaming and she's not the one I want to do that at."  She patted him on the arm.  "Let me handle my desk for a bit before sparing."  She walked off with him.

Tony stared at her back then went up to his lab to think and watch the footage again.  What had Natasha done that had upset them that much?  When it hit him he snarled and sent a private message to Pepper.  She sent back that Dawn was acting normally but it was clear Barton was going to snap.  She sent them to spar once Dawn had done the mail, memos, and answered the phone the first time it rang.  Mostly because Dawn had flinched when it had rang and so had Barton.  Tony went upstairs.  Steve and Bruce had gotten back late the night before and both were crashed in his apartment.  Bruce was being sat on by the dog, who was sleeping on him.  He was awake and staring oddly at the dog.  "He does that to me too," Tony said quietly.  "Joyce might need a hug."

"Why?  What happened?"

"I'm pretty certain Dawn and Clint found out Natasha had cheated," he said very quietly.

Bruce nodded.  "She's going to kill her."

"Both of them are sparring."

"Good.  They'll save some for Joyce."  He got free of the dog, which pouted at him for it.  "I need to go shower," he told it.  Xander puppy barked and followed him, because he liked the water too.  "Sure, that'll work."  He even gave the dog a bath since it seemed to want one.

Tony walked into his bedroom, finding Callia hugging him.  "Your dog's in the shower with your grandfather," he told her.

She giggled.  "We do that sometimes too."  She hugged Steve.  "Can I have him today?"

"Later.  I need him for a few."

"Okay."  She sighed but got up and went to make breakfast.  "I'm doing eggies."

"Okay.  Have your grandfather watch you."  He shut the door, making Steve stare at him.  "Need to talk, on a team level, for a few."

"What happened?"  He sat up.  Tony sat on him.  "That bad?"

"Pretty sure Natasha just blew her chance at happiness.  Dawn came home, they had a short meeting then she went to Joyce's.  Then Clint stormed home, they had a short talk, and he went to Joyce's with the twins."

"What happened?  Did she say she wanted a divorce?"

"I think she cheated," Tony said quietly.

"Great."  He laid back down.  "Want me to talk to her?"

"I'm not sure.  I'm not sure if things can be gotten over for any battles we have coming up.  I know Dawn's flinching at the phone again.  I know Barton's at the level of icy silence but he's clinging to Dawn."

Steve nodded.  "I can see if they want to talk."

"They turned down my help."

"I know."  He took a kiss.  "Otherwise you wouldn't have brought it to me."  He got up once Tony had moved.  "Let me shower and change."

"They're going to spar."

"Even better.  It might wear some things out."  He stripped off and walked into the bathroom to shower off Cambodia.  The mission had went well but he enjoyed being home.

Tony went back to the lab.  He needed to think.  He wasn't sure what he wanted to do beyond shake the shit out of Natasha for this stupidity.  Or go borrow Andrew's battle suit to beat her to death.  It'd be unfair if he used the Iron Man suit on her.

***

John looked up from his weekly PT then rolled his eyes.  "Not even praying is going to help you calm down," he muttered, going back to his workout.  "Even to me."  He finally listened to the whole thing Dawn was venting mentally.  Okay, that made sure he'd run later.  He appeared and grabbed Natasha, making her follow him.  "Let's go talk."

"Did they tell you?"

"No, Dawn's trying not to spew so she's mentally ranting.  Which apparently for some reason I'm the one who's catching it."

Phil appeared.  "Sorry.  Xander's unconscious at the moment."

"Why?" Natasha asked.

He stared at her.  "He fell."  She slumped.  "We need to talk, Romanoff."  He got her from John and took her to the nice little clearing by Xander's cabin on Asgard.  "It is just you and me here," he said calmly, staring at her.  "No one else.  No one that you have to justify anything to.  So let's talk."

"I don't know why...."

"Natasha," Phil said quietly.  "Even when your mind has been tampered with you know your own actions."  She sat down on the wood pile but he moved her.  "It might have squirrels and the ones up here do bite."  He took her inside, making some tea for them.  He handed hers over and sat down across from her.  "So what happened?"

"I was feeling trapped.  Sometimes I get that."

"I've seen it happen.  I saw it happen with Barton once and I nearly had you removed to another handler."  She stared at him.  "You can work with others.  He can't.  Or couldn't at the time."  She nodded that was true.  He sipped some of his tea, showing her it was safe.  She sipped hers and put it aside.  "I'm not mad.  I'm disappointed.  I'm giving you a chance to figure things out before they come home tonight so you can argue."

"I...  I should not be there."

"If you aren't there, they're going to have worse problems," he said bluntly.  "The only reasonable, healthy course of action is to talk things out.  Yes, there will be a fight.  Dawn will probably cry, Clint's going to shout and get pissed off.  So will you."  He stared her down.  "But... if you don't it'll be worse.  Can you take losing them?"

"I already have."

"No, not fully.  Perhaps later on but not right now."  He finished his tea and put the mug in the sink to clean it.  There was a spell that did it for them because they both hated to do dishes.  Natasha got up to finish hers and put it in there too.  "It's nearly dinner time back on earth.  Are you ready?"

"No," she said.  He stared at her.  "But I am not a coward."  He took her back home, depositing her in front of the couch.  Which had Dawn and Clint sitting on it talking.  He disappeared.  "I...."  She cleared her throat.  "This is not what I meant to have happen."

Dawn looked at her.  "If you had told us we were smothering you we might've let you take a vacation, with rules.  Things like it had to be someone clean so you don't give us anything and you can't get pregnant by them."  Natasha shook her head.  "Right now though, you're damn lucky I'm not killing you."

Clint nodded.  "It's not a hell I want to watch us go through either."

"I can have our apartments separated."

"Shut up and sit down," Dawn ordered quietly.  She did.  Dawn grimaced.  She looked at Clint then at her.  "We all have issues.  We all realize we all have issues.  You have issues from your past, he has some from his past, I have a few of my own," she noted.  "Our choice right now is to either work through it, either by counseling or on our own, or destroying what had been happy before."

"Which none of us want to do," Clint admitted.  "Though you're on your own with Joyce."

"Mom realized it wasn't the same as her ex doing it, not for the same reasons, but she's still pissed enough to beat you with a shoe."  She shifted to cross her legs, considering it.  "So, we have two options and one destroying one."

"I do not think I could take counseling.  I tend to avoid after-mission ones," Natasha said.

"So do I," Clint agreed.  "This would be even more invasive and might screw us up worse."

Dawn nodded.  "Then we need to do a hell of a lot of talking."  She looked at Clint then at Natasha.  She sent a private thought at Clint, who grimaced but nodded.  "We are going to make a few demands," Dawn said.  "The first is that you're getting checked for STD's.  Even if we fell into bed together sometime in the near future I'd want at least two clean tests before we go without condoms."

"That's reasonable," Natasha agreed.  "Though I don't expect it to come out wrong."

"With the way your mental state was circling, did you ask?" Dawn asked.

"Most SHIELD agents are clean," Clint said.

"Bullshit," Dawn snorted.  "They mostly have treatable things, but I filed a whole lot of updates to personnel files that had things like 'caught syphilis while on mission'."

"Eww," Clint said.  "Okay, then definitely, yeah.  And condoms."  He patted Dawn's wrist to keep her calm.  "I'd also like a pregnancy test done."

"I took a shot right before," she told them.  They nodded that was nice of her.  She shifted uncomfortably.  "I can agree to those demands however.  I can sleep in my own apartment."

Dawn looked at her.  "I was going to let you have the spare room up here since you don't have a bed."

"That's Sean's room," she reminded her.

"I have a few empty ones," Clint said.  "That way you don't have to buy a bed."  She nodded her thanks.  "I don't know what to tell you, Nat.  I'm so damn pissed.  I really want to scream at you but it won't do any good."

"Ditto," Dawn sighed, rubbing her face.  She slumped some then looked at Natasha again.  "What did we do to make you feel so trapped?"

"It wasn't anything like that, Dawn."  She considered it.  "In the past you've both noted that I've realized how easy we were together and gotten...strange about it."  They nodded they agreed.  "This was another of those.  Then suddenly he was there and it was a bad idea but it was like it fixed it."

"Then we really need to work on that in addition to the other stuff," Dawn said.  "Because I'm not sure if that's a trust issue, if that's something that you learned before that's biting us all on the ass, or if it's something deeper than that."

"It could be any of those," Clint admitted.  "Plus she's been under mind control before so it could've come from that.  We all still have flashes from our times under it."  Dawn nodded she still did.

"I did not mean to make you angry."

"We sparred for four hours today," Clint told her.  "To get this calm."  Natasha shivered.  "Dawn nicely healed all the bruises.  Cap locked us in a room after trying to talk to us."

"Then the others know?"

"Tony realized we were a bit stressed and it was something between us," Dawn said.  "He offered to mediate but we turned it down.  I'm thinking he guessed.  Cap said he wanted to make sure you two could still work as part of the team."

"We broke up once before and still could," Clint said.

"It was difficult but doable," Natasha agreed.  "Bruce?"

"He's supporting Mom and offering types of shoes for her consideration.  He said he'd help mediate and all that but he wasn't getting in the middle."

"Tony tried that a few times but even Cap told him we needed to work this out between us," Clint said.

Natasha nodded.  "We do."  She shifted to curl up in the chair.  "I'm sorry."

"That's a great place to start," Clint agreed.  "That and dinner."

Dawn looked at him.  "Which one of us is cooking?"

"The pizza place?"

"I just moved most of everything to a better bank account so mine's a bit locked."

"I can cover it."  He kissed her on the forehead.  "Why?"

"Because this way it's on this coast."

"Oh, that's a great idea," he decided.  "How long before it's all transferred?"

"Six more days."  Clint nodded, calling for pizza.  They sat there and looked at each other until it got there, then Clint paid and Natasha put it on the table.  They settled in to eat and try to talk.  Though, Dawn mostly picked at it.

Natasha looked at her.  "I did not stop to think how hard this would be on you."

Dawn looked at her.  "You're actually pretty damn lucky I'm willing to talk.  I swore up and down when I was shown what Mom went through that I would never put myself in that hell she went through.  Including yearly HIV tests for six years."  Natasha shuddered.  "I know you're not the same as Hank was, Natasha.  I know it was a different motivation, I realize all that.  I can't say as I'm not really pissed off."  She ate a real bite of pizza.

"What did Buffy do when she found out Riley had been cheating with the vampire feeding stuff?" Clint asked.

"Mom made her put down the baseball bat and they talked for about six hours.  Buffy handled it and he had to leave town anyway.  Though she still might miss him now and then, not totally sure.  I know now and then she gets a feening for Angel."  She shrugged slightly.  "First love stuff I guess."

"Most young women had that," Natasha said.  "I did with my first husband."

"You guys kinda were mine," Dawn said dryly.  "I don't have to think back and remember."  Clint groaned.  She shrugged.  "I had dated casually but nothing more than a few dates with one person, who I decided was an incompetent moron with size issues.  He kept wanting me to get breast implants."

"So he had a thing for girls that looked like strippers?" Clint asked.

"He was only seventeen.  He'd only seen pornos.  It was right before my seventeenth birthday.  I had a sudden fit on him about being fine the way I am, and I was a good, natural size.  That fake ones ruined everything about a real woman unless they were done to correct defects.  He stomped off.  Tony gave me a standing ovation for it since we were at the house for a later meeting."  She ate another bite of pizza.  "He apparently wanted Jessica Rabbit."

"You'd look really strange as her," Clint said.  Dawn nodded and smiled a bit.  "I was never that shallow.  I dated some, had some cheap thrills here and there.  Then I took up with Nat the first time."

"So she was your first real love too?" Dawn quipped.

"Yeah, pretty much."  He glanced at her, seeing the blush.  "We'll figure it out."

Dawn nodded.  "We will.  Though, if it ever happens again?  I will use *all* my skills on you," she assured her wife.  Then she smiled.  "Not even Clint will know what happens to you."

Natasha shuddered but nodded.  "I understand and would accept that fate, Dawn."

Dawn got up and went into the bedroom.  Clint watched her go and put her plate aside.  He looked at her.  "She hates going into that sort of mood."

"I remember."  She put her own plate down.  "I should go to my room."

"Use the master in my old place," he said quietly.  "No reason for you to be on the hard spare beds."  She nodded, going up there.  Clint leaned back.  Dawn was sniffling and trying to hide it on the cat.  "Dawn?" he called quietly.

"No.  Stay."

"Okay."  He gave her ten minutes then went in.  She pulled him down to cuddle him because he needed comforting too.  Before Nat had just dumped him, not done something like this.

***

Joyce walked into work the next morning looking calm.  She was wearing new shoes.  Maria looked and smiled.  "Pretty."

"Thank you.  I splurged a bit but they'll last through me using them on someone."  She sat down.  Maria looked confused.  She shook her head.  "Family issues."

"Something happen to the twins?" she asked.  "Or Callia?"

"No."

"Something happen to Sean or Dawn?"

"Slightly."  She grimaced.  "I don't need to vent.  Bruce has a headache from me venting all night, dear.  We'll handle it."

She nodded.  "I heard rumors."  She shook her head.  The other agent in that tryst was already being shunned by everyone.  He had tried to justify it as it was consensual and she wanted it too but that wasn't flying among most agents.  Thankfully she had kept Tara from cursing him last night when she had heard the rumors.  Maybe she'd ask Natasha if she wanted to talk.  That way she had an external stress point to use.

And Joyce's shoes?  They'd make a pretty head dent.

***

Clint decided to go visit Bob at the hospital, showing up unannounced.  Bob beamed at him, hugging him from where he was packing.  "You get to go home?  Finally!"  He grinned.  "Is it a good going home?"

"I hope so.  We'll know in a few months when they take another scan."  He grinned.  "You look upset."

"Things have been going a bit...in the wrong direction around me recently."  He sat down.  "It happens to adults."  Bob nodded he had heard that it did and finished his packing.  Clint made sure he kept the sunglasses and the arrow.  "So, now what?"

"I get to start regular school next year."

Clint grinned.  "That's a great thing.  School's really good for you."  Bob stared at him.  "Even though I had to drop out, I still got my GED and I took classes in things that interested me after that.  Learning happens, even if it's not in a book."  He smiled.  "You'll do great though."

"I hope so.  It'll be weird to be around so many kids."

"Yeah but kinda nice.  That means you have other people to work with and talk to that're you own age."

"That'd be nice."  He shifted, smiling at his mom when she came in.  "He came to see me off."

Clint grinned.  "You're a neat kid.  I hope my future kids are as neat as you are."

Bob laughed.  "You're going to have kids with Dawn?"

"Some year.  We've talked about it a few times."  Bob grinned.  "We're not sure when yet but we're avoiding all the pushy press people who want her to do it right this very minute."

"I saw some of them on the tv.  They were pretty dumb," Bob said.

"Yeah, they are," Clint agreed.  "They stand outside our building in the pouring rain without umbrellas to stalk us.  They clearly have no sense."  Bob cackled.  He hugged the kid.  "You keep writing to me?"

"Of course.  You're neat."

"You're pretty neat too, kiddo.  Let me know how things are going."  He let his mom take him and stood up.  "Remember to practice with the nerf crossbows and stuff."

"When does Mr. Stark's daughter get to learn?"

"He said when she's nine.  We've taught her gun safety recently but she's not allowed to learn how to use a bow of any sort or a gun until she's nine.  Which we thought was okay."  Bob's mother gave him an odd look.  "Callia's a future slayer," he said quietly.

"Oh!  So she has to learn beyond all those people who want to take her."  Clint nodded.  "Huh.  Those twins?"

"Time runs faster on Asgard.  Buffy took her kids up there.  That's her baby sisters.  Who are hell with a bow.  They've already been bow hunting for a few years now."  Bob grinned.  "They're sweet girls but teenagers.  Dawn had to forcefully remind someone the other day that they're only twelve."

Bob's mom winced.  "They're twelve?"

"Yeah," Clint agreed, pulling out pictures.  "That's Diana and Artemis, the twins.  And that's Sean, her little brother.  He'll be fourteen in about two months."

"Wow," she said, blinking.

"I want to be that tall," Bob said.  "The girls are really pretty too."

"They are.  Dawn's already beating off people who want them to model and stuff.  She nearly made a reporter who suggested it earlier cry."  Bob cackled and handed back the pictures.  He winked.  "Write me.  Be a great boy.  Be healthy."

"I can do that."  Clint ruffled his hair and left him to finish packing up all the stuff in his room.  He sighed, looking at his mom.  "He's so neat."

"Yeah, he is.  He looked a bit sad."

"He said things are going wrong around him right now."

"Huh.  Sometimes that happens to adults."  She opened the boxes to tape them so her son could load in his precious Hawkeye and archery collections.

***

Clint walked off on the floor where Dawn's office was, staring at the person nagging her.  He cleared his throat, getting a sit rep from Dawn mentally.  "No, the twins may not do anything that shows any more skin than usual.  They're twelve.  We want them to be normal young women with healthy self esteem.  If you so much as lay a *finger* on them for any reason, even to take their pictures, I'm going to get some target practice.  I'm *real* protective over the kids."  She slunk off.  Clint sat down and grinned. "Hopefully that ends that threat until our kids come out really beautiful."

Dawn grinned.  "They will.  Maybe not blonde....."

He laughed.  "That's fine.  They can be stunning brunettes."  He smiled at Pepper when she came to the doorway.  "The evil one was banished."

"Dawn was about to shoot her anyway.  Try to be polite, Barton.  We need them to like us."

"They can like you and Dawn all they want and hate me so they quit printing my picture," he quipped.

"That could help," she decided, going back to her desk.

"Ultrasound in twenty," Dawn reminded her.

"I'm procrastinating."

"Stark's already salivating."

"I figured he was."  She sighed, sitting down and looking at Liz, who was sleeping.  Tony was going to drive her nuts, she was right about that prediction.  Steve walked in and helped her up, grinning madly at her as he walked her to the elevator.  So maybe Tony wasn't the worst at it.

Dawn looked up at the amplified cheering going on.  "YES!  A NEW BABY BROTHER!" screamed the tiny female voice.

Dawn smiled at Clint.  "I think Callia's happy."

"I think so too."  He looked at Liz, who had gotten moved out beside Dawn.  "She's looking funny."

Dawn turned to check on her, starting with her breathing.  "That's not good.  Infirmary to my desk, ASAP!"  The doctor came rushing off the elevator, spotting the baby.  "She's not breathing right.  It's like hiccups without it."

She pulled out her stethoscope to listen, nodding.  "That would've probably started off crib death," she said.  "Nice catch, guys."

"I'm glad I did," Clint said.  "Can we help?"

"I'm going to put her on oxygen downstairs and call her pediatrician."  She carried her off.  "Send me Stark.  Pepper's crying."

Dawn blinked.  "He's not there?"

"Pepper kicked him out."

She called.  "Tony, Liz wasn't breathing well.  Going with Doc right now."  She hung up and leaned back, looking up.  "Fuck."

"A lot," Clint said, getting up to move the playpen.  Dawn took a kiss and he smiled.  "It'll be okay.  We caught it.  They can use those sleep apnea systems or something.  She nodded, taking the playpen back to the office.  Thankfully Liz had been on her back, hadn't had anything she could've suffocated herself on, and was going to be okay.

Dawn forwarded the phones and took Clint down to hug Pepper.  She was probably a wreck.  "Want me to call your mom?" she asked quietly, getting a nod.  "Okay.  Let me get you guys chairs."  She got them from the other room and put them near the specially tented bed.  She shoved Tony into one since he was still standing.  Pepper curled up between them and kept sniffling.  Clint nudged Tony and nodded at Pepper when he got looked at.  Tony looked at her and pulled her tightly against him, holding her.

"We can take Callia tonight, Tony," Dawn said in his ear.  He nodded.  She walked off to the elevator calling.  "Hi, Pepper's mom.  It's Dawn.  No, fairly bad issue.  The baby just started to breathe funny.  She's in the infirmary with her pediatrician showing up soon.  Yeah, she's okay.  Clint caught it when it started.  So they're being a bit proactive.  No, she's sobbing on Tony and Steve."  She listened.  "I can make you reservations and make sure you get up here, ma'am.  Give me thirty to do that."  She hung up and worked from her phone on her way up to the penthouse.  She found Callia dancing around with the Dawn kitty.   "Hey."  Callia stared at her.  "Liz just came down sick so you're staying with me tonight."

"Why is she sick?" she demanded.

"Not sure yet.  Your parents are with her so you're with me tonight."

"Okay."  She put her cats down.  "Can we bring them?"

Clint shrugged.  I don't see why not for the night.  Loki can deal for a night."  Callia hugged them both and gathered things up.  Dawn was making flight reservations.  When they were done she stepped into the bathroom to call Pepper's mom to tell her that.  She texted Steve so he could tell Pepper.  Happy got alerted so he could pick them up.  Clint got Callia and all the pets, including Carrot, back to their place.

Natasha looked up from cooking when they walked in with the carrying cases.  "What's happened?  Another attack?"

"Liz is kinda sick," Clint said, staring at her.  "So she's camping with the twins."

"That's fine.  They're in their room pouting."  She rolled her eyes.  "They thought modeling sounded nice."

"It's not," Callia said.  "It's really boring having your picture taken repeatedly with stupid orders like 'look left and tip your chin down'."  She set up the pets in the office and went to pounce her sisters.

Clint looked at Natasha.  "Liz almost quit breathing," he mouthed.  Natasha shuddered but nodded.  "She does not know."

"Agreed.  I won't mention it."  She finished with the stuff she was making.  "Girls, your snack is ready."  They came out to get it with Callia and the cats.  Loki was staring at them from his up high spot, growling some.  She looked up there.  "Behave.  They're only being babysat with their human."

Clint reached up to pet his cat.  "It'll be okay, Loki cat.  You know them.  You're friends with them."  He grabbed a fry from Callia and winked before leaving to go help Dawn.

***

Dawn was woken up that night by her niece climbing on top of her.  She blinked at her.  Clint was pretending to be asleep but she had felt him stiffen slightly.  "What's up?" she asked quietly.

"Do I really have to lose someone each time I get a new sibling?" she asked quietly, staring at her.

"No!  What made you think that?  And how did you find out?"

"I asked JARVIS and he said she was breathing normally again, so I wondered why she wasn't."  She shifted, pulling some hair around to play with.  "When I got the new sisters, I lost Mommy and Daddy Hylal.  It took a bit but I did."

"No, that's not what happened," she sighed.  She pulled her down to cuddle her.  "You lost your mom and Hylal because they were defending against something bad.  It had nothing at all to do with getting siblings.  You didn't when you got Sean, right?"

"No, I guess not."

"You didn't when Liz was born."

"No, I didn't."  She relaxed.  "Then why did Liz get so sick?"

"Because sometimes babies breathe funny, Callia.  No one's sure why.  You've seen news stories on SIDS babies I'm sure."  She nodded.  "That's what we caught happening to Liz.  There's no known cause.  There's treatments to make sure it doesn't keep happening, that way you don't have to worry about losing her."

"Will she end up sick like Stepmommy Steve said he used to be?"

"No, not in the least.  Those aren't connected.  Steve had asthma, like your friend in swimming with the inhaler?  She has asthma I think."

"Oh, so different breathing problems."

"Yup.  This one, no one's sure why it starts or where it comes from.  But Liz is going to be just fine and so is everyone else you know."

Callia looked at her.  "You can't promise that."

"I can promise that we'll do everything we can to make sure of it."  She gave her a squeeze.  "All of us try really hard to not even get a single bruise from the bad things that we have to handle.  It may not always work but that's why we have such great doctors who help us when things go beyond what we can control."  She nodded, snuggling in.  "It'll be okay.  Everyone's going to be fine.  Liz is going to be okay.  Your new baby brother is going to be just great and so is Pepper."

She nodded.  "I hope so.  I couldn't ask Daddy, he might get sniffly."

"Yeah, sometimes daddies do that.  So do aunts and mommies and stepmommies.  Your daddy's not one of his robots.  He'll never be one of his robots.  You can talk to him about that stuff."

"It's easier to ask you sometimes.  You don't over explain."

She smiled.  "Sometimes your dad's not totally sure how to talk to you about stuff so he does that.  If you tell him you don't understand he'll explain it in different ways."

"Okay.  I can try that.  Why can't the dog and cats have babies?  I asked him but he went into DNA and stuff I don't know yet."

"Because they're different species.  Species can only breed with themselves.  That's why horses and zebras can breed together, because they're both equine species, but the horse can't mate with a cow because the cow is a bovine species."

"Oh.  So dogs and cats are too different."

"Yup."

"Then how did we get centaurs?"

"I believe that was a godly creation if they were real.  You'd have to look up that myth and so would I," Dawn said.  "Or ask Uncle Xander."

"I can do that."  She yawned and burrowed in.  "You give nice cuddles.  When you have babies they're going to be really lucky."

"I hope so."  She kissed her on the head, looking over at Clint, who shrugged and grinned.  "Want put back in bed?"

"Nope."

"Fine.  This time."  She smiled and drifted off to her aunt's cuddles.  Her uncle cuddled against her back and it was good.  It was very comfortable.  Nearly as good as Daddy and her two stepmommies cuddling her.

Clint smiled at that mumbled compliment, kissing Dawn gently.  "You're a great aunt."

"Thank you.  You make a pretty fantastic uncle."  He grinned and they settled in to go back to sleep, though Dawn sent a text to JARVIS to copy that for Tony to watch in the morning.  Clint grinned, stroking over her hair.  She fell asleep to that.  It was nice.

***

Tony woke up to the beep from JARVIS of an incoming message.  He was still in the infirmary.  He scrubbed his face and pulled out his phone to see who it was.  It was hopefully important.  He saw it was from Dawn and scowled but let the video play.  He slumped, starting it over.  He looked at Steve and Pepper, still sleeping.  He put his phone up.  He'd show them in the morning.  Yeah, that had been important and she had done a great job.  They'd have to talk in the morning.

***

Pepper smiled at her mother when she got woken by a hand going over her hair.  "When did you get in?"

"About midnight.  You three were already asleep so we snuck in to cuddle Liz and then slept in your apartment until we couldn't wait any longer."  She smoothed down some of Pepper's fly-away hair.  "Go shower and change.  I have it for now, dear."

"Thanks, Mom."  She nudged Steve and Tony, who woke up.  Tony blinked at her, handing her the phone.  She frowned, watching the video that was paused.  She slumped.  "Dawn handled that very well."

"She did," he agreed.  "Do I over explain?"

"I think sometimes we forget she's a very young genius because I know I have," Steve admitted.  "At least Dawn could answer her."  Pepper's mother took the phone to watch the video, sighing in displeasure.  "Her aunt handled it very well."

"She did.  Who is that she's with?"

"Her husband," Pepper said with a grin.  "He gives very good cuddles and he's very protective of Callia and her sisters."  She got up.  "Let me go clean up."  She left after checking on Liz and touching her hand.  She was trying to snore.  "She's always snored.  I wonder if that was something we missed."

Tony shrugged.  "I know nothing about snoring except that I do it too."  He took his phone back, looking at Steve.  "Do the pets?"

"I can do that and let you have the first shower.  I don't have anything to do today."  They both patted Liz and went up to take care of things.  No pets.  "I guess Dawn let them come home with her last night."  Tony nodded, smiling at him.  He helped him with the shower.  It was good to hold a wet, slippery Tony Stark sometimes.

***

Dawn opened the cab door, letting Callia out first.  "Stand there."  She did and took her dog's leash to let him sniff around while she and Clint got the cat and bunny carriers.  He got the bunny since Carrot was a hefty bunny.  Dawn paid the driver and let him go while they carried the pets inside.  Tony cat was howling in misery.  Dawn looked at him once they were inside.  "Stop.  It."

The cat stopped and stared at her.  "Thank you!"  Clint got the pets onto the special elevator and went to get the twins from the cab that they were in.  He wasn't taking any chances today.  Dawn got them upstairs and released the cats so they could run and hide, taking her cat from the group because he had been sneaky.  She frowned at him.  "Loki, really?"  She heard Steve laugh and handed him her cat.  "In case you run home?"

"I can do that."  He pulled Callia over to cuddle.  "Hi, Cal."

"Hi, Stepmommy."  She snuggled into his lap to pet the Loki kitty, but the kitty ran off when two of hers pounced.  "Okay, we'll pet you instead."  She purred back and petted them.  Her dog hopped up next to them on the couch.  The others arranged themselves. She looked at Steve.  "Is Liz okay?"

"She's fine, sweetheart.  She's sleeping normally without any problems.  For now, the doctors said she can have this thing that she'll wear that'll sound an alarm if she doesn't breathe right."  She nodded, accepting that with her cuddle.  "Get everything set back up for them and we'll go visit her in the infirmary."  She smiled and got up to do that.  He looked at Loki, frowning.  "We'll take you home in a few minutes."  The cat washed his paw before laying down on top of it.  He really had named that cat right.  Callia came bounding out once she had cleaned up the litter boxes, checked food, water, and treat supplies, and had petted the dog.  They went down to the infirmary together.  He picked her up so she could coo at Liz, getting cooed back.  "See, she's fine."

"Yeah, I hope she is."  She grinned and waved.  "Hi, Lizzy."  The baby cooed more loudly.  "Pretty soon you'll get out and we'll play together.  You're my great little sister."

"You're not siblings," Pepper's father said gently.

She looked at him.  "Yes she is.  We bonded when she was very tiny.  I've helped take care of her since she got discharged from the infirmary after birth."  She looked at Steve then back at her step-grandparents.  "Beyond that, Pepper's like my stepmommy, just like Steve is."  She smiled at Liz.  "We'll *read* when you get out."  Liz squealed and babbled.  She grinned and patted her on the hand.  "You rest, sweetie.  I'll go remind Auntie Dawn that you want to see her too."  She wiggled down and got free, heading up to check on her other stepmommy and aunt.  "Liz is all squealy," she announced.  "Can I read to her later?"

"Of course you can," Pepper said with a smile.  "Go pick out a book."

"Thanks.  Your parents looked at me strangely when I said I'd read to her."  She ran off with a pause at Dawn to babble at her.  Then she found books to bring down with Pepper.

Dawn looked in there.  "I've got it, Pepper."

"Wonderful."  She hugged her.  "Nice job last night."  Dawn grinned.  "You're going to be fantastic at it, Dawn."  She went down there.  "Okay, let's see what you picked, Callia.  Ooh, the elephant book.  She loves that one," she said with a grin for her daughter.  "Why don't you read to her for me while I talk to my mom and dad?"  She had seen their odd looks at her.  She took them into the hallway.  "What's wrong?"

"They're not siblings, are they?" her mother asked.

"Tony and I are somewhat together, Mom, and she's allowed to call Liz her sibling.  They're as close as some twins.  Callia's always helped me with Liz.  They've been siblings since Callia found out I was pregnant."

"She called that one young man stepmom?" her father asked.

"That's Steve.  Captain Rogers?" she prompted.  Her father gaped and looked in there.  Pepper smiled.  "We're ....figuring things out but Callia's been like my own first daughter for years.  Her aunt Dawn and I have both taken over a lot of the mom duties for hers."

"Aunt, literally?" her mother asked.

"Yes, Dawn's sister Buffy had Callia.  Buffy's also recently died on Asgard and moved into Valhalla with her spouse."  Her mother's mouth fell open.  "Buffy, the senior slayer?  That's who NID created the baby from Stark with.  She's always been partially mine.  Dawn's also been great and always there for Callia.  So has Dawn's mom, Joyce.  Even when she was in an oncology ward she and Callia talked all the time.  She was as hands-on as she could be.  Even if I did have to steal Callia from the lab for shopping at times, she's very much my oldest daughter.  I make no distinctions between my girls."

"She's not yours," her mother said quietly, glancing in there.

"Mom, if I marry Tony I'm adopting her and he's adopting Liz.  I'll never have a step *anything*.  All the children in my life are mine, even if I didn't give birth to them.  I'm sorry you can't find that pleasing.  Most people would be thrilled to have Callia as their granddaughter."  She walked back in there.  She hugged Callia.  "Have you gotten to pat her?"

"I patted her hand and kissed it.  She giggled."  She smiled.  "I love you too, Pepper."

She hugged her.  "I love you too, Callia.  Even if some people don't understand."  She giggled and went back to reading the elephant book for her little sister.  "I need that name list."

"I've got it narrowed down to twelve."

"Okay.  Remember, it's twenty."  She smiled and nodded.  "Good girl."  She patted her on the head then kissed Steve on the forehead.  "Thank you," she said quietly.

He grinned.  "They're both my girls too."  She smiled and went to talk to the doctor.  Steve poked Callia.  "Reading?"  She beamed and went back to the story.  She liked this book a lot when she was younger.

Pepper's parents shared a look but they'd talk with their daughter later about her lifestyle choices.

***

Dawn smiled as Pepper's parents came off the elevator.  "She's still in the infirmary but I can call and see if she'll come up if you want."

"No, we wanted to talk to you," Pepper's mother said.  "What is going on with our daughter?"

"Shouldn't you ask her that?  Though I don't think anything's wrong beyond a few early mood swings.  She's been really happy and smiling a lot recently."  An email flashed on her system so she looked at it.  "Excuse me."  She called.  "Boss, JARVIS just said that Natasha's showed up for sparring."  She hung up and smiled at them again.  "He and the other Avengers spar a few times a week."  Bruce came storming off the elevator.  "We didn't tell mom?" she demanded.

"No!"

"Sorry.  Shit, no, I thought I texted her or something, Stepdad."

"Is Liz all right?"

"She's pretty okay so far.  Clint caught it while it was happening so she's under a sleep apnea alarm in the infirmary.  Callia's been down there reading to her all morning."  He sighed and nodded.  "Is Mom coming over?"

"After work.  They're swamped by whatever Barton's doing today."

"Yeah, I heard."  She grimaced.  "We're going to be lucky if we don't see a whole lot of assassins going 'he's mean' about it again," she finished sarcastically, cracking him up.  That had happened a few months back with a few trainee assassins.  "Have you met Pepper's parents?  This is Dr. Banner, who is also my stepfather."  She smiled.

"Pleasure, sir," Pepper's father said, shaking his hand.  His mother smiled and shook it too.

"Pepper's a great young woman and holds everything steady behind the scenes, including Tony."  Dawn snickered, nodding.  "But she's good?"

"She's fine.  We're allowed to visit.  Doc's been snickering a few times about Callia reading Liz the new Avengers comics."  He smiled and rolled his eyes.  "Natasha's in the gym with Cap."

He stared at her.  "You three......"  She shook her head.  "Working on it?"

"Yeah.  Slowly.  I'm no longer at the point of unmitigated rage," she said with a perky grin.

He hugged her around the head.  "It'll work itself out."  He stared at her.  "Or we'll sedate you again and let you three be captured by Atlantis to talk about things."  He smiled at the parents.  "Let me check on my granddaughter then go over for team bonding and beating each other up time.  Pleasure meeting you."  He went back down in the elevator.  At least they hadn't acted like he was infected with something, that was polite of them.

Dawn grinned.  "He's a really sweet guy, who has some anger management issues."

"That doesn't worry you?" Pepper's father asked.

"No more than having Captain Rogers suddenly having a PTSD daylight flashback would.  I love that guy.  He made my mom extremely happy.  He's supported her a lot since the day they met, which was right after my mom was out of the hospital for cancer treatment.  He's been so great to her.  I'm not sure Mom would've ever come out of the house again if it wasn't for him.  It wore her down so far and so out that she didn't have the energy to go sit on her front porch most days.  She tried really hard but she didn't.  He's helped her a lot and given her the comfort that having daughters around couldn't."

"That's lovely," Pepper's mother agreed, smiling at her.  "Is she better?"

"She is so far.  It's been almost two years now."  She grinned. "Even with his anger issues, Bruce is still a really sweet guy.  Even as the Hulk, he'd never hurt Callia.  She used to squeal and pounce him to calm him down."  Pepper's mother gasped.  "Yeah.  Called him Grr Guy, cuddled him to calm him down.  He just hugged her and protected her from everyone.  Including her dad a few times because he didn't realize.  He does the same for Liz.  Callia pulled up her picture last time to introduce them and he was patting her telling her Liz was good too."

"So this thing Stark's forced my daughter into?" Pepper's mother asked.

Dawn stared at her.  "Tony may be a lot of things, including an asshole sometimes, but he'd never *force* Pepper into anything.  For that matter, I don't know of anyone stubborn enough to *force* Pepper into *anything* she doesn't want to do."  Pepper's mother slumped.  "What makes you think Tony started that relationship?  They've been flirting on and off for years from what I've been told and noticed.  They even tried to date in the past."  She tapped out a message to the one that had just popped up.

"Beyond that, I think you should probably be talking to your daughter about that."  She pulled over her phone.  "Excuse me.  Security, MB's mom just showed up," she said.  "At the other tower demanding to have Stark.  Yes, there's still a restraining order.  It's on file in the office, second filing cabinet with the others.  Thank you."  She hung up.  "Her mother's totally psychotic at times.  Told her that Stark was making her breed and called us a cult."  She shook her head.  "We adore MB even with her mother."  Andrew came off the elevator.  She grinned.  "Security send you up here so you couldn't grab the battle suit?"

"Yes," he complained, grimacing.  "Check on Barton?  There's a lot of officers where he was last spotted."  She casually reached that way and sighed, texting Tony.  She also texted Maria Hill, who said she'd have it handled.  Ten minutes later she got a call from SHIELD.  She locked the desk and computer, pointing.  "Yes, Dawn," he complained.

She kissed him on the cheek.  "Just answer the phone.  Stark's in sparring, Pepper's in the infirmary with Liz."  She smiled at the staring parents.  "Let me go help my husband."  She got up and looked at herself.  "Not exactly what I'd want to wear."  She went down to her locker and got into the bag in there.  The different dress and shoes were more practical.  She thought about pulling back her hair but decided not to.  It gave the wrong image and she looked like a school principal when she did.

She went to where Clint was in a hostage standoff.  Which was making her husband fairly unhappy but yay!  She strolled past the officers, one staring at her in horror.  She smiled.  "They asked."  She walked in and saw the gun pointing at the doorway.  "Really?"  His hand wavered.  She blasted the whole room with magic.  She smiled.  "You really should not have what's mine hostage.  I do get a bit pissy about it."  Clint started to laugh.  "I do."  She smiled at him and looked at the other two.  "Did I knock out one of your people as well?"  They nodded.  "Cool."  She smiled.  "Dear?"

"It's solved.  No more stand-off," Clint agreed, taking a kiss.  He smiled at her.  "Efficient."

"I just had Pepper's parents questioning me about her relationship," she said quietly.

"No wonder I felt stress.  You were trying not to yell."

"A lot.  MB's mom is in Tower B demanding Stark.  Are you done?"

"I am."  They turned to look at the officers coming in.  "They're just knocked out."

"At least one of those was an officer," the head officer said firmly but calmly.

"Did they identify themselves to me?" Dawn asked.  He slumped and shook his head.  "I have no idea why those two didn't fall down.  The only one I wouldn't have knocked cold was my husband, anyone unarmed, or a child.  If they didn't say 'I'm an officer' or something like that, how was I to know?"

"I suppose that's reasonable.  We did have it handled, Miss."

She smiled.  "Clearly but I need this Avenger to go save another one from a cracked parent who claims Stark is running a cult."

"That's where I've seen you before," the officer in the back muttered.  She grinned and waved.  "Is this a SHIELD operation?"

"No, I was having lunch," Clint told them.  "They decided to start shit."  He found his bow and quiver, smiling at them.  "It wasn't our intention to have to handle something.  I only wanted a burger with an old friend."

She smiled at him.  "Why don't you go talk to him since I'm sure he's been watching and looking amused this whole time?"

"I can do that once you're back at the office."

"Have him meet you at the tower for lunch?"

"I can do that."  He walked her off.  "Thanks for keeping everyone else out of it, guys.  I saw that kid that wanted to interrupt.  At least I trained this one in case we needed her to back us up."  He put a ten on the bar for his aborted lunch and walked her out with a hand on her lower back.  "You had to pull out that dress?" he complained.  "You look really tough in it, Dawn."

She grinned.  "I am really tough, Clint.  That's why I spar against you."

"Good point."  He spotted his friend and smiled, texting him as they got into a waiting cab.  "Thanks.  Tower B of Stark."  The cabby nodded, taking them there.  He kept glancing back at them.  He looked at Dawn.  "Thanks."

"Welcome.  I don't mind being a distraction.  I make a pretty darn good one."

"Yeah, you do."  He took a kiss and winked at her.  "Twins?"

"With Callia, cooing over Liz.  Apparently Mom never got my text last night."

"Ow.  You okay?"

"Bruce was a bit upset.  I've got to see who's interrupting my phone."

"We can find out pretty easily."  He gave her a squeeze, getting a smile back.  They got back to the tower and he walked in there.  MB's mother was throwing an absolute fit.  He shot a sedative dart at her.  The guards with her glared but then did a double-take.

Dawn smiled at them.  "Take your mentally deficient friend there out of our tower.  There is a restraining order from all Stark properties since somehow she managed to make or find some ricin and sent it to not only her pregnant daughter but also Stark.  You have about a minute before I have her arrested."  They carried her off.  "I would suggest she not come back," she said firmly.

"You're not so hot without a man behind you," one sneered.

Dawn laughed.  "He's here to keep me from killing or changing your ass into something," she said bluntly.  "You should probably thank him since I kept turning agents into mice."

"I don't really like mice," Clint said, considering it.  "Or yappy dogs.  What about hedgehogs?"

"They're cute," she said with a grin.  The huffy people left.  She smiled and waved at their backs.  Then she glared at the security team.  "We're going to have a meeting."  Tony strolled in with a new cup of speciality coffee.  "Hey, boss, two stand-offs stopped."

He nodded.  "I just heard about the other one.  Nice work."  She smiled.  "You needed a meeting with security?"

"Yes, because they should've thrown her out over an hour ago."

"Good point," he admitted, looking at them.  "That meeting's with me, not her."  He looked at her.  "JARVIS was ranting."

"I nearly threw one myself," she said quietly, moving closer to hiss in his ear.

He nodded.  "He showed me.  You handled that well."  He stared at her.  "They're a bit uptight."

"I noticed that."  She grimaced.  "Anyway, let Clint have his nice lunch with his old friend while I go back to relieve Andrew."  He laughed.  "I have no idea why but he came up to answer my phone for me."  She got a cookie and strolled off nibbling it.

"Is that a pregnancy craving?" a reporter shouted from the doorway.

Dawn looked at her.  "No, sometimes I like cookies.  For that matter, do I look pregnant enough to be having cravings?  Because if so, I'm not wearing this dress again."  The reporter pouted.  "You guys need to get off the subject of my bedroom.  Really.  Before I start to lose my temper over that.  Because if you think the Hulk can destroy things?"  The reporter blanched and nodded quickly.  "Thanks."  She smiled.  "Don't want to have PMS this week but apparently it's going to be a winner for everyone."  The reporter stomped off.  She went back to her desk, no matter how much Stark was laughing.  Andrew was laughing.  "Seriously?  I know it'd be the first acknowledged Avengers baby, but *really*!"

He cackled, nodding.  "Probably, yeah."  He let her have her chair.  "I think that dress makes you look skinny.  You need more cookies, not less."

"Yeah, I just used a shitload of magic."  He nodded he understood that.  Pepper came off the elevator.  "Hi, boss."

"Dawn."  She hugged her.  "Thank you for helping my parents," she whispered.

"Not a problem."  She smiled.  "Stark's over in the other tower."

"That's fine."  She went into her office.  "I'm taking a break.   Liz is awake and babbling at the twins."

"I figured they were helping Callia."

"They are."  She smiled, turning on the news.  "Dawn, no more PMS on the reporters," she called a minute later.

"Sorry.  Let me put up a public apology on my lj."  She did that and then got back to her real job of handling things.  Maria sent over a notice that she was off the hook for anything that happened due to the magical sedating to save Clint.  She sent back a 'thank you' and finished the meeting's minutes for tomorrow.  She handed them to Pepper and then went on lab rounds.

Pepper smiled at her back.  Dawn was so adorable sometimes.

***

Clint smiled at his friend when he showed up for coffee.  "Hey."  He handed him money so he could get his own.  He'd never hand another assassin food.  They'd never trust it.

"Thanks."  He got his own and they sat down in a corner table away from everyone but a kid that was staring at Clint in awe.  Clint grinned and the kid turned back around to babble at his mother loudly about how the *Avenger* grinned at him.  He looked at Clint.  "Saw Claudia."

"That's a bad way to start off a conversation," he said, sipping his coffee.  "Should I have asked for a shot of liquor for the coffee?"

"Maybe.  She does not like your wives."

"Pity but she was a bitch," he said quietly.  "I have no idea why I dated her outside of that mission."

"She's really hating your pretty, perky wife."

Clint nodded.  "How much?"

"Half a mil."

"Seriously?  Do they think she'd pay it?"

"Yup.  She put it into an account."  Clint stared at him, putting down the coffee.  His friend nodded with a grin.  "I have no idea why."

"I do.  They met in Peru.  She tried to have Dawn attacked then, and Dawn got injured, but as we found out later Dawn had protected herself against two really tough, huge guys."

"So that's what happened to her brothers."

"Yeah."  He sipped his coffee, sending a thought at Dawn and Natasha about that.  "I'll let them know."

"Welcome."

Dawn texted him.  He read it and smiled.  "Dawn said if she came here she was going to rip out her extensions by the handful because any woman who had as many fake parts as Claudia had was clearly pathetic."

"She had those when you two dated."

"She did.  She bragged she got them all for her eighteenth.  She was twenty-two and I was twenty-five though."  He finished his coffee then grinned.  "Any other happy news?"

"A lot of us are really happy for you guys.  Even though we heard rumors of Widow having issues?"

"Few.  We're working on them.  But thanks.  We're mostly happy most of the time.  Though I could do without reporters."  He glared at the one staring at them through the window.  They ran off.  "They're like flies."

"They're like roaches, Barton."

"Sometimes, yeah."  That got a smirk and Clint grinned back.  "Thanks."

"Welcome.  Need any help?"

"With Claudia?  I might ask.  Not sure how that's going to play out."

"She's pissing off a lot of people.  She accepted two offers and then didn't follow through.  Claims she's having a bad pregnancy."

"It's not mine."

"No, it's Randal's."

"The wannabe?"

"Yeah.  The wannabe *you*," he agreed.

"Shit!"  He snorted and shook his head.  "He'd never make it as me."  They shared a smirk and his friend got up to head off.  Clint went upstairs to beat a punching bag.

Bruce looked over from reading on his tablet.  "Bad news?"

"My ex sent out a contract to snipe Dawn."

"Excuse us?" Steve asked politely.  "Who?"

Clint looked at him.  "She tried to have Dawn beaten before and Dawn, who was out by herself, did manage to beat the crap out of her two younger brothers.  Both dead now thanks to the injuries and one due to other problems.  Claudia put out money to have her killed.  Dawn said she'd rip out all her fake parts."

"Is this a youthful crush that got psychological?" Bruce asked.

"No, she was twenty-one when we met on an assignment.  I was twenty-four.  Nat had just dumped me for the first time.  She was my rebound and she was pretty, slightly exciting, and wanted in the life.  She was being trained by a friend of Nat's.  She thought she'd be good enough to seduce and hit but she wasn't."

"Related back to that academy?" Stark said, tapping into his phone.

"The present  headmistresses' niece but by tradition family doesn't go there," Clint said.  "The family usually goes to the one in London.  I thought about taking a few classes there but they didn't have much they could teach me that Nat didn't or that I hadn't learned in the circus."  He laid a few more punches on the bag.  "I think most of us have an ex like her."

"No comment but mine taught me to make bombs," Tony quipped with a grin for him.  "Very nice, compact ones."

"Seriously?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah.  That's how I learned to work with atomic bombs.  Not like my father taught me."  He smirked.  "We still talk.  She's not doing research.  She's beating the future generation into giving up science by being bitchy to them.  She taunted me for months.  I think that was my longest dry spell on record."  He shook his head quickly.  Clint was laughing.  "Any other psychotic ex's, Barton?"

"Nope.  Not that I'm aware of."  He wouldn't mention the one sitting across the room because he wasn't sure if they were done or not.  Right now, he was verging on really beating her ass though.

"I only have two ex-girlfriends and neither one are what I'd consider bad ones," Bruce said.  "Joyce seemed to think they were both really nice when we ran into them at a scientific event."  Tony gave him an odd look.  He smiled.  "I didn't serial date like you did, Tony.  I had mine weeded out by my work."

"I had more than a few who might want to gut Pepper and Steve but they'd never try it.  They know they couldn't."

"Yeah, I took out two of yours over the years," Clint admitted.  "What losers."

"Hey," Tony complained but he was smiling.  "Was Diedre one?"

"Yup.  And Helen."

"Huh.  She was pretty but toxic."

"She married a guy making toxic makeup," Clint said.  "Tried to start selling it."

"I remember that being reported and that they got blown up in a car crash," Bruce joked.  Clint just grinned at him.  "I don't need to know."

"Probably true," he agreed.

"Don't teach Dawn to do that," Stark ordered.

"Too late.  She learned from the manuals at Xander's."  He smirked slightly.  "She does do dangerous *very* well when she wants to."

"Eww, that's my stepdaughter," Bruce complained.

"I see her like a little sister but I'd like to see less dangerous Dawn than more dangerous Dawn," Tony quipped.  "Please?"

"I try, Stark."

"Thanks."  They shared a look and Tony rolled his eyes.  "Cap, aren't we sparring?" he called.

"Yeah."  He came out of where he was talking to someone.  "Did you want to go talk to Pepper's parents?"

"No, they still think I'm a using leech."

"Who forced their daughter into our thing," Steve said quietly next to him as he walked past him.

"Yeah, I heard.  JARVIS was throwing an absolute fit over them asking Dawn that.  She handled it well."  He smirked evilly.  "We'll talk after dinner."  He looked at Barton.  "I saw your cat."

"You did?  I wondered where he was hiding this morning."

"I dropped him at the apartment for you," Steve said.

"Thanks.  Loki's a little bitch at times but we'd miss him waking us up in the middle of the night by washing our hair for us."  He walked over to the ring, stretching some.  "C'mon, Steve."

"Why don't you and Natasha spar?" Steve suggested.

"Um.  No.  Not ready for that yet.  Thanks though."  He gave him a dirty look.  Tony snorted and walked off shaking his head.  "You're not exempt, Stark."

"I'm getting some water and making sure we have ice packs."  He came back sipping some water.  "Okay."  He got in the ring with them.  Clint was doing good upping his hand-to-hand but Natasha would probably be better.  He'd try to kill her though so it wasn't going to be today.  They got to work on his skills then Clint and Steve sparred.  Natasha came over and joined them.  Steve let her have it.

Clint stared at her.  "You sure you want to do this today?"

"I think we should."

"I think I'm still thinking back to Berlin," he said.

"I realize that."

"Okay."  She attacked, because he usually wouldn't attack first when he sparred with her.  If it was a real fight, yes.  Sparring, no.  Though he wasn't holding back today.  He needed to work off this bad mood anyway and she was a good cure for it.  He managed to get in a pretty hard punch, making her gasp but he shrugged.  "You wanted to spar."

She nodded.  "I did."  She attacked harder.

"Bitch," he muttered at one strike to his ribs but he got her back for it.  He opened himself to her, trying to gauge her mood.  She wasn't using this to apologize, to try to prove to herself she could still do this, any of that.  She was feeling a bit miserable.  Dawn, well she was still in a rage.  "Hey, Cap?" he called.  "Go get Dawn to spar with her?"

"I can do that."  He went to find her.  She was at her desk and he nodded.  "Sparring, Summers."

"I have this one report I have to finish and then I'm all yours," she said quietly.  She finished and saved it, then printed it.  Since they still had some strange computer issues now and then.  She looked up.  "JARVIS, can you please find whoever's hacking you and my phone so I can destroy them?"

"I have been looking but I believe it's an agent."

"Thanks.  Let us know."  She looked at him.  Then forwarded her phone to her cell.  "Sheila, sparring time."

"Okay," the outer assistant said.

She followed him over to the Avengers only area and changed into something she could spar in.  She stretched and watched her spouses go at it.  Clint was working off his anger.  Dawn really needed that effect.  Clint shot her a look and a slight grin.  She grinned back and let Steve start.  He might be sore.  She'd judge it by his first swing.  He wasn't tired seeming so it was on.  Maybe she wouldn't hold back today.

Steve blinked and nodded.  "You waited too long," he complained quietly.

"No, I've had it under good control recently.  Until about two days ago. Then I was in that same state that got me sedated and sent to Atlantis."

"You sent yourself there," he reminded her.

"I did."  She took a pretty swing and he ducked but that had been the diversion for her kick.  He winced.  "Want me to take it easy on you?"

"No.  I can handle it."

She snorted.  "Not totally.  I'm not using spells against you."  He blinked a few times.  She smiled.  "Had to learn.  It comes in handy when you're beating the ass of people who want to keep and own you."

The alarm started to go off and Dawn pulled up her phone.  "What's happened where?" she demanded.  They told her.  "Boss, outside on our doorstep is a major issue."

"Going," he agreed, moving to his armor he kept over here.  Same suit design but a backup.  The others got into their gear and headed out, Clint pausing to kiss her.  "I'm not going to ask for one of those," Tony quipped.

"We'd beat you to death if you did," Steve joked before pulling on his cowl and going down with Clint.  Right outside was a ship hovering and letting off robots.  "Why didn't we get told about this when they started to hover?" he demanded.

"I'm having a word with security later anyway," Stark promised, firing on the ship.  "You guys get the robots."  The ship tried to move away but he was making it land one way or another.  It turned out to have a robotic pilot too.  They got everything down and killed.  Stark decided to let the robot pilot take them back to their lair.  Dawn handed over a few things.  Like spare ammo and arrows, and a first aid kit.  Clint winked as they loaded and headed off.  It wasn't comfortable.  There were racks for the robots to be hung from.  Clint ended up on top of one.  Tony between two.  Steve flipped up to sit on one of the racks after an hour or so of standing.  Natasha was in a corner examining the plane's cockpit area.  Bruce was calm but not happy.

Dawn went back inside and found the head of security.  She grabbed him by the ear and walked him off.  "Let's talk about when you're supposed to warn us there's a problem."  He had to follow, his ear wasn't going to be let go of anytime soon.  The other guards who had been there longer winced.  Dawn was usually really nice.  Today... not so much.

***

Pepper came off the elevator, looking at the guy that Dawn was yelling at.  Then at Dawn.  "What happened?"

"They decided to alert us to that robot problem almost forty minutes after it started," Dawn said.

Pepper nodded, looking at him.  "That's so far outside your protocol."

"We didn't think it was a problem."

"It was offloading robots," Pepper said.  "How was that not a problem?"  He huffed.  "You know what?  Have a nice day somewhere else."  He stomped off.  She looked at Dawn.  "At least you didn't scream at him," she said dryly.

"If I could've fired him I would've done it twenty minutes ago.  My throat's sore."  She frowned.  "We've had tons of shit since he got hired."

"We have."

"We have someone tapping my cellphone and our computers."

"We do," Pepper agreed.  "I have no idea who."

"I have finally figured out where they're coming from," JARVIS said.  "Though I have no idea how to stop it."

Dawn looked up.  "I can go stop it."

"No you cannot," Pepper ordered.  "Who, JARVIS?"  He put up a diagram and highlighted an office.  "Is that Langley?"

"Yes and that's Peter's office," Dawn said dryly.  "Great!"  She tapped out a message to Stark and huffed.  "I'm getting coffee."  She walked off, fluffing out her hair.  Really, these were trying times.  A few people stared in awe.  "I was sparring when the robots showed up.  Leave the clothes alone."  She got her coffee and one for Pepper, bringing it back for her.  She sat down at her desk and composed a nice email to him.  If it wasn't him and they were just using his system, he'd fix it.  If it was him and he was doing it, she was going to kill him.  Even if he was still sending her nice letters about how pretty and smart she was.

Pepper sipped her regular coffee, shaking her head.  Liz was back in the office with her.  They had a machine for her to be hooked up to whenever she napped.  It'd be okay.

***

Dawn looked up from her stirring and reading when the door opened.  "Shh," she said quietly.  Clint and Natasha both nodded and slipped in, shutting the door gently.  Dawn went back to stirring the cheese cream sauce.  It was nearly done.  When it was thick enough she poured it into a set of jars.  One went into the fridge.  The other went on the table.  She put down two plates and they smiled at her for it.  "I knew you'd be hungry."  She strolled off.  "Kids are in bed."

"You can stay and eat with us," Natasha offered.  "So we can talk."

Dawn looked at her.  "I'm exhausted.  It's two in the morning."  Natasha slumped but nodded.  "I'll talk tomorrow.  Okay?"  She climbed back into bed, letting the cat curl up with her.

Clint looked at dinner and frowned.  "She got up to cook for us."

"She has in the past," Natasha admitted.  She tasted the sauce and nodded.  "She did good."  It got poured over the vegetables and steak.  Clint got his own and it was nice.  Calm, peaceful.  "I am sorry," she said quietly.

"I know."  He looked at her.  "I might forgive you."

She nodded she knew Dawn was going to be the harder one to convince she hadn't meant to slip that way.  She dug in.  It was a good meal.  Soothing.  Their post-battle stress was slowly being leeched away.  She yawned, almost surprising herself.  "I'll go to bed."  She put her dishes in the sink and went upstairs.  The bed still smelled like all three of them.  It was comforting but also a torment to remind her of what she had screwed up.

Clint finished up and went to bed, thinking hard to himself.  He wasn't the sort to let hurts linger and Dawn was.  So maybe he would have to find a way to stop being stuck in the middle.  He understood that need to get away from something and find something totally different.  Dawn...she had been raised by nice people.  Well, mostly.  He wasn't going to count Stark as too damn nice.  He smiled at the picture of Dawn and the cat, sliding into bed on the cat's other side.  He got a dirty look from the cat and a meow of greeting then Loki shifted so he could have the warm spot and Loki got his usual one in Clint's hair.

***

Dawn walked into the office, blinking at the people in there.  When had they gotten there?  She looked at Pepper, who smiled at her.  She handed over the mail.  "Two, one from the attorney."  She left.

Pepper looked at them and frowned.  "What does he want?"  She put it aside and went back to the meeting.

Tony walked past Dawn's desk.  "Aren't you two going on vacation next week?"

"I...  Humm."  She looked.  "We are."

He stared at her.  "Since when did you become the absent minded one?"

"Since about three this morning."

"Oh.  Big problem?  Phone calls?  Nightmares?"

"Don't ask," she muttered.  Then rubbed her forehead.  "I have no idea."

"Okay.  If you want to talk...."

"Yeah, I know."  Tony smiled and let her handle it.  She was clearly exhausted but handling most things all right.  At least until he came out and found her unconscious at her desk.  He checked her pulse, which would've normally woken her up.  Nothing unusual.  He dialed the infirmary.  "Come check Dawn."  She came off the next elevator.  "Checked her pulse and she didn't even flinch."

"Great."  She checked her over, shaking her head.  "This isn't a sedative."  They got her to the infirmary before anyone else could realize what was going on.  The bloodwork was a bit telling.  "She doesn't take painkillers."

"No, she doesn't," Tony said.  "Hardly ever.  What is it?"

"Looks like opanas?"

"She'd never take something that strong."  Doc gave her a shot of something to counteract it.  "JARVIS, how did she get that?"

"I believe someone in the shop across the street accidentally hid their drugs in with the coffee beans, sir."

"Great.  Who?"

"I've already alerted the authorities when I saw how that came up and the video surveillance.  Shall I show the manager?"

"Was she the only one hit?" Doc asked.

"Yes.  I believe so."  He cleared his throat in the coffee shop.  "May I have your attention please?  The coffee grinder has just went down for necessary repairs.  It will be about ten minutes before it can be cleaned as a blade just snapped."  The waiting people moaned but they accepted it.  The manager was a bit freaked out but JARVIS was flashing a video for her.  She went to check it and found the pills.  "We believe only one person got hurt by it," he said quietly.

"Who?"  He ran the video back and she nodded.  "Paul!"  He came over then his eyes went wide.  "How many did you have stored in here?" she demanded in a hiss.

"Twenty!"

She counted.  Ten missing pills.

"That's like a whole paycheck's worth," he complained.

"Don't make me kill you."  She checked the current ground coffee, finding white flecks.  "Are you sure?" she asked the video.

"As far as I can tell, unless you've ground a batch since Dawn was in here."

"No, this was the first batch since then."  She tipped the grounds into a container and the beans as well.  Paul was still complaining.  "Peg, take him into the office and keep him there."  Paul tried to run but nope.  She got the grinder cleaned up thoroughly, washed all the parts she could by hand in hot, soapy water, and then restarted it with fresh beans.  She'd have to call her head office.  She smiled at the people as she came out of the back.

"It looks like a blade slipped.  We've since cleaned it up, cleared the grounds, and we're making everything fresh just in case there might be a metal shaving.  That was the first batch we'd ground since earlier."  She poured out the few that were waiting.  The crowd smiled.  Her assistants were smiling.  She noticed the officer.  "The one who wanted to report on her friend is in my office, Officer."  He nodded, going where she pointed.  "Domestics," she told the crowd watching.  A few nodded they understood that.

Paul started to scream and rant so she went back there to have them quiet him down.  The assistant manager was already gagging him.  "We don't need people to hear you did that stupid shit," the assistant manager told her.  "So shut up."

"Anyone get affected?" the officer asked.

"The AI that runs the tower said that someone was in the infirmary in the main tower," the manager said with a point.  "We had to grind hers specially because she needed some lower acid coffee.  I have no idea why he thought putting them in the grinder's basket was a good idea."

"I was going to shave them later," Paul said, starting to pout.

She smacked him on the side of the head.  "Did you not think that we use that grinder every hour or so?"  He slumped down.  "Please be discreet, Officers."

"We can do that."  They took him out the maintenance exit.  One had the evidence bag.

The managers went back out front to finish any PR that might need to be spun.

***

Stark walked over to where Clint was taking bow practice.  "Can you handle the twins tonight?"

"Of course.  Why?"  He looked at him.  "Are you sending Dawn to Malibu to handle something?"

"No, we're keeping Dawn in the infirmary tonight."  Clint stiffened and stared at him.  "Some kid in the coffee shop put his drugs in the grinder."

"How fucking dumb was he?" Clint demanded.  "What was it?"

"Opanas."

"That's the new morphine derivative, right?"

"Yup."

"Shit."

"She's woken up once, has a huge hangover and the shakes.  Doc said she's staying tonight."

"Definitely.  Yeah, I can handle the twins.  They're not a problem and they're good kids."

"Thanks."  He walked off.

"Doc allowing her visitors?"

"Dawn said no one's allowed to see her like this."

"Uh-huh."  He finished up his practice time and went to check on her.  Dawn was sealed inside a little cubby off to the side but he could pick locks and tape and could make her release the magic.  She did look rough.  He kissed her.  "You okay?"

"I'm good.  I didn't want anyone to see me this way though."

"We'd only worry a tiny bit."  He took another kiss.  "I've got the kids tonight."  He winked and she smiled weakly.  "Rest.  It'll help."  She nodded, letting him tuck her in.  "I'll be back in the morning.  What did you want to wear?"

"My black dress?  It'll make me look less pale."

"I can do that."  He stroked over her hair.  "The shakes last for a few hours."  She nodded.  "Try to sleep through it."  He left, letting her seal herself back in there.  He looked at the nurse.

"We'd call."

"Thank you."  He went home, going to fuss over the twins for a bit.  They were worried but he gave them a nice cover story about them not getting sick from her.

They did not need to know about this stuff.

***

Natasha limped into the infirmary and took the advil packet the nurse held up.  "Thank you."

"Welcome, Agent Romanoff."  She smiled.  "Dawn's fine."

"Dawn's in here?  Did we know this?"

"Well, no.  She said not to tell anyone but Agent Barton already checked on her."

Natasha swallowed the pills.  "What happened?"

"Some kid across the street at the coffee shop hid his drugs in the grinder, which got used for Dawn's low-acid coffee."  She sighed.  "She's fine though."

Natasha winced.  "What sort?"

"Painkillers."

"She doesn't take those."  She limped over to the closed off area.  Dawn would be hiding.  She couldn't get in.  "Dawn?"

"She's sleeping," the nurse said.  "She needs it."

"There are things to help the coming down ease," Natasha said.

"Doc said no."

"Fine."  She finally managed to get into the tiny area and watched Dawn, who was curled up in a ball on the bed.  She did that when she slept alone.  They weren't sure if it was protecting herself or for warmth.  She ran a hand up Dawn's arm, waking her.  "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine.  Not happy but fine."  She blinked hard and went back to sleep.

Natasha sighed, frowning at her.  That wasn't normal Dawn behavior but it could have been due to the drugs.  She settled in to watch over her.  Dawn needed someone to watch over her.  Before things happened again.

"I'm fine," Dawn muttered again.

"I know you are.  I'll still watch over you."

Dawn blinked at her.  "Why?"

"Because you need me to."

Dawn blinked a few times.  "Natasha, I don't need a bodyguard.  I need my wife back.  Bit of a difference to be blunt."

Natasha nodded.  "I know.  I'm more than willing to talk, Dawn."

"Not my fault you guys didn't get home until two."

"No, it wasn't."  She frowned some.  "You're angrier than Clint."

"That's because this is the biggest wrong thing you could do to us beyond beating me."  Natasha slumped.  "Maybe this is being raised normally, which I know you weren't for the most part.  Maybe I'm hyper sensitive to it thanks to Mom and what hell she went through.  But the hierarchy of wrong is:  beating your spouse, cheating on your spouse, raping your spouse, which may be a tie for second place, and then the lesser wrongs."

"I can see how it has affected you."

Dawn looked at her.  "And yet I'm still wondering if this is my fault."  She got up and looked at her.  "We still have to have a *real* serious discussion before I'm letting you anywhere near me.  Because, yeah, I used to trust you."  Natasha blinked.  "I may still trust you in the field, not real sure.  Because if I can't trust you at home, what makes me think you won't suddenly snap there too?"

"I would not."

Dawn sighed and pulled up footage through JARVIS.  She pointed.  "Where should you have been?  Where did Cap ask you to be?"  Natasha watched their last battle, going a bit pale.  She hadn't been where she was supposed to be.  She slumped and nodded.  "I'm not chewing you a new one, but this may be a bit deeper than whatever made you feel smothered."

"I was not feeling smothered."

"If you weren't, you wouldn't have run away," Dawn said bluntly.  She canceled the video.  "We seriously need to talk.  I'm not in any shape for it.  You're clearly exhausted.  Go home.  Go to bed.  We'll talk tomorrow since I have a light morning."  She nodded and left her to lay back down.  Dawn moaned and flopped backward.  "This shit sucks.  I hate this," she muttered.  "I'm never having another fight again."

Natasha had heard that and she agreed.  She didn't want to fight over things.  It did ruin what they had.  She went home, finding Clint on the couch.  She sat across from him.  "I failed earlier."

"No, you got distracted earlier."  He looked at her instead of the news.  "It was covered."

"She showed me.  I was not aware I was that far off target."

He nodded.  "So you need to get your head on straight.  How's she doing?"

"You didn't tell me."

"She didn't tell me.  Stark told me.  She didn't want us to see her being laid so low for a few hours."

"She never does."  She leaned on her knees, looking around.  "Bed?"  He nodded.  "Now what?"

"She has some time off coming up.  Not sure when but I know it's scheduled.  She has an appointment right afterward."

"They might not stay in the city."

"We can all go to wherever.  Not like we can't travel since there's no current missions."

"Perhaps we should let her go and then talk when she gets back."

"If we do, it'll fester," he said.  "Dawn's blaming herself, Nat."

"She said that.  I have no idea why.  I wasn't feeling smothered."

"Yeah, you were.  Or else you would've snapped in another way."  He went back to watching the news.  "Go nap.  You look like hell."

"I'd rather we work this out between us.  I can't let this infect the team."

He snorted.  "Fury isn't blaming you."

"He called?"

"Yup."

"He tried to say it was your fault?"

"Yup, even after hearing the rumors."

"Jackass," she said in Russian.

"Yeah, I pointed that out too.  As I hung up on him I heard Joyce smack him pretty good too.  Or Hill, one of the two.  Clearly a woman by how loud it was."  She smiled slightly.  He looked at her again.  "We'll talk tomorrow, when she's out and back at her desk."

"I can do that."  She stood up.  "Are you sure?"

"I'm tired, you're tired.  It's not time for this talk yet."  She nodded, going up to her room.  He settled in on the couch, grimacing.  He hated this fight.  It needed to be over with.  Today.  He heard the twins moving and went to check on them.  They were cuddled up together.  "It's all right, girls.  Even if we're having an argument it has nothing to do with you two."

"Are you sure?" Diana asked quietly.

"Yeah, I'm sure."  He came in and sat on the foot of the bed.  He wasn't used to these sort of talks.  He'd never been part of one before.  "It was Nat's doing and Nat did something really stupid.  Now we're all trying to heal."

"Did she do what that guy in the village did to his wife?  You never saw her outside of a few hours in the market and then she wouldn't look at anyone," Artemis said.  "I always felt so sorry for her but Mom wouldn't let us help when she beat her husband up."

"No, nothing like that.  We'd never hit your aunt.  If we even thought about hitting your aunt, I'd expect and accept your aunt killing our asses."  They smiled at him for it.  "I'd never let that happen.  No, this is something else.  Bad but not that bad."  They nodded.  "We're working it out.  It's just going to be a few touchy weeks between the three of us.  None of that affects you guys beyond the pain of having to watch it now and then."  He patted Diana on the foot.  "Go to sleep.  It's fine."

"Where is auntie?" Artemis asked.

"She's a bit sick tonight and you guys don't have the same sort of immune system that kids raised here got.  You haven't been exposed to the flu and colds and stuff.  So she didn't want you to get sick."

Artemis stared at him.  "As Callia says, lies feel tingly in our heads."

He grimaced.  "Fine.  One of the guys across the street accidentally got his drugs mixed into her coffee because he stored them in the wrong spot."  They groaned.  "So she's sleeping it off under Doc's watching."

"Is she all right?" Diana demanded.

"She's fine.  Been awake and all that.  She just needs to nap it off somewhere someone can watch over her if she starts to have problems.  They're pretty rare but happen."

"We'll hug her tomorrow," Diana promised.

"She'd like that."  They grinned.  "Go to sleep you two.  I don't care if you two curl up together.  You're twins and the two upstairs do that sometimes too."  He got up.  "Happy dreams."

"You too," Artemis said quietly.  He went to his own room and they snuggled in.  Auntie was usually so happy with them but even their parents had fought sometimes.

***

Clint groaned when his phone went off at six am.  He found it and opened it.  "What?" he demanded.  "Because you woke me the fuck up, Hill.  What did you expect?  Sunshine and kittens coming out of my ass?"  He listened.  "Fine.  All of us?  Even better."  He hung up and groaned, getting up and making himself go take a shower.  It had been a short night.  Dawn kept nightmares away better than the cat did.  Though he had tried and woken Clint each time he had tried to comfort him.

This was going to suck.  He could nap on the way there he guessed.  He heard Nat upstairs and smirked.  She didn't sound happy either by the way the pipes were ringing with swearing.  He came out to get dressed, finding the twins up and making cereal.  "Make me some?"  They smiled and handed him a bowl.

"My phone wake you two?"  They smiled and nodded.  "That's fine.  Camp with Callia for the day, girls."  He dug in and they ate their own cereal.  He took them to the tower since that's where they assembled.  They got handed to Pepper, who was hugging Steve and then Stark.  "Let's do this," he noted.  Natasha came walking in.

"You two look well rested," Stark said sarcastically.

"You'd better hope it's a smooth ride and we have another pilot," Clint shot back.

"We do.  Rhodey's going with us.  It's a joint thing and we're rescuing a commando team that had the misfortune to run into HYDRA."  Natasha groaned.  "Sorry, kids."

"I'm older than you.  Watch me paddle you," Natasha warned.

He smirked.  "Kinky but you're not mine."  He got onto the plane with a wink back at Pepper, who smiled.  "Have fun without us."

"We'll be going on Saturday."

"I know."  They loaded and settled in to nap.  Rhodey had been up a few hours so they'd let Clint and Natasha sleep until they were well rested and could take over.  The door closed and they took off.

***///

Dawn woke up really early Saturday, at four in the morning.  She got the girls up, smiling at their crankiness.  "We have to leave early to catch our flight."  They had been told about the vacation and were excited but it was much too early for them.  Dawn made sure all their bags were ready by the door, they had all the papers they needed.  The girls were actually wearing clothes and so was she.  Their hired car called and she got them down to it with the bags.  She made one last check, made sure the cat was still with Tara and Maria, then got into the car.

The driver pulled off, the twins were already asleep.  So it was good.  Even if the airport screeners were going to be bastards and try to pat them down while Dawn growled.  And wrote a complaint online and to the people over the airport, the TSA, and a few senators.  She nearly snapped one's arm.  "Do not touch my twelve-year-old niece's crotch again," she warned.  The screener backed off slowly and carefully.  "Thank you!"  She walked them off.  "C'mon, girls.  The pedophile patrol is done."

"Yes, Auntie," they agreed.

Dawn ran into a regular security guard, who was scowling.  "What?" she demanded.

"The screeners wanted us to watch you."

"The screener was having a bit too much fun with my underage niece," she said bluntly.  "They may look sixteen but they're twelve and I doubt she needed to finger her that way.  If you don't like it, fuck you too."  The guard backed down.  Dawn looked up and pulled in her glow.  "Thankfully we can usually fly private."  She walked the girls and their bags off.  Pepper was waiting on them.  "I'm so suing this airport, the TSA, and the screener who decided she needed to learn what fingering was."

Pepper winced.  "I heard you shouting."

"I'm about to lose my temper," Dawn agreed.

Pepper looked at her.  "If I could've I would've taken the Stark plane."

"I know.  Not your fault it's in for refurbishing the engine."  She glared at the guard watching them.  Then she smiled.  "You know, since you guys don't screen for magically hidden objects, how effective are they really?  I know I'm not carrying anything but....  Hell, I've felt someone's hidden familiar already today."  He ran off to report that.  She smiled at Pepper.  "It is a flaw."

"So is your temper," Pepper said with a smile.

"Well, yeah, but that's why we're going on vacation, right?"

"Part of it."  She smiled at the twins.  "She's very grumpy when you get her up this early."

"Us too," Artemis said.  She looked at her blushing sister.  "Are you okay?"

"Very uncomfortable."

Dawn looked at her.  "Remember the talk about bad touches?  That was one."  She nodded she agreed.  "If a boy does that and you don't want him to, kick his ass."

"I will be."

"Me too," Artemis agreed.  "No one should touch us there."  Someone came stomping over and Dawn glared.  "Who's he, Auntie?"

"Some suit.  Who probably wants to piss me off further."  She stared until he backed away slowly and carefully.  "If it's your employee that groped my twelve-year-old niece, we should have a talk.  I didn't like having the 'bad touch' talk with her again."

"He touched me in places I don't even use a washcloth on," Diana agreed.

The suit laughed nervously.  "We'll check the security tape of that, ma'am."

"It's going online like those perverts on youtube?" Diana demanded, looking at her aunt.

"Not if they know what's good for them," Pepper assured her.  "It's not supposed to but every agency and company is made up of individuals who have free will and sometimes stupid ideas or problems."  She glared at the suit.  "I'm quite glad we don't have that problem at Stark."

"I'd kill our guards if they tried to grope a child," Dawn assured her.

"You work with Stark International?" the suit asked.

Dawn smiled and nodded.  "Yes, we do.  We're in the administration actually.  We do the paperwork that runs the company and I'm the assistant in charge of all of it."

He laughed nervously.  "Then I'd like to apologize for that screener.  You noted magically hidden things?"  Dawn nodded.  "You... you're *that* one, aren't you?" he hissed.

"Ya think?" she asked dryly.  "And yes, your screening process doesn't catch anything magical at all.  I've already seen one hidden familiar."

"How would we fix that loophole?"

She shrugged.  "Not my area of expertise.  Set up a meeting with Stark and the guys in lab 7 sometime soon.  He's out of the area today but he's got a few days free next week."

"I can do that.  Thank you."  He left them alone, going to yell at them.  With what she did to that castle, she could bring the airport down around their ears without harming a single person.  They did not need that!

Dawn smiled at Pepper.

"We do do all the work around the place that requires paperwork."  She smiled.  "Very subtle."

"I'm cranky, sorry."

"It happens.  I'm a bit cranky too.  I say we do get the plane to come get us on the way back."

"If not, I'll charter one," Dawn said.  Pepper grinned and nodded.

The gate attendant called for boarding.  "Trinidad and Tobago?" she asked Dawn.  "I thought Buenos Aires."

"Sure, if you really want me to get into another fight with the gang members," she said dryly.

"Well, no.  Why did we do that?"

"Bikinis."

"Never mind."  She got them up and to the gate, letting them take the tickets.  Dawn smiled and let the twins go first.  "I know it's your first flight.  We have gum for your ears and stuff in case your sinuses act up like mine usually do."  They grinned.  The twins had the seats across the aisle from them in first class while she and Pepper shared the bigger three-seat section.  The stewardess smiled at them and asked if they needed anything.  "Not yet," Dawn said.  "They might need some water in a bit.  This is their first flight and I've given them motion sickness medicine but...."

"Understood."  She smiled at the twins and went to make sure she had some chilled.  "The two blondes are first timers," she told her fellow crewmate.

"Wonderful."  She glanced out and smiled.  "They're adorable.  Models?"

"The one across from them was acting like a big sister so not sure.  I've seen her somewhere."

"Huh."  They did their first rounds of the cabin to identify any problem passengers.  There was always one heavy drinker in the group.  They had two dentists and a psychologist so it'd probably be one of them.  The group of young women and the CEO with them was polite, sleepy, and cute.  They could stand that.

"What are we doing once we get there, Auntie?" Artemis asked.

"Well, we're going to sleep the first day.  We usually do catch up on our naps."  They grinned.  "Then we're going to have dinner.  The next day we're going to hang out on the beach.  You girls can get your first tans."  They grinned.  "We've gotten you bikinis so don't worry."

"Are yours going to get your sworn at by a priest again?" Pepper quipped from behind her newspaper.

"I hope not."  She nudged her with an elbow.  "That was only in Rio, Pepper."

"They wear barely anything in Rio."

"Which I was."

"Figures."  They shared a smirk.

Dawn looked at the twins again.  "The next day we're going to take SCUBA lessons and do some diving to look at the reefs and fish."  The girls wiggled and nodded.  "Then we've got an overnight hike in the rainforest with a guide planned.  Then Pepper gets two days alone and we're going to Guatemala for the weekend."

"Why?" Pepper asked.  "I can go."

"Tony said he wants some beach time."

"Ah."  She nodded.  "That makes sense then."  She smiled and turned the page of the paper.  "Sounds exciting but not demanding."

"It is," Dawn agreed happily.  "I sent Sean an email so he wouldn't have to show up this weekend."  They grinned.  Sean nagged them *so* hard about their bodies sometimes.

Pepper put down her paper.  "How did a bikini land you in trouble with a gang?"

"I was beside the hotel pool in a bikini and someone tried to snatch my cute butt."  Pepper stared at her.  "Ransom."

"Ah.  Well, I guess we don't want to go to Argentina anyway."

"Have Tony take you."  She smiled.

"No, I think not."  She went back to reading.  The twins were giving them funny looks.  "Things like that happen to your aunt, girls.  She got taken once by a painter who wanted her to model for him."  The girls giggled.  Pepper smiled at them.  "You two are normal so don't worry about it."

"Does Grandma have to keep Liz?" Artemis pouted.

"Yup.  This year," Dawn said.  "She can't fly with her new breathing problem and Callia's a bit too young to go on the hiking trip.  She can start coming next year and Mom demand the right to watch the girls.  And Sean if he showed up."  They beamed and nodded.  "Just relax," she said when the door to the plane closed.  "Once we're in the air you two can go back to sleep."  They nodded, clutching hands when the plane started to move.  "Think of it like a metal version of a valkyrie's horse."  She handed over gum.  They settled in to chew it while the plane taxied.  They took off after a very short delay and it was good enough.  The girls settled in after spitting out their gum.  They didn't really like the stuff but it had helped.  They turned toward each other and napped.  Dawn pulled out her laptop to get a few things done on the flight.  Pepper looked at her oddly.  "Updating something so I can show off later."  She smiled.  "Once we land I'm going to put up a 'please leave us alone, we're on vacation in the Philippines' message so they get distracted."

"That might work," Pepper agreed.  "I'll have to do that too.  That way we're not stalked."

"That would be nice.  I hate reporters."  Pepper laughed and patted her on the hand.  Dawn went back to updating her course list and what her grades had been.  Pepper leaned over to look then gave her head a nudge.  "What?" she asked with an innocent grin.  "I'm due for a contract negotiation soon so I should have it all lined up for his consideration."  She smirked evilly.  "Did you see he put in a clothing budget?"

"I did and that you never use it."  She finished her newspaper and pulled out her own tablet to play some games on.  Dawn finished up and did the same thing.  It was good for them to relax.  The twins would sleep all the way to Trinidad where they had to switch planes to Tobago.

***

Clint and Natasha got home and found the house silent.  Again.  Not even the cat.  Clint went up to check on Tara, who had the cat and said cat was staring at the door when she opened it.  He smiled and picked up the cat, grinning at her.  "What did we miss this time?  More fleas?"

"They're on vacation.  It's their scheduled vacation."

"I didn't think it was this week," he said.  "Where?  I heard Pepper say something about Argentina but Dawn won't go back there."  Tara looked confused.  "Gang members wanted to snatch her for ransom.  She ruined a bikini taking them down."

"I don't need to know," she promised.  She smiled.  "Tobago."

"Why?" he muttered, walking off.  "Thanks, Tara."

"Welcome, Clint."  She shut the door and looked at her cat, who liked Loki.  Her fluffy, squashed face mutt of a cat seemed to shrug as she moved and laid back down.  "I know.  It means the twins will play with you some more.  Just wait until the new babies are born.  They'll love you too."  She petted her cat, sitting down to read a magazine while her twins were napping.

Clint walked into their apartment, looking at Natasha.  "They're on their scheduled vacations."

"Where this time?"

"Tobago."

"Why?" she muttered, shaking her head.

"Not a lot of people who'll snatch Dawn or the girls."

"Good point."  She blinked a few times and looked at the cat, petting it.  It purred but didn't seem inclined to move.  "We should check on them.  Dawn does have her luck problem."

"Good point."  He called a contact down in the Bahamas.  "It's Barton.  Where's my bitch and how are she, her boss, and the twin nieces doing?"  He listened to the giddy report.  "So only one reporter?  Wow.  That's lucky.  What's going on down there?  They're going into the forest?  Why?  Dawn hates to hike.  Oh, the twins.  Yeah, they'd probably love it.  Sure.  Thanks."  He hung up and looked at his cat.  "If we could travel with you...."  The phone rang almost immediately.  "Yes?" he answered.  His ear hurt from the squeal so he put it on speaker.  "Hey, Cal."

"Hi, Unclie Clint!  Auntie's in Tobago and they sent me pretty pictures of the fish.  Did you know fish came in all sorts of colors?  And they have reefs.  The girls got to try that SCUBA stuff and I need to find lessons really soon so I can go next year.  Is Daddy back yet or is he going to help Auntie Pepper sunbathe my newest baby brother?  And Liz says hi too," she babbled.

He grinned at the phone.  "I have seen some very pretty fish.  I can actually SCUBA dive too, Callia.  I can't teach you but I can do it.  So can Natasha."

"That's so cool!" she squealed.

Natasha wiggled a finger in her ear with a wince.  "When you've taken lessons we can all go together."

"Okay!  I'd like that!  Are you guys going to help Auntie Dawn be on vacation?  She said she's going to the house by the lake in a few days."

"Maybe," Clint said.  "We just got back an hour ago."

"I can watch the Loki kitty."

"We have all yours here," Joyce said in the background.

"Loki and my kitties get along great, Granma, and you like Loki kitty anyway because he doesn't pounce you like the Tony kitty does."

"That's true, Tony has woken me up ten minutes before my alarm clock went off each and every single morning."  Clint snickered.  "Then again, most of the times he's managed to turn it off anyway."

"We might go down but Dawn might want a few days off, sprout.  We'll see," Clint said.

"No, you have to go," she ordered.

"Has someone threatened her again?" Natasha asked.  "Or the twins?"

"No," Callia said.  "But she's lonely.  That's your job to fix isn't it?"  She hung up. She looked at her grandparents.  "Sometimes her husband and wife are a bit dumb."

"That can be said of most people," Bruce said, giving her a hug.

Clint looked at Natasha then at the cat, who was staring up at him.  "Want to go to the Caribbean?"

"I'll watch the cat," Natasha said quietly.

"You sure?"

"I am.  Until we've worked out some things, it will not be restful for her."  He nodded and petted the cat then handed him over.  He stretched and crawled up to sit on Natasha's shoulder to nibble her hair.  He grinned at her and repacked then left again.  She looked at the cat, petting him.  "We will do fine."  He meowed so she fed him.  It was appreciated by their smaller inducer of chaos.  The bigger one was clearly off flaunting bikinis again.

***

Dawn looked around while on their hike.  Someone was following them.  Tobago didn't have any drug lords, no mercenary armies or units, nothing like a weapons dealer that she had found.  So who was following them?  She moved closer to the twins.  They grinned and hugged her but kept patting the trees and taking pictures of any flowers for Callia.  Maybe they'd bring home a few cuttings.  They liked plants and botany had said they could plant them.  Artemis asked their guide, who said the US Customs people wouldn't allow it.  They'd have to order it specially from the company.  The girls pouted but he just smiled and said pictures were enough for most people.  They babbled about the geeks and he understood why but it wasn't going to get through the screeners.

Dawn hesitated before moving on when they paused for a rest break.  Someone was still watching them and she couldn't spot them.  This was going to drive her nuts.  She felt a small tingle of thought from wherever Clint was in Europe, smiling and touching it back.  That relaxed her but someone was still watching them hike.

***

Clint smirked because Dawn was still cautious, still using all the skills they had taught her.  It was good to see and it was cute watching her being the big sister/aunt to the babbling twins. They all looked healthy, tanned, and relaxed.  He kept following them through the trees.  Dawn was still wary, which was good, but enjoying the woods.  She had hiked through the jungle with him more than once in Guatemala so he knew she enjoyed them even with hating to hike.  They finally broke for the night, halfway through the loop of the trail.  It was still early, not quite dark, but they set up tents, a fire pit, and settled in to eat stew.

The place was well used.  The firepit was a permanent fixture.  The tent stakes were already in place.  They clearly expected city folk coming out to camp and hike.  There weren't too many wild animals around here, though a few snakes.  Dawn showed the girls how to make sure no snakes could get into their tents before they snuggled in for the night.  Dawn stayed up after the guide went to his own tent.  She was clearly watching for whoever she could feel watching them.  He hopped down, avoiding the thrown knife with a grin.  "Hi," he said quietly.

"I thought you were still working."  She kissed him.

"Got back earlier."  He handed back the knife.  She snuggled into his side and he let her.  "Nat's cat sitting."

"Cool."

"You better?"

"Yeah, I'm okay."  She smiled at him.  "It's been a great vacation.  The girls have had a lot of fun.  They adored diving and sent tons of pictures back to Callia."

"She called."  He took another kiss.  She moaned.  He smirked.  "Happy to see me?" he teased.

"Happy to have you here."  She stroked up his arm and he nodded at the tent, getting a nod back.  They curled up together under her sleeping bag.  It wasn't as comfortable but it was comforting.  He had missed sleeping on her.  She hadn't even had the cat to sleep with so it was harder for her to sleep.  But now, it was great.

It wasn't even sexual, which was how Clint realized he had that fairytale 'happily ever after' sort of love.  He hadn't seen his wife in over a week and all he wanted was cuddles?  Yeah, that was doomed to die together true love.  She poked him on the side, getting one back and a kiss.  "I'll stalk you around tomorrow too."

"You could join us."

"I will at our house."  She smiled and nodded, snuggling in again.  He relaxed and let himself drift off.  He'd get up and leave before the tour guide got up.  That way the guy didn't freak out by having his group added onto, and Dawn wouldn't have to pay more for him.

***

Clint kicked back at the hotel, watching Dawn play with the twins in the water, and shoo off guys who clearly needed to learn how to count.  The twins looked sixteen, there was no way that was legal here either.  He had gotten a few with a pellet gun if they were insistent or if Dawn hadn't spotted them.  It was a great vacation and he could watch Dawn taunt people in a bikini all he wanted to without having to feel too protective of her.  Though, the dark sunglasses?  She had a night out.  Pepper hadn't.  She was enjoying Tony and Steve fussing over her.  The twins were giggling about Tony's antics.  Clint ate a bite of beef jerky and chewed, sipping some beer with it.  This was probably his best vacation ever.  He got to appreciate his favorite things and not have to growl at people who wanted Dawn.  He did spot the reporter and shot a pellet into their lens so it'd crack or at least be scratched.  They started to rant and complain that Dawn had done that.

Dawn looked over.  "Where the fuck did you come from?"  The reporter kept ranting.  She snapped her fingers a few times.  "It wasn't me, dude.  I didn't realize you were there stinking up the beach.  So stop it."

"Someone threw something into my camera," he said with a snotty attitude.

She took it to look at, pulling a hidden knife off her back to pry out the BB.  She held it up.  "I'm pretty sure I don't have a pellet gun," she said, handing it over.  The knife got put up and she smiled, handing him back his camera.  "Sorry.  Not me."  She pointed.  "You're leering at my underage nieces."

"They look old enough to me."

"They're twelve and if you're a pedo, I get to feed you to the sharks."  He ran off.  "Thank you for your cooperation!" she called after him with a wave and a grin.  "Jackass."  She turned to look at the twins.  "Reporters like that are seriously a problem."  They laughed and pulled her back into the water.

Tony watched over them.  "Dawn, want me to hire them a bodyguard?"

"No.  Thanks though.  If I want them to have one, I'll hire someone."  She grinned back at him.  "I can ask Clint or Clay for a recommendation."  He smirked at her for that.  She splashed him.  "You need sun, boss.  Not like we don't know you have a glowy nightlight stuck to your chest."

"Doesn't mean I want people to stare."  She walked over and did a cloaking over it so it wasn't really visible if you didn't know it was there.  She smiled and pushed him into the water.  "Go play.  Let the baby boy in there nap."  She hauled Steve out too.  "Girls, they're the dunking targets."  The girls squealed and pounced Tony and Steve to make them play.  Dawn grinned.

"You so have a hangover," Pepper complained quietly.

"Yeah but I needed it," she admitted.  She felt someone staring and looked around, checking Clint's room.  Not him.  She checked around more carefully.  "Tony, move," she ordered, spotting the red light.  He got himself and the twins moved with Steve's help.  The bullet hit near them but Dawn had already gotten them and was running toward their body.  Resort police were too.  She put her gun up, making them blink.  She shrugged.  "I'm the boss's last line of defense before herself."  She kicked the body over, stomping on the hand that came up with the gun then his throat.  "Try it, Bradley."  He whimpered, staring at her.  She stared down at him and smiled.  "Hi.  How are you?"

"Fucked," he said.

"Ya think?"

"I won't tell you who hired me."

She pulled a knife and smiled.  "Guys, can I have a moment with this mediocre assassin?"  They shuddered and tried to take him.  He fought with them.  Dawn got him slammed back into the ground, was on his back with the knife on the back of his neck, pressing in on the unsharpened side.  "You're being naughty and I'm not in the mood to paddle you this time," she said in his ear.  "You're going to die.  You shot at my nieces."

"The target was Rogers!" he complained.

"Your beam was on Stark."

"I knew they'd move."

"Yay.  You still nearly injured my nieces."  He was shuddering.  "Now, you'll tell me what I want to know, and you'll do it politely and calmly, or I'll make sure your mother's hopes and dreams of you buying out her mortgage and bad habits is moot until she gets your insurance policy."

"Kippling!" he shouted.  "He hired me to shoot the gay American supposed hero as he called him."

"Roger or Toddy?" she asked.

"Toddy."  He tried to look back.  "I knew you worked for Stark and all that, but when did you turn so tough?"

"I got given to Pepper because there was a hell goddess after me.  I've been tough for a *very* long time."  He shivered.  "How much?"

"Fifty G's."

"That's lower than the usual price on Stark," Clint said, strolling over.  "Dawn, your stance is a bit awkward."

"Yeah, well, bikini.  Don't want to give him a thrill."

"Hawkeye," Bradley moaned.  "You're one of my teacher's idols."

Clint frowned.  "Who trained you?"

"Claudia."

"Oh, my psychotic ex.  Great.  Well, if you live you can tell her you met my wife."  Bradley gasped and tried to turn but Dawn's knife was now about an inch into the back of his neck.  "Yeah, she's pretty mean when I need her to be.  Just give up, kid."  He went limp.  Dawn slowly and carefully got up.  The resort police cuffed him and said something to Dawn, who looked at him.  "I know, you never learned Portugese, just Spanish."  He replied to them.  They nodded and took him off.  Dawn was cleaning her knife off on the jacket Bradley had dropped.  "How did you know him?"

"I went to high school with him.  He was my chemistry partner."

Clint frowned.  "Any other society bitches you know that might turn assassin?"

"Well, they were pretty mercenary, but not really.  I didn't expect it from him.  He puked on his frog in AP biology."  Clint laughed, walking her off.  "Pepper, you remember Bradley, right?"

"Very polite but his mom had a gambling problem," she said.  "That was him?"  She smiled.  "Small world."

"Very.  He interned with Clint's ex and was going to shoot Steve for Toddy Kippling."

"Bigot," she muttered.  She looked at them.

"Auntie, you're really hot when you fight," Artemis said.  "Can I learn to do that, Uncle Clint?"

"Yes you will be so you can beat assholes off you when they try for your underage butt.  Both of you."  The twins hugged him and dragged Tony back into the water.

"I need to help handle that," Tony said with a point.

"It was against Steve," Clint called.  "Dawn asked him politely."

"How politely?" Steve asked, staring at Dawn.

"I barely managed to draw blood, Steve."

"Oh, good."  He smiled and went back to frolicking with the twins.  He'd handle the idiot bigot supposed newsperson later.

Pepper looked at Dawn.  "Just think, Bradley wanted to date you.  Tony wouldn't give him permission because of his bad econ and chemistry grades."

Dawn grimaced.  "Huh.  I didn't know that's why they had that talk."  She strolled off.  "Going to come play in the sun, Hawkeye?" she teased with a smirk.

"Nope.  I'm going to go back to enjoying you in a bikini without having to brush guys off your ass."  He strolled off.  One of the officers was coming back with papers, which made him sigh.  He filled it out and handed it back.  The officer wanted to know about him so he sent him to Pepper and Dawn.  They could translate.  He was on vacation.  Dawn had only injured the guy anyway.

***

Joyce smiled, showing the text to Maria, who growled and stomped off.  "Dawn did handle the assassin sent after Steve, Agent Hill."

"Good!"  She paused.  "It said she knew him?"

"It was her old chemistry partner.  Very nice boy, usually polite, but bad grades so Tony wouldn't let him date Dawn.  Dawn's earlier text said that he studied under Clint's ex Claudia?  Who has a price on her head?"

"Excuse me?" Fury yelled from his office.  He came out.  "We're talking about which assassin?"  She laid out that whole thing for him.  He was growling and looking at Hill.  "Why isn't Romanoff with them?"

Joyce coughed.  "She's cat sitting."

"Can't you?" he demanded.

"By her own choice," she said, staring at him.  He glared back.  She growled.  He backed down.  "Natasha knows that it won't be very restful at the moment so she's waiting at home for them to come back so they can talk," she said quietly.

"I heard the rumors but that's fucking dumb," he muttered.

"Then she shouldn't have cheated on them."

"True."  He looked at Maria.  "Find the rest of them and end that price on her daughter's head and our people's heads."

"Yes, sir.  That's what I'm going to do."  She went downstairs and to a certain office.  She knocked and Phil told her to come in.  "Dawn took down another assassin."

"If I was keeping track of the exact number it'd be somewhere about twelve now," he quipped, smiling at her.  "I heard.  Xander ranted.  Claudia's running for her life."

"Good.  Fury wants that solved."

"My current crop of undercover agents are all busy with Ten Rings."

"You don't have anyone?"

"I have two.  Both candidates."  She grimaced. "But they can maybe handle it.  I've never tested them in the field."

"Do so, today."

He nodded.  "We'll leave tonight after we do the research."  She nodded and left.  He pulled up information and sent a mental thought at Clint to let him know what he knew.  He got back a nice email full of information.  Maybe he'd go solve it himself.  No, the rookies needed to be shaken down in the field.  He'd take them and back them up.  He wasn't sure if either one was able to handle a bad field assassination.

***

Dawn finally got home to the house in Guatemala, sighing in pleasure.  The twins were happy and giggly.  She spotted Clint on the couch with his boxers laying over his crotch but not on.  "Girls, why don't you go play by the lake.  It's safe here.  The guards are at Pepper's house."

"Yes, Auntie," they said, blushing at Clint and running off to play in the lake.

"Problems?" Clint teased with a smirk.

"I got them t-shirts that had their age on it yesterday for a reason.  Thankfully, our guards here are decent and just spotted the t-shirts and nodded politely."  She closed the door, leaning against it.  "Is the cat okay?"

"He's fine.  He's been chewing on Nat's hair again."

"Great, hairballs."  She came over to lay down on top of him and kiss him.  "You were going to meet me naked?"

"Until I heard the twins came with you."

"Pepper needed some time alone and we're getting a four-day weekend free in Vail in two weeks," she said quietly.  He smiled at her planning.  "Tony wanted to check over the house."  He took a kiss, winding his hands into her hair.  "Hmm.  Nice."

"Very nice," he agreed.  He shifted so she was more comfortable on top of him.  "How bad was it?"

"Three drunk frat boy wannabes.  Slightly wealthy so they thought they were entitled until I nearly ripped one's head off with my bare hands.  The police came when he started to scream like Callia when she sees a spider.  The officers heard they were twelve and the guys went to jail."  She smiled.  "Then I had them made special t-shirts."

"Good!  Maybe it'll stop the leeches in New York too."  He took another kiss, making her moan and relax again.  "It's just us."

"Pepper, Tony, and Steve are at their place."

"That's fine.  They won't interrupt us.  They know we need private time."  The girls ran in and paused to giggle and blush then ran upstairs.  "The one with the solid headboard and the one with the fancy metal one are yours," he called after them.

"Okay," they called together.

Dawn looked up at the squeaking noise.  "No jumping on the beds.  They're old and we haven't replaced them yet."

"Yes, Auntie."

"Thank you."  She kissed Clint, smiling at him.  "So...."

"They'll sleep sometime tonight," he said with a wink.  He stroked up her side.  "You taste different again."

She grimaced.  "Before we left I asked Doc for a shot.  It'll last three months and I...  I don't want it to be a reaction if that makes sense."

"No, it does.  My first instinct was to hoard you and have sex until I wore myself out."

"Yeah, mine too but that would've been unfair to you."

He smiled.  "I think we're handling it okay so far.  When we get back, we'll talk like adults and we'll see where we can start to mend things."  Dawn nodded.  He stared at her.  "Are you going to forgive her?"

She slumped, considering that.  "I'm about half and half right now," she admitted quietly.  "This is something I swore up and down I'd never allow to happen to me.  Yet I still love the bitch."

He nodded.  "I feel about the same way.  I'm slowly getting over it.  I know she might have to in the field.  I'll never forget it."

"No, ditto on that."  She snuggled in to hold him.  "I don't know.  I'm pretty sure I might be able to forgive her but I might not be able to let her touch me again," she said quietly.  "That's a huge trust thing and she kinda blew that."

"I get that," he agreed.  "We definitely couldn't do the birthday playing around we've done in the past."  She looked up at him and smiled.  "I know."  She put her head back down.  "We'll work back up to it, Dawn."  He kissed her head.  "I meant for this to be sexy."

"It is.  It's very hot."  She stroked down his firm, muscled stomach to tease the waistband of the boxers, then underneath them.  He moaned and shifted.  "You're getting ridden into a coma later," she said quietly.

He grinned.  "I'm looking forward to it."  The girls came running back down in bikinis and he stared.  "Are those yours?"

"Yeah.  They fit mine already."  She looked up.  "I remember being eighteen and barely filling those out."

"You filled them out really well, Dawn.  Coulson nearly had a heart attack a few times and I had so many inappropriate thoughts I nearly banged my head in the elevator door."  She smiled and kissed him.  "When you showed up in that smiley face bikini, I nearly lost my mind and pulled you into my lap then.  If I thought it would've been accepted, I would've done that.  But you were kinda an ice princess in those days."

"Good girls don't give out randomly," she quipped.

"True, and I knew you were a very good girl.   With the naughtiest sensual streak ever as I found out a few weeks later."  She smiled.  "I'm still going to keep hiding all your bikinis from you."

She kissed him.  "Pepper wants to take the kids to St. Martin after she delivers little Hugo in there."

"Hugo?" he asked blandly.

"That's what Steve's been calling him until they pick a name."

He nodded.  "I can't do that."  She smiled.  "What are you calling him?"

"Bart."

"Works better."  He took another kiss, moving the boxers to give her better access.  Her bra came off under the t-shirt and her shorts were without underwear already.  "You went commando on the flight?"

"I wasn't until we hit turbulence and the drink on my tray spilled.  I had to change.  My beach shorts were in my bag."

He looked at them then at her.  "I think it's hot you can still fit into the trashy, bad girl shorts."  She grinned and kissed him, moving backward to tease his stomach.  "That's sweet, Dawn.  I'm going to reciprocate later."  He laid there and enjoyed it, smiling when Stark opened the door.  "We're.  Busy."

"Oops, can see that."  He closed the door and went to distract the twins, who were swimming with Steve anyway.

"They're having married time," Diana chided Tony.  "They need private time to do married people things."

"Yes they are," Tony assured them with a smile.

Artemis grinned.  "Auntie said we can have some of her stuff from when she was younger.  That way we don't have to shop."

"I can see that you guys borrowed bikinis," Steve agreed.  "Dawn had a nasty habit of being stared at in them."

"They can look but Auntie said they had better not touch," Diana said smugly.  "That's why we got the new t-shirts with our ages on them."

"Yeah, you needed 'em," Tony assured her with a grin.  "Go swim."  They swam off.  He looked at Steve.  "I had those same thoughts about Dawn," he quipped at the look on his boyfriend's face.

"So did I," he admitted quietly.  "Shoot, they're pretty girls."

"They are."  He patted him on the back.  "They look at us like silly uncles and that's a great thing.  Because even if I was still the asshole I used to be, they'd kill me in bed when they're eighteen."  Steve hit him on the arm, getting a grin back.  "They would."

"Dawn would."

"Yeah, Dawn would.  Definitely.  Pepper too."  They sat there and watched the girls swim.  The bodyguards they had in case of problems were not looking at the girls.  It was almost not looking at the girls on purpose.  That was good of them.

***

Clint came out for dinner when Pepper yelled from the porch.  "I've got a craving for collard greens," he admitted, smiling at Pepper, who was from the south and knew what they were.

"Dear, the only thing I know about anything collared is what you taught me when you had that assignment at the sex club," Dawn quipped.

Pepper gaped then burst out laughing.  "Not exactly the same thing, Dawn.  We'll teach you that.  There's a great southern restaurant I go to sometimes when I get homesick, Clint.  Aren't you an Iowa boy?"

He grinned and nodded.  "Yup."  He walked Dawn and Pepper over to the picnic tables.  The twins were chatting with Steve and Tony about the cats.  "Is ours causing you guys trouble?"

"No but I'm hoping that the one that's in heat won't get near him," Artemis said with a grin.  "They'd make funny looking kittens."

"All Callia's are purebred," Dawn said, considering it.

"That'd only matter if they got shown," Tony said.  "I'm hoping they're all fixed."

"Tara's isn't," Diana said with a grin.  Clint moaned, shaking his head.  "She was going into heat when we left."

"Yup, so Tara's probably going to be announcing kittens and babies," Dawn quipped.  She handed Clint the chicken and then the girls.  They took theirs and handed it to Steve.  The potatoes and the salad got passed the same way, then the ears of corn.  The guards had theirs off to the side going over gun magazines.  Clay had really liked these guys and they seemed nice enough.

Clint glanced over then at Dawn, who smiled.  "I've got to broaden your food tastes again."

"Watch out for strange combinations," Tony quipped.  "A few times I wondered if she had snuck out and gotten pregnant.  Rhubarb on her cheerios and on popcorn comes to mind."

"Jalapenos and peanut butter," Pepper said with a grin for Dawn.

"It tasted good.  I can't do it now.  My stomach hates the hot stuff."

Clint looked at her.  "You didn't used to have that problem.  You and I had that super hot chili in Peru."

"Yeah, and then my stomach decided to eat itself.  Do you remember me having those really extreme stomach cramps?"  He nodded slowly.  "Went to the local there and he found an ulcer."  Clint winced.  "So yeah, no more hot stuff and low acid coffee and juice."

"I wondered why we got low acid orange juice," Clint admitted.  He shook his head quickly.  "Still tastes the same."

"Do you still have one?" Tony asked.

"No.  It healed.  I managed to heal it.  I'm really careful not to aggravate it into coming back."

"Was it stress related?" Pepper asked.

"No.  Not that he could tell.  He said it was acid reflux due to the hot stuff.  Whenever I get a new fit of heartburn I take some acid reducers for a few days and it's better.  Thankfully they're now available over the counter."

"That's good to know," Clint said, looking at her.  "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Nat knew.  She asked why I was taking a prescription.  That's why we went to Thailand next, so I could have a lot of rice and fish."

"And more hot stuff," Clint reminded her.

"Yeah, I remember."  She smiled slightly.  "There's days I can still swear I can taste that chili paste on me."

He smiled.  "That had nothing at all to do with anything.  You volunteered to help with that."

"I did.  Then it took me two days to scrub the burning stuff off my skin.  But the kids that fell in were okay and that's what was important."  Tony cleared his throat and stared at them.  "The village we were wandering around in on a car break had been grinding local chilies in a huge wine press sort of thing. Apparently they turned it into paste, added rice wine, and then capped it off for sauces and things."

"Seen that," Tony agreed.

"Had that," Steve said then burped behind his hand.  "Excuse me."

"Two of the kids stomping it fell into the paste," Clint said then ate a bite of chicken.  "By then it was about ten feet of liquidy paste.  They were trying to get the kids out but they were having to use the older kids because most of the adults were too heavy and would've pushed the top press lid down onto them.  The kids weren't able to haul them out because they weren't strong enough.  Dawn offered to climb up since she was one of the smallest people they had.  We set up ropes to help her get the kids out of the paste, and the one that kept slipping under meant she had to climb in to get him.  They all got out but Dawn had to scrub for *days* because that burned."

"A lot.  Everywhere," Dawn quipped with a grin for him.

"Yeah.  Those were not pleasant burns either.  That or the ones from the volcano god people."  She kicked him under the table, making him wince and rub his leg.  "Ow, Dawn.  Mean."

She smiled.  "You promised never to bring that up again."

"I didn't say it around Nat."

"They wanted Dawn?" Pepper guessed.

"They wanted Natasha," Dawn said with a smile.  "Fiery red hair just like lava...."  Pepper shivered.  "Thankfully we heard and rescued her but they were warming her up so she wouldn't be killed so fast when they threw her in.  She had some pretty first degree toastiness in a few places."

"Thankfully they also had nice springs locally so she could soak for a week," Clint finished.

"Wow," Artemis said, looking awed.  "Will we run into them?"

"Not those ones," Dawn quipped.  "And probably not, girls.  Your mom never did.  My kids might...."  They laughed and hugged her but went back to eating.  "Did you send Sean pictures or post cards?"  They grinned evilly and nodded.

"Is he ranting about bikinis on Atlantis?" Tony guessed.

Dawn checked her email then the girls'.  "Yup.  And Belinda wrote, Pepper.  She's offering them modeling time."  She wrote back a nasty email to her about how her very young nieces were not going to partake of such things.  They didn't need to be pushed down and treated like Barbies.  She sent it with a 'thank you for treating them as more than pretty, we'd appreciate them being well rounded,' at the end.  She put her phone up after sending Sean one that they were her bikinis.  The phone went back onto the table and they dug in again, making small talk since the girls wanted to know about robots.

John appeared, staring at Dawn.  "You just made Sean have a seizure, Dawn.  He ranted worse than Rodney ever has.  Go easy on the kid?"

"I wasn't mean!  Not like the lady who wanted them to model panties and bras was."

John blinked a few times, nodding slowly.  "You need that stress handled," he quipped and left.  A few minutes later, his phone beeped with a new email alert.  He looked at it.  It was the file on Dawn's bikinis from her Miami vacation.  And one special birthday one.  John stared, slumping.  "Damn it I need a woman of my own," he complained.  That was evil of Phil.  "Sean, calm down.  Those were your aunt's bikinis."

"She's a married woman!  She doesn't need those sort of things!" he complained loudly.

"Kiddo, married women and single women both can wear bikinis on the beach," Rodney said smugly, sipping his current mug of coffee.  "Dawn's had a number of them in the papers over the years."  John showed him that email, making him nearly swallow the whole mug.  "Oh.  Huh."  He found the birthday one and realized he was whimpering.  "I need laid," he said, handing it back to John before walking off.  "Radek, I'm taking tonight off to visit an exquisite house of ill repute," he called into the labs.  "Do not blow up the city until I get back."  He went to their traveling station and sent himself to the city.

John looked at Sean.  "Your aunt has more skimpy ones than that one.  Those were downright modest compared to some of them, Sean."

"Dawn's a pretty young woman," Ronon said.  "She should play that up.  It's how girls get men worthy of them on this planet."  John showed him that email.  He blinked a few times.  "A smiley face....  Huh."  He handed it back.  He shook his head quickly.  "Thankfully she has someone worthy of her and I'm not a bad guy to take that from him."  He walked off shaking his head.

John smiled at Sean.  "Girls wear things like that sometimes.  They only do it on the beach and sometimes in a tanning bed."  Sean glared at him.  "Your mom did too."

"Dad wouldn't have allowed it."

"Bullshit.  We visited a few times and your mom was wearing less than the Valkyries when they're doing laundry," he shot back.  Sean whimpered and shook all over.  "Yeah, so it runs in the family.  Thankfully, your aunt beat everyone who wanted to admire your sisters off them."

"Good!"  He walked off pouting.  He needed to speed up his training so he could help his Uncle Clint beat off the people that wanted a Summers woman of their own.  Ronon would understand that need.  He had a sister once.

John went to his room to work out some personal stress.   Because Dawn was an evil teasing bitch and her nieces had learned it by blood relationship long before meeting her.

***

Xander looked up then at his mate.  "What did you send to John?  He's cursing you loudly."

"Sean was ranting about the twins' pictures from Tobago."

"Why?" Xander asked with a smile.

"Bikinis.  I kindly sent John pictures from her vacation in Miami so he could show Sean it wasn't that abnormal."

Xander stuffed his mouth, shaking his head, trying not to smile.  "I'm sure they appreciated that a lot."  He checked.  "Yup, Rodney's with an expensive hooker, John's having some self pleasuring, and Sean's pouting that it comes from being a Summers woman.  Some day soon we'll have to point out all the girls that drool on him."

Phil smiled and sent that message to John so he could make sure he realized that.  "That way he can take personal security measures."

"Sure, and make John swat you hard."

"As long as it's not on the butt, Xander."

Xander beamed.  "No, that's my fun."  Phil gave him a pointed look.  He smiled and dug in.  It was a good night for a dinner.  The house phone rang so he answered it.  "Yup?"  He listened.  "How did you get my number?" he demanded.  "Yes, I am Xander, how  did you get my number, woman?"  He listened.  "It's still unlisted for a reason.  Yes, that reason is because I'm a God and I can fry your shallow ass," he said bluntly.  "Yes, that same Xander.  No, I think if you attempt to stalk Buffy's kids anywhere I'll have to rob Dawn of her fun of killing you in horrible manners," he said happily.  "I haven't had a battle in a few weeks so I can use you for sparring."  She hung up nearly crying.  "Reporter," he told Phil.

"I'll change the number tomorrow and flay whichever agent handed it over."  He answered it when it rang.  "No comment."  He left it off the hook and texted Maria, who was at Lamaze tonight with Tara.  They shared a look and then a kiss before getting back to dinner.  Xander had something planned, but he wasn't sure what.  Only that it'd probably need them to not be hungry.

Xander smiled.  "Kinda," he admitted with a shy smile.  They finished up and he took him to an underground city.  "This is somewhere underneath Athens."  He took Phil's hand.  "The guy who did all this...  Well, I kept trying to calm him down but he considered me his personal torment."

Phil looked at the nearby statues.  A lot were half done but some of the buildings were fully constructed.  They walked around them.  "Why did he do this?"

"That's a bit longer.  This is his later years.  That was his last one," he said with a point at a statue that was less finished than the others.  He led him to another room, which happened into a museum, across the halls to the cafeteria and down a back hallway to a hidden doorway.  "They haven't found this part yet," he said with a smile.  He let Phil look around this one.  It was mostly the same young man.  He pointed.  "That was his model.  His first love."

"Was he built like that or was the guy compensating?"

"Due to society at the time, he couldn't admit that he wanted his lover to have him.  They couldn't do that.  His lover was a drag queen who did courtesan duties for a lot of people but he was his favorite model.  He asked his mother if he could marry him and she said no, because it'd be a huge scandal for the family, but she wouldn't have them broken up."  He led him off to one.  "He got a fever and got really sick.  According to what I was told when I went to check on him that first time, his lover had begged him to work the fever out of his body by making him sweat it out.  He died during it."

Phil shivered.  Xander pulled him closer.  "That was his last one of him.  He worked on it on and off for nearly a decade.  He went into a heavy year of mourning when his lover died."  He led him on to another group of statues.  "Then his mother demanded that he marry to give her heirs before his life went to total hell," he said more quietly.

He led him to the other room in the 'city'.  "She understood it was a political match, and so did he.  He didn't love her, she didn't love him.  She encouraged him to knock her up as often as she could have it happen.  Sometimes by dressing like his former lover."  He pointed at one.  "She was a pretty young woman but the third daughter of a large, wealthy merchant family.  He was a good enough artist that he had commercial success, even though people did say that was a bit weird.  Remember reading about those good luck phallus statues on the lawn back in the day?"  Phil nodded.  "He was found drunkenly on top of one of them."

"Try to regain it?"

"No.  He said since he couldn't have him, no one else would ever touch him there again and he'd ruin it to make sure no one would.  That got a huge amount of talk."  He led him to a group of people by one doorway.  "This was the kids.  He adored his kids.  He might not have been able to touch his wife without her playing dress up but he adored his kids.  He straightened out for his kids.  He went back to better artwork for his kids.  She let him come down here to his work area two days a week to work on whatever he wanted but the rest of the time he had to handle things that made the family money."

"So she's humoring him and keeping things steady," Phil said.

Xander smiled and nodded.  "Yeah, until they died of something that seemed a bit like an early plague.  High fevers, spots, all that.  Not sure what it was.  He was helping his kids when she died.  He lost all but the baby she had just had."  He looked at Phil.  "His brother took the baby in when it lived.  He was a bit militant but too artistic for military service.  He ran a shipping group."  He led him around the statues.  "He kept the kids' only half finished because if he didn't give them sexual organs they could never grow up and want it, like his had ruined him.

"He retreated down here when his kids were buried.  It was his grief that called out to mine at the time and I came to see if I could help.  He told me a few times I was like a torment because I kept him from getting too lost a few times," he finished quietly.  "I felt a bit of kinship with him.  It helped me to help him if that makes sense."

"It does."  Phil pulled Xander closer to hold him.  He was staring at one of the kids.  "Do I know their current family?"  Xander nodded.  "Am I part of their current family?"

"Yup."  He smiled.  "I found that out recently.  Well, Artemis found out and told me.   She was looking at one of your distant cousins because she's a huntress as well."

"Huh."  Phil nodded, looking around.  "He built all this?"

"Some of the buildings were partially done.  It had been a cult's religious enclave further back in history but he tidied it up and built all the rest of it and all the statues.  Over fifty years of work down here by himself."  He looked at him.  "His brother let him drift back into madness since no one could hold him steady," he finished quietly.

"Does anyone else know that these exist?"

"A few people have found one of the rooms but they never go back.  The rooms have a feeling of despair."

"I felt that and wondered."  He looked around again.  "Those are the people that helped him?"

"That he knew, some that he lost."  He walked him over to tell him who most of them were.  He didn't know a few of them but he had been around Athens back then.

Someone walked in.  "Who are you?" they demanded.

Xander looked over.  "Alexander."

She gaped.  "The God Alexander?"

"Yeah.  This is my husband, Phil.  I knew him."  He smiled sadly.  "I helped when his family died."

"You know who did all these?"

"I know who did all three rooms," Xander said with a small smile.  "I tried really hard to help him."

"We've just found the other room a few weeks ago."

Xander nodded, walking her back to the first room to show and tell her the same stories.  Including more about who was represented.  She was making notes and taking video of it.  Xander didn't mind.  The guy deserved to be noted for all the work he had done, even if it was because he was lost in grief.  She was nearly crying about his family but it was good to know what caused this. She went to get her boss, who saw the tape and got shown the statues.  By then the two gods were gone.  They decided they were going to keep them there and add them as special collection rooms with plaques about what had happened.  The artist deserved his story to be known.

***

In Tartarus, in Hades' palace, he looked up and smiled.  "He'll appreciate that, Xander," he said quietly.  "Thank you."  Persephone looked over, looking curious.  "Our artist."

"It's too bad his wife's people were from another pantheon so the children went with her.  I'm glad we could work out that they could visit."

Hades smiled.  "You did great doing that.  Xander just showed Phil his caverns of work."

"Awww."  She smiled.  "He'll appreciate that story and how it relates back to Xander's first family."

"Xander just told Phil he's related to that artist."

"Wonderful."  She smiled and sipped her wine.  "I'm glad Xander could finally share some of that pain."

"It's good for them."  He looked up.  "They're going to Minos."

"The grove?"

"It appears so."

"That's a very romantic, healing place."  She smiled.  "Eat, dear.  I made all your favorites."

"You did.  How did you get roast beef?"

"I sent the handmaiden out to pick it up at the store."  She smiled.  "Modern conveniences are wonderful."  He smiled and nodded.

***

Xander took him and Phil to a small island, a warm place shrouded in darkness you could almost feel on your skin.  "It's protected.  One of the Titans held this as his holy grove," he said quietly.  He led them into the protections and let him see the villa.  It sat in a valley that was surrounded by wild looking grape vines and olive trees.  The fences had long grown into the vines and trees.  The house looked sturdy and in good condition.  Xander held his hand as they walked along the path.  He told him how this grove was made.  How it was held as a honeymoon spot mostly these days but all the gods were allowed to come here as long as they didn't ruin anything.  Sometimes Dionysus came to trim the grapes for them.  Some of the ceremonial wines were made from these grapes.  Xander fed him one with a smile.

"Bit tangy so early."

"They are but they're a very special breed.  This is the only place you'll find these.  Even when other gods have tried, it never worked.  They only grow here."  He fed him another grape and ate one, smiling at him.  "They're usually used to make the wine for real weddings, not political ones but chosen one weddings."  He led him to the house, letting him look it over.  "We have no idea how he saw ahead to look at house designs like this one but it's the way it was made."

"The wood and the stone mixed?" he asked, tipping his head.  A third of the house's structure was in wood instead of in marble or granite.  "Why?"

"He said it appealed to him."  He shrugged.  "I only met him once and asked that.  He told me it added something to look at, something to want to improve, and he liked it."

"It's very interesting to look at."  He looked around.  "So the Greek pantheon takes honeymoons here?"

"It's open to all pantheons.  There's a few of these spread around in various ancient pantheons.  It's also got non-disclosure and no violence charms woven into the protections."  He smiled and led him down to the beach.  It had a private, pale tan sand beach.  It wasn't huge but more than enough for a good game of frisbee on it.  Phil squatted down to test the sand, smiling at how it ran through his fingers.  "Even if there's a hurricane or a typhoon we'd be able to sit here and watch it."

Phil stood up and walked over, kissing him.  "Thank you for sharing this with me."

Xander smiled.  "It's only right that I show you the special things about us."  He took another kiss, rubbing Phil's cheeks with his thumbs.  "I was going to bring a picnic here but since we ate I didn't figure you'd be hungry?"

"We might need some later.  If that's all right?"

Xander grinned and nodded.  "We wouldn't be the first."  He took another kiss, taking their clothes off with his powers.  They got laid on the sand next to them.  Xander created a large blanket so they wouldn't end up in the sand no matter how much they wiggled around.  He laid down and let Phil take control this time.  Phil was good to him. Phil touched and kept it at touching for a bit.  Xander wiggled some but Phil smiled and kissed him, so Xander let him explore all his marks, scars, and dents.

Phil kissed a few that looked bad but one he smiled at and kissed because his daughter had hit Xander with a toy truck and caused a small scar.   Which Xander hadn't said anything about until that night.  He hadn't done more than push Melissa back a bit and wiggle to a better protected spot while they played.  He moved onto his stomach and Xander giggled because he was ticklish but Phil lapped those spots and what was ticklish before was now happy tingles.

Whatever Phil was doing was leaving a wake of power over his skin.  The hairs were standing up on end and Phil was more than happy to encourage him shivering and going limp underneath him.  Finally Phil made it to his cock and took it into his mouth.  A long, slow, slurp down and around with his tongue then slowly back up to tease the head.  Then back down and carefully using his tongue to make Xander lose his mind.  Not that Xander minded.  He liked doing the same thing to Phil.  Xander moaned but Phil kept him there.  He pulled off with a slurp and stared at him before licking over the head of his cock.  Xander made a whining noise.

"Patience."

"I have some.  A tiny bit."

"Then consider this expanding that fund," he teased with a small smile.  He went back down on him, making Xander grab the blanket.  Phil had turned his tongue elemental so it was rubbing against his most sensitive skin in that pure power form.  Which was great, but Xander was going to come very quickly if he didn't stop.  Phil pulled up and went back to normal.  "Problems?" he asked.

"Yes!  I need more," he panted, staring at him.  "Please?"

"Gladly."  He kissed him and manifested some oil.  Xander changed it.  "You sure?"

"Definitely," he moaned.  Phil scooped some onto his fingers and shifted so he could suck on Xander and stretch him.  Xander's head hit the sand hard and he tried hard not to move too much.  He didn't want to choke Phil.  Phil, of course, was trying to make him wiggle and make him choke him.  Xander whined again, he was so damn close!  Phil pulled back to lick a stripe up the underside of Xander's cock.  That's all it took and Phil managed to catch most of it.  Xander panted but the wicked fingers were still working their magical way on him.  It had to be magical because Xander was recovering more quickly than usual.  By the time Phil slid in, he was nearly halfway back to hard and ready.  He wrapped himself around Phil, kissing him hard.  "Thank you."

"You are most welcome."  He kissed him again and smirked slightly.  "Ready?"

"Been ready."

"Good."  Phil pulled back and pushed back in hard, setting a hard, fast rhythm that made Xander's whole body shake.  He felt like he was coming unglued at the molecules.  He finally yelped and let go, having an orgasm that turned him elemental.  Phil joined him after a second and Xander's scream of pleasure echoed around the grove.  Phil had come up with new tricks and treats for him.  They came back to human form panting.  Xander was covered in their sweat.  Xander pulled him down to kiss him, making Phil moan and finally come.  They pulled back to stare at each other, Xander carefully lifting a hand up to touch Phil's cheek.  Phil smiled.  Xander grinned and kissed him again, getting free so he could pull Phil into a cuddle.  Phil should compete in cuddling events, he was great at it.

A male cleared their throat.  "Boys?  Is that considered something normal gods do?" he asked.

Xander looked up and nodded.  "Yes, it is."  He smiled.  "Cronus, this is my mate, Phil.  Phil, this is the Titan King Cronus."

"Pleasure, sir," Phil said.  He didn't act like being naked in front of him was anything unusual.

Cronus looked at them.  "I can see powers joined."

Xander smiled and nodded.  "Accidently but yes, sir."

"Huh.  Which one are you again?"

"Alexander."

"Oh, him.  It's said if something like that was possible you'd be one of the few who could safely do it."

"We were sick and joined by accident," Phil said.

"Interesting.  Probably liked by Gaia."

"Who pushed us together," Xander said dryly.

"Figures.  Women are like that, son."  He sat down by their heads.  "On your honeymoon?"

"Our first real anniversary of us deciding we had to make a go of it after Gaia married off our golems is tomorrow," Xander said quietly.  "I showed him the grove."

"It's a beautiful place for that.  My cousin would've loved you enjoying it."  He smiled.  "Relax, kid.  I'd never hurt him.  His people would throw fits."

Xander snorted.  "Odin?  Throw fits about one of Loki's kids?"

"I forgot," he admitted.  Xander smiled.  "So a whole year?"

"A whole year."  He grinned and kissed Phil's hair.  "If you wanted some time, we can go bathe in the sea."

"No, just being nosy."  He smiled.  "I'm bored in Tartarus."

"I showed him his ancestor's statue city."

"Huh.  That's supposed to be stunning.  I've only seen one of the rooms and it was moving."  He patted them on the head, feeling the power between them.  "Congratulations, Alexander."

"Thank you, Cronus."

"You'll do fine with your duties.  You were always more protective than any of my own children."  He smiled at Phil.  "And so are you."  He stood up.  "Happy anniversary, kids.  Have some fun.  Bathe in the sea.  Get pregnant if you want."  They both shook their heads.  "Pity, someone's trying."

"Probably my mother," Xander said dryly.  "I'm so poisoning her river."  Cronus burst out laughing and disappeared.

Phil tested them and ended the spell on Xander.  He was better at spell work than Xander was.  "Not time for us to have kids yet."  He took another kiss.  "Bathe in the sea?"

"I could like that.  Slippery and wet you is fun."  He got up and hauled Phil up, taking him out there to bathe.  The sea nymphs came up to tease them but Xander shooed them off his mate.  Phil got possessive, making them giggle.  They went to tell Poseidon.  He liked Alexander so he'd be happy for him.

Poseidon popped his head up.  "Boys, your mother's being mean again."

"I ended the spell," Phil said.  "Did I miss some, sir?"

"No, son, not like that.  She's made both of you super fertile."  He smiled.  "So don't get any sperm on the nymphs, okay?"  They nodded and he took them with him. Sometimes, Xander's mother had very little sense.

Xander looked at Phil, who shrugged.  "It's your mother."

"Don't remind me."  He took another kiss and groped him under the water.  "Is that a tentacle or are you happy to feel me?" he teased.

"I think that's a tentacle since you're not touching me."  They both looked and got out.  It was a small kraken, barely a baby.  "How do we handle this?"

"Poseidon?" Xander called.  He popped back up and scowled, saying something in a language that sounded like burbling water.  The kraken floated off quickly.  "Thanks.  Bad enough we had one in New York wanting celebutantes."

"I heard about that.  One of my daughters has a satellite dish.  I liked some of those ideas."  He dove back down with a cackle.

Xander looked at Phil, kissing him.  "Me too."

"I could've agreed with them."  They gathered things and went back to the temple to have some private time. They needed it.

"Damn it, some of us are single!" John yelled when they got loud.  "Shut the fuck up!"

"Bite me!" Clay yelled from his temple.  "He's the loud one, not me."

"Not with how loudly you snore," Bia yelled from hers.

"I thought the Valkyries were loud with the vibrators," Alana complained.

"Shut up all of you!  Before I banish all your asses!" Xander yelled back.  "John, go find a friend, or your hand, something!  You need laid worse than I *ever* have!  Even when I got hit by that pollen."

John shuddered.  "Oh, god, the memories," he muttered, walking off shaking his head.

"Pollen?" Clay asked Roque, who was shuddering.

"Just don't ask.  Those fuck or die stories have *nothing* on this stuff.  We had to destroy that god, his whole crop, every single flower, all of it.  He bred psychedelic pansies and things.  This was a side hobby of his and part of his security system.  Lasted.  Six.  Years.  We didn't have flamethrowers back then.  Or I would've used them before we got near his house."

"How badly were you hit?" Clay asked, starting to grin.

"Me?  No, I got the trippy pansies.  John and Xander got hit with the sex pollen things.  John lasted six months before he nearly died and Apollo had to take him elemental to scoop it out of him.  Xander couldn't be found.  I have no idea where he went but he holed up somewhere with a harem.  We never could figure out which one but for some reason the rule of the Steppe warriors at the time ended without warning or a war."  Clay laughed.  "Seriously!  I'm not sure *how* he did it but they suddenly went peaceful for a few generations.  A few other armies did the same thing.  We have *no* idea if he was involved or not.  All we know is Ares was worried there was so much peace."  Clay was cackling.  "I'd show you but we intentionally blocked off all mentions in any mirrors so no one could see it."

"I don't blame you for that.  I wouldn't want myself to be seen that way either."  He shifted, blinking at Roque.  "How bad was the trip?"

"I woke up wearing a flower crown, had three women humming and rubbing my legs, another one doing my shoulders, and had apparently blessed a whole village of spermless women.  I have no memories of any of it."

"Huh," Clay said, grinning now.  "Think anyone kept samples?"

"I'm pretty sure we burned the whole valley.  John, did anyone keep those flowers?"

"Yes, there's some wild ones over there," John yelled back.  "They've bred with the tripping ones."

"We need to burn that!"

"It's almost unreachable," he said, coming to the doorway of their room.  "No one but a God can get there.  We went back to collapse the walls of the valley."

"I don't remember that."

"I barely remember it."  He shrugged.  "I'm still wondering where in the fuck Xander was."  He walked off shaking his head.

"We should tell the geeks," Clay said, grinning at him.

Roque looked down at him.  "The last time I knew you weren't related to any chaos gods."

"It might give them new ideas."

"Uh-huh.  Sure, you bring McKay and Radek, I'll bring Stark."

"You'd have to show me where it was."

"John can find it."  They shared an evil smirk and Roque pounced.  The few memories he had of those years were good ones.  It made him very happy to share.

***

Dawn walked out into the morning dew, smiling at the peace and quiet around the lake.  The caretaker was trimming bushes.  The guards were at the outside table reading.  Not moving.  She pulled a gun and pointed it at the caretaker.  "I know you're not him.  I hired him and he was older."

"We want the redheaded she demon," he sneered.

Dawn shrugged and shot him.  "Pity but she's in New York."  He died.  She checked to make sure she had a silencer and thought at Clint, which ruined his happy dream.  He came down to help.  The guards were poisoned.  The other house was quiet but Clint woke up Steve sneaking in to check on them.  He came back and found Dawn had called someone official, who was complaining.  Dawn also had him in a headlock and his gun was on the ground.

"No, I don't think you own this house.  I'm pretty certain *I* own this house," she said bluntly in Spanish.  "I'm also pretty certain that if you do not take care of this problem, I'm going to call the Ancients back.  After all, I'm the one that found that portal where they live."  The officer babbled for forgiveness.  "No, I have very little mercy in me.  People like this made sure of it."  She smiled sweetly.  "Get them off my property.  Now!"

She let him go.  The officer asked about the 'redheaded one'.  "She's in New York.  She's not coming on this trip.  You only get me."  She let out some glow.  The officer's eyes went wide and he started to cross himself and pray.  "Now, fix your shit!  Before I fix your shit," she growled.  He ran off babbling into his radio that the 'brunette witch' was back.  She grimaced, handing Clint the gun.  "I was having a happy morning until this."

Clint stole a kiss and smiled at her.  "We love you having happy mornings."

"Thanks."  She grinned back.  "Can we burn them this time?  You promised we could if they ever laid another hand on me again."

"Sure, we can do that."  New officers showed up and Dawn stared over at them, stomping over to start yelling in Spanish at them.  The officers decided not to get out of the jeep and the driver actually backed it up and promised they'd handle the problems.  If she'd let them gather the bodies?  She let them, still growling.  They left quickly.  By the time she and Clint had finished making breakfast, the problem locals were not happy to be in jail.  The coroner wasn't happy with a few of them.  Then Xander showed up and the rest of them ran for their lives for touching his 'sister'.  That made sure they wouldn't try it again.  The whole town realized who he was.  He had freed a town not fifty miles away from some rebels.  They had bragged.

Clay appeared from a closet full of shadows, straightening out his shirt.  "So, anyway," he told Dawn, who smiled at him.  "Drugs?"

"Yup," Clint said.  "Gone?"

"Yes.  Xander said they're toasty, whatever that means today.  Did you hear about them having to take down somewhere that has psychedelic pansies and sex pollen flowers?"

"Oh, god, the memories," Dawn said, holding her head, resting it against Clint's shoulder.

"At least you have some," he complained, giving her a cuddle.  He shook his head quickly.  "We got lost hiking."

"Only you guys," he complained.  "Roque, John, and Xander took down the guy who bred them.  Xander apparently disappeared on a six year sex jaunt."

Dawn looked at him.  "I had to make us detoxing tea between bouts of hallucinations and sex urges.  I think at one time I hallucinated he was a centaur and I pounced him."

"I thought I heard something about my pretty tail," Clint admitted.

"Was Romanoff with you?" Clay asked dryly.

"No," they said together.

"Thankfully not," Clint added.  He sighed.  "If I had wanted to go into the drug making business, that would've been my ticket in."

Dawn nodded.  "Mine too.  Thankfully I don't like that."  She sipped her coffee.  The girls ran out in a set of bikinis of hers.

"Did you have to share the sparkly ones?" Clint complained.

"Yup."  She smiled.  "They're young, they should be sparkly."

"I'm reminding myself of their ages," Clay said, going to talk to Stark about those flowers.

"I sent him cuttings," Dawn called.  "No idea what he did with them."

Tony leaned in a few minutes later.  "Were they blue with red centers and purple stamen?"

"Yup," she said with a grin.  "I'm so glad I memorized Tara's detoxing tea."

"Rhodey confiscated those after the person who planted the cuttings started to hallucinate so badly she humped the paper shredder."  They gave him confused looks.  "She's a lesbian and said it had a pretty vagina.  A bit mean like some Asian myths that had teeth in their vaginas but still pretty enough for her."

"Oh, her," Dawn said, smiling and nodding.  "I showed him the pretty flower.  We had about two weeks there."

Tony nodded with a smile.  "She was in quarantine for nearly a month."  He walked off.  "I want more samples of that."

"Sure, we can draw you a map," Dawn quipped.  "We have a nice one somewhere in my old bag of places we should not go again."

Clint nodded.  "Thankfully there's only ten things marked."  He sipped his coffee.  Steve walked the girls back inside and gave them a nudge.  "Problems?"

"Stark just looked at them and whimpered.  Please put on something more covering, girls?"  They pouted but went up to change.  "Thank you!"

"Give Pepper the red and pink one when you go back out," Dawn called.  She kissed Clint, taking his mind off things.  They heard the girls go running back out to the lake.

"Mother.  Fucker!" Clay shouted.  "Damn it, you're twelve!  That was obscene on Dawn when she was eighteen!"

"If you upset them, you get to hold them when they cry," Clint yelled.  Dawn laughed, going to see.  He followed.  "Oh, *that* bikini.  Sorry, Clay."  He swatted Dawn on the ass.  "I thought you burned the smiley face bikini, not got them a matching set."

"Dear, those are theirs.  Mine was a lot less covering," she said dryly.  "Including having a tiny little thong for the back."  Clay whimpered and walked off shaking his head muttering about being married to Roque, and he'd never let him cheat even if they were of age.  "See, theirs have full tops, unlike mine that was barely pasty sized.  Their bottoms are full bikini bottoms, not like my thong."  She went to put hers on to show him.  "See?"  She grinned.

Clint stared then hung his head, shaking it.  "Damn it I need more breakfast to cure that mood."  He went to make himself some.  "Girls, want food?" he called.  "Please put on robes at the table."  They ran to get them and came down to eat with their aunt and uncle.  "Thank you.  Have Pepper take a picture."

Tony stomped over.  "Dawn, do not give Pepper a version of you guys' birthday bikini!  It's mean!"

"She's got a second trimester coming up, boss," she said with an innocent grin.  "She'll want it to celebrate the new baby."

He glared at her.  "Not nice," he warned.  He paused, stared, and blinked a few times.  "Is that the one you wore to that meeting?"

"Yup."

"We got our own versions," Artemis said, taking off her robe to show him.  "See?"

"Way too much," Tony assured her, trudging back home.  "Fuck!" he shouted once he got inside.

Dawn and the girls shared a grin and ate, then went to sunbathe by the lake.

Clint made himself extra food.  He had no idea how they'd cure the twins' bad mental places but he'd need energy to clear Dawn's.  On second thought he started a roast for dinner in the slow cooker because Stark and Rogers would need it to help Pepper celebrate.  If that bikini was anything like Dawn's.....  He looked outside, spotting Pepper walking over to hug the girls.  It was almost exactly like theirs only it was red and white striped.

Yup, Stark was fucked and fucked hard this time.  Rogers was looking like Natasha when she was prowling after Dawn for some oral sex.  Tony walked out and picked up Pepper, carrying her off with Steve's help.  Clint laughed but finished his seconds on breakfast.  "Dawn?" he called once he had did the few dishes.  "Can I have you for a few minutes?"

She strolled in, kissing him.  "Only for a few minutes?  Are we into quickies today?"

"Nope."  He carried her up the stairs to their room.  "Not anything fast or hard this time."

"You have some of the best ideas," she promised, kissing him, wrapping herself around him.  It gave him the opportunity to cut that bikini off her, which was a godsend to his mental state.

The twins looked up from reading when Pepper squealed Steve's name then screamed Tony's.  They shook their heads.  They didn't want to know.  Their mom was bad about that.  They looked at the house when Dawn screamed Clint's name like he was her Godly icon to pray to.  They grinned and went back to their books.

"Girls, go put on clothes and we'll go shopping," Clay ordered.  They grinned at him and ran to do that and came out with their books.  They could read in the car.  He got the jeep out of the garage and left a note so no one would worry if they recovered before they got back.  He drove them into town, appreciating the t-shirts that said 'I may look sixteen but I am TWELVE'.  They needed to wear those more often.

A few of the men in the local town were clearly illiterate but Clay could glare with the best soldier.  They backed down nicely for him.  The girls got to souvenir shop and got chatty with the local women about how things were made.  It was more like what they were used to.  They got stuff for lunch and went back.  Dawn was yelling 'pleases' at Clint.  Pepper was praying to the altar of Stark.  The girls shrugged it off.

"Our mom could be that loud too," Artemis said.  "Daddy always enjoyed it and he was always happy later."  Diana nodded.  They made lunch, checked on the roast, and had it outside by the lake with Clay.  He was pretty sweet to them and they wanted to know what he did.  They didn't know too many soldiers.

***

Pepper wandered back into the penthouse, smiling at Joyce, Bruce, Liz, and Callia watching a movie.  She hugged everyone and took the kids with her to the big bed.  "Night.  Thanks," she murmured.

Joyce smiled.  "Long flight I guess."  Her daughter came off the elevator smiling and happy.  "Long flight?"

"Chartered.  Be damned if I want the girls to go through the TSA patdown again.  I nearly fried the last one."  She kissed her and Bruce both on the cheek.  "Anything I should know?"

"Not at the moment," Bruce quipped.

"Cool!  Then I'm going to go fall into bed."  She blew kisses and left them to finish the movie.  Steve and Tony came off the elevator dragging.  She went down to let the driver take them home.

Tony blinked at them.  "The kids?"

"In with Pepper," Joyce said with a point.  "You need to hook up Liz's machine."

"Mmm.  Machines.  I like machines, so I can figure it out," Tony said through a yawn.

"If not, I can," Bruce promised.  Tony grinned and nodded, heading to lay down.

"Daddy, I am not a pillow, get off me!" Callia shouted.  "Smooshing me!"

Bruce went to help his poor, snuggly granddaughter and set up Liz's alarm.   Pepper kept snatching Liz back.  "Just doing her breathing thing," he said quietly.  "It's me, Pepper."  She groaned but let him have the baby.  "Thank you."  He put Liz into her portable crib.  Callia got plucked up and taken to her bed because it looked like Steve was going to fall on top of her too.  The cats and dog gladly accepted their mistress back and would protect her from further smooshing.  He and Joyce left, taking the DVD with them.  It was theirs anyway.

***

Natasha was woken up by a body climbing on top of hers.  If it had been anyone but Clint and Dawn she would've woken up when they came near the doorway.  She blinked up at Dawn.  "It's very late."

"You've been up for over an hour pretending to be asleep," Dawn said quietly.  "So we're going to have some girl talk time while Clint rests since the turbulence had the girls clinging to him for most of the trip back."  She settled on top of Natasha, that way she couldn't escape.  "What the hell were you thinking?  Did you even consider that we wouldn't like that?"

"It was an urge, Dawn.  Not a good one or a healthy one but an unguided urge."

"So like a food craving that you know will make you sick."  She stared at her.  "What did I do to start it off?"

"You weren't...."

"Don't lie to me," Dawn said quietly.  "You said you were feeling closed in, and it's usually me that does the fussing.  So did I do too much?  If you had told me I would've backed off, maybe with a tiny pout but I would've."

"It was all this, Dawn, not you.  This is the longest I've been out of the field since I started to work.  I don't exactly have a full time assignment right now.  I've been edgy for months."

"And you didn't find something to do?" she asked dryly.  "I mean, there's all sorts of plots against SI and us.  There's plots against SHIELD.  There's whoever keeps hacking into Stark's main system that JARVIS can block but not totally stop because he's not allowed to attack them.  There's plenty for you to do if you had wanted to.  Which means it was more personal."  She stared at her.  "So?"

"I'm not used to being with someone long-term," she admitted.

"I get that.  Neither's Clint.  That's why he goes out to a bar every now and then.  Hell, neither am I.  Mine I spend in the tub because I don't really go to the club anymore."

"We never do anything anymore," Natasha said.

"I'm all for us going out and doing things.  You guys never want to."  She shrugged.  "I can't drag you out of the house to go to dinner, movies, have fun, none of that.  I can suggest and then usually get told 'this weekend, we're tired' and then there's a problem so you have to go fight it."

"We don't...."  Dawn quirked up an eyebrow.  "When have you suggested it?"

"Um, let's see.  A week before I found that hickey?  I suggested a movie night out.  Clint was exhausted from the trainees.  You were antsy so you were cleaning weapons all night.  The time before that was about a week earlier when I got paid.  I had to pick up a few things and groceries.  Callia wanted to do some shopping.  I invited you along when Clint said he wanted to be surprised instead."  Natasha sighed.  "You said you were tired."

"I was."

"Are you depressed?  You've been exhausted an awful lot recently.  Or pregnant?"

"No.  Neither."  She frowned.  "Why would you think I was depressed?"

"You're always tired, your sleeping patterns have changed, your moods have changed, you've been more fatalistic than usual, you've been brooding worse than Angel, you never want to leave the house.  Those are all signs of depression, dear."

"I don't think I am.  Upset that my life is now different."

Dawn leaned down.  "You still managed to run some missions even with the movie hype and the people asking you for autographs before it."  She sat up again.  "You and Clint both managed it and ran rookies in the field."

"It's not the same."

"No, it's not.  Then again, you're both getting to be ancient by SHIELD standards.  Clint's already in the top ten percent of field agent ages.  You're discounted because of all that stuff way back when.  Hell, Clint's getting up there on the average age of field agent handlers."

"I had not thought of that.  Neither of us had retirement plans."

Dawn shrugged.  "And yet, you probably could have."

"I know."  She grimaced.  "Must you sit on me?"

"Yup.  So you can't get up and stomp off like a girl."  She shrugged.  "It's this or tying your ass down so we can talk.  If you want, I can do that."

"You will not."

Dawn stared at her.  "We've got serious problems that I never noticed and you never mentioned," she said bluntly.  "Because you let Clint do it."  Natasha went limp under her, shaking her head.  "Yeah.  Birthdays?"

"That...  That was a trial."

"Uh-huh.  Pull the other one.  Two of the videos that got sent when you two cleaned up the possible sex tapes had some light bondage."  Natasha sighed and shook her head.  "Want me to pull up my tablet to show you?  I saved them there so Stark couldn't get into them."

"No, it's fine.  I remember them well enough."  Dawn pulled up her tablet and found the one, fast forwarding to show her.  Clint was tying her hands in front of her with a silk scarf.  Something she could easily get out of and still have participation in.  She looked at Dawn.  "It's not the same."

"No, it's not.  Is that because it's him and not me?"

"No!"

"Do I need to quote Callia about how empaths feel lies?" she asked bluntly.

"No."  She grimaced.  "That was in the heat of the moment.  I would not normally allow that."

Dawn blinked a few times.  "So it's just me."

"No, it's not."

Dawn shifted and then grabbed her hands, holding them together.  Natasha tried not to struggle.  "Clint's done this any number of times when you started to lose it during sparring," she said quietly.  She let her go.  "So it's me."  She got up.  "We'll share Clint so he's not torn between us.  I'd never want him to be hurt and if you ever do it to him again I'm going to make you wish you were dead."  She walked off.

"It's not like that and that's not an acceptable answer," Natasha said, getting up.  She had to put on more clothes.  Dawn had been mostly dressed in flannel pajama pants and a t-shirt.  She heard her make it out the door before Natasha could pull on real clothes, and followed her.  She made it downstairs in time to see her get into a cab.  "Dawn!"  She went back upstairs, finding Clint still asleep for some reason.  She walked into their bedroom and shook him.  He blinked at her.  "Dawn stomped off."

"I felt."  He grimaced.  "That's not a solution I like.  We're either together as a trio or we're not.  I'm not like that guy on that tv show that has to keep switching houses."

She sat on the bed.  "I'm sorry."

"That's great, Nat, but she had some points.  I have no idea what the fuck is going on with you two, but stop it."

"She thinks it's all about her."

Clint nodded.  "It mostly was.  It's kinda clear.  If it was against me, you would've used some other method of trying to push us away."  Natasha stared at him.  "It's the truth and you know it."

"I...."  She grimaced.  "Perhaps."

"No perhaps about it.  You did in the past.  You know me well enough to know what would make me shove you away.  You used Dawn's.  It's mostly about her this time."   He sat up, thinking at Dawn.  "She's at a bar."

"Why?" Natasha asked.

"Because she's twenty-one and getting upset," he said bluntly.  "Why else would she be at a bar?  She did it during her vacation too."  He got up and put on clothes.  "Let me find her."

"She might not want you to," Natasha said.

"When has that been a good idea?" he asked.  "Go to bed, Nat.  You're clearly still sleep fuddled."  He left after a glance at the twins.  They were asleep with the cat.  He left, going to find Dawn.  She wasn't that far away.  The bar was a less than cheery and clean place.  Clearly not a Dawn place.  He sat beside her, taking her drink to gulp.  "Didn't bring your wallet?"

"I had it in my jacket from when we came home."  She looked at him.  "I have no idea what I did wrong."

"You didn't.  This is all Nat's thing.  Something about her training and her personality and all that shit she went through over the years."  He leaned on the bar, staring at her.  "It had nothing to really do with us.  We just tripped the trigger of her angst engine to quote you last month."  She slumped but nodded, rubbing her face.  "You okay?"

"No.  I'm not.  I feel like I'm being ripped apart and I hate it."  She looked at him.  "You're handling this a lot better than I am."

"Had a bit more experience but I tend to internalize instead."

She let out a bitter sounding snort.  "All I've done is wonder what I did to her to make her do that."

He stroked her back.  "It wasn't us. It was her flashing back to when they kept teaching her she could never get emotional, attached, or anything like that.  She taught me the same things and I managed to not take them in too deeply."  She nodded.  "I don't know, Dawn.  We're working on it."  She looked at him.  "Beyond that, not a working plan.  We're either together or we're not.  There's no apartment switching or anything.  I'm not built for anything that complicated."  She nodded, leaning against his arm.  He put it around her, pulling her closer.  "We'll work it out.  Tomorrow, when we get up."

"She's depressed."

"I've noted that a few times and she never wants to talk about it.  I managed to deal with mine and find ways to work around it.  Including stopping the plots around us."  She nodded.  "C'mon, we'll go home.  You owe a tab?"  She shook her head.  "Then let's go back to bed.  Tomorrow's going to be hectic catching up from the vacation."  He walked her off, making sure he had her wallet.  They were spotted but yay.

***

Joyce got out of her cab to work, smiling at the driver.  "Thank you."  She turned and found a reporter waiting.  "You're not to be at SHIELD.  Director Fury tends to take a dim view on reporters.  He ranks you right up there with terrorists."

"Just one question, Mrs. Banner.  Is Dawn depressed over her sister's death?"

"Why would you think that?"

"Her husband had to go retrieve her from a bar last night and she didn't look too happy when he escorted her home."

She sighed.  "It's not really about Buffy and Hylal's death.  It's something else going on and it's stressing her out but I'm sure she's not depressed.  We've talked every single day for the last few weeks about all that's going on."

"Is it stress at Stark?  I know there was a minor report of her having been on stomach medicine?"

"She used to love spicy peppers and things.  It created a spot in her stomach.  Now she's not allowed to."

"Is that why she was on painkillers the other day?"

Joyce stared at her.  "I'll make sure Tony knows he has another leak," she said dryly.  "Did you see that a young man at the coffee shop had been arrested?"

"Yes, for putting his drugs in the coffee grinder."

"Dawn's stomach means that she switched to a lower acid coffee, which they have to brew when she orders it."

"Oh!  They ground it and she got some....  Oooooh," she said with a wince and a hiss.  "Well, they were subtle at least."

Joyce nodded.  "They're very subtle."  She smiled.  "I'm still telling Stark he has a leak."

"We eventually hear everything," she said with a smile.

"I'm sure you don't, but it's probably comforting to you.  Now, you should probably go.  That's Agent Hill in that cab and Director Fury's on her other side."  She looked and scurried off like the rat she was.  Joyce smiled at them when they got out of their cabs.  "Dawn went to a bar last night," she told Maria when she got a funny look.  "Some reporter caught them and we still have a leak."

"I knew about one.  I'm wondering if it's the same one that gave a reporter Agent Coulson's home phone number."

Fury looked at her.  "Someone did?"

"Yes, sir.  One called him at home.  Alexander apparently pointed out he could kill them."

"Good!"  He walked the ladies inside, letting them sign in first.  He scanned his badge through the system, having it come up invalid.  He looked at it.  "I just updated it."

"That's the old one, sir," Maria said, smiling at him.  She put in an exemption code and let him up to get it from his desk.  It got scanned up there so he was noted in the building.  "The new design is a bit harder to break if you sit on it."  She sat down at her desk to get into her morning mail.  She opened her top desk drawer and had to move quickly, which wasn't as quick as usual thanks to the lump on her stomach that kicked when she got upset.  "Security!"  They came rushing over to look at her desk while Joyce helped her up.  They got the scorpion killed and checked the rest of her desk.  Her trashcan had another one.  Someone knew she threw things out by dropping them from inside the basket instead of just tossing it at the basket.  She looked at them.  "Check the other admin desks."

"I haven't done more than log onto my computer while I took off my jacket and hung up my purse," Joyce said.  She looked at her.  "Are you all right?"

"Twisted my ankle some but I'm fine, Joyce."  She was scowling.  Joyce's desk had a pop-up needle.  "Someone get me Romanoff.  Now."  They called her to come in.  She looked at Fury.  "Sir, I'll let her figure it out and tell us."

"Agreed," he said.  "Check mine once you're done."  The security team did that, finding something a bit more dangerous in there.  He looked in at the gasp.  "What's that?"

Xander appeared, looking over their shoulder.  "Red wire that goes from the battery to the semtex."  They got it free and he took it to float so he could check for other needs.  He floated it into their security box, smiling once the wires were wrapped so they couldn't get back together.  He grinned at Fury.  "Pretty simple."  He disappeared after pointing at a filing cabinet.  They found a few scorpions in there on top of his stored coffee grounds.

Natasha came off the elevator.  "What's happened?"  Maria gave her a rundown and she nodded.  "I will find them."

Joyce looked at her.  "Don't do anything too heroic," she said quietly.  "They'd hate to miss you permanently."  Natasha stiffened, staring at her.  "It's fairly clear, Natasha.  Just be careful, more so than usual."  She went back to her desk.  Fury motioned her into his office.  "Yes, sir?"

"She's depressed?"

She closed the door.  "She's not adjusting very well to not having missions any longer."

"Dawn tell you this?"

"She didn't have to.  It's been fairly obvious.  Clint's been finding all the plots against his family and doing make work, plus helping the trainees.  Natasha's been hating that she's helping the trainees.  The other trainers have noticed it since they've kept her from mentoring any of them after she went off on one of them."  Fury frowned.  "She told one that he should give up hope of ever doing anything but working fast food since he was clumsy, tripped while running once, and was only in the ninetieth percentile on shooting.  The poor guy was just coming off a broken foot."

"Oh, him.  I heard about that but not who said it.  She did?"  Joyce nodded.  "You sure?"

"Yes.  It's all the attention on her.  She's been doing this a very long time.  What did you go through when you couldn't use that eye?"

"I gave myself hell for being so weak," he agreed.

"You had only been doing it for a few years though," she said simply.  "Natasha's been doing it longer."

"She has," he agreed.  He considered it.  "After this, we're going to have to reevaluate her skills.  Make sure she's got a job she's good at.  One that'll use her skills and not piss her off.  I had to go through the same thing.  Barton?"

"He's stressed but finding things to do.  I get to tell him we have another leak here and one at Stark for his pleasure."  She smiled.  "The reporter had some information she probably shouldn't."

"I'll have Hill handle it."  She nodded, leaving him to make plans.  He called Barton in when Joyce had him come up to get the information on what had been leaked.  Barton walked into his office.  "Close it."  He frowned but did so.  "I saw your other wife earlier.  She seems a bit depressed."

"We're working on things, sir."

"Not about your relationship snafu she caused."  He looked at him.  "I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions by the way."  Clint nodded slowly.  Fury leaned back.  "We've had agents injured in the field and had to reevaluate them.  A few that were getting too old too."

"Dawn would hate it if you tortured me to see my tolerance, sir.  I remember my first one fairly well."

"Not that.  We assume those tolerances grow when you're in constant pain."  He stared at him.  "We can offer to reevaluate you both.  Find you new positions that use your skills.  You'd probably be mostly on surveillance duties."

"Which I don't mind doing if I can safely do so.  Or my old job if I can safely do it, sir."

"Which is why I hated that movie."

"Sir, it was happening long before the movie.  We saw the archive on the team at Stark.  They identified all of us, including Coulson, when we were in Miami with Dawn."

"Is her press attention helping or hurting that?" he asked.

"We would've said hurting it but then Pepper pointed out that she's taking a lot of it off her and us.  She's doing what Stark's doing for the rest of us.  Even when you force us to events, sir."

"I hadn't realized it was that bad then."  He considered it.  "So she's being a decoy?"

"She's being the shinier target.  That's one reason we hardly ever go out.  Which has caused a few problems but Dawn understands all that."

"Is that part of the problem you three had?"

"No.  We all have days of feeling too confined.  Dawn takes a long soak or goes to the spa.  I take a night in our range or the one at Stark.  Or a night in a bar.  Natasha totally broke hers and did something dumb."

"He's been shunned."

"Good.  Saves me from kicking his ass.  Did he make it back from being sent to Stark the other day?"

"I think so.  I saw him earlier on the way in.  I'll make sure he doesn't get sent again in case Summers vents on him."

"Dawn will act professionally perky, sir.  She'll even try to keep herself from cursing him to misfortune.  Me, I'll beat his ass."

Fury smirked slightly.  "That's one reason why we don't like married agents."

"Yeah, well, that's her shit, not mine.  I'm not sure what we're doing about it yet, sir.  We've been talking."

"Summers told me that a reporter spotted you last night."

"Nosy shits," he muttered.  "Yes, sir.  The ladies had been talking and Dawn's somehow decided it's her fault."

"That figures.  She's a sensitive young woman.  I wasn't sure you two would make it, much less you three."

"No, she's mine.  Even if I wasn't in her head, she'd be mine. She understands all too well.  I'd like her to quit having to handle some things but that's the sort of girl she is."  He shifted uncomfortably.  "Anything else to note, sir?"

"You have planned leave coming up?"

"Stark wants her to check his house in Vail.  She's taking a long weekend there away from the kids."

"You took the kids on vacation?"

"The twins.  Callia and Liz were sat by Grandma.  Callia gets to come next year."

"I guess that's normal."  He shrugged.  "I don't have kids."  He looked at him.

"We've been talking about it.  It probably won't be in the next few weeks."

"That's good," Fury decided.  "It'd only complicate things if she got pregnant to keep you with her."

"Sir, she's more likely to get pregnant because it'd let her keep part of us if we left her," he said quietly.  "Not to keep me there."

Fury grimaced.  "I thought she was more steady than that."

"She is but everyone's got issues.  You don't sit home waiting on the returning hero without worrying they won't come home that one time."

"I guess."  He shifted some.  "Do you want to be reevaluated?"

He considered it then nodded.  "Let me finish ferreting out these leaks, sir.  Before they hurt the kids."

"That's fine.  Hill?"  She came to the doorway.  "When Romanoff gets back, reevaluate them like you would an injured agent."

"I can do that, sir.  I've already done some."  She looked at Clint.  "Do the psych profile this week."

"Must I?"

She smirked and nodded.  "Yes, you must."  She walked off.

"Her being pregnant is making her mean," Clint complained.

Fury smirked.  "She's always been mean, Barton."

"Not like that, sir."  He walked off, going to make that appointment.  Best to get it over with.

***

Dawn came back from her doctor's appointment quiet.  It had been a late one so she got to come right home.   Clint looked at her.  "What happened?  Did you get bad news from the girl doctor?"

"Didn't go to the GYN."  She put down her bag and her jacket, hanging it up and coming over.  He automatically gave her a hug.  "Thanks."

"What sort of doctor did you go see if you didn't go see the girl doctor?"

She shrugged.  "It was mostly good news.  Just a bit tired."

He pushed her back some.  "I knew you were talking about it with your mom.  Is she sick again?  She's been really tired recently."  Dawn never hid things from him.  Unless it was huge.  "Is she going back in the hospital?"

"No.  Neither am I."  She leaned on the counter.  "It was a predictive test, Clint, not a check up sort of test."

"Predictive for what?"  This was like pulling splinters from his mouth so it was probably a bad thing.  Which made him realize why.  "You went to see how likely it was that you'd end up in your mom's former bed."

She nodded.  "I did."

"You didn't tell us?  We would've went with you."

"It's not totally accurate.  It's about eighty percent accurate."

"That's still pretty accurate.  You can qualify for the CIA with range scores in that percentile."  He stared her down, moving to pin her against the counter.  "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't want you guys to worry."

"Isn't that part of the job description under 'husband'?"

"If it was a huge chance, I'd have told you tonight."

"I would've went with you."

"I didn't want to worry you two."

"Okay, still bad but I understand that urge.  I've had a few things I didn't want to worry you two about."  He stared at her.  "Though I still wanted to help you worry.  That's what your guy's supposed to do if he's not a shithead.  Which I'm not."

"I know you're not."  She stroked over his cheek with a smile.  "It's all right."

"It was that bad?"

"Having cancer in the family raises the overall risk, but I'm doing a lot of things that are lowering it."

"Your mom's was caused."

"We went looking recently, because Bruce wasn't sure why it showed up as a tumor instead of something else.  Really, the first dose of serum should've killed her."  Clint shuddered.  "But it didn't."

"Who else had it?"

"Mom's half-sister that she never talked to after she left home died of breast cancer.  My great aunt, the one that was in the Raven suit?  She died of cervical cancer."

"That's farther back."

"Buffy's journal said that right before she got pregnant with Sean she went to get a check up and they found a small polyp on her cervix," she said quietly.  He slumped, staring at her.  "Mom didn't know either.  That one, we can argue the slayer wasn't meant to be fertile and it was making sure of it.  Buffy was at a really old age for any given slayer.  Most of them didn't make it to eighteen."

"So Hylal had super warrior sperm," he said, holding in the urge to throw a fit.  "We found this out when?"

"Last week.  Bruce went looking before it.  He's the one that set me up with the appointment when I asked him about how good the predictive nature was."

He shifted slightly closer, pressing her against the counter.  "I still wanted to know so I could be there, Dawn," he said quietly.  "How bad did the odds come up?"

"Sixty percent chance, give or take twenty percent error," she said quietly.  "But he did say I'm doing everything I can to lower my risk.  He said it'd most likely show up as breast and cervical cancer instead of something more potent like Mom's."  She swallowed.  "He did say that me getting pregnant in the next few years was a great thing."

"Why?"

"Because having a child lowers your risk of certain cancers by almost half."  She smiled.  "So we're cleared for that.  He thought it wouldn't be an early onset one, like one of the kids at Bob's hospital."

"The nurse told me about you mentoring some of the sick kids there," he said quietly.  "Which again, I would've helped you with."

"When did you talk to them?"

"They called to tell me you were really upset that a kid you were mentoring didn't make it.  That I should probably just let you vent for a bit."

Dawn nodded.  "She had some freakishly early onset of breast cancer.  Most early onset is in the late twenties, early thirties.  She was fifteen.  I nearly didn't come home that night.  I sat with her foster mom and her."  He cuddled her.  "Thanks."

"It's hard watching Bob be that sick," he said quietly.  "I would've helped."

She looked up at him, smiling sadly.  "Sometimes you need to talk to someone who's sat in the seat beside the bed.  A few of the kids I sit with weekly don't have anyone else.  Though I've seen Bob a few times when you couldn't too."

"He told me you were really neat and kinda sneaky since you got them all cake."  She smiled.  "Even if it was sugar free, fat free, healthy cake."

"It was but they needed it."  She gave him a squeeze and got one back.  "I'm okay.  We're doing the right things.  Our diets aren't too badly tipped toward adding to the risk.  He said I've been really sensible and not gone overboard, even though I had no idea that everyone else in the family apparently had cancer at some point.  Then again, neither did Mom."  She sighed.  "It does mean I get to keep going to the GYN every year."

"Don't most women?"

"Um, no, most women by current standards can go every other year or every three years depending on which study you look at and set of guidelines you listen to.  I go every year because of problems and that fertility meds I got given."

"Oh.  Interesting.  I didn't know that's why."  He kissed her on the forehead, making her grin.  "But we're good?"

"We're good.  He did a baseline scan of my whole body.  He said he couldn't find a single enlarged anything, no odd spots, nothing like that.  Those I get every five years unless there's a problem.  At forty I do it every other year."

"Good to plan for."

"He said I did good not stressing too hard over it and not making myself sick with worry and stress, but I was sensible."

"I like that you're sensible."  She cuddled him.  "I still would've went."

"Why make us both worry about something preventative?" she asked from his shoulder.

"Because I wanted to worry with you."

She looked up at him.  "If you had known and been on a mission, you could've lost your concentration."

"Point," he admitted.  "But not a great one.  I can push back worries while I'm in the field, Dawn."

"I got warned that if I ever distracted you again, Fury was going to skin my ass."

"I'll have a talk with him."

"No, it was Maria, not Fury."

"I'll be having a talk with her anyway."  He kissed her.  "I'm making that pasta and meat thing."  She smiled, moving to wash her hands and help him.  "So, getting pregnant would help reduce your risk?"

She smiled.  "If I wasn't in a relationship I might've already headed for a sperm bank.  But I'm in one and it's not time yet."  He grinned and nodded.  "He said before thirty so you have eight years and a few months."

"I do, yeah.  It won't be that long."  She laughed and hugged him again then got back to chopping vegetables for him.  He considered things privately.  It was worrisome but not too bad.  Something good to know so they could plan for future checkups but nothing to stress over.  Though she still should've told him.  Dawn had the bad habit of hiding injuries.  Which they all hated - him, Natasha, the family, the other Avengers.  Everyone who knew Dawn hated that she hid injuries.

Dawn's phone rang and she looked at the alert, turning on the tv to stare at it.  Clint growled at the idiot supposed newsperson.

"That'll be handled," Dawn assured him.

***

Dawn smiled at the press statement the next morning in front of the tower.  "People."  They stared at her and quit chatting.  "First, let's start off with the idiot last night.  I know he pretends to be one of you."  That got a few laughs.  She held up a picture.  "This is him, right?"  They all nodded.  "We all know my nieces are twelve?"  They all nodded and smiled.  "Clint's never made a move on anyone underage; even when he was seventeen he was sleeping with older women.  I was of age when we got together.

"He keeps nagging the twins to put on shirts because their mom let them run around pretty much half-naked on Asgard.  This guy....  He's leering at my twelve-year-old nieces.  So is him calling my husband a pedophile for giving a damn about a kid that's not his a smoke screen?"  She smiled at them.  "Yes, Clint does visit a child on the oncology ward at the Children's Hospital.  He asked for Clint to visit through Make A Wish.  There was a slight snafu thanks to someone in SHIELD believing that agents didn't like to do things like that.

"When Clint heard, he visited.  He encouraged.  He's visited a number of times to talk to Bob and his mom.  I've talked to Bob and his mom, including about this issue.  Bob's a sweet boy who adores Clint and wants to someday be an olympic archer if he makes it through this and into remission.  I don't think anyone who's ever visited a sick kid ever did it because they thought a cancer patient was hot."  A few shuddered.

"Certainly Clint didn't.  He's encouraged Bob to get better, and the last time I saw him, he was heading home for a while.  Pending new scans.  I personally mentor some kids on the same oncology floor.  I don't do it because I like seeing them in pain or anything but because they need it. They need someone who's sat in that chair with another patient and watched some of the worst things a human body can go through happen repeatedly.

"So can you tell your not-quite-a-newsperson coworker to please shut his ass up?" she asked one directly.  "Because, he doesn't know what he's talking about and he's the one leering at underage girls.  Even in a shirt that has their age on it."  She switched pictures with a smile.  "They got them on vacation because of some stupid drunk American fratboy fucks."

One reporter raised her hand.  "First, that's a really cute shirt and very good as a warning."

"They have another one that says if they're touched, their aunt's going to destroy whoever does it and humanity."  She smiled sweetly.  "I nearly got a TSA screener for groping."

The reporters all winced.  That one smiled.  "You mentor children on an oncology ward?"

"And their families if they have one.  Three of the kids I mentor are in foster care."  The reporter slumped.  "They're all in group homes so they have friends but no one older they can talk to.  Group therapy for cancer patients is great sometimes, but sometimes you need someone to hold you while you cry.  Or when you're begging to make the pain from the meds stop.  Sometimes the parents need the same sort of comfort and knowing it'll hopefully come out right, that they made the right decision to fight it.

"That putting their kids through having poison shot into their veins to kill each and every living cell for a few days is worth it.  That irradiating them in a way that would kill them if they didn't have it targeted on a cancerous tumor is worth it.  I've always donated time at whatever hospital my mother was in.  Others needed the same sort of comfort she did and didn't always have someone there."

She wiped off a cheek.  "Sorry, but a bit of an emotional topic and not why I'm talking to you guys."  She calmed herself down.  "His second claim, that I'm 'ruining' the Avengers.  I'd like him to explain to me how I'm doing that?  By making sure Stark eats regularly?  By helping take care of his daughter - my other niece?  By helping Doctor Banner whenever he needs a meditation helper?  By helping the others spar sometimes? I'd like him to give examples.  Could you ask him nicely to do that?" she asked his coworker.

"I don't talk to the man," she quipped.  "He's a bigot."

"Yeah, we know.  Him and his cohost raised fifty grand to put out a contract on Captain Rogers that was attempted in while we were on vacation in Tobago.  That's why I took down that assassin."

"The police did," one of the cameramen said.

Another reporter shook her head.  "No, Dawn did.  She spotted it, she shot him in the side, and she pounced him.  Then she knew him?"

"My old chemistry partner in high school.  Turns out he had been taught by one of Clint's early teachers."  She smiled.  "We caught up and I made sure he wasn't going to do it again and he was really damn sorry.  Because it looked a shitload like he was aiming at my nieces."  The group laughed nervously.  "Oh, I would've been messy with him.  I might've even kept him as human and used him in some sort of sacrificial blood protection rite that was used by the Aztecs or Mayans.  I might've turned him into something and used him in a more traditional version though."  She smiled.  "The Druids might've appreciated that."  A few snickered.  "But it's a moot point.  Clint pulled me off him.  I'm sure he's never going to come near my family again."

One reporter raised her hand.  "How is your mother?  She's looked tired."

"All the things with Buffy and Hylal dying on Asgard has gotten to her a bit.  She's still showing as cancer free.  She had a scan about a month ago."  She grinned.  "Which we love.  While we were on vacation she watched Callia and Liz.  And all Callia's pets."  The reporters snickered.  "They were very good for Mom.  One kept turning off her alarm clock but waking her up on time.  I'm told Callia tuned up their car twice in one day because she was bored.  Then she helped Bruce paint the basement, cut the grass, plant some flowers and vegetable seeds for later on, so they could sprout indoors, and then she helped Mom sort all the clothes in the house and do laundry.  While Liz laughed her butt off on the couch and the living room floor."

"Is Callia ADHD?" one of the cameramen asked.

"No, she's a genius.  They're easily bored."  He shuddered.  She smiled.  "I'm already starting to hoard puzzles and things for my future kids."

"Are the twins going to normal school?"

"No.  Not at this point.  We figured it'd be too huge of a culture shock.  Asgard's a non electric using plane."  They all groaned.  She grinned.  "But Diana's already fantastic with computers.  Artemis is helping Clint clean weapons today while Diana's helping Tara grocery shop with the twins.  Because Tara's twins actually listen to those two.  They don't listen to anyone else but they listen to the girls.  They're studying with Callia.  Buffy got them that far."

"How are they twelve?" one of the reporters asked.

"Asgard's time runs faster.  It runs two weeks to one of our days."

"OH!"  She nodded.  "So Callia's baby brother Sean?"

"He's just about to turn fourteen in a few days.  He was four months when Buffy got pregnant.  He's getting a huge birthday present. Including his own bow and sword."  She grinned.  "He decided he didn't want to stay here, he wanted to go finish his warrior training with one we know.  He's highly overprotected and anyone who hits on Sean gets smacked down by them.  He comes home each weekend."

"What's Pepper having this time?" she asked.

"Ask Pepper."

"Fine.  Does she know?  I know she chose not to last time."

"She did and Callia announced it over the PA system in the tower."

"So she's happy?"

"She's happy with any sibling but she's bounding around happily about it."  The reporters smiled at her.  "Any other questions about this putz and his supposed viewpoint?  By the way, who pays him for his viewpoint?  Because his advertisers don't pay him directly and he keeps talking about 'his people'.  Is he an alien too?"  The crowd laughed as they dispersed.  "Have a happier day, people."  She walked back inside.

Tony smirked from her desk.  "Yes, he is."

"Clearly from the planet Dumbass."  She tipped her chair up to get it back.  "You couldn't watch from the office?"

"Pepper's in there having a mood swing on our current information leak."

"Wonderful.  Can I have one next?"

He looked at her.  "Did it finally happen?"

"No, I made sure it wouldn't happen in reaction to all this going on."  She pushed her hair back over her shoulder.  "Because I scared myself with that very bad instinct."

He nodded.  "That's not the reason to have a kid.  You have one to drive you nuts."

"I have a cat for that."  She grinned.  "I'm fully capable but I took a shot before we went on vacation."

"That's a good idea," he said, patting her on the head.  "You got an apology from someone in Russian."

She looked at that letter, smiling.  "Aww, one of the other's sons wrote me to apologize for his father's rudeness."  She typed out a nice response and sent it in the outgoing mail.  The door opened and the two outer assistants walked off crying.  Dawn frowned at Tony, who nodded.  "I would not have expected that with how long they've been with us," she said quietly.

"They didn't do much, they were the lesser source.  The greater was in maintenance."  He walked in there.  Pepper was wiping her cheeks off.  "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine.  Thank you, Tony.  How did it go?"

"Dawn made them laugh a bit, answered a few questions, ducked the one on what you're carrying, and asked if the idiot was an alien."

"Yes he is, from the planet Puritan."

"Who was found to be leering at the twins, even in their t-shirts."  He smirked.

"Oooh.  That's good.  He can't say he didn't know."

"Very true."  He kissed her and walked off happier.  Dawn was handling things and not looking worried.  So apparently whatever she had left a half-hour early for the day before had went well.  He came back to stare at her.  "What appointment did you have yesterday?  Interview?"

"Predictive analysis."

"Like a test?"

"That too."  She looked up.  "A doctor Bruce knows."

"Oh.  Okay."  He left again.  If Bruce knew them they probably weren't quacks or after Dawn.

Dawn smiled, getting back to work.  She sent in the first draft of the position opening for the two assistants with the few memos that needed to be done this week.

Pepper laughed.  "I like how you said they had to put up with all the Starks," she called.

"They will.  Sometimes that is the deciding factor."

"Yeah, it can be."

***

Clint sat down across from Bruce at the table in the caf.  He was having some danish and coffee.  Clint leaned his arms on the table and stared at him.  "Explain how this predictive thing works?"

"It takes into account what we know about genetic history influencing cancer rates plus lifestyle choices and combines them mathematically.  Think of it like a points system.  Part of it is based on family history and some is based on things like if you smoke, if you eat too much red meat, all that."

"Okay.  Dawn said it had a twenty percent margin of error?"

"There's always cases that none of that cover.  Joyce's was a good example.  That serum should've killed her, not turned into a brain tumor.  If it had turned into a tumor, it should've turned into a uterine one instead or something like that by family history."  Clint nodded at that, understanding it.  "There's other odd causes like things in the water and the energy in Sunnydale being a factor.  We're pretty sure that and her family history is why it manifested as a tumor and the brain tumor part was mostly from the energy warping out there."

"Which Dawn doesn't show."

"Most of the time.  She has a tiny bit stored.  It probably wasn't too much of a score on her lifestyle choices side.  What did it come out?"

"Sixty," he said quietly.

"Then that's pretty even with her chances of having a heart attack due to the latest Avengers issue that she has to help with."  He smiled.  "It's not a certainty, Clint.  It's like saying you have a sixty percent chance of ripping your shoulder one day because your bow's being held wrong due to your position."

"Been there, done that," he admitted.  "Fixed that quickly.  Never did it again."

"How unusual was that for you?"

"Very.  I was basically hanging off a building," he said.  "She said not to worry, and she didn't tell us so we wouldn't worry."

Bruce nodded.  "I didn't know she was thinking about it until she brought up the theory in a news story."  Clint shook his head.  "It's something she should worry about.  Any child of a cancer patient should.  Thankfully, Dawn doesn't take it too far and I'm pretty sure she's done some diet things to you all based on what Joyce's doctors suggested.  They don't want repeat business or generational business, Clint.  Don't stress over that.  We'd all be happier if it was under ten percent but even at the highest option, with her family history it'll probably be breast or cervical cancer, which are easily treated if caught early.  They both have really high survival rates."

"I don't want Dawn to have to go through that."

"We never want our loved ones to go through something like that.  I'm praying to every single healing God I've ever heard of, even though I don't really have faith, that Joyce never has to go back there.  That Dawn and the grandkids don't either.  Though, the twins need the HPV vaccine."

"I let Dawn handle the shot things."  He glanced around then at him.  There were a few nosy people trying to listen in.  "Should I worry more in ten years?"

"Probably not.  By then we'll have new treatments.  They might even be easier on the body.  Dawn nags the medical research labs if she hears they're working on cancer treatments.  They all understand why, and most of them have family that went through the same thing.  It gives them someone to talk to about that stuff.  A few get really pissed off at her for it and their coworkers point out that Dawn had to sit there for three years with Joyce.  That anything that could've made that easier is a great thing.  She's their own personal cheerleader like she is for Andrew and Jonathan."

"I know she does that with them and they're friends."  He slumped some.  "I'm not sure how to tell Natasha.  With the way she acted because Dawn had an accidental needle stick during an attack, I'm not sure if I should."

"What?" Bruce asked, frowning.

"That one attack on the building?  The guy in the garage that Dawn had to handle had a needle in his pocket full of plasma."

"With...." Bruce asked.

"Hep B."

Bruce winced.  "She got the vaccine?"

"Then.  They're doing making sure blood work for years.  Nat kinda freaked out and didn't want to touch Dawn."

"Then I wouldn't tell her.  I don't know why she would.  I've seen some pretty bad effects from it but that'd never happen in a first world country."

"I know.  I pointed that out."  Bruce smiled.  "It's come out clear anyway, Doc."

"That's great.  I'm sure her doctors are watching it anyway."  Clint nodded.  "Don't tell her unless she asks."

"I can do that."  He looked around again.  "You can come hug us, Callia."  She smiled from where she was watching them.  They did get hugs and she went back to her table with her study guide and tablet.  "The reporters wanted to know why Joyce was tired."

"She's not used to having the kids over."  He smiled.  "We handled it though.  They were excellent for us."

"That's good.  The twins had fun.  Dawn took them on a rain forest hike."

"That's good for them.  They're used to forests."

"They kept pulling Tony and Steve into the ocean with them," Clint said with a grin.  "And into the lake when we spent a few days at the houses.  Dawn got them their own versions of the smiley face bikinis.  They're more covering but Steve nearly flipped out."

"I nearly flipped out when I saw Dawn's," he complained.

"You?" he snorted.  "Shit, Doc, I nearly slammed my dick into the elevator's doors."  Bruce cackled.  "She was a horrible dick tease back then."

"She still is, Barton, but now you're enjoying her doing it to others."

"Sometimes, yeah."  He grinned.  "With Nat on assignment we need to go out tonight.  Her birthday's soon."

"It's in three months."

"We usually remember the week after."

"That's a bad thing.  What did you guys do for yours?"

"Doc, do you really want those details?" he asked with a grin, trying hard not to blush.

"Probably not but Joyce would cackle."  He sipped his coffee.  "She loves it when Dawn's naughty."

"Dawn's very naughty.  Though we do enjoy it when there's not drug or arms dealers around to help us appreciate it."

"The only arms dealer around here is the old Tony Stark," Bruce shot back.  "And he helped turn her into that flirty tease."

"Yeah, he did a great job."  He shook his head quickly, sending Dawn a thought.  She sent him one about something she had just gotten the other day.  He grinned.  "She even picked up a new dress for it."

"Figures.  Dawn's always got an outfit for any occasion."

"Have you seen our bedroom?  I get *a* closet.  Nat refuses to fight Dawn for closet space so she uses her own.  I have some things up in mine so I don't have to look at any of the suits I own.  Dawn has a *wall* of closets.  Which the cat loves to lounge in."

"I wondered why he huffed at ours having shoes on the floor."  He finished his danish.  "Have fun."

"I'll try."  Bruce smiled and hugged Callia on his way to his lab.  Clint went to the Avengers tower complex to get in some training time.  He might need it later.

***

Clint came down from his apartment in his favorite worn jeans.  They were soft and clung to his every move.  He had on his favorite sleeveless t-shirt.  He had his sunglasses on his collar for now because it was still a bit bright outside.  Dawn was doing her hair.  He leaned on the doorframe.  "Is this going to take forever?"

"Perfection only takes me fifteen minutes and it's only been four."  She looked at him and blinked.  "Huh," she said, smiling at him.  He grinned back.  "Am I wearing something new and totally hot or do you want me to look sexy?"

"Can you do both?"

"Maybe."  She finished her hair curling and put aside the iron once it was unplugged.  She shook her hair then sprayed it lightly.  She got up and got into the closet, taking her makeup bag to the bathroom with her.  She came out in a silver dress that was dipping low in front but slid over her breasts like it was clinging to them for mercy.  It hit every single dip of her body.  She stepped into her black heels and bent over to buckle them.  She smiled at Clint's moan.  She walked over to him, taking a kiss.  "You smell great."

He smiled.  "I don't often wear it but I do have aftershave."  He looked her over.  "We're going to have a riot to get you back."

She stroked her nails up his arm.  "You're more than good enough to rescue me."  He smiled.  "I can change if you want.  I have another dress.  It's in the closet from Rio though."

He considered it then walked over to look in there.  He spotted the new black dress.  What there was of it.  He closed the door and walked back.  "No, that would cause a riot for other reasons."  He put on his sunglasses.  "Phone?"

"Nope.  You?"

"No."  They left after a quick pet of the pouty cat.  Loki liked them to sit and watch tv with him.  Dawn and Clint called a cab and walked out to get it.  The few paps out there gaped in awe.  He smirked at them.  "Bite me.  She's still mine."  He let her into the car then climbed in.  She crossed her legs.  The hem of her skirt was high enough up if he wanted to bend to look he could probably get flashes of her panties.  He rested a hand on her knee, smiling at the pure, clean skin.  "Nair?" he guessed.

"No."

"Wax?"

"Sugaring."  She smiled.  "Spa time with Pepper."  He moaned.  She winked.  "Because you're a good boy."

"Yes I am."  He paid for the cab and got them out.  The bouncers at the club he had picked stared and pointed at the VIP line.  Clint smiled and led her to that.  They got inside almost instantly.  He looked at them, putting his sunglasses on his collar again.  "You definitely look hot."

"Dear, I pale next to you.  All the girls in here are staring at you."

"Nah, a few are staring at you and doubting their sexuality."  She giggled and led him onto the floor.  It was good to relax and let things go.  The crowd on the floor didn't care who they were.  A few tried to flirt with them but gave up when Dawn growled.  Especially at the guys who wanted Clint.  Clint smirked at her.  "Nice growl, Princess."

She stroked over his stomach.  "I learned from the master."  He pulled her closer to kiss and they went back to dancing before they got tossed out for dance floor PDA.  They didn't need that reported in the papers.  Dawn got them a drink and he tasted it then looked at it.  "What's that?"

"A God of Thunder.  They make a whole line but yours is weirdly purple."

"Really?"  She nodded.  He took her to the bar to try them all.  The Coulson martini-like drink made his head spin.  The bartender was looking really pleased.  They sipped each other's drinks and Clint praised them.  He texted that to Stark.  He was the more experienced drinker.  The bartender smiled at that compliment and the recommendation for Stark to come in.  They went back onto the floor with Dawn's usual fruity slushy drink, only with alcohol this time.  They were relaxed and it was good.  Even if someone did want to snatch Dawn from him.

Clint growled and the guy slowly backed off, hands up.  "Sorry, man.  Just thought she was hot.  Didn't recognize you, sir."  He turned and fled back to his friends.

Dawn smiled at him.  "Such a growl," she teased, hissing it in his ear over the music.  "Do you bark on command?"

He smirked evilly at her.  "You'll have to find out but I am house trained."

She laughed before kissing him.  "Yes, you definitely are.  More than I am."   They strolled over to a table and got comfy.  Dawn was nearly in his lap.  The booth was a bit dark.  She gave him a proper kiss.  He moaned into it, running his hands into her hair.  The spray didn't make it sticky or stiff.  She winked at him.  "Are you going to keep me out past bedtime?"

"Yes, I am.  I say we close down the club."

"I could like that."  She took another kiss then stood up.  "Let me go clean up."

He smirked, lounging there.  "I'd offer but we're in public."

She leaned down to kiss him.  "I'll let you show me some hidden spots later."  He smirked with a wink.  She strolled off to the bathroom to clean up and relieve some tension, making sure he could feel it.  He was clearly turned on by the time she finished herself off.  She cleaned up and washed her hands, coming out to slide in next to him again.  He picked up her fingers to lick.  She smiled.  "I washed them."

"I saw but still some taste there."  He winked.  "Dance?"

"Yes please.  You have great moves."  He pulled her up and out there.  Dawn pulled out all her club moves and some she had learned back when she was taking pole dancing lessons for PE.  The DJ was clearly promoting them all being horny by his music choices.  Dawn was definitely turning him on and making it so he could barely walk.  "You need to cure mine next," he said in her ear.

She leaned back against his stomach.  "If we weren't in public."

He smiled.  "I might like that."  He took her outside, taking her up the street.  There was a perfect spot nearby.  On top of a building but it had a pretty garden area that no one ever used.  Easily gotten to from the hotel next door.  He got them up there and checked then kissed her.  She moaned into his mouth, teasing his stomach with her nails.  "More," he ordered.

"So demanding tonight," she teased with a grin.  "Do I hear growling?"

"You hear more than a tiny growl."

She smiled and kissed him, hopping up to wrap herself around his waist.  "How did you want me to cure that stress, Clint?"  She nibbled on his bottom lip then kissed him with tongue.

"I'll invade you later.  For now, let's keep it at the 'he'll be able to walk later' level."  She smiled and slid down him to her knees, taking his cock out to suck.  He hissed as she inhaled him, tensing up.  "You do that wonderfully, Dawn."

"You did teach me how to best do you."  She nibbled on the side of it then the head, looking up at him.  He shifted his stance.  It was a clear challenge to knock him on his ass with the blow job of the century.  Which she had practiced for.  She slowly made her way down his shaft, moaning on the way down.  He shivered, grabbing the planter behind him to hold onto.  She had him weak kneed, made him shake and shiver, then finally let him come with a groan of need.  She licked all over him before tucking him back in and kissing it before doing back up his zipper carefully.  She stroked up his side, letting him help her up.  She kissed him hard and deep.  "I expect you to reciprocate later."

"My tongue is at your command, Princess."  He kissed her again.  "Needy?" he teased.

"Hell yes.  Can I have a taste of what's to come?"

"I suppose I can."  He pulled her against him and his fingers found their way under her skirt to tease her.  She was damp and he could already feel her clit being a bit enlarged.  He teased it, making her moan and clutch him.  "My evil little tease."

She smiled at him.  "You like me like this."

"I love you like this and your domesticated side, Princess."  He kissed her, muffling her loud reactions as he went after her clit in earnest.  She moaned loudly, her head going back to give him access to her throat.  "Shhh," he hissed in her ear.  "I don't want anyone else to watch me doing this.  Maybe if we were in a great suite tonight, I'd be tonguing you in front of the windows, but not up here."  She shivered and nodded, biting his throat to muffle herself.  He groaned but worked her harder until she came.  He licked off his fingers.  Something was different.  "Dawn, shot?"

"Huh?"  She pulled her head up to smile at him.  "I had one."

"You don't taste like you did a few days ago."

"Oh, the blessing rite," she said with a grin.  "Tara had me help her with one."

"Would that have detoxed that?"

"Probably not fully.  I'd be on my last month."

"Huh."  He kissed her.  "Still tasty, no matter what."  She smiled and took another kiss then licked off his fingers.  "My treat, Dawn."  He cleaned himself up.  "Want another club?"

"Please?"

"Pick," he offered.  She considered it then hissed in his ear, making him tense up.  "You sure?  That's a bit more hardcore."

"It has a great dance floor and no one will try to steal me there."

"No, they wouldn't dare."  He took her back to the hotel and down to catch a cab from the doorman.  Who gave them an odd look.  He smiled.  "Going out to club."  He let Dawn get in then got in, telling the cabby the address.  He drove off and Clint stroked over Dawn's knee.  They got to the club and the DJ was playing a song he didn't know but Dawn could sing to him.  It was _Bad Girlfriend_ by Theory of a Deadman as he found out.  It was overtly sexy and described Dawn very well.  The others in the club were staring jealously but he had the only Dawn there was.

Any unauthorized copies would be ended to make sure he owned the only one.

***

Dawn and Clint walked into Stark tower the next morning, making the security team gape in awe.  "Don't ask."  She signed them in and went up to her desk.  She walked into the office.

"That's not really appropriate," Pepper complained.  "We have an interview here later, Dawn."

"Our building has a gas leak, Pepper.  Thankfully Phil has our cat.  I can't get in to change.  Do you have a jacket?  All I have is this and some sparring clothes."

Pepper blinked.  "Nothing of mine will fit you."  She looked at Clint then at Dawn again.  "Have fun at the club?"

Dawn grinned.  "It was the best night we've had in quite a while."  She winked at Clint then grinned at Pepper.  "Want me to change into a leotard?"

"No.  Not in the least."  Clint snickered. "Tony?" she called.  JARVIS summoned him for her.  He walked in with Steve, stopping cold when he saw Clint.  He looked at Dawn and his mouth flopped open slightly until Steve tipped his chin up.  "Do you have a jacket she can borrow?" Pepper asked with a smile.

"Won't help," he moaned.  "I heard about the gas leak."

"Phil got the pets and everyone out."  She shrugged.  "We were out, boss."

"They won't let us in to get clothes," Clint said.

"I think that's worse than the pink dress that made you look recently debauched and the black dress that made you look hot."  Tony swallowed.  "I'm not sure if I have a jacket or not.  Nothing in your locker?"

"No.  I took it home to change out," Dawn said.  "I was going to bring it in today after I got the dry cleaning back, boss."

"We might have to go to a hotel tonight," Clint said.

"None of the usual stores are open for an hour or more," Pepper said, checking the time.  "We need to do something.  It's a recorded interview."

"I don't have time to find something that'll fit right without going too slinky," Dawn reminded her.  "Unless it's either real clingy, real flowing, or really tight, it'll look bad.  I was going to wear the blue suit today."

"Dry cleaners?" Tony suggested.

"All at home.  I picked it up last night," Clint said.  "I had no idea that we spend nearly eight hundred a month on laundry."

"Only when I don't send out things immediately.  Then we only spend about three," Dawn quipped then kissed him with a smile.  "Thank you."

"Welcome."  He looked at them.  "So...."  The reporter came off the elevator.

Dawn smiled.  "We were clubbing when we were told about the gas leak at our building.  Excuse my naughty outfit.  I wore it for Clint."

The reporter stared at her.  "I...  I never really thought women were all that sexy before."  Dawn blushed.  "I can not put you on air, Dawn."

"Thank you."  She gave her a quick hug.  "I'll find something for the part after lunch?"

"That'd be fine," Pepper agreed happily.  "Barton, it's to be officey, not slutty."

"I like the dress, even if it's not fit for the office."  He grinned.  "She had something more naughty in there but this was more subtle."

Tony cleared his throat.  "She had something less subtle than the dress that makes her look like the goddess of sexual fantasies?"  Pepper swatted him.  "She does!"

Dawn grinned at him.  "Thanks, boss.  If I get appointed to a higher office I'll suggest that one."

"Dick tease," Tony complained, walking off.  "Go as soon as they open, Dawn."

"I can go now but it'll be the place I picked up that pink dress or the gear shop, boss.  The respectable stores don't open until ten.  Not my fault there's a gas leak."

"See if the gear shop has something," Pepper ordered.  Dawn took Clint back to her desk.  He could sit and guard her.  Well, lounge in the chair and look like an altar to a  sexual encounter that would make your body ascend while your mind ripped itself apart.

Dawn called over there.  "Gloria, Dawn Summers.  I heard about the gas leak.  No, we have a recorded interview and I was at the club."  She smiled.  "Please?  Something suit-ish?  Officey?  That might work if I can find a jacket.  Really?  Great.  Be there in twenty.  Yup, traveling time."  She hung up.  "They may have something, boss."

She walked off, Clint following like he was on a leash.  She came back to her desk and pulled out something, handing them to Clint.  "The Lotus from the other identity."  He grinned and took her to the garage to test drive it.  It was a sweet ride.  Dawn walked into the gear shop fifteen minutes later and Clint followed.  "Gloria?"  She came out of the back and stared, mouth slightly open.  "I need something better for the interview."

"Yeah, you do."

"She made the reporter want to be a lesbian," Clint teased with a grin.

"I'm bi, Barton, and I'd love to be between you two right now.  Damn me."  She went to the back.  "I have a version of your red one."

"I'd need a jacket," Dawn said, following her.  She paused at something.  "Not my size."

"Too matron for you anyway," Clint said.  He pointed.  "Is that in your size?"

She looked then at him.  "Clint, that's leather," she said dryly.  She smiled.  "Maybe tonight for dinner?"  She went into the back, blushing some.  There was a nice dress.  Princess seams and a slightly swingy skirt but it was sleeveless.  The only jacket they had wouldn't fit her.  Clint came in to hand her something and she moaned.  "I have that.  It's in purple and it's in the closet for the next event."  Clint stared at her.  She smiled.  "The new movie opening."

He groaned.  "You evil dick tease."

She smiled and blew a kiss.  "But you love me this way, baby."

"I do."  He put it back.  Dawn tried on something but it was too small in every way.  The swingy dress had to be it.  Dawn paired it with a belt and a headband to push back her hair.  Still no jacket.  Stockings and a new garter belt.  Clint popped the zit on her shoulder that had been covered up by the first dress's collar.  It looked nice but a bit casual.  Clint made her get the leather skirt and loose shirt too.  Dawn paid and they went back to the office.  Pepper came out to look her over.  "No jackets," Clint said.

"That's not formal but it's nice looking.  What's in the bag?"  He showed her and she blinked.  "No, no leather in the office.  Have fun at dinner though."   She went back in there.  "It's better."

The reporter looked and smiled.  "She does look nice and young in it.  Maybe if she combed her hair?"

Dawn smiled.  "I can figure that out later.  I have a bit of hairspray in it."  She finger combed it.  Clint helped, earning a blushing smile.  "You do that very well."

"Your hair's a mystery to many."  He winked.  She blushed harder and settled in to get back to work.  Jonathan came off the elevator.  "Does Andrew have a jacket that would fit Dawn?"

"No.  MB either.  She's got tiny shoulders.  Patty's got a flat chest so they wouldn't fit.  Sorry."  He looked at her.  "You look pretty."  She smiled at him.  "Saw a picture of you at the club though.  Can you please make MB and Patty quit talking about how lesbian sex is?"

"I'm sure they'd never do it," she said.

"I wouldn't care if they did as long as we knew.  Andrew and I would sit there with popcorn, Dawn.  We can't get anything done while they're talking about it!"

"MB's in her second trimester," Clint said.  "Everything's about that."

"Damn.  I heard stories.  Well, I guess Patty's going to hit that next month then."  He walked off to talk to the girls.  Maybe they'd work later.

Dawn and Clint shared a look.  Dawn shook her head.  "Sorry, Pepper."

"It's all right," she called back.  She looked up that picture.  There were two.  One of them dancing that made her start to really want Tony's tongue and another one of them kissing and yup, she seriously was in her second trimester.  Steve and Tony were getting pounced.  There was a bikini picture too and it was very hot.  She shut down the computer with a head shake.  "They got a picture from Tobago, Dawn.  The blue one."

Dawn leaned in there.  "Seriously?"  She nodded.  "Huh."  She sat up and grinned at Clint.  "That was after our SCUBA classes and trip."

"You know how."

"I wanted a refresher and to be with the twins."

"Good point.  Never know who's going to be a perv over those two.  Or Sean."  Dawn looked him up and showed him a picture.  "Yup, they're perving over him."  Dawn sent that link to John, that way he could rant at the reporters.

John sent back a message from Sean.  Dawn laughed.  "John said that Sean wants to go into my closet and cut up all the dresses.  That I'm too married to need them."

"Kid'll learn that even married people need some happy times."  He sent him a message and a slight threat to not even consider it.  He liked Dawn in pretty, flirty things.  Plus they were having a gas leak so if he made it into their house to please bring Dawn her blue suit.

Dawn grinned at him for that bit of possessive cyber growling.  She got back to work, having to cross her legs.  Clint was still so damn sexy, even a bit sweaty.  Maybe especially because he was a bit sweaty.  All she wanted to do was to climb into his lap and make him beg for mercy.  Her tiny lunch break was not going to be enough.  The quickie they'd have might let her make it through the rest of the day though.  She shifted so she couldn't see him smirking at her, which made him chuckle in a low, deep voice that sounded like sin to her ears.  She blushed bright red and looked at him.  "Quit," she mouthed.

He grinned.  "I'm not doing anything.  Just sitting here."

Thankfully the reporter decided Dawn was well enough dressed for the interview so she came to get her.  Clint watched from his seat, which made the reporter hot.  The cameraman kept slipping the view to him.  Until Dawn snapped and noted that filming Clint was a very bad idea.  He couldn't work with that much attention.  The cameraman pulled out a gun from the camera's base.  Clint was up and snapping his arm then sending him down to the floor while dislocating his shoulder.  A foot in his back and he was begging for mercy.  Dawn called SHIELD while Pepper calmed down.

Maria Hill walked off the elevator, looking at Clint.  "Damn."

He smiled.  "No you're not.  You're a good girl usually, Agent Hill."

"Not for that reason."  She stared him over.  Dawn cleared her throat and gave her a pointed look.  "Sorry but now and then I do miss guys."

Clint grinned.  "You lost your chance years ago, Hill."

"I'm seeing what a pity that is now."

"Just for that, we're having sex on our balcony if we can get back in," Dawn quipped.

"We can't tonight.  It'll be tomorrow."

"We can find a hotel room," Clint assured her.  She grinned at him.  Clint turned over the guy.  "Here, he tried to mar Dawn's favorite playtoy."

Hill whimpered.  "You two are in heat today."  She walked him off, not caring if he was in pain or not.

Tony came up the hall to check on Pepper.  "There is no sex in the building for anyone not named Stark or who is not a future Stark," he said bluntly.

"So you finally popped the question, boss?  I'll have to find a dress," Dawn quipped.  "Should I start researching wedding planners or are you going to go to Vegas or something?"

"I recommend Spain.  When we redid ours, it was on a beautiful beach," Clint said.  Dawn smiled and nodded he was right.  "Plus no huge, poufy dress like Buffy wore.  Not that I think Pepper would but still."

"Guys!" Pepper complained.  "Not in front of reporters!"

"Did he?" the reporter asked, looking awed at Stark.

"She turned me down last year," Tony told her.  "I'm waiting to pounce."  He grinned.  "I've already got something special designed for her and Steve.  Because it's inevitable that they'll give in."  He stared at her.

Pepper was in open-mouthed shock, making squeaky noises.  "Tony?" she squeaked.

He kissed her gently.  "Whenever you're ready to accept, Pepper.  It's in the safety deposit box so no one can get it."  He took another gentle kiss with a grin.  "Steve nearly sat on one of the cats when I showed him his."  He walked off, looking at Dawn.  "Better.  Still in heat."  He walked off shaking his head.  "You have a lunch, Summers."

"I know that, boss.  I haven't pounced him yet."

"Pity," Clint whispered mentally.  "I'd love that."  She gave him a look but smiled.  "Pepper would lose her mind but I'd make sure you were good and happy by the time I got done with you.  Though you might need a new desk chair."

She went bright red and shook her head.  "One of the suites maybe but not at my desk," she sent back across their bond.  "I'd never do that to either boss."

"If you're sure."

Dawn looked at him.  "Not really a good place anyway.  Anyone could walk off the elevator," she said out loud.

He grinned.  "Too true."  He settled in after a stretch.  He felt her reaction and grinned more brightly, but put on his sunglasses because the reporter was coming back out there.

"Are you two going to work on the whole pregnancy thing?" the reporter asked with a smile.

Dawn grinned back.  "We're not against it happening.  Whenever it happens it does.  I've had two very early miscarriages.  Both under a month along."

"You poor thing."  She patted her on the shoulder.  "Maybe this next one will take."

"Whenever it happens it will," Clint assured her.  "We're not doing anything special to make sure of it.  That way defeats the happiness of the sex."

"It does," she agreed.  "You always seem to have it happen after you quit trying."  She smiled and went back to Pepper.

"You did?" Pepper called.

"Xander realized it," she called back.  "I had myself checked and all that afterward, Pepper."

"Good."  She smiled.  "Dawn's so great to the kids.  She's going to make an excellent mother."

"I've seen her being a very good aunt to Callia and the twins.  Their brother?"

"He's on Atlantis.  He wanted to train with Ronon.  He comes home each weekend to be fussed over by the girls and his oldest sister."

"That's sweet.  How old is he?"

"Just about a year older than the twins.  He was four months old when Buffy got pregnant with the twins."

"Awww.  Is he doing anything special for his birthday?"

"No, he refused to let me host anything, even a family dinner," Dawn called.

"Probably trying to be too tough."  Dawn pulled up a picture and sent it to Pepper, who showed her.  "Wow.  Asgard does a kid good."

"Asgardians get married usually at sixteen but we've made sure they know they're to be over eighteen before they even consider it," Pepper said with a grin.  "The twins especially with how many people have become perverted over them.  It was fun watching Dawn shoo them off the girls but tiring."

"I bet.  I saw Dawn's 'please quit offering them modeling jobs' rant on her livejournal."

Pepper nodded.  "We really do want people to quit offering them that sort of spectacle.  The girls need to grow up well-rounded.  Not just objects of staring.  They deserve better."  She smiled.  "They're all very bright children.  Sean doesn't get away with educational slacking either."  Dawn cackled.  "She makes sure of it."

Dawn strolled in.  "Sean's being mentored by Dr. McKay himself for educational things.  They're having a tug-of-war about him being a warrior geek or a geek who can pull out a badass warrior side when necessary."

"That's sweet.  Are they having problems catching up?"

"The twins are at Callia's level.  She's a few years ahead so the twins are about a year behind.  Sean too.  They're doing good though.  Callia enjoys teaching them math."  The reporter cooed.  "I'd never let the twins do anything that would be so self esteem destroying.  I don't want someone to look at their healthy bodies and tell them they're too fat.  Or to big chested.  They're twelve.  Let them be kids."

"We'd all like to see them being kids," Pepper agreed, shooting Dawn a look.  She pointed at the phone so she looked.  "Who?"

"Your father.  He would not be held off."

"Give me a second please."  She answered it.  "Hi, Dad.  What's wrong?"  She listened.  "Um...  No."  She snapped and pointed.  "Dawn, there's a huge plant in the middle of Broadway."

"I can go shrink it."  She walked out.  "Archer boy, come watch me brilliant magically?"

"I can do that," he quipped, following her.  The plant was a huge dandelion.  "Think it was a mini witch?" he asked.

Dawn nodded, shrinking it down then plucking it to hand to him.  "We need to talk to the mini witch."

"Which twin?" he muttered.

"Melissa."

"Great."  Phil strolled over to take the flower and kept going.  "Sure, you have fun with that talk, boss."

Dawn smiled and waved at his back.  "Thanks, Big Brother sort.  Saves me some work."  They went back to Stark with a stop for coffee.  She also paused to get a jacket to go over the dress, but that would look hot with the leather skirt outfit later.  She found something to go underneath it too.   Clint would enjoy that too.

They settled back at her desk and him beside it again.  He was making reservations.  "Want seafood, steak, or vegetarian?"

"I'll need the protein," she quipped.  He grinned at her.  "Pick somewhere worthy of the outfit."

"I can do that."  He picked the steakhouse.  Leather went naturally with steak, right?  They didn't want to take the reservation so he popped a text to Stark to see if he knew of somewhere that was nice enough.  He got them reservations at that steak house by calling.  Clint sent back a 'thanks' and grinned at her.  "Steak."

"Wonderful."  She smirked slightly.  "I booked us at the St. Regis in one of the nice suites with the fireplace and hot tub."

"Wow, expensive.  I'm glad you make the major bucks."

She leaned over to kiss him.  "I know you'll make it worth more the price of the room."

He smiled.  "Yes, I will."  She winked and got back to work.

"Awww," Pepper and the reporter called.

Dawn looked in there, smiling at them.  "Young love is always adorable."

"It is," Pepper agreed.  "Where are you two staying tonight?  I can have the cleaning team open up a suite."

"The St. Regis."  She got back to work, bringing in some forms for her to sign.  "Once again, HR needs your insurance stuff."

"It's all the same," she said, but she did fill it out.

"They shred them after anyone gives birth," Dawn reminded her.  "That way no one's got records hanging around."

"I like that," Pepper agreed.  She handed them back with a smile.  "Happy lab rounds."

"Thanks, boss."  She strolled off.  "Doing my daily lab rounds."

"I can help," he promised.  "I'll pretend I'm Nat and do assistant stuff."

She elbowed him with a grin.  "You'd look much different in the pencil skirt she wears, Clint."

"I'd hope so."  He went with her anyway.  He got waylaid by Andrew and Jonathan needing a normal guy opinion but Dawn was usually safe here.  Until someone slapped her on the ass.  He looked up because Dawn had just decked him.  "Let me go clean up her mess."

"Who?" Andrew said with a wince.

"Some guy in Shield Design just spanked her."  He strolled up there, looking at them.  He smirked.  "You touched something of mine?"  The man shook his head quickly and scooted away from him.  "You sure?  I have ways of telling."

Stark walked in.  "JARVIS said Dawn had to knock someone on their ass, Morrison?"

"He tried to flirt, boss, and spanked her.  So Dawn kindly knocked him down for it."  He didn't look at Clint.  "I'm sure she's okay, Agent Barton.  Dawn's very capable and badass."

"She is but she shouldn't have to be."  He looked at the guy.  "The ring is a wedding band, yes."  The guy nodded quickly.  "Good."  He kissed Dawn on the ear, making her shiver and smile at him.  "Nice hit, dear."

"Thank you."  She smirked slightly.  "I do my teachers proud."

"No more flirting," Tony ordered.  "Damn!"  Dawn and Clint both laughed.  "Go be in gooey love somewhere else."  Dawn handed him the reports.  "Thanks.  Go make me coffee?"

"Yup, I can do that."  She took Clint with her.  Callia was in there napping on top of the car hood with the Phil cat sitting on her side.  "Aww," she said quietly.

"Our kid will inherit the king of hair nibbling," Clint quipped.

"Yeah, Loki does love the babies.  He curled up with Liz more than once."  She made coffee, coming back out to check on Callia.  Usually she didn't sleep that heavily.  She seemed fine.  She'd check with Tony.  She got finished by the time Tony came in.  She pointed at the baby.  "She slept through me banging around your coffee pot, boss."

"She was up all night watching Liz to make sure she was all right.  Again."

Dawn nodded.  "I would've too."  Tony smiled.  "Is she okay?"

"She's fine.  The mask pisses her off sometimes but she's good with it."  They grinned and left together.  He looked at his special little clone and grinned.  He had stayed up with her to watch Liz sleep.  He might sleep through her alarm like he did his alarm clock and he'd hate that.  He'd never forgive himself for that.

His father faded in.  "What's that machine the nanny's putting on the baby, son?"

"A sleep apnea alarm.  For when she quits breathing again."  He looked at his father's ghost.  "Clint caught her moving toward crib death.  Her doctor thinks she'll probably grow out of it."

"That's good.  We didn't have those when you were little."

"Kids today have a lot of stuff we didn't because we know more now.  Like they have to sleep on their back and we can't have bears in the cribs so they can't suffocate on them."

"That wasn't the rule in your day definitely."  He looked up there then at him.  "Dawn's checking on her."

"Dawn loves all the kids equally, Dad.  Even if Liz isn't biologically related to her she still loves her."

"That's a good mom thing to do I suppose," he said.  "She's pretty today."

Tony smiled.  "She's pretty every day but she had to come in wearing clubbing clothes because of a gas leak.  She couldn't get in to get anything."

"That guy's really possessive."

"It's protective.  A lot of people have wanted a Dawn of their very own," he said dryly.   "I had to have her windows changed at my mansion because we had three different ones sneak in to take her."

"Seriously?" his father demanded.

"Yeah.  They either want her to piss us off, to piss her sister off, or because she's got strong magic.  Some just want her because she's competent and pretty.  The last kidnaping was someone who wanted her to be their assistant and they took Callia because they decided she was her daughter instead of her sister's.  The one before that she broke a lot of kidnaping plots but he eventually snapped, took both her spouses hostage with Callia, and told her to come get her so they could be married.  Dawn brought his castle down around him to rescue everyone.  She blew a gasket over that."

Howard Stark shook his head.  "She's pretty and competent but I'd never stoop to kidnaping."

Tony looked at him.  "You weren't an evil bastard unless you were drinking, Dad."

"I wasn't then."

"Bullshit."

"Whatever as I've heard my granddaughter say.  The twins are here."

"They spend time with their sister every day."

"The younger set."

"They spend time with Callia often too."  He called Dawn to tell her that.  John ran in to  pounce him for a hug.  "Good pounce, little guy."  He smiled at him.  "What did you do today?"

"Sissy made *huge* flower," he said happily.  "It made Mommy sniffle but it was pretty!"

"It was very pretty.  I saw it on the news.  Did your mommy have a talk with your sister?"

"Yup.  And Daddy."  He smiled at Howard.  "Hi!"  He looked at Tony again.  "Liz nap?"

"Yes she is and you can't touch the thing on her head.  It's helping her breathe."

"I won't," he promised.  "I'll tell Sissy too."  He stared at Callia.  "Shoot, she nap."

"She'll get up soon.  Cal?" he called loudly, making her flinch and look around.  He pointed at John.

She smiled and waved, petting the cat on her.  "Hi, John, come cuddle?"  He ran over to cuddle her.  "Thanks.  I was watching Liz sleep all night since she doesn't breathe right."  She cuddled him and went back to sleep while he petted her hair and cooed at her.  Tony smiled, taking film for Maria and Tara.

Howard looked then at Tony.  "Are there plans in place?"

"They won't get together.  Callia considers them siblings too."

"Interesting."  He floated off to check on the other one, who was pouting in her corner.  "The other one's in the lab with my granddaughter."

Tara looked at him.  "Tony and Callia won't let him be hurt."  She looked at Melissa then at Beya.  "I was hoping I could drop her here for an hour while I get something from the coven, Beya."

"Sure, Tara.  Not a problem.  Liz is napping anyway."

She smiled.  "Thanks.  We need to have a talk about magical ethics so I need the storyboard."  She left, going to visit her mentor to rant about her daughter.  It was nice of Melissa to make a flower for Maria to be happy with.  Doing a fifty-foot one in downtown New York wasn't as nice.

"Sit," Beya ordered quietly.  "You can sit and stare at the corner."  She sniffled but nodded and did that.  She got comfortable on the pillow Beya handed her but stayed there.  "Good girl, Melissa.  I'm sure you'll learn."  Melissa looked up at her and nodded, still pouting.  "You're usually a very good girl, dear."  She patted her on the head and went back to her laundry.  She loved these new machines.  There was no rubbing on a board, no banging on a rock, not hand-wringing.  It was wonderful.

Howard looked at the child then at the nanny.  "We don't spank anymore?"

"It's not in favor among modern parents."

"It did my boy good."

"It taught him how to lie and be a drinking, loose bastard that slept with half of the women in that other city," she corrected, sounding very reasonable.  "That's not a good family man.  He's much more healthy and calm now."  Howard gaped.  She stared at him.  "I didn't have to whip my children in the least and they grew up strong, straight, and good."  Howard floated off to talk to Tony.  She smiled at the Melissa.  "We'll figure it out, Melissa."

"Yes, Beya."

***

Dawn smiled at the check-in desk person.  "Summers-Barton."

"I see your reservation here, ma'am."  She smiled.  "It's all set.  The room has a wonderful view and a hot tub.  The fireplace is set up but it is gas."  Clint nodded that was fine.  She ran the card and handed it back with a smile.  "Just the one night?"

"Hopefully.  Our building has a gas leak.  Fortunately a friend got our cat out since we weren't home when it happened."

"I'll put on that you may need a second night."  Something beeped.  "Did you recently marry?"

Dawn looked at the card.  "That is the old set."  She handed over her Black Visa card.  It was unlimited.  The check-in clerk ran that and it went through.  "I'll fix that name issue tomorrow at work."

"That's fine, ma'am."  She handed it back.  "Here's your key."  She handed that over.  "No bags?"

"I'll have to find something to wear tomorrow.  They won't let us in at all," she said.

"Hopefully it'll be fixed soon.  I know those are dangerous."  She smiled.  "Have a great evening."

"You as well."  Dawn led Clint upstairs, taking the new outfit out of her purse to put on in the bathroom and brush her hair.  She came out with it up in a french twist, but he took it down on her.  "You didn't like?"

"Looked a bit severe."

"I thought it'd be nicely off my neck."  She took a kiss and he smiled.  "We really do need clothes for tomorrow."

"Hopefully we can go home by breakfast.  The twins are pouty."

"I know."  She pulled him closer to kiss him again.  He moaned and grabbed onto her waist.  "Feed me before you debauch me?  We have *excellent* ratings on the soundproofing here."

He grinned.  "Good to know."  He took her out to the steak house.  The hostess was perky and nice.  They got a nice, private table.  Though she kept calling him 'Mr. Avenger sir'.  It was almost cute how much the poor college student aged woman blushed.

Dawn ordered something light, earning a long stare.  She smiled and ordered for him, which was a double meal.  "I'll have half of yours."  He grinned and let it stand.  They got wine with it and it was good.  The salads were nicely crunchy and not just lettuce.  The steaks were perfectly tender and just how they liked them.  Dawn fed him half of her dessert, making him moan at it.  She winked and smiled.

"You're taking advantage of my happy mood," he teased.

"I am and you're going to have a great happy mood later to share with me."  She ate a bite of the chiffon pie and then fed him the last two.  "You need calories."

"I'll have a huge breakfast."  He paid for dinner and they went back to the hotel.  Dawn slipped out of her jacket and put it over the back of a chair.  She undid the buttons on her loose blouse.  It got put over the chair too.  Then she stepped out of the skirt.  That left her in a lacy leotard-like body suit.  It was in cream lace and had a built-in bra.  The crotch had snaps.  The back dipped very low. It had a thong back and high cut sides.  Clint stared, undoing his collar so he could take off his shirt.  He tipped his head to the side, watching Dawn.  The stockings were clear.  The shoes were black.  He made 'turn around' motions so he could see it all.  "I like that."  She smiled.  He stripped off to his boxers and opened up the curtain.  They had a great view.  No balcony but a great window.  He pushed Dawn against it to kiss her.

"Someone might watch us," she said, teasing his chest hair.

"Good.  They need to know you're mine."  He took another kiss then stared at her.  "That bother you?"

She shook her head.  "As long as we don't get arrested for it or put on TMZ."

"Quit worrying about those sort, Dawn."  He kissed her again, running a hand into her hair.  She let him do whatever he wanted.  He pulled back, looking her over again.  "Shoes off."  She kicked them off and nudged them out of the way.  He took a fast kiss.  "Turn around.  Like you're leaning on the chair at home."  She shivered but turned, leaning on the glass.  He smiled, pulling a chair over.  He was going to be here for a while.

He unsnapped the crotch and smiled.  She was more than happy about this.  He leaned in to lick her.  She got pulled closer to his mouth but there was a bar to separate the windows she could lean on.  He spread her open with his fingers and had a fun time licking, sucking, tonguing, and opening her.  She was moaning hard and he kept going.  He wanted to see her come apart.  That way everyone who was watching would know she was his.

It was possessive but he was back in primal man mode.  Dawn needed to be seen as his.  He pushed his tongue into her just a bit farther, making her moan because his chin had hit her clit.  That was a sweet sound.  He liked that one.  He did it again and again until she was shaking and making pleading noises.  He licked one long stripe from her clit up and then back down so he could feast on that tender little nub.  She squealed, trying to brace on the glass.

He grinned, sucking harder.  She was shaking hard now.  Her legs were wobbling and her knees had to lock to keep her standing.  He took one last suck before moving to tease her hair then back down to tongue her open some more.  His tongue was a great weapon of mass sexual need.  He was getting hard from it and she was back to almost falling down.  She finally came and exhaled, panting a bit.  He smiled and nibbled on the tender skin.  "Good?"

"So damn good," she moaned.  "Clint?"

"I have you, Dawn."

"Can't I tease you?"

"No.  I'm going to ride you hard right here, then in the tub."  He pulled her closer again to go back to his playtime.  Somehow, even though he was concentrating on Dawn, he felt Natasha's shock as she watched them.  That was sweet.  He could definitely like that.  He was teasing the tip of his tongue against her opening, making her try to squeeze and catch it.  He slid in a finger, crooking it up just...so, making her yelp as he hit her g-spot.  "You know I'm always fantastic to you."

"You are," she panted.  "You're wonderful to me, but please, Clint?  I want more."

"I know.  You're getting more.  Usually you like oral sex until you can't see straight."

"Tonight I want invaded," she said, looking back at him.  "I need you."

He grinned.  "I need you too."  He stood up, taking off his boxers.  He slid into her and she whimpered, pushing back against him.  "One of those touch nights," he said, realizing what she needed.  She needed skin contact.  He had shown her how good skin spoiling was and that's what she needed and wanted tonight.  He sat down and pulled her into his lap, hands running from her breasts down to her clit and back up, teasing her, just taunting the spots that made her so happy.  She was leaned back against him, panting hard, doing most of the work by riding him slowly.  "Needed this?"

"Hell yes."

He kissed her.  "Less swearing until you're shaking and so needy you can only gasp my name," he said in her ear, getting an instant twitch of response.  His hands finally settled on her breasts, teasing her nipples, kneading a bit to stand them up.  That bodysuit had underwires, which were in his way.  He yanked it off her and tossed it behind him, going back to his touching and taunting.  She sped up, riding him harder, but he slowed her back down by thrusting up off-rhythm to make her change it.  She did for him but she was getting ready to blow again.

He kissed her neck and smiled.  "Lean forward."  He shifted the chair so she could reach the window.  "Grab the glass."  She did and he slowly slid out, stroking up her back, then slammed back in, making her hiccup.  He smiled and did it again and again, getting her hotter.  He stood them up, pushing her against the glass, holding her there while he rode her.  He couldn't get as deep but it was more than worth it to twitch her slight kink of being watched.

He braced his hands above her head on the glass, holding her hands hostage, letting his hips do all the work.  She was grinding back against him and it was good.  She was going to come soon.  The window was getting sweat-covered and steaming up where she was panting into it but that was fine.  Dawn finally came, jerking back against him.  That did it for him too.  He came hard, letting her hands go so he could hold her hips.  She tipped her head back, letting him kiss her.  "Thank you."

"You're not done, right?" she asked with a teasing smirk.  "Because I'm not yet."  She strolled over to the bed, stripping off the covers, bending and stretching for his pleasure.  She laid down on the bare sheet, spreading out for him to stare at.  "I think I have at least one more in me."

He licked his lips.  "Really?"  She smiled and nodded.  "I might like that.  It might take me a while though."

"If it bothers you, I can go...clean up."

"Don't you dare."  He laid down on top of her to kiss her, then slowly made his way down her body, nibbling the whole way down.  It left little red marks but he wanted others to *know* that Dawn was his.  Her legs shifted further out and he saw the gleaming bit of semen starting to drip out.  He slid two fingers into her, playing around in the messy area while he leaned down to lick her clit.  She thrust up with a gasp but he held her down to tease her until he could invade her again.  It was his second favorite thing to do to Dawn.  Thankfully, she loved the first and he got to enjoy it enough until he could get it back up.

This is what Dawn needed and deserved.  It was good for them both to have it.  Their other part would come back soon.  She needed them.

38: Good Nights To Be Old Ones

Some special good nights.

Clint and Dawn were on their third night in the hotel.  The gas leak was driving them nuts.  Thankfully, Dawn had found somewhere to get clothes for work.  He was kicked back on the bed, watching Dawn strip for him.  He felt the small tickle in his mind start and it was interesting.  The important one watching was getting hot and bothered too.  He could feel her.   He could feel Dawn.  Dawn was one hot sun against him.

Dawn suddenly turned around, kissing him, pulling him up and turning him around so his back was to the glass and she could stroke up his chest.  "I feel her too," she said quietly.

"She's watching us."

Dawn smiled.  "It's breaking your happy mood?"

"Not exactly."

Dawn leaned in and kissed him then bit his bottom lip, sucking on it to make it better.  He dove in for a better kiss, pulled her against his body by winding his hands into her hair.  The spark was still there, just changed some.  But Dawn, she had ideas.  He could almost hear her ideas.  He pulled back to smile.  "Is that a kinky thought?"

"Hmm."  She winked.  "Maybe."  She strolled over to the bed and draped herself across it, taking off the stockings to toss aside.  She started to tease herself, letting him watch her. He liked to watch her tease herself.  She was a bit dry after him being in her but she could pull up some hot fantasies to show him.  He blinked a few times.  She shrugged but smiled.  One of them had her and Natasha together and him invading with his fingers and cock while they played.  He shivered.  She sent over another one of him sweaty, like he had been working out, and she pounced him on the weight bench.

"I'm not that into my workout," he teased, but he was enjoying this attempt.

Her next one sent him rocking to his feet and coming over to kiss her.  So maybe he had a thing for saving Dawn.  "Dangerous territory, Princess."

She smiled.  "I can find a lot of those," she joked.

"You can and I'm very appreciative sometimes."  She laughed and kissed him.  The mental image of her in a bikini, knife strapped to her lower back, kicking ass while he came down to help her was a good one.  It tripped a lot of his triggers and Dawn was very hot when she was defending herself.  He inserted himself in that little fantasy and got to help with the last few, then she turned to take him on because she was a tiny bit lost in the fight.  He stopped the automatic attack and kissed her.

She kissed back and they could make out for a while.  He was still hard.  She was still needy but something was almost missing.  That spark that had made them so hot had cooled but not fully.  They laid there and made out for a while then she moaned, letting him work out the leg cramp she was starting.  Dawn panted through it.  He carefully worked the frozen muscle soft and pliable, then kissed her leg.  He looked up.  "We're trying too hard."

"We are."  She wiggled her way into his lap to kiss and cuddle him.  "Hot tub?"

"Hot tub sounds great."  He grinned.  They got it ready and climbed in, wincing at the heat.  "Put it up a bit high, Dawn."

She smiled.  "I want you limp and pliable."

"I'm more likely to go to sleep than to pounce you."

"I like sleeping next to you."  She cuddled beside him, his arm around her shoulders.  They both dozed a bit, because they were still tired after not sleeping last night.  Dawn woke up with a gasp because of a nightmare.  Which woke Clint and he had to help her calm down.  That was nice cuddling.  That got them out of the tub and dried off.  She was still twitchy though.  "We need to burn off some energy."

"I don't have that sort of energy," he joked.

She looked at him.  "I feel like I did after we found those poachers."

Clint blinked at that.  "Okay, why?" he asked.

"Well, that's what the nightmare was so maybe it carried over."  She looked out the window, closing the curtains.  "Maybe it's that there's a church right there."

"Churches don't bother you."

"Yeah but I can't have sex in front of them."  He laughed, pulling her closer again.  She slid into his lap, kissing him then wrapping herself around him to hold him.  "Something's wrong."

"We're working on fixing it," he promised.

She looked at him.  "We never get time to talk."

"We have time when the twins go down."

She poked him on the shoulder.  "Like in Bolivia."

"Oh, that time.  No, we don't take time for it."  He frowned.  They had been having a rough month then.  Natasha had all but disappeared on them for a week and a half.  She came back with five new stitches and a black eye.  He had put them in a remote cabin that took two days of hiking to get to.  They had supplies, they had locked themselves in, and they had stared at her until she had talked to them.  It had been comforting even though all that isolation drove Dawn nuts.  "We can do that."

"We can't.  I don't have two weeks I can spend locking us away.  Or a month."

"We have a way around that if we can borrow the cabin Xander has."

She looked at him.  "I can't be near where Buffy was, Clint."

"I'm pretty sure he has another one."

She rested against his shoulder.  "You think he'd let us borrow it?"

"I think he might if we ask."  He looked over her shoulder at the twinkling coming in.  "Ares," he said dryly.  "Not who we were thinking about."  Dawn laughed and kissed his throat.  "Is there a problem at a battle?"

"No.  Not really.  There's better places than Asgard to talk."

"That whole extra time thing was what might be needed.  We need to have a long talk with the other wife."

Ares quirked an eyebrow up.  "Why do you mortals make things so difficult?"

"Because she got panicky and cheated on us?" Dawn guessed.  Ares winced.  "Beyond that, I'm being a good girl."

"You definitely are," Ares complained.  He smirked.  "But you're my mother's favorite soap opera."  He snapped and stole them.   And their clothes.  They might want them sometime.  He disappeared with a cackle.  "You'll figure it out."

Dawn looked around.  It was a single, round room.  Fireplace.  No electronics.  Not cold so not Asgard.  Felt like Earth instead of Asgard.   She got up to look outside, blinking at all the trees.  "We're either somewhere like Romania again or....  I'm not sure if we're in our right timezone."

He came to look over her shoulder, blinking at the trees.  "I need my bow just in case."

She pointed at her bag.  "It's in there.  I always carry your spare."  He went to check it over.  Dawn frowned.  "I can feel Natasha."

"Yeah, me too."  They shared a look and got dressed, going to see where they were.  There had to be a village somewhere around there, right?  Well, no, apparently not.  "What is this place?" he asked.

"I think he put us in a sub-realm, or back in time, take your pick," Dawn said.

"I'm hoping for sub-realm.  I don't really want to do temporal things.  They tend to get screwy."

"Yeah, could be."  They found Natasha tied to a rock wearing a fetching outfit that reminded them of the painting of Andromeda.  She was swearing.  Dawn blinked a few times.  "You do look good in that.  Who are you supposed to be sacrificed to?"

"I do not know but get me free."

Dawn got one of the handcuffs free, letting her get the rest while Clint watched around them.  "This is not what we needed."

"No, it's not," Clint agreed.  "Though, if we can get the two weeks here to talk...."  He looked at Natasha, who huffed.  "Well?"

"I..."  She shook her head and walked off.

"I did not ask him to do this!" Dawn shouted after her.  "This was not my idea, Natasha.  Quit blaming me for everything."

"She did?"

"Yes.  Called it my demented fantasy.  My fantasy doesn't have her getting ready to be sacrificed."

"Mine either.  My nightmare, for both of you, but not my fantasy."  He walked her back to the tower.  No Natasha.  No tower.  He looked up then at her.  "Did we lose it?"

"No."  She concentrated and pulled them back to earth.  All three of them, and her bag with their things in it.  "Fuck."  He hugged her.  "I was in such a good mood."

He kissed her.  "So was I."  He cuddled her and it was nicer.  Better.  Calmer.  "She'll come back when she wants to.  When she's ready."

She nodded.  "I know.  This is us, and we need to be us."  She looked up at him.  "We need to be us and have us time and us sex and us cuddling."  He grinned.  "Though I'm going to tie her down and paddle her."

"I might like to watch that."  He kissed her and grinned.  "Get out of the clothes."

"You first," she teased, sitting on the bed.  She checked the phone on the table.  No missed calls, same date.  Two in the morning.  "It's two."

"Hmm."  He stretched up then slowly peeled up his t-shirt.  Dawn smiled, watching him.  "Want me to get fancy?"

"Up to you, Clint."

He smirked and dropped the pants, showing he had forgotten to put on his boxers.  Then they blinked and they were back at the window earlier that first night.  He pulled back from licking her.  "Dawn?"

"Not my doing."  She looked back at him.

He grinned.  "Any idea?"

She felt around, then shook her head.  "Nope but I just saw Hermes zip past."

He smiled at her blush.  "I'm sure he's seen naked women."  Dawn looked back at him.  Suddenly his phone went off.  "Damn it."

"If that's a battle, I'm going to blow you there on the field once it's done with," she said, giving him a kiss.  She answered it.  "Better be good."  She listened and blinked.  "What?"  She handed the phone to him.  "I'm hoping like hell that's a code."

"What?" he asked, listening.  "No, Maria, we didn't have anything that might've started to smoke.  Why?"  He frowned at her.  "We haven't been home since long before that started."

Dawn looked up.  "If that was someone's bright idea, all of our shit had better be in storage," she said quietly.  "Because if I have to shop again, you're all dead fucks."

Clint laughed.  "It is in storage.  The gym got set on fire."

"By...."

"Cranks."

"Like the ones that we drove off yesterday for picketing?"

"Yep."

"Huh.  How much damage?"

"A crapload."

Dawn considered it.  "So...  Well, Phil and Natasha's apartment were right above the gym."

"The time flip was her going back to save all our stuff with John."  He yawned.  "Fire marshal said that the building's nearly structurally unsound with the way they bombed the gym."  She winced.  "So yeah, we've got to move."

"Okay," she agreed.  "So we're going to my backup place."  He stared at her.  "I just set it up."

"Where?"

She smiled.  "It's not a bad apartment.  I haven't done anything in that identity.  You guys were going to help me make a few decisions about it."

"We forgot," he admitted.  "All our stuff is in storage at the temple."

"That's fine.  It'll all fit.  Which leaves a decision."

"That's up to her."

Dawn nodded.  "Then we can do that."  She took the phone.  "Tara, I'm moving us to our backup spot.  It's eight blocks from Stark to the south.  Do I need to set you guys up something?  That'll work then.  Let us know.  Yeah, I'll be at work tomorrow.  Thanks."  She hung up and kissed Clint.  "The keys are in my desk."

"We can pick them up tomorrow."  He kissed her, thinking about the block she mentioned.  "There's a few very older apartments there."

"They're in renewal and no, not one of those.  We have space above a shop."

"We do?"  He grinned.  "That's nice."

She smiled.  "We do and it's very nice."

"How nice?"

"Natasha would complain it was too nice."

"Hmm.  I will?"

"No, I think you'll like it."  She winked and kissed him.  "There's areas for you and her and your roof sitting needs have an entry from the stairs."

"Hmm."

"Our artwork is there.  The new photography stuff is there."  He smirked evilly.  That was Natasha's new hobby.  She teased his stomach.  "The twins and Sean have their rooms upstairs from ours."

"It's a loft?"

"Not exactly."  She smiled.  "You'll see."

"Take me to see it now?"

She smiled.  "Only if we get food.  I'm hungry."

"We can do that."  They got dressed and headed back to Stark, then a stop at their favorite all night chinese place.  Dawn let them into the building overtop of a shop that used to belong to a photographer.  "Do we...."

"Yeah, in case that's what our cover's going to be."

"Cool."  He took her up the six shallow stairs to the elevator, which had a fingerprint sensor on it.  "Only ones in the building?"

"Yes."  She smiled.  "Only ones in the building."  He grinned.  It had three buttons.  Ground, where they were, basement, where he wasn't sure he wanted to go, and apartment.  "Basement has the necessary things and spare work areas in case we need them, plus storage.  Emergency stairs are basically behind us," she said with a point over her left shoulder.  They got off on the apartment level and into a large open area.  Their artwork was on the walls.  There was no couch.

A tv was between two boring looking abstract pieces that they didn't really like but they couldn't sell because it was a duplicate of something in a museum.  It wouldn't distract them from any tv shows though so that was good.  The kitchen was large and open to the rest of the room over the counter.  The table was off to the side.  "It has leaves so it can expand."  Clint ran a hand over it.  The wood top and metal accents on the legs were pretty and went with the whole 'loft' thing.

She led him to the bottom areas.  "I had them specially put in.  Hers has more electrical outlets and all the outer walls were shielded with not only sonic resistant metal but also Jonathan's new foam stuff.  They're also in between each room down here.  There's just the foam upstairs."  She opened a door, letting him see the work area.  "This is yours.  It's got a nice work bench with a vise, it's got a spare weapons cabinet."  She pointed.  "It's got a safe in case you need it."  That got pointed at and it was open so he could set his own code.

The next room was clearly their bedroom.  It had five large closets, a huge master bed, a bathroom that had a good sized soaking tub and sinful shower with multiple heads.  The countertop in there was sturdy enough for Clint to sit on and had the same sort of first aid box setup their old one had.

There were *two* toilet areas, three sinks, and a makeup vanity setup in a corner.  With additional, special outlets.  He led the way to look in the closets.  They were large.  Slightly walk-in by about three steps.  They'd hold all his clothes in one.  All of Natasha's clothes in another.  Then Dawn would have a work clothes closet, a formal clothes closet, and a teasing clothes closet.  There was already a cat climbing system in a corner by the window.  So clearly the cat was expected to come.

They went to see Natasha's work area.  It was about the same as Clint's but had a few extra work spaces set up and more outlets.  Plus her chemicals for her photography hobby.  "Her stuff's down in the shop.  I left that up here when I was dropping stuff off."  She led him upstairs to the three bedrooms.  "The girls can pick a paint color they want.  So can Sean."

He looked.  Four doors.  One was a bathroom.  He grinned.  "No spare for the future hellion?"

She took him back down to a room behind the kitchen that was blank.  It had a small closet.  "I figure they can start here and by the time they're too big for this room, the twins might be in college."

"That's actually bigger than mine in my childhood home."

"Mine too."  She grinned and took a kiss.  "If we have two, there's a storage room.  Or we can add on another one."  She pointed.  "We have a huge open space there that has nothing in it."  It was like one wall was a blank area.  Nothing looked planned for it.  Nothing looked waiting to use.  Just a large, open area off in a corner.

"Huh."  He looked around.  "Furniture?"

"If we want to move it we can.  If we don't want to move it, we won't.  Though, the first thing that got furnished was the first aid box and then the kitchen.  No food, but dishes and stuff."

He looked in a cabinet.  "The bar's worthy of Stark's."

"I took his list."  She smiled.

"It's a good space.  Huge space."  He looked around.  "Expensive?"

"No.  Auction.  The former photographer was found dead in his office and his heirs had to sell it for the estate taxes.  I had a contractor from the same guys that did the tower look it over for me.  It had great bones.  They only had to knock up a few walls and put in the kitchen and bathrooms.  Very cheap over all."  She led him to the stairs, which were gotten to in that open area.  She took him up to the roof, which had a hunting blind set up for him with windows all around.  He had multiple areas to sit and hide or watch things.  He also had a feed from the security cameras up there.  He grinned at her for that.  "Sometimes you gotta have it."  She opened up what looked like the maintenance shed and pointed at the grill.  He laughed and hugged her.  She kissed him back.  "Feed me?"

"I'll gladly feed you."  He took her back downstairs to eat in the living room.  "We need another sectional like you had in the duplex."

"I remember where I got it and it was fairly cheap."  She smiled.  "The cat's going to go nuts."

"Yes, he will.  Litter boxes?"

"I planned for one by the stairs," she said with a point.  "Then one upstairs in the bathroom."

"Works for me."  He took a kiss and fed her some shrimp, then ate some of his own.  "They made those extra spicy."

"I don't mind."

"Your stomach?"

"It'll survive.  If I have to, Pepcid is now over the counter."  He grinned and fed her another bite.  They ate, snuggled in together, and overslept the alarms on their phones.  She got to work about twenty minutes late.  "Sorry, boss."

"Figured it was traffic from the hotel."

"No, not exactly."  Pepper laughed.  She leaned in.  "Anything new on who bombed the building's gym?"

"Ours?" she demanded.

"No, ours."

"I had not heard that.  JARVIS?"

"It appears to be the same group that tried to accost the family in the park that time.  The police are not amused," the AI told them.  "The damage was minimal but everyone has moved to their fall back positions due to what caused the damage."

"Including us," Dawn agreed.  Pepper stared at her.  She smiled.  "I was working on a new one."

"Uh-huh.  How far away is it?"

"Eight blocks."  She grinned.  "Clint's getting the twins there so they can paint their new rooms.  Sean too.  Then he's going furniture shopping because we only have our bed."  She grinned.

"How long has that been set up?" Pepper asked.

"Three and a half months.  The work just got done a little over a month ago."

"Huh."  She nodded.  "That's good to know."  Dawn grinned.  "Maria, Tara, and the twins?"

"I think they're somewhere outside the city right now but I'm not sure where or if that's permanent."

"Even better."  She looked her over.  "Did you get into your things?"

"No, there was a shop open on the way."  Pepper laughed.  "It's all in storage from what we're told."  She went back to her desk, finding Steve frowning.  "What?"

"Where were you guys?"

"Hotel.  Remember, gas leak."

"Oh, yeah.  You could've used one of the suites."

"Until a few hours after dinner, we were all in good, smutty moods, Steve.  Then something broke it and all that."  She waved a hand.  "But we have a place and it's good."

"It has good security?" he asked.

"Yes.  Including fingerprint sensors on the elevator.  Which all you Avengers are coded for."  He grinned.  "Not Fury but all you guys."

"Good."  He smiled.  "Any idea on Phil?"

"Not at the moment.  Haven't talked to him yet."

"At least he can easily move things."  He walked off happier to talk to Pepper.

Tony walked past reading something.  "Photography?"

"Nat's new hobby."

"Huh."  He nodded.  "Nice choice."

"Thanks, boss.  I'll get an alarm clock tonight for it."

"Might help but tomorrow's Saturday anyway," he quipped.

"Which means I'm due in to do the filing room."

He grimaced.  "Ow.  Your poor back."

"I have a man who gives *outstanding* backrubs," she quipped.

"I'm sure he does."  They shared a smirk.  "I'm putting JARVIS in as a security measure."

"He's already got a link and so does Atlantis so Sean can talk to the twins."

"Good!"  He went into the office, shutting the door.  "She'll be busy."

"She had an appointment at nine unless she rescheduled."

"Crap," Tony muttered.  "We can make it fast."  He leered at Pepper.

"No sex in the office, Tony.  You never know who might have it bugged."

"Pity."  He took a kiss.  "Want a shoulder rub?"

"That I would kiss you for again."  He took another kiss and moved behind her to work on her shoulders.  Steve was doing her hands.  She felt so spoiled.  "I feel like Dawn."

They grinned.  "You're the princess they think Dawn could turn into," Tony said in her ear.

She kissed him.  "I'm not a princess."

"Bullshit.  Princesses like shoes and so do you.  They like clothes and so do you.  They like sparkly jewelry and so do you."  He grinned.  "You get to introduce Callia to my mom's jewelry this year."

"She might like that."  She moaned as he hit the knot on her shoulder from sleeping funny.  "That's where I needed that."

"I know what you need.  My psychic Pepper sense is back on track today," he teased.

Outside, Dawn smiled at the person waiting.  "Stark's fixing the knot in her shoulder.   Last night was a bit stressful."  The woman smiled at her.  Callia came running up the hall, giving her a hug before bounding into the office.  The waiting woman blushed harder but it was clear that it wasn't sexual and that Callia had pounced her future baby brother to hug him.

"Hugs made Liz come out special and sweet so this one will too," she told Pepper then kissed the lump of future brother.  "Good morning, baby brother."  She gave him a slight pat and then ran off again.  "I have to do homework or Unclie Clint won't let me help the twins paint their rooms."

"Thank you," Tony called after her.  He kissed Pepper on the temple.  Steve kissed her on the cheek, and they let her do CEO things.

Dawn grinned at them.  "Nice work, guys."  They smirked back and went to help Callia catch up to her homework.

***

Dawn walked into the apartment carrying the struggling cat.  "Stop it, Loki."

"I couldn't catch him earlier," Clint said from their new large, medium brown microfiber sectional.  "Phil said to let him run around the temple for a bit.  The dogs thought he was cute and fun."

"I had Ruby bring him to me.  It stopped him being mean to the trainees."  She put him down next to the litter box.  "It's right there."  He ran off.  "Okay, find it later."  She came over to sit on Clint's lap, kissing him with a smile.

"I got us plenty of room to sit," he teased, running a hand up her back.

"You're always the most comfy seat in the house."  He grinned.  "Girls, did you get your rooms painted?"

"We did," Artemis said, smiling at them.

"Which one of us has to switch when the new baby comes?"

Dawn pointed.  "They're sleeping down here so I don't have to travel up and down the stairs to feed them.  Those are *your* rooms until you go to college.  Then the baby might be old enough to take over one of them."  The girls hugged them and babbled about their paint choices and sheet choices.  Artemis had gotten cartoon ones because they were fun.  Diana had gotten flowered ones because they were pretty.  Callia had helped them pick out soft ones instead of the cheaper ones.  Sean had painted his room and picked out his sheets but he was using them.  They had worn him out shopping.

"I got us groceries," Clint said.  She grinned at him.  "And a pizza."  She hugged him.  "We're starved but we saved you a few pieces."

"I got an alarm clock," Dawn said.

Clint grinned.  "I picked up ours."  He gave her a squeeze.  "All Nat's stuff is downstairs."

"That's fine.  If that's what she wanted."

"I didn't get a chance to ask her.  She's out of the city."

"Why is she out of the city?"

"No idea."  He took a kiss and put her beside him, making the twins laugh.  He got up and got her the rest of the pizza and a soda.  She gave him a great kiss and it was good.  It was like home was set back up again.  Once the twins were in bed, Sean was back in bed, and it was really dark, Clint was lounging on the sofa, with Dawn resting against his side.  He stroked over her back.  "She'll come back," he said quietly.  "She always comes back when things are unfinished."

She looked up at him.  "I don't want to make choices for her."

"We're not.  If we were, she'd be here."  Dawn nodded, resting her head on his shoulder again.  "Any idea how good our room's soundproofing is?" he asked casually.

"The kids have soundproofing on their rooms rated to anything below the smoke detector."  She smiled.  "So do we."

"So you can get pretty loud then?"

"We can go club in our bedroom and they're never hear a thing."

"I might like that.  I like dancing with you."  Dawn smiled, getting up and hauling him to their bedroom to put on some music and dance with her.  Dawn had some moves when she was club dancing and he had taught her others.  They made a good team, a great pair, and he was still in a snuggly mood instead of a sexy one.  He stared at her.  "Do a body scan?"

"It's too soon," she said.  "I wouldn't be able to tell."  She ran a hand up his chest and smiled.  "Besides, I'd rather wait for that full month."

"I don't want to get my hopes up either," he agreed quietly.  He kissed her and it was good.  Maybe he just needed comfort for now instead of heat and passion.  Sometimes a guy just wanted cuddled.  Maybe it had hit him when he had felt Nat watching but not wanting to participate.

She smiled at him.  "Remember, we have geek trapping plans for her."

He grinned.  "Yeah, we do.  She'll come back to us.  We're too damn good to her."

"We are."  She stroked over his cheek.  "Beyond that, not like she can fully block us out."

"True."  He relaxed again because he would always have a connection to Natasha.  She would eventually come back because they were unfinished business for her.  So he'd get to settle this some year.

"She won't take a year, Clint.  Especially if you're right about why you're so cuddly."

He looked at her.  "The link that would create could be part of what's scaring her."

"Do you want to wait then?"

"No.  I'm not scared of having such a tight link back to me.  I kinda like it."  He shrugged slightly and grinned.  "I'm not scared of people finding me through others like she was taught to be."

"We'll work on all our fears later," she decided.  He nodded that was good and pulled her closer to kiss her again.  "You, my love, are you going to have trouble during my second trimester if I'm only making you cuddly," she teased.

He smirked down at her.  "I'm pretty sure I can handle it, Dawn."  She yawned but kissed him.  "Bed.  Let's go to bed."  She nodded and they settled in on the nice, large king sized bed.  It didn't have the flair that their old bed had but it was comfortable.  "I had to get Sean a bed."

"I was thinking about giving him this one and pulling ours."

"No, we'll make this bed ours.  The bed there stays there in case we move back there."  She smiled and nodded, snuggling into his side, one hand over his waist.  He petted through her hair, trying hard not to think.  She started to hum mentally so he quit thinking and let himself sleep again.  He was tired.  They'd fix everything else tomorrow.  Including Natasha.

***

Dawn finally got finished with her closets, with the girls' help.  They were amused at how many clothes she had.  She smiled at them.  "Sometimes we have to do formal things, sometimes we have to do work things."  They giggled and went to get some ice cream and watch some teenager tv.  Dawn arranged her vanity area for ease of grabbing and it was better.  She strolled out when Clint came in reading a file.  "Tell me it's not a long term assignment?" she begged quietly.

He kissed her.  "It is and it's not totally undercover.  One of the new agents Phil poached said that their former agency is going to hell.  So I'm being placed so I can handle it with that one's team.  He's going to try to bring the rest of them in."

"So no contact at all?"

"Minimal but I'll be in the city for part of it."  He smiled.  "I'm still going to be watching over you and the kids."  He kissed her hard and fast.  "But it does mean I have to wear a suit."

"I never see you in a suit," she said with a grin, teasing his t-shirt.  "All the time?"

"Maybe.  Not sure yet."  He winked.  "I need a few more."

"I can help you.  How high up are you going?"

"Not up to Phil's standards but decent, above agent standards."

"I can help."  She winked and strolled off.  "Bedroom's all set up.  Even yours."

"Thanks."  He went to see what he had.  Dawn was staring in hers.  He looked.  "I haven't seen some of those.  Didn't I say not to get the red dress of doom?"

She smiled.  "I liked it."

"I liked you in it but you looked like an armed princess of purity in it."

She kissed him.  "I can fix it.  The tailor fixed all that over abundance of fabric."

"Huh."  He kissed her again.  "I have to go on it tomorrow."

"That's fine.  I can enjoy our night after we get you a few suits."  She smiled.  "Girls, get dressed."  They ran upstairs.  She moved closer, inhaling his breath before kissing him.  "If you get too injured I'm killing them all," she whispered.  "So you had better be extremely safe and tidy."

"I will be, Dawn.  Don't worry about it."

She poked him with a grin.  "Of course I am.  It's not like I can replace you."

"Yeah, I'd have to take out any Dawn imitators."  He winked and grinned at the girls.  "I've got a long term assignment.  Should be less than four months."

"So we should pretend we don't know you?" Artemis asked.

"After tomorrow.  Though you probably won't see me.  I'm working with people who are getting screwed by their agency."

"That stuff we talked about with their jobs?  It's now," Dawn said.  "So if he passes you on the street, just grin.  Don't post any pictures of him for a few weeks."  They nodded.  "We have to get him some suits tonight."  They grinned and helped him get what he'd need.  Dawn took them out to outfit him properly.  Be damned if he was going out in something less than bulletproof if she could arrange it.

Clint let her fuss.  It was how Dawn worked off stress.  She was handling all the mundane things for his upcoming mission very well.  Including getting him one of those little storage areas for his bow and arrows, plus extra weapons.  It was appreciated.  That night, he laid next to her, kissing and stroking her.  He didn't want to go four months without her but he was needed.  These people wouldn't have been watching the Avengers.  It was sweet and touching, and Dawn clung to him afterward.  Really, he was doing the same thing.  This was going to be his longest assignment since they had gotten together.  But it was critically necessary from what they had been told.

***

Dawn penned a meeting onto the Avengers schedule and signed her name to it digitally then sent it to them all.  She followed it up by walking over to the other tower and using her pass to get into the meeting area.  Everyone but Clint and Natasha were there.  She put down the folder, sliding it down to Steve.  "He got called on an undercover.  Probably about four months."  Bruce winced and hissed.

Steve looked at it.  It was slightly above his classification rating but he needed to know this time.  "I thought that was a movie."

"Real agency, poor movies," she said.

Tony leaned over to look, wincing.  "That's going to suck.  Why?"  Steve handed him that page.  He read it and called someone.  "Your whole lab is going on vacation today.  No matter what.  Everyone, out."  He hung up and called a few others.  He hesitated then called someone else.  "It's Stark, I'm calling in that favor.  Get out of your city.  Immediately."  He hung up.  He looked at her.  "Good job."

She nodded.  "The twins and Sean all know that they can't run up and hug him and things."

"I'll talk to Callia about that, in case they run into him," Tony agreed.  "You going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine."  She smiled.  "I've handled a few months without him before.  At least this time he's somewhere we can help if he needs it."

"Yeah, we can," Steve said.  He took the pages back and put the file back together, handing it back to her.  "We'll be listening."

She smiled.  "Natasha's somewhere in Eastern Europe.  If you need her for a battle, let me know and I'll summon her dumb ass."

Tony smiled.  "We might be training some future agents."

Dawn nodded.  "I've seen the new possible Avengers files.  If that wife beating mother fucker joins, he won't stay for long.  Hate to say it, because you guys might need him, but hell no.  Pepper doesn't need that, boss."

"Wife beater?" Steve asked.

"You haven't seen the ones that Fury pulled up," Stark sighed.  He called up the files.  "When he was putting things together, these files were part of it.  I pointed out the flaws, including that I'd never work with someone who got down with the wife beating."  Steve and Bruce looked them over.  "His wife, yes.  Him, no.  She won't come without him though.  Coulson tried."

Phil walked in, taking the file from Dawn.  "I did try, twice.  She's convinced he'll change."

"I'm convinced if he comes near me, Pepper, the twins, or Callia I'm going to beat him like someone should have," Dawn assured him.  "And I won't be nice.  He won't be using his hands to beat her again."

Phil smiled slightly.  "I'd like to see that."  She grinned.  He pulled up two other files.  "These are agents temporarily being assigned."

Tony looked them over.  "Nothing exceedingly special.  Did Fury want them killed?"

"Yeah, apparently," Dawn said, shutting one with a smirk.  She looked at Phil, who winced.  "I've been good.  He's still living."

"Yes he is.  We're all very proud of you," Bruce quipped.  She kissed him on the forehead.  "Thanks, Dawn."

"Welcome."  She strolled off.  "Figure it out and if I have to help fill in.  Clint did work on my marksmanship with a few weapons."  She went back to her desk.

"We might need her," Phil said, sitting down.  He reopened that file.  "I put in a protest about him being assigned here.  Fury apparently really wants him dead.  He's spoiling plans."

"I'd never work with someone who was that divisive," Steve said, closing it.  "We have enough problems without wanting to kill the new guy."

Phil smiled and opened files.  "The new ones that have been taking down Ten Rings.  Two are eligible for it.  Xander's also offered to help."  They read them over.  One got shut by Stark.  "Why?" he asked him.

"Past ties to the Russian mob."

"How do we know this?" Bruce asked.

"Because he tried to industrial espionage our associated lab over there for them."  He smirked.  "I was not happy, even if he was on assignment."

"He was," Phil agreed.  "Are you sure you can't work with him?"

"If I can beat him first.  He put three good, healthy, smart scientists, ones I would've made sure moved with my main lab when they switched back to us, in the ground and another one in a wheelchair.  It wasn't part of his job, wasn't part of his cover, wasn't necessary.  He decided to shoot up a lab before raiding the system.  He can stay over there."

"I'll make that note."  He put that into the file to have it researched.  "Any other qualms?"

"They seem like well rated fighters.  Do we need more of those?" Bruce asked.  "I realize we've got to temporarily replace Natasha until she shows back up and Clint while he's undercover."

"We can call on these ones if we need more backup.  They are not going to become Avengers but they are going to become a backup unit for higher level problems when you're in the field.  Ones not noted but behind the scenes."

"As long as that one stays there," Tony said firmly.

"Agreed."  Phil looked at him.  "Any suggestions you have?  They're the best I could find among other agencies."

"Yes."  He pulled up a folder on his tablet and let him have the tablet.  "Recruit them."

He read them over, nodding slowly.  "Highly rated Special Forces.  All on par with Sheppard's teams or Clay's team."  He kept going through them.  "A good mix of skills.  Past covert and undercover work.  All specialities covered."  He looked at him.  "For the backup teams?"

"Or as future agents," Tony said.

"May I?" Steve asked.  It got handed to him by Phil.  He read the dossiers over.  "Do we know anyone who personally knows them?  Files are one thing but personalities are another.  Even if we hardly ever work with them we don't want anyone toxic in SHIELD."

"I'm taking Dawn with me," Phil said.

"She's got a natural bullshit meter," Tony said.  "She's got a four-day weekend coming up but they were going to spend it in Vail."

"This will be a meeting in DC over next weekend."

"That's fine," Tony agreed.  "We don't have anything planned."

"We can camp so the twins and Sean can stay home," Bruce promised, leaning back.  "Do we need a team like that?"

"Yes," Steve said.  "We need someone behind us to open things up that we can't.  We've had Clay's team doing it a few times.  Sheppard's leant us a few too."

"That sort of mission.  I can understand that," Bruce agreed.  "They'd be moved to SHIELD?"

"Yes," Phil said.  "Fury's already agreed."  They all nodded at that.  "Any other requests, Stark, or anyone else?"

"We need someone else who can fix electronics.  Bruce is good and I'm great at it but if I'm injured you're screwed.  Bruce has no idea how to fix the suit if he has to.  McKay's good but he's off world right now working on the ZPM problem."

Bruce smiled.  "That is true.  I can barely get your suit to open if something happens.  I've went over the schematics with you and some of it's still beyond my understanding.  My area's not electronics."

"Which is what that one guy excelled in," Steve said, looking around.

"I wouldn't want him in SHIELD.  Joyce would kill him," Bruce said.

"If Pepper left her any," Steve agreed.  He leaned on the table.  "I'm a realistic guy.  We all have issues.  That's beyond PTSD or anything else any of us have."

Phil nodded.  "I agreed with that sentiment.  Fury didn't like it.  He thought he'd solve that problem that Stark noted.  If I can find someone....."

"Get Andrew and Jonathan to do it," Bruce said, looking at Tony.

"They're my backup for that," he agreed.  "I haven't introduced them to the suit's schematics but I have let them work on some of the weapons."

Phil considered it.  "They're mostly stable, being held there easily enough.  They're not sliding toward what Warren wanted and they're not going back to their evil overlord ways.  I can see them being backup."  He looked at them.  "Though I would not tell the Director yet."

"Not an issue," Tony said with a hand wave.  "JARVIS, send Andrew and Jonathan over."

"On their way, sir."

"Thank you."  He looked around the table.  "How long are we going to let Natasha run?"

"Until she wants to come back.  She left unfinished strings.  It won't take her that long," Phil said.  "At which time, I'm fairly certain Dawn can handle it."  They nodded.  Dawn was going to throw a fit at Natasha while she had her tied to the bed.  Andrew and Jonathan walked in.  "Boys."  They smiled.  He stared at them, reading them.  "In the future, it may be necessary that you will have to have access to the Iron Man schematics.  I need to know what you'd plan on doing with it."

"I'd never want the suit," Jonathan said.  "I'm not hero material, Phil."

"Me either, and MB would hate it," Andrew said.

"Not in the suit," Tony said.  "Helping me by being my backup for suit repairs on the go and things if it's critical.  Working more in-depth on the suit to make getting into it and out of it faster.  I'd never let you two in the suit, you couldn't handle the flight and fighting parts of it.  It'd take years of training."

They grinned at him.  "You mean we'd get to make new weapons and stuff?" Jonathan asked happily.

"That too, though I'd have right of refusal."

"Also, your future plans would be looked at for SHIELD's usage," Phil told them.  "We're thinking of having a few in lesser suits in about ten years.  About when Stark retires from being Iron Man."

They looked at each other then nodded.  "We have stuff for that," Andrew said.

Tony smiled.  "We're having a meeting later, boys."

"Cool."  Andrew grinned.  "I can hold off MB's crying jag that happens every day about four."

"It's hormones," Phil said dryly.  "Trust me.  Tara had them too."

"Also, as a note," Bruce said.  "Clint's on assignment."

They nodded.  "We'll watch out for Dawn," Jonathan said.

"And the twins," Andrew promised with a smile.  "Because I caught a boy flirting with Diana earlier.  The science club tour," he said when Tony gave him an odd look.  "About her age so I sent 2 at him to make sure he didn't do more than stammer and blush at her."

"That's fine," Tony said with a smile.  "Good idea too."  Andrew grinned.  "Okay, we'll meet after lunch."  He checked his phone.  "After 1.  I have to present Callia's testing assessments to the school board's home schooling person at twelve-thirty."  They nodded and ran off to gather things.  He looked at Phil.  "If something happens to me, McKay is their mentor and Callia's," he said quietly.  "She does not go anywhere near SHIELD."

"Yes he is.  He's about the only one that would understand her, Stark."  He grinned.  "Is she going to look good at that assessment?"

"She's almost fully three grades ahead outside of one class.  Dawn made her retake her biology section because she only got a B."

"She slacked hard on it," Bruce agreed, smiling slightly.  "We had a talk about how if she really wanted to do work with animals she'd need it."

"You guys are turning my little clone into a perfectionist," Tony said with an evil smirk.  "She'll never have any fun, Bruce."

"Bullshit," he shot back with an evil grin of his own.  "She'll have plenty of fun turning your suit into an animal hospital."

"She might, yeah.  I'd give her an older version to tinker with.  She has to pass advanced robotics and advanced circuit design first though."

"She's already in advanced circuit design," Steve reminded him.  "You've got her in robotics 1 now, Tony."

Tony frowned, looking that up.  "She is.  Huh.  Well, I learned hands-on.  She can start the hands-on stuff this summer."  They all nodded.  "I'll give her a Mark II suit to fiddle with."  He got into his automated storage and had one pulled out and disarmed.  "I'm taking the weapons off first."

"Thank you," Bruce said.  "Joyce was a bit worried that she's liking weapons."

"All geeks like futuristic weapons," Tony said dryly.  "She's a geek.  Specifically a Stark Geek and we're all about the weapons sometimes."

"Good point," Steve said.  "I've seen Howard tutoring her a few times in circuit design stuff."

"So have I and nearly had him banished again," Tony quipped.  "She's already had more hands-on training from my father than I did."  He sipped his water.  "Sitting in the corner and watching is not the same thing."

"No, it's not," Bruce agreed.  "Maybe our fathers will hold a failed parents meeting in Hell."

"Could be if we could banish mine," Tony said, sounding happier.  The meeting broke up and Phil went to send invitations to that talk he had planned.

***

Dawn walked into SHIELD and signed in, smiling at them.  "Gotta go talk to the head man," she complained.  "He's screwed up something that's impacting Stark."  She walked up there, smiling at her mother.  "Have a break, Mom."  She looked at Maria, freezing her in place.  She walked in and smiled at Fury.  "Director, has it been noted that any Avengers would be in contact with small children?  Like Callia Stark?"

"Why is that an issue?"

"Because you assigned the wife beating mother fucker to back them up."  He flinched.  She heard her mother jump too.  "Do we really need that sort of example near my nieces and nephew?  Or Pepper's daughter and future son?"

"I don't expect them to hang out that way, Summers."

"Yeah, and yet the Avengers are in Stark towers all the time.  Including where Callia can get used to them and ask them questions about what they do."

"What?  Think I'm a bad influence?" a male voice said from behind her.

She turned and smiled.  "Yes, I do."

He hit her.  She stared at him.  He smirked.  "Not so tough after all, girl?"

She walked closer and touched him, making him glow and scream.  She lifted him off the ground magically.  "Yes, thank you I am.  See, my mother raised me right.  Including to protect those who aren't yet strong enough to protect themselves from men like you.  Otherwise I'd be ripping apart your molecules right now."  She smiled sweetly.  "Do you still think you're better than me?"

"Put him down," Fury ordered.  "Now, Summers."  She dropped him, dusting her hands off.  "He may not be a good man but he is good at what he does and we need him on the Avengers."

"The world doesn't need that shown.  There's plenty of spousal abusers in the media already."  He moved toward her and she pulled a gun without looking, tucking it under his chin.  "I wouldn't try it.  I am an exceptional shot.  I was even before I had two marksmen train me."  She looked at him.  "I have absolutely no qualm about helping your wife find a better second husband, one who'll support her goals, her skills, and her abilities," she said quietly.  "You may be on the roster to be an Avenger, but you will not go near any of the children in the family.

"As *I* handle the PR for the Avengers usually, I'm not going to cover it up if someone realizes that you beat your wife.  I'll publically help her get away from you if they find out."  He tried to slap at her but she grazed him on the inside of his thigh.  "I can hit a gnat at twenty paces.  You're close enough I can do a vasectomy with this gun.  It's a small enough caliber to only take out the vas deferens and leave your pathetic balls there."  He shivered, backing up.

"You will not show your bad side to the press.  The Avengers don't need that and the kids who look up to the Avengers don't need to see your flaws.  And if I hear of you beating your wife again?  Well, I was trained to be an assassin.  I'm competent in weapons from minuscule, meaning I can brew *excellent* poisons, to the higher yield artillery pieces, which I can kinda tinker and create after helping Stark so many times.

"I *did* learn by watching him in case my niece needed my help some year."  She stared at him.  "We'd love to host your wife as an Avenger, but you're not really welcome by any of them.  The only one who might agree to work with you is Thor.  Then again, he keeps trying to reform his brother Loki into a useful citizen."  She stared at him.  "Am I clear?"  He nodded once.  "Good."  She put her gun up.

"How did you do that?"

"I'm fucking amazing in *many* ways," she promised.  "Even beyond my skills with magic, poisons, and weapons."  She smirked evilly.  "Do remember that.  There's a ton of little kids who look up to the Avengers.  Do you want them to be like you?"

"No," he ground out.

"Good.  Then we're agreed you're on call but not an active member?"

"Whatever."  He stomped off.

"Remember, I'm listening for your wife to need help," she said politely with a wave at the end.  She glared at Fury.  "So help me Goddess if you do that to us again I'm going to kill your ass," she complained quietly.  "Do those kids who look up to Steve and Stark need him too?  We can make do without him."

"He has skills you don't."

"I have skills you don't even know about," she said dryly.  "Beyond that, Xander's offered to fill in.  At least he's not a wife beater.  Kids can look up to him and point to him as a role model for the most part."

Fury grimaced.  "You learned over Coulson's shoulder?"

"Actually, I started learning poisons from Rosenburg's books at the temple.  I was looking up a healing spell and she had them mixed together so I had to figure it out.  Then I learned over Phil's shoulder."  She grinned.  "Why?"

"He wasn't supposed to share that."

She smiled.  "I'm already very good with herbal skills.  It's just another area."

He nodded.  "I'd like to know what you can do."

She laughed.  "You know that can that spilled smoke?"  He shivered.  She smiled.  "I'm the deadlier bitch of the women in the family.  Mostly because people keep trying to take what's mine."  She walked off, kissing and hugging her mother.  "Have a good day, Mom."  She unfroze Maria with a smile.  "That way you didn't have to get in the middle of that."  She went back to Stark.  Pepper was waiting, glaring.  "He was going to send the wife beater here."

"Hell no!" she snorted.

"I made my feelings known."

"Fury wants to know what you can do."

"I'm sure he does."

"You learned helping Stark?"

"Yeah!  He taught me chemistry too."  She smiled.  "I can learn very well by display, which he does *excellently*.  And then I got some downloaded."

"Oh, shit," she muttered.  "I forgot about that."

"You were supposed to.  I'm not like that but I'll be damned if they come near the kids."

"Agreed.  Try to calm down?  You scared your mother."

"Mom knows I'm a possessive bitch."  Pepper laughed, going back to her desk.  "Let me go nark on myself before she calls Tony to yell at him."

"Too late."

She rolled her eyes, going down to his lab.  "Yes, boss, I did learn some from watching you tinker and teaching me chemistry."

"Figured you did," he said dryly, turning to look at her.  "How much?"

She grinned.  "They added to it."

"They never taught you skills."

"Not physical skills.  I did learn information."

"Oh."  He suddenly got it and grinned.  "What else did they teach you?"

"Enough that people should really quit trying to take what's mine."  She grinned.  "But she can come on and he'll be an adjunct backup, like I am.  I did make a point that the thousands of kids that look up to you guys shouldn't look up to him."

"No, they shouldn't.  A bit bold.  Your mother said I warped you."

"Mom knows it wasn't you."

"Bruce thinks it was too."

She cackled.  "No, it wasn't you, boss.  Sorry.  Romania but not you."  He nodded that was reasonable.  "So, anyway."  She grinned.  "I'm going to go back to my nice, harmless, sweet, innocent persona now."

"Please do.  You're a bit scary."

"Now and then it's a great thing."  She strolled off to hug Bruce in his lab.  "Tell Mom I'm sorry I never told her what the Romanians did," she said in his ear, getting a nod and a hug back.  "But he won't come near the kids."

"Good."

"And if he touches her, I get to find him because I'm almost missing some hunting."  She went back to her desk.  She decided to look up when hunting season was locally.  Maybe in North Dakota too.  There was an emergency buck hunt there.  Interesting.

"Tony said you haven't used a bow since you got back from that road trip of yours," Pepper called.  "To quit looking up bow hunting."

Dawn leaned over to look at her.  "I used one last week, Pepper.  I stay in practice with *all* my weapons."  Pepper looked horrified.  "Did you think he wouldn't teach me his favorite weapon?"

"No, I figured he did."

"I brought in a twelve-point buck last year during bow season.  Donated it to a shelter though."

Pepper blinked a few times, typing that at Tony.  Who groaned.  "I did not know that shelters took deer meat."

"Yeah, some do.  Some food banks give it out too."  She smiled and got back to work.

"Which range are you practicing at?"

"No comment."

"Dawn?" she asked.  "Tony wants to know."

"I know that.  He doesn't need to get that nosy."

"Fine."  She sent that verbatim.  It'd mean Tony would go looking instead.  Dawn liked to hide things from everyone.  Tony finally found it.  "Is that gym in Brooklyn nice?" she asked.

"No range there but yes it is and it has a great yoga class," Dawn said.  "The twins and I go every Wednesday night."

Pepper typed that back.  It was driving Tony nuts.  He finally had to track her movements for a whole week.  It was her thing on Sunday.  Usually without Clint or Natasha when she had been there.  No twins, who were usually playing with Sean and Callia that day.  Dawn had been sneaky.

Phil walked up to her, staring at her.  "Is anyone else at the pagan gym you go to suitable for training?"

"They're mostly protectors of the various covens and ones who would protect during a demon thing."  She grinned at him.   "There's three teenagers coming up who really want to be hunters.  I've suggested they talk to Xander and asked him to show up to them.  He has and told them how it goes usually.  He hooked them in with Connor's group."

"Any who might become SHIELD agents?"

"Those three are thinking about it if they can go directly onto the hellmouth."

"Any others?"

"Two want to join the Stargate teams and are working toward that.  Ask the head trainer that.  I only see the people that're in there with me and I'm forbidden to recruit unless I'm asked."

"I can do that."  He stared at her.  "I want to know what you can really do."

"A woman has to have some secrets, Phil."

"You have hormones, that's usually enough for any man," he quipped back.  "Does Barton know?"

"That I kept up with my old training.  I've had him in there with me a few times.  I did learn how to fence."

Phil considered it.  "The records are sealed."

"Bull shit," she said quietly.  "You guys have so many leaks it's not funny.  Especially since Fury likes to use things like that to plan."

"Good point.  He'd have you on a team somehow."

"Yeah and I'm not into blackmail.  I like our present status quo."

"Agreed.  I, me personally, still want to know so I know when you can be of use."

"Why don't you let me make that call?"

"Because sometimes I see things that you don't get watching it.  Without them being in the battle you won't have any ears there to know when you're needed," he said.  "I will not tell a single person, Dawn.  Not even Xander if you don't want me to."

"Oh hell no!  I get to know too," Tony said, smirking at her as he walked up the hallway.  "You're learning what?"

"Fencing."

He stared at her.  "I want to know.  You know I can keep secrets."  Phil snorted.  "When I consider them important," he told him.  He looked at Dawn.  "So I know what I can let you do."

"I do pretty much half of everything administrative around here, boss."

"Beyond that.  Because your nieces need to train."

"Which I'm not doing for them.  I'm still in training.  Now, their next level of self-defense person is coming from there.  He starts next month.  He's worked with others who want to be hunters, and I introduced him to Faith and Kisana, the new one in Cleveland.  He tested them to see what a real slayer can do because he's got another future slayer trainee in there somewhere.  Callia's going to start going to him when her trainer said she's ready.  The twins are going to start training with him next month."

"Good," Tony and Phil agreed.

"But I want to meet him," Tony said.

"You were going to."  She smiled.  "He's not sweet, not nice, and he barks like Clay, but he's good."

"Good," Tony decided.  "Still, I want to know."  She huffed and pointed at her computer.  "I can give you work hours for training."

"I need to get this done.  It's for the meeting tomorrow.  We can go on Sunday, like usual."

"I can agree with that," Phil decided.  "We shouldn't have much between then and now.  The director is not happy however."

"Yay."  She shrugged.  "I don't want someone like that near my nieces or my nephew, or those kids who look up to you guys.  There's enough abusers in the press already."

"There are," Tony agreed.  "He called and I told him I agreed.  I didn't want him in the training area.  I didn't want him anywhere near the kids.  I didn't want him anywhere near my robots or JARVIS.  Were you going to rip him apart?"

"Probably not today.  I gave them a nudge."  She grinned.  "The things you learn in advanced physics at prep schools."

Tony looked at Phil.  "We have got to look at her school to see if they're making assassins too."

"They weren't that good," Phil said.  "They let her take pole dancing as a PE, Stark."

"It's still a great cardio workout," Dawn reminded him.  "It was that or spinning."

"I doubt you would've liked spinning," Tony agreed.  "They did?"

"They taught it there on-site so I took it off-site," she said.  "Still have the pole too."

Tony shook his head quickly.  "Okay then."

"I took belly dancing with her," Pepper called from her desk.

"I'm better at it now," Dawn quipped with a grin back at her then at the guys.  "I take that with the twins."

"Yes, because they need to be bigger teases than you are," Tony said sarcastically.

"We take yoga too, boss."

He shook his head.  "Callia's not allowed to take belly dancing, pole dancing, or anything that would make her a dick tease."

"She's not.  She is taking yoga with us soon though.  She has to be eight to join the class."

Tony whimpered.  "Why?"

"It's good for her.  She needs a PE."

Tony walked off to bang his head into a wall.

"Assessment turn ins are later," she reminded him with a smile and a wave.

Phil smirked ever so slightly.  "Nicely played," he said quietly.  "Sunday at what time?"

"Three."

"You only do a few hours?"

"No, before then I have three other classes you probably won't be interested in.  That's my range time."

"I want to see the others."  He walked off.  "Ten?"

"Nine," she sighed.

"Fine."  He smiled. "I'll treat to lunch."

"I bring some yogurt."  She shrugged and got back to work.  She pulled together Callia's assessments for Tony and handed them to him at noon so he could leave in time.  Callia went with him and was dressed very nicely.  Though she needed a bigger shirt.

***

Phil nodded at the trainer.  "I'm redoing her evaluations for field readiness," he said quietly.

"She told us."  He looked at him.  "You may not recruit."

"I'm not here for that.  If they want to talk about SHIELD, she can hand them my phone number."

"Good."  He pointed.  "She's in gymnastics."

"She is?"

"Slightly.  Just enough to be able to handle something better.  She didn't want to learn the rest."

"That doesn't surprise me."  He was led there and settled in to take notes on Dawn's progress.  She was embarrassed but she got over it when the coach barked at her.  They clearly understood what she was training for.  She wasn't very graceful at it.  It was building on what Natasha had taught her.  Flips, strength training in her arms, avoidance maneuvers using various moves.

She did vault and did it fairly well.  That took a lot of leg and arm strength so that was understandable.  She was also showing off according to the coach, who swatted her for it.  New students came in so Dawn toweled her face and chest off, moving them to another room.  The weight room.  He made notes on what she could lift and had her do some single, heavy lifts instead of training reps.  She more than made agent standards.

He let her go through her workout in private while he outlined some training she could use.  He'd talk to her about it later.  It would go well with her other skills.  Including a new martial arts form.  After her workout, she took a shower, did some time in the pool.  She didn't dive, which surprised him.  With her other training it might go well.  He made a note to ask about that.  They had diving boards and he didn't think Dawn was scared of heights.  If so, he'd help her with that.

After an hour of laps, she moved to the water aerobics class.  Which was goofy but she seemed to enjoy it.  Then it was a quick lunch of yogurt while she stretched.  He sat down across from her.  "Reach this way," he ordered.  She moaned and did, wincing some.  "Sore?"

"That stupid cramp came back.  I get them sometimes."

"Have you tried to up your protein and potassium levels?"

She shook her head.  "I tried to have a banana when they happened but it didn't help."

"Try orange juice.  You could use the fluid and calories anyway, Dawn."  She nodded she'd try that.  He helped her finish stretching.  "Now what?"

"Now, my next trainer's running late."  Someone cleared their throat so she groaned and rolled backwards and to her feet.  "You made it," she said with a smile.

"I did.  Did you beat him?"

"I threatened to rip his molecules apart.  I made sure he realized I could."

"Good."  He smiled.  "Agent Coulson, we're doing some spell practice with fighting spells."

"Excellent.  The only other witch I know and have worked with is a pacifist."

"I've met Tara.  She's a sweet girl and your kids are terrors in the making."

Phil nodded.  "They are four."  The trainer laughed and took them into a specially shielded basement area to go over the various shielding spells and then some new offensive ones from some very old, dusty books.  Dawn picked them up quickly enough and got assigned some homework to look them up and see if she could make them work better for her specific magic style.

Dawn took another shower because she was shaky.  He got her some juice.  She smiled in thanks and drank it, then ate her second yogurt before getting redressed and grabbing things for the range.  It was nearly three he realized.  She had spent over an hour at magic practice.  That was beyond what she usually did in the field.  Interesting.  "Do all classes if you can," he ordered quietly.

"I am.  I do each week to make sure I stay in practice."  She started with throwing knives.  She was mediocre but decent enough for it to be counted as a partial skill.  She moved to lesser handguns then up to her former class of hand cannons as he usually called them.  She was spot on.  She had gotten the same score as Natasha usually did.  He made that note and noted what else she had.  She was learning how to use a whip, working on her aim.  It was decent but not great.

"The Xander that's a dom taught me at that convention I went to so I could ask the potion making Xanders questions," she said with a grin.  "He's able to pop buttons."

"That's a very fine aim."  He watched her.  "Shift your weight to the right," he said.  She did and it helped.  He smiled and made that note for her.  "Bows?"

"I have one other before I go there."  She pulled out her old crossbow and put it aside.  Then she pulled out her laser pistol to work with.  The beam was off.  "I haven't let them look it over to see if it can be uncranked.  I've tinkered but I think it's some sort of focusing problem."

"Probably.  Have Stark look at it."  She nodded.  It got finished and put up.  Then her crossbow, which was spot on.  Then she pulled out a compound bow.  He watched.  She was excellent.  Clint had taught her well.  "Single string?"

"I can't get the range.  I can't compensate for the weighted pull difference."

"There's ways around that."  He looked at her.  "Can you use Barton's bow?"

"Yeah, I can.  That's how he taught me."

"Do you have his backup?"  She nodded, pulling it out of her bag.  "Try that.  Let me see if we can work up one for you.  I know his is set to his muscle mass."

"Yeah, I know."  She adjusted it down and then used it.  Still the bullseye but not as tightly grouped.  He made notes and had taken film with his phone.  She readjusted the bow for him and put it back, going back to hers.  She was closer on with it.  "I'm taking the girls and Sean deer hunting this year."

"Wonderful.  I'm sure they'll enjoy it."  He smiled at her grin.  She made a few very good shots before they were interrupted by someone who wanted to talk to Phil about SHIELD.  He patted Dawn on the arm, letting her practice while he talked to the young woman.

***

Phil Coulson walked into his director's office, putting down a list.  "That is the bottom level for Avengers training."

Fury read it.  "That's going to exclude most everyone."  He looked at him.  "That's higher than they had been."

"Testing it against the registered skills of the top special agents, the top five percent can attain those."

"That's who we'd want anyway," he agreed.  He read them over.  "Who did you test these on?"

"Dawn."  Fury glared at him.  "We all agreed that her post-roadtrip skills were the baseline for anyone who wanted to test to be on the team, sir.  Those are the formal standards I'm setting.  The others, including Captain Rogers, agreed that they're a good place to start from.  That plus a skill they can use on the team or to backup a current member."

"They're high but not unattainable," Fury decided, putting them down.   "How is she on the range?"

Phil smirked slightly.  "She's excellent, sir.  While they were gone they fixed her issues with needing a heavier gun so she can use most anything.  She's able to use a crossbow much better now.  She's been training for demon hunting."  Which wasn't really a lie but it was a partial omission.

"Sword?"

"Fencing at this time.  She could already behead.  She needed more refinement in her style."

"Anything else she's training in?"

"She's taken some limited tumbling classes to aid her hand-to-hand skills.  Mostly of the avoidance method.  I've suggested a different martial arts for her to train in to help with her current skills.  It's more weapons oriented anyway."

Fury nodded. "Is she going on the team?"

"No but she's got to protect the twins and Sean, plus Callia, Liz, and whatever they name Pepper's newest one.  If something were to happen she'd help her spouses.  She's also stated repeatedly that she's staying on-call for huge demon emergencies.  Which her skills are good for."

"Anyone at wherever she's training at that could join us?"

"A young woman earlier asked me questions for her brother.  He's training there but comes in after school on Thursday.  I've been invited to talk to him that day.  A few want to be demon hunters and talked to me about our mission and goals in Cleveland and LA.  I think two of them could pass the agent training to do that and the other one could help with Gunn's people better.  She's very administrative so she'd do it fairly well.  She might take a place on the team like Winifred used to."

"Good to know.  Do they just train future demon hunters?"

"It's members of varying pagan faiths, sir.  Some want to be able to protect themselves if something should happen.  Some of them want to protect their family in their native covens and groups.  Some have seen the demon menace for what it is and are interested in not being a victim.  Callia Stark's going to be getting a self-defense trainer from there in a few months."  Fury stared at him.  "She is still a pre-called slayer.  She has to train in case the unthinkable happens and she's called.  They introduced me to the other one that trains there.  She's a year younger than Callia but she's been training for about a year now.  Her mother's from the coven in Pennsylvania but her father has partial custody and he lives up here."

"Good to know.  So Summers could end up basically being her watcher."

"Yes, she could.  She's already going to be her assistant at Stark."

"Interesting.  Is Callia's training going all right?"

"So far her self-defense training has been very thorough in helping her get away and think about what she's doing.  He's emphasized problem solving through obstacle courses as well as the basics of how to protect one's self.  Stark tried the basic karate class and said it didn't fit what she'd need."

"No, I can agree with that.  She'll need to be able to think on her feet in the lab or if she's called."  He considered it.  "The other ones you're wanting to recruit?"  Phil pulled up their files to show him.  "Good qualifications."

"I went over them with Colonels Sheppard and Clay, sir.  They've both had their groups back us up for things and these ones do specialize in covert action so they could be the backup team that we need for more covert assignments."

"They can," he decided.  He handed the tablet back.  "Let me know how that turns out once they've signed on."

"I'm taking Summers with me.  She can tell them the real truth they'll want, and her BS meter is very finely tuned."

"She probably needed it at Stark."  He waved a hand.  "Go."  Phil nodded and left.  He pulled up the list of agent scores to compare them.  He had six that would qualify out of thirty-eight upper field agents.  Barton missed it on one level, Romanoff on another, but they were good in other ways.  So he'd make it a bit flexible.  He pushed those levels down a bit further.  That added in another two possibles.  Though the Avengers probably wouldn't accept that.  They didn't like them.

Then he posted them to get people interested in training for the future open spots.  Avengers would get worn out faster than regular agents.

***

Clint felt his arm be yanked on and followed willingly.  He knew someone had found out.  He looked at Benji, then around then back at him.  "Problems?"

"SHIELD?" he demanded quietly.  "Really?"

Clint nodded, leaning against the wall at his back.  "Your higher up talked to ours about some bad shit going on inside the agency and the possibility that you guys were going to be attacked."  Ethan stomped over.  "Sorry."

"I knew something wasn't right about you.  I thought it was all the computer stuff."

"I do have encyclopedic knowledge of most snipers, terrorist groups, and other evil shits.  It's part of my job for SHIELD."

"SHIELD?" Ethan complained.  "Like Avengers SHIELD?"

"Yeah."  He smirked and messed up his carefully combed hair.  "You might make that connection."  Ethan and Benji both stared.  He grinned.  "You guys needed someone to stop the BS that was going on.  I'm technically free outside Avengers battles and I have over fifteen years being a sniper and covert agent for them."  He shifted his weight some.  "You guys weren't supposed to find out.  The Secretary was going to tell you later on but then someone blew up part of the Kremlin so plans changed.  For all purposes, I'm here as an analyst unless you need me to pull sniper or surveillance duty."

Ethan moved closer.  "You looked awfully clueless."

Clint grinned.  "Fifteen years as a covert agent, Hunt.  Both inside and outside of terrorist groups.  I've trained rookies to do the same thing.  And yeah, I was using it to evaluate where your head was at so I could figure out a hierarchy of 'I can trust this one' because clearly someone inside IMF you can't."

"There's more than one," Benji said.  "How did you learn the computer skills?"

"Agent Romanoff taught me."  He grinned.  "We traded favors more than once.  She's better but we have most of the same files in our databases.  Including a more comprehensive one Stark put together because he hates not knowing who the threats around him are."

"So you're that archer guy," Ethan said, grinning slightly.  Clint grinned back and nodded.  "The redhead?"

"Agent Romanoff."

"Oh.  She's pretty."

"She is, and deadly," Clint assured him with a grin.  "And if you touch that spouse, I'll kill your ass."

Ethan laughed.  "Good!"  They walked off together.  "So you can really pull analyst duty?"

"And then some actually.  With all the press, I got moved to training so I've been doing it while training rookies."

"Huh," Benji said.  "Does Stark really have an AI?"

"Yup.  JARVIS is great.  We love the AI that runs everything.  He's kinda neat and he doesn't exactly hover but if you need something in an associated way he'll be there for you.  He hovers around the house because of Dawn."

"Dawn?" Ethan asked.

"The perky brunette PA Stark has?" Benji asked.  "The one in the chainmail?"

Clint smirked and nodded.  "Yeah, that's Dawn."  Ethan shuddered.  "She's a sweet girl.  Only mean when she has to be but she draws trouble like you do, Hunt."

"So, are you staying Brandt?"

"Yes.  We can use an excuse to keep the press away from me."  He slipped into his sunglasses and stared at him.  "You never want to have them stalk you.  I've seen deer that were less paranoid as they were being stalked than they make most of us on the team.  They annoy us constantly about Dawn's weight, Dawn's outfits, Dawn's job and if she does or doesn't help us during things.  When are we going to have kids."  He shook his head quickly.  "This is a really nice vacation from the press."

Benji looked at him oddly.  "You're a bit cranked.  You'll fit in well on our team."

Ethan nodded.  "Probably.  Got anything you haven't told me yet?"

Clint pulled out a little zip case and handed it over.  "The USB keys the Secretary was carrying when he was killed.  At least two others are mission profiles."

Ethan smirked, taking it to check them over.  "That could help.  Thanks."

"Welcome.  Beyond that, someone higher up is thinking about merging our agencies somehow."  He shrugged.  "Could be worse I guess."

"I'd never put on spandex and go into battle against aliens," Benji complained.

Clint smirked.  "Wasn't my first idea either but I needed to."

"Please don't encourage him to put on spandex," Ethan complained.  He shook his head quickly.  "How many reports have you sent in?"

"Three.  Fury is not amused.  Coulson's highly amused though," he said with a grin.

"Do we have codenames?" Benji asked.  "Always wanted one."

"I have not been using real names in case.  So far I've been calling you the British Dawn Prototype.  He's been called a Flying Squirrel a few times. And she's been called Weepy."  Ethan stopped to glare at him.  Clint smirked slightly.  "You are."  He walked off.  "C'mon, Rocky.  We have work to do, don't we?"

"I'm going to shoot you for that," Ethan said.

Clint smirked at him.  "You can try but Dawn might show up and kick your ass for me.  She's highly overprotective."

"Great," Ethan said dryly.  "Flying squirrel?  Seriously?"

Clint grinned.  "You earned it."

"Shut up."  This put a whole new spin on their current problem but at least he had competent backup.  Though, he knew hardly anything about SHIELD outside what had been put in the press.  He could see why good agents wanted to get away from the press stalking them.  He would too.  Benji had all sorts of questions but they'd have to wait until they were in private for them to come out.

***

Dawn was teasing herself one night and felt Clint open his bond to her.  She smiled and sent something at him, getting something happy back.  She checked, he was free.  The kids were asleep.  He gave her a placement picture so she appeared there, kissing him desperately.  He pulled her closer by winding his fingers into her hair.  "I missed you," he murmured.  "We have to be quiet."

"I'm all for the quiet."  She kissed him again, struggling with his pants and belt.  She finally got it undone and he got her clothes off her.  She let him brace against the desk in the crappy motel room, climbing on top of him.  He let out a tiny moan but sank into her and they kissed to muffle the noises they were making.  They were both in heat.  It had been two months and he was desperate for Dawn.  She was just as needy and desperate.  She came quickly and he moaned but she kept going for him.  He was getting a bit rough but it was necessary.  He had to have her, he had to come, he had to mark her as his again.  He finally came and helped her across to another one, making her pant against his shoulder.  They finally caught their breath and he kissed her.  She smiled.  "I missed you too," she said quietly.

He grinned.  "Of course you did.  Everything good?"

"I had to show my ass a bit.  They wanted to put a wife beater on the team."  Clint winced but he was pulling out of her.  She stayed wrapped around him to cuddle.  "I nearly ripped him apart.  That's how Phil found out about my training."

"Who else knows?"

"Just Phil.  He wrote out formal standards for team training."  She smiled.  "Fury lowered them some but they're mostly standing."

"Good."  He took another kiss, wincing when he heard someone moving next door.  She smiled and took one last kiss then grabbed her clothes so she could disappear.  He cleaned himself up and made sure she hadn't left anything on him.  He had needed that.  It was what was going to make things easier in the morning.

***

Tony and Pepper were going over some paperwork when Dawn came in.  Liz had gotten them up at dawn by walking of all things.  And promptly setting off her apnea alarm when the mask fell off.  Tony watched Dawn then smiled.  "Someone snuck away," he said quietly.

"I hope it doesn't hurt Clint's mission."

"It shouldn't.  She's always careful about that and so is he."  He grinned at her.  "She looks calmer than she has in weeks."

"A good man can do that to you."

"Aww, do I make you calmer?"

"No, you make me insane."  He laughed and patted her on the stomach.  The baby kicked him for waking it.  "Gee, thanks," she complained.

"Only the best for you, Pepper."

Callia ran in with her tablet.  "I got the list done!"  She put it on the desk and climbed up over her father to sit on the desk in front of them.  "There's three lists.  One's popular names, but I don't really *really* like them.  But they're popular.  There's a list of cute names, and a list of names I liked when I read them and looked them up."  She pulled up all three on virtual screens for them.

"So you have sixty names?" Pepper asked.  That was a very Tony thing to do.

"No, I put ten on each list and I figured we could make the twenty while I explained it.  Like a report?" she offered.  "They said I needed to do better on oral reports."

"Sure, that'll work," Tony agreed.

"The first one on the names I liked was Oliver.  I liked the kitty named it in the movie."  She grinned.  "There's not many of them now, outside of the _Harry Potter_ books."  She pointed at it and the entry came up.

"Oliver," Tony said, looking at Pepper.

"You don't like it?" Callia asked.

"I don't dislike it," Tony said.  "Let's make two sets of categories.  We'll break each one up into thirds.  Top third, bottom third, no real opinion on it at this time for the middle.  One set for first names and one for middle names."  He drew that up for them in new virtual screens.  He created different colored writing for him and Pepper.  "I think Oliver makes a pretty decent middle name."  He put it about sixty-five percent.  Pepper added to that.  "For a first name?"  He looked at Pepper.

"I've only known one Oliver and he was mean," she said.  She put it in the middle.  "I'll put it there because I haven't really thought about it."  Tony added his there too.  Callia presented names for them to rate.  Legolas got a veto by Tony, even as a middle name.  She was to save that for her aunt's future kid.  Clint would appreciate his kid being named after an archer and Dawn didn't really have a bias against elves.

"You could name him after the grandfather's," Howard said as he faded in.

"Not a chance," Tony said.

"Why?" Howard complained.

Callia looked at him.  "Because you were an asshole and the other one doesn't think that Pepper's like my mommy."  She turned back around.  "Does Daddy have any half-siblings from the bimbos?"

"No," Howard said firmly.

"Only one but she died in a car crash when I was ten," Tony told her.  "Who told you about that?"

"All the news thingies that Stepmommy Steve watches have him with different women who weren't Grandma.  Of course he had bimbos.  Good girls wouldn't go out with someone married."

"Very true," Pepper agreed, smiling at her.  Howard moaned and disappeared.

"At least he sounds like a ghosty now," Callia said with a grin for her father.

Who kissed her on the head.  "Behave."

"Fine.  Even though it's not fun."  She went back to her name lists.  She had a fourth lists, ones she *really* liked and wanted to use some day when she had babies.  She shyly pulled them up and told them that.  They liked those a lot more so she'd let Pepper have one or two for her baby brother.  Even though they didn't like Briar as a name for a boy.  The naming site had said it was.

Christopher Darren Oliver Stark was going to be a fine boy.   Tony hoped.

***

Dawn woke up feeling like shit.  Clint had been gone now for almost three months.  She hated to sleep alone.  And she felt like shit.  She got up anyway, got the twins up and dressed so they could go do lessons with Callia.  She got them to Stark in a cab, even though it was a pretty day for a walk.  They went to the gym while she went to the infirmary.  "Doc?"  Their other doctor, Dr. Shivs, came out of the office.  "I feel like shit."

"Okay," he said.  "What sort of shit?  Hungover?  Flu?"  She turned a bit green.  He considered it.  "Let's do three things.  One, have some water," he said, getting her a cold bottle of water from the mini fridge in the office.  "Second, let's take an EPT.  Third, log in so they don't wonder if you had a wreck?"

She logged in through her phone.  The water came back up quickly.  The EPT turned pink.  "Shit!" she said.

He winced.  "I take it you're seeing something you don't like?"

"With a spouse angsting on the run because she did something stupid and the other on long term assignment?  Maybe."  She came out and held it up.

"Yeah, that's a plus sign."  He grinned.  "Congratulations."

"So this is morning sickness?"

"No, I believe this is the flu."  He smiled.  "You have an OB chosen?"

"Yup."

"Good.  Call, make an appointment."

She nodded.  "Will.  Anti-flu?"

"No," he said with a grin.  "There's a whole list of things you can't take."

"Great."  She walked off, going up to her desk.  She made an appointment in the elevator.  The nurse was very cheerful to hear from her.  She sat down to sip her water while she worked.  First, she wrote her trainers.  They had to know.  It might not be possible for her to keep doing everything she usually did on training days.  Secondly, she thought about writing Clint, but he was really busy.  She thought about calling Natasha, but she was still being a frigid bitch about everything.  She thought about telling her mother but she'd start to sob.  Dawn looked at the water then around.  "Fuck!" she said loudly.

"Did you hurt yourself?" JARVIS asked.

"No, just venting," she said dryly.  "Thanks, JARVIS."

"Please do watch your blood pressure."

She looked at the nearest speaker.  "It's not time to worry about that yet and mine's usually okay.  Thanks though.  It's good that someone's going to nag me the way I do others."

"I believe that may be a foregone conclusion," the AI said dryly.  "Including your spouse."

"He's on assignment.  Probably for at least another month."

"We'll figure out some way for you two to talk, Dawn."

"Thanks, JARVIS.  I have to tell Phil."  He came off the elevator looking concerned.  "What?  Already?"

"You yelled a swear word like it was important?"

She nodded.  "I'm only on for firing duties as of today."

He blinked a few times.  "Really?"  She nodded once and sipped some water.  "Early start to that problem."

"Shivs thought it might be the flu.  I have an appointment tomorrow at 2."  She made note of it on the schedule.  She looked at him.  "So I can shoot, but I can't get into fist fights."

"Agreed."  He hugged her.  "It'll be fine.  Find a quiet moment to talk to Barton."  She nodded.  He went to his temporary/stolen office to get comfortable and smug.  Dawn would do fine and he'd help by fussing over her until Barton got off assignment.  Though he did let it slip to Xander.

Xander looked up and grinned at John.  "We're going to have someone new to spoil sometime soon."

"Pepper's due in a few months."

"Not her."

"Really?" he asked, smiling at Xander.  Xander nodded.  "Huh."  He stuffed his mouth before he burst out in laughter.  Dawn was going to be the world's fussiest mother.

***

Tony looked up at the venting going on that JARVIS was clearly paying attention to the next morning.  "JARVIS, why is Dawn venting?"

"She has the flu, sir."

"Is that all?"

"No but that's what's making her feel miserable at this moment."

"So she's missing her spouses again?" he guessed.

"She needs to talk to at least one of them and cannot due to their current locations, which is why she's venting."

"Why do they *need* to talk?"

"Because soon it will not be the flu."

"Ah!"  He nodded.  "Great news.  She's not allowed at any battle anytime in the near future."

"She's restricted herself to firing positions only, sir."

"I might accept that but not likely."

"I do believe she'd argue with you."

"Probably.  She does like that.  Tell her to quit venting and just call."

"He's busy," the AI said.  "Importantly busy."

"Charming."  He got up to go stop her.  It was probably not setting a good example for the kids.  He found her in the storage closet.  "No kids today?" he asked.

"Helping Mom clean up the house.  The twins volunteered and Callia thought it'd be a great thing too because they all like helping Grandma.  They even got Sean into it to help lift and tote things."  She sipped her water.

He grinned.  "Ginger ale, Dawn."

"Still the flu, boss."

"Yeah," he snorted.  "Pepper had morning sickness from the middle of her first month until her fifth."

"Wonderful."  She leaned against a wall.  "I need to beat one of them and get the other one free for a few hours."

"Which you can't do," he quipped.  "C'mon.  Go have a girl talk with Pepper so she can horrify you with tales of hemorrhoids and all that great stuff.  We can even let Callia start a new list."

"He might be a junior."  She trudged off.  "Going to see Pepper."

"Tell your mother too."

"Mom's squeal will alert the press.  That's not how I want them to find out, Tony."

"Yeah, me either."  He closed the closet door and went back to his lab to cackle.

***

Clint looked at the chat window that popped up.  He was seriously in the middle of something so the 'did you ever think being called a mother fucker was a good thing' did not amuse him.  He shut it down after answering back something rude.  Six hours later, when he wasn't in the middle of something and casually working on something he got another strange text from the same ID.  'How good is your counting?'  He glared at it.  Then he typed in 'my counting is great.  Why?'

//Can you count all the way to nine?//

//Of course I can.  Who the hell are you?//

//You know who I am.  You know me VERY well.  Which is also why you get to now call yourself a mother fucker, because you will be when you get home.//

Clint paused.  That was pretty specific.  //D?//

//How'd you know?//  Yeah, he could hear the sarcasm.

//Kinda in the middle of something.//

//So, you can count to 9?//

"You know I can," he muttered.  "What is it..."  The two clues slammed together in his tired brain.  //You're what?//

//I hate this 'flu' thing.  I'll let you get back to work.  I'm going to share with N later.  Bye!//

Clint glared at the 'anonymous_wife has signed off' message.  "Fuck, this is not the time," he muttered.

"Who was it?" his contact asked.

"Someone I used to know.  Sharing odd news in her life."  He cleared off that history and closed the window.  This needed to end tomorrow.  It really did.  Before Dawn went to find Natasha and have a fight with her.

***

It took Dawn nearly two weeks to find Natasha, and found her in a bad position.  She gathered what she'd need, including body armor, and comfortable clothes.  She sent herself over there, shooting the two people who had her hostage.  "You're not working, right?" she asked.

"I was not.  Why are you here, Dawn?"

"Shut the fuck up and let's finish this rescue bullshit," she ordered.  Natasha glared.  "Yay!  Not in the mood.  It's this or I'm going to puke on you."  She got her handcuffs undone and helped her up.  "C'mon."

"I'm actually working toward something," Natasha noted.

Dawn turned and glared.  "No, you're not.  We're going to have a girl talk."  Natasha growled and tried to slap her.  Dawn caught her hand.  "That was very stupid."  She stared at her.  "Let's.  Go."  She took her by force to a hotel room and slammed her into a wall.  "Did you think we wanted you to die?"

"I'm fine!"

"Yeah, sure you are.  That's why you have 164 new stitches after a bar fight with some retired spies, which you won until they drugged you and stabbed you a few times."

"How did you hear about that?"

"Vessily told me.  In fact he bragged *hard* about it."  Natasha was glaring again.  "Now, are you done with this bullshit?  Because I could use my wife back, Clint could use some backup, and you're here playing fuck off reindeer games.  Because if you're not done yet, then I've got to go help him myself and he doesn't want that to happen right now."  Natasha attacked.  Dawn blocked it and slammed her against the wall magically, holding her there.  "I'm sorry, I'm forbidden to spar for the next seven months."  Natasha gaped, staring at her.

"Yeah, pregnant, and you just tried to hit me on the stomach.  Thankfully I have on body armor."  She stared at her.  "You think you're done now?  You're depressed, you're bordering on going out in a bang on purpose, and you're leaving Clint too exposed so he's nearly dying.  I didn't want to sneak in to help him last night but I had to.  None of the ones working with him will remember that but I did have to do a shitload of his stitches for him.  And then killed two others."  She stared her down, moving closer.  "Are.  You.  Done.  Yet?"

"I was helping free some people the Russian mob have hostage when they captured me."

"Then let's blow their asses up and get back to New York."

"You're taking me back?"

"No, we have some talking to do before then, but you have a room in the house."  She stared at her.  "The hormones aren't making me any more forgiving than they did before, Nat.  As a matter of fact, they're turning me into a raging, psychotic bitch now and then.  Especially when I spend all day puking my damn guts up.  Beyond that, I could actually use my stupid ass wife there to help me with things, like talking me down from stabbing someone last night when they tried to break in."

"Who did that?"

"That Brit Para you like to tease, Barney.  I apologized and told him you weren't home."  She stared at her.  "Now, are you done so we can act like adults?  Because frankly, I'm more worried that I'm not going to be able to protect myself and the twins or Sean soon.  The person Fury picked to temporarily replace you is a woose.  I've ended up in three battles recently firing from Clint's usual location, using enhanced rounds no less, and I don't really want to have another gunshot wound this month."

"You have what?  Let me go!"

"Shut up!"  She stared at her.  "Unlike your stitches, mine are clean."  She stared at her.  "Are you done yet?"

"I need to free them."

"I'll help you do that tonight."

"They've moved them.  I was trying to find where when I got captured."

She sighed.  She looked down then at her wife again.  "Who have you asked?"

"I was scouting."

"You have a better information network than the Mossad, Nat.  You can probably find out within hours.  Then we can free them, blow them up, and go home."

"I...."

Dawn held up a hand.  "Fine, whatever.  I'll go help Clint out.  You do your shit and show up whenever you're fucking ready.  I'll keep your shit in your room until then."  She left, the magic releasing Natasha once she was gone.

Natasha looked around the room.  It wasn't her hotel room.  It had her things in it.  Dawn had planned that.  She calmed herself down and nudged open the bond for the first time in nearly four months.  Clint was in imminent danger and had it blocked off.  She concentrated.  He wasn't nearby.  He was in New York it felt like.  No, there was Dawn.  The other Avengers.  The other guys weren't happy but yay.  Dawn had a very large machine gun.  She was using it well too.  She winced at the new graze she got but Clint was in worse shape.  She heard Steve's prepared 'we're taking these people into SHIELD custody' speech and then they evacuated the good guys, who were supposedly the villains anyway.  Clint was snarling at Dawn, who stomped off again.  They needed to do something about those hormones.

She found her phone and started to call around to see where those innocents had been moved.  Then she could go home and get into a screaming match with her spouses.

***

Dawn watched Clint's wounds be stitched up.  "Dawn," Clint said once he was done.

"Shut the fuck up," she said quietly, staring at him.  "I tried to get someone else.  She's borderline losing it."

"She is?"

"164 new stitches because she won the bar fight against the retired spies."

Clint winced.  "Damn."

"Yeah, so ...."  She waved a hand.  "Whatever."  She hopped off the bed and started to move but he pulled her back.  She gave a pointed look at the other area with the rest of his present 'team'.  He shrugged and held her, letting her rest against him.  "Can't we just undo that shit of hers?" she muttered.

"If I could, I would, but I wouldn't give up the rest that we have for it," he said quietly.  She looked up at him.  "I wouldn't."  She smiled slightly.  "You are not to do that though. I'm debating if I should start screaming or drinking."

"Not like it was the first one.  We're down to a few wooses who can't hit robots or me doing it from your usual spot with a gun."  He winced.  "So, whatever.  I'm wearing body armor.  I always do."

"I noticed."

"No, I mean all the time.  By the way, stabbed Nat's friend the Para."

"Great.  Why?"

"He was breaking in."

"Even better!  I'll go do it next."  He kissed her and she smiled.  "Go rest.  We're going to yell at you later."

"Bite me."  She kissed him and stomped off, going up to her desk to check in then home.  She was exhausted anyway.  Steve was looking anxious.  "We're all fine."

"You're not fine and you're not to be that close."  He stared at her.  "You're endangering your own life and ....that one's."

She snorted.  "Did you have backup?"

"No."

"Then shut up!" she shouted, making him flinch.  "I do what I have to do, the same as you do what you have to do.  At least I'm smart enough to wear body armor."  He backed down.  "If we had *real* backup, I wouldn't have had to be there."

"You ran off the last one," Tony quipped as he walked around them.

"The idiot appeared drunk for a battle.  Hell yes I ran his ass off!  Was he trying to get dead?"  She looked at Steve again.  "If you don't like it, find other backup for the next six months.  Because right now, I have a headache, I'm achy, my magic is flaring oddly, and I'm still nauseous.  I haven't kept food down in three goddamn days, Steve.  I don't rightly care."  She stomped off.  She had to come back to get her phone then stomped off again.  "Now I know how single mothers feel!" she said, slapping the button to the elevator.

Tony blinked a few times.  "She's been holding that in for over a month now."

Steve glared at him.  "We can't let her risk herself."

"I'm not.  She's supposed to be out of harm's way doing the sniper duty.  This time that wasn't possible so she got the biggest gun she could and used it.  We needed the backup.  We didn't have it, but we needed it.  Coulson and Xander are off helping with whatever emergency they found on the west coast.  We had no choice and we were all guarding her.  She took the most protected position she could."

Clint came off the elevator.  "That was protected?  I could've hit them from across the street for you."

"She's not using your bow.  She's using a gun.  Beyond that, we were too far for you to use a bow.  She might've used magic but it's flaring due to her not being able to keep anything down."

Clint winced.  "She did that when she had the flu once."

"She's doing it again and she just said it's been three days," Tony told him.

"Yeah, that usually happens after two."  He concentrated.  She was miserable.  "I'm nearly done."

"Good!"  Tony clapped him on the injured arm, making him wince and tense up.  "Because she's just announced she feels like a single mother."  He walked off.  "I need a drink.  Rogers, find us better backup please."

"I'll try."  He rubbed his forehead, looking at Clint.  "Did she tell you there's been at least three attempts to get her recently?" he asked quietly.

"She mentioned one.  Who wasn't going to try to hurt her probably."

"No, he was going to capture her.  We've had a few of those.  We've had a few that decided that you two weren't around so she was vulnerable and hated for making you two soft and squishy to quote one who was dying in the parking garage here.  Which, Callia ended up seeing because Dawn was getting her from gymnastics when they were attacked."

"Where's Nat?  She hasn't reappeared?"

"No.  Not that we've seen.  We know Dawn went to do something earlier somewhere else.  Not sure beyond that."  He saw Bruce.  "Dawn went home."

"She shouldn't be alone.  She might get attacked again."

"Happy would've driven her," Steve said.  "He's done it a few times when she got too tired."

"Why is she so tired and sick?" Clint asked.

"Because someone dosed her again," Bruce said bluntly.  "Not sure when but it was recent enough.  We think it's one kid but we're not sure.  All we know is that her magic is off because she can't eat.  Her energy is down because she can't eat.  Her temper is up because she can't sleep.  How close are you to being done or can you somehow mend a fence with Natasha?  Even temporarily until you're able to talk things out?"

"I'm within weeks."  He thought at Natasha, who was open for a change.  He asked her where she was.  She spat at him.  He sighed and pushed harder, pointing out that Dawn was being attacked because they weren't there right now and she was vulnerable.  Natasha cut him off.  "She's not in the mood to hear it."  He thought at Dawn.  Who was asleep and on her way to New Jersey.  "When did we move again?"

"You haven't."

"Whoever's driving her is taking her to the bridge to Jersey City."  Steve called that in.  SHIELD had the car stopped and her rescued.  The driver... someone who had been writing to her for years.  The agents that had rescued her brought her to the infirmary for observation.  Clint went down to check on her then on his current 'team'.  They were all glaring.  He shrugged.  "I was not informed of that."

"SHIELD?" one demanded.

Clint stared at her then smirked.  "Yeah, why?"  They gaped.  He shrugged.  "Not my call, people."  He walked off again.  He was not in the mood for this.  Maybe some gym time.  He ran into Callia, picking her up to hug her.  "Are you okay?"

"No."  She snorted, looking at him.  "Aren't you done yet?"

"Nearly."

"Damn it."

"Quit swearing."  He put her down, staring down at her.  "Why are you wandering?"

"Because Auntie Dawn feels miserable and I was going to offer her a hug since she hasn't gotten any recently."  She went to the infirmary and got around the doctors no matter how much they complained about it.  She snuggled into Dawn's side, giving her the cuddle she needed.  "You're here with me and it's all good."  Dawn winced but cuddled her back.  "I may not be the unclie or the auntie but I still cuddle the best ever for my age group."  Dawn relaxed and let others handle it so she could rest.  She snuggled in and let the nurse put a sheet over them.  "Why can't she eat?" she asked the nurse.

"Because pregnant women get something called morning sickness that makes them feel like they have the flu.  It means she vomits a lot."

"Isn't there an IV for that?"

"Yes there is."  She looked at the doctor, who nodded and pointed.  "We have her on one, Callia."

"Good!"  She wiggled a bit.  "There, nearly as good as a kitty cat or a puppy."  Dawn shifted to curl around her, which ripped out the IV.  They got it restarted on her hand and moved the pole.  It came out again.  They'd leave it out for a bit once the new bleeding spot was bandaged.

Callia patted her and it was okay.  It'd be all okay soon.

***

Natasha got back to New York and promptly ended up in SHIELD custody.  She stared at the man who came into the room she had been put in, not an interrogation room but an office/meeting room.  "I have something I need to be doing.  You could have asked politely."

"You've ignored all the others," Fury said.  "Are you done?"

"No."

"You sure?"

"Yes."  She stared at him.  "Why are you trying to get Barton's child killed?"  He actually flinched.  "We will work out our own things and the problems on the team.  For now, please remove yourself from our marital spat."

"I was going to offer to send you on a mission with Barton."

"I believe we both need to be home at the moment.  Especially since our wife is back in the infirmary for a poisoning attempt."  He stepped back.  "Considering I couldn't even move around in Russia without being noted, I doubt there are any missions anytime in the near future."

"We can reevaluate you."

She quirked an eyebrow up.  "Which will put me back with the trainees, which I am not suited for.  I will find a position and fill it.  We still have need of guards at Stark apparently."

"Stark's been babying her."

"Good.  Though that's not his job.  He has one to do that for."  She got up and strolled around him.  "Let me go check on her so we can hold an adult conversation that does not require screaming."  She walked off.

"I can have your authority revoked," Fury called after her.

"That would give me much more time to stalk my wife and make sure no one else takes that child.  Which you have failed at repeatedly."

Fury grimaced.  He hated having married agents under him.

***

Dawn woke up and ran to get sick.  This was a really bad habit.  She didn't like this new habit of hers.  Especially when the heaving ripped up her throat and she started to see traces of blood.  She got up and took the medicine her OB had given her.  It wasn't helping but it had only been a week.  She turned around and found someone in the living room.  "I see you did find us."

"It took me four hours to find out where you had moved everyone to after that attack."  She stared at her.  "You sound hoarse."

"I've thrown up every day for the last week and a half, Natasha.  I think that's a given."  She sipped more apple juice.  She frowned, looking at it.  "You're not juice."

Asclepias appeared, staring at her.  "It is juice."

She let him sniff it.  "What sort of apple is that?"

He sniffed and shook his head.  "Never mind, that's not apple juice."  He cured the light poisoning.  "Alexander needs to take you into protective custody."

"Yeah, well, I gotta work to pay the bills," she said dryly.  She looked in the fridge then at him.  "Got any good, surefire cures for morning sickness that don't require me to buy herbs today?"

He smiled.  "Not really."  He scanned her.  "Twins."  He smiled.

"Don't really run in the family.  They ran in Hylal's but not ours."

"I can see the end of the fertility drugs someone got you with again."  She pouted.  "It'll be handled, Dawn.  Calm down."

"I am calm.  I just can't keep anything down and it's making me a horrible person to be around."

"All pregnant women have mood swings.  You have powers that are pushing at you."  She stared at him.  "Not ours."

"The PTB."  He nodded.  "Can I kill them?"

"No.  Unfortunately not."  He smiled and handed her a shot glass of apple juice.  "Try that."  She did and winced as the warmth went through her.  "It should be enough to help cure some of the associated problems."  He took the glass back then scanned her again.  "Better."  He kissed her on the forehead.  "Hera's already looking over your OB's shoulder."  She nodded she had seen that.  "Good girl.  Relax, let it happen.  You'll enjoy it once the attacks stop."

"I was hoping I could," she said quietly.  "Buffy and Pepper always made it look incredible."

"It is."  He tested something else.  "The Keys have all moved to protect them."

"I felt.  It's why my magic is screwy."  He nodded.  "But I'm not supposed to be using huge amounts anyway."

"No, probably not."  He patted her and left.  She was sensible and knew her limitations.

Dawn got some cold water and ice from the freezer.  She walked out to sit in the living room.  "So, anyway, you save them?"

"I did."  She looked at her.  "How did your apple juice get poisoned?"

"Don't know," she admitted.  "It wasn't here.  I've turned on the lethal safety measures since things started to happen again.  The twins are with Mom for the time being until the attacks stop.  They said it was important when I told them."  She sipped her water.  "Let me call in an hour late."

"Work from home today."

"I can't, Natasha.  I have too many things I have to do in person."  She texted Pepper, who said she couldn't, that they had shifted something to earlier late last night.  Dawn updated her phone and sighed.  "Never mind.  I can't.  Callia's new self defense instructor is showing up in a half-hour."  She got up.  "You can stalk me there if you want."

"I can do so."  She watched her walk off.  She came out in something less than flattering.  "Why are you wearing that?"

"It's not resting on my stomach, which is sore.   I can't wear a dress today, I haven't shaved in weeks.  Anytime I bend over I get dizzy and nearly pass out."  She pulled on her light jacket and grabbed a few things.  "Coming?  I'm cabbing in.  It's a risk but a lesser one today."

"Yes."  She got up and followed her.  The cabby gave them a nervous look.  She looked at Dawn.

Dawn looked at the driver.  "Who paid what?" she sighed in resignation.

"I was supposed to take you to a building by the harbor."

"No.  I'm going to work."

"They gave me money."

"I have three guns and two knives on me.  Do I need to make sure I get to work?"  He shook his head.  "Thank you.  You can point out you were threatened."

"I can do that."  He pulled into traffic.  "Why are they after you so hard?  This is the second person that's tried to get me to pick you up.  My wife wanted the money for our bills.  Sorry."

Dawn waved a hand.  "I'm kind of used to it."  She rubbed her forehead.  "I have no idea but I'm about to go bitch on someone."  The driver smiled.  She got let off outside the towers and got out after paying him, and a tip.  She walked inside, scanned her ID card with security then got onto an elevator.  Then promptly off and called a security team to it while Natasha undid the minor explosive on the button panel.  She went to the other tower and got access up to the Avengers level, using the walkway over.  The door that led to the walkway took any Stark ID card but any further up and she'd need the special codes on her ID, which she still had.  She walked over and got to her desk by the emergency stairs.  Tony was frowning at the guy there.  "Sorry, bomb on the buttons this morning."  She shook his hand.

"It's not a problem, Dawn.  You've had a lot of those."  She nodded.  "Where are my future students?"

"I'm hoping all three are awake," she said dryly.  She looked at Tony.

"In the gym.  All three."  She smiled and led them down there.  "So you're a hunter?"

"I am.  I have been for many years, Mr. Stark.  I've never had to work with a fully called slayer but I do know how to demon hunt and what that will take.  The other one that'll be working with me has worked with two called slayers while they were hunting."  Tony smiled and nodded.  "So far Dawn and you have done good.  The girls need to be able to think on their feet at high speed if she's called and if her sisters are snatched."  Dawn grinned.  They walked into the gym and he nodded.  The girls were stretching.  "Is she staying in gymnastics?"

"She is for now.  Her coach knows that she doesn't want to compete but needs it for other reasons," Tony said.  "I was honest with him about why."

"Good."

"Ladies, this is one of my former trainers.  Henry, these are my nieces Artemis and Diana, and my other one Callia."

"Pleasure, ladies."  He shook their hands.  "I'm going to be working on your self defense from now on."

"The other coach?" Callia asked her father.

"You've learned all you can from him."

"Oh, okay.  I was wondering why he was pouty Friday."  Dawn hugged her and she cuddled back.  She looked at the trainer again.  "What area are you training us in?"

"Demon hunting."  She shivered.  "I have a partner who's worked with slayers in the past.  I've been hunting now for over three decades."

"Wow," Artemis said.  "Nearly as long as Mom did."

"She made just over a decade," Dawn said.  "Then the time up on Asgard."

The trainer smiled.  "We want all of you girls to die of old age.  That's why we train you."  They smiled at him.  "So let's see what you're made of so far.  Dawn?"

"Not allowed," Callia ordered.  "You can't hurt my cousin."  The trainer looked at her.  "She's having my cousin in a few months."

"Oh, I did not know," he said, looking at Dawn.

"I sent everyone an email."

"I never check that," he complained.  "But that explains why you've been restricted to some areas."  She nodded.  "Good."  He smiled at the girls.  "I can test you against each other and, Callia, you're getting a training buddy as well so you don't have to fight with someone so much bigger than you.  She's in the same position you are as a possible future slayer.  She's a year younger.  She's only up here on weekends."

"That'd be cool!"  She grinned at her father then at him.  "Are we sparring?"

"Yes we are."  He wasn't too much taller than she was and the twins were taller than he was.  He let Callia attack first and noted where she had form flaws but got it done.  Her last trainer had been practical, not picky.  Good.  He smiled and patted her on the head when he got her down.  "Good.  A solid foundation we can build from."  She nodded and bounced a bit.  He tested the twins and they were good.  Their mother had been training them and so has their aunt and uncle.  It showed.  He could work with these ones.

Dawn went back to her desk to get back to work while Tony watched the sparring.  He wanted the best for Callia and the twins.  The twins would need it to keep from being snatched by some guy someday soon and Callia would hopefully never need it for other reasons.

***

Clint looked around at the mess their clean up had caused.  He shrugged.  "Okay."  They looked at him.  He smirked.  "Let's scatter."  They did and he headed back to Stark.  He had a wife or two to stalk.  He ran into Maria Hill coming in with the clean up team.  "Hey, Hill."

"Barton.  Are you continuing on with this team?"

"If they need me they can call me.  We talked about that last night."

She stared at him.  "The director would like you to continue with them since you work so well with them."

"I'm not leaving my pregnant wife here for anything, Hill.  If they need me, they'll call."

"She is?" she demanded.

"Yeah.  We've been keeping it quiet but she is.  Which means I need to talk to someone about why Dawn keeps being attacked."  He stared at her.  "Because I will destroy whoever decided to try to hurt my kid."  She shivered but nodded.  "So you can tell him if they want me they'll call."

"Definitely," Hunt said.

Clint smiled.  "You can join SHIELD, guys."  They shook their heads.  He smirked and walked around Hill.  "Let me go get in some stomach patting time."

"She.... the brunette one's pregnant?" Hunt demanded.

"Yeah."  He smirked.  "Just about two and a half months.  Which means I get to kick you around for that ordered pick up of her the other day that she got free of."

"Yeah, I'd kick me around too.  I didn't know."

"We're keeping it quiet.  People are rabid over Dawn."  He shrugged.  "It'll come out soon and then we'll see."  He left, going back to Stark.  Which was under assault by suspiciously armed people.  He pulled out his bow and took down most of them from behind.  He stopped the car that had Dawn in it by hitting a tire.  It flipped.  He ran over to get her out of it, staring at her.  "Are you okay?"

"I think I have a concussion."  She held her head.  "The girls!"  She started to move.

"Let Nat guard them.  I've got you."  He kissed her, making her calm down.  She leaned against his chest, one hand on her stomach.  "It's all good, Dawn.  I'm back now."  He put a hand over hers on her stomach.

"Oh my god, I know that move," a reporter covering the attack said, sounding awed.  Clint glared at her.  "You look great, Agent Barton.  Assignment?"  He nodded.  "We had wondered.  Is she pregnant?"

"No comment."  He led her off.  "Though all this was because that's what they thought too.  I have no idea why people want my kid so hard but it's going to end one way or another."  He got them inside and up to the infirmary.  Stark was in there getting some stitches done.  "We all good?"

"We're fine.  The building locked down so only those of us in the open got into it with them," Tony said, looking at him.  "Here, Dawn, take the bed."  She shook her head, going to get sick.  Clint followed.  "Stronger stomach than I have," he quipped.  "I run from Pepper when she has morning sickness so we don't have to share a toilet to puke into."  The nurse laughed.  He got bandaged and hopped off.  "Let me handle things."  He went to talk to the press.

***

Clint walked outside of Stark towers the next morning.  He crossed his arms over his chest, his facial expression behind his sunglasses bland.  Dawn had helped him pick out his outfit.  He was in his Avengers uniform and he looked like he was going to kill them all.  He even had his thigh holster on, which was a nice touch of shininess to his outfit.  "You guys may never talk to me directly again but this one time I'm going to make myself heard.  The next agency or news organization or individual who touches my pregnant wife and future little chaos source is going to be very unhappy.

"I have no idea why yesterday agents decided to kidnap her.  I have no idea why some felt it was a good idea to break into our house to try to poison her or kidnap or kill her.  I've had enough, people, and I am back from assignment now."  He stared around at them.  "Please pass on my message since two *reporters* funded her being poisoned, three agencies had her almost killed or kidnaped, and one I'm going to destroy later today."  The reporters babbled questions.  He stared at one he knew Dawn liked.  "What?"

"She is pregnant?"

"Yes."

"You were on assignment."

He smirked.  "Yes I was.  I'm amazing."

"IVF?"

"No, the natural way."  She shivered.  "I am that good."

"Your other spouse?"

"She's back from her assignment and we're...working on things."

"I heard there was a fight," she said.

"We are.  We're working on it."

"I wish you a lot of luck, Agent Barton."

He smirked.  "Dawn said when we met her, all our luck got put into a savings account so it'd gain interest."  She cackled and nodded, walking off to report it.  "Dawn said to answer her, not you all."  He walked off.

"Do the twins like it?" one called.  "Dawn likes me too!"

Clint smirked at them.  "The twins, Sean, and Callia are all very stoked to be big cousins.  Liz is babbling at her stomach too.  We're all happy and waiting impatiently for them to come out and join the family.  She couldn't even tell her mother so you guys couldn't pick it up from her sobbing in happiness.  By the way, Dawn has *epic* morning sickness and it's causing her to be a bit...cranky.  Fair warning."

"Be blunt, Agent Barton, she's been a bitch due to it," one of the reporters said sarcastically, making the others laugh.  "She totally ripped me a new one and then complained about my clothes upsetting her niece."

"She hasn't kept down food in over a week.  Feel lucky she didn't change them on you."  The reporter shivered.  He nodded and strolled off to the other tower.  Everyone paused to watch him walk but he was getting used to that.  He went up to the training center, where Natasha was waiting.  They had to have an grown up person talk.  Which they could easily do in the sparring ring.

Dawn was inside watching and laughing.  Clint did that so well and the reporters were all leaving the area.  It was nice.  She went back upstairs, finding Tony giggling with Pepper.  "He did good."

"He did."  He smiled at her.  "Now you can find clothes that fit."

She looked at him.  "Nothing's going to fit, Tony.  I can't wear waistbands because it hurts."

"It did," Pepper agreed.  "For about two more weeks.  Then you'll get a few expansion pains."  Dawn grimaced.  "You wanted to have a baby," she quipped.

"Yeah, I did."  She sat down, blocking off those two sparring.

Tony and Pepper shared a look.  If that didn't stop the problems, Clint could kill whoever he wanted to finish fixing it.

***

Fury walked up to Dawn's desk, staring at her.  "There's people who think you need to be in a more protected area during your pregnancy."

She looked up at him, saving what she was typing on.  "Yes, I've met a few of them at gunpoint.  No, I think I'm going to decline the offer to go to a nice, secluded lab so they can make sure I get proper everything while I'm pregnant.  I doubt they'd do the stomach rubbing, comfort hugging, or anything else real fathers do," she said with an icy smile.  "You can tell whoever else had that idea that I've had enough.  My magic may be a bit out of focus but that just means I can't do tiny things."  He stepped back.  "Is there any other news you wish to share, Director?"

"No, just warning you that they do."

"Then I'd promptly kill them all.  And probably walk off sniffling."  He nodded and left.  She sent the security tapes to Stark, Pepper, and her spouses.

"Like hell," Clint said as he came up the hall with a donut.  "Though I'm going to end that."  He took a kiss, letting her have the rest of his donut.  Dawn could eat anything that he had been eating but if she ate it on her own it made her sick.  It was something psychological, probably because of attempted poisonings.  It meant she could eat again and they were all happier with that.  "I'll go talk to him in a few minutes."

"I can do that," she offered.  She took his coffee too.  "Thank you, blessed one."

He kissed her again, smirking at her.  "My job is to protect you.  So let me."

"Okay."

"Can I get in some stomach petting later?"

She grinned.  "All you want, Clint.  The twins won't be home for two days."

He leered.  "Good."  He left, going to gather a few things from Dawn's hidden stuff.  Clearly he needed to have a talk with his boss.  Coulson appeared with smoke coming off his ruined suit.  "That bad?"

"Yes.  There was an ascension cult that was sacrificing members to a higher demon.  Xander and I finally got them down."  He looked at him.  "We've protected her as best we could."

"I'm back now, sir."  He leaned against the wall of the elevator when it stopped.  "Huh."  He looked at the god beside him, who shrugged.  It wasn't his doing.  "JARVIS?"

"I'm working on bypassing the command that stopped it, Agent Barton," the AI said.  "Welcome back, Agent Coulson."

"Thank you but I'm only back to report then I'm heading out again.  There's another few that left the night before to start a new splinter faction of the group with the secondary ascending demon."

"Mr. Stark wants to know if you need anything."

"More artillery.  We used all ours," he said.  He looked at Clint.

"I have what I need on me."  The elevator started to move back up.  He got off with Phil and they took the walkway to the other building then the stairs.  The ones in the primary tower now took an ID card to get into.  Theirs weren't coded for that one.

***

Phil finished his report.  "I'm heading back with more weapons, sir."

"How many more agents do you need, Coulson?"

"None, sir.  Just some more weapons."  He smirked ever so slightly.  "We are very well trained."  Fury nodded so he left.  "Agent Hill, help me fill out the papers to remove artillery from the building?"

"I can do that," she agreed.  She went with him.  She had no idea it was a diversion.  At least until the alarms started.  She looked at him.  "Phil," she growled.

He shrugged.  "Wasn't my doing or Barton's.  He's waiting."  She slumped.  "I believe it's whoever attacked Dawn last time."

"Crap."  She called in.  "Report, people."  The reports weren't good but no agents had died yet.  Just been knocked cold, were pinned under desks that had fallen over, and the director was missing.  She went back up there to start the recovery efforts and get everyone saved.  "Coulson, I need you on the rescue team."

He appeared and looked at her.  "We have sixteen cult members and an ascended demon, Agent Hill.  Admittedly a smallish one at only fifty feet."

"We have slayers and your spouse for that.  I need you on the rescue of Director Fury."

He scanned.  "He's still in the building.  Down by the jails in the maintenance tunnels."  She called that in.  He went back to getting artillery.  Agents weren't going to get it fast enough to save Fury.  He popped in and zapped two.  "Don't make more work for me.  I already have enough paperwork with two ascending demons."  They backed down.  He checked, Xander wasn't behind him.  That was great, they were finally giving him real respect.

He let his glow out, making the demons members scream in pain.  "Have a good day."  The rest ran off.  He pulled in his glow.  "Infirmary, people.  Make sure you all make it."  They nodded and helped the Director off.  He went back to checking out weapons.  In the old days, before he had been appointed, he would've been there with a gun in hand and a plan ready.  Now, he had recruited agents to handle things like that for him.  For some reason he was turning into a manager again.  He really had to stop that.

Right after he stopped the ascending demons.

***

Phil smiled at the new trainee class as he walked in.  He was just now back.  He was still a bit smokey and his suit jacket had a few holes in it.  He put in a tape.  "This is an ascension in the full form and the later cult to the two of them.  I will be right back after I report."   He walked off taking off his jacket.  His shirt was smoke covered and had a few holes too.  He walked into the office and handed over the second copy.  "The whole ascension, the cult to it, and how they sacrificed people.  I'll do the forms after I've briefed the new trainee class, sir."  He walked off.

Fury glared at his back but he watched it.  "Shit," he said, backing away from his computer monitor.  "What the fuck?  Hill?"  She came in.  He restarted it.  "I think he was right, it was more important."

She watched it, lips pressed together.  Though even she flinched a few times.  "That's not good."

"He said that was the smaller of the two the cult had been worshiping."

"Damn," she said quietly.  "That was more important."  It showed how very little effect all their new 'Phase 2' weapons had on it too.  "How did they handle the other one?  Coulson?"  He walked back in sliding into a new jacket over his new shirt and pants.  "How did you handle the first one?"

"He had changed during the last eclipse.  We got there while they were sacrificing some teenagers to it.  We let it sleep off the first three we couldn't save and then killed it while it was asleep with a timed, focused charge.  We freed the hostages, took down the cult, then realized that a good portion had shaved off to start another center for the other ascending one.  That one was almost there so we stayed and watched, removing their victims as they gathered them.  As she was immortal for the last 100 days, we couldn't take her out until she finished the rite.

"We were woefully unprepared.  I thought those weapons would be stronger.  Thankfully we could call on John Sheppard to help us and we managed to kill it eventually.  The cult was mostly killed in the melee but the last few were taken down by the locals we had waiting to arrest them if they should get away from us.  Xander called them in when he realized we had to focus on the demon worm that could eat approximately ten and a half people an hour."

"Why not pull one of the slayers?" Hill asked.

"They couldn't do anything we weren't.  The three new ones aren't as well versed in swords as they were in stakes and crossbows, the traditional slayer training.  We thought about Faith and Connor but we needed them there to help with LA because LA was having a panicking moment over the ascensions actually happening."  He pulled up that information on the CD for them.  "So we managed."

Fury read it over, nodding.  "Good job, Coulson."

"Thank you, sir.  Let me get back to the trainees."  He went back down there.  Another trainer had turned it off.  "They need to watch that and then read the files on what just happened in LA so they're knowledgeable about what could happen at the worst."  He turned it back on.

"That never happens, Coulson," the training agent complained.

"We just stopped two in the last three weeks.  We hadn't known either was going to attempt it."  She slumped.  "Plus the quiet demon rioting in LA."  The trainees all winced.  One raised his hand.  "It has been handled and unless it was something like the invasion you would not be called until you had went through all the training."  He put his hand down.  He looked at that trainer again.  "The other agents need to be briefed on the signs of one doing it.  That way if they run into one we don't know about they can handle it."

"Agreed," she said, watching the film over his shoulder.  "Yuck."

"Yes, quite," he agreed, smiling slightly at her.  "Thankfully we handled it."

She nodded.  "Artillery?"

"Wasn't enough this time."  She shivered, watching the battle as it happened.

***

Xander appeared in Stark's lab with another God.  "Tony Stark, this is Hephaestus.  Hephie, this is Tony Stark."

"I'm real impressed by some of your work," Hephaestus said, shaking his hand.  "So is Ares."

Tony smiled, looking a bit confused.  "Thank you.  Huge thing we need built, Xander?"

"Yes."  He put on the video for them.  "The second of the two we just ended.  We didn't have any idea about either of them."  He looked at the two builders.  "I need options.  Something I can pull out of a box that will always take the head off without having to destroy buildings and possibly innocent victims."

"You could've asked for a few military units," Hephaestus said.

"I didn't want to waste them for this, Hephie.  They couldn't do anything with guns against it.  Even the minimal laser weapons they have at the SGC wouldn't have helped much."

"No, and explosives aren't all that reasonable.  Those are the Phase 2 weapons."

"Yes, they are," Xander agreed.  "You've done better work half asleep."  Tony smirked at him.  "I know they stole them and tinkered with your brilliance.  I need a box that's just for an ascension."

He watched.  "Has to behead it, right?"  Xander nodded.  "How many do we know are going to do it?"

"We didn't know about these two.  The two we knew about were stopped.  That's what Thor's been doing for the last few months."

Tony nodded slowly.  "The Jericho system could be reformatted to only hit a specific, small target.  That should blow the head off anything."  He shuddered at the thing breaking out of the human skin.  "The humans?"

"A sacrificial cult to it.  They were probably gathering food offerings for it," Hephaestus said.  Xander nodded.  "Guys that do this usually have a group around them of henchmen to support them."

"Girl in this case.  The daughter of the first one we stopped," Xander said.  "We couldn't save three of his so we waited until he napped and then killed him."  He ran a hand through his hair, dislodging some condensed smoke particles.  "I need a shower.  Can I let you two brainstorm?"  They nodded.  "Thanks."  He headed back to the temple to get a well needed shower.  It had been a few days.

Tony looked at him.  "I can get you a chair.  My stool's a bit uncomfortable.  Dummy, bring me a chair," he called without waiting on an answer.  The robot brought over a metal one.  "No, a good one."  He zipped off and came back with a better one.  "Thanks."

Hephaestus sat down.  "Thanks.  I like your robots.  I never got into them but yours are clearly useful and better than anything I've seen recently."

Tony smiled at that compliment.  "Thank you.  I built him when I was eighteen."  Hephaestus grinned back and they went back to designing something that would sever a ten foot thick neck while doing minimal structural damage.

***

John reported to the General.  "Sir, the situation that called me from my post has been handled."

General O'Neill looked him over.  "Why are you smoking?"

"We just had to blow up a demon worm."  He handed over his copy of the CD Phil had done.  "On the second ascension this week."

He ran it, grimacing.  "Good work," he said quietly.  He looked at him.  "Civilians?"

"Cult.  Under arrest, all the victims were saved first."

"Excellent.  Tell your half-brother and his spouse good work for me.  Come up with a plan to handle it in case we see another one going on, Sheppard."

"Yes, sir.  Xander's going to ask Stark for something to handle it."

"Even better!  I'd like to never see you with a sword ever again, Sheppard."  John smirked and disappeared.  "Take a shower too!  You need it!"  He called up his science team for a meeting, bringing the CD with him.  "Sheppard got called by Alexander to help him with an Ascension problem," he said as he walked in.

"Like us going up?" McKay asked.  O'Neill put in the CD and let it play.  "No, that's not," he realized.  "Oh, shit."  The others looked at him and he pointed.  "That's going to be bad."  They watched and almost all of them flinched.  Not McKay, not Zelenka, not the other two science heads that had been on Atlantis, but the rest did.  "Weapons?"

"Alexander's asking Stark.  Help him with that, McKay."  That got a nod and he took a sip of coffee.  "The rest of you, I want an analysis of what we can do to stop it.  We know from others that they're immortal for their last 100 human days."

"By ingesting poisonous spiders," Rodney quipped.  "There's two different species that are used by the rituals we know about.  I'm all for finding a way to eliminate them."

"Brought from a demon plane?" O'Neill asked.  Rodney nodded.  "Are they plentiful there?"

"We might be able to find a way to send one back with an engineered virus against them," the head of biology said.  "Because I never want to see that again, General."

"Us either.  Which is why I want you to make sure all of your people have seen it by later tonight.  I'm getting all the team leaders on it too.  I want departmental responses built up.  How, what you can do, all that.  McKay, have fun at Stark.  Radek, do yours."  He nodded.  "I hate to say it but sometime we might need to launch Atlantis to defeat one that's gotten free and is going after people."

"We can use an X-302 easier," Rodney said.  "More maneuverable and better weapons."  He looked at Radek.  "Have Sheppard go over the rituals for you."  He nodded, going back to the city to do that.  McKay sent himself to Stark and went up to his lab.  He blinked.  "Hephaestus."

"McKay."  He smirked.  "Got the video?"

"Yes.  O'Neill wants me to help you with any weapons," he told Tony.

"Please do."  He settled in to go over what they could do, and possibly include them in an external weapons pack for the suit.  That was a job for Iron Man, not regular soldiers.  They got Rhodey into it too.  The military was more likely to call him than Stark.

***

Fury ducked as an arrow landed with a paper where his good eye had been.  He looked around, spotting Dawn.  "Since when do you use one of those?" he sneered.

"Since I'm amazing."  She disappeared.

He snatched the paper, staring at it.  He had signed that order to take her into protective custody so nothing could hurt the child.  He looked, the arrow was a normal one.  The paper was making his hands burn.  That's when he remembered Dawn had learned how to make poisons.  He went down to the infirmary to start treatment immediately.  "Hill, don't touch that."

Joyce went to look, coming out grimacing.  She looked at Maria.  "Is it just Dawn's child that they're so happy to get?"

"What?" Maria asked.  Joyce pulled on gloves and picked up the paper to show her. She read it and growled.  "Yes, it is.  I have no idea why."

"I know it'll be stopped."  She put the paper down and went to pack her desk.  "I'm sorry, Maria, but I can't and won't have my daughter nearly killed by the people I work for."

"I understand, Joyce.  I wouldn't either.  I'll put you on leave for the moment until I can investigate."  Joyce nodded, shaking her hand and leaving with her desk contents.  Maria Hill took a deep breath.  She was always one hundred percent behind Nick Fury in everything he did.  She was as loyal as they come.  She had nearly killed her child to stay within SHIELD.  Now...  She wasn't sure.  She called Dawn to ask her some questions about that document, like where she had gotten it from.  Barton had finally found their leak.  That was good.  She checked, he wasn't in the building as far as they knew.  Which didn't mean anything.  Clint Barton could be in the heating ducts and watching Fury to see when he'd be alone.  He was that good.

***

Clint smirked down at Fury.  "No one's going to realize I'm here."  He pulled out his favorite dagger, a present from Natasha.  He looked at him.  "So, you wanted my wife and future kid in a lab?"

"You're not a knife person."

"I've learned many things, Fury, including knife work.  I'm not just a sniper."  He stared at him.  "So what was the idea?"

"You needed the focus, not to have it split.  She'd be protected there."

"Sure she would," he said dryly.  "Right after they tested what the Key was doing and how her magic was responding and probably trying some new version of the super soldier formula on the baby."  He stabbed the bed next to Fury's head, making him flinch.  "Not.  Going.  To.  Happen."

"You won't take me out."

"The hell I won't but Dawn said that's her fun."  He stared at him.  The knife got pulled out and he tested the edge, then stabbed him just off the side of the throat, making him scream as it pierced the flesh just under his jawline to the side.  "Never touch what's mine again.  Especially Dawn, our children, the twins, any of the family.  I don't care if you're infected with something again, but you ever try it again and I will make sure SHIELD goes to Hill."  He pulled the dagger back out.  "Dawn said I had to be nice when I warned you."   He tossed something onto his chest.  "Have fun with that and the damaged fingers."  He walked off, heading out.  His SHIELD ID got left in the elevator.

Fury looked at the blinking thing, staring at it.  His fingers were burned and couldn't bend.  "I need some help."  Nothing.  Barton had gotten the nursing staff.  He shifted and the lights blinked off on one side.  He carefully centered himself again.  The thing had to be level apparently.  "Help!" he yelled.  That brought agents.  "Get me a bomb tech.  It has a balance switch."  They called that in and got a nurse to look at his hands, which were bubbling up.  "Coulson!"

Xander appeared.  "I'm sorry, I'm not going to let my spouse anywhere near this toxic situation.  He used to look up to you, Fury."  He looked at the bomb, smiling.  "Very compact.  We just got the plans for that at the temple for training the other day."  He spotted the bubbling flesh.  "That won't kill you this year."  He disappeared.

"Jesus," Fury muttered.  Bomb techs got there to undo the bomb, though they had no idea how to do that.  A sheet of paper fluttered down.

Phil Coulson appeared and picked it up, putting it on the bed.  He took the bomb, flipped it open, unscrewed the cap, and pointed at the wire underneath it.  "That one."  He pointed.  "Schematics."  He looked at Fury.  "I'm going to stay off-site to liaison with the Avengers, sir.  I think that's the best use of my skills."  He went up to talk to Maria.  "Are you all right?"

"Would you care if I wasn't with Tara?"

"Yes.  I've admired you for years, Maria."

She slumped and nodded.  "Barton quit.  Joyce quit unless I can find out he wasn't the one who signed that."  He put up a mirror, showing her time moving back until he got to that meeting.  She stared at it then nodded.  "He needs to go in indefinite leave."

"Yes he does but you're about to go on maternity leave."  He stared at her.  "I'm going to the Avengers and only that."

"Agreed."  She calmed herself down.  This was not the time to have a hormone swing and start crying.  "Put him somewhere he can heal."

"The poison on the paper won't kill him."

"Even better."  Phil smiled and left.  He had a few things left in his office so he packed them and left.  Maria went to talk to him.  "Sir, as you're incapacitated I'm putting you on indefinite medical leave."  Fury started to open his mouth and protest.  "Nurse, please sedate him."  She walked off.  She'd arrange where he went while she was on her six weeks of maternity leave.  She called up the person after her and the one after him.  That way there was no bullshit while she was gone.  "As you know, I'm going on maternity leave sometime soon.  I will be gone for six weeks."

"When are you due?" one asked.

"Three weeks approximately.  Thanks to Director Fury signing an order to have Dawn Summers-Romanoff-Barton taken into supposedly protective custody for testing, we've just lost Agent Barton, and probably all the Avengers."

"Coulson?"

"With them.  He did not leave his ID the way Barton did."  They nodded.  "Director Fury is going on indefinite medical leave for his hands bubbling up."  They both shuddered.  "We are going to leave the Avengers initiative and all the members alone while I am gone.  If you so much as try to retaliate for them having to protect themselves, I will make sure you are going to go down.  Am I clear?"

"Crystal, sir," they agreed.

She smiled.  "Good.  Because we started this one and we are not going to escalate it to the point where our own people feel the need to attack us again."  They nodded.  She rubbed her stomach and winced.  They looked at her oddly.  "You get practice contractions first, boys."  They both shuddered.  "Remember, Coulson's husband knows Goddesses who can do this to you."  She smiled.  "I'll be getting daily updates while I'm on the couch with the kids.  If any of the special agents Coulson's recruited recently need him, refer them to him.  I'm not willing to get us into a pissing match against our own people.

"Also, make sure that there is one hundred percent viewing of that ascension tape Coulson brought back from his last mission.  I want three good battle scenarios within a week.  Ones in case an agent runs into one in the field during a mission.  One that figures out what to do if they're sliding down the street when we find out.  One that is based on all our sub-groups responding, including the Avengers and Stargate Command.  I'm assuming that they're having Stark make weapons."  She winced.  "That's not nice, son."  She looked up.  "Any questions?"

"No, sir," one said.

"How long is Director Fury to be gone, sir?" the other asked.

"Until he no longer has hands that have skin bubbling up and no longer wants to use our people as guinea pigs.  If he had gotten hold of Dawn and tried to inject her future child with some sort of super soldier serum, I would've helped her destroy that lab and then him."  They nodded.  "Dismissed if there's no further questions."

"Good luck on it being an easy delivery, ma'am.  Some women have horror stories and I hope you don't."  She smirked but they left.  Though she hoped the same thing.

***

Dawn rushed Tara into the hospital.  "She's in labor and there's a problem," she told the nurse at the ER desk.  "She's due to deliver here."  She made sure the nurse didn't ignore her with a touch of magic.  It was an emergency so it wasn't really unethical and Tara only gave her a sideways look for it.

"What sort of problem?"

"The baby's heartbeat is pretty weak."  The nurse nodded, getting an OB nurse to come check her.  They had her on a fetal monitor by the time the nurse got there.  It was pretty slow. The nurse got a portable ultrasound system and looked.  Dawn saw and winced.  "That's the umbilical cord, isn't it?"

"It is."  She looked at the young woman.  "We'll probably need to do a C-Section."

"I don't really want one but I want the baby more," she said.  "My wife's coming."

"That's fine, ma'am.  Do we have your pre-admission papers here?"  Tara nodded and Dawn handed over Tara's ID from her purse.  "I can pull those up and get an OB here to do it within minutes."  She walked out to call them.  They were used to these sort of emergencies.  The OB nurse had her moved when she came back.  "The surgeon will meet us there."

Dawn nodded.  "Her wife's a brunette, a bit slimmer than I am, hair's usually back in a bun and she's in a SHIELD uniform," she said.  "Name's Maria Hill.  She's also ready to go any day now."

"I'll have someone set a watch for her.  Are you going in with her?"

"Yes," Dawn said.

"Okay."  They got split up at the OR, the nurse taking Dawn to put on the surgical gear.  She got led in and put beside Tara's head.  "Touch only above the blue draping," the nurse ordered.  The OB was scrubbing her stomach and watching the ultrasound and fetal monitors while he made plans.  He was making the first cut when someone rushed in.

"Maria, get scrubbed in," Dawn called.  She nodded, letting the nurse take her to put on the sterile gear.  She smiled at Tara.  "Nearly there."

"She's going to be a great girl."

"Bit of pressure," the doctor warned.  "We're putting in the local."

"Sure.  I had my twins naturally."

"Less than that."  He smiled and finished inserting the local.  It'd make her more comfortable.  He started to cut.  The other woman came in.  "Usually we only allow one."

"I'm her wife," Maria said.  "Dawn's filling in."

"Dawn's here in case there's a problem," Dawn quipped.  The doctor looked at her.  "She's got magic."

"The baby?"

"Probably.  The mother, definitely."

"Good to know.  Please do handle anything that might harm her."  Dawn nodded.  He got back to cutting.  He was praying that nothing was going to go wrong.  They'd had some c-section babies dying recently and he wasn't sure why.  All the OB's were worried about it.  He got the baby out.  "It's a girl.  She's a good weight.  Let's get you breathing, sweetheart."

Dawn looked around, feeling the demon.  She switched places with Maria.  "Here, grip her hand."  She looked up then blasted the thing with magic.  "I swear to fucking god, demon!"  It faded into view, making the OR staff gasp.  Dawn blasted it and it died.  She sighed, rubbing her stomach.  "It's like Kinderstaad," she said quietly.  "Causes kid deaths."

"We've had more than a few," the OB agreed.  "Thank you."

"Welcome.  I'm her godmother."  She smiled at the baby.  "Hi, sweetheart, you're all messy."  The baby was being given oxygen.  She was a normal baby color underneath the gross stuff.  Dawn came back after taking a few pictures.  "There we go, Mom."

Tara smiled, looking at it.  "Thank you, Dawn."

"Welcome."  She kissed her on the forehead, holding Maria from falling down when she had another practice contraction.  She grinned.  "Soon!" she quipped.

"Yes, soon."  She rubbed her stomach.  It was a bit hard.  The baby was acting agitated.  "I think I may go in the next few days."

"I'll be out of bed by then," Tara said happily.

Dawn looked down.  They were working on the closing.  She cast a healing spell.  That left the top skin incision still open but the rest healed.  She smiled at the doctor.  "She's got four-year-old twins too."

He smiled.  "That's very handy, thank you."  He finished the stitching and got Tara back to her room.  The baby went up to NICU for a few hours just in case.

Dawn sat down beside Tara's bed.  "Well, that's better than I thought it'd go," she said finally.  Tara laughed, holding her stomach.  Maria was just holding her stomach.

"Sweetheart, here have my bed," Tara ordered, getting up and helping her onto it.  "Nurse, I think my wife's in labor too!" she called.  A nurse came in looking confused.  "We got pregnant at the same time."

"We knew the kids were going to be like a second set of twins," Dawn quipped.  Maria glared at her.  She grinned.  "Mom's coming.  I told Xander and Phil.  Callia's watching your two."  Maria nodded and groaned, holding her stomach.

"When is her due date?" the nurse asked.  This was unusual but they were together apparently.  She looked at her.  "We'll have to check you, miss.  Which means removing the pants and things."  Maria wiggled out of them with Tara's help.  She checked her and nodded.  "I'll have a second bed brought in."  She called that in.  Her supervisor was amused but it happened.  Maria was going fairly well.  "Probably by the early morning."  She patted her on the foot.  "Let me get you some ice chips."

Dawn sent out a status update to the family and came over to help Maria through her breathing with Tara.  Tara was exhausted and laid down in the new bed once it got brought in.  Dawn helped Maria out of her uniform top and tank top, leaving her in a sports bra.  "Comfy?"

"No, this hurts," she said, wincing some.  "They said it'd be a bit painful.  Tara didn't say anything about feeling like you were having something eat your intestines."

"Each woman is different," the nurse assured her.

"She had twins without drugs," Maria complained.

The nurse smiled.  "Still, each woman is different and each pregnancy is."  Someone appeared.  "Sir...."

"He's the biological father," Maria said, wincing and clutching Dawn's hand.

"If you break it, I can do a healing spell," Dawn promised calmly.  "You do what you gotta do, Maria."  Phil took her other side to help her.  He had taken lamaze classes with Tara.  Tara was curled up asleep for the moment.  She needed it.  "I got the demon in the OB OR," Dawn told him.  "It was like Kinderstaad."

"Excellent work.  We were wondering if the higher surgical complication and death rate was demonic in nature," Phil said.  "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine.  I've got bouncy energy for right now."  He smiled and nodded.  Maria let out a groan of pain.  "You want drugs?"

"IV drugs only," she complained.  "Please!"

"I can have the doctor come see you," the nurse promised.  "Sign here."  Maria signed a shaky signature.  "There we go, all admitted.  I'll get your bracelet."  She went to get it from admissions.  "She was helping her wife deliver her c-section and went into labor," she said with perky cheer.  The admissions clerk had seen weirder so she put her in using her pre-registration forms and it was settled.  The OB nurse brought up her ID bracelet to put on her and it was good.  The doctor was checking her records and prescribing something.  Their OB was called.  He'd more than make it in time.

***

Clint strolled in, smiling at the happy wives cuddled together on one bed.  He handed over a basket.  "Spoiling stuff.  Dawn had it at home in the closet."  They smiled at him.  He looked at the kids.  "Hey, guys."  One boy, one girl.  The boy was clearly Coulson's by his coloring and what the twins had looked like after they were born.  The other one was a bit paler.  "So I take it the choker worked?"  Maria nodded and Tara blushed as she nodded.  "Good to know."  He looked at the kids again.  "You're going to be so spoiled by Grandma Joyce and the big brother and sister.  Get used to it, kids."

Tara laughed.  "They're coming in today."

"You're going home today," Clint teased.  Maria gaped.  "I'm here to drive you two home."  They got discharged with the kids and taken home by Clint.  Where everyone was waiting.  Even Stark since he had driven over Callia.

"Oh my god, babies!" little John squealed and pounced the mommies.  "Sit!  See babies!"  They sat and he climbed up to stand between them so he could see.  "Wow!  Sissy!"  She climbed up on the back of the couch.  "Look, babies!"  He grinned at his twin sister.  "Like Liz was!"

"Yup, just like Liz was," Maria promised.  She kissed them both.  "You guys will have forever to fuss over the kids.  Let the adults for now."  They settled between them to help the adults fuss over the kids.  "Is that first diaper always like yellow tar?" she asked Joyce.

Joyce smiled.  "For about the first week or so, Maria."  She took him to hold.  "Hi, sweetie.  What's your name?"

"Craig," Maria said.  "That's Danielle."

"Aww," Tony said with a grin.  "James Bond marathon?"

"Yup," Tara admitted with a shy grin.  Callia was climbing up on the table so she could see Craig better.  "Callia!"

"I want to see."  She smiled and waved.  "Hi, Craig.  We like you.  You're very cute and kinda quiet.  The twins babbled as soon as they woke up that first time."  She smoothed down his hat.  "We'll be like siblings too.  I'll make sure you're okay."  She kissed him on the cheek and repeated that with Danielle.  She ran over to her father, staring up at him.  "When is my baby brother being born?"

"Another month and a half."

"Good!"  She grinned.  "That way they're very close and can play together."  She looked at the twins, who were beaming at her.  Then at her father.  "Are they staying with us again tonight?"

"No.  Not unless Tara and Maria need a night to rest."  They shook their heads.  "Then they can stay home."

"Shoot."  She shrugged and hugged her sisters.  "I saw the baby birthing thing on TLC.  It's kinda gross.  Even with parts blacked out by smudgy spots it was really gross.  I had to quit watching."

"It is," Artemis agreed.  "But it's worth it to have one of those some day."

"Maybe someday I'll have a few," she quipped, hugging her.  She pulled Diana over to hug her too.  "Then we have Auntie Dawn's baby."  They grinned.  That one they'd get to spoil rotten.

Tony smirked at the evil, spoiling plans being made.  "So, should we buy bottles?"

"I'm breastfeeding them both," Tara said.  "We'll have some on hand for emergencies and for when I start to pump."

"Maria could," Dawn said.  "Then stop when she goes back to work.  The milk will dry up within weeks of when she stops."

Maria shrugged.  "I haven't considered it."

"Pepper said it was really special bonding time," Tony said with a grin.  He looked at his daughter.  "You, behave.  Have someone bring you home or call."

"I will, Daddy."  She hugged him.  "I'll be with the twins."

"Okay."  He looked at Dawn, who nodded it was fine.  He went home to spoil Pepper with Steve.  She was on bedrest again.

Dawn grinned.  "Some day we'll have one of those," she told Clint.

"Some day soon," he teased with a grin.  She gave him a hug.  He squeezed her shoulders.  "Ours will probably scream a lot."

"Maybe."

Tara smiled.  "That's called colic.  She was good when it was the twins having it."

"I was, yeah," she agreed.  The kids all gathered around, Diana and Artemis carefully taking the two new ones to hold so the younger kids could coo over them and the parents could rest.  Joyce took them from the twins and settled in to help them nap.  The kids came over and Callia read to them.  That was sweet of her.

***

Natasha settled herself in her new nest, for lack of a better word.  Dawn needed a lot of protecting and she needed to do that since she couldn't get close enough to her to comfort and help her.  Dawn would let her but only if they worked out their problems and Natasha couldn't do that yet.  So now she had a nest.  It had links to cameras she had put around Stark and the new apartment.  It linked to the new security system she had added on overtop of Dawn's.  She was within minutes of either the tower or the apartment if she was needed.

She had already talked to Steve and he agreed she was back on the team, but that he'd try to keep her and Clint from getting into fights.  Clint was almost ignoring her.  Which was unlike him but he was still mad.  She understood that.  She had to work some things out within herself before she could mend that and have him help her mend things with Dawn.  Though, Dawn needed to shop badly.  Nothing fit and she wasn't really showing.  She had lost a lot of weight from the morning sickness.

***

Pepper looked at Dawn.  "You look like a skeleton."

"Make the morning sickness stop," she complained.  "I'd like that."

"Us too.  The medicines don't work?"  Dawn shook her head.  "Poor thing.  Why don't you take the day off?  Go to the spa?"

"No, I'm good.  Clint figured out I can eat and keep it down if I start eating after him."

Pepper frowned.  "Because you got poisoned?"

"Probably."  She grimaced.  "It happens I guess.  It means dinners out are going to be interesting."

"Get those cute, coupley shared dinners."  She smiled.  Dawn grinned back weakly.  "You need to shop."

"I'm already looking but I can't find anything that fits my current body that'll fit it in a few weeks."

"So go to loose, flowing tops.  It'll make you look less thin anyway."

"I'm trying."  She went back to her desk.  "I have an OB appointment at two tomorrow."

"I saw.  Go shopping afterward."

"I will."

Andrew came off the elevator with a bowl of soup.  He put it in front of her.  "I made it so you know it's not bad."  She tried a bite and winced.  "Salty?"

"Yeah, but good.  Thanks, 'Drew."

"Welcome."  He smiled.  "MB did the same thing.  We had to switch to all home cooked stuff and all that.  It's weird but better for the baby anyway I guess."  He left her to eat.

She slowly ate the soup.  She knew Andrew wouldn't poison her.  It stayed down, which was a blessing.  Clint was making subs tonight for them all.  He was shopping right now.  She sent him a thought about what Andrew had said.  He agreed it might be.  Everything she had thrown up had been pre-made.  Mostly oatmeal and cereals.  He'd consider it and handle it.  Including buying her a juicer.  She smiled at that and finished her soup.  The saltiness was good, it was keeping her stomach calm.

Pepper grinned.  Andrew had just solved it so she might be able to eat again.

***

Dawn came out of her appointment to find Clint in the Lotus waiting on her.  "He thinks I need a shrink."

"Why?"  He put down his book to look at her.

"Because of the eating thing."

"You've had someone attempt to poison you six times in the last ten months.  I consider it reasonable."  He kissed her.  "Anything else?"

"Prenatal vitamins got raised.  He wants me to gain ten pounds within the month."

"I can feed you up," he said with a grin.

"I'll eat it off your stomach because I'm starved."

He laughed.  "I made you a sandwich."  He handed over the bag and started the car, driving them off while she ate.  "Shopping?"

"Yeah, I need to.  Elastic waistbands, yuck."  She ate the sandwich in about four bites, making him happy.  "I needed that."

"You do and I'm making stuff for dinner."

"I can cook."

"You can cook Sunday."  He kissed her at a red light.  They moved on and he took her to the gear shop.  She gave him a sideways look.  "I called ahead.  Gloria said she knew what you were going through.  She had four kids."

"Ow."

"Probably."  He parked and got out, walking around to help her out.  She smiled.  "I'm being overly fussy but yay."  He walked her inside, taking off his sunglasses.  "Gloria?"   She came out of the back area and waved them back.  The whole team was there.  "Hey, guys."

"Hi," Dawn said, then yawned.  "Sorry.  Just ate."

They smiled.  "You need to eat," Gloria said.

"Morning sickness," Dawn quipped, sounding tired.  "Unless Clint makes it or eats it first, I can't keep it down."  They cooed and helped her find things to wear for the next few days.  Her usual jeans got switched to leggings.  Her shirts got a bit looser.  Her shoes got tips put on them so she wouldn't wobble so much.  She got skirts for work too.  She had a formal thing coming up but the ones in the closet should work.  Clint got her a special dress and she smiled at him for it.  They checked out and he took her to her usual shops here in Manhattan.  They could stick with that image and help her build up a more professional looking wardrobe.

A paparazzi noted them coming out of a store.  "Dawn, are you having a health problem?" he called, chasing after them with his camera.  "You look really skinny."

She looked back at him.  "Morning sickness is hell, dude.  I've barely kept down food for the last few weeks.  Thanks for that compliment though."  He backed down.

Clint looked at him.  "Guys.  Really?"  They backed off further.   They had seen Clint in action and knew he was deadly.  "She's got to find stuff to wear to work."  They left them alone to shop in peace.  He looked at her.  "Boxers?"

"I have a few of your boxer briefs," she said with a smile.  "They're older and comfy to wear around the house."

"That works for me as long as the twins don't get upset."  He got himself some more.  He had needed to replace them anyway.  When they got home, he made something for them to eat and Dawn took a nap.  She got up to get the twins up into bed and tuck them in, then came down to kiss and cuddle with him.  He flipped her onto her back and teased her new stomach bump.  It was adorable!  And all his!

***

Natasha watched Clint celebrate with Dawn and him cooing over her stomach.  She smiled a bit.  He was going to be an excellent father.  Dawn was going to be a great mother.  She'd be a great aunt.  Maybe she'd manage some stomach petting time sometime.

***

Pepper went into labor almost exactly a month after Tara and Maria had.  This time it was in the middle of the night instead of the middle of a meeting.  They were also in Malibu for a set of meetings.  She woke up to the insistent pain that felt familiar.  Stark was in the lab and even JARVIS couldn't get him out of what he was tinkering on with Callia.  Steve was sedated because he had a cold and the cold medicine knocked him cold.  Liz was snoring happily in her room.  The baby monitor was echoing it.  She got the one she knew she could count on to be calm.  When the contraction was over she got up and walked across the living room.  "Dawn?"  Clint was on assignment again, a short surveillance one with Bruce.  She came out of her room.  "It's time."

"Okay.  Go get into shorts or something comfortable for the trip to the hospital."  She grabbed her own clothes to put on, a pair of leggings and a long t-shirt.  She couldn't go braless, it hurt too much right now.  She came out pulling on sneakers and then pulling back her hair.  She grabbed Pepper's bag and a set of keys off the board.  "C'mon.  JARVIS, if you can't get Stark up in the next thirty minutes, you have my permission to shut everything non-critical down."

"I can do so but he is making a backup arc reactor."

"When he's done, he's to come to us," Dawn ordered.  "And watch Liz?"

"I can do so.  I'll alert her parents as well."

"Thanks," Pepper said.  She grabbed Dawn's arm to squeeze.  Dawn paused and helped her through the contraction.  "Faster than last time."

"They say the first is the hardest," Dawn quipped.  She got her out to the car and drove them off, speeding up once they hit the main road since it wasn't as curvy as the driveway.  They ran into a cop pulling them over so Dawn rolled her eyes but paused.  "Officer, she's in labor.  Her contractions are six minutes apart."

"That's fine, miss.  I'll give you a warning."  Dawn handed over her license.  "Expired?"

She looked.  "I did not realize that.  Sorry, it's been a few hectic weeks.  I've barely made it out of morning sickness myself.  I'll have it renewed once I get back to New York in three days."

He nodded.  "Fine."  He handed over the warning and the license, letting them speed off.  That other woman was panting like she was having another contraction and he did not want to be put in the paper because he had to deliver a baby.

Dawn walked Pepper into her chosen hospital, smiling.  "Five and a half minutes apart," she reported.  "Water broke on the way here."

The delivery check-in desk clerk smiled.  "That's fine.  Let me get her to observation so they can check her over."  She called out a nurse.  Pepper got taken to a room to be checked over and checked in.  Dawn called JARVIS to tell him that.

"Her wife?" the nurse asked.

"Her personal assistant.  The father and boyfriend are both out of contact."  The nurse nodded and led them up there.  She called Pepper's mother personally.  "Hi, Pepper's dad, it's Dawn.  She's in the OB ward of Sinai here in LA.  No, we were out here for meetings.  She had two weeks to go but the grandson is a bit early.  She's checked in, in her room, she's going good, and they said by noon you'll have a new grandson."

She smiled and handed the phone to Pepper.  "Your dad."  She checked on Clint, who was watching something.  She told him quickly that Pepper was in labor out here.  He promised he'd get the others woken up for her.  She thanked him and shut down the bond.  The nurse was looking at her strangely.  She grinned.  "Magically checking on the family."  Pepper hung up with a huff.  "He complain Tony's busy?"

"Yup."  She calmed herself.  Dawn helped by being her lamaze buddy.  The nurse asked her about her preference for medicine, anyone additional that might be there, and all they needed to handle.  Dawn had Pepper's birthing plan at the original hospital on her tablet and pulled it up for her.  She had pre-registered here in case since this trip had been planned for over a month.  The on-call OB resident made a bad joke that pissed Pepper off so she got the other on-call doctor.  It'd happen and Pepper was making good progress so probably just a standard birth.

***

Callia heard JARVIS call and her mind had to fight over her priorities.  Baby brother versus science.  "Daddy, talk to JARVIS," she ordered.  He was showing her how to make an arc reactor like his.  Which was really weird and exciting and science all at once, but her baby brother was going to come soon.  "Daddy!"

He flinched and looked at her.  "Problems?"

"JARVIS said Mommy Pepper went to the hospital an hour ago."

"Why didn't you tell me, JARVIS!"

"I did, sir.  Many times.  I can't wake Captain Rogers from his nyquil induced sleep either."

"Ten minutes to finish this.  Then we'll shower and go," he told them.  Callia beamed and nodded.  "It's dangerous to leave this here."  He was a bit worried but it was dangerous.  It could blow up the whole house.  He got it finished and pulled out the new core.  It was glowing a pretty blue color as it cooled down.  He shut everything down and took her up to shower.  He could get Steve up.  "Goddamn it!" he shouted from the doorway.  Steve flinched awake, grabbing for a weapon he wasn't wearing.  "Pepper's at the hospital."

Steve blinked at him.  "Huh?"

"She's at the hospital.  It's time."  Steve hopped up and pulled on Tony's clothes that he had tossed on a chair earlier.  Tony got a quick shower and dressed too.  They picked up Callia, and Liz, taking them to the planned hospital via Happy.  Tony wasn't going to be able to drive and neither would Steve.

"How did she get there?" Callia demanded.

"Dawn," Happy called back.  "She texted me that I'd need to have the car cleaned, boss.  Pepper's water broke on the way there."

"Eww, but sure.  Do whatever, Happy."  They got there and got out, heading up to the OB floor.  Surely a nurse could tell him where they were.  He heard sobbing but it wasn't Pepper thankfully.  The nurse gave him a strange look.  "Redhead, Potts.  Having my son?"

She smiled and pointed.  "She's in there, people.  Do the kids need to see her in labor?"

"It's my baby brother," Callia said simply but politely.  "I was upstairs when Liz was born but I'm a lot bigger now.  Some day I'll need to know anyway so might as well learn this today."  She smiled.  She found Pepper's room and ran in to hug her aunt around the stomach.  Then she hugged Pepper's arm since she was sleeping and it was hanging off the bed.  "Did they give her druggies?" she asked her aunt quietly.

"She's going easy enough right now she drifted off."  She took Liz from Tony.  "Here, little one.  Sit on the auntie.  Let the daddies fuss."

"You tell her parents yet?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, and her father grumped that you were busy."

Tony rolled his eyes.  "Figures."  Pepper woke up and held her stomach.  He helped by rubbing it for her.  Steve pulled a chair over to help her breathing.  Callia was patting her on the arm.  "Thanks, Callia.  Go sit with your aunt?"

"Fine."  She did that, climbing up in the free spot on her lap.  "Are you okay?"

"I'm just fine."  She hugged her too.  Liz hugged her and babbled at her.  Callia grinned and babbled back about baby things.  Liz might not understand yet but she'd need to know.

The nurse came in smiling.  "It's good they found you."

"I couldn't shut down my experiment sooner or it could've blown up the house," Tony admitted.  "Sorry, Pepper."

She flapped a hand and took a deep breath.  "I've seen you do it before, Tony."

"I'm going to quit doing that."  He let the nurse check her again then they went back to fussing over her while Dawn herded the kids.  When it was time, Callia nearly got grossed out.

"They have to touch her privates?" she demanded, looking at her aunt.  "WHY!"

"That's where they come out of," Dawn told her with a grin.  "Did you think they came out her bellybutton?"

"They did on Auntie Tara's last one!"

"That's surgery, dear.  Regular babies who don't need surgery come out this way."

"Eww!  Is she pooping out the baby?"

"No, there's another hole," Dawn said simply.  "It's the same muscles though so she might poop a bit.  You shouldn't mention it though."

"Okay."  She didn't look like she wanted to but she guessed adults had accidents during huge things like having a baby.  "Did my mom do that when she had Sean and the twins?"

"Yup," Dawn agreed.  "Not with you, she had surgery to have you."

"Good!  That looks like it hurts a lot."

"It sure does," Dawn agreed, giving them a squeeze.  Did she want to have this kid?  Clint stroked across her mind.  She let him view it from her even though he said he didn't want to watch Pepper give birth.  Finally, all the panting, sweating, swearing, and pushing was done and the baby was out.

"One gorgeous little boy with red hair," the doctor announced, holding him up so Mom could see it.  Pepper was sniffly.  "Dad?"  They both reached for it.  "Here.  Clamp here," she told Steve.  He did that.  Tony cut the cord.  She smiled and took the baby to clean up, do the weight and measurement necessities, then handed him back to Mom.  Who was still sniffling but being cuddled.

Callia walked over and climbed up carefully, kneeling beside her on the bed.  "Hi, baby brother.  It'll be okay.  I know it's really bright and a bit scary but I'm a good big sister and we'll teach you all sorts of stuff about science and animals."  She touched his hand and grinned.  He had quit crying.  "He knows me."

"He does from all the hugs you gave him," Pepper promised, smiling at her.  She hugged the baby then her, then her dads.  She went back to cuddle Liz.  Liz was being very quiet.  "Is she asleep, Dawn?"

Dawn looked and nodded.  "But breathing okay."  The doctor looked over.  "She has apnea."

"A monitor?"

"Home," Dawn said.  "We don't have a portable one."

"I've got one designed," Tony said.  "I've got to put the polishing touches on it and make it."   Steve got Liz to bring over.  Callia came back to curl up with them.  Dawn smiled and took a picture.  It went up on Pepper's lj.  Dawn got to work canceling meetings but Tony would have to handle the one in the afternoon.  Dawn left them to sit together and hold the baby.  She sent a picture to Pepper's father's phone, he had a picture capable one.  She sent the close-up of the baby too.  He sent back a simple 'thank you' and it was good.  Clint was happy and stroking her mind in comfort.  She decided she wanted light drugs during it.  He laughed and agreed because he didn't want her in extreme pain.  They'd talk about it when she got home.  She agreed, getting some tea to drink.  She came out and found Happy waiting.  "I'm going home to bed."

"I can do that.  Boss won't be leaving for hours anyway."

"He's got a meeting at two."

"I can nag him."  She smiled and got into the back, curling up to nap on the way back to the house.  He had to nudge her awake because he couldn't carry her into the house.  Dawn settled in on her bed and set the alarm then fell asleep.  It was a good night.  Well, nearly day now.

39: Old Ones In Danger

Ah, pregnancy, how it causes many things.  Like attacks.  NC-17

Joyce looked up as her lunch appointment showed up.  "What's wrong, Bradley?"

The temporary head of SHIELD while Maria was on maternity leave sat down.  "I need you back."

"With what happened...."

"The only way to make sure it doesn't is to fix it from the inside, Joyce.  The rest of us would never want to harm your daughter or her future children.  I have no idea what his plan was but it's stopped.  If people aren't there to stop any further plans, who knows what'll happen."  She slumped but nodded.  "Beyond that, everything's a wreck.  I can't find anything.  I have no idea on the paperwork.  I can't even figure out how work his coffee maker."

"Put in water, grounds, and then flip it on."

"I have an espresso machine.  I have to fill, tamp, load, pour, all that."

She smiled.  "It's the simple kind.  All you have to do is flip it on once things are in the proper place."

"Yeah, but I have no idea how to do that.  How much coffee do you use?"

"One scoop per cup."

"Oh.  Okay.  That's weird."  She shook her head but she was smiling.  "Please?"

"With his plans, I would've destroyed him.  I can't be part of a group that would try to hurt my family that way."

"I get that, I really do.  But we're working on fixing it from the inside and I need someone who can help me.  Maria will too.  I talked to her first.  She's going to talk to you in a few days.  Just think about it?"  She nodded she would.  "Thank you.  Any idea where I find form A-3558?"

"Is that the food service one or the one for someone crashed an agency car?"

"Car," he huffed.  "I didn't even know we had one of those."

"Phil did.  He showed me those."  She smiled.  "If you can't find a good copy, take the master from my right-hand desk drawer and make copies.  They go in the second filing cabinet, second drawer down.  They're in numerical order."

"I can find that.  Thank you for thinking about it.  We're about to fall apart or shake back to the eighties."  He patted her hand and got up to go tell Maria he hadn't quite failed.  Plus to make copies of that form since he had to fill it out.

Joyce finished her lunch, then went home to talk to Bruce.  She wasn't going to make a huge decision like this without his help.  It might impact his research work.

***

Dawn walked into the staff meeting, smiling at the people.  "I'm chairing it for Pepper today, people."

"Is she back on bedrest?" the head of accounting asked.

"No, she and little Christopher are doing just fine.  She delivered three days ago while we were in Malibu.  She just got back about an hour ago.  They can't fly when they're that young so Tony had to hire her an RV and have it bring her."  They all smiled.  She put up a picture.  "Callia is of course stoked she'll get to teach him about animals.  Liz is staring oddly at her baby brother but she likes to cuddle him and grin at her mother."  She took down the picture.  "I see we have three items on today's list.  Are there any that need to be added?"  A few got slid down.  "I can add those."  She did and they got down to business.

One of the lab heads raised a hand.  "Dawn, not to be rude, but I know you're an assistant.  Are you in charge?"

"No, she's Stark's and Pepper's personal assistant," the head of Chemistry said.  "She's the gateway back to them."  The head of physics nodded at that.  "Beyond that, Stark takes over if Pepper's not there."

"He's at the baby doctor with Callia and Liz," Dawn said.  "It's time for shots."  A few of the geeks shuddered.  "So I'm doing this, I'm recording the audio for Pepper.  If she has a comment she can tell us later."  That got a nod of understanding.  "Just think, I'll be doing this for Callia too."  They smiled and got back to the important things that ran the company.  Tony came in halfway through and settled into a chair, letting Dawn hand him the requested topics' explanation pages.  He balled one up and tossed it at a basket over his shoulder but the other two got handed back.  The people looked and that one pouted.  Dawn smiled.  "Consolidating would mean building another lab center."

"We'd have to build our own _Eureka_," Tony said with a grin.  "I like Oregon but not that much."  She laughed and nodded.  "We're not sure about a third building or not."  That got a nod of understanding and they got back to business.  Dawn texted him a note and he read it, considering it.  It was nearly summer.  Fall would be here soon.  He was ready, the house was being gutted at the moment so he could 'remodel'.  Fake furniture and all that would be moved in soon.

He was so tired of this subterfuge.  He should be able to level with his people.  Dawn sent over another note and he nodded, sending it back.  Barton was finding all his bad apples.  Once that was done, he was going to share some truths and problems. The meeting closed down with a positive note.  The two new suggestions were good ones.  The other one was pathetic and his idea so probably not a good one.  Pepper's two were going to streamline some of the paperwork hassle they all had.  So yeah, he could handle this for now.  He looked at Dawn.  "How long does he need?"

"Don't know.  He didn't tell me."

"Okay."  He rubbed his forehead.

"Boss, you haven't slept in a few days.  Maybe you should?"

"Maybe," he agreed.  He went up to the penthouse.  Pepper was in bed with the kids.  He carefully moved Callia and laid down, letting her rest on his chest.  That way he didn't get woken up by a complaint of being smooshed.   Dawn could handle things for a few hours.

***

Dawn looked at her OB's partner.  She really didn't like this one.  Her choice had been the one that Maria and Tara had went to but he was full right now.  This one was annoying the hell out of her.  "No, I'm not submissive to my husband," she said dryly, staring at them.  "I hold a high stress position, and so does he.  It's curing the morning sickness because apparently my body's decided it's safer since I've been poisoned six times in the last four months."

The doctor laughed.  "Why?"

"Because there's idiots in the world who want my boss."  She shrugged.  "Shit like that happens around me.  I got really tired of the kidnaping attempts before I was eighteen but I still have them now and then too."  Clint knocked then walked in.  "Hi."

"Hi."  He smiled at the doctor, who was staring in awe.  "There's people who want my future kid.  That's why she's been poisoned.  Please quit pissing Dawn off before she blows up the building magically and we have to figure out how to make it quit floating."

"Eww, I'd never do that," Dawn complained.  "I'd get that overuse migraine again."  She grimaced at her doctor.  "Really, I wanted your partner.  He did really good with Tara, he did really good with Maria.  He's used to those of us who don't use your submissive ideology of faith.  Can I please be switched to someone I don't want to hate?"

Clint laughed.  "Calm down, Dawn."

"I am!  It's annoying.  I got lectured earlier by the nurse that I was wearing a pagan sign on my necklace."

He looked and grinned.  "I gave you that one."  She smiled and nodded, touching it.  "I like the Green Man myths when you described them to me.  It's the balance that's missing in most of nature."  He hopped up to sit beside her.  "Beyond that, we've had poisoned apple juice in the house, poisoned mail sent to her.  Someone a few months back sent ricin to her workplace because they were mad their daughter was pregnant.  She's constantly surrounded by high powered geeks who forget to do things like eat, so she reminds them, including the head geek at Stark.  So no, she's not submissive to me at all.  I help her calm back down.  Now and then we might even get a bit kinky but she's not submissive.  She can pretend now and then but it usually gets her what she wants, me."  Dawn was blushing.  He stared at him.  "Are there other problems or can you quit stressing Dawn out?"

"No one has things like that," the doctor huffed.  "She needs help.  Not this child."  He stomped off.

Dawn looked at him.  "I say I let Doc at the infirmary do it."

"Might help but she hates to deliver babies."  An officer came in.  "Hey."

"Hawkeye, sir.  Um...  I know you used to be Miss Summers but I'm not sure what you're using as a name now, ma'am."

"Barton-Romanoff or Summers.  I answer to both," she said dryly.  "What was his issue?"

"That you're a threat to yourself and others?"

"No, he thinks I'm submissive to my husband."

"Ma'am, we've arrested the last six people who have tried to take you," the officer said.  "I doubt that."  The doctor and nurse were choking up the hallway.

"Six?" Clint said, considering it.  "I know about four."

"One was called in by her wife, sir, and the other one we stopped on the way to work because she had him at gunpoint for trying to release a sleeping agent into the car with the children in it."

"Oh, him.  I knew about him."

"The first one was about three months ago."

"I didn't hear about those," he admitted, looking at Dawn, who shrugged.  He rolled his eyes.  "It happens," he told the officer, getting up.  "We're picking another doctor.  That guy's an idiot."  The officer smiled.  "We like his partner.  A lot of female SHIELD agents like him too.  I have no idea why he puts up with that guy seeing his patients."  They walked out together.  The officer helped by making sure no one got near them.  He got her into the car and to the towers.  They walked into the infirmary.  "Doc, I know you hate birthing babies but the OB that she had just told her she was being too subby and that she was mental for being poisoned and taken hostage."

Both doctors leaned out of the office.  Shivs grimaced.  "He's the one Tara went to?"

"His partner.  He's full up," Dawn said dryly.  "Please get my records?"

"Already doing the form," Doc called.  She came out.  "I still am not an OB."

"You do most of the work anyway," Clint said dryly, cracking Shivs up.  "You know Dawn better than anyone but me and Nat."

"I still have no idea about problems."

"Doc, if I'm having problems it's probably because of the Key," Dawn said.  "Or because someone else tried to poison me."

"Good point."  Shivs was still laughing so she glared at him then at Dawn.  "I'll help you find one."

"Please."  She smiled.  "I need my prenatal vitamins refilled."

"Fine."  She took the bottle to do a refill.  She looked at it.  "Why are you taking such a high dose?"

"No idea," she said.

"I'll put you on the standard one."  She faxed it to the pharmacy they used and let Clint go get it for her.  She looked at Dawn, who shrugged.  "Were you kicked out?"

"He tried to have an officer arrest me for being a danger to myself and others."

"Wonderful," she said.

"Clint said it, not me."

"He is highly protective," Doc quipped with an evil smirk.  "How far?"

"Two and a half."

"Fine.  We'll find you a better one, Dawn."  Dawn grinned and went back up to her desk.  She put the incident on her livejournal.  She had ranted a few times about people who wanted the kid to not come into being. Someone kept trying to censor her livejournal but yay.  Pepper's was backing her up.  One of the reporters that checked her blog wrote a question.

Dawn answered her honestly, there were people who didn't want them to have a kid.  Some were anti-Avengers, some were anti-Summers, and some were anti-Stark.  A few just wanted the kid for their own later uses so she had to fight off a few kidnaping attempts too.  She scanned in a police report, which was public information.  They could look it up themselves.  Someone had tried to remove them but it was still in the system somewhere.  "I wondered why he wasn't in jail," she said.

"Because someone's doing a great coverup job," Pepper said from behind her.  "Clint threatened to have you blow the building up?"

"Yup."

"Great."

"Doc's helping me find one I like."

"Even better."  She patted her on the shoulder.  "Meeting minutes?"  Dawn handed over the pile of paperwork Pepper had been avoiding.  She looked through it with a huff but found what she'd been looking for.  "It's missing a page."  Dawn looked at her printer and loaded more paper, letting the rest print out.  She smiled and handed it over.  "Gee, thanks."

"Welcome, boss."  Dawn finished up and sent that message.  She got back to work on the emails that had come in.  She had a few materials requests she needed to do the forms for.  Though one looked a bit odd.  She called up that department's requisition forms.  Something was seriously off.  She saved those to her tablet and got up, going down to Stark's lab.

"No!" Tony called when she opened the door.  "I've got acids and things out that can kill you."

"Boss, I need you to look at these requisitions."

"Can't you?" he demanded.  "That's one of your many duties, Dawn."

"Then you want me to let Chemistry and Patty's lab order a minute amount of plutonium?"

He frowned.  "What?"  She waved her tablet.  He came over to look at them.  He was frowning by the second one.  "Why are they ordering bomb parts?" he muttered.  He kept going.  "That's just wrong and not for a bomb."  He stared at it.  "It looks familiar."

"Ask Bruce?" she suggested.  "Or McKay?"

"Let me ask Patty.  Who sent them?"

"Richards."

"Let me ask Patty while you take those to Bruce."  She nodded, taking it to his lab.  He was in the other building so she went over there.  He called Patty up to his office instead of the lab because she was pregnant too.  Pepper had started a run on maternal squishy feelings with Liz.  "Patty, Dawn just got an odd requisition."  He was looking through their update reports.  "I don't see why some of them are needed.  What are you guys working on?"

She sat down to tell him.  Nothing that should've mattered with what they were ordering.

***

Dawn walked into the meeting area, ducking a thrown dart.  "Stepdad, Stark referred these odd requests to you."  She let him see them.  "He thought it was bomb related and then it's not."

He went back to the start, frowning at what he was seeing.  "They're trying my experiment with a different type of radiation."  He got up.  "Where's Stark?"

"His office I think," Dawn said.  "They're all signed by Richards."

"Thank you, Dawn.  We don't need another Hulk incident."  He took it to Tony, pulling up his old notes once he got there.  "Different radiation source."

Tony stared then looked at him.  "No.  Not allowed."  Bruce relaxed and smiled.  "Patty, I need you out of the way," he ordered.  "Who is he working with?"

"I've done some research for him and a few others, Tony.  I didn't realize it was a huge problem."

"It's not," Bruce said, patting her on the shoulder.  "Unless he gets it to work."

"He said he was splitting a new atom.  Some new chemical mixture," she said.  Bruce shook his head.  "We're sure?"

"Absolutely certain," Bruce said.  "Go tell Jonathan and stay with them."  She nodded, going to do that, pulling MB with her.  He and Tony shared a look.  "JARVIS, how many?" Bruce asked.

"Six between the four labs," the AI said.  He put up their files.  Tony got into their notes they've handed in.  "They're reporting to someone outside the company due to grants I believe.  We have a few that do that."

"No," Tony said.  "They're not supposed to be taking outside grants."  JARVIS put up a few other files.  "What did Andrew get?"

"One from Colonel Rhodes' people, sir."

"I'll talk to the other ones."  He closed the other ones.  He had a problem.

"Can I send Dawn home?" Bruce asked quietly.

"No.  They're not stupid enough to be doing it here.  They can't be."  They went to look at that lab's work.  They had requested a joined lab for the 'atom splitting' and it was a bad thing.  They had one of his old arc reactors taped to a wall, with a human-shaped target behind it.  It was set up to fire on it.  Which would probably create an explosion.  "Hold it," Tony ordered.

***

Downstairs, Dawn and Clint both grabbed their heads.  She fought her way through it.  "Clint, the main energy containment lever is on seven," she said.  "Pepper, you and the kids are to go now."  She nodded.  "Do a quiet evac."  She called security to get that started while she went up to Shield Design.  "Morrison, I need one now.  Someone's doing something fucking stupid downstairs.  They're going to try to blow an old arc reactor they stole from Stark's storage area."

He nodded, digging into their stores.  "How serious?"

"It could blow the island," she said simply.  He tossed her something.  "Thanks.  Flat part on the bottom?"  He nodded.  "How do I start it?"

"Red button, Dawn.  Hit it and slap it, then run.  It'll create a wall."  She nodded, heading down there.  "People, if that arc reactor blows, we're doomed.  Let's go."  They all left, taking their notes with them.  They ran into security.  "We're Shield Design."  They nodded and made that note to the check-in person handling it.

Dawn walked into that lab and hit the button then slapped the shield generator between the two geeks and the machine.  It was still powering up and they were arguing.  She looked and tripped the main breaker.  Clint got the building one.  Very few things would run with that main switch tripped.  JARVIS, decontamination procedures.  Nothing else outside the elevators and the infirmary.  Then she noticed they had hooked the laser up to another older arc reactor model.

"Boss, out!" she ordered.  "The laser's going to go off!"  She hauled on Bruce's arm.  "You can't survive a second one!"  The laser discharged and she threw up a shield.  The flash of light was still intense, and so was the heat.  She passed out from the strain, coming to with the Hulk patting her hard.  "Ow, Stepdad.  Baby!"  He quit patting her, looking confused.  "Get Tony, Hulk.  Take Tony to Doc."  He grunted and moved, getting Tony, who had a few burns.

Dawn got up slowly.  She was helped by the Hulk.  "Thanks."  He helped them both down there while she gave him simple orders of how to get there.  He realized that they shouldn't be hurt and something had happened.  "Doc?" she gasped.  "Damn it."  She leaned on the bed.  She got helped up by Shivs while Doc got Tony.  "Tell me we cleared everyone?"

"As far as we know," Doc soothed.  "He's got a few burns.  What were they doing?"

"Trying to blow up an arc reactor to split the power molecules or something."  She waved a hand and winced.  "Hulk, Dawn needs Joyce and Pepper.  Please?"

"Hulk call Joyce and Pepper."  He frowned at the wall with the phone.

"I've called them and alerted your spouses, Dawn," JARVIS said.

"Man in walls?" Hulk demanded, slapping one.  "Walls not talk to Hulk."

"Hulk, no," Steve ordered as he rushed in.  "No beating the man in the walls.  He's a good man.  He's helping Tony and Dawn."

"Dawn safe?" he asked.

"Dawn's very safe."  Dawn winced and she was nearly in tears.  "Soon.  Can you change back?"  Hulk glared.  "Just asking."  He heard Joyce.  "Joyce!"  She came in to get the Hulk.  He smiled at her and hugged her.  "There was a lab accident."

"Not an accident," Dawn said.  Steve stared at her.  She told them what they had found.  That they had a shield up, that she had thrown up an extra one as the laser discharged.

"That probably saved you both," Shivs said.  He pulled over the ultrasound, scanning her stomach.  "You're all good, Dawn."  She relaxed and nodded.  "Rest."

"I'm still unable to find out who gave them the external grants," JARVIS noted.

"What were they really trying to do?" Joyce asked.

"They told Patty they were splitting some chemical formula's atoms," JARVIS told her.  "They had one of the old model arc reactors as the laser's focus however."

"Run the film for me," Steve ordered.

"It's of poor quality.  They tried to shut it off and weren't wholly successful."  He did show it to them.

"That's not right by what little I know."

"Hulk protect Joyce?" he asked.

She smiled and patted him.  "I could use Little Man back, Hulk."  Hulk pouted.  "You protect me very well but we need science stuff that Little Man knows."  He hugged her.  "You protect Joyce very well, Hulk," she said, hugging him.  He smiled and cuddled her.  "Steve, how is Tony?"

"Few burns," Doc said.  "Knocked stupid.  Nothing outrageous and no radiation that we can tell."

Steve looked at Hulk then up, it was a bad habit he hadn't broken yet.  "JARVIS, check the people they were talking to against the ones that had given grants to Dr. Banner."

"Yes, I believe there is one in common," he said.  "Though I'm not sure why.  Let me trace that.  Sir's vital signs are climbing.  I believe he's trying to wake up."

"Not yet," Doc said, adding more sedative to his IV.  Phil appeared.  Xander appeared separately.  "Emergency's over with, guys," she quipped.

"I was in Jordan," Phil said.  "They wanted to talk about their hellmouth."

"I was at the temple in Colorado," Xander admitted.  He moved to Dawn, scanning her.  "We should be okay."

Phil scanned her then looked at his spouse.  "Are you sure?"

"'Sclep?" Xander called plaintively.  He appeared scowling.  "Are you really busy?"

"No, not really.  My maid sucks.  She threw out my socks."  He scanned Dawn, frowning.  "What were they doing?" he demanded.

"Something with a laser and Tony's old arc reactor," Steve said.  "Dawn threw up a shield and we had one set up."

He scanned Tony then Dawn again.  They all saw him mouth something that looked like 'the fuck' and shrugged it off.  He laid a hand on Dawn's chest and stomach then nodded and fixed it.  "Okay," he decided.  "Let me talk to Hera."  He disappeared and came back with an IV bag for Tony and a glass for Dawn.  "Xander, get this into her stomach."  He banished it into her stomach and she groaned, holding her chest.  "I know, but it'll be fine, Dawn."  He looked over at Doc.  "It's golden apple juice."  She smiled and hooked it up.  Apollo appeared looking confused.  He showed him what he had seen.

"How in the hell, dude?" he demanded of Xander.  Who pointed upstairs.  He looked then at him.  "There's a small portal up there."

"What?" Phil demanded.  He scanned.  "Is it safe for us to enter that room?"

"Nope," Apollo said dryly.

"Hulk smash?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes, Hulk can enter it," Apollo said after scanning him, ignoring the wifely scowl aimed his way.  "But you can't smash that.  It'll get worse."

"Ask McKay," Phil ordered Xander, who disappeared to grab him.  Even if he did complain a lot.  They came back and JARVIS put up a current scan of the lab.

"We have found ways of eliminating those when we created them by accident in the Stargate itself," Rodney admitted.  "I'll need a decontamination suit."  They got him one and let him go handle it.  It closed and Dawn went limp.  The Keys were no longer hyper protective.  Hulk started to change back.  Tony was still knocked out.  So about normal for a bad lab problem. Rodney stomped back in, letting the doctors scan him in a private room.  He came back without the suit on.  "What happened?  I saw the set up, I saw the shield that probably held just about long enough."  JARVIS showed him the film.

The beam hit the arc reactor in the center.  The arc reactor blew up, which decimated the shields and knocked Stark and Dawn down.  The resulting explosion created the spot of black hole.  Hulk smashed the people behind the laser and the laser itself.  Which fired a second time into the mirrors they had around the room, which ricocheted right above the heads of the people on the ground.  That caused the burns on Tony.  Dawn was fully glowing green in a protective rainbow over her and most of Tony.  It receded some as Dawn came to, finally going into her stomach to guard the baby when she woke up.

Joyce blinked.  "They would've all died if Bruce hadn't Hulked out and Dawn hadn't protected them," she said quietly.

Hulk grinned.  "Hulk smash like Little Man said."

"You did a great job," Joyce assured him, giving him a hug.  He grinned and held her.  He liked cuddling Joyce in both forms.

Steve looked at him.  "Hulk, can you change back?"

Phil shook his head.  "I can hear Bruce fuming in his head."

Xander looked and nodded.  "He's really not happy."

"Sure, I get that," Steve agreed.  "So am I."

"It was the same people who gave him money that gave them the research grants," Phil told him.  "The same ones that kept trying to capture him."

"If there hadn't been strong enough shields, it might have destroyed more than this charming, ostentatious building," Rodney said.  "Possibly about a ten mile radius.  Plus any damage the black hole would've caused."  He sat down.  "As a rule, it's always a bad idea to throw energy at a portal of any sort.  When Dawn and Tara are closing one during something, they focus on the outer edges to end the spell.  I checked after that one battle downtown.  Which is highly recommended as black holes suck in all meanings of the word."

"I didn't know you stooped to puns," Xander said with a smile for the big geek.

"Sometimes they're the only thing that is understood," Rodney said, scowling at him.

Xander smiled.  "Next year's the next chaos kid incident."

"Please, all that's holy and right in the universe, don't do more tentacles?"

"They weren't planned then," Xander quipped.  "But I'm not allowed to eat Mexican food around them anymore."

"I'm fairly certain that was at all, Xander," Phil said dryly.

"You know what?  Headache, me, going, bye," Apollo said and waved before disappearing.  Guys like McKay weren't natural.

Xander snickered with Rodney, who smirked back.  Diama appeared and stared at him.  "Good afternoon, Diama," Rodney greeted quietly.

"What did you blow up this time?" she demanded.

"It wasn't him, Diama, it was other geeks," Phil said.  "They were trying something stupid to blow up the city for the Army."

She scowled at him.  "Army like Ares'?" she asked.

"The US one but they don't have a God of War in charge," Xander said, showing her.

She scowled at the ceiling.  "Ares!"  He appeared with a yelp.  She pointed.  "You go fix your stupid people!  They tried to blow up my geeks and this city!"  She stomped a foot.  "Right now!  Before I have Hera spank!"

Ares leaned down to get closer to her face.  "You don't order me around," he said calmly and quietly.  "They are not my soldiers so I can't really order them around, and Hera would not spank me.  No matter what you think.  Now, are you done throwing a fit?"  She hit him with power, making him shrink to her size.  "Hey!  How did you learn that?"

She smirked evilly.  "Movie.  Dumbass people are yours, you're God of War.  Go be God of War and fix stupid!"  He clearly got it better now that he was her age.  She let him regrow and sent him off.

Loki looked up from his reading when Ares appeared.  "You got thrown this way for a reason?" he asked dryly.

"Diama said something about soldiers trying to blow up New York City."

Loki looked up.  "Son?  Is there something my spouse should know?"  Xander sent a mirror for them.  He read it and handed it to Ares, who read it and growled, going to fix that bout of stupidity.  The world did not need another Hulk.  Loki took the mirror into the room where his husband was holding a meeting.  "I believe you may need some new generals," he said quietly, handing it over.

"Excuse me, this seems important," he said.  He let the film on the mirror play and grimaced.  "Damage?"

"Minimal.  It appears they stopped it somehow."

"Go get someone to give me a real report," he ordered, handing back the mirror.  "Someone who was there if possible."  Loki nodded and disappeared.  He looked at the senators.  "Someone just tried to blow up Stark's buildings on purpose in a way that took McKay to end."  They all groaned.  "I'm going to see what's going on."  Xander appeared and handed him the report Phil had written.  "Were you there?"

"They're all unconscious.  Well, Bruce is Hulked out because it saved him."

The president read the report based on the film.  "The actual video?"  Xander pointed at the DVD attached to the back.  He put it into his laptop and ran it.  It got a nod.  "Why?"

"They were doing some external grant work from someone that had been over Dr. Banner's former work," Xander said.  "Plus a few others."

"What's their status?" the president asked.

"Diama showed up to help her geeks and ordered Ares to fix it.  After a short, quiet argument he is."  The president stared at him so he grinned.  "She brought him to her level so he could understand."

"Injuries?"

"Stark's got a few burns on his face and may limp from the way he fell for a few days.  It might've bruised his hip joint.  Dawn protected them both and she's fine, just knocked out from the overuse to protect them.  Bruce is so mad he can't unHulk because the human him is pissed off about that.  Joyce has him well in hand.  The infirmary has the other two.  McKay shut down the black hole they created."  He smiled.  "Diama showed up to demand what he had done now."

"Great," the president agreed.  "I want to know which generals."

"I'll tell Ares that," he said, looking up.  Ares appeared with uniform name tags.  One had blood on it.  Then Ares went back to his fun.  Xander smiled.  "He has it well in hand, sir."  He disappeared.

The president looked at the names then the senators.  "We need a few lower starred generals in the army."  They shuddered.  "Thankfully it was stopped before it blew up New York City."  He put them on the table.

***

Clint strolled into the infirmary with a takeout bag.  Dawn was slightly awake and trying not to be aware.  He had tried to hover earlier and gotten tossed out for it.  He grinned, holding up the bag.  "Dinner."

"Dinner's nice," the nurse agreed.  "You still can't hover."

"Yes he can," Dawn mumbled.  "Or else I bite.  He's saving people again."

Clint kissed her.  "I got shrimp and I got lo mein.  Which do you want?"

She blinked at him.  "Are you evil?"

"Yes."  He smiled.  "I am."  She tried to laugh but ended up holding her head.  He helped her sit up and climbed up behind her, letting her lean against his chest.  He ate a bite of each then let her have the food.  She moaned but did eat.  Her stomach was calm, it was her head that hurt.  She got finished with what she could stand to eat and put the cartons aside, turning to rest against his chest.  He stroked over her arm, letting her nap.  "Meds?" he asked.

"Given," Shivs called from the office. "The migraine medicine is not safe for her now.  We've also done a new scan, even though she kept turning off the power to the CT unit because the hum annoyed her sleep."  He leaned out.  "That's fine."

"Has his seen him?"

"Potts has by video.  She's got all the kids.  She's highly annoyed.  Thankfully the laser did the work for her before she had to pull out the really painful shoes to kick them with or the Hulk had to kill them."

"That's good then.  I was handling all the other idiots that showed up to supposedly help.  You would not believe the yahoos who think they have skills."  He ate a bite of dinner, letting Dawn rest for now.

The nurse walked into the office.  "Doctor, it's highly unusual for spouses to be on the beds with patients."

He smiled.  "This is an infirmary, not a hospital, for all that we handle everything but the hugest trauma cases.  We're allowed to be a bit more lax in our fraternization rules.  Those three have a protocol," he said, handing over that small book.  "It depends on which one's in the bed for what reason as to who's allowed on there with them.  Their other spouse hates to be touched most of the time and prefers to lick her wounds in private.  Dawn likes to be hovered over.  Clint, it depends on how injured he is.  The more serious, the more likely he is to want to hide.  We even have a room with an expanded bed in it for that trio."

"Doc, if Dawn's in here we're usually here to complain about whatever happened after handling it," he called.  "Or because we had another vision."

Shivs leaned out.  "Do I need to scan you?"

He smiled.  "No, I can take the migraine meds, Doc."  He ate another piece of shrimp.  Dawn snuffled and took it from him so he allowed it.  "Hungry again?"  She shook her head.  "Didn't like the smell of the shrimp?"  She mumbled something.  "Sure, we'll rest."  He shifted so she could curl up on top of him.  It helped her headache.  Tony moaned and woke up so Clint picked up the spare bottle of water to hit him with it - of course his aim was perfect so it pegged him on the arc reactor.  "If you're going to groan at me that way, Stark, we need a shitload of permission from a lot of people."

Tony blinked, glaring at him.  "I'd never touch your mangy ass, Barton."  He blinked a few times.  "Why do I ache?"  He sat up and looked around.  "The kids?"

"Pepper," Clint said patiently.

"Shit, the laser!" he said, trying to hop up.

"Bruce Hulk'd it," Clint said, which stopped him.  "Dawn protected you for the most part but you have a few light burns after they were treated.  Get back down there."  Tony went to the bathroom then came back to lay down again.  "Talk to your AI.  I'm sure your kid is."

"Probably."  He yawned and let JARVIS give him an update on things.  "Good.  We'll talk to the ones who have external grants tomorrow."  He yawned again and drifted back off.  He muttered a 'hey' when the doctor stuck him with a needle full of pain killer.

"Quit, Mr. Stark.  You need it."  He looked over.  "No way she can take it."

"Didn't figure she could.  Do we have a reference on what herbal stuff she can take?"

"No but Tara should."  He went back to the office to finish the introduction lessons that she should've gotten when she signed on here.  She was a good nurse, steady in emergencies, but they didn't exactly have the normal things here.

Clint stroked over Dawn's back since he could feel her trying to wake back up.  She finally got down to snoring so he could finish the dinner.  It was a better night now.

***

Clint walked over to the training center the next day, looking at his teammates.  Bruce still looked upset.  Stark looked pink and heavily sunburned.  Natasha looked icy cold.  Steve looked pissed off.  "Okay, people, is it solved?"

Tony nodded.  "The others with external grants were approved and I've sent around a reminder that all external grants have to be approved.  Yesterday proved why.  Dawn?"

"She's at her desk eating the breakfast I made her."  He smiled.  "She's started into that hungry stage Pepper had."

"Pepper got that in her third month, Barton, not her second."

"She's nearly there."

"Yeah," Tony agreed.  He looked at Bruce.

"No, it's his.  We did a test, it's Clint's kid."

"Why wouldn't it be?" he demanded coolly.

"Because they managed to dose her with a bit of fertility meds before we realized it," Tony said.  "About a month before she apparently snuck over."

"Huh.  No, it's mine.  Or they're mine."  He smirked.

"Which is why we tested the meds," Bruce said.  He looked at the others.  "What else do we need to deal with?"

"I can't fly for the next few days," Tony said.  "I'm still limping and Dr. Shivs said it was lucky I didn't break off the ball joint of my hip."  He shifted and put his feet back up.  "So for now, I'm grounded, people."

"We shouldn't have too many problems," Clint said.  "If we do, we'll call Rhodey or Evan Lorne."  Tony nodded that was fine.  "Who's after him?"

"O'Neill's clone, Jon.  The others worked better in War Machine."

"Good to know."  He stretched.  "So anyway, how are things shaking down, Coulson?"

"So far it's fine.  Maria's put us as adjunct members so you two can still get paid and so can I."  He looked at the team.  "Stark, shouldn't you be in bed?"

"Probably but the kids would fuss.  I can't stand more fussing than Dawn does.  Callia even offered me Carrot to keep me company so I could read him my homework Pepper gave me."

"He's very helpful when you're filling out reports.  She's leant him to me a few times," Phil said.  Tony gave him a funny look.  He smirked slightly.  "Her aunt made sure she's very sharing and helpful."  He sat down.  "As of right now, we have three missions going to the backup teams.  They'll call if they need more specific help."  He looked at Clint and Natasha.  "There's a few surveillance ops when you feel you can leave Dawn for a bit."  They nodded.  "For now, go spar, people.  Stark, go back to bed.  Your father's nagging her about her pets."  Tony got up with a wince and limped off on his cane.  A mini alarm started then stopped a second later.  He smirked.  "Lasers do not work on ghosts."

"No but it's probably cathartic," Steve said.  He rubbed a hand over his hair.  "I'm not in the mood to spar."  He looked at Clint.  "Does Dawn need any help?"

"Not at the moment," Clint said.  "I'll need to get her lunch and dinner later."

"She still can't eat without you doing it first?" Natasha asked.

"With how many times she got poisoned, it's a sensible precaution," Phil told her.  She shuddered.  "The twins?"

"The kids are all coming home tonight," Clint said.  "Including Sean."  Phil smiled and nodded.  "Let me go clean up the mess they left last time."

"That's their chore," Natasha reminded him.

"Not the kids, the last idiots who tried to break in.  By the way, your alarms cut ours.  I didn't know they were trying until the system alerted me that you were there.  Have it fixed, Nat."  He walked off.  "Let me do domesticated things."

"As long as you don't start to moo," Bruce joked.  Clint grinned back at him.

"If she's his princess, he'd probably neigh," Phil joked.  Bruce cackled, nodding some.  "Let me go back to the reports on what happened."  He left those two to talk.  Natasha and Bruce got along well.  Hopefully he could mediate a bit.

***

Clint had found Natasha's nest, he had known for over a week.  The stalking she was doing was annoying but she was dealing with things in her own way and pushing her was never wise.  He knocked and handed over a heavy box.  "We pulled this from the Kremlin."  He walked off.  "Didn't think you'd want that in other's hands."

"Clint?"  He came back.  "This is my file?"

"Yeah.  Including that picture.  The frame got broken but not the picture."  He stared at her.  "That's all I could find."

She smiled.  "Thank you."

"Welcome, Nat."

"We should talk before Dawn and I argue.  Though that will have to wait until she's healthy again."

"She's fine, Nat.  Perfectly healthy."  She grimaced.  "Really.  There's nothing wrong with Dawn.  You two can talk, which I'd appreciate because I hate being caught between you two."

"I... not until she's delivered."

"That means I've got to be in three places at once," he said dryly.

"I will watch over her while you're gone."

"Gee, thanks," he said dryly.  "Maybe you two should at least talk enough so she can have mood swings on you too."

"I would not like that and would probably yell back.  I'm not really restful to be around."

Clint rolled his eyes.  "Fine, whatever."  He went back to the house.  They'd talk soon.  Nat would make sure of it.  Dawn was cooking.  "You sure you want to do that?" he teased.

"Yup, I'm okay.  The new medicine has stopped all the sick stuff."  She took a kiss and grinned.  "Is she okay?"

"She's fine.  A bit pouty.  She said she doesn't want to upset you, considers you fragile."

"Yeah," she snorted.  "Not likely."  He hugged her.  She kissed him again.  "Want this to go on top of chicken or steak?"

He looked at the gravy.  "Chicken.  It'll cover up the lumps."

She elbowed him.  "I'll strain out the lumps, Clint.  I usually do."  He grinned and got what she'd need to make the chicken fried steak.  He liked cooking with Dawn and she did a good job, even if she did make lumpy gravy.  The kids ran down from doing their homework to eat and then they all settled in the living room.  The girls hated tv, and they mostly agreed about half of everything being crap.  Who wanted to watch unreal reality?  Or drunk people.  Or parents who needed a clue.  Though Sean liked the beauty pageant kids for some reason.

Dawn looked over from her book then at Clint.  "Our kid will *never* do that, even if you need it for an op."

"No, because I'd probably cap a few parents," he admitted.  "Nat had one at an adult beauty pageant.  They were using them to pass intel.  One of the more minor European ones that doesn't lead to either bigger title."

"So she got to wear the bikini and heels?" Sean quipped.  They stared at him.  "One of the geeks watches it and makes me watch it with her."

"That's fine," Dawn agreed.  She pointed.  "Put in a video."  He grinned and did that.  The girls liked movies too.  She frowned at the one that got put in.  "When did we get that one?"

"I bought it," Clint said.  "We can do that."

She watched _Undercover Blues_ and giggled through most of it.  "Don't we know someone like Muerte already?"

"Yeah, that guy in Brazil that would not leave you alone."

"Was that the priest that Grandma mentioned or someone else?" Artemis quipped with a grin.

Dawn bopped her lightly on the head with a pillow, grinning back.  "The priest got mad that I wasn't a local girl but I was showing some of the local girls up in the 'how to look hot in a bikini' arena."  The girls laughed.

Sean looked at her.  "You don't need them, Auntie Dawn.  You look good in real clothes."

She hugged him.  "Thanks, Sean, but we'll see.  Next bikini season I'm going to be a whale."

Clint shrugged.  "Doesn't matter to most beaches outside the US, Dawn."  She smiled, rubbing his thigh with her foot.   The kids ran upstairs when the movie ended.  "Guys, you have an hour," he called.  "Are you that tired?"

"The magazines we got said that pregnant women need a lot of baby daddy attention," Diana said with a grin.  "So we're giving you privacy."  She closed her door.

She looked up.  "Did you take over your mom's subscription to Cosmo already?"

"Yup."

"Huh."  She looked at Clint.  Who grinned and pulled her closer to kiss her.  "Sure, I can use some baby daddy time."

He poked her on the side, making her giggle since he had hit the ticklish spot.  "I'm more than a baby daddy, Dawn."

"I know and that's very hot of you."  She kissed him.  "You being all protective and growly is extremely hot."  He smirked and they went to their room.  Clint wanted to tease her stomach some more and maybe see if she tasted different now.

***

Dawn sat down across from her mother at the little café on Saturday afternoon.  "This is why I didn't want to do this around the family."  She pushed over the vision.  "Dream one admittedly and I was hoping it was a bad one until I got it repeated a few times."

She read it over, grimacing.  "Oh, dear."

"I've tried to head it off.  I got it again last night."

Joyce nodded.  "Tony won't be pleased with that."  She folded it back up.  "So we need to do what?"

"Well, Tony's going to overreact probably.  What's going to be our yelling point?"

Joyce considered it.  "I'm going to be screaming probably."  Dawn nodded.  "Saw me doing that?"

"Yup.  Though I found out first.  I walked in on her throwing up and it looked familiar."

"Yes it does," Joyce said dryly.  She sipped her tea.  "I'm probably going to scream and yell but I'll be supportive of her choices.  Any idea why?"

"I'm not so sure it's not being prompted."

"Why?"

"Because I found one of those subliminal units earlier.  I handed it to Tony, who threw an awesome fit.  Callia stared in awe and then clapped at the end for his performance."

Joyce snickered.  "She is a little smartass sometimes."

"Yeah."  She sipped her own tea.  They had brought it to her so she could steep it, that's why she chose this place.  "One of us might need to give her a place to stay for at least a week."

"She's always welcome, you know that.  The same as she is at yours."  Dawn nodded.  "The twins?"

"Some boy asked Diana on a date, Mom."  Joyce smiled.  "He's about her age and met her on the science club tour they did the other day.  Clint's cleaning guns today."  Joyce beamed, that was a good reaction.  "So we'll talk to him later and help Artemis pout."

"Wonderful."  She finished her tea.  "Do you want to set something up?"

"An odd thing, and I checked with Giles.  Most slayers are not fertile."

Joyce blinked.  "Why?"

"Because it can interfere with their duties."  She sipped her tea.

"Then....  That one Spike killed.  Rupert said she had a son."

"Yup, who was in Sunnydale tracking down Spike.  Spike said he barely got away from him the other day and had him taken to Faith to talk to her."  She finished her tea.  "He said there's been two recorded slayer births.  One other one had a shithead for a watcher but she didn't survive."

"So...." Joyce said.  "Is Callia?"  She pointed.  "Is there a reason?"

"The other two that had kids, their kids are or were fairly strong fighters that joined their mother's duties later on.  Both had been raised by her watcher though."

"So it may be prompted?" Joyce asked.

"Or a few left open if there looks like a shortage."

"Huh."  She considered that.  "Could hers be prompted?"

"Someone's certainly trying and warning me ahead of time means there's clearly a problem coming."

"Okay," she decided.  "So we need to make some plans.  Do you see her being called?"

"No, I haven't.  At all."

"Even better."  She put down the tip.  "Show that to Tony, Pepper, and Steve.  I'll talk to Bruce?"

"Sure.  Clint saw mine last night.  If we had to, we could probably give her a bedroom."

"That's a good idea, dear."  She kissed her.  "I'll be ancient by then."

"Pull the other one, Mom," she said dryly.  "If you get ancient Bruce will too and he'll pout.  I can't imagine the Hulk on a walker."

She giggled.  "Me either."  They paid for their tea and went their separate ways.  Bruce smiled when she interrupted him in his basement office.  "Dear, Dawn's been having a vision."

"How bad?"

"Callia's going to screw up majorly when she's about fourteen."

"Ow," he said with a wince.  "Called?"

"No.  Not that way."

"Ooooh, Tony's going to throw a fit."

"Probably."  He hugged her and they stared at his current equation while he explained it to her.  She was great enough she pointed out a math error.

****

Dawn strolled into the penthouse.  "It is Saturday and we are not working," Tony said firmly.

"Great but I had a vision."  Tony glared.  "Not a current problem however."

"Then why tell me now?" he asked.

"Because you'll need four years to get unpissed."  She smiled.  "Had it a few times."  She handed it to him.  "Mom and I talked first."

He read it.  He blinked.  "Pepper?"  She and Steve came out.  He handed it over and shuddered.  "Fuck," he muttered.

"We've been encouraging her not to, boss.  You know that."

"I do.  You've taught her to be a lot more responsible than I ever have been or may ever be."  He sipped his beer.  Steve took it to look at, wincing some.  "Yeah, I needed the head's up warning."

Pepper grimaced.  "That's not good.  Most slayers don't have kids."

"Most slayers don't last long enough to have kids," Tony corrected, then sipped again.

"Most can't," Dawn corrected.  "I asked Rupert after the first one.  Buffy's only the third and she probably shouldn't have been able to."

The three looked at each other then at her.  "Reason?" Steve asked.

"No clue but possibly.  The others got raised by their watchers."

"Then again, we pulled a subliminal device off the speaker by the pool the other day," Tony said dryly.  "It'd be the next generation in the suit," he said quietly.  "If Chris doesn't want it."

"He may not like science," Pepper reminded him.  "He might like music or art.  You like music."

"Most geniuses do play instruments," Dawn said.  "Or so I've seen."

"They do," Pepper agreed.  "I looked that up once.  Tony can."  He smirked.  "She's taking lessons soon."

"Next month she's starting music lessons," Tony agreed.  "I want her to be a well rounded geek.  The one I want to teach her is trying to arrange his schedule now."

"The twins like music but they didn't want to learn how to play it when I asked," Dawn said.  She looked at them.  "So we have a head's up.  We have enough time to calm down if and/or when it does happen."

"Yeah, I might need it," Tony agreed.   "At that age...."

"Boys would," Pepper reminded him.  "You were flirting by that age."

He looked at her, grimacing some.  "Pepper, I was flirting at five.  That doesn't say much as a teenager.  I was *better* at it by then and I had pretty good game."

"I was a wall shadow that year," Steve said.  "Not even seen by most anyone."

Dawn shrugged.  "I was okay and had a few friends but boys were something to giggle over.  I was more concerned with Mom starting to get sick and all that."

"Good point," Pepper said, giving her a hug.  She grinned back.  "What did Joyce say?"

"We'd help her and all that.  One of us could give her couch or bedroom space if we needed to."

"That may help," Tony agreed.  "Because I'll probably scream for a few days even knowing this."  He set the vision on fire.  "We'll prompt against it but whatever."

Dawn patted him on the head.  "At least you do have some warning."

"Yeah, thanks."  He smirked.  She grinned back.  Then swatted him.  "Hey!  What was that for?"

"For not pouncing your spouses when you have no kids in the house."  They looked around.  "Andrew has them according to JARVIS when I walked in."

"Huh," Pepper said.  "They took the baby too?"

"MB wanted practice," JARVIS said.  "I'm watching over them.  Callia's teaching Liz chemical atoms with her building sets."

Dawn grinned.  "Good!"  She went home.

"I did not realize we were all alone," Tony said, smirking at them.

"Still sore," Pepper said.

"I can help you ease that, Pepper.  Can't we, Steve?"  He got up to stalk them around the penthouse until he captured them.  Callia had even brought her pets, even Carrot.  Yeah, they had some alone time!

***

Dawn got handed a photo spread the next Monday by Pepper.  "Great," she said dryly.  "I don't care if they don't like my pregnancy wardrobe."  Pepper laughed.  "Beyond that, I still look good."  She put it aside.  She'd answer those cretins but they'd never get the  point of her put-downs.

"The second movie's premiere is next week," Pepper called.

"We already have a meeting with the assistant so she can tell us any special precautions and check over the theater.  I know we've had to replace a few seats over there thanks to a preschool."  Pepper shuddered.  "I'll talk with the manager later, when I go to get some tea."  Pepper brought out another one.  "Do they expect me to wear heels and a ballgown to go grocery shopping?" she complained, answering those ones back.  They weren't quite as big of idiots.

Pepper was giggling.  "I went through the same thing, though I like your leggings.  They look comfortable."

"And they don't have that stretchy tummy panel," she quipped.

"I did hate those."  Pepper went back to her desk.  It was good seeing Dawn back in good spirits.  Even if she was in a mean mood.

***

Dawn looked up from getting her tea when someone grabbed her arm.  "Let go before I stab you," she warned quietly.

"You have to come with me, it's important," he said, staring at her.  "Right now."

She sipped her tea, walking off in another direction.  "Follow," she ordered.  He glared but she pointed.  "Now.  If you want to talk to me, I have a private room."  He followed her.  "That was really open."

"I was hoping we could get you outside so we could do this in the alley."

Dawn snorted.  "Please!  If you got me near the alley, security would kill you.  They're under orders from Clint to kill anyone who tries to snatch me."  She sipped her tea and hopped up on the conference table.  "So what's going on now?"

"There's a capture order on you.  To not use something that would compromise your...medical condition."

"I'm pregnant, not terminally ill.  Who this time?"

"No name attached."  Dawn looked up and Clint came in a few minutes later.  "How do you two do that?  Can we use that in the field?"

"Sure, if you find another person with magic and empathic skills, hand them the spell that started the link off, and then use it a few dozen times," Clint said with a grin.  "Who?"

"Not noted."  He handed over the notice.  "You told Stark Security to guard her?"

"I hate it when she has to kill people, Hunt," Clint said.

Dawn nodded.  "Me too."  She finished her tea and put the cup down behind her.  She looked around then up.  "Didn't we get all the snakes?"

"No, they couldn't find six, we thought they hit the sewer," Clint said.  Dawn shot it and the dead snake fell down between her feet.  "Nice shot."

"Thank you.  You did a good job teaching me."  She grinned.

"Aaron and Vessily are still saying I shouldn't have because you might shoot me during an argument," he quipped with a smirk of his own.

"I'd never shoot you.  I have plenty of time to baby your injuries already," Dawn said dryly.  "You'd hate it if you had more."

"I would, yeah."  He looked up at his former 'teammate' and grinned.  "Yeah, we're like this usually.  She drew me out of my own little isolated, sniper world and she's perky and nice usually."

"Except to stupid fashion reporters usually," Dawn said.  "New movie next week."

"Crap."

The other spy laughed.  "I saw that."

Dawn grinned.  "Us too."  She looked at him.  "I'm wearing something fabulous."

"You look good in most everything," Clint said.

"No, we had fashion reporters nagging me about the leggings and long t-shirt I wore grocery shopping.  I'm wearing something *fabulous*."  Clint shivered.  She grinned.  "Wear something nice, dear."

"Of course."  She hopped off the table and gathered the cup and the snake, walking off.  He shook his head.  "She enjoys people shrieking about her sometimes."  He looked at a source he had text messaged on the way over.  "SHIELD's not behind it.  Maybe ...  Why would HYDRA want my kid?"  He shook his head and smiled.  "Thank you, Ethan."

"Welcome.  Are they that rabid?"

"Yeah, I shooed off three of them who were going to come in here and kill you when I came in."

"Good."

"Definitely with how many have wanted her."  He heard the quiet alert from JARVIS.  "What?" he demanded.

JARVIS cleared his virtual throat.  "I believe your spouse is having a problem, Agent Barton."

"Where?" he sighed.

"Rotunda."

Clint walked out and pulled a gun on the person who was trying to threaten the kids hiding behind Dawns' shield.  "No, I don't think so."

"The kids do not need to see his blood," Dawn said bluntly.  Then she slammed him against the ceiling of the rotunda.  "Kids today may like the sight of blood and gore in movies and video games but it's not good for them," she told the idiot, staring up at him.  "Why would I want them to be so warped?"

"One's my son!" he shouted.

"Yay!  You were holding a gun on a group of kids," Dawn shot back.  "Do you think I thought you were going to not hurt them?"  He groaned.  "Feel really lucky I don't have hormone swings yet, dude.  Really!"  She dropped him most of the way and then carefully put him on his feet with a perky smile.  "I believe the officers behind you wish to talk to you now."  He turned and the officers walked him off.  "Thank you, Officers."

"Welcome, ma'am.  We're just glad it wasn't someone trying to kidnap you again.  They tend to be a bit mean," one quipped back.

Clint put his gun up.  "How many have they answered?"

"Just a few."  She kissed him and smiled.  "They're very nice and always bring me here now.  I have a nice card in my wallet of who to call and where to take me.  And before you ask, I did not put your cellphone number on there.  I put Stark's."  She grinned.  "That way yours doesn't get out."

He smiled.  "Thanks, Dawn.  Get a cookie?"

"You're going to buy me a cookie?"  She smirked evilly.  "You're going to feed me sugar?"

"I'll bring some home for everyone after dinner."  She cackled and walked off.  Someone tried to stop her so she blinked at them.  "Don't even," Clint called.

"Autograph, sir!  Nothing dangerous, I promise!" the young teen said.  Dawn smiled and signed it, patting him on the cheek.  He beamed and ran off.  Dawn got back to work.

Clint shook his head, looking at his former 'teammate'.  "Yes, there's been a lot of them."

"I can tell.  I'll see what we can find about that."

"Thanks."  He shook his hand and went to get some coffee.  They were already pouring him one as he walked in.  He sniffed it and looked at the manager, who sniffed it.

"That's your wife's low acid coffee, Agent Barton.  I thought you were getting it for her."

"I can try hers."  He sipped and looked at it.  "Not bitter.  Huh."  He walked off drinking his coffee.  Dawn's version wasn't too bad.  Not as good as the stuff Stark made for himself but decent.

The manager of the coffee shop smiled at her worker that had screwed up.  "Good catch."

"Dawn had clearly finished her tea."  She shrugged and got back to work.

***

Clint looked at Dawn's dress for the movie opening then at her.  "Your stomach's going to show."

"No it won't.  I had it tailored so it won't."  She kissed him.  "Anything new on the new ones who want to capture me?"

"Yeah, I get to blow them up."  He smiled, watching her put up laundry.  Including his.  "Didn't we buy a washer and dryer?"

"Yes but I still can't do laundry without someone complaining about how I do it so if you want to do laundry, you have fun with that.  I do it the easy way and let the professionals do it."  She took a  kiss and smiled.  "Teach the kids too please so they don't get complained at."

"Sure," he agreed, watching her fuss things into place.  "The drawers don't need rearranged yet."

"Yes they do.  I can't fit all your underwear in them."

He shook his head, coming over to get Dawn and make her lay down next to him on the bed.  "I'm so much more exciting than my underwear, Dawn."

She smiled.  "Yes, you are."  She snuggled in and teased his chest.  He kissed her.  "You sure?  I'm in the mood to pounce."

"You pounce all you want."  Dawn let out a wicked grin and Clint found himself on his back, his hands underneath the pillows, his clothes floating across the room to the laundry basket, and Dawn's following it.  He blinked.  "Needy, dear?" he joked.

"Yes.  Very."  She leaned down to kitty lick across his lips then kiss him properly.  "Very, very needy."  She took another kiss then moved backward to tease his chest.

Clint flipped them over and pinned Dawn underneath him, not even trying to tease this time.  Dawn in that sort of mood would throw both their backs out.  He didn't want Andrew to kill him.  He was having worse mood swings than MB was and they had locked all equipment that might get turned into a weapon in his lab.  Dawn was already moaning in pleasure as he slid into her.  She stretched out, letting him do whatever he wanted.  This is what he needed.

***

Phil smiled at the kids.  "Hey, guys."  He picked up Tara's daughter with Maria.  "Hi, Danielle.  Are you having a good night?"  She made sucky faces.  He put her against his shoulder, patting her gently on the back.  That seemed to satisfy her.  Maria came in and stared at him, sidearm in her hand.  "Didn't mean to wake you.  I had to change them."

"I slept through them needing changed?"

"Craig needed it horribly but he wasn't willing to fuss.  Danielle was fussing because she wanted to cuddle."  He grinned.  "It's all right.  I do remember how to do this with babies this little."

She leaned on the doorframe.  "When you said you wanted to be hands-on I didn't think you meant teleporting in to change diapers, Phil."

He smirked.  "I'm a man of many surprises."

"As long as they don't scare the kids and you give us warning too."  She went back to bed.  Tara woke up when she slid in.  "Phil changed them."

"He had diaper changing sense with the twins too.  He always knew before I did."

"It comes from handling the bigger shit in the field," Maria joked.  Tara snuggled into her.  "Three more weeks."

"I know."  She kissed her and grinned.  "How's your soreness?"

"I'm okay.  Not fully okay but good enough I guess.  I don't want to have to climb ladders today or something."

"Me either."  She took another kiss and teased Maria's stomach.  Her wife smirked at her.  "It does help the soreness.  One of the coven told me that after the twins and she was right when I cured myself."  She slid her hand lower, which Maria appreciated enough to uncross her legs for her.

Phil looked at the kids.  "Yeah, that's the mommies.  They enjoy it, even if it will wake Melissa up."  He sat down to read to the kids.

"Mommies, need nappies!" Melissa yelled.  "Hush!"

"Melissa, come help me," Phil called quietly.  She ran in and helped him with the babies.  John pouted but came in to help too.  "Did your sister wake you up?" he asked his son, who nodded, pouting at her.

Melissa looked at him.  "You hush too!  You cuddled long enough and needed to go to own bed anyway."

Phil rolled his eyes.  "Do you remember complaining because he didn't cuddle you for two weeks?"

"I give him time and then make him go play," she defended.

He kissed them both on the head.  "You do, dear.  Be nicer to your brother."  She huffed but hugged him.  John beamed at their father and cuddled her, falling asleep on her.  "Thank you, Melissa."  She carefully untangled herself and took Craig to cuddle on the rug with.  He was gumming her fingers, which delighted her.  Finally Tara and Maria were done being loud.  "Time for bed."

"But..."  She pointed at John.  Her brother would wake up again if they moved him, so she'd have to stay up too.  Or he'd have to sleep with the babies, which wasn't fair in the least if she couldn't.

"I'll put him in his bed," he promised.  She smiled and handed back the baby, running back to her bed.  That meant Daddy would tuck her in again.

He carefully put the two babies in their cribs, then floated John to his bed.  He heard the fussing start so he handed the kids to Tara and went to read Melissa another bedtime story.  He was adding on more than usual in case he had to miss some nights due to field work.

Maria and Tara fed the kids, switching off to do the other sides when they had to.  It was good for the kids and Tara always got cuddly after breastfeeding their kids.

***

Dawn smiled as the reporters decided to pounce the family.  She spotted one and looked at Clint, who groaned.  She strolled over.  "Sorry to interrupt but can you please take your 'I went to the assassin's academy in Italy' ass somewhere you're not plying your trade?" she asked.

The reporter blinked.  "How did you know that?"

Dawn pointed at her spouse.  "You do realize that not only can I do background checks but some people do keep up to date on things like the assassins academy's graduating classes?"  She huffed off.  Dawn smiled and waved at her back.  "Have a better night, dear!"  She looked at the actor.  "She only temps as an AP reporter.  She's killed six people in the last few months. It's the same people that let Shandy go again and again because she was a braindead moron."  She walked back to the twins.  "No, leave the twins alone," she told the reporter.

"Auntie, she was asking us to model again," Diana complained, scowling at the reporter.

"No, you may not," Callia said, walking over from her parents' side.  "Modeling is bad for people.  No one should look that skinny."

"That's very true," Clint agreed.  "No one should look like a heroin addict for their career.  We want you girls to be healthy."

"And super models are called super because they're not human, like Superman is.  Because no one else can not eat for *weeks* on end and look perky about it," Callia told the reporter.  The actors who heard all cracked up.

"Did your aunt teach you that?" the reporter asked, smiling down at her.

"No, I'm really smart so I figured it out myself.  That's why I'm a genius."  She smiled sweetly.  "Just like Daddy.  I'm his female clone."

"Many times," Tony said, picking her up to walk her off.  "Girls, you look wonderful."

"Did your aunt help you pick those out?" the reporter asked them.

"No, they did," Dawn quipped with a smile for them.  "Callia picked out hers too.  I adjusted the hemlines with my tailor because they're a lot taller than a lot of designers expect but they picked out their own outfits.  I'm very proud that they have their mom's fashion sense."

"Eww!  Don't touch my ass!" Artemis said and turned to punch someone.  "Pervert!"

Dawn looked at the guy on the ground.  "They're six days away from being thirteen.  Do you really want to lose that hand when I slowly cut it off?"  He shook his head and ran off.  "Thank you!"  She smiled and waved at his back.  "You okay?"

"I'm fine, Auntie."  She smoothed down her skirt.  "Slimy things shouldn't be around decent people."  She pouted slightly but her sister nudged her and she grinned, running over to pounce their brother.  "Sean!"

Clint grinned.  "The girls are great, good girls.  We never worry about them.  They do little chores around the house.  I'm even teaching them to do laundry the right way since Dawn doesn't."  Dawn shrugged.

"You're not the domestic goddess type?" the reporter asked her.

She snorted.  "I can be sometimes but Clint likes to cook and he's very good at it.  I cook sometimes but he likes his cooking and sometimes Nat cooks.  Nat's a cleaner, so she insists that she vacuums."  She grinned.  "I'm the most spoiled, adored wife ever."

"You are," John Sheppard agreed, walking behind them.  "And the prettiest too."  Dawn pinched him.

"So, we've all noted you've gained a good bit of weight.  Are you concerned about losing it afterward?" the reporter asked with a charming smile.

"I've only gained six pounds, dear.  We Summers gain weight in our cheeks first and lose it in our hips first.  My doctor would like me to gain a bit more actually since I spent over a month throwing up constantly."

The reporter blinked.  "You don't look like it's only been six pounds."

Dawn smirked.  "You're trying to provoke me, aren't you?"  The reporter backed down.  "No, it's only been six pounds.  Really.  I can still fit into my regular clothes but with the baby bump starting it's not as comfortable.  So I switched from jeans to leggings."

"Do you think you'll have a super model bump?"

"No, I think I'll have a healthy pregnancy instead of trying to force myself to not gain anything so no one remarks on it.  I want this child to be healthy, not smashed flat by girdles or spanx."

Clint grinned.  "Then again, since we found out someone once again somehow managed to slip her fertility medicine, it might be twins."  The reporter moaned.  He smirked.  "If so they won't be models either."  He walked her off.  "We don't have to do press things for this, right?" he asked her.

"No, not that I'm aware of."

Tony looked back.  "We haven't been asked to.  Steve's been asked how he liked the previews but otherwise no."  Clint smiled.   The twins and Sean caught up to them.

"Dawn, are you going to let them model?" a reporter called.

Dawn looked over.  "What have I said about people who keep tempting my nieces and nephew to take up a job that doesn't help them create a good self image, good self esteem, and a healthy body image?" she asked.

"Oops.  Sorry.  Mood swing, dear?"

"I'm only three months along so nope."  She smiled.  "Watch me pull a taser," she told someone.  "Get your hands off my nearly thirteen-year-old niece's ass."

He backed up slowly, holding his hands up.  "I had no idea.  They look older.  You tarted them up well tonight."

"First, they picked their own outfits and I checked for modesty because they're almost thirteen and don't need to be flashing anyone.  Secondly, those skirts are legal by school rules in this city.  They're longer than some of mine.  They're not tarted up.  Do you see big hair, double-sided tape, too much makeup?  Anything like that?  No, you saw a hot young woman and decided to want to alpha dog them to get panty points.  Well, don't try it again."  He nodded and backed away slowly.  Sean was growling and protecting his sisters.

"Aunt, can I kill him?" Sean asked.

"Awww, you make me so proud," Dawn said, giving him a hug and sniffling some.  "I love how protective you are, Sean."

He grinned at her.  "That baby's going to never date either.  Especially if they're pretty."  He looked at the guy.  "They're not legal for another three years.  Your glasses need changed."  The man stomped off.  "Bye now," he said with a smile and a wave.

Clint and Tony were snickering.  "You so got your mom's temper," Tony joked.  "That was so Buffy."

"Mom would've hated the bikinis too."

"Sean, your mom went topless sunbathing whenever she could," Dawn said.  "There's no such thing as a Summers woman who is afraid of her body."  He pouted.  "Sorry, nephew, but we love you anyway and some day soon you can do the same thing."

"I'm already avoiding drool from when we workout shirtless.  Ronon has to keep running off a botanist."  He grimaced.  "Rodney said she's a weak minded simpleton who's letting her hormones run her life since she's working on sex plants."  He walked over to Tony and Pepper, smiling at her.  "Can I hide behind you?  You'll protect me from drooling botanists, right?"

"Of course I will, Sean."  She hugged him.  "You're our favorite big boy."  He laughed and gave her a hug.

"Kid, hands," Tony joked, pulling him off.  "We'll give you an anti-drool shield."  Clint smiled, walking the boy off to talk to him about bad girls and their drool. "I should help with that talk.  I'm almost an expert," he quipped.

"Thankfully you kicked that bad habit, Daddy.  That way I don't have to build something to eliminate bad girl drool or parts."  Callia beamed.  "Though, it's in testing because she keeps bothering MB.  Andrew helped me build it."  She skipped off to grin at one of the actresses.  "You're very pretty and you do very good work.  You don't even rely on being pretty to do good work.  You're a great role model."  She bounded off to the candy counter.

"No," Dawn called.  "No candy, Callia."

"Shoot."  She came back.  "Not any?"

"Popcorn only," Pepper said, leading the kid and her father, the big kid, that way.  Dawn got the others to their row.  Sean and the twins were sitting between Tony and Maria Hill.  Tara was on Maria's other side, holding her hand.  Dawn was on the other side of Pepper, with Clint on the outside edge seat.  Steve came in late and sat down in the saved spot next to Tony so Sean leaned on his shoulder, getting a hug back.  Pepper and Dawn shared a smile but it was good.

Pepper was in reach to swat anyone that got too loud during the movie.  Dawn was able to handle things if she got sick again.  It was going to be a great movie.  Dawn snuck out to talk to someone who texted her silenced phone.  She came back a minute later and the assistant to the producer went to tell him why she had shooed off that reporter.  No, they didn't need assassin reporters this time either.

***

Dawn looked up as Pepper came in the next morning with the papers.  "That bad?" she asked, spotting the look on her face.

"No, but the girls were quoted.  Callia especially."  She let her see, smiling at her.  "They called it a refreshingly honest look at things and that if Hylal's genes made the girls that pretty and Sean that stunning, they needed more warriors down here to have future model babies with."

"With how Hylal used to have Buffy as a dick trophy half the time, they'd break models."

"They would," Pepper agreed with a grin.  "Thor felt the same way when he was asked.  Though he did say that the twins were adorable and Sean was turning into a fine young man.  They expected great things from all three siblings."

"So do I."

"Good."  Pepper went into her office.  "Anything on your livejournal?"

"I haven't put anything up in a few days."  She got online to brag about how good the kids had been last night and how much she loved the movie.  That she had to keep Sean from cheering at the fight scenes.  Beya walked past with Chris.  "Problems, Beya?"

"He's hungry."  Pepper took him to feed, smiling at him.  She left them alone.  "Sean's in the gym with the girls and John Sheppard."

"That's fine.  We trust John.  He can count, unlike the guy last night."

Beya laughed.  "They're pretty girls but too damn young."

"Yeah but two people tried to grope."

"Did you bruise them?"

"I let them run.  It would've been bad publicity."

"You'll get them next time."  She went to clean up Liz.  She was in a puddle of drool from the dog again.  And the Phil kitty liked to drool when he slept on her for some reason.

Dawn reloaded her livejournal page, spotting the complaints about her stereotyping models.  Dawn found a few pictures and simply wrote out 'my nieces will never look like this' and posted the links.  That stopped that complaining for the most part, though one did note that she did look like she had gained some extra weight.  Which got blasted by Pepper, who said that Dawn's doctor was actually worried that she hadn't gained enough weight yet and that focusing on her cheeks gaining weight was a bad thing.  No one needed that sort of stress and pressure on top of the already high stress of Dawn's job, Dawn's fussing time over the geeks at Stark, and the stress of her spouses' jobs.  So to leave her alone, no pregnant woman needed that sort of hell given to her.  Dawn thanked her for that and walked in to hug her.  Then went back to her desk.

Pepper smiled.  "They don't."

"No, we don't.  Though, I'm probably in trouble for having to save the twins last night."

"No, I talked to the director at the after party and he was happy you had saved the twins.  That producer was slimy anyway.  He agreed that they didn't need to model but thought they were older too."

"That's why I bought them the t-shirts," Dawn quipped.  Pepper laughed.  "They have a new set too."  She found them tucked into a drawer and held it up for her to see.  'Three years before I'm legal in New York, four in California, and five years for the rest of the US.  Hands off!'

"That's probably a great thing," Pepper agreed.  "We need to start getting them for Callia."  Dawn pulled out another t-shirt.  'Warning, sarcastic genius under pressure. May explode at stupidity'.  "Awww.  Yeah, that fits.  When is she getting that?"

"When she passes robotics 1."  She bundled them back into the bag with a smirk. "Tony has a matching one."

"We need to give one to McKay too."

She smiled and waved a hand.  "Handled."

"Wonderful.  They can all go have coffee and ice cream in them some day."  She paused.  "What machine did they create?"

"I think it's a machine to seal skin holes or wounds.  Not totally sure."

"Have Andrew tell me about this machine?"  She texted him and he came up to hug Dawn and hand her some peppermint.  "That's sweet, Andrew, thank you," Pepper said, taking hers with a smile.  "What machine did you help Callia make?"  He pulled up the design and the testing video.  It healed skin openings.  On the mouse they tested it on, it sealed up the anal and vaginal openings.  She blinked.  "Why?"

"Because some people need less oxygen to where they're keeping their brains."  He walked off.  "Going to show Tony.  It was her idea.  We just helped her with the science part."

Dawn smiled.  "That's mean, Andrew."

"Yay?  It might have medical uses."  He grinned.

"Yes, it might.  And it might be used by some guys in the Middle East to supposedly protect their daughters' chastity too."

"Could be," he agreed.  "But we're not sure if it's reversible or not."  He went to Tony's lab, finding Callia in there babbling happily.  "You were going to show him."

"We were."  She bounded around and pulled up the video.  "They helped with the higher science and healing stuff, Daddy."  Andrew made sure he saw the 'healed cuts on cadavers' skin' part first.  Tony looked at him so he put up that last video.  "It has medical uses," Callia said happily.  "And mean ones!  That way no more bimbos like Granpa used to date!"

"I can see that," Tony said.  "I'll set you up with our medical idea team, see if they can find a commercial use for it.  Until then it stays in the safe," Tony ordered.

"But the idiot bimbo keeps bothering MB," she complained.

"Yes, but she could sue you and him," Tony told her.  "So we can't tamper with her.  But if MB makes a complaint, we'll have her tossed out."

Andrew smiled and pulled them up to print them for him.  "She was having a bit of a mood swing last night, Tony."  He handed them over and winked at Callia.  "Come see us when you're done. Your aunt was showing off a new t-shirt for when you finish robotics."

"Cool!"  She ran off to see her aunt.  "I finished robotics yesterday," she said proudly.

Dawn dug out her t-shirt and her father's.  "The bigger one is for Tony.  You can wear them together."  She read it and cackled, running back off to show him.  Dawn grinned.  She loved it when the kids were happy.

***

Clint was cornered.  It was only a reporter but he was still cornered and he wasn't allowed to shoot or otherwise harm or kill them.  Which sucked because he was feeling a bit trapped.  He stared at them over the top of his sunglasses for a minute.  She was young, pretty, perky, and probably supposed to remind him of Dawn so he'd relax and talk to them.  "I don't do interviews," he said bluntly.

"I'm not one of the fluffy sort of reporters, Agent Barton."  He snorted.  "I'm an intern with _Time_.  You mentioned that Dawn had been hit with fertility drugs against her will.  That's been mentioned before.  Any idea who, why, how?  Is this an epidemic that, say, someone else dating an Avenger might have to watch out for in the future?"

He grimaced.  "It's happened more than once.  I still don't give interviews, even to non entertainment reporters."

She smiled.  "It might prevent Ms. Potts getting hit."

"Not really."

She blinked a few times.  "Really?"  He stared at her.  "I'd ask the PR person at SHIELD but they said you've been split off due to operational differences.  You had to be more high profile than SHIELD could be."

"Yes we have.  SHIELD has mostly covert agents.  I should know, I was one until you people made my picture start to show up places," he said, sounding a bit bitter.  "I kinda miss my job sometimes."

"Sorry, but you're news."

"Not really."

"You helped save a city from an alien invasion.  That's news.   The rest... Dawn does a really good job distracting reporters for you two."  She smiled.  "So does Stark.  Any idea who's done the dosing?"

"In one case it was a group in England, in another it was a crackhead that got fired from SHIELD.  There's been six or seven of them and a few more attempts we stopped.  That's why Dawn was on dual methods of birth control for a few years."

"So you slipped up?"

"No, we've been talking about kids for a while."

"Oh.  So it was planned?"

"Not exactly.  We went on the 'it'll happen sometime' principle and hey, it did."  He smirked.  "The ones that did dose her, we handled quietly."

"That's good to know.  Do you think there will be others?  Have there been attempts to get Dawn from you?  I know that her original doctor was complaining that she was a danger to herself and others for her persecution delusions when he responded to her complaining about him on her blog."

"He did try to have her arrested for that," Clint admitted.  "The officer had helped her get free a few times.  He also thought she was a bit submissive to me because she had been poisoned a few times so her morning sickness eased whenever I tasted the food first."

"Aww.  Reasonable, slightly psychological but totally reasonable considering how many reports we found of her having to save herself while you were on assignment or of someone else having to help her rescue herself."

Clint grimaced.  "She tries to hide those from us."

"So others want the child?"

"Yes.  Including a few people in SHIELD who thought that she should go into protective custody."

"Would that help her?"

"In a lab?  Not hardly."

"Oh, I see."  She grimaced.  "That's not good."

"No but there's people inside of SHIELD that want to recreate what Stark's father did to create Captain America.  They think Dawn's uniqueness and my skills will make it easier.  They're dead wrong but they thought that."  He smirked a tiny bit.

She swallowed.  "It's good that you're willing to defend her to the death.  Two last things.  Is your wife on assignment?  We tend not to mention you as much when we find out you're somewhere so you don't get as much attention for a while."

"Thanks for that.  I still get people asking for autographs but it's easier sometimes.  Stark can't go anywhere."

"So she is?"

"Slightly."

"Okay.  Is Dawn having twins?"

"We think it's a possibility.  They did dose her just before she got pregnant."

"How did she get pregnant while you were on assignment?"

He smirked a bit evilly.  "I'm that good."  She shivered.  "Anything else?"

"No, Agent Barton, thank you.  Tell her we wish her a healthy, happy pregnancy, and every woman gets chubby cheeks so she should ignore the fashion cows."  She jogged off.

"She was better than some agents.  We should have her do interrogations with Coulson."  He went back to his errands of picking up stuff.  He walked into a pharmacy near the tower and shrugged.  "Dawn's making me pick up girl things in retaliation for making sausage that gave her heartburn this morning.  The twins need it."

She smiled.  "Pads or tampons, sir?"

"Ummm...."  He texted Dawn.  Pepper responded that she was in a meeting and said that the girls needed this brand, in this size, and they were this color box.  He grinned and held it up.

She led him to them, letting him get six boxes and double bagging them for him.  He left after getting a candy bar.  "He's so adorable," she decided with a smile.  "And a good stepfather to the twins too."

***

Sean whined as he showed up at Stark, going to hug his kind-of uncle.  He whined, hugging him as hard as he could.

Tony patted him on the shoulder, smiling some.  "Girls or some other topic, Sean?"

"Full grown women, who won't leave me alone!"  He pulled back to look at him.  "I've asked John and he's scowled at her.  I've asked Rodney and Ronon both, and they've both growled at her.  She thinks it's *adorable* that they're protecting my virginity.  How do I discourage her?  I've even picked my nose in front of her and she just went 'awww, your aunt needs to do a bit of home training' about it, Uncle Tony.  Then she hugged me and patted me in a way that made me realize how my sister felt when that airport guy groped her."

"Well, first, you're asking the wrong sex  to defend you.  Guys will get the same mushy response.  Dawn, some bimbo keeps hitting on your nephew," he called.

"Excuse me, reporters; what, Tony?"

"Some bimbo keeps hitting on your nephew.  The same botanist?"

"Yes," he complained.  "She's even making me watch tv with her."

"That'll be stopped later, Sean.  We'll go talk to her together.  Let me finish this interview."  She cut the link and smiled at the reporters.  "Same as the twins, his chastity needs guarded too.  He's only fourteen."

"He's a handsome young man but clearly that botanist can't count," the reporter said.

Dawn smiled.  "I'm going to remind her of her primary school lessons.  She probably skipped that grade."  The reporter laughed.  When they were done, Dawn went to gather Sean and something from the Avengers sparring area.  Bruce was over there reading USA today and gave her a strange look.  "He has a bimbo problem."

"I can go scare them," he offered to his grandson.

"Auntie thinks she can."

"Yes, she probably can.  Joyce has scared a few bimbos off me."  He grinned.  Dawn smirked and grabbed her sword and a crossbow with a few bolts.  "You two have fun."

"Sure."  Sean got a hug from him then went back with her.  Sean pointed at the staring, drooling woman.  "Bitch, do you not know how to count to eighteen?  Did your numerical education stop at fourteen?"  The biologist went pale when Dawn pulled up the crossbow and shot at her, making her run.  "Please do!  I haven't hunted in *months*!"  She followed, stalking her.  She shot a few missed-on-purpose shots at her until she could pin her and use the sword.  "My nephew is fourteen," she said firmly, staring her in the eyes.  "You can either move the fuck on or you can wait four years but I had *better* not hear that you've been stalking him, encouraging him in playboy ways, or encouraging any other bad habits.  Am I understood, bitch?"

"Yes," she said, shrinking away from Dawn.  "I'm sorry it gave you a mood swing."

"I'm only three months along.  This isn't a mood swing.  This is a Summers woman protecting their family.  I said before I'd destroy humanity for touching these kids.  Did you think you weren't part of that?"

"No, I'm human," she begged.  "I won't flirt with him or anything else again.  Please!  Colonel!" she begged when she saw him appear.  "Help!"

"I thought that movie was _Diary of a Mad *Black* Woman_, Dawn," John quipped.

She shoved the botanist at him.  "Hitting on Sean so hard he had to seek help.  Apparently no one taught her how to subtract eighteen from another number to see how long she has to wait."

"No, she should be smarter.  We've tried."

Dawn smirked.  "Then it was time for a girl talk."  She growled and the botanist ran for her life.  "Thank you!" she shouted after her.  "Dumbass!  Why hasn't Rodney killed you yet for being stupid!"  She looked at John and grinned.  "Any others that wanted Sean or the twins?"

"A few of the Marines can count but still consider them holy masturbation aides," he quipped with a grin.  "But they'd never touch and never tell them until they're eighteen."

"That's fine.  As long as they keep it to themselves and don't creep Sean out too."  She smiled and patted him on the cheek.  "You tried."  She walked off, hugging her nephew.  "No more loose bimbos who can probably park a cadillac up their pussies.  So you don't have to worry about plant based STD's, dear.  Need cookies?  I'm making some tonight."

Sean grinned.  "You and Grandma both make really great cookies, Auntie.  Please?"

She smiled.  "I'll mail you some."  She winked and disappeared, going back to work.  "No more bimbos," she said happily.  Her sword went next to her desk.

John walked out, looking at Sean, handing him the crossbow bolts he had gathered.  "Next time, ask your grandmother.  She'd be less evil."

Sean grinned.  "Auntie Dawn's a very good protector of my chastity, Uncle John.  Because I wouldn't know what to do with a woman her age anyway.  Or any woman really.  What do you do with women?"

"There's a lot of things you do with women.  We'll talk about that."  He walked him off to gather Ronon for the sacred guy talk.  He even called out Clint to help since he was kind of the stepdaddy to Sean.  The new one might not be a son and Phil probably wouldn't let him help give Tara's boys their talk either.

Clint looked up as he appeared.  "Huh.  Pretty day today, John.  Hey, Sean."

"Uncle Clint, can we talk about why the botanist wouldn't leave me alone until Auntie Dawn had a girl talk with her?"

"Yeah, we can," he agreed, smiling at John.  "Thanks."

"I figure between you, me, and Ronon it should be pretty comprehensive."

"Probably."  They walked the kid off together to gather Ronon and a few beers.  The kids had drank weak ale on Asgard due to the water issue.  Sean could handle more than a few Budweisers.

***

MB woke up with a moan, holding her stomach.  "Ow.  Andrew!" she said, giving him a shove.  He woke up and blinked at her.  "I think it's time."

"Oh, god!" he moaned, kissing her stomach.  "Hi, baby!"

"Andrew, doctor, that stuff," she ordered.  Andrew didn't always handle emergencies very well.  "Please?"

"Yeah, I can do that!"  He hopped up and pulled on jeans, hitting the switch he had stolen for the beaming satellite.  He ran for the lab.  "Rodney, it's time!"

Rodney looked over.  "Why are you telling me?  Shouldn't you be getting MB to a hospital of some sort?"

Andrew looked confused.  "What?"

"Hospital," he said slowly and clearly.  Andrew just stood there staring pathetically at him.  He was even making tiny puppy noises.  "Fine."  He got up and grabbed some coffee to take with him.  He used Andrew's switch, taking it from him.  "MB, put on something you don't have to worry about sweating in for a bit.  Are you delivering here or somewhere else?"

"Women's," she panted.

"What are you doing?" Andrew demanded, walking over.  "You can't have it here!  I have no idea what to do and I haven't even programmed the roombas to help with diaper changing yet."

Rodney shook his head quickly.  "Andrew, get her clothes."  He ran to do that.  "Something she can get out of easily.  She'll need to once we get to the hospital."   He helped her up.  "He's a bit scattered."

"I know.  I love him anyway.  Even if he does teach a roomba how to change diapers."  Rodney smirked.  Andrew came back with a bathrobe and slippers.  "That's fine, dear."  She got helped into them and downstairs.  The guards gave them an odd look.  "We need a cab *now*.  It's time."  They called one and it got there a few minutes later.  She looked at Andrew.  "Wallet?"  He frowned.  Rodney waved a hand.  "I'll pay you back when he's more aware."

"Panicking is normal," he assured her, helping her into the cab with Andrew.  He paid the cabby.  "Women's hospital.  She's in labor."  Andrew tugged until he got in with them.  "I have not really wanted to witness the miracle of birth, Andrew."  The cab pulled off.

"I can't do this.  I really, really can't do this.  Oh, god, I'm going to be a dad and I'm so going to screw it up!" he wailed, leaning on her shoulder.

She patted him.  "We'll screw up together, Andrew," she said patiently.  "He's had nightmares that started like this."

"I've had one that featured the birthing video we watched in health class in high school," Rodney admitted.  He sipped his coffee.  Once they got there, he got out, helping her out and hauling Andrew out.  The guard gave them an odd look.  "She's registered to deliver here."  The guard pointed and got them a  wheelchair.  "Andrew, follow," he ordered.  Andrew nodded the whole way to the check-in desk.

"Forgive him, my husband's a bit panicked and that's his mentor," MB told the check-in nurse.

She smiled.  "A lot of first time fathers are flustered.  It means they love you more than anything."  She let MB sign the forms.  "Let's get you looked at."  She gasped and held her stomach.

Rodney looked down at the water.  "Looks like your water broke at least."

"Is that pee?" Andrew asked, making MB swat him hard.  "Sorry, dear.  Even if it was, it's okay.  They said that the same muscles control that and your intestinal sphincter so we can handle it even if you do poop."  She hit him harder.  "Ow!  No abusing me," he complained.

"Andrew, we're in public," McKay said sarcastically.  "Think those thoughts, don't say them out loud."

"Oops.  Sorry, dear."  He kissed her.  "I love you no matter what and I'll never look at you funny for the delivery."  She patted him.  The check-in nurse was trying not to smile.

MB smiled.  "He's an engineer."

"I have one of those in a cousin.  He didn't understand those people things either," the nurse assured her.  She got checked over and put into a room.

Andrew would not let Rodney leave.  He protested heros might burst in to capture the baby so they could have her instead.  So Rodney had to stay to help him defend the baby.  MB sighed but kissed him to calm him down.  Rodney got more coffee.  His caffeine system was getting too much blood in it to deal with this tonight.  He did send a text message to Sheppard to warn him he had been taken by a panicking engineer.  He came back and found the nurse checking MB.  He quickly moved out of the way so he did not have to see that.  "Andrew, sit," Rodney ordered.  He sat and held MB's hand, kissing it every few minutes.  The nurse looked at him.  "I'm one of his mentors."

"I've seen your picture before, Dr. McKay.  He one of your people?"

"No, he works with Stark."

"Wonderful."  She smiled at MB.  "Few hours, dear."

"Hours?  She has to stay like this for *hours*?" Andrew demanded.  "That's torture and the Geneva Convention said that torture's wrong!  Anyone could come in and take her from me while she's vulnerable and under torture that way!  Can't we speed it up?"

"No," MB and Rodney said together.  Andrew whined.  MB looked at the nurse.  "He'll calm down."

"I've seen some others that were panicking."  She went to warn the other nurses he was a panicking first timer.

"Rodney, I even remembered my light saber in case something happens.  Do you want to use it?" he asked.  "I'll guard MB and you do the hero stuff since I suck so hard at it?"

"You forgot to pick up her bag of clothes and brought a light saber?" Rodney asked.

The nurse who heard shook her head.  She went in there to hiss in Rodney's ear, getting a nod he would.  She went back to make another note on the board about that one.  He was a major geek with laser weapons to defend his first child.  Great!

Stark came off the elevator about twenty minutes later, smiling at them.  "Ladies.  Never thought I'd be up here again."  He walked into the room the nurse pointed at.  "Hey, kids."

"Thank you!" MB said.  "Calm Andrew down?  Rodney can't!"

"Andrew, calm down," Tony said, staring at him.  "Sit.  Hold her hand, help her breathe like the classes taught you.  Even I had to do that with Pepper."  He nodded and did that, staring at her.  He looked at Rodney.

"He came to get help."

"Panicking is normal.  I did a lot of it."  He helped MB through the breathing, which reminded Andrew.  He also called Jonathan to let him know so he could tell Patty.  When a bird flew into the window around daybreak and broke it, Andrew hopped up and his light saber came out.  He was going to defend his wife and baby. Tony carefully took it.  "It was a bird, Andrew.  Just a pigeon.  It's not going to hurt either of them," he said calmly and quietly.  Andrew moaned when MB started to grunt through the next one.  "She's trying to push," Tony called.  He handed Rodney the light saber.  "Hold that, just in case."

"Frisk him for others," MB panted.  "Andrew, I need you disarmed.  There can't be lasers around the baby until it comes out or it's bad luck."  He disarmed quickly and handed it all to Rodney.  The nurse and her doctor were both amused but yay.

"Oh my god, what is *THAT*!" Andrew yelled, seeing it.

"That is the baby's head," Tony said.  "It's a bit nasty and the placenta looks like a movie monster."  He pointed.  "Help her, Andrew."  He nodded, moving to help hold her up and letting her squeeze his hand.

"I'm right, I never want to have a child of my own," Rodney said.  "That's ....absolutely the most nightmarish thing I've ever seen."  He moved out of line of sight.  Including away from the mirrors.

MB finally screamed and the baby came out, screaming back at her.  "It's a girl," the doctor said happily.  He clipped the cord.  "Daddy, do you want to cut it?"  He reached for one of his things.  "No, with scissors.  No lasers this time, Daddy."  He stared and cut very carefully and slowly.  The baby was free and taken by the nurse to be cleaned up and looked over.  "No, stay," the OB ordered.  "She's got to deliver the placenta."  Andrew nodded, staring at the screaming thing he had helped create because MB was soft in the perfect ways and cuddly.

Tony looked at him.  Then at Rodney.  "That thinking out loud thing is contagious."

"Yes, it is.  I've done it a few times myself.  Andrew, she's still got to push out the rest."  He nodded, helping by hugging her.  He was crying but they were used to emotional fathers.  MB finally pushed it out and went limp.  The baby was brought over for them.  They had to make sure Andrew didn't squish her between them while they hugged but otherwise it was okay.

Andrew blinked, smiling at her.  "I've been working on Roomba's programing so he can change diapers for you."

She smiled and stroked his cheek.  "We'll work on that later, Andrew."  He grinned and hugged her around the baby.  "Let the baby go," she ordered.  He yelped and jumped off.  "Sit, Andrew."

He did and stared at them, smiling a giddy, happy, brainless smile.  He looked at Rodney.  "I'm a daddy.  I'm *so* a daddy.  The world might end but I'm a daddy now."

"You are," he agreed, patting him on the back.  "You'll have eighteen years to enjoy raising her."

"I need to start designing mean things so bimbos and heros don't come near her.  That way no boy will ever touch her."

"I'm working on it for Callia.  I'll share," Tony said.  Andrew beamed and nodded.  "For now, rest.  It's been a long night and she's probably tired.  Pepper slept through the baby waking up the first few times she was so tired."

"I can do that.  Roomba has an alarm.  I got that part done."  He looked around.  "I didn't bring him."

"You'll be home in a few days.  He can do that then," Tony said.  He smiled.  "Curl up there in the comfy chair, Andrew.  Let the nurses handle the baby for a few minutes."   The nurses smiled and took the baby back to do the nametag and those things.  Tony and Rodney shared a look then Tony shook the OB's hand.  "Thank you.  He's a bit of a panicking geek."

"He's the first one that's ever brought a real light saber to the delivery room."

"Heros might want to snatch her so she can't go bad like I almost did," Andrew said.  "Or like my brother did."

"We'll protect her from them," Tony said.  "I'm not that sort of hero."  Andrew hugged him and Rodney then laid down beside MB on the bed to cuddle her and make her feel better.  He and Rodney left.  "We're going to tell the others that she's okay, Andrew.  Just stay calm and call if you need more help."

"I can do that."

"Sleep," Rodney ordered, finishing his latest cup of coffee.  "It's the last sleep you'll get for the next month, kids."  They went outside.  Tony had his car.  Once they were inside they smirked at each other and laughed.  "I'm not sure if Jonathan will be worse or not," Rodney told him.

"No, probably not.  Andrew will tell him how it went.  We'll send her bag over with them later."  He looked at the weapons.  "I don't even know what half of those are."  He drove them back to the tower to get breakfast and tell the others.  Tony even made the announcement cutesy on the building-wide bulletin board:

Andrew and his light saber are proud to announce that his daughter, Caroline, was born last night.  MB and the baby are fine.  Andrew panicked but we thoughtfully disarmed him before the baby came.  They'll be back in a few days for those who want to congratulate them.

***

Clint's phone beeped with the update, looking at it.  "I need to remember to pack weapons too," he said quietly.  Dawn was sleeping in today because she met her new OB in a few hours.  Pepper had given her the morning off to catch up on some sleep.  Clint laid back down, cuddling her.

Artemis opened the door and peeked in.  "Uncle Clint, I'm making toast."

"Go ahead," he said quietly.  She smiled and closed the door.  He smiled, cuddling the sleeping Dawn.  She was cuddly and today was no exception.  He'd get the twins to the tower in a few hours.

***

Callia walked into MB's hospital room, climbing up on her bed.  "So, where's my future geek?"  Andrew pointed at the baby bed.  She smiled at her.  "Hi, Caroline.  Some day you'll be my geek like your parents are Daddy's.  We'll work together very well."  Caroline yawned and fussed a bit but went back to sleep once Andrew gave her back her thumb.  She smiled at them.  "Congratulations."  She hugged MB then Andrew.  "Do you guys need anything?  We were going to help Jonathan move all the baby stuff into the bedroom for her."

"That's okay, we're good.  They spoil me rotten and so does Andrew," MB said with a grin for her husband, who blushed but grinned back.  "What's being said?"

"Daddy introduced her as Andrew and his light saber were announcing her.  You had your light saber?"

"Someone might want to steal her for a future hero," Andrew said.

Callia nodded.  "I worried about that with Liz and Chris.  Thankfully, Auntie Dawn is really mean when they tried."  She grinned.  "She would be to help Caroline too."

"I'd have to help since she's going to have a baby," Andrew said.  "She can't get into fights when she's pregnant."

"I know but she did beat up on the old lady who wanted my brother Sean."  She grinned.  "Happy baby, MB and Andrew.  Let me get back to the tower."  She pulled out her father's phone to take pictures.  "He didn't take a single one.  I don't know what's wrong with Daddy.  He knew he was supposed to take pictures."  She smiled and handed MB the bag she had been carrying.  "Pepper helped me buy it from the t-shirt shop in the other tower."  She hopped off the bed.  "Bye, Caroline.  I'll get to cuddle you in a few days like I do Chris."  She skipped out.

"Where is your parent?" a nurse complained.

Callia blinked at her.  "At the tower, where he should be.  Why?  I'm a genius, I can visit on my own.  I was there when Christopher was born because no one was going to leave for a few hours."  She got onto the elevator and went back downstairs, smiling at Happy.  "I've given her the t-shirt for the baby and took pictures, and the nurses are grumpy.  Can we get ice cream on the way home?"

"Your dad said to bring him some donuts," he said with a smile.

"Cool!  Do I have Daddy's wallet?"  She found it in the car and waved it.  Happy smiled, putting her into the back.  He found the donut shop her father liked and she ran in to buy some with him behind her.  "Daddy needs six jelly donuts and a bavarian cream," she told the cashier.

She looked at the adult behind her.

"Six of each of those, three powdered, three chocolate iced."  She smiled and nodded, getting that for him.  Callia blinked up at him.  "For your dad's later sugar needs plus some for Steve and Pepper."

"Oh!  That's a good idea."  She ran the debit card and grinned once the PIN was in, letting Happy take the boxes.  "Thank you!"  She skipped back to the car.  Happy followed.  They drove back to the tower.

"She looked familiar," the other cashier said.  The first one looked at the receipt and showed her.  "Oh, she's picking up for Stark.  That must be his driver guy then and his little girl."  She smiled and got back to putting out new donuts.

***

"Daddy, I got you donuts and pictures because you forgot," she said as she walked into the lab.  Happy had delivered Pepper's and Steve's donuts.

"Why do we need pictures of someone else's kids?"

She stared at him.  "Because some day Caroline will be my geek and we're going to keep our geeks like family so they're appreciated, Daddy."  She smiled and showed him the pictures she had taken.  "She even has the alien head that Chris had!"

"I think all babies do if they're born naturally."  He hugged her.  "I love that you care so much about other people."  He took his phone.  "Who called?"

"Um.... some woose that you said was an idiot."  She shrugged and took the box of donuts over to the car.  Tony took it and handed her one, eating his first one while he called them back.  "Fine."

"No getting oil or other engine fluids on it, Callia," he reminded her.

"I know.  That's not good eats."  She giggled and got into the car to eat it while she looked at the dashboard.  All the dials said the engine was okay so she'd help her daddy with something else later.  Maybe she'd get to make her own light saber soon.  Andrew had promised to teach her.

Tony shook his head as he was connected to his missed call.  "Callia had my phone to take pictures of one of our people's new babies," he said in greeting.   He kicked back.  "What did we need?"

***

Dawn smiled and shook the new OB's hand.  "Hi.  Dawn Summers-Romanoff-Barton."  Clint smirked at her.  "I still can't figure out which way sounds best."

"I like that."  He smiled and shook the doctor's hand.  "Hi."

"Nice to meet you both.  I'm told by Doctor Begallha that you had problems with your last one?"  She sat down.

"I wanted his partner," Dawn said.  "He's done a few of my friends' pregnancies and they all liked him but he was full so I got his partner.  Who decided I was submissive to my husband, a danger to myself and others because I had been kidnaped and poisoned a few times, and was very down on me not being Christian."

She nodded.  "That's what she said your doctor at the office complained to her about."  She smiled.  "I don't personally care about your matters of faith.  Though I'm not fully used to people who have other skills," she said, looking at Clint then at Dawn.  "She did mention that you do have a few and I've seen you a few times at emergencies."

Dawn nodded.  "It shouldn't matter but we do have a friend who has the same sort of skills so she'd make sure mine didn't come out accidentally during labor.  I helped during her last one."  She grinned.

"Wonderful.  Poisoned?"

Dawn nodded.  "Somehow they poisoned my apple juice.  I ended up not being able to eat anything unless someone I trusted made it.  Usually Clint doing it or sometimes if he ate it first."

"That's a pretty specific problem."

"Doc, there's been four attempts," Clint said.  "We consider it good sense."

"I would too then.  Any effect on the baby?"

"I spent over a month heaving everything back up until we discovered that," Dawn said.

"Good to know."  She made that note, looking over the file she had been sent.  "The fertility medicine?"

"As far as we know, it was someone in England," Dawn said with a slight shrug.  "No one's told me definitively but the last few attempts at it were."

The doctor blinked.  "Why?"

Dawn smiled.  "For the same reason you saw me at a few emergencies, Doc."

"Oh.  I suppose some people would want the baby."  Dawn nodded quickly.  "Are you generally healthy?"

"Yes, and I generally hide like hell whenever I'm not," Dawn admitted.

"Drives us nuts," Clint said casually, stroking her back.  Dawn smiled at him.  "The infirmary at Stark International actually has a protocol for how to handle fussy spouses barging in and wanting to hover thanks to that."

The doctor smiled.  "A lot of spouses hover."  She looked at her.  "You're three months?"

"Yes.  The only time I could've gotten pregnant was on July 15th.  Because he was on a mission.  So unless someone stuck me with something and I wasn't aware....."

"That makes things easier," the doctor said, pulling out her little wheel to move it.  "So the middle of April."  She wrote that down.  "Not a lot of babies being born that month."  She smiled.  "I need to check you over."  Dawn nodded, shifting on the table.  Clint sat down and got out of the way.  "I don't mind husbands at exams."

"It's possible it'll be our other wife," Clint said.  The doctor gave him a look.  "She started it."  He shrugged.  "I love both of my badass wives.  I've known the other one for decades but she started a problem and a fight that we haven't resolved yet."

"Good to know.  The redhead?"  Clint nodded with a grin.  "She seems pretty solid."  She got Dawn into the stirrups and found what she needed.  "Do you tend to run dry?"

"No," Dawn said.  "Not usually."  She used a tiny bit of lube and checked her over.  Dawn winced at one part but the doctor withdrew her fingers.

"Have you had the standard immunizations?"

"Slightly," Dawn admitted.  "I had my hepatitis vacs in the last year," she said.  "Measles I haven't had.  The last time I got hellishly sick.  I do that a lot when I have to get shots."

"Okay," she said, making that note.  "Have you had a TB test and one for whooping cough?"

"No," Dawn said.

"We can arrange that with your local infirmary so you don't have to leave work."  She made that note as well.  She got the portable ultrasound and brought it back to listen to the baby.  Clint grinned at the fast heartbeat.

"Doc, because of the fertility meds, could it be twins?" Dawn asked.  "Someone thought it might be."

She shrugged, changing the view.  "It's a bit early to get a great picture of them but I'm seeing what looks like two sacs.  So fraternal."  She smiled.  The couple smiled at each other.  "How do you feel about amniocentesis?"

"The needle in the stomach test?" Clint asked.  She nodded.  "Should we have one?"

"With the way you've said someone's tried for the child, it might tell us if someone's...tampered."

Clint looked at Dawn, who nodded it'd be fine.  "I want the babies to be healthy," Dawn said quietly.  "So that might be a great thing, and hey, we'd find out what the babies were, right?"

"You would," she agreed, smiling at them.  "We have a few months before then."  They grinned.  "Okay."  She helped Dawn wipe off her stomach and sit up.  "You were warned about battle injuries, caffeine, stress, certain medicines, and how high heels will probably make you tip over?"

"Doc, I can't find shoes in my size outside a local stripper store," Dawn said.  The doctor winced.  "I'd love to have flats sometimes.  As for stress, I'm Tony Stark's personal assistant."  That got a nod.  "So I have some sometimes.  I've mostly switched from coffee to tea but I was drinking a low acid coffee anyway due to a former love of hot, spicy things that tried to eat my stomach for me.  I try to keep it at one cup of coffee and the rest tea."

"That's better than straight coffee.  As you progress you'll want to cut down on the tea too."  Dawn nodded she understood that.  "Any huge concerns you have?"

"Not yet," Dawn admitted.  "Thank you."

"Not a problem."  She shook their hands.  "I'll see you in a month."  Dawn and Clint smiled and she let them get redressed and check out.  Dawn was a very nice, sensible girl.  The nurse refilled Dawn's prenatal vitamins and it was good.

***

Clint walked up to Natasha's nest apartment, knocking on the door.  He handed her the donut bag with a grin.  "It's fraternal twins."

"Wonderful."  She let him inside, looking inside the bag then at him.  "Not for Dawn?"

"No, she's not having a sweets day today."  He shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets.  "So.  I have a surveillance assignment in three days."  She nodded.  "You can watch over her?"

"Of course.  I'm also back on the team so we shouldn't need her to take either of our places."

"Thank you."

"It's not a problem.  I do love you both but I have to get over this."

He smiled.  "We know.  Though Dawn was swearing last night that she missed you working out her leg cramps.  The babies are already causing them and I did it too hard."

Natasha smiled slightly.  "I miss her as well, Clint, but I can't upset her and us fighting would upset her."

"She's strong and healthy, Nat.  It might cause a momentary bit of crying or a blood pressure spike but nothing permanent and she could use you.  So could the twins.  They definitely need the help learning how to brush men off them.  Sean too."

"I will go work out with them tomorrow."  Clint nodded, stepping back slightly.  "Are you two all right?"

"We're good.  For some reason I'm more cuddly than anything but it happens."

She moved closer to kiss him on the cheek then stroke over it.   "We will work things out between us when you get back and I will make sure Dawn does not rush out to rescue you if you have problems."

He smiled.  "Thanks.  I'm a bit worried about that."  He took a quick kiss and grinned.  "We'll talk when I get back from western Asia."  He left, going back home.

Natasha sat down with her favorite donuts, nibbling as she watched the security feeds she had running.  She saw Callia walking and mumbling to herself so she texted Stark.  It was well past her bedtime.

***

Maria Hill looked up as Clint showed up for a briefing on his next mission.  "Sit, Barton."  He did.  "I do not want to have to ask this but protocol demands that I do since you've pointed out you were on assignment.  How did she get pregnant?"

He grimaced.  "Totally my fault, sir.  I needed to snap some tension.  I felt she needed to snap some tension.  Since she can teleport and not be seen, we had fifteen minutes in my hotel room of the moment."

"So it didn't break your cover?"

"No.  They did not know she had been there.  They didn't know about her until the Avengers rushed in to back me up and she was there.  They found out in the infirmary."

"That matches with their statements on the issue."  Clint raised an eyebrow.  "If you hadn't noted it, no one would've asked," she said dryly.

"Blame the reporters that stalked us."

"I am."  She smirked slightly.  "We were all hoping you hadn't broke all that work for such a night."

"No, sir, it wasn't a full night but it was what was needed."

"Apparently it was," she said.

"Beyond the future kids."

"Twins?"  He nodded.  "Why?  I know that they run in Tara's family, and that explains hers.  It doesn't run in yours or Dawn's."

"Fertility meds.  It's fraternal twins."

"Congratulations, Barton.  I'm sure they'll drive you nuts like John and Melissa do us."  He grinned.  "HR needs some information for your insurance."

"I'm not going to give them the name of her doctor.  I don't want her bothered, Dawn's records stolen, or anything else to happen.  Especially since someone other than Fury tried to get her into SHIELD custody the other day.  Thankfully Natasha stopped it."

"I had not heard that," she said quietly.  Clint sent a text message and her email beeped a minute later.  She watched the security film.  "He is one of ours.  I'll have him talked to in a few minutes."  She looked at him.  "As of this point in time, SHIELD does not have any interest in your future spawn, Agent Barton.  Those who do are going against orders."

"So I'm free to end them?"

"Yes, if you must."  He nodded.  "I know we're not the only ones."

"No, sir, and I'm hoping like hell I can tell her that agents are going after HYDRA for their plans against the child."

"Some of the specialty agents that Coulson hired are," she said.  He grinned.  "I've also tapped one of them to replace you while you're on assignment.  He is a sniper.  He can't use a bow but he's highly rated and he's good enough to do it like you would.  That way she doesn't have to step in again unless it's magical and Tara's already taking some of that over."

"Thanks.  I'm a bit worried that if she has to use a lot of magic, the kid's going to come out super charged."

Maria shook her head.  "I asked Tara.  She said it's more likely she'd miscarry."  Clint slumped.  "The ...specialness Dawn has may protect the children more.  She said it did during that laser incident."

"It did."

Xander appeared, looking at Clint.  "Once she gets to the point where the kids are viable, she has to have the best guards you can find, beyond you and Natasha."

"Why?" he asked, starting to frown.  "That sounds like a vision."

"It was.  Which Phil had, not me.  It went past me into him from my visions."  Clint moaned and shook his head.  "He saw Dawn heavily pregnant, maybe seven, eight months.  He wasn't totally sure.  He knew that they were viable because someone attacked Dawn and took one of the kids to that lab in England.  You had to have some people guard her after she was found at a local hospital, having been dropped off unconscious.

"They got the labor stopped but you had to stomp off to end them.  Dawn agreed and begged you to either bring her back or make sure they didn't hurt her."  Clint nodded slowly, lips pressed tightly together.  He was gripping his thighs.  "You asked some of your fellow spy buddies to watch over her and a few to help you get in there.  He did not see if you managed to save her.  He came out of it with you stomping off."

"I'd do that," Clint said tightly.  "So viable is...."

"Twenty-eight weeks," Maria said quietly.  "We can help.  I can assign a few of those special agents."

"I don't want them torn if someone like that idiot gets new orders," Clint said.  "I'd trust you, I'd trust Coulson, but the general agents, no.  Sorry."  She nodded she understood that.  He looked at Xander.  "How did they take her?"

"On her way to some meeting for Stark.  He was in bed for some reason.  She was hugely nearly ready to pop, Barton.  They wanted the kid viable so they could raise it.  Her."

"Are they both girls?"

"He didn't see."

"Okay," he said, considering options.  He sent that at Dawn, who was talking to Phil and crying on him.  "He told her?"

"Yeah.  Then he's going to tell Natasha."

"Thanks.  I'll start arranging that tonight and see if we can get the plan sideswiped.  Could it have anything to do with the plan that nearly got her snatched a few weeks back?"

"No clue," Xander admitted.  "Wish I did.  I want to protect Dawn as much as you do, Barton."

"Thanks."  Xander nodded and left.  He looked at his boss.  "So, let me make those calls and I'll come back for the mission briefing?"

"Yes," she said.  "Please do.  Tell me personally?"  He nodded he would and walked off to talk to a few people from a safe location.  She moaned and sent Tara a message.  The family had to know.

***

Phil was holding Dawn when Pepper and Tony came out of a meeting.  Pepper glared at him.  "I just had my first vision."

"Of?" Tony asked.  "Apocalypse battle?  We're going to be losing someone?"

"Someone's going to take one of the twins," Dawn said, looking up at him.  "They'll drop me at the hospital afterward."

"Hell no," Pepper said.

Phil nodded.  "That's what I saw.  We're warning ahead of time so we can be prepared with guards for her and we can work against this plot."

"Why?" Tony asked quietly.

"They want the kid," Phil said honestly.  "It narrows it down but I couldn't tell who did it.  I was more focused on her."

"Forewarned is forearmed," Pepper said, taking Dawn to hug.  "Clint and Natasha can probably find you some really good guards."  She nodded, wiping her cheeks off.

"We'd never let that happen, Dawn.  We'd get that kid back so fast."

"You were in bed with something," Phil told him quietly.  "She told Clint to bring her back one way or another."  Tony shuddered.  "That's when I came out."

"Okay, so we can make plans," Pepper said.  "We can look at her security arrangements.  We can make sure she has good, sensible guards who know how to handle a pregnant woman.  We can make sure that they can't get near her."

"Why was she out?" Tony asked.  "That far along I'd probably restrict her to the building.  I did Pepper."

"You were in bed," Phil said.  "Sick with something."

"So a meeting," Tony said.  Phil nodded.  "We can handle that.  Any idea if it was the flu or whatever?"

"No.  I didn't see that.  Just that you looked like hell and you were in bed with an ice pack in a few spots."

"Good to know.  I can make plans for being sick too," Tony decided.  He took Dawn to hug, which finished calming her down.  "We'll work on it with Barton when he gets back."

"Xander told him.  I'm going to tell Natasha."  He looked at Dawn.

"I know she's virtually stalking me somehow," she said quietly.

"That as well."  Phil pushed some of her hair back behind her ear.  "We'll handle it, Dawn.  For that I might even let the boys pull out the battle gear."  She smiled and he left to talk to Natasha.  He ignored the gun she automatically pulled since she was napping.  "I had a vision."

Natasha sat up, staring at him.  "What sort?"

"Of the people taking one of the future twins to have Clint's baby to train and raise."

She grimaced.  "Dawn?"

"They saved the other one.  I woke up before I found out about the one that was taken."

Natasha nodded.  "That will not happen."

"She'll need guards."

"I can do so.  How soon?"

"The babies were viable.  So at least six and a half months but I thought she might be closer to eight."  She nodded and made that note.  "Talk with Clint in a few, Natasha.  Xander told him and he's already working on ideas."

"I can do so."  He disappeared.  She got up and got a shower, feeling where he was.  She could join him and they could talk.  By the time she got there, Dawn had snuck over to cuddle him until he calmed down.  She hung back to watch over them.

Dawn looked back at her.  "Not like we can't find you," she said dryly.  "You can come cuddle him too."

Natasha came over to hug her with Clint.  One hand slipped to the minuscule baby bump but she was comforted by the willingness to work on things.  "We will make sure it cannot happen."

Clint nodded.  "We will."  He kissed them.  "Dawn, no more teleporting."

"I can do it safely, Clint."

"Tara said the baby wouldn't come out supercharged.  It might not come out alive."

"I have a lot of energy in reserve I have to use."  She kissed him and grinned.  "A few things every now and then are tiny things.  Even teleporting eighteen blocks."  She did take a cab back however.  She didn't want him to worry since he had a new mission coming up.

Clint looked at Natasha.  "I'm going to kill them."

"You will have help."

He grinned.  "Good!"  They compiled lists.  They had to know who was going to do it and they had to have Dawn guarded.  No matter what.  Very few people qualified for either list.

***

Clint was on assignment in the middle of BFE Nepal.  It was cold, he was cold, and he was hating this person he was watching but he wasn't allowed to eliminate him, yet.  He was watching from a hotel room at least, even if it didn't have much heat.  He looked over as the door opened and in walked someone he knew well enough.  "News I should hear?"

"Heard you were looking to solve a problem and I'm a bit bored because we have nothing going on while things are set back up."

Clint pulled up the text of the vision Phil had sent to him.  That way he could help make plans.  "Phil had that."

"We know people who have visions?" Ethan Hunt asked, sitting down.

"Dawn does, and sometimes she shares. I've had one of my very own.  Phil is Alexander's husband."  His former 'teammate' shuddered.  "Yeah, but they're cool together.  It makes Xander goofy and happy."  He shrugged.  "It was forced but they somehow found out they are compatible and they could really like each other.  Plus whenever they get hot and heavy the whole apartment building glows.  And sometimes we have minor earthquakes if it's *really* great."

"That's really weird."

"Well, yeah, but I have a taste for weird now.  I didn't used to but then I met Dawn and Xander."  He glanced at him.  "After the battle in New York....  Yeah, weird was acceptable.  Dawn makes it mostly seem normal too."

"Sometimes girls like Dawn are all the weird you need."  He read over the vision, grimacing.  "That's going to be bad."

"That's going to be very bad when I kill them all."  He glanced over again.  "So we're on the 'stop them, guard her' part of the planning."

"She could use one.  So could those twin nieces of hers.  Even with those cutesy t-shirts.  I doubt one of them told their aunt that someone tried to pin them in an alley until Natasha kicked them around."

"When was this?"

"Last night."

"Huh."  He texted Dawn, who said yeah, Diana had been crying on her.  "Dawn wants to hunt him down and kill him in many horrible ways."

"You wanted kids, you have to take the mood swings," his 'teammate' quipped.

"Don't remind me.  She's not there yet.  This is normal Dawn being a bit homicidal.  I have no idea how we're going to spar those urges out until she delivers."

"I heard about Romania when I went looking."

Clint smirked at him then looked back at his target, who was staring at them.  He grinned and waved.  The man wet himself.  Clint texted that and Hill gave him permission so he shot him.  "Bye!" he called, waving at him.  "Let's go."  They packed up quickly and left.  Clint smirked at him as he got into the cab.  "I'm going home.  See you there?"

"We are temporarily suspended thanks to what you found when you went looking."

"Sorry, man.  SHIELD's hiring so they have fewer idiots inside."  He shrugged.  "Share a cab?"

"Sure."  He got in and they got driven back.  "So now what?"

"Now....  Natasha and I have to talk.  We need to work out our problems.  She doesn't want to stress out Dawn so she won't talk to her until after she delivers, no matter how many times we tell her it's not necessary.  Dawn and I have to talk to the girls about how to protect themselves better."

"She was doing a pretty good job.  Benji spotted her.  She was careful, didn't have on anything to distract her, had on normal teenager clothes.  Had on that t-shirt.  The guy was a bastard.  He pulled her into an alley and tried to get rough with her.  She fought him off but he laughed and called her feisty.  Before Benji could rescue her, Natasha suddenly was *there* and the guy was immediately sorry and may never have use of his balls again."

"Sounds like Nat, yeah," Clint said with a grin.  "Did he take a picture?"

"No."

Clint texted Natasha, who told him who it was.  He held up that text back, getting a groan.  "Like I said, we need less shitbags in SHIELD."

"They need the same housekeeping touch."

"The group above them wanted to change how we work and into a more military organized system.  We're trying to get out from under them."  That got a nod of understanding.  "Right now, the Avengers are off-site," he said quietly.  "So's our handler.  The others we trust are trying to cure it from the inside."

Ethan nodded.  "Sounds reasonable to me but hard."

"Yeah, but they won't let us get out from under WSC control."

"Figures."  He texted a few contacts.  "That lab in England really does need to be shut down."  Clint grinned and texted an agent he had one threatened over Dawn.  His former 'teammate' gave him an odd look.

"We had someone from the UK break into Stark to try to get Dawn under their control so they could have control of the Iron Man plans."

"Seen it done but not well."

"She about killed him, Natasha ended up shooting him because Dawn was kicking him around with two bruised ribs.  We had a talk later that night.  The way he handled that means that we've sent him just about anything we have to handle in England so we don't have to do as much work.  So he's handled a few things for us.  Including that lab earlier."

"Interesting way to network. You'd trust him around her?"

"Yeah, he'll never do it again.  He came out of that respecting Dawn for nearly beating him even with two bruised ribs.  Her whole side of her body was bruised from the earlier part of the week of stupidity."  He grinned.  "She was not a happy camper."

"No, I wouldn't be either.  How did she bruise them?"

"Filing cabinets got crashed on her."  Ethan shuddered.  "Then a few days later she almost got electrocuted when some failed projects created an energy monster.  There was a graze just before that fight.  Then the next day there was a robotic sentry dog that bit her and broke her wrist, and about two hours later a different agent showed up to try to grab Dawn from the building.  Dawn fought him off, brace and all, and ended up sticking a taser spike in his eye.  She was in enough pain that she got a bit happy it smoked."

His fellow spy laughed.  "I'd have loved to mentor her into a good program."

"Nah, she likes being an assistant and fussing over the geeks."  He shrugged and grinned.  "Dawn's kind of amazing."

"She sounds like it.  Definitely worthy of you two."

"Yeah, she's a bit insane but we love the kid.  Drove us nuts getting kidnaped but we do love her."  He shook his head quickly.

"So this won't be the first?"

"It won't be the first this month," Clint complained.  His friend laughed.  "Her being amazing is why people want her," he quipped.  They paid and got out at the airport.  He got a young teen that came bounding over wearing a Black Widow t-shirt who babbled at him for an autograph in broken English.  He smiled slightly and signed it, then took a picture of her for Natasha.  "We haven't seen that t-shirt design before," he told her.  She giggled and ran off.  Clint went to get a stiff drink.  Maybe plastic surgery?  No, the next battle would get him back in the press.

Unless they lost something huge, there were going to be teenagers who wanted to talk to him, pinch him, make him sign things, and flirt with him.   And they weren't allowed to lose anything important.  Damn it!

***

Maria Hill had pulled off a minor miracle.  All thanks to having to make a dark deal.  No one was going to like it and the higher ups were not being happy.  But she couldn't tell anyone.  So she prayed, hard, at the God over her people.  Someone had to solve it because they had not said they'd be taking Tara into custody to make sure she and SHIELD stayed in line this time.

***

Clint came home from a second surveillance mission knowing something was up.  He scouted and watched for a day.  Dawn had felt him and kept glancing toward where he was watching.  She was not in happy land.  She was nowhere near happy land.  He saw the reporters nagging her about shit that was going to drive her nuts and her not retaliating.  That clinched it, something was going on.  He sent Joyce a subtle message through Sean and kidnaped Dawn.  The twins were with Callia tonight for their protection.  Stark apparently had a clue because the guards around the tower were fully armed again instead of just subtly armed with sidearms.

Dawn blinked as she was taken this time, looking at the guy in the car she had been pulled into.  "That's really risky."

"What's going on this time?"  He took a kiss and smiled at her.  "You should've told me."

"They can tell when we talk, Clint."  She stroked a spot on her neck.  He felt over it and grimaced.  She shook her head that they couldn't take it out.  He felt again and it shifted.  He'd get it in a few minutes.  They got to where they were nesting for the night, which was somewhere neither of them had been.  Then the Stark beaming satellite took them from there.  He felt along the bump again, finding the first aid kit he had set up.  She settled on the table there, letting him clean it and carefully cut the tiny thing out.

Once it was out he put it into a glass vial and inside a steel box.  He looked at her.  She sent over everything.  Including that it was the ploy by the old higher ups to get SHIELD back under their control.  That Tara was missing but Natasha was handling that part.  That she was being forced into hearing the bitter people who were saying it was good she couldn't get back into battles and that they had already promised that the children would have good homes once she was dead.

He stared at her.  "How did that happen?"

"Maria managed to get SHIELD out from under the thumb of WSC.  They're merging with IMF.  So you'll have their autonomy but not their problems because we're using the SHIELD admin teams."  He nodded slowly, shifting his weight.  "Needless to say, the idiots with plans didn't like that.  They took Tara."

"The kids?"

"All fine.  Beya's been helping her."  Clint nodded once at that.  "Natasha's looking for her," she said quietly, glancing around then at him.  "I'm so tired, Clint."

"I know."  He gave her a hug.  "Why are they nagging you?"

"Because they can?"  She shrugged.  "They hate that normal people do the job.  Like my sister's thing against Xander being *normal*."

"Fuck 'em," he said quietly, kissing her.  "I heard earlier."

She let out a bitter snort.  "That's barely been anything compared to the others."  She let him see them.

He pulled back to look at her.  "I'm glad that you're not in battles but not because you're pregnant.  I hate to see you injured.  I know you can handle it when you have to but I'd rather you didn't have to at any point in time."  She gave him a weak smile.  "As for the weight stuff?  You look good.  You're carrying twins."

"Others have seen that one might be having a problem," she said quietly.

"Then we'll handle it," he said.  She nodded and curled up against his chest.  He cuddled her, making quick plans.  A thought got sent at Natasha, who gave him an update and what had happened so far.  He gave Dawn a squeeze.  "You haven't been eating."

"No, I can't.  I'm battle tense."

"Okay, we'll handle it."  He gave her a squeeze and made her sit up.  "We'll eat and then move on."  He made them sandwiches, which Dawn tore into so he knew she hadn't felt like she could eat safely.  "That bad?"

"They tried to poison everyone in the caf," she said, looking at him.  "Nearly got a few of us but MB's got super nose problems at the moment thanks to the end of the hormones."

"Some women do get slightly elevated senses during it," he agreed.  He ate another bite, handing Dawn his spare sandwich.  She halved it for them with a grin.  "Let me handle it?" he asked once they were finished.

"I'd love for you to handle it."  She pulled him over to kiss hard and fast.  "I've been trying to get hold of you for days in ways that they wouldn't expect."

"Benji?" he offered.

"Has been trying to help too.  Were you just done?  They've been keeping you on the go on purpose so you couldn't stop this."

He grinned.  "I did run into Benji at a little café in Paris," he admitted dryly with a slight smirk.  "He only said that you looked beautiful and that you were having a few problems.  Then he left a CD with me."  She relaxed and nodded, resting against his shoulder.  "C'mon, we'll sleep and I'll start handling things."

She looked at him.  "Clint, they're saying they can charge me with treason thanks to those new laws," she said quietly.  "Apparently if you're not on a specified and authorized team it's now treason to show up at an emergency.  I've even talked to Loki and I couldn't undo it."

He nodded.  "You are on an authorized team."

"Not according to them."

"Fuck 'em," he said firmly.  He took her to the tiny bedroom.  It was only a double bed but she curled up against his side, letting him calm her down just by being there.  Things had been going wrong now for months.  He had wondered about not having any time between the last few assignments.  Well, that'd be ending.  He was back now.   It was going to be handled by him and Natasha.

***

Natasha looked over as she was joined by someone.  Someone she didn't know but who felt odd to her.  "Demon," she said in greeting.

"Wish demon," he said with a smile.  "Here because you're a bit loud, dear."  Natasha glared, reaching for a knife.  "Now now.  We're not dangerous sorts.  Like all vengeance demons, we respond to needs."  He stared at her.  "Which is why you've been so loud."

"I do not make wishes."

"Yeah," he snorted.  "Out loud."  He stared at her.  "We can undo some of this problem.  You've done it before with Sheppard."  He moved closer.  "Tara wouldn't be in danger, which is pissing the head guy off.  D'Hoffryn still owes her a life debt."  He grimaced and shifted some.  "We can undo all the stress and problems.  We can go back far enough that Dawn never got pregnant so that bit of hell would've been stopped.  Because they're still coming for them."

She shook her head.  "I would not do that to them."

"Even if it protected them?  If you could cast a wish that would protect everyone you love?"

"Love is for children."

"Yes, but you're all children of someone," he quipped back.  "Even you had parents."  She glared.  He stared back.  "I can help ease it and it'll cure the life debt the head guy owes by protecting Tara from this."

"It would get her free?"

"Of this," he agreed.  "There's other plots working.  There almost always are."

Natasha considered it, thinking at her spouses.  They ordered her not to even *think* about it.  Dawn reminded her that wishes were often double-edged swords.  "What if it is not favorable?"

"I'll give you twenty minutes to rescind it."  He grinned.  "Deal?"

She considered it more privately.  She could stop all the pain that everyone she knew had.  She felt Phil's mental touch and he started to yell, actually yell, at her.  That wasn't like Phil.  That was more Xander's thing.  She checked.  Phil was unconscious so Xander was using his link.  "I wish Dawn had never met us," she said.  "Me and Barton."

The wish demon blinked.  "That's a hefty wish, ducks.  Why?"

"Then she would not have this pain.  Barton wouldn't have the pain he has," she said quietly.

"Huh.  Sure.  Wish granted."  He snapped.

She woke up, blinking hard.  There was a tall man with a beard in front of her.  Wearing a crown and dark robes.  She glanced around then at him.  "Who are you?"

"Hades," he said bluntly, staring at her.  "That was one hell of a selfish wish, Natasha Romanoff."

She shuddered.  "Why am I here?"

"Because you didn't make it through the apocalypse Loki started."  He stared at her.  "What were you thinking?"

"They wouldn't have the pain they presently have if we hadn't gotten together."

Hades nodded slowly, considering it.  "Maybe.  Though, I don't like the pain they presently have."  She shivered.  "Do you maybe want to rescind it?"

"I....  Are they happier?"

"No.  Though Clint won't realize it.  Because you never freed him."  She shuddered.  "Dawn *might* make the most of it, but she also might kill the one protecting her against her will.  She's tried a few times."

She blinked.  "Why?"

He looked down at her.  "Because, dear, if you're not there to save her when she's sixteen, no one else was aware," he said dryly.  "Remember that little *cult*?  To Ares?"  She nodded then shuddered.  "Exactly.  She was given as a divine bride."

"She would not put up with that."

"She's already killed one of the Keys killing him.  Hera had me send him back though. Personally I'd rather have Dawn down here than Ares.  At least I can use her as my assistant so things get done more efficiently.  She did marvelous with Stark."

Natasha grimaced.  "This is not what I meant to have happen."

"Well, you have ten minutes left to rescind it."

She looked up.  "Ten?"

"Ten."

"What are they doing?"

He put up a mirror.

***

Dawn woke up and had a sudden memory download she didn't want.  She looked up, smirking slightly.  "Thanks," she mouthed.  "Really.  I'm going to kill the bitch."  She looked at her 'husband' as he strolled into her confinement suite.  "Get out."

"Now now, that's no way to talk to your husband," he sneered.

She stood up and walked over.  "What makes you think I would've willingly married you?"

"You said you were."  He smirked.

She picked up the bottle on her dresser.  It was there to remind her of her place.  "This doesn't create free will."  She dropped it and watched it shatter.  He shrugged.  She smiled.  "This creates free will."  She concentrated and snapped a lock on the powers that were holding the universe together.

"You can't do that.  Humanity won't survive."

She smirked and uncovered her little secret.  The Keys had protected the twins from the wishverse changeover.  "They'll be reborn."  He stared at her stomach, mouth open.  She lunged and elbowed him in the throat.  He laughed and fought back.  He didn't go for the obvious stomach strike but she was brutal.  She clipped off his powers and that of Discord since she felt her coming to help Ares with her.  Again.  Ares bellowed.  She snatched his sword of power off his necklace, letting it grow in her hand.  "Let the real warriors deal with the shit."  She concentrated.  The powers were like hers and she faded, going to where she could feel Clint.  She felt Xander and Phil and created a link between them since Loki had blocked it off.  They were so bound that even changing history so they never met wouldn't stop it.  She appeared, looking at the one who had won the battle.

"Key," he said smugly.  "I remember what she did."

"Me too."  She snapped her fingers and a few other locks appeared, already open and broken.  She let them fall from her hand.

"Humanity's already doomed."

"You forgot your basic lessons on what the Key is, Loki.  I'm not concerned with Humanity.  It'll be reborn from my children.  The Key is a power of Creation."  His eyes went wide and he shot power at her.  She funneled it at the remaining locks.  The universe was going to unravel with just two more locks being popped.  That would leave one final one that she'd have to open in person.  She stared at him.  "That little *prompting* thing before the wish, which you also prompted, was a bit evil."

"Well, I am a bad guy," he said dryly, walking around her.  "You're not so tough."

She looked at him.  "I've shit bigger turds than you.  Even without the help of cheese."

He glared.  "You left your protections.  You won't get him back."  Clint fired an arrow at her.  She caught it magically then blasted him.  Loki blinked.  "He was yours."

"That's not Clint.  I can tell Clint."  She summoned something, holding up the bundle.  "Golems.  Charming of you," she said dryly, staring at him.  He sneered.  "What?  So afraid that things weren't going to go your way so you had to screw SHIELD and us?  Am I too much woman and that's why you had all those nagging bitches show up?  Because, yawn, dude."  Loki's eyes were narrowing.  "Beyond that...."  Another golem shot at her and she touched him, making him dissolve.  She crushed the bundle before Loki could restore it.  She could feel Clint.  He was moving closer.  "Beyond that, there's powers you'll never control.  Including total free will."

"But I do, quim.  I do control all free will."

"No, you don't.  You don't control mine.  You don't control your son's."  She smirked evilly.  "Hell, you don't even control the other Gods, Loki.  You're a bit pathetic."

"I am not," he sneered, moving to hit her.  She blasted him back with Ares' powers.   "How did you get that?" he demanded.

"He's a peasant compared to some things I've battled on my own.  No one really knows what happened to me a few times, just that I came back in a pretty bad mood."  He stared.  She smirked.  "By the way, how's Fenrir?"  He yelled and lunged at her.  She fought him off with the sword.  She felt Clint take aim and slammed the bond open.  He had walls of rock, held in place by the forcefield of Loki's power over him.  Still under mind control.  She had something that would break it free though.  She opened herself fully and the kids opened too.  Clint stiffened slightly.  The rock wall went down.  The cave to his mind was shut with a gate made of power.  That one dissolved when she moved closer to it.  It left a tunnel without another end.  She touched the blankness, wakening it.  Clint shot Loki.  She smiled at him.  "Morning," she said quietly.

"How?"

She walked over to kiss him.  "Some things are universal in all meanings of the word."

"You were going to destroy humanity for me?" he demanded.

"No, I'm going to destroy humanity to restart it because they've doomed it to die a horrible, painful death."

"Put it back, Dawn."  He stared down at her.

She stroked his cheek.  "It's already fixed, Clint."  He stepped back.  She looked over her shoulder.  "I can feel you, you know that."  Ares appeared with a growl with Hera.  She stared at her.  "What did I say about touching what was mine?" she asked quietly and calmly.  She snapped that last three locks, making Hera shriek.

"Enough," Hades ordered as he appeared.  "Humanity was already dead, Key."

"I knew that.  Duh."  She stared at him.  "And yet you guys wanted it that way.  Why?"  Hades shook his head.  "Yeah.  You did."  She threw up a large mirror to show them how they had led to it.  She tossed Ares back his sword with a sneer.  "You're pathetic in bed too."  She walked off.  "Let me fix this shit once and for all.  I believe you have the cause."

"She was trying to spare you pain," Hera said.

Dawn laughed a bitter little cold sound.  "Really?  Would that be before or after your son took me as a bride like you were taken, Hera?"  She gasped.  "Which you let happen.  Beyond that, I've had pain.  I've seen pain, seen misery, seen whole realms destroyed."  She was glowing now.  "What makes you think that I'd want to see it again?  I would've rather died," she told Ares.  "Thanks anyway."  She disappeared.

Natasha looked up.  "Rescind the wish please," she said quietly. The world changed.   She felt.  Dawn wasn't around.  She blinked, feeling around.  They had the bond.  She could feel Clint.  He knew, he understood.  She asked him what had happened, where Dawn was.  He wasn't sure but he was pissed off.  She apologized but he cut her off.  She looked.  Tara was no longer held hostage.  It wasn't Dawn either.  It was Pepper.  Something had drastically changed.

***

Dawn reappeared, looking at the statue she had put up once upon a time.  She touched it and nodded.  "It'll happen as it should," she decided.  She heard footsteps and looked at Ares.  "How did you like what you got?"

He cleared his throat.  "I wouldn't have."

"Bullshit."  She stared at him.  "You may have become more civilized but not that much, Ares."  She moved closer.  "You started off this shit, this whole plan, to try to get control of humanity.  You and Loki have been challenging each other for generations to try to take over.  How did that work out for you?"

"I...  I would not have been that way."

She shrugged.  "Moot point now, isn't it?"  Loki appeared glaring and Dawn stared at him.  "Watch me destroy you both."  Loki backed up looking scared.  She looked at Ares again.  "You got what you wanted and it was bad.  Do you still want it?"

"Not that way."

"Then leave the shit to the gods who handle it, like Xander."  He slumped.  She walked around the plinth, looking at Loki.  "How did your plan's outcome look?"

"Not as good as I had hoped," he admitted sarcastically.

"Good.  Next time, don't try it again.  You may be a chaos god but not all chaos is evil.  Some of it's tied up in creation too."  He shivered.  "You don't *have* to be a bitch.  You *enjoy* being a bitch.  Big difference.  Now, are you going to keep trying?"

He shook his head.  "Not with that plan.  You do know your spouses are quite pissed at you?"

She nodded.  "Yup.  I'll handle that as it happens.  After all, if I didn't have to battle gods, I wouldn't have to show my ass.  This is the fifth one."

"Second," Ares corrected.

She looked at him.  "I believe I know how to count."

"You never faced Glorificus," Loki said.

"I wasn't counting her."  She stared at him.  "Did you think only sweet, fluffy, human and demon problems came for me?"  Loki's eyes went wide and he backed away slowly.  "No, I didn't destroy her.  I didn't have to.  Xander did that.  I got her down and then called Xander."  She smiled sweetly.  "And you just fucked with a power of the universe.  A power of Creation, Loki.  You have a leak into Creation and you tried to fuck with the gifts it gives you."  Loki was holding his chest.  "Don't try it again."  She looked at Ares.  "I'm going to assume your shit fit is done?"

"It is."

"Good."  She disappeared, going home.  The twins and Sean were safe.  Callia was safe.  The twins she was carrying were safe.  Her mom was pissed off but safe.  Dawn dug out something from her storage necklace and tossed it at her mother's desk.  She was sitting at it.  She flinched when it appeared but picked it up to read the slim journal.  Dawn, she'd had enough for a bit.  There were a few places that didn't have time stream issues.

She got the twins and Sean there, sent Callia an email that she'd come pick her up if she wanted, then left.  Dawn bowed at the altar and blew the candles to light.  The world around them had the sun rise for the first time in over seven thousand centuries.  The twins and Sean were staring.  Dawn looked at them.  "It's safe here until the Gods finish their shit fits."  They nodded, helping her set up.  It was like camping in a luxury hotel that had no running water.

***

Clint looked up then at the people staring at him.  "She's off plane somewhere."

Xander grimaced.  "Side realm.  Used to belong to some demons.  It went eternal night until someone powerful started the sun again."  He shifted, looking at them.  "So now what?"

"She destroyed humanity," Clint said firmly.  "I didn't want that."

Xander stared at him.  "Actually, Dad had already destroyed them all.  Earth was a dead world.  She just ended the physical plane."  Clint shuddered.  "Had to correct that."  Phil appeared and stared at him.  He stared back.  "It wasn't my doing," he said quietly.

"You destroyed a God."

"I destroyed about three of them after she had killed them," he admitted, then grinned slightly.  "They needed to not come back anyway."

"Why?" Phil asked.

"Because they tried to take Dawn and to some of us family, made and otherwise, are all that matters."  He stared at him.  "They touched my made, mortal family.  I killed a few when yours were touched."

"We did," he agreed, putting it in that light.  "We had no idea that had happened."

Xander nodded.  "Me either until she called for help.  Which she never does."  He looked at Clint and Natasha.  "So, anyway, now that you've made Dawn leave the plane to cry."  They glared at him.  "Who started it off?" he asked Natasha.  "Dumb bitch, what did you expect?  You knew wishes weren't *nice* things."  He stood up.  "Yet you did it anyway."

"I was trying to spare them pain."

"Pain is part of life, it's how you tell you're alive," he told her simply.  "If you don't have some pain you're in a dream world or already dead."

Clint nodded.  "That's true.  For that matter," he said, glaring at her.  "Not real fond of your idea either."  He looked at Xander.  "We need to have a fight with Dawn."

"Tough shit, Barton.  I'm not putting you anywhere near her until you figure out what the fuck you're doing.  She doesn't need it.  She did what she had to do to save all your asses.  Because she would've killed herself to recreate *everything* and let the kids be the newest anchor for humanity."  Clint sat down hard, staring at him.  "Because she loved your dumb ass for *some* goddess damned reason!" he finished at a higher volume.  Not quite shouting.  He didn't want anyone else to hear this.  "She could've done that without freeing your ass.  Did she?  No!"  Clint shuddered.

"She didn't have to go face down Dad.  She didn't have to face down Ares to do it.  She could've done it from that nice, cushy bedroom he had her imprisoned in.  It would've done the same thing.  She would've been safer doing it that way.  It was more tactical to do it that way.  Yet, she wanted to save your ass too.  That way you could hold your kids when she dissolved her physical form.  Oh, she might've come back, because you might've remembered that the Key can be pulled thanks to Andrew.  But *no*, she wanted to risk herself and the kids to save your ass."

"Ease off him," Phil ordered, laying a hand on his mate's arm.  Xander shook him free and left, sealing Phil out of the temple.  Phil took a deep breath.  "I think there's some underlying problems here.  I'm not sure which ones," he told them.  The other Avengers had been staring, looking horrified.  Phil brought the journal from Joyce's hands, tossing it at Stark.  "When was that?"

He looked.  "When you guys had her at the hideout," he said, flipping through it.  "Before she and Pepper met."  He looked up.  "She was handling things coming after her because she wasn't sure you could."

"She didn't know us then," Phil admitted.  "All she knew is that her sister and Xander trusted us to look after her."  He looked at Clint, who was staring at his hands.  "How about this," he said quietly.

"No," Tara said as she appeared, shaking her head.  "No, I won't have this."

"Tara, you're mortal," he reminded her.

She smiled sadly and patted him on the cheek.  "I am.  Sometimes mortals have to rule over the Gods."  She looked up.  "Fix.  It.  Please."  The world around them warped back and they were back before Clint got sent on a mission.  Tara looked at the one who helped her.  "Thank you."

He shrugged.  "Your little chaos biters will do my biding anyway," he said dryly then smirked.  "Beyond that, I don't want the outcome that was coming.  Janus agreed that it was not a wanted one."  He disappeared.  He had some other chaos to sow for Janus.

***

Clint was pulled from their apartment, making breakfast for the twins.  He blinked at the older woman he landed in front of.  "Lady Hera, is there a huge problem I can help with?"

She smiled and patted him on the hand.  "Not exactly.  It's more that the Fates are in a tizzy because their tapestry just turned into macrame.  Which all seems to revolve around you."  She poured him some tea.  "Sugar?"

"Just a bit of milk please."  She handed it over once it was in there.  He sipped.  "Excellent blend, ma'am.  Why is it revolving around me?"

"Because you helped thwart something huge."

"Loki?"  She nodded.  "I couldn't on my own."

"Yes, but you've upset his plans recently all by yourself."  She handed him a mirror.  She sipped her tea while he watched it.  "As you can see, the plots are getting a bit irksome and the other goddesses decided things were bad."

He looked at her.  "That's only half the story."  He sipped his tea with a smile when she looked shocked.  "I'm a tactical thinker, Lady Hera.  I've led teams in the field.  Exactly what started this off?"

She pointed at a larger mirror.  "Those are from the Halls of Time."  He got up to watch it, taking his tea with him to keep his stomach calm.  He walked into it after pulling up a touch of Dawn's magic, making Hera gasp in horror.  He came out with his eyes shut, his stomach curdled, and his brain hurting.  He let go of the magic and got more tea, pouring her some as well.  He settled in to drink and wait on her.  She cleared her throat.  "It is not pretty."

"I can end the threat."

"We are not allowed to change history that way."

"I am.  I'm a mortal and I can do that."

"I cannot send you back."

He nodded, finishing his tea.  He stood up.  "Then let me figure that out with Stark, ma'am.  Thank you for letting me know."

"I did not want to make you fight with her."

"I remembered it already," he admitted.  Her mouth fell open.  He grinned.  "We are bound and she always knows.  Now I know more about why she did it and what she had planned.  I'm going to fix that for all of us."

She smiled.  "I knew I could count on you."  She patted him on the hand, handing him something on a chain.  "That should protect you from the paradox."

"I can do it without creating a paradox.  Thank you for telling me."  He got sent home.  He looked at Dawn, kissing her with a smile.  "I need to go do a short mission tomorrow."

"I felt you pull some of my power to Olympus?" she asked quietly.

"Nothing huge but a small problem.  They wanted me warned before I ran into it."  She nodded, accepting that.  He finished feeding them and went to SHIELD.  Down in the dusty archives of things that they had confiscated was a quantum mirror-like device.  He pulled the sheet off it, made sure he had weapons, then stepped into it once it was on.  He had been the one who had found it in the first place.  Crackhead mad scientists had plans that weren't good so he had taken them out and had called in the eggheads to come get the machines.  Then he had accidentally stepped into it and went back three days to handle the things he hadn't been able to before.  So he knew how it worked.

***

Dawn looked up, frowning.  "Why are you playing with a demonic temporal gate?" she muttered.  She considered it and called out to warn him.  He blew a kiss, assured her he knew what he was doing, and it was going to be okay.  She shivered, having that feeling of dread.  She tried to stop him but then he wasn't there.  She passed out at the backwash of power.

Their bond wasn't anywhere near as simple as Natasha and others thought.

***

Clint stepped out and shot the three people having the meeting.  He stared at one.  "Are you presently under mind control?" he asked.

"I had to so the agency went on and they didn't wetworks every single agent," Fury said.

Clint nodded.  "Pity but it's ended."  He walked off.  "By the way, I'm not the one I was earlier."

"I can tell that by the new scar on your cheek, Barton.  What the hell?"

He smirked.  "Don't ask, sir.  Just let me handle this problem in my own way."  He could feel Dawn's magic with him and concentrated, sending himself where he needed to be.  Dawn was clearly not in great shape.  It would stop a few things.  Dawn would be fine when he got back.

***

Six days later, after Clint had taken down all but one problem, and that one he couldn't because he was still on Asgard being punished, he found Natasha and darted her.  She gasped, looking betrayed but yay.  He took her with him to his present hideout.  He stared at her until she woke up.  She slowly came to, realizing she was hitched to the chair she was in.  She glared at him.  "Don't start," he said quietly.  "We need to have a talk, Nat."  He shifted, pulling his chair he was sitting in backwards closer.  "Just us.  I know you're blocked off from Dawn like usual."

"If I had not, it would've caused her more problems."

"Not really."  He made sure he was fully blocked from Dawn and opened his mind to show her why he had done this.  She read them all, starting to tear up.  He stared at her.  "Now, we're going to fix this," he said quietly.  "Trying to protect us by pushing us away won't work.  It's as much my job to protect her as it is yours.  Though, she's not as needing it as we think."  He showed her something else.

"I was there then," she said.

"The first two were before she met Pepper," Clint said quietly.  "Not even Phil knew.  The last one was right after that."  He leaned on his arms on the back of the chair.  "So we need to figure some shit out."

"They will kill her."

"They were going to kill her anyway and take our kids.  Cap's serum might not pass over.  Yours might not pass over.  Genius like Stark's is rare and they can't get Callia because he knew that people would try for her.  Bruce's problems aren't genetic enough to pass over.  They needed mine because I'm the average, normal human with extra skills.  I'm as close to a blueprint as they can get."

She nodded, swallowing.  "It is why I made sure she always stayed infertile."

He shook his head.  "Not always.  We had two early miscarriages."  Natasha looked down.  "For now, we're going to work this shit out so it doesn't happen.  At all.  You're going to help me make plans so the right things get spotted."  She nodded, looking at him.  "We won't tell Dawn because it'd make her worry and if we do this right she won't remember why."

"The Key would remember," Natasha said.

"Perhaps but not fully."  He let out a grim little smirk.  "I miss my fairytale, Nat.  I miss it shitloads and it was mostly your fault.  So we have to work this out."

"It will mean things change.  She might not be wealthy enough to set up a separate second identity for safety reasons."

"I'm not using mine anyway."  She slumped, staring at him.  "Beyond that, I don't think we'll have a problem there.  You'd be shocked at what she's already done behind everyone's back."  He grinned slightly.  "Open for me, Nat.  I need you.  All of you."

She looked at him.  "That would create more harm."

"No it won't."

"The ones pushing at all of us will not like that."

"All but the ascended ones are no longer a problem."  She gaped.  He shrugged.  "They're not."  She tentatively opened for him.  He pushed his way in, making her gasp.  Every little shield and trick she learned he knew how to counter.  Even the ones she had learned from her trainers, because he had looked at those memories and seen them.  He opened the memories for her so she could see what he was doing.  Her mind blazed into pain and then a blinding light.  He kept staring at her.  The light finally soothed itself and he stepped into her mind.  She was wincing but it was comforting.  He took her hand in there and they joined.  She kissed him over the bond.  He grinned and pulled her in for a quick bout of really great sex instead.  It cemented the bond.  It was fully open between them like it was him and Dawn.  "You need to do that with her," he said once it was firmly cemented in place.

Natasha nodded.  "I'm scared that our pasts will harm her."

"As opposed to those who want to own her?" he joked with a slight grin.

"Good point."  She considered everything then him.  "You need to get back to your right time."

"I'll have to go back the natural way, Nat.  I'll lay low."  He got up and walked over to kiss her, releasing one wrist.  He blocked the slap she aimed at his head.  "None of that, Nat.  You're still my favorite deadly bitch.  Followed by our favorite deadly bitch."  He took another kiss and left her there.  "I'll be around."

She got herself free, sitting there to consider things.  Some things would need to be changed or handled without changing the overall outcome.

***

Stark looked up as the world shifted around him.  It was like a heat wave going on around him.  "What was that, JARVIS?" he asked.

"I believe it was a temporal movement, sir."

"For?"

"I'm not certain.  It could be that something changed."

John appeared, nodding.  "Clint moved to fix all the problems that were infecting SHIELD so they couldn't lose power.  Including attacking Dawn and making her take it or else they would've killed her mates."  He sat on a stool, looking at Stark.  "There's two that remember it outside Xander and Phil.  Who are having a fight."

"Why?"

"Because the godly plan by Loki and Ares to see who could keep control of humanity got out of hand until it was destroyed," John said simply.  "So Dawn fixed that then Clint went to fix what Dawn had to patch-job.  Humanity wasn't air-worthy and would've crashed anyway."  He grinned slightly.  "Which is why Clint's a lot happier but it'll only be a single."  He disappeared with a grin.

"Who's the other one?" Tony called.

John reappeared, smiling at him.  "Joyce."  He disappeared again.

Tony sat down to think about what he knew and what he might remember that wasn't for this reality.  It was a lot and it was going to drive him to drink even more than usual.  Though he really had to make sure Dawn had protection so she didn't have to do it on her own ever again.  He texted Joyce, who sent one back saying she hadn't realized but she was proud of Dawn for protecting herself but she was going to go nuts.  He suggested vodka.  Which got a laugh sent back.  They'd meet for lunch later in his apartment to talk over things.

As for Dawn, she was mostly faded out right now thanks to the bond.  She was hiding and helping him.

***

Clint stepped out of the machine, taking the letter laying next to the machine that had his name written on it.  Inside was a commendation for making sure the agency wasn't all killed horribly and that Dawn was ghostly at the moment.  He opened the bond fully with her, feeling her spark against his mind.  He poked her and she teleported, appearing in front of him.  "Ghostly?"

"You drew the power with you."  She stared at him.  "Why?"

"Because we ended up in an end-game scenario that meant you had to end humanity," he said honestly, showing her.  She flinched but winced and nodded, looking down.  He tipped her chin up.  "I wouldn't want you to do that for me, Dawn, but now I understand more."  He kissed her, pulling her against his chest.  "Tell.  Us."

"I will."  She looked up.  "I have been."

"You have been.  Thank you."  He kissed her again, then pushed her back gently.  "Do whatever you do so you're back in tune with this time zone."  He grinned.  She teleported off then came back with her coffee, smiling at him.  He pulled her closer, one hand on his stomach and his future son.  He kissed her again.  "Okay, we all good?"

"We're perfect actually.  Thank you."

"I like taking out the threats that come for you."  He winked and walked her off.  He shot into the machine to break it again.  She laughed and hugged him.  They left together, sneaking back to Stark.  Joyce and Tony were both waiting on them.  "It's fixed," he reported.

Joyce smiled and patted him on the cheek.  "Thank you, Clint."  She hugged him then her daughter.  "I'm proud but don't turn into your sister."  She looked at her.  "I can't take a second warrior in the family, Dawn."

"I'm not, Mom.  Only when I have to."

"Good."  She kissed her on the forehead.  "You're due for an ultrasound in a bit."

"I think we're all going to be there."  She looked at Clint, who nodded.  Natasha came off the elevator with her jacket over her arm.  "Ultrasound?"

"It is time," she agreed.  She walked off with Joyce and Tony, and Pepper and Steve waiting impatiently since there wasn't room in the room.

Doctor Pigalli looked at them.  "Stark, this isn't your kid."

"She's like some little sister."  He pouted.  "I can see."

"Us first," Natasha said, moving him out of the way.  Tony grinned at her.  Clint was holding onto Dawn's hand.  "It won't hurt," she reminded him.

"So?" Clint shot back.

"Kids," Joyce said but she was smiling.  Dawn had adjusted her clothes for the doctor.  Who squirted some gel on her stomach.  The ultrasound wand was pulled over but Tony snapped his fingers and grabbed something that was an arched metal wand.  "What's that?"

"Better ultrasound wand.  It'll give a more full picture at once."  He plugged it in and handed it over with a grin.

The doctor looked then shrugged and put the arched, slightly flexible wand over Dawn's stomach.  "Good picture," she praised.  "I see ten toes."  She moved it up slowly.  "I see a penis.  That's strangely good sized."  Clint laughed and smiled.  She moved up.  "Heartbeat looks great.  Nothing wrong that I see so far."  She scanned the head.  "He'll be a handsome little boy."  She printed out pictures for everyone.

Dawn was teary and smiling at Clint and Natasha, who kissed then her.  Dawn snuggled into their arms for another one.

Tony took his picture out to show off.

"Christopher's penis wasn't nearly that big," Pepper complained.

"Some of us are great at it," Clint called.  "Maybe it's really warm water in there and yours wasn't as warm, Pepper."  He yelped.  "Dawn!"

Pepper and Tony laughed, going in to hug them.  "Wonderful looking kid," Pepper told them.  She winked at Dawn.  "You're leaving early today?"

"I can't.  That one reporter's coming," she sighed.

"Fuck 'em," Clint ordered.  "You don't answer to the press."  He helped her clean up then helped her sit up.  Dawn burped and held her stomach.  "C'mon, I'm buying lunch."

"I could eat," Dawn agreed, kissing Natasha.  "Joining us?"

"I may."  She smiled and went with them.

"That is good to see," Pepper said quietly.  Tony smiled at her.  "How did they fix all that?"

"Barton."

"Excellent."

"You weren't supposed to remember," Tony said, staring at her.

She smiled.  "I'm a woman of many talents."  Joyce laughed.  They went to talk in the office about what to do with the twins for the next few weeks.

***

Clint walked out behind Dawn by a few steps.  He had to pause and put on his jacket because there was a chilly rain going on.

"Dawn, do you think your husband's happy that you're no longer backing up the team like some limpet hanging to their backs?" a reporter asked.

Clint strolled out, smirking evilly at her.  "Dawn's not the clinging one.  Beyond that, we like having her help when we need it.  She's *very* competent.  When we need her, we know she'll be there for us.  Even in battles."  The reporter gave him a horrified look, backing away.  "Beyond that, saw your little fit the other day.  Leave the wives alone, lady.  No one wants your shit."  He walked them to the other tower to go to lunch.

Natasha smiled at him.  "Well said.  I was told I could not destroy any reporters this week."

"I never got given that order," he quipped.  "And whoever paid her for that, we'll end later."  They shared a smirk.

Dawn smiled.  "She's in the employ of one of the FOX subsidiaries.  One of the Murdoch owned trash rags."

"Really?" Natasha said with a smile.

"Figures," Clint agreed.  He opened the door for them with a grin.  "Being a gentleman," he said at Natasha's look.  She got the other door for them.  "Very nice," he teased.

Dawn smiled at them.  "Behave or I'm not going to cook dinner."

"That's fine," Clint agreed with a grin.  "We're talking to the baby tonight anyway."  Dawn sniffled, hugging him.  "I know, it's been too much cuddling and not enough other stuff.  That's about to change," he said in her ear.  "It's time for me to do what I do best."

"You're going to fire a bow at her?" Natasha quipped.  "Do we really need that in the bedroom?"

Clint smirked at her.  "Quit or wait later."

"I can take your turn."

"Guys," Dawn complained.  "We're around people who're staring."

Clint smiled.  "Just had the ultrasound."  The group moaned and a few pressed forward with cameras.  "No comment."

"What is it?" one demanded.

Dawn smiled.  "It's very cute."  She walked off with Natasha holding her hand and Clint's arm around her back.  "Wait and see, people."

"Do we have any name picks yet?" another reporter demanded.

"Callia wanted me to name him Legolas," Dawn quipped with a grin for Clint.  "I think we talked her out of it?"

"Yeah, can't do that to the kid.  After that elf invasion, no.   She showed me how Briar is actually a unisex name."

Natasha smiled.  "She told me that too."

"Right now we're calling it Lump," Clint said with a grin.  "It won't get a name until it's born."

"Just one?" the first reporter asked with a perky smile.  He nodded.  "Wonderful!"  She ran off to report that first.

Dawn smiled at Clint then at Natasha.  "Feed me?"

"Sure, Seymour," Clint teased.  They went into the Japanese place.  Dawn had been craving sushi for some reason.  When they came out there were more reporters.  Dawn got them into the upper levels with her card.  They all saw her use her card instead of theirs to get up to the Avengers only area.  That would quash some rumors easily.

Dawn smiled and pounced Bruce to hug him.  "It's a boy."

"Joyce told me and that Pepper thinks he'll be well built."  He patted her on the back.  "Names?"

"Not a clue," she admitted.  She looked at them.  "Last name?"

"Barton or Summers," Natasha said, looking at Clint.

"We can hyphenate," Dawn offered.

"No, we're all going by Summers for official things and so are the kids," Clint ordered.  "The world needs more Summers and not more Bartons."  She kissed him.  He grinned at her.  "Summers-Barton has a nice ring to it but no.  It'll confuse the kid."

"We can use yours," Dawn said quietly.

He shook his head.  "No, we already talked about this.  They'll be Summers."  He took another kiss, which made her moan and lean into his chest.

"Guys, quiet rooms," Bruce said with a point and a slight blush.  "Even have beds."

Clint smirked.  "I have one at home."  He smiled at Dawn, who grinned back.  She pulled out her phone to get into a name site.  It had a random name generator.  "Summers, not Summers-Barton," he said, taking it to correct that and the 'ambiguous' to 'masculine'.  He hit the button.  "Thorton?  Why?"

"I don't mind Arkady," Dawn said.  "Though I don't like their spelling of it."

"Brice?" Natasha said, looking over their shoulder.  "No."  She hit 'reload'.  "Washington?  Definitely not."  She hit it until the 'russian' setting came up since they had clicked russian and english names.  "Grigori?"

"Maybe," Clint said, making a note of it.  "Rowan?" he asked when it came up next.

"Liked some of his funny stuff," Dawn said.

"He'll have to dress like Giles," Clint complained.  He reloaded it.  He snorted when 'Giles' came up as a middle name.  "No."

Natasha stared at the phone.  "Tit Glen Summers?  Who names their child 'Tit'?"

"A future stripper addict?" Dawn guessed.  "Like that one guy who wanted me to get implants?"

Clint looked down at her chest, shaking his head.  "You filled things out nicely before.  Now you're stacked beyond happiness levels."  She poked him but was blushing and smiling slightly.  He reloaded the name generator.  "Sasha for a boy?"

"It's a nickname for Alexander in Russian," Natasha said with a smile.

"Adair?" Dawn said.  "Has a pretty sound to it."

"Means Edgar," Clint read.   "Any that relate to our specialities?"

"Archer only came up with two female Japanese names," Dawn said.

"Huh."

"Bow comes up with Ivar, which is originally Scandinavian but brought to England and Wales."  She shifted to show him one.  "Arrow comes up with Fletcher, Orvar, which was a famous hero way back in Norse times, and Þórgísl, which basically means 'Thor's Shaft' about his arrow."

"Let's not use that one," Natasha said.  "That rumor is one we do not want started."  Bruce was snickering.  "Even if everyone did remark how well built he is."

Dawn grinned.  "Ivar?  It sounds Russian for your part.  It comes up under bow and warrior searches."

"I could like that as a middle name," Clint said, looking at Natasha, who nodded and smiled.  "We'll put that in under the surname with Summers and select a new first name," he said, doing that.  "Why does it rhyme?"

"Because some parents like that," Dawn quipped.  She reloaded.  "I'd never name a kid Riley or Ryder anyway.  Antwan?  No!"  She reloaded it.  "Sascha?" she offered.

"That's two for her and one for me if they look it up," Clint said.

She smiled.  "It can be a baby Clint."

"Not a chance."  He kissed her on the tip of her nose and grinned.  "James?"

Dawn considered it then grinned shyly.  "Philip?"

The two spies looked at each other and nodded, smiling at each other.  "Philip Ivar Summers," Clint said.  "I like it."  He kissed her again.

"Guys, bedroom?" Steve complained as he came off the elevator.  "I don't want to see you guys talking to the baby."

"They just decided on a name," Bruce said, grinning at him.

"Good!  That means they can get it used to his name."  He showed him the picture.

"Wow," Bruce said.  "He's really pretty, guys."  Clint laughed, pulling back to walk Dawn back to her desk.  He and Steve shared a look.  Natasha was warming up for sparring.

Clint leaned back into the room.  "Guys, robots massing outside yelling about giving them the redheaded witch."

They groaned and got into their uniforms.  Bruce waited to Hulk up.  It might be solved peacefully.  Stark was already in his armor.  Though one boot's repulsor was spluttering now and then.  The robots started to shout 'give us the flame haired witch that has so bespelled us' at them when they saw Clint.

"Nope, sorry, she's mine," he called then fired on them.

"Who did I supposedly bespell?" Natasha asked the robot she had singled out.  She shot the others.

"Our master said you have bespelled him."  It fired a beam at her, which she managed to avoid.  "Please, flamey one, we must have you.  The master will be happy."

"I think not," she said.  "I'm married."

The robot paused and beeped a few times then wailed.  "Master said he must die since she cannot be his.  Initiating self destruct."  Stark fired down mini shield generators around them.  They made a pretty crater in the street.

Natasha looked up then at Bruce, who was still normal.  "What did I do to deserve this?" she asked.

"You're taking Dawn's place for now?" he quipped with a grin and a pat on the arm for her.  Clint and Tony were cackling.  "We'll make sure you carry extra weapons, Natasha."

"Please do."

"People, enough," Steve complained.  "Do we know who they are?" he asked.  "So we can fix their owner?"

Tony landed and put up his visor so he could pick through the wreckage.  "I'd say someone who really likes shows on BBC about time travelers," he quipped.  "Since this one has a nameplate that says Cyberman 34."  He looked up.  "Which is not how it went on the show."  He went back to picking through it.  "Hmm.  Henry Christoff Morital."

"Are you sure?" Steve asked.  "How do you know that?"  Tony held up a tag.  "That says...."

"Pecking Owl Industries."  He handed it over.  It was a picture of an owl on a branch pecking at a tree.  He heard a cackle and looked around.

Dawn walked out, handing Tony the phone she was carrying.  "It was him and she bewitched him because she was good enough to be mine and I'm powerful."  She went back inside snickering.

Natasha took the phone, putting it against her ear.  "Who is this?"  She listened, blushing some.  "No, that is not why we are together.  Thank you for that consideration but I do not practice Dawn's craft in any manner.  Usually I lock myself in another room of the apartment whenever she's doing anything.  Thank you for that kindness but no thank you."  She hung up and handed it to Tony then went into the tower to find a nice place to hide and moan about this.

Clint hopped down, looking at them.  "I'll stick her with a new GPS tag," he said, smiling some.  "It's cute that Dawn's pull of bad guys is passable."  He went up to the lab to get a tracker dot to insert.

"I'm glad her mother doesn't have that gift," Bruce quipped.  They went back inside together, ignoring the reporters.  SHIELD was already showing up to pick up the messy things.

***

The twins pounced them when they got home.  "Uncle Clint, what did you think of Auntie Dawn when you first met her?" Artemis asked.

"I mostly wondered why someone so young and pretty was helping Coulson with paperwork.  I did a background check, ran into a problem group that had a file on her, then Natasha told me about what she was like while working for Tony as a teenager."  He grinned.  "I thought she was a bit weird, a bit soft and fluffy, and Natasha told me she was a flirt."

She grinned.  "When did you realize she was hot?"

"We had a talk that she had sedated me for.  I woke up tied down with her sitting on my chest to talk about your Uncle Xander."  He grinned at Dawn.  "That took real balls and she was not polite about it either.  She swatted me at one point when I tried to lead the talk and showed her ass pretty well.  Then she scared us totally by admitting she was more powerful than we thought but had it handled.  She confused me for weeks until something happened and it had to be handled.  She and Natasha hung out more often due to Stark sitting so I watched and slowly decided that Dawn was really pretty neat.  Then her vacation happened, then the cult thing that wanted to get her dead happened....  Which is how we ended up together."  Dawn shot him another grin.  "She's the best present Nat ever gave me, even if I do have to keep stealing her back."

Natasha burst out laughing.  "That's not exactly what happened.  I did not give her to you.  I merely encouraged you two to become deeper friends."

"Well, that too," he said with a grin for her.  Dawn hugged her.  He looked at Artemis.  "Why did you want to know?"

"All those mushy books in the library say that you know when you see them."

He shook his head.  "Not unless someone like Cupid interferes and we have a family thing against love gods most of the time since they meddle.  We grew into it but yeah, we about have fairy tale love."

"Awww," Diana sighed.  "I need that."

"You have years yet," Dawn said, giving her a hug.  "Mom didn't find hers until Bruce."

"Hopefully I'll find one sooner.  Maybe in college?"

"Maybe," Dawn promised.  Diana and Artemis ran up to their rooms.  She smiled at Clint.  "Really?"

"Yeah.  At first I found you a bit too perky then I figured out you weren't really that perky but you had a great diversion shield."  He pulled her over to kiss her.  "Then I started to really watch how you and Nat interacted and that was kinda great to me."  Dawn smiled and cuddled him.  "Just cuddly?" he teased.

"Fuck no," she said quietly, leering up at him.  "But the kids are awake."

He smirked.  "Girls, order a pizza," he called.

"Okay," they called back.

"I'm using your card," Artemis said, leaning out of her bedroom to grin at them.  "Have fun with the married people things."

"I'll be out until they show up so no one can take you," Natasha promised.  She smiled at them.  "Clint needs to possessively growl again."  Clint smirked at her and led Dawn to their bedroom to strip her off and toss her onto the bed.  He loved Dawn in her second trimester.  He was going to die from all the neediness but he could handle that.  Dawn still loved oral sex and it was great.

Natasha got the pizza for the kids and it got handed over before she went to join her lovers.  Her spouses were still at the wiggly, moaning stage so that was great.  She stripped off and joined Clint, nudging him out of the way so she could take over licking duties.  He grinned and teased Dawn with his cock.  She kindly played with it for him.  That was going to be great.

***

Xander appeared in front of Phil, staring at him.  "Are you hiding?" he asked with a slight smile.

"Doing paperwork that the Avengers created."  He smiled up at him.  "It'll be about an hour."

Xander leaned down to kiss him.  "How about you do that tomorrow?"

"I need to get it done before I forget everything."

"Phil, godly powers?" he prompted with a real grin.  "You're not going to forget unless something happens like Barton going back in time to fix what Natasha screwed up again."

He hummed, taking another kiss.  "Is there an easy way to fill out forms by power alone?"

Xander shrugged and created a pen that did the writing for him.  "Think at it, give it what it needs."  Phil scanned the files and gave the pen what it needed to put on each line.  It missed a few lines by writing over them but that was probably acceptable enough.  Then they disappeared to Asgard together.  The pen finished the reports and waited for more input.  When only a bit appeared, it followed the last order to bring the forms to a certain person.  Then it went limp again as the power left it.

Fury looked at the pen that had brought him the forms, shaking his head.  "Coulson's busy I guess," he muttered.  He looked them over, noticing when the pen had taken over for itself.  It was a bit sloppier than Coulson's handwriting.  He made a note on the top of them that they had been filled out magically.  He came to the last form.  It was complete and had extraneous information like 'Xander, you suck very well, thank you' and 'Xander, more' at the bottom.

Fury squeezed his eyes shut for a moment then made a note on that file and sent it back.  That one had to be filed with others.  They probably did not need to know that Xander spoiled his spouse with enough sex to fill a half-page with Coulson's mental ramblings about needing more.  The simple 'do the senators really need to know all that' post-it was covering the extra information before anyone else spotted it.

***

Clint woke up first in the morning, looking at Dawn.  She was curled up on Natasha, nuzzling her breast with her chin a few times to get the most comfortable spot on the soft sleeping thing.  She had one leg thrown over Natasha's thigh and the baby was resting on Natasha's side to help prop Dawn up so she wasn't on her stomach.  Clint stared, memorizing this moment.  Natasha was smiling in her sleep, having a good dream.  Dawn was humming quietly but happy.  Even when she tried to nibble on the tempting breast, making Natasha flip over to hold her, it was still making Dawn happy.

Apparently she was having that hungry dream again.  He had woken up to a few suspicious bite marks as well.  She never realized it and never bit hard enough to wake them but whatever it was apparently tasted great to her.  He considered things.  Natasha woke up and he smoothed a hand over her hair, making her relax again.  He opened their private bond to talk.  Natasha wasn't interested in what the bond did or was but he was.  She'd leave it as it was a good thing in her life so she could appreciate it, not dissect it.

Dawn yawned and blinked, smiling at them.  "Been up long?"  She kissed each of them, smoothing a hand over Natasha's stomach and hip for a second kiss.  Clint got pulled over to be kissed over Natasha's shoulder.  "You should've woken me."

"I was watching you both have happy dreams," he said with a smile, sending her what he had seen.  Natasha blushed but got up.  "Sure, you have first shower, Nat."

She smirked.  "That way I get all the hot water."  She went to do that.  They wanted to talk.

Clint pulled Dawn closer, letting her fit herself against his chest.  "I have a few questions," he said quietly.

"Okay.  Sounds serious so what's up?"  She yawned again.

"Where's the book on the bonds?"

She considered it then called it to her.  "This one?"  He nodded, opening it and finding the section so she could read it.  She nodded slowly.  "For the real bond to take place, it had to be consensual and wanted," she admitted, staring at him.  "Temporary ones can be forced or forged to help through things."

"Okay.  You know that we had a ...problem, right?"

"I remember you had to go fix it and I remember why."

He stared at her.  "Why would I remember after that wish?"

She blinked a few times then looked up another section, pointing at it.  "I'm guessing here but she keeps hers closed off most of the time so she can't slide down this slope with us."

He read it, nodding slowly.  "That's what Phil and Xander have."

"That is, and they hadn't met in that wishverse but they knew.  That's why I created that link between them.  It fired up that connection again because it can't really be stopped.  See, when they got sick thanks to Callia, before they really bonded, Xander had that leak back into the pool of creation."

"That's a raw power?"

"Think of it more like the Force in a way.  It's what magic wants to be when it grows up.  It's also where all the ascended hover in and the Ancient Ones that have merged live.  It's kinda of like the womb of the universe in a lot of ways.  The fluid in it nourishes those that live in it but it's also raw power and it's got openings but not a lot."

"Okay, so it's like he's got a hole into the Force and magic," he said.   She nodded and grinned.  "So how is that different?"

"Well, when they got so sick, Xander was actually pulling on the pool to help steady himself and Phil.  He was instinctively trying to shield Phil.  He was pulling so hard some of the Ancient Ones were about to clog up his leak into it."  Clint shuddered.  "So to save Phil and Xander, and the Ancient Ones, I created a tiny pinpoint leak in Phil.  Which equalized the powers so they could later on merge.  Otherwise it might not have been as equal, Phil would've ended up being carried instead of carrying Xander, and things might not be as tight if they weren't equal.  In our case, I accidentally started it but then we both leaned on it and let it become like a meditation focus in some ways."

"So when we used it, we strengthened the muscle of it?"

"Not exactly."  She sat up, staring down at him.  "It probably would've stayed a light tether if we hadn't *wanted* it to go deeper.  Since we wanted it to, we let it sink deeper than the conscious level of our brains.  Neither of us knew that would happen, and Gaia said that anyone doing something like that would almost have to do it accidentally because they wanted it to, or else it'd destroy or drive them mad.  In mortals, it couldn't get any deeper without us wanting it to.

"There's a few others that've done the bond for various reasons, including a few that wanted to ascend together so they did that to link themselves.  Almost no one does it because of love or because of emotion."  He nodded, understanding that.  It was a powerful tool but it was more than that.  "So we took it deeper than we could because there's got to be an emotional layer to it.  Like Phil and Xander get deeper into each other the more times they use it, we've gotten about as deep as mortals can without a soul binding, but that would make you my brother and that's icky."

"I love that you can still say icky and mean it."  He took a kiss.  "So we accidentally did that?"

"Yup."  She grinned.  "We accidentally created a bond strong enough that we can anchor reality for the other."  She called in another book and put that one aside.  "There's things, moments in time, that anchor reality so that you can't change it too far.  Like a fence post in the time stream."

"Okay.  How often do they happen?"

"It's pretty random and not always the hugest things.  Woodstock was one.  There was one during World War II but I'm not sure when it was.  I know that someone did try to go back and change it but they'd have to change something back in the seventeen hundreds that anchored it before so that fence post wasn't active to change the war."

"A Nazi sympathizer?"

"No, I think it was someone who was wanting to spare some of the victims."

He nodded.  "I might've too," he admitted.

"Well, bonds like this are like fence post holes.  We don't anchor all of reality but we tend to draw an event that will.  Xander and Phil's, well, they're anchoring a bit higher than we are.  They anchor for each other, and if they wanted to the rest of the family."  She shifted some and looked at something.  "See, bonds like this are so rare.  So fragile in some ways and like carbon-hardened steel in others."  He grinned.  "We're so merged that we can pass through into each other's minds.  Which is pretty unheard of."

"So if one of us remembers the others can," he said.

She nodded.  "And the nature of the Key means that I'm kinda outside all that.  Not fully but I'm more part of the pool than I am part of human side at times.  It's still got a major backup line into it for safety reasons.  One I'll never be able to break even if I wanted to."

"So anything like a time flip you'd remember."

She nodded.  "If I want to.  I can block it out.  I did this time."  He kissed her, pulling her back down to cuddle.  "I got enough from you when you showed up to know that I .... I probably did something outrageously wrong.  I'm scared of that sometimes," she said quietly.

"You basically pulled up a few fence posts and were going to restart things," he admitted.  "Which scared the fuck outta me."

She kissed him.  "Sorry."

"No, don't be."  He cuddled her.  "So, if you remember or if I remember, then we'll all remember?"

"She's keeping herself from sliding down that hill with us," Dawn said quietly.  "Natasha doesn't want to drown herself in it."

"I've noticed that but that's just her being her."  He snuggled into her side.  "What else does that do?"

"Nothing really.  I mean, the Key will go with me when I die.  It might partially split into a future kid, because this kid doesn't have any of it, and might go to him or her when that happens."  He smirked a tiny bit.  "It doesn't make any of us immortal.  Or more mutant-like.  It just makes me really powerful and you able to draw on it because you wanted to."

"I think it's perfect between us."  He snuggled into her side, one arm over the space between her breasts and her stomach bulge.  "Natasha is slowly sliding down it with us."

"I know.  She can make herself go down it faster if she wants to.  It'll probably hurt her head for a bit, but if it's an emergency and she reaches out to pull some of my powers like you can, she might be able to."

"It freaked me out when I floated over the popcorn that night.  Then I realized that it was really special and rare."

She smiled and nodded.  "It is, yeah.  Especially at the godly level.  Because Xander and Phil?  They're the new anchor points for godly powers," she said very quietly.  He looked at her.  "Each successive generation has one.  The point where the new power takes over control.  Like when Zeus won against his father and took the crown.  The coronation cemented his anchor point to control things.  Though it was on top of Gaia's that was already there.  And still is there."

"So they created a new one?"

"Well, if I'm right, they've created two.  See, there's three levels of the bonding that're almost mythical that they did by accident.  They acknowledge two.  One was the elemental sex thing.  The other was the bonding of their powers in a way that meant that the elemental bond couldn't be broken.  Ares and Aphrodite managed the elemental once but nothing further.  It wasn't equal, wasn't that powerful between them."

"We know they've done that," Clint agreed.

"There's a third bond and if they manage that then they'd basically be taking Gaia's anchor point for themselves," she said across their bond so it was totally private.

He blinked a few times.  "Have they?"

She shrugged.  "I don't know and I'm not going to look so no one else could.  They have the bonds so tightly tied down that no one can tell the first without Xander or Phil wanting them to.  Hera saw some of it because she was checking their marriage bond, which shows some of it.  It's a pale shadow of the full thing because I saw Xander doing an aura check one day."

"So, technically, they're a major house now," Clint realized.

Dawn smiled and nodded.  "There's a House, then there's a Pantheon.  A house is inside a pantheon.  Xander's House was separate from all of them because he served all of them and yet none of them.  Death gods often get the same thing even though they're claimed by pantheons because no one's really over death.  Chaos gods often have that same thing but they can choose to align themselves with the given power structure so they're tied to that and their rulings are their chains.  Janus is one good example of that but Loki never did that."

Clint considered it.  "So he took his House and he made it go up the ladder."

She grinned and nodded.  "Yeah. Xander started his own pantheon.  He's got John and his House.  He's got Roque and his House.  He's got powerful mortals under him.  He's got a lot of demigods that align to him informally.  I'm not sure if Xander realizes that though."

Phil appeared, half dressed, staring at them.  "We have but we're ignoring it."  He smirked slightly.  "Then again, we also have our own version of the Warrior's Hall.  You're all going there."  He disappeared again.

Dawn grinned.  "This means that Xander could possibly get out of the chaos kid thing if he worked to fight it this time."

"I think he enjoys those."

"I think so too," she agreed, cracking Clint up.  She kissed him.  "So through me we're technically aligned...  That's going to change protocol.  Huh."  He smirked slightly.  "Beyond that," she said, giving him a squeeze and snuggling in.  "We're mortals so we don't have to worry about that."

"I'm glad.  I don't think I could take all the protocol crap.  It's like being a princess or something."

Dawn looked up at him.  "There's whole monarchies that don't have protocol like they do."  She put her head back down, stroking over his chest.  "Did you want me to see if I could lessen ours?" she asked quietly.

"No, just wondering about a few things I read."  He shifted to hold her.  "I'd never want you out of my head, Dawn."

She smiled.  "You sure?  That means you're probably going to hate it when I go into labor."

"We'll deal and I'd have been there anyway."  He wound his fingers into her hair and kissed her hard.  "It's Saturday, right?"

"Clint, dear, it's Sunday."  He grinned.  "Yeah, that means I have training today."

"Nope.  It's our day.  I already wrote the gym and said I was shamelessly hoarding you today.  Your magic instructor agreed we needed some naked hoarding time."

"Naked hoarding time?" she teased.  "Is that like naked squealing time with growls added?"

He kissed her then stared into her eyes.  "Yes, it is."  She beamed.  "The kids went to visit Sean."

"Huh.  I was wondering why they were so quiet."  Natasha came out wrapped in two towels and one around her hair.  They watched her lotion down and finish toweling her hair so it looked slightly normal.  "Nat, he wanted some naked hoarding time."

"I can see that myself," she said with a smile.  "Go shower."  They went in there together.  Natasha grinned, putting the books out on the bookshelves.  She made breakfast for them to eat later on and it was good.  They needed the naked time.  She heard Dawn getting loud and went to watch.  Clint had Dawn pinned against the wall, her legs wrapped around his waist, while he drove into her and she held onto the showerhead for dear life.  Apparently it was hitting where she needed him to because she was already breathy, panting, and begging for more.  He bit her on the neck and she came with a loud moan, letting go of the shower head to wrap her arms around his neck.

"Clint," she moaned.

"Still here."

"Let me get down," she murmured.

"You're not heavy, Dawn.  I benchpress twice you weekly."  He kicked out their emergency shower bench and sat down, letting her rest in his lap.  Natasha got the water adjusted so it hit them better, earning a grin from him.  "Nat, did you know that pregnant women have this magical time where it's bonding us to the baby?"

"I did.  I've heard it's quite fun."  She took kisses.  "When you're ready, join me on the bed?"

"You sure?" Clint asked.

Natasha smirked.  "I do my best work in there, not in here, Barton."  She strolled off.

Clint kissed Dawn, who gave him a sleepy smile.  "Going to nap?"

"Maybe soon."  She yawned.  "You're just too damn good to me."

"I am but you deserve the best."

"Which is you."

"Which I try to be," he corrected but he was smiling.  "I know I have faults."

"Every mortal does.  So do most Gods."  He smiled.  "I like you how you are, faults and all.  They make you more exciting.  Perfect people are boring and would never club with me."

"Hmmm."  He pulled her closer, kissing her hard.  "That works for me."  She smiled and wrapped herself tighter around him.  "Needy already?" he teased.

"Slightly."  He shifted her so he could push back in and slowly make her happy this time.  They had all day and a hot water tank made for large hotels.  This didn't need to be a quickie.

***

Ethan Hunt walked up to where Dawn and Clint were getting a snack in the second tower.  "Wow, you're really...."

She smiled.  "Fat?  Yes, I am.  But I'm also six months along so I excuse that in myself."  A few of the nearby people laughed.  "Let me get you two into the conference area."  She walked off with her muffin and diet soda.  Clint paid and followed her, earning a smile from the watching people.  Ethan followed, watching how they handled it.

Dawn got them into an empty room and waved.  "Here we go."  Someone slid in before the door could close.  "Hey, Benji."

"Dawn.  You look wonderful.  Glowing and all that."

She smiled.  "You flatterer you."  She sat down and opened her soda to sip.  "So you need my spouse again?" she guessed.

"We need at least the facsimile of William Brant," Ethan agreed.

Clint smirked.  "I actually do a lot of the same job since we only have handlers half the time."

"However you do it was good enough to fool us," Benji said.  He sat down and winced, rubbing his leg.  "Screwed my knee."

Dawn looked at Ethan.  "I'll let you have him but he had better be back in about two months.  I'm due in just over two and a half months.  You've also got to help him go through the lamaze stuff while you have him.  Because if he isn't here when I go into labor I'm summoning him no matter what he's doing.  There's no way I'm delivering this kid by myself and Natasha's off doing something as a favor for the CIA."  She sipped her soda.

"I'm hoping it won't take over three weeks but it's a weapons dealer," Benji said.   "They'd be leaving me local since I can't run right now."

She looked at him, smiling slightly.  "Benji, I adore your huge brain but I'm in the end of my second trimester.  You don't give good backrubs or leg rubs."  He blushed and shook his head.  Ethan was too.  "Beyond that, I'm still fighting off the wicked reporter who wants to do a heros calendar."

"None of the others outside Stark would go for that," Clint said with a grin for her.  "Calm down."

"I am calm."  She smiled sweetly.  "And if it's about Porgi, tell him I said hi and I remember how he stepped on my toes," she told Ethan.

"Yeah," he said, nodding slightly. "How do you know him?"

"He came up to her at the club the other night when she was blowing off stress," Clint said with a glare at his wife.  "By herself."

"You were in New Jersey and it's not like I can do it other ways good enough."  She nibbled her muffin.  "You did promise to go to lamaze class with me."

"You went with Pepper," he said with a grin.

She stared at him.  "Yes, but I'll need someone else to take my mind off the pain I'll be in," she said dryly.

"You are pushing out something the size of a large cantaloupe out a hole the size of a grapefruit," Benji said then shuddered.  "People have been putting their birth videos up online."

"I sat through both of Pepper's," Dawn said with a grin for him.  "I know how it goes but I'll still need a coach.  Someone there to handle things, protect both of us, make sure I'm okay and the nurses are listening to my wishes, maybe even to take out the demon that's presently trying to move into the local birthing center I'm going to."  Clint shuddered, shrinking down some.

"I'm sure the lessons are online," Ethan said.  "I'll try to have him back in a month, Dawn."

"I had better not have to come rescue you guys."

"No, you shouldn't," Clint said, staring at her.  She stared back.  He mentally groaned.  "I'll be safe, Dawn.  I promise I'll be as safe as I can."

"Good.  Write back to the reporter.  Today.  Before you go."

"Yes, dear."

She smiled.  "If you're really lucky I've even got all your suits and stuff in one closet area."

He grinned.  "Thanks.  What is Natasha doing?"

"Someone spooky overseas that's already scared of me I think."  She shrugged.  "Like I said, if I start into labor by myself, you're getting your ass summoned.  I don't care if it screws up *years* of work."  She sipped her soda.  "Unless you really want to talk Tony into being there to cut your son's cord and all that?"

"No, he may not look at you naked," Clint said firmly.  She stared at him.  "I'll try, Dawn."  She nodded.  "I still don't know what's so special about lamaze classes.  Beyond the breathing stuff."

"They teach you how to do some massage things to help with the leg cramps and the like," Benji said.  "They are online, Dawn."

"Fine.  He may go as long as you bring him back," she said firmly, staring at Ethan.

"I'll do my best."

"Thanks."  She smiled.  Ethan shivered.  "Beyond that, SHIELD's reorganization is next month," she reminded Clint.

"Good point."  He stood up.  "Let me go home and pack, tell the twins and all that."  He fled the mood swing.  Ethan, being slightly wise, did the same thing.

Benji looked at her.  "At least you know what you're doing with that."

"Yeah and with my luck, I'll be taken again within two days and have to go into labor there," she said dryly, finishing her soda.  "Let's go upstairs."  He nodded.  She got them up to the avenger's only meeting area.  "Hunt borrowed him again," she announced as she walked in.

"Crap," Bruce muttered.  "Natasha's somewhere in Eastern Europe.  You're....."

"Benji.  IMF computer and gear tech."  He shook his hand.  "I'm trading out due to my knee being off right now."

"That happens," Tony quipped, staring at Dawn.  "That's going to suck when you go into labor."

"It's going to suck more because you can't put a tracker on me due to it possibly harming the pregnancy," she quipped with a grin.  Tony and Bruce both winced.  The organic trackers weren't supposed to be used on pregnant women.  "Also, if he's not back in time, guess who gets to help me through the labor, boss," she said with a sweet grin.

"Pepper's was bad enough and MB's nearly made me drink," he said bluntly.  "Bruce?"

"Not the sort of miracle I want to believe in," he said dryly.  "Joyce would help."

"No she won't.  She said she did not want to remember hers with Buffy and doing it in the backseat of a car on the way to the ER," she said dryly.  "I already asked, Stepdad."

"Crap," the guys said together.

"Pepper would," Tony said.

"And who's going to babysit the kids?" Dawn asked dryly.  "Because with no guards around me, it's entirely possible you're going to be rescuing me during the birth."  Tony and Bruce both shuddered, looking at each other.

"Steve," Bruce said.

"Nudity still makes him nearly pass out at times," Tony said.  He grimaced.  "Crap.  This is seriously bad timing.  Are you sure it's not a plot?"

"Aren't I the paranoid one?" she asked.

"Yes, but you usually have a really good reason," Tony said.

"Yeah, and you still have to write back to that reporter too."  He winced.  Bruce shuddered.  She grinned.  "You guys have fun with that.  Let me go back to my desk.  Benji, wanna be the official assistant?"  She walked off.  He shrugged, glancing at Tony, who pointed.  He limped after her.  Tony and Bruce both whined once they were gone.

"Shit," Tony said.  "JARVIS?"

"I've already shown Pepper that footage, sir," the AI said.  "She's begging Agent Hill to please send one of the spouses back sooner because she doesn't want to know how bad the birth will be.  Especially with long range forecasts calling for another good snow storm about then."

Tony shook his head.  "Why us?" he moaned.

"Unfortunately, by what they've gathered it is fairly necessary," JARVIS offered.

"Yay," Tony said sarcastically.  "Any idea on when Romanoff's getting back?"

"No.  I have no idea yet, sir."  He hung up on them.

Tony and Bruce shared a look.  "Coulson?" he yelled.

Phil appeared with the two babies from Maria and Tara on his shoulders.  "I'm a bit busy, Stark.  What?"

"IMF called for Barton," he said bluntly.  "They left us a field tech guy who's limping."

"Okay," he said, though his expression clearly said 'fuck'.  "If we have to, we'll arrange to rescue Dawn and help her through the labor and delivery process."  He went back home with the twins.  They needed a bath.  Craig *really* needed a bath.  He'd make plans and make sure people were available later.  Xander appeared, taking Danielle to bathe.  "Thank you."

"Welcome.  We'll help Dawn through things, you know that."

"I do."  He settled in to bathe the messy butted one.  Craig seemed to enjoy crapping all over himself at least three times a day, it always made him smile and giggle.  The adults around didn't like it as much but the baby enjoyed the hell out of it.

***

Dawn was let into the meeting room with the reporter.  "Clint said he's not going to help you."

"Where is your spouse?"

"Busy for at least another month," she complained.

"Oh, so he won't be here for the birth?"

"He'd better be here for the birth," Dawn said, staring at her.  "Beyond that, he doesn't want to do a beefcake calendar.  He's turned you down twice."

"I know.  Still, we can do some things with pictures we already have."  She smiled.  "Add in a short interview?"

Dawn shrugged.  "I can't keep you from using pictures already in the press," she admitted.  "But if it gets him hurt I'm going to kill everyone involved in it."

She smiled.  "I had those same mood swings."

"It's not a mood swing," Dawn said dryly, staring at her.  "It's a fact.  My husband or wife gets hurt because of it, I'll remember what I learned over the years.  Pregnant or not."

"Fine.  We'll try very hard."

"Why don't you use other agents wearing masks?"

"We're thinking about that.  Do you think he would?"

"Maybe.  Not sure."  She shrugged.

"Can I get a few things from you?"

"Sure, why not."  She sat down and put her feet up.  "Sorry, swelling.  Been on them for hours."

"That's fine.  I spent my last month on the couch.  No maternity leave?"

Dawn shrugged.  "Not really needed and the nursery's all set up.  I'll probably take the last few days off so I can do things like cook ahead of time and do the laundry up so I won't have to for a few weeks."

"That's reasonable.  I hired a housekeeper for six months."

Dawn smiled.  "The twins handle most of their things and help with the other stuff when they're asked."

"That's sweet and good of them.  You're doing a good job with them."  She smiled.  "So, are you three actually *together* or is it a marriage of convenience?"

Dawn looked at her.  "I have perfection.  Why wouldn't I touch it now and then?"

"He was your first and only man.  Are you sure he is?"

Dawn grinned.  "Have you ever had it so good it redefined religious for you?"  The reporter slowly shook her head.  "I have.   We were playing around and it went there; it was so good I nearly lost control of my magic in a few ways, and then it got better."  She smiled.  "Just went from normal oral sex and teasing to something so special and so good he nearly couldn't walk the next day and we weren't that hard on each other.  We held onto it for something like six hours and it just got better and better to the point where my magic nearly came free of my control and created new lifeforms."

The reporter shivered.  "I've never...."  She cleared her throat.  "Six hours?"

Dawn smiled and nodded.  "Including the cuddling and touching before, then the foreplay and the sex, yeah."

"Oh."  She blinked.  "He gives oral sex?"

Dawn smiled.  "Yes, he does."

"Wow.  I can't get my husband to do that."

Dawn smirked.  "Last month I was sharing a food craving with him and used nutella on myself.  He was very happy to help me clean it up."  The reporter shivered.  "Try it, it's good.  Nicely thin so it spreads easily."

"I might," she said.  She blinked a few times.  "Is he the mushy sort?"

"Not usually.  He'll pop around for lunch to spend time with me but he's not the hearts and flowers sort of guy.  Actually I think he's only given me flowers once and he was buying them while following someone."  She shrugged.  "I don't need flowers and poetry.  He's perfect the way he is, even if he does have a great fondness for really gross tasting beer at times and he listens to some country stuff I can't stand."

"Huh.  What about your wife?"

"She's more like a quiet mink blanket that wraps itself around you and is *there* when you need her, usually.  Now and then I've needed her to be there and she was busy.  That's the nature of the job though."

"Was that special night near when you three got together?"

"No, it was about six months before I got pregnant."  She smiled.  "The honeymoon stuff ....  Well, it was kinda normal but there was a birthday in there."  She grinned.

"Oh, huh," she said, swallowing.  "What's Stark like up close and personal?"

"He's like a dark sun.  He's not a bright and shiny sun but he's still glowing and has a heavenly mass that attracts other heavenly bodies.  Including the moon goddess and earth body of his mates."

"Wow."  She wrote that down.  She looked at Dawn.  "They're very tight?"

"Yeah.  Liz keeps complaining that they cuddle too much and she can't sneak into bed with them.  Then again she's almost two."

"They don't let her snuggle in?"

"All the kids have their own room.  They sneak in sometimes but Liz likes to pounce first thing in the morning.  She usually can't pounce Steve, who she likes to pounce the most.  He sleeps just deeply enough that she wakes him when she pounces.  Pepper wakes up when she climbs in with them, and Tony tends to flinch awake."

"I guess with some of his past that's normal."  She stared at her.  "What about your mother and Dr. Banner?"

"They're cute, hand-holding, cuddling while making dinner sorts.  I'm sure my mom's got a good pounce on her but I never asked either of them about it," she said dryly but grinning.  "I don't need to know what my stepdad's favorite outfit of hers is."

"That's a good point.  I wouldn't ask my mother either."  She blinked a few times.  "Masks you think?"

"Well, if you show their faces, people will know who they are and that can endanger their lives.  Masks would let you protect that and you may get a few identifying scars or tattoos.  Plus it'd let you get other agencies."  She grinned.

"Would you do it?  I mean after you've delivered.  We can airbrush out stretch marks."

"I only have one right now and it's on my lower back.  I might, not sure.  I have done so for someone in the past.  His work is inflammatory to say the least."  She grinned.  "Ask me in a few months."

"Is pregnancy making you feel less than sexy?"

"No, not in the least.  I feel very sexy.  A bit heavy but I'm told that's normal.  But no, if Clint was here, I'd be pouncing.  Or Natasha.  She'd probably stop me because she's not into showing it off too often."

The reporter moaned.  "Thank you, Dawn."  She left, going to tell her editor that bad luck but good idea and the slight interview.

Dawn went back to work.  Benji was having a lot of fun confusing the geeks.  It was good to see him in happy evil mode again.

***

Dawn came out of the tower that night, finding a reporter waiting.  Benji was behind her because he had a PT appointment for his knee.  "What?" she asked.

"Are you going to sell pictures of the baby?" the reporter asked.

"No.  I don't believe that the baby will need press attention.  You guys might not see the baby until it's walking."

"Still not saying if it's a boy or a girl?" the reporter pouted.

"No.  I'm not."

"Why?  Most people don't mind that much.  Unless you're like the people raising their children gender neutral?"

Dawn grimaced.  "No.  Think about it this way.  Why has half of everyone in the universe wanting this kid?"

"Because the father's an Avenger."

"Okay, and why is that?"

She blinked.  "I don't know."

"Think about it genetically and get back to me," Dawn quipped, walking off.

"Is he on assignment?"

"Yes, they are," Dawn called back.  "Please leave them alone.  And his doppleganger."

"He has one?" the reporter demanded.

Benji smiled at her.  "We've found an agent in another agency that looks *just* like Agent Barton, ma'am.  He's been approached once and blew them off then hid like hell before he shot her."  She shivered.  Benji grinned.  Hopefully that would keep the press off Clint/William Brandt for a few months at least.  "Agents are usually paranoid."

"I understand why.  Genetics?"

Benji looked at her.  "Thinking about it, would the ones with gifts have theirs pass on?"  He limped past her.  "Got to make sure she makes it home then see my PT."

She stared at her cameraman, who was blinking back.  "Would it?"

He slowly shook his head.  "I don't know."  They went to the office of a higher reporter, they were with TMZ, and asked her that question.  She flinched and agreed it might not. Not if it hadn't tampered with their fundamental DNA.  That put a whole new spin on people who wanted Dawn and her child.  Dawn's gifts would pass on.  Barton's gifts would probably pass on.  The others....  Who knew.  That explained a whole lot to them.

***

Benji walked Dawn into a shop.  "This is Dawn and we're solving a problem.  She has narrow, long feet and cannot find something comfortable to wear.  I was thinking ballet slippers, not the pointe shoes but the regular, wear them to class kind, might help with that and they're mostly for narrow feet."

"They are," the man behind the counter said.  "It's not usual for our clients but I can see how that's a problem with the heels she's wearing."

"It's all I can find outside of one store in Asia and theirs fall apart in about two days."

"They can do that.  Let's measure you."  He let Benji help her sit down.  "How far along are you?"

"Just into my seventh month," she said with a smile.

"That's a good time to give up heels.  My wife's back hurt her constantly."  He got the measuring woman out while he looked at Benji.  "I hope it's a healthy child."

He grinned.  "Not mine.  I'm filling in while her spouse is on assignment.  He's an agent."

"Ah!"  He nodded.  "That's a good friend."

Dawn grinned.  "My husband had better be back when I go into labor."  The fitting woman laughed but nodded that was probably a good thing.  She got her some of the higher end shoes that they had ready made for serious students who didn't need them specially fit.  Dawn slid into them and was shown how they tighten.  "Wow those are comfy.  Will they stand up to me doing rounds in them?  I have to do geek rounds to make coffee and gather reports."

"They should.  They stand up to a lot of wear on stage," Benji said.  Dawn hugged them all.  They all smiled and let her buy four pairs.  That should get her through the next few months at the very least.  Benji grinned at them and took her back to the office so she could show Pepper, with a stop for chocolate sauce and tempura shrimp.

***

Ethan got an email from Benji and looked at it then at his partner.  "Six hours?"

"What?" he asked, looking up from the laptop.  He got handed the phone with the email pulled up.  He had to blush at that.  "I'm in no means perfect," he complained, handing it back.  "But yeah, with the cuddling and foreplay, about six hours if I remember right.  We lost track of time."

"Tantric?" Ethan asked.

"Nope," Clint/William quipped then smirked.  "Not in the least."

"Bondage?"

"At one point I went a bit primal and held her wrists down but otherwise, no, on the couch."  He shrugged, getting back to work but he was smiling.  He did pop an anonymous email to Dawn.  He could almost blush over that praise in a major magazine.

"Did it redefine religious for you?" Ethan asked sarcastically.

Clint looked at him.  "Dawn is my personal goddess.  I worship her every chance I get and that night I did it so good she broke, twice."  Ethan shivered and walked off.  That let him get back to work.  That way he could get home to worship his goddess and be there for the delivery.  Because he was sure Dawn would summon him from halfway around the world if she had to.

"That picture she mentioned?"

"Hanging in a sex club in Rio.  He had kidnaped her for a few hours to be his model."

Ethan sent that to Benji so he could look it up for him.  He got sent the site and Benji saying he was now blushing and couldn't look at Dawn the same way ever again.  Ethan stared at it, blinking hard.  "Wow."  He canceled that out and got back to his part of the job for the day.  He was probably going to blush the next time he saw Dawn too.

***

Tony and Pepper were settled on the couch with Steve in the recliner, it had a massage function and Steve's lower back was bothering him after a slight fall earlier during something minor.  Callia walked out with a small wood and velvet box.  She sat on the coffee table in front of and between Pepper and Tony.  "What's this?" she asked.  "I've never seen it before."

Tony smiled.  "Those were my mother's.  We've kept them until you were old enough to properly take care of them and need to wear them at times."

"Oh, wow."  She opened it with Pepper's help, looking at the tiny boxes.  "Why are they in boxes?"

"To keep them from tarnishing and to keep them from getting tangled up.  Necklaces can tangle into knots," Pepper said.  She pulled Callia over to help her look at them.

Howard faded in, staring at the box then at his son.  "She meant for those to go to your wife, Anthony."

"Steve, did you want Mom's jewels?" Tony quipped with a smile for him.

He gave him a dirty look.  "No, I don't really look good in diamonds and pearls.  Thanks anyway."

Pepper smiled.  "I have mine."  Callia looked up at her.  She hugged her.  "I don't have a huge collection but I have a few special pieces."

"Wow."  She went back to looking.  "How do I take care of these?"

"Tomorrow you're going to be going to a jewelry store downtown to learn how to do that," Tony said.

"Sparring," she reminded him.

"After that.  Instead of your homework time.  It's a field trip."  She beamed and nodded, bouncing some.  "Put them back for now."  She ran the box back in there and came out to pounce him to hug.  He kissed her on the head.  "Do you want to learn how to handle the society stuff now or later?"

"Must I?" she complained, grimacing.  "It seems really boring and stupid, Daddy."

"It is," he agreed.  "But some day you'll need to be able to do that."

"She could go to a finishing school," Howard offered.

"No, I'd want her somewhere to expand her mind, not shut it down," Tony said firmly, glaring at his fathers' ghost.  He grinned at his daughter again.  "When you're old enough, you'll have to start doing formal things with the family now and then."

"That's still boring."

He nodded.  "Very.  Your aunt talks to people to avoid the idiots and helps us do the same thing.  Steve hides, I become a distraction for him and Pepper keeps people off me.  We'll figure out how to help you handle it."  She snuggled into his lap to hug him.  He patted her back with a grin.  "We'll figure it out."

"Okay, if you're sure I have to."

"I'm sure you have to.  Sorry, it comes with being a Stark."

She looked up.  "Will Liz have to?"  He nodded.  "Poor babies."

"Definitely.  Your cousin may have to too," Pepper said dryly.  "Dawn's fairly well liked in local society circles."

"Did you see the bimbo assassin's sister tried to put her down," Tony said with a grin for Pepper.  "About how she had a *job* and wasn't one of them?"

"I did and I wrote a nice comment on her livejournal that neither was she or her sister when she was still around, plus her sister had embarrassed the whole family name."  She grinned back.

"I still can't believe there's a girls' prep school that teaches socialites how to be assassins," Steve complained.

Tony nodded.  "It's part of their self defense curriculum.  Taught by one that Natasha said was pretty pathetic overall.  He's in the bottom third of the field but the bimbos they train there are mostly doing it for self defense unless they're about as good as the teacher is.  He's had one that got passed onto a higher teacher.  She went to the academy in England and is doing a lot of very strong work for the UK because she's one of them."

"Huh," Pepper said.  "Still, I'd never let a kid do that.  If I want them to know how to shoot, we'll teach them."

Callia grinned at her.  "Unclie Clint said he would."

"Yes he did, and a bow," Tony agreed.  He patted her on the back.  "Steve got banged around."  She slid off him and pounced Steve to cuddle.  She made him scoot over so they could share the massage chair together, which got her smirked at.  "If Uncle Steve hurts too much you have to give him both sides," he reminded her.  He sipped his water.  "Steve, are you going to see if she likes art?  The local school system demands that she have some and music appreciation at the least."

"I love music," Callia reminded him.

"Not that sort," Pepper said.  "It's to expose you to classical and other types of music, Cal."

"Oh.  Well......  Symphony?"

"That too," Tony said with a smile.  "You can wear one of the new necklaces to the concert in a few days."  She cheered and bounced some, hugging Steve.  He cuddled her back.

"Can Liz come?" she asked.

"Liz is much too small to appreciate the symphony," Pepper said, but she was smiling.  "We'll teach her about music around here the same way you got it."

"Okay, we can do that then."  She yawned.  "This puts me to sleep.  It's not fair."

"It does it to me too," Steve said, yawning a bit.  He shifted her once she was asleep so he could have the whole chair again.  She snuggled in on his lap, wrapping herself around his chest.  He fell asleep while Tony and Pepper were talking about what she needed to wear to the symphony.

Tony grinned at her.  "See, it's not just you that falls asleep in it," Tony said quietly but smugly.

She kissed him.  "We'll put him in bed later."  Tony smirked and pulled her closer to kiss him again.  "We don't have a single condom out here, Tony."

"Must we?"

"Yes.  The next one is Steve's and is not going to happen for at least a year."  She stared at him.

"I won't be jealous."  He kissed her again, pulling her into his lap.  "Condoms are always in the decorative incense box," he said in her ear.  She shivered.  "But we can wait until we can put Callia into bed."  She smiled and nodded.  Liz came toddling up and pounced, grinning madly at them.  "Did you leave your baby brother down there alone?" he asked, patting her on the head.

"Mine!" she said, climbing up to hug Mom.  "Mine."

"We're all yours," Pepper promised with a smile.  "Where's your brother?"

"We have him," Diana called.

"That's fine, girls.  Thank you."

They brought up the youngest Stark heir and he cooed and batted at Liz, reaching for Callia.  Artemis put him beside them and she pulled him between them to cuddle.  "Damn she's good at that," Tony joked, grinning at them.  "Staying over tonight?"

"We were just sparring and needed cooling down time so we grabbed them for a walk around the gym," Diana said with a grin.

"That's fine.  They could use the exercise," Pepper said, giving them each a hug.  "Need gotten home?"

"Auntie's still at her desk."  They grinned and hugged everyone then left together.

Howard frowned and pointed.  "Who are they?"

"They are Callia's baby sisters by her mom and stepfather," Pepper said with a smile.  "Asgard has time running faster."

"Oh.  They're beautiful young women."

"Who are thirteen," Pepper said firmly.  "We have to keep brushing guys off them."

"I had to kick someone in the ass yesterday," Tony said, finishing his water.  "Bruce was turning green before I did."  Pepper smiled at him.  "The girls were brushing him off but he would not take no for an answer and kept asking if they put guys between them.  Offered to help them do twin porn.  Which is why Bruce started to change and I kicked him in the ass and out of the building."  He sighed.

She smiled.  "They're beautiful and so is Sean.  That's why they take so much self defense work."

He nodded.  "They need it.  Or New York needs a few less perverts.  I thought I was a bastard about it and I remember Dad having hot and cold running bimbos but damn!"

She laughed, hugging him.  "We'll handle it.  Remember, Dawn has mood swings."

"Yeah, she does," he agreed happily.  He cuddled her.  Normally he'd be groping but he was comfortable at the moment.  Liz was nearly asleep on her lap.  Christopher was proving he had his sister's snoring problem, which came from their mother but he'd never say that because Pepper would quit sleeping with him in a permanent manner.  "We need to have him checked."

"I already have.  Their pediatrician said he's watching out for it."  He nodded, stroking over her back.  She yawned.  "It's a sleepy night."

He nodded.  "I guess it is."  She and Liz fell asleep against his chest.  Tony shook his head, looking at his father.  "Did you finally find Mom?"

"No.  I haven't really looked.  She was a bit mad at me when we died, son."

Tony stared at him.  "Whose fault was that?"

"Hers."  He faded out.   He followed those adorable twins.  Their aunt was clearly pregnant at her desk.  "In my day, women took time off when they were pregnant."

Dawn stared at him.  "We do these days too but not until the last month.  I have a month left yet."  She smiled a sickly, saccharine smile.  "Anything you needed today, Howard?"

"Liz feels a lot like you."

"Yes, she does have gifts like mine.  We're going to be helping her the same way we do Callia."

"Not that way."

Dawn smirked a bit.  "That topic is permanently closed because there's six groups that would love to eliminate me for having my skills, much less a baby with them."  He floated backward looking horrified.  "The only one that actually wants me because of my powers anymore is HYDRA.  So let's not talk about that, okay?"

"Why?" Howard asked.

Dawn stared at him.  "The Fiersteiren Order of Monks."  He shuddered.  "They told HYDRA about those of us with gifts."

"I hated those crackpot cultists."

"So do we but they're all gone now," she said dryly.  "The last one tried to kill me a few months back and did not like my crossbow excellence.  Especially since he had baited a trap by trying to take your granddaughter's whole gymnastics class hostage.  They wanted Callia for *her* future possible skills."

"Slayers get called all the time," Howard said.

Dawn shook her head.  "Buffy lasted over twenty years, twelve was on Asgard."  Howard gaped.  She grinned.  "Buffy broke the mold and the Council eventually.   Slayers are now treated like the soldiers they are, not the way the Council did.  They get backup, they get support from SHIELD.  There's agents on the Hellmouth with the current slayers.  One's in LA handling the huge problem there with some hunters.  Buffy had backup and that made the line different.  Especially when Xander did CPR to bring her back to life."

"So there's more than one?" Howard asked.  Dawn nodded.  "Huh.  Sunnydale's still the open one?"

"No, Cleveland's the most open one now.  Sunnydale got blown up and shut down by Rosenburg, who was my sister's backup as well.  She went magic addiction.  Which is why we're very careful when we mentor Callia.  We've held a battle there and it's possible the closing is a bit weak at the moment.  We have sensors out there."

"That's good," he said, blinking a few times.  "Cleveland?"  She nodded.  "We always wondered what was with that town.  Do they have problems?"

"They have six agents and three young slayers there," Dawn said bluntly.  "Plus Xander and Phil if they need them, or me when I'm not pregnant, or whoever they need.  They're supported now.  SHIELD made sure of it."

"That's good.  I met one back when Steve was still a skinny young man.  She didn't last too long."

"Callia's going to outdo her mother's record," Dawn said.   "Especially since she's far down the list to be called."

"That's good."  He put his hands in his pockets.  "I was worrying but I know my son was very attached to her."

She stared at him.  A simple sticking spell meant he had to stay there until she educated him a bit.  "Parents should be attached to their kids.  Too many kids grow up in hellholes, even rich kids, because their parents treat them like a fashion accessory or worse.  *REAL* parents do things like go to recitals, gymnastics meets, have dinner with their kids, go to their birthday parties, all that.  They temper the love and spoiling with rules and boundaries so they don't grow up too spoiled but knowing that they're important to their families.  Kids aren't goldfish, they're not disposable pets."  Howard flinched back away from her.  "Yeah, he learned how to do it by doing it opposite of you.  Do you want or need me to be more blunt?"

"No," he said, lifting his chin up.  "I tried."

"Science was more important to you than anything but your liquor habit and your slut habit," she said bluntly.  "You never should've had kids."

"No, I shouldn't have.  My wife should've been able to handle it."

"Did your wife create the kids alone?  Because the last time I knew, it took two people's DNA to make a baby.  That means they should both be responsible, not a baby daddy, not a baby momma, but *responsible* parents.  Unlike the one in the news today that sold hers for a few crack rocks.  Or the ones who abandon their kids at home for days on end."

"We tried," Howard said firmly.

"Which is why your hell is watching your family do it better than you ever did."  He stiffened.  "Because if Tony ever turned into you, I'd kick his ass and take my niece from him.  Permanently."

"It's good you're so fierce about your family."  She stared at him.  "Maybe this is my hell."  She released the spell.  He floated off to think about that.  Maybe that's why he couldn't go on into his afterlife.

Dawn looked up and shook her head.  She looked up the hall to where the twins were hiding and giggling over some girl magazine.  She finished up the two things she needed to do.  "I'm done," she announced.  The twins came bounding back and helped her shut things down for the night.  They walked out together.  "Night, Benji."

"Night, Dawn, Diana, Artemis."  The twins grinned at him.  "Sean said he's at home."

"Wonderful."  The girls grinned.  "Yeah, you can make Sean look at your new clothes."  They cackled and got into the elevator with her.

Benji smiled but shook his head, typing an update email to Clint.

Howard reappeared.  "You're an industrial spy," he accused.

"No, I'm a regular one.  I'm watching over Dawn for her spouses."  Howard gaped.  He smirked.  "She needs it.  A lot of people want that baby."  He locked things up and went home for the night after sending a text at Pepper.  The ghost of Tony's father could do some Shakespearian thing for all Benji cared.  Clearly he needed some chains and more moaning about important things than whining about his granddaughter.

***

Clint looked up as Ethan stormed into the hotel suite.  "What's happened this time?"

"Dawn's local."

"Why?  She's in New York."

"No, she's not."  He showed him the pictures.

Clint stared and pointed.  "That's a general from the US."  He called Stark.  "It's me.  Why is Rhodes' old boss with Dawn here where I am?"  He listened, making notes.  "Yes, it was clearly Piers.  Yes, him, Stark."  He made another note and shook his head.  "And she's playing along or not?"  He sent a thought at Dawn, wincing at the pain he got back.  "Got it.  Thanks."  He hung up.  "No, there's a general involved.  He wants to start his own team."  He gathered a few things and headed out.

A shout at Natasha and she was local by that night.  Her mission was going poorly at the moment so a break would help and add interest.  They watched and took down the general, all his people, and the people who were trying to keep Dawn hostage.  It was quiet, clean, and none of them would be able to do it again.  He found the thing they had stuck on Dawn, letting Natasha remove it for him.  She had the steadier hand.  Clint got them beamed back to the infirmary when they found the explosive attached to it.  "Doc?"  He came out to look.  "It's not pretty."

He looked and nodded.  "That's very bad.  The explosive?"

"I'm working on it," Natasha said.  She finally got it disarmed and Shivs got her into surgery to remove the whole chip while some bloodwork ran.  She wasn't drugged but that created a motor-control problem that overrode her control of her body.  He had to call in a friend who could do neurosurgery.  He had worked on the project in the first place.

Clint and Natasha shared a look.  They'd wait until they were sure Dawn was fine then go back to their missions.  Clint sent Ethan a quick text and put his phone up.  They weren't at a critical part by any means.  He could track the money here through JARVIS.  It'd be a lot faster than him doing it.

Natasha could do a better check on her target because the one SHIELD had and what she had found out had gaps.  Something was clearly missed.

Table of Contents

27: Even Future Old Ones Have Plans. 4

Some things need to get done, like a vacation before the Expo and the Expo itself.  Plus Xander and

28: Fighting, Shopping, Competing Old Ones?. 80

The SHIELD teams get invited to the agent olympics so they have to figure out who's doing what and t

29: Jealous Of The Old Ones. 155

There's always got to be one jealous one.  Even at Stark International. 155

30: Dawn Luck Of Newborn Future Old Ones. 235

Baby Elizabeth Potts is born during a bout of Dawn Luck.  How lucky for her. 235

31: Family Of Old Ones, New And Old. 304

Buffy needs time, Joyce needs some healing time, and Dawn needs time to not lose her mind.  Thankful

32: Thugs Vs Old Ones. 361

Agent Olympics and gay bashers.  Quite a month for the families. 361

33: Fix-It Old Ones. 430

Repairing the damage from the attack and other things. 430

34: Researching From Ancient To New To Future Old Ones. 519

Subheading. 519

35: Busted Old Ones. 586

Press nightmares lead to Dawn falling on Xander's obstacle course and breaking her leg.  Which doesn

36: Mad And Insane Old Ones. 705

Someone evil puts a kill order on Callia, which doesn't make anyone happy.  Incredibly enough, it's

37: Female Old Ones At Work And Play. 828

Weird magic users, more reporters.  A Dawn wanter who wants her for an unusual reason.  Then a girl-

38: Good Nights To Be Old Ones. 973

Some special good nights. 973

39: Old Ones In Danger. 1044

Ah, pregnancy, how it causes many things.  Like attacks.  NC-17. 1044